Recollections of an Old (but young at heart) Oswestrian, circa 1952 - EPISODE 40, SNIPPETS FROM MY LONG LOST DIARY... A GENUINE GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

In January of 1960 I began penning my thoughts into a five year diary, and over the ensuing years I have hunted high and low for this intriguing little red book of secrets, but to no avail, as it has eluded me ever since. Some little time ago as I was rummaging through fifty years of 'to do' items and memories in the loft, I looked down into a battered old cardboard box, and lo and behold there, covered in dust and cobwebs, was the missing book. I reached down and eagerly picked it up, but it was locked; through gritted teeth and a few choice words I went down from the loft in search of a pair of scissors to cut off the clasp. However, I found the key taped to the back of the diary and felt a tinge of boyish excitement as I put the key in the lock. It would not open... only joking!

Opening up the book I saw that I had managed to complete just three out of the five years, and mentally regretted not having started it earlier. I began reading the entries immediately and discovered that, as is probable in most diaries, much of it is rather mundane, but that there are many interesting scribblings as well. I will endeavour to paint an accurate picture of some of the events that unfolded during the last few months of my time at Oswestry School, as I remember them after all these years. 

An interesting development at the start of the Lent Term was the procurement for the first time of a tape recorder, and the entry below in my diary indicated that we were somehow intending to tape, surreptitiously, the Masters meetings; I have no idea what the devastating confession from J F Tilley was!

We then began recording all sorts of music ranging from the top twenty radio programme on Sunday afternoons to jazz musicians such as Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. Names of some of the British pop stars of the time, such as Billy Fury, Marty Wilde and Tommy Steele had an inherent suggestion of strength and danger which was typical of the era, and added to their appeal.

 

Tommy Steele

As I read the pages of my diary it became apparent that some of us were spending more and more elicit time beyond the confines of the 'camp' perimeter than I had remembered in pursuit of wider interests, and on several occasions we would each be caught and sanctioned. In particular, the popular coffee bars of Oswestry and the record shop were prime venues for meeting up with boys from Holbache House and several girlfriends; I recall on more than one occasion meeting my classmate Nigel Birch for a coffee and listening endlessly to Cliff Richard belting out his latest hits on the jukebox in the corner of the room. Little did he realise then that some 45 years or so later he and his next door neighbour, the Peter Pan of pop, would open a winery together in the AL'GRAVE', as Nigel charmingly calls it.

Nigel and Cliff sample their wine

The next excerpt reminds me that my memory is perhaps not as good as I thought it was. A few months ago I spotted some email chatter between two Old Oswestrians (Dave Taylor and Tim Tempest I think), who were discussing an incident concerning me from their time in the Junior Dorm. Apparently I called these two chatterboxes out early one morning for talking before the 7.30am bell and made them stand at the bottom of my bed, arms outstretched, holding two of the biggest and heaviest books from the library! I have no recollection of this as I cannot remember being a Prefect supervising the Juniors, but it is patently true; Jeremy 'Poshy' Parslew was made a Prefect and we slept in the Junior dorm. I trust that by now their arms have recovered and they are no longer wandering around like distressed Orangutans. Apologies boys!

January 1960

I was talking to my brother the other day and what gives added credence to this tale is the fact that Bernard had earlier befallen a similar fate - not from me I hasten to add, but at the hands of Stoker Lewis. One night in the Senior dorm, my kid brother was overheard talking about Stoker, probably in derogatory terms, by the man himself who hauled him off down the long stone stairway that separated the dormitories and into the library where he dug out a couple of books from the Encyclopedia Britannica collection and made him perform the same agonising penance. Maybe that was the inspiration for my dastardly deed against the two juniors.

The year 1960 turned out to be something of a milestone as far as athletics were concerned for the school as the overall standard improved considerably, and for the first time we were able to enter several inter-school competitions and even took part in a county event. I would like to think that we at School House, which housed a majority of the boys, played a big part in this development by introducing a training system designed to improve the overall fitness of every boy.

The start of the training regime

In the next episode I will talk more about this, and other issues, some of which will come directly from the pages of my five year diary.