Old Shirburnian News

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.

After I lost my wife Ann in May 2015, I moved into a seniors ’ home that has everything I need. We are looked after by the friendly staff who provide good entertainment and bus trips. We also have a very good art room which tempts me to start painting again! Just to keep me out of trouble, I am Vice Chair of the Residents Council and also attend the Health and Safety monthly meetings consisting of all department heads so I can keep an eye on what is going on here!

In December of last year, I landed up in hospital with a case of COVID together with pneumonia. Had it not been for the quick action by the hospital doctor in hooking me up to oxygen and intravenous fed drugs, and my age being against me, I would not have survived that first night. However, I recovered quickly, but they kept me in isolation for a while longer before discharging me at the end of the first week in January. It’ s difficult to tell how many other residents caught the bug because we were not informed for privacy concerns. At that time, we were in total lockdown because many of the staff who went home at night tested positive on returning in the morning! Also, if more than three residents were sick at the same time, for any reason, the chief medical doctor for Alberta could shut us down.

The dining room and bistro were closed for the duration, with all meals delivered to our rooms. I lived on the 4th floor then and delivery was very slow, enough said! But at least most of us have microwaves to heat up the food.

After all of us had received the second vaccination, nearly all the COVID restrictions were lifted and now we are just about back (July 2021) to pre COVID conditions. JAmES BARkER (a 45) From the other ends of the earth (Ed: New Zealand), we have been very fortunate to have got a bit of a grip on the dreaded lurgy but even so have a problem keeping ourselves from getting it again via travellers crossing the borders. We feel very sorry for the trials of lockdown, etc, you have had and hope you now see the light at end of the tunnel. My wife and I have very few relations and friends in the UK but happily they are all fit and well. With best wishes from the deep south.

DAVID (SAm) SmART (a 45) age 94 retired former master at Dulwich College (20 years), living in Dulwich Village. Is an active Humanist. Stood 3 times for Green Party - Ecology Party as it was then, member of CND and Stop the War, founder of Sherborne Q. Delighted to have contact with any Shirburnians who care to call. Address and email available from the OS Office.

mIchAEL SELBY (h 49) I will be 90 in November (2021) and have been married for 65 years. Given my age, my activities are limited but I have been kept busy in two areas.

Our local church is facing a crisis. The boiler has failed and the replacement cost is enormous, plus the roof leaks and needs replacing. Several churches around Clifton have already closed and are being utilised for other purposes. Will St Paul’ s join them? We have been holding urgent meetings over Zoom to decide what we should do, and how we can raise or earn the necessary funds.

The other area is personal. A long-term friend of ours received-after two years on bail-a sentence of five years in prison. A vicious punishment where probation had been recommended and expected. So, my task has been to try and sustain him, by letters, through this horrendous experience. He is in his mid-70’ s and married, so we have tried to look after his wife as well.

1950s

mIchAEL TEALE (f 52) having reached the advanced age of 87, I don ’t have a lot to report!

Sue and I do the usual age green-related activities, but sadly declining. Happily, one of our grandsons likes cutting the grass, which reminds me I must pay him!

DAVID cROWLEY (b 53) Self-isolated with my wife supported by neighbours and long-distance family and friends. Wife died unexpectedly from cancer last August (2020) and since then learning to live solo – including learning to cook!

chRISTOPhER WOODS (b 53) I have been reuniting with people I haven ’t been in contact with for years through email. I have also read some Spanish and Portuguese which I used in my work in Spain and Portugal, and we have watched too much TV, but thoroughly enjoyed it! Would you ask John and Adrian if it would be possible to organise a reunion for those in their 80s as my generation is living that much longer and we have many memories of Sherborne? (Footnote from John: Q 2022 will hopefully bring plenty of the 80+ back to Sherborne).

PETER mOELLER (a 55) Every year in lieu of a Christmas card I produce a desk calendar with a different picture of my part of Suffolk for each month. It comes packed in a CD case that unfolds to make a stand. For this year ’ s edition in deference to isolating, I turned the idea on its head, by taking pictures (last year, of course) of each month as viewed through my office window showing how the seasons change in the field below. A sample picture for July is shown.

WILL BERTRAm (b 57) As a student of Architecture studying at the AA I went 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 me that life was getting extremely tedious! Could I re-write the words of that old offering to capture the frustrations, desolation, and noble optimism of our blighted condition?

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!

This Furlough’ s given me just enough To pay the landlord and all that stuff. My girl’ s my saviour, she ’ s ‘ up the duff’ One little ray of sunshine....

This morning I thought I’d go for a run. The rain stopped rainin ’ and out came the sun. But a copper ran over and dished my fun. Just one darned thing after t’ other .

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!

Day by day the death toll climbs. For many poor souls the sun won ’t shine. Put a foot wrong and they hand out a fine. The taxman needs the money.

Grief and misery, pain and woes, Debts and worry ..and so it goes,

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, broken fences, things not working, gardening etc, not to mention mucking out of stables! And now hay making. Now looking forward to a week’ s holiday in Scotland in September. JONNIE TOLSON (a 57) Travels in Lotharingia: A’ levels finished, results unknown, saying good-bye to the warm ham-stone Courts, three no-longerschoolboys 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, Eisenhower in The White House, petrol was 4/9p a gallon, nothing could stop us. Andrew Greenslade (a 57), the carprovider, 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.

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 having spent some £80 between us for provisions, fares, fees, fuel and entertainments along the way. This looks modest, but multiply by 24 for today ’ s value! Home again after three weeks we considered ourselves wiser for the journey, ready to set off to our universities, National Service, and life ’ s

later adventures.

Lotharingia was the short-lived European kingdom arising in the Ninth Century from division of the Carolingian Empire. Much of our journey sixty-four years ago was through Northern Lotharingia which as these notes are written (July 2021) is the scene of horrific storms and floods.

RIchARD hARDWIck (f 58) One of the recent little pleasures of my quiet life is hearing the door-bell ring. Not the frontdoor bell (probably either the everoptimistic Jehovah’ s witnesses, or else DHL with a parcel for the people opposite) but the back-door bell (probably either an inquisitive pigeon, or else our friend the fox).

To begin at the beginning: it all started one afternoon in January 2020. At that time, we didn ’t yet have a bell on the backdoor; it was the front-door bell that rang. And it wasn ’t the Jehovah’ s witnesses, but our next-door neighbour. She

’d come to say qu ’il y avait un renard sur notre pelouse et qu ’il y avait tué nos poules. Indeed, the fox was still there, quietly working through the best bits of the second of our two hens, in broad daylight on the back lawn. He even posed for a photo shoot. After a period of mourning, we went out and bought some dogfood. And now he comes round regularly. Yesterday, for example, he rang the new (motion-detector) doorbell at 06:05. He knows that when the bell rings the door will open and that he can then come in and relax while I prepare his meal.

Yesterday ’ s breakfast was left over blanc de poule, plus 240 g of dog meat. He was back for elevenses (another 240g dog meat), then lunch, then tea and finally supper, each time 240 g plus some biscuits. He eats all that from my hand. Towards the end of a meal, he will trot off with the latest mouthful and carefully bury it on the lawn, pause for a yawn and a scratch, and then come back for more. When finally satisfied he sits on the lawn and goes to sleep. He doesn ’t visit every day; more like once every three days. The morning our local mammal enthusiasts came to count the Myotis brandtii hibernating in our garden cave, he kindly turned up exactly on cue. By May he had moved in next door but one to us with his mate and they had a new family. I never guessed back in April 2020 that for the next year and a half the fox would become our only, and now daily, visitor. The pleasure of saying good morning to him every day almost makes up for a traumatic afternoon 65 or so years ago, when I was cheerfully following the West Somerset Vale (sic) on foot, and suddenly found myself in at the kill ...

JERRY hAIGh (d 59) I’ m not sure how much of my news has made into the pages of the OS Record. In those far-off days I was Haigh (Jeremy) of Harper House.

Anyway, there are five books listed (under the Books link www.jerryhaigh.com surprise, surprise). The first was a text book on deer farming, the others are non-fiction accounts of events and activities in my 50 year career as a wildlife veterinarian. In that capacity I worked in seven African countries, all over Canada, the USA, Finland, New Zealand, Australia, the tiny Pacific island of Rota, and Mongolia. Species range from rhino, lion and elephant to polar bears, moose, wolves and reindeer. Among some of the most unusual cases were giving a 4-gallon enema to a rhino, slinging a juvenile elephant under a helicopter, and carrying out root canal treatments on a lion.

There are many magazine articles, but only a few of the roughly 150 are listed. You can also find links to storytelling, photography and woodworking - lots of projects and photos on that subject. I even came to the School a few years ago and gave one of those Saturday morning talks, A Wildlife Vet in Africa.

My latest book, Reindeer Reflections is to be published on 1 October 2021. https://rmbooks.com/book/reindeerreflections/

PhILIP WRIGhT (g 59) was prompted by the death of HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh to share this anecdote which was published in the Daily Telegraph.

Major Philip Wright OBE, formerly Grenadier Guards, remembers a time in 1950 when he was 10 years old and Prince Philip lent him a pair of flippers in a swimming pool in Cyprus. As Philip recalls, Prince Philip ‘ was commanding HMS Magpie … and the ship called in on Cyprus as part of the Mediterranean fleet. My father, Sir Andrew Wright, was Governor and Prince Philip visited us in Government House. My father said, “ any time you want to use the swimming pool, do come and use it. ” One night Prince

Philip

’ s evening swim coincided with mine. He had “frog feet” and I’d never seen them before. He said they belonged to his uncle, Lord Mountbatten ’ . Philip, wearing Prince Philip ’ s flippers ‘flip flopped up and down the pool’ until a governess appeared and shouted “It’ s time to get out now, Philip!” . The Prince looked up sharply.

1960s

DONALD LIGhT (f 60) As I was completing my final year at Phillips Exeter Academy in 1958-59, I sought an upper-6th year at Sherborne before matriculating at Stanford University. It proved to be a wonderful adventure and rewarding both intellectually as well as personally. The experience inspired my first published essay that compared Exeter ’ s to Sherborne ’ s ways of developing young men, to Sherborne ’ s

advantage.

Flying 6,000 miles to Stanford (after a stay in my parents ’ New England home) transported me to a campus more expansive than all of Oxford, full of sunshine, tans, and beautiful women. I came to realize I liked ideas more than anything else, except a poetic co-ed. Nancy has been my life ’ s partner ever since, for 60 years now. While she taught English literature, I went to graduate school at the University of Chicago and Brandeis in sociology. A first appointment at Princeton University led to our staying there, even as I got appointments elsewhere, and we raised our son and daughter there. If you write dlight@princeton.edu, you can still find us on Adams Drive.

The English connection solidified when my research on comparative health care systems led to serving as an advisor to the NHS in various parts of England and Scotland over many years and to being invited as a visiting professor at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester. We loved our many walks and visits in England, which we can perhaps resume after the pandemic subsides.

SImON PhILLIPS (a 61) I was awarded an MPhil (Social Sciences) by research from Bath University in 1990 for my work with refugees from Indo-China, basically The Boat People. Based on this work, I was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1993. A little while after I was also invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, which is rather more academic and actually older than the RGS. This was more specifically because of my work on the problems of social interaction both with, within and between this disparate group, specifically in what is academically called ethnomedicine. Unfortunately, this coincided with the onset of the awful symptoms I started to get with what was eventually diagnosed as Hairy Cell Leukaemia in 1996 at the age of 52. Because of the infection risk of the disease itself and the six months chemotherapy I was about to embark on, I was given 48 hours to sort out my immediate retirement from clinical medicine! After that, frankly, everything else, apart from getting better, faded into insignificance and it took about two years before I felt anything like human again. Learned societies fell by the wayside and I forgot all about it. Obviously, I survived, and I was eventually able to continue my academic work as this did not involve patients face-to-face.

To cut a long story short, I had a massive clear out of old papers, draft articles and so on over the COVID lockdown and found the original correspondence from the RAS. I contacted them last year and told them what had happened, and I was enrolled immediately - no interview, no committee, nothing! So, 20 or so years late, I am now a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society!

chRISTOPhER WhEATLEY (h 61) 2021’ s renewed lockdown in March coincided with the end of a desk-top due diligence on a uranium deposit in Uzbekistan, which I had been lucky to visit some years earlier. Little had changed, except some infill drilling results, making my job

a real pleasure. Report writing was finished by Easter and the photo shows how my beard had progressed during the winter.

As I write, in July, COVID has so far missed me and, double-vaccinated, it is now time to lockdown again, against the Delta COVID variant, just as a Lambda variant from Peru begins its march southwards from Scotland. Challenges from the pandemic have not dimmed my enthusiasm for the mining business and made me ever more thankful for a happy grounding at Sherborne.

RODNEY mYERS (b 62) 2020 and up until recently has been a peculiar time for most people. At the end of February 2020 my wife and I flew to New Zealand to attend my niece ’ s wedding in Hawkes Bay. My sister married a Kiwi and has lived in NZ for over 30 years. So we had a family catch up and reconnected with many NZ friends in the month we were there. Not long after we arrived the COVID Pandemic started to spread from the Far East and NZ started shutting down the border to overseas visitors. We were delayed only one day on our scheduled return with Qatar Airways (very good service) but it was touch and go whether we would be able to fly home in the 3rd week of March!

Once home I picked up the mantle of being Chairman of our local parish council and of course every normal monthly meeting had to be on Zoom. For some reason we were the first PC to adopt Zoom for meetings in Cornwall. It was a fairly hectic year as we were trying to get a National Development Plan sorted and passed to Cornwall Council for approval. I am pleased to say we achieved this in our last full meeting before the council elections, when I retired as a member and Chairman.

Since then, my email traffic has reduced by 90%! It is nice to have some time to do other things as it was fairly time consuming. Life appears to be starting again (fingers crossed!) and it is great to see one ’ s children and grandchildren again after many months.

We are lucky enough to live in a small attached cottage right on the harbour front of Falmouth, so get great views. The major change in the last year is that Flushing Sailing Club across the road decided to demolish their old building with a flat roof and erect a very modern but pleasing looking new clubhouse. This was completed in time for the club’ s centenary. At 70 I did not think about older age but now 77 unfortunately bits of the body wear out and I am due for a new left side hip and a new right side knee which is a bit limiting at the moment and I was not selected for the Olympics! I am delighted to keep up with OS news and congratulate those involved in promoting Sherborne on doing such a good job.

mIchAEL JOSEPh (a 63) Where would we have been without technology. It has been a saviour and has helped to keep life in some sort of “ normality ” .

I have chaired a charity in Southampton for five years - New Forest Mediation Society - and all our meetings have taken place thanks to Zoom. We entered into the pandemic very concerned about our finances, but in the event have just had our best year ever financially. I have played a lot of bridge online and now wonder if I want to jump in the car to Shaftesbury on cold nights! Our Club is twinned with a French club in Brest and we have had several competitions. Sadly, I have not stewarded at the Cathedral since February 2019 but our local church services have continued also by Zoom as have all the church meetings.

I sit on the Dorset County Council and BCP panels for School admissions, and these have been conducted via Teams. So, I have been very lucky and more, so our family have all kept well. I have counted my blessings! PATRIck BARWISE (b&m 64) My main recent activity has been researching and writing The War Against the BBC (Penguin, November 2020) with Peter York (of The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook fame).

Although my academic work has mostly been about marketing, media, consumers, and audiences, I also have a long-term practical interest in leadership and institution-building. That includes the London Business School (where I’ ve worked since 1976), Which? (where I was chairman for six years), the BBC (hence the book) and now – on a much smaller scale – the Archive of Market and Social Research.

I think this all began when I was the first Head of House at The Digby in 1964, supporting its Housemaster Peter Currie in creating a new institution from scratch, with a distinct, relatively liberal, culture. I’ m delighted to see how well it’ s done.

RIchARD DuNSTAN (b 64) no change in circumstances although older if not wiser.

mIchAEL O’GORmAN (h 65) After graduating from Trinity Dublin with a degree in Economics and Political Science, Michael has spent his career in the entertainment industry. From 1975 to 1985 he was the Sound Designer for The Chieftains and from 1995 he has been the Sound Designer for Riverdance (The Show). The 25th anniversary show started out in January 2020 in America and Europe and was then halted by COVID. They hope to get back on the road, COVID willing, in summer 2021.

JAmES PEROWNE (a&m 65) There are many worse places to be Locked Down in 2020 than Windsor Castle. There were no tourists so we could fully use the Moat Garden, we could walk the dog in the Home Park Private in total safety from the virus, we have had Queen

wooden Bates Starcraft boat in the summer on the River Thames to get away but did not venture abroad at all during the year.

The largest event has been the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh on 17 April which was a sad but very moving parade and service. The Duke got all that he wanted. He always said he did not want a fuss and COVID ensured it was small and family oriented. Since he first bought a Land Rover in 1954, he had said that he wanted to be taken away in one which came to pass. He must be delighted.

All in all, it has not been stressful, but the problem now as we open up is getting motivated again to resume all the normal activities, receptions, and dinners for charities, assisting with investitures etc. after doing so little for so long!!

The plan is for us to leave being Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle in August 2022 after the Platinum Jubilee. It has been a wonderful eight years which I am calling “Four Weddings and a Funeral!” (For the record, the weddings were Prince Harry, Princess Eugenie, Lady Gabriella of Kent, and Princess Beatrice!)

mIchAEL cANNON-BROOkES (g 66) Not much news over here, I am afraid! Sydney has been in 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 family together briefly 3 weeks ago on our Golden Wedding Day, as the boom came down right after that.

Helen and I are extremely lucky to be living just across the road from the fabulous Sydney Botanic Gardens right 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 coaching and senior mentoring, all virtually of course right now.

The big negative has been the inability to travel. The Australian Government slammed the borders closed in March 2020 and say that international travel is not likely to resume until mid-2022. Every overseas trip that we had booked has been cancelled or postponed - our love is polar expedition cruises to the Arctic and Antarctic, which we do not see resuming until well into next year. We have been trying to substitute some domestic trips, as Australia has some truly amazing places to visit, but even these plans are getting frustrated by different states imposing lockdowns and banning interstate travel or demanding 14 days tight hotel quarantine at your own cost.

WILL FAcEY (f 66) I have to admit that I have found the COVID lockdown entirely positive. It has given me the mental space to concentrate on my new book, a biography and translation entitled Charles Huber: France ’ s Greatest Arabian Explorer, scheduled for publication in 2022. Here in the Chilterns the country hikes are enchanting, and the allotments have proved to be the perfect solution to physically distanced socialising. And let’ s be honest, COVID has given us all a great excuse not to see the people we don ’t want to see!

RODERIck FITzROY (f 66) Retired happily here in Edinburgh, not happy about possible Independence.

Had career in Army for 25 years, dealing with Military Intelligence. Obviously cannot disseminate what I did. Have son and daughter living in Cornwall, and 2 grandchildren. Remarried in 1995 at Margarets Chapel, Edinburgh Castle.

WILL hANDLEY (a 67) We live in the southern Sierra Mountains in California. Houses here are scattered and many of them are on lots that would be regarded as small farms in the UK, except that much of the land is fairly steep. Our house for example is on the only flat area in eight acres on a shoulder of land forming part of Bear Mountain. From this you can safely deduce how the Mountain got its name.

When we moved here the house nearest to us was inhabited by Bob and Mary (names changed to avoid lawsuits). However, Mary was not a country girl and the wildlife disturbed her – bats roosting under the eaves were a nightmare. They

had put their house on the market at a wishful thinking price a couple of years after we arrived, but no one was willing to pay this over the odds amount. Then one day, they came home and found that a bear had climbed onto their deck, consumed the contents of the hummingbird feeders and before leaving left a huge steaming dump on the deck. Mary freaked and they reduced the price of the house to a realistic market price and sold immediately to Jack and Jill. After they moved in, we were round there drinking some wine with them and I recounted this story and whilst I don ’t

think they totally disbelieved me, I suspected that they were taking the story with a little pinch of salt.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and they were drinking a glass of wine at our house and they “ apologised” for having reservations about this story and said that they were in the habit of taking breakfast out on the deck and, one morning, having taken everything out ready to eat, they looked at the other end of the deck and thought “That’ s funny the dog ’ s bed should be green not brown!” Double take, then “BEAR” . Jack grabs the dog (a Basset) and rushes inside and slams the door, leaving Jill and the breakfast outside. Jill retreats, having to reopen the door, leaving breakfast for the bear. The next day, before taking breakfast out there, they check around carefully – no bear in sight. They take everything out, sit down and lean back in their chairs and look up and on a branch of the big oak that overhangs their deck is a large brown lump – BEAR - reprise previous day ’ s retreat in disorder! I don ’t think he has been back since – presumably he found their continental breakfast too lightweight for his tastes!

The bear in question has been dubbed Big Ben by the local Ranger. He is larger than anything else around so not much bothers him. He ignores our Great Danes, who rush out to bark at him at dawn and dusk, as he sets out and returns from his perambulations down into the valley below where there are several new residents, who have yet to learn not to leave their rubbish and kitchen scraps outside in bin bags. The picture of a bear outside our front door was taken seven years ago but might be the “Young Ben

kEVIN DESmOND (g 68) From an idea which we hatched in 2019, the first holding of the E-Regatta at the Venice Boat Show began with a “Sailence ” cruise of a promising 25 e-boats around Venice where skippers were applauded by people as they passed under the Rialto Bridge. The E-Regatta, included slalom and the e-ballerina, speed and endurance, and was won by the Slovenian boat e ’dyn. E-Regattas have been planned for this autumn in Montreal, Connecticut, Nantes, Berlin and Lake Windermere. If Shirburnians would like to become involved with creating a Junior Class electric boat please contact Kevin on desmond.book@wanadoo.fr 366solutions.com, the website I created, is now heading for its 366th daily solution for cleaning up, repairing and protecting our planet. Not only have many people visited the website, but also both Facebook and Instagram posts. All the posts can still be visited and used.

1970s

BRucE muRRAY (h 70) I am afraid we have done nothing exciting during the COVID period – just kept our heads down and lived day to day! All very boring! We live 100 yards from the sea, so I walk the dog, and Milla does Gym Exercising on Zoom every day - in our sitting room, which has been turned into a gym for the last 18 months! We are very fortunate, as apart from Travel, we

haven ’t been affected. Being retired, the garden hasn ’t looked as good for years!!

PIERS cROckER (a 71) Well we had all the excitement of the digital Reunion not least! I caught up with Ian Elliot, and, via him, what various others of my former teachers were up to. Mostly legal, apparently... Also many stories from “behind the scenes ” - for both of us.

I feel (almost) guilty, in that I am 50% retired, so kept the “ work” pot gently simmering on the back burner, in the shape of Working from Home with occasional Teams/Zoom meetings, and sometimes even turning up physically with face mask and distancing. Not too bad here in Norway - so far we have got off relatively lightly with lots of space and not a huge amount of hugging (mind you I give and receive more than my fair share...)

Volunteering? Yes, helping one day a week at a soup kitchen/food distribution centre for drug-addicts/alcoholics: bit of an eye-opener when one thinks of Norway ’ s usual image (rich, clean, organised, everyone taken care of...). Still visiting (once a week) a brain-damaged American friend.

More or less enforced “Gardening Leave ” has been wonderful - a friend (English) has masterminded a Makeover of our suburban patch, making a terrace wall, stone beds, putting in plants. He did the skilled stuff, I did the donkey work, and noticed an improvement in both fitness, energy and sleeping surprise surprise!

Off on holiday tomorrow (early July) - yes we live in a tourist paradise, all the better for fewer tourists (but do come anyway), and will be bussing up North to the Lofoten islands with some friends. (How late middle-aged can you get? “Everybody back on the bus!”

TIm DYkE (d 71) has been kept busy over the last two years as Chair of the Exe Valley U3A (previously known as the University of the 3rd Age), in Tiverton, Devon. With all of our social and cultural activities curtailed by the various lockdowns, I have managed to persuade about half of our 250 members in 20 different groups to continue to meet on Zoom, which for many has been a lifesaver. This all culminated in the national u3aDay on 2 June, when we manned a stall in the pouring rain to publicise our activities. The wig is synthetic but the beard real - our London-based grandchildren were told I would not trim it until I saw them again.

chARLES humE (h 72) I have just completed an OU degree, doing one module a year for six years since my retirement in March 2015. The official title seems to be BA in Humanities (English Literature) - First Class Honours.

GARETh TuDOR-WILLIAmS (a 72) has retired after a career spanning over three decades in paediatric HIV research and care. Read more about his career here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/2308 97/life-paediatric-hiv-research-careprof/ JEREmY ARchER (d 73) In 2012, I was invited to become a Trustee of The Burma Star Association and had to be persuaded because most of the surviving veterans were already in their nineties. Eight years later, we reinvented ourselves as the Burma Star Memorial Fund (BSMF) and, as the veterans had specifically requested, are raising funds to sponsor Burma Star Scholarships (BSS) for oneyear, post-graduate Masters Degrees at UCL in either Engineering or Epidemiology.

Following a launch at Clarence House on 2 March 2020, hosted by our Patron, HRH The Prince of Wales, fundraising began in earnest. During lockdown, I raised more than £100,000, much of it contributed by my former colleagues at Cazenove. I was surprised and delighted to learn how many of them had family connections with the gruelling Burma Campaign. This year, I have interviewed thirty surviving veterans – including a Chairman of Manchester City and a Primus (Archbishop) of the Scottish Episcopal Church – and heard some fascinating stories. With almost 100,000 words in the bag, there is a book in the making! On 21 June 2021, together with two professors from UCL, I interviewed three extremely impressive BSS candidates on Zoom: one was in Lagos, another in Lahore and the third in Dar-es-Salaam. While all three were equally deserving, a newly qualified Nigerian doctor, Lotenna Olisaeloka, was awarded the 2021/22 Burma Star Scholarship. For me, the fundraising, interviewing and selection processes have been extremely humbling and uplifting experiences. See www.burmastarmemorial.org. Naturally, I would be delighted if this brief description of our efforts caught the eye of any potential supporters.

mARk FLOYER (h 73) We survived Lockdown with the aid of Netflix and a well-stocked drinks cabinet. Some writing was done, and I have a new collection of poems Scrabbled coming out with Paekakariki Press later in the year. We have also decided to re-locate from rural Devon to suburban Sussex in order to be closer to children and grandchildren. Bitterly disappointed that I have to forego the Westcott Reunion in September due to a clash of commitments - it’ s been 50 years! (note from editor; You didn ’t miss it Mark, it has been postponed until 13 May 2022).

SImON GRIFFIThS (a 73) In South Africa, hard lockdown started in March 2020. That meant restricted to home except for shopping for essentials, and it lasted for five weeks. Even the sale of alcohol and cigarettes was banned.

I had retired from the software industry the year before but then went to work part-time for a local nonprofit. For many people in poorer communities around Johannesburg, lockdown was a disaster. Unable to earn money, people were going without food. So, with other nonprofits we stepped in, and with incredible donations of money and food from major South African corporates, we started providing food for thousands of families in Alexandra township. Every week, we had volunteers coming to help pack – we all had to have an official

authorization so we could leave our homes to go and pack. I wrote an article about the experience from a systems perspective https://diginomica.com/how-reengineer-business-processes-uncertaintimes.

Lockdown was such a shock that it seemed to create an inertia among many people that lasted for three to four weeks. But then they started coming around to the fact that this was going to be the way of life for the foreseeable future. My wife who is a doctor started meeting patients over Zoom. I was contacted by a software company and started working with them remotely with regular online meetings. For my family and groups I belonged to, instead of meeting face-to-face we quickly learnt how to adapt to the new Zoom lifestyle.

Now I can hardly imagine life and work going back to the way it was. The pandemic opened up contacts and opportunities for me to work remotely (locally and internationally) that I would not have thought possible before. The pandemic is still a major problem in South Africa. Our vaccination rate is still low and in June we went back to a modified hard lockdown due to the ravages of the Delta variant. But the last 16 months have given me a new perspective on life and work that I have come to value.

The photo was taken of me during a Zoom call when I hadn ’t been to a hairdresser in eight weeks. STEPhEN RILEY (c 73) I’ m getting married (again) on 27 August at St Mary

’ s Burpham, West Sussex, to Victoria Burch whom I first met in April 1967 on the beach in Magaluf, then a very different place to its more recent reputation!! I’ m still active in the Insurance World principally as a Non-Executive Director at Atrium Underwriting.

chARLES BAuGhAN (b 74) runs Westaway Sausages with his wife Ilona (Beckett) who was at Sherborne Girls at the same time. They won UK Packaging Innovation of the Year 2020 for their use of the world’ s first certified compostable film. This year Westaways got a special judges award at the UK Food and Drink Manufacturing Awards for their work on compostable packaging. Making up to 500,000 sausages a day, Westaways supplies UK retail, food service and wholesale customers. They export widely and will be manufacturing under licence in Hong Kong in 2022 for distribution across East Asia.

PETER OBORNE (d 74) dedicated lockdown to writing books. Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Emergence of a New Moral Barbarism was published by Simon and Schuster in early 2021. Fate of Abraham, a study of western pathologies about Islam, is due to be published by S & S in 2022. Peter writes columns for Middle East Eye and Byline Times. chRISTOPhER STRONG (b 74) On 31 March I retired as Chief Risk Officer of British Arab Commercial Bank. With a primary focus on doing business with Africa, COVID presented some interesting challenges although up till now (July 2021) and with some notable exceptions the continent has not suffered to the extent we originally anticipated, and the Bank has come through the Pandemic largely unscathed. Work was full-on but it was good to keep busy during the lockdown and our loft is now a very comfortable home office/den. The highlight of the year was that I was able to spend eight weeks at my villa in Greece last summer, “ working from home ” . With my 64th birthday approaching, my youngest child finishing university this summer with full-time employment secured, mortgage paid off and the end of lockdown in sight, the time was right to step back.

I plan to spend more time in Greece at our villa, Villa Pikermi on Lefkada island (available to rent - Google it), riding my bikes over there and over here, playing a bit more golf and doing some travelling when restrictions ease. I am also in the market for non-executive directorships in the financial services and commodity trading sectors. Is there a Greek chapter of the OS?

RuPERT BRAVERY (c 76) is making a documentary film with Steve Berry, former presenter of Top Gear.

mIchAEL DAVENPORT (c 79) In March my wife Lavinia and I arrived in Kosovo, where I have taken up a post as Head of the OSCE Mission – the OSCE is the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This is a 550-strong international mission with a mandate to support the rule of law, strengthening of human rights and building of democratic institutions in Kosovo, with a particular focus on the rights of ethnic minority communities. It’ s good to be back in the Balkans!

1980s

JEREmY BLAckBuRN (d 80) Ironically something of a positive from lockdown as we had our mid twenty something children home for nearly four months–fantastic to share time with them, probably haven ’t seen as much of them since they were six years old! We got to know the Amazon drivers on first name terms, had a mid-summer Christmas day, perfected the game of beer pong (don ’t ask) and much more besides. A tale which I am sure could be shared by others.

Lockdown kept me off the Golf course and Racecourse – however the Wessex Racing Club which I run had five winners during last National Hunt season which gave the Club members and me much excitement, albeit from the armchair in front of the TV, not at the race course. We look forward to going racing again in the autumn. Recently managed to get a game of golf in with Jon Turner (b 80) who has recently returned from South Africa to retire to Cornwall. Also met up with Adrian B on the same day to discuss 360 project.

PhILIP SANDERSON (h 80) here in the States my experience over the past 18 months has been very positive overall. Aspects of it were tough to begin with for sure, with all the adjustments and medical anxiety for my family (alleviated thankfully by the vaccines), and it was especially hard for us all in the aftermath of George Floyd’ s murder. The hardest part was the time leading up to the passing of my stepfather in October. Travel to the UK to be with my mother and my siblings was totally impractical if not impossible and we were relegated to watching a live stream of his funeral. On the positive side I have the privilege of working for the National Institutes of Health and my expertise in drug discovery and development was and still is in high demand. All while teleworking, I was given a role reviewing proposals for antiviral drug development projects for the government’ s antiviral response, and I personally lead an antiviral drug development program. Currently I have a leadership role in the government’ s Antiviral Program for Pandemics, discovering and developing drugs active against viruses of pandemic potential. It is fair to say that work has never been more fulfilling. In a personal capacity I was invited to join a private online forum looking for political solutions to the multiple crises facing humankind, another great experience and a vital outlet in the months leading up to the election.

SImON hEAzELL (m 81) very sadly, from mid-September we are leaving our lovely home in the village of Hermitage, six miles south of Sherborne, and travelling around 4,700 miles to our new home in Vancouver, to where my wife has secured a senior executive post with an outfit called Fraser Healthcare, creating their virtual healthcare system (in essence enabling their eight hospitals to communicate patient details more easily). It’ s daunting, I realise, embarking on such a radical change in direction when, let’ s face it, some of my contemporaries are contemplating retirement! Nonetheless, it’ s a prospect that I’ m relishing.

We

’ ve had a very happy ten year stint in Dorset, and I’ ve much enjoyed my reacquaintance with a few of my former teachers and a fellow old Digby soul in the person of Jamie henderson by singing with the Joint Schools ’ Choral Society. I shall miss them, just as I shall miss being part of the relentless evolution of the school.

DAVID PAYNE (g 81) Having initially moved to Devon in March last year to ride out the lockdown, I managed to leave the country just before the international travel shut down at the end of November, to go and work remotely from Brazil. Why Brazil? On 22 January 2021 I got married to my Brazilian fiancée Debora de Oliveira Lopes in Divinopolis, MG. Due to COVID we had two wedding guests, Debora ’ s mother and father, which made it much easier than all the planning and preparation required for normal times weddings! I am now back in England, preparing the way for my new wife and stepdaughter Clara to arrive later this year.

BRETT TOWNSEND (a 82) Since leaving Sherborne I was sent to Coventry as I had a desire to work in the automotive industry. Having worked in Coventry for Peugeot for 12 years and Lear Corporation for a further four years in Halewood, Liverpool. I started my own business Automotive Trim Developments (ATD). We are based in Coventry although have manufacturing factories in Corby and Brackley as well as our two factories in Coventry. We engineer and manufacture interiors for all of the UK based luxury automotive manufacturers.

As you can imagine the lockdown has been a challenge as all our customers stopped producing vehicles during the first lockdown. Fortunately for us we also manufacture office furniture which enabled us to continue manufacturing product as there was still a demand with everyone working from home. We had to close the factories for about six weeks either side of Easter 2020 and have called upon the Government’ s furlough scheme to retain all our employees, but I am pleased to say that we have had everyone back at work since August 2020. Remarkably our turnover for 2020 was only 5% lower than budget and since September we have recorded record monthly turnovers, so every cloud has a silver lining.

chRIS WEIR (a 82) In 2019, after a 29year career in aerospace engineering and senior leadership, and the three children all through university, I elected to take early retirement from Rolls-Royce. (My last role was heading up engineering for the aero-engine control systems, covering all aspects of the product lifecycle from technology, new product introduction and in-service support. With 1,200 engineers, we saw five new engines

into service and radically transformed how we created safety critical software for aero-engine controls (80% reduction in cost, and improvements in quality and lead-time). I had a great team, and it was never going to get better – so finish on a high! That good old final salary pension scheme had survived the five company take-overs intact.

To my surprise – and I still haven ’t set up my company ’ s website – I was soon assisting a client in helping industry understand how to exploit Artificial Intelligence software. Although I still did work with aerospace companies, it also gave me an opportunity to work in automotive, computing infrastructure and even the NHS! COVID stopped the onsite workshops, but it was still possible to work remotely. So I was very fortunate –compared to so many other people. However, my AI work came to an end when full-time work was offered to me –this was not my plan. So I am now assisting a French legal firm (as a “Technical Expert”!) with an international arbitration case. What follows, who knows – a return to School Governorship is also on the cards - but my wife and I enjoy the freedom that I am so fortunate enough to have.

There is a book (work in progress - but a very niche technical/social history of early British jet engine controls!) and my wife and I have travel plans (postponed by COVID). I do meet up with a handful of Old Shirburnians once or twice a year. I value greatly such sound friendships that have lasted the test of time. When we meet, it’ s a quick update on the family news before a wonderful descendance into amusing (other ’ s might say juvenile)

banter.

IAN hEY (g 83) Fortunately for us, the pandemic hasn ’t seriously affected our income so, for that, I am very grateful. In certain ways, I’ ve appreciated (if that’ s the right word) ‘Lockdown ’ . A 75-year-old neighbour put it better. It reminded him of when he was growing up in the and ‘60’ s. Less planes, less people less traffic and much easier to park. My big news is I’ m hopefully going to have a novel published next year which I’ m sure all of you OS who are reading this are going to buy. (Joke!) I’ ve also been cast in a Neil Simon play called Rumours to be put on in October in our local Community Centre. OK, it’ s amdram but it’ s a high-quality cast. Pick of the New Forest Players, I kid you not.

Lola, our wire-haired dachshund has just turned two and now has moments of maturity but can still, for no reason at all, tear around the place like a mad, bonkers puppy.

BEN JEAPES (h 83) my biography of Victorian mathematician and computing pioneer “Ada Lovelace ” (David Fickling Books, 2020) won an award as one of the Best STEM Books 2021 from the National Science Teaching Association in the US. The book is part of the publisher ’ s First Name series for children, covering names past and present such as Amelia Earhart, Elon Musk, Abraham Lincoln and Malala Yousafzai. If the publishers continue with the series then I’ ve put down my marker to write a book on Alan Turing, assuming I can present his private life in an appropriately child-friendly way. RIchARD SPENcER (f 83) Brief update about life as a Middle East correspondent during the pandemic. Life changed considerably as countries closed their borders and reporting had to be done by phone and Zoom. However, the news came to me instead as I and my apartment were blown up in the explosion at Beirut’ s port last August (2020). I was thrown across the flat but luckily emerged unscathed, unlike the apartment which was pretty well trashed, and a number of friends who were quite seriously injured. The flat’ s restored now, and airports are reopening, so onwards and upwards!

ALISTAIR TRESIDDER (f 83) Not sure I have got much exciting news…but I will have a go.

I am now in my 23rd year as vicar of St. Luke ’ s Hampstead. Along with everyone else, we have had to adapt church life hugely in the last 18 months. The pros and cons of zoom and now livestreaming back in the building have been both exciting and enervating. The church family has grown in depth as ironically, they have spent more time together and locally. We have split our morning service in two in order to facilitate growing numbers.

Many of you who are of my vintage may also have children returning to live with you having graduated from university. We are hoping it will be as fun for our two eldest boys as it will be for us. For the second year running my privilege to be asked to preach at Commem has had to be cancelled. Maybe the Lord is trying to tell me something!I am now in Cornwall for a month on study leave/Sabbatical. You will be relieved to know that I am not writing a book. Any Shirburnians in NW3 from September onwards, it would be great to see you.

JON STOck (b 84) It was life as normal for me in lockdown. As a thriller writer, I spend too much time in rural isolation as it is, trying to knock out 1,000 words a

day, so there wasn ’t much change to my daily routine. The same was true for my wife, Hilary, a fine art photographer. It was a little more challenging for our youngest son, Jago, who was meant to be on his year off in Jamaica before studying film at the London College of Communication. What teenager would wish to be locked down with their parents for months? He ended up doing the weekly shop for a number of older residents in our Wiltshire village and was taken aback by their vast cheese consumption. The story has a happy ending, though: he eventually made it to Jamaica. And he started dating the woman on the Waitrose cheese counter.

RuPERT JONES (g 87) Commanding Defence ’ s high readiness deployable headquarters ready for crises around the world, I found myself leading an operation to help the UK’ s Caribbean Overseas Territories deal with COVID, but running the operation largely from my study in Dorset.

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 staff and care workers. All supplied free of charge from our upholstery workshop in South Wales. chRISTIAN LOckE (g 88) 16 months on from the start of lockdown 1, I’ m still working in the travel industry (amazingly!) and have had to postpone my 50th birthday celebrations for 2 years now. Working from home and managing a team of Travel Product Managers has been a challenge at times, especially when they ’ ve had their own sad, exciting, traumatic, and happy personal stories to contend with - sometimes you just want to give people a hug but can ’t over Teams!

I’ ve managed to stay positive and helped out boxing up food packages before Christmas for people in Cheshire affected by the pandemic and those who would normally go to Food Banks. At the moment I’ m playing cricket every week for the Toft Taverners - a charity team near Knustford who raise money for local causes including taking about three busloads of pensioners to Lytham St Annes each year (non-COVID years anyway). If any OS fancy coming down to watch, we play on a Thursday evening from 6pm at Toft CC.

1990s

LLOYD cOLLIER (d 90) Chase the Sun 2021 Imagine waking up on the summer solstice in time to watch the sun rise over the Kent Estuary in the East at 4:45 am, and then travelling the breadth of the country to watch it set over the Bristol Channel from a Somerset beach at 9:30pm by bike.

This is the annual Chase the Sun challenge, a super-low-key event organised by cyclists for other crazy cyclists. There are no race numbers, no results, no fuelling stations, no medals, simply an orange ribbon to tie to the seat post and a GPS trail of breadcrumbs to follow! lined up in Minster along with about 900 other cyclists, ribbons attached, to roll slowly out into the ride.

The route takes us up into South London for breakfast (50m in by 8am) then follows the Thames down into Hampshire/ Berkshire with lunch half way and just north of Basingstoke around midday. Then follows a really beautiful – but tough and hilly – stretch for a couple of hours past Newbury and on to Devizes where it then rejoins some faster roads. From Devizes keep heading West, climbing and descending Cheddar Gorge, then a flat last 15m or so down to Burnham on Sea.

To misquote the winner of a crossEuropean cycling rally a few years ago, who described it as

the same. Cycling is a hungry business so it’ s all about eating the right food at the right time and carrying supplies in the jersey pockets, planning stops en route in advance and keeping moving as much as possible – stationary time is what kills the success rate.

As we hit Devizes - with still a long way to go - around 5pm we started to believe we could make it, working like a propeloton team hiding from the wind (with me on the front the entire way), and getting closer and closer. The hardest bit is the hills around Cheddar – 2 of them, one short and really steep, the other the Gorge itself which is a 3m gentle drag to the top and, of course, by now the weather had gone from cold and clear to cold and grey to grey drizzle to steady rain and terrible light so my puncture at Cheddar was not helpful!

WE MADE IT! the Mayor of Burnham and the Town Crier wait on the jetty, ringing their bell for each group that get there and high fiving (in a socially-distanced way) the riders. We arrived at 9.27pm, three minutes before the official sunset. I’ll spare you the picture of my wife ’ s grumpy face when we stopped at the bottom of the descent of Cheddar Gorge for a team photo – like Mrs T, the lady was not for stopping at that point.

Followed by wine, pizza, more wine, more pizza, and a gentle train home the next day. Next year we ’ re going to do the Northern version and the year after, the Italian one!

chRIS SARGENT (b 90) Currently based in Szczecin, Poland as part of a NATO HQ, with a focus on the Baltic States and North-eastern Poland. Strange times due to COVID but pragmatism and resilience abound amongst the Polish population.

TOBY cLAY (c 92) has completed a two year posting to the Ministry of Defence and has returned to the Navy Headquarters where he is now part of a team designing the Future Maritime Aviation Force. Toby lives in Liss, Hampshire, and still enjoys most forms of biking and sailing.

DANIEL FOX-DAVIES (c 92) Having sold Fox-Davies Capital in 2014, and managed to exit the horrendous world of finance, and then selling Polo in the Park into the excellent hands of my fourth form study mate Rory heron (c 92) I moved to Dubai in 2014 never to return to the city with the aim of living a life of lazy mornings and relaxation by pool, maybe even finally getting a tan.

Miscalculating the costs of two preteenage girls, I have now set up a new corporate finance broker dealer based in Dubai and London and back to 6am starts and white as ever. Wanting to do something new and a complete break from the past, I have imaginatively called the new firm Fox-Davies Capital. I have been re-joined by a number of my former colleagues and continue to focus on the Natural Resources Sectors. I’ m based from Dubai in the winter in DIFC and would love to hear from any OS.

JAmES huGhES (m 95) COVID has hit tourism hard! With global travel all but dead I have diversified my hotel into a Co-living space for Digital Nomads. The new business model is working well and could be the future. Young people who are now location independent are wandering the world and Bansko has become a hub for these new travellers.

On other news, I led the local team for the British embassy for the evacuation of the 750 Brits that were stranded in Bansko when the first lockdown happened. With all hotels closed and the town locked shut it was a huge challenge to organise food, accommodation and transport for such a large group of very scared tourists. Happily, together with the local health authority, police, municipality and my colleagues in the embassy we managed to evacuate everyone with only a few sleepless nights to show for it! JAmES NARDELL (c 95) Over the past year, I have set up and launched a consulting business Affiliate Manager Expert, https://affiliatemanager.expert. This is something that I have been thinking about for quite some time and the lockdown inspired me to make it happen.

I have also given up both vaping and drinking alcohol for one year. The one year ‘ anniversary ’ was yesterday. COVID was a pretty good reason to stop doing both! It wasn ’t much fun, but I feel much better for it.

As someone far wiser than me said,

“Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow.

JAmES TImmIS (c 95) I was involved fully in remote teaching - throughout the summer of 2020 and for the second national lockdown in the new year / early spring. In many ways it was an interesting challenge but unquestionably had many limitations compared to normal teaching. The returns to relatively normal school life, despite masks and visors for long phases - have reinforced the value of human contact in my job - particularly in working with young people. Aside from teaching History, I could at least take children out cross country running (although restricted to specific year group ‘bubbles. ’) That was a very welcome relief from it all!

WILL ThOmASFERRAND (h 96) During lockdown 1 we welcomed a son to the world – David was born in April 2020 and thinks the lack of social life he experienced for the first year or so of his life is perfectly normal. There ’ s a chance he also thinks he is a Jack Russell as his only companion was our dog!

SÉBASTIEN LONG (a 99) I’ ve now been based in Houston, TX for over three years. The company I founded in 2019, Lodgeur https://www.lodgeur.com, recently received investment from Sputnik ATX, an Austin, TX-based venture capital firm, joining their summer 2021 accelerator cohort. 2020 was a tough year for the business, shrinking 92% from March to May as the world went into lockdown. But were able to adapt and pivot the business towards something we are really excited about!

My wife Brooke and I have also recently launched the Texas chapter of CAMentrepreneurs, a group that supports business and social entrepreneurship among Cambridge University alumni, current students, and others. The group is officially recognised by Cambridge University Alumni Association http://www.camentrepreneurs.com.

2000s

ALISTAIR BuNkALL (d 00) was midAtlantic when airspace between the US and UK was closed early in March 2020.

He spent the next two months anchoring Sky News ’ s reporting from New York, at one stage the global epicentre of the COVID pandemic.

In the months that followed he reported from other COVID hotspots including Madrid, Germany and Belgium.

In November Alistair was a key part of Sky News ’ s coverage of the US Presidential elections in Washington and more recently he broadcast from inside Windsor Castle for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh. His podcast series Off the Record with Alistair Bunkall has made headlines this year after unprecedented interviews with the Chief of MI6 and Cabinet Secretary. After seven years as Defence and Security Correspondent for Sky News, Alistair will take over the Middle East brief for the channel - it’ s sure to be a busy posting. He will be based with his family in Jerusalem and would love to hear from any OS passing through the region.

ALEX BEATTIE (a 01) Spotted in early October on the banks of the River Tweed, a sizable contingent of OS, on an annual trip to catch the elusive Atlantic Salmon. Spearheaded by half man half

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

Jos Simson (d 01) and henry GrundyWheeler (a 01), along with a brace of Canford School’ s best, unleashed an impressive assortment of colourful flies on the water surface. In tricky conditions, owing to high, coloured water levels (when salmon are naturally not inclined to do much of anything) but, buoyed by beer, wine, whiskey and outrageously amusing chat, the chaps thrashed on. By the close of day three, the team managed an impressive haul (catch & release) of 14 Salmon across seven rods. Unlike in the good old days of the 5th form disco in the BSR, where the typical catch was zero, all fishermen were successful and amazingly only a handful slipped the net. As expected, Old Shiburnians triumphed over Old Canfordian counterparts in all related competition that week, including fishing, drinking, and eating steak.

DAVID hITchINGS (m 02) Anna and I are delighted to report the birth of our third son, Jonathan Sebastian Hitchings, on 11th May 2021. A very quick home birth turned quite alarming when Anna lost a lot of blood and was rushed to hospital, but thankfully she made a quick recovery. I’ m still working at Bradfordon-Avon based AB Dynamics, where I look after customer support for the company ’ s track and laboratory based automotive testing products.

JAmES hOOD (a 02) Another two years in Catterick (this time as Regimental Second-in-Command of the Royal Lancers) was a welcomed bit of stability in 2020.

COVID has not reduced output of the Army particularly and following a twomonth deployment to Manchester supporting testing and vaccination, I was part of a six-week exercise to the US where it was great to work with a number of other OS: humphrey Fulford (b 12), Troop Leader in the Royal Lancers; Simon Wilsey (m 98), Commanding Officer 3 Army Air Corps and Giles Sugdon (f99) Commanding Officer Queens Own Gurkha Logistics Regiment.

ALEX hAmmIck (g 06) It’ s been a busy couple of years my end. My wife Charlotte and I packed up our London life in September 2019 to travel around the world. We made it all the way to NZ

before COVID cut our trip short. We just made it back to the UK before the world locked down and settled in Portsmouth (our love of the sea and all things sailing drawing us this way), where we both found jobs - my wife as a lawyer, and I joined Remote Medical International, an emergency medical services provider, as UK and European Operations Director.

In other news my wife also gave birth to our first child, a son called Felix, in May this year. Now eight weeks old, he ’ s started to smile properly which makes the long sleepless nights worthwhile!

mATThEW SkIPSEY (b 06) Our family business, Giganet (M12 Solutions), of which my brothers Luke (b 08) and Josh (b 16) are also part of, secured £250m of funding in April from Fern Trading (advised by Octopus Investments) to rollout full fibre broadband to over 300,000 homes across the South of England. Our financial advisor was charles cameron (b 80) of Cameron Barney. Giganet was formed in 2018 after we sold our stake in Wessex Internet, a joint venture we cofounded with the Ranston Estate. Wessex Internet’ s MD is hector Gibson Fleming (b 06).

TOm BADhAm-ThORNhILL (f 07) left Iraq at the very end of 2019, having worked there for six years. He was stranded on a beach in Kaikora, New Zealand with Richard Newsome (d 07) and Alex Latham (e 07) when international flights were grounded as the world closed its borders in April last year.

Tom is now working in Bangladesh with the International Organisation for Migration (a UN agency), as part of their 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. JAmES cOchRANE-DYET (b 08) I am currently working as an Associate for a US Private Equity firm based in Houston, Texas, and will continue studying for my MBA at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston from September. Due to COVID, my fiancée, India Boyer, and I have had to delay our wedding a couple of times, but come rain or storm, we will be married at St George ’ s Hanover Square in London on 11 September.

TIm mAcDONALD WATSON (a 08) recently got engaged to Miss Erika Pearce from Oxford.

Tim moved during the Pandemic from working at Stonehenge with English Heritage, to working as an Operations Manager for a COVID Testing Laboratory with University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust.

ANGuS RANcE (e 08) My big news is I’ m getting married to my beautiful fiancée, Melanie Gordon on 31 July in St Andrew ’ s, Castle Combe, Wiltshire. harry madley is the best man and James kipling is an usher (both a 08).

Mel and I met in 2013 at Leeds University, and after life in Bristol, London and Madrid together I proposed in Dorset in November 2019.

A partner at my law firm knows the current headman so I get periodic updates about the school and life in Sherborne. And last year I was excited to make my debut for the Pilgrims cricket team and my first game on the Upper!

chris Player (d 09) was named in The Drum ’ s Top 50 Emerging Marketers 2021

2010s

FERGuS cOWAN (m 14) See Jimmy Fisher (m 16).

JAmES VITALI (f 14) has been elected President of the Cambridge Union, only the second OS to hold the post, the first being Denzil k Freeth (b 42). James and James Pyman (e 18) played respectively for Cambridge and Oxford in the Varsity cricket match.

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.

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.

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 so lovely spending time with my family after a year apart whilst I was away in rehab. There were tears and smiles and anger throughout: I had a relapse over the lockdown and then got sober again and stayed sober, I took time to battle and face my eating disorder head on.

I would love to come to Sherborne and do a lecture and share my experience of what I have been through and my journey in recovery and the highs and lows I have faced on the way.

Through lockdown I helped provide 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.

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:

Punsa Roengpithya (a 97)1. 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 (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.

Smitthi Bhiraleus (a 99)2. attended UCL after leaving Sherborne. He returned to Bangkok and in 2002 becoming the Managing Director of Thailand’ s Number 1 Music Channel, Channel V Thailand MTV Thailand. In 2011 he moved to become the CEO of The Very Company, the country ’ s leading concert promotion and media company, which includes the promotion of many of the UK leading acts in Thailand including Snow Patrol and The Kooks. He is also an Executive Producer on both Very Radio and True Music TV.

kuala Lumpur:

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

3.

continues to help the Malaysian economy as the Minister of Finance and that Dato Amirul Feisal Wan zahir (c 89)4. has become the Managing Director of Kazanah Nasional Berhad in 2021 having served as CFO for Maybank for seven years.

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.

1. 2. 3. 4.

OSS Committee 2021/22

PRESIDENT

Andrew Wingfield digby

TRuSTEES

John hargrove, Richard Green, Michael French

EXEcuTIVE cOmmITTEE

chAIRmAN Stephen Rees-Williams hEADmASTER dominic luckett

hON. TREASuRER Robin Brown

SEcRETARY John harden

STAFF REPRESENTATIVE Matthew Jamieson

PILGRImS REPRESENTATIVE Stephen Rees-Williams OSGS REPRESENTATIVE Patrick Macintosh

OSSS REPRESENTATIVE Angus cater ShERBORNE IN ThE cOmmuNITY REPRESENTATIVE James McKillop chAIRmAN OF FINANcE & BuRSARY SuB-cOmmITTEE Angus cater cATEGORY A REPRESENTATIVE edward Bridges cATEGORY B REPRESENTATIVE James McKillop cATEGORY c REPRESENTATIVE George densham cATEGORY D REPRESENTATIVE theo Irvine

FINANcE AND BuRSARY SuB-cOmmITTEE

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

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 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

m m X X I

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 @oSSociety Facebook @oldshirburnianSociety Instagram oldshirburniansociety linkedIn /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