Davenant Reunited

Mr. Henton took us for biology for a time. On one occasion we were learning about the reproduction system of the raqbbit and Mr. Henton said that he would get some rabbit sperm in the little annexe to the the biology lab for us to look at under the miscroscope. We heard him rummaging in there for what seemed loked ages. One of the boys wanted to go to the toilet and called out "Sir, Sir" whilst Mr. Henton was next door. Suddenly his disembodied voice called out - "Wait a minute I'll be back in a couple of shakes". When he returned to the class he could not understand why the class was convulsed with the laughter.

And another one

Do you know how Harry Lines came to leave the School? He was not a particularly popular master as you may recall - bit too heavy handed with the old slipper. (No human rights for boys in those days!) . One day he left early and drove his Ford Anglia Estate from the car park up the main drive which formed a crossroads at the point where it joined the main roads leading to and from the School. I was in the Library at the time with several other boys looking up the drive towards the crossroads. Just as Harry's car crossed the bridge three police cars with lights flashing and sirens wailing converged on him from all directions. He was summarily taken from the Anglia, frogmarched into one of the police cars and then driven away never to be seen again. As this happened a spontaneous cheer broke out which echoed around the entire building. Apparently the whole School at the front of the building witnessed what had happened and expressed their appreciation in the time-honoured way.

The story as we heard it was that Harry had been disqualified from driving several weeks earlier, but had been ignoring the ban. The police, who were on to him, had set a trap knowing that he would be leaving just at that time. I have wondered ever since whether Arthur Philpot was in on the act and tipped the police off just as Harry was about to leave!

And another

I do remember one of Piggy Allen's great one-liners.

When I was in Form 3a we were "ragging" him unmercifully one day.

In trying to restore some semblance of order to the lesson he was heard to say "... and every time I open my mouth some stupid idiot starts talking..." I will never forget that one!

He was a good kindly man who probably deserved better than we gave him.

Having taught Maths, Rugby, Football and Cricket for 21 years at Davenant, Barry has taken a post with Essex County Council as a Numeracy Consultant. I am sure anyone who knows him will join me in sending our best wishes.

Rob Williams, ( maths teacher at the school from 1968-1993 ) and his wife Ruth at their wedding on 19th April 2003.

" Bill " Bark, who died in the early part of 2003, one of the best teachers that I have ever known

I am writing this note having just left my final meeting with Revd. Richard Tillbrook before he walks out of the school gates for the last time on 10th April 2003.

I have only known him for a relatively short while but long enough to realise the huge impact he has made on pupils and fellow staff members during his thirty two years at the school. I have passed on the best wishes of his past pupils to him. He replied by saying that now he is a past pupil / member of staff himself, he would like to keep in touch with as many others as possible. His email address for those who wish to keep in contact is fathercap@hotmail.com

Allen-Piggy-English & Scoutmaster. Bark-Bill-Geography. Biggs-Biology. Brown-Schoolkeeper. Bruce. Davison-Art. Dolan-Paddy. Fyson-Fred. Harris. Henton-Biology. Hughes-Doc-French. Iles. Lines-Harry. Longstaff-Shortass. Philpot-Arthur-Head. Potter-Gilbert. Jones D. Jones L- Louis-Deputy Head-Maths. Jones T-Timber-Woodwork. McHugh. Newton- Chemistry. Page- Norman-Sports. Rosen- Physics. Miss Skinner- Secretary. Steel. Williams- Glyn. Meeklah- Woodwork.

Lane-Terry-Chemistry-a Cornishman-"I'm the captain of this ship" Potter-Gilbert-History-Dinosaurs & Thugi clans from India. Lidster-Roger-History/P.E-Talking about Arsenal and dishing out reams of homework. Smith-Roy-Headmaster-Pretty cool for an HM. Left around '72. Bolton-Headmaster- Beyond comment- Famous line in assembly after discovering a condom stretched over his door handle--" Who put a durex on my knob". Spill Spark-Geography- "Thousands of years ago the whole of England was covered by an ice sheet. It stopped around Hendon"-- "Which street Bill ?" Meeklah-Woody-Woodwork, Ex Spit Pilot in WW2, " Plane, Mallet, Trysquare, Marking knife, marking guage, four chisels. " Don't forget about the bench Woody and yes we know about the scotch in the teacher's storeroom ". Fyson-Fred-Famous for Fred's triangles, he knew all the integer sided right triangles in his head up to 10E5 or something. Only person to rearrange Milikan's Oil Drop Experiment to solve for acceleration of the oil drop in his head. Boreham-Joe-Physics & P.E- Valued architectural quality experiment drawings over right answers. Claim to fame--taking a photo of me, Nige Kimpton, Glenn Kendrick, Mark Bailey, Steve Waite and a few others doing the can-can and some of them smoking, miles away by the "Old Tree"--must have used the Physic's Lab Telescope. NOTE--The "Old Tree" was blown up by a fertilizer bomb-guilty party's name withheld--at present!! Gilderson-Russell-Chemistry & Music-Knew way too much!! Powell-Peter-Music.

Steve Waite would like to point out that although he may have been caught on film by the Smoking Tree, he himself was not smoking, never did, never have (Honest!)

R. Reynolds, Headmaster, S. Rosen, Second Master. E.C. Allen, H. Baldry, R.G. Bark, R.P. Biggs, D.K. Cable, H.S. Geekie, J. Harris, A.J.G. Hopkins, L.G.H. Jones, T. Jones, D.R. Newton, W.G.H. Robinson, C.C. Stenner, J.G. Williams.

A.E. Philpot, Headmaster, L.G.H Jones, Deputy Head, E.C. Allen, R.G. Bark, J. Fyson, M. Henton, T.G. Lane, H.J. Lines, J. Meeklah, R. Oldham, H.C. Parmenter, G.W. Potter, D.W. Rogers, B.V. Watkins, J.G. Williams.

I wonder if anyone remembers Mr. (Gilbert) Potter's lunchtime classical music recitals with the stereo record player. He often played military band music as well. All very handy (if sometimes a bit boring) as an excuse to stay in at playtime on a cold winter's day.

Any news of Rob (Oggie) Williams - brilliant at maths and computer studies? He could 'prove' that 2=1 for example (using complex numbers)!

Mr Rosen - Maths - nicknamed Shimmy Mr Lucas - Maths - nicknamed Luky Mr Young - Chemistry - nicknamed Yunnick Mr Owen - Geography - nicknamed Stinker Mr Evans, who became Head after the retirement of Mr Warren - nicknamed Gobby

Don Harrigan ( PE & Harlequins Rugby ) - used to torment the fat boys by making them do cross-country running. John Bates ( Languages ) ( Master ) - looked like a Spaniard but a great chap in the pub. A wonderful world-weary demeanour that only partly hid a true love of his vocation. John Speller ( French & Spanish ) - about 6'4" tall and a great darts player ( he used to lean over and stick 'em in ) Pat Freedman ( French? ) she was about 4'11" and only used to wear long skirts down to the floor. ( We began to wonder if she hadn't got any legs and trundled around on castors ) Gareth Randall ( RE & English ) - Lovely chap; unfortunate squint; you sometimes used to ignore him when he was giving you a _ollocking because you thought he was talking to the person sitting next to you!

Mr Steel ( Tommy ) came in about 1959 as a history teacher, but was keen on rugby. Those of us not good enough to be in the football team decided we had a second chance for school colours. I do not recall too many practise sessions but the first away game was played in snow. 'Tommy', standing on the sidelines in mac and gloves, was admonishing us to tackle low. Most of us just wanted to hold our crotches to get some warmth in our hands. The fly-half of the other side cheated - he too wore gloves and caught the ball every time it was thrown to him. It was a terrible rout, but was only one of many that year. In 1962 Philpot was addressing morning assembly and speaking of the forthcoming speech day - "an occasion on which we can look upon the school as a w(hole)". It even drew one of his rictus smiles - the rest of us rolled up! One of my great weaknesses at school was maths. I attribute it to never having had a maths teacher at Davenant who spoke English as a first language. There was Mr Rosen, then in his eighties, with his rich Yiddish accent, then the mad Scot who we only understood when he threw chalk or the board rubber at us, or when he roared about "the beauty of mathematics". Next came the Hungarian whose name escapes me. A lovely man who loved his maths but couldn't inspire me. I recall his gentle bemusement when he found out that I would be taking advanced level maths with him - we were both surprised when I passed '0' Level. I had wanted to take English ( D Jones) with my Applied Maths ( Fred Fyson ) and Physics ( Williams ), but L. Jones would have none of it.

One morning Bill Bark was very late for a first period Geography lesson. When he arrived he looked pretty upset. As a class we silently stood up smartly ( which is something we hadn't done for a very long time ). Bill gave us a dirty look and said " you may as well stick your two fingers up ", so we did!

"Cars of the stars": Physics Willy with his Mk 1 Cortina: Fred Fyson with his white one: Sammy Segal with his Citroen Safari: Bill Bark with his MG, then a Mini Cooper: Gilbert Potter with his tatty black Ford Pop: Harry Parminter with his red VW Karmann Ghia: Harry Lines with his Anglia Estate: Arthur Philpot with his Humber: Piggy Allen with his 20a or 167 bus + Central line + good supply of Senior Service cigs: Bronco Lane with his Thames van: Louis Jones with his Austin 1100.

First year had Paddy Dolan for English in the afternoon. He always seemed a little _issed. On one occasion he threw someone out of the class, shouted "get out" but pointed to the window.

Gordon Gillick ( the Art teacher who joined when Davison went ) and most of my form ate some "weeds" that were growing in the area by the Library. We all had to go over to the London Hospital, the weeds being rare poisonous plants. The last reported case of anyone eating them was in the 1890's. Nice try Mr Gillick but we all lived to move to Loughton.

Haydyn Davies, Miss Cooper, Mrs Wyre, Mrs Richardson, Ms Brand, Ms Boughton, Mr Henton, Wolf Man, Bender, Mrs " granny" Powers, Mr Spiller, Colin Clavey, Chunky Wire, Paddy Shannon, Mr Dolman, Gareth Randall, Mr Jones, Mrs Freedman, Mr Boreham, Mr Rogers, Ron Colee, Dave Parker, Mrs Jordan, Mrs McMahon, Mrs Jones, Mr Bates, Miss Brand, Mrs Deegan, Ms Groves-Wright, Mr Geeky, Mr Lucas.

Mr Hilliard: Geography teacher, most famous for his line 'any questions, query or problems?' and, if anyone put their hand up, 'is it a question, query or problem?'. Also known for his stick that he thwacked tables with in order to get our attention.- Jane Collings, 1981-1987

Doctor Morris: French teacher, a real larger than life figure. Some lessons he lay down on his desk and we didn't really do any work. Other times he'd act out a fairy tale in French. He was also fond of chucking things around the room. He absolutely loved all things French and drove a 2CV. - Jane Collings, 1981-1987

Roger Lidster: History and games, well football anyway.
Drove a red MGB - Steve Waite

We had Ken Overend as a form teacher (about 72?), looked a little like a slightly more dissolute version of Dylan Thomas, with a gentle Bradford (?) accent. His famous parting shot was the obviously hurried end of term report for every single pupil which
read - OK - KO - He disappeared shortly after - and went to a school in Enfield. Chris Tradgett, 1969-1975

Mr Henton managed on occasions to give complete double Biology lessons without missing a single drag on the cigarette he had going in the 'Prep-room', by hanging round the door frame. Chris Tradgett, 1969-1975

in '69, there were only about 10 or so masters' cars, with RR Smith's pale blue escort (Mk1) being the only one allowed on the front drive. Bill Bark was famous for his mastery at the wheel of his Mini Cooper, in which I once had the privelege of being a passenger. Chris Tradgett, 1969-1975

There was also Mr Lidster's famous way of ensuring 40 minutes of absolutely total attention - if he caught you looking elsewhere, the wooden blackboard rubber would come flying across the classroom at you. The tales of his army days in Cyprus normally
lasted a full lesson anyway so it didn't happen too often. I do know that the Army were issued with Sten guns that couldn't hit a barn door at 10 paces, whereas the Cypriots all had Tommy Guns which were deadly accurate at 200 yds. Unfortunately, that never came up in the O-level. Chris Tradgett, 1969-1975

It literally took seconds! I believe from memory he did it in nine or ten seconds!

Steve Hanson, 1980

Teacher memories (1970s):
Ron Colee (English) - ever in my mind for such one-liners as "Sit still boy, you're like a fart in a colander" and "Thanks for that thought...it filled a vacuum"; brilliant pianist and organist as well as one of life's real characters
Doc Morris (Vince)(French/Spanish) - does anyone know if his first name really was Austin? Absolute madman. Remembered for leaping on and off desks doing his impersonations of Don Juan as well as taking a group of sixth formers to his parents during a trip to Paris
Clive (?) Parsons (History) - appeared to be straight from college, with the biggest blackboard writing and the worst case of classroom fear/shakes
"Sprog" Lanyon (Biology) - whose boast (in front of a tittering second form sex education lesson) was that man ejaculated a teacupful
(?) Hilliard (Geography) - possibly the first cookery lessons at Davenant (?) with his Sixth Form "Cooking in a bedsit" lessons with each boy creating a stink over their camping stoves in the Geography room
John Speller (French/Spanish) - did he really drive his Ford Anglia sitting on the back seat?
Russell Gilderson (Chemistry/Deputy Head) - many memories - most spectacular was showering the front row of the class with hot acid in an explosion of glass

Others possibly not mentioned yet on the site (or above):
Languages: Mr Hunt (German), Monsieur Lumeau (French Assistant who appeared to be around for several years)
History: Mr. Jackson (possibly the best history teacher there was)
Biology: Brian Miller, Doc Taylor
Physics: Mr.Wise, Steve "Slinky" Woolley
Art: Kate Ellis, Mr. Sliwa
PE: Mr.Stockton (rumours abounded about liaisons with the language assistant (and others) speeding his departure...allegedly!)From Andrew Lawrance

'Woody' Meeklah
John Fry (1969-76) in his above piece, refers to Meeklah as 'Ex Spit Pilot
in WW2'.   This heroic reputation seemed to have moderated a little before
he left.   At his retirement presentation he sat down on the left-hand set
of steps, rolled up his sleeves, and gave a brief resume of his time at the
school.   When prompted by Mr Daniels, he casually mentioned that he'd been 'on Wellingtons'. However some of his colleagues were still sceptical, and a little investigation revealed that his wartime missions had been no more hazardous than dropping suitcases on station platforms ? he'd spent the war as a porter!

I learnt very little in woodwork and metalwork. I spent most lessons
queuing to get work rejected, whilst Meeklah assisted his favourite, mainly
female, pupils   (ours was the first comprehensive year). He also took us
for Technical Drawing in the first year, for which we did a summer exam.
On handing back our papers he said that they were marked out of fifty, and
when he called our name we should double this figure to record the
percentage. Things went smoothly till it came to Marsh:
"Fourteen sir."
"Double it."
"I have sir."
- Sometimes now I wonder why I ever took up engineering!                                ----Nick Marsh ( 1980-86)

Doc Morris - once produced a version of Le Misanthrope (in English) with Kate Ellis (Art) and Mrs Freedman (French and German) in the lead female roles. Also we locked him out of the classroom once for an entire period. I remember the Paris trip and the visit to his parents apartment in the Bastille - and Pete Bryant nearly getting killed trying to walk across the Place de la Concorde (Pete, in France they drive on the other side of the road - try and look in the right direction next time!)

Ron Colee getting his hands on the organ at St Paul's Cathedral for the 300th anniversary celebrations and belting out Zadok the Priest as loud as he could. Mr Jackson's bridge class and phenomenal amounts of homework.

Gareth Randall - now an ordained priest - who while acting in a play pulled the door knob off the scenery, calmly walked round the scenery to push open said door, then walked back round the scenery again in order to go through the now open door in the correct direction.

Steve Wooley's complete inability to get any Physics experiments to work which (combined with an inability to impart any knowledge to his class) resulted in his departure one term before we took the O levels (his departure probably improved all our chances of passing). Haydn Davies - who could throw a rugby ball hard enough to knock you over and played for (I think) London Welsh.

John Powell with his boundless enthusiasm for music, stopping the combined choir and orchestra a few bars into "Let Us Break their Bonds Asunder" during a performance of the Messiah in Waltham Abbey (I still maintain the string section were late in) and restarting it.

Doc Taylor - a biology teacher with the fiercest reputation who managed to make human reproduction sound (a) boring and (b) hard work. And Gilbert Potter's passion for all things steam powered and the school trips to Bressingham.

And who was the Maths teacher who drove that beautiful white TR6?

Chris Best (1974-80)

Doc Hughes (French)

A lovely man. Always signed your homework or test papers with an elaborate capital R. Never found out why.

Proud Welshman, if Wrexham had won a football match on the Saturday, on Monday he would always say, "We sailed in and we wrecked 'em".

Gary Breyer

Another memory from Steve Hanson (1980)

Mrs. Cassidy's (who was a Math teacher for a couple of terms) surprising insult to Stephen Clements (who was well over 6 feet tall) as he had his feet up on his desk in the middle of class.

She screamed out across the room: You dirty great "hind"! (in her strong accent) to which the entire class erupted. We knew she meant "hound" but "hind" just somehow sounded better!


	Davenant Reunited