Newsletter - March 2018
Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 10:03 am
White Star Newsletter
March 2018
Dear All
We are now up to 102 members (31 December - 70) so I would like to welcome all the new members.
The search.
As is clear above it has been a very successful quarter for recruitment as we passed 100 members. We now know there were about 380 people going through Hillside. Taking the members, those who we have confirmed are no longer with us and the small handful who have been contacted but are not interested we have now accounted for 40% of the list. My huge thanks to Andrew Harvey and Jack Fuller for their efforts in locating people.One recent contact is worth mentioning. We located Des Adeley. When I spoke to him he said he had just been wondering what to do with his 1947 (or 1946) school photograph. He then made the extraordinary statement that he could put a name to about 95% of the people. True to his word the photo and list arrived a few days later so with a little caution on spelling etc: Back : Pilcher, Scriven, Hegarty, Lawry, Frost, Adeley, Walker, Adams, Bridgstock, Lawley, Hill, Brown, WhickerMiddle: Whicker Holiday, Rosnor, ?, Hocombe, Podger, Birch, Tolstoy, Warrack, Lawry, Lee, Graburn, Berg, Gilmore, Chaplin-Jones,Staff: Mrs Grant, L Hodgson, Mrs Whicker, Mr Whicker, Mr White, Burgess (Head Boy), Mr Hellier, Miss Taft.Front: Lawry, Frost, ?, Gethen, Willoughby, ?, Birch, Hartogg, Bridgstock. The WebsiteFor you all but especially the new members a reminder of the website access:http://hillsideschool.org.uk/site/index.php?page=news&type=view&id=andrewhs-blog%2Fhistory-1951-1969Martin has put an enormous effort into creating the web site so I would urge you to support him by signing on if you have not already done so. For all you struggling recycled teenagers like myself who want to add something the process is: Having registered and logged inGo to near to the top right hand corner of the opening page and you will see a little figure. Click on that.Then click on “my profile”.Then click on my “blog post”, fill in the title and your wording and then click the post button.The number of blogs continues to grow.
White Star Magazines
Martin who has successfully digitised them and they can be accessed through:http://hillsideschool.org.uk/site/index.php?page=catalogues&type=category&id=links-home%2Fwhite-star-digitised&keep_catalogue_links_root=6Martin is to be congratulated on what has been an enormous and sometimes frustrating project. It all makes fascinating reading after all these years.
Where is all this going?
David Rangeley and I have arranged to meet at the Inn on the Lake in Godalming on 14 April 2018 to finalise the arrangements for the lunch on 16th June 2018. I attach the current list of people who have said there are coming or hoping to come. David and I still have to determine the limit on numbers so it will be on a first come basis with preference given to those who have already signed up. Please confirm your attendance so that David and I have the numbers when we meet on 14 April up.
Hillside Culinary delights
December’s article seems to have really got the hare running. David Rangeley and I were debating whether sausage pie had pastry on the top, on the bottom or all around. Richard Harvey was able to put us straight. There was no pastry. The dish consisted of a layer of sausage meat topped by mash potato and served with baked beans. Rob Spooner tells me that this was developed by the arrival of an Australian lady (not sure if teacher or cook) who jazzed it up and created “Oz Pie”. This consisted of sausage meat, tomatoes, baked beans with a mashed potato topping finished with bread crumbs. Well-known local food critic John Spooner is reported to have described it as SCRUMPTIOUS!During the Christmas break I was discussing school lunches with my 4 and 7 year old grandchildren. They said there was a choice (I kid you not!) and the menu includes Pizza, chicken, chips, hamburgers etc. I did my grandfatherly bit and related our Spartan diet at boarding school in the 1950s and 1960s. Of course I can hear the mumblings from our older members. “Those pampered lads from the 1950s and 1960s do not know how lucky they were. They should have seen what we were faced with in the 1940s”. I was wondering what food would have been like in the 1940s when the following arrived from Nikolai Tolstoy:“In the 1940s food was of necessity none too good. At one time we had rice pudding, no doubt shipped across the oceans at great danger to our sailors, which contained more maggots than rice. We painstakingly distributed the maggots around the rims of our bowls. However, I don’t recall being hungry, which I certainly was afterwards at Wellington”.I now feel rather pathetic moaning about Tapioca!
Literary Corner.
I have now caught up and read our Simon Watson’s “Storm of Cherries” which is described on the dust cover as:“Set in the 1950s A Storm of Cherries creates a sometimes bleak , sometimes affectionate and humorous picture of prep-school life of the period, as the hero, Johnny Clarke, rises to the challenge of being Head Boy at the Dell”.Someone had told me I would recognise Hillside in the book. There are two separate playing fields, a dining room which also serves as a class room and overlooks a terrace, the woods and the hut which serves as an assembly hall, classroom, theatre, gym and boxing arena. I found I could not read it without picturing myself once again at Hillside. I managed to get a signed copy from Amazon. I can recommend it as a great read if you fancy transporting yourself back all those years to Hillside.
Pictures.
A number of people have offered photos. We have been so engrossed in the search for all the old Hillsiders that I have asked people to hang fire until we are in a position to handle them. We have now reached that point so please let me have them now.
Pal’s corner.
Some success this month.Martin Kendall has now been found and is meeting up with David Hurford.Jonathan Botting is continuing to evade us. We are pretty sure he is living in Bristol.Jack Fuller has now located ten of the 1963 hockey team. He is anxious to locate Jonathan (?) Weale to get the full team. Can anyone help?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
March 2018
Dear All
We are now up to 102 members (31 December - 70) so I would like to welcome all the new members.
The search.
As is clear above it has been a very successful quarter for recruitment as we passed 100 members. We now know there were about 380 people going through Hillside. Taking the members, those who we have confirmed are no longer with us and the small handful who have been contacted but are not interested we have now accounted for 40% of the list. My huge thanks to Andrew Harvey and Jack Fuller for their efforts in locating people.One recent contact is worth mentioning. We located Des Adeley. When I spoke to him he said he had just been wondering what to do with his 1947 (or 1946) school photograph. He then made the extraordinary statement that he could put a name to about 95% of the people. True to his word the photo and list arrived a few days later so with a little caution on spelling etc: Back : Pilcher, Scriven, Hegarty, Lawry, Frost, Adeley, Walker, Adams, Bridgstock, Lawley, Hill, Brown, WhickerMiddle: Whicker Holiday, Rosnor, ?, Hocombe, Podger, Birch, Tolstoy, Warrack, Lawry, Lee, Graburn, Berg, Gilmore, Chaplin-Jones,Staff: Mrs Grant, L Hodgson, Mrs Whicker, Mr Whicker, Mr White, Burgess (Head Boy), Mr Hellier, Miss Taft.Front: Lawry, Frost, ?, Gethen, Willoughby, ?, Birch, Hartogg, Bridgstock. The WebsiteFor you all but especially the new members a reminder of the website access:http://hillsideschool.org.uk/site/index.php?page=news&type=view&id=andrewhs-blog%2Fhistory-1951-1969Martin has put an enormous effort into creating the web site so I would urge you to support him by signing on if you have not already done so. For all you struggling recycled teenagers like myself who want to add something the process is: Having registered and logged inGo to near to the top right hand corner of the opening page and you will see a little figure. Click on that.Then click on “my profile”.Then click on my “blog post”, fill in the title and your wording and then click the post button.The number of blogs continues to grow.
White Star Magazines
Martin who has successfully digitised them and they can be accessed through:http://hillsideschool.org.uk/site/index.php?page=catalogues&type=category&id=links-home%2Fwhite-star-digitised&keep_catalogue_links_root=6Martin is to be congratulated on what has been an enormous and sometimes frustrating project. It all makes fascinating reading after all these years.
Where is all this going?
David Rangeley and I have arranged to meet at the Inn on the Lake in Godalming on 14 April 2018 to finalise the arrangements for the lunch on 16th June 2018. I attach the current list of people who have said there are coming or hoping to come. David and I still have to determine the limit on numbers so it will be on a first come basis with preference given to those who have already signed up. Please confirm your attendance so that David and I have the numbers when we meet on 14 April up.
Hillside Culinary delights
December’s article seems to have really got the hare running. David Rangeley and I were debating whether sausage pie had pastry on the top, on the bottom or all around. Richard Harvey was able to put us straight. There was no pastry. The dish consisted of a layer of sausage meat topped by mash potato and served with baked beans. Rob Spooner tells me that this was developed by the arrival of an Australian lady (not sure if teacher or cook) who jazzed it up and created “Oz Pie”. This consisted of sausage meat, tomatoes, baked beans with a mashed potato topping finished with bread crumbs. Well-known local food critic John Spooner is reported to have described it as SCRUMPTIOUS!During the Christmas break I was discussing school lunches with my 4 and 7 year old grandchildren. They said there was a choice (I kid you not!) and the menu includes Pizza, chicken, chips, hamburgers etc. I did my grandfatherly bit and related our Spartan diet at boarding school in the 1950s and 1960s. Of course I can hear the mumblings from our older members. “Those pampered lads from the 1950s and 1960s do not know how lucky they were. They should have seen what we were faced with in the 1940s”. I was wondering what food would have been like in the 1940s when the following arrived from Nikolai Tolstoy:“In the 1940s food was of necessity none too good. At one time we had rice pudding, no doubt shipped across the oceans at great danger to our sailors, which contained more maggots than rice. We painstakingly distributed the maggots around the rims of our bowls. However, I don’t recall being hungry, which I certainly was afterwards at Wellington”.I now feel rather pathetic moaning about Tapioca!
Literary Corner.
I have now caught up and read our Simon Watson’s “Storm of Cherries” which is described on the dust cover as:“Set in the 1950s A Storm of Cherries creates a sometimes bleak , sometimes affectionate and humorous picture of prep-school life of the period, as the hero, Johnny Clarke, rises to the challenge of being Head Boy at the Dell”.Someone had told me I would recognise Hillside in the book. There are two separate playing fields, a dining room which also serves as a class room and overlooks a terrace, the woods and the hut which serves as an assembly hall, classroom, theatre, gym and boxing arena. I found I could not read it without picturing myself once again at Hillside. I managed to get a signed copy from Amazon. I can recommend it as a great read if you fancy transporting yourself back all those years to Hillside.
Pictures.
A number of people have offered photos. We have been so engrossed in the search for all the old Hillsiders that I have asked people to hang fire until we are in a position to handle them. We have now reached that point so please let me have them now.
Pal’s corner.
Some success this month.Martin Kendall has now been found and is meeting up with David Hurford.Jonathan Botting is continuing to evade us. We are pretty sure he is living in Bristol.Jack Fuller has now located ten of the 1963 hockey team. He is anxious to locate Jonathan (?) Weale to get the full team. Can anyone help?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