Carres Grammar School, SleafordFounded 1604
(Above picture is from a Lithograph of 1834 showing
the newly rebuilt School & Headmaster's House)
Last Thursday I had a most enjoyable day out attending a reunion at my old school Carre's Grammar School, Sleaford. It was the first time I had met the other pupils since leaving school in 1957, exactly fifty-two years ago. The nice thing was I recognised all of them immediately. The event, which was very informal, took place over three days Wed/Fri - 29/31 July. I have reproduced the programme of events below:
My intention was to go for the full first two days, as I was not available on the Friday, but unfortunately the heavens opened on Wednesday morning and it literally poured down with rain all through the day and evening as well. I thought long and hard before deciding to write the first day off. That left just Thursday. I arrived at the school just before 10.30 a.m., met up with the group and had a tour of the areas of the school that we were allowed into. The new Sports Hall was impressive, including a full sized gym fitted out with all the latest fitness equipment supported by computer technology. The two football pitches, with a cricket square between them, that used to be behind the school, are now gone, replaced with a state of the art astro-turf surface. We watched a demonstration of the new surface being brushed instead of cut, ride-on brushes taking the place of ride-on mowers. It felt strange standing in the old assembly hall where first thing every morning we went to morning prayer. After an update by the headmaster on which boys and sports teams had deserved a mention for their special achievements, you stood in dread in case your name was called out, to be summoned to the headmasters study immediately after assembly. It almost certainly meant trouble, often accompanied by six of the best. Can I claim for retrospective abuse, I wonder? We moved on to the headmasters garden for a group photo-shoot, as this was where all school photographs had been taken since time immemorial, as we stood there waiting to say 'cheese' I couldn't help reflecting how many photographs must have been taken there over the years. During the afternoon the group were left to their own devices, a group of five of us opted for the pub. Heading for the Barge & Bottle we decided to walk down Church Lane, where fifty years earlier we went to do PE in an old hall. It was barren, mostly cold, with a dusty, splintered floor. The old hall had been knocked down and a huge new building housed a public fitness gym. If only they had thought to build it fifty years earlier! It suddenly occurred to me that we didn't need to do PE at school. we would have kept perfectly fit walking to lessons. We walked round to the old hall to do PE, we walked a quarter of a mile, through the secondary modern school, to get to the woodwork shed, we walked a quarter of a mile to the football pitches down Drove Lane, and half a mile to the town swimming baths for our swimming lessons. What the hell did we need PE for? The sight of all this gym equipment was taking its toll and we reached the Barge & Bottle gasping for a pint. We arrived at the pub about 12.30 and after a nice lunch, a few pints, and an afternoon of very pleasant conversation, the last three of us rolled out the pub about about 5 o'clock. We walked from the Barge & Bottle to the railway station and I swear we wouldn't have looked out of place in a scene from 'Last of the Summer Wine'. I caught the 5.15 train to Metheringham and arrived home about 5.45. About 8.15 Angela and I set off for Barge & Bottle again for a social evening that included wives and partners. Once again it was a very convivial evening, a great way to end an excellent day.
Thanks to John Arum, Tim Harrod and others who helped in making the event a great success, I am sure that everyone who attended had a thoroughly enjoyable time.
