Getting in the hay.
Manpower was very short, as so many men had gone into the armed services or other essential services for the duration of the war. The school was asked if they could supply some of the older students to help one of the local farmers get in his hay.
I was one of the students who was selected to go, I dont think that we volunteered, we were just told that we were going and do a good job. It was a warm summers day, and after a while we got pretty thirsty. The farmer produced a large stone jug of his own homemade draft cider which we gulped down with enthusiasm. In no time we were all sound asleep in the field, and not getting on with the job as we should be. I think the farmer learned his lesson, and we learned that home made draught cider is pretty potent.
The Spotters Club
I very much enjoyed being a member of the spotters club which was run by Mr Hawke-Glen. Besides the packs of cards with black and white illustrations of aircraft, we used to watch countless lantern slides of aircraft also in black and white, taken from the top, bottom, sides, head on etc, of enemy aircraft and our own. We were given tests in which we had to identify not only the name of the aircraft but also the model number. We all became pretty proficient in quite a short time.
I can well remember Mr Hawke-Glenn telling us something that was most confidential, and that we could not tell the other boys who were not members of the club. He told us that the allies were developing an aircraft that could fly without propellors. It was called a jet aircraft and that it would be faster than existing planes, the only drawback would be that it would never have a very long range. We thought that he was having us on, planes could never fly without propellers! I am not sure what we were meant to do if we ever did spot an enemy plane. Duck for cover I suppose.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness
Before we went into meals we had to line up for inspection. At the head of the queue you held out your hands, first the tops, and then you turned them over to show your palms. Heaven forbid if there was any dirt in ones finger nails. I cannot remember what the punishment was if you offended, but I am sure you would have been sent to see Mr Cox if you were caught too often.
Sweets
We arrived back at school after the holidays with our sweet ration in a tin. These were kept in a cupboard with your name on it. I dont think the cupboard was opened every day, but when it was it was about the most important time of the week. One kept looking to see what choice toffees or chocs the other boys had, and there where many envious looks.
A special treat
I think that it was once a term that we had a very special treat. We went by bus into Taunton and went to the movies. From memory I think it was to the Odeon, and the film was shown non stop, not like at school where the film stopped at the end of every reel when the reel was changed. A large screen and good sound it was hard to believe, even if we watched through a cloud of smoke as most adults smoked in the cinemas in those days. Afterwards we went to a cafe, it might have been a Lyons Corner House or something similar, for a slap up high tea. I remember on one occasion our bus on leaving Taunton nearly collided with another vehicle. Mr Cox got up and praised the skill of our driver and he got a round of applause.
Going to church
On Sunday mornings we went to church by bus to the nearby town of Curry Rivel. The service was not only for the school, but the normal service for the locals as well. The vicar used to give a very long and very boring sermon. We had to sit and bear it and not be to restless. I might be doing the poor man an injustice, but I have always thought with so many young boys in the congegation that he could have made his sermons shorter and more interesting to our age group. I have always wondered how many of us went on to become clergymen.
The crash of the german plane.
When the german plane crashed not too far from the school I was one of the boys who jumped on to his bicycle to go and have a look. My memory is that several of us hacked and broke off pieces of the plane and took them back to the school where we concealed them in safe places. Again from memory the most senior boy bagged the piece with the swastika on it. I definitely got a piece, I got it back to Falmouth in Cornwall where I was living with my grandparents, my sister remembers it propping up a door in my grandparents house. I was told that when a RAF team arrived down from London that they were most upset. Apparently this aircraft had something on it that was new, and the plane was supposed to be able to avoid being detected by radar. If this was true or not I dont know, but it makes a good story.
Growing food
To supplement our food, not only did we grow veg's in the vegetable garden, in our dorm we used our face flannels. We would make them damp and then sow mustard and cress seeds on to them. It was a race to see whose would be first to be harvested. Mustard and cress never tasted so good.
End of term treat
On the last day of term we were allowed to go up to Hambridge and buy a bottle of fizzy coloured drink. This was absolutely forbidden during the term time. The bottles were large, and there was a sort of spring contraption at the top of the bottle that kept the lid in tightly to stop the fizz from going flat. I think that the red one was the most popular, it had a sickly sweet taste, very artificial. Things that are usualy forbidden always taste so good.
Bombing Bristol
In that little corner of Somerset the war seemed a long way away. However at night we were reminded of the war when the german bombers flew overhead to bomb Bristol and I suppose Bath as well. The constant droning noise they made, and the distant sky was lit up when they dropped their bombs. We felt so safe where we were as there were no strategic targets anywhere nearby.
Looking back over sixty years later I realise just how lucky I was to go to Durlston Court at the time that the school was evacuated to Somerset. It was a happy time, in beautifull surroundings, with mostly very caring teachers. We had a lot of freedom, I used to cycle for miles in all directions on my bike and do a lot of exploring. I was quite sorry when I had to move on to my public school in Buckinghamshire.
Incidently I went before the war to Furzie Close at Barton on Sea, the very place that Durlston Court eventually moved to. My uncle John Dwight who is still alive and living in Cambridge also went to Furzie Close, so I have an association with both schools.
My life as a boarder at Furzie Close in the late thirties would be quite different to life today. We were up by 6.30 and had to have a cold bath before we changed into singlet and shorts, even in winter. Then quite along run whatever the weather was like. Back at school a hot mug of cocoa, changed, and an hours class before breakfast. On Sunday afternoons a long walk two by two in a crocodile formation. A special treat was to go into Bournemouth and go to the ice skating palace, with a palm court string orchestra playing. Another treat was to go to the New Forest and have a picnic, with tea and thick jam sandwiches.
I am just so glad that so many old boys from Earnshill days have written down their recollections, several in great detail, as in far off Australia it has brought back so many very happy memories of prep school days in England.
I am so glad that the school has prospered and grown to what it is today.
Kind regards
Patrick
