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Personal memories and
photos from the school at Debden
The Reverend
Richard Tillbrook can be contacted on
fathercap@hotmail.com
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Some memories from Bill Richards,
1967-1974
I
was a pupil at Davenant from 1967 to 1974, a contemporary of
Stuart Sanders and the guys in the band
SNO (picture 75). I'm still close friends with David Bataller and get
christmas cards from Paul Powell and
Alan Hiscox. I can also identify a couple
of the likely lads in picture 136. The first two guys, back row on the
left are Peter Rudgley and
Richard Palmer. The guy who is second
right in the front row with the frizzy wedge haircut and matchstick
limbs is Mark Nesbit. The guy in the
front row centre to the left with the definitive mullett haircut, his
name is Ball but I can't remember his
first name. I recognise all the others but not by name, sadly.
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Stuart Sanders recalls an incident with
Miss Simpson with vivid clarity, that I
used to put on my best 'Dr Finley' voice whenever I spoke with her.
She was a very pretty, pleasant scottish woman, and I shudder now to
think about the way I behaved toward her! I think everytime she asked
me anything I said 'Aye Janet ...' before replying. (Sorry you have to
know Dr Finlay's Casebook to get the joke) Despite me being cheeky to
her she encouraged me enormously to becoming a reasonable artist at
the time.
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I also recall the incident that Steve Waite
recalls with the book fair. An amnesty was called so that all the
stolen books could be returned. At the end of this amnesty a pair of
trestle tables groaned under the weight of the 'returned' books, in
fact there were probably more returned stolen books than there were
remaining at the fair. When the amnesty was called, we all lined up in
the school and were told we had 15 minutes to go retrieve whatever we
had stolen. I hadn't taken any (much to the surprise of many of
my contemporaries, probably) so I remained in the school hall ... with
about 8(!!) others. We were regarded ironically with great suspicion
by all the teachers who remained in the hall. It was hilarious for the
pupils at the time, but excruciatingly embarrassing for the school.
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As a class we were evil to some teachers, Mr
Cummings being the worst. How the poor man faced teaching us
French and Spanish everyday, I do not know. As Stuart says, I don't
recall many people getting Spanish 'O' level. I recall we were evil to
all our Modern Language teachers.
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Don Rogers, he of the milk bottle bottom
glasses, was responsible for giving Andrew Hall his nickname of 'Alfie'.
He says he named him 'Alfie' after the great band leader. You mean
Henry Hall then ... but I wonder of the nickname Alfie has stuck all
this time?
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I also remember the day Piggy Allen left,
we had 'ragged' him mercilessly for all the years we were there, but
it was quite moving when he retired. He as ostensibly a firm but nice
man. We bombarded him with our hymn books at the end of his retirement
assembly.
One lesson we 'ragged' him so badly he sent the entire class to stand
in front of the head's office. But it wasn't Roy that came out but the
deputy (Louis Jones). He took one look at
us all, demanded to know why we were there, smirked to himself (no
doubt revelling in our world record attempt) and sent us all back with
some suitably stern words.
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Does anyone remember the first skiing trip to Einsiedeln and
Hoch-Ybrig? With the wooden hotel that swayed in the wind and the lift
that deactivated when you took your weight off the floor?
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Does anyone else remember the crates of milk in little cardboard
pyramid cartons, left by the bike sheds. Ah the bike sheds! And
whenever a fight was arranged it was behind the 'mound'. And does
anyone else remember playing 'Davenball' on the waste ground where the
new block now stands. We made it up, it was a cross between football
and rugby, basically any rule applied to
get the ball from one end of the 'pitch' to the other. Getting covered
in mud was compulsory. Which led me to getting my only slippering, for
cleaning my school uniform and shoes with precious distilled water
from the science lab.
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We all used to march up to St John's school in Loughton for founders
day service. But the last time that I recall this being done it was a
very rowdy service which culminated in someone shouting out 'Bingo!'
when the Reverend called out the hymn number. After 30+ years of
guilt, can I reveal that it was me?
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I was not a model pupil but with
hindsight I had some wonderful teachers like Rob
Williams and 'Fred' Fyson whom I
still have the greatest admiration for (and I see their pictures are
here), but I also had some stinkers! I would not want to spoil their
memory by naming them.
There is one skill I learnt at school that has served my well all
these
years, being able to read documents upside down. I learnt this from
standing in front of Roy Smith's desk too
often.
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One thing I should have mentioned,
my claim to fame at the school: I was the last boy to ever wear short
trousers. On the the first day of school there were several of us
wearing them (as was the fashion at the junior schools at the time),
but I recall that everyone who did had the mickey taken out of them
mercilessly. My parents were adamant that I was going to wear short
trousers. It wasn't all bad however, as the 'heavies' in the fifth and
sixth form took pity on me and protected me. I think I was allowed
long trousers in the second term. An occurrence that was celebrated by
me being hoisted to
the shoulders of some of the hardest cases in the school (and there
were ...) and paraded with long trousers.
Bill
Richards
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1967-1974 from Stuart Sanders
Does anyone remember
Miss Simpson? Arrived around 1969-1970 and taught Spanish and
French. A very pretty, (and young) Scot, so of course I
remember she came in for quite a hard time from the boys.
I remember Bill Richards often being
heard to say in a Scottish accent, "Aye, Where's Jock? he's a
strapping young lad" in his best Janet from Dr Finley voice. Then
there was the sports chant, adapted from a then current pop song " Naa
Naa Naa Na, Naa Naa Naa Na, hey hey hey, Sexy Simpson.
I realise she had more backbone than any of us!!
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Others I recall from the 1967- 1974 time period:
In 1968 a young ex pilot,
Mr MacArthy(or-something), who had
received plastic surgery on his face and thus earned the name plastic
Mac. Renowned for throwing chalk, often with painful accuracy.
Mr Rogers, French, music and Maths, with
the thickest glasses I ever saw.
Mr Walters, physical Education. I can
only remember him calling "Go hard, boyo, go hard" as I struggled, and
failed, to understand or play Rugby, yet still mysteriously gave me
"A" on every report card. I wondered if he ever knew who I really was?
Mr Simmons, a great English teacher, who
can single handedly claim to have cured me of my social phobia. How?
He used to put us through these gruelling tests of public speaking,
that I used to dread. One time, I just thought to heck with it and
volunteered to go first. I got 19/20, largely because of my courage,
he said. HOWEVER....most famous for being known as "Wolfman
Simmons" because of the way he held his
head and his haircut.
And Mr Cummings...famous for Spanish. I
remember in the 4th form (1971), coming 5th in the class with 37%, I
think the top mark was 54%.....not many of us got Spanish "O" level in
1972 I recall.
Stuart Sanders
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The Queen Mum's Visit
If you look closely at the photos
taken, most seem to have Milton
Finesilver in them. We used to say "
Queen Mum's Visit starring Milton Finesilver" ---------Alan Racheter
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Early 70's
Anyone remember the "Book Fayre" in the library when more books got
stolen than purchased? Prefects found them hidden in ceilings and
behind toilet cisterns!------Steve Waite
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1969
In about '69.
Ray Tish and a few of the remaining East End boys saw off a
deputation from West Hatch School who thought we were all poofy
Grammar School boys. One stamp of his Doc Marten saw them off pretty
quickly!------Chris Tradgett
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1976
Does anybody remember the dead
badger that Lanyon found on the way to school and proceeded to dissect
over the next few days. Poor creature spread eagled on biology lab
desk, pong and all.
-------Adam Baum
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