Etcetera 28

Number 28 Spring 2017

Scotland’s Best Building 2016

Editorial

Contents

t’s a great pleasure and privilege to join The Glasgow Academy and be able to introduce myself to you through this highly regarded and well-loved publication.

I have been given permission from the Rector and Malcolm to write this column and edit this issue of Etcetera.

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3 Saunders Centre scoops UK’s richest architecture prize

It is such an exciting time to be part of a school which is steeped in a rich history and has big aims and ambitions for the future.

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The Glasgow Academy in 1916

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The Legacy of Giving

I join the Academy from the UK’s trade association for the pensions industry where, for the past eight years, I was responsible for client relations, commercial activities and communications with members and stakeholders in Scotland. Prior to that I worked as a financial journalist with two titles in London.

4 The Glasgow Academy and the Battle of the Somme

12 Glasgow Academical Club 18 Westbourne Section 21 Glasgow’s golfing Olympian

I am delighted to be taking on this new challenge and working in the External Relations team as the new Director of Development. It’s also a particularly exciting time for my family as my wife and I have enrolled our four-year-old son to begin his Academy journey from Prep 1 in August this year.

22 Professor Ronald Drever - causing more than a ripple in Physics

I’ve spent much of my first few weeks getting to know staff, governors, parents and pupils and I have been made to feel extremely welcome by all. It seems impossible to predict what is going to happen on any given day as no two days have been the same since I joined at the beginning of the year.

26 Announcements

I would like to wish my predecessor, Mark Taylor, all the very best in his new role as Director of Alumnae Relations and Development at Roedean School in Brighton.

Mark achieved so much in his time at the Academy, most notably the instrumental part he played in the creation of the Saunders Centre. Mark made many friends in this role and hopes to keep in touch and return to Academy events when he can.

38 Tributes to Ian MacGregor

This edition of Etcetera reflects on the Academy’s involvement in the First World War and, in particular, the Battle of the Somme. It also contains the regular features such as updates, events and reunions and pays special tributes to notable Accies we have lost during 2016.

2017 looks set to be a busy year with lots of new pupils joining the Academy after the summer, with many events and activities planned in between.

I very much hope to meet you soon!

Best wishes

s.dignall@tga.org.uk Steven Dignall

Mark Taylor

24 Meetings, get-togethers and reunions 30 Obituaries 32 Remembering Ronnie Woods 39 Dear Sir…

Do we have your e-mail address?

It’s how we communicate best!

Keeping in touch The External Relations office is situated in Colebrooke Terrace. Former pupils are always welcome to pop in for a chat and look round the school. Just give us a call to arrange a time.

Our address is Colebrooke Terrace, Glasgow G12 8HE and you can contact us on 0141 342 5494 or at exrel@tga.org.uk The Glasgow Academical Club 21 Helensburgh Drive, Glasgow G13 1RR President: John Mason E-mail: john.mason@jcca.co.uk The Academical Club pavilion is available for functions.

Academical Club’s London Section President – Karen Greenshields, 20 Cadogan Place London SW1X 9SA Tel: 020 7235 9012 E-mail: karen.greenshields@gap-group.co.uk Like us on Facebook; join us on LinkedIn

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Cover photo of the Saunders Centre. Photographer Andrew Lee

Saunders Centre scoops UK’s richest architecture prize

Bryan Duncan, Lead Governor of the Sci-Tech Project, reports on the road to success of The Saunders Centre.

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he Glasgow Academy’s newest building has won the Best Building in Scotland for 2016.The Saunders Centre was awarded the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland’s Andrew Doolan prize, presented by Scotland’s Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop at the National Museum of Scotland in November.

The £15m project was part-funded by a £750,000 donation bequeathed by Lt Col Francis Saunders, who was Scotland’s oldest man when he died in 2013.This splendid new addition to our campus is an elegant and subtle enhancement of the streetscape. Like many things in life, a decent gestation period (3-5 years), a sound financial plan, collaboration with all stakeholders; and an excellent and highly committed project team, have afforded the opportunity to fully realise any potential – a building that transforms the way the Academy delivers education, providing inspiring facilities for generations of students and staff.

Our history of building has seen at least four new builds over 20 years. But this time it had to be different, as for the first time, the Academy was “breaking out” of its historical west end campus and into the immediate neighbourhood.

On the back of opening a new Preparatory School building in 2008 and then being able to acquire blocks of structurally unsound tenement flats on the corner of Colebrooke Street and Colebrooke Place (directly opposite the school’s Main Building), the Board of Governors wished to take stock. A 2020

vision was considered, compiled and communicated – the essence of which is: ‘to do more for all our children by advancing our sport, arts, science, learning & teaching’.

Any new building was to embody these aspirations which in turn led to a wider consideration of the campus. Page\ Park were appointed to develop in conjunction with the school fraternity a development framework. Following close liaison with Glasgow City Planning, a plan emerged to demolish and replace the old tenements with a fit-for-purpose Science Building.

Given the prominence of the site and its proximity to Great Western Road, the plan developed to deliver a sophisticated building akin to University labs and facilities. Major application status was adopted as a methodology (the building is only 3500sq.m) given the neighbourhood and local statutory bodies/civic trusts.

This was a welcomed step and ensured that best practice consultation occurred.

Page\Park were appointed as scheme architects and the framework was lodged with the Council. A number of open evenings and events were held, together with dialogue with all local politicians, and consent was granted in summer 2012.

The students and staff played a particularly important role in designing this building, both through regular consultations with the Pupil School Council and through focus groups of student volunteers who contributed their ideas to Page\Park. Spaciousness, flexibility, extensive use of glass, and study and social/networking areas have governed the front elevation of the building. At its heart is a 175-seat

multi-purpose auditorium offering a hi-tech performance space for theatrical, musical and public events, enhancing the Academy’s relationship with the West End community around. It offers permanent raked seating, superb acoustics and state-of-the-art audio/visual technology, including 3D Cinema – used as an important teaching aid with over 300 3D educational programmes available.

The ground floor incorporates a teaching kitchen and on each upper floor, four general teaching labs, together with a sixth year lab, arranged along a glazed break-out. An informal array of seating in these gathering spaces encourages chance meetings.

Perhaps insignificant on their own but truly significant in combination are the great number of small design details, such as, clean Scandinavian-styled interior finishes, use of washed oak throughout, large format porcelain tiles, arbo flooring, iguzzini light fittings, skyframe doors leading to the rear garden space, techcrete polished and etched facades, use of krion in bathrooms and a comprehensive signage package including an alumni gallery spanning 150 years.These all help support a wonderful building.

As one 14-year-old pupil said: “The new building has made a massive difference.The atmosphere helps you study. Everything works exactly as it should. Definitely worth the money!”

If you would like to arrange a visit to The Academy and a tour of the Saunders Centre, we would be delighted to see you.

Please get in touch with our External Relations team on 0141 342 5494.

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The Glasgow Academy and the Battle of the Somme Simon Wood, Head of History at The Glasgow Academy, reports on the Officer Training Corps, recruitment and the involvement of Academicals in the 17th Highland Light Infantry during the Battle of the Somme.

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t seems appropriate, 100 years after the event, to reflect on the involvement of The Glasgow Academy in the First World War, and particularly of one unit in the Battle of the Somme. Context is important and it is true to say that the links between the school and the armed forces were strong.The most obvious way into the army was through the Officer Training Corps, which we know today as the Combined Cadet Force. By 1914 this had been functioning for a number of years. Founded in 1901 according to The Chronicle of October 1901. Its first official parade took place on 27 January in 1902. 111 boys enrolled in the Corps and undertook drill twice a week. In the early days of the Corps, help was provided by members of what were known as the Volunteer detachments, especially the 1st Volunteer detachment of the Highland Light Infantry. These volunteer detachments were very popular in Scotland before the war and they were a place where the middle and upper classes would do their soldiering coupled with extensive socialising.The historian,Trevor Royle, talks about this connection in his book Flowers of the Forest, about Scotland and the Great War. The reorganisation of the British army with the Haldane Reforms, brought in after the lessons of the Boer War, these Volunteer units were reorganised in 1908 and became the Territorial Army. As a result there was a change in status and the name of the Cadet Corps became the ‘Glasgow Academy Contingent, Officers Training Corps; Junior Division’.This change in status led to the Corps coming under direct War office control.The aim of the Corps was clearly to train cadets to a standard that would enable them to become officers in the Territorial Army or Special Reserve. To this end an examination called Certificate A was introduced. It was in two parts: one part practical and the other part written.The exam was clearly testing. By 1914 only 17 Cadets from the Contingent had

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Major John Young, Commander of B company

gained the Certificate, although it must be remembered that this was the highest number in Scottish schools.

Between 1908 and 1914 annual camps were held at Barry as well as two or three Field Days taking place each year. Many members of the contingent went on to serve in regular battalions during the First World War.The increased militarisation of the school can be seen in the numbers in the Cadet Contingent: in June 1914 it was 149; by June 1919 348 were members.The number of Cadets who took officer commissions grew year on year. By April 1916, 213 ex-members of the Contingent had been commissioned while 56 were serving in the ranks. By the end of the war, approximately 500 members had been commissioned.

And what of the contribution of Academicals to the actual fighting. Well there is too much to tell in many ways.

Academicals joined up in large numbers and joined numerous units. There is a book worth of material waiting to be researched here, so I am just going to concentrate on the influence of Academicals and the Highland Light Infantry. Many Academicals were Territorial soldiers and members of the 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry,

which was also known as the Glasgow Highlanders. Over 90 Academicals fought in its ranks.

However, I am going to look in detail at a unit which became known as the 17th Battalion Highland Light Infantry. In fact this unit’s origins lie in the great volunteering that took place from August 1914. The City of Glasgow recruited a number of battalions; the 1st Glasgow, which was mainly drawn from the Tramway employees of the city; and the 2nd Glasgow, which was recruited from former members of the Boy’s Brigade. However, other city institutions were stirring themselves and at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce Directors, held on 3 September 1914, it was unanimously resolved to form a Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Battalion, which became known as ‘The Chamber of Commerce Battalion, 3rd Glasgow’. This became known as the 17th (Service) Battalion Highland Light Infantry. No time was wasted and recruitment began in earnest. ‘A’ company was speedily recruited and was composed mainly of Technical College students; however, ‘B’ company, enlisted in its ranks pupils of the City Schools including the High School, Glasgow Academy and others. The Commander of B Company was given to Major J R Young, an Academical. The battalion trained Major John Young, Commander of B company (pictured) at Gailes before travelling from Troon to Shropshire and Codford.They arrived in France in November 1915 moving up to the front on the 24th of that month. Their first casualty was sustained on 4 December but their first significant action was a successful trench raid south of the small village of Thiepval on 23 April 1916.Thirteen prisoners were captured and enemy dug outs were bombed [or had grenades thrown down them].

The trench raid was led by an Accie: Lieutenant A. J. Begg who was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery. The

O

ne of the ‘pals’ Battalions which went over the top on the morning of 1 July 1916 was 16th Battalion The Highland Light Infantry. A number of Glasgow Academicals served in that unit.

Three of them - 2Lt RS Brown of St Vincent Street; 2Lt JA Gemmill of Dargarvel Avenue, Dumbreck; and Pte JKP Rankin (home address not listed on the CWGC website) - lost their lives that fateful day. 16 HLI was the Glasgow Boys Brigade Battalion. So I think we may infer that many of the men in that one thousand man Battalion would have known, probably word perfect, the words of the Boys Brigade hymn. Whenever I have accompanied soldiers or cadets on battlefield tours of the Somme, I have stood with them under the huge Thiepval memorial to the missing, and as part of a memorial service read out the words of that hymn.The Thiepval memorial is very close to where they went over the top. As the words echo around the memorial, I imagine that those words went through the minds of some of those men as they waited for the whistles to blow. I also imagine that the words went through the minds of some of the survivors. By the time the Battalion came out of the line on the evening of 3 July, their casualties totalled 20 officers and 534 other ranks.

Revd Alen McCulloch (1980) Retired Army Chaplain

Boys Brigade Hymn The names of those who fell and those whose bodies cannot be found are carved onto the facings of the memorial. Among them are Academicals like William Mercer Alexander who died on 1 July 1916 attacking at Thiepval.

first major action the unit was involved in was the first day of the Somme.

This was the first time the 17th HLI were to go ‘over the top’. I calculate at least 44 Academicals fought in the 17th HLI. Of this group, 22 died with 11 falling on the 1 July 1916. Therefore Academicals are involved on the day when the British army suffered the highest number of casualties it has ever suffered on one day. The 17th HLI were attacking just south of Thiepval and we know a lot about the attack from the battalion history. They took their first trench, the Leipzig trench, easily enough but found the next target tougher to take. When advancing against the Hindenburg trench, by 8:15 all company officers were dead or injured. B and D companies had effectively been annihilated; by 9 o’clock the Battalion casualties amounted to 22 officers and over 400 other ranks. Throughout the day they underwent horrific bombardment and two determined counter attacks but they held their own and were relieved by the Manchesters in the afternoon and evening. The Battalion history correctly points out that, ‘The 17th HLI was the only Battalion which reached and occupied and held the enemies’ trenches from La Boiselle northwards’. The author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, who lost his son in the war, Arthur Conan Doyle, writing of the Somme himself said: “In the desperate circumstances it might well be considered a remarkable result that a stretch of the Leipzig Redoubt should be won and permanently held by the Highlanders, especially by the 17th Highland Light Infantry.” Subsequently the unit served at Beaumont Hamel before moving north to Ypres and the battle of Passchendaele.

Eventually the 17th was broken up in 1918 and its men distributed among other HLI units. The huge sacrifice of men during the Battle of the Somme is commemorated in the massive memorial, designed by Edward Lutyens at Thiepval today.

1 Will your anchor hold in the storms of life, when the clouds unfold their wings of strife?

When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain, will your anchor drift, or firm remain?

[Refrain:] We have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll; fastened to the Rock which cannot move, grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love!

2 Will your anchor hold in the straits of fear, when the breakers roar and the reef is near?

While the surges rave, and the wild winds blow, shall the angry waves then your bark o’erflow?

[Refrain] 3 Will your anchor hold in the floods of death, when the waters cold chill your latest breath?

On the rising tide you can never fail, while your anchor holds within the veil.

[Refrain] 4 Will your eyes behold through the morning light the city of gold and the harbour bright?

Will you anchor safe by the heavenly shore, when life’s storms are past for evermore?

[Refrain] Priscilla J. Owens

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The Glasgow Academy in 1916

D

uring the school year of 1916/17, 710 boys attended The Glasgow Academy aged between 6 and 17 years old. The overriding impact on the way of life of the school was the impact of the First World War. Yet school life went on and we can see this particularly through the school magazine: Glasgow Academy Chronicle.

‘We owe it to those who have given their lives for us - the flower of our youth, the hope and promise of the future - that their supreme sacrifice shall not be in vain.’

The war was ever present but school life went on; classes were taught and sporting fixtures fulfilled. Plays were undertaken with the major school production that year being The Mock Trial. This play imagined the theft of Cleopatra’s needle

by Julius Caesar, who was subsequently murdered by Caius Cassius, who was then put on trial (pictured). Witnesses included Pompey, Ptolemy, Alexander the Great, Brutus and Cicero. This Classical Extravaganza was well received with even the dress of the unfortunate boy, a certain J M Mackay who had to be Cleopatra, complimented as being “excellent”.

The Academy had a thriving debating society and photographic club at that time as well as a keen Rambling Association undertaking walks to Lennox town, over the Kelvin and to ‘The Whangie’. The photographic club did a series of stimulating talks, demonstrations and exhibitions throughout the year.

There was a strong representation in sport with many regular winter fixtures playing rugby association football. The Academy had a good first XV at the time with only two losses that season and a thumping win of 57 points to nil over Stewart’s College. The Second XV did not fare so well, though there was a keen internal competition between the school houses of that time: North,West, South and Hill. There was an extensive summer games programme with cricket, tennis, swimming and athletics. The cricket team was not bad, winning notable victories over Glasgow University, Morrison’s and Royal High School, but there was no hiding from the commentary written in The Chronicle after one particularly bad defeat against Glenalmond when the school scored 15 runs against Glenalmond’s 71. The commentary read that‘terribly bad running between wickets made this defeat worse than it might have been, but the batting was also extremely feeble.’

The Rector in 1916 was Edwin 6

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Temple, who became Rector after the long-serving Donald Morrison. Temple was Rector between 1899 and 1932. He was the son of a Scottish Episcopalian Clergyman, born in Strathtay Perthshire and educated at Glenalmond College, Fettes then Pembroke College Cambridge. He was appointed Rector of The Glasgow Academy at the ripe old age of 31.

The school seems to have been his life in more ways than one. His portrait used to hang on the upper gallery, facing the War Memorial that enshrined the names of the Academicals who gave lives for their country in the First World War. Most of the men named on that wall would have been taught by him. He knew his boys and they did not forget him. A rather wonderful description of him was left by Andrew Robertson, master between 1898 and 1934.

‘Dr Temple was a man of great natural dignity, but he certainly assumed no grand airs, and was, indeed, very modest and unpretentious.

He was invariably well groomed, in a lounge suit of clerical grey, which in some mysterious way always seemed to be brand new, with a white shirt, stiff white collar and a dark bow

tie, so that sartorially, as in all other ways, he set us a fine example. A great friend of the Academy boys, he was most unwilling to believe that any of them had done wrong, and where there was doubt the boy always got the benefit of it. Boys of course had to be reprimanded, but he reprimanded them most gently, almost jokingly, as when he would say, ‘Up on the form, Herriot, up on the form’.

One boy was told he was, ‘An imp, a gnome, a sprite, a goblin’, by nature good-tempered, he was seldom angry or harsh.’

The war intruded on school life in a number of ways. The boys raised considerable money for a variety of war-related causes ranging from the Scottish Women’s Hospital to Belgian Relief to the Red Cross and Prisoners of War. Most money raised went to help in the production of warm woollen mittens and an ‘Academy Ladies Work-Party’ had become expert knitters and seamstresses by 1916, with the school producing so-called ‘Fearnought’ gloves for the navy.

Under the watchful eye of the head of Prep, the formidable Miss MacCallum, the school had produced 3,908 pairs by June of 1916. The school received letters thanking them for the efforts from no less

a person than Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, who wrote from his ship, HMS Iron Duke, that year, ‘thank you for your letter of 21 March, enclosing examples of gauntlets made by the ladies of the Glasgow Academy Working Party, which have been sent to the crews of Destroyers and other small craft, The gloves are excellently made and very suitable for use in the fleet, will you please assure the ladies who have worked so hard for the comfort of the men of the fleet that their kindness is very greatly appreciated.’

There were strong connections between the school and the armed forces. In 1916 the so called effectives in the Officer Training Corps numbered 139. In 1909 there were only 56. These boys could expect commissions in the British armed forces and so they did. These were in predominantly Scottish units though there were a smattering of Academicals in the Australian and New Zealand Corps showing the sinews of Empire / work and the military in action.

It is no surprise to find essays in The Chronicle from Accies who served and fought in the war. During the course of 1916 there were thoughts from those Accies who participated in Gallipoli, the Battle of Jutland [one Accie was surgeon-probationer on HMS Sparrowhawk]and even those who experienced the Easter Rising in Dublin.

What is surprising is the remarkably frank and honest accounts that are given. For example here is a short piece from one account on life on the Western Front; ‘It’s a great life out here, mud and more mud everywhere. We have done two spells in the fire trenches and already feel like seasoned veterans, but, of course, in reality we have any amount of experiences to learn and hardships to undergo. When we go up to the trenches we are laden so that we can hardly stagger along.

All goes well for a few yards and then the guide goes splash into liquid mush and water up to his knees, and we follow of course, we all follow, slipping and stumbling, splashed with mud and water and to the accompaniment of shells humming over, or the ping of a bullet as it strikes the parapet of the trench.’

died during that battle, with 13 dying on the first day of the battle. Of these 12 were from either the 16th or 17th Highland Light Infantry. The lists of Deaths on service in The Chronicle of October 1916 are truly awful to read: 46 names as well as those of their grieving parents are listed.

The school made great efforts to track down Accies who were serving in the forces and the Academical Club, though many activities were stopped, took an active interest, noting that at least 1,000 old Academy boys were serving in His Majesty’s forces by 1916. Great pride was taken in the War Honours that were won by ex-pupils and they make an impressive read, ranging from the Victoria Cross to the Distinguished Service Cross to being mentioned in despatches. All was placed in the front pages of The Chronicle.

I finish on the following note: while there was commitment to the forces and to war there was still time for compassion and ordinary life at school. The Academy prize giving continued as normal, as did sports day, which included the splendidly named Place ‘Kick’ Open event, won by CWL Duncan in 1916. Yet even in 1916 there was an appreciation that the past and the future were interlinked. One small way that exists today is the fact that in 1916 Lieutenant A. D. Laird of the 17th HLI died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He was an Accie and ex school captain in 1906-7 and skipper of the Glasgow Academicals 1st XV Rugby

team before the war. On his death Laird left a gift of £20 to the Glasgow Academy which was to be banked and used in the following manner. ‘Out of the above sum a Cricket Bat is to be presented to the boy who scores 100 or more runs in one innings while playing for the 1st XI, no boy to get more than one bat per season.’ We still follow this tradition today, though the lucky winner now gets £100 to buy a new bat. This is followed by this quote, ‘Besides the above bequest, made by one who was thinking of the happy years he has spent at the Academy and in the cricket field, his parents and brothers desire to found a prize in his memory, to be competed for at the Annual Sports, and to be known as the Arthur D Laird Prize. The exact details of this have not yet been fixed, but we take the opportunity of acknowledging with gratitude both the bequest and the prize.’ The prize was created and was first presented in 1921 for the winner of the 100 yards race at school sports day.

It is still in use today.

In 1916 The Chronicle noted that, ‘We owe it to those who have given their lives for us - the flower of our youth, the hope and promise of the future - that their supreme sacrifice shall not be in vain.’ I can think of no better words and it is to the credit of that generation that they are remembered in the fine institution that is The Glasgow Academy.

Simon Wood

However, nothing was going to anticipate the huge loss of life and impact of the Battle of the Somme on the school. By the end of the year The Chronicle was recognising that, ‘In the great struggle the Academy has again suffered keenly’ and the casualty lists recorded in The Chronicle grow longer as the year progresses. These lists were dominated by casualties from the Battle of the Somme. 56 Academicals Etcetera

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Commentary

We are all Flourishing

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think my article on the connection between Glasgow Academy and the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) was indeed timely, a fortiori as not only following Hugh Barrow’s two articles in previous editions and now sandwiched between the two Cameronian-biased ones of Simon Wood and Jimmy Murray (Etcetera No. 27).

In fact I think Simon Wood’s article vindicates my claim of more Accies having been in the Highland Light Infantry (HLI) than in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). What I have to concede, however, is that most of the talented Accie rugby players of the era seem to have gravitated towards the Cams. At least in the 2nd World War the HLI could claim the great Herbert Waddell who served with distinction in the 11th HLI. Finally, in his article Simon Wood mentions the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th HLI. The 8th HLI, unlike the 8th Cameronians, had an undistinguished war. Not having enough volunteers to serve abroad it never left British shores.

The battalion he perhaps ought to have mentioned was the 9th HLI (Glasgow Highlanders) who as I remarked in my previous article were detached from 157 (HLI) Brigade in November 1914 and sent to France where they fought valorously till the Armistice. On mobilization and subsequently when frequently reinforced over the next four years of grim attrition warfare the Glasgow Highlanders were strongly officered by Glasgow Accies.

Colin Winter (1962) late The Royal Highland Fusiliers

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ompiled from the almost daily letters home and a diary written in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, We are all Flourishing is a remarkable first-hand account of one man’s service during 1914-19. Former Pupil Walter Coats (1901-1905) was an officer with the 9th Highland Light Infantry (Glasgow Highlanders) - one of the first territorial battalions dispatched to the Western Front. Anticipation builds from mobilisation in August 1914, through intensive training in and around Dunfermline, up to eventual embarkation for France the following November. Sent into action,Walter describes winter days and nights in open trenches equipped with kilts and ordinary-issue footwear. As battalion machine gun officer, he participated in the Battles of Neuve-Chapelle, Loos and Arras; the Third Battle of Ypres and the Somme - notably at High Wood in July 1916, where the Highlanders were almost wiped out, losing over 800 men killed, wounded and missing. In between the big battles and line-holding in less active sectors, we hear tales of ordinary trench routine, training, sudden movements, billeting expeditions, billets and interactions with the local populace.

Walter’s story is also one of amusing anecdotes, descriptions of wartime entertainments and humorous verse that reflects how morale was maintained in times of unrelenting terror and occasional boredom.

In 1917, torn between battalion loyalty and a promise to his family to take on ‘safer’ employment,Walter is transferred to 100th Infantry Brigade Staff - his subsequent experience providing rare insights into a staff captain’s life and

responsibilities.This part of his account also sheds new light on the mid-level command administration of the British Expeditionary Force and the consequent daily challenges that, more often than not, affected the life-or-death situations encountered on the battlefield.While Walter’s life was still fraught with personal danger and narrow escapes, his kindness and consideration to officers and men, love of family and dry sense of humour continue to shine through.Walter’s story is illustrated with an impressive array of images and maps. Compiled and edited by his great-nephew, Jan Chojecki - and co-edited by military historian Michael LoCicero - We are all Flourishing is a comprehensive and moving work offering new and unique insights into life at the sharp end of conflict and on the Home front.

For more details of the book, please visit www.helion.co.uk

The Legacy of Giving Generations of deserving Academy pupils have benefited from the generosity of former pupils and others whose gifts have made it possible for them to receive a first-class education. Such gifts are a very important source of income to the school; they allow The Academy to invest in new facilities and to provide bursary support to families who need help with fees.

A bequest for any amount, large or small, can have a real impact on our future development and success, and can be a lasting contribution to the education of future generations, memorialising in perpetuity – should you wish – your name or that of a loved one.

Gifts made to bodies with charitable status such as The Glasgow Academicals’ War Memorial Trust are tax exempt. A legacy gift can take the form of cash, stocks, shares or property and making a bequest to The Academy could reduce the tax paid on your estate. We will ensure your gift is used for the purposes which you specify.

Ian Carswell Hood

Kelvin Foundation

A very significant gift from the estate of Ian Carswell Hood (1947), specifically earmarked for a significant project, has ensured work will begin on creating a new first-class nursery on the site of the former Newlands Bowling Club. The Glasgow Academy Newlands Nursery will open in August 2017 with thanks to the generosity of Ian in remembering his old school.

All members of our community who pledge or make a legacy gift to The Academy are invited to join our Kelvin Foundation.

The Foundation meets for lunch with the Rector each Autumn Term when members are updated on school successes, plans and developments. If you would like to learn more about the Kelvin Foundation, please contact Steven Dignall on 0141 342 5494 or via S.Dignall@tga. org.uk

Ian attended The Academy from 1935 until 1947. He joined the Army under national service in 1948 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1949. He left the Army in 1950 and joined his father’s firm John Hood and Co which dealt in non-ferrous metal.

Ian was a very active sportsman and played badminton for Glasgow and also won the Scottish tennis club championship while playing for Titwood tennis club. He married his wife Shirley in 1955 and set up home in Newton Mearns, Glasgow and although Ian dedicated himself to building and expanding the business he still found time to pursue sporting interests with Shirley and enjoyed gardening and dog walking.

Ian and Shirley were both very keen salmon anglers and travelled to Sutherland to fish loch Dionard and to Perthshire to fish the river Tay, and also enjoyed many weekends in the house they had built in Gatehouse of Fleet. Sadly in 1995 Shirley died of cancer after a short illness. Ian continued to fish for many years at the river Tay with fellow Glasgow Accies Kenneth Munro, Alistair Stirret, Alistair Headrick and Duncan Stang who all enjoyed many successful trips. Ian lived independently in his house in Newton Mearns before admitting himself to the Accord hospice, Paisley where he died six days later after fighting a long battle with cancer.

Ian’s memory will also live on through the Saunders Centre with one of the Chemistry Labs on the third floor named after him.

Named Bursary funds

A number of former pupils have made or pledged legacy gifts to enable a deserving and talented youngster to benefit from a Glasgow Academy education. A six-figure sum is required to establish a new memorial Bursary fund in your name – or in the name of a loved one. If you would like to learn more about giving a young person the chance to benefit from an Academy education through a legacy gift, please get in touch and we will be happy to discuss your wishes in confidence.

Every gift to The Academy makes a difference

Every gift is sincerely appreciated. You don’t have to leave a huge sum to make a big impact on the quality of our facilities or the reach of our Bursary fund. Gifts soon add up to ensure that, collectively, we can make a massive difference to the quality of the education provided at Kelvinbridge, Milngavie and Dairsie.

Want to make a difference to The Glasgow Academy?

The Academy recruits new Governors on an ongoing basis and we are seeking expressions of interest from those who can make a difference.

New Governors are elected to the Board at the Annual General Meeting each November.

As a Governor, you will play a pivotal role in helping the Chairman and the Senior Leadership Team set the strategic direction of The Academy.

Your role will be to ensure the education provided is of the highest quality and resources are used most effectively. We strive to nurture our young people, enabling them to develop confidence and a spirit of ‘can do, will do’. We have high expectations and encourage our pupils to work hard and to be the very best they can be.

You don’t need to be an expert in education. You will have an enquiring mind and a commitment to helping us maintain and improve the high standards of all aspects of The Academy. You will receive training and support to help you in this role.

We are keen to ensure our Board reflects the diversity of The Glasgow Academy community.

We want to hear from people with a diverse range of skills, backgrounds and knowledge who are keen to make a difference.

Your commitment would involve attendance at up to six board meetings a year. You will be a member of one of the Board’s sub-committees and take part in the wider Academy life.

Please note this role is non remunerated.

If you are interested in being considered for the Board of Governors, please send your supporting statement setting out your interest and suitability for this role in the first instance by Friday 28 April 2017 to: Thomas W Gemmill Secretary to the Board The Glasgow Academy, Colebrooke Street, Glasgow G12 8HE,

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9

Travel nostalgia!

B

udget airlines and their cheap fares have transformed travel opportunities to Europe and beyond. Mainland Europe involves 1-2 hours flying time from most UK airports.

Some 50 or so years ago air travel was a luxury – and travelling to Europe was a bit more complicated - see below.

It was April 1962 when, armed with my British Visitor’s Passport (cost 10/6 or £0.525!!), and simple suitcase I joined with a party of other 11 – 12-year-old Academy boys at Central Station to travel by overnight train to London.This was a school trip to Paris and the Loire under the supervision of Mr and Mrs Morty.

Fond farewells from anxious parents and we were off - not much sleep I recall in the four-berth compartments, too much chatting and excitement.

After arrival at Euston the next morning we were transported somewhere for breakfast (perhaps a Lyons Corner House) and then to London Victoria for the next leg – a train to Dover then the cross-channel ferry to Calais. A somewhat turbulent crossing on the SS Invicta (Clyde built and a survivor of Dunkirk) followed - I recall just managing to avoid the sea-sickness that seemed to affect so many other passengers.

Next was a train to Paris – austere carriages pulled by a steam engine to Amiens, then a change to a fast electric locomotive that sped us on to Paris - all very exciting for those of us interested in trains! It must have been a very tired appearing group of children that was presented to the hotel that evening.

It was a tall, thin hotel with a mixture of normal and French-style toilets (which caused much comment amongst us!) - no en suite bathrooms in these days and we slept four to a room, I think. From our bedroom window we looked down on the street where there were numerous quite old-fashioned looking green and cream buses with open rear platforms.

Much to our childish amusement on the side of these buses were adverts for an orange drink called Pschittt! Opposite the hotel was a café with a pinball machine and we somehow managed to get to play on it with our (old) francs and centimes.

At that time there were terrorist problems in France from Algerian separatists – so

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plans to go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe had to be cancelled; French army soldiers were stationed there.The Champs Elysees, the Louvre and the Sacré Coeur at Montmartre featured in our tour but not the Eiffel Tower.We travelled on the Metro – which was a bit different from the Glasgow Subway that we were familiar with! On the Sunday of our visit we attended a church service in the Scottish Church in Paris.

We were then transported to tours by coach for two or three days where we visited chateaux at Chambord and Chenonceaux - so much of the history of these places would have gone over our young heads at the time but the image of their architecture has stayed with me over the years.The helical staircase at Chambord and the grandeur of Chenonceaux built out over the river - I still even have a half-decent print of the latter taken then with my Brownie 127 camera (more nostalgia!).

After that it was back to Paris briefly. A day or two more enjoying croissants and jam for breakfast then the return journey involving the train journeys and the ferry – again with a lively crossing.These were the early days of the then new-fangled transistor radio and we heard from someone on the ferry that Scotland were beating England 2-0 at Hampden Park as

we headed back to UK reality.

It would be interesting to hear of any memories from others who recall that trip. Looking back it really was quite an undertaking and a responsibility for the Blacks to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their young charges which they managed impeccably. In those days I imagine there was a much more pragmatic approach to risk and travel – and probably not too many risk assessment and health and safety forms to complete.

Perhaps most importantly the adventure provided us all with a sense of adventure and an exposure to another culture stimulating interest in things French for some or all those who went. My experience of that trip undoubtedly contributed to my ongoing Francophiliia.

In driving to Southwest France this year I took the chance to re-visit the Chateaux of Chenonceaux and Chambord this year with my wife. It made me reflect on that 1962 trip and prompted me to draft this brief memoir of the trip.

Arriving in Paris by a direct 1-2 hour flight seems a rather dull way of travelling in comparison.

Alastair Smith Sway, Hampshire, 1955-1967

Chief Petty Officer Hoskins

M

ention of the above named in the last edition of Etcetera brought back a vivid memory.

In July 1958 the RN Section of the School CCF held its annual training camp at HMS Drake the Royal Navy shore base at Plymouth. During one of the morning sessions I was a Leading Sailor in charge of six cadets attending a lecture on navigation buoys given by a regular RN Lieutenant. Also in the class were about 10 regular leading seamen.

Every time he asked the class a question it was always an Academy boy who had his hand up first and regularly he provided the correct answer.

I could sense some tension arising and eventually the Lieutenant called out: “Who is in charge of these cadets?”

I called out: “I am, sir!”

“How is it that these boys know all these answers?”

“We are taught by a Chief Petty Officer who comes into the school on Monday afternoons from the local RNVR unit,” I replied.

“Who is he?” he demanded.

“Chief Petty Officer Hoskins,” I replied.

“Hoskins, Hoskins, are you sure?”

“Yes, sir.That is his name, I am certain,” I said.

There was an audible gasp from the regular sailors. “Do you know that he was the Chief Gunnery Instructor at Chatham, the equivalent to a Regimental Sergeant Major in the Guards and a strict disciplinarian?” he replied.

This information rapidly went round the shore base and for the rest of the week the Academy Cadets were given a bit more respect.

The following summer Major Carruthers mentioned that the Naval Section’s drill was a bit sloppy.This didn’t go down well with CPO Hoskins and we soon learned on the parade ground what strict disciplinarian really meant. Ah, happy days!

Alasdair Graham

Frankie Parkes: setting the record straight?

Dear Etcetera I was a bit taken aback by John Macnab’s recollections of Frankie Parkes. John appears to have been several years later than me in his Accie career, and maybe Frankie had mislaid his matador cloak (ermm, teacher’s plain black issue gown) by the time The Macnab passed his way. He must have been approaching retirement in any case; 30 years separated my dad’s time from my time at The Academy but we shared at least three teachers: Baggy, the dread Geordie Preston, and Frankie - who mysteriously was dubbed ‘Freddie’ in my dad’s day.

I remember a former school pal suggesting Frankie as a good case for reminiscences. He was certainly an impressive Maths teacher, in that (like in teaching a jazz riff) he slowed down the unfamiliar first moves of differential calculus. “To x take a small increment dx”

‘Jock’ I was delighted to receive the latest edition of Etcetera with many lovely appreciations of those who had known ‘Jock’ over the years when he had been in Glasgow Academy. In fact I had wondered about the possibility of a memorial service of thanksgiving in the school after learning that the family members had requested for a private funeral. So I was delighted to learn from the Etcetera that you held a memorial/ thanksgiving at the end of June.

This is an event I would have loved to attend but it’s too far to travel from Kenya where I have duties to attend in the University. However I know that many friends took part in a memorable occasion.

I particularly appreciated the happy memories of ‘Jock’ from Roy Chapman, who was Rector from 1975 to 1982 and from my old class mate Peter Larkman, who went on to combine the duties of school captain and RSM in the corps in his final year (1960-61) at the school.

I am happy to see that Graham Scott was one of the speakers at the memorial. I recall receiving a very nice letter of appreciation from Graham

intoned Frankie. “Was that increment or excrement?” whispered my pal Davey, making sure Frankie didn’t overhear.

That dapper wee man was quite an authoritarian - what Chic Varley would have called a martinet. He had the rare ability (in those days) of being able to control a class without resorting to corporal punishment, using just the lash of his sarcasm. Any schoolboy chatter was nipped in the bud: “Cut the cackle and get on with the work!”

I remember idiosyncrasies too: as I recall, Frankie wasn’t averse to using the sleeve of his gown to dust the blackboard if no duster were to hand. I also found that my old school scarf had become a rag in his classroom, for cleaning up ink stains.

Yours Graeme Orr (1965)

a couple of years ago as well as one from Peter Brodie when I had made a donation to The Academy Bursary Fund.

Greetings and all good wishes especially to any friends who may remember me.

Henry Murray Humphreys (1955-1959) P.S.Whereas I find it difficult to recall a lot of the Milton poetry in Baggy Aston’s English lessons - which I found to be a bit remote from real life at the time - I still remember Jock Carruthers’ pantomime songs which he got the audience to sing, as they were very relevant to life as I knew it.

Two verses of the pantomime songs are: Tweet tweet tweet go the birdies in the trees, And flip flop flip goes the bunny.

Buzz buzz buzz go the busy little bees, And the butterflies are fluttering in my tummy.

Squeak squeak squeak we have got a little mouse, Miaow miaow miaow we’ve got a kitten.

Woof woof woof there’s a doggy in the house, And they all chase each other round the kitchen.

Henry Murray Humphreys (1955-59)

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11

Glasgow Academical Club Accies Rugby 150th Anniversary… A Double Celebration

Two ‘Seniors’ cutting the cake

Team of 1870

Last season saw Accies 1st XV win the West Div 1 League and a return to rugby’s National Leagues after a 19 year absence, and how fitting it was to have happened in the club’s 150th Anniversary season.

Club coach, Andrew Jackson, an 2016 team and trophy

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Academical as well as a past Accies Rugby Captain, and also a teacher at The Academy, was assisted by past Club captains Tony Smith and Ross Chassels for the last two seasons. Victory in the final match of the season took place at Allan Glens and secured the league title just two weeks prior to the long-time

planned 150th Anniversary Dinner in April.What joy and euphoria for all involved, however, we should not forget the many 1st XV players and captains who, in the years since 1997 following the formation of Glasgow Hawks, committed themselves to playing many seasons in the lower leagues in the hope of returning Accies rugby to the National Leagues.

The 2015-16 Anniversary season started with a celebration lunch in the Clubhouse before the first match of the season, against Kilmarnock RFC with SRU President Eddie Crozier as guest of Honour.

Far left: SRU President Eddie Crozier refereeing SRU presentation to Robin McNaught

Sponsors

Senior past rugby captain Colin Guthrie (1955) and Senior past Academical Club President Andrew Howie (1977) joined Eddie Crozier in cutting the cake.

President Crozier, a long-time referee and good friend of Accies, was a constant help and support to the Club throughout his year in office and even took an active part in the Celebration Day on 23 April by refereeing the 1st XV match against West of Scotland and fellow Founder Clubs.

He is likely to be the first SRU President to have refereed a match during his term of office.

Grand Match Teams

He also attended the ‘150th’ Dinner, when 240 players past and present enjoyed a special night, organised by Gordon Wilson and Donald Reid. Rugby Chairman Robin McNaught, on behalf of the club, accepted a gift, from Eddie Crozier, of an engraved silver salver courtesy of the SRU. That day there was also a fun over 35’s match, refereed by a regular at New Anniesland and SRU official,William Malone, from Oban. Both referees can be seen in the centre of each photo, with their respective match teams.

There have been many generous Rugby sponsors over the years but we would particularly wish to acknowledge at this time the outstanding generosity for the 150th season of the family of late Past President Brian Gibson, who kindly donated, in Brian’s memory, a new electronic score-board, as well as a set of new posts and pads for the 1st XV pitch.

We are also hugely indebted to another Academical, John Watson OBE, who generously donated to the publishing costs of the ‘150th’ Rugby History booklet, due out shortly, and who has also committed to sponsoring the club for this season to promote the Marie Curie Charity of which he is already a generous benefactor.

Golden Oldies Teams

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13

The Celebration Matches John Beattie has been a wonderful ambassador for Accies rugby over many years, as well as for Scottish rugby, and all Academicals were so proud and pleased when he was elected Academical Club President for the Club’s special 150th landmark year. The exposure he gave the Club on TV during the Calcutta Cup match at Twickenham was outstanding. He was seen presenting the ‘cap’ won by Academical J.W.Arthur in 1871 on the occasion of the first International between Scotland and England, to Bill Beaumont of the RFU, so that it could be displayed at Twickenham alongside the first English ‘Cap’.

Throughout the 150th season in particular, John Beattie’s presence on the touchline at Anniesland, and his encouragement of the

John Beattie leading out the teams

Young Johnny Beattie

Many representatives from fellow founder and neighbouring clubs attended, and speeches were made by club archivist, Hugh Barrow, and John Rutherford, the Scottish internationalist of the 80’s who played alongside John Beattie Snr. Alastair Kellock who had played International rugby alongside another Accies Internationalist, young Johnnie Beattie, delivered a most entertaining speech, and brought a recorded interview he had conducted with Johnnie, while visiting he and his wife Jen in France, where Johnnie presently plays with French side, Bayonne.

Alastair was able to surprise Johnnie with the news that Accies rugby wanted to present him with an engraved salver for being the most capped, and 83rd Academical Internationalist. His father John was called upon to receive the salver on young Johnnie’s behalf, from fellow Accies International legend, Brian Simmers.

John Beattie and Bill Beaumont

players, had an invaluable effect, and was greatly appreciated.

All sports sections at New Anniesland are fortunate to have such a good relationship with the School, and the use of such fine facilities.The Rugby Section was particularly delighted to be able to hold its 150th Celebration Dinner in the School’s Cargill Hall, with Rector Peter Brodie as their guest.

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John Beattie and Brian Simmers Alastair Kellock with the Coach and Captain

Alastair Kellock congratulated the club on becoming West Div 1 Champions and presented special awards to coach Andrew Jackson and team Captain Craig Wright.

The final speech of the evening was by Robbie Duncan, a well-known Ayrshire after-dinner speaker with affiliations to Ayr Rugby Club, whose humour was quite outstanding, and he sent everyone home with a smile on their faces, and a feeling of: “Well done Accies… I’m glad I was there.”

Anyone interested in reading the ‘150th’ Souvenir Match Programme and Dinner

Menu will find them on the Rugby Club website at www.glasgowacciesrfc.com During this 2016/17 season, the Club has continued playing exciting and quality rugby and is among the league leaders in National League Div 3 and still vying for promotion.

The Annual Academical Golf outing took place at Pollok Golf Club on 23 October 2016. It was a great day in convivial company, beginning with a most excellent carvery before proceeding to the first tee!

Annual Golf Outing

The prize winners were: Handicap Trophy - Nigel Campbell Seniors’ Trophy - John McNaught Scratch Trophy - Angus Watson Great thanks are also due to John Mason for looking after the Golf Section over many years.

Due to a change in business, he wishes to relinquish this position. We are now looking for a new Secretary to take on this, hopefully, not too taxing role. Please contact:- John M Watson OBE j.watsonhome@btinternet.com and/or Gordon Wilson wilsongb@btinternet.com

Trip to Augusta

The event did not disappoint. The organisation is superb. There is no tented village and no sponsorship so the whole area is given over to the golf without an advertising hoarding in sight. The course is even more difficult than it looks on television. Every hole goes uphill, downhill or both and the undulating greens are lightning fast. Breaking par there is quite an achievement and well beyond the capabilities of most amateur golfers.

In last year’s autumn edition of Etcetera there was a report on the golf event arranged by John Watson at Killermont to celebrate 150 years of the Academical Club. The first prize was a trip for two to the Masters Tournament in Augusta in April this year. I was the fortunate winner of this wonderful prize.

It was a trip I had long wanted to make and it came at a good time as I had given up work earlier in the year with the express intention of spending more time travelling. My wife is also a golfer, so she and I were well pleased to be boarding a plane to Atlanta at the end of March.

We visited Pinehurst and Wilmington

David Stirling on the 15th fairway at Augusta

to play some golf before making our way to Augusta, well briefed by other Academicals who had previously made the pilgrimage.

London Academical Section The Summer of 1983 marked a special moment in history for The Glasgow Academical London Section. A that time David Hall (pictured) became Secretary and Treasurer of the committee and we are sure that no one could have foreseen that he would continue to hold this position for the next 33 years until his retirement this summer. David organised annual dinners with an array of highly regarded guests and of course the noteworthy London Section Centenary dinner of 2013 also marked David’s 30 years in his post. Several social events including cocktail parties, informal gatherings and the infamous London Scottish Schools ceilidh at the Caledonian Club were attributable to David.

London can be a daunting place and this has allowed Academicals working and living there to have a home away from home. David arranged the Bisley dinner annually and ensured that a Glasgow Academy team was entered every year in the London Scottish Schools Golf Day.We are grateful for David’s love of detail and his infamous collation of lists will be appreciated for years to come.There is not a speaker or past committee member in history that we don’t have a fulsome note of! David was instrumental in the development of the London Section, making extraordinary efforts to ensure that the next generation of Academicals in London were encouraged to join. He had the foresight to introduce new members onto the

If any golfer gets the opportunity to visit this event, they should take it. I am very grateful to John for giving such an opportunity to me.

David Stirling 1956-68

committee, some of whom were not born at the time David became Secretary!

In addition, we now have two female committee members, one of whom is the current president, which is testament to David’s forward thinking and alignment with the School’s ethos.

Ensuring strong links with the school was extremely important to David. He founded the School’s “London Prize” and the “London Bursary”, actively encouraging Academicals in London to support these tangible connections. His achievements for the Section have been truly remarkable and, most importantly, fully appreciated by every Academical in London.

For those living there who have not experienced this fantastic vibrant network, please join us on Friday 10 March, the eve of the Calcutta Cup match, in the splendid Caledonian Club for our Annual Dinner with special guest speakers. Please contact Liz McGowan in External Relations @ e.mcgowan@tga.org.uk for more information.

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15

A walk to the

F

inisterre, Spain, the end of the world; the end of my Pilgrim Camino walk; indeed, the end of my Camino walking; but hopefully not the end of me, yet.This was my big “75” challenge and I reached Finisterre on my 75th birthday in July, having walked the 370 miles from Salamanca.

One of my ambitions when I retired was to walk the pilgrims’ way, more commonly known as “El Camino de Santiago De Compostela” in northern Spain. I first came across the Camino on the television holiday programmes years ago. Fascinated I read about it and decided that one day I just had to walk it.

As I approached the big “60” for some unexplainable and idiotic reason I decide that I should give myself a 60th birthday challenge. So it was that I ended

Class photo taken in 1955

end of the world up walking the popular section of the Camino Frances, as the main route is called, from St. Jean Pied De Port at the foot of the Pyrenees on the French side to Santiago, a distance of 487 miles. I thought that would be the end of my interest in the Camino.Then in 2003 I hinted to Dorothy, my wife, that I had a mind to walk from the actual start of the Camino Frances (in France it is known as Le Chemin de Saint Jacques) in Le Puy en Velay in the Auvergne area of France down to St Jean Pied de Port. Dorothy’s response was “away you go and I’ll get some peace” and with that I was off to walk the 463 miles.

Unfortunately at Christmas that year Dorothy was diagnosed with cancer but thankfully she has fully recovered. Having undertaken a 60th birthday challenge then I should undertake one for my 65th.

It was only natural that the challenge in

some way would be to give thanks for Dorothy’s recovery. I decided to walk the entire Camino Frances from Le Puy to Santiago De Compostela and then continue on to Finisterre. Pilgrims in the middle ages walked there to watch the sun fall into the sea, as it was believed at that time.The distance was 1010 miles. I completed it in 57 days.

As in my previous walks I asked my friends to sponsor me and for this one they generously raised over £3000 for cancer research.

2008 and the Camino was calling again.

With less time to walk, I flew to Porto and from there walked the Portuguese way to Santiago, 151 miles. Galicia and northern Portugal claim to be the wettest area of Europe, a fact I can certainly confirm.

In 2011 the 70th birthday challenge did not materialize as I had a prolonged chest infection. However two years later, restless again, I decided to walk one of the other Camino routes, the Via de la Plata from Seville up to Santiago – 625 miles.

Obstinately I started in August, against all advice, in temperatures of 45 centigrade.

It was like walking in a furnace and after 10 days I gave up. Not to be thwarted in 2015 I set off once more but to my great disappointment this also ended in failure when I suffered a torn calf muscle. By this time I had reached the city of Salamanca, 315 miles from Seville.

These failures nagged at me so that I resolved for my 75th birthday challenge in 2016 to complete the Camino and also continue on to Finisterre. After 370 miles walking I arrived at the end of the world

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on my birthday, and feeling I have to say quite “chuffed”.

Although walking alone, there is companionship on the Caminos as many others are also walking. Accommodation is readily available in either ‘alberques’, that is dormitory accommodation with bunk-type beds costing 8-10 euros, or small hotels where a single room costs usually between 15 and 25 euros. Meals are generally available in local bars at which the ‘menu del dia’ is 7 to 10 euros for three courses and a bottle of local wine.

The routes are extremely well signposted with painted yellow arrows to which you become quite attached, plus the modern signposting. Apps are now available showing each route and detailing the facilities available in the villages along the way.

Traditions are still enforced and you must carry with you a ‘credencial’, a pilgrim’s passport that has to be stamped every day wherever you stay, and on your backpack a scallop, the sign that you are a pilgrim.

On reaching Santiago De Compostela,

you present your credencial at the pilgrims’ office. It is very carefully checked before you receive your Compostela certificate. Finally, you then attend the Pilgrims’ Mass at mid-day in the cathedral.

This was my last Camino walk (maybe).

The backpack seemed to be becoming heavier and the hills steeper, so I will need to think of an alternative for my 80th challenge in 2021.

Kennedy Howden (1952 – 1959)

Man recovers some sight after getting ‘bionic eye’ from London surgeons

A

blind man has regained some of his sight after being fitted with a “bionic eye” by London surgeons.

He is the first in the UK to benefit from a trial of a pioneering system at Moorfields Eye Hospital.The patient, 73, has retinitis pigmentosa, the most common cause of inherited blindness — affecting 1.5 million people worldwide. He has been blind for more than 20 years.

FP Mahi Muqit (class of 1992), now a consultant ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon at Moorfields, who inserted the Iris II system last month, said the man could now see a difference between light and dark and would learn to interpret light signals.

He said: “He was unable to see anything at all. If we can get him appreciating

outlines and movement around him, it will help with his mobility and will be a huge step forward for him.We switched on the device last week.

“From this week on, he will undergo a specialist programme of [sight] re-education. His expectations have been entirely realistic with the trial. I think he is tempering his emotions, but he is very pleased and I think he is very happy to see something.”

Two further patients are due to undergo the procedure at Moorfields. Patients with retinitis pigmentosa often have their eyesight deteriorate in their teenage years and typically suffer total loss of vision in their forties.

The Iris II system, made by French firm Pixium, is being trialled in a handful of

Mahi Muqit (1992) Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital

specialist eye hospitals across Europe. Four patients have been implanted with the device so far.

Patients wear a “sunglasses”-style headset fitted with a camera, which sends images to a smartphone-size computer worn on their hip. This sends signals to an electronic chip that has been surgically inserted in the patient’s damaged retina, enabling images to be sent to the brain via the optic nerve.

Patients with retinitis pigmentosa will have suffered degeneration of the photoreceptors in the retina, the light-sensitive lining in the back of the eye.The chip, which has 150 electrodes, is able to fix this broken link so signals can be sent to the brain.

The aim is to enable patients to lead more active lives. Some have been able to identify the outline of a staircase, a door lock or items of fruit.There is also the hope that the technology could help patients who suffer age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of vision loss in the UK. It causes the loss of central vision.

Khalid Ishaque, chief executive of Pixium, said: “The first implant in UK at the prestigious Moorfields Eye Hospital is part of the company’s strategy to continue to expand its presence across centres of excellence in Europe.

“Pixium Vision is dedicated to conceive, develop and bring meaningful bionic vision innovations to surgeons.”

Original article: Evening Standard 7 November 2016 Etcetera

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Westbourne Section 60th Celebration for the Class of 1974 This photograph was taken as 26 of us celebrated together in our 60th birthday year.We met at Mar Hall on Sunday 8 May 2016 for prosecco and canapés.The afternoon flew by as we reminisced about school days and laughed and chatted over photographs taken during Concordia Picnics to such destinations as Millport and Arran.

From top left… (married name) - Doreen Day (Jareckyj), Anne Mackenzie (Kennedy), Susan Fyfe (Roy), Jo’ Murdoch (Mill), Joan Paton, Alison Stewart (Christie), Fiona McDonald (Grossart), Sharon Allan (MacLeod), Gilli Davie (Barclay), Susan Mylne (Ritchie), Tricia Sutherland (Lemond), Mary Cooke (Bell), Kay Whittle (Rennie), Norma Houston (Davie), Sheila Warnock (Collins), Gillian Smith (Shankland), Elspeth Bloom (Mullholland), Jane Naismith (Shemilt), Val Neish (Strang), Jane Garvie (Primrose), Lesley Mill (Scott), Janis Rogan (Richmond), Tara Stewart, Carole Day (Hill), Fiona Greig (Flynn), Morna Harper (Forrester).

Flowers, neat desks and live goldfish show off class of distinction They might have taken off their coats in the classroom, one would have thought.

But then these little girls are taking part in an art lesson, and the coats were donned to avoid any paint splashing on to their uniforms.

This is Westbourne School in April 1953 - pristine jotters, non-chewed pencils, and a live goldfish in the bowl at the back.

There are even fresh flowers in the vases and how many teachers today wish that their pupils stare at them adoringly as the wee one on the left is doing?

Originally published in The Herald (July 2016)

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Career updates Alison Harris

Over the years I stood on a few occasions at local council elections. It was only at the independence referendum that my interest in politics re-ignited. I went to the Scottish Conservative Conference which was held in Stirling that year and by the time that I left the conference I had somehow signed myself up as a potential candidate!

I was elected to the Scottish Parliament as one of three Scottish Conservative MSPs for Central Scotland on Thursday May 5th. I was the 3rd on the regional list and, to be honest, being in 3rd place I was not really expecting to be elected.

Imagine my surprise on Friday morning to discover that in fact I had been elected and in a short 72hrs I would join my fellow colleagues on the Monday morning to start the process of becoming an MSP. I often ask myself where did this journey begin? I think that my interest in politics started when I was at Westbourne. I took a crash higher in economics in S6. There were only three of us in Mrs Green’s economics class that year and I am sure that was where my interest started.

It was an exciting time in politics at the beginning of the 1980’s and the

I stood for the Westminster elections in the knowledge that it was highly unlikely that I would be elected; however, I was delighted with my result as I almost doubled the Conservative vote for Falkirk West. economic debates in the class were quite interesting to say the least!

From school I went to study economics and accountancy at Strathclyde University and then on to completing my CA Qualification and I have worked as a CA ever since.

This year was The Scottish Parliament election and here I am an MSP. A new and interesting journey has begun for me. Once again it is an exciting time in politics. Looking back with very fond memories of my school days, I feel that this journey began in that classroom back at Westbourne all those years ago…

Anupama (Gopinathan) Thompson I left Westbourne in the summer of 1990 and made the long journey south to the University of Essex where I read law, moving to London in 1993 where I was called to the Bar the following year. I then spent many happy years doing battle in the criminal courts around London.

I met my husband, a fellow Glaswegian although sadly a High School boy, and we have been blessed with three gorgeous children (all announced in Etcetera at the time!). Having taken six years out to have the children I tentatively went back into the workplace in 2008 this time as an employed barrister for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, presenting disciplinary cases before the NMC’s practice committees as well as the High Court. I’ve been there now for eight years and have worked my way up to the position of Assistant Director, Legal Services which means that I am the NMC’s most senior lawyer and responsible for the rather large legal department as well as leading on the organisation’s most high profile cases.

In January of this year I realised a life’s ambition in being appointed as a Recorder of the Crown Court which means that I sit for six weeks of the year

A reminder that the next Westbourne Grand Reunion will take place on Saturday 20 May 2017 at 7pm, at the Glasgow City Hotel, Cambridge Street, Glasgow (formerly the Thistle Hotel and soon to be rebranded as a Hilton Doubletree). hearing criminal cases in the Crown Court and presiding over jury trials.

The picture attached was taken at my swearing-in ceremony and shows Mr Justice Haddon-Cave in full regalia with me, my husband Lyall and my parents.

I’m sure many readers of Etcetera will remember my parents, always present at our numerous public speaking competitions, cheering the purple team on. I can safely say it all started with the Literary and Debating Society on a Monday lunchtime!

We’ve had a really good response from former Westbourne pupils who’d like to attend so if you haven’t booked your place, please contact Liz in the Academy’s External Relations Department 0141 342 5494 or e.mcgowan@tga.org.uk

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Obituaries

Switzerland and France and was in charge of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

Later in Devon, she continued with her lifelong love of learning by taking degrees in Law and French. She loved France, Art History and Geology and could regularly be found in museums, galleries and exhibitions. She was for many years an office bearer of NADFAS (National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies).

Ann died after a short illness on 21st June, 2016.Those of us who knew her as a friend and colleague valued her greatly for her kindness, patience and trustworthiness as well as her keen intellect.

Mrs Marjorie Cook (née Buchanan; 1926-1936)

Marjorie - one of our most senior former pupils - died on 19 August 2016, aged 94.

She completed her education at boarding school and went on to train as a Dietician at the Glasgow School of Domestic Science (Dough School). Later she became a lecturer in the Department.

Marjorie had a passion for golf and was a stalwart member of Balmore Golf Club. She was also a member of Buchanan Golf Club and a county player. At Balmore she was Lady Captain in 1968/69 and was Lady Champion seven times between 1969 and 1990; she was also Lady Champion at Buchanan in 1991. Marjorie enjoyed travelling worldwide, too, and she once took a trip on Concorde.

Her daughters Sheila and Fiona received their education at Westbourne School. It was very much a Westbourne/Academy family, as her husband, Harold (1939), and brother,William (1938), were Academicals.

Mrs Ann Ingham (Westbourne staff)

Ann was in charge of the Geography Department at Westbourne School from 1975 to 1983, when she moved to Devon as Head of Geography at Edgehill College, Bideford and later to St Margaret’s School, Exeter.

She was a dedicated and conscientious teacher who always demanded the highest standards of her pupils. She inspired them with her keen interest in travelling and her love of reading. She led school trips to 20

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To Ann’s son Simon, daughter Clare and their children, we send our heartfelt sympathy.

Elsie Murray

Margaret Cumming (Westbourne staff)

Message from Betty Henderson - Miss Margaret L.H. Cumming died peacefully on Christmas Day. She spent most of her teaching career at Westbourne School and at all times involved herself fully in all aspects of school life and work. She served the school faithfully as teacher of Mathematics, in charge of Careers, and for many years in charge of Scripture Union.

Marilyn (nee Menzies Anderson) Davidson (Westbourne, 1957)

Marilyn beloved wife of the late John Davidson, mother of Catriona and Janet and sister of Heather died peacefully at home on 5 November 2016.

Melanie Road Although Melanie died 32 years ago in 1984 at the tender age of 17, she was still able to help catch her own killer with all the evidence that had been left at the crime scene. Because she tried bravely to fight off her killer and gave resistance during that night she helped to shed the killer’s blood. A trail of his blood enabled samples to be taken which were stored expertly by the Police Officers in charge at the time. DNA profiling was relatively unknown in 1984 and was certainly in its infancy; however, these well-preserved samples were used for DNA profiling and subsequently used towards his final capture.

An arrest of the killer’s own daughter in Bath 2015 for an unrelated crime resulted in a routine mouth swab and DNA profile upload to the national database, where a familial profile proved a match with the killer’s.

Within an hour of the match being confirmed the killer’s house in Bristol was surrounded by Police from Avon and Somerset’s Brunel Major Crime Investigation Team headed up by T/DCI Julie Mackay. He was found at home with his second wife where he was arrested for Melanie’s kidnapping, rape, murder and mutilation.

Within 30 minutes of his successful arrest Melanie’s mother Jean, Melanie’s sister Karen and brother Adrian were all informed. 32 years it had taken, but Melanie had finally been able to help capture her own killer. At his trial in May 2016 at Bristol Crown Court and due to the overwhelming DNA evidence against him - he had no choice but to admit Melanie’s murder.

The other charges of kidnap, rape and mutilation still stand. He has now been sentenced just for the murder and will be incarcerated for a minimum term of 22 years.

Melanie has always played a large part in our lives and even though she passed away all those years ago she will still be our beautiful little sister and daughter.

The memories we have of her being a bright, happy, sociable young girl who had no problems making friends will always stay with us. She had some great friends from Westbourne School and we have had pleasure in keeping in touch with many of you.

If anyone wishes to contact us we can be contacted at Adrian’s email aroad@ btconnect.com Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the years and we look forward to hearing from you.

Former Pupil David Robertson: Glasgow’s golfing Olympian Forgotten Olympian: David Robertson, a Glasgow solicitor, played golf in the Olympics of 1900 (Picture: JWB Archives)

A

ccording to the fusty, dusty, well-thumbed archives, the Olympics of 1900 sounded absolutely brilliant. Forget all this tight-fitting lycra, the shameless hawking of the five rings for commercial gain, David Coleman shrieking about Juantorena opening his legs and showing his class and widespread doping, the Games of the II Olympiad in Paris seemed to be a kind of jovial, come all ye, off the cuff caper that had all the old school charm and quirkiness of It’s A Knockout.

Look up there, it’s a neatly coiffured couple inching ahead in the hot air balloon contest.What’s that over there?

Why, it’s a keenly fought tussle for the Basque Pelota title of course. And what’s going on down yonder? It appears to be a tense duel in the pigeon shooting … with live pigeons.

Amid all of this ballooning, Basque-ing and, er, blitzed beaks, the Royal & Ancient game of golf made its first appearance in the Games.When golf, led by global superstars like Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, returns to the Olympics in 2016, after an absence of 112 years, it will be safe to say that the fanfare and fever will be a bit more boisterous than the atmosphere that surrounded the pursuit’s debut back in 1900.With the Olympics tagged onto the Paris World Fair of that year, 22 male and female competitors essentially pitched up, stuck their names down and battered away over 36-holes (the women’s contest was nine holes) at the Compiegne club just north of the French capital.

Among that intrepid number was David Robertson, a solicitor from Shawlands on Glasgow’s southside, who would eventually finish third behind his fellow Scot,Walter Rutherford of Jedburgh, and the winner, Charles Sands from New

sticks but he also represented Cambridge at rugby in a no score draw with Oxford in 1892 and played for Scotland in a 9-0 defeat to Wales in 1893. By 1900, Robertson, who played most of his golf at Northwood just outside London, was something of a trail-blazer for the game on the Olympic stage but that particular trail wouldn’t blaze for long. Golf remained at the 1904 Games in St Louis but it didn’t figure at London in 1908 and will finally reappear again in 2016.

York.The line-up also included Albert Bond Lambert, who would later become one of the principal financial backers of Charles Lindbergh’s pioneering solo transatlantic flight on The Spirit of St Louis. “I thought it was a story that needed to be told,” said James Bancroft, a Manchester-based historian and author who has documented the tale in a publication called The First Olympic Golf Match. “Robertson, like Rutherford, is the forgotten Olympian, perhaps not to real Olympic enthusiasts and historians like myself but in the wider world of sport.The 1900 Games was a bit of a mishmash, probably even a bit of a farce to be honest.What appeared to have happened was that most of the Brits were in Paris on business during the trade fair.

They heard that there was to be a golf event in connection with it and they just put their names down. It was as simple as that.”

Born in 1869, Robertson, who attended The Glasgow Academy and Glasgow University, as well as Christ’s College at Cambridge, was a dab hand with the

“They tried to put it into the 1908 Games in London but there was some kind of dispute over eligibility between the Scottish and English players,” added Bancroft. “There are no real records of what happened but it was probably fairly petty. By the time they got their heads together, it was too late as the Games were already underway. If golf had been included in 1908 I think it would have been included at every Games thereafter.The 1908 Games was the one that essentially saved the Olympics.The Games of 1900 and 1904 were connected with the Paris World Fair and the St Louis World Fair respectively and they were getting pushed into the margins. London was a true Olympic Games. It was purely sport with nothing else happening.”

In 1900, there would be no medals for Robertson and company.They weren’t really golfing for gold. Instead, they were presented with silver cups. “Robertson went back into golfing obscurity after that but the fact that he and Rutherford were among the first Olympic golfers should stand as a great claim to fame,” said Bancroft.

Robertson died in 1937 at the age of 68 in Idstone, Oxfordshire.

By Nick Rodger, The Herald Etcetera

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I

t has been a remarkable year of honours and awards for Prof Ronald W P Drever (Glasgow Academy 1937-1950). Ronald has won a number of leading international Science awards in recognition of his work on the ‘LIGO’ project at Caltech (California Institute of Technology) alongside Prof Kip Thorne (also of Caltech) and Prof Rainer Weiss of MIT.Their work, along with the entire Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) team, led to the first detection of gravitational waves in September 2015. This validated a key prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity and opens new horizons in astronomy and physics.

The ‘waves’ discovery has caused a significant ripple effect in the world of science; a number of accolades have since been won by Ronald and his colleagues, including a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, which was won

by Stephen Hawking in 2013. Detecting the waves has been hailed as “the biggest scientific breakthrough” of the century; many argue it is even more significant than the Higgs Boson and marks the “birth of gravitational astronomy”.

Ronald and Professor Moljk

Professor Ronald Drever (1950) – causing more than a ripple in Physics “This is a very exciting discovery for two reasons. Firstly, it confirms yet again that Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, published 101 years ago, is a supremely precise description of space and time, gravity and the evolution of the Universe. Secondly, and even more excitingly, this opens up an entirely new way of observing the Universe.

We can now observe collisions between black holes, probing gravity in ever more exotic and extreme situations, and look back in time far closer to the big bang than ever before. Gravitational wave astronomy opens up an entirely new window on nature.”

Prof Brian Cox, Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science

Prof Kip Thorne said that Ronald’s ‘creative genius’ was crucial to the project. Ronald’s story from a childhood inventing in the garage of the family home in Bishopton (and being encouraged by Stan Sowrey at The Academy) to now being tipped for a Nobel-prize nomination is a fascinating one. His brother, Dr Ian Drever (1952), takes up the story: Our father was a GP in Bishopton.

Ronald was born at the family home and practice - Southcroft - in 1931. He was always very particular and was described by our mother as a ‘difficult child’ who was obsessed by order and detail.

Southcroft was an environment of chaotic business, with constant comings and goings at all times of day and night, as people came to the surgery for treatment or prescriptions. I would help out in the house and surgery, running errands, dealing with patients, and delivering letters/prescriptions. But Ronald always kept himself to himself. He was happy being creative - he would spend his time making things, studying, winding wire and making countless tiny electric motors.The standing comment in the house was “Where is Ronald?” to which the response would be “Winding wire”.

Ronald even used his ‘wee brother Ian’ in his experiments, giving him electric shocks on his tongue and fingers in the interests of science. Ian never complained as they were very close and continue to be so.

In the garage of the family home Ronald collected his trophies of surplus war radios, cathode ray tubes from bombers and other electrical gadgetry that he bought from Clydesdales in central Glasgow. Ian goes on: “Ronald brought these home on the bus and along with chunks of Meccano and balsa wood, he would wire and create his inventions.

There were larger items too such as generators, a host of electrical motors and magnets, and screws, nuts, angle brackets and model aeroplane parts.

Patients donated bits of metal and wood to Ronald, which he tooled away at with hacksaws to make electric motor armatures. Nothing was discarded in case one day it might be useful. He had a particular fascination with mirrors and the way that light interacted with them,

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and would spend hours aligning them to increase path lengths. He had a favourite game called “Pepper’s Ghost” which he used as a party trick making things disappear and reappear through the use of mirrored glass.”

Ronald and Ian’s father was not a scientist or an engineer, but help was at hand in the form of ‘Uncle Rec’ (John Richan Drever). He was a highly skilled precision engineer, who moved into the family home shortly after the war, having worked on the Lancaster Bombers at AVRO and helped in the development of the famous bouncing bombs of Dambuster fame. ‘Uncle Rec’ showed Ronald many techniques in design construction and enthused about his inventiveness. He taught Ronald how to repair things and how to take just about anything apart to see how it worked.

Ronald first attended Glasgow Academy in 1937. He completed Prep 1 and Prep 2 before the war intervened and three years of school were spent at Erskine Public School (the local primary school in Bishopton).

Ronald returned to Trans in 1942 and completed his Senior Schooling at The Academy. While at Colebrooke Street, Ronald greatly appreciated the inspirational teaching of Mr Sowrey (Head of Physics 1930-51), who recognised Ronald’s talent and nurtured it. Ian notes: “In class they made rudimentary television sets. Ronald later replicated and enhanced this with surplus war items and pieces of junk in the garage of the family home in Bishopton. We actually watched the Queen’s coronation on Ronald’s small screen invention!”

On leaving The Academy, Ronald embraced his studies at Glasgow University and the opportunities it gave him. He obtained his B.Sc. with honours, before gaining his Ph.D. in 1958. He greatly appreciated the knowledge and support of many professors and staff; including visiting Professor Anton Moljk, from Ljubljana,Yugoslavia, (pictured) who became a family friend and supported Ronald through his early research.

Ronald was exempted from National Service as a science student, although he volunteered in the University TA as a wireless operator.

Ronald’s life was science; day, night, weekends and holidays were a nuisance.

He worked and experimented as long as he felt he needed to with disregard

Ian and Ronald Drever

to those around him or his own needs.

Whilst at Harvard in 1960-61 he developed interferometers. He proceeded to become Titular Professor from 1979-84 at Glasgow University before moving to become Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology from 1984.There, he continued the research into gravity that he had started many years earlier. At Caltech his work focussed on the measurement of gravity waves using interferometers and, alongside colleagues, they founded and developed what became known as LIGO – the Laser Interferometer Gravity-wave Observatory.

On retirement Ronald gave worldwide lectures on the subject of gravity as a Caltech Emeritus Professor. He was a consultant and visiting scientist at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, and a Vice-President of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Despite living in the USA for many years, Ronald declined to become an American citizen and declared Glasgow to be the ‘best place in the world to live’.

Soon after returning to the UK in 2009, Ronald moved into sheltered housing near Ian’s home just outside Edinburgh.

Several years later, as his health deteriorated and he required more care, he moved into a nursing home, where he

continues to be visited regularly by Ian, who lives nearby.

Ronald suffers from dementia and his varying levels of lucidity and understanding mean he is not able to fully celebrate the momentous discovery and attend the various award ceremonies with his colleagues. However, he did recognise them in television coverage of the various announcements. Ronald was also able to recall the “evacuated tubes” that he had utilised in the development of LIGO. Ian and other members of the family have attended several ceremonies in the USA to collect the awards on Ronald’s behalf. In addition to Ronald individually winning the Einstein Prize in 2007 (from the American Physical Society), he and his colleagues have won The Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2016),The Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2016),The Shaw Prize (2016) and The Kavli Prize in Astrophysics (2016). It has been widely suggested that the Nobel Physics Prize committee will also recognise the work of LIGO. Glasgow Academical Sir William Ramsay won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1904 for the discovery of ‘inert gaseous elements in air’. Sir William’s portrait features in both the Alumni Gallery and in the Chemistry department of the Saunders Centre. Ronald’s ground-breaking work means we have reason to hope that The Academy may be able to honour two Nobel Prize-winning Alumni before long...

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Meetings, get-togethers and reunions Circa ‘63 Reunion The Glasgow Academy Circa 1963 Group has met annually since 1963 for dinner or lunch.

The contact list for the Group is near 100 strong and up to 60 have attended landmark events, such as the recent 50th Gold Anniversary.

An informal lunch was held on Friday 7 October 2016 in the private dining facility at Oran Mor, Byres Road and 16 former classmates attended.

The Group lunch is always held on the first Friday in October, the next one to be on 6 October 2017.

Group photo left to right: Harry Jackson, Tony Kozlowski, David Deas, Donald Laird, Douglas Mack, Colin Winter, James Smith, Peter Jensen, Ronnie Greig, Clive Davis, Graeme Paton, George Jeffrey, John Byers, Norman Lees, Neil McDougall Stuart Patrick

Reunion Lower Vth 1965/66 It took almost 50 years but at last our class got together again.

Could it really have been that long? The significance of the half century had not entered my thinking when I started organising a reunion for those of us who been in Lower Vth in 1965/6. All I knew was that in the intervening years we had not met as a group and that that needed to be rectified.

Out of the 84 who had been in that class 27 of us, plus a master from that year, Colin Ainsworth, turned up in July.

Thanks are due to the External Relations office of the school for doing so much of the organising and for providing name badges for all of us – sad to say they were needed.

We had a tour of the school followed by an excellent and most enjoyable lunch at New Anniesland.

The tour provided the opportunity to see all the new facilities that had been added, particularly in the last 20 years.

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Those who attended were: Left to right: Peter Battison, Drew Fulton, Hugh McDiarmid, Colin Ainsworth, Ron Cole, Tony Welsh, Graham Philips, Graeme Mitchell, Campbell Denholm, Gordon Weetch (hidden), Vivian Clement, Donald Reid, Ian Swan (hidden), Billy Hamilton, David Stirling, Bertie Barclay, Steven Strang, Gerald Haase, Campbell Ogilvie, William Levack, Jimmy Cochrane, John Hunter, Donald Robertson, Bean Campbell, Iggy MacFarlane, Richard Aston, Crawford McLean.

Not in photo: Eddie MacKechnie

But of equal interest were the rifle range and the gymnasium where nothing seemed to have changed. The wall bars, the beams and the vaulting horse all looked as though they were the same ones we used 50 years ago.

Amongst our number there were some interesting careers to note. Far too many of us were accountants or lawyers but thankfully we could count

amongst our ranks a few who had pursued successful careers in commerce as well as three doctors, one of whom, Gerald Haase, is also an international bridge player. Campbell Ogilvy had pursed a career in football management, including being president of the SFA, and Tony Welsh, who had qualified as a vet, had given up practice but was still working part-time at the British Horse Racing Authority.

The event was much enjoyed with conversation carrying on pretty much where it had left off 50 years previously.

For those interested there is a Facebook site which contains a few more pictures (Glasgow Academy form Vb 1965/6).

There was a suggestion that we should do it again perhaps in a couple of years. Watch this space.

David Stirling 1956-68

presents

A Taste of Scotland IVth Form 1966-67 Class Reunion Dinner The 50th Anniversary Event was held at the School on Friday 7 October 2016. As always, it was a very light-hearted evening with Hugh Barrow as our Guest Speaker who gave a fine speech on the history of the Academical Club. Atholl Brechin did a superb job as Master of Ceremonies.

A great night was had with everyone renewing acquaintances from long ago.

The following were present: Brian Barclay, Mike Belch, John Blair, Atholl Brechin, Martin Brook (who had travelled from California), Jim Cooper, Philip Cowie, Alastair Crabb, Lex Dowie, Neil Duncan, Peter Edmond, Adrian Flatman, Hugh Fulton, Paul Gee,Tim Haggis, Jimmy Howie, Alan Lundie, Murray Magowan, Kenneth McCracken, Ralston McKay, George McLaren, Colin Miller, Jimmy Miller,Wallace Mitchell, Martin Muir, Douglas Mundie, Derek

Neilson, Bill Peacock,Willie Primrose, Dougie Robinson, Kenneth Russell, John Scott, David Stirrat and Philip Waine.

It was great to see so many old faces and a convivial time was had.The tour round the Prep School and Saunders Centre before the main event was much appreciated too.

Many thanks to the Speakers, Richard Lyth and his catering staff, the Janitors, and in particular Liz McGowan and External Relations. Also thanks to all of you who attended.

If you think you were in the above year at the Academy and perhaps have moved house or simply lost touch, please inform Kenneth Russell,The Hilton, 38 Chester Road, Poynton, Cheshire SK12 1EU or send him an email to kennethrussell@ btinternet.com.

We were delighted to welcome some members of the Class of 1996 for a mini reunion on 3 June 2016. They enjoyed meeting each other and a few of their former teachers.

Friday 24 March 2017 7.00pm for 7.30pm The Pavilion at The Glasgow Academical Club, Anniesland, Glasgow Have you ever noticed certain whiskies are sweeter than others?

Some whiskies are spicier and some are smoky? On Friday 24 March 2017,The Rare Malt Whisky Company will present an evening of the finest malt whisky paired with luxury Scottish chocolate and cheese.

Over the course of the evening, we will taste 6 single malt whiskies, with either a savoury and salty Scottish cheese from artisan cheesemonger George Mewes or a sweet and rich chocolate from the award-winning Highland Chocolatier. Each whisky will be expertly matched to enhance its subtle and delicate notes.

Even if you haven’t ever tried single malt or have previously decided it’s not for you, this evening is designed to highlight different flavours in whisky, so come along and let us convert you Tickets are £29 which includes 6 x 25ml drams of malt whisky and luxury chocolate or cheese.

Bookings can be made via the External Relations Department either by telephone on 0141 342 5494 or by sending a cheque payable to ‘The Glasgow Academy’ to External Relations, Colebrooke Street, Glasgow, G12 8HE. We look forward to your company for a fantastic night of flavour discovery!

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Announcements Engagements Fraser McGowan (2006)

Fraser got engaged on 7 July 2016 to Hannah Hardman from Preston.

Marriages Scott Bannerman (2005)

The annual Gasbags lunch took place on Friday 28 October.

Adam Howie (2004)

Upcoming Events & Reunions Thursday 23 February 2017 Dallachy Lecture, Cargill Hall, 7pm Given by Professor Michael Barrett from University of Glasgow on the topic of ‘Neglected tropical diseases’.

Scott married Lisa Keen at Myres Castle, Auchtermuchty, on 9 July 2016. Kyle Kearns (2005), Geoff Howison (2006) and Douglas Abram (left 2000) were groomsmen.

Scott Bannerman

I am delighted to announce that I married Lauren Moodie on 4 June 2016 at the Dunglass Estate in East Lothian.The Academy was well represented with three generations in attendance.We had a terrific day in the Scottish sun finished by the music accompaniment of the Jersey Boys and Lauren and I are enjoying our new life together.

Friday 3 March 2017 Iain Muir Spring Lunch, Accies Pavilion at Anniesland Friday 10 March 2017 London Section Dinner, Caledonian Club, Drinks from 6:30pm, dinner at 7:30pm Guest speaker Ricky Munday Wednesday 22 March 2017 Business Breakfast,The Corinthian Club, 7:30am - 9am Why business leaders need to embrace social media with Allan Barr,The BIG Partnership Friday 24 March 2017 Whisky Pairing Evening, Accies Pavilion at Anniesland, 7pm Saturday 20 May 2017 Westbourne Grand Reunion, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Glasgow Central, 7pm Friday 16 June 2017 Class of 1997 Reunion, 2pm, Glasgow Academy For information on any of the above, please email exrel@tga.org. uk or telephone +44 (0)141 342 5494

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Adam Howie Adam and Lauren with Accies

Alasdair Petrie (2001)

Alasdair married Heather (Trotman) on Saturday 2 July 2016 in Kingston Bagpuize, Oxfordshire.They now live in Wandsworth, London.

Jonathan Scott (1998)

Jonathan married Joni (Allan) on 6 November 2015 in St John’s Church, followed by a reception at Brig o’ Doon House Hotel. Stuart Ward (1998) was Jonathan’s Best Man, with Joni’s sister, Laura, as her Bridesmaid.

Graham Tait (2005) Alasdair Petrie

Graham and Jennifer Boyle were married at St. Andrew’s Church, Bearsden, on 2 September 2016 with the reception following at Cameron House.

Births

Fraser Lundie

Michael Livingston (1998)

Happy to announce the arrival of Elsa Livingston on 14 September 2016. Mother and daughter both doing well and Isla is excited to be a big sister!

Fraser Lundie (1998)

Delighted and proud to welcome Sara Isabella Lundie into our lives, born on 7 June, healthy and happy. My wife, Claire did an absolutely amazing job for the third time, as did the NHS midwives. I’d also like to very belatedly announce to Etcetera the birth of my second child, Flora (also pictured), back in 2013!

John McMaster (1996) Jonathan Scott Graham Tait

My wife Doreen and I are delighted to announce the arrival of Matilda Thea McMaster on 4 May 2016. A little sister for George and Ewan.

John McMaster Family

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Updates Claire Davies (2006)

I recently obtained my PhD in Neuroscience from The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh. I am continuing my research as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

My lab works on Multiple Sclerosis and we are investigating repair mechanisms and regenerative factors released in MS that can be harnessed to promote repair of damaged myelin.

Mark Duman (1986)

Mark delivered the keynote address with Mike Greco CEO of Patient Opinion Australia, an accompanying masterclass on person-centred care at the Pharmacy Guild of Australia in September last year.Visiting Sydney and Melbourne initially in 1986 to deliver presentations on shared clinical decision-making based on his work with The King’s Fund, Mark returned to Sydney, this time with his wife Tanya (but without their five children). Mark’s brief was to encourage pharmacists to move from their current supply-focused model of medicines provision to embrace a much more service-orientated approach, which includes helping patients with their medicines-taking, supporting the management of their long-term condition(s) and promoting health and wellness. Mark hopes to return to Australia this year to work with a small group of pharmacists to help them establish new person-centred services and, more broadly, to deliver a suite of accredited communication skills modules via the Guild.

Calum McCallum (1989)

After 31/2 years in Bangladesh I recently moved to Dar es Salaam,Tanzania. If there is anyone from the Academy in the East Africa Region please do get in touch via exrel@tga.org.uk

Mark Duman

Shona McCallum

the Power Yoga Company in London in March 2016 and now teaches on a regular basis.

Anne Turnbull (Graham) (Westbourne, 2003)

Anne Graham’s work was part of the Arteartesania Exhibition in Sóller, Mallorca in September and was also exhibiting at Elements at Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh.

Graeme Turnbull (2003)

won silver place - Commercial Radio Journalist of the Year (Ali Booker Memorial Award) - at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards 2016.

Graeme Turnbull is now working for MPC, was VFX Supervisor at The Moving Picture Company and was responsible for leading his team of 10 for the recent Paralympics 2016 advert. He moved in January from Electric Theatre Collective where he was lead 3D artist.

Robyn Kennedy (2010)

Stuart Turnbull (2006)

Shona McCallum (2004)

Following a degree in Fashion Branding, Robyn managed the first Sweaty Betty Store in Glasgow and has recently been promoted to be their Roadshow Manager in London, to where she will relocate later in the year. Robyn also successfully completed her yoga teacher training at 28

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Stuart Turnbull is working as a 3D Generalist at Atomic Fiction in Montreal, moving there in August 2016 for a year.

He was recently a Former 3D Modeller at MPC - London, United Kingdom and at Framestore.

Robyn Kennedy

Llama drama as student stunt stops traffic in Glasgow Students promote Freshers Week by taking a life-sized llama round landmarks in Glasgow but their day took a turn for the worst.

Two students, including former pupil Matthew Doran (2014), were out promoting Freshers student week in the city centre and created a scene Del boy and Rodney Trotter would be proud of.

We were delighted to have Reverend David Primrose (1972) as guest preacher for the annual Commemoration Service at Glasgow Cathedral on Friday 14 October. The occasion was particularly special as David’s mother, Marjory, was able to join us on the day.

Academicals in Great Britain Rifle Team Two Academicals, Lindsay Peden (1971), left, and Mike Barlow (1984), right, are regular international competitors in Rifle Shooting. Lindsay is the coach for the Scottish High Performance Squad (from which the two for the Commonwealth Games are selected) and was Captain of the Great Britain Rifle Team which toured Canada and the USA in August in August this year.

For the past four years, both have travelled to Phoenix, USA, in February to shoot in the Long Range meeting, which is shot mainly at 1000 yards. Mike finished 6th this year out of a strong field of over 100

Mike Barlow

Lindsay Peden

The inventive youngsters decided to promote the event by taking a life-sized llama round landmarks in Glasgow. But the pair didn’t think the idea through as they locked themselves out of their van and were forced to walk back to university carrying the creature.

Shoppers in Royal Exchange Square were left bemused as the students passed red faced.

Originally published on glasgowlive.co.uk Photographer John McGowan

competitors and also shot very well in the Canadian National Championships in Ottawa finishing 7th, after having been overtaken at the last range by Lindsay who, despite the pressures of captaincy, managed to finish 2nd out of field of around 180. Mike was selected for both the major international team matches in Canada, with Great Britain winning both matches, one with a record score. Full information of the overall tour can be found on the team’s website at www.gbrt. org.uk/canada2016 In 2015, Lindsay shot in the Great Britain Veterans team at Camp Perry, Ohio and in the World Championships, before travelling to Canada for the Canadian Championships.The reason for going to Canada was primarily reconnaissance for this year’s trip, but much to his surprise (and that of others) he won the Championship, thereby setting the bar fairly high for his team this year. Next year, he will be taking the squad to Phoenix again and will also take those who are selected for the Commonwealth Games to Australia for the pre-Games event in November 2017 in Brisbane.

Any Academical wanting to shoot at Bisley should contact Lindsay Peden through the External Relations office.

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Obituaries Celebrating the life of James Hamilton Smith - Jimmy the Pie

J

ames Hamilton Smith, who died on 26 October following a brief illness, was an example of loyalty, commitment and graciousness that touched many who had the privilege of knowing him.There can have been very few people in Glasgow who have been more popular, more respected, and indeed more revered. Jimmy was such a modest and self-effacing man, that he would have brushed aside such compliments. He was a do-er, an action man, and got things done. Many people, clubs, organisations and institutions have had cause to be grateful for the continual support and service of Jimmy Smith.

He will best be known throughout the Scottish rugby community as Secretary of the Rugby Section of the Glasgow Academical Club for 34 years, a record which is unlikely to be broken. His enthusiasm for the game he loved was undiminished throughout his life, and visiting teams to the rugby fields of New Anniesland were greeted with warmth and courteousness that was his trademark. His post-match hospitality of ensuring that all the players received the staple fare of a pie earned him the nickname of Jimmy the Pie, a title of affection that remained with him for the rest of his days. In addition to his work as Rugby Secretary, he was President of the Glasgow Academical Club, Chairman of Cricket, Captain of Cricket, and in that year they won the Rowan Charity cup, and a Governor of The Glasgow Academy.

He hardly missed a post war match of the national team at Murrayfield.Win or lose, he loved meeting up with his old borders rugby friends and the whole atmosphere of the occasion.

He was ‘Pollokshields born and bred’ as was his proud boast, and lived there most of his days, apart from the first ten years of married life which were spent in Kilmacolm. He married a Dunblane lass, Hazel Young in 1950 and shortly after started a family. They had three sons.

Although his early schooling was at Glasgow Academy, at 13 he attended Strathallan School in Perthshire. He became an extremely good swimmer, a very good ball player and was Captain of Rugby and Captain of Cricket.

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encouraged to retire, as there were several brokers of his age in London refusing to retire because Jimmy Smith was still working!

James Hamilton Smith

Immediately on leaving school, he enrolled into the Fleet Air Arm as an observer, quickly developing a talent for navigating. A war posting to Trinidad as a navigating trainer using old Swordfish biplanes or ‘Stringbags’ as they were affectionately called, gave him a fairly easy life in the sun! Later, well before the days of satnav, he was an invaluable navigator on yacht races round the Isle of Man, the Mull of Kintyre, or over to Norway.

After being demobbed, he started his career as a stockbroker. Initially with the firm of Kidston Goff, a few years with Alexander Sloan, and for most part, with Stirling Hendry.There was a Scottish Stock Exchange at that time, and he loved the routine of the trading floor. He knew all the clients, and most importantly they all knew, and respected him. He was of much assistance to those beginning a career in the profession and many were grateful for his guidance and wise council.

He was one of the last in Glasgow still to wear a bowler hat into the office, and on leaving the subway going into the office, he would always doff his hat to the driver in gratitude. At 75, Jimmy was still routinely opening the office, when a call was received from the London Stock Exchange asking if he could be

The family house in Pollokshields was an open house to dinner guests from business, social, club or association involvement.This epitomised his open heart to everyone he met.The friends of his three boys were also made welcome and the kitchen was a constant hub of visitors, with a spare place at the table, a bottomless coffee pot on the Raeburn, and a tin of Hazel’s famous flapjacks on the table. A spare room in the house was always available to family and friends visiting or studying in Glasgow. A recent testimony from a Kintyre friend, who stayed with the family whilst studying in Glasgow, said that James’ kindness to him was without compare and that his generosity remained with him and with his family to this day.

Jimmy gave unstinting service to Sherbrooke-St Gilbert’s Church where he was a much respected elder, and carried out many acts of private kindness which he was able to accomplish “behind the scenes”.These are matters which properly do not come into the open, but Jimmy was indeed a tower of strength, support and advice for those who needed it. He was the church ground convenor for many years, and his constant pride in tending to the neat gravel and lawns made him a local landmark.

He was an enthusiastic freemason for most of his adult life and was Master of his own lodge, the Lodge of Glasgow St John in 1961. In addition, he regularly attended and assisted five other lodges in the Glasgow area, and if any were in doubt as to the correct protocol, Jimmy was the man to ask. Co-existing with his masonic career was his love of the Incorporation of Masons of Glasgow, which he supported unstintingly. For more years than anyone could remember, he closed every meeting and function of the Incorporation with ‘Rapping the Shed’ in his own inimitable style. Jimmy spoke annually at the Incorporation’s ‘Pear Eating’ about the history of the evening, captivating his audience

without a note.There too, Jimmy was the fountain of knowledge of their traditions and history. Recently they celebrated at lunch 50 years since he was their Deacon, at which, even in failing health, he responded to a toast in his honour, immaculately and with warmth and humility.

He developed quite a skill in informal public speaking, mainly through his Trades House and masonic career. At any gathering of family friends, colleagues or societies, you could always rely on him to produce a well-crafted toast or a reply, always brief, never pompous, with humour and panache, even at a moment’s notice.

Jimmy and Hazel were very keen Scottish country dancers in the sixties, having joined a Saturday evening class at Glasgow Academy run by teachers and friends. In the eighties, and for the following twenty years, they joined family and friends at New Kilpatrick Church Scottish Country Dance Club in Bearsden hardly missing one weekly class.

His Strathallian days held fond memories for him, and he attended all their dinners, ultimately becoming President of the Strathallian Club. Many of his longstanding friends were of his vintage at Strathallan.

He loved the easy highland laconic style, frequently travelling to Skye or the Western Isles with his masonic friends. He never missed a dinner, an away weekend or a highland ball with The Glasgow Highland Club, enjoying dancing and listening to piping and all the tales of life’s experiences that go with it. He loved meeting former and serving military officers, especially naval, and was devoted to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Club Scotland who met on the SS Carrick for so many years, and latterly in the Western Club and at HMS Dalriada. He was one of their longest serving members and committee man, and attended all their Trafalgar Dinners and reunions. Latterly he was a keen member of the Rotary Club of Govan and his contributions were always well received.

He was rarely a foreign traveller, with family holidays at Easter spent with farmer friends at Portmahomack and in the summer at Tangy Farm in Kintyre.

He loved the outdoors, and became a very capable trout fisherman at Tangy Loch. He was also a keen supporter of the

Pollokshields Angling Club.

Supporting and ensuring the continued traditions and practices of all the many clubs, societies, incorporations, associations and masonic lodges of which he was an active member meant everything to him.

Jimmy’s presence lit up any gathering. He laughed readily and others laughed with him. He had a vast multitude of friends from many wholly different walks of life, in whose company he was at ease. He was a true gentleman, and we are privileged and honoured to have known him.

He is survived by his wife, Hazel, three sons, Graham, Iain and Gavin, seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Grandparent Jimmy was a firm believer in the importance of community and bringing people together.This was especially true when it came to family. He was incredibly supportive of the grandchildren and worked hard to foster family bonds.

But there was also a competitive edge to that family spirit and he revelled in the achievements of what would come to be known as his Smith Clan. When his youngest grandchild Gary joined Glasgow Academy, he was extremely pleased, more so than when the rest of us had joined. When asked why this was the case, he replied “There are now seven Smiths at the Academy, whilst the Howies of Dunlop have only six”.

This healthy competition and supportive family ethos combined perfectly on the Academy sports grounds, where his unwavering support for the grandchildren’s endeavours was exceptional.Whether it was the school swimming gala, sports day, rugby or hockey, Jimmy attended as many events as he physically could. On a dreich Saturday morning at Windyedge, or an away game in Edinburgh, he would often be the lone supporter cheering on a team that included one of his brood.

Unfortunately as the years went by and his eyesight faded, it was increasingly difficult for him to work out who was playing.This resulted in a few instances when he had been watching a match, cheering on his grandchild, only to later realise that his grandchild had been on the neighbouring pitch.

Academical rugby I first met Jimmy Smith when, shortly after leaving school, I was invited to play for the Academical 4th XV. I turned up at New Anniesland, full of youthful enthusiasm. I had recently played in the 1st XV at school and was looking forward to continuing my career as a scrum half.

As three o’clock approached, in the dressing room there were four players who claimed to be scrum halves, six who claimed to be wingers, four to be hookers and the fifteenth player who announced he would play anywhere.

The captain was frantic – where was everyone going to play? Just at that point James breezed into the dressing room greeting everyone with the usual “Hello, old boy”. His eye fell on me – a new face – “Hello, old boy I’m James Hamilton Smith – good to see you - any problems at all - just ask me”.

This was a great relief to the beleaguered captain. He said, “Well, Jimmy, I’ve got a problem. You seemed to have selected four scrum halves, six wingers, four hookers and this guy who says he’ll play anywhere. What am I to do?”

NOW there was no problem in the Academical Club that Jimmy had not faced before and solved. Quick as a flash he said, “No problem old boy – no problem at all. Alphabetical – first in the alphabet full back and work down!

Jimmy was well-known for his exploits as a referee. On one occasion when refereeing his beloved 4th XV he was asked at a scrum by the visiting scrum half, “Whose ball is it, referee?” Quick as a flash he replied, “Our ball”. This happened from time to time. He always explained – not a question of bias, old boy, - it was a question of fact – it was an Academical ball and I am an Academical.

However, he had more difficulty in explaining away a statement he made when his 4th-15 were playing Hutchesons’. I was playing. We were 6-5 down with time running out. As I collected the ball to put it into a scrum he said in a voice that all could hear “Hurry up and get the chaps to score old boy – I can’t keep the game going much longer”.

Despite these minor peccadillos, Jimmy was loved and respected by the whole Scottish Rugby Community. Any Rugby function I have attended recently, I am always asked “How’s Jimmy the Pie?” Etcetera

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Without a shadow of a doubt, Ronnie Woods changed the course of my life – and for that I shall always be grateful.

Ronnie was a member of what I now appreciate was a tremendously strong teaching staff at the Academy in the 1970s and early 1980s. I learned from them all.

But it was Ronnie’s infectious dynamism and enthusiasm that persuaded me to study History. He instilled a passion for the past that has never faded to this day.

Why was he so good at what he did?

First, there was the sheer energy. Lessons often began with a flourish – a sudden sweep of the revolving blackboard to reveal an immaculate lesson plan.

Rembering Ronnie Woods (1948 - 2016) Ronnie Woods was a great teacher, taking the best practice of previous generations and adapting his teaching to encompass modern technology and recent changes in assessment and examination.

He set great store by preparation, classroom discipline and enthusiasm for his subject. Many pupils who passed through the Academy in Ronnie’s time chose History as one of their Highers and his A level classes had much in common with university tutorials.

Ronnie and his wife Kit, who sadly passed away a couple of years earlier, had a routine that made many of us feel limp: up at 5am, in school well before 8am and in bed by 9pm. It was those earlier hours, fresh from a good night’s sleep, devoted to exacting preparation that made him one of the best to have taught at The Academy.

He had little time for Common Room politics preferring on many occasions to spend the mid-morning and lunchtime breaks in his room fielding questions and comments from staff and pupils alike.

There are many Academicals who owe their after school progress to the inspiration of the dedicated teaching of Ronnie Woods.

Colin Turner (Rector 1983-94)

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Before that, however, came the meticulous preparation. I rarely saw him come into the classroom without a very clear idea of what he was going to achieve. He could be tough, so discipline was never an issue.Woe betide the boy who crossed Mr.Woods. But the default setting was geniality, encouragement. And he encouraged us to study systematically.

He taught me how to read carefully, to take useful, well organised notes, to think, and to learn. “The question is sacrosanct!”

Those words have been faithfully repeated by me to thousands of students at Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard.

Ronnie was a teacher for all ages. He could clown for the kids in Transitus.

He could fire up a flagging 4th XV of 14-year-olds. But for the upper sixth – those of us who dreamed of Oxford and Cambridge – he was professorial. I shall never forget the after-hours meetings of the history discussion group, and the papers he encouraged us to write. It was Ronnie who sent me to the Mitchell Library when it was obvious that the school’s own resources on the Thirty Years War were less than I required.That was an unforgettable epiphany.That was the day my life changed its course.

I never really understood why Ronnie didn’t go all the way to the top.When I left the school to go to Oxford, I was confident he would be Rector one day. I certainly would not have predicted that he would retire early from teaching. It just goes to show that there is only so much a sixth former can know of school politics.

Nevertheless, he will always be remembered by me as a model pedagogue. Every time I walk into a lecture hall or a seminar room, I try to channel my inner Ronnie – try to

fire myself up, try to introduce that little bit of drama or humour that engages an audience. May that blithe, vivacious spirit live on at the Academy to inspire and perhaps change the lives of future generations of pupils.

Niall Ferguson (1981) Mr Woods was indeed inspirational and I often think back and remember what a great teacher he was. My two favourite subjects at school were Modern Studies and History and it was no coincidence that Ronnie was my teacher for both.

Brian Caplan (1998) Mr Woods was my Form Master in 1A back in ’78 and did much to help me settle into The Academy. He was an absolutely brilliant history teacher and I have no doubt that my interest in military and political history was sparked by him.

Those corner classrooms were run by Lachie, Ronnie and ‘Chuck’ and I had much thrust into my teenage brain that has stuck fast.

RIP, Mr Woods – thanks for your mentorship, patience and skilful teaching.

Iain Breckenridge (1984) He was a great teacher who really made us this think for ourselves. He was able to get under the skin of even the most troublesome folk in my class and really capture our imaginations.We did a rolling news project of the Iraq war in 1990 and it was really exciting for a twelve-year-old first year. I still have it! I basically put his classes in Modern Studies down to the reason I passed with a Higher A and am working in media in London now.

He made it fun. He also had this innate ability to get a whole school of 700 boys to sit in absolute silence at the end of every assembly, which was really quite something I thought at the time!

Douglas Keighley (1996) Ronnie Woods was a true Academy character, a Christian gentleman, and an inspirational teacher of history. It is to him that I owe my lifelong interest in history, as well as the solid grounding in British history that helped me gain an ‘A’ at Higher. He will certainly be greatly missed.

Paolo Capanni (1986) Very sad to receive your email this afternoon. Mr Woods was an inspirational

teacher and I have many happy memories of my History and Modern Studies lessons with him.

Ian McAslan (1992) I was in the same class and played rugby with his son Geoff. Like many former pupils I was taught by Ronnie and always regarded him as one of the best teachers I had during my time at the school.

Stuart Wilson (1992) Mr Woods was an inspirational teacher to me and my class mates throughout my time at the Academy. He brought such energy, vitality and dare I say it, entertainment - a pizazz - to tough parts of History such as the French Revolution… a truly exceptional man.

Conrad Rafique (1983) Mr Woods was undoubtedly a great teacher, and was enthusiastic and engaging on his subject.The techniques he taught for note taking and ordering information I encourage my own sons to use even today.

Duncan Montgomery (1988) Ronnie (or RBW as he was known...) was one of the finest teachers I ever had, and was an absolute rock in the aftermath of Mark Scott’s death, when so many of us were mourning kids. Sad news.

Rowena Clark (1999) As a teacher myself, I know that every pupil needs that one teacher who inspires.

I was lucky in having a few, but Ronnie inspired my love of modern studies, which remains my only academic prize (in 1987). His methodical organisation of overhead ‘RBW A3’ is something I will always remember with fondness. In today’s league-table-driven academic age, we forget that the teacher gifts an interest in a subject that lasts long after the exam has been sat and the result letter opened.

I continue to be fascinated by modern studies and this is largely a result of his passion and empathy.

Bill Howie (1987) Ronnie was indeed an inspirational teacher, whose influence remains with me 30 odd years after I last sat in his classroom. He had the ability to convey his ideas clearly and to pass on techniques in the organisation of ideas into coherent

communication. He had developed different personas that he would employ in teaching different age groups - all to great effect. He was also a friend to his pupils, who never lost sight of his pastoral role. It was wonderful to have seen him at a reunion a few years ago and his passing is a huge loss to the Academy community.

Alasdair Buchanan (1984) He was indeed an inspirational teacher.

I was fortunate enough to be taught both History and Modern Studies by Mr Woods during my time at the Academy, taking both to Higher level.The interest in current affairs and politics in particular engendered by Mr Woods led me to a legal career which has included Parliamentary and infrastructure work and also to my involvement with the Chamber of Commerce.

Neil Amner (1984) I was very sad to learn of Ronnie’s passing. History was my favourite subject and he made it compelling, relevant and even fun. He taught in an engaging, informative and sometimes quite dramatic way.What I hope is not lost in tributes to him was his formative role in the faith journeys of many pupils.

He gave a strong, positive lead to our Scripture Union work and I was eagerly encouraged by him in my own early walk with God. I was privileged to be asked by him at 17 to lead at my first Scripture Union Camp, a Camp where Ronnie had overarching responsibility.

David Pitkeathly (1982) His enthusiasm for teaching history was infectious and his classes were always interesting. However, I also remember him for his faith and his work for the Scripture Union. I am sure that his work for SU and “Inter Alia” will have influenced the lives of many former pupils as it did for me.

Al Brown (1979)

Major Robert W Allison (1959) Throughout his years at Glasgow Academy, Robert was a very enthusiastic member of the Army Cadet Force, so it was no surprise when he decided that he wanted to become an Army Officer.

Robert joined The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in 1959 and passed out as a second lieutenant in 1961. His first posting was to Cyprus to join 42 Medium Regiment, and whilst in Cyprus he learned to canoe, climb mountains in Turkey as well as playing rugby for the regiment. He was also a keen golfer and was very proud when he managed to get his handicap down to 6! On leaving Cyprus he was selected to go to 29 Commando Regiment where he trained with The Royal Marines, quickly followed by “P” Company (the endurance course which you had to undergo and pass before training with the Parachute Regiment). On completion of this training he travelled to Singapore for a two and a half year engagement.

I met and married Dorothy in 1965 and a few years later they had two daughters, Mel and Nicky. On leaving the army in 1988 he joined IBM and moved to Salisbury in Wiltshire. It was in Salisbury that he first joined Rotary and in 2005 became President. Having hung up his rugby boots, he became a referee and loved his Saturday afternoon travelling throughout the county refereeing matches. After visiting Cyprus with his family in 2006 they decided to buy a house on the island and they had eight years enjoying the Mediterranean sunshine and food before Robert was diagnosed with Cancer. Despite the magnificent care he had from The Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre he died on 4 March 2016.

He was buried with full Military Honours at The Military Cemetery in Dhekelia where he was first posted.

Robert often spoke fondly of his years at Glasgow Academy and wore his tie with pride on many occasions.

Jean B M Beattie (nee Anderson) (1963) 1944 - 2016

Jean passed away peacefully on Thursday 27 October 2016. Dearly loved wife of Alf, much loved mother to Carole and Alison, loved sister of Marion, a doting Etcetera

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gran to Harry, Libby and Sam, and mother-in-law to Mark and Ian. She will be sadly missed. A celebration of Jean’s life was held in Perth on Monday 7 November.

I Bruce M Caldwell (1974) 8 May 1956 - June 2016

Bruce died peacefully, surrounded by his family. Adored husband of Elly and most beloved dad of Beth and Bobby. Much cherished son of the late Rev. James and Marjory Caldwell and loving brother of Joan and Miller. Friend to very many.

Admired and very loved by all who knew him. So sadly missed.

Alan R Cannon (1954) 21 June 1936 - 19 November 2015

Alan died unexpectedly in his sleep of heart failure. He and his wife Clare had 50 very happy years of marriage. Alan is survived by Clare and a son who is an Associate Professor of Engineering at Oxford University and a daughter who is a Community Nurse for Children with Complex Needs - and four delightful and successful grandchildren of whom he was very proud.

a post at Edinburgh University he became involved in Archaeology.

grandchildren. He is sadly missed by his sisters Ruth and Kay.

He began excavating in the Udal Archaelogical site in North Uist in 1963 until 1995. The Udal is one of the most important sites in the UK and it has a unique chronological depth which spans the Neolithic, 3000BC, the Bronze Age, Iron Age,Viking, Medieval, Post Medieval and up to the early 20th Century. He collected his archive covering a highly significant landscape of domestic occupation, funerary and ritual behaviour material, (with a view to publication), at his home in Crossmichael.

James S Galloway FIET (1964)

The archive is now available to Archaelogical Services Comhairle from Historic Scotland, to pursue his work.

His last few years were spent, with a number of physical ailments, in the excellent hands of the staff of the Barlochan Care Home, Palnackie, Castle Douglas, where he died peacefully on 22 August 2016.

16 February 1958 - 6 May 2016

Ian A Crawford (1947) 13 March 1928 - 22 August 2016

Ian entered the Academy in the Junior School and left in Easter 1947. He was a member of the Globe Players, a prize-winning middle distance runner on Sports Days, a piper in the band, a Scottish Nationalist all his life, and became a self-taught Gaelic speaker. After National Service in the Royal Armoured Corps he went up to Christ’s College Cambridge where he studied History.

He was an active College Rugby player and also a member of the University “Achilles” Athletic Club. After obtaining 34

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After a brave 10-month battle against invasive cancer, James Stanyard Galloway sadly passed away peacefully in Capetown, South Africa.Whilst still at school, he undertook a trip to Sept Iles, Canada on an Ore Carrier with the Denholm Line.

Subsequently, he gained an apprenticeship in Electrical Engineering with James Kilpatrick and Sons in Paisley.This was followed by an appointment with Dunbarton County Council.

He always had a love of the sea and joined the Ben Line as a Junior Electrical Officer.Thereafter his professional career was spent both ashore and afloat. He held senior positions with Todd and Duncan Cashmere in Kinross and British Bakeries in Glasgow.

During this time he also volunteered as an Instructor Officer in The Royal Naval Reserve, attached to the Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities Royal Naval Unit where he was actively involved in training the students of both Universities in navigation and seamanship. He was held in high regard among the students and staff.

Alan G Cochrane

Alan died peacefully, at home, aged 58 years. He passed away following a battle with Motor Neurone Disease.

He was a highly regarded practitioner at the Academy Vet Centre in Stranraer.

Alan was described by colleagues as a fun-loving man and a talented veterinary surgeon who will be sadly missed.

Beloved husband of Jo, dearly loved father of Angus, Robyn, Olivia and the late Douglas.

4 July 1947 - 20 May 2016

Dr. Thomas Forrester

Dr. Thomas Forrester (1954)

22 November 1936 - 13 August 2016 Tommy attended the Academy from 1942 to 1954 and then went on to Glasgow University to study medicine. After qualifying he joined Glasgow University physiology department as a lecturer and researcher. In 1975 he emigrated to the U.S.A. where, for over thirty years, he was a lecturer and Professor of physiology and pharmacology at St. Louis University Medical School. He is survived by his loving wife Norma, their three children Linda, Claire and Robert and six

Latterly, he joined Renaissance Cruises as the Chief Electrical Officer in a variety of their ships, before transferring to the Caribbean Cruise Line. After further appointments he was promoted to Fleet Superintendent, responsible for the construction, fitting out and setting to work of a number of their most modern Cruise Liners.

These appointments led him to work in India, Florida, Sweden and France. He was held in very high regard in all these positions and was known in the Cruise Industry as “The Mad Highlander”, which shows how much people across the globe thought of James Galloway.

RIP, my dear friend.You are very sadly missed.

Graham Black (1967)

Ian Guthrie

12 October 1953-26 December 2016 Peacefully on the 26 December at The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, beloved father of Mark, Alison,

Karen, Sean and Campbell, husband of Tadalech and the late Ann and Papa of Zoë, Emma, Mia, Adam and Lila.

Dr H Perry C Harrison (1933)

21 November 1915 - 29 September 2016 Herbert Percival Cooper Harrison was one of twins, born in Guildford, at the height of the First World War. One of his first memories was the sight of Zeppelins heading for London.

His father, who served with the Royal Engineers, was treated at Craiglockhart in Edinburgh for shellshock but made a good recovery and in the 1920s brought his family to Glasgow, where the twins attended Glasgow Academy before completing their education as boarders at Mill Hill School.

He went on to study medicine in Glasgow. Perry initially chose orthopaedic surgery when he qualified in 1939 but after serving in the Merchant and Royal Navy during the war, settled on the life of a country doctor.

He arrived in Strathblane in 1950 with his wife Cecile and two daughters.

A son completed the family and over the following 35 years Dr Harrison became something of an institution. “My patients often spanned three generations, sometimes four,” he said. Even in Dr H Perry C Harrison

retirement, his energy was legendary. In 2000, aged 84, he competed in a 10k race from Killearn to Strathblane. At age 96, Dr Harrison was still delivering meals-on-wheels and keeping busy with his painting and gardening.

Irene Inwood (Former staff) November 1929 - 11 January 2017

Irene was born in November 1929 in Scotstoun. She attended Scotstoun Primary followed by Victoria Drive Secondary School. Irene excelled in sports and on the academic side. Being appointed Dux was a wonderful end to her school career. An M.A. at The University of Glasgow followed, with French and Mathematics being her special interest. She was fluent in French and calculus. No mean achievement for a young girl from such humble beginnings.

Irene joined the staff of The Glasgow Academy in the 1980’s. She was there for twelve years and during this time set up and ran the social services outreach program from the school for those pupils who for various reasons did not or could not participate in the CCF, the cadet force.This was a novelty for rather a traditional boys only school and proved to be a most successful and worthwhile enterprise. She retired from teaching at 60 about the same time that George gave up the bookshop in Milngavie.While still teaching Irene became involved with the Children’s Panel.This was a relatively new and uniquely Scottish way of trying to divert troubled and delinquent children from the court process.

Michael W W Jarvis (1951)

16 July 1933 - 11 September 2016 Michael Warden Whitehorn Jarvis was born in Glasgow, the youngest of four sons of Rev Dr Ernest Jarvis and Lois Jarvis. He was a pupil at The Academy and in his senior years played for the 2nd VI , the 2nd XV, and was a member of the Humanist and Debating societies.

Michael went on to study at Glasgow University and graduated with an MA, LLB and CA. He worked as a CA accountant his entire life, but an offer of adventure overcame his accountant veneer and after a short time working in Scotland, he went to Venezuela, where he worked for 8 years at Peat Marwick Mitchell, persuading

Sheila to join him there and start a family.

In 1968, the Jarvis family immigrated to Canada, where Michael worked for CFM, Ultramar and finally York Central Hospital.

He loved sailing, and all sorts of games. A member of the Boulevard Club and then Mimico Cruising Club, he loved sailing in Scotland, on the Great Lakes, the Maritimes and anywhere else. Michael served his community through Fairlawn Avenue United Church and King City United Church, and after retiring through CESO (Canadian Executive Services Organisation) in Panama, Bolivia and Canada.

Michael died of brain cancer and will be greatly missed by Sheila, his wife of 53 years and their four children, of whom he was immensely proud: Katie, Fiona, David, and Geoff and his four grandchildren.

Professor Sir Malcolm C Macnaughton (1942) Honorary Governor 4 April 1925 - 1 July 2016

Malcolm Campbell Macnaughton (known as Callum) was the elder son of James Hay Macnaughton, an accountant and secretary of the Straits Trading Co of Singapore, and his wife Mary. He was educated initially at St Columba’s School, Kilmacolm and then Craigholme School before enrolling at The Glasgow Academy in 1933.

Callum went on to study medicine at Glasgow University in 1942. On graduating he worked as a resident in the city’s Victoria Infirmary and Rottenrow maternity hospital before his national service. He served two years in the Gurkhas in Hong Kong and the New Territories and was demobbed (as a Captain) in 1952 when he returned, as a senior resident to the Victoria Infirmary and then to the Southern General. While at Bellshill Maternity he began research – work that signalled a move towards academia and an enduring interest in the endocrinology of reproduction. In 1961 he moved to Dundee as a senior lecturer before taking up the Muirhead Chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Glasgow University in 1970. Callum believed the benefits of legalising abortion outweighed the drawbacks and worked quietly to change attitudes. He recognised the need for a family planning service but he was Etcetera

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also moved by the plight of those unable to have children.

After being elected president of the Royal College of Gynaecologists in 1984 he went on to become president of the British Fertility Society in 1992, the same year he became a vice president of the Royal College of Midwives.

Throughout all his academic and practical work, which also encompassed cancer surgery and pioneering the Scottish Perinatal Mortality audit, Callum demonstrated enormous empathy and common sense coupled with the ability to see things from the point of view of both his patients and his students.

Author of numerous books and research papers on obstetrics, gynaecology and endocrinology, after retiring in 1990 he continued to support innovative research through his 10-year tenure as chairman of Tenovus Scotland.

Beyond his professional career, he was a keen fisherman and curler and had been a member of the BMA curling club along with Margaret-Ann, his wife of more than 60 years.The one great sadness in an otherwise supremely successful and happy life was the loss of his younger brother Douglas and his wife, who were killed in a car crash en route to join him and his wife at the Royal College of Gynaecologists during his presidency.

Callum, who is survived by his wife and children Graham, Jane,Torquil, Gillian and Jennifer, 11 grandchildren and two great grandchildren, died on July 1, precisely 100 years to the day since the death at The Somme of his Uncle Callum from whom he took his name.

Alistair McLean

19 February 1940 - 15 July 2014 Alistair’s family home was in Maybole.

Initially educated at Cambusdoon School in Ayr he came to Glasgow Academy as a boarder in 1954. At school he excelled in the Pipe Band in both the Junior and the Senior School. He was also a keen rugby player and a member of the RAF JTC. This gave him a lifetime interest in all things aeronautical and Alistair had very much wanted to train as a Royal Air Force pilot. His eyesight meant this was not possible and so he chose to study Chemistry and then had a successful career in the food industry. He lectured for a time and then joined Braehead Foods in Kilmarnock.

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Alistair was a much respected member of Round Table and of Louden Rotary Club. He served as President on two occasions and was awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship for his commitment to Rotary. He was also an active member of Galston Parish church. He was also an avid reader and enjoyed music and films.

Alistair died from brain cancer - an illness which he bore with good humour and quiet courage. He is survived by Isobel (his wife of nearly 49 years), children Fiona and Neil, and five grandchildren.

J Martin D Milree (1938) 19 September 1920 - 25 April 1916 James Martin Deschamps Milree was the only child of James (a mechanical engineer who served in the Royal Navy during WWI) and Marion Milree.

Martin was born in Glasgow but moved soon afterwards with his parents to India.

He was sent back to Scotland aged 7 to ensure he got a good education. At this time he stayed with various friends and relatives and between the ages of 7 and 14 Martin only saw his parents once. He attended boarding school in Moffat for a time and then lived with his parents in the West End when he became a pupil at The Academy in 1934.

Martin obtained an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering during which time war broke out. After completing his apprenticeship, he joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) as a 2nd Lieutenant and was posted to India where he was involved in the maintenance and repair of tanks. He rose to the rank of captain and the end of the war found him in Ceylon. There he met Sheila who was in the Wrens and they married in 1948. Martin stayed in the army and saw service in Egypt before coming home to Hampshire, by which time he had two sons.

He reluctantly left the army although he remained in the TA with the rank of Major. Martin found work with Rolls Royce and the family moved to East Kilbride where his daughter was born. Another post led to a move to Northern Rhodesia. During one period of leave, Martin drove his Rover 90 all the way back to the UK via the Congo, Nigeria and across the Sahara Desert.

The rest of the family returned to the UK by air, which was a three-day trip in those days! Career moves then took Martin to the Milford Haven oil refinery,

a diamond mine in Tanzania, a cement works in Buckinghamshire, a tea factory in Kenya and then back to an oil refinery in Hampshire.

On retirement he returned to his beloved Scotland and settled down near the village of Contin in Ross-shire. He and Sheila enjoyed exploring the beautiful countryside around them. Sheila died in 2006 and Martin stayed in Scotland until he could no longer manage on his own.

At the age of 95 he moved to a care home in Dorset to be near his family and died shortly afterwards in Dorchester County Hospital. Martin is survived by a daughter, two sons, seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Peter R Petrie (1961) 25 December 1944 - 7 April 2016

Peter died suddenly at the Canberra Hospital, ACT, Australia following a short illness – a much loved dad, grandpa, uncle and brother.

Andrew M Reid (1947) 21 July 1929 - 16 May 2016

Andrew Milton Reid was the son of the late Rev ARR Reid and Lilias Tindal of Hillhead Street. He was one of five Reid brothers to attend Glasgow Academy.

Andrew was enrolled in 1936 with Ronald (1943) and David (1944). Later they were joined by Barclay (1951) and Graham (1953). Andrew won a number of prizes while at The Academy and he was a prefect, Lance Corporal in the JTC and a member of the Globe Players and the Debating Society.

Andrew won a place to study at Jesus College, Oxford. On graduating he joined Imperial Tobacco as a management trainee and swiftly rose through the ranks. In 1975 he was appointed Assistant Managing Director with John Player & Sons but returned to Imperial Group as a Director three years later, serving Chairman from 1979–86.

He went on to hold a number of non-executive positions in industry and with public bodies including with Trade Indemnity plc (where he served as Deputy Chairman), Renold plc, the Tobacco Advisory Council, the Royal School of Church Music, Bristol University Court and Council and the Bristol Development Corporation Board. Andrew also served as Chairman of Governors of Colston’s Collegiate School, as Master of the Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol and as a

High Sheriff of Avon.

understand the value of Fletcher Maths.

School trips were not the norm in those days but her class were always treated to an outing to the Moss in Kilmacolm where they enjoyed tracking and cooking over a fire.

Beyond work and public life Andrew enjoyed sailing, golf and fishing, as well as spending time with family and friends at the family home in Somerset.

He married his first wife, Norma Davidson, in 1953.They had two sons.

Norma sadly died in 1993. Andrew married his second wife, Audrey Wilson, in 1995. He is survived by Audrey and two sons.

Peter A Ross (1954) 1936-2016

Peacefully on 25 December 2016, Peter Angus, dearly loved husband of Elliot and a dear brother and Uncle.

Alexander Douglas (Sandy) Small (1960)

28 March 1944 - 18 November 2016 At home, beloved husband of Maureen, loving father of Mary, Hannah and Eleanor, dear brother of Maggie, proud uncle and grandpa.

Thomas E D (Ted) Smith (1953) 17 March 1935 - 31 May 2016

Ted died suddenly, but peacefully, at The Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley.Thomas Edward Davidson, much loved husband of Elizabeth, beloved dad of Lorne and Morven and a devoted grandad of Hannah and James.

W Russell Stevenson (1945)

10 October 1934 - 16 October 2016 Russell died peacefully at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Larbert. Much loved husband and best friend of Olive, a caring uncle, great-uncle and great-great-uncle.

Russell will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

Colin Sutherland (1975)

4 May 1957 - 25 August 2016 Colin died peacefully at Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock, after a long illness, aged 59. A very dearly loved son of Myra and the late Drew - AAC Sutherland (1944).

Hugh E Thomson 1933-2016

Hugh died peacefully on 24 December 2016 at The Prince and Princess of

Doris Johnston Vaughan (right)

Wales Hospice. Beloved husband of the late Mary, dad to Susan and Brian, father-in-law of Karen and grandfather to Stefani, Jamie, Ross and Holly.

Doris Johnston Vaughan (former staff) 21 March 1923 - 27 July 2016

A personal reflection by Margaret (McNeill) Tindall I had a unique relationship with Doris Johnston Vaughan - both as pupil and colleague.

When I heard of Doris’s death in July, my mind immediately returned to a visit to Bob and Doris at Brandermill Woods. She introduced me to a gathering and told the assembled audience that she had taught me to read and write.Which was true!

My very first teacher at St Columba’s School, Kilmacolm, was Miss Johnston in 1948. We also met at Sunday School where she led the Primary Department at the Old Kirk and at Brownies where she was the Brown Owl. After leaving St Columba’s School, Kilmacolm, where she was joint Head Girl, Doris went to Bedford Training College to study for the Higher Certificate of the National Froebel Union, from where she passed out as the most distinguished student of her year.

From 1944-48 she was a Junior Mistress at Polam Hall School in Darlington and returned to St Columba’s in 1948 as a Preparatory Teacher until 1952. Doris then spent six years at Quarrier’s Homes in Bridge of Weir before joining the staff of the Preparatory Department of Glasgow Academy in 1958. She was a dedicated teacher and put her Froebel qualification to good use. She was especially interested in mathematics and whenever a new method was introduced she embraced it wholeheartedly. Her classes enjoyed using the coloured Cuisenaire rods and later she helped us all

We never lost touch as our Mothers played Bridge together on a regular basis.Then in 1965 I joined the staff of Glasgow Academy and so we were colleagues till her retirement in 1983.

When my class prepared to move on to the next stage they were always amazed when I said, ‘Miss Johnston was my teacher too.’We also car-shared till I was married in 1974.

She was a loyal colleague and friend and as a staff we all missed her when she retired. She treasured her unique silver brooch with the letters GA on a bar, made specially for her by Bethsy Gray. However, her retirement was no ordinary one! A wedding and America!

She married Bob Vaughan, an American minister, whom she met when he made an exchange visit to St Columba Church, Kilmacolm.

I was so pleased that she found real fulfilment and happiness in her marriage to Bob and they shared over 25 years together. It was a real pleasure to visit their home and share their hospitality. It was a comfort in later years after Bob’s death, to know how loving and caring his family were too.

She loved her career at Glasgow Academy and it was a delight in July 2013 to be with her as she stood in her old classroom in House 1 of the Terrace and then to witness her amazement at all the changes which had taken place.

Serva Fidem - keep faith - our school motto was illustrated in her own life.

Never resting on her laurels, always keen to explore new trends in education, her Christian faith as her backbone, Doris exemplified the characteristics of our school motto throughout her life.

Anthony Francis Michael Wells 1945-2016

Anthony died peacefully on 31 December 2016, aged 71, in Dumfries and Galloway. Previously public prosecutor in London and Leics, student at University College, Oxford, and Glasgow Academy.

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Tributes to Ian MacGregor (1931 - 2016)

Mr MacGregor was my first teacher at the school (prep 6) and was certainly quite a baptism to the Academy. A few of my other classmates (Colin Henderson, Geoff Woods and others) still remember some strange happenings that year with amusement and I’m sure I’m not the only one remembering past times with him now.

Alastair Brown (1992) Very saddened to hear the news of Ian MacGregor. He was a brilliant teacher and I have very fond memories of him at school.

Andrew Fulton (1967)

I

an was a fine Scotland international rugby forward who went on to become one of the leading administrators of the pre-professional years of the game. A proud Glaswegian, he was educated at Hillhead High School and studied PE at the Scottish School of Jordanhill College before two years of national service with the Royal Air Force.

Ian had already played for Glasgow District and in two of the three Scottish trials held in 1955, when he won his first cap against Ireland at Murrayfield on 26 February. He was a Scotland regular throughout the 1956 Five Nations campaign. He played in the French game, the opener to the 1957 Five Nations as a Llanelli played, then he returned to Hughenden to win his eighth and ninth caps against Wales and Ireland in February1957.

The narrow 5-3 loss to Ireland was his final cap.

In 1957, Ian took up a teaching post at Glasgow Academy and remained here throughout his career right up to his retirement in 1991. He continued to live in Glasgow before moving to Arran to spend his final years living in Lamlash. Ian is survived by Helen, his wife of more than 50 years, sons Calum and Graeme who followed their father into rugby as fine players with Glasgow Academicals, daughter Sheila and grand-children Fiona, Alastair, Jennifer and Kate.

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I am very sorry to learn of the death of yet another master who was ever present during my time at the Academy. Mr MacGregor could evoke mixed emotions but he was always very kind to me, helped no doubt, in part, by my enthusiasm for rugby and his living round the corner from where we lived at the time.The latter resulted in a few shared walks home which were a good deal less terrifying than some his transitus classes!

Duncan Gilmour (1972) I remember Ian Macgregor well at the school. He came initially to teach PE but when he got injured in 1958 he moved over to fill a vacancy for a teacher of the Transitus classes but of course continued his enthusiastic support from the touch line when the first XV were in action.

In particular he expressed to me his appreciation of my presence on the touch line for a number of first XV games in 1958, at a time when the first XV had been struggling, following a mass exodus of talent in 1957. I think the chronicles of March 1958 and June 1958 will mention this exodus! I know he helped to shape the character of a number of young Transitus boys alongside Lachy Robertson and Farquhar Mackintosh.

Henry Murray Humphreys (1959) Fond memories of Ian – he was my form teacher in Transitus. Mixture of scary and entertaining! Great rugby coach too – our 1st XV I the mid 80’s were all the better for his wisdom and no nonsense approach to forward play.

John Mason (1987) Ian was my coach during my term in the 1ST fifteen – a tough man. He will be missed.

Michael Scott (1960) Ian was a strong personality and a large

presence in my formative years.

He had a close bond with the members of his first XV to whom he was not only a rugby coach but also a friend and mentor.

Laurence Sellyn (1967) I have very fond memories of Ian from both rugby sessions at ‘Windy Edge’ and his valiant attempts to teach me English during my time at The Academy in the 60’s. Incidentally, I am currently secretary of The Partick Burns Club, of which Ian MacGregor was president in 1982-83.

Malcolm Sharp (1968) And yet only a few days later the same Ian MacGregor rendered me a service which I will never forget and which had a major effect on my health and my years at the Academy - he introduced me to the sport of rugby. It was our first afternoon at Anniesland and he was in charge of all the novices, myself included, who had never seen a rugby ball before.

We ran up and down the field passing the ball and then were shown how to tackle.

After a few minutes of this Ian took me by the shoulder and marched me over to the other field where the A and B XV’s were playing, supervised by Allan Quinn I think. “Do you know the rules?” Ian asked. “No” I replied. “Well, it’s easy when that boy passes the ball to you, you run and don’t stop running until you get over that line near those posts.” Well I did as I was told and didn’t stop running for the next 25 years, at school, at university, and beyond, loving every minute of it.

Even today I remain a rugby tragic, avidly following all the internationals, and planning my attendance at each World Cup. Dr Tony Smithyman (1966) I enjoyed being taught by Mr MacGregor in Transitus; my form had him for Maths, and he always managed to be both thorough and good-humoured – not an easy combination! He was a true legend of Colebrooke Street.

Aidan Thomson (1992) Iain taught both my Dad and myself during his time at the Academy, and was a very supportive teacher in the class and as committed rugby coach out at New Anniesland. I also remember my first game for the Accies 1stXV as an 18 year old and playing in the same team as both Callum and Graeme Stuart Wilson (1992)

Dear Sir…

to the skip. It has been on my wall ever since.

I phoned Malcolm at the Academy and relayed the story. He contacted Hasie, who was delighted to hear of the find and even more pleased that I had all the names – something he did not have on his own smaller version, which his family had given to him for his 80th birthday. It was agreed that I should visit Hasie and show him the bigger picture!

A Chance Encounter

I enjoyed reading the articles in the last edition of Etcetera about our two illustrious centenarians. On reflection, the name of J.H.Young rang a bell but I could not place it. Then the light dawned - he was staring at me from my study wall!

For all my days (nearly 70 years), a team photo from 1933-34 has had pride of place in our many houses. It was Duncan Macnaughtan, my father’s only claim to sporting fame from his days at the Academy – his 2nd fifteen cap from his last year. As a child, I often looked at it and knew all the names. Indeed, when I was at the Academy, the son of one of those pictured was in my year - L.W.L. (Leggie) Smith from Campsie Glen, as I remember.

My father died in 1993 and I rescued the picture, before my mother consigned it

Early in March, I called to Hasie’s flat in Bearsden and spent a fascinating hour going through all the names and hearing the stories. Pictures were taken to mark the event and I left to allow Hasie to have a rest as he was going out for his weekly bridge session that evening.

For the record, Hasie was a bit peeved that he did not attract the column inches in Etcetera that the other centenarian had achieved. “They missed out all the good stuff!”, he told me, in some slight indignation. I promised to put the record straight!

Hasie’s two daughters attended Westbourne.

Hasie was chair of the fundraising committee that raised all the monies for the new pavilion at Anniesland.

He also set up the bar at Anniesland and managed the volunteers for 10 years.

May he enjoy many more!

Douglas Macnaughtan (1965)

Dear Malcolm,

My teachers may recall my distraction in their classes as my attentions were always towards the art department, and I also recall my early days in senior 1 being focused on one day spending my final year in the A Level art room. It is with pure pleasure that I can say I am living the dream of being a full time artist with my work being displayed in Glasgow, London and as far as various Australian cities. A recent interview I did with premier UK framers and artist surface suppliers John Jones, London can be found at: www.johnjones.co.uk/education/ interviews/fine-artists/james-klinge/ I hope you find this interesting and maybe think that the readers of Etcetera might find my artistic antics interesting as well.

Yours sincerely James Klinge (2001)

Dear Sir

My uncle, Alexander Roxburgh Murray, was killed leading his men into action near Beaumont Hamel, France on 18 November 1916.The weather was foul that day with sleet falling. One of his men shouted, “Turn back, Sir; you will surely be killed.” He replied, “No, I must go on, it is my duty to go on.” It was the last day of the battle of the Somme.

In September this year my wife and I, along with Peter and Liz Semple, visited the battlefield. Peter’s great uncle fell in the same action a few days before Alec.

We visited the respective cemeteries and paid our respects. About 150 men lie in the small cemetery where Alec is buried. Almost all of them died on 18th November and five second lieutenants, of whom Alec was one, fell that day. Alec is the youngest man buried there, 18 years old.

My father was Alec’s youngest brother.

He became captain of the school, captain of rugby and of cricket in 1924/25. My brother and I attended the school in the 1950s. My son Peter attended the school from 1975 to 1987.

Yours sincerely, Douglas Murray

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