Mr Diamond at my junior school was a real ‘diamond’. “The 11plus interview at Eltham College is the one to go for” he said I went for my interview and met another male ‘diamond’ – Mr Turberville, the headmaster.
Just like Mr Diamond he had a quiet manner, very intense beneath it and, most importantly to me, I sensed immediately he was a man to trust and believe in. He had been Headmaster since 1930. It did not take long to realise why. I had the chance to go to a school, larger and probably better known than Eltham but after meeting Mr Turberville I did not interview anywhere else!
My father, a very busy man, was happy about that decision especially because I could cycle the 13 miles to Eltham College, or catch a train in bad weather.
For a young guy from a council house background winning a place at Eltham College was perfect to fuel ambitions.
Eltham College was originally formed as SSM – the School for the Sons of Missionaries, and that tradition of integrity remains to this day. It opened my mind and fueled my ambitions
As soon as I started I heard about the pre-school quad soccer. I joined in, loved it and left home on my bike around 7. This probably developed my ability to get started early every day
After the football success at junior school my only disappointment was that there was no real football, just rugby. It took just half the first term for me to fall in love with rugby, a sport that I would love for the rest of my life. Schoolmasters John Linscott, George Calderwood and Taffy Jones not only instructed me they fired my ambition.
Early on I noticed that one of the boys in my class, Mike Mason, knew a lot about the game and found out that his father, Tony Mason, had been a very good player and had founded an Invitation team – The Penguins. They lived in Sidcup and I was delighted when after a year or so cycling to school my father said we were going to move closer, to Sidcup. I was soon having rugby skills lessons with Mike and his father. Tony and his wife Doris, through his management of The Penguins, and Mike were friends for most of my active playing life.
When I arrived at Eltham my hero was Duncan Edwards, a great England footballer who died in the Manchester United Munich air crash. I continued to love football and admire the greats but my ultimate hero worship transferred very quickly to a former pupil at Eltham – Eric Liddell, a Rugby International for Scotland and winner of the Paris 1924 Olympics 400m, the story of which was captured in the 1981 film ‘Chariots of Fire.
December 1954, for my first Christmas present after entering Eltham my parents gave me ‘The Glory of the Sons’, a recently published history of the school. Reading about Eric Liddell motivated my hero worship. When I saw that he and A L Gracie had both played rugby for Scotland and both were listed as winners of The Blackheath Cup my ambition was fired to win this cup, that is presented to the best all round athlete voted for by his contemporaries. 1961 was my year.
If you want an injection of humanity and achievement google ‘Eric Liddell’ and read Wikipedia’s Eric Liddell life story – wonderful
At Eltham we were encouraged to compete in many sports. As well as coming early for Quad Soccer I enjoyed another sport – ‘FIVES’ It was like squash with a golf ball and no racquet, just your hand. ‘hard’ guys wore no gloves – probably set up my hand arthritis! Unfortunately during the many developments at Eltham since I left the Fives courts are no more
My first major success at Eltham was to win a place in the Tennis 1st V1 at age 14. Eltham was one of the top UK Schools with regular success in the Glanville Cup and Youll Cup team competitions and county and Wimbledon junior honours. We had Slazenger equipment sponsorship and LTA sponsored coaching. I stopped serious tennis two year later, another story…
In Athletics I benefited from the wonderful technical coaching by my father. I became School champion. I represented the school at 100yds, 4 x 100, shot, discus, javelin, long jump, triple jump. I won Kent County and London Schools medals and with Cambridge Harriers I won a Southern Counties AAA silver medal in the 4 x 110 yds Junior relay
Before leaving school I enjoyed two rugby honours. I won a 1st XV honours cap, a rare award. We were a good team but we excelled at Sevens being winners of the Kent Sevens, runners up in the Oxford Sevens and quarter finalists at the Rosslyn Park Schools Sevens – pretty good for a small school
My final representation for the school was to play for LONDON Schools and ENGLAND U19 Schools Vs WALES
I was spotted by Loughborough Colleges and encouraged to change my direction from teaching modern languages to PE plus modern languages. I agreed and was fast tracked through to start the next term.
I did not last very long at Loughborough. Playing Sevens for the college my shoulder finally gave in to recurrent dislocations necessitating major surgery. That was to change the focus of my career ambitions. In no way was my close contact with Eltham College over. Two years after leaving Eltham the School parson, the Reverend Cooper, married Angela and me in the School Chapel and, of course, we posed under the huge, famous and beautiful plane tree. My relationship with the school remained very close with both sons starting in Junior School. Playing for the OE’s and starting the Mini and Junior Rugby section reinforced it still more
In 1983 our family moved to the Midlands as London was leading the de- industrializing process. I was worried that the Minis and Juniors might not continue to succeed. No need to worry, right from the first days of growth we were blessed with a great bunch of parents.
Now, nearly 50 years after Ken Clark and I started it Mat Watkins, who I have known since his school days, keeps me up to date on the continuing success and the OE Minis, Juniors and Seniors together with the school give me a massive source of great memories, especially the first junior overseas tour to Etaples/Le Touquet where certain parents joined me in ‘misbehaving’ in the evenings – great fun, great memories!
