Wells Cathedral School FoundationStaff Memories 2
Peter Bishop - Boarding in the 1960's - A Staff view "Tell him to bring his own electricity then!" - the first words I heard from Major Henfrey's lips just before I joined the staff in 1965. Henfrey was about to retire as Bursar and his successor was describing the furnishings of the attic bed sitting room in Claver Morris (better known in those days as No.4) which I would occupy as Assistant House Master. I would be given a bed (standard barrack-room issue), a table and chair, a (so-called) easy chair and a one bar electric fire. "Anything else you want " said Sqn Ldr Ashton "such as an electric blanket , you'll have to bring with you." That casual remark elicited the comment quoted above : obviously Henfrey was alarmed at the profligacy of the new regime! Of-course I got to know Major Henfrey well over the years and learned to appreciate the kindly nature masked by the bristling eyebrow and bluff exterior.... I had never used an electric blanket and did not intend to start then, but I did wonder whether it might have been a wise investment during the months that followed. My room was at the top of the house, faced North and East and forty years ago global warming had not been invented! The ice used to form overnight on the inside of the windows as well as the outside! Nowadays assistant resident staff usually have self-contained, centrally heated accommodation with their own bathrooms and sometimes kitchen facilities as well. I had the one room and shared a bathroom with the Housemaster, Stuart Burt, the house captain, Roger Durston and the three or four senior boys who occupied the top floor. But I did have my one bar electric fire: the only heating for the boys was provided by two night store heaters in the common room (elderly armchairs and TV) and "games" room (table skittles!). I remember Alan Quilter - I was one of his first two appointments - saying that he thought it was good for boys to be a bit hungry, cold and uncomfortable. Well, No. 4 was a tough house and I think our boys took some sort of perverse pride in their Spartan conditions - and of course most of them had survived three year's apprenticeship in The Cedars where Matron Staniforth insisted on dormitory windows being open overnight, summer and winter. No. 2, Plumtre House (now known as Edwards) was run by Geoffrey Lewis who lived there with his wife and family, and by a curious coincidence Geoff's daughter, Melanie, is now Housemistress of the same House. All the remaining resident staff were bachelors and we were reasonable well fed in the staff dining room - in fact I don't think I have ever eaten as much before or since. I quickly learned that conversation was not encouraged at breakfast but the evening meal was a much more convivial affair. In No. 4 things began to change after my first year. Stuart Burt surprised us all by taking up a post in a girls' school: someone said that the girls would either be terrified of him or would fall in love with him! Geoffrey Green moved in as the new Housemaster, along with his wife Elizabeth and their two young daughters, and they quickly began to establish a firm but much more homely regime. But it was the advent of the first girls in 1969/70 that really began to make a difference. Girls were provided with carpets and heating: so much for sexual equality? In 1970 Dean Edwards vacated No. 3 and I was transferred there to help Alan Quilter run the new House (Alan's wife Sheila, looked after the girls on the top floor of No. 2). No. 3 had central heating and I had my very own bathroom. W.C.S. was beginning to enjoy the benefits of 20th century civilisation! Oh how things have changed since those happy days! Peter Bishop Claud Holmes - Former Head of the Junior School The Junior School 1964 - Some thoughts We arrived to take over the Junior School in August 1964, having been appointed by the future Headmaster of the Senior School, Mr. Alan Quilter. 102 boys, of whom 24 were boarders (in the second year we had 40!), occupying what is now Ritchie House - our flat was in among the boys and we were responsible for cooking and serving meals as well as looking after the choristers. Jane Hewson (latterly Jane Stockhill) - {Jane wrote this for us in 2003. Sadly she passed away in 2007} House Mother of Polydor 1970-1977 John, Julian and I arrived in Wells in gloom at the end of August 1970. We were still in shock after losing my husband and the boys dear Dad of cancer only a few months before. We could not have chosen a nicer, more friendly place to settle, especially in the community of the School. We were greeted by Jane Holmes, wife of Claude Holmes, the then Headmaster of the Junior School, and she kept an encouraging eye on us for the rest of the first year. John, aged nine, became a boarder in Jocelyn House, while Julian, aged 5 (now using his first name, Aubrey) went to Stowberry Infant School. On arrival both boys rushed around No. 3, The Liberty in great excitement; Julian peered down the steps of the cellar remarking: "cor - this looks just like a dungeon!" It has been known as The Dungeon ever since! Philip Peabody's Memories of - Wells Cathedral Junior School Soccer 1972 - 1995 When asked, as I often am, to provide information about Mansfield Town, a quick glance through the official Year Books or the marvellous "Mansfield Town, the complete record 1910 to 1990" by the wonderful Stan Searle fill in any gaps in my encyclopaedic knowledge of the great Stags. A reference to my almost complete collection of home and away programmes from 1947 to the current season would also be able to determine such esoteric matters as climatic conditions, matched by sponsors and which linesman carried the yellow flag in the Mansfield Town v Accrington Stanley game of 1953! However I have no such records in my possession of WCS Junior School soccer teams .... No Wellensians, no team photographs, nor even Yellow Pages. Does the above make me into a total anorak or a failed social historian? Probably both! So I apologies in advance for inaccuracies or omissions which are due to a selective failing memory. Opinions are mine alone and I am sure that the Editor would welcome a response, either corrections, additions or inside knowledge of what really happened! In 1972 Soccer was the main game, but within a year, for various reasons, rugby football became the major boys game. I seem to remember our first game was against Hazlegrove, our feelings, after a heavy defeat (I seem to remember 7 - 0) were that we could only get better! Our fixture list seemed to be against prep schools, but we did join the local leagues and as well as Edgarley, Taunton, & Kings Taunton we played Stoberry, Wells Central, St. Benedicts (Glastonbury), Brookside and Elmhurst (Street), Fairlands (Cheddar) and St. Pauls (Shepton Mallet), as well as Hambrook in Bristol. Our first breakthrough in recognition was when Giles Bailey and Stephen Bethel were chosen to represent Mendip Schools. The A & B teams played in Divisions 1 & 2 of the local Schools League and as Secretary I (or actually Molly Marshall the Junior School Secretary!) was responsible for providing the Wells Journal with results and an up-dated League position every Thursday. Once our A team finished bottom, but our B team were Champions of Division 2! This situation continued until the mid-eighties when it became difficult to arrange fixtures as teachers in the State Schools were faced with the national Curriculum and work to rule. We never won the League (Runners up in 1977), but won the cup twice! It was obviously difficult for the boys to adjust to playing soccer on Monday and Friday while playing the Downs etc. etc. at rugby on Wednesday and Saturday. We were always complimented, however, on our spirit and effort; a rugby team playing soccer! Our goalkeepers always had a great deal of practice and had every opportunity to show off their skills - David Horlock, David Adams, David Hill, Anthony Hodge, Jeremy Hallet, James Pym, Jeremy Bath, Ed Keevil and George Chapman all performed heroically. In defense, Richard Flower and Stuart Robinson were cultured full backs, whilst Nick Booth, David Wyatt, Simon Shercliff and Dougie Smith were great exponents of the "if in doubt kick it out" style of no-messing-about-football often seen in the Third Division North teams! James Morris, Craig Massey, Stephen Bethell, Andrew Smith and Julian Wyatt were super central defenders whilst Tommy Hyde, Mike Ferguson, Rowan Griffith-Malley, John Pring, Giles Lucas, Simon Hoskins and Simon Broad were cultured midfield players. Of midfield dynamos, ie those who ran around a great deal, we always had an abundant supply: Giles Bailey, Giles Lucas, Gavin Ball, Alex Frankpitt and Johnny Rolls were probably the finest exponents of this art. True wingers are hard to find, but Hervey Bailey, Andrew Scoular and Matthew Rigg, perhaps the best striker of a dead ball, showed flair. Those who could perhaps solve England's problems with a natural left foot were few and far between, but Andrew West, Robert Bath and George Morris all had "magic wands" as left feet, but James Weeks and Paddy Weatherall had enthusiasm and determination. David Gillen was Irish so did not qualify! And so to strikers - Often isolated figures who laboured manfully and with some success. Austin Knowles, Ed Hoskins, Jeremy Pym, Julian bath, Stephen Rigg, Duncan Irons, Theo Sirota and Max Constantini all had their magic moments. The best team? David Adams Best Goal - Tommy Hyde against Fairlands on Mundy's Meadow So you see the problem! Please contact me to correct any errors, omissions or other obvious mistakes! Philip Peabody. Early Days at Wells Cathedral School.... J.M.Hard 1973 - 2006 My problems with W.C.S. started the day I received the invitation to interview for the Post of Head of Biology - I already had another interview that day! I phoned the then Headmaster, Alan Quilter, and explained that I was being interviewed in Cardiff that day; was it possible to come either the day before or after? Alan agreed, stating this way Wells would only have to pay my expenses from Cardiff and not from London where I lived - Cardiff education authority could pay the larger bill!! Such was my introduction to Alan Quilter - flexible but canny! The interview was pleasant although I was taken aback when the Head asked to be excused and climbed out of the window! In 1973 the Head's study was in what is now Edward's House common room and he wanted to pass a message to his wife who was in the garden. I was told that Mrs Quilter would take me to the Science department to meet the current Head of Science and his successor. Mrs Quilter and I got lost as she explained she did not often visit the scientists - her husband usually referred to them as "that mafia at the other end of the place!" William Whittle, the Director of Music responsible for setting up the scheme from which we all benefit today, kindly gives us this fascinating insight into the early years. The Specialist Music Scheme was the brain-child of Alan Quilter. He had been appointed Head in 1964, a year after my appointment as Director of Music. Alan Quilter quickly came to realize that the future of schools such as Wells was by no means secure. He realized, too, that the best way of ensuring this future was to specialise in a non-academic subject such as Music, Dance and Sport. In view of the high standards we had achieved in the 60's in music and our long tradition of training Cathedral Choristers, the first of these options was the obvious one. The closure of a local girls' school in 1969 gave a further boost to our plans, because we had already accepted that we had to admit girls to the school if the scheme was to be both acceptable and viable. It was vital that we could accept financial support from local authorities; this was the first hurdle we had to surmount. Other things became clear as we discussed the way to proceed. As the school would have to finance the initial stages of the scheme it was obvious that we would have to confine our efforts to one instrument. The violin was the clear choice and we knew that we had to attract an eminent musician to advise us on the project. Yfrah Neaman was the obvious choice and when I approached him he embraced the idea with great enthusiasm. It was fortuitous that, as the scheme began to take shape, the Theological College moved to Salisbury. With a generous grant from the Gulbenkian Foundation we were able to purchase the College's fine building opposite the North door of the Cathedral and had sufficient funds to refurbish it. We were delighted when Lord Goodman agreed to preside at the official opening. In September 1970 I was able to appoint my first full-time assistant. Timothy Goulter was a fine young musician with a wide range of talents. He also possessed tremendous enthusiasm and energy. His just reward for all his efforts came some years later when he was appointed Director of Music. These were exciting times and we worked a twelve hour day as we undertook all the class teaching in addition to the A level and O level work. The evenings were filled with orchestral and chamber music rehearsals and we both taught fifteen individual pupils a week. It is impossible to mention and give credit to the many musicians who visited twice a week to teach and to give a sound start to the scheme in its early years. David Nalden taught the eight specialist violinists for the first three years before returning to his native New Zealand. He was succeeded by James Coles and Mark Knight. Their appointments coincided with the involvement of Amaryllis Fleming as ‘cello consultant. She recommended Raphael Wallfisch as our first specialist ‘cello teacher and thus our string teaching team was complete. For some time we had been able to produce a succession of good double bass players from our organists and those who proved a little too physical with the ‘cello! With a complete string orchestra, formed in the main from specialist musicians, we were able to perform in various venues at home and abroad. Special highlights were performances at the Aberdeen Festival of Youth Orchestras culminating in a Promenade Concert in the Albert Hall with selected players from the Festival conducted by Rudolf Schwarz. Some years later Tim Goulter took the string orchestra back to the Albert Hall to perform a Vivaldi Concerto with Yehudi Menuhin as soloist. During the seventies we made three trips to Scandinavia with the choir and orchestra. On one such trip a party of eighty five musicians visited Norway, Sweden and Finland. In 1980 the orchestra and the Cathedral Choir, visited Holland and Belgium; culminating in a performance at the renowned Walloon Festival. There were many exciting achievements in those early years. Pupils gained successes which helped to establish the school's musical reputation. Pupils came from all over Great Britain as well as Europe and the United States of America. Over twenty scholarships, choral and organ, were won at Oxbridge. These achievements may seem small when compared with the impressive results of today. Those who read through these notes will immediately detect what will be considered serious errors and omissions. I hope they will appreciate that they represent reflections on an exciting start to a musical venture which has now gained the international recognition which was our clear aim in those early days. May I make one last point. It would give great pleasure to many if it were possible to produce a list of pupils and their achievements over the first thirty five years of the Specialist Scheme. I have made this point previously and it may well be under consideration. I repeat the request here as a result of a recent experience when I was invited to attend a recital for the Sidmouth Concerts Society. The young violinist, Ruth Palmer, gave a staggering performance which received a rave notice from a well-informed local critic. When I spoke to Ruth after the recital I was thrilled to discover that she was a recent Wells pupil. My many visits to Wells over the last few years have not only given me enormous pleasure, but also ample evidence of the tremendous strides which have been taken during the twenty five years since I was at the helm. The whole scheme is being directed with imagination and skill. May it long continue! William Whittle
We had five classes, four of which were outside, as were the changing rooms. For Art and Music we went to the Senior School, being seen across the main Bristol Road by a member of staff, and raising our caps when a car stopped for us! Almost everyone had lunch in the dining room and library. Our two children: aged two years and nine months fed with their mother in the library. One day a small boy reported to his mother that "one of the headmaster's ladies was stuffing a sausage into my ear!"
We played games on Munday's Meadow, which did not involve crossing any major roads, nor were there any foul weather pitches either! Saturday was a day without any lessons, but lots of boys came in for games and Mrs Angel's delicious lunches! Sunday started with a supervised letter writing period after which the boarders lined up in the hall and processed to the Cathedral, having each received a penny for the collection box (just under 1/2p today!). After lunch there was a supervised walk.
I remember one child arriving on the front steps on the first day of term with a suitcase, having flown in from the Far East, and I thought that I was responsible for him for the next three months let alone teaching him! Opposite us was a garage and the proprietor used to take boarders to London Airport at the end of term - he always used to go once around the block and return before actually setting off so that the boys could check that they had everything: several times he had to return to collect forgotten passports!
My secretary was also the assistant matron - how she managed it I do not know, but she got all the letters off on time! We had a staff of four with Mr Tarbat giving us a good deal of his time as well. The timetable may have appeared simple compared to the Senior School, but you had to make allowances for some of the staff or a class of boys going to the senior school at times. I myself used to cycle up there when needed for meetings!
Girls did not arrive until 1969, but that is another story! Claud Holmes
Number 3, The Liberty, later known as Polydor ,opened as The Junior Girls House in September 1969 with Mrs Williams as Housemother for just one year. It was quite a shock for me as a new Housemother taking on responsibility for ten little girls whom I had never met before in strange surroundings: I was never quite sure who was more homesick, them or me! However, with the help and encouragement from the Junior School staff as well as our super domestic, Rene Mills, we muddled through. Mrs Mills loved her cleaning work in the House, taking a personal interest in the girls, listening to my woes and offering sound, sensible advice. Sadly she died about two years ago.
The girls were between seven and eleven years of age, with the exception of Diana Gunton who was only six when she arrived as her brothers were in the Middle and Senior School and there were no other children of her age at home. She settled in wonderfully with the friendship of the other boarders, my care and Miss Cockbill's teaching. During the 1971 summer holidays there was chaos throughout the House as two more rooms were being decorated to provide dormitories for the September term when there were to be 20 girls.
In spite of a few ups and downs, such as the flooding of the dungeon!, Polydor was a very happy, family House and the girls had lots of fun in their free time. I had put together a box of clothes for dressing up and they made up plays and imaginary games. For a few years there was no television in the Common Room so when programmes such as "Blue Peter" were scheduled they would crowd into my sitting room to watch! During a series of power strikes at that time we were often without electricity for up to three hours! The girls came back from prep, got ready for bed by candle light, and then I would read to them in my room by torch light while they had their bed time milky drinks. They all thought this was very cosy as well as so exciting! When the weather was fine the girls loved to play in the big garden behind the House, tending to congregate around the stately Wellingtonia tree, and playing games around it or sitting on the lower branches chatting : some even worked for their exams under it! During any storms or gales some girls worried that such a big tree might blow down onto the House, but there was always laughter when I reminded them that my bedroom was nearest to the tree and would be hit first!
We did have one near disaster during the power cuts when I missed extinguishing a candle in the girls bathroom! At about 8.30pm when the girls were all asleep I discovered it had burned down to the wooden shelf it was on, but thankfully one of the huge plastic bottles of bubble bath had melted and the contents put out the flames! We were extremely lucky that it was no worse, but it took a few days to clean off all the black soot. Of course this was before the days of fire alarms, and from then until the end of the power strikes I was given help by another member of staff at bedtime: I was relieved when the power strike ended!
At the start of each term I would remind the girls that we would have a fire practice at night within the first three weeks, having done a few day time drills. It was so comical to watch twenty bleery-eyed little girls , often clutching their teddies, tripping out of the House to be counted. The next morning most of them had no recollection of the fire drill!
The majority of the girls played a musical instrument, but due to the lack of practice rooms had to use the dormitories so that most days between end of lessons and prep there was the sound of squeeky violins, bangs and tooting...the noise was almost unbearable!
As I tried to encourage the girls to behave well and be considerate to one another, rather than punish them for being naughty, they competed for the "best dormitory" prize each term. The favourite prize was a midnight feast: I provided nibbles for them to eat picnic style on a rug on their dorm floor, waking them up at 11.50 pm! The other alternatives were an outing with me, ending with tea at my house in Keward Walk or Book Tokens. On the whole the girls were very well behaved. Recently some of the girls have sent me details of their memories: hair washing was a chore as most of them had long hair with no idea how to manage it, and yes we did have nits on occasions! It transpires that Julian was persuaded to open my bedroom door so that the girls could jump out of the windows! Although on the first floor there was a grass mound under the window so it was not quite so high as some, but still very risky. This was one of their favourite dares: thankfully no one was ever injured!
I did have a fair amount to do with the day girls, usually if they had grazed their knees or were feeling sick, and they also used the House for prep while they waited to be collected by their parents.
Before taking on the position a friend warned me that very often parents were more trouble than the children, but again I was very fortunate in that they were always helpful, encouraging and appreciated all that was done to make the girls happy and content in the boarding environment.
Fortunately the majority of the girls over the years were delightful, and when my second husband came into my life, he was rather hesitant to take me away from the happy working home of Polydor and the girls: I too was very sad to leave. I would love to hear from more day and boarding "Old Girls" from my Polydor days. Jane Stockhill
Richard Flower Craig Massey Stuart Robinson
Tommy Hyde Gavin Ball
Roger Peabody
Hervey Bailey Julian Bath Stephen Rigg David Gillen
Best tackler - Max Costantini
Best Pitch - Mundy's Meadow, described by George Petherbridge, who Played over 600 games for Bristol Rovers, as the best surface next to Wembley & Ipswich! Thanks to George Coleman, George Petherbridge, and Craig Keast for such excellent pitches.
Best "Pre-seat belt" Transport - Austin Knowles's grandfather's van with hay bales for seats!
Best "D.K." - As Charlie Cooke, the famous Chelsea and Scottish forward called "different klass"!! Ben Kench and Roger Peabody : both still playing (just!). Ben had headlines in the Wells Journal in April ... "Kench scores 150 goals for Wookey!"
The meeting with my predecessor, Colin North, and the man with whom I was to work for many years, Peter Thomas, was informal to say the least. I was asked to help unload a minibus, as there had been Biology field trip, and then we drifted off down Sadler Street to a cafe to drink coffee and chat about cars, football and the price of wine - I got the job!
When I made another later trip to the school, to talk about textbooks and timetables, I reported, as requested, to the Head's office for a brief chat and was then introduced to my guide, in case I had forgotten the way to the labs. The guide was Malcolm Bradshaw, Head of Chemistry, and another great character in the Science Department.
Malcolm led me in a most circuitous route to the labs, passing via the Vicars' Close - to see the dying magnolias; the front garden of what I now know as Jocelyn House - "could I identify this clump of bulbs?"; and finally the quadrangle between the Chemistry and Physics labs. The reason for our stop in the Science quad. was to examine the blackspot fungus on the roses that grew in the flower bed that ran alongside the Physics lab in those days. Peter Thomas emerged from the old Biology lab (long gone now, but for younger readers it stood where Ray Robbetts now teaches Biology) to ask what had kept me? I explained that Malcolm had been my guide - he seemed to appreciate my confusion!
I was spend the next 33 years at W.C.S. , 25 of them as Head of Biology and continuing for a further 8 years, after early retirement from teaching, looking after Careers. I had enjoyed dealing with the University and Careers area for many years as I took over this role from Neil Mitchell in 1982.
It is impossible to recall all the events in such a long time, but perhaps just a few.
In 1976 Peter Thomas and I decided that a Science Dept. B.B.Q. would be a novelty so we decided to give it a one-year trial in the last week of the summer term, and I am delighted that it has continued, and under the current Science supremo - Rob Henson- is now one of the social events of the summer term. I mentioned earlier the old Biology teaching hut - it was purchased with the funds raised by a coffee morning and came second hand from the Royal Bath & West showgrounds! Early in my first year I discovered that the sinks along the sides of the lab were not connected to the drainage system and this accounted for (a) the peculiar miasma on some Monday mornings after a warm week-end, and (b) the fact that any mouse/gerbil/hamster escaping from its cage, and seeking refuge under the floorboards, usually drowned! The floor was indeed a little unsafe and I wonder if Helen Headley still remembers the day when her lab stool slowly sank through the floor! The old lab was finally replaced in 1975-76 by the wing that now contains all three Biology labs, but older Wellensians may be interested to know that the hut continued in another role as a chicken shed in North Wootton following its dismemberment in 1975.
Early Biology field courses to Swansea University were great fun, if exhausting, and I particularly remember the group who took hymnbooks and woke me up singing "Immortal, Invisible, God only wise" at midnight! You still owe me a drink Colston!
Throughout the late seventies and eighties the department expanded and I was now teaching Botany and Zoology alongside Biology resulting in one year producing 10 medical students, 2 vets, 2 nurses and some biologists - a good year 1986! Teaching Botany was always enjoyable as the characters wishing to read such a subject tend to be a little out of the ordinary - not to say quirky! In the case of two such students, Jeremy Brade and Jonathan Thompson, I cannot remember ever having formal lessons as I think we spent the time arguing! Also, their inability to see colour down a microscope led to some inappropriate language on my part as I tried to get them to recognise plant tissues.
It is a sign of increasing age when you live in the past, but after working with 9 Directors of Music, 5 Bursars. 3 Deans, 3 Head Teachers, 2 Heads of Science but only one other Head of Biology it is time to stop!
J.M.Hard March 2007.