I was astounded last nite while surfin YT when I came across a video of my dreaded boarding school. Must have been as a promotional piece to entice a parent of unsuspecting children of deceased masons. I am thinking it was shot in the early sixties and ..shock horror, if I am not mistaken my brother and I are in one scene (44secs) He is the tall boy in the middle with me the short blond boy on his left. . Gotta say this video blew me away. Load of untruth too spoken by the narrator. More a reform school. We old pupils had a reunion about 25 years ago. I can tell you without a word of lie that this was far more enjoyable than the decade I spent at the actual school. William Thompson is now a wedding reception centre. Pity is was not one when my mother decided to send us there all those years ago.
..and yes we had cows grazing our grounds.. which when we cleared all the cow dung we used as playing fields for footy, cricket and whatever else we fancied playing. Another hazard we had to be wary of were the pesky dive bombing Magpies.
Interesting. My father was a Mason, and I have never heard of a Masonic school. From this link, it sounds like more of an orphan home than reform school... https://amusine.typepad.com/education/the-william-thomas-masonic-school.html
The William Thompson Masonic School was founded in 1922 at Baulkham Hills (in Sydney's north west) for the care and education of the children of deceased Freemasons. https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE00394b.htm
Was your father secretive about the masons as my father was. I was told later that mum often complained as to where,what and why when he left house to attend a meeting. He rarely talked about the masons even to us children.
They have a few things incorrect none less than the name Thomas.. it is Thompson. Hell looking at the pic of senior school brings back horrible memories.
Not particularly secretive, though he didn't talk about it. He was a Master Mason and a Shriner. My mother was Eastern Star.
My parents went to the top in all that mess. Tried to get me and my brother involved in the kids side of it all. Bottom line......No use for any of them! P.S. maybe different now days.....But doubtful.
It must have been a bit of a shock to see you and your brother on camera like that when you had no idea it was shot.... a few seconds of memories of your youth... even if you hated the school, which looked really nice tbh!!
Surely no need to go into detail @Craig Swanson but why, in broad terms, would you have such bad memories of your school? The usual things?
a few seconds of memories of your youth. It should have been exciting seeing my brother and I the way we were all these years ago.. but memories of that draconian institution are still fresh in my memory. Looked good from the outside. Inside there was no freedom.. too regimented. The fact we had to march 3 miles to church every Sunday.. rain, hail or shine gives you some idea.