THE DOVE 2003

Richard Allison (left 1994) has moved into a new house with Amy (née Rothera) and tells me that his work is going well. He is in the recruitment business and is now dealing with the more senior level of candidate. He and Amy hope to get back to school soon to see 'where it all began' for them.

 

Jacob Arfwedson (left 1980) left the OECD last year but still lives in Paris. He is now working free-lance for the London based think-tank International Policy Network. He expects to be visiting London regularly and hopes to fit in a visit to Abbotsholme. He and his wife, Eva, have been blessed with a third child, a son named Elias. He sent me a lovely picture of the three kids at Christmas time.

 

Richard Arton (left 1981) is recovering well from M.E. It was lovely to see him and his wife Clare (née Martin) at Abbotsholme recently with their children, Melanie who is 14 and David, 10. Last year they celebrated their fifteenth wedding anniversary with a family holiday in Crete.

 

Julian Ash (left 1967) has not been in touch with us, nevertheless Robert Kidd, who is a Professor in the Biology Department of the University of Western Sydney, pointed out that Julian was not far away in a similar Department. I quote…."Julian read for a degree in Biology at the University of Sussex and then took a PhD at the East Anglia University. This was followed by seven years of study into the diversity and dynamics of the Rain Forest in New Guinea and Northern Queensland. He joined the staff of the Australian National University in 1987 and is now a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Botany and Zoology there."

 

Jonathan Bailey (left 1980) Jonathan and his family moved back to the UK from Dubai in November 2002 and he took up the position of Group Head of Industry and Government Affairs for the Manchester Airport Group. He lives on the edge of the Peak District and notices a considerable change in the climate from Dubai!

 

Mark Bailey (left 1985) is now Deputy Managing Director of Countrywide Property Lawyers. He is based in Manchester but travels all over the country. His wife, Joy, is also a lawyer but is taking prolonged sabbatical from the Bar in Manchester while bringing up the family, William, aged 4 and Edward, who is one, and was born a week after they moved into a new home. The move to near Bolton has not stopped Mark from playing hockey regularly.

 

Mike Bailey (left 1984) Lives on the South Coast of the UK and is a successful Programme Manager with the IT company, Morse Data Systems.

 

Peter Bailey (left 1965) We congratulate Peter on becoming a Governor of Abbotsholme. Peter lectures in Psychology at the University of York.

 

Robert Bailey (left 1982) Robert still plays hockey as well and is now global Vice-President of a large technology company - he spends much time travelling to and from Singapore on business.

 

Giorgia Baker (left 1992) I think has had a baby last Christmas. If so, congratulations. Her sister e-mailed me from New Zealand to say that she was spending Christmas in the UK so she can see the baby. More news next year.

 

Douglas Barker (left 1977) has been tracked down after many years. He has worked in many parts of the world in the field of Construction Management. He has worked in Holland, Malaysia, and when tracked down was on a project in Pakistan some 180 Km. north of Karachi installing a Gas Plant. The latest e-mail told me he was working in Abu Dhabi and that work in Dubai followed after that. He has been married for over 20 years and is devoted to a daughter, aged 13, and son aged 10. He says he is still thoroughly unconventional and somewhat non-conformist which he is a) very proud of and b) surprisingly finds an asset in business. His family base is still in the North of Scotland, his family only occasionally travel abroad with him. He is regularly in touch with Hamish Battye.

 

Michael Barker-Benfield (left 1971) says that the events of 911 still reverberate strongly around America. He notes that the worst of times brings out the worst in people as well as the best. He was, when he wrote, in the midst of preparing Paramount's Home Video release of the film footage shot by two French cameramen, brothers, who were in the Twin Towers as part of a documentary they were making about the New York Fire Department. Each brother was in each tower and kept filming as the tragedy unfolded, each believing the other had died. It is, he says, hard to watch sometimes. (Ed. Some of you might have seen this on British Television in the Autumn of 2002.)

 

Trevor Barnfield (left 1991) Says he has settled down and bought a house in Maidenhead after living in Camberley for a few years. He works in IT but visited New Zealand to see his father in the Summer of 2002 in between contracts. Still unmarried and partying hard by the looks of his website www.trevorbarnfield.com . He loves snowboarding.

 

Debbie Bell (left 1988) Congratulations to Debbie and her husband, Mark, on the birth of their first child, a daughter. She is Leywa Rhedd and was born in mid-November 2002. I think you'll find her at www.leywa.com . Debbie says that the family might be moved out to Munich for a while with Mark's job.

 

Suzanne Bend (left 2000) is in her final year at Cambridge. In the Summer of 2002 she and a friend went to Cuba for 4 weeks and in November she was able to collect her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award from the Palace.

 

Tracey Willmott (née Bennett) (left 1985) I had a lovely letter from Tracey in 2002. She is obviously well and very busy. She continues to keep in contact with a few of her year group and enjoys that. When she last e-mailed me she was 'battening down the hatches' ready for the falls of winter snow. She lives in Massachusetts and the East side of the States caught a lot of snow this Winter.

 

Henry Beresford (left 1977) sadly reports that his marriage has broken down and that he is now divorced. He has moved to London and now works with the Metropolitan Police Force. About a year ago, when he wrote to me, he had been in touch with Charles Elmer and had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch re-union with him.

 

Sasha Bladen (left 1990) writes to tell me how happy she is in Paris, 12 years on. She still works in her CD shop and is looking to buy a place of her own in 2003 - no new address yet. She reports that brother Jan is very happy and working very hard as a consultant in Switzerland but travelling a great deal to the Middle East.

 

Nick Bloor (left 1995) visited school in January. He is in the Army and had just finished a six month posting in Northern Ireland. Now he's looking forward to 2 years training as an Apache helicopter pilot. He says he is still single and free!

 

Caroline Blunt (left 1999) is to be congratulated on graduating from the University of Leicester with a BA in Combined Studies in 2002.

 

Stephanie Bohm (left 1992) finished her medical studies in May 2002. A month later she started to specialise in ophthalmology. She is really looking forward to putting into practise what she has spent so many years learning. She now lives in Munich.

 

Emma Lockyer (née Bowler) (left 1989) wrote to me last Summer to tell me that she got married in the Summer of 2000. She, and her husband, Graham, have two lovely children, Millie, who is 6 and Cameron who is nearly 1. They live in Sleaford and both work for a local chicken firm called Padleys. She would particularly like to make contact again with Allison Buckley and Ayley Donkin.

 

Mark Bradley (left 1965) It has been very good to hear from Mark after nearly 40 years. He went into the hotel industry and married Victoria in 1977. At that time he was managing a 400-bed hotel in London which was part of the Grand Metropolitan Group. In 1983 he joined the BBC as a manager in News and Current Affairs at the Lime Grove Studios in London and then moved to Pebble Mill in Birmingham as a personnel manager, first in Engineering and finally in TV News and Current affairs and local radio. His daughters were born in 1984 (Isobel) and 1987 (Harriet). Isobel goes to York to read History of Art in September while Harriet is just taking her GCSE's. Victoria teaches in Worcester. He left the BBC and had a series of jobs including one as a freelance butler on an American owned estate near Aberdeen, helping to run the shooting parties. He says it was good fun and well paid with the additional benefit of excellent food and some fantastic first growth wines. He now works for the Waitrose Group which he describes as a very nice and civilised company. The main interests are food and cooking and holidays in Greece as often as finance permits.

 

John Braybrook (left 1962) is thoroughly enjoying retirement playing badminton weekly and indoor tennis throughout the year. He tries to walk every weekend in the Peak District and gets away to the Achille Ralti Climbing Club huts in The Lakes and Snowdonia as often as possible. He also enjoys mountain biking.  He wrote 'The Way of the Dove' set in the Lake District a few years back and a year and a half ago completed a second novel, 'A Waltz in Time' set in the Swiss Alps in 1938. He is now working on a third book provisionally entitled 'Here today, Gone tomorrow' and thinks that his experiences and fellowship at Abbotsholme will be reflected in the book. When he has time he still enjoys reading.

 

David Breakwell (left 1984) tells me  that he went to Greylands College, Isle of Wight, and afterwards graduated from Bournemouth with an HND in Business and Finance in 1988. He worked first for Lloyds Bank and now works for Portman Building Society in Bournemouth as a Legal Clerk. He was planning to start an Open University Course in Computing in the near future. His brother, Jeremy, lives near Winchester with a wife and 3-year-old daughter.

 

Charles Brown (left 1949) says he particularly enjoyed meeting John Keen and John Latham at the 2002 Dinner. He arrived back early during the afternoon so that he could have a good look round. The games fields looked wonderful and Reddie's grave had had a real make-over. The staff involved, he points out, deserve thanks for their work. The river scene had changed a bit since his days with the banks generally lined with trees where once upon a time they were bare. The Dingles, he fancied, had changed completely, but that might have just been in his mind. He is hoping to get rid of his last business interest towards the end of 2002 and will be back again, for 2003.

 

James Brown (left 1961) has been having a clear out prior to moving from Hertfordshire to Devon. He sent me some very interesting things for the School Archives. He qualified as a Chartered Surveyor and worked in private practice in Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Wilmslow before moving into Local Government in Hertfordshire where, he says, he gloried in the title 'Assistant Director of Legal and Administrative Services'. He described himself as a real barrack room lawyer. He is married and has two grown-up daughters, one a graduate of Leeds, the other of York. His move to a small farm in Devon is to live a slightly more eco-friendly lifestyle. His wife, Bridget, has a horse and they might manage some bullocks and a few sheep. They are taking over the existing hens and he plans to grow some trees. He wishes to be remembered to those who remember him!

 

Lucy Bunning (left 1982) tells me that she has just completed another degree, this one in Sculpture Conservation. ( She still has a potters wheel going a bit rusty in the corner!) She has been conserving gilt furniture from Kensington Palace, no less, which has been much more her style than the several years she spent running the Photographic Library at the English Heritage HQ. She was living in London with her partner but really didn't like the grime of the city. Now she has moved to Wellingborough and commutes to London to do her gilding conservation work. One recent project involved conserving an elaborate gilded 1760's pier glass for a recently restored 1750's house near Retford in Nottinghamshire. Immensely satisfying work when complete. She is still in touch with Melissa Greenbury and would like to find time to contact Peggie MacAdoo.

 

Chris Butler (left 1977) We congratulate Chris on his appointment as a Governor of Abbotsholme. He has been on the Abbotsholmians' Club Committee for some years. Chris left Abbotsholme and took up General and Psychiatric Nursing. He took a degree in Psychology and after a career in the National Health Service and the Civil Service, is now Chief Executive of an NHS Trust in London. He has a flat in central London and a home in Leeds and commutes at the weekends.

 

Derrick Cantrell (left 1976) has experienced great bad luck at work. He runs a haulage business based in the stone quarries of North Staffordshire. His offices were broken into on four occasions last December and January. On the final occasion they took the only thing of value left - an electric heater!

 

Kristian Carr (left 1993) tells me that when he left school he went to Bishop Burton Agricultural College and completed a National Diploma in Agriculture. He worked on his father's farm for four years before leaving to become Yard Manager for an auction company specialising in heavy plant. He has also been working very hard on a fitness regime and has lost 8 stones in 10 months. He is also learning Mauy Thai Boxing and was hoping to have his first fight last September. I have not heard anything since - I hope he survived!

 

Will Carr (left 1979) phoned me up in the early Summer of 2002 and suggested that I might like a walk one evening. I thought it an excellent idea and thus, at the end of May, Will collected me from school and we went up to Manifold Valley. It was the most lovely evening and one of my first ventures into the hills for a while. We took his dog and walked along the valley bottom to start with, then up and out onto the hills above. Each village in the distance could be picked out by its spired or towered church. We descended and, passing Thors Cave, made our way back to his car. The batteries were recharged at the local inn in Wetton. I was right, it had been a great idea. We promised to have another evening walk before the Summer was over but were 'timed out' by poor weather and darker evenings as Summer passed to Autumn.

 

John Cashmore (left 1967) went into teaching which he thoroughly enjoyed but has now 'escaped' to run a small campsite in Suffolk. He is also restoring a local timber-framed cottage from woodworking skills picked up under Howard Orme. Incidentally he still has his hat-trick ball from 1965. Once 'found' he readily joined Peter Burrows, Nick Clarke and others in returning to the June dinner and had a grand time re-establishing old friendships. He emphasises that he is still known as 'Kish'.

 

Shareen Boswell (née Caspillo) (left 1990) We congratulate Shareen and her husband, Mark, on the birth of their first child, a son, Jay. He arrived in this world on the 12th June 2002 weighing 6lb 12oz.

 

Melanie Cheadle (left 1997) is spending the year studying Psychology at the University of Iowa for one year. She is taking a sabbatical from her Psychology degree course at Keele University.

 

Jason Cheah (left 1982) writes that he is still in touch with Kevin Dolton. He has been a journalist for the past eleven years, in the entertainment business for the last seven. He travels widely in Europe from Malaysia, writing about music. We plan to meet up at Abbotsholme in 2003 having nearly made it in 2002.

Mike Cheetham (left 1966) I found Mike on the internet, I'm not sure he remembered me. Nevertheless he was very interested to hear from School again and to receive the Year Book. He sent a 'potted history' so here goes. He left Abbotsholme and went to the University of Surrey where he graduated in Materials Technology. He worked briefly for Lightning Fasteners and Lyons Maid before settling with Courtaulds. He is now R & D Director for Amitco having earlier worked in technical and manufacturing areas. He and his wife, Elaine, have three children. The eldest, Stephen, is studying 3-D design at Northumbria University. Sarah is taking GCSE's this June. The youngest, David, is a keen rugby player and ex-Coventry Cathedral chorister. Sarah and David are at Bablake School in Coventry. Mike gave up hockey about six years ago when, he says, it was taking longer to recover than time would allow! He has taken up the more sedate game of golf but thoroughly enjoys gardening, music, the theatre and reading. He would be interested to see Riversholme as a plush hotel!

 

Keith Chow (left 1983) On an amusing note, Keith tells me that he is still working in Cambridge while his family remain in Italy. He commutes! The weekend flight from Stansted to Venice is cheaper than the rail fare for a day return Cambridge/London. His journey time from Office to Home is 4 - 5 hours. So weekends are still spent with Cristina and the children.

 

Nat Coleman (left 1939) I was very sorry to hear that his wife, Mary Jane, had a serious stroke in 2001 and Nat is having to adapt to life as an almost full time carer. He spoke fondly of 'Hoppy' as a teacher of the Fifth form in his final year at Abbotsholme. Hoppy was also his Housemaster in Millholme.

 

Victor Collier (left 1971) has been in touch for the first time for very many years. He is now living in Stafford with his wife, Rachel, and two sons. They  are Alexander, aged 12, and Joseph, aged 8. I rather think he said they were expecting another child during 2002. After school he worked in the restoration of antiques and shipping them to Europe. He met his first wife and took a degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry at Cardiff University. This did nothing for his marriage and he set off around Europe and North and Central America working in a variety of jobs. He worked in an Italian circus, training elephants, taught Mexican doctors how to use acupuncture, worked as a chef in Southern France, picked grapes in France and Germany and taught English at a French school and a Swedish University. He then got involved in the wine business and stayed in it. After 20 years he is now a wine merchant. He has been happily married to his third wife for over ten years and has settled down to his hobbies, fishing, fine wines and gourmet food.

 

Clare Marshall (née Cooke) (ex-staff) attended the re-union dinner in 2002 and has since been in touch to say that work has been busy and pretty stressful in the Social Services. She was awaiting the arrival of a new Director from Lambeth. The good news is that at least she was invited to a reception for the leaving Director. Also as a local government representative she was invited to the Queen's Garden Party at Sandringham which she describes as a brilliant afternoon/early evening with perfect weather - a day she will never forget.

 

Broni Cooper (left 1977) has written in to say that she took a gap year after Abbotsholme before studying for a BA in Social Studies at Nottingham. She met her husband, David, at college on the same course. They have a daughter, aged 20 and a son, 17. She works as an Investigation Officer for the Social Services Department of Nottingham City Council. David is now Assistant Director of the Social Services Department. They live in Nottingham close to the Trent and take a run most mornings along its banks to keep fit. She still plays the guitar and took up the flute some years back and still plays that occasionally having reached Grade 4. They love walking/climbing and live music. She has kept in touch with a few of her year and thoroughly enjoyed the re-union dinner in the Summer.

 

Kate Bell (née Crabtree) (left 1985) tried hard to organise a re-union for her year on September 14th 2002. Only Mark Fakkel turned up as everyone else had to cry off. So she and Mark had a drink and Dinner together. Mark, I am told, even went as far as to imply to a waiter that it was their first date! Mark was married in August and another OA referred to him as 'the coolest dude in school'.

 

Rob Daniel (left 1968) left school a year early, much to Bernard Green's disgust, to pursue a potential business career and enrolled on an OND in business studies. This led to a short time in insurance followed by 27 years in the grain trade. During this time his responsibilities ranged from importing grain for a major UK food processor to trading and marketing grain on behalf of English farmers. The recession bit in 1999 in farming and it gave him the opportunity to look at other paths. He thought back to his parting conversation with Bernard Green. He had been most insistent that Robert continue with art. It had haunted him for 30 years. Thus he decided to apply for the course which Bernard had suggested back in 1968 and between 1999 and 2001 he completed the Foundation Course in Art and Design at Hastings College and is now studying for an HND in Fine Art. He is having the time of his life, enjoying every moment of the course, with the bonus that as a bachelor, aged 51, he is surrounded by loads of beautiful young women. It is refreshing to be able to have such a change in ones life, especially when office pressures become unbearable. He would recommend it if finances and family responsibilities allow. Apart from his brother he has not been in touch with other OA's over the years.

 

John Davies (left 1979) It was a great pleasure to welcome John back to Abbotsholme last April. John came and took morning chapel as part of his learning process with the London Bible College. He is doing a three year degree course at the LBC which is attached to Brunel University. In between terms he has worked for the Scripture Union, helped with the Riding Lights Theatre Company in York and  worked in various veterinary practices. He has, for some time, been hoping to take Australian nationality and this he achieved in September 2002 and now has dual nationality. He loves Australia. Mind you the last news I heard was that he was snowboarding in Austria. I hope he got the spelling right on his passport application form! By the way, his morning chapel was quite excellent - I hope he returns again. 

 

Andrew Davis (left 1967) It was a great pleasure to hear from Andrew for the first time since the early 1970's. He sent me some lovely pictures of his family as well as news of what he and they are doing. After leaving Abbotsholme he retook his 'A' levels and went to Westfield College, part of the University of London. That didn't work out and he left after a year and started working in IT long before anyone knew what IT was. He worked for a few different software houses before joining Mobil Oil, now incorporated in ExxonMobil(Esso). He has now notched up 26 years working for this company in many different aspects of software support ranging from Database and Teleprocessing monitors in the early days, through rapid application development technologies and Expert systems in the misguided 80's, to messaging and Internet technologies today. In between times he has been married twice, having four children, two boys and two girls, all grown up now.(The youngest is 21)

 

Sophie Dawson (left 1990) wrote briefly to say that she had left Emperor Designs and had set up on her own. She described it as a very daunting step. I look forward to hearing how it has gone.

 

Debbie Appleby (née Dickson) (left 1978) is Director of Finance for a group of schools in London. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant after lots of exams in the 1980's. Now she looks after the finances of three 500 pupil Preparatory Schools and two Kindergartens.

 

James Dodgson (left 1992) was appointed Musical Director for the 2002 Royal Festival Hall's Christmas production of 'Peter Pan' starring Richard Wilson as Captain Hook and Susannah York as the Narrator. It is a brand new musical featuring a memorable and award winning score played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Afterwards he was moving back to Manchester where he was Musical Director of Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast'.

 

Ayley Donkin (left 1992) We congratulate Ayley and John on the birth of a daughter, Morganne Allison on Tuesday 7th January 2003. Ayley says she may be biased but she thinks she's a little beauty! They are all back home and loving every moment of parenthood.

 

David Dowding (left 1973) was feeling very sorry for himself when he wrote. He had what he called a stupid climbing accident and snapped his 'cruciate' ligament. He expects it to take ages to heal. His eldest daughter finished University in 2002, one son was at Bristol reading for a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering while the youngest was due to enter Bristol to read Maths in 2002.

 

Gordon Downey (left 1944) After a gap of 55 years Gordon thought the Year Book might like an up-date on his activities. (Ed. I hope not too many of you leave it that long!) He left Abbotsholme and after years in the army and Oxford he started a career in the woollen industry. He held various managerial posts before finally joining Dawson's, the leader in the Cashmere industry. In 1966 he was asked to go to Iran as textile consultant to the Iranian Development Bank. This lasted for 11 years and 7 new woollen mill projects were designed and completed. It was a fairly nomadic life moving from project to project and not ideal for a family man with four young children. In the Isfahan project he worked with Shapour Bakhtiar who became the last Prime Minister of Iran as the Shah left. Bakhtiar was later assassinated in Paris. As the Ayatollah arrived in 1979 Gordon decided that a certain discretion was required, so he returned to the UK. The 1980's and 90's were spent importing cashmere raw material from Iran and Afghanistan and also working on various projects for the World Bank - a carpet mill in Tunisia, a cashmere project in Inner Mongolia, an alpaca hand knitting project in La Paz, and so on. The last few years have been spent on a housing project in Bingley building 80 properties on the site of a derelict woollen mill by the side of the Leeds/Liverpool canal - a final epitaph to the demise of the British woollen industry! In the words of a philosopher (and his wife, Lindsay) it is now time to cultivate the garden! Gordon sent a lovely picture of some of his family including himself and his wife, one of his sons and three very happy looking grandchildren.

 

Guy Duncombe (left 1969) We congratulate Guy on winning the first OA Golf Competition in June 2002. The trophy was donated by Margaret Rutherford whose two sons, David and Michael, were at Abbotsholme. Our thanks go to Stephen Samuel who organised the competition.

 

Ben Edward (left 2002) has been working at Alton Towers and hopes to return as a host there in the Spring of 2003. He is also hoping to have another spell in South Africa. He really enjoyed his time in Durban when he was in the Third Form.

 

Dominic Edward (left 1997) took a 2:1 in Microbiology with Immunology at Leeds and then spent 9 months in the Army. He decided it was not the life for him and is presently studying for an MSc in Wildlife Biology and Conservation at Napier, Edinburgh. He is doing lots of kayaking and walking and is in the University Canoe Polo team.

 

Kieran Edward (left 1996) is 'cheffing' at the Derby Hilton Hotel. He lives in Derby with his girlfriend. Earlier he helped to set up the 'Revolution Bar' in Lincoln.

 

Sheridan Edward (left 1999) He has graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 2002 with a degree in Publishing and is now working for the D.S.S. The high point of his 2002 was singing with the Choir in The Mall at the Queen's Jubilee Party.

 

Howard Elliott (left 1990) is working in Leeds and still plays hockey with the Adel Club in the city. He suffered at the start of the 2002-03 season with a shoulder injury.

 

Adrian Fidler (left 1971) leads a hectic life as an estate agent 'flogging' houses, tables, chairs and antiques and running three offices. He went to Rick Dallimore's 50th birthday party and is still very much in touch with Andrew Armstrong, Edward Parker and Ian Clay. He and his wife, Catherine, have two daughters, one taking 'A' levels and the other at University. He loves coastal sailing which he calls a 'rugby substitute' in that, at least in this country you get equally cold and wet! They are presently renovating a 'listed' 17th Century farmhouse as an investment for the future.

 

Sally Adams (née Finch) (left 1988) has had a lovely holiday in Australia visiting her sister (one who was not at Abbotsholme). She left her family behind for the trip but actually was thrilled to be back at the end of it all with her husband and two children, now aged four and six.

 

Bill Fowler (let 1960) did not really know he was a member of the OA's until I found him through Friends Re-united and told him. He has lived just outside Lincoln for the last 26 years. Originally he had gone to Liverpool College of Commerce and then drifted into horticulture. This led through commercial horticulture and plant breeding to further qualifications and agricultural research and development work in Lincolnshire. But with a complete change of direction he has been working in the Voluntary Sector and in 1998 he completed an Open University degree that led to Social Sciences and some post-graduate work. He says he looks forward to retiring but is also doing some writing. Bill has two grown-up children by his first marriage. His second wife is Russian and he has a stepdaughter in Moscow. He looks back with great pleasure to two expeditions he went on at school. The first, in 1958, was to the Pyrenees  and the second was to the Yugoslav Alps in 1960. On both occasions the trips were led by Robin Hodgkin and Ken Lock, both of whom had an enormous influence on him with Ken being the teacher who really inspired him with confidence. The school magazine accounts of those trips list quite a few who are 'lost' on the OA lists. (Ed. Who and where are you?)

 

Hendrick Frohlich (left 1997) Graduated in 2001 from Brunel University with a BSc (Hons) in Management Studies. The course included two placements, the first learning about investment banking with Deutsche Bank and the second marketing veterinary products in Salamanca, Spain. He intends to take on an MBA programme in the future but when he wrote to me last April he was learning Spanish in Salamanca and has met Felix Krause there. He has secured an internship as an analyst with a venture capital company in Madrid. After that there were vague plans to spend a further two years in Spain or to move to Japan or even spend some time working with humanitarian programmes in Africa, Asia or South America. Watch this space !

 

Maria Pitts (née Fry) (left 1985) Maria finally gave up the job in Leominster and moved to live permanently with her husband Bryan near St. Albans. She said she got fed up with the commuting! They have been married for over two and a half years and she works for a small IT consultancy company. They have recently been taken over by a French firm so she gets released one afternoon a week to brush up on her French (Marcus Munro please note, she says.) An Abbotsholme legacy lies in their choice of holidays. Last Summer they went on a trekking trip in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. The previous years they were off trekking in Bolivia and Peru, taking in part of the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu and spent time walking around Lake Titicaca. They have thought about Mount Kilimanjaro for the future.

 

Adam Glover (left 1997) is taking a PGCE at Bath Spa University College. It is a two year course, the first year being a building up of science and then more intense teaching in the second year. In the first year he teaches just once a week and is thoroughly enjoying that at Priory Park College, a Catholic boarding school. His ambition is to be a Primary School teacher. He has taken up soccer again and trains very hard in the gym 4 or 5 times a week.

 

Nicola Gobat (left 1991) has gone back to University! After working with a PR company in Brighton she is now on a PGCE course in secondary Art and Design (she claims John Rattigan was her inspiration). Watch out the teaching profession! She also tells me that last Summer she travelled back up to Abbotsholme on a nostalgic visit with Wendy Franklin. They stayed at Riversholme Hotel which, she says, was very nice but they reckon it still smelt of boys!  (Ed. She lives in fantasy land!) Her sister, Sophie, teaches in a primary school in London while Harry is teaching snowboarding and water sports in the appropriate season.

 

Bill Godfrey (left 1962) The first time I had met Bill for many, many years was, sadly, at John Farrand's funeral. Nevertheless it gave us a chance to catch up. Bill and his wife, Judith, run the Manchester Language School, specialising in language skills for business and pleasure. They offer a very wide range of courses and all the activities can be viewed on-line at www.manchesterlanguageschool.co.uk .

 

Roger Goldsmith (left 1951) returned to Abbotsholme in the Spring of 2002 to talk to the Sixth Form about the work of Amnesty International. Jenny Richardson had prepared the group well but they were obviously taken aback by some of the conditions that Amnesty were appealing against. After the factual talk Roger invited members of the Sixth Form to join him in writing letters to governments and authorities in various parts of the world asking for clemency for those who were being held unjustly. The talk was very well received and produced discussion as well as action.

 

Tony Gomme (left 1939) has a spare copy of Reddie's 'Abbotsholme' for sale. If anyone is interested in owning their own copy can they contact him. The price would be £11.00 plus post and packing if you cannot collect it. It really is a rather remarkable account of the early days of the New School, Abbotsholme.

 

Andrew Graham (left 1999) tells me that he has just finished his degree and is off around the world with his girl friend for the next seven months. He promises an up-date when they return.

 

James Grant (left 1972) tells me that he has changed schools yet again and is now Head of the Science and Maths Faculty at John Penrose School, Harefield, Middlesex. He is still very much into sailing and has competed in the last two 'Wayfarer Class' national championships. He's a Senior Sailing Instructor for the R.Y.A. and is principal of the Upper Thames Sailing Club's teaching establishment. You can view the work of the U.T.S.C. at www.utsc.org.uk.

 

Andrew Griffiths (left 2001) has had a gap year after leaving and played a good deal of rugby with Derby Rugby Club. During the Summer months he joined the British Scientific Expedition Society travelling to Peru and surveying the wildlife in and around the Upper Amazon Basin. When he returned he had just a few weeks at home before going to Exeter University to read English. He tells me he is really enjoying the course and University life.

 

Stephen Grundy (left 1967) reports that business is going quite well. He is still buying up houses, doing them up and letting them. There is not an enormous amount of money in it, he says, but he did do rather well when one national developer deprived him of a 'right of way' to one of his properties and settled for compensation. As a result he has been able to get a new car! He is contemplating organising another re-union for his year group.

 

Tom Grundy (ex-staff) writes from Kent to say he still enjoys getting the Year Book. Of all the schools he has taught at, he says he has a special affection for Abbotsholme. It was his first post and he has many happy memories of the life and the friends he made. He adds that it has been a source of many happy and amusing anecdotes. He even has dreams in which he is back at Abbotsholme!

 

Katharina Haase (left 1997) became a 'Mum' on September 2nd 2001. She and her boyfriend have a little boy called Jasha Janos and they live in a flat in Berlin. She finished her studies at the London International Film School in 2000 and returned to Germany where she shot her graduation film. She started work as an Assistant Director but since the birth of her son has worked part-time for a film production company dealing with international co-productions.

 

Arshad Habib (left 1994) Our congratulations to Arshad, who got married on December 25th 2002 to Humaira Munir in Karachi. In November 2002 he moved back home and works in his father's textile mill. He learnt a lot in his banking experience away from Pakistan and hopes now to be able to implement some of the management techniques he learnt while abroad.

 

Zeeshan Habib (left 1995) Zeeshan tells me that he got married on January 5th 2002 but he does not tell me his wife's name. They had a huge wedding with about 2000 guests. He says the food was amazing! They honeymooned in the Maldives and the Far East and had a wonderful time. He is now back in Karachi. He spent 6 months in the production department of a huge mill but he is now with Sales and Marketing back at Mehran Bottlers ( www.pakola.com.pk ).

 

James Hadfield (left 1997) has spent the whole of 2002 travelling abroad. His first stopping point was the Indian subcontinent and it was followed by South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America. I was lucky to be the recipient of his regular travelogues. They were incredibly descriptive, a wonderful picture in words of the sights and experiences of a lifetime. He arrived back safely, 'sans passport' in time for Christmas. He is hoping to arrange a get together for his year group in 2003.

 

Stephen Hallam (left 1988) has written to me with his news since he left school 14 years ago. From school he went to Newcastle University. In retrospect he feels he learnt very little there. From there he went on to Prague for three years, teaching English. He says he bumped into Clare Mellor a couple of times out there. He returned and moved into acting which is going well. He has recently been in a play in the West End and appeared in the BBC 1 drama 'Spooks'. Plans are afoot for a film in 2003. He has bought a house in London which he shares with his partner and their dog.

 

Crispin Harris (left 1986) I forgot to note that Crispin's wife presented him with their first child, Alistair in the Summer of 2000, I apologise.

 

Ted Hausladen (left 1986) has written to me from Los Angeles where he was living and working. He did not say a lot about himself but he has given up snakes! It sounded as though he was involved in theatre production and certainly had an internship with San Francisco Opera. He attributes his love of Shakespeare to Majorie Willetts. Macbeth is his favourite though overall in the arts he tends to go for tragedy choosing Wagner before Mozart. He was in touch with John Seagrave-Smith for some time but has lost touch. Apparently John runs a skateboard shop in Santa Rosa - anyone got an address?

 

Alysia Hetherington (left 1987) has moved house and now lives in a little country village near Clermont-Ferrand in France. Cockerels crow every morning to wake you up and there is a big garden for her son, Joey, to play in. She is still teaching English to adults, translating and doing some work at the University while swapping Joey around between an educational assistant, her boy friend and a kind cousin. It’s a sort of musical chairs system! Still, Joey has just started school and things will get easier.

 

David Holmes (left 1986) writes that he has been very busy. Early in 2002 he left the Derbyshire Police Force for a career in the Prison Service. He is an avid supporter of Soccer, Rugby League and Ice Hockey and has played as much sport as time allowed when in the Police Force. He's a passionate St. Helens and Forrest supporter. He has also devoted much time to tracing his family ancestry. He's got back as far as 1400 and says they all come from Cromford Moor.

 

Sebastian Horsley (left 1978) has staged yet another one man exhibition of his work, this time at the Crucifix Lane galleries in London in June/July 2002. It was an apt venue for the display which was entitled 'Crucifixion' and was backed by a photographic display of what Sebastian went through before tackling any works or art. The exhibition attracted enormous media coverage. This was partly because Sebastian had actually subjected himself to a crucifixion in a ceremony on the Philippine island of San Fernando. The suffering he experienced was undoubtedly both real and extreme. There were many pictures and articles in the major newspapers and much discussion on the radio as to the morality of his approach to painting and the artists life. You can view some of the work he painted after his experience and learn more about his work and, indeed, download an interview with him at www.crucifixlaneproject.com . He very kindly kept me up to date with all the press cuttings and details of his progress. Unfortunately I was not able to be in London during the exhibition. Sebastian also writes, and will be concentrating on a book entitled "Dandy in the Underworld" for a while now, as he recharges his batteries and looks for further inspiration.

 

Ben Houfton (left 1960) says that after being knocked off his cycle in 2001 he had to give up his job as Maintenance Officer at a local school. However instead of retiring, he has found a position as a Teaching Assistant in a special school for children with complex learning difficulties. He finds the job tiring but very rewarding. As he is licensed to drive the school minibus he frequently takes classes on outings.

 

Richard Howard (left 1993) has passed his second set of accountancy exams working with Deloitte and Touche in London. There is another year and a half of learning before he takes his finals to become a fully qualified accountant. He shares a London flat with Andrew Ward and the two of them were off to watch cricket in Australia last December and January.

 

Tom Howard (left 1989) was married to Lucy in July 2002. Stephen York was Best Man while Ross Nicholson and Paul Scragg were ushers. There was quite an Abbotsholme presence with Simon Brown, Steve Johnson, Dayo Muili and Andrew Sederman all there. The newly-weds honeymooned in Cornwall. Tom still works for Games Workshop in Nottingham.

 

Teri Glaves (née Hudson) (left 1982) has brought me up to date this year. She left the Civil Service 7 years ago when she was expecting her son. Now Lauren, aged 13, has a 6 year old brother. For the last five years Terri has been a call centre manager, working in the evenings. More recently she decided to turn her obsession with fitness into something useful so she qualified as a fitness instructor. She holds her own classes and works freelance. As demand increases she hopes to make this a full-time career. A strange choice, she muses, for someone fast approaching 40!

 

Mike Hulme (left 1967) is not sure whether he wrote to tell me how much he is enjoying a semi-retired lifestyle after 30 years as a Chemical Engineer in the oil industry. Some people had suggested to him that he might find not having a 'proper' job a problem after so long, but in fact, he says, nothing could be further from the truth. He is finding life very full and busy without the distraction of paid employment!

 

Martin Humphreys (left 1974) Martin now lives in Battersea, London. He sees Charles Elmer quite often and is godfather to Charles's two girls and was, indeed, Best Man at his wedding. He worked for many years in advertising agencies and then joined a government agency called COI Communications. This specialises in advising the government on public information marketing. It covers things like 'Drink Driving' and 'Adult Literacy' campaigns. He has finished restoring a 1932 Austin Arrow which has been in his family for 60 years. Now he drives it around London in the early morning at weekends. So watch out!

 

Andrew Hunter (left 1988) got married over two years ago. His wife's name is Debbie and they are expecting in June. Andrew works in IT for an Engineering Contractor building oil refineries all round the world. He says he never gets anywhere exotic but it's a good life. He still keeps in touch with quite a few pals from Abbotsholme..

 

Heath Hunter (left 1986) Rather belatedly, I am afraid, we congratulate Heath on becoming a dad. His wife gave birth to Cameron on July 3rd 2000.

 

Rocky Husain (left 1983) is now Media Director at Consolidated Communications, one of the UK's top independent Public Relations Agencies.

 

Roland Huskinson (left 1932) is a member of a very small subgroup of the human race. He attended both Denstone College and Abbotsholme! His father taught at Denstone and built White House, where Roland was born in 1919. He was particularly thrilled to be shown over White House by Helen Wainwright on his last visit to school. He wrote in 2002 to say how much he would have liked to attend the re-union dinner but the date coincided with a visit to his son in Germany.

 

Dawn Pickering (née James) (left 1990) got married to Kevin in 1999 and she had twin daughters in March 2001. As if hands are not full enough with two 2-year olds Kevin runs his own Project Management business and Dawn is Managing Director of a corporate finance company, Capital Corporate Finance, in Botswana.

 

Greg Jervis (left 1997) is in his final year at North Staffordshire University and is being helped at Abbotsholme with his course. One of his modules is to work with a school teacher to design an on-line computer assisted learning project that will support an element of the UK's National Curriculum. You can view the sort of work he is involved in at www.mystery-productions.information/hyper .

 

Matthew Johnson (left 1992) has just completed his MBA and is very busy both professionally and socially.

Stephen Johnson (left 1989) Up until December 2002 Stephen was working for an American electronics company in England which has built its business on processing electricity meter readings. It does not really give him much satisfaction and he feels his life has become rather repetitive - join an electricity utility company, work very hard until you get so frustrated and annoyed that you can't change things quickly, then leave and have a month or so complete break, then…..join another electricity company, work very hard……and so on. Thus he has resigned from Invensys and went off to Australia for two months. Perhaps a complete change in direction is indicated.

 

Stuart Johnson (left 1963) has just completed thirty years as an Abbotsholme Governor. He is amongst many other things Chairman of Ansell Jones, a Lifting and Marine Equipment firm he bought up in 2002. View at www.anselljones.com . Stuart has even taken to e-mailing as well.

 

David Jones (left 1943) has been persuaded to become a computer user by his son and is 'investigating this new-fangled device'. He has spent some time arranging trips for his local Campus Club, part of the Probus Movement. He lives near London and therefore they have access to lots of interesting venues.

 

Hugh Jones (left 1941) We are very sorry to hear that Hugh had a stroke last year and spent time in Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. It was not too serious and we wish him a speedy recovery.

 

Nick Joyce (left 1980) lives in Bristol and is married. He has a baby and two stepdaughters. (Ed. I have not found out what he is doing yet.)

 

Rachel Joyce (left 1981) lives in Hertfordshire with her husband, Adam, and two children, Alec, aged 7, and Harriet, aged 3. Rachel is a Public Health Doctor dealing with population health, communicable diseases, bio-terrorism(!), emergency planning, health promotion, etc. She trained as a GP but finds her present work much more fun and she can work part-time which is family friendly. Adam is also a doctor, a consultant in Ear, Nose and Throat medicine. She would love to make contact with Stella Obonna again. (Ed. Various OA's have asked if I have any contact address for Stella or Charles. I have not - does anyone?)

 

Markella Karella (left 1995) has moved back to Athens. She has not really been back to live there properly since she was 13 and feels the need to get back to her roots. She says she had a great last four years in London and is now job hunting in Athens. She is still in contact with quite a few OA's including Sarah Gumb, Helen Bostock, Richard Buckley, Tom Crookes and James Bowser.

 

Robert Kay (left 1999) left Oxford in 2002 with a 2:1 in Mathematics. He is now training as an Actuary in London.

 

Birgit Werner (née Keller) (left 1979) was married to Hermann in 2001. She has a lovely ten year old daughter called Fabienne. They have a dog and Birgit has a horse and one in training for Fabienne. She buys and sells cheeses, mainly from European countries, to sell in her delicatessen, which is very successful. She also caters for parties and special occasions.

Dagmar Oldfield (née Keller) (left 1977) It was lovely to see Dagmar, husband of 18 years, Peter, and son, Mark, at the re-union Dinner in 2002. There were many of her year group there and they all had a fine time. Peter is a structural engineer, Mark is in the sixth form at school and their daughter, Stephanie, is a very talented rower. Dagmar is still teaching German and a little French.

 

Gernot Keller (left 1977) is an anaesthetist and is hoping to become a consultant by submitting some research. His wife, Anne, is also an anaesthetist in another hospital. They enjoy walking holidays in Switzerland and expeditions to the Italian vineyards to sample the wine.

 

Anne-Marie Macleod (née Kelly) (left 1985) is really enjoying being a full-time 'Mum'. She and Findlay are expecting their second child soon but she describes baby Archie as 'the most adorable child ever to exist'. We all understand what she means.

 

Nick Kent (left 1969) It is some years since I heard from Nick and what a surprise it was when I did. He says that he changed career several times and his latest, and he hopes his final, incarnation is as a solicitor. He qualified at the tender age of 46. Further changes included marriage to Elizabeth in January 2001 and the arrival of a daughter, Pamela, the following December. First-time fatherhood at the age of 51 has much to recommend it, he says! He has always maintained an interest in vintage vehicles and still rides a classic motorcycle. His latest restoration project is a 1938 Vauxhall car.

 

Liz Kessler (left 1984) is, I am told, about to publish her first two children's books. More details next time but keep your eyes open.

 

Andrew Kidd (left 1975) tells me he is very happy working as Technical Manager within the Engineering Consultancy Business. He reckons he must be very lucky in that if he could write his own job description his work wouldn't change much! Their four children range in age from seven to fourteen. They are also home to a brainless labrador!

 

Robert Kidd (left 1971) is still at the University of Western Sydney but has been the subject of re-structuring and his Professorship has changed departments! Actually he has felt 'in the wrong box' for years and is much happier working with biologists. Now rather than his lab belonging to health and servicing the BMedSci students, he is with science (and BMedSci) and servicing health. His wife, Ros, is very happy as Director of the critical limb centre at Liverpool Hospital in Sydney. Both their girls are PhD students, Sarah in her final year of Microbiology at Sydney and Joanna in her first year of Clinical Psychology at the University of Western Australia. Robert is now an honorary member of staff at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and has some on-going projects at University College, London, and the new Medical School in Hull. At present he has also taken the post of 'academic mentor' at his University and this gives him and his wife accommodation. Accordingly they have sold their house and are buying a property at Ulladulla, nearby, for holidays in the next few years and then to retire to. He suggests that surrounding oneself with students is the nearest thing there is to the pool of eternal life - at least it keeps ones thinking young, even if it cannot emulate it with the body!

 

Russell King (left 1992) is happy to announce his engagement to Maria, his partner of 4 years. A date for the wedding has not been set yet but Maria has indicated that Russell's suggestion of 2010 is not acceptable! He has returned to the ring to continue his passion for boxing, Maria prepares for various half marathons. Together they keep very fit.

 

Ashley Knight (left 1976) has come off the 'lost' list with news of his whereabouts. He qualified as an architect in both England and Switzerland. He is married and has two sons. He works in Geneva and is director of a commercial real estate consultancy and an investment company there. He lives just over the border from Switzerland in France.

 

Ali Kent (née Law) (left 1977) sent me a card in the early Summer followed by a couple of e-mails. She is very much in touch with Brett Little, Suzanne Quint and Jeremy Gaines, who now lives in Germany. She still manages to watch cricket in California. The University has a team which is mainly made up of Indians and Sri Lankans. They play every weekend in the Northern California League. She finds cricket the perfect antidote to the stress of her work and can still remember going on a school trip to Edgbaston and seeing Lillee and Thompson bowling.

 

Charlotte Layton (left 1997) finished her PGCE in Birmingham in June 2002 and is now teaching History at King's Norton Boys School. She lives in Bournville. How 'chocolatey' is that!

 

Anna Lee (left 1983) I have 'found' Anna and her brother with the help of Man Chung Tsang. Anna has now e-mailed me to say that she still lives in Hong Kong and is married. She has twins aged 4, a boy and a girl, named Jasper and Jasmine. She says she is always running out of time because on top of the family she works as an architect/project manager and has just opened her own design shop creating her own brandname of designer products.

 

Guy Leonard (left 1985) is still arable farming and plays rugby and golf. More importantly he ran the London marathon in 2001 and raised £6000 for Macmillan Cancer Relief. He completed the course in 3 hours and 38 minutes. He was running again in 2002 to raise funds for The Jennifer Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. I have not heard how much he raised this time or whether he beat his record time. Still he seemed to have it all very well organised.

 

Simon Lindsay (left 1992) has moved to London and is now studying Nursing for Learning Disabilities with Social Work at South Bank University. It is a three year degree course. He still thinks of windy, cold days on the sports field!

 

Kurt Little (left 1976) I contacted Kurt through his brother, Brett. Kurt is back in England having spent some time in America. That was after he graduated from the London School of Economics. In England he worked for Wiggins plc, met and married his wife, Sarah. He is presently Chief Finance Officer with Angel Properties plc, a property developer in London. He lives in Surrey with Sarah and their children, Sam, aged 11 and Harry, aged 9. I believe they were expecting again in December 2002. He and Brett and their families meet up a couple of times each year, once in the Summer and also for a ski-ing holiday.

Richard Liverman (left 1996) looks back fondly on his time at Abbotsholme and has suddenly realised how fast time has passed. Seven years have just slipped by. After school he went to Bournemouth University. He read Retail Management and thoroughly enjoyed the course, the University and the town of Bournemouth. He graduated in 2001. He feels he is more Dorset than Derbyshire now and has even picked up a local accent. When he wrote to me he was trying his hand as a DJ and was committing himself to a fitness programme by going regularly to the gym and the swimming baths and he is still an avid Derby County supporter. After some temping to earn money and travelling he was due to start with Sainsbury's Graduate Marketing Scheme in September 2002.

 

Benji Lund (left 2000) took a gap year after school as an Assistant Teacher at Mowbray College in Melbourne, Australia, and afterwards spent time travelling in South Africa. He is in his first year of a degree course in Environmental Management at Sheffield Hallam University.

 

Kirstin Lund (left 1997) Kirstin is in her final year of Medicine at Manchester after having completed a sandwich degree in 'History of Medicine' In the latter part of 2002 she did a 4 month practical placement in Germany. 2003 saw her on another placement in Canada studying Emergency Medicine.

 

Manfred Lund (ex-staff) tells me he is thoroughly enjoying his semi-retirement and is taking golf lessons in Ashbourne.

 

Jonathan Lux (left 1969) sent me details of a mission he took part in to Malawi. The International Bar Association sent an international delegation of legal experts to visit Malawi in 2002 to investigate the state of the country's judiciary and legal profession and to identify areas for long-term technical assistance. Jonathan was one of five delegates to take part. Shortly after returning he was chairing a seminar in St. Petersburg on "Good faith in Insurance". He certainly gets about! Jonathan is at present working in Hamburg and has been setting up the German offices for Ince & Co. of which he is a partner.

 

John Lytton (left 1974) is another who has written in for the first time in very many years. After Abbotsholme he did a photographic course and ended up in an advertising studio trying to be 'artistic' with things like alternators and beer bottles. He had a great few years and it stood him in good stead in that photography is a very important hobby for him nowadays. He and Sarah were married 19 years ago, he had known her since he was 13. He has been a social worker in the Midlands since 1980. After many years working on child abuse investigations he transferred to adult care. Apart from his photography he is keen motorcycle rider, the proud owner of a 1200cc Triumph Trophy - he is also a motorcycle instructor. He admits he was never a great scholar at school but is very grateful for his time at Abbotsholme and he blossomed both personally and professionally later.

 

Sundeep Maini (left 2000)  has e-mailed to tell me that he has left London Guildhall. He was not particularly happy there. He has returned to live in Leicester and is repeating his second year but at De Montfort University and instead of Business Studies he is reading Business and Finance.

 

Martin Makgatlhe (left 1984) is now Chief Executive Officer of Motswedi Securities, the foremost stockbrokers in Botswana. His wife, Onkutule, is also a non-executive director of the publicly owned company. Details at www.motswedisecurities.bw

At home they were happy to announce the birth of a daughter, Sesame Gontse, on October 14th 2002, a beautiful sister for Sefalana Tiego.

 

Dewanta Manik (left 1980) met Tanto and Eddy at a festival get-together and then contacted Abbotsholme for the first time since he left. He took a Masters Degree in Hotel and Tourism Management at Bournemouth and then returned to Indonesia. He is a full-time lecturer at a tourism college in Jakarta. He teaches Food Production and Pastry Making and is also active as a trainer for the Indonesia Restaurant and Hotel Association. He is married with two daughters aged 8 and 3 and lives close to the college in a suburb of Jakarta.

 

Dan Marsh (left 1994) was awarded the 'Andrew N.C. Johnstone Prize' in 2002 for the best  PhD lecture based on work in Chemistry at the University of Wales, Bangor.

 

Louise Mason (left 1990) is still working for Cable and Wireless in Bracknell as Finance Manager, reporting to the Director of Network Services. She is hoping to re-locate to Manchester in 2003. Her latest holiday was to Thailand where she passed her PADI Scuba Diving Course and did some lovely diving around KohSamui and Koh Tao.

 

Peter Mason (left 1983) wrote to me a year ago. He is very busy working in logistics and warehousing for a large French company called Le Grande. They have warehousing and distribution facilities in Birmingham, London, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow with a combined turnover of £50 million. Does anyone realise, he says, how difficult it is to move 50 million tonnes of bent metal around the country every year. He never knew what he wanted to do when he left school and unfortunately the same problem still exists. He'd love to find time to eat at Riversholme - regardless of the quality of the food - he can just imagine the amusement factor of knowing that at the table in the corner was where so and so slept and 'x' marks the spot of a very serious pillow fight!

 

Paul Massey (left 1966) brought his family up to Abbotsholme in the Summer of 2002 and went in to ask whether Derek Sederman was around. On being told that the said Derek had retired he walked back out of the front door only to be confronted by DS. What a coincidence! He and his family were well but we didn't spend time on the 'What are you doing now?' bit, so I can't tell you any other news!

 

Andrew McDowell (left 1991) has started a new job and has brought me up to date on his wanderings. He spent some time at the Defence School of Languages doing a Serbo-Croat interpreters course before going back to Bosnia where he worked at a Staff Officer in the PsyOps Department. He then took over as the Divisional Adjutant in Banja Luka for 8 months, during which time he was seconded to the International Police Task Force and the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. On his return to the UK in 2001 he felt ill at ease with what was on offer in the Army so 'jumped ship' and has joined the Scottish Prison Service. When he first wrote to me he was working at Saughten gaol in Edinburgh. More recently he has moved to Aberdeen. He is thoroughly enjoying the work. He is still single but would like to settle down now. He sends best wishes to all who remember him. Let him know if you want a bed for a night!

 

Stuart McKerrow (left 1940) and his wife, Jean, had a busy time moving house a year ago. They have moved into Oxford itself. In May he was looking forward to going to Justin Ritchie's 80th Birthday party. He tells me that Donald, Andrew and Graham are all flourishing.

 

John McNeill (left 1977) John and Suzy wrote to me a year ago to say that they expected to stay in Chennai until the end of 2002. Work included quite a lot of travelling but they had managed a holiday in Sri Lanka. Then I heard again six months later. No mention of leaving but a new address at a house rented near the seaside. John describes it as looking like the Acropolis and is situated at the end of a neatly manicured lane that could be anywhere in Surrey! Still India lurks at the end of the road. The longer drive into the city is a full-on, last-to-brake competition with trucks, buses, 4 x 4's, flimsy Fords and Fiats, rickshaws, 2-wheelers, bicycles, bullock carts, tonga carts, loose cattle, dogs and pedestrians which together make up the nerve-jangling experience of driving in India. Anyway they've a great view of the sea and if anyone should find themselves in the Asian subcontinent looking for a bed for the night do get in touch!

 

Leonie Mellinger (left 1975) was back at the re-union in June 2002. She has a daughter whose name is Aurelie. She has forsaken the stage for the moment and runs her own business coaching men and women in personal communication and impact skills. Broadly speaking, she says, it is teaching people to get their message across in any situation. She must be pretty successful at it as her clients include KPMG, KPMG Consulting, PWC, Guinness, Barclays and Johnny Walker as well as lawyers and journalists. She keeps getting offers of acting work but wants to be flexible with her time so she can be at home with her daughter at present. One day!

 

Clare Mellor (left 1988) has moved to Crouch End, in London, and lives with her boyfriend. She is still running her graphic design business called Full Stop. She still sees quite a few of her year.

 

Jonathan Miles (left 1979) is still working in Malvern for DSTL (Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory), formerly DERA. He examines and researches Information Systems and Information Service concepts for the MOD. He is currently working on the Applied Research Programme (ARP), looking at 'The Global Information Structure' and 'Network Enabled Capability'. He has just presented a research paper entitled 'Command Information Infrastructure and Sense-Making' to the International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium. Its content is at www.dodccrp.org/Activities/Symposia/7thICCRTS/Tracks/pdf/149 .  To keep his feet on the ground, his daughter, Natasha, is an Abbotsholme Fifth Former and Jonathan is on the Parents Association Committee.

 

Peter Miller (left 1971) Peter and his wife, Lisa, are still in Dubai. He works for Shell and hopes that Summer 2003 will see a move back to Europe, perhaps Holland.

 

Rebecca Millerchip (left 1987) I had this strange e-mail from Rebecca's address…"I finally arrived on Sunday night. I was holding out till after bonfire night 'cause I know how much mummy likes fireworks, but the doctors were adamant that if I didn't make an appearance on the 3rd November, they were going to cut mummy open and take me out and I didn't want that!"  This was my first e-mail from Emily who, as she says, was born on November 3rd 2002. She added that "she was letting Mum and Dad in gently, being good, feeding well, sleeping well and stuff like that……!" Great news!

 

Alex Mills (left 1992) has been living in London and working for PA Consulting for the last 4 years. He specialises in IS Project Management. He still enjoys travelling and spent four weeks of 2002 in Thailand and Cambodia though snowboarding and diving are his main holiday pursuits. He still plays squash regularly.

 

Ben Mitchell (left 1989) He took a gap year after Abbotsholme, travelling around Europe and working in a children's home in Northamptonshire as a Community Service Volunteer (a real eye opener). Then he took a degree in Political Science at Birmingham University where, for two years, he was Chairman of the University's European Society. After Birmingham he took a Masters Degree at the University of Ulster. He enjoyed the experience of living in Northern Ireland, a beautiful part of the world. He was fortunate to get a job shortly afterwards on a graduate training programme at the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE), a derivatives exchange in the City of London. Although he was firstly only there as a six-months temp he did well enough to be offered a full time job in the Market Supervision Department. He stayed there for six years, ending up heading their risk management team. In 2000 he was offered a job at a start-up Exchange called UK Power Exchange (UKPX), trading wholesale electricity in England and Wales as Market Supervision Manager. He transferred to the Business Development side in 2001. His job involves analysing how the company is performing from a commercial point of view, identifying new business opportunities, and making sure what they offer is relevant. He lives with his girlfriend, Eszter, a Hungarian, in London. She is taking a degree in Construction and Surveying at the University of Westminster - he is attending evening classes in Hungarian!

 

Chris Mitchell (left 1981) After training as an Occupational Psychologist, a truly fantastic profession, and working in Sheffield, London and then Hong Kong for a business consulting company, he moved to New Zealand in 1997 as the Managing Director of the New Zealand branch of the company. Now, after six years enjoying Kiwi space, beauty, ski-ing and rugby, he is gearing up for some voluntary, extended time off in the second half of 2003. Hopefully this will include some trekking in Bjutan, watching World Cup Rugby and enjoying the South Pacific before moving back to London to see what lies in store after 10 years overseas.

 

Eva Sherratt (née Moncaster) (left 1993) is married, still living in Uttoxeter, but working as a business manager for the Derbyshire Crown Prosecution Service, based in Derby. She deals with estates, personnel and financial issues for Derbyshire in addition to the performance management of the area. She says it is very interesting but being a Civil Servant is quite a culture change from working for private organisations.

 

Michael Mookerji (left 1994) just one e-mail in saying - 'Have now arrived in Bangkok, and it's gone to pot a bit as we can't get any flights to Australia, because we are not going to Bali any more. Thailand itself is good - we've been round Bangkok and seen most of the 'touristy' things, going to the River Kwai tomorrow, which should be good. Then the day after that we are going to Ko Samai and Puket before flying on to Singapore.' So he's alive, well and enjoying himself!

 

Noel Mookerji (left 1999) is now in his final year of University after spending a year's placement with Siemens in the United States.

 

Jane Morgan-Brown (née Morgan) (left 1980) and her husband, David, have moved from Bradford on Avon back to London where David works. Still the weekend commuting down to Wiltshire wore a bit thin and so now they are looking for somewhere in Suffolk to settle. Fast trains into and out of Liverpool Street are more tempting than dashing back and forth along the M4.

 

Robin Morley (left 1971) is as incredibly busy as ever with the promotion of outdoor events. His bases are Bradford and Brighton and two or three days a week are spent at each. He completed a successful Bradford International Festival last June with numerous highlights including the Bradford Mela in the final two days when 120,000 people attended a music and arts festival. It was the largest South Asian event in Europe.( www.bethere2002.com ) They are busy preparing for Bradford already should the City be nominated as the European Capital of Culture in 2008. He is involved with events all over Britain. He has also completed a successful event in Stockholm Harbour to promote Scottish business, culture and tourism. It was a follow on from a similar event he organised in New York in March called 'Distilled'. ( www.distilled.com ) His family are all well, Sam is almost a teenager and Christy is 8. Jane continues with her silver enamelling and last year completed a 15" Silver Bowl for the Guild of Weavers, a Jubilee Commemoration. He was delighted to hear news of the 'Jeep' with Robert Whyte and wonders what ever happened to Max Ferro - anyone know?

 

Christian Morris (left 1996) tells me he worked for an IT recruitment agency in Derby for nearly two years after leaving University. Brother, Gavin, worked with the same agency. Then he applied for a job with the European Space Agency and they offered him a job controlling satellites which, he says, is fun! After training and exams he is now a qualified Spacecraft Controller, based at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. He manages to get home about once every three months and still keeps in touch with quite a few OA's. He still plays a bit of football but mainly enjoys Karting at a sports club attached to his work.

 

Richard Morton (left 1984) Congratulation to Richard and Mandy on the arrival of their daughter, Charlotte, at the beginning of November 2002. It had been a rather traumatic year as Richard had been made redundant in a restructuring process with Tinsley Wire. He had been with the firm for 18 years. He declined an offer of a job within the firm which would have meant a move to Southern Ireland. Soon afterwards he was appointed Product Manager with Advanced Steel Services in Preston. It has all worked out well with the job and with the family.

 

Sara Brown (née Mousely) (left 1991) and her husband have been blessed with a baby daughter, Sophie Catherine, who weighed in at 7lb 13oz on the 10th September 2002.

 

Eddy Mulyadi (left 1983) says he is now in regular contact with Keith Chow. He has moved to Thailand where he is Director of Purchasing for General Motors (Thailand). He expects to be here for a few years. His family are with him and the children attend the International School of the Eastern Seaboard in Pataya. He sent me the most lovely Christmas photograph of his family dressed up as the Thai Royal Family.  He is still trying to make contact with Chas Obonna and Shin Mikami. Can anyone help him?

 

Maurice Nash (left 1987) got in touch with me from Madrid, where he is now based. After school he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and also took an English teaching certificate. He spent twelve years living in London and did much acting but never really hit the 'big time'. In 2002 he decided to move to Spain and try his hand at teaching English as a foreign language. Do contact him if you remember him and you are in Madrid. I have his mobile phone number. You can also catch up with him on www.geocities.com/mauricenash2002 .

 

Sam Neal (left 1989) is very busy indeed. She and her partner are busy renovating a property in Bath while she runs the mail order section of their Antiquities business based in London. ( www.heliosgallery.com ) She has also taken on an allotment to grow vegetables and flowers. She says it reminds her of being at Abbotsholme and the Farm. She just hopes she will be able to get things to grow!

 

Barry Nelson (left 1980) finally tied the knot with his long term girlfriend, Val. They were married in Windermere on October 5th 2002. You can see wedding pictures at http://groups.msm.com/NelsonArmstrong . His 4th album was due for release in November 2002. Details of his music can be found at http://groups.msm.com/GeodeMusic .

 

Matthew Nesbitt (left 2001) has e-mailed me from his travels in Australia. He set off in the Winter of 2000-01 with Peter Heath and Chris Wainwright. Chris opted for a return home early in 2001 but the other two kept going. Strangely, while in Perth, Australia, Matthew was trying to get a job in a large shop near the city centre. The manager asked for a CV and on seeing it said "Blimey, I was at Abbotsholme, too." It was Charlie Pryor, who left in 1990. Small world!

 

John Newmark (left 1930) has very poor eyesight but has lost none of his sense of humour. He points out that he has a circulation problem but so does the London Underground, so he's not bothered! He writes to me regularly and celebrated his 90th birthday on February 13th 2003. He tells me that last November he went by train from Eastbourne to London and was surprised, considering all the railways adverse publicity, not to be held up in any way. He suggests that if any leaves got on the line then he's afraid they got run over! I can recommend one of his books which can be downloaded from the internet. It is called 'Two by Two to London Zoo' and is a personal account of wildlife collecting for the Zoo by John and his twin brother. You can find it at www.wildaboutwildlife.org.uk . It is a most amusing read. Another one, "Adventures of a Singular Pair" will be hitting the World Wide Web soon. He vividly recalls an Abbotsholme walking tour from Fribourg to Oberammergau  with, among others, Graham Marquis. He enjoyed it very much. He returned to Europe some years later via Normandy and became a guest of Adolf Hitler in Oflag 79.

 

Daniel Nix (left 1997) got married to Jennifer in August 2002. They sent me a superb photo of them at the wedding with the castle in the background. OA's Michael Henshaw, Richard Liverman and Ben Waldron were at the wedding. The couple  then honeymooned in the South of France. They both work in London. Jennifer is a Recruitment Consultant for a company called ROC Recruitment and Daniel is an Account Executive for a company called Printing.com.

 

Anstice Oakeshott (left 1999) has had a gap year working overseas and is now at Glasgow University.

 

Veronica Oakeshott (left 1998)  was awarded a First Class Honours degree in Politics from Newcastle University in the Summer of 2002. She got in touch briefly to say that she was working on the international team for the Institute for Public Policy Research in London. She regards her present position as slave labour. Better things lie ahead.

 

Rotimi Onajobi (left 1987) keeps in contact regularly. He is currently in Austin, Texas, working as an Oracle Database Administrator. He still maintains his apartment in Houston. He visited England for 10 days in April 2002 but was unable to get to the Midlands.

 

Graham Overell (left 1973) has written more fully since I mentioned him in the Year Book last year. He has been living in Australia for over 10 years now. His wife, Joanne, is Australian and works in the Statistics Bureau. Their house is about 45 minutes North of Melbourne. He describes it as being a little on the large side for them, but it is nice to have the space. They have bought some hens, so have their own fresh eggs. They are making attempts at growing vegetables. He is no longer in catering and when writing was working at a flour mill. His career aims always seem to be changing. His Agricultural Engineering course took him to Zambia, Libya and Turkey, the latter for 10 years. In Turkey he trained and started teaching English as a foreign language. He liked Turkey but a move was determined and he took off for Australia where he is very happy. He still sees his brother, Steve, who lives in Canada, occasionally.

 

Diana Pando (left 1987) has had a trying year during which she returned to Mexico to help care for her dying grandmother. She treasures that time greatly. Now she has returned to California. She is actually only an hour from Tijuana so she doesn't feel homesick and actually she is very used to the American way of life. When she wrote in November 2002 she was up to her eyes translating Garcia Marquez Biographical new book for the Publisher Random House. She would particularly like to hear from Emma Goude, Sarah Fuller-Sessions, Rosie Flynn or Crispin Hunt.

 

Colin Parkes (left 1961) has been in the hotel and catering trade since he left school. He spent 11 years in hotels doing everything from kitchen porter to manager. He transferred to pubs and for 11 years trained other pub managers alongside him. When his first marriage broke up he left pubs completely and spent his time training others. The company he was with was not, latterly, very supportive and during restructuring Colin was made redundant. Now he stays at home and runs the house while his wife goes out to work. Perhaps he's a liberated man but he does enjoy his computer.

 

Alex Parks (left 1993) has been appointed Managing Director of Troy Ikoda in Perth, Western Australia and is thoroughly enjoying the sunshine.

 

Caroline Parks (left 2001) is reading Geography at Manchester University after a gap year in business. She has joined the Abbotsholmians' Club Committee.

 

Chris Parks (left 1996) qualified as a doctor in June 2002 and has been working at St. Richards Hospital in Chichester and the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.

 

Jonathan Parry (left 1978) is now working in the bakery department for a USA supermarket chain called 'Stop and Shop'. His wife works as a shuttle driver for a local car dealership.

 

Adam Partington (left 1994) is working in York for a design and print bureau and that is going well. You can visit it at www.thearchitectshop.co.uk. He lives with his girlfriend and bought a house last Autumn.

 

Charles Patrick (left 1992) ended up as a TV Star after he was hoodwinked by his friends and colleagues as part of a Channel 4 show entitled 'Make my Day'. As the day unfolded on TV Charles was led through one embarrassing encounter after another all caught by over 50 hidden cameras and included him stripping to his pants for a 'Calendar photo session'! All ended in smiles as Charles was confronted with the truth by soccer star John Fashanu and Page 3 model Jo Guest.

 

Gary Pavey (left 1985) is presumably in the Royal Marines as I am told that he is coaching their 1st XI Soccer Team. He's probably stationed wherever there is trouble!

 

Gaynor Pavey (left 1987) Says she is currently working for Sola & Bodyglove. It is a firm which makes wetsuits and surf accessories in Cornwall.

 

Guy Pearson (left 1977) is still organising gigs and recently did one where he performed his own songs. I'm told it was a great success. His brother, Simon, who left in 1975, was, last October, to be heard each morning reviewing the papers on Radio 5 at 1.15am!

 

Sally Pearson (left 1978) made the decision to leave teaching at Abbotsholme. She had to do too much driving and with family and work it was becoming very tiring. She loves teaching and is continuing to build up her own group of private pupils. She was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma at Reading University in the Summer of 2002 and has yet to decide whether to go on and take an MA. Her children are growing up fast. Maddy is 12 and has just started secondary school, Duncan is 10 and Gina is 8. Where, she says, did the time go.

 

Guthrie Pickering (left 1963) has written to say that he is still working in Nottingham. His firm produces pattern books for the soft furnishing trade and shade cards for the garment trade. It is hard work 'keeping afloat' nowadays with so many customers buying from abroad. You can see Guthrie and the details of his firms work at www.cemgroup.co.uk .

 

Vanessa Plant (left 1992) has recently been hired as a milieu counsellor at a residential therapeutic school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She works with emotionally and behaviourally disturbed teenagers. She loves it. She and her boyfriend, Patrick, have done a lot of work on their home and are planning to complete the work by renovating the kitchen in Spring 2003. She tells me that her brother, Jeremy, who was also at Abbotsholme, has a Japanese wife and lives in Tokyo where he is teaching English to Japanese businessmen. 

 

Sheba Tunnell (née Posnansky) (left 1978) has been very busy, with her husband, Jonathan, looking at schools for their two youngsters, Malcolm and Maya. It is never easy trying to find the right school for each child. They had five inches of snow at Christmas and she sent me a picture of Malcolm and Maya playing in it. There is, she says, talk of a Posnansky family re-union in England during 2003. If so, Abbotsholme will be high on the list of places to visit.

 

Matthew Precey (left 1984) tells me that married life is wonderful. (Ed. I could have told him that!) He and Clare are expecting their first child in May 2003. In preparation for the event they have a rolling programme of house restoration. He's News Editor for Channel 4 News, which has 1.5 million viewers. He does some producing as well and last Autumn went undercover with a secret camera filming racism on the terraces of Milwall Football Club with an ex-SBS commando in tow as protection. Clare has what he thinks is a much more terrifying job. She's an editor for Radio 1's Newsbeat programme. She has to decide what constitutes news for over 6 million 18-25 year olds, as she is in charge of bulletins for the breakfast show. She's in the vanguard of the BBC's attempt to attract younger audiences to news. Matthew is one of many people who have written in to say how profoundly saddened they were to learn of Ian Thompson's death. He describes Ian as an utterly inspiring teacher, a man who had a gift for communication and engaging with people of all ages and from all backgrounds. He was, he says, a very influential man on many people's lives, as well as a gifted preacher and motivator. Abbotsholme, Matthew surmises, has a knack of hiring iconic, visionary individuals.

 

Alex Price (left 1993) actually got married in April 2002 and honeymooned in Jamaica. He left the ambulance company he was with and now just fits in the odd shift. He then worked as a nursing technician in a busy downtown Albuquerque Emergency Room. He hoped to enter the University of New Mexico and then proceed to Medical School. I have not heard whether he managed to get on the course or not. There were administrative problems associated with starting in 2002.

 

Charlie Pryor (left 1990) was, when I last heard, manager of a store in the centre of Perth, Western Australia.

 

Tony Perrin (left 1969) was able to attend the re-union dinner again in 2002 before flying off to Corfu for his annual holiday. As far as business is concerned he is still in insurance broking, but he does not really enjoy it any more. The family business was sold four years ago 'to get bigger' but since then he feels insurance has gone 'pear shaped'. He needs his involvement in hockey even more. He is presently Chairman of the Lincolnshire Hockey Association and Manager of the County First Team. He also is much involved in youth hockey. He has just completed 31 consecutive seasons with his local club and played 97 times himself for the County. It all started at Abbotsholme - he owes the school a great debt of gratitude. He has now taken up umpiring. If, and when he is at home, he bumps into his family, wife, Kate, Annabel, aged 17, a daughter by his first marriage, Sophie, aged 10 and Sam, aged 9. He says they have a good life together in a village near Lincoln.

 

Suzanne Perry (née Quint) (left 1976) sent me seasons greetings for Christmas and the New Year with news of her family. Mark still spends about a week a month on business in the Middle East. Their daughters are growing apace. The elder, Nicole, is waiting for the result of college applications while Kristine is as busy as ever at school and with her social life. Suzanne and Nicole joined her parents on a holiday to the United Kingdom in 2002 to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary. They took a cruise around the shores of Britain before crashing into four days mad shopping in London before returning home to the States.

 

Mark Rake (left 1956) has retired after a distinguished medical career. He left Abbotsholme and after a gap year went to Guys Hospital as a medical student. He qualified in 1963 and ten years later became a consultant at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital with a particular interest in Gastroenterology. He had trained at King's College Hospital and was in the team that did the first Liver Transplant. He spent some time in Biafra in 1970 with 'Save the Children'. He retired from clinical practice but took on the role at the University of Kent as Dean of the Institute of medicine and Health Sciences which he helped to establish in 1994. He lives in Kent with his partner, Hilary, and has recently been involved in a fascinating scheme with 70 sculptors from Cathedrals across Europe working for a weekend in the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral to create a fountain for the grounds of a home for the disabled with which he is involved. He would be interested in making contact with school friends such as David Vacher (on the 'lost list'), David Rubra, Peter Morpurgo and Tony Maybrey.

 

Clayton Randall (left 1976) sent me a card which stated that Phoebe Randall was delighted to announce the arrival of her baby brother, Max. He weighed in at 8lbs 14oz on the 13th August 2002. Mother (Helen Wilder as was) is doing fine and they were planning to move into their new house early in 2003.

 

John Redhead (left 1976) has sent me 'his story for the last 25 years'. It's a bit of a challenge to précis but I'll have a go. School was followed by the University of Aberystwyth and a degree in Agricultural Economics whereupon he decided the last thing he want to be was an Agricultural Economist or indeed take on a 'proper' job.   After three years of self-employment living in the Isle of Man with Pauline Nelson he moved back to live with his parents and entered 'the building trade'. During this time he met and married the Manageress of his local Public House. Matrimony, he says, induced a temporary sense of responsibility for he joined UBM (Builders Merchants) and rose to become Regional Sales Manager with a company car and a nice salary. He was headhunted by a similar firm based in Bristol - better salary, flashier car, more travelling. The selling was easy but all the travelling ruined his marriage. He resigned, moved in with someone else and started life as a bon vivant and bar manager in a hotel in Hampshire. He did not find it very challenging. Thus back to the building trade and General manger of a small company employing 18 people and working mainly on Local Authority refurbishment jobs. This folded for lack of Government funding so he moved to stay with his brother in Cambridge and start another small business renovating town houses and small building projects. It was during this period  10 years ago that he decided he wanted to become a teacher of adults. For the last 9 years he has been working at a private Psychiatric Hospital as a Technical Instructor. His job is to co-ordinate and supervise Work Experience and Skills Development sessions for forensic psychiatric patients within the therapeutic setting of a medium secure environment. His main responsibility is Woodwork. Which brings us back to the beginning. Why Abbotsholme - well, it was because of David Snell and Howard Orme. He took an instant liking to Howard and is eternally grateful. He says he wouldn't swop his time at Abbotsholme for anything. Education at Abbotsholme was never about League Tables and exam grades - sure, the quality of teaching and the facilities were there in abundance but to focus too much on academia would mean missing out on all the other learning opportunities there. He's been married and un-married, settled and unsettled, rich and poor, and travelled to many places. Abbotsholme taught him how to recognise opportunities, how to assess risk, and how to maximise his life. He's settled and satisfied at the moment - must be getting old!

 

Max Reekie (left 1953) has taken over from David Millward as organiser of a very strong re-union group from the early 1950's. They meet at Stourport each year and stay the Saturday night at a local Hotel. In 2002 the group was John Ackerley, John Bohemen, Roger Bolam, Merrick Brown, Colville Coulthard, Michael Curtis, Michael Denny, Roger De Ville, Martin Gee, Philip Hingley, Andrew Hurst, David Millward, John Phillips, John Prew, Jeremy Proctor, David Rubra, Marshall Strong, Anthony Taylor, David Ward and, of course, Max himself. They were kept in order by past staff George and Joan Ladell and James Rees.

 

Susy Reynolds (left 1984) shares a home in London with Rocky Husain. She has gone into property and has a portfolio of properties in London which she rents out to private tenants.

 

Alex Rhys-Hurn (left 1993) We congratulate Alex and his wife, Pam, on the birth of their first child, Rachel, on the 5th October 2002.

 

Chris Rigby (left 1967) wrote to me with this poem on National Poetry Day.

'Come Down to Earth'

Take bone and flesh and both entwine

And turn to mortal, that, which is divine.

How else can souls who meet as such

Really know each others touch?

Come down to earth that we may lie

Together under Heavens sky,

And consummate with sweat and tear

The love that we no longer fear,

 

Tom Rigby (left 1987) wrote, last March, to tell me that his wife, Emma, had given birth to their second child, Samuel Alexander, on the 1st of that month. Tom, himself, has been working very hard for the National Autistic Society. Three years ago he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a form of Autism. After many years of living with a troubled mind, especially during his time at Abbotsholme, all has become clear, and he spends whatever spare time he has working with the Society to increase awareness. In January 2002 he made the opening speech to launch the Society's 40th Anniversary Campaign standing alongside HRH The Princess Royal, Jane Asher and Joanna Lumley. All is going well for him and his family.

 

Justin Ritchie (left 1940) has sent me a note of historical interest. During the latter part of 2002 there had been considerable discussion in the national press concerning the strength of the political relationship between Lady Diana Mosely (née Mitford) and her husband, the late Sir Oswald Mosely. Justin tells me that when the Moselys were being hounded by the British Government Lady Diana fled from London and lived in Wooton Lodge. Her twin sons by her first marriage to one of the Guinness heirs were with her, as was the child she had borne to Sir Oswald. Looking around she felt that Abbotsholme School was as private a place as could be found and thus the Guinness twins joined Abbotsholme in 1940. They didn't stay long as they were whisked away when their mother and stepfather were put in prison. Nevertheless while they were at Abbotsholme other pupils at the time felt some relief as the word was that all Luftwaffe maps had a ring around Abbotsholme with the caption 'Do not Bomb'!

 

Simon Robinson (left 1985) Simon's wife, Laura, gave birth to their daughter, Zena, on January 22nd 2002. He says much sleeping time is lost but they are all well. Simon has sent me a superb video of his canoeing expedition in the Arctic with Steve Lowe in 2001. It was an incredibly impressive adventure and pupils at Abbotsholme much enjoyed seeing it as well.

 

Amy Allison (née Rothera) (left 1996) Congratulations to Amy who has completed her training after 6 years and has enrolled onto the Registrar of Solicitors. She becomes the sixth generation to do so within the family firm. She and Richard are looking to move from Bingham to the Vale of Belvoir.

 

Susanna Roughton (left 1982) has finally got around to recording her news since she left Abbotsholme. She went to Guys Hospital Medical School and qualified in 1989. Somewhere along the line she joined the Army and has been in ever since. She trained as a GP and has worked in Germany, Northern Ireland and England and she currently holds the rank of Major and is due to get promoted soon. Even so she plans to leave the Army soon and travel, perhaps get involved in Operation Raleigh or work for 'Medicin sans Frontieres'. Her main interests are mountain walking, trekking and doing orienteering and mountain marathons. I am pleased to hear that despite this seemingly healthy disciplined lifestyle she still retains the subversive streak and can still behave outrageously if the mood takes her! She is very happy, very fit and quite well off. She is looking for companions to ski with on the 'haute route' in Switzerland (March 2003) and climb the Matterhorn with in August 2003. Get in touch if you are interested. (Ed. e-mail address from me). It was the 'crazy' outdoor education trips at Abbotsholme that have made her so enthusiastic now. She keeps in touch with Kirstin Beaver and has been posted to the same location as George Shapland and also hears Adam Kirtley on the radio. Does anyone else remember the Adam singing the opening lyric to The Lone Ranger and the Rose Garden on Summer evenings in the early 1980's. She was surprised also to find that she spent time with Ashley Rust during his Gap Year work experience with the Logistics Corps in Germany. Christmas 2002 was spent in Bosnia on an operational tour. 

 

Ashley Rust (left 2001) had a gap year as an officer in the Army after leaving school. He is now reading Artificial Intelligence at the University of Durham, his three years being sponsored by the Royal Marines, he joins up with them after University. He is a new member of the Abbotsholmians' Club Committee.

 

Mark Sanders (left 1990) has sold his flat in Winchester and was looking for somewhere in London. He is very busy as he works in Germany during the week at an oil refinery and then spends the weekends in London.

 

Andrew Sayle (left 1998) Congratulations to Andrew who was awarded a 2:1 BA (Hons) in Broadcasting from Falmouth College of Art in 2002.

 

John Scarborough (left 1980) had worked with the promotion of the educational arm of the musical 'Cats'. It was the longest running musical in West End or Broadway history and it was very sad when the run finally came to an end. Afterwards though, John was thrilled to be offered by Sir Cameron Macintosh, the challenge of becoming Education Officer for the whole company. He is now responsible for the educational facilities for their productions in the West End, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and My Fair Lady and also of Miss Saigon on tour. He says his first task was to persuade the powers that be that the performing rights to Les Miserables should be available to schools. It is now the first West End production to be specifically tailored for school productions and was successfully launched at the Cardiff Music Festival in October 2002 with some 90 schools so far applying to produce it. Details can be obtained from www.josef-weinberger.co.uk . He is also establishing two other workshops, one based on My Fair Lady and the other entitled The Phantoms Lair. If you are interested I can give you an e-mail address. At home, Molly grows apace and is the other focus of his life.

 

Tom Selencky (left 2000) tells me that he is currently at South Bank University reading Internet Computing. He passed his first year exams and when he wrote he was working very hard for a major test in programming.

 

Paula Sheppy (left 1985) has bought a new home (described as a yuppie pad!) in Perth. It's very close to the river with gorgeous views. Ideal for her runs/cycles and walks, she says. Most of her energy and money have gone into this move in 2002. So there has been no gallivanting to foreign parts to climb peaks or canoe rapids. Work has been going well and so she is just enjoying 'nesting' in her new home. No doubt Nepal, or somewhere will beckon before too long!

 

Bianca Shevlin (left 1991) tells me that she had a fabulous holiday in Australia with her boyfriend towards the end of 2002. She is still enjoying her work with RAM FM.

 

Eliane Montero (née Simms) (left 1990) married an American nearly three years ago whom she met while on an extended holiday to Florida. Since leaving school she took a Law degree and is now a Civil Servant. She manages a group of administrators on a busy section within the Department of Work and Pensions. She has just completed assessing The Agency for Investors in people and is now a trained assessor for future purposes. She has become an Industrial Mentor and over the New Year was considering joining the promoters of the Prince's Trust Scheme. She thoroughly enjoys her work. At home she says she keeps a mini zoo. She breeds chinchillas, degus (a cross between a squirrel and a chinchilla) and guinea pigs. She also has a hamster and a dog! She is still in touch with old school friends.

 

Matthew Simms (left 1992) worked for some years for one of the best restaurants in the Northampton area, The French Partridge. He now works for Games Workshop and is not married yet but lives happily near his sister with his dog, Tessa.

 

Garn Siributr (left 1980) Last May he opened a diving shop in Bangkok offering full diving courses and local and international trips. It is going well. He is still working as a film producer and all this keeps him both busy and careful. He thinks he is less wild now on his motorbike! In September of 2002 he managed to meet up with Alistair Snell who was there with a BBC crew. They had a wonderful time reminiscing about Abbotsholme. He is also in touch with Neale Turner and Ged Warren. If work goes well he hopes he might be able to holiday in the UK in 2003.

 

Kate Smithers (left 1994) works in conservation. She was working at Rutland Water until January 2002 when she started a new job at Wisbey Nature Reserve near Lincoln.

 

Alistair Snell (left 1980) e-mailed from Romania where he was doing consultancy on the Media part of Citizen's Advice Bureau. He has also been to Nigeria and Thailand on BBC Radio projects and caught up with Garn Siributr in Bangkok. It was the first time they had met for 22 years.

 

David Straker (left 1966) David and his wife, Tereza, visited Abbotsholme in 2002 on their European tour. They had a fine time starting in Rome visiting friends and relations as they toured through Hungary, Romania, the Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Austria before landing in Bristol and making their way to Dorchester to meet up with Tim Lane. Tim arranged for them to buy an old Ford Escort for £75. It took them all over England, taking in his mothers 90th birthday party, and they sold it for £40 before returning home to Rio via Amsterdam. 33 hard but wonderful days.

 

Caroline Swiffen (née Street) (left 1972) celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary in 2002. She is, of course, Chairman of the Abbotsholmians' Club but is also involved in much else with the family business and also local charities. She and her husband, Nigel, have beautifully developed their home, at Conksbury, in the hills outside Bakewell. She admits to a growing fancy for salmon fishing.

 

Anniken Strom (left 1978) has been working with teambuilding and management programmes in Norway and last year was in touch with Philip Poole who is part of the Impact Development Training Group in the UK.

 

Lawton Tang (left 2000) tells me that he is currently reading for a BSc in Multimedia Technology and Applications at London Metropolitan University. He sees quite a few other OA's in London. His plan is to finish University and then apply for his British Passport. He does not yet know how long he will stay in England. He thinks his parents have plans for him to spend some time in Australia.

 

John Tangye (left 1971) writes incredibly, as I said last year, and his pieces are beautifully descriptive. I wish I could find room to put down all he depicts about life in the Philippines. "A few weeks ago I went, as an observer, to a small village, Bangan-Tungol Aeta, driving up a riverbed on a medical mission to this beautiful location decimated by the volcano, Mount Pinatubo, when it last erupted about ten years ago. The people have returned to their homeland, nature has reclaimed the land and the natives struggle desperately to survive. Eating the same food every day with no contact with the outside world apart from one radio and the occasional visitor, the children have nothing to do but play or help their parents as they affectionately tend their crops. There is no education. Local crops are the only food source and money is scarce. Water is from a deep well even though they are on the banks of a river. The river is 200ft below down a sheer cliff path. The houses are made of woven grass, coconut and bamboo, with earthen floors kept meticulously clean, the air is so fresh. I feast my eyes upon the beauty of this devastation that nature has brought back to life:  people, their homes, and an existence that is so simple. Are they not luckier than we, who know all the external hardships? We left home at four o'clock in the morning so that we could arrive at this village before the sun became too hot, taking a doctor and nurse with us, and medical supplies. All the women and children were seen first. The main complaints being pain from the high sulphur diet and a lack of vitamins, lice in everyone and rampant TB in the children. The doctor checked each mother and child giving powdered milk and vitamins. The men wait, their faces full of concern. Children in this community can be married as early as fourteen, some babes in arms not having names. Washing is something that happens when it rains…..and soap…well, what is it? Hair crawls with mites of differing assortments. The doctor encouraged parents to do 'pest control' so they all sit around going through each others hair catching the big game!………….."  "There is a Gecko walking across the mesh at the open window, catching the mosquitoes as they fly to the light in my room. I can see it breathing as it shows me the underside, a side which is not seen usually. The light scales with a dark outer line moving quickly as it breathes, the little tongue darting out to catch the dish of the day as it moves around the mesh, with precision, for another tasty meal. We have some very small, exceedingly ferocious ants living with us and they seem to have an affinity to me. They seem to get everywhere from the desk keyboard, bed to the floor. What with those and the occasional molestation by the friendly mosquitoes, overnight, I can look as if I have the pox! It takes the bites  about three weeks to heal! The cockroaches, rats and mice come out of the flooded sewers so there are 'big game' hunts at night sometimes."…..  " Nadel and I were married of July 16th 2002, the day after the local elections when only 74 people were killed!"

            I can also report happily that their daughter, Mijon, is about six months old and looks a delight. John kindly send me pictures of the babe and also of his wedding to Nadel. They look a picture of health and happiness whatever his stories!

 

Ali Thompson (left 1985) tells me that in October 2001 he arranged an 11-a-side football match in memory of his father. It was Scotland v The Rest of the World. The Rest of the World won 5-3 on penalties with brother Andy scoring the clincher. They raised over £6000 for Imperial Cancer Research and the local hospice. He aimed to repeat the event in 2002 and had already signed up Garry Pavey, who coaches the Royal Marines 1st XI and Georgina Embleton's Dutch husband who Ali hopes can emulate Cruyff!

 

Daniel Thompson (left 1975) has got out of Football 365 and is now retired from full-time employment. He is working with charities and also helps various companies in the media and leisure sectors in a non-executive director/chairman/strategic advisor role. The main charity he is currently involved in is Crimestoppers. He and a friend are helping them with corporate relations - everything from media exposure to fundraising. You can find out all about this charity and how to help by logging on at www.crimestoppers-uk.org .

 

David Thompson (left 1953) has moved from the slopes of the Jura, just North of Geneva, to the Gers countryside some 45Km Southwest of Toulouse, still in France. He tells he the new abode is surrounded by vast fields of corn, sunflower, maize and beans. The woods are full of Roe deer and edible mushrooms, not to mention badgers, foxes, hoopoes, swallowtails and apollos. He doesn't actually say whether or net he enjoys his new surroundings!

 

Paddy Thompson (ex-staff) e-mailed me briefly to say that Ali was taking her on holiday to China! She said Ali was in between jobs. I have not yet heard about the holiday or the new job, but I know I will.

 

Richard Torrance (left 1969) is still an Educational ICT Development Officer with the City of Edinburgh Council and is currently working on a video-conferencing and distance learning pilot project.

 

Catherine Tunnicliffe (left 1996) I think I last reported that Catherine was working for a Chemical Company. She was. It was one specialising in the environment. But after 18 months sampling soil and water she decided there was no future for her in the world of industrial science. Thus she has enrolled onto a PGCE Course at Loughborough University for teaching Secondary Science, specialising in Chemistry. She is really enjoying the course and is looking forward to taking up a teaching appointment in 2003. Her sister, Charlotte, has just been around the world, meeting up with Andrew Bostock in Hong Kong en route to Australia and New Zealand.

 

Lucinda Tunnicliffe (left 1997) graduated in July 2002 from St. Martin's with a first Class Honours degree in Graphic Design and is now looking for the perfect job.

 

Tim Twist (left 1965) had poor health a year ago with pneumonia and an infected gall bladder. Two stays in hospital and an operation put him right and he is drinking again but has given up smoking! His three children have 'flown the nest' and he lives with his partner of 11 years, Jan. Jan is John Collinge's sister. Jan's two children are grown up as well. He is still fishing and is becoming more and more isolationist about it all. Recent trips have needed only a tent and a sleeping bag as major comforts and have taken him to Alaska, Greenland twice, Sweden as often as possible, South Africa, Thailand and Malaysia. He enters lots of fishing competitions both nationally and internationally, his best so far he thinks is 6th in the Lapland World Cup in 1999. If anyone wants to fish with him, get in touch. He was fishing on Tal-y-lyn last year and wished he had known Tony and Joan Price were just around the corner at Abergynolwyn, he would have dropped in. Winter sees him beating and occasionally shooting on one of the Chatsworth Estates. September 1999 saw the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy from the insurance company he had been working for and he set up his own surveying consultancy. He seems to make more money for less work and is his own master. He can't think why he didn't do it years ago!

 

Jake Tyshow (left 1991) has moved to New York and has started work for the prestigious law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell.

 

Yo Dodson (née van Nimwegen) (left 1983) wrote after receiving the last year book to say how sorry she had been to read of the death of Ian Thompson, a sentiment echoed by many other OA's from the 1980's. She particularly recalls his fencing lessons. Also she has vivid, happy memories of Hikes, one with Alan Oatway to Yorksire and the other with the Editor to North Wales where she was made to sleep on an open hillside and swim in the sea in October. This however, she says,  has given her a love of walking and camping and she drags her family out annually to camp or hike. Last Summer she and her husband took their two children aged 11 and 9 walking in the Peak District for the first time. She still wears the boots she had at school and her son uses the rucksack which was provided by the school all those years ago. She hopes to organise a get-together with some of her class-mates, Charles King, Miles Harbot, Kathy Wood, Jane Quartel, etc. (Ed. Does anyone know where Jane Quartel is ?)

 

John van Someren (left 1961)  has become a grandfather and moved from Abu Dhabi. He and Dora are in London at present waiting to see where the next opportunity lies.

 

Tim van Someren (left 1988) was married on September 28th 2002 to Chloe, a television producer. I am told her father is drummer with Pink Floyd. Tim is still a TV director and worked with ITV on the 'Record of the Year' and also featured briefly on Channel 4's 'Faking it' programme. November saw him in Barcelona followed by a pre-Christmas dash to South Africa to film a concert given by Puff Daddy and Alicia Keys to raise awareness of AIDS and HIV. 2003 started with a spell in Singapore directing the MTV Asia Music Awards.

 

Tony Vernon (left 1954) By a strange coincidence I found myself sitting opposite Tony at a dinner in December 2002. I hardly believed it when this stranger announced that he had been at Abbotsholme. (Ed. Well I don't know you all!) What I did find out was that he is Chairman of Murray Vernon Limited, one of our best industries in the field of Importing and Exporting of Manufactured Milk Products.

 

Jeanette Scallan (née Versey) (left 1980) has moved recently but still lives in Dublin. Her husband, John, is an IT instructor and has just obtained his teaching qualification. Their 5 year old son, Benjamin, started school last September and Jeanette is now cutting down from full-time work so that she can be a stay-at-home Mum.

 

David Viles (left 1999) obtained a 2:1 in Sports Science and English Literature at Worcester in 2002. He has played professional rugby for the last three years with Newport, Birmingham & Solihull and Moseley. He is presently with Moseley 1st Team in National Division One. In 2003 he is off to South Africa for 6 months to play and coach rugby. At home he has coached the North Midlands Under 15 side and has also been acting as rugby coach at School.

 

Ellen Walford (left 1996) spent 2001 helping out at a mountain lodge in Malawi and was going, in May 2002, to look after a bush camp for a larger lodge called Kapani in the South Luangwa Valley of that country. She is aiming to get her guiding certificate which would allow her legally to wander through the African bush with a big gun! Her last card to me did mention a large python stationed in the kitchen! Incidentally when back home she visited her mother in hospital and was delighted to find that one of the nurses on the ward was Sarah Roberts (Left 1994). 

 

Roz Finucane (née Walker) (left 1984) and her husband have sent me an up-date on their vineyard in New Zealand. It really is going very well with further expansion planned. They are delighted that their 2001 Reserve Cabernet Merlot was awarded 5 stars and the accolade 'Best New Zealand Red' by an influential magazine. Their wine from Alexander Vineyard at Martinborough is very highly thought of and exports to many countries. If you want something a 'bit special' you can order from 'Fine Wines of New Zealand' in London (Tel: 0207 482 0093) or e-mail Roz and Mike at alexvin@xtra.co.nz .

 

Ralph Wedgwood (left 1936) Ralph tells me he left Abbotsholme at the age of 12 and was sent to Bedales but in 1940 he got a telegram saying that he and his sister were to return home immediately as he was to be 'shipped' to the U.S.A. His grandfather was trying to get as many of the family as possible out of the UK because they were on the German ' black list'. They embarked on a converted Cunard liner and after being attacked off Southern Ireland and making a zigzag crossing of the Atlantic, arrived ten days later in New York. In the U.S.A. they were fortunate to be accepted into Putney School, a new progressive school with many of the same attributes as Abbotsholme and Bedales. At school he met and wooed a beautiful woman who was to become his wife. In 1942, again on a full scholarship and working for his meals, he entered Harvard College and in the Autumn was accepted provisionally by Harvard Medical School. He was married in 1943. Then in 1944 he was drafted into the Army and by great good fortune was sent to Harvard Medical School 'on the State'. He started research and his scientific career began. He graduated in 1947 and then returned two years later for a research fellowship. 1951 saw him called up again, this time to go to Korea. But he made sure he learned from every situation and when he got out of the Army in 1953 he went to Cleveland, Ohio, where the Medical School had a new exciting curriculum and the research opportunities were good. From there on he had what he terms a successful academic career publishing more than 200 papers, being listed in 'Who's Who of America' and 'American men of Science', etc. He enjoyed it all immensely. He worked during the halcyon years of medical research - plenty of funds and good questions. Since retiring several years ago he has given up reading scientific literature and reverted to the humanities. He enjoys the change. He and his wife spend most of the year at their home on Shaw Island, off the North coast of Washington State. They also have a small apartment in Seattle where they spend the Winter and can indulge themselves in symphony, opera and theatre. From 1963 until 1991 he was Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a Professor Emeritus of that University since 1991. He has served with great distinction on all manner of Boards and Committees both at home and abroad.

 

Nina Whiteman (left 1999) has e-mailed me to tell me that she was awarded a 2:1 in Music at Oxford in 2002 and that she is now studying for a Masters Degree in Composition at Manchester University. She says she continues to play the recorder for professional gigs and sings a lot as well. Aside from her MA, her main task this year is writing music for an education project that will travel around schools in the Midlands. Some time is found to 'chill out' in a quality pub!

 

Chris Wicksteed (left 1968) has been working for the last three years for Sema, now known as SchlumbergerSema. He is an Account Manager for some major financial and retail clients. He specialises in the needs of Disaster Recovery and Business Continuation.

 

Nick Wilford (left 1957) has stepped down as Chairman of the Governors of Abbotsholme after 10 years in that post. He joined the Governors first as a parent representative in the early 1980's and has helped to guide the School through a period of enormous change. Perhaps the biggest challenges have been the move away from full boarding and the curriculum changes and inspections bringing the inevitable challenge of league tables for schools. He and his wife, Jane, have served the school superbly. Their two OA offspring, Charles and Kate, both have children of their own, so Nick will be able to contemplate his grandchildren as he does his round of church bell-ringing each Monday evening.

 

Sebastian Witkowski (left 1997) writes to tell me that he is still alive. What is more, he has obtained his Masters Degree in Poland and also an MBA in Sweden. When he wrote, last October, he was doing a 6 month internship with Schwarzkopf-Henkel in Hamburg in their International Marketing Department. He is hoping after that to move to Southern Germany  where his girlfriend lives.

 

Laura Wood (left 2001) has had a really busy and happy first term to her second year at Birmingham Conservatoire where she is doing music. She has been playing in the college orchestra a lot and was auditioned and accepted onto a scheme run by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra which allows her to attend some of their rehearsals and to get free tickets for some of their concerts. She also plays in a brass quintet and has set up an internet site to advertise the quintet for concerts.

 

Chi-Kong Yeung (left 1990) Kong has been thinking hard about the way young people appear to tackle life, both in Hong Kong, and, perhaps, in Universities in the UK. He feels that too few people have real targets in life. He knows that the subtle confidence training at Abbotsholme has enabled him always to cope, even when under great pressure. He sends his appreciative thanks to Abbotsholme and hopes that the School will continue to 'produce' good quality young adults for many years to come. He hopes he can manage a 'pit stop' at Abbotsholme on his travels to Europe soon.