OS Newsletter - July 2013

July 2013

N0. 59

OLD SUTTONIANS

NEWSLETTER OS Interviews Colette Davey (2001 S)

In this issue:

I went to Sutton Valence at 13, as a full boarder, in Sutton House, knowing I wanted eventually to be a doctor.

Reunions Page 6

DoE Dinner Page 13

Colette from the observation tower at FOB

I knew entry to medical school was quite competitive and spent a lot of my time at School getting stuck into as many extra-curricular activities as I could fit in; Choir in my lunch breaks, the School paper, and depending on the season, either on the netball courts, hockey pitch or rounders.

Marriages Page 36

I started CCF without much expectation but it was the only way I could do shooting, something I had rather enjoyed at Prep School. Brian Miller and Mrs Wilkinson nurtured Caroline Woods 2001 S), Katie Gornall (2001 V) and me on the shooting range just off

Film and Media Careers Focus House Focus OS News School News

Page 16 Page 22 Page 24 Page 26 Page 48

Continued on page 2

Information A member of the United Westminster Schools’ Foundation Registered Charity No. 309267 Founded in 1576 by William Lambe

Old Suttonians Newsletter July 2013

For information about Sutton Valence School, please contact:

• the Admissions Office at Sutton Valence on 01622 845206 or email enquiries@svs.org.uk • Sutton Valence Preparatory School on 01622 842117 or email enquiries@svprep.svs.org.uk 1

Old Suttonians Newsletter Continued from front page the back of School Lane. We spent a week at Easter hiking from the Blencathra Centre in the Lake District during CCF adventure training, weekends on Hythe, Lydd, Ash and Bisley Ranges at various shooting competitions and a week at the start of each summer at Summer Camp.

‘Work experience’ week at 16 almost ended my medical career. Having been thoroughly uninspired by those I worked with, I knew I had to find a way to ensure I didn’t follow down this path of disillusionment that the doctors I shadowed were travelling. I applied for and was successful in getting an Army Scholarship for my sixth form years and this converted to a bursary when I was accepted to university to study medicine.

Edinburgh University was great fun.

A beautiful city, breath-taking countryside, galleries, restaurants, bars, and many flat parties, with a great group of friends, including Sophie Thomas (2001 S). I still did the odd bit of the Officer Training Corp in my first two years, enjoying two winter ski trips and a further two pretty memorable summer camps.

By my third year, other interests took that focus and I obviously had my degree to study for with clinical years being much more intensive. I applied and was awarded my Commission into the Royal Army Medical Corps just before my third year at university and spent six weeks in Malawi over that summer, through the OTC, building a school, scuba diving, hiking the Mulanje Massif and kayaking up the lake.

Up until this point, my education and career had mimicked that of a civilian medical trainee - same schools, same exams, same jobs.

months, I worked in an army GP role at the Royal School of Signals in Blandford Forum, whilst preparing to deploy on operations.

In September 2008, after six weeks travelling and scuba diving in Central America, I went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst to learn how to be an Army doctor. The next six

In September 2009, we flew to Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, and after an initial introduction I flew on to my own Forward Operating Base. It was a particularly difficult tour for the Battle

Colette out on patrol in the Greenzone Helmand

The final three years of university passed in somewhat of a blur and I graduated in June 2006 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MB ChB). I moved to Frimley Park Hospital for two years of foundation training, living in the Officers Mess in Aldershot, with other Army Junior Doctors. It was an emotional couple of years with a steep learning curve proving that five years learning at medical school was only an introduction.

Colette with two of her Commissioning Class 2

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Group, to whom I was attached in Sangin District, Helmand. As the doctor for my 250 soldiers, I supervised five combat medical technicians and I managed a wide range of problems for medical care, health promotion, logistical resupply, medical planning, risk assessment, casualty evacuation and the psychological management of my soldiers. My biggest fear had been expectation of trauma, and whilst this was visually and emotionally disturbing, the incredible set up to manage these events on the front line, in addition to the slick evacuation via MERT helicopter, meant we

were able to deal with the high level of trauma we saw. I was constantly humbled by the efforts, skills, courage and resilience of the soldiers I was working with, some only 18 years old.

These experiences changed my career.

I returned and spent a year working with the Helicopter Air Ambulance at The Royal London Hospital and also a stint in Intensive Care Medicine, but I missed my role as a GP and medical officer to the soldiers and swapped from my intended Anaesthetics training to General Practice.

I started GP training in August 2011 and work in a civilian practice in London. This August I move back into the military arena, undertaking a Clinical Fellowship in Academic General Practice for the military up in Birmingham. I intend to CCT (certificate of completion of training) as a fully qualified GP in two years’ time, when I will be posted as a Regimental Medical Officer and my ‘proper Army career’ will begin!

Major Colette MT Davey MB ChB DRCOG

Col Bob Chaundler OBE (1933 M) It’s fitting that a former pupil who achieved so much during his time at Sutton Valence, went on to earn a distinguished war record, and then helped pioneer initiatives in the field of voluntary work and social care, should now have added one further notable claim to his life story – as the oldest living Old Suttonian.

“It was a bit of a shock coming to Sutton Valence”, he recalls, “because I’d had a sheltered upbringing in Norfolk.

But it was a fairly friendly school, and it helped that I enjoyed sport”.

Bob Chaundler, 98, arrived at SVS in the winter term of 1929, and over the next four years progressed academically and on the sports field, becoming head of house at St Margaret’s. He was Company Sergeant Major in the Officer Training Corps, and represented the school or his house at rugby – he was vice captain of the 1st XV - fives, athletics and shooting.

A contemporary of Bob’s was the great Sydney Wooderson, who went on to become the world record holder for the mile, half mile and 800 metres. Says Bob, “I spent quite a lot of time chasing Wooderson on the athletics track. I was pretty good at the 440, but even at that distance, I never got near him”.

“Mark you, it was a pretty rigorous regime under the headmaster, the Rev. W. W. Holdgate – I think he wanted a tough, physical school”.

“So, even if it was snowing, we were out on the rugger field, the dormitories all had to have their windows opened regardless of the weather, and we had a cold bath every morning!”

There were other challenges too. A sixth former called Carslaw enlisted the newly-arrived Bob as his fag. “The trouble was he was an identical twin, and I never knew which one I was fagging for”.

And he fondly recalls summer sailing

holidays on the Norfolk Broads organised for some of the senior boys by Edward ‘Tubby’ Craven.

In 1933 Bob went up to New College, Oxford where, in addition to studying law, he represented the university at sailing, gaining a half Blue, and met his wife Irene, also an undergraduate, who matched his sporting excellence, representing England and Oxford University at lacrosse.

After earning his MA in Law, Bob left Oxford in 1936 to join the Royal Artillery, embarking on a 26-year

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

military career, which ultimately brought him the rank of Colonel and took him all over the world, from Dunkirk to India, Paris to Kenya, London to North Africa.

He married Irene in 1939, and within three days found himself posted to the Belgian-French border as a young second lieutenant, the beginning of a series of World War Two encounters which earned him three Mentioned in Despatches commendations.

As adjutant of his regiment, Bob was one of the last soldiers off the beaches at Dunkirk. “It was awful seeing all these chaps trying to get onto the boats”, he recalls. “Finally, I remember running flat out down the quayside towards HMS Windsor and thankfully we got all our men back to England.”

“I joined our CO in the captain’s cabin of the ship, and we were given a bottle of whisky. I don’t remember much before disembarking at Dover”.

Bob was also involved in two of World War Two’s most famous actions. The first, with the 46th Division, was Operation Torch – the Allied landings in North Africa in 1942. The second was when he was posted, at very short notice, to HQ Airborne Corps for Operation Market Garden, the airborne landings in Holland in 1944 to liberate key bridges leading up to the Rhine, and finally the Arnhem Bridge over the Rhine itself.

1st XV Rugby 1932

Bob was among the British and Polish troops packed aboard the heavy-duty gliders used in the landings. “It was an extremely unpleasant experience”, he remembers. “Our glider was towed by a four-engined Lancaster bomber, and the noise and exhaust fumes were terrible.”

He successfully landed near Nijmegen, linking up with American forces, but the Arnhem initiative ultimately failed in its objective, although he managed to get back to England.

Bob finished the war with a posting to India, where he was on the planning

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Bob and Irene’s wedding

staff for the airborne landings to liberate Singapore. Fortunately, the War ended before they took place, and he was then posted to New Delhi to join Mountbatten’s staff in the planning for Indian independence, where he was

joined by Irene and their two young sons, David and John.

But, in keeping with the rest of his military career, he was soon on the move again, taking up a post with the War

July 2013

Office in London, followed by a posting to the British Army of the Rhine and then to Kenya during the Mau Mau Emergency where, again, he was Mentioned in Despatches.

Then it was back to the War Office in London and on to Paris as part of the top-secret ‘Live Oak’ unit, analysing military strategy in the event that the Russians again threatened to take over Berlin.

In 1962 Bob retired from the Army with the rank of Colonel, and took a job, which could not have been a greater contrast - as Administrator for the National Council of Social Services in London (now the National Council for Voluntary Organisations).

The Council’s main role was to bring voluntary organisations and charities together and into a closer relationship with the government. Bob was among the delegates who helped persuade Chancellor of the Exchequer Anthony Barber, and subsequent Chancellors, to provide tax breaks for charities.

By the time he finally retired in 1980, the Council was about to be re-named the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), and has become one of the country’s most important bodies supporting the voluntary and community sector. Bob was awarded an OBE for his services.

In recent years, Bob has taken great pleasure in his ever-growing family – he has six grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren “and one on the way” – and has also served as chairman of the parish council at Crondall, Surrey where he lives. He still drives and enjoys a game of bridge.

So, if those cold baths and freezing dormitories at Sutton Valence School in 1929 helped form the character and distinguished career of our oldest Old Suttonian, perhaps they weren’t so bad after all……..

Interview by Richard Harvey (1963 C)

Request for Emails More and more OS prefer to receive letters, newsletters etc. by email; not only is this more convenient for them, but also enables the Development Office and the OSA to contain our costs. If you have received this newsletter by post and would prefer to receive it online, please send in your email address to Rebecca Riggs at riggsr@svs.org.uk. After the summer issue, Sutton Views will only be sent by email as a link to a digital book, unless you have requested otherwise, but it is also available online through www.svs.org.uk.

LinkedIn We are in touch with over 700 Old Suttonians through the website www.linkedIn.com. This site will enable you to network with your peers, contact other OS in your industry and beyond, or catch up on news. To become part of the group you need to register on the site, if you haven’t already, then ‘request’ to join the group Old Suttonians.

You will also see that we have seven subgroups for OS in the United Arab Emirates, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, USA and Germany.

Facebook An Old Suttonians page has been set up on Facebook. Please ‘like’ the page so that we may keep you informed of current news and events.

Old Suttonians Webpages More information on events and communications can also be found through the School’s website: www.svs.org.uk. You will find the link to the Old Suttonian pages at the top of the page on the main title bar.

Awards 2012/13 Atchison Bequest

Bennett-Hunting Memorial

Owen Moulding (2012 F) Elizabeth Bailey (2012 H)

Joshua Chacksfield (2012 Cl) James Costin (2012 H) Nanki Dogra (2012 F) Charlotte Hollingsworth (2012 H)

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

Reunions Boarding Centenary Celebration Sunday 1st July 2012 Over 100 Old Suttonians and guests attended the Boarding Centenary celebration in July 2012. The celebration was held in recognition of 25 years since Sutton House opened, that Cornwallis and Valence were once boarding houses and that the houses that we now know as St Margaret’s and Westminster, were opened in 1912.

To mark the occasion, informal drinks and a bbq were held on Prefects’ Lawn.

There was also the opportunity to tour old boarding houses and view an exhibition of boarding and School life over the past 100 years.

A time capsule was buried by Ray Sabine in Sutton House. Julie Stanford, who was retiring after 11 years as Housemistress, gave a speech.

“The School has been open since 1576 and it has seen many Headmasters.

However, it has taken over 400 years to introduce girls and according to several Old Suttonians (no names mentioned) who were boarders in Westminster, it was the best thing Sutton Valence ever did!

Four generations of Westminster Housemasters: Nick Gorman, Chris Parkinson, Graham Able and Bob Carr

“When the parents arrive in September with their daughters, one of the things I always told them was that their daughter may arrive crying but they will always leave crying too. Firm friendships are made in a boarding community and many last for life. As Nina

Romacikova told me (current Head of House at the time) the girls feel that in Sutton, we are a fellowship, and to quote from The Lord of the Rings: Here at last on the shores of the sea, comes the end of our Fellowship. I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are an evil.”

“Sutton House has been opened as a girls’ boarding house for 25 years. Ray Sabine was the first Housemaster of Sutton House and ever since then, the boarding house has continued to grow.

“I have had 11 very happy years here as Housemistress, with my family. I felt it has been a privilege to be part of this family community and to feel that I may have been able to have a small influence on the girls’ lives. The boarding staff and I have tried to make Sutton House a happy house and as much as ‘home from home’ as possible.”

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Julie Stanford, ex-housemistress, Sutton and family

July 2013

Ray Sabine, first housemaster, Sutton.

Time capsule being buried

Boarding bbq

Sutton boarding celebration

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

OS Sport and Family Day Sunday 2nd September 2012 Approximately 90 Old Suttonians and their families enjoyed a day of watching hockey, swimming, playing on bouncy castles and having a BBQ. Final scores of the hockey: OS Ladies

V

School Ladies

3-3

OS Men

V

School Men

6-3

Middle Aged Spread In September 2012, the Middle Aged Spread reunion was attended by over 60 Old Suttonians.

Bruce Grindlay, Headmaster, gave an update on the School’s achievements and Richard Harvey (1963 C) responded with a speech peppered with amusing stories of his peer’s time at the School.

Leslie Edwards (1961 L), Roger Kojecky (1961 L) and Richard West (1964 L)

Old Suttonians Hong Kong Christmas Dinner After the success of the last Old Suttonian reunion in Hong Kong, another get-together was held for Christmas Dinner on 28th November, at the Hong Kong Club. We are grateful to Neville Sarony and Stephen Bottomley for organising the dinner.

Stephen Bottomley (1972 W) and Samer Taki (1978 W)

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July 2013

Michael Wong (1983 C), Ted Ho (1983 C), Stephen Bottomley (1972 W), Neville Sarony (1958 M), Dannis Cheung (1978 C), Samer Taki (1978 W), Philip Chui (1985 C), David Wong (1985 C)

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

The OSA Celebrating Annual Dinner William 2013 Lambe This year the special guest was Philip New (1978 W) who is the CEO, BP Biofuels. He entertained us with a lively and interesting account of his life as ‘a bit of a maverick’ and the positive role that the School played in developing his attitudes to life and his resilience to life’s regular setbacks.

A good dinner was enjoyed by all, and it was great fun for the older generation to entertain, and be entertained by the current cohort of Prefects. The food was, as ever, excellent. The evening was a great success but, as the only dinner run by the Old Suttonian Association for all Old Suttonians, it would be improved if more OS attended, and even better if each came as part of a small group of peers and friends. Holding the Dinner at School has great benefits, not least in being able to contain costs, but the committee is aware that the timing and the location provides problems for some.

We welcome constructive suggestions about the future of the dinner.

On 9th February, a small gathering of OS met in ‘The Lamb’, Lamb’s Conduit Street, to toast the founder of the School on the 437th anniversary of the granting of the charter. The lunch-time session was a great success, so much so that the scheduled one and a half hour session overran by three hours! Those who met pledged to return next year and to encourage their contemporaries to come along as well.

Linda Day Retirement Linda retired early this year after over forty years of service to the School.

After Brian’s untimely death, Linda’s contribution to boarding ceased (for a while), but ever the enthusiast for helping the School she took on a role helping with the tuck-shop, then a busy social place (in what is now called TC’s).

London Reunions A London and Home Counties group has begun to share convivial, quarterly, gatherings in pubs, in London. Older and younger members alike share some very informal sessions. It is good to see that our lady members are beginning to turn up in greater numbers at these events. At the latest, with all sitting round three tables shoved together in a beer garden, much lively chat and banter ensued. Keep your eyes peeled for news of the next one.

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Brian became Housemaster of Holdgate House (Junior Boarders) and Linda its Matron (1978-1990). She was a mother figure, but one who was rigorous in encouraging self-reliance, self-confidence and personal pride in appearance and good manners. One ex-headmaster has said he could always tell which sixth form boy had previously been in Holdgate and which had not. Indeed more than one rose to become head boy.

Linda Durnford came to the School in 1970 and began her life here as an assistant to the caterer.

Her ebullience and cheerful spirit soon attracted the attentions of a recently appointed head of Modern Languages (Brian Day). They married and the School quickly realised the union’s potential for pastoral care.

Then, once again, pastoral care was needed; this time in Beresford House along Chart Road. (2000-2013) Linda rose to this new challenge and it is quite clear, by the deeply felt testimony of its long-serving housemaster Graham Alderman, that in the passage of time Linda had lost none of her skills in giving confidence to the youngsters, encouraging their ‘togetherness’ as a boarding unit, being both self-reliant and mutually-supportive of each other.

We shall miss her ever cheerful no-nonsense approach to community life and we wish her well in her ‘autumnal years’ as she spends more time with her children and grandchildren.

July 2013

Linda with present and past Matrons Kathy Webster, Ros Dines, Christine Pickard, Linda Day, Beverley Spencer, Pam Morrill, Sue Grainger, Julie Excell, Debbie Aiston, Gayle Hatcher

Sergison Trophy Shooting Competition Captain Sergison joined Sutton Valence School CCF in 1951 and left in 1974, after 24 years service. The trophy was last awarded in 2006.

The wonderful weather promised for the May Bank holiday didn’t happen as Major Prem pegged his gazebo down again to protect his BBQ from the wind and the rain. He produced large quantities of wonderful food and everyone was well fed. Major Millbery, Sub Lt Horley and Flt Lt Kitchen helped and managed to stay awake having completed the overnight, 21 miles Edinburgh Chase at 7am that morning.

We were thrilled to welcome staff, parents and Old Suttonians for what promised to be a close competition. Ian Crump (1967 C) and Roger Baker

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

(Bisley Cadet 100 – 1968 F) kept everyone entertained with their memories of the School. Leslie Edwards (1961 L) also attended as a spectator. Roger decided to shoot using a sling and after a disappointing first card, became very competitive and all realised why he had been Captain of Shooting. The Shooting team became coaches for the parents and their younger brothers and there were some great scores but one member was heard to say to his father “a perfect shot, but next time could you put it on your own target.”

In first place was the Shooting team – average 95.7, second were the Staff – average 93.2 and in third place the Parents and OS – average 89.6.

I hope you all enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you next year.

Lt.Col A Wilkinson.

Roger Baker (1968 F) and Leslie Edwards (1961 L) with Lt Col A Wilkinson, Flt Lt Kitchen and Colette O’Neill

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July 2013

Duke of Edinburgh Award Dinner On 22nd March, over 40 OS attended a dinner to celebrate 50 years of the School becoming a Duke of Edinburgh Awarding Authority. Presentations were given, along with quizzes and competitions.

David Lovelock was one of the first from the School to have received DoE Gold, his book having been signed off for the award by Headmaster C R Evers on 11 December 1964. He remembers his group being despatched to a very cold and snowy Dartmoor in early April (with some pretty basic gear) and seemingly left to get on with it; risk assessments being still some decades away. They used their initiative to find a barn to shelter in on the final night, as they were extremely wet and cold, nevertheless David started to feel very poorly on the train back home and had to spend several days in bed recovering. He remembers the others on the expedition being David Simpson (1965 M), J Ian Kellie (1964 W), Douglas Johnston (1965 W) and David Molyneux (1964 C).

Ellie Sagrott and Anthony Bromley, current pupils receiving their DoE Gold Certificate from David Lovelock (1964 W).

Charles Bazzard (1964 L) sent in the following photographs. Also one of the first to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme in 1963 at Sutton Valence, he felt that it undoubtedly influenced his life in many ways.

Lovelock, Simpson, Kellie, Johnston - Holed up for the night

Within the expedition, were his friends, Robert Lynden-Bell (1965 L), Jonathan Sewell (1964 L), Geoffrey Edwards (1964 L), Philip Blaine (1964 L), Stuart Murray (1964 L).

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

Charles Bazzard’s second expedition was in 1964, 34 miles in the Headcorn, Rolvenden, Rye area. One of the group had a girlfriend at Benenden (close to where they camped) and he hoped to pay her a late night call. At that time Princess Anne was a boarder at the School. Charles can’t remember if his friend ever made it up to the dormitories, but they all kept watch for security as he tried this daring visit!

Charles tried for the Gold Expedition on that first 60 mile expedition on Dartmoor. Geoffrey Edwards and Charles hitch-hiked from Dover to Exeter; they were wearing their CCF uniforms, not having other expedition clothes. The uniforms proved a boon for hitch hiking and they were lucky enough to get from Dover to Exeter in a single day. It was around midnight when they arrived and without money for accommodation, they spent the night in Exeter Railway station. Next day they made the trip to a youth hostel on Dartmoor for the start of the expedition. In those days chores had to be done at a youth hostel and this included peeling potatoes for a large incoming group. They were outside in a stone courtyard peeling spuds in the snow! Their first day went well, despite terrible weather they made camp rendezvous. Next day was worse. In the middle of the afternoon, Charles slipped when stepping on stones to cross a small river. The weight of the backpack made recovery impossible, so he ended up thoroughly soaked. Temperatures were below freezing and it was snowing hard.

His CCF uniform froze like a board.

Fortunately, there was a cottage nearby and two kindly ladies thawed him out.

Geoffrey called Mr Porter, who came to the cottage. He allowed Geoffrey to continue with the expedition, but insisted Charles go home by train the following day. He was very disappointed not to have completed that gold expedition.

Since then, Charles has had many adventures hiking and camping and feels that the spirit of exploring was founded in his Duke of Edinburgh experience.

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1959/1960 Leavers Reunion A small group of 13 OS met at Green’s Cornhill in London on 30th April, organised by Richard Craven (1960 W).

Back in 1985, Richard Craven (1960 W) organised a 25 year lunch for the “Pont’s” prefects who had left in 1960 or just before. Richard states, “The idea was to see what dire changes had occurred to our physique etc… All were pretty much recognisable.”

Nothing then happened until this year, 2013, when Craven suggested that they had missed the 50th Anniversary, but could have a 53rd, if anybody was interested. Those who attended were David Davies, Michael Crutch, Peter

Wooderson, John Hardy, Tim Archer, Raymond Smith, John Cairns, Chris Archbold and David Watkinson all turned up and they had a hilarious lunch. “Well worth doing and an action replay may occur in 2015.”

The people who expressed enthusiasm, but could not make it were: Nick Harris (South Africa and a long commute), Bob Moulton, Brian Pennington, Maurice Hills (working still). Richard states, “It was a great lunch and our thanks go to SVS for their helping hand.

If you have not seen your fellow prefects for 50 years, think about it, false teeth, hearing aids, waists et al…..”

Bennett Reunion - Oxford John Allen, Robin Hollingsworth, David Harverson, Peter Knight and Keith Gilham were reunited for the first time this April, after joining Bennett House some 60 years ago. They met for lunch at a pub just outside Oxford.

They were to be joined by Robin Palmer, Tony Ruffell and Chris Quinton, but they were unable to attend.

The reunion was a great success and a good opportunity both to exchange reminiscences and catch up on our respective lives. As John said, “it was amazing how much each of us could recount and

what an impression the School made on us.”

It was agreed to try to repeat the event at a future date and try to include some absent St Margaret’s friends as well.

They would particularly like to hear from Brian Wells, John Power and Michael McLaren if anyone has contact details.

Also, if anyone is interested in a round of golf to be played in the Oxford area, please contact, David Harverson, d.harverson@ntlworld.com

July 2013

Regional Reunion, Stratford-upon-Avon Building upon the success of the reunions at the Haynes Motor Museum and Duxford Imperial War Museum, a group of 10 Old Suttonians and partners, met up in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The group enjoyed a guided tour of the town, listening to fascinating stories of fires, flooding, plague, old-fashioned sayings and history, with a little Shakespeare. The tour finished with lunch at the Shakespeare Hotel.

Colin Hasson (1949 M), Steve Hasson (1974 F), Thomas Hasson

William Lambe Dinner In May 2013, Old Suttonians met for dinner in the Headmaster’s House for the William Lambe Society Dinner.

Again, we would very much like to hear from any OS who have made a provision of any kind for the School in their wills, so that we may include them in the next invitation to dinner.

Please contact: Helen Knott, Development Manager, knotth@svs.org.uk 01622 845271

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

Old Suttonians in the Film and Media Industry ATIENZA, Edward (1942 W) Edward now lives in a nursing home in Ontario, Canada.

In the early 1950s, Edward was an actor in Stratford-uponAvon. He toured with a company and later worked in the United States.

In 1973 he went to Canada, specifically to Stratford, Ontario to perform the Fool in King Lear and Touchstone in As You Like It. According to various reviews, these performances were highly regarded. He went on to work at the Stratford Festival Theatre until the mid 1990s. He also performed in many theatres across Canada.

BAULF, Jeremy (1976 C) Jeremy is developing a multi-channel "Sportal" on UK Freeview HD. BOYLE, Francesca (2005 L) After leaving Sutton Valence, Frankie graduated from Brighton University in 2010 with a 2.1 degree in Three Dimensional Design. From university, she interned in the field of lighting design which led her into TV lighting, a byproduct of which was one of Frankie’s university graduation products being put into development.

From working in lighting, she found her way into the world of television art department and stage management, which is an area she discovered a real passion for. She progressed her way through many shows and events such as the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics, art directed two of the BBC broadcast boats for the Diamond Jubilee River Pageant,

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Strictly Come Dancing, BBC’s new drama The White Queen and many others.

Website - www.francescaboyle.com BROWN, Ben (1978 F) Foreign Correspondent, BBC. BURGE, David (1977 F) David is Controller of Operations, Technology and Platforms at ITV PLC, providing interim operational management support across various scheduling and content management areas.

pearances on Magpie and the children's science fiction series Timeslip, as well as science articles in ITV's children's magazine Look-in, and writing books on popular science. His name became synonymous with ITN's extensive live coverage of the Apollo moon landing missions.

HOPKINS, Stephen (1975 L)

COBBALD, Louise (1991 S) Louise recently stage managed the UK Tour of Dirty Dancing at The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury.

COURT, David (1983 W) David is the owner and co-founder of Supajam Ltd and Director and cofounder of Addicted Films Ltd. David, along with his business partner, has created a music discovery format that successfully combines online, live event and TV elements into a unique, compelling entertainment offering, that reaches young people across multiple platforms.

In November 2012, commissioned by Sony Pictures Television in Los Angeles "Breakout" launches in its first territory in Brazil before rolling out across Sony’s global TV networks.

FAIRLEY, Peter (1948 M) (died 1998) After Sutton Valence, Peter attended Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He was then the science correspondent for the London Evening Standard and made numerous radio broadcasts in the 1960’s. He was also a familiar face to ITV's younger viewers, with regular ap-

Stephen is a film director and is well known for his continuation of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise with A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and the Predator franchise with Predator 2. His highest grossing film, however, was the 1998 film adaption of the TV series Lost in Space. He is most famous for Dangerous Game (1987).

In 2004, Hopkins directed the controversial biopic The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, which raised the ire of the actor's son Michael Sellers.

Stephen was a co-executive producer for the first season of the Fox action drama

July 2013

24, and also directed half of the season's episodes, including the first and last episodes.

HOPPE, Michael (1963 W)

cilia, Louise Di Tullio, Lou Anne Neill, Eugene Fodor, Lily Haydn, Heidi Fielding, Dwain Briggs, Alyssa Park, Libbie Jo Snyder, Mitsuki Dazai, Joe Powers and others.

His endeavours in the music industry have brought him several gold and platinum records, and The Yearning won “CD of the year”, and Afterglow was voted ‘Best Album’ at the Indie 2000 Convention (AFIM Awards). Also The Lover won the Visionary Award, and Hoppe’s Grammy Award nominated CD Solace was featured in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Flags of our Fathers’ documentary.

After How Do I Love Thee?, an album of love poems narrated by Michael York, Hoppe recorded Requiem, a solo piano album Romances, and Nostalgie Romances for Harmonica, featuring Joe Powers.

Michael Hoppe is a Grammy nominated composer with an exceptional melodic talent, and distinctive evocative style. He has an extensive background in both pop and classical music which his recordings reflect.

Hoppe’s music is performed and heard internationally including HBO’s ‘The Sopranos’, Oprah Winfrey Show, Michael Moore’s documentary ‘Sicko’, David Volach’s ‘My Father’, ‘My Lord’, ‘Misunderstood’ (starring Gene Hackman), and the multi-award winning short ‘Eyes of the Wind’, which reached the Oscar nomination short list.

His music is extensively used by such renowned authors and teachers as the celebrated environmentalist Jane Goodall, Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way), Sarah Breathnach (Simple Abundance), Robert Cooper (The Emotional Intelligence), and others, in their workshops.

Hoppe’s music has been recorded by a variety of singers and instrumentalists including Vangelis, the Prague Symphony, Tim Wheater, Martin Tillman, Zamfir, Frank Mills, Eliza Gilkyson, Ce-

Hoppe has performed in Korea several times, and recently performed his Requiem in Prague.

He scored the multi-award winning short film, Nous Deux Encore (www.nousdeuxencore.com) which won Best Score Award at the International Monaco Film Festival. It features Mitsuki Dazai, the virtuoso koto player, with whom Hoppe has produced Far Away… Romances for Koto.

Recent releases include Tapestry and Prayers - A Personal Selection (Audie Award nomination) read by Michael York, and Café Champagne, Hoppe’s compositions arranged and performed

by Scarlet Rivera and Tommy Eyre.

Previously, Hoppe founded InterConnection Resources, a music business consultancy. He was also a senior executive at PolyGram, responsible for signing such diverse talents as Vangelis, Kitaro, The Who, Jean-Michel Jarre and ABBA to the label.

Website – www.michaelhoppe.com

HUDSON, Peter (1968 C)

Peter’s love of literature and theatre was definitely largely influenced by former teacher, Chris Oliver, who taught him English in Lower and Upper Sixth.

Peter recalls, “His first lesson on Othello is still in my mind. He had a great gift and ability to communicate his passion for literature. He also encouraged us to put on plays outside the annual productions and introduced me to Pinter, whose plays I have often worked on since and whom I met on one or two occasions.”

Chris Oliver, along with John McCormick, used to take pupils to the theatre in Canterbury. Peter has maintained contact with John over the years and John still sends him books that he feels he would enjoy (and should read)!

After Sutton Valence, Peter went on to Exeter and East Anglia universities (French comparative literature and a Diploma of Education to become a teacher). He became a secondary teacher of French and English before accepting a post as reader in English at the CRDP (Centre Régional de Documentation Pédagogique), in Paris. His link with France became permanent and he realised that teaching was not his calling.

His attraction to the theatre and acting led him to find an agent in Paris, where he had a one line role in a Claude Lelouch film, Viva la Vie, before deciding to seek an agent in London.

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Regular film and TV work began, in English and in French, particularly in Canada, where he filmed on several series, notably in the role of James Horton, a recurring villain in Highlander.

All this of course means that they are very close to nature indeed, elephants, kangaroos, lions, Nile and saltwater crocodiles, hyenas, giraffes, birds of all kinds, turtles, sharks, dugongs, lizards and snakes goes the list. All of nature beautiful, and much of it being destroyed.......and so they will tell those stories too.

He now works regularly with directors of renown, in very different styles: Alain Resnais, Luc Besson, Norman Jewison, Mathieu Amalric, Paolo Barzma.

In 2010, Creative Cowboy Films won the best contemporary art film award in Montpellier (France) for a potters film about the life and work of the artist potter Gwyn Hanssen Pigott (solo exhibition Tate, St Ives 2004).

Peter writes a great deal, has directed several times in theatre, notably the work of Samuel Beckett, and has one short film in 35mm to his name.

He is based in Paris and has four children, three of whom have "left the nest".

He is active in the Human Rights and the Environmental arena.

Peter has finished his novel, after two years of steady work. He's now looking for a publisher.

Website – www.peter-hudson.com

Peter with his son

HYLANDS, Peter (1968 F) A working lifetime of content-making in the media industry internationally and a lifelong interest in art and culture and natural history have come together through the development of the company Creative cowboy films (co-founded

by Peter and Andrea Hylands). Peter works in some of the remotest places on earth and with some of the world’s most significant artists.

Peter Hylands says, “It struck us that we could use technology and new media to tell the stories of creative people around

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the world, if you like, a creative eye on a creative world. In doing so this led us straight to indigenous or tribal cultures in the Asia Pacific and Africa, in places like the Torres Strait, Aboriginal Australia and to Arnhem Land and the deserts of Central Australia and to the Rift Valley and its tribes. This in turn made us look very closely at what is happening to indigenous people around the world, that is, loss of language and culture, destruction and theft of land and environment, rapidly changing climates and the loss of traditional food sources, among many such things. The idea that indigenous people are our barometer, what happens to them will one day happen to us, remain foremost in my thinking”.

Recent films with Indigenous people include Zugub, the mask, the spirits and the stars (Badu Island, Torres Strait); The sea, the feather and the dance machine (Erub, Torres Strait); Bush Plum: the contemporary art of Angelina Pwerle (Utopia, Central Australia); The brush sings (Arnhem Land); Rock art and Yingana (Arnhem Land); Knowledge painting and country (Arnhem Land); We walked on a carpet of stars (Tasmania); Film essays of Maasai life (a series of six films about Maasai society today including Birds sing and lions roar and Keeping knowledge).

Peter’s films are broadcast on television, shown at events and by major institutions, galleries and museums and used in education. In 2013, Creative Cowboy Films will launch an online television channel of its own.

Website - www.creativecowboyfilms.com JANSEN, Peter (1961 F)

This New Year’s Eve, OS Peter Jansen will be celebrating 50 years as a professional musician, a career which has seen him rub shoulders with stars such as David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan and The Supremes, and has taken him and his wife Mary around the world.

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But then it was always a good bet that Peter (1954-1961) would choose entertainment as a career after he learned to play the banjo and guitar while at Sutton Valence, and spent several years in the School’s original Boy Band! Well, jazz band actually, playing regular shows in the school hall during the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, alongside Stuart White (trumpet) Graham Foulkes and Jay Holt (sharing clarinet duties), Bruce McDonald (drums), Chris Welch (trombone), Alan Noah (piano) and Peter Matthews (bass).

After several years leading a trad jazz band, Peter switched genres and formed a rhythm and blues outfit called Band 7.

Renamed the Manish Boys, the band was subsequently joined by a skinny young singer and sax player called Davey Jones. However, the hugely popular pop group The Monkees had a lead singer with the same name. Peter, with others from the band, dropped into The Giaconda one day, a London coffee bar favoured by young musicians, and came up with a new name for their singer – David Bowie. And the rest, as they say, is history……

After Peter left the Manish Boys, he and other fellow musicians took off for Europe, playing for service personnel at NATO bases. As Peter, Jan and Jon they also recorded a song called ‘Mountain Boy’, which reached number 28 in the charts.

Back in the UK, times were tough – but things took a turn for the better when he began playing as a session musician, backing artists including reggae star Prince Buster, and writing jingles for disc jockeys on Radio Caroline.

In 1974, Peter found himself in Bermuda, where he teamed up with a vocalist and guitarist called Mary Kingsley. They accepted an invitation to go to Canada in 1975, initially for a six month stay.

Today, 39 years later, Peter and Mary are still there, having forged a successful career with their enormously varied

and versatile act. They have an astonishing repertoire of more than 3,500 songs, and can switch from country duo to classic rock singers, vaudevillians to mediaeval troubadours, frequently with their own compositions, some of which have charted in several countries. Mary is also known in her own right as an accomplished ventriloquist.

They have performed right across Canada and the United States, on cruise liners, and at festivals, exhibitions and fairs. Peter has received several Canadian awards including the Emerald Award for individual commitment to environmental excellence. For 15 years he co-ordinated the Earth Day Festival in his home city, building it to be the largest in Canada with attendance of up to 32,000 in one afternoon.

Speaking from their home in central Alberta, Canada, after returning from a 26-date tour of the southern United States, Peter admits that, aged 70, he’s now considering trimming the couple’s exhausting schedule. “We’re probably down to about 150 performances a year!” he says.

Website – www.peterandmary.net Interview by Richard Harvey (1963 C) KIRRAGE, Paul (1973 L) After leaving Sutton Valence in 1973, Paul worked back stage at the famous London Palladium for nine months, where he gained valuable experience in and knowledge of the different crafts and skills involved in entertainment production which were to help him in later years.

In 1974, Paul joined Thames Television as a trainee cameraman. In those days there was only the BBC or ITV, of which Thames was the major production company, and vacancies for trainees were few and far between and hotly contested. Paul spent fifteen years as a cameraman with Thames working on every conceivable kind of show from major drama and light entertainment productions to sports and special events and

even a Royal wedding or two! During this time he was lucky enough to work on some of the shows and with some of the artists and performers who have now become legendary in terms of television history.

By the mid-eighties Paul had set his sights on becoming a director and in 1989 he managed to persuade the then head of entertainment at Thames Television, John Howard Davies, to let him direct a series of the fledgling panel show ‘Give Us A Clue’ under the watchful eye of a senior director and producer. It must have gone well because John Howard Davies offered Paul work as a director in the entertainment department at Thames, which meant him giving up his staff position as a cameraman and taking the plunge into the uncertain world of freelance employment.

Having recently married and acquired his first mortgage it was a big decision for Paul, which was thankfully to work out well!

Between 1989 and the present day, Paul has gone on to direct some of the biggest shows on British television working with many household names and international stars along the way. Some career highlights include when working with Celador Productions, being part of the creative team and the original director of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’. The show’s innovative visual style combined with its brilliantly simple format was ground breaking at the time. When ABC bought the format, Paul directed the first episode for the USA, hosted by Regis Philbin, and the show went truly global with the option to buy the format being taken up by broadcasters in over eighty countries and has become the most successful television game show format of all time. In more recent years, Paul was part of the creative team who devised the ITV show Dancing on Ice and he directed the first six series, winning for himself on two consecutive years the prestigious Royal Television Society’s craft award for multi camera directing and was nominated for a BAFTA along with the rest of the production team.

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In the last couple of years Paul has directed a wide range of shows, mostly for ITV, including music “specials” with artists such as Rod Stewart, Westlife and Simply Red, the Piers Morgan’s Life Stories series, The Pride of Britain Awards, The British Comedy Awards and in 2011, The Royal Variety Performance.

LE FORT, Anthony (1961 M) Anthony is working in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles.

LYNE-PIRKIS, Johnnie (1977 W)

John trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Shortly after graduating, he joined a circus company, touring Mediaeval Jousting Tournaments around Great Britain and Europe as both the Earl Marshall (Ring Master), and various combative knights. For over thirty years since, John has appeared internationally on stage, and on screen. Featuring in many established British TV Dramas, including House of Elliott, House of Cards, Spooks, and playing, Freddie Chalk Marshall, opposite Hugh Laurie in two seasons of the award winning, Jeeves and Wooster.

Meisner Centre in Los Angeles and at the Université De Montréal.

Archives and The National Museum of Computing.

After running two theatre production companies in London from 1998 to 2001, in 2002 John co-founded the multi-award winning, Theatre503 in London, the home of cutting edge new writing, and afforded the title, ‘Britain's most important little theatre’. For this, John received recognition as one of the top 100 people to have contributed the most to British theatre in the twentyfirst century in The Stage Top 100 List for 2003. In 2010, Theatre503 rocked the theatre world by receiving an Olivier for Best Play, for Kartori Hall's, Mountain Top, which subsequently transferred to the West End the same year, and to Broadway in 2011, with Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, directed by Kenny Leon. He is also on the board of directors for Simon Usher's theatre company, Presence. Their most recent work being N.F.Simpson's last play, If So, Then Yes....

MORLING, Rupert (1992 F) Rupert currently heads MBC Action The world’s largest free to air entertainment channel targeting men - out of Dubai.

Since 2011 John has resided in Los Angeles, where he continues his work as both actor and an ambassador for Theatre503. Married to the French film director and actress, Cécile Delepiere, John produced their first film together for his wife's company, Dollkiller Films, the short, Almost There, which they shot in Paris and Los Angeles last year, and was officially selected for the Los Angeles and UK Film Festivals for 2012. He was also Associate Producer on the award winning, pilot for the cult web series, Seriously Wounded for Development Hell Productions. He took a lead role in the independent feature, Echo Drive, due to be released in 2013.

Website - www.johnpirkis.com

More recently, he has featured in the feature films, ‘National Treasure II’ and ‘Young Victoria’ opposite Emily Blunt as her uncle, Duke of Cumberland, Earl of Derby. His theatre credits include Shakespeare, Chekhov, Oscar Wilde, Bertolt Brecht, Nick Ward, Jean-Marie Besset among others, on London's West End, and throughout Great Britain and Europe. John also studied with the

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MANSFIELD, Alex (1997 W) Alex produces radio programmes about science and technology for the BBC World Service and Radio 4, including such strands as ‘In Our Time’, ‘Click’, ‘Material World’, ‘The Life Scientific’ and ‘The Infinite Monkey Cage’. In 2011, he ran the BBC’s Domesday Reloaded project in partnership with The National

Throughout his career he has worked with Granada, ITV, UKTV and the BBC - managing a variety of functions, but specialising in channel management.

Prior to MBC Action Rupert was the Vice President of Scheduling and Programming at MTV UK (Edinburgh TV Festival channel of the year), followed

by Discovery UK. His last role based in the UK was Vice President of Programming and Strategy for Discovery Networks International leading their digital editorial strategy and all new channel launches internationally.

He is happy to offer advice on format development, how to pitch programme ideas in both the traditional and digital worlds, as well as offer any advice and support on TV globally and specifically in the Middle East.

NELSON, David (1966 C) David left the School to go to Manchester University where he read English and History of Art and became involved with the University Film Society. He then managed to get a place on one of the very first media courses in England, the Radio, Film and TV Production Postgraduate certificate course at Bristol University. From here, he started work at BBC Pebble Mill as a station assistant, moved up to Assistant producer and finally ended his career as a Producer in the News and Current Affairs department, making half-hour regional TV documentaries on almost any subject you can care to name. He also made a couple of programmes for network BBC, namely ‘Jailers ‘about prison officer training, ‘A Drop in the Ocean’ about plastic surgery in Sri Lanka and ‘Death March’ with Auschwitz survivor Kitty Hart-Moxon which involved a trip

July 2013

to Poland and Germany following in the footsteps of her death march in 1945.

He left the BBC briefly in 1976 and spent two years travelling, ending up working for a year with the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation. He left the BBC in June 2002 and since then has been a TV Journalism trainer with the Thomson Foundation, getting work in India, Malawi, Botswana, Qatar and Malaya. He effectively retired from TV production after a year teaching Media Studies at Bournville College and is shortly moving to Florida.

POLYCARPOU, Peter (1975 C) Peter’s work in movies include Evita (alongside Madonna), Oklahoma! and De-Lovely. On stage, he was the first actor to play the role of John in the musical Miss Saigon in London. He was an original cast member of the musical Les Misérables, and has played The Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. He has also appeared in the UK première of The Woods by David Mamet at the Finborough Theatre, London. Television work has included The Bill, Holby City, Casualty and Waking the Dead.

In February 2006, Polycarpou appeared in EastEnders, playing Yannis Pappas, father-in-law of character Carly Wicks for 3 episodes. He played a leading role in the movie O Jerusalem, released in 2007. He also starred in a short film Broken alongside Michelle Collins, playing the leading role of Solomon. The film, about a Greek-Cypriot immigrant family in 1960’s London won several international awards. He wrote and co-directed his own short film Mad George, with ex-musician and long-time friend John Hoare. The film has shown at several International Film Festivals.

Recent work includes playing Gash in Bryony Lavery's play Last Easter, directed by Douglas Hodge, at the Door Theatre in Birmingham, and the leading role of Daniel Warshowsky in the musical Imagine This at the New London Theatre in 2008.

In 2010, he starred alongside Sean Bean and Charlotte Rampling in the terrorist thriller, Cleanskin which was released last year. He also appeared in the eighth series of Hustle for BBCTV directed by actor Adrian Lester.

Between 2010 and 2011, he appeared alongside Emma Williams and Michael Xavier in the Chichester Festival Theatre's Love Story. It later transferred to The Duchess Theatre, where it had a short run.

He also worked at Chichester Festival Theatre playing Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd (alongside Love Story producer Michael Ball as Sweeney Todd).

Website - www.peterpolycarpou.com REVEST, Phillipa (née Le Grys) (1995 V)

cently The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Arthur Christmas and The Amazing Spiderman.

Website www.creativepartnership.co.uk.

SANDEM, James (1993 W) After selling his company, SuperVision Management Group, in April 2012, James is now running Red Light Artist Management's UK office, based in Shoreditch, London EC2. Red Light is one of the most successful independent companies in the music business worldwide, managing acts including Alicia Keys, Alabama Shakes, and DJ Steve Angello. He has continued to enjoy success with his own roster, British band The Vaccines scoring a #1 album this year with Come Of Age, and Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and Crystal Castles all doing well in 2012.

James and his wife, Nanna live in Kentish Town, North London with their 3 year old son, Linus.

SCHMIGE, Maximilian (2002 M) Max is a Director of Photography and Freelance Cinematographer, located in Los Angeles. Originally from West Berlin, Max grew up in Germany, but completed his schooling at Sutton Valence, before moving to the US in 2003.

He trained as a cinematographer at the prestigious American Film Institute.

His work has been seen on national television such as the Oprah Network and HBO. His documentary work is seen at festivals all around the world.

Phillipa is a Producer and Agency Account Manager at The Creative Partnership, one of the most highly respected film marketing companies in the UK. Her work covers theatrical and home entertainment releases, across all genres, for clients, such as 20th Century Fox, Sony, Universal and Paramount Pictures.

Notable releases on her CV include Avatar, Slumdog Millionaire and most re-

Schmige has shot music videos for several artists including Superbus, IRMA, Leslie and Meaghan Smith. Additionally, he has worked with actors Roger Guenveur Smith (from American Gangster), Russell Hornsby (from Grimm), Michael Harney (Deadwood), and Tom Kiesche (from Breaking Bad).

Max was awarded the Hollywood Foreign Press Award for his extraordinary achievements as a director of photography. His films, such as Salvation Road,

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which starred Russell Hornsby, Michael Harney and Roger Guenveur Smith, are FujiFilm, Caucus and DGA Award winners.

Under German cinematographer KarlWalter Lindenlaub (ASC), Schmige was mentored by one of the best directors of photography in the industry. At the American Film Institute, Schmige had the honour to meet and learn from many more great cinematographers such as Roger Deakins, Robbie Greenberg, and Jacek Laskus.

Max is an experienced water photographer and certified scuba diver with PADI. His passion for film has allowed him to work on various projects that brought him to many different places and cultures in the world.

Max studied film history and theory at the University of California Santa Barbara before gaining his Masters at AFI. Outside of production, he acted as a judge at the Shriekfest Film Festival in Hollywood and the Camerimage in Poland. He actively served in the Finnish military before pursuing a career in film.

starring Laurence Harvey and Rupert Davies. During the 1970s, Merlin worked with many notable performers including Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, David Jason, Dick Emery, Nigel Stock and Noel Gordon – in the summer of 1977, Merlin played a principal role in the soap, Crossroads, appearing in over 70 episodes and making him a household face if not, exactly, name!

Unfortunately, ‘Crossroads’ became a bit of a cross to bear and despite a few roles in films, such as ‘The Stud’, Merlin’s acting career was in a downward spiral.

One of his last acting roles was in the TV series The Love Boat, playing in a scene opposite the screen great, Trevor Howard. Merlin played a film director, a role he was to play for real years later when he directed his first feature film, ‘Out of Bounds’, which was set in a girls’ boarding school. The film starred Celia Imrie, Sophie Ward and Sophia Myles and enjoyed good TV exposure throughout Europe, the Far East and on BBC1, where it has been screened three times.

When writing the script, Merlin imagined the location to be Sutton Valence School and was thrilled to find a location near Watford that offered the same style of building and clock tower.

Website - www.maximilian-schmige.com SEN, Jith (1980 L) Director at Partisan Pictures Pty Ltd. Director of recent films, including the thriller A Perfect Life.

WARD, Merlin (1968 W) Merlin left Westminster House in 1968 at the age of 16 and almost immediately entered another school called Albion House. During the summer holidays, Merlin auditioned for a role in Alan Bennett’s first play, ‘Forty Years On’ and was fortunate to land a speaking part playing in scenes opposite Sir John Gielgud, Paul Eddington and Alan Bennett.

The play ran for 15 months in the West End of London and during that time Merlin shared a dressing room with Anthony Andrews (actor) and George Fenton (composer). Following ‘Forty Years On’, Merlin was lucky enough to land work in TV, film and another West End play set in a school called ‘Child’s Play’

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Since shooting ‘Out of Bounds’, Merlin co-produced another film called ‘Within’ that has subsequently sunk from view without a ripple. A third feature was due to be shot in 2010, but when Merlin was asked to sell the script for a good price he accepted the offer. He has subsequently rewritten the story as a stage play, which is to be produced by Talking Scarlet Productions in June 2014 – a long way ahead, but that is typical of the theatre. Apart from writing drama, Merlin also makes his living from writing copy for the internet.

Websites - www.merlinward.com and www.merlinward.co.uk WIGHT, Fiona (1995 V) Fiona’s career has included being lead singer in Riverdance, Lord of the Dance with Michael Flatley, Excalibur, hit vocal group Anuna. She is also a former BBC UK Choirgirl of the Year. She had her

voice “auctioned” by Sir Terry Wogan as part of Children in Need and appeared with Sir Cliff Richard at the Royal Albert Hall and sang with Boy George at the Houses of Parliament. Fiona's group Legend, has released a charity single Gaudete, in aid of Help the Hospices.

Website - www.fionawight.com.

WILMSEN, Viola (2002 S) After finishing school in Germany, Viola started to study music at the University for Music in Lübeck, Germany. As a student, she won the competition for the position of solo-oboist of the German Opera of Berlin ("Deutsche Opera Berlin"), started there in January 2010, underwent her exams in Lübeck in March 2011 and changed to the "Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin (DSO)" in September 2012, as well as the solo-oboist.

Website - www.violawilmsen.de.

Careers Focus Careers Networking Are you able to help with work experience or mentoring?

In order to give our pupils and Old Suttonians the opportunity to compete effectively for the more highly regarded university places, or to get a first foot on the employment ladder, the School considers it most important that a young person gains work experience. However, they need the contacts to be able to do this. Sutton Valence Sixth Form pupils and other younger Old Suttonians could greatly benefit from the network of Old

July 2013

Suttonians employment knowledge and experience, whether it is providing work shadowing or sound advice in the form of mentorship.

If you are in a position to offer work shadowing to a Sutton Valence pupil or another Old Suttonian, please email Rebecca Riggs on riggsr@svs.org.uk or telephone 01622 845258 specifying your profession or area of expertise. Any contact will be made through the School only.

Biologist HUNT, James (1993 M)

James attended Sutton Valence School between 1988 and 1993. He went on to take a BSc in Ecology and an MSc in Geographical Information Systems at Edinburgh University.

Since leaving university, James has worked for a charitable organisation called The Tweed Foundation, which is responsible for protecting and enhancing the economic and social value of the fishes in The Tweed District. This is achieved through the study, maintenance and restoration of their populations, ecosystems and habitats and the encouragement of wider participation in angling.

The Foundation is regarded as being at the forefront in bringing a more professional, scientific approach to salmonid

management. It is engaged in an extensive program of biological research, monitoring and habitat enhancement, with the aim of protecting the Tweed’s valuable fish stocks and maximising the river’s natural productivity. The Tweed’s salmon fishery has the highest rod catch in Britain (around 20,000 fish at present), with an economic benefit to the local economy of around 17 million pounds.

Why I chose a career in fisheries management While I never quite knew where I wanted to end up for a career, I was quite clear that I wanted do something rewarding and interesting - ‘Making a difference' rather than making money!

Finishing up at Edinburgh University, I took up a summer post at The Tweed Foundation based in the Scottish Borders and I have been there ever since. I have always had an interest in fishing, so to work on the premier salmon river in Britain, was an opportunity that I couldn't pass on.

A typical day My work is very seasonal. Through the summer we are out in the field collecting biological data, particularly for juvenile salmon and trout in the different tributaries of the Tweed. All very pleasant in a dry summer ... In the autumn, with the main runs of salmon and trout come into the river, I will be busy running fish counters and traps to monitor the adult fish populations. Through the winter time and into spring there is a lot of report writing, data analysis, meetings and giving talks to various people and organisations.

Advise for pursuing a career in Biology The field of Biology is highly diverse, ranging from the molecular to the landscape and ecosystem scale and can be purely academic, or have practical uses.

Genetics is a particularly relevant subject at the moment, given the recent advances in technology and practical uses to conservation management. Many universities offer biological degrees that allow students to become more specialised through the duration of their

course, so you don't have to make any specific decisions yet. With the current economic climate, getting a job in the environmental sector is particularly challenging at the moment. My advice is to get as much work experience as you can while at university and perhaps in a gap year, which isn't easy for many students who now need to earn money to pay for their tuition fees. Dedication, single mindedness and maybe be a bit of luck will get you a long way!

Veterinary Surgeon KNOWLES, Simon (2000 F)

Simon attended Sutton Valence School between 1993 and 2000. He went on to take a degree in Veterinary Science at Bristol University and is currently a senior assistant veterinary surgeon, in a busy practice near Canterbury.

After graduating in 2005, Simon started work in a mixed, predominantly large animal practice in Somerset. The workload was varied and busy, seeing mostly cattle and horses, with a smattering of sheep, dogs, cats, rabbits and exotics to keep things interesting. In 2007, he

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moved back to Kent, working in a mixed practice in Sandwich, and then to his current practice in Bekesbourne, near Canterbury. In the five years he has been there, he has built up a large loyal following of clients and finds the job fulfilling, busy and constantly different.

Why I chose a career in veterinary medicine Since the age of about six years old, I had my heart set on becoming a vet. I think it may have had something to do with the large number of science and animal related books I was raised on as a child, including the complete works of James Herriot; read practically back to back… All the way through secondary school, I had the goal of getting into university to study veterinary science and I was thrilled to be offered a place at Bristol, after leaving SVS. Being a vet is largely about caring for the animals, but I believe that the main skill is dealing with people. Owners provide you with nearly all of the information about their pets, they make huge decisions based on how you communicate with them and often see you as a confidante and therapist. All of this makes the job busy, demanding and at times high-pressured, but always varied and rewarding.

A typical day My work day is quite a long one! We typically start at 8:15am, seeing clients who are dropping off animals for operations and procedures. These are short consultations, outlining the treatment plan and discussing any concerns that the owners may have. From 9am until 2pm, I perform operations and surgical procedures – this range from routine neutering operations to mass removals, dental procedures, orthopaedic operations and wound sutures. The afternoon is then taken up with two periods of consultations until 7pm. In between, we try and field phone calls for advice, complete paperwork and write up clinical notes.

Lunch breaks are often a rarity!

Advice for pursuing a career as a Veterinary Surgeon Competition for a place at university to study veterinary medicine is high, as

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there are only a small number of universities that offer the course (currently 7, taking up to 150 students per year). It can seem like a really daunting prospect, but if you feel passionate about veterinary science as a career, then don’t let people dissuade you. To get considered for interview, you typically need at least AAB at A Level, with a compulsory A in Chemistry. In addition to this, all of the universities will expect a significant amount of work experience, in as many areas as possible (lambing, dairy work, riding stables, local vet practice), to show that you understand what the job entails and have the dedication to work hard during holiday time, as you will have compulsory placements during your university holidays too.

Simon is happy to talk to and advise anyone who is thinking of applying for veterinary science; his email address can be obtained through Rebecca Riggs: email: riggsr@svs.org.uk.

House Focus Sutton (See photograph on next page) Sue Jones (née Kohli), Abigail Dale (née Cooke), Ana Buisman, Krystyna Bielecki, Lucy Gostelow (née Slater), Josieanne Vilchez Gayle Yun, Leigh Styant, Melissa Albentosa, Emma Russell (née Richards), Joanne Richardson, Natasha Anslow, Helen Sladen, Orlanda Hutcheson, Anne-Marie Evans (née Colthup) Lynne Ferguson, Dr Anne Bowker, Mrs Anne Hughes (née Didier), Dr Ray Sabine, Mrs Pam Morrill, Mrs D Generowicz, Erica Smith Corinna Reynolds, Ruth Bielecki Names in bold = no contact details Members of the first intake at Sutton House were asked to share their memories with the Old Suttonians Newsletter.

ANSLOW, Natasha (1990 S) “Looking

at this photo brings back so many memories, the first set of girl boarders, and for me, being the only girl boarding in my year, brought quite a lot of attention!

It meant I had lots of friends both older and younger and it made Sutton like a family, with Dr Sabine very much being the head of that family. I remember first looking around the boarding house with my parents and being slightly puzzled by the chains on the windows, although my father seemed to be more approving of them! Having been a day girl for a year already and with the help of good friends, such as Jo Richardson, settling into boarding life was never a problem.

With sport being my first love, organising training runs at 7.30am to get the hockey team fit, seemed a lot easier from the boarding house, although I think the day girls in the team were not so impressed at having to be at school so early.”

BOWKER, Dr Anne (Ex-Staff 19871993) “There was the time a student ran away from home to Sutton, which told the lie to Shakespeare’s famous quote about school, and I think says a lot about SVS. There was something distinctive about the smell of toast being cooked at the evening break (8-8.30) that I loved.

Prep started almost immediately after tea, at 6.30, as I recall. At break, students were allowed to go to the quad but had to be back by 8.30. There was the famous '6" rule' - students of the opposite sex were not allowed to be closer than 6 inches which, in conjunction with the mere 30 minutes break including the 5 minute walk to and from the quad, in the cold, tended to reduce any possible misdemeanours that would worry parents and others.

Fundamentally though, students were kindly at SVS, across the school and at Sutton, where students were naturally more homesick when they arrived (or in some cases, arrived back from Exeats).

RUSSELL, Emma (née Richards) (1991 S) “It was September 1985 and The Power of Love and Money for Nothing

July 2013

were at the top of the charts. In America, Cagney and Lacey and The Cosby Show picked up Emmy Awards and President Reagan ordered sanctions against South Africa. Closer to home, in a small village in Kent, a brand new girls’ boarding house was welcoming its first boarders. A trickle of young girls, many of whom had never been away from home for any meaningful amount of time, were being shown to their dorms and shows. After our parents had left we started the bonding process and friendships were formed, of which many have lasted to this day.

We were very much a novelty at first. I remember walking to the refectory and being overwhelmed by the smell of aftershave and hundreds of well-groomed boys just watching us as we nervously joined the queue to get our first breakfast. Within about a week, the aftershave had vanished and the ‘just out of bed

look’ was now being sported by the majority!

Dr Sabine was our housemaster. There were 3 in all during my 5 years in Sutton, which I think speaks volumes about what it must have been like to look after us girls! We did get up to all sorts, and must have been rather ‘trying’ to look after! I remember the smell of Dr Sabine’s pipe wafting through the house when he was on duty, which served as an early warning signal for us to start behaving; his nickname was after all pretty well justified. Whenever I smell a pipe now I smile as the memories come flooding back.

Sutton wasn’t particularly competitive on the sports field, but the house spirit was one of ‘let’s try our best and have a great time doing it’. Competitiveness seemed to be, sadly, more on the social side with the girls in Valence, but both

houses set aside any teenage pettiness and pulled together when it came to playing fixtures against other schools and some of the funniest times were on the minibuses coming back from those events.

Looking back at my time in Sutton, I remember fondly the house plays, the midnight feasts, watching ‘Neighbours’ on TV at lunchtime and having my best friends with me 24/7. Sutton was a house full of laughter where we really cared about each other, it had a warm, homely feeling, it had that ‘special something’.

It was a mixture of Malory Towers with a smattering of St Trinians’ thrown in for good measure, they say your School days are the best days of your life, I have to say I’d find it hard to argue with that!”

Sutton House 1987-88

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

News of Old Suttonians ANDERSON, Keith (1979 L) Keith found himself on our missing list and got in touch. He moved back to Kent some years ago and now lives in Ashford.

BARNES-PHILLIPS, Jim (1966 M) Whilst on holiday in Paphos, by pure chance, Jim and his wife were in discussion with a couple on their first evening, Robin and Maureen Jackson. Robin Jackson was in the SVS Music Department from 1976, eight years after Jim had left and they had several chats about staff members they both knew.

handsome as he might have been once, long ago.” The other photo is from his house, looking down from 700 feet, across the Barbados Woodbourne valley and out to sea.

BENNETT, Nell (2008 S) Industrial Design Engineer, website – www.nellbennett.com BENTLEY, Bill (1950 W) Bill recently visited the School with his sister and her grand-daughter. It was a long awaited opportunity for Bill to refresh happy memories and to clothe in reality tales of years gone by.

BEADON, Colin (1948 L) BETTE-BENNETT, Jim (1965 M)

Go to Colin Leslie Beadon on Facebook and see a lot of what he writes, what he photographs, his family, friends, where he has been, where he goes, what he thinks, etc. This is a recent self-photograph. Colin is trying out a camera remote trigger (in his right hand) and he writes “attempting to look as young and

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Jim and his wife have set up a charity shop in Brittany. Palliative care is not yet established in any francophone African country. With the proceeds of the shop they financed a 5 week course presented in Cameroon by trainers from Hospice Africa in Uganda in April/May last year. They had 14 participants from 4 francophone countries and will continue to support them in establishing palliative care in their countries. Jim was lucky enough to participate in the first two weeks. As an accountant, he taught basic financial and fundraising skills.

The course was held at Mutengene Baptist Hospital and the choir welcomed them on the first morn-

ing. When not teaching, Jim sat at the back of the class and learnt far more than he ever wanted to know about how it is to die of cancer in rural Africa.

BRADLEY, Jonathan (1981 F) We have re-established contact with Jon. After leaving Sutton Valence, he pursued a career involving his passion of the time… Cars. He trained and qualified as a vehicle technician while working for a Mercedes commercial workshop.

From there, he worked in a variety of positions varying from Technician to Workshop Manager in franchised dealerships including Rover, Landrover, Nissan, Mercedes, Subaru and Toyota, eventually moving from the commercial workshop environment to teaching mechanics as a Civil Servant for the Royal Engineers in Chatham in 2004. This role was outsourced to a new company, namely Mid Kent College Training Services in 2009 and his employment was transferred to them, which is where he works to this day as a Technical Instructor.

Jon is also an Assessor and Internal Verifier for non-vocational qualifications (NVQ's), as well as a member of the Institute for Learning and had QTLS status awarded in August 2011.

Alongside this he had a successful career in the Territorial Army for 18 years, retiring in 2005 as a Sergeant in the REME. BREWER, David (1959 M) David married in 1972 to Sarah St Joseph and has four children, 2 sons and 2 daughters all privately educated and with degrees from Cambridge, York and

July 2013

Southampton. He also has six grandchildren. He started a private architect practice in 1974 and partnership from 1983 to 2005. David now runs a holiday let on his home site.

BROOKE, Alice (2007 H) Has qualified as a doctor and started her final year in Brighton. Charles Brooke (2007 M) is reading American Studies and History at Dundee. He completed his second year in North America and has started an internship with Microsoft for a year, returning to finish his degree after that for one year.

William Brooke (2007 H) continues at the Glasgow Academy.

world's third most livable city, after Melbourne and Vienna. Vancouver proudly held number one spot for nearly a decade and last year slipped to number three. Surprisingly it lost marks for crime rates, lack of availability of quality housing and congested roads. Robin still drives his car (cautiously, and not in the rush hour), but usually goes down town on the bus. Robin leads a reasonably active life and is never bored.

CAIRNS, The Very Reverend Dr John (1961 M) Dean of Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal in Scotland, gave one of the bidding prayers at the Queen’s Coronation 60th Anniversary at Westminster on 4th June 2013.

BURNS, Robin (1941 M)

BURTON, John (1949 DB) John is a Knight of the fourth degree and the Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus which oversees his Council # 9447. This and his other local commitments keep him out of mischief.

John hopes that his two strokes of 2011 are behind him. He states that he does have some memory loss (mainly in the spelling area - but his wife quickly assures him that he was never too good in that area).

Robin remains well and takes his grand-daughter's Cairn for a daily walk, if it is not too hot or raining. He celebrated his 90th birthday in November last year, so a 40-minute walk daily around the neighbourhood is pretty good. He is fortunate to live in an area of the city which is well trod and pleasant for walking. In the morning's paper it reported that the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Vancouver as the

his time being an artist/painter and also writing and researching the story of how his ancestor, Admiral the Honourable John Byng, came to be executed by firing squad at noon on March 14th 1757, for the loss of Minorca, which event provoked Voltaire to write in his novel Candide the famous lines....."from time to time the English like to shoot an admiral pour encourager les autres." His artwork can be seen on his Facebook page.

BYNG-MADDICK, Christopher (1963 F) For the past 30-40 years Chris has worked as an architect, for a number of London practices. Towards the end of the 1970s he joined a practice called D.E.G.W., where he became a Partner/Director, when they incorporated in the 1980s. Christopher set up a practice of his own after leaving D.E.G.W, which lasted for 15+ years, but in 2004, he suffered a stroke, which effectively ended his working life. He now spends most of

CHANCE, Veronique (1986 V) Veronique ran in the London Marathon and raised £1,500 for the charity MIND. In September, last year, she ran in the Berlin Marathon, sponsored by an organisation that helps disabled children. In April this year, Veronique was appointed Senior Lecturer and Team Leader in Fine Art at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge and she has recently completed the Paris Marathon.

CHEETHAM, Michael (1954 W) In 2008, to mark his 70th year, Micheal walked the length of the Thames Path from the source to the Barrier (approximately 200 miles).

Since then, he has walked part of the Pembroke Way, then most of the Grand Union Canal towpath and then the Kennet and Avon Canal towpath. Michael always walks alone.

COLES, Keith (1954 W) Apart from various domestic matters, Keith’s main interest at present is family

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

research, which so far has not thrown up anything alarming. It has left him regretting not asking elderly relatives when they were alive to give him so much information which is now hard to find. However the two strands of the family that he is following has taken him back to the late 1600s, so far.

CONINGSBY, Andrew (1979 W)

Pirkis. He has very fond memories of the excellent forge that SVS was in my early life – not that he’s too antique just yet, he hopes!

CRANMER, Steve (1979 C) Steve visited the School in May whilst over from New Zealand. He had a great few weeks back in the UK, seeing the family and re-familiarizing himself with life in London too.

hospice and sings in two choirs. In 2014, he will be going to India to sing Handel’s Messiah.

Chris states that he has a “busy and enjoyable life.”

DYKE, Simon (1991 F)

DENDY, Mark (1978 M) We have re-established contact with Mark. He has been living in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the last 12 years.

DOVETON-GERTY, Chris (1955 L) Chris recently sent in an update telling us that it has taken him many years to recover from the loss of his wife, from an illness she was diagnosed with ten years before her death in 2003.

Andrew now lives near Banbury in South Northamptonshire, amidst the fine, rolling countryside thereabouts the “broad, sunlit uplands” that Churchill evoked so well!

He has returned to Bath, where he was brought up, after an eventful journey which took him to South Africa, before becoming a boarder at Sutton Valence and to Spain.

He has three children with his wife Tamsin, Hal aged 21, Louis aged 19 and Imogen aged 14.

His Spanish journey prompted him to become a writer. His first novel, published in 2012, ‘The Spanish Dream’, a business thriller, gives an insight into the corrupt property market in Spain. The reviews on Amazon and sales have been encouraging.

Andrew continues to run the illustration and graphic arts agency Début Art (which he founded in 1985) and also The Coningsby Gallery (which he founded in 1994). Both businesses are based in the heart of London’s West End. He meets fairly regularly for wine and ‘song’ with fellow 1974-1979 Westminster compatriots, David Swarbrick, Nathaniel Harrison and John Lyne-

Chris is now writing his second novel which has an international flavour, full of love, mystery and drama. ‘The return of the Prodigal son’ has been meaningful in many ways. He is a Steward/Guide in Bath Abbey, involved with tours and is a sidesman and a reader in the Abbey.

He is also becoming involved in bereavement counselling and is a volunteer in the Day Care Unit of a local

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The last 18 months has been quite a journey for my family and me – trying to resurrect memories of a school experience that started 29 years ago, and finished seven years later, is quite a task!

I have always been keen on cricket. I caught the bug from my grandmother, who was a Somerset supporter, and waxed lyrical about Ian Botham, Viv Richards and Joel Garner back in the day. But without doubt, it was my time at SV that developed that interest into a true love of the game, without having to run around a sports field – always something of a bonus.

Through my SV years, I was scorer for the U13s and U14s for a season each (who can forget the goat in the overgrown garden adjacent to Upper), and the 1st XI for four. During those four years with the 1st team, if memory serves, we lost only twice to school opposition. I’d like to think my scoring duties were the main reason for this unprecedented success, but a team containing Yakesh and Dipak Patel, at least one Barr at all times and players such as

July 2013

Jamie Cowell, Richard Girling and many others was always a tough proposition on the field. The influence of such masters as Bob Chance and David Pickard helped develop my appreciation for the game and, to this day, their influence on me is something for which I am truly thankful. My most vivid memory of the 1st XI was an all-day match against Dover College – starting at 11:30am and finishing at 6:30pm. Dover chose to delay their declaration until 5pm, leaving the school just 80 minutes to score 210 to win. DP managed to summon up some willing boundary riders from the School to return the ball quickly and avoid delays – we finished on 190-1, and the Dover teacher scolded his captain after the match, and was heard to say “I told you that you declared too early”.

I left the school in the summer of 1991, but it was not until 2000 that I finally found a route into the professional game. In the intervening years I had been involved in my local village cricket team, and we were fortunate to welcome to our Sunday team a former Australian Test Cricketer, David Gilbert, who was deputy Chief Executive of Sussex CCC at the time. We stayed in touch, and at the turn of the millennium an opportunity arose; I joined Sussex and moved to the south coast. I stayed at Hove until late 2011, but in the intervening years the Club won its first three County Championships, among a haul of ten 1st and 2nd team trophies. Much of my time was spent in the Cricket Office, working as the behind the scenes man for the coaching and playing staff. This work involved, amongst other things, processing work permit applications, sourcing playing kit and equipment, booking team hotels and travel arrangements, and researching and analysing data and statistics to help match and tac-

tical planning. In late 2005 – just two years after our first ever Championship – the Head Coach asked me a simple question “how can we win the Championship again?” That winter I buried myself in scorecards and averages, produced a strategy… and Sussex were Champions again in 2006 and 2007. I was fortunate to meet many amazing people in that time, and on two occasions was a member of the party that visited Buckingham Palace, to be officially presented with the Championship trophy by the Duke of Edinburgh.

In late 2011, budget cuts at Sussex Cricket resulted in me being made redundant, but this presented me with an opportunity to explore new avenues and challenges within the game. In early 2012 I started working for Opta Sports, a company who had obtained the rights to recording the scores from County Cricket matches on behalf of the ECB. This involved ball-by-ball scoring of County games, which for me included home matches for Surrey and Sussex. A vacancy became available in May 2012 to work for the MCC, based at Lord’s, my main role being to assist in the administration of the Laws of Cricket, and most of my time was spent fielding queries from across the globe, asking what should happen in a myriad of match situations, often fabricated and invariably complicated! During that summer, I was also fortunate to volunteer at London 2012 as a Games Maker, and spent two weeks working at the IOC’s hotel on Park Lane – an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience.

In January 2013 a position arose in Dublin, working for Cricket Ireland. As part of Ireland’s drive for Test status and a place at the top table of cricket’s world game, the organisation had secured funding to introduce a new domestic tier

of the game – akin to County Cricket in England – and needed someone to turn a largely blank piece of paper into a working competition. I was successful in being appointed to that role, and the first match was played in early May under cloudless skies, and was won by an unbeaten century from international cricketer Kevin O’Brien.

So from humble beginnings at SV I find myself in Dublin, via Maidstone, Hove, Crawley and NW London, helped in no small part by those summers on the Upper recording every dot ball and run scored. It’s amazing where life can lead you.

EDMONDS, Richard (1956 M) Richard’s life and career has been recorded by the British Library Life Stories Boodle’s An Oral History.

FAY, Julian (1963 F) Julian is living in Kenya and owns a casino. He was good friends with another Old Suttonian, John Bowyer (1943 DB), who was a long-time resident of Kenya from the early 60s. John was a lawyer who represented Jomo Kenyatta in the run-up to Kenyan independence.

Sadly, John passed away a few years ago.

GAMMIE, Michael (1959 M) We have re-established contact with Michael. He is a music professional based in London.

GEDNEY, Felix (1985 F) Felix is now living in USA and is serving in Afghanistan with a US Division.

He continues to hear news from Sutton Valence as his nephew and niece, Tom and Ellie Benson, are currently at the School.

GIRLING, Richard (1989 M) Richard is studying to be “Master of

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

Wine”. He has been working at John E Fells since 1998, running the London Trade Team, supplying wine into the prestige restaurant and hotels in London for 8 years. He is now buying and trading wines and hosts wine education wine evenings. Richard travels extensively in Europe visiting wineries and buying on behalf of the company.

HAMBOURG, Grégoire (1994 W)

In 1981, he married and moved to Somerset to manage his family's property business. John has two children and, now retired, enjoys golf, photography, driving (he was chairman of the local RoSPA Advanced Drivers' Group for 10 years), gardening and study. He has taken several interesting courses with the Open University and Open College of Arts including Imaging, Computing, Oceanography and Ecology.

HAKIMNEJAD, Goodarz (1964 L)

Grégoire married in 2006 and is living in Hong Kong with his wife. He has 3 children, Armand born 2010, Maelys born 2011 and Faustine born 2012. He created his company in 2007, which manufactures medical devices for hospitals and nursing homes for the elderly.

Goodarz went on to Loughborough University to obtain a Bachelor degree in Production Engineering and Management. After university, he returned to Tehran in 1969, for military service and then to work with his father in their manufacturing company called Aabsal plc. They manufacture water evaporative air coolers, room gas heaters and washing machines. Goodarz has been married for forty one years and has two sons, Rino and Nima who both attended Sutton Valence. If any other Old Suttonians are visiting Iran and they need help in any way, they can email Goodarz (goodarz@aabsal.org).

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John took an MSc in Fuel Technology at Portsmouth in 1976 and later, around 1990, an MBA with the Open University.

HARRIS, John (1966 C) John wanted to pass on his regards to Bob Chance his English teacher, who was inspirational and also to Tim Paine, with whom he briefly shared in 1969, the first floor prefect's show in Cornwallis (then an "end-show" or sub-prefect) until he relinquished this in favour of ESU American student, Steve Miller.

John’s non pop-up toaster would have caused many activations of a smoke detector had there been such things in the late 1960s!

After A levels, John studied Gas Engineering at Salford University, where he gained his first degree. In the 1970s he was heavily involved in the changeover of industrial plant in the South East from town gas to natural gas and later ran the South East Gas Technical Consultancy Services.

HATCHER, Mark (1973 L) Mark, a former Governor of the School and now a Trustee of the United Westminster Schools Foundation, was ordained a Deacon in September. He completed a three year part-time course of theological training and was awarded a degree by Christ Church Canterbury University in the summer. He has been appointed a non-stipendiary, Assistant Curate at St Saviour, Brockley Rise in the Diocese of Southwark. Among those present at Mark's ordination were the Chairman of the SVS Governing Body, Bryan Baughan and fellow Governor, Eric Watts, and representing the UWS Foundation, the Reverend Canon David Hutt. The School Chaplain, Fr Paul Kish also attended. Mark is continuing his work as Director of the Bar Council, the governing body for barristers in England and Wales.

In April 2013, Mark was elected a Bencher of the Middle Temple. He was called to the bench at a ceremony in Middle Temple.

HAYMAN, David (1995 M) David recently moved to the USA to take up a David H Smith Fellowship at

July 2013

Colorado State University, USA, having spent over 5 years working at Cambridge University, on West African bats and their infections. Also, he was awarded a PhD by Cambridge University in 2011.

He was also awarded his MSc by University of Kent in 2005, and his veterinary degree by University of Edinburgh in 2002.

HULL, Peter (1952 M) Peter’s book ‘Glucose Syrups, Technology and Applications’ was recently reviewed: “This book is an excellent reference source for degree level students in food technology and teaching staff and the detailed applications make it a useful manual for culinary students and those engaged in product development.”

HEMSLEY, Richard (1973 W) ISMAIL, Reza (1985 M) We have re-established contact with Reza and he is working as Managing Director for a pharmaceuticals company in Malaysia.

KILLIN, Lewis (2006 Cl) Lewis completed an MA in Psychology in 2010 and an MSc in Human Cognitive Neuropsychology in 2011 at University of Edinburgh.

George McRae (1973 W) tracked Richard down and stayed for a couple of nights in June. They spent a day at Canterbury catching up whilst watching Kent CCC play Glamorgan. George went into international development planning and has travelled widely often in less prosperous parts. His home is in his native British Columbia, Canada.

HOLLOWAY, Christopher (1950 M) Christopher has just completed a ninth edition of his textbook ‘The Business of Tourism’ which has sold over 150,000 copies and has been translated into 7 foreign languages. He would be pleased to hear from Old Suttonians who live locally or around Bristol, or St Ives in Cornwall, where he has a second home.

HUGHES, Gary (1973 F) Gary has worked as a moderator for National Exams Board for South West England and now works as a freelance artist in Cornwall.

KOJECKY, Roger (1961 L) Roger Kojecky is Secretary of the Christian Literary Studies Group and Editor of its journal, ‘The Glass.’ He is among contributors to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (IVP), and has lectured recently at universities in Krakow, Olomouc, Toronto and Beijing. Roger has recently published a book. Details may be found online: http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Visions-andRevisions--The-Word-and-the-Text14438-4332-6.htm

tive sight which restricts activities. Conversely, having a vision disability, he has become involved in the blindness sector such as the Durban Society for the Blind and, for sport, blind lawn bowls.

This gives Peter a great opportunity to experience life from another angle and has many rewards, something he might well have missed if he had normal eyesight.

Peter wonders if maybe we can open another OS group called "Blind and vision impaired OS - Where are they?"

He celebrated his 80th birthday in December last year.

MACFARLANE, Ian (1962 M)

Ian has a new book ‘The Kelly Gang Unmasked’ which was published by Oxford University Press in November 2012.

KUNG, Leo (1976 W) Leo found himself on our missing list and got in touch. He subsequently met up with Mike Witt (1976 W) and Stephen Bottomley (1972 W) for dinner in Hong Kong.

LONSDALE, Peter (1950 M) Peter is a retired person and his daily life changes quite a lot. He has defec-

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

A review written by a retired Chief Inspector states “The author uses original source material to present the facts of the matter. In doing so he brings into question the entire myth of poor Ned, a country lad forced into a life of crime and bloodshed because of harassment by thuggish and corrupt police. “I found it to be a compelling read and I highly recommend it”.

Jonathan plays for Ealing Trailfinders RFC. In April 2013, they won National Division 1.

whilst over from Australia. Alan said “I was so impressed with everything I saw and am delighted that the school is doing so well in these difficult times.”

ORRINGE, John (1951 W) John still remains in contact with his School friends, Richard Johns (1951 W) and David Baron (1951 W), they have been firm friends for 65 years. He has two children and five grandchildren.

MACKENZIE, Michael (1966 W) We have recently been contacted by Mike. He is an egg producer at Hoads Farm in Sedlescombe.

PAIN, Timothy (1966 C)

MILLER, Robert (1995 F) We have re-established contact with Robert. He is Chief Executive Officer for a healthcare company in London.

MOYCE, Jonathan (2005 Cl)

MURPHY, Spencer (1996 F) Spencer was third place in the Taylor Wessing Portrait prize and received £2000 for his photograph of Mark Rylance. His portrait of the actor was commissioned for the cover of the Telegraph Magazine to mark the actor’s return to the Globe to play Richard III. This was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Murphy says, “I’ve always enjoyed working with actors as there’s no awkwardness or discomfort in front of the camera and they are able to understand direction and react to it very easily.

Mark was no exception.”

The recipient of many awards and shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards in both 2010 and 2011, Murphy’s work has been exhibited internationally. His work has been exhibited as part of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize six times.

MURRAY, Alan (1971 C) In May, Alan returned to the School

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Tim retired from the Isle of Man civil service in Sept 2009. He had been working there for six and a half years as a health and safety inspector, having previously been an inspector with the Health and Safety Executive in Norwich, dealing mainly with farming and the food industry. Joining the HSE in 1993 was a total career change, having been farming in partnership with his father Denison (also an OS) from leaving Newcastle university with BSc Hons in Agriculture Economics in 1970, until 1985.

Tim carried on enjoying playing rugby at University and then for his local club, Launceston in north Cornwall for several years. He moved to France in 1985 to a small farm in the Gers (Gascony SW France), with wife Janet and daughter Kary in tow. After several years, they realised that the farm was not economically viable and decided that the time was right for a total change, joining the "other side" to try and persuade farmers that being healthy and safe made economic sense and had to admit that at times some of the things he did as a

July 2013

farmer were far from safe, if not downright dangerous. It turned out to be a good career move as he was able to keep in touch with farming and go back to further education in the form of a post grad diploma in Health and Safety through Aston University, an alarming prospect at the time, after over 20 years!

They became grandparents in April 2008. His daughter, Kary had a daughter Amelie.

photo booth at any point over the course of the day/evening. They have their photos taken, then immediately the photos are printed out. One copy the guests keep and the other copy goes into a guest book (similar to the one seen above) which the guests can then write a little comment next to. Then at the end of the evening the bride/groom or party host has a book full up of photos and funny/touching messages which they get to keep as a momento from their day.

Since moving back to France to an old house near the Pyrenees in the department of the Haute Garonne, which they have owned since 1991 after selling the farm, they have been restoring another property which has kept them busy for the past three years. It has a couple of acres, so of course he had to have a tractor, a mower etc, once a farmer...They like walking in the mountains and Tim is a keen skier, so for him winter is the best time of year.

Naveen married in 2008 to wife, Shelley, and has two twin boys, who are now two and half years old.

He has not been in touch with anyone who was in School with him, but would like to get in contact with Alexander Holland (1988 W) and Simon Jones (1998 W).

PALMER, George (2004 W)

Website: www.youbeautyphotobooths.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/You-BeautyPhoto-Booths/551386234894855 Email: george@youbeautyphotobooths.co.uk Phone: 07753 261 613 George has recently started a new business. If any Old Suttonians are getting married or having a big party, then George could potentially provide them with a photo booth for hire.

The idea is that guests can go in the

but enjoyed it thoroughly. He had to leave as his parents moved countries.

He went to a new school in India, where he did his Os and As. He returned to the UK and went to Kingston University and got a BA(Hons.) in Accounting and Finance, and subsequently went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). He has stayed in the accounting industry and is currently based in New York City, since 2001, where he is a Senior Director working at KPMG, and works on US and cross-border acquisitions for corporate clients and on capital market transactions involving debt and equity financing. He has also worked in Kuwait, London and Tokyo prior to New York.

PHILLIPS, Anthony (1958 H) We have re-established contact with Anthony. He is the proprietor of a design company based in Shropshire.

RIKHY, Naveen (1984 L) Naveen only spent one year at SVS,

Even though he spent just one year at SVS, he has strong memories of that time, he wishes he had stayed for a few more years. Naveen writes, “Looking back, SVS offered an all round educational and developmental experience with a bunch of very likable and talented students. I never had that at the other schools I went to afterwards.” His favorite teacher was Mr. B.R.D. Day, who taught French. He states, “I was useless at his subject (well, I did learn enough to order a meal in Paris and impress my wife!), but his classes I would look forward to, they were outstanding; sadly, I learned he passed away untimely several years ago.”

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

STEVENS, Chris (1971 W) Chris lives in Australia with his wife, Lin Lin and their 9 year old daughter, Rebecca. He works 4 nights a week and plays the Stock Market.

SARONY, Neville (1958 M) Dan Shepherd (1994 B), Leo Kung (1976 W) and Dr David Wong (1985 C) attended Neville’s book signing for his

STEWART, Robert (1975 F) Recently found Old Suttonian, Robert Stewart, is now based in Devon and is Director, Naval Core Training Stream and Captain, Admiralty Interview Board at the Royal Navy.

PEDGRIFT, Stephen (1966 L) Stephen worked in finance as a Chartered Accountant for a multinational in Switzerland from 1972, until recent retirement. Now enjoying the newly discovered free time.

POLLOCK, Alastair (1982 C) Is qualified as a Town Planner and currently works as a Housing Strategy Coordinator in the Thames Gateway, South Essex sub-region. Alastair has two boys, Angus, 10 years old and Jamie 7. He lives in Hollingbourne and whilst working still enjoys windsurfing on Camber Sands or watching cricket at Lord’s Cricket Ground, where he is fortunate to be a full member.

PATEL, Yakesh Shanti (1990 C) Yakesh is living in Tanzania and CEO of 2F Company Ltd (trading) and ProSigns and Prints Ltd (manufacture of signs and printing). He played cricket for Tanzania and East and Central Africa from 1990 to 2002 and represented East and Central Africa in 1994 (Kenya), 1997 (Malaysia) and 2001 (Canada) in ICC Cricket Mini World Cups.

SAREMI, Kevin (1978 W) Kevin’s website is up and running www.futurehealth1.com.

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Neville with Dan Shepherd (1994 B), Polly and Elliot Dharma expedient

SECRETT, Mark (1936 M) On leaving Sutton Valence at 18 years old, Mark soon found something that needed doing on his 112 acres of rented farmland, his place of birth, Richmond, Surrey.

Neville with Dr David Wong (1985 C)

Neville with Leo Kung (1976 W)

first published work of fiction The Dharma Expedient at Dymocks Book store in the International Finance Centre, Hong Kong in December 2012. The book is also for sale through Amazon.

The fields were to be laid out to grow vegetables for the London market. The move was from a small market-garden alongside Mitcham Common. His elder brother, Francis Secrett (1933 M) was already busy there. One of three separate growers, his Father (the Governor) had a stand in Covent Garden Market.

They supplied wholesalers there daily, using their own lorry.

Later, they moved, bit by bit, to a farm growing principally strawberries. His brother, Francis moved to farm in Wales. WW2 Surrey War Agric Committee put Mark in charge of 16 acres of undeveloped farmland. This was an opportunity to start on his own. He dealt with a nearby wholesaler and also partlorry loads for Covent Garden. This was 1950 and quite a venture. Geologically

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dry, the ‘stream’ did not flow much in summertime (at this lower Bourne village) – whereas water once poured up from a manhole at the most useful centre of the farm. His two workers lived in School Road which bordered Mark as did the primary school itself.

editor of Corporate Golf, website www.corporategolfmag.com.

WILD, Samantha formally Crispin NAISMITH (1967 W)

Stream Farm played its part in the war effort. On the biggest field he grew fine leeks in quantity that just struck the London market right. At this time, his children, Susan and Jeremy were born and he made good friends there too.

He then moved to Essex, Hill Farm, of 80 acres not far from his wife’s parents’ corn-growing holding, where he tried his hand at growing wheat and briefly cabbage for seed for nearby producer Seedsmen.

TASSELL, Nicholas (1990 W) After a law degree and law school Nick has been in various roles and currently works for a private equity firm in London. He moved to Kingston-uponThames 20 years ago and somehow has never left! He has a seven year old son Joseph who keeps him more than busy!

Nick keeps in very close touch with Liz Perks (nee New) (1991 V) and Charles Evans (1991 L).

TURNER, Alex (1987 L) Alex is still an investigator for the police. He lost his sight two and a half years ago and is about to start clinical trials to find a cure for a particular eye condition.

USENDORFF, David (1982 L) David now lives in South Africa and is a PGA golf professional. He is also the

After 45 years of receiving the OS Newsletter, Samantha thought it about time to update her Old Suttonian profile.

She recalls the last thing the then Headmaster, C R Evers said to her was “off to join the Rolling Stones now are you Naismith?”

Samantha writes: ‘Whilst I didn’t join the Stones, I might argue that my life was somewhat more unconventional than most. After being persuaded by another OS that Sandhurst wasn’t really for me and thereafter enjoying a brief spell at Harrods Estates, I went on to read law and estate management at London University. In the late ‘70s I set up a successful engineering company, finally selling out in 1983 after becoming involved with the aviation industry. This took me to Africa and the Middle East, where I became interested in commodi-

ties and finally ending up in Dubai, which was then a small town full of opportunity for a budding Arabist entrepreneur. Through a chance meeting with a VIP, I became involved with Iran and was subsequently invited to join the board of a Norwegian oil company, where I spent some eight years before being seconded to live in Geneva as advisor and confidant to the sister of King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud; very nearly ending up as a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family.

In 1995, I resigned and after returning to the UK I undertook a dramatic lifestyle change becoming Samantha “Crissy” Wild, which was a somewhat controversial, complex and daunting move in those days. As a woman and part time mature student, I decided to go back to University in 2001 where I gained a BSc First Class Honours in Business Information Technology, a PhD offer and a brief interest in politics culminating in my candidature for Conservative Member of Parliament, until I became disillusioned. Along with some former colleagues from other industries and backgrounds, I established CWC Gulf Consulting, which has been successful in identifying and developing major project opportunities for clients in the Middle East and beyond. I have also developed a keen interest in writing poetry, some of which may be found online.

Recently visiting the Swan Inn at Sutton Valence and chatting innocently as one does to an OS who happened to be in the bar, I mentioned I was visiting my old school and we went through a number of names we both knew from the period. When I left he was most perplexed and said whilst scratching his head, “but they didn’t have girls in the school at that time”. To which I simply smiled.

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I shall always be grateful to the School for some of the most important things it gave me… confidence, a belief in one’s self and always to be a free thinking spirit.

WILLDRIDGE, William (2001 L)

William is currently serving in the British Army with 2 Royal Anglian. In the photograph from left to right: Katie Willdridge (William’s wife), Paul Phillips - holding daughter Ella (2001 L) and married to Alexa Philips (née Carmichael) (2001 C), Charlotte Lyon (née Foreman) (2001 S), Andy Lyon (2001 F), Rob Hunt – holding baby Dylan (2001 W), Mara Hunt, David Martin (2001 M), Sarah Johnston, Steve Johnston – holding baby Josh (2001 M), William Willdridge (2001 L).

WILLIAMSON, Richard (Dick) (1950 M) Dick has just published a history of his home village, Ramsden, on the fringe of the Cotswolds, which has been inhabited by 300-400 souls for over 2000 years. A committee, which he has chaired, has been working on this for over 12 years and their average age has been nearer 80 than 70. Dick was the editor, researched and wrote a number of chapters, and ended up being the publisher.

The book has received excellent reviews and has more than paid for itself.

WINWOOD, Mark (1979 F) After graduating from Canterbury Art

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College in 1983, Mark spent 20 years in London as a graphic designer. Mark received a D and AD Award in 1986 and set up a design consultancy 'The Third Man Ltd' in 1987.

Preferring to get out a bit more, in 2000 he became a freelance photographer. His client list ranges from the BBC to Dorling Kindersley and from Heston Blumenthal to the RHS. His photography goes all over the world: from America to Kazakhstan.

Mark moved back to Kent in 2005 and lives in Stone in Oxney with his wife Lizzie and her son Hugo, where they have a small holding. Spare time revolves around music and movement.

Mark keeps in touch with a number of Old Suttonians: Andrew Waters (1985 M), Jim Cooke (1979 M), William Galton (1984 M), James Hodges (1980 F), bumping in to many more along the way.

Mark would like to say “hello” to Andrew Croucher (1978 F).

BILLS on 18th March 2013, to Nicholas Bills (1992 W) and Charlotte Bills (née Bashham) (1992 S), a boy Gilbert Thomas Kenneth Michael Bills.

A brother to Jacqueline, Megan, Angus and Isabelle.

EASTER on 14th October 2012, to Gilly and Rupert Easter (1981 W), a girl, Cleopatra Cordelia Easter. A sister for Wulfstan and Dorothy.

HINCHEY on 10th October 2012 to Darren and Janine Hinchey (née Taylor) (1991 V), a girl, Lara Elizabeth Hinchey.

JOHNSTON on 6th April 2012 to Steven Johnston (2001 M) and Sarah Johnston, a boy, Joshua Arran Johnston.

WU, Ronnie (1987 M)

WEST on 20th June 2012, to Philippa West (2000 V) and Robert Henderson, a girl, Isabelle Lily.

Ronnie is married with 3 children, aged 3, 5 and 7. He lives in Hong Kong and is in the asset management industry and travels quite often.

Births ASUR on 1st May 2012, to Timur Asar (1993 M) and Kelly Asar, a girl, Orla Jasmine Asar.

Marriages GIRLING-HOUGH in September 2009. Richard Girling (1989 M) to Melissa Hough.

JOHNSTON-RITSON on 1st May 2010. Steven Johnston (2001 M) to Sarah Ritson. Steve met Sarah at University. (see also births).

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Johnston - Ritson wedding

From left to right: Alexa Phillips (née Carmichael) (2001 V), Edward Boyle (2001 F), Kirsty Gillies (née Johnston) (1999 H), Gordon Griffin (1999 L), John Arthur (2001 W), Steven Johnston (2001 M), Sarah Johnston (née Ritson), Andrew Lyon (2001 F), Charlotte Lyon (née Foreman) (2001 S), David Martin (2001 M), Robert Hunt (2001 W), Catherine Birch (2001 V), Paul Phillips (2001 L), Katie Gornall (2001 V), Sophie Sleeman (née Moore) (2001 V).

KNOWLES-FENNELL on 4th August 2012. Simon Knowles (2000 F) to Lucy Charlotte Fennell. Michael Knowles (2001 F) and Richard Bradstock (2000 L) were Best Men. Also, attended by William Richardson (2000 F), Holly Fletcher (2000 V), Stuart Watson (1998 L), Becky Watson (née Pragnell) (1998 H). Marquee and hire equipment provided by Tom Brooks (2003 G). The wedding took place at the Great Barn, Rolvenden, Kent.

Deaths ATKINSON, Cedric (1963 M), died 16th November 2012.

BEDFORD, Alan Geoffrey (1944 W), died 30th March 2013.

Alan died peacefully on 30 March aged 85. Entering Lambe's in 1937, he moved to St Margaret's in 1940 and left School in 1944. He will be particularly remembered at School for his numerous sporting achievements in a wide range of sports. He was awarded 1st XI cricket, 1st XV rugby, and Athletics colours, and also played rugby for Eastern Counties Public Schools. He started work for the Prudential in 1944 before undertaking his National Service as a subaltern with the Essex Regiment from 1945 until 1948. He returned to the Prudential and remained with them until his retirement in 1988, and all this time he retained a love of sport being captain of S Woodford RUFC and also representing Essex and E Counties at rugby, now at senior level. It was at the Prudential that he

met his wife, Pat, whom he married in 1954. Work with the Prudential involved numerous moves around the country, and whilst living in the SE he gave his time to local issues, being a councillor with Chislehurst and Sidcup UDC and he also acted as a governor for local schools there. He lived the last 16 years very happily in Marnhull, Dorset. He remained passionate about gardening and the state of English rugby right to the end! He is survived by Pat, and their children Nigel and Susan.

BETTS, James (1948 M), died 17th March 2013.

BUDD, Roger Francis (1952 M), died 11th April 2013.

Roger went to St John’s Cambridge (Robins Exhibition) where he studied Russian and French. After National Service as a sub lieutenant in the Navy, he went briefly into the Colonial Service then worked for ICI, but he spent the bulk of his working career in the service of the British Council. That took him all over the world, mostly in African coun-

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tries, but also in Asia. He was in charge of the British Council in Pakistan for a while after 1985.

BUTLER, Alan Burr (1948 W), died March 2013. Alan’s grand-daughter and widow visited the School in April.

DANIELS, Leslie (1953 F), died 23rd August 2009 At a recent ceremony in Headcorn parish church, a Sacristan’s Chair was dedicated as follows: In grateful memory of Leslie James Daniels 1936-2009, who for over 60 years served God and his fellow parishioner’s in this place.

ERICSON, Carl (1956 L), died 10th February 2013.

“I first met Carl when he attempted to form a Glee Club at Sutton Valence, although pressure of his work took over his activities. In later years, we stayed with Carl and his wife Penny in London when they came over to attend an exhibition given by his daughter, Juliana.

Everyone should know a Carl Ericson.

Always interesting, kind and thoughtful.

Good company and a good man. I feel

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most fortunate to have known him.”

Written by John Johnson (1956 W) Carl earned a PhD. from Queen Mary College (University of London, England). He moved from San Diego, California in 1966 to become a member of the History Department at the University of New Brunswick where he taught English Legal History, The History of The Tudors and Stuarts, as well as, The History of Music. He retired from UNB in 1999.

Carl's avocation had always been music. He minored in music at the Eastman School of Music at The University of Rochester, where he earned his Bachelor Degree. He augmented his knowledge of music as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. Although an organ scholar in his youth, he spent the majority of his life singing tenor. He studied with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) for three summers and later moved to join The New Philharmonia Chorus in London, England. In NB, he spent eight years singing with the chorus in Lameque at the International Baroque Music Festival. In Fredericton, he was a steadfast member of the choir of Christ Church Cathedral. Carl's commitment to music included service with Community Concerts, Music on the Hill, and the NB Summer Music Festival.

Carl was an Officer of the Venerable Order of St. John and was awarded the St. John Ambulance Long Service Medal, as well as, the Queen Elizabeth Gold Jubilee Medal in 2003. He enjoyed the fellowship of The Fredericton Garrison Club and The Golden Club.

HANWORTH, Bob (Ex-Staff) Mr R H Hanworth, who passed away recently, was known universally by boys

and staff alike as Bob Hanworth. He came to Sutton Valence School in c1955 as the new Head of the English Department and he stayed for a further ten years or so. Throughout his time at the school he was a breath of fresh air compared to the rather austere conditions that prevailed at that time at Sutton Valence, as in other public schools. A good all-round games player, Bob was immediately put in charge of U16 cricket, U16 rugby and U16 hockey. His first love was squash, which he may have learnt as a boy at Brentwood School and which he would have certainly played at Sidney Sussex, Cambridge.

Bob is often remembered for the quality of his teaching which was rated then and now as exceptionally good. His lessons were non-threatening and comfortable. Listening to him talk and learning from what he said was largely effortless.

He knew his subject extremely well. He would sit on the edge of the master’s desk, normally dressed in a short sleeved pullover, and show us how to analyse a line of prose or poetry, and where necessary, how to analyse a single word. He made it all seem easy. It was of course not so easy when we, his students, had to do it on our own! He particularly enjoyed looking at various plays with us, such as Shakespeare’s ‘Coriolanus’ or the Restoration comedies. His interest in drama meant he was very supportive of any dramatic production at Sutton Valence and eventually, in 1960, he became the producer of the annual school play, something he continued to do at his next teaching appointment, Malvern College.

Bob’s involvement in the life of the school went further, for he was Assistant House Master in St Margaret’s and a commissioned officer in the CCF and many of us got to know Bob in these two

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capacities as well. Always professional in his manner in the classroom and around the school, Bob had an easy style nevertheless which made it easy for boys to speak to him. His love of laughter was never far below the surface and those of us who were Prefects in St Margaret’s got to know him especially well for occasionally, at the end of the day, as we went between the Lower Dorm and the Labs, we would meet him coming out of his flat and he would ask us how our day had gone, and sometimes he would tell us something of his day, such as a round of golf, or an interview he had attended. He in fact reminded us of the wider world outside – something it was easy to forget in those days in a boarding school. I also got to know Bob because my last appointment in the CCF was Sergeant in charge of School Drill, and I reported directly to Captain Hanworth. He was always helpful, but was never over-bearing.

Once he saw that I knew what to do, he would leave me to it.

A number of us knew Bob, not only because we studied his subject at ‘A’ Level, but because he invited us to join the Lit Soc (The Literary Society) which met on a Sunday evening in his flat, where we would look at poetry, prose and plays. We would always end up with a glass or two of cider and chocolate wholemeal biscuits. An even smaller group met on a Thursday evening in Bob’s flat, during Second Prep, for he had invited us to attempt the ‘S’ Level paper in English. For those of us in the Lower Sixth and still in the Dayroom, albeit the Senior Dayroom, as a result of a large year group and a distinct shortage of Shows, these extra English sessions on a Thursday or a Sunday were a real treat, for Bob’s flat had a carpet, a sofa and a gas fire! It is interesting to note that, to my knowledge, no one ever mis-

behaved on a Sunday evening, despite the glasses of cider, or on a Thursday evening, or indeed in an English lesson in the classroom, and I put this down to the great respect we all had for Bob and the fact that we greatly appreciated all the help he was giving us with our English. No one would want to lose all that. As with other students I am sure, Bob encouraged me with my academic studies by entering me for ‘S’ Level English, by encouraging intellectual curiosity and by creating the right atmosphere for learning and study. In a way, he gave us a taste of university life and let us feel it was something to which we could aspire.

My wife and I visited Bob at his house in a village just outside Malvern a few years ago and it was a joy to find him looking so young and fit, for he was just coming up for 80 at that time. His light touch and ready laugh were very much in evidence, even though his memory was not so good. He had a great impact on my life at Sutton Valence and without his influence and encouragement, I doubt whether I would have gone to university. I was so glad to have the opportunity to tell him all this – at last – when my wife and in saw him in 2008.

By Richard Mant (1961 M) LAWMAN, Peter (1933 W), died 23rd November 2011.

Peter had a distinguished career at School, rising to become Head of School and being the winner of several prizes on Speech days. Despite being principally an academic, he competed in athletics for the School and most sports for his house, but his favourite was shooting. He was a sergeant in the CCF. After school he went into the Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm), in which service he served in WW2 and afterwards, ris-

ing to the rank of Commander. His younger brother Michael was killed in that conflict. After retiring in 1965, he started a second career in the Civil Service, before retiring to Tenterden.

MACILWAINE, Frances (Ex-Staff), died peacefully 17th December 2012.

Frances Daly was the Sanatorium Sister in the sixties before marrying Patrick MacIlwaine, Housemaster of St Margaret’s in 1968. She much enjoyed her time at the School and maintained an interest right up until her death. After the death of her second husband Patrick in 1992, she donated a cup to the School for success in Hockey. Patrick had for a long time taken a keen interest in hockey at the School during his time as a master.

NEAL, Stephen (1969 L), sadly passed away 8th June 2012 after a short illness.

After leaving Sutton Valence, Steve attended Swansea College of Art, and then subsequently gained a teaching diploma, in order to teach art at a local secondary school.

After a year of teaching Steve realised he would not be truly happy unless he was immersed in art as a full-time career, and although he continued to work as a supply teacher for a short period, he left full-time teaching to develop his sculpting skills.

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He continued his work as a sculptor, and in 1976 he also bought an art shop and gallery in Bognor Regis, which he ran successfully for 26 years. In 2002 he sold his shop, to concentrate on developing his painting skills, and, from his workshop at home, he also ran a framing and art restoration business.

Steve became a talented painter, exhibiting and selling his work in many galleries throughout West Sussex and Cornwall. His later years were dogged by ill-health, but it was a shock to all who knew him when he died following a brief illness.

His daughters, Harriet and Charlotte held a memorial exhibition of Steve’s work in Chichester, West Sussex.

PITT, Peter (1971 C), died 1st March 2012. Peter was series producer of ‘Close Up North’ (Leeds) and BBC Southampton.

POTTER, Kenneth (1931 DB), died 8th March 2012.

Lt Col Kenneth Potter MBE, the son of a Royal Naval officer, was born at Gravesend, Kent on June 20 1915 and grew up on his grandfather’s fruit farm at Ulcombe, Kent. At School, he was once told by his Latin master that he would never be able to grasp the language, so was sent to extra wood and metal work classes instead. This no doubt developed his early interest in engineering and mechanics.

In July 1940, Potter volunteered for service, having returned from France with the 98th Field Regiment. In February 1941, with a workshop increased in manpower and equipment, Potter left Nairobi for Mogadishu and beyond. At Harrar he was given the job of starting up a small Ordnance Depot, re-equipping some of his own units, together with repairing and evacuating large numbers of captured enemy guns and small arms. By mid-May in 1941, with four European NCOs and a handful of Africans, he was supplying the whole of the East African forces in Abyssinia.

Arriving in Addis Ababa later that year, he was tasked with combining the resources of the three other mobile workshops with his own, to form a base workshop for the entire Force in the Northern region. It was here that Potter designed a mounting to enable captured Italian 20mm aircraft cannons normally fitted into the wings of the Italian fighters, to be used against the German dive bombers in the Western Desert. This required much inventive engineering since the guns had no stocks. His guns were successful, however, and he was awarded the MBE. In May 1943, at the age of 27, he was appointed Commander East African Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and

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joined the 11th East Africa division. Following extensive jungle training in Ceylon, he then served in Burma with that division for the rest of the war.

Discharged from service, in October 1946 Potter joined Regent Oil Company, thus beginning a 34 year career in the oil industry. In 1960 he joined the Continental Oil Company of Delaware (later to become Conoco) in their newly formed London office. At his interview, when asked what languages he could speak he replied, “reasonable French, Spanish, a little Italian and of course, Swahili”. The Managing Director responded to him in Swahili. Rather taken aback, but after only a moment’s hesitation, he confidently replied. Needless to say he got the job and saw the three man Berkeley Square office expand by the acquisition of Jet Petroleum.

In retirement he worked as a consultant in the LPG field, travelling to Yemen, India and Sudan. A member of Effingham Golf Club, he played until he was 90 and was a past Captain of the Oil Industries Club Golfing Society.

He enjoyed an active life and in his later years took up painting and woodcarving and developed his keen interest in gardening.

In 1995 he wrote his war memoirs for a BBC project commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II, which makes fascinating reading and can still be found online.

RAMAGE, Donald (1949 M), died 23rd September 2012. On leaving the school he became a trooper in 1st Royal Tank Corps, then went on to work for the North Thames Gas Board (where he was office manager).

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SCOTT, Paul (1945 M), died 16th October 2011.

SOLOMON, Godfrey (1964 M), died 20th June 2011. Godfrey was at the School during the war and remembered the New Zealander Rugby players helping with the coaching, as they were stationed nearby. He was having breakfast one morning, in Lambe’s in those days, when he returned to his room he found the ceiling on his bed. A doodlebug had just exploded near the strawberry patch, now the Astro.

After National service, during which he was in charge of German prisoners of war clearing up bomb damage in Hamburg, he went into the family business supplying marquees and event planning to such prestigious customers as Buckingham Palace and Royal Ascot. He married Norunn, an air stewardess, and they spent a great deal of time travelling the world on their holidays, especially on the great Liners. When retired, he gave his services to the community, working for the local Citizen’s Advice Bureau, but he always retained time to play golf at Burhill, where he was a member since 1969.

THOMPSON, John (1938 M), died 24th July 2012 after a short illness.

John lived a full, active and happy life. John was a keen sports person playing cricket and rugby for the School, he also demonstrated excellent potential for athletics. On leaving school, John joined the Hampshire Athletics club, where he excelled at long jump.

John had a passion for aeroplanes and enlisted into the RAF in 1940, such was his determination to fly that he went through his medicals without wearing glasses. Later, this was realised, however the eager candidate was allowed the opportunity to fly with close monitoring from the MO, as a result, other men with glasses were eventually trained as pilots.

During service, John flew a wide range of aeroplanes in a variety of squadrons.

In August 1941, he was ‘reported missing’ following a forced landing in Portugal, en route to the Middle East.

John escaped with the assistance of the Royal Navy and returned to the UK. Following this incident, all future flying trips had to be limited to within our shores. In the UK, John continued to experience an array of duties and expanded his pilot’s skills on further aircraft. Eventually, he became a test pilot for Westland, testing a combined total of 770 Spitfires and Seafires.

After his demobilisation in 1946, John was instrumental in establishing the Portsmouth Aero Club and continued working in the aeroplane industry. As a volunteer, he spent 23 years piloting the Red Devils Parachute Team around the country and inspired others with his passion as an officer with the RAF Volunteer Training Reserve. John retired in 1986, having spent 22 years at Hawker Siddeley in Hatfield as a flight Operations Officer. During this period, he travelled extensively and demonstrated

the HS 125 at Air Shows.

Upon retirement, John returned to Hampshire and continued to benefit from an active, eventful, healthy and happy family life with his wife Joan. He embarked on numerous adventures and particularly enjoyed sharing his aircraft knowledge and assisting numerous individuals with their aviation research referencing WW2 incidents and airplanes.

John leaves a wife, 3 children, 2 step children, 10 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

THORPE, Peter (1936 W), died 11th November 2012.

Peter was in the Officer Trainee Cadets while at Sutton Valence and after leaving the School, he joined Westminster Bank in Battle and, in his words, earned the princely sum of £5 per month.

He enlisted at the start of the war as a private in the Royal Artillery. He was initially on a gun site in the Thames area and then went to the Middle East and North Africa. Peter was selected to take part in a highly secret mission to remove King Faruk, who was somewhat partial to the German cause. He also fought in the battle of El Alamein and the siege of Tobruk. After 7 years’ service, Peter left the army in 1946. He never spoke about his war years.

Peter then joined the United Africa Company on the British Government sponsored ground-nut scheme in Tanganika. It was here that the wrong treatment of a sore on his leg resulted in three years in and out of hospital in Tanganika, France and England. While in hospital in England, Peter met his wife, Jean and that was the beginning of

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a relationship that was to result in 61 years of happy marriage.

Peter was only in the UK for a short time and left his wife in England to have their first child; she joined him in Basutoland when the child was only 10 weeks old. Peter met her off the ship and they travelled the 2000kms over 3 days by steam train to their first home, which was a rondavel. A rondavel is a traditional round stone hut with a grass or thatch roof, with no running water.

In 1967 after the declaration of UDI, onto South Africa where they lived in Kwa Zulu Natal for 30 years, and had their own business. Finally as the winds of change that blew down the African continent reached South Africa, Peter decided in 1997 to make one final move, after a total of 53 years in Africa, this time to his beloved England.

and loyalty are what earned him this.

However, he also had another name which was Nkulu or Baba Nkulu, which is the ultimate respect and endearment as the Great Father or the Great One. Peter was intensely loyal to his beloved England. A few years ago, when his son was visiting, he expressed amazement at how well they had settled.

Peter’s response was, "The weather is damnably awful, but I am so happy to be back amongst my own people". Peter had been repeatedly described as the Perfect English Gentleman. He was well mannered, and had utter respect for his fellow human beings, no matter what their background or circumstance.

Hardworking, kind, generous and god fearing.

TURNER, Peter (1940 W), died 3rd October 2012.

Peter lived his life by a set of principles and under that gentlemanly smiling exterior was a strong willed man whose principles and values were immovable.

Truth, loyalty, hard work and respect......overlain by a wonderful sense of humour.

There was however a certain stubbornness, which resulted in part to his Zulu name. Amongst the Zulus it is an honour to be given a nickname, but which to them is a mark of respect. One of Peter’s sons, Mike was Igelegehle, which is the boy of the weaver birds.

Peter’s wife was Mpookenyoni, which means bushbaby and another son was Mkulu Mahlebe, which is the one with the big ears. Initially his son was deeply offended by this because he felt that his father’s ears were much bigger than his but no, Peter’s Zulu name was Mbongolo which means Donkey. A fine set of ears, stubbornness, dependability

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Peter Turner attended Sutton Valence from 1938 to 1942, winning a scholarship to the School from St Bede’s Preparatory School, Eastbourne, and joined Westminster House.

His family have sent us a number of pictures of Peter from his time at SVS, including a Westminster House photograph from 1938; pictures of an open-air drama production on Prefects’ Lawn; and Peter in Cadet uniform, on guard duty, outside the fully sandbagged shower/changing rooms of Westminster House, from around 1940.

Following his time at SVS, Peter joined the RAF, originally hoping to become a pilot. However, a previously unknown eye condition prevented this, and instead he became a sergeant mechanic.

He was based for most of his time in the RAF Lossiemouth and Kinloss airbases in Morayshire, servicing heavy bombers, such as Lancasters and Stirlings.

After the war, he joined the family law firm, Kingsbury and Turner, with offices

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lieved is unique in the annals of Rotary.

After moving to Myddle, Peter joined the local Probus club in the nearby town of Wem, and was President of the club a few years ago. The Rotary motto of “Service above Self” could have been written for Peter, and he lived his life in fulfilment of this ideal, which was obvious to fellow professionals, business colleagues, clients and friends, many of whom have sent warm tributes to the family on his death.

in Brixton, Clapham and latterly Beckenham; following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He qualified as a solicitor in 1950. In the same year he married Muriel Fell, known as Mim, and they went on to have three children, Anne, Penny and John.

John followed in his father’s footsteps, attending SVS (Westminster House, of course!) from 1973 to 1978, also winning a scholarship from St Bede’s, and then qualifying as a solicitor in 1984 and joining his father in practice for two years, before moving to Manchester.

In 1986 Peter retired from full-time law practice and became a consultant with the firm of Tinklin Springall in Beckenham, and then in 1995 he and Mim moved to the village of Myddle, a few miles north of Shrewsbury, to be closer to their children’s families.

A lifelong Rotarian, Peter was a member of the Brixton club for many years, holding the office of president on two occasions – as his father had done before him. A family record which it is be-

Sadly Mim died very suddenly in 2005 a few weeks after her 80th birthday. Although devastated by this loss, Peter remained true to the promise they had made to each other and continued to enjoy his dancing, Probus and other activities, and visiting and being visited by his six grandchildren.

He died peacefully in his sleep on the 3rd October 2012, after a few months’ illness Peter was an enthusiastic supporter of the School and kept in touch with SVS and with OS events throughout his life, particularly when John was at the School. His favourite blazer proudly bore the SVS crest on the breast pocket.

The family were delighted to inform the School that Peter has left a legacy in his Will for the benefit of the William Lambe Society to provide bursaries for the sons of Old Suttonians attending the School.

One of the most fitting tributes to Peter came from his nephew, himself a solicitor, who described him as “one of the last of the generation of the great gentleman solicitors”, and as his daughter Anne summed up in her address at the memorial service, he was “a true gentleman and a gentle man”.

WARD, Herbert (1924), died 2001.

WATTS, David (1931 M), died 28th January 2013

David Watts with a School plaque on his 100th birthday David celebrated his 100th birthday on 23rd December 2012, where close family gathered and then with a much larger group on 6th January. His family and David were overwhelmed with various items that the School put together in a parcel for him.

He received a telegram from the Queen and many other cards and the large card that was signed by staff and pupils of Sutton Valence, took pride of place alongside the Queen’s.

David attended Sutton Valence from 1926 - 1931, coming from Kingsmead School, a prep school in the Wirral. He went on to St Peter's College, Oxford and eventually taught for many years at Bishops Diocesan College, Rondebosch, Cape Town. He became something of an authority on the geography of South Africa. Maths and Geography were, his subjects, and wrote the entry for Chambers Encyclopaedia on the Geography

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

of South Africa around 1950. He was subsequently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He became an authority on South African birdsong, in particular, making many thousands of recordings from the earliest days of tape recorders until the 1980s. His extensive archive is now in the National Sound Archive at the British Library, and they have released a number of his recordings on the 'Beautiful Birdsongs of the World' series - whilst researchers continue to use his material.

He left Bishops in South Africa in 1948 having spent the war years in the Royal Navy in Durban. He returned to the UK to become the Headmaster of Kingsmead School in the Wirral, a school founded by his father Arthur Watts, in 1904. David Watts was headmaster of Kingsmead from 1949-1979.

He lived out his retirement in North Wales, sorting through his tapes (he went on safari to South Africa every few years to build up his work there) and in the last five years he lived in Halifax.

He was a very good sportsman when young, representing the School at both rugby and cricket, in which latter sport he excelled, scoring a hundred against a strong OS side, and keeping wicket very proficiently. He played a season as wicket keeper for Cheshire County Cricket Club. He was a good player in a weak School Rugby XV. Inevitably it was his good defence which shone, though he did score some good tries.

He retained his interest in sport after School in the UK and in Cape Town.

His family told us that David absolutely loved his time at Sutton Valence. His younger brother Ian also attended the School, dying in 1997, at the age of 90.

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Report on OS Cricket 2012 Our centenary year, well the centenary of Cricket Week, was, as we all know, one of the wettest since, funnily enough, 1912. The Times of 27 August 1912 thundered, “we shall in due course obtain full and accurate records of this wretched August” and it was in fact recorded as being the coldest and wettest on record. So much for those glorious summers of our youth, when the sun always shone.

As it happened, the weather had relatively little effect on OS cricket this year.

The match against the School was called off about dawn with conditions unlikely to dry sufficiently. The much anticipated second tour of Somerset will remain anticipated in 2013. In spite of Richard Bradstock’s heroic promptings, only 8 players made the commitment, and it was called off about a week beforehand.

Reasons not entirely clear, possibly the Olympics, or recessionary hard times, but let’s hope it can happen in 2013.

So we moved straight into the Week.

And remarkably not a minute was lost to bad weather. The first match was our old friends the Scorpions. Nigel Wheeler always says it’s a struggle to get a side together but invariably turns up with enough stars to put us in our places. Although, sadly, as noted below, he has now decided that time is up, and the Scorpion has stung its last victim (groan).

The wickets this year were slow, testimony to the regular drenching, and although a score of 261-3 looks quite commanding theirs was a gently paced

affair, only liven up at the end by a rapid 66 not out from their number 5. Scorpions included their former Zimbabwean international, Andy Waller, again this year and although he underperformed with the bat (a mere 36), he, along with another wily old spinner Paddy Butler put a stranglehold on the OS innings. A number got started but no-one stayed long enough and we subsided to 197. It would have been rather less but for a remarkable cameo from Ben Bardsley at number 11. Remarkable for one simple reason. Ten weeks earlier he had been shot and then airlifted from Afghanistan in a coma, and was, in truth, lucky to be alive. Little short of miraculous that he was able to play sport so soon afterwards.

On the Sunday we celebrated the centenary of the Week with a gentle 20/20 match in the morning, followed by a BBQ lunch and some presentations. We had hoped to play another match in the afternoon, along the lines of over 30 v Under 30 but a number of dropouts in the days before left numbers short, which was a great pity. However, the morning match was great fun. We ended up with 13 a side as players kept arriving and played it as pairs, with each pair batting for 4 overs and runs being deducted for wickets taken. The 13th man batted on his own with a runner.

The intention was for the bowling to be matched to the batting, but this didn’t last long. In fact not as long as the first over, Henry Macdonald and Richard Memmott (combined age not much short of 140) were confronted by Richard Fetherston who seemed keen to prove a point and bowled Henry several times that over. It was extremely amusing, if you weren’t Henry. Subsequent challenges included Andrew Scott and Bob Chance facing the bowling of Philip

July 2013

Higgins and Tony Rutherford. Fortunately the scores were not recorded for posterity, but all agreed it was good fun.

At lunch there was a presentation ceremony to mark contributions to OS cricket, based loosely on appearances, runs scored, wickets taken, catches and stumpings. Each individual received a glass plaque inscribed with their achievements. The full list is reproduced below. Over 80 OS and family attended and there was some excellent reminiscing.

On the following day we were at Marden, a fixture that seems to have gone with home advantage for the last few years. This year it looked no different with OS 32-4 (with OS Sam Courtley dealing with both openers) chasing 166.

Fortunately Bradders was in a belligerent mood and with help from Tim Watts for most of the way steered us home, albeit with a couple of late scares courtesy of Mr Courtley again.

The Mote match, originally scheduled as an 11.30 start, became a 40 over afternoon affair. Both teams struggled to get full teams out so it became 9 a side.

The 9 OS looked a pretty strong line up and all the batsmen chipped in to get us to 209. Mote galloped to 60 after 10 overs but a great spell by Michael Coles reined them in. As often happens wickets fell at the other end and we ended up winning by 49 runs.

On the Friday Blair Hart’s East Kent All Stars XI was, once again, a bit too strong for us, and although Chris Vernon recorded his second 50 in two days, and James Watson weighed in with 86, we still fell 22 runs short. When I say Blair’s XI was too strong, strictly that means their opener Ben Easton, who contributed a handy 150 out of 261.

Another century by an opening batsman the following day as Bradders blazed his way to137 against Peter Davies’ XI. The opening partnership put on exactly 100 of which Matthew Day’s contribution was 21, and when the second wicket fell at 176 it was Bradders himself. No reflection on Matthew, or Michael Coles at number 3, as they let hurricane Bradstock get on with it. We called time at 263-7. In previous years either Dave or Sean Charlton (sons of OS Philip) have done a Bradstock on us, but Sean wasn’t available this year and Dave succumbed rather early, which unfortunately meant that the only issue at stake was what time we would get to the pub.

in with the scores level, and 8 balls left.

He played out the over, leaving Matthew Day to hit the winning boundary with 3 balls to spare. Fantastic match, great declaration, right spirit, mutual respect between teams, cricket was a winner, etc etc.

And so to The Dragons. Traditionally the strongest opposition of the week, they have lost the last few and were clearly determined on revenge. For the third day running the batsman receiving the first ball of the day hit a 100. On a flat track and fast outfield (at last) Dragons declared on exactly 300 after 50 overs, having gone into lunch at a mere 196-1. They declared well before the half way point, which gave us long enough to go for the runs, and but also long enough for them to bowl us out.

Supporters of limited overs cricket please pay attention here!!

As I write there are plans to give it a prominent spot in the Pavilion so hope it will be there for all to see in 2013.

Lots of outcomes possible, but this turned out to be one of the best games played on Upper for some time. Suffice to say that it ebbed and flowed. Pat Stileman and Chris Vernon put on 183 for the first wicket in a patient 36 overs to give us time and wickets to reach the target. But we then lost three wickets (including Pat for 122) with the score on 228 and it started to look a bit more challenging. George Palmer and Matthew Day got us within sight of victory, but then a further wobble, leaving Ian Harrison at number 9 having to go

A postscript to the game. The Dragons arranged a combined team photograph at lunchtime, which we assumed was simply for them as a souvenir of their tour. But no, at the end of the match the photographer reappeared with it framed, and it was presented to the OS. Nice touch, and much appreciated.

Also as I write is some news just in.

Marden have indicated that they might not renew the fixture next year, because of the difficulty in raising a side. The days of the local farmers taking time off from harvesting have long gone. This has been raised before. We have played them since 1957, and given the strong links with the club, whether cricket or hockey it will be a sad loss if it happens.

And to compound it, as noted above, Nigel Wheeler, the founder, chairman and organiser of the Scorpions CC has written to David Bunker informing him that he has decided to declare time after 46 years, mainly because of the difficulties in raising sides.

Nigel, Edward Craven’s nephew, was still at School at Lancing in 1967 when he brought a side to SV to play the School in their cricket week at the end of term. The team became the Scorpions and in 1970 they started playing against the OS as well. Nigel has col-

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lected Scorpions from a variety of places, starting at Lancing, and including, but not confined to Cambridge (first degree), Oxford (Post grad) and Eastbourne College where he was master i/c cricket for 20 years or more. A few OS have also played for them, notably Neville Harrison, Andrew Scott, David Bunker and Desmond High, and Nigel also guested on a few occasions for the OS. As for the cricket, it has been unfailing cheerful and good humoured, and generally a pretty good standard.

So where does that leave us for the next 100 years of OS Cricket Weeks? We have struggled to get sides out, as have most of our opposition, and it is sad to reflect that many of our current stars, excellent cricketers in their 20s and early 30s, are turning up for OS Week to have their first game of the season. It is great

that they want to do so, but without a core of people playing regularly it will be hard to maintain.

For 2013 the Dragons would like to move the match to be the first day of their Tour, which would be the first Sunday of the Week. The likely outcome is that we start that day, hope that Marden reconsider, then play Roffensians on the second Sunday. But we do need to be on the lookout for new fixtures and that needs to come from the current crop of players.

On the support side Philip Higgins did pretty well all the umpiring singlehandedly (including standing at both ends on occasions), and Ian Avery and his grounds team prepared wickets as well as the vile weather in the weeks beforehand had allowed and our continuing

thanks to them. For the first time for many years members of the Bunker and High family were unavailable to do the catering and fortunately John Devine and his team from the School were able to step in.

And a particular thank you this year to Simon Dyke for updating all the records and establishing the landmarks for the presentations.

Finally, as ever, thanks go to the Headmaster for making Upper available to us. Fortunately he has agreed to do so again next year. Let’s make sure that the standard and quantity of OS does the venue justice.

Desmond High (1973 F) November 2012

2012 results in summary. Won 4, Lost 2. Oddly enough the matches had identical results to 2011.

11 August

Scorpions 261-3 dec

OS 197

Lost by 64 runs

13 August

Marden 166 (N Richards 4-42)

OS 170-5 (R Bradstock 77no)

Won by 5 wickets

15 August

OS 209 (C Vernon 51)

The Mote 160

Won by 49 runs

16 August

Blair Hart All Stars XI 261-7 (Easter 150) (46 overs)

OS 239 (J Watson 86, Vernon )

Lost by 22 runs

17 August

OS 266-7 (45 overs) (Bradstock 137)

P Davies XI 128

Won by 138 runs

Dragons 300-5 dec

OS 304-7 (Stileman 122, Vernon 77)

Won by 3 wickets

14 August

Awards went to: Michael Beaman Peter Boorman Richard Bradstock David Bunker Matthew Day

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Andrew Dixon David Foster Philip Goddard Neville Harrison Robin Hearn

Philip Higgins Desmond High Rupert Humphrey Paul Latham Neil Richards

Tony Rutherford James Sandbrook-Price Andrew Scott

July 2013

Nigel Wheeler’s letter to David Bunker Dear David

I write very reluctantly but with clarity of mind that the Scorpions must declare their innings closed.

For 46 years I have brought sides to Upper for fixtures and there have been some tremendous days, lots of fun and good laughs.

We have seen Dixon and Scottie in their prime smite our bowling all over the field, we have watched “The Judge” struggle for those wickets, Glover crash the ball (and smash his car) we have seen class players and cheerful “also rans” play for both sides.

We have tried all kinds of playing rules, we have watched rain fall and sunshine beam. We think of Uncle Edward, of Charlie, of players since gone from the game and some of course soldiering on most impressively even into their seventies.

It becomes harder to enjoy producing sides. The panic and frustrations always occur but the end product is always also a pleas ure. I feel that younger players need to be almost bribed to play and understandably they don’t have the same feel for the club and the need to standby commitments as was the case in former days.

I can think of a side or two who may replace us….. younger OEs [(Eastbournians] who have set up a couple of their own clubs; you may have obvious candidates to fit in instead of us already.

It is sad for me to write this letter. OS v Scorpions has been a major part of my cricketing life. The first game in 1967 was an N L Wheeler XI v The School and for a few years we played both the boys and the Old Boys. We made friends and have man aged to wheel out some of our older folk on occasions but I feel that now is the time to close the book.

Enormous thanks to you and to Des especially for your hospitality and generosity over the years. No doubt we shall meet up soon.

Very best wishes

Nigel

OS v School Cricket Congratulations to the Old Suttonians Cricket team who beat the School team in June 2013. Old Suttonians batted first, made 247-3 with superb hundreds from Harry Bee & Ben Leale-Green, then the School scored 139 all out after good bowling from Chris Vernon (3-19), Ben Price (3-39), Ben Regan (2-9) and Sam Courtley (1-8).

OS and Parent Golf Day An OS and Parent Golf day was held in October 2012.

Two teams of four OS played Stableford format at Chart Hills Golf Club.

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

Development News 2013 Through Linkedin, Facebook and physical, rather than ‘virtual’, get-togethers, we have seen an increased number of Old Suttonians this year and, in collaboration with the Old Suttonians’ Association, hope to expand the number of these opportunities over the next year or two.

Many Old Suttonians and parents have also given to the Annual Fund, for which the School is very grateful. During the summer break, the Preparatory School will gain an outside classroom and the Senior School, shading over the seating area outside TC’s.

In the penultimate week of the summer term, I, along with many other staff, joined parents and the Upper Sixth at the Leavers’ Service. Watching the conflicting emotions of both parents and students as they realised that they were actually leaving this place, I was struck by their strong sense of family and fellowship. Amongst their tears, yet eagerness to be off, many vowed to stay in touch with staff and to return to School.

And I hope they do.

In Stratford–upon-Avon recently, Rebecca and I met OS and their families for a tour of Shakespeare’s town, followed by lunch. We were pleased to see old friends, but also to make acquaintance with several new ones. All were in agreement that regional reunions serve a very valuable purpose. Not only do they provide a more local venue for

those unable to travel far, but they also bring together more diverse groups, united by their interest in the place we visit and the fact that it is an ‘Old School’ event. That tie and familiarity ensures that whoever is there, whatever their age, there will always be someone to talk to who has shared similar experiences.

Much of our activity in the Development Office is about encouraging this sense of belonging and a pride in having come from an institution that has served Old Suttonians well, and is still doing so for current generations.

Floreat Suttona

News from the School Goat has grazing rights on School lawn No-one at the School can remember it happening before, but on the day that the Upper Sixth Form students left to go on study leave for their A Levels, the three Heads of School exercised their alleged ‘right’ to graze a goat on Prefects’ Lawn.

In common with other independent schools, Sutton Valence has several apparent privileges given to the Head of

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School, though some believe them to be apocryphal: being allowed to smoke a pipe (now completely against the School’s standing as a ‘no smoking’ site); being allowed to grow a beard (clearly in place before the School became co-educational!) and the keeping of a goat.

Watched by their peers and other pupils, Sophie McGannan, Hugo Pearson-Wood and Lewis Burnham, calmly walked Alice, a pygmy goat, onto the usually prohibited Lawn situated in the middle of the School, and waited to see what would happen.

Inevitably,

Headmaster

Bruce

Grindlay, got to hear about the strange goings on and approached the party on the Lawn, congratulating them on their ingenious way of celebrating the end of their formal time at Sutton Valence.

“No longer an urban myth”, he laughed, “now every Head of School will have to consider purchasing a goat!”

July 2013

Extract from the Headmaster’s Report: Speech Day 2013 To me, feeling that you are making a difference is true job satisfaction.

Nowhere is this more obvious to me than in our improving and deeply impressive external examination results this year. This year, yet again, when the envelopes were nervously opened in August, the GCSE and A Level results had surpassed previous years and were our best grades ever. In 2008 at GCSE we achieved 27% A*-A grades and 46% AB grades at A Level. Last summer our cohorts managed 41% A*-A grades at GCSE and 63% A*-B grades at A Level.

As you are aware, for me the important measure is how much we can improve the perceived academic profile of our pupils. It is this measure, what is called “value added” in educational jargon, that Durham University measures for us. The gap between what the data tells us a pupil should achieve and what they actually go on to achieve is their “value added”. This year, the difference we are making has been ranked by Durham University as “truly significant” not a statistical anomaly, not a fluke or a blip, but truly significant – I congratulate all of the pupils and thank the staff wholeheartedly for making this difference.

Whilst I could lean back in my swivel chair and admire these successes, I do not intend to as there is always more that we can do. We are currently ranked in the top 20% of Schools nationally for the value added we bring to our pupils’ results. However, I want us to move that to being in the top 10% of Schools nationally within five years.

To aid this and to further strengthen our academic provision, I am delighted that we have appointed Mr Adrian Wyles to the newly-created position of Academic Deputy Headmaster from September and I thank the Governors for understanding what I am trying to achieve and aiding me in this vision.

This year 94% of our Upper Sixth have applied and an impressive 45% have received Russell Group offers including Cambridge, King’s London, Imperial, UCL, Bristol, Durham, Exeter and Liverpool. [Note: This is up from 38% who went to Russell Group universities in 2012, better, as a broad intake school, than any of the grammar schools in Kent.] We also have two industrysponsored pupils going to Loughborough and two who have managed to secure places to read Medicine.

SV pupils have undertaken sports tours to Biarritz and Paris; charity work in India and charitable fund-raising across the south of England, through our intrepid cycle ride to Land’s End. We have participated in exchanges with schools in Chicago, Spain, France and Martinique and taken academic trips to St Petersburg, the Isle of Wight and Wales.

As well as this, The Combined Cadet Force and our Duke of Edinburgh scheme have taken pupils on Summer Camps, to Bisley, Blandford, the Lake District, and in a week’s time an intrepid cohort will be on its way to Brunei.

The high point for me of this year’s

CCF Biennial Inspection at Crowborough was not the fact that I beat the inspecting officer, Colonel Hulme MBE in an archery competition, but the report he submitted to the MOD – I quote: “I note an especially strong bond between the School and its pupils. I have no doubt that the CCF adds immense value to the development of the young adults which form its core.

Overall this is a CCF detachment which is performing very well and truly adding value to the lives of its cadets. I must compliment the pupils of the School, all of whom were thoroughly pleasant to talk to, articulate and extremely engaging – a credit to the CCF and the School.”

I couldn’t agree more!

We have seen some real sporting highs this academic year.

The Michaelmas Term saw our Rugby move back up a notch led from the front by an extremely successful 1st XV. At one point the School was ranked seventh in the country and indeed deserved this accolade for the attractive rugby it was playing. However, instrumental in the sports success were the 2nd and 3rd XVs and all of the year groups.

It was another remarkable season for Girls Hockey as the 1st were crowned County Indoor Champions, John Taylor Regional Champions and finished a very commendable third in the regional finals of the National Indoor competition, as well as winning 70% of their regular block fixtures.

Come the Lent Term and the boys took over the astroturf winning 59 of their 103 hockey matches. The 1st XI

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clocked up some impressive wins over Hurstpierpoint, Eastbourne and King’s Canterbury, but it was the U13As who stole the show notching up an 88% win rate and being crowned the John Maylem County Champions.

Meanwhile, the girls enjoyed an excellent Netball season where the 1st VII achieved an 83% win rate and enjoyed a European flavour with fixtures against the British School of Brussels and a competition at Disneyland Paris. Again our Second Form demonstrated how deep their talent runs as the U13B team won the Weald of Kent Tournament.

Thankfully, the weather has allowed us to play more sport this summer than we managed in 2012. Our tennis teams have done well at all levels and it is wonderful to see so many younger players emerging. In Rounders the first team has notched up an 88% win rate with the intermediate teams recording the biggest differentials this season in matches against St John’s, Leatherhead, where the U15s won 33 to 9.5 and the U14s 22 to 8.

In cricket, with Warmlake up and running as well as a new square at the top of BM, we are now capable of hosting five home fixtures on grass wickets. The new nets near the astro have been a huge benefit and all teams have progressed nicely with some excellent cricketers emerging throughout the year groups.

This year we have also managed to make greater use of our fabulous athletics track, not only in curriculum time, but also through hosting two athletic meets at U14 and U15 levels against King’s Canterbury and King’s Rochester, both of which we won.

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Swimming continues to grow with club sessions being run on a Monday evening and Thursday lunchtime and we hope to extend this further in September. The number of children training is growing and they are getting better with each session. The same is true of our senior golfers who are truly becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Of course, sport is not the only activity pursued by SV pupils outside the classroom. This year, Drama has focused on murder, corruption and uncontrolled aspirations. December saw a wonderful performance of Macbeth. Henry Farmer was magnificent as Macbeth, while the role of his queen was shared by Eve Galpin and Georgina Poplett. All three impressed with the intensity of their performances and their clear and passionate delivery of Shakespeare’s lines.

More “bloodshed” – well “splurgeshed” for the pedants amongst us – followed earlier this week with the musical Bugsy Malone. This junior production saw William Grabowski, Sam Gray, Annabelle Blake and Eliza Lewis playing the leads in a hugely frothy show involving over 60 pupils from the first three forms.

In October, the Chapel Choir undertook a very successful tour of Cologne and the Michaelmas term was capped off with three truly wonderful Carol Services.

But it is our string players who have really shone this year: Annabelle Pullar gained a place to study violin at the Welsh College of Music and Drama; Anya Livtchak won two competitions and was runner up in the Maidstone Rotary Young Musician of the Year. But for me the summation of all that has been achieved musically this year was

the Lent concert.

This term the School has been reviewing its vision, mission and ethos statements to ensure that they aptly describe what we are trying to achieve as a community. After several drafts, our ethos statement, explaining the special culture and atmosphere we try and cultivate at SV simply reads: A community where each cares for all and individuality is cherished.

Adding value and making a difference are all about caring and recognising an individual’s particular quirks and peccadillos.

But, if all your attempts to make a difference fail, perhaps resort to modern technology, ignore political correctness and tell it as it is, as this well-publicised, fed up and despairing English teacher did: “Dear Pupils, Having reviewed your essays, yet again I need to tell you this: A good rule of thumb for essays is called the “mini-skirt rule” – they should be long enough to cover what needs to be covered and short enough to be interesting. For many of you, your essays were more comparable to an “elderly, overweight man in Speedos” – too short, didn’t cover enough, indecent, sad and pathetic - whilst leaving nothing to the imagination!”

I thank you for listening and wish you a wonderful Summer.

Bruce Grindlay MA Cantab MusB FRCO CHM Headmaster If you wish to read the full content of Mr Grindlay’s speech, this is available on the School’s website: www.svs.org.uk

July 2013

Academic Sutton Valence is now in the top 20% of schools nationally for adding value to a pupil’s results. Having taken part in Durham University testing for several years and based on their thirty years of data, we are able to predict on entry what each child should be able to achieve at GCSE and A Level. By gently raising the bar on successfully reach-

ing each target, pupils are able to exceed these predictions.

On average the School adds 0.7 of a grade, per subject, per pupil, virtually ensuring that they get better grades at Sutton Valence than they would elsewhere. This is across the board, so not only do our brightest children do well,

GCSE 2012

but the less able also achieve.

Last academic year, the grammarequivalent set (many of whom have not passed the 11+) gained 92% A* and A grades at GCSE, beating all but the most academic grammar schools in Kent. Similarly, at A Level the top set achieved 98% A* - B.

Grammar-equivalent set gained 92% A* and A grades at GCSE 30% of candidates achieved 6 or more A* and A grades A* grades increased by 150% over 4 years

A* - C

92%

A* - B

68%

A Levels

A* - A

41%

A* - B

63%

A*

15%

A* - C

84%

Grammar-equivalent set achieved 98% A*-B grades at A-Level 13% of candidates achieved all A* and A grades 58% improvement in A* to C grades in 6 years 12% A* grades against a national average of 8% 36% of students took up places at Russell Group universities

A summary of some of the highlights throughout the School year Sport Sasha Erander, Upper Sixth, was selected to represent the South East in an U18 Three Day Event.

The U16 girls’ hockey team reached the final of the Kent U16 Tournament.

Edward Bower and George Poland, Lower Sixth, were selected to represent Kent in the U18 rugby squad.

Henry Overy, Second Form and Dan Teare, Third Form have been selected for Kent U14s.

The 1st XV rugby team recorded a 530 win over King’s Rochester.

Guy Thomas represented the Kent Schools Athletics Team in Race Walking and has gone on to receive two England caps and has qualified for UK championships.

Peter Bannister won two gold, two silver and one bronze medal in the U18 National Kayaking Championships. He also came second in the National Marathon (13 miles running and kayaking).

Jamie Bryant represented the Kent Schools Athletics in the English Schools Cross Country.

The SVS Show Jumping Team won first place at the Kent Inter Schools competition in the team events and picked up a 2nd place and two 5th places in individual events.

The U16 netballers joined 50 netball teams at an International Netball Festival in Paris and managed to reach the finals. They were given training by

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

England netball coaches and in the evenings were able to enjoy Disneyland.

The cricket teams have performed well with a fine win over King’s Canterbury and a draw with the MCC. The School had an excellent showing at the Public Schools Fencing competition. Over 130 schools took part, with nearly 1400 weapon entries.

After the first pool, Charlie Gellet, Fifth Form, was seeded number one in the Junior Sabre class, as he had not had a point scored against him. Tim Feiner, Lower Sixth, also did very well, but went out in the fourth round, ranked twentyfirst.

Music Annie Pullar, Upper Sixth, was made Leader of the 2nd Violins in the Kent Youth Orchestra.

William Moore has been selected for the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra.

The Music Concert which included the Senior String Orchestra performing Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins, the Chamber Orchestra performing Shubert’s Symphony No 5 (First Movement) and the Chapel Choir performing Handel’s Zadok the Priest and Mendelssohn’s Hear my Prayer, was a huge success and of a very high standard.

who teaches violin at the Royal Academy of Music.

CCF At Bisley this year the team had their most successful year ever, winning all team and individual competitions. At the bi-annual inspection the reviewing officer Col S J Hulme MBE said “this is a CCF detachment that is performing very well and truly adding value to the lives of its cadets. I have no doubt that the CCF is a central and integral part the School; it is extremely well supported and adds immense value to the development of the young adults which form its core. Morale was extremely high and I note an especially strong bond between the pupils and the School James Aburn, Upper Sixth was selected to be the Lord Lieutenant of Kent’s Cadet of the Year, having received his Silver Wings and being asked the Air Cadets National Concert Band.

In recognition of his outstanding achievements he recently received the Geoffrey DeHavilland Flying Foundation Award.

Community Sponsored Walk raised a very successful sum of just over £3,800, which went to M4S (Maidstone Charity) and the LEAP schools.

teacher, Mr Ben Mehrabian, ‘is a brilliant young individual’. “Since I have been working here, we have had many very good students from Sutton Valence working with us,” he said. “But I have never seen one quite so fantastic as Nicholas.”

Lauren Cansick was a 2012 London Ambassador.

Dance, Drama and Art Oli Dillon, Third Form, has played Felix in his second series of The Sparticle Mystery, for the BBC, as well as an episode of Casualty. Oli has Cystic Fibrosis and is supported by the School with a reduced curriculum.

Olivia Humphrey, Upper Sixth, was a finalist in the Mid Kent branch of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies competition for young artist and photographers in the Maidstone area.

Dates for your diary 13th September 2013 Prefects Reunion (leaving dates 2011-2013)

21st September 2013 Yuppies Reunion (leaving dates 1981-2008)

Anya Livtchak (2nd Form violinist) won the Hastings Music Festival and was runner up in the Maidstone Young Musician of the Year competition.

Six of the School's more advanced violinists had the opportunity to play in a Masterclass with Professor Nicholas Mille, a well-known chamber musician,

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Ten Fourth Form pupils went to India in the Easter Holidays, mixing working with underprivileged girls at a school in Jaipur with exploring the famous golden triangle and visiting the Taj Mahal.

Lower Sixth Form student, Nicholas Cain, worked at Sutton Valence Primary School and in the words of the class

1st-4th October 2013 OS Battlefields Tour

11th October 2013 OS Golf Day, Chart Hills Golf Club

17th October 2014 100th Anniversary of CCF