The Old Boys' Weekend of 1960

Taken in 1962, seated from left: J F Tilley, Duncan "Fattie" Felton, Headmaster " Dick " Sale,

and David "Stoker" Lewis.

I attended Oswestry School from 1952 - 1960, and having left in the summer of 1960 I joined The Old Oswestrian Society.

Following a brief reunion with friends on November 12th, I contacted Duncan Felton, now retired from teaching, in his capacity as Secretary and Treasurer of the OO Society to ask if he could find me a place in the Old Boys' team for the annual match against the School on December 10th. 

The " Old Boys' " match, as it was named in those far off days, always took place on the Saturday afternoon prior to the Annual Old Boys' Dinner which, by tradition, was held at The Wynnstay Hotel.

  The Wynnstay, pictured in the 1960s.

To my surprise and delight I received a letter, not from Duncan, but from John Evison who had volunteered to help DGW Felton with the administration of The OO Society. I had long been an admirer, and looked up to John Evison who had captained the School Ist XI at football and cricket, and in his capacity as Captain of the Old Boys' team he invited both Bernard and myself a place in the team.

What an interesting weekend that turned out to be! 

 Diary entry for December 10th, 1960.

As our train pulled into Oswestry Station at 7.30pm on Friday Dec 9th, 1960 it was snowing heavily, and a white carpet covered everything. We immediately booked a room for the night at The Bear Hotel before calling round to see our friend George Roberts - Jones who had been expecting us earlier, and who had organised a party for the evening with a group of our friends from Oswestry. As we were leaving at the end of the night, George insisted that we should stay with him on Saturday after the Old Boys'Dinner, and after checking out of The Bear Hotel on Saturday morning we called round on George with our luggage. 

My Diary entry for Saturday Dec 10th, which can be seen above, triggers memories of a fun - packed day.

Bernard and I had a busy morning meeting other Old Boys who were in Oswestry to watch the match and attend the Dinner, and we even had a clandestine meeting for drinks with Roger Morgan and Jeremy Parslew who were still students at School. No doubt a punishable offence should Headmaster Frankland get to hear of it.

After a light lunch we went up to School to rekindle old friendships with boys we had known as students, and where we changed into our football kit for the afternoon match.

The game was fairly evenly fought during the first half, but by half-time School were leading by one goal to nil. However, slowly but surely the superior firepower of the OOs began to take its toll in the second half, and the match concluded with a scoreline of 6 - 1 in favour of the Old Boys, with both Bernard and myself getting on the scoresheet.

After the action on the Maes - y- Llan we readied ourselves for the evening's fun and games, and met a group of Old Oswestrians at The Wynnstay. 

 The conspiritors discuss their options

From left: Horace Becket, Mike Higgins, George Roberts-Jones, Ken Mottershead, David Pickup, and Dougie Jones (Dougie was still a student).

Feelings Amongst the OOs were running high as we sat in the bar enjoying pre - dinner drinks, and some of the Old Boys were spoiling for a fight. It soon became clear from the tenor of the conversation as we imbibed a few drinks too many that there was going to be an emotional response when Headmaster Frankland rose to make his speech.

Already on a high following an outstanding victory in the Old Boys' match which had taken place earlier in the afternoon, slowly but surely, as the alcohol took its toll, the mood turned more and more rebellious and a decision was taken to stage a walk - out in protest at the presence of the Headmaster.

Five minutes into Major Frankland's speech at a pre-arranged signal, a group of us stood up protesting noisily, exhorting the Headmaster to leave Oswestry School without delay. The older, and more respectful Old Boys present tried to shout us down, but we continued making our feelings known as we exited noisily from the proceedings. We did not return, having made what we considered to be a valid point, and History would prove that we had been right.

High jinx followed our exit from The Wynnstay Hotel, including dancing at Carolin Sinclair's club -  Carolin was George 's girlfriend and future wife - and we finally called it time at four o'clock in the morning after a stimulating day in Oswestry.

The fall - out following the actions of a group of rebellious Old Oswestrians during the OO Dinner of 1960 was a reprimand by the editorship of The Oswestrian Magazine.

This took the form of a verbal slap on the wrist and a hope that such discourteous behaviour towards Headmaster Frankland would not happen again.

This was rather a prophetic statement, as by the time of the next Old Boys' Dinner, Major Frankland was no longer serving as Headmaster of Oswestry School.

The END.