1. Dave McKenzie

Does anyone have clear memories about Assemblies? The Head was usually in charge of the Assembly. The Staff sat on the stage. The Prefects were at the sides of the Hall. Pupils were in the main body of the Hall in Year Groups. A Prefect would read the lesson. The Hall was always full. Monday was sports results day ............... any Assembly contributors out there?
Dave McKenzie 1955-62

2. Terry McCroakam

Dear Dave,
On assemblies the member of staff who was on main duty for the week, saw the school into the hall and then sent a runner to The Head to tell him that the school was assembled. The member of staff then retired to catch the late-comers. When business was finished The Head would then ask a senior member of staff to dismiss the school, unless he wished to do it himself.

At the end of term assemblies after giving out of report books for absent pupils the final Hymn was Lord dismiss us with Thy Blessings, The School Song and Mr Hamilton would dismiss the school with the words 'may you all reach your homes in safety'.

Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing,
thanks for mercies past receive;
pardon all, their faults confessing;
time that's lost may all retrieve;
may thy children,
ne'er again thy Spirit grieve.

Bless thou all our days of leisure;
help us selfish lures to flee;
sanctify our every pleasure;
pure and blameless may it be;
may our gladness
draw us evermore to thee.

By thy kindly influence cherish
all the good we have gained;
may all taint of evil perish
by thy mightier power restrained;
seek we ever
knowledge pure and love unfeigned.

Let thy father-hand be shielding
all who here shall meet no more;
may their seed-time past be yielding
year by year a richer store;
those returning,
make more faithful than before.
Terry McCroakam 1950-57 

 

3. Frank Morley

Continuing from Terry Mac's comment:- As the head turned to leave, the Head Boy would boom from the back corner of the hall "School, 3 cheers for the Headmaster and Staff", to which the school responded enthusiastically and vociferously. At this, Mr. Hamilton would halt in his step, turn back towards the assembly and give his usual response "OK, School, you win!"
Frank Morley 1953-60

Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing;
fill our hearts with joy and peace;
let us each, thy love possessing,
triumph in redeeming grace.
O refresh us, O refresh us,
travelling through this wilderness.

Thanks we give and adoration
for thy gospel's joyful sound.
May the fruits of thy salvation
in our hearts and lives abound;
ever faithful, ever faithful
to the truth may we be found.

 

4. Sheila Kelsall

Dear Dave
As it's Sunday (30/06/02), I fell to thinking about religious services in general, and School Assemblies in particular. As a memory exercise, I tried to recall the hymns we all sang, and came up with the following list:-
Praise my soul the King of Heaven, To His feet thy tribute bring...
Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching as to war....
The King of love my shepherd is, His goodness faileth never....
There is a green hill, far away, Without a city wall....

All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice...
Guide me, oh, Thou great Redeemer, Pilgrim through this barren land...
New every morning is the love, Our wakening and uprising prove...
Fight the good fight, with all thy might, Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right...
O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come....
Hills of the North, rejoice, River and mountain spring, Hark to the advent voice, Valley and lowland sing....
Lead us, Heavenly Father, lead us, O'er the world's tempestuous sea...
Let us with a gladsome mind, Praise the Lord, for he is kind...
Jesus shall reign, where'ere the sun, Doth its successive journey run...
Immortal, invisible, God only wise...
All glory, laud and honour, to Thee, Redeemer, King....
I vow to thee my country, all earthly things above...
Awake, my soul, and with the sun, my daily course of duty run...
We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land...

There was also the one during which Miss Evans used to rattle the ivories as we sang, "...and was Jerusalem, builded here, Among those dark, satanic mills?.."

[If any of these are unknown to those pupils of my era, please forgive, as they must have lodged in my recollections from church/chapel attendances.]
Of course, I mustn't forget the special hymns sung at the beginning and end of terms--'Lord, behold us with thy blessing, Once again assembled here' and 'Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing, Fill our hearts with joy and peace' Did we have Hymn Books to take into Assembly?
Sheila Kelsall 1955-62

I still have my hymnbook...or do I? There is a bit of a story about it. When I started at HGS way back in the mid-forties, we were all given a hymnbook which had to travel with us through the school and when we left we could take the book with us. Somehow or other it became the habit that if you couldn't find it when the final moment came you took someone else's. Needless to say, this gathered momentum and it was commonplace to find your hymnbook missing. Of course I am now relating what happened in my own little corner of HGS. It may not have been widespread throughout the whole of the school, but ...who knows? The point is that I duly collected the things from my locker (which, as I was a sixth-former, was a shelf in a cupboard in what was then the Hall corridor) and as the book was missing I 'found' another and took it home. Here I find it necessary to relate that for quite some time I had been tormented by boys in my year who, among other things, whenever we had to sing the hymn 'Oh God our help in ages past' insisted on singing

'Oh God our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast, and Doris Richardson.'

Well, yes, I took the hymnbook home and sure enough, as I looked through it, there, in someone else's handwriting, written over the top of 'and our eternal home' was 'and Doris Richardson.' Actually I am rather proud of it. A permanent memento of my days at school. I will send it for you to see. I had forgotten about it. It is very dilapidated and has no cover but the hymns are intact."
Doris Richardson 1944-49

 

5. Janet Thorley

Dear Dave,
I remember the boss, Mr Hamilton, as he strode down the corridor alongside the assembly hall with his gown billowing out behind him. As prefects we had to take it in turn to read the lesson at assembly and had to wait for him outside Miss Smith's office after everyone else had gone to assembly. We then trotted meakly after him down this corridor.
Janet Thorley 1946-53

6. Eric Jones

Morning Assemblies were fairly conventional with prayers and a hymn plus School announcements (games results, society meetings, etc.) As a Prefect in later years, I was allowed to hit boys over the head with my hymn book for misbehaviour. Prefects also had the nerve-wracking task of reading an extract from the Bible during Assembly. This was a duty shared by all Prefects. We waited outside the Head's study until he went to Assembly to accompany him on to the stage. My abiding memory of Assembly was RWH reading out a roll call of Old Hilmians killed, wounded in action, missing, or prisoners of war - a sobering experience.
Eric Jones 1942-49

7. Jean Burton

I don't remember a lot about Mr. Jenkinson, the Head - mainly his 'presence' at Assembly. When the school had assembled, a bell would be rung, there was dead silence and the Head Boy would escort him down the corridor and onto the platform. Mr. J. would mount the steps with great dignity, raise his mortarboard and place it carefully on a table, and then speak to the school. I imagine he would be responsible for the words of the school song and the Prefects' Pledge - attempts to inculcate high standards and ideals.
Jean Burton 1936-43

8. Patricia Cockburn

It is amazing how memories and names come flooding back. The fear standing outside the Head's Study waiting to walk with him along the corridor to the Hall when it was your turn to read the lesson in assembly.
Pat Cockburn 1955-62