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Unfortunately, I was put in Venning, which was a luxurious building only about a year old. 

    My Venning contemporaries and I were envied by classmates housed in the main building, who had to put up with squalid basement baths and toilets, whereas we basked in gleaming new baths, showers and changing rooms. 

    But boys in other houses were wrong to envy us. Despite our modern surroundings, all of us in the 1965 Venning intake would have given anything not to be in Venning. We spent our first year paralysed in fear. Due to one or two chilling individuals, we were bullied more cruelly than boys in other houses. 

    But, looking back in the last year or so, I have realised that we were lucky in one way. We had wonderful prefects. 

    In those days prefects’ duties included administering corporal punishment to 13 and 14-year-olds with a hairbrush. A prefect would order the miscreant to bend over before delivering typically two or three strokes with the approximately nine-inch brush. 

    It was a difficult role for a prefect of any sensitivity, administering what these days would be considered criminal assault. Many OHs of that period thoroughly approve of Allhallows 1960s discipline but most concede that prefects tended to abuse their power, by beating boys for trumped-up reasons. OH author Sir John Lister-Kaye, head of school in 1964, has described the abuse he suffered as a junior: “Catching us juniors talking after lights-out was more about asserting power and providing sport for newly-appointed house prefects than it was a justified corrective.” 

    Our three Venning prefects in 1965-66 were not like that. They beat us only when rules required, and they did it as a duty, with distaste. 

    My research suggests that the three must have found it particularly unpleasant to beat their fellow students. 

    For example, the oldest prefect was really too old to be at school. He was 19 for most of his year as prefect. He had not joined Allhallows until he was 15 which suggests that, although he was expected to beat boys, he had joined the school too late to have ever been beaten by a boy himself. If true, what a difficult situation! 

    The next oldest also had not joined the school until age 15 and had to beat me and my contemporaries, despite probably never having been beaten by a pupil himself. 

    The youngest of the three was also in an uncomfortable position, being little older than his charges. He was appointed prefect aged just 16 years and five months. 

    All three prefects seemed studious types and my research, using the book Allhallows School Register and Record, shows that none of them were very sporty. 

    Thanks guys! All three of you were fair and decent but I didn’t appreciate that at the time. 

 

l Next website offering due from monthly contributor George Hayter:  1st August 

I had a wonderful time meeting the OHs who participated in the South West Golfing Week tournament at Lyme Regis Golf Course yesterday (28/06/23).

 

Special thanks to John Pagliero for organizing the event. It was a real honour for me to present the prizes at the end of the day. We captured some fantastic OH videos for our Youtube channel, which will be available in due course.

 

Congratulations to all the players! Here is a quick shot I took to at the end of the afternoon.

A leading OH made a splash when he wrote to the letters page of a national newspaper. 

    John Armstrong, landlord of a pub just off the M3, created headlines in the Daily Mail by warning of fears that Britain risks being left with no decent pubs. 

    The paper made John’s wake-up call into a page lead, complete with a picture and a three-deck headline urging readers: 

      ‘Don’t let it be 

       last orders for 

       your local pub’. 

    The letter blames the rising cost of living for leaving his customers at John’s White Horse in Ampfield with insufficient money for a pie and a pint. 

    Sociable John has spent 51 years in the hospitality business. He is frequently at OH Club events, as well as organising dinners for former Allhallows classmates at his 16th-century Hampshire inn, just south of Winchester. 

    In the Daily Mail letter, published on June 5^th, he wrote: “My pub is in an affluent area, not far from where the Prime Minister was brought up, but even the seemingly rich are struggling to pay bills and are not going out.” 

    John reckons lifestyle changes have also hit business. “People working from home don’t drive past the pub at the end of the working day, so the traditional six o’clock trade is dead. Expense account lunches are long gone.” 

    At Allhallows 1962-67, John was made head of Baker and head of the CCF. 

    His letter to the Mail concludes: “There are fears that we risk losing the Great British pub, but I’m determined we will survive.” 

David Shaw writes about a celebratory lunch on the brief return of a ‘prodigal son’:

 

As Andy Moore (Venning 53-58 and Head of School), has reported in the past, 'Irregular OH Lunches' take place in a West Country pub occasionally and are well organised by him and aimed at the over 80s. One or two much younger OHs (in their late 70s) have inveigled themselves in to the parties partly in reverence but also through genuine concern for their elders because the pub and the car park are separated by a busy road and there is no warning sign like the one  outside care homes showing an elderly couple with walking sticks  to warn motorists to slow down!  

 

Back to this one, which David Shaw organised because Andy was away but also as it was in honour of a once famous OH, Trevor Shoppee, who was in UK on a rare visit from his home in the Philippines. Trevor (Middy 59-64) was Head of School and Captain of Rugby and Athletics in 1964 as well as being SUO of the CCF, was hoping to see Tom Lang who beat him to the Victor Ludorum trophy in our final year but Tom (Venning 60-64) and Head of House, sadly was ill and could not make it.  Roddy Long (Baker 58-63), Head of School in 1963 and Captain of Cricket and Hockey was another old friend but who was also ill and unable to travel. Roger Wheeler (Stanton 55-61) was Head of School in 1960 and 61 and was having a long-awaited operation so we were able to remember him, in his absence, being captain of everything. 

 

Other friends of Trevor's who were present were Alec Crawford (Stanton 55-60), Richard Le Fleming (Middy 59-64), Nigel French (Chudleigh 55-60), Tim Clunie (Middy 59-63) who had come from Kent, Toby Martin (Shallow 59-63) who had come from Plymouth, John Lister-Kaye (Stanton 59-65) and Head of School, who had come down from Inverness and David Shaw (Baker and Venning (59-64). Lunch began with a toast to absent friends and especially to Roddy, Tom and Roger who were indisposed, and some seriously; a respectful pause gave way to a lovely reunion, a nostalgic journey revisited fondly and a pretty good lunch. Some of us had not seen others since the last day of term in 1964, almost 60 years ago. In the presence of such illustrious alumni, David Shaw was able to tell his friends that his memoirs are entitled 'Captain of the 2nd XI''.

 

Addendum. Since then, Tom Lang has generously reminded Trevor that they shared the Victor Ludorum in 1964, a compromise as Trevor was ‘Field Sports’ and Tom was ‘Track’. Roddy Long died on 9^th June, as reported elsewhere, but not before he was able to receive this report about a few of his many friends in the OH community. DCNS

 

 

 

We are super excited to announce that the first of our OH 25 Anniversary videos is now live! In this special interview, we had the pleasure of chatting with OH Simon Gibbons ('79 - '83), who shares some fabulous memories that we can all relate to. Watch the video here.

 

We want to extend a huge thank you to Simon for his valuable contribution to this project.

 

If you haven't already, make sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more fantastic videos to come. Click here to subscribe.

 

I’M sure most OHs are too busy and of course too highly educated to waste time watching daytime telly but any that do may well have been surprised by the departure from ITV of Philip Schofield.

    The consummate 61-year-old presenter resigned from ITV on May 26th, after admitting an affair with a junior male colleague whom he had helped into a job on his show, and after lying to his employer in a bid to conceal the relationship.

    The big surprise to me was that Schofield had been in a gay relationship. I always got the impression he was a ladies man.

    Schofield’s story shows that anyone we know could turn out to be gay, and it’s a reminder that we’re all human.

    No-one knows how many of the UK population consider themselves homosexual because many people who are do not like people to know, including researchers. Nevertheless, recent research suggests to me 5% gay, with a further 5% bisexual.

    A demonstration that these days gays still hesitate to come out is that, of the thousands of professional footballers in the top four divisions of English men’s football, the number openly gay is one.

    That’s despite a poll finding that 86% of UK adults think homosexuality should be accepted in society (Pew, 2019).

    Enlightened citizens recognise that people of a queer disposition are not a threat to health or civilisation and should not be treated as such. They are full members of society. I believe some of the greatest Englishmen have been gay.

    So it’s important that LGBT OHs feel at home at our club events. Of course there is no reason why anyone at an OH gathering should reveal their orientation. However, many OHs choose to bring their partner, and I cannot remember ever noticing anyone with a same-sex partner. I hope that no gay OH is discouraged from bringing their partner through fear of feeling unwelcome.

    I look forward to seeing gay couples at Sidmouth, the RAC or any other OH venue. That would make me more proud of the club.

 

● Next website offering from monthly contributor George Hayter OH: 1st July