to the blue hills they'll restore us...

I was looking at a friend's pictures the other day and reflecting on just how much Lovedale binds us together across generations. Warm brick buildings, the blue hills, edible(?) school food, inimitable teachers, the inevitable camaraderie....each one of us could easily create lists of special memories of our times at school, no matter when we left. There are memories that sustain us, hymns that nourish us. There's something in them thar hills...as Ron Jones will testify.

Born Ronald Norman James Jones 90 years ago, he is a proud Lawrencian - at school when it was the Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School. I want to thank Roger Foord Evans for sending in the excerpt, and Ron's pictures.

I know Ron would love to hear from other Old Lawrencians - please feel free to leave him a message in the comments section. I am sure his family members would be more than delighted to read your messages out to him.

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In the year 1920 Ron sailed out to India by sea as a 9 month old baby together with his mother on the six week journey to Mumbai (then Bombay), the journey took a month.  They then crossed India by rail to Chennai (then Madras), a journey which took a further two days, to join up with Ron’s father who had been posted to the 9th Gurkha Rifles in the Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu).
 
Aged eight years he was taken by his father in the side car of his motorcycle to be boarded at The Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School.  There he stayed 9 months out of the year for a total of 8 years returning to Madras for 3 months holiday during the cold weather, the school became his life.  Ron’s take on his school days can be summarized by this statement:  ‘it was at The Lawrence Memorial Royal Military College that I learned how to play the game of life’.
 
                                        At the eve of life's endeavour
                                        While the sands of our work run dry
                                        All Lawrencians dull and clever
                                        Will hear the loud "Well done."
                                        And our rest will be the better
                                        From convictions so deep within
                                        That in spirit and in letter
                                        We did strive and Never Give In.
 

Ron shipped back to the UK at the age of 16 years in 1938 to become an apprentice at the Royal Air Force station at Halton, England where he started his training in to become a Flight Engineer in Bomber Command during World War II after which he turned to Civil Aviation.

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Comments

[Kevin Phillips]

According to the Admissions Register, Ronald Norman James Jones joined on the 20.02.1928
Samuel Joseph Jones joined on 12.03.1927. Is he a relative?
The oldest known Lawrencian is Florence Hipwood, 97 years young. She still attends the London Reunions.
Kevin Phillips
Aravalli 1948-1956

[Saaz Aggarwal]

Priya, thanks for posting this. Looking at the photo, I felt that this could have been any of the boys I knew at school - it could have been my brother. Everything looked so familiar - the building, the lawns, the uniform ... and to think it was taken before even my parents were born ...
I feel proud to belong to such an old and worthwhile tradition.

[Karan Bali]

Nice reading this. Shows what a history school has, not just its own but in its students as well.

[Mathew Antony]

This bond is stronger than the word. An anchor in the raging seas of time, a retreat of serenity in the struggles of responsible life, and a beacon of enduring values. Go, Lovedale, go. Go, Priya, go!

[Rashid Kapadia]

Hello Priya; Nice posting. Have not visited your page for quite a while. It's good to be back.

Ron Jones: What a pleasure to read about you.

From across the pond in Houston TX
A loud "Well done." Perhaps you could share some NEVER GIVE IN stories from your school days onwards.

Lyrics from Yohan Chacko's song coalesce into fuzzy nostalgia connecting us like 2 ships that passed at night.

Oh Lawrence school; it's plain to see that in your soul lies a part of me. Oh, Lawrence school I know its true, that in my soul lies a part of you.

Very Best Regards.

Rashid Kapadia
1977

[piper]

Thank you all! Roger sent this note from Ron that I thought I would share. The reunion referred to here is the OL meeting in the UK on April 17th.

"Ron has asked me to thank you for all you have done for him to reunite him with the Blue Hills of his youth. He is doubtful about the reunion, it will depend finally upon what his family can do to get him to the Gymkhana Club for the 17th April and whether he could summon enough energy to meet the occasion, more difficult for him now he is blind"

[Edward Haliburn]

I have just come to know that 2 ancestors of mine where at the Lawrence Assylum Lovedale in 1874 after being orphaned.

1)William H Halliburn
2)Henry Edward Haliburn

Could you please furnish any other details as to father and mother and when did they leave the school.
Regards
Ed Haliburn
Edward

[piper]

Hi, Ed! That's fascinating! I wonder if Kevin Phillips might have some thoughts here - he does maintain an extensive database. Not sure how far back it reaches, however. If you would like to email me at piper876-gen@yahoo.com I will see if I can connect the two of you.

[Julian Jones]

Boarding schools are not that bad, afterall many of us passed through them and we didn't turn out bad. There are still some nice boarding schools out there... Me thinks a good boarding school helps give the kids an early start at being independent. http://www.moffats.co.uk/