Cricket under the remarkable Rev. C.F. Walters (HM): mid-1960s

My time at St. John's began in the Michaelmas Term, 1962. But it wasn't until the seemingly everlasting ice from the memorable winter of 1962-63 had melted on 'The Ramp' that my cricket there started...

The Ramp was a tarmac rectangle raised about 6 feet from ground level – accessed by a large concrete ramp – that bordered the school swimming pool. Backed by the red brick property wall that separated us from the famer's field behind the school, it was the perfect location for pre-assembly, break time, lunchtime and after-school cricket. We bowled with a completely bald tennis ball, and hazards included losing it in the aforementioned field or in the pool over a high wire-netting fence.

Having honed my skills on The Ramp and having demonstrated above-average ability, I was keen to play 'proper' cricket as soon as possible. The opportunity came that summer with an Under 10s away match against King's College School at the other end of Grange Road. Batting first amid huge excitement, we managed to amass the grand total of ONE run, which King's cruised past with the loss of only 4 wickets!  I made the first duck of my cricketing career, with Barnes (ii) contributing our solitary single, but did take a wicket…

I don't remember any other Under 10s or Under 11s fixtures, but do recall performing well enough for Beaufort in House matches to warrant a remarkably young call-up to the 1966 1st XI at the age of 11 to play as an all-rounder alongside such luminaries as skipper Nick Lloyd, 'keeper Mark Parrott and demon fast bowler Mark (?) Williams.

By now I was able to appreciate the massive influence exerted on school cricket by our legendary Headmaster, Rev. Cyril Walters. 'HM' was cricket mad and had played first class cricket for Worcestershire. His aim appeared to be to give all boys with cricketing ability the time and facilities to play at the highest standard they could manage. This meant ensuring that the 1st XI had a full fixture list against schools far and wide. Given that we might have to travel to Essex, Bedfordshire and Oxford during the season, we often had to leave in the middle of morning lessons – much to the intense (and, to us, hilarious) frustration of teachers like Eric 'Gibbo' Gibbins (Maths). Obviously for us cricketers, getting HM's permission to leave a Maths lesson half way through was a huge plus, but for poor old Gibbo in particular, the whole concept simply didn't add up and drove him to subtraction!

We would travel either in Mr. Lewis's VW camper van, Mr. Peacock's Triumph Herald Vitesse or Mr. Chapman's dark blue Alvis. JWRL's VW seemed to promote travel sickness for me, and he used to bemoan his many migraines whilst at the wheel. Groan. Being chauffeured in Chappo's Alvis was a rare but infrequent treat – a French teacher, he always exuded expensive after shave, elegant suits and 007-like style and charisma. Much the plum taxis to go in, however, were MJNP's vehicles – initially the Vitesse, then latterly the turquoise Sunbeam Alpine convertible. An added bonus was being taught all the intricacies of the Totalisator by Geography teacher Peacock en route. This horse-racing knowledge would prove especially useful to me in particularly boring Geography lessons, where a cunningly constructed betting question was always remarkably effective at side-tracking him from the social geography of Malaya (yet to become Malaysia) or whatever.

As well as being senior cricket master, JWRL taught English – my best subject. I liked 'Lewy' but, for some unaccountable reason, I could be a proper attention-seeking nuisance in his lessons from time to time. Indeed I was badly behaved in many lessons with many teachers, which prompted a surprisingly bold solution. With HM's blessing, JWRL proposed that I be made school cricket captain in 1967. This audacious risk apparently did the trick; with my new street cred I no longer needed to exhibit all that 'look at me' behaviour and quickly transformed into a relatively responsible and generally well-mannered schoolboy!

In addition to being Captain, I also opened both the batting and the bowling – I hogged the limelight shamelessly – but thankfully the team did really well, and I retained the captaincy for my third year in the 1st XI.

My love of cricket might have been initiated by my Grandpa, but was wonderfully nurtured at St. John's by HM, 'Lewy' and Mike Peacock. I went on to play high level club cricket until I hung up my boots at the age of 45 to protect my back and concentrate on golf. But I still love and follow the game, and will never forget the old wood, cricket pads, linseed oil and nitrogen fertiliser smells of the cricket pavilion on our Grange Road ground.

Thank you, St. John's, for these delightful memories!