pp.6-7 SCHOOLDAYS (1916 -1927)

"Soon after the War started Nurse Southwell left us and completed her training, to become a qualified Nurse at Guy's Hospital, after which she became one of the Army Nurses and we heard and saw little of her. She was succeeded by Miss Marriott, who became our Nursery Governess, and who with my Mother, taught me some elementary things. When I was seven I was sent to a small boarding school at Riber Castle, which stood at the top of the steep hill to the south of Matlock. There were several other boys whom we knew at the school, and we went there by train from Nottingham. It was an alarming experience for a timid boy, and I must admit that I was pretty terrified and miserable for the first term. But I do not think it did me any harm. The boys whom I knew included Pete Gauld, whose father was a Nottingham doctor and had been Captain of Nottinghamshire County Cricket, Brian Bradley, the friend whom I mentioned earlier in connection with the "bows and arrows incident" [not included here], Christopher Paul, another doctor's son, and, I think, a Windley.

The Headmaster, who owned the School, was The Reverend J.W. Chippett, who had been a Master at Giggleswick, and who was well known to my Grandfather. One, if not both, of my Hacking uncles had been at Riber^[1]. Mr Chippett was a marvellous teacher of boys because he had the knack of making things interesting to them. The Matron, Mrs Summerson (Ma Summy) was a war widow, and her son John was the second senior boy. He was a gifted pianist and one of the nicest people I have ever known. The Head Boy, Luce, was not very effective in controlling misbehaviour or bullying. There were less than twenty boarders, and one or two day boys came up from Matlock. All the boys are named on the photograph, which I still have.

Close to it was a large Conservatory in which was a good Black Hamburgh vine which produced a good crop of grapes. Nearby was a small bathroom with one bath in it, in which we took turns to wash. One day I witnessed an extraordinary incident which I still cannot understand. Brian Bradley was in the bath and I stood by, being next in the queue. Ma Summy appeared, brandishing the steel poker which we used in the fireplace in our form room which had an open fire-grate and coal fire - badly in needed in winter, being the only kind of heating. The poker had been badly bent and had clearly been left in the bottom of the fire until red-hot and then bent in the fire bars of the grate. "Who did this?" asked Ma Summy, very crossly. We did not know, and had never seen the poker like that before. Brian held out his hand for it. Ma Summy handed it to him, no doubt thinking that he just wanted to look at it. Brian held it between his two hands, which he moved about on it, and straightened it with apparent ease, grinning at Ma Summy as he did so. She was completely stunned, and turned pale with shock, because it was a physical impossibility for this to have been done, even by a strong man, with his hands alone. But Brian could only have been about ten. Ma Summy left without a word. Nor did we talk about it either, and I do not think Brian understood what he had done. Brian and I remained friends on and off, and I visited him at his parents' house in Pelham Crescent, Nottingham. Much later in life we were both in the 8th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters. But alas! Brian tried to knock out a German Tank with an anti tank rifle fired from the shoulder, and was killed. That was in Norway.

It was at Riber that I learned to love Derbyshire, as we boys walked, or ran, miles with Mr. Chippett. I developed strong legs and a wiry strength that has not yet quite left me. I also learned to swim, in an elementary fashion, in the old and really quite dangerous swimming baths at Matlock Bath, to which we ran down and up the footpath once a week. My mother had learned to swim there as well. Riber was tough. At first I hated it, and dreaded going back to school. But when I left, I remember carrying my little bag down the steep path to catch the train at Matlock station, and being in tears.

I suppose that the reason I was taken away from Riber was because my father thought it too small a school, and also that it lacked a certain amount of refinement."

^[1] One uncle sent Richard postcards whilst he attended the school. He clearly had a wonderful sense of humour. For example:
"There is enough stone in this pyramid to build a wall four feet high right around France. Remember me to Mr Chippett."

Richard went on to write:"The hills near Matlock, and the walks among them, have always entranced me since I was a schoolboy at Riber ..." (p.67)

You may like to view
Water Cures
Map of Riber
The Enduring Folly of Riber Castle
Riber School in the 1901 census

Elsewhere on the internet
High Leas Farm was owned by Richard Beaumont Read about the history and some local characters