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A.O.S.A. 2002 ANNUAL REPORT |
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This Magazine
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Madam Chairman, Old Scholars and friends,
Another vivid memory I have is of the fire drills. We were fastened into a ‘Davy’ harness, helped out onto the windowsill of Top Dorm, and then winched down the front of the school by a pulley system, until the feet reached the ground. What a relief that was! Talking of dormitories, do you remember being one of the chosen few, in the 5th form, to have the ‘privilege’ every evening of walking up to Sir John Pease Fry’s house, Cleveland Lodge, and sleeping there for a term. What an experience that was! The bath on legs was four foot high and six feet long, and the taps were massive. The plug was a big brass plunger, which was very hard to manipulate, and woe betide us if we splashed water on the wooden floors. I don’t remember much about the lovely walk through the trees every evening. What I do remember is getting up to the Lodge, soaking wet in our navy Macs, and having to put damp Macs on the next morning, to walk down to breakfast. Those were the days!
In the last few weeks, I have been in touch with a lot of my Form. We have all had, or are still celebrating our big 60th year. Many of us have had mini reunions, and this weekend, I must admit I haven’t recognised some of them. My chain of office gives me away, so it’s me who has to do all the guessing, sometimes to no avail. We were all stunned when Ayton closed, and those of us who attended the sale will never forget it. I’ll never know to this day why I bought a great long bench, which incidentally is still stored at home, waiting to be unearthed and put into good use, but I just felt that I would not leave the school without some sort of “memento.” And now, just a little about my history. I left Ayton at 171/2 and started to do my Nurse Training at Newcastle’s R.V.I. in the September, when I was 18. This was completed four years later. Then I married John Wade. Six years later, I had a lovely family of three children. Andrew, who is 38, lives and works on the farm with his wife, Maria, and two children, Jack, aged three, and Sam, aged one. Sue, our daughter, is 36. She also lives on the farm, with her husband, Dave, and two children, Hannah, aged 8, and Sammie, aged one. Sue is the Cancer Breast Care Nurse at Darlington Memorial Hospital. Then we have Philip, who is 35. He also lives and works on the farm, with his wife, Ann, and their two children, Rosie, aged 7, and Robert aged five. So you see, we are very lucky to have our family around us, and have kept up the Wade traditions in some ways. Unfortunately, none of them came to Ayton, but we managed to send the boys to Stockton Grammar School and Sue to Teesside High School, where I, myself, was one of the first pupils in 1943. I went back to nursing thirty years ago, and now work very much part-timish for the Medical Research Council. I have worked for this organisation for the last 18 years. We were all saddened to hear of the death of Clifford Morgan. His cheerful face and conversations have been sorely missed this weekend. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all his family, especially Suzanne, David and Claire. “Taffy,” as we called him, tried so very hard to drum history dates and events into me, but I hardly dare say that, because of my ‘denseness’, I failed. Coming into Ayton Village this morning, I noticed everything around hadn’t changed at all, until, entering the Meeting House, I was struck by the fact that the old familiar way through to girls’ playground had been bricked up; what a sad change. However, the Meeting House itself is lovely, and has still retained lots of its old charisma, and lovely views onto the trees in the graveyard. Looking further around, we see a big change in all the new developments which have taken place. We are coming to the end of our 2001 reunion, which I hope you have all enjoyed, and that you have done lots of reminiscing with new and old friends. As we look to the future, I am sure that the strong comradeship, which being at Ayton School built into us, will continue to stay with us for the rest of our lives. Radically changed as it is, the Ayton Spirit lives on in all our hearts. Have a safe journey home. Sonia Wade * Known to generations of OS as the ‘taddy tank’, it is possible that the pool was originally a ‘wrecking’ pool for the flax mill which was owned and run in the mill building in the late 1700s by Philip Heselton and his family, relatives of Thomas Richardson to whom they sold the land. Ed. The page following contains |
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I
was honoured to be asked to be President of the A.O.S.A., and to be the
first President chosen from my year. As you know, I am a Wade now, and
have been for forty years. This means that all our family gatherings, of
which there are many, always have discussions of Ayton brought into them
somewhere. Even last weekend, at my Mother-in-law’s (HAZEL CLAPHAM
1925-31) 86th birthday, she started telling us about winning the
Victrix Ludorum Trophy in 1931. What a great achievement! Then, swimming
came into the conversation. I wonder what the Public Health & Safety
people would have said about the "Taddy Tank" *?
Do you remember it down beside Mr. Rodwell’s biology lab? I remember
being taught by a prefect, Ann Thompson. We were amongst the weeds,
slime, frogs and tadpoles, and I must say that I don’t remember hating
it. If we succeeded in learning the “dog paddle,” we made the big
progression into the “Proper Baths,” after we had skimmed it and
broken the ice. We had occasional lessons from Jack Hatfield, the
grandfather of Committee member, Sam Noble. I excelled in swimming and
still have my Instructor’s Certificate, and badge in life saving, but
alas not the costume.
I
wonder how many of you here today used to bite your nails 30, 40 or 50
years ago. I did – note the past tense. We had to have a “shoes and
nails” inspection on the staircase going down to breakfast. I remember
my inspector being my school mother, Gill Hinds, which she denies, but
fifty years on, my memory doesn’t always serve me correctly, and Jane
Wood, whose shoes I used to clean occasionally, in the hope that she
would pass mine.