Assembly started with a prefect standing on the platform and calling the school to stand when the gowned Headmaster climbed the stairs. The prefect then marched down the other set of stairs, while the Headmaster read the school prayer and gave the day's notices.
Two days a week during part of the year, we had massed singing, led by the music master, "Gerry" Lee. We learned traditional school songs like The Eton Boating Song, the Rugby school song ("Follow up!"), "The Yeomen of England", "Jerusalem", and "I vow to thee, my country". This was especially emphasised for a couple of weeks before Anzac Day, and for most of the term before Prize-giving, when we would learn a new song to form part of the break-up ceremony.
Then we all trooped off to the day's lessons.
The teachers all seemed to me to be at least competent, and some were good. That first year I don't remember any outstanding ones. Our Form teacher, and our English and Social Studies teacher, was Mr Bracewell. He had recently returned from war service and I think now was glad to be back home. He was a pleasant man and I seemed to get on OK under his guidance.
Latin was in the competent care of Owen Ingram, an acquaintance of my parents. As it was a subject I enjoyed, I made good progress. The French teacher, "Soapy" Logan, I can't remember much about; I learned some French, but nothing about the course excited me, except that I was always interested in languages.
Our Maths teacher was P A S Stein, nicknamed "PAS", who had been a junior teacher when my father was a schoolboy. He was definitely of the old school: he always wore a black suit, with a butterfly collar and bow tie. He was an authority on gannets, and had a wealth of knowledge on many other subjects, as befitted his great age. Nothing was more fun than to get him talking about one of his enthusiasms, rather than boring old maths. As we were all reasonably bright in 3ALatin, it didn't matter much; we absorbed the maths with our eyes half-closed and enjoyed PAS's stories about everything else.
For science we had Dudley "Two-gun" Adams. He must have been OK, because I can remember some of the things he told us. I can also remember the big old desks in his room, with the names of long-dead schoolboys carved deeply into the surfaces.
I had very little idea then about vocational choices. I was enthusiastic about one day trying my hand at journalism, and was disappointed when I was allocated to the "option" of drama. This was a farce, if ever there was one: forty bored third formers jammed into one room with a failed actor telling us in a soft voice about his experiences on the stage of various theatres. I cannot remember any details except a penetrating sense of boredom.
No-one ever succeeded in teaching me anything about sport; no-one ever tried to as far as I am aware. Phys Ed was mostly gym work, which was no great excitement to the smallest boys in the class, like me, but we climbed ropes and jumped over wooden horses like everyone else.
The school library was a goldmine to a keen reader, and I grasped the challenge of getting to know its contents with great zeal. There were plenty of Boys Own type books, all old, on its shelves, and these I soon came to relish. Biggles, and other action heroes from between the wars, or earlier, were my staple reading material.
So by and large my first year at AGS was reasonably pleasant, especially as I managed to achieve first place in the exams at the end of the year and had to go up to get a prize at the closing ceremony.
Here is the Form photo:
I can remember over half the names (surnames only at AGS); they include a Barfoot and a Paykel. I am second from the right in the second row up.
No comments:
Post a Comment