Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

blueeyedboy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 26, 2018 10:20 pm aka 'Ping'. A generally honourable but quirky sort of a chap, and not an obvious ringleader. Must have been a bad situation indeed to get his dander up.

I can’t speak to his character but he was an absolutely brilliant physics teacher.

I remember him as someone with a very strong sense of fairness. How much truth there is in what I was told I don’t know, but there was no doubt that Baker’s daughter has serious ill will towards CVS’s children.

He was an excellent teacher, and a good man, hopefully still is!

Sadly Elvie my own Physics teacher failed fairly comprehensively on both counts... (the more dots, the better at this juncture).

Hudson?

I was of the same vintage as blueeyedboy and I don't remember Hudson.

He started in 1990 I think

Sorry, being too cryptic. Burr, two years, awful teacher quite apart from other awfulness.

Every single person in the Horsham school in the 1970's knew that Webb was not the sort of person to put in charge of a house and yet he became a house master.

As I noted earlier in this thread, the entire school united in a chant of 'Pedo', 'Pedo' on one occasion in the dining hall. Webb's 1970s nickname was 'Pedo' - (and masters knew the nicknames). After the chanting incident - I think that the boys assumed the subject would leave the school and follow some other profession. I am very sorry that this was not the case.

Clearly at the time the school was filled with weak people, desperately wanting to hold power over others, keen on corporal punishment, and so on.

Even the headmaster was a creepy, weak, oily toad with dubious ideas (bending people over his leather armchair, etc.) (as documented on this site - and witnessed by me, unfortunately).

Everyone heard the rumours about the Norfolk Broads trips, saw masters with decoy wives eyeing handsome boys, and so on. I wish that I had had more gumption and ability at the time to disrupt this - but I am afraid I was mainly interested in leaving.

I suspect that the many and various weak but power interested people caused the problem to be completely systemic from the top down.

The school now wishes to minimise the issue. "Hardly any grooming to see here - wonderful school, fresh air, etc." That is a natural response of an institution protecting itself and guarantees that the next scandal will be worse.

So my suggestion would be that the school offer to conduct an open analysis of the extent of this problem - the school has the records - testing what is proven and what could have been the extent of the problem and why it cannot happen again. It should then offer a complete refund of fees paid in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Many ex-pupils would say - 'I don't want the money' - but those who suffered would be compensated in some fashion - and it would be hard to argue that the school was not trying to do the 'right thing'.

A great post by TMF above.

Any comment, Richard ??

The school fails to appreciate that those of us who post on the forum by and large have little interest in what happens at the school now as neither the posters nor their families are pupils at the school.

We have a particular interest in the historical angle because some were abused, many of us put at risk and some of our friends would have been among the abused.

I spent three years in a dormitory where Webb roamed at night. The letter that Baker sent out (whether written by him or sent on instruction) was just a lie about Webb from start to finish.

TMF wrote: ↑Tue Jul 31, 2018 4:10 pm Everyone heard the rumours about the Norfolk Broads trips,

Soirry TMF, I am not sure why I am asking this, because perhaps I don't wnat to kno wthe answers, but as someone who went on these trips 3 times in the 80's is there any more on this? I don't recall anything untoward, but perhaps like others (and also back at school) I was too naive to notice, or not of any interest

cstegerlewis wrote: ↑Tue Jul 31, 2018 5:14 pm

TMF wrote: ↑Tue Jul 31, 2018 4:10 pm Everyone heard the rumours about the Norfolk Broads trips,

Soirry TMF, I am not sure why I am asking this, because perhaps I don't wnat to kno wthe answers, but as someone who went on these trips 3 times in the 80's is there any more on this? I don't recall anything untoward, but perhaps like others (and also back at school) I was too naive to notice, or not of any interest

Who was there when you went?

That's a bit of a test, but I would say most years it was JDS, Torkington, Goodall (at least for a couple of years), 3 or 4 Old Blues who had been in Scouts and would have been Undergraduate Age, and I think Dobbie went on at least one (he also went on the Lake District Trip with the Scouts in December 85, my UF, as I remember he had to break the news to us that Bill Mitchell, then a Dep (?) had died of Cystic Fibrosis - I had spent some time with Bill when we were both in the sicker, but he was an acquaintance rather than a friend).

There were probably other masters involved (for no other reason that there must have been more minibus drivers) but I can't recall who.

As a 70s veteran I have to say I was fortunate to have avoided the wicked events that have come to light.

I remember the 'Pedo' chants in the Dining Hall, although, as I never crossed paths with him, I was unaware whether there was any substance to the name. Like many I imagine, I just thought it was baiting a weak master in Killer Fry's absence.

In reference to TMF's post:

I went on a Broads trip with Ian Torkington and Dr Maddren and still see it as an opportunity for some boys, perhaps whose home circumstances were difficult, to have some respite. I'm unaware that anything untoward happened. I know I'll always be grateful to them for that holiday.

Refund of fees paid? What about those who didn't meet the fee-paying criteria - should they receive compensation instead? I doubt whether the victims want financial compensation, I think their reward, albeit belatedly, will be to see some element of justice.