CH Trivia

[Richard Ruck]

One thing David forgot to mention in his otherwise very comprehensive reply was the "whole holiday" which took place in the Summer Term. We were allowed to go wherever we liked, provided that we stated very clearly where we were going and were back by a given time in the evening. It was almost always great fun and one year (1952 or 1953?) I went with two others to the Naval Air Station at Ford (now a prison!) where we went flying in an Avro Anson.

You were obviously very responsible people!

Grecians whole holidays (after A-levels, weren't they?) were mostly spent in search of decent pubs.....

Arundel was always a nice place to visit - good pubs, then a visit to the offy and a swim in the river. Not a good combination safety-wise. The current is very strong when the tides is rising or falling.

[J.R.]

What a wonderful post to start, Shoz.

Reading through it has bought back so many memories and also proves the point that at a given time in the School's history, the whole ethos of discipline changed completely.

SHOES:- Yes, they seemed to last for ever. If issued with a new pair, we would spend HOURS cleaning them in the good old fashioned military fashion of 'spit-and-polish'. If this was done correctly, the shine could normally be bought back quickly with just a quick buff. Dirty shoes was definitely punishable. I'm trying to remember the name of the 'bocker' in charge of the shoe-store. I THINK it was a Mr. Hards, who had an artificial leg and limped with a squeak. He also had a very distinctive shiny bald head.

[Richard Ruck]

I'm trying to remember the name of the 'bocker' in charge of the shoe-store. I THINK it was a Mr. Hards, who had an artificial leg and limped with a squeak. He also had a very distinctive shiny bald head.

Tiny skinny bloke?

[J.R.]

I'm trying to remember the name of the 'bocker' in charge of the shoe-store. I THINK it was a Mr. Hards, who had an artificial leg and limped with a squeak. He also had a very distinctive shiny bald head.

Tiny skinny bloke?

He was certainly very short, but I wouldn't have called him skinny.

His walk was very distinctive because of the false leg, and you could hear the linkage 'chink' with every step he took.

[Mid A 15]

What a wonderful post to start, Shoz.

Reading through it has bought back so many memories and also proves the point that at a given time in the School's history, the whole ethos of discipline changed completely.

SHOES:- Yes, they seemed to last for ever. If issued with a new pair, we would spend HOURS cleaning them in the good old fashioned military fashion of 'spit-and-polish'. If this was done correctly, the shine could normally be bought back quickly with just a quick buff. Dirty shoes was definitely punishable. I'm trying to remember the name of the 'bocker' in charge of the shoe-store. I THINK it was a Mr. Hards, who had an artificial leg and limped with a squeak. He also had a very distinctive shiny bald head.

the wardrobe guy when I was there was Mr Henderson. He was a member of Steyning Road walking Club and competed at county or even higher standard.

[Richard Ruck]

I'm trying to remember the name of the 'bocker' in charge of the shoe-store. I THINK it was a Mr. Hards, who had an artificial leg and limped with a squeak. He also had a very distinctive shiny bald head.

Tiny skinny bloke?

He was certainly very short, but I wouldn't have called him skinny.

His walk was very distinctive because of the false leg, and you could hear the linkage 'chink' with every step he took.

A Chinese knee??







I'll get my coat....

[J.R.]

Tiny skinny bloke?

He was certainly very short, but I wouldn't have called him skinny.

His walk was very distinctive because of the false leg, and you could hear the linkage 'chink' with every step he took.

A Chinese knee??







I'll get my coat....

I see the gin bottle's found its way out of the cupboard again !

[Richard Ruck]

I see the gin bottle's found its way out of the cupboard again !

Not at all!

Nothing here at the moment, apart from some Ricard and a bottle of dark rum (which is purely medicinal ).

[sejintenej]

David Brown wrote: "...bee-keeping with Mr Fryer (or messing about in his lab)..." Actually it was CF Kirby who kept bees and had a lab - Fryer was a different chap altogether.

One thing David forgot to mention in his otherwise very comprehensive reply was the "whole holiday" which took place in the Summer Term. We were allowed to go wherever we liked, provided that we stated very clearly where we were going and were back by a given time in the evening. .

Absolutely correct - I'm getting a bit past it. The "whole holiday" was an event though my only memories of that were going to the beach at Climping (?sp). In Col A I suspect that off grounds would have been restricted to monitors. (There was alot I had to omit for brevity)

After A levels those who took the exams were free to spend the rest of the day how they liked provided they didn't infringe on other people's activities.

The 11plus site: If you want your kid to get a public school education and are living on 15K per annum you don't have much choice. It might not be Eton or Harrow but it is probably better than the local comp.

Bullying: I suspect it exists in every school. What outsiders don't realise is that houses are organised and run by the boys / girls themselves. Housemasters are there more as backup and to ansure that standards are maintained than anything else. It is the boys who ensured there was no bullying; I myself got put intop the Infirmary through bullying; the transgressor never ever tried it again against anyone (and has since fled to New Zealand!). Homesexual approached were treated in the same no-nonsense manner.

Pregnancy: so there was one case at CH? How name per abnum at your local Comp? With one exception (on TV recently) I've never heard of a pregnant boy so I can't really comment.

[englishangel]

David Brown wrote: "...bee-keeping with Mr Fryer (or messing about in his lab)..." Actually it was CF Kirby who kept bees and had a lab - Fryer was a different chap altogether.

One thing David forgot to mention in his otherwise very comprehensive reply was the "whole holiday" which took place in the Summer Term. We were allowed to go wherever we liked, provided that we stated very clearly where we were going and were back by a given time in the evening. .

Absolutely correct - I'm getting a bit past it. The "whole holiday" was an event though my only memories of that were going to the beach at Climping (?sp). In Col A I suspect that off grounds would have been restricted to monitors. (There was alot I had to omit for brevity)

After A levels those who took the exams were free to spend the rest of the day how they liked provided they didn't infringe on other people's activities.

The 11plus site: If you want your kid to get a public school education and are living on 15K per annum you don't have much choice. It might not be Eton or Harrow but it is probably better than the local comp.

Bullying: I suspect it exists in every school. What outsiders don't realise is that houses are organised and run by the boys / girls themselves. Housemasters are there more as backup and to ansure that standards are maintained than anything else. It is the boys who ensured there was no bullying; I myself got put intop the Infirmary through bullying; the transgressor never ever tried it again against anyone (and has since fled to New Zealand!). Homesexual approached were treated in the same no-nonsense manner.

Pregnancy: so there was one case at CH? How name per abnum at your local Comp? With one exception (on TV recently) I've never heard of a pregnant boy so I can't really comment.

After A' Levels I must have read 200 Barbara Cartland books, overdosed, I have not read any since. (Pity the same cannot be said about the chocolate buttons I ate)

Bullying. There was certainly that but girls tended to send people to 'Coventry' or the abuse is verbal rather than physical.

I assume some girls were/are gay but certainly was not aware of it. No more than the Junior on Senior crushes fairly common I suspect in single-sex establishments.

Pregnancy: None that I heard of, except the Head Girl in my last year had a baby 29 weeks after we left.

Incidentally our local comp. has no pregnancies. As a receptionist at the local doctor we had no teenage pregnancies in the 2 years I was there.

[J.R.]

Absolutely correct - I'm getting a bit past it. The "whole holiday" was an event though my only memories of that were going to the beach at Climping (?sp).

Absolutely correct, sejintenej.

Still a lovely beach, visited by this household in the summer with Grand-Kids. East to West Beach, then into Littlehampton for fish and chips.

Someone on another post on here recently mentioned Ford Prison, some 3 miles north of Climping.

The locals refer to it as, "Butlins Ford".

I'm told that the in-mates live as well as, if not better than certain pupils at a school near Horsham.

[Rory]

Arundel was always a nice place to visit - good pubs, then a visit to the offy and a swim in the river. Not a good combination safety-wise. The current is very strong when the tides is rising or falling.

A lovely place to visit - although beware of the underwater barbed wire if you take a drunken dip....I wonder how Toby's shoulder is???

[Richard Ruck]

A lovely place to visit - although beware of the underwater barbed wire if you take a drunken dip....I wonder how Toby's shoulder is???

He tells me that he still has the scar....!

[sport!]

Well it was a little er... antiquated when I started... I think the year before I joined, squits still had to have blankets, there were no curtains in the dormitory...

crumbs, when describing our "sceptic tank", I'd never actually thought of dropping those bombshells in

[Sergiu Panaite]

Second up is usually how the Headmaster is incapable of talking to parents and answering queries. My advice for that is speak to the second master - they know everything usually and are very keen to chat. So what if the Head is aloof? I don't know him and it doesn't matter. The people who were key in my life were my Houseparents and my subject teachers.

The current Head (Dr Peter Southern) should've probably gone into politics - he has his critics, but he's one of the slimiest people I know (in a good way) and he really is quite good at talking to people - in my opinion anyway