As the amount of submitted material increases this page will add new stuff as I receive it. For those who have already surveyed the main page, this will be a shorter, faster way to look at recent additions. As these become excessive, they will be transferred from time to time to the main page links.
A letter from Ralph Worthington seen here with his family.
Hi there, January 15, 2003
A happy New Year from the USA. I am really pleased to find so many Old Wheatleyans from my time still in contact on the web. I suffered a motor bike accident in 1947 in which I collected a fractured jaw and skull, as a consequence of which I suffered amnesia and have never recovered all of my memory of previous years. However the names and events recorded in Charles Cook's pages have stimulated quite a lot more.
I find I remember Howard Skinner, who we regarded as something of a hero and Nimshy (as I remember it ) Wheat.
I have one or two tales ( perhaps apocriphal) of goings on at Greestones House and well remember the Seniors study room in an attic. One thing that sticks in my mind is lighting farts there ,after our regular meal of pilchards each week, as a mutual defensive measure.
On another occasion we lifted the mantlepiece from the wall in the dining room (which was also the junior study hall) and with great difficulty carried the slab of marble to the Housemaster's quarters. At this point we transferred it to the arms of, I believe, B.H. Smith, who stood there barely able to hold it. We knocked on the door and hid round the corner to watch, or listen. When Flap Atkinson opened the door, B.H. looked up contritely and said , "Please Sir, it came off in my hand". It seemed outragously funny at the time and in fairness Flap took it in good part and no-one was punished. Cheerio for now will be back in contact in the near future, Ralph (Prof) Worthington.
Next came a note and pictures from James (Jim) Elks
Hello Charles,
Thank you for your message. You are doing a fantastic job and there is so much that I've only been able to give it a superficial scan but will certainly be reading it in depth. Briefly my history is:
Started 1938 when I was lucky enough to get a Governor's Scholarship with free uniform etc. I well remember the early war years and the tutorial system. Even hoping for an air raid alarm during the night so that we could go in late!
Then to Lincoln where initially I was billeted with a very nice older
couple who treated me like their son.However I became too much of a burden so I moved to Greestones where I remember Prof Worthington who was a year ahead of me. I guess you were two years behind me so I can't recall you.
In 1943 like you I decided to go out to work so that if I was called up I'd have some work experience when de-mobbed. I worked for two years as a lab assistant at hard Metal tools (an A.C. Wickman company) While there my boss encouraged me to study at Coventry Tech so that in 1945 I had my HSC allowing entry into year two of the Metallurgy course at Birmingham
University. After commuting on the train and tram for three years I got my B.Sc (hons) in Metallurgy.
After four years working in England and two in S. Africa in 1954 I
emigrated to Canada, to Ottawa where I met Isabel and we were married in 1955. Since then I've worked in Arvida and Montreal, Que, Port Hope, Ontario, and Ottawa , moving to Brockville when I retired in 1993.
I remember my father visiting me and buying me a folding Kodak at the second hand place across from the station. This started my interest in photography. Recently I've become interested again in the digital field. I had a mss of 35 mm slides some of which I've converted to digital images. Three old pictures, taken in the garden at Greestones, are attached. Brings back memories.
Let's keep in touch, All the best, Cheers Jim
 
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