Bude veterans return for the 70th Anniversary of their evacuation

BUDE REUNION – INTRODUCTION To the sound of roaring surf, gusting wind and squalls of rain – all familiar territory as far as those stalwart OCs returning to Bude were concerned – thirty-seven of us duly assembled in St Olaf’s, , for a service to commemorate the arrival of Clifton at Bude seventy years ago. Given that the Pearl Harbour Survivors Association has just disbanded, this was no mean effort by this generation of Old Cliftonians, spurred on by the warm wishes of over thirty others who, for various reasons, were unable to share the day with us.

The church, of course, had changed little – ah, that serene timelessness of West Country ecclesiastical buildings – but the same could not be said for the liturgy and we all struggled to recognise those words with which we had been brought up as children which are etched into the memory. However, the warmth of the welcome from the local vicar and his congregation was undeniable and much appreciated as town and gown once more came together to worship in common. The presence of the College Choir, who had given up their weekend on the promise of surf and BBQs on the beach (manfully attempted, it is reported, later that afternoon under the enthusiastic leadership of Fiona Hallworth), added an especial dimension to the occasion, bringing old and young Cliftonians together in a common purpose, and the generosity of the young men and women who gave their time so freely was much appreciated.

And so to lunch, brilliantly arranged by Simon Reece’s PA, Lucy Nash at a local hotel. In stark contrast to the liturgy, lunch was very recognisable – a substantial Sunday roast – and much enjoyed by all concerned, and it was especially good to welcome back Hugh and Clare Monro who had been running Clifton when the memorial to Clifton’s presence at Bude had been unveiled at Bude in 1991 by Lord Jenkin. Simon Reece spoke amusingly and movingly about the Bude generation and produced a copy of Clifton at Bude which contained the signatures of many, if not all, the teaching Staff at the time. Memories were stimulated by an excellent exhibition of memorabilia arranged by the College’s Archivist, Dr Knighton, and by increasingly animated conversations fuelled by renewed friendships and much passing of wine bottles at the table! The air soon resounded with esoteric yet key phrases such as “Ma Thom”, “potato picking” and “the Heavenly Twins”; all too soon it was time for departures, although the crowning touch was supplied by Gordon Catford who gave a copy of his water- colour of Bude to everyone present as a parting gift and a memento of a splendid occasion.

Reality dictates that this will probably be the last time that this group of Cliftonians this large gathers at Bude, and thus was this occasion all the more memorable for that. Thanks are due to all concerned – those who attended, those who wrote in with their memories and kind good wishes, Lucy Nash and, of course, our OC Secretary Simon Reece – for making such a special day possible.

RJA

Bude Reunion 2011

Back Row – left to right: David Brian, Michael Sharpe, John Sharpe, David Claremont, Bill Richardson, Alistair Jaffray, Bryan Foster, Christopher Parrish, Stephen Trapnell, John Bodey, Front Row – left to right: Alan Blair, John Dayer, Mark Stockwood, Dick Lloyd, John Gay, Christopher Igglesden, Gordon Catford Seated on the floor: Bob Acheson, Hugh Monro

BUDE SERMON: SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2011 at ST. OLAF’S POUGHILL

Preacher Dr Bob Acheson – Former HeadMaster of Clifton College Pre

A special congregation in a special church in a special place on a special day – and Jill and myself are grateful to have been asked to share this with you, a very special Clifton generation. And it is somewhat daunting and humbling to do so because although we are all part of a narrative which is both personal and universal, today is about you and your memories and those memories are yours and yours alone as you sit here lost in thought, recalling when you were boys, straight of back, loose of limb and bright of eye. Bernard Simpson, one of the many who cannot be here today, summed this up when he wrote recently I remember them, of course, as they were, with their high spirits, high ideals and high hopes urging us all not to forget the many who, for one reason or another, came to Bude but cannot be present on this occasion. The authors of Clifton at Bude in 1945 were presciently aware of this when they observed Ceaseless rush, unending activity marked those four years at Bude, and how can we begin to convey a glimmer of this in so short a space? Many will feel that much has been omitted, much has been seen in the wrong perspective. Bude is thus still largely a place of individual memory. To delve into such thoughts is thus a risky business for those who did not experience this first hand, smacking of presumption and demanding a careful tread lest one tramples on memories which are personal and intensely private.

Yet trying to make some sort of sense of things is the human default-setting and this gathering today of different generations of Cliftonians and local parishioners reminds us that we are all part, whether we like it or not, of a larger story. If today is therefore about memory and remembrance, it is also about meaning. What did the evacuation to Bude mean for you, for Bude itself and for the college as a whole? These are questions that we should perhaps be contemplating as Clifton generations and West Country hospitality meet again.

Reading through the letters and articles sent in to the OC Office during the course of the past year, it is clear that if the evacuation to Bude achieved anything it was in the breaking down of the sort of barriers that all institutions tend to erect in order to define themselves and justify the way they work, and this seems as true of Clifton itself as a community and for Clifton as part of a wider world. John Blandy, who sadly died only recently, recalled that Clifton at Bude was very free and boys were left to their own devices and contrasted this with his return to Bristol in 1945 to a Clifton which was More restricted than Bude. Ancient rules were resuscitated, mostly trivial and irksome. Guy Hatch, who died last year, wrote that In those heady early days a kind of intangible mixture of pioneering and a holiday spirit was abroad. For Russell Barratt, it was The amazing sense of freedom we felt at Bude by comparison with the much more constrained life we had all led at Clifton. Barriers of all kinds were broken down, many of the rules that hemmed us in were abolished or modified and above all we were free to roam the beaches and explore the marvellous countryside of North or in the case of another OC such freedom allowing him to claim that the journey back to Bude took four hours instead of two (well, there was a war on) thus allowing him to go to the cinema in Exeter before catching his connection to Bude in those balmy pre-Beeching days. For others, frankness and variety were the most valuable legacies of the evacuation. As one put it Naturalness brought out spontaneous friendliness, and boys who might have sought more formal introductions or have been restrained by natural reserve, were necessarily thrown together.

Such a situation bred tolerance. Crammed together in small studies, eight pairs of boys socks along with eight pairs of JTC boots and taking turns in putting up the black-out blind could test even the most affable of relationships! In such circumstances, arcane hierarchies simply could not work. Thus did the 6th and 5th cease to be “so Olympian”. Eating together under Ma Thom’s eagle eye and Martin Hardcastle’s resonant piece of wood, sleeping in beds bound somewhat uncertainly one on top of the other, worshipping together both Christian and Jew – all these served to break down institutional barriers, making the school more homogeneous and, without realising it perhaps, letting the genie out of the bottle so that Clifton after the war was set upon a path which it might otherwise not have taken.

Of equal, if not greater importance, is the fact that barriers between Clifton and the wider community, emphatic in Bristol, came by sheer necessity tumbling down at Bude. Writing a few years after the death of Christ, St Paul exhorted the Hebrews to show brotherly love, charging them to Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Well, I am not sure that the good citizens of Bude felt that they were entertaining angels when Clifton descended upon them in February 1941 and relationships at first were distinctly cool, not least because of the fact that troops encamped at the Summerleaze terrace hotels were hoofed out to live under canvas to make way for College boys. The turning point was a concert given by the school as a thank you at the end of term in the local cinema. The ice was broken and both town and gown settled down to a relationship of mutual respect and co-existence from which both benefited. If today is thus about memory and remembrance, it is also about gratitude and thanks for it cannot have been easy for Bude to adjust to Clifton and yet good manners, courtesy and what Wordsworth called Those small unremarked acts of kindness all served to create a wider community which functioned and worked. This church is but one example, as the plaque over there records, as was the Church for Polacks; the school got involved in the local Home Guard, and the CCF teamed up with local town boys and their ATC. Fund-raising for the war effort became a joint activity, the school provided and paid for a bed in the local hospital, whilst Douglas Fox encouraged local musicians and townsfolk to join the Choral Society and Orchestra, putting on regular concerts for all to enjoy. Local farmers could rely on Cliftonians for help at the potato- harvest and so it went on. Bude eventually embraced the College to such an extent that when it was time for Clifton to go back to Bristol, locals wrote a letter to the College which opened with the words we are more than sorry to know that you are returning to Bristol.

It is thus perhaps no exaggeration to say that if Clifton gave Bude much during its stay here, then in turn it received much from the experience and thus the College was never quite the same upon its return to Bristol and was the better for it. So today again it is appropriate to record thanks to this local community for the way it has welcomed us today, as all those years ago in its own way, influencing the College for the better. And now abideth faith, hope, charity: these three.

Looking back these eternal Christian values were in abundance here in Bude during those four years between 1941 and 1945 with the result that is perhaps summed up by Sandy Hett when he wrote in to comment that So much I believe came of all our lives being there. If you and he have cause to be grateful then so do we today.

Your generation stands as testimony to those timeless values upon which a civilized society depends. For that, subsequent generations at Clifton have cause to give you all our thanks and 21st Century society would do well to reflect upon these things. Thus do remembrance and thanksgiving cross the barriers of age and come together today, here in this lovely church, and by so doing the circle is complete. You and the people of Bude played a decisive role in the shaping of this school as it approaches its 150th anniversary, and for that we thank you. To paraphrase Hamlet: You are men, taken all for all, We shall not see your like again.

Bude Reunion Attendees – September 2011

Bob Acheson and Jill Acheson Former Head Master (Pre) 1993-2008 Alan Blair DH 1948 John Bodey ST 1944 David Brian and Diana Brian SH 1948 Gordon Catford and June Catford ST 1945 David and Mrs Claremont NT 1946 John Dayer and Anne Dayer NT 1948 Bryan Foster BH 1946 John Gay and Harriet Gay NT 1945 Christopher Igglesden and Denise Igglesden WiH 1947 Alistair Jaffray OH 1943 Dick Lloyd WiH 1943 Hugh Monro and Clare Monro Former Head Master 1990-2000 Christopher Parrish and Janet Parrish WaH 1948 Simon Reece Secretary of the OC Society Bill Richardson and Susan Richardson DH 1944 John Sharpe and Carol Sharpe ST 1941 Michael Sharpe and Sherry Sharpe OH 1976 (son and daughter-in-law of John Sharpe from USA) Mark Stockwood BH 1947 Stephen Trapnell ST 1948

Those who were unable to attend but sent their best wishes for the Reunion

Mr M.K.Adams Mike DH ‘48 Dr J.L.G.Kopelowitz Lionel PH ’44 Mr D.C.Anderson Dennis BH ‘47 Mr J.A.Kornberg Justin PH ‘46 Mr N.E.Arrowsmith-Brown Nicholas OH ’44 Mr M.J.Leek Michael PH ‘49 Major D.Balfour-Scott David OH ’45 Mr L.S.Levin Louis PH ‘41 Mr F.R.Barratt Russell WiH ’43 Mr P.J.Lloyd Pat WiH‘43 Mr R.K.Berry Roger WaH ’49 Dr D.H.Mathias David OH ‘44 Mr R.Bugler Roger DH ’42 Mr D.Mindel David PH ‘47 Mr B.C.Cave Bev OH ’48 Mr J.A.Moore-Bridger John SH ‘44 Mr M.R.Chamberlin Michael OH ’46 Grp.Capt.A.W.Morgan Anthony BH ‘49 The Rev.Canon T.R.Christie Thomas SH ’50 Mr R.Morgan-Giles Robin BH ‘44 Dr L.L.Cohen Lennard PH ’43 Mr H.C.Moule Henry SH ‘46 Mr R.Copp Ron OH ’46 Sir Peter Newsam Peter DH ‘45 Lt. Cdr. P.C.Crampton Philip OH ’43 Mr R.J.Newton Richard DH ‘45 Mr M.d’E.Miller Michael WiH ’47 Mr H.R.Paton Howard SH ‘46 Mr J.D.De Pury David WiH ’50 Mr S.Perrott Stephen SH ‘45 Mr D.Dennington Dudley DH ’44 Mr J.Preston John BH ‘49 Mr D.W.Duke-Williams David WiH ’45 Mr W.Reardon Derek WiH‘49 Mr T.B.Edwards Tim NT ’43 Mr J.Ross James ST ‘41 Mr R.A.R.Edwards Allen ST ’47 Mr D.M.Saffer Michael PH ‘44 Mr C.Gerard-Pearce Robin DH ’45 Mr V.L.Sandelson Victor PH ‘46 Rear Admiral J.R.S.Gerard-Pearce Roger DH ’41 Mr A.L.Share Adrian PH ‘45 Mr P.D.Grosset Philip WiH ’49 Mr B.J.M.Simpson Bernard ST ‘45 Major T.W.Hancock Tom SH ’46 Mr L.D.Stockwood Bill BH ‘42 Mr P.Harborne Peter NT ’49 Mr D.G.Stradling Donald ST ‘48 Mr R.Harland Robin DH ’49 Mr A.C.Struve Adrian OH ‘43 Mr A.Hett Sandy DH ’46 Mr D.B.Swift David PH ‘49 Gp.Capt. M.R.Hobson Michael WiH ’44 Mr M.L.Thomas Meyric OH ‘47 Mr D.M.Jacobs David NT ’48 Mr R.S.Thomas Richard DH ‘46 Dr G.V.Jaffe Gabriel PH ’41 Dr D.H.Trapnell David ST ‘46 The Rt.Hon.Lord Jenkin of Roding Patrick SH ’44 Mr S.Ward Simon WaH‘47 Mr C.S.Joseph Claude PH ’46 Mr D.G.Yendell David DH ‘45

The remaining pages are a selection from the exhibition of Archives prepared for this event by Dr Charles Knighton, College Archivist.

December 2nd 1940: the bomb crater on New Field between Wiseman’s and Polack’s

The Head Master’s letter to parents the following morning, 3rd December 1940.

The Council takes the decision to evacuate and to seek new premises, 7th December 1940.

New premises are leased – this document is dated 1942, although it refers to an initial lease in 1941.

Unloading a container full of equipment

Mr Muirhead takes charge!

The Erdiston, home for Dakyns’ and Oakeley’s (above) and Meal Rules (below)

A form room

South Town House Rules

Brown’s House photograph, Summer 1943

Mrs E.G.Sharp’s accounts

A page from Dakyns’ House Book

Dakyns’ House Photograph (undated)

A page from North Town House Book

Musical entertainment in 1943. The programme for June……

….and for the Christmas Concert in December St Olaf’s Church, Poughill

St Olaf’s revisited, 18th September 2011, 70 years on.

This page, and following: there was quite a correspondence about memorials!

The Bude memorial, unveiled in 1968. J.K.B.Crawford (Secretary of the OCS) stands with Bertrand Hallward and the Mayor and Mayoress of Bude

Reunion - possibly 1976

From Peter Brook to Douglas Fox

The Bude Memorial

The Reunion Dinner 1976

The College Flag on the Headland