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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 9 1I rang George a few days ago and I amhappy to report the he and his wife aredoing fine, he also confirmed to me that heis 95 years old.Coincidently, I happened to be doingsome research for a project and cameacross a description of the School in a copyof Kelly’s Directory for 1914. The entrystated that the School had a PreparatoryDepartment for boys aged between 7 and10 years. George could have thereforejoined in 1932, as stated in our database.Kind regardsPeter ThomasTHE SCHOOL’SCENTENARY WINDOWWhen the School closed in 1983, thewindow in the Library showing theSchool’s crest was transferred to the StockRoom of Stationers’ Hall (see photograph).The window itself had been installed in1958 to celebrate the centenary of theSchool’s foundation. When the windowwas re-installed at Stationers’ Hall, theCompany added some verbiage toaccompany it. As the photograph shows,the names of the (by then six) Houses areshown at the top; while in the diamondbelow the crest is some text describing theprovenance of the window. Andimmediately below the crest is the School’s(and Company’s) motto; or is it? As thephotograph shows, it reads “VerbumDomine Manet in Aeternum”. ButDomine is the vocative, and it should bethe genitive, Domini. As it stands, itmeans “The word, O Lord, endurethforever” rather than, as it should, “Theword of the Lord endureth forever”.I drew this to the attention of the Clerk ofthe Company, and he was later approachedabout it independently by a former Master.Research has established that the mistakewas introduced when the window changedlocation, and was not present when thewindow was in the School. (Perhapsreaders can remember whether the mottowas shown in the Library at all, or wassimply added when the window wastransferred.) Anyway, I understand thatthe Company intends to correct the errorin due course. So Omnia bona sunt quaebonum finem habeant (All’s well that endswell).(Old Stationers who are members of theStationers’ Company may see this storyembellished by Latin speculations in thelatest edition of Stationers’ News.)Stephen Collinsspc@woodhaven.me.uk19th February 2020VE Day commemoration at Stationers'Hall and WisbechDear AllI attended the Stationers’ Company’s(rather premature) VE Day commemorationat Stationers’ Hall yesterdayevening. It included a very nicereminiscence of the School’s war-timeevacuation to Wisbech. Extracts from theaccount given by Alec Linwood in a recentcopy of the OS magazine were read out byStephen Platten (OS, next Master of theCompany) and Tony Mash (OS), andLinwood himself was present. (I suspectthat I was the only other OS in attendance.)Tony wore his actual sixth-form blazer,resplendent with badge and athleticscolours; Stephen had a jacket with a badgesewn on.It may be that the star billing given to thisaccount was partly because there wereapparently – and extraordinarily – nodeaths of military members of theCompany in WW2 to commemorate(unlike in WW1, whose names arerecorded on a plaque outside the Hall).All in all, it was a very jolly evening, and itwas a pleasant surprise to see the School soprominently featured in a Company event.Stephen P CollinsFrom Roger Engledow,I am forwarding an e-mail I have receivedfrom Evie Wilson regarding a differentway of donating to Macmillan.Rogerevwilson@macmillan.org.uk>6th February 2020Macmillan - watches for repairGood morning Roger,How are you? I just left you a quickvoicemail but thought I would explainbelow as well.I have a lovely supporter who repairsbroken/old watches and sells them on inaid of Macmillan Cancer Support. He hasasked if I can ask around for anyone whomay have old watches they are willing todonate to him, and I thought that betweenall of the lovely gentlemen at The OldStationers you may have a few in the backof some drawers that you may be willing todonate.The website is called http://watchesforcharity.co.uk/ and he has raised£33,6000 so far! There are instructions onthe website, but you simply post thewatches to the below address. If you caninclude a note saying it’s from The OldStationers we would love to thank you fordonating them:W.F.CharityPO BOX 3630Barnet EN5 9SX26
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 9 1From Roger Engledowre: George SprossonTerry Butler phoned me today (aboutsomething else). He mentioned that hehad been told by Barry Macrae thatGeorge Sprosson had died - about 4 yearsago, he thought.I'm not sure that Barry would have beenwell enough to know something like that,even 4 years ago. I'm fairly sure that it wasin 2018 that George's daughter informedme that George had been relocated to heraddress in Stevenage.The last address I was given was:9 Christie Road, Stevenage, SG2 0NTWould Peter fancy the idea of paying avisit to try to establish the truth, and if hehas died, obtain some form of obituary?While I'm writing - I have also received amagazine which had no name on it. Thewrapper simply said name and then listlines 1 to 7.RogerFrom David HudsonTim,The answer is “Meredith House Athleticsteam - 1962”.You won’t get a better answer than that.Well with bridge club shut and bowls clubshut and OSA dinner cancelled andeverything else off I’m tidying up at homeand decluttering. Going through some oldpapers I’ve come across a little bookletabout Joe Symons done by Robert Baynesand that very photo is in it. I of courserecognised it from our latest mag. I knewit was Meredith house as I was in Meredith.I had already recognised Chris Langfordand Graham Eldridge and with none ofour year there it had to be pre us sosummer 1962 fits just right. I’m sure manywill have given you the correct answer. I’msorry our next reunion committee meetingis postponed as well. So now it’s back todecorating the main bedroom andre-roofing the garden shed. I hope alls wellwith you and family.RegardsDavid Hudson12th January 2020Tim,As the person who took the photo on page21 of "The Old Stationer" No 90, Ithought I would write although I cannotcontribute much. I cannot remember whatthe occasion was, and I cannot name anyof the pupils. I assume you know that thispicture appears on page 11 in the booklet"Hermon William Symons" by RobertBaynes with the caption "Meredith HouseAthletics Team 1962".I assume you are also aware that I tookphotos of two other groups on the sameday, with slightly differing pupils.I have tried to enhance the image to getinformation from the shields, but all I canascertain is that the plaque being held byMr Symons has the school badge centretop with the word "Stationers" to the leftand "School" to the right, and the centre ofthe left hand shield seems to have theimage of a female figure with outstretchedarms (but it might be a footballer).RegardsAndrew DunlopAndrew, Thanks for your reply . It could wellbe the 1962 Meredith Athletics team. Irecognise Faulkner, Langford, Holmes,Eldridge, Davies, Trotman.As three of these are members of the OSA,I'm sure they will fill in the details.Best regards, TimMini reunion Class of 60Simon Westbrook happened to beback in the UK in time to meet upwith Simon Kusseff and help himcelebrate his 70th birthday in EppingForest. Bob Bird was also there.Everyone dressed very smartly andwas on their best behavior!Dear Editor,I feel compelled to put pen to paperfollowing the receipt of the last issue of theOld Stationer #90. In my opinion this isthe best edition ever. I can't say that I haveread and remember all previous 89 copiesbut this was brilliant, with a great mix ofcontent for everyone whether they weresports buffs, old or not so old, and whetherthey were local to the school catchment orare long roamed away!Who couldn’t find something to loveamong the favourite walks, the soap boxderby, Brockett Hall, the reports andpictures of the dinner, lunches and whowas there, the Company and the Hall, thevarious sporting events, the alumnireunions and attendance lists, mention ofJimmy Bean, Beaky Davies, Johnny Gore,Dr Andrews, Archive photos, the Wisbechepisode, school trips to France, membercorrespondence and updates, schoolcommute stories, the conspiracy theoryabout Brian Smith's bizarre incident andhis subsequent demise, the Katmandu riotsand Nice hotel fire, the reports on MayfieldRoad and Stationers' Park, the puzzles,and the full list of current members andwhere they are, the obituaries and newmember news, and the photo competition.And I thought it was rather churlish forDavid Hudson to “try even harder to getphotos of the deceased for the obituaries”To me the common theme is the bringingback (an example of Gerundive noun Ibelieve) of memories from a formativestage of our lives and whether they are ourpersonal memories or other members theyare ones we can associate with and relate to27
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OSAmag91

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