Ian Brearley - 1961 to '66
Courtesy of Ian Brearley - 1961 to '66
I remember Mr Hewison attempting to teach me French in Forms 1O and 2B, while Henry Pant(h)er frightened a modicum of mathematics into me.
Fellow pupils in Form 4T were Chris Davis and Peter Lanning. I did an apprenticeship with another form mate Gordon Taun.
My memories are of 2 sailing holidays at Pin Mill, Ipswich, during I think 1963 and 1964, escorted by Mr Burton (Gonfra) and, I think, Mr Boyd (Shindy). We took a Scorpion dinghy which had been built by boys from earlier years in the woodwork shop.
This photo shows clearly how "luxurious" our accommodation was
When I looked at the photo I wondered if I would be able to name a single individual but, when I turned it over, to my surprise, my childish scrawl in pencil named every one.
From left to right:
Pam, Saunders, Diane, Andy Younger, “Goggles”, “Nellie” Bemrose, Jenny, Brian, Mad, Helen, Roger, Sinnat and Mike Berry.
This is getting worse. The RYA certificate (John Warner didn’t get one) is dated 1st September 1965 so that corrects my faulty memory and places my two holidays as 1964 and 1965. I’m thinking now that the Brian in the group photo, might have been Brian Nichols.
COMMENTS :
Courtesy of John Warner - 1961 to '66
Just a few more recollections shaken loose! Ian Brearley’s Memories stirred a couple of things in my mind. I was a contemporary of Ian and I was in Forms 1M, 2B, and 3B, and I think Ian was in these forms too. I went into 4A and Ian into 4T. It may be my memory playing tricks but I thought that I had Mr A.P. Burton for French whilst in 1M and Ian had Mr Hewison. H.W.Panter did indeed take us for Maths. in 2B and I think 3B. He was scary to me at that age. Whilst I remember the names of some of my classmates from 4A I also remember Frank Gibson who was one of Ian’s classmates in 4T. Frank was a member of the 4 and 5th Year rugby team as was I. Frank was a good player, I was middling.
I also remember the school sailing holidays on the River Orwell and the walks through the woods to the pub, The Butt and Oyster, where we used to partake of the local cider in the evening. I suppose Messrs Burton and Boyd must have known about our little outings but I don’t recall any reprimands. Accommodation was in tents which slept 4 to 5 boys. I was not a natural in a dinghy, or any other sort of sailor, and failed to qualify for a certificate of competence, but the chance to get away from home for a week was not to be missed!
If my memory serves me correctly, to reach Pin Mill we went by the train from Wycombe to London, onto Ipswich, and then a bus to Chalmondiston near Pin Mill, and then a short walk to the sailing centre.