Scotch College

Tattered banner repaired

Banner before	Banner after

Last year we put out a plea for a benefactor to pay for restoring a very old school banner that was desperately in need of conservation.

It is aged at least 90 years because it has the old school motto before ‘Patriae’ was added in 1914.

It was made from a mixture of silk and cotton thread, and the cotton, being tougher, was cutting the silk into tiny pieces which fell to the floor in a shower of red dust every time the banner was handled. the banner was literally falling to pieces.

(from left) Mrs Rae Brown and Howard Brown

Only heroic measures would save it, and to do this we chose Abigail Hart, a textile conservateur. the cotton threads had to be laid out one by one and fixed in place, and then the silk had to be interwoven bit by bit. this required skill, patience and a great deal of time, and the restored banner then had to be properly mounted and framed. all this cost many thousands of dollars. Howard Brown (’63) very generously stepped forward and paid for the work in memory of his father, Stan ‘Smoothie’ Brown, whom many boys remember with affection and respect in such varied roles as Head of Years 7 and 8, First Basketball coach, boarding house master, and commandant of Scotch at Cowes. as the plaque now affixed to the banner’s frame says: This banner, dating from before 1914, was restored by the generosity of Howard M. Brown (1963) in memory of his father Stanley F. Brown (staff 1954 – 19 3), a gifted schoolmaster and Christian gentleman who led by example.

The repaired banner was presented to the school at assembly on 26 october 2005 by Howard and his mother Mrs Rae Brown, who taught Special Education here from 1974 to 1980.

The 20 oldest Old Boys

1. Alfred William Herbert Chandler, b 1 June 1905. Aged 100. Congratulations!
2. Melbourne Crutchfield Clayton, b. 30 Dec 1905.
3. William Balleny Howden, b. 14 Mar 1906.
4. Francis Campbell Stuckey, b. 14 Apr 1906.
5. Roy Riggall Prentice, b. 26 June 1906.
6. Charles Spencer Mann, b. 19 July 1908.
7. Robert Jarrett McCullagh, b. 17 Aug 1908.
8. Leslie Winsall Hall, b 18 Sept 1908.
9. Leonard Denton Kemp, b. 6 June 1909. Prefect.
10. John Hewitt Pope, b. 18 Sept 1909.
11. Albert Alexander Willis, b. 29 Sept 1909.
12. (John) Alexander Lyne, b. 23 Oct 1909. Prefect. Dux 1928.
13. Leslie Charles Blair Barker, b. 29 Dec 1909.
14. Walter Alexander Forbes, b. 21 Mar 1910.
15. Preston Dodds Reid, b. 20 May 1910.
16. Michel Krizoz, b. 3 Nov 1910.
17. Sir (Joseph Robert) Archibald Glenn, b. 24 May 1911. Prefect.
18. Frank Charles Lawson, b. 5 June 1911.
19. Ian Edwin Crapp b. 4 Oct 1911.
20. Frank Graham Engel b. 21 Oct 1911.

The youngest boy is Jonathan Vincent Bucello, b. 14 Apr 2000.

Arthur Rob House - seeking information

Were you there? Please tell me if you lived there. Please tell me who else lived there.

House photos: Please donate originals or copies of the house photos.

Letters home: Please donate originals or copies of letters home. These get kept by loving mothers but are eventually thrown out. To preserve them, put them in the archives. From the school’s point of view schoolboy letters are welcome because they record the ordinary bits of boys’ lives in ways not found in other sources: haircuts, shoe repairs, junior sports, pocket-money, food, holidays, homesickness, hobbies, jokes, nicknames …