The Indefatigable Years, 1977-1991

The following excerpts are from Patrick Purser’s autobiography and cover his time at Indefatigable Boarding School, Llanfairpwll. His story will continue in future editions of the magazine.

In 1977 feeling in need of a change of venue, I read somewhere that the Captain Headmaster of the Indefatigable Boarding School on Anglesey was none other than an old ‘Conway’ pal of mine. In our days aboard the ‘old ship’, we never mentioned the ‘Inde’, considering it socially our inferior as it trained boys to be ratings in the Merchant Navy; whilst we were embryonic Merchant Navy officers!

However, I loved that area of the country and considered that if an ‘Old Conway’ could find suitable employment there, why shouldn’t I. Not wishing to presume on our friendship I wrote a formal letter asking if there was the possibility of a teaching post at the Indefatigable school.

Bob immediately recognised who I was and telephoned to ask if I would like to bring the family up and look at the place. Having, so far, heard nothing from an Eastbourne Prep School, where I had already applied for a teaching post, I jumped at this opportunity. It was the middle of a warm summer and we had a delightful drive north, booking in for B&B near the Indefatigable, in the village (with the longest name) of Llanfair Pwll.

We were enthusiastically welcomed by Bob and his wife Pauline, and taken on a guided tour of the presently empty school, the boys being at home for the Summer holidays.

All was spartan but spotlessly clean, kept that way, I was later to learn, by the boys themselves! Each dormitory at The Indefatigable housed from twelve to twenty boys in single or double bunk type iron bedsteads. The grounds were extensive, but the whole place had the air of ‘poverty’. I learned much later that there was little capital investment, the school almost running on a ‘hand to mouth’ existence.

Before we returned south I asked Bob if he could offer me a job. He said that he had considered the school needed more academic teachers with less Seamanship instruction, and fortunately, one of the instructors had recently done a ‘moonlight flit’ at the end of the summer term.

He reckoned he could persuade the Governors to take me on instead, even though my salary would have to be considerably higher than that of my ‘predecessor’!

Later, Bob told me that Victor thought I would prove an asset to the school! It was agreed that I would start the very next term and live in the now vacant semi-detached staff house in the grounds, until my own domestic arrangements had been completed, and the whole family could join me.

No sooner had we returned home to Somerset when I received a telephone call from Eastbourne to say that the job was mine if I wanted it! For the first time in my life I had been given the choice of two career moves! I was in a dilemma. Not knowing which way to go I consulted a family friend, Chandos Morgan, a Naval chaplain who both my wife and I knew and respected.

He had just been appointed Chaplain of the Fleet and was living nearby. When I put my problem to him his immediate response was, “there is no contest. With your teacher qualification and your years of service in the Navy, there is only one place for you to be, at the Indefatigable”.

I formally declined the post at Eastbourne, and in view of the , by now strained relationship with my present head mistress I had no difficulty with the short notice I gave to the Somerset Education Authority, and my resignation was accepted with, probably, a certain degree of relief! The die was now cast.

Much had to be done in a short time. Apart from putting the house on the market, Nigella, our Dexter cow, and the hives of bees had to be disposed of. The former, I sold back to the lady farmer from who we purchased her; and the latter I sold, together with the equipment, to a local beekeeper.

It was agreed that I would join the school in early September, a week or so before the new term started. The house allotted to me was unfurnished. What should I take to tide me over the, hopefully, short time before we found our own accommodation on Anglesey?

I finally settled on a bed; an old oak table; a chair; a roll of carpet (given to me by a neighbour); bedding, etc; kitchen utensils; the rotary cultivator for the tiny garden; and my Honda motor scooter.

Hiring a local carrier and his pickup truck, we just managed to load all these chattels, and very early one morning, still with uncertainty in my mind over the decision I had taken (I think my wife was viewing the prospect ahead with more equanimity than I, and in fact told me much later that she couldn’t get away from Lydford quickly enough), I bade the family ‘goodbye’ and set off for the long journey to North Wales and another ‘Fresh Start’!

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