Lest we Forget

When we went to the National Memorial Arboretum earlier in the year I had a conversation with Charles Bagott Jewitt (Tr 78) about how remembering and memorialising has changed over the years.

Now the NMA has published a book, Lest We Forget on just this theme. The 'blurb' explains:

Remembering is part of the human condition. The spontaneous and entirely unorganised honouring of coffins brought back from Afghanistan by the people of Wootton Bassett is testament that many people have a deep concern for the memory of those who have died in recent conflict.  Over the past decade, the British Remembrance season has grown once more in significance, but popular outpourings of grief also include the mass response to the death of Princess Diana and the Hillsborough disaster. 

Lest We Forget chronicles the depth and variety of forms of Remembrance both nationally in Britain and across the world, ranging from the traditional ceremony of Armistice Day, to the more contested narratives of conflicts in Iraq or Rwanda.  Also included in the 34 case studies:

• Remembrance after World War One; Slavery memorials; Memorials in the US Landscape; War Widows and Remembrance; ‘Commemorating animals, glorifying humans?’; The National Memorial Arboretum; Artists of Twentieth Century Remembrance; Pacifist war memorial in Western France; Web-remembrance.

You can order the book from the History Press, here.

IB Congratulations

Mulberries

Haileybury of course has much longer holidays than the primary schools and tomorrow is the last day of term for them. I have been looking back as I finish tomorrow after nine years as Chair of Governors of the Mulberry Primary School in Tottenham. It is a non-church school in my former parish and I have been a community governor there since 1995. All three of my sons were there before going to Haileybury and my wife teaches there.

The Mulberry serves a wonderful community which has extraordinary challenges. The population mobility is very high and more than a third of the children leave and come each year. About three quarters have English as an Additional Language; over half qualify for free school meals; the 650 pupils speak upwards of 60 languages. Everyone has the experience of being in a minority. At the Year 6 leavers' assembly this morning a child who entered the school just over a year ago with no previous experience of formal education and no English spoke - with good grammar - of his memories. The nationally recognised provision for children on the Autistic Spectrum is also on site. It is a school well below national levels in attainment: but the progress the children make from their starting point is extraordinary, and much better than most schools in the country.

I know it is blue, but Allenby hooded tops are blue! Green and black remain the colours!

My boys have not been the only Haileyburians educated at the Mulberry; an Allenby hoodie was to be seen in the school today as the teenagers come to help out in their old school in the last week of term. There was a chap now at S Edmund's Ware in school yesterday. it is wonderful that the Attlee Fund at Haileybury and similar schemes in other schools helps children from Tottenham to come to Haileybury. if you have contributed thank you for helping our Mulberries and others like them.

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.