Old Ewellians

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It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Derek Leonard King.

Derek Leonard King. Entered school, Winter,1949; House Leicester;Prefect,Autumn,1950; Captain of Tennis and Squash, Spring, 1950; Vice-Captain of Football, Autumn, 1950; Captain of House, Autumn,1950; First XI Football Colours, Autumn, 1949; 1st XI Cricket Colours, Summer, 1950; Tennis Colours, Summer,1950; Individual Tennis Champion, Summer,1950; Left School end of Summer, 1951.

After leaving school, he played Tennis for Surrey, and went on to run a Tennis school in Sotogrande, Spain.
He died of a heart attack on Sunday 1st Nov, 2009, whilst living in the New Forest area.

To Joe Friend for attaining his Masters in Mathematics with distinction.

To Alex Mould for attaining a 2.1 in Business Honours Degree.

Should university students pay more for their degrees?
9:26am Wednesday 23rd September 2009
By Stephen Lewis
"THE PRESS"


"JASON Wallis doesn’t mince his words. Business leaders at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) seem to regard universities as factories to produce graduates for industry, the president of York St John University students’ union says.

And if that’s the case, they should put up their own money to help plug the black hole in university finances. "

excerpt from "The Press"

Congratulations to Matthew Thomas for successfully completing a degree in Physics at Oxford University.

I started as a boarder in the autumn term of 1949 at the age of 9, having first looked over the school with my parents in the summer holidays, and had been to Epsom to buy my school uniform. Blue blazer, grey short trousers, cap and blue tie with red stripes, and two sets of everything else, and I remember my mother spending weeks sowing name tags on to every piece of clothing. Felt very smart.

We arrived on a rainy Sunday in September at 3pm and met the Headmaster Mr Pledger (Pip). I was very upset as it was the first time away from home and as it turned out the youngest boarder. The entrance hall, with all the long photos on the walls of previous year kids, the cups and shields for various sports, and as it was an old mock castle a lot of old guns and swords etc, made it very frightening. The headmaster introduced us to my teacher who was in charge of all the first year, and I was told to go into the dining room to have some tea, said I was not hungry but still had to go (Bread jam & orange juice) as my parents had to go to the office to do some paper work. I remember being the only one in the dining room, I drank the juice and ran back to the hall to find my parents and at that point somebody asked what I was doing as I was out of bounds. It turned out that my parents had been told to leave without saying goodbye as otherwise it would cause tears. I was then led into a classroom and told to wait while other new boys arrived.

As far as I can remember there were three other new boys in my age group, and we were led to our dormitory and allocated a bed. My bed was next to the door and opposite was the sick bay and next to that matron’s bedroom. She looked after dorms 1 and 2 which were for the youngest borders. At the end of this corridor were the living quarters of our principal, Mr Budgell. The school was small with only approx 60 borders & 200 dayboys, and I remember being very home sick for the first few nights. (Bed at 7pm and lights out at 7-30. Woken at7am washed and dressed and down for breakfast 7-30. Back up to the dormitory for dorm inspection by 8-00). On the other side of the village there was the girls school known as Bourne Hall (good times in later years).

Whole school assembly was at 8-45, with hymns sung with an old hand pumped organ (always breaking down) in the main hall. Masters wore a black gown with the headmaster also wearing a mortar board, at first it seemed very intimidating. At this point all the news on sports events and after school activities was given out and on the first morning all the new boys were named and welcomed. From memory there were three houses and on the year I joined it was decided to form a new one which was to be called Castlemaine. All new boys went into it as well as chosen older boys to try and balance all the houses. Junior classrooms were on the other side of a courtyard, year one being at the end of a prefabricated building. Not much to say about class work, except that at the end of each term your parents were sent a report (I still have all of mine) that showed your term work, and your end of term exam results together with the position you came in class in each subject. It also showed your final position, the number of boys in form (usual 26/28), your age compared to the class average, general conduct, and times late or absent. At the end were the headmaster’s remarks (“He tries to improve & progress has been made”)

Also in the report were sports comments which I was always excited about (First report: - Games “Good. He has played full back at soccer this term & shows promise”. Gymnastics “Good work. Tries hard.”). Over the years I was active in all the sports offered, except boxing, born coward. I do remember two boys a couple of years older that were very good, one was named Sullivan, and I understand he went on to county standard; the other was the infamous Oliver Reed.

One thing that sticks in my memory were the rules regarding punishment, which you were not told, just had to pick up from experience, sometimes painful. The teacher was allowed to “give you the ruler” on the hand, if it was deemed more serious you were sent to the housemaster who would give you the cane on the hand. More serious still was a visit to the headmaster who was the only one able to give the cane on the back- side. The most serious being “six of the best” with trousers & pants down, known as “bags off”. Also the prefects were able to give the slipper, but only to juniors and it had to take place in the prefect’s common room. (This was stopped after my second year, probably being abused, and replaced by detention)

On Sundays most the day could be spent doing a hobby or sport or just catching up with after school work (homework) that should have been done during the week. At 11oclock everyone was lined up in the courtyard and marched to church which was only a few hundred yards away. In the afternoon one hour was spent writing a letter home. You were given a small amount of pocket money each week and the tuck shop was opened to spend your pennies on sweets often to give to other kids that you owed or to repay some blackmail charge given by an older boy. Wednesday afternoon was for sports and on Saturday, schoolwork in the morning and sports in the afternoon. If you did not do sports you still had to be in school so it was a six day week, not like that now!

After a few weeks, the teacher doing roll call called me out and told me to report to the teacher’s common room as there was a large parcel waiting for me, this was of great interest to all the other boy’s including myself. It turned out to be a large tuck box full of sweets, fruit etc. Now tuck boxes were for keeping any private things in and were kept in the cellar, which was a large area under possibly half the building. It was a very dark wet place. This box was made of tin with a padlock on the lid, it was not very strong, so unfortunately within a few days it was broken into, everything taken, and it was never used again. I never found out who did it, but you certainly never reported this type of thing to a teacher, your life would not be worth living. Years later I found out that my Grandfather had made it. I never told any of the family that it had been destroyed.As a new boy life could be difficult as the older boys were always playing tricks. One I remember well was at the end of the first term. School broke up on a Friday and on the previous Wednesday all the new boarders were told that there was no tea at 4oclock, but instead it was GF which stood for Great Fight. All the new boys were led to the top playing field and had to fight with the older boys. One of the older boys confided in you and said the best way out of it was to hide when the tea bell went. It’s amazing how many fell for it (I was lucky, my best friend had an elder brother at the school and had been told it was all a hoax). In point of fact GF stood for Great Feast, when we had the best tea of the term, sandwiches, cream buns, jelly, ice cream etc. The new boys that were not there just went hungry. Food generally was very basic but adequate. Looking back the hygiene was not up to today’s standard and one thing I do remember was when it was rice pudding or bread & butter pudding for dinner, often it was left on the kitchen window sill to cool down, with all the wasps circling around. We always ate it very carefully as you often found a wasp or fly.

The school building to me in my younger years seemed vast and I now wish I had learned more of its history. There were parts of it that were out of bounds to all except prefects, such as the main stair case, all had to use a narrow spiral stairway that was just wide enough for one person, if you met any boy your senior coming the other way you went back to were you started, at the wrong time you could make two or three attempts, bad news if you were already late for dorm inspection. As previously mentioned, under the building was a large cellar, (called the dungeon), accessed by stairs next to the spiral stairway. You were allowed into the first area where the tuck boxes were kept, beyond that was out of bounds. Three of us once went into this area, using torches that we smuggled into school mainly for reading after lights out. A lot of stories went around, but all I remember is that it was very dark and damp and you were scared stiff in seeing large rats, that seemed as big as cats, in the torch light. I never went a second time, but you can understand how the younger kids felt when threatened to be put down there. At the other end of the building there were some steps from the outside that led to the cellar and this was the shower area for cleaning up after sports. (Cold water). When you were new your first reaction was to wear trunks in the showers, but you were soon told that showering had to be done in the buff. There was always talk of a secret tunnel leading from the castle cellar to Nonsuch Palace and its direction could be worked out by following the eyes of the gargoyles on either side of the main door.

After the first term things settled down. That was until the summer when there were new things to learn. I had never played cricket before but I must have learnt quickly as my school report for that first summer said “Good. He is a useful bat and a good fielder”. One morning a large diesel engine started thumping away in a small building next to the toilets, this was to pump the water into the lake, which was a large concrete horseshoe shape with an island to one side, out of which water was pumped from a spring. This took almost a week to fill and that was the start of the swimming season. To my amazement the water was green but evidently very healthy owing to the Epsom salts. Fortunately I could swim, but all the new boys had to jump off the diving board and swim to the edge whether they could swim or not. It was safe as seniors surrounded you to ensure your safety, but it must have frightened the non swimmers, but not for long, you soon learnt. One thing you also learnt was to swim with your mouth closed as it was very easy to swallow a newt. Apart from swimming lessons in school time you were expected to swim early morning, before breakfast (known as “breaking the ice”) also after tea in the early evening. Swimming sports day was great fun when all the parents would turn up and have cream tea on the great lawn. This was one of the areas that was “out of bounds” except for prefects. It did not take long to learn where you could go. One of the main rules was to always use the footpaths, never run and never walk on the grass.

On the edge of the playing field was a large oak tree that must have been hundreds of years old. It was virtually dead, but the interesting thing was that at the top was a large chain just hanging there for no apparent reason. I never found out what it was there for but you can imagine the stories that went around.

The main sports day was again great fun. A lot of work was put into it organised by our head sports master Mr Coles. My parents always turned up together with my grand parents. My grandfather was a very keen sportsman, and in his time won a lot of medals in athletics and cross country running for the London county team, so he was always pushing me to do my best. He had in fact taken me to the 1948 Olympics to see the athletics held at the Empire Stadium, Wembley. I was probably too young to fully appreciate the magnitude of the occasion.

In 1953? My parents moved to Banstead, and I changed from boarder to day boy. My day boy period was uneventful, except that I progressed up to the 1st XI in both football and cricket and was awarded 1st XI colours. I also took up Squash and Badminton both of which I played for many years after.

Every year the 6th form had a dinner and when I was in the lower fifth I was asked to propose a toast to the successful 1st X1 cricket team (They had won nearly all their matches against other local schools) I had to make a speech which I wrote and was checked by the teacher organising the event. I went back three times with alterations until it was finalised and I learnt it by heart. On the night I made the speech and it seemed ok only next day to be accused of altering it. In my last year I was made a prefect. The school uniform entailed always wearing a cap when out of the school grounds, and many a time boys were caught with no cap and given detention. Each prefect had a few days each month when you were on duty and this entailed not only taking detention but also being at school at 6-45am to wake all the boarders and make certain they were washed and dressed and down for breakfast on time. You had to do the rounds with the duty teacher on dorm inspection, and stay on after lessons until all the seniors were in bed and lights out at 9-30pm. It was a long day, but all prefects that were day boys used to stay the night. One thing I have just remembered is that all prefects had a silver tassel on their cap.(The head boy had a gold tassel). Unfortunately all my colours, cricket caps and prefects cap have long since been lost.

It’s been interesting putting my brain into gear and remembering those early years. It’s amazing the things you do remember, and I am certain I could think of many more anecdotes but it must end sometime. The headmaster’s comments on my last report said “He has applied himself well during his years with us and success should be with him”. Little did they know!

OLD EWELLIANS’ REUNION

In spite of competition from the Wimbledon Mens’ Finals, bright sunshine on the afternoon of July 5th greeted around eighty Old Ewellians who gathered at the School, together with their families, past and present staff and friends of the School to celebrate the third annual Reunion. All decades were represented, from the 1940s to the present day, and it was good to see the young and not-so-young mingling and comparing notes on what their schooldays had meant to them, and, for the latter, taking the opportunity to catch up on the latest developments.

Following a refreshing class of Pimm’s, accompanied by live music from a three piece band, everyone assembled in the marquee to hear the welcoming address from the Principal, Andrew Tibble. Mr Tibble expressed his pleasure at seeing so many present and brought his audience up to date with recent developments at the school, including the acquisition of Glyn House and, notably, the current planning application for a major building development of new classrooms and a new catering/dining facility at the Castle. Work should be underway within the year, subject to the results of archaeological excavations currently underway of the site. Mr Tibble ended by referring to the obvious pride in the School shared by successive generations of pupils and he appealed to the Old Ewellians to provide support in ensuring progress and future development. Mr Tibble expressed his thanks for the on-going support of Old Ewellians in such areas as Enterprise Week, and he also identified a wish to establish a bursary fund for pupils at Ewell Castle. Further information will be forthcoming.

There followed a delicious tea taken on the croquet lawn, which gave everyone a chance to chat and admire the grounds, which were looking splendid in the sunshine.

As in previous years, current staff were on hand to give guided tours of the Castle, Glyn House and Chessington Lodge, to enable visitors to see the changes and improvements that have taken place. In the Hall there was a display of archive material, including old school photographs, past copies of the Ewellian magazine and personal photographs taken by former staff and pupils of buildings, boys and teaching colleagues over the years. There was plenty of opportunity to try to put names to faces!

Once again, it was clear that the afternoon had been thoroughly enjoyed by all those who attended.

Thanks for the continued success of the Reunion are due to Evelyn and Mike Coleman for maintaining the Old Ewellians database, sending out hundreds of invitations and collating and presenting the archive material, and to all those current pupils and colleagues who supported them in giving up their Sunday afternoon, including the catering and maintenance teams.

The register of ex-pupils is constantly expanding, but Old Boys whom we were unable to contact this time, but who would like to be kept informed of or contribute to OE activities can register their details on our website: www.ewellcastle.co.uk or contact Evelyn Thomson-Coleman on 020 8393 1413.

Congratulations to James Astbury for attaining a 2:1 in History from Oxford Brookes.

David McDonald who left Ewell Castle in 2007 came 4th on the 31st May at Outlon Park, Cheshire.