On 26 March Thring sent a telegram from Borth to Christian, who was still in Uppingham: ‘It is flat treason and treachery. I have wired to stop it.’ We do not know to what this refers, but it shows that distance had done little to dispel his resentful and angry mood. There were also new anonymous letters from each side in the press; ‘A father’ wrote at length to the Manchester Critic at the end of March, complaining at the lack of urgency being shown. This prompted ‘One of the townsfolk’ to write to the Stamford Mercury raising the question of whether Borth would really turn out to be safer than Uppingham. The first edition of the school magazine for the summer term fanned the flames. It included a clever poetical satire: ‘How I came to Borth’, with the words:

It did not take long for a copy to find its way to Uppingham, where the rector took offence at the use of his name in this play on words. Dr Bell wrote to Thring on 5 May urging him to stop the boys writing such things; they would not help, especially at a time when he sensed that public opinion might just be starting to move in favour of the school.

All these irritations gave an added spice to the annual elections to the RSA which were due in late April. The elections offered both sides a chance to test local opinion, but also exposed them to potential rejection at the polls.