Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

blueeyedboy wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 9:41 am Just seen the CHOBA News which arrived overnight; no mention of any convictions, presumably as the trials and sentencing are still ongoing. Once we get to a point when the legal processes are all completed, or at least an appropriate pause, I would very much hope that, for the benefit of the majority of OBs who do not read the Forum it will contain a report on what has happened. (I hope the School read this, reflect, and conclude it would be the right thing to do).

Do you still believe in Father Christmas Charlie?

Please don't tell me that the tooth fairy and Easter bunny aren't real !

I like to think I'm a reasonable sort of a chap Richard. The Facebook group fiasco was a really bad crisis PR response; I am trying to give the School a clue about how they might change tack and do the right thing when there can be no further prevarication on legal grounds (deferring as always to you in this area). If they don't, then my position will swing from 'reasonable' to 'absolutely furious' pretty quickly, believe me.

By an amazing coincidence Facebook has thrown up an invite to the 40 years leavers get together.

It's a shame that Webb and Husband won't be able to get there, so no point in going.

richardb wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 12:01 pm By an amazing coincidence Facebook has thrown up an invite to the 40 years leavers get together.

It's a shame that Webb and Husband won't be able to get there, so no point in going.

Do I detect just the slightest touch of ironic sarcasm, Richard ??

blueeyedboy wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 11:24 am I like to think I'm a reasonable sort of a chap Richard. The Facebook group fiasco was a really bad crisis PR response; I am trying to give the School a clue about how they might change tack and do the right thing when there can be no further prevarication on legal grounds (deferring as always to you in this area). If they don't, then my position will swing from 'reasonable' to 'absolutely furious' pretty quickly, believe me.

You know that the Facebook old blues group has nothing to do with the school?

Sorry to go Back to Buck again. It was my information to JR that caused him to close the AH Buck site way back when.

A quick pedantic note. I don't think Buck left on a Sunday. I remember going up to Big Side with a friend, the two of us laden with bats and pads for a house cricket match (a non-Sunday event) and seeing Seaman and Buck pacing up and down the Quadrangle cloister deep in what looked like serious conversation. We looked at each other and said: "I wonder what that's about!" I think we may have jumped to conclusions. That evening Seaman, minus Buck, came in to house prayers to deliver the news. Sunday night would of course have been chapel rather than house prayers. I might be open to correction here but these are the events as my distant memory has them.

What was the facebook group fiasco you're referring to?

I do indeed. Equally the expurgation of history on the Facebook site immediately after the latest guilty verdicts means either 1) moderators with less strength than those we are lucky to have here, 2) guidance from the School, or 3) a mix of both. In any event the result is the same - the only place for OBs to get an understanding of what is happening (and the reality of their own childhood) is here. Thanks JR, Julian and Richard (again).

We’re determined to keep it going, with the sensible cooperation of all the members posting intelligently and empathetically towards the victims, and staying on the right side of the few rules we have - that makes it soooo much easier for us.

rockfreak wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 6:28 pm Sorry to go Back to Buck again. It was my information to JR that caused him to close the AH Buck site way back when.

A quick pedantic note. I don't think Buck left on a Sunday. I remember going up to Big Side with a friend, the two of us laden with bats and pads for a house cricket match (a non-Sunday event) and seeing Seaman and Buck pacing up and down the Quadrangle cloister deep in what looked like serious conversation. We looked at each other and said: "I wonder what that's about!" I think we may have jumped to conclusions. That evening Seaman, minus Buck, came in to house prayers to deliver the news. Sunday night would of course have been chapel rather than house prayers. I might be open to correction here but these are the events as my distant memory has them.

What can I say Freaky, or should I say David Redshaw, a name and face I cannot place from Col B days. I'm starting to think your memories come from dreams or supporting medication.

If you are who you say you are, then identify yourself from the Coleridge B photo I posted in the school photos section.

I have looked at your Farcebook page and from recent photos on there narrowed you down to four Grecians possibilities, none with the correct name.

blueeyedboy wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:13 pm I do indeed. Equally the expurgation of history on the Facebook site immediately after the latest guilty verdicts means either 1) moderators with less strength than those we are lucky to have here, 2) guidance from the School, or 3) a mix of both. In any event the result is the same - the only place for OBs to get an understanding of what is happening (and the reality of their own childhood) is here. Thanks JR, Julian and Richard (again).

I’m unsure as to what you were referring to...
the old blues fb Page (where I am an admin) decided not to allow for any chat about the court cases. As soon as they were found guilty, a thread was started by someone which appears to have run its course.

If you mean the old blues from 1990 or thereabouts - it was as far as I could tell started by an old blue off his own back to share memories - when this all happened, I think from his wording that he didn’t want part of moderating it, so closed it, as is his right.

There was just a discussion on Radio4 regarding the Ampleforth/Downside report with John Humphrys expressing astonishment that there is no law of misprision.

rockfreak wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 6:28 pm Sorry to go Back to Buck again. It was my information to JR that caused him to close the AH Buck site way back when.

A quick pedantic note. I don't think Buck left on a Sunday. I remember going up to Big Side with a friend, the two of us laden with bats and pads for a house cricket match (a non-Sunday event) and seeing Seaman and Buck pacing up and down the Quadrangle cloister deep in what looked like serious conversation. We looked at each other and said: "I wonder what that's about!" I think we may have jumped to conclusions. That evening Seaman, minus Buck, came in to house prayers to deliver the news. Sunday night would of course have been chapel rather than house prayers. I might be open to correction here but these are the events as my distant memory has them.

Buck wrote to Edmund Blunden on 7 May 1956: 'I have resigned from C.H.' Given the tone of the letter, and the closeness of his relationship with Blunden, it seems likely to me that he wrote immediately. 7 May 1956 was a Monday.
He says 'a long tale of sordid depravity has come out'.
Ironically, only a month earlier, in another letter to Blunden, he had been singing Seaman's praises: 'Seaman embodies all those qualities -- quietness, courtesy, fairness, sincerity, unselfishness etc. -- which Flecker lacked. (He went on to say that unfortunately he had forfeited Seaman's confidence through his public drunken episode: Seaman, he said, was 'very kind' but 'made it plain I wouldn't get a second bite'. )

It is telling, perhaps, that Blunden replied immediately to the letter of 7 May, but didn't enquire about the circumstances, quite the reverse. He says 'I do not try to work out the practice points of the emergency'. He also says 'C.H. our foster-parent must know how deep a devotion and how active a gratitude you have ever shown -- who excels you?' Blunden must, I think, have been aware of the background -- so one can see how attitudes have changed (but they were, of course, lifelong friends).

yamaha wrote: Thu Aug 09, 2018 8:46 am There was just a discussion on Radio4 regarding the Ampleforth/Downside report with John Humphrys expressing astonishment that there is no law of misprision.

I am sure that most of us who read this forum were thinking that it was time CH was investigated in the same way