TheALMONDBURIAN

November2012

THE MAGAZINE OF THE OLD ALMONDBURIANS’ SOCIETY

IN THIS ISSUE3 A word from your Editor4 OAS Calendar5 King James’s is now an academy7 … and back at the School8 OAS Membership8 Annual Dinner/Founders’ Day10 Terry’sTeaser11 The aliens of the CalderValley14 Confessions of an under-achiever16 Stage-struck at the age of 1217 Farnley Lines20 Cricket pavilion: the latest plans23 Reputations: Felix Aylmer28 Cricket30 Tennis31 Football31 Golf32 Badminton33 Cupid: teacher, producer, printer36 Postbag39 Obituaries

(Opposite):This very early multicolour lino-cut from the OAS achives is by former art master Edward Akroyd

(1922-1957). It shows a scene behind the ‘small’, with the ODH and Dorm 4 in the middle distance.The buildings on the left include the former chemistry laboratory and classroom known as ‘The Clois-ters’, later used as a small gymnasium and outside cloakroom before being demolished in 1938.

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The magazine of The Old Almondburians’ Society

The ALMONDBURIANEditor: Roger Dowling November 2012

W )E reported in the last issue of The Almondburian that the School proposed toseek academy status and that it was hoped that this would be completed bythe start of the new school term in September.The good news is that this has

now been achieved (see announcement on page 5).The conversion process is not simple: it involves lengthy consultation processes, staff

transfers, the establishment of a new Academy Trust, funding agreements, transferagreements and land transfers – all by their nature somewhat uncharted territory.TheSchool and the Governors are to be congratulated on their success in meeting theirtimetable, which augurs well for the future.As Andrew Haigh reports, the School is

ROGER DOWLING

A word from your Editor

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OLD ALMONDBURIANS’ SOCIETY CALENDARDATES OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

MEETINGS 2012The Executive Committee of the Societymeets upstairs at the ‘Woolpack’ inAlmondbury. Meetings are normally held eachmonth at 7.30 pm.Any member of the Societywho would like to attend one of thesemeetings will be made most welcome on thefollowing dates this year: Monday, 5thNovember and Monday, 3rd December.

ANNUAL DINNER 2012The Dinner will take place once again in themain Banqueting Suite at the John Smith’sStadium (formerly Galpharm Stadium) onSaturday, 24th November, at 6.30pm for 7.30pm. Please put the date in your diary now tomake sure that you don’t miss out on a greatevening.This year is the 100th anniversary ofthe birth of former Second Master and Headof Geography, Fred Hudson, and we hope thatmany geographers or those with an interest inthe subject will make a point of attending.Anapplication form is included with this issue ofThe Almondburian; alternatively, you can bookonline at www.oas.org.uk.

FOUNDERS’ DAYThe traditional Founders’ Day Service will beheld at All Hallows’ Church, Almondbury, at11.30 a.m. on the day following the AnnualDinner: Sunday, 25th November. Almond-burians are invited to assemble in BigTreeYardat 11.00 am for the traditional procession upthe hill.The Executive Committee would urge all

Almondburians to make every effort to attendthis event. It would help if you are able toindicate in the space provided on the AnnualDinner ticket application form whether or notyou expect to attend the Founders’ Day Serviceas well, but it is not essential and you are mostwelcome to turn up on the day if you are able.

BADMINTONBadminton has resumed in the sports hall onThursday evenings during term-time, from 7.30pm until 9.30 pm. Fee: £6 per person perevening.

CRICKETPresentation Evening:Saturday,2nd March,2013at Lockwood Park. Booking:TimTaylor(Tim.Taylor@moisoncoors.com)

already starting to reap the financial benefits of the new arrangements, and we believethat in the years ahead the School will flourish from its new independence from localauthority control.

The Society’s biggest yearly event is, of course, the Annual Dinner.As we reporton page 8, this year’s dinner – on 24th November – is a very special occasion as weare seeking to mark the centenary of the birth of Fred Hudson, one of the finest-everteachers in the School’s long history. There will be guest speakers for whomgeography has been a major career influence and we are delighted that Fred’s daughterAnnWalker will also be amongst our guests.

Finally, a reminder that articles, photographs and letters from readers are alwayswelcome: further details on page 10.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGThe Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held at the ‘Woolpack’,Almondbury onMonday, 7th January, 2013 at 7.30 p.m. Nominations for office on the Executive Committeeare required by the Secretary in advance of this date, so that the election of officers can takeplace at the Annual General Meeting in accordance with Rule Eight.All members are urged to make every effort to attend the Annual General Meeting.

Andrew Haigh, Secretary

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AS expected, King James’sSchool became anAcademy on)1st September, 2012, in time

for the start of the new academic year.The school will continue to be

known as King James’s School, but therenow exists a King James’s SchoolAcademy Trust. The five FoundingTrustees held the inaugural meeting oftheTrust at the school in the O.D.H. onWednesday, 5th September, 2012 andthey are: John Eastwood (Chairman ofthe Governors’ Finance Committee),Andrew Haigh (Vice-Chairman of theGovernors’ Finance Committee, aTrustee of the King James’s School

King James’s is now an academyANDREW HAIGH

Foundation and Secretary of the OldAlmondburians’ Society), PatrickO’Brien (a former Deputy Headmasterof the school and a Governor), BrianStahelin (Chairman of Governors) andVanessa Thomas (a Trustee of the KingJames’s School Foundation and Chair ofthe Governors’ Staffing Committee).TheTrustees are members of a companywith charitable status and they areresponsible for leading the school’sstrategic direction.

Day to day responsibility formanaging the school still falls to theGovernors of the school, who areeffectively Directors of the company,

History in the making: the new AcademyTrust holds its inaugural meeting in the ODH. Left toright: Andrew Haigh, Brian Stahelin,VanessaThomas, Patrick O’Brien, John Eastwood

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with delegation to senior members ofstaff. All five Founding Trustees were,and still are, Governors of the schooland the structure of the Governing Bodyremains the same, with all twenty-oneGovernors initially transferring onto thenew Governing Body in the interests ofstability. The inaugural meeting of thenew Governing Body took placeimmediately following the inauguralmeeting of theTrust on 5th September.

The Academy Trust now has a 125

year lease on the part of the site ownedby Kirklees Council, together with asupplemental agreement for use of theland owned by the King James’s SchoolFoundation, which effectively safeguardsthe future of the school on its presentsite for that period of time.Furthermore, the school is now enjoyinga significantly increased level of fundingwhich has already enabled theemployment of two additional membersof teaching staff.

VOLUNTEER REQUIRED

RESPONSIBLE OFFICER

In order to comply with its financial responsibilities,the newAcademyTrust needs to appoint a ‘ResponsibleOfficer’.This is a suitably qualified or experienced individual who canoversee the financial affairs of the Academy. It will not be an onerousrole and it is envisaged that the Responsible Officer would need tospend perhaps half a day per half term visiting the school andexamining the finances to confirm that everything is in order.

Ideally, theTrust would like to appoint a suitably qualified OldAlmondburian with the interests of the school at heart – a retiredaccountant would be ideal – to work on a voluntary basis in a similarway to the Governors andTrustees, although a sum to coverexpenses incurred could be made available.

If you hold the necessary qualifications to fill this post and would beprepared to help out the school and the newAcademyTrust, wewould be delighted to hear from you. Please contact Andrew Haighon 01484 432105.

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KiING JAMES’S SCHOOL hasbeen achieving some of the)fastest improving GCSE

results in the country – and that’s official.In 2008, 53% of students gained fivegrade A to Cs including English andMathematics. By 2011,the pass rate hadincreased to 72.5%.

The improvementhas been marked by acertificate awarded bythe Specialist Schoolsand Academies Trust(SSAT).

Sue Williams, chiefexecutive of SSAT, said:“King James’s Schoolshould be congratulatedfor their stunningachievement inimprovingtheir GCSEresults.

“King James’sSchool has proveditself to be one ofthe best schools inthe country atimproving GCSEoutcomes for theirstudents. There isplenty that otherschools could learnfrom King James’s School’s success.

“These results are testament to thecommitment and hard work of thestudents, teachers and leadership team atKing James’s School and a vindication of

…and back at the School

their belief in high expectations, goodteaching and ambition for every youngperson.

“Successful schools like King James’sSchool understand the value of data,such as these progress measures, in help-

ing to ensure all youngpeople perform to thevery best of their abil-ity.The progress meas-ures show how schoolsmake a difference andraise achievementabove expectations.”

Head TeacherRobert Lamb said:“The SSAT award isstunning. What is im-pressing SSAT is thatwe are showing con-stant improvement.This is the result of alot of hard work onthe part of the staff,the students andtheir supportiveparents.We takeevery child inthe School andtry to get them

to achieve their maxi-mum potential.”

King James’s School remains themost over-subscribed school inKirklees. �SSAT is an independent membership organ-isation that works with schools and partnersto shape a world class education system.It hasover 5,000 members in England.

TheHuddersfield

Examiner

THIS is a final reminder that this year’s Annual Dinner at the John Smith’sStadium (formerly Galpharm Galpharm) will take place on Saturday, 24thNovember at 6.30 pm for 7.30 pm. It’s not too late to apply for tickets: the

price is £27.50 and an application form is included with this magazine; alternatively,you can apply online at www.oas.org.uk.As most readers will be aware, this year’s Annual Dinner is a very special occasion

as we shall be marking the centenary of the birth of former Head of Geography andSecond Master Fred Hudson.There will three special guest speakers (see panelopposite) and we shall be presenting the £1,000 Fred Hudson ExplorationBursary to the lucky winner, together with two substantial awards to the runners-up.It’s an occasion not to be missed.

The traditional Founders’ Day Service will be held at All Hallows’ Church,Almondbury, at 11.30 am on the day following the Annual Dinner, Sunday, 25thNovember.Almondburians are invited to assemble in BigTreeYard at 11.00 am forthe traditional procession up the hill.

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SINCE the last magazine waspublished, we have beendelighted to welcome three new

members to the Society:�Robert Maurice Hughes (1953-58),fromTaunton,�Robert Corcoran, from Huddersfield� Judith Bowler (née Dawson, 1978-81), from Lampeter.

Thank you to those of you who haverecently brought your subscription up todate. However, for the few of you whodo not yet pay by standing order, pleaseremember that your £10.00

OAS MembershipANDREW HAIGH

subscription for 2012-2013 fell due on1st September. If you do receive a letterwith this newsletter pointing out thatyour subscription is not up-to-date,please do send your payment withoutdelay. It does make life much easier ifyou can complete the updated standingorder mandate that accompanies theletter and return it in the envelopeprovided.Alternatively, you may renewonline, using PayPal or a debit or creditcard, by visiting www.oas.org.uk andclicking on the ‘Join/Renew Online’button.

Annual Dinner/Founders’ Day

PETERTRACEY (left) graduated from ManchesterUniversity with a degree in Geography withEconomics He has been a teacher all his life andbecame the deputy HeadTeacher of a largeCommunity High School responsible for AdultEducation as well as youth activities beyond the mainschool curriculum.After he retired from teaching inEngland he was invited to teach at GymnasiumSchools in the Czech Republic. He is currentlyChairman of the Northumberland Schools FootballAssociation and secretary of the Northern CountiesSchools FA, and he works as a newsreader and storyteller forTyne Sound News, a charity for blind peopleonTyneside. Peter was president of the Rotary Clubof NewcastleuponTyne lastyear.

Fred Hudson's daughter ANNWALKER (left) is aformer teacher herself and now lives in retirement inOtley,WestYorkshire.Ann's career began onMerseyside where she developed a keen interest inspecial needs teaching. She then taught in Bradfordand did supply teaching in Kirklees and Leeds, beforereturning to full time special needs posts with theLeeds authority for some 20 years. In retirement Annis deeply involved in church and community activitiesand is a member of the Fairfax Singers performing forcharities and local events.

GERALD STEAD (right) left school to read BA(Hons) in Geography at Durham University. He hashad a long-term career in the textile field, became anAssociate of theTextile Institute and lectured formany years in theTextile Department of the Collegeof Technology in Huddersfield, later to become thePolytechnic and then the University of Huddersfield.Gerald was President of the Huddersfield Textile

Society duringits centenary in2003 andbecame anHonorary LifeMember in Apnl2006.

Annual Dinner 2012Special guest speakers

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ACROSS7. A crooked, narrow gulf set right can be

an injustice (8,6)9. Pacers used from scratch (6)11. With difficulty, I get holiday home abroad (4)12. Pining after one stumbled, heard and saw

a three-part picture (8)14. ‘Saint Rosamund’ contains short preludes (6)

15. As a form of wit, tries a new arrangement (6)16. Consume repast (3)18. Wasted runs around the warden (7)19. Eroding hearing aid found in part of

hospital (7)20. One card (3)22. Charlotte and Anne, but not Emily (6)

25. Citizenship Study: 104 and 99S (6)26. Set joint badly, and reject (8)27. Eye trouble diagnosed in test yesterday (4)28. Mature and melodious (6)30. Gaudily for you, totals sent, I gather (14)

DOWN1. On reflection, she’s just the same (4)2. Auction rooms are open to them (6)3. Receptacle for sticks? (7)4. Arranges a salary increase, it’s heard (6)5. Import counterbalance (6)6. Run the class too badly for for the

Educational Establishment (5,3,6)8. At once, instructor ordered a re-enactment

of events (14)10. A top mine succumbs to poison (8)13. No parking – MacAlpine turned to lotion (8)16. The girl’s a darling, through and through (3)17. Grazer of the wetlands (3)21. S American grows a lichen (7)23. With or without the right, throws out ! (6)24. Procession on the Strand (6)25. Send down in the company of two foreign

gentlemen, it states (6)29. Praise the Almighty, audibly (4)

TERRY’S TEASER NO 7Compiled by Terry Buckley (1948 - 1953)

Entries to the Editor by 1st February 2013 Prize: 12 months free OAS membership

� The winner of Terry’s Teaser No 6 (July 2012) was Bryan HopkinsonAcross 1.Quinguagenarian 8. Engines 11.Aloha 13.Ola 14. Elm 15.Anew 16,17, 21, 10 down Nan Edith Beth Naomi19. Formidable 22. Icon 24.Thermostat 27.Talon 29.Tun 30.Ovid 31. Ebb 33. Fra 35.Motto 37. Effendi 38. SummerlightningDown 2.Queen of diamonds 2.Nail 3.Apse 4. Enameller 5.Ago 6. Ivanhoe 7.Notwithstanding 9.Goner 12.Hat 18.Machine oil 20.Men 21.Bus 23.Optimum 25.On off 26.Titan 28.Ado 32.Berg 34.Rein 36.The

Articles and photographsThe Editor is always delighted to receive articles for The Almondburian. Photographs are alsowelcome; if sent as email attachments the preferred format is jpeg (.jpg) with a minimum resolutionof 300 dpi.Alternatively, send your photographs by post and we will scan and return them.Whensubmitting photographs, always provide a suitable caption.

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The aliens of the Calder ValleyREGGIE BYRAM (1946-1954)

A LIFE IN THE DAY

THERE was a time, not long ago,when I sprang out of bed assoon as dawn touched the sky.

Not these days.The sciatica, you know.Time was I used to sing out loud, butthis caused my wife displeasure. She is awonderful and patient woman – we havebeen married 38 years – but even shedraws the line at my singing.Breakfast is always the same – oats

porridge. The full English breakfast isfor when we go away on holiday, whichis less frequent than it used to be – butporridge is constant.When I worked inAfrica, I sometimes tried maize orsorghum porridge in the morning, butthey did not do the trick. After break-fast, I clean my tooth.We live in Birkby but I work in Elland.

I used to be in the publishing business,but no longer; I simply could not com-pete with the large, multi-national pub-

An ex-publisher laments the many tales he receives about spaceshipsvisitingTodmorden,but keeps going with the help of his daily porridge

lishing houses. (I have agood knowledge ofbooks but had tolearn the hardway aboutbusiness.) Icould go to the office in the motor car,a small Chrysler Matiz (I think) butmost mornings I catch the bus. It takesthirty minutes, door to door, and is free,thanks to my Metro Pass. I engagestrangers in conversation – usuallypretty young things. Never men: I don'twant to be accused of playing the pinkoboe.Arrived at the office, I open the com-

puter and read the Telegraph. I look atthe Obituaries. These trouble me: notonly are my contemporaries shuffling offthis mortal coil at a rate of knots, butalso people much younger than me.Then the Letters, to which I occasionallycontribute.

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Next come the e-mails. I still receiveBusiness letters. I get offers from peopleon four continents. Many quite clearlycannot write. Some are local.They offerme tales of being abducted by aliens andtaken up into spaceships that hoveraboveTodmorden or Sowerby.What is itabout the CalderValley? It cannot simplybe the strange shapes of lenticularclouds.There must be something in thePennine water. The authors are all dif-ferent people but their tales are thesame. They are taken up; instrumentsare inserted into their rectum; and thenthey are allowed back on earth.Who, Iwonder, as I look out of the windowover Lower Edge,analyses (that has to bethe word) the find-ings? Are there clerkson other planets whofind pleasure in pro-ducing graphs com-paring the flatulenceof Hebden Bridgewith that of Mytholm-royd? Polite letters arewritten to all my cor-respondents. None ofthis adolescent stuffsuch as c u Friday lol.The difficulty is beinghonest without beingrude. Never an easyconundrum for aYork-shireman.There is always a

warm drink available,be it coffee, tea orcocoa (which has be-come, I notice, drink-

ing chocolate); it is there on a smalltable beside my desk. Making drinkshelps to flush my kidneys, and is an ex-cuse to stand up and stretch my legs, ofwhich I have 1.5.My right leg is becom-ing more useless every day, precludingmy returning to the tennis and bad-minton courts on Thursdays at theschool.As is the case with other old fo-geys, I suffer from back ache. I ascribethe pain to sciatica. If it is anything moreserious, I don’t want to know.Luncheon.My wife and I may eat here

in the office, or drive to a restaurant.Visits to restaurants are becomingfewer: 15 quid for sausage and mash I

paid the other day –my mother must bespinning in her grave.My wife – a finewoman whose nameis Hope Ludo (Ludois SiZulu for love) –usually opts for alarge piece of bestbeef. It must be herZulu ancestry. Shakaencouraged the eatingof beef before goingout to do battle. Thecuts of meat Hopechooses are the dear-est on the menu, but Ido not argue withher. Never argue witha Zulu – they have110 ways of bringingtears to your eyes.If you think I’m

married to a half-dressed warrior jab-

Born in Brighouse, ReggieByram spent five years as a

psychiatric nurse beforeembarking on teacher training in1963.He lectured in Health forfive years and then departed forKabwe in Zambia to teachEnglish.

After taking a B Ed (Hons) atLeeds Metropolitan University in1976-77, he returned to Africa toteach English in Botswana. Since1990, he has pursued a successfulcareer in writing and publishing.

Reggie is a former editor ofthe OAS newsletter.

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bing at me with an assegai,you’d be wrong. My wife is aneducated woman with two de-grees from the University ofHuddersfield, and she has aPGCE in Education – allgained when it was necessaryto work for them. I gatherthat today you can get a firstdegree by purchasing a cer-tain brand of margarine.Late afternoon, I take a nap,

the welcome siesta, some-thing I have done since firstgoing to teach in Zambia in1971. I dream about dying orbeing dead. I am alwayspleased when I awake. Re-freshed, I spend a couple ofhours writing my own books.These are varied. Some are fiction,some nonfiction. All keep my brain ac-tive.The evenings? Coronation Street? On

your bike!You can shove that where thealiens hovering above the Calder Valleyput their measuring instruments.Wherethe sun don’t shine. My wife and I reada great deal. I enjoy crime novels fromthe golden age of the ’30s and ’40s, andbooks about politicians and writers ofthe same period. My wife likes a goodsubstantial literary biographyI rarely think of the past, my years as

a nurse at Storthes Hall Hospital, or my

happy years as a teacher in Leeds, Zam-bia, Botswana, Yemen (ouch!!) and atBolton University. I live for the day.Carpe diem. In 1990 Downing Streetoffered me the OBOE for services todyslexia, but I declined.Retirement?That’s for shy people.Tel-

evision? Don't insult me.The televisionset is for watching movies. Gardening?There is pleasure in communing withthe elements of which I shall soon be aconstituent part. My wife says I’ll livetill I'm a hundred. I’ll settle for that. Isleep well. I have a rich dream life, infull colour.

Family man: Reggie andHope pose in this 1977studio portrait with Racheland Rodney. Sitting onHope’s knee is daughterLaura.

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DENIS TAYLOR (1956 - 1959)

IT is with some trepidation that Iattack my one-fingered keyboardto put my thoughts and memories

on paper. It is some years now since Ibecame a member of the OldAlmondburians’ Society, and I have readwith much interest the articles, lettersand expressed opinions of so manyerudite contributors.

In view of the fact that during my timeat school I occupied the position, withsome success I think, of School Idiot, Ithought that perhaps myfellow members mightappreciate the views ofone who was an under-achiever, and certainlynot an example of whatthe place could offer. Istill possess my AGSreport book, and it doesmake, even at thisremove of time, dismalreading. I am glad inpassing, to report thatmy own two sons,though neither taught atAlmondbury, haverestored the pride ineducation which took aback seat when I wasyoung.When I joined the

school in 1956, complete with shorttrousers, shiny satchel and Dartmouthcap, I was placed in the care of HarryGledhill in Form 1 alpha. A couple ofinvoluntary trips down the Bunk tookcare of anything shiny, and I was rapidlyconverted into a first form scruff.During my time at King James’s, I got

to know and fear various members ofstaff, members of the Senior School, andprefects. I remember Happy Harry as abasically kindly man who had nonetheless

strict ideas on what con-stituted good music. Heonce waxed most angrilyeloquent about what heregarded as the misuse ofthe word ‘lyric’, whenused to describe thewords of a song.As for the rest, I felt

myself terrorised byMessrs Anderson, Haighand Toomey, never real-ising that it was my owninability to learn whatthey tried to teach thatwas at the root of mymiseries.Had I been ableto apply myself more,then my academic lifecould have been very dif-ferent. Things were not

Confessions of an under-achiever

You often carry articles by those who achieved success at King James’s,complains a reader.But what about those of us who were heroic failures?

After an initial career inlocal government, Denis

Taylor spent seven years inScotland building oilplatforms.He returned hometo Halifax in 1980 andworked on the buses until hisretirement in 2010.He hasbeen married twice anddivorced twice, and has twosons.

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all doom and gloom, as I found that artclasses under the delightful Mr Akroydwere much more to my taste. He was re-placed during my time by Mr Roofe,with whom I at least got on.I remember that during my time at

Almondbury, the position of Head Boywas ably filled by David Morphet. Hisbrother Alan, now sadly passed on, wasin my class. I remember him as afrighteningly clever classmate, whoseemed to have the answers to all ourquestions. He and I were so different inability to learn that we were unable tofind common ground, although he was apleasant lad.We did, however share oneaccolade in that we were always joint lastin cross-country running.In spite of the fact that I was an

academic disaster, I was never aparticularly ill-behaved pupil. Therewere plenty of others whose evil-doingwas legendary, and who tested thepower of the Gaffer’s arm frequently. Ithink that in retrospect, I didn’t have theability to misbehave in an intelligentmanner. Neither did I trouble Harry

Taylor’s secretary, whose supply ofGreen Paper (used for ‘lines’punishment in those days) remainedintact.In 1959, my father’s employment

required us to move to Halifax, wheremy further education was entrusted tothe Crossley & Porter Boys’ GrammarSchool. The move did not cause anyimprovement in my ability to learn, orto become in any sense an academic. Ieventually left school with a smallhandful of GCE passes, and embarked ona mixed career of assorted jobs,culminating in my retirement after 30years on the buses.It comes as something of a surprise to

me that, in spite of the above ramblings,I have such an affection for the School.It must also come as a surprise to theeditor after so many vastly experiencedand educated people, all of whom mustbe a credit to the School and variousUniversities, to receive such a missiveas this, from one whose departurewould, no doubt, have caused a sigh ofrelief!

I wonder…� I wonder if I’m right in remembering a neat round hole in the plate glass windowof the art room. I heard from someone that it was caused by a catapult-impelledmarble (or perhaps I dreamt it?).

� I always wondered what ‘Transitus’ meant,or what part of the school it referred to.

� I have always wondered about a poem which once appeared in The Almondburianunder the heading of ‘Original Contributions’. It began: "Gorgeous Dido ofTunis, bythe nine gods she swore, that the football team of Carthage should suffer defeat nomore". It then went on in a mixture of English and Latin. I have wondered who wroteit, and how much of it was the work of MrToomey?

The poem,which appeared in the Summer 1956 issue, was signed by ‘Michaelus Iacci fNigel’ (Ed)

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Stage-struck at the age of 12JOHN WATSON (1948 - 1953)

SEEING the photograph ofWifred Pickles in theMarch issue (Booking a

place in British history) remindedme of an event that took place inthe postwar austerity years whenpeople were encouraged to ‘Hol-iday at Home’.

Every summer a Children’sTalent Competition was held atthe Open Air Theatre in Green-head Park. Gerald Stead un-earthed some old photographs ofthose events in the effects of hislate cousin, who performed as adancer.

The final in 1949, when AGSboys took part, was judged by a Pickles,perhaps not the famous man himself but Ibelieve one of his brothers. I was one ofthose stage-struck hopefuls and if I remem-ber rightly was awarded second place withmy Punch and Judy show.Peter Clark, alsofrom the class of ’48, appeared with amagic act, and as we both didmagic showsI would work as his Chinese assistant inmother’s dressing gown, with yellowgreasepaint andMandarinmoustache com-

pleting the ensemble (no political correct-ness then);and he vice versa if I had a booking.

As a 12 year old I think I got away withmy amateur performances from sheerbravado, nerve and audience sympathy.Also on the bill was George Law (class of1951) playing a piano duet with hisbrother Gwyn who attended Hudders-field College).

JohnWatson studied graphicdesign at the Royal College of

oArt in London and achievedsuccess as an entertainer asbanjo player inTheTemperanceSeven (far right). John is still abusy banjo player andentertainer with Bill PostersWillBe Band, and he also continueshis graphic design activities.

Young hopefuls at Greenhead Park: JohnWatson is top left,Peter Clark wearing his AGS tie on the right with GeorgeLaw behind his right shoulder.Mr Pickles is in the centre.

� Can any reader identify the ‘Mr Pickles’ inthe photograph? If so, please drop us a line.

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Farnley LinesDAVE BUSH

THE season of mists, mellowfruitfulness and examinationresults is upon us.We certainly

had sea mists two days ago here on theSouth Wales coast, the fruitfulness hasbeen less productive this year with blightaffecting both my potatoes and tomatoesbutA level and GCSE results have causedchests to be puffed out withgrandparental pride. Grandson Jordigained 5 very good A Levels to becometop performer in Year 13 at PorthcawlComp. In Economics he achieved anamazing 98% in each of his two papers.This is the subject he is to read at theUniversity of Birmingham. Of course, Ihad to communicate this to BernadetteStephenson, formerly Head ofEconomics at King James’s beforemoving on to a similar position atGreenhead College. She with her strongBrummie connections was delighted andoffered her husband Jimmie asinterpreter should Jordi need any helpwith the local lingo. A week later we

learnt that his younger sister,granddaughter Anna, had achievedremarkable results in Year 11. If weinclude her SpanishA* gained at the endof year 9, her Mathstaken earlier in theyear and thedistinction inFurther Maths thistime she has endedup with theequivalent of 12A*s.Bob Field expressedthe hope that shewould continue thefamily tradition bystudying LanguagesatA Level; I was ableto assure him thatFrench and Spanishwere among her fivechosen subjects.

Tessa is the prettiest bitchTheirs was not the only success to

bring delight to the Bush household. Ear-lier inAugust there had taken place a FunDog Show in Porthcawl. Category 7 was‘The Prettiest Bitch Competition’. Ineeded little encouragement to enterTessa Bush.There were 46 other entries.

Bernadette came to King James’s – then asixth form college – in 1975, the only econo-mist ever employed at the School. She is theonly person in Huddersfield to have worked inall three sixth form colleges.

Tessa poses for hermany admirers

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Just as at Crufts thefinal ten were se-lected. When thejudge pointed at Tessaas the winner I mustconfess to feelingquite elated. Sad, isn’tit? Well, at my ageevery rosebud is to begrabbed rather thangathered.

Surprise ‘Imps’plunge relievespressure on Manciniand Ferguson

So having let offmy boastful steam - please forgive me,gentle reader but as one gets older morepleasures have to be indulged in vicari-ously – let’s mention football and plungeto the nadir in this field.Yesterday sawmybeloved ‘Imps’ fall to third from bottomin the Blue Square Premier League. Ishould like to say ‘How are the mightyfallen’ but they have never been mighty –although they did once win 4-0 in aleague match at Liverpool. As I said to aneighbour, it’s rather worrying when I gota bit of a buzz recently when I read ‘Liv-erpool Ladies 2 Lincoln Ladies 3’.

My family connections with Barcelonahave led to an increasingly keen followingof its soccer team. I mention‘family’ forfear of being accused of simply support-ing a highly successful club. Its achieve-ments help to offset my many Lincolnlet-downs.On holiday inVilasar, north ofBarcelona, inAugust I watched Barca de-molish Real Sociedad (San Sebastian) 5-1. I was sharing a street side table with

two locals. ‘Youspeak very goodSpanish,’ declaredone. ‘How longhave you been inVilasar?’ ‘Six days,’I replied. He musthave thought I wasa quick learner.

Reinventing thewheel

It’s usual in myEpistle to the OldAlmondburians tohave a good oldmoan about some

aspect of the modern education system.However, let’s be positive for a change.For change is in the air or rather ‘plus cachange, plus c’est la meme chose’.ThePowers That Be have now declared thatpupils must go back to basics, learn gram-mar and spelling and punctuation, andreinvent the wheel.Anna, for example, asan introduction to her A Level Englishcourse, came home today with a 16 pagebooklet illustrating English Grammar.Mymain worry is that a whole generation ofteachers never had this grounding so howare they going to be able to teach it?A bitlike the pedagogic equivalent of ‘Quiscustodiet custodes ipsos?’ Daughter,Catherine, during a recent Inset Daysquirmed as during a presentation theHead of English repeatedly confused‘practice’ and ‘practise’ on his flip chart.I perform my pedantic part.Well, once ateacher…When for example, research-ing travel to Australia the Thompson’sagent could not spell ‘itinerary’ and nor

‘The Imps’ are Lincoln City Football Club,named after the legendary 14th-centuryimps who were sent by Satan to wreakhavoc in Lincoln Cathedral.

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could Cook’s. I eventually usedTrail Find-ers but before I completed the booking Iasked him to spell the word. Somewhatnonplussed , he nevertheless spelt it cor-rectly and with no hesitation.The book-ing went ahead and the trip was, ofcourse, faultless. Bob Field is a fellowpedant and with his knowledge of Italianlikes to point out that ‘panini' is already aplural and so does not warrant an extra‘s’.He would have been apoplectic to seeoutside Porthcawl Pavilion last week‘panni’s’. Now three mistakes in a single,short word, that is some achievement.

Producing timetables – then and nowBack to granddaughter,Anna. Fastened

to our fridge is her new timetable. Noth-ing unusual about that you may say.How-ever, what to me is still remarkable is thatit is her own, individual timetable.Againnothing unusual for those who have beenat school during the last 15-20 years; it’sthe norm isn’t it? Not for an ex-

timetabler like me. In the days of the twostream Boys’ Grammar it was compara-tively simple.Yet when King James’s be-came comprehensive, in Year 10 (4thform in the old currency) there werecolumns and options. Before these com-puter-generated printouts, it was a caseof assembling a year in the dining roomand shouting out, “If you have chosenFrench in column one then you are in N.1with Mr Redfearn. If you have chosenMetalwork then…” It was a long and ar-duous process and led to short tempers,sore throats and considerable confusion.

When I succeeded Fred Hudson asDeputy Head in 1972 I inherited his taskof producing the timetable.This task wasmade easier by the immaculate notes hehad made in earlier years regardingtimetabling, as were those relating toSpeech Day, Founders’ Day and othersuch annually recurring events. I shallthink of all this when I join fellowOldAl-mondburians in November to celebrate

his centenary; I do hopethere is a large gather-ing. Having missed lastyear’s dinner. I dare notmiss this one. “Not offon another adventure,Dave?” asked JackTaylorduring a recent tele-phone call. No, Jack,but the most adventur-ous trip so far for Feb-ruary 2013 is at theearly planning stage.Report to follow…

Relief: Alex Ferguson re-joices at the news of theImps Blue Square PremierLeague plunge

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Cricket pavilion: the latest plansMARTYN HICKS

IT is with a great deal of pleasureI present to you the plans andrenders of ‘The Pavilion’, after

several meetings garnering opinionsand then distilling the thoughts of the

OldAlmondburians’ Society and Schoolas to their requirements from the newfacility.We have also been mindful ofthe original aims of Gaffer HarryTaylor,and sought to offer a respectful nod to

ChrisWest RIBA

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ChrisWest RIBA / Charles Ryan-Hicks

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the superb original thrusting optimisticplans of the Brook-designed building. Iam delighted with Chris West’sinterpretation, which for me ticks allthe boxes, internally and externally.

We have been mindful of its settingand the expected target costthroughout. I had promised a finalcosting for this report; in this I am alittle short of the crease and whilst Icould have attempted a despairinglunge I felt it better to get the vision assharp and crystal clear as possible. Atthis moment detailed technicaldrawings are being prepared which willthen be passed over to JohnAspinall forcostings.Legacy seems an over-used word at

present. I remain still aware though this

building – if made flesh – will be exactlythat: a legacy from our generation thatenjoyed the previous Pavilion yet allowedit to fall into near-dereliction.

I hope that together we can deliver tothe next generation something that theyand the wider community in turn can beproud of and – most importantly – use.

Thank you to all the benefactors todate: your contributions will be recog-nised at a later point.We will of course bedelighted to welcome any new ones.

CALLTOACTIONContributions to the Pavilion appeal maybe made online at http://goo.gl/txLKb.Cheques, payable to King James’s School

Foundation,may be sent to KeithCrawshaw (address on back cover)

marked ‘Call toAction’.

Felix AylmerActor

REPUTATIONS

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GERALD HINCHLIFFE (1933 - 1940)

IN the 1930s at AlmondburyGrammar School, morningassembly was held in the ‘Big’

(now the School library). In those days itconsisted of two classrooms divided by apartition.Each morning the partition wasdrawn back and the rank and file stoodbehind the desks to await the arrival ofthe headmaster, Taylor Dyson. In hewould come, gown flowing behind him,to take up his position on the platformbehind the ancient desk.After our attempts to sing a hymn in

harmony there would bea dramatic pause beforethe Gaffer would deliverhis customary oration.One morning, after ha-ranguing us about thedire consequences ofsmoking behind the out-door toilets, there was apause before he quotedthe line:“Let us now praise fa-mous men…On this occasion it

was not about Disraeli orLloyd George but aboutsomeone closer to home.“…My famous mantoday is one of our own,an eminent former pupil

of this School. His name is Felix AylmerJones. How many of you have heard ofhim?”

Not a single hand went up.“He is better known today as Felix Aylmer,a famous actor on stage and in films.How many of you have heard of him?”A prefect sheepishly put his hand up.

But I had heard of him too, though I wastoo shy to own up. I had seen him in afilm.The Gaffer talked of seeing him per-

form in a play at the Coliseum in Lon-don. We awaited hisexplanation of how andwhen Felix had been apupil at the School. Andthere I will take up thestory.Felix Aylmer Jones

was born on 21st Febru-ary 1889. His father wasWelsh, as were most ofhis family connections.He was a military manand in later days hewould be involved in theBoerWar. Felix’s godfa-ther was none other thana certain Leonard Grif-fiths, destined to becomeheadmaster of Almond-bury Grammar School in

Star of stage, film and television

We salute Old Almondburian SIR FELIX AYLMER, one of thefinest and most versatile English character actors of his generation

WELL known to every OldAlmondburian as the

School’s official historian,Gerald Hinchliffe graduatedin 1943 with an Honoursdegree in English from theUniversity of Leeds He wasformerly Senior Lecturer inEducation at the Universityof Nottingham.

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1897. When he took uphis appointment, Griffithswas accompanied by hiswife and daughters – andalso by Felix, at that timeeight years of age. It was notuncommon in those days forboys to start their educationin a small boarding school be-fore going on to a largerpublic school. Whilst thefamily lived in the schoolhouse, Felix was with all hisfellow boarders in what wenowadays know as Dorm4.When I was writing the

History of King James’s GrammarSchool I visited the retired vil-lage general practitioner DrMaffin and had several interest-ing conversations with him.Maffin had the distinction ofhaving been a pupil in the daysof Rev Francis Marshall and sub-sequently Leonard Griffiths. Hewas amongst an elite groupwhich Griffiths ‘inherited’fromMarshall.Maffin, severalof whom went on to Oxfordand Cambridge. Maffin him-self went to the medicalschool of Leeds University.Maffin remembered Felix

as a tall boy, keen on cricketand a fearsome fast bowler atthe age of 10. The deputyheadmaster, Alfred Baker,often played for the villagecricket team and would occa-sionally take Felix with him tomake up the numbers. Felix

later wrote of an occasionwhen the opposing team hada particularly fearsomebowler.“… [The game] was writ-ten off in advance owing tothe other side’s possessionof someone whom nobodycould play. At the last

moment we heard that wehad been reprieved by thesummoning of the dreadedadversary to make his debutforYorkshire. His name wasWilfred Rhodes!”

Maffin, like Felix, re-membered experiences inthe old science laboratorywhen the boys had tocope with fumes in theirpursuit of scientificknowledge (see page206 of school history).The lab had been builtin 1874 and was re-puted to be one of theearliest in the country;it is a pity that it was notpreserved.Maffin said that Felix

was popular and verymuch ‘one of the boys’.Mrs Griffiths kept an eyeon him. He did not recallFelix displaying any dra-matic talent but, he said,“playacting was not on thecurriculum!”

When Griffiths left theSchool at Christmas 1900,Felix also left. He contin-ued his education at Mag-

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dalen College School and thence to Ex-eter College, Oxford. There he joinedthe university dramatic society.He foundhe had an aptitude for acting and after hisgraduation he was trained by the Victo-rian actress and director Rosina Filippi.After some time in repertory he made hisfirstWest End appearance, at the Coli-seum, in 1911.He dropped the surnameJones in favour of the more distinctivestage name ‘Felix Aylmer’.It heralded a stage career of some 50

years, all the more remarkable because itparalleled his active workin films. In a screen careerof over 60 years he ap-peared in well over 100films, major and minor.He ranked with the best.He played parts in severalShakespearean films, no-tably starring with Lau-

rence Olivier in Hamlet(1948) when he playedthe part of Polonius. Hewas the Archbishop ofCanterbury in the 1964film Becket, and he playedas an old man Merlin inKnights of the Round Table

(1953). I also remember seeing him in anadaptation of Bernard Shaw’s Major Bar-bara (1941).Felix was the perfect character actor,

with a distinctive presence; tall and withan expressive face, he compelled atten-tion. In most of his roles, he had a re-laxed, quiet dignity. Bishops,headmasters, politicians, judges – thesewere all well within his grasp. His man-nerisms were unique, and he had a smilewhich could convey every emotion fromaffection to menace.His films still appear

Leonard Griffiths, his wifeand daughters with theentire School around1899. Felix Aylmer (ringed)is thought to be on MrsGriffiths’ left.

Felix Aylmer as the Archbishopof Canterbury in LaurenceOlivier’s production of Henry Vin 1944.Aylmer appeared in anastonishing 139 films in a careerspanning 63 years.

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on television today: be sure to watch outfor them.Returning to Taylor Dyson’s morning

assembly, Felix told us of the day in 1931when he returned to the School he hadleft over 30 years previously. It was a‘homecoming’ and he was particularlydelighted when he was taken in Dorm 4,his home for three years. He was amazedhow little had changed. He had lunch inthe old school house with Taylor Dysonand his wife and said he had a great senseof belonging.I met Felix once at a dinner in London.

I went with an ‘influential friend’.Whenthe occasion was concluded (as indeedFelix was on the point of leaving), myfriend introduced me to him as ‘a fellow

Almondburian’. He was taken aback fora moment but then, with his trademarkwry smile he said, “But not, I think, at thesame time!” We laughed. He said thatsomeone had sent him a copy of theSchool history and he had found it inter-esting.As he was about to go, I plucked up

courage and said, “I’ve always been a fanof yours and I’m particularly pleased thatwe share the same birthday date.” Hechuckled “Ah, a belated twin!” and we alllaughed again.We shook hands and awayFelix went into the mists of time: he hadmade my day. � Felix Aylmer Jones was awarded the OBE in1950 and was knighted in 1965.He died on2nd September 1979 at the age of 90.

Ten things you may not know about Felix�One of his brothers was Air Chief Marshal Sir JohnWhitworth-Jones, senior RAFcommander duringWorldWar II.

�He took degrees in mathematical moderations and physics whilst at OxfordUniversity.

�He met his wife Cecily when playing Prospero to her Miranda in TheTempest.

��He was president of the actors’ union Equity from 1950 to 1969.

��Although he appeared in many Shakespearean productions, he was not very keenon Shakespeare and preferred George Bernard Shaw.

��One of his favourite hobbies was composing limericks and clerihews for newspapercompetitions.

��He wrote a book Dickens Incognito (1959) which, amongst other revelations,suggested for the first time that Dickens had had anaffair with the actress Ellen Ternan.

He always claimed that film acting, under the‘pitiless eye of the camera’ was much moredemanding than appearing on stage.

He spent some time in Germany as a student andlater translated a number of plays from German.

��He achieved television fame through the successfulcomedy series Oh Brother! with Derek Nimmo.

THE ‘wettest British summer onrecord’ has affected our cricketon a grand scale. Abandoned

matches, delayed starts and truncatedgames have all resulted from the adverseweather conditions. In fact, it wasSaturday, 5th May – the third fixture –before the first game got underway.However, Arkenley, even on a wet day,always has that special appeal so that eventhough the start of a game may be indoubt because of the weather, one isalways lured to the ground to savour itslocation and memories.

A glance at the final league tables for2012 shows that the First Eleven, whilstnever threatening to achieve promotion,nevertheless, finished in a ‘comfortable’mid-table position in Section A. TheSecond Eleven, after a stuttering start,continue to consolidate their perennialposition in Section E. Both teams, with aresurgence in form in the latter part ofthe season were in a good position to liftthe ‘George Mear’ Trophy, awarded to

CricketJACK TAYLOR

the team gaining the most points over thelast six games. The younger members ofthe ‘squad’ have contributed greatly tothis situation.

Our new, very young andinexperienced First Eleven captain andvice-captain, ‘Cola’ (see The Almondburian,March 2012) and Sam, have distinguished

SECTION A P W L Points

Mount (Champions) 20 11 1 88

Old Almondburians’ CC 1st XI 6th) 20 6 5 55

SECTION E P W L Points

Upperthong (Champions) 20 11 0 89

Old Almondburians’ CC 2nd XI (9th) 20 5 7 34

FINAL LEAGUE TABLES 2012First Eleven: Section A

Second Eleven: Section E

The First Eleven narrowly missed winning the‘George Mear’ Trophy, with twenty six pointsfrom their last six games; whilst the SecondEleven gained twenty four points. The win-ners, from Section C, were Denby with thirtysix points.

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consequence of a grand total of minustwo points! Most of the younger playershave made good progress, which augurswell for the First Eleven in the future. Inparticular, Jack Ingham has benefitedfrom his pre-season coaching experienceat Lord’s, supported by the Harry TaylorTrust.

themselves by theirexuberant leadership andwe look forward next season to furthersuccess under their guidance. TheSecond Eleven captain and vice-captain,Carl Brady and Stuart Sykes, much moreexperienced than their senior counter-parts, are to be highly commended forresurrecting their team after an earlyseason hiccup, which almost saw thedemise of the team. In late May theywere languishing at the bottom of theirleague, due to a combination of badweather and unavailability of players,leading to points deductions with the

FIRST ELEVENBack row, left to right:‘Chammy’, S Slack, S Lyons,T Taylor, M Garside, W Atkins

Front row:J Mansell, A Pearson, ‘Cola’(captain), S Atkins, M Brook

SECOND ELEVENBack row, left to right:J Clutterbrook, R Taylor, J Headey, S Sykes, ABottomley, ‘Cyril’ (umpire),G Brady (scorer)

Front row:P Smith, C Jones, R Rainsforth, R Wimpenny, B Ellam, G Brady, C Brady (captain)

PRESENTATION EVENINGSaturday, 2nd March, 2013Venue: Lockwood ParkBooking: Tim Taylor

(Tim.Taylor@moisoncoors.com)

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ASTONISHINGLY, despite the notoriously dampnature of this )summer, the Tennis Section lostonly two Thursday evenings to rain this season;

both of these were during term-time and so we wereable to retreat into the sports hall to play badmintoninstead. Perhaps inspired by the exploits of Andy Murray,Laura Robson and Jonny Marray thissummer, nine people turned out toplay this year compared to adisappointing six last summer.Consequently, the 2012 season canprobably be regarded as somethingof a success and much enjoyabletennis was played.

It has long been a feature ofAlmondburian tennis that there are aremarkable number of deuce games,especially games where your scribeis serving at 40-0. As a result, thisseason saw the introduction of somenew scoring terms, such as ‘deucepoint’, ‘two deuce points’ or even‘three deuce points’ (when theaforementioned scribe is serving at40-0!) Of course, such games don’tjust go to one deuce; they often goto four, five, six, or even moredeuces. Eventually, of course,towards the end of the second orthird set (depending on the availablelight – although there is often verylittle available light by this stage) wereach ‘pub point’ and the resistanceof the trailing pair dwindles as theConservative Club beckons.

Tennis

ANDREW HAIGH

Some of the 2012 Old Almondburians’ Tennis Squad on court atthe school.Back row, left to right: David Parry, Ron Jones, Neil GledhillFront row, left to right: Andrew Haigh, Annabel HaighNot present: Ian Daffern, Darren Mablethorpe, Hazel Pacurib-Parry, Alan MurrayInset: Andy Murray and Laura Robson having just received theirOlympic medals on Centre Court at Wimbledon. Will theAlmondburians’ Tennis Section produce an Olympic medallistone day?

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NOTa massive amount to reportbecause at the time of writingthe new season is but a twinkle

in our eyes. The important thing toreport is that we now have twoteams up and running, and Istill get a kick out of filling ina match report and addingthe detail ‘Almondburians’Reserve XI’. (But not asmuch as when I addedAlmondburians’ Thirds andFourths in the past...; who knowswhat the future will bring?). Theatmosphere in the club is very positive withtwo new Almondburians playing regularly:

Football

MARTYN HICKS

Jack Mulhall who will be a real threat onthe left and Danny Mazarek who is showingsome promise up front. It’s great to see

young Almondburians comingthrough.

Two new sponsors havebeen secured and thefinances are healthy andsufficient to prop up a smallSouth American economy(or Greece if you would

prefer to keep the money closerto home). Training is now on

Tuesday evenings 7.30 to 9.00 pm outside(under floodlights) on the new 3G pitch atMirfield Grammar School.

For the first time since the revival of the GothardCup in 2002 this year’s event had to be cancelled dueto the flooded course at our usual home,WoodsomeHall Golf Club.

Originally scheduled for 22nd June, we had 19confirmed players (plus the wonderful catering teamat Woodsome) who had to be contacted at the lastminute.

Rearranging has proved impossible due to the factthat so many of our supporters still work fulltime andin this tough economic climate find it hard to taketime from work.Their preference of late afternoonstarts becomes very difficult once we are past July sosadly there will be a gap on the trophy this year.

It really has been a miserable summer and one canonly hope that next year will have no problems.

Golf:GothardCupSimon Russell

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THE 2011-12 badminton season wasnot a success. Attendance was low andwe raised insufficient funds to pay for

the hire of the courts, which resulted in thosewho did play last season being surcharged 60pper evening played in order that we couldsettle our debts. As a consequence, we havebeen forced to increase the weekly fee, whichcovers the hire of the sports hall, shuttlecocksand showers, to £6.00 per evening this season.Having received assurances that everyone waskeen to continue to play, is happy to pay theextra pound per week and would try to attendmore frequently, the 2012-13 badmintonseason started on Thursday, 6th Septemberwith just four people playing!

Fortunately, the following weekMatthew Booth, a former regular player whonow lives in Cambodia, where he owns theOcean Walk Inn, declared his intention to re-turn to the United Kingdom and make a reap-pearance at badminton.Such is Matthew’s popular-ity that players whom wehaven’t seen for monthsflocked from far and wide tothe school sports hall, justfor the privilege of playing

BadmintonANDREW HAIGH

with Matthew once again. The only disap-pointment was that he didn’t play in shin pads,as he often used to!

It was good to see Matthew again, but hisis only a flying visit and, after one moreappearance, he will be returning toCambodia. Therefore, your BadmintonSection needs YOU! We require only a couplemore regular players to remain solvent. Or,indeed, just for those who do play to play twoor three evenings more per season. We play inthe school sports hall on Thursday eveningsduring term-time, from 7.30 p.m. until 9.30p.m., until the season ends on Thursday, 23rdMay. So, why not come along and join us?

However, please note that, due to schoolevents or examinations, there are two datesduring term-time next year on which therewill be no badminton: Thursday, 10thJanuary, 2013, and Thursday, 28th February,2013

Old Almondburians’Badminton Section playerson court in the schoolsports hall. Left to right:Craig Watts, MatthewBooth (without shin pads),Emily Comer, David Parry,Hazel Pacurib-Parry,Martyn Hicks, NeilGledhill, Andrew Haigh

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FOR many, the name of AlbertMakinson – invariably known as‘Cupid’ on account of his

‘arrow’ tie-pin – will be synonymouswith that of the Printing Society whichhe set up in 1957. It was located in asmall room just offthe corridor leadingto the music roomand we had a singlepress: an Adana 8 x5. As it happens, I

was the first Secre-tary of the Society,and I reported in TheAlmondburian that themain job that yearwas the printing ofaddressed notepaperordered at the 1957School Fair.

The Printing So-ciety became a flour-ishing enterprise,and my successor R ELeake proudly re-ported later in theyear that 269 jobshad been completed,involving more than39,000 impressions.

Albert always

took a keen interest in The Almondburianand not surprisingly his first concern wasthe quality of the printing. For years, themagazine had been printed by the long-established Holmfirth printer Eli Collinsand Co, but it has to be said that the print

quality was somewhatvariable: occasionally,the print was so greythat one began toimagine that the costof printing ink wasbecoming an exces-sive burden on thecompany. The typog-raphy was also some-what dated, andAlbert set to work tofreshen up the maga-zine and appoint anew printer.

The fruits of hislabour appeared fromthe Spring 1958 issue(no 132), impeccablyprinted with newtypefaces throughoutby the printers of TheHuddersfield Examiner,J Woodhead & Sons.

The same issuealso heralded anothersubtle change. The

The Editor of The Almondburian shares some memories of former Englishmaster and printing enthusiast Albert Makinson who died in May 2012

ROGER DOWLING (1952-1959)

‘Cupid’: teacher, producer, printer

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school crest on the cover had traditionallycarried the words: ‘YE GRAMMARSCHOLE OF KINGE JAMES INALLMONBURY’. Albert believed thatthese words were incorrect (see panel),and as I was editor of The Almondburian atthe time he asked me to re-letter the crestwith the words: ‘THE FREE GRAM'ARSCHOLE OF KINGE JAMES INALMONBURY’, wording that has beenretained to the present day.

As junior English mas-ter, it was only to be ex-pected that Albert wouldthrow himself energeti-cally into the traditionalannual school plays in the

Spring term. The main producer of theseplays was the acerbic senior English mas-ter, Frank Anderson, but Albert was al-ways ready to offer his ideas even if theydid not always find favour. I recall the pro-duction of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in1957 in which I – in the absence of anyother volunteers – was invited to play thepart of Duke Orsino. One day, Albertcame to rehearsals with the joyous newsthat he had identified the perfect piece of

The Printing Society was athriving group for manyyears, eventually acquiringa second press

A thorny problem for ye early printers

ALBERT’S objection to ‘ye’ was that it is a word with no legitimate place in theEnglish language, other than as an archaic plural of ‘thou’. Its origin lies in a

curious and nowadays little-known typographic character called a ‘thorn’ (þ). In OldEnglish, the thorn was used to represent the sound ‘th’, so that a scribe would oftenrepresent the word ‘the’ as ‘þe’. Over time, the shape of the thorn graduallydegenerated into a character looking rather like a present-day ‘y’. When printing took over from handwritten manuscripts in the 15th century,

many fonts were imported from Germany and Italy where the thorn was unknown.Printers therefore had to resort to using a ‘y’ to represent the thorn, so that ‘the’often became ‘ye’ or ‘ye’.Albert also made the point that, in any case, the scribe who prepared the School

charter (below) used neither the word ‘þe ’ nor its variant ‘ye’: he preferred the full‘the’. [However, Albert failed to notice that the scribe also referred to the ‘king’ (notthe ‘kinge’), an inconsistency that remains uncorrected in the present crest].Oddly enough, the thorn is nowadays again readily available, thanks to the

ubiquitous computer. It is an essential character in the Icelandic alphabet and canbe found – if you know where to look – in most good international font sets.

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music to play during my opening soliloquyIf music be the food of love…: the openingbars of the second movement of Mozart’sEine Kleine Nachtmusik. According to Al-bert, the piece even had a ‘dying fall’ at justthe right moment, and there was nodoubt, to Albert’s ears at least, that at thispoint the music was no longer ‘so sweetnow as it was before’.

To demonstrate the point, he hadbrought along a gramophone record (re-member those?) and I was required to de-liver my lines repeatedly to Mozart’saccompaniment while the two producerslistened carefully. Actually, it worked quitewell; but Frank was not impressed, point-ing out not unreasonably that Eine KleineNachtmusik was composed nearly 200years after Shakespeare wrote Twelfth Nightand was such a well-known work that the

Albert’s production of Tobias and the Angel in 1958 was well received. Left to right: H E Taylor,P M Westerby, R I Mallinson, C G Mallinson (seated), W M Thornton (recumbent), R N Sykes,P Swinden, J Dobson

incongruity would be apparent to the au-dience. A crestfallen Albert retired to lickhis wounds.

Undaunted, he went on to produce hisown school plays while continuing to assistwith Frank Anderson’s annual epics. In1958, he produced James Bridie’s Tobiasand the Angel with P Swinden in the titlerole. The following year, it was A AMilnes’ The Man in the Bowler Hat, acurtain-raiser to Frank Anderson’s Alice inWonderland. In 1960, Albert producedRichard III with another masterlyperformance from P Swinden. FrankAnderson took the lead again in 1961 withan impressive production of Caesar andCleopatra, with E Royle and D M Ward inthe title roles and Albert providing ‘ableassistance in all respects’. �Obituary: page 39

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PostbagYOU WRITE …

I MUCH enjoyed the July issue. Likenmany other subscribers, I always felt

that Fred Hudson was a teacher andmanager of boys par excellence. I was bemused to read that he started

his career at St. Bede’s Grammar Schoolin Bradford, for I spent my first termthere also, but never dreamed that Soapyhad beaten me to it.

Cirencester, Gloucestershire

From Peter Burns (1945-1948)I too went to St Bede’s Grammar School

� St. Bede’s Grammar School opened on 12thJune 1900, in Drewton Street, Bradford. andmoved to its present site at Heaton Hall in1919. Although it has retained its name, it hasbeen a comprehensive school since 1960. For-mer pupils include the novelist John Braine(whom Fred Hudson may well have taught)and the chief executive of The Co-operativeGroup Peter Marks. (Ed)

W)HILST I enjoyed reading thevarious articles on Fred Hudson

it did occur to me that the vastproportion of younger members (likeme, aged 70) will wonder why exactly hewas called ‘Soapy’.“Something to do with Hudson’s Soap”

has been passed down over the years andpeople nodded knowingly when told this;but the reality is that Hudson’s SoapFlakes were withdrawn from the marketin 1935. Hudson’s didn’t make soap.They bought in soap and turned it intodry soap flakes at a factory in Liverpool.

Shefford, Bedfordshire

From Barry Livesey (1953-1961)Getting into a lather about ‘Soapy’

� Barry Livesey is quite correct: although theflakes and powder were marketed as ‘Hudson’sSoap’, Robert Spear Hudson bought his raw

material from a company in Widnes. In 1908he sold the business to Lever Brothers, whomanufactured the soap flakes at their Crosfieldfactory in Warrington. Although Lever Brothers (now Unilever)

withdrew the widely advertised Hudson’s Soapin 1935, the name would still have been veryfamilar to the pupils at the School at thattime. This would suggest that the nickname‘Soapy' was coined very soon after his arrival.

37

FOR several years we have heard talkof the annual dinner being shifted

back to its original venue at the schoolbut nothing ever seems to happen.Obviously the size of the gathering

From Christopher Fry (1957-1964)Let’s have a buffet dinner at the School

prompted the move to the Galpharmstadium but what has been lost are thesurroundings which many would regardas equally important as the company ofpeople.

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the latestedition of the magazine. The Fred

Hudson material was a joy. I particularlyrelate to Soapy’s immediate postwaryears at KJGS; he must have arrivedabout a year after I did. He remains myfavourite and most remembered masterfrom a gallery of the extremelymemorable.

Nice that I later retraced some of hisRAF steps in Alberta and the Americanwest coast, including the obligatoryHollywood tour. My fondest memoryconcerns the period in 1949 when,having finished writing O-levelexaminations, we fifth formers wereobliged to remain at school for maybethree weeks, with nothing to do. Wewere invited to come up with projects.

My great pal Keith Vickerman

From Dr Wallace Brown (1944-1949)‘Soapy’ commended our nature project

suggested a nature project, invited me tojoin in, and Mr Hudson gave usenthusiastic support and guidance. Wepicked a narrow strip of land, a shortwalk from school, that had trees, a bit ofmeadow, a stream and a pond. We aimedand largely succeeded, I think, in makinga complete inventory of all the flora andfauna in the strip. We listed the flowers,the grasses, the fungi, the birds, thebutterflies, the frogs, the fish (the onlytime I successfully ‘tickled’ trout) –whatever we could find.

We wrote a substantial report, whichwe proudly presented to Soapy. With hispraise ringing in our ears we walked awayto our summer holidays and the rest ofour lives. Keith, of course, ended up as adistinguished biology professor.

Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

Bob Goldsmith joined AGS in the same year asFred Hudson and reports that the nicknamewas in use by September 1936. It clearly stuckand from that point on was handed on fromgeneration to generation, as with ‘Isaiah’ Bare-ham, ‘Foz’ Ash, ‘Dusty’ Binns, ‘Teak’ Akroydand the rest. Incidentally, a variant of Hudson’s Soap is

now available again on the market. In 2007,

an enterprising chap in Devon called Hudsonleft the Royal Navy (where, needless to say, hewas known as ‘Soapy’) and started makingsoap for his wife who had a particularly deli-cate skin. It was so successful that he set up acompany to sell the soap more widely. Mindfulthat Unilever no doubt still retained the trademark ‘Hudson’s Soap’ he prudently markets hisproduct as ‘Hudson Soaps’. (Ed)

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Whilst it would not be acceptable todownsize the number of peopleattending, could not the formality of theoccasion be reduced? Why, for instance,could we not have a buffet dinner rather

than a formal three-course dinner servedby waiters/waitresses? This might alsoserve to counteract the increasing priceof the dinner. Food for thought?

Coventry, West Midlands

�The OAS Executive Committee discussed Christopher’s suggestion in some detail at its meetingon 3rd September. In fact, similar suggestions have been made from time to time in the past andwe do understand the disappointment that some members feel about the Annual Dinner no longerbeing held in the School. The problem, however, is that times have changed and there are signif-icant difficulties in terms of security, cleaning and catering that can erode any apparent financialbenefits from returning to the School. There is also the question of surroundings: at the end ofthe day, a school hall is a school hall, and there may be many who, having enjoyed the ambienceavailable to us at the Galpharm Stadium (now the John Smith’s Stadium), would now find theschool hall a less attractive meeting place. A possible halfway house which the Committee could explore would be to make the School

available for guided visits on the afternoon of the Annual Dinner so that those wishing to lookaround could do so before adjourning to the John Smith’s Stadium for Dinner in the evening.We would welcome YOUR views, either by writing to The Almondburian or by emailing us at

dinner@oas.org.uk.

PRIZE SPONSORSHIP

Members of the Old Almondburians’ Society arenoted for their generosity and have lent theirnames to many prizes awarded each year at theSchool’s annual Presentation Evening.

The School would welcome sponsorship of the following prizes atthis year’s Presentation Evening on 13th November:

�Prize for Humanities�Year 10 Work Experience�Performing Arts

The value of the prizes is typically in the region of £15 to £30 butthis is entirely flexible.

If you would like to sponsor one of these prizes, please contactJoanne Hodgson, Business Support Officer, King James’s School, StHelen’s Gate, Almondbury, Huddersfield HD4 6SG. You can email herat office@kingjames.org.uk or ring her on 01484 412990, ext 217.

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ObituaryGONE BUT NOT FORGOTTENALBERT MAKINSON(Staff 1953-1962)

English master who produced many school plays and founded the Printing SocietyAlbert Makinson died on 27th May 2012 after a long and difficult illness. Born in

Accrington, his family moved afew years later to Mere Brownear Southport. He subse-quently attended Hutton Gram-mar School where in due coursehe became Head Boy.

A triple graduate of JesusCollege, Cambridge in English,French and History, Albert ar-rived at King James’s GrammarSchool in 1953: an auspiciousperiod that also saw the arrivalof Denis Hockley (mathematics), Jim Toomey (Latin), Chris Perraton (biology) andBill Rennison (history). A teacher who ‘liked to be liked’, Albert soon acquired thenickname ‘Cupid’ on account of his ‘arrow’ tie-pin, a present from his Grandmotherwhich he continued to wear throughout his academic career.

Albert threw himself into school life, producing numerous plays (some in part-nership with Frank Anderson). Having been taught how to print by his father, he setup the Printing Society in 1957, and very soon the Society was producing a vast rangeof tickets, programmes and headed notepaper for its appreciative customers.

Albert left King James’s in 1962 for a Head of Department post at Bolton Boys’Grammar School and during his time there he moved back to his home town of South-port. During the 1960s he began to have articles published – mainly in the HistoryToday magazine – and many of these were the subject of broadcasts on BBC Radio.

Albert then became a college lecturer at the teacher training college C F Mott atPrescott where he became a close friend of Alan Durband (author of the study guidesShakespeare Made Easy and co-founder of the Everyman Theatre). The college later be-

40

came part of Liverpool Polytechnic which in turn became Liverpool John MooresUniversity.

He married Maureen, Head of Department at a girls’ grammar school in Liverpool,in 1982 and a year later their daughter Sarah was born. Albert took early retirementand thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of life as a family man. The family toured the UKand Europe for several weeks every year in their caravan and later in their motorhome,and it was natural that Albert should start writing articles on a regular basis for therelevant magazines. Albert and Maureen both continued with that over the years untilAlbert became too ill to travel.

Albert maintained close links with Hutton Grammar School, and later becameHead of Governors, and then President of the Old Huttonian Association.Former teaching colleague Jim Toomey writes:Albert’s teaching was ‘different’, I would say, in what was a very traditional boys’ grammar

school. His classes clearly enjoyed their lessons, which must have come as a breath of friendly freshair, and the whole school enjoyed the dramatic productions in which he played a major part. Asa colleague, I remember his smiling, rather jolly, personality and his general good nature; theseextended to lifts in his treasured Morris Minor which was the envy of us all.�� ‘Cupid’: Teacher, Producer, Printer: page 33.

GORDON TEAL(1936-1943)

Civil Engineer who specialised in major water projects around the north of EnglandGordon Teal died on 5th December 2011. He and I met in 1936 as new pupils at AGS. We

found ourselves allocated to Form 1a and were together until we left the school seven years later.He lived at 23, Somerset Road and caught thetrolley bus to Almondbury just outside his frontdoor. The next stop was the Rookery and Iboarded the bus there together with Bill Darby.So the three of us walked down St Helen’s Gateand back up again at the end of the day. It wasnatural that we became good friends.

Gordon’s nickname was Claud – after thedetective Claud Eustace Teal of the Leslie Char-teris Saint stories. I can never remember refer-ring to him other than Claud. His father was aprofessional singer, a tenor, who also taught thefiner points of singing from the house where he

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lived. He was well respected but had no success with tutoring his son. However Gordon didtake part in the last Gilbert & Sullivan opera before the war brought the run of the operasto an end.

He played the silent part of the executioner in The Yeoman of the Guard.He was reasonablytall and well built so fitted the part well; I can still see him standing there, blindfolded, withthe great axe in his hands. I also played a part in the opera, not as a singer but as one of thefour guards standing around Gordon who were there to ensure the doomed man did not es-cape.

Gordon was a very happy and pleasant person to be with. He was also very forgiving.When we were in the lower sixth form he introduced me to his then girl friend. About amonth later she became my girl friend and seven years later we were married. For that I willalways be eternally grateful to him and I do not remember any animosity towards me fromGordon.

During his school days his big hobby was model making. He must have been a majorcontributor to the profits of Airfix by the number of model aeroplanes he had at home. Healso made a most impressive model landscape on which he constructed buildings, a river,roads and bridges. It was at least 10 feet square and took up a large corner of their livingroom. With hindsight we should have known it was his destiny to become a Civil Engineer

We owed much to the teaching of Mr. Burn who became a fatherly figure in the sixthform and there is no question that maths was our strongest subject. Gordon, Bill Darby andI had excellent results in Maths A levels and all three were awarded State Bursaries. We thenfound ourselves studying at Leeds University - Gordon taking Civil Engineering, Bill takingMechanical Engineering and myself Physics & Maths.

On graduating, National Service was still in force and one was directed either into thearmy or into industry or to become a Bevin Boy down the mines. Bill Darby and I were sentinto industry whilst Gordon found himself in the REME (Royal Mechanical and ElectricalEngineers). Because he had gained Certificate A in the Leeds University Training Corps heimmediately went to OCTU and was commissioned a short time later. He attained the rankof Captain and used his Civil Engineering knowledge to supervise the construction of roadsand bridges on the Indian North West Frontier.

He was demobilised in 1947 and his first job was to be involved in the construction ofthe first runway at Heathrow. In 1949 he married Mary, the daughter of his father’s North-ern Irish friend. He then came back to his native Yorkshire to supervise the building ofBlackstone Edge reservoir and from then on he seemed to have a passion for water. His nextventure was the building of a tunnel in Clitheroe which was to be used to feed water fromthe Lake District into Manchester. Following that he worked for Tees Valley Water board

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building a dam near Barnard Castle. Finally he settled in a position with the Yorkshire Waterand took up residence in Adel. He remained with them until he took early retirement in1983.

There were a couple of reunions in Huddersfield with old school friends in the ninetiesculminating with our big 70 year reunion in 2006 and we often spoke on the telephone bringingback fond memories of our time at the old school. Gordon is one of many, including myself, whohave so much to be grateful for the education and upbringing we had at AGS which underpinnedso many successful careers.

Gordon was cremated at Lawnswood on the 12th December 2011 and I would like to thinkhe was remembering the military training he had with Leeds University Training Corps at the Uni-versity playing fields just opposite. Our deepest sympathy is extended to his wife Mary and to hisfamily.

Ron Edwards.

DR KEVIN CONWAY CBEFormer principal of Greenhead College who went on to set up the ‘Alps’ consultancy

We are sorry to report the death of Kevin Conway on 28th August at the age of 65. Dr Conwaywas brought up in Beragh in Northern Ireland. Schooled by the Christian Brothers, he went onto gain a first class honours degree in physics at Queens University, Belfast. He followed this witha PhD at Queens before taking up an appointment in Belgium at the British School of Brussels.

After eight years, he moved back to the UK to take up posts in Broadstairs and Bristol. Hemoved to Greenhead College in 1987.

His success at Greenhead was rooted in his faith, creating a culture in which every student andmember of staff felt valued and nurtured. He wasdescribed by many as ‘a wonderful listener’ and ‘amagician’.

After retirement from Greenhead, Dr Conwayset up an educational consultancy ‘Alps’ to spreadthe good practice he had developed at the college.Based at the Media Centre in Huddersfield, it nowhas some 20 staff.

Dr Conway was honoured many times for hiswork in education, including a CBE and a degreefrom the University of Huddersfield. He was mar-ried to Mary for 42 years and the couple have fourchildren.

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All who remember HarryTaylor will enjoy this newbook about the School’srespected Headmasterfrom 1951 to 1973. A well-known

Almondbury figure, he wasalso a regular reader atAll Hallows’ Church, thetranscriber of the localparish registers, and oneof the authors of arespected history ofAlmondbury. Heplayed cricket forAlmondbury Casuals,and earned areputation throughoutHuddersfield as a witty and entertaining afterdinner speaker.

Morning Assembly gives a fascinating and often humorous account ofHarry Taylor’s life and includes, in facsimile form, 100 prayers – ancientand modern – which he assembled over the years for use in Schoolassemblies.

Now on sale

Get your copy NOW!

Copies of Morning Assembly cost just £10 plus £1.30pp*. Please send your cheque, payable to the OldAlmondburians’ Society, to Andrew Haigh, R D Haigh & Co, Oakhill Road, Brighouse, WestYorkshire HD6 1SN. Alternatively, you can order online at http://tinyurl.com/bw9ms88 or through anygood bookshop.

*in UK. Mainland Europe: £4.25; Rest of World: £6.75

ChairmanNICK BRIGGS

17 Fair Street, Huddersfield, Yorkshire HD1 3QB Tel: 01484 305734

Mobile: 07595 175835Email: nickybriggs@hotmail.com

SecretaryANDREW HAIGH

2 Arkenley Lane, Almondbury HD4 6SQTel: 01484 432105

Email: andrew.haigh@oas.org.uk

TreasurerKEITH CRAWSHAW

5 Benomley Drive, Almondbury HD5 8LXTel: 01484 533658

Email: keith.crawshaw@oas.org.uk

Media EditorROGER DOWLINGEditorial address:

Orchard House, Oughtrington Lane, Lymm, Cheshire WA13 0RDTel: 01925 756390

Email: almondburian@oas.org.ukArchivist

NICH BRIGGSTel: 07771 865330

Email: nichbriggs@hotmail.com

Website:www.oas.org.uk

Facebook:http://tinyurl.com/3ykffo3

The Almondburian isdistributed to OASmembers free of

charge. Price to

non-members: £3.00