Author: Oliver Pitts

Oliver Pitts - September 2020

My earliest memory of Winbury is when I was introduced to Misses Saunders and Theaker by my mother, at a house somewhere along West Road from the Winbury building. Presumably they approved of me, and so I began school with headmaster John Bullen Spicer in September, 1947.

I think my first lessons in Latin were in 1948 with a Miss Logan, a pleasant, firm Irish lady. The text book we used was by Hillard and Botting with a grammar book by Kennedy. I recall that at first I seemed to be getting on splendidly and at great speed with my exercises 1 and 2 in that I wrote : He loves - amo , They hasten - maturo and so on, thinking this was correct Latin! Clearly somehow English also came into it! Fortunately Miss Logan fairly soon observed my incorrect comprehension of how the language worked, showed me patiently how it did, and so I restarted on H & B Exercise 1 - we love : amamus !

A Mr English was another of my first teachers. I can't be sure but I think he taught us - English. He was competent and very popular with the whole class. Sadly for us, he didn't stay very long.

Our maths teacher was a Mr Saunders, possibly related to Miss Saunders. I recall that he did all he could to help us understand how fractions functioned, copying the rules for addition, subtraction, division and multiplication into all our class's individual text books in his clear hand! He later married Maggie, the school cook. They are both to be seen in the 1949 school photo.

Mr Charles Smerdon (the gentleman with the fur lined gown in the same photo) taught us Latin and French . As Martin Kemp says he was fierce. I remember that I had nightmares after he told us, before a test of French verbs, that all mistakes would have to be corrected 30,000 times ! Teachers don't tell lies and I believed him! My mother intervened, JBS had a word with Mr S. and I was excused homework for several weeks until I felt ready to try again……..! But he could be and was also kind. I remember that a short time later, on a Sunday, he took another boy and me to London to a Catholic service at Westminster Cathedral in London, which made a big impression, and then we had lunch somewhere. I have no recollection of what we did in the afternoon. I wonder how many readers of this, remember how he talked about special Latin, or was it French, adjectives or verbs I forget which, as 'The Twiddling Twelve' and 'The Silly Six', in an attempt to amuse, but also make things stick in our memories! Well, some things did stick!

I shall always be grateful to Mr Smerdon for a certain end-of-the-day weekly lesson he entitled 'Musical Appreciation', when he introduced popular classical music as well as the instruments of the orchestra to us, using his own 78 rpm records and presumably, record player. He did it very well and I loved it, and there were no tests involved! And I'm sure it helped awaken my lifelong liking for classical music.

I remember an Australian teacher at the school, a Mrs Ivan - Smith. She was kind, competent, firm and fair. But once, during a rainy break in the classroom, I complained in a loud voice to other boys about something Mrs Smith had (I thought) unjustly done or said to me. The teachers' common-room was next door. When lessons restarted, she came in announcing in a matter-of-fact voice, "You have a very loud voice, Oliver." That was all and that was enough - those few words were very effective in making me careful when I wanted to have a future moan about her!

Mr Mercer also taught our class, but I forget which subjects. He seemed to me to be a rather solemn person who did not smile very much. But he suffered badly from asthma which no doubt accounted for his laboured breathing and I remember feeling sorry for him for this reason. On one occasion we pinned the 'crack' of a Christmas cracker to his chair and the leg of his table. When he pulled out the chair to sit down, our explosive device did as hoped and the whole class, expectantly awaited his reaction. He was not very amused but I don't recall any drastic disciplinary action on his part.

In the 1950s Major Frieth taught us maths and I believe, quite effectively. I suppose he had retired from the army and had a few years to go until he reached retirement age. Once when we caused him annoyance, perhaps playing him up, or being too noisy, he lost his temper and, in full military volume shouted at us, "Do be quiet, you nasty, bad-mannered little beasts!"

Martin Kemp has written an apt but short description of Mr Reed. One thing I found unforgiveable about him was the fact that he made hurtful personal remarks aloud in the classroom about certain boys, without any regard for their feelings. And he enjoyed pulling the short hair on the back of our necks while looking over our shoulders at the work in progress! Fortunately for us, he did not last very long at the school.

The Lagonda
.I remember the Lagonda very well and what fun it was travelling in it to Stafferton Lodge. I don't recall the door falling off as mentioned in someone's 'memories', but it clearly happened as I do remember noticing later, when the car was parked, that JBS had remedied the fault, not with a proper hinge-pin but a piece of binder twine! The boys' welfare took priority over the car's pristine looks for JBS!

Play
In the main morning break , in rival gangs, we often used to 'attack' or 'defend' 'The Mound' with its pine trees. I don't think our 'wars' became very rough - I hope not. Otherwise at home in Cookham Dean I often played with a non-Winburian, older friend in the holidays who went to Malvern College. And occasionally I played with a few Winburians of my age who lived nearby - Chris Rowe, Chris Ashton and Barry Lewis.

School lunches
I like food (!), was not fussy as a child and never refused to eat what was dished up! Maggie was our first cook and she was good at her job as far as I can remember. After she left, I believe a Mrs White took her place. She was also quite good at her job generally, but managed to burn custard so regularly that I ended up liking it!

Sports Day
This was a special day for us all and especially for JBS when his beloved school was 'on show'. In all my time at Winbury it never rained on Sports Day. When we were all ready to begin proceedings, JBS called out over the Tannoy," Who's the smartest boy ?" and we all, sitting cross-legged on the grass, reacted with straight backs and chests out, wanting to be that special boy! On the track Rory Nicholas was an outstanding athlete, coming first in a variety of events. He is the one 'Victor Ludorum' I remember very well. And on one other occasion, Robert Stanier, my future headmaster at Magdalen College School presented the prizes. In the 1950s quite a number of Old Winburians went on to MCS and presumably, that is why JBS invited him to the school.

Sport
Of course we played cricket and football and there are some photos of the cricket teams on the website. Mr Clegg, an Australian teacher who sometimes supervised our games of football at Stafferton Lodge impressed us all on one occasion by converting a rugby ball over the goalposts, barefoot! Ouch! And I recall JBS teaching the basics of boxing to our class at the gym in Elmslie School. After battling for two rounds and getting hot and tired, I know that on more than one occasion I decided that an uppercut could win me the fight in the third and final round. In retrospect, I'm very glad that I invariably missed and nobody was hurt! I forget how long JBS continued to coach the sport or whether it disappeared from the curriculum in the early 1950s. I don't think it still featured in 1952 when I left the school.

John Spicer
I enjoyed his lively and interesting English and History lessons immensely and I am sure he enjoyed teaching the two subjects, too. I remember one outing to the local cinema in 1948 when he took the whole class, perhaps two senior classes, to see Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' with Laurence Olivier and Jean Simmons. Although we were only eight years old, I think we found it quite gripping, what with ghosts, daggers, skulls, Ophelia floating down the river where she drowned and the final duel with rapiers between Hamlet and Laertes. Exposure to the master's language, and 'action' as well!

In the classroom, one particular poem, with Victorian illustration of a knight in armour and his horse (text book by Ridout) I remember vividly, because it really got my imagination going; it was called 'The Listeners' by Walter de la Mare and it made a great impression on me being very evocative, I can still recite parts of it to this day. John's putting on an annual play was, I think, excellent for our latent acting abilities, projection of speech and general confidence. While I was at the school he directed Treasure Island, Toad of Toad Hall, and Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and I enjoyed a role in all three. I found John a most pleasant, warm-hearted man of great charm and whenever we met, years after MCS, I always felt very much at ease with him. I recall his endearing, special laugh as we reminisced, recalling amusing situations of the past. When I occasionally visited him at his home in Cookham Rise, as an 'Old Winburian', he was always interested in how my family and myself were, what we were doing and our plans for the future. It was always easy for me to strike up a conversation with him, as though the last one had been the previous week and not a number of years in the past! His philosophy, which he once spoke to me about, was that only a happy boy in a happy environment can learn well and his aim had always been to create that environment. How very fortunate we were to attend Winbury and have John Bullen Spicer as our headmaster - he helped us on so well in our early years! A truly unforgettable person in all Winburians' lives.

And after Winbury ………………….

1952 -1958. Magdalen College School, Oxford.

1958 - 1962 Various jobs, the first two years in commerce, then in special schools, on the staff of a school for young, deprived children and later at an approved school for young delinquents. It was part of the process when I was trying to decide what kind of work I would really like to do.

1962 - 1965 Student at Teacher Training College at Primary and Secondary Levels. During a teaching practice at a school for London children with special needs, I met my future wife, Ursula, a Swiss from Winterthur near Zurich. Her role at the school was as housemother, looking after one group of children in their free time.

1965 - 1966 English Language teacher in Berne, Switzerland. 1966 Marriage to Ursula.

1966 - 1969 Teacher of ten-year-olds at the first international school in Zurich - The Inter-Community School. 1969 - 1977 Teacher of English as a foreign language to adults at a Zurich language school.

1978 - 2004 English teacher to 15-year old boys and girls , apprentices and adults at the vocational school / college of further education in Winterthur, where I still live today .

2004 - Retirement .

Interests : Nature and its conservation, walking in the countryside and mountains, newspapers and international politics, my family, consisting of my wife, Ursula, two children and four grandchildren all living in Winterthur. Meeting people, reading biographies, vintage cars.

Oliver Pitts
September, 2020.

And should anyone wish to correspond :

Postal address: Palmstrasse 8, 8400 Winterthur, Switzerland .

Email address: ocpitts@gmail.com .