Speech Day 1952

The 1952 Boston Grammar School Speech Day took place on 16 December at the Regal Cinema, Boston.

Newspaper Report

From the Boston Guardian, 17 December 1952

Yesterday's Speech-Day at Boston

"There is a real danger of being spoon-fed and not having to use one's ingenuity and talents to provide interests," said Mr L T Waddams, headmaster of Boston Grammar School speaking at yesterday's speech-day of the school at Boston Regal Cinema.

He commented:-

"There are so many distractions to a young person nowadays that some of them appear to find it difficult to fit school in. The art of concentration is a valuable one, and parents could do a lot to encourage it at home. It is not unusual to find people flitting from activity to activity, and I am distressed to find that, in spite of the myriad of hobbies now available, there still seem to be people who say 'What is there to do?'

"Inventions come in an unbroken succession, but the capacity of the human brain has not increased, and I cannot see that anything has yet been devised to take the place of some of the tried personal qualities of reliability, concentration, hard work and, above all, an interest in doing a job well,"

Mr Waddams' report stated that they had sent boys this year to Cambridge, Durham and Nottingham Universities, University College, Hull, and Loughborough College, all on degree courses, whilst P E Luff, last year's senior prefect has been accepted at Christ's College, but was doing his National Service first. M J Pinner delighted everyone by being selected for Cambridge University association football team in his first term.

"The second year of the General Certificate of Education produced numerically approximately the same number of passes in different subjects, but the general grades attained were rather higher than last year." the headmaster went on. "In future, the Examination Board is again being allowed to award distinctions as well as passes, and this should encourage the better boy to aim at a really first-class result. A pass in the General Certificate of Education is equivalent to a credit in the old School Certificate, and that increase in standard is bound to re-act unfavourably on the results of the type of boy who used to be able to scrape through the School Certificate. passes in each individual subject are noted on the certificate, and no special group of subjects is required.

Mr Waddams gave a comprehensive review of sports activities, referred to various members of the staff who had left during the year and welcomed as new members Mr T R J West, from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Mr D E J Godfrey, of St Catherine's Society, Oxford, Mr L Veale, Queen's College, Oxford, and Mr K H E Whittle, from Birmingham University and the RAF. Mr J P Marshall, organist of Boston Parish Church, now came in part-time to take charge of the music, while Mrs C M Clark came as headmaster's secretary, he added.

Other school activities were also fully reviewed in the report.

Prizes were presented by Professor J A Steers, of St Catherine's College, Cambridge. The Mayor (Coun Mrs Alice S Johnson) and the Mayoress (Mrs W W Johnson) were present.

Grammar School Prize-Day

Recipients of prizes at Boston Grammar School speech-day yesterday were:

Public Examinations

Passes at advanced stand - were as follows:- W H Arliss (maths, further maths, phys, chem), J A Brian (French), L A Brooks (French, English), A M Catling (art), J B Chapman (French, geog), P N Day (maths, phys, chem), R N Everett (French, religious knowledge), R A Harrison (maths, further maths, phys, chem), P L Lingard (maths, phys), P E Luff (French, English, German), M J Pinner (maths, further maths, phys), P D Richardson (French, English, German), C E Riches (maths, further maths, phys, chem), B T Smith (maths, further maths, phys, chem), A E Vere (maths), D Wade (maths, chem).

The following boys passed in five or more subjects at ordinary standard:- J Blundy, A Burrows, B Clayton, M B Cox, J H M Fox, J F Gelsthorpe, J M Gould, A Heath, J L Leatherland, P R Loveley, B H Manning, J Morley, G P Riches, C R Saunders, C E Swift, R Taylor and G Wain.

Parry medal: P E Luff

Dennis Empire prize: P E Luff

Ogle Divinity Prize: R N Everett

Hill Classics prize: P E Luff

Scorer prizes: Senior. P E Luff; middle, R H Hawkins; junior, A F Budge and R Stanwell

Form 6a: W H Arliss, R A Harrison, M J Pinner, C E Riches, P E Luff and P D Richardson

Form 6b: B M Worrall

Form 5: J D Lowe, A Burrows, M B Cox and J H M Fox

Form 4a: D A Smith, T A Gibson and I W Forman

Form 4b: T M Hildred

Form 3a: J E Odling, Edward Hackford:E A Hackford and R M Sheehan

Form 3b: H Slator, J E Stannard and A E Stacey

Form 3c: T A Wright

Form 2a: C Harrison, C Naylor, G C Solomon and T R Dunn

Form 2b: S N Sharp and D Ancliff

Form 1a: C A Kitchen, D Jones, R P R Johnson and F J Allday

Form 1b: C G Burks and F H Goldspink

Art prizes: W Blakey and M Blakey

Cricket prizes: M J Pinner, P E Luff and B E Meeds