One of the pleasures of holidaying abroad is the novelty of seeing things that are never seen at home. One occasion that I am not likely to forget was a Lampion Fest held in the gardens behind the Kurhaus at Wiesbaden near Frankfurt in Germany. The Kurhaus is similar to the English social centre, hut with additional amenities, such as an art gallery, theatre, casino, and beautifully, set out gardens.

It was dusk on a warm August evening when we entered the gardens. Here we bought gaily-coloured paper lanterns and a candle, and after "lighting up" we joined the crowds who had come to enjoy the Feast of the Lanterns. What a festival it was. Chinese Lanterns hung from all the trees and on the grassy bank of the lake were thousands of coloured "night-lights" forming wonderful floral patterns.

We followed the crowds; children perilously hitting each other with their lighted lanterns; teenagers, in summer dress, larking around and plump haus-fraus, plodding up and down the winding lamp-lit paths.

On one lawn a mannequin parade was taking place, and on another people sat at little tables drinking beer and eating heartily to the music of the noisy band.

The lamp-rimmed lake looked most attractive dotted with small gondolas. There were squeals of delight when fountains, illuminated by coloured underwater floodlights, suddenly rose high in me air. We imagined one of the gondolas rising up into the air, resting on the top of a fountain, until we were told that that the fountains were railed around. It was with deep regret that we left this fairy-land scene to go back to our hotel.

"Don't worry about dogs" I was told by a friendly postman as I left the sorting office on my first morning in this temporary employment. I soon discovered that a dog is not a postman’s best friend, in fact, best enemy is a more apt description. Of my many canine experiences my first is quite typical. On entering one garden I was reassured by the owner, as a huge hound raced towards me, that it was harmless and loved children;

"It doesn't bite ... usually … Rover, put that post-girl down!"

From that day forth I have hated corgies.

Everyone who has participated in this occupation has met the old wooden gate which just won’t open unless lifted up but who has experienced the look in the occupier’s eye when one is caught with the gate in one’s hand and no possibility of returning it to its hinges? Who has peered through the letterbox to ascertain the distance the cards have travelled along the hall only to have one’s view blocked by two eyes returning the stare? Who has failed to be caught half-way over a garden wall or even replacing the bricks accidentally displaced?

Such experiences are part of the job; or so I told myself as I found one narrow drive completely blocked by a car and repeating the motto sacred to every G. P. O. employee ("The Post must go through") I jumped over a low wall and, alas, too late to realize that in the dark I had found one of the district’s few sunken gardens.

These are a few of the experiences which have scarred my-self and my fellow employees, but as I said to one dear old lady as I handed over a continental holiday brochure, "I think it a worthwhile job".

Wild and free across the heather,

Swift and strong ‘gainst wind and weather,

The magnificent highland ponies go,

Scorning farm-horses in fields below;

Tossing their heads as if to say,

"We live; yet we don't work all day!

So fleet of foot; a chestnut streak,

So graceful; yet as strong as teak,

They go, heads high, with flowing tails,

Over the mountains in their homeland, Wales.

Farm horses look up, and there they see

Welsh mountain ponies; monarchs born free.

Most people say that fox-hunting is a cruel blood sport, but once hunting is in your blood you are its slave for life. The huntsman and hunt servants in their pink coats and black caps, the black and tan of the hounds and the eager, straining horses outside a small country inn is a never to be forgotten sight. The signal to move off is given and the hordes, riders and hounds go to covert-side, the covert being a small wood or copse. The fox is cast for and scented for by the hounds who go away with the huntsman’s holloas ringing in their ears. The average hunt lasts for about an hour so hounds are bred for speed. At the end of the hunt, how envious you are of the lucky fellow who receives the white tipped brush, but the tip given to the huntsman in return is rather steep - you are expected to give him one pound!

This year has heralded an all round improvement especially on the boys’ side of the house. This began last summer when Normans gained second place in the house cricket matches. This increase in effort was renewed this year and encouraging results in the Junior Football and a sweeping victory in the cross country have given us our best place in the house competitions for a number of years.

The results of the girls’ games have not been so successful as we might have wished, although there has been no lack of enthusiasm in our efforts. In the netball matches the Seniors were victorious over Stuarts but were narrowly beaten by Tudors. The Juniors were also unsuccessful. Senior hockey was cancelled because of bad weather and the Juniors, although beating Stuarts, were unlucky to lose to Saxons. In house tennis we were well beaten by Tudors and Saxons but scored a 9-0 victory over Stuarts. In last year’s sports, Normans came second in a very keen competition. Let us hope that this year we may go one better.

The girls’ Netball and Hockey teams did not do so well as hoped. The Netball teams were narrowly beaten by Tudors, but the Middle and Junior girls deserve high praise for their game with Tudors. In both the Netball and Hockey we came second to Tudors.

After a good start when the boys finished a close second to Stuarts in the Football, there was a singular lack of enthusiasm, for we finished fourth in the cross-country.

In the house Chess Matches we came second to Tudors and best in the first round of the debating championship to the same house.

During the summer term, with more enthusiasm and determination in work and sport we should be back where we belong - at the top.

B. Almond S. Hosie

Stuarts, once again, did not do very well in the sports last year. It is hoped, however, that we will do a lot better this year.

Stuart boys made a good start by winning the Football Championship. The seniors won all their games and the Juniors won one, drew one, lost one. They followed up this success by finishing second in the Cross Country event though this was the first time they had failed to win it since its inauguration.

The girls, unfortunately, did not do as well. The Senior Netball lost both matches, but the Juniors managed to win one, thus gaining five points. The Junior Hockey team was very unlucky to lose their two matches.

Stuarts won the House Debating Championship by defeating a strong Tudor team in the final. The House was not as well supported as it should have been and it is hoped that in future events there will be more enthusiasm.

We started the year well, everyone trying hard. The girls won the House Netball and Hockey competitions while the boys unexpectedly won one of their football matches through their determination and tenacity. Interest in the House Debates was shown at the eliminating round with Saxons but after the miserable performance given by one of the age-groups in the House Cross-Country competition interest in Rouse matters disappeared. We lost the House Trophy because many members of the House failed to make any contribution.

Discipline in the House was very good at the beginning of the year but this also rapidly deteriorated. We hope that we will succeed on Sports Day (as the girls have succeeded on the tennis courts but the House will never be top House with the present lethargic attitude of many of its members.

How terrible the city is! The noise, the bustle, the hordes of people rushing about with never a moment to spare Row upon row of wickedly persuasive shop windows coaxing you to buy their shoddy goods. You go down an alley as a short cut then the enormous office blocks, grimy and dirty, overpower you The realization creeps upon you that you are all alone among these seemingly doom-filled buildings, and you begin to run. Then suddenly you are on a crowded street, and everyone stares. What a fool you feel!

However, in the country, there is nothing sinister to fear. No noises except, perhaps, the song of a bird, or the moo of a cow. The wide open spaces expel all fear. Helping with the harvesting, ploughing, and sowing. The wonderful aroma of the overturned soil; the ripple of a blue river; a fresh breeze in the leaves of a tree: These are the things that symbolise the everlastingly beautiful countryside to me.

We climbed on our ponies, the teacher said "go",

With dogs running ‘side us through fields that we know

We jogged and we cantered; oh it was such fun

To be riding Out there; ‘mid the breeze and the sun.

The horses were happy, the dogs seemingly too,

As we galloped from known fields, to countryside new.

We stopped for our lunch, noon was just nigh;

Horses and dogs drank from a stream quite nearby,

But no time to waste, we re soon off again,

Galloping furiously over the glen,

Through "Merryman’s Mead" and then homeward bound,

All tired and dishevelled, but all safe and all sound.

The dark, musty corridors echo to the sound of footsteps on the cold stone floor, the eeriness amplified by the weak light of the candles, reflecting cruelly against the keys, hanging loosely on their ring: the keys which, to the pitiful, tortured faces, thrust against the bars, mean the difference between liberty and an unbearable existence. Suddenly, a hand makes a vain attempt to reach them. Callously, the footsteps resound, undeterred, mocking the stifled sobs.

Through the high, narrow windows, the sound of a rowdy reveller disappears into the distance - the clock, so near, yet so far, chimes . . . . midnight, the end of one terrible day, the beginning of another; yet for one, the beginning of the end, as a piercing scream fills the chill night air. It dies, a thud is heard, a swift agonised departure has been from the years of mental anguish . . . . the harsh, mocking footsteps continue relentlessly, and disappear into the night.

The School Sports were held on the 18th July at the school field. As usual a large number of parents were present to see some exciting finishes. As has become the custom in recent years Saxons began with the greatest number of points in the preliminary events and maintained their tenuous advantage over Normans throughout.

Two records were broken in the boys’ events but none in the girls’! Nash cut .2 secs. off the record for the Junior Boys’ 80 yds. hurdles, and Barraclough broke the Middle Boys’ 110 yds. hurdles record by .6 secs., but the best performance came before the Sports Day itself when in the Senior Boys Mile, Salt of Stuarts became the first boy in the school to break the 5 min. barrier, a fine performance.

80 yds. JUNIOR GIRLS (Record 10.2 secs. J.Bevon 1956)

1. P. Moors 2. J. Cochran 3. S. Harrington.

Time 10.8 secs.

440 yds. JUNIOR BOYS (Record 64.6 secs. S.Hosie 1960)

1. Hosie 2. Beeley 3. Hamblett

Time 67.0 secs.

440 yds. MIDDLE BOYS (Record 57 secs. D.Holden 1944)

1. Hosie 2. Greenwood 3. Grimshaw

Time 60.3 secs.

440 yds. SENIOR BOYS (Record 55.secs. A.Virtue 1957)

1. Salt 2. Barlow 3. Barlow

Time 56.8 secs.

100 yds. SENIOR GIRLS (Record 11.8 secs. C. Hardy 1961)

1. L. Stainton 2.J. Francis 3. L. Woodward

Time 13.1 secs.

100 yds. MIDDLE GIRLS (Record 12.4 secs. S.Wilkinson 1948

S..Moody 1961)

1. J. Yates 2. J. Roe 3. B. Blinkhorn

Time 12.7 secs.

100 yds.JUNIOR GIRLS (Record 12.2 secs. J.Pemberton 1942)

1. P. Moors 2. 3. Cochran 3. 5. Harrington

Time 13.5 secs.

100 yds. JUNIOR BOYS (Record 12.3 secs. Vernon 1960)

1. Hosie 2. Beeley 3. Bradshaw

Time 13.6 secs.

100 yds. MIDDLE BOYS (Record 11 secs. K. Walker 1939)

1. Hosie and Vernon 3. Barraclough

Time 11.4 secs

100 yds. SENIOR BOYS (Record 10.8. secs. N.Jones 1939)

1. Jackson 2. Smith 3. Hoath

Time 11.8 secs.

150 yds. SENIOR GIRLS (Record 18.2 secs. C. Hardy 1959)

1. H. Rothwell 2. L.Stainton 3. F. Nutter

Time 20.1 secs

150 yds. MIDDLE GIRLS (Record 19.2 secs. B. Hampson 1954)

1. J.Yates 2. J. Roe 3. B.Blinkhorn

Time 19.3 secs

150 yds. JUNIOR GIRLS (Record 18.2 secs. J.Bevon 1956)

1. P. Moors 2. J. Cochran 3. 0. Owen

Time 20.6 secs

220 yds. JUNIOR BOYS (Record 26.2 secs. A. Vernon 1960)

1. Reed 2. Martin 3. Draper

Time 34.2 secs.

220 yds. MIDDLE BOYS (Record 25.8 sees. 3. Ryder 1952)

1. Vernon 2. Barraclough 3. Stevenson

Time: 26;6 secs.

220 yds. SENIOR BOYS (Record 24.2 secs. W. Wileman 1958)

1. Salt 2. Jackson 3. Smith

Time 26.2 secs.

70 yds. HURDLES MIDDLE GIRLS (Record New Distance)

1. J. Roe 2. B. Ward 3. J. Walsh

Time 12 secs.

80 yds. HURDLES SENIOR GIRLS (Record l2.6secs. H.Wardle 1954)

1. J.Francis 2. H. Rothwell 3. L. Stainton

Time 13.5. secs

80 yds. HURDLES JUNIOR BOYS (Record 14.8 secs. Powell 1961)

1. Nash 2. Norton 3. Nelson

1l0yds. HURDLES MIDDLE BOYS (Record l7.3secs. S. Hosie 1961)

1. Barraclough 2. Hosie 3. Mortimore

1l0yds HURDLES SENIOR BOYS (Record 16.7 secs. Aimson, 1961)

1. Jackson 2. Worsley 3. Scott

Time 18.0 secs.

880 yds. JUNIOR BOYS (Record Zmin.21. J.Hodgen 1957)

1. Norton 2. Ashworth 3. Fergusson

Time 2.26 secs

880 yds. MIDDLE BOYS (Record 2min.20.4. B.Hulme 1957)

1. Vernon 2. Jones 3. Greenwood

Time 2.21.2 secs.

880 yds. SENIOR BOYS (Record 2min 11.2 Mills 1957)

1. Barlow 2. Salt 3. Sharratt

4 x 110 yards Junior Girls’ Relay-

1st, Saxon; 2d, Tudor; 3rd, Stuart. Time: 60.0 secs.

4 x 110 yards Middle Girls’ Relay-

1st, Saxon; 2n, Tudor; 3rd, Norman. Time: 55.8 secs.

4 x 110 yards Senior Girls’ Relay -

1st, Saxon; 2nd,Norman; 3rd, Tudor. Time: 51.6 secs.

4 x 110 yards Junior Boys’ Relay -

1st, Norman;2nd, Stuart; 3rd, Saxon. Time: 59.9 secs.

4 x 110 yards Middle Boys’ Relay-

1st, Stuart; 2nd, Saxon; 3rd, Tudor. Time: 52.7 secs.

4 x 110 yards Senior Boys’ Relay-

1st, Stuart; 2nd, Tudor; 3rd, Saxon. Time: 50.0 secs.

JAVELIN

Middle: 1st, Greenwood, (S); 2nd, R. Jones, (X); 3rd, Barraclough, (S). Distance: 119ft. 11 ins.

Senior: 1st, Hope, (X); 2nd, J. Smith, (N); 3rd, Monk, (X); Distance: 130ft.

SHOT:

Middle: Joint 1st, 5. Hosie, (X), Barraclough, (S): 3rd, Finch, (X) Distance: 35ft. l ins.

DISCUS:

Middle: 1st, Taylor, (X); 2nd, D. Grimshaw, (N); 3rd, Barradough, (S). Distance: 118ft. 4 ins. RECORD.

HIGH JUMP:

LONG JUMP.

MILE:

Junior: 1st, Ashworth, (X); 2nd, Harris, (X); 3rd, P. Hosie, (X) Time: 6mins. 6.2 secs.

Middle: 1st, Vernon, (S); 2nd, R. Jones, (X); 3rd, S. Hosie, (X) Time: 5mins, 13.8 secs.

Senior: 1st, Salt, (5); 2nd, Barlow, (S); 3rd, Hartland, (N). Time: 4mins. 58.2 secs.RECORD.

HIGH JUMP:

Junior: 1st, J. Cochran, (X); 2nd, J. Wright, (N); 3rd, J. Jackson, (S). Height: 4 ft. 0½ ins.

Middle: 1st, D. Roberts, (N); 2nd, J. Roe, (T); 3rd, V. West, (T). Height: 4 ft. 1 ins.

Senior: 1st, L. Stainton,(T); 2nd, J. Francis,(X); 3rd, C. Hardy, (T)

LONG JUMP:

Junior: 1st, P. Moors, (N); 2nd, S. Harrington, (X); 3rd, S. Hadfield. Distance: l2ft. 11½ ins

Middle: 1st, J. Yates, (X); 2nd, J. Roe, (T); 3rd, B. Ward, (X). Distance: 15 ft. 5 ins RECORD

Senior: 1st, L. Stainton, (T); 2nd,H.Rothwell,(N); 3rd, L. Woodward,(S). Distance: 16 ft. l½ ins.

ROUNDERS BALL:

Junior: 1st, M. Snaith, (X); S. Hadfield,(S); 3rd, P Moors, (N). Distance: 150ft. l0ins.

Middle: 1st, J. Roe,(T); 2nd, B. Blinkhorn (X); 3rd, E. Morrisey, (T); Distance: l78ft. 4ins.

Senior: 1st, B, Thomson, (X); 2nd, M. Ripley, (X); 3rd, P. Brockbank, (S). Distance: 172 ft. 6ins

DISCUS:

Open 1st, B Thomson, (X); 2nd, M. Ripley, (X); 3rd, B. O'Hara, (S). Distance: 73 ft. 5 ins.

JAVELIN:

Open 1st, B. Thomson, (X); 2nd, J. Anderson, (X); 3rd, J. Roe, (T). Distance: 82ft. 4 ins.

SHOT:

Open: 1st, H. Rothwell, (N); 2nd, M. Ripley, (X); 3rd,J. Roe, (T). Distance: 24ft. l0ins.

1. P.Moors, (N) 1. J. Roe, (T) 1. L. Stainton, (T)

26 points. 32 points 22 points

2. J.Cochran, (X) 2. J. Yates, (X) 2. H. Rothwell, (N)

18 points. 18 points. 20 points.

3. S. Harrington,(X) 3. B. Blinkhorn, (X) 3. B. Thompson, (X)

Junior Boys Middle Boys Senior Boys

1. P. Hosie, (X) 1. S. Hosie, (X) 1. Salt, (S)

Norton, (N) 32 points. 28 points.

16 points 2. Vernon, (S) 2. J. Smith, (N)

3. Nash, (N) 25 points. 22 points.

Beeley, (N) 3. Barraclough,(S) 3. Jackson, (N)

1st. Saxons …… . 463

2nd Normans ….. 418

3rd Stuarts …… .. 380

4th. Tudors …… .. 345

JUNIOR

1. 2B 92 points

2. 2A 75 points

3. 2C 70 points

                                                                                                                      3B

SENIOR

1. 4L 160 points

2. 4S 132 points

3. 6L 121 points