Back in February Derek wrote to me. “I have been advised by my family (some of them) that the enclosed ‘wordage’ may be of interest to you for the Newsletter. I was not too sure when I was persuaded to write it down, but you must be the final arbiter as to whether to include it. Our very best wishes, Derek and Joscelyn.
Father Burke always insisted he could identify at least 3 of the lads!’ (The handbill includes drawings of about 10 Fisher boys, all grinning happily, one of them waving a bundle of banknotes. Ed.)
‘Thank you for the recent copy of the Newsletter, which Joscelyn and I always read with interest, although some of the names and events happened long before our association with the School.
As you know I am not a Proper Old Boy but became merely an Honorary Member of the 30 Section some years ago.
Six years ago we decided to
move to the wild uncrowded steppes of
It all started back in the
60’s when we moved to
At that time I was not a Catholic but he did not appear to think that this would affect my ability to put in some effort and as it turned out I was given the job of running the Lucky Stations Stall.
Now came the thin edge of the wedge. Father Burke who was running the show at that time persuaded me to join the committee for next year. Come the following year when the new committee assembled, I was introduced to the other members, Colin Chivers, Claude Savan, George (Jack) Diamond, George Edwards, Terry Stritch, (I believe I spelt that right) Heather Appleton, and of course Fr Burke.
I had never been involved in anything like this before and amongst all these Catholics I sat nervously listening whilst the Old Hands discussed the finer points of running a Fete. As the meeting wound up and Heather departed Fr Burke pointed to a screen across the room and said “Jack, if you just move the Confessional over there we can get down to the rest of the business.”
I was transfixed, what on earth should an outsider do in such a situation? However, my equilibrium soon stabilised when the Confessional disclosed its secret. A number of glasses and two full bottles of scotch!
It was during the latter part of this meeting that I discovered that of the six male members present only Terry was a Catholic.
We had one lapsed, the rest heretics! When I expressed my amazement Fr Burke said “Oh yes Derek, the Fisher Fete is run my non Catholics.”
I also discovered that as Heather was responsible to teas and catering, this item was always discussed fairly promptly in the meeting enabling her to leave early! (Prior to the removal of the Confessional!)
Over the years there were of course numerous hiccups. One year on the morning of the Fete, a distraught Fr Burke enlisted the help of one Joe Sheen, an electrical wizard, to restore the power supply to the school after someone had managed to damage a power cable whilst erecting the coconut shy scaffolding. A metal spike was enthusiastically driven in the wrong place!
Another year, again on the morning of the Fete, because a storm was predicted for later in the day, everything on the field that could be shifted was moved to the tarmac playgrounds…. The storm never materialised.
I think the most colourful
year was that of The Fisher Inn. It
was decided in committee that a Beer Tent was a bit old hat.
So we decided we would build our own pub on the field.
With the passage of years I am not sure now whether it was Claude Savan
who arranged this revolutionary project. Safe
to say Claude had a very wide circle of acquaintances and rather like
Our new Hostelry was a splendid effort, which added colour and atmosphere to the field. The snag was our scenic builder was still rushing around with paint kettles full of emulsion paint and wielding his brushes at opening time. Nevertheless, customers were enthusiastic and not put off from drinking by his frantic activity.
In addition to this departure, I got hold of a Steel Band, Ivan Chinn and his West Indians. Ivan and his lads were so well received that we hired them for the next year. Unfortunately there was criticism from the hard-nosed business factor. “A bit of a distraction… while people are enjoying listening to the music they are not spending their money”’ so the band was dropped.
Two other colourful features were the Stalls run by our Colonial Cousins. Again, great efforts by the Aussies and I well remember the Tiedemanns and the Rileys flogging their goodies under the Old Glory.
It is difficult to remember precisely who did what after so many years but suffice to say many worked hard, long and enthusiastically. I do remember however, Marsden’s dad doing his back in pushing the “Littluns” down the switchback, the Cox’s offering wooden balls at the coconut shy, the ever present figure of Fr. Rochford wandering through the crowds and Fr Fawssett amongst his beloved books.
Over the period of my involvement we rarely experienced really bad weather.
Naturally we all prayed for clement weather and Fr Burke often had his leg pulled about this. On one occasion when things looked a bit dicey someone said “Father you had better spend a bit more time in the Chapel.” So really it all comes down to BURKE’S LAW…
“The amount of moisture in the air is in direct relationship to the time spent in the School Chapel.”