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Chapter 4 - Bridging the Gap: 1910–1914
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2022
Summary
Ideally there should be two officers to each tent, one a trained club officer, the other fresh from school or college. Nowhere is the combination of qualities represented by the two so useful as in camp; nowhere can the shyness of the public school-boy be more quickly or naturally broken down and the way opened to real friendships. It is hard to remain conventional when sharing the task of washing up greasy plates, wearing the same simple camp kit and maintaining the tent's fortunes on the camp football field. Each type learns to appreciate the qualities which the other can contribute to the common stock.
Hubert SecretanAfter the departure of ‘the Doctor’ and the end of its medical role, his foundation was renamed the Oxford and Bermondsey Mission, a telling duality stressing the mutuality of the association and the interconnectedness of those who had previously inhabited different worlds. The mission ‘was no longer Oxford's effort to save Bermondsey, but a fraternal association of Oxford men with Bermondsey men and men-to-be, which had completely overcome barriers of class and education.’ Indeed the novel idea of democratic self-governance in boys’ clubs was initiated in Bermondsey by Paterson and his co-workers. Going even further than the aspirations of Barnett and the practice of Stansfeld, Alec encouraged the members of the clubs to run their own shows, pay their own way, form their own management committees, and make and enforce their own rules. Bermondsey and Oxford were in it together. ‘Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité’ could have been their motto, but they kept to the single word that encapsulated them all, Fratres. Alec composed a prayer for the future of this reconfigured venture:
O Thou that didst give us the Colleges at Oxford and the Clubs in Bermondsey, the love of friends and the shelter of home, teach us to honour and to use these gifts aright; and grant that, living in the presence of Christ and learning day by day the power of prayer, we may be strong in temptation, patient in trouble and faithful even unto death.
Alec, the heir to the throne, had refused the succession, abdicating in favour of Barclay Baron.
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- Alexander Paterson, Prison Reformer , pp. 77 - 92Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2022