Adisadel College Old Boys Association

Webmaster: This is one of the greatest books ever written on Adisadel College. It is nearly 30 years old, and it gives a rich account of the humble beginnings of this great institution and the men who walked through its gates and on its campus including its traditions. As we count down to the school's centenary celebrations in 2010 we are happy to have this online version for you to read. You will find hyperlinks in the right-most pane to the various chapters and topics (Table of Contents).

ABOUT THIS BOOK

In the book, the author gives, with considerable imagination and freshness, an informal account of Adisadel College and his student days at the School, interspersed with interesting episodes, recollections and impressions, that make the book enthralling to read. Besides recording the scholarship and achievements of the Old Boys at the national and international levels, he has also given historical sketches of the Anglican Church of Ghana and her contributions towards the development of education in Ghana.

R. J. Moxon, O.B.E., M.A. (Cantab.) of Atlas Bookshop -and - formerly Director of Information Services Department, commenting on this book, writes: "I have genuinely enjoyed reading "Reminiscences of Adisadel" as a friend and well-wisher of Adisadel and many of its former staff and Old Boys. "But it was not until I had the opportunity to read the book that I know half the interesting story of the School's history. And although I have known Father Knight by his great reputation for 35 years, I had not before grasped what a great impact he evidently made on Adisadel and any one associated with the School".

"Of the text itself, I am full of admiration as I believe you have achieved the most difficult task of striking a happy medium between officialdom and informality in your very readable presentation. It reads very well and holds the attention from start to finish. It is a work that will certainly give pleasure to many".

ADISADEL COLLEGE

Dedicated to the cherished memory of
The Rt. Revd. Nathaniel Temple Hamlyn, D. D.
Founder: S. P. G. Grammar School (now Adisadel College)
And to Fellow Old Santaclausians

A	Adisadel College, thou erstwhile Grammar School
D	Do and dare, let not thy noble aims wax cool
I	In good faith and honour confide, what e'er betide
S	Saint Nicholas, thy Patron, doth with thee abide!
A	A great and famous School in every sense thou art
D	Dauntlessly play just as well thy most worthy part
E	Edified in spirit, fresh as the spring flower
L	Loyalty and Service be thy true strength and power!

C	Cheer up Santaclausians to stand up for honour
O	On the path of duty however rugged and dour
L	Lead them on to fame and glory, to useful life,
L	Lively, keen and helpful, and braving every strife
E	Emboldened with courage to serve the Church and State
G	Giving nothing but the best, with gaiety and grace
E	Ever playing up the game and winning the race!

FOREWORD

I am delighted to be invited to write a Foreword to this book, and I do so with great, pleasure for reasons that should be obvious to all. As Chairman of the Management Committee of Adisadel College, I am naturally interested in t efforts directed at supporting and advancing the noble cause of the School.

I have read "Reminiscences of Adisadel" with interest. McLean Amissah has certainly fulfilled a valuable task in writing about his Alma Mater and those closely associated with her progress and development from the point of view of an Old Boy who has closely followed Adisadel’s steady growth over the years. His love for his old school and his pride in its glories are commendable. Like an acorn seed sown in the fertile soil of this fair land of ours, Adisadel College has grown from small beginnings and developed to become one of the finest public schools in the country. Today, the College stands out, mighty and majestic, and like an oak tree. its branches spread over a wide area, riding out the storms and looking into the future with patient confidence in the power and saving grace of Almighty God. From her foundation, Adisadel College has been closely linked up with the Church.

It is significant to reflect that an increasing number of Old Santaclausians are now coming forward to dedicate themselves to the service of the Church. This is a clear indication that one of the objectives that gave birth to the School, namely, to train suitable candidates for the Church "to propagate the Gospel" is being realised to the Glory of God. May the harvest be plenteous! I am gratified to observe that Adisadel College, as a Christian institution, is fulfilling a great mission, in that it is helping to produce scholars and men of affairs for the country. Learning and scholarship based on a sound moral and spiritual principles are ideals highly to be prized, particularly so in these days of materialism.

It is towards those higher and nobler ends that training at Adisadel College continues to be directed. The School seeks to produce God-fearing, modest and selfless men, dedicated to the service of the Church and of the State. I commend this book to all Santaclausians (both past and present) as well as friends and well-wishers of Adisadel College. I have no doubt , members of the Anglican Communion at home and abroad will find this book too a useful source of information about the Church and the role she has played in the development of education in Ghana, however modest it may be. I do hope that McLean Amissah's initiative, altruism and example will serve as an inspiration and a spur to other Old Boys of Adisadel , who have a gift of the pen to produce similar works to the end that an "undefiled heritage" may be built around the School's great name, from “age to age", thereby inspiring succeeding generations of students to identify themselves with the work of the Church and in the service of the country.

PREFACE

This book gives a short account of Adisadel College and describes some of the elements and episodes that have contributed to the building of traditions of the School. Times of successive headmasters have been underlined, and so have been some progressive developments and landmarks that have gone a long way to make the Adisadel what it is today a model public school and one of the leading institutions in the country.

The history of the School may for the purposes of this record be divided into four periods: the first period, covering the early days of its foundation (from 1910 to 1924) when it was known as S.P.G. Grammar School; the second (from 1924 to 1936) when it was called St. Nicholas Grammar School; the third from 1937 to 1963 and the fourth from 1964 to the present time. These periods, I must admit, have not been meticulously marked in the book, but they have been given adequate treatment in the `chapters in which they appear.

"Adisadel", by which the College is now called, is derived from the name of an English lady, Alice, who according to oral tradition, used to give first aid treatment to the simple folk in a nearby village. The lady was so kind-hearted that she was so much loved by the villagers; they visited her regularly.` One problem with them was that they could not^, pronounce her name-Alice-properly; they were content to call' her "Adis". On one of their usual visits, a group was told that Alice was ' asleep-thereupon they passed word round that "Adis-ada" (Fanti translation, of "Alice is asleep"). It was so unusual that Alice was sleeping that particular afternoon which time they often called; and the expression caught on: Adis-ada; Adis-ada. In the attempt to anglicize it, the expression ended up as "Adisadel". ,

Adisadel College has built up a great tradition over the years and its records in the academic, sports, political and other fields are highly placed in the developments of the country. Of course, it is these achievements that have given substance and meaning to the School's motto, Vel Primus Vel Cum Primis - "Either the First or with the First".

The spirit of self-help and determination - "The Adisadel Spirit" displayed by former students of the School and which enabled them, in the words of a former Headmaster, Archbishop Knight, to "specialise in the wholly impossible" has become a veritable phenomenon. The loyalty and devotion of Old Santaclausians to their School; the nostalgia that attracts them to Adisadel on Founder' bay and other great days in the of the School, the symbolic and traditional "Cement ,party" coupled led the hilarity with which Santaclausians sing the School Ode have - `usually ^-revitalising and refreshing effects on the life of the School (It y be of interest to learn that the School Ode' was set to music by a young man with musical talent - J. B. Wilmot - who . at the time of . composition was a student of the School).

It is relevant to mention that the idea of writing, this book originated from an informal chat I had one evening with an uncle, Matthew V. Sampson, an Old Santaclausian, one of the "Father Knight Boys" who actually undertook the self-help building project at Adisadel. Matthew Sampson fired my imagination with a lively, first hand Story of We at :TOPP YARD and how a dream was translated into reality at HILL TOP Adisadel The epic story created in my mind's eye an appealing picture, which I felt, ought to be re-captured and depicted in cameo for posterity. This book is the outcome of the kaleidoscopic scenes pictured in my mind.

"Reminiscences' cannot escape from romance and I have, given a much informal and sketchy treatment to most of them. I cannot claim that this book will exhaust the life of Adisadel College; if anything, it should excite interest in the building of an Alma Mater which we have loved over the years.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to the Right Reverend I. S. M. LeMaire, GM., D.D., the Bishop of Accra and Chairman of the College Management Committee for readily accepting to write a Foreword to this book. I am also indebted to all fellow Old Santaclausians particularly Dr. C. A. Ackah, M.A. Ph.D. (Lond.), F:R.G,S., the first Ghanaian principal of the- University College of Cape Coast, for their encouragement, advice and assistance in the preparation of this book.

To my good friend and colleague of the "Inky Fraternity", Kojo Yankah, himself an Old Santaclausian, I owe an immense debt of -gratitude. In the midst of his busy schedule of work as Deputy Public Relations Manager of the Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC), he managed to find the time, at the request of the Publishers, to assist in the project by conducting research into other aspects of the life of Adisadel and also put things in good shape-thus helping in no small way to make this work much more detailed and interesting.

Lastly, but by no means the least, my special thanks go to Kwesi S-Woode, managing director of Afram Publications (Ghana) Limited, the publishers. Kwesi, himself an Old Santaclausian, saw the need to publish this book and he worked really hard to bring the project to fruition.

The spontaneous manner in which many Old Santaclausians rallied to my aid in response to my appeal for funds and made generous donations towards the publication of this book is. doubtless, expressive and eloquent demonstration of their love for, and pride in, Adisadel College.

In the preparation of this book, I have availed myself of relevant facts and figures gleaned from various sources, notably, "Sixty Years of Adisadel", several volumes of past issue of SANTACLAUS, the School magazine, and the "Golden Shore", the erstwhile diocesan magazine of the Anglican Church which the Bishop of Accra so kindly placed at my disposal. The souvenir booklet, "The 222nd Anniversary of the Anglican Church of Ghana", provided me with much of the background information for the chapter on "The Anglican Church and Education in Ghana."

The photographs of the Rt. Revd. Nathaniel Temple Hamlyn, D.D., the Founder; the Most Revd. Alan J. Knight, C.M.G., D.D., Archbishop of the West Indies and the Rt. Revd. I. S.M. LeMaire, G.M., D.D., the Bishop of Accra were reproduced by kind permission of the school authorities. The group photographs of the Old Boys and the Alcestes were made available for use by J. B. H. Coleman and Ben Bookman, respectively, both fellow school mates. The rest of the photographs (indicated by asterisks *) are used by kind courtesy of the Information Services Department, Accra, where I am privileged to work.

G. McLean Amissah was born at Kaduna in Northern Nigeria where his father served in the Nigerian Government Service as Accountant for many years, in the 1920's.

He had his early education there, later at the Cape Coast Government Boys' School, and afterwards at Adisadel College, which is the setting for this book.

McLean Amissah displayed evidences of literary ability in his school days, when he, started contributing literary articles on various topics and poems to the local papers and magazines. On leaving school, he worked for the "Gold Coast Observer", a weekly paper , then published at Cape Coast.

This paved the way for his work in the Information Services Department where he is now Head of the Research and Features Services.