It's Christmas day 2007..... a happy and peaceful Christmas to all Old Symondians!
Any special recollections of Christmas - time at Peter Symonds? I was a boarder in school house where good will was spread a little thinly, but surely someone will have a happy tale to tell?
A place for ex students, or their families, to meet up with other ex students from Peter Symonds' School, Winchester, to share memories, stories and photos
One of my lasting memories of being a boarder at Kelso will be the Christmas parties. Each dorm had to produce a sketch to entertain the other students. Most were entertaining (by a lack of practice and a great deal of prompting) and some bordered on the subversive with impressions of staff or students senior to ourselves. I remember the sketches performed by Richard Gash, Tim Cheevers, Dave Jackson and Ali Walker which inevitably took the preverbial out of the 'system'. Although the sixth form was not a happy time for me (I wanted to be elsewhere), I will always have happy memories of the Christmas parties and the oh so grown up glasses of sherry with the House Master! Has anyone else got memories to share? While I am here.....Seasons Greetings to you all and may your fortunes improve in 2008!!
ReplyDelete"Happy memories"....and sherry! Always suspected you guys in Kelso had it better than us. We thought at the time that Wycke Lodge was the "cushiest" billet, but perhaps Mark S. will put us right on that one!
ReplyDeleteMy happiest memory was getting away from school house for a fortnight over Christmas (or at any time!) - didn't expect any happy tales from that particular direction, certainly during the 1960's.
Rog.
For what is is worth I remember boarders as a generally lonely lot at Xmas if they did not have available family their hols were spent wishing Rhodesia etc was not so far away, some were able to be boarded out but not all
ReplyDeleteJojn Scott 1948-54
Jeez I must have a lonley life! I always seem to be on the net, but despite the sparse volume of correspondence from my colleagues I am being reminded of "oldtimes" by others' commernts, the latest being Xmas (winter) time turning upturned steel framed chairs into toboggans (JLN's room was the easiest source) and flying down the slope to the 'canteen'. Yes as memory serves me we were guaranteed snow at least once a year, despite the Climate Change hierarchy
ReplyDeleteRegards
John Scott 1948-53
Told you about the vagaries of the mind, now I recall stage presentations by students but only one ever remained of the full 'act'. Three senior students (they had long trousers) stood at the front of the stage to perform a one act play called 'The Gargle'
ReplyDeleteThe one on the left drank from a glass of water the second threw his head back and gargled then the third threw his head forward and projected a mouthful of water over the front row. Doc and retinue I believe, I have no idea who the players were but it has always remained in my memory bank - Thank you anonymous ones.
John Scott 1948-53
Hi Scotty
ReplyDeleteUsing upturned chairs for ANY purpose outside the classroom must have been a practice reserved for Boarders out of School Hours ... had a Day-boy attempted such a thing during School Hours, he/they would have been pounced upon by the Gestapo (Prefects) and subjected to all sorts of horrendous torture (such as a plimsole whacked across the backside at least 6 times, or maybe a metal-edged wooden ruler across the knuckles, or, if feeling lenient, detention for a week) ... we Day-boys had to content ourselves with our local facilities, such as old sheets of corrugated iron, or perhaps a wooden front garden gate 'borrowed' from a house down the road ... occasionally, for those near enough, a visit to St.Catherine's Hill to toboggan down the southern slopes ... it was a long way to the top each time, but we Day-boys were a hardy lot !!! ...
Thanks for that particular memory John ...
Doug from WOZ
St Catherine's Hill now where was that? The highest point I remember sliding down was just outside Shawford station, memorable particularly because it looked so inviting one morning some of us jumped ship and caught later connection, blamed the weather which didnt work and suffered my first visit to Doc.
ReplyDeleteHi Scotty
ReplyDeleteI am surprised you don't remember St,Catherine's Hill, as it was probably the most prominent land feature in the area (apart from St.Giles Hill) ... in short, it was off to the left of the by-pass as you went from Bar End towards Compton/Otterbourne/Chandler's Ford ...
I refer you (and others), to the following link ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Catherine's_Hill,_Hampshire#History
(You might have to 'copy' it or type it in) ...
Keep smiling ...
Doug from WOZ