14 May 2025
I always liked Bing but I had little to do with him until 1967. He lived at the Paddocks in late 1961 and somewhere in the main block at Hatch was in charge of boys who were at least whole months younger than me (at age 12 and with my own interests). From September 1962 he was in charge of the family-type group at the Paddocks, moving to Lacton Hall in 1965. In Autumn 1967 the King family were provided with an apartment off the East Wing as he had the role of deputy director in preparation for the overdue retirement of Miss Leila a year later and his taking over as Director of Caldecott.
Several long-established members of staff had left and others were soon to do so. Miss Travers used to be in charge of junior-senior boys, based in the West Wing, assisted by a series of young men. In early September 1967 the group really had no staff. My friend Chris was visiting and saw that boys were in bed, so that we rushed off to the pub. I was around when Bing popped in to the WW, probably aware that one boy was still smoking but not taking issue. We had the notion that Bing was relatively soft, apparently having somewhat indulged children at the Paddocks and Lacton Hall in contrast with what had applied at Hatch. Mr. Murphy arrived to take charge of the group but was not a success. Mrs. Abbey arrived as a sort of matron upstairs, later going to the Colt House in a wider role.
Mr. Griffiths was in charge of the Colt House but expanded his influence to include slippering WW boys and even discipline of junior boys in bed near the top of the WW. One sentence of Bing's memories refers to a power struggle. Mr. Griffiths and others called an extraordinary staff meeting for a vote of no confidence in the elderly Miss Leila and Miss Dave and in the appointment of James King as above. Bing tells us that this vote "was narrowly defeated, but it left its mark". For at least his first two years in charge, Bing had a difficult task, but was fortunate that teachers at the primary school expanded their involvement, sleeping in at night and teaching in the day - a "close run thing" to keep the ship afloat..
By December 1967 I was firmly in favour of Bing's approach, then all that followed confirmed that he was the right choice to take Caldecott forward, year after year.