Thanks to Barrie Freeman for this photo
More Memories from Elmbridge
Out of Bounds
I remember the time that the school soccer team was playing another school and Bert Blowers had insisted that all boys should be at the game to support the team. Chris Cundy and I thought that our support was not needed and decided to head over to the Mansion for an afternoon of exploration.Well, we had just climbed over a fence and were standing by the road when in the distance we spotted a black car heading toward us, my, but it looked familiar,oh! oh! to darn familiar! Back over the fence at top speed, hit the ground running ( boy where was this speed on sports day?) dived into a ditch.The car slowed down and pearing through the grass we could see the face of Bert Blowers looking for us through the window of his car.Bert started to drive away and as soon as he was out of sight Chris and I took off back to school,arriving back at school we joined some of our friends on the side lines, the score was quickly given along with some other bits of information about the game. A short time later Bert Blowers showed up and after a while wandered by us, casually he enquired how we were enjoying the game and what was the score and who had scored which we duly answered. Giving us that special look that he reserved for boys who were guilty of somthing, he turned and walked away.Bert did not specifically ask us if we had been out of bounds, but we think he knew.
Doc Anders and Baden Powel
Friday night movies were always fun and one time we were watching "The Life Story of Baden Powel."The next day a fairly large group of boys were out of bounds along the canal, it was close to tea time and we were wandering slowly back to school when a boy came dashing along the path, Doc's coming Doc's coming.What to do? Well didn't old Baden say that the best place to hide was up a tree as people rarely looked upwhen walking along. With some pretty impresive displays of athletic ability that bunch of boys were quickly hidden in the thick foliage, thanks Baden we owe you one. Sure enough there comes Doc and we all held our breath till he had walked under the trees and around the bend without looking up. Whew! Luckeeeey.Later that evening as we were leaving the dining hall Doc walked by Chris and I quietly saying, "don't believe every thing you see in the movies." Darn it I guess Doc saw the movie as well.
In conclusion
I have always said that we were blessed with the finest teachers and roll models that we could possibly have had.I am sure to this day both Bert and Doc knew that we were out of bounds but decided not to punish us, just let us know that we were not as clever as we thought we were.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
There were the usual rules of good manners and deportment.
Respect for the teachers and staff, all adults and prefects.
Respect for peoples privacy and property. Dress code for trips away from the school grounds.(out of bounds unofficially was a different matter). Dinning hall behaviour.
Class room behaviour.
Some of the specific rules that I remember Caps not worn inside the buildings.
The no talking rule in dinning hall at specific times.No walking on the grass square in front of the dinning hall.
No chewing gum.
No talking after lights out (hard to enforce).
We were not supposed to be out of bounds except for public areas.
No running on the pathways in the school.
No sling shots.
The punishments if the rules were broken
If you broke the no talking rule or any other rule in the dining room the table monitor( ours was Clive De'Ath who was also a prefect) would usually give you a warning, if you kept it up then he would send you to stand against the wall, while there you watched the head table and when the duty master nodded you went back to your table. I do not remember how many times you had to be sent to the wall before the next level of punishment was administered. This could include picking up leaves down the drive way ( those wheelbarrows were awfully heavy ),or the cane across the rear end (I think the only person allowed to cane on the hand was the head master )also the writing of lines. Detentions were also used .
My main crimes
My biggest crime usually was talking too much at the wrong time.
If I remember correctly there was a prefect named Johnson? who was in charge of one of the detentions being held in a classroom, and as usual I could not keep my mouth closed, Johnson who was a very patient person gave me numerous warnings and finally gave me some lines to write. Unfortunately for me he was studying the "Charge Of The Light Brigade" by Alfred Tennyson. This is quite a long poem and I asked him if he was joking, now we are up to two repetitions, again I quizzed him on his seriousness, we are up to four rep's. Well you would think a smart fellow like myself would have caught on by now, not so! Again opening my big mouth wide and placing both my feet in it I'm now up to six repetitions!!!! Finally the penny dropped and I shut up.
I had written the poem three times when Johnson said that was enough. He really was a decent man.What a pity that no one asked me to recite "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" at an assembly,it was the only poem that I remembered from my school days.