Whittlebury 57 To 61

A Memory of Whittlebury.

I have nothing but fond memories of my time at Whittlebury,okay if you were expecting to advance to Oxbridge,forget it but it did teach you to fight your'e own battles and make your own bed.I had a head start I suppose because I came from a large family so going to a bigger one was easy. I was very sport minded being in the first eleven in football coached by "Buck" Ryan and the first eleven cricket coached by my favourite teacher Mr. Johnson.I also ran cross-country for the school,South Northants,and Northants,in the team were Alec Mc Laren,David Holloway and myself Michael Gee.My best friends were Simon Bax (Chimp),Ian Wynne-Powell (Winnie),Martin Kimber,Chris Belsize.Other boys I recall were M. Pepper,Dick Cross (who had to shave twice a day)B,Johnson(good fast bowler,Reeve,Hudson,Coupe,Wooliscroft,Antony Meager,Shishmanian,R.Whatton,H.Chamberlain,The Jaffas,Pinks(Huntingdon),Malcolm Brown and R.Paxton(Goalkeeper).I remember Mr.Thurston who was a good photographer and I have some photos of the school,cricket pavillion,the original old woodwork shop,my first Christmas Dinner in the Great Hall,the Clock Tower and several First Teams I was in,all taken by him.Mr.Pepper (Science)who lived in Towcester.We made canoes in the woodwork shop and we took them on a holiday with Mr. Ince to shoot the rapids on the River Wye,great fun.I was forever in and out of trouble and favour,does anyone remember The Goon Room,I once was a monitor and it was the only place you could smoke and not get punished,the Goons were like Gods and dished out some harsh punishment.I have so many stories I can tell about my time at whittlebury and if you remember me perhaps we can share some .There was Three Houses,Ewart,Chester and Shelton with a fourth being added later Clare.I was in Ewart to start but in sport the house won everything so I was moved to be Team Captain of Shelton(Yellow),Mr.Shelton (A lovely man) losted his wife years later ,she was killed in their car whilst watching a flying display in Bedfordshire when a light aircraft crashed onto it ,I know this because I was a retained fireman at the time and attended the incident,so sad !