G is for Gym Club - Gymnastics, Boxing and Fencing

G is for Gym Club, Gymnastics Boxing and Fencing

Looking back into the Archives from the early 1900s, Gym and the Gym Club refer specifically to boxing and fencing and the early photographs show teams of four or eight; however, there are records of House gymnastics competitions at that time. By the 1940s, as described in this quote from OB A.D.R. Dawes (1937 -49) in an article called ‘Some memories of life at the school in the 1940s’ Gym Club had clearly changed to include gymnastics. There are entries about the annual Assault-at-Arms dating back to the early Ousels in the late nineteenth century and the last entry is in the 1960s.

‘Another competitive event, this time an inter-school one, was the Quadrangular Tournament between Bedford, Eton, Dulwich and Haileybury. I well remember the years when the venue was at home. The boxing ring was set up in the Great Hall for the Boxing Tournament and the whole School (excused classes) turned out to watch and support……Apart from that quadrangular event, the School Gym Club which comprised gymnastics, boxing, and fencing, put on an annual 'Assault-at-Arms' display’

To find out more read this 1934 Ousel article on The Gym Club