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“LIGHTS OUT, NO
TALKING” |
THE DAILY
ROUTINE |
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Generally speaking, the daily routine was the same each day from Monday to Friday. Saturday had it's own special set of circumstances which called for a routine specific to that day. Sunday was again, a separate case, and had it's own unique routine. During holiday times, routines varied because leisure activities took the place of school classes, and Seamanship classes. Every morning at eight o'clock, the Blue Ensign was raised at the flag staff opposite the main entrance. It was lowered in the evening, either at about seven thirty, or sunset, whichever came first. At each ceremony, there would be a bugle call sounded for 'Attention'. At the sound of this, all boys within earshot, would stand to attention, and face the ensign as it was raised or lowered. The raising and lowering was accompanied by the appropriate bugle call. At the conclusion, the bugler would sound the 'Carry on' at which all boys would resume whatever they were doing previously ORDINARY WEEKDAYS Being navy orientated, most of our activities were preceded by a bugle call unique to that particular activity. Some of the tunes of the calls still remain with me, but most of them are now forgotten. On an ordinary week day, reveille was sounded at 6.45 AM, and was the call for all boys to rise from bed and commence their daily duties - the actual call, was often couched in more 'direct' terms, but the effect was the same in either case! It would be accompanied by the duty officer in each dormitory going around 'encouraging' the slow movers to 'Rise and shine'. Once risen, each boy would proceed to the latchey (washroom) in underpants and shorts only. There he would wash himself and clean his teeth (cold water only, winter and summer). The wash place consisted of about twenty four wash hand basins, placed ten or twelve in a row, and back to back. A centre board ran down the middle of the basins. On the centre board was placed small mounds of pink tooth powder. Each boy of course had his own tooth brush and towel, the toothbrush had his linen number stamped into the handle, and the towel had a label sewn on with his linen number stencilled on it, as did all items of clothing. After washing, each boy would present himself to the officer, or in the absence of the officer, to the leading boy or chief petty officer for inspection. Inspection consisted of arms out, hands toward the officer, and neck bent right back so that any 'tide marks', especially under the chin could be seen. Of course, should any tide marks or dirt be present, the offender was sent back to wash again. After washing, each boy had to return to his bed and dress. After dressing, beds had to be made. Beds had to be made precisely. This involved tucking in all blankets with 'hospital corners' at the foot, and a turn over of sheet at the top of the bed. Pillow laid neatly on top at the head of the bed. On top of this, the counterpane had to be put on complete with 'hospital corners', and sides draped loosely. Against the starkness of the cream and green painted brick walls of the dormitory, the counterpanes were quite decorative items - even elegant. Their background colour was an oatmeal, or bone colour. There were parallel lines down each side of the counterpane, the space between the lines being just the width of the bed. There were also transverse lines across the top, and at the foot of the counterpane. These lines were drawn in the colour of the dormitory. In our dormitory number four, they were were drawn in yellow - actually, nearer to orange. In the centre of the counterpane, was a decorative monogram consisting of the initials 'NNS', the initials of the school. The monogram had to sit precisely in the centre of the bed. Night-shirts, which were long, rather outsize white flannel shirts, had to be rolled up from collar to tail, so that the rolled shirt represented it's width, and placed at the foot of the bed in the space between the end of the bedding, and the foot rail. Each boy also had a bed locker in which he could leave books or other things. As there were no locks on these, they were used only at night as temporary repositories for our possessions. With ablutions and bed making complete, the next job was to exit the dormitories - they were normally out of bounds during the day - and go to our 'cleaning stations'. Every boy was allocated a portion of the school to clean each day. On week days, the cleaning was done between the time one left the dormitory and breakfast, roughly 7 to 8 AM. From Monday to Friday, cleaning stations were swept and dusted - where applicable - only. On Saturdays, all stations had to be thoroughly scrubbed, or where appropriate, polished, and made particularly 'spick and span' for Captain's Inspection which normally took place between 10.30 - 11.30 AM. There was no inspection on week days, but woe betide any boy whose cleaning station had not been swept or otherwise made tidy for the day. Cleaning Stations were allocated by the Regulating Officer, in conjunction with the other officers. They were changed every two or three months, or at such intervals as were deemed necessary. Dormitories were allocated a 'party' of boys whose job it was to sweep, and generally keep them tidy. Dormitory floors were of stained wood, so they were not scrubbed, but polished once a week with 'Ronuk', the proprietary name for our floor polish. Stairways were divided into sections, and a boy made responsible for each section. Stairs were swept each day, and scrubbed on Saturdays. Similarly the landings, a large area just outside each dormitory, were swept and scrubbed. The gymnasium had a party allocated, and that too, was swept and scrubbed according to the day. The dining hall was swept and scrubbed by the 'cooks'. Cooks were the boys allocated to the duty of preparing the tables for meals, and serving the food and beverages. Each division had about six boys allocated for the job. Having prepared the tables, and served the food, they also had the job of clearing up after each meal. Washing up was done by another group of galley boys, often helped by boys under punishment. The position of galley boy was a full time job, and usually given to boys who were interested in pursuing a life in the catering industry. I think we had about four or six galley boys. The school corridors were broken up into smaller sections for the purposes of cleaning. The main corridor had six or more sections, and a boy allocated to each section. The 'red' corridor - so named because all the doors leading off it were painted red, also the floor had a reddish cement finish - had a cleaning squad of two or three. It was long, but not very wide, it was swept on week days, and polished on Saturdays. Each classroom had two or three boys as a cleaning party. The classrooms and library had polished wood block floors, they were swept each day, and polished on Saturdays. Other cleaning stations were, the dormitory latcheys, the stairwells at the extreme ends of the building, the main latchey, and the terrace. All these areas required several boys in their cleaning squads. There was also the school's main entrance - one of the few original parts which remain today. I had this as my cleaning station for some time. As it was out of bounds to boys generally, I regarded it as 'my domain'. It was not a big cleaning station compared to some others, but of course, being the main entrance, it had to be kept particularly clean. Other cleaning stations I was allocated to over the years were: parts of the red corridor, my own dormitory, both Form 4, and Form 5 - at different times, and sections of the stairs leading to number four dormitory. Each dormitory had it's own 'Blue Room'. This was a small room adjacent to each dormitory, where we kept our 'best blues'. Best Blues were our sailors suits, (sometimes known as 'fore and aft' rig, as opposed to the 'square' rig worn by officers and petty officers). They were only worn on Sundays for church parade, or on a visit to Bristol, for whatever reason, and on Home Leave. Other 'special' cleaning stations were the various officers' cabins. Several of the live in staff had house boys, but these were full time jobs. Not all the boys in the school could be given fixed cleaning stations, and the surplus boys were known as 'spare hands'. Spare hands were allocated to jobs where the regular cleaner was off sick, or where many boys were needed in a hurry to get a job done. Having left the dormitory and attended to his cleaning station, the next thing we heard was 'cooks to the galley'. A bugle call usually played at about twenty minutes to the hour at which the meal was due to be served. Fifteen minutes later, a bugle call would be sounded to tell us to 'fall in', or parade for breakfast. We would fall in, usually in the gym, but if the weather was fine, out on the terrace. In the latter instance, the bugle call had an 'on the terrace' call added to the end of it. We soon learned the different calls. After breakfast, we continued with our cleaning stations until about 8 .45 AM, when we were called to 'wash up' for Divisions. Sometime between breakfast and Divisions, Sick Bay would sound, and all boys with pimples, boils, chilblains, or any ailment whatsoever, assembled in the outer room of the sick bay to await the ministrations of either Matron or Sister. At surgery, dressings were changed, tonics taken, and unction for chilblains painstakingly rubbed into the backs of the hands. Those boys whose ailments were serious enough to warrant 'excused' this or that, were listed, and the list sent to the Regulating Office. If one had chilblains on the feet, one was 'excused boots', a great privilege, as it was always easier to get around in 'daps'. Other than that, boys were excused scrubbing if hands were bandaged, and of course, physical training (P.T.) if their ailment warranted such exclusion. Washing up for divisions consisted of making sure one's boots were clean, hands washed, hair combed, and all clothes worn in a proper fashion. At about 8.55 'Divisions' was sounded. Divisions was probably the main parade of the day. It was a 'head count', where every boy had to attend to be counted in his division. Only boys on special duties such as house boys, galley boys, and boys actually in the sick bay were exempt, everyone had to be accounted for. On one or two occasions, it was the cause of some anxiety, until every last boy had been accounted for. Mostly, divisions were held in the gym - even in summer, unless it was unusually hot. Captain Evans always attended, and stood at the lectern which was placed in the centre of the parade. There would be a hymn, after which Captain Evans would read a short lesson. After the lesson, Captain Evans would bring to our attention any matters of a general nature which he deemed to be of interest to the boys. It was also an occasion for him to warn the boys in general of any noisy or rowdy behaviour that had been reported to him. Letters from 'Old Boys' were read out when they were of sufficient interest. Such letters were of great interest to us, as they not only brought us news of our friends, they also described situations in the outside world to which we all aspired. Especially during the war, and after any of the great sea epics which took place, Captain would talk to us of the event, always from the sailor's point of view, since this in general was to be our allotted task. In the first few days of the war, we were told of the sinking of the 'Athenia' sunk by a 'U' boat within hours of the declaration of war. Within a couple of weeks, we were again saddened to be told about the sinking of HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow with great loss of life. Hardly had we ingested this, than we heard of the daring and successful attack on the greatly superior guns, speed, and armour of the German Pocket battleship Graff Spee by the theoretically outclassed British Naval Force of HMS Ajax, Achilles, and Exeter. Later, and in a similar manner, the epic evacuation of Dunkirk, the sinking of HMS Hood, and three days later, the retaliatory sinking of the Bismarck, were all relayed to us by the Captain. On these occasions, and when particularly severe storms lashed the coast, we always sang the hymn 'Eternal Father Strong to Save'. It's final line of 'For those in peril on the sea', always seemed to substantiate the acts of heroism and feelings of patriotism which these talks brought to our attention. Even today, I cannot hear that hymn without thinking of those momentous occasions. After divisions, all boys reassembled into their school class groups, or seamanship classes, and marched off to their respective classrooms. We had 'Stand Easy' at about 10.45 until 11.00 AM, and finished school for the morning at 12 Noon. Boys who were detailed as cooks, went straight to the dining hall and prepared the tables for dinner. The rest of us had a wash and brush up, until about 12.15, when we paraded for dinner. We 'fell in' in our dormitory groups, and were marched in straight to the tables where we would stand opposite a dining place. A place being denoted by the presence of cutlery. Sometimes in summer, when we were having cold meals, the plates would be there with the food already served on it. Hot meals were served at the last minute, sometimes after we were sat down, in order to keep them as warm as possible. Each table sat up to 52 boys. A table consisted of about ten smaller tables placed end on end, these were covered with long, white table cloths, and gave a total length of about forty feet. We would line up, something like twenty five boys per side, with the Petty Officers, or Leading Boys occupying a chair at either end of the tables. We sat on benches, each bench the length of one of the smaller tables. When all the boys were in place, the duty officer would call on us to 'Bow heads for Grace'. Grace was the standard 'For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful, Amen'. After the meal, we would recite the reciprocal with, 'For what we have just received, may the Lord make us truly thankful, Amen'. During dinner, mail if any, was brought up from the Chaplain's house and distributed. Chaplain read all the mail, and credited any Postal Orders contained therein to our bank accounts, and made a note of that fact on the envelope. Also noted on the envelope was the presence of any stamped addressed envelope which may have been enclosed, with a curt but welcome, 'S.A.E' Any boys receiving a parcel were carefully noted, by the rest of us and immediately after dinner, were surrounded by their 'best mates' until such time as a request for a sweet had either been granted or (more likely), rejected. After dinner, we had a free time until 1.15, when again, it was time for wash up, and school classes at 1.30 PM. With a mid afternoon break, school finished for the day at 4.30 PM. There would be a wash and brush up at about 4.50, and tea at 5.00 PM After tea, we had a free period, during which, Sick Bay would sound, and anyone having cause to attend would do so. The next major event for the day was 'Clear Lower Deck'. Clearly a naval directive for all ranks of the lower deck to assemble. Actually, it was the evening equivalent of morning 'Divisions'. All boys other than those on special duties such as house boys, galley boys, etc., had to assemble and be accounted for. After the count, the duty officer would make any announcements which affected all boys, and then the rest of the evening's activities would be announced. Mostly it was a matter of 'Indoor Games' during the winter months, and outdoor activities during the summer months. Indoor Games consisted of board games - draughts, ludo, snakes and ladders, cards, table tennis, library, or the orderly use of the classrooms for reading, writing, or any special organised activity. On most Wednesday evenings during the winter months, there would be a film shown in the dining room. Mr. Sawford operated the projector. The Captain, and some other staff sat on seats placed on tables which were placed just under the projectionist's window giving them an elevated view of the screen, a sort of 'Upper Circle'! Mr. Sawford had adapted the screen to fit in a box which he attached to the ceiling. The screen then pulled down like a roller blind for the performance. On some occasions we had dancing, usually on a Saturday night, and also in the dining room. On these occasions, we would scatter French chalk powder on the floor to make it slippery, and suitable for dancing on. Some of the officer's wives would attend, but mostly, we boys danced with each other! Indeed, there really was no alternative! At least we learned some of the social graces before we went into the big wide world! During the summer months, we had cricket, and swimming. Summer evenings spent outdoors were very pleasant. With the various games in progress, it was always very pleasant to look out across the channel and to see the occasional train steaming along the Welsh coast line in the distance. To see the colliers steaming to the dock in Portishead with their cargoes of coal for the power station, and on the same tide, we would see the empty colliers with their bright red lead or 'boot topping' showing, steaming back to South Wales for a further load of coal. Every now and then there would be the much larger cargo boat or even the larger, intermediate passenger ship, steaming up to Avonmouth, and of course, the traffic from Avonmouth to all parts of the globe. Whenever a Naval ship passed, the bugler, at the direction of the Duty Officer, would sound the 'Attention'. At the sound of the call, all boys would drop whatever they were doing, and stand to attention facing our flag. Our flag would then be 'dipped' in salute to the White Ensign of the naval vessel. When the ship had 'dipped' it's ensign in return, the 'Carry on' would be sounded, and things would return to normal again. On one occasion, when a destroyer was passing on its way to Avonmouth on a summer's evening, we paid our homage as usual by sounding the bugle and dipping our ensign. There was an embarrassing period of unilateral inaction as the destroyer sailed gracefully past the school, oblivious to the forelocks being frantically tugged by the people ashore. Eventually, when the ship was almost abeam of the lighthouse, we saw someone racing down to the afterdeck. He almost pulled the flag from its lanyard, a relieved duty officer told the boy to raise the flag, and the `Carry on' was sounded just as the ship disappeared from sight. I imagine that on the destroyer, they were all too excited at the prospect of getting ashore, and possibly on the train for a spot of well earned leave to take too much notice of what was going on ashore as they passed At about 7.45 PM, we would be summoned by the bugler to supper but this time could be varied, according to whatever activities were, or had been, taking place that evening. Tuesdays and Fridays were 'bath' nights. On these nights, we would leave the super room, and proceed to the linen room - in an orderly fashion of course - where we were given a clean towel, underpants, socks, handkerchief, night-shirt etc. We did not have all of these items every bath night other than underpants, handkerchief and socks. Other items - towels and night-shirts - were changed on a weekly basis. A 'bath' consisted of a stand up wash from the hand basins in the latchey. We were allowed in, one boy to each basin, where we would stand and wash ourselves all over, splashing the water over ourselves for a final rinse. After being inspected, it was in to bed, where we could read, or talk until 9 PM, when it was 'Lights Out, No Talking', and the bugler, (often myself) would sound the 'Last Post' from the gallery overlooking the gym, from where it could be heard all over the school. I always regarded playing the Last Post from the balcony, with the excellent echoes reverberating around the gym as very special moments. At about 10 PM, the duty officer would come around, and waken the bed wetters so that they could go to the toilet in the hope that this would lessen the chance of a wet bed. The bed wetters always occupied the centre row of beds. If a dormitory had six bed wetters, then the six beds in the centre row nearest the latchey end of the dorm were used by them. This made it easy for the duty officer to know whom to awaken. He just had a list of the number of bed wetters for each dorm. Essentially, that was the last act of each day.
Saturdays and Sundays were quite different to the rest of the week. Reveille, meal times, and lights out were essentially the same as other days, these things apart, each day had not only it's own routine, but it's own atmosphere, even the meals were different. Saturday, being the start of the weekend, usually had every one in high spirits, looking forward to the extra leisure activities that were the order of the day. We started the day as usual, with reveille at 6.45 AM. Once we were clear of the dormitories, and before breakfast, cleaning stations had to be organised. If one's cleaning station required the floor to be scrubbed, then a bucket, scrubbing brush, floor cloth and soap had to be drawn from the store in the wash hand latchey near the Red Corridor. Likewise, if the floor had to be polished, then Ronuk, (a proprietary floor polish) had to be drawn together with suitable rags to apply it. In most cases, all floors would be swept before breakfast in preparation for the major clean up later in the morning. As far as the cleaning materials were concerned, there was never enough to go round, and the bigger boys usually 'cornered' the market in order to get their own stations cleaned, then the materials would be passed down the 'pecking order' to the lesser mortals who then had to scurry to complete their own tasks before Captain's Inspection which took place from 10.30 AM onwards. During this time, Captain Evans walked right around the school, inspecting every corner to make sure it had received its weekly attention. If the Captain was not satisfied, then the offending portion of the floors/ stairs/ dormitory/ classroom etc., had to be re-cleaned. Since many privileges were granted on Saturdays, no one wanted to risk official ire by not having his cleaning station in sparkling form. After Captain's Rounds, the bugle call would sound for 'Bank'. All boys received an allowance from the school according to their rank. When a boy started at the school, he automatically became a 4th. class boy. At regular intervals, - about every three months - the officers would meet, and decide which boys had shown the sort of leadership and behavioural qualities which would merit promotion. The promotion order from 4th class, was to 3rd. class (one stripe), 2nd. class (two stripes), 1st. class (three stripes), Leading Boy (three stripes and a star), Petty Officer (crossed anchors), Chief Petty Officer (crossed anchors with a Crown - or was it a star?). 4th Class boys received 8d. per month, 3rd. class, 1/-, 2nd. class 1/4d., 1st. class 1/8d., and Leading Boys, 2/-. Petty Officers, and Chief Petty Officers received commensurately more. These monies, together with any money - usually in the form of postal orders - which might be sent to boys by their parents, were banked in the boys' name, and administered by the Chaplain. When 'Bank' was called, we were allowed to withdraw 'sensible' sums, to be spent on 'Shore Leave' - if we were due for it - or in the school Canteen, the small hatch in the Red Corridor, behind which was stored an array of sweets which we could buy. There were 1d 'chews' - despite the name, they sold at four for a penny, and were considered good value. The usual aniseed balls, and of course, 'Gob Stoppers'. By sweet shop standards, not a great variety, but as far as we were concerned, sweets were sweets! When 'bank' was finished, we had dinner. After dinner, usually about 1 PM, the canteen would be opened for those with money. Shore Leave was granted on Saturday afternoons, and again, this was dependent on one's 'class'. On the first Saturday of each month, 3rd. class and above were allowed ashore from about 1.30, to 4.30. Woe betide any boy reporting back late! On the second Saturday, 2nd. class and above were allowed the privilege. On the third Saturday, 1st class and above went ashore, and on the fourth Saturday, Leading Boys and above were allowed ashore. Petty Officers and Chief Petty Officers had shore leave every Saturday. Fourth class boys had no shore leave, but usually, there were organised walks of ten or more boys, often looked after by a senior boy who was not going ashore himself. At the bottom end of the class scale, were the 5th class boys. These were boys who had broken the school rules by either committing serious offences, or by repeating less serious offences, and having appeared in front of the Captain on 'Captain's Report' or defaulter's parade. Dis-rating could be part of their punishment, 5th class boys had no privileges. When other boys were at leisure activities, they would be on 'Defaulters', and be given extra work to do rather than being allowed to play sports, or use the swimming pool in summer. For those who did not, or could not
go ashore, there were several activities. In the summer months there was
the swimming pool. If there were many boys, then it could be accessed in a
strict rotation, decided on by the officer on duty, otherwise it was free
to all. Also there would be cricket organised for those who wished to
play. For those who just wished to sit around, the terrace was a favourite
spot, and usually quite warm. In the winter months, indoor games could be
withdrawn from the games store. These consisted mainly of table tennis,
cards, draughts, and ludo. The classrooms and library were often thrown
open for those who just wished a quiet time. After tea came Sick Bay, Clear Lower Deck, evening games, - indoor or outdoor according to season. Supper at eight PM, 'Lights Out No Talking', and Last Post at nine PM.
Sunday was also a more relaxing day. I think we started with a later reveille - about 7 AM. Breakfast was as usual, 8 AM. We sometimes had bacon and egg for Sunday breakfast. That would be one fried egg, one or two rashers of bacon, two dorks, a pat of butter, and the usual mug of tea. On the first Sunday of each month, we had Captain's Inspection. At about 9 AM, all boys went to their dormitories and changed into their 'best blues'. Best Blues were our sailor suits, and were in most respects identical to the suits worn by seamen in the Royal Navy. We kept our best blues in the 'Blue Room' attached to each dormitory. We took great pride in our best blues. Everything had to be 'just so'. Trousers were stowed away folded inside out, and each leg had seven folds in it, - one fold for each of the seven seas. Silks were wetted, folded, and smoothed flat with a nail brush in place of an iron. Cap ribbons were tied with great care. Often, boys would put an old silver threepenny piece in the central knot, in order to keep it round, and generally keep the knot in shape. Hats were given a suggestion of a bend at the front in order to make the top rise slightly at the front. Personal 'fancy' touches were definitely frowned upon - Captain Evans being a strictly-by-the-book-man. The blue collars with the three white stripes on them were laundered at regular intervals, and great care was taken to see that they lay flat on top of the main jumper. Boots, of course, were polished to the limit. Despite all this 'tarting up', there were boys who always managed to look quite 'dumpy' and unkempt. Often efforts were made by the other boys to tidy them up, as it was felt they 'let the division down'. At about 9.50 AM, divisions would sound, and all boys would assemble in their divisions in the gym. After the 'head count', with all boys either on parade, or accounted for, the Chief Petty Officers, Petty Officers, and Leading Boys would critically inspect each boy in their divisions, in order to anticipate any sloppy items of dress which the Captain would almost certainly have picked up later. At 10 AM sharp, Captain Evans made his appearance, dressed in his Royal Navy Officer's uniform. Captain took up a position at one end of the gym, and in between the divisions. The Duty Officer then proceeded to call each boy by number and name. The numbers used were our 'big numbers', this meant that the boys who had been in the school longest, were called first. It was a matter of some pride as each boy gradually worked his way toward the front of the list by virtue of his length of time at the school, thereby having his seniority recognised in front of all the other boys. As each boy's name was called, he would spring to attention, take two paces forward to free himself from the ranks, then march at attention, and by the shortest route, to where the Captain was standing. On reaching the Captain, the boy would halt at a prescribed number of paces in front of the Captain. The boy would then salute the Captain, IN PROPER NAVAL FASHION, give his rank, name, and number. The salute was the object of some attention. The right arm had to come up via the horizontal position level with the shoulder, then up to the forehead, PALM FACING DOWN, AND AT A PRESCRIBED ANGLE TO THE FACE. After a brief moment at the salute, the hand would be returned to the side by the shortest route. Captain was extremely fastidious about the method of saluting, since the naval salute is different to the army, or air force salutes. After the Captain had made a preliminary inspection of each boy, the duty officer would order 'Caps off', whereon the boy would remove his cap by grabbing the left side of his cap with his right hand, and bringing the cap smartly down to his side. The Captain also took special notice of this manoeuvre, making sure that each boy performed it correctly. After a further brief inspection, the officer would order 'Caps on', whereupon the boy would return his cap to his head via the same route that he had just removed it. When the Captain was satisfied, the order to 'Carry on' would be given whereby the boy would take one pace back, smartly about turn, and march back to the ranks from whence he came. After Captain's Inspection, it was usually just about time for Church Parade. At about 10.50, all boys would fall in on the terrace. This time, there were only the senior and junior divisions. Shortest on the right, tallest on the left, with the band in front. The band consisted of a bass drum, two side drums, and up to eight bugles. When a boy could be found who could do it, we also had a Drum Major and Mace, but often we would go for months without one since it required a tall boy with the 'bags of swank' and the skill required to swing the mace in the impressive manner of a drum major. The parade would 'dress by the right', form fours, right turn, and quick march behind the band to church. We marched up the drive, turned right along Nore Road for a hundred yards or so, then right again, and into the front entrance of the Church. The boys occupied the front of the church, and the public sat at the rear. On the first Sunday in each month, we had Holy Communion for those who had been Confirmed. After three and a half years of attending matins and evensong every Sunday, most of us knew the book of Common Prayer backwards, and used to spend much of the sermon time working out who we could and whom we could not marry, from the lists of '...a man may not marry his...' at the back of the book. Most of my immediate circle of friends found the dressing up and the march to church stimulating, but the services themselves to be in the main, boring and unfulfilling. In my own case, Confirmation Classes were taken because they provided a relief from other duties for an hour or so once a week. Also, after Confirmation, one got to taste the Communion Wine! We often wondered what it was like - indeed, after the event, it was deemed to be not crash hot, and the novelty of taking communion soon wore off. These were my feelings with regard to the act of being confirmed, as opposed to any spiritual uplifting or enhancement which was supposed to ensue. Unless they had much deeper, unspoken thoughts, this view was also shared by at least, some of the other boys in my confirmation class After Church Service, all boys marched back to the school behind the band. The first thing on our return to the school was to get out of our best blues, and return to every day clothes. After dinner, there was a period for letter writing. For those boys with relatives - there were many orphans in the school - letters had to be written on the first and third Sundays of each month. We called these our 'Compulsory Letters'. The school supplied the stationery. (see page 43) The school also paid the postage (1˝d.) on the letter written on the first Sunday, each boy paid for his own after that. Letter writing was held every Sunday, and provided he had the stamps, and was not under any punishment, a boy could write home every Sunday should he wish to do so. There was no shore leave granted on Sundays, and after letter writing, and depending on the weather, there would be organised walks, sport, or indoor games. For the organised walks, sometimes the whole school went, other times, parties could be as large as a division - 50 boys - or as small as ten boys. Often the smaller numbers were taken out by a senior boy such as a Chief Petty Officer, Petty Officer, Leading Boy, or even a first class boy if no one else was available. Walks were quite popular, because they provided a change from the confines of the school. Often it was possible to organise a smoke - depending on who was in charge, plus of course, there was an opportunity to replenish one's store of tobacco by picking up cigarette ends thrown down in the street, and removing the tobacco from them, or, if they were large enough, smoking them as they were. As I write this, the memory fills me with feelings of nausea! However, for boys who had the desire to smoke, little or no money, and few opportunities to buy cigarettes even when they had the money, every strand of tobacco was considered precious and treated accordingly. There were penalties for smoking, and they could be quite severe, depending on the number of times one was caught, but it went on regardless. After tea, there was Sick Bay, change into best blues, Clear Lower Deck, head count, and march up to church. If the weather was inclement, or if it was too dark, as it was in winter, we walked up the back path to church. After church, and changing back into our every day clothes, there was no time for any organised games or leisure activities. It was supper, bed, and 'Lights Out, No Talking' as on any other night.
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