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Trips of the 1950s
With many pupils drawn from the poorer sections of society, I doubt that too many school outings were arranged outside the town boundaries in the early years of the school's history. However, by the1950s, educational theories were more enlightened and pockets were deeper. I certainly recall a number of day trips. One involved a rail journey to London to take in the Houses of Parliament before boating down the Thames to Greenwich. Local expeditions employed the well-remembered Regent and Maflin coaches.... and often employed the skills of much loved coach driver... Mr Bottle. One such journey (in 1959) took us around the Kent coast to view the Viking Ship at Pegwell Bay, Richborough Castle, Sandwich, Walmer lifeboat, Walmer Castle and Dover Castle. It was quite a whirlwind tour organised by Mr Hime (class 4A) and Mr Porritt (class 4B). With Mr Newsome at the helm of the good ship "Boys School" and money still in short supply in the aftermath of World War II, school trips were short, cheap.... and, above all else, educational! Frank Newsome had many sterling disciplinary qualities but, in my humble experience, "Mr Fun Guy" wasn't one of them. However, with a young headmaster (Mr Queen) taking over the tiller in 1960 and society heading towards the relative affluence of the Swinging Sixties, things were about to change
Guernsey - 1962
By 1962, Mr Queen had been King of Oxford Street for two years and a more progressive approach was in the offing. Graham Ruck recalls a school holiday trip to Guernsey in 1962 and he has attached a photo as evidence.....
Yes, the guy on the left is a very young looking Mr Queen (headmaster) and the chap on the right is his Deputy, Mr Hime. Mr Hime had actually arrived in the Newsome era (and my time at the school) - replacing the highly popular Mr. Len Hake during the 1957/58 academic year. I liked Mr Hime.... but, as I left the school in 1960 before educational enlightenment, I never knew that he had a pullover and shorts like that! I am surprised that the Channel Island authorities let him in.... but, of course, there was no "Trinny and Susannah" in those days.
Guernsey Again - 1963
The school returned to the island the following year and, this time, we have even more evidence.... thanks to a lovely memento kindly forwarded from Peter Simpson. It's Peter's School Journey booklet from over 40 years ago... with the front cover depicting a ferry approaching the island.....
The contents included official instructions - starting with a general message to the party from Mr A M Queen.....
Mr. Queen was obviously something of an optimist - describing the waters of the English Channel as warm.... between May 31st and June 8th! However, I imagine that a holiday in early season was quite a bit cheaper and it allowed teachers to have their own family holidays later in the summer. As Simon Langton failed miserably in its duty to teach me to speak French, I did a quick online translation of the hotel name... Le Menage. Apparently, it means "housework"! What were those boys letting themselves in for? Mind you "housework" was going to be shared with the pupils of a Northamptonshire school as confirmed by the list of "scholars"....
The Whitstable party included another well known teacher from the past - deputy head Mr T Connell. Members of both the Queen and Connell families joined the trip. Mr Hime had either left the school..... or his pullover and shorts had been unavoidably detained at the St Peters Port Immigration Office. ;-) How times have changed over 40 years. Back in 1963 ,Mr Queen advised that £2 would be a sufficient amount of spending money for a week.....
He also had great faith in youngsters ability to "rise promptly", "be washed and tidy before meals" and "leave the bedroom neat and tidy". Advice on clothing was good sound stuff.... based on the principle of "Travelling Light"....
That meant just the one change of underclothes. (Well, they would only be gone a week). A pullover and shorts were a must... but there was no fashion guidance to suggest that they shouldn't be worn simultaneously. Ahhh... so that's how Mr Hime went off the rails in '62!
Our Thanks....
We would to thank both Graham Ruck and Peter Simpson for sharing these memntoes with readers of Simply Whitstable. What a lovely piece of local school history!
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