AOSA CENTENARY HISTORY 1841 - 1941
page sixty-five
Contents
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Appendix
International and religious breadth are good for the young; surely no one who has mixed at school with children of differing nations and colour can grow up with national or racial prejudice. Holiday jaunts to France were fun, too, though I wish we had gone still further afield. I remember our disappointment when a projected trip to Avignon fell through, though whether we should have appreciated its beauties at that age is a moot point. I mentioned religion. How much better to let the mind wander along its own paths in a quiet meeting house than to be taken, bored and dutiful crocodile, to a church service. School was my first contact with the Friends, but it left a deep impression and a horror of convention and vacuity and insincerity in all things.
Physically, life was varied. One shudders to think of getting up at the Spartan hour of 6.30, of Sunday afternoon walks, of the bareness of institution life to a new-comer fresh from her own fireside. On the other side of the picture were hot summer afternoons on the cricket field or by the Beckside; the lake and the red tennis courts arrived whilst I was there, too; the friendly relaxation of hobbies on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, or sometimes of gatherings in ‘Nutshell’ sitting-rooms on Sundays before bedtime; illicit roasting of chestnuts on the stove in the Hut-oh! happy fifth form! Fun and excitement of end-of-term plays, of end of term altogether, of Old Scholars’ reunions and Pops, of Whitby, even of ‘Gen. Day,’ though it was fashionable to be a little bored by it; the thrill on a crisp, sunny morning when Mr. Dennis announced at breakfast that there would be a Long Walk to celebrate-anything appropriate.
Perhaps we appreciate things most in retrospect, but for me Ayton combined two successes : I enjoyed it, and it did me good. An acquaintance, ardent pacifist, recently said to me that she felt that only at a Friends’ school would her children be morally safe.
Ann Pease, A present scholar, 1938-40
MY recollections of my first day at Ayton and the impressions I received are rather vague. I can dimly remember clanging bells, and what seemed like thousands of girls in startling red jerseys darting up and downstairs, and making plenty of noise on their way. After seeing Miss Nicholson, I was put into the hands of the Fifth Form who bore me off to class, eyeing me somewhat critically on the way, and no doubt wondering what sort of a creature this new girl would turn out to be.
As we went out on to the playground, I was amazed at the beauty of the surroundings of the school, and the view was especially impressive, as the day was calm and sunny and the trees and lake looked their best. The loveliness of the scene was heightened by its unexpectedness, for it is certainly surprising to find such beauty after the rather grim aspect of the school as seen from the high green.
In class, I was naturally impressed by co-education, as I had never been inside a co-educational school before, in fact my previous school was a convent where we naturally lived a rather secluded life. At first it seemed strange to be in a class with both boys and girls, and to be taught by masters as well as mistresses, but I soon got used to it.
Later such institutions as Long Walks, Hymn singing and Choral impressed me, mainly because they are not usually found in other schools, and I found them most enjoyable.
Being a Friends’ school Ayton has its Quaker characteristics which were most obvious through the German refugees, of which there were many in our form, and through the spirit of internationalism that is fostered in the school. I thought the International Relations classes most interesting and helpful as well as very necessary, and though at the time the shadow of war was cast over Europe, at Ayton at any rate was an atmosphere of friendliness, of peace and goodwill to all men.
You will probably find that I have omitted many features of Ayton life. I must apologise for this, but my excuse is that I am a day scholar, and therefore miss seeing certain aspects of Ayton.
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