Floreat Cheltonia 2017

FLOREAT

17 THE CHELTONIAN A SS OCI ATION & SOC IE T Y MAGA ZINE JAN UARY 20 17 – I SS UE NUMBE R TE N

CHELTONIA

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FLOReAT 2017

A very warm welcome to the 10th issue of Floreat; the publication has come a long way since the first edition which was only 32 pages compared to this year’s 74 pages. Over the decade we have had articles from around 170 OCs, introduced an obituary supplement with 7 editions and received a large number of complimentary letters.

THE CHELTONIAN ASSOCIATION & SOCIETY MAGAZINE ISSUE TEN – JANUARY 2017

CONTeNTs CHELTENHAM NEWS

2 - 16

17 - 34

FEATURES

35 - 60

Cheltonian, Commando and Chindit

36-37

From Rugby to Pubs, Restaurants and Hotels

38-39 40

Francesca Page – Miss Travel Guru

41

Holidaying in Iraq

42-43

Chandos

44-45

California Dreaming

46

Discovering More

47

Cam’s Crossing

48-49

A Travel Journal of a Trip Around The World

50-51

WW1 Centenary

53

Grit and Determination in the World of Film

54-55

Designed in Cheltenham for the New York Fashion Week

56-57

Battlefields Trip & OC Project 2016

58-59

OC Lectures & Careers Talk

60

61 - 63

OC SPORTS

64 - 67

EVENTS CALENDAR

68 - 69

ANNOUNCEMENTS

70

HOUSE PRINTS

71

MERCHANDISE

72

The Cheltonian Association and the Cheltonian Society have been working really well together, mutually supporting each other. However, having two organisations is somewhat confusing and merging the two is being looked at as the way forward.

There is still much work to be done to agree the terms of the new group and if you would like more information on this or to register your comments/feedback, please do get in touch with the Association Manager, Rebecca Creed on r.creed@cheltenhamcollege.org.

Finally I would like to thank Rebecca and the team for all their hard work they do for the Association, in particular their strenuous efforts at keeping in touch with as many of you as possible. I hope you enjoy this edition of Floreat Cheltonia and look forward to meeting you at an event this year. Labor omnia vincit!

Peter Brettell (BH, 1971) Honorary President 1

EVENTS CALENDAR

OC SOCIETY

Over 1,000 of you have now joined our Facebook page, Thank you! If you would like more frequent updates from us throughout the year please do like our page facebook.com/cheltonianassociation; we will also be joining Twitter and Instagram this year, so there are lots of ways to keep in touch.

OC SPORTS

A Life on The Waves

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You may remember receiving a card or email from us asking you to confirm your mailing preferences. In order to reduce the impact on the environment we are asking everyone who wishes to continue to receive a postal mailing in the future to ‘opt in’ by the end of February 2017. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that you are happy to receive Floreat and our event invitations via email in the future. If you would prefer to continue to receive postal communications please do get in touch with Rebecca on the above email or call 01242 265694.

OC SOCIETY

Out of Africa

This year saw the last Polo Day organised by The Association & Society as, after 15 years, it was decided that 2016 would be the final chukka. In its place the Association are delighted to be able to offer a family Candlelit Opera Gala evening on College Field. More details on this and all events will follow shortly. If you have any comments or feedback regarding the Association, please contact the Association Manager, Rebecca Creed (r.creed@cheltenhamcollege.org).

FEATURES

EVENTS

2016 was another busy year, packed full of events to celebrate College’s 175th Anniversary year including the production of Les Misérables (page 18), Drinks over the Thames (page 22) and the House of Commons Dinner (page 30). The final celebratory event of the year was the 150th Anniversary House Reunions for Christowe, Hazelwell, Leconfield & Newick House.

Around 280 guests were treated to pre-dinner drinks in Houses followed by dinner in the Dining Hall. Following amazing feedback, the Association hopes to repeat this success with a House Reunion Dinner at College for Ashmead, Chandos, Queens & Westal in 2017 followed the next year by a Dinner for Boyne House, Cheltondale, Southwood and the Day Boy Houses.

EVENTS

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FLOREAT

CHeLTeNHAM NeWs

Letter from the Headmaster We will remember 2016 as being a significant year for College. In January we were able to publish the results of our ISI inspection, where both our Prep School and College achieved ‘Excellent’ in all categories. The report on the full school inspection was full of praise for the excellent quality of pupils’ high academic achievements and learning, while the curriculum and extra-curricular programme was commended for having both balance and real breadth throughout the whole school. To be awarded ‘Excellent’ ratings in nine out of the nine categories – quality of teaching, pupil achievement and personal development, welfare, pastoral care, boarding, extra-curricular and governance and leadership – is very good news indeed and a validation of how far we have come since the last full inspection six years ago. I was especially pleased to hear the inspectors’ findings that the pupils are compassionate young people, committed to the needs of those less fortunate than themselves, enthusiastic about their relationships in terms of both their peers and staff.

In March I was fortunate enough to travel to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand on my second overseas visit where I had the opportunity to meet many current parents and Old Cheltonians. This was a memorable trip for me and I was overwhelmed with the kindness shown to us, and the generosity of current and former parents. A particular highlight was the reception at the High Commissioner’s residence in Kuala Lumpur and the significant warmth extended to Dr and Mrs Sloan from over 40 former pupils, many from Christowe.

Just before we started our Easter break, a spectacular whole school performance of Les Misérables was possibly our most ambitious production to date. With 68 pupils on stage and a further 15 backstage, plus a full orchestra, this showed outstanding commitment from pupils and staff alike and was performed to more than 1,200 pupils and included a masterclass with three visiting prep schools.

Our exam results in the summer term enabled College to celebrate its best ever GCSE results: 71% of all GCSEs were awarded A*-A with 50% of pupils achieving at least five A*s, and 32 students gaining seven A*s or more. What is as significant is that we have not become more selective but have improved our ‘value added’ which means students with profiles that are likely to see B grades at GCSEs, are more likely to achieve A grades and those whose profile would suggest A grades are more likely to achieve A* grades. This is a testament to the quality of teaching and the ambition of the teaching staff to ensure each child is given the individual attention they need to achieve the best possible results.

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In addition to these excellent results, I was delighted with our A Level performance which saw one in three pupils achieving an A* and 75% A* - B grades, and over 75% of students successfully gaining places at Russell Group universities alongside St Andrews and Bath. All of our Oxbridge candidates were successful, securing places to read Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, History and Classics.

The move towards the re-introduction of the two year A Level enabled us to look holistically at our programme. With even the most competitive universities generally requiring 3 good A Levels we have invested in an exciting and enriching programme of additional electives. These include a Mini MBA programme devised by Dr Graham Mallard, Head of Economics and supported by the University of Bath. This elective gives our pupils the opportunity to submit a business plan and, for the best, seed funding to help start their business. Our Community Service asks our pupils to give of themselves to others whose lives are considerably less fortunate. This programme gives them the opportunity to develop compassion and understanding and is a key component of the values we wish for all our Cheltonians as they leave College. Other electives will comprise a Leadership Diploma, Brexit Think Tank, Young Enterprise, Green Powered Car and additional conversational language study. These electives are further complemented by Model United Nations, Debating Society, Combined Cadet Force, and a full and rich programme of Societies, career advice and guest lectures. All A Level students are also part of our compulsory Floreat Programme, which focuses on mindfulness and equipping pupils to lead fulfilled and purposeful lives. I am convinced that our A Level programme is one of the most progressive in the country.

The year ended with the arrival of 18 magnificent Steinway pianos including two beautiful concert grand pianos. Our Director of Music, Mr David McKee, composed a piece entitled Floreat and we were able to enjoy all 18 pianos being played in unison in Big C. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Stephen Friling, Finance Bursar, who leaves College this year after 17 years of service, for his significant role in securing these wonderful additions to music at College.

College continues to flourish. We look forward to a new year which will see significant investment in our young people and our buildings. It is truly an exciting time.

I look forward to sharing more of our plans with you over the coming months.

With all good wishes

Dr Alex Peterken Headmaster, Cheltenham College

FLOReAT 2017

Academic After a little over 15 years of AS examinations, this year sees a return to traditional A Levels, where the vast majority of subjects studied in the 6th Form are examined at the end of the two-year course. This move back to linearity is a positive move and we welcome the rigour associated with the demanding new A Levels, and the opportunities for academic pursuits alongside them.

With effect from September 2016 all pupils in the L6 studying 3 A Levels began their EPQ (Extended Project Qualification). This nationally recognised independent course comprises three key strands: deepening understanding, broadening skills and widening perspectives. Whilst the end product is of course an assessment objective, the other objectives are about project management, the use of resources and critical self-reflection or review. The project relies on self-motivation and selfdirection; it is thorough preparation for university and it complements A Level study very well indeed. This year some highlights of the Lower Sixth Independent Projects have been Jack Burns' multi-media project titled 'An ideal sustainable home for the 21st Century', Beth Adams' 'Help or hindrance: has human intervention benefited the evolution of the domestic dog?' and Elias Hirsi's comprehensive film exploring ‘Is the Labour Party at war?', to name but a few of the excellent projects submitted. Upper Sixth students have recently given their EPQ presentations, which provided a fascinating insight into the breadth and depth of their research into topics as varied as 'To what extent is the U.S. economy negatively affected by the slowdown of the Chinese economy?', 'To what extent are spaceships today suitable for future space travel?' and the Behavioural Economics investigation into 'What factors and characteristics determine attitudes towards risk in adolescents?

Alongside the EPQ we offer a broad programme of academic extension and enrichment, including a series of Sixth Form Electives. These are essential in promoting intellectual curiosity, independent learning and academic rigour.

Our Electives programme this year has allowed some students to undertake a mini MBA or an accredited diploma in

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COLLEGE NEWS

Art Once again, the Art Department has had a highly successful and very busy year. In August, our AS students received the best exam results in College, and now, as Upper Sixth students, they have grown into being amongst the most conceptually creative and independently exciting group of students we have had the privilege to work with. Many congratulations go to Kristy Chan (U6, W), who in the face of very fierce competition of over 700 applicants for about 70 places, gained her place to study Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Leadership, whilst others have argued strategy and outcome in a Brexit Think Tank. We have launched the Young Enterprise scheme with two competing groups of budding entrepreneurs and in addition 74 L6 students have taken part in Community Service across 17 placement options of schools (including special needs schools such as Milestones in Gloucester), care homes and charity shops.

Independent research is not limited to those in Upper College. Our annual Fifth Form essay prize competition presented pupils in their final year of GCSE with the opportunity to research and write essays in response to challenging questions set by individual academic departments. In total, 30 girls and boys entered and 15 academic subjects were represented. The essays produced were superb; Heads of Department who marked the essays, according to specialism, were delighted with the depth, quality and ambitiousness of what was produced. Runner Up prizes were awarded to Daria Romanyuk (Chemistry), Jack McClure (History), Georgie Pilchard (Politics), Jess Steel (Psychology), Ed Winstanley (Biology) and Paddy Christopher (Classics). The winner, with his Biology essay on ’The Use and Ethical Implications of Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques’ was Aiden Ali. In the Third Form, the annual Headmaster's prize saw a huge range of interpretations on the theme of '175: History and Heritage'.

A popular response related to a timeline of College and family trees. There was outstanding film footage on the history of Norway, board games including present and past College buildings, essays on Dinosaurs, predictions on what will happen in the next 175 years, as well as many outstanding paintings, models and

Art, UCL, and to Rosie Pratt (U6, A), and Georgia Taylor (U6, Cha), for both winning unconditional places on the prestigious Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at the Leeds College of Art (see Georgia’s artwork above).

Juliet Wallace-Mason Head of Art drawings. The presentations were displayed to the public in the White Gallery alongside the work that the 3rd Form have been producing in their academic Art lessons.

A Level results from the summer of 2016 have maintained the high levels from the last two years. Despite the decrease in top grades reported in the national press, our impressive Sixth Formers actually improved on last year’s A*-A ratio; over 40 pupils gained at least one A*, and 12 pupils achieved two A*s or more. Maths and Biology were the most successful departments with 11 and 6 A*s respectively.

GCSE results from the summer of 2016 are the best ever recorded at College. This was a year group who worked with consistent determination and with the highest of expectations. The number of top grades is impressive: 40% of all grades were A*, and over 70% of grades were A*-A. 5 subjects (Chemistry, Physics, Latin, Greek and Music) recorded 100% A*-A grades. A recordbreaking 57 pupils (nearly half the year group) achieved 5 A*s or more, and out of these, 11 pupils achieved at least 10A*s.

Six current pupils have received offers from Oxford and Cambridge, which is another improvement upon our haul from last year (4 current pupils + 2 OCs). For Cambridge, Alena Gorb and Aiko Fukuda received offers to read Natural Sciences at Jesus and Corpus Christi, whilst Will Hardy has a place to read Economics at Trinity College. From Oxford, Kexin Koh and Dylan Adlard received offers to read Biochemistry at Christ Church and Merton, and Sam Mendis has a place at Lincoln to read Mechanical Engineering.

Simon Brian Deputy Head – Academic 3

CHeLTeNHAM NeWs

Drama This year our major production was Les Misérables. This whole College production was a spectacular event. There were exceptional performances from wellknown College musicians, but the discovery of fine, previously unheard singing voices was an absolute joy.

Significantly, the famously difficult orchestral parts were played by a number of College pupils, alongside staff and professional musicians.

Sian McBride Director of Drama

Music The wonderful variety and depth of music on offer at College means there is something for everyone. This year

David McKee Director of Music

Science To celebrate both the 175th Anniversary of the Royal Society of Chemistry and to help mark the 175th Anniversary of College, the Chemistry Department presented a Chemistry Spectacular event to a packed Big Classical. The event was intended to fuel the pupils’ passion for Chemistry, and go beyond the curriculum. During the show the pupils witnessed some of the most important reactions and principles governing the world of Chemistry and the relationship of these to our very existence on the planet. Displays included: Elephants

Sports Athletics Team highlights this year included coming second in the mixed medley relay event at the Millfield School Super 8s against some heavyweight teams; winning the 4x100m event at the Radley Relays and the Senior girls gaining third place at Marlborough. As a squad, we took part in seven competitions, and were able to participate in the ESAA Track and Field Cup with a Lower College team, who performed very well indeed. Individually, there were some outstanding performances, most notably the selections of Angus Thomson (4th, NH), Louis Hillman-Cooper (3rd, S) and Paddy Christopher (5th, H) for the South West regional competition. This bodes well for the future!

Badminton Arguably fielding the strongest first two pairs in its history, Andrew Chan (L6, Xt), who won his Colours, Tiger Chan (L6, NH), Carman Ma (U6, Cha) and Nicholas Siu (5th, Xt) gave College’s Badminton Club a tremendous platform upon which to build our season. All those players possess impressive techniques and game 4

included the Choral Society’s production of Elgar’s masterpiece The Dream of Gerontius which coincided with College’s 175 year celebrations. The most significant event this year was the arrival in December of 18 Steinway pianos. The beautiful handcrafted Steinway pianos are the envy of pianists worldwide and are a wonderful addition to the music department.

awareness, first developed in their native Hong Kong. However, what was also encouraging was the way in which younger players took on roles in the 1st and 2nd VIs, including Ken Leung (5th, NH), who won the Bygrave Trophy for the MostImproved Player of the season, Pumi SuNgan (5th, BH), Chuen Leik Low (L6, Xt) and Wyii Pornpipatpaisan (5th, NH). Derek Bakri (U6, H) was fantastic throughout the year, being both mustard-keen to play in the 1st VI, and in helping coaches work with less experienced players.

Toothpaste, Gun Cotton, Thermite, and the discovery of Phosphorous.

Cheltenham College Science Department has a high reputation both within and outside the School walls. In the past five years, the Sciences have accounted for more than half of College's offers to Oxford and Cambridge, with these pupils winning many prizes in nationally recognised competitions such as the Biology, Chemistry and Physics Olympiads.

Isabella Mech Head of Science Cricket squad. The Junior Colts A progressed to the National competition, followed by an unbeaten festival at Trent College, with wins over Oundle, St Peter’s, York and Trent College. In a season that will be mainly remembered for snow and rain, all matches were played in good spirit with some excellent individual performances.

Particular mention also must go to the Girls’ U15s who displayed great commitment to training and despite having 3 games abandoned due to bad weather, had their fortitude rewarded in their 20/20 match against Dumbleton Cricket Club.

Clays This year clays became an official sport at College and we entered into a partnership with British Shooting. The club enjoyed its best season to date, culminating in three members of the club featuring on British Shooting’s Talent Pathways: Oliver Palmer (U6, L), Christian Campbell (4th, BH) and Thomas Hartley (4th, H).

Equestrian The team has done exceptionally well this year in various competitions with many excellent individual performances. College was placed third as a team at the InterSchools One Day Event at Stonar School, their highest placing, and came first in the dressage at Hartpury College.

Cricket Highlights this year included a trip to Dubai for 14 pupils to take part in the ARCH U19 Trophy. We were pleased that Josh Dell (U6th, H), Captain of the 1st XI, was selected to play for the England U19

Golf College golf had another very good year.

For the second consecutive year, the Golf team won the SW Region in the Independent Schools Golf Association (ISGA) Matchplay Tournament. This

FLOReAT 2017

Hockey Boys: The Boys’ Hockey Club was able to put out 15 playing teams, and when all teams were in action on a Saturday there were around 210 Cheltonians representing College in a competitive fixture. Away from the Independent Schools’ Hockey League (ISHL) and block fixtures, the club had representation both in England Hockey’s Player Pathways for Junior Regional Performance Squads and in Cheltenham Hockey Club’s U14 squad, with Sebastian Blake (3rd, BH) and Frankie Russell (3rd, S) qualifying for the National Finals for their age group.

Girls: The U18s team got through to the semi finals of the West Indoor Finals, as well as having wins over Wellington, Bloxham, Malvern, Prior Park, Bromsgrove in their Saturday fixtures. The XI retained the Emily Sumaria Memorial game against CLC with a 4-2 on penalty strokes after it finished 2-2.

Individual stand out achievements were Brittany Sutton-Page (L6th, Q) chosen to represent the Wessex Leopards U18s, and Emily Drysdale (6th Form, We) the Celtic Jaguars U16 at the Futures Cup with Emily being awarded the Player of the tournament for the Jaguars. The U14s were County Champions and qualified for West Finals. Colours were re-awarded to India Blake (U6th, Q), Millie Broom (U6th, We), Jemma Robson (U6th, We). Full Colours awarded to Emily Drysdale (5th Form, We).

Netball A fairly new squad in the 1st VII grew with confidence and skill throughout the season and surpassed expectations and earned some amazing victories and draws. The 3rd VII had an excellent season which saw them winning 8 out of 9 matches and our 4th VII were unbeaten. The Yearlings A team achieved the best performance ever for any U14 squad by reaching the semi-finals of the South West Regional competition. With three of the squad playing in the U14

Regional league for Hucclecote Netball Club and Meg Knight (3rd, Q) being the youngest player selected for England Netball’s U17 Regional Academy, the future is extremely exciting.

Polo The girls won the Novice section at the SUPA Girls’ Arena Championships with Georgia Jones-Perrott (4th Form, We) taking the award for Most Promising Player.

The highlight of the season was the College Polo Day at Longdole where a team of Thomas Severn (L6, H), Charles Turk (5th, NH), Danyaal Choudhary (4th, Xt) and Denis Antonov (4th, Xt) were victorious against a strong team from Marlborough College.

Thomas Severn also picked up the award for most valuable player.

Rackets College’s Rackets season from a domestic perspective has been busy and profitable: the College Pair has won more games than they lost and they continue to play every Rackets playing school. The Yearlings have had a super start to their rackets career with an unbeaten term. Our girls enjoyed success at the Ladies’ British Open Doubles staged at Malvern College where we won the Plate Competition and as a greater number of competitors than ever participated at the National Rackets Singles, we had the number 3 seed in the U16 competition.

Rugby The Rugby Club has enjoyed a successful season to date. Notably the Junior Colts have reached the last 16 of the National Schools Natwest Cup, the second time College has got this far in the competition.

Our Colts B and Yearlings C teams also won their first match in over two years which is a fantastic achievement. Finally the XV have had their most successful season since the unbeaten team in 2008 which places them 16th in the Daily Mail merit table out of 104 schools. Wins against Monmouth (the 1st in 10 years) and also retaining the James Waters’ Cup for the 3rd year running against Radley, were obvious highlights.

Well done to all pupils and coaches involved.

Shooting The National Rifle Association Schools meeting consists of four days of individual and team competitions at Bisley, the home of target shooting in the UK. Despite some dreadful weather conditions, we won the Ashburton Four. Our Schools Pair came a highly credible fifth place managing to

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qualified the three-man team of Harrison Ottley-Woodd (5th Form, S), Intouch Ruckpanich (U6th, L) and Parth Patel (L6th, H) to play in the ISGA National Final.

beat Epsom College and Marlborough College and our Senior Shooters were placed 51st and 62nd respectively in the Schools Hundred.

Squash The Senior boys’ team was one full of talent and endeavour, with some notable wins.

The Senior girls’ team enjoyed a successful season and wins against Marlborough College, Cheltenham Ladies’ and St Edward’s, Oxford are deserved evidence of their talents.

Swimming With some pleasing wins and many fantastic performances both at the team and individual level, swimming has enjoyed another successful year at College.

We have travelled to Stowe School, Marlborough College, Cheltenham Ladies’ College and hosted St Edward’s Oxford and Monmouth. We also took part in the Aquatic Centre in London for the Otters national schools event.

Tennis The uptake from girls, in particular, is most pleasing and just under 200 pupils play the sport. The Girls’ 1st IV reached the National last 16 stage. The 2nd VI lost only one match and enjoyed victories against Bromsgrove School, Cheltenham Ladies’ College and Malvern College. Many successes in the Lower College teams bodes well for the future. Boys’ tennis has vastly improved and the 1st VI and 2nd VI enjoyed an exciting season.

Water Polo Both the U18 and U16 teams have shown their true determination and commitment to the sport. Playing in the English Schools Swimming Association Water Polo Championship, as well as hosting friendly games in our own pool, it has been a busy year and the U16 team enjoyed victories against the University of Gloucestershire and the Cheltenham Swimming and Water Polo Club.

Karl Cook Director of Sport 5

CHeLTeNHAM NeWs

Valetes Deborah joined The Prep in 2006 where she initially worked as a form teacher in Kingfishers. It quickly became apparent that she was one of the most caring professionals you could ever wish to meet. A move to Middle School seemed to suit her better and here she was able to establish herself as part of a strong teaching team, specialising in the subjects she loved, plus a few Deborah Bond extras, English, History, Biology and Head of Middle Art. Children were challenged yet School, supported and learned to love Cheltenham Prep Deborah's lessons, a particular 2006-2016 highlight was the annual Year 5 1960s day, when she got to dress up like Mary Quant to Dick Lewis's Paul McCartney.

In 2012 as Director of Middle School Deborah worked tirelessly to promote the importance of nurturing children to enable them to learn the basics well, and build solid foundations on which they can grow, she wanted to instil a love of learning. Her office door was always open putting her in an excellent position to exercise her skills on the pastoral side. Many children and staff alike appreciated her support, caring warmth, genuine interest and humour during those years. Deborah actively got involved in many school plays, providing costumes and backstage support.

She also became a keen printer, by the end of her time at The Prep she had become quite an expert (another skill the Art Department will miss her for, that and the dancing!).

Deborah is a family girl and it is only right that she should follow her husband Philip on a new adventure to Dubai. She is missed, but we wish her the very best of everything and thank her for the time she worked with us.

John Horan President of Council 2007-2016

Cheltenham’s renaissance over the past few years, as endorsed in the recent Inspection, which found College to be ‘excellent’ in all areas, owes much to the leadership provided by the Headmaster and his team.

Equally, it speaks volumes about the wisdom and the guidance of its retiring President of Council, John Horan. As a parent and then a governor, he knows College well, but his achievements as President ensured that College became once again one of the leading UK public schools.

Taking over at a difficult time, he was not afraid to take tough decisions but all of those were always informed by the strong moral lead he gave and driven by his desire to ensure that the welfare and development of both College and its pupils lay at the heart of whatever Council did. His understanding of the 6

It is difficult to overstate Duncan Byrne’s huge contribution to the academic renaissance of College in recent years.

He was appointed in 2010, in large part because of his extensive experience of leading and managing academic matters in some of London’s top academic day schools, Whitgift and Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School. He understood that did not mean we Duncan Byrne wanted College to turn into a highlySecond Master selective academic hothouse, but that 2010-2016 we wanted a leader who brought with him a passion and drive for inspirational teaching, and a clear understanding of how to use assessment data in teacher planning and improvement.

Duncan knew about the importance of ‘stretch and challenge’ in the classroom and outside, reviving College’s academic societies, outside lecture programmes and driving the introduction of now well established parts of College academic life, such as the independent projects in Third Form and Lower Sixth, and the Vet, Medicine, Oxbridge and Engineering University preparation programmes. He was also insistent on the importance of establishing a support network for pupils via tutoring and academic clinics. In his time, the learning support operation was overhauled and the Ben White Learning Centre was established, while our academic facilities improved significantly with the refurbishment of the main library, the now renamed ChatfeildRoberts Library and the transformation of the science block. He was also a popular and respected teacher of French and German.

Duncan will also be remembered for his more colourful side: a fearless performer, a talented tenor, who also set up his own barber shop singing group with the pupils, a marathon runner, sixa-side football enthusiast, a chef of Alsatian cuisine and the master of the bad pun at staff meetings. He will be sorely missed, as will his wife Marie-Claire who worked at College in the Higher Education and Careers office with scrupulous attention to detail and plenty of good humour. Loughborough Grammar School are very fortunate to have secured such a dedicated Headmaster. importance of creating effective teams was at the heart of his success. As a consequence, he built a highly effective governing Council, carefully matching its membership to the variety of skills and experiences needed in today’s world when it comes to running a school well. Being a great listener with a keen analytical mind and a very compassionate man, he led the team firmly and decisively so that College now enjoys a stability of governance and policy implementation which is at the centre of its current success.

His well earned retirement was marked by a Council Dinner in his honour and the presentation of an oak garden bench, made in College and suitably engraved with the words ‘From a grateful Cheltenham College Council’; words sincerely meant but which barely tell the story of his contribution to College’s unfolding history. He will be much missed. Most of us live lives ‘writ in water’ but some create greater ripples and John is one such. I am sure you will all join Council in thanking him and wishing him well in the next stage of his life.

FLOReAT 2017

Terri’s best quality is that she does not take herself too seriously and her sense of humour and fun will be missed. Never to be forgotten was her dressing up as the dragon on St George’s Day and rampaging around the school field with her little ‘princesses and knights’ screaming raucously behind her brandishing their wooden swords! Out of school, Terri enjoys her book group, travel, shopping and also running. This year she completed the Cheltenham Half – beating her time from last year. Most of all, Terri enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter and dog and she is looking forward to being able to do this more. For many years Terri has been an integral part of Kingfishers and has touched the hearts of everyone she has worked with – children and adults – and we wish our friend all the best as she starts her next adventure.

Stephen retires after 17 years as Finance Bursar and, more latterly, Deputy Bursar. He joined College in 1999 at a time when, it's safe to say, our finances were less healthy than they now are. His detail conscious approach to accounting, and a passionately held view that every penny College spends should be spent wisely were contributing factors to the school Stephen Friling moving forward into the new century Finance Bursar on a firmer financial footing. He has 1999-2016 worked very closely with Council, and in particular the Finance, Risk and Development Committee, and with the Bursar to deliver the outstanding improvements we've seen – in particular the building of Westal and the refurbishment of the Science Block.

Stephen was always ready to become involved in other aspects of the school. For example, he played a central role in the

development of Thirlestaine Cottages when they were first converted to boarding accommodation, as the original Westal.

He was involved – really involved, from the initial engagement of an Architect and contractor to ultimately press-ganging Pam, his wife, in the final hours before opening, to assemble furniture and hang curtains! I understand that the House was finished about an hour before its first resident arrived.

Terri Batty Teacher, Cheltenham Prep 2001-2016

Barry Lambert is moving on, after giving inestimable service to College for 21 years, 11 of which as Housemaster of Southwood.

Appointed in 1995 as Head of Design and Technology, he had already come to the attention of his new colleagues for the prize-winning work of his students. With a BSc and teacher training from Brunel University, Barry Lambert London, and many years’ experience Director of Pupil working in several schools and as an Welfare examiner, his remit was to move the 1995-2016 Department on, assist in Southwood, and to take a cricket team. Under his leadership, Resistant Materials flourished and the Department was re-modelled for the wide range of studies to A Level.

In the late 1990s, College boarding houses had begun admitting day boarders. This had a huge impact on Southwood, which changed from being the dominant sporting and academic House to having only 42 day boys, when Barry became Housemaster in 2001. However, on moving in with his wife Sue their two children, James and Hattie, a ‘home from home’ feeling was nurtured.

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After time spent in the business world, Terri first came to Kingfishers as a parent, bringing her daughter Claire.

Her talents with young children were soon recognised and when an opening for a classroom assistant appeared, she was snapped up. It was not long before Terri completed her teacher training and specialised in teaching Reception.

There she welcomed our youngest children to school, making them feel secure, and instilling the basics with fun. Very often, parents would ask for their children to be in her class.

Stephen was qualified to drive the rescue launches and could often be found helping out with the ‘24 Hours’ rowing events; an excellent shot, he joined the shooting team at Bisley each summer, winning medals himself; and, as a former soldier, he gave freely of his time to the CCF. With a reputation as 'the man who will know ', Stephen was almost always the first port of call for any slightly left field query; his knowledge of College was second to none. This often saw him called upon to lead tours of the school for visitors (the local History Society and the WI to name but two). We wish Stephen and Pam a long and happy retirement together.

Sleepovers became possible and enabled the boys to take part in all College activities more easily. As teacher, academic tutor, counsellor, career advisor and matron, together, Barry and Sue provided a complete support service. Those were his happiest years at College and after energetic recruitment over the years into the Third Form, on his departure in 2012, Southwood had 71 boys, a thriving Sixth Form, a vibrant record of academic achievement and competitive sporting prowess.

During Barry’s last few years in Southwood, he became Senior Housemaster, Child Protection Officer, and Director of Pupil Welfare, the role that has been full time since 2012. As the law changed, pupil welfare and mental health provision became a high profile and technically complex field for all schools. Barry was at the heart of ensuring College fulfilled the regulations and adopted the new criteria with efficiency and enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, it is with a refreshed sense of purpose that Barry welcomes his forthcoming return to full-time classroom teaching.

Throughout his time at College, Barry served as examiner for one or other of all of the leading awarding bodies for GCSE and A Level. An established author, he published a new or revised edition of a book every year that he was Housemaster, besides qualifying as an Independent Schools’ Inspector. He and his family are part of our happy memories of College’s past, and they have our warmest good wishes.

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Chris’ career in archives began in 1973 at The National Archives, then known as the Public Record Office. Here she spent most of her time in the medieval editorial section, producing edited versions of all sorts of significant historical documents.

Chris’ contribution to preserving and honouring College’s heritage is Christine Leighton remarkable; she has fielded thousands Archivist of wide-ranging and often esoteric 1996-2016 enquiries from within College and from the wider public. Through careful research, she has provided the names for two of our girls’ boarding houses: Ashmead (named after a local apple, which may well have grown in the Boyne House orchard upon which Ashmead is built); and Westal (the name of the Wilson family home in Cheltenham, which sadly now lies below Eagle Tower car park).

Of great importance to Chris are two relatively recent commemorations. Firstly, Chris takes pride in her work serving on the local Wilson steering committee for the national Scott 100

commemorations, which marked the fateful second Antarctic expedition, led by Scott and accompanied by OC Edward Wilson (Day Boy, 1886-1891). In addition to researching the Wilson exhibition and the commemorative Chapel service (both held in Spring, 2012), Chris also researched then sourced the designer for the beautiful Wilson public display panels that can be found near the Accounts Lodge, near the Wilson family home and at his memorial in town. Secondly, it is down to Chris that the 675 OCs, who gave their lives in the First World War, have been remembered, and will continue to be remembered, in three commemorative First World War exhibitions (2014, 2015, 2016). It was Chris’ fastidious persistence that resulted in the award of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant needed to digitise and print the portraits of these men for the growing wall and to purchase the panels upon which to display the images.

A member from the early days of the School Archivists’ Group, Chris has sat on the national committee for many years. For the last 10 years, she has led an annual training day at College for school archivists from the South West of the country. As a result of her comprehensive knowledge and determination to protect our heritage, Chris has been the ‘go to person’ for any enquiry regarding College’s archive and she will be sorely missed.

Anthony was appointed Assistant Director of Music and Head of Strings at Cheltenham College in January 1993, having previously been Director of Music at Perrott Hill Prep School in Somerset for eight years. His second year was spent as Acting Director of Music, before the arrival of Gordon Busbridge in September 1994.

Anthony McNaught Music Teacher 1993-2016

He was a popular tutor in the boys’ Day House, Wilson, and later in Southwood, where he developed, led and directed numerous highly successful House performances. As a consummate musician, Anthony has had many musical roles at College, the most important of which has been to inspire and teach pupils and staff alike. This has manifested itself in numerous musical offerings, including solo performances in Chapel, the leading and directing of many orchestras, string and chamber ensembles as well, of course, as his inspirational work as a violin and viola teacher. In addition to his work as Head of Strings, he was previously the Junior School (as it was then) Organist and an accompanist, coach and teacher of Music Theory across both schools. Since September 2011 Anthony has continued as Head of Strings in a part-time capacity. This has enabled him to increase his prolific work as an examiner of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, on both the diploma as well as the main panels. He also teaches A Level Music at the High School for Girls, Gloucester, and Violin at Pate’s Grammar School.

Anthony can regularly be seen playing as part of Cheltenham Chamber Orchestra, and we hope that he will continue to play with the orchestras of Cheltenham College. We owe Anthony a great debt of gratitude for his skills as a coach and mentor, his deep-seated musicality and perhaps most of all, for his kind and gentle skill as an enabler, which he has offered to so many throughout his 23 years at College.

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Paul Raynsford Porter 2003-2016

Paul joined the Estates team in September 2003 as the College Caretaker. He took his responsibilities seriously, was hard working, always cheerful and willing to go that extra mile. After a serious illness from which he thankfully made a full recovery, he joined the College Porters team to which he was fully committed.

Nothing was too much trouble for him and he was a valued member of the team. We wish him a well earned and happy retirement.

The year 2000 heralded not just the dawning of a new century but also a new Computer Network Manager at Cheltenham College.

Graeme joined us in March of that year and in the sixteen that have passed since, he has played a central role in harnessing the rapid evolution of information technology for the benefit of Graeme Stuckey College. In January 2004 Graeme IT Network was promoted to the post of Head Manager of ICT, a position he held until 2000-2016 September of 2008 and one which included some 'light' teaching duties. Then in 2008 Graeme became Network Director, a senior position he held until his departure at Christmas 2016.

A keen sportsman, Graeme enjoyed playing rugby, cricket and squash with his College colleagues and made a great many friends; he will be much missed and we wish him all the best.

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Letter from the Headmaster, Cheltenham Prep It has been a great year. My approach to The Prep is not one of rose-tinted glasses and there are always areas in which we seek to improve, not least in the classroom.

Following on from the excellent inspection it is important that we react to the recommendations contained therein. Complementing the work of the teachers is that of the Estates Department who have begun the gargantuan task of refurbishing the classrooms in the Day End, having already given us our outstanding Science and Technology building. Right now is the time to see the contrast between ‘before’ and ‘after’. We are very grateful to those in the Estates Department who are changing somewhat dowdy classrooms into much lighter and welcoming environments.

I am always aware of the importance of what goes on outside the classroom in offering children complementary activities to their core academic responsibilities. Music and Drama have been at the forefront and the many concerts and plays have all served to highlight how these activities can contribute to the wellbeing of the School. It is another communal activity which

PREP NEWS

Academic Previous Floreat articles have highlighted The Prep’s academic drive to improve tracking, differentiation in the classroom and the formative feedback that enables pupils to learn from mistakes and move on in their learning. There has been a constant focus on the cycle of assessing, planning and providing feedback. It was so pleasing, therefore, to begin 2016 with an ISI inspection report that recognized the progress the school has made in these areas. It stated that ‘teaching is excellent.

Lessons are thoughtfully planned using highly effective tracking data to ensure that the lessons meet the needs of all abilities’.

While this is all very nice for teaching staff to hear, more importantly it reveals that children are benefitting from this thorough approach and it was noted that they ‘show eagerness to learn and enthusiasm for their lessons. They work well independently and support each other highly effectively when working in groups’.

The firm foundations of excellent teaching and planning ensure that pupils of all abilities make the progress that they should. The ISI report mentions that the

promotes team work and offers children, who might not excel in other aspects of school life, to have their moment.

I have been so impressed with our results and attitudes on the games field. The perception that we do this because we are some sort of ‘behemoth’ (probably on account of our link with College), is unfair. Instead it is on account of the quality of coaching and the outstanding response of the children. We also know how to win and lose in a magnanimous fashion and how to host afterwards.

The abiding memory for me was provided by the parents of the younger children who were sat directly in my line of sight at the Christingle Service. As the Upper School children stepped up to give their readings or offer the prayers, written in the faces of those parents were the words “that is the confidence and assurance that I want my child to display”. As another Year 8 move through the Prep School, thus far impressing us with their maturity, enthusiasm and leadership, one can reflect positively on ‘what it is all about’. My thanks to all those involved in The Prep, for their critical contribution to the partnership which produces such impressive young adults.

Jonathan Whybrow Headmaster, Cheltenham College Preparatory School

Art This year, Cheltenham Prep was delighted to host the SATIPS National Prep Schools’ Art Exhibition. Ahead of the opening events, dedicated staff at Cheltenham Prep’s Art department spent weeks in the balcony, a space which became fondly known as ‘The Gallery’, sorting, displaying and hanging artwork sent in from around 60 prep schools nationally. There were over 400 pieces, from giant, colourful, collaborative textiles and mosaics, to delightfully delicate 3-dimensional pieces.

The variety was mind-boggling!

At the opening event, the Exhibition welcomed more than 60 VIPs including Art teachers from Northumberland to Kent, Plymouth and London, where it was officially opened by internationally recognised artist, Sophie Ryder. Sophie spoke beautifully about the importance of Art in schools and in life generally.

The VIP viewing for children exhibiting and their families threw open the doors to visitors from across the country! The whole day was a joy, with thrilled children showing their proud parents their work. Around 800 people visited the exhibition over the three days, and in the following two weeks The Prep hosted creative workshops and Art lessons with pupils from The Downs Malvern, Christchurch Primary, Berkhampstead, St James’ Primary, Airthrie School and Salisbury Cathedral School.

Alayne Parsley Head of Art

inspectors saw ‘lively teaching, a fast pace and incisive questioning techniques’ which ‘ensure that pupils are challenged to think for themselves, to question the ideas of others and to take responsibility for their

own learning’. These qualities are vital for all pupils to achieve their best and were revealed in internal assessments as well as 13+ Common Entrance results where Freya Coull attained the best English result, 9

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Fionnuala Dowling-Membrado the best History and Monty Graveney and Isabella Reid were similarly recognised for achieving the best results in Spanish and Latin respectively. Likewise in the 13+ scholarships in March 2016, William Bradley, Holly Ellis, Peter Marstrand, George Hardy and Anabelle Wells gained academic exhibitions while Anna Forde and Charles Hellens were awarded full academic scholarships. As in previous years, many of these pupils managed to attain so highly in these challenging papers while also gaining scholarship recognition in music (George Hardy and Charles Hellens) and sport (Anabelle Wells).

The Prep is proud that it continues to provide such broad opportunities for pupils while maintaining high standards in academic lessons. The inspectors noted that the curriculum provides a ‘rich and stimulating experience’ and we will continue to strive to keep this successful balance in the coming years. The development of a Prep Award will ensure that pupils value the importance of teamwork, perseverance and leadership both in an out of the classroom and will reward those who strive for excellence.

Vicky Jenkins Deputy Head Academic

Boys’ Sport The last twelve months have seen huge progress in the sport at the Prep School, not just in terms of the performances of the children, but also of the coaching development of the staff and the infrastructure of the whole programme.

The school is one of the few on the circuit which has a separate team coach for every team, all supported by the excellent professional coaches from College. This has been reflected in the tremendous strides the school has made forward, yes amongst the top teams, but more importantly in the strength of the sporting ability in the lower teams as well.

The 2016 Hockey Season showed plenty of promise, but we were not able to progress in the National Tournaments as the boys did not adapt to the very short tournament match format, however the regular season was full of tremendous results.

The 2016 Cricket Season was a super season with the U9s proving to be a real force and the U10s only losing two 10

Girls’ Sport Once again this year, we have continued our ethos of sport for all, with every girl playing in regular competitive fixtures across our three major games – netball, tennis or rounders, and hockey. Everyone had twice weekly matches, and competed for their house in exciting house events. Many girls had opportunities to take on the teachers in our staff v pupil matches, and our better players all represented the school in various IAPS competitions. In addition to the major games, we continue to represent in swimming and cross country with many girls achieving great success in these areas.

Many events which have been introduced over previous years, have proved so successful they have become staple calendar entries – our local schools mixed netball festival, the Prep Schools hockey tournament, a trip to see Team Bath Netball in action, the Guernsey hockey and netball tour which is now entering its 32nd year! And we continue to add to this list. One highlight this year was our 1st VII girls hockey team attending a GB Coaching day where they were put through their paces by Olympic gold matches. The 1st team were a majority Year 7 team, but still won the majority of their matches and most of the team will return this summer for what we expect to be a stellar season. The school continued its strong tradition of providing a huge number of boys to the County and District programmes in both Gloucestershire and Worcestershire.

The 2016 Rugby Season topped all. The 1st team were unbeaten, recording 50 point wins over Bromsgrove, Dean Close and Clifton and playing some outstanding rugby in the process. There were followed by the U13B, U12A and U12B teams all of whom were only 1/2 games from unbeaten seasons. The U10s were dominant on their circuit, not just at A team, but super results from the B and C teams. The U9s really came on over the season and the U8s were a dominant presence on the tag rugby circuit. Special mention to the U11s, who had a tough year, but never gave up and continued with spirit until the last play.

Duncan Simpson Head of Boys’ Sport

medalists Alex Danson, Hollie Webb and Shona McCallin, as well as 4 other England and Scotland Internationalists.

We shared our facilities and expertise to Hopelands Prep and a Birmingham Primary School for hockey coaching. Our netball teams competed against some touring sides – St Olaves, Yorkshire, and slightly further afield, Thomas More, South Africa. All Year 8 girls received a Rowing taster out on the water, as we continue to improve our links with College and make the transition even smoother.

Undoubtedly, the sporting highlight of this year was the Year 7 and Year 8 Hockey Tour to Rotterdam, Holland. The girls had a fantastic experience playing hockey in the most successful hockey nation in the world, being coached by Dutch Internationalists, and being part of a real hockey culture in a club with 12 pitches.

Girls of all abilities were catered for and they participated in a varied programme of training, fixtures and watching professional matches, as well as sightseeing, shopping, bowling and a theme park visit.

Stacy Ramsay Head of Girls’ Sport

Kingfishers What a busy year we had! We played in our first fixtures against Dean Close, learning good teamwork and of course enjoying the match tea! Nursery and Reception have enjoyed their topics and could be seen dinosaur digging and playing in the swamp. They finished with an Assembly to parents where, being so close to Valentine’s Day, they presented a flower to their mummies. Year 1 found out about the local area – Teddy had been kidnapped and they had to use a map to hunt through the various shops and premises on Bath Road to find him. He was eventually found enjoying some biscuits in the Bakery.

We all enjoyed celebrating Her Majesty’s 90th birthday. Kingfishers took part in a half term challenge to use the number 90 and present it in any way possible and in the summer held our own Street Party in her honour. Kingfishers used their favourite Meg and Mog books to try and help Meg use her ‘thinking brain’ when her spells go wrong instead of her ‘emotional brain’ and getting upset. In May our Year two

FLOReAT 2017

We were busy with trips and visitors. We went to the seaside, SS Great Britain, @Bristol and the Nursery went on their first ever trip to the Cotswold Farm Park. Our visitors came from many walks of life including a dentist, a doctor, an author, and even an alien! We really loved the Diwali dance workshop and they loved their violin workshop with the CBSO. Reception has been discovering their new outdoor learning zone and have been fascinated by everything from the ‘estates man’ in the lake, to the squirrels. Special mention must go to the Chess Club, which participated in the national Delancey tournament, where we had a regional winner, and were part of the school team in the Cheltenham Schools tournament, coming second out of 15 schools. The year was rounded off with our first ever Beep Beep Day celebrating Road Safety week.

Rachael Buttress Head of Kingfishers

Lower School Lower School has been a hive of activity.

Year 4 followed a programme of visits to engage the pupils in their History learning, including trips to Gloucester Cathedral, S.S. Great Britain and the Anglo Saxon Chronicles in Warwick. Meanwhile Year 3 visited Bath Road working on mapping skills, later visiting The Hayden Water Treatment Plant and Dundry Nurseries. Inhouse themed days provided further enrichment. From Egypt and Ancient Greece to India, we have researched, roleplayed, dressed up, cooked and eaten our way through a variety of subjects.

There have been many highlights during the year. A residential Bushcraft trip saw Year 4 camping out and surviving the wilds of Oxfordshire while our Science Day found us experimenting, creating Coca-Cola volcanoes and watching the magic of dry ice. The year finished on a high note with our successful production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ involving every pupil in the singing, dancing or acting.

Amanda Grieves Head of Lower School

Middle School

Upper School

The step up from Lower to Middle School is often described by our pupils as an exciting but challenging one; it is the first time that they are taught by subject specialist teachers in purpose built classrooms, pupils are faced with navigating their way around a larger site and they are introduced to new subjects such as Latin, Spanish and DT.

We started the year with lots of new pupils to welcome to the existing cohort. We enjoyed plenty of different activities, with the usual highlights of the Roller Disco, Jingle Bells Party and our formal dinner to end Year 8’s time at the Prep. We continue to encourage the development of all pupils’ academic and extra-curricular strengths, running a Peer Mentoring scheme and a myriad of different activities. Perhaps, most significantly, we are proud of our ‘team’ mentality. I asked some boys and girls from Year 7 and 8 to describe their experience:

Outside the classroom, pupils in Middle school have enjoyed circusology skills, newspaper challenges, music workshops, Science challenges, Geography field trips, experience days at College, participating in Joseph and trips to Guernsey and Rome. A highlight for me is when the pupils review their year and realise how much progress they have made with managing their own time, preps and belongings. This year pupils were also very enthusiastic about being able to use the new science laboratories for conducting experiments.

They are also really looking forward to working in the new DT workshop next year.

“Sport has been a highlight for me this year, as I went to Holland as part of the Hockey tour and trained with some of the players. The staff have looked after me so well in every aspect of my day, from my tutor at the start of the day to making sure I am on top of my prep and other commitments. ”

By the time they leave Middle School at the end of Year 6, we hope that our pupils are ready to embrace new challenges and develop their leadership skills as they enter Upper School.

“I love the activities in Upper School, and I have enjoyed taking part in everything this year, particularly the Christmas party and Christmas jumper day! The pupils I have met and am friends with are creative, musical, thoughtful and generous. I have settled in quickly because everyone has looked out for me.”

Lindsay Gooch Director of Middle School

Sarah Reid Director of Upper School

Music Music at The Prep continues to flourish!

The year has seen scholars performing as part of our outreach programme at local Care Homes and at one of our linked, local primary schools, in addition to our choirs performing carols at various community events at Christmas. A successful choir tour to Rome took place in the Autumn Term, which included performing at The Pantheon, and we collaborated with the drama department to put on a

huge performance of Joseph consisting of well over 100 pupils from Year 3-8.

We are teaching over 300+ music lessons a week, and our usual round of informal concerts, major termly concerts, termly ABRSM exams and weekly services continue apace. We offer choirs and instrumental groups to all sections of the school, from PrePrep to our oldest children, and we both invite professionals into the school to work with the children (this last year included a Beat-Boxer, a Junk Percussion specialist and The Tallis Scholars!) and take pupils out to other external music performances (our scholars travelled to Birmingham to hear the CBSO perform, for example).

Music remains the very beating heart of The Prep.

Kit Perona-Wright Head of Co-Curricular & Director of Music

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Kingfishers opened the Cheltenham Performing Arts Festival at the Town Hall.

The children competed with five other schools from the local area and received fantastic feedback from the judges

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Where Does All The Money Go?

By John Champion (Bursar) If you believe even 50% of the sensationalist stuff in the tabloid press about what they love to refer to as ‘posh public schools’ being awash with cash and/or abusing their charitable status, you’d be forgiven for wondering why we need to charge the fees we do. And even if you don’t believe it, the fact remains that more than 1,000 pupils at fee-levels of up to £11,800 a term adds up to a lot of income – on paper at least. So where does all the money go – and why is it that in spite of all of those school fees apparently flooding in, fundraising remains absolutely critical to our success and our future progress?

Someone once said “money talks… regrettably it has a habit of just saying goodbye”. Well that’s a little how setting and managing the budget in a big school like this can feel. Let me take a few minutes to explain what I mean.

Fee levels Yes, theoretically, we have a big feeincome. 1,000+ pupils at £11,800 a term would produce more than £35m a year.

But of course the first point to make is that fee levels vary throughout the 3-18

“ Fundraising is crucial to our further development – because our fee income is very largely consumed by our day-to-day running costs ” 12

age range and fees are different for day pupils, day boarders and boarders – the result is that our gross income on paper is actually more like £27m. I say ‘on paper’ because bursaries, scholarships and other awards mean that the amount we actually receive in the College bank account is closer to £24m. Already the £35m headline has dwindled to a £24m reality!

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not being unrealistic or ungrateful; I recognise that £24m still adds up to an awful lot of hard-earned parents’ and fee-payers’ cash. Regrettably though, I also have to admit that’s what it costs to run a school the size and complexity of Cheltenham College. And that’s why fundraising is crucial to our further development – because our fee income is very largely consumed by our day-to-day running costs. With over 600 staff, more than 30 buildings (many with ‘listed’ status) to heat, light and maintain; and of course 1,000 pupils to educate and care for, it’s perhaps not surprising that we can make a very big dent in £24m a year. But that still doesn’t really answer the question about where the money actually goes – and nor does it provide any reassurance that we are controlling costs and spending all those school fees wisely.

As I’ve already suggested, around £3m disappears in scholarships and bursaries before we even receive it. These subventions are essential elements of our twin policies of attracting the brightest, most talented youngsters whilst at the same time broadening access and making a College education available to a decent number of pupils whose families would otherwise be unable to afford one. The granting of substantial bursaries is a necessary aspect of our ‘public benefit’ provision, and something that’s at the very heart of our charitable status.

Salaries etc In common with other schools, and in line with many ‘service’ businesses, our largest cost, by far, is salaries. Whilst

teachers don’t make up the majority of our staff population by numbers, their salaries do make up the largest part of our £14m pay bill, and that’s exactly as it should be – after all, we strive to continuously improve the already high standards of teaching and learning at College and the Prep and we can only hope to do that by attracting the brightest and best teaching talent available. We think of our £12m annual academic staff costs as an important investment in our pupils’ futures.

Right up there with the quality of education we provide, is pastoral care – pupils only achieve their potential if they are comfortable, properly supported and, of course, well fed. Lighting and heating our schools, including our eleven boarding and day houses, adds getting-on for another £1m whilst catering provision adds another £2m. On top of all that we spend around £3.5m a year cleaning, maintaining and keeping safe and secure our portfolio of heritage buildings ensuring that pupils and staff enjoy an environment that encourages great teaching and effective learning.

The other things Then of course there’s everything else – the myriad little things, and some not so ‘little’, that cost money in a school like Cheltenham. The IT systems, transportation costs, telephones, marketing, departmental budgets, professional fees and so on. In fact, by the time we total everything up, our costs are almost the same as our income,

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leaving perhaps £1m a year to reinvest in the future of College. And that’s one of the many great things about schools like this – we may not make big profits, but every penny we do make is available to be ploughed straight back in to the school, ensuring that our facilities evolve and improve for the benefit of present and future Cheltonians.

Why raise funds?

So with £1m a year to spend on facilities development, why do we keep banging on about the importance of fundraising?

Well, quite simply because £1m a year isn’t enough, in fact it’s not nearly enough.

Just think about it for a moment. In the past six years we’ve invested around £14m in necessary facilities improvements and we expect to spend around another £10m in the next few years. All of the improvements we’ve made, as well as those we have planned, have been for the benefit of College, the Prep and our pupils – none of them have been about ‘vanity’ or outdoing the

school down the road for the sake of it.

These have been necessary improvements, and £1m a year simply isn’t enough to pay for them. And that’s why we keep rattling the fundraising tin – because without your past and, hopefully, future support, facilities like the new Prep Science & Technology Centre, the Chatfeild-Roberts Library, our fantastic science building and our soon to be refurbished catering facility just wouldn’t be possible.

Controlling costs And that leaves just two questions unanswered. Do we spend wisely, and do we strive to control costs? Hopefully, when I mentioned a little earlier that we focus our expenditure on driving-up our already high standards of teaching and learning you’ll have gathered that we think carefully about how we spend, and why we spend. We’re confident that we spend well.

And as for cost control, yes it’s something we focus on all the time. We hope we never become like the man

“ We try never to lose sight of the fact that every pound we spend has been entrusted to us by parents and other fee payers ” who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing – so we’ll continue to spend wisely to do what we already do well, even better; but we also try never to lose sight of the fact that every pound we spend has been entrusted to us by parents and other fee payers and we’ll continue to work hard to ensure we don’t waste a penny of it. ■ 13

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New Appointments Jane Butler College Office Manager Jane joined College in May 2016 on a temporary assignment supporting the Bursar. She has carried out various assignments within College and is now delighted to have secured a permanent position as College Office Manager.

Pippa Carson Librarian, Cheltenham Prep Pippa takes over the Prep School library from Sarah Dawson. She has previously spent some time in Lower School at The Prep in various roles.

Pippa hails from South Africa where she worked in the IT industry.

Rebecca Evans HE & Careers Advisor Prior to joining College in March this year, Rebecca worked for a London-based Headhunting firm as a Senior Consultant specialising within the Marketing, Advertising and PR industries. Her position saw her consulting to large global Communications groups, as well as smaller independent companies, but her family's move to Cheltenham called for an eventual change.

Suzanna Harris Assistant Head – Director of IT Suzanna worked previously at Worksop College in Nottinghamshire as Director of ICT & Head of IT Academic. Prior to that she studied full-time at Strathclyde University completing an LLLM Law Masters in Internet Law and Policy. Other jobs have included twelve years as Head of IT and E Learning at Bedford Modern School, two

Paul Holden Finance Director Paul has worked in the Finance team at College since May 2014 and, in recognition of the retirement of Stephen Friling, he took over his role in July. He has had a number of senior finance roles over the years and has been involved in a diverse range of financial services sectors including a payment specialist operating in the Housing Association sector, Mortgages and Pensions outsourcing and insurance services. Prior to that 14

Jane’s previous roles have been within the IT sector and most recently have included working for UCAS as the PA to the IT Director and Logica as a Project Co-ordinator. She lives in Prestbury with her husband Martin.

She, her husband Dave, and their two children (both at the College) have lived in Cheltenham for the past 8 years. She graduated from the University of Cape Town and has a great love for animals, kids, all sport, bridge and … reading!

Rebecca graduated from the University of Manchester with a BA Hons in Classical Studies and having lived in Rome soon after graduation, she enjoys escaping to the Eternal City at any opportunity. She plays netball, enjoys running and is married to Dan Evans, Head of Sixth Form and teacher of History and History of Art. They live in Cheltenham and have two young sons, Hector and Tobias, who both attend the Prep School.

years teaching Website design and English in France. Additionally, Suzanna qualified as a Chef and started her teaching career as a History Teacher having completed an MSc in Economic and Social History at Oxford and an MSc at Cranfield in IT Management. Suzanna has a passion for animals and cooking and the sea.

She lives in Cheltenham with her 17 year old son Talis who has recently joined the College in the Lower Sixth. he worked in Investment Banking having trained as a Chartered Accountant at Price Waterhouse Coopers in London.

Paul is also a tutor to a number of pupils in Christowe. He lives a six minute cycle from College and works one minute’s walk away from his wife who is Head of Programming at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. His daughter has just finished a year studying at University of California Berkeley and his son works in property management in Cheltenham.

FLOReAT 2017

After 12 years of teaching at Sidcot School, Bristol, Jo Millar joins us as our new Head of Art. During her time at Sidcot she developed and established the Ceramics and Sculpture facilities and devised excellent provision for all students between Years 7 and 13. Having graduated with a Ceramics degree in 1995, Jo

Ben Page Head of French Ben Page has joined College as Head of French, having taught at Cranleigh School in Surrey for the past five years, after completing a PGCE in Modern Foreign Languages at the University of Bath. During that time, he was also in charge of a Boys’ Sixth Form boarding house for three years, whilst also mentoring new teachers and taking a leading role in departmental planning. He is a

Thomas Patterson Head of RS, Cheltenham Prep Tom Patterson graduated from the University of Manchester in 2009 and, soon afterwards, started his teaching career volunteering as an English teacher for Fundación Estrella Brillante in Ecuador.

He then returned to teach Religious Studies, Philosophy and Ethics at Sherborne School in Dorset, delivering the GCSE and A-level syllabus

Kay Rackliff Head of HR Kay became College’s new Head of HR in February 2016. Prior to joining College, she had recently spent 5 years managing the HR team for Cosine Field Marketing, part of the Omnicom Group. Kay started her career in Universities heading up the Postgraduate Office at Loughborough and working in the Research Office of Nottingham University before moving to a career in HR at Blackwell Publishing.

After living overseas in Australia and New Zealand Kay came back to the UK in 2004 and worked in the HR team at RM where, amongst other things she was part of the strategic bids team working on

NEWS

Jo Millar Head of Art

continues with her own work whenever possible. As well as working in clay, Jo is selftaught in glass fusing, and has exhibited her glass work widely in galleries in and around Bristol, as well as further afield in Sussex and Bedfordshire.

Several of her bespoke fused glass commissions are installed in domestic settings across the Southwest. Jo has stepped into the role of Head of Art with infectious enthusiasm and is looking forward to developing the role.

keen sportsman and has previously coached Rugby, 1st XI Football and Tennis, whilst also enjoying golf, squash and skiing. Away from College, he is a self-taught guitarist (to grade 8) and is looking forward to the opportunity to play in concerts at College in the near future. He is married to Rose, an English teacher, they are both excited about returning to the South-West and contributing to College as much as possible.

and gaining PGCE and NQT qualifications through the University of Buckingham. In 2014, Tom took up a new position as Head of Religious Studies at Peponi House Preparatory School in Nairobi, Kenya and led the department until taking up his position at the Prep.

A keen coach of rugby, football, hockey, cricket and netball, Tom is looking forward to taking an active role in all aspects of school life.

the Building Schools for the Future initiative. As well as Chartered Membership of the Institute of Personnel and Development, Kay has a Masters degree in Victorian Literature from Liverpool University and a qualification in teaching English as a foreign language to adults.

Outside of work Kay is proud of having completed a couple of half marathons and one full marathon very very slowly and of having learnt how to hangglide whilst living in Australia though unfortunately this did not, as she had hoped, cure her fear of flying. Kay’s husband persuaded her to move to his home county of Gloucestershire in December last year and they are enjoying doing up their new home.

15

CHeLTeNHAM NeWs

Bill Straker-Nesbit President of Council William (Bill) Straker-Nesbit was unanimously elected the President of Council in March 2016 following John Horan’s retirement from the post.

Bill joined the Council in March 2007 and was selected as Chairman of the Finance, Risk and Development Committee in July 2008.

Alongside his Committee’s overhaul and careful stewardship of the College finances, a great deal has been achieved in terms of the development of facilities; for example, the refurbishment of the Library and Big C, the refurbishment of the Science facilities, the building of Westal and the

Alison Townsend Marketing Manager Ali joined in June to head up the marketing for both College and Prep, and brings with her an extensive marketing career in the corporate world and education. Prior to College, Ali was Head of Marketing at educational publisher Nelson Thornes and delivered their highly successful AQA A level and GCSE resource campaigns across print and digital channels.

Previously she ran international marketing campaigns for airlines based at Heathrow, and enjoyed two years as Marketing Manager in the City for Deloitte & Touche. Originally from Lancashire, Ali attended Ormskirk Grammar School and the University of Hull, graduating

redevelopment of Middle School to provide the Prep with a dedicated Science and Technology Centre. These could not have been achieved without so much help from donations by OCs, parents and College friends.

Three of Bill’s four children attended College and he has a long and very positive association with the school. A successful commodity merchant and businessman, Bill regularly attends College events and looks forward to meeting as many parents, Old Cheltonians and friends of College as possible on these occasions.

with a 2:1 in Economics & History. She has lived and worked in France and Australia as well as London, and settled in Cheltenham after meeting husband Nigel. They have three children – Lily (10), Charlotte (8) and Freddie (5).

Ali and her family have recently returned from living in the USA for four years with Nigel’s secondment to the British Embassy in Washington D.C. Here they developed a passion for BBQs & s’mores, and exploring the National Parks – Yosemite being the family favourite.

When she’s not playing “Taxi-Mum”, Ali enjoys swimming at the Lido and is an active member of the Leckhampton Mums’ netball team.

INTERNAL APPOINTMENTS – COLLEGE Tim Brewis – Senior Head of Department Simon Brian – Deputy Head, Academic Anna Cutts – Assistant Head, Pastoral Matt Coley – Head of Cricket Crispin Dawson – Senior Deputy Head Adam Dunning – Director of Communities, Charities & Partnerships Alex Eldred – Head of Politics Dan Evans – Head of Upper College, Higher Education & Careers Emily Hartley – Head of Geography

Jonathan Mace – Head of Golf Steve McQuitty – Assistant Head, Co-Curricular Will Packer – Head of Activities Richard Penny – Senior Housemaster Mary Plint – Deputy Head, Learning & Wellbeing Annette Poulain – Head of Girls’ Games Ben Rees – CCF Contingent Commander Chris Reid – Director of Operations & Compliance Betsy Willey – Head of Netball Chris Warner – Head of Tennis

INTERNAL APPOINTMENTS – PREP Christina Conner – Kingfishers Deputy Head, Pastoral Amanda Grieves – Head of Lower School & Head of Troy

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Chrissy Reeves – Kingfishers Deputy Head, Academic Robert Wells – Deputy Head, Operations

FLOReAT 2017

International & Regional Reunions 2016 New York

Malaysia

5th February

7th March

EVENTS

Thank you to Trinity House Fine Art for hosting.

singapore London

9th March

25th February

Devon

7th May

Thanks to Ian Moody (Ch, 1946) for hosting.

Thank you to Trinity House Fine Art for hosting.

Thailand

3rd March

London

17th November

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EVENTS

Les MisĂŠrables School Edition Friday 11th March

John Maxwell (L, 1960), Valerie Maxwell, Victoria Hamer and Kenneth Hamer (H, 1962)

Conrad Beynon (NH, 2012) & Madeleine Parsley (We, 2012)

Current Parents, Amanda & Lee Pemberton

Past Parents Malcolm & Cindy Chapman

David Houlihan, Harriet Bond (OJ & Q, 2010), Lucinda Bond & James Surrey

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David Thompson, Hazel Mace (Past Parent), Susan Thompson & David Mace (Past Parent)

Chris Coley (Th, 1963) and Lynn Rowland (Xt, 1962)

Photography by Andy Banks

Barbara & Derek Marsh, Robin Kershaw (Xt, 1957) and Moria Kershaw

Current Parents Tara & Marina Sosrowardoyo

FLOREAT 2017

ChELTENhAM AT ThE RACES ST PATRiCk’S ThuRSdAy 17th March EVENTS

Tony Parrant & Tony Whilton-Steer

Past Parents Elisabeth & Timothy Brain

Past Parent Cynthia Dowty, Anita Whilton-Steer, Colin Hislop, Current Parent Abigail McNeile and Tom King

Past Parents Malcolm Sloan (OC Administrator), Cathy Sloan, Peter & Sally Mason

David Fermont (L, 1964), Linda Fermont with John & Jenny Dyke

Current Parents Felicity & Michael Broom

Jane O'Donnell & Joanne Bishop

Photography by Andy Banks

Current Prep Parents Emily & Nick Brown

Current Staff Member Sebastian Bullock

Geoff & Elizabeth Moss

Cheltonian Society President Robin Badham-Thornhill (H, 1973), Anthony Whitten (H, 1988) and Past Staff Member Trevor Davies

Pauline Hislop, Current Parent Peter McNeile, Annette Piontek, Past Parent George Dowty & Rosemary King

Kate & Clive Probert with Mary & Mike Dearden

Georgina Clavel, Judy Broome, Boz Rawlinson & Donna Holland-Bird

Sarah & Andrew Harding

Past Parent Susan Pickard

OC Administrator Malcolm Sloan & Byron Baber

Studying The Form

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EVENTS

Polo day

This event was very kindly sponsored by ....

Photography by Andy Banks

Saturday 4th June

The Prep Team, Phoebe Channing (Y7), Oliver Callon-Hine (Y7), Izzie England (Y8) & Shani Choudhary (Y8) 20

FLOREAT 2017

EVENTS

College Porters: Brian Pond, Paul King, Steve Pockett & Paul Smith

The OC Team: JJ de Alba (NH, 2012), Rich Hine, (H, 2011), Ludo Ephson (H, 2011) & Hugh Sancroft-Baker (H, 2005)

Charlie Turk (5th Form, NH), Tommy Severn (5th Form, H) Aren Griffiths (CHB Global), Lily Griffiths (Y2, Prep), Denis Antonov (4th Form, Xt) & Dany Choudhary (4th Form, Xt)

Marlborough Player Patrick Ephson with Current Prep Parent Beth Marsden (Trinity House) 21

EVENTS

dRiNkS OVER ThE ThAMES Thursday 16th June – Tower Bridge

John Chatfeild-Roberts (L, 1980) with Past Parents Feyza & Christopher Howell

Chris Hartley-Sharpe (Ch, 1980) & Past Staff Member Tim Pearce

Current Parents Alastair & Heidi Oates

Deputy Head Crispin Dawson, Charles Stuckey (NH, 2010) & James Croft (NH, 2010)

Amy Micheal (Cha, 1997), Robert Boutflower (OJ & H, 1983) & Peter Thomas (OJ & NH, 1983)

Headmaster of Beaudesert James Wormesley, President of The Cheltonian Society Robin Badham-Thornhill (H, 1973) & Grahm Hill (OJ & S, 1988)

John Wichers (H, 1956), Jonathan McInery (H, 1955) & Richard Goring (H, 1955)

Current Parents Helen Naylor & Justine Barnes

Current Parents Peter & Sarah Merheim-Kealy with their daughter Annabel (5th Form, Q)

Simon Bullers (OJ & S, 1987) & Council Graham Hill (OJ & S, 1988), John Member Katherine Cox (Cha, 1996) Champion (Bursar) & Kirsty Champion

Photography by Andy Banks

2010 Leavers, Nic Robbins (L), Alex Pickard (H), Will Unwin (S), Max Arthur (L), James Croft (NH) & Joss Cheli (L)

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Lou Cyan & Current Parent Rachel Keefe

Past Prep Parents Nicholas & Sarah Boustead

FLOREAT 2017

Leavers’ day Saturday 2nd July EVENTS

The gathering at the Tie & Scarf Ceremony

The Headmaster & Lissy Williams (Cha)

The Headmaster & Anne-Marie Bowring (Q)

Yk Lan Lin & Yiu Cheung Kwong with Jeffrey Kwong (BH)

Oyinkansola Oladapo (We), Olumide Oladapo, Oluyemisi Oladapo (Current Parent), Louise Underwood (We), Current Parents Nigel & Sakorn Underwood, Ashley Yu (We) & Wendy Leung (Current Parent)

The Ward Family, Michael, Matthew (NH) & Nicollete

Jamie Chadwick (Cha)

Nicola Francombe (Cha) & Georgie Taylor (Cha)

Joe Warner (S) receiving his tie from the Headmaster

Pippa McKerron (Cha) & Georgie Blumer (Cha)

Current Staff Member & Parent Isabella Mech, Claudia Mech, Gianluca Mech (Xt), Ivana Mech, Current Parent Dennis Mech & Renato Mech

Arabella Knowles (A) & Lissy Williams (Cha)

Plai Sukhum (L)

Ignacio Rodriguez, Marco RodriguezNovas Puls (NH) & Jutta Puls 23

EVENTS

Leavers’ Ball

Saturday 2nd July

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1

4

5

3

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1 Toon Luanguthai (NH), Patrick Payne (S) & Yvie Seville (Ch)

8 Jessica Ottley-Woodd (Q) & Adelaide Shields (We)

2 The Koehler Family, Felix, Annabella (Cha) & Ekaterina

9 Current Parent Philippa Williams

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9

13 The Chandos Girls, Yvie Seville, Annabella Kohler, Jamie Chadwick, Georgie Taylor, Minty Lawson, Alicia Williams, Nicola Francombe, Yasmine Ellis, Georgina Hacker & Georgie Blumer

3 Tash Suleyman (Q), Fabian Chess (L) & Lissy Williams (Cha)

10 Taya Sellers (We), Poppy Alltimes (A), Heiyi Tam (We), Ashley Yu (We), Kirk Steel (Current Parent), Kirsty Chan (We) & Anna Birkett (A)

14 Leonora McCaldin (A), Orlando Giuseppetti (BH), Simon Oliver (BH) & Emily Wilford (We)

4 Current Staff Members Charlotte Knowles, Poppy Hoskins & Charli Roberts

11 Current Staff Members Emily Hartley & Fraser Dobney

15 Current Staff Members Alex Eldred, Luke Davidson & Lara Beere

5 Current Parent David Parker

12 Harry James (L), Max Hickman (H), Arabella Knowles (A), Fabian Chess (L), Current Staff Member Gwyn Williams, Matthew Ward (NH), Tasha Suleyman (Q), Minty Lawson-Smith (Cha) & Henry Morshead (BH)

16 The dodgems

6 Guy Beynon (Xt), Bertie Bent (NH), Archie Timmis (H) & Alex de Wesselow (Xt) 7 Stan Moorsom (H), Clarence Koo (L), Fraser Neal (H), Lissy Williams (Cha), Nicola Francome (Cha), Ethan Dowling (L), Max Roper (H) & Christian Morton (L)

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17 Harry Boyce (S), Paul Boyce, Susannah-Jane Ottley Woodd, Robert Ottley Woodd & Jess Ottley Woodd (Q) 18 Newick House Boys Marco Rodriguez-Novas, Angus Sinclair Maddocks, Toon Luanguthai, Bertie Bent & Paddy Portsmouth

FLOREAT 2017

10

11 12

EVENTS

The Survivors

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13

15

16

17

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25

EVENTS

Friday 1st July

kindly sponsored by:

26

FLOREAT 2017

henley Royal Regatta Wednesday 29th June

EVENTS

Past Parent John Blackburn, Lexi Straker-Nesbit (A, 2007), Past Parent & President of Council Bill Straker-Nesbit & Past Parent and Current Council Member Jo Blackburn

David (L, 1964) & Linda Fermont

Margaret Crooke, Past Parent Enid Evans & Mary Williams

Photography by Andy Banks

Tim Park, Mark Eagers, Adrian Barrett (OJ & Th, 1970), Annie Barrett, Jill Park & Chrystal Park

Hazelwell Housemaster James Coull, Harry Pratt (H, 2014) & Dan Nuttall

Current Parents Georgie Wasdell & Catherine Schallamach

Isabel Tusdbery (Cha, 2015), Olivia Clayton (A, 2015), Georgie O'Reilly (Cha, 2015) & Bea Martin-Harrington (Q, 2015)

Current Parent Sam Davies, Isobel Turner (5th Form, A) & Current Parent Kate Turner

Vicki Huckle (Mi/c Rowing) with Current Parents, Ashley & Suzanne Deakin

Daniel Sham (U6th, NH), Tommy Ladds (4th Form, Xt) & Edward August (5th Form, H)

David Fermont (L, 1964) & Andrew Bogle (OJ & H, 1966)

27

EVENTS

The Brewin dolphin Cricket Festival Sunday 24th July Gloucestershire v Sussex Gloucestershire won by 51 runs.

Current Parents Andrea Ramsay, Julia Jamieson-Black & Helen Stubbs

Tim Unwin (NH, 1952), John Maxwell (L, 1960) & Anthony Jackson (L, 1952)

Past Staff Members Alastair & Penelope Graham

Simon Mantell, Verity Cole (Q, 2006), Jayne Cole (Past Parent) and Philip Birch (Past Parent)

The Huby Family, Priscilla, Tabatha, Harry & Andy

Peter Mayes (L, 1965), Frances Mayes and Anne Cadbury (Hon OC & Past Council Member)

Louise Smyth (Past Parent), Anne-Marie Simon, Chris Smyth (Past Parent & Past Member of Council) and Jeremy Simon

Graeme Bull (H, 2004), Celia Keck, Nell Coffey, Lewis Giles, Richard Shephard, Kerron Coffey & Melissa Shephard

Jane Wilson, Ken Wilson, Stephen Alexander & Jennifer Woodfield

Photography by Andy Banks

Rosie Stone, Alex Murray, Shelia Lewer (Past Parent) and Vicky Hickson

Michael Stevens (DB, 1956) & Martin Gorman (DB, 1956)

Christine Wilson, Peter Wilson (Xt, 1961) and Past Malcolm Sloan (OC Administrator), Cathy Sloan (Past Parents Rosemary Rowland & Lynn Rowland (Xt, 1962, Parent), Sophie Simms, Jayne Cole (Past Parent), Philip Past Parent and Past Council Member) Birch (Past Parent), Verity Cole (Q, 2006), Simon Mantell, Michael Simms & Caroline Sloan 28

Current Parents Sarah Gunn, Andrew Lait, Caroline Lait & Kate Dymoke

FLOREAT 2017

1991 yEARgROuP REuNiON

8th October

1991 yEARgROuP REuNiON

Richard Morgan (Past Headmaster) & Richard Kemp (NH)

AngusAngus Shipway (Xt), Richard KempKemp (NH), Ben Shipway (Xt), Richard (NH), Ben Jukes (NH) & Will Vicary (Xt)

Charles FosterMorgan (Xt), Shanshan Foster, Debs Shipway Richard (Past Headmaster) & Trevor Davies (Past Hazelwell Housemaster)

1991 Leavers Rory Jeffcock (BH), Matt Wriggley (BH), Matt Green (BH) & Alex Heynes (BH)

U6th GirlsGirls Millie Broom (We) U6th Millie Broom (We) & Theresa Schäff (Cha)

Current Parents Andrea & Charles Foster (Xt), Shanshan Foster, Debs Shipway & Angus Shipway (Xt)

Robert Marshall-Lee (L) & Margaret Morgan

TimTim Richards (Xt)(Xt) & Paul Reynolds (H)(H) Richards & Paul Reynolds

Allan Brownlee (BH), Nick Gracie (H)(H) & Robin BadhamAllan Brownlee (BH), Nick Gracie & Robin BadhamThornhill (Cheltonian Society President)

Photography by Andy Banks

The (Cha, 1984) Society & Christiane Straker-Nesbit family,(L) Sam (Xt, 2004), Lexi(W) (A, 2007), Julie Badham-Thornhill (Past Helen Bullers(Cheltonian Paul Sedwick & James Vowles Robin President), Gillian Brownlee & Allan Brownlee (BH)

EVENTS

Chandos Girls Tamsin Barnes, Emma Frew & Nicola Haines

8th October

Fiona Wild & Julie Wright

Charles Wright (Past Staff Member) & Robert Marshall-Lee (L)

U6th College Pupils, Milly Fair (A), Luke Knudsen (NH),Theresa Schäff (Cha), Millie Broom (We) and Ben Wood (NH) 29

EVENTS

TH E RT.

OLd ChELTONiAN diNNER AT ThE hOuSE OF COMMONS Thursday 13th October

Alex Cox (BH, 2007) & Lara Bogie (Q, 2007)

Alice Elliott (Q, 2007), Stephen White & Adam Hughes (S, 2007)

Ben Heininger (S, 2009), Sir Alan Haselhurst (H, 1956) & Jim Adams (BH, 2009)

Amber Ahluwalia (A, 2012), Laura Bevan (A, 2012) & Philippa Morris (We, 2012)

Bob McEwen (Past Parent), Trevor Davies (Past Hazelwell Housemaster) & Malcolm Aickin ( Ch, 1967)

Richard Brain (S, 2007) & Kate Macpherson

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Paul (Past Headmaster) & Kate Chamberlain

Current Parents Andrea & Warren Langley

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Progra mme Tour: 6pm Drinks: 7pm Dinner: Address 7.45pm MP for By: Alex Cha Cheltenha Dress: Black Tie m

Sir Alan Haselhurst (H, 1956)

Daniel Faundez (Xt, 2000) & Jonathan Beake (Xt, 2000)

Debbie Ledniczky, Alan Foster (Xt, 1965), Otto Ledniczky (L, 1973) & Lord Biddulph (Xt, 1977)

Photography by Andy Banks

The Straker-Nesbit family, Sam (Xt, 2004), Lexi (A, 2007), Julie (Past Parent) and Bill (President of Council & Past Parent)

HON. SIR

ELHURS will host an Old T Cheltonia on behalf n Dinner The Me mbers’ Di of Cheltenham College ning Ro in om at Th e House of Comm on ons To Boo and reques k Price: £80p ts the ple Card Paym p asure of Cheques ents: 01242 your com 2656 Post to: Payable to: Chel 94 pany Rebecca tenham Chel Cree Colle

Robin Temple (BH, 1944) & Peter Badham (Th, 1965)

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Matthew Hall (L, 1989) & Genevieve Kwintner (Cha, 1990)

James McWilliam (S, 2009) & John Jamieson-Black (Current Parent)

Simon Mills (L, 1994) & Beth Marsden (Current Prep Parent)

FLOREAT 2017

In support of:

ChRiSTMAS ShOPPiNg FAiR AT ChELTENhAM COLLEgE

Kindly sponsored by Savills

27th November 2016

Photography by Andy Banks

EVENTS 31

EVENTS

150th house Reunions Saturday 19th November

Alex Ross (Xt, 2011), Oliver Rodney (Xt, 2012), Harry Rodney (Xt, 2011), Alfie Gilbert (Xt, 2011), Tom Dessain (Xt, 2011) & Will Talbot-Rice (Xt, 2015)

Christowe Housemasters: John Payne (19761983), Malcolm Sloan (1983-1994), Nick Arkell (1994-2000), Mark Durston (2000-2009), Nick Nelson (2009-2015) & Jonathan Mace (2015 to present)

Lynn Rowland (Xt, 1962) & Henry Rees (Xt, 1959)

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Photography by Andy Banks

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32

Andrew Bogle (H, 1966) & Chris Davies (H, 1962)

Tom McEwen (H, 2009), Bertie Graham (H, 2009) Tommy Severn (U6th, H) & George Hoyland (H, 2009)

Peter Hammerson (L, 1962) & Jennie Hammerson

Laura Hamilton, Robert Hamilton (L, 1962), Clive Mossford (L, 1958) & Mary Mossford

Hugo Smith (NH, 1994), Oliver Denton (NH, 1995), Christian Jones (NH, 1995) & Kyle Stovold (S, 2006)

Charlie Hall (NH, 2006), Jake Ford (NH, 2006), Kyle Stovold (S, 2006) & Jack Chetwynd-Talbot (NH, 2006)

Giles Selby (H, 1994) & William Oddie (H, 1994)

Michael Menzies (L, 1951), John Comber (L, 1950) & Patricia Comber

Richard Kent (Past NH Housemaster 1981-1992), Mark Wilderspin (NH, 1995), June Kent & Ed Kent (NH, 1995)

FLOREAT 2017

EVENTS

Peter Wilson (Xt, 1961), Jeremy Taylor (Xt 1958), Martin Rees (Xt, 1958) & Iraj Sarfeh (Xt, 1958)

Stephen Evans (H, 1956), Nick Peace (H, 1960), Sandra Peace & Bryan Harrison (H, 1957)

Merlin Miller (U6th, L), John Gilmour (L, 2006) & Carl Dubbers-Albrecht (L, 2006)

Henry Arkell (Xt, 2006), Sophie Morrison, James Warriner (Xt, 2006) & Caitlin Banks

Nic Robbins (L, 2010), Matt Harber (L, 2010) & Morgane Chouzenoux

Guy Smith (NH, 1984) & Jamie Noble (NH, 1983)

Hazelwell Housemasters Past & Present: Trevor Davies (1971-1985), Simon Conner (2008-2014), John Watson (1985-1990) and James Coull (2014 - Present)

Ian McBain (NH, 1976), Harvey Jessop (NH, 1976), Jenny McBain & Mark Warner (NH, 1976) Leconfield Housemasters Past & Present: Chris Reid (2009 - Present), Guy Dodd (1973-1982), Karl Cook (1994-2009) & Charlie Wright (1982-1994)

Angela & Charles Gething Lewis (H, 1957) & Sian & Michael Phipps (H, 1955) Francis Titley (NH, 1976), Ben Wood (U6th, NH) & David Noble (NH, 1981)

Fergus McNeile (U6th, NH), Francis Titley (NH, 1976), Rodney Troubridge (NH, 1976), James Cooper (NH, 1979) & Jack Burns (U6th, NH)

Malcolm Sloan (Past Xt Housemaster) & Robert Simmons (Xt, 1943)

Ed John (H, 1994) & William Oddie (H, 1994)

33

EVENTS

The Association Carol Service

Photography by Andy Banks

Friday 16th December

34

FLOREAT 2017

College Memories

By Robin Temple (BH, 1944) It was fascinating to read, in last year’s Floreat, Tony Atkinson’s memories of his time at Newick in the 1940s since I was there at Boyne House from 1940 to 1944.

As he said, “life then was somewhat spartan with just about everything being rationed, except for, amazingly, peanut butter!”

We did have a German raid, a night raid, when a lot of incendiaries were dropped.

We had to huddle all night in a central corridor, but despite the lack of sleep, and strict orders to stay indoors in case there were other dangerous objects about, we were out early next morning to collect bits of bombs, some of which fell close to College buildings; one just two feet from the Chapel wall. We also saw a German bomber circling over the town – no idea why – with little puffs of anti-aircraft fire going up at it. Never hit it of course.

Explosive On a lighter note, one term some boy brought back from holidays a toy gun, which we found had the barrel fully bored to the touch hole! Well, too good a chance to miss! One other boy, Alexander Falconar (BH, 1943), I think, had also brought back a .22 pistol with some bullets! It was amazing what we could get away with then! So, we pried the lead shot out, pared it down to fit in the toy gun barrel, put some powder from the .22 case into the touch hole, pointed the toy gun at the yard wall, got a match, stood back and fired the gun. The effect was amazing! The shot went off at colossal speed and knocked a bit off some of the brick yard wall. But, since we had some shot and shell left, we repeated the process, but elevated the toy gun a bit since the last one was low. This time we overdid the elevation; the bullet went

Dig for Victory The Deputy College Head, Mr Fletcher, organised the Dig For Victory programme (that was the slogan dreamed up by someone in Whitehall to get us Brits to produce our own food and cut back on imports). He was a ferocious driver, and got us all out in gangs to dig, plant potatoes, cabbages etc, and harvest all the next year.

I think that all playing fields outside the main grounds were dug up.

I well remember Mr Richie Williams (nickname Richie Bill) because he was the rugby coach, and I managed somehow to get into the first XV as a tight head prop, the worst position in a XV since you got your ears rolled in any scrum! Richie Bill was a severe coach, shouting at us for any move he disapproved of, like taking drop-goals or punting the ball. Every Master had a nickname; the ones I recall were LID for the Housemaster of Boyne (his initials were L.I.D), Pop Mosley, my Form Master, completely bald who threw the woodbacked blackboard scrubber at any boy he thought was not paying attention! He also reversed the position that one sat in class.

Normally the front row began with A then went along alphabetically row by row with the last names in the back. Since I was T for Temple I then found myself in the front row and had to pay a lot more attention! Then there was Staggers Stevens, a Chemistry Master, and Bish, (name Bishop); he was tall and had a special bicycle, with an extra bar above the crossbar and a wide spoke out from the back wheel axle. He mounted the bike by standing on the back axle spoke, pushing the bike along and throwing his other leg over the top. It was a most curious sight!

Mortar boards Our Head was Dr Elliott-Smith who was not popular. He introduced the wearing of the hated boiler suits, prevented throwing “Collegers” in the air when College scored a try in a home rugby match, and various other measures. Collegers were the mortar boards which every boy had to wear and

which had to be trampled to almost pulp as soon as bought. (He tried to stop that too).

This was a rite all new boys had to go through with the result that well-used boards hardly stayed on the head. It was a measure of one's sense of fashion to have the most smashed up mortar board. We were allowed grey suits for special occasions. Only prefects were allowed to have the jacket front buttons open.

Girls I am impressed with Tony Atkinson’s ruse to get into the Ladies’ College. I was not so successful at that, though there was a girl who lived close to me at home. I got to see her, though did not really care for her, and was shown into a room at the Ladies’ College rather like a dentist waiting room; she came in and we had half an hour of desultory talk and that was that. However, I learnt that their girls had ballroom dancing lessons in the town so I got enrolled at some special rate (was the instructor really pleased at seeing a fresh faced young boy to brighten up the place?) found the Ladies’ College girls and spent several pleasant afternoons learning ballroom dancing with them. You can guess that it was not long before other boys in my house checked my absences and the dance school soon had several more boy pupils!

I do remember Tony Atkinson’s friend John Zorab (BH, 1947). If I recall rightly he played a double bass even when he was relatively junior. We were impressed when he played a solo at a concert, but annoyed that he was allowed to open his jacket buttons when a junior! He was obviously talented and I wish him no ill will! I don't think there are many still around who were at College with me, but Andy Panton (BH, 1944), a fearsome rugby wing, was at the reunion day that was held some time ago for boys of that era; and the Devon lunch held annually by Ian Moody (Ch, 1946) brings together several OCs of around that time. ■ 35

FEATURES

I did not know Tony then since he would have been a year or two more junior and as such definitely beneath me! Boyne House was then a bit topsy-turvy, since it also combined the remnants of Leconfield and Southwood, who had been pushed into Boyne House making it rather overcrowded and also leading to a bit of faction strife at times! College had been evacuated to Shrewsbury because some Ministry thought they would like to use College as their wartime HQ, but never did.

whizzing over the yard wall, and for all I know could be imbedded in the Chapel wall which is not far off the Boyne House yard wall!

FEATURES

Cheltonian, Commando and Chindit: Lt. James Molesworth (H, 1935) William Molesworth (H, 1978) pays tribute to his uncle, James Vernon Crispin Molesworth, whose death as a POW in Burma in 1943 at the age of 26 is a reminder of the sacrifice made by the many young OCs of his generation.

Born 100 years ago, Uncle Jim was the third generation of my family to attend College, following his father, Charles, 10th Viscount Molesworth (H, 1891) and grandfather, Samuel, 8th Viscount Molesworth (First Hall, 1849), the latter a Founder Pupil. After a troubled first term, when he is said to have run away to Dowdeswell Reservoir, Jim earned kudos through his prowess at Rugby (1935 XV), rowing and boxing. His time at Hazelwell coincided with the redoubtable John Cedric Gurney (1927-43), whose disdain of boys too young to have fought in the Great War may have prejudiced their relationship, although perhaps the reason partly lay in Jim’s penchant for long bicycle rides with a friend to nearby country pubs!

After Sandhurst in 1937, he joined the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, which in its prenatal existence as the 46th Foot had been the family regiment since the eighteenth century. The pre-war years were good times for a young officer like Jim, with plenty of riding, hunt balls and a King’s Levée. With war declared in September 1939, he did not go with his battalion as part of the initial British Expeditionary Force that immediately crossed to France, only going over in the second wave of March 1940. Since little had happened during the ‘Phoney War’, however, he was still in time to take part in major actions along the Rivers Dyle and Escaut, as well as the final defensive

position around Dunkirk, until evacuated in early June 1940.

The following month Jim volunteered for Special Service with the newly-formed No. 3 Commando, one of the first units to be so named. Training in utmost secrecy at the Combined Training Centre at Inveraray, his posting came through by the end of the year, so that he was able to go on the largescale raid on the Lofoten Islands in Norway in March 1941 (Operation Claymore), when vital components of a German Enigma machine were captured, which eventually led to the cracking of the German code. A return visit at the end of 1941 saw further raids carried out on the island of Vågsøy and port of Måløy (Operation Archery), which involved fierce street fighting.

Operation Longcloth In March 1942 Jim transferred to 142 Commando in India under Major ‘Mad Mike’ Calvert. The latter worked closely with the eccentric Brigadier Orde Wingate as part of the Special Forces element of the legendary Chindits, the pioneers of Long Range Penetration in the jungle. Wingate built up his men – officers included – with gruelling route marches in the unforgiving environment of the Indian jungle, during which there were several casualties to malaria and drowning. The justification for such hazardous training was Operation Longcloth, launched in February 1943, when some 3,200 men crossed into

Bullocks begin their journey across the Chindwin in February 1943

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James Molesworth (above) and William Molesworth (right) Japanese-held Burma. Their objective was to create havoc in the enemy’s back yard by disrupting his lines of communication and supply, particularly railways, bridges and ammunition depots, as well as harassing the enemy when opportunity arose.

Divided into eight columns of 400 men, each column was to be capable of acting independently by weekly supply drops from the air, a novel concept in warfare.

Some 1,100 mules, nevertheless, were necessary for heavy weapons, ammunition, bulky radios and medical supplies, also 200 bullocks, 50 dogs of various breeds, and an assortment of horses and elephants. Since his father had bred Channel Island cattle, Jim was placed in overall charge of this Hannibalic assemblage, the likes of which had probably not gone into action with the British army before, nor, one imagines, are ever likely to!

With the advantage of surprise, the Chindits at first carried out their acts of

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sabotage and ambush with little loss.

Spurred on by early success, Wingate ordered the brigade deeper into enemy territory. The initial response of the Japanese had been to cut off their road routes, but once they realised they were being supplied by air, they became adept at intercepting these. Inevitably this led to animals being slaughtered for food. Others were put down from injury and sickness, or else freed once beyond serviceable use.

Jim’s role as chief muleteer thus lessened to the extent that by March he had become one of Wingate’s liaison officers, running between columns to deliver latest orders and report back. This entailed hazardous treks through dense jungle trails and scrubland, for which good orientation was essential, as even when a destination was only a few miles away, rarely could one travel as the crow flies and using well worn tracks was to be avoided.

Jungle tracks By this time the Chindits were fighting off more and more Japanese, who were now fully mobilised. The enemy was able to use tanks on the jungle tracks, a threat the Chindits were unable to answer. Besides injury from contact, there were the everpresent risks of louse and disease. Those unable to keep up were simply left behind, although it was sometimes possible to leave them with friendly villagers. Rather

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James Molesworth photos. Above left: 1935 Rowing, Molesworth standing left. Coach Major Frank Wood. Above middle: taken from Hazelwell House photo, 1935. Above right: Scouting at Downton Castle, Ludlow, 1932.

This was compulsory for the first years in the military before joining the OTC. Right: 1935 XV, Molesworth seated far right. Coach John Cedric Gurney.

than face capture or a lone death, some men requested a coup de grace – an overdose of morphia was the kindest option – or else took their own life.

By now, late March, the Chindits had been operational more than six weeks. Most were exhausted, many diseased or suffering hunger and dehydration. They were some 500 miles inside enemy territory, heavily outnumbered and on the wrong side of the Irrawaddy river, which was 3/4 mile wide in places. With little further that could be achieved, Wingate was ordered to pull out. After an attempted re-crossing of the Irrawaddy was stopped by a Japanese patrol on the far bank, he divided his men into small dispersal groups to make their own way back to India. With the offensive role over, the priority was now speed and evasion. They thus stripped down their arms, discarded heavy equipment, and abandoned or ate the remaining animals. Jim was given a party of the highly regarded Burma Rifles and Gurkhas, but these soon ran into difficulties. For many Chindits would become trapped within the pocket of land

at the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Shweli, and Jim’s group seems to have been among those compromised. Still fit at time of capture, he later contracted dysentery, was transferred to a prison hospital, but succumbed to his illness in June 1943.

The rights and wrongs of Longcloth are still hotly debated. Although valuable propaganda at the time, it achieved little tactically, while those rendered hors de combat, whether through injury, disease, imprisonment or death, may have been as high as 80% of the brigade. Ultimately, any assessment must take account of the controversial figure of Wingate himself, who has been variously hailed as a military genius who paved the way for all future jungle operations, or a dangerous maverick with profligate disregard for men and resources. Perhaps he was a little of both.

What is agreed by all those who served under him is that he was an inspirational leader of men. For him they pushed themselves to the limit: my uncle was one of them. ■ With thanks to the Chindit Society.

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From Rugby to Pubs, Restaurants and Hotels

by Sam Pearman (OJ & Xt, 1996) I attended College during the early 1990s; I had an amazing experience and feel that it shaped my career. My father, uncle and cousin had all attended College during the 1960s and again had a very enjoyable time.

When I arrived from Prep school aged 13 it was very daunting.

I managed to get the required grades to get into Manchester University, to study History of Art which I begged my parents not to take up. At the time I was playing a lot of rugby at Gloucester and up in Scotland for the junior national sides and my heart was set on getting a contract to play professionally. The idea of doing more studying was a significant distraction to my hobby, rugby. I think my father was extremely keen on me being the next rugby superstar although I had the view that whilst I was quite good I probably wasn’t a future Lions captain.

I agreed that I would go and try the university experience but I wasn’t happy at all. I lasted eight weeks in total as my wishes came true and I won a junior contract with Gloucester which was proof to my parents that my rugby career was kicking off. In truth I was one of four young players employed at the same time to provide tackling for the first team mid week

131 The Promenade, Cheltenham.

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and to play for the United XV. We were effectively cannon fodder. But it was great fun and I do feel that the competitive nature of my rugby experience, although short, was extremely important in what I later found myself doing.

A year after leaving school my father sadly passed away suddenly and it left me without my number one rugby fan and the person kicking me out of bed to do the training. From this stage rugby became less important to me and the realisation dawned on me that I needed to work out what I should do for my career.

I had just represented the Scotland Under21s up in Stirling, a game that we lost narrowly. I had been subbed after 60 minutes and was a bit miffed as I had been playing quite well but sitting down after the game I knew I couldn’t carry on with things as they stood so I got home and made the decision to quit.

Defining question That weekend I sat down with a good friend of my family and he asked where I wanted to be in 10 years’ time – in hindsight it was a defining question. My answer was: “Standing at my bar with all my best friends having a laugh and good

times!” The friend’s response was simple. He said I needed to get a job in restaurants and learn about that and he suggested I call Richard Shepherd, who was a great friend of my father and owned the successful Langans Restaurant Group in London. I said yes it was a good idea, he looked at me and said you should do it now! He got his phone out and dialled Richard’s number there and then. I remember that Richard was skiing at that precise moment and he said, “Okay, you start on Monday”.

So I hastily packed a bag and got myself to London to begin a 9am shift in the kitchens up in London. I slept on a friend’s floor for a month. Looking back it was incredibly hard.

Sadly, my mother passed away too at this time. Working in a hot, busy basement kitchen, having to commute on a variety of unreliable public transport arrangements was something totally alien to me. It was difficult but again I think looking back it was something I enjoyed and although hard, it was a significant challenge and

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proved a great distraction to me for the significant loss I had to go through. I realised that the only option I had was to make it work.

The hours were extremely antisocial and whilst most of my school friends were at university or out having fun, I spent the next four years grafting around the various restaurants in the kitchens, working on the bars, waiting on the tables and working in the accounts office. I learnt from the bottom up. After four years I had learnt how to do things well under pressure and had genuinely loved the experience. I stepped out of the unofficial apprentice scheme with Langans and was offered a junior management position, which was a culmination of the skills I had developed.

About this time a very good friend from Cheltenham College approached me about taking on his family’s hotel just outside Cirencester and going in together. It seemed like a great opportunity as we had

“ I’ve also noticed that lots of ex College friends have become entrepreneurs ”

just had our first child, Lily, and trying to get the work/life balance in London with my wife’s hours as a lawyer and my restaurant hours was just not that enjoyable. So we took a huge step and moved to the Cotswolds, set up the business with the hope of taking on the hotel and slowly improving it.

Looking back it was a great experience and we certainly improved it but in terms of the business it was very hard to transform a Grade 1 Jacobean mansion into the state of art hotel we all envisaged. The running costs were horrendous and I was determined to try and use every penny to improve the restaurant and bar but it was impossible and after two years we decided to part ways.

Looking back I learned hugely from this set back, working with a good friend was a challenge and luckily we all ended up very good friends. I think a strong relationship was built at College and we now joke about it all, thankfully.

Restaurant project So we embarked on looking for a little restaurant project in the area and thought Cheltenham was a good option as I grew up there at school and knew the market better than most. I helped set up the Kingham Plough which was a big success and then I stumbled on a lease for The Royal Well Tavern, behind the bus station.

It was incredibly neglected and had not had any money spent on it at all. We had a small amount of savings, took on a bank loan and the brewery contributed too. We opened the doors and it was a good little restaurant serving great food. I managed to persuade a chef I had worked with in London to come down and cook. He had worked at the River Café for years and we won a Michelin bib gourmand within 6 months. The landlord was impressed and they offered us the lease on The Wheatsheaf Inn in Northleach which we jumped at. Again it was in a very bad state, Georgie and I spent our evenings decorating it. It was busy from day one.

During the banking crisis of 2008, Punch Taverns, our landlord, had some financial difficulties and they approached us to sell the freehold properties. At the time we just didn’t have enough money to commit to them ourselves but we had become good friends with a regular of our restaurants who wanted to back us to develop the Wheatsheaf and Tavern and partner with us to take things forward in the area.

We pondered and decided that our vision of taking on neglected pub leases and turning them around on a shoestring was fun but it was financially limited in the long term. So we jumped in with our new business partner, formed the Lucky Onion, and bought the freeholds. He provided the loans to refurbish the Wheatsheaf Inn and then the Tavern in Cheltenham. Then came the Chequers in Churchill, No.131 The Promenade in Cheltenham, then No. 38 The Park in Cheltenham.

Most recently we have acquired the Wild Duck in Ewen, which is currently open but will undergo a full refurbishment in early 2017. We are also in the process of making No.131 bigger, and we will be adding 22 more bedrooms in the coming 24 months.

Across the Cotswolds The Lucky Onion now owns and operates pubs, restaurants and hotels across the Cotswolds employing about 250 people in the area. We also have a brewery business called Bobby Beer which brews lager in Hereford and a company specialising in lovely bath and body products (www.100acres.com) using natural botanicals and essential oils.

If I look back at my time at College, something in me knew that I needed to do something for myself. I’m not sure in which lesson that was taught but I knew after my last A-level that I needed to work hard in something that did not mean doing any more exams! I’ve also noticed that lots of ex College friends have become entrepreneurs, which I find quite interesting. ■ 39

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Go it alone I left Langans and got married to Georgie who was a City lawyer at the time. I then worked in two more restaurants, one in Fulham and one in Kew. The latter was a big step up to running a Michelin-starred restaurant, The Glasshouse, which was a brilliant experience. Not long after starting there I decided that I really, really wanted to go it alone, somehow. So my wife and I started looking at licensed restaurants for sale in London, and over the coming year or two we developed a business plan and tried to raise some money through friends and family but it quickly dawned on us that we were pretty short of the required funds to do things well and that most of the good properties were going to people with a reputation. It became increasingly difficult to see how we could start up on our own especially as the property market was booming and we kept getting outbid on every property we went for.

Logos: The Lucky Onion pubs , restaurants and hotels, and 100 Acres natural bath and body products.

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Out of Africa

By Rachel Owen (Cha, 2008) I can’t pinpoint exactly where or when my interest in Africa started, but when I decided to do my A-level art project on the continent, I always knew I wanted to go and see it for myself one day.

A year after finishing College, having been inspired by the wonderful partnership Cheltenham had with Gogar primary school (and stories from Mark Durston), I found myself teaching at a small primary school in the Rift Valley, Kenya. I only really found my feet a few weeks in, feeling for the most part like a gap year cliché living in a wooden hut and washing out of a bucket. With no teaching syllabus and class sizes of 50+, I was suddenly teaching subjects I hadn’t studied since my GCSEs. I’m sure most of the lessons I taught were pretty questionable. Nevertheless, I gained a huge amount from it and promised myself I would return.

Later that year, I started at Leeds University, but over the three years I was there, I managed to go back out to Kenya on three occasions. I chose to sponsor a girl who had been in my class in 2009, so I had a good excuse to keep going back.

She’s now 18, has a baby (called Rachel) and is just finishing high school. It’s hugely rewarding to see how much she’s gained from continuing her education – something that only 5% of girls leaving primary are lucky enough to experience.

Harambee Schools Kenya Last year, I became a trustee for a small charity called Harambee Schools Kenya (HSK). We work with rural Kenyan communities to improve educational opportunities for children at both primary and secondary schools. There are six of us who volunteer as trustees – aged between 26 and 90, but despite the unusual dynamic and the frustratingly slow pace at which things move in Kenya, we’ve seen some incredible changes to the schools already. And once you know the impact a small donation can have, you can’t help but feel compelled to do all you can.

My mum joined me on a trip to Kenya early last year, and on the day we visited one of the schools, only two of 250 children had brought in lunch. The rest 40

went without. I couldn’t comprehend how they could even attend lessons on an empty stomach, let alone concentrate. So, inspired by the work of the brilliant charity Mary’s Meals, I came back from the trip determined to get a successful lunch programme in at least two of these primary schools. Whilst this didn’t seem overly ambitious, things in Kenya are rarely straightforward. It’s taken us just over six months to get it up and running.

But, now we’ve established a network of people and teachers on the ground to oversee the food delivery, the shamba plantations and the parent volunteer serving rota, they all make it work brilliantly.

Creating Lunchbox It was my experience in Kenya that led me to develop Lunchbox, a contactless donation box that takes 30p with the tap of a contactless card – enough to pay for a child in the developing world to have lunch for a week.

Lunchbox is creating a new, innovative donations channel for Mary’s Meals, enabling them to connect with a new audience. It was in early 2016 that Lunchbox was developed from an idea into the reality of a functioning product.

The whole process has been a huge learning curve – and I’ve come to realise that the real reason contactless donations are in their infancy is because there are a multitude of hoops to jump through. It’s been a long, trying process getting the charity, the technology partner, the acquiring bank and the payments processing company to all talk to each other – one that, in retrospect, I certainly underestimated!

Lunchbox is now active in four shops in London (and one in Oxfordshire) and has recently passed the 5,000 taps mark. We

Clockwise from top left: Cedar Primary kids; serving up school lunches; Lunchbox logo and device; the lunch queue.

are now looking ahead to expansion and have recently set up the charity ‘Tap to Give’ which means we can effectively grow the use of contactless donations. It’s about time the world of donations moved on from change in a bucket and being hassled while you do your shopping. The fact is, the easier giving is, the more habitual it becomes – especially if it’s done in a context that relates to the cause.

Teacher Training Over the summer of 2016, I spent six weeks travelling around Africa before I started my PGCE training in London to become a primary school teacher. Over the last year I’ve changed my mind a thousand times on what industry I’d like to go into; production, sport, events, charity... and I’ve ended up coming full circle! The school I’ll be training at next year is an inner city London school, so I’m definitely expecting a challenge. I know it’ll be very different to my previous experiences in the classroom, but I’m keen to try and give other children some of the opportunities that I was fortunate enough to have. ■

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Francesca Page – Miss Travel Guru

By Francesca Page (A, 2007) I remember graduating so eager and energetic to get out into the working world and without any doubts that my life would be everything I ever wanted it to be. It was actually a beautiful time of total fearlessness and ‘living in the moment.’

I ended up landing a place at King’s College London to study Religion and Philosophy, with the intention to do my masters at RADA in theatre. I wanted to think, write, perform and travel. At that stage, I wasn’t entirely sure which path I was going to go down; writer, journalist, actress or director.

I took my gap year to travel and explore the outdoors, surfing and snowboarding, exploring everywhere from the west coast of America to Canada, most of Europe and South America. When I graduated from King’s and was wait-listed for RADA, I made the decision to keep exploring the world.

The first job I got was for TTR World Snowboard Tour as a copywriter and then contributed as a writer to various ‘extreme sports’ magazines from Surfgirl to Transworld Surf. As I had a US passport, I decided to explore the possibility of living in the US; New York seemed like the closest jump. I remember distinctly turning up to that city fresh faced, with one large suitcase and not enough warm clothing for February. I was definitely disenchanted by what was involved in moving to the world’s most intimidating city! After two weeks of knocking on doors for apartments and writing opportunities in the big apple, I packed it up and flew to Florida for some

Miami was an incredible experience and one I will never forget. I moved into a place in South Beach and started contributing as a ‘food critic’ for the Miami New Times, while soaking up the sun, Cuban food and incredible night-life. Everyday there is a circus in that city, and while everyone is hibernating over winter months, Miami is a fire of life. Puerto Rico was also a conveniently short flight away, so I frequented the incredible surf it offered.

A break into television A few months in, my family paid a visit to Delray Beach, a couple hours north of me, which is where I ultimately met my fiancé.

A surfer, and an adventurer, he taught me about all the beauty this state had to offer, from fishing in the Keys to paddle boarding through the Everglades. It was also around this time that I decided to develop my own travel and lifestyle blog (now known as Miss Travel Guru) and started documenting all the travels and activities that I enjoyed and experienced. Shortly after I started filming my lifestyle tips for YouTube, I got a call from a producer from the CW Network, asking me to come and meet him. Next thing I knew, he was airing my clips weekly on their morning show.

One thing lead to the next and I was offered a job anchoring for an upcoming national news network called Newsmax, to contribute as a co-host and news anchor. In that year I learnt a huge amount about what it meant to host a show, work with crew and the privilege of being ‘invited into someone’s home’ every time they tuned in to watch you. I was young, younger than most in the world of live TV, but eager to learn and loving every minute of writing, informing and performing for the nation. I also knew, however, that eventually I would have to spread my wings and fly out of the place I had come to call ‘home.’

In the Summer of 2015 Dan proposed to me during a vacation to Maui, Hawaii, and we knew it was time to make a move for

our future. Fast forward to today, we are now living back where it all began for me, in NYC where I have developed Miss Travel Guru (www.misstravelguru.com) into a brand and personality that brings to life everything I believe in about the power of travelling the world, whilst informing people about the safest and most accessible ways to do it. Sadly, around the time my dreams began to take flight, my father was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and passed away. He was my biggest fan and supporter. While the blow of losing him was extremely difficult, my journey quickly became a crusade to make him proud.

I now currently feature on national networks such as Fox, CBS, NBC & Hallmark as a contributing journalist, whilst traveling the world for content and advice.

Additionally I am part of several exciting travel shows that were produced last year, and I serve as a spokesperson for companies that specialise in travel and hospitality.

I don’t know exactly what the future has in store for me, but I do know that it took longer than I expected to reach where I currently am professionally, and that it required a ton of hard work, dedication, and belief in myself. Then again, that’s what life is – getting out there, not knowing what you’re going to experience, and continually learning from your successes and failures. If you can continue to do that, then you can achieve anything.

The moral of my story and my advice to other young scholars starting out in the world is to pursue your passions, stay positive, and trust that the future will unfold in your favour. Best of luck! !

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During my last two years at College my time was split between hard study and the gratifying world of performance, with teachers like Mr May and Mrs Cutts, who played a big part in cultivating my creative side. They encouraged me to explore the world of literature, theatre and entertainment; highlights at College included performing in Arcadia and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and choreographing dance pieces for the talent shows. It was most definitely a taste of my future to come.

warmer weather and the familiarity of a place where I had family.

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Holidaying in Iraq

By Tom Barfield (BH, 2001)

If you have never been to Kurdistan in Iraq – and in my experience, many people haven't – you might be surprised to know that it was once considered a potential tourist hotspot. There are ancient Christian monasteries, Ottoman hilltop forts, a ski resort (sadly without snow) and a range of luxury five star hotels (I can recommend the Rotana – it also boasts very high bomb defence walls).

You can eat sushi on the twenty-third floor, served to you by men in Star Trek uniforms accompanied by jazz rhythms played on the oud – if that’s your thing. Or you could visit the ancient citadel at the centre of Erbil, which has a serious claim to being the longest continuously inhabited place on the planet. To top it all, the Kurdish national sport is competitive picnicking.

It would be lovely to focus on these wonderful elements of Kurdish life (have I mentioned their Kilim carpets or their pop music sensation, Helly Luv?) but unfortunately, I was visiting last May for more sombre reasons. It was half term and a trip to Iraq was a welcome relief from exam preparation for the A level students I teach. I had chosen to visit, but I was there to meet with people who had had all their choices taken from them.

Back in July and August 2014, my husband Elliot was working in Ankawa, a small suburb to the north of Erbil. Over Skype, he had recounted how 30,000 people had arrived in the small town, part of the influx of 1.3 million people into Kurdistan. Mosul had fallen to Isis, Mount Sinjar was under siege, and the Shias, Yazidis and Christians of the Nineveh Plains were fleeing for their lives.

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Stripped of all their possessions by neighbours and Isis forces, families had walked to the safety of Iraqi Kurdistan across the arid plains in crippling heat. The Christians came to Ankawa as it was a Christian enclave – indeed, many of its inhabitants were veterans of flight themselves, having fled persecution in Baghdad a decade earlier. It's difficult to miss this when you visit: the main street is dominated by an enormous floodlit statue of the Virgin Mary which, it is rumoured, has been known to revolve at night (this was before the bombing).

Desperate need As a result of this sudden, desperate need, Elliot was asked by the parish priest of his local church, Fr Douglas Bazi of Mar Elias, to do what he could to help the 800 people now camped in his churchyard. From this, our charity, the Ankawa Foundation, was born. We have supplied fridges, fuel, food,

several tonnes of winter clothing, a volleyball net, art supplies, education funds and a bus over the last two years. Sadly, this only scratches the surface of what is lacking.

When I visited, most of the 800 refugees were still living in the churchyard. The situation had improved a little: there were now portacabins for each family, a tiny primary school and library made out of shipping containers, and the very popular volleyball court. Volunteers from this new community gave up their time to teach the children in the evenings in their language of modern Aramaic (the Kurdish schools they have been crammed into teach in a completely different language which few of the children speak).

Their library is stocked with books and musical instruments. The old men sit on the church steps and swap stories. Young

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Photos of the refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan

Sadly, the camps in Kurdistan have rather dropped out of the news. Once the UN arrives and the tents are out in rows, people assume the problem has been solved. However, the average refugee spends seventeen years in displacement before finding a permanent home again.

Anyone who thinks the problem is solved is being hopelessly optimistic.

Helpful young people When I asked some of the articulate, English-speaking, helpful young people who looked after us in the camp, what they wanted to do with their lives, the answer was always the same: leave. Some wanted

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girls, freed from the social strictures of their villages, mix with boys and play sports together. Most impressive of all, despite the bombs, despite the attacks on churches, every day the church is full for Mass. When I attended, I kept glancing at the open door, fearful over the lack of security, only streets away from a bombsite from the week before. Then I remembered: these people live with this every day.

to go to America, others to Turkey, some to the UK. Very few wanted to stay in their homeland, the scene of such hatred and violence. What was doubly saddening was that this had resulted in many of them giving up on their education. “Why study?” one girl asked with a shrug. “We will be going to America soon.”

students. In the camps, under the UN’s guidance for the education of refugees, a volunteer needs only nine hours of training to register as a fully qualified teacher. One of the teachers from Qaraqosh commented to us that he used to teach in a primary school with 20 children in his class. In the camp, he had to start with 300.

The whole experience set into relief the security I had in my education at Cheltenham. I think of the outward, international focus we had where it was normal to sit between people each from a different continent. In Ankawa, the children struggle to mix with their own countrymen as their language is so different.

Developing links We are trying to help alter this. As well as delivering a school bus and some educational supplies, we are looking to further links between churches, schools and the people of Ankawa. We are working with their ‘Centre for the Self in Need’ which provides care for young women raped by ISIS fighters, and their children.

We are also looking at projects to help the disabled children of the camps, who are often neglected and overlooked by an already failing school system. We cannot solve the problems, but we would like to help these people as much as we can.

At Cheltenham, we were lucky enough to enjoy set rhythms and structures to the day, from Chapel after first period to Tea at six – completely unlike the haphazard rhythms of life in the camp. I think of the range of passionate, expert teachers that I benefited from: Gordon Busbridge, Simon Wormleighton, Gerry Smith, Marco Liviero and Martin Jones amongst many… I am lucky to be a teacher myself, having worked at Radley College just down the road, and I look at the assured confidence of my colleagues, the professionalism and drive that they display to motivate our

If you don't decide to visit Iraqi Kurdistan any time soon (perhaps the oud jazz rhythms are putting you off), can I assure you that it is a fascinating, beautiful place filled with brave and kind people. If you would be interested in helping a small section of it, please visit: www.ankawafoundation.org ■ 43

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Chandos

By Sarah Ramsay (Housemistress 2002-2010) Chandos prides itself on being both the oldest and largest of the four girls’ houses at College. From humble beginnings supporting accommodation in the existing Housemistress’ study and a full cohort of 8 girls under Gillian Proctor in 1980, it has grown into a House of approximately 80 girls today. It also laid the foundations for the integration of girls into College.

There have been many events that have shaped Chandos including the visit to the House by the Queen on Friday November 8 1991, celebrating College’s 150th anniversary. There have been many changes along the way, including the opening of Chandos East Wing by Lady Mynors (Former President of Council) on December 4th 1999, the use of part of Chandos East Wing as a Day House for two years and the intermittent use of the Thirlestaine Cottages both as Fifth Form and Sixth Form accommodation in addition to the main Chandos building. This was logistically challenging in terms of staff allocation and functionality, as it has been the feeder House for the opening of Queens, Ashmead and Westal. It has also meant that the numbers have often been very high; with a total of 101 girls in two different buildings at one stage during my time in the House!

HOUSEMISTRESSES

There have been nine Housemistresses and many brilliant Resident Tutors and Assistant Housemistresses, in particular Cathy Sloan and Steph Chipman, who were associated with Chandos for many years. Every one of

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1980-1986 Gillian Proctor

1986-1992 Angela Eaton

them has made their own mark on the House making it the vibrant, happy and progressive House that it is today. The contribution made by Gillian Proctor has been enormous and deserves a special mention. Not only did she oversee the whole of girls’ boarding but her dedication, care and attention to the specific needs of the girls set the tone for the subsequent success of the integration of the girls into the then all-boys College. One aspect that is not commonly known is that the original emblem that represented Chandos was a flower, but Mrs Lawrence, being a true Biologist, changed the flower emblem to the modern Ladybird emblem that we are all familiar with today. Adding to this, she also introduced the well-known “Ladybird Tie”, presented to a girl who shows House spirit and has made a significant contribution to the House. This idea became so popular that it has been replicated in the other girls’ houses.

Jubilee One of the highlights of my time as Housemistress in Chandos has to be the celebration of girls’ boarding at Cheltenham College for the 25th Year Silver Jubilee in 2005. Those who attended really appreciated it, especially as many of the archived pictures of the girls were shown in a presentation! Many of these photos were provided by the Archive Department who temporarily used the East Wing Office (Now the ‘Boot Room’) as emergency accommodation in Chandos in 2005/2006 while the room at the top of New Block was being refurbished. It was wonderful to see

1992-1995 Mary Blain

1995-2000 Heather Lawrence

Mrs Gillian Proctor back in Chandos and finally all of the “old girls” from Chandos gained the official name of ‘PROCTORITES’.

Thank you to the Cheltonian Society for the financial support to provide the Chandos boards and plaque which are now in the main Common Room. Also a huge thank-you to Mr John Richardson (Previous College Headmaster), Mr Nigel Archdale (Previous Prep Headmaster) and the members of Council of the time who attended to make the event even more special!

Chandos is unique in that it has a dedicated study area called the Glow Room, which, in addition to the study bedrooms, gives the girls every opportunity to reach their full academic potential. Pastorally, Chandos has also made a significant contribution to the whole College culture with the introduction of the Peer Support Programme that was designed and trialled in Chandos in 2008 and 2009. Over the next two years, others joined and proved to College how effective providing pastoral support from the pupil body was to the well-being of the pupils within the Houses.

In 2010 training started with both boys and girls, which was so successful that it underpins the College Floreat pupil welfare programme that exists today.

2000-2002 Fiona Weldin

2002-2010 Sarah Ramsay

2010-2013 Holly Merigot

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Chandos

The Queen’s visit in 1991

Life changing It is a privilege to have served in Chandos for over 10 years and it has been a lifechanging experience both for me and my family. There have been many characters both human, as well as various staff pets, that have made Chandos feel like a home from home, and this is the warm, caring feeling which remains to the present day under the guardianship of Annette Poulain and her professional team. It has, without a

2014 - present Annette Poulain

Working and relaxing in Chandos

2009

1985

Photographs supplied by College Archives

2013-2014 Mary Plint

doubt, been the dedication of the staff, including the tutors, matrons, cleaners, the works staff and all of the other unsung heroes that have made the House what it is today. I know that the girls and all of the Housemistresses would agree that without them and the extensive parental support, Chandos would not be the success that it is and the girls would not have had the quality of care or boarding experience that is associated with the House. I would like to thank them for their loyalty and willingness to go beyond the call of duty to support the girls. Now the challenge is to continue to develop and I look forward to the Golden Jubilee to hear the next installment of the Chandos story! â–

FEATURES

As a past Housemistress, there is no doubt that there were many challenges associated with the role, but it is all about the girls and my time in Chandos brings back some very special memories. Apart from the individual reIationships forged with the girls and the House Staff, I remember warm, happy times including wonderful Christmas dinners and the humorous plays/skits performed by the various year groups, as well as girls singing and dancing in the corridors in preparation for the Variety Show. I marvel at the variety of skill shown by the girls including those that have excelled academically, some distinguished actors, many exceptional artists as well as numerous talented sportswomen. It is also heartwarming to think of the many successes including Cecelia Warren Thomas (2003) being made the first female Head of College and of course Chandos’s ongoing obsession with winning the House singing competition!

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FEATURES

California Dreaming

By Harry Taylor (BH, 2012) I was born in Sydney, Australia in 1992.

My family moved to Provence, France in 2000. This provided me the opportunity to become fluent in French and receive a French education. I later attended Cheltenham College from 2007 to 2012 in Boyne House. I was a College Prefect, a member of the Drama Committee and Head of Sweat. I have recently completed a three-year Professional Training Programme in Acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood, California.

I spent five years at Cheltenham College in Boyne House. It was my first time away from my family in France but luckily my sister Mimi (We, 2009) came with me. It made life a lot easier having her there even though I pretended she didn’t exist when I was with my friends.

Classes were always fun even though I struggled, mainly due to the fact that I rarely paid enough attention, if any. I have treasured memories of Mr Bates trying his hardest to help me with my Geography coursework and not giving up on me. The teachers at College never gave up on the students and this is the reason I have such fondness for the school. Perhaps I never mastered Geography but I did develop an affinity for travel.

After a year of work, I decided that I should do something spontaneous with my savings. Since I left Cheltenham I still had a strong passion for acting and had been taking acting classes in my spare time.

I applied and was accepted to attend a seven-week summer acting course at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood, California. The Academy is an acting conservatory with distinguished alumni including Paul Rudd, Adam Scott, Robert Redford, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and many others. After the seven weeks I auditioned and was accepted into their full time professional training programme.

From Monday to Friday I had to learn new dialects, dance moves, new songs, new scenes, 10 page play reports, etc. I loved it.

The workload was heavy and always had a short deadline. Each day I learned something new that helped me become a stronger actor. Cheltenham gave me the foundations to cope with the pressure of the intense programme with a professional attitude.

The 3rd year of the programme at the Academy is invitation only. I auditioned with 70 of my classmates and was one of 24 invited for 3rd Year. During that final year, I

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Through my agent I got an audition for a show called Roadies. If I had landed the role I would have been nicely paid, joined the acting union and wouldn’t have to worry about my visa. I did the audition and the casting director thought I was great and was very positive. I left feeling super upbeat and started day dreaming about what my new life was going to be like. The phone never rang. My agent told me that I didn’t get it but that’s just part of the business. I will be ready for the next one.

Crazy city I’m learning a lot in this crazy city. Everyone is trying to do the same thing you’re doing.

It feels like people are just going in circles until they decide to go home or do something else. Honestly there’s nothing wrong with that. I personally believe that you need to follow your instincts no matter what they might be. That’s life pushing you towards the way you should go. Follow it.

It’s scary but life is so short.

Passion Another passion that I developed at College is acting. For this I am forever grateful – it made me want to be involved as much as I could whenever I had the chance. Having the chance to do Theatre Studies really pushed me in the right direction. Of course Mrs McBride and Mrs Cutts were fantastic teachers and furthered my interest in acting.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do after I finished my final year at Cheltenham. It seemed like everyone around me did. I was scared. My mum told me that I didn’t need to go to University right after I finished school. So I decided to go back to Australia and worked as a bartender to gain some life experience. I was fortunate to have a loving family in Australia that helped me get that job.

performed in a show called Comedians by Trevor Griffiths. “We work through laughter not for it” was without a doubt the most profound lesson I learnt about comedy. I was very fortunate to be accepted into the advanced third year because at the end of the programme we performed a showcase for people within the industry and because of that showcase an elite Hollywood Agent saw me and chose to represent me.

Performing in various stage roles

When I came to America, it was my first time traveling by myself to a foreign country where I didn’t know anyone. All I remember is that my mum was visiting me in Australia and I sat with her in her rental car and told her my plans. It was raining. I told her I had to do it. I had this passion for acting and my instincts were telling me to go to America. Three years later I still have that same passion for acting. I made the right decision. Do what you love and go for it. ■

FLOREAT 2017

Discovering More

By Michael Luk (Xt, 2004) Life at College was a whirlwind of sports, lessons, activities and shenanigans. It’s little wonder that the time after has seemed to follow that trend. In the 12 years since I left Cheltenham, I have travelled far, read widely and learnt much – most of which, I’m sure I’ve since forgotten.

Cherry Trail processors that are currently on the market, as well as the next one that’ll hopefully be out soon. It was at Intel that I pursued a burgeoning interest that had begun in academia, one for the world of ‘big data’.

I completed a Bachelors in Theoretical Physics at Imperial and a Masters in Applied Maths at Cambridge before moving to the US to complete a PhD in Particle Physics at Brown University. I was fortunate enough for my Postgraduate work at CERN to coincide with the discovery of the Higgs Boson in 2012, with my name somehow even ending up on the paper!

At around this time, I also squeezed in some travel; met people, brilliant and odd in equal measure; married; had a child; and most importantly, adventured with our ever faithful pup, Hachi.

After my PhD and mostly to avoid six foot flurries of snow, I found myself across the US in Portland, Oregon, where I worked for several years at Intel, helping to design the next generation of computer chips. I had a (very) small hand in both the Broadwell and

The general concept is that computer programs no longer need to be programmed line-by-line for every possible scenario; rather, you train the computer to solve your problem by simply giving it a bunch of data from which to learn. Any field, be it medicine, education or even transportation, can be optimized by using intelligent and automated “machine learning” methods in this way.

For example, imagine self-driving vehicles, without machine learning the only way for a computer to operate a car would be to write into the program every possible scenario, from turning left, to swerving to avoid a fox, post, or even pedestrian!

Instead, data science methods allow the computer to make a best guess of what to do based on both historic and current information – much in the same way a human does. Indeed, these methods have allowed computers to beat even the very best human players at games such as Chess and more recently Go; an altogether impossible feat if computers were limited to scenarios solved and explicitly programmed by humans.

Machines who think Indeed, we are fast approaching the time when we will also need to consider the ethics of our inventions. Not only the grandiose notions of computer consciousness (especially as machines approach the confines of the Turing test) but also in humbler notions of morality. Old philosophical dilemmas such as the trolley problem will need to be revisited, while the

simple underlying advantages of using AI is likely to exacerbate social inequality in countless ways.

Further, having computers that are more intelligent than us, we will invariably end up in scenarios where a program suggests a course of action that we may not understand. Do we follow instructions somewhat blindly or pursue potentially sub-optimal choices?

Start-up The interest in solving otherwise intractable problems, combined with the desire to understand the models that we create, has led me here. Last year, I cofounded a data science consultancy, SFL Scientific (https://sflscientific.com) aimed at using data to solve industry-wide problems.

I have been lucky enough to work on many interesting projects. We have written algorithms for apps that can diagnose disease, determined the relevant information from hundreds of thousands of documents in a dozen languages and solved fascinating problems in fields as varied as customer/market behaviour, time-series forecasting, and machine vision.

Not only has the sheer range of projects made this journey interesting, but by fully understanding how we are applying these methods to real-world problems, I will hopefully have some small impact on the future direction of data science. Be on the look-out for us!

For further information, feel free to contact me: mluk@sflscientific.com. ■ 47

FEATURES

Big data This term is often haphazardly thrown around nowadays, but it simply refers to the huge quantity of data that humanity is now generating. Coupled with the advancements in computers, storage and processing power, we really are on the cusp of a global transition of teaching machines to learn.

FEATURES

Cam’s Crossing

By Cameron McLean (NH, 2005) Of the hundred attempts a year, only half succeed. It is known around the globe as one of the toughest endurance swims – The English Channel. To date, less than 1,500 people have ever swum solo from England to France and on the 25th September 2015 I set off to complete this audacious challenge.

I was inspired by the idea of swimming to France when I passed the trophy cabinet at Cheltenham Leisure Centre pool. My attention was caught by an award presented to a four-man relay that successfully completed the Channel Swim back in 1987. Since leaving Cheltenham, I have been working in London as a Technical Manager. I knew sitting at my computer waiting for Friday to cycle around again wasn’t me nor the adventure I had imagined, and something was soon to change.

I came across a story online about a boy who was immortalised as a character in a video game. James, 24, had been suffering from liver cancer and his dream to visit a video game studio had been fulfilled by Willow, a charity that provides special days to seriously ill 16-40 year olds (www.willowfoundation.org.uk). I was so inspired by Willow’s personal approach to creating ’Special Days’, I decided it was my time to help. My childhood desire of swimming to France returned, and I decided to set myself the challenge to swim in aid of the Willow Foundation. That evening, ensuring my commitment, I booked the pilot boat, a small open top

Folkstone at 7am.

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fishing vessel to escort me across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Preparations continued but this didn’t settle any early fears. Initially, thoughts of sharks, whales, and other alien-like marine life filled my mind and these were set to be the basis of all nightmares for the year ahead. I was also fearful of the vast distance. I had been a keen club swimmer at school, and competitor in triathlons, but had never swum more than a mile continuously and especially not out at sea.

The distance I would have to cover was predicted to be more than the shortest distance of 21 miles due to tidal changes.

Training consisted of hours of swimming.

Starting in the pool, I progressed to tougher swims in lakes, rivers and the sea to gain strength and confidence. During the year and as a break from training, I attended long distance swimming competitions. I would often find myself at these events to be the only man wearing speedos, whose body was covered in vaseline, rather than in a warm neoprene wet suit. This would always make me question my decision to swim the Channel and reinforce just how crazy an idea it is.

Start times are determined by many factors with the tides usually being the first consideration. I had reserved my pilot boat for two consecutive days at the end of September, on a neap tide, when the tides are most favourable. The day before my first window of opportunity I waited for a call from the Captain, Fred Mardle.

Ultimately, he made the decision whether we would go or not as he had the knowledge of the sea and its weather conditions. I waited eagerly by the phone to receive the news and around 7pm on the last Wednesday in September Fred finally called. He said the channel was receiving strong winds from a storm passing in the Atlantic and that the seas were too rough to attempt tomorrow. On Thursday night I received the good news.

In the words of Fred, “we’re going to go for it so get ready and meet me at the harbour, 7am tomorrow”.

The big day My alarm went off at 3am. There were 15 minutes for breakfast but all I could stomach was a bagel before we started the 3 hour drive from Gloucestershire to Folkestone Harbour. I was welcomed by a golden sunrise and the surreal feeling that the time had come to take the challenge whatever the outcome. I yawned exhausted by the early departure but my Dad encouragingly said “don’t worry son, the water will wake you up”, knowing it was only 16oC. Filled with butterflies, I nervously put my goggles on upside down but once fitted correctly I jumped off the boat into the chilly water and swam to shore. I raised my hand in the air to signal I’m ready and the boat horn sounded GO!, as the stopwatch started at 7:38am. I walked into the sea with pace until it was deep enough to form a dive. Within seconds my feet had left the pebbly shore and my body was horizontal.

My arms reached out and I took my first stroke with force to get blood moving around my body and warm me up. The sea

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The first hour went quickly and it was time for my first ‘feed’. My only concept of time, apart from the sun arching over my back, were my feeds, due to happen every hour for the first 6 hours and every half an hour after that. Feeding primarily came in liquid form but occasionally I would have a solid treat such as half a banana, a few Jelly Babies or a cube of Thorntons caramel shortcake which was my favourite! My staple diet though, was a complex carbohydrate dissolved in warm water with an added splash of summer fruits squash for flavor. A bright orange cup was dangled over the side of the boat swinging from a string. Fearing any contact with the boat would result in my disqualification (marked by the observing official onboard), I swam carefully towards the boat. The cup was lowered further for me to reach it. While treading water I drank the lot in one go, dropped the cup which was then reeled back onto the boat and I continued with my swim. It was important to keep swimming as any stopping meant I would start to shiver and feel uncomfortably cold.

I would always try to think positively and focus on my swimming technique but often my mind wandered. I would think about the boats that crossed on D-day or the Spitfires that fought overhead during the Battle of Britain.

I also had the company of the notorious Channel jellyfish. In patches the water turned pink beneath my body as I could see hundreds if not thousands of them. As I

trod water for too long after a feed one slashed its tentacles across my face almost as a wakeup slap that this wasn’t a dream.

Moments like these, and invaluable messages of support via social media thrown overboard with my feeds, kept me going.

The sun eventually dropped past the horizon, night time swimming was a daunting experience. I no longer had the warmth of the sun on my back and jet black water seemed endless. The crew had strung glow sticks and LED balloons along the side of the boat so I could see it but as I plunged my head back into the inky sea every stroke seemed like an extended blink.

The end in sight I could see the lighthouse on Cap Griz Nez flashing but the crew wouldn’t tell me how much further to go as the tides were shifting and it was difficult for them to predict. I seemed to be moving further away from the lighthouse but I was determined to make it after coming so far.

A few more feeds passed until I saw a light aboard the pilot boat come on. I knew at this stage I must be close as I saw an inflatable rowing boat being dropped into the water. The pilot boat was too large to go in shore so the observer armed with a torch boarded the rowing boat to follow me in land. I kept pulling with everything left in my arms as the shoreline felt close but the darkness made it impossible to tell how far away it actually was. Within a few strokes the feel of the water changed. I suddenly felt as if I was moving faster without any more effort. I had reached an inlet in the French coast line and broken through the tidal pull.

I waited with anticipation at every stroke hoping to feel the ground with my fingers.

Eventually, as I was counting another 100 strokes, I pushed my hand into the water and felt rocks covered in seaweed. I pulled myself to my knees, stood up and walked

out of the sea onto French land. The bizarre feeling of standing had never felt better and I raised both arms in the air with a joyous cry to mark my achievement. I had played the finish over a 100 times in my mind before but the actual moment was truly surreal. With the pilot boat and crew too far away to see I took a minute alone to realise I had actually made it and fulfilled my dream. I am pleased to say that after battling choppy seas, hours of solitude, the dark of night and the notorious jellyfish I successfully reached France in 13 hours 49 minutes.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their support. I hope my story will inspire others to seek adventure. I am not suggesting swimming the English Channel. But try something that takes you to your limits, tests your determination and challenges your body and mind. !

Boarding the support boat in France.

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FEATURES

was choppy as the strong winds from the day before still hadn’t fully disappeared but my initial focus was to think of this swim as just another training exercise, to find a rhythm and relax. This was easier said than done as in the first few minutes my mind was racing with questions: Did I stretch enough? Will I get cramp? Are my goggles on too tight? Is the weather going to calm down or get worse? What if the boat runs out of fuel? Are my crew alright?

FEATURES

A Travel Journal of a Trip Around The World in a Peugeot 504

By Anthony Goodwin (Ch, 1960) College was followed by a degree in Agricultural Economics and a career overseas in agriculture. Firstly, for the Government and the Development Bank of Zambia respectively followed by advising European Union aid programmes for the Governments of; Jordan (Amman 1981-84), Nigeria (Lagos 1984-87), Trinidad & Tobago (Port of Spain 1987-91) and, in other sectors also, Bangladesh (Dhaka from 1991 - 2007 with 6 years in Brussels mid-way).

1983: From Peugeot’s home base to Jordan After arriving in Amman in December 1980, and a brief flirtation with an old model of the brand, I bought in November 1983 by direct collection from Peugeot’s export salon in Paris the new Peugeot 504 GR version with ‘Jordan specifications’, including a strengthened undercarriage for the rocky, desert terrain. I raced to Amman, 5,400km over six days, with ‘running in’ and 500km first service scrupulously observed but, after a 19 hour wait in deep snow due to a rock fall on the Yugoslav-Greek border, we were forced to turn around for a new route via Bulgaria and Turkey and past Aleppo the Syrian city now reduced to near rubble.

The new car, wonderfully shaped and featuring very comfortable seats, travelled through Jordan’s desert fort trails; the Gulf of Aqaba, Dead Sea, and Lawrence of Arabia country before returning overland a year later via a Syrian ferry to near Thessaloniki, Greece and across the Adriatic to Essex.

The capable Peugeot 504

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1985:Nigeria and across the Sahara to England The car was transported from Tilbury in early 1985, by ‘ro-ro’ ship, before losing its clock to thieves at Apapa Port in Lagos and, nearly three years later, October 1987, en route to a posting in the Caribbean, the car crossed into Niger following the re-opening of the border after the Biafra War and, with time against it for desert sightseeing, navigated 6,800km of the Sahara Desert via Niger, Algeria, Tunisia, Genoa by DFDS ferry and finishing in London.

For the desert’s roadless expanse, heavily laden and with roof rack for fuel cans and etceteras, sump guard and ‘sand rails’ added, armed with the latest ‘Lonely Planet’ guide and advice from intrepid souls who had traversed before, car and

driver passed cold starlit nights in the sand with camp bed and stove, or in primitive hotel outposts. Dramas a-plenty included deep buryings in the sand, unloading of every possession, extrication and reloading of the car and, soon after, the towing out by a fortuitously passing 4WD, as well as the dismantlement and reassembly using ‘rubber bands’ of the shock absorbers damaged on the uneven ground, and the de-sanding of the brakes.

At one point, Mohammed, the driver of an abandoned lorry, offered himself as driver across one of the most difficult stretches.

At another 4 hours across a 460km stretch to Ain Salah (Algeria), a landmark in the sand was reached – a church, where legend had it “you are to circle 3 times or perish from God’s wrath”.

Mohammed the ‘rogue’ driver in the Sahara, 1987

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1988: Trinidad, Venezuela and Brazil Early 1988, the car went by container to Point Lisas, on the island of Trinidad, home of the first ‘Mittal’ steel plant outside India.

19 92: Bangladesh and around India

From January 1992, four years of memorable rest-time travel included visiting the Himalayan foothills and former imperial Indian hill-town of Simla with my wife, as well as Darjeeling of tea renown and Sikkim on the China/Tibet border with my daughter, spending a wonderful afternoon of Buddhist ritual among ochre-robed monks in a hilltop temple.

19 95: The Final Journey The longest journey, Dhaka to England, began in December 1995. Across to West Bengal and three continuous nights crawling India’s Calcutta/Delhi ‘Trunk’ road for 850km, eye-burstingly dazzled from oncoming juggernaut lorries circumnavigating deep potholes, ended with rest at Varanasi on the River Ganges.

After ‘fuel flow’ repairs in Delhi, travel north to Amritsar in the Punjab, and the Sikh Golden Temple, included a soldiers’ night road block, with a water bottle condemned as gin and a suitcase of clothing rummaged through with dirty hands to allege a weapon (at a time of

Amazon River to Belem on the sea by a 5crew barge carrying four empty ‘camions’ and a pair of travellers’ hammocks followed, past leaping dolphins and drifting commercial logs.

To Recife and Salvador, Brazil’s coastal cities, back inland to Brasilia and Oscar Niemayr’s stunning architecture, to Ouro Preto, famous for precious stones, and down through carpeted pineapple fields to Rio, the car was shipped after 21 days travel from Santos, port of São Paulo, to Bangladesh via Sri Lanka.

One of 30 perilous bridges, Northern Amazonia State, Brazil, 1991

FEATURES

In October 1991, poor Caribbean relations prevented direct shipment to Venezuela, 13 miles distant, so the car left for Caracas, Venezuela, via Puerto Rico on deck of a cargo ship transporting lavatory paper.

The 9,700 km journey down to Rio de Janeiro, passed through Conan Doyle’s ‘Lost World’ territory, Roraima, the ‘golden city’ of El Dorado and ‘Gran Sabana’ of southern Venezuela on fairly good roads, to Brazil’s northern border and across the Equator into the rainforest. Negotiating perilous two-plank wooden bridges, deeply rutted dirt tracks with no cars for hundreds of kilometres and the threat “bandits would shoot your tyres out”, the car finally limped into Manaus at 4am after five days, exhaust broken, in unseasonal rains. With my son joining a sometimes stormy 6-day float down the

Emerging from the Amazon rainforest, Manaus, Brazil, 1991

Floating down the Amazon, 1991

high India/Pakistan tension). At Wagah nearby, only entry point to Pakistan, the opposing Frontier Forces (Pakistan’s known as ‘Pat-han’) executed their nightly posture in full regalia. Southwards along the Indus river and west to Quetta (mistaken for Sir Edmund Hilary, officially visiting the area) was followed by arrest by police at the Iranian border across the now US counter-Taliban occupied Baluchistan Province for the taking of a distant ridge’s photograph, only resolved by having a spare-parts list over stamped

by Bangladesh Foreign Ministry deemed as conferring ‘diplomatic status’. The Ayotollah’s fiercely religious Iran and the wind and snow swept plains of Anatolian Turkey, where the car’s radiator froze one night due to lack of anti-freeze, unknown at the hot and humid start-point in Dhaka, led finally to journey’s end, 12,700km in 32 days, at Bishop’s Stortford in March 1996.

Iran-Pakistan truck, Baluchistan State, Pakistan, 1996

30 countries, five continents, and 200,000 miles, the car’s robust engineering and very skilful repair assistance ensures it’s still in daily use, with only gradual rust buildup and a replaced radiator and clutch unit to show its age.

Uttar Pradesh State, Northern India, 1995

Mount Ararat, Northern Iran, 1996

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WW1 Centenary

By Sebastian Bullock (Deputy Development Director) College’s First World War Centenary programme focused this year on the Battle of the Somme. On Friday 1 July, students, Old Cheltonians, representatives from The Royal British Legion and other friends of College attended a service in the College Chapel which started at 7.30am. This was the time 100 years ago that the whistles blew ordering men to climb out of their trenches and to go ‘over the top’. On that day alone in 1916, seven OCs died and by the end of the battle in November, a further 59 OCs had been killed. The service was followed by breakfast in the Dining Hall for those OCs connected with the Armed Forces.

again under clear blue skies and with a number of OCs present.

Earlier in the year, a group of senior CCF cadets spent an afternoon planting trees which had been awarded to College by the Woodland Trust as part of its ‘Living Legacy’ memorial to the fallen of the First World War. This is a four year programme in which cadet units are encouraged to plant the commemorative trees within school grounds and this was a fitting way to remember the 692 Old Cheltonians who lost their lives in the First World War. The trees were planted on the bank between Upper and Lower Reeves to provide a natural windbreak and will be visible for years to come by the cadets who were involved in the planting project.

The White Gallery also provided a space to have a separate feature on the Battle of the Somme, including a projection of the Imperial War Museum film ‘The Battle of the Somme’.

The annual 3rd Form and CCF trip to the National Memorial Arboretum took place in October. This year the College Chaplain Dr Adrian Samuel conducted the service,

The Centenary Exhibition was held this year during the week leading up to Remembrance Sunday and also moved to the White Gallery and TLG in Thirlestaine House. A central feature of the exhibition each year is the ‘growing wall’ of portrait pictures of the OCs who died during that year of the conflict. The number on the growing wall has now reached a total of 411 OCs and 2 staff and this made a real impact stretching down much of the length of TLG.

In conjunction with the exhibition charting the period 12 November 1915 to 11 November 2016 was a commemoration of the First World War through the arts, documenting the same period. Members of the Sixth Form explored links across art, literature, history, music and science. This extended to an insight into the processes of degradation and putrefaction induced by primitive chemical warfare, plus artistic commissions from the British War Propaganda Bureau. Musical manifestations during this wartime period included Ralph Vaughan Williams’ seminal composition ‘The Lark

Ascending’, plus elements of Holst’s ‘The Planets’ and Elgar’s Cello Concerto.

The impact of English Literature on World War One is notoriously well-documented, yet poet Jessie Pope who convinced soldiers to enlist and fight, is an arguably lesser-known writer from the trenches.

Those who attended the cross-curricular event hosted by College, set within the context of the memorial exhibition, were enlightened by our presenters’ knowledge and undisputed dedication to detail.

The College and Prep School again combined on Armistice Day for an outdoor service of remembrance on Chapel Lawn.

It seems fitting that this is the only occasion when the entire student and staff bodies of both schools come together as a united community, to remember not only former members of both schools, but all those who served in the First World War and veterans of all subsequent wars involving British and Commonwealth troops. ■

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FLOREAT 2017

A Life on The Waves

By Brian Denney (H, 1946) As I look back over the last 87 years, two facts stand out. One is that most of my contemporaries of that class of 1942 have already departed the stage. The other is that my life has been both unpredictable and unusual.

The BBC There was, of course, the family business, however Denney Bros, was in disarray due to a family struggle for power. There remained my passionate love of classical music. Unfortunately, this was not matched by any skill as an executant. My mother arranged for me to have private lessons at the Royal Academy of Music but my tutor suggested I looked for a proper job. I asked his opinion about the BBC and he replied, “Good God, No! They’re just a bunch of knob twiddlers!”. Despite this, I was duly accepted as a trainee ‘knob twiddler’, or Programme Engineer and reported to duty at 200 Oxford Street, then the headquarters of the BBC Overseas Service.

Unfortunately, I was declared redundant in 1948 due to staff returning from the Services, on the basis of ‘last in, first out’.

After a period in the Gramophone Department I was offered re-instatement in my old department and took a voice test to become an announcer/newsreader.

Announcing is one of those jobs which, if it comes easily, can be very enjoyable. There were attachments to the Third Programme (now Radio 3) with the possibility of a permanent job. However, my boss at External Services suggested I apply for the vacant post of Senior Progamme Assistant at the BBC Far Eastern Station in Singapore.

This was probably just as well as my last week with the third programme ended in fiasco. Due to a misunderstanding between the conductor and myself. I ‘backannounced’ a modern American composition before it had actually finished.

The conductor, understandably, was not

In 1956 Singapore and Malaya were still under British rule, although both were to become independent during the next 6 years. The headquarters and studios were on Singapore island while the transmitting station was at Tebrau in the state of Johore, Malaya. This involved commuting between the two stations.

It was in Singapore that I met my wife, EePin. We were married in St Andrew’s Cathedral in 1958. We returned to the UK in 1962. Rather to my surprise, I was ‘resettled’ in Television Presentation. However it was a wonderful time to be in TV, as under Hugh Carlton Greene, the BBC TV achieved its finest period of Drama and Light Entertainment. My post in Television, though interesting, was essentially a deadend job. In 1968, therefore, I applied for the post of Programme Advisor to the Lao National Radio and rather to my surprise, was appointed.

Difficult diplomacy 1968 was the height of the war in IndoChina. The Lao National Radio consisted of a principal station in the capital, Vientiane, with regional stations at Luang Prabang in the North and Paksé in the South. As a result of the war, travel to either destination had to be by air. The week after I arrived, a DC3 of Royal Air Lao crashed into the hills surrounding Luang Prabang killing the British Military Attaché. It was not a good start. Apart from travel difficulties, the diplomatic situation in Laos was a nightmare. Though nominally independent, the country was heavily dependent on foreign, mainly American aid. As a former French Colony, France still had considerable political and cultural influence and the Russians and Chinese were always hovering in the background.

At various times representatives of these countries would pop into my office with offerings ranging from free LPs to bottles of vodka.

By 1970 the situation in Cambodia was also deteriorating and the Government in Phnom Penh asked the British Embassy for an advisor to help their National Radio and TV. The BBC was reluctant to send anyone else out to Indo-China, so after prolonged negotiations I was asked to take on this additional responsibility. My first flight to Phnom Penh was delayed as Pochentong airport was under rocket attack by The Khmer Rouge. When we finally disembarked passengers made their way through broken glass and twisted metal.

When I emerged from immigration a well dressed young Englishman awaited me. ‘Mr Denney?’, he said, ‘Welcome to Phnom Penh”.

Anyone wishing to know more about the atmosphere at that time, is recommended to read the brilliant description in John Le Carrés’ ‘The Honourable Schoolboy’. There was little I could do in practice as the situation was desperate and I concentrated on advising the newsroom and reorganising their gramophone and tape library. Eventually the British Ambassador decided that my mission was ‘increasingly irrelevant’ and I returned permanently to Vientiane.

In 1974 we retuned to the UK and I rejoined the Television Service. I was appointed Senior Assistant, Television Liaison, mainly it has to be said, on the basis of a letter of recommendation from the British Ambassador. Briefly, the department’s remit was looking after official visitors to the TV Centre and attending to the non production needs of overseas commentators at major sporting events. It was thus my melancholy duty to appear regularly at the Cup Final, the British Grand Prix, Show Jumping at Hickstead, and Wimbledon! All good things come to an end, however, and I decided to take early retirement in 1985 as my eye-sight was steadily declining. I had spent 38 years of varied and fascinating experiences at the BBC. I may not have had what is usually called a career, but I certainly had a series of fascinating jobs. ■ 53

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Cheltenham was, at that time, a premier military school and most were boys expected to join the army. However, the war ended in 1946 and I was rejected for National Service because of my eye-sight.

The sergeant said at the recruiting centre, “‘er’ Majesty will not be requiring your services, sir!”

amused by this, but some days later, on my way to announce another programme, I was spotted by a member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Running to catch me up on my way to the studio he grabbed my arm and said, “I’m so sorry about what happened the other day old boy, I hear they are sending you to Singapore!”

FEATURES

Grit and Determination in the World of Film

By Jason Smith (Xt, 1982) When I left College my dream was to be a rock star. An unsuccessful stint as lead singer in a punk band whilst studying English and Film at Kent University soon put this to rest. I realised I needed copious amounts of alcohol to get over my stage fright and, more importantly, I couldn’t sing. Suddenly a career behind the scenes as a film director seemed a much easier option!

After sailing across the Atlantic, I wrote, produced, and directed a 20-minute documentary on local life in Antigua. I returned to London clutching my finished documentary under my arm, naively expecting to get a job as a film director. Little did I know! Six months of desperately trying to get meetings with little success led me to a small job as a runner in a very successful production company making TV commercials.

I worked on some of the most ground breaking TV commercials at the time and it taught me a great deal about the industry. I found myself doing everything from making tea to collecting the various directors’ dry cleaning to taking rushes to Post Production houses at 2am. A runner’s job is 24/7 and if you can get through this stage without punching someone you have the potential to go far!

Jason working on a Volkswagen commercial.

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A couple of years later I went freelance and got a job as a 3rd and then 2nd Assistant Director working on everything from feature films (I was Carl Reiner’s assistant) to TV films like Poirot. I also began to work as a 1st Assistant Director on music videos and toured with some of the biggest bands in the world at the time from Guns N’ Roses to Queen. I was Freddie Mercury’s assistant for a while which was a lot of fun! He had a wicked sense of humour even though he knew he didn’t have much longer to live.

Making it on my own I’d been in the film business about eight years by this time and still desperately wanted to get a break as a director. I realised I had only one option which was to make a short film on my own terms. I made an observational piece shot on Super 8 in Barcelona about street life, edited it myself and put it to an emotive piece of music. Luckily the film struck a chord with people and I ended up selling it to MTV and the Barcelona Olympic committee. My fledgling career as a Director had begun.

The next three years were very difficult financially. It was the early 90s when interest rates had hit 15% and I had cobought a flat in Fulham with a University friend. We were nearly repossessed

multiple times and had to let out the property to pay off the bailiffs and the ridiculous mortgage payments. I was picking up the odd job as a Director, still working as a 1st Assistant Director to pay the bills but I’d begun to build a show reel and finally in early 1994 I got my first break. It was for a commercial that I shot in Namibia, for which I won my first advertising award.

A couple of months later my life changed as I managed to win the largest TV commercial campaign in the UK at the time. It was an 18-day shoot for Gatorade, which I filmed in Sydney, Australia. I literally went from sleeping on a friend’s floor in Notting Hill to buying a penthouse apartment in Little Venice in London in the space of three months. That same year I got nominated for the Best New Director award at Jason with Bjorn Borg and Yannick Noah for Peugeot commercial.

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Cannes and my directing career began to fly.

Branching out I realised that to stay relevant and to survive as a Director I needed to keep winning awards. Without awards your star wanes. I also wanted to branch out and direct music videos, which were considered hugely creative at the time.

My first music video was for a band called Electronic with Johnny Marr from the Smiths and Bernard Sumner from New Order. It was very controversial as it documented a band of thugs fighting and abusing their way around Soho. It got shown as a short film at Edinburgh Film Festival two years running. I have since Still of Conor McGregor from Jason’s recent UFC2 Commercial for EA Sports.

stay relevant and to survive as a Director I needed to keep winning awards ”

directed a number of music videos and am currently finishing the edit for Jamiroquai who’s returning with a new album and tour in 2017 after a five-year hiatus.

As I also wanted to direct feature films, I set up and became a partner in a US Production Company and moved my family to LA. My agent was CAA (Creative Artists Agency) who look after everyone from Brad Pitt to Spielberg and I’d pitched various films from London through them with limited success. They persuaded me to move as they felt I’d have more success being on the ground in LA. We rented a house in Malibu and I spent the next three years pitching films. The pitch process in LA is incredibly fraught with problems. How any films ever get made is a minor miracle. I was the favoured Director on three films that were supposedly ‘green lit’ only for them to fade into oblivion. It was a huge amount of work for no result. Also the financial crash of 2008/9 changed everything.

Suddenly the movie execs I’d been speaking to no longer had jobs. The industry shrunk by 50% almost overnight.

Commercial and Music Video Directors

became less desirable entities as the business went for the tried and tested Feature Directors.

Staying in the game During this time I decided I didn’t want to bring up my children in LA, especially after one day asking my seven-year-old son where he fancied going for Sunday lunch and he replied Nobu! That was enough for me! So in 2010 we moved back to the UK. Since then I’ve won another MOMA award for an Audi campaign, directed many TV commercials and in 2015 was commissioned by EA Sports to develop the script and direct the live action for the latest “Need for Speed” computer game.

The ambition was to seamlessly blend live action with computer generaged footage to create an immersive authentic experience where the player plays a role with real life characters in each scene.

After four months in script development, the shoot took place over two months in various locations around London.

I’ve recently completed a feature documentary “Cross Country” following acclaimed sculptor Jon Krawzyck across 18 states from LA to NYC with his 9/11 memorial sculpture strapped to the back of his pick up truck. Jon’s sculpture now proudly stands opposite Ground Zero, NYC. I often get asked what it takes to survive in the advertising, film and TV world and my answer is perseverance, dogged determination, recognising and taking the opportunities when they arise and never becoming complacent. You’re only ever as good as your last job! ! www.jasonsmithfilm.com Location photo from the Mars set shot in Capetown, South Africa.

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The next few years directing TV commercials were hugely enjoyable. I had the choice of pretty much whatever project I wanted in the UK and I was making good money. I was also working with a lot of celebrities, everyone from Tom Jones to Mike Tyson, which made life interesting. I began to win awards for my commercials, most notably at Cannes and the British Television Advertising awards. I still hadn’t worked in the US and my overriding goal was to direct a Nike campaign. At the time I felt they were the most creative commercials in the world. I pitched and lost out many times before finally winning a Nike baseball campaign.

It successfully aired in the US and I went on to direct another 8 campaigns for the sports brand. The final commercial won an Association of Independent Commercial Producers award, which is archived at MOMA (Museum Of Modern Art) in NYC. That same year I also won a D&AD (Design and Art Direction Award) for a British Army Campaign.

“ I realised that to

FEATURES

Designed in Cheltenham for New York Fashion Week

By Alison Campbell-Black (Current Prep Parent) As I arrived at the British Airways desk at Heathrow to check in the parcel, the lady behind the counter said “there must be something very precious in here, it's not often that a parcel gets a seat on Concorde”. I replied: “A hand knitted waistcoat and sweater.” Three of us had been working for 10 days and 10 nights straight to knit these garments and I was so exhausted, I probably didn’t give her any more detail.

It was at that moment that I realised that something I had created was so precious, this bundle of hand knitting had warranted its own seat on Concorde to New York.

Only 10 days prior, I had received a phone call from the Ralph Lauren Design Studio in New York. I had been designing a Russian inspired collection and they called to say that my designs had been chosen for the coveted blue label range at Ralph Lauren.

They asked if I would be interested in knitting the actual runway cardigan and waistcoat for the model to wear at New York Fashion Week. This was an exciting opportunity although the runway show was in New York in only 12 days time. This was a very important show, part of New York Fashion Week and attended by the world’s press and fashion buyers. I would have to pull out all the stops to make it happen.

My career at Ralph Lauren began nine years prior. I studied a Fashion Design and

Textiles degree at Cheltenham. As part of the final project we had to design and make a collection of six outfits which would be shown at a catwalk show at Claridges in London. There were costs involved beyond the means of each fashion student, so it was suggested that we find a sponsor.

My training was in the construction and manufacture of clothing, traditional tailoring skills used in casual clothing was my specialism. I was offered sponsorship with Sasha Kagan, who is famous for intricate intarsia hand knits. She offered me work experience, money towards the purchase of yarns and her expertise overseeing the production of my collection.

Consequently I was somewhat obliged to put six hand knit sweaters into my collection.

I needed knitters to make these sweaters as it can take hundreds of hours to knit a fine sweater, so I placed an advert with the WI, as I thought there’d be a few knitters amongst all those ladies. I had far more replies than I needed. I chose the 6 ladies geographically closest and worked with them to complete my collection.

Once I had completed my degree, I rented a rural studio in Worcestershire and set myself up as Alison Campbell Designer Knitwear. I bravely took a stand at ‘British Designers in Knitwear’ exhibition in London. I remember looking at my stand

Ralph Lauren Green label hand knitted silk ski jumpers by Alison Campbell-Black.

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with six jumpers stretched out on the white walls looking very minimalistic, alongside stands of big companies like Pringle and John Smedley, with shelves of sweaters in every conceivable colour.

The first order On the first afternoon I received a huge order from Paul Stuart in Japan, a prestigious designer clothing store. While I stood there wondering how on earth I was going to handknit so many jumpers with six knitters, two women approached and asked if I'd be interested in some freelance design work for an American company. I said I'd be interested, and changed that to delighted when she handed me her Ralph Lauren business card and so my nine year working relationship with Ralph Lauren began.

Within days enormous boxes of cashmere yarn from Brora in Scotland, Shetland yarn from the Shetland Isles and silk from Italy arrived at my studio. Together with design briefs, images for inspiration and other items in the collection which my designs needed to coordinate with. I was also given a list of 20 UK based handknitters with a note saying that they were now considered mine.

I designed the first garment, wrote the knitting pattern and made the first sample, I sent it off to New York for approval. To my relief they loved it and they sent back an

FLOREAT 2017

order for 120 pieces. This order consisted of precise size measurements, always a challenge in hand knitting.

I was launched into the minefield of managing a team of 26 homeworkers, all hand knitting at their own tensions, the tension is how tight you pull the yarn on the needles when knitting and directly affects the size of the finished garment.

Ironically the more tense a knitter is the tighter the tension and the smaller the garment. Relaxed knitters make good knitters. The more pressure I put them under the smaller the jumpers became!

Ralph Lauren had said that my first order of 120 pieces was a tiny part of a much larger production run and they would prefer it if I organised the entire UK hand knit production run. I could design the collection, write the patterns and knit as many as I wanted in the UK and the rest would be sent to various factories across the world for manufacture, with my patterns. They had an unsolved issue here, knitting patterns have many words and the foreign factories were misunderstanding some of the English directions and the resulting knitwear was inconsistent. I was tasked to solve the problem.

Opening the floodgates Knitting patterns are traditionally written in words and if numerous colours are being

This opened the floodgates for my business and, within a matter of weeks all the Ralph Lauren hand knits came through my studio.

I would write the pattern on my computer, then manufacture an initial production run of 200 pieces, iron out all the errors, then send the patterns abroad for full scale manufacture.

My team of knitters quickly expanded to over 200. I appointed team leaders in each town. One lady in each large town would manage 40 knitters within a 30 mile radius.

I would post 40 knitting packs to the team leader who would drive them to each knitter and then she would have to listen to the 40 chats and not me. My knitters consisted of elderly ladies, who were thrilled at the opportunity of work in retirement, young Mums who could knit while watching their children and disabled people, able to work from home.

The knitters made the individual pieces, a back, a front and a pair of sleeves. These then came back to us at the studio for quality control, hand sewing together, labelling and packing for shipment. We were processing hundreds of sweaters from our small studio. Sometimes we literally couldn't move for boxes of sweaters.

Ralph Lauren Runway show hand knitted Chenille Sweater by Alison Campbell-Black.

Once the runway shows at New York Fashion Week were over, my waistcoat was featured in Hello magazine and many other international fashion magazines. I went on from there to work on ski wear collections at Ralph Lauren, the uniform for the Americas Cup Sailing race, children’s wear and then I worked with the Ralph Lauren Home Interiors team. My last order from Ralph Lauren before all production moved to China was a collection of hand knitted indigo denim blankets and cushions for the home collection.

As I left for Heathrow Airport that day, I picked up an earlier voicemail on my mobile from the Ralph Lauren offices in New York, informing me that they had been forced to buy the knitwear a seat on Concorde in order to get them there in time and if I took my passport I was very welcome to come along with the knitwear on Concorde to the Ralph Lauren Blue Label Runway show in New York. Needless to say I didn’t have my passport. Now there’s a lesson in preparation.

Current Prep Parent Alison Campbell-Black has three sons, Noah in year 6, Monty in Year 3 and Rufus joins the Kingfisher Cottage this year. She is a Director of Nest Builders Cheltenham Ltd who specialise in extension and renovation of family homes.

Alison designs interiors from entire house schemes to kitchens and bathrooms, and has a reputation for great colour schemes, a skill undoubtedly learnt at Ralph Lauren. !

Labels and packaged jumpers.

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We photocopied the 26 patterns and packaged each one up with the required yarn. Two days later I received 26 phone calls. Each knitter asked some questions and then proceeded to tell me about their son’s wedding, their recent hip replacement etc. I felt like a counsellor at the end of that day and realised that I had to think of a different solution to manage these ladies.

used, then a piece of graph paper with coloured in squares would accompany the pattern. I had spent hours colouring in graph paper with very sharp pencil crayons, then colour photocopying them which was costly, I needed to find a faster solution. I managed to draw graph paper on my Apple Mac computer and then instruct the computer to fill each square with the chosen colour. I was then able to draw an entire sweater in graph paper negating the need for words and opening up the possibility of hand knitting in many different languages.

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Battlefields Trip & OC project 2016

By Jo Doidge-Harrison (Current Staff Member) 95 pupils, 8 staff, 5 countries… and 431 of our 675 fallen OCs now visited & honoured… just Rawalpindi, Delhi, Taukkyan, Basra, Gaza, Banjul and Bakundi, amongst others, still to go!

This October the Third Form picked up the OC baton once again, following on from Gallipoli 2015, by taking poppies and their independent research out to specific OC graves and memorials. Last year we stood knee deep in the Aegean and noted of our Gallipoli OCs that it beggared belief that they could survive the lofty Nek and Chunuk Bair… only to face the Somme in 1916.

Our first day began by rooting the onset of the Second World War in the First, at Croonaert Wood, where Hitler was wounded. The church basement where he was tended lies beside the Messines ridge, which is riddled with sappers’ attempts to advance the lines. One such Royal Engineer (Tunnelling Section) was Second Lieutenant Humphrey Braithwaite (BH, 1903), killed 10th July 1916 and buried at Ploegsteerte after time served in 1903 in College’s 1st XV and 1st VIII, before then mining in Brazil, India, and Newfoundland.

Starting at Croonaert gave us both a sense of trench perspective and a first encounter with a typical cemetery, Croonaert Chapel, where just 68 burials lie in ‘No Man’s Land’.

This set us up well for a spectacular contrast with Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth cemetery on the Western Front (see photo above). Two years ago we had not yet located every single OC. Peter Marstrand (S) was thus the first current Cheltonian to visit Andrew Fairbairn’s (S, 1910) actual grave at Tyne Cot, in amongst memorials to 38,537 in total.

Even more, 54,399, are remembered at the Menin Gate, with 44 Old Cheltonians amongst them. Here Victoria Brain (We), with Caitlin Brister (Q), left her plaque for Lieutenant William Percival Grieve (Ch, 1904), who had returned to Europe from ranching in Argentina, to volunteer in 1914 (see photo, above). His elder brother James (Ch, 1901) was killed at Arras in 1918, with a third brother, Charles (Ch, 1899) of the 58

Cameron Highlanders, dying in Cork immediately after the war. William’s own son was born, sadly, just over a month after his death, bore his name, and became a well-known QC and Tory politician until his retirement in the early 1980s. His grandson, Dominic, is also a QC and currently serves as the Chair of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee. One of the first to sign up, William had been in Belgium for less than a month when he died: as well as a sense of public service, we believe the current Rt. Hon. M.P. for Beaconsfield has also inherited his grandfather’s eyes!

The Somme was in misty and atmospheric form this year. At Beaumont Hamel we could just about see through the fog, the caribou looming above us, to get to the Danger Tree, feeling our way across the open terrain rather more safely than either the Canadian or British troops managed on the 1st July 1916. Also exposed out in ‘No Man’s Land’ on 1st July, just a field or two up the line to the north, was Captain Edward Matthey (Xt, 1911). We spotted his resting place first from the Sunken Lane, where men of his regiment famously were filmed laughing and joking as they waited to go ‘over the top’. The Lancashire Fusiliers Annual of 1916 gives this account of Matthey’s contribution: Lt. Colonel Magniac: “He was badly hit at 7.30 a.m., but nothing could be done till dark, when the whole of his Company volunteered to go out and find him. This was done under heavy fire for three nights.

We never found your son. He was only with the 1st Battalion about six weeks, but in that time he had shown us his worth. He endeared himself to his Company... He was one of the best officers I had: brave, hardworking, fearless, and … In him we have lost one of our best, but his example lives, and we who are left feel his loss deeply…” 1 A brother officer also wrote: “After the charge was over, I saw Matthey collect the

Clockwise from top: Tyne Cot; Paddy Stevens (BH, 1971); Caitlin Brister (Q) & Victoria Brain (We).

men together and charge again. They followed him splendidly. It was a magnificent thing to do; but he never came back.”2 Edward Matthey was just 23 when he died. At Redan Ridge he is surrounded by the men of his company, all the headstones close together, with many, including Matthey’s, being shared graves, and all bearing the same date: 1st July 1916.

Lutyens’ massive Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is rather different, bearing 72,246 names in total, and with 27 OCs. Here we revisited the Woollatt brothers, Claud (Xt, 1903) and Philip (Xt, 1912), of whom three fought and only one survived. Philip featured recently in a Guardian story, as his final will and testament was one of ten being released by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service: “A game of noughts and crosses and a will leaving a collection of Sir Walter Scott books to his best friend and the rest of his possessions to his mother was all that was found of Philip Woollatt. The first world war soldier’s pocket book – containing the informal will that all servicemen carried – was found furrowed by a bullet after a battle in July 1916 in which it is presumed the 21-yearold died”.3 At Thiepval we also found family members for Archie Faskin (H) – Private Alexander Faskin of the Gordon Highlanders, killed in November 1916 – and for Joe Murphy (L), who went rather quiet (for a bit!) on seeing his great-great-uncle’s name, Lt. Col. Maurice Nicholl Kennard, at the very head of lists running panel after panel around one of the central pillars, as Senior Commanding Officer of the West Yorkshires

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Top row, left to right: H Braithwaite (NH, 1903), A Fairbairn (S, 1910), WP Grieve (Ch, 1904), E Matthey (Xt, 1911), C Woollatt (Xt, 1903), P Woollatt (Xt, 1912), G Cope (Ch, 1914), E Crooke (DB, 1909).

Bottom row, left to right: W Trimmer (L, 1914), C Lowry (S, 1915), R Mather (DB, 1912), E Mather (DB, 1909), JK Mather (DB, 1908), J Hunt (Xt, 1913), D Scott (H, 1914), E Coren (S, 1911). Right: GA Lloyd (Xt, 1906).

Two OCs on the Thiepval arch died very close to the vast Lochnagar crater. Many more OCs fought in the 1916-18 battles around these fields. La Boisselle is where one of the huge mines went off in the early morning of July 1st, being famously audible in London, and 18 year old George Cope (Ch, 1914), remembered by Charles Hellens (L), also died on the bloody first day of the Somme. Rory Southall (BH) honoured Elliott Crooke (DB, 1909), of Oxford University, whose younger brother Hugh (DB, 1914) also lies nearby. A third Crooke brother, Roland (DB, 1907) was wounded at Gallipoli. Only a fourth, Richard, was too young to serve, going on to Merton, Oxford as the sole remaining child of Dr. William Crooke of the Bengal Civil Service. Respects paid, Mr. Evans (representing the Tommies) and Mr. Morton (a.k.a. Fritz), donned the appropriate helmets fully to enjoy their egg baguettes in the Old Blighty Tea Rooms in the village.

Just across the fields, on the main AlbertBapaume road, is the 1918 Pozieres Memorial where 8 OCs are named, and one, William Trimmer (L, 1914) is buried there.

Here Simon Oates (Xt) found Cyril Lowry (S,

1915): the third of the Lowry family (all Southwood boys) to be visited by pupils, with Auriol (S, 1910) lying beside 11,403 French graves at La Targette, and the eldest, Harper (DB, 1906), over in Gallipoli. Auriol was awarded a DSO for leading “counterattacks against overwhelming odds... and, finally, when surrounded on all sides, [for cutting] his way out, being personally the last to cover the withdrawal. He was overpowered and captured, but during the night escaped from his escort and made his way back across many miles at the greatest personal risk. His fortitude and indomitable courage throughout a memorable 12 days were beyond all praise.” Such spirit was all the more remarkable in that Auriol’s actions took place the day after Cyril had died in the same 1918 battle and it was reported that Auriol was in sight of Cyril when he was killed. Cyril was only 20. Auriol clearly made it through the next day alive - but only survived another six months. Pozieres also records one of our three Mather brothers, Robert (DB, 1912) - Ellis’ (DB, 1909) name is at Thiepval, and John (DB, 1908) Kearsley’s is on the Menin Gate.

A final new cemetery for Cheltonians was Flat Iron Copse, a very beautiful 1916 site in the heart of the Somme. The track has only just been tarmacked to allow visits by coach and the valley was the main supply route during attempts to advance the line at High Wood. We have two OCs here: Lieutenant James Hunt (Xt, 1913) and Second Lieutenant Desmond Scott (H, 1914). Dogged ongoing research by a fellow OC, Paddy Stevens (BH, 1971), at the National Archives in Kew, recently turned up a poignant list of Scott’s personal effects as found on him when he died, aged 19: “a prismatic compass, knife, fountain pen case containing 3 watches and chain, 1 wrist watch (glass broken), flask, prayer book, 4 pipes, tobacco pouch, 2 cigarette cases, 2

cigarette holders, lighter, silver pencil, and whistle”. Paddy has noted how these represent the very typical accoutrements of a privately educated member of the officer class. The pupils turned mine-sweepers in Death Valley, fascinated to find other war ‘accoutrements’ amongst the ‘iron harvest’, including a bale of German wire.

Bedford House was to have been another new visit (it is a stunning cemetery) yet it sadly eluded us: the rapidly rising autumn gloaming snagged us in Ypres. Thus on the last day we had a formal handover of Jude Bridge’s (S) excellent work on Second Lieutenant Edward Coren (S, 1911), to our deeply knowledgeable guide Tony, of Rifleman Tours, who returned to Bedford House with Jude’s work the day after the Armistice celebrations to lay the plaque, along with Anna Forde’s (Cha) work on Gerald Aylmer Lloyd (Xt, 1906), in which she links Gerald by blood back to Edward III. Edward Coren was a prefect, a rugby player, and bowled for the 1910 XI, featuring in Wisden on the Great War: The Lives of Cricket's Fallen 1914-1918. Tony’s groups have really enjoyed coming across our ‘plaques’ in the past: they last on average a good six to nine months after our initial visit, and the pupils’ research is met with real interest by other groups, sometimes as soon as the plaques are laid.

The Third Form have certainly done the OCs proud this year in paying their respects through both the quality of their work, and their overall engagement on the trip. ■ 1 http://lib.militaryarchive.co.uk/library/infantryhistories/library/The-Lancashire-Fusiliers-Annual-1916 2 www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/26/firstworld-war-soldiers-wills-last-wishes-revealed accessed August 2016 3 Everard Wyrell, The West Yorkshire Regiment in the War 1914-1918 4 Portsmouth News, 6th November 2013

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(and Old Radleian). Kennard was also killed in the ‘Big Push’ of 1st July, leading the Bradford Pals up a particularly deadly slope into ‘No Man’s Land’, just a bit further north, at Serre. He was memorably reported in the regimental history: “Almost everyone dropped flat on their stomachs to escape this murderous scythe, except their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel M.N. Kennard. Standing calm and erect amid the crack and whine of bullets and carrying only a walking stick he called out ‘come on boys, up you get’, turned and began to walk at an easy gait towards the enemy. The Battalion rose to their feet and followed him…”4

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OC Lectures & Careers Talks

By Sebastian Bullock (Deputy Development Director) It has been an exceptional year of talks, lectures, interviews, meetings and cultivating entrepreneurial spirit: with careers talks ranging from Architecture to Zero Carbon Energy, and a Mini MBA Programme launched as well. OCs have contributed more than ever over the past year to the College’s careers and work experience programmes, with even more planned for 2017.

The first House careers talk of the year took place in January when Nigel Dancey (BH, 1983) delivered an inspiring presentation in Boyne House about his work as one of the Senior Executive Partners at Fosters + Partners. Following on from this, a small group of Lower Sixth Students and Sophie Wilkinson (We, 2013) were treated to a tour of the Foster + Partners Studios in London during the Easter holiday. Sophie was also successful in gaining a week of work experience – see her write up below.

In March College was struck by an outbreak of flu, with nearly 1/3 of students affected at one stage. As a result, all events involving other schools or outside guests had to be cancelled. Sadly this meant that Damian Turner (NH, 1990) (see Floreat 15) could not come and give his Upper College Lecture.

By the end of term the flu outbreak had subsided and Sofia Fominova (We, 2008) came back to ‘new’ Westal to talk about her latest start up ‘Mealz’ – a healthy eating platform, where people can discover and share recipes from favourite chefs and nutritionists. Perhaps we should have invited Sofia back at the beginning of term!

The Summer term concluded with a unique opportunity for College students, and other invited local students. Mike Smith OBE (L, 1975), who recently retired as CEO of ANZ Bank was questioned by a panel of four College students about his banking career and the challenges facing the industry.

My Work Experience at Foster + Partners

By Sophie Wilkinson (We, 2013) My first day at Foster + Partners was an induction with Senior Partner Andy Bow. The informal feel ensured that everyone felt relaxed and made for an enjoyable day. This was not only for week placements but for new full time employees as well. Andy gave a brief overview of some of Fosters main projects in the past and some of the ones that they are currently working on. He spoke about the ethos of Fosters in terms of “conception to completion”. As well as this he spoke about questioning the ordinary. In design some things are taken as given and often have to be designed around. At Fosters they really strip back to the basics to question what is accepted. An example of this is that they designed their own lightbulb for a project after problems of hot surfaces arose. I really like this aspect of Fosters and think that this has been the thing that has stuck in my mind most from my placement. My placement was in Studio 6 which is overseen by Senior Executive Partner and OC, Nigel Dancey (BH, 1983). I worked alongside three other members of Nigel’s team on a project for Hankook Tyre’s new headquarters in Korea.

A unique feature of Fosters is that they can have specialist departments alongside their 60

6 design studios. As the architect you liaise between all the departments within the company. Right from the outset architects work alongside structural and environmental engineers as well as the other in-house specialists. Two members of the team for Hankook’s headquarters and myself met with an environmental engineer. We were discussing fundamental design features and how to best ensure the building would be ventilated and light without experiencing a greenhouse effect from the glass facade. This involved lots of freehand sketching.

OC entrepreneurs with Touker Suleyman.

Entrepreneurship As well as talks and events at College, OC careers networking is happening through social media and direct contact between OCs and College parents. For example, a group of seven OC entrepreneurs were invited to meet with current parent Touker Suleyman at his headquarters in London to discuss their business ideas. They received some tailored advice and in some cases, follow up meetings with Touker. At the beginning of the academic year, Touker delivered the first Upper College Lecture, inspiring current students with his own personal story of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. The second lecture was by Juliet Davenport, who spoke passionately about her company ‘Good Energy’ and the issues that need to be addressed with regard to the future of power generation.

Foster + Partners has been voted the most admired architectural practice, by BD World Architecture 100, eight times in a row. I can certainly see why. They don't just design admirable buildings, the practice itself is an admirable place to work. ■

The College’s own, and indeed one of the first in any school, Mini MBA Programme was launched in September. Simon Sole (L, 1978) gave the initial talk to the group of 15 Lower Sixth students. The course which provides an overview of the skills required to set up and run a successful business, culminates at the end of the Spring term, when the students will present their business plans to a panel of judges. A cash prize has kindly been donated, which will also serve as start-up capital for the winning team. Two other OC entrepreneurs, Harry Cragoe (W, 1983) and Richard Hine (H, 2011) also contributed to the course, giving talks about their entrepreneurial journeys, with others due next term.

Nigel Dancey (BH, 1983) & Sophie Wilkinson (We, 2013).

To conclude a busy year of careers related events, former Head of College Alex Orme (BH, 1995), alongside Toby Orr (L, 1995) and Tom Robinson (L, 1995) gave a wideranging talk to a packed audience in Boyne House about their careers in renewable energy, financial services and corporate communications, providing plenty of advice and anecdotes, as well as fuelling aspirations. ■

FLOREAT 2017

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

Extraordinary General Meeting NOTICE is hereby given that there will be an Extraordinary General meeting of the current Cheltonian Society at College on Saturday 22 April 2017.

Please refer to the Cheltonian Association and Society website for the Agenda in due course.

Awards The Society, in conjunction with the Trustees of the Cheltonian Endowment Trust, were pleased to make Travel Awards (to the Lower Sixth) to enable: • India Blake (Q) to travel to Tanzania with Operation Raleigh and work in an Early Childhood Development Centre (ECDC).

• Aiko Fukudu (Cha) & Alena Gorb (A) to attend a summer course at Cambridge University for students who hope to study Natural Sciences.

• Will Hardy (S) to travel to Taiwan to undertake two weeks of intensive Mandarin lessons.

• Emily Lowde (Q) to travel to Tanzania with Gap Medics and work in dental practices in deprived areas.

As the President of the Association mentioned in his letter, there are many OCs and representatives of the whole College community who are a little confused as to the exact role of the Society and the Association. The organisations have worked very well together over the past few years.

College has really reached out to Old Cheltonians and has welcomed the key role that they play in the life of the school.

Following positive discussions within the Executive Committee of the Cheltonian Society, the President of the Cheltonian Society spoke with the Headmaster, the President of the Association and other interested parties about the possibility of a merger between the two organisations. All agreed it is the right way forward. The proposal was put to the AGM of the Cheltonian Society in October 2016, and it was agreed unanimously that The Cheltonian Society and Association be merged into one body, called the Cheltonian Society. Malcolm Sloan, as OC • Fergus McNeile (NH) to travel to Tanzania with Gap Medics and gain medical work experience.

• Kiana McDonald (We) to travel to Argentina to combine an intensive Spanish learning programme along with a voluntary community care programme.

• Finn Milton (Xt) to travel to Tanzania with Gap Medics and gain medical work experience.

• Tara Percival (Cha) to travel to Nepal to work in a 'multi-speciality' hospital and attend lectures at the local teaching hospital.

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

Administrator, will continue to have an important role to play.

The Old Cheltonians on the new advisory committee will retain executive control over the awarding of the OC tie, all OC funds currently held by the Cheltonian Society and the granting of funds to the OC societies and sports clubs and The President of the new group will continue to have a seat on the College Council. There is work still to be done and, having announced the move towards a proposed merger in this magazine, the plan is to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Cheltonian Society on Saturday 22 April 2017 to amend the current Cheltonian Society’s rules (see notice at left). If any Old Cheltonians would like more information beforehand please contact either Malcolm Sloan, OC Administrator, on 01242 265664, m.sloan@cheltenhamcollege.org or Robin Badham-Thornhill, robinbadhamthornhill@googlemail.com.

Information will be on the website as well.

It remains for me to thank all members of the Cheltonian Society Executive Committee and Malcolm Sloan for all their efforts in the course of the year as well as the Association team mentioned above.

Robin Badham-Thornhill (H, 1973 & Housemaster BH, 1985-93) Cheltonian Society Fund and the Sir John Dill Fund to make a larger and more effective charitable fund.

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 financial support, as well as for younger OCs to become trustees. To learn more, please get in touch with me through Malcolm Sloan, the OC Administrator.

Paul Arengo-Jones, Chairman (BH, 1962) 61

OC SOCIETY

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)

2016 was a very busy year with the 175th Anniversary celebrations. All these events, and many others, were all masterminded and organised superbly by the Association Manager Rebecca Creed and her team. You can read about the exploits of the OC sports clubs, and the particular successes of OC racket players, on pages 64-67.

OC SOCIETY

Travel Award to Nepal

By Tara Percival (U6th, Cha) During the summer, I was extremely fortunate to spend two weeks in Nepal, supported by a most generous travel award from the Cheltonian Endowment Trust (CET).

Having decided last year that I want to study Medicine, I knew that gaining an insight into Healthcare Services in a third world country would expose me to a variety of medical practices and conditions that may not be as common in the UK. Along with Mr Faulkner’s very helpful recommendation, I chose Nepal especially because I was also curious to see the progress made to repair the damage caused by the earthquakes in April and May 2015. Additionally, I wanted to understand the impact this disaster had on both the welfare of the population and the country’s infrastructure. My expedition was arranged through ‘Projects Abroad’, a company specialising in career-experience travel for 16-19 year olds.

After 14 hours of travelling to Kathmandu via Doha, Qatar, I was greeted by extreme humidity and heat, something I would have to get used to over the next two weeks! I would spend my experience with a global mix of people, all of a similar age to me.

Embarking on a gruelling 8-hour minibus journey along a single road riddled with potholes, and partly obstructed by recent landslides, we arrived at the rural town of Chitwan, our ‘base camp’ on the Nepali rugged terrain. Our accommodation (a hotel) was extremely safe and had one of the few pools in the town!

Although significantly smaller than Kathmandu, Chitwan has many hospitals and medical colleges, ideal for my educational visit. Once divided into 5 groups, my group of four visited Chitwan’s Eye and Cancer hospitals and a tiny family planning centre. All three placements provided raw experiences (organs, dissections, educational autopsies), the most moving for me being at the Cancer Hospital. My friend and I were based in a small outpatients room, where dressings were constantly being changed and wounds cleaned. A young girl, no older than 10, then entered with a dressing on her neck. As the bandages were peeled 62

away, what I saw next unsettled me: a bulbous tennis ball-sized tumour protruding from beneath her hair. She didn’t seem to be in pain, but the fact was that she had to suffer with this progressing cancerous mass on her body because surgery was too costly for her family to pay. Despite having this condition, the girl still smiled and taught my friend and I how to count to 10 in Nepali, which I still remember today!

Situations like this I know I will have to come to terms with, and this exposure has cemented my commitment to a career in Medicine.

Not every placement was gruesome or upsetting; many were uplifting. Outside Chitwan we visited the ‘Myceum International Model School’ and taught children how to brush their teeth properly to prevent tooth decay. This was one of my favourite community placements, as the children were so eager to learn and in return they taught me essential phrases such as ‘drinking water’ and ‘hot’! We visited a home for Chitwan’s elderly, located next to a confluence of two rivers. It was a very tranquil site, with little traffic noise to be heard and lots of overgrown trees and flowers. It was an extremely special place, reliant on donations of food and clothing, for people over 70 years old to live until they pass away. Thereafter a traditional ritual of burning the deceased’s body takes place on the beach next to the river.

Generous culture Throughout, we were immersed in Nepal’s traditions and its predominant religions Buddhism and Hinduism. We spent 3 days at Pokhara, and very early one day we climbed to Sarangkot Viewpoint to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful, with one side overlooking the city of Pokhara with its large Lake Phewa, and the other the Annapurna Region. In Kathamdu, we visited the Bouddhanath Stupa, one of the largest Buddhist temples partly demolished by the earthquakes. Regardless, it remains a magnificent landmark.

The generous CET travel award opened my eyes to third world medicine and an

unfamiliar culture. Living in England and studying at College, it is too easy to forget how fortunate we are. For many people, basic medical care is not accessible or affordable.

As is often the case, those with nothing are the most generous in their friendship and warmth – this encapsulates the Nepalese. I hope to return to Nepal one day and provide such a service for others who are less fortunate than myself, an ambition, which has further fuelled my desire to become a doctor. I thoroughly recommend that anyone who is considering applying for the Travel Award during Lower 6th does so and that they make the most of a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Dhanyabad CET – thank you. ■

FLOREAT 2017

Travel Award to Córdoba, Argentina – Summer 2016

By Kiana McDonald (U6th, We) On Saturday 16th July, I began my three flights, 7,500 mile marathon journey from Cheltenham to Córdoba (Argentina). I set off from Heathrow and made my way to São Paolo in Brazil. After my 11 hour flight I then boarded my second flight to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. Although extremely tired, I finally completed the third and final flight of my journey, arriving at Córdoba some 26 hours after leaving Heathrow.

A Positive Influence Every afternoon kids from all over the neighbourhood would come to the building where we provided activities and snacks for them. Having had the Spanish lessons in the morning we were then able to constantly practice speaking in Spanish with both the children and our host mum.

During my time working with the children I was able to get a real understanding of their living conditions and family backgrounds. For example, one day some brothers who regularly came to the placement had been badly behaved. However, we weren’t able to talk to their parents about their behaviour as the brothers came from a family of thieves, and we were told that they were too dangerous to talk to.

We did many activities with the children including teaching them some English, artwork and trips to the park which provided them with a really positive influence and I was proud to be a part of it.

Weekend Trips During my Spanish lessons I learnt both grammatical and general conversational skills. My teacher, Romina, also taught us about the Argentine culture and traditions such as Maté. This is a type of tea-like drink that is part of their tradition of sharing. Usually in a group of people a Maté cup would be passed around with a Bombilla (straw) in it to drink from. At the weekends we joined up with the other volunteers from the medicine and human rights courses and learnt more about the culture. The first weekend all 31 volunteers went to the house of Che Guevara in Alta Gracia. Che was a revolutionary physician, diplomat, author and military theorist and a very famous Argentinian. Other weekend trips were hiking on two occasions, one to an old German built village and the other to a beautiful waterfall. We also visited a ranch in the countryside a long way from the city where we learnt how farmers tend to their agricultural duties.

Finally I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the Cheltonian Endowment Trust for their generous donation without which I would never have had such an inspiring and truly incredible experience! ■ 63

OC SOCIETY

Córdoba a city in the province of the same name was where I stayed for 4 weeks with a host mum called Silvia and 6 other girls, 2 others on the same programme as me (ie. Spanish and Care) and 4 doing a course on human rights. I had a co-ordinator called Juan who escorted me everywhere, into the city, to our placement and to the Projects Abroads office where I had Spanish lessons every morning from 9-11am.

Every afternoon Juan, Emily, Katy and myself would leave our house at about 1:30pm to go to our placement and return for around 6ish. Our placement was at a building called Copa De Leche located in the middle of an extremely poor, rough and dangerous neighbourhood. Every day we had to be escorted to our placement all the way

from the bus stop to Copa De Leche. This was a completely different experience to anything I’ve ever done before!

OC SPORTS

Old Cheltonians Second Offshore Sailing Regatta: The Arrow Trophy 2016 By Andrew Gossage (H, 1981) Andrew Gossage (H, 1981) Skipper Nigel Powell (BH, 1979) Helm Andrew Kenyon (BH, 1979) Main Henry Garthwaite (BH, 1985) Cockpit Alastair McRobert (NH, 2009) Cockpit Mark Glowrey (BH, 1981) Cockpit Buoyed up by a successful first outing in 2015, the crew headed over to Cowes for a second entry into the Arrow Trophy Regatta for former pupils of independent schools on 1st and 2nd October. The full article can be read in the sailing section of OC Sports on the Association website.

After a monumental thunderstorm, Saturday started with light airs but increased to a spike of Force 10 (51 knots) by mid afternoon. The fleet of 24 competed in 3 windward leeward races on Saturday and a further 2 races on Sunday.

Cheltenham finished a disappointing 20th in the first race. During the second race a massive squall hit the fleet, knocking flat 4 boats that had spinnakers up. Winchester’s mast broke and they retired unhurt.

Cheltenham finished 12th after a poor start with headsail problems; nevertheless it was a much better result.

Still having problems with the headsail furling and 31 to 37 kts on the dials we started the 3rd race. After another not so good start we completed the 2 laps of race 3 in a mixture of horizontal rain, howling wind and glorious sunshine as the squalls came through. We finished in 15th place and a close race to the line with Radley, who finished 14th.

Paul Koch (H, 1981) David Miller (L, 2005) James Dallas (L, 1994) Toby Francis (NH, 2009) Jack Forrester (BH, 2015) Eoin Hughes (S, 2015)

Pit Nav Foredeck Boss Mast Bow Bow

On returning to port Cheltenham suffered a broken forestay as we attempted to sort out the headsail. Very quick action on the foredeck secured the spinnaker halyards to the bow and turning down wind we dropped the mainsail, averting the chance of the mast coming down on top of us.

That finished our regatta. We motored back to Cowes slightly disheartened but safe after an eventful day’s racing.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) laid on an excellent dinner and the Cheltenham table was still in place at 01:00 Sunday morning; everyone else having moved off.

Cheltenham finished 20th out of 24 crews, despite not racing on Sunday. We are very grateful to the Cheltonian Society for their grant, and to the Arrow Trophy committee and the RORC race committee, and of course to Sunsail Port Solent, for an exhilarating regatta on Saturday. Next year we will try to race both days!

If you want to crew on the boat next year then do get in touch via the Association & Society facebook or website, or via the Association office at College. Toby Francis and Alastair McRobert have very kindly agreed to take on organising the Cheltenham crew next year. ■

Standing: Andrew Kenyon, Jack Forrester, James Dallas, Toby Francis, Eoin Hughes, Nigel Powell. Sitting: Henry Garthwaite, David Miller, Andrew Gossage, Paul Koch, Mark Glowrey, Alastair McRobert 64

Chasing down the wind; Skipper Andrew Gossage makes a judgement call

The cockpit crew enjoying a brief respite on a windward leg

On the rail as the weather closes in

Relief! Back alongside with a broken forestay and a beer in hand

FLOREAT 2017

OC Rackets

By Mark Briers (Current Staff Member) The 16th Old Cheltonian Gold Racket weekend took place from Friday 11th to Sunday 13th March, 2016. The weekend began slightly differently this year with another first. On Friday, we had the privilege of a rackets master class from the Ladies’ World Champion Lea Van der Zwalmen. She gave a fantastic lesson and insight into the game. The College senior girls played doubles alongside her, which we hope gave them confidence and encouragement in what is already a growing sport amongst the girls.

Saturday and the tournament began in earnest once again proving what is regarded as one of the season’s major weekends outside the main blue ribbon tournaments. Sixteen pairs, consisting an OC partnering a non OC and for the first time a mixed pair with Adrian Montagu (H, 2014) partnered up with Lea Van der Zwalmen (Clifton). A high standard of Rackets was played throughout Saturday from first match on at 9.30am through to 7.30pm where Sunday’s finalists were determined.

of Karl and the common room along with Tom Barton (L, 2011) who had kindly researched and put together the list of OC winners for the new boards that have been placed on the staircase at the court.

Nick James (BH, 2006), speaking on behalf of the OCs, talked about the Rackets season and how the Old Cheltonains had dominated the tournaments. He and Ben Snell (L, 2002) secured The Noel Bruce cup for the first time in 86 years. Richard Owen (L, 2011) won the Invitational singles. Alex Duncliffe-Vines (NH, 2013) lost to Richard Owen in the Manchester Gold Racket singles but won the doubles with Nick James against George Sandbach (NH, 2011) & Richard Owen in an all OC final. U21 &

U24 successes also and not to forget Jamie Stout (H, 2002) who retained the World Singles Championship in November along with the British Open.

A fabulous, raucous and funny dinner was followed by the usual trip in to town and Cheltenham’s nightspots to the wee hours!

Sunday morning, somewhat bleary eyed, saw two plate semi-finals and final. Rory Musgrave (L, 2009) with Louis Winstanley (Rugby) won the Plate Trophy. Tom Floyd (Xt, 2005) presented the plate trophy on behalf of the Floyd family who had generously donated it.

The OC Gold Racket final saw a closely fought match between Graeme Tyndall (H, 2000) and Tom Billings (Haileybury) versus Ben Snell (L, 2002) and James Coyne (Wellington). Three of the world’s top eight kept an enthusiastic and full balcony crowd thoroughly entertained and was deservedly won by Snell & Coyne 2-0.

Karl Cook presented the OC Gold Racket trophy to the victorious pair. It seemed a fitting end for Ben Snell who was changing career from Queen’s Club Head Rackets Professional to teaching at Sandroyd Prep School. His name finally on the OC winners’ board.

Martha Elliott (L6th, We), Millie Broom (U6th, We), India Deakin (5th Form, We), Lea van Der Zwalmen (World Champion), Tabitha Burt (L6th, A), India Blake (U6, Q), Georgie Baillie Hamilton (L6th, Q) & Rose Jones (L6th, Q)

With the Ladies’ World Champion accompanied by no less than six players in the World Top Ten at this year’s event - we look forward to the 17th Gold Racket this year, 10th – 12th March. ■ 65

OC SPORTS

Saturday night’s black tie dinner was a chance to slow down from the frenetic day’s play and catch up with OCs about old and new times. Players, partners and guests were treated to yet another amusing James Coyne speech who responded on behalf of the non OCs to Karl Cook (Master in charge). I particularly thanked the support

Nick James (BH, 2006, Public Schools Old Boys’ Doubles Champion & US Open Singles Trophy), Richard Owen (L, 2011, British Invitational Singles Champion, British Amateur Doubles Champion, and Manchester Gold Rackets Champion) Current Staff Member Mark Briers with The World Championship Trophy and Ben Snell (L, 2002, British Professionals Champion and Public Schools Old Boys’ Doubles Champion)

OC SPORTS

The Old Cheltonian Golf Society

By Simon Collyer-Bristow (BH, 1977) Highlights of the year for the Old Cheltonian Golfing Society (OCGS) were the inaugural Cheltonian Golf Day and some remarkable scoring at the Autumn Meeting.

The Cheltonian Golf Day was played at Minchinhampton GC near Stroud in super weather. OCs, spouses, parents and friends enjoyed 18 holes of golf followed by dinner. The individual winner was Henry Keeling (Xt, 2006) on an excellent score of 37 stableford points with other prizes well spread amongst the field. The number of players was lower than hoped for but it is planned to move the event away from the peak holiday season in 2017 to attract more entries.

The Autumn Meeting at Huntercombe GC is the major event in the OCGS calendar and the quality of golf did not disappoint.

Simon Eaton (BH, 1980) won the individual Lysaght Cup with a remarkable 43 stableford points. The Miller Hip scratch trophy was won by John Watts (Th, 1968) with a gross 74. But perhaps the round of the day was a gross 75 by Jeremy Caplan (Xt ,1959), just one month short of his 75th birthday, which captured the Young Cup. Other silverware was won by Jack

Arundell (NH, 2012), James Tucker (NH, 1985) and Christopher Griffith-Jones (Th, 1963). Simon Eaton won the Jumbo Trophy for the best aggregate score on the day. Four College boys participated and the Prospect Cup for the best College golfer was won by Jamie Orme (U6th, S).

Elsewhere OCGS results were mixed. The Halford Hewitt team won their first round match against King Edward’s Birmingham but were then well beaten by Radley who went on all the way to the final. Our thanks to Peter Richards (Xt, 1988) who has captained the Halford Hewitt team for 10 years and is succeeded by Andrew

Matches were won against the Old Wellingtonians and Old Shirburnians (thus retaining the Peter Currie Cup) with losses to the Old Radleians and Old Decanians. The match against the Old Marlburians was halved enabling us to retain the Peter Gale Salver. The match against College has been moved into 2017. ■

The OCGS is open to Old Cheltonian golfers of all standards and both sexes and has a varied fixture list of elite and friendly matches including participation in all the major public school old pupils’ tournaments. It is not necessary to have an official CONGU handicap to play in OCGS matches and events. Membership includes all age groups from recent leavers through to those well into retirement. The Society is very keen to encourage younger OC golfers and subsidises Under 25 year olds who represent the Society in OCGS teams or play in other fixtures. The major event of the year is the Autumn Meeting at Huntercombe GC. OCGS golf is played all over England on many outstanding golf courses with a good balance of elite scratch singles and pairs competitions and the camaraderie of more social and relaxed golf played off handicap against other old school societies. There will again be a full list of fixtures in 2017 and details can be found on the Association and Society website.

Max Arthur (L, 2010), Hugo Snell (L, 2010), Will Unwin (S, 2010) & Alex Pickard (H, 2010) on the 1st tee at the Cheltonian Golf Day 66

Morris (Xt, 1992). Cheltenham did not qualify for the Grafton Morrish finals. The Mellin Salver and Peter Burles teams for senior golfers both got through one round before being beaten by strong Oundle teams. For the first time the OCGS team was not amongst the leaders in the annual Harris Cup for Welsh and West of England schools. We fielded a full team of foursome pairs for the Public Schools’ Midland Meeting event played at Little Aston GC.

Cheltonian Golf Day Individual Winner Henry Keeling (OJ & Xt, 2006)

FLOREAT 2017

OC Hockey

By Gwyn Williams (Head of Hockey)

On Sunday 23rd October a team of OCs entered the Dean Close Old Girls’ 6s tournament. The following schools were competing: Bloxham, Bromsgrove, Cheltenham College, Framlington, Haileybury, King Henry VIII (Coventry), Malvern College, Pangbourne, Queens College Taunton, Rendcomb College, Sedbergh School, Sherbourne, St Edwards (Oxford) and Dean Close.

The event was organised by Pip Mitchell (A, 2008) who also led the team. Due to a late drop out the OC team played without a goalkeeper as the rules stipulated that a player could not be ‘borrowed’ from another team! Despite this the OCs had a great start with a win over Bromsgrove, and in true Cheltonian spirit the girls played on and did fantastically well in their remaining games unfortunately losing to Dean Close and Teddies, Oxford. In their last pool game the girls came back from 3-0 down against Pangbourne to draw 3-3.

This will now become an annual event for the OC hockey calendar, please contact Gwyn Williams, g.williams@cheltenhamcollege.org if you are interested in playing. ■

OC Cricket

Georgie Blumer (Cha, 2016), Yvie Seville (Cha, 2016), Jamie Chadwick (Cha, 2016), Pip Mitchell (A, 2008) & Robyn Stovold (Q, 2011)

Due to an outbreak of Flu at College the 2016 OC Boys’ Hockey Day had to be cancelled. The date for 2017 is 25th February so please do get in touch with Gwyn Williams, g.williams@cheltenhamcollege.org to register your interest.

By Chris Sandbach (NH, 2004)

However a quick fire opening partnership from the Tonbridge openers was the pivotal moment of the game and despite George Brooksbank's (L, 1999) economical bowling figures after

OC SPORTS

With a tough draw against Tonbridge in the first round of the Cricketer Cup and many regular players missing, it was always going to be a difficult challenge on June 12th. With a reduced game due to poor weather, OCs batted first and scored a competitive 175 for 8 off their 25 allocated overs. This was largely due to a fantastic innings from Tom Richardson (Xt, 1998) who blasted his way to 63 not out batting at No 8. Other useful contributions from George Sandbach (NH, 2016) at the start of the innings and George Key (H, 2015) later on meant confidence was high at the interval.

the initial breakthrough, Tonbridge showed their quality and firepower and secured the victory with 2 and a half overs to spare. A frustrating second half of the match meant our Cricketer Cup ambitions had to be put on hold for another year. However, I very much look forward to leading the side again in 2017 where we have drawn Old Marlburians away on Sunday, June 11th. If anyone is in the area, your support would be appreciated!

Prior to the Cricketer Cup 1st round, the OCs had a competitive fixture against St Edward's Martyrs. Martyrs posted 250 and although Oli Thornley (NH, 2012) impressed with the bat, scoring a half century, OCs fell short of the target on what was an enjoyable day in Oxford. ■ 67

EVENTS CALENDAR

Cheltonian Association & Society Events The 2017 Calendar – Dates For Your Diary 9th February London Drinks at The Oyster Shed

Join us from 6pm at The Oyster Shed, Angel Lane, London, EC4R 3AB. We look forward to seeing you.

10th – 12th March OC Rackets Weekend

All OC racket players are welcome to play, and all Association Members are welcome to spectate. If you would like to take part or require further information, please contact Charlie Liverton, charlieliverton@btinternet.com or Karl Cook, k.cook@cheltenhamcollege.org 14th March Cheltenham At The Races – SOLD OUT

6th May The Southwest Luncheon

Ian Moody (Ch, 1946) once again opens the doors to his home Queen Anne House, Lympstone, Devon, to all those living in the Southwest. Guests are asked to make a contribution to a buffet luncheon and pay £5 per head for drinks.

Invitations will be sent shortly. Please contact Ian on 01395 263189 or ian@moody2.eclipse.co.uk 3rd June Candlelit Opera Gala Evening

Bring along a picnic, family and friends and enjoy a candlelit opera gala evening on College Field performed by Britain's leading outdoor touring Opera Company, Opera Brava. With World Class singers, fabulous sets and costumes and candle light, this event promises to have something for everyone. During the first half of the evening, Mozart’s one act comic opera, The Impresario, will be performed. The second half will include favourite classical arias, duets and ensembles.

Tickets are £25 per adult and £10 for pupils (aged 5-18). Invitations will follow shortly. Please call 01242 265694 to book tickets.

16th June Scotland Lunch Following the successful luncheon in 2014, Malcolm Hutton (Ch, 1959) will again be hosting a lunch at The Royal Scots Club, 29-31 Abercromby Place, Edinhurgh, EH3 6QE. Invitations will follow, please contact Malcolm Sloan, m.sloan@cheltenhamcollege for further information.

28th June Henley Regatta

A great opportunity to attend this quintessentially English event, the ticket price is likely to be in the region of £70 and includes Stewards’ Enclosure pass, lunch and afternoon tea. Invitations will be sent out shortly. To book please call 01242 265694.

1st July Tie & Scarf Presentation

13th June London Drinks – The Yacht London

Enjoy a day at the National Hunt Festival on Champion Day, the first day of the Races. Use the Association & Society’s private marquee with cash bar as your base for the day.

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Join us for drinks at this fabulous venue from 6pm at The Yacht London, Temple Pier, Victoria Embankment, London, WC2R 2PN. Tickets will be £25, details to follow.

To book, please call 01242 2656964.

The Headmaster will be presenting OC ties and scarves to U6th Leavers at 11.00am in the Dining Hall before the Leavers’ Chapel Service at 11.45am.

Parents are most welcome to attend.

FLOREAT 2017

16th July The Brewin Dolphin Cricket Festival – Gloucestershire v Sussex

Ticket price will include entrance to the festival, lunch and afternoon tea and will be in the region of £55 (£45 for under 16s). Invitations will be sent out shortly.

To book tickets please call 01242 265694.

14th October 1992 Yeargroup Reunion

This year’s reunion is for those who left in 1992. Invitations will follow, please contact Malcolm Sloan m.sloan@cheltenhamcollege.org for more information.

14th October Past Staff Reunion Dinner

11th November Girls’ House Reunion

House Reunion Dinners at College for Ashmead, Chandos, Queens & Westal.

Put the date in your diary and get your year group together for what promises to be a fun evening. There will be a charge for tickets, invitations will follow, to register your interest, please call 01242 265694.

26th November Christmas Fair

Join us for the 6th annual Christmas Shopping Fair, a fantastic opportunity to start or continue your Christmas Shopping or to treat yourself. Ticket price remains at £5pp (free for U16s) and if bought in advance comes with a complimentary glass of ‘Fizz’. Invitations will be sent out in the Autumn.

30th November London Drinks

15th December Carol Service

Join us for the end of term Carol Service with mulled wine and mince pies in the Dining Hall afterwards. Invitations will be sent out in the Autumn.

16th December Christmas Ball

Save the date as the Christmas Ball is back by popular demand! Invitations and further details will be sent out in the Autumn.

See the Events section of the Cheltonian Association website for updates at www.cheltenhamcollege.org/Upcomin facebook.com/cheltonianassociation

We will be holding a Past Staff Reunion Dinner at College on 14th October following positive feedback we received from the luncheon held in 2015.

Invitations to follow, please contact Rebecca Creed, r.creed@cheltenhamcollege.org for further information.

If you have any suggestions for future events, we would love to hear from you.

Contact Rebecca Creed, Association 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.

Manager, at r.creed@cheltenhamcollege.org or call 01242 265694.

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EVENTS CALENDAR

g-Events and join our Facebook group

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announcements Marriages Francesca Page (A, 2007) married Daniel Green on 14th May in Central Park, New York.

James Whitecross (NH, 2009) married Rosanna Young on 9th June at Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.

Births Alisdair Willett (L, 2005) and his wife Isla are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Charlie, born on the 28th January.

Owen Oxlade (OJ & H, 2001) and his wife Georgina are pleased to announce the birth of Sophia Rose Charlotte, born on 20th June.

Jenny Jones (Current Prep Staff Member) and her husband Conrad are delighted to announce the birth of Jasper, born on 8th July.

Craig Bell (OJ & S, 1999) and his wife Asa are delighted to announce the birth of their son Oscar James, born on 26th July, a younger brother for Freya.

Jonathan Sloan (OJ & NH, 2001) and his wife Aurelie are pleased to announce the birth of their son Thomas Charles, born on 14th August.

Jonathan Waller (Xt, 1999) and his wife Nina are delighted to announce the birth of their daughter Astrid Charlotte born on 22nd August, a younger sister for Michael.

Dan Brooke (Xt, 2002) and his wife Alex are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Poppy Olivia Susan, born on 25th August.

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Katherine White (Cha, 2007) married Scott Baldwin on 16th July at Hartley Witney Parish Church. Rachel White (Cha 2009), Tori Hirst (nee Martin Cha, 2007), Angela Whayman (OJ & Cha, 2007) were Bridesmaids. David White (L, 2005) was an Usher and Georgina Davies (Cha, 2007), Lexi Straker-Nesbit (A, 2007) and Natasha Kay (A, 2007) attended.

Jamie Harvie (NH, 2001) married Kate Woolley on 16th July at Old Mitton Parish Church. Jonathan Sloan (OJ & NH, 2001) and Will Buxton (OJ) were Ushers.

Edward Archdale (OJ & NH, 2003) and his wife Fennella are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Arthur William, born on 12th September.

Aimee Duggan (Current Prep Staff Member) and her husband Richard are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Archie, born on 30th August.

Michael Woodrow (NH, 2001) and his wife, Alexandra (nee Ramsden, Cha, 2001) are delighted to announce the birth of their son, Finley, born on 26th September, a younger brother for Molly.

Phil Boyce (NH, 1990) and his wife Jessica are delighted to announce the birth of their daughter Tamsin, born on 29th September.

Steve Pockett (Current Staff Member) and his wife Becky are delighted to announce the birth of their son Lewis, born on 31st October.

Kate Trimmer (Current Prep Staff Member) and her husband Mark are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Billy Winston, born on 8th November Martin Higgins (Current Staff Member) and his partner Deborah are delighted to announce the birth of their son, Spencer, born on 7th December.

Robert Kingsford (OJ & Xt, 2002) married Ria Champion on 19th August at Phyllis Court, Henley-on-Thames. Ben Snell (L, 2002) was Best Man and Xander Risdon (BH, 2002) was an Usher. Will Dixon (Xt, 2002) & Huw Stephens (BH, 2002) attended.

Jack Avery (NH, 2007) married Jessica Collins on 20th August.

William Sandbach (NH, 2007), Ben Nelson (NH, 2007), Harry Osborn (NH, 2007) and Helen Daffern (A, 2007) attended.

Polly North (A, 2011) married Hamish Michael on 20th August in Zimbabwe.

Harriet Slator (A, 2011) was Maid of Honour and Lydia North (A, 2012) was a Bridesmaid.

Amy Ringrose (A, 2011), Emma Bevan (A, 2011), James Kirkpatrick (L, 2011) and Emma Beresford (Q, 2011) attended.

Helen Daffern (A, 2007) married Tom Swainston on 28th October.

Lexi StrakerNesbit (A, 2007), Effie Dower (A, 2007), Priya Sarnobat (A, 2007) and Francesca Dessain (A, 2007) were Bridesmaids and Jack Avery (NH, 2007), Will Sandbach (NH, 2007) & Chris Sandbach (NH, 2004) attended.

Congratulations to all from The Cheltonian Association & Society!

Please let us know of any announcements for the 2018 issue of Floreat.

FLOREAT 2017

150th Anniversary House Prints

To mark the 150th Anniversary of Christowe, Hazelwell, Leconfield and Newick House in 2016, Letitia Cookson (We, 2012) was commissioned to sketch the Houses, as they would have been in 1866, when they were moved or built on their current sites in College and Sandford Road.

A4 mounted prints of the houses are on sale at ÂŁ25 (+p&p at ÂŁ3 if applicable).

If you would like to buy a print please email the respective Housemaster, who, upon receipt of a cheque made payable to the House name, will post your print.

Xt: H: L: NH:

J.Mace@cheltenhamcollege.org J.Coull@cheltenhamcollege.org C.Reid@cheltenhamcollege.org J.Hayden@cheltenhamcollege.org

Christowe

Hazelwell

Leconfield

Newick House 71

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.

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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 5 Mens S, M & L 3. Socks £2.50 Size 4-7 4. Ladies’ Boxer Shorts £2.50 6 S (26’) 5. Prep Cufflinks £30 6. Small Umbrella £15 7. Large Umbrella £20 8. Girls’ House Friendship Bracelets £10 9. House Towels £18 10. Pewter Trinket Box £8 11. Chrome Key ring £8 12. OC Tie £10* 13. Self Tie Silk Bow Tie £15* 14. Ladies’ OC Silk scarf £10* 15. OC Woollen Scarf £18* 16. NEW House Trackies £25 17. NEW Reversible Beanie £10 18. NEW Striped Beanie £10 * OCs Only

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Stationery, Books & CDs 19 19. Sheaffer Fountain Pen & Pencil Full Set £35 20. Paperweight £6 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 £5 29. Salve Puerule CD £2.50

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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 £3.50 per order for UK postage and packaging. Overseas postage cost will vary.

This excludes College prints which are charged as indicated.

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A Decade of Feedback on FLOREAT Letters from 2008

Letter from 2010

) Peter Davidson (H, 1958 Congratulations on your eat first issue of Floreat. A gr ve publication but now I ha the to wait a whole year for next one.

96) Amée Riecke (Cha/Q, 19 I greatly enjoyed reading ll do Floreat and I’m sure I wi e to so in the future: It is nic at be able to follow wh ols developments the Scho are going through.

Henry Rees (Xt, 1959) May I congratulate you on a most interesting and informative magazine.

Letter from 2009 Andrew Gossage (H, 1981 & Current Parent) Thank you for a really well put together Floreat Cheltonia 09 – it was a very interesting read.

01242 265694 r.creed@cheltenhamcollege.org www.cheltenhamcollege.org Editor: Rebecca Creed, Association Manager

Carolyn & Carl Hoyer (Past Parents) Floreat reveals the love and dedication the Alumni have for the beloved school. Our son is already making plans for his son to enrol.

Letter from 2011 Graham Campbell (BH, 1943) Floreat is again a very impressive publication.

Letter from 2012 Oliver Gibbins (L, 2000) Thank you for Floreat, I truly enjoy every edition.

Letter from 2013

Cheltenham Association & Society Cheltenham College Bath Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 7LD

Letter from 2014

Graham Hill (S, 1988) I have been a regular reader of Floreat for some time, but I wanted to thank you in par ticular for the latest edition. Not only does it maintain the high standards you have set with a huge variety of interesting articles from recent students/leavers to far more seasoned OCs, but I find it hard to imagine a better way to remind everyone about the community within which they spent at least five important years of their lives.

Letter from 2015 Tim Pearce (Past Staff Member) Excellent Floreat. I like th e new style and design.

Letters from 2016 Peter Davidson (H, 1958) Another fantastic issue. I am the editor of my yacht club’s monthly newsletter so I know just how much effort goes in to putting Floreat together. Well done!

Christopher Woolley (Ch, 1971) The magazine is always excellent and is shown regularly to members of the family.

Jonathan Rhodes (L, 1990) I particularly enjoy the content of Floreat and like having a copy to hand. I find it very interesting and would like to congratulate the Association on such a good publication.

Andrew Harris (Past Staff Member) Excellent read, congratulations. All looks to be going rather well.