Until fate determined otherwise, I had been looking forward with eager anticipation to the renewal of friendships and old acquaintances at Founder's Dinner. Sadly, my Old Oswestrian friend David Tomley, now in his ninety second year, was also unable to attend and is pictured at the far end of table 3 smiling in acknowledgement of the fact that he had just been toasted as the Last Man Standing during the annual Dinner of 2021.

David Tomley, Last Man Standing in 2021.
Bottom left in the photograph is Roger Morgan, Chris and Judith Wylie (top left), Ken Mottershead and myself (top and right).

My first visit to The Wynnstay in attendance at what was always referred to as The Old Boys' Dinner by Old Oswestrians in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s took place in 1960. I had left School at the end of summer term,1960, and had written to Duncan 'Fattie' Felton, who was the secretary of The OO Society, to ask if my brother and I could play football for the Old Boys prior to the Annual Dinner on Saturday 10 December of that year.

DGW Felton, seated second left between JF Tilley and Headmaster R Sale in 1962.

In due course I was surprised to receive a letter, not from Duncan Felton, but from John Evison inviting Bernard and myself to play for the Old Oswestrians under his captaincy. I remembered John as a keen sportsman in the early 1950s who also kept wicket for the School First XI cricket team.

Apparently Duncan, who had announced his intention to retire at the end of Michaelmas term, had agreed to take on the post of Secretary and Treasurer as suggested by John Evison in the clipping below, taken from The Oswestrian Magazine.

Editorial tribute to Duncan Felton.

Excerpt from The Oswestrian Magazine.

After the 1914-18 war, DGW Felton had struck up a friendship with fellow teacher R Williamson at Hereford Cathedral School where they were heavily involved with sporting activities, and when Ralph Williamson left Hereford to take up the post of Headmaster at Oswestry School in 1920 he persuaded Duncan and a couple of other teachers to follow him to Oswestry.

Duncan readily agreed to accept the position of Deputy Headmaster where he remained until his own retirement in 1960 after a career lasting over 40 years, which even surpassed his friend R Williamson's own lifelong stint of 38 years at the helm of Oswestry School.

Letter from DWG Felton to Headmaster, Staff and Boys following his retirement.

Right from leaving School at the end of summer term,1960, my brother and I corresponded with Roger and Bruce Morgan who kept us abreast of the developing situation at School through regular bulletins, and my Diary reminds me that the Morgan brothers reported stories of continuing unrest throughout Michaelmas term, which were confirmed both by Masters and boys during our visit to School on Old Boys' weekend in December, 1960.

Bernard and I arrived in Oswestry on Friday 9 December in late afternoon having travelled by train from our home in North East Lancashire, and having checked in at The Bear Inn for the night our first port of call was 'Fattie' Felton's house on Ferrers Road where, as usual, we were made very welcome by Mr Felton and his charming wife. We thanked Duncan for securing places in the Old Oswestrian football team for us both and went on to chat about the growing unrest at School House.

We formed the impression that Mr Felton was very unhappy with the situation, and he let it slip that he was seriously considering retirement at the end of term. After saying our goodbyes we walked the short distance to George Roberts-Jones' house where a party was in full flow..

After an hour or so George suggested that we should call round at The Wynnstay to meet up with more Old Boys, and the photograph below shows a small gathering of schoolmates chatting about old times.

(L-R) Horace Becket, Mike Higgins, George Roberts-Jones, Ken Mottershead, David Pickup, D Jones.

Saturday was the day of the Old Boys' match and a light covering of snow lay on the ground as we made our way to School to meet up with Roger and Bruce Morgan and more old friends. In the long corridor we ran into Headmaster Frankland who steadfastly refused to engage with us in conversation. He completely ignored us when we said "hello", and he snubbed us again a couple of hours later as we were leaving School having just changed into our football kit in preparation for the football game against Oswestry first XI.

John Evison had been correct in saying that he thought the 1960 Old Boys'  team was stronger than usual. Although the Old Boys dominated much of the game, by half time School were leading 1-0. However, during the second half our experience began to tell and we ended up winning 6-1 with both Bernard and myself getting on the scoresheet twice. Despite more flurries of snow it had been a most enjoyable match, and as we left the field of play heading back to school for a shower, all we received from Headmaster Frankland were scowls and grimaces.

A snapshot of the first game pitch on which the match was played.

Having showered and changed ready for the Dinner, we made our way to The Wynnstay where OOs were gathering for the Old Boys' Dinner. Over 90 boys and principals attended that year and all was going well until Headmaster Frankland rose to make his address. As soon as he started speaking a group of eight or nine of us who had left School in the summer walked out of the room in noisy protest at the presence of Major Frankland. Our outrageous behaviour received a suitable reprimand by the editor of The Oswestrian Magazine who expressed a hope that this would not happen again in the future.

This action was not repeated as Headmaster Frankland left School the following summer for personal reasons.