Rhubarb Issue 12: November 2023

WARTIME TEDDIES IN

I remember with pleasure rowing on the Thames from The Trout to The Perch in my House four and the pride of getting my House colours. I recall with amusement huddles of little boys hiding behind the privet hedge that surrounded the outdoor swimming pool when prospective parents were being shown around. We bathed nude then and presumably it was felt that this might have shocked them. I remember the embarrassment of finding myself sitting next to 'Binks', one of the masters, in a cinema in Oxford after forging Tilly's signature on a 'pass out'. He never said a word about it afterwards for which I was grateful! Then there was that extraordinary dessert that we called 'cinder track', a hard concoction of burnt raisins. Also, sago pudding into which we mixed jam, and there was tapioca too. Ugh! In the winter of 1946/7 there was a national fuel crisis and for some days or weeks, I forget which, it was decreed that we should all stay in bed in the morning for longer than usual and could forgo the horrors of a cold shower in a bath area where there was no heating. That was marvellous. We had neither mobile phones, iPods, nor portable radios and so it was a treat to be invited sometimes into Mr Tilly's study on a weekend evening to listen to Jimmy Handley in ITMA, It's That Man Again , a humorous radio programme that kept the country laughing. In 1946, after the war, young masters started coming back to the School full of vigour and enthusiasm to start their new lives bringing with them a wonderful breath of fresh air.

W hilst collecting

memories of how significant moments

of history were experienced at Teddies, we were reminded of a fascinating feature that ran in the Chronicle 2009.‘Teddies in Wartime’ was written by John Chambers (Tilly’s, 1943-1947) who sadly died earlier this year.We have included some passages from it below. To read the full article, go to our Digital Archives and find it on page 68 of the Summer 2009 edition of the Chronicle. www.stedwardsarchives.org or scan the QR code. I joined St Edward’s in 1943 in the middle of the Second World War. Boys leaving then had no choice but to join one of the armed services and put their lives on the line. I remember the School as being largely staffed by people, mostly men, who for reasons of age or physical disability were ineligible for military service. Among them was my Housemaster Arthur Tilly, a bachelor, who had been gassed in the First World War. I still vividly recall the shock of being woken up to the sounds of window glass being broken when he was having a nightmare reliving a traumatic period of his life. Restrictions on one's liberty are undoubtedly necessary in any closed community, but especially in a boys' boarding school in wartime, and the restrictions that were in place were pretty severe. There were no weekends off, or half terms and the extent that we were denied access to the architectural wonders of Oxford was a disgrace.

FEATURE

In the days before global warming we were able in the winter term to skate over Port Meadow. Bearing in mind factors such as global warming, and possibly 'health and safety' regulations, I presume that this pleasure is no longer possible! I loved it.

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