TheALMONDBURIAN

March 2014

THE MAGAZINE OF THE OLD ALMONDBURIANS’ SOCIETY

IN THIS ISSUE3 A word from your Chairman5 When we had fun at the fleapit9 Terry’sTeaser10 Annual General Meeting14 Graham Gelder—his life and death19 Every picture tells a story20 But how modern everything is now!24 How languages became my life27 Vernon Scannell: WalkingWounded28 Farnley Lines31 Annual Dinner/Founders’ Day32 Sudoku35 We get the green light – official36 JimToomey: a master of Latin39 A history of Almondburian quizzing41 Football42 Cricket44 Golf45 Postbag49 The Almondbury Poets50 Obituaries

(Opposite):This small wooden hut – little larger than a garden shed – served as the School cricket

pavilion until 1958. It dated back to Rev Francis Marshall’s time as Headmaster.The drawing is by Roger Sykes (1946-1953).

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The magazine of The Old Almondburians’ Society

The ALMONDBURIANEditor: Roger Dowling March 2014

Y OUR 2014 Chairman resumes the position after four years’ absence, andfollowing the elections at this year’s AGM I am happy to report that theSchool’s HeadTeacher,Robert Lamb, has agreed to be the Society’s President

for another year.The return of the annual dinner to the School last year (report:page:31) was hugely

popular, according to informal polls of those who attended and other feedback, and wehope to hold it there again this year. It feels right for a Society such as ours to hold thisevent in the establishment which binds us together.

A major theme for the coming year is likely to be the new School pavilion appeal:plans have been approved (see page 35) and now the big task is to raise funds – watch thisspace, for we shall no doubt be appealing to OAS members in the coming months.

At the AGM (report: page 10) it was revealed that in 2012/13 the Society made a

A word from your ChairmanBRYAN HOPKINSON

4

marginal loss of £245.97.The main reason for this has been the greatly increased costsof postage for The Almondburian.The new committee will need to look into this, for theSociety aims to run at a surplus in order to have funds to commit to projects in supportof the School. But I am happy to announce that, since the loss is so small and we alreadyhave ideas to offset it, theAGM decided unanimously not to raise subscription rates thisyear: we have been stable at £10 a year since before the 400th anniversary year 2008.

Every spring the Society holds its annual quiz, and this year it will be onWednesday30th April at 7.30 pm in the Almondbury Conservative Club (article: page 39). Allmembers are welcome to form teams of three and compete for the magnificent trophy,which for the past three years has been held by a team representing the 1970s: come andhave a go, it’s time we were beaten. It is always a friendly evening, and this will be the37th year the trophy has been contested.

One of our hardest challenges as times keep changing faster than ever is keeping upa living connection with the School and attracting youngermembers to secure the futureof the Society. But for a Society such as ours to remain active and vigorous is quite anachievement in these days when social networking has taken over as a means of keepingpeople together.We offer a sense of continuity which is perhaps becoming a rarity, butis none the less valuable for that. �

OLD ALMONDBURIANS’ SOCIETY CALENDARDATES OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEMEETINGS, 2014The Executive Committee of the Society

meets upstairs at theWoolpack in Almondbury,at 7.30 pm. Dates for this year (all Mondays)are: 3rd March; 7th April; 12th May; 2nd June;7th July; 1st September; 6th October; 3rdNovember; 1st December.Any member ofthe Society who would like to attend one ofthese meetings will be made most welcome.

ANNUAL DINNERThis year’s Annual Dinner, again at the

School, will be held on Saturday, 22ndNovember 2014.The price is likely to bepegged at last year’s figure of £27.50.It is always good to see members making a

special effort to stage a re-union of their yearat the dinner and such occasions are alwaysenjoyable.Anyone else who takes a notion todo so, should consider starting to organisetheir class re-union earlier rather than later.

FOUNDERS’ DAY SERVICEThe annual Founders’ Day procession and

service will take place on Sunday, 23rdNovember 2014. Further details will beannounced in due course.

FOOTBALLThe Old Almondburians’ Society has two

teams that play in theYorkshire AmateurLeague. Report: page 41.

CRICKETThe club Presentation Evening will be held

on Saturday, 8th March 2014 at ‘Grappolos’restaurant, Lockwood, 7.00 pm for 7.30 pm.Further details: page 42.

GOLFGothard Cup:Woodsome Hall Golf Club

on Friday, 27th June 2014 followed by Dinner.Further details including report on last year’sevent: page 44.

BADMINTONBadminton continues at the School on

Thursday evenings from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm.

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ALMONDBURY did not haveone. Neither did Longwood,Outlane, Lindley or villages

such as Thurstonland and Farnley Tyas.I am unsure about Honley andMeltham. Most other areas aroundHuddersfield were served, if that is theright verb, by a cinema; the centre oftown had a wide choice. At the risk ofboring the pants off those under a cer-tain age, here are the names of the cin-emas I remember, and all of which I

attended at least once in my childhoodand youth.The Cosy Nook at Salendine Nook,

my local, where I went at least once aweek.The Savoy at Marsh, which laterbecame a Lodge’s Supermarket, andwhere I watched High Noon, a moviethat changed my political opinions. OnWakefield Road were: the Lyceum atAspley, where I often saw JohnnyWeiss-muller, Olympic swimming champion,and everyone’s favourite Tarzan; the

Years ago,we had two dozen ormore cinemas.Today,the town centre can onlyboast amultiplex at the John Smith Stadium.Ourwriter laments their passing

When we had fun at the fleapit

REGGIE BYRAM (1946 - 1954)

It’s a dark, wet evening in 1942 as future USPresident Ronald Reagan appears in bothKings Row and Code of the Secret Serviceat the Empire.Today, the building is a Home& Garden centre.

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Regal in Moldgreen, of which I re-member nothing; and the Waterloo,which also became a Lodge’s supermar-ket for a time. On the other side oftown were the Regent in BradfordRoad, now an Indian restaurant, andthe Rialto in Sheepridge. In Birkby,there was the Carlton in BlackerRoad, now a mosque. In LeymoorRoad, near Golcar, the Leymoor cin-ema – not all places had classical names– and the Premier at Paddock Head,while further down Lowergate therewas the Milnsbridge Palace, an Aldisupermarket today, where I had my firstshy date with Shirley. (I wonder whatbecame of her.) On Lockwood Road,near a busy junction, there was also acinema, while the Plaza in ThorntonLodge, also thrived. In the ’30s and’40s, all cinemas thrived, and therewere often queues, especially for thetwo showings on Saturday evening.For those prepared to walk, or catch

a trolley bus, there were cinemas fur-ther afield: the Star in Slaithwaite, andthe Electric in Marsden. I watched

War and Peace at the Star, agood film scripted by Brid-get Boland, an excellentplaywright, and starring, asthey used to say, HenryFonda, Mel Ferrer, and thedelectable Audrey Hep-burn.Brighouse, the small

woollen town where I was born – inthe year when GeorgeV was still king-emperor, and Ramsay Macdonald wasPrime Minister – there were three cin-emas, all on Bradford Road: the Al-bert, now a down-market eating joint;the Savoy, which I attended with mygrandfather, and where I first fell inlove with Ingrid Bergman, a love thatsurvives her death in August 1982. Onone Saturday, I was allowed to attend allcinemas: theAlbert for the matinee, theSavoy for the first showing (the firstturn, as we said,) and then the Ritz forthe second turn.The movie at the Ritzwas Song of Russia, starring RobertTay-lor and Susan Peters. It was a 1944movie heaping praise on our brave So-viet allies, before the Americans cameto their senses and remembered theatrocities committed by Stalin. RobertTaylor, a big name in his day, was bornSpangler Arlington Brugh. It must havecome as a relief when the studio bosseschanged his name.The curious among you, and there

must be a few, will be wondering why a

The Ritz was once one ofHuddersfield’s mostprestigious cinemas.Today,the site is a Sainsbury’ssupermarket.

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child of nine was allowed to go to thepictures, unescorted, three times inone day. The reason was, that I wasbeing protected. My grandfather was inBradford Hospital, dying of cancer, andnobody told me. It was the same withthe many funerals that our family hadin those years, done by the BrighouseCo-op. It was all kept from me, as theythought, but I picked up moods, andmodes of dress, and became quite in-terested in death.The centre of Huddersfield had,

you would have thought, enoughcinemas, but such was the popular-ity of the movies, there were usu-ally queues. Near where Tesco’sstands in Viaduct Street was theMajestic cinema, and round thecorner the Empire.The Princess,

in Northumberland Street, had arestaurant, as did the Ritz/ABC, inMarket Street. Down Ramsden Street,next to theTheatre Royal, was the Pic-ture House, and further down theTudor, which later became the Es-soldo. On Buxton Road – for somereason now a part of New Street - wasthe Ranch House. Its name was theHippodrome but it showed mostlyWesterns and B- movies, which must

In its day, the Majestic in Viaduct Streetwas a popular town centre cinema.Today it stands forlorn with the trafficof Huddersfield bypass speeding pastwithin a few yards of its front entrance.The auditorium is now used as a garageand MOT centre while the offices areoccupied by a web design company.However, the projection room (right)with its two ancient Simplex 35mmprojectors with their ‘Peerless Magnarc’high intensity lamps has been lovinglypreserved by the present owner.

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have been cheap to hire, and attractedyounger, noisier people. Did you knowthatWilliam Boyd, old Hopalong Cassidy,was the only Western hero who woreblack?And did you also know that RobertMitchum, one of the finest film actors,started out playing villains in Hopalongquickies? (Yes, I am addicted to movietrivia. There are worse addictions.) Fi-nally, at the top of Chapel Hill, just onManchester Road, there was theGrand.In order to reach the toilets, you had to

walk close to the back of the screen.Theshadows frightened me.Until recently, my wife and I still at-

tended the Showcase at Gomersal.Nowwe have stopped going.The sound is al-ways too loud, the advertisements andtrailers are an insult to the intellect, butit is the pictures themselves that havedriven us to the sitting room.Mainstreammovies, especially from the UnitedStates, are in trouble. Movies these daysare made primarily to appeal to children

or to adolescents. Thismeans dumbing down.Spectacle and animationare the order of the day.Marvel Comics heroesare everywhere. IronMan, to mention only oneseries, is a self-referentialdigital slam, a seeminglyendless battle of excitedand exacerbated pixels.These movies are bizarre.The characters are notreal in any sense and soour interest and sympathyare forfeited.But enough! This

evening I am going towatch The Maltese Fal-con for the umpteenthtime. I shall watch alone:for some reason, my wifecannot abide HumphreyBogart. Tomorrow, shewill insist on watching Inthe Heat of the Night.She has always had athing about that SidneyPoitier. �

The Grand PictureTheatre was designed in the FrenchRenaissance / Greek Revival style by the architect CliffordHickson and opened in 1921. It closed as a cinema in 1957 butwas used as a rock venue and then a night club until the early1990s. Subsequently the interior of theTheatre was demolishedand only the elegant listed frontage stands today. CliffordHickson also designed the Empire and Grand cinemas – andthe ‘De Stijl’ house of former KJGS French Master Reg Addy inSharp Lane,Almondbury.

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20 1 2 3 4 5 6 20

7 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 8

9 20 10

20 20 20 20 20 20 20

20 20 11 12 13 14 20 20

15 20 16 17

20 20 18 19 20 20 21 20 20 20

22 20 20 20 23 24

20 20 20 25 26 20 27 20 20

28 29 20 30 31 20 32

20 20 33 34 35 20 20

20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

36 37

20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

20 38 20

ACROSS1. Result of combining a prism, the sun -

and rain! (7,6)9. Say, loudly, “A figure of speech!” (6)10. North American, intoxicated, and, in the

best of health, able to get about (8)11. Energy centre confuses comic poet (7)15. Deport to East 1049, note (5)16. Reflected in extraordinary skill (3)17. Scour the rough terrain (5)18. Set destiny (3)20. Found on top of wardrobe (3)

22. Sleeve Castle (6)23. An architectural type, one got hiccups

inside (6)25. See that I’ve got beans, for example (3)27. Relative heard of newspaper (3)28. Italian fifty bend a soldier (5)30. Former president is back in the bank (3)32. Characterless in a new development

inside (5)33. Found in the Mediterranean, thanks to

the manservant (7)

36. Sit out in a storm for private lessons (8)37. A bison roaming wild in Southern Europe (6)38. Getting there direct, avoiding jail (5,8)

DOWN2. Warning on A506, Carol (8)3. Manual with old and new evidence? (5)4. Candle snuffer makes garden furniture (6)5. Get one over one about capital (5)6. Paper processor (6)7. The cleric that day wandered round, say,

Ripon (9,4)8. The A1 is in an intractable jam - yet

germ free! (13)11. Story about a girl in the Middle East (3,4)12. Unseaworthiness leads one to defection ! (3)13. Measure of infinity in main thesis (3)14. In Preston, I ask for a place in Northern

Europe (7)19. Wholesome ? (3)21. Since the word was discerned back in

Hogarth’s time (3)24. Flower girl (8)26. US female backs prisoner (3)27. Adjust the scenery (3)29. What am I doing? Mixing a colour (6)31. Hospital visitor's accomodation ? (3-3)34. Is adjacent, back inside, becoming no

laughing matter (5)35. Support in the stand (5)

TERRY’S TEASER NO 11Compiled by Terry Buckley (1948 - 1953)

Entries to the Editor (address/email: back cover) by 1st June 2014 Prize: 12 months free OAS membership

� The winner of Terry’s Teaser No 10 (November 2013) wasTony Sykes (Holmfirth)Across 1.Aerodynamically 8. Enamels 11.Realm 13.Hex 14. Eli 15.Opal 16. Ire 17.Okapi 19.Addressees 21.Ayes22.Kale 24.Montenegro 27.Resin 29.Vie 30.Weir 31.Dam 33.The 35.Capri 37.Ophelia 38.Walking the plankDown 1.American know-how 2.Orme 3.Nose 4.Marionette 5.Cha 6. Lumpily 7.Yellowstone Park 9.Ahead10. Exude 12. Lop 18.Astounding 20.Rue 21.Ate 23. Lyrical 25.Neath 26.Gavel 28. Era 32.Moth 34.Heel 36. Phi

Name

Email

Tel

2610

The Annual General Meeting of the Society was held at the ‘Woolpack’,Almondbury,on Monday,6th January,2014,at7.30 p.m.

AttendanceNick Briggs (chair) RichardTaylorAndrew Haigh Nicky MurphyBryan Hopkinson Keith CrawshawMaria Lijka

Apologies forAbsenceApologies were received from Roger Dowling, John Ridings, Michael Haigh, John

Sharp, Geoffrey Steedman (celebrating his birthday), Peter Tracey (in the CzechRepublic), Ken Shaw (unwell), Clare Barlow, John Broadbent and Angela Melling(unwell).

TheMinutes of theAnnual GeneralMeeting held onMonday, 7th January 2013,were read and approved and there were no matters arising.

Chairman’s ReportNick Briggs opened his remarks by commenting:“Hasn’t it flown by?” He went on

to observe that it has been a very good year for the Society. He noted that there hadbeen some scepticism about moving the dinner back to the school, including his own,but it had been a fantastic success, thanks largely to ChrisWest. Founders’ Day was alsoa great success this year, involving music students from the school, which meant thatsome parents attended as well, and thanks for that are due to our Chaplain, Rev StuartRoebuck, who did a fantastic job. Nick ended by saying that we should all be verypleased with such a good year.

Treasurer’s ReportKeith Crawshaw presented the accounts for the financial year ended 31stAugust,

2013 and noted that the cost of producing and distributing the magazine has increasedby 12% this year, largely due to the increase in postage costs.This has contributed to aloss for the year of £245.97. However, he did observe that, if the weight of themagazine can be kept down to that of the last issue, then the situation would be muchimproved.There were no dissenters to the accounts as presented and the Chairmanthanked Keith for doing a fantastic job, as ever.

6 Januar y 2014

Annual General Meeting

711

Membership Secretary’s ReportAndrew Haigh reported on a reasonably stable membership situation, the

membership having decreased just slightly by seven since last year’s AnnualGeneral Meeting, largely due to a number of deaths. He noted that a perennialproblem is losing contact with members who move and fail to notify us of theirnew address and he said that we have a number of members who are still payingtheir subscription but who no longer receive the magazine because we don’tknow where they are. However, the Society now has the facility to send out an e-newsletter with information of a more pressing nature and he had used it for thefirst time to remind members about this Annual General Meeting, notification ofwhich had originally been given in the November issue of the magazine.This hadalready prompted a response from two members with whom we had lostcontact, one lapsed and one fully paid-up, so he felt that this is very encouraging.

Subscription rate for the Financial Year commencing 1st September2014

TheTreasurer said that we are getting to the situation where we are spendingmost of our subscription income on producing and distributing the magazine.However, by managing the number of pages in the magazine, we couldsignificantly reduce the cost of distribution, which may be the way to control itfor the time being and it may not be appropriate to make any changes for nextyear. However, international postage costs are significantly higher again and itcosts more than £10.00 per year just in postage to send the magazine abroad.Other organisations do have overseas subscription rates, so that is alsosomething that we should, perhaps, consider.The Secretary noted that a coupleof overseas members do pay an additional amount each year entirely voluntarily,precisely because they recognise this to be the case. Keith Crawshaw went on tosay that we have already decided to reduce the number of copies of the magazinethat we send out free to new leavers from three copies to one copy, so this willalso help. He went on to say that, despite our small loss this year, he wouldpropose that we maintain the subscription rate at its current level of £10.00 perannum for 2014/15, since any change creates a lot of hard work and soshouldn’t be done until absolutely necessary. He suggested that we monitor thesituation during this year, particularly in regard to overseas postage.There wereno dissenters to this.

Election of PresidentThe Chairman proposed that Robert Lamb should be invited to continue as

president of the Society. He was elected nem con.There were no President’sRemarks, due to his absence from the meeting.

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Opposite:Annual accounts presented byN Briggs (Chairman);

K Crawshaw (Treasurer);J A Swift (Independent Examiner)

Election of Executive Officers for 2014The Chairman then moved onto the election of Officers, going through the list of

those who were nominated for office at the December meeting of the ExecutiveCommittee:

Chairman Bryan Hopkinson Archivist Nich BriggsVice-Chairman (Vacancy) Deputy Archivist Walter RaleighHonorary Secretary Andrew HaighHonoraryTreasurer Keith Crawshaw Ordinary Emily BriggsMedia Editor Roger Dowling Committee Martyn HicksChaplain Rev Stuart Roebuck Members Maria LijkaSchool Representative Angela Melling Gerald Stead

(NB Angela is unwell at the present time and unlikely to be filling the role of School Representativefor some time, so we need to approach the school for someone who could help out in the meantime).The nominated officers were all elected unanimously and Bryan Hopkinson then took

the chair.

AnyOther BusinessDate of next Executive Committee MeetingThe Secretary asked that the date be fixed for the next meeting of the Executive

Committee.The first Monday in February is the norm and Monday, 3rd February 2014was agreed.Quiz EveningKeith Crawshaw asked that the date be fixed for the Quiz Evening.Wednesday, 30th

April 2014 was agreed.Cricket SectionRichardTaylor mentioned that the Cricket Dinner will take place on Saturday, 8th

March 2014 in a private room at Grappolo’s restaurant.Annual DinnerThe Secretary read out an e-mail from John Sharp, asking that the Executive

Committee consider holding theAnnual Dinner at the school again next year.He saidthat his table and no doubt others thought that the arrangements this year were firstclass and gave the Committee a mega vote of thanks.He ended by saying that thosemembers who make the pilgrimage back to Huddersfield, andAlmondbury inparticular, owe the good folk of the Executive Committee a huge debt of gratitude.

The Meeting closed at 8.44 p.m. and was followed by the customary pie and peassupper.

(Signed)_:AMHaigh (Honorary Secretary)

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I

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2012Printing, Stationery & Postages:

2759 Magazines Printing 3149.451603 Magazines Stationery/Postage1741.57378 Other Stationery/Postage 234.51 5125.5325 Jessop Prize 25.0060 Young Old Almondburians’ Prizes 60.0095 Sundry Expenses 117.0027 Paypal Charges 36.32

— Loss on Quiz Evening Supper 18.22126 Loss on Annual Dinner 62.08

KJS Contribution:94 400th Anniversary Gates —

187 Excess of Income over Expenditure —

5354 5444.15

20125245 Subscriptions 5049.00

22 Transfer from Life Membership Account 21.7582 Interest Received 99.26

— Surplus on Sales of Prints 20.004 Surplus on Sales of DVDs —

— Surplus on Sales of Ties 7.341 Surplus on AGM Supper 0.83

— Excess of Expenditure over Income 245.97

5354 5444.15

INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 2013

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST AUGUST 20132012

18 Trophies 18.0015 Stock of Ties 7.66

175 Stock of Prints 170.00Stock of ‘Morning Assembly’Books 734.00

734 Less Sales 590.00 144.00

Life Membership Account332 Nat West Bonus Saver Account 313.38

KJS Development Fund1871 Nat West Bonus Saver Account 2138.11

Cash and Bank BalancesNational Westminster Bank:

10708 Bonus Saver Account 8577.0953 Current Account 999.792 Paypal Account 479.41

45 Cash in Hand 34.88 10091.17

13953 12882.32

2012Accumulated FundBalance at 1 Sep 2012 8802.19Less Excess of Expenditure

8802 over Income 245.97 8556.22

Life Membership AccountBalance at 1 Sep 2012 332.31Add Interest 2.82

335.13Less Transfer to Income

332 & Expenditure Account 21.75 313.38

KJS Development FundBalance at 1 Sep 2012 1870.71Add Interest 15.90

School Histories 10.00KJS 400 Merchandise 141.50

1871 Donation 100.00 2138.112065 Pavilion Appeal Fund Balance 210.00

Net Annual Dinner Receipts250 in Advance 1040.63110 Subscriptions in Advance 130.00523 Sundry Creditors 493.98

13953 12882.32

that the next occupant of Spring Cottagewas the charismatic and hugely influentialformerKJGS pupil andHead Boy,Graham

Gelder.Moreover,within three years ofthe suicide of StephenWard, Gelderalso died under mysterious circum-stances – a completely unexpectedevent that shocked his many friendsand school associates.

In the March 2010 issueof TheAlmondburian,we pub-lished an unsolicited articleabout Graham Gelder byhis school friendCarlGold-smith. It included a veiledsuggestion that Gelder’sdeath – officially ‘misad-venture’ as a result of

drowning while washing hishair –may not have been all thatit seemed and thatGeldermighthave been deliberately drowned

by an intruder yet to be identified.Goldsmith was a successful solicitorwho would no doubt have chosen hiswords carefully.Sadly,he died soonafter the article was published.

The article aroused consid-erable interest amongst those

who remembered Gelder. It also ledsome months ago to lengthy correspon-dence which has resulted in The Almond-burian establishing contact with Gelder’s

Graham Gelder: his life—and deathSPECIAL REPORT: Part 1

Carl Goldsmith’s article ‘My friend,Graham Gelder’ in 2010 attracted agreat deal of interest.TheAlmondburian looks further into the sadlyforeshortened life of a former Head Boy of King James’s Grammar School

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ON 19th December, 2013 a newAndrew Lloyd Webber StephenWard—the musical opened at the

Aldwych Theatre in London. It wasbased on the real-life events of 1963when socialite and osteopathStephen Ward was famously in-volved in a visit to the Cliveden es-tate in Buckinghamshire by theWar Minister of the day,John Profumo.There,Pro-fumo had a dalliance withshowgirl ChristineKeelerwho was also consortingat much the same timewith Captain YevgenyIvanov, a Soviet naval at-taché in London.

Initially, Profumo de-nied any impropriety butsubsequently admittedthat he had lied toParliament.The events that fol-lowed rocked both the Establish-ment and the government ofHaroldMacmillan.Ward him-self was accused of living onthe proceeds of prostitutionand in despair committedsuicide.

The connection between theStephenWard affair and KingJames’s Grammar School is

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son, who was born inApril 1966, just be-fore his father’s death a month later. Untilthe article inTheAlmondburian, his son knewnothing about his father and like us he isanxious to know more about him and hiscolourful but ultimately tragic life.

In this issue, we will be coveringGelder’s early years and in particular hisprominent and extraordinary school career;in this we have been greatly helped by anumber of his former school colleagues. Inour July issue, we will explore furtherGelder’s career after leaving school and inparticular the strange events at SpringCot-tage on the Cliveden estate fifty years ago.

Early daysGrahamGelderwas born on 3rdMarch

1936 in the Huddersfield Royal MaternityHome inGreenheadRoad.Hewas the onlychild ofWalter andWinifredGelder.Walterwas a dyestuffs and chemical labourer andthe couple lived at 3 Gorse Road, Marsh.Later, the familymoved to South Street andthen toTownAvenue inHuddersfield towncentre. It was no doubt of great satisfactiontoWalter andWinifred when their son was

successful in gaining a place at King James’sGrammar School.

In later years,Walter clearly decided tobetter himself and hemade the big decisionto become a publican.His pubwasThe BlackBull at Lindley, a lively ‘local’ about twomiles from the centre of Huddersfield stilldoing good business today.This was Gra-ham Gelder’s home at the time of his mar-riage in 1962.

Gelder’s grammar school career startedmodestly in 1947. Sport – in which hewould excel in future years – was a non-starter in his first year as he was still recov-ering from rheumatic fever andwas bannedfromGames.“We used to pull his leg mer-cilously about this,” recalls Tony Copleywho,with Carl Goldsmith,was to becomeone of Gelder’s closest schoolfriends.

The rebelIn fact, rather than concentrating on his

studies,Gelder’s main preoccupation in hisearly years at School was to devise ways ofrebelling against the system,often resultingin him getting into hot water.

The School Social Survey Society set upin 1951 was a typical Gelderwheeze. Privately, the aim ofGelder and his groupwas to devisea way of escaping from the schoolgrounds at lunchtime in order toexplore the pleasures of Almond-bury village.Aided and abetted byCopley (whowould becomeHon-orary Secretary), they somehowpersuaded Leonard Ash and FredHudson that they should set up a‘Social Survey Society’ which

The Black Bull at Lindley, designateda listed building in 1978

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GrahamGelder’s

GrammarSchoolcareer

insummary

YearGroup

Event100yds

220yds440yds

880ydsMile

ShotDiscus

CricketballHigh

jumpNotes/Otherachievements

194912-14

SchoolSportsv

HuddsCollege1st2nd

2nd1st

1stJuniorChampion

(secondformeragainstthird

former)

195014-1612-14

SchoolSportsv

HuddsCollege1st

2nd1st

WonJuniorChessTrophy

195114-16

SchoolSports1st

ChairmanofSocialSurvey

Society

1951-2SoccerFirstXIgoalkeeperuntilinjuryFinished

3rdin

form

1952

14-1614-1615-19

SchoolSportsv

HuddsCollegeBradford

JuniorPoliceSports

2nd2nd

1st1st

1st2nd2nd

1stJuniorMile

winnerintime

fasterthanSeniorMile

winner;

Milehandicap;one

oftheyoungestentrantsatBradford

FifthForm

PublicSpeaking:FirstPrize

1952-3BestGCE

‘O’levelresultsin5

alphaSoccerFirstXIgoalkeepermostofseasonAircadetin

SchoolATCCorps

19536th

Form

SchoolSportsv

HuddsCollegeYorkshire

SchoolsSeniorAirTraining

CorpsSports

1st1st1st1st1st

1st2nd1st1st1st

1st3rd

AwardedVictorLudorumRepresented

CorpsatNationalCadetSportsatUxbridgeAwarded

SchoolColoursforCricketSeptember:Appointed

SchoolPrefectRan

half-mileleg

forEnglandATC

vWelsh,ScotsandIrish

ATCatHampden

Park,Glasgow(England

2ndin

relay)

19546th

FormSchoolSportsv

HuddsCollege2nd

3rdMissed

SchoolSports:becauseofinjury

September:AppointedDeputy

HeadBoy

19556th

FormSchoolSports

1st1st

1st1st

1st2nd

February:AppointedHead

BoyAwardedVictorLudorum

againAwarded

Capand

ColoursforCricketGCE‘A’level:Physics,Chemistry,Biology

(distinction)Awarded

BoroughScholarship

Gerald

Stead

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would compile a booklet about the ‘sociallife ofAlmondbury’. It startedwell but sadlycame to grief when one its members got alittle too enthusiastic and started to interro-gate an indignant shopkeeper about the levelof her weekly takings.Word got back toHarryTaylor and the activities of the SocialSurvey Society were swiftly curtailed.

Another famous episode took place onesnowy winter when Gelder organised anarmy of associates who prepared an enor-mous arsenal of snowballs with which todeliver a fusillade on unfortunate pupilsmaking their way round the back of theschool for the second sitting of school din-ners. Following the subsequent high levelenquiry, Gelder readily owned up and suf-fered the inevitable visit to HarryTaylor’sstudy for remedial punishment.

Another bright idea was to suggest to afew of his fellow pupils that they should setup a comb-and-tissue paper musical groupwhich could entertain the local citizens.

Surprisingly, Copley reports that the ideagot as far as a discussion with HarryTaylorbut it is sad to record that the Headmasterdid not think that themusical reputation ofKing James’s would be enhanced by thenew Gelder initiative.

The sportsmanIt was in sport that Graham Gelder re-

ally excelled, both in these early years andin the years that followed (see table oppo-site).There can be few King James’s pupilswho have shown distinction over such along period in so many different fields ofathletics – he could turn his hand to fieldevents such as shot and discus just as well asthe track events in all distances.Twice hebecameVictor Ludorum. In the Fifth Form,his time for the Junior Mile (4m 54s) wasactually faster than the Senior Mile winner(5m 10s) – shades of his idol Derek Ibbot-sonwho had left King James’s the year afterGelder arrived.

Prefects in 1955 (back row, left to right): I S Clelland,R I Galloway, J Earnshaw,T A Blackburn,M Hoyle, P A Shaw(Front row, left to right): J M Binns, PValder,Graham Gelder (Head Boy),Headmaster HarryTay-lor, C S Goldsmith,M S Brigg,G Stead

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As School and Siddon goalkeeper,hewasregarded as a a leaping giant.“Onememoryis of him picking up the lace of the leatherfootballwith his teeth and running the lengthof the field unopposed to deposit it acrossthe opposition goal line,”recalls JohnDyson.

At cricket, he was a good First XIwicket-keeper and intelligent attackingbatsman back in the days when the Schoolplayed regular Saturday afternoonmatches.

Away from the sportsfieldGelder had a first-class mind in addition

to his athletic skills.Chesswas very popularat the School thanks to the efforts of chess-loving SeniorMathsMaster George Beach.Gelder played endless noisy gameswith hissoulmate Carl Goldsmith and both becamemembers of Beach’s highly successfulteams. In 1950, Gelder became JuniorChess Champion.Later,bridge began to re-place chess in the Prefects’ Study.

In the Fifth Form,Gelder won the FifthFormPublic Speaking Prize and he also be-came an activemember of the Jacobean So-ciety for which his active and perceptivemind was well suited.

Gelder gets seriousAswe have noted,Gelder did not put his

mind to much academic use in his earlyyears at King James’s. His name does notappear at all in The Almondburian roll of ho-nour until 1952, when he managed to

In our July issue:Graham Gelder becomes adoctor; and what really happened at SpringCottage on the Cliveden estate in May, 1966.

�The Almondburian would like to thankthe following OldAlmondburians for their con-tributions and memories:Ian Shaw,Tony Copley,Gerald Stead,David Anderson, Fred Shaw,David Earles and John Dyson.

Chessmates: Gelder (centre) looks on asD H Anderson makes his next move andJ M Binns studies the board

achieve third place in the 5 alpha examina-tions.

It was thereforewith some surprise thathis friends heard him announce one daythat he had decided to become a doctor.“We thought at first that it was another ofGraham’s jokes,” saysTony Copley.

But Gelder was indeed intent on study-ing medicine and suddenly started to takehis academic studies more seriously.Thechange of attitude was clearly noticed byHarryTaylor, whose previous encounterswith the young Gelder had been less thanencouraging. A perceptive Headmaster,Taylor had always sensedGelder’s potentialbeneath the camouflaged image of popularshowman.He now saw that he could utiliseand manage Gelder’s talents to the full. InSeptember 1954, when he was alreadyCaptain of Football and Captain of Siddon,Gelderwas appointedDeputyHead Boy.Afew months later, on the departure of JTGreen to take up a Civil Service appoint-ment, he became Head Boy.

GrahamGelder took his GCE ‘A’ levelsin 1955.His hardwork paid off with a Dis-tinction in Biology and passes in Physicsand Chemistry.A Borough Scholarship en-abled him to take up his further studies atthe University of Sheffield. He was on hisway. �

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Every picture tells a story

The home of the man who helped to create King James’s Grammar School

THIS photograph was probablytaken around 1880 whenphotography was still in its early

days.The viewpoint isWestgate inAlmondbury, opposite the Parish Churchat the junction with Fenay Lane andWestgate. Just out of shot on the right isSt Helen’s Gate and beyond, it down thehill, is King James’s Grammar School.For over 400 years, pupils and masters

must have passed this house or itssuccessor – both known as the PentHouse – on their way to and from School.Few, if any, would have given it a secondthought.But they should, for this was the

former residence of Robert Nettleton,one of the six governors – the ‘six honestmen’ – who through the Charter fromKing James in 1608 were responsible forcreating the School as we know it today.

The original house may have startedlife as a hostelry on what was then animportant route fromWakefield, beforeWakefield Road was built many years

later. It was sold by Queen Mary (1553-1558) toWilliam Fenay and then passedinto the ownership of Robert Nettleton, anotable local benefactor who set up theNettleton Charity. Nettleton died in 1621.The sign next to the upstairs window

reads ‘Almondbury Local and BurialBoard Office' with a finger pointing to theright-hand part of the building. BurialBoards were set up around the country

Continued on page 23

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But how modern everything is now!TONY CAPE (1963-1969)

MEMORIES

THE midlife rites of divorceand remarriage have theirtribulations, but also happier,

unexpected outcomes. In my owncase, among these has been to learnthat my early biography is fantasticaland exotic. (What was the name ofthe town? Is that a real place? Howold was the school you went to?).Mysecond wife Karen grew up in Ore-gon and California, thus anythingredolent of the OldWorld is neces-sarily quaint and remote.

The specifics of my own mid-cen-tury boyhood in Huddersfield, how-ever, strike her as improbable,perhaps even fictional.Thus it was lastsummer, during our first trip to theU.K. together, that she insisted thatwe break our journey from London

An Old Almondburian living in the US is made welcome when he makesa nostalgic return visit to the School.He finds much to interest him.

to the Scottish Highlands in the myth-ical town in which I had grown up.Regrettably, Old Mates were thin

on the ground in late June, althoughthe munificent Doug Norris loanedme his spacious Lascelles Hall quar-ters while he frolicked in the Ca-naries. I had taken the precaution ofalerting the staff at King James’sSchool that we might drop by on themorning of Monday, July 1, lest,prowling around the grounds unan-nounced, we be mistaken for personsof nefarious intent.As if appeased, theguardian spirits of King James’sSchool welcomed me back with whatfelt like a most gracious, even lovinggesture.The first thing you notice when

you return to the school after a long

Tony Cape (www.tonycape.com) played defensive midfieldfor the triumphant KJGS Second XI in the 1968-69 season,alongside such titans as Robert Beecroft and CharlesPoole. He then attended Cambridge University and laterworked as a journalist in Northern Ireland and suburbanLondon. In 1977 he moved to the United States to studymeditation and writing at Naropa Institute in Boulder,Colorado.He has also lived in Vermont, Connecticut, NewYork and Massachusetts. He has taught writing at BardCollege andYale University and now teaches English anddrama at HartsbrookWaldorf School in Hadley,Massachusetts. He is the author of four works of fictionand a memoir Diamond Highway, published in 2013.

absence is howmodern every-thing is. An offi-cial car park(entrance onArkenley Lane)awaits the visitor,usurping theland below TheBunk that wasonce a tangledwarren and then,briefly, tenniscourts.The Bunk’s

c i n d e r - l i n e dhell-track is nowa gentle swardbearded withsteps and hand-rail, which usherthe visitor pastthe site of the(brutally supplanted) Belovéd Treetoward what I’ll call the Old School,for want of the correct term.I then entered by the same Old

Kitchen portal I used as a Sixth For-mer, no longer giving way to Dicken-sian gloom but to the sleek counters,glowing screens and Scandinavian fur-niture of The Administrators. If suchmodernity seemed foreign and dis-concerting to me, the warm welcomeof the current head teacher, Mr.Robert Lamb,was immediately famil-iar and reassuring. I was delighted tolearn that he would convey us on thistour himself, and was not too busywith correspondence to sign or

young men toflog.First stop was

the panelled gloryof the ODH,which in my latteryears had been ap-propriated as theSixth Form Com-mon Room.Herein were stilldisplayed somefrippery andbunting from the2008 celebrationof the school’s400th anniversary(which unfortu-nately I had tomiss).Imagine my

thrill when oneof the historical

artifacts on show turned out to be theJessop House Book (left) from the1960s, for which house your corre-spondent was progressively cub re-porter, minor athlete and eventuallyHouse Captain. This musty tomeserved to dispel any lingering doubtsmy spouse may have had that I had in-vented my whole story, and fortifiedmy spirits in an important way for thenext stop—the Gaffer’s study.I must have been ushered into this

ancient room and Harry Taylor’s au-gust presence on many happy occa-sions. If so, all memory of them islost. My knees buckled as I was pro-pelled back through the decades to

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confront my adolescent, miscreantself, on the carpet yet again. Merci-fully, I never sufferedTheWhack, al-though there were at least a coupletimes when I deserved it. Thesememories seized my heart and I musthave turned quite pale. Mr. Lamb in-quired jauntily whether I’d like to seethe Gaffer’s bamboo cane—he keepsit as a souvenir.No, I pleaded. Can wekeep going? It was the one place inthe school I felt uncomfortable. As Itap the computer keys months later,my fingers tremble slightly.Next stop was The Big, in my day

the school library, fount of manyhappy memories, foremost amongwhich are Jacobean Society meetings.The reliable highlight was always thereading by the secretary of the previ-

ous meeting’s minutes.These hadnothing to do with an actualrecord of the event, and every-thing to do with scorching satire,usually directed at the brave mas-ters who chose to be members.Not that the jibes were all in onedirection. I recall once reading alove poem to the assembly thatcontained the line: “I wallowed inher overwhelming presence.”Harry Taylor commented thatperhaps I ought to suggest mycompanion try a new deodorant.Last time I visited the library,

about twenty years ago, my bestfriend Martin Harrison and I weregalled to discover that the board com-memorating the winners of the Dart-mouth Medal, the school’s academicprize, stopped in 1968, the year be-fore we jointly won the last of theseawards. I recall that we complainedloudly at the time to Dave Bush andleft the matter there. As the accom-panying photograph confirms, theboard was later updated to includeour names! A pleasant surprise in-deed.I should apologize if my photo-

graphs seem a tad self-referential, butat the time I had no thought to me-morialize the visit for this magazine.That was the result of an injunctionfrom Dave Bush, of which more later.The tour continued past The Bogs

The last names on the DartmouthMedallists board: Tony Cape and hisfriend Martin Harrison

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and along the corridor leading to theformer(?) staff room and where de-tainees like me were regularly re-quired to stand for up to an hourafter school as punishment for mis-behaviour. Mr. Lamb was clearly ap-palled by this practice, but I had anace up my sleeve. In the old gym,which was also our performancespace and morning assembly venue, Ipointed out the spot where I wasonce floored by a right hook to thejaw by a particularly (to me) odiousmember of staff. I will say no moreabout this humiliating experience.The truth is I loved my years at

King James’s School and considermyself fortunate to have attendedduring the Golden Age before thesuccessive waves of restructuring.Thanking Mr. Lamb, I left that morn-ing with a buoyant heart for thedrive North and later wrote to Mr.Bush about my delightful visit. Hesuggested that I write an account forthis magazine, and when I hesitatedslightly, he added the kindly encour-agement “Get it written!” Since I re-

gard resisting this guy’s admonitionsas a matter of principle, I have heldoff for several months.Which leads me to a final reflec-

tion.As is clear from his frequent je-remiads from his Welsh exile, Mr.Bush reads much of what he reads(and certainly everything I write)with a red pen poised to strike downany (perceived) errors of usage.Thegall of the man! As a former writinginstructor atYale University, I think Ican claim to outrank the blighter inthis department. Yet I continue tosubmit to such scrutiny with scarcelya whimper.I am thus reminded that the pat-

tern of relationships formed be-tween teachers and adolescentsremain ossified for life. No doubtthese latest words of mine will suffera similar fate. Quomodo faciam,magister? �(Postscript: Having been granted a pre-view of the above, the Sage of Porthcawlresponded: “Optime fecisti, mi discipuleabhinc annos multos!” and pointed out acouple of misspellings).

Every picture tells a storyContinued from page 19following the passing of the Burial Act in1853 which enabled local parishes toadminister their own cemeteries.Part of Pent House was also used as a

doctors’ surgery, and it was a Dr Draperwho was responsible for demolishing thehouse in 1893 to make space for thepresent house (still known as ‘PentHouse’) and for road improvements.In more recent times, the house

served as the surgery of Dr Harry Maffin,who himself attended King James’sGrammar School from 1894 to 1898.The lady posing at the door on the left

may be the wife of Mr Isaac Eyre who isknown to be the occupier in 1882.Although it was fortunately a sunny day,she would have received strictinstructions to stand still to avoid blurringduring the lengthy time exposure. �

�Our thanks to Huddersfield Library Local Studies

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How languages became my lifeRUTH AINLEY (1979-1984)

A LIFE IN THE DAY

I’M an early riser. Most morningsI’m out of bed by 5.00 am andafter a quick breakfast I’m soon

on my computer. I find it’s a great timeto catch up with emails and prepare forthe day,with one’smind nice and fresh.The headmaster at the school where Iwork is anotherone who makes anearly start so it’snot unknown forus to be exchang-ing emails soonafter 6.00 am.

‘School’ is TheRead School atDrax in NorthYorkshire whereI’ve been teachingsince 2010. It’s asmall independentboarding schoolwhich has a longhistory, like KingJames’s – we’ll becelebrating our350th anniversaryin 2017.

I started at KingJames’s in 1979,just three years

“King James’s had three of the best possible language teachers who instilledin me a love of all things linguistic which gave me so many opportunities.”

after it had become a co-educationalcomprehensive school for the age group13-18. I was always very keen on lan-guages – how could I fail to be with MrGregson (French), Mr Field (German)and Mr Bush (Latin) as my teachers? Ifelt very privileged to be amember of a

small group beingtaught by such en-thusiasts.AlanCon-ley was headmasterand he encouragedme to “put all myeggs in one basketwith languages” andthey have been mylife ever since.

After my ‘A’levels, I had a gapyear teaching Eng-lish in Germany.Then, encouragedagain by Alan Con-ley, I managed toget a place at StPeter’s College,Oxford to studyModern Languages– French and Ger-man. I was actuallythe first girl from

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King James’s in 376years to go to Oxford.

I haven’t alwaysbeen a teacher. In fact,my father – himself ateacher – gaveme no encouragement atall to follow in his footsteps.So after thegap year,my first unlikely job was witha small engineering company that spe-cialised in online weighing systems forthe poultry industry. I became market-ing manager there and after three yearsthey transferredme to their US branchin North Carolina.

That was the start of 13 wonderfulyears in the United States. I becamemarketing manager at Kay Chemical(part of Ecolab Inc) supplying specialitycleaning chemicals to the food industry.I managed a global marketing teamwhich gaveme extensive globe-trottingopportunities to places as obscure asNew Caledonia, Tahiti and NewBrunswick. Never let it be said thatFrench does not take you places!Then,in 2005, I was relocated back to Europeto look after business in 26 countries allover Europe. Having languages in myportfolio opened many doors for me.

In 2009 came a dramatic careerchange.To the incredulous reaction ofmy father (“You’ve got to beJOKING!”), I decided that I wanted tobe a teacher after all. So I took a year’s

sabbatical to re-train at the Universityof York to start all over again andbecome a teacher.

The Read School is much smallerthan King James’s with around 250pupils in the age group 3-18. It wasDrax Grammar School until 1967when, like King James’s, it faced theprospect of becoming a comprehensivebut chose a different route by becomingindependent.

The school was founded in 1667through thewill of local lawyer and phi-lanthropist Charles Reade. Don’t askmewhat happened to the‘e’when it be-cameThe Read School – no-one seemsto know! We’re delving into the earlyhistory of the school as part of our run-up to the 350th anniversary, sowemustlook into that. King James’s is so luckythat its history has been sowell recordedover the years.We also envy you yourOldAlmondburians’ Society which is agreat way of keeping in touch with for-mer school friends.That’s one reasonwhy I enjoy theAnnualDinner somuch,and howpleasing itwas to be back at theSchool for the 2013 dinner.

My life at Read School, where I am

Friends reunited: Ruthshares a few memorieswith her former Germanteacher Bob Field at the2013 OAS Dinner

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Head of Key Stage 3 (age 11-14), ispretty busy. I’m also involved in theSchool Council, the History Club andthe German Club. I also run a ‘Knit &Natter’Clubwhich I bet they don’t haveat King James’s.

We’ve established a French ex-change programme with a partnerschool in Bordeaux andwe’re currentlysetting up work experience pro-grammes for older pupils. I’m reallypleased that one ofmy pupils has just re-ceived an offer from Corpus ChristiCollege, Oxford, my first Oxbridgesuccess, so I’m now hoping for manymore.

I have a busy family life too, withhusband Andy, children Hannah (15),Luke (11) andMary (7),and a lively dal-mation ‘Blue’. Luke and Mary both at-tend Read School. Poor Luke, havingjust startedYear 7, is having to get usedto life with mum as his French teacherand Key Stage Head.

As if that were not enough, I’ve re-cently launched my Linguacook projectwhich combinesmy love of cooking andlanguages.The idea is to enable smallgroups of children from 5-17 to createtheir own culinary masterpieces whileat the same time improving their lan-guage skills.The classes, in French, Ital-ian and German, are held at school onSaturdaymornings and are proving verypopular.

I’ve always been keen on cookingand in what little spare time remains Ilike to go running to counteract the ef-fects of the cooking. I also enjoy garden-ing and rockmusic.Andy and I also liketo keep up to date with the latest goodfilms at the cinema.

But I must confess that myidea of a perfect evening after ahard day’s work is to have a nicemeal and a couple of glasses ofwine.Then it’s a family joke thatI will slump out on the sofa be-fore, around 11.00 pm, drag-ging myself upstairs to bed.

There, I will stay awake for30 seconds before embarking onhappy dreams about the dra-matic growth of Linguacook allover the world. �

The Read School in Drax was founded byCharles Reade in 1667.The school’s HistoryClub is trying to track down the missing ‘e’.

Vernon Scannell: walking woundedREVIEW

I SUSPECT that the name of poetand authorVernon Scannell will beunknown to many Old Almond-

burians. If so, they will be in good com-pany: the name was unknown toVernonScannell himself for the first 20 years ofhis life as he was bornVernon Bain, oneof two sons of photographer James Bain.After a childhood in which the boys

came to hate their sadistic father – whoused his leather strop less to sharpen hisrazor than as an instrument of corporalpunishment – he joined the army to serveas John Bain.He was not a good soldier, having a

total disregard for officialdom and mili-tary discipline.HisWorldWar 2 wartimecareer in North Africa was one of multi-ple desertion.Still on the run, he acquired the name

ofVernon Scannell from a friend who hadapparently himself obtained it from abrothel-owner. There followed an ex-traordinary life in which Scannell became– at various times – a boxer, a brawler, awomaniser, a woman-beater and aboveall a dedicated poet.It is an extraordinary tale, told by

OldAlmondburianAndrewTaylor withpanache and with a considerable eyefor detail. Discovering the truth aboutVernon Scannell was clearly not an easytask. Scannell often lied about his warrecord, writing several moving poemsabout the decisive 1942 battle of ElAlamein, even though he didn’t arrivein North Africa until later. But he did

experience the bitter 1943 assault onWadiAkarit where he was shocked by thesight of fellow soldiers looting corpses,both British and German.It is clear from Andrew Taylor’s ac-

count that Scannell’s often bizarre post-wartime behaviour was the result of whatis now recognised as post-traumaticstress disorder.However, his writing liveson: he received the Heinemann Awardfor Literature in 1961 and the Chol-mondeleyAward for poetry in 1974. Hewas elected a Fellow of the Royal Societyof Literature in 1960 and granted a CivilList pension in recognition of his servicesto literature in 1981. In 1987 he receivedthe ultimate accolade: he became a cast-away on BBC Radio’s long-running pro-gramme Desert Island Discs*.This is an outstanding book which once

started is not easy to put down. RD �*The recording can be heard on the BBC iplayerwebsite at http://tinyurl.com/ngq9yav.�WalkingWounded is one of five nominations forthe 2013Duff Cooper Prize for non-fictionwriting.

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WALKINGWOUNDEDThe Life and PoetryofVernon ScannellbyJamesAndrewTaylorOxford University Press£25 RRP $35 USA

ISBN 978 0 19 960318 3

Farnley LinesDAVE BUSH

SO the last of The Old Guard hasgone to the celestial staff room.Having spent some most

enjoyable hours in Jim Toomey’scompany in the summer and despiteknowing that he was not in good health itwas still a very sad moment when I heardof his death (obituary: page 36). Jim wasmy Head of Department when, fresh-faced and enthusiastic, I arrived at KingJames’s in September 1961 to take up afull time appointment. (I had done someteaching practice there the previousyear). I have to say I was in awe of himand of his colleagues – Addy, Beach,Anderson, Hudson et al. Jim was a trueacademic who, in his own words,‘did nottolerate fools easily’. He soon had meenrolled asAssistant Scout Leader and sothrough scouting and Latin we spentmany hours in close proximity.He nevershared my passion for football but lovedhis cricket. He did turn out for ParentsV Scouts but tried to hit every ball to leg;I think he invented the ‘switch hit’ manyyears before Kevin Pietersen employedit. Over the years he seemed to mellow.As Andrew Taylor so neatly put it, ‘hebecame a twinkly old gentleman’.

The New Old GuardWith Jim’s passing, The Old Guard

moves down a generation. To be amember one has to stay at King James’sfor probably at least fifteen years andestablish a reputation of some kind; at

least those are my parameters.As I gazeat a staff list from the early ’60s I amsomewhat alarmed to realise that JackTaylor and I are the only ones whoqualify for this distinguished club.There’sRoland Wearing, Dick Knight, RayBishop and Peter Bacon but they wereshort stayers. I have no means of knowingeven if they are still alive. I have regularcontact with Peter Heywood 1st(French) but he did not fulfil the timequalification. So Jack, let’s hope – asnumbers 10 and 11 – we can hangaround the crease for a little longer.Youcertainly had plenty of experience in thatposition.

Now he did not boost my confidencewhen I heard that he had had a heartattack. I nearly had one when I receivedthe news. Jack ‘Peter Pan’ Taylor, TheMarcher-over-the Moors, the Runner-up-Red Hill. Impossible… but true. Igather he was voted CalderdaleHospital’s ‘Worst Patient of theYear’ assuch an active man hated being confinedto a hospital bed. I was delighted to beable to spend three precious hours withhim before driving over to Almondburyfor the Annual Dinner and even moredelighted to see him clearly making anexcellent recovery. Equipped with pacemaker and stents and strengthened byregular rehab sessions he lookedencouragingly well. He was sad not tomake the Dinner but is determined to bethere in 2014.

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Police apprehend Halifax tearawayWhich reminds me: the most

sensational news and I nearly forgot it.My dear friend Jack is not the speediestof drivers. It is rumoured that he brokehis journey to visit us in Porthcawl withan overnight stay in Tamworth; that hehas been seen stopping before mountingthe speed humps inAlmondbury village;and that his grandchildren say, “Granddadpassed a bus this morning; it wasparked.”With this background imaginemy shock when Jack informed me he hashad a speeding fine. I can only presumethat he was travelling steeply downhillwith a howling gale following. Nevermind, Jack, your street cred hasrocketed.

Angela makes good progressAnother notable absentee from the

Dinner was Angela Melling who hadsuffered a stroke the day beforeAutumnTerm began.A real shock, for my abidingpicture of Angela is of a young, bouncyand enthusiastic teacher doing so muchat such a pace. She has contributedenormously to KJS over many years andhas been an excellent ‘liaison officer’

between School and Society. I believe sheis making a steady recovery. Let’s hopeshe too is at the 2014 Dinner inNovember. I hear that our formercolleague Marjorie Faragher is keen toattend and I am optimistic she mightgather some of her vintage around her

Annual Dinner and Founders’DayI felt that returning the Dinner to the

school was an outstanding success.Themeal was so superior to those at theMcAlpine/Galpharm/JohnSmith’s Stadium– it may well have changed its name againby the time this appears (can’t we just say‘Leeds Road’?).The speeches were briefand well delivered and the generalatmosphere so convivial.Those presentmust feel such gratitude to those whohad the courage to make the move. Iknow Roger Dowling, Andrew Haighand in particular ChrisWest were primemovers.

I was very impressed by HeadteacherRobert Lamb’s review of his ten yearsdown St Helen’s Gate. Initially I wasshocked when in his blunt Lancastriantone he described the school on hisarrival as‘a dump and in need of a cull of

staff’. However, he was provedcorrect as borne out by examresults, the school’s being vastlyoversubscribed and above all bythe décor. I accompanied AndrewHaigh in another of his KJ roles,this time as Chief Locker Up, on apost prandial tour of the wholesite. If you have not been round the

On the mend:Angela Melling andJack ‘Stirling Moss’Taylor

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old place recently then make the effortto do so. I wrote to Robert to say I wouldgive the school an Ofsted Inspection‘Outstanding’ on appearance alone. Ihave suggested that if the Dinner is heldat the school again next year then wouldit not be great if, from say 5.00 pmonwards, senior pupils could conductthose attending on guided tours? Perhapsthese guides could then stay on as guestsat the dinner.

The only matter which, I feel, doesneed a rethink is the clearing away andlocking up. I shall not mention names forfear of omitting somebody but I wasmost impressed by that small group whostayed on to clear tables, stack chairs andgenerally restore order. ‘Optimefecistis!’As Andrew and I swung the lastbarrier into position across the OldKitchenYard it was 1.15am.

This perhaps was why the followingmorning we missed the departure of theparty making the traditional walk up the

hill to the church. By the time I reachedthe top of St Helen’s Gate I wassomewhat breathless. The pupils nowwhisked away by fleets of buses cannotappreciate that those who spent sevenyears at KJGS made that uphill slogaround 1,400 times. My breath wasalmost taken away again when I enteredthe church and saw the excellentattendance. A school choir, parents,many Old Almondburians and a servicebeautifully led by Chaplain StuartRoebuck made for a memorableoccasion.We can and must build on this.Just time to be wished “Good Morning”by writer Joanne‘Chocolat’ Harris at thetop of Sharp Lane, lunch chez les Haigh(NB no ‘s’, editor) and a long but smoothrun back to Porthcawl. Howmany moreyears can we make this trip? This year’swas certainly worthwhile.

My next exotic trip is only eightweeks away and there could be an OldAlmondburian connection. Be patient!�

Catching up with the gossip at the Dinner: Nicky Green, Richard Green amdWalter Raleighwith former school secretary Doreen Hinchliffe

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A GREAT SUCCESS! Thatseemed to be the general)verdict on the 2013 Annual

Dinner which returned to the Schoolafter several years at the formerGalpharm Stadium in Huddersfield.Thedinner marked the 100th anniversary ofTaylor Dysons’s arrival at the School in1913 and the arrival of present HeadTeacher Robert Lamb ten years ago.Addressing over 100 Old Almond-

burians and guests, Robert Lamb saidthat the School – now anAcademy – wason the crest of a wave.“In July 2002, I had one of the best

birthday presents of my life – I wasappointed head teacher of King James’sSchool”, he said. “It was the kind of jobyou dreamed about. So when the job wasadvertised I just had to apply. I came tolook at the school and as soon as I saw itI fell in love with it. I have been theHeadteacher now for ten years and I canhonestly say that Ihave loved everyminute of it.“It has been a

great ten yearswith so manymemories and somany crucial land-marks. AchievingScience College

Annual Dinner/Founders’ DayStatus – and the extra finance it brought– allowed us to develop our sciencefacilities and give us the best Science andMathematics departments in the area.Five years ago we celebrated the school’s400th anniversary with a Royal Visit, agreat fireworks display and a BBC Radio4 broadcast of Any Questions live from theSchool – all bringing positive publicity.And now we haveAcademy status, a vitalmove which has guaranteed the longterm future of the school.“Throughout the period the reputation

of the school has grown.We used to havespare places but now we are bursting atthe seams and are the mostoversubscribed school in Huddersfield.Our GCSE results which were once‘iffy’to say the least are now consistently inthe top three in the whole of Kirklees.”Other speakers at the Dinner, on 23rd

November, included former OldAlmondburians’ Society chairman

OAS chairman NickBriggs presentsRobert Lamb with aframed print tomark his 10 years ashead teacher

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Michael Dyson, Ron Edwards, GrahamCliffe and present Head Boy DanielStalmach. Former pupil Rebecca Addyalso gave an account of her expedition toNepal, for which she had been awarded a£1,000 bursary by the Society.A warm tribute was paid to ChrisWest

who, with Andrew Haigh, played a largepart in organising the Dinner.

OAS Chaplain Stuart Roebuck writes:The annual Founders’ Day procession

and service took place on 24thNovember.It was decidedly Novemberish – dull,

cold, beginning to rain – as about 60Almondburians gathered at All Hallowson the last Sunday of the month for theannual Founders’ Day Service. Bycontrast, however, the Church inside waswarm, bright and cheerful, as was thewelcome from the Rev. Dennis Handleyand churchwarden Mrs. Hilary Pollard.The theme of the Service was to

reflect on what lies at the heart of realreligion, aided by appropriate hymns and

Bible readings, underlining the belief thathow we treat one another is of supremeimportance.The highlight of the Service was the

participation of current students of theSchool. Head boy Daniel and Head girlEmma read Bible passages, and musicmaster Ben Wilson kindly broughtexcellent soloists on violin and piano,plus a choir of about 15 of his studentswho sang in the Service. It was anencouraging sign that the School’smusical tradition is alive and well.As the Service progressed we

remembered our School Founders,prayed for sick friends and followed thetradition of singing ‘For all the Saints’,the School Song and the NationalAnthem.We are grateful to all who helped to

make the Founders’ Day Service such ahappy occasion, including the Churchorganist and members of his choir andthose who provided tea and biscuitsafterwards.Same time, same place, next year? �

3 9 2 65 8 6

2 33 71 6 8

1 94 7

4 3 58 6 3 2

SUDOKUDifficulty:medium

Each row, columnand 3 x 3 boxmust contain thedigits 1 to 9

33

Top table guests – Back Row (left to right):Brian Stahelin (Chairman of Governors),Robert Lamb (Headmaster), RichardBrewster (Head of Geography, GreenheadCollege), Rev. Dennis Handley (Rector,AllHallows Church,Almondbury).Front Row (left to right): Jack Medley-Hill(Deputy Head Boy), Daniel Stalmach (HeadBoy), Emma Appleyard (Head Girl),MeganTaylor (Deputy Head Girl),AnnWalker(Daughter of Fred Hudson), Rebecca Addy(BursaryWinner).

Pictures: Andrew Haigh

OAS Dinner 2013

34

Clockwise from top:Robert Lamb addressesOAS members andguests; Rebecca Addytells Roger Dowlingmore about herexpedition to Nepal;Graham Cliffe updatesmembers on the pavilionproject:Michael Dysonshares a memory ofTaylor Dyson;OASChairman Nick Briggswelcomes members andguests; Head Boy DanielStalmach responds to atoastPhotos: Andrew Haigh

35

W HEN Iwalk aroundHudder-sfieldTown Centre I am oftenstruck by the bravery and vi-

sion of previous generations of borough ar-chitects supported by a strong andinfluential Ramsden family. Need a TownHall? Bish, bash, bosh and four years laterthere it is. Need a railway station? Kazam!…and it’s done.

Move forward in time.Almondburianssubmitted plans for a Pavilion in May 2013and none of the locals objected. KirkleesTree Man offered a few comments and BatSurveyMan sought but could not find a bat.Eight months later we were still chasing adecision.After chasing, cajoling and almostthreateningwe can finally announce that fullplanning permission hasbeen granted

So we are up andrunning. Graham Cliffeand I presented the vi-sion to the great and thegood of King James’sSchool governors, a meeting that was longoverdue and was pre-judged by an interest-ing game of Chinese whispers suggestingthat the Schoolwas perhaps cooling towardsthe project.But it’s good to talk and the gov-ernors came through with a 14-0 vote con-firming their support for the project.

So an appeals committee is in theprocess of being formed; but first we arein an information-gathering phase.We arecontacting The Football Foundation and SportEngland to arrange informal pre-bid onsitemeetings before submitting formal bids forfinancial assistance.

Early signs are good: we have securityof tenure, a supportive governing body anda substantial financial commitment alreadyin place – three positive steps and thereforethree boxes ticked,which many applicantscannot claim.

Funding for sport in 2014 is all about‘increasing participation’. and it is to thiswemust swing the spotlight and address ina positive light.Wemust also assess the pos-

sibility that Almond-bury may have an‘oversupply of facili-ties’; it hasn’t, but weneed to prove the case.

Meanwhile comingup the rails is a funded

geological survey which will investigatewhether the upslope at the top half of theground can be eliminated to produce alevel playing field …literally.The surveywill be carried out in the near future.

So,we progress slowly yet thoroughly– steadily and with purpose. �

PAVILION

We get the green light – officialMARTYN HICKS

It’s taken a long time,but we’ve finally received planning approval fromKirklees Council to demolish the old pavilion and erect its replacement

OBITUARY

Jim Toomey: a master of LatinJimToomey died at the age of 84 in October.A superb teacher who also played aleading role in scouting at King James’s Grammar School,he will be sadly missed

W ITH great sadness werecord the death of formerLatin master Dr JimToomey

on 6th October 2013, after a long illness.Jim Toomey came to King James’s in

1953. He had studied at Manchester Uni-versity where he had taken a BA degree inLatin withAncient Greek andAncient His-tory.This was followed by teacher trainingand two years of National Service, first asan infantryman and later running the edu-cation centre at Catterick.

It was atManchester that hemet his wife

Betty, who was reading Latin and English.Theymarried in 1952 andwent on to have11 children – six girls and five boys. Bornin Redcar, he was himself one of a familyof eight.

JimToomeywas a‘no-nonsense’ type ofteacherwho controlled his class effortlesslyby demonstrating his complete mastery ofhis subject.He also became a FormMaster,and many Old Almondburians will re-member him requiring each pupil in turnto chalk up a slogan for the day – in Latin,of course – before he arrived to commence

registration.He also took a keen in-

terest in Scouting, run-ning the Scout Troop(46th Huddersfield) forsome years, initially withBill Rennison and laterwith Dave Bush.

A keen archaeologist,Jim Toomey was afounder member andsecretary of the Hudder-sfield and District Ar-chaeological Society. Hedirected excavations atCastle Hill and other lo-cations including theRoman fort at Slack.

He also continued hisacademic studies, and in1966was elected to a vis-

46th Huddersfield Scouts and Senior Scouts in 1967.Back row (left to right): M J Warwick, D Hames,M R Longley,C R Stanley, D Moorhouse,A C Partridge, S H Moorhouse,J M Cook,A Torbett, R D Jenkinson, R A Brook, B Heppenstall,K M Conroy, J T BeeverMiddle row:A K Brook, J H Cole, I S Hinchliff,M H Sellens,R E Partridge.A K Marshall,A Swales, G L Sykes, DTaylor,M Ward,M J Wood,M J Taylor, J H MaloneyFront row:N A Mann, P A Cook, D Maner,M V Sykes, Dave Bush,JimToomey,A R Trueman,A R Cape,H A C Harkness,R D Beecroft

36

iting Fellowship atClare College, Cam-bridge. There, he re-searched and lecturedon the plays of Euripi-des.

JimToomey left KingJames’s Grammar Schoolin 1968 to becomeDeputy Head and teachLatin at ColneValley High School.Then, in1970,hemoved to theMidlands to take upthe post of Deputy Head of BromsgroveCounty High School, a grammar school ofover 1,000 pupils. He taught a very largesixth form and administered the school as– like King James’s – it became a compre-hensive. However, he never lost his affec-tion for King James’s and was in recentyears, as a long-time member of the OldAlmondburians’ Society, a frequent con-tributor to The Almondburian.

He retired in 1989, only to commencework on a new project: to study and trans-latemedieval documents relating in partic-ular to the manor and parish of HanleyCastle inWorcestershire.This work earnedhim a PhD from BirminghamUniversity in 1997; his bookon the subject was publishedby the Worcestershire Ar-chaeological Society in 2001.

At the time of his death, hewas awaiting the proofs of afurther academic work involv-ingmedieval Latin documents:the account book of the Dukeof York and future KingHenryV.

Outside work, Jim Toomeyhad a lifelong passion for cricket

and followed the for-tunes of York-shire with great

interest. He alsobecame an enthusi-

astic member ofWorcestershire County

Cricket Club.As his eye-sight failed during the past

year, he became a keen lis-tener on the radio.Jim was also an avid writer of

letters to TheTimes, and his wit and erudi-tion resulted in a particularly high successrate.His last letter,published on 11th June,described how he smoked a pipe while hewas at Manchester University which for-tunately gave an adequate air of glamourand maturity to attract the attention of hisfuture wife.

The involvement of Jim and Betty in theCatholic lay community was central totheir lives. He was a founder member ofthe Kidderminster Circle of the CatenianAssociation – an international body ofCatholic laymen – and was President in1992-3 and again in 2007-8.He was also a

Eucharist Minister and layreader, andwas Chairman ofthe Parents’ Association ofHoly Trinity ConventSchool where Betty taughtfor ten years and where

some of his daughters wereeducated.

He will be very sadlymissed by his family and hismany friends. �

� A 2006 interview withJimToomey can be heard at

http://tinyurl.com/kvghsaq

Sir,In the late 1940s there was an in-flux of ex-Servicemen into theuniversities, who often becameteachers, especially in grammarschools, which had struggled tofind staff during the war (report,June 7; letter, June 10). Along-side the men from the Serviceswere those like myself, whowent up straight from school,doing National Service later. Adisadvantage for us was thatwomen students preferred theolder men with the glamorouspast. Thankfully my future wifethought I must be former Servicesince with all the affectation ofcallow youth I smoked a pipe.Dr J. P. ToomeyStourport on Severn, Worcs

38

39

OAS QUIZ

A history of Almondburian quizzing

NINE different names appear onthe Almondburian Quiz Tro-phy (right), first played for 36

years ago.The Staff team took the hon-ours then and, although their support hasnot been so committed over recent years,they hold the record for the most victo-ries with nine. All the winners ofthe 34 tournaments to date are aslisted overleaf.

Whilst the quiz has always essen-tially been for Almondburian-re-lated teams of three players, therehave been changes to the venue,style of evening and quizmasterover the years as required.

The inaugural competition tookplace at School on 13th April 1978with just three teams (OAS, Schooland Staff).The quizmaster, who de-scribed himself in his minutes as the‘new Bamber Gascoigne’ was ourthen Secretary, John Cole.Tea andbiscuits were provided. A similarformat followed for the next eightyears, although Jack Stott and JohnDrewery took over as joint quiz-masters in 1983. By 1986 up to sixteams were regularly competing.

The idea of broadening the ap-peal of the event by having refresh-

ments and including such things as pic-ture and music rounds was being consid-ered.The result was that for the next fouryears the evening was held in the gymwith the teams on the stage and the par-ents organising supper and running a bar.First came an inter-house competition

KEITH CRAWSHAW (1964-1971)The current quizmaster reviews the history of the annual OAS Quiz whichwas inaugurated in 1978.

40

between teams of pupils followed by theusualAlmondburian tournament after thebreak. Quizmasters and question settersincluded Dave Bush, MikeThornton, PatReid and CliveWatkins. Coincidentallythe staff team performed extremely wellduring this period!

With the parent group less involved, in1991 the Society was back running theevening with a small bar in the Resourcearea. Buzzers,which had been introducedin 1989, were used for some rounds. Itook over as quizmaster and Francis Bare-ham’s famous slides made their debut.

For the next 5 years the main‘question’seemed to be whether to provide refresh-ments, whether people should bring theirown refreshments or whether not havingrefreshments would encourage competi-tors to answer quicker to give more timein theWoolpack.All options were tested.

In 1997 the decision was taken to movethe competition to the Clothiers Arms atStocksmoor.This created a better atmos-phere, enhanced by a pie and pea supper,and the event remained there for twomore years.

There was noplay in 2000 (per-haps due to the mil-lennium bug) but in2001 we moved tothe Woolpack wheremore of ouryounger membersattended and wehad an excellentbuffet supper. Aftermissing 2002 therewas a top atten-dance of 30 in 2003.

The following year saw Francis Bare-ham’s slide round for the last time dueto his age and failing eyesight. Since mostcompetitors were not as well travelledas he was, identifying the locations oftenproved extremely difficult but providedgreat entertainment and is sadly missed.The competition moved from the Wool-pack to Almondbury Conservative Clubin 2009 and is our current home.

In each post-quiz review the recurringtheme of comments in the Society’sminute books, newsletters and maga-zines over the years has been of disap-pointing attendances and memberspromising to bring teams which nevermaterialised. Yet, as can be seen, theevening has built up an interesting his-tory and continues to be enjoyed bythose who regularly attend.

As I start to prepare questions for the22nd time for this year’s competition onWednesday, 30thApril 2014 at 7.30 pmat Almondbury Conservative Clubplease give your support to maintain thetradition of this established event in ourcalendar. �

Year Winner Year Winner Year Winner

1978 Staff 1990 Staff 2002 No competition

1979 Staff 1991 OAS 2003 OAS

1980 OAS 1992 Staff 2004 Badminton

1981 OAS 1993 Football 2005 Cricket

1982 OAS 1994 Staff 2006 OAS

1983 OAS 1995 Badminton 2007 Cricket

1984 OAS 1996 Staff 2008 Cricket

1985 OAS 1997 Football 2009 1970s

1986 Staff 1998 Badminton 2010 Football

1987 Staff 1999 OAS Ladies 2011 1970s

1988 OAS 2000 No competition 2012 1970s

1989 Staff 2001 Cricket 2013 1970s

41

Bad weather spoils our early season and our Reserves struggle

IT’S rained.We havenot played a singlegame since mid-De-

cember.We are frustrated.The First XI were flying

along and had pulled out a 9point lead at the top ofDivision 2, but BeestonReserves of Leeds in anattempt to rid their club ofan unruly element (are notall Leeds teams made up in asimilar vein?) folded theirFirst XI which meant theirReserves had to take on thefixtures of that team in ahigher division.

Sad but true,what does it mean to us?We had beaten them home and awayearlier in the season, our rivals had notplayed them and at the league meeting itwas confirmed that these fixtures wouldbe null and void. Result: six points

Football

MARTYN HICKS

deducted, two Saturdays wasted and ourrivals suddenly enthused by what lookedto them like a shortening of the gap.Weneed to play.

The Reserves although strong aresuffering a little from not coping with

Played W D L F A GD PTS

Colton Institute 13 10 2 1 44 18 26 32

Almondburians 10 7 2 1 27 13 14 23

Grangefield OB Res 10 7 1 2 43 19 24 22

Old Modernians Reserves 13 7 0 6 27 24 3 21

Middleton Park 11 6 2 3 33 24 9 20

Amaranth Crossgates 15 5 5 5 34 27 7 20

Huddersfield YMCA 11 6 0 5 33 28 5 18

Woodkirk Valley 11 6 0 5 35 34 1 18

Leeds Medics & Dentists IV 12 4 3 5 32 35 -3 15

Woodhouse Moor Methodists 13 3 3 7 20 35 -15 12

Gilderstone Spurs OB III 15 4 0 11 35 55 -20 12

St Bedes AFC Res 14 3 1 10 19 56 -37 10

Bainbridge 12 2 1 9 20 34 -14 7

YORKSHIRE AMATEUR LEAGUE DIVISION 2 TABLE

42

the standard required in ahigher division followingtheir promotion lastseason. Division 3 isactually not really thatmuch more of a challengethan Division 4, but someopposition players are thatbit more experienced thanlast season.Worryingly, itseems to be a very directstyle of football and noamount of passing seems tostem the sight of a robustlaunch of the ball whichalways seems to land at thefoot of an oppositionstriker. He then gleefully relishes thefreedom of being unmarked with onlythe keeeper to beat.We need to learn

quickly. Relegation is unlikely butpromotion is disappearing over thehorizon. �

W HILST the cricketground at Arkenley hasbeen dormant since mid-

September last season, much planninghas gone into preparations for nextseason. Our groundsman, SteveFletcher, has informed the committeeof his intention to improve the qualityof the square by adding loam and seedin early spring. Meanwhile, enquiriesare being made to secure a heavier

CricketJACK TAYLOR

roller, to ensure better wicketpreparation.

Winter nets, involving twelvesessions, are under way at ‘TotalIndoor Cricket Solutions’ atThongsbridge, having commenced on9th January. The practice sessions areon Thursday evenings, 8.00 to 9.00pm, using two lanes, one with abowling machine.

There has been a good attendance

Winter nets are now under way plus new rules in the League

Played W D L F A GD PTS

Ealandians Res 18 10 4 4 64 43 21 34

Morley Town AFC Res 17 11 1 5 56 36 20 34

FC Headingley Res 17 10 3 4 40 40 0 33

Old Batelians Res 16 10 2 4 40 30 10 32

Norristhorpe 19 9 3 7 53 43 10 30

Middleton Park Res 12 8 2 2 37 23 14 26

Wheelwright OB 13 7 3 3 52 26 26 24

Heckmondwike GSOB 14 6 2 6 34 30 4 19

Almondburians Res 13 5 3 5 28 23 5 18

Old Modernians III 15 4 2 9 33 49 -16 14

Thornesians Res 14 3 3 8 29 45 -16 12

Colton Institute Res 17 3 3 11 29 45 -16 11

Calverley United Res 16 4 0 12 22 51 -29 11

East Ardsley Wanderers 17 3 1 13 31 64 -33 10

YORKSHIRE AMATEUR LEAGUE DIVISION 3 TABLE

4343

in the first couple of weeks, auguringwell for a positive start to the seasonin April.

Our league representative, JohnClutterbrook, has informed thecommittee of two major rule changes,agreed at the League AGM, to operatein the coming season:1.There will be no Sunday fixtures in2014.2. A new points system will operatefor league matches:

� 10 points for a win,� 1 bonus point for scoring 125

runs, plus one point for every 25 runsthereafter.

In addition, a rule was passed thatumpires shall be the sole arbiters fordecisions on light.

There is a possibility that OACCJunior cricket may be revived. Interest

has been expressed by OldAlmondburian Jonathan Haydock,former Almondbury Wesleyan player.Our previous Junior teams weresuccessfully pioneered by currentplayers Steve Slack, DavidClutterbrook and Tom Cliffe, now atHall Bower. Further liaison with theSchool would, hopefully, result fromthis development.

The club Presentation Evening willbe held on Saturday, 8th March 2014at ‘Grappolos’ restaurant, Lockwood,7.00 pm for 7.30 pm. In a break fromtradition, established post-season1976, there will be a new, less formal,event in deference to the youngerplayers. There will be no after dinnerspeakers or guest entertainment; theemphasis will be on the presentationof prizes in recognition of player

performances inseason 2013.

Hopefully thecoming year willsee further prog-ress in the reali-sation of a newpavilion at Ark-enley. OACCfounder memberand still currentplayer GrahamCliffe spoke atthe OAS Dinnerto update Al-mondburians onthe details of thecurrent planningapplication. �

Shame about the haircuts: this is the Staff Cricket team of 1974, theprecursor of the OAS CricketTeam set up two years later.(Left to right) back row: Keith Crawshaw,Dave Bush,Bob Field,AlanThomasAndrew Krusinski,Dave Gregson; front row: John Eaton, JackTaylor, MikeThornton,Alan Conley,Gerry Busby

44

Golf: Gothard CupSIMON RUSSELL

After the disaster of the badweather of 2012 which wroteoff so many planned events

including our ownGothard Cup,it wasa pleasure to arriveat a stunninglybeautiful Wood-some in early Julylast year for ourtwelfth event sincerestarting back in2002.

A good turnoutof 20 players all en-joyed a wonderfulafternoon andevening,culminat-ing with an excel-lent dinner at theclub.

Richard Brownwas the winner with 38 points winningby two from Robin Merchant.

It should be no surprise thatRichard,already a past winner,wonagain this year as he was one of theKJGS Gang Of Four who representedYorkshire Schools in 1971.Throughoutthat year they played many of the maincounty teams as well as other countyschools,even competing againstHoward Clark, then England BoysChampion who of course went on to be

a top professional and Ryder Cupplayer.

Who were the others I hear youask. They wereRobert Newsome,now a well estab-lished teaching pro-fessional inG e r m a n y,D av i dParry,still a Goth-ard regular, andCarl Godfrey. Ifanyone knows thewhereabouts ofCarl please pass iton to me.

The 2014 eventhas now beenbooked for 27thJune at Woodsome,tee reserved 3.30pm to 4.30 pm.

Please contact me soonest if youwould like to participate. My contactnumbers have changed recently sohere they are:Tel: 01484 685365Mobile: 07946211169Email: sarussell153@btinternet.com.Any non-golfers who would like to

enjoy the dinner and of course greatrepartee are welcome at just the costof the dinner which is around £20 forthree superb courses. �

A successful 2013 Gothard Cup – and we look forward to 2014

Gothard Cup winner: Richard Brown

45

PostbagYOU WRITE …

Dinner at School was more enjoyable than at stadiumFrom:StuartThompson (1949-1956)

PLEASE could you pass on mysincere thanks to all concernedwith the extremely successful

OAS Dinner that I attended on Saturday?The people to whom I spoke wereunanimous in their opinion that the eventwas far more enjoyable than the last fewat the Stadium.We had more opportunityto chat with old friends, the food wasexcellent, and the speeches wereexpertly delivered and of appropriatelength.

One minor point for improvement –the Founders’Day Service was advertisedas starting with assembly in BigTreeYardat 10.30 am. I arrived at around 10.15-10.20 and was disappointed to find thecar park used on the previous eveningwas locked. Eventually Idrove beyond thecricket field to a pointwhere the road waswide enough to parkwithout causing anobstruction. I decidedthat I would be too lateto join the procession ifI went back down to theSchool, so I made myway to the Church viaSharp Lane.

After an inspiring Service, I hadcoffee in the Church facilities andreturned to my vehicle. I drove down tothe crossroads, turned left up St Helen’sGate and noticed that the gates of themain car park were now open, and carswere leaving. Perhaps next year, themagazine could include slightly moredetailed instructions about the carparking arrangements?

Our group made an effort to identifypersons included in the 1954 school tripphotograph in the last issue (see below).Back row, seventh from left: John EarnshawBack row,ninth from left: Could be RobertLee (class of ’49, lived towards the lowerend of Somerset Road, below LongleyRoad) or Peter Shaw (Class of ’48, who

46

lived near the top of Fenay Lane andbecame a medic)Back row, fourth from right: GodfreyBedfordBack row, third from right: JA (Tony)

Smith, who, because of his initials, wasusually referred to as JAS, pronouncedJAZZ)Ringed, below Godfrey Bedford: Myself.

Cheadle, Cheshire

MY thanks to John Bradley forthe photo of the 1954French trip to Annecy in

The Almondburian, and for his interestingmemoir and the nice things he saysabout my Dad’s teaching.

For anyone who's interested, here issome more information about some ofthe people in the photo (see opposite).

Front left, next to the French coachdriver, is Joyce Thomas, wife of Chem-istry master Jack, who is in the back rownext to Frank Anderson. Joyce at thetime taught Biology at Greenhead.TheThomases were great friends of my par-ents and quite often accompanied theFrench holiday groups. Jack was atremendous personality, clever, wittyand enormous fun to be with. He hadsuffered horribly as a prisoner of war,undergoing privations and punishmentswhich were to wreck his health for ever.

Some time after this holiday, theThomases relocated to Chester, whereagain they both taught in grammarschools. However, they did not settlehappily, and Jack’s health seriously de-teriorated. Their return to Hudders-field, where they had bought abungalow in Bradley Road, coincidedwith a temporary vacancy at A.G.S. inthe Science Department, and Jack for a

time was able to resume his former postas Chemistry master. Sadly, his rapidlydeveloping multiple sclerosis was soonto make teaching an impossibility.

Joyce, meanwhile, continued toteach in Chester, doing a horrendousdaily commute, driving herself fromHuddersfield and back, years before thetrans Pennine motorway was even agleam in McAlpine’s eye. Fortunately,she obtained an alternative post in Hud-dersfield, at St. Gregory's (now amalga-mated into All Saints), very close totheir new home.

Next to JoyceThomas in the photo isour dear friend Susan (Hirst, in thosedays), who lived at Clough Ings Farm inLumb Lane (on your right, just beforethe Dancing Oaks, as you slogged up to-wards the Molly Carr on the seniorcross country course). Sue would havecelebrated her fifteenth birthday on theAnnecy holiday. She and my sister were,and remain, great chums. Sue had twoolder brothers, who were both ex-A.G.S.

Next to Susan, in the middle of thephoto, is my sister, Judy (for 51 years,now, Judy Winkworth, married toRobin, living in beautiful Shropshire).At the time of this photo, Judy was justfifteen. From childhood, she often went

My Dad’s 1954 school trip to FranceFrom:Nick Addy (1955-1963)

47

with Dad and ‘the boys’ on the Frenchholidays, usually accompanied by one orother of her friends or cousins. It is ex-traordinary today to think that the girlsslept in the open dormitory among allthose boys, and nobody, as far as I know,ever raised an eyebrow or gave it a sec-ond thought.

We returned to Annecy in 1960,staying in the same boarding school as inJohn Bradley’s memoir and photograph.We visited the same impressive places asJohn mentions.My friend MartinThorn-ton and I wrote a piece about the lovelyholiday for the school mag in the autumnof that year.

In my years as a teacher, I organisedand escorted so many excursions andholidays for youngsters both at home andabroad, but all with the relative ease ofcoach travel. Nearly all the travel on myfather’s foreign holidays was, on theother hand, on public transport, albeitwith all tickets and seat reservations etcarranged in advance through Stanton’sTravelAgents in JohnWilliam Street. Formy Dad, getting all the party safely fromHuddersfield Station to the French des-tination and back again, must have been

a huge worry, especially the Under-ground and Metro crossings of Londonand Paris from one mainline station toanother, and the inherent difficulties ofkeeping everyone corralled together inthe terrifying, cavernous unfamiliarity ofthe night ferry. Nobody, to my knowl-edge, was ever lost or left behind.

I was lucky indeed in my rich inher-itance of my father’s vast knowledge of,and love for, French language and cul-ture.Wherever we went in France, he al-ways knew, or seemed to know, exactlythe way we ought to be going; and wher-ever we were, he nearly always seemedto know somebody local to engage inlengthy conversation on any number oftopics, but predominantly viticulture.

My thanks again to John Bradley forsharing, and reawakening, some fondmemories. I’m so pleased to know thathis grounding in Modern Language atA.G.S. had such impact on his profes-sional success. It is both rewarding andhumbling to know that in his 38 years atthe school my father’s teaching musthave similarly influenced so many of hisstudents in so many various fields.

Mirfield,WestYorkshire

I can add a few more names. On theback row, the first six are J RTelfer, C Heeson, David Cliffe,

Stuart Ramsden, G Maude and DavidHirst. Then, after David Earnshaw, areB Wadsworth, Peter Shaw, StephenCoward, Peter Clarke, Jack Thomas,Dennis Oliver, Frank Anderson, God-

frey Bedford, J A Smith and MichaelThomas.

On the front row in addition to thosealready identified, the picture alsoshows Charlie Beresford, M Dodd,David Matthews, Zarko Garkovic, ChrisNoden and J N Christie.

Huddersfield,WestYorkshire

A few more names for that photographFrom:Gerald Stead (1948-1956)

48

RECENTLY my mum (AnneGray) and I have been doingsome research into our family

tree using resources from a collection ofinformation passed onto ourselves.Interestingly and by sheer coincidence,

my mum searched the internet for some

more information on Edward Akroyd’sparents* and she stumbled upon theMarch 2013 issue of The Almondburian.On page 27 there is an article seeking

any information on the whereabouts ofother paintings and drawings that ‘Teak’had made. Due to the passing down of

family heirlooms, I have acouple of his paintings andI have attached a couple ofimages of them accompa-nied by signatures.I am aware that some of

the other family membershave some of his work intheir possession, but I donot wish to mention themuntil they have been in-formed first about the sit-uation. However, I did wishto contact yourselves inorder to help provide acontact for informationabout his work.

I hope that this is at leasta useful starting point tohelp archive the work of‘Teak’ and to reassure youthat there is some of hiswork out there and it isgreatly appreciated!

Aberdeen, Scotland*Edward Akroyd (1891 - 1963)> Patricia Campbell née Akroyd> Anne Gray (née Campbell)> Craig Gray

Teak’s paintings are rediscoveredFrom:Craig Gray

IN the 1940s a small number ofWest Riding students were able toobtain places at Almondbury

Grammar School. Our route to schoolwas by bus to Fenay Bridge and a walk upthe lane.For some years there were four from

Kirkburton making the trip each day:mycousin and I, Oxley and Armitage. In1949 I left school and was called up to doNational Service.The next two years were spent in the

RAF, mostly in Egypt.Following mydemob I joined Woolworths as traineemanager and moved to various parts ofthe UK until returning to Yorkshire in1975.

Having retired in1988 it was beforethe computer had taken over, and I resis-ted until I reached 80.This meant that Icould then research the OldAlmondburi-ans’ Society – and then two years ago Ijoined.A welcome to newmembers in The Al-

mondburian was followed by an emailfrom David Oxley in Australia. It was areal surprise.We had not had any contactsince I left school.Last month he and his wife came to

visit Kirkburton and we were delightedthat they were able to visit us in Penis-tone, with 64 years to catch up on.Thank you, The Almondburian.

Penistone,WestYorkshire

Thank you The Almondburian!From:David Micklethwaite (1941-1949)

Outstretched in summer’s warm engulfing hazeThe school of Alm’b’ry sleeps among the trees.The lunchtime sun in browsy mood surveysAs pin-prick children play in twos and threes.The velvet Farnley valley rises roundAnd cushions like a jewel in its lapThe old school-house and lands which it surroundsBoth swathed in sun and deep in history wrapt.Heat overpowers, and shady schoolrooms rest;Their charges, out of doors rejoicing gay,Whose carefree, open, trusting faces bestReflect the warm perfection of the day.So trusted nestles here in valley greenA summer happy school, contentment’s dream.

‘A Sonnet in St Helen’s Gate’ by S B Sykes,VI ArtsThe Almondburian, SpringTerm 1971

The Almondburian Poets

OVER the years, whileThe Almondburian wasthe magazine of theSchool and not of theOAS, it printed manypoems from currentstudents. Some of thesedeserve to beremembered and, as anoccasional series, we shallbe reprinting some of ourreaders’ favourites.Email or post YOURfavourites to the Editor(contact details on backcover).

Contributor:Bryan Hopkinson

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ObituariesGONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

AllenTurner(1962-1968)

Talented sportsman and businessman who also found time to run theHonley ShowWe are sorry to report the death ofAllenTurner from

bowel cancer in July 2013.Allen was born in Huddersfield in 1951.At school, he

made hismark as a cross-country runner and hemaintaineda keen interest in sport throughout his life. In due course hebecame a captain at Longwood Harriers, competing in theNorthern Championships. He took part in the LondonMarathon in 1985.Allen was also a keen footballer, playingfor Holmbridge, Berry Brow and Brighouse Town; heclaimed that he played football over five decades. He alsohelped to run and refereeHolmbridge junior teammatches.In summer,Allen supportedHall Bower cricket teamwherehe helped to run the bar; his legendary drinking skills earned him the reputation of being‘a smallmanwith hollow legs’.His drinking abilities were also admired atWoodsome andMeltham golf clubs, though by general consent his golfing talents were of a lesser order.

For 28 years,Allen worked at Holset (now CumminsTurboTechnologies), a marketleader in turbocharger design, forwhomhe travelled around theworld to find and developnew suppliers.Allen was involved for over 20 years in the Honley Show, initially as ShowManager and, since 2009 when he retired fromHolset, as President.Under his guidance,the showhas gone from strength to strength and is nowone of the area’s leading agriculturalevents. He also found time to become a governor ofAlmondbury High School where indue course he became Chairman.

Allen leaves a wife Sheila, three sons and two grand-daughters.

Geoffrey Douglas(1936-1943)

Enthusiastic OASmember and former Chairman who was a very gentle gentlemanWitty, intelligent,warm,not always‘correct’, sometimes irritated, or even irritating,

sometimes private, sometimes cavalier, mostly happy, sometimes not, soft, loving, andcaring, Geoffrey passed away when time and ageing had finally caught up with him, on29th August 2013, at Aden Court Residential Care Home – within a stone’s throw ofwhere hewas born, and lived for all his school years, in Ravensknowle Road,Moldgreen,Huddersfield.

Married toMargaret, the girl across themain road,Geoff’s lifewas typical of that closefamily culture which in later life he nostalgically recalled – a time before aircraft, cars,computers, telecommunications, internet and twitter changed the world for ever. Henever rejected progress, but at the same time, like many of his generation, he did notalways regard all change as unequivocal progress. Some things may have been better notabandoned or discredited as‘old fashioned’, or plain‘backward looking’.

Inspired by Fred‘Soapy’Hudson,among several other highly regarded teachers at KingJames’s, the teenage student developedmost of his enthusiasms from his school years, in-cluding sports, and particularly,maps, journeys, and all things geographic.Geoffrey’s loveof maps only waned as his eyesight began to fail in his 80s, not before he had acquired adetailed knowledge ofmany towns,counties, cantons, rivers, and landmarks, all over Eng-land, the UK,Europe, and even further afield,whether by beloved car, or plane, boat, ortrain.Only when health finally stole his car away from him did he retire from his endlessexpeditions,never once having abdicated his exploring ambition to Satnav,or online jour-ney planners.What possible fun could they provide?!

Sport including football (Town and Jimmy Glazzard), rugby (Fartown and LionelCooper), tennis (KenRosewall),golf (Arnold Palmer), later bowls (‘stars’ like the late FredSheard, andWilf Strickland), all grew out of school andwere passed on to sons and daugh-ters.ToGeoff,King James’s, still then‘a proper grammar school’,was a consistent sourceof quality experiences and a solid foundation for life skills and endeavour.

As an active Old Boy Geoff remained a constructive and enthusiastic member of theOldAlmondburians’ Society, including being honoured as its Chairman in the 1980s, stillattending committeemeetings into his 70s, as honorary badminton secretary.Hewas also,with his wife, a regular traveller on SoapyHudson’s bus tours of theUK,withmany otherAlmondburian friends (again satnav not required! )

After retiring from theHuddersfield industrial refrigeration company Crowther & ShawLtd, some 30 years ago,Geoffrey and his wife enjoyedmany years of travel and entertain-ment before health began to fail, first with Margaret’s devastating stroke in 2010, withGeoff battling on alone at home in Shepley for a year or so, before joining her in the res-

idential care home, in Moldgreen,where it all started allthose years ago.As the years took over, Geoff could stillsummon up strength to visit his favourite local hostelries,The Cock,TheWoodman, andThe ThreeAcreswhere hewouldstill put ‘Cameron’ back on the right track, suggest howthe currentTown manager might achieve more, or evenany, success, and generally reflect how “it was never likethat in my day!”

Geoffrey leaves Margaret, his wife of 62 years,An-drew, Ian and Helen, and a still-growing group of grand-children.

Andrew Douglas (1963-1970)

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ChairmanBRYAN HOPKINSON

Apartment 206,1535The Melting PointCommercial Street, Huddersfield HD1 3DN

Tel: 01484 469804Mobile: 07595 175835

Email: bryan.hopkinson@oas.org.uk

SecretaryANDREW HAIGH

2Arkenley Lane,Almondbury HD4 6SQTel: 01484 432105

Email: andrew.haigh@oas.org.uk

TreasurerKEITH CRAWSHAW

5 Benomley Drive,Almondbury HD5 8LXTel: 01484 533658

Email: keith.crawshaw@oas.org.uk

Media EditorROGER DOWLINGEditorial address:

Orchard House, Oughtrington Lane, Lymm,CheshireWA13 0RDTel: 01925 756390

Email: almondburian@oas.org.ukArchivist

NICH BRIGGSTel: 07771 865330

Email: nichbriggs@hotmail.com

Website:www.oas.org.uk

Facebook:http://tinyurl.com/3ykffo3

The Almondburian isdistributed to OASmembers free of

charge.Price to

non-members: £3.00