Archive #13/65: Early Boarding Life

“Early trades including washing up all the dishes after meals, looking after the school poultry – fifty or so four-week old chickens, raking the gravel drive, mowing the lawns, and looking after the house and washing boilers, and Aga cooker. It was the dreaded trade to light the boiler, keeping it stoked up throughout the day, hoping it was still going in the morning, or repeat the performance.

Our day began at 6.20am when we got up and made our beds. Trades began at 6.30am and ran through to 7.00am. From 6.30am to 7am each morning it was also the job of our sole 'bagpiper' to practice on the front lawn. I don't know what it did for house prices in the area, but it couldn't have been a lot of fun being woken on a dark and frosty morning by the skirl of pipes. Fortunately, he was a very good piper, so it could have been worse.

Each day began and ended with a lengthy Chapel service held in the squash court. There were always 2 or 3 hymns, and these were accompanied by our sole pianist who was also very good.

At 10am each day we headed off for our morning run, which took us up Frimley Road, along Nottingly Road and down Lyndhurst Road, back to school.

On Sundays we marched to church in Hastings all decked out with suits, caps and sparkling shoes. Our starched white shirts had detachable collars and cufflinks to contend with, just to make life more interesting.The Anglican boys who incidentally made up half the roll, would drop out at St. Mathews with the Presbyterians carrying on to St. Andrews. By the time we'd marched back after the service it was lunchtime, and then it was into our classrooms to write that dreaded compulsory 3-page letter home. This was no easy task as the Rector sat at the front of the room waiting to read and approve each letter before we could seal the envelope. If he wasn't entirely happy with our punctuation or writing of the contents, we were sent away to have another try, so if we had any complaints about anything this was definitely not the time to air them.

Sunday afternoons from 3pm to 5.30pm was our only free time of the week and with no television, computers or cell phones to play with, we had to make our own fun.

One of our favourite Sunday afternoon pastimes was practicing place kicking - only this was a bit different. It involved placing the ball about 30-yards back from the goal posts at the Pakowhai Road end of the field, then timing your run up to coincide with the passing of a stock truck.The idea was to kick a goal then drop the ball into the crate, and although it was a moving target, it's amazing how often it worked. We had the schools name and address clearly printed on each ball and we got them back from Masterton, Palmerston, Paihiatua and Dannevirke.

Every 6 weeks we had a Sunday exeat between morning Chapel and evening Chapel, and because we had so little contact with the outside world these were looked forward to with great anticipation. All local boys were actively encouraged to take 2 or 3 out of towners home with them on these occasions so that nobody was left at school alone, and this seemed to work extremely well!

We were told that Lindisfarne had been 'fashioned' on a British School called Christ’ s Hospital, and as time went by we decided its motto must have been 'No Pain No Gain' because life here was not easy and discipline was strict to say the least. The bright red caps and blazers caused us quite a lot of anxiety too, as everywhere we went we were constantly 'heckled'. In some ways it was probably good that we didn't get out much, because Hastings certainly wasn't ready for us, and looking back I don't think we were ready for us either!

As you might expect, life wasn't easy in that first year, but I always treasure the valuable life skills I learned from living in such a small, caring and close-knit community, and all the wonderful lifelong friendships that developed as a result.

Although Lindisfarne has changed beyond all recognition over the years with the introduction of day boys, the intermediate school, a vastly increased roll, and integration, it has always been a great thrill to me to see that those important values so firmly established in the first year, still remain today and are as strong as ever.

For more photos click here.