DECEMBER NEWSLETTER 2007

A PDF version of this newsletter is available here

Chess team    Colin Goodchild    Cricket in 1953    First day - 1961    Frederick Charles Wickens    George Hornsby    John Saunders' website    School reports    The Independent article    Tony Hare's website

ANNUAL DINNER

The Annual Dinner will take place on Saturday April 26th 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! If any 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, or perhaps be able to give you some addresses of OWs with whom you have lost contact.. More details of the Dinner, including the name of the Guest of Honour, will appear in the January newsletter on this website, and of course, if you are a member of the OW Club, in the magazine or letter to be sent out by post.

REMINDER

If you are a member of the OW Club, you can expect to receive from us a letter with details of the Annual Dinner and Sporting Reunions. If you left before 1950, you will receive our magazine. Some of you who left after 1950 said that you would like to receive a magazine and you will do so. If any other member of the Club would like to receive one, please contact me. 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. It is only £30 Life Membership.

ARE YOU A HOCKEY PLAYER OR A SHOOTER?

If you would like to play hockey in an OW Reunion match on Sat. April 26th and perhaps come on to the Dinner, do let me know. If you participate in Shooting, how about taking part in the Annual match against the School on 26th April, if you want to, do let me know.

ARE YOU A GOLFER, OR A CRICKETER?

If you play golf, you might like to play in the Annual Golf Match against the RGS Staff on Friday June 27th at 4.00pm. If you play cricket you might like to play in one or both of the matches against the Staff or the RGS 1st XI. The dates will be announced later.

Do you recognize any of the players?

DID YOU SEE THIS?

The following are extracts from an article published in the Independent on 11 October:

A class apart: How does this state school get so many boys into Oxbridge?

There's a state school in High Wycombe that has Oxbridge licked. How does it do it?

Headmaster Roy Page with his pupils at the Royal Grammar School. Driving through the main gate at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, tall trees part to reveal a commanding red- brick building in the Queen Anne style. With this kind of architecture, it's no wonder that this Buckinghamshire boys' school sends so many of its pupils to leading universities.

But the headmaster Roy Page is having none of it. "I can take you to bits of the school that are not grand," he says. "Don't forget you're sitting in the headmaster's study. And I've just decorated it." Still, outside and in, the state selective Royal Grammar School has the appearance and atmosphere of an independent school. This was confirmed by the findings of the recent Sutton Trust Report. The Royal Grammar School appeared 10th in the table for getting students into Oxford and Cambridge, among a clutch of independent big-hitters. The state school found itself just four places shy of £26,000-a-year Eton, having apparently sent a whopping 27.1 per cent of its leavers to the hallowed quads and courts in the last five years.

A quick call to a rival local school, however, revealed that this was indeed a whopper. The Sutton Trust had got its numbers wrong - perhaps confused by the plethora of "Royal Grammar Schools" in Britain (seven, at the last count). The actual percentage of RGS students admitted to Oxford and Cambridge over five years was not 27.1, but 11.7 per cent, bringing RGS in at a still-impressive 73rd, not far behind Fettes, the Eton of the north. The revised figures are to be published in a full report later this month.

But Page isn't particularly bothered by all these tables. He knows that he's at the helm of a top-performing state school, and one with a history of feeding bright students to Oxbridge. The most recent edition of The Good Schools Guide called it "a school to move house for".

"We're very lucky here," says Page. "The boys are very bright. They work very hard. They want to achieve. They're proud of the tradition of the school, and they want to be a part of that tradition. And if I tell you that the average boy last summer achieved three grade As..." He could go on. Clearly this isn't your average state school. And yet, as Page claims, nor is it a "super-selective" state school: all selection is done in the Buckinghamshire LEA way. Pupils must score 121 in the 11-plus; though, to study a subject at A-level, most are expected to achieve an A grade at GCSE.

It is thus unsurprising that every boy at the Royal Grammar School - including old boys Ian Dury and Jimmy Carr - finds his way into higher education. About 60 or 70 apply to Oxbridge each year: a third of these, sometimes half, get in. "In this school, much of it is about expectation, and the boys will already have their sights on wanting to go to Oxford and Cambridge," says Page.

It is this culture of expectation and competition, that is the driving force, and the head boy, Alexander Americanos, is an expression of that culture. "Around the school, it seems quite a common thing that people go for Oxbridge," he says. "You don't get the 'Oh, geek!' response. There is a level of respect towards it - as you would hope." As well as being head boy and studying for A-levels in chemistry, biology, Latin and music, Americanos plays rugby for the Second XV, plays trumpet for the school band, sings in the choir, and has a jazz band with boys in his year. He is "busy", he says, but it's all part of the Royal Grammar School experience, which prizes the world beyond the classroom.

Americanos is applying to do biological sciences at New College, Oxford. He and his fellow Oxbridge applicants will be prepared by Phil Bastow, a teacher and a graduate of St John's College, Oxford, who deals exclusively with Oxbridge applications. Candidates from the Royal Grammar School link up with nearby Wycombe Abbey - fourth in the Sutton Trust table - for academic discussions, debating competitions and mock interviews with the staff. This is on top of the numerous interviews within RGS itself, with heads of subject and the headmaster. I wonder how it feels for Americanos to know that he has a one-in-two- or three-dozen chance of getting in to Oxbridge. "It makes you more determined," he says. "You want to be the person getting the place over some of the other people."

But on top of this rampant competitiveness, there is also maturity and respect in the interaction between the head teacher and pupils. Page prides himself on his approachability. Older boys acknowledge him freely as we wander around the grounds. Younger boys scuttle up, eager to please. All this contact means that students overcome any insecurity about dealing with "grown-up" academics: sound preparation for Oxbridge interviews.

"When you're at school you're shy, and you want to be cool, and not to be seen as the pushy one," says Page. "Our young men are very similar. I think some of them are a little embarrassed about actually saying, 'I think I'd like to have a go at Oxbridge', because there's still that special business about applying to those two universities. So it's about gradually introducing them to the idea."

How do you get your pupils into Oxford and Cambridge?

"It's important to encourage them to apply. At GCSE, it will be apparent that certain people are more able: select the students who have that potential. Take them to open days - we take a coachload."

"On the academic side, it's about encouraging the candidates to read beyond their chosen subject. Set them further reading and make sure that they've gone beyond the curriculum. Wycombe Abbey school organises an academic forum at which students meet and debate with us, and it is very useful for both schools. Schools that have better facilities should be encouraged to link up and share them with other local schools. Familiarise the candidates with the idea of what to expect at interview. Make sure that they get used to the idea of having an interview with someone they've never met before. But don't over-coach: if someone has been overly prepared for interview, the Oxbridge tutors can see through that."

"Extracurricular activities are important. If the student can perform well academically, while engaging in sport, music, chess or debating, it suggests that they have good organisational skills. People who gain admission to Oxbridge get involved in a lot of other things besides academic work."

Phil Bastow

Ed. Was it like this in your day?

PHOTO CRICKET 1953

Do you recognize any of the players?

LETTERS/EMAILS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Ian,

An interesting feature for the website might be excerpts from old school reports. I occasionally re-read mine and find them both salutary and amusing. Here's my favourite comment by my form master, Mr. C M Haworth, when I was in the 2nd year of the Classical Sixth (as we called it in those days) in 1968:

"We have some difficulty communicating and I rarely have much idea of what he is thinking, or whether he is enjoying his work or no. (I hope he won't say "Just as wel!!")"

Very amusing, but it hints at Mr. Haworth's tendency to misinterpret my silent but reverent awe for his utterances as a form of dumb insolence. Perhaps, more likely, he was aware that I was an awestruck 15- year-old who needed to be drawn out of himself. He liked his pupils to verbally confirm their understanding of what he was saying and I had an annoying habit of failing to do so. On another occasion he was correcting something I had written whilst I stood beside him at his desk, doing it verbally for the benefit of the whole class. At the end of his commentary, there was a short pause which he evidently expected me to fill by saying something like "yes, I've got that now, sir". After a few seconds of silence, he looked up at me and said "You might just as well say 'liar!'". My classmates dissolved in laughter, collapse of silent party, etc. But for all our little misunderstandings he was a wonderful teacher.

John Saunders

(1963-70)

Ed. That is a good idea, John. What is your favourite report comment on yourself?

Dear Mr Clark,

I think my brother may possibly have notified you briefly of my father's death earlier at the age of 87. However, it is high time that I wrote a little more so that you can update your records.

Frederick Charles Wickens died on 1st March 2007 after a short illness. He is survived by his four children and by his brother, Donald Wickens, who was at RGSHW from 1936.

He always remembered the Royal Grammar School, his headmaster E.R.Tucker and his English master, Stanley Aldridge, with deep appreciation and keeping a link to the School through the Old Wycombiensians meant a lot to him.

He earned a place in the history of the School by becoming the first boy to win an open scholarship to Oxbridge (going up to Jesus College, Cambridge in 1938).

I have found his copy of the RGSHW Old Boys' Directory 1997 in which his entry appears on pp 183-184. As a concise history of his life and career, I cannot improve on that. However, if you would like me to provide any further details or photographs, I would be happy to do so.

I have recovered a number of publications relating to RGSHW. After putting some aside for the family archives, we are happy to offer any or all of those remaining to anyone who may be interested:

1. The Wycombiensian, January 1936
2. The Wycombiensian, Sept 1937
3. The Wycombiensian, May 1939
4. The Wycombiensian, Feb 1940
5. The Wycombiensian, Sept 1964 (this issue records the death and carries an appreciation of the life of E.R.Tucker)
6. School lists for the following terms: 1933-2, 1933-3, 1934-1, 1935-2, 1940-2
7. Hardback edition of The History of RGSHW 1562-1962
8. Leaflet: 'RGSHW - Its Future Role' (Nov 1978)
9. The RGSHW Old Boys' Directory 1997

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Wickens

Hello Ian

I remember my first day at the RGS in September 1961

We were all herded into the old school hall, via the side door, and made to stand at the very front, crushed up against the stage. Here large brutal looking prefects, and masters, wearing threadbare gowns bellowed at us insanely in our short trousers and over-large blazers.

After a lot more shouting followed by verbal threats, Tucker suddenly strode down the hall, his gown billowing out behind him, up the steps then onto the stage, swiftly followed by Morgan and other members of, what appeared to be, the Gestapo. Everything went quiet while the Headmaster delivered his speech. He then left and there was instant chaos.

After ten minutes or more of bellowing and shouting from the stage, and sniggering from behind us, the side door was slammed open and the two-bugs were led off, like sheep to be slaughtered, across Hamilton Road, along an ash-surfaced car park, through some pine trees into a series of very large old garden sheds loosely joined together by covered walkways and clapboard extensions.

I was ushered into form 2C, my heart beating quite fast, and awaited our form master F.N. Cooper. He seemed a lot more pleasant than the untamed frenzied middle-school masters I had seen at work, decimating and culling in the Old Hall. I seemed to settle down a bit then and eventually became very pleased that I had started at the Royal Grammar School.

David Mills

1961-1968

Ed. Do you have any memories of the first day at the RGS?

Dear ex-RGS men,

Just a quick email to update you on a few things...

The website has moved to http://www.rgs.saund.co.uk/ and I've given it a bit of a make-over to make it easier to find your way around. Don't forget to change your bookmarks.

This is to tell you that the June 1960 RGS senior school photo has now been uploaded to my website (or go straight to it ). This is the fourth such photo to be posted (after the 1967 senior, 1964 junior and 1962 senior photos).

Contributions have been coming in thick and fast recently, particularly on the 1960 and 1962 photos. I am very grateful to everyone who has sent info in, but I am looking forward to receiving your identifications of people in it.

Coming soon... I'm intending to put up the 1958 junior school photo, probably at some point over Xmas. Also, Ian Bevan has very kindly scanned in the 1959 and 1960 grey books and sent them to me, and those will get posted before long too (many thanks, Ian).

A must-read article for all vintage OWs... Ian Whitwham's latest article at sec-ed.co.uk - click here - in which he describes his return to the RGS after 50 years. It's very amusing.

Regards

John Saunders (RGS 1963-70)

Ian,

Hope you are keeping well.

Did you see Simon Gay (67-74) on Mastermind? Unfortunately he didn't win but did creditably on 'Coronations since 1066'.

Best regards,

Peter Hollingsworth

Dear Ian

I am sorry to tell you that Jeremy passed away on September 11 2007

It is difficult for me to realize as he was my younger brother, just 70!

The following is the announcement:

Sunday Telegraph September 15th, 2007

EDWARDS

Jeremy Peter James, formerly of Totnes, Devon, passed away peacefully at St John's Hospice, Bedfordshire on 11th September 2007, aged 70 years. Much loved husband of Araminta, a devoted father, grandfather and father-in-law.

If I hear from any OW, I will keep in touch as I have now been in Canada nearly 50 years!!!!

Best Wishes

Chris Edwards

Dear Ian,

Checking my e-mails yesterday evening I noticed there was one from 'Friends Re-united. It was just to tell me that someone who left the RGS in the same year as I did (1962) had registered with their web site. I clicked for details and the name. Nightingale D. was one which initially meant nothing to me, nor did my grey book prove to be any help.

Or did it? I do recall a very pleasant Games Master, 'Tweet' Nightingale and concluded that it has to be him! His blog mentions he was here as a boy in 1940 and returned to teach a dozen or so years later. He has a boat moored on the Helston which shows he's keeping himself (as befits an ex-RGS Sports chappie, who over fifty years ago had the unenviable task of pushing the 2b massive through hoops and over wooden horses (or maybe the other way round) and for that deserves his comfortable retirement.

My point is, in an era when it was de rigour for a Master to be 'red in tooth and claw', here was one who wasn't, and at the risk of being accused of toadying to sir to get off drill, it might be nice that those who remember and liked him, send him an e-mail. I could even forgive him those damp, dark cross-country runs in November. Almost.

Regards,

Bob Barlow.

Dear Ian,

Colin Goodchild, my old school and university friend, died from prostate cancer on 23 September, just five days short of his 73rd birthday. Although he was in a different reception form from me, we were both streamed into the express forms, taking our school certificate in four years rather than the usual five. He was regularly top of the form during those years. He won an open scholarship in mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge, gaining a first class honours degree.

After a year of studying for a doctorate, he realised he was getting nowhere and decided to teach at various schools before becoming a lecturer at the Regent Street Polytechnic, later part of the University of Westminster, where he remained for the rest of his career. He was seconded to a teaching post in the Ivory Coast for a time.

His older brother, Fred, had also been a Wycombiensian and, after leaving the school in about 1942 to serve in the Royal Navy, eventually settled in Australia where he died several years ago.

Paul Kirwan (1945-1953)

Hi Ian,

I wonder if I might mention a few recent additions to my website:

http://www.rgs.tonyhare.co.uk

In August, my wife and myself were on one of our rare visits to Bucks and we stopped by to look at the old school. We were fortunate enough to meet Ken Nelson, the Estate Manager of the school, who gave us a comprehensive tour of the school. It was my first visit in 51 years! I have written about the visit on my website, follow the link

http://www.rgs.tonyhare.co.uk/revisited/revisited.htm

One of the newest features of the school which Ken showed me was the new Library and IT suite, both built in what used to be the main hall. A new page on my site

http://www.rgs.tonyhare.co.uk/prospectus1951/prospectus.htm contains a copy of the School Prospectus of 1951 which includes an excellent photo of the original Hall.

I was prompted to scan my copy of the Prospectus after Geoff Pask (1944 - 1949) mentioned he had a copy of the 1944 version. It will be interested to see what the differences are between his and mine. The Prospectus itself makes very interesting reading and illustrates some of the differences between schooling in the Fifties and present day.

Thanks to contributions from many contemporaries, I now have a good collection of Grey Books and G & S Opera Programmes on the website. There are of course still a few gaps and I would like to fill them, so please, any "boys" of the 40's & 50's, have a good look at my site and see if you can add to it.

My site started life from the 1956 School Photo. I have identified probably about 2/3 of the faces but would still like to have more. One of the pleasures of running my site is when I get an email from someone saying "I saw a photo of my Dad, aged 14, on your website", especially nice perhaps when their father is no longer with them. As time goes by the site may become more visited by children of old boys than by old boys themselves. Please - if you were at RGS in 1956 - have a look at the photo and tell me who you recognise. Don't leave it too late, none of us are getting any younger!

As well as the 1956 photo, I have photos of many other years on the website. I'm afraid I can't get into the business of identifying all the boys in those photos. If anyone would like to take on the job of annotating any of these (as Brian Veale has done for the 1947 photo), please feel free to do so.

I am indebted to John Saunders for his efforts and contributions towards my site. After John started his own website it was inevitable we would overlap somewhat but our present arrangement where I concentrate on the Fifties and John does the Sixties is working very well. John gives me plenty of "plugs" on his site and I get a lot of referrals from there.

On my "Reminiscences" page http://www.rgs.tonyhare.co.uk/reminiscences.htm#Obit (yes you do have to hunt around a bit on my site), I have an obituary to "Boss" Tucker and a "Goodbye Pilgy" article written by Sam Morgan following the death of P.L.Jones. Pilgy taught at the school for more than 50 years and will be remembered fondly by everyone.

Thanks to John Saunders again for bringing these to my attention.

Can I take the opportunity to wish you and all the "Old Boys" a very Merry Christmas etc?

Best wishes,

Tony Hare (1951 - 1956)

Ian:

In 1963, I became Master of the Oxford University Society of Change Ringers, having learned to ring in the 50s at Amersham and High Wycombe. Since 1999, I have been President of the Society. So it gives me some pleasure to record that the Master for the next year is Luke Camden (RGS 1999-2006), currently at Keble College, who was elected at the recent AGM.

There have been a number of Old Boys who have been (and in some cases still are) bellringers. Of my own approximate contemporaries, David Cornwall, Michael Swift and Ian Rothwell were all keen. David still rings avidly at Hughenden and other local towers. Michael rings at Truro Cathedral (or did when I last heard from him). I don't know what happened to Ian, except that he qualified in medicine. No idea whether he kept up the ringing.

I am sure that there have been many others between then and now. If any of them would like to get in touch, I should be delighted.

Best wishes,

John

John Camp (1954-1960) (Staff 1968-69) (Governor 1977-81 (I think)).

john@camp.uk.net

DID YOU DO THIS WHEN YOU WERE AT THE RGS?

After a hard day in the classroom or on the rugby field your average RGS boy can't wait to get into the kitchen to flambé some roast poussins with cognac or to prepare an elderflower mousse in his bain marie.

Here we see our would-be Jamie Olivers in action, whisking, grating, slicing and rinsing their utensils.

Ed. Anybody learn cooking at the RGS?

Details of RGS Music Society presentation

Chess Team

Which year? Do you recognize any of the team?

THIRTY YEARS ON

It is now 30 years since those who left in 1977 left the RGS. What appeared in the Wycombiensian published in June of that year? (There is therefore no reference to Summer Sports or activities.)

1. Four staff left, Wally Clark, Charles Hills, Jim Tucker and Bob Fair.

2. The following joined the staff: Chris Mills (English, Willy Ruff (English), Steve Box (Maths), Jenny Curnow (Maths), and Jonathan Cave (Chemistry).
3. There were trips to Nimes, Osnabruck, and a ski trip to Austria.
4. The Geography Field Trip, organized by John Samways, was to Aberystwyth. Three of the participants ended up in hospital.
5. The Clubs and Societies included Stamp Club, Bookbinding on Thursday afternoons, Military Society, Model Railway Club, Wargames Club, Photographic Society, Debating Society, Christian Union, Youth and Music, Public Speaking and Chess Club.
6. Ed. Anybody remember Bookbinding on a Thursday afternoon with Malcolm Smith? I wonder how many of those clubs still exist.
7. The School Play was Sophocles' Philoctetes, produced by Dennis Smith.
8. There were still three houses, School House, Uplyme and Tylers Wood
9. Jock Learmonth ran the 1st Rugby Team, Steve Edwards the 2nd, Steve Gamester the U15, Steve Goldthorpe the U14, and Derek Stubbs the U13.

10. One of the highlights of the year seemed to be the RGS German Evening. Mervyn Davies spoke about Germany between the wars, there was a film about the daily life of the German nation, and a troupe of girls sang some German songs. German cakes and pastries were served in the interval. A social message from the pen of the German author, Heinrich Boll was acted out, followed by more musical pieces, and a game based on Call My Bluff, but with all the words in German.
11. Ed. If you are one of those who put this on, Christopher Tite, Neil Timberlake, Mark Coburn, Paul Brown or one of the many others involved, do send in your memories.
12. The CCF had their usual range of activities, including the RAF trips to Valley in Anglesey and Learbruch in Germany, led by Peter Smaje.
13. Basketball, (Derek Stubbs and Jock Learmonth) Cross-Country, (Ian Wilson and Neil Cooper) Fencing, (John Roebuck) Badminton, (Derek White-Taylor) Hockey, (Roy Page, David Stone, and Chris Mills) Rowing (Ian Blyth), Orienteering, (Bob Fair) and Fives all flourished.
14. 125 guests attended the OW Annual Dinner. Jan Lord, Keith Richmond, and the Headmaster, Rowland Brown, all spoke, and Sydney Hands was the Guest of Honour.

Finally a poem about George Hornsby.

The Master Who Weeds And Hoes. (after Edward Lear)

When awful darkness and silence still

Reign on the High Wycombe hill.

In the long, long school term days,

When the irate masters roar,

As they beat on the staff-room door,

When schoolboys crowd, as in human maze,

When the time is a quarter-to-four,

Then through the vast and gloomy dark

There moves what seems a ma, but mark.

A man with long, loony ways

Piercing the coal-black night,

A master large and bright

Hither and thither the visage strays,

A simply amazing sight!

Slowly he amble, pauses, creeps,

Then with hops and jumps and leaps

Over the flower beds, onward he goes,

A haze on the rose tree stems he throws.

And those who watch of this haunting hour

From the Hall or Geography block to glower

At the figure who on their sacred lawn's be.

Hurrah, hurrah, it's Mr. Hornsby!

The incredible man through the garden goes,

The master, who weeds and hoes.

Ed. Do you remember George Hornsby doing the weeding in the quad?

Indeed, if you were at the RGS in 1977, what are your memories? Do you have memories of any of the teachers mentioned above? Do send them in.

Now that it is 30 years since you were at the RGS, how about coming back to the school for the Annual Dinner in April?

In the next newsletter, we shall look at the Wycombiensian in 1997, for those who left the RGS just 10 years ago.

NEXT NEWSLETTER

This will be published in February 2008. Please send in your contribution, your memories, and your photographs to me, Ian Clark ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk.

Ian edits the Newsletter, Judy De Gelas embellishes it and Martin Berry ensures that it appears on the website.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR READERS