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THE ALLEYNIAN 710
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Known and valued by all who work and learn in the Lower School, Barry Gower retires from his job as Lower School Porter this year, having worked in different parts of the College for well over two decades. Sam Cowell , Henry Fletcher and Alfred Godfrey (all Year 7) and Henry Findlay (Year 8) interviewed Barry about his memories of life working at the College, and about his enduring passion for cars and motor racing.
When did you come to the College? BG: I came in 1998, I think it was. I worked in the changing rooms until 2002 when I got an offer to go to BT, so I left. I was there for two years, then made redundant. Under the old system here, when there were porters, there used to be a school sergeant, and one day he said, ‘I’ve got six months of work for you if you want it’, so I came back, and then someone left, and I’ve been here ever since! You said in those days at school there were sergeants and porters. So are there no porters any more? I’m the last standing porter as well as Paul Bird, in the PE Centre. He’s still there; he’s been a technician for a while now. Back then you had a porter in each block. I think it was two in the Centre Block and one in the North and one in the South Blocks, one in the Music Block and one in Science. Originally, there were two down here in the Lower School.
Tell us, what was the worst locker incident you’ve ever had to deal with?
All right, the funniest locker incident I had was when we used to get sandwiches left in them. You know, the boys are supposed to clear out the end of term. Well, some of you weren’t as good as others, and you would have come back to maybe a new life form at the beginning of the next term!
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