In 1953, BHCHS had two reasons to celebrate. As well as joining the rest of the country in honouring the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the school had now been established for 15 years. The parents association, the Old Buckwellians Association and the school, joined forces to stage a "Coronation Garden Fete". A former pupil of the school, Peter Hodder, took a remarkable set of photos and we were especially fortunate to have inherited these photos from him. Peter Hodder died in January 2009 at the age of 81.
Click on the image of the 6d Fete Programme below to see inside....
Now for the photos. Sadly, many of the people shown will no longer be with us, but perhaps some of the younger children shown may remember the event.
This would have made a good caption competition.....
I love how Peter captured the excitement and novelty of the fairground scenes....
The boxing matches shown below were described to me as a match between pupils from BHCHS and Royal Wanstead. The school magazine refers to them as "demonstration bouts", while the Fete Programme states "School boxing - Finals." Perhaps this ambiguity is somehow related to the fact that JH Taylor, the headmaster, was known to have disapproved of boxing and banned it after it had briefly flourished in the school.
Readers of OB News may remember that the photo below was used in a caption competition. The boy clinging for dear life in full uniform was a second form pupil. Sadly, we never managed to trace James Hallums.
Two important figures at the Fete, both part of the team of announcers: Des Slade (BHCHS 1939-44) who was active in the Old Buckwellians until his death in 2012 and Bernard Samways (Latin, 1945-70) a very popular and loyal servant of the school during his 25 years on the staff.
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