John Leslie’s
MEMORIES OF HYDNEYE HOUSE
TEACHERS and others
Mr Maltby was the Headmaster when I (aged 6¾) arrived in 1953. He seemed a large man (perhaps because I was very small) with large ears. He beat me many times – I do not remember why – usually with the back of a hairbrush with a handle.
Mrs Maltby was a rather Victorian lady, but on Sunday evenings, she had us small boys sitting on the floor in front of the fire in her drawing room while she read us stories – this room later became the classroom overlooking the back lawn.
Mr Patrick was so called to avoid confusion with his father Mr Maltby the Headmaster. I do not remember what he taught us very junior boys, but he was a chain smoker who sucked Polo mints during lessons – and would give one to any of us who did well.
GB was somewhat irascible but could be very kind; when I went back as the junior master and was paid per term “all found”, he doubled my pay for the Summer Term, not saying it was a performance bonus (!) (which I certainly would not have deserved) but because it was a long term. He was very much a details man, as can be seen from his cricket books.
Mrs Brodribb was quite short and, I think, rather stern – she persisted in calling me “Leslie” even when I became the junior master. She had a Norfolk (or Norwich) terrier. I think it must have been ill treated by a small boy before it came to HH because it was a vicious little brute which growled alarmingly (or worse) when any of us boys went near. An ideal pet for a Prep School Headmaster’s wife! I remember her in the changing room with a School list, noting the names of the boys in the showers with sprouting pubic hairs who were ready for the embarrassed talk (about the birds and bees and “feelings”) by her brother-in-law, the school doctor.
Mr Basset was GB’s partner in their ownership of the school for a relatively short time after the Maltbys. He had a film projector which he used to show us silent films – Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy etc – on a Saturday evening. I seem to recall that the projector was hand cranked!
Mr Partridge was a retired Colonial officer (from Africa?) who taught the 6 th form Latin and Maths (I think). He was a really nice man with a twinkle in his eye, very neat handwriting, a nicotine stained moustache and a ginger Harris Tweed jacket.
Commander Job (RCN from WWII?) was a Scottish Canadian who taught for a year or two. He played his bagpipes on the lawn while we boys had our pre-breakfast run around the Sylvester track. He also had a squad of us doing elementary drill in front of the house - eventually without words of command. I found this useful when I became a cadet in the Dover College CCF.
Mr Dickinson was a young master who taught for a year (?) before doing his National Service – I think in the RAF during which I seem to remember we were told that he died in an accident.
Mr Evans taught French to the very small 6th Form. One of his methods was to have each of us read aloud in French a page from a Maigret novel, correcting our pronunciation as we went. Then he had us translate what we had read, helping us when we got stuck. I think he may have been reading the novel at the time and wanted to know who done it! But he was very kind and a good teacher. I think he also spoke Greek and Serbo-Croat which would possibly indicate an interesting war in the Balkans.
Sister Ellis has been rightly praised by many others with warm memories. Since HHS, every time I have made a bed, I remember her teaching us how to do “hospital corners”.
Miss Reynolds was the Matron. She wore a navy blue overall/dress and was warm and almost motherly. After hair washing I remember sitting on the floor in front of the gas fire in “Matey’s room” drying my hair with a chain of other boys tugging at the other ends of each others’ towels.
Miss Bell was the young assistant Matron in 1958/9. I remember her as a pretty young thing with a winsome smile who was much admired by us pubescent boys.
The Cantor from the Eastbourne synagogue came once a week in the winter of 1958/9 to prepare me for my Bar Mitzvah in April ‘59. My Father had arranged this with GB. Like all of his calling, he had a very fine voice (unlike mine which was not helped by it breaking) which, during “afternoon quiet time”, I am sure echoed throughout the school from one of the smaller classrooms.
Mr Winter was the general maintenance man who had many skills. He built the fives court and did the construction work on the swimming pool, after supervising us boys in digging the “hole” and placing the spoil to make the bank on the valley side. He had us as hod-carriers and cement mixers etc. and taught us the rudiments of brick and block laying. I remember him painting a panel of his car and explaining that the brush marks would disappear when the paint dried. I seem to remember that he was an accomplished chess player who had a hand in teaching us the rudiments of the game.
Mr Tinson when I first arrived at HH was the carpentry teacher. His workshop was in the corner of the Inner Yard. He seemed to me to be very old and he smoked a well chewed pipe; every time I smell oak sawdust I still fancy I can smell his tobacco.
Places etc.
The War Memorial Plaque I think this has been described as an “Honours Board”. The name of the Dambuster David Maltby (the son of Maltby the Headmaster) was among those on it. I am sure it was started as a Memorial to those Old Boys who had served and died in the World Wars. It was on the wall in the short corridor just inside the glass walled outside lobby and before the original library. There was a small table or shelf in front of it on which vases of flowers were often placed. I remember that on 11 th November, which was then still called “Armistice Day”, a poppy wreath was put there.
The Butler’s (?) Safe There was a large safe door in the passage/lobby outside the dining room leading towards the kitchens. It always intrigued me. Having watched “Downton Abbey” (!), I think it must have been the safe where the original family (the Hankeys?) kept their silverware and other valuables. I imagine that the butler had the only key, other than the Head of the Family.
The Fives Court, which I think was named “The Norton Fives Court” after the Father of the boy who donated the funds for the court. HHS must have been unique as a Prep school where fives could be learnt and played. I remember trying it without gloves to be “macho” (not a word used then I fancy!) – if you caught the ball on a knuckle or other wrong place, as I usually did, it was extremely painful.
The Rifle Range which was between the rose garden/beds and the wall on the other side of which was the Cypress Walk. We shot .22 rifles at card targets; the spent copper cartridge cases made shrill whistles when placed carefully between the first and middle fingers and blown.
The roots of the Cedar Trees in front of the house made imagined roadways and tracks for our Dinky and Matchbox cars and lorries.
Model Aeroplanes which many boys made from balsa wood kits; if not gliders or powered by rubber bands they sometimes had air cooled petrol engines. The real excitement came with the few which had “Jetex” engines. I do not know what “Health & Safety” would have to say about that these days.
The Changing Rooms... When I first arrived the changing room for games was in what must have been the conservatory of the original house; there were hooks for our clothes and lockers for our footwear. Fairly soon after GB took over, the cellars were cleared by us boys with Mr Winter supervising with much brick dust flying – I still blame my wheeze on this. Showers and hooks etc were installed and we were all given the number from our hook which was marked on our clothes – mine was 29.
Events etc.
The Coronation in June 1953 was projected live from a rather primitive television onto a big screen rigged up in the Big School room. The Maltbys invited some of the people from Baldslow to come and watch, which they did. I still have a book celebrating the Coronation, written by Richard Dimbleby, given to all schoolchildren in the Borough of Hastings by “The Right Worshipful The Mayor of Hastings, Alderman H W Rymill, Baron of the Cinque Ports”.
Northern Lights... I have a distinct memory of seeing the Aurora Borealis over the Weald (in the mid 1950’s?) from, I think, the window by the lavatory in the passage outside the two end dormitories – long before the GB regime when they were given names, which I can’t remember.
Swimming... Once a week, we used to go by bus, sometimes a very exciting double decker, to the sea water indoor White Rock Baths in Hastings/St Leonards. We were taught to swim and I remember being very proud when I managed to swim a width of the baths without a rubber ring/life jacket – which I remember was grey and very cold when first put on. Afterwards we were given a mug of Bovril.
Dancing... On one occasion there was “country dancing” – the Gay Gordons and the Sir Roger de Coverley are the names of the dances I remember; someone tried to teach us what to do. We were hosts to the girls from St Mary’s Convent opposite.
Walks... When the weather had made the playing fields unusable, we were taken for walks along The Ridge. This was the road between Baldslow and Ore and was the route to the Municipal (?) cemetery, east of HH. Almost always on the walks a funeral cortege would pass and we were taught to show respect for the dead: as it approached we should stop, face the road and remove our scarlet caps.
Desk Marble Runs... Someone has described these already but I remember trying to get the run, made of rulers, books and two pencils laid parallel and which started at the inkwell, to end at the hole in the floor of the desk (intended for removing accumulated detritus) so the marble would fall into your hand – I never managed it.
Fishing in the pond behind the wire fence of the Yard, which was out of bounds to all but prefects. We tried fishing with sticks, string and bent pins and, sometimes, proper hooks, catching roach(?) which were very slimy and smelly.
Smoking... My Father gave me one or two cigar boxes to use as pencil boxes. I remember drying dandelion petals in a box. Someone had their Father’s old pipe, which we filled with dried petals and tried to smoke. We also tried rolling some in a sheet of the hard “Bronco” loo paper and smoking that. I can remember neither where we got the matches from nor what effect, if any, that it had other than to give us an explosive, hacking cough!
Fathers’ Matches at the start of the Summer half-term holiday were always sunny. Tea was served on the lawn in front of the House and always included strawberries and cream. I remember Mr Fry – father of two boys older than I was and himself the son of the famous C B Fry – smiting a six over the trees by the Ridge and then spooning up a catch to his son.
The Sets were Rabbits, Hares and Tigers, Lions, Leopards and Panthers, to which we were assigned when we arrived; I was a Tiger. There was a ladder board to mark the placing of each set in the competition, a rung on that ladder being achieved when the members of the set had received 10 pluses. These were awarded by the teachers for good work, coming first in form subjects and other meritorious achievements. Minuses could also be awarded for bad work, conduct etc. My memory is that 5 minuses led to the set moving down a rung.
The Dining Room Clock was on the main shelf of the elaborate mantelpiece. It was under a glass dome and had three brass balls which continually turned one way and then the other. I was intrigued by this as a boy. I have since discovered that the reciprocal revolution of the brass balls meant that the clock only needed winding about once a year – hence it is called a “365 day clock” – I have since acquired one.
GB’s Printing Press was made by a company called Adana. He had it round a corner in the old conservatory. He had only one full set of font/type face – which I think was called “Baskerville”. As we can see from the issues on the Blog he used the press to print the first page of many of the issues of the School magazines.
There have been so many posts, memories, pictures etc. recently, that it's become a bit difficult to keep track of everyone's messages...
So, I've opened this page for anyone to use as an open place, to write whatever they like, (hopefully legal), and it will save me having to work out the replies, answers, etc., and your comments are kept onlne for posterity, and maybe even beyond!
I hope this makes it all easier for everyone to swap their comments, and it'll make life a damned sight easier for me, as I'm well behind with the last week or so...
I'll send an email to everyone, and if you could funnel your stuff through the HHS website here, I'll be saved from feretting every note from everyone!
So, any future comments can be posted here, and if I decide that we could make a whole separate post on any particular subject which gets some traction, then by all means get back to me and ask!
There's been a great response to the various emails I've received from so many OBs, and while some of us are actually meeting up very soon, there are a few who cannot, well, a few thousand miles distance is one reason, so, we've all got these memories/recollections/photographs to preserve for future generations to see and wonder what went on beyond those grey lodge gates...
I've collated these memories from messages which flew around from June 25th, and by God, there's enough to keep us going until, well, Master's and Father's Cricket Day!
Please excuse the formatting if some of these seem a bit awry; it's really the content which counts, but the main reason for getting all these online, is that if anything happens to me in about fifty years time, all these thoughts will be lost forever, so here goes...
There's quite a lot, so pour yourselves a large one, sit back and think of Hastings!
The first letter…
Hi Men,
As we're approaching the middle of Summer, I guess that it might be a good idea to get our plans for another lunch together, earlier rather than later!
Some of the younger OBs have mentioned around August, and if so, then would that be a time to suit you both?
I can easily send out an email to find out which weeks might be best for everyone, and then we can narrow it down to a Wednesday - if that's still the case with you, Paddy! Tim, you mentioned that you may be visiting your Summer Palace around then, so maybe we can start from there, and I'll get the ball rolling!
Kind regards,
Mike
The second letter…
Morning All,
Earlier in the year, we talked about a return match at 'The White Hart', Catsfield, near Battle, for any OBs. At the last lunch we managed a table for six, and some great banter ensued, with some great memories!
An initial date of Wednesday 17th July has been suggested, so I wonder if this is convenient for everyone?
Of course, for obvious reasons, like being 12,000 miles away, some of you won't be able to join us, but this message at least keeps everyone in the loop! I hope five or so weeks is enough notice!
By all means keep in touch here, or on the HHS site! http://hydneyehouse.blogspot.com/
I hope we can swell the numbers to double figures, it would be great to see everyone again!
Kind regards,
Mike
Phil Cook writes…
All,Sorry I cannot make it, it would take me several hours to drive there anyway, a bit tedious at 72 of age. I am on hols on the target day.
Attached photo found recently of the boating pond. Where "Davidson" was appointed harbour master or similar. I recognise from left to right, "Wiggins, Chrichton, Cail. , not sure about the rest.
I am in the foreground with my Uffa Fox sailing watch. This would have been about 1964 or 1965.
Best wishes to all, Phil Cook.
Hi Mike,
Too far for me too, I’m afraid, but hope some can make it.
In case she doesn’t tell you herself, my aunt Jane (Beavan, née Ellis, aka Sister Ellis) had her 90th birthday in Tasmania the other day, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren plus a huge number of friends and neighbours – around 100 people in the course of the day.
All the best
Richard
Simon Tuite writes…
Well done Mike for arranging a rematch. Wednesday the 17th is good for me.
I'll have a go at the remaining faces in the photo. My guesses would be ... Matthews, Phillips, Lofting (?), Miller and one of the Quigleys, possibly Quigley II.
All the best,
Simon
Bert Boltjes writes…
Isn't that the pool we built with Gerald Brodribb?
We also built a Greek amphitheatre! Child labour!
Well done Mike, great work. So many happy memories: midnight parties with delicious food from our tuck boxes.
I live in Puerto Escondido, Mexico if anyone is in the neighbourhood, you are very welcome.
Cheers to Hydneye House School
Bert Boltjes
Richard Cail writes…
HiI can confirm that I am 3rd from the left in the photo at the boating pond! You have a very good memory.I will do my utmost to attend the lunch on 17th July.
All the best
Richard Cail
Julian Wheeler writes…
Hi Mike,
7 July OK with me. What time is kick off?
Julian Wheeler [1961-66']
Mark Patrick writes…
Hello Chaps,
I was at HH from ’59 to ’64. I remember a lot of your names and faces.
Both the pond and amphitheatre were built during those years. Amazing stuff by GB really.
I have two memories of the pond and amphitheatre.
The first was that the Brodribbs (I think it was them) gave us some pretty impressive boats to use on the pond. My memory is that we threw them in repeatedly and hard and completely wrecked them; awful really.
The second was acting in something in the amphitheatre. After a short time we all completely forgot our scripts and had to give up. Not exactly a Shakespearean moment.
Best wishes to you all, and sorry I won’t be there.
Mark
Richard Ellis writes…
The pond possibly built post 1962? (I was 1958-62), don’t remember that. I just remember the overgrown pond behind the high wire fence next to the yard, which I think was the preserve of the prefects. But I remember the construction of swimming pool and theatre. Every break time for weeks spent carrying bricks from where they’d been dropped off to the pool site, pallets and forklifts possibly lay in the future or was it just cost cutting or poor project management? We did do a heavily edited Macbeth in the theatre in 1962 – it was about 15 minutes long. I was Macbeth, tartan blankets doubling as kilts. I think we got to the end of that OK. I remember doing the “Is this a dagger” speech. Can’t remember who Lady M was.
Not sure what the production at the top of the page attached was – Aeschylus or Euripides possibly, GB being a distinguished classicist. He booked a group of undergraduate actors from, I think Balliol, who did an updated version of Aristophanes – one of them performed Elvis Presley’s “Good Luck Charm” during it, and again as they were piling into the car to leave the next day. Amazing how these things stick in the memory.
That’s me on the extreme left of the lower picture.
Cheers
Richard
Ed Halsted writes…
Hi all
Afraid I won't make it on the 17th. Might a London reunion be possible?
I think Richard's photo might be Julius Caesar, about to be assassinated, which I 'directed' and played Mark Anthony.
Best wishes, and thanks to Mike for keeping the HH flame alive,
Ed Halsted (1959-62?)
Robert Davies writes…
Dear all,
So good to hear from other old friends in these round robins. I am sorry that I am too far away to make the lunches, but would love to meet up if a similar lunch/dinner was to be held in London or say Cambridge. As many of you are, I am in my mid 70s. I loved the sport at Hydneye and I have long memories of playing football with Bert Boltjes in goal. We rarely used Christian names or is my memory fading? I remember playing cricket as a Junior Colt and as Captain bursting for a pee. I asked the umpire for his permission to leave the pitch. He allowed me to do so. To my horror on my return to the square half the team followed suit. Brodribb gave us all a roasting at the following morning prayers. It has affected me for life! I loved the cricket with Holder and the Mann tournament. I took the fielding exercises with me wherever I subsequently played - 2 and 2 or 0 and1! I loved the cross running in the winter snow and learnt how to box and respect black people. Subsequently I went to Magdalene College Cambridge studied law and qualified as a barrister. I captained the Blues Boxing team and enjoyed two happy careers: first as a policeman and then as an international justice consultant. My brother John later went to HHS when it joined with Glengorse. My oldest friend, Mark Hobson, went to Glengorse before joining me at Clifton College. We played a little cricket together at Esher where we linked with that brilliant cricketer Simon Battersby [ included in your circulation list.] I returned from a weeks break in Sicily on Sunday and in the waiting room at Catania Airport I looked for a long time at a man I had not seen for 15 years. He looked at me. After a few seconds we recognised each other. He was Mark Hobsons brother Dale. He had also played cricket at Esher with Simon and myself.
I remember so many of you and wish I could shake your hands and wish you all many happy days.
I live in Cambridge and if any of you are nearby please pop in.
Warmest regards.
Robert Davies
Simon Tuite writes…
I'll have a go at naming names in the play (possibly something to do with Theseus and the Minotaur): Simon Hickes, ?, John Pender-Cudlipp as King somebody or other, a grieving Richard Kyrke, Nicholas Reed. The other photo is a bit of a struggle: I could probably only do four or five names.
I remember the Balliol Players. They also did their version of Elvis's 'Hound Dog'. I was well impressed!
Regards,
Simon
Simon Battersby writes…
Dear Mike et al - thanks so much for trying to herd us all together, I will try to come down on the 17th July and will let you know beforehand.
Good to hear from you Robert, it seems like last week we were out on that Esher pitch - for fear of sounding like an old codger, “those were good times” ! I always wondered whether or not you’d stayed in the police force.
All the best
Simon B
Robert Davies writes…
Simon
If you go I will. When you confirm I will confirm.
Bob
Sent from my iPhone
Richard Ellis writes…
Talking of wrecking things, quite randomly this put me in mind of the complete works of GA Henty in the library and the pleasure we took in defacing those – even aged 12 we had them marked down as imperialist racist claptrap. Wonder if GB ever noticed....
Best Richard
Richard Cail writes…
Hello again
For those of you who haven't already seen this, attached is a copy of Gerald Brodribb's obituary in the Daily Telegraph. I remember helping to dig up the Roman road for him!
All the best
Richard
(The obit is here as a full copy - MPA)
http://hydneyehouse.blogspot.com/2019/10/gbs-obituary.html
John Davies writes…
Hi Richard,
Please include me. I was there from I think from 1966 until we moved …to Glengorse!!!!
My brother Robert, is already on your list.
Kind regards
John
John P A Davies
Simon Tuite writes…
Thanks for that Richard. I hadn't seen that before, although I saw the one in, I think, The Times, where it mentioned his link to Henry Irving. I had always thought he and Jessica had worked together at Marlborough, but I guess it must have been at his last teaching job, Canford. I remember when their adopted son joined the school; he initially used his birth name, Beale, until Gerald Brodribb got his name legally changed.
I see there's no mention of his propensity for beating young boys with a cane or plimsoll!
Best,
Simon
Phil Cook writes…
All,
I also remember "Beale" who was adopted as far as I know as he lived there during the holidays and the staff were expected to buy him presents for birthdays/ Xmas. Jessica never allowed him to be beaten although he was as naughty if not naughtier than the rest of us, we got beaten by slipper or gym shoe, prefect sent to collect us at bed time and take us to the study.
My beatings were mainly over not being "academic", getting many V.S. and S. on the sheets.
We all have stories to tell. How about we all write up say maximum of a page and send it in for archiving. In a few years time it will all be forgotten. Another name for all, Alan Hilder, ( history and geography). Major Bowen who had his car tyres let down by Davidson, got caned severely for it, took weeks for the bruises to go away.
Regards, Phil Cook.
Richard Ellis writes…
Fascinating – Hydneye merits just a few lines, not much more than a footnote.
Beating – indeed. Sobering to reflect that I was very nearly sent to Sherborne Prep, where notorious paedophile Robin Lindsaytaught from 1953-1990, taking over as headmaster from his father in 1972, and was taken there for interview in 1956, meeting him and his father (I was put down for Sherborne School aged 3, and indeed went there after Hydneye). Two things swung it in favour of Hydneye – my parents knew Peter Davidson’s parents, who gave it good reports, and Aunt Jane working there as Sister.
Thankfully nothing like that – Hydneye a very happy place.
Best, Richard
Simon Tuite writes…
Davidson was younger than me (I joined Hydneye before him, in 1960) so this incident must have happened after I left, but I have one reason in particular to remember him. For a while I held the school record for beatings (either 20 or 21), about the only record for anything I held at any school, but within about a year this new boy had broken my record! He was, as they say, incorrigible. I imagine he spent his later life either in a maximum security prison or, more likely, as a successful junior minister in a Tory government.
Best,
Simon
Richard Ellis writes…
Ha ha! I got away with just two beatings – can’t remember what the first one was for (3 or possibly 4 strokes, I think a plimsoll), the second was for winding Mrs Morrish up during prep by playing notes on the piano when her back was turned – Andy Young also. GB furious at our upsetting this “saintly woman”, six savage strokes of the cane.
There must have been two Davidsons, a Peter Davidson who left around the time I arrived in 1958, no relation of the later one. Don’t remember Beale at all, when was he? I was 1958-62.
Ah, Mr Hilder. Really, some of them could have stepped straight out of Waugh’s Decline and Fall, Major Bowen basically Captain Grimes.
Phil – great idea. Only, where would they be archived and who would have access to them? Perhaps for circulation to the mailing list? One or two names might have to be changed....I remember one unhappy lad whose name began with G and ended with n.
Cheers
Richard
Mark Patrick writes…
Hi Chaps,
I’m guessing it’s partly my comments about the pond and theatre that have started a lot of impressive memories, which are great to hear.
I got quite a few beatings for being naughty; gym shoes and cane. It all seemed normal at the time, and I don’t think GB was remotely sadistic. I have a lot of respect for him.
Do you remember other names? Elkington maths, and Trendall from Cornwall - forever smoking. They all smoked in our presence except GB and the Morrishes.
It was always fun playing matches at other schools - Hurst Court, Claremont, Summerfields etc., because the grub afterwards was just what the boys wanted.
One other thing that was set up at HH was a putting green on the grass in front of the school. Would have been fine except there were only two clubs, one of which wasn’t a putter but an iron!
Re me, married, 2 kids and grandkids. Live in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Was a cardiothoracic anaesthetist and intensive care physician at the University Hospital of South Manchester, as it was then called. Now 74, golf, gardening, bridge and a Fleischmann model railway! What a geek.
Kind regards to you all,
Mark
Mike Armitage writes…
Hi All,
Seeing so many comments and reminiscences from everyone, and also Richard Cail's note - and Richard Ellis' reply about logging these, I have no problem in taking everything in a suitable form, which I could copy and use, to post on the HHS website, if that suits everybody!
The only proviso I have, is that as I'm the ‘owner’ of the site, there can't be anything contentious or libellous etc., as I don't really want to be banged up at my time of life! Some OB sites I have seen have actually been quite naughty, with a few scores to settle, but I'm sure that sailing boats on the pond, or catching a ball one-handed from one of GB's clouts with a bat, even a bit of 'fatal beatings', (thank you Rowan Atkinson, Not the Nine o' lock News), won't go amiss, as I well remember Tim Bosher showing us all in Caxton, his 'six', and one was half-way down his leg! Mary Kay (Sister after Jane Beavan) came in and laughed, and told us all to stop looking so grumpy and cheer up!
At least it'll save all the copying of copies flying around on the main mailing list, and could be a winner if we do it properly!
We're up to about 8 or more for the 17th, but there again, everyone would welcome, even as a late arrival!
Kind regards,
Mike
Michael Armitage
Richard Ellis writes…
Random Memories of Hydneye
Music
Choral competition. Every year Mr Morrish would put a group of us in for an inter-school singing competition in St Leonards (or was it Hastings?). One year we won. Once we sang Vaughan Williams’s “Linden Lea”, another year it was Dowland’s “Fine Knacks for Ladies”.
He taught me piano, put me in for Grade 1 which I scraped through with 103, and Grade 2 which I failed dismally. But I was totally unprepared for the questions and aural tests, not to mention the scales and sight-reading. He’d taught intervals as 1,2,3…. I had no idea what Do
Re Mi were (the terminology the examiner used), because Mr Morrish had never mentioned them, and felt stupid. Years later I was to find my true vocation on the classical guitar.
My fondest musical memory is impromptu sing-songs with Mr Evans at the piano – there was a book of popular songs from which we chose what we’d sing. Mr Evans taught French – lovely man as I remember.
Academe
English – we were well drilled in English grammar: in (I think) the 4th form we were issued with green ring binders (and gummed “reinforcements”) called the “Gen Book” into which we inserted pages of grammatical rules as they were issued. History (my degree subject) was Mr Hilder as I recall. GB taught us Latin in the 6 th form, very well – I got 93% in Common Entrance, and started at a much lower point at public school than I’d reached at Hydneye.
Science – some bloke came and did lecture-demonstrations, e.g. collapsing a 1 gallon can by boiling water to drive out the air then cooling it…... I have no recollection of Maths teaching, because I was plunged into the world of New Maths at secondary school which erased all earlier memories.
Talks
GB had an impressive address book. We had talks in the gym from Patrick Moore, Rosemary Sutcliff (whose books we were all reading), Jim Parks (Sussex and England) ….
Sport
Not my thing, but for some reason I was captain of the Second XI cricket team in my last term, and scored 51 not out against one of our rival schools in my final innings, something GB mentioned while giving me my prize for the poetry reading competition in the theatre.
Theatre etc.
GB’s finest achievement? Plays, poetry reading, the Balliol Players doing Aristophanes, all sorts of great things went on there. His classical background showed itself in odd ways – he had a standard Roman legionaries’ pace painted on the drive in front of the school – something I was reminded of years later at Oxford, reading Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, by a footnote reference to John Greaves’s (1602-1652) Discourse on the Roman Foot. He clearly loved Hydneye, the impact of what befell hard to imagine.
Masters
Trendall – stank of stale tobacco, nearly cracked my ribs in some rough-and-tumble. Ian Cochrane – popular, died in a yachting accident off Gibraltar, I think. Mr Geoghegan – one of the recent graduate teachers who came and went, did a turn in the theatre, decent cove.
Mr Elkington – Maths, rugby I seem to remember. Mr Evans – see above, thoroughly good sort. I seem to remember his not being there all that long, saying to us when he was leaving that he had failed to do so many of the things he’d hoped to do (not sure what these were – take us to France?). Major Bowen, Mr Hilder…. I’d forgotten all about Mr Miller until seeing him in one of Mike’s photos, what did he teach?
Tin Tabernacle
Being issued with penny pieces, which went into the collection bag….
Carol Service
Junior boys, confined to the upper staircase above the bend, couldn’t see a thing. I remember Trainin singing the first verse of Once in Royal….
Simon Tuite writes…
I most certainly did not do Grade 7 piano. I had a few lessons with Morrish and failed miserably. I played all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order (but I love piano music).Best,
Simon
Richard Ellis writes…
PS I was 1958-62.
I’ve added one more random memory -
Dining Room
I was sent to the Hogs’ Table – a counter that stood in the fireplace, where you had to eat standing up – at least once, I’m sorry to say by Mr Evans - for holding my spoon in my left hand (being left-handed). At least I wasn’t beaten for it. Meals were 100% predictable – Friday mornings, I noted one year (must have been 1961-2) were Scripture, Latin, Maths, French, Art, Fish, Tart.
Cheers, Richard
Bert Boltjes writes…
Exactly “French Art fish tart!”
Tim Bosher had the biggest dick! I have a photo somewhere of him diving into our homemade pool.
My father would stand behind my brother directing him as Tom was goalie.
The midnight parties swapping wine gums,spearmints, chocolates.
We had to do exercise every day even a short run. The fastest were Emett and Langdon.
My mother hated sending her 2 boys to boarding school, she would cry behind the bushes. She was Dutch and wasn’t used to this British custom. Luckily Mrs Bourne invited here to a cup of tea, “this will do you a world of good”
The matron would bathe us, every time I got a stiffy she would flick it!
Such a beautiful place, so lucky to have been in the “sun trap of the south”.
Leave outs were always welcome when our parents would come to take us out to get spoiled!
Thanks a lot for sharing your memories.
Cheers
Bert Boltjes
Mike Armitage writes…
Hi All, Richard Ellis has started something again!
Here are a few of mine…
· Those little plastic planes, which were launched with an elastic band on a small stick! They went for miles, looping the loop, and most of them finished up in the Lebanon Cedars in front of the school!
· Soaking wet football boots in the pavilion. Mr Evans eventually got the staff to let us dry them out inside somewhere! And he once got hold of a huge tin of lanolin, to save chapped legs! He was a fabulous teacher!
· My Christmas cracker going off during the big tea. I was severely bollocked by GB for that, and it was only curiosity that I wanted to straighten out the banger thing, and the bloody thing went off!
· Marbles in the gratings. Bill Moseley told me several years ago when he had his shop here in Hawkhurst, that when they demolished the old building, there were hundreds of marbles salvaged from the heating ducts, and they were all taken down to Hastings Old Town and sold for pounds!
· A propos the gratings, I remember several of us lifting them and 'excavating', when no staff were present...
· Paper pellets. They damn well hurt on be-shorted legs!
· The cut-down cricket bat used in the yard, against the stump - the drain cover painted yellow...
· I can't kick a tennis ball, (for the dog in the garden), without remembering Yard Football...
· Roger Bray explaining to me that when Mr Evans played the piano on Sunday evenings, one of the songs was about, 'Boney was a warrior', it never occurred to me that it was about Napoleon Bonaparte!
Keep 'em coming - would you like me to post all these on the HHS Blog? I can easily do that, and it'd be a record forever! Must keep it clean though, as Jane Beavan reads this, and the last person I'd ever want to make uncomfortable is our lovely Sister!
Simon Tuite writes…
On the subject of marbles, I remember people creating marble runs in their desks. You started the marble off in the groove at the top of the desk, it went down the hole where you put the ink well, and then ran along as many ingenious corridors and alleyways inside the desk as you could devise.
My recollection is that it was ‘Coddy’ Morrish who led the singalongs round the piano, but I could well be wrong; perhaps that’s just because I associated him with piano playing - particularly Le petit âne blanc (a Grade 7 piano piece). (He often got a chap called Trainin, who had an excellent voice, to sing something for us.)
The song book we used, which I think had a blue cover, had some good tunes in it. Yes, Boney Was a Warrior was about Bonaparte (‘For Boney fought the Rooshians, the Oostrians and Prooshians’) and is apparently a sea shanty from around 1820. Another song was The Orderly Song (‘It’s orderly squish, orderly tosh, orderly tea this way/Oh who would be an orderly upon an orderly day’), which was a First World War song. How amazing that they had us singing such antiquated ditties!
All the best,
Simon
Mike Armitage writes…
Hi All,
John Trainin had a fabulous singing voice.
He once sang, 'Tit Willow' from 'The Mikado', at one of the concerts and I can see him now, hands folded and giving his all...
He sadly died a few years ago, but his elder brother, Peter, ('Shinypeter' on the list, but unobtainable with a full inbox), was at HHS until the early sixties. He's here...
http://hydneyehouse.blogspot.com/2024/05/some-words-from-peter-trainin.html
I actually got Peter to yelp once, when we were all fighting about something or other, so I twisted his arm back behind his back, just outside Cranmer... I wasn't a bully, but just got pissed off by being at the end of the wrong bit of kid's aggression.
Now, I somehow wish I'd been clever enough to have seen through all that, but there again, we were only kids back then, weren't we…
Jim Barnes-Phillips writes…
Good morning, Mike
I've really enjoyed the information and banter in the myriad of emails from so many of us ex-Hydneye pupils over the past couple of weeks. Personally I'm sad that I am unable to join the reunion on 17th. I wish you a great gathering which will surely go on for many hours.
Just one final personal addition regarding punishment. I can only recall receiving the cane twice in the 4 years and 2 terms that I was at the school (1960-64). Once I deserved it, but on the other occasion, if I recall correctly, someone had done something to do with a dressing-up box that GB was unhappy about and he had said that if the culprit did not come forward he would ban the use of the swimming pool, which I enjoyed. No one came forward to say it was them so I became a scapegoat and said it was me and I received six of the best. Swimming was reinstated. I wonder who the real culprit was and for what?
All the best for 17th
Jim Barnes-Phillips (Phillips at HH)
Richard Ellis writes…
Jim, that is a horrifying story. How could GB possibly have done that? That’s the sort of thing that might have happened in ancient Rome! Come to think of it.....
Has anyone mentioned bullying? I was badly (physically) bullied in the dormitory my first term, this was noted, the perpetrators (no names I recognise among present company) were flogged, they apologised, and that was the end of the matter, never referred to again. Most-all went on to become friends, I think. One, six letters, beginning with C. That aside, I don’t remember bullying being a thing, apart from the probably complex case of a lad called Gausden – whatever happened to him?
Boys can be horrible. As can girls.
Cheers Richard
Phil Cook writes…
All,
Alan was a member of the Old Lancing Masonic Lodge from 1931 until 2/5/1970 , when he died. ( I have been secretary of the Lodge since 1986, joined in 1975 ). I remember him talking to Ken Shearwood at Lancing, Ken was a house master at Lancing, Ken had been a keen footballer playing at least once at Wembley, so they had much in common about football and cricket.
Hydneye appears to have been a feeder prep school for Lancing, I believe Gerald Brodribb also went there.
I struggled with learning history dates and was often in detention with my inability to remember those dates.
The 1939-45 war record for Alan, was Gunner 86th H.A.A. Regt.(H.A.C.) R.A., R.A.S.C. Captian, Instructor O.C.T.U., Officer commanding training coy boys R.A.S.C. , Defence Medal.
I also have my book with all the Hydneye hand written stuff, and still look things up now and again.
Attached from the Agenda.
Regards, Phil Cook.
Simon Battersby writes…
Hello All My memory of Alan Hilder was that he was a damn good cricket and footie coach and a terrible History and Geography teacher ( at least he never inspired my interest in the latter subjects) - he encouraged my brother Tim to go to Lancing rather than Marlborough because they played football rather than rugby there, and Tim was a keen soccer player. My parents often dropped in to his Lodge on their way home from visiting me for a “cup of cocoa” which I later discovered was rather stronger than that - I was very naive and didn’t realise he was gay but my mother assured me that he was, (perhaps a lot of prep school masters were/are?),but he was definitely lonely and twice or three times he spent Christmas with us, drinking whisky and smoking his pipe and being quite merry. I liked him and am very grateful for his very orthodox methods of teaching the forward/backward defence etc.My father went to Hydneye with Gerald in the twenties, and I suppose that was the reason that I never got caned, although I was quite naughty. Ten times did I get the slipper though, bending over that very ornate stool whilst he thwacked me like he was throwing a cricket ball at full pelt into the ground ! It did hurt…Minnie Morrish I found quite scary, Alf her husband not so. I remember being in the choir and a few of us got fed up with it one term when we were about twelve, and separately we all went to him and told him that our voice was breaking and we couldn’t sing anymore. He eventually got his own back when he cast us as the worst basses of all time in Handel’s Messiah - I can still see the parents laughing at us to this day ! Finally, hot rice was inspired, the pool in the Summer and camping in tents nearby was fun, grubbing around for chestnuts in the Winter and roasting them on the fireballs, but I also remember the roots of those big cypress trees on the lawn being great for playing fantasy games, with the moss from the grass and stuff…weird ramblings of a seventy one year old !
All the best Simon
Mark Patrick writes…
Rummaging around on the Internet I found this photo of Alan Hilder from 1960 at Cottesmore School, W. Sussex, of which he was an old boy. This was presumably shortly before he joined the staff at Hydneye. No doubt GB was impressed by the fact that Hilder had played first class cricket for Kent.I’m sure he would have been smoking his favourite Gold Block pipe tobacco here; he used to give me his empty tobacco tins. He is recorded as having died at St Leonards in 1970. Someone once told me the cause of death was throat cancer, which seems plausible.
(Mike A note, is this the photo, Simon)?
https://www.slaughamarchives.org/picture/number2288.asp
Simon Tuite writes…
If you think any of my comments are worth retaining, please make any use of them Mike that you feel fit. Heaven forbid that we prevent you having your evening glass of red! You’ll obviously need to do a bit of editing as quite a few of our memories as recorded overlap, but if you’re happy to do the work, then please go ahead and with my thanks in advance. However, I‘m still jotting down occasional thoughts as they bubble up to the surface, so there may be more!
I agree with you – I somehow feel (I hope not too fatalistically) that we are gradually drawing close to the end of these reminiscences.
All the best,
Simon.
Jim Barnes-Phillips writes…
Mike
I forgot to say YES to your question to collating our emails into one post. That would be great. Then you, and I, can enjoy an evening glass of red. Cheers.
Jim
John Leslie writes…
Dear All
I was troubled by Phil Cook’s remark that GB went to Lancing and so I checked his Telegraph obituary – it records that he went to Eastbourne after his prep school – Hydneye! I have many memories of HHS – some happier than others – and I will record a great coincidence along with those memories when I have cut them down to manageable size.
Best wishes To all
John Leslie (1953-9 and 1965 as a very junior master)
Phil Cook writes…
All, sorry my memory lapse. Seems like I got it wrong . I remember my father asking GB what school next for me. GB recommended Lancing which is where my 2 and 2 made 5. Apologies. Phil Cook
Mark Patrick writes…
Dear Mike,
I have to say it’s been great reading all your comments and everyone else’s, which have rekindled many memories of my school colleagues and the staff. I think it’s fantastic you have had so many responses.
I think it would be great if you were able to put it all together.
My memory of the singalongs was that Mr Evans did them, and it always took a lot of persuading to get him to. Trainin did have a lovely voice.
Someone else I remember was a chap called Ward-Smith (not sure of his first name), who was huge and incredibly strong, and a great cricketer. He used to score masses of runs in games v other schools at huge speed. Every shot reached the boundary. We always won!
Best wishes to you all,
Mark
Simon Battersby writes…
Morning Everyone
Unfortunately I won’t be able to be there for the lunch on 17th as I will now be working that day - The White Hart looks like a brilliant venue and I’m sure you will have fun reminiscing and not talking politics !
Best wishes
Simon B
Richard Cail writes…
Hello from S.E. London - Dulwich
I was at HHS from '61 to '66 and then went on to Hurstpierpoint College - a Woodard school like Lancing. 4 years at Surrey University preceded a career in the travel business. Now retired for over 15 years and enjoying travel for holidays rather than business.
I remember my time at Hydneye with great affection and, if my memory serves me right, I was only beaten by GB on one occasion! Your emails have brought back so many memories and I only have one which I don't think has been mentioned yet. Outside after breakfast on foggy mornings and running on to the playing field being chased in to the fog by the master on duty.
I will make every effort to attend the lunch on 17th.
Richard Cail
Rod Weir writes…
Hi Mike
Have read all these emails with interest. As you may recall, I have lived in Australia since the early 1970s (married an Aussie, and kids, grandkids etc over here), so I have had almost nothing to do with the UK since then.
You should definitely build up a record of these reminiscences, history etc. Hydneye is now only a memory, and like so many things will be completely forgotten unless this is done. It was part of an era in education that is now completely gone, and although private schools prosper, they are very different. I went to Epsom College after Hydneye (famous for producing doctors, and I never became one to my father's chagrin!) Epsom is now completely co-educational, with many more day students than boarders. It was a tough and old fashioned school whilst I was there.
My father was a doctor with the British Government in Malawi, central Africa, so I was well adrift from the family whilst I was at boarding school both at Hydneye and at Epsom. Was not able to go home every holiday, so I had some strange experiences staying with various people. School was not a happy time of my life, and leaving Epsom was a relief and a final feeling of freedom. University was like being let off the chain and allowed to run free - finally discovered girls!!
At Hydneye, I was probably quiet and under the radar for most people. Not very academic, and pretty useless at sport, so not a noted person! I was friendly with Robert Bourne, and his parents (who were wealthy) looked after me for a couple of holidays. I also stayed with Davy's family once in Hastings, where I was knocked off a bicycle by a post office truck. Big fuss from GB, as I omitted to tell this small fact to anyone - Davy's father, of course, made sure that everyone knew. Still have a small scar on my left leg....
Not many memories, although all the emails brought up a few. Hot Rice on the lawn, especially in summer; Sweets once a week with penny arrow toffee bars (you got a lot for your money that way - I became an Economist at university!); Gen book and other tests in the big room once a month, which I hated and didn't do well in; sport every day, I think; the harshness of some of the masters... Evans was a nice and gentle fellow, but Hilder was an irascible and intolerant individual; Elkington was quiet and pleasant, and I seem to remember a good rugby coach and player; Trendall was young and inexperienced and smoked too much. I remember someone leaving a drawing of an exploding volcano on his desk before the lesson, and when he turned it over and saw it, he predictably exploded... we all got into trouble because no one owned up. Coddy Morrish tried hard to teach me piano, I was apparently quite good but disinterested. Now I play guitar in an old guys rock band, so maybe something stuck....
I spent some time in Faraday, the tiny dorm over the gym. Remember midnight feasts, and listening to Radio Luxembourg under the covers with my very early transistor radio
GB was unlike any figure in my life to that point - I could barely understand the way he spoke. His wife had an even more pronounced received English accent, and I certainly hardly ever spoke to her. I remember matron and sister Ellis - both lovely people who nurtured us all a bit. Matron also had the upper class drawl....
Got beaten once by GB - can't remember what for, but I think it was too many unsatisfactory academic performances. Was terrified by the whole process and cried copiously, which I think upset GB too. Thank God none of that happens any more.
I remember going back once just before we left for Australia.. The building was derelict and just about to be demolished. It was an impressive structure with beautiful grounds - a shame all that has gone.
Enjoy the fellowship and get togethers - lifelong friendships are amazing things and to be greatly valued.
Rod Weir
Richard Cail writes…
All,
Good remembering running around in the fog , also flicking butter up onto the dining room ceiling, most fell down shortly after, but one particular bit seems to have stayed for a long time. The word quizzes with Alan Hilder controlling it from afar at the top of the table to avoid rude words, taking turns to move around the tables.
I have forgotten what Hot Rice was ?. Seen it mentioned couple of times on emails. Sorry I cannot make 17th, spending some of childrens inheritance on a cruise, I'll have a drink to you all on 17th in spirit, from Iceland or Greenland.
Regards Phil C.
We're planning another lunch at The White Hart, Catsfield, near Battle on 17th July, and although I've emailed as many OBs as I can, there are several names for which I don't have addresses, so, here is a cordial invitation to anyone, from whatever year, to join us!
We had a great time earlier this year, and it would be good to swell the numbers to double figures if we can!
My address is above, and I'd be delighted to chat online at any time!
Here's the pub we'll be meeting at!
https://whitehartcatsfield.co.uk/
I arrived at Hydneye House at 8 years old. John my brother came in his sixth year! He arrived under Brodribb.
