Page 40 - Potted History 2017

The editor of the 1961 Cygnet reported: With the move to Wembley Downs the School was divided into
seven houses, two of them boarding – Wilson and Faulkner
‘The final, and probably the Houses. The five day houses were Buntine, Haynes, Parry, Riley
most impressive, phase of the and Stirling.
opening came when the boys
of the School marched by Alistair Macmillan recalls:-
Houses up onto the Assembly
area and through the entrance ‘My first year as a teacher at Hale there were no houses in Hale
of the School. The impression in 1961 was, more importantly, Road) shows how far we were from
gained at the Old Boys’ the first year of Hale at Wembley ‘civilisation’. Transport, too, was a
Assembly was reflected in the Downs. For the Headmaster Mr huge problem. The School tried
sight of the School entering J.R. Prince, the staff (some from (often unsuccessfully) to organise
the new buildings. The music Havelock Street, some new) and special buses, cyclists battled up
was provided by the Western the excited boys of all ages, the Hale Road and parents and boys
command Band.’ School was ‘ready’, but were we? struggled in our isolation. It was
We had a beautiful and spacious then a most difficult time but
The early days had their difficulties.
school but we had no School hall, through it all teaching went on,
we had workmen everywhere kids somehow survived the sand
‘Without a hall, open-air (the tap of hammers and roar and noise, games were played,
morning assemblies caused of pneumatic drills meant noise boarders were happy in Wilson
some concern, with several galore as the cement pillars of the and Faulkner and the new Hale
The Governor, Sir Charles Gairdner cuts the ribbon; the Chairman of the boys wilting under the effects Hall were constructed), we had eventually settled down.
Board, the Headmaster and staff look on. of the sun during first term. outside all-weather assemblies,
Second term occasionally power failures, automatic On March 6th, 1961 (Old Boys’
found a potentially long lecture bells awry, water failures and Day) the new School was officially
Scissors used at the 1961 rudely interrupted by a sudden everywhere, but everywhere, – opened. On a beautiful day the
downpour of rain, which sent
opening ceremony - John Russell Prince was appointed Headmaster of the School. the multitudes scurrying for sand! boys lined up in Houses behind
Wembley Downs 1961 shelter. Lower School members the Old Boys and parents on what
6 March 1961 - The new School opened its doors at Wembley were reported as having a At first the sand dominated, all was then called Chapel Green. An
Downs after a formal ceremony presided over by Chairman Lesley competition each morning to around us, all over the ovals, the eerie bushland scene prevailed
Craig. The captain of school, Warren Lilleyman, handed a pair of see which one could amass the quadrangle and in everything. – something of a contrast to our
scissors to the Governor Sir Charles Gairdner who cut the ribbon largest pile of blue metal in To make the ovals playable, memories of the small Havelock
at the stairs leading to the then Administration Block. cinders were mixed with the Street site surrounded by houses,
front of him in the fifteen minute sand (perhaps those cinders shops and factories. The mixing of
period. … are a reason for the School’s the Old Boys and the students in
magnificent grounds today). When a moving ceremony reminded us
The boys march in for the first time … Some time after the building the rain came in April the grass we were all part of a new chapter
of the new School hall started, grew and the all-conquering sand in Hale’s history – the making of a
one rather unusual sight was to was controlled until it re-asserted new school!
see boys gazing wonderingly itself when huge machines dug
at grimy workmen mercilessly out the swimming pool. 1961 was then a very different
hacking down cement pillars time. We salute so many – the
which had been constructed only Today’s dining hall and lecture vision and the wisdom of our
some four to five days before. theatre were there but the library forefathers like Bill Brine and
was a pokey, dim, small room in Leslie Craig in the acquisition and
Nevertheless, despite all odds, what is today’s administration building of the site; the wonderful
assemblies managed to survive area, the Junior School was the Old Boy farmers like the Fowlers,
and maintain the dignified present ‘C’ Block and there was who bought down their bulldozer
air of their Havelock Street no chapel. In fact the 1968 picture and cleared the bottom ovals;
predecessors.’ 16 of the chapel’s beginnings (when

16 Editorial, Cygnet (December 1961), pp 11-12