Tuesday, 21 November 2017
Amazing OB Visit - Allinghams
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| MRG, Jim, Robyn, Ted and Will |
On Tuesday last week we had an incredible visit from two OB's of the house. This was not your ordinary visit however as we were lucky enough to receive the Allingham brothers, Jim and Robin who were in the house from 1947-1950 and the early 1950s respectively. The connection came as Robin is the great uncle of Will. It was fantastic for the boys to hear about how different the experiences in the house of our guests were in some ways but equally how they had much in common. Of particular interest was the timelessness of the barn which was the hub of the social life of the house in the 1940's just as it is now. It was also interesting to hear how the hatch to the kitchen had been opened up in the early 1950s which would seem to be a great idea. Jim was also able to help us make a note for the archive about Tony Jordan who was his head of house in 1947 and Morton who is the head of house that started the Talbot's head of house handover book which we still have in the archive and has been revived. The boys showing our guests around also managed to find an old house photo in the house books which had Robin in it.
Jim told us how the senior boys would have a sidetable to sit at in the barn and there was a table tennis table squeezed in that one couldn't move about behind. They also recalled that what is now the 25 side of the house was, in fact, a girl's boarding house before it was purchased and made part of our house. The current crop of Talbot's men obviously lamented that! It seemed that the element of community and depth of friendship gained were similar in the 1940s to what they are now and that the routines of the house underpinned everything, also as with now. Something that was definitely much different was the food. Our two guests were in the house when rationing was very much still part of life and their recounting of green fish and slices of beef hearts were not something we hoped may return to the house and school life.
Such visits remind us all how lucky we are to be in a community with fine traditions and strong values and it was our absolute privilege to share part of our day with two such amazing men. The boys who showed them around were, as ever, fantastic and their stories were hugely valuable to us.
MRG November 2017
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