Wavell House
When old boys come back to visit Wavell House a standard remark is, "But it's much smaller than I remember it to be". The size of the rooms and the height of the stairs has certainly not changed. What has changed is the boys' size in relation to everything around.
I think that this gives a good indication of how large everything must loom to a new boy when he first arrives. When you are ten the dormitories must appear to be like football pitches, the stairs stretch upwards forever and the lockers tower like cliffs above your head. Coupled with this a multiplicity of rules is suddenly injected into a boy's life. He must remember to be at a given place at a given time, look after his property, make his bed, do his 'dorm' duty and learn the intricate an of tying his own tie and doing up his shoe laces.
Small boys, however, are very adaptable. They soon fall in with a routine and what is expected of them in the way of behaviour. Home life is replaced by a communal spirit which grows stronger as the first few weeks pass.
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One is never bored as there is always something to do or someone to play with. There are challenges to face in the classroom, on the games' field and in everyday life in the House and when difficulties are surmounted and overcome there is the feeling of achievement and satisfaction to enjoy.
The Rev. Eric Milton, the School Chaplain, joined the House Staff to replace the Rev. A. A. Orrock on his retirement last year. Mr Milton is a reserve Naval Chaplain and a distinctly salty tang was noticeable within the House after a few days. Such phrases as, "belay that order", "square that kit away", "muster on the ground floor" and "to heel Bosun", Bosun being his West Highland terrier, rang through the corridors. He has also brought with him his skill as a Naval Architect. This he puts to good use in his work with the younger boys with his fascinating blackboard drawings and his precision design of kites which are made and flown in the Model Making hobby. We thank him for his help and interest and hope that he will have a long and happy stay with us.
After a lapse of one year we are once again going to Camp in the Cairngorm Mountains during the first week of the Summer holiday. This affords the boys a unique
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