120
2 Chris#
Newsletter of Old Boys & Friends of 70
th
London BB Company
REFLECTIONS
Edition
9
April 2013
What is it about Camp Memories?
What is it about Camp Memories?What is it about Camp Memories?
What is it about Camp Memories?
When asked about lasting memories
of their time in the 70
th
, most OB’s will single out their
experiences at camp as the most vivid. Why should this be?
For me it’s a lasting and powerful concoction of sounds, tastes and smells… all intermixed
with the excitement of being away from home, probably for the first time in one’s life.
If asked to be more specific about these memory triggers, my Top Ten would cover:
• The smell and taste of the hot chocolate cuppa and Lincoln Cream biscuits at
morning Reveille
• The somewhat less attractive odours of the latrines!
• The hissing of the hurricanes lamps in the marquee and the sound of the ‘pumped’
organ at evening prayers
• The heart thumping thrill of sneaking out of your tent at night evading any prowling
officers
• The clanking of the enamel plates and cups when washing up on orderly duties
• The emotional bugle sounds of the ‘last post’.
• The smell of dank clothes stuffed into your kit bag
• The smell and prickly feel of the straw filled paliases
•
The taste of your first bottle of cherryade brought from
the camp tuck shop
• The thrill and exhaustion of playing ‘Royalists & Rebels’
Are these your memories too? Or do you have others … please let us know.
Alan
REFLECTIONS
Page
2
Some of those who played for ‘Seveno CC’ during the early years were: Bernard Shaw, Percy Sore
,
Len
Heath, John Steptoe, Len Stacey, Tom Goodson, Tony Short, Spadger Smith, Dennis Heath, Dave
Packman, Dave Huddy, Dave and Martin Richardson, John Ward, Alan and Keith Bilyard, Bernard
Matcham, Ron Maxwell, Keith Holbrook and surprisingly Bert Porter [‘Skip’] who played just one game!
Seveno CC…
Seveno CC…Seveno CC…
Seveno CC…
still going strong after nearly 60
still going strong after nearly 60still going strong after nearly 60
still going strong after nearly 60
years
years years
years
The 70
th
Old Boy’s Association, founded i
n 1948, always
had a passion for sport. Badminton, table tennis and
snooker were the popular activities on Monday evenings
along with plenty of tea and chat in the kitchen! Football
was also played and the soccer team, named ‘Seveno’,
enjoyed success in the Balham League.
In 1954, it was thought there ought to be a cricket team.
So with Jim Palmer’s enthusiastic help, a side was
cobbled together and ‘Seveno CC’ took its tentative steps
into the world of cricket. Only a few games were
arranged that year - the first match played was in
Wandsworth Park against a team raised by the 28
th
London Old Boys. The following seasons showed the new
cricketing squad growing in experience and confidence.
1956 was the year the team took off. A cricket pitch was
hired in Beddington Park and this was to be our home
ground for many years. With the inspirational Jim Palmer
as captain, a full fixture list was arranged for a bunch of
players all keen to get started. The season was eventful;
some highs, more lows (one game all over before tea!)…
but whatever, all played with a good team spirit. During
the winter, ‘nets’ were arranged at Mitcham Baths with
the hope we would be better prepared for the
forthcoming season. And so it proved, with more matches
being won. Runs were sometimes a problem but we
managed to get by most of the time.
A significant addition to the squad in 1958 was John
Ward, who would eventually captain the team for an
amazing 17 seasons. About this time Jim moved away to
Sussex. He left behind a legacy that the team enjoys to
this day. But cometh the hour cometh the man - Roy
Challis. Roy kept the club going for many years, never
seemingly taking a holiday, doing all the essential work of
running the team.
The team flourished throughout the 60’s and 70’s and
some exciting games ensued. One memorable fixture
however stays in my mind…
We had an away fixture against the staff at Banstead
Mental Hospital who having won the toss decided to bat.
They put on a good score and declared at tea. A meal
was served on an open part of the pavilion with patients
helping pour the tea etc. Our innings began and we
quickly lost a couple of wickets. However, ‘Spadger’
Smith, who was next in set about the bowling, hitting a
mighty six which went straight into the pavilion and
crashed into the neatly stacked dirty plates, cups and
saucers, sending broken crockery everywhere. One of the
patients standing nearby seeing this jumped up and
down, clapping his hands with glee. Talking about it after
the game we debated whether his reaction was in
admiration of the shot or that he’d got out of doing the
washing up! A lack of players coming from the company
at this time meant we needed to find players from
elsewhere. Fortunately new talent was easily absorbed
into the team.
Despite the folding of the Old Boy’s Association in 1973
‘Seveno CC’ continued unaffected. In the 80’s the club
‘batted on’ albeit with even fewer former members from
the 70
th
.
In 1998 the Club celebrated the 50
th
Anniversary of the
Old Boy’s Association with a special match of Past v
Present. Many past players attended and it was
particularly pleasing to see Jim Palmer again - he was
thrilled to know that the club he helped create was not
only still playing but thriving. There was a barbeque after
the game and John Ward made a speech before past
players were presented with a commemorative
medallion. The same year an evening match was arranged
against the Company, which ‘Seveno’ managed to win.
In 2013 ‘Seveno CC’ will still be playing – home ground
now Joseph Hood Recreation Ground, Worcester Park,
...and they have some silverware! - in 2004 ‘Seveno’ won
the ‘Nutfield Sixes’, a limited overs knockout tournament
against stiff opposition. No BB connection now but we
hope there is an awareness of a distinguished history and
the importance of playing the ‘Seveno’ way. Long may it
continue!
Keith Holbrook
Celebrating 50
years of the
founding of the
Old Boys
Association,
Keith Holbrook
and Jim Palmer
cut the cake.
Barracks into the
quadrangle of Buckingham
Palace to be inspected by
King George VI. I couldn’t
help noticing how ill the
King looked - he died early
the following year.
Another highlight for us
that year was being chosen
to be part of the massed
band at the Royal Albert
Hall Display when the then
Princess Elizabeth was
Brian Flint
Brian Flint Brian Flint
Brian Flint
remembered…
remembered…remembered…
remembered…
REFLECTIONS
Page 3
Brian and I are cousins of similar age (Brian being one
year the elder). We grew up in Tooting a suburb in South
London. Brian lived with his mum and dad in the next
road to my family. So in the last couple of years of the
war, into the late forties and early fifties we spent a lot
of time together. There were many children in the road
where my family lived with girls in the majority. I have
been wondering if that was the reason we saw so much of
Brian. Or it could have been the cricket - having a
lamppost outside my front door was ideal and many a
game ensued - much to the annoyance of certain
neighbours. We often use to get the cry ‘mind the
windows’.
In those days with little traffic, side roads were a
playground for children and Brian and I were very much
part of that scene. If we weren’t playing cricket we were
kicking a ball about or flying paper aeroplanes.
We also wandered far and wide and unlike today, parents
seemed happy for us to do so. One morning a number of
us were on Tooting Common when Brian fell in the pond -
he was really worried that he’d be in trouble with his
mum when he got home and be kept in, so we tried - not
very successfully - to disguise the fact his trousers were
wet and muddy. Anyway it turned out OK and he showed
up again in the afternoon.
During this period something happened which was to hav
e
significant effect on our lives though, of course, we did
not realise it at the time. Brian’s mum took Brian and me
down to Tooting Junction Baptist Church to join the ‘Life
Boys’, a feeder organisation for the Boys Brigade for lads
9-12 years. This became a weekly fixture for us enjoying
all the activities on offer.
Though there had been a war going on for much of our
early lives we were unperturbed by it -
after all we didn’t
know a lot different.
As we got older we gave up street cricket and ventured
further afield. Brian like the rest of our gang now had a
bike so off to a favourite place a few miles away to set
up stumps. Thus on summer holidays, most days it was
cricket in the morning, home to get fed, and then back
again for an afternoon session.
Around this time Brian got his 11+ results and found he
had been accepted at the local grammar school.
The next
year, having reached the age limit of the Life Boys, Brian
went into the Boys Brigade - the 70
th
London. Being a
year younger, I had a 12 month wait. Brian quickly
adapted to the change and became an enthusiastic
member of the company. We had a strong band in the
70
th
which Brian and I were part of as buglers. 1951 was a
highly memorable year for us and the band. As part of
the ‘Festival of Britain’ celebrations we were privileged
to be selected to be in the battalion band that was to
head a guard of honour to march from Wellington
guest of honour.Later in November that year somet
hing
profoundly significant took place for us – we were both
baptised one Sunday evening. So, quite a year.
Brian did well at school –
getting good exam results which
would eventually lead to an executive position with a
major company. In the BB showing good leadership
qualities he rose to the rank of sergeant. Then came
National Service with the RAF. On his return Brian served
in the 70
th
as an officer and a bugle instructor. It was
during this period that he began married life with Julie
who was a prominent member of the Tooting Girls
Brigade Company. They left the area around 1960,
moving first to Addington before settling in Hove.
Obviously by this time our lives had taken different paths
and we saw less of each other. And so it continued that
way until a joint concern over elderly aunts,
living on the
south coast, meant we began to see each other more
frequently. And of course we met up at regular intervals
at BB reunions.
Brian never lost his interest and love for the 70
th
knowing
what it had given him. Twice last year while in poor
health he made the effort to attend Old Boys functions.
So how shall we remember Brian?
He had a friendly nature, slightly reserved,
honest, reliable, good humoured and not
frightened of responsibility. Yes, all that’s
true, then the final words of the BB objective
came to mind.
‘...all that tends toward true Christian
manliness’
I think we can say without contradiction that
Brian displayed these qualities in every facet
of his life.
Keith Holbrook
(as delivered by Keith at Brian’s funeral)
Related in time…
Related in time…Related in time…
Related in time…
REFLECTIONS
Page 4
Chris Buss
supplied these
photos and the following
commentary…
‘The 1996 Company photo
not only contains Dillon Davies,
his best man and most of the
ushers at his wedding last year
(looking a lot smarter than
when they tried to wear
uniform!) but also Jermain
"Jazz" Ellington, 2nd row from
top 4th boy from left, who was
one of the contestants in "The
Voice" TV show early in 2012’.
Can anyone (not you Chris...)
match the faces?
Page
5
REFLECTIONS
Orderly Buglers:
Peter Clark
Alan Bilyard
Brian Flint
Caption
Caption Caption
Caption Competition
CompetitionCompetition
Competition!
!!
!
This snap is from Camp 1955; showing, Officer
Percy Sore and Camp Cook, George Blake.
What do you think they may be saying!?
Let us have your thoughts and we will print them in
the next edition.
Fancy Dress Competition: Dover Camp 1955:
Mother & Baby?!
When looking through the photographs in the 1950s
section of the Gallery, on the 70
th
London’s website, I
was surprised to notice a photograph of familiar faces
entitled “Camp Officers”. Arthur Bowbeer, Gordon
Ferriman, Brian Flint, Peter Knights etc, camp? I had
always considered them to be pretty regular, down to
earth sort of chaps… Then I realised I had jumped to
conclusions and decided the photograph showed “Officers
at Camp”!
Like many of us I have
some very happy
memories of going to
camp; the excitement of
the journey at a time
when few of our Dads in
the 1950s had cars and
transport was normally
short journeys by local
bus; travelling in the
back of a furniture van
(health & safety?) from
Longley Road, Tooting to
exciting places like
Church Hougham just
outside Dover with its
castle and white cliffs;
being in open countryside
with animals in the
fields; filling our paliases
with straw from the barn
at the farm; the smell of
the grass inside the tent;
hitch hiking to get into
Dover or Folkestone; the climb down to the beach to
swim; the freedom and companionship for a week. I
remember falling in the river somewhere, fully clothed,
but it didn’t matter because the sun was always shining;
wasn’t it?
Do you remember Geo
rge’s marvels with the food and
drink? Most important to growing teenage boys before the
time of pizzas and burgers. And ‘Gunfire’ which
I believe
was hot, watery cocoa,
but much appreciated in the
early morning chill, in the middle of a dew covered
campin
g field (entering Gunfire in Google I now discover
it can be hot tea or coffee spiced with rum,
but I don‘t
recall the latter ingredient). Then the breakfast porridge
which set us up for the day’s activities (I have eaten
porridge in many places over the p
ast 50 years but none
as good as that). But I think my most lasting memory is
the peace and the hiss of the hurricane lamps in the
marquee at supper time.
In 1956 and 1957 I recall we went to Charmouth. No open
furniture van this time but the luxury of a
train ride from
Wimbledon to Axminster hauled by a Merchant Navy Class
steam locomotive - how exciting!
After the 1956 camp Dave Golder and I did not return to
Longley Road with the Company but our bags went back
and we hitch hiked, west to east across
Dorset, to
Swanage where my parents had taken a caravan for the
week. We visited the Army Tank Museum in nearby
Bovington. During the remainder of the week we saw
many tanks, newly painted in their desert camouflage,
being taken on Mighty Antar transporter
s to the naval
dockyard at Portland to go to serve with the Suez crises.
It must have been 1957 when I went on my last camp to
Charmouth. I went on the advance party, setting out one
evening in Percy Sore’s car after he finished work;
breaking our journey
to camp by the roadside in the New
Forest, having Percy demonstrate how to drive down the
middle of the road in the forest in the dark without lights
(a trick he learned during the war with, I believe, the fire
service).
Thinking back I realise just how
generous with their
holiday time were these “camp
officers” when back in
the 1950s they probably had only three weeks
annual
holiday from work each year and they gave one to us.
Peter Essam
REFLECTIONS
Page 6
Those Camp Memories
Those Camp MemoriesThose Camp Memories
Those Camp Memories
-
--
-
A
AA
A
gain!
gain!gain!
gain!
Peter outside
Tent No
1, ‘Cook’s Cabin ‘[after
John Cook] at Dover,
1955
We finally made it to Brighton about eight o’clock in
the evening. Now what? We went to the police box
at the end of Brighton pier and a kindly policeman
took our details. A Black van appeared and we and
our bikes were bundled into it and off we went to the
police station.
It was now about nine thirty and we began to realise
our parents would be worried about us. We did not
have telephones at home so we could not contact
them. The police decided to phone Tooting police
station which was very close to our houses and ask for
a policeman to go to our houses and explain where
we were and to collect nine shillings and sixpence for
our rail fares home. You can guess how worrying it
was for my mother to see the policeman’s shape
through the door when she went to open it being now
about ten o’clock at night! And my father was ill in
bed with a heart problem.
Anyway we and our bikes were sent on a train with a
policeman and we chang
ed in Croydon where another
policeman was waiting to take us to Streatham. We
didn’t wait for the train so we cycled home from
there. It was now about midnight. Fortunately, as
time passed my parents forgave me but as you can
tell the story still haunts me.
Needless to say our little trips to Colley Hill came to
an end and just a year or so later I joined the Boys’
Brigade. This is a chapter of adventure worth
recalling another time.
So why am I telling you about this? I think it is
because we are often put out by other people’s
misdemeanours and how inconvenient they are to us.
But do we think of the times we do the same to
others either by accident or without thought?
Alan Bilyard
The decision of what to write for
Refl
ections
was
essentially made by my 15 year old grandson. Last
year he broke his leg and the subsequent impact on
the family in terms of anxiety, inconvenience,
mobility and GCSE’s and the like was considerable.
One simple accident but a major worry and
impact on
the whole family.
This recent experience made me think of some of the
problems I caused my parents and family when I was
a boy – mainly doing things that I shouldn’t. On my
way home from school one day I decided to slide
down the whole of the escalator rail at Balham
station (which I did most days) but this time I came
to an abrupt halt when I hit the ground at the bottom
of the escalator hurting my wrist. I carried on home
in pain but with a stiff upper lip not wanting to tell
my Mum as sh
e would have wanted to know how I did
it. So for the rest of the evening I suffered. By the
next morning the pain in my hand and wrist was
unbearable and they were about double the size they
should have been. So I had to confess and was taken
to the hospital (by bus of course – no cars in those
days) and was diagnosed with a fractured wrist.
Then my Dad wanted to know how it really
happened. Afraid of the truth I concocted a story
that a metal spike caused me to fall. Oh dear that
was the wrong thing to say as my Dad then said he
would sue London Transport! So in the end I had to
confess so that I could prevent a horrible situation
getting worse. Thing is that my parents just laughed
which was even more hurtful.
One of my misdemeanours was more of adventure
than injurious. My friend, who lived opposite me,
and I used to cycle to Colley Hill (near Reigate) every
Sunday (I hasten to add before I joined the BB). It
was a regular weekly adventure. We used to fill our
saddle bags with sandwiches and drinks which our
Mums had prepared and we’d set off happily early in
the morning. I was only 10 years old and my friend I
think was 11 so a thirty odd miles round trip wasn’t
bad in a day.
One Sunday (and our last such trip) my friend said we
should be more adventurous and cycle to Brighton.
Of course without our parents knowing! So about
eight o’clock one Sunday morning we set off to
Brighton. The innocence of our ages meant we had
no idea how far it was and how long it would take.
We ventured along the (old) Brighton Road and soon
got tired. We rested every ten minutes or so. The
weather broke and turned stormy. We sheltered out
of the rain under a small hump bridge and decided to
The
The The
The Worries Boys
Worries BoysWorries Boys
Worries Boys [and Girls?] Can Cause
[and Girls?] Can Cause [and Girls?] Can Cause
[and Girls?] Can Cause!
! !
!
REFLECTIONS
Page 7
go to a nearby farm for some
water. The people there
were very concerned for our
safety and after drying us out
in front of a fire they tried to
persuade us to go back home.
We said that we would of
course. However, feeling
refreshed we decided to
proceed to Brighton in the
rain. It was now well into the
afternoon and I was worrying
how we would get home. My
friend said not to worry he
had a plan.
POST SCRIPT
POST SCRIPTPOST SCRIPT
POST SCRIPT
: We welcome all comments and suggestions on
Reflections
Please contact either Alan Rance:
alan.rance@virginmedia.com
01491 839164 or
Dave Richardson:
davri22@gmail.com
01323 483066
www.70thlondonoldboys.org.uk
REFLECTIONS
Page 8
We need your memories of Owen Clark
In the next edition of Reflections, we plan to do a full
feature on
Owen Clark. Owen served as a boy in the Company in the
1940’s/50’s, rising to the rank of Staff Seargent.
At the of ageof 27 he was accepted as a missionary teacher with
the Baptist Missionary Society and spent most of his remaining
life in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Here he served with
distintion as a missionary, teacher and administator.
We would like to hear from OB’s and their friends who remember
Owen [and his wife Deanna] and have perhaps a memory or two
they would like to share regarding this most impressive man.
A
AA
Avis Porter
vis Portervis Porter
vis Porter
We are sad to report the passing of Avis
Porter, wife of Bert ‘Skip’ Porter last
November.
The picture shows the happy couple on their
Golden Wedding anniversary in 1987.
Bert was the 70th’s Captain between 1938
and 1955
Website news etc…
The photo Gallery on the website grows apace, with albums now present for all the decades of the 70
th
. Also
present are pictures from the Centenary Reunion in 2008 - a reminder of what was a memorable day, and
some from the lunch held for Jim, Barry and Daphne in 2011. If you have not viewed the albums for a while
have a fresh look as some classic photos have been added courtesy of Alan Bilyard, Chris Buss, Peter Essam,
Jack Fishpool, Keith Holbrook and Alan Rance. As ever, photos, comments and corrections are welcomed.
Another ‘mini’ reunion is planned for Monday 15
th
April at the Victory Inn, Staplefield, Mid Sussex…
Please bear Bill Pizey in mind as he undergoes checks after a number of serious operations.
Dave
