Recollections of an Old (but young at heart) Oswestrian, circa 1952 - EPISODE 39, MISTAKES, MISHAPS, AND MISAPPRORIATIONS

 

(Left) Jack 'Grevo' Greves and Edward Goff (right) in 1960

On the fateful afternoon of the 12 July 1961, a mistake in a laboratory experiment turned into a dreadful mishap causing one boy, Edward Goff, to lose an eye, and two others to suffer superficial injuries following a test tube explosion. Edward recovered well to lead a full life and it was only recently that, sadly, he passed away. The accident was reported in the national newspapers and the cutting below gives a little more detail.

In the early fifties, one of the Masters (nicknamed 'Bomb' Napier) was prevailed upon by members of his class to start each lesson in the Science Lab with a controlled explosion, and gradually these became bigger and better until, inevitably, at one point he became carried away by over-enthusiastic boys and produced an explosion that was heard by Headmaster Williamson in his study over at School House. The Head hurried over to the laboratory, fearful of what would confront his eyes, only to find a classroom full of boys laughing hysterically and a sheepish Mr Napier covered in dust. Mr Napier's days were numbered, and future Science lessons were conducted in the safer environment of School House.

The bomb-making department!

Another mishap that could have ended very badly indeed occurred during the winter of 1957 when a group of us, including Dai Lewis (Stoker), were rolling a huge snowball, over 6 feet in diameter, down the hill on the top paddock, and as we were nearing the dirt path that ran alongside the three large trees that separated the two paddocks, Glen Hutchinson slipped and fell under the path of the white monster which broke up on contact with him and he was completely buried!

It was panic stations as we tried desperately to dig him out with our bare hands before he suffocated, and when we finally reached him he was turning blue; Glen had a very lucky escape that day.

View from the top of the paddock

I must confess that during my time at Oswestry I was guilty of being involved, more than once, in all three of the words in the title of this episode, and here are just a few examples.

In a sporting context I remember that my first cricket match as Captain was away against Lindisfarne in the summer of 1958, and having won the toss decided to bat. We were all out for a mediocre 54 runs, but having then taken 9 of their wickets for 40 runs it felt like we were on track to win the match and I used pace to try and finish off one of the two tailenders. Gillespie, the last man in to bat, tonked me and my fast bowlers in a frenzied attack all over the field winning the match for Lindisfarne, 18 not out.

With a sympathetic smile on his face, Lindisfarne's captain explained to me, as we were about to board the coach for home, that their new star arrival at the school was an American who had played baseball at a fairly high level back home! My mistake... he would probably have been less of a danger against spin, and I made a mental note of how to deal with him next year.

Match scorecard

As the years roll inexorably by, there are fewer and fewer of us who can remember taking part in the annual blue riband racing event, The Triangle, in which every boy in the school took part. I was never able to win it but managed to come in 2nd place twice out of the eight times I ran it, once in the Prep Department when over 40 young whippersnappers battled it out, and the other time in 1957 when I overtook 'Minnie' Manford (who had come third the previous year) on the playground to finish behind Carl Scorer.

In the early fifties the road race, which took about 11 minutes for the winner, started just outside the school entrance, and I was pushed from behind in my first Upper School participation and trampled underfoot as the whole field of runners scrambled past and over my prostrate body as I hit the unforgiving tarmac.

The scars on my knees today are a testament to, and a daily reminder of, the unfortunate mishap that put me out of that first Senior School race.

The Triangle route

It is possible that in pursuit of glory for School House we could have been a little over demanding in training up the boarders for The Triangle, and when I think about it, I was possibly somewhat harsh on a boy called Curtis, and it was a mistake, in hindsight, to lead him round the course again for lack of effort the first time round. Maybe he was just not cut out to be a runner, although his times subsequently improved.

On what could easily have been the first and one and only time I would be invited out to Sunday lunch at the house of my friend and team mate Michael Charles, I committed a rather embarrassing faux pas by mistakenly assuming his much older sister was his mother and complimented him on his mother's cooking! Fortunately for me, they saw the funny side of it and tried to make light of it by implying, jocularly, that I should perhaps pay a visit to Specsavers. I am pretty sure that, despite my gaff, she did not spike my pudding, which was also delicious, and it turned out to be just one of many delightful lunches with Michael and his family.

The School 1st XI, 1957
(Back L-R) B Pickup, M Charles, G Leicester, M B A Fowden, H Higgenbottom, J Robbie, J Woodburn
(Front L-R) D Pickup, P Ashworth, P Manford (Capt), R Foster, J Parslew

Coincidentally, John Woodburn (top right in the photograph), suffered a horrendous mishap when batting on the Maes-y-Llan; in those days, of course, we had no head guards and he received a fast ball straight between the eyes. Fortunately, the hospital was only minutes away, opposite the school gates, and he was able to receive immediate treatment, but his eyes were closed up and badly bruised for several days. Poor 'Woody' must have been accident-prone as he also broke his arm during a football match on the first game. The aforementioned 'Minnie' Manford can also be seen in the middle of the front row on the team photograph. 

The school tuckshop was literally a lifeline for boys with money to spend, and the daily, morning delivery of freshly baked buns was always eagerly awaited. The prefects ran the busy tuckshop under the watchful eye of 'Stoker', but from my memory, it did not make the sort of profit it should have done, and one day Dai Lewis took me to one side and asked me, confidentially, if any of the prefects had what he called sticky fingers; he obviously suspected some kind of misappropriation, and it is hard to disagree with his logic.

Topping the list of those guilty of daily misappropriation has to be the gang of thieves and robbers who seemed to be encamped permanently in the tuck room, lying in wait for their next victim. This bunch of villains callously and unashamedly rifled through our tuck boxes, as of right, but, as nobody ever dreamed of complaining to a higher authority, it went on unchecked for years.

The ultimate indignity of misappropriation could have been when the class clown, Michael 'Cobber' Walton (left in the picture below), was caught reading his Health and Efficiency magazine surreptitiously under the desk in form 1VA. 'Woof' Williamson spotted a group of giggling boys surrounding Michael,  as he was passing the open door to the classroom, and sensing something was afoot he marched in to confront the group and demanded to know what all the fuss was about. 

The rest, as they say, is history; the magazine disappeared for good and old cobber was given a severe admonishment at lunchtime in the Head's study, along with a final, final warning about his future behaviour. "Your mother (Head of the Prep Dept) will not be too happy when she hears about this!" was Mr Williamson's closing shot across the bows.

The winning senior relay team, Burnaby, Sports Day 1960
(L-R) Michael Walton, R Fuller, R A Hughes (holding the Victor Ludorum trophy) and D Bebb

During the eight years I spent at Oswestry School from 1952-1960 there were many other interesting anecdotes involving mistakes, mishaps and misappropriations, and it is a topic to which I will no doubt return in future episodes.