OS Newsletter - June 2011

June 2011

N0. 57

OLD SUTTONIANS

NEWSLETTER OS Interview

Melissa Saggers (1999 S)

In this issue:

Well, having been asked to sit down and remember my life from Sutton Valence to now, I have to admit it’s quite fun remembering the journey!!

My interest in aircraft began at a very early age though, on joining SV in 1994 (on an art scholarship of all things!), I had just lost the good friend who had initially fired this enthusiasm, in an aircraft crash. This meant that the first few months were certainly not

Damian Penfold Page 4

Continued on page 2

Yuppies Reunion Page 8

OS Hockey Page 34 Reunions OS News Cricket News Dates for your Diary

Page 8 Page 14 Page 32 Page 36

Melissa flying into Barcelona on her last flight on the Boeing 737

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

Old Suttonians Newsletter June 2011

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 easy for me. We had moved house just after my grandmother had also died; I therefore had to board, so I don’t think my first impressions could ever have been positive!! However Sutton House, and notably Dreana the Matron, made me feel relaxed pretty quickly and I rapidly became immersed in school life.

The CCF was an obvious activity for me – unsurprisingly in the RAF section - and I loved the gliding and flying we could experience. I also enjoyed getting involved in the musical side of SV, filling my non-aviation time in the choir or the orchestra and string quartet, playing the violin - learnt with the great Mr Holmes!

I chose the typical pilots A-level subjects of Maths, English and Physics; the latter was probably the most helpful of these, especially as I was lucky to have the youthful exuberance of Simon Stebbings and the ex-RAF enthusiasm of Geoff Piper. With Geoff’s support from the CCF I was also lucky enough to secure an RAF Flying Scholarship, giving me 20 hours of free flying courtesy of Her Majesty! I already had my PPL (Private Pilot’s License) by then, so used this time to gain a rating to fly in Instrument Meteorological Conditions, the first to do so at the time. I left in 1999 feeling pretty busy as Head of Corps, Prefect, Head of Sutton House, leader of Orchestra and Captain of 2nds hockey.

Fun as it was, it’s fair to say I was ready to leave, as I was raring to go and all I wanted to do was fly. I was accepted by several universities to study Aeronautical Engineering, but realised that I didn’t want to be an aeronautical engineer and couldn’t afford to do a degree as well as my flying exams. Instead, after a gap year to consider my options, I elected to work and save up for what I simply seemed destined to do. This did not impress most of my teachers, but it’s fair to say I’m pretty stubborn so I worked for just over 4 years; this included unpaid work in a hangar working on vintage aircraft, which I then flew around Europe to air-shows (I am lucky enough to still do this now) plus administrative duties for corporate jet compa-

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nies, washing aircraft and many other responsibilities.

and I teach Multi-Crew Co-operation to existing and new crew in the airline.

I started my ATPL (Air Transport Pilots License) in spring 2003; after 14 written exams, 3 flying exams, sweat, tears, every penny of my savings and a loan, I finally passed my final flying exam - the widely feared Instrument Rating on 2nd March 2004, and soon after started flying corporate jets for the companies I had been working for in my time saving to pay for my courses. This included owners such as Norman Foster (the architect) and Grampian Country Food!!

It has been an amazing journey that I have really enjoyed. The job is hard though and certainly not as glamorous as it is perceived to be. The hours are very long and awkward and there are no exciting night-stops! However the views are special, the people are varied and interesting and there is always so much to learn, which suits my inquisitiveness!!

We have a lot of European bases so I am considering a move to one of these soon, or a move back to corporate jets. For now though, I get to see the sun every day at work, even though it is from inside a loud, vibrating pressurized tube!!

I still get to fly the beautiful vintage aircraft that inspired me to become involved in aviation in the first place, and I now own a 1932 De Havilland Gipsy Moth which feeds my desire for “proper” flying!

I really enjoyed this type of flying, but freelance work was nerve-wracking with a loan to pay off, so I joined London Executive Aviation a year and a half later for the salary!! In December 2006 I left this company, gained my Instructor’s rating and then thought I’d see what the Airlines were like, so I joined Easyjet flying the Boeing 737. This remains my favourite jet, although I have since been transferred to the Airbus A319/320 as this is their new fleet of aircraft.

I am now 30, a Senior First Officer going through the command process

The industry is changing rapidly and I don’t know how I would go about starting on this road now, however if anyone is interested they are very welcome to get in touch and I will give any help and advice I can.

Melissa in her Gipsy Moth (flying from the back)

June 2011

Chris Scragg (1969 F) Brought up in the village I entered SVS as a member of Founders in 1962, following time at Underhill and DCPS (Tubby Craven was the then Housemaster).

At school I put more energy into sport than academic matters, scoring some success at rugby and athletics. Many Masters including Messrs Porter, Oliver, Chance and Douglas just about ensured I passed the requisite exams! Leaving SVS in 1969 as a School Prefect and Head of House, but with no clear career plan, I managed to get a one year scholarship from the ESU and went off to Louisville, Kentucky.

After a great year I returned as a bit of a hippy. My father suggested I join the army. Instead after a year working on local farms, The Great Danes, and the Marley factory at Lenham I headed for Westminster Hotel School. Three years later (and with extra training from Dick, Jill and Vic in The Swan) I left with an honours pass and was let loose on the unsuspecting industry.

ganic growth, careful acquisition and control we had 16 hotels by 2000. By 2005 another 6 large 4 star hotels were added and the few 3 star hotels taken out of the portfolio. We won many awards including the AA Hotel Group of the Year.

Along the way half the shareholders were bought out and as we progressed into the first decade of the 21st Century I was, as Chairman and MD, very much in control of my own destiny.

Through the boom years of 2003 – 2005 we had many approaches for the company. By summer of 2006 it became apparent that the bubble must burst sooner or later, so when the next venture capitalist knocked on the door with a big offer we said ‘yes’. Thus in November 2006 some 24 years based in Hythe came to an end. The equity in the business had grown from £1m in 1982, 100 fold.

Through those 24 years life was not all work. I got married (1983 – 2010) and had two lovely children, tried my hand

at off road racing, off shore power boating (2 National Championships) and more latterly motor racing which I still do. Indeed, one of my greatest pleasures came when I competed with my son Ant in the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge of Great Britain in which we won every race in 2010.

Having ‘retired’ in November 2006 I soon got bored without any business interest so we acquired The Spa Hotel in Tunbridge Wells. Now 3 years on and fully restored it is trading well and I am actively seeking other opportunities to keep me amused between the race meetings I compete at in historic Astons and Jaguars.

When I reflect on how my life has turned out, considering my lack of career planning, I am pleasantly surprised. SVS must have done me some good after all!

In the early years of my career I avoided, bar one job, public companies, finding more scope for individuality in the private sector.

In June 1982 I took the job of General Manager at The Hythe Imperial. At that time it was trading at a loss. Within a year we were in profit with much improved service. By the end of the 80’s, The Hythe Imperial was doing very well and I was in charge of the 2 other hotels, then owned by the Marston family.

Soon a shareholder, I started to grow the business into a real group. By or-

Any contemporary OS visiting Tunbridge Wells are welcome to drop into The Spa and if I am there have a coffee and a chat (or something stronger).

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

Damian Penfold (1994 W) Damian's professional career began in 1998 with his appointment as the first Associate Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra at the age of only twentythree.

A graduate of Manchester University, for two years he was conductor of the University Chamber Orchestra, and was invited to become conductor of the Todmorden Orchestra in Yorkshire. The distinguished conductor Kenneth Alwyn provided Damian with his earliest conducting tuition, and following his studies in Manchester, and as the recipient of the 1997 Barthel International Prize for Excellence from the Concordia Foundation, Damian studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory with Ilya Musin and Leonid Korchmar.

His appointment as Associate Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra followed a concert performance of the Bruch Violin Concerto without rehearsal. In addition to his scheduled concerts, he also had to stand in on a number of occasions, often at the shortest notice, for indisposed conductors.

He conducted concerts in the ESO's subscription series, worked extensively with the ESO Children's and Youth Orchestras and regularly rehearsed and conducted in concert the ESO Choir.

He was conductor for the ESO Choir's highly successful tour to Bavaria, their first appearances abroad, where concerts included the German premiere of a work by Geraint Lewis, and the first performances of a work written for the tour by the Spanish composer Pablo Dene.

In 2002, at very short notice, Damian was invited to work as assistant conduc-

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tor at the Opera National du Rhin (Strasbourg) on a new production of Elektra and the French Premiere of The Prince of the Pagodas. Whilst in Strasbourg he was invited to rehearse the Strasbourg Philharmonic for a concert conducted by Rozhdestvensky. He returned to the Opera National du Rhin in the 2002/03 season as assistant conductor for a new production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann, and also worked with the orchestra of the Strasbourg Conservatoire. He has since been invited to return to the Opera National du Rhin on a number of occasions.

Damian has a great love of English and Russian music which led him to establish an orchestra to champion unfamiliar music from both countries. The debut London concert of the Ilian Orchestra included the UK premiere of Mieczyslav Weinberg's Chamber Symphony No.1 along with works by Elgar, Finzi and Tchaikovsky.

In May 2001 he conducted the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra as one of only two Britons selected for the Nicolai Malko International Competition for Young Conductors, and in September 2001 conducted the BBC Philharmonic in the BBC Conductors Workshop. In September 2002 he participated in the seventh Leeds Conducting Competition, and later conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra as a shortlisted candidate for Assistant Conductor. Selected by Esa Pekka Salonen, Damian took part in the third Sibelius International Conducting Competition in Helsinki in September 2005, and was particularly praised in the Helsingin Sanomat for his work on Beethoven Symphony No.1.

June 2011

4 generations of Old Suttonians Barr Family Tree Andrew Barr (1923)

James Barr (1928)

Robert Barr (1934)

Hugh Barr (1929)

(deceased)

(deceased)

(deceased)

(deceased)

Andrew Barr (1964 W)

Alan Barr (1993 W)

Oliver Barr (at SVPS)

Ella Barr

Andy D Barr (1988 W)

Ewen Barr (at SVPS)

Katy Barr (at SVPS)

James Barr (1990 W)

Siena Barr

Jared Barr

Benjamin Barr

Andrew Barr (1964 W) – Memories of Sutton Valence My father, Andrew Barr and his brothers James (Pip), Hugh and Robert all attended SVS in 1920/30’s. Andrew, James and Robert all became farmers in Kent, while Hugh (evidently very brainy) travelled the world in the oil business.

in a Latin exam he asked “Where did you get your Latin from? – certainly not from your father”! Pub was very popular, a stalwart of Sutton in his day who it was said had stopped SVS from being pulled down in WWII because it was a landmark for evening aircraft.

I entered Bennett House in 1957 aged 11. Situated between the King’s Head and the Queen’s Head it was sometimes quite noisy at leaving time! Our great rivals were Holdgate House, who we played at table tennis, home and away.

Mr Richard Horn and then Graham Foulkes were my housemasters. They would read to us at `lights out’.

Richard Horn was again my housemaster in Westminster and he and his wife Margaret were two of the nicest, fairest people I met at SVS and when I look back it was this sort who really made the most impact on my developing mind.

Then I went to Westminster (because all previous Barrs had been there). In form II (there was no form I) I was taught by one Norman Bentley (`Publius’, or `Pub’). One of the first Latin sentences we had to translate was `Publius is a wise master’. When I came first

I played a huge amount of sport and still proud that I gained my colours in all three major sports and athletics, where I achieved the javelin record (helped by Mr Benbow who was the very good athletics master at the time). I was also Captain of Cricket and I believe we only lost one match. Howard Evans (1964 F) was one strike bowler; he was extremely

fast (and son of Godfrey Evans the Kent and England wicket keeper). Andrew Dixon (1966 M) scored most of our runs (Kent 2nd XI). Apart from that we were a very good fielding side and practised fielding regularly. After leaving school, I went down to Seale Hayne Agricultural College in Devon.

I’ve kept in touch with several Old Suttonians, namely Anthony Catt (1963 W) (who sadly died), P Hukins (1963 W), P Charlton (1961 F), regularly, W Wiggins (1964 W), N Houghton (1964 W) and I Kellie (1964 W) (both in Australia) and recently have made contact with J Pye (1963 W). Some that I would like to hear from again since I don’t know where they finished up are: G Farrow (1964 C), R Cant (1964 L), M King (1964 L), H Evans (1964 F), J Brown (1963 W) and Fred Thiele (1963 W) (USA Student) and anyone else who would like to make contact, email csbarr@eastlenhamfarm.co.uk.

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

Colin Shaw (1955 W) Colin’s service to the School and OSA was massive.

He may have revered Edward Craven and all the work that gentleman did, but Colin’s contribution was no less than Edward’s and in many ways substantially more since he was the one who began to make sense of the mass of records that Edward had accumulated.

Since the beginning of this millennium there has been much emphasis in formal gatherings of the students to remind them of the particular ethos of this School, recognised in a succession of School Inspections as providing exactly the right balance of respect for each other, concern for the welfare of others and the determination to do one’s best.

The recent demise of the house system has made this necessary because of the loss of the passing down of received wisdom from older pupils to the younger ones. What has not yet been acknowledged, but is absolutely the case, is that this ethos has been maintained and developed largely by the work and influence of a small band of men, of whom Colin is a distinguished member, that saw service at the School right through the last century, overlapping with each other each generation picking up from the previous one. WW Hunting, TM James, WW Holdgate, Edward Craven and Colin Shaw.

A very great number of Old Suttonians have contacted us at school, letting us know of their recollection of Colin.

They are unanimous in their remembrance of someone who was firm but fair, one who had humility and also empathy for those in his care. He is remembered as one who could give a stern ‘telling-off’ but retain a twinkle in his eye to assure the culprit that the end of the world was still some distance off and that the matter could easily be put be-

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hind the culprit if lessons were learned.

Colin was just the same in his dealings with the Old Suttonians’ Association.

His guidance in their deliberations was surefooted and consistent. By the end he had more than fifty years of accumulated precedent, knowledge and wisdom to call on and he used this information superbly. He was rarely the one to take a lead in debate, but his summations, insight and thorough understanding of the issues meant he nearly always had the last word before decisions were made.

Over 150 friends from all corners of the country turned up on 19th March to a memorial service of thanksgiving for his life; a plaque was dedicated to his memory in the Chapel. Requiescat in Pace Colin.

David Pickard Hon. sec. OSA Article from Robert Chance (Ex-Staff 1961-1993) Colin and I first met at Clare College, Cambridge where, under the tutorship

of Dr John Northam, we each read English. Colin had won his place 2 years earlier but was required to sign up for his National Service before matriculating in September 1957; by contrast, I took up my place straight from school with a choral exhibition award. As a consequence, Colin, two years older and with service abroad behind him, appeared to me considerably more mature and worldly. We met at lectures and seminars and I well remember him saying how much he valued the education he had received at SVS and sensing, too, how fond he was of his old school of which, at that time, I had very little knowledge.

Our paths crossed again when we each accepted the offer of a place at Exeter University's Department of Education to study for The Certificate in Education. With digs at opposite ends of the city and our respective practice terms completed in different schools contact was limited and at the end of the year we went our separate ways, Colin to Wells Cathedral School and I, quite coinci-

June 2011

dentally, to Sutton Valence. It was ten years later, following further experience at Bearwood College, that Colin was appointed by Michael Ricketts to be Head of English at his old school in January 1971. Together with our respective wives, Colin and I shared a very happy reunion over dinner at Lingfield, at that time a school house situated along Chart Road.

During the course of the next 20 years when for the most part Colin remained Head of Department, we enjoyed a very smooth working relationship, one that had at its centre genuine mutual respect.

In his own conscientious and efficient manner, Colin ensured that, despite problems emerging briefly in the late eighties, the department ran as harmo-

niously as possible; in addition, I was very grateful for his willingness to help out on the games field-so typical of his constant desire to contribute to the life of a place at which he himself had been nurtured.

It was very fitting that David Pickard should arrange a farewell lunch for Colin at Cranbrook just prior to his moving to Hampshire. Those of us present, including Michael Beaman and David Bunker, spent a cheerful and friendly afternoon together having, of course, no idea that in less than 2 years we would be gathered in the School Chapel paying tribute to Colin and all that he had contributed to Sutton Valence both as pupil and member of the Common Room.

Colin Shaw sadly died on 1st January 2011.

Linkedin We have set up a group named Old Suttonians on the professional networking site Linkedin to mutually benefit all OS. We currently have over 300 Old Suttonians in the group. Please request to join the group Old Suttonians on www.linkedin.com.

OS Newsletter New Name?

We are hoping to rename the newsletter with an original and imaginative name! Please send in your suggestions to riggsr@svs.org.uk. Prizes for the adopted name.

Facebook We have also set up a group named Old Suttonians on Facebook. www.facebook.com

Mentoring Scheme We have had quite a few requests for help from recent leavers asking if we may contact other Old Suttonians who may be in a position to offer work experience or become a mentor. If you are able to help please contact Rebecca Riggs: riggsr@svs.org.uk.

Emails

Please help us

to reduce post al costs by sending in your email to riggsr@svs.org .uk thank you.

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

Yuppies Reunion Almost 100 Old Suttonians attended the Yuppies reunion on 25th September 2010. There were a lot of nervous faces and for some Old Suttonians it was their first time back for almost 30 years. The year of 1991 received champagne as their year group had the most in attendance.

Yuppies reunion

Ghillie James (nee Studd) (1993 V), Frances Sayers (nee Yonge) (1993 S), Gabrielle Baker (nee Browning) (1993 V), Victoria Bussey-Moon (1993 V), Kathryn Hannah (nee Choonara) (1993 V)

Cyprus OS Reunion In June 2010, Jeremy Wall (1954 M), Colin Boys (1955 DB), Michael Groves (1958 F), and Clive Turner (1948 W) all Cyprus retirees all met up in a restaurant by the sea not far from Limassol. Many stories were told, and although their times only slightly overlapped here and there, they had much in common with masters and other boys, some of the former attracting remembered praise and happy memories, and some garnered neither!

1940s Lunch A group of 12 Old Suttonians including R O F Hardwick (1940 M), E V Beaton (1941 M), I F Kay (1941 M), H R Hearn OBE (1945 W), P H Scott (1945 M), J B Lewis (1945 W), M J Solomon (1945 W), H C Hardwick (1945 M), M H Pym (1945 M), P H Scott (1945 M), J R Walter (1946 W), J P Waters (1946 W), M F Beaman (1952 W) met for lunch at the Strand Palace Hotel in March 2011.

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William Lambe Dinner The William Lambe Society dinner was held on 24th May in the Headmaster’s house and attended by 5 Old Suttonians.

If you would like further information on leaving a Legacy to the School, please contact the Development Office.

June 2011

1953-1956 Lunch A small group of 1950’s leavers met for lunch at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in October 2010.

Clyde Britton (1954 W), Rodney Stubblefield (1955 M), Willy Ellis (1956 M), David Bunker (1954 M), Colin Shaw (1955 W), Ewen Moir (1954 W), Mark Grundy (1955 W), John Evans (1953 W), Michael Bartlett (1954 W), James Croft (1955 M)

West Country Reunion A group of 60 Old Suttonians, met on 14th May 2011 at Haynes Motor Musuem in Somerset. Leaver dates ranged

from 1945 to 1989. John H Haynes OBE (1956 L) kindly provided a personal tour of the museum.

John H Haynes OBE and Old Suttonians in the red room

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

Old Photographs House Focus - Lambes We are in touch with most of you in this photograph. Please help if you are in touch with: Stuart K Murray, Richard W Craig, Anthony C Taylor, Anthony M Skinner, John T Harris, John Muscroft, Neville Cook, A Kantarat, Peter Chapman, David Luget, John Field, G. Toby Oliver, Alan Booth as we have lost contact with these.

Those featured in photograph wrote: Blaine, Philip (1964 L) My wife June and I regularly see Jonathon and Poppy Sewell and Nick and Jean Neal. Last autumn we also met Charles and Sally Bazzard during ones of their trips to the UK from Canada.

Along with Jonathon and Poppy we had a mini reunion at Denbies Vinyard at Dorking.

Last Year you also put me in touch with Steve DiChico from the US, who was one of the Exchange Students in 1964/1965. We have exchanged emails and its time I wrote to him again.

Beglin, Chris (1963 L) Many memories come to mind from those days ... a few are described as follows: It was decided by a few of us, Memmott (1963 L) and Rutter (1963 L) in particular, that the then laundry area was haunted. To check this out we got up one night and as a "team" went though to explore, with torches, in the hope of finding some ghouls. End result was, no ghouls and a lot of fun!

The cadet small bore shooting team was very successful but I recall at one

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1962-1966 Lambes sent in by Christopher Beglin (1963 L)

point cleaning one of the .22 range rifles in the "End Show" - which was shared with Peter Chapman (1962 L) and John Jackson (1963 L) I seem to recall, and (stupidly) doing a chambering check with a live round. The end result, fortunately having followed safety rules to the stage of not pointing at anything one would wish to harm - was a loud report followed by realization that a bullet had just gone upwards, through the ceiling, and probably made a hole in the roof tiles. Oops! In later years my gun handling and safety improved way beyond this.

Another very vivid memory was to do with the dining hall. There was something about breakfast which encourage a totally unhealthy devouring of the main course, which might well have been fried bread (before saturated fats were de rigour), beans and bacon. The objective was to finish super fast and be

well in front of any queue for "seconds".

I learned very fast that to satisfy a huge appetite I needed to ingest "phase one" very fast so as to be able to go up for more. Sometimes even "thirds" would be managed. These days as a very much "senior" person I am lucky to eat fast enough to even stand a chance of making such a queue!

Cooper, Michael (1965 L) I have three children Amanda(36) Emma(34) and Edward(28) and two grand-daughters Evie and Bea - after school I worked for twenty years in the family steel business before selling up and diversifying into property and Dry Cleaning - businesses which I still run today. After playing club rugby (my side had two England Internationals) and tennis, I now play golf at least three days a week throughout Europe - like schooldays, never let work interfere too much with sport!!

June 2011

Dicicco, Stephen (1965 L) I have spent my career in independent school education (public school in UK vernacular). In 1987, I started a consulting firm which has worked with over 400 private schools here in the US. I spent a wonderful year at SVS in 1965 as a BAEF Student (British American Exchange Foundation). I became great friends with Robert LyndenBell (1965 L), Martin Couchman (1965 L), Philip Blaine (1964 L) and Christopher Buzzard (1966 L), all of Lambe's.

Robert was student head of school. I have recently touched base with Robert and Philip by email and would love to reach any or all from the Lambe's group.

Stephen also sent this funny story.

The Headmaster at the time (Evers) could not, for the life of him, discern the difference between S. DiCicco (the Yank) and Richard Lay (the Canadian student). We both tried (and we were not similar in looks, nor accent!) and failed.

During the Spring break, I happened to be sitting on the Via Veneto in Rome with my parents when Mr. Evers walked down the Via. He walked right up to my father and said, "Good Day, Dr. Lay, We are so pleased to have Richard amongst us."!

Ford, Adrian (1964 L) Having left SVS in 1964 I worked in the City of London with Lloyds Register of Shipping for 18 months. I decided that a sedentary life in the City was not for me and emigrated as a 'Ten Pound Pom' to Sydney in 1966. For the first 8 months I worked as a Jackaroo on a 44,000 acre sheep station in the Outback of Western New South Wales and had a

marvellous time fencing, shearing sheep, riding horses and spending my entire weekly earnings ($AUD4.00 per week all found) every Friday night in the local (one hour distant) pub!

Realising that I could remain there forever with no money or assets accruing, I decided to return to Sydney and get a proper job. This I did and joined P&O Orient Lines, selling Pacific cruises to the general public. It was whilst working at P&O that I met my future Australian wife, Liz, and we married in Sydney shortly thereafter. Our daughter Emma was born in 1970.

I moved from P&O to Colgate Palmolive in 1968 and whilst there I studied for and gained a Marketing Diploma at Sydney University. I joined H.J.Heinz Company in 1970 as a Marketing Brand Manager and my portfolio comprised Baby Food and Soups!

Liz, Emma and I returned to the UK in 1973 and I joined Grandmetropolitan in their Brewing Division as a Regional Sales Manager. In 1976 I was appointed Sales Director for the Watney Mann Take Home Company.

In 1980 I left Grandmet and started my own Sales & Marketing Consultancy based in West Sussex. My Clients in those days were Bacardi, J.Sainsbury, Tesco and Waitrose. A chance meeting with the Chief Executive of a large Australian Wine Producer in 1981 changed the course of my career completely and I agreed to represent Berri Renmano Wines as their Agent for UK, Scandinavia and Mainland Europe. Australian wines at that time were hardly known and as far as the wine cogniscenti of the day were concerned they were some-

thing to be mocked. Little did they know that within 20 years they were to outsell all French wines in the UK! Times were difficult then and whilst turnover grew gradually, our funds were insufficient to sustain the business and I agreed to join Berri Renmano as an employee rather than as an agent. I was appointed Managing Director of Berri Renmano Europe and in 1993, we took over the Hardy Wine Company in Adelaide. The new company was named BRL Hardy Europe Limited and we set about taking Europe by storm! In the period from 1993 to 2003 our turnover rose from ÂŁ11million per annum to a little over ÂŁ1billion per annum and we were market leaders in UK. Sadly, in 2003 we ourselves were taken over by a huge American organisation, Constellation Wines & Spirits. I worked with their owners for a few months and decided early retirement would be preferable rather than see all our hard work decimated by their approach to the European Markets. Thus in 2003 I left the company.

Sport has played an important part in my life with Cricket and Rugby having been my passions. I joined Harlequins in 1965 playing at the Stoop. On arrival in Sydney, I joined Mosman Cricket Club in 1966 and played First Grade cricket for seven years moving to Northern Districts in 1971. I also joined Gordon Rugby Club in Sydney and played Grade Rugby for them. A truly wonderful sporting experience. I became a member of MCC in 1971 and am a Trustee of The Friends Of Arundel Castle Cricket Club where I had the good fortune to play for Bernard, Duke of Norfolk and then captain Her Grace, Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk's X1 in three of her matches each season. I was appointed Chairman

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

of The Sussex Martlets Cricket Club in 1997 and served in this capacity until 2001.

Shaukat Fancy (1959 L) Shaukat Fancy kindly sent in photographs. The photograph was taken outside Lambes on a memorable day when we were appointed prefects.

I have recently been in touch with Jonathan Sewell and Chris Beglin and would be delighted to hear from any of my old friends and acquaintances from SVS. My e-mail address is adrian.ford@gmx.com

Regional Reunions

Frostick, Colin (1963 L) I believe that I was prefect of Valence House (now returned to private use) at that time and had a very comfortable study there!

Jesty, Peter (1966 L) There are no specific "stories" that come to mind. When I first came (January 1962), the school dining room was still in Lambes house, but after it moved to the new Refectory there were many changes and modern features appeared, e.g. personal desks! I suppose the one continuous memory is that of walking/running up and down the steps a minimum of 8 times a day (I think it was) - no wonder we always seemed to win the inter-house cross-country matches! It also enabled me to gain the skill of going down stairs multiple steps at a time - and I still do 2 steps without a handrail on occasions (though its trickier with vari-focals!). My principal sport was Shooting and so I spent a lot of time on the range, and in the summer went to Conyer and Bisley for a number of years - I hope the 0.22 Anschutz rifle + kit I gave to the school in the mid-1990's is still proving useful.

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We are hoping to set up further regional reunions.

If you would like to become a regional representative, please contact:

Rebecca Riggs riggsr@svs.org.uk from top Brian Pow (1959 L), James Hamilton (1959 L), Alistair Biggs (1959 L), Martin Welch (1959 L), eggy? and Shaukat Fancy (1959 L) outside Lambes.

June 2011

News from Archives GHOSTS AT SUTTON VALENCE? Is the School a rival to Pluckley as ‘the most haunted place in Great Britain’?

For all the time I have been at the School there have been stories of ghosts occupying the premises. The first I heard of was the tale of a ‘little drummer boy’ who haunted Prefect’s Lawn.

Then there was a supposed ghost living in the ‘tunnel’ between the main School and Lambe’s. Some people say they have seen a ‘lady in white’ floating about in the upper corridors of Centre Block, and it is a very brave soul who is prepared to wander through the Lambe’s building at night without much lighting.

The whimperings of a dog are sometimes heard, though to my knowledge no-one has seen an image of its master who killed it and himself in a fit of depression one Christmas not too long after WW2.

Now there has emerged news of two or possibly three more. Various members of the kitchen staff have been disturbed by a ‘servant girl in a mop cap and pretty white apron’. She is benign, but another, darker, image has also been seen and this one may well have been a poltergeist. A cricketer has also been known to pass through the dining areas.

He seems to be pleasant and causes no fear, thus he is probably not the dark poltergeist.

I am conscious that in a boarding school it is quite likely that some of these stories may have been a bit fanciful. They may have been one way of ‘spicing up’ cocoa time for junior boys just before they went to bed. However, it may be that ‘paranormal experiences’ may have occurred. Is it possible that members of the Old Suttonian community can help to clarify matters? Have any of you had a ghostly experience or encounter whilst in School? Are any of you aware of the stories mentioned above? Do you know of any other ghost

stories relating to the School? If so, are they fiction or tales of real experiences?

What is your version of any of the stories? It would be interesting to see if they agree with the versions I have heard, and any contribution will help me to log them all and to write each one up in detail for our records.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

David Pickard pickardd@svs.org.uk

Awards 2010/11 A t c h i s o n Aw a r d Sophie Appelt (2010 Cl) Thomas Champneys (2010 G) Charlotte Douglas (2010 L) Joe Waters (2010 Cl)

Bennett-Hunting Aw a r d Rory Bowman (2010 W) Benjamin Brunger (2010 G) Elliott Chacksfield (2010 Cl) Luke Ellmers (2010 Cl) Nicholas Holmes (2010 W) Jemma Hosmer (2010 H) Emma Johnson (2010 H) Harriet Johnson (2010 S)

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

News of Old Suttonians ANDERSON, George (Ex-staff 19781983) After a further 2 years in teaching I went into Financial Services. For the last 17 years I have been an Independent Financial Adviser running my own firm with my wife Judi. We have two children who are at university at the moment.

We are very involved in our local Church and I still keep pretty fit mainly through frequent trips to a local gym. I am in regular contact with Bob Chance (Exstaff 1961-1993) and I also keep in contact with Chris King (Ex-staff 1979-1983) who is Headmaster at Leicester Grammar School where I taught for 2 years BAILEY, Christopher (2006 Cl) Graduated from Heriott Watt University with an MA Management with Business Law. BAKER, Roger (1968 F) Not much to up date with my career, I am still running my own Architectural Practice as sole Practitioner here in the Vale of White Horse. I resisted the urge to expand the Practice in the mid 'noughties' and although this meant working long days and weekends it does mean that, now work isn't quite so plentiful, I do not have the problem of down sizing. In fact I am still very busy but at a level befitting my advancing years. A small but important and very enjoyable element of my work load is dealing with historic buildings. I have been an approved architect to carry out quinquennial inspections of churches in the Oxford Diocese for some years and recently I have been appointed in the same capacity in the Bristol Diocese. I now look after eleven local churches, several being grade 1 Listed Buildings and ranging in age from early Medieval

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to Victorian, all with different challenges and opportunities!. By far the majority of the work in the Practice is residential including one off houses for private clients, flat conversions for developers and extensions etc. to private residences. Recently completed are a large extension alterations and external works to my brother's (Peter Baker – (1971 F) house near Alton in Hampshire. Taken on with not a little trepidation (an old maxim in the business is never work for family and friends!) the project went well so we still get invited to visit.

BARNES-PHILLIPS (Phillips when at SVS), James (1966 M) After a few attempts to find the “perfect” job, I settled in 1970 into the early world of IT, installing computers for Banks in UK working for Burroughs Machines (later to become Unisys).

After about 10 years there were 2 developments. I got married to Daphne and we celebrate our 30th anniversary next year, and I also moved on to the more interesting side of computing, working on large Main Frame systems. In 1994, I got involved with the Mobile Phone revolution and moved away from handson installation work and into the Project Management of Voice Mail Systems.

Our first UK customer was Orange and they outstripped the capacity of their first system in 4 weeks – it was meant to be enough for the whole year, and from then on, particularly during the frenetic days around the millennium, we were installing systems at a rate of 1 every 6 weeks in the UK alone, as well as all over Europe. By 2006 our team of nearly 30 based in London had dwindled to just 3 of us and when I was made redundant (voluntary retirement!) in 2008 I was left to “turn out the lights”. There

was still just one system to be commissioned which I returned to do in January 2009, having now set up my own company. In September 2009 we moved away from the hustle and bustle of Reading and have new set up a new life in sleepy Exmouth in Devon.

BECKETT, Stephen (1982 C) Stephen recently found himself on the missing list and contacted us. He is now a Captain flying with British Airways.

BENNETT, Martin (1982 W) 1982 was good year for rugby at Sutton Valence. The 1st XV had a big powerful scrum and at 6’7” I recall playing my part along with the likes of Ian Roscoe (1982 L), Sean Kirkaldie (1982 C) and Paul Heron (1981 L). If we weren’t unbeaten that year we must have been close to it. After a year off, which is best not mentioned in detail, I went to Southampton University to study geography. I rapidly switched to geology without any real idea of where this would lead. There was no work for geologists in the oil industry back in 1986, so after a short stint on a farm I headed on a round-the-world trip with vague plans of playing rugby in New Zealand and picking fruit. As it happened I didn’t make it to New Zealand, having been offered a contract with a mining company that had a project in the West Australian bush. The following 10 years were spent working throughout Australia from the tropics to the desert, often sleeping in a swag and spending months in the bush. I met my wife while working in Adelaide, then we experienced life in Canberra before a period in Kalgoorlie, where Emily (11) was born. After six enjoyable years we settled in Perth, but not without the occasional travel and adventure! I have

June 2011

just completed a year working at a mine in the Red Sea Hills area in Sudan, which proved to be a very rewarding experience. We are hoping for a quieter 2011!

BERNARD, Michelle (née Sherriff) (2000 S) Michelle is now married and working as Head of ICT at Battersea Park School in South London.

BOTTOMLEY, Stephen (1972 W)

Clare, Charlie and I summitted Kili at 6.30am on 21 December after 5 days of hiking, clambering up mountainsides and shivering in tents at night even with two thermal layers of clothes and arctic condition sleeping bags. Awe inspiring as we crawled onto the summit with a vivid red horizon on one side as sun was coming up in East (usually does!) and a full moon fading in West. Journey was tiring but achievement was incredibly fulfilling. Can't remember last time I was so exhausted. When we arrived back at our average hotel at the foot of Kili, it felt like a 7*. First shower after 7 days was like no other shower and then I headed off for bottle(s) of Kili beer with Charlie. Clare was real star of climb.

Thanks for all your support - we have raised over £14,000 and still climbing.

BOYS, Colin (1955 DB) After spending most of our lives in Africa (Kenya, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and Malawi) plus Saudi Arabia my wife, Heather, and I retired to Paphos, Cyprus on 3rd May 2001 to enjoy a relaxed and quiet life. Our plans for relaxation have not materialised as we now seem to be as busy as ever. Not that we are averse to this for we are blessed with good health and remain active.

Cyprus is a beautiful island and we are blessed to live in a villa high in the hills behind the town of Paphos in the western area of island particularly famous for the visit that Saint Paul made during his first missionary journey in the 1st century. The Mediterranean weather suits us well particularly after a lifetime in the tropics and we enjoy a panoramic view from our home across the surrounding countryside and out to sea.

The island has, of course, been divided between the Turkish/Cypriot north, known as the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” or “T.R.N.C.”, and the republic of Cyprus controlled by the Greek Cypriots. We live in the southern part of the island which became a full member of the “European Union” in 2007. For many years various talks have taken place to reunite this divided land but to no avail to date. As I write this note more unification talks are taking place but amongst the general population there is little hope of a settlement.

I have regular contact with two Old Suttonians in Cyprus being Clive Turner (1948 W) who lives just across the road from us and Jeremy Wall (1954 M) who resides in a quaint village some 20 min-

utes drive away. We get together from time to time and often discuss our time at Sutton Valence in the 1940s and 1950s.

BROCKHURST, Rowan (1953 M)

After reading the latest OS Newsletter and the submissions of John Pye (1941 M) whom Rowan knows as a fellow resident of Fordingbridge, Hampshire, and Ronald Osborn (1953 M) with whom he shared the ‘End Show’ and who has even produced a photograph in which Rowan appears, prompted him to submit a note.

Leaving SVS in 1953, I entered Articles, qualified as a Solicitor in 1958 and was called up for National Service at the beginning of the following year. After its completion I became a partner in a firm of solicitors in Ringwood (Hampshire) from which I retired (as senior partner) in 2002 having served as President of the Hampshire Law Society in 1978. In retirement I am living in Fordingbridge on the western fringes of the New Forest, indulging my fondness for walking (locally and, when possible, in the Lake District or Switzerland) and remaining much involved in local community activities. Married to a professional musician, I have two children, two stepchildren, seven grandchildren and one step grandchild. (In Ronald Osborn’s photograph I am on the extreme left.

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

The others are from left to right, Hopton, Light and Jones.

BROOKS, Tom (2003 G) Has just started his 5th year of Brooks Marquee Hire and is happy with the expansion of the business over this period.

He lives in Sutton Valence and plays rugby for Cranbrook.

BUTCHER, Anthony (1979 H) Has been working at the European Commission in Brussels for the past 17 years and dealing recently with Economic Partnership Agreements with the ACP counties (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific).

CAPLE, David (1960 W) My parents liked their wine tipple, and I thought it would be nice to have a career in the Wine Trade. Consequently I joined the Whitbread Beer Group umbrella. Firstly starting with Sandeman, moved to Sichel, and then Stowells of Chelsea, from there to Thresher back to Stowells. Thresher, Whitbread and finally First Quench, having spent 38 very enjoyable years in the Wine Trade and visited many European Vineyards.

For the last 3 years we have been touring the country in our caravan trying to find our ideal place to retire, and found Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk to our liking. Woolpit was our first choice as it has a great community spirit. We decided to test the market, and very suddenly found ourselves cash rich and asset poor, back to the caravan, over to Bury St Edmunds and 4 weeks later found our house. We have and will be very busy, as the house needs a lot of TLC. I married in 1974 to Heather, we have two Daughters, Lucy who is 28 years,

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and works at Middlesex University, and Amy is 19, at Nottingham University reading Psychology.

CARTER OBE, Commander William (Jack) (1944 W) Jack Carter telephoned with information about rugby. During 1940 a New Zealand Army division was stationed close to Sutton Valence. Four to five exAll Blacks were amongst the division and came to the School to coach Jack and his team mates. In the season of 1941-1942 the School were in the final of the Rugby Sevens tournament for the first time as a consequence and should have won, according to Jack, had it not been for the referee!

CASTLE, Alistair (1984 C) Alistair is currently working for BAE Systems Int as Director, Thailand.

CHANCE, Bob (Robert) (ex member of staff 1961-1993) Having spent 4 years helping in vain to plan for an athletic track in Maidstone, Bob Chance is delighted that a state of the art facility has now been constructed at Sutton Valence. Set up in the NE corner of BM, the project was very much the brainchild of Joe Davies (Headmaster 2001-2009) whose initiative and drive ensured that athletics in the Maidstone area have the facilities they have sought for over 30 years.

Bob continues to play cricket, participating regularly in the King’s Rochester festival and representing Kent over 70’s.

Music and running the choir at Headcorn are still important parts of his life while, in addition, he has been involved in the presentation of several programmes of climatic readings in the area.

CLEAVE, David (1974 F) I have recently moved to Moscow after spending 12 years in Kiev, Ukraine.

I now take up a new position as CFO for the International Science & Technology Center seconded by the EU. The ISTC is a multi-government organisation which project finances R&D & S&T projects. As well as this, I also am working with and seconded by IFC as an Independent Director on the Supervisory Board of 2 Banks. One in Ukraine & the other in Armenia, thus keeping my banking career ticking along and assisting these banks with corporate governance and strategic and financial crises management.

COLLENETTE OBE, Peter (1940 M) Peter recently sent a letter to us just after his 89th birthday. Peter was in Lambe’s House for the first four of the nine years he was at SVS. The School had a very good influence on his life.

When he left he went briefly to Birmingham University as a Royal Engineer cadet and after six years in the Royal Engineers, went back to take a degree in geology and had a long and pleasant career overseas, retiring aged 65. Peter sent one of his twin sons, Richard, to Sutton Valence. Richard had a flying license in his last year and in his last term from time to time cycled down to Headcorn Flying Club to take a plane and fly around and over the School. His career has been in the RAF and civil flying.

COPLAND, Edward (Ed) (1995 L) I left the Royal Engineers in 2006, spent a year travelling around Africa, then 2 years working as a construction project manager. To prepare for career number 3, I’m currently studying for an 11-18 PGCE at Sheffield University in Science (specialising in Physics).

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COSTAIN (nee Moon), Katherine (1994 V) Katherine lives in Lenham with her husband Rory. Having competed for many years, including representing England around the world in Show Dance, they both now teach Ballroom and Latin American dancing; Katherine locally in Kent, Rory for Len Goodman of Strictly fame.

DHUL, Nikhil (2005 W) Nikhil graduated from Durham University with a Business Degree (with BA Honours).

I was married to Carol for nearly forty years and our daughter is the TV chef Lotte Duncan. Her book ‘Lotte’s Country Kitchen’ is about to be published.

She has a 20 year old daughter, my granddaughter, Daisy. Sadly Carol died five years ago and to Lotte’s horror I met Cathy, who is Lotte’s age – and at the tender age of 66 I now have a one year old son Jamie. (He’s Daisy’s uncle…).

I wouldn’t mind seeing a few of the old Suttonian types.

DUNDERDALE, Michael (1991 W)

DODD, Matthew (2006 W) Mathew has graduated from university and currently looking for a job and considering going into personal training with the view of going into athlete sports conditioning with a professional rugby club.

DUNCAN, Robert (1960 W) After fifty years - where do I start?

Since the mid-sixties I have been earning a dubious living as a cartoonist. See www.duncancartoons.com.

I also wrote the play of Cluedo, which toured the country for ages, and still holds the record as the most successful show ever at the Theatre Royal Windsor. My children’s book Once Upon a World has been around on and off since the seventies and did very well at that time. It was recorded by Dad’s Army star John Le Mesurier, and has recently been re-released on CD. On a daily basis I sit in my wonderful studio and produce advertising and design stuff, cartoons, silly ideas and, once in a while, bits of genius.

Mike Dunderdale, managing director of hospitalityfinder.co.uk and Old Suttonian arranged for England Player Toby Flood to visit the School.

After meeting the Headmaster and some of the senior rugby players it was time to get on with the training and first up were the 7’s squad. According to coach, Bill Buck, the enthusiasm and application displayed during this session surpassed anything he’d seen before, but the bad news for the boys is he’ll be expecting to see it again.

After spending some time with the Prep School Under-10’s, Toby explained the do’s and don’ts of place kicking to a group of boys from various school teams. As you can imagine everyone was

paying close attention. Having listened carefully and made the necessary adjustments to their technique it was time for a competition. The prize in this kicking competition was bound for Demelza Hospice Care for Children. Toby is ambassador for two Maidstone companies, hospitalityfinder.co.uk and Watchfinder.co.uk, who were sponsoring the competition in aid of Demelza.

After a round of goal kicks the players raised £450 which they successfully doubled to £900 when Will Miles hit the crossbar from an impressive distance.

Toby had been impressed. “There’s some real talent here, he said. "if they work hard, listen to their coaches and put the effort in, it wouldn’t surprise me to see some of them at the top level soon”.

Mike was delighted with how the day had gone. “A great day, the boys loved it, you could see them almost having to pinch themselves to make sure they were on the field with an England rugby star and not dreaming”.

GIBBONS, Scott (1962 F) Retired a couple of years ago having spent a life jetting around the world arranging corporate incentives and international meetings. My wife, Yvette, and I now divide our time between France where we produce our own olive oil, and the UK where we have 6 grandchildren between the ages of 18 and 1.

I have become a governor of the local secondary modern school which occupies a considerable amount of time as well as helping out in the local museum and one or two other local committees.

In fact life seems busier now than when I was working full time.

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

I received a couple of newsy emails from OS Nigel Excell (1960 F) who is currently living in Australia but apart from annual Christmas cards from David Kershaw (1961 F) I have not seen or heard from any contemporaries for years. I did however run into the nephew of my old housemaster “Tubby “ Craven at a neighbours party a few years back.

Small world.

HALLER, Siw (née Castberg) (1986 V)

I started Sutton Valence in 1985, so was only there for one year – but what a year ! I arrived from Singapore to finish my O’levels and went on to college in London before starting to work. I was brought up in Singapore with the Colonial English so was a little surprised or rather relieved that not all Englishmen wore black shiny polished shoes, high white socks and khaki shorts! I had a great time at Sutton Valence and I think I was in the first co-hort of girls! Valence House was very popular with the boys always conveniently suddenly liking coffee and spent a fair share of their pocket money in the coffee shop opposite Valence House. I made some good friends who I am still in touch with.

Now having an English husband the Sutton Valence year was very formative to

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my understanding, love and respect for England. We live back in Singapore again (20 years now!) with a 14 year old daughter who now in fact goes to the same school as I, before I arrived to Sutton Valence (United World College Of SEA). Running our own business, I have stayed active with my sports. Was on the professional water skiing tour for 10 years or so and retired after two successive years as Norwegian National Champion. After several knee surgeries am now an avid Cyclist active in events in the Asian region. I would send my warmest regards to the teachers and other Alumni who may remember me (for good or bad) and would love to hear from them! Warmest Regards Siw siw@scandia-group.com.

HARBER, David (1965 C) After leaving SV I went to the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester and then went on to qualify as a Chartered Surveyor. I then took a gap year in South Africa, working my passage out on the Southampton Castle as stockman with 20 Hereford cattle, and back as a dining room steward on the Windsor Castle, with many adventures in between.

I have now lived very happily in Nairobi, Kenya for 38 years and have had my own business- Kenya Valuers and Estate Agents- for 32 years. I am married to Jenny, a Chartered Accountant and have 3 children –Jack (20) at Durham, Mathew (18) and Laura (16) at Cheltenham College.

I run regularly and am about to do a half marathon in Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. I also play a bit of squash but have a problem beating my children these days.

I enjoy building and have recently bought 20 acres on Lake Naivasha (about one hour from Nairobi) with several old houses which I am renovating and extending. Alot of game visits the property including buffalo, giraffe, zebra, hippo, water buck, python, Thomsons gazelle .The lake has a wide variety of birds including fish eagles.

I keep in touch with Robert Lynden Bell (1965 L), Jonathon Sewell (1964 L), Chris Wheeler (1964 C), Colin Hosmer (1965 C).

HARRISON, Gavin (1967 M) Gavin found himself on our web site on the missing list so got in contact.

After leaving School, Gavin was a lab technician and then studied biology and immunology, gaining a PhD at Birmingham University. He met a New Zealand girl and moved there in 1978. They married and now have two daughters. Gavin had an interesting career in science, mostly studying immune mechanisms against parasitic worms in sheep. He managed to get some of his work published in the prestigious science journal Nature.

He recently retired and lives with Christine on his small farmlet just north of Wellington. Cricket and hockey are long gone but he can still hack around the golf course and the strains of arthritic blues guitar can still be heard occasionally.

HARRISON, Neville (1956 L) Profession - Chartered Civil Engineer C.Eng. FICE - specialist in soft ground tunnelling - currently as a consultant to Mott MacDonald (MM).

I was a Resident Engineer (RE) for Ambric on the Cairo Wastewater proj-

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ect in the mid 80's and was then involved in the Channel Tunnel project as a design liaison engineer until 1990. This was followed by a posting to the Round Hill tunnels (the A20 Folkestone bypass) as RE followed by 3 years in Ontario as Construction Manager on the St.Clair Tunnel - a major link for Canadian National Railways, between Canada and the US. This was followed by an itinerant period between Egypt and Japan seconded to a Japanese consultant working on the 2nd Suez crossing.

I then completed my full time employment with MM as the tunnel specialist in the Govt. team for the HS1 line. This continued for around 10 years and has been followed as an adviser to EDF on the construction of their Olympic Cable Tunnels which I have just completed. I am married to Jackie, by whom we have two children - Richard aged 35 and Joanna 33. Richard is married to Kate, lives in Cornwall and has two children, Elliott 3yrs and Mabel 1.

He works as manager of 'Surf''s Up' - a surf school in Polzeath. Joanna is single, lives in Cowfold and works with Bond International as IT consultant to the recruitment industry.

Whilst in Canada we met up with Marecq Child (1956 W) and his wife he is County Coroner for Essex (Ontario). We also keep in touch with Keith Robertson (1956 W) and Henry MacDonald (1958 W) and try to attend/participate in the occasional OS cricket game and hence keep in touch with numerous of the OS cricketing fraternity.

HINCHEY (née TAYLOR), Janine (1991 V) I am literally just back from my wed-

ding and honeymoon in Ulusaba, South Africa! No OS present (only 9 of us there in total plus some hippos and assorted other animals!).

After leaving SVS in 1991 I went to the University of Plymouth where I studied Social Policy before spending a few years working in insurance .

It had always been an ambition of mine to work in the aviation industry and I was lucky enough to join Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1997. I’ve had various jobs here and now work as a Recruitment Advisor, which is how I met my husband Darren (I was involved in Pilot Recruitment and he flies for us on the B744).

I’m still in touch with several OS and regularly see Sally Pettengell (née Hooper) (1991 V) and Louise Cobbold (1991 S). Facebook has been a revelation and meant that I’m in touch with a few more OS that I’d previously lost touch with.

five years with Adams Mark Hotels. I did play for Maidstone and Hove Rugby clubs after leaving SVS and while in the Middle East was loose head prop for the Bahrain team.

My father was the landlord of the Blue Door on the Sutton Road and later the Cock Horse in Detling. He died in 1981 and my mother still lives in Maidstone. I do visit occasionally and meet with my old classmates Russ Lister (1962 F) and Peter Harrison (1960 F).

HOLLOWAY, Christopher (1950 M) This year I completed an eighth edition of my principal text “The Business of Tourism” – published by Pearson and now in its 27th year of publication – and followed this up with a humorous biography of my experiences as a draftee in the US Army which has received favourable reviews (see www.silverwoodbooks.co.uk ). As a result of this, I was interviewed for an hour on BBC Radio Bristol in November, on Dr Phil Hammond’s ‘Saturday Surgery’.

HOLE, David (1963 C & F) I am now living in Minneapolis with my own Hospitality HR consulting business. I am married to Vicki since 1981 and have a 16 year old son Edward.

We have recently purchased a flat in central St Ives, which we are using both as a holiday flat for our family, and for rental during the peak periods.

I left UK in 1973 and worked in the Middle East and Africa finally moving to the US in 1979 with Holiday Inns International. I did spend a short time in Bermuda with Trust house Forte and then worked for Hyatt in Palm Springs, Hawaii and San Francisco. Joining Fairmont in 1995 I worked in San Francisco and eventually took over as the national HR person until a take over by Canadian Pacific Hotels in 2001. Prior to Minneapolis I did work in Dallas for

HURRELL, Tom (2010 G) and JOHNSON, Harriet (2010 S) Tom and Harriet received the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award at St James’ Palace on 2nd November 2010.

The guest speaker was Samuel Gardener (an international off-road triathlon athlete) who spoke briefly about his background (he's a full time fire-fighter at the same time). Then HRH Prince Philip popped in and spoke to us in our groups of 30 and asked a few

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

questions about our D of E. He asked about international expeditions so Harriet told him all about her expedition in the south of France where she followed WW2 escape routes through the Andes which he was interested in.

He was very light-hearted and joked to our parents about putting up with all our gallivanting. They also had a quick chat by the Head of D of E for our region about the scheme and how rare it was to finish gold.

JEFFERSON, Alison (2002 H) After leaving SV my husband and I went to live mostly in France. We decided to sell our Kentish farmhouse and bought a flat in London which offered us a real contrast in lifestyles.

In 2007 we left for a posting in Shanghai. Paul continuing with his career and me as the ‘trailing spouse’ if you can imagine that! After the initial shock of living in this megapolis, I gradually adjusted to life in this amazing city.

Only here can you pass someone cycling along with his trailer piled 3m high with plastic bottles to recycle and earn about 50p per day and then you turn the corner and are faced with a Porsche speeding down the street on the wrong side of the road. Fancy western restaurants contrast with street vendors selling dumplings or crispy chicken feet; small crumbling traditional houses in the ‘lilongs’ in Shanghai are gradually disappearing along with the community life therein whilst the glitzy skyscrapers in the Pudong area astonish even modern tastes especially with the 490m high World Financial Centre. The 98th floor offers a great place to sip champagne.

This life of ours is one of contrasts, but also a city that it is essential to make the

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effort to get to know. So although I miss my garden here, I lead groups around the parks and give talks about the ic garden here and the plant hunters who came to China to enrich the gardens of the west. Currently I am working on sections of a presentation book which will be offered by the British Pavilion for the World Expo in 2010 and in my spare time am giving a few higher level IB maths lessons, just to keep my hand in.

All this when we are not travelling through the magical lands of Indochina.

JONES, Robin (1971 L) Since leaving School I have undertaken various jobs but for the last 36 years I’ve worked in the Wine trade.

For 30 years in my family’s company Mayor Sworder & Co where I was made a director before we were taken over, and in the last 5 years I’ve worked for Laytons, one of London’s established Merchants. I did 25 years in the Territorial Army with the Honourable Artillery Company in the City of London rising to the rank of Colour Sergeant with the appointment of Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant, and was awarded the Territorial Efficiency Medal with 2 bars. I am still a veteran member. I am a supporter and season ticket holder of Harlequins Rugby Club, a club I have supported since just after leaving School. I’ve lived at my present address for 17 years. I have never got round to getting married.

KNOCKER, Will (1977 C) Will has a new venture www.nairobitentedcamp.com.

KOJECKY, Roger (1961 L) Roger is Secretary of the Christian Literacy Studies Group: www.clsg.org.

Last year at the society’s annual Oxford conference he gave a paper on ‘epiphany in the novels of William Golding’ and then abroad at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, the Palacky University, Olomouc, and Tsinghua University, Beijing.

LEE, Menelik (1993 W) Attended medical school and graduated with MBBS at King’s College London. Currently working as a Specialist Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology department at Royal County Hospital at Winchester. Gained MRCOG (membership of obstetrics and gynaecology in 2009.

LE FORT, Anthony (1961 M) Working in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles but spending as much of the summer as possible in Southern Europe…France and Italy mainly.

LEONARD (neé Talimonova), Nina (1996 S) My life has seen a number of major changes in the last few years: I’ve divorced two years ago, and started training as an integrative humanistic psychotherapist at approximately the same time. This course is almost over and I am already practising in that field in my spare time.

My full-time job is with NHS as a lowintensity CBT therapist, for which I am also completing postgraduate course in psychological therapies. My particular interest is in Compassion-Focused Therapy, Mindfulness and Sandplay.

– I also work part-time in the field of

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special needs, and deliver self-management courses for people living with depression for the Co-Creating Health project run in partnership by the Health Foundation and Torbay Care Trust (NHS). I’ve trained to facilitate communication skills workshops for clinicians with the same project, and have delivered a number of those in the last year jointly with a Clinical Psychologist.

I have a very warm, loving memory of Sutton Valence. It was a tough time for me and my family: we fled home (Russia) following my Dad’s political involvement, his support of democratic parties, which took place at the cost of daily death threats to his family. I’ll never forget the day I first saw the school - its magnificent buildings, the lush green fields around. I often looked out of the school windows and cried with appreciation of the beauty in front of me, my new-found safety and all the opportunities that were now open to me.

LONGDEN, Andrew (1956 L)

Andrew has recently returned from the Norfolk Broads having sailed with Laurence Burrell (1956 L). They were moored at Potter Heigham and spotted the yacht Flight which was the sailing boat used on the trips which took place from School in the spring vacation.

Cruisers were the mother ships and some boys managed to alter the governors making them go much faster!

The picture shows Flight going through the second restoration. Andrew is sure it will bring back memories. It was the first introduction to sailing which led him to RYA Coastal Skipper theory and practical and has sailed extensively in the Solent and the West Country.

MARTIN (née Pagonakis), Sally (1996 V) I live in New York with my husband and daughter and am currently a Vice President at a financial public relations firm. I gave birth to my first child Megan Ioanna, on 8th August 2008.

MACNAUGHTAN, John (1962 L) After leaving School, John attended the University of Sussex and gained a 2.1 Degree in History. 1965 -1967 Graduate Trainee with Tube Investments including Diploma of Management with Aston University 1967 – 1972 Based in South, Central and East Africa with TI companies 1973 -1976 General Manager of Raleigh Cycles in Australia and New Zealand 1976 -1977 Advisor to Raleigh Ind. Nigeria Ltd to set up Accessories division in Port Harcourt and Aba in East Nigeria.

1977 – 1997 Sales and Marketing

1997 – 2003

2001 -

Director of Sturmey Archer Ltd Director of Irrawaddy Flotilla Co – cruises in Burma Managing Director of Raleigh International Ltd Non- exec Director of Pashley Holding Ltd

Married to my first wife in 1968 and have a son, Alistair, born in 1973 who in turn married in 2007 and who has a son, Tod, born in Dec 2008. Divorced in 1984 and remarried, Ane Marie, in 1999 and have twins born in 2001, a boy, Timothy, and a girl, Amalie. I am still working and travelling extensively in my job. I proudly sport my SV cane in my office at home.

MARKS, Malcolm (1972 F) Since leaving university in 1979 I have been working with or in Africa on various development programmes, apart from a relaxing 4-years as a biology teacher in Northampton. I kicked off my career with 4 years in Nigeria and have since lived and worked long-term, in Senegal (twice), The Gambia, Botswana and now Bangladesh. During the period 1993 - 2003 I was based in France and then in UK, working as an independent consultant in Ecology and visiting over 20 different African countries for my work. I count myself incredibly lucky to have seen so many, varied cultures as well as having made so many excellent friends over the years.

From early 2003 until 2006 I worked long-term again in Senegal, specializing in environmental policy and monitoring & evaluation. But from early 2007, I made a gigantic career move by finally

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changing continent; and for the first time found myself in Asia. Bangladesh to be precise.

Working as a member of senior management with responsibility for the M&E and research department in an enormous poverty alleviation programme financed by DFID (UK). Very interesting and rewarding work mostly operating on temporary river island, prone to severe erosion and home to some of the poorest people in the world.

If you are interested, take a look at the website: (www.clp-bangladesh.org).

Moved up to the team leader position in May 2009 and am now awaiting our move to the second phase (£70 million) of our programme in the new year.

Our base is still France (Rhone-Alpes) where we have a lovely old farmhouse and other various buildings that we seem to be continually doing-up. I suppose that retirement is not too far off but I'll keep working while I continue to enjoy it! www.clp-bangladesh.org MURRAY, Alan (1971 C) After many memorable moments at SVS circa 1967 - 1971, most of these more notably on the rugby pitch, I left school and Cornwallis House to pursue a career in the arts and media world…and with nearly 40 years of working in the advertising and publishing industry, I find myself in Adelaide, South Australia enjoying another long hot summer of daily average temperatures of 35c +.

A tad warmer than one would have endured on No. 4 Rugby field on a February afternoon where I recall playing against Tonbridge Under 16s in snow and ice on the ground - I still have the

22

scars to illustrate the point – with Mr Beaman wrapped in three scarves and a very substantial ex regimental over-coat screaming at the top of his freezing voice instructions to “go low” or “move up” or “scrum break”.

All good preparation for one’s future life, even if at the time 15 young men were not so enamoured with the chants from BB on the relative comfort of the sidelines.

One of my fondest memories of my academic experiences at SVS (and I use this term very loosely) was our Art and Architecture lessons with Mr Simmons who held us all attentive with the promise of visits to local architectural points of interest if we “shut up and listened” to his contributions to our education – the lessons were illuminating and his promises always kept.

Being a 16 year old boarder and minimal contact with the human world outside the main gate, any opportunity to venture into The Weald or through Maidstone was akin to Sir Edmund Hillary scaling that hill in Nepal. Great reward for applying oneself to Mr Simmons’ erudite words: I am still interested and in awe of our Norman (?!) fore-father’s design and architectural skills in creating buildings and structures of beauty and charm for us all to marvel at today.

So one could say quite legitimately that Mr Simmon’s sojourn into the Kentish countryside with Upper 5th contributed to the development of my early career path – from the hallowed fields of SVS to attended Hastings School of Art to study Graphic Art and Design, and enjoyed every moment of

the diagnostic and vocational design course….not to mention the freedom to commune with my fellow students and to appear in public without an leave pass.

Soon after landing in Adelaide, I was most fortunate to find employment at Young & Rubicam Advertising in Adelaide, as their Production Manager for all divisions and commenced a 15 year stay with this great USA founded agency enjoying many successes, pressures, wins, losses and working fulfilment. Y& R was established in New York in 1923, so by some wonderful irony, I was still working in a small space of New York, even though I chose to travel east to Australia from The Economist.

My family comprises of my long suffering wife and three daughters (28, 23 and 6 years old – there’s a first marriage in this story somewhere) and we live in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide just 5 minutes from our respective works and our youngest daughter’s school. So all one’s needs are met without arduous driving, parking, people rushing challenges…in fact, I have often said to my family (who laugh uncontrollably) that we could survive quite well without our cars as we live so close to work, rest and play (it’s a Mars Bar lifestyle !).

After a few years as a freelance consultant in Adelaide, I was ‘head-hunted’ (very painful) and offered a job in Sydney to join a design company as Production Manager. They obviously did not check my references on my CV and I took this opportunity gladly in 2005.

For nearly three years I commuted from Adelaide (Mon – Fri) to Sydney and relished the Sydney working and social

June 2011

lifestyle. My Cremorne digs (bed-sit) was only 15 minutes walk from my office in North Sydney and the work was challenging and very rewarding. Lots of stuff for QANTAS, Woolworths, ANZ Bank, Sydney Opera to name (drop) a few…

The regimen of commuting to Sydney every week and spending Sunday/Friday nights on a Virgin 737 lost its appeal very quickly – albeit very healthy frequent flyer accumulation – and when I was offered a position back in Adelaide, I promptly signed the bottom line and have been working just 5 minutes from home since then. No more furtive unhappy looks from my young daughter and panic attacks from our pet dog who would become quite distressed if she saw me packing my suitcase on a Sunday night.

This is just a taste of the Murray Clan’s life in Adelaide that I hope will be of interest to those who read this message: including Lee Bacchus (1971 C) who was my very dear friend at Sutton Valence School and with whom I have regrettably lost contact since leaving for Australia.

Every moment and every experience in one’s life propels us forward to the next – Sutton Valence School was an important part for me in the movement from child to adult – I feel my time at SVS contributed to the way I see the world around me – in working, social and most importantly, in human terms.

Whatever we strive for in life involves effective human rapport and relationship to make it work.

NAYLOR, Nigel (1962 M) Nigel (known as Nick) found himself on the missing list and got in contact.

After leaving School, Nick found himself in the Army and after 37 years left as a Lt Col in 2001. Following that, he went into the Private Sector where he has been ever since with 3 different companies. He is now an independent IT Security Consultant with his own company.

thousands of miles, sat for many days in county archives and even appeared on Belgium television in 2009!

In April 2010 we visited Steve Broome and his family in Queensland, Australia (Steve was Dan Keep’s predecessor) and he sends his best wishes to anyone who remembers him!

OLIVER, Frank (Ex-staff 1996-2006) PATTINSON, J Stephen (1965 L) It was really good to return after 45 years on the day Roger Bannister opened the new Athletics Track.

Having spent a combined 28 years working at Sutton Valence School it was no surprise that Glynis and I took a while to adjust to retired life. However, the arrival of two new grandchildren in the autumn of 2006 provided our first distraction.

I took early retirement from Standard Life after heart problems but feel really well again. However both my Running and Motor Racing days are far behind me. This year Valerie and I will go to Monaco and Oberammergau. My daughter Juliette is lecturing at Strathclyde University so we go to Scotland regularly. Best wishes to Staff and OS. PRESCOTT, John (1964 M)

Our ‘seaside home’ at Herne Bay, which we started building eight years ago, was finally finished and as a result we have had the pleasure of entertaining a lot of visitors.

Dinghy sailing has remained our passion, taking us all over the country, racing at different clubs as well at our home club, Hampton Pier Yacht Club. In 2008 we became National Champions for the second time, particularly pleasing because we were the oldest sailors competing!

The ‘Brief History of the Oliver family’, which I started writing just before I retired from SVS has now grown to nine volumes! Glynis and I have travelled

After leaving the school, emigrated to South Africa for 8 years. Returned to ‘Settle down’ and spent 15 years in the holiday/travel business. Then transferred into the computer software business. Sold that after a further 20 years and am now retired.

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Two wives, 3 children and 3 grandchildren later, I have a full time hobby that has turned into a retirement business of operating Rolls-Royces & Bentleys as wedding cars. Also now operate an Enthusiasts website for the cars and their owners throughout the world – keeps the brain active and me out of mischief.

RICHARDS, Neil (1967 F) Having retired from teaching, I am now a member of the British Biology Olympiad committee and am responsible for setting the questions for Part A of the 2010 British Biology Olympiad competition. Last July I served on the Jury of the International Biology Olympiad held at Tsukuba University, Tokyo, Japan. I have also been invited to serve on the Jury for the 2010 competition to be held in South Korea in July. I just check that the questions are written in ‘proper English’ and leave the academic bits to the other members of the Jury who are, by and large, Professors and post-doc researchers! All the questions for the 4 practical papers and the 2 theory papers are written in English by the ‘host country’ and had to be translated by all bar 7 of the 57 (59 in 2010) of the competing nations. The whole event is, very much like an Olympic games with parades and speeches beforehand and a parade and more speeches followed by a huge party after the final-day presentations. In 2009, the UK team whom I assisted in pre-event training finished ‘top’ in Europe - a fantastic experience and achievement for all involved.

Have played cricket for Kent Over 60’s in the County Championship competition, BUT there are no fleet and agile fielders to take the catches offered!!!

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RICKETTS, Charles (1979 F) Charlie is a senior director and partner of Cenkos, a company dealing in corporate finance. He is married to Jill and they have 3 sons. The eldest, Joseph, has just left school and is filling in a year before going to Oxford Brookes to study Architecture. He has just passed a Master Mariners course which he hopes will bring in some cash in the university vacs if he can find some wealthy clients who would like their yachts delivered to fancy places.

RICKETTS, James (1980 F) James is unmarried. He is a senior film director in an advertising agency called Tag. He has been there for 4 years after leaving similar jobs in Prague and Budapest.

RUFFELL, Tony (1958 M)

David Harverson (1956 M), Keith Gilham (1959 M), and Tony Ruffell (1958 M) met in August 2010 for an enjoyable lunch. So successful was the occasion that they would like to make it a regular event and invite others who live in the Oxfordshire and surrounding area.

Please contact Tony at tony.ruffell@tiscali.co.uk.

SCOTT-WILSON, Peter (1974 M) BA German from Southampton. Mar-

ried Corinne Kronauer in 1976. One year teaching in Reggio Calabria (Italy).

PGCE TEFL from Leicester. Four children (Julia, Hew, Guy and Ursula) by 1986. Taught languages in Stockport and Folkestone until 1989 and took a postgraduate Diploma in Teaching French.

Divorced 1990 and left teaching. Retrained in Houston (USA) as a Drilling Fluids Engineer. In the early 1990’s worked on oilrigs in the North Sea, United Arab Emirates, Germany and Switzerland from a base in Aberdeen (Scotland). After working as technical supervisor of an oil industry environmental services company and in a drilling product research lab, learned to fly (PPL) and completed a distance learning MSc in Integrated Environmental Management from Bath in 2000.

Since then has worked for RSK Environment Ltd as an environment consultant working on international oil development projects. On 50th birthday in 2006, married Carmen García Carballido. Still enjoys learning to play musical instruments and learning to speak languages (currently reading all the Harry Potter books in Spanish).

Moved to Spain in 2009, but hopes to move back to an independent Scotland before long.

SIEWERT, Ralf (1982 W) My two daughters Anna and Lena are growing up very fast and they are very active. That keeps me young and active.

I still play Football with the Bank I work for and we won the "WestLB Pokal" twice in the last 5 years. Both my daughters are growing up bilingual, as I am speaking only English to them. Anna has a great advantage now that she goes to school. I have to teach them to read and write the language now. All in all she is enjoying school and Lena the Kinder-

June 2011

garten and I am thinking of sending them to Sutton Valence for a year or two when they get a bit older. We want to come and visit the school sometime in the next couple of years.

still plays fives although he plays Eton fives now rather than the rugby fives.

He has bought an old fortified Catalan Masia near Barcelona which was an entire village 600 years ago where he hopes to make a fives court eventually.

STILL, Richard (1949 DB) Richard was admitted to Sutton Valence in Spring term of 1942. The running term, cross country and track.

Also fives, tennis, rugby and football.

On the work side, I am still working for the same "Sparkasse" (TSB) i have always been working for during the last 20 years. I am now responsible for the whole institute deciding what Pension Funds, Closed End Funds, Hedge Funds, Bond Funds and so on we sell our customers. I am enjoying work very much and as I live 15 minutes away from home, I have lots of time to spend with my family.

SOU, Celso (2006 W & H) Currently studying a degree in Business Studies at City University London.

SPEAR, Kelvin (1965 C) We have recently re-established contact with Kelvin Spear. After a few careers, Kelvin started his first business Derby Domestic Agency. He now has various businesses including the export of steel from Holland to Yugoslavia manufacturing bicycles and importing them to the UK. Also, a self storage in Guildford, Aldershot and 2 facilities in Barcelona where he lives with 3 of his children. He skis, sails, plays tennis and

In 1944, we used to have double periods of music and singing! I am tone deaf, they did not want me in those classes; so I requested to have extra woodworking classes with J H Richards (Chips as he was known) – a very strict man if you were not interested, heaven help you.

J H Richards was a very practical and intelligent man, he taught me, not only woodwork but also how to use every machine in the workshop including the circular saw bench. One day while having instruction on how to re-metal a bearing A B Derrick came to the workshop requesting Chips to cut him out some frames for his BEES! After he had gone, Chips said to me just the job for you, you can use the saw bench! I enquired what are frames? When at home, he puts wax foundation into them for his bee hives. Quite easy Chips said, all saw cuts, which it was, they must be accurate, he said, “Bees are funny insects”.

All the machinery in the workshop was belt driven off of shafting, a large gas engine supplied the power. So in time I cut out the frames and thought I could make some for myself, plenty of wood and seasoned at home. I then got

some plans of ‘how to make a Beehive’.

WBC seemed the one to make, the telescopic type. The hive I made at home and was ready and waiting for bees.

STOCKMAN, Kate (née Murray) (1992 V) is currently working in the catering department at Sherborne Girls in between being a Mum to her 3 children (Maisie, 7 and twins Archie and Amelia nearly 5).

SYKES, Roger (1967 C) Roger was a partner with Whitehead Monckton in Maidstone from 1979 until retirement from private practice in 2002.

Latterly his main area had been the representation of children in care proceedings.

Appointed HM Coroner for Maidstone in 1986 and for Mid Kent and Medway in 1996. Roger has been the Under Sheriff of Kent since 1999.

THORMAN (née Boorman) Charlotte (1988 V)

Charlotte recently got back in touch after finding herself on the missing list.

Charlotte married Malcolm Thorman a craft teacher and moved out to the Bahamas where her husband taught auto mechanics. The school was quite deprived and she was able to raise money for the school through her art

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

work and resident celebrities. Charlotte and her husband are now living in Somerset and continuing with her art work.

TOWNSEND, Susannah (2007 G) Susannah has come back from playing professional hockey in Belgium and is undergoing senior England assessment.

WIGGINS, Paul (1967 M) I left SVS whilst Evers was still HM. My recollections of “Beam”, as he was cheekily known by us boys because of his fixed facial expression that was not always a genuine smile, were of him as a light-footed participant in his fond productions of G&S. Also of his ever quivering right foot which he would repetitively joggle up and down in a rhythmical bounce on the ball of his foot whenever seated at a desk.

Pictures painted by Charlotte

TOBIN, Jake (2004 M) Jake sent us a photograph of Old Suttonians who all work for Lockton Companies LLP.

Tom Hester (2004 W), Jake Tobin (2004 M), Brett Warburton-Smith (1987 W), Oliver Miles (2010 W) and Neville Miles (1979 C), taken at their work Christmas Party

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At school I spent more time on sport than learning, and on leaving I played Hooker in rugby for the Midland Bank 1st XV, (my first job) and as a representative for United Banks 1st XV against home county sides. At age 22 years I moved jobs to Hambros Bank and later moved to playing rugger for Sevenoaks club.

At age 23 I came to a personal faith in Jesus Christ whilst attending St Helen’s Church in Bishopsgate where Rev Dick Lucas was the minister. During my time at SVS the school Chaplin, following on from Rev Beasley, was Mike Gibson, an Olympic trialist at javelin and discus, I seem to remember. It was Gibson that invited Dick Lucus down to preach in chapel to us heathen boys seven years earlier, and by a ‘strange’ coincidence I found myself attending his lunch-time services in the City.

I married Meryl McDonald at age 29, a wonderful girl from N Ireland and my Best Man was Colin Molyneux (1966 C).

Meryl & I remain in wedded ‘bliss’ to

this day having two daughters, one married and one still looking.

I then moved jobs again, this time to Barclays and advanced to branch manager at Russell Square in 1989. In 1990 I specialised in High Net Worth Client Banking and took Financial Adviser qualifications. At age 54 I resigned from banking and am now self-employed as a Financial Consultant.

WIGLESWORTH, Roger (1956 M) We have recently re-established contact with Roger and he reports that after leaving School, he immediately took Articles to qualify as a Chartered Surveyor, Auctioneer and Estate Agent and has been in private practice in Warwickshire and West Midlands, only recently retiring. He was High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 2003 and is currently a Deputy Lieutenant of the County. In retirement, Roger continues to be active in chairing and/or as Trustee for a number of significant charitable trusts, most of which have property holdings in their investment portfolio.

WILMSEN, Viola (2002 S) is the youngest and now a permanent member of the orchestra of the Opera in Berlin (Deutsche Open Berlin).

WORKMAN, David (1970 W) has been appointed Director General of the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) and relocating from Yorkshire to Swindon.

YATES, Stephen (1971 F) My brother Martin (1966 F) and I had a wonderful time seeing former classmates and masters at the middle-aged spread reunion dinner in September last year. It was amazing for me to see

June 2011

Messrs Chance, McCormick and Beaman after more than 30 years!

I now live in Ramsgate and work in Canterbury at Chaucer College, which is the British campus of Shumei University, Japan. As a consequence, all of our students here are Japanese and are undergraduates in their first year of study.

My particular responsibility is co-ordinating – here in the UK - the faculty of teacher education, which, in only its second year, has sent us the grand total of 2 trainees! A major part of their programme is to visit schools in Kent and in Europe and to make comparisons with Japan. Last month we travelled to Stuttgart, the month before to Amiens.

In March I fly to Berlin. This all seems quite appropriate for me, as it gives me the chance to practise the languages I studied to university level all those years ago but then abandoned when I took the TEFL route (the modern umbrella term is TESOL, which more or less means the teaching of English to foreign learners) – there I have stayed ever since!

I would always be happy to hear from anyone who remembers me and who wishes to make contact. My email is stephenyates1954@yahoo.co.uk

Births BILLS on 1st October 2010, to Charlotte Bills (née Basham) (1992 S) and Nicholas Bills (1992 W), a girl, Isabelle Kathryn Emily Bills.

COSTAIN on 10th June 2009, to Katherine Costain (née Moon) (1994 V) and Rory Costain, a boy, David Costain.

ELLIS on 3rd March 2011, to Nikki Ellis (née Aviss) (1991 V) and Mark Ellis, a girl, Penny Kay Ellis.

colleagues in Tokyo at the Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan. (Translation is: The School of Free Spirit).

MILLS on 12th October 2010, to Catherine Mills (née Day) (1995 V) and Gavin Mills, a girl, Amy Rebecca Mills.

Guests in attendance included Old Suttonians: Shun Shimizu (1996 M), Junichi Yairo (1997 M), Tatsuya Hashimoto (1998 W), Yuki Soga (1996 S).

MORGAN on 23rd July 2010, to Didde and Tom Morgan (1999 L), a girl, Freya Emily Morgan.

SKINNER on 21st October 2010, to Sophie Skinner (née Hutchinson) (2003 H) and Jack Skinner, a girl, Esme Isabella Skinner.

WATERS on 23rd May 2009, to Pamela and James Waters (1991 L), a daughter, Francesca Mae Waters.

WATERS on 29th April 2010, to Liz and William Waters (1994 L), a son, Howard Ruben Waters.

Pictured from left to right: Shun Shimizu, Junichi Yairo, Toshiki Baba, Tatsuya Hashimoto, Yuki Soga.

WILLETTS on 21st June 2010, to Laura Willetts (2007 Cl) and John Tolhurst (2004 L), a girl, Emily Elizabeth.

Marriages BABA-ISHIHARA on Friday 24th September 2010. Dr Toshiaki Baba (1997 M) and Satoko Ishihara were married in the Shinto Temple at Kamakura, Yokohama. The ceremony was attended by family. Toshiaka's family home is in Kanazawa, Yokohama and Satoko's family are from Fukuoka. The couple now live in Sapporo, Hokkaido.

On Saturday 25th a reception and evening party were held for friends and

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

DUDLEY-SMITH-CLIFTON on 10th October 2010. Chris Clifton to Jessica Dudley-Smith (2002 S) in SVS Chapel.

BALDOCK, Edward (1991 W), died on 10th December 2010 at Royal Brompton Hospital in London.

SAGROTT, Stefan (2005 Cl) on 26th February 2011. Stefan Sagrott to Jessica Parrish at Houstoun House, near Edinburgh. Old Suttonians in attendance were Michael Perry (2005 L), Harriet Bardsley (2006 Cl), Jake Wilson (2005 Cl) and Penny Saunders (2005 S).

BARROW, John (1956 W), died on 24th September 2011.

John arrived at Rev. Josh Nicholl's Holdgate House, SVS from Aberdour Prep. School, Banstead in 1952. Both his elder brother Michael and younger brother Bob also attended SVS. John was appointed Head Boy of Holdgate in 1953 and went up to Ponts in 1954. He played 1st XV Rugger in 1955 as well as being a valuable member of the Cross Country VIII in 1956. He left SVS after the Lent term 1956 and joined Writtle Agricultural College near Chelmsford, later to farm at North Walsham, Norfolk where he came to chair the Young Farmers Club and to play Rugby and Cricket in Norwich. After marrying Helen in 1961, he moved on to work for a nursery near Norwich growing pot plants under glass. Both daughters of the marriage were born at this time, Margaret in 1963 and Jane in 1965. John was made redundant when the nursery was sold and the family then moved to Mortlake where he accepted a position of Trainee Production Manager with Watneys Brewery but was made redundant again in 1980. He then joined a mineral water bottling factory where he stayed until1993. During all this time John had pursued his love of things grown and won many awards for vegetables and flowers grown on his allotment. He also joined a running club in Kingston, completing over fifty marathon races in aid of charity, raising large amounts of money, indeed a book of raffle tickets was placed in his coffin. The family returned to Norfolk in 1993 where John pursued his great love of all aspects of the garden. It was in March 2002 whilst

Deaths AISHER, Michael (1960 W), died on 9th August 2010.

ASHBY, Colin (1957 M), died in February 2011.

Around 400 people attended a memorial service for Colin Ashby. Mr Ashby left Sutton Valence School as a record holder for the 440 yards dash and with a good reputation as a good rugby player.

After a short apprenticeship with a haulage firm in Rye, he started his own business in 1960 with a bank loan and three trucks, based at Butlers Farm in Langley. The business expanded and moved base to Boughton Monchelsea.

Eventually Colin sold out to Michael Daniel, who continued the company under the name Daniel Ashby Transport. Mr Ashby then became interested in commercial property sales. He completed his last deal just two weeks before his death.

His cousin Jonathan Jempson, who gave an address at the memorial service, said: “Colin was an acquisitive and successful entrepreneur, but he managed all this while making lots of friends along the way.”

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running a marathon around Berkhamstead that he had the family heart attack.

Happily he was successfully treated in Hemel Hempstead Hospital. Unhappily neither his mother nor his two brothers had survived their heart attacks. John had his cancer operation in 2006 which gave him two more years but not before he'd delayed the operation for two weeks in order to take part in the 'Round Norfolk Relay'. Typically John remained cheerfully positive until the end, remarking "Well old friend, I've got a bit of a scrap on this time". Rest in Peace John Richard Johnstone Barrow, a truly good man whose wife, Helen, daughters Margaret and Jane and grandaughter Hannah survive him – By John Johnson (1956 W) BENTLEY, Raeph (1942 W), died on 7th January 2011. After leaving SVS, Raeph was commissioned from Sandhurst into the Life Guards Regiment in June 1943. He served through Europe in WW2, then in Egypt and Palestine and later in Korea, where he was awarded the US Bronze Star Medal, and then in Tokyo. Returning to England in 1954, he resigned his commission and emigrated to Canada where he worked in and with the logistical arms of the oil industry at Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and Ottawa until his retirement in 1990.

His last 10 years were marked by being the Canadian representative on the Industry Supply Advisory Group to the International Energy Agency and for 3 years as Secretary to the Energy Supplies Allocation Board in Ottawa.

He was a member of the Cavalry and Guards Club, London and was President of the original Household Brigade of North America, later serving as President of the Grenadier Guards Associa-

June 2011

tion of Canada. He founded the Oilmen’s Golfing Turtles. He was a dedicated gardener and left lovely gardens along his trail. He will be sorely missed.

“For trees around his homestead, and flowers about his gate.”

Raeph was very found of SVS and generously donated many books to the School library. He is survived by his wife Mary, son Mark, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

BRETSCHER, Gordon (1967 W), died in October 2010.

CAMPION, Richard (1969 M), died on 21st May 2010.

CARTER, C Martin (1940 M), died on 21st March 2011.

A good shot and a fine athlete and rugby player at School he left us to go to London University, but the war curtailed that. He joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1941 and saw service on aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. He sold marine navigational aids after the war, working for a subsidiary company of AGA, travelling extensively in Africa and Australia, the Middle East, and Far East, where he became manager of the Indian company for 7 years, before retirement to Herefordshire.

CHASTAIN, Tom (1955 W), died on 11th February 2011. Tom was an English Speaking Union Exchange Pupil.

CLEMENT, Frederick (1962 C), has died after a short illness at the beginning of 2011.

COMRIE CB, Rear Admiral Peter (1942 W), died on 13th April 2011.

Peter was Head of School.

COUTTS, Robert (ex-staff 19531977), died on 4th October 2010.

Little did they know. He was a real gentleman and very mild-mannered.

Robert Coutts came to SVS, via Oxford University, Strathallan School in Perthshire and Queen Elizabeth’s G.S. Blackburn. He had a long and lasting impact here from 1953 until 1977, when he gave up the geography department that he had led so well and took on part-time duties for one more year before full retirement.

It was not a surprise when, as he left the school, he was described by one of his contemporaries as ‘a complete schoolmaster’. He remained in contact with the School for several years since many of his close friends and colleagues remained at Sutton Valence for some time before their eventual retirement and departure from the area, and our social occasions were always enhanced when he turned up as one of the more welcome guests.

His contribution to the geography department was very strong. He was a very conscientious and successful teacher and proved himself a good all-rounder by taking on the leadership of the CCF and organising the shooting team in a period during which consolidated its position as one of those very prominent in the list of those regularly awarded prizes in this activity. Robert was also Housemaster of Bennett House for some years where his care and concern were as deep as his temper was long. He was a very good administrator and spent his final few years acting as ‘Headmaster’s Assistant’ and for a very brief spell when both the Headmaster and the Senior Master were unwell, he was Acting Headmaster.

For all the above he was greatly respected. That respect was made all the more certain when one remembers his visage - he had a very squashed nose. It was suspected he had had a distinguished pugilistic career (and Robert was not one to deny this speculation); boys were wary of incurring his wrath.

Robert had a very long and eventful retirement of thirty years spent in Cranbrook and latterly, Goudhurst.

Here he made a strong impact in a community that appreciated his gentle demeanour and his firm commitment to the friendships he made. He will be greatly missed.

DANIELS, Keith (1973 F), died in March 2011. Bob Chance wrote: I was House Tutor for several years before becoming Founder's Housemaster in September 1971 and so knew Keith very well.

Keith Daniels entered Bennett House in 1966 before transferring to Founder's House in 1968. It was not long before he stood out for the way he committed himself to all he was involved in and as time went on it was clear that he both loved the School and took great pride in being there. He made a considerable impact on the sporting scene ending up in a very successful 1st XV rugby team, for which he played tirelessly in the pack and gained his Full Colours as well as being a loyal and reliable member of the Fives squad. But it was to cricket that he was

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Old Suttonians Newsletter

most devoted. He loved the game. He represented 1st and 2nd XI (Captain in successive years) over a period of three years and earned this fitting tribute from the 1st team coach: That great supporter of School Cricket, Keith Daniels, made a welcome and successful return to the 1st XI, and I am most grateful to him for the important supporting role that he has played over the last few years.

It was no surprise when he was promoted to the post of School Prefect at the close of his school career.

After school Keith took and education degree and taught in West Sussex. He continued his interest in rugby, playing regularly for Chichester. He leaves his widow, Jenny, and two children.

DAY, Roly (1931 W), died 12th January 2011, aged 95.

Such a great character a few words do not do him full justice. Roly was a great sportsman, first here at Sutton Valence and then later with West Farleigh Cricketers and the Mid Kent Staghounds. He had several winners as a point to point rider. On the outbreak of war he joined the army and refused a commission since he wished to stay with his friends.

He defended battle of Britain Airfields with his Bofors gun, surviving despite the high casualty rate. He was also part of each of the forces that landed in N Africa, Italy France and at Arnhem. The extent of his active service was only known to his family well after the event.

It must have been quite an adventure being towed along in a glider together with the gun and its equipment. Landing must have been a bit scary, too. After the War he devoted himself to farming and to Hunton Parish Council for whom

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he served for 32 years.

DOWNES, John (1947 M), has died.

HARRINGTON, John (1939 W), has died.

HATCH, Alex (2001 F), died March 2009.

Before Alex died, he became a roving coach and recruited almost 50 members to the Bethersden Tennis Club. The club was on the brink of folding when Alex took up the role, alongside several friends. The tennis club has now moved from strength to strength due to Alex’s efforts.

HOOKER, Anthony (1943 M), died on early 2010. Whilst at School, Anthony was in the shooting team, received colours for football and on the Sports Committee. He was also a Prefect.

HOOKER, Chris (1969 M), died on 5th September 2010 of cancer in St Wilfred’s Hospice, Chichester. Whilst at School, Chris was a House Prefect, in the under-15 hockey team, junior fencing team, L/Cpl in CCF and the Conjuring Club Chairman.

JANES, Peter Norman (1939 M), died 7th March 2011. Father of Iain Janes (1978 M). Peter had distinguished himself at swimming but he missed out of honours in rugby, having suffered a serious injury in a match which put him in bed for a whole term! He had a distinguished war record, rising to the rank of

Captain in the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, but that during active service he was wounded and permanently disabled.

He made a great contribution to local government in Eton after the War and, in his own words he had ‘a slightly esoteric’ interest in equitation, becoming something of an expert about the design of floors of indoor riding schools, counting Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace among his clients.

LINDSEY, Peter (1940 W), has died.

LOVE, Daniel (Danny) (2006 M), died on 6th August 2010.

NEATE, Paul (1956 W), died on 21st February 2011. Paul Neate was head of house in his final year. He was captain of athletics, but also contributed strongly in swimming and with the choir. After school he served briefly in the Army before a lifelong career with Rothmans International Tobacco. He became Director of Operations UK. NINER, Aubrey (1938 W), died on 26th November 2010.

“I hate to put it down to luck. It was just brazen cheek really” These were the words of Aubrey Niner in 2004 describing the only successful “home run” from the East Compound of Stalag Luft III during WW2. He was recounting the remarkable “Wooden Horse Escape”. For three months he had been one of those who vaulted day after day over the barrier so that the three who escaped could use it as a cover for their tunnel.

Aubrey Niner came to Sutton Valence in 1932. He was a good all-rounder, but

June 2011

ants and the Institute of Management Accountants.

REYNOLDS, G Alan (1928 W), died on 22nd March 2011, aged 99 years.

Niner being led away after crash-landing his bomber, photo The Telegraph not distinguished in any one area. His own account of that time concludes that he was ‘utterly without distinction, but I enjoyed the cricket’. This is too modest.

He obtained good grades in the School certificate and he played for the 2nd XI and was capped while in the fifth form.

Within a couple of years of leaving he had become a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF, and in 1942, aged only 20 he became a POW. During a low-level run at a target near Lille his Boston bomber was hit by flak, disabling the starboard engine and setting fire to the wing. As the fire approached the fuel tank and the wing appeared to be buckling under the heat, Aubrey looked for somewhere to crash land. In the centre of Lille there is a large open area, Champs de Mars.

He chose this space and with great skill, all the greater because most of his rudder had been shot away, he managed to put the aircraft on the ground.

Incarcerated in Stalag Luft III he learned all about liquor distilling and golf ball manufacture the better to while away his time. He was also involved in ‘The Great Escape’ though not as an escapee. After surviving ‘The Long March’ and the one of the coldest winters on record he was discharged from the RAF at the end of 1945.

Aubrey with Don Hodges (1937 W), 2010 He returned to the family firm, Harringtons and subsequently became a divisional director within the Courtalds Group and Chief Executive of the National Children’s Wear Association.

PRIOR, Christopher Martin (1956 M) died in August 2010.

PYNE, Frank G, B.Sc. (Econ) FCA FCMA (1952 F) died in July 2010.

We are sad to record the death in July of last year of Frank Pyne. After graduating from the LSE he had a successful accountancy career with Rio Tinto, The Stanford Research Institute and then working for himself as an international strategic consultant to many large companies in the field of ‘Problem Resolution’. This involved travel throughout the world, especially in Africa. He was Project Controller for the UK management team of the Anglo-French Channel Tunnel Project and, on secondment to the Civil Service he helped to plan the National Employment Service and Training Agency. He further volunteered to serve on National Committees of the Institute of Chartered Account-

RUBIN, Peter (1983 W), died on 7th November 2010. Peter had spent most of the last 20 years living in New York.

For the last two years he had been travelling in Spain and Morocco. There was a thanksgiving for him in Manhattan. If anyone would like to make a donation in his remembrance, Peter’s parents have asked they be made to MIND. SHELLEY, Leonard Mark (1982 M), died on 13th October 2010 after a short illness due to cancer. Mark was well known for his artwork in the Hastings area. Len was as much a maker of fables as he was a maker of boxed tableaux. His art consisted of the creation anthropomorphic characters acting out roles in scenes that seem to each real life but which, at the same time, are rooted in theatre and fairytales. In the summer of 2010, Len married Angie, an artist and sadly Angie also died of cancer, only 3 weeks after Len. TONGE, Keith (1958 W), died March 2011.

TRIPP, Peter (1938 W), died 11th December 2010. J Peter Tripp obtained his CMG in 1971 for his excellent work in HM Diplomatic Service. He was Ambassador to Thailand from 1978 until his retirement, having previously served as Ambassador in Libya and as High Commissioner in Singapore.

At SVS from 1935-1938 he was a house prefect in Westminster and most of his activity at School was non-sport-

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ing; he was in the Drama Soc and on the Library Committee. He left us to go to France where he studied at the University in Poitiers. At the onset of War he became a Marine in which service he was mentioned in despatches. Thereafter he joined the Diplomatic Corps, serving mostly in the Middle East countries.

WARBURTON, Bernard (ex-staff 1954-1980), died on 2nd August 2010.

Bernard was Head of Science at the School. He studied Science at Durham but the War interrupted his studies.

After training to be a teacher his first post was at Wallingford GS where it was suggested he should shave off his beloved moustache! He refused. Together with facial appendage and unruly hair, he came here and made a massive impact right from the first day. His teaching was idiosyncratic and highly effective and his habit of using the Bunsen burner to light his pipe was a source of amusement. He was a significant contributor to out-of-school activities and staff activities in particular. Was it because he was a scientist he learned to bowl ‘swingers’ – and could he make them swing! He retired first to Ross on Wye, and then Stroud Wesley Court where he was very active in local charity work and the Christian Community he had joined. A real ‘Mr Chips’ and an engaging character, Bernard’s opinions were wholehearted and stoutly defended, whether concerning the merits of a hymn tune or a technicality of exam entry.

WATSON, John (1947 W), died on 21st April 2011. Son of John W Watson (1921) and father to Stuart Watson (1979 F) and James Watson (1980 F).

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• • •

OSA AGM and Dinner The OSA Dinner for 2011 was held in the School on 19th March. 109 OS and their guests sat down to a pleasant meal, after which we were entertained by a splendid account by Grahame Chilton (1977 L) about how he was prepared for ‘life’ by his adventures at the School and how, later, he climbed the ‘slippery pole’ to success in business. Grahame has been the Chairman of Aon Specialty, a unit of Aon Corporation and has been Chairman of Aon Benfield since December 2008. He serves as Chairman - strategy marketing and client development at Aon Benfield Group Limited.

He also serves as Chairman of Aon Specialty Re, Inc., a subsidiary of Aon Corporation. He served as Vice Chairman of Aon Group, Inc. Indeed he sits very highly on a very tall pole. Grahame’s advice - have integrity, be loyal, be true to yourself and never dissemble - was well taken by the school prefects who were in attendance en masse and whose contribution to the night’s fun was good to see.

They are an articulate, confident and entirely charming group.

Report on OS Cricket 2010 A few years ago on Upper it was more or less impossible to win a game by batting first. The wicket was so flat that good bowlers struggled to contain a flow of runs, let alone bowl out a side that didn’t want to get out. It was a bit different this year. A combination of indifferent weather, and heavily used wickets without pace meant that batting wasn’t quite so easy.

The upside is that it creates more interesting games, and the first two games of the week were won by the side batting second. In both instances, entering the final over all results were possible. Can’t get much better than that, although it is preferable to be the winners (we weren’t). The game against the School a few weeks earlier wasn’t as close as we’d have liked. Phil Higgins had to cope with late drop outs – the scourge of match managers, and it reached epidemic proportions in the week – but the School were much stronger, beating us comfortably by 90 runs, in spite of Wes Jackson’s 6 wicket haul. The OS side looked good on paper but not many had been playing regular cricket and this rustiness showed in both batting and bowling. The School, on the other hand, had some serious talent in the top order and plenty of economical bowling.

The big event of the season – doesn’t take much to get an OS cricketer excited - was the arrival of new OS cricket caps, after several years of debate on the subject, kindly organised by Blair Hart.

June 2011

These came in the form of light blue Australian style baggy caps with the old School crest prominent. En masse they were very fetching, and certainly distinctive. “Come on the baggy blues” has even become the sign off on OS Facebook message walls.

The Scorpions match was as entertaining as ever. The dreaded dropouts meant that at 10.30am we had about 9 players but a flurry of phone calls got us to 12. Fortunately Scorpions were in a similar position so each side batted 11 and rotated the fielders. As it happened we maintained our 55 or so year age span of players with Neville Harrison (a spritely and 5 wicket taking 71) and Henry Macdonald (who appeared rather irritated at just turning 70), taking the field alongside two newly blooded pre GCSE lads (Sam RussellVick and Harry Bee) both of whom settled quickly into OS cricket.

The Roffensians game was a bit more like an old style fixture with a high scoring and somewhat sedate run chase. We thought we had posted a good score, with Simon Higgins contributing a maiden OS 100, and sharing a partnership of 157 with Matthew Day and then 92 with Ben Daking. Two days later he was rushed to hospital to have his appendix removed, so just as well he got his innings in first. Unfortunately Roffensians opened their innings with a Brisbane 1st grade cricketer (who is on the staff at Rochester) and he proceeded to make a mess of our declaration until he succumbed, with 35 still needed, to the hard working Pat Stileman, who bowled right through the inning. Like the Scorpions the day before, they won with 3 balls to spare, so a good contest.

So on to Marden where we met Sam Courtley, who had just left SVS, and turned out to be quite a handful on a variable track, putting Messrs Fetherston and Rutherford back in the hutch in his second over. Although Bradders and Richard Mee (in his first OS match for about 10 years) both scored 55, 172 was nothing like adequate for our gaggle of occasional or inexperienced bowlers to defend. With any luck Mr Courtley will turn out for us next year.

Richard Mee and Harry Bee both bowled for OS but unfortunately for any budding Brian Johnstons in the commentary box that they did not operate in tandem.

Less said about the game against Blair Hart’s All Star XI the better, not so much for the match, which was abandoned shortly after lunch when the heavens opened. The main problem was that half our team didn’t appear. Match manager Mathew Wooderson was on honeymoon (a bad piece of scheduling) and although Richard Bradstock had agreed to run the team on the day he had about 6 players shortly before the start. Several guests and friends were rounded up but, as they say, lessons were learnt!

We beat Peter Davies XI with something to spare, Pat Stileman working his way steadily through them, with help from Jack Field and Michael Coles.

There was a bit of a 1972 reunion with Tony Rutherford, Paul Latham and Desmond High all gracing the side. Paul generously gave Tony a chance of an innings by getting out when the scores were level The final match with Dragons is invariably hard fought and we were able to

introduce Chris Vernon and Tyler Griffin from the 2010 leavers to OS cricket. After a cautious start, adjusting to a slower wicket after some matches on the County 2nd XI circuit which had included facing Steven Finn, the England bowler, Chris demonstrated his pedigree with an unbeaten 151. We thought 268 was gettable and Bradders had worked the declaration to given Dragons as many overs as we had faced but Pat picked up another 6 wickets, once again with strong support from Jack Field and Michael Coles.

In terms of individual performances Chris Vernon’s was probably the highlight of the week. As importantly for OS cricket, he clearly enjoyed the experience and let’s hope he comes back for more, although he may well be committed at a much higher level. As already noted Simon Higgins scored a maiden ton, and Neville Harrison continued to show the youngsters the importance of line and length. Bradders had a quiet year by his standards, only posting two 50s, but still scored more than Pat Stileman (there was money riding on this). However Pat had the last laugh, taking 18 wickets in 4 matches, including two sixes and a five. Shades of Neil Richards….talking of which 2010 was a strange year by OS standards, in that it is probably the first year since about 1966 that neither Neil Richards or Andrew Scott, founder members of the Biddenden mafia, have taken part. Both have struggled with injury or general wear and tear – Scotty taking time to adjust to a new hip, and Neil suffering from a dodgy knee. Some would say it isn’t just his knee that is dodgy but I couldn’t possibly comment.

On the support side Philip Higgins

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kindly umpired whenever he was available, given his Kent League commitments, and off field the School Scorer, Dan Hammond, made his OS debut and brought an array of technological gizmos to the job.

Food was as good as ever with Lorna

High taking the lead this year with support from Kathy. The importance of good catering to fixtures of this sort should never be underestimated!

Ian and his team did a sterling job on the ground as ever, but as noted above conditions didn’t make it easy for them.

2010 results in summary

And as ever our thanks to the Headmaster for making Upper available to us. More often than not A Level results coincide with the week and Headmasters tend to be in evidence.

Unfortunately it wasn’t the case this year as we were early but hope that Bruce Grindlay will be able to turn out for us in 2011.

Desmond High (1973 F)

SVS 223 (C Vernon 77, T Griffin 44, W Jackson 6-36)

OS 133

Lost by 90 runs

OS 216 (Bradstock 84)

Scorpions 217-8 (N Harrison 5-40)

Lost by 2 wickets

OS 282-4 dec (S Higgins 118, M Day 78)

Old Roffensians 283-7 (Stileman 5-108)

Lost by 3 wickets

OS 172 (Bradstock 55, Mee 55)

Marden 175-3

Lost by 7 wickets

Blair Hart All Stars XI 119-3

Match Abandoned

P Davies’ XI 146 (Stileman 6-41)

OS 150-4

Won by 6 wickets

OS 268-4 dec (C Vernon 151*)

Dragons 196 (Stileman 6-56)

Won by 72 runs

2011 Cricket Cricket Tour: Dates: 3rd-5th August 2011 Destination: Somerset/Bristol Cost: £140 (approx) The OS attending are a mix of the old and new so everyone is welcome. The tour will consist of a 20/20 march on Wednesday 3rd followed by two afternoon fixtures on the Thursday and Friday. Please contact Richard Bradstock (2000 L) at richard.bradstock@gmail.com.

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OS Hockey The OS v SVS matches were held on 20th March.

The scores were as follows: 1st Team 2nd Team 3rd Team

6-2 to OS 4-2 to OS 2-1 to OS

Next year we may need to play these tournaments out of season on a Saturday. Also, we are looking for new captains to head the Girls and Boys 1st teams.

Please get in touch if you would like to help out.

June 2011

OS Hockey

OS 2nd team and School 2nd team presented with the Alex Hatch Memorial Trophy

OS 3rd Team 35

Old Suttonians Newsletter

OS Hockey

OS 1st Team and School 1st team

NEWS FROM THE SCHOOL Westminster Abbey Over 60 Old Suttonians attended Westminster Abbey on 8th October 2010. The occasion was a celebration of 100 years of Association with United Westminster Schools Foundation. The whole school attended the service and Ian Kay (1941 M) and Christina Paca, current pupil, kindly agreed to give speeches.

Dates for your diary Saturday 25th June 2011

1950s Leavers Reunion, contact Jeremy Wall (1954 M), jglwall@gmail.com

Sunday 26th June 2011

OS v SVS Cricket Match, Upper at 11.30pm, contact Philip Higgins, philiphiggins@btinternet.com

Friday 8th July 2011

Lashings v School Cricket, all OS welcome, contact Rebecca Riggs, riggsr@svs.org.uk

3rd-5th August 2011

Cricket Tour, Destination: Somerset/Bristol, contact Richard Bradstock (2000 L), richard.bradstock@gmail.com

Saturday 8th October 2011 Oldest and Boldest Reunion Ian Kay (1941 M) and Christina Paca

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