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AYTON “HI-JINX”

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In the first week of term, all the new boys in "C" dorm went through some kind of hazing. The most often used was ducking, where the boy had his head submerged in a sink full of cold water. This could be in two ways, the easy way, where the boy went voluntary, and put his head in the sink for as long as he could hold his breath. This seemed to be acceptable. The hard way, where the boy was hoisted physically and struggling by about six boys (who had a year or more seniority), then dumped head first into the sink and held there until no more bubbles came up and he was in peril of drowning. I chose the easy way, having just witnessed the hard way. When I pulled my head out the sink I shook all the water out of my hair to wet as many of my peers as possible.

The second was the Apple Pie bed. In "C" dorm, there were little four-poster beds with a mattress about two inches thick, on about twelve wooden slats. To make an Apple Pie bed, we had to remove the slats, leaving the mattress held only by the frame, so that when the recipient sat on the bed, everything fell on the floor. The only way to reassemble the bed was to strip it down entirely. The next thing was to find your slats, which had vanished into all the other beds in the dorm. Actually, you could make up the bed with as few as four slats and have a reasonably good night, then the next night get to the dorm as early as possible to steal some slats back from the other beds. I think I only remember only one boy sleeping on the floor all night.

The third thing that could happen was wet socks. Our socks were hung over the bottom rail of our bedside chair for the night, and it was as well to check after lights out before you went to sleep to feel if they were dry, or if someone had dipped them in the sink. If you were unlucky to find them wet, you went to the washroom and squeezed out as much water as possible and put them on and went back to bed and to sleep. Then they would  dry out by morning. However, if you missed this and found them wet in the morning, you had to wear wet socks all day. We only got one pair of socks a week, so there was no choice.

After the first week of term, most of us had been through the worst of it and things seemed to quiet down for a while. When the clocks changed again in October, we were again put to the test. I guess we had to prove to our peers that we had total disregard for school rules. The big test was the trip to Mucky Mary’s Fish and Chip Shop. My trip was on a Thursday night after prep and before bedtime. 

There were three of us, Marlais Williams to show us the way, (he had two years seniority), Johnny Allen, and myself. Our route was past the boy’s schoolroom, past the Prefect’s room and by the side of Rawdon House keeping to the shadows as much as possible. Then we went over the boys bridge by the bottom dam, and along the Beck keeping in the shadow of the trees to the foot of the lake. Up to this point, silence was imperative and as it was an overcast night, the farther from the buildings we got, the darker it got. This, I suppose, was expected to be scary, but, much to my advantage, I have always had excellent night vision, and like walking about in the dark. 

After reaching the lake, we ran across the foot of the lake and up the bank to the top field in a crouched position, in case we made silhouettes. Checking at the top of the bank that there was no Staff up there, (I don’t know what they would be doing there), we went across the end of top field, to a gap in the hedge in the corner above the tennis courts. Over this fence we were now in a cow pasture. We had to be very careful not to step in anything and watch out for the cows, one of which was sure to be a bull! Over a second fence by a style, and another field brought us to a footbridge over the Beck by Suggits, which was closed at this time of night (I would have much rather have had ice-cream). When the coast was clear, we crossed the road and scooted up the back street to Mary’s Chip Shop. Two-penny worth of Chips each and a six-penny Cod split three ways almost blew my six pence a week spending money in one night.

Then it was back the way we had come, still trying to keep a low profile and no talking, just a few hisses and shushes. We were doing fairly well until we were passing the Prefect’s room, (I still think somebody sneaked), when a loud voice said, “Where have you three been?” “Just in the Mill yard” said Marlais. “Yes,” we both agreed. “Well, don’t go again, and get up to the dorm, you’re late” said the voice.

Of course, Taffy Artiss, our Dorm Prefect was waiting for us, and the inquisition started again. “Don’t let him smell your breath,” we had been warned. Taffy took Marlais out of the dorm and tried to get a confession. We both went to the washroom and brushed out teeth, then Johnny and I were taken outside the dorm for questioning. Of course, we only went to the Mill yard, although our sudden interest in dental hygiene was very suspicious. If we kept to our story, there was nothing to fear, but of course, we were in close scrutiny for the next few days for any infractions. After this, we were accepted by our peers, and we were expected to carry on the tradition.

The last time I went to Mucky Mary’s, we took a very risky route, but much simpler. We went across the Staff Terrace, and the Open Air Theatre, around the Pool, across the Girl’s Playground and out of the gate into the village. In later years we would get Day Scholars to go for us, and pass the Fish and Chips through the window into our Classroom from the Coach Road!

Harry Snalam (1946-52)

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