Old Boys

photos taken on Old Boys day - October 2007

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Recent letter sent to the school

Re : Ian ALFORD - NPS Pupil 1943 to 1949 (d.o.b. 15/03/1936)

Recently when ‘browsing the net’ I stumbled on the NPS web site and saw a letter from an old master at the school namely David Weston.

The letter took my mind flashing back more than sixty years to when I attended the original NPS in Eastbury Road, Northwood. Although time has dimmed some memories others are still vividly implanted in my mind and as fresh as yesterday.

After spending my professional life in Merchant Banking in London and then in Investment Banking in New York I finally retired here to a beautiful rural village in the Republic of Ireland.

David Weston’s letter brought back images from all those years ago.
 
I remember the ‘gas bag’ taxis (so called because they had huge rectangular balloons of gas - due to petrol rationing - in large wooden cradles over the whole of the top of the then Austin Cambridge saloon cars) and which were operated by Coliver Fisher at the station at Northwood.

The walk from the station along a footpath by the side of the railway track led almost to the back of the school coming out I think in Rofant Road just beside the side entrance to the school playground. We used to be Ian Allan train spotters and the footpath was an ideal place to take train numbers.

The field beside the school had (very smelly) wartime bomb shelters in which we sheltered during the by then fairly infrequent Air Raid Warnings and then back into school at the All Clear and changing into the ‘house shoes’ (with elasticated sides) which the Head Master’s wife, Mrs. Riddell insisted boys had to wear inside the school building.

Every school morning opened with Morning Assembly at which the Headmaster Mr. GVC Riddell would make announcements and then close with one prayer each day. These prayers, of which there were probably about ten or so in all, were said so often that I can still remember many of them, word perfect, to this day.

After Assembly the shutters dividing the whole ground floor into individual class rooms were pulled own and teaching began.

I remember a Miss Nicholson a late middle aged disciplinary ‘bombshell’ who frightened us all by her dress code and general strictness. There was a Mrs. Rothwell who taught us English and also helped develop and produce the Christmas Nativity Play which took place every year. Mrs. Rothwell’s courtesy and skills also introduced us to what was for some of us our first (and for me quite emotional) experience of classical music (Dvorak’s New World Symphony).

Then there was a very young Miss Ingram and several male teachers (presumably just after the war ended), including David Weston, a tall handsome teacher with dark well groomed hair and always immaculate in his appearance.

Another young teacher, Mr. Flynn who looked so ‘dashing’  with an exceptionally long scarf, such that we all thought he was a Spitfire Ace. Then FAB Sanderson (universally known as FABS) who taught us excellent cricket, the disciplines of rifle shooting (in the school playground)  and French. Then there was Mr. Manning with a peaked bald domed head always actively engaged in all sporting aspects of school life.

Finally Mr. Riddell himself. He taught us Divinity and Mathematics. He was a deeply sincere God fearing man but who for me was never able to excite me with  his own religious beliefs.

But it was in his teaching of Mathematics  that he laid a foundation for me that has carried and sustained my numeracy throughout my life. He used to mark all our work with a red ink fountain pen in fine almost copperplate handwriting so small that one could hardly read it.

Quite often Mrs. Terry always so elegantly dressed and seeming so aged leaning on an ebony cane, would visit us on days when parents were also present. Her son, John Terry (I seem to remember him in Naval Uniform) would also at times attend with his mother.

And always the ubiquitous Mrs. Riddell, running the school, supervising Prize Giving on Sports Days, overseeing school lunches, ‘chatting up’ the parents who she perceived as being VIP’s, making certain that no boy was ever inside the school without wearing his ‘house shoes’, reprimanding boys not quite correctly attired in the school outfit or with a uniform not clean enough or not properly repaired to match her ‘requirements’; seeing everything and missing nothing! 

I remember the Clear Speaking Competition for which the winner would be awarded the Clear Speaking Cup and which although I only ever came second gave us pride in being able to speak well and clearly.

The sports fields were along Eastbury Road accessed through a large farm gate. The first field was the football pitch in the Winter and the running track in the Summer with the second field across a wooden railway sleeper type foot bridge over a ditch into the cricket field with the Long Jump pit in the immediate left hand corner beside the sports equipment shed.

I was lucky enough to be awarded my ‘colours’ playing for the House and School in football. Away matches were exciting events travelling by coach and playing against St. John’s in Pinner and Quaintain Hall in Harrow and a school in Rickmansworth (was it Moor Farm?) of which I just cannot recall the name or the names of the other schools on our fixture list.

Inter school Cross Country running in Watford absorbed our training schedules and the competition to get into the NPS School teams for running, football and cricket was fierce.

I was fortunate to be awarded several ‘Cups’ for sports activities including the marvellous Victor Ludorem cup in the Summer of my last year in 1949 before going on the Merchant Taylors’.

These formative years were glorious days and I remember my five and a half years at Terrys vividly and with great respect for the academic foundations and grounding in life which it gave us all and me in particular.

Are there any other Old Terriers out there with their memories?

Brian Hanney
Roger Gifford
John Scantlebury
Richard Kingston
Roberts
Keighley
Geoff Poynting
Hutchinson
Reeves
Geoff Holland
Peter Wasmer
Isaacs
Saunders

and so many others that I am ashamed to say that even though I can see their faces in my mind (obviously as they were then) I just cannot recall their names.

Yours faithfully,

IAN ALFORD

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In an age when most school children are more familiar with 'texting' than letter writing as a form of communication, the ancient practice of 'word of mouth' has proved most effective, thanks to the archive display in the Learning Resource Centre.

“A Snapshot History of Terry's: 1910-2003” has been a great catalyst for stimulating contact from many a face from the past. The combination of the power of the spoken work and chance meetings have led to more than one 'Old Terryer' making a pilgrimage to visit the 'old school'.

Following a visit in January by former Terry's boy Tommy Willcox, now Society President of OMT's, contact was made with one of his former teachers from the 1940's, David Weston.

It was a delight to welcome back a very special 'Old Boy' to the school on St George's day this year because David can claim the unique distinction of being both a pupil and staff member of Northwood Preparatory School.

David attended the school from 1934-1938 and was taught by both headmasters of that period, Mr Terry and Mr Riddall. He then went on to Merchant Taylors' and completed his War Service in India and Egypt. He visited Terry's in 1947 for some advice on what to do with his gap year before taking up a place at Oxford and was invited by Mr Riddall to join the staff. This decision was to affect the rest of his life as David has only recently returned to England after a career abroad teaching French and English in Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia and China.

55 years later David has returned once more. The journey may have been made for nostalgic reasons but he went home marvelling at the educational opportunities and incredible resource available to a 21st Century Terry's boy.

Here in his own words are some of David Weston's precious memories and his response to the revelation of Terry's today:

“In 1934, a school milk service was introduced by the government. Few of us boys drank the free milk, but the small bottles and straws became a feature of the classrooms. Affluent children like us were not the target for this social reform. More important to us was the launch of the "Queen Mary" on Clydebank, and the rail speed record of 97mph set by the "Flying Scotsman". The London North Eastern Railway (LNER), passing through Northwood went no further than Sheffield, so train spotting was restricted to locomotives such as the "Master Cutler" and some of the 'Schools class' - including "Merchant Taylors' ", of which we were enormously proud.”

“I have been greatly impressed by all the numerous developments at ‘Terry's’ and by the very high standards that the school has achieved at its new site. Splendid! What a wonderful environment both for learning and teaching! It is hard to see any way in which you could improve on this, and I write as a former schoolmaster whose first experience of teaching was gained at Terry's.”

“I wasn't as poor a scholar as my memory suggests, though I never won a prize except for Drawing and Natural History. I am described as too "easy going" - a characteristic I seem to have had to live with. Somehow I managed to be first in class almost every year for Drawing - a pity I was not trained to develop latent skill here! In Conduct I invariably scored 'good' - 'steady' and even 'excellent'. I seem to have managed to keep out of the 'detention book' most of the time. We switched our allegiance from Surrey to Middlesex cricket when we moved to Northwood and continued collecting cigarette cards - and stamps, especially the colonial issues. Terry's Staff: Mr Harvey, Mr Weston, Mr Flint, Mr Riddall and Mr Sanderson.”

“It was not easy to forget the privileges and comforts that commissioned rank had conferred, especially for the long-serving Indian army 'types'. I don't think I suffered from that syndrome, but adjusting to teaching a lively sixth form at Northwood Preparatory School where I could no longer 'pull rank' was more challenging than I had expected.”

- Interview by Suzanne Smith