‘Schoolboy’ reunited with time capsule after 73 years
A SCHOOLBOY who hid a time capsule at his school with a friend in 1947 has been reunited with it – at the age of 87.
Doug Cole and his classmate Colin Brewer stuffed the box with exercise books, empty milk bottles and a note asking to be contacted should the items be found.
After they left the capsule in an old boiler room, it remained undisturbed until recently.
Then, construction workers doing demolition work found the hoard and handed it to the school – Paignton Academy in Devon – who called in a historian for help in tracking down the two boys.
After a bit more digging it was discovered that Colin had died but Doug still lived nearby.
Fascinated
School principal Mark Smith said: “When the items were found we appealed for help to find the boys and a local historian tracked them down.
“The irony is that Doug’s daughter Karen actually now works at the school and his grandson Sam started last September.
“We invited Doug in and he was fascinated. He remembered there were evacuated children from London when he was here.
“He would be educated for half the week and then have half the week off for the evacuees to be educated.”
Doug, who was 14 and a member of the Boys’ Brigade when he hid the time capsule in 1947, remembers the era well. He said: “We didn’t have a lot and rationing was still in. We walked everywhere and that was normal.” The milk bottles were the ones given to all schoolchildren each day to improve their nutrition.
After leaving school, Doug completed two years of national service and then worked for Standard Telephones and Cables, based in Paignton, for 40 years.
He was awarded a British Empire Medal for his services as a volunteer coastguard in 1993. Now he enjoys spending time with his four children and three grandchildren.
Head Mark has reburied Doug and Colin’s books, bottles and note along with items from today’s pupils. A plaque on the new capsule requests that it be opened in 70 years time, just like the old one was.
Mark said of Doug and Colin’s books: “Their handwriting is beautiful. It’s something to which we are sure we could all aspire.”