Word verification

In July I turned on word verification for this blog, forcing people to type in a random word before adding comments.

The purpose of this is to prevent spammers from using programs to add automated comments to the blog, which has become a real nuisance.

I'm now turning word verification off again for a trial period, because Blogger has implemented a new spam-filtering system. I'll see how it goes.

27th of October: I've turned word verification back on, because the blog is receiving about 20 spam messages a day, and the spam filtering system doesn't reduce the nuisance much. I still get all of them arriving in my e-mail inbox, and still have to delete all of them. Much better if they don't get onto the blog in the first place. I'm sorry it means a little extra trouble for anyone wanting to post messages on the blog; blame the spammers.

Stouts Hill Reunion 2010 completed

The Stouts Hill Reunion 2010 was held as planned at Stouts Hill on the 15th of August, attended by at least 25 people, who all seemed to have a good time chatting and wandering around the house and grounds. The weather was dry and pleasant throughout.

Alan Davis and his sister Lesley arrived early with an abundant supply of good cold snacks and soft drinks. The bar (in the former headmaster's study) was unmanned but open; we could help ourselves to drinks and drop payment into a box.

I am gradually adding photos of the reunion to Flickr: click here. Please be patient: I have other things to do, and you can expect more photos to appear here over the coming weeks. You're welcome to contribute your own photos.

Although the reunion was a success, the turnout was lower than expected: quite a lot of people expressed interest but never appeared, including all of the eight people who originally requested a reunion in 2010; so Alan and Lesley brought too much food and had to take most of it away afterwards. Alan received advance notice from Emile Farhi, Charles Llewellyn, David Mackinley-Woodhall, Ian McKellan, and Miles Wachter that they would not be coming; and Derek Hulme left a note on this blog.

Anthony and Sue Cromie sent a brief letter to Alan that he read out at the reunion:

Sue and I are very disappointed that we are unable to attend this reunion. We are particularly impressed with your organisational skills and congratulate all on the great success last year.

If you feel it appropriate please ask the Old Boys to carry on setting the example in life of decency and fair play. And I refer to Kipling's poem 'If'. “If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance, run etc...”

My own thanks again to Alan and Lesley for their efforts.

Stouts Hill 1960s video

From a correspondent who wishes to remain anonymous, I've received a video made from various pieces of cine film shot at Stouts Hill in the 1960s. The video is four and a quarter minutes long, and shows what seems to be a masters versus old boys football match (probably September/October 1962), plus some sports day races.

You can find the 30-MB MPEG-4 file here. To download:

• In Firefox for Windows, right-link the link and select Save Link As.
• In Internet Explorer for Windows, right-click the link and select Save Target As. IE changes the file extension to .htm, so you will have to change it back to .m4v manually in order to see the video. Thanks, Microsoft.
• If you have a Mac and can't right-click, control-click instead.

Considering the age of the film, the quality is good, although one section of it is damaged and double-exposed.

I haven't tried to put this on Flickr, because Flickr limits videos to 90 seconds.

Stouts Hill Reunion 2010

Following the successful event in August 2009, David Mackinley-Woodhall told me that he knew of a group of people interested in a reunion in the summer of 2010, some of whom were unable to come this year; and Alan Davis bravely volunteered to arrange another event.

Since then, others have expressed interest, and I hope to join in myself if I can make it to England at that time. If you think you might like to come, please leave a comment here or get in touch by e-mail, to give us an idea of numbers.

The reunion is now planned for the 15th of August 2010. Roll up, roll up for the mystery tour!

Later: I've now booked a flight to England in August, so I seem increasingly likely to be there.

Photos circa 1950

Recently Charles Hamilton (Stouts Hill 1946-53) has contributed 15 photos from his time at the school, and I've added them to Flickr as a new set: you can see them here.

More information about these photos would be welcome, if any of you can remember!

Later: he's also sent scans of the school play programme from 1947, and a photo of the wedding of Anthony and Susan Cromie (1960).

Stouts Hill Reunion, 16th August '09

Well, we did it! The first Stouts Hill reunion since the school closed just over thirty years ago. I can say that I was pleased with the way the day went and how much those of you who attended the event enjoyed it too. I think everybody considered it to have been a worthwhile exercise.

The planning over the past ten months or so had gone smoothly with Stouts Hill Resort being most helpful and letting us have the three rooms and a staffed bar for very reasonable rates. Thanks go to Maureen, the resort manageress, for making it happen. My biggest concern was parking, but with dry weather in the week running up to the 16th meant we could use the field and not inconvenience those in residence.

Shopping for the buffet was done the day before by myself and my sister Lesley and stored in the fridges and freezer at Stouts Hill meaning we didn't have to get up quite so early on the Sunday. Many of you sampled Richard Evans' very kind contribution of wines from the bar. I must also thank Richard for his wife's help in the kitchen in preparing the buffet.

First to arrive was Robin Duncan sporting his boyhood cap. In fact there was several other items of uniform on display including various straw boater hats, 'Old Boy' ties and a scarf. I had brought my tie but wasn't brave enough to put it on until realising I wouldn't look too daft in putting it on.

Arrivals were steady after midday with Sue and Anthony Cromie walking to the school to greet others as they arrived. Their daughter Sarah came along too. Other staff present were Paddy Scott Clark and her sister Jane, John and Christine Flood and a later visit by Chris Coley. Some of us only had a few miles to travel, but some hardy souls travelled from Yorkshire, London, West Wales and to show true commitment Miles Wachter and his wife came back from holiday in Devon for the day!

Sadly, quite a few who had said they would attend didn't make it for whatever reason. They missed a great day! I made an effort to try and record all who attended. Here is the 'register' for the 16th August. Sorry if I missed anybody out.

Justin Bodle
Jeremy Blatchford
Michael Cromie
Jason Crossley-John
Robert Darrel & elder brother (sorry, didn't get your first name!)
Alan Davis
Peter Dawson
Edward Dolby
Robin Duncan
Douglas Edwards (Jan '42 to July '47!)
Richard Evans
Robert Evans
Emile Farhi
Andrew Gordon-Johnson
Derek Hulme
Michael Lawson
Charles Llewellyn
David Mackinley-Woodhall
Digby Macpherson
Andrew Needham
Grant Needham
Jonathan Palfrey
John George Phillips
Jonathan Phippen
John Poulton
Michael Read
Laurence Robinson
James Sillivan
Miles Wachter
Julian Williams

Apologies: Christopher Clift, John Morris, Richard Madley, John Corps, Justin Tugwell and Tony Thomas (music teacher)

Also, there were wives, partners and a small collection of (well behaved) children who enjoyed the visit. I think the most popular observation was how pretty the location was and what a splendid building to have as a school. There was the opportunity to have a look around the grounds to see how the place has changed over the past thirty years.

One thing that pleased me more than anything was how most really made a day of it! I was expecting departures from 3 p.m. and as such made sure we had a group photograph. However, this proved to be only an interlude and everyone seemed to carry on reminiscing for a good couple of hours afterwards.

Needless to say, the question was raised as to when it was going to happen again. As I had only planned for this to happen just the once, I was slightly shocked, but the enthusiasm was certainly there. I think it could be a possibility in the summer of 2011.

Several very generous individuals did ask me to let them know if I was out of pocket in financing the reunion. I think I managed to collect from everybody a contribution, with some donating more. As such I managed to pay all expenses and was left with a small profit! As mentioned above, if we are to do this again sometime then I can simply 'carry over' the balance.

Thank you all once again for making this reunion the success it certainly was and to those who have sent e-mails and 'phone calls of thanks to me over the last few days.

Alan Davis

Mr Cromie

Anthony Cromie, known as Crinkles for some unknown reason, was a fairly young master and dangerously alert: the master mostly likely to materialize out of thin air and pounce on you.

I don't recall whether he ever taught me in class; but he was ever-present around the school. I also spent a short time (one or two terms?) in the dormitory located in his house, which Robert says was known as The Cottage.

Jonathan Marler thinks that Mr Cromie was already related to Mr Angus in some way before his marriage. Jonathan adds that he had “a good sense of humour and a certain charm”.

In his retirement letter to parents in July 1969 (copied to me by John), Mr Angus provided the following information about his successor as headmaster:

Anthony was educated at Wolborough Hill Preparatory School Newton Abbot and Sherborne School, Dorset, where he became Head boy and played Rugger for the 1st.XV and Hockey for the 1st.XI. He was called up for National Service, joined the Infantry and was commissioned in 1952 and later did two Overseas tours with the 1st.Battalion, the Devonshire Regiment - the first to North Africa at the time of the Negnib coup d'etat in Egypt and then saw action against the Mau Mau terrorists in the Aberdare forest in Kenya. He later went to Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained a Second Class Honours degree in Modern History and Political Science.

Anthony is 36 years old, joined the School in 1955 and has had 10 years teaching experience. In 1960, he married my daughter, Susan, and they have a son, Andrew, and a daughter, Sarah.

Andrew Pike believes that Mr Cromie went on to work at the Old Ride School after Stouts Hill closed.

Anthony and Susan Cromie continued to live in Uley until about 2010.

In 2005 he published a slim volume of children's stories with attractive colour illustrations, called The Adventures of Jonathan Jackdaw. Copies were distributed at the 2009 Stouts Hill Reunion.

Announcement found at Telegraph.co.uk:

Anthony Cromie passed away peacefully at home on 21st February 2016, aged 83. He will be sadly missed by all the family and friends. A service will be held at Hereford Crematorium on Saturday 5th March at 10.45am followed by a Thanksgiving Service at New Life Church, Llandrindod Wells at 2pm. Any donations can be made to The Bracken Trust.

Jane Angus/Oldridge

Jane was the fourth of the Angus daughters, and a pupil at the school from 1947 to 1954. According to the 1973 Stouts Hill Magazine, she was married on the 12th of May 1973, to Mr. Robin Oldridge.

John Morris says:

Jane was a great swimmer and lovely in a swimsuit too. Jane blushed very readily, e.g. if she noticed that you had noticed that she looked lovely in a swimsuit.

Reunion, Sunday 16th August '09

I am starting to receive messages checking that all is okay for the 16th. I can confirm that everything is still very much 'on'.

I paid Stouts Hill a visit a few weeks ago to finalise a few things, the main concern being parking. So long as the ground isn't wet it will be possible to park on the grass. We will also be hoping that all the residents will have gone out for the day too leaving the car park available. If any can car-share it will make things easier.

I am thinking that an arrival time of about midday will be best. This means that those who are travelling from home on the day will not have to make too early a start.

With the help of my sister (and maybe my mother, who used to be a Matron at the school) I will be laying on a Finger Buffet around mid-afternoon with tea, coffee and squash. Up to then it will be possible to take a look around the grounds and parts of buildings or find old friends. It would be a good idea if we manage to get a group photograph of everybody before we go our separate ways later on.

In order to cover the cost of room hire and food, I am asking for a contribution of £5 each. Also, dress code for the day is informal, but I will leave that up to the individual.

I will be away for a week, commencing the 1st August so will not be able to reply to posts, messages, etc. However I can be contacted on +44-1453 756461 or +44-7866 326617 if anybody needs specific questions answered promptly.

We must try to have as many present as possible; so, if anybody still keeps in touch with old school friends, make contact and get them to come along!

Alan Davis

P.S: There is a bar available too that we can make use of. I am assuming it is cash only.

Residents may start returning around tea time and also the staff may want to do any residual cleaning so it may be wise to call things a day around 6pm-ish.

Questions

Charles Llewellyn has sent me a couple of questions that I can't immediately answer, so I'll put them up here in case any of you can manage it.

1. The motto of the school was in Greek. How is it pronounced and what does it mean?
2. What is an old boy of Stouts Hill called? “Old Kingfisher” would appear to relate to those who were members of the Old Kingfisher Society. However, after such a passage of time, are we all Old Kingfishers? Or Old Stouts Hillers/Hillites/Hillonians/Hillsides? Or doesn't it matter at all?

I think I saw a translation of the motto somewhere in recent years, but can't remember now what the translation was or where I saw it. And yes, I did study Ancient Greek at Stouts Hill, but that was 42 years ago. A little research suggests that the motto (τοις μελλουσι) may have been pronounced tois melloisi (roughly).