School Journey to the Isle of Wight
Martin "Bertie" Worster
I have fond memories of a trip to the Isle of Wight. I recall my Mum taking me to Waterloo Station with a reasonably heavy suitcase to be greeted and placed in the custody of "Rozzer" and Colin Ley.
I believe it was a seven day trip and about 30 boys stayed in the Sandown/Shanklin area. It was large, imposing “Blackpool Landlady“ type Victorian structure.
We had trips every day to places of interest. I was very impressed by the coloured sands of Alum Bay. In those days we were able to go down to the beach and collect samples in different shaped glass tubes to take back to London as presents for our Mums and loved ones. Due to erosion, this beach is now closed to Joe Public.
I recall walking up Boniface Down as a group led by "Rozzer" and Ley, who were both keep fit fanatics, and expected all the boys to be the same. Half way up, I said in a loud, semi-breathless voice for all around me to hear, "For Christ sake, when are we going to reach the top?”
"Rozzer" Richards in a loud voice screamed out, “No, Worster. Not for Christ sake, but for YOUR SAKE!“
I have often wondered whether he thought that I had blasphemed the Lord, or was he annoyed at my lack of enthusiasm for the physical exercise to which we were all being subjected. As far as I am concerned the latter was the case from my point of view.
It was probably the first time for me and the other lads that we had spent this amount of time from our homes. It was a great experience in character building and independence at an early stage of our young lives.
I can’t recall any other boys who were on this particular trip; although the surname Kelly comes to mind. Perhaps others remember making this trip.
Ken Pratley
I too have fond memories of the Isle of Wight trip with Colin Ley and "Rozzer" Richards. We stayed at the aforementioned “Blackpool Victorian seaside hotel structure" in Sandown. Incidents that come to mind are: Lampert (wildlife enthusiast) finding a smooth snake corpse during one of "Rozzer's" cross country runs, it had a badly mangled head and he proclaimed it to be the victim of a hedgehog attack. I remember somewhat rubbishing this conclusion at the time as I thought hedgehogs didn’t eat snakes, and that it was more likely that a bird of prey was responsible. As it happens I was wrong and hedgehogs apparently do eat snakes. So Lampert if you are out there somewhere, I heartily apologise, ( I still think it was a bird of prey ).
One of the day trips was to Carisbrook Castle which, as it was on top of a hill, had a very deep well, Various objects were tossed into the well to see how long the sound of the resulting splash took to reach those listening at the top. It may have been on this excursion that we also visited Osbourne House, Queen Victoria’s favourite residence, It was here I remember that John Murphy cut his finger quite badly trying to break of a piece of quartz from a rock crystal display. He succeeded in this endeavour in spite of his injury, and I purchased the ill gotten specimen from him for a shilling, I still have it to this day.
The expedition to Alum bay is still quite vivid in my mind. We had purchased our ‘test tubes’ and were scurrying all over the cliff searching for samples of coloured sand. I was about six or seven metres up the cliff face where I had discovered a vein of the rare and desirable black sand. On trying to scrape it into my vial, I slipped and went spinning down, rotating so rapidly that my arms were flung out with the centrifugal force. I landed in the soft scree at the base of the cliff at the feet of Mr Ley. When I stood up, my watch fell from my wrist as the bracelet had somehow become jampacked with sand. I seemed relatively unscathed much to Ley’s and my relief. On confirming my lack of injury, nothing more was said. I managed to retrieve my still intact test tube, but had to start filling it all over again, of course.
One of the other excursions was to Ventnor and the ‘Undercliff’, an area of coast where the old Wealden Greensand clays had slumped towards the sea. After visiting the town, we went along the shore just as the tide was coming in and, needless to say, we were about to get cut off between two small headlands. So "Rozzer", having lead us into this dilemma, took command and appointed one of his favourites (possibly Mark something) as leader to take us to safety up the slight cliff. Now I had been to the Isle of Wight many times before on holiday with my parents, so I knew the kind of terrain quite well. Where there was a slight depression above the cliff there were also almost certainly impenetrable brambles. So, I opted not to follow the others but to climb at a different point and hopefully find an easier path on higher ground, which I did. Arriving at Undercliff Drive considerably ahead of everyone else, I waited on the bench of a Vectis bus stop. "Rozzer", when he finally arrived with Lea and the other boys looking somewhat dishevelled, was furious. His face turning bright red with the veins on his forehead bulging (I'm sure we all remember that phenomenon). How dare I ignore his orders and pursue my own path back to the road! I seem to remember that as punishment I was confined to the hotel during the next excursion wherever it was intended to go - it might have been Cowes - but I had been there before and at least I would not have to eat the reconstituted egg sandwiches the sole constituent of our packed lunches.
The hike up Boniface Down is also something that I recall, but mostly for the trip back to Sandown. On the way back, an army exercise was underway, and a group of soldiers were attempting to scale the cliffs using rocket propelled grappling irons which I thought was fascinating. The grapples, however, refused to maintain any hold whatsoever on the smooth grass covering the chalk at the top of the cliff. So another group of soldiers was stationed at the top dodging the ascending/descending rockets to literally bang the spikes of the grapples into the turf. It occurred to those of us watching that to have someone at the clifftop already performing such a chore somewhat negated the whole point of the exercise. I don’t recall that in the time that we were watching anyone got to the top. I don't think they could make the grapples secure enough even with their attempts to hammer them in. Hopefully, rocket propelled grappling irons failed to find their way into the Army inventory (they might have worked had there been trees at the top). There was also an Army Westland Widgeon helicopter present that we were invited to inspect. It was full of observing brass, who seemed to think that the whole episode was as much fun as we did.
As for other Barnsbury pupils who were with me on the trip, I have mentioned Lampert and John Murphy. Kelly was certainly in the same year, but I’m not sure if he was present. I have to admit that I'm also not sure about who I shared a room with, but I think it was Roger Osbourne, whom I had known since Laycock Street days.
I have fond memories of a trip to the Isle of Wight. I recall my Mum taking me to Waterloo Station with a reasonably heavy suitcase to be greeted and placed in the custody of "Rozzer" and Colin Ley.
I believe it was a seven day trip and about 30 boys stayed in the Sandown/Shanklin area. It was large, imposing “Blackpool Landlady“ type Victorian structure.
We had trips every day to places of interest. I was very impressed by the coloured sands of Alum Bay. In those days we were able to go down to the beach and collect samples in different shaped glass tubes to take back to London as presents for our Mums and loved ones. Due to erosion, this beach is now closed to Joe Public.
I recall walking up Boniface Down as a group led by "Rozzer" and Ley, who were both keep fit fanatics, and expected all the boys to be the same. Half way up, I said in a loud, semi-breathless voice for all around me to hear, "For Christ sake, when are we going to reach the top?”
"Rozzer" Richards in a loud voice screamed out, “No, Worster. Not for Christ sake, but for YOUR SAKE!“
I have often wondered whether he thought that I had blasphemed the Lord, or was he annoyed at my lack of enthusiasm for the physical exercise to which we were all being subjected. As far as I am concerned the latter was the case from my point of view.
It was probably the first time for me and the other lads that we had spent this amount of time from our homes. It was a great experience in character building and independence at an early stage of our young lives.
I can’t recall any other boys who were on this particular trip; although the surname Kelly comes to mind. Perhaps others remember making this trip.
Ken Pratley
I too have fond memories of the Isle of Wight trip with Colin Ley and "Rozzer" Richards. We stayed at the aforementioned “Blackpool Victorian seaside hotel structure" in Sandown. Incidents that come to mind are: Lampert (wildlife enthusiast) finding a smooth snake corpse during one of "Rozzer's" cross country runs, it had a badly mangled head and he proclaimed it to be the victim of a hedgehog attack. I remember somewhat rubbishing this conclusion at the time as I thought hedgehogs didn’t eat snakes, and that it was more likely that a bird of prey was responsible. As it happens I was wrong and hedgehogs apparently do eat snakes. So Lampert if you are out there somewhere, I heartily apologise, ( I still think it was a bird of prey ).
One of the day trips was to Carisbrook Castle which, as it was on top of a hill, had a very deep well, Various objects were tossed into the well to see how long the sound of the resulting splash took to reach those listening at the top. It may have been on this excursion that we also visited Osbourne House, Queen Victoria’s favourite residence, It was here I remember that John Murphy cut his finger quite badly trying to break of a piece of quartz from a rock crystal display. He succeeded in this endeavour in spite of his injury, and I purchased the ill gotten specimen from him for a shilling, I still have it to this day.
The expedition to Alum bay is still quite vivid in my mind. We had purchased our ‘test tubes’ and were scurrying all over the cliff searching for samples of coloured sand. I was about six or seven metres up the cliff face where I had discovered a vein of the rare and desirable black sand. On trying to scrape it into my vial, I slipped and went spinning down, rotating so rapidly that my arms were flung out with the centrifugal force. I landed in the soft scree at the base of the cliff at the feet of Mr Ley. When I stood up, my watch fell from my wrist as the bracelet had somehow become jampacked with sand. I seemed relatively unscathed much to Ley’s and my relief. On confirming my lack of injury, nothing more was said. I managed to retrieve my still intact test tube, but had to start filling it all over again, of course.
One of the other excursions was to Ventnor and the ‘Undercliff’, an area of coast where the old Wealden Greensand clays had slumped towards the sea. After visiting the town, we went along the shore just as the tide was coming in and, needless to say, we were about to get cut off between two small headlands. So "Rozzer", having lead us into this dilemma, took command and appointed one of his favourites (possibly Mark something) as leader to take us to safety up the slight cliff. Now I had been to the Isle of Wight many times before on holiday with my parents, so I knew the kind of terrain quite well. Where there was a slight depression above the cliff there were also almost certainly impenetrable brambles. So, I opted not to follow the others but to climb at a different point and hopefully find an easier path on higher ground, which I did. Arriving at Undercliff Drive considerably ahead of everyone else, I waited on the bench of a Vectis bus stop. "Rozzer", when he finally arrived with Lea and the other boys looking somewhat dishevelled, was furious. His face turning bright red with the veins on his forehead bulging (I'm sure we all remember that phenomenon). How dare I ignore his orders and pursue my own path back to the road! I seem to remember that as punishment I was confined to the hotel during the next excursion wherever it was intended to go - it might have been Cowes - but I had been there before and at least I would not have to eat the reconstituted egg sandwiches the sole constituent of our packed lunches.
The hike up Boniface Down is also something that I recall, but mostly for the trip back to Sandown. On the way back, an army exercise was underway, and a group of soldiers were attempting to scale the cliffs using rocket propelled grappling irons which I thought was fascinating. The grapples, however, refused to maintain any hold whatsoever on the smooth grass covering the chalk at the top of the cliff. So another group of soldiers was stationed at the top dodging the ascending/descending rockets to literally bang the spikes of the grapples into the turf. It occurred to those of us watching that to have someone at the clifftop already performing such a chore somewhat negated the whole point of the exercise. I don’t recall that in the time that we were watching anyone got to the top. I don't think they could make the grapples secure enough even with their attempts to hammer them in. Hopefully, rocket propelled grappling irons failed to find their way into the Army inventory (they might have worked had there been trees at the top). There was also an Army Westland Widgeon helicopter present that we were invited to inspect. It was full of observing brass, who seemed to think that the whole episode was as much fun as we did.
As for other Barnsbury pupils who were with me on the trip, I have mentioned Lampert and John Murphy. Kelly was certainly in the same year, but I’m not sure if he was present. I have to admit that I'm also not sure about who I shared a room with, but I think it was Roger Osbourne, whom I had known since Laycock Street days.