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Golly I have been distracted from this site for ages, but see everyone else is too. I suppose all are glued to the TV to watch the abject failure of the British Olympics GB team and all that taxpayers money pouring out for empty seats? At least Queenie did her bit as a Bond Girl and Mr Bean was fun too. Jet Sream seems back on course after normality last week. It was great to bask in the sun with a glass of vino. Even dusted off the BBQ. Another grandson due on 19th August so soon off to Cambridge to help out. Already been there to paint the nursery 2 weeks ago. The old Tech skills came in handy except for the damned cat walking in the white paint of the final window sill coat! Even a pure black cat so it looked great afterwards!! Graham

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Hi Graham I am here at home in Spain!! Fed up doing BBQ's as the heat and sunshine as been relentless for 3 months now. Certainly the Olympics seem to have taken over everybodys's life but a great day today with two golds and here's hoping for more medals in the swimming tonight. Does it all remind you od school sports day and the swimming galas at the Tech? Brought back some memories for me!! Hope all our contributors present and past are fit and well. Cheers Steve

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Lucky man Steve! We have managed 4 this year (one in Cornwall). June was the wettest month since records began (but we did get three fine days when in London!). Good for GB today. One of the female rowers taught in Bath and trained at the Minerva Club on the Avon at Newton St. Loe! The old cinder running track on North Road is now part of Bath University and of course the Beau Street Baths were demolished to build the Spa. Seem to remember sunny sports days awaiting an event under the trees, but never swam in any gala. (I think I slipped off as it was easy to get the No.11 bus by the Corridor in High Street before the schools turned out). Recall those individual cubicles on the bath side with canvas screens. Tried to get one instead of the mass changing under the tiered seats. Until recently the depressions were still there in the wall by the old baths entrance. By rotating a penny against the stone you could cut a half sphere. Many a Saturday morning was spent when queuing enlarging my pit! Pushed grandaughter in the pushchair past the tennis courts in Sydney Gardens today. They are still the same, although the Gents nearby has been rebuilt. The old cast-iron pissoire (sp?) is still there by the side. Ah well. Raining again outside. Might even have to watch the darned TV! Loll in the sun for me tomorrow! Graham

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Most of the time I think I must be the only non sports enthusiast in the country and then I read Graham’s reply and recognised a fellow non believer. I’ve been a lifelong sports anti, but my feelings in that direction were enhanced by my days at the Tech. I can still see, and hear, old “Jimmy” Edwards trying to raise our enthusiasm for that stupid game, with the equally stupid shaped ball, whilst the rain hammered down and we were wading ankle deep in mud.

Incidentally do you know why the Rugby ball is the shape it is? I’ll tell you anyway. It seems that on Tom Brown’s first Saturday at Rugby school, the usual inter-house football game was being played with all of the members of the two houses playing. The poor lad being new to these things saw the ball coming his way, grabbed it and ran with it to plant it between the opposition’s goal posts. Looking up at the games master, who was standing over him loudly blowing a whistle, young Tom asked “What shall I do with it now sir?” And that gents, is the reason the Rugby ball is the shape it is.

I much preferred the cricket season at school, I quickly realised that the sporting keen types wanted to be captain and the games master, pleased to see such enthusiasm, appointed the two keenest types as captains . A coin was tossed and the batting captain appointed. I found that by standing in amongst the fat and the lame the rest of the class were picked before they came to us. At this point I would stand in front of the batting captain as his turn to pick came around again and he would pick me. He didn’t really want me, but I was a better option than what else remained. If you recall, the games seldom progressed to the second team getting in to bat so I would lie on the grass waiting for the call that almost never came. I think I batted once (out for a duck I think, there, I did learn something) but managed to complete an awful lot of homework whilst I waited.

I remember the games masters consisted of a “proper” games teachers, like the afore mentioned “Jimmy,” or Jack Leyshon and a couple of non games teachers who had, unfortunately for them no doubt, a spare slot in their timetable. One such was Roger (I think) Minnikin, one of who’s day jobs was teaching us history. I remember him deciding to teach us how to convert a try, the ball was placed, laces towards the post, correctly angled in the hole kicked into the mud and it was booted over the bar and between the posts in a manner which Johnny Wilkinson would have been proud of. At this point he lost the plot; uttering those fateful words “Just to show it wasn’t a fluke” he tried it again and again and again….. After half a dozen goes he gave up and resumed the game. I had learned another of life’s lessons.

And finally, Graham’s memories of the swimming baths reminded me of the school swimming gala. I remember sitting up on those hard tiered seats watching the keen types diving to collect plates. One competitor (name forgotten) was down there for ages, silence fell and “Jimmy Edwards” gave the order “get him out” where upon half a dozen prospective Baywatch contenders lifted him to the surface as one man, spilling his carefully collected plates back into the pool. Understandably he was somewhat surprised by this and uttered at the top of his voice “What the ****s going on,” which quite made my day. My wife has just accused me of deserting her so I have to go and join her in the lounge where she’s watching the bl**dy Olympics on the tele!

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Hi Donald You just beat me to it. I was just about to relate the tale of the tin-plates! It was one of the great moments in sporting history. I cannot remember the lad's name but I thought maybe it was Edwards and Pappin that dived in fully clothed to "save the life" of our plate-lifting champion. Such a shame it was not filmed as it would have been a brilliant "What happened Next" on Question of Sport. I have related the story many times and would love to hear from somebody who can remember the names invovled in one of the most funniest moments in the history of school sport. I think that tin-plate lifting from the bottom of the pool ceased to be an Olympic sport in Tech swimming galas after this incident. happy days! Back to watching the real Olympics on TV but not the same without plate-lifting!!! Cheers Steve

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Well spotted Donald! Although I actually enjoyed Rugby (all those weekends shortened by playing matches all over the West, rain or shine) once I left school my enthusiasm waned. I did take up Judo & archery for a while but when time is short other pursuits took over. The irony is that I used to referee Primary School soccer matches (qualification was part of teacher training in the 1960s) and only recall ever playing a couple of games myself at St. Saviours or with 21st Victoria Hall Scouts! B*****y hell I was still paddling in the mud into my 50s! Hypocrite that I am I would rabble-rouse the school team in assembly too. Cricket bored me stiff, cross-country was pointless but I did enjoy throwing those aluminium javelins on the fields at Glasshouse. Amazingly both daughters & their spouses are sports freaks. Gym & pool, running etc. Must be a recessive gene. I even turned up to watch two of them do the Bath Half-marathon one year! Missed the plate incident. I must have bunked off! I did get caught one time. Those paving slabs in Stan Stennet's botany garden at Brougham Hayes were laid by me personally (plus a few others!) as he took a register at the end of the gala one year! As for Team GB, good for them! Yawn!! Everyone to their own. I am even getting too old to watch beach volley-ball now my twin daughters are older than the players. Not that much of an old letch! Bought a new digital recorder so can screen out sport now. Only a week to go!! Start saving up for the extra taxes this jolly will cost us in the future!

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Good to hear that some of us at least are in the land of the living - I was beginning to have my doubts!!! If like me you had little head for anything sporty you ended up long-stopping, ensconced comfortably under a tree on the edge of Claverton Down playing fields. Like others I never got to wield a bat either in the ’63 or ‘64 season – how that happened I’m not at all certain but in view of my total lack of prowess in the “game for gentlemen and players” perhaps it was best that I didn’t.

Those sports phobics who served time during that bitter winter of ‘62 will readily recall Jack Leyshon’s attitude to those of us who were none too keen on playing on what could best be described as gloop on permafrost. Knees and elbows were torn to shreds whilst he upbraided us as being a “bunch of Girl Guides” simply because we were showing caution on what today would be classified as an unplayable pitch.

Another member of staff called upon to support the PE team was Mike Williams (Physics). A great teacher, with a very dry sense of humour (bordering on the sarcastic at times). He was a focused and hard games player. He would readily participate in practice matches when numbers were down on one side. Scores were occasionally settled on the field of play and I recall one thug who thought he could get one over on Williams only to find that brains, speed and sleight of hand proved more than a measure for a mountain of blubber intent on revenge for a recent caning.

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My other memory of the Glasshouse pitch is those winter smogs. Some sessions even the yellow & black stripes on the goal posts were invisible until you got near them. Rock hard ground, pretty chronic changing facilities too. The ones 'away' were far better especially at public schools. I recall Wells Choir School always came up with a great cream team after we all doused ourselves in a steaming pool/bath of almost Olympics proportions! Even better was winning resoundingly there! St Brendans was a problem as the red clay turned white shorts pink! No political correctness then! Winter '62 was my last so I ducked sport for A Levels at that point. Major Webb was a stalwart rugby type too. He sent me off for a high tackle on a tall chap called Green who had been bugging me in class. It was worth it! He kept quiet after that!! I once made myself unpopular with the Colts XV when some school turned up short-handed. Volunteers were asked to switch sides. I played and won the match for them with my final try!!! Feel the same today. It is only a game, not warfare!!

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Being, as previously stated a non sports enthusiast, in the evenings I have occasionally peered over the top of my current book and seen the bits of the Olympics which generate the most noise. I got to wondering about the value of some of the sporting events when related to modern life. Where, for instance, is there any requirement to throw a javelin, discus or hammer in everyday life? I have felt like throwing a hammer occasionally, but, until now, have resisted the urge whilst waiting for the pain it has just inflicted to subside. I presume that these disciplines relate back to ancient military skills. Why not replace these with events relevant to modern warfare? How about Predator type remote controlled aircraft weapon delivery contests, sand sculpture using short range artillery, or even engaging a Predator with a manually guided S.A.M.?

Larger scale events could be arranged, perhaps there should be competitions to discover which country’s government had wasted the most money since the last Olympics. Obviously the current host country would be barred from entering this, as it would be a cert that they will have wasted the most and, to prevent Britain gaining an unfair advantage in this event, military spending should also be excluded.

Cycling events need upgrading too, how does circling a giant wooden fruit bowl compare with real cycling these days? A “proper” course reflecting the fact that a significant proportion of everyday cycling is carried out on the footways, at least in the UK. Mothers with prams and toddlers, elderly pensioners (that’s us boys) acting as obstacles and with additional potholes and carelessly parked cars to finish off, might do it.

That said, 2012’s venues, organisation and “Team GB” seem to have done the country proud, much to my surprise I have to admit, but then I’m a pessimist when it comes to my expectations of anything the government have had their fingers in. Coe and Co. seem to have it cracked at the moment, so perhaps we should aim to just leave it like it is for a while yet.

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Crumbs! Here we are house & baby sitting in Cambridge for son as daughter-in-law produces sprog two! Sport seems a distant interest! Do agree that obsolete skills and childish games seem to be called 'heroic' when some poor teenager facing hardened terrorists in Afghanistan barely gets a mention! Shooting anything but airguns & shotguns is banned in UK but the poor kid is expected to take on fanatics who have handled automatic rifles since birth. Olympics were a great spectacle and a fantastic diversion from real events (not that I watched them) but the Romans used the same tactics. It was called 'bread & circuses'. As the Empire crumbled the founding population were entertained with free food & games until the barbarians banged on the door. I suspect that overpaid footballers and ridiculous tennis players are not the ones who will put bread on the table for our grand kids. Somebody making something is the answer. Bring back Tech schools before it is too late!! The phone! ...

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Back home. Freddy (Frederick Priest) appeared on 21st August. A whopping 9lb 2 oz (ouch thank goodness we are males!) The lad went to the pub on his way from the hospital to home ( -1 day old!) Is that a record? My sort of life!!

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Graham Congrats on the latest addition to your dynasty, anywhere close to enough to a football team yet? Although the less said about sport the better as far as I'm concerned, as previously expressed. The bl**dy Olympics has been replaced by the bl**dy Paralympics now. Whilst I will admit to being humbled to see people surmounting their physical disabilities in the way that they do (and I will further admit that Ellie Simmond's performances, both in China previously and today in London, bring tears to my eyes) I begin to find the whole business of watching a group of people striving to shave 0.000 bu**er all of a second off of each others' times leaves me cold quite soon after I sit down to watch.

Regarding your sentiments about people making things, it's all a bit late for that I think. Whilst it's true to say that, for instance, we manufacture more cars in this country now than when we had "our own" motor industry, the number of jobs generated is, I suspect, significantly less. Robotisation has seen to that, along with "just in time" parts delivery, shared global component manufacture and all the other little ploys to make it work with a smaller workforce. The clever trick would be to allow all this massive increase in efficiency to spread the wealth generated throughout the population, thus giving more leisure time, shorter working hours and lives and full(er) employment. The snag is, of course, the mighty British "world's workshop" is now largely relegated to an assembly plant for companies owned abroad and that's where the profits go to be enjoyed. The only consolation is that the Germans, Americans, Indians and the Japanese don't seem to be doing too well on it either at the moment. The only recent entrepreneur of significance in the UK is James Dyson, and he upped sticks to Malaysia, I don't think vacuum cleaners and hand driers are really in the same league as the cars, trains, boats and planes of our glorious past anyway. (well, perhaps not the cars)

That's enough griping for now I suppose.

Happy Grandfathering

Don

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Thanks Donald, It certainly keeps us busy. No sooner home than grandaughter arrives for a visit to catch up!! Same family were returning from the Paralympics. She will not remember a thing but the atmosphere was supposed to be electric. The technology of those running blades is the sort of skill we need to cultivate. Like you I yawn when any sport is mentioned but can appreciate the fortitude of those who take part. If only the same motivation could be harnessed to give our nation the impetus it needs to recover some of the ground we have lost. Infra-structure, improved attractions for tourists and upgrading buildings to be energy efficient would involve millions of people now redundant if the training was there. The dole could then be earned. I am amazed that you cannot have a Roman bath in Bath, ride in sedan chair or chariot, watch a cohort of legionaries and attend an 18th century jolly in the Assembly Rooms. Tourists would pay good money. Big Issue sellers could be dressed in togas etc. to add to the fun! Of course high-tech stuff is the real 'work' now. Once Iran, India, Pakistan & China get to innovate we will be the ones being wiped out with predator drones (or robots) when we don't bow to Mecca, criticize the system or argue when some fraudster nicks our funds through a corrupt business scam! Still why worry? The sun was warm today. A pint of Doom Bar at the White Horse went down well at lunchtime and tomorrow is another day!

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Hi guys, it seems that MSN are determined to keep the group moving, we are all now heading for skydrive and as all files were already stored there they wont have a lot to do, they do however intend to delete all our conversations over the years we have been communicating and meeting new friends and old. I know that Bill has said he has downloaded all the conversations and if you wish to do so for your scrapbooks I think you had better do it soon, there is an option to do so on the old site at the time of writing. My main reason for coming out of hiding and writing this reminder is that there seems to be the opportunity to re-create a web site on Skydrive, if enough of the members feel they would like to continue even though of late there has been very little in the way of posts lately then we continue on at skydrive, failing that we need to ensure that we all have necessary emails to keep in touch. It would be a shame in a way to let it all go to waste as even though I have not contributed much of late I have still read the posts. If you think we go on then lets have a show of hands and see how it goes

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An excellent proposal! There will be times when things go quiet but that doesn't in anyway minimise the value of having a single point of contact. As old buffers there will always be opportunities to moan on about the "good old days" ........... did I say that? More appropriately, the ability to exchange experiences about both current and past events amongst a group of chaps who share in a Weymouth House/Brougham Hayes heritage - is something to be is held on to (whilst almost everything else is sliding merrily down the well oiled soil pipe)! Mike

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Hi Tony Good to hear from you. Count me in. Cheers Steve

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Not sure of 'skydrive' but I am interested. Graham

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Hi Tony Some of this goes over my head but could you not send a "group email" to let everybody know of suggestion? Cheers Steve

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Tony I too subscribe to the sentiments expressed by the others. I value the site because, at the very least, it corroborates what my rickety memory retains of events of over 50 years ago (over 50 years for me anyway). It is also valuable for current news of those who were players in that particular game of life. The whole thing is too good to allow to fade away, even though it goes to sleep now and then, a bit like us really, a symptom of advancing years I suppose.

Best regards

Don

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