Newsletter - September 2020

[Rogernoble]

White Star Newsletter
No 15 –September 2020

Dear All

We are now at 117 members (30 June - 115). The decision to add letters to the editor / memories of Hillside has continued to liven things up so keep them coming. I would welcome more contributions. I seem to be running out of copy for the literary corner for the moment so have replaced it with something on the staff, starting this time with the Whickers. Anyway I would like to welcome Philip Edwards and Colin Parsons.

The Search

We are still struggling to find the remaining people on the “wanted” list so any help you can provide in finding them would be very helpful.

The Website and White Star Magazines

Martin Koronka has revised the web site which should now be much easier to use. You can also pick up the White Stars there as well. I have added all the old newsletters.

www.hillsideschool.org.uk

I have made a huge effort on the web site going through all my old emails loading everything which might be of interest. We now have all the White Stars and newsletters plus a much else so please sign up if you have not already done so. I will shortly also add notes on the guidance of how to put articles on the web site.

Photographs

For a long time we have been wondering what to do with photographs. In an effort to get everything on the web site in an orderly manner you will find I have opened a space in date order under “Annual School Photos” so that I can load the school photo and the hockey, cricket and football first team photos with names. In say 1960, which was my final year I have a full set. In other years I have entered what I can. On some occasions I have had to guess which year it is and the names of the players. If I have got these wrong please let know so that corrections can be made. Anyway there are many gaps so please, if you have photos, please help me fill in the gaps fill in the gaps.

Lunch

We had arranged the bi-annual lunch for Saturday 20th June 2020 but sadly had to cancel. Once Corona virus is no longer an issue we will look at new arrangements. Jon Pedley kindly stepped into the breach and arranged an experimental Zoom meeting on the day instead. I approached this with a certain amount of trepidation wondering what we would all have to say after all these years. I need not have worried because, as my wife kindly said, we were still going strong after an hour and a half. It was good to see Cheng Kuo from Reigate among the participants. I will see if we can arrange something for the new year.

Sports

Just in case the Guinness Book of Records has missed the Hillside Athletic records here they are for posterity:
THE ATHLETIC RECORDS – 1941 to 1968
Throwing the Cricket Ball
Sen– R J Secrett (77 yds 1ft 1in) – 1958
Int – J R Blacker (63 yds 0ft, 1.5in) - 1962
Jun - J R Blacker (55 yds 2ft 9in) - 1961
100 Yards
Sen – G N Burgess (11.8 secs) - 1947
Int – W M Watson (13.0 secs) - 1953
Jun – S Mahoney (13.6 secs) - 1968
220 Yards
Sen – G N Burgess (29.2 secs) – 1947
Int – I P Gilmore (31.0 secs) - 1948
Jun – S Mahoney (31.8 secs) – 1968
440 Yards
Sen – H R Jackson (61.3 secs) - 1951
Int – I P Gilmore (69.0 secs) -1948
High Jump
Sen – J G S Matterson (4ft 9.5 in) - 1952
Int – J G S Matterson (4ft 3.75 in) - 1950
Jun – S Mahoney (4ft 0in) - 1968
Long Jump
Sen – G N Burgess (15ft 10.5in) - 1947
Int – R J O Butler (14ft 2.5in) - 1958
Jun – R J O Butler (13ft 9.5in) – 1957
Senior relay (4 x 110 yards)
Falcons 1963 – P P Bianco, J R Blacker, R Foster-Moore, J Weale – 60.6 secs
Falcons 1968 – J S F Spooner, M Shaw, I P McGilney, J P Depres – 60.6 secs
Junior Relay (4 x 55 yards)
Eagles – J S F Spooner, K N Parsons, S J Ashforth, J F Goodwill – 33.2 secs

Thank you Bernard Bruty for supplying all this.

School fees

Lynne Jacob kindly forwarded Rupert's school fee bill for 1962.

Fees.JPG

Having had to pay school fees until about seventeen years ago, the fees look very cheap. My only point of reference is that when I qualified as a chartered accountant in 1969 I was offered £1,250 pa. The Hillside fees would have represented something like 18% of a newly qualified chartered accountants salary. I have checked Dover College's current fees which are £36,000 pa for a boarder which is some 120% of a newly qualified chartered accountant's salary of say £30,000. No wonder the middle classes are being priced out of private education! As with most of the population at the time our diet was fairly spartan (certainly no menu) and there was not much heating. Clearly costs have risen much faster than inflation.

What did our parents think? Johny Reed produced an interesting insight:

"Hillside was an amazing place to inspire its pupils, be that in sport or intellectually. It created, for me anyway, a lifelong interest in almost everything. And the dedication of the Whickers and the other masters was considerable. I remember my father telling me that it was the only educational establishment he had ever come across where the parents actually banded together to suggest to Mr Whicker that he put the fees up. History does not relate whether their proposal was accepted!"

Ed - I have quizzed Robin Whicker on this. He remembers the event and said his father rejected the proposal on the basis that Hillside was a family school and that was the way it should stay.


Hillside Culinary delights

I am struggling here for copy. Before I give up on this can I make one last plea on Mrs Milton’s mouth-watering Friday stodge (aka marmalade pudding). Am I the only one who remembers it so fondly? Can anyone help?

The Staff
Rolf and Kathleen Whicker

Rolf Whicker was born on 10th March 1902 and baptised on 4th May 1902 at St Thomas's, Birmingham by his father who was the rector. His father died on 10 October 1913 when Rolf was eleven.
He was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School which would probably account for the fact he was a Wolves supporter.
It was then on to Corpus Christi, Oxford to read classics and law and it was here that he met Frank Bannister. He went on to teach at Furzie Close School and then at Clevedon House School on Ilkey Moor until in 1934 Frank Bannister persuaded him to join him at Hillside, Reigate.
He was a talented sportsman and represented Corpus Christi at tennis, hockey and football. As an amateur he also went on to play semi-professional football.
On the 14 August 1934 he married Kathleen Mary Lloyd, the younger sister of his Wolverhampton Grammar School friend Sam Lloyd in Wolverhampton.
The Whickers acquisition of the school is told in some detail in the first edition of the White Star magazine elsewhere on the web site.
It is only with fifty years senior management experience that I have begun to fully appreciate the extraordinary input that the two of them made. Rolf was the Headmaster, bursar, teacher, groundsman, sports coach, keeper of the detailed sporting records and one fears much else. Somehow he also found time to be a special constable in the war. Robin Whicker still has his warrant card and police medals. Kathleen was housekeeper, stand in cook, piano player and piano teacher and when circumstances demanded matron and first form teacher. She was also the Sunday joint carver as Robin explained his father was not very good at it. Under all this pressure how did they run such a successful school?
Their main aim was, of course to get us through the Common Entrance Exam. I have to confess I had always thought this was not a major problem until I read about the Lancing headmaster's speech at prize giving in 1960. He reported that with a thousand more applicants than places, the exam was very competitive. My misunderstanding is easily explained by the fact that the White Star reports show the vast majority of us breezing through the exam and getting to the school of our choice.
The sports record is no less impressive. Despite Hillside being much smaller than our opponents the school always seemed to be punching well above it's weight. A few of us have discussed this at various times and there is no doubt that the basic skills were drilled into us. We all remember endless catching practice, bowling at fag packets, trapping footballs etc. Rolf also makes the point we were generally fitter than our opponents as well, no doubt helped by the marvellous grounds to run around in and regular practice matches. What is also clear from the White Stars is that Rolf was walking around with a detailed SWAT analysis in his mind on all of us and is pretty critical of any shortcomings we had. I suspect he worked hard to overcome or work round these.
I was perhaps better placed than most to really appreciate Hillside. My parents had disappeared to Hong Kong when I was eight so I only saw them in the summer holidays. I had been left as a boarder at Barfield where I spent the next three years.
Suddenly my parents, in Hong Kong, were presented with a letter advising them that Barfield were no longer taking boarders and my poor old uncle George was racing around trying to find someone to take me. The only place he could find was Hillside. Rolf did not get much of a bargain as I was academically a year behind everyone else as a result of a nasty case of polio a few years earlier which had left me paralysed from the neck down and I was still weak physically. With some trepidation I started at Hillside. The schools were like chalk and cheese. At Barfield I felt I had existed and no attempt had been made to address the missing year but at Hillside I was soon thriving. Within two weeks Rolf hauled me out of class and said he needed to sort out the missing year. I was frogmarched to the next class. By the time I left two years later I had not only caught up the year but finished top of the sixth form. On sports I was soon lapping up the extraordinary culture at the school and a year later found myself in the 1959 second football eleven (played 4 won 4). In my second year, no doubt helped by spending most of my annual visit to Hong Kong in the swimming pool, I became the school swimming and diving champion before winning my colours in the most successful football side Hillside produced (played 14, won 13, drew 1). Rolf had changed me from the shy introverted young boy he had inherited into a confident outgoing young man. I will be forever grateful.
The Whickers were if my experience was anything to go by, producing a Rolls Royce education and should have been making a fortune. However it seems to me their motive was truly vocational and I have got the hint of several occasions where parents got into difficulty a very understanding attitude was taken on fees. The article above on school fees really dos back up my contention that the Whickers were not in it for the money.
I suppose in the end it is in the proof of the pudding. At the time that I write this we have traced 171 of the 380 boys at Hillside. Of these there are two MBEs (Mike Goodridge and Richard Compton Hall) and a Distinguished Service Award (Nick Pedley) all from the Queen. On the sporting front there are three hockey players with national team honours and a Bisley Champion. Not a bad record!!! Certainly as I have traced people it is clear that most of us have gone on to successful careers. What shines through in the notes on old boys at the end of each edition of the White Star is the enormous pride Rolf felt in what his "boys" were achieving.

Literary Corner

For the future: I understand Harvey White’s memoirs are on the stocks which, from early drafts I have seen, will include reference to his time at Hillside. Any other publications will be much appreciated. A review will appear as soon as publication occurs. On the subject of Harvey White, Clive Lawry has sent me a copy of Harvey’s book “A History of the London Clinic”. He said that once I have read it please feel to pass it on to any other members who are interested. Thanks Clive for that.

Letters to the editor

Dear Roger
What an enjoyable read. How remarkable of Steve Ashforth to have such vivid memories.
A Propos little or nothing, I noticed a reference in the Culinary Delights that coincidentally rings somewhat true of my family today. My older Granddaughter, who lives in Witley, has just completed her time at Barfield and is now going on to Seaford College (drama scholar).
Also I remember my brother used to shoot squirrels for the 'shilling' bounty.
Ian (Pilcher)
Dear Ian
Thanks for your email.
I clearly could not compete with a future Bisley champion shot in collecting squirrel tails.
How did your granddaughter find mine and Rupert Jacob’s previous alma mater, Barfield. I presume the school never re-started boarding after Rupert and I got thrown out.
We were all intrigued there when our most distinguished old boy Make Hawthorn used to play in the old boy hockey match. I vividly remember he used to play in long trousers because of the burns on his legs. Sadly I think he met his end on the Farnham by pass not long afterwards.
I am afraid my memories of Barfield were soured early on by a fearful beating I took. Three of us were marched down to the headmaster’s study in our pyjamas. I was last in line and trembling as the other two were screaming. When it was my turn I went in to find the headmaster brandishing a riding crop. I was only eight and three years previously I had been paralysed from the neck down by a nasty case of polio. This had left me quite used to pain and discomfort and I did not make a sound as he laid into me. My lack of a reaction further enraged him and I think he lost it. I was very badly bruised and he had hit me so hard I was bleeding. Not a very pleasant experience!
I know corporal punishment was a part of life then but as far as I can remember RHRW only used a plimsoll. I only received that once and sadly it was well deserved. I had also committed the most serious of sins in that I got caught! I would have happily taken a wacking rather than an hour in detention any time.
Roger
Hi Roger
My Granddaughter lives in Wormley so Barfield was an easy choice as a day student. She is NOT Catholic, though.
Your punishment sounds just like the brutal bestiality that has/had been all too common in 'religious' themed schools and care homes, of the era - not least in the Colonies. Horrible.
Wow - Mike Hawthorn. He was certainly a super star and (I believe) a super stud - all man's man. His tragic death was at the junction of the Hogs Back and the turn off for Guildford - he was racing a pal along the Hogs Back. My Father knew him quite well and we were very familiar with his garage business in Farnham. I saw him featured in a wonderful TV tribute to Stirling Moss, about a month back. Incidentally I was at Goodwood on the day and saw Moss crash.
Ian
(for those wondering about my heinous sin it was during the 1956 Asian Flu epidemic and we were ordered not to speak when we got up in the morning. Matron came in as normal with some enamel water jugs to fill the basins on our wash stands. Without thinking I asked the lad next to me to pass the jug. This perhaps explains why my mother always complained I was dirty!! Roger)
Dear Roger,
Thank you for ringing up this morning. Regarding that photo, if you were to contact one of the senior boys in the row immediately behind the staff and you would get their leaving date and that would give you the latest date it could be. I think I left in December 1949. (Ed. I have pro temp put the picture in 1948 but am happy to change it if it wrong)
In our chat, I told you the incident about RHRW and the ‘stock impots’, or stock impositions, to give them their full title. In the 1940’s Saturday mornings, after break time, always featured an examination. The papers were corrected over the weekend and handed out on Monday morning. If any boy had committed a linguistic sin in the Latin exam, he was given a stock impot to write out ten, or may be twenty times, covering whatever the omission had been. Some of us less academic boys knew the inevitable outcome from week to week. This was a time consuming chore, as far as some of us less bright boys were concerned.
It being a particular foul Sunday afternoon, in I imagine a dull November, a number of us spent the weekend on a collective impot writing exercise. Result , as our papers were handed out, an appropriate number of ‘stock impots’ were handed in: to be accepted by a rather taken a back head master, who must have wondered how we knew “ut took the subjunctive”, but had not a clue about its implementation. I regret to say I still haven’t a clue about it and the subjunctive, but I can remember amo, amas, amat,. At least there were not any more stock impots to write up, that term.
I find Michael White’s French still gets me about France, in the days when we are allowed to cross the channel and during National Service I soon learnt enough Dutch to get around and discover the attractive females of Maastricht, a town, which in those days nobody had ever heard of.
Hillside was truly a remarkable school. What small school today would teach the range of subjects to such a high level and have a sporting record to envy.
Des.
Editor:
Des’s legendary memory seems to have failed in this instance as our telephone conversation continued further. Des related a story about one young lad who was blessed with a flatulence problem. A decision was taken to conduct an experiment to see if the output was flammable. The eruptor (if that is the appropriate noun?) was laid face down on his bed with his pants at half-mast. The igniter was meanwhile poised and ready with the matches. Fortunately the cavalry, in the form of Mrs Whicker, arrived in the nick of time and Des was sent up the headmaster’s study for a lecture on the evils of playing with other boy’s privates. Failing to fully understand our motives was not an unusual problem as we tried to explain away our misdemeanours.
I related a similar story of a misunderstanding. I acquired a very educational book called “Blind Lust”. I soon realised I had acquired a gold mine and was renting it out at a shilling a read. I think I had recovered about thirty bob when RHRW found the book and it was quickly traced back to me. I was soon in the study being told that a report would need to be sent to my next school saying whether I was a sex maniac. I was debating whether to go with the sex maniac story or to point out that I had shown extraordinary entrepreneurial promise. Thinking most, if not all, of my fellow pupils would probably classify as future sex maniacs I kept quiet and accepted the lecture. RHRW then proceeded to open the top of his little pot-bellied stove and thrust my book into the flames as I fought back the tears, knowing there was probably at least another thirty bob in new and returning customers. Hugh Hefner and David Sullivan must have breathed a sigh of relief at the elimination of a future rival.
Roger
Bernard Bruty has sent me a photo of his Hillside scarf. I am increasingly amazed at what some of you are hiding in your attics. I don’t suppose anyone has the infamous Goringes (?) uniform list?

Pal’s corner

Jack Fuller has now located ten of the 1963 hockey team, but he is still anxious to locate Jonathan (?) Weale to get the full team. Can anyone help? A possible clue is that his father owned the bicycle shop in Godalming.
We have also accounted for nine of the 1960 football team. Can anyone help on Tim Gibbs and P Sutton?
This is a regular feature for those looking for old friends so please let me know if there is anyone you would particularly like to trace.

Roger Noble
roger.noble@btopenworld.com