Page 14 - Abingdon News

News
14 January 2013
The Skye Group
In April 1957 a party of sixth-form
scientists set off for Skye on an expedition
initiated and organised by the boys
themselves. Its focus was the study
of botany, geology, ornithology and
geography in conditions that would
“promote mental and physical alertness”.
It was clearly an unforgettable experience.
Skye is a beautiful, wild and remote place
– but as the boys were happy to admit,
much of the value of the expedition lay in
the difficulties that had to be overcome,
difficulties caused by the wild weather and
the wild seas and the lack of facilities.
This was the start of the Skye Group. In 1958 the
group went to Wasdale in the Lake District and the
next year to the Isle of Arran. In 1960 and 1961 they
returned to Skye – the bulk of the group hitch hiking
from Abingdon to Fort William before catching the
train to Mallaig and the ferry to Armadale.
The Skye Group remained in operation until 1968,
visiting Ardnamurchen in 1962 and 1963, Skye in
1964, Inverpolly in 1965, the Isle of Arran again in
1966 and Skye for the final trip in 1967. In 1968
the School took a lease on a farmhouse in Dolgoed
in North Wales so that the expeditions could
continue but within easier reach of Abingdon. n
out of the past
The original Skye Group in 1957
Following in Great-Great
Grandfather’s Footsteps?
The photograph shows Hugh Digby, Captain of Boats in 1882 (standing right) who
rowed in the 1st IV in both 1881 and 1882 when the School won the Town Challenge
Cup at Abingdon Regatta. Last summer, one hundred and thirty years later, Hugh’s
great-great grandson Thomas Digby in the Fourth Year, rowed for the U14As who
won the 8s at Marlow, the 8s and 4s at Reading, and reached the semi-finals at the
National Schools’ Regatta in Nottingham. n
A woolly bobble hat in School colours
first worn by the Skye Group in
1959. The hat was donated by Robin
Moorshead who went with the group
to Ardnamurchan in 1963. According
to him, James Cobban sanctioned the
hat providing it was never worn within
a 400-mile radius of the School!
Whilst most of the boys hitch-hiked to Ardnamurchen in 1963 two had their own cars
– a Wolseley Hornet and a 1938 Wolseley 4/48. The Hornet broke an axle in Preston
and the 4/48 broke an axle and a lot more when it hit a boulder near the campsite.
The 1963 Skye Group in
Ardnamurchen