Author: Michael Clark

I joined Winbury when Maidenhead College in College Road ceased to be a boys' school and became The Convent of the Nativity and a girls' school. I'm not sure when this was but it was certainly some time before the 1949 school photograph. There was to be a Cricket Eleven photograph taken on the same day and, as a proud member of the team, I turned up in my cricket whites which were fine for the second photo but not suitable for the school one. Fortunately I was kitted out in more appropriate grey trousers, courtesy, I think, of Nicholas Bourne's spare wardrobe. He was a boarder and I'm not sure I ever thanked him properly!

My success with the cricket team continued and I still vividly remember taking nine wickets for 26 runs in a match against Long Close School at the pitch at Stafferton Lodge. This included four taken with consecutive balls and resulted in colours, in the shape of a dark blue cap with XI on it, being instituted. Unfortunately, at my next school, I trod on a wasp and was stung and hence not permitted to take part in the under thirteen's trial and so never played cricket again. Oh well, such is life. I seem to remember that my boxing career also came to a swift end at Winbury when I received three sharp blows to the nose and I didn't do that again. At football I played on the wing and had difficulty in retaining the ball and was advised to barge my opponent out of the way. I therefore summoned up a massive 'barge' which I unleashed, but unfortunately I missed him altogether. It's amazing what you remember!

I passed the Eleven Plus in 1950 and must therefore be one of the first of several to move on to Magdalen College School, Oxford. Here it was rugby and rowing and I'm happy to say that I did end up in the First Fifteen and I coxed the second VIII. This is slightly surprising when you know that I now claim to be 6' 31/2'' tall, but I shot up one summer holiday.

The Eleven Plus got me free education but my parents still had to pay the boarding fee and, rather than prolong that, after O levels I left and became a Trainee under Agreement to the Chief Engineer of the Port of London Authority. This was for an annual salary of £250, with two weeks leave and 6 Saturday mornings off a year. It took me longer to travel up to Tower Hill, where the offices were, than I spent on the Saturday mornings there. And then I used to play rugby with the office team which had a ground way out east of London somewhere and I haven't a clue what time I got back to Maidenhead from that. I eventually joined Maidenhead Rugby and Rowing clubs.

There were four of us trainees who were the first to work for professional qualifications by the new part time day release method where we went one day a week to Westminster Technical College for the theory and did the practical on the other days. I remember working on the design of the diesel locomotive maintenance shed when the PLA gave up its fleet of steam engines. To become a Chartered Civil Engineer you needed to do at least a year out on site and this did not seem possible at the PLA so I moved to Berkshire CC. and then to Bucks CC, were I looked after the Queen Elizabeth Bridge over the Thames as part of the Windsor Eton Relief Road. Then it was bridges for motorways and major bypasses with Hampshire and the DTp's SW Road Construction Unit in Somerset, until we were 'privatised'.

I ended up as a partner in an international firm of consulting engineers and President of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, but nowadays its beekeeping and bell ringing, amongst many other things.

Michael Nelson Clark - 30/04/2013