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A.O.S.A. 2002 ANNUAL REPORT |
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[Page four]
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In April 2001, Dick Dennis sent me the copy of a message he found on our website’s message forum and asked if I was able to help the sender. The e-mail came from a David Butters from Billingham and it said, “Does anyone know Wartime Ayton Pupil WINIFRED MATTHEWS of 19 Cotswold Gardens? I found a letter to her in an old history book I purchased in a second hand bookshop and it mentions air raids, sweet coupons and an important jam ration. Presumably the letter had accompanied a parcel to Winifred from home which contained a 1lb tin of jam. The book had a label – ‘Ayton School, Winifred Matthews, Form 2a .’ I’d love to know more about Winifred, she might want her letter from her mam and her old school book back.” Thanks. David Butters. I checked Chris Scaife’s ‘Ayton Register’ and found that Winifred was at school from 1942-44. I also matched up her contemporaries with known AOSA members, then with the help of ARTHUR GRAINGE (1946-52) set about making contact with about a dozen 1940s’ OS to see if they were able to help. MARION WOLFF (POLLACK 1942-47) remembered Winifred as being ‘tall and thin,’ ELLA HILL (WARDLE 1942-45), sent David a photograph, a copy of which I have, and JUNE DUNN (RHODES 1941-47) was able to tell David that Winifred was an excellent hockey player and that when she left Ayton in 1944, she went on to Wigton School in Cumbria. Despite the involvement of the Wigton OS Association and a detailed item in a local newspaper, the trail went cold at this point. I would dearly love to know what became of Winifred, and where she is now. Can any of our readers shed any further light on this little mystery? Ed. Marion Pollack had been hoping to attend the 2001 Reunion but…. “Retirement life is proving very hectic with many volunteer commitments and family involvements. Paul and I have 4 grandchildren under four and they keep us hopping. We have just returned from a camping trip in the Santa Cruz mountains (summer 2001.) It was reassuring to find that we could still get up in the mornings after a night on the ground!” Marion wants to hear from JUNE, TWINK, FAIRY, JOAN GALLON (GALBRAITH 1942-48) and MARGARET WATERS (SCOTT 1940-47).. If you are one of those named or know where they are, please could you phone me on 0151 334 7563, or e-mail me on gill-jackson@beeb.net and I will pass on any information to Joan – Ed AUDREY DAVIES (SEDDON 1944-51) sent an e-mail with her news, just before Christmas. Sister DOREEN (1943-46) from Canada spent three weeks with Audrey and family during 2001…… “ We had a tour of the country to see friends and family which included one night in Glenthorne to break the journey and two nights in Great Ayton for Doreen to see the building on the school grounds and to visit my son in Norton. Glenthorne disappointed me because it has become a small hotel in order to make ends meet, and therefore is more sophisticated, with prices to match, though it is still informal and friendly. We were unlucky to hit the time when the paths were still closed, so we could not walk off the road. Whilst in Ayton, we took the time to visit the Herriot Museum which we found really well done and well worth the visit. As we drove south we stopped at Rievaulx Abbey. The last time we had been there, years ago, one just gazed at the ruins from one end to the other, whereas now a tape recording takes one round a very interesting tour.” HAL ( HAROLD) BENBOW (1945-49) discovered our website last year, got in touch with Dick Dennis, joined the Association and is now one of our most enthusiastic supporters, aiming to persuade his non-member contemporaries and others to join as well. We could do with many more members like Hal. He attended the reunion in June where he met up with his long time friend and serial globetrotter, FRANK MILBURN (1945-49). After he left school, Hal served a five year apprenticeship in a Teesside dockyard as a maintenance engineer, with two further years’ apprenticeship as an instrument engineer, and left Redcar for Middlesex where he became the chief pool attendant at the London University pool for students. While he was working there, Hal pursued studies to advance his career, becoming the Engineering manager of Holborne ‘Oasis’, a large baths establishment in London. On his return to Teesside, Hal became interested in the teaching of swimming and acquired the appropriate qualifications which led to a job as the Baths’ Manager at Saltburn. This included running the Langbaurgh Beach Patrol, covering the coast from Redcar through Marske and on to Saltburn. From Saltburn, Hal moved south again to a job as the manager of a multi-sports centre manager with Waveney District Council and it is in this part of the world that he now lives… “After some two or more years at Waveney and having achieved 30 or more superannuable years, I decided to retire. I had, for some years, fronted my own Country and Western Group in a part-time capacity and, having produced a successful record and many tapes, I decided that ‘Hal and the Saddle Tramps’ should become a full-time group. It was while looking for a good ‘country’ bass player that I met the lovely lady who is now my wife. As she is also a good cook, I have the best of both worlds. The ‘country’ music scene eventually went off the boil, as it were, in the Eastern Counties, and I was offered a job as a security guard on the building of Sizewell ‘B’ Nuclear Power Station: I stayed with the company until my retirement. Now that I have plenty of time, I can concentrate on following my first love, and I compose music, produce my own tapes and add to them the sounds of nature i.e. seas, winds, rain, gales, birdsongs etc and have some small success with my tapes which are called ‘Jim’s Whitby’, ‘Mae’s Suffolk”, ‘Mandy’s Magical World’, ‘Flight’ etc.” DICK DENNIS (1944-52) wrote to me via e-mail in April giving details of a little reunion he and Freda had enjoyed with one of our contemporaries: “I had a phonecall on Friday evening from JOHN (1947-53) and Margaret FOTHERGILL, they rang from an hotel in Port Erin where they were enjoying a weekend break. They came here for supper yesterday evening, we had a good natter about all sorts of subjects, which – inevitably – included our days at Ayton. John is about as good at retiring as I am and still works hard as a social worker, but he suits himself when he works and therefore he and Margaret enjoy taking good, long, holidays. Their next trip will be about eight weeks in Brazil, to visit one of their sons and his wife.”
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