No . 137
The Trusty Servant
Angus Hay piping in the guests
Rupert Balmain dashing the White Sergeant
Ground-Breaking News The official groundbreaking ceremony for the girls ' boarding houses took place on Friday , 3rd May . Fellows , OWs , guests from Winchester City Council and from Gilbert Ash , the appointed contractor , were all present to launch the two-year project on its journey . The houses are due for completion in 2026 .
Wykehamical Publication Shaun Hullis ( Co Ro , 02-08 ), a former Classics Don , has conducted extensive research into former pupils ’ experience of war , to write A Noble Company . Bobber ’ s Boys at War 1939-1945 .
Major Malcolm Robertson OBE MC ( Co Ro , 06-46 ) (‘ The Bobber ’) had been profoundly affected by his service at Ypres and on the Somme during the First World War . By 1938 , he had been Housemaster of Hopper ’ s for 16 years and knew that war was coming again . As each group of boys left the school , he tried to follow their fortunes and to support them and their families as best he could . The resulting correspondence forms a precious and unique record of the impact of the Second World War on the Winchester community . In this magnificent book these sources reveal the boys ’ doubts , successes , boredom , captures , narrow escapes , loves , lifechanging wounds , and – in the case of exactly one in four of them – their deaths .
765 pages ; Sunnyside Publications Ltd ; ISBN 978 1399078771
A Noble Company is available from Winchester College Society , 73 Kingsgate Street , Winchester SO23 9PE , at a price of £ 50 .
To order a copy of A Noble Company for delivery , at £ 54.95 ( including UK p & p ), email 1938sunnyside @ gmail . com using the subject heading A Noble Company , or telephone 0117 9636699 .
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