The Old Bordenian Association » Down Memory Lane

First edition of The Maroon – 1937!

Dave Palmer — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:08:18 +0000

We were contacted by the grand-daughter of an old boy of the school, Ralph Martyn, who attended in the 1930s. She asked if we could locate a copy of the old school magazine from the 1930s for him to purchase or view. Denis Jarrett, another old boy of the school and former editor of the Maroon, was asked to identify a suitable copy from his own personal archives. He has kindly lent me his copy of the very first edition of the Maroon, the former publication of the Old Bordenian Association, published in 1937 – some 75 years ago. Rather than share this with just one old boy, we have scanned the document and it is reproduced in its entirety below – just click on each link to open the next 2 pages. It makes fascinating reading!

Front Cover

The Bordenian 1973

Dave Palmer — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:33:28 +0000

A few months ago, in a comment on this site, Rob Dammers suggested that it would be a good idea if we could provide an archive of old Maroon and Bordenian magazines online. Its a time consuming exercise, but here’s the first of, I hope, many uploads of the old magazines. I have copied all the advertisements and even some of the blank pages so that the layout of the publication remains intact as far as possible. If any Old Bordenian would like a particular year to be published ahead of others, please leave a comment to this effect at the bottom of the post and I will see what I can do. You will need to click on the individual links below to load each pair of pages; I appreciate this isn’t the best way of quickly scanning the magazine for articles of interest, so I’ve added a brief description of the content of each file.

Bordenian 73 Front0001

Inside cover0001

Pages 2-3 News and notes

pages 4-5 Entrants and leavers

pages 6-7 Leavers; A C Howard article

pages 8-9 A C Howard article

Pages 10-11 Advert / school play

Pages 12-13 School play; Opera

Pages 14-15 Opera; Speech day

Pages 16-17 Exam results; House reports

Pages 18-19 House reports

Pages 20-21 House reports

Pages 22-23 School trips

Pages 24-25 School trips

Pages 26-27 Literary & Debating society

Pages 28-29 Various school groups

Pages 30-31 Various school groups

Pages 32-33 Various school groups; sports front page

Pages 34-35 Advert; football

Pages 36-37 Football

Pages 38-39 Football

Pages 40-41 Advert; hockey

Pages 42-43 Hockey

Pages 44-45 Hockey; golf

Pages 46-47 Advert; cricket

Pages 48-49 Cricket

Pages 50-51 Cricket

Pages 52-53 Advert; athletics

Pages 54-55 Athletics

Pages 56-57 Athletics; swimming

Pages 58-59 Swimming; cross country; tennis

Pages 60-61 Original contributions

Pages 62-63 Original contributions

Pages 64-65 Original contributions

Pages 66-67 Original contributions

Inside back cover

Staff v Prefects Cricket 1977

Dave Palmer — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:33:09 +0000

Geoff Rousell has posted a couple of pictures from the Staff v Prefects Cricket match 1977 in his account area. Either click on the Activity tab at the top of the page (worth doing on a regular basis to see who has joined the site – I try to delete the annoying spam messages as soon as I can) or go to http://www.oldbordenians.co.uk/members/bassoongb/album/pictures/.

Lest we forget – updated

Dave Palmer — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:32:46 +0000

Last year, we published information on those old boys who gave their lives during the First and Second World Wars (http://www.oldbordenians.co.uk/down-memory-lane/lest-we-forget/). Marc Stewart has now completed his extensive research and has provided details of all thirty-seven old boys who lost their life in WW1 (name, rank, number, unit and place of burial). This information has now been added to the Remembrance section of the site – click on the “Remembrance” link at the top of this page.

Frank Horlock – PE in 1947

Dave Palmer — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:25:17 +0000

These pictures and the accompanying article were spotted by Ken Sears in the Sheerness Times-Guardian several years ago. Such a tableau would probably not be permitted these days under Health and Safety Regulations, so it is a period piece in every way. Next to John Barber in the second row is Don Pritchard, but we should be both interested and grateful if any of the other participants would come forward and identify themselves.

One who can’t do so, alas, is Mr PT himself – the redoubtable Old Salt, Frank Horlock – in the centre. Ken remembers him as a prime example of a generation which would probably have achieved much more if only they’d had better educational opportunities. Frank Horlock had very considerable intelligence and intellect, and he read extensively books which he borrowed from the School Library. He liked nothing more than sitting on the steps outside the Old Hall at lunchtime, talking to some of the boys as he ate his sandwiches. Ken recalls that one day he mentioned to Horlock a saying by Confucius which he had just read:

“He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool – beware him!

He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is asleep – wake him!

He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is a leader – follow him!

He who knows, and knows that he knows, is a king – crown him!”

Horlock commented, “That’s very good. Let me repeat it” – which he did, word perfectly. Nearly 30 years later, not long before he died, he came to the Annual Dinner for the first time – an absence which, sadly, he explained by saying that he wasn’t sure he would be welcome! (We’ve yet to meet anyone who did not speak anything but highly of Frank Horlock.) Sitting opposite Ken, he said “You know, Sears, I’ve never forgotten your Confucius saying”, and proceeded to recite it, again word perfectly. What a marvellous character he was!

Graham Barnes

Old GCE papers

Dave Palmer — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 08:59:54 +0000

We haven’t posted any old exam papers for a while, so to test the grey matter over the New Year period, here are a couple of Summer 1973 GCE ‘O’ level papers for your enjoyment! Click on the pages to open to a legible size.

Additional Mathematics (Pure) – paper 2

English Literature

Borden Grammar School Centenary – revisited

Dave Palmer — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:26:57 +0000

In 1978, Borden Grammar School celebrated its centenary year. In the 1970′s, publicity of the centenary and details of the celebratory events would have been very limited – probably restricted to the local East Kent Gazette or by mailings to existing OBA members. We thought we would bring back memories of both the celebratory events themselves and some history of the first 100 years of the school in a short series of posts using 1978 editions of The Maroon, The Bordenian and other memorabilia from 1978. This is the first of those posts.

The following extracts are taken from the 1978 Centenary edition of the Maroon – just click on any page to expand. If you have any thoughts or memories of the Centenary, please add a comment at the bottom of the page, using the Comments box. This ensures greater visibility to site visitors.

And finally, details of a Centenary Bookmark for sale. Does anyone still have one of these?

The Class of ’68!

Dave Palmer — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:26:12 +0000

Free Beer.

Did you join the school as a first year in 1968, the year that it became necessary to have three classes for the new intake because we were, collectively, brighter than all those who had joined the school before?

If you did then, not only will you be well into your 50s, but you will also want to get yourself down to The Red Lion in Sittingbourne High Street at around 9.00 on the first Wednesday of each month and join the good looking bunch in the photo below.

We’ve been meeting up each month for the past 10 years and over 20 of our former school friends have come along at one time or another, although generally around 6-8 of us turn up each month. We also attend the Old Boys Dinner en masse when our numbers are further swollen by some of those who live too far away to make the monthly reunions. (See http://www.oldbordenians.co.uk/events/old-boys-dinner-2010-report/ for a full list of names of 2010 attendees).

You have probably already noticed, if you have studied the photo that, astonishingly, we all look much the same as we did all those years ago; but then we did endure middle-aged spread, grey hair and sallow complexions even as school boys. Too many steamed milky coffees and No 6 in Pelosi’s I reckon.

l-r: Phil Bryant, Keith Shea, Bob Field, Dave Palmer, Dave Spicer, Lee Harding, Andy Bushell and Stewart Jarrett.

PS There isn’t any free beer!

Keith Shea

A Police Odyssey – Part 3

Dave Palmer — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:50 +0000

This continues Barry Gilbert’s story of life in the Police Force. For the first part, see http://www.oldbordenians.co.uk/down-memory-lane/a-police-odyssey-january-1957-august-1992/.

My next period of service began with a move in April 1965 to the newly formed Traffic Division Garage in Bow Road in the East End of London, within the sound of Bow Bells.

The area has a very colourful history and a drive along Bow Road and Mile End Road through Stepney and Whitechapel towards the City of London was a history lesson in itself.

Stepney had its association with The Sidney Street siege in 1911, Sir Oswald Moseley’s ‘Black Shirts’ in the 1930’s and in my time the Kray Twins and their associates.

Whitechapel of course brought back memories of ‘Jack the Ripper’ in Victorian London and the back streets in the area could be very eerie at night and I am sure some of the ghosts still lingered there. It was a thriving commercial centre then, mainly Jewish, in the ‘rag trade’ and cabinet making, Kosher butchers and a number of breweries. I had a great fondness for the Jewish bakeries and at the end of a night shift would often call in and collect a bag of bagels. The ones we get in the supermarkets do not taste the same.

The years at Bow seemed to flash by very quickly I suppose because I enjoyed working in that part of London. The vehicles that we drove were being continually updated and we were, at that time, supplied with Rover 3500 and 2000’s, Jaguars and Land Rovers which were fully equipped traffic accident vehicles. The ‘Breathaliser’ and Vehicle Removal Regulations had been introduced and so we were kept busy but not very popular.

At the end of the sixties I did come into contact with members of the Kray gang , who by then had been convicted and imprisoned. I arrived at the garage one morning to begin my shift, when I and my colleague, who was my regular partner on the traffic car, were told to report to Scotland Yard at 10am. We were not given any explanation. We duly arrived at the appointed time with PC’s from other garages in the Met and some CID. We were then briefed that we were to go to Brixton Prison to pick up three members of the Kray Gang and transport them to Leicester Prison. We delivered them under armed escort to their destination – not the sharp end of policing but an interesting change to our normal routine.

In 1970 I was presented with another chance to change my regular routine.

In 1969 there was a problem on the little island of Anguilla in the West Indian Leeward Islands. The Government at the time sent an invasion force to quell the troubles and then a small contingent of Met police officers to keep the peace. A request for volunteers to serve for a period of three months was sent to all stations and after discussing it with Anne, I decided that it was too good an opportunity to miss and sent off my application.

In September 1970 I found myself with a group of fellow volunteers at an army barracks near Regent’s Park being supplied with my tropical kit – police for the use of. A trip to the medical officer followed and we were given the standard inoculations.

On the 20^th of September we all assembled at Heathrow and boarded a BOAC – as it was then – flight bound for Antigua. We were lucky as this was a scheduled flight and we were the first group to use this route. The previous groups had been flown by RAF Hercules which was noisy and not very comfortable. We had a very good trip, stopping off in Bermuda where we were allowed to disembark, but only onto the runway which was on a spit of land jutting out into the sea – it was our first taste of the sunny Caribbean.

We arrived in Antigua and again didn’t leave the airport but were taken to a section where an RAF Andover was waiting to ferry us to Anguilla. However, there was a slight change of plan because apparently we were a larger group than normal and the plane could not take us all. Four of us were directed to a six seater Piper from Seagreen Airways and told that that was our transport to the island. We left before the Andover and as we had some time to spare the pilot took us on a trip around the group of islands before landing on Anguilla. It was a great flight and we had a chance to see the island from the air.

We watched the Andover, with our colleagues on board, land at the airport and this was no mean feat. The pilot had only 200 yards of tarmac to land on before he was on the dirt and so the approach had to be spot on. The RAF flew a Hercules Transport into Anguilla once or twice a week keeping the ‘occupying’ force on the island supplied with food and equipment. It was quite a sight watching such a large aircraft land on such a small runway.

Anguilla is a small island with an area of 35 square miles just about the same size as the Isle of Sheppey. The land was not very fertile with a few small patches of sugar cane and the rest was scrub land – not a bit like Kent. There were beautiful sandy beaches all round the island.

Our transport to the island and ..

.. the Andover touching down with our colleagues on board.

Our police headquarters was housed in what was the administrative centre which boasted a few offices, a tiny police station with one cell and a library. The police contingent was based in three houses which served as accommodation and police station at strategic points on the island. I was attached to the central area with other traffic patrol officers and our job was to keep the police vehicles on the road. I would like to say roadworthy but they were very old, tarmac road were non-existent and spares were at a premium. Volcanic rock plays havoc with tyres and suspensions.

The house we were allocated had been a hotel but the washing facilities consisted of water, hand- pumped from a tank in the garden which collected rain water from the roof. A generator was supplied by the Army so that we did have lighting. Our main meals were supplied by the Army where we ate in the Sergeants mess.

Outside our ‘hotel’

The road to the Commissioner’s Residence

I was attached to the Transport Section and acted as a quartermaster supplying the outlying stations with stores supplied by the Army. I also collected large slabs of ice from an ice making plant on the island – an essential for their cool cabinets. I also made purchases which were not available from the Army at the local stores and came into contact with the islander shopkeepers who were happy friendly people who called me ‘Barree’.

The Island was very peaceful during our tour of duty and in the afternoons we were usually free to go off to our favourite beaches and explore the coral reefs that ringed the island. Most of us had taken snorkels, mask and flippers with us on the advice of returning officers. The waters were crystal clear and we spent hours in water searching for conche shells and became quite adept at diving to some depth to retrieve them. They did have occupants, but one of the islanders showed us how to clean them. I brought home some beautiful shells which I still have as a reminder of those days.

Above the beautiful Crocus Bay and ..

.. a shell cleaning operation.

The group that I was with were quite a sporting crowd and we could rustle up a good cricket team and football team. We had a number of games against the islanders and these were a bit competitive. The playing area was a trifle uneven as grass was in short supply. The wicket was a rolled patch of clay and the local lads were typical West Indians bowling as fast as they could and they hit everything in the air, a good tactic considering the state of the outfield. There was another hazard. It always paid to look at the ball when picking it up in the field as I found when I saw an angry tarantula pop out of its hole.

We had a great time on that beautiful island and when I look back I think how lucky we were. Who would have thought that when joining the Met that we would get the chance to spend three months in the West Indies.

All too soon it was time for us to say goodbye to Anguilla and my friends and I in the MT section returned home to continue our service in London.

Barry Gilbert (BGS 1949-1956)

To be continued.

The lost chords – help wanted!

Dave Palmer — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:25:48 +0000

While rummaging through the Archives recently, Denis Jarrett came across a letter written by an Old Boy, who was at the School from 1933 to 1939, in which there was a mysterious reference to a School Song. Among the many innovations introduced by the redoubtable W.A.C. Claydon (‘Wacker’ in initials and ‘Wacker’ by habit!) when he was appointed Headmaster was the adoption of the Harrow School Song, “Forty Years on”.

There are still several Old Bordenians alive today who remember singing this lustily on Speech Day and other special occasions, even if they didn’t fully understand all the words (“Oh, the tramp of the twenty-two men”, for instance, which Graham Barnes says he thought was a reference to one of his classmates who turned up on the cricket field in grey trousers).

What is intriguing, however, is that the Old Boy concerned says it replaced the existing School Song which began with the immortal couplet :

“Borden, you merit all our praise,

Our home through countless happy days”

This is the first any of us have heard of such a song. It is news even to Denis Jarrett, who was at Borden under the previous Headmaster William Murdoch as well as Claydon. And we should be very interested to find out more about it. In particular, we should like to know :-

- Who wrote the Song? (Probably an ancestor of the chap who writes the verses in several Clinton Greetings Cards, to judge by its literary quality!)

- To what tune was it sung?

- What are the rest of the words?

Is there anyone out there who can throw light on any of these questions? If so, please add a comment below.