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DIOCESAN BOYS SCHOOL SEVENTY YEARS AGO
W.J. HOWARD*I
For over half a century St John's Cathedral has been untroubled by the attendance of the boys of the Church of England's Diocesan Boys' School. During this long period the silence has been broken only once by the boys, when a memorial service was held at the Cathedral on 11 December 1979 in honour of the late Rev. George Samuel Zimmern, M.A. (Oxon), who was an old boy, a chaplain of the Cathedral, a headmaster of the school, a magistrate, a barrister-at-law and a social worker. George died in Bristol, England, in November 1979, aged 75. During the service the school's string band played "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", one of George's favourite anthems. The entire school came over from Kowloon to attend and the Cathedral was filled to overflowing.
Except on this one occasion the Cathedral's silence has remained unbroken by the boys. But in my time, as a member of the school's matriculation class of 1919, I can recall vividly St John's Cathedral ringing with the mirthful sounds of myriads of boys Sunday after Sunday. That was before the school was removed from Hong Kong to Kowloon.
The school at that time was a puritanical one. Discipline was strict. As boarders we had to attend numerous church services. The senior boys had first to attend Communion at St John's at 6.50 a.m. every Sunday morning. This entailed a long walk from the school, which was then situated in Bonham Road at its junction with Eastern Street. This entailed rising before the normal reveille bell sounded at 6 a.m. It was usually the Rev. W.T. Featherstone, M.A. (Oxon), who was headmaster of the school, who officiated at that early morning service. He had a melodious voice which was well suited to the sung Eucharist.
On returning to school after communion, all the boys including the very young ones had to march to St Peter's Church in
* See plate 48.