Page 16 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
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GFA – A Different Drumbeat 16
When he was about nine, he was called out of the classroom to hold the measuring tape
while they calculated the position for the new Boys School by the sea. He was proud to be
chosen for this part in the history of the Chefoo Schools. The Boys School was used by the
CIM from 1896 until early 1942 when the students and staff were interned by the Japanese.
On VJ Day in August 1945 the Communist troops took over the property. Candida Battistuzi,
an Italian citizen who had been interned by the Japanese in the latter part of the Second
World War, gives the following account of the end of the Boys School building: 4
Dr. Robert Parry who later worked in the Bordern Memorial Hospital in Lanchow, was at
Chefoo as one of GFA's contemporaries. He says,
"Owing to the great distance from our homes and the slow means of transport in
those days, we were among those who were unable to return home for even the long
two months holidays at Christmas. Many rules were relaxed during that time and
every possible effort was made to keep us happy. One such was permission for us
boys to climb in the rafters of the Box Room which promptly became our "ship".
GFA had gifts of leadership even in those days, and was readily made "skipper", but
in after days he was often teased about his order to "go full speed ahead and
astern!"
At the beginning of 1901 when he was 13, GFA returned to Manchester with his parents
and remained in England for the next seven years. While he was in Manchester he met
his grandmother’s sister. Esther Grimshaw’s sister was 104 when he met her. She was born
in 1797, and she entertained him with stories of the Battle of Waterloo and the coronation
of Queen Victoria. The next year his parents completed their furlough and returned to
China.
Meanwhile GFA, now 14, spent a year at the Priory School in Bridlington on the Yorkshire
coast, probably because his Uncle John was living there at the time. We have no record of
what John did except that at some point he became mayor of Castleton, and that his son
became a sea captain who plied up and down the China coast.
4 Quoted by Norman Cliff in an article: “What Happened to the Chefoo Boys’ School?” in the Summer 1997
edition of The Chefoo Magazine
When he was about nine, he was called out of the classroom to hold the measuring tape
while they calculated the position for the new Boys School by the sea. He was proud to be
chosen for this part in the history of the Chefoo Schools. The Boys School was used by the
CIM from 1896 until early 1942 when the students and staff were interned by the Japanese.
On VJ Day in August 1945 the Communist troops took over the property. Candida Battistuzi,
an Italian citizen who had been interned by the Japanese in the latter part of the Second
World War, gives the following account of the end of the Boys School building: 4
Dr. Robert Parry who later worked in the Bordern Memorial Hospital in Lanchow, was at
Chefoo as one of GFA's contemporaries. He says,
"Owing to the great distance from our homes and the slow means of transport in
those days, we were among those who were unable to return home for even the long
two months holidays at Christmas. Many rules were relaxed during that time and
every possible effort was made to keep us happy. One such was permission for us
boys to climb in the rafters of the Box Room which promptly became our "ship".
GFA had gifts of leadership even in those days, and was readily made "skipper", but
in after days he was often teased about his order to "go full speed ahead and
astern!"
At the beginning of 1901 when he was 13, GFA returned to Manchester with his parents
and remained in England for the next seven years. While he was in Manchester he met
his grandmother’s sister. Esther Grimshaw’s sister was 104 when he met her. She was born
in 1797, and she entertained him with stories of the Battle of Waterloo and the coronation
of Queen Victoria. The next year his parents completed their furlough and returned to
China.
Meanwhile GFA, now 14, spent a year at the Priory School in Bridlington on the Yorkshire
coast, probably because his Uncle John was living there at the time. We have no record of
what John did except that at some point he became mayor of Castleton, and that his son
became a sea captain who plied up and down the China coast.
4 Quoted by Norman Cliff in an article: “What Happened to the Chefoo Boys’ School?” in the Summer 1997
edition of The Chefoo Magazine
