I have just been led down memory lane by Martin D.J.Buss! I, too, went to BCJS 1968-72. The uncanny thing about reading his article is that many of the same teachers / Head Master were there when I arrived! I have often thought that there was a lack of interest in the JS yet the Senior School would have been NOTHING without us Junior School graduates!
The Head of School exercised an ancient (and probably apocryphal) right today by bringing livestock into the college and sporting a beard.
In August 1939 I had already got my uniform to go to King's College, Wimbledon, when my parents decided that war was imminent and that I should become a boarder at a school not close to London.
I do so much enjoy receiving the Pelican via e-mail and searching for signs of those still around who were colleagues of mine in the mid-forties.
In November 1942 an appointment had been made by my parents for me to be interviewed by the then Headmaster, Walter Hett. A daunting prospect for a 12 year old. We lived on the other side of Hove so Kemp Town was unknown to me but I did manage to get off the bus at the bottom of College Road. My first contact at the College was the then porter, Smart. On hearing that my appointment was at 11 o’clock he looked at the hall clock; it was ten past eleven! I can still see the look on Smart’s face. I don’t remember ever being late at school again in all of my 5½ years there.
Those of you who remember Philip Burstow will know of his life-long devotion to Brighton College both as a boy and master. In 1929 he joined the staff of Brighton College Preparatory School which was then in Lewes Crescent, and remained in what later became the Junior School until his death in 1975.
I have just come across the article by Martin Buss regarding his memories of the old Junior School on the south side of Eastern Road. He asks what became of the handbell that used to be rung. As far as I know it was still in use in the "next generation" Junior School in the old Convent of the Blessed Sacrament in Walpole Road up until the time my father retired from teaching in the early 1980's.
I read with much enjoyment Pat Lyford’s affectionate recollections of his masters’ nicknames and mannerisms in issue 18 of the Pelican. I fully endorse Pat’s comment that he was very fortunate to have had the masters that he mentions. I would like to add my own very minor contribution to his list.
In March 2006, I had the pleasure to attend the 100th Anniversary Dinner of the founding of Durnford House. While at the College, I made a quick visit to the Junior School (JS) now long since situated where St. Mary’s Hall used to be some fifty years ago. I was profoundly shocked and saddened to realize from what turned out to be a very short visit that the JS that my brother, Brian, and I used to know, had totally ceased to exist.
It was a sweltering November afternoon just before the long awaited rains. I stepped out of the office and looked up the mile long jacaranda lined straight road that led out of the village to see if there was any sign of the Tuesday and Friday bi-weekly bus. As there was no great plume of dust in the distance that heralded its arrival I went back into the Office.
Some terrifically fascinating facts about Brighton College include...
“I am he that came out of the army.” (I Samuel 4. 16)
posted - 17th June 2005
Many Old Brightonians I have met during my retirement have memories about their experiences in the CCF and I thought this third – and final – instalment of reminiscences over the last fifty years should deal with the Corps and why I became involved.
“I have been young, and now I am old.” (Psalms XXXVII; 25)
posted - 28th January 2005
In the last issue of the Pelican I wrote about the Remembrance Service in November 2004 and the changes since my first in 1954. I had been appointed in January of that year to help with the four members of the Sixth Form who were taking Latin at A Level. Norman Frith, a Classical Exhibitioner at Corpus Christi, Cambridge, had started the course but found it too much of a commitment in addition to his duties as Head of the History Department.
Prior to a recent show in London, Pablo Picasso’s “Le Train Bleu” curtain was last seen at Brighton College as part of the Brighton Festival of 1982. The 10.3 x 11.7m curtain formed the centrepiece of The Burstow Gallery’s “Picasso and The Theatre” exhibition organised by Gavin Henderson (L.1960-65 and later overall Director of The Festival) and assisted by my father, Nick Bremer (Director of Art 1969-2000). The show attracted 7,200 visitors to the College – “The publicity is beyond price” Headmaster Bill Blackshaw proudly told the Council.
Lieutenant, Welsh Regiment. Born: July 28th, 1891. Brighton College Junior House, 1891-1894. Killed in action, France, Feb 16th, 1915, aged 23.
Albert Arundel Holmes (Sc. 1885-88), Captain, Royal Sussex Regiment. Born: January 16th, 1872, died of pneumonia, May 1915 aged 43.
The very first two British officers to be killed in WW1 were 2nd Lt. Vincent Waterfall who had qualified as a pilot from the Royal Aero Club (RAC) in 1913 aged 20 (Brighton College 1907-09) and Lt. Vincent Gordon Bayly of St Pauls.
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