For 100 years there has been an Old Boys’ Association. However, with rapidly diminishing numbers, it eventually became obvious it could not sustain support for an AGM, an Annual Dinner and the cost of distributing a Newsletter.

Select item to view:

• Foundation
• OBA History
• 1920s OBA Rules
• 1930 – 4th Reunion Dinner
• 1932 – 6th Reunion Dinner
• 1936 – Balance Sheet
• Past Presidents

In 2019 the OBA membership was consulted about closing the Association and the result overwhelmingly confirmed the Committee’s suggestion to dissolve the Association. This was to be done in 2020 with a final celebration of 500 year history of the school and the 100 year anniversary of the founding of the Association.  Unfortunately, this celebratory AGM and Dinner were postponed due to the Pandemic but the AGM was held as a virtual meeting on Zoom when all Committee members took part. The Association was formally dissolved after the decision was overwhelmingly endorsed by the membership.

Valedictory Dinner

A final Valedictory Dinner was held at Branston Golf Club on 12th September, 2022. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all 62 attending Old Boys. This included Richard Wain whose father HJ Wain was key in setting up the Association in 1920!

Continuing to stay in touch
2020 – Until this date, an annual Newsletter had been either emailed or posted to the whole OBA membership. To keep up with modern practice and legislation, it was decided to retain only those alumni who gave their consent to remaining on a database kept by the emeritus Editor, Eric Bodger.

If any Old Boy wishes to receive future newsletters and has not already given his consent to remaining on record, they can contact Eric Bodger at bgs@cicsplex.co.uk to give their approval and they will then go on the database. In doing this, he is being assisted by Graham Marshment. graham@gmarshment.f9.co.uk

Eric and Graham have offered to do this for as long as they are able and for as long as material is submitted to either of them.

Burton Abbey was founded in 1002 by Wulfric Spot, the extremely wealthy Earl of Mercia, and was granted a charter by King Ethelred in 1004. As a Burtonian ‘born and bred’, I was dumbfounded at the sheer scale of Burton Abbey which occupied a 14 acre site. I remain amazed that I could have lived in the Town for 50 years before discovering that such a structure ever existed. What I had always known as the Abbey was in fact, an almost insignificant annex which spent at least some of its time as an infirmary. The picture shows what seems to be the most accurate image of the Abbey in its heyday; it is my own colourization of a 1661 engraving by W. Hollar.

The first mention of a school was not until 1390. The reference to a ‘warden of the boys’ (custos puerorum) in Burton in this year suggests that there may have been an Almonry school within the abbey. Almonry foundations were common around this time in greater Monasteries in the 14th century, with the boys assisting in the celebration of private masses.

The first ‘free’ (as in free of the church as opposed to without fee) Grammar School was founded by Abbot William Beyne in around 1520. The formation of the school however, was likely influenced by the Reformation in an attempt to gain political and financial stability in a time when King Henry VIII was launching campaigns against Monasteries and Abbeys with royal confiscations of the properties of religious houses. By removing the school from the everyday activities and finances of the Abbey and by creating a protectorate of local lay Trustees, the Abbey was to some extent protected. Thus, William Beyne, 32nd Abbot of Burton (1502-1531), provided funds to Sir Richard Sacheverell for land purchases a Orton-on-the-Hill (Leicestershire) and Breaston (Derbyshire), the rent from which would be used to found and maintain a school and master. The school was recorded to have occupied a site on the north-west corner of the churchyard.

In 1534, Henry VIII had Parliament authorize Thomas Cromwell to ‘visit’ all monastries, including Burton Abbey, ostensibly to make sure they were instructed by the King instead of the Pope, but making sure to inventory their assets for later seizure. By 1536, Henry was installed as Head of the Church of England and had laws had been enacted to allow the King to seize any church building with an income of less than £200. Many were confiscated. Some were pillaged and destroyed, other smaller ones were turned into graineries, barns and stables. Whilst still under threat, the first recorded mention of a schoolmaster was in 1537 when Abbot William Edys, the 35th and final Abbot of Burton, appointed Richard Harman, a distinguished scholar and dignitary.

As the Dissolution continued, many great Abbeys such as Glastonbury, Shaftesbury and Canterbury which had flourished as pilgrimage sites were reduced to ruins. Some were gifted to the Kings most ‘loyal subjects’. On 4th November 1540, Abbot Edys was finally forced to surrender Burton Abbey whereupon it was gifted (together with extensive grants to lands including what is now Cannock Chase) to Sir William Paget – a close adviser to Henry VIII who later became 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert ( pictured ). This, fortunately, meant that the Abbey was one of the few to survive leaving it one of the largest in the country. A descendent of William Paget became the Marquess of Anglesey in 1815 and still owned most of the land in Burton.

In 1545, explicit funding for a school and schoolmaster was included in the creation of the new Collegiate Church, which succeeded the Abbey following the Dissolution. Richard Harman remained as schoolmaster.

The School Regulations for the late 1930s and early 1940s provide a good feel for the school in those times.

The standard fee which applied to almost all pupils was Five Guineas (£5.25) per term – not including text books on top of which had to be paid 9d (3.75p) for the Cygnet magazine subscription and 1 Shilling (5p) for the Hospital – a not insignificant fee at the time!

Just to put all of this in context – at the time:

An average three bedroom semi-detached house would be around £550

A new Ford Anglia de Luxe family car would set you back £140 and to keep it going, petrol was 1 shilling and sixpence a gallon (1.65p per litre).

Boy’s Flannel suit 25/-, shirt 7/6, jumper 7/6, shoes 16/- (total £2.80).

Mars bar from the tuck shop 6d (2.5p)

Mr. H. J. WAIN: One of the founder members of the Burton Grammar School Old Boys’ Association and its first Honorary Secretary.

Born in 1896, at Bretby. where his family had resided for many generations, he trained a Scholarship, from the Village School, to the Grammar School in 1907, being placed 3rd in a list of over 700 throughout the County.

In 1910 he passed the Junior Cambridge Local, with 1st Class Honours and two distinctions, and the following year he gained 1st Class Honours in the Senior Cambridge Local Examination.

On leaving School he obtained an appointment with Messrs. Worthington & Co., Ltd., but afterwards joined Messrs. Bass, Ratcliff, and Gretton, Ltd.

During the Great War he saw Active Service with the 14th (Sportsman’s Battalion), Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, serving as a scout and sniper in Fiance, and on returning to Scotland was appointed Signalling Instructor to the Highland Reserve Division, where he founded and edited an Army Magazine.

In 1921-2, he passed the Intermediate and Final Examinations of the London Association of Accountants, and is at present in the Accountants’ Dept. of Messrs. Bass & Co.

Among various other honorary appointments, he was Clerk to the Bretby Parish Council, Hon. Sec. of the Bretby War Memorial Committee, Burton Natural History and Archaeological Society, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, British Empire Naturalists’ Association, and was also Conservative sub-agent for the Bretby and Newton Solney areas of the Belper Parliamentary Division.

Below is his account of the OBA foundation written for the 1924 Chronicle of Members, some ten years after the organisation was first conceived:

A few years ago, many boys on leaving School expressed a regret that there was no Old Boys’ Club or Association, by which means chums at School might develop life-long friendships, although possibly compelled for various reasons to reside in different parts of the world. For those remaining in Burton, it was also felt that such a Club or Association would not only promote good fellowship among its members, but might possibly develop into a distinct social asset of the town, and afford opportunities of developing individual characteristics, sporting or social or intellectual in a favourable atmosphere.

In July, 1914, C. B. Smedley, F. C. Jefferson and myself consulted the Headmaster and gained his whole-hearted approval to such a scheme, but all our plans were upset by the outbreak of the Great War.

On demobilization, Smedley with characteristic energy, immediately undertook the task single handed, and provisionally arranged an Inaugural Dinner. But the time was hardly opportune – the war had only just ended and people had not yet had time to settle down to their pre-war occupations, indeed many of us had not yet returned to civil life. Sufficient support not being forthcoming, the Dinner was cancelled, and within a few weeks to everyone’s great regret, Smedley suddenly collapsed and died from the effects of his military service.

But matters had now reached such a state that the Headmaster determined the scheme should be carried through, and at his invitation an informal meeting of a few Old Boys was held on November 8th, 1920. A small Sub-Committee with Mr. Frank Evershed as Chairman was formed to draft the necessary rules and a further meeting of Old Boys was held at the School on December 8th, 1920, when a temporary Committee and Officers were appointed. The date for the first General Meeting was fixed for February 19th, 1921, and an afternoon Football Match with a team selected from the Burton Rugby Club was arranged to precede a Dinner in the Town Hall in the evening. All Old Boys whose addresses could be obtained were circularized and copies of the proposed rules were posted to them. Amid scenes of great enthusiasm, the Rules were approved and the Officers and temporary Committee were confirmed in their appointments. It was peculiarly appropriate that the Chief Magistrate of the town at that time should be an Old Boy, and the Association deemed it an honour to elect as its first President, the Mayor of Burton-on-Trent, Councillor A. H. Yeomans, J.P.

From that date, the membership of the Association has steadily increased. From 207 members in 1921 the number has risen to 345 at the present time, and included in these figures are many Old Boys resident in such widely separated parts of the world as British Columbia, Wisconsin, U.S.A., New Zealand, Australia, Malay Straits, Burmah, India, Mesopotamia and South Africa.

Reports and Balance Sheets detailing the various activities and financial position of the Association from the date of its inauguration will be found overleaf, and it is hoped all Old Boys will co-operate in extending the membership, and maintaining the traditions of the old School.

H.J.W

In 1911, Jack Wain left Burton Grammar School in Bond Street and took up employment with Worthington and Company Limited brewing company. Three years later in 1914 he, together with ex-pupils ‘Chips’ Smedley and Freddie Jefferson, went back to see the Headmaster, which was still Mr Robinson, with the idea of forming an Old Boys Association. The ideas were met with some enthusiasm but the outbreak of World War I caused any plans to be postponed.

After the war, Mr Smedley convened a new meeting but many, including Mr Wain, had not yet been demobilised so the response was poor.

At the end of 1920, Mr R.T. Robinson ( pictured ) was still headmaster and, enthusiastic that an Old Boys Association should be formed, principally to remember the large number of ex-pupils that had fallen in the war, arranged an informal meeting.

In 1921, the Old Boys Association was officially founded. Mr Frank Evershed was elected as its first Chairman, Mr A.H. Yeomans was President and Mr H.J. Wain as Honorary Secretary.

…. to be continued …

In 1957, at the time of opening of the new Winshill school, new ties and blazer badges that featured the school crest and the new coat-of-arms was into the OBA Chain of Office worn by the President. After the opening, an OBA celebration dinner was held at Ashfield House on Ashby Road.

At the 1958 annual reunion, the first guest of honour was introduced in the guise of Mr R.G. Neill who had been on the teaching staff at Bond Street from 1931 to 1946. Mr Gillion had just been instated as Headmaster and was welcomed and a plaque was dedicated to the late Mr R.T. Robinson who had been Headmaster when the association was founded.

…. to be continued …

In 2004, Richard Wain, son of Jack Wain and himself a pupil at Burton Grammar School from 1944 to 1950, was instated as Honorary Secretary.

On the face of it there’s never been anything special about Bond Street. Nothing at all, except, that is, for many of us who used to turn up there from Monday to Friday each week, weighed down with bulging satchels wondering what the day held in store. No, not the fashionable shopping paradise situated in London’s West End. This Bond Street was, and still is, the Burton upon Trent version. Stretching from Lichfield Street to the old Ice Storage building it was a thoroughfare far less grandiose than it’s namesake in the capital. Gaze along it these days from a vantage point on the pavement near Peel Croft and you will notice the open ground on the left which is used as a car park. And, like me, you will probably wonder how a school with it’s sprawling collection of outbuildings could possibly have fitted into such a tiny piece of land. But it did, for this is where Burton Grammar School was situated – from 1877 until the new premises in Winshill were opened in 1957.

Access to the school was through an entrance about half way along the street. Immediately on the left was a door leading into the main building itself. Then it was along a corridor and past the changing rooms with their distinctive odour. Sharp right and then straight in front, the main hall where assembly was held each morning. At the other end of the hall, a narrow dark corridor leading to the chemistry laboratory and G-Room with it’s rows of desks arranged in tiers. Upstairs, another sprawling maze of corridors and rooms. Then there was the old headmaster’s house which had been converted into classrooms and a library. Situated outside, in what had previously been a garden, were some rather dilapidated prefabricated huts – more classrooms. There was a playground, of course, and in the far corner the bicycle sheds leading to two more places of learning some distance from the main school building itself. And a few hundred yards away, an old chapel. This was to be our form-room three years later. One thing is certain, the whole complex would be condemned as totally unsuitable these days.

Rather like eighty-nine other boys back in early September 1954 I was feeling excited and, I have to admit, rather pleased with myself, as I made my way to Bond Street for the very first time as a Grammar School student, but slightly apprehensive and a touch nervous too. Smart navy blue jacket, red and blue striped tie, grey shirt and grey trousers short ones – but most important of all, that distinctive cap with it’s red flashing across the back, proudly perched on my head. You could always tell where your mum had bought it from, the depth of the red band was slightly different depending on whether it came from Ellis’s or Tarver’s. Things like that seemed very important.

Yes, I remember that first day vividly. Forcing down my eggs and bacon seemed slightly more difficult than usual. An anxious wait for the maroon double-decker bus in Bearwood Hill Road, the journey down from Winshill across the Burton bridge, along High Street past Bass’s offices where the clerks would soon be taking up their positions on their high stools, finally climbing from the bus at the junction with Station Street. From there it was a short walk along the far end of High Street, past Oakden’s shop with that wonderful smell of roasting coffee beans and then sharp right into New Street. Across the old bus park into Lichfield Street before finally ending up at my destination of Bond Street itself.

I think most of us had some idea what to expect when we made our way through the entrance gates and along the short passage into the playground that morning. There had been rumours of some sort of initiation ceremony so it wasn’t totally surprising to find ourselves subjected to what can only be described as a pseudo public school welcome which involved “running the gauntlet” through a group of older boys who gave us a not so gentle clip across the head which didn’t do a lot for the condition of our smart new caps most of which finished up scattered along the ground and trampled on.

Soon it was into assembly in the main hall and a short welcoming address from the headmaster H.H. (Horace) Pitchford before moving off to Z-room, one of the huts behind the bicycle shed. This was to be our form room, a sort of home base, for the next two years. Pupils had already been divided into three classes and for me it was the middle one – B-stream. We knew which of the four houses we would compete for too, Clive, Drake, Nelson or Wellington. I would be wearing the green of Clive, at least that was the colour of the rugby and cross country shirts. Named after Clive of India, at the time it had the reputation of being the weakest of the four in terms of sporting achievements. If only they played soccer instead of rugby I might have been in Wellington instead or so I kidded myself. Apparently Wellington was the strongest but what was the basis for selection, were there mischievous forces at work?

Our form master was Mr Ward who taught French. We called him Ernie, not to his face of course, that was “sir”. Only later did we find out that his real name was Ellick, one that I’d never come across then and haven’t since. We liked him straightaway. Soon we would come to respect him too. One of the first formalities was to have a desk allocated to each of us. Seating was arranged in alphabetical order, that’s why I became friendly with a boy called John Monk. I guess it was just hard luck if you didn’t get on with your alphabetical neighbour; fortunately we seemed to hit it off, partly because we were both keen on football and cricket. Not rugby football but the version played with a proper ball, a round one. Before long we would be under no illusion as to which code was encouraged at this particular school.

Soon it was time for the mid-morning break and a first visit to the tuck shop run by Miss Rawlins and situated on the other side of Bond Street. Decision time, was it to be a jam doughnut or a sticky iced bun? Or maybe both! Ninety minutes later it was lunchtime and, for me, a second bus ride of the day – back home and an interrogation from mum. How did you get on? Have you behaved yourself? What on earth have you done to that cap? I don’t know what happened in the afternoon, I suppose we must have had a lesson or two. But looking back now it was a very special day. I certainly slept soundly that night. As for the joys of freezing cold cross-country runs ending with the acrid fumes from the paintworks the occasional visit to the headmaster’s study, ups and downs on the cricket pitch, detention, school reports and, best of all, that wonderful feeling at the end-of-term assemblies – all of those, and much more, would come later.

The OBA rules allowed anyone with one year’s attendance as a pupil to become a member – as long as they were prepared to part with a shilling a year.

RULES

Of the Burton-on-Trent Grammar School Old Boys’ Association.

1. The Objects of the Association are to promote good fellowship among the past Members of the Burton-on-Trent Grammar School, and to maintain their connection with, and interest in, the School and its Institutions.

2. Any Old Boy wishing to become a Member of the Association shall send his name and address to the Hon. Secretary, who shall submit such name at the next meeting of the Committee, in which the power of election or rejection shall be vested.

3. The qualification for membership shall be one year’s attendance as a pupil at the Burton-on-Trent Grammar School.

4. The subscription for each Member shall be three shillings per annum, payable on election and subsequently on the ist of March each year. Any Member desiring to pay his Subscription for seven years in advance may do so on payment of twenty shillings. The Committee shall have power to make any Member a Life Member of the Association upon such conditions as to payment or otherwise as they may think fit.

5. Any Member who fails to pay his subscription for three consecutive years shall ipso facto cease to be a Member of the Association and his name shall be removed from the Chronicle of Members.

6. All past and present Masters of the Burton-on-Trent Grammar School shall be elected Honorary Members of the Association, without payment of subscription.

7. The Officers of the Association shall consist of a President, a Vice-President, Hon. Secretary, and Hon. Treasurer, who shall be ex-officer members of the Committee, and shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting. The President and Vice-President shall not hold the same office for two consecutive years.

8. The committee shall consist of nine Ordinary Members who shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting. At least three Ordinary Members shall be Members who have not left the School more than three years prior to the date of election, one of whom shall retire annually as hereinafter provided. The Committee for each year shall continue in office until the date of the Annual General Meeting in the following year. One-third of the Ordinary Members of the Committee (to consist of those who have been longest in office) shall retire at each Annual General Meeting, and shall not be eligible for re-election for one year after their term of office has expired. The Committee shall arrange the order of retirement for the first two years.

9. Four Members of the Committee shall form a Quorum.

10.  The Committee shall also have the following powers (1) To fill any vacancy. Any Member appointed to fill a vacancy shall, for the purpose of retirement under Rule 8, stand in the same position as the Member in whose place he was appointed ; (2) To form Sub-Committees for special purposes; and (3) To transact any business of the Association.

11.  The Annual General Meeting shall be held either in January or February in each year. Not less than fourteen days’ notice shall be given to each Member.

12. If twenty Members or more shall address a written requisition to the Hon. Secretary requiring him to call a Special General Meeting of the Association, the Committee shall do so forthwith. Not less than seven days’ notice shall be given to each Member.

13. A Dinner, open to all Members of the Association, and following the Annual General Meeting, shall be held every third year.

14. A Chronicle of Members (or in the discretion of the Committee, a Supplement thereto) shall be published from time to time as the Committee may deem expedient, and a copy shall be posted to each Member.

15. These Rules can be altered in pursuance only of a Resolution or Resolutions passed at the Annual General Meeting of the Association. Notice of any proposed alteration must be given in writing to the Hon. Sec. before the 1st of December in any year, and shall be included in the Notice convening the Meeting.

The Headmaster, W.D. Fraser died of a stroke whilst on a walking holiday in Scotland at Michaelmas half-term 1941. He was eventually succeeded by Harold Moodey in 1942.

Mr Moodey was an Oxford graduate (Chemistry) as per regulations, and probably secured his appointment by having recently had a book published on Analytical Chemistry. I am afraid I endeared myself to him by finding three errors in it.

In my time Mr Moodey never took a chemistry lesson, even when Nick Nicholson was ill. He concentrated on religious instruction, usually using the period to harangue pupils on their poor performance. One of his early acts was to change the house system from one where boys were allocated by area of the town or to the same house as their fathers had been in, to a random distribution. At a time of severe clothes rationing this made him very popular.

Not mentioned so far are Hilda Press; she was a thug who taught French. I am sure many B form members will remember being whacked on the back of the head by this virago. There was also Norman Cleave who returned after the war (Tank group commander) to resume his post as senior English master but left after a term, to become headmaster of Poole Royal Grammar School. In his absence the English posts had been filled by Jake Hammond and Cyril ‘the weed’ Edlin. Cleave taught the Lower Sixth Science Logic for one term. I believe woodwork was abandoned in 1942 due to lack of materials, After the departure of Davis, the subject was taken over by Jenkins who also taught Latin. This master left in 1942 and Jake Hammond took over Latin.

Chemistry was not taught until one reached form 2, George Cooper took us for our first year, his degree was in Chemistry despite being Senior Maths Master. George always played the piano for assembly and the organ at Speech Day, etc. He was organist at Horninglow Methodist Church. Bill Read, Jake Hammond and Ronny Illingworth favoured the Wyggeston Hotel as their watering hole. Unfortunately Bill, who lived at the top of Foston Avenue, was found asleep in the front garden of a member of 4b halfway home, this took some living down.

Tom Parkin achieved notoriety by standing up in the middle of a church sermon and accusing the vicar of using the pulpit as a coward’s castle. He retired at the end of the war to be succeeded by Shorthose (the Drip-after an end of nose feature), another author. His book, ‘The Properties of Matter’ occupied 75% of the teaching time, but only 10% of the examination questions. He was the only master who came to school in a car, a Ford Popular, and had the distinction of being caught in the car in the middle of a level crossing with the gates closed. Schoolboys have eyes and ears everywhere.

Charlie Brown taught History and some Geography and was press ganged into teaching American history to 2A in 1942. He did this by reading a chapter in the text book during the preceding week then regurgitating it as a lesson. One week Charlie, always rather scatter brained, lost his text book. Charlie also kept bees and several times interrupted assembly with “Excuse me Headmaster, has any boy in the Field Lane area seen my bees?”

‘Old Nick’ Nicholson, an Irish communist, was the senior Chemistry master. He had previously been employed in industry which he left under a bit of a cloud. He was held responsible for a gas explosion in a large calciner which disintegrated. Chemistry lessons lasted two periods, for the first part, a lecture/demonstration, the class sat in a circle in an alphabetical order clockwise with Nick at 12 O’clock and Timber Woodcock at 11.30. Consequently Timber got the pleasure of sniffing any obnoxious gasses produced in the demonstration. There was one fire extinguisher, which after use, remained empty for a term.

In Harold Moodey’s time the procedure was for the extant prefects to send a list of preferred candidates for the next year to him, he then amended it. Up to the end of the 1940s prefects had a fair amount of power, they could set lines, put a persistent offender in detention and administer a smart clip on the ear. Discipline was pretty tight.

The War Years

Turning to the war years I started as one of twenty scholarship pupils in September 1941, eight from Grange Street eight from Horninglow Rd. four from the rest of Burton. The total of new entrants was made up to about forty, from the outside districts and the Prep form. The intake was lager than usual due to families moving out of Derby and Birmingham to the Burton area and commuting to their wartime jobs by bus or train. Their sons passed the entrance exam for paying pupils. We were divided into 1A form master Bill Read and 1B. We were taught identical lessons until the February exams and from the results reallocated to 1A&B. These results virtually governed whether you were in the ‘A’ or ‘B’ stream throughout your school career. This had the knock-on result that many of the brighter boys trapped by the scheme were removed and sent to the technical school in Guild Street. This school had a very good reputation thanks in part to the efforts of Arthur Blake, Burton’s very competent Director of Education.

School hours were 9.00 am till 4.05pm with lunch from 12.20 until 2.00pm. The problem of going home in the dark did not occur as single and double summertime were adopted throughout the war years. However detention was moved to Saturday mornings in the mid winter months. As a general rule school could start at 10.00 if the air raid warning had lasted for more than three hours in the preceding night. This was frequently the case in the winter of 1940 but not subsequently.

After school activities were severely limited in the winter months due to the blackout which despite the adoption of summer time, could be as early as 4.45. It was impossible to blackout the school though I think an attempt was made with A room and the adjoining corridors.

Their was also the deterrent of boys having to cycle home in the blackout and masters having to do fire-watching about once a week. An air raid shelter was constructed in the garden where U & V rooms were later constructed and several more in Peel Croft between the grand stand and Lichfield Street. They were relatively shallow shelters due to the possibility of flooding. I can only recall their use on one genuine occasion and several practises. Ironically the ATC’s uncamoulflaged Bulldog bi-plane was parked about 20 yards from the shelters.

Woodwork classes were abandoned in 1942 and with the advent of hit and run raids it was decided that the Art Room with its glass roof, was unsafe. This meant the loss of two class rooms and to compensate rooms were occupied in Bond St infants school which had been closed in 1939 and the Mission Hall in Bond End. As neither locations had an allocation of fuel, classes were conducted in gloves and overcoats. Infant size desks also caused problems. The Mission Hall was however successfully blacked-out, and was used by the Scouts, the ATC and the Aircraft Spotters Club. The Chess Club also functioned during the war years.

Most boys and masters came to school by cycle in all weathers. If it rained or snowed it was impossible to get on the buses unless you lived within two stops of the terminus. Waterproof capes and leggings were in short supply and required clothing coupons for purchase, so assembly and the first lesson were frequently accompanied by a steamy atmosphere. The school yard was surrounded by cycle racks, mostly undercover. All were numbered and you were allocated a number for the year. Cycles had to be pushed along Bond Street  and mounted in Lichfield Street. Lichfield Street had to be crossed by the pedestrian crossing. Scooting on one pedal across the Ferry Bridge was not permitted and detention was the punishment.

In common with other schools the toilets were outside and froze in winter, smoking in the toilets was a caneable offence. Gas masks had to be carried from lesson to lesson until 1944 when regulations became less stringent. The school bell, traditionally rung by the weeks duty prefect, was not rung between 1940 and 1944.

Sport took its usual pattern during the war except that rowing had been abandoned. Rugby was played in the Autumn term and the first few weeks of the Spring term. House matches were played on Peel Croft as Burton rugby club was not functioning. Inter-school matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays were played at Senior and Junior level, travel usually being by Stevenson’s yellow peril. Cricket was also played at the same levels. Amongst the school opponents were:-Lichfield GS, Coton College,Denstone College,Uttoxeter GS, Burton Tech., Ashby GS, Newport GS, Trent College, King Edwards GS Aston & Five Ways, Radcliffe College, Nottingham High Pavement GS, Nottingham GS, Tamworth GS. Some fixtures were cricket only. Photo’s of the Cricket 1st XI are confusing, in general they were taken of the XI chosen for the Old Boys match which began at 11 am and frequently coincided with A level exams. This explains why a number of stalwarts are missing.

The school had a very strong swimming team and thrashed most opponents, the climax came in 1948 with a match against Motherwell GS which we narrowly lost. The opponents had three team members who subsequently swam in the London Olympic Games.

Cross country was the main athletic event in the second half of the spring term. The senior course started on the Ox Hay, then across the Ferry Bridge, through the back streets of Stapenhill, up to Brizlincote Hall Farm, across to Winshill Clump, down Tower Road and Ashby Road to Elms Road; across Stapenhill Road, through the Riverside Gardens and back to the Ox Hay via the Ferry Bridge. Track athletics were not taken very seriously until the arrival of Norman Jones and Norman Paine after the war.

The easing of blackout restrictions in 1944, lead to the renewal of evening activities. The Scouts held Gang shows in the school hall and the drama group got back into full swing.

The Fauld explosion has already been written about. There has been no mention of the fairground fire in 1943, which conveniently started at about 3.50 pm so had most ot he school as audience.

1945 saw many changes, partly due to the influx of new masters, contacts with the Girl’s High School previously fround upon were increased , initially with the Circle Francais (Wood),drama selection of plays with more female characters and by 1947 joint ballroom dancing classes. The cafe at the Ritz cinema also proved a great Saturday morning attraction.

E J Ward (Ernie as we new him then) partially took over rugby from Jake Hammond though there was a slight problem as Ernie had played the dreaded Rugby League as scrum-half for Bradford Northern. The opposition consequently received an unpleasant surprise. ernie also ran the radio society which operated from the sports pavilion, he had a very early so attracted a lot of contacts on the air waves.

There was also a man called Paine about 6’4″ tall, ex-Nottingham University, who took over part of Ronnie Illigworth’s cricket for a time. He lived up to his name, if you dropped a catch , mis-fielded or bowled a wide you were sent to run round the boundary several times.

Norman Jones boosted the interest in athletics and organised a visit to the 1948 Olympic Games. At that time you accumulated points for your house by acheivng a certain standard.

On Sports Day points were also awarded for the positions in the races and the house with the highest aggregate of the combined set of points won the cup. David (Spike) Finch who was Athletics Captain of Drake house caused some embarassment by turning out his house members to achieve the standards to such an extent that the difference between Drake’s pre Sports Day total and that of the other houses could not be made up by results on the day. Another entertaining incident was when Norman introduced and demonstrated the hammer. He got it wrong somehow and the hammer finished in the circle and Norman on his back outside. He had some diffculty in persuading Ronnie Illingworth that those spectators who applauded the effort should not be put in detention. It was quite noticeable that the attitude to the boys, of most of the post 1945 staff arrivals differed considerably from the pre-war ones.

The diagram of the lay out of the school is correct for the late 1940s except that L room was not divided fom the Art Room and J room was the home of 2a Charlie Brown in charge in the early 40s. Incidentally the photo Pre-World War II b is of the Art room not the Woodwork Room. In the early 40s the other form rooms were 1A in F (Frank Reed),4A in G (R Illingworth), 5A in C (H Pitchford), 2B in L, 3B in M (J Daffern), 4B in D (H Press) 5B in B ( J Hammond) Lower 6th Modern in N 6th Science in O (G Cooper). On completion of S and T rooms 2B went to S and the Lower 6th Science to T.

T room was fitted out with a demonstration bench, gas and water taps and basin, though it waas rarely used for its original intention as a supplementary physics lab.. However the was a perforated ventilation brick in the wall between between T and S and in free periods it was not unknown for a fine spray of water to be directed via a rubber tube and the ventilation brick on to the head of the master teaching in S room. It was surprising how often the roof of S room was examined for leaks.

Another feature of S and T rooms was the coke stove, totally inadequate in winter but stoked enthusiasically by the inmates to such an extent that the chimney often glowed red hot. On one occasion a small oxygen cylinder was left in T room, so it was decided that supplementing the air with oxygen would boosted the efficiency of the stove. The experiment was abandoned when the chimney softened and sank several inches.

Prefects and masters did one week on duty per term, this involved opening the garden gate, patrolling the school yard at breaks, tolling the school bell and reading the lesson (getting told off by H Pitchford if you said Jerusalum instead of —lem). In general prefects were allocated to individual forms for one term at a time and were expected to keep order in the absence of the master. They also did Dinner Duty once every three weeks supervising setting up and removing of tables etc.. Sandwiches were eaten in D room which was also used for pupils excused prayers.

I was evacuated from my home in Manchester in August 1939 to live with my maternal Grandfather, R.W. Clubb who was a long-retired Head Cooper at Bass’s Brewery. When my sister Helen and I came to live with him at 6 Brizlingcote Lane we were 10 and 11 respectively and he was about 87, a widower with living-in housekeeper.

As I had not been at Burton Grammar School before the War, I am not able to make any comparisons. However, I assume the average age of the schoolmasters went up pretty quickly after 3rd September 1939.

My first impression as a new boy was the strong smell of carbolic mixed with the fainter smell of vomit which pervaded my classroom which was close to the place where the daily milk deliveries were left and to the lavatories nearby. An early Form Master was “Chas” Brown who also taught History. A gentle man who, though not fierce, kept our attention and respect. I used to go to school by bike or bus though we had to travel to the few away sports fixtures by train. Most distant venues were KES Aston, Cotton College who, with Denstone Grammar School normally beat us in my time. We used to beat Lichfield, but we were only just beginning to become useful at cricket and rugby at the end of my time at BGS. We always had an excellent Swimming team in those days.

I suppose one thing the War did for the school was to promote the introduction of Sea Scouts and Air Training Corps. The latter did a great deal for me in that it prepared me for what eventually became my main career in the Royal Air Force which lasted until I was 47 years old. Bill Read (Maths and Swimming) was the leading light in the ATC and he had support from Ron Illingworth (Geography and Cricket) and Jake Hammond (French and Rugby). We did Drill, Navigation, Shooting and latterly went on camps at RAF stations (Halton was one I think). We also were given the opportunity to fly as passengers in powered aircraft (my first was a De Havilland Rapide twin engined biplane flying from RAF Hednesford I think) and we did a bit of gliding from Burnaston airfield.

Before the ATC I had been a member of the Scout Troop run by ‘Tweak’ Hearne (Maths and English) – so nicknamed because of his evil habit of grabbing a finger and thumbfull of short hair at the back of the neck of miscreants in his classes. Most painful, but very effective in those days when schoolchildren did not, could not, fight back. The days when parents sided with schoolmasters and, as often as not, added their own punishment if their children were unwise enough to complain of the punishment already meted out in school. As a scoutmaster ‘Tweak’ was excellent and ensured that his charges had plenty of opportunity for rough, well controlled horseplay mixed with reasonable discipline. The senior scouts were given opportunities to control and lead the juniors.

We went on scout camps and school camps which were open to all. Vague memories of both types of camp were that there was plenty of excitement and frequent dramas, but always good fun. The school camps I attended were a farming camp to West Hanney in Oxfordshire (we got there on bikes) and a forestry camp near Lake Bala, North Wales. At the latter I managed to slice a large piece out of my knee with a billhook and, after a few days in bed in a tent, the wound began to smell so that all concerned thought hospital might be a good thing. I finished up in Wrexham Hospital amongst injured troops and, thanks to the newly discovered penicillin, didn’t lose my leg. Incidentally I was there when ‘VJ Day’ (end of the war with Japan) was declared. Despite the forecasts of the Wrexham doctors that I would never play again, I was back playing rugby before the end of the year. Mrs Hearne was also with us on camp and I used to wonder how on earth she could have enjoyed herself with such a rabble as us.

Back to the War. I saw 3 Junkers 86s fly over one day and one night 3 bombs were dropped in Burton but, apart from seeing the searchlights, hearing the anti-aircraft guns and the throbbing engines of the German raiders on many nights as they flew over to bomb various towns and cities in the Midlands, we saw no action – though you may be interested to know that my Mother (who was an Old Girl of Burton High School and died last November in her 107 th year) experienced a Zeppelin raid on Burton in World War I.

We did see the glow of Coventry burning one night. Boys used to bring in to School pieces of shrapnel from the anti-aircraft shells – I never heard of anyone on the ground being hit. Also, on one occasion during a French lesson (I can’t remember the name of the lady teacher) we were almost blown out of our seats when the bomb dump near Hanley blew up – not, apparently, the result of enemy action. This was later claimed to be the largest conventional explosion of the War. Strangely, we didn’t hear a bang although the noise of the explosion was heard in Manchester, 60 plus miles away. But -as they say- the earth really did move. Our French teacher thought it was an earthquake.

There were fairly frequent air raid alerts when we were supposed to dash into the air raid shelters, but I don’t recall doing much of that after the first false alarm the day war was declared, possibly because most of the sirens were at night. All the School windows had sticky tape across them to prevent injury from glass blown in by explosions. We all had gas masks too, but we didn’t carry them with us at all times as we were supposed to. We quickly became complacent as the War progressed. I’m sure I must have eaten lunch at School, as there wasn’t enough time to get home, but they must have been not too bad, since I can’t remember anything about them – not even where we ate.

I met Thomas Griffiths at a rugby match in Cambridge last week; he was about 2 classes above me at Burton Grammar School and he told me that the 6th Formers were on a Fire Watch roster and took it in turns to sleep on the school premises and patrol from time to time looking for any signs of incendiary bombs (I don’t think they ever found any). He also said that one of the bombs fell in Abbey Street, near to Bond Street and that the bomb blew a bird cage, complete with budgie, through the wall of one of the houses hit. The bird survived unharmed – despite the absence of counselling in those days! My sister tells me that William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw – a British traitor who used to broadcast nightly from Germany) said that Burton had been completely destroyed by the bombing and that beer was running down the streets!

Nothing to do with the War, but a very clear memory was when Mr Frazer, the Headmaster, died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack in around 1940. He was replaced by Mr Harold Moodey who died in even worse circumstances, but after I had left School, in about 1949 I should think. Mr Moodey used to take our class in Religious Instruction when I was in 5 th Form (1946) and was a wonderful gentle man who took a great interest in my progress (or lack of it) in the last 2 years of my school time and in the start of my career in the Royal Air Force. We exchanged letters for a few months after I had left school and was in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) with the Royal Air Force and it was a great shock when he killed his wife and children and then committed suicide. Never was I more certain that the verdict it suicide whilst the balance of the mind was disturbed was correct in his case. Without doubt he killed his family to protect them from the consequences of his suicide and his state of mind must have been unimaginable – he was such a God-fearing man.

From 1945 onwards there was a sense of change as those who had been in the Armed Forces began to return. I noticed it mainly in the cricket when the newcomers seemed to have decided to take over the annual Masters versus the School match. We, who were loyal to our hero Ron Illingworth and, to a lesser extent, Jake Hammond and Bill Read, felt they were being pushed into the background – particularly as Ron, who usually opened the innings and scored a century, was put in to bat at number 7. I was quite pleased that we beat them comfortably and that Ron top scored for the Masters.

School started with assembly in the hall under the eagle eye of Tom Parkin. The Headmaster read a prayer, a hymn was sung, notices read and then quietly and orderly we left for our classrooms. Breaktime we went across Bond Street to the Rawlings sisters (Gertie & Maisie) where if you were lucky, you bought a doughnut or a twist. Back to school until Dinner time from 12:00am to 1:30pm and finally home at 4:00pm

The school had scholarship boys & fee payers. I remember lining up in the hall to pay Mr Marshall of Talbot Stein & Evershed. Fees per term were £5-5-0 if you lived in the Borough, and £7-7-0 if you lived outside. Uniform, which was strictly enforced, was either blue blazer, grey flannels, white or grey shirt with blue & red school tie, and blue cap with a broad red band at the back OR a grey suit. These had to be purchased at either Tarvers or Ellis & Sons.
For sports, in those days masters used to coach boys after school. Frank Read, swimming, Ron Illingworth, cricket & Jake Hammond, rugby. House matches were held on Saturday mornings and you were expected to attend wearing school caps and were punished if you forgot your cap.

Some of the outstanding students were:
P.C.H. Davies who was a fine sportsman, captaining the school at cricket, rugby and athletics. He set many school records, some were still held by him when the school ceased. Norman Dent became an English cross country runner.
Oscar Deville became a C.B.E. before being knighted for his services to industry. He is a very gifted man. John Dent was knighted for services to aviation & travel. On a sad note – N Carfoot, Tom Thorley & Peter Berry all died due to war service.

Some memories of the staff:
The Headmaster, Mr Frazer, died tragically in 1941. Deputy Head and Physics master Tom Parkin was feared in early years but respected in the 5th & 6th forms. ‘Cherry’ Major Orchard was a territorial so went to war in 1938-9, and returned to the school afterwards. Dai Davies – Woodwork and P/T Terrier with South Staffs, was also called up 1938-9, returning after war. Nicholson took us for Chemistry and Dai Hughes for English & Cricket. Frank Read took Maths & coached swimming. During the war he was C.O. 351 Squadron Air Training Corps . Ron Illingworth – Geography & coached cricket and was also an officer in 351 ATC. ‘Chasser’ Brown, History master, formed a League of Nations society which ceased when war broke out.

The famous H.H. Pitchford, who taugh both History and Geography, always carried a small case with him and wore a trilby hat. He ran the school bookshop for years with George Cooper and was eventually to become Headmaster. ‘Scraggy’ Shan taught French and had a viscious right hand. ‘Bunny’ Leighton also taught French and organised the school scouts. ‘Daddy’ Spooner taught Art. Monsieur Vinc was yet another French teacher but he resigned before the war and returned to Belgium where he died fighting for the Belgian Resistance. ‘Reggie’ Neale taught Biology and was a good rugby referee; he left to join the Navy; he did not come back to BGS but became a well known author. N. Crystal, who I can only just remember, came back to Burton after the war but he did not return to BGS being blinded and badly injured by bomb explosion due to his service with a bomb disposal unit. ‘Connie’ Illsley came to replace Neale as Biology teacher and was the first lady on staff. Lastly ‘the boy who never left’ BGS, George Cooper, gained a scholarship to BGS Higher School Certificate and entrance to university. Qualified and returned to teach at BGS for the whole of his long scholastic career; he taught Maths and helped to run the school bookshop.