Floreat 2016

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FLOREAT THE CHELTON IAN ASSOCIATION & SO CIE T Y MAGAZINE JANUARY 2016 – ISSUE NUMBER NINE

CHELTONIA


L A N S D O W N

V I L L AS

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Within walking distance of some of the UK’s highest ranking private and State schools, Lansdown Villas is located right by the classic yet vibrant Montpellier area of Cheltenham with exclusive shopping, atmospheric cafés and wonderful architecture.

Lansdown Villas, Lansdown Walk, Cheltenham GL50 2LJ

W W W. L A N S D O W N -V I L L A S . C O . U K

K I N G S L E Y E VA N S

S AV I L L S

01242 222292 info@kingsleyevans.co.uk

01242 548000 cheltenham@savills.com

kingsleyevans.co.uk

savills.co.uk


FLOREAT

NEWS

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INtRodUctIoN

THE CHELTONIAN ASSOCIATION & SOCIETY MAGAZINE ISSUE NINE – JANUARY 2016

EVENTS

A warm welcome to the 9th issue of Floreat Cheltonia, I hope you enjoyed the ‘new look’ 8th edition and are happy with the formatting changes we have made.

coNtENtS

CHELTENHAM NEWS

2 - 16

17 - 35

FEATURES

36 - 58

the First 175 Years

36-38 39

oc Survey

40

A Job Fit For A King

41

A Successful Brew

42

dentistry with a difference

43

Hazelwell

44-45

oc Lectures & careers talks

46

oc Reunion At Henley

47

1995 college Visit

47

Back to Where it All Began

48

Gallipoli

49 50-51

WW1 centenary

52

one of the Bravest Men

53

tVEc and the dawn of Virotherapy

54-55

chasing the dream

56-57

Remembering college In the 40s OC SPORTS ANNOUNCEMENTS

MERCHANDISE

I hope you enjoy this edition of Floreat Cheltonia and I am looking forward to meeting you at one of the celebratory events in 2016. Labor omnia vincit!

58

59 - 64 65 66 - 67 68

OC SOCIETY

OC SOCIETY

Last year saw a huge increase in the membership of our social media groups. All the latest news and updates from College, along with member news can be found there. If you haven’t yet, I do hope you will join us in the New Year. You can find us on both LinkedIn and Facebook by searching for The Cheltonian Association & Society.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

A dream come true

2016 sees the 175th Anniversary of Cheltenham College, and so The Association & Society have included some celebratory events in this year’s calendar. We are delighted to include a drinks reception at Tower Bridge on 16th June, The Pink & Black Anniversary Ball on 1st July and the OC dinner at The House of Commons on 13th October – please save the dates. You can see the full events calendar on pages 34 & 35. If you have any comments or feedback regarding the Association, please contact the Association Manager, Rebecca Creed, 01242 265694 or r.creed@cheltenhamcollege.org.

OC SPORTS

My Way

FEATURES

EVENTS

It’s been another busy year with a packed events calendar. Our new event initiatives, regular London gatherings and University reunions are building momentum and we plan to continue them into 2016. The Gatsby Ball was a fantastic evening, thank you to current parent, Juliet Capelastegui and her company, Teamwork Selection, for generously sponsoring the event and also to current parents Matthew Brown and Jackie O’Neill for their support and sponsorship. Images of the night can be seen on page 24.

Peter Brettell (BH, 1971) Honorary President

For Committee Member contact information, please see the Association & Society website www.cheltonianassociation.com 1


CHELTEnHAM nEWS

Letter from the Headmaster 2015 has been another eventful and exciting year for College. The sheer busyness of life here is an inspiration in itself, and, coupled with the richness and diversity of what the pupils are achieving, makes for a rich and broad education – something that College has always prided itself on. College insists that there is more to the precious time a young person has at school than the endless hoop jumping of exam after exam. We are in the business of providing a rich and varied experience for life, attempting to build an array of personal skills and characteristics for adult life and for the workplace. This is no small challenge, but there can be no more important a task. That said, it is heartening to see the academic heart of College performing so well: equalling our record GCSE results this year and producing our best ever AS results are testament to the excellent work ethic amongst the pupils and the inspiration of a dedicated Common Room. This year, we have nearly 30 students applying to Oxbridge – the highest number for some time – but we also take great pride in those Cheltonians who work hard and achieve grades that they perhaps would not in other similar schools. Our ethos is to encourage pupils ‘to be the best they can be’ in all spheres of life so we are seeking to add academic value to our pupils in relation to their own individual ability levels. In 2015 exams, College out-performed 3 out of every 4 independent schools at A Level and 4 out of every 5 at GCSE. This, rather than raw percentage of grades, is a far better indicator of the academic performance of a school and rightly places College in the top group of independent schools in the country. We continue to adapt our provision to ensure we are equipping Cheltonians with the tools they need for life. This year we introduced Floreat, an innovative programme with a focus on personal wellbeing that spans topics from healthy living, eating and exercise, the healthy mind, perspective, knowing yourself and your values, to dealing with challenge and anxiety. We are using an acronym for Floreat to underpin this approach: • • • • • • •

Failing is feedback for learning Look after health and wellbeing Open to opportunities and to others Resilient: reflect and improve Effort brings reward Ambitious to grow in all areas Trusted and learn for themselves

For more information, please read the article by Mary Plint (Assistant Head – Learning & Wellbeing) on page 9.

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It has been a pleasure to welcome so many more OCs into College, many of whom have spoken to the pupils about their careers and experiences. From Philip Astley-Sparke (Xt, 1989) talking about a new approach to treating cancer, world-renowned DJ John Askew (NH, 1994) sharing his insights into the Music industry, to Patrick Handley (Xt, 1982) talking about Public Relations – there was plenty of inspiration for future career choices. We have continued to be mindful of the 3,540 OCs who served in the First World War and of the 675 that made the ultimate sacrifice. Once again the College community held a programme of events to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the second year of the First World War, including a concert in the Cheltenham Literature Festival and a specially commissioned play GAS (Gallipoli, Afghanistan, Somme) featuring music written by 20 year old OC, Ruth Matthews. The second incarnation of our First World War Exhibition was held in the Library around Remembrance Sunday where our visiting preacher was the former Headmaster of Charterhouse, Revd John Witheridge. Included in the exhibition was work completed by the current pupils on their trip to the battlefields of Gallipoli. College’s estate has continued to improve over the year as we continue to use parents’ hard-earned money both to recruit the best teachers and invest in the future. The opening of the university-style accommodation in Chandos Cottages gives us much-needed additional Sixth Form girls’ accommodation. A new estates building behind the Sports Centre has freed up an important area in front of Science and Chandos from traffic and delivery vans, and the Medical Centre has been upgraded, and also renamed the Health Centre, reflecting its broader remit in taking a proactive approach to lifestyle choices and emotional wellbeing as well as physical health. The Prep School has a new Science and Technology Centre which will bring huge benefits, including the knock-on effect of creating extra space and facilities for the Senior School in these important subject areas. We are also starting work on an exciting new concept for the future: The Business and Economics Hub for Innovation and Enterprise or BEHIVE. This facility will provide the next generation of Cheltonians with state of the art teaching facilities and the best possible opportunities for linking with local businesses and OCs to develop workplace skills in advance of leaving College. We will be launching our first workplace skills course for Sixth Formers in September 2016. Please do get in touch with Christiane Dickens, Development Director, if you would like to be involved. College will never stand still and we are now able to build on the success of the last five years with a sense of confidence and excitement. There is certainly plenty to look forward to and I hope to speak with many of you at College or Association events in the coming year. With all good wishes

Dr Alex Peterken Headmaster, Cheltenham College


FLOREAT 2016

Academic Achievement and Resilience This is certainly a challenging time in which to be sitting examinations that can have a significant impact on your future life. September 2015 saw the start of ‘new’ A Levels in some subjects, with all of the exams being sat at the end of the Upper Sixth. Many readers will have also seen the press furore concerning poor exam marking, from which Cheltonians have not been exempt. Despite the ups and downs of marking irregularities, 2015 saw the Fifth Form match the record-breaking GCSE results of the previous year. What is particularly impressive over recent years is the number of pupils achieving multiple A*s: no fewer than 44 were awarded 5 A*s or more – a figure that has more than doubled in the past five years. A Level results (at 75% A*B) were slightly below those of the recent past, but the vast majority of Cheltonians made their first choice university, and over 1 in 6 of grades was at the top A*. What remains unpublished is that the AS results of the Lower Sixth were our best ever, which augurs extremely well for A Level 2016. The intellectual life of College beyond the classroom is as rich and varied as ever. Our established independent projects are helping pupils to become self-regulated and interested in learning for its own sake. This year’s winner of the Sixth Form Independent Project was Jessica-Jane OttleyWoodd (U6th, Q) for an essay on how the Spanish filmmaker, Pedro Almodóvar, ‘emasculates’ men in his oeuvre. The range of subject societies continues to grow, with pupils taking the lead in organising events, and Cheltonians benefiting from an exciting range of speakers, with the Economics Society recently receiving a visit from a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy committee, and recent Sixth Form lectures featuring talks from OCs working as entrepreneurs, a diplomat and even a DJ. The title of this article refers to a major initiative at College that started in September 2015. Schools have become increasingly aware in recent years that resilience is an attribute that matters more than ever in the eventual success of young people.

College has therefore launched a groundbreaking Wellbeing programme, appropriately called Floreat. Although College clearly wants its pupils to achieve the best results they can, it never wants to become a ‘hothouse’, and teaching young boys and girls how to retain a sense of perspective is part of what it means to be a Cheltonian. Duncan Byrne Second Master

Art Our 2nd annual temporary Artist-in-Residence, the very talented printmaker and artist, Linn O’Carroll, visited. Within two weeks, all 6th Form artists had produced a visual response to her inspirational exhibition and tutelage. Soon the White Gallery was transformed into a magical winter wonderland for ‘The Big Draw’. College students, staff, and local prep schools were invited to visit and draw within the fairy-light lit space, using headlamps to guide their drawing. We then held the first annual College-wide photographic competition and exhibition, with

nearly 80 individual entries from across College, and a very generous prize of £350 from our sponsors Red Savannah, encouraging students to explore the theme ‘red’ or ‘savannah’. After a very creative Headmaster’s Third Form Independent Project commemorating WW1, our gallery celebrated the outstanding artwork produced at GCSE and A Level in the Speech Day Show, having a bumper attendance of current students, Sixth Form leavers and their parents. This year, more upgrading of facilities took place, with the creation of an ‘Archive Area’ for storage of students’ work and an area set aside for student installations, new sinks and work surfaces, and the continued development of the printmaking area. The grades at GCSE were a very pleasing 100% pass A-B, and at AS, five out of the seven students attained the top grade, with one of our A Level students, Head Girl, Fran Ball (Cha, 2015) achieving full marks in coursework and her exam. What an amazing way to end an exciting year. Juliet Wallace-Mason Head of Art

Drama It has been another busy and exciting year for Extra–Curricular Drama. It began when we staged the first of our House plays The Best Days of Our Lives, performed by Ashmead and Leconfield. This hilarious farce about a girls’ boarding school and a boys’ boarding school being forced to share premises was met with many laughs by the audience who recognised the joys of co-curricular education. In December we took on the daunting task of staging Oh What a Lovely War as part of the College’s commemoration of the start of World War I. This satirical review posed many challenges for our cast, not least learning over 30 songs and representing over 100 characters from Haig to the nameless Tommies in the trenches. This was followed by a highly effective performance, by Westal and Southwood, of Our Day Out. This Willy Russell classic explores the class system and the impact of poor education on children.

from ballet to hip hop and featured our first Cheltenham College X Factor. It was another sold-out event and the generosity of pupils, staff and parents raised over £1,000 for the Bradet School in Romania, the Gogar Primary School in Kenya and our new partner school, the Shamrock School, Nepal. For our final production of the year, 25 3rd and 4th form College pupils worked together to bring the classic children’s book, The Railway Children, to life. In this innovative new adaptation by Mike Kenny the cast must work together as an ensemble to rise to the huge challenge of creating a working railway on stage.

In late March we staged our annual Variety Show. This year saw acts ranging

Sian McBride Director of Drama

3

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COLLEGE NEWS


CHELTEnHAM nEWS

English It is often lamented in the press that the hoop-jumping culture of public exams robs children today of the opportunity to develop a love of learning for the sake of learning; it is also argued that the narrowness of GCSE and A Level courses prevents young people from exploring academic subjects widely, for pleasure. Acutely conscious of this fault in the education system, our work in the English Department has, over the past year, been underpinned by a reinvigorated desire to present our pupils with more opportunities to have fun with our subject and to explore beyond the syllabus. Thus, in the Autumn Term we launched the Cheltenham College Creative Writing Prize. Entries – poetry or prose – were invited from any current pupil on any

Music The Spring Term saw a superb rendition of Bach’s St John Passion given by the Chamber Choir, and the Chapel Choir sang Allegri’s famous Miserere with the solo quartet being given expert coaching by members of the Tallis Scholars. In the Summer Term the Symphony Orchestra performed Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony as well as several concerto movements, the soloists for which were the finalists of the College Instrumental Competition, in a ‘Young Musician of the Year’ style concerto final. Big Band once again performed at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim and the Chapel Choir returned to Gloucester Cathedral where they sang Eric Whitacre’s Sleep as part of Choral Evensong. The Autumn Term has been typically busy, with the introduction of Music Technology lessons and activities, a packed Autumn concert featuring the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, Wind Band, Jazz Groups and Chamber Ensembles. Additionally the Chapel Choir participated in a lecture as part of the Cheltenham Literature Festival; special services for the Battle of Britain memorial day and Remembrance Sunday – for which an anthem was specially commissioned by College Their Kingdom, The Air by Hannah Kendall – and of course the ever popular Advent and Christmas Carol Services. A particular highlight was the Chamber Choir’s liturgical performance of Duruflé’s Requiem on All Souls’ Day. Next term sees 4

theme. Over sixty girls and boys entered, and the standard was extremely high; there is enormous talent within the pupil body. Also in the Autumn Term, we once again took full advantage of the Times Literature Festival. Students broke free of the strictures of the timetable to enjoy lectures on everything from representations of love, sex and death in Classical tragedy, to Edward Thomas’s place in the canon of War Poetry, to why The Tempest is one of Shakespeare’s finest plays.

entertaining, intellectually challenging lecture that germinated, in its wake, many extremely searching (off-syllabus) discussions between students and staff. Regular meetings of our English Department Literary Society complemented these ‘oneoff’ events. Presided over by the inimitable Dr. Davidson, Lit Soc gatherings this year tackled an eclectic mixture of topics, including love poetry, satire, the value of difficulty and a complete reading of T. S. Eliot’s masterwork, The Waste Land.

Even better was to come! A C Bradley (DB, 1869) was a leviathan in the world of Shakespeare scholars. On Friday 27th February 2015, we staged the inaugural A C Bradley Memorial Shakespeare Lecture. Delivered to a packed Big Classical by Professor Tiffany Stern from University College, Oxford, “Bitter, Black and Tragical’: Staging Tragedy in the Shakespearean Playhouse’ was a superbly

And so another year drew to a close, at the end of which we felt content that we had struck more successfully than ever the difficult balance between achieving excellent results and fostering a love of carefree exploration of literature.

an anniversary gala concert in London’s Cadogan Hall on 9th February, featuring the major ensembles from both College and The Prep. To book tickets for the concert, RSVP to boxoffice@cheltenhamcollege.org.

mention as she met her offer to read Natural Sciences at Cambridge.

David McKee Director of Music

Science September 2015 heralded the start of an exciting new year in the Science Department with the appointment of two new Heads of Departments; Miss Charlotte Knowles in Biology and Mr Dan Townley in Chemistry. We also welcomed Mr Pip Ash as a Physics teacher and Mr Ben Rees as a Biology teacher. On the back of another year of outstanding GCSE Science grades, and our best ever AS grades in all three Sciences, we look forward to another even more successful academic year. The Upper Sixth students of last year are to be congratulated on their fabulous results. In particular, Harriet Bevan (A, 2015) needs special

Tim Brewis Head of English

As is customary, the Autumn Term has been as busy and as rewarding as ever. The new Linear A level specifications have been introduced and staff and students alike have embraced this new curriculum. Practical work has vastly increased and our wonderful laboratory facilities have certainly made this aspect of our teaching incredibly exciting. Some of our Upper Sixth students have undertaken the Extended Project Qualification as an additional qualification and they will present their work early next term. Exciting projects dealing with Evidence Based Medicine, Epigenetics, Schizophrenia and Biodiversity Loss are some of the areas they have investigated. Academic evenings have been undertaken and they have proved as popular as ever. Next term sees the annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Careers Workshop for Fourth Form pupils taking place, together with a visit to the Big Bang Exhibition for all Third Form pupils. As I sit and write this article we are in the throes of planning the Science Trip to Costa Rica in October 2016, an extremely exciting venture. This year we have 30 students who have applied for Science degrees and all of them have received superb offers. Our very best wishes go to those who are in the midst of Oxbridge interviews. Isabella Mech Head of Science


FLOREAT 2016

Athletics A highlight of the season was the hosting of our own meet with Stowe, St Edward’s, CLC, Malvern and Rendcomb at the Prince of Wales Stadium where College were successful against some very talented athletes. In representation at the English Schools’ Athletics Association Track and Field Cup and the Achilles relays, notable achievements were Dan Baechus (U6th, BH) 10.9 seconds and Angus Thompson (4th Form, NH) 11.3 seconds in the 100m. Badminton The Badminton club enjoys a set of top players of exceptional ability: College defeated old rivals, such as Abingdon and Bloxham, and defeated new ones, such as the University of Gloucestershire and St Edward’s. Girls Captain, Carmen Ma (U6th, Cha), also competed at number one in the County, a super achievement. The club continues to cater successfully for a wide range of ability and prides itself on offering focused instruction and a fun atmosphere. Cricket One of College’s busiest cricket seasons finished with successes in the Haileybury Festival for the 1st XI, victory in the St Peter’s York Festival for the U15s, and the U14s have reached the English Schools’ Cricket Association County Cricket Final. The Girls’ Cricket Club continues to gather momentum after a successful Winter. The highlight being the U15s victory in the Indoor Lady Taveners for Gloucestershire and representing the County in the South West. Golf College won the SW Region in the Independent Schools’ Golf Association Matchplay tournament for the first time. This qualified the team to play in the National Final, held at Prince’s Golf Club and Royal St George’s in April – they finished 8th out of 19 schools. They finished runner up in West of England Public Schools tournament at Burnham, and won the inaugural Morgan Cup against Radley College, named after Richard Morgan, Headmaster of both schools. Hockey The 1st XI went to Barcelona for a training camp before the start of the term and secured great wins over Abingdon and Marlborough; the XI were also invited to be part

of the Varsity matches at Southgate HC playing Charterhouse as the warm up match. The girls had a memorable tour to Malaysia and attended a successful event hosted by a number of Old Cheltonians. The U14 and U16 age groups qualified for the West Finals and the U16s only lost 1 game out of their 9 fixtures. The 1st XI secured wins over CLC in the Emily Sumaria Cup, Bloxham and got through to West Preliminary Finals. Netball The 1st VII had a successful campaign beating The King’s School Worcester, Wycliffe College, Marlborough College and Dean Close. Other notable achievements were our U14A team who were unbeaten during the season. In September our new U14s entered the County round of the National Schools Tournament and won the tournament. Polo The Polo Club had huge success on grass: the girls’ team won the SUPA Girls’ National Championships followed by a convincing win in the Nationals with Minty Lawson Smith (U6th, Cha) and Alicia Williams (U6th, Cha) teaming up with Ollie Severn (H, 2015) and Tommy Severn (L 6th, H). The only mixed team in the division, we took on Stowe and Radley with great effect. On the annual College Polo day, the Prep team beat Summer Fields, the College team beat Stowe and the Old Cheltonians beat the Old Etonians. Rackets We won the lion’s share of 1st Pair fixtures in the season but at Queen’s, Josh Dell (U6th, H) and Rhodri Hande (U6th, S), lost narrowly to the 2nd seeds, Wellington and we went down 2-4. Encouragingly, both our 2nd Pair and 3rd Pair got through to the semi-finals of the Second Pairs. Pleasing progress was made with the Girls Rackets, culminating in College’s first Girls fixture against Haileybury. Rowing Good progress continued at the Boat Club during the season. Numbers remain high with 140 rowers in the club, including a record number of girls for a third consecutive year. The 1st VIII performed well, narrowly missing out on qualification for Henley and in the Junior Club, we qualified for the semi finals of National Schools for the first time. The Girls’ 1st IV won well at Gloucester and stepped into a IV+ at National Schools pro-

ducing their best performance of the season, narrowly missing out on a place in the final. Rugby In 2015 the U18s were invited into the newly formed Champions Trophy that saw the top 32 Rugby playing Schools compete in a knock out tournament. We managed to get through to the last 16 beating Uppingham in the opening round. Great performances against Radley, Rugby and Stowe impressed but a number of the defeats were by the odd score. The U15s got through to the 4th round of the Natwest Cup, narrowly losing to St Peter’s Gloucester. Shooting At the National Rifle Association Schools Meeting at Bisley, the team were unable to practise with the MOD issue rifle prior to the competition but acquitted themselves well, finishing in 15th place in the Ashburton match. In the Silenta Trophy, Josh Dowley (L6th, L), Captain, finished 21st and was the only member of the College team to finish in the Cadet Hundred. Squash Both senior girls’ 1st V and senior boys’ 1st V progressed to the final of the National Schools Trophy where the boys finished fifth and the girls finished a creditable fourth. Swimming Two new galas were introduced into the Swimming Club’s schedule this season. We hosted Wellington College in a close match, in which our boys won their section, and against Monmouth where College narrowly went down 85 points to 90. We were also pleased to reintroduce Dean Close fixtures to the swimming calendar and College emerged victorious with 186 points to their 174 points. Tennis The Boys’ 1st VI, led by Freddie Baker (H, 2015) for the second year in a row, performed well in the Summer Term and won exciting matches against St Edward’s, Oxford, Malvern, Dean Close and Shrewsbury. The 2nd VI competed well too and finished with an equal win/loss ratio, in what is a challenging fixture list. The Girls’ 1st VI lost only one match and won against CLC, Dean Close, Malvern, Bloxham and Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls. In the LTA Senior Students competition, the girls reached the Regional Finals, narrowly losing 4-2 to HMSG. Karl Cook Director of Sport 5

NEWS

Sports


CHELTEnHAM nEWS

Valetes Caroline Wood Director of Admissions & Marketing 2008-2015 Caroline Wood joined College as Director of Admissions and Marketing in May 2008 following a career with BP, where she held posts in strategic marketing, sales and customer service. She immediately brought her business acumen to College’s admissions processes, so that parents and Prep Schools quickly knew that they could rely on efficient and clear communication. As a parent of a son and a daughter (who would both eventually come to College), Caroline has always had an instinctive understanding of what parents want from College, and has the rare skill of being caring and sensitive, yet business-like at the same time. Her colleagues were impressed by the speed at which she gained a complete understanding of education. She represented College on countless occasions in the UK and abroad and her knowledge of College is encyclopaedic. Caroline will be missed hugely by her dedicated team and by the close friends she has made in the wider College community. Her broad skill set and personal integrity will make her invaluable to schools as she takes up her new role as a Senior Consultant for RSAcademics, and we wish her the best, knowing that she will remain close to College, geographically and emotionally.

Chris Alcock ICT Technician 2004-2015 Chris was with us for just over 11 years. After completing his course at the University of Gloucestershire he joined us as a junior technician with little experience of Apple computers, their operating system and programs. However, 6

about retiring, she joined College Archives for two days a week.

it became apparent very early on that his technical ability and adaptability would be just what College needed. It also became apparent that his sense of humour is somewhat unique but much appreciated. After a while, his ability as a Karaoke performer was revealed to the world. He is also an excellent imitator – but was kind and not cruel in his gentle mimicry. Chris taught himself – to a high level of proficiency – a host of different programs. He is not just a master in working with applications; he is quite at home writing scripts that will make systems and processes run better. Chris made a huge contribution to College during his time here and was held in high regard. He was great fun to work with and will be hugely missed on both a personal and professional level. He is moving on to a new challenge and will undoubtedly be a great success.

Jill Barlow Archivist 2004-2015 The adage if you want something done, ask a busy person certainly fits Jill. If it is Tuesday or Thursday morning, it must be College Archives; but on other days she can be found working (as a volunteer) on the Account Rolls of Edward II in the archives at Berkeley Castle, or in Gloucester Cathedral archives. Or she may be researching or editing records for publication at Gloucestershire Archives (two volumes on apprentices, 16th‑19th century) or The National Archives, where her palaeographical skills and knowledge of medieval Latin are put to good use. Currently she is also working on the Cheltenham volume of the Victoria County History for Gloucestershire. On Fridays she teaches medieval Latin at home. She began work at GCHQ (where she met her husband Peter on the first day!). Seven years later she took a career break to raise a family before returning to work at a translation agency. Later, she became a director of a market research company. In 2004, at an age when most people think

Jill has a phenomenal memory for facts and her unrivalled knowledge of local history will be greatly missed. An active member of several groups, such as the Cheltenham Local History Society and the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, she serves on numerous committees, and wears several hats (besides that of Cheltenham College) when she goes to Heritage Open Day meetings. Although retiring from formal employment at College, she will return as a volunteer. We wish her all the best in her retirement and look forward to seeing her occasionally.

Ali Brady Learning Support Cheltenham Prep 1991-2015 Alison Brady (known as Ali) first joined us in Kingfishers in 1999 as a Learning Support Teacher. She had a real talent for relating to children who struggled in all sorts of ways with accessing the curriculum and she was a passionate advocate of developing the rounded child and a champion of those with real difficulties. Ali was keen to foster independence in her pupils and was able to inspire them with fun and enjoyable lessons. She provided reassurance to parents who, for the first time, were coming to terms with the fact that their child was having difficulties and was always there with kind and gentle words, and often a box of tissues. As a colleague, Ali was very supportive, with a great sense of humour and offering good advice over a cup of tea. We will miss her greatly as she leaves us to work in the family brewing business.

Ginette Doyle Librarian 2007-2015 College welcomed Ginette in January 2007, and she set about transforming the Library. She has always held the firmest of beliefs in the importance of our Library and she has moved swiftly with the times. She has pioneered wireless and


FLOREAT 2016

Ginette’s links to numerous Librarian Associations have allowed us to benefit from excellent practice from around the world. She is an expert in the field and, through her work with the School Library Association, she has accrued national influence and has worked extensively on her visits to schools of every type. College has gained much from her library leadership, and her colleagues have benefited from her unwavering support. Ginette has shown how important looking after people is to not just the success of a venture, but to the happiness and fulfilment of the striving. She retires with our warmest and fondest wishes.

Anne Doherty Catering Assistant Cheltenham Prep 1985-2015 Anne Doherty started at Cheltenham College Junior School in September 1985 having previously worked at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Annie (as she was fondly called) was very popular with colleagues and was always kind to the children she looked after. She lived in Churchdown and, although she never learned to drive, she was always punctual, reliable and hardly ever missed a day of work. For many years she cycled to and from work everyday, starting at 7am and finishing at 3pm. She retired in September 2015 and will be sorely missed.

Tom Richardson (Xt, 1998) Head of Rugby 2000-2015 Tom came to College as a pupil in 1993, and left as Head of House in Christowe. Whilst at College he played top-level sport in an outstanding and hugely successful sporting year group. In 2005 he started

working at College as a sports professional and was able turn his expertise to all the main games. The 2nd XV, 2nd XI hockey and U14 cricket sides were immensely successful under his leadership because he is technically superb, able to pass that across to the pupils effectively, and exudes enthusiasm. He has also been a full-time coach at the Prep School. In his first years here, Tom represented England Counties in South Korea and Japan whilst playing professional rugby for several Midlands clubs. Such was his success on the coaching front, he was appointed Head of Rugby at College in 2009, beating international players in the process. Rugby has flourished under his leadership and the coaching staff now has two ex-England players in its squad. In addition to his team coaching he has helped move College into a more professional era and is one of the architects behind TAP, the Training Accreditation Programme, which now offers individual support to our elite athletes. Despite his gourmet appreciation of puddings, he retains his youthful demeanour. He has always retained pride as a Cheltonian – his displays on College Field for the Old Cheltonian side are legendary, and there is no one that comes close to his speed around the boundary. As a Resident Tutor, Tom’s ability to get the right tone with an issue is superb and he was a great support. He will leave a huge gap. We wish him, and his wife Katie, all the best for their future in London.

Jessica Shearman Chef 2000-2015 Jessica Shearman began working at College in November 2000 as a Pastry Chef. There soon became a notable difference in the desserts that were on offer and suddenly we all had to start watching our waist lines. During her time at the College Jess’s family also grew, she had two sons, Jack and Rhys. Jess moved into the kitchen and proved herself as a valuable member of the Chefs’ Team. Jess left College in April 2015 to pursue a job that enabled her to spend more time with the family.

NEWS

touchscreen technology, brought the Library online, and has shown that she can tweet like a canary! She has worked relentlessly and invested thought, care and energy to make the Library the remarkable facility it is today.

Ross Spry Head Groundsman 2006-2015 Ross began life at College in 2006 as a temporary gardener. His potential was quickly recognised and he was offered a permanent job with the Estates Department. Over the next two years Ross worked within the building section, alongside Mr Bernie Davies and together they completed many projects around College. In 2009, Ross was appointed Head Groundsman and, with his team, worked hard to improve the sports pitches over the next six years. During his time as Head of Grounds, Ross has been recognised by the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) for his work on the county cricket square. He won Groundsman of the Year twice, as well as being runner up and receiving a commendation. Ross was promoted to Head of Grounds and Gardens in 2011, which allowed him not only to maintain College grounds but also those of all of our boarding houses. We wish Ross all the best, as he undertakes his new challenge as Grounds Manager at Brighton College.

Jane Upton Teacher Cheltenham Prep 2003-2015 Jane Upton joined the Prep as Head of Girls’ Games. She came with a wealth of experience having previously taught at The Chase, Malvern, Monmouth and St Edwards. Jane passionately believed that every child should be able to partake in sport whether it be dance, gym or on the games field. Jane encouraged every girl to have a go and would enthusiastically support any team; whether it be the As or the Ds. Her passion for her subject enthused from her and she consistently inspired her teams just to do their best. After the birth of her son, Jane returned part time and took on a range of roles. She has been a Year 4 generalised teacher, taught Geography throughout the school and even cookery in Year 3. She is a true professional and a 7


CHELTEnHAM nEWS

Valetes (continued) gifted teacher who has both encouraged and inspired not only the pupils she taught but also her colleagues in the Common Room. She will be missed by everyone and I know her next school will be a better place because she is there.

Richard Woodberry History Teacher 1990-2015 Richard came to College in 1990, attracted by the outgoing Headmaster, Richard Morgan, the beauty of the buildings, and what he remembers as ‘a very nice Sixth Form’. First as Director of Studies, and subsequently as Head of that Sixth Form, he masterminded university applications in the UK and overseas, and arranged a glittering programme of General Studies speakers that included Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London; Lord Robertson, Secretary General of NATO; Nigel Farage of UKIP fame; the historian David Starkey; and Professor Anthony Grayling, the philosopher. Richard came also to teach History, and went on to provide unforgettable memories for generations of colleagues and pupils. He brought a wealth of experience from Badminton School, The King’s School, Canterbury, City of London School for Boys, and Colfe’s School, as well as the academic rigour of the Neale scholar of the Queen’s College, Oxford. In 2007 Richard completed his PhD on the impact of the 1867 Reform Act. He has published articles on Politics in Bristol, 1865‑86, Suffolk and the Reform Acts, 1867‑68, and has books and other articles in mind or in preparation. That academic engagement has informed all his teaching with passion, insight and authority, which made his lessons masterclasses of the craft. Next year he will continue to teach part time, at Godolphin and Latymer School. So many Cheltonians, on both sides of the desk, owe Richard a huge debt of gratitude. Our warmest good wishes go with him and his wife, Jill, for a long and happy semi-retirement. 8

Fergus Llewellyn Newick House Housemaster 2004-2015

Nick Nelson Christowe Housemaster 2010-2015

Farewell Newick House

Farewell Christowe

In losing Fergus Llewellyn at the end of the Summer Term, we said goodbye to a schoolmaster of real pedigree. He arrived at College from King’s School, Bruton, in 2004, and with boyish enthusiasm and commitment entered into the full gamut of College life. No class felt unloved or untutored; no team felt unmanaged or unmotivated; and no stage felt unlit or unprepared. Fergus’ infectious desire to get to know his charges, in the same breath as guiding them to achieve results beyond their beliefs, is a true gift. On both academic and pastoral plains, that was acknowledged; he was appointed Head of English in 2009 and, one year later, along with Tamsyn, the Llewellyns took on Newick House. As an English and Drama teacher, he brought texts alive: Chaucer was unravelled; Emily Dickinson was unfolded and Shakespeare was unbridled; in both disciplines he was a master at moving texts from the page to the stage. He oversaw College’s decision to offer Theatre Studies at A Level. As Houses began to increasingly combine, he directed Museum, Mixed Doubles and Role of Three as House plays where emotion, timing and simple inclusivity rode strong. He sat well in the Director’s chair. As his first pastoral position in College, Fergus was Resident Tutor in Leconfield in 2005. He was also an ever-present on the games field. His stewardship of Yearlings and Junior Colts, in Rugby and Cricket in particular, showed pupils how they might unlock skills not only for themselves, but also in each other. His nurture of Christian Union (or TCP as it was called until recently), ensured that as a body it was rewarding and uplifting for those present – both love (and soft drinks) were in evidence. Of course, Newick House for Fergus, Tamsyn and family, was the pastoral prize. A number of initiatives ensured that it was indeed a home, not a House, for every pupil. He moves to St Andrew’s School, Turi in Kenya, as Headmaster of their Prep School. We wish them the very best in their new East African home.

Nick Nelson finished more than 10 years service in Christowe House this summer, having lived there as a newly wed tutor and then becoming Housemaster over 7 years ago. He and his wife Katie, and their growing family have made a relaxed, friendly and supportive environment for hundreds of boys over that time and parents gathered together for a celebration of his tenure at the beginning of June. Parents had organised a collection and bought a very splendid garden bench for their new home, complete with a Christowe 'skull and cross bones' plaque, in the hope that Nick could enjoy some peace and quiet in his new garden whilst marking essays and doing a little of his favourite 'twitching'. During a farewell speech from one of the parents, it was remarked that Christowe under Nick's leadership had enjoyed a great reputation, which the boys explained so well as, 'we're not particularly good at any one thing in Christowe, but we have a lot of fun trying everything'. Nick has always been available for the boys and they fondly remembered his slightly random e-mails to them regarding preferences for hobnobs or chocolate digestives, or more recently the weighty Dominos vs Subway debate. Parents marvelled at the fact that an email at midnight got an instant response and are all now missing his pun-laden weekly newsletters. Nick moves on to be responsible for international students, liaison with the Cheltenham Festivals and overseas universities, as well as his normal teaching workload at College, and he and Katie finally have a family home without disturbances at all hours of the day and night. He is hugely missed and parents and boys enjoyed several opportunities at the end of the summer term to thank him for all his hard work and to wish the whole family well in their next chapter. n


Floreat 2016

By Dr Mary Plint – Assistant Head (Learning & Wellbeing) The lives of many Old Cheltonians amply demonstrate wide-ranging accomplishments and positive societal influence. Hopefully, OCs feel that the values, characteristics and self-belief developed at College have contributed towards their leading full, meaningful and successful lives, thriving not only in respect of chosen careers, but also in being satisfied as individuals and human beings, sharing worthwhile relationships and engaging positively with the wider world. College has always been committed to an education that has the wellbeing of students at its heart. It aims to offer a holistic educational experience that enables students to flourish in the fullest sense. In launching Floreat, a new wellbeing programme, College is reaffirming its goal that, on leaving, students should continue to be guided by strong values, be confident and open to opportunities, and be ambitious in making a meaningful contribution in the world. Resilience and resourcefulness One of the programme’s aims is to equip students to thrive in the increasingly complex and demanding world that they encounter, a world in which mental health issues are on the increase (depression is expected to be the number one health issue in the world in 20201). The programme is structured to guide young people in developing resilience and resourcefulness. The aim will be to equip each individual with the skills to be happy and confident, to enjoy good relationships with others and to develop the ability to be autonomous and manage their emotions. It is important on a personal as well as the societal level that pupils should become the best that they can be. We define wellbeing as ‘…a dynamic state, in which the individual is able to develop their potential, work productively and creatively, build strong and positive relationships with others, and contribute to their community. It is enhanced when an individual is able to fulfill their personal and social goals and achieve a sense of purpose in their society’.2

FLOREAT: Cheltonian characteristics Failing is feedback for learning Look after health and wellbeing Open to opportunities and to others Resilient: reflect and improve Effort brings reward Ambition to grow in all areas Trusted and learn for themselves Learning opportunities The Floreat programme has been developed from the characteristics that we believe to be essential to wellbeing, such as courage, empathy, resilience and balance. The programme aims to provide the building blocks for cultivating attitudes and actions that promote wellbeing. These include the above characteristics and others, such as appreciation, maintaining physical health, developing positive relationships and approaching situations with a growth mindset. Adopting this mindset is beneficial within all spheres of development; social, emotional and academic. A growth way of thinking describes an attitude of mind in which one does not rely upon ability or talent for success, but believes that one’s abilities can be developed through reflecting and acting upon feedback and through consistent effort. This encourages pupils to view challenges as learning opportunities and not to be put off by them. With a growth outlook, pupils realise that ambitions can be accomplished by making sequential improvements. In September 2015, the Third Form and Sixth Form Floreat programme was implemented in tutor time, with the Lower College programme extending to Fourth and Fifth Form over successive years. The programme draws on recognised wellbeing programmes as well as elements of the Physical, Social, Health and Citizenship Education programme.

Lower College pupils will consider aspects of flourishing on a personal level in the Autumn Term, in their relationships with others in the Spring Term and in their interactions with the wider world in the Summer Term. Pupils will be helped to recognise and develop their key strengths, to appraise situations they are likely to encounter and to formulate positive responses to these. The exercises and activities done in weekly sessions will be followed up by activities and reflection to be undertaken independently. Upper College students will develop greater understanding of how to remain balanced in the demanding and potentially stressful circumstances they face with public exams, making important decisions about university and managing changing relationships as they become increasingly independent. An ambitious focus Tutors and Heads of Section are in the forefront of bringing the programme and resources to life. The Health Centre will also be involved in delivering some of the programme content and College counsellors will share their expertise. However, the programme is not confined to the wellbeing of pupils; to be effective role models, staff need to experience wellbeing themselves. The scope of Floreat is thus ambitious in focusing upon flourishing among teachers as well as pupils; individuals thrive within a thriving community. This year, an adolescent wellbeing conference will take place at College. It will provide a regional forum for sharing with other professionals within the field. College will also regularly communicate with parents on matters relating to adolescent wellbeing; the pastoral team has a wealth of experience and expertise to offer, via the College website and parent portal. I am delighted that College is dedicated to prioritising learning, wellbeing and to helping pupils to realise their full potential. Now more than ever, pupils need the attributes and skills that bring satisfaction and meaning to life. n 1: Embrace the Future Resiliency Resource Centre: www.embracethefuture.org.au/ resiliency/index2.htm 2: Foresight Report from The Government Office for Science (2008): www.gov.uk/government/publications/ mental-capital-and-wellbeing-makingthe-most-of-ourselves-in-the21st-century 9

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a New Wellbeing Programme For College – ‘Floreat’


CHeLtenHam news

Letter from the Headmaster, Cheltenham Prep The Prep has been extremely busy over the last twelve months, not least in bringing on line its new Science and Technology building and introducing its new timetable and arrangements for Saturdays. Although Prep children were extremely fortunate to enjoy using the facilities for Science at College, having our own bespoke laboratories for Biology, Chemistry and Physics means that so much more can be achieved around the curriculum. The Prep School used to follow the timetable of the College. Since Septem-

PREP NEWS

Academic Pupils again began the year with success in the 11+ Academic Scholarships. Finlay Hurst (Y7), Helena Keatinge (OCP*), Ella McCombie (OCP), Rory Maddinson (Y7) and Dorothea Peterken (Y7) all gained full Academic Scholarships; Tatty Anton-Smith (OCP), Laura Bingham (Y7) and Ashley Tan (OCP) gained Academic Exhibitions. In the Spring Term Year 8 also displayed academic excellence in the 13+ Academic Scholarship examinations. Beth Jenkins (3rd Form, Q), Charlotte Maddinson (3rd Form, Q) and Duncan Pinchen (3rd Form, Xt) achieved Academic Scholarships while Maja Matschey (3rd Form, Q) and Megan Message (3rd Form, Q) achieved Exhibitions. Duncan also won the

ber 2015 it has followed its own, one which is much more suited to children of preparatory school age. This child and family friendly timetable is complemented by the new arrangements on Saturdays which see academic lessons for Years 7 and 8, together with a full sporting provision for all children in Years 3-8. Even children in Year 2 have the option to enjoy an activity! With these new arrangements almost fully bedded in, the Prep School can look forward to continuing to provide a busy, allround education. Jonathan Whybrow Headmaster, Cheltenham College Preparatory School

Prain Scholarship for top marks in the Science and Maths papers, while Charlotte was awarded the Lord James of Hereford Scholarship for the top overall academic performance in all of these challenging exams. All of these pupils are to be congratulated for achieving such success academically while continuing to excel in music, art, drama and sport. Beth, Maja and Megan were all awarded All-Rounder status in recognition of their attainment in several areas of school life. The Summer Term saw the rest of Year 8 working hard towards the Common Entrance season with really pleasing results in June with several pupils gaining a string of ‘A’ grades. It was noted how well pupils from the Prep are now out-performing pupils from other feeder schools and this is borne out in the prizes awarded by College: Abbie Whybrow (3rd Form, Cha) in Latin, Jago

Art This year the Art Department has been busier than ever, with a school trip to see the works of Ai Wei Wei at Blenheim Palace and a family trip to Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty at the V&A. We hosted a charity Parents Portrait Master Class with Artist Jacob Sutton and two separate Year 5 Print Workshops for local primary schools. Our source of inspiration for work from Year 3 to Year 8 was an installation of Umbrellas. The Year 7s looked closely at the work of conceptual artist Michael Craig Martin RA, whilst the Year 5s used the shape and line to enable and perfect the control of a variety of mediums. In Year 8 this idea was extended to designing and decorating an actual umbrella, with great effect. Year 6 have been inspired by their History studies *(OCP) Old Cheltonian Prep 10

MacInnes (3rd Form, S) in English, Bryn Fair (3rd Form, BH) in Maths, Patrick MerheimKealy (3rd Form, S) in Physics, Edward Ferris (3rd Form, NH) in Geography, Miles Watkins (3rd Form, H) in Spanish and Jemima Rees (3rd Form, A) in French. Heads of Department have continued to focus on ensuring that all pupils make progress, regardless of ability. Our most able are continually challenged while strategies are put in place to help the less able make small steps with positive reinforcement and practice. The middle ability groups are also a focus for staff, making certain that children are pushed on and encouraged to work hard to improve and make progress. Resilience and learning from mistakes has been a key part to our teaching this year with pupils gaining confidence in the idea that often the best learning takes place when a mistake is made; that all can learn from misconceptions and no-one should be afraid of failure. Quality formative feedback is key to this process: when staff mark pupils’ books it should always be clear what has gone well but guidance is provided on how to strive to be even better. A proportion of lesson time is given regularly to ensure that pupils can seek support or reassurance. Vicky Jenkins Deputy Head Academic

and have emulated the works of the great Hans Holbein. We are all working towards the National SATIPS Art Exhibition, which The Prep is delighted to host for the next two years in April. This year has also seen Mrs D Bond rejoin the department, enriching us with her individual flare and wealth of teaching experience. The Prep Art Department is flourishing! Alayne Parsley Head of Art

Boarding Prep Boarding has gone from strength to strength this year. In September we were joined by lots of new faces, all of whom have now settled in very well. In fact, documenting the new boarders induction in September was a journalist from the Times Education Supplement, which was published on 16th October 2015. Her glowing review summed up perfectly how we approach boarding at the Prep.


FLOReat 2016

Over the summer Miss Masood (Assistant Houseparent) and Mr Jennings (Resident Tutor) were married in a beautiful service in Chapel. Our warmest congratulations go to them both. We welcome two new resident staff this year: Miss Kerry Brown was appointed in the Easter term as our new Resident Matron, and Miss Charlotte Lewis (MFL and Year 5 Class Tutor) joined us as a Resident Tutor in September. Both have proven to be real assets to the House and have already made a valuable contribution to boarding life.

Girls’ sport The Netball term is always a short and busy one and this year was no different. As with every sport, we had our twiceweekly fixtures for all teams and are very proud of our continued commitment to participation for all. For the first time, we ran a fun festival for local Primary Schools and feeder Prep Schools which was a huge success. All of our A teams won more than 50% of their matches, and the highlight, but also the most heartbreaking, was the 1st VII IAPS team reaching the IAPS semi final but losing on golden goal. The summer term once again brought a variety of competitive sport including tennis, rounders and athletics. Our focus the last few years has been tennis development and this has paid off, with Upper School regularly putting out 15 tennis pairs. Athletics was also given a much higher priority, with all PE lessons being dedicated to it as well as after school clubs and the standard at our sports day was much higher as a result. Every child was involved in sports day and many records were made and broken.

Bob Wells Boarding Houseparent

Spring 2015 saw the 1st VII Hockey reach the last 16 in the UK at the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) Finals, selecting from a pool of only 52 boys. This was an outstanding achievement, but was made even more impressive by the fact that many of the boys were also competing on a national level at Rugby 7s. In the same week we competed in the UK IAPS Hockey Finals, we lost in the final of the National Small Schools’ 7s and narrowly missed out in a spot of the Quarter Finals at the National Schools’ 7s (better known as the Rosslyn Park 7s). The Summer Term saw the continued dominance of the U13 County Cricket Cup as the Prep 1st XI won it for the second year in a row and are now unbeaten in this competition since March 2014. We have again provided large numbers of boys to District and County

In the Hockey term we again hosted our U9 and U10 invitational tournament that saw 30 teams embark on the Cheltenham astro pitches. Our 1st VII showed great progress throughout the season which culminated in a second place finish at the Severnside tournament after holding their nerve to put Dean Close out of the semi finals on penalty shuttles. Both our U11A and 1st VII progressed to the quarter finals of their respective IAPS tournaments. Our Y8s had a very enjoyable end to the season taking on a staff team in a full pitch 11 aside match. Stacy Ramsay Head of Girls’ Sport

Kingfishers Whether a child is particularly academic, artistic or sporting, over the past year we have given them all opportunities to have experiences that are both enjoyable and aspirational.

Boys’ sport The Cheltenham Prep Boys’ Sports Department has again been fighting above its weight, taking on much larger schools and continuing the well-established reputation for producing outstanding performances.

NEWS

The boarders have enjoyed plenty of exciting weekend trips and activities last year including rock climbing and canoeing the rapids at Symonds Yat, ice skating, a trip to a professional football match (Bristol Rovers Vs Stevenage) and of course our annual themed Christmas feast (last year’s theme was Narnia). It’s not just the weekends when all the action happens. On Monday night we have 'games in the barn'; Thursday night is 'ball sports club'; fun swim on Wednesday and Friday and the ever popular pool 'pirate ship' every Tuesday. We are also delighted to have the legendary Mr Baker back for his weekly CDT club. Our irrepressible Gap Students (Gappies) have also been running art, music, tennis, netball and craft master-classes.

squads right down to U10 level and have a fixture card that takes on the best local opposition and district teams to stretch and challenge the boys. This success has led to the establishment of a stretch and challenge programme that aims to produce more county players. This latest rugby season has seen a tough year for the 1st XV, up against more physically dominant sides, but the boys have shown plenty of heart and should be very proud of the retention of the College’s Cup. Below the 1st XV the results have been outstanding. The U11A and U11B have only lost one match all season, the U9A team have been unbeaten and the U9B team have beaten a number of other schools’ A teams.

On the sporting front our recent fixtures for Year 2 gave our young sportsmen and sportswomen a chance to shine. Our boys and girls played in their first round robin tag rugby and netball tournaments with excitement, enthusiasm and sportsmanship. Earlier in the term, some of our chess players took part in their first Kingfishers and Lower School Chess Challenge. The children enjoyed some coaching on a 1:1 basis from a member of the more experienced Lower

Duncan Simpson Head of Boys’ Sport 11


CHeLtenHam news

School and consolidated their knowledge of how the pieces move and game strategy. Afterwards, the competition began in earnest, with separate knockout tournaments for Kingfishers and Lower School.

Middle School

It has been a busy time in Kingfishers and our community continues to thrive. We look forward to yet more activity in the coming year!

In Middle School we aim to help all pupils fulfil their potential, both in and out of the classroom. We invite pupils to share responsibility for their learning and present challenging opportunities for children to become independent thinkers and learners. It is also at this stage when pupils begin to have lessons with subject specialist teachers in a number of different classrooms around The Prep, so self-sufficiency becomes an ever more important skill. Naturally, getting ourselves organised and getting things right from the outset is not always achievable but we endeavour to learn from all our experiences, advise each other in a positive way and celebrate our achievements together on a regular basis.

Rachael Buttress Head of Kingfishers

Lindsay Gooch Director of Middle School

Lower School

Upper School

Life in Lower School continues to be action packed and busy. Children of this age remember these days for years to come and both Indian and Egyptian Day were thoroughly enjoyed by all. Science Day was included this year; the children enjoyed a visit from Stemworks, and rotated around five additional activities, covering a range of science concepts.

We’ve had another purposeful year in Upper School, and I’ve asked some of my Year 7 and 8 pupils for adjectives which they think best sum up the year: – “Energetic – life is crammed full everyday.”

Our oldest ambassadors, Year 2 have set a new standard in pastoral care this term by taking on the role of Playground Friends on the Kingfishers’ patio. At playtime, they have made themselves available to any children who find themselves without a playmate and have taken a leadership role in befriending our new pupils.

All pupils have been able to represent The Prep in sporting fixtures. Important lessons of teamwork and resilience are learned both on and off the pitch. This is balanced with well-planned and differentiated academic lessons, where the children can achieve at their ability. I have thoroughly enjoyed being Head of Lower School for four and a half years and am moving on to pastures new, to take up my new post as Head of Heatherton.

–“Diverse – there are so many different opportunities to sample.” – “Hard-working – staying for the new prep sessions has really helped my work improve. Everyone wants to do their best.” – “Friendly – I’m new this year to the Prep, but I feel like part of the family already.” I also asked my new Year 7 pupils what they had best enjoyed: their answers covered boarding, different academic work, the responsibility of looking after younger pupils, sport and matches and feeling part of a team. Year 7 are also looking forward to applying for prefect positions and positions of responsibility later in the year. Year 8 continue to impress me with their academic drive and general commitment to school life. The year group are involved in all spheres of life here, as well as being fine ambassadors for the Prep at Open Mornings, the recent 11+ event and during matches and music events. And, of course, they have all taken advantage of the breadth of activities, such as the inaugural girls’ U13 Rugby team, and STEM club. Sarah Reid Director of Upper School

Music The music department at The Prep is as busy as ever. We are teaching over 300 individual music lessons every week to children on a range of instruments (including the bagpipes!), and run around 20 different musical ensembles for the pupils to take part in. Our performance opportunities for the children include weekly chapel services, regular informal pupils’ concerts, our major Christmas and Summer showcase concerts and the House Music and House Singing Competitions. We collaborate with the drama department in a myriad of plays, shows and nativities throughout the school, and our major annual production last year was Private Peaceful.

Our music scholars spearhead our music outreach programme for the local community, and they have performed recitals for both local care homes and local primary schools in addition to the Chamber Choir singing carols in various locations in the lead up to Christmas.

I take with me lasting memories of a department which values integrity, commitment and fun, and where well rounded, confident children leave our care equipped for the next stage of their education.

We currently have pupils in both the National Children’s Orchestra and the Birmingham Conservatoire, and all the pupils in school have enjoyed workshops given by experts in ‘Rap’, ‘Beatboxing’ and ‘Junk Percussion’. We look forward to another busy and exciting year ahead!

Debbie Isaachsen Head of Lower School

Kit Perona-Wright Director of Music

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FLOReat 2016

Amanda Naylor Director of Admissions & Marketing Amanda worked as Marketing Director at St Edward’s, Cheltenham and prior to that was Director of External Affairs at The Cheltenham Ladies’ College where her role included marketing, external lettings, alumnae relationships and fundraising. Prior to this Amanda was Director of

Christian Brain Head Groundsman Christian Brain became the College’s new Head Groundsman in June. He has been with the College since February 2014 as Deputy Head of Grounds and Gardens. He joined College from Cokethorpe School near Witney, Oxfordshire where he was Assistant Head Groundsman. Before

George Boyd Head of Design Technology, Cheltenham Prep Prior to Cheltenham College, George was Head of Design Technology and Engineering at Swanbourne House School, near Buckingham, for over five years. He was also involved in teaching Science, coaching sport, Head of House, mentoring

Christine Croton Head Gardener Christine became the College’s new Head Gardener in February. She has been bringing about changes to the gardens since then and leads a team of five gardeners, including two apprentices. Christine is a Certified Arborist. Before coming to the College, she was Manager

NEWS

New Appointments

Marketing and Sales for a European educational publisher. Other jobs have included working at the Defence Evaluation Research Agency and being an account manager for Microsoft. Amanda took her degree in Politics through the Open University. She is a keen theatre-goer and is normally training for a half-marathon with the aim of completing at least one in under two hours! Amanda’s son Josh, joined the third form in Southwood last September.

that, Christian was on the Grounds team at Radley College, where he was based mainly on the main cricket ground. During his time at Radley he had a week’s work experience at Lord’s, where he helped on the setting up for the 2009 Ashes test. He was also runner-up in the Institute of Groundsmanship ‘Student of the year’ award in 2009. A keen amateur cricketer, he lives in Witney, Oxfordshire with his partner Sharon and two daughters. newly qualified teachers, leading Engineering and Christian clubs and preaching in Chapel. Before that, he was a secondary comprehensive teacher of design and technology at Chiltern Hills Academy for two years, up to and including A level. Before entering into his teaching career, he was an executive salesman for Express Vending. George also completed a Ministry Apprenticeship at Christ Church Dunstable.

for Landscape Maintenance and Arboriculture at Para Space Landscaping in Vancouver, Canada. She developed landscape maintenance programmes for some of the city’s iconic properties. In 2010 she was awarded the British Columbia Landscape and Nursery Associations award for Landscape Maintenance. She lives in Stroud with her husband and is happy to be back in the town she grew up in.

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CHeLtenHam news

Helen Davies Head of EAL Cheltenham College is Helen’s second teaching post, having previously taught and been a Resident Tutor at Sherborne Girls for three years. She has just started her third year of teaching at College, having been promoted to Head of Department at the beginning of the Summer Term of

Sarah Dawson Librarian, Cheltenham Prep Sarah takes over the Prep School library following a spell as a Kingfishers Teaching Assistant. Prior to arriving in Cheltenham Sarah taught History at Oakham School, King’s School Peterborough and Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar and has since done some part time history

Beren Delbrooke-Jones College Librarian From the southern coast of South Africa originally, and now seven years in the UK, Beren arrived at College two and a half years ago, taking on the role of part-time Evening Library Assistant while studying for his Masters in Classics and Ancient History at Bristol. Since then, and degree earned,

Vicki Huckle Head of Rowing Vicki joined College last year as a Postgraduate Assistant after graduating from the University of Worcester with a degree in Sports Science. Whilst at University, she was Women’s Captain at Worcester Rowing Club, where she managed the coaching and development of crews alongside

Sally-Ann Kent Headmaster’s Personal Secretary, Cheltenham Prep Sally-Ann joined the Prep as the Headmaster's Secretary last June. For the last 12 years she has been Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive of Ofcom (the communications regulator), based in London. Previously she worked for

Charlotte Knowles Head of Biology After completing a Biomedical Science and Pharmacology degree at Cardiff University in 2008, Charlotte took a gap year to travel before enrolling on her PGCE in post-compulsory education and training. In 2010 Charlotte’s career in education started, teaching Biology

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2015. Before beginning her teaching career, she read Modern Languages and Management at Lancaster University, with periods of study at both ESCP-EAP in Paris and the University of Graz in Austria. Living and studying abroad, alongside an inexplicable love of grammar, has helped her offer guidance to students, academically and pastorally. She is a Lower College non-resident tutor in Queens and coaches Lower College Netball. teaching at College. Sarah is married to Crispin (College Deputy Head, Pastoral) and they have three children at The Prep. Apart from the more obvious interests of history and reading, Sarah enjoys playing netball, watching rugby (she’s Welsh!) and travel. She also likes walking in the countryside, having grown up in the Brecon Beacons. She is looking forward to developing the Prep School library and instilling a love of reading.

he took the role of College Librarian, and also began working part-time in the archives, coaching rugby, netball and cricket, assisting with the RAF section of the CCF, and going into Boyne House as a Resident Tutor and, now, Assistant Housemaster. With little previous library experience, Beren has been trained and mentored by Ginette Doyle, his predecessor, and will work for his Member: Chartered Library and Information Professional. her studies. Vicki was educated at Bedford High School for Girls, where she has also coached, and has a huge passion for sport. Prior to taking up coaching, she was an accomplished sportswoman, representing the Great Britain Rowing Team. Vicki enjoys all things active and loves a competition! She is very excited about the coming year as Head of Rowing, as well as moving into Hazelwell as resident tutor. National Express, Carlton Communications and onboard the QE2. Sally-Ann has moved back to Cheltenham to be nearer her family. This is her first time in education and she is very much enjoying the challenge. Sally-Ann is a keen tennis player, and enjoys the arts including ballet, theatre and the cinema. She takes pleasure in entertaining and cooking for friends. and Chemistry A levels at Hartpury College, a land and sports based college, in Gloucestershire. Here she also lived onsite as a residential warden and was given the role in her fourth year to become Senior Warden. In 2014 Charlotte joined Cheltenham College as a Teacher of Biology and tutor in Chandos House before being appointed Head of Biology in February.


FLOReat 2016

An Old Decanian and Old Patesian, Nikki had her first taster of Cheltenham College Prep School in the Kingfishers department during her gap year in 1999. The following year she moved down to Exeter to study English Literature and subsequently to Homerton College, Cambridge to

Fergus McCraken Head of Pupil Welfare & Science Teacher, Cheltenham Prep Fergus McCracken started his teaching career at The Elms School in Colwall where he taught Science and ran the Boys’ Games. He then moved to Dumpton in Dorset as Head of Science before taking on the same role at Bilton Grange near Rugby.

Olly Morgan Head of Rugby Olly is in his 2nd season at Cheltenham College, becoming Head of Rugby in September 2015, prior to which he spent 10 years as a Professional at Gloucester Rugby. He amassed close to 150 appearances for Gloucester and was awarded his full England Cap in 2007 in the RBS Six Nations

Kirstie Naish Head of Textiles & Tech While studying for her BA Degree in Fashion at The University of the West of England, Kirstie did a variety of work placements, one of which was with Monsoon in London. After obtaining her degree, Kirstie’s first role was Assistant Menswear Designer for JJB Sports in Manchester, travelling the world to

Scott Newson Head of Geography, Cheltenham Prep Originally from Montreal, Canada, Scott graduated with an Honours degree in Geography in 2003 and worked as a Highways Engineer for Brighton and Hove City Council for four years before returning to academia, completing an MSc in Environmental Science and Geopolitics at the University of Kent.

Mark Robbins Head Chef, Cheltenham Prep Mark has been working in the catering industry for over 35 years having trained at Salisbury College. In those years he worked all around the country in hotels and restaurants ranging from 5star hotels (Gleneagles) in Scotland to country house hotels, all the establishments he worked in

do a KS2/3 PGCE with an English specialism. Nikki’s NQT year was in Year 3 at The Manor Prep School, Abingdon, before she took on the role of a Year 2 teacher at Falkner House School, Kensington. In 2008 she started at Thomas’s School, Fulham where she was Head of Year 5 and shortly afterwards became Head of English. An avid hockey player as a pupil at Dean Close, Nikki is looking forward to leading the girls’ 4th team. At Bilton Grange he also took an active role on the boarding side. At The Prep, he will take on the role of Head of Pupil Welfare as well as teaching Science and coaching games. He loves to take an active role in school life and has been in charge of many leavers’ camps, taken part in school productions and sung in school choirs. He has moved to Malvern with his wife Zoe, and their two daughters and is very much looking forward to his new role. against Scotland. He is a level 3 qualified coach in Rugby and Mentoring and coaches regularly within the Gloucester Academy and Sevens programme. Olly’s aim is to build an environment that allows players and coaches of all abilities to develop as well as to provide them with the necessary support and guidance to achieve excellence. It is his desire to encourage a passion for the game of rugby. source new design concepts within the sports industry. She later worked for Isambard Community School in Swindon as the teacher in charge of Textiles, before moving to Merchants’ Academy in Bristol. Two years later her dream job was advertised to lead the Textiles Department at Cheltenham College. She still does freelance design work for a variety of brands in her free time and is developing her skills to inspire her students. After completing his PGCE, he embarked on his teaching career at Chatham Grammar School for Boys in Kent, becoming both Second in Geography and Head of PSHE. After three successful years at Chatham, Scott took up the post of Head of Geography at Mayfield Grammar School for Girls, Gravesend, which he successfully held for two years before being appointed as Head of Geography at the Prep. have been awarded accolades for their food and service. When Mark was training at Slough they were chosen to represent the UK in a three-day competition in Nice in 1985, they came third out of nine EEC countries. In his time he has specialised in full decorated buffets including fat carvings. Mark has been a Head Chef for 24 years, and takes pride in using as much fresh and local produce as possible in his cooking.

15

NEWS

Nikki Massey Head of English, Cheltenham Prep


CHeLtenHam news

Daniel Townley Head of Chemistry Dan started teaching at Wellington College in 2010 having graduated from Oxford University with a Master’s degree in Chemistry. Before that he was educated at Repton School. Whilst at Wellington he completed his PGCE and NQT year with the University of Buckingham and The Independent Schools Teacher Induction Panel re-

spectively. He spent his 5th year at Wellington as 2nd in Department where he was responsible for the mentoring of an NQT, Chemistry Oxbridge and Extension along with being the co-ordinator for department cover. He was also involved with co-ordinating the department prep school outreach. He was heavily involved with the CCF, Duke of Edinburgh, and Rifle Shooting. Daniel joins College as Head of Chemistry and Resident Tutor in Hazelwell.

Jonathan Mace Christowe Housemaster

Prior to starting at College, James spent eight years at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. He was Assistant Housemaster of a successful boys’ boarding house for five years, and led the Humanities Faculty alongside his role as Head of History. His particular academic interest is the history of the sixteenth century, which he developed whilst at the University of Bristol. He went on to complete his PGCE at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. James is a keen sportsman and continues to play rugby, football and squash as regularly as he can. He enjoyed coaching the 1st XV rugby team whilst at Stowe. He is joined in the house by his wife Sarah, son Alfie (3) and very recently the new addition to the family, baby Rosanna.

16

Away from work he pursues his own sporting interests that include watching a wide range of sport especially supporting Gloucester Rugby and playing com-

INTERNAL APPOINTMENTS

James Hayden Newick House Housemaster

Jonathan joined College in 2014 having previously been a boys’ Housemaster and Head of Economics and Business Studies at Warminster School. Beki his wife teaches TPE at College and their two children, Isobelle (10) and Ben (9), attend The Prep. After graduating with an Economics Degree from Durham University Jonathan spent a year as a Graduate Assistant at St Edward’s Oxford before moving on to teaching posts at Malvern College and Warwick School prior to joining Warminster in September 2009. Throughout his teaching career Jonathan has always been involved in the sporting life of the school and has run rugby, hockey, cricket and golf teams.

petitive golf. Alongside his passion for sport he also has a variety of cultural interests and is very much of the belief that boys in his care will achieve their academic potential through being encouraged to explore a range of pursuits and interests. Above all else though, Jonathan is keen to strive to ensure that boys in Christowe are happy, well-mannered and inquisitive young men who will look back at their time in house as an informative and contented time in their lives.

Cheltenham College Simon Brian – Deputy Head Academic Duncan Byrne – Second Master Marie-Claire Byrne – HE & Careers Advisor Mary Plint – Assistant Head, Learning & Wellbeing

Cheltenham Prep Christina Conner – Head of Learning Support in Kingfishers & Head of Athens Sandra Gilmour – Head of Maths Lindsay Gooch – Head of Middle School Amanda Grieves – Head of Lower School Faye Wells – Head of Science


FloReAt 2016

A BAllet At the RoyAl opeRA house – onegin Report by Peter Mackie (H, 1965)

Early arrivals at the Opera House could be seen surreptitiously trying to identify others with OC ties, but we were soon welcomed by Katherine Cox (Cha, 1996), Sponsorship Manager at the Opera House

and herself an OC. After introductions and a refreshing glass of champagne we were conducted on a comprehensive tour of the building. Katherine gave us a short history of the Opera House and pointed out the intricate scale models of sets of previous productions that were much admired. She then showed us the auditorium, where we were intrigued by the movable floor of the orchestra pit, and we then had an opportunity to go on stage and examine some scenery backcloths that had been installed for the forthcoming production. We passed through an enormous storage area packed with props and scenery and ascended by lift to the top floor, where we could observe a practice studio where a principal ballerina was warming up for the performance later that evening. We felt very privileged to have access to the backstage areas which are not normally open to the public.

Photography by Andy Banks

After this highly informative tour we took our seats in the centre stalls for the performance. The ballet is set in the Russian countryside and depicts the romantic entanglements of Eugene Onegin, newly arrived from St Petersburg. Tatiana, a local girl, falls for Onegin, but he spurns her and is more interested in flirting with Olga, who is betrothed to Lensky. Matters come to a head when Lensky challenges Onegin to a duel, during which Lensky is killed. The story then moves forward several years, when Onegin returns to St Petersburg after travelling the world extensively, and attempts to rekindle a relationship with Tatiana, who by now is married to a Prince and clearly has a high social standing. Despite Onegin’s best efforts, Tatiana rejects his overtures and he departs forever. The music for the ballet was written by Kurt-Heinz Stolze and draws themes from several of Tchaikovsky’s lesser known compositions. The evolving relationships between the principal characters are vividly described in the music and choreography, and were excellently portrayed by Thiago Soares (Onegin), Marianela Nuñez (Tatiana), Akane Takada (Olga) and Vadim Muntagirov (Lensky). Other artists of the Royal Ballet gave sparkling performances in support and all were greeted with

Alex Peterken (Headmaster), Mary Sini, Charles Benson (L, 1980), John (L, 1980) & Doone Chatfeild-Roberts

Belinda Barford, Robert (H, 1955) & Mary Stephens & Emma Fentum

Past Parents Stephen (NH, 1965) & Tania Hitchins & David (OJ & DB, 1955) & Barbara Hawgood

Lady Thalia McWilliam, Sir Michael McWilliam (Ch, 1952, Past Parent & Past Grandparent) & Katherine Cox (Cha, 1996 & Member of The College Council)

rapturous applause by the audience, which included HRH the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. During the evening our grateful thanks to Katherine were expressed by the Headmaster, Alex Peterken. The tour was a rare privilege, the performance wonderful and the interval refreshments most welcome. All departed feeling that they had had a truly memorable experience. n

17

EVENTS

On 4th February 2015 a party of 30 OCs and staff members attended a very special evening at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for a performance of John Cranko’s ballet Onegin, preceded by an exclusive guided tour of the Opera House.


eVents

polo Day saturday 30th May

Very Kindly Sponsored By

Cheltenham Win the treble!

Photography by Andy Banks

Izzy England (Y7) With Best Playing Pony Carlota

With thanks to RJ Polo for sponsoring The Cheltenham Prep Match The Summer Fields & Cheltenham Prep Teams with Current Prep Parent Felicity GriďŹƒths from the Polo Day Sponsors CHB Global 18


FloReAt 2016

EVENTS

The College Team with The College Polo Trophy

With thanks to La Martina for sponsoring The College & OC Matches

The Victorious Old Cheltonian Team with Current Prep Parent Felicity GriďŹƒths and The Old Etonians

19


eVents

Cheltenham at the Races – st patrick’s thursday 12th March

Janie Thorne & Julie Martindale

Susie & Martin Johnston (L, 1965)

Antonia Robinson & Roz Wyles

David (L, 1964) & Linda Fermont

Gabi Goff (Cha, 2014) & Grandmother Sandra Goff

Nick Byrd (BH, 1971) & Malcolm Sloan (OC Administrator)

Past CCJS Parents Robert & Karen McDonald

Current Parent Phil Moorsom (H, 1985) & Jack Meoff

Jean & Doug Dickson

Penny Cox & Jeremy Hoskins

Paul Paulder with Past Parents Angela & Mark Chambers

Lucy Mitchell, Jane Thorn & Past Parents Nick & Gaye Mitchell

Adam Dunning (Senior Chaplain)

Past Parent Cathy & Caroline Sloan

Sir A P McCoy

Photography by Andy Banks

Graham & Alison Pimlott

Rob McDonald (Richard Pates Headmaster), Jonathan Whybrow (Cheltenham Prep Headmaster) & Michael Chitty (Ashfold School Headmaster) 20

Annabel Moorsom, Melanie Arnold, Miranda Arnold, Sarah Jewell, Judith Arnold, Mary Bartholomew & Estrella Munoz Uriol

Jacqueline & Simon Sole (L, 1978), Jill HuchinsonSmith & Imogen Poole-Warren


FloReAt 2016

past staff Members’ luncheon saturday 19th september Past Staff Members Gerry Smith & Alan Miers with Irene Miers

EVENTS

Charles Wright (Past L Housemaster), Helen Dodd, John Bristol (OJ, Xt, 1956, Head of CCF and Modern Language Teacher), Current Staff Member Sebastian Bullock and Hugh Wright (Past BH Housemaster)

Past Staff Member Malcolm Mennie with his wife Vivien

Past Boyne House Housemasters Simon Worleighton, Sebastian Bullock, Hugh Wright, Robin Badham-Thornhill with current Housemaster Richard Penny

Past Staff Members Carol Hall & Christine Roberts

Jill Wright, Ann Payne, John Payne (Past Xt Housemaster) & Guy Dodd (H, 1959 and Past L Housemaster)

Past Staff Members Alan Harvey, John Viveash & Paul Williams

Devon luncheon tuesday 19th May

Past Staff Member Audrey Bicknell with friend Cathy Allen

Many thanks to Ian Moody (Ch, 1946) for hosting.

Ian Moody (Ch, 1946), Robin Temple (BH, 1944), Jon Waters (BH, 1936), Euan Macloed (H, 1948), Richard Penny (Boyne House Housemaster), George Truell (OJ), Richard Scholes (NH, 1964), John Boutower (NH, 1951) and Donald Wishaw (BH, 1960) 21


eVents

2015 overseas Receptions Last year events were held in Malaysia, Bermuda, Thailand, Hong Kong and Dubai. In the summer the Girls’ Hockey team went on tour to Malaysia and we were delighted that Tunku Nasiruddin Tunku

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In the Christmas holidays the Girls’ Netball team went on tour to Dubai. We are very grateful to Nicole Rodrigues-Larsen parent of Victoria Larsen (Y8) and Victor Larsen (Y5) and her company Diva Dubai for helping to organise a wonderful Reception at The Capital Club. n


FLOREAT 2016

Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire Members Reunion Friday 5th June his wife, who told us that all was going well at our old school.

After the cruise, we came ashore and moved into a riverside restaurant where excellent helpings of fish and chips were served and fellowship continued to flourish.

The following Cheltonians attended:Ian McKenzie (NH, 1944) and Ann, Ian McFarlane (NH/L, 1946) and Joan, with their daughter, Sheena, David Barnes (L, 1953) and Greta, Bryan Harrison (H, 1957) and Trisha, Glen Allison (L, 1957) and Gaby, Clive Barnes (L, 1957) and Judith, John Merrill (L, 1959) and Jane, Bob Sherman (H, 1965), Andrew Marsh (H, 1980) and Lynn and Current Parents Peter and Julia Phillips. Drinks were organised by local wine merchant, John Freeland, son of an OC.

We were addressed by Peter Badham (Th, 1965), President of the Cheltonian Society and by Dr Malcolm Sloan (OC Administrator), who came with Cathy,

The evening was organised by Ian McFarlane and Bryan Harrison, with the invaluable assistance of Rebecca Creed, Association Manager at College. n

EVENTS

On Friday, 5th June, 2015, a happy group of Cheltonian Association and Society members boarded a motor craft named ‘Tatania’ and enjoyed an hour long cruise on the River Avon. The sun shone and we had a commentary telling us about the sights we saw. We were relaxed by our glasses of Prosecco and fortified by nibbles as we enjoyed the ambience and each other’s company.

Bryan (H, 1957) & Trisha Harrison

Glen (L, 1957) & Gaby Allison

Patricia & John Merrill (L, 1959)

Current Parents, Peter & Julia Phillips

John Freeland (Xt, 1946) & Joan McFarlane

Bob Sherman (H, 1965), Andrew (H, 1980) & Lynn Marsh

Ann & Ian McKenzie (NH, 1944)

Ian McFarlane (L, 1946) & Peter Badham (Th, 1965)

Clive Barnes (L, 1957) & Judith Heath

23


EVENTS

Kindly sponsored by

The Gatsby Ball Friday 26th June

Alex (Headmaster) & Henny Peterken

Current Prep Parents Kam & Sukhi Harrar

Gabi Goff (Cha, 2014) & Billie Portsmouth (Q, 2014)

Live Jazz by Hailey Tuck

Current Parents Huw & Nicki Williams, Current Parents Will Hine (H, 1986), Chris & Amy Jarett, Bridget Vick (Past Staff Current Parents Laura James and Nick Amanda & Lee Pemberton Heidi Callon Hine, Sarah & Liam Russell Member) & Julian Archard (OJ & H, 1988) (OJ & H, 1983) & Caroline August

Current Prep Parents Charlotte Bailey, Past Prep Parents, Sally Miller, Jonathan Current Parents Alex & Suzy Hoodless, Amy D'Orazi, Andrea McCarthy & Fatima & Alison Biles and Current Prep Parent Harriet Shorthouse & Colin Morgan Emirali Claire Hulett

Past Parents, Trish & Peter Smart, Lizard Philip, Louise Holmes & Quentin Philip

Jon Whybrow (Prep Headmaster), Past Prep Past Parents Toby & Sharon Roberts with Current Prep Parents Mark & Susan Parents Karen Salter and Marcus Freer and Blanchfield Julie Whybrow

Current Parents Paul & Jackie Symes Thompson and Abigail & Peter Mcneile

Photography by Andy Banks

Current Parents Rob & Beth Stanton, Caroline & Johnny Sutton

Current Parents, Fergus & Millie Mitchell, Current Prep Parents, Aren Griffiths, The Bond Family, Current Parents Anne Current Prep Parents Richard & Caroline Caroline O'Connor, Felicity Griffiths & Tiggy & Alex Wildman & Peter, Lucinda (Past Prep Pupil) & Keatinge with Current Prep Staff Sam O'Connor Harriet (Q, 2010) Member Debbie Anderes 24


FLOREAT 2016

London Drinks 25th February

EVENTS

11th June

8th October

University Reunions – Bristol, Exeter & Oxford

Exeter

Oxford

Bristol 25


EVENTS

Henley Royal Regatta Wednesday 1st July

Current Parents Juliet Capelastegui & Janice Knudsen

Christina & Alan Tang (Xt, 1978)

Vanessa Garratt & Kate Thompson

David Noble (NH, 1981 & Current Prep Julie Whybrow (Current Parent), Sally- Current Prep Parents Caroline & David Parent) & Nick August (H, 1983 & Ann Kent (Current Prep Staff Member) & Noble (NH, 1981) & Lisa Channing Current Parent) Sue Baxter (Current Staff Member) (Current Parent)

Current Prep Pupils, Dorothea Peterken James Whitecross (NH, 2009) & James McWilliam (S, 2009) & Sofia Capelastegui

Caroline Noble (Current Prep Parent) & Rupert & Lisa Channing (Current Parents)

Christiane Dickens (Development Director) & Catherine Schallamach (Current Parent)

Current Staff Members, Ed Fenn, Vicki Past Parent Christina Horan & Bill StrakerHuckle & Dan Evans Nesbit (Current Council Member)

Past Prep Staff Member Lesley Sanchez & Jessica Burling

James McWilliam (S, 2009) & Sebastian Bullock (Deputy Development Director)

Photography by Andy Banks

The Wilford Family, Current Parents Charles & Joanna, George (3rd Form, Xt) and Emily (L6th, We)

Haydn (L, 1987) & Emma Fentum

Tara Wasdell (5th Form, We), Minty Ramsey (5th Form, A), Amalie Dons (5th Form, Q), Georgie O'Reilly (Cha, 2015), Bea Martin-Harrington (Q, 2015), Olivia Clayton (A, 2015), Isabel Tudsbery (Cha, 2015) & Issy Salmond-Smith (5th Form, A) 26

Jenna Scobie, Ed Fenn (Current Staff Member) with 4th Form boys, Euan Bourhill (S), Benedict Schallamach (BH), Sebastian Villars (S), Edward August (H), Aidan Ali (S), Kieran Thorley (BH), Eduardo Capelastegui (BH), Timothy Llewellyn-Palmer (OJ) and Henry Johnson (5th Form, H)

Bella Barber (4th Form, A), Amanda Barber (Current Parent), Amanda Fletcher (Current Parent), Tilly Fletcher (4th Form, We), Anabelle Slatter (4th Form, A), Octavia Slatter (4th Form, W), Philippa Slatter (Current Parent) and Anne Davis


FLOREAT 2016

Leavers’ Tie & Scarf Presentation Saturday 27th June

EVENTS

Jutta von Behr, Imogen Barnes (Q) & Donata von Behr (W)

Daniele, Xavier (L) & Robert Houben

Katy Law (A), Dilys Powell & Millie Powell (A)

Queens Girls - Imogen Barnes, Sophie Caws, Claudia O'Riordan, Georgie Gardner, Charlotte Woodman, Bethan Morris, Chloe Pleydell & Lily Prothero

Jasper Leung (Xt), Jackie Lei (NH) & Gordon Lam (L)

George Key (H), Ben Croft (BH) & Patch Main (NH)

Kieran Reilly (L), Ksenia Stolpovskikh (A), Polina Neretina (Cha) & Current Parent Wanda Bronti-Reilly

Georgie Gardner (Q), Fran Ball (Cha), Harry Boyce (L6th, S), Eoin Hughes (S) & Julie Quade (Q, 2011) & Darcey Hugo Parnell-Hopkins (S) Edwards (Q)

Tom Dowley (L), Alex Hall (L), Archie Charlton (NH) & Ollie Thorley (BH)

Westal Girls - Jacqueline Leung, Silvia Peralta Martin & Liza Alexeeva

Ludo Millar (BH), Will Talbot Rice (Xt), Paddy Milton (Xt), Sam Outram (Xt) & Hector Lopez-Valido (Xt)

Arabella Bruce-Smith, Boo BruceSmith (Q), Claudia O'Riordan (Q) & Amanda O'Riordan

Chris, Morgan (H) & Kate Williams

27


EvEntS

Leavers’ Ball

Saturday June 27th

2

1

7 3

4

8

5

1 Anastasia Berezina, Gleb Skliar, Vikroria Skliar, Dymytro Klepikov, Liza Klepikova (Cha), Tatiana Mineeva & Bessiki Lobdjanidze 2 Chandos Girls, Georgie O'Reilly, Isabel Tudsbery, Georgie Thorpe & Tasha Cresswell

6

7 Xavier Houben (L) & Georgie O'Reilly (Cha) 8 Bethan Morris (Q), Peter Uttley (Xt), Joe Borkowski (H) & Will Timmis (H) 9 The Dodgems queue

3 Ashmead Girls, Lucy Gray, Issy Dickson, Katy Law, Katie Woodford, Millie Powell & Venetia Schofield

10 Queens girls Claudia O'Riordan & Bethan Morris

4 Current Parent James Millar & Tom Richardson (Xt, 1998 & Past Staff Member)

12 Richard Moore (Current Staff Member), George Key (H), Katy Law (A), Hugh Gunn (L) & Harry Hickman (H)

5 Leconfield Boys, Hugh Gunn, Olly GoodrickClarke, Cameron Campbell, Alex Hall & Xavier Houben 6 Nick Evers (BH, 2010), Karoline Evers, Ella Rankin, Melchior Evers (BH), Boo Bruce Smith (Q), Sophie Evers, Frank Evers & Konstantin Evers (BH, 2013) 28

11 Boo Bruce-Smith (Q) & Dan Lee (NH)

13 Antonia Ovchinnikova, Polina Neretina (Cha), Yulia Ovchinnikova (Cha) & Ksenia Stolpovskikh (A) 14 The dance floor

15 Boyne House boys, Melchior Evers & Ludo Millar 16 Christowe Boys, Hector Lopez-Valido, Paddy Milton, Sam Outram & Will Talbot Rice 17 Charles Bond (S) & Georgie Thorpe (Cha) 18 Barclay Leng (NH), Magician David Willmot & Dan Lee (NH) 19 Will Talbot Rice (Xt), Darcey Edwards (Q), Catch Brown (Q), Hector Lopez-Valido (Xt), Paddy Milton (Xt), Lucy Gray (A), Julia Schaff (Cha), Melchior Evans (BH) & Barclay Leng (NH)


FLOREAT 2016

EVENTS

Midnight at the Leavers’ Ball

14

9 The Survivors at 6am

10

11

12

16

17

18

Photography by Andy Banks

13

15

19 29


EVENTS

The Brewin Dolphin Cricket Festival Sunday 12th July Gloucestershire v Kent T20 – Kent won by 3 wickets

Past Parents Jane Cole and Cathy Sloan

Peter Hammerson (L, 1962) & John Maxwell (L, 1960)

Robin Badham-Thornhill (BH, 1973, Past Stephen Clark (Past Staff Member) & Staff Member & President of The Cheltonian Current Staff Members Stephen Society) & John Chatfeild-Roberts (L, 1980) Friling & Simon Conner

Past Parents Claire Smith & Christina Horan

Current Staff Member Richard Penny with Past Parents Helen Owen & Bob Avery

Gordon Hyett, Len Webster & Tom Morgan (Past Staff Member)

Holly Bevan & Aroon Devnani

Current Parent Jim Gunn, Current Prep Parent Sam O'Connor & James Campbell

Greg Holder & Barry Hulett (Current Prep Grandparent)

Photography by Andy Banks

Jonathan Whybrow (Cheltenham Prep Headmaster) & Abbie Whybrow

Christiane Dickens (Development Director) & Brian Key (Past Parent)

Simon Pattinson (NH, 192), Erica Pattinson, Sandra Bryant & Jonathan Bryant (NH, 1961)

30

Pauline Purnell, Adele Peters, Malcolm Sloan (OC Administrator), Henry Peters (BH, 1980) & Nick Purnell (BH, 1978)

Peter Mayes (L, 1965), Nicole Arkell, Martin Johnston (L, 1965), Sue Johnston & Frances Mayes


Floreat 2016

In Support Of

Christmas Fair at Cheltenham College

Kindly Sponsored By

sunday 22nd november

Photography by Andy Banks

EVENTS

Carol service Friday 11th December

31


EVENTS

1990 and 1980 Yeargroup reunion Saturday 19th September By Martin Bailey (Xt, 1990) Strange coming from gloomy Brussels, but I was actually hankering after something autumnally overcast that day, which could somehow soften the immediacy of my reconnection with the past. A layer of sepia-tinged mist would have done it, to put some distance between the beholder and that photograph of days gone by. Instead, my memories of the buildings and the walkways we had scuffed our brogues along with adolescent insouciance were laid bare in the starkly crisp sunlight of that Saturday in September. Back to where we left off, then. More or less. Only this time it was servers in Silicon Valley that brought us to our meeting point, meeting for a pint (or three), in what used to be an act of defiance to push to the very limits of drinking time our austere social framework circa 1990. No such limits these days, nor the stress of an ID check (if only!), but the greater test was to speak with reassurance that someone had not changed in the least, without betraying that a kindly friend had just reminded you who they were. Hair on some had clearly enjoyed a fairly short tenure after closing time as a Cheltonian, and varying shades of greyness (not going there) had crept up on the remainder. But assaults to the follicles aside, most of the group it seemed had not succumbed to the corporate mid-life spread nor bore the facial ravages à la Bill Wyman of roadie partying. Maybe we wished we had… Special poignancy Big Classical – still a mystery what that meant – down the Quad, the Jack Ralphs studio, a cursory glance at the notice boards and into the Library. Brick-andmortar blasts from the past. I stopped still before I entered, immobilised by the poppies and portraits of the Great War’s fallen. For me it has a special poignancy, living as I do so close to the Flanders fields where they fell. But it must strike a chord in all of us, as we had been able to 32

return to look on the youthful faces that did not. A moment to reflect on our blessed, generational fortune. Reality check. That was something that did not exist, in common parlance at least, 25 years ago. Nor I suppose did Headmasters who were actually younger than the sprightly vintage of OCs we took ourselves to be. That surely justified another gulp of bubble, as we peered around the transparent, sober lines of the refurbished Library, its nooks and crannies - that once provided intellectual cover for our undetected misdeeds - had been squared away with a stroke of modernity’s designer pen. Malcolm Sloan next up. We owed much to his organising energies for our presence that evening, and the passing of the years had evidently done little to diminish his indefatigable wit and ebullience. Peppered with boarding school terms of art that had been our daily jargon still had a familiar ring, but for our guests and partners, he spoke a code of ancient scrolls and Hogwarthian wizardry. Thank goodness only a fraction of our waywardness was ever unmasked, not sure what the European bureaucrat I have become would make of setting off rockets and other incendiaries down the corridor… Dinner was, well, certainly not what it used to be. I know Jamie Oliver and his contemporaries have spruced up English

school dinners, but the fine quality of the fare almost betrayed the surroundings. Not what our foreign guests had come to expect from Hogwarts catering. The Common Room The wine flowed and it continued to do so as we passed seamlessly to our final stop on the OC trip down memory lane. Something of a (by now bleary) glimpse behind the scenes of the Common Room, which had stood then as imperious and impenetrable as the Lubyanka, into which our tormentors (and tormented?) would slip away for a few moments of release from the grand old institution they governed. The wine turned into port, and about now I made my exit and headed with the others into town. The next day, I passed by my old House, as I had failed to make it in time for the official tour. As I looked up at the windows and the boys sealed in their own new world, I could not help but be reminded of that scene from Dead Poet’s Society, when Mr Keating prevails upon his charges to come right up to the portraits of their predecessors, and listen to the phantom words they whispered. Carpe, carpe diem. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Precisely. Thank you Cheltenham for those rosebuds. n


FlorEaT 2016

Stephen Davies (S, 1980) & Robert McWilliam (Ch, 1980)

Ben Taverner (H, 1990) & Jo Horton (Xt, 1990)

1990 Chandos Ladies: Anna Lear, Tanya Benson, Rebecca Gaucher, Sarah Hague, Annabel Hare, Becky Goodrich, Clare Roberts, Genevieve Brown & Lucinda Jones

Stephen (Xt, 1990) & Kassia Shortt, Frank (Xt, 1990) & Valerie Scott-Ashe

Past Staff Member Charlie Wright, Marcis & Jonathan Rhodes (L, 1990) & Julie Wright

Jo Horton (Xt, 1990) & Philip Boyce (NH, 1990)

Past Staff Members Barry Wild & Tim Pearce with Fiona Wild

Giles McCallum (NH, 1990), Lucinda Jones (Cha, 1990), Genevieve Brown (Cha, 1990) & Rebecca Gaucher (Cha, 1990)

Jessica & Philip Boyce (NH, 1990) with Howard (H, 1990) & Katie Thomas

Trevor Wells (Xt, 1990), Guy Appleton (NH, 1990), Giles Marriage (BH, 1990) & Martin Bailey (Xt, 1990)

Photography by Andy Banks

1990 OCs: Guy Appleton (NH), Howard Thomas (H), Ben Taverner (H), Greg Selby (H) & Philip Boyce (NH)

Past Staff Members Trevor Davies & Hugh Wright

Giles McCallum (NH, 1990), Owen Watkins (H, 1990), Past Staff Member Don Barnes Greg Selby (H, 1990), Guy Appleton (NH, 1990) & Niall Rhys Evans (S, 1980) & Jade Scholes (Ch, 1992)

Stephen Davies (S, 1980), Niall Rhys-Evans (S, 1980), Linda Davies & Martin Runnacres (Ch, 1980) 33

EVENTS

Nick (Ch, 1980) & Christina Curtis, Jane & Robert (Ch, 1980) McWilliam


EVENTS

Cheltonian Association & Society Events The 2016 Calendar 9th February Showcase London Concert

Celebrating 175 years of music at Cheltenham College, this concert will be held at Cadogan Hall, London, SW1X 9DQ at 7.30pm and will feature a wide variety of performers giving a flavour of the huge range of music regularly performed at College. All are welcome; please RSVP to boxoffice@cheltenhamcollege.org. 25th February London Drinks at Trinity House Fine Art

10th March University OC Reunion in Exeter For those OCs studying in Exeter, Sebastian Bullock and Malcolm Sloan will be in The Imperial, (The North Road, EX4 4AH) from 6.30pm. 11th March Les Misérables School Edition Performance Enjoy the Cheltenham College Production in Big Classical, 6.45pm – 10.30pm. Tickets are £10pp for refreshments, to book please contact Rebecca Creed on 01242 265694. 11th – 14th March OC Rackets

Join us from 6pm at Trinity House, 50 Maddox Street, London, W1S 1AY. We look forward to seeing you. 5th March OC Hockey Day

with cash bar as your base for the day. Price: £115 for Non Racecourse Members, £45 for Racecourse Members or those who already have their entrance tickets and £8 Parking. To Book Tickets: Please call 01242 265694. 7th May The Southwest Luncheon

Once again Ian Moody (Ch, 1946) opens the doors to his home Queen Anne House, Lympstone, Devon, to all those living in the Southwest. This event will run as per previous years, guests are asked to make a contribution to a buffet luncheon and pay £5 per head for drinks. Invitations will be sent out shortly. Please contact Ian if you would like to attend, 01395 263189 or ian@moody2.eclipse.co.uk. 4th June Polo Invitation Day

All OC rackets players are welcome to participate and all welcome to spectate. If you would like to take part or need further details, please contact Charlie Liverton, charlie.liverton@neptune-im.co.uk or Karl Cook, k.cook@cheltenhamcollege.org. 17th March Cheltenham At The Races

OC girls and boys are welcome to participate in the inaugural mixed OC Hockey Day. If you would like to take part, please contact Rob Mace, robdmace@hotmail.com, Pip Mitchell, pmitchell@perse.co.uk or Gwyn Williams, g.williams@cheltenhamcollege.org Spectators always welcome. 34

Bring along family and friends to enjoy a day at the National Hunt Festival. Use the Association & Society’s private marquee

The annual Polo Invitation Day is taking place at Longdole Polo Club, Birdlip, on the second Saturday of half term. Bring along a picnic, family and friends and enjoy the three exciting matches, Cheltenham Prep v The Dragon, Cheltenham College v Marlborough School and the Old Cheltonians v The Old Etonians. Invitations will be sent out shortly. Price £10pp (free to U12s). Please call 01242 265694 to book tickets.


FLOREAT 2016

16th June Drinks Over The Thames

29th June Association Henley Regatta

A great opportunity to attend this quintessentially English event. There are limited spaces available and ticket price is £65 to include Steward Enclosure passes, lunch and afternoon tea. Invitations will be sent out shortly. To book please call 01242 265694. 1st July The Pink & Black 175th Anniversary Ball

!

The Pink ! & Black Anniversary Ball ! Celebrating 175 years of College, in support of The Cheltenham College Charitable Trust

Gloucestershire v Sussex, ticket price is £50pp (£40 for under 16s) and includes entrance to the festival, lunch and afternoon tea. Invitations will be sent out shortly. To book tickets please call 01242 265694. 2nd October Commemoration Service at Alrewas A short Service of Commemoration will take place at 2pm on Sunday 2nd October 2016, in front of the College Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, DE13 7AR. The service will be attended by a contingent from College CCF along with the current Third Form. No RSVP is required, and we do hope you are able to join us. 8th October 1991 Yeargroup Reunion This year’s reunion is for those who left The Junior School or College in 1991. Invitations to follow, please contact Malcolm Sloan, m.sloan@cheltenhamcollege.org for more information.

Join us from 6pm at Davy’s Wine Bar, Crown Passage, 20 King’s Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y 6QY. We look forward to seeing you. 27th November The Christmas Fair

Now in its 5th year, this Fair is a fantastic opportunity to start or continue your Christmas shopping or treat yourself. Ticket price remains at £5pp (free for U16s). Invitations will be sent out in the Autumn. 3rd December Elgar's Dream of Gerontius in Chapel Further information to follow.

13th October OC Dinner at The House of Commons

16th December The Association Carol Service

!

Catered by Wesley House and supporting The Cheltenham College Charitable Trust, the Ball will take place in a Marquee on College Field. Save the date and put a table together (10 or 12) for this unmissable event. Invitations will be sent out shortly. Price: £110 before 31st March £120 from 1st April, to book tickets call 01242 265694. Please contact Christiane Dickens if you are interested in sponsoring this event or donating auction items. Christiane can be contacted on 01242 706815 or c.dickens@cheltenhamcollege.org

17th November London Drinks

EVENTS

Join us for drinks at this fabulous venue from 6pm at Tower Bridge. There will be a charge for tickets, details to follow. To book please call 01242 265694.

24th July The Brewin Dolphin Cricket Festival

Join us for a tour and dinner in the Member’s Dining Room. Details and invitation to follow, please call 01242 265694 to register your interest. There will be a charge for tickets, details to follow.

Invitations will be sent out in the Autumn. 35


FEATURES

The First 175 years... A brief history of Cheltenham College from 1841 to 2016. by Jill Barlow (Past Staff Member) The boy who arrived at College a day before the official opening in June 1841 (his father’s mistake!) and could therefore claim to be the original Cheltonian, went on to be Lord James of Hereford, PC, GCVO. It must have been a good omen. The school opened in three adjacent houses in Bayshill Terrace near the centre of Cheltenham. It was a Proprietary College, owned by the shareholders who each had the right to nominate a pupil. The first pupils well reflected the military and Indian connections of the town. Of the 128 boys, aged from 7 to 17, a quarter were the sons of officers or of East India Company civil servants. More than half were day boys, although there was accommodation for boarders in Bayshill Terrace. By 1843 the number of pupils had doubled and College moved to its present site, a new building on open land bought from Lord Northwick, the owner of Thirlestaine House. Big Classical was the ‘Great School Room’ where several classes were taught at once; the present library was the gymnasium, open to the elements on two sides to allow in plenty of healthy fresh air, and because the directors refused to sanction the expense of further building. It did not acquire a roof until 1850 when it became another large classroom. From the start teaching was split into two

departments: Classical, which laid emphasis on the Classics with Mathematics, History and some Hebrew to prepare boys for university, and Modern, also called Military and Civil, which had a wider syllabus including French, German, Drawing, some Science, Sanskrit and Hindustani and soon developed a reputation for sending boys to Sandhurst, Woolwich and Addiscombe (the East India Company Military Academy). Improvements Reverend Alfred Barry, son of Sir Charles Barry the architect of the Houses of Parliament, was Principal of College from 1862 until 1868 and introduced many improvements. Concerned that the youngest boys were forced to mix with the oldest, he created a Juvenile Department. In 1865 Old Junior was opened with one large classroom, three smaller ones and a room at the top of the stairs which was used as the school library. Fittingly, a statue of Bishop Barry (as he became) was later added over the door. At the time there were three large boarding houses, Boyne, Newick (107 Bath Road) and Southwood (1 Bath Villas) but most boarders lived in Private Boarding Houses. The boarding fees were paid direct to the Master in Charge of the house who

Animal specimens on display 36

Classical schoolroom

could therefore be tempted to regard them as additions to his income rather than spending the money on adequate food for the boys. The College Boarding House Company Ltd was set up in 1862 to build more houses. Christowe, Leconfield and Teighmore were finished by the end of 1866, Cheltondale opened in 1869 and Hazelwell, built by Reverend Samuel Green, was licensed for 21 years. The new buildings, criticised in the local press for ‘exhibiting neither taste nor comeliness’, provided much better conditions for the residents. The gymnasium, with a rackets court at either end, was also built in 1865 as sport was both encouraged and increasingly regulated. Rugby had been introduced to College in 1844, the first Classical v Military match was played in 1852 and house matches began in 1866. But games were played to Cheltenham’s own rules by teams of twenty and, for some time in the 1860s, with a round ball. Rugby Union rules were not introduced until 1872 and inter school matches not until the 1890s. There is a record of a cricket match against Birmingham in 1847 and a regular series of matches against Marlborough began in 1856. The 1860s also saw the creation of the Boat Club with an annual race against Shrewsbury, participation in the Public


FLOREAT 2016

Images supplied by College Archives

Chapel When College first moved to the Bath Road, the boys worshipped at Saint Luke’s Church. Their own Chapel (now the Dining Hall) was built in 1856 but did not prove wholly satisfactory. To celebrate the Jubilee in 1891 the Principal, Dr James, proposed the building of a new Chapel. (Incidentally Dr James, because of his rotund figure, was known as the Pot, a nickname passed on to later Headmasters). The architect of the Chapel was HA Prothero, an Old Cheltonian, and it was consecrated in 1896 by Lord Plunket, Bishop of Dublin, also an OC. The fiftieth anniversary in 1891 was marked by a whole week of celebrations

Hazelwell 1954

including a Greek play, a garden party, a cricket match against Wellington, a boat race against Shrewsbury, the inspection of the Rifle Corps and two suppers with speeches. In 1906 College bought Lake House (now Southwood) with about 14 acres of land on which to build a new Junior School. The Principal moved into Lake House which was renamed College House. The new Junior School building included a boarding house, so the junior boarders moved out of Teighmore and the boarders of Southwood House in Bath Villas moved in. However, it did not remain Southwood House for long. In 1915 Newick moved in and the name Southwood disappeared for eight years until a new home was bought in Lypiatt Road. Many College boys went on to train as officers in the armed forces and inevitably some were killed in action. In the South African War of 1899-1902, 55 died. There was discussion as to whether their memorial should be a reredos in chapel or a cross outside the main building. The fund raised enough money to create both.

Munitions The First World War brought a drop in numbers as boys rushed to volunteer. The engineering department made munitions and classes had to be rearranged as 15 masters were away on military service. Every week the list of those missing or killed in action grew longer. By 1918 at least 675 had died and the Principal, Reverend Waterfield, had written to the family of every one. Hugh Reeves (H, 1884), a wealthy solicitor, donated land to College in 1923 which is now ‘Reeves’ playing fields beside The Old Bath Road. He later sold more land, making the total area 40 acres. He also gave land in Tewkesbury as the site of a new College boat house. Lindley, a house on the corner of Sandford Road and College Road, was bought as a music school and a Musical Club was formed in 1920. There were weekly concerts in the library, which now occupied the former chapel and contained not just books but marble statues and a piano. The museum, principally a natural history collection

Museum in Big Modern (The Chatfeild-Roberts Library) 37

FEATURES

Schools’ Rackets Competition and the creation of the Rifle Corps. The annual Athletic Sports Day was a great event with a hired grandstand and lavish prizes (including riding whips and gold studs). College also flourished academically with many university scholarships being won. The number of pupils reached its peak of 722 in 1868, making Cheltenham second in size only to Eton.


FEATURES

with a stuffed bear in pride of place, was moved to Big Modern. In 1927 a full length English play, Arms and the Man, was produced on Speech Day weekend, the start of a tradition. The division between Classical and Military began to disappear and more practical subjects were introduced to the curriculum. Plans for the celebration of the College Centenary in 1941 included the building of New Block, opened in 1939, and a new gymnasium, which never happened. War put paid to any further projects. World War II At the start of World War II the government commandeered College buildings. The Junior School moved to Stowell Park and College to Shrewsbury where they shared all the facilities, Cheltenham playing games in the morning and having lessons in the afternoon and Shrewsbury following their normal pattern of morning classes and afternoon games. Exile lasted only two terms and College returned home in May 1940. Previously the boys had eaten their meals in their boarding houses, but it was decided that it would be more economical to feed them all together. The former Chapel was converted from library to dining hall. Clothes rationing led to the wearing of boiler suits as uniform and large areas of the playing field were cultivated for vegetables in support of the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. Commander Robert Ryder (L, 1925), Royal Navy, was awarded the Victoria Cross – the fourteenth OC to be so honoured. Thirlestaine House and its grounds were bought in 1947, adding valuable teaching space and the impressive Long Gallery, originally built as a picture gallery by Lord Northwick. HRH the Princess Elizabeth visited College in March 1951 and toured the grounds escorted by prefects. She came again, this time as Her Majesty the Queen, in 1991, to help College celebrate its 150th anniversary.

Swimming pool The most distinctive item of College uniform, the ‘Colleger’ was a mortar board worn by the boys from the very beginning, though with decreasing frequency, and finally abandoned in 1966.

Recent developments Junior School celebrated its centenary in 2008 with a grand pageant, the publication of a book (Celebr08!) and many other events.

The girls arrive The 1970s saw perhaps the biggest change in the history of College – the arrival of girls. At first there were only a few in the Sixth Form but in the early 80s more girls joined. The first Girls’ house was Chandos (opened in 1981), formerly the Second Master’s house but as the number of girls increased and College went fully coeducational in 1998, Chandos was expanded to include Roseleigh East & Roseleigh West and an extention was built on the back. Queen’s House was officially opened by Anne Cadbury (Hon. OC, Past Parent, Past Grandparent & Past Council Member) in June 1994 and was used initially as a Sixth Form extention of Chandos before becoming College’s Day Girl House in 2002.

The Sport facilities were greatly enhanced by the new Sports Hall, which included a new swimming pool, which was opened by Sir Colin Cowdrey in September 1996. The original ‘College Baths’ were the first Victorian Public School Baths built and remain in existence today; however, they were sold in the 1990s to the Hospital.

Ashmead was opened on 13th October 2000 by HRH The Princess Royal, the fact that it lies between two of the Boys’ houses is symbolic of the shift towards College becoming a fully fledged co-educational school. Westal came into being in 2006 and initially was for Sixth Form girls only, before moving to a new purpose-built building between the two AstroTurfs in 2013. The house was officially opened by Melinda Letts (H, 1973), who was one of the first girls to enter College in the early 1970s. The first female Head of College was Cecilia Warren-Thomas (Cha, 2003).

The CCF were relocated from ‘The Village’ site to its present site behind the Sports Hall. In 2012 College hosted a visit from HRH The Earl of Essex KG GCVO to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the College Combined Cadet Force. The visit was also a fitting reminder of over 6,000 Old Cheltonians who have served their country since the school was founded in 1841. To this day, every pupil joining Lower College takes part in CCF to help develop the kind of discipline, self-reliance and leadership skills that are of utmost importance for all modern career paths. Most recent developments have refurbished the Library and Big Classical and have provided a direct route from the front of College to the Quad. The Science labs have been refurbished to university standard and both AstroTurfs have been resurfaced. This article is a ‘potted’ history of College to date. The book Then & Now by Tim Pearce (Past Staff Member) provides a far more detailed account of College history from 1841-1991, and is available for purchase – to place your order, please contact Rebecca, r.creed@cheltenhamcollege.org. The Association & Society look forward to seeing you at one of the 175th Anniversary events.

Westal

38

New science lab

Labor omnia vincit! n


FLOREAT 2016

My Way... By Damian Turner (NH, 1990)

In January 1999 I took a job on a ranch in Argentina herding cattle. I couldn't ride a horse, my Spanish was non-existent but I was good on a motor bike. The other gauchos called me ‘gringo loco’ and I think they were right. This job lasted a couple of months and instead of returning to London to further my career in banking, I continued my travels around South America for the next six months. An experience I will never forget. Return to London? Of course not... The expat years While in South America, I was offered a job in Hong Kong with a sports promotion company running professional golf tournaments in Asia. This was a fantastic opportunity to experience a part of the world that I had only read about in books. The internet didn't exist when I was at College! The work was hard, as I was only a junior member of the staging team. However, an attempted kidnapping in Myanmar was an interesting experience not mentioned in the travel brochure. Three of my colleagues and I were leaving a hotel, often frequented by expats living in Yangon. We called over a taxi and climbed in. Just before the cab pulled away, three men jumped in with us, one on the passenger side and two on the back seat, demanding the taxi drives quickly out of town. Confused, the driver pulled away as we start to grapple with our unwanted joyriders. Realising that these would-be kidnappers were in fact police themselves but not wearing any insignia, we approached the police checkpoint that leads out of town knowing we had to make a break for it. The alternative would be

ending up in some shack in the middle of nowhere or on the side of a milk carton. Approaching the checkpoint, the car slowed and two female colleagues managed to open the door and jump out, running back towards town. Unfortunately, my other male colleague and I were still stuck and the taxi drove through the police checkpoint and out into the countryside. This continued for another 20 minutes until we managed to grab the wheel of the car and steer it off the road, at which point two of our captors made a run for it leaving their friend in our hands. Then from nowhere, a smartly dressed ‘Special Branch’ police officer with a pistol wedged in the waistband of his sarong appeared. He must have been following us the entire time since leaving the hotel. Politely, he asked us to back away and then lead the remaining ‘police officer’ down a dirt road, on foot into the darkness. He came back alone about 15 minutes later and drove us back into town where we met up with the other two colleagues who had returned safely for a well-deserved beer. A lucky escape! Having felt the role could go no further, I took a position with the Cricket World Cup in South Africa and moved to Johannesburg in 2002. I managed all the commercial branding covering 17 venues in three countries – another amazing opportunity where I could sit and chat with the legends of cricket on a daily basis. When the event came to an end, I decided to fulfil one of my lifetime dreams and fly helicopters. Being in South Africa, I enrolled in a flight school near Pretoria where I completed my private pilot’s licence as well as taking part in an elephant relocation programme at Pinda Game Reserve. The next step in obtaining my commercial licence took me back to the UK where I studied for a year to pass my Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) commercial exams. I then returned to South Africa for further flight training and eventually went to Florida to become a commercial pilot – my third career. Work in aviation is tough for new pilots, with only scarce opportunities to earn a reasonable salary. This forced me to look to my events background and move back to Hong Kong where I spent another five years promoting

Dubai

FEATURES

Coming from a military family with a father in the Royal Marines, I was used to moving around every two years until I embarked on my journey at The Junior School, aged 9. By the time I left in 1990, I had spent over half my life in Cheltenham, so it is no wonder that I have been an expat for nearly 20 years. On leaving College, I started a career in the City as a junior bond trader having passed the necessary exams. As a first job, it was certainly interesting both in and out of the office but the 1990s were not kind to this young ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ and I longed for something more – something outside the M25 that didn't involve commuting.

Korea my own tournaments in a range of sports as well as freelancing for a number of companies. I still fly a little. London calling At the beginning of 2010, I was keen to get involved in the Olympics, which for someone in sports management, is the holy grail of events. Luckily, I knew a contact already working on London 2012 and secured a position designing and installing all the temporary infrastructure in the Olympic Park. A massive responsibility and extremely fulfilling. Having gained many years experience in international tournaments, I turned to an opportunity at the PGA European Tour and in 2012 was hired as their Operations Director, Middle East, where I currently reside. Living in Dubai and running one of the biggest tournaments on the Tour’s calendar, the DP World Tour Championship is a long way from my days commuting on the Underground. Mine has not been the most typical of career paths but I have enjoyed every minute! College taught me independence, freedom to think for myself and the ability to take risks and to follow my dreams. n 39


FEATURES

The OC Survey 2015 Earlier this year we sent a survey to all Old Cheltonians for whom we had an up to date email or postal address. If you know of an OC who did not receive this, please ask them to get in touch.

activities as well as ideas for future events. With many exciting events planned for our 175th Anniversary year (see pages 3637), we hope to see many of you again at one of the events throughout 2016.

new contacts. With an extensive OC network in over 87 countries we are able to make connections all around the world so if you are moving please do remember to let us know.

We were hugely grateful for the many responses received. We have been able to update contact details and update many more email addresses which allows us to send out information more quickly and of course is also much more environmentally friendly. If you would prefer to only receive email correspondence in the future, please let us know.

We also received many requests to reconnect OCs with long-lost friends and, where possible, we have done this. We were thrilled by the many offers of help to College and our current students and you can read more about OCs’ involvement at College on page 48.

Please have a look below at just some of the responses received. We plan to repeat the survey again in 2020 but of course if you have any feedback or ideas for Cheltonian Association & Society events you can contact us at any time. Please do just get in touch with the Association Manager, Rebecca Creed, r.creed@cheltenhamcollege.org. All OCs who took part were also entered into a prize draw for a £100 Amazon voucher and the lucky winner was Richard Edwards (L, 1978). Congratulations! n

Number of OCs willing to help College with:

40

Careers talks

Acting as an ambassador for College

Mentoring students

103

66

66

Providing a work experience placement

Event organising

49

28

Formal dinners/lunches – 27.3%

Professional networking events – 28%

Have any of your relatives studied at College?

Sports events – 43.7%

8.0% 7.5% 7.3% 6.1% 5.5% 5.5% 5.5% 5.4% 4.8% 4.1% 3.9% 3.2% 3.2% 3.0% 2.5% 2.1% 2.1% 2.0% 1.8% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.3% 1.3% 1.1% 0.9% 0.7% 0.7% 0.5% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.2%

Newsletters – 54.4%

Medicine/Healthcare Banking/Finance Law Armed Forces Education (Primary/Secondary) Manufacturing/Industry Property Accountancy Management Consultancy Agriculture Engineering Retail Sport/Tourism/Leisure Art/Design Civil Service/Public Service Architect/Survey/Town Planning Energy Advertising/Marketing/PR Journalism/Media/Writing Communications Construction Education (Higher) Film/TV Insurance Travel Publishing/Printing Recruitment/HR Church/Religion/Spiritual Music/Theatre Environment Transportation/Distribution Research/Science Heritage/Conservation Museum/Library/Archive Social Work/Aid Work International Development

Year group reunions – 67.2%

OC employment sector

Informal regional reunions/drinks – 50.8%

Many OCs gave valuable feedback on current Cheltonian Association & Society

Some respondents enquired about being put in touch with OCs in various countries as they were planning to travel or even relocate overseas. Again, where possible we were happy to help with establishing

OC areas of interest

Yes 58.3%

No 41.7%

21% of contactable OCs responded to the 2015 Survey.


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A Job Fit For A King By Tilly King (Q, 2011) If you had told me aged 18 that I would end up working on a trading desk of one of the largest investment banks in the world, I would have probably laughed in your face, before asking what trading was and what an investment bank did!

When some of my course mates started to apply for internships in our very first term of university, I thought they were crazy! Given that I still had no clue what I wanted to do however, I followed suit and entered an application, thinking at the very least it might help me find out what I didn't want to do! The majority of investment banks offer a wide range of programmes for first-year students in all areas of banking, from risk, operations, sales and trading and research to corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. At the time I didn’t know what most of these words meant, yet alone what a job in such a division would entail. I therefore opted for a more generic programme targeting girls called ‘Winning Women.’ After a brief application form and two half-hour interviews, I was on the first rung of the ladder- a place on the spring internship, comprising a week in the Easter holidays of my first-year. Fantastic people I nervously made my way down to London very aware that I knew nothing about banking. By the end of the week however, I not only knew what purpose different divisions of the bank served, but also met some fantastic people, both successful and inspiring women from the bank, and also the other girls with whom I shared the experience. I was lucky enough to be fast-tracked to the summer internship programme and after a further day of interviews and other

Going back to my second-year of university knowing that I had secured an internship was a huge relief - not having to spend hours researching jobs and applying for internships meant I could spend longer focusing on my studies and enjoying everything university had to offer! As second year came to an end however, it finally dawned on me that I would be spending the whole summer working quite long hours in a job that I knew nothing about, with people that I had barely met. By the end of the first week however, my fears were allayed. My intern class had around 75 men and women from various universities around the world all in some form of role within the markets division, be it sales, trading or research. Being able to share the trials and tribulations of such an intense programme with this great group of people forged many enduring friendships. By the end of the internship, I knew this was exactly what I wanted to be doing, and was thrilled when I was officially offered a job on the Emerging Markets Rates Trading desk where I had spent the summer interning. Market-makers Going back for my final year at university knowing that I had secured a job that I was so excited about was a great feeling. Having graduated in June 2014, work started in August with a two-month training programme in New York - what an experience! The training was intense as we had only 8 weeks to equip us with the skills necessary to start our jobs on the trading floors. Getting to share the experience with friends and other graduates from around the world, in one of the most vibrant cities in the world is something I will never forget! Having arrived back from New York at the beginning of November it was straight in at the deep-end. Essentially my team act as market-makers, making prices for any form of interest rate derivative in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) emerging markets, such as Hungary, Turkey and South Africa to name a few. Trading not only involves spreadsheets and number-

At the US Open crunching, but also working closely with the sales teams to ensure that client relationships are maintained, and constantly interacting with clients about what is happening in the markets we cover. Invaluable lessons It is a long working day, but once you get used to being in the office and functioning by 7.15am each day, it can be great fun! When anything from a bomb on the Turkish border to the Greek sovereign debt crisis can affect the prices we are making, you have to be constantly on your toes, meaning there is rarely a dull moment. Of course this means it can be highly stressful - it is all too easy to meltdown when your market is collapsing and you don’t know why, but that is all part of the job, and we are trained to keep calm and carry on! The responsibility given to juniors is phenomenal, so you soon learn to cope on your own and trust your own instincts: nothing beats the adrenaline of going in to work every morning and knowing that you have the responsibility to execute multi-million dollar trades. College has taught me invaluable lessons that have helped me to thrive in the intense, high-pressured environment of a trading floor: making my own decisions and standing up for those decisions, something which I use in my job each and every day. Sadly it is true that trading is still fairly male-dominated, and although that is changing, my days at College gave me the self-confidence to thrive in such an environment. n 41

FEATURES

Banking was something I had never considered as a career. I have never been good at decision-making; I couldn’t decide which AS level to drop, so did 4 Alevels; I couldn’t decide what degree to do so chose PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Durham - three for the price of one! Some of my friends had a chosen career path from school-age, such as law or medicine, whereas I didn't even know where to start looking.

forms of individual and group assessments, I was offered a 10 week paid internship for the following summer.


FEATURES

A Successful Brew By Sam Straker-Nesbit (Xt, 2004) Earlier this year we celebrated a landmark achievement. G2 Brewing celebrated its first birthday. Whilst this might seem a short period of time, the cause for celebration was very simple – setting up a company is hard enough. Getting through a year is even tougher. Throughout this year and beyond, there have been many challenges. The biggest lesson is that everything is a learning curve, and there is no such thing as having made it. I met my business partner, Oli Hawkins, whilst working in the Solar Industry. We had both been involved in a regional start up Solar Installation Company on the Project Management team. A Chinese multinational energy company then purchased this company in order to work with a major international retailer, which would allow homeowners to buy a solar system in store. Oli and I had a simple remit – from scratch, redesign the entire operational delivery of a residential PV (photovoltaic) system. During this time, I visited a well-established microbrewery based in South West London. While I was being shown around I had a thought: This looks like something I could do. A few words that get the imagination flying and set you on a chain of events that leads to owning a brewery! After being part of a team that had set up one company, and having worked in a start up before that, Oli and I grew the confidence to take the plunge, and start G2. This is where we encountered our first lesson, and began making progress. Lessons With G2 being a brewery, it was probably quite apt that the company was incorporated in a pub. This was either due to the availability of beer or the free wifi. I can’t quite remember! Logging onto the Companies House website and incorporating a company felt like we had made it. We had not, it was still the beginning. We had learnt many lessons on the way to this point. We had written a basic business plan and had created initial financial forecasts, which both looked very strong, and we had found a brewery we were interested in buying. We had not made it; we had just hit one of many mile markers. 42

What followed was a frantic effort to create a polished business plan and financial forecasts, because that is what investors need in order to provide start up capital! Getting this right took some considered effort, and we eventually secured start up capital. This would never have happened without the help of the team at Virgin Start Up. There are then so many different tasks that need addressing – products, branding, compliance, accounting and production to name a few. We began ticking each of these off. Our branding was created with some very generous help from family and friends, the rest we put on that learning curve above us, and tried to figure out how we were going to reach each one! By the way, we still hadn’t produced a single batch of beer yet… False starts Our production very easily fits under this heading. Our records state that we have produced about 20 odd batches of beer to date. This is not entirely accurate, as we have had a couple of mishaps. These mishaps have lead to the costly mistake of having to pour beer down the drain. Even now, 10 months into production, we are very much still learning. However, each issue that crops up gives us a problem to solve, and the key factor is that we have solved each issue, eventually. Up until now, there has been no mention of the “dirty word”: Sales. This is a critical and pivotal part of the entire operation, because without regular sales planning a production calendar is impossible. Without regular sales planning your purchasing is impossible. Without sales you are not generating revenue, and when you are not

Above, left to right: the mash tun; Oli and Sam; casks in the brewery. Below: The G2 logo and three brand labels.

generating revenue the business will very quickly become insolvent. This was a problem that we ran into fairly early on. The mistake we had made here was to lose focus as we had growing sales pipelines. These were allowed to lapse slightly, and suddenly customers who you would expect to place orders did not, and as lead generation had slowed, orders began to dry up, slowing revenue. We had also been suffering from some quality issues with our beers, which had put some of our earliest customers off buying from us. The solution? We poured all of our focus back into sales. And very quickly picked up where we left off. This meant that a few of the other tasks were bumped down the priority list, but that is what was necessary. Since then we have been able to take on an Account Manager, who will be leading our sales charge. We have also put stringent quality control measures in place on our production floor to ensure that our batch inconsistency is at an absolute minimum. Another step forward, another milestone reached. We’ve made it? There isn’t really a conclusion to all of this, because as long as each step taken is a step forward, all that will happen is a new mile marker is hit. That is what is so exciting about the leap that Oli and I took back in May 2014 in that pub on Fleet Street. It has been a very testing, challenging and, at some points, stressful time since we took the plunge, but the available rewards make the entire process worthwhile. n


FLOREAT 2016

Dentistry with a Difference By Paul Liddiard (H, 1957)

My wife Sally, a Guy`s nurse, very sadly died in 1994. This was a critical turning point in my life. I was up the creek without the proverbial paddle. I needed a direction. A friend suggested that I enrol with the Open University and with much needed self-discipline, over three years I completed a Biology degree. After this, a mature studentship at the University of Wales, in Cardiff, where I completed a Masters Degree in Forensic Odontology, graduating in 2002. My first foreign dental experience was when I took a few instruments with me on an Annapurna trek, eight years earlier. The need for emergency dental treatment for remote native, indigenous populations became apparent. In 2002, I joined an expedition to Bolivia, travelling up the Rio Negro, an Amazon tributary, jungle trekking to remote villages where I removed nearly eight hundred bad teeth, extracting until I ran out of local anaesthetic. I like to think that the quality of life for some of those patients was immediately improved!

Disasters On Boxing Day, 2004, the South East Asian tsunami tragedy unfurled. With my forensic hat on, I joined the UK Disaster Victim Identification team and made six tours to Thailand in 2005, assisting in victim identification. Apart from Thailand, I have also visited Sri Lanka and in Jersey I assist the Police/Coroner in identifying or confirming the identity of the deceased in cases of sudden death or drowning at sea. Last year I spent a week in the Ukraine following the Malaysia Airlines disaster. In subsequent years, I have taken my dental kit to Peru, into the Apurimac region of the Andes, where the original Inca language is still spoken, the villagers having retreated upwards to escape the Spanish Conquistadors in the 1530s. I have been to southern Transylvania in Romania (gypsies and orphans), India where I stayed in a leprosy hospital for a month and to Sabah in Borneo, treating nomadic fisherfolk of the Bajou tribe who periodically move their homes up the coast for better fishing. A most exciting month was spent in Mongolia where I lived with the Tsaataan tribe, the nomadic reindeer people, on the Siberian border, travelling on horseback and 4x4 across the Steppes to their camp in the tundra. Here I had my own draughty teepee and lived on reindeer meat, potatoes and reindeer milk. I took out teeth with the reindeer herd in close attendance. Refugee camps For the last three years, I have been visiting refugee camps in Myanmar (Burma) teaching Community Health Workers how to deal with emergency dental situations. Below, left to right: patients waiting for treament in Apurimac, Andes, Peru; with reindeer on the Mongolian-Siberian border; and writing up his notes in the Bolivian Amazon.

Above, left to right: Paul supervising in Mandalay, Burma; and performing village dentistry in the school room in Sabah, Borneo.

The advantage of this education is that when I return to the UK, they are able to help their villagers unsupervised, when needed. These health workers are multipurpose people, delivering babies, setting and splinting fractures and now able to do simple dental extractions. I completed my “drilling and filling” apprenticeship years ago. What I do now is a far more varied and exciting type of general dental practice. I have the opportunity to travel and in less developed countries, I see the country as it is, not behind what may be described as the tourism facade. Forensic bag My dear late wife described me as an uninspiring holiday companion, as all I wanted to do was lie by the pool at a five star hotel. That comment obviously sowed a seed that lay dormant for some years and then eventually flowered. I wonder what she would say now! The pool scenario does seem less important. I still travel but to a lesser extent. Should the need arise and if required, I will be ready with my forensic bag or my extraction forceps etc to go wherever. However, it is an integral fact of my life that all inoculations and vaccinations are kept up to date as departure can be within 24 hours, particularly in a disaster situation. It’s a fascinating life! Whilst many of my contemporaries are gardening, golfing and sailing in their retirement, I await the call to get my forensic kit together or plan yet another foray into a less developed country either to teach or extract more teeth. My geography master at College, Mr. A.E. (Porky) Rogers, also my Housemaster, would be most amused. As I recall, I was never one of his better pupils in either House or classroom. n Dr Liddiard was awarded an MBE in the 2015 Birthday Honours ‘for services to forensic and conventional dentistry in less-developed countries’. 43

FEATURES

I left College in1957, having spent five years in Hazelwell, and at the beginning of the next academic year, I entered Guy`s Hospital Dental School as a wide-eyed and inexperienced Fresher. There was no gap year for me! I eventually qualified in dental surgery in 1965 and went into general dental practice straight away, firstly in the family practice in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, for three years and then moving to Jersey, Channel Islands, where I have been ever since. I led a blinkered professional life for three decades, paying school fees, paying off the mortgage and so on, a situation with which most of us are familiar.


FEATURES

Hazelwell Report by Trevor Davies (Past Hazelwell Housemaster) Hazelwell was opened in 1866 but in rather different circumstances from the other boarding houses opened at the same time. It was built privately by the Reverend Samuel Green, at his own expense and licensed by College Council for 21 years. A large photograph of Samuel Green until recently glowered down on boys relaxing playing snooker. The result was a very comfortable private House, with well proportioned, sunlit rooms and a stained glass window on the main staircase. There were seven bedrooms and three bathrooms, and Housemasters seemed reluctant to leave such comfort. The Reverend Hatterlsey-Smith stayed 23 years before selling this House to College in 1901. John Gurney reigned for 16 years, the Reverend Nicholas Lowton for 18: five others stayed for 13 or 14 years and four of them were Reverends.

HOUSEMASTERS

The Reverend Percy Hattersley-Smith clearly needed the space because he had two sons and six unmarried daughters. He taught at College for 44 years, and helped out for three more during the First World War. He was a fine games player, and played with W G Grace for Gloucestershire. His top score was 57 against Nottinghamshire. The House won the 1st XV Cup from 1880-1888, amongst many other feats. On the death of Queen Victoria he imposed a twelve hour period of silence on the boys in the House, such was his respect for the Monarchy. When he died in 1918, HV Page said of him in a letter to ‘The Field’ “Few Houses in any school arrived at or reached a higher standard of athletic, moral or intellectual excellence.” Standards the House has aimed to maintain ever since. As

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1866-1879 S Green

Michael Morgan wrote in his history of Cheltenham College, The First Hundred Years, Hattersley-Smith was author of the most famous College Bon Mot. Not long after his wife’s death, he was rummaging in his desk for a pencil when he threw up his hands and exclaimed: ‘First I lose my wife and now I lose my pencil.’ John Gurney was another ‘Greenite’ Housemaster, who served College long and well. He completed over 100 terms and served under six Headmasters. He came to College after a distinguished war record in France, serving with the Northamptonshire Regiment and on the staff. He coached the 1921 1st XV to an unbeaten record and was Head of Military. He took a keen interest in the College Mission in London and when it transferred to Cheltenham as the College and Whaddon Club. He impressed the boys with his toughness when playing a game of rugby with them (not allowed today), broke his nose and is reputed to have straightened it out with the help of a toothbrush. He also ran the Officer Training Corps for 4 years. Both he and Hattersely-Smith were stern disciplinarians, but were regarded with much affection. Modernisation In those days there was a very fine ‘ram’ in the basement used to raise water to the tanks in the top of the house. It was a useful punishment to make boys work it. It vanished during the first modernisation of the House in 1979, and the well was filled up with rubble. We think the displaced water now floods Leconfield!

1879-1902 P Hattersley-Smith

1902-1913 AJ Luckham

1914-1927 PW Unwin

John Bowes was another long serving member of College from 1949-1981. He then became Secretary of The Cheltonian Society and was instrumental in producing three editions of ‘Who’s Who’. John and his wife Phyll ran a very happy and successful House for 14 years. John pursued a wide variety of interests, always challenging and leading his boys to make the best use of their talents, and they repaid him handsomely. Phyll was always there encouraging and listening to successes and woes. A wonderful combination, making for a very civilised House. Phyll would have liked to write a book about Housemastering, but feared it would be regarded as libellous! Those were the days when Houses did not have live in Tutors. Tutors would take over for perhaps two evenings a week, from 710.30pm so in modern terminology it was a 24/7 job. David Ashcroft, however, was a very wise man and gave us a fairly free hand which worked well and meant that each House developed and maintained its own individuality. Many parents became good friends and remained so long after their sons had left. Thus Housemastering remained a very fulfilling, rewarding and privileged job. The last week of any term was more than hectic. One Housemaster’s wife claimed that her husband ‘was neither Housemaster, nor husband, nor father’ during those weeks.

1927-1943 JC Gurney

1943-1957 AE Rogers


Images supplied by College Archives

FLOREAT 2016

1972 1947

After winning the Rugby Pots 1958/9

2005

The House owes a great deal to the Reverend Nicholas Lowton for retaining the essential features of the original House during the second modernisation. We had to move out in 1979 for two terms, and study bedrooms were built, a considerable change from the two main dormitories. The second time round saw greater changes and an added building but the Reverend Lowton fought hard to maintain features of the long dormitory and ‘The Zoo’ and did it very suc-

1957-1971 JFL Bowes

1971-1985 T Davies

cessfully. With his three dogs as ‘Whippers In’ he ran a very active and successful House. No history of Hazelwell would be complete without mentioning Miss Tee or Maggie as she was known to one and all. She was a very rare soul, with considerable experience of nursing, and she helped many a young man through troubled teenage years and yet remained the sole of discretion. She also helped many an empty tummy with fry ups, but the Housemaster had to turn a blind eye. We were very fortunate to have her as our Matron during our 14 years. Many stories One could write about famous men produced by the House, but they are chronicled elsewhere: about the importance of the prefects system: about refereeing combined dances at The Ladies’ College; about the year of electricity cuts, where two sweat rooms were lit by generators, and boys in study bedrooms had to read by candle light. This was before the days of Health & Safety. Two stories spring to mind, the first is of my wife walking up College Road pushing a large pram containing our youngest son. She was going to support the House XV, playing on

1985-1990 J Watson

1990-2008 N Lowton

Chapel pitch, she was followed by my eldest son’s pet Jackdaw which remained in the trees above the pitch cawing encouragement, before following my wife home at the end of the match. The second concerns our loyal Houseman, an ex merchant seaman who said that if he wasn’t in England he thought he might have killed a scorpion in the gym that morning, the warmest place in the house. The likely culprit was sent for, who expressed great relief, as it had escaped a few days before. He had brought it back from some Arabic country, hoping to sell it. Hazelwell is a lovely house in which to bring up a family, and hopefully some of this rubbed off on the boys. Since 1971 dogs have acted as Housemasters’ assistants and distractions, adding to the homely effect. After lunch one day Hugh Wright, Housemaster of Boyne House, rang to ask if my dog was any good at finding ducks! His collection had escaped from their pond. The dog collected each one from the box hedges in the Boyne House garden. Housemastering was a serious business and yet enormous fun, and it is a privilege to be a member of the group of distinguished men who have filled that vital role at Cheltenham College. n

2008-2014 S Conner

2014J Coull

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FEATURES

Probably fair comment! Apart from writing reports, settling up the accounts for each boy (to the penny), attending rugger matches, plays, concerts, seeing that each boy knew how he was getting home, one had to maintain discipline on excited young men. To cope with the problem of accounts, Ken White in Newick House, converted a typewriter into an adding machine. Wondrous. John Bowes main advice to me was, buy an adding machine. Such was the power of accounts! During my first years, boys had to use my private phone and guess the cost of the call. One boy, now a retired Headmaster, spent a great deal of time on the phone to his then girlfriend. I am sure he still owes me!


FeaTures

OC Lectures & Careers Talks By Sebastian Bullock (Deputy Development Director) The Cheltonian Association and Society is a broad Church in every sense of the word: including as it does OCs, parents (past & current), staff and friends of College. Its membership also spans every possible field of work, from Accountancy to Zoology. There are now over 1,300 members in the Association LinkedIn group, a 30% increase over the year and although not producing a plethora of posts, the group is an excellent forum for professional networking between members of the Association. If you are not yet a member of the group, please search for The Cheltonian Association & Society on LinkedIn and Facebook. Alongside any networking opportunities, details are always posted of Association events such as OC Careers Talks at College, University Receptions, London Gatherings and Overseas Reunions. Next year there are OC careers talks covering architecture, photography, sports

The Music Industry and a career as a DJ John Askew (NH, 1994), Upper College Lecture. Old Cheltonian, John Askew, returned to College on Friday 4th December to deliver an Upper College lecture on the music industry and his career as a worldrenowned DJ and artist. He described his career path: starting to DJ around the time he left College and throughout university in Brighton. Following this he then got a job at Chrysalis Records as an assistant, moving on to Ministry of Sound and working his way up to Head of Radio and becoming a resident DJ for the Ministry of Sound club. During this time he was offered a weekly show on Kiss FM in London, which lasted for a few years. John then left Ministry of Sound to work for Cosmack Management, managing the radio 46

marketing, financial services and entrepreneurship. The University and Careers Fair will again take place at the end of the Spring Term, with the support of many OCs. In addition to those mentioned in the write-ups on this page, we would like to thank Stephen Shortt (Xt, 1990) for his talk on Brand Marketing, hosted by Christowe to an invited audience from College 5th and Sixth Form; Philip Astley-Sparke (Xt, 1989), who spoke about the Biotech Industry to A Level Science Students; Sube Banerjee (NH, 1982) who talked about Dementia to Upper College; and Patrick Handley (Xt, 1982) who lectured about Public Relations to Upper College.

The Hedge Fund Industry

career of one of his all-time heroes, Carl Cox. John has toured the world many times over and also manages five big recording artists who have toured with the likes of U2 and Madonna, and have also made film score music for many huge Hollywood blockbusters such as Collateral, The Matrix and Shrek.

Tim Arengo-Jones (BH, 1995), CEO of Eclectica Asset Management, visited Boyne House to deliver a talk to students who had expressed an interest in working in the finance industry, particularly within hedge funds. He described how hedge funds operate and differ from other areas of financial services. Neil Hacker (U6th, H) summarised “Hedge funds are able to employ a wider variety of strategies than a typical mutual fund which usually only operate in simpler more risk averse areas such as equity markets. However a hedge fund can use futures and derivatives as well as other more sophisticated strategies as they aim to make an absolute profit every quarter as opposed to a mutual fund simply outperforming its benchmark. Tim also spoke about the structure of a hedge fund firm which typically employ less than 20 people; he also mentioned how the hedge fund focuses mainly on one individual fund and that all of their resources are devoted to the one fund.”

John explained how different the music industry is now compared to when he started out, “In the music room here there are 15 different set ups where you could all be making music and having a hit record before you’ve even left College” and how with the internet you can make a name for yourself without the traditional mediums of radio or magazines. He also gave sound advice to the Sixth Formers that could apply in any industry; to be original, stand out, be the first one in to the office in the morning and the last one to leave at night, and learn as much as you can from everyone you work with. He left students with a final thought, “To succeed you need to have talent, to excel you need to have knowledge.” The Sixth Form then asked lots of insightful questions, everyone’s favourite being “Will you come back to DJ at one of our socials?” to which John replied yes! n

Tim explained about his career path into the industry and informed students about the usefulness of gaining work experience early and joining investing groups while at university. Alex Hewer (U6th, S) commented, “I have always wanted to go into the hedge fund industry and the talk gave me more of an insight into how the industry operates and the range of strategies different funds use. After the talk I spoke further to Tim about his current macroeconomic views and any advice he could give me in trying to pursue a career in the industry. Tim kindly gave me his business card and said to contact him if I had any further questions. Since then I have been in contact with Tim and he is working on getting me some work experience at his fund, which would be a huge opportunity for me, and I greatly appreciate him coming into College to speak to us.” n

For further details and any offers to give a careers talk at College, provide mentoring to recent leavers or support in any way, please contact Sebastian Bullock (s.bullock@cheltenhamcollege.org). n


FLOREAT 2016

An OC Reunion At Henley 5th July By Tommy Doyle (L, 1996) This year members of the 1995 Cheltenham College Boat Club 1st VIII and their wives gathered at Henley Royal Regatta for the 20th anniversary of their crew. Our Captain of Boats Oliver Denton (NH, 1995), Simon Clarke (W, 1996) and Tommy Doyle (L, 1996) attended alongside their legendary coach Peter Middleton and his wife, our longtime friend and supporter of the crew, Clare Middleton. 1995 was a great vintage for College rowing. The crew picked up many ‘pots’ over the year

with multiple wins at Evesham, Upper Thames and Nottingham Regattas. They also won silver in the Child Beale 1st VIIIs at the National Schools regatta. As a result they prequalified for Henley, where they easily beat Oundle but then lost by only a length and a half to the then US School Boy Champions on the Thursday. Many of the crew went on to successful university rowing careers representing Oxford, Imperial, Nottingham, Bristol and Oxford Brookes. It was a great day in Stewards capped off with a superb picnic put on by Peter and Ollie in the cricket ground. n

Alison Denton, Clare Middleton & Carina BIttar-Doyle

1995 College Visit

20th June

you so much for such a memorable “ Thank day for us all. It couldn’t have gone better, and it was very generous of College to welcome us all.

Wonderful to see the school in such fine shape – much the same, of course, but somehow more manicured, glass-fronted, better-resourced and slicker. Most of all it seems like a very happy school.

you for the time you spent arranging “ Thank a great day, everyone commented on how Toby Orr (L, 1995)

good College looked and what a well organised day it was. The house tours were a particular favourite.

Christian Jones (NH), Ed Froggatt (BH), Steve Badrock (S), Toby Orr (L), Tim Arengo-Jones (BH), Robin Harvie (BH), Tom Robinson (L), Casilda Peel (Cha), Guy Saville (NH), Olly Boakes (NH), Harry Badham (L), Chrissy Elworthy (Cha), Nick Hovey (H) & Fran Atkinson (Cha)

The rain did not dampen the laughter and reminiscing which went on till the early hours down at 131. Tom Robinson (L, 1995)

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FEATURES

Past Staff Member Peter Middleton, Tommy Doyle (L, 1996), Oliver Denton (NH, 1995) & Simon Clarke (S, 1996)

Ash Cooper (BH, 1995), Simon Clarke (S, 1996), Sam Hodgeson (NH, 1996), Matt Zimmerman (BH, 1995), Tommy Doyle (L, 1996), Peter Middleton, Lorne McEwan (Xt, 1995), Alex Orme (BH, 1995), Oliver Denton (NH, 1995) Huw O'Callaghan (NH, 1995) & Gordon Aickin (H, 1995)


FEATURES

Back to Where it All Began By Kate Hickey (Cha, 1998) After leaving College, I went to Birmingham University where I graduated with a first class honours degree in Business & Commerce before studying Law at BPE in London. I always had an interest in law and had done some work experience in a law firm whilst at College but it wasn’t until half way through my business degree that I realised that I wanted to combine my business and legal interests to become a corporate lawyer. Early career I secured a training contract at one of the leading international law firms, Eversheds, during my final year of university and they sponsored me through law school before starting with them as a trainee. I really enjoyed my training contract where I spent two years in four different departments learning about commercial property, restructuring and insolvency, employment and corporate but my heart had always been in corporate and so it was no surprise to anyone that in 2006 I qualified as a corporate lawyer. I had two more years working as part of Eversheds’ large corporate team on exciting international, multi-million pound deals, which often included the classic ‘all-nighters’ in the office. This enabled me to gain wide experience in both corporate and commercial matters including Mergers & Acquisitions, joint ventures, shareholder agreements, Limited Liability Partnerships and private equity as well as providing general commercial advice. I met my husband at Eversheds and when an opportunity arose for us to move to Cheltenham, which for me meant returning home, we both jumped at the chance. I joined the corporate & commercial team at Charles Russell’s Cheltenham office and had a wonderful Christmas wedding in the beautiful Pittville Pump Rooms in the same year. 48

Clockwise from top left: Kate (then Douglas) at College; Kate Hickey now; Kate Hickey with her family; and Willans Solicitors in Cheltenham.

Embracing opportunities Seven years on and two children later, an opportunity arose at Cheltenham-based solicitors on Imperial Square, Willans, to help develop and grow its charities & notfor-profit team, whilst continuing my general corporate and commercial practice. This opportunity grabbed my attention as it gave me a chance to use my knowledge and experience as a corporate lawyer to help and advise charities and be a key part of a niche specialist team which is recommended UK-wide. Over the last year, as well as advising local and international businesses on corporate or commercial matters, I have also enjoyed acting for many charities faced with legal issues, ranging from smaller ones working in the local community to some of the country’s largest and most well-known charities. The wide range of work I do covers areas such as structures of charities, corporate

and constitutional issues, governance and regulatory issues including liaising with the Charity Commission and advising on trustee powers and duties. Working with my employment and property colleagues within our charities & not-for-profit team we have also advised charities on matters such as property management including acting on property portfolios, freehold and leasehold advice in relation to sales and acquisitions, development transactions and employment issues including severance negotiations with chief executives, senior executives and employees. I feel very lucky to be able to continue and progress in my career whilst also being a mum – and as any working mother will know, this is not always easy! I am also fortunate to work at such a communityfocused law firm, whilst living and bringing up my children in the beautiful town of Cheltenham, surrounded by happy memories of my time at College. n


FLOREAT 2016

A Dream Come True

France v England – November 2015

By Tom Shaw (Y5, Cheltenham Prep)

When my mum came and picked me up from school she said she had an amazing surprise for me – she often says that and it’s never that amazing – but this time it really was. Once I was sitting down in the car, she told me I was going to be a player escort for the French team at Wembley the next evening. I couldn’t quite believe it but when we got home she showed me the letter from the FA. detailing what and when I would be doing it. Then it became real and I was so excited. France were going to play England in an international friendly at Wembley and my parents explained to me that it was going to be an extra special match because of the shootings and bombings that had happened in Paris on the Friday before. When we arrived at Wembley the next day at 5pm there was a lot of security, with helicopters flying above the stadium, sniffer dogs and armed soldiers. Wembley was lit up red, white and blue, it looked incredible. There was an amazing exciting atmosphere everywhere. I then went and met all the other player escorts and flag bearers and said goodbye to my parents and brother. We were taken to our own special changing room and were told what we were going to do. My first glimpse of the famous Wembley pitch was as we were doing a practice ‘line up’ in the tunnel, the players weren’t there at this point. The stadium was empty and it seemed enormous, I couldn’t wait to see what it was going to be like when it was packed full of people. After a full rehearsal we went back inside and had something to eat. One of the best bits was when I was given my French kit, it fitted perfectly. I

really hoped I would be able to keep it. We then went back onto the pitch and had lots of official photos taken, it was like being a celebrity, with all the cameras and our parents watching. The time went by really quickly and before I knew it we were being led to the tunnel. It was so nerve racking but exciting at the same time. The officials lined us up in height order. I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would be next to either Paul Pogba or Anthony Martial, who plays for Manchester United and who had the highest fee paid for a teenager in football history. I could hardly dare to look as the players from both teams came into the tunnel. The captains stood at the front and the remaining players filed in behind but in no particular order. As I glanced up I could see a lot of players that I have only seen on the television or read about. I couldn’t believe it - just a couple of feet away from me stood Wayne Rooney, Jo Hart, Nathaniel Clyne and one of my favourite players, Raheem Sterling, who plays for my favourite team, Manchester City. Best of all though – Martial was standing next to ME! None of the players spoke to us but Blaise Matuidi rubbed my shoulders. I couldn’t believe this was happening – it really was like a dream. The best bit was when Martial grabbed my hand and we walked out of the famous Wembley tunnel and onto the pitch. It seemed enormous and now full of people. As the teams appeared a huge cheer went up and it was especially loud for the French team.

We took our places in the ‘line up’ and I stood in front of Martial, it really was happening. The English National Anthem was played and then the French National Anthem, La Marseillaise. They put the words on the big screen so everyone could join in. Once I knew everyone around me was singing I joined in too. Not only was I standing in front of one of my heroes, just a short distance away stood Prince William and David Cameron who had come to pay their respects. The players then did a minutes silence in the middle of the pitch and we stood at the edge. The match began and I was taken back to my family who were sitting in the stadium. We then watched the rest of the match together. England won 2 nil – I really wanted France to win! It was an incredible evening and one I shall never forget, especially as I was allowed to keep the kit! The excitement carried on the next day. When I was at school, BBC Points West came and filmed me and some of my friends and then interviewed my dad and me and asked us lots of questions about my amazing experience. They filmed me playing my rugby match. That evening at 6.30pm they showed the film together with a shot of me coming out of the tunnel. A lot of people asked me how I came to be a player escort and the reason is I have the best Aunty in the world! My Aunty works for Breast Cancer Care who are the FA’s official charity partner for 2014-2016 and she put my name forward when they sent out a request. How lucky am I? n 49

FEATURES

My name is Tom Shaw and I am 10 years old and on Tuesday 17th November 2015, I had one of the best days of my life (so far)! This is what happened:


Features

Gallipoli By Jo Doidge-Harrison (Current Staff Member) At least 41 OCs lost their lives serving in Gallipoli, or died of their wounds on the way home. 20 intrepid current Cheltonians and staff spent the October 2015 half term honouring their memory on the peninsula. Captain Edwin Willoughby (DB, 1900) was one of the first of the campaign losses sustained by College, serving in the initial ill-conceived naval attacks of March 1915. Four old boys then lost their lives during the landings of 25 April 1915. On this day, the 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, with 26-year-old Captain George Dunlop (Xt, 1907) amongst them and alongside the Munster Fusiliers and the Royal Hampshire Regiment, grounded the steam collier the SS River Clyde 100m off V Beach. Gallipoli overlooks ancient Troy across the Dardenelles, and the plan for the Clyde was that she would act as a Trojan horse, carrying some 2,000 men who would then emerge from ‘sally ports’ cut in the sides, to run down gangplanks and board lighters. These sally ports unfortunately soon filled with bodies and the sea ran red with blood for 50 metres around. Assistant beach-master and second in command at V Beach was LieutenantCommander George Harley Pownall (S, 1898) of H.M.S. Egmont, who had worked in submarines since 1903, being entrusted with two flotillas at Gallipoli. Admiral Sir Roger Keyes remembered in 1941 how Pownall “begged me to get him a billet on one of the beaches.” We left a tribute for him alongside George Malcolm Dunlop (Xt, 1907). Anglo-Turkish relations are happily far better now, as during our visit the pupils fell in love with Turkish food, took great joy in our guide Erdem’s desire to orientate us at all times, “Where are the Dardanelles?” being the cry of the trip, and began, to Erdem’s equal delight, a fascination with Turkish fauna, precipitated 50

by the bats in the tunnels alongside V Beach. At George’s headstone we encountered ‘Dunlop’, the first of many meetings with Turkey’s famed stray dogs. Istanbul ‘houses’ up to 150,000 alone and they soldier on indigently, despite attempts such as Sultan Mehmed V’s to westernise Istanbul, in 1910, by “addressing the dog situation”: rounding them up and shipping them off wholesale to a deserted island in the sea of Marmara. Helles Memorial Close by Dunlop and V Beach, the Helles Memorial (above right) commemorates the servicemen who have no known grave, including 24 OCs (and 3 out of the 5 Captains lost by the Royal Fusiliers were Cheltonians). Here we remembered Harper Lowry (DB, 1906), the first of three OC brothers to lose his life in the First World War (we have already visited his younger brothers, Auriol (S, 1910), at La Targette, and Cyril (S,1915), at Pozieres). Harper was a tea planter in Sri Lanka, from whence he joined the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps as a volunteer, Private 825, departing for Egypt on the 17 November 1914. Commissioned into the Indian Army by January he headed via the Suez Canal to Gallipoli, landing on Z Beach on the 25 April 1915. Harper was killed on the 4 June 1915 at the Third Battle of Krithia, the day before Lieutenant Moor (BH, 1914) won his VC in the same battle, being then 18 years old. An Imperial War Museum account relates how a Turkish staff officer, Mehmed Nehad Bey, wrote of Lowry’s unit: “Had the British continued the attack the next day with the same violence, all would have been lost.” Also at Helles we found 2nd Lieutenant Montagu Proctor-Beauchamp (DB, 1906), who died at Suvla Bay on the same day as his uncle, Lt. Col. Sir Horace George Proctor-Beauchamp, both belonging to the King George V’s Own Sandringham Company of the “ardent” 1/5th Battalion, the Norfolk Regiment, which is famous as the “vanished” PALS battalion of Royal Estate workers, who all disappeared on 12 August 1915. Sir Ian Hamilton, who

commanded the entire campaign, commented of Montagu and his fellow subalterns that “a finer, smarter, keener looking lot of young soldiers it would be difficult to find”. Lancashire Landing Cemetery, not far along the coast, is famous for being where Allied troops won “six VCs before breakfast”, and we paid our respects here to Edmund Buckley (BH, 1904), who died aboard the hospital ship Clan MacGillivray. At Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery, we sought out four more OCs, including Hugo Grantham (H, 1914). 2nd Lieutenant Norman Silk (NH, 1912) lies in the same plot, and proved himself to his commanding officer to be “a most gallant and capable officer… as devoted to his men as they were to him… always bright and cheerful, and always only too keen to be ever right at the front. I know that had he lived he must have made a name for himself”. The first day then wrapped with an appreciation of perspectives at the vast Turkish Memorial, and sunset beach cricket before supper, in memory of Captain Charles Arthur Cuningham (DB, 1907) whose cricket career encompassing Sandhurst, Aldershot, Ireland and Burma is recorded in the newly published Wisden on the Great War: The Lives of Cricket's Fallen 1914-1918. Northern end Next day saw us exploring the northern end of the Aegean battlefields, where we found Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Thomas (L, 1880) buried in Embarkation Pier Cemetery, having served bravely with the New Zealand Medical Corps. Charles’ May diary entry of 29 May 1915, written just three months before he was killed leading stretcher parties up Hill 60: “Had an easy


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Top row, left to right: Edwin Willoughby (DB, 1900), George Dunlop (Xt, 1907), Harley Pownall (S, 1898), Harper Lowry (DB, 1906), GRD Moor (BH, 1914), Montagu Proctor-Beauchamp (DB, 1906), Edmund Buckley (BH, 1904) and Charles Arthur Cuningham (DB, 1907). Bottom row, left to right: Charles Thomas (L, 1880), Richard Carnegy (DB, 1884), Richard Coxwell-Rogers (DB, 1899), Harry Welstead (DB, 1880), Hugh Taylor (S, 1896), Robert Frankland (Teighmore, 1890), Brian Walton Onslow (Xt, 1910) and Edward Lowndes (DB, 1896).

Just over the road at 7th Field Ambulance Cemetery we visited Major Richard Carnegy (DB, 1884) whilst a snake eating a lizard made it onto the pupils’ Top 10 Fauna list. Not far from both of them, in Green Hill Cemetery, lies Lieutenant Richard Coxwell-Rogers (DB, 1899), who was the last of his family to live at magnificent Dowdeswell Court, just outside Cheltenham, his family having been there since the first manor was built in 1582. Richard now surveys Suvla from the same vantage point as David Niven’s father, William. Hill 10 Cemetery Hill 10 Cemetery is on a small hill further north, above the Suvla Bay salt lake, which was eventually captured by 9th Lancashire Fusiliers and the 11th Manchesters. Originally a burial site containing just three graves from November 1915, the cemetery was enlarged after the Armistice, bringing in another of our Lieutenant Colonels, Harry Welstead (DB, 1880), who as a career soldier like so many Cheltonians had previously survived the Boer War of 18991902, despite the many engagements he fought there. The Manchester Evening News reported in 2013 an account of how “as they looked inland toward Cape Helles the rifle fire coming from the entrenched Turks lit up the night sky. At 10.30pm the destroyers cast off the lighters, which made their way under their own steam across one mile of open sea to Suvla Bay. They approached the beach as silently as possible under thick cloud cover. Troops disembarked on to the beach without confrontation, but there was confusion everywhere. It was very dark and troops

were landing in places they were not supposed to, which resulted in the 6th Yorks bayonet-charging the Manchesters until both sides realised that each was not the enemy. The 9th Lancs [Welstead’s regiment] were not faring too well either. They had been given white armbands to identify themselves to their own but this made them an easy target for the Turkish snipers.” Indeed, it was not long before C.O. Harry Welstead had been killed. We were appropriately savaged by blood-thirsty Turkish mosquitoes as we stood at his grave, and we could appreciate that the flies were certainly not the least of the perils facing the Tommies and ANZACs. At Suvla Bay itself, where the second major landing took place on 7 August 1915, we also lost Hugh Taylor (S, 1896) and Robert Frankland (Teighmore, 1890); tragically Robert’s elder brother Thomas (Teighmore, 1890) had been killed only 4 months earlier, on the first day of landings at Cape Helles on the 25 April. Our final full day, at Anzac Cove, revealed the sheer futility of the more northerly initial landings of 25th April 1915, as ships lost their way in the early morning dark overshooting the flatter land around what was to become known as ‘Brighton Beach’. After Shrapnel Valley cemetery, Beach cemetery brought us our final two OCs. Lieutenant Brian Walton Onslow (Xt, 1910), died on this now stunning spot by the Aegean, and was mentioned in dispatches while serving as General Birdwood’s personal escort and guard, for trying to lead terrified mules, abandoned by some of the Indian drivers, to safety under heavy Turkish fire from the cliffs above. Brian’s fellow Cheltonian, Edward Lowndes (DB, 1896), is touchingly remembered just a few feet away by his family with the

simple words on his headstone: “Well Done Ted”. Via Lone Pine, Walker’s Ridge and Johnston’s Jolly cemeteries we finally approached the lofty sites of the Battle of the Nek and of Sari Bair. Also known as the August Offensive, this was the final attempt made by the British in August 1915 to seize control of the peninsula. At the end of a memorable day, we played cricket in the setting sun, with the glorious views from Shell Green Cemetery as our backdrop. This was us re-enacting the cricket match held by the 7th Light Horse Regiment on 17th December 1915, with shells whizzing overhead, as the Allies attempted to conceal preparations for the evacuation of the remaining 20,000 troops the very next day. Prayer An early start on the final morning saw us taking in some of the major sights of Istanbul: the Blue Mosque, the Byzantine Church of Hagia Sophia, and the Topkapi Palace. Leggings and shorts were replaced with more modest skirts and headscarves were donned; the peaceful jewel-like interior and atmosphere of quiet prayer certainly more than commanded respect. Overall, however, perhaps respect was begged most of all by the bravery of the Allied soldiers, and the OCs amongst them, who followed orders in repeatedly attempting to take and hold this morbidly forbidding yet beautiful terrain: the Sphinx, the Nek and Chunuk Bair. How they could have ever anticipated victory beggars belief, yet some survived, with Cheltonians of course amongst them. That they were to face the Somme the following year renders it all the more poignant. n 51

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time on Lemnos Island for five days. Beautiful sea bathing. Played cricket for my unit against the Australians. They won easily!”


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WW1 Centenary By Sebastian Bullock (Deputy Development Director) Throughout the Centenary years of the First World War, College is aiming both to commemorate and honour the lives lost, as well as remember those who served and survived. There are two projects that have been completed over the past year which provide a way for students and the wider Cheltenham community to connect with events of 100 years ago. Firstly, the ‘planting’ of 20 Ceramic Poppies from the Tower of London display in the entrance to The Chatfeild-Roberts Library. These are in front of the ‘In Memory’ collage made up of the portrait photos from the College Memorial Albums. Secondly, the First World War information panel which has been installed in the lawn area to the front of Thirlestaine House, Bath Road. This is a compilation of text and images connecting College today and 100 years ago. Powerful and moving The annual Remembrance Sunday Service in College Chapel took place on November 8th with a congregation made up of current students, staff and invited guests. The powerful and moving sermon was delivered by the Reverend John Witheridge. On Wednesday 11th November, the College and Prep Armistice Day Service was held on the Chapel lawn at the West end of Chapel. This outdoor service for over 1,000 students from both schools is being held each year of the Centenary. The Centenary Exhibition again ran for a week from Remembrance Sunday, with many visitors from both within and beyond College. Christine Leighton, College Archivist commented: “The second of our annual First World War Centenary Exhibitions featured displays of pupils’ art work, selected pieces from the Third Form Headmaster’s Project on ‘Har-

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mony and Reconciliation’, and material from the History Department relating to their project work and Battlefield trip to Gallipoli. The Archive Department and volunteers researched and commemorated the 219 pupils and one member of staff who had died between 12th November 1914 and 11th November 1915. If anyone has any papers or photographs relating to Old Cheltonians, or any First World War artefacts that they would be willing to lend for future Exhibitions, do let me know, c.leighton@cheltenhamcollege.org. Similarly, if you would like to be one of the project volunteers, please get in touch.” Miss Doidge-Harrison and the History department have been extremely busy, with a special Third Form project focusing on the First World War and an October half term trip to Gallipoli. The CCF again joined the Third Form for a service at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, Staffordshire, as well as having the usual presence in College for the Remembrance and Armistice Day Services. Gallipoli. Afghanistan. Somme. The unique event this year in the Autumn term was the College production of G.A.S. (Gallipoli. Afghanistan. Somme). The play was performed in the Lower Gym and was ‘an exploration of courage, regret and absolution’. Beth Adams (L6th, A) reviewed the play; “G.A.S was commissioned by College and written by Katherine MacInnes (College parent) as a way to commemorate the centenary of the First World War and to remember the Old Cheltonians who fought and fell for their country. Set in the Lower Gym, it tells the story of George Raymond Dallas Moor (BH, 1914) who is seeking absolution for shooting some men in the First World War to stem a retreat that would have meant certain death for a whole battal-

Scenes from the College production of G.A.S. ion. He was successful and, for the action as a whole, he was awarded a VC. In the play a fictional female soldier from the next century, Victoria Cross, is similarly unsure about whether her award for courageous restraint in Afghanistan is justified. Both help the other out of a cycle of uncertainty by moving through time to witness the events in question in their old school. It was not only a great portrayal of the horrors of war but also, and more subtly, an exploration of the hard decisions that soldiers have to make in conflict. The storyline, which captures the experiences of two soldiers from two wars, was very thought provoking and gave a strong message about the nature of courage. The setting of the play in Lower Gym helped to highlight College’s strong connections with the Armed Forces and the Old Cheltonians who have served, and those who have paid a terrible price. The sound and lighting crew did a great job portraying the sights and sounds of war. I also liked the fact that the audience sat so close to the stage; this really helped them to engage with the cast and gave a sense of the dramatic immediacy of conflict and the intensity of having to make a life-saving decision in a moment. One member from the audience added, “The play was amazing, it is so clever with all the intertwined stories and it really felt like we were in the middle of all the action with the setting.” Teamwork was of central importance; the cast did a great job to knit this fast-moving and complex narrative together. What is more, the fact that the cast came from across the year groups made this achievement all the more impressive. Thought provoking, punchy and poignant, it was an important and memorable evening for College.” n


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One of The Bravest Men By Katherine MacInnes (Current Prep & College Parent) George Raymond Dallas Moor (BH, 1914): VC, MC & Bar (22nd October 1896 – 3rd November 1918) was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

At the start of College, Moor joined the Classical side as he was originally registered for a career in the Egyptian Civil Service. He subsequently moved to the Military side and, in October 1914 when he was seventeen, he was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment. After six months’ training in England and Egypt, he went with the 2nd Battalion to the Dardanelles. His VC decoration was gazetted on 24th July 1915 making him the youngest VC of the war at that time. The award citation dates the incident as 5th June rather than, accurately, as the morning of the 6th which indicates some official reluctance to publicise the means by which the VC was achieved. The official citation reads: “For most conspicuous bravery and resource on the 5th June 1915, during operations South of Krithia, Dardanelles. When a detachment of a battalion on his

George Moor at Boyne House 3rd XV 1911

John Best (Housemaster of Boyne House)

It is difficult to determine exactly how Moor ‘stemmed’ the retirement, but the consensus seems to be that he ordered the retiring men back to the trench and threatened to shoot anyone who disobeyed his orders. He probably shot up to four of the men before leading the rest back and regaining the trench. Moor was taken back from the front line hours later suffering from ‘nervous exhaustion’. The Chaplain working in that area of the trenches at the time was the twenty eight year old John Kenneth Best. He had graduated from Queen’s College Cambridge with a first-class honours degree in Mathematics and been ordained in 1913. Soon after the outbreak of war, Best was appointed as Chaplain in the Territorial Force and arrived in the Dardanelles in May 1915. Best’s diary entry for 6th June 1915 reads: ‘I hear sad tale of an officer having to shoot friends down to save panic.’ Best would later become Housemaster of Boyne House (1926-1940). He must have realised that the ‘officer having to shoot friends’ was not only an OC, but a Brooksmithite, an ex Boyne House pupil. Both Moor and Best were invalided home from the Dardenelles suffering from acute dysentery, a disease which claimed many lives during the Gallipoli campaign. Moor recovered and joined the 1st Battalion in France but was badly wounded in the arm. He returned to England, and before regaining the use of his arm, was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Major-General W. de L. Williams, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., in France, where Moor gained two further awards, the Military Cross and Bar. Moor was promoted to Lieutenant on 30th October 1916.

The College WW1 play, 'G.A.S.' was inspired by the story of soldier and OC George Raymond Dallas Moor's (BH, 1914) VC. Image (above) supplied by the Royal Hampshire Archives.

Military Cross citation (gazetted 2nd December 1918) reads: “Lieutenant George Raymond Dallas Moor, VC, Hampshire Regiment. For conspicuous gallantry and skill. He carried out a daylight reconnaissance all along the divisional front in face of heavy machine-gun fire at close range, in many places well in front of our foremost posts.” Bar to Military Cross, (gazetted 29th July 1919) reads: “On October 20th, 1918, near to Pijpestraat, the vanguard commander was wounded and unable to carry on. Owing to heavy shelling and machinegun fire, the vanguard came to a standstill. Lieut. Moor, Acting General Staff Officer, who was reconnoitering the front, noticed this; he immediately took charge, and by his fearless example and skillful leading continued the advance until the objective was reached. He has a positive contempt for danger, and distinguishes himself on every occasion.” Lieutenant-General Sir Beauvoir de Lisle, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O., in a narrative of Moor’s VC action in Gallipoli, said: “I have often quoted this young Officer as being one of the bravest men I have met in this War.” Moor died of Spanish Influenza at Mouvaux, France, on 3 November 1918. He is buried in the Y Farm Military Cemetery, Bois-Grenier, which is cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. His Victoria Cross is displayed at The Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum in Winchester, England. n 53

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Moor (known as Dallas) was born in his aunt’s home in Pollington Street, St Kilda, Australia on 22nd October 1896. He was the son of William and Eva Moor. Moor’s father had been the Auditor-General of the Transvaal, and his uncle, Sir Ralph Moor, the High Commissioner of Southern Nigeria.

left, which had lost all its officers, was rapidly retiring before a heavy Turkish attack, 2nd Lieutenant Moor immediately grasping the danger to the remainder of the line, dashed back some two hundred yards, stemmed the retirement, led back the men, and recaptured the lost trench. This young officer who only joined the Army in October, 1914, by his personal bravery and presence of mind saved a dangerous situation.”


Features

tVeC and the Dawn of Virotherapy On 27th May 2015, the dawn of a new approach to treating cancer, called Virotherapy, was reported widely in the national press as front-page news. Philip Astley-Sparke (Xt, 1989), was President & CEO of the Company, BioVex, which developed the pioneering therapy, currently known as TVEC, to the point of becoming the first such product to be approved for use in patients. He explained: “the tools are now available to treat patients early in their disease course with the aim of preventing them ever progressing to late stage disease and to cure a substantial proportion outright. In addition to directly killing tumors, TVEC stimulates the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells and in combination with other immune based products that further amp up the immune system, TVEC should further reduce mortality in melanoma and other cancers without the severe side effects more commonly associated with chemotherapy”. Increased survival Virotherapy is the use of genetically engineered viruses that selectively replicate in and kill tumour cells and help vaccinate patients against future relapse. The TVEC approach, using a genetically engineered herpes virus, was

lengthened their survival by years. We finally understand how to activate the human immune system to clear cancer cells, having developed new classes of immunotherapies that dramatically improve the survival of cancer patients. I believe TVEC combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors will not only reduce cancer-related mortality in melanoma but in all cancer types, and we are moving quickly to develop these methods.”

reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology to increase survival by 20 months in melanoma patients given the drug as a first line treatment option and has also cured a significant number of patients who received the drug early in their disease course. Investigators using the drug including Dr Jason Chesney at the Brown Cancer Centre, Louisville, said in a recent third party interview: “the results from this study are amazing. Patients given TVEC at an early stage survived about 20 months longer than patients given a different type of treatment. For some, the therapy has

Shari Wells from Ashland, Kentucky is one of those patients. She entered the trial in 2010 with stage IV, or metastatic, melanoma. Before entering the TVEC trial, she had been through numerous procedures and major surgeries. According to Wells, nothing worked and she was facing a death sentence. “When you hear that you may only have three to six months to live, it is very scary. I would not be alive today if I had not been accepted into the TVEC trial. Dr. Chesney and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center saved my life.” Other patients gave testimony to the potential for the drug to effect outright cures at the US’s Food & Drug Administration advisory panel meeting on April 29th 2015 which resulted in a overwhelming recommendation that the drug be approved. Pathway Philip’s journey began at College where he studied Science A levels. On researching an essay required for his University application, he read Nature articles and became interested in disease pathways and immunology. In his first term at Bristol University, he became aware of a course that dealt with these topics specifically (Cellular and Molecular Pathology) in which he ultimately graduated in 1993.

Philip Astley-Sparke 54

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen, he became a specialist investment banker in the Life Science field with Robert Fleming working on initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions in the Biotech sector. By working with Biotechnology companies, he realised he would prefer to


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FEATURES Philip Astley-Sparke pictured with a group who have successfully undergone the TVEC treatment.

be on the inside driving their development rather than advising from the outside and in 2000 he joined BioVex as employee number six shortly after the Company had been spun out of University College London. Philip became convinced that if the company was to succeed they needed to move to the US and in 2005 he relocated the company to Boston MA, along with his family. In the US he built the company from scratch, establishing commercial grade manufacturing and nascent commercial capabilities.

persisted despite initial evidence to the contrary. He quotes JK Galbraith: “The conventional view serves to protect us against the painful job of thinking. Luckily we had some core investors that refused to give up and doubled down on their investments in the hard times.” In March 2011 the investors were rewarded when after fully enrolling patients into a registration study in melanoma, capable of supporting a marketing application, the Company was acquired for up to $1bn in a transaction that won the British Private Equity deal of the year award.

Roller-coaster ride Philip says it has been a roller-coaster ride driving the drug through the development pathway with many ups and downs. The company flirted with bankruptcy on several occasions and had to deal with tremendous prejudice against the approach from both investors and clinicians.

On 29th April 2015, a Food & Drug Administration Panel in the US voted overwhelmingly to recommend the drug be approved for commercial sale and it is now available in the US (under the brand name Imlygic) ushering in a new therapeutic modality for the treatment of cancer.

The conventional view was these approaches did not work and that view

Philip is currently a venture partner at Forbion Capital Partners, a leading life

sciences venture capital firm that was the largest investor in BioVex at the time of the sale to Amgen, Chairman of two biotechnology companies (Replimune and Oxyrane) and a board member for uniQure (Nasdaq QURE). He lives in Boston, MA with his wife and three children. n

“ I would not be alive today if I had not been accepted into the tVeC trial ” sharI WeLLs

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Chasing the Dream By James Chase (NH, 2008) I attended College for the 6th Form and enjoyed every minute of my time at school, but as usual I have a few regrets of not taking full advantage of everything that was on offer – the beauty of hindsight! I guess that has taught me to get as much as possible out of life every day. Instead of heading to university, I went to London and found work within commercial property. It was a tough start, especially getting the motivation and focus to get up early and work hard. This was difficult when I knew everyone else from my year was either travelling or enjoying themselves in their first year at uni. My father (Will Chase) created Tyrrell’s crisps (named after the family farm) in 2002 and expanded all across Europe and America. The product is a seed-to-crisp phenomenon of a sexy retro-packaged 100% natural crisp. And we all love a good crisp! A humble potato supplier for over 20 years, Dad wanted to diversify. Despite producing a healthy turnover the profit wasn’t worth all the effort and in 2002 he decided to branch out and launched a crisp factory from his Herefordshire farm. As the brand grew, Dad began travelling in pursuit of better equipment and flavours; I would occasionally travel with him in the holidays. During a stopover in America (where else to learn more about deep fat frying?) we discovered a small batch artisan distiller.

Some Chase products 56

Left to right: James Chase sampling the product; Will Chase on his farm.

Start-up With that in mind, back at home the problem of a huge surplus of potatoes too small to make crisps from made his next decision a no-brainer – Vodka! This led to the first start-up distillery in the UK in more than 250 years. By this point I was a few years into my first job and was letting properties to London’s restaurants and bars. I soon discovered a lack of what we now call ‘craft’ drink brands and realised there was a great opportunity to sell something different. It was a tough start but Chase is now sold in over 35 countries and just last month a

deal was signed with a distributor for Russia – coal to Newcastle you might say. While we distil a range of products, everything in our business leads back to vodka and since selling the Tyrrell business we are 100% focused on spirits. Our farm is based in Herefordshire, a region that boasts some of the richest farmland in the world. It’s here that we grow King Edward and Lady Claire potatoes for the distillery, as well as cider apples for our Naked Chase Apple Vodka and Williams Gin. Having the distillery located on the farm allows us to keep a watchful eye over how our potatoes and apples move from field to bottle. It’s this single-estate approach that makes us different – something you can taste in our award-winning vodka. We start by mashing up our potatoes and apples, which are all harvested from the fields and orchards surrounding the farm. Apples are sweet enough to ferment naturally, but we add a brewer’s yeast to the potato mash to help it along the way. After about a week, we’re left with a low alcohol wine. We put this into our bespoke copper batch pot and wait patiently as it’s distilled four times here and twice more in our rectification column. The column is the tallest of its kind in the world, at 70ft it rises through the roof of the barn. At this point, the


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spirit reaches the dizzying heights of 96% proof and is well on its way to becoming Chase Vodka. Tempered After distillation, the raw spirit is tempered with water drawn from a source at the heart of the farm. Once it’s reached a much more drinkable 40% proof, we hand bottle our vodka and seal it with a handmade cork. The whole process, from farm to bottle, takes up to two weeks. We have now expanded our range to include gin as well as vodka. Unlike most distilleries, we opt out of buying in a ready- made neutral grain spirit. In our quest for traceability in the industry, we use either our Chase Original or Naked Chase Vodka as the base to our Williams Gins. Opening the belly of our 250 litre Carter head style still, Ginny, we add in the raw spirit at 96% proof along with the same amount of water from the farm. The botanicals are stuffed into a

Clockwise from top left: harvesting potatoes; steam purging; the distillery team; and the 70ft rectification column. Centre: The bottling operation.

pillowcase and placed into the carter head, where the flavours are infused into the vapours passing through. This method provides a very floral style. Chase is special because very small volumes are produced: 16 tonnes of potatoes only makes 1,000 litres of alcohol, which after 40 hours can be disheartening, but it is testament to the quality of our vodka, which is of a much higher calibre than mass produced labels. Most gins on the market buy in a neutral grain spirit and simply re-distil; this can be sourced in the market for around 50 pence a litre, our base spirit costs around

ÂŁ4.00 a litre to produce, so the cider is a great way of showing off the pedigree of our gin. Changing Since we began distilling in 2008, the restaurant and bar scene has changed dramatically and Chase has always kept up to date with progress. Greater choice of spirits has certainly increased but the transparency involved in our production process sets us apart from all other spirits. As with a fine wine, we can trace each bottle to the very field we harvested; our process is incredibly laborious, but, in our opinion, well worth the effort. n 57


Features

remembering College In the 1940s By Dr Tony Atkinson (NH, 1946) The weekday uniform was a blue boiler suit when I attended Cheltenham College between 1943 and 1946. Everything was subject to wartime rationing, including clothing. Students cleaned the dormitories and classrooms before breakfast every morning, and our efforts were checked by prefects. The ceilings were high, the stone that is such a revered aspect of Cheltenham architecture collected a lot of dust, and the wooden floors were uneven. Heating fuel was in short supply, but the fear of the spread of tuberculosis (TB) and polio meant the windows were open most of the time. Many students succumbed – particularly to polio – a disease that mainly attacked children. The vaccines we take for granted were not available until the 1960s, and there was no definitive treatment for TB before Streptomycin in the early 1950s. I had contracted TB at preparatory school; my ‘cure’ was fresh air, isolation and bed rest for a year. The treatment regime for polio sufferers was similar. Many people died. College nurtured my love of literature and music, my independence and initiative. The biggest hardship was the absence of women – I had two older sisters and had been evacuated to the country with a widow and her three daughters when war broke out. I missed them. I set out to find ways to contact girls at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. This was a challenge, as the girls seemed to be secreted behind high walls and heavy doors. They were rarely seen in public. Music provided a way in. A lack of French horn players in their orchestra meant I was able to play with them. At a rehearsal for a concert at the Cheltenham Town Hall, I fell down the stairs leading under the stage and struck up a friendship with the cellist who helped me. One Saturday, having been excluded from the cricket team, a fellow student, John Zorab (BH, 1947) and I were weeding the tennis courts. He issued an irresistible challenge, ‘I bet you can’t get into the Ladies’ College.’ I found a pair of painter’s overalls at Newick House, shoved the Housemaster’s cap on my head and set off. Before letting me into the grounds, a suspicious teacher queried my story about 58

being there to do maintenance. I knew the cellist practised on Saturday afternoons and I had a rough idea where the music rooms were – even so, finding that one girl in 800 was a pretty good effort. This was the first of a few visits I made in this disguise. There was nothing romantic about our meetings and I was spellbound by her rendition of Massenet’s Méditation from Thaïs. Rationing Boys are always hungry and food rationing must have provided its challenges at College. Boarding school boys were not noted for gourmet appetites, but none of us wanted to eat the watery pink blancmange that was served up one Saturday. In a time when most of the teachers were older, because young men were conscripted, Reverend Rushton was a sporty, young school leader. He sat at the head of our table in the College Dining Hall. I was wary of him after he caught me in the Chapel pulpit, dressed in his surplice, entertaining my sister with an imitation of him. He had obviously been lurking in the Chapel for some time before he said, ‘That’s enough, Atkinson. It is not a bad imitation, but you have the text wrong. Report to the Housemaster.’ Rushton referred to the starving Chinese as he insisted we eat the inedible dessert before anyone left the table. I lowered my plate into my lap and flicked the contents under the table to my left. Neither the Reverend nor I realised that it had landed in his crotch until he had completed the blessing, ‘For what we have received, may the Lord make us truly grateful.’ He was enraged, understandably, and decreed no-one would be leaving the table until the culprit had been found. I knew everyone had commitments for sporting teams or parental visits, and I was shamed into owning up. The Reverend turned his fury on me, ‘I am reporting you to your Housemaster, Mr Ritchie Williams.’ He strode off to change his trousers, and I jumped on my bicycle to pedal furiously to Newick House, where I confessed to the Housemaster. I expected to be beaten, but the punishment Mr Ritchie Williams gave me was harsher than that. I was told to write an essay about the need to respect

After College, Tony Atkinson studied medicine, earning extra money by working as a casual footman at Buckingham Palace in the Coronation era and waiting on the Churchills at Downing Street.

members of the church. I thought I could detect a faint smile on his face: He was a committed rugby man and former player, and the Reverend Rushton was a football fanatic. Around the same time as the redfaced reverend approached Newick House on his pushbike, I spotted my parents’ car in the driveway. Diving into the backseat, I begged my father to drive out of the school as quickly as he could, I would explain later. My education at Cheltenham was interrupted by a chronic ear infection that prevented me from completing my studies. I was cured by an operation and the penicillin injections that the specialist managed to source, some years before penicillin became readily available. I finished my schooling at a London ‘cram’ school and went on to study medicine at Guys Hospital, earning extra money by working as a casual footman at Buckingham Palace in the Coronation era and waiting on the Churchills at Downing Street. Friendships for life Friendships I made at College have endured and the learning has shaped my life. While practising as an anaesthetist in Australia for the last fifty years, I have encountered quite a few Cheltonians, including George Loughlin, a former Head of Music. He became a Professor of Music at Melbourne University. Memories of College feature in a book that I have written about my life in Britain and Australia, and my career as a doctor and an anaesthetist. n


FLOREAT 2016

OC Boys’ Hockey By Gwyn Williams (Head of Hockey) Saturday 14th March 2015 saw a good turn out by Old Cheltonian hockey players with an appearance from one going back as far as 1996. With such a show of force this

enabled two matches to take place. Both matches produced a fast paced and high level of hockey, in fairness either team could have snapped victory at any stage.

Pictured with the College 1st XI, Charlie Stuckey (OJ & NH, 2010), Rob Mace (NH, 2004), Harry Jaggs (OJ & L, 2011), Ned Langlands-Pearse (NH, 2011), Jack Smart (NH, 2013), Eddie Mason (L, 2010), Henry Hazell (NH, 2012), Fred Nesbitt (NH, 2011), Nick Robbins (L, 2010), Fred Unwin (S, 2012), Joss Cheli (L, 2005), Angus Lowe (BH, 2012), James Croft (NH, 2010), Ollie Braithwaite-Exley (L, 2012), Jack Dymoke (NH, 2012) and Harry Hitchins (NH, 2011)

The first match saw the OCs take an early lead through Ned Langlands-Pearse (NH, 2011) but the 2nds bounced back only for the OCs to again take the initiative through Eddie Mason (L, 2010) but this lead was left to slip away as the 2nd team went through a period of pressure and found the well deserved equaliser, a tense final few minutes followed but a creditable draw for both teams seemed a fair result. With regards to the XI match, the OCs came out of the blocks firing on all cylinders and went ahead through Joss Cheli (L, 2010) and if it was not for a number of excellent saves from current goalkeeper James Palmer (5th Form, BH) they could have extended their lead. The College XI started to get back into the game and a number of penalty corners resulted in an equaliser from Will Henty (U6th, S) and with not long to go George Key (U6th, H) popped up to finish a well worked goal and the College XI came away with the win. n

On 7th November 2015, through the organisation of Pip Mitchell (A, 2008), around 18 OC girls returned for their hockey day to play against the College Colts A team, who were preparing for their West Preliminary Finals so a tough and competitive match was expected. The OC team contained a current England U23 international as well as 3 players with National League experience. The College Colts team started well going 2-0, the OCs experience then kicked in and they began to assert their dominance eventually

winning 4-2. It was great to have so many OC players back and to have all three Bevan sisters on the pitch at the same time! A massive thank you must go to Pip Mitchell and her team for ensuring we had such a good turn out. With this success in mind many a discussion was had up in the Hadley Bar and an ideal opportunity to celebrate the engagement of Kelly Stovold (OJ & Cha, 2008) to Charlie McKegney (Current Staff Member). It was also a great opportunity to discuss the proposal of a mixed OC Hockey Day for March 5th 2016. Please search Facebook for OC Hockey and

join the group or get in contact with me, g.williams@cheltenhamcollege.org if you wish to attend or need any further information. n

The Bevan sisters

Pictured with the College Colts A team, Emma Bevan (A, 2011), Gee Faulkner (OJ & Q, 2011), Hattie Bevan (A, 2015), Bethan Morris (OJ & Cha, 2008), Laura Bevan (A, 2012), Fran Ball (OJ, Cha 2015), Darcey Edwards (OJ & Q, 2015), Grace Knudsen (Q, 2013), Bella Haycraft-Mee (Q, 2011), Effie Parnell-Hopkinson (OJ & Q, 2012), Lucy Shackell (Q, 2014), Robyn Stovold (OJ & Q, 2011), Pip Mitchell (A, 2008), Bella Perry (A, 2015), Georgie Gunn (Q, 2013), Charlotte Alway (A, 2011) and Maddy Meacher (Cha, 2011) 59

OC SPORTS

OC Girls’ Hockey By Gwyn Williams (Head of Hockey)


OC SPORTS

Old Cheltonians First Offshore Sailing Regatta: The Arrow Trophy By Andrew Gossage (H, 1981) “Right, that’s it! We can lay the mark, stand by to tack!” Twelve months ago Alex Haig (NH, 1979) crewed as a ‘ringer’ on the Radley boat and felt Cheltenham ought to have a crew in the race. It sounded fun and I agreed to organise it. The Arrow Trophy is a weekend offshore sailing regatta for former pupils of independent schools held in Cowes and using the Sunsail F40 fleet based in Port Solent. There is a regatta dinner on Saturday evening. Meeting at Port Solent on Friday we did some training with a very mellow sail in a light following breeze that brought us to Cowes Yacht Haven at sunset. We headed off for an OC crew supper in town, and then either a B&B or sleeping onboard. We awoke on Saturday to a calm, tranquil October mist. After breakfast at the Duke of York’s we had a race brief at 8am. Then we waited for the breeze to build. Soon we headed out to Bramble Bank for the first ‘shake out’ race. We finished 18th, being heavy with 12 crew in the light airs. The breeze continued to build, Race 2 was another windward/leeward course. With a good start and good work on the foredeck; we finished in 5th place after taking a wise, alternative course over the tide. However, in Race 3 we finished 15th with an average start. The competitive spirit kicked in after a cracking start for Race 4. With the best wind of the day it was all hands to stations to make every knot we could to get ahead. We finished 12th out of 21 crews in an excellent race.

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We proved ourselves worthy competition and we are keen to return next year ”

Back: Nigel Powell, Nick Peace, Philip Gossage. Middle: Jack Forrester, Sean Searight, Paul Koch, Alex Haig. Front: Eoin Hughes, Mark Glowrey, Andrew Gossage, David Miller, Alastair McRobert.

Determined to improve The regatta dinner for 260 competitors was hosted by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, with an England/Australia Rugby World Cup backdrop. In the speeches we got a mention as a new crew and one that had the biggest age range, from Nick Peace (H, 1960) at 73 to Eoin Hughes (S, 2015) at 18. We witnessed Sunday’s dawn as the sun rose gloriously above the treeline while we were on our way to another Duke of York’s breakfast, but with even less wind than the day before. We had to ‘rush to wait’ again after the 8.30am race brief. By 10:00 we were heading off North of Bramble Bank for the last 2 windward/leeward fleet races. The breeze had picked up more quickly than the previous day and we had 2 good starts. The top 4 crews were match racing while the rest of us competed for the plate. We won our quick protest against Wellington on the finishing line and they had to go around to finish again, securing one place better for us in the first race where we finished in 5th place. Determined to improve in the last race, every effort went into making the boat go faster. The result was a few hiccups in handling that cost us time, and on one occasion probably 4 places. However, I

noticed other crews doing the same thing…as we sailed by, quietly satisfied that we were doing very well. We regained the places lost before and more, swooping past 6 boats in a cluster at a leeward mark. We finished the last race in 9th place. A farewell and appreciative call on the radio to the Royal Ocean Racing Club Race Committee from us in “Sunsail 4011” and we were bound for a sporty sail to Port Solent. We ‘relaxed’ at 40 degrees to the horizontal in the stiff breeze, after putting in the first reef on the main. Overall we finished in 8th place for the fleet racing and 12th in total. Winchester won first place and Bradfield were second; we did beat Radley. We proved ourselves worthy competition and we are keen to return next year. We all had a great weekend racing in great company and with great weather. We were all very grateful for a grant from The Cheltonian Association & Society, and to Nick Peace for briefing the Committee. Thanks also deservedly go to the Arrow Trophy Committee, the RORC and to Sunsail Port Solent. More results and information can be found by searching “Arrow Troph” on the internet. Contact me, a.gossage@hotmail.co.uk, about next year! n


FLOREAT 2016

The inaugural OC crew was: Andrew Gossage (H, 1981) Nigel Powell (BH, 1979) Alex Haig (NH, 1979) Nick Peace (H, 1960) Alastair McRobert (NH, 2009) Mark Glowrey (L, 1981) Paul Koch (H, 1984) Philip Gossage (H, 1969) David Miller (L, 2005) Sean Searight (L, 1981) Jack Forrester (BH, 2015) Eoin Hughes (S, 2015)

Skipper Helm Nay / Main Main Main Jib Jib Pit Foredeck Boss Mast Bow Bow

Alex Haig (NH, 1979), Philip Gossage (H, 1969), Nick Peace (H, 1960), Sean Searight (L, 1981), Jack Forrester (BH, 2015), Paul Koch (H, 1984), Eoin Hughes (S, 2015), David Miller (L, 2005), Andrew Gossage (H, 1981), Mark Glowery (L, 1981) & Nigel Powell (BH, 1979)

OC SPORTS

Eoin Hughes (S, 2015) & Jack Forrester (BH, 2015)

Andrew Gossage (H, 1981), Nigel Powell (BH, 1979) & Alastair McRobert (NH, 2009)

Nigel Powell (BH, 1979) & Andrew Gossage (H, 1981)

Mark Glowery (L, 1981)

David Miller (L, 2005) & Sean Searight (L, 1981)

Andrew Gossage (H, 1981), Nick Peace (H, 1960), Sean Searight (L, 1981), Alastair McRobert (NH, 2009) & Paul Koch (H, 1984)

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OC SPORTS

The Old Cheltonian Golf Society

OCGS got through to the Mellin Plate Final at West Hill GC but sadly lost 2-1 to Felsted.

By Simon Collyer-Bristow (BH, 1977 & Past Parent)

OCGS were knocked out in the first round of the Halford-Hewitt, Mellin Salver, Peter Burles and Grafton Morrish with tough draws. Matches were won against the Old Lorettonians and Old Wellingtonians with losses to Old Birkonians, Old Shirburnians and Old Decanians. The Old Marlburians match was drawn. The annual match versus College at a very windy Cotswold Hills GC was won by OCGS. The OCGS also played the OC Cricketers in a friendly at Coombe Hill which ironically the cricketers won!

The Old Cheltonian Golf Society (OCGS) had another very busy year in 2015 with the highlight being the off-course unveiling of the Halford Hewitt results board donated by the Old Cheltonian Golfing Society in memory of long-standing members and administrators, John Miller (OJ & Ch, 1958) and Michael Andrews-Jones (OJ & Xt, 1946). In 2011 John Miller achieved the remarkable record of having played in the Old Cheltonian Halford Hewitt team in 7 successive decades beginning in 1959. He is one of a very small group who have played over a span of more than 50 years. During this time he played 67 matches with many fine wins and many different partners. Cheltenham has never won the Halford Hewitt but has reached the semi finals twice, most recently in 2009 when John was in the team. John was a past President and Captain of the Old Cheltonian Golfing Society. He was a hilarious public speaker and annually entertained all the schools present at the formal dinner at Royal St Georges on the Thursday of the Halford Hewitt. Michael Andrews-Jones never played in the Old Cheltonian Halford Hewitt team but was the No. 1 supporter for very many years. He was simultaneously elected Captain and Secretary of the OCGS in 1979

The Halford Hewitt Results Board Unveiled At Royal Cinque Ports CG in April. Members of the OC Halford Hewitt Team; Angus Baillie (L, 1994), Henry Keeling (Xt, 2006), Ali Sherwood (L, 2005) & Andrew Morris (S, 2000)

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and remained Secretary until 2005. At some stage a long time ago he also became Treasurer, stepping down in 2012. Michael had a fund of stories of OC Halford Hewitt matches lost and won in extraordinary circumstances and he especially enjoyed recalling the eccentricities of OC golfers from ages past. He could invariably be found in the bar or halfway house with a glass in his hand when not out on the course supporting the OC team. Both John and Michael, who died in 2013 and 2104 respectively, embodied the spirit and camaraderie of the Halford Hewitt and are sadly missed by Old Cheltonians and other schools alike. Full fixture list OCGS results in 2015 were mixed but with promising signs of some good new younger golfers coming through. As always the dates and the cost of some of these matches put off some people and we are addressing these issues to try and include as many players as possible in future. Notable mention must go to Henry Rees’s (Xt, 1959) OCGS team, the 2014 winners of the Edward Harris Cup for the Welsh Public Schools' Old Boys, narrowly missing out on retaining the trophy as close runners-up to the Old Decanians at Castle Combe GC.

The Autumn Festival at Huntercombe GC saw some magnificent silverware go to Colin Marsh (NH, 1955), James Tucker (NH, 1985), Robert Macleod-Smith (Ch, 1965), Nick Hovey (H, 1995), Charlie Elliott (H, 1989), Angus Baillie (L, 1994) and Dan Rees (Xt, 1955). College pupil, Max Hickman (U6th, H) won the Prospect Trophy and Angus Baillie won the Jumbo Trophy for best golfer of the day. This was followed by the AGM. Next season sees another full fixture list of 18 events running from February through till November and being played on some of England’s finest and most prestigious courses. All up-to-date details on the OCGS and fixtures/match managers/contacts are available on the Cheltonian Association website. The Summer Meeting on Saturday 23rd July 2016 at Minchinhampton GC is open to all OCs, members of the Cheltonian Association and the College Common Room. The afternoon’s golf will be followed by drinks and dinner. n The OCGS is open to Old Cheltonian golfers of all standards and both sexes and has a large number of elite and friendly matches and participates in all the major Old Boys’ Public School events. Membership numbers 120 players from 19 years old through to some in their late 70s and the OCGS subsidises Under 25 year old golfers who represent the Society in order to encourage younger members. The major internal Festival occurs in the Autumn at Huntercombe GC. Matches are played all over England on leading historical golf courses. The emphasis is well balanced between excelling in elite scratch singles and pairs competitions and enjoying the camaraderie of golf in more social and relaxed handicapped matches.


FLOREAT 2016

OC Rackets By Karl Cook (Current Staff Member)

The OC ‘Also Ran’ Plate was won by Sam Mason (H, 2005) and Will Entwhistle (Winchester) and they were the inaugural recipients of the Silver Plate donated by Tom Floyd (Xt, 2005). The OC Rackets Black Tie Dinner in Common Room was a most convivial affair with

The Rackets World Champion, James Stout (H, 2002)

Mark Briers (Current Staff Member), Graeme Tyndall (H, 200), Alex Coldicott (BH, 2002), Nick James (BH, 2006), Charles Cooper (L, 2007), Richard Owen (L, 2011), Felix Clarke (S, 2010), Karl Cook (Current Staff Member), Sam Mason (H, 2005), Jamie Jamieson-Black (H, 2015), Adrian Montagu (H, 2014), Alex Duncliffe-Vines (NH, 2013)

over 50 present, including a record 12 former Captains of Rackets, and some appreciative speeches from OC Nick James (BH, 2006) James Coyne (Old Wellingtonian and World Doubles Champion), Karl Cook (College’s Director of Sport) and Professional, Mark Briers. Of particular OC note was the recent British Amateur Doubles victory at Queen’s Club by Owen and DuncliffeVines, for which the latter received the OC Racket for his Best Performance in the Season by an OC.

A World Championship Match

2015 OC Racket successes James Stout (H, 2002) took no prisoners in defending his World Championship in November. In the First Leg in North America, a resounding victory (15/7 15/9 15/5 15/3) over challenger Will Hopton before a highly enthusiastic Philadelphia Racket Club gallery meant that he was in pole position for the Second Leg at Queen’s Club, a match where he won the fifth and crucial game (15-6) to secure the title of World Champion for the next two years, a title he has held since 2008. Old Etonian, Will Hopton, battled brilliantly but Stout kept raising his game to new heights and remains unreachable in the world of Rackets. Not to be outdone, other Cheltonians have also found success on the court this year: OCs - Ben Snell (L, 2002) and Nick James (BH, 2006) - have won the Noel Bruce Trophy (the national Public Schools’ Old Boy competition); Richard Owen (L, 2011) won the British Invitational Singles - a world ranking event - and together with Alex Duncliffe-Vines (NH, 2013) won the British Amateur Doubles. Richard also won the U24 Rackets Singles and Doubles (with his partner Toni Morales). Quite simply, the reputation of Old Cheltonians has never been stronger! n 63

OC SPORTS

The 15th Old Cheltonian Gold Racquet Weekend took place at the end of a fine week of racing at Prestbury. Buoyed by the record turnout of 22 pairs, the weekend was a fine success with the court in constant use on College’s Open Morning and right the way through to the Final on Sunday at 1.00pm. Felix Clarke (S, 2010) and partner Al RosierPamplin (Old Carthusian) overcame the top seeds, Alex Duncliffe-Vines (NH, 2013) and Rod McNaughton (Manchester) in a fairly one sided tussle. In the other half of the draw, Richard Owen (L, 2011) and Al Gourlay (Old Carthusian) emerged victorious from an engaging tussle with Graeme Tyndall (H, 1999) and Alex Coldicott (BH, 2002). The final, a fine exhibition of Doubles Rackets was won 2-0 by Owen and Gourlay - and two new names find their way onto the OC Gold Racquet Winners’ Board.


OC SPORTS

OC Cricket By George Brooksbank (L, 1999) The OC XI had another good season, reaching the Quarter Final of the Cricketer Cup for the fourth time in five seasons. The OCs have won more Cricketer Cup matches over the last five seasons than any other side, but haven’t managed to progress into the semi-final stages... yet. Chris Sandbach (NH, 2004) continues to be a rock at the top of the order with a century in the first round against Merchant Taylors and 63 against Stowe in the second round. Chris will take over from George Brooksbank (L, 1999) as Cricketer Cup captain in 2016. Charles Wootton (NH, 2009) made a welcome return and showed his class with bat and gloves behold the stumps. Guy Brothwood (NH, 2012), Ben Ringrose (L, 2013), Jock Jamieson-Black (H, 2013) and Alex Duncliffe-Vines (NH, 2013) provide the side with a variety of spin options in addition to their dynamic batting abilities. Johnny Law (NH, 2011) has progressed significantly as an aggressive opening bowler and will lead the attack for some time to come. The attack will be well supported by Antony

Kay (Xt, 2008), when not on international duty for Jersey, Charlie Hall (NH, 2006) and experienced old pros James Shackleton (NH, 2007), Archie Brooksbank (L, 2004) and Mike Cawdron (W, 1993), as and when required. Tom Richardson (Xt, 1998), John Mills (NH, 2006) Alex Mason (H, 2011), George Sandbach (NH, 2011), Oli Soames (BH, 2014) and Guy Mitchell (NH, 2011) have all made significant contributions with the bat. A strong squad with substantial depth has developed and will only get stronger. OC cricket is well placed and silverware is not far away!

Congratulations to Oli Soames (BH, 2014) on his selection for the MCC Cricket Academy at Loughborough University, where he is studying Economics and Business. 1st Round: OC (268-4) v Merchant Taylors OBA (248-8) (C Sandbach 101 n.o., T Richardson 42 n.o.) 2nd Round: OC (267-7) v Stowe Templars (178) (C Sandbach 63) 3rd Round: OC (169) v Old Wellingtonians (173-6) The OWs were defeated in the semi-finals by Eton Ramblers, who lost to the Old Malvernians in the final. n

Back Row: Guy Mitchell (NH, 2011), Alex Mason (H, 2011), James Shackleton (NH, 2007), Johnny Law (NH, 2011), George Sandbach (NH, 2011), Guy Brothwood (NH, 2012), Current Staff Member Mark Briers and Kyle Stovold (OJ, S, 2006 & Past Staff Member) Front Row: Ben Ringrose (L, 2013), Chris Sandbach (NH, 2004), George Brooksbank (L, 1999), Tom Richardson (Xt, 1998 & Past Staff Member) and Alex Duncliffe-Vines (NH, 2013) 64


FLOREAT 2016

Announcements Marriages Dominic Rose (OJ & S, 2003) married Elizabeth Bowman on 23rd August 2014. Douglas Cadbury (OJ & Xt, 2003) and Philip Giblin (S, 2003) were Best Men. Charlie Luckock (NH, 2003) married Cecily Finsterwalder (Cha, 2003) on 20th September 2014 in Salzburg, Austria. Doug White (NH, 2003) was Best Man, Jen Boyens (Cha, 2003) was a Bridesmaid. Edward Archdale (NH, 2003) married Fenella Fellowes on 6th December 2014.

Rob Mace (NH, 2004) married Kim Chrystal in City Hall, New York on 23rd December 2014. There was a celebratory party at the Troubadour Club on 7th March 2015.

Births Oliver Gibbins (L, 2000) and his wife Hoai Trinh are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter Vivien Vy born on 30th April 2014. Rachel McGuinn nee Clarke (Cha, 1998) and her husband Bryan are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter Evangeline Beatrice on 6th November 2014, a little sister for their son Maximilian. Christopher Robson (S, 2001) and his partner are pleased to announce the birth of their son James Charles born on 16th February 2015.

Ian Cunliffe (H, 1999) and Emma Howard were married by The Reverend Nicholas Lowton (Former Chaplain) on 27th March 2015. Toby Robinson (OJ & L, 1996) married Heidi Plaisted in Australia on 11th April 2015. Mark Stewart (H, 2003) and Jennie Boyens (Cha, 2003) were married by The Reverend Nicholas Lowton (Former Chaplain) on 2nd May 2015 in Tetbury. Tom Thompson (H, 2003) was Best Man, Christina Stewart (Cha, 2004) and Cecily Luckock (Cha, 2003) were Bridesmaids. Ed Richardson (Xt, 2003) married Millie Whittet on 23rd May 2015.

ChlĂśe Clarke (Cha, 2004) married Bobby Smith on 6th June 2015.

George Phillips (L, 2004) married Polly Curtis on 20th June 2015.

Tim Cadbury (OJ & S, 2000) and his wife Lizzie are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter Chloe Pam Elsie on 3rd March 2015. Charles Cadbury (OJ & S, 2003) and his wife Maria are delighted to announce the birth of their daughter Sienna born on 9th March 2015. Annelie Lowe nee Oakes (Cha, 1994) and her husband Rob are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Victoria May born on 10th August 2015. Rob Mace (NH, 2004) and his wife Kim are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter Esme Wilhelmina born on 16th October 2015.

Henry Harrison (Xt, 2003) married Alexandra Creasy on 11th July 2015. Douglas Cadbury (OJ, Xt, 2003) and David Stephens (BH, 2003) were Best Men. Archie Brooksbank (L, 2004) married Tiffany Leers on 1st August 2015.

Jonathan Brunt (S, 2001) married Nathalie Dubost on 1st August 2015. Matthew Ripley (S, 2001) was Best Man.

Michael HumphreysDavies (H, 2006) married Monika Maarend on 8th August 2015 at St Peter’s Church, St Albans.

Bank Termcht-Acree (BH, 2003) married Quan Khunkitti on 16th August 2015 at The Meridien Plaza Athenee Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Sammi Berlet (We, 2011) married Simon Mercer on 18th August 2015.

Will Chambers (L, 1996) married Louise Hayes at Parkwood International, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia on Friday 21 August 2015. Effie Kostalas (A, 2007) married Paul Dower on the island of Chios, Greece on Saturday 22nd August 2015. Priya Sarnobat (A, 2007) was Maid of Honour and Francesca Dessain (A, 2004) was a Bridesmaid. 65

AnnOunCemenTS

Craig Short (Xt, 1998) married Melanie Crump on 31st December 2014 in New Zealand. Ed Chambers (L, 1998) and Richard Kirtley-Wright (H, 1998) were the Best Men.

Congratulations to all from The Cheltonian Association & Society! Please let us know of any announcements for the 2017 issue of Floreat.


OC SOCIETY

Message from the President of The Cheltonian Society Cheltonian Society executive Committee M Anton-Smith (S, 1982) A P Arengo-Jones (BH, 1962) R F Badham-Thornhill (H, 1973) President P S Hammerson (L, 1962) C N Peace (H, 1960) E L Rowland (Xt, 1962) D Stewart (H, 1978) M G P Swiney (NH, 1969) C W S Waters (BH, 2002) M Sloan (OC Administrator)

Trustees of the CeT Paul Arengo-Jones (BH, 1962) Chairman Peter Badham (Th, 1965) Robin Badham-Thornhill (H, 1973) Helen Burgoyne (Cha, 1987) Rob Davidson (BH, 1967) Treasurer Patrick McCanlis (BH, 1966) Graham Prain (Ch, 1959) Tom Robinson (L, 1994) Lynn Rowland (Xt, 1962) Charles Stevens (Ch, 1964) Michael Swiney (NH, 1969) Clare Thompson (Cha, 1987)

Annual General meeting nOTICe is hereby given that the 2016 Annual General meeting of the Cheltonian Society will be held in the Cricket Pavilion at Cheltenham College on Saturday 8th October at 11.30am. Please refer to the Cheltonian Association and Society website for the Agenda in due course.

I was delighted to assume the role of President of the Cheltonian Society from Peter Badham at the AGM in September. Our thanks should go to him for all the time that he spent on behalf of the Society as a member of the Executive Committee and as President for the last three years. I spent the day at College after the AGM and I left with a really good feel for the school – College is moving forward very positively on many fronts and the Headmaster is very keen to reach out further to all Old Cheltonians. It made me think even more about the role of the Old Cheltonian Society in representing, supporting and promoting the interests of all Old Cheltonians, young and old, and working closely with College. I feel that as an OC and a past teacher and Housemaster at College, as well as having been a Prep School Head, I am in a unique position to understand the interests of all parties. One major role of the Society is to support Old Cheltonian sport; the cricketers again reached the quarter-finals of the Cricketer Cup but were defeated by the Old Wellingtonians. They have the ability to go

Awards The Society, in conjunction with the Trustees of the Cheltonian Endowment Trust, were pleased to make Travel Awards (to the L6th) to enable: • Jana Bourhill (Q) to travel to Tanzania to undertake a two week medical placement. • Rosie Pratt (A) and Annabel Kohler (Cha) to travel to Sri Lanka to work in a school and explore the country and its culture. • Thierry Gasser (L) and Kristy Chan (We) to

even further but they have a difficult first round in 2016 on Sunday 12 June against Old Tonbridgians. There are not many schools that can claim that they have alumni who are world champions – we should be incredibly pleased with the success of Old Cheltonians in the world of rackets. Looking ahead, I would welcome views of all Old Cheltonians especially with regard to projects that the Society can support, how we can reach out further to Old Cheltonians (especially younger ones) and how we can work more closely with the Association and College. To this end, please do not hesitate to contact me. I would like to thank the Association and Development team who organise so many different events, Malcolm Sloan and the members of the Executive Committee. Please do not hesitate to contact either Malcolm Sloan, 01242 265664, m.sloan@cheltenhamcollege.org or myself, robinbadhamthornhill@googlemail.com Robin Badham-Thornhill (H, 1973 & Housemaster BH, 1985-93)

travel to the USA and retrace the steps of the Freedom Rides civil rights protest in the 1960s. • Jacqueline nussbaum-Lapping (A) to travel to Bolivia to work in a hospital and a children’s centre. • Dimitri usynin (NH) to attend a two week engineering summer school course at Imperial College. • Pippy Kohler (Q) to travel to Borneo as part of Raleigh International working with remote communities on education and water projects.

The Cheltonian Endowment Trust The Cheltonian Endowment Trust (CET), formerly the Cheltonian Trust Endowment Fund, was formed in 1917 for the purpose of acquiring donations, subscriptions and legacies and then applying the income for the benefit of Cheltenham College. This fund was merged in 2005 with the Cheltonian Society Fund and the Sir John Dill Fund to make a larger and more effective charitable fund.

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The fund is an independent Trust run by a board of Old Cheltonians. The fund is professionally managed. The income is used primarily to assist families who find themselves in a situation where, without our support, they would otherwise have to withdraw their children from College. In addition the CET funds Travel Awards for L6th pupils and also funds a number of prizes. Furthermore, when sufficient funds

are available, the Trust provides other assistance to College. We are always looking for support, both for OCs to become trustees and for financial contributions. To find out more, please get in touch with me through Malcolm Sloan, the OC Administrator. Paul Arengo-Jones, Chairman (BH, 1962)


FLOREAT 2016

A Tanzanian Experience With Gap Medics By Jana Bourhill (U6th, Q) I was over the moon on finding out that I had been granted a travel award from the Cheltonian Endowment Trust to whom I am very grateful. For many years, I have had a longstanding ambition – to become a doctor. The grant provided the opportunity to gain hands on work experience, an essential component of a medical application. I spent two weeks shadowing practitioners in a Tanzanian hospital through Gap Medics, a company that enables sixth form students to understand how medicine is practiced in less developed countries. My first placement was at a community health centre, where I observed consultations ranging from tuberculosis to commonplace vaccinations. I even had the opportunity to help perform minor procedures, including inserting the contraceptive implant. Tanzania, with very little capital to invest into healthcare relies heavily on America and Europe to provide medical aid. Consequently, contraceptives are free which has both economic and cultural benefits through the empowerment of women. On my second day, I had the privilege of watching my first birth. Witnessing a new life being brought into the world was an incredibly special moment, and no amount

of learning theory beforehand could have prepared me for this experience. I felt hugely relieved when the baby boy was finally guided out safely, combined with utmost respect for the mother who had delivered without painkillers in the waiting room. I soon learned that Tanzanians have a completely different attitude to childbirth; expectant mothers are required to walk to hospital, bring their own water and bedsheets, as well as giving birth alone. Another challenge I faced was meeting a young HIV positive girl, who was determined to continue her education despite the local stigma. Learning from the doctor that she only had a life expectancy of 15 was incredibly upsetting to hear. Insight into surgery I spent my second week in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department at the regional hospital. On my first morning, I put on my scrubs and was rushed into the operating theatre. The surgeons wore dusty aprons and worked with instruments that seemed more suited to a carpenter than a hospital. They proceeded to perform a traditional, vertical Caesarian on a woman suffering a transverse foetus. Whilst operating they pointed out particular points of interest including a large Ovarian cyst and showed me how to suture. This

was an invaluable insight into surgery, which I found to be a fascinating integration of science and art. On my return to the ward, a woman in labour had developed severe eclampsia. The high blood pressure typical of this condition was causing her to have extreme fits. I held her hand as she screamed, her back arched rigid. Despite the fact that at one point, the patient fell off her hospital bed and landed on her pregnant abdomen, the midwives barely noticed her and failed to help her back up. The next morning in the morgue, I witnessed the same woman undergo a post-mortem Caesarian, after she had passed away during the night. This experience made me appreciate that the reality of being a doctor is the polar opposite from the easy and glamourous profession that the media portrays. Although Tanzania lacks resources, there are some positive aspects to their healthcare. I noticed that the doctors were fully focused while communicating with the patient, instead of being distracted by computers, which often occurs in the NHS. Overall, my hospital placement was an excellent opportunity to improve my medical knowledge, understand the constraints that doctors face globally and, above all, make lifelong friends. I cannot wait to dedicate my life to such a rewarding career. n 67

OC SOCIETY

With colleagues at the hospital in Tanzania.

Following a successful delivery (above), and in full medical gear (right).


ASSOCIATIOn MERCHAndISE

To order by post: Send a cheque payable to ‘Cheltenham College Services’ to Rebecca Creed, Association Manager, Cheltenham College, Bath Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL53 7LD. To order by phone: Call 01242 265694 with card details. 2

Clothing & Accessories 1. Flip Flops £2.50 Prep sizes, 3, 5 & 7 1 SS Sizes, 5, 7 & 10 2. Rugby Shirts £20 Ladies M & L Mens S, M & L 5 3. Socks £5 Size 4-7 4. Ladies’ Boxer Shorts £2.50 S (26’) 5. Silver Cufflinks £70 6. Prep Cufflinks £30 7. Small umbrella £15 8. Large umbrella £20 9. Girls’ House Friendship Bracelets £12 10. House Towels £18 11. Pewter Trinket Box £8 12. Chrome Key ring £10 13. OC Tie £10* 14. Self Tie Silk Bow Tie £15* 15. Pre-Tied Silk Bow Tie £15* 16. Ladies’ OC Silk scarf £10* 17. OC Woollen Scarf £20* * OCs Only

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3 7 8 6

9 13

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17 16 14

Stationery, Books & CDs 18 18. Sheaffer Fountain Pen & Pencil Full Set £35 19. Fountain Pen only £25 20. Paperweight £8 21. Then & now by Tim Pearce £8 22. Cheltenham College Chapel by nicholas Lowton £8 23. Celebr08! By Tim Pearce £10 24. Then & now and Celebr08! £15 25. Portraits of British Schools by Distinguished Artists £5 26. College Chapel Choir 1999 CD £2.50 27. College Chapel Choir 2007 CD £2.50 28. Coeperut Loqui Chamber Choir CD 2009 £8 29. Salve Puerule CD £5

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28 29 26 27

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michael Aubery £95 (inc p&p) 19” x 22” mounted

Ian Weatherhead Limited edition prints (300), choice of: Birds eye View of Cheltenham, Chapel Interior, Rugby At The Prep, Cricket Festival, Leavers’ Ball, Rugby, Dining Hall Framed £189 (p&p £15 – UK only) Print Only £120 (p&p £6 – UK only) Frame Choice: Silver, Natural Ash, Gold Ian Weatherhead Pack of notelets £10

Ken messer Watercolour Prints Limited edition prints (250), choice of: View Over Chapel & Library Cheltenham College – The main Building Print Only £8

College Cards £1.90 Pack of College Cards (choice of 6) £10

Please note there is a one-off charge of £2.95 per order for uK postage and packaging. Overseas postage cost will vary. This excludes College prints which are charged as indicated. 68


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Nigel Reynard (L, 1997) I was able to return early from work today (as most good Austrians are usually able to do on Friday afternoons) to find the latest edition of Floreat had arrived in the post. What a pleasure it always is to receive it – thank you very much for all the hard work you surely put into it! On Christmas Eve I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Christmas Carol Service in Chapel; another wonderful CC tradition. Having lived abroad for almost 14 years I really do so appreciate having the opportunity to come back and enjoy such services. With my very best wishes from Vienna.

Rachel McGuinn nee Clarke (Cha, 1998) Thank you for the latest co py of Floreat, it is always an interesting read.

Tim Pearce (Past Staff Member) Excellent Floreat. Like the new style and design.

Cheltonian Association & Society Cheltenham College Bath Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 7LD 01242 265694 r.creed@cheltenhamcollege.org www.cheltenhamcollege.org Editor: Rebecca Creed, Association Manager

Colin Neville (BH, 1964) Very many thanks for an excellent Floreat – so full of life!

Lucy King (Past Parent) Floreat arrived on Saturday and with my husband away I have just sat down to savour it without interruption! I have always enjoyed reading the publication and this year was no exception. A great mix of news from Junior School, College and OCs which must be difficult to achieve. College is like a big family and reading Floreat, particularly now we are no longer involved on a daily basis, was an excellent way of keeping up to date with all the news! Many congratulations on an excellent production. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tony Atkinson (NH, 1946) I enjoyed the Floreat magazine very much. It is excellently produced and the contents are interesting especially the students writing about their amazing experiences. Times were difficult when I was at College during the war.

Jann Parry ch I want to thank you very mu for the excellent obituary of Richard Kershaw in the Cheltonian Floreat 15 supplement.

Warren Ayres (Xt, 1966) I have read with great interest the reports in Floreat of the World War I commemoration activities which have recently occurred at the College and elsewhere. I attended the College for one year (1965-66) as an EnglishSpeaking Union exchange student from the United States. (I lived in Christowe House, and was head of house during my final term.) One of my most vivid memories from that year was my first sight of the memorial near the chapel entrance to the 675 Old Cheltonians who lost their lives in the First World War. This struck me then, and still strikes me, as a truly astonishing number. Apart from a brief flurry of newspaper articles and book releases late last summer, little has yet occurred in the United States (so far as I am aware) to remind my fellow citizens of the terrible conflict into which Europe was plunged in 1914. Just like a hundred years ago, most people over here, if they are aware of the 100th anniversary at all, think of the war as someone else's war. I suppose this will change when 2017 arrives. Probably not by much. But as for me, I remain in awe of the price that was paid by Great Britain, and by Cheltenham College graduates in particular, during that frightful war.

Paul Liddiard (H, 1957) Floreat is a very interesting publication, full of information. Thank you for it.


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