Wonderful memories!
While all schools have their own history and tradition that gets passed down from generation to generation, Rydal Penrhos is lucky enough to have an extensive archive dedicated to securing the physical conservation of letters, photographs, magazines, records and much more from our past.
Rydal Penrhos has always been shaped by the journeys of its people, whether that is the physical arrival of pupils from nearby or abroad, or more figuratively in terms of the transformation that occurs when pupils are immersed in the school’s first-class education. We have decided to collect stories and photographs from a small, diverse set of journeys from our past, wonderfully immortalised in our archive. Whether a collective relocation, like Penrhos College’s move to Chatsworth House, or an individual voyage, like Nick Pochin’s circumnavigation of the globe, the journeys below offer a captivating insight into the life of our school and its alumni.
A photo for the archives. ‘Schoolboy Cruise’, Rydal party on board RMS Adritic, 1930.
The Rydal ‘Schoolboy Cruise’ (1930)
This fascinating photo and accompanying letter details a Rydal party on the RMS Adriatic, the largest of the ‘Big Four’ ocean liners build by Harland & Wolff in the early twentieth century. The Big Four overshadowed other liners at the time in terms of size and luxury, although, quite ironically, the Adriatic was the only ship of the four never to hold the title of largest passenger ship in the world.
“A photo for the archives. ‘Schoolboy Cruise’, Rydal party on board RMS Adritic, 1930.
“From Dr Margaret Burton (now a resident of Astoria MHA) and niece of A. J. Costain. Margaret is seated on the bottom right of the picture.
“‘Nobby’ Knowles is master in charge seated with his wife and Miss Lennox. I think the gentleman on the top left of the picture is ‘Papa’ Smyth. Several ORs [Old Rydalians] can be identified – Mac and John Costain, Keith Knowles seated in the life belt. Kathleen Fleet (niece of ‘Nobby’) is seated left on second row.”
Duchess of York, 20.000 tons
Penrhos Visits Liverpool (1932)
Not to be outdone by their Rydal counterparts, the Penrhos girls also visited a 20k ton liner (the SS Duchess of York) as part of what must have been an incredibly exciting visit to Liverpool, given the prestigious welcome they were afforded.
“The visit to Liverpool of the entire school on 4 May 1932 was organised on a truly grand scale by Issac Mack, Chairman of the Penrhos governors. ‘Penrhos Special’ trains were arranged to take the girls to Liverpool and back to Colwyn Bay; ‘Special’ trams were provided in Liverpool; Liverpool’s Lady Mayoress presented Miss Wainwright with a flag; the group was given tea on board the ‘Duchess of York’ and were presented with a Canadian Pacific flag; the whole group were given a tour of Liverpool cathedral and taken for ride on the Overhead Railway. Every girl was given a beautifully designed Souvenir Programme.”
Pamphlet on Liverpool’s Overhead Railway
On board the passenger tender ‘Flying Breeze’, 128 tons
Queuing to enter Liverpool Cathedral
Party at Gladstone Docks
Rydal’s Continental Tour (1937)
Mr Knowles, seen in the earlier photo aboard the RMS Adriatic, appears once again as part of Rydal’s 1937 European trip.
The mountain photographs that the group captured on their journey are simply stunning and an excellent reflection of Rydal’s mountaineering tradition during this period, which would later develop under the guidance of the extraordinary school secretary Hester Norris (our 2020-21 Head Boy, Richard Wolfendale, explored Norris’ life as part of an article in the thirty-sixth edition of the Society Newsletter, co-authored with his mother Sue).
“On 25 August 1937, a party of two staff (Mr Knowles and Mr Hunt) and 28 boys sailed on the ‘Prince Baudouin’ from Dover to Ostend, Belgium, and then on to Dinant. They then made their way to the Belvedere Hotel, Grindelwald, where they stayed for five or six days.
During their time in Switzerland they traversed two glaciers, took the railway up the Jungfrau, visited the Abach and Staubach Falls and completed a 15-mile hike (the Baregg Walk). On the return journey, they spent two days visiting Paris and Fontainbleau.”
Chatsworth House (1939-44)
While the other journeys in this article were inspired by a sense of curiosity or adventure, Penrhos College’s relocation to Chatsworth House was necessitated by the circumstances of the time.
As war was breaking out in Europe, the Government informed Headmistress Miss Constance Smith that the school would be commandeered and relocated to a stately home in Derbyshire. On 9 September 1939 twenty to thirty lorries and furniture vans were made available to transport the school’s furniture to Chatsworth.
In Penrhos College: The Second Fifty Years by Monica Beardsworth, the girls’ arrival at Chatsworth is described: “It was a perfect day and Chatsworth’s imposing façade of mellow stone, sundrenched, looked at its best. Every fountain, on the Duke’s instructions, was playing to welcome the newcomers; the Great Emperor in the Long Lake Shot, sparkling, into the sky and the girls poured out of the coaches which had been sent to meet appointed trains; it was a breathtaking, fairytale landscape that met their eyes”.
Penrhos College’s Chatsworth journey would last five years as the war played out.
Fifty years later, staff and pupils from the Chatsworth House period were welcomed by The Duchess of Devonshire when they reunited to reminisce about a temporary home for the school that offered important security in a time of turmoil.
Penrhos girls making the most of winter weather, with Chatsworth House behind them
Returning from Church in nearby Edensor
Not quite a 20k ton ship this time!
From the 50 Year Chatsworth House reunion. The Duchess of Devonshire (standing left), Margaret Watson, President of the OPA (standing right) and Constance Smith, the wartime Headmistress (seated).
A report in The Telegraph about the Chatsworth House reunion
Recent Re-enactment of the skating shot - Lisa Glover, Anne Whittaker and Katy Andrews, photographed by Ruth Johnson Roche
Geography Field Trip (1984)
School trips have provided some of the most exciting and unique journeys in the history of our school, although not all can rival grandiose European mountaineering tours and American skiing retreats.
Mention of a ‘geography field trip’ might conjure memories of long days spent taking quadrants on waterlogged ground or studying rock formations along anonymous tributaries; still, we are grateful that these excursions are remembered in our school magazines, which are carefully preserved in our archive.
We have chosen to include the following article, from the 1984 edition of The Rydalian, not so much because of its content, but because of its author; it was written by our now ad-hoc Vice President, Debbie McCluskey.
“Last year amidst rivalry, controversy and debate the lower sixth Geography set ventured forth (brave and fearless as they are!) out of the familiar Welsh dominion into the surrounding chaos – obscure and engulfing. The point of this exercise was to investigate a strange and somewhat disturbing rumour that there is a world beyond Wales.
The hypothesis we set out to solve in some way (probably by quantitative and practical exercises which seems to be what geographers indulge in primarily) was whether in fact there is such a place as Derbyshire.
After establishing the fact that it does exist (not however the colour we are lead to believe on the Map but more a dark green colour assuring us of the lack of communist infiltration into the British Cartographic Society even if the country itself is more doubtful) we set about studying the geological structure of the area which consisted of a mixture of both limestone and millstone grit; their boundaries being marked essentially by the contrasting colours of the two landscapes.
We spent the earlier part of the afternoon on a walk which extended from the base of Mam Tor situated near Castleton moving along the ridge overlooking the town of Hope, we eventually reached Mam Tor’s summit. From here we could observe many of the physical features previously discovered only in books, an example of this is Kinder Scout plateau upon which according to history there was a mass trespass by the public in about 1932 a protestation of the right of access to the country-side.
On our descent we passed through a limestone gorge probably formed due to a cave collapse and a limestone mass upon which we found bitumen (in which the bones of woolly rhinoceros had previously been located).
Our destination then became the ‘Blue John’ caves, named purely as a result of the mistranslation from the French ‘bleu-jaune’ commenting on the appearance of the rock of which it is composed.
Here we had a tour by a man with patently the most vivid imagination or a severe case of river blindness; his ability to compare limestone features with everyday domestic items and bodily parts was astounding. In fact the caves exhibited an astonishing natural phenomenon, the chemical ‘blue John’ being found solely in Derbyshire.
That night we retired to a youth hostel, need I say more?
Day two of our trip included visits to the Carsington Reservoir Scheme, Froggate Edge and Bakewell (famous for its tarts!)
The Carsington Reservoir is being developed for the requisition of perhaps the most predominant fluvial pathway in Derbyshire – the River Derwent. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly due to the removal of excess water in winter the occurrence of flooding can be minimized. Secondly when in dry weather there is insufficient flow in the river it can be released and public supplies can be maintained.
It is the aqueduct stretching from the reservoir to the River Derwent which has recently attracted the majority of public attention, however, the aqueduct has been built through many geological faults, and deaths have occurred amongst the construction workers, as a result of this misdemeanour.
Perhaps if the economic depression had been recognised earlier construction would not have begun but it has and will continue.
On the last day of the field trip we visited ‘Thor’s Cave’, the Manifold Valley, the Temple Mining Museum in Matlock Bath and Wirksworth Limestone Mine – each of great significance and interest.
Our trip was concluded however by an investigation into the National Park’s ideals and practicalities in relation to both conservation and recreation.”
Blue John Cavern
Nick Pochin’s Blue Water Rally (2005-07)
Sailing is a key part of Rydal Penrhos’ sporting pedigree, as recently illustrated by Zac Blomeley’s successes in the United States. While Zac started his sailing career very young, and benefited from both the curricular and extracurricular sailing opportunities available at school, another of our sailing legends did not take up the sport until much later in life.
Nick Pochin’s sailing journey was inspired by tragedy. In May 1992, his wife Sue tragically passed away with Polyarteritis, a rare condition where blood vessel inflammation can cause damage to organ systems. In the same year, Nick also lost his father, elder brother and brother-in-law. In Poles Get Closer, Nick said that, after the loss, his “perspective on life changed. About this time I saw written on the back of a T-shirt the words ‘are you afraid to die or just afraid to live’”. Nick decided not to be afraid anymore; having always loved the open water, he learnt to sail and set off single-handed around the world. “If I died”, Nick thought, “it didn’t matter anymore”.
On October 30 2005, Nick set sail from Gibraltar as part of the Blue Water Rally, a global circumnavigation event first established in 1998. Nick’s vessel was a Discovery 55 sailboat. At the time Nick set sail, the model “had just been launched as a long-distance cruising yacht capable of being sailed tow up. We placed out order and Discovery number six was put in the mould. We had a lot of fun choosing the name, and finally settled on Festina Lente, which is Latin for hasten slowly or more literally ‘More haste, less speed’. The owner of the Discovery, John Charnley, wanted to know why we had named one of his boats slow, as in his opinion that is what they were not!”
Nick’s voyage would see him cross three oceans and visit five continents, travelling over thirty-four thousand nautical miles in total (“the average yacht does less than one thousand nautical miles in a year”, as Nick notes). It also involved “an unlikely romance” forged by “a love of sailing and of adventure”.
After his journey was over, Nick had his trusty vessel refitted and was back on the open seas only ten months later in August 2008. The story of Nick’s journey is vividly recounted in his book, Poles Get Closer, which is available to purchase online, including on Kindle.
