To return to a (hopefully) brief account of my personal time at Wennington, in my third year , I took up the clarinet. All went pretty well at first, until I encountered some technical difficulties which meant that I'd never be able to develop a good 'attack.'(rapid staccatto etc.). For some inexplicable reason, around the same time, I developed something of an obsession with football (soccer) and sneaked away to Leeds a few times to see some matches. (In trying to analyze this, I can only think that this was during the 'Beatlemania' period. I couldn't get so hyper-excited about their music or the Beatles personally;- maybe I chose football as a kind of a substitute.)

By the beginning of my fourth year this football obsession had become a desire to learn to play the game also. Unfortunately I had just about no talent for it and didn't improve very much (although I did become the Wennington goalkeeper in my last year, after all the 'real' goalkeepers had left…).

Also, at the beginning of my fourth year, we started having unsupervised 'Assignment' (which would probably translate as 'private study') periods in the library. This proved next to impossible for me, since I couldn't concentrate with so much talking/disruptive behavior going on. Basically, at this time, my academic work went 'down the tubes' and most of my energies were being directed into trying to play football.

The Staff were pretty unanimous that I was just being 'lazy.' I disagreed but it was futile arguing with them-especially Kenneth I might add…. No attempt was really made to find out what was really going on with me. This was perhaps my biggest 'crisis' at Wennington, which I was eventually to fight my way out of, but to begin with, I received little support from any of the Staff- apparently they just didn't understand it.

In the Autumn of 1964 Kenneth would write: "His idleness is so serious that even the clarinet………shows little ambition."

It took desperate measures to get out of this, since there was a lot more than laziness involved. To begin with I abandoned the football and found an old fold-down desk which I rigged up next to my bed. For the rest of my fourth year I did all my assignments in my dorm. Nobody came after me (further proof that the fourth year Assignment periods were unsupervised). It took me quite a while to regain any kind of academic 'momentum' and somewhere around the end of my fourth year/beginning of my fifth I came to realise that I had a 'reading difficulty.' Prior to that I had always thought of reading as an 'undesirable chore,' but now I was beginning to recognise it as an actual difficulty. I think that a good half of the Staff thought that I was just making excuses.

At the end of 1965 Kenneth would write: "Academically immature, he is personally maturing into an amiable, gentle person."

I wasn't impressed. Roger Gerhardt came much closer when he wrote: "Andrew has a number of difficulties, which he recognises, without resentment. His effort to overcome them is serious and may soon prove effective."

Maybe a bit too little too late, but at least some recognition. Needless to say, in order to vindicate myself academically, I had to make academic work my highest priority. Much more than the 'Wennington philosophy' would allow for, but I didn't see any other choice at the time. In terms of O-level results this whole 'scuttling operation' worked. I only had to re-take Maths which went OK the second time.

Despite the rather unbalanced emphasis on academic work, I still enjoyed my time at Wennington up until the end of the Fifth form. Most of the positive stimulus would come from Music. In December of 1965, we put on a rather ambitious concert at Boston Spa Parish Church including St. Nicholas by Benjamin Britten. It was a bit beyond the scope of Wennington, but not impossible. (It had actually been written for a much larger school- Lancing College in 1948). In the Spring terms from 1965 till I left, a few of us would be involved in the Harrogate Competitive Music Festival, which was always fun. I will never forget hearing just about the worst singer I've ever heard-way off key, a shrieking voice and very pronounced lisp in the spring of 1966. Two of us were just rolling around trying to contain ourselves; I wish we could have shared that with a few more members of the school. Also, around the same time, the 'jazz band' re-formed for the 'End of Term Dance.' Since Ken Jones had now left, I was asked to play piano. We were fortunate to have as a drummer, one of the temporary Kitchen workers (by that stage, Wennington was relying quite heavily on some kind of Temp. Agency to supply Kitchen Staff). He had been a drummer in a pop group and was probably 'between jobs.' He treated us to a drum solo which had a greater effect on the dancing crowd than the rest of us ever did!

Membership in the Fifth form meant a few more privileges. We got our own form-room;-in my year, that coincided with the move into the new Science labs, so we 'inherited' the old Bio lab-a great location overlooking the Courtyard and very strategically placed. We usually had plenty of warning when Staff were coming. The biggest 'rule-breaking' activity was smoking which was done quite openly at certain times of the day. I also vaguely remember somebody making an alcoholic brew-maybe from potatoes-and nursing 'more-than-just-a-hangover' after he'd drank some of it at the end of term. For me personally, the biggest 'perk' was the newly acquired tea/coffee making privilege. It didn't take much more than that to keep me happy. I was just an observer of any other activities-however I once had the opportunity to observe the effects of some tiny joke explosives which I had inserted into some peoples' cigarettes. It went down quite well, as I recall…..

So what of the Sixth form? Had I left at the end of the Fifth (I came to envy those who had) I would have looked upon my time at Wennington in a very happy and positive light, with maybe a little 'crisis' in mid-term…… Part of the problem for me was the 'culture shock' of narrowing the field of study to just three A-levels (badly picked in my case). We were virtually studying like University students- somewhat more 'on our own' as far as organisation of work was concerned. I can remember 'digressing' in my studies quite a few times, sometimes for several weeks and it passed virtually unnoticed.

The material privileges of being in the Sixth form were not unlike those of the Fifth, except that we now had our own newspapers (The Guardian) which tended to isolate us from the rest of the school. Most of the privileges of the Sixth however hinged on the fact that Kenneth was the Form-master and, by and large treated us well. So all of a sudden we were 'in' with the 'boss.' As far as I was concerned, that was a bit like having 'inside information,' although that was probably not the intention… As I got further in to this experience, I felt that most of what interested me lay 'outside' Wennington, while time spent in the school felt more like 'incarceration.' I did develop a greater disrespect for the school rules than hitherto. There was a certain amount of responsibility that came with the Sixth form privileges-extra duties to perform, etc. However, I didn't feel particularly ready to take them on. It's possible that I might have found it more rewarding had I been more willing or able to do this. What typified the Sixth form so much for me was the excessive time we had to spend together in the 'Hut.' We did practically everything there except eat and sleep! I tend to look back on it, rather cynically as a 'failed communal living experiment.'

My last year at Wennington was also Kenneth's last. He was supposed to be 'winding down' and handing over to Brian. I remember it as a sad time compared to all the other years I spent there. There were a number of deaths that year (Louis Jones' first wife and two pupils,-one taking place in the Sick Bay). Frances' health deteriorated and she suffered two or three strokes. While these events should not have affected the 'handover' they did seem symbolic….. It was also a time of increased turmoil among some of the pupils which would cause Kenneth to write (in one of the School Magazines) "There has been more bloody-mindedness-in a few -than I can remember for a long time." I did stay behind for the only 'Reunion' that I would attend, in the days when they were still being held at the School. I enjoyed the Weekend, but once gone, I wouldn't return for some time!

Continued...