B F Standen-Thomas Cox’s / McGill’s 1935 – 1937
Many thanks for your interesting letter. I am now aged 81 years, so it is quite some time since I was a pupil at Aldenham. I have many happy memories of my time there. Super sports facilities and tuck shop. I well remember the French teacher who was really a French man who used to stand behind me while I translated, and bash me on the head with his arm or heavy English/French/ French English dictionary. Yes, I learned French jolly well in the end.
As a keen sports boy, I used to enjoy cross country running and on one occasion got caught in a downpour of rain and got soaked, much bath and towelling followed but the next morning I woke up with a really bad headache. Our very nice Matron lady in Cox’s House put me to bed with a tube sticking out of my back to drain away things. For once I was one of the few boys to stop the Chapel bells ringing lest they disturb me. I loved the Chapel as it was in those days and it was there I started to talk to the Lord as I do now every day in the garden, to thank him for every wonderful day.
I remember taking a shot with my hockey stick, and the wind blowing it into the net. We had a very kind man in Cox’s House who cleaned our shoes for us. At one stage I was Head Boy of the Junior Classroom and once had to smack a boy for hanging his blazer on the wrong hook.