Old Boys' Association

Presidential Address 2005

Old Boys' Association Presidential Address by Frank Toon (1945-51)
Given on 20 May 2005 at the Bretby Conference Centre.

I was at the school from 1945 to 1951 and in many ways the final year was the happiest of the whole time. For various reasons, mainly due to the fact that the minimum age for sitting the new GCE was 16, I repeated a year in the 5^th form known as 5CII. It was there I made two very good friends, whom I’m happy to say, I still meet even now, namely Ray Gilbert and Peter Booth, whom we knew at ‘Banty’. It was also a happy year because I was familiar with the syllabus, plus a set of very fine masters, i.e. Ellick Ward for French, ‘Bomber’ Jones for History, Mr Snape, whom we referred to as the Humber Super Snape, ‘Butch’ Barrett for Religion, Norman Jones Chemistry and last, but by no means least, dear Harry Smith for Physics and Maths. Incidentally, Harry taught me for one year at Derby Tec’ for A-level Geometry and I can remember quite well when he put the alternative segment theory on the blackboard. “Come on Toon, you should know this,” was his remark. One never forgot his way of teaching us Fundamental Principles including the method for learning sines, cosines and tangents; i.e. ‘Percy Has Bought His Penny Bun’ for ‘perpendicular, hypotenuse and base’ or when we got on to what he called Ladies’ Maths, i.e. perms and combs. Lastly, when he dictated geometry homework, we would have a rectangle Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog.

Now, to go back to that first year at Bond Street! We were put in desks in alphabetical order, with the result that I sat with Mickey Tew, Pat Thomas and John Toon, the latter being another good friend with whom I still keep in touch. I don’t know whether there are others here tonight who remember Pat Thomas? He went into the RAF and qualified as a pilot. News of him appeared in the Burton Observer from time to time. His death was very tragic, being one of the crew of a BOAC Comet, which was blown up in flight due I believe to a rumour that Archbishop Makarios, the leader of Eoka in Cyprus was on board.

Our form was situated in room S, latterly referred to as “the Shed”, being one of the extra buildings erected in what had been the headmaster’s garden. Heating was by a slow combustion stove with a basic guard around it. What the health and safety establishment would think of it today defies imagination, especially when one recollects that the pupils were expected to keep it stoked up with coke. There was always a bucket of water on top. One wheeze was to ram the poke into the coke just before dinner and on return to pull the poker out with one’s cap and plunge it into the water with the resultant noise and steam. Rumour has it in later years that a well known school rebel, i.e. Derek Kidger when a member of the CCF placed a live round of ammunition on the top of the stove, the bullet consequently going through the ceiling.

A recollection of those early years is that the Grammar School had the use of a classroom in the other Bond Street School for about 2-3 years. This was relinquished and probably as a result a form IVA was put into the ATC HQ around the corner. There was a table tennis table there, which we played continuously, so much so I bought my own bat, which I have recently disposed of. There was also a piano of doubtful tunefulness, which many of us tinkered with, but we had one expert Keith Shaw (Dazzer) whose rendition of 12 Street Rag was memorable. Eventually other classrooms were built, a Physics lab and two other rooms within the grounds plus an aluminium one behind the large bike shed, reached by punching a hole through the shed wall.

A topic no previous president has touched on is the annual Speech Day at the Town Hall. One went straight there in the morning so that the seating could be worked out for the choir and prizewinners, choir rehearsal, other pupils in the auditorium and still leave room for parents and others. If in the auditorium there was an unofficial contest to see how many sweets one could consume during the speeches, which initially I found boring but began to appreciate, as one got older. The choir gave renditions during the course of the afternoon under the baton of dear old ‘Cherry’ Orchard, whose tour de force I always considered to be The Wreck of the Hesperus, but other items still strike a chord when I hear them, such as Linden Lea and the Soldiers Chorus from Faust. Even now I can still see George Cooper resplendent in graduation gown sitting at the town hall organ. There was a legend that during the Head Boy’s speech he would ask the governors for a day’s holiday and it be granted. However, due to more concern government control this could not take place, but most Head Boys considered it worth a try.

Going to school in September 1945, I can count myself privileged to having been taught by the great Tom Parkin. He also taught my father and I can remember father showing me where Tom lived in Stapenhill and going with a party of boys to listen to early radio transmissions. After Tom Parkin came a Mr Kelly, who only taught me for one term followed by Mr Shorthose (‘The Drip’). He was the second master to run a car, a Ford Anglia registration letter KNU (canoe), the first being Taffy Davies’s Morris 10. I’m afraid Mr Shorthose failed to teach me anything, the same going for Mr Nicholson (‘Nick’). But thanks to Norman Jones and Harry Smith I got my O-level in the relevant subjects.

One thing the school were keen on was the showing of films, some in the hall and some in B room where there was a projector shelf and screen. In the room, it would be mainly Mr Ward with Stamp Club films – I saw Desert Victory or short French films including the classic ascent of the Eiffel Tower by mountaineers and a French soundtrack. Films shown in the hall included Henry V, Night Mail and A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, together with Bill Reid’s boxing and swimming films. On two occasions, the whole school went to The Ritz to see Caesar and Cleopatra and Hamlet. I recall a stink bomb being let off during the performance. Do you remember the stage that was erected from time to time for such things as Gang Shows? It was built by the sixth form with components taken from over the main bike shed and a nucleus of 5th formers had to be taken on each time so that the technique could be passed on.

Other memories of Bond Street were the fact that the very fine external double doors were mainly only used for the delivery of school milk. Also, if one was cutting things fine for time to arrive at school in the mornings, you might be lucky and hear the traditional bell rung by the duty prefect which gave one a short period of grace to run to the door in the wall to Bond Street before he had finished ringing and had gone to lock this door. On one side of this door opening was scratched the name ‘Popeye’ and considering it was the nickname of George Cooper no attempt appeared to have been made to remove it. The step to this door was well worn in the middle due to countless shoes.

In addition to the Stamp Club, there were other organisations including Chazzer Brown’s International Relations Society, the IRS. A story goes that a group of lads were in the hall to attend the meeting when Horace Pitchford came across them. “What are you boys doing here?” he asked in his inimitable way. “I-R-S” was the reply, to which he strongly reacted. It was then realised he thought that they said, “Hi-ya Horace!” before stalking away.

As I wrote this address, more and more memories of the school came to mind, but I feel I have said enough and, thus, I reluctantly bring my reminisces to a close with just one more memory. This is the annual Hobbies Exhibition, which I entered every year with varying amounts of success. The only school prize I ever won was a Meccano model of a joiner’s workshop complete with working circular saw, planer and drill, all driven by an overhead shaft powered by a clockwork motor. In my final year, I entered a model village I had been working on for many months. The show was delayed that year and I only got a highly commended due to a late entry from someone else. However, in my opinion it was the society event of the year and I continued to attend for years in the 1950s.  Likewise I consider this a social event of the year and I have never missed one since its revival in the 1990s. Thank you for electing me as your President and I hope I will carry out my duties to the association’s satisfaction. Thank you once again!

(With thanks to Vice President, Ray Gilbert for typing it up for Frank)