No.128
The Trusty Servant
Vintcent’s Break- a Kennyite notion revealed
John Vintcent (D, 51-55)
explains:
Some twenty or so years
ago, I was in a train
heading for London
when a man came into
the compartment and
sat opposite me. He was
wearing an Old Wok tie
so I said I had one like it
at home and we started to
chat. It turned out he was
also a Kennyite and, when
I told him my name, he
asked if I was anything to
do with Vintcent’s Break.
When he explained what it
was I said I rather thought
there was a link.
When John (‘Fred’)
Manisty, our Housedon,
told me I was to be Senior
Prefect for my last term
in the school, Short Half
1955, his brief was simple.
I was to be responsible for
running the house on our
side of his study door, as it
were. I would be expected
to sort out any problems
and make appropriate
decisions, but if I needed
advice he would always be there.
House-specific notions
‘Vintcent’s Break’ is one of many house-specific
notions. Break is called ‘swipes’ in Phil’s. The food
eaten during it is ‘scrape’ in Cook’s, ‘sweat’ in College
and ‘dock’ in Phil’s. The end of toytime in Chawker’s
is signalled by a cry of ‘Jackets and ties!’ and one of
‘Lawful time’ in Trant’s. The prefect’s job of putting
junior boys to bed is ‘being on course’ in Chawker’s,
Furley’s and Trant’s, ‘docking’ in Hopper’s, ‘nursing’
in College, ‘flats’ in Phil’s and ‘put-to-bed’ in Toye’s,
where juniors may put their ‘gimpos’ (side-lights) on
to read before bed; Trantites complaining that this
duty is causing them to do too much ‘torturing’ only
mean mugging down to some late work. Waking-up is
called ‘long hour’ in Hopper’s, ‘morning Ganges’ in
Phil’s and ‘Peal’s cad’ in Toye’s. The job of returning
the dirty crockery to the kitchens in College is called
‘Venus’. And the houses are filled with rooms whose
names have stuck while their uses have changed:
the top years in Chawker’s sleep on a corridor called
‘26A’; the ‘Paper Room’ in Hopper’s now contains a
television; ‘Pingers’ in College contains a piano and
some moribund computers rather than hosting table-
tennis; the explanation for ‘Boot Boys’ and ‘Munery
Single/Double’ in Phil’s and ‘Clanger’s’ in Trant’s has
been lost.
There were many petty little notions
which seemed to exist solely to
remind you of your lack of status,
but which added nothing to the
well-being of the house. Everybody
had, of course, gone through the
same experience as they progressed
up the hierarchical ladder and had
presumably accepted the situation on
the basis that once they had matured,
as it were, they would enjoy the
privileges they had envied as juniors.
I had never been so relieved as when
I became a two-year man and escaped
the indignities of being a junior and
all that that entailed. I really felt
free for the first time and I began to
enjoy my life in the school. As Senior
Prefect I had the opportunity to do
something about it and so I discussed
my ideas with Fred who immediately
agreed with what I wanted to do.
One particular irritation concerned a
break taken in the middle of toytime
in Hall, when we were provided with
11
a mug of cocoa and a
bun. Hall in Kenny’s is
an L-shaped space with
one arm longer than the
other and the procedure
was that three-year men,
then small end, and
then large end would
be called up to help
themselves while the
others continued with
their work. As each
group would chatter
and gossip and make
noise for about ten or
fifteen minutes, the
result was that nobody
could concentrate on
their work for half an
hour or more of very
valuable time. Given
the pressure we were all
under that seemed to me
to be unnecessary. My
decision was to make
one single break when
everybody took their
cocoa and bun together.
Nobody complained
and the change worked
well.
What has surprised me
is that this seemingly
small innovation has been given a
name, but so far as I know, not until
a year or two after I had left. Maybe a
man, junior at the time, liked the new
arrangement, and christened it when
he had become senior enough to be
able to do so?
Perhaps relief at the abandonment of
some of the other irritating notions,
which accompanied this change,
contributed to it. I don’t know.
Whatever the reason, I am delighted
that it has become a notion!