Every penny spent at Rickmansworth Grammar School’s giant fete in the school grounds on Saturday was a drop of water in the pool. The swimming pool the school hopes to build will be partly financed by the proceeds of the fete – if there were enough pennies gathered.

If the school cannot make its target of around £2,000 it cannot be blamed for not trying, for the organisation and out-of-the-rut entertainment was worth paying to see.

The fete was opened by television personality, aptly named Professor Gobble D Gook by some, Stanley Unwin.

What he said on the subject of cooking an omelette and playing the game of chess cannot be written down too well, although it sounded something like “etrudied flam, eartrops . . .” or something.

One of the organisers, French teacher Maurice Plaskow, praised the co-operation he'd had from the pupils. “They were preparing for it at 8am today,” he said. If the swimming pool total is not realised, it is hoped to build a pavilion with the money raised, he added.

His co-organiser was Miss Elizabeth Harry, a chemistry teacher. The day finished with a grand ball in the school hall.

[From the Watford Observer of July 1, 1960]

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