Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Thinking back, I cannot remember any students with disabilities. Certainly no blind or wheelchair-bound, but not even any that were excused participation in sports. Was I simply unobservant, or did the school avoid accepting such students?

In the 50s, in my time, Prep A had a lad called Anthony Campling who had a deformed hand and what looked like a club foot. His mother lived nearby and would call in now and again to see he was OK. I don't know quite what the diagnosis was. Many youngsters back then suffered from Polio until the Salk vaccine was discovered and, I remember being taken into Horsham by Dr Scott for a vaccination. I don't know why I hadn't had it already. Deformities and calipers on children's legs were much more commonplace then.

I can't remember any disabled pupils during my time at CH.

The nearest thing I remember to a disability was one lad who suffered from epilepsy, and I wasn't aware of that until he had a fit in the Avenue one day. That would have been in the early 70s, I think.

An older boy in Mid A had severe problems with his sight. I believe he was registered as blind later in life.

Other than that described, which I was only aware of really because I happened to be in the same House, I do not recall any other visible disabilities during my time.

There was a boy in the same house as me with a deformed hand. He was a very nice guy and, to the best of my recollection, his disability was never an issue, nor indeed a subject for discussion, for any reason. In fact, there was one matter for which we envied him, because he had a watch as the strap enabled him to hold a knife when eating, and watches in those days for schoolboys were like hens teeth.
I don't think I am using rose-tinted glasses, but as far as I remember parents, religion, appearance were simply irrelevant. Indeed, the only personal idiosyncrasy I can remember concerns David Taplin, who banged on endlessly about the crooked spire of a church in his home town of Chesterfield. (David, if you read this, you have to admit, with hindsight, that you did go on a bit, but, on the other hand, you cannot but be impressed that I remember it to this day!)
David

I recollect in the early 50s two boys with disabilities . One was a boy in La B with a deformed right hand, which tapered and only had a single finger (an extreme form of syndactyly). The other, Hardy of Mid A, had (before CH?) suffered from rheumatic heart disease, which had permanently damaged his heart, so he was excused all games. (His Kirby nickname was “hard hearted Hardy” and this was never used in any unpleasant way.) Both disabilities were well known by all and to my near certain knowledge they never suffered in any way at all, as a result. CH then was as tolerant of disability as it was of social background. I trust all this is true today.

Lamb B (and CH as a whole) was indeed a very tolerant community of diversity in ability, religion, origins but one soon was teased out of one's regional accent (mine strong northern) towards a "PS" accent - so that on my first vacation back to the wonders of the great town of Chesterfield (outshining Pisa with its extraordinary crooked spire - with the first National Park and many World Heritage sites)) I was teased for being all "Rolls-Royce & Cut Glass" by my primary school mates (by then at the equally ancient Chesterfield Grammar School now defunct). This made me naturally educative to Blues in the 50's about the glories of Derbyshire (where was founded the Great Industrial Revolution by such as Richard Arkwright and George Stevenson and the home county indeed of Barnes Wallis - I am sure Coleridge would have visited the crooked spire in his travels from Ottery St Mary in Devon to the Lake District). Kirby was an inspiration for the idiosyncratic amongst us (a high proportion in those post-war years) especially the science, nature, engineering oriented and the nickname he bestowed upon me was "Gubbins" after I believe one of his wartime mates. And I still bang-on about everything Derbyshire here in Vancouver amongst fascinated BCOB's - even in the 2020 book (assembled by a team of XV Old Blues - not all from Derbyshire - "Christ's Hospital: Tradition with Vision" - available on amazon.co.uk) - enjoyed by many - albeit criticised by some.....

Two people whom I remember.
Bob Galbraith (Col A), who only had thumb and little finger on right hand. Played the French horn, was my partner in some science labs and had no problem doing the experiments. Met him at a 50th reunion and think he said he was in the medical profession but I investigated no further.
Michael Thomas (Ba B), who was both a red head and RC, so went to mass in Horsham (neither disabilities), but he did have one leg shorter than the other and a foot which seemed not to be a direct continuation of his leg (no idea whether that is clubbed or not), and had one shoe with a pretty thick sole and heel.
The rest of us were all head cases.

coliemore wrote: ↑Sun Oct 11, 2020 7:30 pm Lamb B (and CH as a whole) was indeed a very tolerant community of diversity in ability, religion, origins but one soon was teased out of one's regional accent (mine strong northern) towards a "PS" accent -

For hose of us who joined at 9 years of age the tests seemed to push whether we were sufficiently healthy for school life. I guess that birth deformities would not necessarily be a handicap to that.
I fully agree that physical deformites were ignored at the school - if I noticed then I quickly forgot Galbraith's ( I later came across a typist with six fingers on one hand and that was also ignored). Conversely to the above, later at home they tried to teach me proper Oxbridge speak because CH failed - from memory it was all about the ou dipthong. That seems crazy because I had gone to CH with a regional patois rather than accent so I couldn't understand much of what people were saying so I was automatically in trouble with Mr Jones. As to religion we had one boy who was a Jew and I think a couple of RCs - again ignored.

sejintenej wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2020 8:44 am ( I later came across a typist with six fingers on one hand and that was also ignored).

There's an extremely poor taste joke there somewhere...