King Henry VIII Grammar School

Hi Slim, I couldn't remember that there actually was an annual Inter-House competition across a range of activities, with one House being announced the winner. According to the school's Wikipedia page, Kings "had consistently dominated the house competitions, winning the overall competition almost every year for some decades." Well, I was in Kings House and this success did not register with me. Perhaps I had become blase. "Win. Win Win. Borrring." Or, more likely, I had nodded off by the time this was brought to our attention. It goes on to mention "Inter-House music and drama festivals". What?? When did they take place? In the summer holidays? I was very surprised when you referenced an art and handicraft competition. What did that entail? I suddenly feel that there was a whole lot of opportunity to get involved in activities, which I missed out on by trying to get on the bus that arrived outside the school gates at 3.59pm precisely. I sincerely hope that no fun was had by participants in these events. When one thinks about it, it does seem a bit daft to hold competitive music and drama festivals. Just imagine being told that your House would have won, were it not for the fact that you missed a note or fudged a line. Aggh, the disgrace! I guess it was thought, at the time, that competition was healthy and developmental. Then humans invented performance-enhancing drugs. Oh dear.

Hello Mister D-Di, I have been trying to remember if, at any stage, I felt a House loyalty. Kings had their weekly meeting in the Metalwork Room (I think) and it wasn't very ambient in there on a Monday morning. In fact, I thought we had done something wrong and been exiled. I don't know if I accorded any prestige by dint of House. Maybe I did on arrival but that faded fairly rapidly! I don't really think I assessed pupils by virtue of tie colour and I can't recollect much recognition of rivalry. Of course, it could have been subconscious. I noticed a tic start beneath my right eye when I read the words 'White's House'. Although that could be Donald related. I wonder if anyone tried to put it for a transfer. Going to see the Head and saying "Ernie Shaw is a poor coach. His tactics are outdated. He is still using wingers, for heaven's sake. My agent has received a good offer from Holland House and I think a move would be best for all concerned at this stage in my career."

O` Sage. Delightful response to my bit on houses, I particularly liked your discovery of the word "pastoral" perhaps in reference to my comment of sorting into - sheep, goats, cows and horses - would there have been an earlier spelling "pastural"? Incidentally on the wider question of universality of Mansions now reduced to the humble "Butt and Ben" category, I can lay claim to what I hope is a unique title, since I was an evacuee, I am a double Grammarian, having attended Ashby de la Zouch Girls Grammar School as a junior and Ashby Boys Grammar School as a senior, both fairly briefly, I cannot remember if either of them had a house system, but I do know the boys school took boarders and they all lived in a "House". How clever of you to discover my "Norman" heritage, which perhaps was absorbed when part of that Ashby education was conducted in the Manor House, which was in the grounds of Ashby Castle, but I am not sure when the name Torksey arrived, could have been the Vikings (it sounds Nordic to me), but there must have been a settlement here going back to Roman times, as it is situated at the junction of the Fosse Canal and the Trent, which was a major shipping route into the Roman City of Lincoln, and was cut by them (I bet they weren`t all Irish navvies).

I'm only guessing here, but I would have thought the reason for houses to exist in the first place would have been because all the big posh schools in days of old took in mainly boarders, not day pupils. Therefore they would have needed somewhere to live and houses would have been ideal and slightly more personal as opposed to massive dormitories. Schools like Henry's would have taken on the house idea to add, in their opinions, a bit of supposed class. Just my tuppence worth.

Mr D-Di, I'd forgotten about the junior school - yes, the house system was a mystery to everyone, but your allocated house stayed with you forever. Bags: boarding schools origin - that sounds about right. In later times houses weren't just for the posh schools; I had a couple of friends at Woodlands comprehensive where there were no fewer than 10 houses!

Flashback: I've just remembered one particular Monday morning house assembly. I was by then in one of the upper years, near the back of P3. A register of attendees was never taken, and it had become clear to staff that quite a few of the older lads were skiving off house assembly. Pop was having none of it, and told us so, then called out everyone's' name on the register. When he got to the 5th or 6th forms, he called out "Wigmore?". Silence. Then "WIGMORE!", after which one of the older lads whispered loudly to us lot at the back "he's gone fishin'!". Pop had obviously heard this, and came storming up to the back of P3, saying "Who said that?". He was furious, and determined to find out, but the culprit would not own up. About 30 of us were doing our best not to laugh or be seen to smile. Happy days.

Hello Roger, Thank you. The 'double Grammarian' is, I believe, a rare phenomenon and may well entitle you to free drinks at your local hostelry. Some publicans might, however, be sceptical, so I would advise caution when making the initial enquiry.

From the opinions offered, it seems that the idea of placing pupils into Houses arose from the Boarding Schools and, for some reason, caught on in Day Schools. They were used in order to form the basis of friendly (presumably) competition for an annual trophy of some kind and as a means of creating a type of collective allegiance amongst pupils from different years that, presumably, was unavailable through general loyalty to the school. Now, I can, at a stretch, comprehend this. Trouble is, as a first year, one was not really welcomed into the House with open arms and offerings of gifts, nor told what was so great about becoming a member of this particular fraternity. Furthermore, one was not asked about the interests one had, or the abilities one possessed, that might be of use to the House in its desire to become all conquering. In sum, they knew nothing about you nor indeed gave much indication that they gave a rat's rump. Or am I being too unfair? What was there to get enthused about? What made you leap out of bed full of desire to give your all for your House on a weekly basis? I can't recall putting on my tie with pride in its colour. It was just something that I had to wear and the pattern meant nothing to me. So, you would think that the teachers might detect a degree of apathy towards the House concept and try and rectify it by some sort of 'spirit raising' exercises, that definitely didn't involve growling at you. For instance, an offering of a Quality Street from a large tin would have been nice. I'm prepared to do an awful lot of silly things when someone has provided me with chocolate. I would, I believe, draw a picture in crayon, if they asked me nicely. Hey, let's go crazy. I might even have tried harder at rugby and really wanted to throw my body on the line in order to achieve victory. Because the teachers are really nice people who care about me and I want to pay them back for their deeply held concern for my well-being by trying to gain the trophy for my House! It kind of leaves me to conclude that their apathy was greater than our apathy. And that is funny!!

I remember from my time in the seventies in Hales, we had assemblies in the Biology lab with Mr Wrench in charge. One of the aspects of the assemblies was reflecting on what pupils had achieved in the previous week. i.e. how many boys had represented the school rugby teams or similarly girls in the netball teams. One of my memories was Jack Wrench reading out that Hales house had been represented in the TISWAS cage that Saturday!

Hi Malvern, Now, that's more like it! Someone getting a good drenching from Chris Tarrant definitely deserves a mention. Good to read that they had lightened up a bit by then.

I know the teachers were allocated to houses but I had no idea Jack Wrench was associated with Hales. Ernie Shaw was head of Hales house for all my time there so I presume Jack replaced him when he retired. I think Ernie became some sort of vicar, although he seemed to think he was one while at KHVIII. I do recall that the whole of Hales house, up to about 150 boys, was crammed into that Biology lab, B2, between the benches and were all required to stand rather than use the stools. It was all quite unpleasant. I am presuming that, when a housemaster left, other teachers could apply for the post. What I am wondering is whether a successful applicant could transfer from one house to another to take up the post. Maybe that's what happened with Jack Wrench. I like the Tiswas story! I doubt Ernie would have heard of such a thing. In fact, he would probably regarded ownership of a television as some sort of mortal sin punishable with fire and brimstone.

During my my time at KHVIII I don't remember a great deal of inter-house competition. I vaguely recall a cricket competition, so I assume there was a rugby one too. However, my dislike for rugby would have me avoiding this like the plague. The main competition was always athletics. We, in Kings house, has the misfortune to have Ted Norrish in our house. Along with Alfie Crocker it was a formidable partnership to strike terror into the hearts of small boys. Ted always asked for 'volunteers' for sports day events. When only about three came forward Ted would throw a fit and allocate unwilling boys to various events. I recall being selected for hurdles, never having cleared a hurdle in my life....... or even sure whether I could. In the heat I managed to jump over the obstacles with Ted yelling 'use your stride boy!' I got totally out of step, resulting in me running round the final hurdle!! Ted nearly had apoplexy at this point and told me I was a disgrace to the house. He didn't consider that it was his fault in the first place. Hence the end of my athletics career.......

Beesman, That is most unfortunate. Because - in accordance with my previously described "Theory of Sufficient Motivation" - if Ted had stood just beyond the finishing line with the aforementioned large tin of chocolates in his hand, then we know that you would have ended the race streets ahead.

I wonder how they allocated who was going to which house? Apart from if you already had a brother in one particular house, so in you went. Kings and Whites were the biggest houses, followed by Hales and then Hollands and Sherwyn's which were the two smallest. Why did they not distribute the numbers evenly? Approximately just over 120 in each intake so 20-25 per house, but it didn't work out that way. I always felt the dice were loaded in favour of Kings for some reason. Quite funny really as it has now been disbanded. I was in Hales, so my brother went there automatically. Ernie Shaw was a really uninspiring choice to lead anything if we're being honest.