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Member Profiles : Mike Blake (Class Of 1990)
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(7 recommendations so far) Message 1 of 30 in Discussion 
From: Mike (Blakey)  (Original Message)Sent: 6/9/2002 10:28 PM
Below is a collection tales recounted from my time spent at Quantock. These stories have been organized by Year spent at Quantock, and I hope that at least a few of these will be worth the read. At the end of each section are a few links to other stories that I have written and posted on the Quantock MSN community. The following is far from perfect but what the hey ....
 
 
Intro:
To my mind, Quantock School was the Wild West / (Wild-Westcountry ?) of education and growing up - an island in the hills, founded in the 70’s and trapped in time.
 
To me, Quany-life was defined by a labyrinth of School Rules (though none were ever posted) which were subject to interpretation and alteration at whim by the arbiters of justice namely Mr. Phil - and the Head to a lesser extent.
 
These rules were essentially a box whose ever shifting sides governed our every movement and actions, defining the outer bounds of our lives. However within these boarders there was a total guidance vacuum, in which all things could happen and frequently did �?this was the space in which the pupils made and maintained their own code, and this ‘flexibility' is what made the school such a great adventure.
 
I think that if you ask most ex-Quantock School inmate they will tell you it was one of best times of there lives (and in places the worst). What ever you think about your time at Quantock, I think what  the late David Peaster said on many occasions - “You simply do not make friends like you do at Quantock�?-  was simply correct. It is impossible to realize how well you really get to know someone when you spend all your waking (and sleeping) hours in the presence of the same people with no other meaningful contact with the "grown people". You learned your values the hard way, if you steal or lie, the people around would find you out in pretty short order - and then you were made to feel your wrong! Any inconsistencies in your character were soon found, and then ironed out.
 
The school in its essence was about character, people tested your mettle, and if they decided that you could take a little well aimed abuse (especially at what they suspected to be your emotional bits) then you were a solid friend - a strange concept - but probably a sound one! On a day-to-day basis there was nowhere to run, no one to turn to apart from your friends, you either stood up for yourself or your perished. It all sounds a little harsh, but in many ways the School was a harsh place �?simply put, you looked after your mates and they you, and hence strong friendships made. There was certainly little or no parental-like guidance and most people just made it up as they went along, frequently following a steep learning curve - especially if your misadventure happened to cross a thin but arbitrary line drawn by Mr Phil.
 
 
First Year (1985-6):
Blue Dorm: Mark Gibbon, Jamie Cummings, Stewart McKinley, Chris White, Robert Alcock, Jamie Brooks, John Jennings, Phil Muir, Myself, Duncan Roger.

Yellow Dorm (3rd Term): Mark Gibbon, Stewart McKinley, Chalky White, Myself, John Harding, Michael Moffett, Mark Ollis, Neil Walsh, Lebanese Guy ?

At Quantock I was mostly know as “Blakey�?given that my last name is Blake, but I was also called (unacceptably) “Nigger�?or “Nigs�?(“Afro�?also figured strongly). This ‘nick-name�?arose under dubious circumstances and stuck.

The reason I bring this up - is that to me - the following tale sums up Quantock School in many ways. At Quantock you were often dealt unfair cards and it all came down to how you played them.

A rather boisterous fellow (people in my Year can probably guess), upon learning that his new bunkmate was from Africa drew the complex conclusion that he (i.e. me) must be black, and exclaimed “what a nigger!�?- Once the confusion was settled my dubious nickname was born.

Later that night I earned a second key Quantock character facet. Highly over stimulated with my newfound freedoms, I was playing the tradition game of ‘Prefect Baiting�? However, I had clearly overestimated the tolerance of the ‘Year Bully�?who decided to give me a clout. To the surprise of my dorm mates, the ‘new boy�?didn’t burst into tears and demand to see his mummy. Later that same week the Year Bully, unsatisfied by his earlier efforts, decided to try and intimidate me afresh - and I took more blows without crying out in pain. From this point (and after some more ‘hardman�?displays along these lines) I became know as the “Blakey the boy who could take all pain�? In fact this was not such a bad reputation, as most people thought it a rather mute point to bully someone who could “stand any punishment�?- on the other hand there was always those who were rather keen to test my fabled ability. On one occasion Olu Jinadu and 2 co-conspirators dragged me spread eagle into a metal scaffolding pole, in what was the Little Gym (no euphemism intended)! Overall I received about the same amount of pain and beatings as everyone else, but usually in more concentrated bouts.

Mostly I remember being incredibly cold every night, spending a disproportional amount time huddled on storage heaters against the advice Mrs Proctor who warned us of the plight of piles if we persisted in this practice. Clearly there were the daily dorm inspections by the Prefect on duty and or Mr Phil �?i.e. before being allowed down to breakfast in the order we had attained the required levels of ‘swept floor�?(anyone remember the handy loose floor board in Blue Dorm ?) and of ‘shinny shoes�?�?I’m sure you all know the drill �?

When it came to bathing - I think we had scheduled showers about twice a week and had to run the gauntlet of the Head's liberally applied "bell-flucks" (if you don’t know what I’m talking about �?you’re a better person for not knowing). The Head set himself up as a sort of Robin Hood figure, levying shampoo-tax from bathers that pasted his tub-station, so as to donate to those that were without. Strangely every tenth person or so had to sweep the water into the wholly insufficient drain to avoid the shower area overflowing. Every pupil that took part in the “bender-showers�?must remember the joy (and the jockeying) that occurred so as to get a "good shower" i.e. one with more that three pathetic dribbles of water coming out of it. We were all subject to the �? minute rule�? where the Head ran a conveyer-belt system in the showers, where every 2 minutes a pupil was ejected to make room for the next participant. This resulted in a shower that never lasted more 10 minutes and this was barely enough time to soap-up and rinse �?especially if you got a crap shower! The other thing about showering at this age at Quantock - incredibly - it was all but optional, so many a pupils would go through quite a bathing drought!

Some might remember a Junior Wing wide pillow-fight, between two major factions ‘The Ninjas�?(identifiable by a dressing gown cord tied round the noggin) and ‘The Mercenaries�? However there was a small faction of 20 or so (to which I subscribed) ‘The Neutrals�?who fought the faction present in the least numbers at the time. This bout of pillow pugilism resulted in the confiscation of these pillows, which nearly filled “Playboy Dorm�? The eventual release of the contraband pillows sparked further commotion as people tried to ‘up-grade�?pillows in the confusion - a good bludgeoning pillow was often not the best for sleeping on.

At one point the people in my Year took it upon themselves to climbing up the Junior Wing’s rather lofty corridors by bracing theirs arms and legs against the walls and slowly ascending crab style. Safety precautions were not neglected, with a layer pillows being deployed on the ‘linoleum�?floor below. This caper ended when Mrs Proctor came onto the Junior Wing. Kyle Windsphere, Nick Russell and myself currently aloft watched as Mrs P stopped, examined the curious layer of pillows, paused and then craned her head upward and did not seem too surprised to see 3 of us roosting quietly near the roof. She screamed something along the lines of “get down from there you brainless fools�? resulting in us nearly releasing our grips and hence putting our safely equipment to a threefold test.

I also remember getting �? of the best�?from the Head. Ian Newbold (the year below me) decided to take me (the New Boy) on a covert tour of the school. We ended up in the old abandoned shed, just over the low wall by Matrons fishponds. Newbold then started bashing the dilapidated building with a sizable plank - the ruckus subsequently lead to our capture by Matron. Neil assured me that he would confess to the crime solely, and thus clear my good name. However, at the moment of truth (when confronted by the Head brandishing the stick) Newbold remained silent, and we both received equal strokes, and were ordered to sweep the old drive of it’s bounteous foot high layer of leaves. 4 hours later upon completion of our task, the Head appeared and offered us payment for our post-autumnal work. To add insult to actually physical injury, Ian reminded the Head of “our�?crime and so we remained pained as well as penniless (probably for the best actually).

About this time I got the reputation for being willing to eat anything, from whole bars of soap to boot polish and for drinking shampoo to tadpoles! Certainly makes me kinda worry nowadays I must admit!

Also about this time Mark Gibbon started training Starsky (the Head’s current large German Shepard) to hunt Jubs. Yes you can all blame Mark Gibbon for Starksky’s malicious nature �?you heard it here! Mark’s training regime consisted of slapping Starsky on the nose, running off yelping and faining a limp (the only thing missing was a pork-chop attached to Mark’s arse). It doesn’t take an expert to realize that this stimulated Starsky intrinsic wolfin instincts �?resulting in Starsky chasing after him nipping at his heels. From this point onward Starsky became ever more vicious!!! All must remember queuing outside the Head’s office for paper, knowing that you were gonna have to face a hound baying 3 inches from your face - yep I say it again it is all Mark Gibbon’s Fault!

One of the most enjoyable things that I participated in at Quantock was drama with Mr Yates. We had to devise plays in about 10 minutes and then each group presented their work to the class - Duncan Roger, Paul Galley and myself were a tight unit in this department. Anyone remember Mr Yates�?“Nail Game�?where 6 inch iron nails were used as currency - you bough and sold clues written on paper, with the aim of deducing a well known phrase - you could try and guess the answer at any time, but it cost you 3 nails a guess - the prize was 20 nails for a correct answer. The group with the most nails at the end of the session won the whole game. In typical Quantock fashion, people started to make forgery clues which were sold to the opposition.

 

Link to Stories on QS-MSN Site:

Cross-Country B-trail (from QT)<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

Slug Bug Beatings (from QC1)



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 Message 2 of 30 in Discussion 
From: Mike (Blakey)Sent: 6/9/2002 10:31 PM

Second Year (1986-7):

History Dorm: Stewart McKinley, Nick Chalmers, Richard Holdsworth, Phil Muir, Mark Gibbon, Nick Russell, Paul Turner, Carl Barnard, Dany Miles, James Bugler, Kyle Windsphere, Myself)

This year was the year that girls were introduced into the School. I guess it might surprise some to learn that the introduction of girls into our midst was not wholly heartily embraced by a large part of the student body. In retrospect the introduction of the ‘fairer sex�?was the first warning sigh that the school was steering into ever deepening financial straights.

In this year my great mate Ben Honeyands entered the school (Chapel Dorm) as a rather strange fellow consisting on a mop of ginger pencil shavings for hair (which I think now he would gladly have back), bucky crazed teeth, Nation Heath tortoise shell glasses (you remember them ..) and clothes that seemed ordered from a 1970’s clothes catalog. He was much ridiculed for having ‘concord shirt collars�?- that is, he was purportedly able to tuck his shirt collar wingtips into his trousers. Together we developed a new strategy of surviving at Quantock, consisting of a ‘Zero Effort Rule�? The premise being that you sat on your arse (usually whilst drinking endless cups of Quany-tea) and waited for everyone else to do whatever they wanted to do (usually eat) and once the fuss had died down, then we would precipitate. I also spent many a half-term at Ben’s House (Cannington) and then recanting our adventures to Mr Nick Brooks who seemed to love them �?most stories consisted of torturing Ben’s Little brother ‘Bug�?�?i.e. throwing him through thin ice into a freezing pond, funny at the time I assure you!

This was also the year that many folk became addicted to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (better known as AD&D) as wells as “Warhammer’s�?Lead-Figure battle game.

Ben and I also came up with a novel way of getting our French class work done �?this involved “paying�?Paul ‘Quadie�?Thornton M&M’s (usually 4 of the peanut kind) to copy his recently completed class-work. We would then trot up to Mrs Katey Down for our obligatory “A+�?at then end of each lesson. Needles to say in the year ending exam, I got a feeble 5%, but was rather interested to discover that Stu McKinley and Nick Russell both got a measly 3% apiece �?a prudent dropping of this subject resulted!

Other things of note that happened this year was the infamous Dead-legging of Carl “Buffalo Soldier�?Barnard, the rein of terror by Ninja Rowland (link, more) the head mashing of James “Oddie�?O'Halleran by ‘Psycho Peters�?(link, more).  Not forgetting a trip to Western Supermare with Peter Burges, and how Richard Holdsworth (Dicky-B) managed to convince Daren Sadkowski that he possessed a portable Russian dishwasher called a “Tow-well�?pronounced with what we were lead to believe was an authentic Russian accent (link) However I think one of my favorite tales form this era was the tale of “Calum Savage and Tim Chalmers the pissing bumchums�?(link).


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 Message 3 of 30 in Discussion 
From: Mike (Blakey)Sent: 6/9/2002 10:32 PM

Third Year (1987-8):

Top corridor (59 Dorm): Ben Honeyands, Myself and Neil Dunn (later replaced by Paul Galley).

I started the Third Year briefly in ‘History Dorm�?then moved to the “Upper Corridor�?in �?9 Dorm�?with Neil Dunn and Ben Honeyands. Neil stayed for a term and was replaced by Paul Galley.

This year I read ‘Lord of the Rings�?whilst watching folk partake of the bouncy castle from that window ledge on the upper corridor that over looked the Quad of grass below. Some might remember getting inside of the Castle, and pushing against people who bounced into the bouncy turrets - sending them reeling. This was great fun until the air-pump to the castle was turned off, and you had about 2 minutes to escape the confines of the castle via a 1 foot outlet hole, or get used to a elaborate rubber coffin �?easier said than done with 3 arses already in the queue!!!

This year I also managed to get my left wrist cut open by putting my arm through a pane of glass (a long story, I will get around to putting it on the QS-MSN site eventually - needless to say �?truth is stranger than fiction!). Those of my Year may well remember the episode when Peter “Bungle�?Burgess put an industrial sized tub of pickled onions in the 3rd Year Common room (the room opposite Vi’s office). We thought it very gracious of ‘Burg�?to fetch us this tub of savory treats, and leave them for our delectation. An hour later, Bungle returned and flew into wild red-faced rage at the discovery of a 5 liter jar filled with onion skins and vinegar. ‘Bungle Punches�?(link) were administered to all possessing pungent breath. Those escaping the whirlwind of Bungle blows (by fleeing upstairs to the top corridor) endeavored to conceal their culpability by tooth brushing for no less than 20 minutes a piece, less they fall foul of Bungle’s other dread punishments (link).

Other stories on the QS-MSN site of this vintage:

Mr Phil and �?A target=_top href="http://communities.msn.com/QuantockSchoololdBoyzandGirls/fetch.dll?action=MyPhotos_GetPubPhoto&PhotoID=nKQBnH9wN!fg9EYrJxCO2vS7LnxBj6YHW2vqIZLVfbprfKR09sIOhWPWNO0eiPyW!6J7UHeNRI6SQLdusFK*P4g">Eyes of a Hawk�?(from QT)


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 Message 4 of 30 in Discussion 
From: Mike (Blakey)Sent: 6/9/2002 10:34 PM

Fourth Year (1988-89):

Sports Halls Block room M7: Mark Gibbon, John Jennings, and Myself.

The fourth year was quite a change. This was the year that we left our former lives and came under the charge of certain Dr Roger “Psycho�?Peters, famous for his volatile disposition and Victorian teaching methods. Doc introduced reading period before bed, which I came to enjoy, which was always ended with a little sung ditty “Night Night Cherubs�?(link). This was a year of copious GCSE’s course work, not to mention the endless chemistry and physics work sheets as dolled out by the Dr Peters ‘Bander Machine�? I thank Doc Peters as we were in desperate need of his iron rod of discipline, to prevent us drifting into the rather lackluster education that we had otherwise been given to date.

Most teachers would not consider their Prep optional, but not doing Dr Peters�?work was considered life threatening. To ensure your best efforts, Doc would invite into his Study (M1 on the middle corridor of the Sports-Hall Block) for a 30 minute appraisal of your work. These private grading session could go on quite some time with the ever familiar “Let get back to basics�?and for some “it can’t be C02 you f*cking moron!!!!!!�? Being reasonable promising at these scientific subjects my session with the Doc were rather enjoyable, but never relaxing. He would typically spend ten minutes looking over my work sheets and then we would spend the rest of the session gossiping about various aspects of the school - me giving my point of view, and he the staff gossip. However one day I nearly unleashed the volcano. Whilst sitting next to the Doc (chain smoking figuring highly here, along with criminal amounts of coffee) I suddenly became aware that time had crystallized into a single moment. Docs�?roving eyes had affixed on one spot on my worksheet, his knuckles had gone death white and the telltale black vein on his forehead was pulsing - a very very very bad sign. Amazingly I managed to scan the whole worksheet in about a second with my eyes falling onto one of my answer the formulae ‘CO2�? Letting a little strained coughed laughed I said “Oh look I’ve made a silly mistake, how the devil can you get CO2 from that reaction �? Ho ho.�?About 2 minutes seemingly passed, the Doc motionless ... slowly the black vein settled back into his head, his clenched fists unclenched �?I counted myself lucky!

A whole book could be written on the enigma that was Collin Bliss. Those in my Year will remember the pencil “X�?placed on his bed linen (by Jamie Hildage) that remained for a whole year (i.e. His sheet never made it’s way to the laundry services). Collin also spent 2 whole terms without a light bulb. He merely sat in the dark during prep. On one occasion he actually got a light bulb (summoning initiative from some deep unfathomable reserve), but someone though it funny to steal it. He also sadly had no dorm mate, I think James Leatherdale spent some time with him and then moved out. Ben Honeyands at one point placed a rancid milk bottle in his room behind the heater, and it was never removed �?the smell was never to be forgotten (Ben has the full story). Collin also composed several songs which he recorded on his tape deck (I think Dunc Roger got a hold of the tape and when we played it we nearly died laughing listening to it �?sadly at Collins expense). Anyone remember the “Adrian Whiskin Kipper Song�?here is a verse �?/SPAN>

“�?(intro electronic raping sounds) Adrian Whiskin walking down the streeet, �? Weee-ooo-weee-ooo,.. saw some girls he’d like to meet (sang with a conspiratorial tones) Weee-ooo-weee-ooo (more electronic raping sounds) �?f*ck off, f*ck you, f*ck off, f*ck you Kipperrrr,�? (pause) �?you wana know why (again with conspiratorial tones),  �? ‘cause he swims like a Kipperrrr …�?/SPAN>

 

Just for the record Adrian Whiskins was a Jub. I used to know all five verses of the ‘Kipper Song�?- sadly only one remains in my head. Collins “Bottom song�?was also killer which consisted of various teachers and the farting noises they made whilst they were on the toilet �?/SPAN>

This year, Ben Honeyands, Nick Russell, Richard Holdsworth, Paul Thornton, Alex Tooms, Darren Sadkowski, Paul Galley Stu McKinley and myself (as DM) started a AD&D club which we spent the weekend playing and had much fun �?A notable start to the campaigned, was Alex Tooms getting killed in the first 3 minutes of play as his 1st level fighter tried to steal a 12 level cleric treasure map (you had to be there �?. Actually many a good story exist along these lines, but is probably only of interests to us that played in our game such as Dick’s classic “aint got time bleed …�? One of the better scams was when we convinced Mr Phil to let us play a 24 hr game of AD&D to raise money for “Red Nose Day�?(we sponsored ourselves to play, and I think also Ben’s mum did too �?well worth the 8 quid we made). At one point Mr Phil turned up to see what we were up to, which I must say put a bit of a crimp in our game play �?we had to drastically alter our usually vocab �?“I strike the blighter …�?etc �?Doc Peters was also a little puzzled about our AD&D goings on �?but for the most part let us be.

One day Paul Galley and I decide that we were gonna have a green bean growing competition. To keep things fair we placed both our beans in separate ice-cream tubs on Paul Galleys window ledge. We were quite please with the results (me particularly as I was winning given that I had snuck fertilizer into my tub’s soil!!) till about a week on, when Nick Russell the scoundrel came up to me (looking very please with himself) and started to tell me how he had poisoned Paul Galley’s bean plants with all manner of substances (from blue ink to toilet bleach) and reported that the plants were already wilting . I congratulated him with some well earned pain!

Another Nick Russell classic occurred one night whilst talking to his dorm-mates Dave Goddard and Jim Bugler after lights out. A shadow appeared under the door �?a sure indication that the Doc was lurking outside. Dave and Buggs noticed the lurking shadow and immediately shut up feigning sleep. Nick unaware of the menace continued his nattering until Doc opened the door. Nick was forced to confessed to having an animated chat with himself, and got an “Eight thirty�?(link) for his troubles �?SPAN> 

 Link MSN-stories:

Dr Roger Peters: "10 Sheet Rule" (from QC1)

Mark and the KKK gag every week and the laundry run Specialized Attacks (from QC2)


Reply
 Message 5 of 30 in Discussion 
From: Mike (Blakey)Sent: 6/9/2002 10:36 PM

Fifth Year (1989-90):

Sports Hall Block room T9: Nick Chalmers and myself

This year I shared a dorm with Nick Chalmers on the top corridor, who was truly a loveable yet vicious bastard. He used to test me nightly on various criteria of his choosing - normally lyrics to heavy metal song or phrases from the film “Weird Science�? Should I get selected quotes wrong I’d get a stiff beating. We also explored various hypothetical concepts like “the Kiff Olympics�?as well the depraved concept of “kettleing�?best not gone into here. At one point (ask me not why), we both acquired superhero magic names. I was the mighty ‘Kahuna King of the lemming people�?and he was ‘Turko Lord of the weasel folk�? The whole thing was a pre-text for more pain. The rule was neither of us was allowed to utter the others secret magic name less forfeit an uncontested beating. I remember staying awake till the wee hours to safely utter “Turko�? only for Nick to spring outa bed chuckling rather evilly to himself - a well ‘earned�?beat sesssh was administered.

Our neighbors (in T8) were Paul Galley and Paul Thornton. Nick and I took it upon our selves to torment these two individuals. One night we raided their room beating them with our pillows �?the lifeless forms merely accepted the blows uncontested. Nick and I were tormented for days unable to sleep forever expecting a revenge attack that never came - sleeping with our hands gripped around the necks of our pillows, pretty good revenge tactic in the end.

Nick was also the Schools Rugby captain, and had the unwholesome practice of not washing his “lucky�?rugby socks after a win. Nick merely elected to dry his ‘Lucky Socks�?on the storage heater where they would dry into rigid sword blades. This wouldn’t have been a serious problem, apart from our class going several years undefeated. When we finally did loose a bitterly contested match (under dubious circumstances) to Brymoor farming school, I was almost pleased as the whiffy socks finally got a wash �?!

Ben Honeyands and I also started a covert tuck shop this year, in secret but direct competition with Matron’s Tuck Shop. Our key marketing policy was a small camping fridge (hidden in Ben’s locker �?run at the school’s expense of course) with which we could cool our cans of pop. In reality we tended to sell the cans faster than we cool them.  �?. A second group in our Year �?John Jennings, Gideon Millard and Bobby Alcock also started a tuck shop in competition with us as well. In fact they claimed that Mark Ollis and crew (previous Tuck Shop entrepreneurs) had bequeath their tuck shop operation to them. We merely cited Maggi Thatcher’s policies popular of the day.

If our competition hadn’t panicked they might have done alright - but at then end of the second week I went down and bought their entire stock from them at cost-price. They seemed relieved - but they were unaware that we had all but sold our entire stock! In the end on average we took about 200-300 quid a week in stock (not profit), it was quite an operation and must have put quite a dint in Matron’s sales.

We employed several sales tactics. We were always honest, but should a Jub turn up with a 5 pound note (or any largish sum) we would encourage them to leave it with us as credit. We wrote this sum in a little book that we both sighed, and explained to them that they could come any time they liked and get goodies. We pointed out that Matron’s shop only open certain hours whilst we were always open. To our great surprise they often handed their money over. The key thing was this meant their money was committed to us (not Matron or Gideon’s crew down stairs), also since they knew they had credit with us, they tended to spend the fiver in a few days rather that spending more judicially. Another element of this was that quite a few Jubs forgot they gave us their money - not our fault you understand !

In the end we gave up the Tuck Shop venture as our covert supplier (our weak link) got greedy and kept taking a bigger and bigger cut of our profits. Another factor was that Doc Peters was becoming displeased with the number of Jubs coming up to the top corridor and wanted us to move our operation to the 5th form common room which we were not too happy about. I guess it was good whilst it lasted and we did make a fair bit of money at the time.

When I get time I will tell the tale of how myself and Ben Honeyands nearly got shot (with a double barreled shot gun) by David Peaster for a couple of rolls of cheek-sheets �?/SPAN>

Lastly I guess the fifth form was about doing GCSE’s and leaving Quantock, which was a sad event for me. Lots of people left early after their exams, but a few diehards stayed to the end. Ben Honeyands, Dicky-B, Paul Yates, Mark Gibbon, Stu McKinley Darren Sadkowski. Near the end we all snuck down to one of the Neather Stowey pubs and had a few pints and played pool - it was great. I’d like to repeat that one day �?/SPAN>

As for me these days - well after QS I did my A-levels in Taunton, then did a Chemistry degrees then Ph.D at Bristol University. Currently I’m doing more research at Princeton University in the US of A. Over the years I’ve kept in contact mostly with Ben Honeyands (see him about twice a year) also with Daz and Paul Galley. Meet up with Nick C, Dave Goddard, Plimmer and Phil Muir and Dicky-B on separate occasion.

It is sad that as the years have passed despite the best of intentions, I’ve gradually lost contact with so many good friends, I recall that Quaddies moved, and both Ben and I lost his address and now we’ve not heard form him for nearly seven years. I was in touch with Nick Chalmers till about 1996 and then the contact chain was broken �?forever, or so I though. However, now with the establishment of the Quantock School community (with over 300 members �?20 or so are from 1990). We hope to have a 1990 school reunion sooonish which will be just great �? I also hope that other folk like Quadie, David Goddard, Mark Gibbon and the like will soon join our community �?long long live the internet �?I wish it had existed in its present form in 1990, then we would hopefully have all have stayed in contact. The sad fact about the school is that few people lived locally, and mostly pupils being Forces people moved often, and hence Quantock was always I guess doomed to be a broken house �?

 

Mike Blake

 


Reply
 Message 6 of 30 in Discussion 
From: Mike (Blakey)Sent: 6/9/2002 10:39 PM

Links to Stories:

Below are a few more links to stories from my time at Quantock �?all taken from the Quantock School MSN community message boards.

 

List of MEB's Quantock Tales:

Gerry Wisdom (from QQ1)

Ninja Rowland: (from QQ1) More on Ninja Rowland (contributed by Robert Graham):

Slug Bug Beatings (from QC1)

Specialized Attacks (from QC2)

A treatise on Shoulder Tapping (from QC2)

Psycho Peters remodels James O'Halleran's forehead. (from QT) Follow up (from QT)

Muffti-day (from QT)

Psyonics as Standard (from QT) Follow up (Rick Joshua) (from QT):

Cross-Country B-trail (from QT)

Birthday Beats (from QT)

Gerry and the Berries (from QT) Follow up (Jim) (from QT)

Calum Savage and the Piss patrol (from QT)

Eyes of a Hawk (from QT)

Washing-up Duty (from P&D)

Portable Russian Dishwasher (from CO1990)

School Food (from GF)

 

MEB's Quantock Quotes:

Mr Phil: "Headers count double" (from QQ1)

Mr Phil: "Looking sheepish �? (from QQ1)

Mr Phil: "When I was in the Army �? (from QQ2)

Mr Bill Owen: "10 seconds of nasal stimulation�? (from QQ1)

Dr Roger Peters: "Night, Night, Cherubs �? (from QQ1)

Dr Roger Peters: "Bang Bang, Eight Thirty" (from QC1)

Mr Mike Donnon: "When I was in Africa�?" (from QQ2)

Mr "Sporty" Stu Collins: "You’re a Goooon �? (from QQ2)

Wolly the Cook: "Get out of my Kitchen �?" (from QQ2)

Mr "Taffy" Griffiths: "More Mil-lick Felllla �?" (from QQ2)

5th Former Prefect: "Three" (from QQ1) Ben H's reply "Three from the back" (from QQ1)

To 4th Former on Serving Duty "Two from the top please..." (from QQ2)

Pupils (esp. Justin Cooper): "Burrrrrr �? (from QQ2)

 

MEB's Quantock Colloquialisms :

"Bungle Punch" (from QC1) Jim's Follow up Bungle Tortures (from QC1)

"Bum Chum" (from QC1)

"Gerry's Jungle Juice" (from QC1)

"Zero", "Demerit", "Dot" and  "Double Dot" (from QC1)

"Black Nun" (from QC1)

"10 Sheet Rule" (from QC1)

"Wiggy" and "EarWiggy" (from QC1)

"Spam" (from QC1)

"Spamming" (from QC1)

"Bloat-bag" (from QC2)

"Peanut" (from QC2)

"Tagging" (from QC2)


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 Message 7 of 30 in Discussion 
From: MSN NicknameLaurieBoothSent: 6/10/2002 10:49 AM
Mike,
The sad thing about your "Class of 1990" is I believe every word you have written but one thing you must have made up "Night Storage Heaters !!!!". I'm sorry but this must be part of your fantasy war hammer things or soldier bratts. We all know that Quantock had no heating and this is referred to in the "Offstead Report". Did you really have the same Peter Burgess, sadistic chemistry teacher I had in the 60's ? When I visited the school in the 70's he had come back teaching "who let him back ?" He started showing me a new science lab and proceeded to punch me in the arm saying "Booth do you understand ?" as if I was still his pupil !!
Be Seeing You
Laurie (arm still hurting)

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 Message 8 of 30 in Discussion 
From: Mike (Blakey)Sent: 6/10/2002 12:17 PM
The storage heaters were the only source of heat in the whole place and not very good.
 
Most were pretty crap, but some were so hot that you could prabaly cook on them.
 
I recall the one in the snooker room which we used to spit on and watch it sizzle !!
 
This heater proably worked well as the Head actually used this room!!
 
 

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 Message 9 of 30 in Discussion 
From: MSN NicknameLaurieBoothSent: 6/10/2002 2:11 PM
Mike,
Interesting about the snooker room. In my day the snooker room was a wooden hut with a coal fire, this hut has now been knocked down and replaced by a modern kitchen. Mr. Peaster always had this fire lit as he liked to play snooker there. I became the school champ at snooker in order to keep warm at Quantock as this was the only fire I could find. When snooker wasn't being played Mr. Peter Burgess would play the piano and we would all have sing songs (Burgess wasn't all bad) and he would play requests. Those evenings are some of my fondest memories being with my comrades.
On the subject of showers, I only ever had one at Quantock and that finished me off for life, every now and again Gerry Warriner would come into my room, grab me by the ear and chuck me in the bath next door to my room.
Be Seeing You
Laurie

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 Message 10 of 30 in Discussion 
From: LeeRoySent: 6/10/2002 4:33 PM

Oh Blakey, I laughed so much reading your stuff, it brought the place alive again in my head. The Colin Bliss "song" about Hadrian Whisken, and the Oddie "I didn't have TIME to do your work" vignettes were genius. I can just picture Doc's face as he heard that reply. The other stuff you wrote was also poignant; it made me remember how special and unforgettable the school was.

Thanks, Lee.


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 Message 11 of 30 in Discussion 
From: MSN NicknameNickD1958Sent: 6/10/2002 8:23 PM
Laurie,
 
When I joined the school, the snooker table was situated in a room above the kitchen, accessible by a particularly steep set of stairs. Outside of this room was the "Branston Attack" on Sean Harvey by a disgruntled Terry Crockett.
(1974).
 
Nick.

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 Message 12 of 30 in Discussion 
From: BrettSent: 6/10/2002 9:57 PM
Mike
Great stories thanks for spending the time to share them with us, how do find the time to write all that stuff? Don't you have a job?
One point I would like to comment on is the heating in Quantock i.e. the night storage heaters. You mentioned in one story about the possibility of cooking on them, we did! although only a form of toast, the bread didn't turn that brown but it did feel and taste like toast so that was good enough on a cold Somerset evening.
While I remember does anyone remember making cups of tea from hot water from the wash rooms, I can't remember if we were not allowed kettles although I do remember some people owned those little individual heaters that would heat a single cup. Any way it can't of been healthy can it?
Brett.

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(1 recommendation so far) Message 13 of 30 in Discussion 
From: JoolsSent: 6/11/2002 12:26 AM
I agree with lee a lot of what you said brought home some 'special' memorys.
Quantock was a real change for me I came from a top public school. I just
wich I had got to quantock earlier cause it let us be ourselves. Yes we did
have heavy duty pillow fights (my speciality was bricks) inter dorm 4 dorms
400 pupils. Yes there were about 100 to a dorm real harry potter stuff.
These figures are aproximate, it was a long time ago.

I rememember beibng on the floor with the rest of middle corridor ( old block
) on top of me with bungle on top of them egging them on (ok I had just gone
mentall)

Ps Lee could you give us a buzz


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 Message 14 of 30 in Discussion 
From: Marcus (Charlie)Sent: 6/11/2002 10:09 AM
Not sure about the pillow fights, but I do remember those storgare heaters.  It was a mad rush to get the best spots on top of the public heaters at break and doss time, espesialy during the winter - man that place could get cold.
 
Julian, you did have a knack of going a bit 'Mental' when pushed.  The thing was, once a kid had gone mental it was then put to the test on a regular basis, just to see what they did !!  There was a chap called Ben (can't remeber his sir name)  he used to go really mental and start smashing things (including my stereo on one occasion).  He had to be put in the corridor as no one wnated him in their dorm !!
 
Regards,
 
Marcus.
 

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 Message 15 of 30 in Discussion 
From: MSN NicknameLaurieBoothSent: 6/11/2002 11:48 AM
Nick,
Are you talking about the kitchen in the main building ? Enter the building via the main entrance turn right,go along the corridor and the kitchen is on your right. This is where the kitchen was in my day (1965) next to the kitchen (was/is ?) a 45 degree staircase going up one floor !!! I never went up that staircase and now I don't know why, perhaps we weren't allowed to, that would not have stopped me, perhaps Allen & Biggles can explain. Next reunion I will have to go up it !!!! If it is still there.
The Terry Crockett you talk about, is he a younger brother of Jumblie "Chris Crockett", the kid that made a fool of me over the Clock Tower incedent ?.
Well the 1990's lads had it cushy with storage heaters !!! To try to keep my room warm I started to run hot water from the sink around the room but Matron soon put a stop to that & insisted I keep the window open. In the mornings the sink would be frozen up and ice inside my room and Matron would walk in all bright and cheerful and wake me up. After a few months of complaining my dad paid for an electric fire (as if the school fees wern't enough, 10k in todays money), it was installed near the ceiling with a pull cord to turn it on/off. I started stealing bread from the kitchen and used to make toast with my friends on my posh electric fire. All was OK until Mr Peaster started turning off the electric at the fuse box (see battle of the fuse box).
Be Seeing You
Laurie
Work 01453-764475
Home 01453-750395
Mobile 0771-3343-534

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 Message 16 of 30 in Discussion 
From: Mike (Blakey)Sent: 6/11/2002 12:31 PM
 
 
Lee - thanks, and I'm not sure we've heard the full "Ninja" story from the horses mouth yet !!!
 
Brett - Rick asked me nearly a year ago to write a profile for his "Alumni Site" - I've been dithering with 'my profile' on and off since. I would probably dither with it for ever, so i decided to just to post it ....  And yes I do sort of have a job (work in a University), but I sometimes I feel like I have two - espically when people forget how to log into the site. I think we were allowed kettles but most of us just didn't have them - not sure why !! As for making tea from an old boiler -  really sounds like a bad idea - god knows what was in the old rusty, algae filled bastard !!!!!!!! Mind you the food probably was little better so, nothing to worry about i guess !!
 
Laurie - I remeber the Head used to be fixated with the pupils sleeping with the window open - he used to comwe into blue dorm and open all the windows - mind you the place couldn't get colder so we might as well have some fresh air at the same time!! Quantock used to be an old TB farm, so maybe the Head was worried the place was still infested so liked to keep the freash air comming.
 
Marcus - I think the nutter 'Ben' you mention has been talked about else where ...  

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