Back to the Future

Headmaster’s Routh Assembly Address
Friday 18th September 2020


Among School Children by W.B.Yeats
I walk through the long schoolroom questioning;
A kind old nun in a white hood replies;
The children learn to cipher and to sing,
To study reading-books and history,
To cut and sew, be neat in everything
In the best modern way—the children’s eyes
In momentary wonder stare upon
A sixty-year-old smiling public man.

Good morning

Idly playing ‘Link Three’ in my head as I watered the garden on Sunday, I made a connection between the dates of the three preceding days. Last Thursday was the 10th of September. Lots of things have happened on that date throughout history. The sewing machine was invented on 10th September 1846. Buckingham Palace was hit by a Luftwaffe bomb during the Second World War, 10th September 1940. But of more relevance this morning, the 10th of September 1965 was the day that The Beatles released their song “Yesterday.” Number 1 in the charts around the world, with a first verse that went (don’t worry, I’m not going to sing it):
“Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday.”
I am quite confident that you didn’t know that.

The importance of following day, Friday, September 11th, should be more obvious to you. Even though you weren’t even born in the year that it became infamous. 19 years ago, on September 11th, 2001, members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets in the United States and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in what remains the deadliest attack on American soil in history.

Although you weren’t born until a year or two later, if you asked anyone who was, certainly anyone over the age of ten in 2001, they would almost certainly to be able to tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing, the moment they heard the news about that attack. There are certain events in history that are so momentous, they become seared into people’s consciousness.

So, The Beatle’s sang ‘Yesterday’ on the 10th September, and September 11th is remembered for infamy. What has any of that got to do with the poem that Dasha just shared with us? A poem in which an old man returns to a school and marvels at how it has changed. The answer lies in the next day, September 12th.


Not significant in annals of world history for appalling terrorism or cheesy pop music, I will admit, but important in Bromsgrove’s calendar as the day on which we normally host a School reunion onsite. A day on which people now in their forties, fifties, sixties, sometimes even in their nineties, come back to the School and reminisce about the time they spent here, decades ago.


Sadly, of course, we had to cancel this year’s reunion, due to the restrictions on social gatherings brought on by the pandemic. Which is a real shame, as I greatly enjoy those gatherings. The recollections of people who were at this School, before you (or, sometimes even I,) were alive are fascinating. So too, is the fact that, whatever their stories, good or bad, happy or sad, it is always amazing how sharp and clear their memories are.

I want to talk to you about those memories, but first, an apology. When I was growing up there was nothing more guaranteed to irritate me than any adult beginning a sentence with “When I was growing up.” Usually that means they are about to go on and tell you what you are going to do or not do, like or not like, be or not be, in the future. As soon as someone older started to tell me what I was going to regret or rejoice in when I grew up, I switched off. It is patronising to be told how your life is going to pan out. Now that I am older myself, I try not to do that to you, especially in these assemblies.

Except this morning. Today I am going to break that rule just for a moment to tell you this. There is something you can learn from these older Bromsgrovians. In all the reunions that I have hosted over the past seven years, the clarity of their memories about their school days has provided a salient lesson for us all today. Sitting at their tables, listening to stories pour out over lunch, and I am always struck by the realisation that similar memories are being laid down in your lives, right now.

The thing about memory is that it seems to be the case that, the older people get, the stronger and more vivid their memories become. I have chatted to men in their eighties, (only men, as Bromsgrove was a boy’s school back in those days) who may no longer be capable of driving, who may regularly forget appointments or constantly lose their glasses, but whose memories of their days in this School are crystal clear. They can quote exact phrases, specific conversations, detailed events, from more than half a century ago.

And here’s the thing. Whilst they may not remember the chemistry equations they learned by heart, or the final score of a rugby game that that they thought they’d never forget, there were two things that every person recalls vividly. Their classmates and teachers. In fact, I have never met anyone, anywhere in the world, who cannot recall immediately their best teacher and their best school friend. Sadly, they remember the worst of both as well.

The teachers whose names come up at reunions are often long dead of course. Yet their influence lives on. It echoes on down the years for the pupils they taught. This School has seen some extraordinary educators who clearly changed the lives of hundreds of Old Bromsgrovians.

As for classmates, their impact is greater still. Memories of those who journeyed through School together come flooding out at these reunions. Names, nicknames. Quirks, acts of kindness, banter, brotherhood, firm friendships; they tell it over as if it were yesterday.

Sadly, they can recount the hurtful things just as easily as the joyful. It is sobering to hear them still speak with disgust and fresh hatred for people who were cruel or arrogant as pupils, even five decades on. They have as much clarity about the bullies and those who were unkind as they do about their friends.

The lesson for me is clear. I will keep doing everything in my power to put the very best teachers in front of you. They will influence your lives and you will remember them forever. How they treat you, what they teach you. I owe it to you to find and to keep great teachers.

However, there is a lesson for you too, and this is where I break my rule and tell you how it will be “when you grow up.” Trust me when I say that you will remember these people sitting around you here this morning for the rest of your lives. In my experience, you will never again make friends like the ones you make at School.

It is hard to imagine ourselves being old (even when we are close to getting there). Maybe you will shuffle around your Care Home one day, humming that “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.” Maybe you will lean forward in your rocking chair, prod the elderly friend who is dozing off next to you, and ask “Where were you when the great pandemic of 2020 struck?”

What is almost certain though, is that your memories of these days, right now, will still be with you, as vibrant as ever. More than anything, you will recall one simple trait; who was kind and who was not.
Often overlooked and underrated, kindness. A friend of mine, who is an Aussie, teased me last month about the NZ Government’s response to the pandemic. Every other nation had snappy slogans that went to the heart of the problem. “Hands, Face, Space.” “Be Alert, Stay Safe”. “Catch It, Bin It, Kill It”. Scotland took the gloves right off, with “Don’t Kill Granny - Stay at Home.”

But look at your lot he said. Big macho rugby playing outdoorsy farming nation and you’re being told “Stay Safe, Be Kind” To be honest though, I actually think being kind pretty much sums it up. That’s all we are being asked to do; be kind. To ourselves and others. As in the pandemic, so too in normal life.

So, as we move through the pressured times that lie ahead for you all this year, I encourage you not to neglect or take for granted your relationships with those who share your days here.
Despite what social media may fool you into believing, we don’t get to curate our lives and airbrush the way that others perceive and remember us. We are judged by our actions, not our selective Instagram posts.

Realise then, that your actions in this place, thoughtful and encouraging or uncaring and dismissive, may be remembered for a lifetime. That there will come a day when you, too, are back here, reminiscing with those who sit around you now.

How will you be remembered? What stories will be told about your conduct? What will be your legacy at the Bromsgrove reunion in 2070?

Presentations
Young Enterprise:
Throughout last year, the tenacity of our Young Enterprise team, EcoVerse, led to a total of five awards. At the Worcester trade fare, where they made a pleasing number of sales and received great customer feedback, they were awarded Best Customer Service.

Following their company report and digital presentation, the judges for the Area Final presented them with the Innovation & Creativity Award, Best Finance Award.

Then, after progressing to the Herefordshire and Worcestershire County Final, the team secured the Best Use of IT Award. We congratulate the whole team and I invite the Managing Director Radu Polschi on stage to receive the awards.

Review
It was so pleasing to see that nearly 500 members of the School took part in the various House sports competitions on Saturday afternoon. For those of you who did not manage to take part this time, it is a really great opportunity to show House spirit and play a range of sports in a fun environment.

Preview
Saturday Morning Activities start this week, and I hope you have all signed up and will take advantage of the many opportunities available to you. Please remember an important change from last year; Session 1 now commences at 10.00am.

Music
It was great to see and hear some live music making this week from the various year group bubbles.
If any of you wishes to join the music groups, please contact Mr McKelvey as soon as possible.