THE PLEASURE OF GAMES.
Now that the green area in front of the school classrooms has gone
for ever it is fitting to recall the place that it has in the memories
of all who have passed through the school. From our earliest days on
crisp winter mornings or languid summer afternoons it was a beguiling
alternative to the blackboard. It was difficult, looking at its smooth
perfection to believe that when Lord Bledisloe first handed it over
as a playing field it still retained the ancient ridge and furrow surface.
It was levelled by a man (and his dog) who happened to be passing through
Lydney and who was befriended by Mr. Howells, one of the masters. He
thought he could get rid of those ridges and worked alone and with
such diligence that at the end of the summer the surface was smooth
and true. In those days he would have been called a tramp - I like
to recall his good deed and salute his memory.
The fact that hockey was destined to be the school game for many years stems
from the fact that the first Headmaster Mr. F. Dixon was a county umpire and
had gathered around him as colleagues enthusiastic players. Miss Buckley was
one of these and tells of the pleasures of a time when, the school being small
and intimate, games had no allotted period on the time-table but when the weather
was suitable hockey would be announced and staff and pupils would"pick
up" teams and play while the rest cheered.
When the school grew, as it did rapidly, such spontaneous games and picnics
had to give way to a more organised regime. By this time too, in the thirties
the grass was cut by a motor mower supplanting the hand mowers pushed and pulled
by boys who had replaced in their turn the pony who was said to have walked
very delicately in his leather boots drawing the mower. The heavy roller, however,
remained and surely must loom large in the memories of a whole generation of
boys. It was ostensibly a job for miscreants but often, faut de mieux, the
virtuous were pressed into service. Eventually, the H.M.'s car ( a vehicle
of character called a Trojan) ended its day by being put out to grass - literally
- and took over the heavy rolling duty.
Of course, we didn't spend all our time musing upon or cutting and rolling
the pitch. The time soon came when we as juniors overcame our fears that we
would never attain the speed and skill of the seniors. As the years went by,
it soon came to our turn to take our places in the teams and pit our skill
and wits against others in matches that in retrospect were always a delight.
Along the way we played knockabout matches practically every day after school
on the potato patch - the area adjoining the present M.T. room which was cultivated
to produce potatoes during the 1914-18 war. These mammoth mixed games - sometimes
twenty in a team - were invaluable as an addition to the formal games lesson.
A boy, or girl for that matter, soon learned how to keep the ball at the end
of his stick and to use his feet with the dexterity of a ballet dancer if he
were to have any play at all. Those skirmishes and practice matches in which
the staff played and one suddenly saw, for example, how Jessie Hall (the current
games mistress) managed to hold that ball away from the backs and have time
to shoot those stylish goals, were exhilarating experiences.
That we played games in our regular uniform of navy blue pleated tunic, white
blouses and black woollen stockings (and how prickly they were) was just a
fact of life to us and we were mildly surprised to be invited in 1937 to wear
special sports kit which was navy blue shorts, square necked maroon shirt and
boys' type rugby socks. It certainly was more desirable in every way,
but, slimming not being in fashion then as now, we were soon nicknamed Amazons
and, I fear, with justification.
The boys had been quick to establish a reputation as hockey players - it was
their prowess which caused the school to be regarded as being the finest nursery
for hockey in the West of England - and the girls were soon following in their
footsteps. In one season three members of the hockey X1 played in the Junior
County team and soon they too were playing in college, county and International
teams as they moved on to a wider world.
Part of the fun and character of our Saturday matches was our mode of travel.
We used public transport and since Brunel's iron bridge was very much
a going concern our many fixtures on that side of the river caused us a colourful
journey. The matches against Stroud, Bedford Stragglers, Dursley were enjoyed
as much for the rigours of the games as for the excitement of changing at Berkeley
Road and then taking the Dursley Donkey. Our fixtures were not confined only
to the schools in the area and we revelled in matches against clubs like Newport
Athletic, Gloucester Ladies and University sides.
Mary Pitt
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