Letter to the Head Master

This section was setup in August 2018 in order to move the existing related discussions from other sections into this new section to group them together, and separate from the other CH-related topics.

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jtaylor
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by jtaylor »

A personally addressed (a quick mail merge) letter to every OB they have details of, explaining that certain staff are under investigation (whether named or not) with the years which are currently being looked at, and maybe highlighting how many pupils have already come forward (hopefully encouraging to feel more comfortable in doing so) and confirming that they’re looking for corroborative information as well as information from those actually abused?
Given the number of staff, and the period over which it happened, I’d wager there are potentially hundreds of OBs out there who weren’t directly physically abused themselves, but who have information which might corroborate information provided by those who were, and thus help secure convictions.
It should also be remembered that the more compelling the evidence presented to the accused, the more likely they’re are to plead guilty I’d expect - thus avoiding the pain and trauma for the victims of recounting the abuse in open court?

So the school and police should be proactively encouraging everyone with information to come forward to expose everything which went on, and get everything out in the open. Hopefully this forum is helping in encouraging everyone with information to approach the police, and hearing how well the police have worked with victims is hopefully of some reassurance.

I wonder if any current/ex-staff have come forward to the police with information of what they knew back-in-the-day? I’d have more respect for any teacher who realised how wrong it was to not come forward historically (whether blaming culture, fear for their job or whatever), but now did the right thing and revealed everything they knew to the police.
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by LHA »

Spot on Julian, in literally every way.
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by Katharine »

Julian has. It absolutely right, it should be relatively easy for the school to do.

I was amazed the other day, someone here mentioned that he had received the CHOBA Newsletter that day, I queried why I hadn’t with Gina Skillings, her email reply told me that not only had I received it, but I had opened it twice and clicked on the photo gallery :oops: . Mine had come a week earlier. If the school can do that, they should be able to send personalised emails to all relevant OBs and former staff.
Katharine Dobson (Hills) 6.14, 1959 - 1965
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by jtaylor »

Further, I think the school should be more explicit that they WANT all of this to come out NOW, and COMPLETELY - therefore ENCOURAGING people to come forward with whatever info they have. This can only be a benefit to the victims, the school, the Old Blues and the reputation of the school itself. Having more skeletons in the closet, or things they're hoping don't come out or nobody hears about, is only a bad thing.
They've been pretty good at signposting to the right support, at least if you get the email newsletters, and/or read the CHOBA website - but nothing on the CH website itself, not on their Facebook page (although I've not searched thoroughly), nor by mail to OBs (which, given the demographics involved, may be essential to reach a large proportion of certain cohorts.)

As always, getting on the front foot has always been a challenge for CH...
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by Foureyes »

I make no apologies for repeating something I said earlier, namely that the CHOBA Board appears to have been totally inactive over this issue. Two of the most important responsibilities of the Board are to represent Old Blue issues to the school and school issues to Old Blues, and in both of these the Board, through its silence, has failed dismally. I should add that I refer here to the Board, which is composed of Old Blues and not to the development office staff who are not Old Blues and are, in any case, the paid servants of the school.
David :shock:
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by richardb »

Goodness Julian you are on fire this morning. Have you had three shredded wheat?

The acid test of the school's resolve is going to be when the civil claims come flooding in. If the school is paying then it will knock a big hole in the reserves. If the insurers are paying then they will want to pay as little as possible.

As far as I am aware the Husband/Dobbie victims still have not received so much as a letter from the school but I would be delighted to be corrected about that.

The starting point should be for the school to pay for counselling for all the victims who need it.
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by Scazza »

richardb wrote: Sat Aug 11, 2018 9:37 am Goodness Julian you are on fire this morning. Have you had three shredded wheat?

The acid test of the school's resolve is going to be when the civil claims come flooding in. If the school is paying then it will knock a big hole in the reserves. If the insurers are paying then they will want to pay as little as possible.

As far as I am aware the Husband/Dobbie victims still have not received so much as a letter from the school but I would be delighted to be corrected about that.

The starting point should be for the school to pay for counselling for all the victims who need it.
I'm not sure the victims will want anything from the school, other than a sincere apology.

Youre right that victims need proper support - here is a useful list of [often free] resources:

http://supportline.org.uk/problems/chil ... vivors.php
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by yamaha »

Re: Letter to the Head Master
Post by richardb » Sat Aug 11, 2018 9:37 am

As far as I am aware the Husband/Dobbie victims still have not received so much as a letter from the school but I would be delighted to be corrected about that.
Sorry Richard but I have to call barrister BS on that one.

Just how many H/D victims have you canvassed for that information? I'm guessing the answer = 0.
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by michael scuffil »

Can I make a general point?

rockfreak has said on more than one occasion that this is (largely) an inherent boarding-school problem. He points out that children at boarding schools are not under the observation of parents, who might be quick to pick up on psychological indicators. I am sure he is right about this, because (1) the offences (though equally culpable) vary in their nature, and (2) quite different types of school are involved.

As to (1), what I mean is that Pink's offences (for example) were against pre-pubescent boys, while Karim's were against post-pubescent girls. This reflects (2): CH now is a totally different type of place from CH in the 1950s. And a different type of place from Ampleforth. And from Germany's most notorious abuse-school, the Odenwald-Schule, a showpiece 'progressive' school. And from the sort of monkish establishment described in Roger Peyrefitte's novel Les Amitiés Particulières (Special Friendships -- geddit?)

The Odenwald case is noteworthy because the headmaster himself was the chief abuser, and he happened to be close friends with Germany's most famous post-war 'progressive' educationist (not himself an abuser, but a guy in the AS Neill league). He (the HM) could not be prosecuted or sued under Germany's statute of limitations, but one victim sought to sue the school for the return of fees (I think he failed, because the school, not surprisingly, simply stopped getting any more students, and had to close). The Odenwald concept saw the houses as intimate co-ed 'families', so you can see the temptations. Close relations between students and staff were actively encouraged. It was a complete contrast to the stiff-upper-lip CH of the 1950s, and the abuse was of a different emotional nature. All that they had in common was that they were parent-free boarding establishments.

In many ways, I think freedom from parents is good for adolescents (and vice versa). I think I benefited from it greatly: I think it preserved good relations retween me and them. But generally I must say I am now ambivalent.
Th.B. 27 1955-63
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by richardb »

yamaha wrote: Sat Aug 11, 2018 10:19 am
Re: Letter to the Head Master
Post by richardb » Sat Aug 11, 2018 9:37 am

As far as I am aware the Husband/Dobbie victims still have not received so much as a letter from the school but I would be delighted to be corrected about that.
Sorry Richard but I have to call barrister BS on that one.

Just how many H/D victims have you canvassed for that information? I'm guessing the answer = 0.
Funnily enough I have received a PM this morning from a victim (who gave evidence) who confirms that there has been no letter from the school, despite the police being chased for it.

Can I suggest that you think before you post?

You can insult me all you like: it is water off a duck's back. But your ill considered posts about matters that you actually know nothing about are offensive to the victims of abuse who read this forum.

I could turn the question round and pose it to you: how many victims have confirmed to you that they have received a letter from the school? But I don't need to ask you as I know that the answer is none. I can't imagine any victim would want to rely on you to have the appropriate tact and discretion.
yamaha
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by yamaha »

Your consistent bias against the current CH administration borders on the snide, but pleases some.

Reid has become the focus of a baying pack on here.
They could consider the complexity of his job and that he has more important work than futilely attempting to satisfy a very small number disaffected OBs.
For instance:
There may be more investigations that he is working on with the police.
He will be preparing for IICSA hearings.
We have been told by a victim that he is meeting the victims.
He will certainly be intensely occupied with the future course of CH and the very survival of CH’s charitable ethic since the school’s finances are likely to have been negatively impacted by these events.
The result of a large funding deficit would be even more full fee payers and CH inevitably becoming another Charterhouse.

Perhaps those on here who seek the demise of CH would be happy that kids from poorer backgrounds would lose access to CH’s opportunities.
Rather than incessant carping Reid should be receiving comments of support and encouragement - outside of this forum he probably is.
ZeroDeConduite
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by ZeroDeConduite »

michael scuffil wrote: Sat Aug 11, 2018 11:59 am ...CH now is a totally different type of place from CH in the 1950s....
Britain in the 1950s was a totally different place. The tabloid headlines of 1953/4 - BUGGERY BEAULIEU splashed across the whole front page, made it quite clear even to an 11 year-old how post-war Britain viewed institutional sexuality. Alan Turing was another (unknown at the time) example.
So I never had an inkling of master/pupil relations, except for the one example I've mentioned elsewhere. Boy to boy encounters were rampant, but very heavily concealed if they got beyond jolly japes. That's after about 1955 - with Seaman's arrival. Before that the horrendous boy/boy sadism was what affected me most, the low level constant fear of being singled out. I adapted to this with a remaining 'hidden in plain sight' strategy that remains emotionally with me to this day :-(

But the impact of the era of 'teenage' culture, which arrived with Rock Around The Clock and Hound Dog, changed Britain forever. And the Swinging Sixties changed sexual mores and probably brought about less individual personal unhappiness in society generally.
Paradoxically it seems to have enabled the traditional values enshrined in the school to have allowed (even engendered) unspeakable behaviours that became even more out of step with a more humane human-rights-aware society.
PrepA 1951-2 Peele A 1953-60
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by TMF »

The problem with the current CH administration is that its behaviour (blocking and obscuring) is no different to the behaviour of previous CH administrations. Given the damage that that institutional behaviour has caused over the years, it is strange that anyone would seek to defend it. In my view, the only people seeking the demise of CH are those that seek to perpetuate the 'Move along nothing to see here' response, which guarantees that the next round of failings will be worse.
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by J.R. »

yamaha wrote: Sat Aug 11, 2018 12:38 pm Your consistent bias against the current CH administration borders on the snide, but pleases some.

Reid has become the focus of a baying pack on here.
They could consider the complexity of his job and that he has more important work than futilely attempting to satisfy a very small number disaffected OBs.
For instance:
There may be more investigations that he is working on with the police.
He will be preparing for IICSA hearings.
We have been told by a victim that he is meeting the victims.
He will certainly be intensely occupied with the future course of CH and the very survival of CH’s charitable ethic since the school’s finances are likely to have been negatively impacted by these events.
The result of a large funding deficit would be even more full fee payers and CH inevitably becoming another Charterhouse.

Perhaps those on here who seek the demise of CH would be happy that kids from poorer backgrounds would lose access to CH’s opportunities.
Rather than incessant carping Reid should be receiving comments of support and encouragement - outside of this forum he probably is.

OH PLEASE.

Stop defending the undefendable.
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
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Re: Letter to the Head Master

Post by rockfreak »

Replying to Michael 's piece on boarding and the subject generally, I wonder if there is a compromise here in what I believe is a system elsewhere in Europe and particularly in Denmark. This is a mainly state-run system of weekly boarding for youngsters in their mid-teens who are just needing to study seriously for exams. The existing public schools and their magnificent facilities would be folded into it and it would involve children from the locality boarding during the week and going home at weekends. This would enable them to study and do their prep without distraction but also to have all the out-of-class activities that these places are geared up for: sport, hobbies, arts, creating explosions in the lab (every school would have its own Kirby) and, yes, the group activities might inculcate some of that famous esprit de corps that the boarding schools make so much of. And of course they would be home at the weekends so still staying in touch with Mum and Dad. It would of course help to wean them off street corners, Ipads, gadgets and consumerism in general for a while and introduce alternatives.
Perhaps these places might continue to offer the things for which they are good at. Music and choral activities at CH and the excellent military band. Who knows, they might even vote to keep the famous uniform but that would be up to the pupils. But either way Christ's Hospital itself would be seen as a source of pride in the West Sussex locality rather than the "penguins" being viewed with envy in Horsham by those who know they will never get these chances.
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