Plumtree school in need of help

I received and e-mail from a well wisher and this was what she had to say

‘Had some interesting news from a young guy who is now in Botswana and a lawyer I think (unfortunately I am away from the office at the moment and the information is on my main computer – but I think it was an Ndebele name, Ncube perhaps ??) … Anyway he and a friend had decided to go over the border and visit their alma mater in the shape of Plumtree … and they were utterly devastated that the school had not a single window intact, desks and chairs were strewn all over the lawns, etc. and the thing that seemed to upset them most was that the running track was overgrown and cracked. They apparently tackled the headmaster (himself an old boy) and found him absolutely beaten – his comment was that the parents said things like “our children come here to be educated, not to be disciplined in the old traditions” These guys offered to come back and talk to an assembly about their school days and he seemed enthusiastic about that, but they are still waiting for the invitation. So sad. I thought you might be interested.’

Heard from Mr Hogbin the other day

For all the boys who went to Plumtree High School in Zimbabwe in the mid 70s, eighties and nineties you will no doubt know who Mr Hogbin or ‘Pin’ is. The wonderful chemistry teacher who was also involved in the backstage stuff during the plays also did most of the recordings at the school. Well after my post of the old reecordings word got to him and he kindly provided a stunning recording from before my time.

Mr Hogbin is now in Botswana and has made a life for himself there. May I say he will probably have the most imacculate garden in the block if my memory serves me right. He hated us hitting sixes into his garden from Pattison field he he he

His final words to me in his e-mail were ……… Enjoyed the prize giving performances on your web site. Thought you might like this one. Long before your time. I am trying to digitise a number of recordings of the school choir but lack time and expertise. All on a cassette tape I made over the years called “Plumtree Sings”

Best wishes,

….Mr Hogbin hopes to do a few more when time allows and when he does I will be more than glad to host them here for the world to remember. Thank you Sir and bring em on. Now – I don’t know if Mr hogbin is into social Media but if he is and you did go to Plumtree do say good day to him and thank him for these free recordings. I was so blessed to hear from him and I am sure you will too. The move to Bots hasn’t always been the easiest so show him some love.

And here it is.

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I found some cassettes in the archives

A few years ago after I left Plumtree School in around the late 90s I visited Felix Westwood my former school teacher, choir director and mentor at Plumtree. She has been such a great blessing to so many people over the years and she kindly allowed me to borrow some of the tapes from Plumtree school while I was there. I stumbled upon them again recently and decided to digitise them. These bring back soooo many memories. I have to say that listening to recordings that are over 16 years old is sobering. First these recordings were done using old school dubbing techniques from cassette to cassette so the quality is not great. I had to do some heavy noise reduction to get them even barely palatable. Second – well the singing in most cases makes me cringe especially when I am singing – but this was before we had access to autotune. Thirdly – it reminds us that time flies and it waits for no one. Anyway – for the sake of nostalgia here are some songs recorded in my last prize giving at Plumtree High school. Of note from the night in my memory was Mr Hepburn chastising me for not mentioning the hockey results enough in my headboys speech. I think he was right ya know because I was biased towards rugby he he he

UPDATE – as a result of this post Mr Hogbin who had been at Plumtree for many decades just got in touch. Those of you who went to Plumtree will know that he made all the recordings of the choir and plays – anyway – he sent me a file from way before my time and I will share it pending his permission.

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