OS Record - 125th Annual Record 2021

OS RECORD 125th AnnuAl RecoRd

2021

Contents President Headmaster Chairman Secretary Thoughts from Sherborne Music Sport Sherborne Connect Bust of Alan Turing (h 31) Articles Events and Reunions Pilgrims and OS Sport Engagements, Marriages, Births and Deaths Obituary, Richard Morgan (d 58) Old Shirburnian News

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OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 1

Message from the President Like most of the world the

OSS Presidency has been in

the shenanigans in Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the passionate contributions of people like Michael

lockdown for a while! To assist

Holding and Ebony Rainford-Brent have

order to discover what the

how we speak about and to those who

our re-emergence and in

infamous new normal will be like I have agreed to a brief

second term. The plan is that

alerted us to the need for great care in are different from ourselves. As you may know the bust of Alan was unveiled in June at Sherborne by his nephew Dermot (h 78), and the sculptor, David Williams-

a new President, from I hope

Ellis.

will be sworn in (or at) at the

that there is as great a need for

a slightly younger generation,

OS Day in 2023.

Meanwhile, I am tasked with writing a short introduction to this year’s Record.

Because my visits to Sherborne since the pandemic began have been almost non existent, I am dependent on news from the OS office to keep me up to date. It so happens that I am reading a fascinating book at the moment called Love the Enemy by Andrew March. It tells the true story of his grandfather, Fred Clayton, who, having graduated with great distinction from Cambridge (nobody’s perfect), in 1934 travelled to Dresden and met Rike who after the war became his wife. But of course in 1945 Dresden was bombed to bits by the Allies and Andrew is now a Vicar in Coventry which received more than its fair share of Nazi bombs.

Written as a love story, the book is about reconciliation. Fred’s best friend and confidante at King’s College turned out to be none other than one of the very greatest Old Shirburnians – Alan Turing (h 31). They were both relative outsiders –

As I write this in December 2021 it seems reconciliation in our world as ever. During my third year at Oxford reading Modern History we had to choose a special subject. I chose American History, mainly because there was less of it, and I was playing cricket six days a week, and also because ‘Doggy’ Oldham and ‘History’ Steve had taught me all there was to know more or less and I had kept their notes. But I did also discover that we had been at war with the French for about 1000 years. Reconciliation with them seemed a very good idea. I voted Remain mainly because I think we should stay friends with Europe, especially the French, and my guess is that most of you agree with that especially those of you with houses in France. Right now a friend of mine who works for a scallop fishing business has had one of his trawlers impounded in Honfleur, the Home Sec is persona non grata at talks with EU leaders about the migrant crisis, and our PM does not seem to be on President Macron’s Christmas card list. Surely, we can never go to war with France again!

Fred was a working class scouser, and

But let’s not be complacent. The world is

Alan was of course gay. I hope anyone

not fair and we should not expect

similar today would have a better time at

Shirburnians to be immune from the bad

University than they did, and I think they

stuff. Let’s at least go into our troubled

would – class prejudice and prejudice

world determined to be peacemakers for

against LBGT+ is being overcome, and

they will be called sons of God. This

Record will bring you up to date with how the next generation of peacemakers are getting on.

Talking of unfairness and on a lighter note. I was invited to two trial matches for the England over 70’s cricket team.

COVID permitting the Australian over 70’s are due to tour in 2022 and there will be an ‘ashes’ series of one day matches.

Though I say it myself I did rather well in the trials, despite the first three balls I bowled being smacked for four, and was surprised not to be selected for the squad of 25 or so from whom the England team will be picked. But there is a silver lining even in this cloud. The email from the chief selector concluded his bad news message with this. ‘Don’t give up if you are not in this squad! Who knows who will be injured or dead by next summer’.

So, cheer up and keep the peace.

ANDREW WINGFIELD DIGBY (h 69)

From the Headmaster

The pandemic might not yet have run its course but the gradual return of normality has been a source of great joy. For much of last year, the School was hedged around with restrictions that served to deny the boys the opportunity properly to enjoy sport, music, drama and so much else besides. Above all, the requirement for restrictive ‘zones’ within boarding Houses robbed them of the easy social interaction which is such a hallmark of Sherborne life.

Since September, things have felt much more as they should be. Gone are the zones and many of the other limitations upon our daily lives. For the first time in eighteen months we have been able to hold weekly services in the Chapel and Abbey; sports fixtures have resumed (with the 1st XV enjoying a good run in the National Schools Cup Competition); and plays and concerts have once more been presented to live audiences.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 3

is full, numbers edging above 600

for the first time in many years. The

financial confidence that this inspires

has allowed us to invest in many

areas of the estate and undertake a

range of projects designed to

improve the look, feel and

functionality of various boarding

houses, classrooms, the dining hall

and outside areas. Work has also

started on the long-awaited

redevelopment of the Sports Centre.

The sailing huts and Medway

building have been demolished and,

foundations dug, the enormous new

Sports Hall is rising from the ground

Given all the disruption and

frustration, it was remarkable that

as I write. The project has another

18 months to run at the end of

the boys accomplished so much last

which the School will have a facility

achievements were outstanding

and sporting ambitions. In making it

year. Not least among their

public examination results. More than a third of our A levels were

graded A* and three-quarters A*

and A, with half of the year group

achieving three or more A*s and As.

worthy of our great athletic heritage

possible, I am extremely grateful to

the many Old Shirburnians who have

supported our fundraising efforts

which will contribute £4 million to

the overall project cost of £13

Well over 90% of our leavers were

million.

courses with two-thirds of the cohort

Another major project high on our

accepted onto their first-choice

taking up places at Russell Group

agenda is the refurbishment and

universities. Meanwhile, over a

reopening of Westcott as the

awarded the top grade of 9 and

Originally due for completion in

8. All the boys who took public

by the pandemic but, so buoyant is

tremendous praise for their hard

now returned to it and hope to have

quarter of our GCSE entries were more than half were at grades 9 and

School’s ninth boarding House.

summer 2021, it was sadly derailed

examinations this year deserve

our pupil recruitment, that we have

work, resilience and flexibility in the

more news soon.

I am also most grateful to the

That so many parents wish to send

brilliantly inspired and supported

growing strength of Sherborne’s

face of extremely trying conditions.

success and the highest levels of

pastoral care. Above all, it is the

enduring values of the School that

mark us out and recommend us: a

place of warmth and intimacy where

kindness and generosity of spirit are

esteemed above all else.

Having come through the darkest

days of the pandemic, we can now

look forward with renewed

optimism. Our School is thriving

and is now even stronger thanks to

our union with Sherborne Prep, with

whom we formally merged in April

2021. Just as important are our

ever-closer links with Sherborne Girls

whose Headmistress, Dr Ruth

Sullivan, shares with me a

commitment to the very best of

single-sex education within the

unique context of our ‘separate yet

together’ partnership. And, with a

keen eye on the future, the New

Year will see us frame our next five

year development plan with an

emphasis upon equipping the boys

with the skills, competencies and

flexibility of outlook that will allow

them to excel in a dynamic, post-

industrial economy.

True to form, our great School has

emerged in good shape from the

trials that the world has recently

endured. For all who have

contributed to that achievement –

boys, parents, staff, Governors and

our many Old Shirburnian

supporters, I am deeply grateful.

teaching and support staff who so

their boys to us is testament to the

Thank you all.

them.

reputation as a school that offers the

Vivat Shirburnia!

If this were not enough, there is

education, combining academic

much else to celebrate. The School

very best in boys’ boarding

achievement with co-curricular

DR DOmINIc LuckETT headmaster

SEcRETARY’S LETTER

The first six months of 2021 held the

for 2022 outlined in the calendar featured

including OS Day for the second year

least one on the list that appeals to you

running. We sustained our spirits and,

personally. One of our favourite ventures

hopefully those of many OS, by the

is our round of university visits where it is

our entire programme of live events

FROm ThE chAIRmAN

have a full programme of events planned

disappointment of having to cancel

on page 28. I do hope that there is at

continuation of a vigorous round of

great to catch up with young OS taking

virtual events, at the same time keeping

their first steps away from life at

our fingers crossed that a degree of

Sherborne. Anne and I run these in

freedom of movement would return on

conjunction with Fiona James from

the targeted date of 16 July. What a lift it

Sherborne Girls and our aim is to visit

was to return to our offices in Abbots

every major university centre at least

Acre and enjoy the ‘live’ interaction with

once during a three-year cycle. Food and

the entire external relations team.

drinks are laid on by the OSS, so can I

Planning for an entire programme of

along when we are visiting your

autumn events continued apace and it

university?

appeal to all OS undergraduates to come Despite 2021 being one of the

most frustrating years on record

was with huge regret that we yet again

and determination of so many to

Centenary Dinner and OS Day planned at

sadness and the 2021 obituary column

both the passion and curiosity OS

Sherborne in early September due to an

contains the names of all too many OS in

untimely spike in COVID infections so

whose company we have delighted over

Whether it be a live sporting

close to the start of term. However, it was

the years. Amongst them is Richard

a decision that was wholly justified in the

Morgan (d 58) who was OSS President

best interests of the School itself and

between 2004 and 2007. When he took

hopefully played a small part in ensuring

on the presidency in 2004, I knew of

that the boys enjoyed the entire

Richard’s reputation for ‘getting things

for the OS Society the ingenuity

‘connect’ has been testament to feel for their fellow alumni.

event or a ‘zoom’ year reunion,

the desire to remain part of the OS fraternity is very much alive

and kicking. A big thank you to all those that have made such efforts during 2021.

Frustratingly at the time of writing this whilst 2022 is packed with a full programme, COVID variants are trying their best to dampen many OS endeavours, but we remain resolute in the face of these challenges, and come what may will find ways of celebrating what it is to be a Shirburnian. Thank you to the Headmaster, his staff and all at the OS office who have continued to turn every challenge into a positive experience for both the OS and the boys at the School.

STEPhEN REES-WILLIAmS (h 81)

had to postpone both the Westcott

Every year is unfortunately tinged with

Michaelmas Term including a full sports

done’ but prepared as I was, the energy

programme. London events remained

that he generated in the role and his

unaffected and how wonderful it was to

ability to get straight to the heart of

see so many familiar faces, young and

any project, took us by storm. He

old, at a wide range of events, many of

immediately recognised that, in order to

which covered postponements from 2020.

fulfil our plans for the programme of

The Q London lunch, held this year at the

services and events that we wished to

Ironmongers Hall is now a long-standing

provide our membership, it would be

event but other initiatives were new and

necessary to boost the level of support

it was particularly good to be able to

for the OSS in terms of both staffing and

launch the newly formed OS LGBTQ+

finance. ‘Leave it with me’ meant only

Group with a drink or two at the Yard Bar

one result with Richard at the helm and,

in October. Details of all events held can

backed by a wonderfully supportive

be found in fuller detail on page 26 of

Governing Body, he ensured that his

this Record.

planned changes were in place in the

Although, at the time of writing {I am

remains indebted to him, not only for

twinkling of an eye. The Society of today working once again mainly from home),

this, but for a flow of invaluable advice

an element of uncertainty hovers, we

that he provided on so many issues.

OSS Honorary Treasurer Volunteer Needed

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 5

The OSS has been so lucky to have our finances in the safe hands of our Honorary Treasurer, Robin Brown (g 66) for the last 14 years.

JOhN hARDEN (g 70)

One of the many pleasures in working in

fruits of his vast mid- Victorian building

the OSS Office is the opportunity to show

programme in that timeless honey-tinted

numerous OS and other visitors around

stone. He would, however, see one

the School. During these tours I am often

significant change in 2021. Looking up

asked how Sherborne has changed in the

though The Courts from an all-seeing

far too many years since I left. My answer

position in front of the north wall of the

is always the same – it is a much kinder

Abbey is the statue of Alan Turing (h 31),

place today. In the 1960s and 70s, boys

commissioned by Kathryn Ballisat and so

who were unhappy initially usually

brilliantly portrayed by sculptor, David

remained so throughout their time here.

Williams-Ellis. No one spoke much about

This was not necessarily because other

Turing when I was at Sherborne.

boys were actively cruel to them, but

Obviously, some of this was due to the

because we had not yet learned the

secrets of his wartime work at Bletchley

importance of inclusiveness and, if others

Park still being under wraps, but, one

had talents and interests different from

suspects that there was also a touch of

our own, they could pursue them in

embarrassment about his sexual

solitude which is not a recipe for

orientation and the tragic and inhumane

happiness in teenage boys. How

circumstances leading to his death. How

different things are today. Caring for

wonderful that attitudes have changed so

others and inclusiveness is a byword

much and that visitors can now see such

around today’s Sherborne highlighted by

a fitting memorial to an Old Shirburnian

the fierce competition for, and pride in,

who emerged as one of the most

the Bow Award presented to the boy who

important figures of the 20th century. I

does the most in the interests of others.

am sure that Alan, perhaps a sometime lonely figure himself, would approve of

Whilst there is so much change for the

the kindness that abounds in the School

better, happily certain things from days

nowadays. It is truly at the heart of

past remain unchanged. Today’s

today’s Sherborne.

panorama of The Courts remains such that, if Daniel Harper (Headmaster 1850 to 1870) were to step through the archway, he would instantly recognize the

On behalf of Anne, Claire and myself

may we wish you all a very happy and safe 2022.

In that time Robin has not only safeguarded but has increased our financial stability. The OS Charitable Trust which provides bursaries for sons of OS has increased almost threefold on Robin’s watch whilst he has ensured that our General Fund remains a solid base for our day to day running costs. On a personal note, he has been an absolute pleasure to work with bringing humour and fun to add to a strong underlying professionalism.

The OS Committee, and myself in particular, shall miss his cheerful support immensely.

However, all good things end sometime and Robin feels, quite understandably, that it is time to hand over the reins. I do hope that there is a volunteer out there who would be willing to take on the position of Hon Treasurer.

Brilliant accounting skills are certainly not required, only a fair grasp of figures and a good dollop of common sense.

If you are interested in finding out any further details of what is entailed, who better to contact than Robin himself – robjen.brown@btinternet.com JOHN HARDEN (g 70) OSS Secretary

Chaplaincy Spring has come back again. The Earth is like a child that’s got poems by heart; so many poems, so many verses, patient toil winning her prizes at last.

Strict, the old teacher. We loved the whiteness in the old gentleman’s beard, its bright snow.

Now when we ask what the green, what the blue is, Earth knows the answer, has learned it. She knows.

Earth, you’re on holiday, lucky one: play now!

Play with us children! We’ll try to catch you.

Glad, joyous Earth! The gladdest must win.

Every lesson the old teacher taught her, all that is printed in roots and laborious stems: now she sings it! Listen, Earth sings!

Rainer Maria Rilke; translated by Stephen Cohn As I sit writing these words in my study on what is a glorious

exciting thing to be able to experience. As Wordsworth said,

Indian summer morning, looking out over the Abbey Close and

“Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very

with the old bells ringing out over this venerable town, it does

heaven.” It is exciting, it is bliss, it is heavenly, because, for me at

indeed seem to me in the words of Maria Rilke, that a deeply

any rate, living in such a way and at such a time gives an

longed-for and hoped-for spring has come bursting back to this

opportunity to reflect on how things were before all of this and

part of Sherborne and in particular to the walls and environs of

to consider how they may be as we stretch ourselves forward

this ancient School founded so long ago and which has already

into the unknown future.

seen and felt so much.

Of course, for a Christian, and for others too, there is something After these numerous and at times truly awful past months which

of Easter about all of this. The dying to the old and awaking to a

have, between lockdowns, been marked by such quietness,

new reality is indeed a most powerful image for these months of

indeed at times desertion and serenity, the springtime of the

COVID we have been experiencing both together and

School returning to its new normal can be easily seen and heard

separately. Hopefully most people who try to be Christian to

everywhere. Our classrooms are full again, there is lively chatter

whatever extent are people of hopefulness. I do think it is such

in the corridors and Houses, our services in Chapel and Abbey

hopefulness, that in the words of Captain Sir Tom, “Tomorrow

have resumed, our social and competitive sporting endeavours

will be a good day,” is what sustains and then ultimately enriches

are once more well under way. We find ourselves in good heart.

a community such as this one, whether here at School or after

And there is perhaps above all else a buzzing sense of

days away. Hopefulness and renewal, these two things are what

anticipation and of purposeful new life about the place – the like

can mark our lives when we have a sense of the opportunities

of which anyone re-visiting Sherborne after a long absence

and challenges which the offer of new life can bring. In this there

would recognise and be familiar with straight away. It’s probably

is resurrection, pure and simple, deep and enduring.

wrong to labour the point, but we are living through nothing less than the transformation of an old way of life into the emergence of a new. And to live in such a way and at such a time is surely an

ThE REV DR DAVID cAmPBELL chaplain

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 7

The annual Steven Lawn Lecture, given in memory of Steven (m 91) who was tragically killed in Tower Two of the World Trade centre, was held on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

The Steven Lawn Lecture addresses religious tolerance and peace and is given by a high profile speaker or Old Shirburnian working in peacekeeping or related organisations. This year the Lecture was given by Luke Baker (c 91), a friend and contemporary of Steven and was attended by several of Steven’s Digby peers and Housemaster Alistair Morgan.

The Sherborne School Foundation has

were also very sad to say farewell to

had a busy year in 2021 with notable

Stephanie Sanchez de Muniain in

changes to the office team and, like

September after 16 years with the

everyone else, getting used to working in

Foundation. Steph has been a great

new ways. The year started with Zoom

fundraiser and the key contact for Bow

meetings galore and a target to speak to

Society members. We have been joined

300 OS and parents on a one to one

by Tracey Richardson who is currently

basis about the plans for the School

masterminding the Sports Dinner and we

within the year, a target achieved in the

hope that she, although based primarily

latter weeks of November. Your feedback

in London, will enjoy being part of the

and support for the Sherborne 360

team.

projects has been fantastic and if I did not have the chance to chat to you

The Sherborne 360 Programme is also

during 2021, then I hope we can soon

looking to support other projects for

into 2022.

Sherborne including widening access through bursarial support and helping

We are especially grateful to those 135

Director of Art, Matt Bone, make some

supporters who have kindly given or

significant enhancements to the Art

pledged to the Sport Centre project. We

School ready for the 2022/23 academic

are now close to £3m of the £4m target

year. More details of this will be released

being raised with many new pledges still

soon along with our plans for consecutive

coming in. We have recently launched

Giving Days involving the whole School

the Sherborne 360 Sports Fundraising

between the 22 -24 June.

Dinner, please see page 39 for more

details. We hope that you will be able to

In the meantime, I hope to see and speak

join us for what we hope will be a fun

to many of you during 2022 and finally, of

evening with friends.

course, to say a huge ThANk YOu to those whose support has helped with

In 2021, the Foundation has welcomed a

over 50 projects since 1998 and is

new Trustee to its Board. William Paul

currently making projects such as the

(c 91) was in The Green while at

Sports Centre and Art School

Sherborne and has for many years, until

Developments possible.

recently, worked for Bridgepoint and also

11/9/2001

co-chairs the Development Board at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. We are very pleased to have him join us. We

ADRIAN BALLARD head of the Sherborne School Foundation

Sixth Form developing responsibility

The academic year has started

committees: Teaching and Learning,

The OS community is never far away from

encouragingly for the Sixth Form, who

Equality and Diversity, Mental Health and

positive change. Several committee leads

must be relieved to be experiencing

Wellbeing, Co-curricular, Environment,

have engaged OS to participate in new

something closer to life as normal at

and Community Outreach. Following

initiatives or to join working groups or to

Sherborne. It has been fantastic to see

written applications and interviews, six

give talks. This participation, conditioned

the boys flourishing in the classroom, in

superb leaders in these areas were

by such breadth and depth of

sports and activities, in music and in

appointed. They then joined the Head of

experience, gives the pupils invaluable

Houses. The Sixth Form have also

School and Heads of House to form the

touch points in the 'real world' and

seamlessly transitioned back to

School Prefect body.

(possibly) a welcome break from teacher input.

supporting the low-level pastoral care functions that they were largely unable to

These structures do not merely offer

support last year due to restrictions, with

leadership development opportunities to

a caring and watchful eye over younger

the few, aside from those in other formal

time to mention the Lower Sixth Form

years, ever-ready to reach out

structures such as sports teams or CCF.

Careers Convention, planned for March

supportively. This intangible but

They establish groups, with pupils at their

'22. More to follow via Sherborne

invaluable aspect of the boarding system

core, in which boys can get involved in an

Connect, but suffice to say OS support is

not only brings warmth and benefit to all

area of life (not just school life) that might

mission-critical for success in this event,

pupils, but it also develops responsibility,

really interest them, or to which they

giving the boys reflections and advice on

for Sixth Form boys in particular.

In annual tradition, this is also a good

would like to invest their time and energy

such a wide range of careers and paths to

to strive for positive outcomes for the

development. As ever, your input as OS

One change worthy of note this year is

School and wider community. A recent

is appreciated so much; we simply could

the formation of pupil voice committees

highlight was some superb work to raise

not make this work without you.

with pupil leadership at their core. During

awareness throughout Black History

Trinity Term '21, the then-Lower Sixth

Month from the Equality & Diversity

pupils were invited to apply for any of six

Committee.

new School Prefect positions leading the

ROBERT mARSTON Assistant head (Sixth Form)

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 9

Music

The quantity and quality of music-making has been undiminished by the Pandemic, as the many YouTube ‘broadcasts’ on the School’s website and on social media testify.

Since returning to something approaching ‘normal’ music-making it has also been the Music School’s policy to film-record almost every concert — one step short of livestreaming and a process which Shirburnian musicians completely take in their stride.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 11

One of the wonderful aspects of the

prior to their arrival at Sherborne, have

return to ‘normality’ has been the return

adopted the Sherborne musical way with

of Abbey and Chapel services, the first

enthusiasm and rigour. There are again a

since March 2020. The choirs moved back

huge number of musical ensembles

to ‘live’ situations after endless individual

rehearsing each week, supported by a

recording compilations and new Music

staff that works unusual hours (there

Scholars and Exhibitioners have

being staff-led ensemble coaching from

continued largely to be ex-cathedral or

8.50-9.50pm four evenings a week

Abbey choristers and, despite their

alongside more spontaneous pupil-led

uncertain musical times during lockdowns

music-making).

JAmES hENDERSON director of Music, Sherborne School and Sherborne Abbey

s

Daniel marks, our new Assistant Director of music

(since September 2020) here writes of his first impressions of Sherborne’s music, and of a year of teaching and rehearsing music in circumstances which are hopefully behind us all:

When I came to my interview at Sherborne in February 2020, I was met by a department that fostered the same kind of culture I had previously encountered whilst studying at Chetham’s School of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance – you could easily be mistaken for thinking that the Music School at Sherborne was a specialist institution, such is the range of talent and passion for music that was on display. It was only a month later, in March 2020, at the start of the first COVID lockdown, that the schools closed nationally and Sherborne would not again receive boys in person until September 2020. Despite that, the department, led by Jamie Henderson, ensured that our many Shirburnian musicians enjoyed as much opportunity to make music despite the ever-changing pandemic restrictions.

The year began with the Choir, not as a 119-boy behemoth as in previous years, but split into four separate groups, further separated by Perspex screens, creating an aerosol safe environment for the boys to sing in. What most struck me about my first term at Sherborne was the impressive perseverance of the Shirburnian, determined to sing, and the way the Choir continued in this way – despite all these obstacles. In this first term, the Chamber Choir took on the responsibility of recording anthems and hymns every Thursday evening in time for a recorded

service each Sunday. This rehearse-record setup is something you could expect professionals to be able to cope with, but the Shirburnians took it within their stride, the evidence of which can be found on YouTube. When the second school closures took hold in January 2021, remote learning and ensembles took hold once again. A full programme of Zoom ensembles took place, complete with sectionals and ‘break-out rooms’ to facilitate the full range of groups and tuition to take place. All of the music staff were very proud of the boys for the way they adapted so well to this way of learning.

The achievement of the Shirburnians in this period cannot be understated. Not only did the boys maintain their ensemble schedules, but also took on a busy recording schedule, regularly recording themselves to accompaniments and click tracks – many boys doing upwards of 3-4 recordings per week! Putting together these recordings through Logic Pro X and editing them became a weekly activity for the music staff, with sometimes upwards of 35 separate tracks to compile. Although no substitute for the real thing, these efforts by both boys and staff kept the music alive during this difficult time.

Weekly lunchtime recitals also continued with no interruption, accompanists and boys working together remotely to prepare

their performances in time for publishing every Friday. This added a whole new dimension to the boys’ performances and split-screen videos enabled through Filmora software, become the norm! You can see the archive of concerts on the Sherborne School YouTube channel, now being added to on a weekly basis as we have decided to continue with recording our concerts.

The return of the boys in the Trinity Term presented the opportunity to resume sectional rehearsals and full socially distanced, screen separated, Choir rehearsals in the Chapel, to prepare for the end of term musical events. After nearly a year of sectional rehearsals, the Music School took over the BSR for the final week of term to allow for full ensemble recordings of the Wind Band, Concert Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and Brass Band in preparation for the Virtual Gala Concert. It was a proud moment for me, amongst other performances directed by members of the team, to be able to conduct the full Concert Orchestra through a performance of Bernstein’s Mambo, with a result worthy of any live concert performance – made particularly impressive through battling through all those screens! The Gala Concert is also on the YouTube channel.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 13

2021 started like no other year in living memory as we found ourselves at home with nothing but a computer screen for company during much of the ‘normal’ school day. Communication and lessons through Teams and OneNote were new additions to our practices and it was clear that the daily routine for our boys was going to be very different. Hockey and football fixtures were cancelled and the ‘winter’ pitches on Careys remained empty for the first time in living memory.

Sport

2021

However, we were determined to learn from the

every activity possible we worked hard to get back to

lessons of the previous lockdown in Trinity 2020, and

some normality including the inter-house Sports Day.

set about providing the boys with a remote provision programme to excite and enthuse them even though

Following the summer break school started in

they might be many miles away. The sports staff,

September with most COVID restrictions lifted. For

both academic and our dedicated coaching team

sport that meant a full programme of fixtures

prepared pre-recorded activities for the boys to

including the much missed hosting and hospitality.

follow and even put on live HIIT sessions which were

Despite recent articles in the media, rugby remains

well attended. There were sports specific challenges

as popular as ever with over 350 boys playing

and also House based competitions including the

regularly for the School and a growing number

Sherborne Scavenger Hunt. Some found it difficult to

extending their experience through representative

commit but most were engaged and enjoyed the

pathways with Bath and other academies. In

interaction as well as the physical, mental and social

addition, there have been numerous fixtures in

support.

squash, badminton, sailing, golf, football, water polo etc and amongst the numerous inter-school matches

Good news appeared when we returned to school in

there have also been some impressive individual

time for a semi-normal summer term. There were

performances.

restrictions for hosting and social interaction but the important thing was that we were able to provide the

COVID may not have disappeared but we are

boys with an external competitive playing

learning to live with it and manage the risks to

programme which included some traditional block

ensure that life can go on including Sport at

fixtures. On the tennis court, the cricket pitch and in

Sherborne.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 15

DAVID GuY director of Sport

Four Years of Sherborne Connect Sherborne Connect launched four years ago on 1 December 2017. We now have 3,535 registered users worldwide, representing almost 40% of our total network.

Thanks to your enthusiasm for the platform, we had the highest percentage sign up rate of any of the 1,000 plus schools and universities worldwide for whom Graduway hosts this platform, in both 2019 and 2020.

Memorably, at a lunch after the launch, OSS Secretary, John Harden, announced that he would “eat his hat” if we ever got 1,000 members. Well, he ate his first hat in the following month, and we are looking forward to the fourth.

Transforming the work of the OSS Office.

Before we had the platform, we would see five or six young OS wanting to make use of the OS Careers Network a month. Now that 74% of users have indicated that they are willing to help with careers advice, support and mentoring, the number of OS seeking and receiving help has risen exponentially. Help can range from a ‘Zoom’ discussion about the industry/profession they are interested in through the platform to help with CVs and interview techniques. Or from networking opportunities with colleagues and friends, to actual live work experience.

An invaluable tool during lockdown.

Our Business Breakfasts transferred seamlessly online and talks by Luke Baker (c 91) and Tony Quainton (d 52) are on the Resource page on the platform.

In November 2020 as part of National Schools Giving Week, we launched Talent and Time Week and over 150 OS and parents volunteered to help enhance the current provision for the boys in both the academic and careers spheres.

We are hosting a variety of online groups: year groups- ahead of reunions, industry groups, regional groups and an LGBTQ+ group, where OS can message each other, post photos, share memories and organise events. All our events are advertised on the platform.

The Jobs Board has recovered post lockdown and is now back to its buoyant self and several OS have found employment through it. The Business Directory launched during the first lockdown is also proving very popular.

Looking forward…

In January we are planning to launch a mentoring campaign to help our undergraduate OS and recent graduates.

If you would like to take part, please log on to the platform and check that your profile is up to date and check the “Willing to Help” box, or if you would like help “Looking for Help” box.

Please do continue to support Sherborne Connect, so that John won’t go hungry!

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 17

Bust of Alan Turing (h 31)

expert, Alan Turing, was unveiled by his nephew, Sir Dermot Turing (h 78). The bust is the work of acclaimed sculptor David Williams-Ellis whose recent work includes the D-Day sculpture at the British Normandy Memorial. The bust stands at the heart of the School overlooked by the library where Alan Turing studied.

The sculpture was commissioned by former local resident Kathryn Ballisat who was inspired by Turing’s story and his connection to the town.

On 23 June on what would have been Alan’s birthday, the Bank of England released the new polymer £50 note which features a photograph taken of Alan Turing in 1951 when he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. It also features the ACE computing machine and technical drawings of the Bombe Machine, which he designed, his birthdate in binary code and a quote from an interview he gave in 1949, This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only a shadow of what is going to be.

The Bank of England has generously presented the School with a limitededition print of the artwork for the bank note signed by Sarah John, Chief Cashier and Director of Notes at the Bank of England.

“

This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only a shadow of what is going to be.

“

On Saturday 26 June a bronze bust of the wartime code buster and computer

Articles

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 19

TALISkER WhISkY ATLANTIc ROWING chALLENGE Many people have asked why I took

part in the tWAc race and when did I join the team. this was a challenge I

had wanted to compete in for a while

and I have had numerous friends take part. the completely unsupported

nature of the race certainly got me

intrigued and the battle against mother

nature is no small challenge. I was asked to join lat35 in 2020 and the lockdown had just come into play. At that point I

was looking for a challenge to guide me through lockdown and give me

something to focus on outside of work.

Since serving in the British Army, I have

always had an appetite for a differing

array of challenges and many of these

have been endurance based. I have

completed a handful of ultra-marathons

and long distance cycling events

spanning up to 10 days in duration.

however, never has an opportunity

come my way for such a long duration

endurance event and one in which you

really are challenged, not only

physically, but also mentally. So, it was

very much a new realm for me.

Training during the first wave of the COVID pandemic had its complexities and so we had to be resourceful as gyms were not open for the majority of our training period. My wife, Thea, had sourced some weights for us at home and we had a pretty good setup, and with the addition of a rowing machine, I was in a lucky position. When the gyms reopened it meant we could vary our programmes. We had an amazing physical and conditioning coach in Gus Barton who specialises in ocean rowing training. He had us all on individual programmes that mixed weights, rowing machine sessions (killer sessions!!) and core stability/mobility sessions. As a team we had to complete a minimum of 120hrs on our boat and we managed to squeeze this into a five-day training camp and then four long weekends. We had the added complexity of Dixon being based in New York and so we had to get him over to the UK for all the boat training. In addition to time on the boat we had to undertake the following courses: medical training, sea survival, radio and navigation courses.

The motivation behind taking part in TWAC was that it is the ultimate challenge and there is no other event like it where you come up against physical and mental hurdles, fully unsupported, and the biggest element you face is mother nature. Being on such a small boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is something that is very humbling, and you quickly remember all the things you take for granted back at home. I wanted to complete this race in aid of our newly formed charity which is part of the Pelorus group. It’s a stand-alone, registered charity, with a dedicated team and a board of trustees to ensure it delivers far more than a traditional travel company foundation. The new conservation charity has a mission to protect, preserve, and promote ‘at risk’ wildlife and environments across the planet. “The goal of the Foundation is to protect hundreds of square miles of wilderness by 2025,” says the charity. “This will be achieved by creating and building on projects that accelerate the pace of change towards a more sustainable future.

The Foundation will support a spread of

marine and land-based programmes, in partnership with local charitable partners, to tackle core sustainability issues such as wildlife crime, marine conservation and forest protection. These will be selected for their ability to make the greatest impact on the degradation of flora and fauna, and to empower and employ local communities.”

supplied us with our main meals to which we would add water. We decided that we would have two breakfasts and one main savoury meal a day. In addition to the Firepot, we would have snack packs made up of trail mix, biltong, pip n nut sachets and another nut butter brand called Resilient Nutrition. Each day we would be consuming 5,500 calories.

Having completed the row we are often asked what were the biggest challenges we faced and as a team we prepared for most eventualities and war gamed them with our coach, Angus Collins. However, I don’t think any of us would have thought that we would be hit by nearly every challenge we had thought of and then some more. Our first big issue was on day three when our boat lost all its electrical systems. This was a big problem as we were left with no navigational instruments, GPS, radios, water maker and autohelm.

Hand steering the boat takes up a lot of manpower as you end up having three people on all the time and this therefore reduces the rest time. I had to rewire the boat and do this whilst on the satphone to the electricians at the boat yard in the UK, not an easy job whilst in large swells mid Atlantic. We then had some tremendous storms that nearly resulted in us capsizing twice and snapping an oar. During one of the storms, Dixon and I were on the oars and had to row for six hours continuously.

Although the race is unsupported, there are two support vessels that make their way across the Atlantic during the time of the race, their main aim is to gather media on the teams, and they do not see all the teams as it depends if you are on the same course. Our boat was made by Rannoch and, for four people, we used an R45 which is 28ft long, we had two cabins, one in the bow and one in the stern. I was in the stern with Todd and in our cabin, we had all the navigational equipment, autohelm, battery monitors and radios, therefore we managed and looked after all of these functions throughout the row.

This is also the smaller of the two cabins and there is enough room for one person but in storm conditions there could be two of us in there! We opted to go with a fantastic brand of freeze-dried food called Firepot, a Dorset based company, who

The biggest story of our row was the Blue Marlin incident. This was the rudest awakening I have experienced and something that we as a team had never dreamt of happening. I was sleeping in the stern cabin on my off shift and its was just after 2pm in the afternoon, Todd and Dixon were both on the oars and suddenly we were hit by something that felt like we had been rear ended by a vehicle. The force of the impact moved our boat two to three feet and with the almightiest bang.

I woke immediately and thought we had been hit by a giant wave similar to some we had experienced during the storms and my immediate action was to ask if the boys on deck were ok? They reported back they were fine but asked if I was ok as they thought we had sustained some serious damage to the rear of the boat.

I calmly said all was ok and lay back down in the cabin. Seconds later I screamed with a huge amount of expletives!!……… and reported back that we had been hit by a giant spike and that the hull was penetrated, and we were taking on water.

On further inspection the bill of the marlin had penetrated the bottom of the boat and come through into our cabin and missed my thigh by no more than one cm.

Our immediate action drills kicked in, and we called the race organisers and set about repairing the boat. Jono came back to the stern cabin and between us we sawed off the bill and plugged the seven cm diameter hole with epoxy resin, on top of this plug we then set about sealing the leaks with a petal formation. Each application of resin takes approximately 40/45mins to set. Jono then went into the water to apply the resin around the two/three inches of the bill that was still stuck in the hull. The whole incident took about six and a half hours to repair and then we were back underway.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 21

“

Seconds later I screamed with a huge amount of expletives!!……… and reported back that we had been hit by a giant spike and that the hull was penetrated, and we were taking on water.

“

Messages soon started to make their way home via our Garmin in reach and sat phone but when we started the race, we had a much smarter setup with a very advanced communications system onboard provided by Inmarsat and Advanced Tracking. This gave us full capability to do Instagram lives and send media back to everyone at home. When the power failure happened, we lost our communications systems for the remainder of the race, from then on, we had to rely on just the satphone. This was a big blow and morale was certainly affected by not having that connectivity with home. Our team were incredible and still managed to keep people updated on

Before ...

After ...

what was happening across our social channels. Thea, packed 59 letters for me that she had received from family, friends and colleagues and these really came into their own for raising morale and support for what we were doing. As a team we spoke at length about mental resilience and the challenges we would face. We also took time to understand each other’s touch points, our strengths and weaknesses and any personal matters that may bubble up when exhausted and in an alien environment. You have to look at the challenge day by day as the enormity of it is too much to digest otherwise. Making sure you praise each other for the hard work put in and the small gestures is key to keeping everyone pulling in the same direction.

We learnt a vast amount as a team and some of the key areas were to make sure you have goals set to strive for and that getting the right balance between work and life is so so important. Taking time to concentrate on something different and focus on achieving outside of your work is key. We also need to take time out from the digital world and social media etc, putting our phones down and enjoying the environment around us and the people we are with is one of the key lessons learnt. Go out and seek new opportunities and train yourself to be

optimistic in your outlook and you will

cycling, climbing, to adventures it focuses

reap the rewards.

the mind and you must fully commit to

I spend a lot of my time active, outdoors

So, what is my next adventure? I am

that activity and not let the mind wander. and seeking out adventures and believe

enjoying being back on dry land and

this has an incredibly positive impact on

having some down time whilst also getting

my mental well-being. It is so important

back into work. I am currently living and

and links very much into what I said earlier.

working in Austin, Texas, and building my

I take a lot from being out in the open

company, Pelorus, here in the USA. There

environment and we as humans are made

are a few challenges that are shouting out

to explore and be curious about our

at me and some unfinished business such

surroundings. Being outside gives you the

as Everest, so watch this space…

time to reflect and clear the mind of the stresses of life. I find when I am undertaking anything from running,

JImmY cARROLL (c 00)

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 23

An A-Z of the School Prizes OVER ThE YEARS, mANY SchOOL PRIzES hAVE cOmE AND GONE, OR ThEIR NAmES AND PuRPOSES chANGED. IN WhAT IS INTENDED TO BE A SERIES uNcOVERING ThE hISTORY OF OuR SchOOL PRIzES, WE LOOk AT ThOSE PRIzES AT ThE START OF ThE ALPhABET – A TO B.

ASTON BINNS PRIzE FOR SPANISh

BARNES ELOcuTION PRIzE

On the wall beside the pulpit in the

Despite the belief of former Barnes

BERÉNY PRIzE FOR FRENch It is perhaps surprising that the artist

School Chapel is a brass memorial plaque

Elocution prize winner Cecil Day Lewis

Didier Berény (1901-1993) founded a prize

to former modern languages master

that the prize he won in 1922 was named

at Sherborne for French rather than for

Francis Aston Binns (1859-1898), who died

after the Dorset dialect poet William

Art. Born in Frankfurt, Didier was

in September 1898 in a climbing

Barnes, the prize is in fact named after

amongst a group of six refugees given a

accident. Francis, who had studied at

Walter Mew Barnes (1856-1909) who

temporary home at Sherborne during the

Balliol College, Oxford, where he was

attended Sherborne School from 1867 to

First World War. He attended Sherborne

awarded a Taylorian Exhibition in French

1875. After studying law, Walter became a

School for 10 months from March 1915

(1885) and Taylorian Scholarship in Italian

barrister and returned to the family home

until December 1915 when he left to join

(1886), came to teach at Sherborne in

on the Isle of Wight where he served as

his parents in Spain. Didier was evidently

1892. A passionate climber and a

Chairman of the Ryde Pier Company.

grateful to the School and Headmaster

member of the Alpine Club, on the 16

Following Walter’s death his siblings

Nowell Smith for the brief time he had

September 1898 Francis reached the

founded the Barnes Elocution Prize at

spent here and in 1928 presented the

summit of Aiguille de Grands Charmoz

Sherborne. The prize was to be awarded

School with a portrait of Nowell Smith,

(3,445 metres) but was killed on the

to the boy who ‘in competition best

and in 1948 founded the Berény Prize for

descent when he fell into a crevasse. In

recited, delivered or declaimed from

French. Previous winners have included

1922, the Aston Binns Prize for Modern

memory a piece of English prose or

former Vice-Chancellor of Oxford colin

Languages was founded with a bequest

verse’. In 1994, Giles Robinson set for the

Lucas (f 59), the film critic Anthony Lane

(c 80), and more recently hugh Ridgway

left by his sister. In more recent years the

competition a verse option from

prize has been awarded for Spanish and

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 34 and a prose

(a 21) who, having been awarded 3A*s at

it is fitting that the winner of the prize in

option from the opening page of

A level, is going to read French and

1995 was Andy Nurton (m 95) who now

Sebastian Faulks’ The Girl at the Lion

Spanish at Manchester.

teaches Spanish in the MFL department.

d’Or. The winner that year was chris martin (m 95) who chose the prose

option and, according to Giles, was the only boy to correctly pronounce the name of the French town Janvilliers!

hAROLD BLAIR PRIzE FOR DIVINITY

ALISON BLENkINSOP PRIzE FOR

The Harold Blair Prize for Divinity was

hISTORY

ROS BOYD ART PRIzE

founded in 1985 in memory of Harold

This prize was founded in 1955 in

Rosalind Boyd (1952-2002) who for many

This U6 Art Prize is awarded in memory of

Blair (1902-1985) who served as assistant

memory of Alison Blenkinsop (1900-1954)

years worked in the Art Department

chaplain at Sherborne School from 1984

who was married to Edward Blenkinsop, a

alongside her husband Trevor Boyd,

to 1985. Harold’s connection with the

modern languages master at Sherborne

Director of Art 1980-2001. An artist in her

School, however, went much further back

School from 1944 to 1959. Alison, who

own right, Ros was also ‘an inestimable

– the son of missionary parents, he was

had a history degree from Oxford and

force in the artistic life of the School’ and

christened at Banda in India by Foss

had also taught the subject, lived at St

with Trevor hosted at Hyle House a

Westcott, the brother of Sherborne’s

Kilda in Long Street which became a

succession of international artists-in-

headmaster Frederick Brooke Westcott.

home-from-home for Alison’s nephews

residence.

During the Second World War Harold

and nieces who attended Sherborne

served as vicar of Horningsham in

Girls’ (Fenella Garrod) and Sherborne

Wiltshire where he acquired ‘an odd

School - John Garrod (b 53), Andrew

medley of jobs’, which included acting as

Garrod (b 56), David mallam (a 55) and

chaplain for an RAF camp and for a girls’

marcus mallam (a 62). Winners of the

school which had been evacuated to

prize have gone on to become notable

Longleat House. It was during this time

historians, journalists and authors,

that Harold became friends with C.S.

including Patrick moynahan (a 59), Tim

Lewis who he invited to Longleat to ‘deal with airmen, girls and aristocracy’. Rather appropriately, a recent winner of the prize was, Benedict mercer (b 20), son of

heald (g 62), Andrew harvey (b 69),

Robert mccrum (b 71), Timothy Garton Ash (m 73), Jonathan conlin (b 94) and

charles Gammell (d 01).

Sherborne’s former assistant chaplain the

TOm BuGBIRD AWARD FOR FELLOWShIP IN SAILING

Awarded in memory of Tom Bugbird

(g 98) to the member of the Sailing Club

Rev. Col. Nicholas Mercer.

who contributes the most fellowship to the Sailing Club each year. Tom was a keen member of the Sailing Club and, having just finished his A levels and left Sherborne, he was on his way to help at

BOW AWARD

the Sailing Club at Arne when he was

First presented at Commem 2003,

involved in a road accident. In his

the Bow Award has become one of the School’s most popular awards, given as it is to a boy who had made an outstanding contribution to the pastoral welfare of others in the School. The award honours Charlie and Louisa Bow who in 1988 bequeathed to the School their property at Newell Grange. The first recipient of the award was Tom

Edwards (a 03), whose brother

harry (a 10) also won the award in 2010.

obituary, Andrew Yorke described Tom’s BOWEN hISTORY PRIzE

love of sailing a dinghy in a fresh breeze

Founded in 1887 by Edward Ernest

around Brownsea Island or out to

Bowen (1836-1901) of Harrow School to

Studland. A few weeks after Tom’s death

encourage the study of modern history.

it was learnt that he had achieved A

Bowen was an old friend and former

grades in his A level mathematics, further

colleague of Sherborne’s then

mathematics, physics and chemistry

headmaster E.M. Young. Today, Bowen is

exams.

famous in the annals of Harrow’s history for having written the Harrow School song ‘Forty Years On’, and also as housemaster of The Grove and for founding the school’s modern side.

Previous winners of the Bowen prize have included Harold Temperley (b 1898) who went on to become Professor of Modern History at Cambridge and Master of Peterhouse, and Alan Lennox-Boyd

(g 1923) who served in Winston

Churchill’s peacetime government.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 25

Extended OS News ThE WAShING mAchINE PROJEcT FOuNDATION

Publications Patrick Barwise (b&m 1964) and Peter York The War Against the BBC Publisher: Penguin Angus cater (c 70) Harrac Goes South in the steps of Tilman and Richardson Available from www.anguscaterltd.co.uk Will Facey (f 66) Charles Huber: France’s Greatest Arabian Explorer Publisher: Medina mark Floyer (h 73) Scrabbled Publisher: Paekakariki Press Patrick Francis (ex-Staff) Old Yet Ever Young, A New History of Sherborne

“Just on the way to northern Iraq.

Does anyone know anyone there who’d like to try out our manual washing

develop and deploy solutions to people in need. Working in conjunction with The Washing Machine Project and Care

machine for people in need?” An

International we developed and

LinkedIn.

a pilot to Iraq. Collaborating with

inventor friend had posted on

deployed 30 manual washing machines as Electrocomponents PLC as our global

The clear answer was yes, there’s an Old

charity partner and other stakeholders we

Shirburnian in the shape of Tom Badham-

have significant growth plans ahead to

Thornhill (f 07) who was working out there

develop from the pilot to large scale

with the UN International Organisation

production in the coming years.

for Migration, managing some refugee camps. Fast forward a couple of days and

Tom is now based in Cox’s Bazar,

they were meeting for a drink to discuss

Bangladesh, working in camps in an area

plans and a connection with Oxfam’s Iraq

where around 750,000 Rohingya are

innovation lab to trial the prototype.

living. This is one of the largest refugee settlements in the world. That’s a lot of

Fast forward another two years and

people who need the dignity and

working with Founder/Inventor Nav

hygiene of clean clothes!

Sawhney we’ve helped set up a charity (TWMP Foundation) to provide grants to

ROBERT GOSLING (a 01) chair of trustees at tWMP Foundation

Jerry haigh (d 59) Reindeer Reflections, Lessons from an Ancient Culture Publisher: RMB Ben Jeapes (h 83) Ada Publisher: David Fickling Books, 2020 Peter Oborne (d 74) Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Emergence of a New Moral Barbarism Publisher: Simon and Schuster The Fate of Abraham: Why the West is Wrong about Islam Publisher: Simon and Schuster Antony Thomas (a 59) In The Line of Fire: Personal Memories of a Documentary Film Maker Publisher: Unicorn

Events and Reunions TO BORROW FROm ThE FOOTBALL PuNDITS, 2021 WAS A YEAR OF TWO hALVES. Following a full programme of virtual events in the spring, we were delighted to be once again able to hold live events from September. Three events in three days got us well and truly into the swing of things. Starting with the launch of our LGBTQ+ group at The Yard Bar in Soho, followed by School House OS coming together at The Black Dog, Vauxhall for Trish Cant’s leaving drinks and then the next evening we were back at The Black Dog for the Class of 2015’s delayed 5 Year Reunion. The Class of 2016 celebrated their 5 Year Reunion at The Black Dog the following Saturday.

October saw the much postponed 30 Year Reunion for the Class of 1990 finally taking place at The Department Store Brixton. Thank you to Richard Robinson (h) and Henry Squire (g) for organising the event. This was followed by a lunch at the Ironmongers’ Hall for Bow Society (OS who have promised to remember the School in their will) and Q (OS who left the School over 50 years ago). The same evening, we hosted around 100 OS and Sherborne Old Girls at Dirty Bones in Soho for the Classes of 2010 and 2011’s Ten Year Reunion. Dirty Bones, but this time in Shoreditch, was the venue the

As you will see in the calendar, we are already planning the 2022 OSS programme.

following day for the annual Volunteers’ Lunch. As always, we are very grateful to Cokey Sulkin (m 97) for letting us use The Black Dog and his Dirty Bones restaurants. Our last event in October was a joint 15 Year Reunion with Sherborne Old Girls for the Classes of 2005 and 2006 at another old favourite, The Clarence in Dover Street.

The final year group reunions of 2021, were held on the same evening in early November; the 45 Year Reunion Dinner at the Lansdowne Club for the Class of 1976, organised by Charles Diehl (c) and Anthony Pralle (g) and a burger and a beer at Bill’s Restaurant Soho followed by Espresso Martinis into the small hours for the Class of 2001 celebrating their 20 Year Reunion, organised by Alex Beattie (a). November also saw our only overseas event when Adrian Ballard, released from Sherborne, briefly visited Geneva and hosted a dinner for local OS. The OSS autumn programme concluded with the 20th Media Lunch at The Groucho Club on Thursday 25 November and the London Carol Service at St Olave’s Hart Street on Monday 6 December.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 27

Future Events

FEBRUARY Monday 7

university visit

edinburgh lunch/drinks

tuesday 8

university visit

newcastle drinks

tuesday 15

university visit

cardiff lunch

Wednesday 9 thursday 17

tuesday 22

thursday 24 MARCH

thursday 3

Saturday 5

thursday 24

APRIL

thursday 7 MAY

Friday 13

Saturday 14 thursday 19 JUNE

thursday 9

thursday 23 SEPTEMBER thursday 15

Saturday 17

thursday 29 OCTOBER

thursday 6

university visit 50 Year Reunion (1970-72)

university visit

university visit

40 Year Reunion (1980-82)

leeds lunch

cavalry and Guards, chetwode Room

loughborough lunch, oxford drinks

london, the clarence

cavalry and Guards, Waterloo and Peninsular Rooms

Pilgrims dinner

oSR, Sherborne

25 Year Reunion (1995-97)

the clarence

Property dinner

Westcott dinner

OS Day

15 Year Reunion (2007)

10 Year Reunion (2012)

Sports dinner

20 Year Reunion (2001-02)

5 Year Reunion (2017)

cavalry and Guards, coffee Room

the upper, Sherborne

The upper, Sherborne the clarence

dirty Bones, denman Street, Soho

Waldorf hilton, Aldwych, london

dirty Bones, Kensington high Street

the Black dog, Vauxhall

Q

Sherborne

35 Year Reunion (1985-1987)

the clarence

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 29

OS MERCHANDISE PRINTS OF ThE SchOOL AND cOuRTS

These items may be purchased from:

WIllIAM AnStIce BRoWn (g 47, Staff 53-67) Port of Sherborne – Print: £10 • Framed: £65

ThE OLD ShIRBuRNIAN OFFIcE, ShERBORNE SchOOL, ShERBORNE, DORSET DT9 3AP Tel: 01935 810558 Email: oss@sherborne.org Prices exclude P and P

FRAncIS PhIlIP BARRAud (1824-1901) Small Print (watercolour) of the Courts: £10 • Large Print: £15 • Framed Print: £65

cuFFLINkS (town and country colours)

£35

OS SOckS (town and country colours)

£10

OS TIE (town and country colours)

£20

OS BOW TIES (town and country colours)

£18

PILGRImS TIE

£20

mANYATTA.cO OSS BELTS (town colours/Pilgrims/OSGS) £80 Manyatta belts are traditional and personalised Kenyan beaded belts handmade by the Maasai. Every belt purchased directly helps the Maasai and the Tusk Trust.

For more information and to order a belt please visit: manyatta.co/products/old-shirburnian manyatta.co/products/sherborne-pilgrims manyatta.co/products/old-shirburnian-golf-society-members-only

John WeSteRn Print (pen and ink) of the Courts (signed): £10 • Framed: £65 JocelYn GAlSWoRthY The Upper - Sherborne v Winchester (Signed limited edition print unframed): £50 • Framed: £105

BOOkS

VIVAt ShIRBuRnIA £30 Sherborne School and the Great War, 1914-18 by Patrick Francis SheRBoRne ReGISteR £20 8th Edition 1925-2015 old Yet eVeR YounG £24 from Sherborne School Reception or £32.50 if posted. A history of Sherborne School by Patrick Francis

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SEAGLIMPSE LUXURY SEASIDE APARTMENT Beautiful ground floor apartment, looking down to the sea. Perfect for a couple’s coastal getaway, just steps from Swanage Bay’s gently sloping white sand beach on the Jurassic Coast.

Dog permitted Beach - 100 yards Easy walk into town Garden and parking

Extensive Fish & Shellfish, Farmyard and Wildlife designs on ceramics, textiles, boards and tablemats by artist Richard Bramble (h 86). These can be seen and purchased at his London Borough Market stall, Sherborne working studios or his website. 20% reduction (excludes existing offers) for all OS and family, just quote code: OS20 when ordering. All ceramics can be personalised by the artist making unique gifts.

www.dorsetcoastalcottages.com/cottage-details/148

info@richardbramble.com www.richardbramble.com

LIVING THE DREAM

HOUSE TO RENT NR ST TROPEZ

Charles York Miller (f 86) runs a real estate business in Jarnac, the home of Courvoisier in the heart of Cognac country (the sunniest region in France after the Côte d'Azur). If any OS are considering either a permanent move to the Charente or buying a holiday home here, please contact Charles to find out how he can help with the entire process. Accommodation etc. can be arranged for house-hunting trips.

La Bergerie is a magical stone-built house, set in 11 acres, 2 kms, from La Garde Freinet, St Maxime and St Tropez are a short drive away away. It has stunning views, overlooking the vineyards of St. Clement, and onto the Mediterranean, in the distance. A new swimming pool and pool house/bar have recently been built, with a fridge, ice making machine and BBQ, next to the boules court. https://villasinprovence.net. Rental times are between early July and late August. O.S./and friends will receive a discount.

charles@charente-immobilier.com www.charente-immobilier.com

CAROLINE HARDEN Family History Research A wonderful present – Caroline Harden has both the experience and the software to compile your family tree. If you would like further details, please do not hesitate to contact her on: 01963 250251 harden.caroline2018@gmail.com

Any enquiries please contact Ali Holding-Parsons (g 70) on 07970 010 512 or hp@stocksandchairsantiques.com

Jock Fraser (c 94) runs a tourist service in Madrid and Seville taking people off the tourist track to experience the authentic, local ambience. Adventurous Appetites will take you to sample traditional Spanish cuisine in some of the hidden corners of central Madrid and Seville, helping with language difficulties, advising on local specialities and imparting interesting local facts about the tradition, history and myths of these beautiful cities. They also offer a Roman bike tour from Seville for any historical cyclists.

0034 639 331 073 adventurousappetites@yahoo.es www.adventurousappetites.com

SKI INSTRUCTION IN COURCHEVEL Rob Sewell (g 72) has been living in the French Alps near Courchevel for over 25 years.

He is an internationally qualified and much respected ski instructor who would be very happy to ski with or simply meet up with any OS who may be taking their winter holidays in the area.

0033 610144762 rob.sewell@orange.fr

OSS chARITABLE TRuST The OSS Charitable Trust continues to award means-tested bursaries to the sons of Old Shirburnians. Details and application forms are available from the OSS Hon Treasurer, Robin Brown at robjen.brown@btinternet.com The Trust has been greatly helped over the years by generous bequests and we remain indebted to our many supporters who have kindly left a legacy to the Trust thus enabling sons of OS to follow in their fathers’ footsteps.

The OSS Committee advises that, if you would like to leave a legacy to this worthwhile cause, the following wording is suggested: “I give free of all tax and duty to the Old Shirburnian Society Charitable Trust 1975 (Charity No. 271592) the sum of £… (…..... pounds) and declare that a receipt from the Treasurer or other proper officer of the said charitable body for such gift shall be a sufficient discharge to my Trustees who shall not be bound to see the application thereof.”

AGm AND AccOuNTS The minutes of the OSS Annual General Meeting held on 11 May 2019 and the audited accounts are published on the website, www.oldshirburnian.org.uk and hard copies are available from the OSS office on request. The 125th AGM of the Society will be held at the south end of The Upper marquee on oS day, Saturday 14 May 2022 at 3.30pm. All OS and their guests are most welcome.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 31

Pilgrims While top-flight sport (mostly) kept going throughout the pandemic, amateur sport fared much less well. At least by the summer of 2021, Pilgrims sport could resume. Results were rather less secondary to the sheer enjoyment of being able to compete again. It is very much to be envisaged that the 2022 report will be somewhat longer and more varied, with some genuine achievement to be reported.

Instead, I will allow the Shirburnian to point up the differences between attitudes to a pandemic a century apart. In 1920, the so-called Spanish flu was finishing its malign progress through Britain. The March edition of the Shirburnian that year dealt with it all with admirable economy in its opening sentences: “The new year has started badly by an epidemic of influenza, which affected more than half the School, and which in one case proved fatal. The consequence of all this illness was that the ‘Third’s’ were delayed until February 28th, when Ross’, aided by Carey’s, inflicted a crushing defeat on the School House.” Ross’s and Carey’s being, in today’s parlance, Lyon House and Abbey House.

I would like to repeat a plea to the 2020 School leavers. Hardly any of that cohort were able to join the Club as in a normal summer; more have now done so but we would be delighted if others wished to become members. Please contact Jonathan Powe, the Hon Secretary, at jonathanpowe56@gmail.com if you are interested – Pilgrims sport is not just for the first-team members but the enthusiasts of all levels. There is a subsidy system for younger members, too.

ROBERT HANDS (b 92)

Rugby The Pilgrims played London Business School at Regent's Park under a mix of sun and heavy rain, with the temporary COVID rules and three 'thirds' (rather than two halves) adding further intrigue to the contest. We tried to play with flair from the off, throwing caution to the wind, but unfortunately an error led to an early LBS try.

Gradually, the Grims grew into the game and everything started to click, Alex Cattle hurtling in for his hattrick early in the second third off the back of a couple of sumptuous moves.

Fergus Hughes-Onslow provided precision in the back line, Henry Reynolds control at scrum half and Will Martin go-forward in the pack to build an unassailable lead by the end of the second third. Although it became scrappier towards full time as the Grims' lack of subs and lack of clarity around the temporary rules both told, a 47-12 win fully justified the performance. chARLIE LEAch (b 11)

Alumni cross country Race After a year off in 2020, it was great to be back in it (and by it, I mean the deep, deep mud) at Wimbledon Common for the 2021 Alumni Race.

The Pilgrims’ team was somewhat smaller than normal, but still a very strong looking side featuring faces both regular and newer, including a running canine, and even some support from those not able to run.

Due to some traffic issues, I just missed the start, but this meant I got the chance to chat briefly to many of the pilgrims present as we ran past

each other! The team put out a strong showing with our top four of Harry Lane (b 13), Tom Hole (b 12) (both top 10), Charles Pitt Ford (m 03) and me finishing in a respectable 3rd place in the overall trophy, and 3rd again in the age adjusted trophy with Pete Woodburn (b 85) nabbing my spot in that team. Pete also managed 3rd overall in the M50, only 20 seconds behind 1st place. We look forward to the Sherborne Trophy and Hyde Park Relays returning as well in the New Year.

hARRY REYNOLDS (e 16)

s

OSSS Old Shirburnian Sailing has continued in rude health this year after a more restrained 2020 season. We have enjoyed the start of more in person events, even bringing together those who'd only met virtually before.

As we started to leave the winter and lockdown in April there was a well-attended virtual sailing quiz to finish off the competitive virtual racing that had kept Old Shirburnian sailors entertained. The questions formed the backbone for a jolly evening of nautical trivia and catching up.

We had a large group together for the summer cruise on the August bank holiday, and we certainly put the miles in, bringing boats from Gosport and Southampton across to Weymouth.

We had some excellent sailing, some gorgeous sunshine and swimming along the south Dorset coast, and met in Weymouth for curry ashore. On the Sunday we sailed west and met in Chapmans Pool where (after a walk up the cliffs to survey the beautiful views) the motley crew assembled were treated to a delicious barbeque onboard Nick Ware's boat. The bank holiday weekend was absolutely stunning and gave a good memory of what the summer could be like.

Old Shirburnian Sailing put in a strong team for the Arrow Trophy this year with Robert Gosling, Camilla Gosling, Will Eaton, Jenny Guy, Harry Guy, Toby Wicks, Henry Jones, Sam Talbot-Smith. They had a lot to prove following a year of no racing due to COVID and Sunsail's brand new yachts to master.

Thankfully, they had been practising their tactics online through the lockdowns in the OSS virtual racing series! They represented themselves well in the Rum party on the Friday night, almost recruiting another OS who they found in the bar to join them.

Saturday brought strong winds and driving rain, so the call was made early two reefs and no spinnakers. They knew that to get through the Solent chop they'd need weight forward and out so big hiking was in order. They checked systems and set off for the start line, while not being first off the line they banged hard to the right on the course and were running in third behind Bradfield and Cheltenham. There was an exciting downwind leg with some close action with Cheltenham followed by another exciting beat. The next run they were overtaken by Uppingham and during the gybe the gooseneck snapped and they had to retire.

Unfortunately, repairs weren't available and the team took up residence in Cowes for the rest of the weekend enjoying a fun dinner with all the other competitors.

ROBERT GOSLING (a 01)

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 33

OS Golfing Society

Wow, what a successful year the OSGS has enjoyed in 2021! Golf has really bounced back from the cOVID pandemic that decimated our fixture list in 2020 when only five matches could be played… this year we played 15 matches versus other Old Boys Golf Societies/Golf clubs (only losing five fixtures to cOVID), of these we won nine and lost six.

Our Tournament teams collectively had their best year ever since the OSGS was founded in 1929! We enter a scratch team in the following prestigious golf tournaments: halford hewitt - we beat Winchester, Shrewsbury and Malvern, Tonbridge in the quarter-final, Rossall in the semi-final and lost to Loretto in the final. Our success in reaching the final for only our second time in 90 years was all the more remarkable because we had an incredibly tough draw. Winchester, Malvern (defending champions) and Tonbridge had all won the tournament within the *See OSGS Website for full Match Report

last four years. We have a good young team coming through with three debutants this year blending well with our more experienced players. Team: Couzens, Curtis, Elliot-Square, Francis, Gillett, Hodges, Irving, Kelly, Martin C, Pralle, Stagnetto, Williams and Captain: Martin P. There was a great ‘buzz’ amongst the players, Zakaria (Team Caddy) and also our small but committed band of supporters down at Royal Cinque Ports GC, Deal and Prince’s GC, Sandwich in September.

Grafton morrish - 1st round bye, beat Clifton, Brentwood, Eton in quarter-final losing to Malvern in the semi-final.

Coming off the back of our success in the Halford Hewitt, Capt. Couzens steered this six-man team on another string of excellent wins up at Hunstanton GC in early October*.

Bunny millard Salver (Over 75) - beat Haileybury in the semi-final, lost to Oundle in the final.

Brent knoll Bowl - we made an early exit.

GL mellin Salver (Over 55) - beat Loretto and Lancing, lost to Shrewsbury in the semi-final.

Peter Burles Salver (Over 65) - lost 1st round.

Royal Wimbledon Gc Schools Old Boys Putting Tournament - as the current holders it was a pity we just missed out on qualifying for finals day.

Alba Trophy - good experience for our young pair, but we did not come close to a podium finish.

We are extremely thankful that we get to play our fixtures at some of the finest golf clubs in the country including: Aldeburgh, Ashridge, The Berkshire, Burnham & Berrow, Deal, Hunstanton, New Zealand, Prince’s, Royal St George’s, Rye, Saunton, Sunningdale, West Hill, West Sussex, Woking, Woodbridge.

Most matches are 8–10-man teams playing 2x18 hole competitive, yet convivial foursomes off handicap with an excellent three-course lunch and refreshments in between. These offer a great opportunity to catch up with your friends and renew old sporting rivalries.

We hold three Meetings a year: at Sherborne GC in May, The Berkshire in June and Rye GC in Sept. All great fun and popular events with sumptuous lunches, historic silver trophies and numerous other prizes. This year we had 24 players who came and enjoyed our premier event, The Berkshire Meeting on Wednesday 9 June. It was a glorious day for 36 holes and we had players ranging from 19- 81 years of age! Paddy Macintosh (Vice-Captain and a solid 18-handicapper) managed a spectacular hole-in-one in the afternoon round, a 6-iron to the 144yd 4th hole on the Blue Course. Needless to say his wallet took a hammering!! In 2022 we are aiming to increase numbers to 32 players at this event…

The Society is open to all Old Shirburnians regardless of age and golfing prowess! We provide generous subsidies for young members (current levels below), which makes playing multiple fixtures highly affordable: • Those under 27 pay a max of £30 per day for any match/meeting which includes all green fees and lunch/catering costs (which is approx 25% of the real cost).

• Those 27-U32 years of age pay a max of £60 per day (approx 50% of the real cost).

Jonathan Godfrey (d 99) was OSGS Captain for 2020/21 and Paddy Macintosh (h 80) has taken over for 2021/22.

Alistair Hatch (Master in Charge of Golf at the School) tells us that golf has really taken off at the School in 2021 with just over 50 boys joining Sherborne GC as junior members. The School has six single figure H’Cap players including a 3

and a 1. This year we had a bumper crop of 18 school leavers join the OSGS - if you are one of them please ensure you sign up to play in our 2022 fixtures and you can immediately enjoy the financial subsidies and a wide range of golfing opportunities. You will be made very welcome.

For more information and our fixture list see the OSGS Website: https://osgs.wildapricot.org or contact me tgglaw@aol.com Mob 07767 007495.

TERRY GORDON (h 78)

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 35

DEAThS

ALLEN, Giles Derek (f 74) 5 October 2021

LEBuS, Peter Adam (a 52) 22 January 2021

APY, Chester (h 50) 30 May 2021

mAckIE, John Hugh Frederick (a 49) 12 February 2021

ATTFIELD, Michael John Leslie (g 50) 9 February 2021

mAAS, Jeremy Norman Morris (a 50) February 2015

BARBER, Paul Everard (a 53) 22 February 2021

mcEWAN, Robert (d 44) 16 January 2021

BARNES, John Edward Michael (h 39) 27 January 2020

mORGAN, Richard Martin (d 58), Governor (2002-10), OSS President (2004-07) 26 May 2021

BARTON, James (a 76) April 2018 BAuNTON, John Michael Charles (b 69) 8 June 2020 BOWN, Michael George (c 46) August 2021 BROWN, Andrew John Trevor (a 53) June 2020 BuTchER, Donald Bernard (a 47) 14 February 2021 cAREY, Michael Vivian (g 45) 20 November 2020 cOLQuhOuN, Robert Alan Huyshe (g 49) 20 June 2021 cOWL, Michael Alan John Charlton (c 71) 14 August 2021 DIXON, Clive St John (a 64) 9 November 2021 DOWNS, Andrew Peverly (a 56) 8 February 2021 EAST, John Robin (a 44) June 2020 FAYLE, Brian William Knott (a 48) 6 April 2020 FRENch, Matthew (h 63) 16 February 2021 GELL, Peter Donald Marriott (h 47) 26 September 2020 GLEED, Michael John (c 49) 16 January 2019 GOODmAN, Bryan Kinnaird (c 50) 2019 GRIFFIN, Denis Louis Elton (a 45) 30 July 2021 hARRISON, David Anthony (d 64) 24 November 2019 hENchmAN, Michael John (a 52) 20 May 2021 hEYWOOD, Claude Henry George (f 47) 8 January 2021 hILL BROWN, Richard Keith (a 55) 9 November 2021 huNTER, Archibald Anthony de Courcy (g 47) 24 January 2021

mOSS, Robert Michael Forester (h 55) 5 November 2019 mOTh, Piers James (e 99) 22 March 2021 muIRhEAD, James Alan (b 42) December 2018 muIRhEAD, James David Charles (b 68) 24 February 2021 muRRAY, Michael David (g 58) 15 May 2021 NIchOLAS, Charles Vere (a 64) 2 January 2021 NORmAN-WALkER, Timothy John (g 59) 9 July 2021 NORRIS, Charles Anthony (c 52) 9 December 2020 ORLANDO-REEP, Timothy (b 51) 3 April 2020 PEARcE, Michael John (h 55) August 2020 PuGh, Richard Andrew David (h 68) 30 June 2021 QuARTANO, Ralph Nicholas (g 45) 1 January 2021 ScOTT, Peter John (c 58) 19 January 2021 SELLERS, Nigel Frederick Charles (g 70) 12 June 2021 SPIcE, Gordon George (h 58) 9 September 2021 TAYLOR, John Kirby (f 47) 2 August 2021 TAYLOR, Nicolas Hornby (a 63) 28 April 2021 ThOmPSON, John Buckner (h 53) 24 November 2021 ThOmPSON, Philip Martin (h 58) 13 June 2020 ThORNE, Daniel Willis (h 84) 21 September 2021 TREmELLEN, David Lionel Bruce (d 78) 5 August 2021 WALES SmITh, Anthony John (h 48) 17 January 2021

JAmES, John Nigel Courtenay (a 51) School Governor (1990-02) 15 February 2021

WhIPP, Edward Thomas (e 96) 13 February 2021

JENkINS, Denis St Michael (g 59) 5 December 2021

WOODS, Benjamin Charles (a 51) 6 November 2021

kELLY, Sebastian Xavier (f 18) August 2021

WOOLVERIDGE, Gordon Hubert (a 45) 21 June 2021

kING-SmITh, Arthur Beresford (a 49)

WOOLmER, David Michael (a 53) 10 June 2021

kIRkhAm, John (Governor 1997-2002) October 2019

WORDSWORTh, Jeremy N (staff 1963-71) 4 August 2019

LANE, Robert Reginald (c 50) 8 January 2021

ENGAGEmENTS

GuERIN, James Robert Oliver (g 09) to Miss Emily Burnett POON, Crispian Gary (m 08) to Miss Julia Carter mAcDONALD WATSON, James Alexander (m 06) to Miss Harriet India Ferris-Lay 1. mAcDONALD WATSON, Timothy Charles (a 08) to Miss Erika Pearce mccOY, Simon Robert (a 79) to Miss Emma Samms NOTT-BOWER, Jack William (c 10) to Miss Helen Formoso-Murias RIGBY, Charles Edward Peter (f 09) to Miss Natalie Adams QuIck, Charles William Henry (c 03) to Lady Natasha Howard

mARRIAGES

BuLLEID, William Charles Allen (b 07) to Miss Cherry Cheung on 13 July 2021

cOchRANE-DYET, James Iain (b 08) to Miss India Boyer 11 September 2021 2. cLIFFORD, Oliver James (a 09) to Miss Alice Camp on 21 August 2021

FARRER, Oliver William Philip (c 10) to Miss Polly Tullberg on 17 July 2021 hAmES, Peter Fairfield Jack (b 05) to Miss Ninara Mirbabayeva on 12 December 2020 3.

RODBARD-hEDDERWIck, Piers Alexander Gifford (f 02) to Miss Sorcha Easson on 28 August 2021 4.

JAcOBSEN, Henry Marius Ayres (a 06) to Miss Emily Frances Sargeant on 1 May 2021 kELLY, Oliver James Douglas (g 98) to Miss Catherine Pettinger on 31 July 2021 mARkS, Henry Thomas Peter (c 06) on 10 September 2021 mOORES, Harry James (d 07) to Miss Jessica Freling on 16 October 2021 PAYNE, David Jeffrey (g 81) to Miss Debora de Oliveira Lopes on 22 January 2021 5.

RANcE, Angus Michael (e 08) to Miss Melanie Gordon on 31 July 2021 6.

RILEY, Stephen John (c 73) to Ms Victoria Burch on 27 August 2021 SkELTON, Benjamin Gerald (b 90) to Miss Gala Jackson-Coombes on 4 September 2021 ThOW, Gavin Ashley (m 03) to Miss Penny Toogood on 7 August 2021 WINTLE, Charles Michael Hugh (e 10) to Miss Rosie Davies on 4 September 2021

BIRThS

To Ruth and Andrew cameron (a 03), a daughter, Jessica Grace Parker on 7 January 2021 To Georgie and Guy corlett (c 06), a daughter, Poppy Alice on 13 February 2021 To Mel and Will Day-Robinson (f 07), a daughter, Pia Alice on 16 June 2021 To Rachel and George Densham (a 06), a son, Frederick on 10 June 2021 To Lauren and Henry Densham (h&a 00), a son, Finlay Ryan on 26 March 2021 To Lauren and Toby Edwards (a 06), a son, Oscar Nicholas on 1 October 2020 To Dhanishtha and Chris hallam (a 06), a daughter, Cara Giselle Marie on 21 March 2021 To Charlotte and Alex hammick (g 06), a son, Felix on 7 May 2021 To Emma and Matthew hardcastle (f 06), a daughter, Clara on 8 September 2021 To Harriet and Richard hill (a 06), a son, Rupert Michael James on 8 January 2020 and a daughter, Poppy Elizabeth on 27 July 2021 To Anna and David hitchings (m 02), a son Jonathan Sebastian on 11 May 2021 To Poppy and Robin Irving (d 08), a son, Charlie Andrew Irving-Johns on 5 May 2021 7.

To Alice and Charlie minter (g 04), a son, Louis on 21 October 2020, a younger brother to Oscar To Eva-Maria and James moubray (d 06), a daughter, Lili May Charlotte on 6 August 2020 To Jo and Ed Patterson (b 06), a daughter, Grace on 19 February 2021, a sister to Theo born on 12 October 2018 To Angie and Freddie Pendarves (b 06), two sons, Alfonso Rowland on 29 July 2019 and Christopher Mark on 4 May 2021 To Charlotte and Richard Perowne (e 04), a daughter, Arabella Summer Kitty on 8 July 2021 To Florence and John Shaw (f 93), a son Frederick on 1 June 2021, a brother to Alexander and Maximilian To Isobel and Bruno Skinner (b 06), a son, Arthur on 2 October 2020 To Kristie and Will Thomas-Ferrand (h 96), a son, David on 30 April 2020 To Annie and Laurence Tooth (f 03), a son, James on 27 September 2021 8.

To Michiru and James Willasey-Wilsey (m 06), a son, George on 26 July 2021 To Natalie and Alex Willis (b 05), a son, Rafferty Edward d’Anyers on 23 June 2020

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 37

1.

5.

3.

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OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 39

Sports Project Fundraising Dinner 23 June 2022

The Waldorf Hilton, Aldwych, London Master of Ceremonies: Mark Pougatch, the TV Sports Commentator, Other Celebrity guests to be announced shortly.

£1,600 per table of ten.

To reserve a table please email Tracey Richardson, tracey.richardson@sherborne.org or Adrian Ballard, adrian.ballard@sherborne.org

Richard Morgan (d 58) 25th June 1940 to 26th May 2021

Governor 2002-10 President OSS 2004-07

Richard Morgan loved his time at

Richard to the Warden, Wyndham

believer in holistic education he was

Sherborne and after a highly successful

Milligan, who promptly hired him as an

intensely practical and acknowledged

career as a schoolmaster and Headmaster

assistant master in 1963. Jock also

that “good exam results fill schools”. He

he returned to be an influential and

introduced him to both Bishop Launcelot

believed that every pupil had talent and it

constructive Governor after his retirement

Fleming and to Dennis Silk. A few years

was the School’s job to encourage and

in 2000. He was one of the most

later Jock introduced Richard to

motivate. Common Room was key to

transformative educational leaders in the

Launcelot Fleming’s stepdaughter,

achieving this objective and Richard

independent sector, having a huge

Margaret Agutter. She became Margaret

Morgan was single-minded in appointing

impact on Cheltenham College in the

Morgan in 1968. Margaret was the perfect

and supporting inspirational teachers.

1980s and Radley College in the 1990s.

foil for Richard and together they formed

The appointment of Andrew Reekes (later

Richard Morgan was born in June 1940 in Weston-super-Mare to Welsh parents, Trevor and Leslie. The family returned to Wales where his father was a circuit

a great partnership which lasted more

to follow him to Radley) in 1985 as

than fifty years. “I was only ever

Director of Studies, sealed the direction

appointed to any position because of

of travel. In 1978, 11% of pupils got A

Margaret,” Richard was later to say.

grades, 23% A+B grades. In his last year,

judge. Richard was sent to boarding

It was clear from the outset that Richard

school in England: Hillstone in Malvern

was not only a gifted teacher of English

1990, these numbers had more than doubled to 25% and 56%.

and then to Sherborne, where he

but that he had real leadership potential.

Around the core ingredient of improved

followed his brother Philip into Harper

He had exceptional communication skills,

academic results, Richard Morgan lifted

House under the benign auspices of John

both to individuals and large groups. His

Cheltenham’s reputation and with it

and Libby Melvin in 1953. He kept in

great skill was to encourage others to talk

demand for places. He was an impressive

touch with the Melvins, and with Libby in

about themselves. He brought energy,

salesman and prep school heads and

particular, for whom he acted as executor,

determination and drive to whatever he

parents were inspired by his enthusiasm

for the next seven decades. At Sherborne

undertook. When Dennis Silk arrived at

and ambition for the School and its

he was a member of the VIth, he became

Radley as the new Warden in 1968 one of

pupils. Good teaching was the

a prefect and he excelled at sport,

his first appointments was to make

foundation but the right environment,

especially as a wicketkeeper/batsman in

Richard (aged 28) a housemaster, the

physical and cultural, was equally

the cricket XI for two years.

youngest appointee in the School’s

important. Money was found to improve

history. Serving with Dennis for ten years

buildings and for new facilities; co-

He went up to Caius College, Cambridge to read law and won a blue at rugby fives as well as being captain of the university

was a fine apprenticeship for Richard’s

curricular opportunities for pupils were

future roles.

expanded to produce a school where all

team. Cambridge was also important for

Richard Morgan was appointed

Richard in that he met three men who

Headmaster of Cheltenham College in

were to become lifelong influences upon

1978. Over his 12-year term, the market

him. Jock Burnet, Bursar of Magdalene

for private education would improve

College and President of Cambridge

significantly but at the outset pupil

Fives, became an early mentor, and as a

numbers were down and there were

Radley governor, he recommended

financial challenges. Although a great

pupils had the chance to excel in one area or another and gain confidence.

Although forward-looking and innovative, Richard Morgan insisted on adherence to the ethos and traditions of the College, preserving compulsory chapel and insisting on high standards of personal conduct – tidy hair, shirts tucked in, no

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 41

littering. This was a formula which many

Common Room, the setting of high

played a vital part in the work of the

parents found irresistible and when he

standards and an excellent team of

Finance and General Purposes

left in 1990, Cheltenham was in excellent

Heads of Department, marshalled by a

Committee which was the engine-room

shape.

newly formed Senior Management team.

of the Governing Body. He was an active

The problem facing the Radley Council that same year was how to replace Dennis Silk who by then was regarded as one of the leading Headmasters in the country. Richard Morgan entered the recruitment process late but with his knowledge of and deep affection for Radley, his understanding of what his great friend and mentor Dennis Silk had achieved and his own credentials as a successful Headmaster, his appointment was assured. The issues facing him were

The facilities, many of which were not fit

President of the Old Shirburnian Society

for purpose, were upgraded: notably the

from 2004 to 2007. Above all, he was a

conversion of a disused dining hall into a

constant support and source of wise

first-class library (fittingly named “The

advice and encouragement to me

Richard Morgan Library”) and the

throughout my time at Sherborne.

building of a magnificent block of new classrooms, Queen’s Court. Radley’s campus was transformed by extensive planting and by being turned into a giant art gallery with boys’ artwork on display in the most unlikely locations.

As his time as Warden of Radley came to

His extraordinary energies were also directed to charity work. He was President of the South Wilts Mencap for several years, a Trustee of the Salisbury Museum where he was closely involved in major exhibitions of Constable and Turner paintings and later helped at

very different to those at Cheltenham in

a close, Richard Morgan could reflect on

Alabare, a Christian charity providing care

1978. Numbers were buoyant but the

a golden decade. Demand for places,

and shelter for the homeless.

Schools’ market was changing. The

reflected in the waiting list and reserve

introduction of A and GCSE level League

waiting lists, was even higher than in

tables in 1992 were a very public

1991. As well as exceptional academic

exposure of comparative academic

results, Radley’s sport was very successful,

performance. ISI inspections from 1996

not just at the top level where the 1st X1

put a spotlight on every aspect of a

Cricket was unbeaten for six seasons and

boarding school’s performance, looking

the 1st VIII won the Princess Elizabeth

beyond academic performance to co-

cup at Henley in 1998, but also right

curricular and welfare provision.

through the lower teams and age groups.

Appointed for a nine year term (to take

“Retirement” in 2000 at the age of 60 was

him to retirement at 60), Richard Morgan

rather a misnomer. Richard remained

set off at pace. “It was breathless,” a

Chairman of the Radley Foundation until

senior member of Common Room

2010, he joined the Clifton College board

remarked later. The approach was the

and was Chairman from 2013 until 2016.

same as had brought success at

He also devoted himself to fulfilling his

Cheltenham. He insisted that academic

role as a governor of Sherborne from

performance must improve. A target of

2002 until 2010. He took the trouble to

80% A and B grades at A level was set

seek out members of staff and to show a

and achieved thanks to a strengthened

keen interest in what they were doing; he

His passion for art was a constant and the pictures he bought over the years were a source of endless pleasure.

Richard was father to three adored and adoring daughters: Pippa, Victoria (“Tooey”) and Rachel. The arrival of grandchildren Luke, Tess and Libby brought Richard, the family man, much happiness.

A great letter writer to the end, his missives were always upbeat. After he died, countless letters to Margaret, from former pupils and fellow teachers alike, invariably referred to him as the “great encourager’. Richard was an inspiration whose warmth and enthusiasm engendered lifelong loyalty and friendship.

SImON ELIOT (headmaster 2000-10)

OSS News

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 43

Appointments and Awards chRIS PLAYER (d 09) was named in The Drum’s Top 50 Emerging Marketers 2021.

JAmES VITALI (f 14) has been elected President of the Cambridge Union.

1940s NIGEL WAY (a 44) it certainly has been a taxing two years to live through, but first a few background notes.

1950s JAmES BARkER (a 45) From the other

mIchAEL TEALE (f 52) having reached

ends of the earth (Ed: New Zealand), we

the advanced age of 87, I don’t have a

have been very fortunate to have got a

lot to report!

bit of a grip on the dreaded lurgy but After I lost my wife Ann in May 2015,

even so have a problem keeping

Sue and I do the usual age green-related

I moved into a seniors’ home that has

ourselves from getting it again via

activities, but sadly declining. Happily,

everything I need. We are looked after by

travellers crossing the borders. We feel

one of our grandsons likes cutting the

the friendly staff who provide good

very sorry for the trials of lockdown, etc,

grass, which reminds me I must pay him!

entertainment and bus trips. We also

you have had and hope you now see the

have a very good art room which tempts

light at end of the tunnel. My wife and I

me to start painting again! Just to keep

have very few relations and friends in the

DAVID cROWLEY (b 53) Self-isolated with my wife supported by neighbours

me out of trouble, I am Vice Chair of the

UK but happily they are all fit and well.

and long-distance family and friends.

Residents Council and also attend the

With best wishes from the deep south.

Wife died unexpectedly from cancer last

DAVID (SAm) SmART (a 45) age 94

live solo – including learning to cook!

Health and Safety monthly meetings consisting of all department heads so I can keep an eye on what is going on

retired former master at Dulwich College

here!

(20 years), living in Dulwich Village. Is an

August (2020) and since then learning to

chRISTOPhER WOODS (b 53) I have

active Humanist. Stood 3 times for Green

been reuniting with people I haven’t

In December of last year, I landed up in

Party - Ecology Party as it was then,

been in contact with for years through

hospital with a case of COVID together

member of CND and Stop the War,

email. I have also read some Spanish and

with pneumonia. Had it not been for the

founder of Sherborne Q. Delighted to

Portuguese which I used in my work in

quick action by the hospital doctor in

have contact with any Shirburnians who

Spain and Portugal, and we have

hooking me up to oxygen and

care to call. Address and email available

watched too much TV, but thoroughly

intravenous fed drugs, and my age being

from the OS Office.

against me, I would not have survived

enjoyed it! Would you ask John and Adrian if it would be possible to organise

that first night. However, I recovered

mIchAEL SELBY (h 49) I will be 90 in

a reunion for those in their 80s as my

quickly, but they kept me in isolation for

November (2021) and have been married

generation is living that much longer and

a while longer before discharging me at

for 65 years. Given my age, my activities

we have many memories of Sherborne?

the end of the first week in January. It’s

are limited but I have been kept busy in

(Footnote from John: Q 2022 will

difficult to tell how many other residents

two areas.

hopefully bring plenty of the 80+ back to

caught the bug because we were not

Sherborne).

informed for privacy concerns. At that

Our local church is facing a crisis. The

time, we were in total lockdown because

boiler has failed and the replacement

many of the staff who went home at

cost is enormous, plus the roof leaks and

night tested positive on returning in the

needs replacing. Several churches

morning! Also, if more than three

around Clifton have already closed and

residents were sick at the same time, for

are being utilised for other purposes.

any reason, the chief medical doctor for

Will St Paul’s join them? We have been

Alberta could shut us down.

holding urgent meetings over Zoom to decide what we should do, and how we

The dining room and bistro were closed

can raise or earn the necessary funds.

for the duration, with all meals delivered

PETER mOELLER (a 55) Every year in

to our rooms. I lived on the 4th floor then

The other area is personal. A long-term

and delivery was very slow, enough said!

friend of ours received-after two years on

calendar with a different picture of my

But at least most of us have microwaves

bail-a sentence of five years in prison. A

part of Suffolk for each month. It comes

to heat up the food.

lieu of a Christmas card I produce a desk

vicious punishment where probation had

packed in a CD case that unfolds to

been recommended and expected. So,

make a stand. For this year’s edition in

After all of us had received the second

my task has been to try and sustain him,

deference to isolating, I turned the idea

vaccination, nearly all the COVID

by letters, through this horrendous

on its head, by taking pictures (last year,

restrictions were lifted and now we are

experience. He is in his mid-70’s and

of course) of each month as viewed

just about back (July 2021) to pre COVID

married, so we have tried to look after his

through my office window showing how

conditions.

wife as well.

the seasons change in the field below. A sample picture for July is shown.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 45

WILL BERTRAm (b 57) As a student of

But a copper ran over and dished my fun.

Architecture studying at the AA I went

Just one darned thing after t’other .

along to the recording studios at HMV in Oxford St. I had come across an old southern state 1948 monologue entitled Life Gets Tejus. So, I cut a disk, with my student chums as backing. It went well and I still have the one and only record after all these years.

As the Pandemic started to squeeze the life blood out of the nation it occurred to

Seeing so few is beyond the Pale, Vaccination ‘s the Holy Grail.

We can’t afford to let that fail, It’s the key to our Jailhouse door.

There’s some who think it’s all a hoax, Well I’ve got news for all those folks.

Try tryin’ to breath and not to choke that’s how the Devil takes you!

me that life was getting extremely

Day by day the death toll climbs.

tedious! Could I re-write the words of

For many poor souls the sun won’t shine.

that old offering to capture the

Put a foot wrong and they hand out a

frustrations, desolation, and noble

fine.

optimism of our blighted condition?

The taxman needs the money.

And this is the result.

COVID not OVID They’ve locked us up ...and they’ve locked us down, Not much point in going to town.

You ain’t encouraged to get around.

Life Gets Tejus...don’t it?

They’ve closed the pubs and shut up shop: The schools’ reopening has been a flop.

No one knows when these ‘rules’ will stop.

Best stay home ...and grumble!

The booze in the pantry gets less and less, There’ll be none of it left in a week, I guess, So I think I’ll go gambling and get depressed.

Best not try to beat it.

My bankman says he’s raised his fee; That’s hardly goin’ to bother me; If he looks close he’s bound to see There ain’t a darned thing in there!

schoolboys headed home to gather again on Thursday 1 August 1957 with camping equipment stowed in a Morris Minor. The three of us set off from the West Country for Dover and Ostend.

MacMillan was in Number Ten,

But if your downhearted don’t let it show

Pulling together’s the best way I know.

With kindness and love we’ll get to the end

Why! a happy New Year is the

message I send.

chin up...hang in there ,my dear ol’

friend.

Life’s gettin’ better...Life’s on the mend!

So long......

NIchOLAS STORRS (a 57) As an octogenarian, I did not work during the lockdown, neither did I volunteer, nor was furloughed, nor self-isolating, nor did home teaching! Very boring and uninspiring you must think. So, what did I do to survive, which indeed I did?

For my wife and I, it was very much business as usual. We have a large smallholding. We have ponies, a few sheep, hens and four dogs, two of which were puppies to train. Always DIY jobs to do, a continuous supply of repairs,

My girl’s my saviour, she’s ‘up the duff’

broken fences, things not working,

One little ray of sunshine....

gardening etc, not to mention mucking

the sun.

ham-stone Courts, three no-longer-

Grief and misery, pain and woes,

This Furlough’s given me just enough

The rain stopped rainin’ and out came

Lotharingia: A’ levels finished, results unknown, saying good-bye to the warm

Debts and worry ..and so it goes,

To pay the landlord and all that stuff.

This morning I thought I’d go for a run.

JONNIE TOLSON (a 57) Travels in

out of stables! And now hay making.

Now looking forward to a week’s holiday in Scotland in September.

Eisenhower in The White House, petrol was 4/9p a gallon, nothing could stop us.

Andrew Greenslade (a 57), the car-

provider, Barney Butter (a 57), the

linguist and Jonnie Tolson (log-keeper) were off to Europe. Alas Andrew is no longer with us.

What does this have to do with Lockdown? As with de-clutterers elsewhere an item bursting with memories emerged from a cardboard box: a red school notebook. It was our log-cum-account book for Europe 1957.

As the ferry docked it was growing dark, we motored out of the port along the coast to Blankenberge to set-up camp.

Nodding off with tents pitched in a stiff sea breeze on well-mown grass we were called out by the Gendarmerie demanding what we were doing on the town’s golf course. With suspicion they guided us to an all-night hotel. Next morning, we set out on our long drive: Bruges, on to Waterloo thence Luxemburg, camping along the way, Triers in Germany down the Moselle, the local residents witnessing boater-clad pedalo riders staging waterborne races.

After visiting a local wine festival, we dined with potatoes boiled in wine – water supplies were low.

s

Our trek sightseeing, driving, fine eateries and camping took us on to the Rhine, to Worms via Koblenz, then swapping rivers to Heidelberg (Neckar), to Ulm (Danube) and Lindau on Lake Constance sharing its shores between Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We drove through the Alps and walked in the tunnel cut annually into the Rhone Glacier. We saw a distant Mont Blanc before our journey took us north-west through France to Paris, the Eiffel Tower, Rive Gauche meals, camping in the Bois de Boulogne and tickets for the Folies Bergère.

Bookkeeping was not our strong point, but our records show we arrived home

She’d come to say qu’il y avait un renard

I never guessed back in April 2020 that

having spent some £80 between us for

sur notre pelouse et qu’il y avait tué nos

for the next year and a half the fox would

provisions, fares, fees, fuel and

poules. Indeed, the fox was still there,

become our only, and now daily, visitor.

entertainments along the way. This looks

quietly working through the best bits of

The pleasure of saying good morning to

modest, but multiply by 24 for today’s

the second of our two hens, in broad

him every day almost makes up for a

value! Home again after three weeks we

daylight on the back lawn. He even

traumatic afternoon 65 or so years ago,

considered ourselves wiser for the

posed for a photo shoot. After a period

when I was cheerfully following the West

journey, ready to set off to our

of mourning, we went out and bought

Somerset Vale (sic) on foot, and suddenly

universities, National Service, and life’s

some dogfood. And now he comes

found myself in at the kill ...

later adventures.

round regularly. Yesterday, for example, he rang the new (motion-detector)

Lotharingia was the short-lived European

JERRY hAIGh (d 59) I’m not sure how

doorbell at 06:05. He knows that when

much of my news has made into the

kingdom arising in the Ninth Century

the bell rings the door will open and that

pages of the OS Record. In those far-off

from division of the Carolingian Empire.

he can then come in and relax while I

days I was Haigh (Jeremy) of Harper

Much of our journey sixty-four years ago

prepare his meal.

House.

as these notes are written (July 2021) is

Yesterday’s breakfast was left over blanc

Anyway, there are five books listed (under

the scene of horrific storms and floods.

de poule, plus 240 g of dog meat. He

the Books link www.jerryhaigh.com -

was through Northern Lotharingia which

RIchARD hARDWIck (f 58) One of the recent little pleasures of my quiet life is

was back for elevenses (another 240g

surprise, surprise). The first was a text

dog meat), then lunch, then tea and

book on deer farming, the others are

finally supper, each time 240 g plus some

non-fiction accounts of events and

hearing the door-bell ring. Not the front-

biscuits. He eats all that from my hand.

activities in my 50 year career as a wildlife

door bell (probably either the ever-

Towards the end of a meal, he will trot off

veterinarian. In that capacity I worked in

optimistic Jehovah’s witnesses, or else

with the latest mouthful and carefully

seven African countries, all over Canada, the USA, Finland, New Zealand,

DHL with a parcel for the people

bury it on the lawn, pause for a yawn and

opposite) but the back-door bell -

a scratch, and then come back for more.

Australia, the tiny Pacific island of Rota,

(probably either an inquisitive pigeon, or

When finally satisfied he sits on the lawn

and Mongolia. Species range from rhino,

else our friend the fox).

and goes to sleep. He doesn’t visit every

lion and elephant to polar bears, moose,

day; more like once every three days. The

wolves and reindeer. Among some of

To begin at the beginning: it all started

morning our local mammal enthusiasts

the most unusual cases were giving a

one afternoon in January 2020. At that

came to count the Myotis

4-gallon enema to a rhino, slinging a

time, we didn’t yet have a bell on the

brandtii hibernating in our garden cave,

juvenile elephant under a helicopter,

backdoor; it was the front-door bell that

he kindly turned up exactly on cue. By

and carrying out root canal treatments on

rang. And it wasn’t the Jehovah’s

May he had moved in next door but one

a lion.

witnesses, but our next-door neighbour.

to us with his mate and they had a new family.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 47

1960s There are many magazine articles, but

DONALD LIGhT (f 60) As I was

only a few of the roughly 150 are listed.

completing my final year at Phillips

and actually older than the RGS. This was

You can also find links to storytelling,

Exeter Academy in 1958-59, I sought an

more specifically because of my work on

Society, which is rather more academic

photography and woodworking - lots of

upper-6th year at Sherborne before

the problems of social interaction both

projects and photos on that subject. I

matriculating at Stanford University. It

with, within and between this disparate

even came to the School a few years ago

proved to be a wonderful adventure and

group, specifically in what is academically

and gave one of those Saturday morning

rewarding both intellectually as well as

called ethnomedicine. Unfortunately, this

talks, A Wildlife Vet in Africa.

personally. The experience inspired my

coincided with the onset of the awful

first published essay that compared

symptoms I started to get with what was

My latest book, Reindeer Reflections is to

Exeter’s to Sherborne’s ways of

eventually diagnosed as Hairy Cell

be published on 1 October 2021.

developing young men, to Sherborne’s

Leukaemia in 1996 at the age of 52.

https://rmbooks.com/book/reindeer-

advantage.

reflections/

Because of the infection risk of the disease itself and the six months

Flying 6,000 miles to Stanford (after a

chemotherapy I was about to embark on,

stay in my parents’ New England home)

I was given 48 hours to sort out my

transported me to a campus more

immediate retirement from clinical

expansive than all of Oxford, full of

medicine! After that, frankly, everything

sunshine, tans, and beautiful women. I

else, apart from getting better, faded

came to realize I liked ideas more than

into insignificance and it took about two

anything else, except a poetic co-ed.

years before I felt anything like human

Nancy has been my life’s partner ever

again. Learned societies fell by the

since, for 60 years now. While she taught

wayside and I forgot all about it.

English literature, I went to graduate

Obviously, I survived, and I was eventually

PhILIP WRIGhT (g 59) was prompted by

school at the University of Chicago and

able to continue my academic work as

the death of HRH Prince Philip, the Duke

Brandeis in sociology. A first

this did not involve patients face-to-face.

of Edinburgh to share this anecdote

appointment at Princeton University led

which was published in the Daily

to our staying there, even as I got

To cut a long story short, I had a massive

Telegraph.

appointments elsewhere, and we raised

clear out of old papers, draft articles and

our son and daughter there. If you write

so on over the COVID lockdown and

Major Philip Wright OBE, formerly

dlight@princeton.edu, you can still find

found the original correspondence from

Grenadier Guards, remembers a time in

us on Adams Drive.

the RAS. I contacted them last year and

Prince Philip lent him a pair of flippers in

The English connection solidified when

enrolled immediately - no interview, no

a swimming pool in Cyprus. As Philip

my research on comparative health care

committee, nothing! So, 20 or so years

recalls, Prince Philip ‘was commanding

systems led to serving as an advisor to

late, I am now a Fellow of the Royal

HMS Magpie … and the ship called in on

the NHS in various parts of England and

Asiatic Society!

Cyprus as part of the Mediterranean

Scotland over many years and to being

fleet. My father, Sir Andrew Wright, was

invited as a visiting professor at the

Governor and Prince Philip visited us in

universities of Oxford, Cambridge and

Government House. My father said, “any

Manchester. We loved our many walks

time you want to use the swimming pool,

and visits in England, which we can

do come and use it.” One night Prince

perhaps resume after the pandemic

Philip’s evening swim coincided with

subsides.

1950 when he was 10 years old and

told them what had happened, and I was

mine. He had “frog feet” and I’d never seen them before. He said they

SImON PhILLIPS (a 61) I was awarded

belonged to his uncle, Lord

an MPhil (Social Sciences) by research

Mountbatten’. Philip, wearing Prince

from Bath University in 1990 for my work

Philip’s flippers ‘flip flopped up and down

with refugees from Indo-China, basically

renewed lockdown in March coincided

the pool’ until a governess appeared and

The Boat People. Based on this work, I

with the end of a desk-top due diligence

shouted “It’s time to get out now,

was invited to become a Fellow of the

on a uranium deposit in Uzbekistan,

Philip!”. The Prince looked up sharply. ‘I

Royal Geographical Society in 1993. A

which I had been lucky to visit some

think he thought she was talking to him’.

little while after I was also invited to

years earlier. Little had changed, except

become a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic

some infill drilling results, making my job

chRISTOPhER WhEATLEY (h 61) 2021’s

s

a real pleasure. Report writing was

Life appears to be starting again (fingers

PATRIck BARWISE (b&m 64) My main

finished by Easter and the photo shows

crossed!) and it is great to see one’s

recent activity has been researching and

how my beard had progressed during the

children and grandchildren again after

writing The War Against the BBC

winter.

many months.

(Penguin, November 2020) with Peter York (of The Official Sloane Ranger

As I write, in July, COVID has so far

We are lucky enough to live in a small

missed me and, double-vaccinated, it is

attached cottage right on the harbour

Handbook fame).

now time to lockdown again, against the

front of Falmouth, so get great views.

Although my academic work has mostly

Delta COVID variant, just as a Lambda

The major change in the last year is that

been about marketing, media,

variant from Peru begins its march

Flushing Sailing Club across the road

consumers, and audiences, I also have a

southwards from Scotland. Challenges

decided to demolish their old building

long-term practical interest in leadership

from the pandemic have not dimmed my

with a flat roof and erect a very modern

and institution-building. That includes

enthusiasm for the mining business and

but pleasing looking new clubhouse. This

the London Business School (where I’ve

made me ever more thankful for a happy

was completed in time for the club’s

worked since 1976), Which? (where I was

grounding at Sherborne.

centenary. At 70 I did not think about

chairman for six years), the BBC (hence

older age but now 77 unfortunately bits

the book) and now – on a much smaller

RODNEY mYERS (b 62) 2020 and up

of the body wear out and I am due for a

scale – the Archive of Market and Social

until recently has been a peculiar time for

new left side hip and a new right side

Research.

most people. At the end of February

knee which is a bit limiting at the

2020 my wife and I flew to New Zealand

moment and I was not selected for the

I think this all began when I was the first

to attend my niece’s wedding in Hawkes

Olympics! I am delighted to keep up

Head of House at The Digby in 1964,

Bay. My sister married a Kiwi and has

with OS news and congratulate those

supporting its Housemaster Peter Currie

lived in NZ for over 30 years. So we had a

involved in promoting Sherborne on

in creating a new institution from scratch,

family catch up and reconnected with

doing such a good job.

with a distinct, relatively liberal, culture.

I’m delighted to see how well it’s done.

many NZ friends in the month we were there. Not long after we arrived the

mIchAEL JOSEPh (a 63) Where would

COVID Pandemic started to spread from

we have been without technology. It has

RIchARD DuNSTAN (b 64) no change

the Far East and NZ started shutting

been a saviour and has helped to keep

in circumstances although older if not

down the border to overseas visitors. We

life in some sort of “normality”.

wiser.

were delayed only one day on our scheduled return with Qatar Airways (very

I have chaired a charity in Southampton

mIchAEL O’GORmAN (h 65) After

good service) but it was touch and go

for five years - New Forest Mediation

graduating from Trinity Dublin with a

whether we would be able to fly home in

Society - and all our meetings have taken

degree in Economics and Political

the 3rd week of March!

place thanks to Zoom. We entered into

Science, Michael has spent his career in

the pandemic very concerned about our

the entertainment industry. From 1975 to

Once home I picked up the mantle of

finances, but in the event have just had

1985 he was the Sound Designer for The

being Chairman of our local parish

our best year ever financially. I have

Chieftains and from 1995 he has been

council and of course every normal

played a lot of bridge online and now

the Sound Designer for Riverdance (The

monthly meeting had to be on Zoom.

wonder if I want to jump in the car to

Show). The 25th anniversary show started

For some reason we were the first PC to

Shaftesbury on cold nights! Our Club is

out in January 2020 in America and

adopt Zoom for meetings in Cornwall. It

twinned with a French club in Brest and

Europe and was then halted by COVID.

was a fairly hectic year as we were trying

we have had several competitions. Sadly,

They hope to get back on the road,

to get a National Development Plan

I have not stewarded at the Cathedral

COVID willing, in summer 2021.

sorted and passed to Cornwall Council

since February 2019 but our local church

for approval. I am pleased to say we

services have continued also by Zoom as

achieved this in our last full meeting

have all the church meetings.

many worse places to be Locked Down in 2020 than Windsor Castle. There were no

before the council elections, when I retired as a member and Chairman.

JAmES PEROWNE (a&m 65) There are

I sit on the Dorset County Council and

tourists so we could fully use the Moat

BCP panels for School admissions, and

Garden, we could walk the dog in the

Since then, my email traffic has reduced

these have been conducted via Teams.

Home Park Private in total safety from the

by 90%! It is nice to have some time to

So, I have been very lucky and more, so

virus, we have had Queen’s Birthday

do other things as it was fairly time

our family have all kept well. I have

Parades and the visit of President and Dr

consuming.

counted my blessings!

Jill Biden. We used our 1950’s 30ft

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 49

extended today for “at least another 2 weeks” - my guess is more like another 4-6 weeks. School holidays have just finished, so our 10 grandchildren are all back to remote learning again. We luckily managed to get all 18 members of the wooden Bates Starcraft boat in the

family together briefly 3 weeks ago on

summer on the River Thames to get away

our Golden Wedding Day, as the boom

but did not venture abroad at all during

came down right after that.

the year.

Helen and I are extremely lucky to be

be honest, COVID has given us all a

living just across the road from the

great excuse not to see the people we

fabulous Sydney Botanic Gardens right

don’t want to see!

on the harbour shore next to the Opera House. As a result, we have a marvellous place in which to take the exercise that we are allowed. We continue to keep active with Helen dramatically improving her skills with daily online bridge, and I do a lot of confidential CEO level The largest event has been the funeral of

coaching and senior mentoring, all

the Duke of Edinburgh on 17 April which

virtually of course right now.

was a sad but very moving parade and service. The Duke got all that he wanted.

The big negative has been the inability

He always said he did not want a fuss

to travel. The Australian Government

RODERIck FITzROY (f 66) Retired

and COVID ensured it was small and

slammed the borders closed in March

happily here in Edinburgh, not happy

family oriented. Since he first bought a

2020 and say that international travel is

about possible Independence.

Land Rover in 1954, he had said that he

not likely to resume until mid-2022.

wanted to be taken away in one which

Every overseas trip that we had booked

Had career in Army for 25 years, dealing

has been cancelled or postponed - our

with Military Intelligence. Obviously

came to pass. He must be delighted.

love is polar expedition cruises to the

cannot disseminate what I did. Have son

All in all, it has not been stressful, but the

Arctic and Antarctic, which we do not see

and daughter living in Cornwall, and 2

problem now as we open up is getting

resuming until well into next year. We

grandchildren. Remarried in 1995 at

motivated again to resume all the normal

have been trying to substitute some

Margarets Chapel, Edinburgh Castle.

activities, receptions, and dinners for

domestic trips, as Australia has some

charities, assisting with investitures etc.

truly amazing places to visit, but even

WILL hANDLEY (a 67) We live in the

after doing so little for so long!!

these plans are getting frustrated by

southern Sierra Mountains in California.

different states imposing lockdowns and

Houses here are scattered and many of

The plan is for us to leave being

banning interstate travel or demanding

them are on lots that would be regarded

Constable and Governor of Windsor

14 days tight hotel quarantine at your

as small farms in the UK, except that

Castle in August 2022 after the Platinum

own cost.

much of the land is fairly steep. Our house for example is on the only flat area

Jubilee. It has been a wonderful eight years which I am calling “Four Weddings

WILL FAcEY (f 66) I have to admit that I

in eight acres on a shoulder of land

and a Funeral!” (For the record, the

have found the COVID lockdown entirely

forming part of Bear Mountain. From

weddings were Prince Harry, Princess

positive. It has given me the mental

this you can safely deduce how the

Eugenie, Lady Gabriella of Kent, and

space to concentrate on my new book,

Mountain got its name.

Princess Beatrice!)

a biography and translation entitled Charles Huber: France’s Greatest Arabian

When we moved here the house nearest

mIchAEL cANNON-BROOkES (g 66)

Explorer, scheduled for publication in

to us was inhabited by Bob and Mary

Not much news over here, I am afraid!

2022. Here in the Chilterns the country

(names changed to avoid lawsuits).

Sydney has been in “stay-home”

hikes are enchanting, and the allotments

However, Mary was not a country girl and

lockdown for the last 3 weeks (this was

have proved to be the perfect solution to

the wildlife disturbed her – bats roosting

written in mid-July), which has just been

physically distanced socialising. And let’s

under the eaves were a nightmare. They

s

1970s had put their house on the market at a

returns from his

BRucE muRRAY (h 70) I am afraid we

wishful thinking price a couple of years

perambulations down

have done nothing exciting during the

after we arrived, but no one was willing

into the valley below

COVID period – just kept our heads

to pay this over the odds amount. Then

where there are several

down and lived day to day! All very

one day, they came home and found that

new residents, who have

boring! We live 100 yards from the sea,

yet to learn not to leave

so I walk the dog, and Milla does Gym

a bear had climbed onto their deck, consumed the contents of the

their rubbish and kitchen scraps outside

Exercising on Zoom every day - in our

hummingbird feeders and before leaving

in bin bags. The picture of a bear outside

sitting room, which has been turned into

left a huge steaming dump on the deck.

our front door was taken seven years ago

a gym for the last 18 months! We are

Mary freaked and they reduced the price

but might be the “Young Ben”.

very fortunate, as apart from Travel, we

of the house to a realistic market price

haven’t been affected. Being retired, the

and sold immediately to Jack and Jill.

garden hasn’t looked as good for years!!

After they moved in, we were round there drinking some wine with them and I

PIERS cROckER (a 71) Well we had all

recounted this story and whilst I don’t

the excitement of the digital Reunion not

think they totally disbelieved me, I

least! I caught up with Ian Elliot, and, via

suspected that they were taking the story

him, what various others of my former teachers were up to. Mostly legal,

with a little pinch of salt.

apparently... Also many stories from “behind the scenes” - for both of us.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and they were drinking a glass of wine at our

kEVIN DESmOND (g 68) From an idea

house and they “apologised” for having

which we hatched in 2019, the first

I feel (almost) guilty, in that I am 50%

reservations about this story and said

holding of the E-Regatta at the Venice

retired, so kept the “work” pot gently

that they were in the habit of taking

Boat Show began with a “Sailence”

simmering on the back burner, in the

breakfast out on the deck and, one

cruise of a promising 25 e-boats around

shape of Working from Home with

morning, having taken everything out

Venice where skippers were applauded

occasional Teams/Zoom meetings, and

ready to eat, they looked at the other

by people as they passed under the

sometimes even turning up physically

end of the deck and thought “That’s

Rialto Bridge. The E-Regatta, included

with face mask and distancing. Not too

funny the dog’s bed should be green not

slalom and the e-ballerina, speed and

bad here in Norway - so far we have got

brown!” Double take, then “BEAR”.

endurance, and was won by the

off relatively lightly with lots of space and

Jack grabs the dog (a Basset) and rushes

Slovenian boat e’dyn. E-Regattas have

not a huge amount of hugging (mind you

inside and slams the door, leaving Jill

been planned for this autumn in

I give and receive more than my fair

and the breakfast outside. Jill retreats,

Montreal, Connecticut, Nantes, Berlin

share...)

having to reopen the door, leaving

and Lake Windermere. If Shirburnians

breakfast for the bear. The next day,

would like to become involved with

Volunteering? Yes, helping one day a

before taking breakfast out there, they

creating a Junior Class electric boat

week at a soup kitchen/food distribution

check around carefully – no bear in sight.

please contact Kevin on

centre for drug-addicts/alcoholics: bit of

They take everything out, sit down and

desmond.book@wanadoo.fr

an eye-opener when one thinks of

lean back in their chairs and look up and

366solutions.com, the website I created,

on a branch of the big oak that

is now heading for its 366th daily solution

organised, everyone taken care of...). Still

overhangs their deck is a large brown

for cleaning up, repairing and protecting

visiting (once a week) a brain-damaged American friend.

Norway’s usual image (rich, clean,

lump – BEAR - reprise previous day’s

our planet. Not only have many people

retreat in disorder! I don’t think he has

visited the website, but also both

been back since – presumably he found

Facebook and Instagram posts. All the

More or less enforced “Gardening

their continental breakfast too

posts can still be visited and used.

Leave” has been wonderful - a friend

lightweight for his tastes!

(English) has masterminded a Makeover of our suburban patch, making a terrace

The bear in question has been dubbed

wall, stone beds, putting in plants. He

Big Ben by the local Ranger. He is larger

did the skilled stuff, I did the donkey

than anything else around so not much

work, and noticed an improvement in

bothers him. He ignores our Great

both fitness, energy and sleeping -

Danes, who rush out to bark at him at

surprise surprise!

dawn and dusk, as he sets out and

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 51

For me, the fundraising, interviewing and

Off on holiday tomorrow (early July) - yes we live in a tourist paradise, all the better

selection processes have been extremely

for fewer tourists (but do come anyway),

humbling and uplifting experiences. See

and will be bussing up North to the

www.burmastarmemorial.org. Naturally,

Lofoten islands with some friends. (How

I would be delighted if this brief

late middle-aged can you get?

description of our efforts caught the eye

“Everybody back on the bus!”

of any potential supporters.

JEREmY ARchER (d 73) In 2012, I was invited to become a Trustee of The Burma Star Association and had to be

mARk FLOYER (h 73) We survived

persuaded because most of the surviving

Lockdown with the aid of Netflix and a

veterans were already in their nineties.

well-stocked drinks cabinet. Some writing

Eight years later, we reinvented ourselves

was done, and I have a new collection of

as the Burma Star Memorial Fund (BSMF)

poems Scrabbled coming out with

TIm DYkE (d 71) has been kept busy

and, as the veterans had specifically

Paekakariki Press later in the year. We

over the last two years as Chair of the

requested, are raising funds to sponsor

have also decided to re-locate from rural

Exe Valley U3A (previously known as the

Burma Star Scholarships (BSS) for one-

Devon to suburban Sussex in order to be

University of the 3rd Age), in Tiverton,

year, post-graduate Masters Degrees at

closer to children and grandchildren.

Devon. With all of our social and cultural

UCL in either Engineering or

Bitterly disappointed that I have to

activities curtailed by the various

Epidemiology.

forego the Westcott Reunion in

Following a launch at Clarence House on

commitments - it’s been 50 years! (note

September due to a clash of

lockdowns, I have managed to persuade about half of our 250 members in 20 different groups to continue to meet on

2 March 2020, hosted by our Patron, HRH

from editor; You didn’t miss it Mark, it

Zoom, which for many has been a life-

The Prince of Wales, fundraising began in

has been postponed until 13 May 2022).

saver. This all culminated in the national

earnest. During lockdown, I raised more

u3aDay on 2 June, when we manned a

than £100,000, much of it contributed by

SImON GRIFFIThS (a 73) In South

stall in the pouring rain to publicise our

my former colleagues at Cazenove. I was

Africa, hard lockdown started in March

activities. The wig is synthetic but the

surprised and delighted to learn how

2020. That meant restricted to home

beard real - our London-based

many of them had family connections

except for shopping for essentials, and it

grandchildren were told I would not trim

with the gruelling Burma Campaign. This

lasted for five weeks. Even the sale of

it until I saw them again.

year, I have interviewed thirty surviving

alcohol and cigarettes was banned.

veterans – including a Chairman of chARLES humE (h 72) I have just

Manchester City and a Primus

I had retired from the software industry

completed an OU degree, doing one

(Archbishop) of the Scottish Episcopal

the year before but then went to work

module a year for six years since my

Church – and heard some fascinating

part-time for a local nonprofit. For many

retirement in March 2015. The official title

stories. With almost 100,000 words in the

people in poorer communities around

seems to be BA in Humanities (English

bag, there is a book in the making! On

Johannesburg, lockdown was a disaster.

Literature) - First Class Honours.

21 June 2021, together with two

Unable to earn money, people were

professors from UCL, I interviewed three

going without food. So, with other

GARETh TuDOR-WILLIAmS (a 72) has

extremely impressive BSS candidates on

nonprofits we stepped in, and with

retired after a career spanning over three

Zoom: one was in Lagos, another in

incredible donations of money and food

decades in paediatric HIV research and

Lahore and the third in Dar-es-Salaam.

from major South African corporates, we

care. Read more about his career here:

While all three were equally deserving, a

started providing food for thousands of

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/2308

newly qualified Nigerian doctor, Lotenna

families in Alexandra township. Every

Olisaeloka, was awarded the 2021/22

week, we had volunteers coming to help

prof/

Burma Star Scholarship.

pack – we all had to have an official

97/life-paediatric-hiv-research-care-

s

chRISTOPhER STRONG (b 74) On 31

authorization so we could leave our homes to go and pack. I wrote an article

March I retired as Chief Risk Officer of

about the experience from a systems

British Arab Commercial Bank. With a

perspective

primary focus on doing business with

https://diginomica.com/how-re-

Africa, COVID presented some

times.

now (July 2021) and with some notable

Lockdown was such a shock that it

to the extent we originally anticipated,

engineer-business-processes-uncertain-

interesting challenges although up till exceptions the continent has not suffered and the Bank has come through the

seemed to create an inertia among many people that lasted for three to four

STEPhEN RILEY (c 73) I’m getting

weeks. But then they started coming

Pandemic largely unscathed. Work was

married (again) on 27 August at St Mary’s

full-on but it was good to keep busy

around to the fact that this was going to

Burpham, West Sussex, to Victoria Burch

during the lockdown and our loft is now

be the way of life for the foreseeable

whom I first met in April 1967 on the

a very comfortable home office/den. The

future. My wife who is a doctor started

beach in Magaluf, then a very different

highlight of the year was that I was able

meeting patients over Zoom. I was

place to its more recent reputation!! I’m

to spend eight weeks at my villa in

still active in the Insurance World

Greece last summer, “working from

contacted by a software company and started working with them remotely with

principally as a Non-Executive Director at

home”. With my 64th birthday

regular online meetings. For my family

Atrium Underwriting.

approaching, my youngest child finishing

meeting face-to-face we quickly learnt

chARLES BAuGhAN (b 74) runs

employment secured, mortgage paid off

how to adapt to the new Zoom lifestyle.

Westaway Sausages with his wife Ilona

and the end of lockdown in sight, the

(Beckett) who was at Sherborne Girls at

time was right to step back.

university this summer with full-time

and groups I belonged to, instead of

Now I can hardly imagine life and work

the same time. They won UK Packaging

going back to the way it was. The

Innovation of the Year 2020 for their use

pandemic opened up contacts and

of the world’s first certified compostable

opportunities for me to work remotely

film. This year

(locally and internationally) that I would

I plan to spend more time in Greece at our villa, Villa Pikermi on Lefkada island (available to rent - Google it), riding my

Westaways got a

bikes over there and over here, playing a

not have thought possible before. The

special judges’

bit more golf and doing some travelling

pandemic is still a major problem in

award at the UK

when restrictions ease. I am also in the

South Africa. Our vaccination rate is still

Food and Drink

market for non-executive directorships in

low and in June we went back to a

Manufacturing

the financial services and commodity

modified hard lockdown due to the

Awards for their

trading sectors. Is there a Greek chapter

ravages of the Delta variant. But the last

work on

of the OS?

16 months have given me a new

compostable

perspective on life and work that I have

packaging. Making up to 500,000

RuPERT BRAVERY (c 76) is making a

come to value.

sausages a day, Westaways supplies UK

documentary film with Steve Berry,

retail, food service and wholesale

former presenter of Top Gear.

customers. They export widely and will be manufacturing under licence in Hong

mIchAEL DAVENPORT (c 79) In March

Kong in 2022 for distribution across

my wife Lavinia and I arrived in Kosovo,

East Asia.

where I have taken up a post as Head of the OSCE Mission – the OSCE is the

PETER OBORNE (d 74) dedicated

Organisation for Security and Co-

lockdown to writing books. Assault on

operation in Europe. This is a 550-strong

Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and

international mission with a mandate to

The photo was taken of me during a

the Emergence of a New Moral

support the rule of law, strengthening of

Zoom call when I hadn’t been to a

Barbarism was published by Simon and

human rights and building of democratic

Schuster in early 2021. Fate of Abraham,

institutions in Kosovo, with a particular

hairdresser in eight weeks.

a study of western pathologies about

focus on the rights of ethnic minority

Islam, is due to be published by S & S in

communities. It’s good to be back in the

2022. Peter writes columns for Middle

Balkans!

East Eye and Byline Times.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 53

1980s JEREmY BLAckBuRN (d 80) Ironically

development program. Currently I have a

which made it much easier than all the

something of a positive from lockdown

leadership role in the government’s

planning and preparation required for

as we had our mid twenty something

Antiviral Program for Pandemics,

normal times weddings! I am now back in

children home for nearly four months–

discovering and developing drugs active

England, preparing the way for my new

fantastic to share time with them,

against viruses of pandemic potential. It

wife and stepdaughter Clara to arrive

probably haven’t seen as much of them

is fair to say that work has never been

later this year.

since they were six years old! We got to

more fulfilling. In a personal capacity I

know the Amazon drivers on first name

was invited to join a private online forum

BRETT TOWNSEND (a 82) Since leaving

terms, had a mid-summer Christmas day,

looking for political solutions to the

Sherborne I was sent to Coventry as I had

perfected the game of beer pong (don’t

multiple crises facing humankind,

a desire to work in the automotive

ask) and much more besides. A tale

another great experience and a vital

industry. Having worked in Coventry for

which I am sure could be shared by

outlet in the months leading up to the

Peugeot for 12 years and Lear

others.

election.

Corporation for a further four years in

Lockdown kept me off the Golf course

SImON hEAzELL (m 81) very sadly, from

business Automotive Trim Developments

Halewood, Liverpool. I started my own and Racecourse – however the Wessex

mid-September we are leaving our lovely

(ATD). We are based in Coventry

Racing Club which I run had five winners

home in the village of Hermitage, six

although have manufacturing factories in

during last National Hunt season which

miles south of Sherborne, and travelling

Corby and Brackley as well as our two

gave the Club members and me much

around 4,700 miles to our new home in

factories in Coventry. We engineer and

excitement, albeit from the armchair in

Vancouver, to where my wife has secured

manufacture interiors for all of the UK

front of the TV, not at the race course.

a senior executive post with an outfit

based luxury automotive manufacturers.

We look forward to going racing again in

called Fraser Healthcare, creating their

the autumn. Recently managed to get a

virtual healthcare system (in essence

As you can imagine the lockdown has

game of golf in with Jon Turner (b 80)

enabling their eight hospitals to

been a challenge as all our customers

who has recently returned from South

communicate patient details more

stopped producing vehicles during the

Africa to retire to Cornwall. Also met up

easily). It’s daunting, I realise, embarking

first lockdown. Fortunately for us we also

with Adrian B on the same day to discuss

on such a radical change in direction

manufacture office furniture which

360 project.

when, let’s face it, some of my

enabled us to continue manufacturing

contemporaries are contemplating

product as there was still a demand with

PhILIP SANDERSON (h 80) here in the

retirement! Nonetheless, it’s a prospect

everyone working from home. We had to

States my experience over the past 18

that I’m relishing.

close the factories for about six weeks

We’ve had a very happy ten year stint in

called upon the Government’s furlough

months has been very positive overall.

Aspects of it were tough to begin with

either side of Easter 2020 and have

for sure, with all the adjustments and

Dorset, and I’ve much enjoyed my re-

scheme to retain all our employees, but I

medical anxiety for my family (alleviated

acquaintance with a few of my former

am pleased to say that we have had

thankfully by the vaccines), and it was

teachers and a fellow old Digby soul in

everyone back at work since August

especially hard for us all in the aftermath

the person of Jamie henderson by

2020. Remarkably our turnover for 2020

of George Floyd’s murder. The hardest

singing with the Joint Schools’ Choral

was only 5% lower than budget and since

part was the time leading up to the

Society. I shall miss them, just as I shall

September we have recorded record

passing of my stepfather in October.

miss being part of the relentless

monthly turnovers, so every cloud has a

Travel to the UK to be with my mother

evolution of the school.

silver lining.

and my siblings was totally impractical if not impossible and we were relegated to

DAVID PAYNE (g 81) Having initially

chRIS WEIR (a 82) In 2019, after a 29-

watching a live stream of his funeral. On

moved to Devon in March last year to

year career in aerospace engineering and

the positive side I have the privilege of

ride out the lockdown, I managed to

senior leadership, and the three children

working for the National Institutes of

leave the country just before the

all through university, I elected to take

Health and my expertise in drug

international travel shut down at the end

early retirement from Rolls-Royce. (My

discovery and development was and still

of November, to go and work remotely

last role was heading up engineering for

is in high demand. All while teleworking,

from Brazil. Why Brazil? On 22 January

the aero-engine control systems,

I was given a role reviewing proposals for

2021 I got married to my Brazilian fiancée

covering all aspects of the product

antiviral drug development projects for

Debora de Oliveira Lopes in Divinopolis,

lifecycle from technology, new product

the government’s antiviral response, and I

MG. Due to COVID we had two wedding

introduction and in-service support. With

personally lead an antiviral drug

guests, Debora’s mother and father,

1,200 engineers, we saw five new engines

s

into service and radically transformed

and ‘60’s. Less planes, less people less

RIchARD SPENcER (f 83) Brief update

how we created safety critical software

traffic and much easier to park. My big

about life as a Middle East

for aero-engine controls (80% reduction

news is I’m hopefully going to have a

correspondent during the pandemic. Life

in cost, and improvements in quality and

novel published next year which I’m sure

changed considerably as countries

lead-time). I had a great team, and it was

all of you OS who are reading this are

closed their borders and reporting had to

never going to get better – so finish on a

going to buy. (Joke!) I’ve also been cast

be done by phone and Zoom. However,

high! That good old final salary pension

in a Neil Simon play called Rumours to

the news came to me instead as I and my

scheme had survived the five company

be put on in October in our local

apartment were blown up in the

take-overs intact.

Community Centre. OK, it’s amdram but

explosion at Beirut’s port last August

it’s a high-quality cast. Pick of the New

(2020). I was thrown across the flat but

To my surprise – and I still haven’t set up

Forest Players, I kid you not.

luckily emerged unscathed, unlike the

Lola, our wire-haired dachshund has just

and a number of friends who were quite

apartment which was pretty well trashed,

my company’s website – I was soon assisting a client in helping industry understand how to exploit Artificial

turned two and now has moments of

seriously injured. The flat’s restored now,

Intelligence software. Although I still did

maturity but can still, for no reason at all,

and airports are reopening, so onwards

work with aerospace companies, it also

tear around the place like a mad,

and upwards!

gave me an opportunity to work in

bonkers puppy.

automotive, computing infrastructure and

ALISTAIR TRESIDDER (f 83) Not sure I

even the NHS! COVID stopped the on-

have got much exciting news…but I will

site workshops, but it was still possible to

have a go.

work remotely. So I was very fortunate – compared to so many other people.

I am now in my 23rd year as vicar of St.

However, my AI work came to an end

Luke’s Hampstead. Along with everyone

when full-time work was offered to me –

else, we have had to adapt church life

this was not my plan. So I am now

hugely in the last 18 months. The pros

assisting a French legal firm (as a

and cons of zoom and now livestreaming

“Technical Expert”!) with an international

back in the building have been both

arbitration case. What follows, who

exciting and enervating. The church

knows – a return to School Governorship

family has grown in depth as ironically,

is also on the cards - but my wife and I

they have spent more time together and

enjoy the freedom that I am so fortunate

locally. We have split our morning service in two in order to facilitate growing

enough to have.

numbers.

There is a book (work in progress - but a very niche technical/social history of early

Many of you who are of my vintage may

British jet engine controls!) and my wife

also have children returning to live with

and I have travel plans (postponed by

you having graduated from university. We are hoping it will be as fun for our two

COVID). I do meet up with a handful of Old Shirburnians once or twice a year. I

BEN JEAPES (h 83) my biography of

value greatly such sound friendships that

Victorian mathematician and computing

second year running my privilege to be

have lasted the test of time. When we

pioneer “Ada Lovelace” (David Fickling

asked to preach at Commem has had to

eldest boys as it will be for us. For the

meet, it’s a quick update on the family

Books, 2020) won an award as one of the

be cancelled. Maybe the Lord is trying to

news before a wonderful descendance

Best STEM Books 2021 from the National

tell me something!I am now in Cornwall

into amusing (other’s might say juvenile)

Science Teaching Association in the US.

for a month on study leave/Sabbatical.

banter.

The book is part of the publisher’s First

You will be relieved to know that I am not

Name series for children, covering names

writing a book. Any Shirburnians in NW3

IAN hEY (g 83) Fortunately for us, the

past and present such as Amelia Earhart,

from September onwards, it would be

pandemic hasn’t seriously affected our

Elon Musk, Abraham Lincoln and Malala

great to see you.

income so, for that, I am very grateful. In

Yousafzai. If the publishers continue with

certain ways, I’ve appreciated (if that’s the

the series then I’ve put down my marker

JON STOck (b 84) It was life as normal

right word) ‘Lockdown’. A 75-year-old

to write a book on Alan Turing, assuming

for me in lockdown. As a thriller writer, I

neighbour put it better. It reminded him

I can present his private life in an

spend too much time in rural isolation as

of when he was growing up in the ‘50’s

appropriately child-friendly way.

it is, trying to knock out 1,000 words a

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 55

day, so there wasn’t much change to my

chRISTIAN LOckE (g 88) 16 months on

daily routine. The same was true for my

from the start of lockdown 1, I’m still

wife, Hilary, a fine art photographer. It

working in the travel industry (amazingly!)

was a little more challenging for our

and have had to postpone my 50th

youngest son, Jago, who was meant to

birthday celebrations for 2 years now.

be on his year off in Jamaica before

Working from home and managing a

studying film at the London College of

team of Travel Product Managers has

Communication. What teenager would

been a challenge at times, especially

wish to be locked down with their

when they’ve had their own sad, exciting,

parents for months? He ended up doing

traumatic, and happy personal stories to

lined up in Minster along with about 900

the weekly shop for a number of older

contend with - sometimes you just want

other cyclists, ribbons attached, to roll

residents in our Wiltshire village and was

to give people a hug but can’t over

slowly out into the ride.

taken aback by their vast cheese

Teams!

consumption. The story has a happy ending, though: he eventually made it to

I’ve managed to stay positive and helped

Jamaica. And he started dating the

out boxing up food packages before

woman on the Waitrose cheese counter.

Christmas for people in Cheshire affected by the pandemic and those who would

RuPERT JONES (g 87)

normally go to Food Banks. At the

Commanding Defence’s

moment I’m playing cricket every week

high readiness deployable

for the Toft Taverners - a charity team

headquarters ready for

near Knustford who raise money for local

crises around the world, I

causes including taking about three

found myself leading an

busloads of pensioners to Lytham St

operation to help the UK’s

Annes each year (non-COVID years

Caribbean Overseas Territories deal with

anyway). If any OS fancy coming down to

COVID, but running the operation largely

watch, we play on a Thursday evening

from my study in Dorset.

from 6pm at Toft CC.

LLOYD RIDGWELL (d 87) My business SofaSofa has been able to help out during the pandemic by sewing oxygen ventilator bags for ambulance service paramedics as well as scrubs for NHS

1990s LLOYD cOLLIER (d 90) Chase the Sun

staff and care workers. All supplied free

2021 Imagine waking up on the summer

of charge from our upholstery workshop

solstice in time to watch the sun rise over

in South Wales.

the Kent Estuary in the East at 4:45 am,

for breakfast (50m in by 8am) then follows

and then travelling the breadth of the

the Thames down into Hampshire/

The route takes us up into South London

country to watch it set over the Bristol

Berkshire with lunch half way and just

Channel from a Somerset beach at

north of Basingstoke around midday.

9:30pm by bike.

Then follows a really beautiful – but tough and hilly – stretch for a couple of

This is the annual Chase the Sun

hours past Newbury and on to Devizes

challenge, a super-low-key event

where it then rejoins some faster roads.

organised by cyclists for other crazy

From Devizes keep heading West,

cyclists. There are no race numbers, no

climbing and descending Cheddar

results, no fuelling stations, no medals,

Gorge, then a flat last 15m or so down to

simply an orange ribbon to tie to the

Burnham on Sea.

seat post and a GPS trail of breadcrumbs to follow!

To misquote the winner of a crossEuropean cycling rally a few years ago,

So it was that we – my wife Suzannah, her

who described it as “an eating event with

brother Dom and our best man Ajay –

some cycling in between”, CTS is much

s

the same. Cycling is a hungry business so

Aviation Force. Toby lives in Liss,

JAmES NARDELL (c 95) Over the past

it’s all about eating the right food at the

Hampshire, and still enjoys most forms of

year, I have set up and launched a

right time and carrying supplies in the

biking and sailing.

consulting business Affiliate Manager

DANIEL FOX-DAVIES (c 92) Having sold

This is something that I have been

jersey pockets, planning stops en route in advance and keeping moving as much

Expert, https://affiliatemanager.expert.

as possible – stationary time is what kills

Fox-Davies Capital in 2014, and managed

thinking about for quite some time and

the success rate.

to exit the horrendous world of finance,

the lockdown inspired me to make it

and then selling Polo in the Park into the

happen.

As we hit Devizes - with still a long way to

excellent hands of my fourth form study

go - around 5pm we started to believe

mate Rory heron (c 92) I moved to

I have also given up both vaping

we could make it, working like a pro-

Dubai in 2014 never to return to the city

and drinking alcohol for one year. The

peloton team hiding from the wind (with

with the aim of living a life of lazy

one year ‘anniversary’ was yesterday.

me on the front the entire way), and

mornings and relaxation by pool, maybe

COVID was a pretty good reason to stop

getting closer and closer. The hardest bit

even finally getting a tan.

doing both! It wasn’t much fun, but I feel much better for it.

is the hills around Cheddar – 2 of them, one short and really steep, the other the

Miscalculating the costs of two pre-

Gorge itself which is a 3m gentle drag to

teenage girls, I have now set up a new

As someone far wiser than me

the top and, of course, by now the

corporate finance broker dealer based in

said, “Your future is created by what you

weather had gone from cold and clear to

Dubai and London and back to 6am

do today, not tomorrow.”.

cold and grey to grey drizzle to steady

starts and white as ever. Wanting to do

rain and terrible light so my puncture at

something new and a complete break

Cheddar was not helpful!

from the past, I have imaginatively called

fully in remote teaching - throughout the

the new firm Fox-Davies Capital. I have

summer of 2020 and for the second

JAmES TImmIS (c 95) I was involved

WE MADE IT! the Mayor of Burnham and

been re-joined by a number of my former

national lockdown in the new year / early

the Town Crier wait on the jetty, ringing

colleagues and continue to focus on the

spring. In many ways it was an interesting

their bell for each group that get there

Natural Resources Sectors. I’m based

challenge but unquestionably had many

and high fiving (in a socially-distanced

from Dubai in the winter in DIFC and

limitations compared to normal teaching.

way) the riders. We arrived at 9.27pm,

would love to hear from any OS.

The returns to relatively normal school life, despite masks and visors for long

three minutes before the official sunset.

I’ll spare you the picture of my wife’s

JAmES huGhES (m 95) COVID has hit

phases - have reinforced the value of

grumpy face when we stopped at the

tourism hard! With global travel all but

human contact in my job - particularly in

bottom of the descent of Cheddar Gorge

dead I have diversified my hotel into a

working with young people. Aside from

for a team photo – like Mrs T, the lady

Co-living space for Digital Nomads. The

teaching History, I could at least take

was not for stopping at that point.

new business model is working well and

children out cross country running

could be the future. Young people who

(although restricted to specific year

Followed by wine, pizza, more wine,

are now location independent are

group ‘bubbles.’) That was a very

more pizza, and a gentle train home the

wandering the world and Bansko has

welcome relief from it all!

next day. Next year we’re going to do

become a hub for these new travellers.

WILL ThOmAS-

the Northern version and the year after, the Italian one!

On other news, I led the local team for

FERRAND (h 96)

the British embassy for the evacuation of

During lockdown 1

chRIS SARGENT (b 90) Currently based

the 750 Brits that were stranded in

we welcomed a son

in Szczecin, Poland as part of a NATO

Bansko when the first lockdown

to the world – David

HQ, with a focus on the Baltic States and

happened. With all hotels closed and the

was born in April

North-eastern Poland. Strange times due

town locked shut it was a huge challenge

2020 and thinks the

to COVID but pragmatism and resilience

to organise food, accommodation and

lack of social life he

abound amongst the Polish population.

transport for such a large group of very

experienced for the

scared tourists. Happily, together with

first year or so of his

TOBY cLAY (c 92) has completed a two

the local health authority, police,

life is perfectly

year posting to the Ministry of Defence

municipality and my colleagues in the

normal. There’s a chance he also thinks

and has returned to the Navy

embassy we managed to evacuate

he is a Jack Russell as his only

Headquarters where he is now part of a

everyone with only a few sleepless nights

companion was our dog!

team designing the Future Maritime

to show for it!

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 57

SÉBASTIEN LONG (a 99) I’ve now been

After seven years as Defence and

beer, wine, whiskey and outrageously

based in Houston, TX for over three

Security Correspondent for Sky News,

amusing chat, the chaps thrashed on. By

years. The company I founded in 2019,

Alistair will take over the Middle East

the close of day three, the team

Lodgeur https://www.lodgeur.com,

brief for the channel - it’s sure to be a

managed an impressive haul (catch &

recently received investment from

busy posting. He will be based with his

release) of 14 Salmon across seven rods.

Sputnik ATX, an Austin, TX-based venture

family in Jerusalem and would love to

Unlike in the good old days of the 5th

capital firm, joining their summer 2021

hear from any OS passing through the

form disco in the BSR, where the typical

accelerator cohort. 2020 was a tough

region.

catch was zero, all fishermen were successful and amazingly only a handful

year for the business, shrinking 92% from March to May as the world went into

slipped the net. As expected, Old

lockdown. But were able to adapt and

Shiburnians triumphed over Old

pivot the business towards something we

Canfordian counterparts in all related

are really excited about!

competition that week, including fishing, drinking, and eating steak.

My wife Brooke and I have also recently launched the Texas chapter of

DAVID hITchINGS (m 02) Anna and I

CAMentrepreneurs, a group

are delighted to report the birth of our third son, Jonathan Sebastian Hitchings,

that supports business and social entrepreneurship among Cambridge

ALEX BEATTIE (a 01) Spotted in early

on 11th May 2021. A very quick home

University alumni, current students, and

October on the banks of the River

birth turned quite alarming when Anna

others. The group is officially recognised

Tweed, a sizable contingent of OS, on an

lost a lot of blood and was rushed to

by Cambridge University Alumni

annual trip to catch the elusive Atlantic

hospital, but thankfully she made a quick

Association

Salmon. Spearheaded by half man half

recovery. I’m still working at Bradford-

http://www.camentrepreneurs.com.

on-Avon based AB Dynamics, where I look after customer support for the company’s track and laboratory based

2000s

automotive testing products.

JAmES hOOD (a 02) Another two years

ALISTAIR BuNkALL (d 00) was mid-

in Catterick (this time as Regimental

Atlantic when airspace between the US

Second-in-Command of the Royal

and UK was closed early in March 2020.

Lancers) was a welcomed bit of stability in 2020.

He spent the next two months anchoring Sky News’s reporting from New York, at

fish George Bramble (h&g 01), Messrs Tom maber (m 03), Alex Beattie (a 01),

COVID has not reduced output of the

one stage the global epicentre of the

Army particularly and following a two-

COVID pandemic.

month deployment to Manchester

In the months that followed he reported

part of a six-week exercise to the US

supporting testing and vaccination, I was from other COVID hotspots including

where it was great to work with a number

Madrid, Germany and Belgium.

of other OS: humphrey Fulford (b 12),

In November Alistair was a key part of

Wilsey (m 98), Commanding Officer 3

Troop Leader in the Royal Lancers; Simon

Sky News’s coverage of the US Presidential elections in Washington and

Jos Simson (d 01) and henry Grundy-

more recently he broadcast from inside

Wheeler (a 01), along with a brace of

Windsor Castle for the funeral of the

Canford School’s best, unleashed an

Army Air Corps and Giles Sugdon (f99) Commanding Officer Queens Own Gurkha Logistics Regiment.

Duke of Edinburgh. His podcast series

impressive assortment of colourful flies

ALEX hAmmIck (g 06) It’s been a busy

Off the Record with Alistair Bunkall has

on the water surface. In tricky conditions,

couple of years my end. My wife

made headlines this year after

owing to high, coloured water levels

Charlotte and I packed up our London

unprecedented interviews with the Chief

(when salmon are naturally not inclined

life in September 2019 to travel around

of MI6 and Cabinet Secretary.

to do much of anything) but, buoyed by

the world. We made it all the way to NZ

s

2010s JAmES cOchRANE-DYET (b 08) I am

FERGuS cOWAN (m 14) See Jimmy

made it back to the UK before the world

currently working as an Associate for a

Fisher (m 16).

locked down and settled in Portsmouth

US Private Equity firm based in Houston,

before COVID cut our trip short. We just

(our love of the sea and all things sailing

Texas, and will continue studying for my

JAmES VITALI (f 14) has been elected

drawing us this way), where we both

MBA at Massachusetts Institute of

President of the Cambridge Union, only

found jobs - my wife as a lawyer, and I

Technology in Boston from September.

the second OS to hold the post, the first

joined Remote Medical International, an

Due to COVID, my fiancée, India Boyer,

being Denzil k Freeth (b 42). James

emergency medical services provider, as

and I have had to delay our wedding a

and James Pyman (e 18) played

UK and European Operations Director.

couple of times, but come rain or storm,

respectively for Cambridge and Oxford in

we will be married at St George’s

the Varsity cricket match.

In other news my wife also gave birth to

Hanover Square in London on 11

our first child, a son called Felix, in May

September.

this year. Now eight weeks old, he’s started to smile properly which makes

TIm mAcDONALD WATSON (a 08)

the long sleepless nights worthwhile!

recently got engaged to Miss Erika Pearce from Oxford.

mATThEW SkIPSEY (b 06) Our family business, Giganet (M12 Solutions), of

Tim moved during the Pandemic from

which my brothers Luke (b 08) and Josh

working at Stonehenge with English

(b 16) are also part of, secured £250m of

Heritage, to working as an Operations

funding in April from Fern Trading

Manager for a COVID Testing Laboratory

(advised by Octopus Investments) to roll-

with University Hospital Southampton

out full fibre broadband to over 300,000

NHS Trust.

homes across the South of England. Our financial advisor was charles cameron

(b 80) of Cameron Barney. Giganet was

ANGuS RANcE (e 08) My big news is I’m getting married to my beautiful

formed in 2018 after we sold our stake in

fiancée, Melanie Gordon on 31 July in St

Wessex Internet, a joint venture we co-

Andrew’s, Castle Combe, Wiltshire. harry

founded with the Ranston Estate. Wessex Internet’s MD is hector Gibson Fleming (b 06).

madley is the best man and James kipling is an usher (both a 08).

Mel and I met in 2013 at Leeds University, TOm BADhAm-ThORNhILL (f 07) left

and after life in Bristol, London and

Iraq at the very end of 2019, having

Madrid together I proposed in Dorset in

worked there for six years. He was

November 2019.

stranded on a beach in Kaikora, New Zealand with Richard Newsome (d 07)

A partner at my law firm knows the

and Alex Latham (e 07) when

current headman so I get periodic

international flights were grounded as

updates about the school and life in

the world closed its borders in April last

Sherborne. And last year I was excited to

year.

make my debut for the Pilgrims cricket

WILL NEISh (d 15) See Jimmy Fisher (m 16).

RORY cOuGhLAN (e 16) See Jimmy Fisher (m 16).

JImmY FIShER (m 16) Congratulations to Jimmy Fisher (m 16), Rory Coughlan (e 16), Will Neish (d 15) and Fergus Cowan (m 14) who were all commissioned from Sandhurst on 9 April.

The photo shows them on their final exercise on the Brecon Beacons wearing their new regimental berets.

team and my first game on the Upper!

Tom is now working in Bangladesh with the International Organisation for

chris Player (d 09) was named in The

Migration (a UN agency), as part of their

Drum’s Top 50 Emerging Marketers 2021

humanitarian response to the Rohingya Refugee Crisis. The camps fared unexpectedly well during the first year of COVID, but things are getting more difficult now.

From left to right: Rory, The Scots Guards, Will, The Royal Dragoon Guards, Jimmy, The Royal Lancers and Fergus the 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland.

OLD SHIRBURNIAN SOCIETY / 59

FOcuS ON ASIA We have sadly not been able to undertake our regular October reunions in various Asian cities, such as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, for the last two years. Therefore we are taking the opportunity to profile a few of those whom we regrettably have not been able to see in person but hope to see in 2022.

Bangkok:

1.

Punsa Roengpithya (a 97) attended Stanford after leaving Sherborne. He is now the Director of Siam Machinery and Equipment Ltd, a long-established ironworks that is aggressively developing an Agriculture technology business. He is also serving as the top executive for Agile Assets Ltd (a start-up that services building’s utility equipment ownership and maintenance), the Viptel/Varakana Group hARRY kITSON (b 17) I had an unconventional time, at the start of lockdown I left a halfway house I was at in London where I had been treated for drug and alcohol abuse and for an eating disorder. So, I spent my entire year of lockdown trying to get sober and remain sober. It was a tough lockdown but was

(maintenance and engineering services for power generation sector) and Protechfield Ltd (plant construction for downstream oil & gas/chemical sector).

Additionally, he holds a directorship at Thai Nippon Steel Ltd (a joint venture that fabricates offshore oil drilling platforms). Punsa is also an active investor in Private Equity and Venture Capital funds. When not working he enjoys hiking, outdoor adventure, singing and spending time with his family. He also hosts tech conferences for young up and coming engineers and loves smart home gadgets.

2.

Smitthi Bhiraleus (a 99) attended UCL after leaving Sherborne. He returned to

so lovely spending time with my family

Bangkok and in 2002 becoming the Managing Director of Thailand’s Number 1

after a year apart whilst I was away in

Music Channel, Channel V Thailand MTV Thailand. In 2011 he moved to become

rehab. There were tears and smiles and

the CEO of The Very Company, the country’s leading concert promotion and media

anger throughout: I had a relapse over

company, which includes the promotion of many of the UK leading acts in Thailand

the lockdown and then got sober again

including Snow Patrol and The Kooks. He is also an Executive Producer on both

and stayed sober, I took time to battle

Very Radio and True Music TV.

and face my eating disorder head on.

I would love to come to Sherborne and do a lecture and share my experience of

kuala Lumpur:

3.

We are pleased to hear that Tengku zafrul Aziz (g 93) continues to help the

Malaysian economy as the Minister of Finance and that Dato Amirul Feisal Wan 4.

what I have been through and my

zahir (c 89) has become the Managing Director of Kazanah Nasional Berhad in

journey in recovery and the highs and

2021 having served as CFO for Maybank for seven years.

lows I have faced on the way.

Through lockdown I helped provide

We are very keen to hear from all OS working and living in Asia with their updated news so we can feature news of Asian based OS in future issues.

comfort and company to some children and helped make boxes for a company providing fish for people to eat and enjoy and I currently work at a school which I started in lockdown and I look after a boy with Down’s syndrome in nursery. By the time the magazine is published I will be over one year sober.

1.

2.

3.

4.

OSS Committee 2021/22 PRESIDENT

Andrew Wingfield digby

TRuSTEES

John hargrove, Richard Green, Michael French

EXEcuTIVE cOmmITTEE

chAIRmAN OF FINANcE & BuRSARY SuB-cOmmITTEE

chAIRmAN

Stephen Rees-Williams

Angus cater

hEADmASTER

cATEGORY A REPRESENTATIVE

dominic luckett

edward Bridges

hON. TREASuRER

cATEGORY B REPRESENTATIVE

Robin Brown

James McKillop

SEcRETARY

cATEGORY c REPRESENTATIVE

John harden

George densham

STAFF REPRESENTATIVE

cATEGORY D REPRESENTATIVE

Matthew Jamieson

theo Irvine

PILGRImS REPRESENTATIVE Stephen Rees-Williams

FINANcE AND BuRSARY SuB-cOmmITTEE

Patrick Macintosh

OSSS REPRESENTATIVE Angus cater

ShERBORNE IN ThE cOmmuNITY REPRESENTATIVE James McKillop

VISItInG the School

It is always a great pleasure to welcome OS and friends to the School, but please be sure to contact us in advance of your intended visit in order that we can ensure that there will be someone here to greet you and show you round. Please note that visitors cannot look around the School unescorted. On arrival please sign in at Reception under the archway.

eMAIl AddReSSeS

In the face of ever-rising postal costs, we endeavour to conduct the bulk of OSS correspondence via email. If you feel that we may not hold a current email address for you, it would be a great help if you could let us have your address by contacting us at oss@sherborne.org

Angus cater (Chairman) Robin Brown (Hon. Treasurer) david cole (Bursar) John harden (Secretary) John hargrove (Trustees’ Representative) Matthew Jamieson (Staff Representative)

the old ShIRBuRnIAn lodGe

As part of the United Grand Lodge of England and as a member of the Public School Lodges’ Council, The Old Shirburnian Lodge is open to Old Shirburnians and staff of Sherborne School who may be interested in becoming freemasons. We meet twice a year in London and once in Sherborne, for masonic business, for fellowship and to dine well! The Lodge supports Sherborne School by sponsoring the Foundation and Charity Prizes at Commem and by broadcasting the good name of the School. The Lodge was founded in the early 20th century and receives a mention in A. B. Gourlay’s ‘A History of Sherborne School’. If you are interested in joining or just interested in finding out about freemasonry please email us www.OSL3304.org.uk

Robin Price (a 83), Old Shirburnian Lodge secretary in masonic regalia

OSGS REPRESENTATIVE

mmXXI

THE OLD SHIRBURNIAN OFFICE SHERBORNE SCHOOL SHERBORNE DORSET DT9 3AP T: 01935 810558 or 810557 E: oss@sherborne.org www.oldshirburnian.org.uk www.sherborneconnect.org twitter Facebook Instagram linkedIn

@oSSociety @oldshirburnianSociety oldshirburniansociety /school/sherborne-school/

Editors: Anne Macfarlane and John Harden Photographs: John Harden, Anne Macfarlane, Adrian Ballard, David Ridgway, Josie Sturgess-Mills Photography, Terry Gordon, Kiran Visuals Photography, David Cole and others