KES Aston - Peter Varani

Peter Varani remembers


1938	2008

"Browsing the web on a recent wet Sunday afternoon in Melbourne, Aust., I was surprised and delighted to come across your very comprehensive website on KEGS Aston.

As an 'Old' (82 years) Edwardian, I have often tried to access information about the old school, without a great deal of success, I may say, until last Sunday.

Your site covers a huge range of topics, the only omission from my viewpoint is much mention of the Aston that remained at Frederick Rd. all through the war.

I attended Aston from 1936 thru' to 1942, when I left to go to sea in the Merchant Navy as an apprenice. I was not one of those evacuated to Ashby, but fortunately survived all the bombings of Birmingham during the 1940's.

I vividly remember those days, and nights. Coming to school in the morning after a particularly heavy raid the night before, wondering if the school was still standing. Obviously it survived unscathed, although much of the surrounding areas did not.

Daytime air raids during school hours, meant that all classes were suspended while we trooped down to the basement for shelter. Very convenient for us if a particular class got too boring, the sound of the siren was very welcome.

The highlight for me of your site was the whole school photo of 1939, which I see has only come into your possession a little over a year ago. I am the boy in the front row of the second picture wearing a black patch over my right eye. At the time , I had a lazy left eye, and this was designed to strengthen it. Your photo brings back all the masters that taught me during the years, Mr. Sharp, Phys. Ed, George Painter, Head Master and English, V.Harris, music, (tapped me on the shoulder with his stick and said "Boy, you need not sing"), W.Thomas, history, and many others to whom I am indebted for what I consider to be a very well rounded education. Of course, I also have very fond memories of Mr. Chas. Hudson, who kept us in our place with a friendly cuff over the ear, and his wife and daughter who ran the tuckshop, and cooked great school dinners in the basement for 9 pence per head, a shilling if you wanted desserts. If you were really in the inner sanctum (a table in the kitchen itself), you usually got seconds for free.

I was surprised to read somewhere in your site that the practice of conducting a Remembrance Day service had been dropped for a number of years. Certainly it was always carried out whilst I attended Aston, and as School Captain (albeit of a reduced school), it was my privilege to place the wreath on the Memorial. I can't imagine it being discontinued.

I have only been able to visit Aston once in all the years since leaving, and that was during the August school holidays some time ago when the school was undergoing some pretty serious renovation, a new roof I think, so I have not been able to catch up with all the developments in recent times. However, thanks to your site, I now have a much better appreciation of the old school.

I have to say that I was not at the top of the academic field during my time at Aston, but for some reason I was School Captain, and also Captain of the 1st. 15 for a year. I seem to recall that toward the end of my time at Aston, ( I left in August 1942), , that the refugees from Ashby returned from their estates, and more or less took over the school again, to our somewhat dismay, since we not unnaturally thought that Aston was ours.

Which really brings me to my original comment about your site , and the lack of any information about war time Aston. The fact is that the school continued to function normally in all respects, albeit on a reduced scale, up until the time I left in 1942, and presumably long after that.

We had our normal classes, sports fixtures with other schools every Saturday, and carried on all the traditions of KEGS to the letter. Armistice Day was always observed, assemblies held every week, and speech nights at the end of every school year. I particularly remember my mother being very impressed on being shown to the front row seats on speech night the year I was Captain. Her comment was " I felt ever so posh".

My apologies if I appear to have rambled on a bit. I can't wait to show my Australian grandchildren my 1939 school photo. If you have a copy of the Speech Night programmes for 1941 and 1942, I would love to purchase same."(Peter Varani)