Old Shirburnian News

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OSS News

1940s

CHARLES DE VIC CAREY (b 47)

celebrated his 90th birthday in April in lockdown and not too depressed.

1950s

ARTHUR DAVIES (h 51) Lockdown prompted me to go through various files which have been gathering dust for many years. On reading them I realised that it was 70 years on 1 June this year (2020) that the King and Queen visited Sherborne and 400 years since the granting of the charter by Edward VI was celebrated.

I have many photographs of the occasion some of which I attach. Amongst them is a picture of the backside of Richard Attenborough in the nets with Frankie King looking on taken in 1948 when the Guinea Pig was filmed. The one showing the King and Queen includes me in the front row second from left in a dark suit clutching a box camera, also the group of four in the next picture is the trip to Ben Nevis showing Rydon, Leach, unknown and me on the right. ROGER MOWLL (a 54) It has been taxing for many but at my stage of life, there is a feeling of surreality about it all. Like watching a catastrophe unfolding without knowing how it will affect our future. I keep hearing about the “new normal”, just guessing what it may turn out to be, mostly just an excuse to shelve the whole subject pro tem. I cannot come to terms with the fact that I left Sherborne in 1954, seems like yesterday for some of the memories.

Judith and I have been in S Dorset this past (mid-September) week, staying at the yacht club and walking the coast and inland hills in perfect weather. Dorset has a special place in my memories.

PETER PARSONS (h 56) After winning the Glimmer Train short story contest which you have already reported, I won second place the following year, and was featured in that magazine’s planned final issue.

Last year I decided to get serious about my swimming, worked very hard at it, and entered five events in a June 2, 2019, US Masters Swim competition (at Mission Viejo, CA).

I entered in my age group (80-84) and earned five first places and two “top ten” nation-wide rankings. The two events for these rankings were the 1500m and the 100m long course. I am in maintenance mode this year and living what seems like eternal lockdown in Baguio, Philippines. CHRISTOPHER ROBBIE (h 56) I wrote this poem which reflects the effect of Lockdown on me – to return us to a more tranquil life where the things around us that passed unregarded suddenly came leaping out of the glorious silence. It was an experience worth remembering, I feel, because the reality has evaporated so very quickly, and we are back chasing our tails again. “What fools these mortals be.” Puck had it about right, I think!

The Noise of Silence I stood there in the stillness, My senses filling With the Noise of Silence. I heard- I heard The tweeting- the twitteringThe calling- the crying- The screeching- the howling Of the tits – and the robin, The blackbird and the hoarse rooks And in the distant distance The bark of a dog Providing percussion To the humming chorus Of grazing bees. The meandering brook thundered Over the shingle of its bed, The gentle breeze howled Amongst the new born leaves Adorning the ancient oak. And when I lay in the long grass And gazed up through the branches Of that mighty creature I heard it whisper, I am sure I did, “I’ll look after you, both of you.” And I felt so close To what I have always been close to, But never noticed in the noise Of life, Of ordinary life. And when the bustle of ordinary life returns I will remember The wonder of that exhilarating noise, That extraordinary noise Of Silence

DAVID TURTON (a 57) At a curious time, when social contact has been made especially difficult, it must be very difficult indeed for those living alone who may well have lost precious sources of face-to-face contact. My message to all OS in this situation would be to say, “It is never too late for miracles to happen”! My wife for thirty-three years sadly died three and a half years ago and, had I been alone, I don’t know how I would have coped with the lockdown, especially now that all face-to-face masonic activity has ceased. However, a miracle happened to me, right out of the blue, just three months after my late wife’s funeral and here is my story.

Cathy, my late wife, and I had built a holiday home in Kefalonia just prior to my retirement from management consultancy in 2009 at the age of 70. We have made many friends on the island and after Cathy died in January 2017, I went out there with a friend of hers to tidy up her things at our house. I also contacted several friends of hers on the island to tell them my sad news. One of them, Lucy, a Greek Canadian, has a shop in Lixouri where Cathy used to go for a chat and a coffee whilst I went to the bank. They became firm friends. So, it was with some trepidation that I went, together with my companion on the trip, to tell Lucy of Cathy’s death. Certainly, she was upset but after I Ieft to go to the bank as usual she asked my companion “How’s David getting along?” “He seems to be looking ahead and is positive about the future” came the reply. “Good” said Lucy “I have a very good friend who is on her own and I think those two should meet up. Can you help?”

So, she did, and I met her friend the next day and I flew back to the UK the day after, having exchanged contact details and promised to meet again in September. We never made September! After a string of WhatsApp messages following her initial contact to wish me Happy Birthday in July, we decided that I would take a short trip to Kefalonia so we could have a serious ‘face-to- face’. We have been together ever since. I personally think that this is some sort of miracle and so does she.

I should add that “she” is Elaine Vallianou, an American from New Jersey, who was married to a Greek from Kefalonia who sadly died of cancer ten years ago. She’s taken well to life in a Cotswold village and has already made two trips to Sherborne for a ‘Q’ lunch and a Commem. For my part I was able to add a visit to the States to the various festivities of my 80th year.

This missive is being penned in Kefalonia so Elaine gets to see her Greek family. And “Yes”, I do believe in miracles.

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MARK CANNON BROOKES (h 58) Every cloud has a silver lining. After two weeks struggling with the virus in March, I have played 75 rounds of golf after lockdown was lifted. Lost a lot of weight as a result so win win!

GERALD HODGSON (g 55) I have been married to Ann for 53 years and we have four children and six grandchildren. After the first half of my career as a Chartered Surveyor, I started a manufacturing business and ran it for 25 years before retiring to community activity and a large garden.

RICHARD RYDER (a 59) I remember well, being a School Prefect with Anthony Thomas (a 59) who has directed some of the most striking TV documentaries of all time and Stanley Johnson (g 58) who has produced a Prime Minister.

Since then, I have been a Psychologist in Oxford (MA and PhD from Cambridge), a philosopher in New Orleans and a writer. I have been national Chairman of the RSPCA and am now its President. I have created two new words - speciesism and painism. Above all, I have two fine children (Dr Emily, and Henry) and two grandsons (Louis and Arthur).

1960s

RICHARD BEATTIE (a 60) A message from Vancouver, BC, Canada. We normally have brilliant sunshine and a little rain in the three months July, August, and September. This year is different though we have not had much rain. BUT we have had two weeks of unremitting smoke. This is from California, Oregon, and Washington states. The smoke has reduced visibility to less than half a mile over Victoria through Vancouver to the Okanagan Valley (300 miles to the east). We are not suffering wildfires in BC so far as we had a damp spring. My wife and I are keeping to our normal small group of friends and so far, none of us has caught the plague.

MIKE JERROM (b 60) I am lucky to have a job to do as well as a fixation on my perception that the UK must at all costs get totally free from any legal supremacy of the EU.

I believe that keeping busy and interested is the most powerful antidote to the boredom and depression which lockdown has inflicted on many of my generation and others. There are many alien and pejorative influences which threaten to destroy our special and historic culture and relationships, which I want to defend with great urgency. Sorry for the diatribe, but our country is at a mortal crisis point.

MICHAEL JOSEPH (a 63) We have adapted well to the restrictions in normal life and have been amazed how life has actually been quite normal but at a distance. The Dorset School Appeals panel, of which I am a member, has conducted its business using Microsoft Teams, the Charity in Southampton has been meeting by Zoom, the Friends of Salisbury Cathedral and as a Trustee have also zoomed into action, and I have been playing more bridge than ever using Bridge Base Online. I have sadly not been able to steward at Salisbury Cathedral because I feel that my wife is vulnerable. As you can see, I have kept myself busy!

ALAN BRAITHWAITE (c 64) For your interest we completed an epic journey in India just before lockdown and the documentary is just released: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/theindia nqueen?fbclid=IwAR2qP-pJ4BKqgOpQmIo6TqmEcXX3wO0TarkZ7_Bjwb3KS SNZnm-TFDR-e4

NICK CONNOR (g 65) I have survived so far without any problems thank goodness! Touch wood. Supported by a great bunch of neighbours! So, nothing out of the ordinary to report!

WILL HANDLEY (a 67) Reflecting on the COVID-19, I am forced to think that this year, I have just been a passenger or more likely a cork bobbing along on the waters of history. So, I started thinking back over the past year or so and came to the conclusion that I could not come up with anything much of interest or that I have done that could even be considered as being worthy of inclusion in the OS Record. I guess our trip in August 2019, to Prescott in Arizona to attend the MG Car Club’s gathering might just scrape in. We drove our sixtyseven-year-old MG TD nearly 600 miles each way mostly across the Mojave Desert in the summer heat. The car averaged just over 25 miles per gallon, but we achieved nearly 100 miles per pint of beer.

Since then,COVID-19, the Wuhan Wonder Bug, has shut things down for the past seven months, so my activities have been restricted to things at home. This has meant the old cars, two MGs and a Lancia, have all had major services and most of the pernicious local mistletoe has been cut out of our oak trees. I have not done so much tree climbing since I was about ten years old! What hasn’t changed was the “telling off” that I got from my wife, which was strangely evocative of the one from my mother some sixty years ago.

This led me to reflect on things I have experienced that no longer exist. I remember going on one of the last trams in London in 1952. A few years ago, I went on the Last “Duck” Tour through London and into the Thames before they were forced out of business and more recently, I went to Garman’s Irish Pub, which was shut down the next day due to the Coronavirus restrictions and now will, apparently, not re-open. I wonder whether I should start being paranoid about the world being closed up behind me and will, one day, I hear an ethereal voice telling me to “turn the lights off as you leave.” I miss the Pub. after a gap of 60 years and keeping a visual diary as a daily record of lockdown experiences... extending to four volumes...here are two of my sketches.

KEVIN DESMOND (g 68) Since 2016 I have been researching for a book, my 34th, to present immediate and longlasting solutions to help us clean up, repair, and protect our threatened Planet. Recently, I came to an agreement with the publisher that not only was the manuscript too unwieldy (530 pages and 350+ solutions) but with the 9-month gestation period for a book to appear in print, many of the solutions would be out-of-date. We therefore agreed to cancel my contract. Instead, thanks to an IT journalist friend in Toronto, Canada, we have transformed the book into a website. www.366solutions.com. Jeff Butler, my “co-resolutionary” and I hereby invite you to make your first of many visits to 366solutions.com hoping that you will, like us, discover a display of solutions for a Planet soiled by human hands.

MARK RANDOLPH (b 69) We have been extremely fortunate in Western Australia that, following an initial wave of COVID-19 infections arising mostly from passengers on cruise ships, we have been free of the virus within the

community for several weeks now, courtesy of having a strict closure of the state border. So, although we cannot travel overseas or interstate, we are free to roam at will throughout our vast and varied state. The 500 or so Australians returning to Perth each week from overseas are placed in strict hotel quarantine for two weeks, now largely at their own expense.

On a personal note, I have just been named as the 2020 inductee into WA’s Science Hall of Fame. This was initiated in 2007 with our two local Nobel Laureates, Professor Barry Marshall and Dr Robin Warren, of peptic ulcer fame (and no, I am nowhere near that league, just lucky that WA has a relatively limited talent pool!). Other than work, I still play tennis a couple of times a week and withstand regular yoga and Pilates classes in an effort to prolong the losing battle of age.

JIM SINGLETON (c 69) My youngest son, Roderick (Singleton) Mackay (his professional name), aged 33 has just had his first full-length feature film, The Furnace, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, the only Australian film to be selected - and achieved good reviews across the board. The film was part of the Official Selection for the Horizons Section of the Festival. Didn’t win a prize but was nominated for best film category. The Furnace should be released internationally in some form in 2021 - (COVID-19depending!).

Connection to OS is that Roderick, via me, is related to Andrew Burt, Richard Burt, Christopher Burt, Charles Goodall (all c, 71, 64, 70 and 68 respectively), and via his mother (a Mackay) to Iain MackayDick (h 63).

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1970s

BRUCE MURRAY (h 70) Milla and I are very lucky to have a large garden – and live within 300 yards of the sea. As such, COVID-19has not really caused us any problems – except cancelled holidays! Our hearts go out to all those, who do not have gardens or outdoor walks on their doorsteps. People should not criticise those who flock to the beach. If we lived in a tiny flat, particularly with children – we would be joining them!!

Hopefully, life will slowly return to a “new” normal – I don’t think everything will ever be the same again – and I think it will only be in 2022, when the light will finally shine bright at the end of the tunnel!

SHAUN NOBLE (c 70) Working for Unite, the country’s largest trade union, the last seven months have been immensely busy in the press office as we cover 20 industrial sectors - from BA to the NHS.

Our membership has soared as working people realise that trade unions are the last line of defence against bad and exploitative bosses.

JEFFREY CAREY (b 71) has never had such a busy six months in the 20 years since Castles Carey has been building treehouses and adventure areas around the country.

PIERS CROCKER (a 71) Umm, what does one say? We are cocooned from the worst here in Norway, almost business as usual, and a reasonably healthy economy. Lots of space to walk in, but still social distancing, still some Teams/Zoom meetings (including a digital OS Reunion, first time ever. Really enjoyed it - mind you, always fun to have a new audience for one’s favourite OS memories!) So not all beer, aquavit and skittles otherwise. Drive-in this that and the other, church, cinema, concerts... Some neologisms coined, the word for “office” being “kontor”, working from home became “koronatoring”. More seriously in the museum’s and tourism branches (where I operate) there was a meltdown in the income from entry tickets - but ever looking on the bright side, we who already live here could enjoy the scenery and wide-open roads largely uncluttered by foreign mobile homes unused to steep hills and hairpin bends - see picture, we drove it! (I am a foreigner myself, of course...), and enjoy other museums. Did you know that a brown bear can eat 150 kg of blueberries in a day, and that one municipality in Norway had blueberry export to industrial England as its major earner? Stuff that in your pub quiz questions list!

CHANNING LOWE (h 71) I have retired to Western Massachusetts, USA, ending a 44-year career in journalism as an editorial cartoonist and opinion writer. I was able to meet with Charles Platt (h 70) a couple of times because I happen to live in the same town where he was a trustee for a local girls’ school before moving to Scotland.

I am spending my days in COVID-19 isolation still trying to learn German, a 50-year-long undertaking begun under the able tutelage of the late Simon F. (“How would you say that in Kraut, Mr. Lowe?”) Wilkinson — a master in possession of unerring aim with a blackboard eraser. My hope is to return to Sherborne for the now-postponed gathering of Westcott old boys, whenever it occurs, and Americans are once again welcome abroad.

NICK MATTHEWS (b 72) Marooned on Maraú: lockdown Brazilian-style Sixteen years ago, I founded Laterallife, a small high-end travel company specialising in sabbaticals and

experiential travel. My wife Helen and I spend a lot of time travelling the world to find exciting new places for our clients to visit. This March we embarked on a three-week trip to the coast of Bahia, Brazil to check out some new areas and hotels.

We arrived on the remote Maraú peninsula on 13 March and all appeared perfectly normal. The next stop was a smart new hotel at lively Itacare. After three days the hotel closed due to something called ‘coronavirus.’ The word was that all our intended destinations southwards were locking down. What to do? Go home and stay shut away in our London flat? Luckily, I knew Chloe Gibbs, the British owner of Butterfly House, a relaxed beach pousada on the Maraú peninsula, who said “Come on up!” unlike most hotel owners who were saying “Stay away!”

Butterfly House is set on a magnificent golden-sand, palm-fringed beach with the sea being around 35 degrees most days. We settled into our lockdown life with great gusto and enjoyed plenty of hearty Brazilian fare washed down with lashings of caipirinhas, so when we heard from the airline that they were no longer flying after the end of March and invited us to go home earlier than our scheduled date of 5 April it was a no brainer – we were staying! We were happy to stay on through May and miss all the misery back home, but at the very end of that month the big day came, and it was time to leave Maraú.

Leaving Butterfly House was quite an adventure in itself. A late-night taxi to the river, speedboat to the small port of Camamu, then a two-hour drive to a cocoa farm passing many roadblocks on the way. The following day we drove eight hours to Salvador airport, on to Sao Paulo, Amsterdam and finally, on 3 June, we landed at a gloomy Heathrow. Happy memories of our amazing lockdown experience and eventual escape will stay with us forever. ROBERT FOVARGUE (h 73) I retired as a fruit agronomist (primarily advising cider apple growers in Dorset, Somerset and Devon) at the turn of the year.

However, we have carried on growing cherries in a small way. At the start of lockdown, we were contemplating the possibility of having to abandon this year’s crop. Fortunately, having pondered over the possible options, we decided to go for the positive approach! And it was wonderful. Folk appeared out of the woodwork with some escaping from their hides for the first time in months. And we even found ourselves appearing on local news. How fortunate we are to live in the countryside!

TONY GREIG (d 73) was appointed to the bench in February 2020 and now sits as a Judge in New Zealand.

JOHN RIGBY-JONES (h 73) My second book, Tintawn and Binder Twine: The Story of Eric Rigby-Jones and Irish Ropes, about how my English grandfather started a new company and survived the Second World War in neutral Ireland, was published by Fonthill Media in May. Unfortunately, the launch in Ireland had to be cancelled due to COVID-19. However, I managed to get a positive review from the Irish Times, which described it as ‘well-illustrated, readable, and informative’ and said that it gave ‘valuable insights into Irish and AngloIrish economic, social and political history from the 1930s to the 1970s.’ I’m now trying to find another project to work on.

GREGORY TODD (f 73) since leaving Sherborne I have been a philatelist employed by Stanley Gibbons, leaving as a Director in 1991 to form my own business, Carmichael & Todd. I have since been elected to the AIEP (Association des Experts Internationale en Philatelie), one of just three British members elected to this Society and am also a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society, London.

GILES ALLEN (f 74) The one beauty of this virus problem has been us moving to the south west of France, four years ago. 35 acres of land and a farmhouse have meant four months of isolation which is for us completely normal. Few visitors except children near or already in 30’s. We continue to integrate with our French neighbours who are generally delightful. French improving beyond school standard, but not to the local patois dialect, a child is not an enfant, but an enfang, five is not cinq, but sink. You learn.

SIMON KEEBLE (d 75) has retired from Harper Adams University as a lecturer after 27 years’ service, 21 years as Course Manager for the RICS accredited Rural Honours degree Course in Rural Enterprise and Land Management REALM and Bsc Rural Property Management RPM. I taught Jenny Macfarlane daughter of Anne Macfarlane OS Alumni Officer, on REALM. On my journeys I met up with James Higham (m 94) and David Fursdon (m 71) at Graduation. James Archer (f 13) was a REALM student.

Nigel Hall (h 72) Harper Soils Senior Lecturer retired earlier. We have been on cross country skiing expeditions to Norway especially to FInse 1222 where Scot Shackleton and Amundsen trained on the Hardangerjokulen. Also skiing France, Norway and in the Snowdome Tamworth before Lockdown 2!! Friends with Rory Bruce (h 78) ex Royal Marines. We meet up with other families regularly at New Year and in the summer. I also bumped into Robert Kerr (h 75) at Harper when his son graduated a few years ago.

I am a cousin of Brigadier Charles Rogers (d 67), who recently died of a heart attack and their sons’ (Richard (d 95), Hugo (d 96) and Edward (d 07)) second cousin. Also, a cousin, second cousin once removed of Angus Tett (a 19) who unfortunately died in Zambia last year from a motorbike accident Friends with James Moubray’s (d 06) father, Charles Moubray OE. I will continue to windsurf sail and occasionally surf and play tennis when I can.

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MYLES RIPLEY (b 75) Worked as a NWAS (North West Ambulance Service) volunteer not only to build extra screens at several NW hospitals but working five days a week distributing meals at our local Hospital from mid-April to mid-June on behalf of a national charity “Salute the NHS” – about 500 meals a day.More locally, I was one of three coordinators who ran our Sedbergh Covid Support group organizing a team of volunteers who helped fetch prescriptions, do shopping, deliver newspapers and set up local community food boxes for those who were finding life financially tough. Also managed to walk every footpath on the ordnance survey map centred on my house – took many walks!

CHARLES DIEHL (c 76) Lockdown and the Anglo-French education clash: I was lucky to be in our Normandy cottage during lockdown with my French wife, Emma, and my youngest children, Jack (9) and Tessa (8). Emma and I were both working, but we also had to learn to be teachers to our kids, who are in the French school system. Our approach to education was not the same: Emma marks in the French way – the child hands in his work and starts with 20 marks – a mark is subtracted for each mistake, even the same mistake, and every demonstration of stupidity is another mark off. Anything less than 20 out of 20 is disappointing, sloppy and silly.

I mark in the Anglo-Saxon way – the child hands in his work and starts with 0 marks – a mark is added for all correct responses and any demonstration of intelligence is rewarded with an extra mark. Anything more than 0 out of 20 is between encouraging and brilliant. Jack and Tessa now want to go to Sherborne! HUGH POPE (a 78) The pandemic lockdown resulted in an unexpected 60 per cent spike in publications at my peace-building NGO, International Crisis Group. Everyone, it seemed, suddenly found the time to write the reports that we’d been waiting to publish (I’m the director of global communications at our Brussels HQ). Within a month or two things got quieter since our work depends on field research. This gave me a chance to return to a long-put-off project: an updated, UK edition of my book Dining with al-Qaeda: Making Sense of the Middle East, my personal narrative of out-of-the-way places, war stories and how the region works. I burned the midnight oil choosing 50 more photos from old files, made the design easier to read and updated the text. A real labour of love. The picture shows when the first box of 20 copies arrived!

HUGO BARKER (m 79) Running a Lloyd’s Broker in Latvia, we have had a slightly different experience to our London Lloyd’s Broker cousins. I was travelling in Greece when COVID-19 came quickly to us on 14 March when the Latvian Government put out a clarion call to all Latvian residents across the EU saying the border would be closed from 16 March, and no one would be allowed in afterwards for a month. So, we bundled back post haste to home, and bunkered down. Once back we had access to freely available testing from day one, and after 12 tests one gets eventually used to the nose thing. Offices and pretty much everything stayed open, and the only real casualties were the hospitality trade and national airline as no one was coming in.

From a business perspective we were at an immediate advantage, and although we soon found the delights of ZOOM, we were also back to business travel across EU through June and July and were able to stay on top of things pretty much. It is a good time for reinsurance at the moment anyway, as prices have risen sharply since the US Hurricanes of 2017 and 2018. We then found ourselves popular with Interns who could not get office posts in London, and three aspiring Lloyds brokers came across to Latvia and have enjoyed their time in what is now a non-face-mask environment.

Even though Latvia only has 1-2 Positive results a day these days, we can see numbers are jumping up again elsewhere, and Latvia has tightened up and enforced quarantine on anyone including residents who arrive from countries with higher positive numbers. It means that now the only places we can go with no quarantine on return are Finland, Cyprus, Lithuania and the Vatican, and the Vatican in particular seems to offer limited opportunities for a reinsurance broker.

Anyway, positivity still rules, and it shows that sometimes it is an advantage to be a small country.

PETER MARTIN (a 79) I have news. At the ripe old age of 58 I am getting married on the 11 November to Catherine Carrelet.

1980s

GUY DEACON (a 80) was made CBE in recognition of the work he did in his last appointment at the RAC Headquarters Bovington. Of particular note he was responsible for a number of initiatives which brought together the disparate regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps with a single focus and a common aim to provide the army with the best armoured and reconnaissance forces available. Where many before him had tried to do the same thing, through a number of small steps and subtle handling, good timing and a fair degree of luck, he achieved more for the Royal Armoured Corps in a four-year period than perhaps have been achieved in its 80-year history. And all of this he achieved against a background of having Parkinson’s disease.

EDWARD PAGE-TURNER (g 80) I am a Senior Vice President of Marsh JLT Specialty - Marine and Cargo. I previously worked for JLT Specialty which was bought by Marsh and McLennan last April 2019. I have now completed a full circle having previously worked for Marsh for 22 years but left in 2005 to pursue other opportunities in the broking sector.

Married to Sophie, we have three daughters - Tatiana - is now just about to start her second year of University at Oxford Brookes, Georgie has just finished at Stowe and planning to go to Newcastle in September and Malia is just about to embark on her GCSE’s at the Leys, Cambridge with plans to go to Uppingham for the last two years of her schooling.

PETER BOWEN (f 81) In August 2018 I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. After chemotherapy/radiotherapy/surgery, I am now cancer-free. The point of this is to encourage you all to get tested for this common disease. You never know. I certainly didn’t. Meanwhile our business Bowen Mueller Translations Ltd. continues to thrive, thanks, in retrospect to the great language teachers at Sherborne, particularly Simon Wilkinson and Ursula Dedek. I hope to see some of you if we get a reunion in 2021.

ROB KITSON (g 82) has just published his new book, Exe Men: The Extraordinary Rise of Exeter Chiefs (Published by Polaris). The book is out on 26 November and will appeal to anyone who enjoys a sporting fairy tale with a strong West Country flavour!

I am also entering my 22nd season as The Guardian’s rugby union correspondent and recently completed my term of office as chairman of the Rugby Union Writers’ Club.

AIDAN HARTLEY (e 83) My family and I were stranded in London during lockdown and couldn’t get home to our Kenyan ranch for five months. I used the time to start a COVID-19 testing company, PyserTesting.com which opened its doors at the Honourable Artillery Company in the City, moved to Soho’s Boulevard Theatre (which used to be a strip club) then we started testing football clubs, VIPs and corporate clients. It has been doing a roaring trade and please do use us. I have also got involved in a company which will soon begin manufacturing FFP3 masks. These efforts were to help me pass the time in London usefully, because otherwise we spent our days walking and cycling the capital’s empty streets. One day we

found ourselves in an entirely empty Trafalgar Square. I wrote about the bizarre experiences of lockdown in my Spectator column, Wild Life, and we were delighted to get home to Kenya in August. I must confess that from the outset I never believed in lockdown or the British government’s policies which have failed the country so badly. I was always a lockdown sceptic in favour of Sweden’s strategy - and my ventures in the COVID-19 space have been mainly to help people resume their normal lives rather than cowering indoors, as the economy collapses around us and China’s power grows at our expense. As Charles Mackay wrote in his book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds:

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one. “

IAN HEY (g 83) In the Milford on Sea January Panto, I played Long John Silver. I thought I was great but got a pretty disappointing review in TheLymington Times, so I sulked for a while. Six weeks off work during the first Lockdown, so I decided to write a novel: a rom-com thriller, called No Lift And No Stairs. I’ve just finished the third draft and it’s still terrible, but one never knows. During the week, I take our wire-haired dachshund, Lola, early morning for a walk down to the sea - in all weathers. A very nice start to a day, I promise.

ADAM PRESTON (d 84) My lockdown was spent with my wife and children in our garden and in the fields and woods surrounding our cottage in Kent. It was a chance to instil my passion for nature into Tabitha (8) and Audrey (6) although they actually need no encouragement from me and are nature mad. We got to borrow a neighbour’s pony and go for memorable walks and enjoyed welcoming visitors such as hedgehogs who had never before been seen in our garden. My lockdown project was to write my second novel and I have very nearly finished it. It tells the disgraceful tale of a boy who perpetrates an outrageous deceit at a private school - based loosely on a school I remember very vividly! I also launched a website called trafalgar.tv where you can read about my proposed television series about the life of Lord Nelson and his love affair with Emma Hamilton.

CHARLIE JACOBY (f 85) Lockdown was the time when YouTube pushed its creators to exhaustion. Charlie Jacoby’s Fieldsports Channel YouTube.com/ fieldsportschannel saw views triple, programming double to two half-hour shows a week, and staff go up a quarter to eight people. It’s also been a wonderful time, despite the backdrop of the tragedy of the epidemic. YouTube viewer number now stands at 7.2m individual people. Most popular film over the summer is The Bird Table of Doom. With hunting seasons open across the northern hemisphere during the autumn and winter, the work shows no sign of abating. Picture shows Charlie (right) on a driven boar hunt in Germany.

SIMON ROBSON (g 89) Congratulations to Simon who has been named President, International, Recorded Music at Warner Music Group. Simon has been with Warner for over two decades. Since 2015 he has been President of Warner Music Asia, based in Hong Kong. He takes up his new post in January 2021.

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1990s

BEN CAESAR (m 90) When the COVID19pandemic struck, I was deployed on operations with the Army in a desert in the middle east. My wife, Regina, was in the USA visiting her family as planned to get some much-needed support during my three months away as she neared her third trimester. Intermittent Skype calls across multiple time zones were made. The vagaries of the information being provided by different governments and the World Health Organisation made planning almost impossible.

Ultimately, a decision was made to leave the USA and head home via Canada, as her booked flight had been cancelled. Flying across the US/Canadian border as the two governments decided to close it, she made it home. I followed suit a month or so later, after multiple episodes of “on the bus, off the bus” as is the way with the Army. I arrived home with time to spare and we welcomed Luke into our family in Brighton on 9 June 2020.

CAMERON BROWN (c 92) has been appointed as a Queen’s Counsel by the Lord Chancellor, working in financial crime and regulatory case and was sworn in on 16 March 2020.

TOBY CLAY (c 92) is still in the Royal Navy, and now works in the Capability Strategy area of the Ministry of Defence, often crossing paths with the variety of OS now serving there. Home remains in Liss, Hampshire, where he lives with Lucy, their four children and an ever-growing menagerie of rabbits and chickens. Spare time is usually spent tending the garden, riding a bike, or re-discovering his Sherborne-inspired love of sailing at Thorney Island, most of which seem to have benefitted rather well from the lockdown!

TIM DEAN (g 92) After three years as the Senior Dental Officer in Gibraltar, where during the pandemic he was responsible for the safe delivery of all Primary Health care to the British Forces, Tim has returned to the UK. He is now the Senior Dental Surgeon in Devonport,

the Royal Navy’s largest Dental Clinic. Working with him is Chris Redman (g 82) who after 33 years in the Royal Navy has semi-retired having reached the rank of Surgeon Captain (D).

ALISTAIR HARRIS (h 92) A small update on a project I have run during C-19 –establishing a PPE production facility in the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon (above photo is me visiting).

Using an initial grant from the UK Embassy in Lebanon our Palestinian partners imported the machinery to make World Health Organisation compliant 3 ply face masks from Germany, are turning out 50,000 masks a day, working around the clock to contribute to addressing the public health emergency in Lebanon.

The delivery approach ensures that masks are given away free to vulnerable Syrian, Iraqi and Palestinian refugees living in the camps, as well as near-camp Lebanese communities unable to afford this basic item of personal protection equipment (PPE). The remainder are sold at highly competitive prices on to the market, generating revenue that can then be reinvested in new materials, as well as contribute to the operational costs of the local Palestinian Civil Defence teams we support, whose rescue activities with their Lebanese colleagues following the 4 August explosion in Beirut garnered international media attention.

This provides an excellent example of innovative and sustainable approaches to combatting COVID-19and what, with opportunity and agency, refugees are able to contribute to our collective wellbeing. NICHOLAS HAMILTON (c 93) I was supposed to be launching a new business this spring making high-end leather and canvas kit for outdoor drinks and picnics – think ice buckets, cool bags, wine chillers etc – very summeroriented products. It has been about two years in the development. Next thing, COVID-19 hits. My manufacturer in Frome normally specialises in making leather goods, luggage, bags and so on. They also have a side-line in heavy duty vinyl stuff like boat covers, bouncy castles, that sort of thing. As soon as the lockdown is announced, they have to drop all their existing work – like my very first bulk order from them that was due for delivery at the beginning of April in time for launch – in order to fulfil government orders of 4,000 body bags per week for the foreseeable future. One can hardly bemoan them, and I duly waited at the back of the queue. The result is that I have missed an amazing sales period of people surfing the internet to buy stuff to enjoy in the sunshine at home or on staycation.

Anyway, they are back onto it, so a little over seven months late – and just in time for winter – Harvey and Hamilton (www.harveyandhamilton.co.uk) is launched in November making the finest British kit for sundowners and outdoor life.

TRITIP ARUNANONDCHAI (a 95) Since 2008, I have been managing director of a fuel ethanol plant based in Thailand. We produce fuel ethanol from locally sourced agricultural products. In early 2020, COVID-19had taken Thailand by storm. Once the Excise Department gave us the license (although a temporary one) to produce hand sanitizing alcohol, we went on a mission to supply as much sanitizing alcohol as possible to those in need. During the height of the pandemic and the panic in Thailand between March and May 2020 we donated almost 200,000 litres of hand sanitizer free of charge, over 90% of our sanitizer production figures. Our sanitizer reached all regions of Thailand and the hundreds of recipients include the Defence Ministry, Public Health Ministry, Thai Red Cross, schools, hospitals, and government offices. We made sure communities and the vulnerable within our province are well supported, committing to supply sanitising alcohol to them throughout the pandemic. The panic of the shortage of sanitizing alcohol has now passed, but we continue to provide to those in need.

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JAMES HUGHES (m 95) I live and work in a ski resort of Bansko in Bulgaria. I run a hotel and work as a consular agent for the FCO. March was an interesting time, below is an overview of my first five days of COVID-19. Covid hit on many levels.

As a hotelier/restaurateur my business was instantly closed in the middle of our peak season. Hospitality has some pretty fine margins, especially in the ski industry. We only have a 100-day season, economically this was a blow.

As a consular agent one side of my role is limited to helping Brits fill out forms and sharing press releases from the embassy. The other side of the role I refer to as a cleaner, if there is a mess, I clean it up. COVID-19 caused a bit of a mess. Overnight the whole resort was locked down in quarantine and all hotels and restaurants were closed. With no one allowed in or out of the town I took responsibility for around 700 British nationals.

Over the next 5 days I liaised with the Bulgarian government institutions to house, feed and evacuate 740 Brits and a large group of other nationalities. Special attention had to be given to hospitalised patients as well as a family falsely diagnosed with COVID-19 and locked in their apartment.

As the only bilingual and willing candidate I was seconded to the Police, Regional Health Directorate, Municipality Crisis Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I had support from the FCO and another local volunteer, but otherwise it was a very lonely busy few days.

There were many challenges and sleepless nights, many of the Brits were emotional and not a little scared. The Bulgarian government institutions did an amazing job in such a unique situation. I am proud to say we got everybody home safe and well.

2000s

CHRISTOPHER CHOW (m 01) Last summer I edited a film called The Complex which is about a couple of scientists trapped in an underground lab due to a deadly infection. Not in a million years would I imagine seven months later, the release of the film would coincide with an actual global pandemic and a national lockdown. Life truly can imitate art!

The Complex was directed by Paul Raschid and written by Lynn Renee Maxcy who was part of the Emmy winning team for Handmaid’s Tale. It is the world’s first live-action sci-fi interactive film with nine possible endings. If you’ve watched Black Mirror: Bandersnatch then you know what an interactive film is, if not, think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure book but in film form.

The Complex was released at the end of March, two weeks after the UK’s national lockdown began. In the first week of release, it received outstanding reviews and had achieved the best-selling first week launch of any interactive film across all gaming platforms worldwide. More recently in October, an animation short film I edited during lockdown was released on BBC Ideas - The Promise is based on the New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year of the same name, a stunning picture book for children showcasing the power of nature. As of writing this, The Promise has so far been viewed 170,000 times and shown in over 1500+ schools in England and Scotland. Also, last September, I joined the board of governors of the newly rebranded British Film Editors, an honorary society founded in 1966, committed to promoting the craft of film editing.

FREDDIE CORLETT (c 01) We had our number two child, Edward Corlett, on 17 January this year and I officially became a modern man by taking a wonderful three months shared parental leave from midApril to mid-July with the family, a time I will never regret!

However, the world was a very different place when I returned! As an office leasing agent, I have a vested interest in people working in an office, but I returned to the empty streets of London and a very quiet office! Whilst we expect many to continue working from home (WFH) in the short term, it is clear most of our clients are keen to get their staff back to the office as soon as it is safe to do so as that is where productivity, collaboration and creativity are at their best!

Let’s hope sooner rather than later – I can’t wait to drop the Zoom meetings and start seeing people again!

JAMES KIERSTEAD (f 01) is now Senior Lecturer in Classics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, where he has taught since 2013. He is also the coordinator of Heterodox Classics, an organization devoted to free speech and viewpoint diversity in Classics and related fields. Classicists at schools or universities (from the postgraduate level up) are encouraged to get in touch with him if they have concerns on these fronts.

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Appointments and Awards

JAMES BOARD (e01) has been included in the Private Debt Investor's 2020 list of Rising Stars.

CAMERON BROWN (c92) has been appointed as a Queen's Counsel by the Lord Chancellor, working in financial crime and regulatory cases and was sworn in on 16 March 2020.

TONY GREIG (d73) was appointed to the bench in February 2020 and now sits as a Judge in New Zealand.

SIMON HORNE (a90) was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

JEREMY MACIVER (b08) has been listed as a Rising Star in the renewable energy sector by the Legal 500.

MARK RANDOLPH (b69) has been named as the 2020 inductee into Western Australia's Science Hall of Fame.

CHRIS WARD (b84) was awarded a BEM in the New Years Honours List for his services to the Community in West Berkshire in his former role as Neighbourhood Police Inspector.

JAMES MCKILLOP (m 01) The last 12 months have been some of the most surreal in my life! We were very lucky to celebrate our marriage in September and honeymooned in Sri Lanka over Christmas. We were delighted to discover that Kim was pregnant and expecting in July. We went into lockdown with plenty to think about and were just a little surprised when our daughter Mollie joined us unexpectedly 10 weeks early on 8 May! The NICU team at Chelsea & Westminster were incredible and I cannot praise the NHS enough as we spent 10 weeks in their care with Mollie, who is now home and doing brilliantly. To spice things up even more, I have accepted a new job offer to run the residential team for Savills in Salisbury starting in November, so with another lockdown looming, we are looking to sell in London and move to Hampshire! No pressure but one extraordinary year...

TOM EXCELL (e 05) and Laura and JAMIE EXCELL(e 08) and Jessie both grew their families during lockdown with the births of their first children Paddy (2 June) and Molly (19 July) respectively. Seen above enjoying a short break from work in Cornwall where Tom and Laura are remote renovating a cottage as a holiday let soon to be launched with Portscatho Holidays!

TOM FINEMAN (b 05) Witnessing a global pandemic whilst based in the second smallest SE Asian country has been a unique experience. With the borders closed since March and recently only limited entry permitted (provided compliance with mandated government isolation), internally Brunei has remained relatively COVID-19restriction free. After three years based in Brunei with the British Army flying the Bell212 helicopter I return to the UK shortly to start a new posting in 2021, just in time to see my nephew as he embarks on his first term at Sherborne.

CHARLES GORDON-CREED (a 05) Since my last update, Bex and I finally tied the knot - in October last year. A fantastic wedding was followed by a glorious three-week honeymoon in Italy where we ate and drank like monarchs, including a very special meal at the 3starred Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence. Coming back to England in November was a bit depressing! At least, it was at the time, although my standards for what counts as ‘depressing’ have changed somewhat over the last several months!

My firm has had us all working from home since lockdown. Apparently, we’re very good at it as there are no plans to get us all back into the office until sometime in 2021! From my perspective, I have actually enjoyed it, and continue to do so, as it has meant that I spend a lot more time with Bex and the boys, whose company I do still enjoy (although home schooling did nearly break us!). Work was quiet for a while during the lockdown but has got much busier over the last month or so, especially since I recently started a secondment with a client in the aerospace industry, tackling some of the many challenges that that industry faces. All this is overshadowed though by the successful arrival of our third (and last!) son, Henry, in August, who has taken well to having a couple of boisterous older brothers (and exhausted parents)! We are still adjusting to life as a family of five, but, again, being at home most of the time is helping.

GASH MBIZVO (g 06) I will gladly share my lockdown confessions. Lockdown gave my fiancée Val and me the push we always needed to get a puppy. For years we said no because we knew we wouldn’t be home enough during the first year, so when the government announced the plans, we raced to get one before they commenced. Enter Abba, our now eightmonth-old little cockapoo - named after Aberystwyth (where Val and I met) but spelt Abba as she is our little dancing queen. She is an absolute star, and she has guided us through the pandemic with a smile.

We did both work through the lockdown but as a neurology doctor I have been able to do many of my routine appointments via video-link from home, and as a social worker Val has been able to do the same for her caseload. So, all in all, we are getting through it. The toughest thing has been not knowing when I will get to see my parents in Zimbabwe again. Best that they stay safely away from us for now, so in the end we postponed our wedding, which was due to be in Zimbabwe in April 2021 (we had a venue booked with zebras and all sorts arranged). We look forward to rescheduling things. Meanwhile, we focus our attention on buying a house before this stamp duty holiday ends!

ADAM AROSKIN (d 07) I have been an Officer within The Royal Welsh since 2011 and have been fortunate to serve this last decade in several interesting, exciting posts, deploying overseas on a myriad of exercises and operations. It has been such a pleasure bumping into many OS along the way, including on a recent operational tour to Somalia (see awful, staged picture!), where my Commanding Officer was the parent of a Harper Boy. Last year I had the privilege of being Capt Edward Rogers RAMC (d 07) Best Man in the Isle of Wight, he will be kindly reciprocating the role next year. I am now posted to the Staff College at Shrivenham, studying for an MSc in Battlespace Technology and desperately trying to recall all the Sciences taught in the School labs many years ago! Engagement: to Miss Sophie Christopher, July 20.

Promotion: to Major (R WELSH), Dec 19, substantive July 20.

GEORGE BEATTIE (a 07) Really two bits of news from me. Most excitingly, I became a father in lockdown! I was only able to be at the hospital for 30 minutes after the birth, before having to leave for two days, but looking back on it the time flew by. In other news, I started a new job remotely as Head of Incubation Underwriting at Beazley in London. It’s been a challenge starting a brand-new team without the chance to actually meet anyone, but I’m now a professional vidnetworker!

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HENRY HOWARD (m 07) Will be married to Catriona Shaw on 23rd September 2020, before taking up a new posting with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) at the British Embassy Muscat, as of October 2020.

PADDY SELFE (c 07) my Regiment (King’s Royal Hussars) was on guard in front of Buckingham Palace May-July which is the first time a Cavalry Regiment has even been given this task.

JAMES COCHRANE-DYET (b 08) I left the British Army after serving for six years as an officer in the Blues and Royals at the end of last summer. I have spent the last year working as a consultant in the City, where my most interesting project was working as a Chief of Staff for the NHS London COVID-19 Crisis Team where my responsibilities included contributing to the construction of the NHS Nightingale Hospital in East London. More recently, I was delighted to receive a scholarship to study for an MBA at London Business School graduating in 2022, and I am exploring future careers in the Venture Capital and Technology sectors.

More importantly, I recently became engaged to India Boyer, and after delaying our wedding date due to the pandemic, we are now due to be married near Udaipur in India in October 2021.

ADAM FERRIS (d 08) I got engaged to Vanessa Hawes on 5 October 2020 on the beach at Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond. I believe I beat Robin Irving (also d 08) to it by a couple of days! OLI CLIFFORD (a 09) I have recently got engaged on the 3 September to Lucy Pekin, a St Mary’s Shaftesbury girl. We got engaged on the island of Paxos and are getting married in August 2021, (COVID-19 permitting!) in Jersey. Expect a good Shirburnian turn out!

HUMPHREY WREY (g 09) is the founder and CEO of QuickBus, a British-Kenyan start-up, which allows travellers to book and pay for bus tickets. Having launched in Kenya, the start-up has already expanded to Uganda and Angola and has secured partnerships in a further seven markets across the continent. “Our platform allows customers to see reviews and select seats based on their preferences because knowing if your 18-hour journey will be very uncomfortable or quite comfortable is valuable information. That was the genesis of the QuickBus idea.”

2010s

TOM JAMES (c 12) is now playing rugby for Northampton having signed from Doncaster Knights ahead of the 20/21 season.

WILL HOMER (m 14) is now playing rugby for the Scarlets having signed from Jersey Reds ahead of the 20/21 season.

TOM MENDEL (d 14) I recently started my own art dealership back in late April, specialising in British & Continental Paintings & Works on Paper c.1700-1950. Business has been going from strength to strength and the gallery (just online for the moment and by appointment) now has more than 150 works in stock. www.Nonesuch-Gallery.co.uk

OSS Committee 2020/21

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)

Currently the School is not open to visitors but in normal times 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, please contact 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 via www.OSL3304.org.uk

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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

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