Kingwood Association News 2016

Hello and Welcome...

To the latest edition of Kingswood Association News

Our photographic front cover reflects some of the content you will find in this, your, magazine. There is much more of course and I hope you will find items that will interest you, remind you of happy times gone by and still to come and, with a bit of luck, bring a smile to your face.

In particular can I draw your attention to two of the featured photos. The full colours blazer is that of Sidney John West whose obituary is published later in this edition. He was at School from 1930-35 and his family have now, very generously, donated the blazer to the School Archive.

The black and white end of school year picture dates from 1975 and some will say, as a result of the hair length, is a testament to Laurie Campbell’s cry to ‘cherish our rebels’. I’m in there somewhere and I can put a name to just about all the faces. Most poignantly, the blonde girl on the far right is Gill Ashley whose funeral I and others

attended in January 2016. Taken far too young, but proof of something I have felt for many years about our Association of those who have been through Kingswood – the threads of that life become the ties that bind us together.

This is my last KAN as Editor and I would like to thank all the many people who have helped, cajoled and contributed to the issues I have edited. Most of all I would like to thank you, the readership, for reading the magazine and for the very positive feedback we have received. Seems to me that after seven years on the Executive Committee of the Association, including three and a half as Chairman, now is a good time to step back from my roles with the Association. I repeat my thanks to all I have served alongside and worked with and I wish you all well as I leave you with my traditional exhortation to ‘keep in touch’.

Jeremy Wimpress (1969-76)

The Kingswood Association, Kingswood School, Lansdown, Bath BA1 5RG T. 01225 734283 (School) | F. 01225 734205 | E. association@kingswood.bath.sch.uk www.kingswood.bath.sch.uk/senior/index.php/old-kingswoodians

PRESIDENT: Tim Lindsay CHAIRMAN: Chester Lewis

JAPAN: Chris Dixon (1975-84)

E. dixonyan@gol.com

2-13-3 Matsugaoka, Tokorozawa-shi

Saitama-ken, 359-1132, Japan

KENYA: Louise (Lulu) Keeble (1999-2001)

E. kenyachef@gmail.com

AUSTRALIA: Mark McConnell (1985-89)

E. mark@mima.com.au

9 Raleigh Crescent, St Ives, New South Wales, 2075 Australia

CANADA (W): John P Romeril (1945-49)

E. romeriljma@shaw.ca

9957 Swiftsure Place, Sidney

B.C. V8L 4E3 Canada

FRANCE (N): Bob Kirtley (1954-61)

T. +33 (0)2 47 95 87 30

2 Chemin de la Poissonniere, Cinais

CHINON 37500, France

HONG KONG: Anna Lam (1994-99)

E. anna@flm.com.hk

T. +852 9844 9405

ITALY: Mary Campbell-Bianchini (1975-77)

E. maryhamcam3@gmail.com

Via Zoppega 22, 37032 Monteforte D’Alpone, Italy

PO Box 24296, Nairobi, Kenya

PAKISTAN: Tony Hurt (1971-79)

E. jpahurt@gmail.com | T. 512 539-0394 (US no)

Karachi American School, KDA Scheme #1

Amir Khusro Road, Karachi, Pakistan 75350

SLOVAKIA: John H Baron (1959-62)

E. johnbaron@nextra.sk | Skype. johnbaron1

T. / F. +421 2 55566741 | M. +421 905 986758

Krizna 26, 811 07 Bratislava

Slovak, Republic Slovakia

UGANDA: Paul Okello Aliker (1982-84)

E. poaliker@yahoo.com

PO Box 4299, 14 Bukoto Street, Kampala, Uganda

UNITED STATES: Colin Mably (1954-60)

E. cmably@aol.com | M. 301 404 8718

T. 301 934 2374 | F. 301 934 0580

10369 Andrea Lane, La Plata

MARYLAND 20646 United States

From the President

Goodness, the last year went fast. It seems like only weeks ago that I was writing the Presidential piece for the last KAN. Well, here we are again. Welcome to another fine magazine, put together almost single-handedly by the talented Mr Wimpress. Thank you Jeremy. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we have.

We’ve had a good, eventful year. Following up on the plans we announced last year, we have agreed that the School will appoint an Alumni Relations Officer to professionally manage the Association and its activities, reporting into the School Development Office and accountable also to the Association Executive Committee. As I write the recruitment process is under way (and may well have been completed by the time you read this.)

As previously discussed in these pages and at the Association AGM, the aim is to expand the activities of the Association, to serve all Old Kingswoodians as best it can, to forge closer relationships with the School, making the Association more valuable to Old Boys and Girls during their further education and on into their professional careers. We aim to harness the talents and experience of the Alumni body for the benefit of all.

This is an exciting development and we thank Simon Morris for his vision in making this happen and – as always – for his unflagging support for the Kingswood Association.

One of the events in our year has been that our Chairman Nick Turner has stood down. Nick was pretty much press-ganged into taking the role in order to fill a prominent Chairman-shaped hole on the Committee and has done sterling work with great good humour, tact and wisdom. He is, however, a busy man in his professional life and lives a distance from the School. So he decided to make way for someone who was able to devote more time to this important role. Once again, we are in a recruitment process and may well, by the time you read this, have made an appointment. It’s another exciting opportunity.

Thanks to everyone who makes the Association such a pleasure to be involved with...

We are also in the process of filling three vacancies on the Association Executive Committee. A letter asking for expressions of interest went out in January, emphasising our desire for a wider range of age groups to gain representation and very importantly (in HR-speak) for the Committee to be ‘more reflective of the gender balance in the School itself.’

The Association ran a full schedule of events during the year which are reported on later in the magazine. And the sixth form benefitted from a series of talks by Kingswood alumni organised by Eugenie Pasco in her careers guidance role. This is exactly

the sort of use of Old Kingwoodians’ talents and experience that we will be looking to develop, alongside the social, sporting, fund-raising and fund-giving activities of the Association.

Of course we said goodbye to Angela Dudley-Warde in the summer. Angela was an excellent friend and supporter of the Association. Susannah Mansfield has come in as Development Director and quickly picked up the reins. We are already enjoying working with her office in a spirit of partnership and friendship.

Some important thanks to add to the ones already expressed.

The School is extremely generous in making its staff and facilities available to us for Association events.

The food that Sharon and her team provide continues to astonish in its quality, variety and general deliciousness. (Is there a school in the country with better food? I seriously doubt it.)

The Association committee members continue to give their time, talent and experience generously, punctually and conscientiously, contributing their collective wisdom to the project.

And Michele Greene continues to support the activities of the Association with good humour, enthusiasm and an administrative efficiency that makes the rest of us appear reasonably competent.

Thanks to everyone who makes the Association such a pleasure to be involved with and who share our desire for it to play an everincreasing part in the life of the School and its Old Boys and Girls.

Enjoy the magazine.

Tim Lindsay (1969-75) President, The Kingswood Association

Susannah Mansfield

Susannah Mansfield joined Kingswood in July 2015 as the new Director of Development following a reorganisation of the Marketing and Development department.

In order to make fundraising a more focused and sustained activity, Susannah’s emphasis will be on building relationships to develop and create new income streams for the Kingswood Foundation.

Previously, Susannah worked for the National Trust where she spent eight years as a major donor manager. In the months since she joined, Susannah has developed a love of and for Kingswood and is already well settled and enjoying the challenge of running her new department.

Susannah has swiftly launched a new Bursary campaign entitled ‘Ten for One’. “The concept is simple but effective; a group of ten people, they might be parents, former parents, Alumni or commercial businesses, support one child through Kingswood on a Bursary”. Susannah goes on to say, “The Fund will support hardship cases; all too often children are taken out of school, often at a critical stage in their education, because of traumatic family situations. The ‘Ten for One’ Bursary Fund has been set up to support children during difficult periods in their lives”.

The ‘Ten for One’ Bursary scheme is designed to be affordable for potential donors as the fund is shared. For a financial commitment of £100 per month per donor, one child will receive a Kingswood education throughout their senior school years. The ambition of the project is to achieve twenty groups of ten thereby providing support for twenty students.

Susannah’s role also includes overseeing the relationship between the School and the Association of Old Kingswoodians. Recently she was in New York hosting a reunion dinner and was thrilled to experience at first hand, and in a new location for the Association, the pleasure that these events bring to the participants.

Captain Simon Brand

Captain Simon Brand will be joining the Development Team later this year. Simon will be taking up the newly created role of Alumni Relations Officer.

He is a senior Naval Officer with over 36 years experience. Most recently Simon held the rewarding and challenging post of defence attaché in Egypt. Prior to this he has held a number of senior naval positions and is also a qualified Lynx helicopter pilot.

Increased resources for research will enable the Development department to locate other potential new locations for reunions. Assisting Susannah in all of this will be the newly appointed Alumni Relations Officer. This new role also encompasses securing support from Old Kingswoodians willing to offer careers advice, mentoring, coaching and opportunities for gap year accommodation. The Department will be seeking to connect with Old Kingswoodians who are prepared to offer an insight into life at particular universities and some who may be able to offer post-university mentoring as students enter the world of work.

If you would like to join a Ten for One group or are interested in talking to us about our other fundraising or student support activities, please contact the development team; development@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

As the Deputy Director of the Advanced Command & Staff Course, Simon was responsible for encouraging graduates to become members of the alumni association, maintaining the database and editing and distributing the annual alumni magazine. He was also responsible for giving presentations to the student body and hosting numerous social events for visiting lecturers.

Simon is passionate about tennis which he both plays and coaches. He is married to Catherine and they have two grown up sons.

When Simon takes up his role he will be responsible for the day to day running of the Kingswood Association and will play a key role in developing new and creative ways to support Old Kingswoodians including Careers advice, University and Post-University mentoring, gap year advice and internships.

Simon will also draw upon his considerable experience of event organisation to plan fun, interesting events for Old Kingswoodians of all ages and thereby enhance contact between alumni and the School.

Dear Old Kingswoodians

I am delighted once again to have been offered the opportunity by your editor to pen some words for this excellent publication.

The lively presentation and informative content reflect an Association which is clearly active and truly thriving, qualities which I sincerely hope are also reflected in the everyday life of Kingswood School.

Also reflected in this edition is change, including exciting change in the way the School and the Association are looking to work together in a spirit of ever greater mutual support. Our students become your members and I believe our commitment to supporting our leavers should extend well beyond their school years. Much as evolutionary change has been the hallmark of the school's ambitious development in recent years, so the imaginative changes in the way the Association is looking to the future represent a natural evolution both in the work of the Association and in its partnership with the School. May I offer my personal thanks to all those who have contributed to the vision and to all those who have in the past few years laid the foundations which have made this possible.

We seek to be a community which challenges, yet nurtures; which is ambitious, yet supportive; which belongs together, yet cherishes the individual. Long may this continue. This year I have had the honour of chairing the heads' group of the Methodist Independent Schools Trust, of which Kingswood is an associated school. The shared privilege we have is not only leading outstanding schools which educate so many such impressive young people, but of being able to do so both with the freedom of independence and with the strength of foundation which our Methodist character bestows. Not all independent schools offer that combination of ambition with a sense of service; of exceptional all-round achievement with an air of humility; of confidence without pretension; of privilege, certainly, but privilege understood in the context of the responsibility that brings with it. We are very fortunate indeed. We do all this because we believe this is the right environment in which to prepare young people for their lives beyond school, but our responsibility for supporting our students should surely not cease one celebratory Saturday in July at the Leavers’ Ball; it should offer life-long friendship grounded in the sense of community which defines the School.

I was delighted that, in their most recent performance tables, the Department of Education ranked Kingswood in the top 20 of all schools nationally for Value Added at A level. A small part of my delight may, I recognise, stem from an innately competitive mindset, but a much greater part comes from the fact that this measure reflects a significant level of growth for individual students during their time in the School. Value added is what should really matter, and most certainly not just in the sense of academic performance. The best schools see the offering of opportunities for all-round growth – intellectually, spiritually, physically, morally, culturally – as their core purpose, and they see this importantly in the context of the individual. The greatest pleasures as an educator are to be part of a journey where individuals achieve things they never considered possible and to see young minds opened to new, exciting possibilities. How hugely satisfying, also, to see where that journey takes them.

We have in recent years grown to a Foundation of well over 1000 pupils in the two schools and a teaching and non-teaching staff of over 400. There are more opportunities for more people, but in all this we have been very careful never to lose sight of the individual. For me the opportunity to extend this support sits right at the heart of what we are hoping to achieve through strengthening the relationship between the Association and the School and I much look forward to playing my part in helping take this forward.

With my very best wishes

Yours sincerely

Simon Morris

We seek to be a community which challenges, yet nurtures; which is ambitious, yet supportive; which belongs together, yet cherishes the individual. Long may this continue.

LEAVERS’ DESTINATIONS 2015

LEAVER COURSE INSTITUTION

Jonathon Aiken Gap Year

Eloise Ball Psychology Cardiff University

Simon Barnard Ancient History University of Exeter

Felix Barnard-Weston Gap Year; Management University of Manchester

Oliver Beere Gap Year

Benjamin Brearey Business & Management Oxford Brookes University

Jonathan Brend Medicine University of Exeter

George Broom Gap Year; Economics & Politics

Leonard Budd Physics

Maxim Burnett Real Estate

Olivia Butt Psychology

University of Leeds

Imperial College, Univ. of London

University of Reading

University of Leeds

Emily Butterfield Philosophy & Theology University of Exeter

Wang Chun (Cyrus)

Cheung Engineering (Civil) UCL, Univ. of London

Ethan Chilcott Gap Year

Esther Chilver

Vaughan Gap Year

Emily Clutterbuck Education Studies

Rory Coles Gap Year; German & History

Daniel Crane Gap Year

Grace Curtis Philosophy & Music

University of Worcester

University of Warwick

University of Southampton

Ellen De Pass Geography University of Manchester

Harvey Dellow Gap Year

Oisin Devlin-Cook Gap Year

Toby Douglas-Bate Philosophy & Politics University of Bristol

Madeleine Dumpleton Gap Year

Clare Dyer Law

Brandon Dyer-Pallister Gap Year

King's College, Univ. of London

Sam Enderby Gap Year; History University of Birmingham

Alisha Ganapathy Gap Year

LEAVER COURSE INSTITUTION

Oliver Gardner Gap Year

Olivia Harris Art Foundation

Catherine Hatherell Gap Year

Benjamin Hepburn Gap Year

Edward Higgs Gap Year; Accounting & Financial Management Loughborough University

Gareth Hollywell War & Society Swansea University

Matthew Holmes Gap Year; Hispanic Studies

Katherine Humphrey Business & Marketing Management

Jack Hurring Gap Year

Luke Jackson History

Christopher Johncox Gap Year; Business & Management

Genevieve Jones Art Foundation

Hywel Jones Gap Year; Business Management

Merryn Jones Gap Year; Geography

Ka Hei (Rachel) Kan Digital Media Arts

Louise Kaufhold International Business

University of Nottingham

Oxford Brookes University

University of Warwick

Oxford Brookes University

University of Birmingham

University of Glasgow

University of Surrey

University of Leeds

Kwan Anthropology & Media Goldsmiths, Univ. of London

Ka Hang (Kristy)

Richard Lane Applied Farm Management

Cheuk Lok (Gerald)

Lau Finance

Thomas Lechmere Gap Year; Biology

Fergus Leckie Gap Year; Biology

Harriet Leventhal Biological Sciences

Wing Kwan (Jojo) Li Psychology

Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester

Durham University

University of Manchester

University of Southampton

University of Birmingham

Durham University

Chi-Hsuan (Angela)

Liang Gap Year; Fashion Marketing

Olivia Lines Art Foundation

Austyn Lloyd Civil Engineering Apprenticeship, BAM Nuttall

University of Manchester

2015 LEAVERS

LEAVER COURSE INSTITUTION

Tin-Yan (Catherine) Lo Zoology

George Logut Gap Year

University of St Andrews

Eleanor Lyne International Business University of Leeds

Dominic Mackenzie Gap Year

Sophia Marshall English University of Bristol

Matilda Mascall Art Foundation

India Matthews Gap Year; Combined Honours

Sophie McDermott Politics & History

Connor McGrath Gap Year

Kathryn Mitchell Fashion Buying & Merchandising

Oliver Morgan Management

Lucy Morris Geography

Stanley Nokes Gap Year; Natural Sciences

Cian O'Mahony Gap Year; Management

Newcastle University

Newcastle University

University of Manchester

University of Leeds

University of Sheffield

University of Exeter

University of Manchester

Charlotte Ousby Architecture Northumbria University

Martha Overeynder Gap Year; Anthropology / History

Cameron Owens Ship Science / Naval Architecture

Jessica Palmer Art Foundation

Isabella Plumbly Art Foundation

Oxford Brookes University

University of Southampton

James Pope General Engineering Durham University

Cameron Price Gap Year; Social Policy & Sociology

Max Pugsley Gap Year

London Sch. of Economics, Univ. of London

Saima Pun English & Sociology Keele University

Eleanor Quekett Computer Science University of Exeter

Oliver Richards Politics & International Studies

Benedict Richardson Music

University of Warwick

Newcastle University

George Roberts Business & Management with Ind. Experience University of Exeter

LEAVER COURSE INSTITUTION

Sophie Rodger Geography (Science) University of Exeter

Megan Royston Law

University of Exeter

Hannah Sansford Gap Year; Physics with Theoretical Physics Imperial College, Univ. of London

Sophie Sergeant Psychology University of Exeter

Anish Shrestha Information Tech. Management for Business Oxford Brookes University

Parimal Shrestha

Business Management (e-Business) Swansea University

Claudia Singer Biological Sciences University of Exeter

Francesca St

Clair-Wilcox Music Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama

George Stuart-Harris Music

Hong Ching (Hugo) Tam Law

Hermione Templar-Gay Gap Year

Miles Thompson Gap Year

Zoë Townsend Philosophy & Religious Studies

James Turek Gap Year

Melissa Tyler-Eyre Gap Year

Cielle Vaughan Gap Year; Conservation Biology & Ecology

University of Southampton

Durham University

Lancaster University

University of Exeter

Rosemary Wakefield Nursing (Childrens) University of the West of England

Owen Waters Gap Year; Sport Science with Management Loughborough University

Olivia Watts Modern Language Studies

University of Nottingham

William Wells Gap Year; Economics & Politics University of Exeter

Rhys Williams Engineering Design with Study in Industry

University of Bristol

Ka Wai (Karry) Wong Criminology & Psychology University of Southampton

YangFan (Amelia)

Zheng Gap Year

POST A LEVEL APPLICANTS

LEAVER COURSE INSTITUTION

Harry Alcott Robotics

Daniel Banan Medical Sciences

University of the West of England

University of Exeter

Hannah Bracey Interior Design University of the West of England

James Brock History & Politics Coventry University

Poppy Clark Animal Science

Thomas Connolly

Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic

University of Reading

University of Cambridge

Evangeline Cronchey Social Science Cardiff University

Jack Crowther Natural Sciences

Kieran Gibson Biochemistry

Jenner Gudge-Brooke Physics

University of Exeter

University of Exeter

University of Exeter

Thomas Hardman Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy) Cardiff University

Angus Hawking Sport and Exercise Science

University of Portsmouth

LEAVER COURSE INSTITUTION

Alexander Johnson Geography

University of Derby

Alexander Kryukov Business Management King's College, Univ. of London

Lara Lawman Liberal Arts

University of Exeter

Joel Lees-Massey Physics with Astrophysics University of Bristol

Orion Mathews Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Imperial College, Univ. of London

Oliver Norman Business Economics Coventry University

Emily Priest Biology

Christian Richards History

Alexander Robinson Computer Science

Oliver Robley Economics

University of York

University of Leicester

University of Bristol

Durham University

Oscar Ryan Applied Sport Science University of Edinburgh

Matthew Scott Nutrition & Dietetics

University of Nottingham

Eleanor Tullberg Economics Durham University

Elizabeth Wootten English & American Lit. & Drama & Theatre Studies

University of Kent

Kingswood Visitors

We are always delighted to welcome back old Kingswoodians.

After their visit to Kingswood John Oxley wrote to Michele Greene in the Association Office; “Hugh Bazley, Nick Saunders and I had a great time at KS last Friday, and cannot thank you enough for arranging for us to visit the school. You and your colleagues made us feel so very welcome, and your enthusiasm was inspirational. As Nick said just before we left, our hotel ‘get together’ on the previous evening was, as usual, most enjoyable, but our visit to KS really was the icing on the cake.

For myself, and for the others, old memories were revived and reinforced, and I was left with such a strong realisation of what a privilege it was to have been at KS all those years ago. As we lunched, and observed the youngsters coming into the dining hall - alert, alive, smart, happy - I could not but think what a wonderful environment they were experiencing.

To you and to your colleagues, not forgetting John Lewis, please accept our thanks for your time, and for presenting such a positive picture of present day KS.

I was never a classicist, but - here goes - ‘Floreat Kingswood’.

Colin Day (1949-52) visited on 8th May 2015

24 April 2015 saw a visit from Trinity College, the school for the daughters of Methodist Ministers

John Lewis with visitors Mike Gilks (1954-60) and Tony Colegrove on 15th March 2015

Michael Weston (1950-57) visited in February 2015

Andrew Mitchell (1962-71) visited with his daughter on 24th February 2015

Brian Lane (1942-50, Head of Hall House and Head Boy 1950) visited with his family on 4th March 2016

Robert Kirtley (1954-61) and current School Governor David Quine (1954-61) visited on 27th March 2015

Hugh Bazley (1944-52), Nick Saunders (1944-52) & John Oxley (1946-52) outside (new) Hall House on 5th May 2015

Kate and Nic were married in the Chapel in 1999, the

Visitor with Links Back to John Wesley’s Era

On 21st April 2015 the School had a visit from Jenny Corbett (née Bradford).

She had come from Kelowne, British Columbia in Canada and was visiting the School at which her great, great, great grandfather had been Resident Governor from 1795-1802.

The Reverend Joseph Bradford had worked with John Wesley in Bristol to start Kingswood School.

Ben Olouch-Olunya and family visited on 26th June 2015

Sunny Yip (1992-97) visited on 25th June 2015

Ye (Alice) Liu (2003-10) visited on 29th July 2015

Professor Timothy Clark (1973-82) visited on 8th July 2015

Dick Trafford (1936-44) visited on 15th October 2015

Dr Ian Ross (1953-61) visited on 17th August 2015

Christopher Baron (1958-67) visited 2nd October 2015

David Brown (1952-58 and Head of Physics 1985-99) visited on 5th January 2016 with his wife Jen and their daughter Kate and her husband Nic and their two sons who were visiting from Adelaide.

year David retired.

THE REV. JOSEPH BRADFORD (1783)

MARCH

With these quarterly informal suppers in the School dining hall approaching their tenth anniversary it was great to see so many attendees over the last twelve months. Originally founded by John Allison as Association dinners that would bring together the whole Kingswood community, his vision has proved an unqualified success. Regulars happily mingle with those who have not been back to the School for decades, memories are shared and tales are toldKingswood is the common bond.

In September, MJSD took place on the eve of Association Day and many guests took advantage of the opportunity to get to Bath early and take a lovely supper in the School. For those who have not been back to School since leaving the first advance that is always noticed is the exceptional quality of the food on offer. The Association is indebted

SEPTEMBER

to Sharon Traylor and her excellent School catering team for the massive contribution they have made to the success of MJSD. Always delicious and served by a group of lovely people who also stock and run a drinks bar on these occasions.

Sometimes an MJSD comes with a little extra surprise on the night. One of the best to date has surely been the appearance of the Kingswood Prep School choir in December to sing Christmas carols prior to the meal. Always a festive occasion, this charming and talented performance further enhanced a special evening and put diners very much in the Christmas mood.

These are wonderful, fun community evenings to which all are welcome and, if you have never attended, you really will be in for a very convivial treat.

DECEMBER

Kathryn Mason, Julian & Charlotte (née Thompson) Cook & Anita Smith

Robin Lewis & Chester Lewis

Angela Dudley-Warde & Michele Greene Len Turner & Joyce Allison

Tim & Liz Westbrook

Sarah Beresford-Smith with KS Director of Music, Oliver Parker

Rob Forster, Tim Lindsay, Nick Turner & Roy Cook

Partners enjoy MJSD as well. Mrs Kathryn Mason & Mrs Frances Wimpress

The class of 1995 reunited for a wonderful day at Kingswood on Saturday 11th July. Over 30 old pupils brought their families from as far afield as Australia, America, Malawi and Cambodia to Kingswood for a lovely lunch and tour of the school in the glorious summer sunshine.

The memories flooded back as we walked around the school and although there have been significant changes and improvements over the intervening years, there was much that looked (and smelt) exactly the same. It was great to be taken back to our school days and we spent a lot of time laughing at old stories. Remembering things like who had been sent out of chemistry lessons, endless queuing for meals and who pierced whose ears in the middle of prep!

Although lots of people had kept in touch (helped by the wonders of Facebook) it was also lovely to catch-up with everyone’s news from the last 20 years and meet many of their families. As old friends reminisced, new friends were made as partners mixed and the children enjoyed playing and running round on the lawn in front of the school.

We continued the reunion in various old haunts around Bath until sad goodbyes and promises to keep in touch were made in the early hours of Sunday morning. We’re already looking forward to our 30 year reunion!

Nikki Haine (née Cope, 1990-95)

Café du Marché in Smithfield, London was once again an excellent venue for the Headmaster’s annual drinks and canapes event for this age group. Joining the Headmaster and the invited guests were staff celebrities Gordon Opie and Angie Wright as well as Association Chairman, Nick Turner and Development Director, Susannah Mansfield.

As ever this increasingly popular assembly provided a great deal of fun and laughter and, of course, much talk of Kingwood past, present and future. Special thanks to Sophie Graham-Wood (1992-2006) for arranging the use of her family owned Café du Marché for this enjoyable occasion.

Once again the President, Tim Lindsay, invited members to join him for lunch at the Lansdowne Club in central London. Guests gathered and were greeted with a welcoming glass of fizz and a relaxed and, needless to say, chat full atmosphere. Those present included; Simon Morris (Headmaster), Nick Turner (Chairman of the Association), Angela Dudley-Warde (Development Director) and, pleasingly, former members of staff Joyce Allison and Finola Duchars.

Over lunch and after lunch this intimate gathering was able to talk with the Headmaster about the current School and the future plans. Reference, of course, being made by some of those present to the ways things were in the past! Thanks, as ever, to Angela Dudley-Warde (soon to be departing Kingswood and these shores) and Michele Greene for their tireless work in organising such a worthwhile and enjoyable event.

Once again members of the Association gathered in the exceptional and historic surroundings of Middle Temple. As ever, considerable thanks were due to HH Judge Peter Wright (1958-67) for his help in allowing this event to take place. On this occasion, however, it was not just former pupils who benefitted from the invitation to attend. Peter (a Kingswood School Governor) had arranged for eleven sixth formers to visit Middle Temple prior to the reception in the evening. The pupils were given a tour, which included the magnificent Elizabethan Hall (built in 1570) as well as a talk from the student recruitment officer about pursuing a career in Law. After the tour the pupils joined members of the Association for a reception in the Queen’s Room. Year 13 student, Meg Royston, commented that, “it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all Kingswood pupils hoping to obtain a career in Law and we are most grateful to Master Wright for making it possible” HH Judge Peter Wright wished the eleven who had attended all success for the future adding, “who knows which ones I may see again before long”.

The Wordsworth Room at St Hugh’s College proved a delightful setting for the 2015 Oxford Lunch. Seated around a long table with the Headmaster, Simon Morris, at one end and Association Chairman, Nick Turner, at the other the College catering came up trumps and we were treated to a really lovely meal. Conversation buzzed around the table and, after the food had been served, the Headmaster gave an interesting and entertaining update on Kingswood matters.

Among the guests was John Walsh (1937-46) the then Prefect who featured at the heart of the Uppingham film, ‘Fortunate Exile’. John has recently recorded a narration to go with the previously silent movie.

Also present was former member of staff Linda Earnshaw (née Scutt) who taught at Kingswood from 1982-88 and is now Head

of Mathematics at Magdalen College School, Oxford. Very good to see former members of staff wanting to keep in touch as well as re-visiting their Kingswood past.

Jeremy Wimpress (1969-76)

Guy Hinchley & Sue Costeloe

HH Judge Peter Wright with Kingswood Sixth Form Students

Current School Governor, Peter Freeman, with Sixth Form pupils

The guests gather before lunch

Vartkess Knadjian & Tim Lindsay The President speaks

Joyce Allison & Alasdair Maspero

Once again the South West lunch in the Sports Pavilion on the Upper was favoured by beautiful spring weather and excellent company. 22 Association members and their guests attended, a number of who were also 1748 Society members who hadn’t been able to attend the Society’s own lunch at the school on 24 April.

The outlook from the Pavilion holds memories for all Association members, from windy days playing or watching rugby, to sunnier summer days of cricket, tennis or athletics. On this 16 May it was at its best and we nearly had a cricket match to watch into the bargain, except that the opposing team had not been able to field a side (a moral victory for KS?!) so we didn’t get sight of the new electronic score board.

No matter, the event inside the Pavilion more than made up for that to judge by the buzz around the tables and the fine food served by the caterers. After the lunch two year 9 drama students, Charlotte Chilton and Ana Fox gave consummate and contrasting performances from their repertoire, introduced by Mrs. Kate Nash, Head of Drama and Theatre Studies at the school, who has clearly honed many a thespian talent and placed the theatre (now with

new seating) educationally as well as physically at the centre of school life. A video of a piece written and performed by students rounded off this convincing drama presentation.

The Headmaster, Mr. Simon Morris, also gave one of his now customary consummate performances in updating us on the fortunes of the school over recent months, remarking that it was now incredibly eight years since he arrived at Kingswood. Apart from the usual sporting and curricular triumphs the headmaster was pleased to report on the outcomes of the Independent Schools Inspectorate visit in January this year. Particularly gratifying was, he said, their comment that, “Pupils (show) a strong sense of moral purpose, a respect for the belief for others, and a willingness to help those less fortunate than themselves”. These were, he commented, exactly the values that Kingswood aims to instil in its pupils, and it was reassuring to hear this achievement confirmed by an independent educational body. He announced, too, the sad departure of Angela Dudley-Warde from the Development team. All members of the Association know how greatly Angela will be missed. Tony Deyes gave a brief vote of thanks to the South West section on behalf of the 1748 Society members present. Nick Turner presided.

After the lunch, in the continuing glorious weather, a number of us were treated to a tour of the new seating in the Theatre, the Humanities building and, most recent of all, the completed Hall House residence block. This latter is an impressive testimony to the high standards of boarding (about 25% of pupils on present numbers) and study facilities that the School will be carrying forward into the future. Many thanks to Wendy Dalton and Michele Greene, who went beyond the call of duty in giving up their Saturday afternoon to take us on this tour. As we passed by the lower field we were treated to the impressive sight of a full set of girls’ tennis matches taking place on the astro turf. We hope that the day will have been as kind to them as it was for us.

A relatively small gathering of Old Kingswoodians met at the esteemed Exeter Golf & Country Club for the eighth annual Exeter Lunch on 16th October, 2015. Not that it is limited to Exeter, or Devon for that matter. We are pleased that interest extends much further afield. Last year, it was Cheltenham, this time, Hampshire. We were also honoured with the presence of Tim Lindsay, the President of the Association.

Colin Lomax, our host, read out a long list of apologies, to which he remarked that many had unavoidable commitments but, at the same time, he already had two promises for next year – and that was before the date was known.

We are an eclectic mix, but with the common thread of Kingswood running through all of us. Eclectic, yes, but what interesting experiences are recalled by those present both in their formative years and in their careers. These memories, shared with others, over good food and good

wine, provide the opportunity to extend the friendships developed at the school and since. Informal events such as these are cherished, enjoyed and fun.

The next Exeter Lunch is on Friday 7th October, 2016. Save the date!

Tony Deyes (1954 – 1963)

Michael & Susan Weston with David & Mary Hinchcliff

Head of Drama, Kate Nash with year 9 Drama students

As has become customary, the School held a reception for former pupils and parents and current parents while in Hong Kong as part of the overseas recruitment programme. The Headmaster and recently appointed Development Director, Susannah Mansfield, both talked about Kingswood now and future plans for the School.

The first formal Scottish reunion of Old Kingswoodians took place in the Forth Room at The Apex Waterloo Place Hotel in Edinburgh. Grateful thanks are due to former Governor, Dickon Posnett (1976-81) who first floated the idea and helped host the event. All was made possible by Yousif Al-Wagga (1982-88), as Manager of the Hotel he arranged the room and dealt with much of the detail of what proved to be an excellent and most successful lunch.

Old Kingswoodian and former Headmaster of Kingswood Prep School, Marcus Cornah (1964-71), attended as did Bob Clark (Staff 1959-90). They were joined by a great mix of generations of former pupils who enjoyed a three course lunch with much great conversation and laughter.

This was a very special new event in the Association calendar and we look forward to returning for another event in Scotland very soon.

Kingswood Goes Stateside

The first ever US Kingswood School reunion was held at the Club A Steakhouse, Upper East Side, New York on Thursday 4 February 2016.

Pictured from left to right: Rob Enticott (1983-90), Susannah Mansfield (Director of Development), Liz Enticott, Tim Oyediran (1975-81), Funlola Oyediran and Henrietta Lightwood (Director of Marketing and International Relations).

Sarah Murray (1978-80), not in the photo, also joined the group for pre-dinner drinks.

The Edinburgh reunion group

Alex Batho, yousif Al-Wagga, David Lane & Dickon Posnett

Bob Clark & yousif Al-Wagga.

Marcus Cornah with former pupils

Development Director, Susannah Mansfield addresses the gathering Headmaster's wife, Caroline Morris with guests

Simon Morris (Headmaster) with his table group

As always it was a great pleasure to see so many guests and such genuine interest in how things are developing thousands of miles away in Bath.

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ANTONIA’S TRAVEL REPORT:

In the Taita region of southern Kenya, nursery school children used to have to walk 10km through wild animals, notably marauding elephants, to Msorongo primary school. It was not uncommon for people to be killed by wildlife and so few parents considered the walk to school justified.

LATIKA PRIMARY SCHOOL PROJECT, KENYA

In 2012, with the help of an Ecolodge in the neighbouring community wildlife sanctuary, the Kenya government and an annual charity event, a new primary school was built in Latika, only 2km from the children’s homes. Now 25 children between the ages of 5 and 8 attend daily.

I felt that it was important to show the children that wildlife can be a positive asset. So I decorated the first (and at the time the only) classroom in Latika with local animals, letters and numbers. This was part of a donation from the charity fundraising EGGS, which included a white board, coloured paper, pencils, chairs, tables, a water tank and a food program.

The local government recognised more activity in the school and built an additional classroom. This gave me a bigger canvas to work with. I strongly believe that if the younger generation can see wildlife as a positive benefit to the community, this would reduce wildlife human conflict and give the wildlife and the sanctuary a better chance to continue. So using the Gary best scholarship I painted the second classroom (pictured below).

In my gap year between Kingswood and a biology degree at Nottingham I was awarded the Gary Best Scholarship 2014 and began with the education of the youngest generation in Latika primary school.

GARY BEST PHASE ONE: I initiated talks with KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) which resulted in their undertaking regular visits from their educational officer to teach the children and any interested members of the community about wildlife. And so the increasing issue of human wildlife conflict was bought to the closer attention of the organisation. This resulted in the construction of a wildlife fence between the community and area of dangerous wildlife. So it is now much safer for the children to walk to and from school as well as to play outside and enjoy more freedom of the bush.

To further the children’s positive learning experience of wildlife I teamed up with the LUMO game rangers and took the children, teachers and some parents out into the Sanctuary. We had a great day and the rangers have agreed to take the children out regularly.

I gave the remaining funds to the food program which is now supported by the government, the ecolodge and the community sanctuary. The programme has continued to increase the enrolment of children who would otherwise be left at home with very little, if any, meal at lunch. Though to us more privileged it may seem a plain lunch of only rice and beans and the occasional spinach, it provides the growing toddlers with vital nutrients that would otherwise be very limited due to poverty and harsh growing conditions. More importantly it encourages parents to send the children to school so they have a better start in education and so hopefully life.

Projects fail if the local community are not involved from the beginning. Above we see the school board, parents and elders, as well as representatives from the local wildlife community sanctuary, ecolodge and Kenya Wildlife Service listening while I explain in my limited Swahili what I want to do. They gave their ‘Blessing” and helped with the decorating. A second teacher was recruited.

To finish the project we had a small party for the children. Almost all of them had never had cake before and so they had cake and sodas. I gave my toys for the children to play with at school, including of course a Kingswood wyvern. The children, teachers and parents enjoyed this massively. They showed their appreciation with singing and dancing. Finally I said my good byes and left feeling that perhaps between us, with the help of the Association’s Gary Best award, Kingswood and I had made a small difference.

Antonia Leckie (2012-14)

Trip to the Sanctuary with the LuMO game rangers

SARINA’S TRAVEL REPORT:

During my gap year, thanks to the Gary Best Travel Scholarship, I was able to spend some time volunteering with the disaster relief organisation All Hands, on Project Brooklyn, helping to repair and rebuild homes destroyed by Superstorm Sandy.

The All Hands organisation sets up projects in countries where natural disasters have occurred, to provide the people in need with volunteers who donate their time clearing up debris, salvaging possessions, safely deconstructing homes and building new ones. These projects connect the worst affected people with volunteers willing to give their time to help rebuild their lives.

During my time in Brooklyn, I lived on base – a church basement which provided basic facilities for the volunteers and staff to stay for the duration of the project. For 8 hours each day, 6 days a week, we were assigned to a house where we would carry out the necessary renovation work for the space to be habitable again. All the houses that All Hands took on were in the worst affected areas and had been in disrepair for nearly 2 years due to the poor financial situations of the homeowners. In most cases these were basements (used as living space) that had been badly damaged by flooding caused by the storm.

One such homeowner, whose house I worked on, had a son with learning disabilities and she had just finished converting their basement into a self-sufficient apartment for him when the storm hit and completely destroyed it. After waiting for two years, Project Brooklyn provided all Hands volunteers who stripped out everything and took it from the framing stage all the way to completion.

As I spent an extended period of time on the project I was able to learn so many new skills and be involved in all the different stages of the rebuild process, from hanging drywall and plastering to painting, hanging doors and installing skirting boards. I also met some amazing people - volunteers from all over the world, staff members who worked with humanitarian organisations, helping people year after year, and the homeowners themselves who were always so grateful, making all the hard work feel even more worthwhile. This made it easy to settle in and by the end I really felt like part of the All Hands family on base.

Volunteering is an opportunity and an experience like no other; it allowed me to befriend people I would otherwise never have the chance to meet and to learn to do things I would never have imagined doing! I am extremely grateful to the Kingswood Association and Kingswood School for this scholarship that allowed me to volunteer with All Hands and I look forward to volunteering on more projects in the future.

Sarina Ganapathy (1999-2014))

Volunteering is an opportunity and an experience like no other; it allowed me to befriend people I would otherwise never have the chance to meet...

A New Piano for the Chapel

When Oliver Parker started his new role as Director of Music at Kingswood he quickly identified that something was missing. In order to make better use of the space in the Chapel and to enhance singing and performance at Kingswood he saw the opportunity and need for a new piano to be situated there.

Appealing to the Kingswood community he received a rapid and positive response and the Association was delighted to contribute a donation of £5000 – about a third of the overall cost. Other funding came from the Friends of Kingswood, The Chaplaincy, the Headmaster and the Music Department.

As a result of this swift response, delivery was soon taken of a brand new Kawai RX3 (6’ 1”) and to celebrate and welcome the new instrument a recital was arranged for 17th September 2015. Guests were treated to an exciting evening of top class performance which included pieces by; Mozart, Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Chopin, Strauss and Haydn. These works were performed by The Haynes Trio with Michael Haynes (Head of Academic Music) on piano and his daughters; Harriet (studying at the Royal Academy of Music) playing violin and Sophie (studying at Guildhall School of Music and Drama) the cello. Thanks to Oliver for organising a really special evening and to The Haynes Trio for their talented playing.

Subsequent to these celebrations, Kingswood Old Boy, Dr Neil Cheshire (1945-54) visited the School (with John Lewis) and Oliver Parker arranged for him to have access to the new piano. Neil Cheshire, amongst many other musical achievements, featured in the 1954 Speech Day Concert as piano soloist in a Mozart Piano Concerto. The magazine of that era described Neil as bringing, “a brightness and delicacy of touch to the work which suited it perfectly”. Happily he took to the Kawai, describing it to Oliver Parker as, “a splendid

instrument, with a crisp, lightish action and warm tone which still remained in very quiet playing; the bass rich, clear and in proportion”. Commenting that today’s students are fortunate indeed to have such a facility, Neil recalled that when he was at School there was one Bechstein grand piano in the Moulton Hall (now The Library). On Speech Day this was wheeled out onto ‘The Patch’ (Senior Quad) and covered with a marquee.

Times have changed but music remains central to Kingswood life and we look forward to much more performance from what has now become ‘the Chapel piano’ rather than ‘the new Chapel piano’.

Jeremy Wimpress (1969-76)

Times have changed but music remains central to Kingswood life...

Neil Cheshire with the new Chapel piano

If You Can´t Come to Kingswood - Kingswood Will Come to You!

In April last year, I was about to take a trip to Sussex to see members of the family when I remembered that I would passing close to a very special Old Kingswoodian, David Ensor (1934-42), who lives in the area.

David was a former Chairman of Governors and played a significant part in the life of the School for many years. He was and remains very supportive of the School since his retirement. He and his late wife, Trudy, had both moved to a care home in Eastbourne in the summer of 2014 and last visited the School together for the annual meeting of the South West Association in the May. He felt it was likely to be his last trip to Bath, but I promised to keep him up to date with all the latest news and developments. In contacting him about my trip, I was delighted to get a wonderful response to my phone call to see if it would be possible to meet up.

Not only did David welcome my husband and I to his delightful home in Sunrise Senior Living with some delicious coffee and biscuits, but he had invited along his son Michael (1959-66) and a new resident at Sunrise, Brian Kingston (1944-52). It was only at their first evening meal together that they discovered that both had been Kingswood boys – and both in Middle House! What a small world it is.

We spent a very enjoyable morning with three charming gentlemen, plus two wives, reminiscing over times past and present and all were delighted with their Association ties and cuff links.

I would urge any Old Kingswoodians who are no longer able to visit the School, to renew their contact with the Association. There are so many members around the country, many in their retirement years, that I am sure a reunion of some kind - even for just one or two members who might like to meet - could easily be arranged. David Ensor has discovered that a contemporary of his, Philip Beale (1934-43), is in another retirement home in Eastbourne. Do let the Association and the School know where you are and I am sure someone will be in touch.

Angela Dudley-Warde

Former Director of Marketing & Development (1999-2015)

Farewell & Thank You!

Angela Dudley-Warde left Kingswood last summer for a new role (and a private swimming pool) in Spain.

She has worked at the School for sixteen years; her son, Alex, is an Old Kingswoodian and Angela’s love and passion for Kingswood is unbounded. Members of the Association who have come into contact with Angela, through events or visits to the School, will be aware of the warmth and commitment she has brought to her role in supporting the Association and liaising with former pupils.

Described by the Headmaster as, “an amazing person – driven, smart in every way, personable, kind…and so, so much more”, it is hard to know how to pay proper tribute to one who has done so much for the School and Association. In the end there can be no better way than to publish an article Angela submitted after she had left Kingswood. This piece (left) typifies her innate warm-heartedness, her devotion to the wider Kingswood community and to the cause of ‘Friendship, Fellowship and Fun’ – three ‘F’ words which could have been invented for Angela.

In recognition of Angela’s excellent and tireless work with the Kingswood Association the Executive Committee voted unanimously (and quite rightly) to grant Angela full membership of the Association. We look forward to seeing her at a reunion soon!

Jeremy Wimpress (1969-76, Chairman of the Association 2009-13)

Angela, with her husband Robin Dudley-Warde and Executive Committee members Rob Forster and Jeremy Wimpress on Commemoration Day 2015

L to R: Michael Ensor, David Ensor and Brian Kingston

A Tale of Two Lanes

Recognition of the importance of the work done by individual former pupils is always a good thing to report. The Queen’s 2016 New Year’s Honours List recorded exceptional contributions by two Old Kingswoodians who both became Commanders of the Order of the British Empire. This was also a matter of considerable coincidence as both go by the name David Lane!

CBE (1951-61) RECEIVED HIS AWARD FOR SERVICES TO CHILDCARE AND SOCIAL WORK

David has had a career in social services, starting with eight years in residential child care, working on the assessment of children’s needs, and ending with ten years as an Assistant Director in Hillingdon and eight years as a Director of Social Services in Wakefield. Since 1993 he has acted as a consultant, mainly as an expert witness. Currently he is a panel member in the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland.

He has also had links with a number of organisations including having been a Trustee of Leonard Cheshire, the Chair of the Langley House Trust and the Editor of ‘Children Webmag’.

The organisation which nominated him for his award is the Professional Association for Childhood and Early Years (PACEY), he has worked with them for nearly twenty years as Vice President.

CBE (1969-1976) RECEIVED HIS AWARD FOR SERVICES TO ENGINEERING

David was Head of Upper House in 1975/76 and has a claim to be the last resident of the Upper dormitory end room.

He is currently Professor and co-founding Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics (edinburgh-robotics.com), a £35M joint venture between Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh Universities training 100 innovation-ready PhD graduates across Engineering and Informatics disciplines.

He previously established Heriot-Watt’s Ocean Systems Laboratory, with an international reputation in marine robotics, publishing nearly 200 cited publications with international funding.

In 2001 he founded SeeByte Ltd (seebyte.com), commercialising a 20 year portfolio of research, and, as CEO until 2010, led the company’s evolution from start-up to a multi-million dollar award-winning organisation located in Edinburgh and San Diego.

He also led the development of the UK’s national Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) innovation strategy for the Minister for Universities and Science, motivating and influencing over £200M of investment in Robotics and Autonomous Systems R&D by the UK government.

As director of EURobotics AISBL he helped shape the EU Horizon 2020 Robotics public-private partnership and the direction of €700M in funding from the European Commission. He continues to lead a technical team in EPSRC, EU and international industry funded research developing persistent and shared autonomy, and bio-inspired sensing systems.

He has been elected to Fellowships of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Society of Underwater Technology, the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Royal Geographical Society.

Many congratulations to David Lane CBE and David Lane CBE for their outstanding work and rightful recognition.

DAVID C LANE

PROFESSOR

DAVID M LANE

A True Comic Book Hero

Bravery comes in many shapes and forms but, in military terms, recognition of bravery could not be higher than by the award of the Victoria Cross, ‘For Valour’.

Anyone studying the brass plates in the Chapel entrance which record our fallen will have seen the name of Hardy Falconer Parsons V.C. who was killed in France in 1917.

He was the son of Rev J.A. and Mrs Rita Ash-Parsons.

After completing his studies at Kingswood he went to Bristol University to read medicine with the aim of progressing to medical missionary work. As with so many, the outbreak of war curtailed his studies and he enlisted with the 14th (S) Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment and was sent to France. He was promoted in the field to 2nd Lieutenant at the age of 20.

When Hardy Parsons was killed in action the extract from The London Gazette, dated 17th October 1917 was as follows;

For most conspicuous bravery during a night attack by a strong party of the enemy on a bombing post held by his command. The bombers holding the block were forced back, but Second Lieutenant Parsons remained at his post, and, single-handed, and although severely scorched and burnt by liquid fire, he continued to hold up the enemy with bombs until severely wounded. This very gallant act of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty undoubtedly delayed the enemy long enough to allow of the organisation of a bombing party, which

succeeded in driving back the enemy before they could enter any portion of the trenches. The gallant officer succumbed to his wounds.

Gallantry of the highest order and recognised by the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross of which, in spite of the huge numbers of men involved, only 415 were given to members of the British Army during the First World War.

...only 415 (Victoria Cross medals) were given to members of the British Army during the First World War.

Further acknowledgement of the incredible bravery of his actions was to also follow, many years later, when his citation was adapted into a story for ‘The Victor’. Strange to think that this ‘war mag’ (as we then called them) was probably circulating in Westwood when I was in the 3rd Form there. Published in July 1970 the strip, entitled ‘The Gloucestershire Bantams’ was the cover piece for that issue (priced sixpence). We are indebted to Mr Garrod Musto who is Director of Continuing Professional Development at Kingswood – not only is he a keen student of the history of the School and individuals associated with it but he also had sought out and purchased an original of ‘The Victor’ from 1970. A teaching module, based on the Hardy Parson’s story, has also been developed for use by today’s Kingswood pupils.

More recent recognition was discovered in an exhibition in a church in Lynmouth. Rev A.J. Parsons had been a minister in the area and Governor of Barbrook Mill Methodist School. In the exhibition it was noted that a parade of Victoria Cross holders was held in London around 1969/70. Reverend Ash-Parsons proudly took part, being pushed down the Mall in a wheelchair, wearing his son’s medals. In June 1970 the medal was presented to the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum where it remains to this day. Prior to this the medal had hung in the vestry of the old Methodist church in Lynton.

2nd Lieutenant Hardy Parson V.C. was killed on 21st August 1917 and is buried at the Villers-Faucon Community Cemetery.

Jeremy Wimpress (1969-76)

Ray Reason (1938-42) While in touch with the Development Office about the Theatre seating project Ray wrote to Angela Dudley-Warde as follows; “My parents were both good Methodists and they spent their life working hard. They never made a great deal of money, so they were careful how they spent it. It must have been one of their big decisions to send me to a good school, which must have cost them a lot of their income for a long time. Then the war came along and everything was thrown up in the air and the drapery business, like so many others, suffered badly. When I left KS (at Uppingham then) I was articled to a London form of Civil Engineers at their Southampton Office, so the expense did not stop there. I am so grateful to my parents for doing their best for me in such difficult times and the older I get the more I appreciate what they did for me in my young days.”

What Are You Doing Now? 1940s 1960s 1950s

Paul Brown (1952-58) writes from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam with news of John Cox (1949-59) who took on the challenge of performing all three of Schubert’s song cycles in order to raise money for the Musical Brain (www.themusicalbrain.org). Professor Cox, a Musical Brain trustee and past President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, has at the time of writing raised more than £2000 through his Leider Marathon. The performances were a great success and Paul Brown recalls John’s voice ‘with delight’ going to back to Kingswood days.

Lawrence Lockhart (1948-54, Staff 1982-96) Lawrence has been awarded a BCA (British Citizen Award) for services to education. Since 1998 he has been running, on a voluntary basis, Gap Year Fairs an organisation which goes into schools and colleges delivering presentations on the benefits and opportunities of taking a gap year break in formal education. Lawrence works in partnership with university students who have been on volunteering gap years and with two other retirees from similar backgrounds to his own.

Tim Curry (1956-64) Seems like a time warp but 2015 saw the 40th anniversary of the release of the Rocky Horror Picture Show in which, famously, Tim starred as Dr Frank N. Furter. Stars of the original movie release, including Tim, Susan Sarandon, Brad Bostwick, Meatloaf and Patricia Quinn, gathered, for the first time in 25 years, to talk about the cult movie on NBC’s ‘The Today Show’. Originally not well received by critics, the film (which cost $1.2 million to make and has grossed around $140 million) is now established as an absolute cult classic and remains to this day on limited cinematic release. In June 2015 Tim appeared at the Tony Awards Viewing Party where he was honoured with The Actors Fund Lifetime Achievement Award.

(Editor: Tim Curry won much praise for his portrayal of King Arthur in both the US and UK stage productions of ‘Spamalot’. By happy coincidence the School’s drama department recently staged the show and we are grateful for their photograph which we reproduce here. Head of Drama, Kate Nash, adds that former pupils are welcome to visit the theatre and that a senior production takes place in the penultimate week of the autumn term and a junior production in the penultimate week of the summer term. Plenty happens in between of course!)

Richard Garforth (1960-66, Staff 1973-2015) Connie and I returned to Bath following our ten week trip to New Zealand and Australia over the winter. We spent six weeks touring New Zealand, three of these by camper van, and then another four weeks in Australia. While in Australia we met up with an old Kingswood School friend of mine, Nicholas Wickham (1960-65), and

his partner, Annie, who live in Mount Barker just outside Adelaide. Both work in Adelaide as Haematologists and I believe Nicholas holds a Professorship at the local university alongside his private consultancy work. We spent a long weekend as their guests and were shown around the famous Barossa wine growing area on their doorstep. Nicholas and I were contemporaries at Kingswood and had not seen each other for around 45 years. We also met up for Christmas and New Year in New Zealand with our middle daughter, Celia, who is Head of Planning in the Sydney office of “Iris”, a London-based global advertising agency. Celia was at Kingswood from 1994 to 2001, and went on to get a 1st class Honours Degree in History at Birmingham University. She has two sisters who were also at Kingswood. Emily (1991-98) now working as an Anaesthetist in the Intensive Care Dept. at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, and Christine (1996-2003), now Head of the RS Department at St Albans School.

Jonathan Lynn (1954-61) In December 2015, The Player, the historic private social club on Gramercy Park, New York, celebrated the 30th anniversary of Jonathan’s cult comedy classic ‘Clue’. Based on the board game ‘Cluedo’ the film was both written and directed by Jonathan with Tim Curry playing the role of the butler. The evening at The Player included an all-star tribute performance honouring Jonathan who was also presented with honorary membership of The Players. Making the presentation the club President, Arthur Makar, said, “Jonathan’s rich and varied career is grounded in a love of comedy, playfulness, and extraordinary writing and performance that epitomises

Kingswood Drama performing ‘Spamalot’

Richard and Connie Garforth with daughter Celia and her partner Marc Sharman

the spirit and history of The Players”. Readers may also be interested in a tweet of Jonathan’s from January 2016. “David Bowie called me. I was directing a show at the National Theatre and he wanted to see the work of a choreographer with whom I was working. I said yes, of course. He came, watched hung out for a bit, and I didn’t think any more about it. Then his video came out and the credits included ‘Special thanks to Jonathan Lynn’. A very generous thing to do. A nice person has left us.” ‘The Patriotic Traitor’, a new play written by Jonathan and starring Tom Conti and Laurence Fox, had its world premiere in February 2016 at The Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, London. The play has been very well received and the entire run, including extra performances added due to demand, was completely sold out. Andrew Marr referred to “a cracking bit of writing by Jonathan Lynn”, while The Telegraph reviewed a “gripping encounter between Pétain and de Gaulle”.

Julian Trump (1957-62) I was a friend of Wing Tai Cheung (1959-64) known to all as Ben. I assume it is Ben to whom you refer in the item on page 2 of KAN 11 ‘Do you know where they are?’ He always spelt his surname Cheung. Sadly Ben died some years ago. I had been in very occasional correspondence with him and I think that I may have been the only person he kept in touch with. He returned to Hong Kong a time after leaving KS and then settled in Melbourne Australia with his wife Noble and a son. He visited KS a while back, in July 2005, whilst John Lewis was the Association Secretary and I arranged a tour of the school with him.

1970s

Edwina Bridgeman (1977-79)

Edwina accepted a Theatre Royal Bath Creative Fund award on behalf of ‘Art at the Heart’. The award will support an intergenerational project entitled ‘Small Acts of Kindness Make a Difference’. Edwina, as resident artist, will be running weekly creative workshops on children’s and adolescent wards at the Royal United Hospital as well as Combe Ward, a dementia friendly ward for elderly patients. The project will culminate in a mixed media 3D tapestry which will be shown permanently at the RUH.

Jillian Creasy (1973-1975) stood in the General Election as the Green Party candidate for the Sheffield Central constituency. Beaten only by Labour, Jillian came second putting the Conservatives and Liberals into third and fourth place respectively. She received almost 7000 votes, 16% of those cast, and significantly increased her share of the vote from 2010 when she also stood and came fourth. Jillian ran a high profile campaign both in public and on social media. In the run up to Polling Day she appeared on BBC TV’s ‘Daily Politics’ debate on the NHS - Jillian is Green Party spokesperson for Health.

John Crosby (1967-75) After Kingswood, John Crosby enjoyed a distinguished military career with the Royal Marines - working in nearly 20 countries and including several years as temporary Equerry to the Duke of Edinburgh. Since leaving the Marines in late 2007, John has been involved with OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe) and has been based in Vienna working as the Senior Operational Advisor in the Conflict Prevention Centre. Recently, John has been coaxed out of retirement (and away from the sailing that he and his wife Tracey love so much) by the OSCE to become yet again a Team Leader deep in “rebel”-controlled East Ukraine. As John says, ‘I came here, picked up a helmet and a bullet-proof vest and cracked on!’ He is likely to be in post for some months and has a team of nearly 300 working with him. In December 2015 John was awarded the OSCE Medal for his “dedication and tireless efforts that embody the OSCE’s lasting contribution to international security and co-operation”. Only 8 OSCE Medals have been awarded in the last 18 years. The Secretary General of the OSCE described John as “an outstanding professional who has done great work for the OSCE”. Special mention was made of John’s leadership role in establishing and consolidating the Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine as well as his work in Georgia in the aftermath of the war in August 2008 and in Southern Kyrgyzstan following the June 2010 violent events. In 2005, John was awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal for his “outstanding personal contribution to the work of the Joint Warfare Centre”, which is based in Stavanger, Norway.

Andrew Davies (1968-75) Forty years since leaving KS I’m a Knight of the Road, traversing the UK in vans and lorries delivering office furniture, blogging and taking pictures as I go. Previous occupations include journalism (sacked for being an NUJ agitator), sales and marketing (when I needed a ‘proper job’ to help pay for family, mortgage etc.) and injecting molten jelly into pork pies, not necessarily in that order. I’ve helped raise three lovely kids who are all successful media luvvies in London, taking great care to ensure that, from an early age, they understand that there will come a time when they buy the first round when we’re in the pub together. That time hasn’t come yet. I’ve travelled all over the world, done Triathlons, skydived and lived with occasional bouts of depression, a much misunderstood and under-discussed condition. Still not found a use for algebra.

Philip Deakin (1973-78) I followed my father to St Marys Hospital in London and have been a GP in Garstang, Lancashire for over 25 years. I continued to play cricket in local leagues until age and a bad back caught up, and now spend my time supporting Lancashire CCC and Sale Sharks as well as walking in the Lakes and Dales. I have 3 children and, interestingly, my last contact with KS was bumping into the 7s team at Rosslyn Park 2 years ago when my son was there with the RGS Lancaster team. Both my cousins were in the sixth form in the 80s. Tracey Wiggham (1984-86) lives in Cardiff with her young family. Danielle Baber (née Wiggham, 1986-88) is an officer for the RSPCA and is currently in Hong Kong with her husband, who is the Rugby Director for the HK 7s team.

An overnight visit to London for John Crosby meant a quick 1970s School House reunion in a Cuban restaurant in Waterloo. John Crosby and Andrew Davies (at the front) with Jeremy Wimpress and Rob Forster (at the back).

Neil Harbury (1975-79) When Neil and his family threw a weekend long summer party Kingswood friends were among the guests. After a wonderful evening of dinner and dancing people re-convened on Sunday for a lunchtime house party at the new Harbury family home in the Royal Crescent (complete with view of the Kingswood tower). Our photograph (courtesy of Mrs Wright) shows attendees at the Sunday event – also present, but not for the photo, were Michael Wakelin (1971-79) and Bernie Holland (1972-79).

Mark Heap (1969-75) Mark appeared in the BBC2 Christmas schedule comedy drama ‘We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story’. Mark played the Clive Dunn part of Corporal ‘they don’t like it up ‘em’ Jones in this rather uplifting story of how the show’s creators finally managed to overcome many obstacles, not least the internal politics of the BBC, and get the series to air. Among Mark’s many other achievements he was Head Boy at Kingswood in 1975.

Ian Martyn (1967-73) Famed at School of his running ability (several of his athletics’ records stand to this day) Ian has let us know that he has just released his first album. Describing himself as a ‘songwriter, part-time reluctant singer on an emotional journey through the ups and downs life presents’, Ian’s album is called ‘Life’s an Emotional Journey’. You can find out more and have a little listen at www.ianmartyn.co.uk.

Andrew Rose (1963-71) Although it is 44 years since I captained the 1st XI cricket team, in both 1970 and 1971, I

am still playing and enjoying the game. As well as still playing some club league cricket at weekends this season I have also been playing in the Over 60s National 2nd XI County Championship for Devon. (There is even a 3rd XI and Over 70s National Championship!) I’m pleased to say that Devon won the Western Region winning 7 out of 10 fixtures with one abandoned qualifying for the National Quarter-final. Sadly we lost a tight game against Surrey the eventual runners-up. After a couple of matches I was promoted to opener and averaged just under 30 with a top score of 75 against Worcestershire. It was one of my aims on retirement from teaching to play for the County as matches are mid-week and I have thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie and competitiveness of the matches. I wonder how many of my former team mates at KS are still playing if any. I sometimes try to remember who they all were and can recall the names of about 8 of the side. It would be interesting to know how they are doing. My predecessor as captain in my first year in the 1st XI (1969) was Charles Gerrish who is well known on the Executive. Another earlier captain of cricket at KS was Roy Kerslake who is now President of Somerset County Cricket Club. As a member there I get to Taunton as often as I can and on one occasion, through a friend who works there, had the opportunity to meet him, albeit briefly as he is a busy man on match days. In retirement I am very busy and active in my local community. I am Chairman of our village choir and Twinning Association and am still active as a Local Preacher after 36 years since qualifying. So I have a lot to be thankful for and for the grounding I had at KS.

1980s

Tim Cook (1974-81) Following on from the report in the last issue about Tim’s work on accidental awareness during general anaesthesia, Tim writes to let us know that he met another Old Kingswoodian at the launch of the NAPS Project. This is the largest ever study looking at AAGA – 3 years, 3 million anaesthetics and about 140 reports of AAGA. Their link (other than Kingswood) was that Dr David Brice (1951-59) was the first author in the first really substantive study of the topic in 1970 and devised the ‘Brice questionnaire’

which, to this day, is used in some studies to prospectively detect cases of AAGA. Tim goes on to note that Kingswood doctors seems to disproportionately follow anaesthesia; Laurie Campbell’s son, T J Gan (1980-81), now a professor in the US, and several others of whom he is aware.

Chris Dixon (1975-84) Having recently ‘friended’ each other on Facebook, Richard Vaughan (PC 1975-79) and I met – in Tokyo – for the first time in 37 years! I have been living here since the year I graduated (1988), teaching English (currently at a high school), doing talent work, working as a wedding celebrant(!), and (still, I am ashamed to say) working on my ALBUM with my band Edward’s Operation, (www.edwardsoperation.com): progress is very slow, but it IS going to be the best album since Abbey Road.... Richard writes: “After University, I worked in the US as a cost engineer before moving to Russia where I was rapidly promoted to a junior partner in a large international consultancy running the Central European operations. I met my wife Annika in Helsinki before being headhunted to help run the MENA operations for another large international multi-disciplinary firm. I completed a LLM in international business law from Liverpool and now live in Washington DC (where I consult for international developers) with Annika and our children, Roland and Harry.”

Left to right (rear); Hugh Wright (1948-57, Chair of Governors 1998-2006, President of the Kingswood Association 1998), Jeremy Wimpress (1969-76, Chairman of the Kingswood Association 2009-13), Andrew Wright (1976-81), Mike Tweedale (1977-79), Mark Hammond (1972-79) and at the front, Mary Wimpress (1977-79), Julia (née Lloyd-Williams, 1977-79) and Rob Fenn (1972-79), host Neil Harbury (1975-79) and a special guest appearance from Rob and Julia’s youngest, Kit.

Dr David Brice & Tim Cook

Richard Vaughan & Chris Dixon at the Hachikou dog statue, Shibuya, Tokyo

Simon Young (1979-87) In June 2015

Simon hosted members of the Somerset Cricket Committee at the Ageas Bowl for Day 3 of Hampshire v. Somerset. He was delighted to meet Roy Kerslake (1956-61), President of Somerset and Kingswood Old Boy. Good memories of John Ede and Ray Wilkinson were shared.

1990s

Nikki Haine (née Cope, 1990–1995)

I can’t believe it’s over twenty years since I left Kingswood in 1995 and went on to university in Kingston-Upon-Thames to study Geography. From there I started work in PR in London and then moved to the south coast several years later. In 2011 I set up as a freelance PR consultant based in my home in Salisbury. I married my husband Tim in 2007 in London and we had our son William in July 2013 and daughter Abigail in November 2015. I’m very lucky to have a great work / life balance as I work from home with some wonderful clients so can juggle work commitments with being a Mum. Many of the friends I made at Kingswood have remained a central part of my life and in particular I enjoyed two backpacking trips, one with Vicky Dunlop in 1999 and one with Lucy Ashby in 2005. It was also lovely to meet up with so many others from our year, some that I’d lost touch with, when we had a 20 year reunion at Kingswood in 2015.

The Secretary immediately ‘phoned and next day Liz and I met Kumar, Nikil (1986-91) (on my right) who has been 9 years in India in the hotel business and Ashish (1991-95) on my far left, who manages the family property interests in Asia. Kumar mentored my son Jeremy (1985-87) for four months in Singapore after his Land Management degree and we just missed meeting our second son (who lives in Doha with his family) Nat’s (1985-91) best PC and KS buddy Phillip Atkins (1981-91) who lives and works in Singapore. Well, as Kumar appears to own some hotels in Bali, Liz and I are hoping we might get there to celebrate our 50th Anniversary later this year! Another recent KS contact has been through my daughter who teaches at Pinewood Prep and whose boarding inspector last month was Robin Lewis (Staff 1975-92). I also have a weekly golfing fixture with Chris Whittaker (1956-64).

2000s

Gareth Coker (1992-2002) and Sasha Calin (1994-2001) have both been awarded honours by the Governing Body of the Royal Academy of Music. Gareth Coker, has been made an Associate of the Royal Academy for his composition contribution to the music profession and Sasha Calin as an oboe player.

Sasha Calin graduated with First Class Honours from the Royal Academy of Music and continued her studies in Leipzig with Christian Wetzel. She played with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra and has been principle oboe for the Welsh National Opera and first oboe in the London Symphony Orchestra. Sasha was invited by John Rutter to play solo cor anglais in a new work by the composer broadcast live on Radio 3 from St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge and performed in the 21st Birthday Concert of the Orchestra of the Age of Entitlement.

Paul High (PC Head 1985-98) Elizabeth and I were in Singapore in February 2015 dining with friends at the Singapore Cricket Club. I was telling my host about the last time I was in Singapore staying with the Mancharam family who had also taken me to the SCC. He suggested I visit reception and see if the family were still in town.

Gareth has composed music for video games, commercials and films. Living in Los Angeles, Gareth has most recently composed the music for Ori And The Blind Forest published by Xbox One and PC, Survival Evolved and Minecraft Greek Mythology. He is noted for creating unique soundscapes in his scores while also being able to apply exotic and unconventional tones in a way that fits the story being told. His music has been used in movies such as The King’s Speech, Labyrinth and The Secret in Their Eyes and in games inMomentum and Primal Carnage.

Avril Lehan (Staff 1997-2004) visited her son Nick (1997-2003) at a foundry where he was assisting sculptor, Hamish Mackie, with a commission to create a herd of six astonishing (and very large) bronze horses. The horses are for public display at a new development and Avril

Sasha Calin

Paul High with the Mancharam family

Gareth Coker

Avril Lehan visits son Nick’s workplace

was photographed with one horse while she was visiting. Nick is currently thinking of doing a furniture design and making course in Oxford.

Helen Olley (1999-2009) will be walking over 1600 miles from Canterbury to Jerusalem to promote peace in the Middle East and raise money for Christian Aid. You can find out more, follow the route and sponsor Helen at www.justgiving.com/thewalktojerusalem or @walktojerusalem on Twitter.

2010s

Christian Morrish (1997-2004)

Not perhaps a traditional Methodist Kingswood career tale but Christian is now established as a successful retailer in the city centre of Bath selling unusual spirits, premium mixed drinks and bespoke craft products. When he met business partner Chris Scullion in 2011 their shared passion for these products (and an inability to find a place that sold the ones they wanted) started the train of thought that led to the foundation of ‘Independent Spirit of Bath’. The store is situated on Terrace Walk, near the Abbey and Parade Gardens, and plays host to regular tastings, events and master classes. (www.independentspiritofbath.co.uk)

Congratulations to 2012 leavers; Amy Greene, Emily Stallabrass, Laura Clarke, Olivia Dellow, and Emma Gordon for completing the Bath Midnight Walk on Saturday 12th September 2015. They were raising money for the Dorothy House Hospice at Home Service.

Elizabeth Suddaby (2008-10) I went on to study Medicine at Leeds University and am currently in my fifth year of study, including an intercalated year achieving a bachelor of arts in Biomedical ethics. I have just secured a Medical Elective in St. Lucia for this summer (2016). This is a specialist elective, focusing on obstetrics and gynaecology, a speciality in which I am keenly interested.

Kingswood in Focus Magazine

The School magazine, Kingswood In Focus, is available to all members through the website (www.kingswood.bath.sch.uk). There the magazine can be read online or downloaded if you would prefer. If you would like a printed copy of the magazine then these are also available by contacting the School Development Office who will be happy to add your name to the mailing list.

E. development@kingswood.bath.sch.uk | T. 01225 735283

KINGSWOOD: Tributes II

Tributes to those staff whose service to the school extended to twenty-four years or more.

This volume is a reprint of published tributes to 46 long serving KS staff, teaching and non-teaching, who retired between 1950 and 2012. (It is a companion volume to KINGSWOOD: A Tribute*)

£16.00 (+ £2.00 p&p) To order your copy telephone 01225 734283 or email association@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

Helen Olley

Christian Morrish

Uppingham Film gets an Upgrade

Alan Tongue (1950-58) writes about the film FORTUNATE EXILE and its new lease of life.

I was exiled to Uppingham aged seven months as a member of the Kingswood community. My father, Frank, taught maths, and incidentally helped to organise the 56 trucks carrying all the school equipment to Uppingham. My first piano lessons took place in the Uppingham School music department under ‘Plugger’ Hancox. I also saw my first play in the school hall there, ‘Julius Caesar’, and my first film in the town cinema, ‘The Tawny Pipit’. On our return to Bath I remember seeing the School film ‘Fortunate Exile’ - my one vivid memory of it is ‘Uncle Rupert’ wobbling precariously on his bicycle.

Years later, living in Cambridge for the second time, I revisited Uppingham and had a yearning to see the film again. I was sent a very poor DVD of the black and white silent film, with low definition and a strange tint to it. My immediate reaction, after having spent many years as a BBC television producer in Belfast, was how much it needed sound adding to it. I first approached Anthony Thwaite OBE (1944-49), one of our best poets and a former KS pupil (If you like poetry I urge you to buy his Complete Poems, Enitharmon Press 2007). He turned down my offer, on the grounds that he had not spent much time in Uppingham and did not remember it well.

The film is essentially a day in the life of a prefect so I determined to track this person down. I knew that my musician colleague Peter Clulow was about to travel to Bath to see our former teacher Michael Bishop, who had been a pupil at Uppingham (I’m told he even pushed me once in my pram!), so I sent him the DVD. Michael immediately recognised John Walsh. It was he, a history don at Jesus College, Oxford, who later edited the book ‘A.B. Sackett - A Memoir’. Whilst in Bath Peter recorded a spoof commentary from Michael as they watched the film and later added some music before sending it to me. I was so impressed with this new skill of Peter’s that I immediately booked him as sound editor. He then travelled to his alma mater Oxford and made contact with John Walsh.

The next step was for the three of us to meet and discuss the project. I told John where I’d like the links, and gave him rough timings. He started writing the commentary and we hammered it out via email. On a further visit to Oxford we recorded the links, Peter as sound man and I wearing my former BBC hat as director. I chose our music teacher John Sykes’s incidental music to ‘Noah’ as the main background music since I had a good recording from my days working with the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra.

John Walsh was a joy to work with, and his young voice is quite remarkable, recorded 69 years after the film was shot.

Peter mixed the commentary and music by computer, sending me his latest version via the internet, with me in return sending copious notes back. Still the quality of the picture irritated me, so I tracked down the original 16mm film at Uppingham and had it transferred digitally. We have respected the archival nature of the original, not interfering with the picture at all, merely adding two captions at the end with the latest credits.

John Walsh was a joy to work with, and his young voice is quite remarkable, recorded 69 years after the film was shot. And the music of Vaughan Williams’ pupil John Sykes gives us all a chance to reacquaint ourselves with his artistry. He was on the staff during the war, and I hope you agree with me that it sounds as though he wrote the music for the film! In fact this music was written for a later production of the André Obey play in Bath.

(Editor: The revised version of the film, soundtrack and all, can be seen in the Old Kingswoodians’ section of the School website.)

L to R: AF Tongue (1950-58), JR Walsh (1937-46), PJ Clulow (1947-56)

Film still

50th Anniversary Reunion

27th June 2015: This special event proved to be an amazing gathering of over 80 guests coming together at Kingswood to relive their schools days in the mid-1960s, some of them having not been back to the School since leaving 50 years ago!

“Although we all looked a bit different 50 years seemed such a short time!” said Robert Sandry. “The memories flooded back and it was amazing to renew so many friendships. And the food is certainly better these days too!”

Kingswood Headmaster and Principal of the Kingswood Foundation, Simon Morris, gave a very warm welcome address, updating everyone on the recent new features and developments, including the latest achievement of the School in gaining ‘Excellent’ as the status in all nine categories of the ISI School Inspection Report.

This special ‘Golden Reunion’ event was an idea readily taken up by School Governor, Robert Sandry, himself a 1965 leaver. Working with the Development team, Robert set about contacting as many of his peer group as he could find through e-mails and a feature in the last issue of this magazine.

His Honour Judge Peter Wright (1958-67), said “It was a really wonderful and memorable event –the weather and 1st XI all helped!” and another, Peter Ford (1957-65), commented on the success of bringing back some very remarkable former teachers. “It was an added bonus to see once again three former members of staff who had taught me – in Michael Bishop’s case, a mere 56 years ago!”

You could certainly almost cut a piece of nostalgia out of the air throughout the whole event; tributes and thanks flowed into the office in the weeks after the event. It is hoped to hold a similar reunions for other generations who will celebrate their own 50 year leaving in a few years’ time.

Angela Dudley-Warde

As a result of this process many ‘lost souls’ were found and there were very positive responses from over 100 ‘old boys’ including those unable to attend. Some of those sent special messages together with memories and photos – much to the delight of School archivist Zoe Parsons. Guests came from as far away as Australia, France, Belgium and Ireland as well as many UK locations.

Michele Greene, the Association event co-ordinator, worked tirelessly with the School catering and management in order to put together a very memorable day including afternoon tea on the school lawn, tours of the facilities followed by a reception and dinner in the School Dining Hall – probably the most popular and well-loved part of the School for those returning.

Guests came from as far away as Australia, France, Belgium and Ireland as well as many UK locations.

David Williamson, Roger Adams and Andrew Gibbins

Association Day: 5th September 2015

The Association weekend kicked off with an MJSD supper in the dining hall on Friday night before attendees assembled on the Saturday morning of Association Day.

Welcoming cups of coffee and a joyful Association Day service, conducted by new Chaplain, Rev. David Hull, were followed by the formal ‘gathering of the clans’ in the School Theatre. The Headmaster gave his annual address which was, as ever, interesting, insightful and full of passion for Kingswood past, present and future. Particularly pleasing from an editorial point of view were the words of praise Mr Morris had for the Association magazine. In the course of the AGM President, Tim Lindsay, introduced new Development Director, Susannah Mansfield and outlined future plans for the Association as we move forward (see more detail on this in the Presidential Welcome at the start of this magazine).

After the formalities were out of the way we were treated to another fine meal in the dining hall with much more conversation and reminiscence. Prefect guided tours of the School were available after lunch and many followed this by repairing to the Upper to watch some rugby and take advantage of the bar in the Pavilion. Once again a very welcoming and hospitable atmosphere at Kingswood for our Association Day and the date for your diary is Saturday 17th September 2016 when Association Day will again be preceded by an MJSD supper on the evening of Friday 16th September.

Jeremy Wimpress (1969-76)

Once again a very welcoming and hospitable atmosphere at Kingswood for our Association Day...

Marriages: Congratulations to the happy couples

Paul and Ketta (née Phathammavong) Brown married on 10th July 2015 in the Kingswood School Chapel. This was Mike Wilkinson’s last wedding at School before retiring as Chaplain.

Paul currently lives in Ho Chi Minh City and is: Faculty Professor in Organisational Neuroscience, Monarch Business School, Switzerland; Senior Advisor, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Hanoi; Honorary Chairman, Vietnam Consulting Group; and International Director, SIRTailor in Ho Chi Minh City. One of his sons, James, lives near Cambridge in a nearly complete house he has built for himself, wife Karima, son Yussuf and newly arrived daughter Zahra. He is External Affairs and Engagement Officer at the Muslim College, Cambridge and has recently secured funding for five academic posts for five years.

Births: Congratulations to the proud parents

22 Oct 2014 a son, Evan Cleasby, brother for Sophie Anne to Liz and Simon Allison

16 Feb 2015 a daughter, Mia Grace to James Gerrish and Louise Pillinger

06 April 2015 a son, Jacob George to Daniel Gerrish and Laura Poole

07 May 2015 a daughter, Georgina Rose to Becca (née Owen) and Michael Nelson

24 Oct 2015 a daughter, Beatrice Jane Wyatt to Joanna Wyatt and Paul Marks

30 Oct 2015 a daughter Marley Beaux Robson to Emma Draper and Nathan Robson

09 Nov 2015 a daughter, Abigail, sister for William to Nikki (née Cope) and Tim Haine

01 Dec 2015 a daughter, Alice May, sister for Samuel, Isabelle and Rosie to Becky (née Curtis) and Ed Forsythe

11 Dec 2015 a daughter, Marina, sister for Roberta to Harriet (née Johnson) and Nick Hinze

10 Feb 2016 a daughter, Elodie Winifred, sister for Genevieve to Rosemary (née Thorne) and Gareth Conway

02 Mar 2016 a daughter, Charlotte, sister for Amelia and Emily to Katie (née McCowan) and Andy Bantock

05 Mar 2016 a son, Albert, brother for Busby to Gypsy (née Ringham) and Richard Beer

08 Mar 2016 a son, William Henry, brother for Thomas to Alexandra (née Chapman) and David Edwards

Zara Swift married Mark Arnett on 20th June 2015 in Bradford Leigh, Bradford-on-Avon

ZARA & MARK ARNETT

Alexandra Boyce married Simon Rogers on 29th August 2015 at St Cyriac's Church, Lacock

ALEXANDRA & SIMON ROGERS

PAUL & KETTA BROWN

Abigail Haine

L to R: Prof Paul T. Brown (1952-58), Ketta Brown (née Phathammavong), Rev Mike L Wilkinson, Dr James A O C Brown (1990-97), David M Brown (1952-58, Head of Physics 1985-99, Archivist 2000-08)

Tom Bergmann married Natalie (née Washbrook) on 14th August 2015

David Kelshall married Charlotte (née Burden) on 23rd October 2015

Rosie Curling married James Buckley on 23rd May 2015 in Publow church

Gary Best Travel Scholarship Heap Trophy Awards

The 2015 Scholarship of £300 is awarded to CHESTER LEWIS

Former Head Boy, Chester Lewis (2010-12) will be joining a project run by the Song Saa Foundation. The Foundation aims to promote the conservation and wellbeing of the sea, land and of local communities in the Koh Rong archipelago of South Western Cambodia. He will also be creating a video blog about his journey and intends to promote the importance of sustainability and to encourage others to join similar projects.

The 2015 Scholarship of £300 is awarded to GEORGE LOGUT

Volunteering through the International Citizen Service partner, Raleigh International, to go on a 10-12 week expedition to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. George will be living alongside families in communities and helping with day to day tasks. He will also be assisting with projects to provide water and sanitation as well as buildings to provide schooling.

The strength of sport at Kingswood School is based around the principle of everyone contributing to the best of their ability. It is with this in mind that the Kingswood Association felt that it was particularly pertinent to present a prize which recognised two students who encapsulated the philosophy of competing enthusiastically at whatever sport and for whichever team they were asked to play in without it necessarily being at the top level. (Jo Heap, the donator of the trophies, was himself a sportsman who played wholeheartedly though not always at the top level.). As you would expect at Kingswood there were several contenders for these awards:

On the boys’ side, Parimal Shrestha, Oliver Beere and George Logut, would have been very worthy recipients but in the end the award went to a contributor in all three terms at various levels and who plays with a skilful enthusiasm and commitment. This year the Heap trophy goes to Matthew Holmes.

For the girls’ there were also worthy considerations for Eloise Ball and, Bella Plumbly, but in the end the award went to another leading player within the year group and someone who has been determined and reliable throughout the year, always willing to play wholeheartedly for whichever team she was selected; the winner of the Heap trophy for Girls goes to Olivia Harris.

The Dikran A. Knadjian Award for Medicine

In Memory of Dikran A Knadjian Head Boy (KS 1964-70)

Awarded to Jonathan Brend on 3rd July 2015

Chairman Nick Turner and President Tim Lindsay with 2015 Heap Cup recipients

Jonathan Brend with Dikran Knadjian's sister, Grace Davidian

1974-76

Gillian Ashley passed away in the early hours of Wednesday 16th December 2015. Gill lived in Bristol with her husband Alan Davies and had been unwell for some time. Born in Manchester and raised in Nigeria from an early age, she developed a keen sense of adventure and appreciation of the important things in life.

Gill (who also had brothers Jonathan (1969-75) and Timothy (1981-86) at school) on leaving KS joined the nursing profession and then switched careers following completion of a law degree. She was intelligent, compassionate and widely-read with a great sense of seeing justice prevail, confronting prejudice and championing those who were misunderstood or disadvantaged. As a legal adviser with the CAB, she represented many clients at tribunals which she frequently won on their behalf.

Meeting Alan over 25 years ago (he was attracted by Gill’s wicked dry sense of humour and a shared sense of adventure) was the start of a very happy chapter in her life which at the beginning involved ‘feeling the fear and doing it anyway’ as they flew to Skye – in a two seat microlight, her happiness being evident in the attached picture taken on one of various flying trips! They had many other adventures together in Zimbabwe, camping in Namibia, cycling in the Arctic Circle in Norway and hearing the opera (La Traviata and Il Trovatore) in the open air in Verona. Gill’s great passion was gardening, she was never happier than when she was up to her armpits in mud, growing the most unusual plants including huge cacti and a prolific banana palm in her garden in Bristol. She had hoped to extend this further in retirement as she and Alan, in 2000, bought 20 acres

of scrub land in Ager in the Spanish Pyrenees – a great site for hang gliding where the nearest neighbours were two kilometres away. They put a caravan on the land and began building – a very big shed – which was one up from camping! In spite of being challenged by cancer for much of the last 20 years, she was determined that it would not stop her from trying to make the most of her life. She was a devoted aunt and sister and enjoyed time with a wide circle of friends many of whom visited her and took her out during the latter very difficult years, something which she appreciated very much. It was no surprise that Gill wanted a Humanist funeral. Alan organised this beautifully and it was led by a Celebrant on January 7th 2016 in Bristol with a strong attendance, including from KS, something of which Gill would, we hope, have been very proud, as family and friends were of her. Rest in peace.

National Anthem and ever afterwards joined in with the Welsh team when watching rugby internationals on television.

Around two years later he followed his brother to Kingswood. Not overly keen on boarding he nonetheless did well academically and often played rugby for the School. He also became a not very enthusiastic boy scout and was made leader of the Peewit Patrol. He carried out his leadership duties so well that he was made a School prefect on the strength of it.

In 1938 he went up to Queen’s College, Oxford on a History scholarship although he switched to PPE when he got there. At Oxford he joined the John Wesley Society and at a meeting in the first term met Marguerite ‘Peggy’ Pearson who he later married.

He also joined the University Air Squadron, all too aware that war was frighteningly possible and that pilots would be needed to fight the Nazi threat. He was called up soon after war was declared and trained as a fighter pilot. He was posted to the famous 609 Squadron and, flying in turn Spitfires, Hurricanes and Typhoons, served with them at Warmwell, Biggin Hill, Duxford and Manston. He was the Squadron’s longest serving pilot in a single posting, 3 years, and as a result it is amazing that he survived.

He was shot down over the Channel and eventually rescued by a naval launch (the RAF one broke down on the way). “I felt so lonely and small bobbing about there in my dinghy,” he later said. When he returned to Manston he asked his batman to put his uniform on the stove to dry. In the morning he asked where his uniform was and his batman produced the charred remains.

1929-38

Sir Alec Atkinson was born in Walls on the Shetland Islands on 9th June 1919. His brother Eric (1928-34) had been born 20 months before and the two remained close until Eric died, sadly, in 2012. Both sons of the Manse, their father was a Methodist minister who at the time was responsible for 8 churches in Shetland.

When Sir Alec was about 5 years old the family moved to Mumbles on the Gower Peninsula. At the Oystermouth Infants’ School he learned to sing the Welsh

Other narrow escapes also occurred. On one occasion he took off alone in bad weather and the airfield guns opened fire on him by mistake. A few days later the officer in charge of the guns rang to apologise but wanted to know if the shots had been anywhere near!

In 1943 he was awarded the DFC, the citation described him as, ‘a courageous and determined fighter’ and ‘a fine example of keenness and devotion to duty’. He was, in the RAF, known as ‘Joe’ as a result of being put in charge of gas precautions and a Canadian pilot saying, “It’s Joe the Gas Man” – the name stuck. At 609 reunions in later years he was referred to as ‘Sir Joe’.

Jonathan Ashley (1969-75)

SIR ALEC ATKINSON

GILLIAN ASHLEY

He always saw his time with the RAF as one of the most important periods of his life and loved to talk about those days.

After he had been de-mobbed he returned to Oxford to complete his degree and was married on 28th December 1945. Married life commenced in a flat at the top of number 1 Residence, British Museum as a family friend was Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities. After a year or so they moved to Muswell Hill (and that was where I was born) and then to Epsom. The family stayed there for a very happy 15 years until Sir Alec’s father-in-law was knocked down in the Mall and badly injured. They then bought ‘Bleak House’, the final family home, and lived there with his wife’s parents until they passed away.

In 1946 Sir Alec had entered the Civil Service in which he was to serve for the next 33 years. Starting in the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance he also spent two years in the Cabinet Office when Attlee (whom he admired enormously) was Prime Minister. He spent a period as private secretary to the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance, John Boyd Carpenter. He filled a key post in the department’s Finance Department, dealing with the largest single item in the Government’s budget. Then for a whole decade he worked through all the twists and turns which it took to establish the main features of the current pension’s system. This sustained effort was interrupted by two General Elections and so was carried through under three different and heavyweight ministers; Labour’s Richard Crossman, the Conservatives’ Keith Joseph and, finally, Labour’s Barbara Castle. All of them held him in high regard for the way he led the team of officials working in this challenging field and for his own personal expertise.

Richard Crossman, who was a notoriously difficult Minister to work with, wrote warmly about Sir Alec in his diaries: “He is quiet, studious and detached and by far the best of my civil servants in either Ministry…really outstanding…an able person of deep personal integrity”. Barbara Castle recorded in her diary how she valued “the gentle Alec Atkinson”. He was appointed CB in 1976 and was advanced to KCB in 1978.

Retiring on his 60th birthday he and his wife had happy times theatre-

going, travelling, walking, reading and gardening. He also served on the Occupational Pensions Board, was a Chairman of the Civil Service Selection Board, acted as Vice-Chairman of the Carnegie Trust’s Committee of Enquiry into the Arts and Disabled People (the Chairman was Richard Attenborough) and was made patron of Conquest, a local charity providing art classes to disabled people. At one time he was a Trustee of the Oxford and Cambridge Club where, as a member for over 50 years, he enjoyed dining with friends and attending events.

In 2001 Peggy had a cardiac arrest and this affected her very badly. Sir Alec looked after his wife devotedly until she died in 2004. He was a witty, modest, sensitive, warm and wonderful father. He also had a great love for the music of Cole Porter.

Sir Alec Atkinson died on August 7th 2015 aged 96.

Charlotte Atkinson (Daughter)

His niece Liz Kinross remembers him as... a beautiful tall man, with shining golden curly hair. He was a central part of my little universe …There was also something exotic about Mike. He would come back from distant places with stories and objects to intrigue us and phrases in new languages to twist our tongues. He was musical, artistic, modest and wise, and all this shone a light into our young lives.

Michael was born in Eastbourne on 19th December 1926, the youngest member of a family of five brothers and sisters, children of a Methodist minister, Arthur Stanley Bishop and his wife, Dorothy. The family moved to Glasgow, and when his father became Chairman of the District, to Oxford. His parents died when Michael was in his early 20s and he went to live with his older sister and family in Northamptonshire.

Michael’s long active association with Kingswood began in 1937 after early schooling at The Dragon School, Oxford. Aged 10 he followed his elder brother Paul G S Bishop (1927-33) to KS joining Westwood under the care of Hugh Clutton-Brock in what was then the Prep School. The evacuation of KS to Uppingham in 1939 meant that Michael did not experience the Senior School in Bath. He described himself as “a timid boy”, but nevertheless began to ‘tread the boards’ in school productions of André Obey’s ‘Noah’, (playing Noah’s wife) and Galsworthy’s ‘Strife’ (as Annie Roberts). He was on the Committee of the Archaeological Society. His academic brilliance gained him a County Major Scholarship in 1943 and an Exhibition to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, to read Classics. He left in 1945 two months after VE Day and before KS returned to Bath, and opted to do his National Service immediately. Two years in the RAF followed with a posting to Bielefeld where he became an Education Officer. His German batman from those days sent him a Christmas card every year until his own death, after which his widow sent one, and more recently his daughter. Michael made lifelong friendships in many countries – a testament to his qualities as a person, and to his skills as a linguist. He graduated in 1950 with a double first. A teaching post at Bradford Grammar School was short-lived because Sackett (ABS) headhunted him for KS. The editor of the Kingswood Magazine of January 1951 says, with some unwitting prescience: We welcome Mr. A. M. Bishop B.A to the Common Room and wish him a long and pleasant stay with us.

It was not long before he put his multiple teaching, academic, personal and practical skills to good use. One of his early pupils at KS was Hugh Wright. My first recollections are of a youthful teacher of Latin and Greek, very much the junior in years in a Classics department which could

A.M. BISHOP

1937-45, Staff 1950-87, Director of the Wesley Centre and Archivist 1987-2000

not have been much more distinguished, John Gardner, who became Michael’s lifelong friend, Alec Dakin fresh from Hut 6 at Bletchley Park and research in Egyptology at Oxford and Dane Maw, the Art master who read Euripides plays with the 6th form which in my time numbered 15 or so. It must have been a wonderful experience for him in his first years of teaching to have colleagues of that quality, and especially in Alek Dakin’s case of such modesty. Michael too never spoke of his distinguished and recent Cambridge career.

Neil Cheshire adds:

My own overriding impression of Michael as teacher is of his positive and encouraging attitude: he would give the impression that there was something to be said for a piece of one’s work in spite of the mistakes! And it was he who gave me my first ‘touch of alpha’ for a Latin prose composition – thus allowing me to think that I might make the grade after all.

Michael was appointed Assistant Housemaster in Middle House from the outset and in 1959 succeeded FGR Fisher as Senior Housemaster of Middle, a post which he held until 1974 whilst also succeeding JW Gardner as Head of Classics in 1966 for the next ten years. He was fully involved in school societies across all disciplines. Games were not his forte, but, in his own words: Non-games players don’t need to feel inferior. There are plenty of ways to be involved. I made up for it particularly by looking after the ATC. Instead of playing on the games field I would drill, every week, about 80 boys. I also looked after Public Works, works in the School grounds. The answer is to get involved and don’t feel weighed down.

He was a valued officer in the ATC - and his classes in aircraft recognition were legendary for the way he provided aids to memory - “fuselage like a toothpaste tube”, for example.

John Kingsnorth, who later became Senior Housemaster of Middle himself recalls:

As a lad in Middle we all warmed to him, his gentleness, the tilt of the head and frown accompanied by that unique resonant hum. One incident encapsulates such house masterly tactics; I had been caught in a pub by RAC and as a prefect this meant demotion and handing back the tie. I was sorry and felt I had let down AMB and Middle but AMB seemed even more apologetic, and if

anything we grew closer over the matter. He had the ability to see beyond the superficial and could sympathise with all viewpoints. This was very much what I remember as a colleague in the staff room, particularly staff meetings which in those days were in the Richards Room and with LJC at the helm could often become quite heated. LJC would turn to M as Director of Studies and ask for a view. “Well, I agree with everyone.” M. would wisely reply, but I began to realise he actually meant it. It often defused volatile moments and I suspect LJC used M’s discretion deliberately. This is not to say that M was anyone’s puppet, he was very much his own man with his own style and a great sense of presence particularly when MoD. In the clamour of the dining hall he would ring the bell, wait for absolute silence and then announce with resonance and authority: “No seconds!” No one else performed this absurd ritual with the distinguished gravitas of AMB.

Apart from the resonance and natural authority in his voice his speeches were very clever and witty. Two examples spring to mind. Recounting his time in housemastering and some of the challenges that all teachers faced in the 1960s he wryly remarked that he followed Queen Elizabeth I and took the Middle road. On another occasion he expressed bemusement that of all the abbreviations to be chosen for the internet “why choose the only letter with 3 syllables and then repeat it 3 times?”

I appreciated his gentlemanliness more as an adult than a pupil and sadly never got to grips with Latin even though his classes were enjoyable and entertaining - more my fault than his.

Michael involved himself not only with the school but with the wider Bath community which led to his meeting Philippa, as Liz Kinross relates: Philippa, another multi-talented, modest person, curator of the Holburne of Menstrie museum, as it then was, sent out a call for some strong men to help shift furniture. Mike turned up, and that was it. Mike and Philippa were married in 1963

…and thus began a highly fruitful partnership in which both got involved with and helped with each other’s jobs and interests. Liz continues: A few years later they adopted a beautiful baby, Cordelia. Cordelia and Chris’s son Ernie, Michael’s precious grandson has been another delight of the last eight years.

Michael will be remembered as much for his stage set design and model-making as for his teaching. His major contribution to the development of drama at KS cannot be overestimated. During his 37 years on the teaching staff at KS, Michael’s inventive artistry and skill in the design and construction of these sets for 22 Junior Lit and 26 Senior Lit plays over 32 years filled and overflowed the southern end of the Moulton Hall, now the Heap Library. His designs required an intimate knowledge of the script of the play, the wishes of the producer (which was himself for all 22 of the Junior Lit plays and 2 of the Senior Lit), knowledge of perspective, lighting angles, and so on, with ideas developed through scale models, some of which still exist in the school archives. The sets themselves were always eagerly awaited and applauded by the audience. Philippa played a valuable part in many of his productions, not least in rehearsing players with their lines.

In my time as a pupil during the ‘50’s the many hours I spent in the old Kingswood Carps Shop were punctuated at least twice a year when the place was taken over with construction of the sets for the Senior and Junior Lit. plays. The pupil constructors were under the guidance of woodwork teacher Peter Morris and often spearheaded by a senior pupil. Peter Hunter, carpenter extraordinaire, was one of them. He retired recently from a distinguished career in architecture and remembers these times with Michael as being one of inspired leadership, artistic brilliance and essential encouragement for everyone involved. Michael turned ideas into reality and delight, and provided that elusive sense of confidence to go forward.

Hugh Wright again:

My recollections of Michael’s interest in the stage was of his being one of a cast of four, playing in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in the summer of 1956 soon after its first production in English. It was read in the Library with Robson Fisher as Vladimir, Ray Wilkinson as Estragon, Michael Bishop must have been Pozzo or Lucky I cannot remember which and I cannot remember the fourth, it may have been a sixth former. What an ambitious, ground breaking thing to do! Never to be forgotten for its bravery and timing so soon after its sensational launch in London. The drama at the school was always exciting and Michael was fully involved from his first arrival..

John Kingsnorth:

For all his humility he enjoyed the drama of oration. His contribution to plays at KS was enormous. For many of us being in one of M’s plays was the highlight of the year, and he was a director who nurtured and encouraged and never seemed to lose his cool (quite an achievement!). And then there were the models of the sets. Wow. So good in fact that decades later when I produced A Penny for a Song I simply showed M’s model set to the stage manager and the set was built in 3 weeks. This also speaks volumes for his future role as Archivist that the model was easily available so long after its original use.

Peter Wilbourn (who succeeded Peter Morris as Handicrafts teacher):

Michael was a man who paid particular attention to detail. I remember he requested a report for the School magazine, following the Scout Group’s visit to the Lake District. In describing our activities, I mentioned the route following a number of mountain peaks, one of which had an obscure name. The next day, Michael drew my attention to the correct spelling of Glaramara, a name he had never met before, but had taken the trouble to look-up and revise!

Another example of Michael’s meticulous concern for accuracy was represented in his stage sets for school plays. It was taken for granted that my responsibility for Craft on the timetable demanded that I was also responsible for the manufacture of the scenery. When I mention that one play (the title eludes me) demanded one character conversing from an upstairs window of a house with another person up a tree and a further character descending from a hot-air balloon, only to disappear down a well cut into the stage floor, you might appreciate the complexity! Michael presented me

with a scale model stage set, accurate in every detail, for guidance. I merely had to scale up his model and cut accordingly.

Over his 37 years on the KS staff Michael took on a succession of roles - some of them overlapping, of Senior Classics Master, Head of Middle House (24 years altogether with Middle House), and Director of Studies. It wasn’t all slog - he was known to have attended a Roman orgy in Bath in full toga outfit with John Gardner. He enjoyed travelling. Peter Clulow relates:

On one holiday in Greece, at the top of Mount Olympus, where he thought himself far enough away from Kingswood, he was surprised to hear a schoolboy voice calling “Sir, Sir!” A KS boy recognising him on Mount Olympus, when he least expected it, caused him to observe later that “You can never get away from the school”.

Marcus Sealy saw another side to Michael.

Far from always being the calm picture of serenity we heard about at his funeral, AMB had a sort of exasperated type noise he would make when feeling a bit stressed. Regrettably, as Director of Studies (a role to which I thought his especial talents were particularly unsuited) he would often be heard making this noise as he swept determinedly through the Richards Room. The boys picked up on this, and could be heard imitating him. On one occasion he came in and announced that he had just caned a boy ‘for making my noise’.

One of Headmaster LJ Campbell’s less inspired actions was to block up all the chancel windows in the chapel and commission an old boy to make a tapestry to form the ‘reredos’. This turned out to be bright red and green, and attracted universal condemnation. LJC turned to the hapless AMB to explain the ‘meaning’ of this piece of abstract art to the school. AMB’s assembly lecture on the subject was quite brilliant: a masterpiece of obfuscation. LJC was delighted, sadly not really understanding that AMB was, in a most scholarly and learned way, taking the ‘mickey’!

It could be thought that teaching, housemastering and stage work were enough for anyone. Not so for Michael. He somehow found time and energy to play a leading role in the Bath Opera Group over its 25-year history. BOG had been started in 1951 and it was not long before Michael became fully involved, taking singing roles such as Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro (which Alan

Tongue has described as the best Antonio he ever saw) and many others over the years. In his History of the Bath Opera Group, Peter Clulow records that Michael designed the sets for 15 productions staged in multiple locations around Bath, and had singing parts (some major) in eleven. Michael produced (we should now call it ‘directed’) The Italian Girl in Algiers. Of all the sets that he designed, that for Sir John in Love (one of his favourite designs for BOG), with its towering false perspective Tudor houses, was admired by all.

Michael also exercised his rich deep voice in the Bath Bach choir, and influenced many pupils with his musicianship and piano-playing. As Neil Cheshire recalls: He invited me to play piano duets with him –almost certainly arrangements of Beethoven or Mozart symphonies - & at some point he took me through some of the Brahms symphonies, pointing out the “moments of truth” which I have anticipated ever since. Whenever I hear them, I give Michael a little smile – especially that horn solo at the end of the first movement of no. 2 in D. Those few bars could be his epitaph.

His model-making was not confined to stage sets. Peter Clulow maintained strong links with Michael and Philippa over the years and records that He was a self-taught model-maker. Initially this was for the sets of school plays, but in his retirement it went much further. The curatorship with Philippa of Beckford’s Tower led to his famous recreation of Fonthill Abbey which was used on the poster for the Beckford exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery and at the centre of the display, and also to a model of the interior of the room at the top of the tower. He made three models showing the various locations of the Holburne Museum for the ‘Holburne One Hundred’ exhibition of 1993. All these carefully crafted and beautiful models were meticulously researched from documents in local and national archives.

In 1985 I met up with the Headmaster Laurie Campbell at a club in London for a sort of interview followed later by some relaxed and leisurely conversations at KS, notably with Michael. Somehow I found myself succeeding John Ede as Head of Physics. The impression I got was that if all staff at Kingswood were as warmhearted, pleasant, and accommodating as Michael then Kingswood was the place to be. And so it turned out. I found that Michael’s presence in the Common

Room was one of quiet efficiency and precision, and announcements at the Friday Quarter meetings were frequently full of good humour, often wry and enigmatic, occasionally waspish, and Sackettian, particularly in reference to the exasperating minefield of rules and regulations of the rapidly-changing examinations system which he administered. He was always well worth listening to, however short, with his love and mastery of words being very evident. Occasionally his ability to read Egyptian hieroglyphics and fluency in several languages became evident, as he rolled around pronunciations with great relish.

On retirement in 1987 escape and relaxation with Philippa and family could have been an attractive option, but nobeing a Kingswood man to the core, and being Michael, he transmogrified into a pioneering Director of a new Wesley Centre, which he was to create, and also school Archivist. He utterly transformed the myriads of paper records with his meticulous listings and avid searching for evidence, facts, figures and statistics. In his new-found enthusiasm for facts and figures he searched for and recorded the names of all the pupils who had been at Kingswood from its foundation. He did the same for staff, and when he singled out those who had also been pupils he discovered that with his total of 57 years as pupil, teacher, Director of the Wesley Centre and Archivist, he was at the top of the list. This embarrassed him to some extent, since he was not given to blowing his own trumpet, but my guess is that it also made him feel extremely proud.

Model-making continued apace. The Old Kingswood site appeared, and separately its chapel and its pulpit. It was not long before the new Headmaster, Gary Best, was calling on Michael for details of photographs and papers for his new history of Kingswood, called Continuity and Change. Soon, too, came the planning and construction of the Wesley Centre in what had been the PR and Middle House day rooms, with pupil records, school archives, displays, meeting room, and above all a reconstruction of John Wesley’s original pulpit and communion area from the chapel in the original school in Bristol. Yet more models appeared, Beckford’s Fonthill Abbey amongst them. What a labour of love for his school, and a sanctuary, that Wesley Centre was, and what hours both Michael and Philippa put in to create it. However, the need for more teaching space meant that both the Wesley Centre and the pulpit had to be re-located after a few years which caused Michael and Philippa a great deal of sadness, although they understood the reasons.

Somehow by stealth, and gentle encouragement, Michael managed to persuade me, during my occasional visits to his eyrie, to take over from him when he eventually retired in 2000. Only then did I appreciate the enormity of not only the regular archiving jobs that Michael had done so meticulously but also the quality and quantity of his writing – Uppingham Revisited and regular, highly readable and closely researched pages for the Association Magazine come to mind, display panels

around the school, not to mention his ferreting that led to the debunking of the myth of the Mulberry Tree. All this, and he also fitted in a year as President of the Association and two as Chairman.

In later years his love of Bath led to a model of the Tudor Guildhall (with an associated article in ‘Bath History’) and another of the Abbey in 1800 (more or less complete at the time of his death), showing how closely local houses nestled right up to the Abbey walls.

He continued to be a source of helpfulness, particularly when he could put his language skills to use. He provided at various times, words in Latin for the plaque to grace the magnolia tree planted in 2006 in memory of his late friend and colleague John Gardner; words in Latin to add to the analemmatic sundial on the Ferens lawn; a check on the correct spelling and punctuation for the Greek inscription over the doorway of the new Humanities building.

To honour his 80th birthday in 2006 a dinner was held at his old college, Corpus Christi, Cambridge, hosted by Barrie Fleet, then Fellow and Director of Classical Studies at which Michael spoke.

The last social occasion at Kingswood that Michael was able to attend was only last year. It was the re-union for those Kingswoodians who left 50 years ago. That is at the time (1965) when Michael was Senior Housemaster of Middle, so was able to renew many acquaintances of former years.

As a novice KS Archivist myself after my retirement in 1999 I made frequent calls on Michael - there was always a warm welcome at Cranwells Park - to seek his guidance, now on a point of school history, now for help with some seemingly intractable problem or procedure. His encyclopaedic knowledge and unfailing memory never failed him and he often got me out of a pickle. I remember in particular one early occasion when I felt bold enough to reply at great length, without prior reference to AMB, to some enquiry that had landed on my desk. Thinking I had been very clever, I sent a courtesy copy to Michael and was very embarrassed to receive from him shortly afterwards a typically gentle, but firm put-down such that only he could frame, telling me - oh so politely and subtly - that I was really very wrong on many points,

and here was the correct answer. So I had to eat humble pie. By way of thanks to Michael I created for him a little slate plaque in the form of an ancient Roman mini-tablet which he has hung on the wall of his study ever since, alongside a Middle House shield. It reads:

Fiere Potest A.M.Episcopus ...etc in very crude and probably incorrect Latin. It was intended to translate as something like: It may well be that A.M. Bishop grows older, nevertheless he is a young wizard, thanks be to God, and an astonishing writer, I am but a humble letter-cutter and a stupid man, alas.

In a very short space of time came back the response in the form of a little framed plaque with miniature drawings of Old and New Kingswood Schools, the end of which reads: gratia et amore salutamus. At his funeral at Haycombe Crematorium on 11th December 2015 I was able to address this back to Michael, with the help of the translation he so thoughtfully provided on the back!...

Exceptionally gifted in so many fields, with admiration, and mindful of so many services rendered in respect of Kingswoodians, and of so many kindnesses towards ourselves, with gratitude and affection we salute you.

My last memories of him are also happy, meeting him and Philippa regularly in recent years at concerts in Bath where his interest in everything was still undimmed.

(Hugh Wright)

Michael was the sort of man one would like to emulate - gentleman and scholar but first devoted husband and father. He was a man who made you smile with fondness in your heart.

(John Kingsnorth)

How can we not remember Michael as one of the Kingswood Greats? His pupils, colleagues, friends, and above all, Philippa and his family will forever hold a special place for Michael in their hearts, remembering him for being a very special person of great wisdom, learning and humanity, and we do indeed celebrate the life we had the joy and privilege of sharing.

At an Association dinner in 1999 at which Michael spoke, he ended his speech in a very typical way, with a Roman salutation, Avete atque valete. I say the same to Michael, on behalf of us all: Hail and Farewell!

In his niece Liz Kinross’s words: The tinnitus and deafness of the last few years tortured him, depriving him of some of his greatest joys - listening to music, taking part in easy conversations around a table. But for me, this suffering, and the last weeks in hospital - such a torment for him, for Philippa and for Cordelia - begin to recede.

When I visited Mike in hospital with pictures of my own grandchildren, his face lit up as he looked at them. We knew we were as dear to him as he was to us.

David Brown (DMB) (1952-58), Staff (1985-99) Archivist (2000-2008)

With grateful thanks to several contributors, and apologies for occasionally adjusting the order of some of their words:

Peter Clulow (PJC) (1947-56)

Barrie Fleet (DBF) (1949-57)

Peter Hunter (PBH) (1950-57)

John Kingsnorth (JCK) (1964-71), Staff (1977-2002), Head of Middle House (1982-98)

Marcus Sealy (MS) Staff (1970)

Alan Tongue (AFT) (1950-58)

Peter Wilbourn (PW) Staff (1968-73)

Hugh Wright. (HRW) (1949-57) Chairman of Governors (1996 - 2006)

JOHN HEDLEY CULE

MA, MD (Cambridge), MRCS (Eng.), FRCP (Edin), FRCGP, FSA.

1935-37

John Hedley Cule was born on the 7th of February 1920, the elder son of a very successful Draper in Ton Pentre, The Rhondda. He was educated initially at the Rhondda Intermediate School for Boys, and then Porth County School. In 1935 his father sent him away to receive his 6th Form education at Kingswood, where he later sent his own boys.

The headmaster at the time, Mr. A. Barrett Sackett encouraged John’s interest in Wesley’s medical work and stimulated his lifelong enthusiasm about the History of Medicine. John gained entrance to Trinity Hall, Cambridge University in 1938 to study Medicine and later moved to Kings College Hospital Medical School, University of London. The Second World War and the affect of the Blitz in London meant he was promoted one year early to House Physician and Casualty Officer at Kings in 1942.

John qualified in 1943 and was immediately drafted into Military Service. He was posted initially as a 1st Lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland regiment to the seaport of Crotone in Calabria, Southern Italy. There he was allocated an Italian POW, Marcello Fillini, as his batman. Marcello spoke no English so John had little choice but to quickly became fluent in Italian.

In 1944 he not only made Captain but was also mentioned in dispatches for treating a pneumothorax in a Royal Army Service Corps driver whilst transferring him some 250 kilometres by rail in a cattle truck to the British General Hospital at Taranto.

That same year was also memorable for him as in March he married a very pretty young nurse called Joyce Leslie Bonser. Leslie went on to join him briefly on Operation Henpeck when he was posted to Austria in 1945.

In 1946 he left the army and became a Junior Surgical Registrar at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge and in 1947 moved to Kings Cross Hospital London as a Junior Medical Registrar. He left London soon after however and went on to spend 25 years in General Practice in Camberley, Surrey from 1948-1971. During this time he raised a family of three children: Simon (born in 1949), Peter (born in 1951) and Myfanwy (born in 1955).

Whilst in general practice he became a Liveryman of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in 1962 and a Freeman of the City of London in 1964. He celebrated his Silver Wedding in 1969 with his usual exuberant style holding a banquet at the Apothecaries Liveried Hall and Champagne at Claridges.

John was a great fisherman and loved the chalk streams of Hampshire, fishing both the Test and Itchen, he would always tie his own flies to ensure they represented those hatching on the river at that time. It was through fishing that he maintained his links with Wales spending some of his spare time fishing for salmon and sea trout on the River Teifi. When he retired from General Practice in 1972 he moved to Capel Dewi, Ceredigion in West Wales, the fishing on the River Teifi being a major draw.

In the late 70’s he took up a new hobby and started driving ponies, he put the same energy and enthusiasm into this as he did with Medical History. He qualified for the Scurry Driving at the Horse of the Year Show in 1979, with two Palomino ponies Goldie and Playboy. He then graduated in the early 80’s to two Welsh Section C ponies, the twin mares Sionned and Siwan. He competed with them in three day carriage driving events all over Great Britain.

He took great pride in the fact that he rubbed shoulders with Prince Phillip and reckoned he was on first name terms. He demonstrated great practical skills with Sionned and Siwan and was able to drive them both as a pair or in tandem. As usual he always immersed himself fully in anything he did and was Chairman of

the Welsh Branch of the British Driving Society 1986 - 1994.

His professional life changed direction with his move to Wales and he qualified as a psychiatrist. His work took him to St David’s Hospital Carmarthen and the Psychiatric Unit in West Wales General Hospital. In later years John continued his work in the field of psychiatry and was part of a team assessing people who might require sectioning in order to safeguard either themselves or the public. He became involved in some quite alarming incidents which varied from firearms sieges to police car chases.

Throughout most of his career John had shown a passionate interest in Medical History and in the year he moved to Wales he became president of the Osler Club. He was a President of the International Society of the History of Medicine as well as founded and resided as President of the Welsh Society of the History of Medicine. He was elected a Fellow of the Faculty of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Society of Apothecaries in 1979. He was also a lecturer in the History of Medicine at the Welsh National School of Medicine.

He retired fully from work as a Psychiatrist at the age of 86 and was recognized for his services to Mental Health in West Wales by being awarded an MBE in 2005. In fact during his long and illustrious career he was awarded many commendations and plaudits including MRCS, FRCP, FRCGP, FSA, and Hon FRSM.

His wife Leslie died in 1999, and although John had lost his greatest supporter he was fortunate enough to remain in his own home until he died at the grand old age of 95 on the 10th of April this year, 2015.

Peter Cule (1960-69)

DEREK DEAKIN 1941-50

Derek was born in 1930 in Stanley, Co. Durham, the son of a Methodist Minister. He went to Kingswood School in Bath, where he was in the cricket 1st XI. He trained at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, qualifying in 1955 before doing his house jobs at King Edward VII

Hospital, Windsor and St. Luke’s Hospital, Guildford. He then joined Dr Bartlett and partners in Ash Vale on the Surrey / Hants border as a locum in 1955, staying on as an assistant before becoming a partner in 1957, by which time the practice had extended to Frimley Green and Pirbright. The practice grew rapidly and although Pirbright was relinquished, a medical centre was built at Frimley Green. Ash Vale Health Centre opened in 1980, a significant landmark, where it has since remained.

Derek was known for his care, compassion and ability to listen to his patients, and had a particular interest in Cardiology, as well as teaching medical students from St Georges’ Medical School. He was awarded a prize for outstanding services to the local community in 1991. He retired from general practice in 1992, citing increasing bureaucracy and less patient contact time as contributory factors.

His work was underpinned by his Christian faith, and in retirement he had more time to play an active role at Guildford Methodist Church, as well as travelling and walking, particularly in the Lake District, Scotland and The Alps. He was a member of both Surrey CCC and the MCC for over 30 years, and also keenly followed rugby. Other lifelong interests were music, opera and birdwatching. He enjoyed the time spent with his five grandchildren, but unfortunately his latter years were marred by declining health due to vascular dementia.

He died peacefully on 30th January 2015 at Holly Lodge Nursing Home and is survived by his wife of 58 years, Sheila, and 2 children - Philip and Nicola - both of whom also trained at St Marys - one now a GP and the other a physiotherapist.

Philip Deakin (1973-78)

RICHARD DENYER 1960-66

Richard Denyer was the son of Allan and Pauline (née Haighton) Denyer and was born in Gloucester on 22nd March 1950. Allan Denyer was a Methodist missionary in the Bahamas and as a result Richard and his older brother Paul (1958-65) were educated at Kingswood.

After School he went to Thanet technical college in Kent and then took a hotel and catering course at Leeds Polytechnic. Moving to Norfolk he worked for a time as a psychiatric nurse before studying art at the Norwich School of Design from 1976 to 1978. During this period he became founder, then chair, of the Norwich Arts Centre.

After art school he became a freelance photographer for publications which included the Sunday Times and the Guardian. As well his freelance work he became a part-time lecturer at what is now Norwich University of the Arts. He was a popular figure at the University, where he taught for 20 years, and became founder and course leader of the MA in photographic studies. He went on to spend a further 5 years as the university’s business development manager.

Richard’s own photographic work captured the landscape of his adopted East Anglia. His first book of photographs, ‘Still Waters’ was published in 1989 with a second book ‘Wetlands’ following in 1990. These were followed by an official National Park guide to the Norfolk Broads in 2002 and then ‘A Period Eye’ in 2003 which he edited and partly wrote for Norfolk Museums. In 2012 he published a book, accompanied by an exhibition called ‘Neither Land Nor Water’ which compared East Anglia with the Low Countries. His final exhibition and publication ‘Affinity and Kindred’ was showing at Norwich Cathedral at the time of his death.

Richard Denyer died on 14th December 2015 of a pulmonary embolism. He is survived by his wife Catherine (née Wiseman), their children, Madeleine and Oscar, and by his brother, Paul.

rather difficult to comprehend owing to his acquisition of a broad Scottish accent. Perhaps this indicated a natural aptitude for languages, as he went on to study French and German at Bristol University after leaving Kingswood School, a talent which would serve him well later in life when his legal career required him to study Norman Law at Caen University, a pre-requisite for the practice of Law at the Guernsey Bar.

Graham married Penelope Wheadon in 1962 and their union was one of genuine devotion. They complimented each other perfectly, Penny’s sociable and vivacious nature being an excellent foil to Graham’s quiet somewhat taciturn manner. They were blessed with four children, Suzanne, Jane, Robert and Martyn, and it is my eternal great fortune that the eldest of these saw some sort of merit in me, sufficient to accept my offer of marriage in 1995.

Once I got to know Graham I was surprised and delighted to find out that, like me, he was a graduate of Kingswood School. He was a child of the A.B. Sackett era and to my amazement we were both taught Latin by Michael Bishop, Graham enjoying the talents of that extraordinary individual at the start of his career whilst I was towards the end. We were able to exchange stories that revealed the deep fondness for the school which Graham possessed.

Sir Graham was born in St Sampson’s Parish in Guernsey on 15th December 1932. His early life was blighted by the German Occupation of the Island during which he was evacuated to Scotland and, apparently, on his return home his friends and family found him

My first encounter with my future fatherin-law was somewhat inauspicious. I had just finished my first week as a junior House Officer, fresh out of medical school in August 1989 when I was invited to join the family for the final weekend of Cowes Week. Sleep deprived, barely able to keep my eyes open, I made the trek to Southampton and on to the Isle of Wight where I committed the first of many faux pas by arriving at the Royal Yacht Squadron without a blazer. Fortunately Graham travelled with a spare, which almost fitted me so the disaster was averted. Later I proved to be a distinct disappointment to Graham and Penny at my tardiness in asking for their daughter’s hand. When the time came my wife to be forbade me from asking her father’s permission to get married on the grounds that the hand in question belonged to her and not to her father. Once the announcement was made I was again in deep trouble as Graham and Penny were both very traditional and had expected the request to be made formally. There is an expression about being caught between a rock and a hard place. Fortunately the dissatisfaction was appeased and we were permitted to marry in Guernsey and Graham made one of his finest speeches at our wedding reception, although the service had to be delayed until the afternoon so that Graham could tend to his official duties at the Queens Official Birthday celebrations.

Graham went on from Kingswood to Bristol University, then to London where he started his legal career in earnest. The magnetic pull of his native island soon ensured that he returned home where he was called to the Guernsey Bar. His time in private law practice was relatively short before entering public service, but not before he helped found the law firm of Carey Olsen, now a multi-national law practice. Graham was appointed H.M. Comptroller in 1973, and then ascended the legal ranks to become a Judge with his appointment as Deputy Bailiff of Guernsey in 1982. He achieved the highest legal office in Guernsey when he succeeded Sir Charles Frossard as Bailiff in 1992 and his knighthood shortly followed. Tragedy struck in 1996 when Graham lost Penny to breast cancer and without his soul mate he became somewhat like a yacht without a rudder. He remarried in 1998 to Cicely Lummis, and he retired in 1999, but sadly early onset Alzheimer’s disease rather cut short the enjoyment of his retirement and he lived with the disease for over ten years becoming increasingly incapacitated by it.

Outside Graham’s professional life he had a wide range of interests but his first and greatest passion was for the sea. Graham owned and sailed a series of yachts both locally in Guernsey and around Western Europe. He was a veteran of several Fastnet races and was never happier than when he was at the helm of one of his boats either racing in Guernsey or Cowes or on a family sailing holiday surrounded by his children. He was also a viola player of considerable talent and although he found little time for this during his professional schedule he did rekindle his love for music after retirement before the onset of his illness.

Graham leaves a number of lasting legacies to the Island. He will be

SIR GRAHAM DOREY 1943-52

remembered for posterity for his work at President of the Guernsey Flag Investigation Committee. The current Guernsey flag, bearing the gold cross of William of Normandy combined with the Cross of St. George, representing the merging of the two roots of the Guernsey Constitution has become a symbol of our Island’s identity around the globe and is attributable largely to Graham’s inspiration and input. Much more could be said about Graham’s work, his patronage of the arts and music, charitable works, his time as an elected States’ Deputy and his part in the development of the Guernsey financial sector to name but a few.

My overall personal memory of Graham will be as a quietly assertive, thoughtful and fair gentleman and I cannot improve on the word integrity, which seems to be the term most used to describe him in the plethora of tributes locally in his native Island of Guernsey. He was a highly principled and moral man and few of us could hope to live up to the high standards and Methodist tradition he lived by.

Sir Graham Dorey died peacefully at home on 25th June 2015 surrounded by his loving family. It was a great privilege to have known him.

JOHN EDMONDS 1937-45

John Edmonds (1927-2015) entered Westwood in 1937. The change for him was massive, having been at a series of state primaries in Lancashire where his father was a Minister. The thing he always remembered was the splendid teacher who took the boys out onto the hills round Bath and they collected specimens and later built a vivarium. Many snakes and sloe worms escaped of course but the interest in the natural world remained with John throughout his long life.

In 1939 the whole school was evacuated to Uppingham as the navy needed the Bath site. John remembered the difference between the ethos of the two schools, Uppingham still having fags which the

Kingswood boys refused to accept, regarding the practice as medieval. Many and hard were the fights between the rival boys. It cannot have been easy for either school to accommodate the new circumstances.

John remembered collecting the discarded ordinance dropped by the German planes on their return flights from bombing the Midland towns. He and his study mate were deeply aggrieved when the police confiscated their collection of live ammunition, including incendiaries and tracer bullets, tastefully arranged on their mantelpiece above an open fire.

When he was older, he would ride his bicycle home from Uppingham to Lancashire, sleeping in barns on the way. Kingswood boys also enjoyed the occasional day when they were released from school to spend the day out in the countryside - as long as they returned by 7pm and remained in their small groups. The rival Uppingham boys were deeply jealous of this tradition.

Having expected to join the army, John was then drafted into the navy when he left school. He only once returned to the Uppingham area when he visited with David Linahan (1940-47) who was over from Tasmania.

Alison Edmonds

DAVID ALFRED GREEN 1951-57

David Green was born near Banbury on 19th December 1940. His parents were committed Methodist missionaries who worked in Nigeria and David grew up seeing little of them. Educated at Prior’s Court and then Kingswood he quickly learnt independence while at the same time developing a love of the countryside and farming communities.

After Kingswood David spent a year at Cannington, a Somerset farming college, and then returned to Banbury, joining Saville Tractors on the sales side. He also joined the Hook Norton Young Farmers’ Club and by the age of 20 his natural popularity and ability as a public speaker saw him become Chairman of

the club. This was a role he was to repeat in many other societies and committees throughout his life.

Membership of the YFC had another benefit for it was there that he met Diana (Di) Mullins who David married in 1963. They went on to live in High Meadow Farm, Lower Tadmarton (Di’s parent’s farm) with their two children, Richard and Sarah.

In 1970 David left Saville Tractors and set up what was to become his business for the rest of his working life, David Green Fabrications Ltd. The business expanded significantly, at one stage employing 60 people, mainly working for large organisations such as Guinness breweries. However, with a growing family and other commitments, such as his own pig farming, in the late 1970s he relinquished the large site they had been using and returned the business to the High Meadow Farm buildings. There, with Di alongside him, he re-established the small family business that was his main love and he was able to re-focus on his pigs, culminating with his porkers winning the Banbury Fatstock Championship in 1979.

At this time David also became involved in local politics, initially joining the Taddy Parish Council (where he quickly became Chair) and then serving as a District Councillor for 16 years. During this time he chaired the Environment Committee, overseeing the introduction of wheelie bins, and become Chair of the Planning Committee for a decade. In all these challenging positions he was greatly aided by his communication abilities and his usual humour.

Sadly, in 2007 David slowly succumbed to a long struggle with Alzheimer’s, bravely supported by his family through many increasingly difficult years. When David passed away on 20th September 2014 messages of condolence were received from numerous local former employees, his large circle of farming friends and his wide circle of Council and political friends including local MP, Tony Baldry.

Richard Vowles (1974-83)

Adapted from an original tribute in the local village magazine.

JOHN ADRIAN GREEVES

1946-52, Staff 1959-68

Adrian Greeves passed away in January 2016, he had been a pupil at Kingswood between 1946 and 1952, returning as a member of staff in 1959.

As a pupil at Kingswood he played a very full part in School life. He was involved in Senior Literary Association productions, was Secretary of the Historical Society as well as being involved with the Senior Scientific Society. He played in the School orchestra and was a member of the Senior Athletics team as well as being a Lower House prefect. In 1952 he was awarded an Exhibition in History at Jesus College, Cambridge.

Returning to Kingswood in 1959 to teach English, he took up where he had left off in terms of active involvement. In 1960 he was appointed a Westwood housemaster and, in 1962, produced Twelfth Night at Westwood. He was also engaged in works being undertaken to the theatre at Summerhilll. In August 1964 the School magazine recorded that. “The new Pegasus Theatre at Summerhill made its debut when Mr Greeves’ production of Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons was performed for four nights at the end of term”.

In 1965 he succeeded Mr Tongue as senior Housemaster for Hall House, a position he held until he left Kingswood in 1968 to become a Lecturer in English at Westminster College of Education, Oxford. Westminster College was founded in 1851 as a training institute for teachers in Methodist schools.

He is survived by his wife, Jenny.

ROBERT IVES

1950-56

Robert, born in 1937, was the eldest of three brothers who were all educated at Kingswood School as were his father and his uncle.

On leaving School in 1956 he spent two years National Service in the Royal

Navy, part of this time included learning Russian. In 1958 Robert accepted an offer to study Zoology at Queen’s College, Oxford and graduated with an Honours degree in 1962. He met his wife, Helen, at Oxford and they were married in 1963.

Ten days after the wedding Robert took up a two year contract with the then Tanganyika Government Service working in the Tsetse Fly Control Service. He and Helen lived in Dodoma and their eldest daughter, Sara, was born in 1964. Tanganyika became Tanzania while they were there.

On returning to the UK Robert’s career changed to university administration and his first post was in the Registrar’s Office at what was then the Loughborough College of Technology, later Loughborough University. His younger daughter, Emma, was born in 1966.

In 1967 there was another move when he was offered a post at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, where he remained for eleven years before accepting the post of Deputy Registrar (Examinations) at the University of Manchester in 1978. He was responsible for introducing computerised timetabling and word processing systems in the Registrar’s Department which was, at the time, revolutionary. Robert became increasingly involved in training administrative staff across the university sector.

Robert took early retirement in 1989 but, in 1990, was appointed Executive Secretary of the Conference of University Administrators, which was to become the Association of University Administrators, and served in this post until 1996.

Robert’s lifelong passion for gardening was reflected in his decision to offer to act as Honorary Treasurer to the Scottish Rock Garden Club when that position became vacant in 1997. He much enjoyed the opportunities that gave him to return to Scotland over the following six years.

Sadly, in 2006 Robert was diagnosed with vascular dementia but was for several years able to continue enjoying his garden and trips to the family holiday house in the Isle of Wight. As his condition deteriorated his life became very restricted but he was cared for at home until his death in November 2014.

Helen Ives

THE REVD DONALD KNIGHTON MA (Oxon), BA (Cantab) 1946-50

Donald George Knighton, who has died at the age of 82, was a distinguished Methodist minister whose life was devoted to others. His personal warmth, huge integrity and capacity for listening made him an outstanding pastor, inspiring trust and affection in equal measure. He was born and grew up in Penarth, son of an English family, and returned to Wales for the second half of his ministry and official “retirement”. Though essentially English he was glad to become an adopted Welshman.

Though a supporter of evolutionary change in church and state, his habits were surprisingly conservative with a small “c”. Long hand-written letters in an instantly recognisable angular style, like his walk, were his trademark. Many were expressions of his innate courtesy, thanking people for the most minor services. Others contained erudite commentaries on the latest books he had read. The most valuable were eminently pastoral. He had a passion for studying ecclesiastical and 19th century political and social history which was satisfied not only by current writing on the period but by Victorian three volume biographies containing extensive quotations from the letters of the main protagonists. One suspects that he would have been a prominent contributor to such correspondence had he been born a century earlier. A life-long teetotaller he was nevertheless a consumer of an astonishing number of cups of black coffee.

Donald was one of a dwindling few in our time who followed a traditional path from school to college and then the ordained ministry soon afterwards. In Trinity Church, Penarth, he was influenced by his deeply committed parents and by the far-sighted John Gibbs, later a VicePresident of Conference, and friend of the Knighton family. From there he gained a scholarship to Kingswood School, Bath, and after National Service in the RAF in 1952 he went on to read modern history at Oriel College, Oxford,

where one of his intellectual heroes was Asa Briggs. Outside academic life he was active in the John Wesley Society and the ecumenical Student Christian Movement (SCM).

After Oxford Donald joined the Ministry of Labour and National Service as a direct-entry cadet and spent two years in exchanges in the Swansea area. By all accounts his time as a civil servant suited him and his employers well and his observation of hardships there left a lasting impression and strengthened his later commitment to pastoral care.

Nevertheless the call of the church was stronger than that of the civil service and Donald spent his final academic years gaining a degree in theology at Wesley House, Cambridge where the University was providing stimulating lectures from the likes of Gordon Rupp, Owen and Henry Chadwick and the then young John Kent. Not all the ministerial students at Wesley House found it an easy place to be, but Donald was a fount of wise counsel, even a mediator, for those in need.

His maturity, steadiness and pastoral skills, coupled with his ecumenical outlook and academic background, made him a natural choice for his first appointment as a probationer minister in what was an experimental situation at the heart of the establishment. He became part-time Methodist Chaplain at Wesley Memorial Church, Oxford, under the Revd Ben Drewery, and part-time SCM Secretary in the University, the latter post shared with an Anglican counterpart. Donald was able to combine his loyalty to the Methodist community with a vision of a wider church and its call to social action. This was at a time when student Christianity in Oxford and elsewhere was at a peak in the twentieth century. While in Oxford Donald and Anne, his longstanding love from the church in Penarth, were married and their flat in Headington became a place of warm hospitality and many stimulating conversations.

As an ordained minister his first circuit appointments were in Worcester with its predominantly rural surroundings and then Wimbledon, a bustling suburban adjunct of London with its own distinctive character. It was not too long however before he moved to Selly Oak, Birmingham, minister (and later circuit

Superintendent) of a large and active church which served as a chaplaincy to Methodists in the University, including a significant overseas community, and the various colleges in the area. Though demanding, this was a situation ideally suited to his pastoral gifts and academic background. In addition he became involved in an important community initiative, the ‘70 House’ for young drop-outs. An indication of the affection he inspired was provided by the coach load of Selly Oak members who came to his memorial service in Abergavenny, thirty years on.

It was in 1984 that he returned to Wales as Chair of the Cardiff and Swansea District, based in Cardiff. Here his ecumenical and forward-looking convictions enabled him to play a significant leadership role in interchurch relations and the sensitivities of the Welsh and English-speaking manifestations of Methodism. On his initiative the District was renamed South Wales and he worked successfully for closer relations with the Welsh Methodist community, Synod Cymru. That led to British Methodism’s first bi-lingual circuit in Ceredigion in 1994. Now the South and North English-speaking districts have become the Wales Synod, which continues to co-operate with Synod Cymru. Ecumenically he served as one of the leaders of the Commission of Covenanted Churches and supported imaginative new ventures ecumenically across the District.

It was while they were in Cardiff that Anne became Vice-President of Conference, a role in which Donald both supported and encouraged her lay ministry. Then he suffered an acute personal loss when Anne died tragically and suddenly while recovering from a routine operation. In 1994 Donald was fortunate in his second marriage which was to Gwenllian, a member of the Methodist Diaconal Order. He supported her in a number of challenges, including her stationing as Training and Development Officer for the North Wales and Cymru Districts. It was characteristic of him to take a back seat while encouraging others, but one is left to wonder whether the church missed more than one opportunity in not calling him into a connexional position commensurate with his gifts and dedication. Few in the wider church

could rival his knowledge of Methodist property matters and the complexities of the rule book known to all as CPD.

Donald’s official retirement began in 1997 as he moved to Aberystwyth and then Rhuthun to be with Gwenllian in her continuing ministry. In that area and also when they finally settled in Abergavenny he took pastoral care of a number of congregations that were temporarily without ministers, including an English Presbyterian church in North Wales. He also represented the Methodist Church on the ecumenical LAWS (Laws affecting Welsh churches) Committee and the Religious Education Movement in Wales. Until he met Gwenllian he was not really an “abroad” person, but she added a new dimension to his experience of the church and the world by dragging him off to the Continent, often Germany, for the annual meetings of the International Ecumenical Fellowship. There he was able to savour the land and the culture of Luther in a relaxed setting.

In retirement Donald had more leisure for reading the ‘Guardian’ and supporting the Labour Party. His one indulgence was the purchase of books. He not only believed in the adage that “books do furnish a room” but he put it into practice with liberal abandon and double shelving. Even when moving to a smaller house meant downsizing and selling some precious volumes acquired over the years, he was known to have re-purchased some of them at a later date.

He was above all a man for others, a calm and wise listener who gave himself unstintingly without seeking fame or fortune. In his family life he suffered great sadness as well as richness, for in addition to the premature loss of Anne, their two adopted sons Ben and Daniel died young in tragic circumstances. He is happily survived by Gwenllian, his daughter Rachel, her children Joshua and Lydia, and Daniel’s daughter Star, his sister Mary and his nieces.

Henry Rack (1942-50) and Robin Sharp

Originally published in the Methodist Recorder and reproduced here with their kind permission.

When Gordon Mobley retired in 1990 Ray Wilkinson, (KS 1939-49 and Staff 1954-88) a friend and colleague of Gordon’s, rather magnificently wrote the following in his retirement tribute. “One of the joys – there are few – of staff meetings used to be to watch successive Headmasters trying to deal with Gordon’s interventions; the glazed look of desperation was always a joy. No doubt Memos were handed on from retiring Headmasters to their successors – thick files labelled ‘Top Secret: How to deal with Gordon’. Many techniques were used – patient resignation, brusque interruption, attempts to rule him out of order – but none was successful. And of course there was often a degree of uncomfortable truth in what Gordon had to say. It was one of his ancestors who pointed out that the Emperor had no clothes.”

Gordon Mobley was very much his own man; in an age when teachers were awarded nicknames as a matter of course Gordon’s was, simply, ‘Gordon’. For 27 years he was hugely involved in Kingswood life. In the classroom he taught Maths or ‘sums’ as he liked to say. Many pupils who might have considered themselves hopeless Mathematical cases had cause to give thanks as they emerged from the numerical darkness clutching an O-Level certificate.

Gordon’s involvement and influence, however, went far beyond the classroom. He was C.O. of the School Air Training Corps, annually taking boys to RAF camps where they gained valuable flying experience. Gordon was the man responsible for introducing and organising regular and popular ski-trips,

not to mention Ten Tors, Lake District camping and much more. He was also an outstanding sportsman (more of that later) and it can’t be by chance that during his time in charge of 1st XI Cricket a number of longstanding School records were broken.

As a dedicated Sixth Form tutor there will be many former pupils (and their parents) who will gratefully remember Gordon’s famous, unrelenting determination to ensure students got onto the right courses in the right universities…even if their grades had not quite come up to expectation or requirement. He would spend hours on the ‘phone employing a tactic which Ray described as “battering the enemy into submission”! The tactic worked and his successes in this area were considerable and of great benefit to the School.

Perhaps the role at Kingswood with which Gordon is most associated is his many years as master in charge of the Dixon Building. In retirement, when attending Association events, he would tell former pupils of his compete awareness of the ‘banging on the pipes’ warning signal that ritually serenaded his evening visits to check conduct was orderly and Prep was in progress. The sound of the pipes was also a signal to Gordon – job done, a coffee in the Common Room awaits!

For all these reasons, Gordon is still remembered by many former pupils with great affection and high regard. His naturally gregarious nature meant that, long after he retired, a walk through the city centre of Bath would be happily slowed by numbers of his former charges (and often their parents) coming up to have a chat.

Outside Kingswood, Gordon’s interests and achievements were many and considerable. He was a Mathematician and Statistician of considerable ability and lectured for the Open University in both Statistics and Psychology. His sporting excellence is the stuff of legend – as a rugby player he played for Bath (1st XV and United). He played cricket at junior county level and then club cricket for Lansdown CC. He scored many thousands of runs as a club cricketer and once opened the batting with Geoffrey Boycott. Ray Wilkinson reflected, “I have no doubt that he had no compunction in going down the wicket and advising the great man that if only he would open out

his left leg a little more his on-drive would go more sweetly”.

Gordon loved the racket sports as well, unsurprisingly he was a talented tennis and squash player spending much time at Lansdown Tennis Club. Then there was sailing – both dinghy and ocean –and considerable prowess on a Malibu board in the surf on family holidays in Polzeath.

In such a life of service, participation and triumph there was still room for one more element; Gordon was, above all else, a devoted and much-loved family man. No father could have been more engaged, teaching his children all the sports he loved so much and a little bit of Maths as well. In recent times he was rarely photographed without a grandchild at his side and he would be proud to know that, right now, a third Mobley generation walks the corridors of the Dixon. He is greatly missed. In Maureen Mobley’s words, “Gordon was so much more than a teacher – for him ‘school-mastering’ was not a job, it was a way of life”.

Jeremy Wimpress (1969-76)

1943-48

Donald was born on 15th October 1929 in Serenga, India where his father, John Wesley Sergeant, was working as part of a Methodist missionary team. He was the youngest son of John and his wife Beatrice.

Donald attended Kingswood as did his elder brothers John (1931-39) and Keith

GORDON MOBLEY Staff 1963-90

DONALD WESLEY SERGEANT

(1933-40). After Kingswood he read engineering at Birmingham University and lived in Solihull. He flew with the 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron for several years in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. In later years he sang with the Solihull Chandos Choir and he played the organ regularly at church.

In 1956 he was married to Verney (née Donnelly), who died in December 2010. Donald passed away on 14th November 2015. He is survived by his elder sisters, Kathleen and Olwen and his six children and ten grandchildren.

RONALD DAVID GREGG TUNBRIDGE

1954-60

Ronald David Gregg Tunbridge MD FRCP, younger son of Sir Ronald (19181924) and Lady Tunbridge (née Dorothy Gregg) and brother of W Michael G Tunbridge (1952-1958), was born on 4 Dec 1941 and died peacefully on 17 Feb 2016, a few days after a major stroke.

David trained at St Mary’s Hospital, London and qualified in medicine in 1968. He undertook research into hypertension whilst a Lecturer there before moving in 1979 to Manchester University as a Senior Lecturer and a Consultant Physician at Manchester Royal Infirmary, where he also became Director of Clinical Studies until his retirement in 2001. He was an astute, kind and caring doctor who was well liked and respected by his patients, his students and his colleagues. David was supported devotedly by his wife Eileen over the 44 years of their marriage and he was justly proud of his daughter Laura, now a Professor of Music in Oxford and his son Alec, an IT expert in Manchester. David will be sorely missed by his family and friends who loved him especially for his droll sense of humour, his warmth and his wit.

Rest in Peace.

Michael Tunbridge (1952-58)

SIDNEY “JOHN” WEST

1930-35

John West was born in Great Dunmow, Essex on 4th October 1918 into a Methodist family, the second oldest of five children and the only boy among four sisters. He grew up in Dunmow, and later Earith, Huntingdonshire.

John loved his Kingswood days with A B Sackett as headmaster. He later said that he was taught independence and curiosity of mind and his love of reading was especially nurtured. He played cricket for Middle House and was secretary for the Junior Literary Society. He received a Dux Prize for Good Conduct in 1932 and a prize for German in 1933.

On leaving school he joined Barclays Bank as a junior clerk in 1935 at Billericay, Essex. He joined the Essex Yeomanry as a reserve in the spring of 1939 when war looked inevitable, and began training as an artillery survey specialist.

Now employed at Barclays Chelmsford Branch, he was mobilised with the rest of the TA on Friday 1st September, 1939. He recalled later that it was a strange and exhilarating experience to walk off the job, leaving all the work behind him in a very busy branch on market day, and enter an entirely new life.

After mobilisation, he trained with the 1st Cavalry until February 1940, when his regiment left for Palestine. They were engaged in many deployments “until we knew Palestine as well as we knew Essex”. During this period the intensive artillery specialist training continued.

In September 1940 he moved with his regiment down to the Western Desert for the 1st Desert Campaign. In the spring of 1941 he developed fever symptoms in the

Libyan desert and was later diagnosed with polio.

The illness was a cruel blow to a young man in his 23rd year, who stood at nearly 6’6” tall and loved sport and physical activity, and who was having the time of his life. He later admitted that the setback gave him an added determination and sharpened his competitive edge because he knew that in future anything he wanted to achieve in life would require him to give 110%.

He was sent to recuperate in Jerusalem, and was finally evacuated from the Middle East to Durban, South Africa, where he arrived in September 1941.

Severed from his regiment and his friends, a “write off” with all his hopes of a commission dashed, he nevertheless found his time in South Africa to be a memorable experience, and made lifelong friends there. He did clerical work at the Oribi Military Hospital, Pietermaritzburg where he was being treated, but was then ‘poached’ to do clerical work at the small military liaison mission at DHQ Pretoria in April 1942, where later, when his fitness returned to ‘B’ Category, he was recommended for a commission. John returned to the UK in June, and commenced his OCTU training in 3 dimensional gunnery. He was awarded the Africa Star in December 1943 and made 2nd Lieutenant in January 1944.

John served at various anti-aircraft sites including Almondsbury, and Winterbourne, until he became Troop Commander of the gun site at Landguard Point, Felixstowe in Suffolk.

When firing at the V1s, the gunnery was so efficient that he later joked that a Court of Inquiry might almost be ordered if more than 10 rounds were taken to bring a V1 down. The site at Landguard Point shot down 23 V1s during the spring of 1945. This was followed by service with Movement Control on the airfields of Brussels and Hamburg until demobilisation in Spring 1946.

His time in Hamburg gave him an appreciation for German culture – he attended many classical concerts at the Laeiszhalle – and a belief in reconciliation and bridge building. He encouraged his daughters, twenty years later, to establish an exchange relationship with a German family, a friendship which continues to this day.

James Sergeant (Son)

He married Sgt. Lorna Cooper, a radar operator, in April 1946 and re-joined the Territorial Army at Leigh on Sea, where again he taught HAA gunnery as Troop Commander. By now he had been promoted to the rank of Major. During this period, training was heightened and sustained by the tensions caused by Russian pressure culminating in the Berlin Airlift.

After the war he rejoined Barclays Bank, moving to Ipswich in 1955, on his promotion to Assistant Manager of Barclays Bank there. He became manager of Barclays’ branch in Framlingham, Suffolk in the spring of 1961, and of Colchester branch in 1965. In 1968 he was appointed Regional Director of the South West, based in Exeter, where he spent 12 years until his retirement in October 1980.

After this, he spent a further 25 years in directorships including the Dartington Hall Trust, and was Chairman of Dartington & Co., a private, regional merchant bank which survives today as Rowan Dartington & Co. He remained in Devon until he died, living first at Whitestone where he built a fine garden, and later in a smaller house at Exton overlooking the Exe Estuary, until his death last year.

Left slightly disabled from his polio, John never let it define him or get in the way of his ambition, his sense of humour and his infectious enthusiasm for life. To the great frustration of his children in his last years, he cheerfully refused all aids – wheelchairs, mobility scooters – which would have greatly eased his drastically deteriorating mobility, because he refused to see himself as an “invalid”.

His passions were gardening and his collection of old English roses, music, the arts and films. He supported Ipswich Town and Arsenal FCs, and was a keen follower of Essex County Cricket.

John died on 15 June 2014, leaving his wife, Lorna (who recently passed

away in October 2015), two sons, three daughters, four grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Family of Sidney John West

originated. He’d been born in London on August 3 1935 and until the war lived in Cliftonville, near Margate. Howell and Siân lived an idyllic childhood as evacuees living in a variety of locations around Tywyn. His memories and stories of village life, walking in the countryside, using the old Talyllyn steam railway were the ones he most often related to his family and were most dear to him.

There was no doubt that Howell would go to Kingswood, coming from a strong Methodist background, with his father a lay preacher and his grandfather on his mother’s side a Wesleyan minister. Indeed the Kingswood connections began with Howell’s uncles attending Kingswood at the start of the 20th century with Howell Francis Jones (1895-1900) and Eustace Howell Jones (1909-15) and his mother attending Trinity Hall, Kingswood’s sister school for the daughters of Wesleyan ministers. His cousins David (1949-1955) and Gerry (1951-1957) also followed Howell as did his son Geraint (1973-1981).

Kingswood always seemed to be in Howell’s life, whether as a boy there and then afterwards attending most Association weekends and many local Association events. If ever there was a former KS pupil on television, the radio or in the paper we were always reminded of that person’s connection with KS. For me as a young boy Kingswood was always being mentioned and it was a natural step for me to go to Kingswood at 12.

Howell always liked to say that he’d only started formal schooling aged 8 in Barmouth when as an evacuee he was in Wales staying with his sister Siân and their mother in the Tywyn area of mid-Wales from where his mother’s family

The end of the war brought the family back home to Margate and Howell attended the King’s School, Canterbury for a short while before going to Kingswood in 1947 which became perhaps the greatest influence on his life. Howell loved his time at Kingswood in Upper House, excelling academically, specialising in modern languages and enjoying every aspect of Kingswood life. He became a Westwood prefect in his final year, an honour he valued highly and as children we could see how caring and supportive he would have been in that role. At school Howell’s interest in flying began and on the sport’s field putting the shot became Howell’s forte in athletics, becoming one of the best school boy shot putters in the country in his final year, a sport he continued at Oxford.

The influence of AB Sackett was immense and this remained with him all his life. As children we would frequently hear reference to what Sackett said or what he would have done in various situations. He was fortunate to also benefit from many great teachers at Kingswood at a time when the school was one of the best performing academically in the country. Indeed in Howell’s final year in 1954 Kingswood pupils won 12 open scholarship awards at Oxbridge, a tremendous achievement for such a small school. In addition to Sackett, Howell was strongly influenced by a number of teachers with whose names I became familiar: Michael Bishop, Alec Dakin, John Gardner, Chris Steane, Haydn Barnes, John Ede are the ones which come to mind; and the connection continued as five of those then taught me when I came to Kingswood. Members of the non-academic staff were also warmly greeted on each visit: Rufus Jones and his wife from the tuck shop, Audrey Broom, the headmaster’s secretary for many years and Ms Bater on the catering side. This sense of belonging to the Kingswood community long after he left was very important to Howell.

HOWELL JAMES WILSON-PRICE

1947-54, President of the Kingswood Association 2000

Sidney West, pictured top row, second to the right

National service allowed Howell to enjoy one of his passions which he’d begun at school when he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer. He continued this as an enthusiastic commissioned member of the Oxford University Air Squadron when he went up to Oxford to read PPE at St Edmund Hall. It was at Oxford he met Maureen and they married in 1960. Geraint was born in 1961 and Rhiannon in 1963. Howell and Maureen enjoyed 54 years of marriage, a devoted partnership.

Howell’s working career in Personnel took him firstly to Oulton Broad in Suffolk, followed by Cheltenham and eventually Oakham in Rutland, which was to be the family’s home for 25 years. Howell had a successful career as a Personnel Manager for the large American company, Mars Group. He worked for the company for over twenty years, until he retired at the enviably early age of 54. So Howell was able to enjoy 25 years of happy retirement. He filled this with his many interests – classical music, reading, flying, architecture, his E type Jaguar, enjoying fine wines and his love for Wales and all things Welsh. After retirement he had the time to learn Welsh and took to it with his usual degree of dedication and determination. He enrolled in a Welsh course in Lampeter and was so proud to be taught part of the course by his son, who was the course director.

Retirement also allowed him to devote more time to Kingswood. Without doubt the school had a great influence on Howell’s life, as it did with many of his generation and the sense of community it generated - he was extremely proud of being an Old Boy. He was a strong supporter of the Association, attending

dinners and meetings around the country and was most delighted to be the Association President in 2000, an honour he valued most highly.

He and Maureen very much enjoyed the house in Aberdyfi which brought Howell back to his family’s roots and took great pleasure in seeing his two grandsons grow up in Wales as Welsh speakers. Family was very important to Howell and his love for his family was so very evident in everything he did.

Up to the last couple of months Howell led a very active life, enjoying life in Uffington and Aberdyfi lovingly supported by Maureen. Kingswood was never far away from his thoughts throughout his life and that was even more so in his illness when he frequently spoke of his school days, the wonderful times he had at Kingswood and the way the school had impacted so positively on his life.

Howell passed away on 25 December 2014. He leaves his wife Maureen and his two children Geraint and Rhiannon.

Geraint Wilson-Price (1973-81)

Bath Abbey Eucharist

Bath Abbey now plays a significant part in Kingswood life as host to both the Commemoration Day Service, at the end of the summer term, and to the Christmas School Carol Service. These occasions fill the Abbey - as did the Christmas Day Eucharist which was broadcast live by the BBC.

Unsurprisingly, Kingswood was well represented at this prestigious Bath event. Current Chair of Governors, Tim Westbrook (1961-66, KA President 2005-07), was on the main door greeting members of the congregation as they arrived. Tim’s wife, Liz, had been busy for many weeks prior to the broadcast in her role as Churchwarden for the Abbey and contributed a reading to the service. Marcus Sealy (Staff 1970-present) played the organ and Jeremy Key-Pugh (Staff 1973-2005) also played an active role on the day.

Not only former pupils and members of staff were involved as four current pupils sang in the choir; Charlotte Crowe, Meg Scott, Tim Green and Ben Lockey. All played a valuable part in the service that was televised live in over 50 countries.

Westwood Prefect 1953-54 - taking PT session

Valete

ARNOLD

ASHLEY

ATKINSON

BALFOUR

BEVAN

BISHOP

Mile Wilkinson retired as Kingswood Chaplain last summer after 23 years at Kingswood. He was kind enough to interrupt his well-earned rest to talk to Jeremy Wimpress about his time as Chaplain…and so much more at Kingswood.

JDW: Most important question; after 23 years as Chaplain at Wesley’s School are you enjoying a bit of peace and quiet in Northumberland?

MLW: Most definitely! The features of Northumberland that bring most comment from those who discover its existence are the big open spaces and the absence of the multitude. Yes, there are spots on the coast where sunny days bring big crowds, but our bit of geography is heavy on sheep and light on humans. The roads in the North Tyne valley are, by any comparison to those in Bath, empty. On night drives I have travelled 20 miles without passing a vehicle. A trip of 9 miles to the local shop might cause you to see half a dozen cars, two tractors and a timber wagon. That is the sum of things. You can spot the locals behind the wheel; dotted white lines mean nothing and they take the shortest route, using both sides of the road.

In the tiny hamlet of Yarrow (NE48 1BG – if you want to Google Map it) with just 9 dwellings, for the most part there is only the sound of the river, the movement and munching of sheep, the birds and the occasional quad bike as the farmer inspects his flock. This can, admittedly, be rudely interrupted at the weekend by ‘bikers’ who have judged the C200 road up to Kielder as a fast, exhilarating, knee scraping, death-defying adventure. Sadly, over the years, they haven’t all proved able to defy. The RAF also comes to visit on occasion, using the Kielder reservoir as a mapping target. It screams in at low levels in fighter jets or makes the ground judder as Chinooks travel in pairs on exercise. Apart from that, there is utter silence and, at night, the kind of darkness that few urban dwellers ever know unless they have been caving and turned their headlamp off.

So yes, in this first year, settling in slowly, quietly, is the way of things. The garden needs to be re-organised into one that produces food and some flowers – a shift from its 28-year history of low maintenance with grass cutting as required. The cottage is warming up as continuous residency puts daily heat into its very thick walls. The DIY list has yet to be expunged (probably never will be) and I buy new tools rather

than artisanship whenever I think I can manage a task. Dry days are in overalls, wet ones are for time in the study. Wherever and whatever, the ambience is usually quiet.

JDW: You’ve had a huge involvement over those years: Chaplain, Head of Economics and Business, Pastoral Deputy Head; thinking about it makes my head spin! Not to mention music, football, cycling – have I missed anything?

MLW: I started off at Kingswood in the role that most Chaplains fill – a worship and pastoral leader with a half timetable of Religious Studies. In those days I taught across all year groups aged from 11 to 18 years. After two years I was appointed as Head of Economics to see a final Upper Sixth group complete their A level. We then re-organised ourselves to include Business Studies and allow some of the less able pupils to access these subjects without fitting them for Oxbridge-devised examinations. The Department expanded rapidly, to such an extent that after eight years at the helm I handed on to Julia Houghton so that chaplaincy in a growing school could have the time it deserved. By 2004, we were ready to move to three Deputy Heads and I took on the ‘Pastoral’ components.

It has been this organically generated change that has allowed lots of new challenges and made a relatively long time in post (for a Chaplain) so workable and enjoyable. Of course, the people around you, both young and not so, are the key ‘stay here’ factor at Kingswood. The energy levels are high, the opportunities to have fun and be creative beyond the classroom or pulpit are abundant. The chance to do all in the list above, at one time or another, kept me fit and gave me a place in the community, which was not just the guy with the plastic shirt collar. That’s my kind of chaplaincy and now that I am far away from it, I will have to find a community (doubtless smaller) and some creative projects in order to keep the spark alive.

JDW: As Chaplain there were sad and challenging times to deal with as well?

MLW: I have shed a few tears in my time. Some of them dropped onto my keyboard whilst I wrote funeral addresses for my friends. That is the way of it in the Kingswood ‘family’. It ought to be that way and sharing those sorrows and challenges have created bonds of great value. There were times when we visibly acknowledged our human frailties as adults but also grasped some spiritual imperatives. These were times when young people could glimpse the pains and possibilities of the world still ahead of them.

JDW: You mentioned at an Association Day service your time in banking. How did that help shape the man who became Kingswood Chaplain?

MLW: After university I joined a bank, believing that I was

Mike Wilkinson's feet in retirement!

being invited into a profession where the needs of customers were paramount. I left the commercial wing of that bank in 1980 because, in a new age of deregulation, I could not accept the sea change from ‘serve them’ to ‘sell to them’. Back room macroeconomics, writing briefings for senior executives became my way of staying in employment, but maintaining a semblance of an ethical stance. When I went to Cambridge to study theology as an ordinand in 1984, my tutor, David Deeks, said “never let go of your economics”. It was wise advice and I think that the ability to speak of God and Mammon with a professional foot in both camps, did me no harm.

JDW: Before Kingswood, there was a year at The Leys School in Cambridge. Did that time make you feel that school chaplaincy was the calling – and was John Barrett there then?

MLW: If there was one critical year of impact, that was the one. John Barrett was still a couple of years away, being the Head of Kent College, Pembury, at the time.

In 1986, with the Theology degree complete, I was seconded from Wesley House training college to The Leys for 30 hours per week. The initial request had been for someone to lead a Wednesday morning assembly but, by the close of negotiations, the school had a stand-in chaplain in all areas bar the classroom and sacramental worship. It worked. In part, that was because I was a complete stranger to the world of privileged education. The kid from the council estate who had arrived through a conversion amongst Primitive Methodists (at least in style) was different, but probably interesting. He had a guitar and enough teenage idiom and cultural awareness to get away with it. Over the year I did learn how to lead more formal worship, the big occasion, or whatever the school’s calendar delivered. In my final assembly I stood in the school pulpit and said “I do not know quite how it is going to pan out, but I do know that this year at The Leys School will change my life”. If there was a calling to school chaplaincy, it happened there.

write. Monday afternoons would see me lock myself away and not properly emerge until whatever was to be said that week was done. Unfortunately, I did have the habit of total immersion without reference to time and the Head’s PAs got used to the occasional need to ring and say “Mike, are you coming to this meeting then”?

JDW: Your final sermon at the Commemoration Day service in Bath Abbey has been widely praised and held the congregation’s attention from start to finish. Shooting from the hip, with words from the heart?

MLW: I normally write quite close to the time of delivery. However, I trialed that sermon, or at least some of it, with members of the Association in the previous September. In simple terms, I wanted to say “thank you” to a place and its people for its willingness to engage with matters of mind, heart and spirit.

Never one to pedal dogma because the church says so, I wanted to do no more than present the person of Jesus in contemporary lights. For some it would have been a challenge because I wasn’t as kind to the church as an institution as I might have been. However, for some, with or without Christian affiliation, it was an invitation into honest conversation about how we, who like what this man did and stood for, engage with a call to follow his ways.

JDW: Finally, you once told a leaving group that they would need ‘gumption’ for their lives after School. Have you felt need of the gumption pot and what (because everyone wants to know!) are your plans for the future?

JDW: The Headmaster described you as ‘the ultimate man of intelligently crafted words’ and Sarah Dawson (Deputy Head Academic) called you, ‘possibly the most eloquent person I have ever met’. We can add a love of language and its use to your multiple interests?

MLW: How kind of them to say such things – they are not truly warranted because I know that I can still make woeful errors with words. However, it is because of that trait that I have learned the value of editing, not just with my fingers, but also with my voice.

I can recall several occasions when staff said to me “popped up to see you, the door was open but there was someone with you”. Not so, I was simply preaching to my computer monitor. Thankfully, throughout my years at the school, I was afforded the time to

MLW: That was one of the very few sermons that I ever preached twice. This came about because parents with younger children, following on after those already departed to university, asked for a repeat delivery. It was about practical survival in a strange place amongst unknown people. The act with ‘gumption’ attached was about taking first steps towards being friendly. Thankfully, this place is not strange and we arrived with friends already in situ. However, even in those circumstances, we have needed to be pro-active. Both Karen and I have joined a singing group, I am playing lots of music and my musical education is, hopefully, going to get a boost when I join some guitar classes at The Sage in Gateshead. The local church administrators have been to call and, after Easter 2016, I am likely to be getting out and about in a preaching mode. Karen is always happy with a Kindle close by and when not dog walking, bird watching, caravanning, cycling, sailing, I might even get around to sitting with a book myself. I will not be idle, even if my average day continues in the pattern of not getting properly started before 10.00 am. Love it!

Interview: Jeremy Wimpress

(Editor: Mike's final Kingswood sermon, from Commemoration Day 2015, is available to read, in full, on the Association section of the School website.)

I wanted to say “thank you” to a place and its people for its willingness to engage with matters of mind, heart and spirit.

FELLOWSHIP AND FUN’

Events 2016

MJSD SuPPER CLuB: Friday 10th June 2016

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

To celebrate we are bringing in local wine merchant, Great Western Wine who will be conducting a wine tasting. There will be champagne on the lawn in front of the School, followed by a delicious two course summer menu and wine tasting.

Tickets are £20.00

T. 01225 734283 | E. association@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

MJSD SuPPER CLuB: Friday 16th September 2016 | 7.00pm for 7.30pm

A warm invitation to all in the Kingswood Community to come for supper in the School Dining Hall.

For further details contact 01225 734283 or email association@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

ASSOCIATION DAy: Saturday 17th September 2016

AT KINGSWOOD SCHOOL

Coffee | AGM | Lunch | Tours | Sport | Tea | Service

Come and enjoy Kingswood 1st XV against Taunton School and watch Kingswood Girls' Hockey Teams take on BGS.

T. 01225 734283 | E. association@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

EXETER LuNCH: Friday 7th October 2016 | 12.15pm for 1.00pm

Lunch at the Exeter Golf & Country Club.

For further details contact 01225 734283 or email association@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

THE HEADMASTER'S 23-33 LONDON EVENT: Saturday 19th November 2016

Drinks and Canapes at Café du Marché, London

For further details contact 01225 734283 or email association@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

MJSD SuPPER CLuB: Friday 2nd December 2016 | 7.00pm for 7.30pm

A warm invitation to all in the Kingswood Community to come for supper in the School Dining Hall.

For further details contact 01225 734283 or email association@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

From: John Crosby (1947-55)

Subject: 1955 Rugby Sevens

Dear Editor,

I was thumbing through the Kingswood magazine you sent (KAN11), when suddenly, on page 51, was a picture of me! It was a photo of the rugby sevens team of 1955. That’s me squatting lower right.

The team got to the semi-finals of the Public School sevens tournament, losing to Oundle who eventually won the tournament. Thank you for that little bit of nostalgia.

John Crosby

From: Geoffrey Barraclough (1943-48)

Subject: Rupert Davies

Dear Editor,

Thank you once again for a magazine packed with interesting news.

One letter from David Sawyer invites comment. I too well remember Rupert Davies, particularly at Uppingham. So far as hymns are concerned, there were no less than five in ‘Hymns and Psalms’, (successor to MHB) which had the odd verse added or translated by Rupert Davies. However only three of those were seen fit to be included in the present hymnal in use today, ‘Singing the Faith’.

Rupert was of course highly respected in the Methodist Church, and was duly elected President of Conference in 1970. What is less well known is that he was a co-founder of the Harborne

Have Your Say...

The Editor values receiving personal news from members and also newspaper cuttings (including obituaries) which have been spotted by readers. Please send to The Editor, Kingswood Association, Kingswood School, Bath, BA1 5RG or email association@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

Group, and the editor of its papers for many years, before the role was taken over by Laurie Campbell. I was privileged to be the Group’s treasurer for a few years before the Group ‘ceased to meet’ after Laurie’s death.

Returning to Uppingham days, like so many generous members of staff and their families, Rupert and Margaret Davies opened their home to small groups of boys to meet for discussion. One such was in preparation for membership of the Methodist Church. This reception into membership subsequently took place in the Uppingham town Methodist Church.

I also recall being in the Printing press, about to print cards notifying the birth of their child, when a message came through at the last minute - “two lines for names - it’s twins”!!

You will gather from these ramblings that I very much enjoyed our visit to Uppingham.

Geoffrey Barraclough

From: David Warnes (1960-68)

Subject: Michael Bishop

Dear Editor,

Enjoyed the magazine interview with Michael Bishop, that prince among teachers. Smiled at the way those of us who enjoyed being in the overspill dormitories in Summerhill were referred to as “misfits”. It didn’t feel like that, and we enjoyed the civilized and friendly atmosphere that Michael and Philippa created and sustained.

David Warnes (via Facebook)

From: Mike Dodds (1951-56)

Subject: Michael Bishop

Dear Editor,

I look back with increasing appreciation of my time at Kingswood that brought me into contact with Michael.

The Junior Lit Plays came first (The Rivals 1953) with his despairing cry of “Oh, we’ll never be finished in time!”, which spurred we stage crew to get cracking and be duly ready on the day - and to admire his remarkable stage designs then, and later. Then came the “Special requirements - Latin” (1953) for we duffers who needed a second go at passing at ‘O’ level for university entrance. His was the encouragement when exam panic might strike to “Keep your mind as calm and clear as a glass of cool water on a summer’s day”. Well, that still works for me now as it did then, giving me entrance to St Catharine’s where I could acknowledge my debt to him via Corpus on the other side of Trumpington Street.

Michael must have been one of the last of that remarkable cohort of masters recruited by A B Sackett and drawn to serve the school for so many years. This speaks much of the ethos of fruitful, satisfying scholarship for the staff, something we students flourished under, and some, like me came to realise it was a special time in a special place.

Regards, Mike Dodds

(Editor: Michael Bishop’s obituary can be read on page 31 of this magazine)

From: Derek Collinson (1953-62)

Subject: Victor Black

Dear Editor,

I was very sorry to learn from the Kingswood Association News magazine of the death of Victor Black. He and I arrived at Prior’s Court at the same time, September 1953. He came to teach Maths and I to learn. We soon found that we had common ground with a background history in York. Our bond was strengthened in 1955 as York City football club battled for the FA cup that year reaching no less than the semi-finals (never to be repeated of course)!

I remember he had an interest in tropical fish and established a tropical fish tank in the hall at Prior’s Court, in the process (great excitement) driving two or three of us all the way along the old A4 (no motorways in those days) to Reading to buy Angel fish etc.

I subsequently met up with him at a Yorkshire reunion (very sadly no longer up and running, as there must be a number of us braving it out up here in the North East) and to my surprise found that at the time he was living within walking distance of my home in York.

I was then able to meet up with him at his home and meet his charming wife (he was not married when he came to Prior’s Court). His inspiration for me was not in the maths he taught but giving me the idea to establish a tropical fish tank in the waiting area of

my GP surgery. Patients were not then sat looking at each other or avoiding each other’s gaze. A focal point - especially for children.

I have been retired eight years, but I note the fish tank still remains in the waiting room.

There is a moral of this story. The enduring legacy some teachers leave is not always related to the allotted subject they are given to teach!

Best wishes

Derek Collinson

From Richard Guy (1947-55)

Subject: O tempora! O mores!

Dear Editor,

I was startled to see in your latest edition photographs of me sixty years apart - at the Exeter 2015 lunch and in rugger kit at the 1955 sevens. The 1955 side was skippered by Ian Lindsay not Roddy Kedward with both of whom I am still in touch. Alas I have not seen “the man mountain Waterhouse” since that year. I first played with him in the Prior’s Court team of 1948 and remember persuading him to pass the ball and let me score by shouting “WITH YOU, CLOSET”. Subsequently MY, the headmaster, rebuked me for lowering acceptable standards of decorum by using in public the soubriquet by which Waterhouse was inevitably known.

It was heart-warming to read the interview with Michael Bishop. I was surprised to read that he had once played Mrs Noah in the Andre Obey play - he picked me to play that role in the 1952 Junior Lit production and I don’t think he ever let on that he had played the part himself.

Yours sincerely, Richard

Guy

From: David Allner (1939-46)

Subject: Music and Uppingham

Dear Editor,

Just to say thank you for the recently arrived magazine with so much news of KS and we oldies!

I have read it with pleasure from cover to cover and am always pleased to be reminded of many terms spent at Uppingham and how hungry I was most of the time!!

I’m pleased to say that I am still in demand to play the piano and organ for soloists, choirs and carol services here in rural France and am well booked up until Christmas. Music is a wonderful door-opener and I am always grateful for the opportunities gained at KS to perform and enjoy music, thanks to Hancock, Sykes and Oram. Although I read Chemistry and worked in industry all my career, (Sackett wisely told me I was never good enough at music to get to the top - and he was right) music has always been there as a valued recreation. Although I was eventually thrown off the organ stool at Uppingham by a substitute music teacher (after Oram) as being useless, I have played on the BBC for several services, including a Christmas morning from Keynsham Methodist Church. But that was a long time ago!

Kind regards,

David Allner

From: Howard Brayton (1950-57)

Subject: Friends Reunited

Dear Editor,

Following my ‘piece’ in Kingswood Association News Edition 9, regarding my long lost KS friend, Alan Tongue, he contacted me in January and a flurry of reciprocal reminiscent and nostalgic emails ensued. Six months later, on June 18th 2015, we met with our wives for a day in the sun, which incorporated a no-stop mini Morse/Lewis tour of Oxford, and culminated in a pub lunch at The Victoria Arms in Marston on the banks of

the Cherwell, where the two eponymous heroes had sat supping their pints and reviewing their latest case, as they watched the sun setting slowly in the west.

60 years had elapsed since we last had any contact, but like all solid friendships, we just took up where we had left off! We exchanged our thoughts on our years at KS; the regime, the staff, our loves, our hates, our shared lack of attention to our studies, our loathing of rugger and The Upper in winter, bizarre cycling down Tog Hill, marionettes, printing, Occos, our deepening love of music, our both leaving KS and not ‘doing’ National Service or immediately going on to university. We reviewed our lives, and how they had panned out, deciding that ‘life is a lottery’, but both agreeing that we had had charmed careers, close loving families and successful children.

…and our differences? Well Alan has a career in music, mine was in education. He plays golf, I do not! He plays mah-jong, I do not! What do I do? Not a lot! That’s about it really.

Read more?

www.alantongue.co.uk  www.howardbrayton.co.uk

But I leave you with a trio of pertinent quotations:

“You may not know this Sir, but some of our greatest men started life as children.” (‘Common Entrance’ sketch, Peter Sellers)

“This lad shows great initiative, which should be curbed at all costs.” (Peter Ustinov, school report)

“An expert is an ordinary man away from home.” (Charles Handy)

Funding for School Archives

Kingswood is extraordinarily fortunate to have retained an outstanding collection spanning almost 270 years.

The archive records the School’s history from Wesleyan origins in 1748 to the present day. Space, however, is a significant issue as, by its very nature, the archive is constantly expanding. The collection is stored in many different locations around the School, often where access is problematic and archival conditions poor.

There has been a long term plan to bring the archive together in one location, a significant element of this is the installation of a rolling racking system. At the most recent meeting of the Association Executive funding for this project was agreed. Susannah Mansfield, Director of Development, commented, “Following a formal application to the Executive Committee of the Kingswood Association, I am delighted to announce that they have kindly agreed to fund this element of our longer term plans for the Archive, their generous funding will also enable us to create a portal so that digital access to the Archives will be available for everyone in the longer term.”

Zoe Parsons, School Archivist said “…My dream, for years, has been to bring the archive located all around the school into one accessible location. Many, many thanks to the Kingswood Association for funding a project to install rolling racking in the Wesley Centre end of the Posnett Gallery, it is one huge step closer to fulfilling my vision…”

A previous gift from the Kingswood Association began the digitisation of the collection of letters, manuscripts and magazines. Once digitised the entire collection will be available online, offering global access to the archive. The collection includes books which have been annotated in Wesley’s own hand, poignant letters from the trenches of Flanders and Ypres, together with an extensive range of academic and sporting achievements and photographs.

Zoe

Kingswood Association Executive Committee 2015-2016

President:

Chairman:

Treasurer:

Headmaster:

Treasurer

Former

Director

Elected Members of the Executive Committee (Max 12)

RETIRING

RETIRING

RETIRING IN 2016

Tim Lindsay (1974)

Nick Turner (1981) Resigned Dec 2015

Charles Gerrish (1969)

Simon Morris (2008 to date)

KA liaison with the Governing Body: Robert Sandry (1965)

of the Trust: John Ellis (1966)

President: Sarah Beresford-Smith (1986)

of Development: Susannah Mansfield (Ex-Officio) (2015 to date)

Stephen Maling (1979)

Fiona Morris (1982)

IN 2017

Jeremy Wimpress (1976)

Robert Forster (1975)

IN 2018

David Hunter (1993) Nick Turner (1981)

Robin Lewis (Staff 1975-92)

New Chairman Appointed

I'm really delighted to be able to tell you that your Association's Executive Committee has a new chairman, Chester Lewis, elected by a unanimous vote.

CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP BOOSTS FUNDRAISING

Chester will be known to many of you already. He was at the School in 2010/11 and was Head Boy in his final year. He joined the Association Exec while studying at Birmingham University (he got a first class degree) and made a significant contribution during his three year stint.

He then went travelling - aided by a well-deserved Gary Best travel scholarship - and is now embarking on a PHD at Imperial College.

Given the plans for the Association already outlined in these pages and the ambitions we have to build on the existing programme to embrace and serve all Old Kingswoodian age cohorts; and given the fact that the Association's activities will now be developed and managed by the newly appointed and redoubtable Simon Brand as Alumni Relations Officer, Chester's appointment is perfectly timed.

He will bring a new generation of OK's onto the committee, to form a dynamic partnership with the existing, experienced members. Chester has already served the School outstandingly. This next chapter could not be more exciting.

Good luck Chester and thank you for stepping up to the plate.

Tim Lindsay (1969-75) President, The Kingswood Association

We cover every aspect of property; not only sales but also finance, maintenance, planning, development and legal issues.

We are proud of our long association and involvement with Bath, the nearby villages and a number of local organisations and charitable trusts. Our long standing association with Kingswood School is one which we are proud to continue. Living and working in Bath, many of us with our own families, we understand the importance of supporting education locally, not least to help develop some of the property professionals of the future. Indeed some Kingswood students have gone on to work in Savills.

This year we are extending our partnership with a new initiative. We pledge to donate 10% of our fee to the Kingswood Foundation on completion of any local sale undertaken by Savills with a connection to Kingswood School. This includes Parents, former Parents, Grandparents and Old Kingswoodians in the UK and overseas. By informing us of any links with the School at the time of appointment, we will commit to making this donation which will come directly from our fees.

We hope that by doing this we will generate a tangible benefit to School and local community.

For further information on the scheme or for an informal chat about selling your property, contact Savills in Bath on +44 (0) 1225 474 500.

www.savills.co.uk

At Savills Bath, our ability to deliver effectively for our clients is at the forefront of everything that we do.