Railway Club
‘Albert Richmond ran the Club in the forties, a North Countryman, who called the boys “Great Donkeys”. From 1948 it was organised by Ivor Cheale
1.
Donation of £25 from Parents Committee in 1949
2.
Railway club as stage hands
The Railway Club was valuable to me. Ivor decided that we needed to build a model railway but none of your Hornby Dublo. He decided to go for Bassett Lowke O gauge and that was real modelling. The track had to be constructed in the same way as the real thing with sleepers, chairs, rails and keys. The difficult part came with the points which also had to be constructed from scratch. The experience I had with soldering and the other metal work has been invaluable to me all my life since leaving WGS. The other skill learnt from the club was with the electrical work for the layout. Ivor managed to come by some ex-GPO telephone relays which we spent hours adapting to operate a sophisticated automatic signalling system which we also designed. I remember Ivor covering the board in the physics lab, where we did much of our work, with circuit diagrams which we all criticised, altered and added to in order to get a workable system.
Not only did we play with model trains but every half term or school holiday Ivor would arrange a trip to a railway establishment. We visited railway works, engine sheds, carriage works, signal boxes etc. all over the country, travelling by train, of course. What an experience! We saw steam engines being built from scratch at Derby and, ominously, the first two diesel electric locomotives 10,000 and 10,001 which hauled passenger trains experimentally between St. Pancras and Leicester via Wellingborough. This was the beginning of the end of steam traction in this country and we saw its genesis. We also visited York when that had railway workshops. What a pale reminder the engine shed is now, converted into a museum. We saw it with real steam engines using it when it was alive with smoke and steam and the smell of hot oil. Little did we know then that within our lifetime virtually all of this would be gone. Richard Hall (1946)
1. Donation from Parents Committee to Railway club of £25 in 1949 Newspaper information
2. Railway club as Stage Hands
Add some names for me here, above list from Neil Sinclair (Poppit is Ivor Cheale's wife). Bob Buckler between Robinson and Baxter (Buckler 1957). A photo (1959 play) on WGS Nostalgia Site. Pope, Hanger, Richard Blunt Buckler infront of Poppet Powis in front of Sinclair
What on earth has the railway club got to do with the school plays? - now I expect to be educated here, but I thought you played (sorry) with toy (even sorrier) trains. So what were you doing with the plays? Graham Tall (1955)
Neil Sinclair's answer:
Creating the Stage Sets
It’s a long story that began before I entered WGS but maybe it happened in
your time. The drama master of the time (name unknown) was complaining in the
staff room one day about lack of support for the stage sets. Ivor was listening
and volunteered that his Railway Club members would do something for him and so
it all began. From then forward, the Autumn Term Railway Club was always devoted
to preparing the stage for the Christmas production. We did some model railway
building in September and October but progressively became more ‘stage work
oriented’ as the term progressed. For the final two weekends before the play
began we would spend all of Friday evening, all of Saturday until late in the
evening and often Sunday afternoon preparing the set. We would also be on duty
as stage hands during the productions themselves – hence the ‘photos were
probably taken after the final performance on the last night. We were very proud
of the sets which did take a vast amount of time. It is only now, looking back,
that I realise the incredible team management skills that Ivor had. Each year,
he would take a bunch of unskilled lads and produce some fine sets on time.
Although I cannot remember fully, I think we did the same for the house drama
competition – giving each house equal attention!
The stage units were stored in the bunker behind prefab. 19 (Beery Ward’s
room). Neil Sinclair (1958/9)
My name is Robert John Buckler, (usually "Bob" ), and I was at the Grammar School from 1957 to 1963.
I was a member of the Railway Club and therefore enlisted to help with School Plays.
On approaching the Sixth Form I assisted John "Ernie" Huddart with the lighting. The bug now started to bite and I shifted scenery, worked in the "flies", and helped lighting at other local productions at the Palace and Lyric in Wellingborough and also at Rushden and Kettering.
Instead of going to university from the 3rd Year 6th in 1964, I "jumped ship" and joined the BBC as a Technical Operator in 1963. Not very popular with "Harold" Wrenn!
After nearly 40 years working in TV Sound, Studios then Outside Broadcasts, I took early retirement in 2001. I still work part time, having just finished Wimbledon and looking forward to a few Proms starting next week. Bob Buckler (1957)
The club listing suggests that the railway club was last known in 1969...well I joined the School in 72, and left in 77, and it was still just running, although it’s popularity had waned by then..at this time it was still led by ‘Ivor’ and the club had taken over half of ‘Jocks Hole’....the old boiler room under the 6th form cloak room, where we built an operational 00 guage layout....the club disbanded shortly after I left...i never did find out what happened to all the equipment, nobody knew...or would let on. Lots of vivid memories of the school...didn’t enjoy it much at the time....but with hindsight, not such a bad place, and what a shame more schools aren’t like this one was now....
Regarding the connection between the Railway Club and the Stage Staff…as they were known in my day…there may have been some pupils involved with both… I was for a while, but the two were completely separate entities…the link being that ‘Ivor’ was in charge of both of them.
As for the model railway layouts, I believe that after your time (1950's), and before my time (1970's), they used to set up an ‘0’ gauge layout in Penney Lab….this would be started on Friday evening, and run on Saturday mornings. All the parts were stored in the loft above the labs…there was still some remaining when I started there in 72…I believe all the ‘0’ gauge stuff was sold off to buy ‘00’ gauge. Martin Percy (1972)