In January all members of the OW Club will receive either a letter or the Annual Magazine. All those who left before 1950 will automatically continue to receive the magazine, together with those who have asked to receive one. Everyone else will receive a letter with details of the Annual Dinner and Sporting Reunions. If you left after 1950 and would like to receive the magazine, please contact Ian Clark as soon as possible. The magazine will consist of articles and snippets of information that have appeared or will appear in the newsletters on this website.

NB If you are not a member of the Club, and would like to know how to join, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

In August the school's computer system was upgraded. Unfortunately in the upgrading, a lot of the OW membership details were lost, and although a lot of this has been put right, there may well be some mistakes. An advance warning therefore. If you are a member of the OW Club and do not receive either a letter or magazine by the end of January, please contact Ian Clark (email: ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk).

The Annual Dinner will take place on Saturday April 22^nd in the Queen's Hall. There will be opportunities for OWs to have a tour of the buildings before the Dinner, attend the Annual General Meeting, and hear a report on how the School is doing. Do contact your OW friends, and come with them to the Dinner! Peter Gillard is organising a reunion of OWs who were in the Sixth Form in the years 1950-52 approximately. If that applies to you, do contact Peter. His address is St. Lawrence Cottage, Sellman St, Gnosall, Stafford ST20 0EP. His phone number is 01785 822343 and his email address is hoji@supanet.com.

Similarly, Otto Decker, who was in the 6^th Form from 1948-1950, is coming across from the USA for the Dinner, and hopes that he might see at the Dinner others who knew him.

If any others of you are thinking of coming, and would like to encourage others to come from your era, do contact me and I can advertise this in the January newsletter. More details of the Dinner in the January newsletter on this website, and of course in the magazine or letter to be sent out by post.

In the last newsletter we printed extracts of an article published in this year's School Magazine, the Wycombiensian. We publish below the concluding part of the article.

The beginning of the twentieth century was to be the turning-point in the school's fortunes. In August 1899 the Great Western Railway, in partnership with the Great Central Railway, secured parliamentary approval for the construction of a direct line into Wycombe from London (as opposed to the already existing 1854 branch line via Maidenhead, which had been constructed by Brunel). To facilitate construction the railway companies bought ten acres of land from the foundation, and the school received the substantial sum of £3,750 from the transaction.

Also the 1902 Balfour Education Act opened up another source of funding. In return for the inclusion of County Council representatives on the Board of Governors, and the admission of a number of scholarship boys whose fees were paid for by the Council, the school began to receive grants from the Board of Education and the County Council. One early benefit was the construction of the School's first science lab in 1903.Government and Council funds were to become even more important: by 1916, they equalled the school's endowment income and that from fees. This trend gathered pace as the century progressed, and under the 1944 Butler Education Act all fee-paying places were abolished. The school thus became almost entirely dependent on public funding, as it is today.

Arnison's appointment as young Headmaster steepened the trajectory of progress and produced a "quickening of life in the old School". In 1905 alone electric lighting replaced gas in the classrooms, a cricket pavilion was opened on the Rye Mead, a debating society was founded, and the School Library began to extend its range of reference books.

Academic standards began to rise. Before Arnison, few boys had taken external examinations, and assessment was by way of regular inspectorial visitation. The polymath vicar of Lane End, the Rev. Francis Nash, examined the boys in English grammar and literature, History, Geography, Holy Scripture, French, Latin and the various branches of Mathematics. The Headmaster of King Alfred's School, Wantage, the Rev. Marchant Pearson, reported on the newly introduced subjects, Physics and Chemistry. Arnison then began to enter more and more boys for the Oxford Local Examinations- and with going success. A particular triumph was achieved in 1907 with the award of an Open Scholarship to D.J. Watson to read Mathematics at Clare College, Cambridge- the first Open Scholarship at Oxford or Cambridge ever won by the RGS. Arnison declared a half-day holiday in celebration.

In 1906 the school became accredited as a Pupil Teachers' Centre, preparing up to 10 would-be teachers a year for the Elementary School Teachers' Certificate examination.

Numbers also began to rise rapidly. In Arnison's first three years alone the school doubled in size. The Great Western's new railway line, which opened in April1906, played a part by enlarging the school's catchment area: by 1912 more than half the boys came from outside Wycombe. On Arnison's retirement in 1933 the school roll stood at 350, and its size has quadrupled since then. To cope with growing numbers, Arnison in 1908 copied the Public Schools and introduced "houses" within the school.

Finally the establishment of the Old Wycombiensians' Club in 1909 created a formal link between the past and the present which, along with the magazine itself, has served to preserve the school's "institutional memory" ever since.

With continued growth, the school now became seriously overcrowded, and plans were made to leave its ancient site. In May 1915 the RGS finally shed its medieval links with the crumbling Norman arches of Easton Street and moved to its present, much larger, location on Amersham Hill.

Ed. The OW Club will be 100 years old in 2009. What should we do to celebrate the Centenary?

With regard to the article I wrote in the last newsletter, I had mentioned Peter Fry as being Head Boy. This was not correct. It was in fact Lamb.

Also Tony Dale is in the 1952-3 Cross-Country photo, back row, far left. He was in the X form and one of several I omitted from the list mentioned. I had been in the Cross-Country Colts Team in 1951.

Regards,

Brian.

I am an RGS Old Boy, 1959-1966, currently living in Adelaide, South Australia. I was perusing the on-line July newsletter a few moments ago and was most saddened to read of the recent death of Mel Jones. I was not at the school when Ginger Jones was there but he was a very close friend of my father, John Davies, who died in July last year and whose funeral I organised and attended. I had come to know Mel and Marjorie very well, since before my departure for Australia in 1972, and I subsequently visited them with my parents many, many times, most recently in December 2003.

He was a most delightful man and it was, for me, wonderful entertainment to be present when Mel and my Dad reminisced in Welsh over a few jars.

May I offer you a small anecdote, and please feel free to publish it if you wish!

Many years ago, about 1967 if I recall correctly, my father fell over at home in Tylers Green and badly tore the quadricep muscles in his right leg. This resulted in a period as a patient at Stoke Mandeville. Neither my mother nor I drove at the time and so it was that Mel offered his services both as chauffeur to us and as "prison visitor" on other occasions, when he would help Dad into his car for a visit to a local hostelry. Finally, my father was discharged (not too honourably, I imagine) and Mel drove to Stoke Mandeville to bring him home. Naturally, the pick-up was timed to coincide with lunchtime opening hours and on the way back, the two boys from Llanelli dropped in at a pub for a Ploughman’s and a couple of pints.

Mel went up to the bar to order and the barman recognised him. "Your name’s Jones and you used to teach me maths", he said accusingly. He went on: "In fact, you caned me once, in class!" Mel didn’t recognise him, but smoothly replied, with that wonderful deep voice and undiminished Welsh accent: "Well, you probably deserved it! Two pints of Bass, please!"

Best Regards,

Gareth Davies.

Hello Ian,

I thought it was about time I gave the club some more details of myself, having been a member for some time, though basically remaining quietly on the sidelines. Having met up with J.C.(Clifton) Hughes (1957 to 1964) a couple of times in the past few years (a couple of his daughters being tertiary educated around my general Northern area of England), I perhaps ought to come out from my hiding place.

I was at school from 1957 to 1965, having been preceded by my brother Christopher who is on your "lost" list - have not persuaded him to contact you yet -and when I left I spent a short time at Lancaster University before starting work in late 1966 at "Shell" Research in Kent (no longer in existence I believe) . At Shell I started computer programming whilst working in the laboratories, and in 1968 I left Shell and joined what was then Guardian Insurance as a "commercial" programmer. I moved into the Technical Support area after a couple of years, and stayed with the company in various roles until I took Voluntary Redundancy with Early Retirement in 2001, by which time Guardian had been through various identities and my section was finally owned by AXA. (I don't think it was my presence that had anything to do with the disappearing companies). I married Dorothy in 1969, and we have 2 daughters, Elizabeth and Jennifer, each of whom has so far produced two of their own children.

I do have some photographs from various aspects of my school career somewhere, so if you are interested I can search these out and hopefully put a few names to people in them. I have no objection to details being on the web site, including the e-mail address, I think the web has great potential for communication, though I still respect snail mail and its currently greater potential for variety in presentation - but in any case my writing has not improved since I left school.

I do not need a hard copy magazine whilst data is available online. You have probably switched my copy off by now anyway!

Regards,

Nigel Melsom

Ed: Yes, please. Photographs are much appreciated.

As an Old Wycombiensian and a veterinary surgeon, I learned the other day that Lancaster Royal Grammar School is claiming to have produced more vets than any other school in the UK. Surely this can't be so? In my era, five ex-RGS vets were trained in 3 years. Do we have any stats to counter this outrageous, unsubstantiated claim from up North?

Ian S Mason
ian.mason@vetderm.co.uk

Ed: If you are a vet, or you know of a number of vets, do contact me and we will see what the total isl Have a look at the number of this year's Leavers going on to to Vet course in an article later on in this newsletter.

A few years ago I met an RGS old boy named Smith at a political/social function at Manningtree on the Suffolk/Essex border. A common name, of course, but he did tell me that he had been head boy in his year and he was a few years after me. I then lost sight of him. Is there any way of tracing him? He doesn't seem to be a member of the OW Club.

Regards,

Richard Rance.

Ed. Does anybody know someone called Smith, who was a Head Boy?

In case you do not often go on to the School website, published below are three items that may be of interest:

Junior school pupils planted a poppy for each of the RGS Old Boys and staff who gave their lives during the two World Wars.

167 boys filed onto the stage and placed their poppy in the tray.  It was a solemn ceremony and reminded us all of the sacrifices made by pupils often scarcely older than themselves.

At 11am on the 11th November, the school held its annual act of remembrance.  As silence was observed by pupils, teachers and guests we were able to pay tribute to those who gave their lives in the service of their country, including the pupils and teachers of the Royal Grammar School who lost their lives in two World Wars.

There were readings from In Flanders Field, from Corinthians and from For the Fallen by Binyon.  The Last Post and Reveille were played by Jack Ross of Year 12

The occasion was devised and impeccably organised by Mr Peter Cowburn.

•"Solemn Melody" Walford Davies

•"Nimrod" Edward Elgar
• Introduction : The Head Boy

The communal Act of Remembrance will commence with the singing of:

O God, our help in ages past

Reading – 1 Corinthians 15 : 50 – 57

• As the school clock strikes 11.00, the "Last Post" will sound and the observance of two minutes’ silence will commence.

• The Reveille

• "In Flanders’ Fields" – Colonel John McCrae

• Lines from Laurence Binyon – "For the Fallen".

All will repeat the line: "We will remember them".

• Prayer

I wonder which were the most popular Universities when you were at the RGS for students to go on to. Here is a table showing the destination of this year's School Leavers.

Witness for yourself some of the events staged by the boys and staff by visiting the Arts' Week Gallery.

On Friday 23rd September Year Seven pupils had an Activity Day on Uplyme field.

Organised by World Challenge, the objective of the day was both to work on team building and leadership skills, and to get to know fellow pupils better.

Another activity involved us having to walk along with massive skis on, they were made of wood and we had to work together by shouting 1..2..3 left or 1..2..3 right. We then had to turn still wearing them and step up then down again without falling over.

The next activity was a giant ball maze which we had to lift at the correct angle to make the ball go through the small gaps in the wood to reach the finish point. First we did it with full sight then we tried it with blind folds. We were very good at this task.

We then swapped leaders and started the next activity. The task was to build a bridge across three blocks and to get to the other side without the planks touching the floor; we did this by putting heavy people on the planks to weigh them down.

Next was a communication activity. Two people built a shape behind a screen and two other people were building behind another screen. The first two gave instructions down a line of people to the second two. The aim was to see if they got the right instructions and built the same thing.

The final activity of the day was creating a massive marble run to do an obstacle course up and down. We then played a few games as a year and soon it was time to go home.

All in all it was a good day and gave us a chance to meet people and to discover their real personalities. We learnt to work as a team and we improved our listening skills. Unfortunately it was wet in the afternoon.

By Chris Halms 7W

The tasks were certainly challenging! Time was also built into the day to discuss successes and failures and to reflect on how each team had performed.

Despite the somewhat unfriendly weather, great fun was had by all, and boys learned a lot about the need to work together and support each other to get things done.

The School has recently given to the Natural History Museum in Tring a collection of birds' eggs that had been in the Biology Department since 1979. The Museum Curator was very excited, because some of the collection was very old and extremely interesting. Nobody at the school now knows where the collection came from and how it ended up at the RGS. It was stored in a very large, solid cabinet. It is 1 metre 80 cm wide, 51 cm deep, and 1 metre 36 cm high.

The collection contains some very interesting material, including, what appears to be, one Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) egg from the collection of John Wolley (1823-1859).

One specimen is labelled - Daption capensis 'S.N.A.E.' 'CP23'. It's from the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902-1904). Therefore, it's amongst the first eggs ever found for cape pigeon by Dr. Pirie

Indeed there is a series of specimens from the SY 'Scotia' Expedition. There is a 'set' of two eggs labelled 'Osprey, nr. Oban, Scotland, April 1894. Many of the labels are hand-written in a relatively modern pupils handwriting and he must have been getting the information from somewhere. The 'notebook' found in one of the drawers is in a child's handwriting and simply lists the common names of the species found in each drawer, but it does note on the front:

Royal Grammar School Egg Collection Received Sept. 1979.

It is extremely unlikely that any OW would know anything about any of this, but it is possible that the boy who wrote out the labels might remember something.

Please let me Ian Clark know, if you happen to know anything.

In 1930 the Governors of the RGS were proposing to enclose a triangular piece of land opposite the school and to remove an Army tank which was displayed there.

The tank had been presented to the town by the National War Savings Committee to permanently commemorate the achievement of the citizens of High Wycombe for their contribution in financing the war.

The High Wycombe Town Council agreed to relinquish any rights they had to the tank and give it to the school. The Council's powers to do this were questioned by the war savings committee secretary, Mr C A Skull. As the land had been specifically given over to displaying the tank by the Marquis of Lincolnshire, Mr Skull believed the tank should stay. He said: "I do not think Wycombe Town Council or the ratepayers generally have the slightest interest in the preservation of the tank, but it is evident from the correspondence that the land on which it rests was a gift for a specific purpose from the late Lord Lincolnshire."

The tank was supposed to have a public reception when it arrived. But as the War Office was unable to give more than 24 hours notice there was not sufficient time to make those arrangements.

Those of you who did Economics or Business Studies or were in the CCF Section of the CCF in the 1980s or early 1990s will no doubt remember Tim Claye. What is he doing now? An article in the Bucks Free Press reveals all.

Tim and his wife, Ann, have sold their house in Clarendon Road, High Wycombe, and have moved to a 19^th century villa which they have bought in five acres in Spain. "We had been looking to buy a business abroad for some time", Tim explains. "In January we went out to Costa Rica, " his wife elaborates. "I absolutely loved it there - it's beautiful - but we have children and grandchildren, and it was too far for them to come."

Tim and Ann had been working in Nigeria, when they returned two years ago to set up their own gardening business together. In March they went out to look at a villa with a garden nursery attached attached in Elvas, a town two hours east of Lisbon. Eventually they bought it. Tim says that they plan to use the top floor as a B&B while they work on the nursery. More details of Quinta Vale de Marmelos in Elvas, Portugal are on the website www.quintavaledemarmelos.com.

Martin Berry, who produces this website, recently gave me the statistics of the countries from where people had "hit" the OW site. For countries outside the UK, the figures are as follows:

Germany: 315 France: 182

New Zealand: 179 Australia: 136

Poland: 124 Netherlands: 62

Canada: 51

The other countries were all less than 25

There was one "hit" from the following:

US Government (!!!) Romania Lithuania Slovakia Luxembourg Argentina

Barbados Hungary Taiwan Chile Israel Peru

China Portugal

It would be interesting to know who was the member of the US government to "hit" us and to hear from anyone in the last list of countries.

This will be published on January 22 2006. Please send in your contribution, your memories, your photographs to me, Ian Clark ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk

As this is the last newsletter before Christmas, we would like to wish all our readers a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a GOOD NEW YEAR.