Rhubarb

St Edward’s

You have just returned from the

Conservative party conference.

Were there any particular

highlights?

It was very well attended and a lot of

younger people were there. A lot of

people were engaged in it. Ruth Davidson

spoke really well and I think she is changing

the face of the Conservative party in

Scotland. Ruth is quite distinctive and very

good as a public speaker. It was also good

to hear reassurance of where we stand on

policies, with the Westminster elections

approaching and our own elections next

year. That’s when the Tory conference will

really come alive I think.

The Conservatives were initially

against the establishment of a

Scottish parliament. Do you feel

that devolution has been a success

in Scotland?

It is in Scotland’s best interests to have the

best of both worlds – the right powers in

Scotland within the strength and stability

of the UK. How the Scottish government

and each party will aim to use devolved

powers is the key question.

There are famously more pandas

than Conservative MPs in Scotland.

What are the challenges of

representing a minority party?

We would like to have more influence,

because in Scotland there is a dominant

major party. So the challenges are to

influence policies from committees and in

parliamentary debates. It is working in a

way now, and we are getting one or two

liaisons with other parties, but it will not

work unless we get more representation.

It is perceived that we have the

opportunity to increase the number of

MPs we have. If you look at the Welsh

Tories they went from zero to three, then

from three to eight. In 1997 they had

none. We need to get a few more seats

at Westminster, which will make us more

credible up here, and then we need more

seats in the Scottish parliament.

Dear Mr Jones

Ronald Holcroft (F, 1930-

1935), received a birthday

card from the Warden on

his 98th birthday. In his

reply, he reveals memories

of his time in Oxford.

Dear Mr Jones,

I do so little writing these

days that I have gone back

to lined paper, I used to

use a typewriter, using two

fingers and a thumb on each hand, but I

lost that skill too!

I want to thank you very much for your

birthday card. At 98 it must be unusual to

get a greeting card from the Head Teacher

of one’s old school.

I lived in Oxford as a small child. My

father was in the local government, I don’t

know what he was called. We lived on the

Woodstock Road, near Davenant Road.

My father had a house on land belonging

to the Duke of Marlborough. Whoever

owns the house now must be nearly at the

end of the 99-year lease. It was just after

the Great War and there was no wood

that was fit for building, it had all been

used for trenches in France.

My parents were very great friends

of the Warden of St. Edward’s

– I can’t

remember his name, but I was put down

for Teddies, before he left to go to Radley.

That made a problem – did they send me

to St Edward’s or send me to Radley? I am

glad to be an OSE.

My father’s boss had a daughter who

ran a kindergarten in the Chapel at the

Banbury Road end of South Parade. I

attended it. She had some unusual ideas

– we learnt to write, the left leaf with the

left hand, the right leaf with the right hand.

We had to go up one form before we

could choose which hand to write with!

Then she closed it down.

The road between the workhouse at

Oxford and the one at Chipping Norton

was covered with old soldiers walking

back and forth to both of them. I made

friends with them all – I would sit under

the hedge with any tramp. I never had

any trouble. Miss Rose’s kindergarten

Notes

It is believed that Ronald Holcroft is one of oldest living

OSE. He was a House Prefect. After leaving the School

he went up to Selwyn College, Cambridge in 1935. From

1936 to 1939 he was a law and drama student. During

the Second World War he was a member of the Security

Police, Intelligence Corps and was a Prisoner of War from

1940 to1945 held in Stalag VIIIB and Stalag 344 Lumsdorf.

After the war he attended the Lackham School of

Agriculture, Wiltshire in 1946 and left for Canada in 1952.

There he took up sheep farming and taught horticulture.

He achieved a Social and Teaching Certificate at McMaster

University and Toronto University. He has also been a Lay

reader and teacher in Ontario, and attended several OSE

events in Canada and Oxford.

closed up and we went to the

kindergarten at the Oxford

School for Girls. We went

there by taxi in the morning

and walked home. I walked

down the Banbury Road

to South Parade, down the

Parade, then went to watch the

progress of workmen

who were making the tunnel

under the road for St Edward’s

boys to use.

One day a man crossed

the road from the pub

. I can’t remember its

name. He looked different, I must have stared

at him. As he came level he swung round

and hit the side of my head with his hand. It

knocked me over. An errand-boy got off his

bicycle, beat up the tramp, popped me in the

basket of his bike and took me home.

Just about then, Father was appointed

Assistant Clerk of the Peace for Essex.

After a few years the Clerk of the Peace

retired and Father was appointed to succeed

him. In a year or so there was a Deputy

Clerk of the Peace and four Deputy Clerks

to the County Council. London was growing

and so was Essex.

After one more term at my prep school,

I came to St Edward’s. My first term was

miserable, the rest of the year was unhappy.

The remaining three years were the happiest

I have ever had.

Yours Sincerely

Ronald Holcroft

1 The Warden was the Reverend William Ferguson

(1913-1925).

2 The pub in the Woodstock Road was probably the

Red Lion – the site now acquired by the School.

Ronald Holcroft

f e a t u r e s