7:51 am in Guest Posts, School Memorabilia by John Macrae
Peter has answered the request for copy for the website by sending in copies of the programme for the 1968 Arts Festival.
This was the last one during George Hardy’s Headship and provides a glimpse of a few of the activities that seemed to take up the whole of the Spring Term. It was good entertainment value for the whole school as we used to stay in hall after assembly to listen to, or participate in, a number of heats to decide who went on to perform in the Festival show near the end of term.
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Tags: 1957, 1968
11:29 pm in Down Memory Lane, Guest Posts by Dave Palmer
2008 Maroon – A tour of the School: memories of Martyn Calder (1962-1969) in response to John Macrae’s article. The articles contained within the 2008 Maroon (including the “Tour of the School”) will be added to the website in due course. If visitors to the site want this to be given priority, please add your comment to the bottom of this post.
A great pleasure to see you and some other old faces (some, of course, older than others!) at the Old Boys’ Dinner.
As promised I am writing to add my own very personal and short term (1962-69) memory of the various nooks and crannies of the school
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Tags: 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969
8:47 pm in Down Memory Lane, Hockey, Sports by John Macrae
Played 54 –Won 38 –Drawn 7 – Lost 9 – For 204 – Against 70
I completed a three year part-time degree in the summer of 1969 and so, by the Spring Term of 1970, I had time on my hands. Someone was needed to coach the under-14 XI hockey and I volunteered. I did not have a great pedigree, considering myself as just an average sportsman. I had not played serious hockey for some years and in fact, apart from a few games for the Old Bordenians in 1963, my only regular hockey was in 1959 for the School 2nd XI. Of course I was a regular player in House matches throughout my time at Borden but, although they were regarded as serious competition, the standard of hockey could at best be described as approaching something that appeared to adhere to a few basic principles of the game – a bit like a Staff versus Prefects match really. I was nearly beheaded by David Rigden in one match, and that was in the days when sticks were not allowed above shoulder level.
Thus with more experience in playing football and no coaching experience in any sport save lifesaving, I embarked on a career as coach in the hope that sooner or later a staff member would come along who knew a bit about the game and who could provide a more professional approach. In the meantime it was up to me, and I set about training in games periods and after school using the methods of the footballer. Needless to say this meant the use of brute force and a more physical approach rather than artistic stick play. Nevertheless this did remove most of the fear of the hard ball and helped to cope with the unnerving sight of opposing teams with large players who were supposed to be under 14 yet had healthy stubble growth on their chins.
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Tags: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978
