SEAMEN IN THE MAKING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 142, 3 July 1937, Page 11

SEAMEN IN THE MAKING

"Town" of 800 Boys j

rpHEHE can be no educatdona,l establishment in the eountry better sitod orvplanned, or one which provides more amenitios for its pupils, than the Royal Hospital School at Holbrook, Suffolk, writes ' ' Taff rail, ' ' in the London Observer. It waa staTted an 1712 as an adjunct to Grecnwich Hospital, founded eighteen years earlier for eeamen broken in the wars. Since 1869 pen5sions have been granted to disabled seainen and marines instead of maintenance and accommodation, and in 1873 the old hospital buildings were allotted to the Eoyal Naval College. The school, however, for the free education of the . sons of seamen, marines, and other seafarers, continued, and in 1933 moved froin Greenwich to jte present quarters at Holbrook. With eleven houses for the 860 boys, houses for the officersy masters and staff, a chapelj administrative offices, assembly hall, a 200-foot central tower which contains the' water supply tanks for the whole establishment, ewimming bath, gymnasium, classrooms, laboratories, manual .' wprkshop, lannc^ry, infir-" mary, dining hall and kitchens, it is something" more than"a village— almost a "small town "with" many imposing build:. ings, a ;home1*f arm," roadways," a' para'de .ground and extensive playing ffields. "The chapel- and assembly. hall, . with Its prbj pcrly 'fltted stage, can only be 'described as magnificent. The gymnasium and indoor swimming bath aro the largest I have seen. t Of 4ho 255 lads who left during 1936 at the age of about fifteen and a half, twenty-seven^ the pick of the bunch, joined the Mechanical Training Establishment at Chatham as artificer apprentices R.N. after passing the stringent examination. Another 115, of whom fifty-four were in the "Advanced Class," joined the naval training establishments as seamen boys; ten went to the Eoyal Marines; and seven became E.A.F. apprenticeis, the standard for height for that Service being slightly lower than for the Navy. Of the seven-ty-six discharged as medically-unfit for the Eoyal Navy, thirty-three joined the Merchant Navy, fourteen were found work in civil life, and twenty-nine were returned to their homes at the requcst of their parents. In other woTds, 60 per cent. of the boys lea-ving the sc-hool during the year entered the Eoyal Navy or Eoyal Marines, and 57

■ v: • • \ i - S . | per cent. of these were delinltely abovfl the average in education and . intelligence, a xesult foi\ which the teaching . staff at Holbrook deserve congratulation. • . . The school 'ds run under a form of naval discipline modified to Buit the young, and the education, and training are essentially practical. Elementary seamanship and signalling, handicrafta and metal work aro taught besides >th» usual eehool subjects, while tho excellent school band ds known all over the neighbourhood. The food would. put many a public school to shame. The boys work hard and play hard. Physieal training, ewimming, and games ara specialities, and the results certaiely -justify all the trouble takou by the im structors. Among- -other things, HoL brook ia the best ewimming school is England. Tho boys are as itosgh us leather^ bursting with. Tude health and goo# spirits and as nofisy as: can be whcja out of echool. There is no harshneas^ and I particulariy noticed that the oJRcers and tnasters ;knew^ most of *the lads by name and reputation, no rueaa task with an ever-changing mob o% 860. 'The7^cIothiiig is "eniinently" suitjftble— blue jerseys' and shorts on weefe-days, .with stockings , with a diff erent \ coloured. stripe denoting eaeh: house, ^and the ad'dition of a coloured "flashf' to the gartor for petty officor boys. 'On S^undays'tho wholc school turns out in. the traditional 'bluejaeketB, uniform^ th« petty officer boys wearing the short, bluO, brass-buttoned jackets whdeh final- . ly disappearc'd from the Navy in 1891. I visited classrooms, workshops, laboratories, dormitories, dining-hall, kitchens— nearly every building in the 'school. I saw boye at work and at play and eatihg their midday dinnesrs and heard the whole 860 of them singing together in the assembly hall. I have visited many schools and educational establishments in this eountry and abr'oad, but never have I seen a keener or more contented-looking crowd of youngsters, or lads that are better cared for ' or more likely to make good seamen and good citizens. The Holbrook boye are proud of themselves, and have every- reason to be. The zest, cheerfulness, and bustlang energy of the whole establishment is a veritable. tonie t® any visitor, and a credit to those i responsible. .