OBITUARIES
In Memoriam Christopher W Arnold (1939-44) Donald C (Chris) Barber (1946-47) Brian A Barnett (1946-51) Timothy J Bonham-Carter (1954-58) Stanley J Clayman (1948-53) John C Durnin (1973-77) Nicholas R Gooud (1958-63) Gilbert W Green (1938-42) John C Grover (1948-53) John B Hewitt (1946-49) Robert F Lees (1970-74) John A Lunn (1941-48) John L R Melotte (1971-75) Charles H Merriman (1954-58) Basil D Moss (1948-53) John S Parker (1959-63) David P C Russell (1960-65) Richard L L Simmons (1955-60) Michael J Stacey (1949-53) Richard A Stokes (1955-60) Stuart W C Taylor (1949-54) Jack E Thomson (1935-40) John F Turner (1961-66) Alexander A Wheaten (1938-42) Harold D Wicks (1946-50) Henry J Winson (1940-46)
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ATRIUM
SPRING / SUMMER 2021
Brian A Barnett (1946-1951)
Alistair A Conn (1950-55)
Brian Barnett attended St Paul’s in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War and with his parents having moved out to rural Rickmansworth, he was immediately enrolled in High House, where he was a weekly boarder throughout his time at School. In his first year, he received instruction for his bar mitzvah from the late Reverend Sam Vennett of the Hammersmith Synagogue, which was then opposite in Brook Green. At School he was a keen boxer, captaining the School team. He made lifelong friendships, and his regular Monday night bridge games with Old Paulines John Garden (1942-51), Raymond Davoud (1944-49) and Clive Moss (1944-48) were to last half a century. He left St Paul’s to read economics and international history at University College London and then joined the army for National Service, during which he narrowly avoided court martial for using an army vehicle to take a girl on a date. On leaving the army, he joined public company Ellis & Goldstein, a manufacturer and retailer of ladieswear, rising over 30 years to become the Group Managing Director before the company was taken over in 1988. During his time there, he was Chairman of the British Mantle Manufacturers’ Association and a pioneer of what was then called shop within shop retailing, which is the model that all department stores operate on today. He also successfully developed the manufacture of what we now call loungewear, using the advent of the fax machine to have London designs made seasonally in the Far East. He was particularly proud when his son Keith (1974-1978) joined the School and when his daughter Joanna married Old Pauline, Jonathan Mindell (1973-1977), also the son of a school friend, Bertram Mindell (1945-1950). In later life, his joy was his family. He is survived by wife Susie, three children, eight grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren and will be very sorely missed by us all. Keith Barnett (1974-1978)
Alistair was born in Twickenham in 1937. He attended the Mall School and then St Paul’s from 1950 to 1955. He was a prefect, captain of the Boxing Club and the 2nd Cricket XI, secretary of the Christian Union and treasurer of the Historical Society. Alistair was posted to Wuppertal for his National Service. He read history at Downing College, Cambridge, and obtained his boxing Blue. Alistair studied at Lincoln Theological College and was ordained as a priest in 1963. He was a curate at St Paul’s in West Hartlepool and then was school chaplain and assistant housemaster at Busoga College in Uganda for one year. Alistair was school chaplain at Shrewsbury School from 1966 to 1973. He also taught English and R.E. and helped coach the under-14 football and cricket teams. He met his future wife, Bella, at Shrewsbury. They married in 1968 and in the following years their first two daughters were born. Alistair and his family then moved to Scotland, where he was rector at St Anne’s, Coupar Angus. Alistair and Bella’s third daughter was born in Scotland. From 1978 to 2002, Alistair was a vicar in the Southwell Diocese and served as Rural Dean of Newstead and of Newark. He played cricket for the Southwell Diocesan Clergy team and was its captain for some years. Alistair had an active retirement; he walked many of the National Trails, was a literacy volunteer, undertook several courses, was a regular cinema-goer and spent many happy hours at Trent Bridge. Alistair’s health deteriorated rapidly after Bella died in 2014. He was diagnosed with dementia in 2016. He died peacefully on 26th March 2020, aged 82 years. He will be remembered for his kindness, his caring and gentle nature, his dry sense of humour, and his strong sense of fairness and social justice. He lived a deep and full life, but also lived a life in the service of others. Lucy Conn (daughter)
