The Almondburian, November 2014

The ALMONDBURIAN T H E MAGAZINE O F TH E O LD AL MONDBURIANS’ S OCIETY

November 2014

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IN THIS ISSUE

A word from your Chairman From the study …and back at the School The Almondburian Poets Class of 1965 – not a good vintage?

Satires and Legacies Denis Arthur Bowen – painter Every picture tells a story ‘Teak’ was my inspiration Annual Dinner Founders’ Day Membership Messing about on the river Farnley Lines KJS Prize Sponsorship Appeal Tennis Badminton Golf Cricket Football Terry’s Teaser Postbag Obituaries

(Opposite): Published for the first time, this drawing by Roger Sykes shows the view from the Art Room on a snowy winter’s day. See ‘Teak was my inspiration’ on page 17

The ALMONDBURIAN Editor: Roger Dowling

November 2014

The magazine of The Old Almondburians’ Society

A word from your Chairman

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B RYA N H O P K INSON

N the final quarter of the year the attention of the OAS as usual turns to theAnnual Dinner. We look forward to seeing a good turn-out of members at the School on )22nd November. This year we plan to be able to arrange tours of the School, tentatively scheduled for 6.30 pm, an hour before the Dinner starts: if you are interested please contact me nearer the time, because the details are not fixed yet – or just turn up early and hope.There will also be a Founders’ Day Service the next day – meet at the School at 10.30 am for the traditional walk up the hill, or at Almondbury Church for the service itself at 11.00 am.

Thank you to those who responded to my appeal in the last issue for volunteers to 3

receive The Almondburian by e-mail in pdf form.There have been enough to make the exercise worthwhile, and we will probably renew the call at intervals in the future.A few people anxiously enquired whether this was the start of an evil plot to discontinue the printed version of the magazine, so I am happy to reassure them that no, it is only an option for those who prefer it.

Finally, I would like to float the idea, for members who may not have considered it, of joining the OAS committee.Technically you are elected at theAnnual General Meeting to serve for a year, but in practice we welcome any member who cares to attend a meeting to see what goes on.We meet on the first Monday of every month in theWoolpack in Almondbury at 7.30 pm. If you live within travelling distance of Almondbury and retain an interest in the Society and the School, you could easily join us and help to run the OAS. More generally, I should like to encourage all members to attend the nextAnnual General Meeting, again in theWoolpack at 7.30 pm, on Monday, 5th January 2015.

OLD ALMONDBURIANS’ SOCIETY CALENDAR

DATES OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGS, 2014 The Executive Committee of the Society meets upstairs at theWoolpack in Almondbury, at 7.30 pm.

Dates for the rest of this year are Monday, 3rd November and Monday,1st December.Any member of the Society who would like to attend one of these meetings will be made most welcome.

reunion of the Class of 1954 and Keith Crawshaw is doing likewise with the Class of 1964.

FOUNDERS’ DAY SERVICE The traditional Founders’ Day Service will be held at All Hallows’ Church,Almondbury at 11.00 am on the day following the Annual Dinner, Sunday, 23rd November.Almondburians are invited to assemble in front of the school at 10.30 am for the traditional procession up the hill.The Executive Committee would urge all Almondburians to make every effort to attend this event. It would help if you are able to indicate in the space provided on the Annual Dinner ticket application form or website whether or not you expect to attend the Founders’ Day Service as well.

ANNUAL DINNER The return of the Annual Dinner to the school last year was a resounding success and we have received nothing but extremely positive feedback from those who attended. Consequently, this year’s dinner will again take place at the school, on Saturday, 22nd November, at 6.30 pm for 7.30 pm.

The guest speaker this year will be Old Almondburian Tony Cape.The ticket price will remain at £27.50 and an application form is included with this issue or you can apply online at www.oas.org.uk/buydinner.php.

It is always good to see members making a special effort to stage a reunion of their year at the dinner and such occasions are always enjoyable. Paul Balderstone and Richard Taylor are organising a

BADMINTON Report: page 35

GOLF (GOTHARD CUP) Report: page 36 CRICKET Report: page 37 FOOTBALL Report: page 39

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held at the ‘Woolpack’,Almondbury on Monday, 5th January 2015 at 7.30 pm. Nominations for office on the Executive Committee are required by the Secretary in advance of this date, so that the election of officers can take place at the Annual General Meeting in accordance with Rule Eight.

All members are urged to make every effort to attend the Annual General Meeting.

Andrew Haigh, Secretary 4

From the study

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RO B E RT LA MB

Educational changes introduced by the Government have presented a challenge to schools everywhere – but King James’s has escaped lightly HE last academic year saw the continued success and popularity of King James’s School. The number of applicants for places at the school continues to increase and our waiting list for admission is the largest in our history.

This really is spectacular especially when you consider, as I reported last year, that our six nearest Secondary schools all have surplus places, with at least two of them being less than half full.

Our reputation in Huddersfield continues to grow and we are becoming the school of choice for an increasing number of parents.

This year’s Open Evening, in September, was proof of how popular the school has become.The school was absolutely packed out with parents.

Not one person whom myself and senior staff spoke to had anything but compliments for the school. They came from all over Huddersfield and their common link was that they wanted their children to attend King James’s School.

These really are exciting times.

The school is thriving and we continue to receive national accolades for our work. Academy status has helped, giving the school the freedom and

Photo: Jenny Ainger

Results Day 2014: a year of ‘educational turmoil’ which put extra pressure on pupils

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funding to improve our buildings, when they are published in January 2015 infrastructure and the quality of as they should prove to be interesting eseducation that we provide. However the pecially when the public realise how constant changes imposed on the school these changes have affected the results of is hindering, rather than helping, and schools.Almost every school has been afproducing a lot of unnecessary work and fected and the vast majority of‘high perpressure. forming’ schools, that I am aware of, The last academic year was yet an- have seen massive changes in their results other year of turmoil with 10+ percentin education with The last academic age point drops apchange after change year was yet pearing to be being made by the common. government. The ef- another year of Fortunately I fects were felt by am delighted to returmoil with change port that King every school. We, like other schools, had to after change being James’s School scrap our teaching seems to have esplans and think of and made by the caped relatively deliver new strategies Government lightly. to ensure that our stuOur results this dents, especially those inYear 11, would year were almost as expected. In the not be disadvantaged. main measure, 5A* - C (including EngThe changes put extra pressure on lish and Mathematics), we are currently the children and this was seen, nationally, at 71%, just 1% down on last year’s in the GCSE results published in August. record results. However in some subjects The media warned us in advance, we have seen drops in the number of reporting in late July that this year’s higher grades. Some results proved to be GCSE results would be‘volatile’ and that unexpected and many changed after reletters were being sent to schools and questing the papers to be remarked. In governors explaining this. When the some subjects the standard of marking results became available we all realised appears to be disgraceful with the marks the effect of these changes. A small awarded to papers changing, some drapercentage of schools that enter their matically, after being remarked. Our students early have benefited but schools English results have seen a slight imlike ours who only enter students for an provement and Mathematics results are examination when they are ready have the second highest in our recent history. suffered.

All in all we have escaped lightly. I just I acknowledge that these changes may hope now that the present Secretary of in the long term be for the better but State for Education allows schools to their timing this year was appalling. I will have time to implement and embed the look forward to the Performance Tables many changes of her predecessor.

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And back at the School…

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123.5 km, and Charlotte Ackroyd from Year 7 achieved a creditable 75.73 km.

Benefiting charities were Our Sleeping Angels, Make-a-Wish, Cancer Research UK and Cystic Fibrosis.

ORE than £300 was raised for charity thanks to the efforts of 25 pupils and several members of staff in July.

Fifteen spin bikes were hired for a ‘Tour de France’event and the sponsored pupils were split into two groups on successive days. Members of staff also took part.

Matthew Knowles (Year 9) cycled the greatest ‘distance’ in one day of 152.36 km, while Ryan Schofield (Year 9) managed 214.35 km over two days. Top Year 8 distance was Kacey Buckley with

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The Almondburian Poets

Y 1943, the country was wearying of war. Ironically, the editor of The Almondburian was Gerhard Schlesinger (one of two Schlesinger brothers at Almondbury Grammar School at the time) who subsequently anglicised his name to Gerard Slessenger and went on to become a senior manager in the BBC news division.

‘Old Boys are taking their full share in the nation’s struggle,’ he wrote in the April 1943 issue, ‘as is witnessed by the many letters we receive from many parts of the globe. During this term, the War has taken its toll from the ranks of our Old boys to an extent unprecedented in any one term during this war.’

It is not surprising that the pupils of the day also wanted to contribute to the war effort and D Hardy (2 alpha) was no exception.

Coal is used for many things; for making tanks and guns For making pots and pans and cans, and even making buns.

It’s used for making flashlights, and making kettles too; So, to stop this waste of fuel, it’s simply up to you.

Do not waste electricity, and please do not waste gas.

If you neglect this helpful hint, you simply are an ass.

For, to win great victory, fuel we all must save, Every Tom and Dick and Harry, and every Bill and Dave.

For, every bag of coal we save will help to make a gun, And every little gun we make will help make Hitler run.

So if you want to win this war and help our soldiers brave, Coal, gas and fuel each one of us must save.

‘Save Fuel’ by D Hardy, 2 Alpha The Almondburian,April 1943 7

Class of 1965 — not a good vintage?

Most of us, no doubt with the help of rose-tinted spectacles, imagine that ‘our year’ was one of the best. Not so our contributor from the Class of ’65.

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SIMON THACKRAY (‘TETLEY’) (1965 - 1971)

OW let’s be quite clear, what I’m not about to say is that I had a miserable time at KJGS – far from it. Taking the wine analogy that my title suggests, for me my school years would be represented by a light,

fun, drinkable red that you might take to a party.

But what I’m going to suggest is that had Ofsted existed in, say 1970, and taken a look at the Class of ’65, the verdict would have been “a corked white only fit to use in cooking.”

After leaving KJGS with six average O-levels, I am indebted to the Editor for Simon Thackray did his own thing including for a providing me with much of the year or more sharing a flat in Fartown with our golf reporter, Simon Russell. After four years of work, data revealed in past editions of the sport and play, he thought university sounded more school magazine. fun so he crammed for 12 months at BradfordTech; My evidence as to why the Class there,he got threeA-levels with good enough grades to gravitate south to the University of Kent to read of ’65 was definitely not a vintage Law with Social Policy.

After qualifying as a solicitor working in the City year comes in three parts: of London, he set up his own law practice in 1983 1.The accepted measure of sucbased in Beckenham,Kent which evolved into a partcess today seems to be 5 GCSE nership of 11 and a staff of 140 when he retired in passes (C grade or higher in 2011. For the last three years, he has been CEO of the Law South Group based in Chichester. today’s terms – in our day we were He married Jo, whom he met at university, in less nervous about the word‘fail’).

1979.They have three children, all now married, and two grandchildren.

So what percentage of the class of Jo and Simon continue to live in Beckenham. ’65 in the summer of 1970 achieved 5 or more O-level passes?

It was less than 50%. Even at an average comprehensive school today, this would be considered to be totally unsatisfactory, and for a grammar school it might well be a case for‘special measures’ as you’d usually expect to see a figure of close to 100%.

One might try to explain this using the fact that 1970 was a 8

World Cup year – the year of the great Brazilians – and we all took our eye off the ball and chose to watch the late-night footy from Mexico rather than revising and early to bed. But the evidence continues.

2. We set out in 1965 with a year group of 50. We had a few additions along the way with boys who had to repeat academic years or‘kept down’ as we used to say. I can’t be 100% sure of the total by the 5th form but let’s settle on 54. How many boys continued toTransitus in September 1970? It would appear that there were 24.

That’s 30 out of 54 boys either failing to achieve 5 O-levels (the minimum required to progress to the 6th form) or simply not having enough love for the School to want to continue.That’s 55% dropping out at that point. What would we say today if we saw this statistic published in a grammar school’s prospectus?

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At this point I should perhaps pause and make clear to most readers who will never have heard of me, I am not speaking as one of the ‘Smart Alecs’ of the Class of ’65. As Dave Bush said to me in front of the class, “You need to spend less time panting like a dog on heat outside Greenhead High School and more time with your school books.” I scraped 6 Olevels with grades equivalent today to Bs & Cs. I survived one year in the 6th form before I departed‘by mutual agreement’ of the School and my parents.

3. I would argue that students who stayed the course to take A-levels, who probably then went on to university, are more likely to feel they received a decent academic schooling helping them in their subsequent lives, thereby remembering their school fondly and therefore more likely to want to retain some connection by joining our illustrious Society. How many of the Class of ’65 are members?

Current OAS membership by year: Simon Thackray’s ‘corked’ year is shown in red. But could the 1960 vintage be poorer - and is the ’47 the Château Lafite of the wine cellar?

20 15 10

9

1990

1980

1970

1960

1950

1940

0

1930

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There are only 7 of us! Further analysis reveals that only 3 of the ‘magnificent seven’ stayed the course through to Alevels. For comparison, the range 15-25 members typifies a year group during the ’60s.

I need to offer up an explanation as to why the Class of ’65 was, in academic terms, corked. I suggest three main reasons: 1. Any teacher will tell you that in the sanctity of the staffroom, there will be talk about a year group. Like a crop of grapes, there are good years and bad years. My suspicion is that the staffroom chat identified the Class of ‘65 as a poor crop. I must accept the possibility that this assessment was true.

2. The staff of a school evolves. A forward-moving school would, I suggest, exhibit a healthy turnover of staff. There should be the long-servers mixed with those who are only transient as they move on to further their careers. At the point we hit the school in ’65, I could reel off the names of many members of staff who had been at the school a long time, approaching retirement, and were in a few cases being allowed to wither on the vine.

The young ambitious teachers were few and far between and those that there were stood out like beacons of light.

3. Living in the mid-to-late 60s as a teenager had its upsides but it also had its downsides. We were adjusting, our parents were adjusting and teachers were adjusting to a new era of

liberalism. Rules and authority were there to be questioned. Earlier year groups, I would suggest, were more prepared to be lectured, to write down dictated notes and revise them in order to pass an exam. We were not. We couldn’t see the point. Plus there were plenty of distractions! After a few years, the adjustment had taken place and with that adjustment came new teaching methods more in step with the times.

So, dear members, by all means give the School plaudits where they’re due but let’s not kid ourselves that every year was a vintage year for academic attainment. There will be many in that class of ’65 who would doubtless agree that the school didn’t help them achieve all they could and should have achieved academically. …Except they are never going to read this missive as they are not, nor ever likely to be, members of this Society. Shame!

I’ll now pour myself another glass of red.

We can’t all come top

SimonThackray and his academically challenged 1965 colleagues may draw comfort from the late Spike Milligan’s poem ‘Bad Report – Good Manners’…

My daddy said,“My son, my son, This school report is bad.”

I said,“I did, I did my best, My dad, my dad, my dad.”

“Explain, my son, my son,” he said “Why bottom of the class?”

“I stepped aside, my dad, my dad, To let the others past.”

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BOOKS

Satires and Legacies

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The launch of the latest set of poems by Old Almondburian David Morphet (1951-1958) will be warmly welcomed by his many admirers

Inheritance

ATIRES AND LEGACIES,in four parts, is the eleventh collection of David Morphet’s poetry to be published by Notion Books.

In Purdue’sTale Jonah Purdue leads a quiet bachelor life until he encounters the private-finance SKEWED Group, which plans to staff SKEWED care homes with young offenders from SKEWED jails – following‘remedial procedures’ in a SKEWED‘research establishment’.When young offenders begin to disappear,Purdue blows the whistle – but faces an establishment cover-up.

Satire continues in A Tale of the Red Queen and other witness, where the Queen is joined by a Master Chef, Childe Roland, a pantomime, and a forlorn Ringmaster.

PartThree – Legacies salutes Francis Bacon, statesman-philosopher and a father of the Enlightenment;William Penn, who introduced freedom of worship in Pennsylvania; the great explorer James Cook;Edward Jenner, saviour of countless lives with his smallpox vaccine; and the indefatigable antislave trade campaigner Thomas Clarkson.

In Part Four, the Angel – who has twice appeared in David Morphet’s earlier work – returns to find fault and pontificate.

Six of the poems from David’s Sequence from the Cyclades (2012) have recently been set to music (soprano and string quartet) with a first performance, at the Athenaeum in London,planned for next spring.

Good or bad there’s no escaping it.

Life from first to last depends on bonds we’ve inherited – securities that have no date of expiration or release.

Our histories are rich with evidence of balances that linger – debts requiring service, and facilities on which it would be witless not to draw.

What they say…

Dannie Abse noted ‘a great gift for evoking atmosphere in Seventy-Seven Poems and found The Silence of Green ‘a remarkable book, its sequences all of a piece’.

Michael Hamburger found 39Ways of Looking ‘magnanimous and intelligent’.

Anthony Thwaite admired ‘the pertinacity of observation and clear lines’ of The Silence of Green.

George Szirtes observed that the Lyrics from the Periodic Table ‘sit at a fascinating angle from the normal concerns of poetry’.

Alan Jenkins found Night Train to Utopia ‘impressive, ambitious and elegantly done’.

Satires

and

Legacies DAVID MORPHET

Price: £9.99 (including p + p) 76 pages, soft-back, 200 x 130 mm ISBN 978-0-9575458-1-6 Available from Notion Books, 11 Daisy Lane, London SW6 3DD

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HALL OF FAME

Denis Arthur Bowen: painter

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The work of avant-garde painter Denis Bowen is represented in galleries all over the world.The latest exhibition opens in Halifax in January 2015

HE late Gerald Hinchliffe’s History of King James’s Grammar School is thorough in reminding us of the many public figures – the likes of actor FelixAylmer, runner Derek Ibbotson, footballer/international baritone Jeffrey Neilson Taylor and scientist Harold Himsworth* – who attended the School over the years.

But one of the few who slipped the net was the abstract painter and teacher Denis Arthur Bowen, whose work will be on display at a major exhibition in Halifax in January 2015.

The omission is not entirely surprising as Denis Bowen maintained a surprisingly low profile during five years at the School from 1934 to 1938. A son of a Welsh farmer and an English mother, he was born in Kimberley, South Africa in 1921.Whilst still a youngster he lost both his parents and travelled with his elder brother Stanley (usually known as Allen)

*See ‘Every picture tells a story’on page 16

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and two sisters to England. There they were brought up first by relations in Manchester and then by an aunt at her home in Cleveland Road, Edgerton.

We know little about his time at Almondbury Grammar School except that he was immediately appointed Form Captain of IIa for the school year 1934-35. He took part in the 1936 Pageant, but only in a modest non-speaking role as one of the ‘Townsmen of Almondbury’. He was considerably upstaged by his brother who also joined the School in 1934, moving straight into FormV; he took the major part of Henry VIII which curiously did earn him a passing mention in Hinchliffe’s book on account of his impressive ‘paunch’.Allen was also a prolific contributor of lengthy articles to The Almondburian about life in South Africa.

Denis took his School Certificate in 1938, receiving ‘credits’ in Geography, French (Written and Oral), Chemistry andArt. Showing precocious artistic talent

he left School at the age of 17, to enter by rockets and manned space travel, exHuddersfield School of Art. His tutor pressed in his paintings by the use of there was the eminent local artist Regi- thrown paint. In the 1970s he experinald Napier whose whimsical murals de- mented increasingly with fluorescent picting such scenes as the Scapegoat Hill paints to achieve unearthly, luminous efBand and the Marsden Cuckoo were for fects in his work.

A member of the international art critmany years a feature of the children’s liics group AICA, brary in Huddersfield.

Bowen travelled (They are now on dis- A man of great play in the local studies charm, he was the widely in later years, painting, teaching and library). exhibiting regularly in Napier encouraged ideal ambassador the Balkans.

Bowen to continue his for young artists A book and retrostudies at the Royal spective at the BelCollege of Art in Lon- and for the avant grave Gallery, London don. However the Secgarde cause in 2001, together ond World War intervened and Bowen joined the Navy, with the belated acquisition of work by where he served as a radar operator and the Tate Gallery, finally celebrated his travelled on Atlantic convoys and on trips broad, but underrated, contribution to to the Far East.He finally entered the post-war abstract art in Britain.

Denis Bowen was a man with many enRCA in 1946.

Bowen’s first teaching appointment thusiasms in life, endlessly interested in was in the Interior Design department at ideas about art, history, anthropology, sciKingston School of Art. Later he also ence and countless other topics. His flat taught at Hammersmith, Ealing, the Cen- was full of ephemera and visual puns intral School and the University ofVictoria cluding a door covered with a life-size onVancouver Island. In addition to paint- poster of Brigitte Bardot, itself swathed in a veil and later replaced with a collage ing, he also taught Industrial Design.

From 1956 to 1966 Denis Bowen di- of eyes; and his kitchen wall featured inrected the New Vision Centre Gallery at triguing constructions from sardine cans.

He married and divorced twice and is 4 Seymour Place, Marble Arch where he lived for much of his life. During this survived by his daughterAmanda. He died

time, over 200 artists from all over the in March, 2006. world displayed their work in more than Paintings by Denis Bowen will be at the Crossley 250 exhibitions.A man of great charm, he Gallery, Dean Clough, Halifax from 17th January - 26th was an ideal ambassador for young artists April 2015,open every day 10 am - 5 pm;admission free. and for the avant-garde cause.

The exhibition is organised by Dean Clough and Gallery Bowen was a devoted experimenter in Different, London, in association with the Estate of Denis painting. During the 1960s space age he Bowen and Robert Hall. started to become increasingly fascinated Overleaf: Denis Bowen’s work assessed 13

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Art historian ROBERT HALL assesses the work of Denis Bowen

familiar ‘planetary’ paintings in the 1980s, which he continued to produce well into the new century.A fine example is Planet Fringe Diptych of 2002.

The theme of internationalism, as well as his organisational abilities, was evident in his founding of CelticVision, a group of artists of Celtic heritage who exhibited in Spain,Ireland,Scotland,Brittany and Cornwall, this involvement leading to the introduction of mythological themes into his painting. Bowen had long associations with the former Yugoslavia following his fund-raising activities following the Skopje earthquake of 1963. Closer to home, he painted landscapes in the Holmfirth area, including Mist, 2000, following a joint exhibition with his friend and former pupil Stephen Court at Lupton Square Gallery, Honley, in 1999.

Denis Bowen is represented in the collection of theTate as well as many public and private collections, including Huddersfield Art Gallery.As a teacher, gallery director and promoter of the avant-garde in this country his influence was deep and far reaching, and as an artist he was a pioneer of abstraction with a career of over sixty years.As an artist his standing in the history of art in the second half of the twentieth century is, perhaps, unfairly under-estimated in comparison with his other activities and achievements.

ENIS BOWEN’s painting style was influenced in his early career by contemporary abstract painting from France, known as art informel or tachisme, a gestural approach employing chance and accident.It is usually identified in contrast to American Abstract Expressionism, or ‘action painting’ which emerged as the leading avant-garde style of the 1950s,although Denis took inspiration from a number of sources..

He became well known in the London art world as one of the founders and director of the NewVision Centre Gallery, one of a number of independent galleries introducing domestic audiences to the international avant-garde in the 1950s and 60s, documented in a Tate Britain exhibition in 2012.The NVCG,founded in 1956, embraced a new internationalism and became known for exhibiting European artists and those from the Commonwealth, including from India, Pakistan and the Caribbean.Denis staged over 250 exhibitions in the ten year life of the NVCG. His own work in the 1960s took its inspiration from the heroic era of space exploration and the new imagery it generated providing him with a range of visual material – galaxies, planets, moons, eclipses – to which he returned during his career.A good example from later in his career is Diorama Series 7 of 1987, named after the building in which he had his studio.

Following the closure of the NVCG and a period of teaching in Canada, Bowen embarked on a series of ‘psychedelic’ and multi-media works involving music and dance, returning to the more

Robert Hall was Director of Huddersfield Art Gallery until 2011 and is now an Assistant Lecturer with the Open University in theYorkshire region. He organised the Denis Bowen retrospective exhibition at Huddersfield in 1989 and is working with the Denis Bowen Estate on the forthcoming exhibition at Dean Clough.

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1 2

1. Mist (2000) 2. Diorama Series 7 (1987) 3.Atomic Image (1959) 4. Planet Fringe Diptych (2002)

Pictures reproduced by permission of Gallery Different, London (www.gallerydifferent.co.uk) and Estate of Denis Bowen

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Every picture tells a story

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Harold Himsworth attends the 50th anniversary of the Scientific Society

HE teaching of science has always been an important part of the curriculum at King James’s.This dates back over 150 years to the setting up of a ‘Chemical Society of King James’s Free School in Almondbury’ on 12th December 1851 at the time of Rev Alfred Easther.

The more broadly based ‘Scientific Society’ was set up in 1919, a few years after Taylor Dyson became headmaster.

Fifty years later, on 4th July 1969, some 200 members, Old Almondburians and guests attended a special anniversary lecture in the gym when the guest speaker was Sir Harold Himsworth.

Harold Himsworth had himself attended Almondbury Grammar School for several years from 1916 and was almost certainly a member of the original Scientific Society. He went on to work in the medical unit of University College Hospital in London from 1930, becoming Professor and Director in 1939. During this period he made important contributions to the clinical investigation of diabetes.

He later became Secretary of the Medical Research Council, the body

Above left to right: G Walker, Sir Harold Himsworth, J Dale, S M Priestley Below left to right: Ald K Brooke (Mayor of Huddersfield), Mayoress, Harry Taylor (Headmaster), Sir Harold Himsworth

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responsible for administering Parliament's grant for medical research, and in 1953 was appointed Honorary Physician to the Queen.

Widely liked and admired, he received many honours both at home and abroad.

He was appointed KCB in 1952 and elected

FRS in 1955. He died in 1993.

A LIFE IN THE DAY

‘Teak’ was my inspiration

His gruff appraisal was penetrating. He once told me ‘an artist is a lazy person who has learnt to use only a few strokes of the pen instead of scribbling’.

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ROGER I SYKES (1946 - 1953)

AM usually up by 8.00 am and I just have a light breakfast with my wife Sheenagh before settling down to the tasks of the day. There are always plenty of jobs around the house but if I get a chance I might sneak into the workshop to do a bit of work on my latest model steam locomotive.

I’ve always been keen on steam, right back to my schoolboy days when I remember the old Stanier steam locomotives going through Berry Brow. We used to put halfpennies on the line, to convert them into pennies. My father was an engineer at the dyeworks in Honley and I remember, as a boy, balancing twelvesided threepenny bits on the steam engines to marvel at how smoothly they were running.

My first school was Berry Brow Council School and this is where my love for drawing started thanks to the encouragement of my teacher Miss Turner. I remember

entering the Huddersfield Road Safety Competition with a drawing of Castle Hill and a caption: If for pleasure you drive in a car, Don’t let your eyes from the road wander far.

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I won the first prize, and the Mayor of Huddersfield presented lots of books to the school.

When I went from Berry Brow to Almondbury Grammar School, my drawing was encouraged by Edward ‘Teak’ Akroyd.

It is because of him that I am probably mainly remembered today within the Old Almondburians’ Society for the pen-andink and scraper-board drawings that I used to do for the school magazine. He was a great influence – I remember him telling me that “An artist is a lazy person who has learnt to use only a few strokes of the pen instead of scribbling”. He was full of little sayings like that. In woodwork, he always said, “Measure twice, cut once!” and I still follow that maxim

For many years, the Huddersfield Examiner used to carry a daily inside-page feature covering minor events ‘in and about’ the town. Each day there would also be a small drawing of a scene somewhere in Huddersfield.

Unimpressed by some of the drawings submitted by readers, Roger Sykes decided to send in some of his own.

today.He trusted me to run a woodwork without any repeat fees. But he agreed class unsupervised during lunchtime – that I could also sell re-drawn copies of long before the days of ‘elf & safety! Teak the same drawings elsewhere, so it was a was a man of few words, but his gruff ap- pretty good deal for me.

From Almondbury Grammar School I praisals were always very penetrating. went on to Imperial College in London to At some stage, my drawings came to gain a degree in aeronautical engineering the attention of the Huddersfield Examiner who printed an article with the excruciat- and be elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeroing headline ‘He uses his mother’s darning nautical Society. I was keen on flying at needle for his sketches’. That made me this time and I joined the university air wince, as scraper-board drawings are done squadron to fly with the RAF Volunteer with a special scraper tool! I was also a bit Reserve. Somehow, I also found time to peeved that they didn’t pay me anything play guitar and banjo in the college jazz band and become art editor of the college for the drawing. newspaper, producing cartoons on deAt that time, the Huddersfield Examiner used to have a feature called ‘In and About’ mand. The university course included which included a little draw- Old houses in St Michael’s Lane: one of many drawings ing of some scene in the dis- produced for the 1955 Derbyshire Guide. trict. Some of them were not very recognizable, so I decided to offer some of my own. For a 14-year-old, I was quite an astute businessman. I was determined to be paid for my drawings this time so I insisted on speaking to the man in charge rather than a mere reporter. Mr Dicks – a real gentleman – came down to speak to me, and having looked at my drawings, asked me how much I wanted. “£5 per drawing,” I replied boldly.

It doesn’t seem much now, but £5 in the 1950s is equivalent to over £100 today. To my surprise, Mr Dicks agreed, but only on condition that the Examiner could use them as often as they wished, 19

of mortars and parachute flares were sample tested.

The job involved a lot of travelling, particularly to the United States and Woomera in Australia where we had great fun carrying out test firing of missiles.

Even on days when we didn’t fire anything at all, it was reported that the Australian sheep farmers would still claim for a killed sheep or two.

My final job was as IT Executive responsible for engineering and business computing, and I retired from the company – by then British Aerospace – in 1990.

After a couple of hours in my workshop, I will be starting to think about a quick lunch before getting down to the next task of the day. If it’s fine I may well cut the grass at the Bristol Astronomical Society’s observatory nearby at Failand.

spells with Rolls-Royce Derby and at Armstrong Whitworth’s, Coventry. So I also did drawings for the 1955 Derbyshire Guide and the Coventry Evening Star. After leaving university I won a Goldsmith Travel Scholarship which enabled me to spend some time sketching around Europe.

Then I pursued my career in aerodynamics by joining what was then known as Bristol Aeroplane Company and later became British Aircraft Corporation.

Most of my career I worked in the Guided Weapons Division, firing big fireworks into the sky.This also had its origins in my schooldays during the war when we used to collect spent misfired mortars and parachute flares at the Crosland Moor range of Standard Fireworks which was a wartime firing test range where batches

Full steam ahead: a busy public running day at the Ashton Court railway station, Bristol

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My interest in astronomy developed when I was still at school when I met Arthur C Clarke – who first proposed satellite communications systems – at a British Interplanetary Society meeting in Leeds. It was he who suggested that I try for Imperial College when I asked him how to get into rockets.

I also got to know Patrick Moore very well over the years. He was a very genuine chap who was just the same off the screen as he was on television. When he visited us in Bristol he played my son at chess – few people knew that Patrick was a former chess champion.

On Friday evenings, I usually attend our weekly Bristol Astronomical Society meetings at Bristol Grammar School. It’s a very active society which I joined when I retired and we have around 120 members. We have two Newtonian reflector telescopes – a 12 inch and an 18 inch – and I was one of a team of six that built the 18 inch telescope two years ago.

Alternatively, if it’s a steaming day I might well be required at Ashton Court where 17 of us, all members of the Bristol Society of Model and Experimental Engi-

Stargazers: Roger, in the yellow jacket with the team that built the 18 inch telescope with rolloff shed at Failand

21

neers, run the small-gauge steam railway.

It’s very popular with the public and we have thousands of passengers every year.

The Society is one of the oldest in the country and has some 250 members from all walks of life.

We have travelled around quite a bit in recent years. Earlier this year we spent 10 days in Switzerland – exploring the mountain cog-railways, needless to say – and in June we had a trip to Iceland. More steam, but this time from the volcanoes! I still enjoy music and in October we shall be going to Croatia for a jazz festival.

We have three children: two girls and a boy. Both of the girls went to Manchester University. Jennie is a very bright doctor who lives in London; she was very nearly an astronaut, being one of the last five of the 14,000 who applied. Fiona gained a First Class Honours degree and is a mathematics teacher – a career she always wanted – in Ipswich. Our son Christopher, formerly a choral scholar at Bristol Cathedral School, studied biochemistry at Birmingham University and is a Business Systems Analyst specialising in complex databases. He worked in

So thanks to Harry Taylor and Teak, I was able to pursue my interest in big fireworks whilst continuing to enjoy life as an amateur artist. It’s funny that just two people could have had such a profound influence over one’s whole life.

By evening, it’s time for a good meal – Sheenagh is a very good cook – and a glass of wine. I’m not a great one for watching television, though I may catch the occasional good programme on BBC4.

In any case, if it’s a clear evening, I might well be out again at the observatory, which we open to the public on Saturday evenings.

So why watch the stars on the box when there are far more interesting stars to watch in the sky?

France for four years and returned to work for two major banks.

Looking back, I’m really proud and grateful to have attended Almondbury Grammar School. I’m particularly indebted to Harry Taylor and Teak for it was they who made possible my career in aerodynamics. My original plan was to leave after the Fifth Form to study at Leeds College of Art and my mother went down to the school to discuss this with the headmaster. Teak was also there and strongly advised me to keep art as a hobby rather than as a career. Harry Taylor insisted that I stay on to study sciences, and to help with the costs he awarded me a grant of £8 (over £150 today) from his ‘Headmaster’s Discretionary Fund’.

…and talking of ‘Teak’

Our thanks to Gerald Stead (1948 - 1956) for sending in this scraper-board drawing by Edward Akroyd of Hollin Brigg House, Holmfirth.

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Annual Dinner

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A N D R E W HAIGH

HE return of the Annual Dinner to the school last year was a resounding success and we received nothing but extremely positive feedback from those who attended. Consequently, this year’s dinner will again take place at the school, on Saturday, 22nd November, at 6.30 p.m. for 7.30 p.m.

The speaker this year will be Old Almondburian Tony Cape (right) and the bar will include a selection of real ales Name

Dates

From

Robin Beaumont

1968-1976

Shefford

Martin Armitage

Godfrey Bedford Andrew Best Keith Brier

Norman Burluraux James Clayton Robert Field

John Geldard John Graley

David Heptonstall Vaughan Kitchen David Morrison

Norman Pearson

Geoffrey Robertshaw Rev Stuart Roebuck Prof Edward Royle Richard Searby Ian Shaw

John Terry

Stuart Thompson

1968-1976 1949-1957 1968-1976 1947-1953 1949-1954 1947-1951

kindly supplied by former Old Almondburians’ S o c i e t y Chairman Nick Briggs of M a l l i n s o n ’s Brewing Company.

The ticket price will remain at £27.50 and an application form is included with this magazine.

Please be aware that, now that the dinner has returned to the school, spaces are limited, so early applications are recommended.

It is always good to see members making a special effort to stage a reunion of their year at the dinner and such occasions are always enjoyable.

Paul Balderstone and Richard Taylor are organising a sixtieth anniversary reunion of the Class of 1954 and Keith Crawshaw is doing likewise for the fiftieth anniversary of the Class of 1964. There is also talk of a staff reunion this year, but what about the members of the classes of 1934, 1939, 1944, 1974, 1984, 1994, 1999 or 2004?

Ticket sales for this year’s dinner have taken off more quickly than usual and as we go to press the early birds who have already applied for a ticket are shown in the table on the left.Why not come along and join them?

Nottingham Honley

Bradford

Upperthong

Celle, Germany Norwich

1973-1989 (staff) Kirkheaton 1964-1972

Skelmanthorpe

1949-1957

Matlock

1962-1969 1963-1970 1967-1970 1961-1966 1947-1951 1950-1955 1955-1962 1976-1999 1946-1954 1947-1955 1949-1956

Fixby

Alvechurch Chigwell Leyland Telford

Newsome York

Lepton

Northallerton Chester

Disabled facilities available

Cheadle 23

Founders’ Day

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R E V S T UA RT ROEBUCK

S we reported in the last issue, the traditional Founders’ Day Service will be held at All Hallows’ Church, Almondbury at 11.00 am on Sunday, 23rd November. Almondburians are invited to assemble at 10.30 am in front of the School for the traditional procession up the hill.

We are again hoping to involve the Sc hool more fully this year and I’m

pleased to report that the event will be publicised in the School’s October communication to parents in order to encourage them to attend. The Head Boy and Head Girl will both be reading lessons and we are in touch with the School’s Head of Performing Arts who is again keen for pupils to provide a musical contribution to the Service.

The Executive Committee would urge all Almondburians to make every effort to attend the Service. It would help if you are able to indicate in the space provided on the Annual Dinner ticket application form (or on the appropriate page of the OAS website) whether or not you expect to attend the Founders’ Day Service as well.

However, this is not essential and you are most welcome to turn-up on the day if you are able.

SUDOKU

7

8 9 5 6 6 2 1 4 7 7 2 6 1 2 5 7 3 3 1 7 2 4 6 8 4 9 7

Difficulty: very hard

Each row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain the digits 1 to 9 24

Membership

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A N D R E W HAIGH

INCE the last membership report was published, we have been delighted to welcome two new members to the Society: Norman Pearson (1961-66), from Leyland Shane Wooler (1986-91), from Grange Moor Please remember that subscriptions for 2014-2015 fell due on 1st September.

If you are one of the few who do not pay by standing order and you have already sent your £10.00 subscription for this year, thank you very much for being so efficient!

If you do not pay by standing order and you haven’t recently made a pay-

ment for this year, then you will receive a letter with this magazine pointing out that your subscription is not up-to-date.

In this event, please send your payment without delay.

As I mentioned above, it does make life much easier if you pay by standing order so, if you can complete the updated standing order mandate that accompanies the letter and return it in the envelope provided, that would be even better!

Alternatively, you may renew online, using PayPal or a debit or credit card, by visiting www.oas.org.uk and clicking on the ‘Join/Renew Online’ button.

The schools challenge

In our last issue, we invited readers to tackle three mathematical teasers in a recent Trust Team Challenge. Here are the answers.

A car’s milometer shows that the number of miles it has travelled is 15951. This number is palindromic which means that it reads the same forwards and backwards.

The next time a palindromic number appears on the milometer is exactly two hours later. What is the average speed of the car during these two hours?

Answer: The next palindromic number is 16061, a speed of 55 mph

A cube is divided into 64 identical smaller cubes. Seven of these small cubes are removed. The resulting shape has a volume of 1,539 cm3. What is the total surface area of the original cube?

Answer: Surface area: 864 cm2 A sunflower in my garden doubles its height every 24 hours. It is 1.5 m tall just before midnight on Sunday. On which earlier day did it measure 10 cm? Answer:

Thursday

The Editor’s Commendation goes to Peter Turner, and to David Beach who gave three correct answers at the second attempt 25

PRIVATE PASSIONS

Messing about on the river

I

ANDREW TAYLOR (1963-1970)

The first in a new series in which Old Almondburians reveal some of their very favourite ways of spending their leisure hours F you’re in a hurry, you don’t go by narrowboat. It’s not just that it’s not built for speed – a carthorse not a racehorse, if you like, a fifteen-tonne truck rather than a Ferrari – but also that you’re limited to staying on the water, and rivers go where they please.

If you venture up towards Lechlade and the source of the Thames, for instance, you can see the spire of

the local Church of St Lawrence in front of you. Glance away for a moment, and it has mysteriously moved far away to the right; look again, and it is over on the left. At one point, it is actually behind you. It’s not the church that’s moved, of course, but the river – long looping meanders that idle across the countryside, mocking any attempt at haste.

Canals, of course, are more direct

Andrew Taylor has been a freelance writer since 2004. After a career in journalism which started with the Yorkshire Evening Post and ended with the BBC, he travelled to the Middle East in 1988 to work for Dubai Television. His recent book Walking Wounded – the Life and Poetry of Vernon Scannell has been widely acclaimed.

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Summer tranquillity: Myfamwy moored outside the author’s home alongside the River Avon in Warwickshire

– but then the locks catch you out, filling and emptying at their own pace, however desperate you may be to get where you’re going. From home, we can be moored in the basin at Stratford-on-Avon in four hours on a good day, which doesn’t sound so bad, until you remember that in the car, the same journey would take about ten minutes.

And that, in short, is what I like about narrowboats. In my twenties – a long time ago now – I would have scoffed at this, but they are the best reminder I know that it’s the journey that matters, not the destination.

My wife Penny and I are relative newcomers – dilettantes even, compared to some of the wizened old chaps you see leaping on and off their boats in the locks, a windlass in their hand and a gleam in their eye.

The real experts live on board, and gently chug their lives away along the

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rivers and canals. They look at you quizzically if you ask where they’ve come from and whether they’re going far: the answer, if they deign to give it to you, is that they’ve come from back there, and they’re going on for ever, or at least until their knees give out.

We started with river boats a dozen years or so ago on the Thames with a little white cruiser, Mr Toad. I used to snarl grumpily every time a day on the river was suggested – I had too much to do, I wanted to drive somewhere, or mow the lawn, or something much more important than messing about in boats. It was quite a while, since I can be quite dim, before I realised that within a few seconds of actually being on the water, all those important tasks and appointments had floated away like mist in the air. There is no better way to relax than lying back and feeling

Indoor bliss: a bottle of wine, a pair of slippers and a book of number puzzles in case there’s nothing on the TV

the soft swell of the water, preferably with a bacon sandwich in your hand, and thinking about absolutely nothing.

And then, a couple of years ago, we had the Grand Plan. We would sell our house and look for a smaller place that had a mooring where we could keep a boat at the bottom of the garden. And because this was something of a tall order, we would spend a year looking for the new house and living on the boat. For me, by now completely besotted by the river, that was the best part of the scheme – but then came disaster.

Practically at the same time as we found the boat we wanted, and quite unexpectedly, we found the house

28

that we wanted too. My year as a water-gypsy suddenly shrivelled to three months in a marina, in the depths of winter.

That’s when we began to appreciate Myfanwy’s finer qualities. “Aren’t you freezing?” people would ask, as the snow fell and the marina iced over – and all the time we were opening windows to cool down, with the woodburner pumping out heat and the central heating occasionally kicking in. “How do you manage to cook?” they’d say, and the answer was “Very well indeed, thank you.” And then, rather suspiciously and edging gently away, “What about – er – showers?” “As many as we like,” we’d answer, and then turn

and survived with no damage other back to the telly in the corner.

It’s now about eighteen months than that to my pride. These things since we drove her up from the happen once to everyone, I tell myThames to her new home on the self.

That’s the thing about narrowRiver Avon – a journey of ten days that would have taken us a couple of boats – because everything happens hours in a car. In that time, I’ve so slowly, even disasters tend to be much less disasgrown a bit more trous than they competent at the No one ever would be in a car. tiller, although I’m looks askance at Presumably that’s still woefully ignothe reason why, rant about exactly a helmsman though people what it is that promight frown at duces that agree- holding a can of several tons of able rumbling beer in his hand steel boat being sound from the engine compartment beneath my feet, driven by a roaring drunk, no one and I’m still capable of occasional ever looks askance at a helmsman holding a can of beer in his hand. lapses of concentration.

Not long ago, I was waiting in a And, while drivers on the motorway lock for the water level to drop, and may wave their fists and fingers at thought I would just have time to go each other aggressively, the same and fetch myself a drink. So I made people on the river will exchange the rope fast to the stern and went nothing more violent than a wave to get a beer. Everything would have and a friendly “Morning!”

So that’s my private passion – been fine if I hadn’t stopped to lean out of the Houdini hatch and enjoy Myfanwy. 45 feet long and about 15 the sunshine with my first mouthful tonnes. She’s an easy going old lady – – which meant that by the time I got well, 15 years old, so no more than a back to the stern, the water level had teenager really, I suppose – who asks dropped but the boat, firmly tied to only an annual service and surpristhe bank, hadn’t. After much shout- ingly infrequent infusions of diesel ing, swearing, and waving of arms oil. I think this could be the real

we managed to fill the lock again, thing.

A glance at the groaning magazine shelves in W H Smith confirms that we are a nation of enthusiastic hobbyists. Do YOU keep bees, collect antiques, make clocks, restore cars – or have any other of the thousands of other interests that keep us Brits happy? If so, drop us a line and share your ‘private passions’ with other readers of The Almondburian.

29

Farnley Lines

L

DAV E BU SH

IFE, as we well know, is full of coincidences and one occurred a few weeks ago which, I hope, will be of interest to readers. On the same day as the July 2014 issue of The Almondburian arrived, the photo below fell out of a folder in my study. Now on page 31 there’s a picture of the winning OAS quiz team which includes Doug Norris (1961-1969), looking still very youthful. Mirabile dictu, as Vergil often wrote, (‘marvellous to relate’ for non-Latinists), the fallen photo also depicts one, just a little less world weary, Doug. Alongside him is this article’s author.

And a glance in the mirror suggests the Ravages of Time have been less kind to me than to him.

However, that is not the point I want to make.The photo is a summary of what was and is so important to me in that it involves

some of my great passions: football, King James’s and Old Almondburian friendships.

I still see Doug once a year at the Dinner and much value our meeting. A little challenge is to date it and name anyone else in the picture. I know the goalkeeper past whom I am about to lash an unstoppable shot but welcome other information.Who, for example, was the photographer? How sad that I presume Health and Safety rules and Risk Assessment nowadays prevent teachers from taking part in games with or against pupils. The annual Staff v Students football and cricket matches were always eagerly anticipated and greatly enjoyed.

Geoff Riley – and others – turn 75 A follow-up to this serendipitous moment came at the end of July when I received an invitation to attend the 75th birthday celebration in Rastrick of Old Almondburian Geoff Riley (1950-1956); unfortunately we had a family gathering the same weekend so I could not travel up. However, this reinforces what

30

Unstoppable: Doug Norris looks on as a youthful Dave Bush fires the ball past goalkeeper Ian Sheard

Old crocks, back row left to right: Andrew Douglas, Ian Kirby, Dave Morrison, Rob Floyd, Peter Gawthorpe, Robert Battye, Dougie Norris, Richard Teale, Graham Cliffe, John Headey, Jez Whitehead, Andrew Kirby, Phil Sykes, David Pollard, Richard Taylor, Simon Russell, Dr Andrew Ilchyshyn, Mike Powner, Jack Taylor. Front row: Geoff Riley, Geoff Headey, John Graley, Bob Williams, Richard Thackray, Bob Beecroft, Mick Lightowlers, Phil Shaw, Dave Bush

I wrote earlier in that Geoff and I played football together for many years and still maintain our friendship so long after hanging up or, in my case, burning our boots.

How much I value our association which enables us to maintain such precious friendships.

Old Almondburian Pete Ashton (19501955) must also have celebrated his 75th in 2014 for there were three of us OA soccer regulars who had same age birthdays. You will conclude that I too have just had my 75th. As my mother used to say ‘I don’t feel 75’. I try to stay active and not too out-oftouch with modern times. For example, I now have a birthday present Kindle although Porthcawl Museum have asked if they can have my mobile phone when it finally expires.

Old Crocks Doug, Geoff and I all had the pleasure of taking part in the Old Crocks Football match that took place on the afternoon preceding the 400th Anniversary Dinner in 2008. It was a memorable occasion, accurately described by Doug at the time as ‘a triumphant last hurrah for 29 Almond-

burians’.The outcome: Jessop/Siddon beat Dartmouth/Fenay 4-3. Because of the ravages of old age, it was observed that some players quietly disappeared in the second half, though I was flattered that Doug oberved in his match report that ‘Dave Bush did exceptionally well, playing for at least ¾ of the 80 minutes.’

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Favourite rooms My contribution to the July issue of The Almondburian recalled my favourite rooms at King James’s and I invited others to write in with their personal memories (see Postbag on page 41). I mention this again because of another coincidence. The frontispiece to the last Almondburian (right) depicts the Old Kitchen Entrance.The window

it enabled us to enjoy many weekends away from Huddersfield and move vast amounts of waste paper to a mill near Halifax thereby boosting our funds.

The other comment I would make is on the pose struck by Headmaster, Harry Taylor. It seems to encapsulate his laid back approach to his role at King James’s, and I do not intend that in any derogatory way.

on the second floor is the one on whose sill the wooden block was attached to prevent chafing as those escaping would have made their precipitous descent by rope to the safety of the yard below.

Scouting memories Patrick O’Brien tells me that he has recently unearthed some slides depicting life at a scout camp at West Tanfield in the Yorkshire Dales in 1973. These he has digitalised and are now available for viewing on the OAS web site. It reminds me of another wonderful and satisfying aspect of life at KJ at that period: the school scout troop. I have written about this many times in the past and must restrict myself to a brief reminiscence. The scout van shown below was, I believe, the troop’s second, the first being a converted ambulance.

There were no seats in the back so scouts sat on an unattached wooden bench, on flimsy chairs or on the floor, not quite conforming to modern safety standards.Yet

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Annual Dinner Inevitably I suppose, much of the above has been in a nostalgic vein. Let’s look ahead for a moment. In some ways the opening pages of The Almondburian are the most uplifting for there we read of a dynamic school, bursting at its ancient seams and achieving success in so many diverse fields; I should love to have seen its production of ‘Grease’. Despite fears that when I, along with JackTaylor, Pat Reid and latterly Pat O’Brien andWalter Raleigh retired, the school would collapse –what hubris! – King James’s seems to be managing quite well without us.Will these be at the dinner in November? I do hope so for there is talk of a staff reunion then. There’s also the attraction of having Tony Cape, one of my former star Latinists and Senior Scouts, as a speaker; entertainment guaranteed. Add on the fact that the ’scope has not been sold nor the bins binned – the next Big Birding Trip is booked for May 2015 – and there’s so much about which to feel optimistic and excited.

S C H O O L S UPPO RT

KJS Prize Sponsorship Appeal KEITH CRAWSHAW (1964-1971)

E

The OAS supports King James’s School in many ways.There is now an opportunity to lend your name to one of the annual Presentation Day prizes

VERYONE will remember attending the annual Speech Day – or Presentation Evening as it is now called– in Huddersfield Town Hall.

After the certificates had been collected we watched a further stream of prize winners coming on to the stage.

Awards were presented for a wide variety of academic, social and sporting achievements. Although some were in the names of companies, other organisations and individuals, many were sponsored by Old Almondburians, both former pupils and former members of staff.

The Society has sponsored the prestigious Jessop Prize for mathematics for over 50 years and theYear 7 prizes for progress and effort, in the name of The Young Old Almondburians, for over 20 years. In addition otherYear prizes have been sponsored

Photo: Jenny Ainger

PRIZE

Prize for Upper School Boys’ Cross Country Prize for Lower School Netball Prize for Upper School Netball

Prize for Sporting Achievement Outside School Prize for Design

Prize for Textiles Technology Prize for Leisure & Tourism Prize for Local Studies

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by the various Old Almondburian sporting sections for a number of years now.

As the School has changed with the introduction of girls and with new modern subjects so the categories of prizes have been revised but also increased in number.

Old Almondburians continue to provide significant support to the School with donations for a range of prizes but a number of awards are currently in need of sponsorship (see table).

If you have a particular passion for, or interest in, one of these subjects or activities please consider helping the School with sponsorship, typically around £25 per year.

For further details please contact me (keithcrawshawrhb@gmail.com; tel 01484 533658) or Joanne Hodgson (staff.jhodgson@kingjames.org.uk; tel 01484 412990 ext 217) at the School.

Tennis

T

A ND R E W H A I GH

pleasant summer evening than playing social tennis in the Woodsome Valley, so why not come along and join us next summer?

We will be playing on Thursday evenings from 7.30 pm until dusk from Thursday, 4th June, 2015 until Thursday, 27th August, 2015.

HE good summer of 2014 saw much enjoyable tennis played at the school, with only a couple of Thursday evenings lost to the weather, along with a couple of others being lost to most people deciding to take their holidays at the same time!

However, we still have fewer people playing than we used to and there must surely be plenty worse ways to spend a Some of this summer’s tennis players on court on a lovely July evening: Back row, left to right: David Parry, Neil Gledhill, Andrew Haigh, Darren Maplethorpe.

Front row, left to right: Annabel Haigh, Eleanor Haigh, Charlotte Haigh.

and rew.ha igh@oas . org.uk

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Badminton

I

A N D RE W H A I G H

N the 2014-15 season, we are still attempting to keep the badminton section going! The new season started on Thursday, 4th September, and did not get off to a very good start, since only Andrew Haigh and Neil Gledhill turned up.

Things did not improve the second week, since only the same two people played once again and, by the end Neil declared that he was getting fed up of playing singles. This, of course, translated as he was tired and ready to go for a pint.

We did get some respite the third week, since the school held its Open Evening for pupils interested in entering next September, so there was no badminton. Of course, when I sent out an e-mail to remind people of this, no fewer than six people who hadn’t played yet this season replied to say that they had been intending to come that week, meaning that we would have had two courts of doubles in operation.

So, there is hope for the future of the Badminton Section yet!

However, having lost a good number of members in recent years to retirement, moving away, university, etc., we are desperately

35

andrew.haig h@oas . org.uk

in need of some fresh blood.

Thursday evenings are very enjoyable and encompass all standards so, if you can hold a badminton racquet, why don’t you come along and join us?

We play in the school sports hall every Thursday evening during term time, from 7.30 p.m. until 9.30 p.m., until the season ends on Thursday, 21st May. Occasionally, there are weeks during term time when we are unable to play, due to Open Evenings, Careers Conventions or simply the sports hall being full of desks for examinations. However, at the moment there is only one Thursday evening this season when we can’t play and there will be NO badminton on Thursday, 16th October.

We pay £7.00 per person, per evening played, which is a contribution towards the hire of the sports hall, changing rooms and showers, the provision of shuttlecocks and the awarding of the Speech Day Prizes that are sponsored by the Badminton Section.

Golf

I

S I MO N RU S S E L L

imagine that every organiser of a summer social event anxiously checks the weather forecasts all the preceding week and I was no exception.

Sadly these weather experts are getting too good. The forecast for 27th June 2014 clearly said that rain would arrive at 4 pm after a dry day up to that point.

Just as we got our redoubtable

36

s aruss ell153@btinternet. com

twelve players on the tee, the heavens duly opened.

Thanks to all the competitors who in true Almondburian spirit battled the elements we were rewarded with our usual excellent dinner and lively catch-up banter.

It was great to have with us two recent Woodsome Captains, Geoff Headey and Phil Shaw, plus some regular Gothard faces.

Robin Merchant (1966-1973) (left) won the event with 38 points which – given a handicap of 12 and the dreadful weather – was an excellent winning score.

Looking ahead I am encouraged that we have had a total of 38 players in the 14 years since I got on board. However, the big problem is getting everybody available on the day.Twelve is our lowest total yet and to be honest is not really worth the effort.

It may be that the date is not ideal and I am open to any suggestions from potential participants on dates that might attract greater support.

Cricket

T

S T E V E S L ACK

s m_slac k@ya hoo.co. uk

A poor season for the First XI but the Second XI fared better

HE start of the 2014 season brought with it renewed optimism for the club. The First Team under Sam Atkin’s captaincy had been promoted to the Premier League after several years absence, whilst under Ben Hodgson’s leadership the Second Team felt confident of success in Section C. The First Team showed decent early season promise and at the end of June were sitting in an excellent fourth position and discussing what needed to be done to improve this position further. However, the best laid plans were soon scuppered by a mixture of key players taking holidays, loss of form, and some very dubious umpiring decisions against leading batsmen – if the batsmen were to be believed at any rate! On top of this veteran batsman and vice-captain Simon Lyons had to submit to shoulder surgery (caused apparently by too many years leaning against the bar in the Woolpack).

Subsequently the team managed to win just one game in the second half of the season and plummeted to the bottom of the league.

In spite of this a restructuring of the leagues next season may well see them retain Premier League status ...‘wing and prayer’ come to mind!

In spite of the poor league position there have been some highlights in the season. Skipper Sam Atkin and mystery spin-

Green Moor (winners)

PREMIER SECTION

118 PTS

Almondburians (eleventh) Calder Grove (winners)

Almondburians (fourth)

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223 PTS

SECTION C

237 PTS 179 PTS

ner cum golf model George Brady were both selected for the league side and performed well in helping the league reach the Nixon cup final before losing to the Halifax League.

A couple of players managed to achieve career best scores with the bat during the season – Joe George smashing the ball all over the park in an excellent knock of 93 at Holmbridge in a game where the team scored its highest total ever of 305, and Adam Lightowlers scoring over 30 for the first time.

In cup competitions the team managed to reach the semi-final of the 20/20 tournament before losing to a very strong Edgerton side, but again decided that Sunday cricket wasn’t that appealing so soon bowed out of the Allsop Cup. The Second Team fared much better and managed to finish fourth in their league.

In addition they also managed to win the George Mear Trophy awarded to the team who achieve the most points during the last six games of the season – an excellent

Northgate, Almondbury. We are very grateful to them for their support.

On the social side the club has certainly had a successful season. President’s Day saw a new 8-a-side format involving six teams. Under the leadership of Jack Ingham an OACC 8 managed to overcome Almondbury CC, Almondbury Casuals, Langan CC, The Rock, and an OACC select side. An all day BBQ was much appreciated (our thanks to Carl George and Mark Lightowlers for their culinary expertise), as was the beer tent where Sam Atkin was ably assisted by Joe George in drinking almost as much as they sold during the day!

Our thanks go to all our friends of the above teams whose support is very much appreciated and we look forward to welcoming them again next year.

achievement given the number of different players that captain Ben Hodgson has had to call on.

Top performers with the bat have been a resurgent Chris Buck (including an excellent century), Charlie Taylor (before being promoted to the first team after several impressive half centuries), Ben himself, and towards the end of the season Tony Laington impressed on his only appearance with a superb 142; hopefully he will play more regularly next year!

On the bowling front James Hodder, Oliver Hirst and Eddie Hall all performed well, with good support from the likes of Chammi Hendrika (the smiling assassin) and Tom Slack once he rediscovered the art of letting the ball leave his hand!

Finally, a word of thanks to our sponsors T&Cake, the modern licensed café in

Thanks to our sponsors T&Cake: back row (from left): Ben Hodgson (Second Team Captain), Charlie Taylor, Steve Slack, Chamika Himendra, Simon Lyons, Sam Atkin (First Team Captain), Tim Taylor, Oliver Hirst. Front row (from left): Joey George, Peter Hepworth, Joe Atkin, Adam Lightowlers, Liam Jowett.The two children are Tim Taylor’s sons Will and Charlie.

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Football

A

DAV I D F I S H E R

d avidpfish er@hotmail .co. uk

Early season promise for promoted Almondburians

YORKSHIRE AMATEUR LEAGUE DIVISION 1 TABLE as at 1st October 2014 fter clinching the Division 2 title last Played W D L F A GD PTS year, the First XI Alwoodley FC Res 4 3 1 0 11 6 5 10 have carried their winning Almondburians’ FC 3 3 0 0 12 1 11 9 form into the new season, Gilderstone Spurs OB 3 1 1 1 12 8 4 4 with three wins from their Leeds Independent 3 1 1 1 6 4 2 4 first three outings in theYork- Colton Athletic 2 1 1 0 5 3 2 4 shire Amateur League Divi- Garforth Rangers 2 1 1 0 4 2 2 4 sion 1. Having last tasted de- Collingham Juniors OB 2 1 1 0 5 4 1 4 feat on the opening weekend Sandal Wanderers 2 1 0 1 6 7 -1 3 of the 2013/14 season, Al- St Nicholas 2 0 1 1 3 4 -1 1 mondburians can now claim 2 0 1 1 3 6 -3 1 Old Centralians to have gone a full year with1 0 0 1 1 3 -2 1 St Bedes AFC out loss in the League. The 4 0 0 4 2 11 -9 0 Grangefield OB Res usual summer turnaround has 2 0 0 2 2 13 -11 0 Leeds Medics & Dentists III seen a handful of newcomers YORKSHIRE AMATEUR LEAGUE DIVISION 3 TABLE as at 1st October 2014 already making an impact on the team. However, it’s last Played W D L F A GD PTS season’s top goalscorer, Adam Churwell Lions 4 4 0 0 25 3 22 12 Lightowlers, grabbing the Farsley Celtic Juniors Res 4 2 1 1 12 6 6 7 headlines so far, with seven Heckmondwike GSOB 3 2 0 1 11 7 4 6 goals from the opening three Woodhouse Moor Methodists 3 1 2 0 8 6 2 5 games.

2 1 1 0 10 3 7 4 Old Centralians Res An off-season shake up in Norristhorpe 2 1 1 0 11 5 6 4 the Reserves sees a new Bainbridge 2 1 1 0 6 2 4 4 management team in Julian 2 1 0 1 7 5 2 3 Almondburians Res Atkinson and Lee Dewhirst, 3 1 0 2 7 15 -8 3 Old Modernians Res who, along with a clutch of 4 1 0 3 7 24 -17 3 Ealandians Res new players, hope to improve 3 0 0 3 7 17 -10 0 on last year’s bottom half fin- FC Headingley Res 4 0 0 4 2 20 -18 0 Middleton Park Res ish. With a number of players also featuring for the Almondburians cricket team, the Reserves started their season later than the Firsts, and have a win and a loss to their name thus far.

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TERRY’S TEASER NO 13 Compiled by Terry Buckley (1948 - 1953)

Entries to the Editor (address/email: back cover) by 1st February 2015 1

2

8

9

3

10

4

11

13

Prize: 12 months free OAS membership

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12

14

16

6

5

15

37. In debt, of late (7) 38. “Muse neither back nor ahead”? (7,3,5)

17 18

19

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27

24

25

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29

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31 35

26

36

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ACROSS 1. Expletive mystery currently being solved (9,6) 8. Striving endlessly for the pill (7) 11. Maidens from Adam’s thorax (5) 13. She’s back in the Indian Embassy (3) 14. Does he know? (3) 15. Bank drawer (4) 16. Permit to hire (3) 17. August is grand (5) 19. Bound to manage well (10 21. River’s turning point loses credit (4)

22. Tear evoked through alcohol, eventually (4) 24. Nautically, has apostrophes (10) 27. On the way, one’s about to get a medal (5) 29. He’s back on the French isle (3) 30. Country of torrential rain (4) 31. Sharp has a high degree (3) 33. Nine shillings shows over foreign currency (3) 35. Backward about endless terror (5)

DOWN 1. Sir Fletcher hast become king (7,3,5) 2. Tell-tale run (4) 3. “Nothing to write with”, says the pig (4) 4. Demoted to feather inspector? (10) 5. From Luxor, find a way back to European city (3) 6. Extremes nose back across the Channel about this (7) 7. Transport service ideal for births? (7,8) 9. He’s known to dwindle (5) 10. Literally, the crow hath spoken ! (5) 12. Note, at the junction, to a letter (3) 18. Everywhere reported as rejected (10) 20. From fierier up to anger (3) 21. Entrances by telling of taverns (3) 23. Resort to run about Nora, on the ear (6) 25. Goddess of humour? (5) 26. Incline right in fashion (5) 28. Self-centered number (3) 32. Emperor shortly addresses Josephine’s message (4) 34. Therefore mirrored man-eating giant (4) 36. Yank vessel (3)

Name Email Tel

The winner of Terry’s Teaser No 12 (July 2014) was Peter Tracey (1956 - 1963)

Across 7. Evergreen shrub 9. Preset 11. Amen 12. Quizzify 14. Osmous 15. Disque 16. Asa 18. Ampules 19. Call Boy 20. Kit 22. Blotto 25. Biopsy 26. Hydrogen 27. Stir 28. Agates 30. Dowager Duchess Down 1. Arms 2. Brutus 3. Devizes 4. Astrid 5. Arrays 6. Obsequiousness. 8.Verisimilitude 10. Equality 13. Fielding 16. Ask 17. Act 21. Isobars 23. Thrown 24. Odd Egg 25. Bear Up 29. Ache

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Postbag

D

YOU WRITE …

Memories of the old School buildings

From: David Beach (1958-1966) AVE Bush’s reference to the corridor leading to the Old Music Room and its trapdoor has set the remaining memory cogs whirling. That corridor was such a fascinating area to explore, with its layout of days gone by. I wonder how many Old Boys managed to scale or descend that fire escape when they were not meant to? I certainly did, more than once.The best opportunities would have been the evening meetings of the Scouts [thank you Dave!] or the Printing Club, or maybe if I had an early finish in a chess match. It was particularly exciting after dark.

It’s good that the area seems to have survived unscathed despite mod-

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ernisation elsewhere - maybe listed building regulations, and hopefully also the sentimental thought that KJS and its happy atmosphere owes so much to its history.

Looking at the frontispiece illustration in the Magazine, I am thinking that the blank wall above the lean-to structure has to be the back wall of what had been, in the 1950s, the school model railway, and by 1958 was the printing room, with its Adana hand press and lots of professionalsize trays of type. From this room emerged play programmes and huge quantities of headed notepaper. No doubt replaced by computer printing long ago.

It was a lovely opportunity to get messy, with the ink getting all over the place.

One dark winter’s evening, the scout masters (probably Jim Toomey and maybe Dave Bush) organised a blindfold ‘follow the sisal string trail', taking a ball of sisal and running it half way round the school, including in and among the desks along D1-D2-D3, and then probably down the staircase outside the ODH. (Would that pass a Risk Assessment these days?). The scouts were then blind-

folded and sent off to follow the trail, the aim being to recount- on their return exactly where they thought they had been.

Unfortunately, on their return, they found that their hands and in many cases their uniforms were smeared with black printing ink. At the subsequent tribunal, the members of the printing club, meeting on the same evening, claimed that they thought the scouts had been trying to set the printers some booby traps, and the smearing of ink on the sisal was an act of revenge! On this occasion I was present as a scout rather than as a printer, so was definitely not guilty.

Incidentally, I had seen the model railway around 1956/7 on an Open Day, when nothing much was working, and when it was dismantled soon after, quite a lot of the track ended up on my own layout, though it was pretty unreliable by then.

The other rooms off this corridor were the Careers Room (supervised by Wilfred Western) which I think must have been above the Head’s Study, and then the Deputy Head Fred Hudson’s office, presumably above the Secretary’s office. If there were other rooms there I have forgotten them.These were all no doubt the bedrooms of the early headmasters.

One architectural mystery remains.

On passing from the Old Music Room Corridor into the Printing room, I seem to remember one went down a step onto a little landing and up another step into the room. This landing was – my father told me – the remnant of a former staircase which must have predated the present one, and must have come down somewhere to the north of the Old Dining

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Hall. It had presumably been replaced long ago by the present staircase, where I recall on one occasion a particuarly foolhardy adolescent, having called Albert Makinson “Cupid” to his face, being kicked from top to bottom by the aggrieved English teacher. If that happened today there would be dismissals and court cases, but in those days it was just one of those things.

Finally, a claim for the interesting history of the long low wooden building which appears in the Illustrated History as theYear 11 Common Room. This was actually constructed as a ‘covered playground’ with an open front, but by 1924 it was the dining room. In my time the art teacher, probably Mr.Roofe, with his senior artists, suggested that a mural of local scenes should be painted all along the blank wall opposite the windows. Some amusing artists tasked with painting the central portion, directly opposite the Staff Dining Table, chose to represent a milking parlour and to maintain accuracy depicted the cattle facing into the stalls, so that their ample rumps and bulging udders were presented to the lunching staff. The staff complained, and that part of the mural was, regrettably, repainted with the cows facing outwards in their stalls.

Subsequently, when the new [current] dining room was put up, (in 1963?) I believe the wood building was split into two, with the southern half used as the Music Room [instead of the one above the Old Kitchen] and the middle section became, I think, became a very up to date Language Laboratory, which I suspect was eventually a bit of a white elephant.

Meadow Springs, Australia

I

Studio 58

From: David Utley (1940-1945)

enjoyed reading Reggie Byram’s and John Goodall’s nostalgic tours of Huddersfield and District cine-

mas.

However, I feel the need to set the record straight regarding John Goodall’s assertion that the cafe known as Studio 58 where he had a Saturday job was run by ‘Huddersfield's first openly gay couple’.

I would suggest that the conclusion may have been reached as a result of schoolboy stereotyping, which many of us may have been guilty of but can be misleading or totally wrong.

The two men who opened and ran Studio 58 for many years were brothers-inlaw and business partners. They also became my brothers-in-law when my late wife and I married in 1955. I have known these gentlemen for most of my adult life and from time to time enjoyed their company.

Both were married to lovely ladies and both had families who were cousins to our daughters. The elder of the two died some years ago and the younger is now in his 80th year.

Weston-super-Mare John Goodall comments: I’m glad that David Utley has set the record straight regarding my mistaken 1950’s schoolday belief that the proprietors of Studio 58 were ‘Huddersfield’s first openly gay couple’.

I hope that David, and anyone else who may have felt embarrassed by my suggestion will accept my sincere apologies.

That the opening of Studio 58 was something remarkable in the town in the late 1950’s is testified by the proprietors having deserved a special

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mention in a nostalgic 2006 Examiner article about town centre coffee bars (see http://goo.gl/N1CugX).

Studio 58 stood as a beacon of change between the times when the choice for a non-alcoholic drink in town was between the department stores’ cafes and Market Hall tea bars before the arrival of the transnational fast-food/coffee chains.

I felt very proud to secure my first ‘Saturday job’ there. Its ambience was bright and relaxed with leather seats, low tables and the work of local artists on display – a fresh look in a town whose atmosphere still reflected post-WW2 austerity and was only just beginning to feel the benefit of the Clean Air Act of 1956. (It must have felt like an oasis to the workers from the dour, smoke-blackened local government offices in Ramsden and Peel Streets taking their lunch breaks mid-week).

The work was hard. It entailed maintaining the supply of freshly filtered Cona coffee, clearing and cleaning the tables (and ash-trays!) and washing up the stylish Moss Green Denby Pottery mugs.

(They looked and felt lovely, but their shape made them difficult to get clean).There was little time to chat with class-mates with whom it was a popular place on Saturdays along with other students from the town’s Grammar Schools and Technical College.

I’ve tried to find an explanation for my mistaken conclusion regarding the sexual orientation of the cafe’s proprietors.The best I can offer is my own ignorance in such matters and the zeitgeist of the 1950’s perhaps best summed up by Philip Larkin: Sexual intercourse began In nineteen sixty-three (which was rather late for me) Between the end of the Chatterley ban And the Beatles’ first LP.

Obituaries

G O N E B U T N OT FO RGOT TEN Brian Carter (1938-1945)

Cambridge graduate who became Master of the Worshipful Company of Builders’ Merchants News has reached us of the death of Brian Carter, who was a lifelong member of the Old Almondburians’ Society, and served as Chairman in 1959. We have prepared the following obituary from notes provided by his family and prepared by Brian himself.

Brian was born in 1927 and went up to Almondbury Grammar School from Kirkheaton. He was a member of Jessop House and a keen sportsman: as a schoolboy he played cricket at Kirkheaton, meeting the venerable George Herbert Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes, who each served as president of the club in consecutive years.

He was also a promising scholar, and in 1945 he was offered a place at St John’s College, Cambridge, but first had to do National Service.

He served in the RAF Police in the Middle East, guarding airports and the Suez Canal. In his spare time he played cricket, swam and learned to sail, and paid a Christmas Eve visit to Bethlehem.

He finally went up to Cambridge in 1947, mostly in the company of other ex-servicemen who had similarly delayed their entry. He studied Natural Sciences and Economics, and played football until complications from an appendicitis operation ended that career.

After university he joined the family firm of Carter & Co Ltd back home in Huddersfield, where his father Jack was Chairman and Managing Director. The firm was a builders’ merchant, wall and floor tiler, fireplace fixer and drysalter.

He started in the plumbing department, as assistant to its manager, but after two months the manager fell ill and he was thrown in at the deep end and had to learn fast in 4444 44

his new trade. He remembered deliveries from British Rail using a horse and cart, and how backing a big horse into the warehouse could be a frightening sight.

His brother Alan had also joined the firm, and eventually they became joint managing directors and later sold the company to Mercian Builders’ Merchants. They asked Brian to go to Liverpool to run Perrin Hughes, a subsidiary of theirs and a well-known plumbing merchant. After a summer of commuting weekly from Huddersfield the family moved to Formby and later to Southport, before coming back to Huddersfield to run Mercian’s northern area. Eventually Mercian was taken over by UBM and Brian was made redundant.

But he stayed in the industry and bought Sam Rhodes & Sons Ltd in Bradford and had a happy twenty years there, getting involved with the Builders’ Merchants’ Federation, becoming its President and ultimately Master of the Worshipful Company of Builders’ Merchants in the City of London. He also represented the UK in EUFEMAT, the European Builders’ Merchant Federation.

Brian remained active in sport for as long as possible, playing cricket at Kirkheaton until 1965. He kept wicket for the Old Boys’ team in the inaugural game in front of the new pavilion in 1958. He also became a football referee and was a season ticket-holder at Huddersfield Town. He played golf and even won the occasional prize. Having learned to sail in Palestine he helped to establish the Scammonden Club. He continued swimming regularly into his late years. He loved ski-ing, even after crippling knee trouble and several heart operations.

Away from sport he was a prominent member of the Round Table in Formby and Huddersfield, serving as Treasurer and President and finally Secretary. He was a skipper for the Safe Anchor Trust, which enables disadvantaged groups to enjoy trips on Britain’s waterways.

His wife Maureen, whom he met after university and married at Farnley Tyas in 1954, died a few months after Brian: their first child Michael died in infancy (they are both interred with him) but they are survived by Hilary,Tony and Liz, also ten grandchildren and, to date, five great-grandchildren.

Bryan Hopkinson

David Shaw (1935-1942)

Metallurgist who played a leading role in the commissioning of nuclear reactors atWindscale David Shaw died on the 3rd September at his nursing home in Guiseley. He had been ill for about two years.He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Audrey, and by his three children, Elizabeth, Simon and Richard.

David was born in Huddersfield in 1924, and after attending Almondbury Grammar School rather than going into the Shaws of Huddersfield family pickling business he went to study Metallurgy at Leeds University. After graduating he spent a short spell in Stoke, before moving to Seascale in North West Cumbria to work on the pioneering Windscale 45

Nuclear Atomic plant. His work on the the first of four Magnox reactors which became operational in 1956 at Calder Hall was groundbreaking, and he spent the rest of his working life at Windscale as a scientist and metallurgist.

During his long years in Cumbria (as an opponent of the 1974 Local Government Act he always referred to it as Cumberland) his favourite pastime was mountaineering and West Cumbria offered superb mountains on his doorstep. He was happiest climbing the mountains of West Cumbria, such as Scafell, Helvellyn and Skiddaw. He was undaunted by the season or the weather and would set off early with his (frequently complaining) young children and wife on long, sometimes tricky, snowy climbs.

He was also a talented pianist, never tempted by the ‘modern rubbish’ and a keen adherent of the classical pieces of Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert and Mozart. His other hobbies included golf, bridge, and local politics, and he became a local councillor for several years. A formidably bright man who never suffered fools gladly if at all, he was for some years a member of the IQ society Mensa.

David retired in 1984, initially moving to nearby Beckermet in Cumbria, then returning to his Yorkshire roots, moving to Holmfirth, then finally to Skipton for the next 23 years.

He will be remembered as a true Yorkshireman. He was his own man, oblivious to fashion, to fashionable thinking and to mass movements. He did his own thing. By way of example, who else, in 1965, would take three children, a wife, a Zephyr and a large caravan from North West Cumberland to Tito’sYugoslavia? It took 36 hours to get to Dover, and he burnt out two clutches getting over the Brenner pass in Austria. Interesting, individual, and slightly mad.

He was a loving father and husband and had 88 years of a healthy, happy, fruitful, life, but became ill over the last couple of years when he moved to a nursing home. Even there he retained his sharp intelligence, his wit, and his bluff and occasionally outspoken good humour. He will be sadly missed by all those who crossed his path.

Our thanks to Martin Shaw, Richard Shaw and Bob Goldsmith 46

Now on sale

All who remember Harry Taylor will enjoy this new book about the School’s respected Headmaster from 1951 to 1973.

A well-known Almondbury figure, he was also a regular reader at All Hallows’ Church, the transcriber of the local parish registers, and one of the authors of a respected history of Almondbury. He played cricket for Almondbury Casuals, and earned a reputation throughout Huddersfield as a witty and entertaining after dinner speaker.

Morning Assembly gives a fascinating and often humorous account of Harry Taylor’s life and includes, in facsimile form, 100 prayers – ancient and modern – which he assembled over the years for use in School assemblies.

Get your copy NOW!

Copies of Morning Assembly cost just £10 plus £1.30

pp*. Please send your cheque, payable to the Old

Almondburians’ Society, to Andrew Haigh, R D

Haigh & Co, Oakhill Road, Brighouse, West

Yorkshire HD6 1SN. Alternatively, you can order on

line at http://tinyurl.com/bw9ms88 or through any good bookshop.

*in UK. Mainland Europe: £2.70; Rest of World: £4.30 33 47

Chairman BRYAN HOPKINSON Apartment 206,1535 The Melting Point Commercial Street, Huddersfield HD1 3DN Tel: 01484 469804 Mobile: 07595 175835 Email: bryan.hopkinson@oas.org.uk Secretary ANDREW HAIGH 2 Arkenley Lane, Almondbury HD4 6SQ Tel: 01484 432105 Email: andrew.haigh@oas.org.uk

Treasurer KEITH CRAWSHAW 5 Benomley Drive, Almondbury HD5 8LX Tel: 01484 533658 Email: keith.crawshaw@oas.org.uk

Media Editor ROGER DOWLING Editorial address: Orchard House, Oughtrington Lane, Lymm, Cheshire WA13 0RD Tel: 01925 756390 Email: almondburian@oas.org.uk Archivist NICH BRIGGS Tel: 07771 865330 Email: nichbriggs@hotmail.com Website: www.oas.org.uk

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3ykffo3

The Almondburian is distributed to OAS members free of charge.

Price to non-members: ÂŁ3.00