Apart from Roger LH Dennis (1959-68), who was rightly awarded the cup in 1959, aged ten, and Roger Morgan (1953-61), who was similarly honoured in 1961, I believe it is plausible to speculate that there is another boy, with whom I attended school as a boarder at School House, whose prompt action should also have been recognised.

A certain amount of mystery has always surrounded the awarding of the cup; initiative and quick thinking are certainly two of the determining factors, bravery without doubt.

David Ward, the School Archivist, has done some digging into the records on my behalf, and I can do no better than include his findings which you can read below.

Desmond Lambart Bayly born 1922 was at school from Summer 1932 to April 1934. He was the son of Captain and Mrs Bayly of West Felton and Capt. Bayly was a Royal Engineer.

The Speech Day Report of 1934 (The Oswestrian) includes  a report on the Entertainment provided:

"Capt. and Mrs Bayly had presented a cup to the School, to be held for a year by the boy who, during the preceding twelve months, had performed the most meritorious single action in connection with the life of the School, as recognition for one who, whatever his general conduct, could rise to the occasion when need came. As this year was the first award, they were able to make use of an incident which happened a little more than a year ago when, during a performance of a play at the School concert, all the lights went out.  For some time the performance went on with only a torch lighting the stage, but without a break and so smoothly that the audience put it down to a stage lighting effect. This was distinctly a case of boys rising to the occasion when the need came, and although all on the stage deserved credit, the main responsibility fell on the boy taking the most important part - E.H. Isaac.  He was less than 13 years of age and had the distinction of being the first holder of the cup"

The next year in the Speech Day Report (The Oswestrian):

"Last year Captain and Mrs Bayley (sic) presented a cup to the School; the conditions of award created much interest as the cup was for the boy who performed some notable individual action rising to the occasion when the need came, and not simply for one whose general level of attainment was high. The nature of the conditions makes it likely that in some years no award can be made, this incidentally enhancing the triumph when the cup is won. This holds for the last year, so the cup will remain at School to serve as an incentive to the boys to be constantly on the alert to seize, or even make, an opportunity of stepping into the breach and pulling things together at a critical moment."

Further trawling of The Oswestrian did not, in the short term, find mention of the Cup, until 2014!

By this time, the word "initiative" appears to have been used.

David Ward (School Archivist)

Certainly during my time at Oswestry Mr R Williamson did not feel able to award the Bayly Cup, for whatever reason, and it remained something of a mystery to all of us until it's presentation by Headmaster Frankland to a ten-year-old RLH Dennis in 1959 in recognition of both his quick thinking and bravery during the rescue during his summer holidays of a youngster who had fallen off a pier into the swirling waters of an estuary in Devon.

Ten-year-old Roger and his younger brother Tim.

Press cutting describing the incident.

Roger himself told me that one day as he was strolling towards a jetty in Devon to do a bit of fishing he spotted his younger brother, Tim, and a group of small children fooling about playing 'dare' at the end of the pier, and one of them was pushed too hard and fell into the turbulent water below.

Without thinking he immediately sprinted the length of the jetty and leapt into the water, surfacing behind the panicking boy. Struggling to calm the youngster, he eventually managed to bring him towards the shore where they were both assisted out of the water, completely exhausted, by a man on the beach. In typical Roger fashion he claimed no credit for his brave action which he described, completely underselling himself, as pure, reckless stupidity. They were both very  lucky to survive, and the incident was widely reported in the local newspaper. 

To this day I am still rather puzzled as to why Headmasters over the decades have found it difficult to make this award as the original criteria for doing so appear rather broad. Perhaps therein lies the reason for so few awards as it is open to the interpretation of individual Headmasters as to whether initiatives taken have been worthy enough for such recognition.

Roger Morgan (left), sitting on the buckled iron railings adjacent to the laboratory Circa 1961.

The other most meritorious single action by a boy at school that I am aware of occurred in July of 1961, the year after I left school, when Roger Morgan took charge of the situation following an explosion during a laboratory experiment in which several boys received injuries. Hearing the explosion Roger then saw Edward Goff staggering out of the laboratory covered in blood, and grabbing hold of him, he dragged him across the quad and out of the school gates to the nearby hospital, narrowly avoiding traffic coming along Upper Brook Street.

Surgeons worked on Edward Goff's eyes for several hours in efforts to save his sight, but they were unable to save one eye, and for some considerable time he remained unable to see out of the other.

Roger's quick-witted, swift action that day gave surgeons valuable extra time in which to try and save his sight. Quite deservedly Roger's prompt reactions gained recognition both by the school and Edward Goff's parents.

Hospital entrance in 1961.

Press report of the accident.

Apart from this, I can recall a couple of memorable incidents requiring quick thinking and initiative during my time at Oswestry that would certainly have fulfilled the criteria for receipt of the Bayly Cup. Both of these apparently failed to attract the attention of the Headmaster sufficiently despite the serious nature of the incidents, and they passed by unrecognised.

Winters during the mid 1950s often produced heavy falls of snow, and boys took full advantage of the opportunities offered for fun and games in the fluffy white crystals. On one wintry occasion a group of boys built a gigantic snowball. Starting near The Quarry at the top of the hill on what was then known as the top paddock, the boys laughingly began constructing the snowball, which, by the time it had been rolled to the lower paddock at the bottom of the slope, measured more than six feet in diameter.

View of the top and bottom paddocks, taken in 1957, from the upper reaches of a tree close to The Quarry.

Amidst all the ensuing frolics a boy called Glen Hutchinson became completely buried under the huge snowball as several boys tried to roll the monster further onwards. Unseen by his friends this went unnoticed, but as the snowball disintegrated a foot was seen protruding from the heap of snow, and it was then that frantic efforts were made to retrieve the trapped boy before he suffocated, exhorted to even greater effort by a red - faced Stoker Lewis who joined the desperate rescue with vim and vigour, using his bare hands to help clear the snow.

Glen was eventually dragged free and fortunately suffered no ill effects from his chilling  experience.

Stoker, posing for a picture on the playground Circa 1960.

The other incident I alluded to involved the spontaneous action undertaken by none other than Roger Morgan's brother Bruce towards the end of Summer Term, 1962.

Bruce Morgan recently explained to me in detail what happened, and in its condensed form, this is what took place.

As House Captain, Bruce had been put in charge of Schoolhouse Junior dormitory by Headmaster Richard Sale, and being a light sleeper he was awakened at approximately 3.00 a.m. by the sound of a distressed boy named Ian Ward. Approaching the crying twelve year old, Bruce enquired what the problem was, and Ian told him he was in severe pain. 

There were several options open to the House Captain and Bruce, thinking that it could be appendicitis, concluded that waiting was not one of them. Prompt action was required, and risking the wrath of Stoker Lewis or Mr Sale for going out of bounds without permission he quickly helped the weeping boy to dress. As Bruce was tasked with opening doors in the mornings he knew how to exit the building, and with great difficulty, as Ian could barely walk, he aided him to the front door of the hospital which was directly opposite the school entrance. 

An immaculately turned out sister led Ian away and returning minutes later explained that he was very ill and that, requiring an immediate appendix operation, she had sent for the surgeon. Without recourse to calling school she then asked Bruce if that would be alright and he nodded his agreement. Bruce then announced that he would await the outcome of the operation, which he did, and once it had been established that it was successful he returned to school and went back to bed. He did not see Ian Wood again until fifty years later at a party, when he explained that it had been the worst pain he had ever had to endure.

The following day Bruce reported the matter to Mr Lewis, his Housemaster, who told him that he should have been alerted at the time, not the following day. Bruce simply apologised and said that he felt capable of handling the matter himself. At lunchtime the Headmaster congratulated Bruce for his quick thinking and the matter was never raised again. Bruce Morgan's initiative and decisive action that night could have averted a tragedy as Ian Wood was suffering from acute appendicitis which could have burst at any time, and I feel that it should have been recognised in some way. Bruce might disapprove of me saying this, but perhaps, even at this late stage, it is not too late to do so?

Bruce Morgan, at the back in the picture, wrestling with my brother Bernard in the late 1950s.

It is intriguing to note the similarities of each of the situations the brothers Morgan found themselves in which required very similar prompt action. Rising to the occasion they were not found wanting as their swift, positive responses provided valuable extra minutes for surgeons in which to operate on their charges.

I look forward to seeing more pupils being rewarded for initiative of one sort or another in the future.