I arrived in Aldenham in September 1922 – School House, Odds – Form IVB (Mr AN Jack).
There were then five houses: -
School House – Odds ) including 4 day boys
School House - Evens )
Paull’s
Allsop’s known as ‘Loppers’
Gilbert’s known as ‘Berties’
In the School House there were seven dormitories:
The Eight Bedded, Ten Bedded and the Long Room for the Lower School.
I was the prae in charge of the Long Room when the Tower was struck by lightening and we all thought that the roof was coming down. For the Upper School there were four: The first and Second Long Room and the Upper and Lower ‘CUBS’ (open ended cubicles). Senior boys had a cold bath – quick in and out.
Daytime lessons space was the big school room for the Lower School. The form in the eight was the fifth form, down the stairs at the end of the room were, on the left the Remove Class Room and on the right the Lower Sixth. Beyond the old library (open to all) was the Upper Sixth and the Outer Class room where Mr Evans taught History and Geography and the Upper School did ‘prep’ under the supervision of a prae.
The day began with the Headmaster at the foot of the stairs shouting ‘CALL’. Then rose as ‘COME ALONG’ was heard throughout the dormitories.
At 8 o’clock the Headmaster entered the School Room followed by the eight praes to praise. The house assembled by classes and each answered by name. The Headmaster read prayers. Another lesson was read by praes in turn.
When there was no afternoon school, everyone played soccer or cricket. When wet there was ‘digging’ – levelling the lower playing fields under the supervision of Mr English.
When there was afternoon school some form of exercise was obligatory: playing fives, the ‘sled game’ (five a side soccer played in the Potting Shed) or a run to the ‘BATTLE AXES’. In the big School Room each boy had a locker with facilities for brewing tea or cocoa.
Friday was ‘CORPS DAY’. We wore khaki and the OTC paraded in the yard. I missed taking CERT ‘A’ but learnt all about the 303 rifle and Lewis Machine Gun, so when years later I joined the Territorial Army (Searchlights) Sapper Corble DG found himself instructing in MUSKETRY! At the end of the Summer term the Corps went for a fortnight Camp, TIDWORTH PENNINGS, TIDWORTH PARK and STRENSAL. At Tidworth Park there was a memorial on the hill above the Camp. I have vivid memories of singing ‘The day thou gavest Lord is ended’ just as the sun was setting behind the next hill.
FAGGING was confined to praes. If you wanted a fag you kicked the door of the Lower Sixth and called ‘Bo-oy’. The junior boy in the Big School Room had to answer. This was usually an errand to the shop (kept by Sgt Hood) to fetch whipped cream walnuts or ‘Aston Villas’ (Turkish delight covered in chocolate). Sgt Hood was the OTC Armourer: his wife kept a shop in Letchmore Heath (to be visited with permission!).
On the last Sunday of the term the custom was a walk round the lake (resevoir?) – toward Bushey. And on the last Friday the Corp paraded to Bushey for tea at BUCKS. On the way home the right hand man at the rear file carried a lantern.
School uniform was black jacket and striped trousers. Praes were allowed to wear grey flannel trousers. During the first term straw hats had to be worn and in the 2nd and 3rd term carried in the hand. After that tucked under the left arm. On meeting an usher hats were put on to be raised in passing.
Form V took the School Certificate; The Remove took the same with the expectation of five credits. The Sixth Form took the Higher Certificate Classics, English, Foreign Languages, Maths or Physics and Chemistry.
Meals were served in the School Dining Hall. Each table was presided over by a master who served out the food: if absent his place was taken by a prae. At lunch Grace was said by a prae from the top table, presided over by the Headmaster and his wife. (‘Benedic, Domine, nobis’).
The Sixth Form had various Societies, The Lit Soc, the Wireless Club which had a home made set with six valves propelled by a series of switches.
At the end of term, there was a ‘REC’ held in the Big School Room. In great demand was Mr AN Jack to sing:
The sons of the Prophet are brave men and bold
And quite unaccustomed to fear,
But the bravest by far in the ranks of the Shah,
Was Abdul Abulbul Amir.
If you wanted a man to encourage the van,
Or harass the foe from the rear,
Storm fort or redoubt, you had only to shout
For Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Now the heroes were plenty and well known to fame
In the troops that were led by the Czar,
And the bravest of these was a man by the name
Of Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
One day this bold Russian, he shouldered his gun
And donned his most truculent sneer,
Downtown he did go where he trod on the toe
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Young man, quoth Abdul, has life grown so dull
That you wish to end your career?
Vile infidel, know, you have trod on the toe
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.
So take your last look at the sunshine and brook
And send your regrets to the Czar
For by this I imply, you are going to die,
Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
Said Ivan, my friend, your remarks in the end
Will avail you little, I fear
For you ne’er shall survive to repeat them alive
Mr Abdul Abulbul Amir
Then this bold Mameluke drew his trusty skibouk,
Singing, "Allah! Il Allah! Al-lah!"
And with murderous intent he ferociously went
For Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
They parried and thrust, they side-stepped and cussed,
The blood they shed cost them dear,
But each injury dire just augmented the ire
Of Ivan and Abdul Amir
They fought all that night neath the pale yellow moon;
The din, it was heard from afar,
And huge multitudes came, so great was the fame,
Of Abdul and Ivan Skavar.
As Abdul's long knife was extracting the life,
In fact he was shouting, "Huzzah!"
He felt himself struck by that wily Calmuck,
Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
The Sultan drove by in his red-breasted fly,
Expecting the victor to cheer,
But he only drew nigh to hear the last sigh,
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Czar Petrovitch too, in his spectacles blue
Drove up in his new crested car
He arrived just in time to exchange a last line
With Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
There's a tomb rises up where the Blue Danube rolls,
And graved there in characters clear,
Is, "Stranger, when passing, oh pray for the soul
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir."
A splash in the Black Sea one dark moonless night
Caused ripples to spread wide and far,
It was made by a sack fitting close to the back,
Of Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
A Muscovite maiden her lone vigil keeps,
'Neath the light of the cold northern star,
And the name that she
murmurs in vain as she weeps,
Is Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.