Letter from Karen Barratt (Hughes)

What an interesting site! I joined friends reunited some months ago, but only discovered this site today. Sadly I dont recognise many of the names or faces but I've seen one or two and had a smile when I remember some of the antics.

I was only there for a a year 1972-73, leaving after o-levels to go to Poole College. I believe the school closed that summer and I seem to think that my mum has an all school photo of us taken in May or June in that year. Having attended 2 secondary schools before arriving at Swanage and 2 colleges afterwards I tend to get teachers and fellow students a bit mixed up so can only remember a few names. I do remember Mr Trythall ( my French teacher) and his daughter Jo? (I was surprised to see he got fired) and Gwen the games teacher who had us roller skating round the tennis courts

I was actually down in Dorset on holiday this year ( I live in Lincolnshire) and decided to check out the school and was absolutely amazed to see it still there. I thought it would have been demolished long ago. I had a bit of a wander around and got chatting to a young girl and bloke who said that it was now a field centre and that they were the wardens. I have to say memories came flooding back - I was amazed that I could still remember the layout of the place ( the girl confirmed that I was right) but unfortunately everything was locked and I couldn't get in.

I'd like to share a couple of funny memories from my time there- some of your readers might recall them too.

The staff room was on the top floor wasn't it and I seem to remember it had a very high glass window. One day a very tall boy in my class called Dennis stuck some balloons up his jumper, put on a blonde wig, called himself Mlle La Trine and walked backwards and forwards outside the window. It didnt take long for the door to open - the staff wanted to know who the tall blonde girl was.

On another ocasion Simplicity sewing patterns hosted a fashion show at the school using pupils as models. They used the room at the back of the hall as a changing room and I seem to remember some of the boys tried to climb on the roof to look in through the skylights at the girls.

Karen Barratt (Hughes) dotcom.com@ntlworld.com

Dear Dermot,
From Sheila Pettifer(nee)Steele Oldfeld 1948-1953.
I would be interested to hear from anybody who was at SGSA and Oldfeld during the above years.  sheilapettifer@hotmail.com
I have been in touch with Susan Wilkinson(nee) Snape her e-mail address has changed to hassanah@morfik.com.
Sheila

Letter from Joanna (Jo) Walsh

Hi Dermot,
 Like several others I found the website by accident while surfing the web. A total surprise! I was at Oldfeld from 1967 until I escaped in 1973. I must say I have few fond memories of the place, at least from the early years but we did have some good times later, especially once Mr Trythall (sp?) got there and it was a free-for-all!
 After I left I went out to South Africa, then back to London and finally to New York, later to Connecticut. While in NY I did see Barbara Hancock & her then boyfriend (who's name escapes me at the moment) when they came to visit. I also saw Bruce Harris while he was here touring with Up With People.
 I have lots of pictures of Oldfeld but only one of the school and that is a panoramic picture of the whole school like the one you have from Chris Hutchings in 1965. Mine was taken in 1967. Rather than send them all to you I have posted them all on a webpage which you can give out if you like www.geocities.com/iamjoanna. Also, feel free to download any to put on your site. (For anyone interested, the pictures on my website are from Oldfeld from around 1968 to 73 & include the Reeves in 73, the whole house in 67, individuals: Andy England, Rob Pritchard, Derek Skoyles, Lel Letts, Carlene Bird, Ian Newton..to name a few).
 By the way, the photo(s) you have from John Woodcock and Bruce Harris, I also have. I had always thought I had taken it as I'm not in it but when I saw John's on your site & wrote to him he said someone else took it. We must have all got copies of it. I still don't know why I'm not in it! Anyway, I can fill in all the names for you as on John's several were missing and on Bruce's several were mixed up: Left to right: Gabriell White (standing), Anne Cooper, Sue Best, Gerald Prosser, Chris Bonfield, Cliff Bryden, Miss Scott, Mark Smith, Dave Wright (back), Phil Gibbs, Norman (front), John Luxton behind & Martin Sagar in rear, Bruce Harris (front), Sheila & Chris Pond in rear, Pete Hartle (front), another Sheila (one of these Sheila's spelled it quite differently but I don't know which one, or how) and John Woodcock.
It's great to read the letters from the old inmates, keep them coming!
  Joanna (Jo) Walsh joannajw@hotmail.com

Letter from Denis O'Hare (1951 - '56)

  Whilst on a visit to Lebanon in the mid-seventies, I met Colin White who was then headmaster of an evangelical school in Beirut. He asked me if I had been back to Swanage in recent years. I had to admit that I hadn't. Given my mediocre scholastic achievements, I never felt any nostalgic yearnings for those years spent at school. I was one of the "silent majority", you know, those who attanded prize giving in the cinema in the town, singing "Forty Years On" through clenched teeth and watching the smirking "brainy ones" going up each year to get their prize from some such awesome personality as Sir Theodore Tasker. Then of course during Sports Day the lapels of our blazers were devoid of the gaudy ribbons that bedecked the elite, again usually the same ones year after year.
  Despite all that, Swanage in general and Oldfeld in particular, were unique places. It was a family environment and looking back I think that many of us were from poor or difficult home backgrounds (although this was a subject that was never raised amongst us) and we had the privilege of a unique type of education. For myself and my sister Sheila, we came from West Lulworth and I think that we were not far removed from Thomas Hardy's rural characters. When I told my friends in the village that I had passed the 11+. they told me that the French I would learn was "Swanage French" and not real French - and I believed them! More about that later. Though my brother Brian was at Swanage in the late 40's, I think that the poem about Lulworth in the Anthology was in fact written by my father James and was published in different magazines and papers at that time.
  I was totally unaware of the existence of SGSA until a few months ago. I came across Paul Brown's name in a copy of the Evangelical Times whilst on a visit to England and was delighted to renew contact with himself, then with his brother Dennis and Dick Riding and after so many years this was quite an emotional shock. Reading different letters in the Swan stirred up memories and it might be of interest and a surprise to those that knew me (1951 - 1956) to read the following.
   I left Swanage with 6 O levels, unsure of what I wanted to do in life. I got a job in the Treasurer's Department of Dorset County Council with a view of taking a qualification in Local Government accountancy. After 18 months I was summoned to the Chief Auditor's office. He had just received the results of the RSA exams in book-keeping that I had taken. ( I think the level was somewhat lower than the 11 plus but I never was able to understand the difference between credit and debit balances !) He said : Dennis, you have failed the RSA Book-keeping grade 1. No-one ever fails that ! What are you going to do ?
  A few days later I went along to the Royal Navy Recruiting Office in Dorchester and signed on for 9 years !
  Initially I was trained as a radio operator at the RN Signal School near Petersfield, then specialised in Electronic Warfare, at that time an expanding branch, promotion came quickly and I had the opportunity of taking a Special Duties commission. But other events intervened so that whilst my time in the Navy was fascinating, rewarding and totally satisfying, I found something better and did not accept the commission.
   Whilst at the Signal School I was injured in a road accident. That night, bleeding and in pain, I thought : "If I had died in the crash, where would I be now ?" Just a few days after coming out of hospital, my father died and I remember the simple ceremony in that graveyard in West Lulworth when, looking down at the coffin, I wondered where Dad was and if it was possible to know how to get right with God.
  Determined to find an answer to my many questions, and probably aware that the answers were in the Bible, despite my RC upbringing, I went to see the C of E chaplain. Alas, like many Navy chaplains, he was totally unable to answer my questions, telling me that I was too young to be bothering my head with such matters. One of the staff of the Signal School, himself having become a Christian whilst onboard H.M.S. Ark Royal at Malta, was able to point me to Christ and at just nineteen years of age I was saved.
   The Navy was a real missionary field and it would take too much time to recount the many and varied experiences during those years "under the White Ensign" on different ships in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Far East. After my conversion, I was identified with those known as the Brethren, this is an appellation which is given to Christians who have left the different religious denominations to meet according to New Testament principles.
  In 1967, married and with two children, I came to France to preach the Gospel. So the early months in France were spent in learning what I should have learnt years previously! When I took my O levels, I passed six and failed one, this latter being French and that didn't bother me. When in the 4th form, we had Mr Roberts as our French teacher, if I retained anything it was through his firm, disciplinary methods and I regret that the following year when I took my O levels, I had Mrs Oakley, very French but totally incapable of managing unruly pupils like myself, determined not to learn anything!
  Many years later, whilst in the South China Sea, the Flag Lieutenant of the admiral commanding the Far East Fleet was intrigued to see the admiral's electronic warfare specialist spending all his spare time at sea learning New Testament Greek. What he didn't know was that I applied the strict methods of "Grob", learning regular and irregular verbs off by heart, and was able to make some progress in Greek.
  For some years now we have lived near the town of Perpignan, close to the Spanish border. I am engaged in evangelical work, both in writing and in preaching. This has entailed regular visits to North Africa over the past few years as well as other countries in French speaking Europe. I suppose one of the lessons that I have learned over the years is that of not following the crowd. It is not a question of being different for the sake of being different, that is the feature of the eccentric. But that of resisting the cultural pressure to conform for the sake of conformity. The Biblical Christian is open to criticism, encourages objective examination of his beliefs and stands firm in his faith in a risen, soon-coming Christ and in the inerrancy of Holy Scripture.
  In conclusion, looking at the photos and reading the articles revived such vivid memories to the point of fearing symptoms of subversive senility, remembering distant events and forgetting what I was supposed to do this morning! But at the same time it is good to recall the past and to be able to tell former friends something of God's dealings with me.
           Denis O'Hare.         e-mail - OHAREDenis@aol.com 

Dear Dermot,
    I've just discovered the SGSA web page, very exciting stuff 38 years on and 12,000 miles away. Thank you, Dermot, and  all who are putting the energy into this.
    Steve Matthews' phone call  before Christmas took me quite by surprise, I hadn't heard of him since I left school in 1967. We talked for over an hour, he regaled  me with news of the last reunion and the  memories came flooding back. I phoned a dear old friend, Philippa Rayner, and more years fell away.
    I see that you are looking for students of the '60s era.  I started in 1962, along with (amongst others) Gard Burns  who  lives about an hour's drive from me. Her brother Mike was also at Oldfeld, and went to one of the earlier reunions. If the plans for another in 2002 go ahead, please send early details so that we can make plans to be there! (As soon as I receive definite details, they will be posted on this web site - Dermot) 
    Do you want potted histories for the Swan?
    Here's mine, if you want to use it: After school, I attended Poole Tech for the 2-year Private Secretary's Certificate. Not my cup of tea at all, if I'd have had a whole lot more confidence I would have followed a far more creative path and danced my way around the world. Still, the office skills stood me in good stead and I fumbled my way from Bournemouth's Halifax Building Society to various London offices, to Sydney.  I left after a year for a taste of adventure, and spent five months back-packing with Gordon, a Scottish friend from the share house in Sydney. We travelled around Bali, Malaysia and India mainly, and then rather more quickly by buses through Iran, Afghanistan and Europe, arriving back in England in time for Christmas 1976. A few months later I returned to Sydney while Gordon headed for Canada. Early in '78 I joined Gordon in Vulcan, a small parry town south of Calvary. I spent several months there before returning to my parents' home near Southampton, where Gordon and I married that December. We returned to Australia in January '79 and spent the next years in and around Adelaide, South Australia. Our three children were born during that time: Jimi is now 18, Fiona 16 and Billy 13. I found those years very difficult in many ways; the isolation of bringing up small children without the support of family is very testing for many women in our society. In 1988 we moved to Queensland, to be pioneers of the world's first permaculture village, Crystal Waters near Maleny. Here for the first time I felt at home in Australia. It was a weird feeling when I left my home country and for many years I had no idea where I 'belonged'. Crystal Waters is an intentional community which went a long towards fulfilling my yearning to belong. I was there for eight years, until my tattered marriage just couldn't be propped up any longer and we parted company. Gordon stayed at Crystal Waters and I moved into Maleny, which is part of the extended community and where I still feel very much at home. The children have shared their time between us and have survived the breakup extremely well. In fact I'm hugely, enormously proud of them.
   My life is fulfilling and busy and I love being part of this amazingly diverse community. I work part-time in a local dress shop,  teach Scottish Country Dancing one night a week  and various casual jobs that come along. My latest passion is Co-counselling (Re-evaluation counselling) and I would love to know if there are any co-counsellors in SGSA. I'd like to tidy this up a bit, but I'm using a computer at the local Enterprise Centre and the next person's kind of breathing down my neck so I hope this will  do!
          With kind wishes and fond memories,