Typescript of the Address given at the Centenary Service
in St John's Methodist Church Saturday 30th June 2007 by
The Revd Raymond F Trudgian MA BD
( Pupil:1948-55 Head Prefect: 1954-55)
In her comprehensive introduction Headteacher Heather McIlroy referred to those who had ‘defied age and distance' to attend this auspicious occasion. She must have been talking about me because I have now reached the ripe old age of 70, the biblical ‘threescore years and ten', and have made the 800 mile round trip from the ancient port of King's Lynn in Norfolk to here this morning.
You may be asking why does someone with such a Cornish name and ancestry, educated at a top Cornish Grammar School and with such love for Cornwall come to be living in Norfolk! A quick glance at the map will show that we are less than an hour away from my second home, Cambridge University. As a result of the excellent education I received at this school I was awarded a County Major Scholarship and after National Service entered the University exactly 50 years ago this September. For me it was like entering paradise and in retirement it is good to be involved in lectures and seminars there and to be part of the buzz of student life in my old age.
I was born and brought up in the clay mining village of Nanpean, the younger son of Cyril and Ada Trudgian of Currian Road and my elder brother ,Leslie,also attended this school. My first male teacher was another old boy Will Sheaff who trained at St Lukes and is still very active in the area as a Methodist local preacher. I attended the Grammar School when the ‘ Iron Curtain descended.' The only contact the boys and girl had was through the Choir and school dinners. Amidst the cabbage & semolina romance blossomed and I met my wife Angela Mitchell . After seven years of supervised courting and 47 years of marriage she is here with me today together with her sister Jenny who has come over especially from Canada representing so many of you who have come today from around the globe.
During my time however, even this brief lunch time contact was stopped! I well remember that I got a laugh on Speech Day 1955 when I began my Head Prefect's report by saying, ‘School dinners have been looked at in a new light this year- in fact there has been nothing else to look at as the girls have been taken from us!'
The last thing Miss Camous and Mr Brinkworth wanted in their pursuit of excellence was to have pupils falling in love just before A Levels ! .
When Canon Michael Adams (Pupil;1959-66) asked me for my passage of Scripture I immediately said Philippians 4:4-9 which has been so well read for us by Heidi this morning. As Head Prefect I used to read it at the beginning of each term. I link these verses from my Greek New Testament which I learnt to translate when I was here with the excellent history of St Austell County Grammar Schools 1908-75 researched by Marie Gurnett and written by Mary Abbot which I shall refer to as , ‘The Green Book'.
I want you to join with me in the text by shouting out-
REJOICE in the Lord always, again I say REJOICE!
Philippi was one of the foremost towns in Europe, it was a Roman Colony, influenced by the worship of the Greek gods. Christians had faced much persecution and were surrounded by paganism.
It was an obvious choice for the beginning of term reminding pupils that they should remain united steadfast and even joyful as they contemplated the term ahead seeking to overcome the ignorance and paganism with which the school was surrounded! It also seemed an obvious choice for today.
As well being joyful we are encouraged to do everything with thanksgiving and above to think which is what the Grammar School is all about.
What joyful memories do you have? Perhaps it was a speech day prize, a sports victory, a moving musical event or even falling in love as the founding of the school on St Valentine's Day seems to have had its effect. When I was buying a pasty in Mevagissey a few summers ago the person serving said- ‘Aren't you that religious Head prefect we had at the Grammar School years ago?' At 17 I was already an accredited Methodist Local Preacher and therefore coming on stage every morning with the Head, I must have appeared very pompous as I unctuously read passages of Scripture. To prove that at ripe old age of 70 I've begun to mellow my joyful story shows me being utterly humiliated on what was for pupils present at the time probably the happiest day of their life!
It was a day of deep snow, and I was alerted by my prefects that the boys had assembled to make an attack on the almost virgin snow of the girl's playing field. I stood between the two schools urging the boys to desist. They were ready to obey and walk meekly away when I heard a bloodcurdling cry behind as the girls started throwing snowballs at me! Both schools seized the moment to vent their feelings about Head Prefects in general and me in particular! Caked in snow and mud I changed into crumbled football gear and plimsolls and reported to Mr Brinkworth,
‘The pupils are revolting sir'!
As I stand in this church this morning moments of deep joy come to me because it was here that we held our Annual Carol Service. As a first former I sat back by that pillar in awe, as the church was always packed and the musical items of such high calibre that I was totally transported. The wonder and mystery of Christmas always started for me in this place. I can remember Head Prefect Geoff Lomer reading the lesson, not realising I would read that same lesson from this same pulpit just six years later!
Another moment of great joy was being invited to preach at the Rededication Service in the Anglican Church on returning from missionary work in Africa in 1965-20 years after it was started by Mr Brinkworth. Of special joy was the fact that my first cousin ,Sylvia Crowle, who had been brought up with me in Nanpean and was like a sister to me was the Head Girl just ten years after I had held that post. I remember how thrilled she was with the service. Like me she was already and accredited Methodist local preacher and won a place at Westminster College ,Oxford to train as a teacher. She was among the first to be enrolled on the new Oxford University Bachelor of Education degree. Sadly as we all know she was tragically killed in a car crash coming home for Christmas in 1967. In her last letter to me a few weeks before she had expressed her joy at being at Oxford and spoke of the wonderful time she had had on teaching practice, with her special project on the China Clay Industry. She had been provided with practical teaching aids by her Dad, Ron Crowle, known to so many of you for his outstanding work for ECLP at Drinnick. He is very much in our thoughts on this day. As our organist , Mr John Holland, has just said to me, ‘If Sylvia was here today she would be the life and soul of the party' It reminds us that joy is tinged with sorrow and we shall remember in our prayers all those pupils who have died in war and in peace.
When we turn to the things for which I am thankful,I want to stick my neck out and say a big ‘Thank you' for Mr Brinkworth and his regime of discipline!! I can tell from the groans that I have hit a sore spot in more ways than one. Mr Brinkworth came as Head to the Boys School at a difficult time in 1945 and was the link with the United School. We could laugh at some of the bizarre rules and regulations but for me, a shy lad, instantly labelled a ‘Nanpean nannygoat', they provided a framework within which our knowledge and emotions could develop. On the first day at school I was terrified. There were boys from the Lawn School speaking fluent French, boys all knew each other from large Primary Schools in the posh suburbs of St Austell, like Mount Charles. So I was grateful for the discipline.
One of the methods was a system of stars and stripes, but you had to build up your star quarter by quarter which could be instantly wiped out by a stripe which brought disgrace to your House as well as yourself. As the Green Book says the day to day discipline was carried out by the Prefects. A special court was held on Friday afternoons. As Head Prefect I would sit at one end with Prefects either side and the miscreants would be brought in one by one to stand to attention at the other end. After dressing them down they would go out and the prefects would decide the punishment! It may sound severe now but we were ‘tough on bullying and tough on the causes of bullying' and I like to think we succeeded . Very few ever re-offended!
I am also thankful for the emphasis on Sport especially Ken Hunter's elite athletic team. I obviously got into it through the shot and discuss but I was also selected for the 100 & 200 metres sprints.There was a theory that heavy people were good at sprints, maybe because we couldn't run any further! On one very special day I was first in all four events at an Inter-School event on our own ground and I have certificates in my own school archives to prove it! ( After the service I learnt that Angela, wife of my form mate Trevor Haynes, who was at the sports meeting from West Hill School said to her husband as I mounted the pulpit, ‘That's the one who won those races running in bare feet!') We also won the sprint relay that day.
My great love was football, but the only medal I won was controversial.
I was picked for the school team under captain Geoff Bunney to play in an under 18 tournament at Nanpean and we met Nanpean Rovers in the final! I was up against my old friends from Primary school days and was booed every time I kicked the ball. When we won I was barracked even more at the presentation and there are still those in Nanpean who regard me as a traitor!
Another area which thankfully I was taught to love was Music. The Green Book speaks of boys not liking Mr Brinkworth's Music appreciation class held on Thursday afternoon's in the chemistry Lab. Again I was different as for me it opened up a whole new world of beauty and wonder. I can never hear today Dvorak's New World Symphony, Holst's Planets, Elgar's Enigma Variations and the exciting Prince Igor by Borodin without being taken back to those delightful Thursday afternoons. We had live music as well. It was my task to meet, introduce and thank the great pianist Clive Lythgoe whose striking photo was often in the Radio Times. I can never forget his rendition of Mussorgsky's ‘Pictures at an Exhibition' as he took us to the great gate of Kiev on our excellent Bechstein piano loaned to us by the St Austell Music Society.
We were blessed by visits from great men of the time one of which was Isaac Foot, father of Sir Hugh, Lord Caradon, Michael and Dingle, grandfather of Paul but a Liberal Politician of great note in his own right.
He was also a much admired Methodist Local Preacher and was elected Vice President of the Methodist Conference in 1937 the year of my birth. Aged 75 he spoke at my last Speech Day in 1955. Mr Brinkworth, a keen Anglican, was pleased to emphasis that for the first time two Methodist Local Preachers were on the platform for Speech Day! With tremendous vigour he spoke about the importance of books and reading widely, referring of course to his unique private collection of 70,000 books which are now housed in the University of California.He was certainly one of the most charismatic people I had met. He died in 1960 at the age of 80 and The Times obituary noted, ‘His house was overflowing with books and their virtue had somehow gone into him'
This leads me to my final section because Paul urges to think about virtuous things, and like Isaac Foot our staff were totally enthusiastic about their teaching as though their special subject had been poured into them and they could not wait to pour their wisdom out to us.
The first person to make me think was Mr Len Martin who served the school in its various forms for 41 years. I was fortunate to have him as form master in the Form 2 and Form 5a and did ‘A' Level History with him in the Sixth Form. Almost his first words to us were ,‘Don't believe anything you read!' After we got over the shock he pointed out that the owners of newspapers had their own bias to sell newspapers and even history books were written by one person with their own point of view to promote. ‘What about the Bible?' I asked, coming from Nanpean Sunday School. ‘Especially the Bible!' he said! It taught me that the Bible did not fall as brick from heaven and the authors wrote from their own age and culture and the Bible needed to be explored like any other book which I am still doing to this day. As a History teacher he made Gladstone and Disraeli came alive and I feel I know them better than leaders Gordon Brown & David Cameron.
Mr N A Johns was the exact opposite of Mr Martin. He became our Fourth Form master on arrival and for some reason we just did not ‘hit it off' as the Nanpean ‘nanny goat' had decided to become a rebellious ‘billy goat'.
He had bright ideas about teaching us French. For example he told us to go down to Mevagissey and learn the language from the French fishermen as they landed their catch. It had to be stopped, however, as we learnt the wrong kind of words!
The Green book mentions him taking 32 boys to Paris in 1942- that was for me a life changing experience. The boys were divided into groups with a pupil leader in charge to keep an eye on the boys and relate to the Staff. To everyone's total surprise, especially mine, he appointed me to be that leader! He had obviously seen that beneath my rebellion was a leader trying to get out. Eventually the other pupils accepted it. I had some interesting jobs. Mr Brinkworth and his wife had come with us, and as there were no mod cons I had to fetch a large bowl and a jug of hot water every morning for Mr Brinkworth to shave! As I came into the room they pulled their sheets up to their necks and as I set out his shaving brush and cut throat razor we had some interesting conversations!
As well as enjoying all the cultural delights of Easter in Paris we visited Ypres ‘ Symbol of Human Sacrifice' , with its Menin Gate and the battlefields of Passchendale. To see the row upon row of crosses made me realise what sacrifices had been made on my behalf, especially as my grandfather had fought there. I made the decision to make the most of the excellent opportunities the Grammar School afforded me and to do something with my life. Mr Johns had indeed seen something in me that others hadn't.
All the rest followed. On return Mr Brinkworth called me into his study and asked me to set up and run a tuck shop to raise funds for Charity. This led to me being on the committee of Staff and pupils to decide where our donations should go. This led to me being asked to meet the speakers from the various organisations from the train and walk with them up to the school. I was told to bring them the scenic route up through the park so that they would have a good view of the school and not to bring them up the back way past the Brewery! This work led eventually to me being appointed Head Prefect.
I was even confident enough in an RE lesson with Mr Rundle to contradict the Sermon preached by the Archdeacon of Bodmin at the 1942 Rededication Service! He set up an essay competition with a most generous prize for anyone who could do better! I won the Prize!
This led to me becoming a Methodist Local Preacher within two years, taking the exams in the Lower Sixth. Within five years I was reading for the Theological Tripos and training for the Ministry at Cambridge University!
All because of Mr Johns!
It would not have been possible of course without the excellent grounding in the Classics I had from Mr Rowe. His first word to us in Form 2 was ‘Discipuli' and explained he was addressing us as pupils which is what the word meant. ‘But sir' I said, ‘that sounds like the word ‘disciple' in the Bible'.' Good boy' he replied, ‘a disciple is a pupil, a learner'. He then went on to show how in every day life we were speaking Latin all the time .I was hooked and I note from reports that throughout my School career I was always awarded Aa for Latin because of his excellent teaching. When I told him and Mr Brinkworth that I was thinking of entering the Ministry arrangements were made for me to take Classical Greek in the Sixth Form. This opened up a totally new world, especially as I was now able to read the Greek New Testament with mounting excitement going home on the bus to Nanpean!
When preaching I still read the passage in Greek and in our passage today I noticed something significant in the Greek words Paul uses. As it stands in our Service Sheets it says ‘The peace of God will guard your hearts and minds', but Paul uses a stronger word which is better translated in the Authorised Version as keep meaning to look after and protect like a fortress. In fact the noun ‘keep ‘ means a fortress. For me St Austell Grammar School was a ‘citadel of excellence' allowing my heart and mind to develop in a safe environment as I emphasised earlier.
We have come today to remember with gratitude but also to look forward in hope with the present Staff and pupils of Poltair.
I read again at the age of 70 the lesson I read at 17 with even firmer conviction that these words, if followed, can be a blessing to us all. I am reading from the Authorized Version:
Finally, brothers & sisters, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest; whatsoever things are just; whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ,if there be any virtue and if there be any praise - THINK ON THESE THINGS.
I ask you to join with me in the text again by shouting:
"REJOICE in the Lord always again I say REJOICE!"