The Exercise Yard

Headmaster’s Routh Assembly Address
Monday 18th January 2021

Video Recording of Routh Address 

Good Morning School.

I trust your first week went smoothly and you are starting to find your way into some manageable routines.
I have noted before, that the pandemic has spawned some new words in the English language. Probably in other languages too. I would be interested to know if you had one to share. But the experience has also given new meaning to some existing ones. A year ago, if someone spoke to you about lockdown, you would likely have thought they were talking about being in prison.

Lockdown carries the connotation of being shut in against your will, confined in a small space, robbed of your liberty. It conjures up images of iron bars, the clang of cell doors, brutal wardens patrolling the landings. Or sirens in the night and the baying of bloodhounds as armed guards search for fleeing escapers.
Our lockdown is not quite that dramatic for you, I hope. For a start, unlike a prisoner in a jail, you haven’t done anything wrong to be there. Being asked to stay in your own home is intended to be protection for you, not from you.

Likewise, no matter how claustrophobic your surroundings may feel, I am sure they are nicer that a damp dark cell in Alcatraz. I am equally certain that you are eating more than bread and water. In fact, with little else to do, many of us are eating a little too well.

Nevertheless, you are in lockdown and, like many prisoners throughout history, I am sure by now some of you are already dreaming of escape. Longing for the day when you will be released from your incarceration and are able to return to normal life. If so, there are a few famous prisoners of the past who could teach us a lesson or two about how to do our time well.

Nelson Mandella used his 18 years of confinement on Robben Island in South Africa to make acquaintances and strengthen friendships. Over two decades, he forged relationships with a network of people who then followed him as he became a great leader in later life. He conversed, wrote letters, I’m sure if smartphones had existed, he would have had a cell in his cell. What relationships are you nurturing?

Then there was the Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde, who wrote arguably his greatest work while he was incarcerated.
The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
“I know not whether Laws be right,
Or whether Laws be wrong;
All that we know, who lie in gaol
Is that the wall is strong;
And that each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.”
It has now been a year since COVID-19 first appeared and the days certainly have seemed long, haven’t they? What has been your creative output as you passed the time? What have you written, drawn, painted, or composed?

And then there is the example of Alastair Cram. A name less well known, but a remarkable man, nonetheless. Cram was a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War. Captured by German troops in North Africa in 1941, he spent the next four years Hellbent on trying to escape. Twenty-one times he tried.

In fact, he escaped from twelve different Prisoner of War camps, three Gestapo prisons, a fortress castle, and an insane asylum. Sometimes slipping off alone from a work party, sometimes leading a mass breakout. Twenty-one times. Which either made him the most successful escape artist of the war, or the least successful, depending upon your point of view.

During his four years of captivity, he forged documents, mastered disguises, learned foreign languages, scaled walls, climbed mountains, buried himself alive, lived in ditches, survived by eating insects and grass. And kept getting caught. Thrown back into tougher prisons and ever tighter security. Great story – I recommend it.

Not that I am encouraging you to breakout of our lockdown. I am not advocating that you start knotting your bedsheets together this morning, or plot a mass breakout with your siblings. But I do think there is one useful lesson to learn from Lt. Cram’s experience. Every morning, throughout his four-year imprisonment, wherever he found himself, North Africa, France, Italy, Germany, Alastair Cram would get up early, before the other POW’s were stirring, strip naked, and then exercise vigorously for an hour. Others who were locked up with him described it as a remarkable, if rather bizarre, sight.

If he could get outside, he would, even when there was driving rain or heavy snow on the ground. Otherwise, he would go through his routine in the middle of the barracks. A routine that began with him slapping himself all over, to get the blood flowing and to warm up. That was followed by a regimen of stretches and lunges, jumps and squats, push-ups and pull-ups. What today we might call Zumba or Body Pump, he invented in a prison camp. This guy was the Joe Wicks of Stalag 13.

These POW camps were usually made of sparse wooden huts, with little in them other than bunks and a stove. Not like the exercise yard of a Supermax jail you might see on TV today, equipped with bench presses and gym equipment. So, Lt Cram made do with what he had to hand. Cans of food for weights. Chin-ups in the door frame. And all the while, the other men lying in their bunks, looking at him like he was bonkers.

Which he wasn’t, of course. Because, although life locked down was slow and sedentary, the minute he escaped, Lt. Cram could draw upon his physical fitness and stamina. He was ready, when others weren’t.

And therein lies the lesson. All of you are physically active beings. Or you should be, at your age. Most of you play some sort of sport, many are outstanding athletes. Lockdown may have stolen your normal outlets to be active. Cancelled matches and wiped-out seasons. Closed gyms and halted team trainings. But that is no reason to do nothing all day.

In the last lockdown, over Summer, I was proud, not to mention inspired, to see the huge range of creative ways that Bromsgrove’s pupils found to stay active. Barely a day went by without some new and inventive home challenge turning up on our social media channels.

There are two keys to this. Challenge and habit. Unlike the last lockdown, we know roughly how long this one will last. So, pick a goal for yourself that could be achieved within that time. If you are a hardcore sportsperson, make it hard. If you are more of a couch potato, make it hard. It’s called a challenge for a reason.

Make it hard and make it creative. Don’t just say that you are going to run twice a week. A couple of your teachers are currently daily running the length of Britain, 555 miles from John o’Groats to Land’s End. Not literally of course, as they are locked down. But by adding up their local runs each week until they hit that distance.

Make it hard, make it creative, and make it public. Take a leaf out of Mrs Buckingham’s book. Or Facebook, to be precise. Many of you will be contributing to her challenge to add your cardio miles to a virtual journey that is travelling around the nations of our School.
She then posts progress on social media. Last I looked, she was already across the Channel and well into Belgium. Brilliant idea and great motivation for you to get involved.

All you need is a personal challenge and the self-discipline to maintain the habit. Lt. Cram got up first thing, every morning and started the day with exercise. You may not be a morning person. That’s fine. Schedule some physical activity in the middle of the day. We still have a long lunch break, and you don’t even have to change out of uniform. Or do something when you finally get off Zoom after last lesson.

Whether you are a lizard or a lion, whether you need to sit in the sun and warm up slowly before the day starts, or whether you can burst into action at a moment’s notice, it doesn’t matter. Just stay active. And do that that not by accident or whim. Do it by having a routine.

Because when this lockdown ends, and it will, you should aim to be like Lt. Cram. Well-prepared for your escape, physically fit, and ready to enjoy your newfound freedom.