Second Picture: Southdown Coach
Third Picture; Bishop John Phillips
Fourth Picture : Durdle Dor
Confession time
This has been running around the back of my brain for about 60 years. Way back in either 1961 or 1962 when I was a member of the congregation of the Church of the Resurrection in East Cosham the Rector, the Revd Cecil Booth, approached me to tell me that the Diocese of Portsmouth was holding a week’s residential Youth Summer School in the private school of Canford in Dorset and would I be interested? After a bit of thought and a chat with my girlfriend at the time Sue who attended St Margarets church in Southsea we discovered that several people I knew from St Margarets were going and so this would be an ideal way for us to go away and spend a few days together so we both signed up.
On the appointed Saturday morning my father dropped me at Cathedral House in Old Portsmouth to board the Southdown coach for the trip Dorset. There were thirty-four of us plus several priests and ladies to oversee the week whilst one couple, Roger and Wendy, made their own way in Roger’s car an ancient blue Austin 10.
On arrival at Canford we were all gobsmacked to see that Canford School was a typical public school built from Portland stone with miles and miles of wooden corridors and old creaking staircases, one started to think of the Billy Bunter and Jennings book.
We were divided into two groups all the boys being taken upstairs to the left to the boy’s dormitory and the girls upstairs to the right. Then it was down to the Dining Hall for tea where we were served with sandwiches and cake with tea. We spent a lot of time getting to know each other and making friends. Later it was time for dinner after which the Archdeacon, the Ven Geoffery Tiaks, explained the programme for the next few days and that we at liberty to use any of the schools facilities archery, gym and swimming pool. After Sunday morning service the next day we were free to explore the local countryside and woods for ourselves.
The week was interesting and on Monday afternoon the bishop of Portsmouth the Rt Revd John Phillips arrived. He spent the rest of the afternoon and that evening getting to know everyone, he was with us for three days and proved to be very approachable and very popular.
The bishops popularity was to prove to be his down fall in a way because the following night during the early hours of the morning a group of us crept out of the house grabbed the tool box from Rogers car and crept into the carpark and quietly proceeded to jack the bishops car up and place it on bricks which we found in schools walled garden. We removed the wheels and left them , the hub caps and nuts neatly beside the hubs. Next morning his chauffer discovered the prank and had to put the wheels back on again. We awaited the comment from the bishop. All he said was “thank you gentlemen”, but he had the last laugh.
The following day were had a day trip to Durdle Dor, I remember nothing about the trip except that I bought my mother a piece of White Friars glass. Meanwhile the bishop had mustered all the staff that were left at the school and they systematically “Apple Pied” every bed both girls and boys. We did not find this out until we went to bed that night and we all had to remake our beds. Thank you, bishop!!!
We were free to explore the schools grounds and the surrounding area and we discovered that on our last Saturday night, the local village hall had a dance and as it was only a couple miles most of us decided to walk into the village and attend.
Being Saturday and being in the early 1960’s the Sunday Trading Laws still applied and so the dance had to end at 11.45. So, at just gone midnight we started to walk back. On entering the school gates and walking up the driveway we spotted the swimming pool off to the right and it was decided that we would round the summers evening off with a swim, it was a mild night and we had no costumes but never mind we all decided to take the plunge and Sue and I along with the others stripped off and stood beside the pool. We all jumped in together, any erotic ideas we may have had were soon dispersed as the water was freezing. All we wanted to do was get out and somehow warm up. It is quite a sight seeing two dozen naked teenagers struggling to put on pants and knickers, shirts and dresses onto cold wet bodies. Luckily, we were not far from the main building and we soon ran back, said our goodbyes and rushed to our dormitories to grab a towel and warm up.
The next day we all came home, we had had a great week and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. For those who are wondering how we managed to get into a locked building at night the answer is simple, the lock on the French windows in the library did not work and was always unlocked.
We came home and most of us stayed friends for a while and my relationship with Sue lasted a couple of months longer, after all it is a long way to cycle home from Southsea to Farlington in the early hours of the morning.
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