Staff Memories 1

Jeffrey Bigny (Staff : 1950 to 1985)

It has been suggested that I might like to pen some recollections of my time at W.C.S., but the trouble is that by now my memory is fading and tends to be selective, limited and probably unreliable! Perhaps as they tend to be those related to my early days increasingly few will be likely to remember which may be just as well! Anyway this is about a life to a great extent confined to the classroom or boarding house, which limited the effect I had on what was happening in general throughout the school. There is, of course, "The History", but it is very much a tale told by the author who came fourteen years after I arrived and is naturally concerned with his period and his ideas.

When I first came to Wells by train in June 1950 it was the day when there was a farewell tea-party for Dean Malden, and I was received by Mrs Ritchie before meeting the Headmaster. She addressed me as "My young man" and informed me that, if I was approved, I would probably stay a year or two and make my mistakes before moving on! She was wrong on both counts. I did not regard myself as young at 26 for starting my teaching career. It so happened I left school to join the RAF and spent six months at Technical College doing the Inter.AMIEE, which was the hardest work of my life! I then went to No.9 Radio School at Yaresbury to be taught Ground Radar and then, since I passed out high enough, to be sent on various instructional courses before joining the staff. My three years War service were followed by four years at Oxbridge before arriving at Wells. Nor did I do the "moving on" Mrs Ritchie expected, although it was the normal practice for such a school to depend on a nucleus of senior staff with several younger ones beginning their teaching before moving on. Many boarding schools followed the Woodward practice of feeding staff well and paying them very little. The staff were single, lived in and were kept very busy....I can testify that W.C.S. was exactly like that when I joined. Three other young graduates joined at the same time and they also stayed on until retirement, which was quite an unusual record.

Mrs Ritchie was the pillar of the school as her husband was by that time sadly past his best. She was magnificent at looking after the domestic side of the school as well as the health and welfare of staff and pupils. After supervising breakfast she would come into the staff dining room and we all stood up! Sometimes she would appear in the splendid uniform of a Commandant of the Red Cross and on others completely in black, which would be the mornings she would be sitting as a magistrate (I can still hear a colleague muttering :" guilty, so take six months"!). The main dining room was in the present drawing room with the front door permanently locked with the H.M's. chair immediately in front and at one end of the staff table, with Mrs Ritchie at the other end. After lunch, when the boys had left, Ritchie, who liked a cigarette, would throw the packet on the table, inviting anyone to help himself!

"Doctor" Ritchie, as he was often called, came to Wells the year I was born when the school was a small choir school occupying the present museum. The expansion came when he was able to move to The Cedars, but most of it took place when Wells was regarded as a safe area during the War. This did not have the support of the Dean and Chapter since they felt they could not continue the charge for seeing the clock in the Cathedral. As a result there was no possibility of Chapter support for any expansion. This had to be done by Ritchie who not only took no salary, but was able to pay for most of it himself. This was possible because as "Afric" he became one of the celebrated composers of crosswords. There may be some who, like me, remember "The Brains Trust" on television and remember Professor C.E.M.Joad who claimed that he made more out of composing his crosswords than he did as Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, London. Ritchie was one of the trio who produced the best crosswords of those days. His were collected and published in a soft-covered book called " Afric's Crosswords". One of the HMI's I met just before I retired told me that he had a copy, so there must be a few still around. So the crossword earnings were used for expanding the School, including buying the house which became the Junior School and is now Ritchie House, as well as sending his children through Oxford.

After Ritchie's death the question was what would happen to W.C.S., which in many ways was HIS school. Without his inspiration, the majority of the Chapter were in favour of reducing it back to the original small choir school. The saving of W.C.S. as we know it was essentially due to Dean Harton. He was an Anglo-Catholic who was isolated by the rest of his fellow Canons who could only be described as Low Church, apart from Harry Thomas, Bishop of Taunton. In those days the only way of paying for a suffragon Bishop was by making him a resident Canon. Naturally he was a reluctant Canon as his main responsibility was to share those of the Diocesan bishop. As it was he was the last to do this double job. However in the Chapter he was a great supporter of Dean Harton in his championing of the school. The vital vote happened while one of the Canons, opposed to the school, was absent. The other two voted against, while the Dean and the Bishop of Taunton voted for it. Since the Dean then had a casting vote the school was saved and Frank Cummings was appointed from St. Pauls to develop the School as a two stream school with a developing Sixth Form. His appointment encouraged four of the five new young graduates to stay on with the understanding that the School would seek for recognition from the Education Department. So as a result the full Burnham salary scales would be paid, with academic able to join the state pension scheme.

The History rightly gives credit to Frank Cummings for the enormous work he did in raising academic standards, by appointing staff who were willing and able to follow his example. As he had a Classics degree he took over the teaching of Latin after Colchester retired. To my personal delight there were only a maximum of 18 in each set, giving staff a real chance of treating each member as an individual. Michael Carter and I stayed with our Maths sets all the way to O-level which worked very well for both of us.

Cummings said he would come to Wells for 10 years to see if he could sort out and settle down the school. He stayed exactly that period and no-one else could have done better the task he set himself. He hardly ever left Wells, devoting himself completely to the School. His attitude was that those willing to help him achieve his aims would contribute all the energy and talent they could muster in return for the Burnham salary. This meant that there were no heads of departments and when he persuaded me to take over a House there was no additional money remuneration. He could be a hard task master but, if he trusted you, he let you get on with making your contribution. There was therefore a remarkable feeling of being an essential but greatly appreciated member of a band of enthusiasts on a mission with a clear aim in view. So W.C.S. became a school, small but the best of its kind anywhere. There was great support for games, but academic standards came first. I recently looked at an old copy of the Wellensian of 1965 which listed Wellensians at University, including 2 at Oxford and 11 at Cambridge. The total list was 29 which was remarkable for the school at that time and a sign of Cumming's success. Added to this were four State Scholarships for the last year it was awarded. Among those in the list are Christopher Mulvey, a most distinguished mathematician who came to give a talk to 6th from just before Major Henfrey died. The three of us decided it was time we tried to collect together for a reunion as many as possible of those on the list I refer to. Unfortunately Henfrey died shortly afterwards and I could not organise it on my own, since Prof. Mulvey was then far too busy. So it remains to be organised!

At this time we are awaiting the appointment of a new Dean, which is very important to the School since he acts as Chairman of the Governors. I was very close to Dean Francis Horton, who introduced Sung Eucharist each Sunday instead of once a month. I became a sub-deacon and continued until recently. The introduction of more ceremonial led to a need for training for those concerned, and so for many years School members were used and I acted as Head Server and M.C. when required. Dean Horton told me about his appointment to Wells. He was chaplain of the Livery Company in London to which the then Prime Minister belonged and happened to sit next to Clement Atlee at the annual dinner. The PM said he had the Deanery of Wells in his pocket and would he like it? Today the PM's Appointments Secretary makes the necessary enquiries and the usual committee work takes weeks! For my serving of him while at Wells his widow gave me one of his rare photographs which now hangs in the Head's study. I was also very touched when Mrs Horton presented me with an exquisite, tiny crucifix, which the Dean had kept in his desk, as I do now. Dean Patrick Mitchell used to visit Mrs Horton in her home near Oxford, and he always kept me informed of her welfare.

Another great figure devoted to the School was Alan Tarbat who stayed right through with Ritchie, apart from when he periodically left for short breaks to gain some wider experience. He was an ideal Middle School Housemaster and an excellent teacher of basic English. He was a writer himself on a wide range of interests including poems, hymns and plays for his House to perform, with something for every boy to do. I was only too happy to present the Tarbat Shield for Middle School Drama productions to complement my own cup for Senior House plays. Soon after I arrived at Wells Tarbat wrote part of the pageant for a performance on the Cathedral Green for the Festival of Britain, and in fact I spoke the introduction, dressed as a herald! I just managed to finish it as an enormous thunderstorm crashed down, soaking the processions approaching the Green from all directions. The actors and their heavy, magnificent costumes were soaked and had to dried out in the local bakery so that evening performance could take place! Tarbat also had a regular weekly column in the Bristol Evening News and there are his "Shireways" booklets, which gave him the opportunity to relate his anecdotes, and folk-stories, which he was so good at telling.
Of those who came with me c.1950 I have written gratefully of Mike Carter who read Maths at Bristol, and as he did a fourth year studying Physics was well qualified to teach 6th Form Applied Maths. When he became head of department he persuaded me to take most of the top sets, which I really enjoyed. I also admired his organ playing. Ray Evens was excellent with the less able and spent time with boys who were more manually inclined. He was a marvellous glass engraver and I often look at his engraving of the front of de Salis on a whiskey flask given to me when I retired. Paul Johnson followed Ray, and then took on the introduction of computers to the school. I was so sad about him.

The colleague who started with me and was happy to "live in" when I started de Salis as a boarding house in 1956 was Geoffrey Williams. He took a First in History at Oxford, but it could well have been in a foreign language as he could have read either French or German. When he joined the army during the War he was selected to join the interpreter's Russian course at Cambridge. There he found Miss Hill, the professor, and the splendid Prince Obolensky (brother of the famous rugby player) as her assistant. Though far too modest about his own ability he was a natural teacher, but it was a pity he did not compete for a fellowship at Oxford. He became Head of History as well as spending a lot of time teaching German which he introduced to Wells. Geoffrey is a kindly, wise, gentle person with a delightfully playful sense of humour, and had a love of school events and happenings. In addition to his scholarly ability he has had a life long interest in steam trains, and spends a lot of time with his model railway, which occupies the upper part of his home in Bridgewater. I started my days in de Salis in the "Canonical" part, left free by Canon Jones who had moved to a house on the edge of the garden with a right to walk across it with his wife, through a door in the wall for that purpose. Mrs Jones, a French lady, assured me that I would freeze in the house, as there were only coal fires in the hall and the splendidly large room with a bow window. The assistant organist lived in the other part of the house and had a very large Austin called "Duchess". When the house was divided a second door had to be opened alongside the porch.

The trouble with being in the same house for 24 years is that time tends to condense into a more likely span. It was true that I never actually signed any contract and so it might be as simple as "leave him where he is since he seems to like it" so for me it became a kind of habit. There were disadvantages of staying in one place and doing the same things for a lifetime. For some there is the great benefit of community, but the trouble with such a long time is the difficulty in remembering times, people and events. I certainly met a large number of staff and pupils during my 35 years on the staff, and it would give me great pleasure to meet up with any of those who might visit Wells and care to seek me out in and around de Salis which I usually haunt most mornings!

However vital Cummings' time at Wells was, it was right for him to insist that he would only stay for 10 years. Change and new ideas came in the person of Alan Quilter, and these were much needed if the School was to survive in the competitive world of private education. We needed to do more outside the classroom and exam performance. This required more money and more pupils, which meant an increase in class sizes from 18 to 24, and a lot more marking! Not all the ideas tried by other schools were suitable for Wells, but the headmaster was fortunate to be able to call on David Tudway-Quilter for advice. David was always kind to me, and recently took me to see the presentation of an Hon. LL D to Terrance Mordaunt. I am sure that neither Dr. Mardaunt nor I were thinking of the jobs we did together in de Salis house and gardens when his brother Francis was House Captain, and School Captain as well as being captain of every game played in school!

In spite of our disagreements I must pay tribute to Alan Quilter for introducing measures which really made such a permanent difference to WCS, and I am still amazed that he hit on the idea of putting into effect the Music part of the 1944 Education Act which provided money for schools with Specialist Music provision. I have watched its development with fascination since Lord Goodman opened the Music School, and I not only continue to listen to the remarkable concerts in the cathedral, but also the wonderful lunch-time recitals in the Music School. Equally important was the introduction of girls, and it was fortunate that we did not make the mistake of taking them only in the 6th Form, but started with a few lower down, allowing them time to become Wellensians by incorporation.

Our Headmaster was full of surprises and one was when he suggested that since I was approaching 60 I might like to think of retirement with the most kind recognition of my years of service before the school became "recognised", perhaps maintaining a little teaching. I had the idea that as a complete change from Maths, to increase the A-level choices, Politics and Government could be introduced, since there was no "O"-level required. I had done some of this at Cranwell before leaving the Royal Air Force at the end of the War to help those being introduced to civilian life once again. To my surprise he agreed and thought it was a good idea, as indeed it turned out. Alan and I continued to meet as sub-deacons in the Cathedral and sat together for the Memorial Service for David Lancashire in the Roman Catholic Church in Wells. I thought he looked well but sadly he died two days later. Jeffrey Bigny

Russell A Clarke (Staff of 1953)

I was at Wells as a student master for the January term in Coronation Year, 1953. At that time Wells School was not "recognised" by the Ministry of Education!! It was quite an extraordinary place, but I had a most happy term and have retained a deep affection for the place, and the City ever since and delight in the great school it has become.

I had chosen Wells because I thought I might as well spend the time in a pleasant cathedral city; I'd always wanted to visit Wells and had a close college friend at the Theological College. I lodged at 14 Vicars Close with one of the Vicars Choral who also worked for the School. I was very cold there! Ditto in the School. However we expected no central heating in those days and life in the school was frugal. Yet compared with Wells, I must confess my days as a boy at Nottingham High School were almost luxurious!

I arrived to report to the Bursar, Major Henfrey, a sallow, moustached bachelor - all the staff except the Headmaster were bachelors there being no residential accommodation for families, so you can imagine the atmosphere. Henfrey, I remember, took me over to the Headmaster, Canon Ritchie (of blessed memory!) and his formidable wife. She had to be protective of the old boy because he was clearly a shadow of his former self - I note he left the following year, but had been once a fine looking man and athlete. But when I met him he tottered around in mortar board and gown, on a stick with a rather smelly little dog at his heels which sat in the classroom with him. He was pretty doddery and with little idea what I was supposed to do he put me in the care of Geoffrey Lewis, History master and later deputy head I believe. I liked Geoff enormously and he helped me a greatly. After my first lesson he was kindly non-committal, but after the second, with advice from him, he said I was much more effective. Although still unmarried he was the least "bachelor-like" of the all the staff. Carter, the pot-holer mathematician was another congenial, rather laid back character, but he certainly never got me underground. His other interest was the organ and you often heard him pounding away on the Cathedral organ.

On my first week-end, an obviously lonely Mr. Fisher asked me to join him for a genteel tea in a genteel tearoom in the City: a rather sad figure I think, clearly a fish out of water who could not keep discipline, and lived in the holidays with his mother. The second master, Colchester, was an inscrutable character. I was told that he was disappointed to miss out on an Oxbridge place and had settled for his bachelor life after a distinguished War career. He and Henfrey seemed to be the lay mainstays of the Cathedral. Jeffrey Bigney talked of his Club in London, taught Maths and I liked him a lot. There were two Williams, one quiet & reclusive the other a contemporary of mine at Keble; a curious nervy, neurotic type. Then there was dear old Alan Tarbat, who was also a Keble man, and we found a lot in common in our views on the Church and State. We kept in touch and I visited him in his retirement when he lived in a small flat tucked away at the north end of the Close. A nice man, but an "old woman" if the truth were told. He had to have his particular arm chair in the Common Room, and would swivel it round to a particular spot (avoiding the dangerous holes in the floor!). "Will you propel yourself Mr. Willams?" as he manoeuvred to his correct spot in front of the gas fire. This bachelor atmosphere could be fraught among the more confirmed "old women". I remember vividly a literal yelling and screaming match on some imagined slight between Tarbat and one of the Williams. It was quite a spectacle, like a spat in a girls' dorm : the only thing they didn't do was pull each other's hair! Such was the sound and fury that the door opened and there stood Mrs Ritchie, erect, magisterial and formidable. Utter silence. Tarbat looking like a scolded 5 year old. "What on earth is happening? Is this a rehearsal for a play?"

The whole place was bleak and cold, classrooms in particular and everything was unbelievably spartan in a way only our troops in Afghanistan would recognise! But I enjoyed it and the food was good. Yes I mean that: I commented on this to Mrs Ritchie when I went to say farewell and she was suitably pleased as she had a lot to do with the arrangements. I remember Miss Staniforth who had just arrived as a matron and who expressed little-veiled contempt for the type of conversation which she thought went on among males! The ladies were alien beings in that environment. There was also a Miss Brown, an assistant matron. I wonder what happened to her?

I doubt if the academic standards were high in those days, but I shall ever be in debt to the School ; they really gave me a good grounding in school-mastering. I taught Maths & English, took boys for walks, helped in a very inexpert way on the playing fields and became "part" of the place. I marvelled when I saw (from the outside) the spreading of the School when my wife and I spent a week in Wells a year or two ago, although alas I've never been back inside for nearly forty years. I imagine all the masters I knew are long gone. All good wishes to the School. Russell A Clarke

Patricia Staniforth (Matron of Cedars 1953 -1983)

When reading the Newsletter lots of memories rush back...

Russell Clarke: do you remember when you were a student teacher you had to take the Cedars boys for their Sunday walk and on one occasion you took them in their Sunday suits! You returned with them gloriously covered in mud! I guess you didn't hear Mrs Ritchie say to Miss Brown and myself.."You girls are not to clean those suits: Mr Clarke got them in that state, so he can clean them!" I don't remember whether we took pity on you, but somehow I don't think we would have dared!

"Araldite" Mallon: do you still have trouble with lots of girls writing you passionate letters? My warning to you would be still the same "Never put your answer in writing!" I wonder does anyone ever hear of Edward Hopkin? He once organised a 6th Form dance in the Bernard Buildings, and in an absolute panic dashed upstairs calling "Matron, Matron"! I have organised the band, I've ordered the food, but I have not ordered the girls!! By the way Edward, do you still pinch other people's daffodils to give to your best girlfriend?

Who hid a well-thumbed copy of Lady Chatterly's Lover under the floor boards in Dorm 1, not to mention other "printed material" under 14's floorboards! Could it really be true that Geoff Lewis came face to face with a 6th. former at the Town Hall Dance? Of-course no Cedars boy would have dreamed of getting onto the Cedars roof to peep through the skylight into the surgery which just happened to double as Matron's bathroom!! Or would he?

How many ex-Cedars boys did I catch smoking at the top of De Salis garden (sorry J.R.B.!) And believe it or not, I didn't tell. I wonder who left his burning cigarette on a piano in the new Music Block? It was all so very exciting, with three fire engines! Now, for those folks who hate wearing those cruel orthodontic contraptions, don't give up, just keep at it! Michael Hastings, do give School a visit, and show them! Do you still work with "This is your Life"?

I often wonder why the police thought it must be Cedars boys scampering along The Liberty at dead of night in their pyjamas! Strange to say girls also wear pyjamas and also took part in dares, just as girls have been known to take a peek at "doubtful" literature. Could it have been the feet of a Dodd brother that were seen peeping out from under a curtain in Claver Morris? And could a young lady possibly have got out on The Cedars parapet?

Congratulations to Bruce Parry...perhaps it helped to hurl oneself over the Cedars bannisters! I still cannot be sure who turned the deeper shade of green ... you or me!! Phillip Dudden, did you at the tender age of six, win an Eye Spy competition in The Farmer and Stock Breeder? The prize included a trip to Slimbridge. I had a wonderful surprise recently when Richard Steer from the early 50's dropped in: out of the blue...we had a lovely chat about "old times"

I remember Alwyn Gillen's first day as Housemaster of The Cedars, and what a "terrifying" memory it is! He was standing half-way up the stairs talking with some parents when a poor, innocent boy pointed and inquired "Who is that?" DAG replied in his well-known, dulcet roar ...I am your House Master!! We all thought: "Blimey, what have we got here?! But, as we all know his "Bark was infinitely worse than his Bite!"

And, No m'lud !, there was never a pottie nor an item of Matron's underclothing flying from the flag pole above the sick room in No.15!!

Sorry if I have been too cruel..put it down to Old Age!! Matron Staniforth.

Arthur Carter (WCS Staff 1956 - 1960) - The School Cadet Force in the 1950s

Ray Evans, the ATC CO, had arranged for the Squadron to go to RAF Colerne for a summer Field Day. A few days before the Field Day, the Air Cadet Liaison Officer rang the school cancelling our visit as it was the Station's annual sports day. Ray decided that we would go anyway: the coach was booked and there was no time to arrange an alternative visit, but the Unit must not know of our presence! The cadets were told to wear "mufti" (neither school nor cadet uniform) and if "captured" by the RAF Police not to disclose they were from W.C.S. until 3.00pm - our rendezvous time at the coach which would wait on the road 100 yards from the main gate. All cadets were given a quiz sheet to find answers on the station as if they were spies - eg name and rank of the Station Commander, type of aircraft flown, when the NAAFI was open, times of chapel services etc. The lads were told to go in small groups of not more than four, and on the day were dropped off the coach, eldest first, at intervals starting about two miles fro the main gate.
Two cadets decided a straight line was the shortest distance between two points and set off across country, heading for the control tower. When they came to a high wall they clambered over and landed in the arms of a nun! It was not a convent, but a home for wayward girls run by a religious order! Following instructions, and not wishing to jeopardize the squadron's day, they gave nothing away until the police were involved, when a call to the school resolved matters and the trespassers were released, the RAF still very much in the dark!
The other boys all enjoyed the day, mingled with the families and even entered the races for the sons of airmen. Although we saw many boys wandering around, the surprise was to see Edward Hopkins in mac and trilby in the Officers' tea tent. When Ray challenged him, he just said, "Press, Sir": typically original as ever!
A memorable day, the RAF never knew we went. Of course in the 1950's security was more relaxed and it just could not happen today - pity. Arthur Carter.