C Maddox Allsop’s /Beevor’s 1926 – 1930
I was in Allsop’s, later known at Beevor’s approximately 1926 – 1930. This was not my parents’ first choice but having failed to get into Marlborough I was personally thankful for the change to Aldenham as it meant joining old friends from Cheshire. So far as I remember, having passed Common Entrance from a Prep. School in Alderely Edge I was able to rejoin some friends from Lymm where my father had previously been Rector in the Parish Church – beautifully located overlooking the lake.
Allsop’s House was on the opposite (eastern?) side of the main cricket pitches so that we had to walk out to the road to re-enter school on the further side – that was also the way past the Chapel which I think has been moved or newly built on a site on the opposite side of the road, opposite the main entrance. At that time we all had to wear a straw hat but in general it was carried under the arm. Life in the House included Junior and Senior Common Rooms. As a new boy I was first in a small (4 or 6 beds) and later the larger (12?) bedded dorm. There was usually a morning Service in the Chapel and evening prayers in the House read by the Housemaster. There was also a Christian Union sponsored by a Master but run by students.
I have a rather vague recollection of a statue in Piccadilly Circus which was somehow related to Aldenham but I am confused because there was similar statue in the Whewells courtyard which my window at Trinity College overlooked.
Your letter asks for memories of a 1938 visit of the Hitler Youth Movement – by that time I was already in China!
I have been back to Aldenham on a brief visit but I forget which year. It is unlikely that I will make another visit as I approach my 90th birthday.
If any old or contemporary Aldenhamians are visiting Chiangmai I hope they will give me a call (Tel: (053) 278219). My house is about 5 kms out of the main town, close to the Mckean Rehabilitation Centre – which is also worth a visit.