I was 3 years old when I watched boys in the gym from a house across Abbotsham Road in 1937. Little did I realise then that 9 years later, in September 1946, I would be entering that school as one of the first 11+ intake. That was the beginning of 8 happy years where “joys were keen & sorrows few.”
In 1946 there were 280 boys at the school. By 1952 it had dwindled to 150 and in 1954, when I left, there were only 6 of us in the upper sixth. Girls from Edgehill College joined us for A-level maths, taught by headmaster Stephenson (known as “the drip”).
I will not dwell on my academic achievements, which amounted to only 1 A level in maths. However, as Mr (trigger) Tregenza our English Master used to say “ I’m here to educate you, not only to get you through exams”.
The school offered one a well-rounded education, which I can thoroughly endorse as this has served me well throughout my life. It’s small size meant that many of us not always that talented, had the opportunity to represent the school in outside activities and sports.
Boys played girls parts in the school plays of course and I was Queen Elizabeth in one play, put on to celebrate the coronation in 1953.
Everybody who was fit enough ran the annual cross country by various routes to Abbotsham (3 or 5 miles) depending on your age.
Swimming lessons were at the unheated lido at westward ho! in April, and the beginning of May it was freezing. Despite that, like many others, I learnt to swim there. An annual gala evening against the Old Boys was held there as the weather got warmer.
A highlight of summer terms was the open day, which included an annual cricket match against the Old Boys. I had my photograph taken with Ray Sawtell at the of the toss and this made the Bideford Gazette. There was also a cricket match against Bideford on a Wednesday, played at Westward Ho!
We played rugby of course as football was frowned upon by the headmaster. My lasting memory of this was of a muddy Saturday afternoon at Shebbear College where I played on the wing, but mainly on my back as we were beaten 106pts to nil! This result made the local radio news and on arriving home my father said “I wonder you have the nerve to show your face.” But we had our revenge at Easter on the sports ground in Kingsley Road at the seven-a-side tournament”.
At easter 1952 I joined the week’s school trip to Paris organised and hosted by Mr Courtney (snoz). We survived a very rough sea crossing (no stabilisers in those days), stayed in a lycée and visited all the main tourist attractions, but not the Folies Bérgere sadly.
The following easter (1953) basher Bartlett organised a week in the Peak District which included a day’s hike down the beautiful Dovedale and a visit to Firth Brown’s steelworks in Sheffield, with its open hearth furnaces and flame-belching Bessemer converters, things us country lads never knew existed. We were staying at a youth fellowship hostel in Derbyshire and our evenings were filled with dancing with girls from a school in Leamington Spa.
My last day at BGS in July 1954, was playing cricket for Grenvilles vs Darracotts. What a blissful end to eight happy years. Mr Stephenson bade me farewell, but i am sure he must have thought why on earth had he chosen to study chemical engineering.
Thus in September 1954, I began another 5 happy years of my life at Loughborough College of Technology, which became one of the first colleges of advanced technology and is now Loughborough University and I graduated in 1959.
Earlier that year I had met a Loughborough girl who in 1962 became my wife. In the August 1959 I started work at the Fawley refinery and worked for various Esso/Exxon companies for 27 years. Besides Fawley, this included London and 11 years in Brussels.
Between 1986 and 2000 (when I retired) I was a self-employed consultant specialising in environment, and health & safety. This comprised technical auditing including training takeovers, and management buyouts.
My work involved travel not only all over the UK but also the US, Europe, Scandinavia, Brazil, India and Pakistan.
I consider my life has been blessed with interest and good fortune. The foundations for this were many but foremost amongst them, were life lessons learnt at BGS.
My final memory of the old school was attending as President of the Old Boys dinner in 1999 and 10 years later, visiting the school before it was was pulled down to become Bideford College.
