Reg Woodward(1919 – 2009)
THE Rev Reginald Woodward joined the King’s School staff in 1953 and left 26 years later.
He was a familiar figure in the town, wearing a distinctive beret, dog-collar, below-knee grey overcoat and a rucksack on both shoulders.
He taught Divinity, Latin, French, German, Spanish and Italian and on retiring was head of lower school.
Born in Lincoln, he wrote a book about his formative years called Boy on a Hill, illustrated by King’s School old boy David Parkins.
He also wrote Fun with Languages.
He was a cricket enthusiast and ran the Lincolnshire County Schoolboys side, which he formed in 1959, for many years and organised several successful overseas tours.
He was an England selector at schoolboy level and chairman of the English Schools Cricket Association.
In 1983 he was awarded the Torch trophy for outstanding voluntary contribution to the sport by Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
A prolific traveller, he visited more than 100 countries and at one time owned his own travel company.
He once said his favourite was southern Chile, as the air was the purest he had ever encountered.
Well he was a very gentle man – and of course as they said in the best Pete & Dud sketches “Funny he never got married” – it was this I am sure that earned him the nickname “Bummer” – and of course if you were invited to take part in any activities that he was leading – then it lead to the inevitable ribbing – or worse, downright bullying from some other pupils at the Kings School.
Silverdoveman, when Reg Woodward showered with us new first formers in the nude and his deputy exposed himself while telling off a boy in the changing room, it was the trigger for me to start playing truant culminating in a severe caning from the Head-master. I never went back after that, I think I lasted less than 12 weeks at King’s School. My parents knew about Woodward because he invited my older brother to his house in Harrowby Road where he attempted to educate him in the art of wrestling in his bedroom on his bed. I can’t understand why they allowed me to go to King’s, knowing what they did about Reg Woodward. So it seems he deserved the nick-name you quote above though I can’t recall it myself. I would say from my knowledge and experience of him that he was a paedophile.
I was a pupil at Kings in the 1960’s. Thankfully I was never good enough (or favoured enough) to get into the cricket teams that Reg coached. It was common knowledge that he invited his favoured boys back to his house for tea and to wrestle. These boys were generally known as ‘Reg’s bum boys’. I don’t think at that time I really knew what that meant. In those days, PE was taught in the Old School and, as our first year PE teacher, Reg would watch us change on the stage, insisting that we removed our underwear to ensure we only wore our shorts and shirts. I pray that those boys that Reg preyed upon have not been psychologically harmed.
When I first joined the King’s School, I was innocent and knew nothing of paedophiles or homosexuals. Yet, on the first day there, the word was passed round, “Beware of Reg, he’s a bummer.” “What’s a bummer?”, we asked, and were told. From then on, you could observe the progress of Reg down a corridor as a sort of Mexican Wave, as the lads closest to him hastily pressed their backs to the nearest wall. And the General Science master, whose laboratory was next door to Reg’s room, absolutely hated him.
I too experienced Reg, stark naked, bursting into the showers where all the 1st Years were washing. There was a commununal scream of “Arrrgghh, Bummer!” and the showers emptied with all speed. He used to take one (different) boy on holiday with him each year to exotic locations. I always wondered how on earth he was allowed to do that.
BTW, Silverdoveman – iirc, it was a Marty Feldman sketch, the “Funny He Never Married” one. I’ve got a copy of it on record and on DVD. It’s one of the best sketches ever imho. If you want a laugh,Orson Welles and Dom Deluis did a version that’s on YouTube – good to see them corpsing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb7uKhI7uqU
I have recently been contacted by the Police in Edinburgh who have been investigating historical allegations of abuse by Reg Woodward at a school in Edinburgh – I had to tell them that I only know as much as is on these postings and that beyond that I was not able to help them – and it seemed to me to be rather futile to pursue things now that he is dead.
Apparently the detective traced me back from here finding me via my website – so if you have information there is a department up in Edinburgh who would love to hear from you!
I don’t blame people for saying what they know or what they’ve heard, but I don’t like what I’m reading here. I’ve heard the wrestling rumours before, and, yes, it sounds dodgy. But I’ve never met anyone who actually went to one of the wrestling classes. People like telling stories. No one here has said they were sexually abused. If they had, it would be a very different matter – a matter for the police.
I was at the Kings School in the seventies, and I guess I was one of Reg’s ‘favourites’. To be honest, I never felt completely at ease in his presence, any more than I felt at ease with the other teachers. I was invited on holiday with him, along with two other boys. We took it in turns to sleep in his tent. At no time did he try it on with me. Nor did I ever imagine that was likely – maybe I was naive. I had language lessons in his house on Harrowby Rd with other boys, given in his own free time, unpaid. We were not invited to ‘wrestle’.
He may well have been gay, and possibly attracted to young boys. I doubt that he ever acted on those thoughts, or even completely acknowledged them to himself. He grew up in a different, less sexually conscious age. I think fundamentally he was a kind man, and intelligent enough to know that sexual abuse involves harming people. I know that he often freely gave his time and knowledge when there was no possible sexual motive. I wonder if people criticising him on here can say as much.
My opinion of him would change completely if someone actually said that they’d been abused by him, but until then, I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
Life is complicated!
Hi
I was a pupil at the school from 1966 to 1972. There were some great teachers and the education set me up for life. I was the deputy head boy and went onto Oxford University. However my first two years at the school were very difficult for me partly because I was abused by Reg Woodward. I did go on holiday with him and two other boys and also went to wrestling sessions at his house. He had a tent that folded down from the top of his car. Only one boy could sleep up there with him. I was a naive twelve year old.
I did not tell anyone at the time. I don’t know what would have happened if I had.
He invited me to go on holiday a second time but I turned him down and he never spoke to me again. I felt like I had escaped from something dirty that I was ashamed of.
I regret that I did not confront him while he was alive and have often thought about it. I don’t know what harm he may have done to other boys. It feels like I was strong enough to deal with it myself. I would have liked to have talked with them about it, but it always felt like a dirty secret.
One more point, in response to the comments above. As I remember, the changing rooms had one large communal shower. Teachers had no alternative but to ‘expose themselves’. I do remember lots of us were a bit uncomfortable about communal showers – even with boys of our own age.
It’s amazing what was ignored in those dark days. Anyone who thinks that there could be so much smoke without a significant fire must be more than a little naive.