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Peter Rodda
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Peter S. Rodda
| House: |
Junior/Intermediate/Hawke |
| Years: |
7th Jan 1952 to Aug 1954 |
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I attended Nairobi Primary School before joining the Prince of Wales School in Jan 1951, and left in August 1954 to attend
Queens College, Taunton, England.
Some of my memories:
Mr Riddel (PT teacher) making pupils including myself, do press-ups for walking on the Quad grass or having one's
hands in pockets (10 press-ups per hand).
'Flakey' Fletcher giving me six cuts for shooting with a catie at ceramic insulators on some redundant telegraph posts
in the North valley. He was bird watching with binoculars. Thursday afternoons was his time for beating boys: Part of the
punishment was having to wait, sometimes for days. He was deadly accurate with the cane and often one would see boys
cooling their painful posteriors in the washbasins of the toilets just round the corner from his office.
Saturday cross-country runs in the North Valley, which I and many others hated.
Thinking I and two other boys were first to swim in the new outdoor swimming pool at 1am, only to find that Mr Riddell
had beaten us by half an hour, thus saving us harsh punishment
Finding half a torso hidden in a bush, a casualty of the Mau Mau.
Being beaten by Mr Outram, an old boy who'd come back from the UK to teach Maths, for not obtaining at least 18 out of
20 for mental arithmetic. He had the largest size tekkies I have ever seen.
Mr Chadwick recounting his experiences as a tank commander in the war. One account was seeing a shell coming straight
towards him when it took off the top of his periscope.
Standing on parade in the Quad one Wednesday and witnessing a huge and very dramatic thunderstorm with sheet lightning
forming a very large cross in the sky. Later I learned that King George VI had died earlier that day; 6th February 1952.
Since leaving the school:
In 1956 I joined the British India Steam Navigation Company as a Cadet Deck Officer and later became a Shipping Agent
with African Mercantile in Mombasa and Tanga.
In 1960 I married and moved to the North of England to work for ICI (Imperial Chemical Industry) where I had a varied
and interesting career in analytical chemistry, chemical plant production and finally training.
I have now been retired for 9 years during which time I worked for a charitable trust for two years, and the last eight
years as vice chair of governors of a large secondary school.
My other interests have been studying for a degree with the Open University and several computer courses run by
Teesside University. I also play golf regularly. I am lucky to have my own gate onto the first hole of my local golf
course.
I have two sons and a granddaughter.
(Registered - 11th Jan 2005)
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If anyone wishes to contact Peter, please e-mail webmaster@oldcambrians.com
to obtain his contact details
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