Memorabilia 3
1. Cricket Colours Cap
Image from Frank Morley. Thank you, Frank.
Boys who were awarded their cricket colours, became the proud owners of a cricket cap which was presented by Mr. Hamilton at morning assembly. Originally white, but after over 40 years, a touch creamier!! Thought I'd photograph it with the bat I bought from another old boy of the school during the early days of his career in 1965, Geoff Boycott!
Regards,
Frank Morley
2. A Bus Contract
Image from Sheila Kelsall. Thank you, Sheila.
Picture this: a sky-blue linen-covered stiff oblong of card folded in the middle. It was renewed every year and called the "Bus Contract". This had to be shown to the Conductor on the bus. Pupils kept them in a variety of places. Some girls had a see-through plastic window on their shoulder purses, others kept them in the top pockets of their blazers in the Summer term, handy for reaching in and waving about when required. There was usually a small front section of the satchel which may have housed the pencil case and contract. It varied. (Can't comment about the boys). If a pupil lived more than 3 miles from the school, then free bus travel seemed automatic. The School buses pulled into the Boy's playground at 4pm and if after-school clubs, choirs or sports activities meant you missed that ride home, then a walk down into the village would give you a selection of other buses. The morning journey to school was by public transport which usually ran to time.
Sheila Kelsall
Several people who lived in Shafton paid an extra amount and changed their blue contract for a red one which could be used when going home for lunch.
Frank Morley
5. A letter from a former student 6th March, 1952
It was a very pleasant surprise to hear from Mr. Collette, recently, inviting me to write an article on some of my nursing experiences at Belsen Concentration Camp.
Memories came rushing back, as I read the letter, of the old school of which I was so proud, pleasant memories which linger on through the years. Somehow, unpleasant ones, few though they be, disappear.
After four years training at Leeds General Infirmary, I became a State Registered Nurse, and then volunteered to serve, with the Army. We were stationed at a Base Hospital in Belgium for a while, then flown from Brussels to Celle in Germany, and then on to Belsen by road.
http://www.holocaust-history.org/~dkeren/camps/belsen/
The original Camp, which was known as the Horror Camp, had been liberated about three weeks when we arrived, and a great deal had already been done by the British, but there was still a terrific amount to do. Stories of what had happened there before the liberation were too awful to believe, unless you could see the horror in the eyes of the people as they spoke, and the unspoken evidence in their wasted and diseased bodies. Mere words could not explain the state in which we found these horror-stricken victims. A thousand persons had been placed in huts built for fifty; they were all starved or semi-starved. Five hundred and more died or were killed each day. Typhus, tuberculosis and other diseases were raging.
When the British first came, there were ten thousand dead lying about the Camp. Those who were still alive were using the dead bodies for pillows. S.S. Guards were made to give the dead a decent burial - I believe quite a number of guards also found their way into the graves! But perhaps that was only wishful thinking. The huts had been burnt to the ground and now only dreadfully pathetic immense mounds marked "4,000 buried here" "2,000 buried here," etc., and the poor emaciated bodies we had to nurse were left as evidence of the dreadful thing that had happened there.
We had about thirteen thousand people on our hands, all starved or semi-starved and many diseased. Those who required medical attention were placed in the S.S. Barracks, which was used as a Hospital. The language difficulty was terrific. I had one hundred and fifty patients to look after with only one V.A.D. nurse to help me. Then we had Polish and Russian nurses, who were themselves internees, and Hungarian soldiers to do the cleaning, - the latter thought I was quite mad when I explained, through an interpreter, that I wanted the floors washing with disinfectant every morning. The patients themselves were mostly of Jewish origin, but were of many different nationalities, Czech, Russian, Polish, German, Belgian, French, Hungarian and Italian.
There was one medical officer to six hundred patients, also a few Belgian medical students; but only a few of these spoke English, so you can imagine the difficulties we encountered.
Before the patients could be treated medically we had to teach them to eat again, giving small portions of soup at short intervals, and gradually increasing the amounts and lengthening the intervals. We also had to watch those who were able to walk, to stop them from scavenging the dustbins or stealing the food from the weaker ones.
Then, as the medical officers began their stupendous task or diagnosing and advising treatment we tried our best to carry it out. Another big task was to segregate the patients, T.B. together, Typhus together, etc. The majority of them had sisters or cousins or mothers-in-law, or great-aunts or somebody they wanted to stay with, and it was with great difficulty we managed to get some away. Some of them still stayed together; I tried to point out the danger, and told them they were only going across the corridor, but it was of no avail.
Eventually we managed to get some semblance of order and those who were lucky enough to, recover were repatriated.
Perhaps, looking back on all this, you (especially the younger ones, to whom it is just hearsay) might wonder why we should have to bring up past history. But I think it is most important that it is not forgotten, and in our complacency we must remember these things and strive for a better understanding between men, so that these things shall not be again in our world.
K. Elvidge (Née K. Flavell)
(From the School Magazine 1952)
6. Advanced Swimming Certificate 1945
Certificate sent in by Eric Jones. Thank you, Eric.
The test was taken at Frickley Baths. Who remembers the colour and temperature of the water?
7. A Report Page from 1952 Updated
The teachers' signatures from top to bottom are:
Arthur Walker, Edward G. lock, Ken Allan, Kath. Wimpenny, Cyril Owen, Mary Metcalfe and Gordon Burnett.
Terry McCroakam
The last one looks like it could be Miss. Woodward.
Dave McKenzie