Good to see this site and to see the banter ... drags up stuff I'd completly forgotten about.
Some things you never forget though like the mad dash at lunch time for the Canteen ( which was stupidly placed down the bottom of the field. Of course fine in summer months but as soon as it rained the trip became a negotiation of the fast developing mud slide and then having to queue up in the rain outside. Used to get covered in mud.
I was one of the last PS boarders, and the last first year intake before the change to a sixth form college. the place became a building site (got covered in more mud).
Does anyone remember the mad concker fight? One morning there were two lines on opposite side of the quadrangle each containing about 60 lads and we decided it would be fun just to throw conckers at each other. It was like the Somme, missiles darkened the sky as hundreds of conkers, carefully collected over weeks and weeks flew across the quad. It might have been symbolic of the future but I worked out a supply deal to collect spent conkers and restock the line (I think I wangled the latest girlie mags or something).
Take care y'all
Bruce Brassington
Hi Brasso Interesting to read your remarks on access in the 1970s to the Canteen via school playing field In the early years of the Canteen in the late 1940s, it was forbidden for boys to cross the field to reach the canteen; infringements were punished with detention. The Canteen had to be reached by walking along the roads outside of the school, and running was a punishable offence. There were 2 sittings for lunch, which further reduced the need to hurry. Meals initially cost 4 old pence (1½ p), and were paid for weekly by purchase of plastic tokens from Form Masters. Peter Smith
ReplyDeleteHaving to walk all the way round was a sore point up to at least 1971 when I left. The best time was during the winter & the snow when we formed 2 lines from the entrance of the old buildings to the canteen - masters and prefects cutting across the field made excellent targets. I may be in a minority but I always thought the food was worth the walk, especially when the custard was thick enough to stand your spoon up in.
ReplyDeleteHi there Peter Smith ... well as you know, we were at PSSW at the same time,
ReplyDeletebut I regret to say Peter, you unfortunately did not know how to "Beat the
System"!!!! ... you had to be a "Canteen Helper" to avoid the "WALK" and
"THE QUEUE" ... as a helper (I started by serving potatoes - normally mashed
- and then got promoted to selling drinks such as Tizer, Appleade and
Lemonade) helpers were allowed access to and from the Canteen via the
playing field along with the Masters and Prefects ... gee, that felt good
!!! ... as helpers, we got "FREE" meals and as much as we could eat ...
"Madge", one of the Canteen Ladies, used to put all the nice things aside
for the Helpers (such as roast potatoes) ... the only problem was, we used
to end up with about 5 minutes before the bell for the afternoon session of
School, to eat 3 times what normal boys would have paid 4d for ... no
justice in this world !!!
The Lady who ran the Canteen, as I remember, was Mrs. Prince ... she had
been the Manageress of "The British Restaurant" in Jewry Street ( next to
the Library Car Park) until it's closure ... she was a lovely Lady, and an
excellent organiser and cook (one of her specialities that I can STILL taste
was a chocolate shortbread with THICK custard ... YUMMY !!!) ... we were
VERY lucky to have her as our Canteen Organiser ... other helpers that I can
remember were, Brian Freemantle (from Twyford) and Peter Cox (from
Bridlington Avenue in Shirley Southampton ... and I think Jeffrey Eggins
(Eggings) from Alresford may also have helped) ... appologies to any others
that I have forgotten !!!
Prior to the opening of the Canteen, I remember eating at the British
Restaurant (about 1 shilling per day - the highlight of the week being
Whale-meat Steaks) ... The Westgate Lodge Hotel (near the Westgate - 1s/3d
per day) ... The De Lunn Restaurant in Jewry Street between the Cycle Shop
and City Road/Southgate Street Traffic Lights (10d per day) ... does anyone
else remember these institutions of gastronomical delight ??? ... then of
course there was the FISH and CHIP SHOP in Stockbridge Road near the Railway
Bridge/Tunnel !!!! ... oh horror upon horror ... to think that students of
PSSW could sink to such depths !!!!! ... at one point, I remember, it was
out of bounds ... don't know how or why it came about, but it ended up that
we allowed to go there, PROVIDING we did not eat in the Streets on the way
back to School and of course that we wore our School Caps, as always ...
problem was, naturally, the F & C's were COLD by the time we got back to
School and in spite of a constant look out for a black Wolseley "DOR 10",
quite a few of us OFTEN ended up in Detention !!!
Take care Guys !!! keep in touch ALL of you ... a GREAT site !!!
Cheers for now ... Doug Clews (1944 - 1950)
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Hi Peter I can see where you're comming from. Would have made more sense really but by the 70's muddy trousers were the norm! Incidently I do remember next to the old canteen, changing in that black elongated shed by the pool in the middle of winter for a PE dip in the pool. That was simply sadistic wasn't it? Of course they've built a proper permanent building down there now but it's still opene air! Catchya later!
ReplyDeleteHi Doug Thanks for the reminder of the other lunchtime eating places available in Winchester to hungry schoolboys before the new canteen opened its doors. The chippy in Stockbridge Road was certainly a favourite, with added spice from the illicit act of eating f & c in the street wearing school cap and tie! Once while I was eating a sandwich outdoors after school in Chandlers Ford I was spotted by a prefect on the 47 bus, and was reprimanded next day for this offence (The 47 bus between Chandler's Ford and Winchester; now that's another happy memory, at least of the journeys going home from school; are there any other "47 bus club" members out there?). Shortly after the new canteen opened I found a slug in my salad, and complained to the duty master, Mr Laing. He dismissed my complaint curtly, saying that even at the Savoy or Ritz slugs could be found in the lettuce on one's plate (how did he know, on a teacher's lowly salary?); furthermore I had only paid 4d for the salad, and it would have cost me a lot more for the privelege of the extra slug at those luxury restaurants. Of course, Doc hated the canteen, which he saw as another example of the rampant socialism which he preached daily was destroying the country. Does anybody know why boarders were allowed to eat at either sitting of lunch in the canteen, whereas dayboys had to choose one or other of the two sittings, and stick to it (this could be got roun by swapping tokens, which were different colours)? All the best Peter
ReplyDelete