Mighty Oaks from little acorns grow.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The Sanitary condition of Haileybury College
The quality of water at Haileybury was the subject of lengthy correspondence in the British Medical Journal of 1888. The reserved frisson of Victorian insult flew across the pages of that professional journal:
"Sir, you state in your comments of Dr Stevenson's last analysis of the well-water ... that you have no desire to impugn the quality of the Haileybury water. Your sincerity will allow me space to point out that in the course of those comments you do indeed "impugn"it - unfoundedly I venture to think - through misapprehension and incorrect statement of actual facts, and consequent confusion of the inference drawn from them."
Despite the detailed refutation of the assertion that the water was bad a solution (no pun intended!) was found by setting up the water tower; one on the Heath and one on the corner of the Quad between Red House and the Lawrence Housemaster's House.
Now the mains bring fresh water, and the water tower in the College grounds is long gone. But you can share a little piece of Haileybury history if you have just over £1/2m to spare to buy the water tower on the Heath as your new home.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Royal Couple
Congratulations to the Royal couple. The re-use of the engagement ring recalls another jewel. When the Duke and Duchess of York opened the Hall in 1932 they had been married for nine years. Imogen Thomas relates that the key which the Duchess (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) used to open the hall for the first time had a decorated fob designed to be removed and worn as a brooch. I wonder what happened to it.
 |
| The Duke and Duchess of York with the Master & Mrs Talbot |
Royal Couple
Congratulations to the Royal couple. The re-use of the engagement ring recalls another jewel. When the Duke and Duchess of York opened the Hall in 1932 they had been married for nine years. Imogen Thomas relates that the key which the Duchess (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) used to open the hall for the first time had a decorated fob designed to be removed and worn as a brooch. I wonder what happened to it.
|
| The Duke and Duchess of York with the Master & Mrs Talbot |
Monday, November 15, 2010
This House Believes
On Thursdays at lunchtime I run a debating club for the Year 6 (10 - 11 year old) children at the local Primary School. Last week there was much excitement as the result of a parcel I had received from the school office. It was a gavel, sent by Peter Blair, the Master in Charge of debating at Haileybury.
Our group has no one in it who has English as a first language. We are truly polyglot - the group of eighteen has over a dozen mother tongues; some of the children from francophone Africa are working in their third language when they debate in English. Even so we don't do badly. I had mentioned to Mr Blair that we had debated the Olympics recently and he said his groups had done the same. Last week the poor Year 6 group was under a bit of pressure as we debated the motion "This House believes there is no point doing mental maths" while their maths teacher was sitting in a corner of the class room marking maths papers. Not even the proposers of the motion dared vote for it - though they did come up with some reasonable arguments.
The gavel is a symbol of how links between institutions and communities can be forged. Although not to debate, groups from Haileybury have come here in the past. Once a confirmation class came to Mass and then went off to lunch with some of our parishioners before a tour of the area and then tea at the Vicarage. It was a great day on all sides. I hope it might be possible for me to take my debating club to a debate at Haileybury. In these days of measuring public benefit and quantifying what good charities do we run the risk of forgetting the mutual support to the education of the young that these small links contribute.
Our group has no one in it who has English as a first language. We are truly polyglot - the group of eighteen has over a dozen mother tongues; some of the children from francophone Africa are working in their third language when they debate in English. Even so we don't do badly. I had mentioned to Mr Blair that we had debated the Olympics recently and he said his groups had done the same. Last week the poor Year 6 group was under a bit of pressure as we debated the motion "This House believes there is no point doing mental maths" while their maths teacher was sitting in a corner of the class room marking maths papers. Not even the proposers of the motion dared vote for it - though they did come up with some reasonable arguments.
The gavel is a symbol of how links between institutions and communities can be forged. Although not to debate, groups from Haileybury have come here in the past. Once a confirmation class came to Mass and then went off to lunch with some of our parishioners before a tour of the area and then tea at the Vicarage. It was a great day on all sides. I hope it might be possible for me to take my debating club to a debate at Haileybury. In these days of measuring public benefit and quantifying what good charities do we run the risk of forgetting the mutual support to the education of the young that these small links contribute.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
AGM
Honour the past; bring Energy to the Present; prepare for the future. Three aims for my year as President of the Haileybury Society.
The Society is one of the key places where our past is remembered and the continuity of the institution of the school is safeguarded. Together with others (the Archivist and the Editors of the Haileyburian spring to mind), the Society brings the corporate memory alive so that the ethos of the school, that fragile intangible but crucial thing, can be upheld and develop. In his report to the AGM on Saturday the Master mentioned small children in Kazakhstan singing the school song. Modern English Haileyburians do not sing the Vivat - but they do share the ethos of the place, such that we have a continuity with them. Our links with oneanother and our shared memories help that to be the case.
There is so much going on in the life of the Society. George Staple told us in the report of his year how he had traveled the world, and how in Australia a suggestion to the local secretary of a meet for a drink became a formal dinner in the space of a couple of days. This energy is a hallmark of the Society, and I hope that I can contribute to it. There are plans for the reunion at the National Memorial Arboretum and hopefully there can be a dinner in Oxford next term. Meanwhile OHs are gathering in pubs and on touch lines; contributing to careers fairs and concerts; organizing fund-raising activities and supporting initiatives such as the Haileybury Youth Trust. There will be much more this year as the energy of Haileyburians makes things happen.
It was pointed out as I was nominated, that I am a parent of children at the school and a member of Council. I hope that these links will help to contribute to the work which George Staple has begun, and which he will carry forward, to review for the first time in its fifty three years, the life and work of the Haileybury Society. How does this alumni organization relate to other parts of the Haileybury community? Can or should we do more or do differently? This leads us into the future and will be perhaps even more important in its long term ramifications than the other work of this year, which will be to look to the Society's contribution to the 150th anniversary of the school in 2012.
I am immensely honoured to be your President and thank those whose confidence in me has been shown by this election. George's shoes - and those of his distinguished predecessors - will be very hard to fill. I am looking forward to the attempt.
The Society is one of the key places where our past is remembered and the continuity of the institution of the school is safeguarded. Together with others (the Archivist and the Editors of the Haileyburian spring to mind), the Society brings the corporate memory alive so that the ethos of the school, that fragile intangible but crucial thing, can be upheld and develop. In his report to the AGM on Saturday the Master mentioned small children in Kazakhstan singing the school song. Modern English Haileyburians do not sing the Vivat - but they do share the ethos of the place, such that we have a continuity with them. Our links with oneanother and our shared memories help that to be the case.
There is so much going on in the life of the Society. George Staple told us in the report of his year how he had traveled the world, and how in Australia a suggestion to the local secretary of a meet for a drink became a formal dinner in the space of a couple of days. This energy is a hallmark of the Society, and I hope that I can contribute to it. There are plans for the reunion at the National Memorial Arboretum and hopefully there can be a dinner in Oxford next term. Meanwhile OHs are gathering in pubs and on touch lines; contributing to careers fairs and concerts; organizing fund-raising activities and supporting initiatives such as the Haileybury Youth Trust. There will be much more this year as the energy of Haileyburians makes things happen.
It was pointed out as I was nominated, that I am a parent of children at the school and a member of Council. I hope that these links will help to contribute to the work which George Staple has begun, and which he will carry forward, to review for the first time in its fifty three years, the life and work of the Haileybury Society. How does this alumni organization relate to other parts of the Haileybury community? Can or should we do more or do differently? This leads us into the future and will be perhaps even more important in its long term ramifications than the other work of this year, which will be to look to the Society's contribution to the 150th anniversary of the school in 2012.
I am immensely honoured to be your President and thank those whose confidence in me has been shown by this election. George's shoes - and those of his distinguished predecessors - will be very hard to fill. I am looking forward to the attempt.
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