We walked by the sea in Rottingdean, which I have not visited since playing away matches at St. Aubyns (they dropped the apostrophe in 1940), one of those prep schools, which chose the bracing sea front to stiffen the sinews of its pupils, although I read that it has now been closed, in spite of having educated Vaughan Williams, no doubt for the huge commercial value of its site:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
My years at St Aubyns gave me a horror of English seaside towns with their rusty metalwork & damaged paintwork that I have not yet conquered. And the same might be said of prep school. The first time in my life where I experienced real unhappiness. I wonder where you were: somewhere in Eastbourne? Seaford? St Ronan’s which always felt rather superior and civilised?
Yes, St. Ronan’s. Charles
St Ronan’s always did a very superior cricket tea and although I didn’t play cricket (as I can’t connect with moving balls) I was the scorer on account of my neat handwriting so looked forward to away games under the eye of Sir Richard Vassar Smith Bt
Yes, everything was very superior. As it happens, I was scorer too and once managed to leave out two runs to Sir Richard’s fury. Charles