The Fourth letter to St Michael’s from Owen 1 (1948-1954)
October 2003
This is an original St Michael’s Old Boys badge still in my possession. The blazer has long since gone the way of old clothes.
It is several weeks since I put pen to paper. But this exercise has got my mind going and much but nothing like all has filtered itself to the surface. I must however stress again these are only recollections and not researched writings. Some, many, often times I may be wrong, if so do correct my or better still fill in the gaps. I have already had (Oct 2003) wonderful feedback from Michael Fitzgerald < michaelfitzgeraldATsuffolkonline.net > who was able to fill in details that I was unable because I never knew in the first place or have since forgotten.
Like most youngsters I had a best friend, that is one particular child that one got on best with. We all would also have known
x, John Huber, Seg Owen ca 1949
one particular child that we detested most. I was lucky in so much that my particular was ‘Chum’ John Huber, although a boarder, a local of the town. His father owned and ran the Lister House Hotel which was (and still is) at 1 Park Street. The Bus Station was then opposite now (by approx year 2000) removed. The wonderful part of this friendship was that I was invited at many weekends to his home at the Lister. The hotel had extensive garden then (1950) and we were allowed to get up to all sorts of mischief, such as constructing small furnaces and melting lead in tin cans. On the right is a photo taken on one such day. Left unknown child of a hotel guest. Centre John Huber and at right myself ‘Seg, Owen 1‘ taken perhaps in 1949 or 1950. You can see just how enjoyably dirty we got. Notice the socks down leaving un-tanned skin, a sign that having socks down around ones ankles was not the usual thing. Yes short trousers were always that long. Later in the RAF I was to find that ‘Bombay Bloomers’ was still the order of the day still in the Forces. The 
cat John is holding is a Siamese of which I recall the hotel had two. Mrs. Huber was very fond of cats. On the left is another photo in the Hotel garden, taken it looks like on the same day. The inscription on the back of the photo informs one that the cat is under the table. John was a confident extraverted child very able to express his ideas. He was very popular with all his schoolmates. His calligraphy was exceptional for a child his age and I still have examples of his handwriting and am still amazed. He was also truly excellent at spelling, a subject that I was very poor (and still am) at. I am afraid that I was constantly looking over John’s shoulder and cheating.
I kept in touch with John for some years but now I have no idea what became of him. I did see once a film taken of tours in New Zealand where the guide looked his very double. Perhaps like myself he left the old country ?. I do recall that his brother-in-law (who was much older) and married sister also worked in the hotel. His brother-in-law was employed as chef in the hotel chef and also holding down a job as a bus driver. It was all work. Later the couple moved near Chertsey which was near my grandparents home in Wraysbury(Middlesex). John like myself married young, we all did then, and John was always very popular with the ladies. I enclose a photograph of his wedding.
John Huber’s wedding, John Huber, Seg Owen, x,x,x
John Huber is on the left holding glass. Myself Owen 1 about to be extinguished by the fire bucket hanging like a Damocles sword over my head. The other two are friends of John, certainly I do not think they are Old Michaeleans.
Now I have mentioned the name of the village Wraysbury where my maternal grandparents lived. This brings to mind another OM (henceforth to mean Old Michaelean) one lad named ‘Gate’ Harkins. I do not have a photo of ‘Gate‘. but there may be one somewhere on the site. Gate was one of those boys straight out of the ‘ Boys Own’ who walk very tall amongst his peers.( I think he was in fact short in stature physically). He was very good humoured and tolerant of us younger boys who all looked up to him, he was immensely popular with all. Gate was of a thick set very sturdy build which made him very accomplished on the sporting field. Of course being only a sprat at the time I had little to do with Gate other than admire. However one holidays I was staying at my grandparents in Wraysbury when it was announced that we were to visit Gate’s family who happened to live within walking distance. I was both excited at the prospect of saying Hello to one of the schoolboy ‘Heroes’ but feeling somewhat cowered at such a humble mortal as myself was about to visit the home of a senior pupil. A senior who I presumed for some reason would live in at least a mansion if not a castle. My fears were groundless for Gate like myself came from a very humble home. Perhaps even more difficult than my own even. I have no idea what happened to Gate but I hope life has treated him well. If he went through life like he went through school then I’m sure he is a winner and for that matter the world also.
On the left is a photograph of the tennis courts it would have been taken perhaps in 1959. Behind can be seen the backs of the houses along Grove road. In the foreground the lawn and of course part of the famous ‘Penance walk’ running from left to right of the photograph against the courts themselves. I had left St Michaels for some years and returned from service in Malaya in August 1958. I now could afford such things as a good camera, no more the home developing of film. The bush behind the courts is privet hedge. This wood, I recall, is excellent for making bows (Bows and arrows) and also the branches in the stalks are such that excellent catapult forks can be made from them. How the unfortunate plants survived in anyone’s guess. For some reason the name Tony King comes to mind when I look at this picture. But Tony would also have left school some years before also, being the same age as myself.. Perhaps we made a special pilgrimage to the school together that day. I just do not recall. Tony was the same age as myself . Again one like myself of the less well off. (Fr Dunstan certainly managed to find those in need of help) We more or less shared the same classroom throughout our school life. I seem to recall Tony then lived at 114 Baldock Road Letchworth. I often went there to his home to visit in the holidays. Tony was a boarder although he only lived in Letchworth. No photos of Tony I’m afraid. But I do recall having a few adventures with him. On one occasion we decided it would be a good idea to make gunpowder. The ingredients were easy to obtain in those days and we set to its manufacture in his bedroom. All went well and a considerable quantity was made. Wishing to press the gunpowder into cakes we damped it and squashed it into a sort of block. However being still damp the powder was not good enough for ignition, a procedure we were keen to embark upon. Tony suggested we hurry the drying process by warming it on a small paraffin stove he had there. Against my better judgment I concurred, and we did just that. Needless to say we got premature ignition and the whole lot went up. Fortunately the powder was still very damp and burnt slowly, we were also at the open window so the smoke went outside. The whole episode taught me a safety lesson than I took to heart. I was to have many adventures involving home made explosives with and without Tony. How we never hurt ourselves I do not know. Tony had an elder brother Graham (Not an OM) who was an accomplished musician. I recall Graham and his friends around the piano, all seemed grown men to me, making music. It was Graham’s music that kindled my taste for ‘Trad’ Jazz, a taste that dominated my youth. Tragically Graham and his partner were killed at the start of their lives in a motor accident, being survived I seem to remember only by their infant daughter. I well recall that mournful day as it was the first time that I pondered the idea that death is a constant companion to us all. (date perhaps 1954)
But before you draw the conclusion that Tony was a bit of a wild child, which in a way he was very much so. There was a very serious side to Tony young as he was. He also had a good musical ear like his brother and was in the Choir. The Choir was then run by Fr Philip who is mentioned elsewhere on this site. Strangely for a boy of his age then (perhaps 13 to 14) Tony was sensitive to the many things that he perceived were wrong with the world. By the time he was thirteen or thereabouts Tony was a convinced Communist. This made him more than a little unpopular with many people at the time (Godless little boy my mother would say). Communism being the number one bogy in the fifties. But he was well read in the subject and convincing in his arguments which was not much help when trying to talk with adults. I should have been more attentive to his thoughts, as they mean a lot to one at that age and a more sympatric ear is a great help. But not all thirteen year olds are as serious about the world as Tony was and I did not heed him much on the subject. If you read this Tony then console yourself in so much that I did see the light in the end and have been a Socialist all my life and you have contributed to that. I believe Tony went to Africa, but where and why or what befell him ? ?.
Continue with the Fifth Letter
St Michael's College, Hitchin 