Recollections of an Old (but young at heart) Oswestrian, circa 1952 - EPISODE 23, SENIOR DORM & HIGH JINKS AFTER LIGHTS OUT

There was an air of anticipation and barely concealed excitement as approximately 16 of us moved the short distance from the junior dorm, and crossed the landing where Stoker roomed to occupy the far end of the senior dormitory as depicted in the photo. From my bed in the top left hand corner of the room, I was in the perfect position to watch all the action.

 

Once we were all in bed after evening prep, lights were extinguished in our half of the room and the dormitory fell fairly silent as we awaited the arrival of the remaining occupants. The rule was 'No talking after lights out', but as you can imagine, nobody observed this, and the room was alive with muted conversations. These were the oldest boys in School House, and we had a grandstand view of everything as they too prepared to turn in for the night. Many of them are in the photograph below which was taken on the school trip to Switzerland circa 1957.

Largely speaking, these seniors were left unsupervised as they readied themselves for bed, and on one particular night we were agog at the far end of the dormitory as we watched, wide eyed in appreciation, as Dunstan Gaskin had a set-to with the other senior prefect who had been tormenting some of us at the other end of the dorm.

It would be wrong of me to say there was no bullying during my time at Oswestry, as it is patently not the case, but equally so, I cannot say in my experience that it was very severe. There was the regular summons to the tuck room, and tithes were often demanded after purchases at the Tuck Shop, but that was just about it during daytime.

Senior dorm in School House and Tuck Shop (above boy on right)

However, after lights were out, when all 30 or so of us were billeted down together and left to our own devices, Stoker, having departed for a swift pint or three at the Welsh Harp, it was a different scenario.

Sleeping in a dormitory with so many people is a very special experience, and I remember it with feelings of camaraderie, pathos, and fun.

You cannot live cheek by jowl with a group of boys, or girls, of a similar age, without developing a feeling of comradeship, and back in that dormitory we were truly a band of brothers sharing a unique and memorable experience.

Unfortunately, there was a small group of older Seniors, I have to say, who took it upon themselves to hold slightly sinister, after lights out kangaroo courts, to mete out punishment to boys who had committed the sin of not opening their tuck box or refusing to share Tuck Shop goodies.

This punishment took the form of running a torchlit gauntlet up one side of the dorm, past the wash basins, and back down the other side as the rest of the boys, perched at the end of their beds, whacked gently, or otherwise, with pillows and belts the boy unlucky enough to be found guilty by the court. It was done in the guise of a bit of fun, but that was not always the case.

'Baldie' Williams (far right)

'Baldie' Williams, seen above sporting a fine crop of fair hair, was a bit of a boffin, and from his bed at the end of the dorm (immediately above the Masters' common room) he had ingeniously rigged up a system enabling the rest of the dormitory to gain access to Radio Luxembourg. This, at a time when there was only one radio in the whole of the school, was a great boon to us all, and he became a bit of a legend.

The great era of rock 'n roll was just beginning, with Bill Haley (arriving a couple of years before Elvis) in 1955 with his hit Rock Around The Clock, and we tuned in nightly to listen to all the latest hit records, courtesy of A E Williams.

Baldie had a crystal set from which, I seem to remember, he ran a wire all the way round the dormitory along the skirting boards. This was connected to a screw at the rear of each bed, and if you attached a primitive earphone you were in for a nightly treat listening to Jack Jackson, star DJ on Radio Luxembourg playing the top twenty hits. As far as I remember this was never discovered, even by the cleaners, and rumor has it that he even had a warning system, alerting him when the Masters' common room door opened.

Jack Jackson

At one point there was a craze for illuminating the dorm at night with the latest high powered torches, and I well remember using mine in last minute, late night swotting sessions during GCE examinations.

As time went by, the oldest boys gradually left school to begin their journeys out into the wider world, and we took their places at the other end of the dormitory. By the year 1960, the school was in a different kind of turmoil, at the center of which was Headmaster Frankland, whose disappointing tenure of office would thankfully come to a halt in 1961. My brother and I left Oswestry at the end of summer term 1960, after 8 very interesting, and mostly enjoyable years.

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