Roy Brocklebank (FS 56-61) subsequently submitted the following reminiscences.

“For a long time I have been relatively detached, but as those I was at school with pass on, so the number of my contemporaries shrinks and a wealth of knowledge is lost.

Bill Dove, both by name and nature, was a sad loss.

And Willie Jones. Not Willie to us, but I was one of three who were assigned to him as my tutor or mentor. It seemed quite arbitrary and neither he nor I knew why, as he was not just my English master. Where I did take instruction from Willie was writing. He would give extra-curricular instruction on writing in italic script. I am sad to say I lost some of that skill, but my writing still has some semblance to italic. 

On another occasion there was a school trip to Ennerdale and a climb up Red Pike to High Style. I remember wearing school clothing and a duffle coat. We trudged up the mountain in mist from cairn to cairn. Willie ran up past us to the top before running back down; that did our morale no good at all! On reflection, had the school done such a walk today, ill-equipped as we were, there would certainly have been questions asked.
    
Returning to Willie and his tutorials, it soon became an opportunity for the three of us to cram inside his tiny Austin Seven and drive at a snail’s pace up the Main Street and thence to some café or other where he would feed us starving pupils with much sought after food.

Talking of food sparks another memory of Foundation meals. Once a week we were able to choose one item of comestibles, say a packet of cereal or a jar of jam or marmalade. We also had a red painted tin, previously containing a roll of elastoplast, with our sugar ration, though rationing had now ceased. Breakfast consisted of the aforesaid cereal and a cooked breakfast. This might be French toast, half a slice of bread fried in egg batter, or half a slice of fried bread and a tomato; on Sunday a small slice of bacon or perhaps a sausage. One main meal I recall was Lancashire hot pot; I remember slices of potato and black pudding. The Sunday roast was the pinnacle of Foundation cuisine. Rumour had it that the joint of beef was cooked in the school on a Thursday, driven to Whitehaven when cold and sliced into wafers, and on Sunday it was reheated and served with roast potatoes! Another notable feature of the Hostel dining room was the redoubtable dinner ladies. Always friendly, they brought a welcome touch of home. I would marvel how they could carry five or six plated meals and spill not one.

Another memory was the birthday treat at Meadow House, where we would have a special drink before bed, hot orange squash!”

 

Home

The St Beghian Society    
St Bees School,    St Bees,    Cumbria,    CA27 0DS.

         Tel: (01946) 828093      Email: osb@stbeesschool.co.uk      Web: www.st-beghian-society.co.uk