The Old Dy’vorian The Journal of the former pupils of Dynevor School www.dynevorrevisited.org.uk Number 25 August 2014 Thanks, Ray, for a grand gesture WE don’t make a habit of singling out indi- Old Dy’vorian’s viduals when it comes to one-off fundraising grandson reaches projects. ski final in Winter But this time we’re Olympics: Page 4 making an exception. Because it would be wrong NOT to acknowledge Ray Farmer’s wonderful contribution to the ODA’s successful One better than campaign to raise £1,150 to digitise the school magazines. three degrees! Ray (1934-38), who’s ORMER Dynevor deputy now 90, was hugely Peter and his Fheadmaster Peter Phillips wife Judith supportive of the has been awarded a doctorate - venture and sent a cheque for £300 on at the age of 70. behalf of himself and Peter spent 14 years at the school his two brothers, from 1982 until 1996 - serving Frederick and David, under headmasters Hubert Davies fellow Old Dy’vorians, then Allan Smith. neither of whom, During his career he collected a sadly, is now with us. BA, an MA and a MEd. Now, af- Treasurer Steve Way ter more than four years studying said: “It was a very at Cardiff University, he’s added a been ordained as a non-stipendi- magnanimous ges- PhD. ary priest in 1993 and was once ture. It never ceases But it’s what comes BEFORE curate under the ODA’s very own to amaze me the his name that’s most important: Lionel Hopkins! depth of feelings held The Reverend. Peter went on to work in prison by so many for the old Because when Peter left Dyne- chaplaincy at Liverpool, Usk, school.” vor 18 years ago it was to become Bristol and Shepton Mallett, and Magazines on our a prison chaplain - in fact he’d > Continued on Page 6 website : Page 2 Smashing night in store with David Mercer - Page 5 2. The Old Dy’vorian There’s everything except gangsters and lotharios! By Roger Williams HEN Dynevor School was closed, a host of invaluable docu- Wments were rescued from the skip by headmaster Allan Smith and his deputy Graham Hanford. The ODA immediately recognised the im- portance to present and future generations of an almost complete run of school magazines but had no facilities to store and display them. In time, it became clear that the way forward was to make them available on the Dynevor Revisited web-site. The firm Pearl won the contract to digitise them, and the Old Dyvorians responded to the last edition of TOD by raising £1150 to This picture of the school in finance the project. 1913 on the eve of World War You can now look up the ODA website www. One appeared on the front page dynevorrevisited.org.uk to access the maga- of TOD24, and it struck a chord zines in the members’ section (user name: Old_Dyvorian; password: Dynevor12) . with Peter Hopkins (1948-53). The magazines cover the years 1910-1970, Find out why on Page 9. with just a small number of missing editions, mainly in the 1920s. Interestingly, the Literary and Debating Members are warmly invited to hunt in old Society often had its finger on the pulse of attics for the missing numbers - 36-39, 41, 47 the times. and 81. Other rescued materials, including press Access through the web-site is fast, and the cuttings and photographs, were the property readability remarkable. You can step back into of the Local Education Authority, and are your school era or the remoter past to recon- now reunited with a larger collection in the nect with school trips, staff and class-mates, West Glamorgan Archive, held in Swansea’s athletes, aesthetes, jokers, actors, musicians, Civic Centre on Oystermouth Road and stars of school and house sports and eistedd- open to the public. fodau, politicos, recruits to the armed forces, Confidential materials, including the head- as well as catch early sightings of future Arch- masters’ log books, punishment books, and bishops, Lords, Professors, MPs, Goons and pupils’ and teachers’ registers, are subject other star performers. to the Data Protection Act, and access is Inevitably, editorial policy ruled out articles typically restricted to specialist researchers on in-house gangsters and mafiosi, or roman- gathering statistical (not individual) data. tic liaisons! The scope of the collection can be seen at Some of the most thoughtful pieces mir- [email protected], ror wider global changes: two world wars, searching under ‘Dynevor School’. the Depression, and post-1945 fluctuations Kim Collis and his team of archivists will in economic prosperity and hopes of a fairer be delighted to offer guidance to enquirers at society. the Civic Centre. Happy hunting! Never approach a bull from the front, or a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction 3. The Old Dy’vorian More miscellaneous musings from the editor Here’s a new twist on the North-South divide GOOD pal of mine, who did a bit of sailing in his time and still takes It wasn’t plain sailing a keen interest in maritime matters, for the aircraft carrier A Abraham Lincoln was telling me an intriguing little tale not so long ago. It was based on an actual radio conversation between a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland. The conversation, released by the Chief of Naval Operations authorized by the Freedom of Information Act, went like this: Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision. Americans: Recommend YOU divert your Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a col- Abraham Lincoln, the second-largest ship in lision. the United States’ Atlantic fleet. We are ac- Canadians: Negative. You will have to di- companied by three destroyers, three cruisers vert your course 15 degrees to the South to and numerous support vessels. I demand that avoid a collision. YOU change YOUR course 15 degrees to the Americans: This is the Captain of a U.S. North. I say again: that’s one-five degrees Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course. North - or counter-measures will be under- Canadians: No, I say again, you divert taken to ensure the safety of this ship. your course. Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call. Save yourself Having the last laugh I WAS back in my native Rhondda last month - we moved a few pennies to Swansea when I was seven - to attend a funeral. A dis- MY wife and I are always tant uncle who’d died at the age of 91. Mustn’t grumble, it grateful when somebody comes was a decent innings. up with a money-saving tip that While I was making my way to the graveside, my at- helps the household budget. tention was drawn to a little verse on a nearby headstone And I’m happy to share with which marked the resting place of a well-known charac- you a super-duper idea one of ter who used to look after the tables in the billiards and my neighbours came up with snooker room at the Conservative club just down the road recently ... from the cemetery. Old unwanted telephone di- You know the kind of thing - he’d make sure all the cues rectories make ideal personal had tips, the balls were nicely polished, that there was address books. Just cross out plenty of chalk available and the various accessories were the names and addresses of all all in good order. Anyway, this is what the verse said ... the people you don’t know. It makes good sense, so why Here lies the body of Gwilym John not give it a whirl? Look after Billiards marker at the local Con the pennies and all that! Gone for a long rest ... 4. The Old Dy’vorian Tudor looks for help with war research TUDOR Price (1958- 1965) is researching de- tails of former pupils who served in the Great War - 46 of whom were lost. Does any member have a connection with an ex-Swansea Municipal School pupil who en- High-flying Ben Cavet and his granddad Kilby listed between 1914 and 1919? Photographs would be Kilby so proud of special interest. If you can add to this as Ben makes research or offer a com- ment please get in touch Olympic finals at tudorprice3@btinter- O doubt about who member of a team that won the net.com. was the proudest Old British gymnastics competi- ◘Tudor continues his NDy’vorian during the tion, so I have a background Swansea Copper Story, Winter Olympics at Sochi in of sport which led to a career the first part of which Russia early this year. as a P.E. teacher and college appeared in TOD24, on It was Kilby Edwards - and lecturer”. Page 16. with good reason. Kilby, who went from Dyne- Because his 20-year-old vor to Carnegie College in Annual awards grandson Ben Cavet came a Leeds. eventually left teaching very creditable eighth in the to start a business organising for students Moguls event, which means ski courses for school groups, THIS year’s ODA an- Big Bumps! so skiing has long been a spe- nual awards to students Maidstone-born Ben, though, cial interest for him and his from the University of wasn’t competing for Great family. Wales Trinity St David Britain - he was representing “Our son Dayvid competed in (formerly Swansea Met- France! the 1992 Winter Olympics in ropolitan University) will Kilby’s daughter Carole and the aerials event,” he added.