For several years Edward attended Oswestry as a day boy before finally becoming a boarder and active member of the School House community. Lively by nature with a rebellious streak, Goffy sometimes found himself in conflict with authority and as he neared the end of his time at school his relationship with the Headmaster became what can best be described as somewhat fractious.

Ed was a keen cricketer, and all round talented sportsman who relished the prospect of competition, and in the cover photograph he can be seen heading from the cricket square towards the pavilion for tea, midway through a school match in 1960. During the 1960 season he established, firmly, his position as team Wicket Keeper, and he played in ten of our twelve matches in what was a successful year for the School First XI, winning eight out of twelve matches, and only narrowly losing two of the rest.

Circumstances took a turn for the worst for young Edward when, just a week or so after Speech Weekend and the Old Boys' match, several notice board photographs containing images of the Headmaster were badly defaced by drawing pins. One of my photos, still bearing the scars of mutilation, and  pictured below below, was returned to me by Mr Frankland at the end of Summer Term,1960.

The School First XI, in which the Headmaster and Mr Hayden Morris had asked to appear as guests. 

Top L to R : AC Stevens, GS Moffat, Mr Frankland, Mr Morris, TP Moore- Bridger, M Harvey
Seated L to R: ED Goff, B Pickup, D Pickup, T Ashworth, JB Greves.

Needless to say the Headmaster went ballistic, and I was one of the first to be summoned to his study for an explanation. He really believed, erroneously, that myself, my brother Bernard, and Jack Greves were behind this act of vandalism and other seditious acts rumbling along in the background at School House, and he also interrogated Edward Goff and others whom he assumed were also involved. Expulsions were threatened, and entries in my diary at the time remind me that unrest throughout the school was almost palpable, even to the extent that Mrs Walton, Head of the Preparatory Dept and the assistant Matron sent in letters of resignation.

Headmaster Frankland was on a mission to uncover the subversive elements in School House, and there was soon a long line of boys awaiting interrogation outside his study.

Finally he sent for me again, and ordered me not to include Edward in the two remaining School First XI cricket matches, one of which was against his father's team, Whittington, and he even threatened to take away my captaincy. Goffy told me he felt particularly aggrieved at what he described as a petty gesture against an unproven act of malicious photographic mutilation, and vowed not to forget it. He would later, the following year, be one of three boys singled out for corporal punishment inThe Memorial Hall in front of the whole school, but it is for others closer to the action to tell this story, and that of the rebellion, at some point in the future.The truth should be told.

I wondered how Goffy would fare in twelve month's time at the start of the 1961 cricket season under a new captain, but he started as he ended 1960 as a solid and dependable member of the First XI, playing in every game that summer until his all round sporting talent was blighted by a laboratory experiment and accident on July 12th,1961, which almost cost him the sight of both eyes. The swift action taken by Roger Morgan at the time was exemplary. 

Hearing an explosion he ran towards the laboratory and manhandled a much heavier, distressed, Edward Goff towards the hospital across the road, narrowly avoiding an oncoming car, where he received immediate treatment for his injuries. The promptness and quick thinking by Roger, pictured front, left with Ed, right, earlier in 1961 before the laboratory explosion, undoubtedly afforded the team who operated on Edward vital extra minutes in their struggle to save his sight, and Roger was awarded the Bayly Cup in recognition of his speedy response to the situation. Edward's parents expressed their gratitude by giving Roger £5, the equivalent of a week's wages in those days.

Press cutting from the time.

Roger, left, with Edward in the library.

As far as I can remember from my time at Oswestry School, just two boys were awarded the honour of The Bayly Cup, which was first presented, for initiative, by Headmaster R Williamson in 1934. The other recipient was a young boy from The Prep Dept, Roger LH Dennis, who, when on holiday in 1959, leapt fearlessly from a jetty in Cornwall to rescue a boy much younger than himself who had fallen into the swirling waters of an estuary. I shall have more to say about the origins, etc , of The Bayly Cup in a future article.

Anyway, I digress, and ought to say that a demonstration, planned by the boys, to take place through the streets of Oswestry on Saturday 14 July 1961, calling for the departure of the Headmaster was called off out of respect for Edward Goff and his family.

The entry in my Diary for that same day reminds me that my brother Bernard and myself had been in Oswestry for the weekend, as we were due to play against Edward Goff in the Old Boys' match, and calling up at the school prior to the game we found that the place was agog with stories of mutiny and rebellion in the aftermath of a breakdown of law and order. The match however, which we lost only narrowly, went ahead as planned, and Edward told me later that he would not have wanted it any other way.

Edward Goff, far right, with a joyful looking bunch of rebels in 1961. 

Headmaster Frankland left Oswestry School, citing personal reasons, at the end of Summer Term, 1961.

To be continued...