Wisbech Grammar School - Speech Day 1942

I always knew my Dad was bright and that he had won a scholarship to enable him to go to university in 1942 but on Monday I got a real surprise. Working on my Mother's will and papers I came across a Speech Day programme for his old grammar school. Wisbech Grammar is now an independent school but then it was just one of the local state schools. Indeed I went there for two terms.

Here it is, his final speech day at the age of 17 - click on a picture to get a larger version.

The interesting pages are 2 -

Norfolk Senior Scholarship: Hite, W P P

State Bursaries in Science: Hite, W P P

Holmes' Scholarships: Hite, W P P (Honorary)

and 3

Magdalene Prize for Science Hite, W P P

and lastly on page 3, the one I am proudest of:

Prize for Esprit de Corps (presented by H Lawrence White, Esq, MA):

Hite, W P P, Captain of the School 1941-1942

It was winning a scholarship that enabled Dad to go to Cambridge to read Physics in 1942. Rather than living it high on the four scholarships and bursaries he returned all the ones that he didn't need so that others could benefit.

He was even more generous than that: I was a rather "troublesome engine" in my teenage years, very much the black sheep of the family and absolutely not the prize winner - though I did get one or two in the 1st and 2nd forms at March Grammar. Even though he taught there Dad never wielded his own academic and school achievements to try and drive me on. In fact he never mentioned them at all - either then or now. Thanks Dad.

Later, on reading this my brother Peter wrote:

"Dad always said he never wanted to do physics or science at university, but was forced into it as part of the war effort - and he did, indeed, do his bit at Farnborough. Decades later I was spun in the human centrifuge he helped design. He much preferred literature - and that's why he later took up writing (until stopped) and is still happiest surrounded by piles of books."