LYDNEY
DAYS
"In late 1943 or early 1944 I passed a Trade
Scholarship exam which
apparently entitled me to enter the
Exmouth"
"I joined the Exmouth at Lydney in 1944 between 19th
April, when the
2 boys were killed by a USA armoured carand my
14th birthday 17th July."
LYDNEY OFFICERS AND INSTRUCTORS
The Captain was 'Captain Wrottesley', and the headmaster was Lt. Commmander Lidster.
"First day;- uniform issue where I was advised
to ask for my 'wanking
irons and blue steam' by a very knowlegeable lad, who
said it helped put
the 7 creases in the bellbottoms, and to my surprise,
promptly got a
belt over the left ear by the instructor. Two of us were then
sent to
the Howells where we were billeted in the town."
The
commanding officer was a Lt.Commander Lidster, who had an
educational
background rather then naval.
"The physical training instructor Powell,
was a bit eccentric, we were
never allowed to play a sport that caused one
sided developement,
tennis, darts etc, he always related how the early
swordsmen had very
strong shoulder developement on one side, if they wanted
to scare anyone
off they would pad up the shoulder, he reckoned this was the
origination
of shoulder pads in coats, maybe he was correct."
"Our short-trouser pockets were sewn up, and we
were not allowed a handkerchief because this would harbour germs, so we had
to go for a run every morning snorking and spitting out the phelm. We did a
lot of club
swinging as this was good for two sided development, and of
course
rowing, oh the rowing on a cold day."
"The boats were 27ft
whalers and 32ft cutters and I think the oars were
14ft long and we had to
row the 'galley stroke', the first time I tried
to toss the oar, I threw it
up totally out of control and nearly brained
the kid on theport side, for
whic I received the obligatory whack over the ear. We rowed every day down
the canal about a mile long, when we got to
the end there was a well type
hand pump which had to be primed.
"There was some sort of ceremony attached to
the
public-canings that were given as punishment for breaches of
discipline."
"I remember that boys were put across a vaulting horse, and a
piece of canvas was placed around the waist, above the bare-buttocks, to prevent
the cane hitting the kidney area. We all had to be present of course, but not
being a recipient the memory is not imbedded deeply, but the warning implied
certainly was."
"It was like something from Oliver
Twist. We ate in the stables at the
rear of The Feathers Hotel.
There were long scrubbed wooden benches
running down two sides of the 'room',
the ends against the wall, about
12 to a bench, we had a bowl from which we
ate everything, soup, when
empty followed by dinner and finally cocoa, not
washed in between. "
"There was a custom that the two boys on the end of
the benches had to eat as fast as they could, the bench which had two empty
bowls held up in the
air by the end boys got the first
scrapings."
