Bisley

Last Thursday I spent the day with Humphrey Nye (staff 1961 -94) at Bisley. We arrived early enough to see the end of the Public School cadet shooting, and for Humphrey to show me round. The collection of silver trophies is amazing. Haileybury no longer sends a team since the closure of the Range preculdes full bore practice. There were a good number of schools represented, however, and Haileybury was remembered with fondness.

The veterans are convened by Nick Courtney (M 1960). There are a number of good shots, but Nick says he can never gather enough at once to put out a properly competitive team. I was roped in, and coached by Keith Trowbridge (E 1964), managed to hit the target a few times, which I was happy about as it must be 30 years since I last shot. 

Afterwards we all retired to the Fox, a local hostelry, for dinner. It was a splndid afternoon, and if you are in Surrey this time next year I am sure Nick would welcome you (especially if you can shoot).

Haileybury and Hogwarts 4

It has been another busy week and the blog has been neglected. I am off to Bisley the day after tomorrow with Humphrey Nye, so it is really time to finish the Haileybury and Hogwarts saga.

In reply to my letter, a few months later, a silver envelope arrived.

inside was a letter

It has meant that for the last three books I have read with baited breath to see whether Haileybury would ever appear in the Harry Potter Books. Alas not.

So far!

Haileybury and Hogwarts 3

Having given the background in the preceding posts, what follows is the text of a letter I wrote one mad afternoon and sent to JK Rowling care of her publishers. I posted it and waited…

I used a stamp, not an owl

In your Comic Relief book about the History of Quidditch, one of the teams (from Canada) is the Haileybury Hammers. (p43)

Haileybury Ontario was named after his old school (Haileybury, near Hertford) by its founder, Charles Cobbold Farr in 1889, and has as its coat of arms the bearings of Haileybury College. This features three winged hearts (from the school motto, which Farr also transferred to the town: Sursum Corda).

Of course winged hearts look like Golden Snitches. It struck me that if ever you have cause to describe the colours and robes of the Haileybury Hammers it might lend authenticity to know about the winged hearts, and also that the local hockey team plays in a red strip because the house colours of Farr's boarding House were red. [Trevelyan]

If you don't just bin this letter as the foolishness of a fan, you can follow up the details in Imogen Thomas, Haileybury 1806 - 1987 pp 42 - 43 ISBN 0 9512393 0 9

ISC

A fascinating comment has come from 'Kris' to add to the post on the statue 'Spirit of Youth"

You will find it in the comments on the original post, but here it is to save you having to trawl through. Thank you Kris for this.

(Meanwhile I am so sorry that there has been hardly any posting over the last week. I plan a post on what I have been up to and then to finish the story of Haileybury and Hogwarts, which has a fascinating ending!)

The Spirit of Youth (post war version) in Dover

Pre war version in Dunfermline

The Spirit of Youth was created by Richard Reginald Goulden in 1908 for the Carnegie fountain in Dunfermline. A local schoolboy, Wiliam Galbraith, was one of the two models. In 1999 it was renovated and presented to Carnegie College. A (recent?) copy is in the foyer of the renovated Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline. The ISC 1936 copy is apparently still owned by Haileybury - but it is not on public display. [Does anyone know where it is? L]

In 1924 Goulden reworked the figure slightly for the Dover War Memorial - and a modified copy also graces the Newhaven Cemetery where he is buried.

The significant difference is that the pre-war optimism of the figure stretching for "winged victory laurels" - was replaced by it poignantly reaching for a small blazing crucifix. It is not currently known if the schoolboy models from 1908 survived the war.

All these variations can be found on the web. The foyer of the Alhambra is a 360 degree shot that can zoom into the sculpture's detail. 

Haileybury and Hogwarts 2

I said there was more to the link between Haileybury and Hogwarts and there is.

When CC Farr founded Haileybury on the shores of lake Temiskaming he named the newspaper The Haileyburian and took the motto 'Sursum Corda.' For some reason the town seems to translate this 'be of good courage.'

Originally the Town's logo was the familiar Hearts and Wings, and Imogen Thomas tells us that the hockey team played in Black and Red for Trevelyan.

The strip for Rowling's imaginary Haileybury Hammers Quidditch Team is not described. The similarity between a winged heart and Golden Snitch is noteworthy.

Now I am aware that by now those who have not read Harry Potter may be utterly lost, so here is an explanation of Quidditch. (You may need to skip the advert.)  Keep the similarity between the snitch and the winged heart in mind, and I will post some more on this another day to draw all these strands together.

Haileybury and Hogwarts

JK Rowling is to launch a new Harry Potter Website, Pottermore. In it she will make available the full text of her books and also unpublished material. There is a Haileybury link.

Aficionados of the oeuvre may remember that alongside the main novels Rowling published two small books in aid of comic relief in 2001. One of these was called 'Quidditch Through the Ages' and is supposed to be a book from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry library all about Quidditch, the game Rowling's characters play.

For those who are unfamiliar with the books, Quidditch is a cross between lacrosse, rugby and hockey and is played while flying on a broomstick.

The Haileybury link comes in the list of international teams. On page 43, there is a mention of the Haileybury Hammers, a Quidditch team from Canada, clearly from the town founded by Charles Cobbold Farr (Tr 1864) in Ontario.

There is more to this - for another post.

Strawberries

It was Sydney Smith who asked What is real piety? What is true attachment to the church? How are fine feelings best evinced? The answer is plain - by sending strawberries to a clergyman. The joke is enhanced by comparing the remark to James 1:27

My mother has a story about strawberries. Roy Sinker (BF 1922) was Archdeacon of Stow in the diocese of Lincoln when he and his wife came to the clergy wives' meeting which Mother was hosting. She was nursing me and when I yelled for a feed she was ushered away by the Archdeacon's wife, who also took her strawberries away with the remark that they are no good for the baby's milk.

In reparation I almost always had strawberries on my birthday. When I was 18 my parents brought strawberries and cream up to school and we ate them in my study. I am not sure if I will get any strawberries tomorrow, but of course that is not the point - I ought to send some to Mother.