Back after a Long Time

It has been an extended time in which I have not posted. Holidays have been one thing, and then the riots, which started in my former parish. The carpet store with the block of flats above which became the symbol of the rioting was just opposite the church and Vicarage where I lived until February. I have been incredibly proud of S Mary's. The faithful had the church open 16 hours a day, and the positive way in which the whole community has responded has been fantastic. Enfield Town and Ponders End are also in the Archdeaconry as is Chalk Farm where there was extensive looting of shops. 

The rioters are a tiny minority of the population, but what damage they have done to the prospects and reputation of whole sections of the communities. Young people in Tottenham have said to me that they now feel much less likely to find jobs and are angry with those who have made life so much more difficult for them. 

Police and young people in Tottenham - the real story

A century and a bit ago there were fears, sparked by Chartism, of revolution in Britain. Part of the response then was the Public School Mission movement in which the great schools set up work in the poorest parts of the great cities. Marlborough founded S Mary's Tottenham; Haileybury had the Boys' Club in Stepney; others had their parishes and initiatives. In fact most of the work was initiated and led by those who felt not so much a social need as a spiritual call, but it was certainly supported by many whose motives were socio-political rather than religious. 

Visiting the Tottenham Rest Centre last week and seeing the generosity which has provided material help for those who have been burned out I was moved. Medium term help is being provided by the local authority whose advice and help is being praised by the shop keepers and others who are in need. There will be a need for the long term staying power which only commitment to living and working in the communities affected can bring about. I pray that among those whose A Level results come out this week will be some who will make that commitment for the good of us all.  

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