OO Newsletter - Oswestry School

Obituaries
The Old Oswestrian Society
Bernard Martin OO (1939-1948) - An Oswestry Man
Mr Bernard Martin passed away peacefully
at his home at Trefonen near Oswestry
on 5 May 2011 surrounded by his
family
Bernard spent nine very happy years at
Oswestry School. It was wartime so
things were difficult. Most of the
younger masters had left to join the
forces and several masters had been
brought out of retirement to fill their
places. He always spoke with much
affection of Mr. Williamson the headmaster
and Mr. Felton the maths master.
He remembered fondly the wartime privations
when the paddock was used for
growing vegetables and raising animals
to help feed the boys. School meals
were apparently still dreadful though.
Money was obviously tight too and labour
scarce so the pupils themselves
dug out the swimming pool. Rules were
much stricter. Woe betide the boy who
appeared in Oswestry without his school
cap – even in the vacation.
Bernard fared well academically and
passed his School Certificate although
like so many of his generation he went
direct from school to carry out his National
Service and not to University as
today’s pupils do.
He excelled at all sport and was Captain
of both the cricket and football First XI’s.
He often recalled vividly the final cricket
match he played for the School, in the
summer of 1948, on last day before he
was to leave to join the army. The opponents
were the “old enemy” Oswestry
Boys High School and for once Oswestry
School were the victors; A very
rare achievement and a very sweet note
on which to leave the School.
Bernard became a school prefect and in
his final year he was appointed as head
boy. As he was a dayboy this involved
him in cycling from home in Trefonen to
the School every Sunday to attend
chapel. One of his duties was to count
the collection after the service. He
would laughingly recount that each Sunday
Mr Williamson would say to him.
“How many buttons Martin” There
were inevitably at least half a dozen!
His greatest friend at school was Sigi
Faith. Sigi was a refugee form the holocaust
in Nazi Germany. At first Sigi was
regarded with a great deal of suspicion
as he spoken little English and the boys
viewed him as a German - not realising
that as a Jew the Nazi’s were his greatest
enemies. As Sigi had no family to go
to in the holidays he often came to stay
with Bernard’s parents. Thus was
formed a life long friendship - only broken
when Sigi died last year. Long after
the pair had left school they and their
wives would meet to celebrate their
birthdays and wedding anniversaries
either in London where Sigi now lived or
back in Oswestry. Both of course loved
the Old Boy’s dinners in latter years relishing
being amongst the last to stand to
take wine with the President. After the
2010 dinner he was particularly pleased
to tell all his OO grandchildren that he
was the next to last left standing.
Sigi and Bernard were an enterprising
pair foreshadowing the fact they would
both be successful businessmen in later
life. In the summer holidays they tried to
earn themselves a little extra pocket
money by selling field mushrooms. They
would go out and collect baskets full of
them at first light and then cycle to Oswestry
to sell them. One particular
Wednesday however, despite trying all
the market stalls and greengrocers, they
could find no buyers. Their last stop was
Dodd’s the Greengrocer which was opposite
Cae Glas Park in what is now
Park Gate Florists. The owner told them
he was not interested as he had plenty
of mushrooms already, left over from the
previous day. Just at that moment the
boys overheard a Welsh farmer’s wife
complaining that the mushrooms Dodd’s
had for sale were too old. Quick as a
flash Bernard and Sigi whipped out their
basket of mushrooms and offered to sell
her some newly picked ones, gathered
only hours before. Needless to say Mr
Dodd immediately agreed to buy all the
boys’ mushrooms and any more they
could pick for him whilst the season
lasted.
Although Bernard was the first of his
family to attend Oswestry School it became
a family tradition. His cousin Brian
Ellis joined him as a pupil and his wife
Marie was the sister of John Owens OO.
His son Peter was also educated at the
school and his daughter Valerie married
Richard Edwards OO. In turn both Peter
and Valerie sent their children to the
School and to Bernard’s immense pride
his grandson Jonathan Martin followed
in his footsteps and became head boy in
2000 and his granddaughter Katie Edwards
head girl in 2002.
Oswestry School was always close to
Bernard’s heart. He reminisced often
about his school days and wore his OO
tie with pride on every possible occasion
(even when Marie pointed out it did not
match the shirt he had chosen). He
would say Oswestry School gave him a
great start in life and taught him much
more than the three R’s!
Valerie Edwards
Bernard Martin, former head of Martin’s Cash & Carry
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