Chris Lord (G 53-57) recalls ‘Privileges’ in the 1950s.

“Reading Peter Royds's article in the July Bulletin rekindled memories of Grindal in the summer term of 1955. I had moved down the hill from Meadow House. I was appointed Bell Fag, which involved getting up in time to be down in the hall at 7:15 to ring the hand bell, running along the dormitory corridors at 7:25 shouting ‘Ten minutes to go’ and ringing second bell at 7:35, giving the late risers ten minutes to get out into the road at 7:45 for the morning dash to Barony and back. I had great trouble learning, not so much the privileges, but rather the names of the 1st XI and other ‘important’ people in the school. Successive failures led to a punishment run, a longer punishment run and finally a beating. The beating was administered with all the ceremony of an Elizabethan execution: at evening prayers Mr Parkinson told early bedders to go straight to their dorms and late bedders straight to their dayrooms; everyone knew what was about to happen, but not necessarily the name of the victim. The bath and shower room in the basement served as the execution chamber. Back in the dorm I was obliged to show my backside so that the grouping could be admired. Optimum grouping left only one deep wound, whereas poor grouping meant four or six shallower wounds.

We were tested again in the autumn term but in a less terror-inducing format, and informal warnings were issued through the grapevine to give us time to prepare. Personally, I had far less difficulty learning the fifteen members of the 1st XV than I'd had with only eleven cricketers. It was the structure (full back / wing, centre, centre, wing / fly half, scrum half / front row, second row, lock, wing forward, wing forward) compared to a simple list which helped. 

I too remember, as a fag, sitting in front of the boiler holding pieces of bread to the flames, trying to achieve exactly the correct shade of brown before running up two flights of stairs to the prefects' study.”

 

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