Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 2024 Version 1

THE ABERDEEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL MAGAZINE

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

140th year No. 262 (New Series 129th year No. 253)

Volume 127 September 2024

The Magazine is published under the auspices of the Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils’ Club each year

Interim General Editors and Editors of Notes, etc.

Stuart W. Cummings and Kirsteen Watt

Interim Secretary of the FP Club Stuart W. Cummings secretary@agsfp.com

Treasurer of the FP Club Brian P. Davidson treasurer@agsfp.com

Membership Secretary of the FP Club Richard Steele admin@agsfp.com

The General Editors are happy to receive contributions for the next issue of the Magazine at any time before 31 May 2025.

Former Pupils are encouraged to provide details about themselves or others for inclusion in the Notes Section of the Magazine. Information may be sent by email to: editor@agsfp.com.

In order to assist in the distribution of the Magazine, members of the Former Pupils’ Club are kindly requested to update the membership platform with their email address.

School Section Introduction

We hope that the selection of articles provided by the School give a flavour of the breadth of activities within the School and the vibrancy of School life.

Many thanks to all staff and student contributors.

Special thanks also to Janet Adams, Deputy Head Teacher, and Ruth Gould, School Librarian, for their help in coordinating the articles for the School Section.

Head Teacher's Prizegiving Speech 2024

Good afternoon.

The title of my speech today is “Well, educate him first.”

Our young people and staff know that I like an inspirational quote, an inspirational story and inspirational people.

Given the high value I place on the importance of education, when I read an article with the headline “Well, educate him first”, I was immediately interested.

Lamine Yamal was signed by Barcelona Football Club when he was 7 years old. He is currently playing in the Euros for Spain. He is only 16 years old. Lamine has broken records for being the youngest ever player at the Euros. If Spain progress through the competition and Lamine scores a goal, watch for his trademark 304 celebration. This is a homage to the neighbourhood he grew up in, one of the most deprived areas within Barcelona.

During the meeting to sign the 7-year-old Lamine to the Barcelona Youth Academy, his father said “Well, educate him first.”

The Barcelona Youth Academy agreed and continue to uphold the promise they made, that being, to educate Lamine first. Indeed, Lamine can be seen completing his homework between games at the Euros. He is a young man with a very bright future who recognises that even though he has the world literally at his feet as a fantastic footballer, education comes first.

The Director of Barcelona’s Youth Academy said, “Lamine Yamal is a beacon of hope for people who see in his success that dreams can come true, that anything is possible.”

Why am I telling this story? Our job at Aberdeen Grammar School is to create the opportunities for our young people to experience success and to help them achieve their dreams and ambitions.

As I reflect on the past year, I am proud of how we, as a school community have created the opportunities for our young people to achieve and succeed. It is impossible for me to cover every opportunity provided and share each individual success. However, I would like to share a few highlights from the past year and give a flavour of the opportunities provided:

• Sporting teams in netball, football and hockey. In the Aberdeen Schools Senior Select Tournament, our Senior A Netball Team were 1st place champions, and our Senior B Netball Team were 2nd place runners up. Our S1 Netball team were 2nd place runners up in the S1 tournament.

• Hockey continues to thrive with parental and FP support, with several young people being selected to play at district level.

• Football teams reaching Scottish cup finals. The Senior boys won the President Cups Final.

• Face the Music ran “Joseph” as our school show and are preparing for this year’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors.”

• You can see our talented performers and musicians at next week’s summer showcase. An added extra to our programme of music concerts for this year.

• Literary and Debating Society.

• Newly established Journalism Society.

• Fully re-established Activities Week.

• Interhouse competitions with activities such as basketball, chess, hockey, table tennis and volleyball.

• The Luther Kitson Smith and Muriel Smith School of Golf and associated tournament.

• The introduction of a First Aid qualification for our senior pupils, the equivalent of a Level 6 higher qualification. To date 470 of our seniors have gained this valuable qualification.

These opportunities are in addition to our core business of ensuring that our young people leave school achieving the highest and best set of qualifications for them to follow their dreams and aspirations. Our attainment in all measures exceeds national averages and comparator schools.

As a school, we can create these opportunities for success. As a school, we can create the conditions for success by offering a wide curriculum, delivering high quality learning experiences and putting pupil wellbeing at the heart of our work. However, each young person has to make up their mind as to whether they are going to grab hold of the opportunities, work hard and do their very best. Our young people today have done just that. They have put education first.

I spoke earlier of the need for a team effort by all members of the school community to help us continue to thrive, maintain and extend opportunities for our young people. For us to offer true excellence and a first-class experience for young people, we often seek support from external sources. I would like to take a moment to reflect on two Former Pupils we sadly lost this past session. Both helped the school raise significant funds to run a range of opportunities for our young people. Gillian Thomas, former President of the FP Club and Alan Campbell, former Chairman of the FP Club. We have named our All-Rounder Prizes in their name because they both placed high value on education in its widest sense – academic qualifications, citizenship, leadership, sport, debating and performing arts. Their commitment to the school was absolute, always supporting key traditions and innovation to help us provide the very best opportunities for our young people. Having worked closely with both Alan and Gillian, they very much adhered to the view of – well educate first.

I would like to thank my staff, our pupils, parent helpers, the Parent Council, the PTA, volunteers and former pupils for working with us, giving of their time to extend opportunities for our young people. I never take the time and effort required by our whole school community for granted.

To conclude, in my view, providing excellence within a school context, often comes down to perseverance. In a time of economic constraint, I will continue to lead our school community in knocking down any barriers we face when planning the delivery of a first-class experience for our young people. In the words of Lamine’s father – Well educate him first.

Thank you.

Alison Murison Head Teacher, Aberdeen Grammar School

June 2024

School Office Bearers – Session 2023-2024

Senior Prefect Team

School Captains

Sam Lynch

Fatima Sellami

School Vice Captains

Evie Arthur

Malak Elewa

Rachel Gibson

Yassin Rashwan

House Captains

Byron Keith & Dun Melvin

Charlotte Arthur

Jessica Fyfe

Nahian Khan

Helen Affleck Ayla Chalmers

Polly Connell Calum Angus

Omar Helal

Isabella Smith Ava Lund

S6 Prefects (from S5)

Andrew McEwing

Molly Evans

Byron Keith & Dun Melvin

Freya Escott Karanika Ananthan Racha Benelkadi

Anna Esslemont

Kirsty Harrower (left school)

Hafsa Begum

Sarah Braisby

Marc Lyon Archie Gibson

Emma Kelsey Akshara Kabra

Greer Kinsler

Zahra Malik

Niamh McGregor

Molly Walker

Anna Seaman

Eva Stewart

Bivisha Uprety

Newly appointed S6 prefects

Byron Keith & Dun Melvin

Mateusz Adamcio

Andrew Bell

Sam Inglis

Martyna Malik

Sanuthmi Ambepitiya

Lewis Gibbins

Lauchlan Gauld

Sophie Jacobsen

Matin Mustafayev Ewan Mutch

Ramisa Rahman

Vusal Ramazanov

Ben Rutherford

Hannah Wheeler

Jack Burrows

Arianna Castillo

Sara Falconer

Harley Keith

Hani Malang

Andrew McEwing

Ashish Nath

Abbie Quantrell

Hadiza Shehu

Ethan Smart

Newly appointed S5 prefects

Byron Keith & Dun Melvin

Faiyaz Ara Rash

Ashton Bow

Inka Boyne

Megan Bruce

Kasja Ferjancic

Logan Gillespie

Natalia Grobelna

Alice Hammill

John Heywood

Manahil Illahi

Aine Masson

Ava MacLennan

Yuvan Nanjan

Konrad Omenzetter

Claire Reid

Alexander Abernethy

Jessica Ahmeti

Leona Ahmeti

Nirjal Dhakal

Jamie Ferries

Alec Gaskell

Maya Algameel

Taylor Bannister

Ben Chalmers

Sylvia De Bari

Tamanna Ghatak

Betsy Kirk

Anna Glennie Avnee Kshirsagar

Hannah Mair Freya MacDonald

Millie Murdoch

Ruby Notman

Sereen Nacef Aashika Premkumar

Dylan Pearson

Adam Robertson

Amy Robertson

Sandy Scott

Amy Smart

Jack Rowlands Salsabeel Salamat

Soleimen Sellami

Matthew Will

Isobel Reynolds

Harshit Satsangi

William Scott

Charlotte Shields

Corah Taylor

School Captains 2023-2024

Sam Lynch

Fatima Sellami

School Vice Captains 2023-24

Evie Arthur

Malak Elewa

Rachel Gibson

Yassin Rashwan

Colour Awards June 2024

Name Year Reg Class Level Activity

Nathan Fernandes S4 4B2 Bronze Basketball

Nadya Koleva S4 4KD3 Bronze Choir

Mya Hayton

S4 4B1 Bronze Concert Band

James Macadie S4 4KD3 Bronze Concert Band

Tilly Pose S4 4B1 Bronze Concert Band

Laura Reid S4 4B1 Bronze Concert Band

Archie Rough S4 4KD1 Bronze Concert Band

Vincent Sesar S4 4M2 Bronze Concert Band

Connie Taylor S4 4M2 Bronze Concert Band

Eilidh Melvin S4 4KD2 Bronze Concert Band and Flute Quartet

Mairi Bell

S4 4B2 Bronze Debate Club

Rebecca Ryce S4 4M1 Bronze Debate Club

Cameron Findlay S4 4M1 Bronze Concert Band

Nadya Koleva S4 4KD3 Bronze Face the Music

Precious Mise S4 4B2 Bronze Face the Music

Matt Nicoll S4 4M1 Bronze Face the Music

Lewis Timms

Finlay Williams

Eve Anderson

S5 5M3 Bronze Football

S5 5M3 Bronze Football

S4 4b1 Bronze Hockey

Violet Bavidge S4 4M2 Bronze Hockey

Mairi Bell

S4 4B2 Bronze Hockey

Ella Gibson S5 5M1 Bronze Hockey

Juan Harcus Garcia S4 4KD2 Bronze Hockey

Mya Hayton S4 4B1 Bronze Hockey

Annabelle Hutcheon S4 4M2 Bronze Hockey

Connor McCormick S4 4B1 Bronze Hockey

Sadie Robertson S4 4M1 Bronze Hockey

Connie Taylor S4 4M2 Bronze Hockey

Keanna Tomkins S4 4KD3 Bronze Hockey

Owen Wright

S4 4M2 Bronze Hockey

Jana Attia S4 4KD1 Bronze Languages Club

Isla Downie-Burns S4 4KD2 Bronze Languages Club

Ava Forsyth S4 4KD2 Bronze Languages Club

Jessica McGregor S5 5B2 Bronze Languages Club

Violet Bavidge S4 4M2 Bronze Netball

Olivia Candy

Sophia Candy

Lauren Gaskell

Millie Hardie

S5 5KD2 Bronze Netball

S5 5KD1 Bronze Netball

S4 4KD2 Bronze Netball

S4 4KD3 Bronze Netball

Colour Awards June 2024 (cont)

Name Year Reg Class Level Activity

Sureka Jayasinghe S4 4B2 Bronze Netball

Ioana Smaranda S4 4B1 Bronze Netball

Lauren Thom S4 4M1 Bronze Netball

Elizabeth Urbanaviciute S4 4KD3 Bronze Netball

Tilly Pose S4 4B1 Bronze Netball

Olivia Kelsey S4 4B2 Bronze Netball

Olivia Kelsey S4 4B2 Bronze Hockey

Mathieu Hollis S4 3KD3 Bronze Rugby

Sean McKee S4 4KD3 Bronze Rugby

Drew Taylor S4 4M2 Bronze Rugby

Precious Mise S4 4B2 Bronze Show Choir

Callum Vargesson S4 4KD1 Bronze String Orchestra

Lily Arthur S5 5B2 Silver Concert Band

Finlay Balfour S5 5B1 Silver Concert Band

Alistair Christie S5 5KD1 Silver Concert Band

John Forbes S5 5M3 Silver Concert Band

Kai Hayton S6 6B1 Silver Concert Band

Freya MacDonald S6 6M2 Silver Concert Band

Corah Taylor S6 6M2 Silver Concert Band

Charlotte Shields S6 6M2 Silver Face the Music

Dylan Trowbridge S6 6B2 Silver Hockey

Luna Orlando S5 5KD2 Silver Languages Club

Nicholas Andersen S5 5KD1 Silver String Orchestra & Concert Band

Faiyaz Ara Rashid S6 6B1 Silver Volleyball

Sandy Scott S6 6KD1 Gold Concert Band

Mariette Pose S6 6B1 Gold Concert Band and Flute Ensemble

Megan Bruce S6 6B1 Gold Hockey

Logan Gillespie S6 6B2 Gold Hockey

Hannah Mair

S6 6KD1 Gold Hockey

Corah Taylor S6 6M2 Gold Hockey

Dylan Trowbridge S6 6B2 Gold Hockey

Megan Bruce S6 6B1 Gold Netball

Anna Glennie S6 6KD1 Gold Netball

Hannah Mair

S6 6KD1 Gold Netball

Aine Masson S6 6B2 Gold Netball

Isla Robertson

S4 4KD1 Citizenship Caring for Elderly neighbours

Dylan Pearson S6 6KD1 Citizenship Charity Work and Community

Morven Maclean S5 5KD2 Citizenship Young Leader in Guides for Brownie Unit

Katie Ferries

S4 4KD2 International Gymnastics

Colour Awards March 2024

Name Year Reg Class Level Activity

Brendan Madden S6 6KD1 Bronze Football

Alec Gaskell S5 5KD2 Bronze Hockey

Lucy Jacobsen S4 4KD2 Bronze Languages Club

Jacoda Slezak S4 4M3 Bronze School Show

Anshu Duwadi S5 5KD1 Bronze Volleyball

Yacout Mouti S4 4M2 Bronze Volleyball

Zarif Ahmed S5 5B2 Silver Basketball

Yahya Khan S5 5KD1 Silver Basketball

Lokesh Mohan S5 5KD1 Silver Basketball

Grace Addison S5 5B2 Silver Choir

Robert Marwick S5 5B1 Silver Concert Band

Sandy Scott S5 5KD1 Silver Concert Band

Mariette Pose S5 5B1 Silver Concert Band and Flute Ensemble

Amy Robertson S5 5KD1 Silver Debating

Aashika Premkumar S5 5M1 Silver Digital Media Club

Sandy Scott S5 5KD1 Silver Engineering Club

Alexander Abernethy S5 5KD2 Silver Hockey

Megan Bruce S5 5B1 Silver Hockey

Averon D’Costa S5 5M2 Silver Hockey

Alec Gaskell S5 5KD2 Silver Hockey

Logan Gillespie S5 5B2 Silver Hockey

Hannah Mair S5 5KD1 Silver Hockey

Konrad Omenzetter S5 5B2 Silver Hockey

Jack Rowlands S5 5B2 Silver Hockey

Harshit Satsangi S5 5M1 Silver Hockey

Sandy Scott S5 5KD1 Silver Hockey

Soleimen Sellani S5 5B2 Silver Hockey

Corah Taylor S5 5M2 Silver Hockey

Jack Thom S5 5KD1 Silver Hockey

Alex Wilson S5 5KD1 Silver Hockey

Megan Bruce S5 5B1 Silver Netball

Anna Glennie S5 5KD1 Silver Netball

Hannah Mair S5 5KD1 Silver Netball

Aine Masson S5 5B2 Silver Netball

Alice Hammill S5 5B1 Silver String Orchestra

Claire Reid S5 5B1 Silver String Orchestra

Olivia Stratford S5 5B2 Silver Ukelele and Guitar Club

Clark Addison S5 5M1 Silver Volleyball

Betsy Kirk S5 5M1 Silver Volleyball

Name

Colour Awards March 2024 (cont)

Andrew McEwing S6 6M2 Silver Volleyball

Sereen Nacef S5 5KD1 Silver Volleyball

Taylor Bannister S5 5M2 Silver Young Engineers Club

Jamie Ferries S5 5KD2 Silver Young Engineers Club

Niamh McGregor S6 6B2 Gold Concert Band

Ewan Mutch S6 6KD1 Gold Concert Band

Calum Angus S6 6M1 Gold Volleyball

Calum Angus S6 6M1 Citizenship Coaching S1-S4 Volleyball

Andrew McEwing S6 6M2 Citizenship Volunteering at and leading Volleyball Club

Archie Gibson S6 6M1 International Football

Colour Awards December 2023

Name Year Reg Class Level Activity

Zara Allan S4 4B1

Niwa Jabegu S4 4M1

Alistair Christie S4 4KD1

Alexander Denison S4 4M2

Dfa Al Daioub S6 6M2

Alexander Denison S4 4M2

Annabelle Johnston S4 4KD2

Avah Reid S4 4KD2

Gregor Watson S4 4M2

Charlotte Shields S5 5M2

Michelle Tse S4 4M2

Ellie Oldfield S4 4M2

Evelina

AnagnostopoulouMartzoukou

S4 4KD2

Jessica Ahmeti S5 5KD1

Zane Basko S5 5M1

Maggie Murphy S4 4M1

Zain Malik S4 4M1

William Scott S5 5M1

Alexander Denison S4 4M2

John Forbes S4 4M3

Favour Anozie S4 4B2

Iyenoma Ediae S6 6KD1

Bronze Basketball

Bronze Basketball

Bronze Concert Band

Bronze Concert Band

Bronze Face the Music

Bronze Face The Music

Bronze Face The Music

Bronze Face The Music

Bronze Face The Music

Bronze Face The Music

Bronze Face The Music

Bronze Face The Music

Bronze Face The Music

Bronze Hockey

Bronze Hockey

Bronze Hockey

Bronze Rugby

Bronze Running Digital Media Club

Bronze Show Choir

Bronze String Orchestra

Bronze Volleyball

Bronze Volleyball

Jessica Fyfe S6 6B2 Gold Choir

Abigail Osuoha S6 6KD1 Gold Choir

Rachel Gibson S6 6M1 Gold Choir/Show Choir

Rachel Gibson S6 6M1 Gold Concert Band

Dominic Halliday S6 6B1 Gold Concert Band

Rachel Gibson S6 6M1 Gold Face The Music

Ayla Chalmers S6 6M2 Gold Face The Music

Polly Connell S6 6KD2 Gold Languages Club

Fatima Sellami S6 6B2 Gold Languages Club

Helen Affleck S6 6KD2 Gold Netball

Evie Arthur S6 6B1 Gold Netball

Sara Falconer S6 6M2 Gold Netball

Grace Renforth S6 6M2 Gold Netball

Isabella Smith S6 6B2 Gold Netball

Fatima Sellami S6 6B2 Gold String Orchestra

Colour Awards March 2024 (cont)

Name Year Reg Class Level Activity

Mateusz Adamcio S6 6B1 Gold Volleyball

Andrew McEwing S6 6M2 Gold Volleyball

Lily Arthur S4 4B2 International Rowing

Ella Dillon S4 4M3 International Volleyball Evelina

AnagnostopoulouMartzoukou S4 4KD2 Citizenship Being a Library and ‘Reading Schools’ Ambassador

Annabelle Johnston S4 4KD2 Citizenship Being a Library and 'Reading Schools' Ambassador

Dominic Halliday S6 6B1 Citizenship Coaching Judo

Salsabeel Salamat S5 5KD2 Citizenship Being a coordinator/organiser and teacher of online Quran classes

Amy Robertson S5 5KD1 Citizenship Running Debate Club for S1-S4 pupils

Nahian Khan S6 6B2 Citizenship Sports Coach volunteering

Amy Robertson S5 5KD1 Citizenship Volunteering as a Library Assistant in the School Library

Robert Marwick S5 5B1 Citizenship Volunteering as a Young Leader for Cubs group

Abigail Osuoha S6 6KD1 Citizenship Volunteering as a Youth Choir leader for a church

Mya Wickham S5 5B2 Citizenship Volunteering for Primary School Club

Senior School Prizegiving 2023-2024

June 27th 2024

S4 Prize Winners

Commendation with Distinction

Zara Allan Evelina Anagnostopoulou-Martzoukou Favour Anozie

Alastair Cormack

Julia Gawlak

Manuel Merida Aguilera

Yehia Nassar

Filip Bartoszewski

Jorge Eslava Nieto

Manas Nath

Ella Dillon

Hugo Lefort

CiCi Morrice

Shima Taleb

Merit with Distinction

John Forbes

Aaron Lopez Ottley

Mandisa Mueller-Hirth Doran

Cameron Shepherd

Dylan Bunney Alistair Christie

Jessica Fraser

Ann Mathew

Natasha Raj Joe Walker

Commendation & Merit with Distinction

Lily Arthur Finlay Balfour

Alexander Denison

Ishaan Kalyanasundaram

Valonia Rodrigues

Faiyaz Ara Rashid

Logan Gillespie

John Heywood

Ashley Mackay

Millie Murdoch

Jack Rowlands

Andrea Bostock

Ella Gibson Annabelle Johnston

Katie Kelman

S5 Prize Winners

Commendation with Distinction

Jaymie Garioch

Jess Robertson

Michelle Tse

Alec Gaskell

Natalia Grobelna Finlay Hall

Eilidh Hogg

William Scott

Ava MacLennan

Dylan Pearson

Erin Stuart

Freya Inglis

Hannah Mair

Claire Reid

Aidan Sakar

Faiyaz Ara Rashid

Logan Gillespie

John Heywood

Ashley Mackay

Merit with Distinction

Jaymie Garioch

Natalia Grobelna

Eilidh Hogg

William Scott

Ava MacLennan

Commendation & Merit with Distinction

Alec Gaskell

Finlay Hall

Freya Inglis

Hannah Mair

Noah Griffin

Konrad Omenzetter

Mariette Pose

Sandy Scott

Soleimen Sellami

Milly Henderson

Maahir Patel

Amy Robertson

Liam Simpson

Aine Masson

Noah Penman

Harshit Satsangi

Alasdair Thomson

Rebecca Walker Mya Wickham

National 5 Subject Prizes

Drama Alexander Denison

Music Andrea Bostock

Sport and Recreation Archie Still

Humanities Ashley Mackay

English for Speakers of Other Languages Danylo Sus

Practical Woodwork Ella Dillon

English Ella Gibson

History Evelina Anagnostopoulou-Martzoukou

Graphic Communication

Favour Anozie

Accounting Filip Bartoszewski

Art and Design Jess Robertson

Physical Education Joe Arthur

Modern Studies John Forbes

Practical Cookery Lisa Garthley

French Luna Orlando

Spanish Luna Orlando

Biology Manas Nath

Chemistry Manas Nath

Computing Science Manas Nath

Geography Mandisa Mueller-Hirth Doran

German Mandisa Mueller-Hirth Doran

Physics Manuel Merida Aguilera

Practical Electronics Manuel Merida Aguilera

Business Management Michelle Tse

Mathematics Michelle Tse

Applications of Mathematics Natalia Markiewicz

Higher and Advanced Higher Subject Prizes

Accounting and Finance

Applications of Mathematics

Art and Design

Biology

Business Management

Chemistry

Computing Science

Drama

Engineering Science

Enterprise and Business

English

English as a Secondary Language

Exercise and Fitness Leadership

French

Geography

Graphic Communication

Health and Food Technology

History

Human Biology

Leadership (Sport)

Mathematics

Modern Studies

Music

Physical Education

Physics

John Muir Robertson Memorial Prize (H) Ula Rauktyte

Higher Aidan Saker

Advanced Higher Design

Samuel Pope Prize (H)

The Hamish Adams Greig Prize (AH)

Eva Stewart Alice Hammill

Higher Sam Lynch Harshit Satsangi

Alba Trophy (H) Robert Marwick

CNR International Prize (AH)

Higher Sam Lynch Konrad Omenzetter

Gordon McMinn Prize (H) Zarif Ahmed

Former Pupils’ Club Prize (AH)

Higher Hannah Wheeler Noah Griffin

Former Pupils’ Club Prize (AH)

Higher Ethan Smart Konrad Omenzetter

Higher Dylan Pearson

Masson Bain Prize (AH)

Higher Niamh McGregor Mariette Pose

Higher Arwin Najd Javadi Pour

Higher Clark Addison

William Brebner Prize (AH)

Higher

Campbell Connon Prize (H)

Malik Elewa Soleimen Sellami

Alice Hammill

CNR International Prize (H) Isobel Reynolds

Former Pupils’ Club Prize (H)

Charles Alexander Walker Prize (AH)

Molly Walker

Higher Niamh McGregor Isabel Beattie

Higher Amy Robertson

Higher Andrew Scott

J Mortimer McBain Prize (AH)

Alexander Thomson Prize (H)

Former Pupils’ Club Prize (AH)

Ashish Nath Yuvan Nanjan

Higher Emma Kelsey Ava MacLennan

Gavin Falconer Memorial Prize (AH)

Higher Mariette Pose Michelle Tse

Former Pupils’ Club Prize (H) Noah Penman

CNR International Prize (AH)

Higher Ashish Nath Konrad Omenzetter

Politics Higher Niamh McGregor

Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies

Scientific Technologies

Spanish

Travel and Tourism

Sandy McIlwain Prize (H) Niamh McGregor

Higher

Former Pupils’ Club Prize (AH)

Higher

Angelo Petrov

Fatima Sellami Kasaja Ferjancic

Higher Arianna Castillo

Inter House Competition Awards

Inter House Basketball Trophy Boys

Inter House Chess

Inter House Quiz Cup

Inter House Hockey Girls

Inter House Table Tennis

Inter House Volleyball

Inter House Tug of War

The Rubislaw Jubilee Cup

Inter House Challenge Cup

Sports Prizes

Byron (Yahya Khan 5B1)

Byron (Vusal Ramazanov 6B2)

Keith and Dun (Sandy Scott 5KD1)

Keith and Dun (Hannah Mair 5KD1)

Byron (Logan Gillespie 5B2)

Byron (Mateusz Adamcio 6B1)

Melvin (House Captains)

Keith and Dun (House Captains)

Keith and Dun (House Captains)

Rector’s Medal for Swimming Kiren Brown 4M2

The Damien Reidy Rugby Trophy Kerr Menzies 4M3

The Arthur McCombie Golf Trophy Dylan Pearson 5KD1

The W J Johnston Quaich for Overall Sports Champion Olivia Candy 4KD2

Additional Prizes

The Caritas Cup for Contribution to Charities Group Activities Anna Esslemont 6B1 and Molly Walker 6B2

The AGS Concert Band Award for Outstanding Contribution Ewan Mutch 6KD1, Lewis Gibbons 6KD2 and Dominic Halliday 6B1

Concert Band Player of the Year Mariette Pose 5B1

The Montgomery Trophy for House Captain of the Year Polly Connell 6KD2

AGS Face the Music Award for Outstanding Performance in the School’s Musical Production

Ayla Chalmers 6M2

The AGS Dramatic Society Award for Drama Evelina AnagnostopoulouMartzoukou 4KD2

The Rector’s Shield for Outstanding Running of the Literary and Debating Society

Amy Robertson 5KD1

Prefect of the Year Sarah Braisby 6M1 and Ethan Smart 6M2

University of Aberdeen Principal’s Award of Excellence, National 5 Manas Nath 4M3

University of Aberdeen Principal’s Award of Excellence, Higher Konrad Omenzetter 5B2

Jamie Blair Fiddes Award for Success in Overcoming Challenges

Tierney Da Costa 6KD2 and Cameron Shepherd 4M2

Brian Robertson Prize for Commitment to the School Fatima Sellami 6B2

The Former Pupils’ 1965 Prize for the Commitment to the Life of S6 Sam Lynch 6KD2

The Philip Love Trophy for Bringing Credit to the School Molly Evans 6M2 and Archie Gibson 6M1

Wider Achievement Prizes

The Hopkin Cup for Wider Achievement in STEM Sarah Braisby 6M1 and Molly Walker 6B2

The Joyce Tease Award for Wider Achievement in Languages and Literature Fatima Sellami 6B2

Donald Paton Prize for Wider Achievement in the Arts Ayla Chalmers 6M2

The Andrew Middleton McLaren Prize for Wider Achievement in Humanities, Citizenship and Enterprise Dylan Pearson 5KD1

The Hopkin Cup for Wider Achievement in Health and Wellbeing Molly Evans 6M2 and Mateusz Adamcio 6B1

The All-Round Award Winners

The Edith and David Ritchie Bishop Prize S4 Alexander Denison 4M2

The Former Pupils’ Club All-Round Prize S5 Mariette Pose 5B1

The Former Pupils’ Club All-Round Prize (Runner-up) Molly Evans 6M2

The Agnes Durward McDonald All-Round Prize (Runner-up) Andrew McEwing 6M2

The Alan Campbell Former Pupils’ Club All-Round Trophy Sam Lynch 6KD2

The Gillian Thomas Former Pupils’ Club All-Round Trophy Fatima Sellami 6B2

Dux Award

Ashish Nath 6M1

Junior School Prizegiving 2023-2024

June 26th 2024

S1 Prize Winners

Commendation with Distinction

Vivien Buzasi

Josefine Kasselstrand

Eshal Moosa

Levina Shijo

Nikhita Tony

Ruby Black

Christine Coull

Henry Mason

Lamees Alwawi

Isabel Emil

Cara McKee

Hannah Davidson Aiesha Hacket

Euphemia MacLennan

Dazzle Odili

Sumiko Song

Penelope West

Merit with Distinction

Clara Budge

Vaughn Rodrigues

Alexander Yihdego

Commendation & Merit with Distinction

Ellen Mair

Nihar Shevate

Aura Thakur

Freya Wood

Chloe Chan

Isobel Main

Astrid Wagner

Edie Angus Florencia Ellis-Mendez

Claire Ewen

Shu-Chi Teh

Ella Hardie

Elizabeth Zhao

S2 Prize Winners

Commendation with Distinction

Jamie Addison Alexandros Anagnostopoulos-Martzoukos Niall Andrew

Daisy Bagnall

Payten Carneson

Alexander Milburn

Ethan Shedbal

Eleanor Budge Liam Burke

Semilore Davies

Falak Karol

Alexandros Morrison Sanjit Sahoo

Freya Sim Poppy Stephen

Bethany Stewart Katrina Sverzevska

Merit with Distinction

Vera Akwuewanbhor

Elliot Anderson

Ariana Chalmers Ojas Joshi

James McGregor Kirsty Taylor

Commendation & Merit with Distinction

Jawaad Ahmad

Annabel Bostock

Charlotte Cheyne

Penny Paton

Annemarie Sommerlade

Charlotte Andersen Murray Balfour

Madeleine Chesher Moses Cheung

Jessica Macrae Ryan Mason

Parineeta Roy Nikita Singh

Jessica Strong Calum Tulloch

Mairi Bell

Lauren Fraser

Precious Mise

S3 Prize Winners

Commendation with Distinction

Odeta Cikstaite

Holly Foster

Joyce James Connor McCormick

Melissa Rodrigues Leona Shijo

Lauren Thom Melina Zangelidou

Catherine Angus

Arthur Beck

Isla Esslemont

Lauren Gaskell

Alex MacDonald

Eilidh Melvin

Jana Attia

Ruth Halm

Merit with Distinction

Tim Bacciotti

Mohamed Bakhiet

April Chan Isla Downie-Burns

Cameron Findlay Ava Forsyth

Katie Hillhouse Olivia Kelsey

Sienna Madden

Tilly Pose

Hannah Yau

Commendation & Merit with Distinction

Sean McKee

Laura Reid

Tayibah Firdaus Ioana Smaranda

Matt Nicoll Callum Vargesson

Rebecca Ryce

Sports Prizes

AGS Badminton Singles Shield Jamie Addison 2B2

Dr Morland Simpson Cup for Swimming Daniel Valcov 1B2

Isobel O Anderson Award for Swimming Hannah Yau 3B1

The David Swanson Golf Trophy Juan Harcus Garcia 3KD2

The Fowlie Cup for Swimming for Girls Iona Reekie-Ayalah 2M2

The Luther and Muriel Smith Golf Trophy John McEwing 3M2

The Ronald MacKinnon Trophy for Athletics Cameron Kennedy 1B2

Inter House Competition Awards

Inter House Badminton Shield

Inter House Cookery Junior

Inter House Volleyball Trophy

Inter House Junior Hockey

Inter House Table Tennis

Inter House Tug of War

The Rubislaw Jubilee Cup

Inter House Challenge Cup

Additional Prizes

Byron (Morgan Christie 2B1)

Keith and Dun (Leyan Soliman 2KD2)

Byron (Alex MacDonald 3B2)

Byron (Liam Burke 2B1)

Melvin (Lewis Stephen 1M3)

Melvin (House Captains)

Keith and Dun (House Captains)

Keith and Dun (House Captains)

The AGS Junior Literary and Debating Shield Isla Downie-Burns 3KD2

The All-Round Award Winners

The Dr Alexander Cormack Prize Clara Budge 1KD3

The David Alexander Irvine-Fortesque Prize Nikita Singh 2B1

The Norman Mackie Memorial Prize Isla Downie-Burns 3KD2

Selection of Pupil Creative Writing

A New Beginning Short Story: Madeleine Chesher, S2

My Peach Tree

Short Story: Rebecca Ryce, S3

Listen to it Calling Poem: Holly Foster, S3

Cherries

Short Story: Isla Downie-Burns, S3

A New Beginning PROLOGUE

“How can we trust what might evolve with treasures like these?” A voice spoke. Nine glowing orbs of matter congregated on a stone slab floating in the cosmos. The backdrop to this meeting was a beautiful scene of blues, purples, magentas and all colours in between, swirling around in spirals, clouds and every irregular shape you could think of. The orbs were slowly morphing into humanoid shapes; it was like watching the evolution of life take place in less than a minute. The one that spoke was taller and had a blue aura around him. He continued to say, “We all know what happened last time.” One orb was the largest and asserted dominance around the semi-circle, but still appeared kind and welcoming. She gave off a glittery gold light. “Listen – The Offspring deserves another chance to experience the life that we have here. She is ready. I have spoken and explained everything,” reasoned the gold figure. Her voice would taste sweet and delicious if sounds had taste. Seemingly, she persuaded all present to agree with her, as only a moment after she finished speaking, in unison all (but the figure that spoke earlier) nodded their hooded heads. “Her Cosmicness has spoken, do not object”, another figure said, standing to the right of their gold leader. If you could see the newly spoken figure’s face, they would be wearing a powerful expression saying ‘know your place’ even though they were not the mightiest at the gathering.

“Now that the matter has been decided Ambassador, do you have anything to say?” asked Her Cosmicness to a figure three spaces to the left. He was shorter and hunched over as he stood, clearly in some sort of pain. “Yes.” His voice was husky and low. “The Offspring shouldn’t even exist. She was an accident. Why should we give her gifts? I have been privileged to harbour life for a few thousand years, but she could not control it, after I was forced to give my work to her.” Silence hung over the meeting of Ultimate Beings like the clouds of matter around a black hole, hanging around until it gets sucked up, in this case by Her Cosmicness. “We all know that the effort that you poured into the Red Planet was astonishing but that was thousands of years ago now. Times have changed. The Blue Planet is prepared and ready to take on the burden that you have experienced. The Offspring has been taught and she has matured enough to keep the work going properly.” The Ambassador nodded his head ever so slightly.

Her Cosmicness then pulled up a screen in the centre of the semicircle showing a vast map. The map had complex red lines drawn from dot to dot; the entire Offspring universe dwelled on this fabric. The course of space and time are decided by the Ultimate Beings; planets and galaxies can be destroyed or created with the snap of a finger. “See here,” Her Cosmicness continued – she was pointing at a particular circle on the map – “the Goldmine system, a wealth of life harbouring elements. We have, as the Ambassador has said, given life to the Red Planet but its neighbour the Blue Planet has equally promising conditions. I have scheduled the injection for five years from now as we need to finish adjusting the continents.” That concluded the discussion. The Beings then returned to their form of orbs of light and one by one faded away leaving that part of the cosmos to itself once more.

A small, white, scarred moon appeared. Behind it: a huge beige planet decorated with a pristine looking beautiful shiny disc. From the moon silent jets of glittery vapour were shot out into the darkness. More and more jets came out from one side of the moon. Gradually, the white liquid came together and a human-like being came into view. It was a young female dressed in a sequin-bedazzled black dress. She raised and lowered her arms like a bird flapping its wings, gliding effortlessly through the vacuum. She sped up to a speed so fast that a white meteor bullet was now shooting through the Goldmine System. After flying past more immense planets, she came to a stop when she reached a little blue one. The woman lifted her hands above her head and as she moved her hands around, a flaming white-hot sphere materialised in her grasp. Slowly but confidently, she brought the ball of power just centimetres away from her lips, and muttered some words:

“Ignite this world with these remains, pray that what it contains, holds a future that’s so bright, everyone sees the sight. Oh, life of this rocky sphere, try not to be too severe, take care of your land, hand in hand”.

With that, at the bottom of the waters on the Blue Planet somewhere a tiny cell emerged.

CHAPTER 1

He sat at his wide dark stained ochre desk, or rather not in the chair but meditating cross legged above the chair. Just then someone knocked at the door. It was a timid nervous knock like normal – no one would bang on his door. He waited to sense the regret entering the person’s body, soaking up it like water up a sponge. They knocked again though, peculiar, must be important. In a gravely deep voice, he said “Enter.”

“Sir, it’ll only be quick,” his assistant said, in her usual quick mouse-like manner. A short woman with cloud grey hair and speckled skin walked in and stood at a respectful distance.

“It’s just that the Council you know, they want to hear of possible Potentials,” Phobos continued “and there’s this prose that’s surfaced – seems quite interesting.”

“Go on then, how bad can it be?” The Ambassador sighed.

“Here.” His assistant placed a sheet of silver-grey paper on the void like table, as he lifted it up the text came into view:

“Burning through space like a fireball There are no rivers, none at all A wasteland of desolate rusty red That no human has ever tread

Oh poor little planet

What happened to you

Why did they leave you, your oceans so blue?

We look at the sky

And you’re there passing by

Spinning and twirling around like a dancer

Searching and searching for an answer

Because oh poor little planet

How did you miss it?

Your chance to be bright and a nice place to visit?”

As The Ambassador read it, something deep inside him ebbed and flowed – resentment coursing through his veins. How dare a mere earth treader diminish him to a lowly planet. He was the ruler of many worlds, yes one of them didn’t go quite to plan but that was beside the point. He was pleased that someone was thinking of him though, often he felt that he was a book on a bookshelf that everybody’s eyes just glanced over, not sparing a second thought.

“Sir...?” Oh, his assistant was still there, lovely, she would be just the person to find this bug that he would promptly squash with his boots.

“Yes, Phobos,” The Ambassador responded, “Can you do a little job for me?”

“Anything, Sir.”

“Would you go to the Goldmine System and find this petty poet? Bring him here, alive ideally, he should suffer. And one more thing,” Phobos nodded excitedly, she never normally crossed the Horizon. “Don’t you dare let this prose escape to the Mother, it will remain on the Blue Planet and nowhere else.”

“Of course, any timeline in mind?” Phobos asked, knowing the Ultimate Beings had forever they liked things to happen when it suited them.

“I’m patient so take your time, this is a serious matter, it must be done well.” That ended the conversation and Phobos left to pursue her ordeal.

She whipped out her watch and looked up garment stores nearby. Well not exactly near, probably just a quick jump. The Ambassador was quite a solitary person, he chose to remain on an empty ball of rock and had his residencies atop great ashen mountains. This is where he could observe the engineered wars and battles that he orchestrated like a game of chess. On this certain day, the woods below were going up in smoke as flaming cannonballs streaked across the skies like shooting stars. Phobos sighed, he was a funny man, her boss, always taking pleasure in watching destruction. She strolled over to the elevator contemplating the importance of this task, he had

gotten upset over being called names, essentially, so how could he have ever harboured life? It puzzled her that his mind completely skimmed over the statement about the Potentials. That was the more pressing matter, they were the descendants of the original Cell and if they were nurtured in a particular way, as fully grown humans they have a spark that would allow them to cross the Horizon. Of course, it’s all quite ‘diluted’ now, everyone is somebody’s child so it should never be a problem. But this particular poem seemed to resonate more with the Beings more than normal. Well, The Ambassador if anyone. He didn’t seem fussed at all. The Ambassador is likely driving his car downhill at this point. His common sense would all come back to him, and he would re-evaluate the purpose of Phobos’ expedition.

Madeleine Chesher (S2)

My Peach Tree

When I was born, my parents planted me my very own peach tree. It was fairly small and unimpressive. It never gave out the best fruit, but it was mine, and I love that tree dearly.

I spent my toddler years learning to walk and subsequently falling by the sapling, I cut my knee hundreds of times and fell on a thousand twigs. I sat and cried by that tree with my scraped hands and knees, and I remember telling the tree how I hated it for making me fall. I forgot everything by the next morning, though. After all, I wanted to play more.

Once I hit the age of 5, my peach tree became my best friend, I played by the peach tree every day, the fruit started to grow and although it was small quickly became my favourite thing to eat, I took my friends home to my tree so they could see what a wonderful thing it was to, I convinced my mum to build me a tyre swing, everybody wanted to be my friend once that swing was built and I grew to love my tree even more.

I got older, though, as every person must, and suddenly, my peach tree wasn’t so cool. My friends stopped caring about the tree, they said it was strange to love a tree and told everybody about my “obsession”. I sickened myself on the taste of the peaches, and I didn’t feel like playing on the swing anymore. The only person who liked my tree was my best friend, she still thought it was cool. One day after school, she carved our names into the wood, It embarrassed me, I thought she was weird for doing it and I told her so, after a while she stopped liking the tree to.

By the time I was a teenager, I thought my tree was pretty cool again, though I’d never say so. I’d hide by that tree when I came home, I could do my homework there in peace, my tree was quiet, I needed the quiet. I started to stop seeing boys as icky and I would take them round and we would sit by my tree. They’d carve pictures and their names in the bark, each scored out the name of the last. I had my first kiss heartbreak at the tree, my parents would try to console me but something about sitting by my peach tree soothed me in a way they couldn’t.

Once I had reached my final year of school and I had been accepted to university hours away, I was raring to leave. I packed my bags, and I settled happily in a foreign town surrounded by strangers. I forgot about my friends from my hometown and rarely remembered to phone my family. I never really thought about my peach tree which started to wilt in my garden. The tree, still in the same state I left it, grew tired in my garden soil, the branches weakened and sagged, and the fruit grew less and less. My peach tree was finally old and was ready to sink into the ground.

By the time I was fully grown too, I had decided to stay in the city far away from home, though I remembered my roots and I came home frequently to my family and every time I did, I made sure to take some time and sit by the peach tree. My tree, though sick is still surrounded by twigs, still has my childhood swing and I can see initials and names in its dying bark. I don’t speak to the people whose initials are on my tree, though I hope they are well. I know my tree will have to be cut down soon as it is getting too old and tired to stand and I know in the grand scheme of

things that a tree long past its prime getting cut down means very little to anyone but me, but I hope that when it finally gets chopped down everybody who also sat by the tree remembers it as fondly as I.

Rebecca Ryce (S3)

Listen to it Calling

Opal water glistens beneath my feet

A castle stands proud

The waves turn

Listen to it ripple

All is still

A seagull cries out

Water melts through my skin

The sun blares upon a king

The waves turn

Listen to it patter

The water knocks against my knees

A seagull rests aside the fortress

The waves turn

Listen to it splash

I float deeper into the marine

In for the kill

The waves turn

Listen to it slosh

My head descends into glacial water

A kingdom under attack

The waves crash

Listen to it roar

An inescapable void surrounds

Greeting death

A kingdom falls

Enemies retaliate

The waves turn

Listen to the silence.

Holly Foster (S3)

Cherries

The sun was high. Its bright golden arms enveloped me and warmed me through. The start of the day was slow, in an almost gentle and loving way. Nearly every aspect of the ordinary seemed extraordinary. Even the fruit tasted sweeter and seemed juicier. My eyes shone brighter in the reflection of this delicate light that I’d found in the quiet of the morning. I found the need to stop and appreciate this newfound calm was quickly undermined by my need to continue with the day. The cherries’ sweetness lingered on, but the pit sunk to my stomach, in a way my busy mind was able to brush off.

Time flowed through my hands like grains of sand, every second flooding by, unable to be found amongst the vast number of others that swiftly consumed them. From dressing to leaving, travelling to arriving, everything was a glorious blur. One I’d never trade. The silent euphoria was so intense that the rooms became loud. Life was tenderly gifting me the eyes to see beyond the mundane in this cycle of waking working and wandering back to the comfort of sleep. This gentle appreciation was heightened at work, in a way I still can’t understand.

The shift itself was unimportant, goodness knows I can’t recall it at all. It wasn’t the focus of my attention anyways. Whatever papers I’d filed, I’d immediately discarded as unnecessary to that day. I found myself observing those around me, more than ever before. Seeing the beauty of the softness in a face, the wrinkles on a hand telling me silently of their journey to here, this rubbish office on a beautiful day. I’d picked up on how someone’s hair was half a shade darker as they’d aged or how someone’s face could light up the room with the subtle swell in their cheek as they smiled. It was so pristine, so pretty. Not perfect, but near enough for how much I’d cared.

I got home and the sun had set after all the faffing about with the trains, I hadn’t minded though, the swirls of smiles I’d glanced at on the way had made up for any inconvenience. I sat on the counter and waited for that nightly call, by the phone. It was a different number but with the warmth of the sun still with me, and without any general safety concerns I’d picked up. What harm do you know? I could always call him back.

Time slowed with as much impact as being hit by a, no…the truck. The blur became a horrible mud, hot pricks of shame danced along my scalp before all warmth of the gentle morning flooded out my body through my agape mouth. The pit had grown into a whole tree by the time I’d caught up to it, but I’d only had the eyes to see it once the rose-tint was ripped off my glasses. I couldn’t stop him from getting into the car. I want even there. I knew that. I know that. Now at least…

You know, you don’t think about all the times you say you love someone until you notice you couldn’t when you needed to the most. Grief is funny like that. Four years on and I still can’t eat cherries, or at least not like before. The pits leave a funny taste in my mouth. Even if just there for a split second. I miss the warmth of the sun from that day, but I know now that it wasn’t the sun that warmed me that morning, it was he who warmed me.

Isla Downie-Burns (S3)

Features on School Life

Matt Dickinson – Author in Residence

We were lucky to invite Matt Dickinson, author, filmmaker and explorer, to be our Author in Residence during the 2023/24 school year. The programme was organised by the School Library.

As an award-winning filmmaker and writer Matt has lived a life of adventure, working extensively for National Geographic TV, Discovery Channel and the BBC. During his action-packed career, he has filmed on Everest’s summit (the first British filmmaker to do so and get back alive), in Antarctica, Greenland, Alaska, the Sahara Desert and on top of the highest live volcano in the world. He has written multiple books for young people. He is also well known for his bestseller “Death Zone”, which is a real-life account of his ascent of Everest’s North Face during one of the worst storms ever to hit the mountain.

Over the course of a year Matt has brought his experiences as an author and explorer to life for Aberdeen Grammar pupils through a series of workshops. Some of which can be seen below. Overall, it has been a fun and rewarding year for us exploring the world with Matt. With pupils and staff from across the school engaging with all the different sessions that he brought to us. An S3 summed it up when they said:

“Matt really brought the topic to life with his funny anecdotes and insights. I’ll definitely never think of Everest and exploration in the same way again.”

Everest with S1/S2 Maths

A session with Maths inspired by his real-life experiences and books about Mount Everest where they were called upon to make real life calculations required for an expedition up Everest, such as calculating how much food they would need and how they would get it to base camp, etc.

Tibetan Art with S1 Art

S1 art pupils attended a session with Matt which looked at traditional art in Tibet and how that had been used as inspiration for the title illustrations of his book series ‘The Everest Files’. Using the chapter title illustrations as inspiration, Matt challenged them to create their own chapter illustrations for his book. The results were so impressive that Matt sent them to the illustrator who did the originals.

Developing your Writer’s Voice

Matt led masterclasses with some of our senior pupils to help them develop as writers and be more confident with their editorial choices. The sessions focussed on what makes a good story whether that is fictional, reflective or a journalistic piece.

Antarctica with S2 Geography

Matt led sessions with S2 Geographers where he talked about reading and filming in the Antarctic and the importance of Antarctica to our world. The groups were then challenged to write an application to work at an Antarctic Base which was turned into a competition. The winning entry came from Evie Williams.

Face The Music

An AGS Technicoloured Triumph

What makes a great musical? A world-transporting set? Jaw-dropping lighting? Star-studded casting? All these factors can make a musical triumph, but the glue that holds any show together is of course: the music. And there is one musical that has to have one of the most recognisable and renowned soundtracks in theatre history: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat

After Face the Music’s triumphant return in 2022 with High School Musical, the anticipation amongst Grammar pupils was sky-high for what 2023 would offer. They didn’t have to wait long however, with the hit musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, announced as Face the Music’s 29th show. Unlike past Face the Music productions, Joseph has few principal roles, instead having an array of songs that give the opportunity for numerous individuals to have their moment in the spotlight. Online video auditions were called to those wanting to tread the boards as an abundance of characters: from despairing French brothers, Elvis-rocking Pharaohs and the Dreamcoat swirling Joseph. Cast lists are always eagerly anticipated, this one especially so, due to the colourful scope of the characters. Dreams were made for many who managed to grab one of the many roles. Former FTM 2022 Sharpay and Ryan duo Ayla Chalmers (S6) and Alexander Denison (S4) took the roles of Narrator and Joseph, hoping to put their own fresh takes on the iconic characters played by many famous faces over the years. Ezra Usmani (S5) twisted his way into the royal character of Pharaoh: inspired by a certain King of Rock and Roll.

For Joseph’s three lead conniving brothers (each with their own uniquely styled songs) Belle Johnston (S4), Avah Reid (S4) and Charlotte Shields (S6) swept the production team off their feet with their enthusiastic interpretations. In addition, roles of a baker, butler, Mr and Mrs Potiphar, Jacob and more were cast, forming a stellar company to throw the show to life.

With a sparkling-new, talented and energetic cast formed, rehearsal gears were cranked into action. First time members of Face the Music quickly had to adapt to the weekly Monday and Thursday after school sessions with a plethora of singing and choreography taught at rocketspeed. Despite the heavy workload there’s always time for fun each week. From sing-along Whitney Houston warm ups to the explosions of laughter when the newly taught dance numbers didn’t quite go to plan: never a dull moment. Many of the cast were encouraged to watch Donny Osman’s 1999 adaptation of the show as some (rather unbelievably) had never heard of Joseph and his coat of many colours! They quickly learned of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s toetapping, kaleidoscopic biblical twist. The age-old story focuses on Father Jacob and his 11 sons, his favourite being Joseph whose dreams are suspiciously foreseeing. After he is gifted a coat like no-other, an overwhelming jealousy leaves Joseph cast out, sold as a slave and eventually imprisoned all within 45 minutes (it’s not a great start for our protagonist). However! After his dreamy qualities gives him a top job alongside Egypt’s Pharoah, he must learn to forgive as his starving brothers grovel at his feet. A musical isn't complete without a happy ending, so with Joseph’s forgiveness firmly set, his family reunites, and he dons his Dreamcoat once more. The show is truly unparalleled and after one English teacher said to me, “Joseph is my favourite musical of all time!” the pressure was well and truly on.

The show has a very long history with numerous glitzy revivals and star-casting over the years but its roots stem from being written for a primary school. Joseph is the school show of school shows and has been twisted, manipulated and interpreted by thousands of teachers nationwide. Could this production be unique from all the rest? Directing power-duo Mr and Mrs Peacock certainly thought so, with quirky and fresh alterations allowing for AGS’s production to stand out against the typical bland tea-towel style. Why have Joseph pushed into a pit when he can be popped into an Aberdeen City Council bin? A chariot of gold: how about a gold Ferrari? Why should Joseph be passed his coat when it can fly in from the heavens! These additions delighted audiences every night, making Aberdeen Grammar’s Joseph one for the ages.

Despite the best efforts of the 28-strong cast, a production as big as Joseph needs huge support behind the scenes. Grammar teacher’s and pupils were called to help find and create props; paint set; manage sound; and with the addition of a video wall on stage, pupils operated the screens to successfully transport the audience to multiple locations. At one point more people had signed up to do lighting for the show than be in the cast! This is a testament to how a school show doesn’t just give opportunities to perform but allows numerous pupils to try their hand on multiple creative levels. Joseph also has the unique quality of being almost entirely sung-through, meaning music is needed throughout all two hours of the show. A 10+ band was put together by the talented (and very patient) musical director, Ms Alexander, who rigorously conditioned the already talented players to manage the extreme musical haul. Without the costume, make-up, front of house and more, Joseph would simply not have happened.

The cast overcame all the challenges (mainly having to remember the 29 colours of a Dreamcoat) professionally and enthusiastically, with a spectacular, near sold out, three-night run. Overwhelming gratitude has to be given to all teachers involved who sacrificed their little free time to give pupils the greatest of opportunities: to shine on (or off) stage. Although the music is subjectively the most important part of a musical, it’s pretty clear that the support and love from all involved in 2023’s production is really what helped Joseph’s Dreamcoat shine brighter than ever before.

But every curtain must fall, and for the Grammar stage, the next curtain waits to rise for 2024’s show. As Face the Music crosses the pond for an outlandish and deliciously dark tale of love, grit and man-eating plants, Little Shop of Horrors promises a world of adventure for our new cast. Look out, there is a very hungry plant coming this November, and its destination is Aberdeen Grammar School.

Face The Music would also like to thank Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils Club for their kind donation as this was a big help to our production. They supported us and the band…literally as their money helped us purchase some more staging used to elevate the band during the performance.

Alexander Denison Cast Member

Reflections from the School Captains on Music in School

As our time at AGS comes to an end, we are so grateful for all the wonderful experiences we have had in the music department.

This year has been filled with so many amazing opportunities. Last August was where it all began – we had the honour of being invited to open the Blazin’ Fiddles Concert at the Music Hall with a group of pupils from all over Aberdeen City Music Service. We performed a fun set of jigs and reels, which was a great way to experience playing music from our country on stage.

This opened doors for the rest of the year, where we were given even more opportunities, such as attending sound checks for the bands Talisk and Manran. We got to meet the bands and ask them questions about their journey into a musical career – it was a great experience seeing what goes on behind the scenes of such amazing music.

Our performances lead to us being asked to perform pieces at the Aberdeen City Council Chambers, to open a regional headteachers’ meeting and to perform as a string quartet at the NHS Christmas concert at the Music Hall and in the hallway before the AGS Christmas concert. Apart from these more unique experiences it was exciting to play in an orchestra at our school’s October, Christmas and spring concerts.

One of the highlights of our time in the Music Department this year was playing in the band for AGS Face The Music’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat”. Over several months we prepared the many numbers to perform live alongside the cast during November 2023. We felt this was one of the most enjoyable parts of music in school because it was a break from classical or traditional music that we were used to playing and allowed us to connect with other pupils during the rehearsals and performances. By the end of the week we were very tired but felt a strong sense of accomplishment by playing our part in the production.

Since leaving school a few of us decided to stay in touch and organised a trip to Perth concert hall to see a concert of both Manran and Talisk who we had met at the start of the year. It was a full circle feeling from the sound check at the beginning of the year and shows just how much music brings people together.

Music in school provided us with a way to progress ourselves through learning new skills and while we are not heading into the music industry in our careers, playing the violin has helped us in our university applications and has given us memories to look back fondly on our time in school. We are confident that we will all stay in touch and stay friends, something that may not have happened without the wide range of experiences we had together in the Music Department. We are very grateful for the extra effort put in by all our teachers and staff at AGS and within the Aberdeen City Music Service and hope future years will appreciate these opportunities and realise how lucky they are.

Sam Lynch and Fatima Sellami, 2024 School Captains

Reflections from a Drum-Kit Player

My name is Tim Bacciotti, I'm in S4 and I've been playing the drum-kit for 6 years. I started Percussion Ensemble and Concert Band in May 2023 because I was enjoying playing the drum-kit and glockenspiel in class, and I wanted to put my skills to good use. I then joined the Face the Music Band in June 2023 because I wanted to experience a different type of playing outside of Concert Band and Percussion Ensemble. I really enjoyed playing in the concerts and shows this year, and the highlight was playing "Hey Jude" on the drum-kit with the Brass Ensemble in our March Leaver’s Concert.

I was one of the first members of Percussion Ensemble when it restarted in May 2023 and there were initially 4 pupils involved – then it grew to 12 pupils for our latest concert in March. My experience of playing in all these school groups this year led me to join groups outside of school such as Bon Accord B Band in March 2024, and I will be competing with them in the National Brass Band Championships later this year, as we qualified from the Scottish Championships earlier this year.

I'm really looking forward to continuing playing glockenspiel and drum-kit in Percussion Ensemble, Concert Band and Face the Music next year, and hopefully getting to experience some competitions with some of these groups. I'm also hoping to play a solo in some of the school concerts as I love performing.

Tim Bacciotti, S4 Clubs: Percussion Ensemble, Face the Music, Concert Band

Montage of Other Musical Highlights

Aberdeen City Music Service Leavers' Concert in Cowdray Hall June 2024

Rachel Gibson (Flute, S6) and Jess Fyfe (Voice, S6) represented Aberdeen Grammar School

AGS Trad Group – as part of the Aberdeen City Music Service Lunchtime Concert, April 2024 in the Cowdray Hall: Charlotte Arthur, Hadiza Shehu, Sam Lynch and Rachel Gibson (all S6)

Aberdeen City Council Junior Young Musician AGS finalists – Cowdray Hall, March 2024

Left to Right: Moses Cheung, S2 (Cello), Ore Alade, S3 (Voice), Alyssa Usmani, S1 (Violin)

Aberdeen City Council Junior Young Musician Runner Up – March 2024 Murray Balfour, S2 (French Horn)

Aberdeen City Council Senior Young Musician AGS finalists – Cowdray Hall, March 2024

Left to Right: Alice Hammill, S5 (Voice), Anna Seaman, S6 (Voice), Fatima Sellami. S5 (Violin) and Jess Fyfe, S6 (Clarinet)

Aberdeen City Council Senior Young Musician March 2024 – Runner Up Best Solo Performer Lily Arthur, S4 and Best Solo Performer Winner Mariette Pose, S5

Stonehaven Church – June 2024

Fatima Sellami, S6 performed in an afternoon concert on Piano

Scottish Young Musician Final May 2024

Mariette Pose, S5 performing flute in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow

Advanced Higher Art and Design

Our Experience at the Robert Gordon University – Gray’s School of Art Degree Show

Recently, our Advanced Higher Art class visited the Degree Show at Gray’s School of Art, in the hope of taking inspiration and creating our own ideas from the exhibits of artwork we saw. As a class full of people with varying ideas and interests, we were all able to find something to inspire us. The tour we took of the exhibition was very beneficial, as it allowed us to gain a better understanding of the work and dedication of the students, and to see their creative processes. This also gave us the opportunity to create a great baseline for the kinds of projects we could create in the future.

The talk from the lecturers and students was a great opportunity for us to widen our perspective on potential theme options, as well as allowing us to share our ideas, and have them questioned and challenged. Speaking to students gave us a glimpse into the art school life, and we were able to get genuine answers about the ups and downs of creating such a large project.

We would like to thank the lecturers and students for this fascinating experience!

Ksenija Petrova and Zane Basko

Architecture Talk by Struan Morrison, Former Pupil

Former Pupil Struan Morrison came back to AGS to deliver a presentation on his Architecture course and life at Strathclyde University to a group of our senior Graphic Communication and Art & Design pupils.

Struan, who left AGS in 2019, explained what architecture is and the three units of study he has been learning about – Architectural Design, Urban Design & Landscape Architecture. He also talked about his studies in Poland and the business he has set up.

He explained and showed pupils through his presentation how the skills learned in the subjects he took at school have helped him in the course and how he’s progressed these into his 5th year of study. He explained the entry requirements and current university’s teaching architecture as well as associated jobs linked to the course that he can be employed in at the end of the course.

Thank you to Struan for coming back to AGS to speak to our current pupils!

WM Donald Technical Day

AGS welcomed WM Donald recently working with a group of 60 S3 pupils. This was an excellent and valuable experience highlighting and inspiring pupils to a possible career pathway in construction. This Technical Day was only one of four WM Donald offers schools in a year, so we were very lucky to get this opportunity.

Pupils were actively involved in a whole day of activities lead by WM Donald staff; a lot of whom were apprentices themselves including one former pupil. These activities based round the construction industry included:

• Mono Blocking

• Drainage

• Excavator Simulator

• Site Set up

• Build a Bridge

• Plant Hire

This was a great experience for our pupils and thanks to all WM Donald staff and Developing the Young Workforce North-East for making this happen.

AGS and Beyond – Women In STEM

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects remain some of the most popular Highers for students to pick in Scotland, Biology being the 4th most popular choice in 2014-15. The number of students deciding to study science in university has been increasing exponentially recently. The study of science for many is the study of life, the subjects are critically important to understanding the world around us. However there remain huge gender disparities in the field of science, with only 16% of physicists being women. Surveys have recorded that many girls don’t feel smart enough to succeed in subjects like physics and engineering compared to boys, even though the statistics show that girls generally manage to achieve the same grades as boys. This largely stems from the stereotype of physics and maths being a boy’s subject. Many girls feel intimidated by the statistics and don’t want to be on their own in a room full of men. Thankfully, the gender disparities have already greatly improved in the last 20 years, with more girls taking biology and chemistry A Level than boys in 2022. However, physics had 3 times as many boys as girls and maths had 15 times more boys than girls in the same year. Obviously, the gender divide is still present, and a chain reaction prevents girls from taking STEM subjects.

At AGS, we are lucky enough to have many female teachers across STEM subjects, and with this comes a wide range of experiences – we have spoken to some teachers who had an equal gender split across most of their education, and others who had to contend with being the only female in their whole degree. This, in turn, leads to both positive and negative stories, as some never experienced any gender-based discrimination, whilst others were relegated to paperwork and documentation based purely on gender. Although progress is definitely being made in terms of gender diversity, society will take time to change, and female pupils today still experience feelings of inferiority and anxiety at the prospect of being placed in a male-dominated class. Across subjects such as engineering and computing science especially, classes are of vast male majorities, which can and does discourage young girls from getting involved due to assumptions that certain courses are ‘for boys”. At times, it can feel like a constant battle to get your voice heard. However, experiences are not all bad – everybody we spoke to agreed that studying a STEM subject, no matter your gender, is an incredibly rewarding experience, and these subjects desperately need more diversity to provide different outlooks on problems and challenges.

One of the most vital factors in creating diversity in STEM is representation. Young people on a whole are far more likely to pursue science, technology, engineering and maths if they see people like them already prominent in these fields. At Aberdeen Grammar, we have plentiful female representation in the form of our teachers – many faculties, including maths and sciences, have either an equal gender divide or in some cases a female majority. This representation is crucial in getting more young girls to pursue these subject areas, and combined with initiatives such as the Girls in Energy program is leading to more diverse classes and less girls feeling apprehensive about choosing a science. By making sure everyone is offered opportunities in these subject areas, we can significantly reduce the current gender disparity. In the future, more education of not just pupils but also parents on how STEM subjects are not just for boys could help increase

this diversity even more, and hopefully one day result in a school environment where nobody feels out of place or inferior in a classroom just because of their gender.

To round off the interviews we conducted, we asked each teacher for any advice they would give to young girls considering a career in STEM and got the overwhelming response of ‘Go for it!’. Everyone we spoke to agreed that there should be absolutely nothing holding any girl back from pursuing a subject they enjoy and that, though it can be intimidating, a class full of boys shouldn’t stop you. In fact, it should do quite the opposite – STEM subjects need diverse viewpoints and approaches to problems, and by following your goals you can one day become the representation that’s inspiring a new generation of female scientists, engineers and mathematicians.

With thanks to Mrs Douglas, Miss Rennie, Miss Rae and Dr Macleod.

Rebecca

Walker and Mariette Pose

Boys Junior Hockey

Matches

The boys played a total of 16 matches including a couple of mini tournaments. This resulted in final statistics of 10 wins and 6 losses. This does not include the Aspire Tournament where we won two, lost two and were placed fourth out of nine teams.

Attendance

On training days, attendance averages around 8-9 per session, which is below what we would wish for. As stated before, we had only one new addition from S1 that was not previously in the Ashley/AGSFP system. That said, we were still able to put out a full team every match and did not have to cancel due to lack of numbers. This was partly due to seconding in a couple of the better P7’s from Ashley Road Hockey.

North District Under 14 Team Selections

This year one Grammar pupil selected for the North District U14 Team (Thomas Fitzpatrick).

North District Under 16 Team Selections

We had four Grammar pupils selected for North District U16’s and who played in the Scottish Inter-District Tournament down at Strathallan a few of weeks ago. They were Owen Wright, Juan Harcus Garcia, Robbie Brown and Thomas Fitzpatrick. North District U1 were placed first which is their best result for many years.

Brave Academy Selection (Scottish Hockey Youth Development)

Two Grammar pupils have been selected for Brave Academy (Emerging Level); Leo Wishart and Owen Wright. Owen has since been moved up to the next “Aspiring” level.

S1 Football Team

The S1 football team had a great year competing for four trophies in total. They finished 2nd in the league and won the Green Final Trophy at Cove Rangers stadium (Balmoral Stadium). The team also enjoyed a trip to Perth Grammar in the Scottish Cup which was a fantastic day for the boys as they returned to Aberdeen after securing a win.

The S1 extra-curricular football club has also been a massive success throughout the year. We have had 30-50 pupils each Wednesday participating in football training. Many thanks to the FP club for allowing us to upgrade and purchase new equipment for the pupils. The team has got excellent use out of this equipment, and it has encouraged even more pupils to participate in

S2 Football Team

The S2 football team has had another extremely successful season. The team has played 16 different games across 4 different competitions and finished the season with a record of 12 wins, 1 draw and only 3 defeats. The team narrowly lost out on the league title finishing 2 points behind eventual winners Lochside. However, the team finished the season on a high by lifting the Sportsman’s Club Shield after a 3-1 win in the cup final. The team enjoyed a great run in the Scottish Cup where they reached the last 16 of the competition. Despite losing 3-0 the team had a great day out to East Renfrewshire.

Over the course of the season 27 different boys have represented the school team. There was also a ‘B’ team tournament hosted by Lochside which allowed another 14 players the opportunity to represent the school. School training regularly attracts around 50 S2s each week. Training has been significantly improved this year because of the continued financial support received from the FPs. Through the FPs contributions we have been able to get new training equipment and footballs.

AGS Netball

In the past 2 years at AGS netball has had many successes. Firstly, in the 22/23 season our senior team got to the semi-finals of the Scottish Plate, missing the finals at Emirates Arena by fingertips. Moving into the 23/24 season the girls got past the local round of the Scottish Cup, beating all of the teams in their pool. They faced RGC 1st team in a feisty match to get to the quarter finals. Despite putting in their all to the very end, RGC took the win by only one goal! However, our senior team proved themselves in the Aberdeen Senior A Tournament. Competing against Schools from all over Aberdeen and the shire such as Robert Gordon’s College, Lathallan School, Albyn School and Westhill Academy Our senior Grammar team came out overall 1st in this tournament.

Our Juniors were also excellent in the 23/24 season. They took the win in a friendly versus Albyn School. We had two amazing teams competing in the Aberdeen Junior Tournament in February. AGS junior 1s came 2nd in this, only losing by 1 in the final against Robert Gordon’s College.

To mark the end of the season we had our S1- S6’s come together to play in the Grammar tournament. In each team we had a variety of year groups. It was excellent to see our year groups working together to display some superb and enjoyable netball. With thanks to the FP’s for providing us funding to support the development of netball at AGS. We hope for many more victories in the future for our AGS teams!

Cross Stitch Club

The new Cross Stitch Club is a wonderful opportunity to acquire new skills (how to cross stitch), socialise, make new friends and relax. You can start with something small to learn the ropes and are given opportunities to try more challenging patterns. Mrs Laundon runs it and is always there to give a helping hand if you are stuck or simply want to chat. It is very good if you are looking for something calm and relaxing to do in your lunchtime.

Jessica Strong and Annemarie Sommerlade S3

S1 Art Club

Throughout the year, the S1 Art Club had a consistent and high level of attendance, rarely falling under 20 members each week. It was a club for like-minded pupils, who had an interest in art, to make strong friendships and further their artistic ability. We also had a very hard-working, large, group of senior pupils who were always there to help.

Over the course of the year, we experimented with a variety of drawing techniques such as pointillism, printmaking and oil resist whilst also using a variety of different media like chalk pastels, ink and watercolours. We would also use the time to learn about a variety of working artists and different art movements that could inspire us each week. Every Thursday the seniors would vote and select an ‘artist of the week’ who would be a member of the club who had put all of their effort into their work that week and produced something they should be proud of.

The club were always very enthusiastic and would always try to produce the highest quality of work, no matter what artistic challenge was thrown their way. This is especially true for the Anti-Racism Scottish School’s showcase which the club took part in. ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ provided a chance for schools across Scotland to produce anti-racism themed artworks in a range of genres, to be celebrated and displayed in an online gallery. This collaborative project aimed to celebrate all pupils’ contributions and join together to use the ‘Power of Our Voices’ for change. All of the pupils’ work is available to view online and one of our pupils’ works of art was chosen to be displayed in person at an exhibition in Glasgow, which is an incredible achievement!

Well done to all who were involved, it was a wonderful club that was full of positivity and kindness.

Miss Lamden

Languages Club

Our World Film Project

Date: 22nd March 2024

The Project

Pupils at Aberdeen Grammar School elected to take part in the Our World Film Project run by Scottish European Educational Trust (SEET) and recently taken over by Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT). We had a junior team and a senior team take part in Edinburgh with 10 pupils across S2-S4. For the juniors, it was their first time participating in the Our World event and they learned so many skills. While neither team won an award this year, the experience and independence they gained from taking part is truly priceless. We hope the junior team follows in the footsteps of the seniors and continues to take part each year!

Pupil Feedback

One of our pupils, Ojas Joshi, particularly enjoyed this project and said “The Our World film project was a unique and never come across opportunity for me as a school student. Before actually going through the filming experience, I would have never expected such a fun and engaging project ever! After gaining a lot of knowledge on camera angles in filming, acting and teamwork skills, I would surely love to take part once again.”

Science Club

Science Club UV Activity

The AGS Science Club carried out an activity to investigate how Ultraviolet rays from the sun can affect different materials. We learned how when exposed to ultraviolet light, compounds can break down and change colour. This is what happens to our skin when we get a tan! We made bracelets and keychains using UV beads that have a special pigment in them that reacts to ultraviolet light and changes their colour. We will take these on holiday with us in the summer and see how different they look in sunny places. We also wrote secret messages in UV reactive ink that could then be revealed under a UV lamp. Thanks to the FP funding we could see the colours of our beads and writing even when it wasn’t sunny outside!

Pictures of other Science Club experimental activities include:

Chemiluminescence at the Science Fair

Lava Lamps

Making slime

Screaming jelly baby experiment

General Section Introduction

Throughout the year, the Club publishes various articles submitted by Former Pupils in the monthly Newsletters. Some contributions, particularly longer articles, are served for publication in the General Section of the School Magazine. This year the following articles were selected for the Magazine.

Wir Musizieren Gemeinsam – We Make Music Together Graham Watt (1957-70)

Cross-Country Travel in Sudan in 1974: The Challenges of Delivering Development Aid Garth Glentworth (1948-1961)

What I did in my Retirement

Ronald Lewis-Smith (1946-1960)

James Locke Nicholson Iain Reid (1951-1963)

The Luther Kitson Smith Bequest Nigel Watt (1963-1969)

Wir Musizieren Gemeinsam – We Make Music Together

By Graham Watt (1957-70) MD, FRCGP, FMedSci, FRSE, CBE

Fig 1: The concert programme, and also the cover of a gramophone record, of the Joint Concert on 17th May 1965, designed by James Will, art teacher at Aberdeen Grammar School

In June 2024 two men in their seventies, Klaus Guertler and Rainer Kuttner, were having a conversation in Regensburg, Bavaria in southwest Germany. Friends since their school days, they reminisced about a school trip they had taken to Aberdeen in 1965, almost 60 years previously. Klaus remembered my name, as his host on a family visit as part of that trip, looked me up on the internet and sent a speculative email, which is how and why, looking through old programmes, photographs, newspaper articles and FP magazines, I pieced together this record of three concerts, two in the Neuhausssal, Regensburg and one in the Music Hall, Aberdeen which took place in the 1960s. I imagine that there must be a good number of former pupils who took part in those events and can say, “I was there”.

Aberdeen and Regensburg had been twin cities since 1955. The link survives and will be seventy years old next year. As a concert programme explained,

“Aberdeen and Regensburg have much in common. Both are beautiful cities, with fine Cathedrals; both are situated on famous rivers; in both cities there is a love of music and a vigorous musical life. The link between the two cities has been strongly forged since the Second World War, although the Scottish influence in Regensburg – or Ratisbon to give it its old name – goes back to a much earlier day, for in the Schottenkirche of that city are to be seen on the tombstones the names of monks who went out from these islands many centuries ago.”

The first visit, from Aberdeen to Regensburg, 29th June to 12th July 1963

The first visit to Regensburg was made in July 1963, when a party of Grammar School Choir and Orchestra members, including 63 boys and 13 adults, went there as guests of the Oberburgermeister and Obberrealschule of that city. Although the Oberrealschule had a curriculum which emphasised scientific subjects, it had none the less a lively musical tradition, and the Scottish boys were able to rehearse and make music with their German friends.

Staying in the Youth Hostel next to a quiet backwater of the Danube, the party was hosted and fed by the warden, Herr Strutz and his wife. Their first official engagement was a reception by the Oberburgermeister in the Reichsaal of the Mediaeval Town Hall. A musical interlude was followed by a tour of the State rooms, although it was the grim Mediaeval Torture Chamber that made the greatest impression.

The 14-day trip involved hard work at rehearsals and relaxation in sport and sightseeing. The visitors attended a service in Regensburg Cathedral where they heard the singing of the Domspatzen or Cathedral Sparrows, the name given to the boys of the Cathedral Choir, whose modern and magnificently equipped Choir School they also visited.

2 and

Figs

3: Photos of the 1963 visit from the Oberrealschule Annual Report for 1963/64

Other excursions included Valhalla, a monument to German heroes; up river to the monastery at Kelheim; a coach tour through the Bavarian forest, taking in many Baroque churches and visiting the Czech frontier and the Arber mountain (ascended by chair lift); Passau with its great organ (the keyboard so far away from the pipes that there was a 5 second delay between playing and hearing the notes); and a quick tour of Munich, including its Art Gallery and Deutsches Museum of Science and Technology.

“Wir musizieren gemeinsam” was the motto on the programme of the memorable concert given in the Neuhaussaal, Regensburg, on July 9th, 1963 – “We make music together”. The full forces of both choirs and orchestras were combined in the first scene of Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneas” and in Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”, both sung in English. The orchestras combined again in the first movement of Haydn’s “London Symphony” and Beethoven’s “Romance in F major”. Among other Chamber Music and Madrigals, the most popular item were the Scottish Folk Songs and dances which brought the first half of the concert to an end.

On leaving Regensburg the final impressions were of people and friendship, with the determined feeling that the trip had only been the beginning of a story of musical cooperation.

The second visit, from Regensburg to Aberdeen, 12th to 20th May, 1965

The skirl of the pipes was heard at Aberdeen Joint Station as the London train drew in bearing a party of 66 German pupils and former pupils (65 boys and one girl) plus 5 members of staff (Herr Halter, Herr and Frau Muller, Fraulein Achhammer and Herr Kessel).

On the following morning the sun shone during their tour of the city, including a visit to Rubislaw Quarry, a Lord Provost reception at the Town House, a tour of Old Aberdeen led by Dr W. Douglas Simpson and afternoon excursions to Girdleness Lighthouse and the Beach. As Regensburg is 763 miles from the North Sea and 246 miles from the Adriatic, it is likely that this was the first time that many of the party had been at the seaside.

After rehearsals for the concert, and displays at the School, including pipes, drums and Scottish dances, the weekend was spent being hosted by Aberdeen families.

After a civic luncheon on Monday, by invitation of the Lord Provost, the Joint Concert took place that evening in front of a packed audience at the Music Hall. The programme was framed by an extended excerpt from Haydn’s “The Creation” and Handel’s Coronation anthem, “Zadok the Priest”. Over 50 years later I still remember the thrilling tenor solo, “And God said – Let there be light – and there was LIGHT!”.

Fig 3: A pipe band display in front of the Aberdeen Grammar School

Fig 4: The massed combined orchestra and choir on stage in the Music Hall

In between were a performance by the combined string sections of Vaughan Williams’ “Concerto Grosso”, followed by virtuoso performances of the slow movement from Bach’s “Concerto for Two Violins”, the first movement of Mozart’s “Clarinet Concerto” and ballet music from Schubert’s “Rosamunde”. The Regensburg choir sang two groups of German folk songs.

The concert featured a first performance of “Laudate Dominum”, composed for the School by former pupil Martin Dalby, based on Psalm 150 and comprising a tenor solo by David Haggart, four-part chorus and orchestra, “with liberal extras in the percussion section”.

This was followed by three Scottish songs, “O gin I were where Gadie rins”, “The Boatie rows” and “Bannocks o’ bearmeal”.

The Press and Journal reviewer commented, “A performance of rare beauty and talent struck clean through the artificial limits of nationality and language at the Music Hall, Aberdeen last night.” Excerpts of the concert were captured on a gramophone record.

Fig 5: Two pictures of the German choir

Fig 6: The single girl in the Regensburg party was Fraulein Engl, a violinist

The conductors during the concert were Donald Hawksworth, W. Peddie Willox, Wilhelm Halter, Hans Muller, James Hunter, and Maria Achhammer. The visiting choir also made appearances on BBC and Grampian Television.

Following the concert there was time to relax with trips to Dunnottar Castle, Blairs College and Haddo House. An excursion to Upper Deeside included Ballater, the Balmoral Castle grounds and a walk, curtailed by inclement weather, along the eastern side of Loch Muick as far as the zig zag path to Broad Cairn.

Fig 7: James Hunter taking a rehearsal of the combined orchestra in the Music Hall

Fig 8: The combined party decants from their bus at the Loch Muick car park

Fig 9: The party on the lawn and steps outside Balmoral Castle

Fig 10: James Hunter, later to become Head of BBC Television in Scotland, refereed an international football match in his kilt

11:

They have since completed careers in psychotherapy and surgery, respectively

Fig 12: At one point during the visit, perhaps at Haddo House, teachers Wilhelm Halter, Maria Achhammer and Hans Muller were presented with gifts of haggis and neeps, to their apparent delight. Two years previously in Regensburg the Aberdeen music staff had been bedecked with garlands of thick, spicy Regensburger sausages, presented with a bouquet of white radishes – possibly the only occasions in which sausages and root vegetables have featured in international relations.

A large crowd gathered at the Joint Station on 20th May to bid farewell to “these wonderful people from Regensburg”.

Fig

Klaus Guertler (back row, 2nd from right) and Rainer Kuttner (front row, centre) in the scratch Regensburg football team.

Third visit, from Aberdeen to Regensburg, 30th June to 12th July 1967

This visit was similar in many respects to the previous visit in 1963, travelling by train, staying in the Youth Hostel, attending a reception in the Town Hall, rehearsing for the concert during the day and exploring Regensburg in the evenings. The Kelheim monastery was re-visited, a few miles up-river from Regensburg, the return journey involving small rowing boats travelling between the spectacular limestone cliffs of the Danube Gorge.

Fig 13: Leaving Aberdeen Station at the start of the long journey home

Fig 14: The cover of the concert programme on 7th July 1967

By common consent the most exciting part of the concert was Vaughan Williams’ arrangement of the 100th Psalm, involving every member of the orchestra and choir. Other notable items included a first performance of Donald Hawksworth’s “Variations on a Scottish Folk Song”, a series of folk songs by the German choir, and a “ceilidh” ending the concert with sixteen young dancers, accompanied by Mr Willox’s “Scottish Strings”.

Following a weekend staying with German families, the party travelled by train to Linz, just inside the Austrian border, to board a river steamer for a cruise down river to Vienna. It was a dreich, atmospheric day, adding to the mystery of the many castles observed at strategic points on the riverbank.

Two days in Vienna were spent seeing the sights including the Kuntshistorisches Museum and the Schonbrunn Palace, which were memorable for Breughal’s Hunters in the Snow in the former and the quality of marble public toilets in the latter. There was also a coach trip to Kahlenberg in the heart of the Black Forest, and, of course, evenings were spent at the Prater fun fair.

After visiting Passau on the way back to Regensburg, seeing again the famous organ (the second largest church organ in the world), the party returned to Regensburg for a “sportfest” on the final day, including a march past, relay races, two football matches and a demonstration of cricket.

Fig 15: The concert programme on 7th July 1967

The return journey became something of a drama when buses ordered for the 1 am journey to the rail station did not arrive. A fleet of 20-30 taxis was urgently summoned to avoid missing the train.

In summary, these were busy, ambitious, productive and convivial times, adding substantially to the twinning arrangement between Aberdeen and Regensburg. The twinning has continued, often involving other schools in Aberdeen. I don’t know to what extent it continued to involve Aberdeen Grammar School after the 1960s. Perhaps others can tell. The visits during that decade undoubtedly depended on support from the Town Councils of both cities plus the musical leadership provided by Donald Hawksworth at the Grammar School in Aberdeen and Wilhelm Halter at the Oberrealschule, re-named the Goethe Gymnasium, in Regensburg.

Graham Watt (1957-70) who took part in the second and third concerts graham.watt@glasgow.ac.uk

30th June 2024

Fig 16: The cricket match attracted a fascinated crowd

Cross-Country Travel in Sudan in 1974: The Challenges of Delivering Development Aid

By Garth Glentworth (1948-1961)

Introduction

This is an account of a journey I made by Land Rover from Khartoum to Juba and round the district capitals of Southern Sudan in the ‘Seventies’. How old you are determines whether you think this is comparatively recent or long ago.

In 1974 I was a young lecturer in a development studies institute in Birmingham University. The Institute had won a contract from the Ministry of Overseas Development (ODM now DFID) to run training courses for Sudanese local government administrators. The first courses were to be for Southerners who were taking over from Northerners after the Addis Abba Agreement of 1982. A more senior colleague and I were selected to prepare and run the first courses in Juba.

This straightforward objective resulted in one of the hardest and most challenging experiences of my life. I had previously lived in Uganda and Lesotho for nearly four years, but nothing there prepared me for the Sudan.

Starting Out

Our preparations for the journey were different from current arrangements. We did fly to Khartoum and stayed in the old Grand Hotel, which in those days was still filled with Victorian furniture, equipped with straw and water filled air coolers and with staff – it appeared of almost similar vintage. Sitting on the terrace overlooking the Nile and drinking limun in the cool of the evening was part of a very pleasant introduction to Khartoum.

An experience which turned out not to be so pleasant was taking possession of our brand-new long wheelbase Land Rover which had been airfreighted out to Khartoum and converted for safari use by a now long deceased firm in Kingston upon Thames. This conveyance had to be equipped for our safari from Khartoum to the South. My team-mate and I both had a vague idea of what to expect – or to be honest – I had no idea and my colleague who had been a colonial officer in West Africa was thinking nostalgically of trekking with porters.

Our driver Ahmed Ali Bilal (on the right), with one of his friends whom we met in Malakal

So we equipped the Land Rover accordingly, first buying a large wooden box to sit on the roof rack, which would carry our supplies until they were unloaded in our camp each night by ‘servants unknown’. In fact all the support we had was Ahmed Ali Bilal, a professional driver from Western Sudan, who stayed with us throughout the journey. Without Ahmed, we would have been in very serious trouble several times as we drove South.

The supplies we loaded reflected our image of the journey. Lots of dried beans (to be soaked by the servants before we arrived each evening), tins of Chinese corned beef and dried biscuits. We also equipped ourselves with wood and canvas wash basins and stands, similar canvas camp beds and canvas director chairs. In Khartoum in 1974, there was still at least one shop in the city centre that supplied these items, which had changed little since the Condominium period.

Across the Desert South from Khartoum

Map of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Drawn by Rosalind Caldecott for K. D. D. Henderson’s Set Under Authority: Being a Portrait of the Life of the British District Officer in the Sudan under the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, 1898–1955 (Castle Cary: Castle Cary Press, 1987), SAD 769/7/4-6 [MP]. Reproduced by permission of Rosalind Caldecott and Durham University Library.

We set off towards Kosti following the Nile. At the time we were travelling, there were no roads, only tracks across the sand. Four-wheel drives and the galleon like heavily loaded trucks picked their way, following the routes established by previous traffic. Driving over sand is comparatively easy as long as you do not veer off the tracks and get stuck; driving over soil and top-dressed corrugated roads is much harder. We found bouncing at speed over corrugations extremely uncomfortable. Ahmed’s hands were bleeding from holding the vehicle in a straight line for eight to ten hours driving each day.

As we left Khartoum, the Land Rover ride became incredibly hard and uncomfortable. On investigation we found that the tyres had been inflated in the UK for British temperatures. Once we reduced tyre pressures by forty pounds the ride became relatively more comfortable. Other essential improvements were draining the anti-freeze loaded in Kingston and following the standard Sudanese practice of throwing away the thermostat – both were required to stop the engine repeatedly boiling over.

Two additional problems developed as we drove past Kosti on our way to Malakal. The first involved our supplies in the wooden box. These were so heavy that they overloaded the roof rack causing the bodywork on the Land Rover to slip. For a couple of days until we unloaded the supplies and box and sold them in Malakal, the only way into the vehicle was through the driver’s window for the very slim Ahmed and for the more generously proportioned khawajas (honorific title for teacher/professor) through the back door. The second problem showed that the safari conversion in Kingston might have been sufficient for a safari up the M1 to Woburn Abbey but was not much use in the Sudan. The sink, cupboard and table bounced out in response to the corrugations and would in any case been unusable because of the heat and the dust.

Our Assignment

I should have mentioned the purpose of our safari. Our first objective was a survey of the implementation of the Peoples’ Local Government Act of 1971. This was an innovatory, almost visionary piece of legislation in Sudan, introducing, for example, quotas for women on local councils, radical action in the social climate in rural Sudan in the1970s. The second was a survey of social service availability and development potentials, covering the South’s twenty-four districts and three provincial headquarters. The context was the destruction involved in the First Civil War, ended by the Addis Abba Agreement of the early Seventies and fought between the National government and the Anyanya led by General Joseph Lagu.

Understandably there were no central records in the Regional Capital Juba, let alone in the Provincial Headquarters (Wau, Malakal and Juba at that time) and District Capitals. Any that had existed had either been destroyed during the war or taken away by the departing Northern administrators and would be inaccurate anyway after the war. There was no alternative to actually visiting as many district headquarters as possible. We eventually managed to obtain statistics for all 24 and visited most of them, missing out only Bentiu, Pibor Post and Raja. What

we were collecting were only local administrators’ ‘estimates’ of schools, medical facilities, etc., but this was difficult enough and more than anyone else was producing at the time.

Malakal and Upper Nile

Malakal was one of our centres from which we visited most of the districts in Upper Nile. These visits were not without incident.

Crossing the Nile on an ancient ferry and making our way North to visit the Shilluk district of Kodok (the “Fashoda Incident” location), we managed to drive into and out of a minefield. This was only marked by an obscure red flag, which we missed. As a penalty for surviving, we were arrested by a platoon of soldiers for entering a forbidden military area. Fortunately our explanation of ignorance was accepted.

Visiting Akobo as the wet season got thoroughly under way, we got stuck overnight after I insisted against his protests that Ahmed avoid a particularly deeply rutted and flooded section of the track. The lessons are never contradict a driver who knows the local conditions and check that your shovel is not so old that the handle breaks off immediately you start digging out. The photo below is of a Ford truck and we were of course in a Land Rover, but all vehicles stuck in mud up and over their axles confront the same problems.

“Ford lorry stuck in mud on the way to Rigel El Fula, 1951 x 1954” G.M.G. and A. Tibbs collection, Sudan Archive Durham (SAD. 999/8/13). Reproduced by permission of Michael and Anne Tibbs and Durham University Library.

Back in Malakal, I wanted to do a bit of sightseeing along the Nile. A particularly picturesque spot was by a group of river steamers that were no longer in use and had actually been used as gunboats in the Battle of Omdurman (or so it was claimed). Unfortunately a group of soldiers were having a bath in the Nile under the stern of one of the steamers and took exception to being photographed bathing. Another arrest followed, though again fortunately my explanation of photographing the steamer and not the soldiers was eventually accepted with only the loss of the film in my ancient Kodak camera.

Calling on the Provincial Police Station in Malakal to have our travel permits re-authorised, we were introduced to a Nuer Kujur, who was being held there. He had come in to submit to the Government from his fortress on Zeraf Island in the middle of the Sudd Swamp, where he was reputed to have 10000 followers armed with Kalashnikovs. Whether this was true or not, he cut an extraordinary figure. Dressed in a robe in order to be allowed to visit the town, covered in traditionally healed cicatricial wounds as a battle-hardened old warrior, he had with him a young boy who carried his ceremonial shield and spear. Kujurs were not only military leaders but were possessed of magical powers which did not permit them to touch, shake hands with or look directly at other human beings. Given the importance of shaking hands in Sudan, this hugely annoyed the police officers trying to negotiate an agreement with him.

Leaving Malakal (much lighter without our full box of mis-purchased provisions), we set off up the Nile skirting the Eastern side of the Sudd Swamp and huge infestations of water hyacinth in the main river and its tributaries such as the Sobat. Water hyacinth reminds me of the famous book by John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids where plant life developed a mind and action on its own. Many readers will know that water hyacinth grows on the surface of rivers and soon forms an almost impenetrable mass of vegetation that chokes off sunlight and oxygen – and seems to take over. The only ways to get rid of it are by poisoning or dredging. We called on the Bulgarian camp from which they were flying small crop spraying planes to implement the poisoning option, but it seemed they were fighting a losing battle. Water hyacinth reproduces faster than it can be killed and even when as an alternative it is hauled onto land it has virtually no nutritional value.

Juba and the Western Circuit

Juba was obviously our main destination as the headquarters of the Southern Regional Government under Vice-president Abel Alie. From Kosti through Bor with side trips and other adventures, we reached Juba after two weeks on the road from Khartoum. The plan was then to make two major trips: one to Torit and Kapoeta in the East and a much longer circuit via Yei, Maridi, Yambio, Tombura to Wau, from which we would make day trips to Aweil and Gogrial, returning to Juba via Wau, Rumbek and Yirol.

We happened to arrive in Yei on the day when one of Idi Amin’s principal lieutenants returned to his hometown. Reputedly, he had been driven away from Uganda because of a dispute with Amin. He had returned with comparatively massive wealth: two big Fiat trucks with trailers full of household possessions gathered after the Asian expulsions two years earlier and around fifteen large saloon cars (such as Peugeot 404s); he had taken possession of the cars after they were abandoned by their former Ugandan owners. He also had a number of bodyguards and an unknown but large amount of hard cash in American dollars.

Though we subsequently heard that setting up as businessman and building three large houses around Yei did not turn out to be a success, the impact of this example on the very poor citizens in and around Yei was considerable. Uganda was obviously a land of milk and honey. If this was what a soldier could collect in two or three years, why not go across and take your chances? Ugandans were not of your tribe and were fair game. Amin needed reliable soldiers who would work with him without question.

Moving south-west we drove through the vast teak forests planted during the colonial period. If they are still there, they will be enormously valuable if there is ever enough security and access to get them exported. Land mines were not a general problem in those days, and we made very good progress on well-built murram (gravelly) roads that had been virtually unused for twenty years. In Yambio we visited the cotton mill that had been set up in the Condominium period to utilise the cotton grown by the Zande in the far South West. It had operated throughout the first war in isolation, using the original equipment and the original vehicles – early ‘Fifties’ almost original Land Rovers. They had continued to produce and sell damhuria, the all-purpose rough cotton cloth used by all Sudanese.

While in Yambio a major problem developed – a serious leak in the 44-gallon petrol drum in the back of the Land Rover – our only source of fuel. The fuel we had gathered by bargaining with aid agencies and NGOs since there were no filling stations in the South Sudan at that time (and very few now). So under Ahmed Ali Bilal’s direction we decided to weld the leak. The drum was drained and repeatedly washed out to remove all fuel traces. Or so we thought – we had not accounted for petrol vapour. When approached with a welding torch borrowed from the Cotton Company, it exploded. By a miracle no one was hit by flying metal. Rather embarrassed by such naivety, we had to buy a new drum from the Company and continue on our way. Needless to say, our expenses claim to ODM had to explain this cost in detail.

Transiting from Yambio to Tumbura in a ferocious tropical storm, the windscreen wipers simply blew away and we were unable to find them again. Not that they would have been of much use in the rainstorms we were then experiencing.

In Wau, we followed our now well-established pattern of district questionnaire completion. Two side trips to Aweil and Gogrial were the highlights. In both we encountered some of the tallest Dinka that we had ever met – seven feet for the men and over six feet for the women seemed almost standard. In conversation, local leaders bemoaned the fact that heights seemed to be diminishing, put down to the dilution of the traditional diet of blood, milk and dura (cooked maize and millet) still the norm in the cattle camps but not in the towns and settled villages.

Return to Juba

From Wau it was time to begin the return to Juba through Rumbek and Yirol. We called in on Rumbek School, then known as the “Eton” of Southern Sudan, which was just beginning to function again with new intakes and despite the damage to the buildings during the fighting. The roads were good and we made excellent time. In Juba no consultancy would have been complete without the obligatory concluding workshop to present our preliminary findings to the Sudanese stakeholders. This included a trip to Yei for participants to visit a training centre run by the World Bank, set up to show what could be achieved in agriculture as it revived after the Addis Peace Agreement. The visit itself was an eye opener to the predominantly pastoralist officials –Dinka, Nuer, Shilluk and Anuak (ethnic groups). The journey from Juba to Yei was something of an adventure in itself. It took us two days as the brakes failed on the bus we hired – fortunately on a fairly level section of road.

Our proposed training programme was accepted by the principal stakeholders – ODM and the Regional Ministry of People’s Local Government and went ahead on an annual basis in Juba for a period of five years. The main target groups were Southerners recruited as Inspectors of Local Government and Executive Officers of local councils. They made up a very diverse group: some ex-Anyanya; teachers; young recent graduates; and carry-overs from the previous administration in the South. Educational backgrounds varied from graduates to a few years after primary school. There was no correlation between education and field ability and energy and backgrounds.

The course contents reflected the predominant pattern of coming new to administration and bureaucracy generally. Everything had to be covered from how to write reports, keep records and submit requests to development potentials in the areas of the South where they would be posted. What would now be called the ‘Rule of Law’ was a major theme and was particularly new to some of the ex-Anyanya. (The Anyanya were a southern Sudanese separatist rebel army

A typical Sudanese Village: we drove through dozens like this on our journey

formed during the First Sudanese Civil War). These were ex-fighters who to survive had had to become extremely tough and ruthless and did not see initially why these characteristics should not apply to their roles in government. The main lecturers were the few experienced officials in the Regional Government with the staff from Birmingham organising and back-stopping where necessary.

Looking Back

1974 was a time of hope in South Sudan, but my main reflections are rather sad ones. The South’s history since then has been one of decline into ever increasing division and conflict. For a period in the Seventies, there was peace and political stability – admittedly starting from a very low base. The Regional Government governed, as did the three provincial administrations. Autonomy from the North was being put in place, but the need for continuing interdependence was recognised and continued until the latter years of the decade. Anyanya forces were absorbed into the National Army as part of the Addis Agreement. Though retrospectively, it can be seen that many mistakes were made, at the time there was a general air of optimism in the South. This lasted until the Anyanya were disbanded or absorbed by John Garang’s creation of the SPLA (the Sudan People’s Liberation Army) around 1980. This in turn led to the resumption of fighting between the North and the South in the early eighties after Nimeiri’s declaration of an Islamic Republic.

In spite of all our travel difficulties, it was much easier and safer to move round the South in 1974 than it is today. Life for citizens was also a lot better than it is over forty years later. There were virtually no land mines – our experience in Malakal was exceptional. Command structures in the military and militias continued to be effective and limited the rampant chaotic and brutal war-lordism that has subsequently become so destructive. Humanitarian aid was predominately reaching people who needed it and was not being diverted or ‘requisitioned’. Though they were still largely displaced, local populations were beginning to return to their home areas with some confidence that their crops, livestock and women and girls would not be stolen. How different life has become nowadays!

What I did in my Retirement

By Ronald Lewis-Smith (1946-1960)

I did not accept retirement willingly. Working for the Scientific Civil Service retirement was compulsory at age 60, just as one is getting into one’s stride. That was in 2002. I had worked as a biologist for the British Antarctic Survey for the past 38 years. A Leverhulme Fellowship allowed me to continue my research for a further three years, then panic set in. I became a redundant retiree.

That was until a few years later when I was invited by a travel company, Abercrombie & Kent, to join the staff of a cruise ship that operated expedition tours to the Antarctic. I was offered the post of Historian Lecturer and Field Guide. This was an offer not to be refused, even if it did require a lot of swotting up on the subject, sourcing illustrative material and preparing PowerPoint presentations for the lectures. But I was used to that! The job actually paid me for my services, provided my flights, accommodation and all food and drinks on board and, most surprisingly, my wife Elinor could accompany me gratis.

The cruises commenced and ended in Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of Argentina. I served my time on Explorer II over four summer seasons, each consisting of three back-to-back cruises of nine to 17 days between December and February. [I was offered a fifth cruise on another ship but, on the eve of my departure from home, I received an urgent call informing me that my services were no longer required as the ship was on fire, had run around on rocks in the Falkland Islands and was being evacuated. But they paid me for not participating!].

By coincidence, “my” ship happened to be the same one that fellow Grammar FP Gordon Milne described (as Minerva) in his article in the May 2024 Newsletter, only by now (2005) she had been under different charters for several years. During the northern summers she operated in the Mediterranean and Caribbean as Alexander von Humboldt chartered to Phoenix Reisen, and during the southern summers as Explorer II chartered to Abercrombie & Kent voyaging to Antarctica and southern South America. Such is the life of a cruise ship.

Explorer II was one of several similar-sized ships operating in the region. My “work” provided some of the most enjoyable experiences and social interactions of my life. Besides the minuteby-minute thrill of the ever-changing scenery and wildlife I was imparting to the passengers knowledge gained over a lifetime’s career working with the British Antarctic Survey throughout the “White Continent”. This was particularly rewarding, and I met some very interesting people. The majority of the ‘guests’ were retired, somewhat (often very) wealthy and ‘ticking’ the Antarctic to complete their set of continents visited. In effect, these voyages were promoted as a hands-on experience of a lifetime, with emphasis on education, conservation, wildlife and scenery. The lecturing staff included an ornithologist, marine biologist, geologist, climatologist, glaciologist, and, of course, an historian (doubling as naturalist, as required), all co-ordinated by

the expedition leader. The principal role of Historian was to cover all aspects of the discovery of Antarctica, detailing some of the epic ‘Heroic Age’ expeditions, geopolitics of the region, and the sealing and whaling industries of yesteryear.

Explorer II could accommodate almost 400 passengers but, for Antarctic cruises, was restricted by the Antarctic Treaty to 199 – an ideal number. Since those idyllic days of tourist control some large cruise ships are now permitted to enter the Antarctic Treaty Area (i.e. Antarctica), but mass landings are not permitted and are too time-consuming and hazardous for the itinerary. With only a half complement there was no crowding, the accommodation very comfortable and the food exquisite (and excessive). The crew and other staff were mainly Filipinos and the officers a mixture of European nationalities, while the specialist staff (i.e. myself et al.) were mostly from UK and the Americas. All were very friendly and sociable, and there was a great camaraderie between them and the passengers, making for a relaxed atmosphere on board.

The aim of each voyage was to allow the expeditioners (they were not referred to as tourists!) two landings per day, where and when possible, at sites of exceptional scenic, wildlife and/or historic interest. The bridge was open to everyone at all times, except in severe weather or dangerous ice conditions. Because of the unpredictability of the weather and sea the itinerary had to be somewhat flexible. Some of the cruises sailed only to the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula (by far the most spectacular part of the entire continent), while longer voyages included the Falkland Islands (in many respects similar to the Hebrides) and the stunning sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. However, to go anywhere we first had to cross the Drake Passage which is notorious for being extremely stormy on occasions. Experiencing 40⁰ rolls was not a pleasant experience and the sumptuous meals were attended only by seasoned staff and officers. However, once the first sighting of an iceberg or a whale on the horizon was announced over the intercom passengers seemed to make a miraculous recovery and emerged, pale-faced, onto the

decks and bridge and the cameras started clicking. [This was pre-iPhone cameras]. Their oncein-a-lifetime holiday had begun. The daily routine usually commenced with announcements, a morning and afternoon landing, an evening lecture or two, ending the day with a ‘recap’ of the day’s activities, followed by questions and answers and sometimes a quiz. There was never an idle moment!

Landings were provided by a flotilla of inflatable zodiac craft, each with a boatman, guide and up to ten expeditioners – all dressed in waterproof and cold-weather clothing and wellies for the beach landings. A maximum of 100 passengers were allowed ashore at a time. Travelling from ship to shore on such craft, sometimes in quite choppy conditions, was a huge thrill for those who hadn’t experienced this mode of transport before. Many began their first landing experience with water-filled wellies by not obeying the stepping-out procedure – but they soon learned! Once ashore and life jackets discarded they were free to wander about, subject to strict guidelines, or go on short, guided walks. These might involve visiting a penguin, albatross or seal colony, climb a low hill with a panoramic outlook, set foot on a glacier, handle a chunk of ten thousand-year old ice (the only souvenir they were allowed collect – a prize to chill their dram and invoke a erudite discussion at the bar!), or simply sit on a rock and watch in awe the menagerie of wildlife to-ing and fro-ing within a metre or so, oblivious of the human presence. Penguins and, indeed, most Antarctic wildlife can be very inquisitive and are allowed to approach a human, but not vice versa! The Christmas cruises permitted families with children of a minimum age of eight. To watch their close encounters with penguins and seals, have a snowball fight on the Antarctic mainland, or be presented with a special present from Santa at a deck barbecue was a sheer delight to behold!

One of my most memorable experiences was a dawn landing at Gold Harbour on South Georgia. This large mountainous island has a spectacular alpine topography from sea level to over 3000m and was the pre-1965 centre of the Southern Ocean sealing and whaling industries. The zodiacs left the ship around 3am just as the sun was rising out of the sea into a cold cloudless sky. The sea was like a mirror and the landing on a wide sandy beach was easy. When I first visited this area almost 40 years earlier, in my research days, there was a high-fronted glacier here. Now, it ended a mile inland and the land beyond the extensive beach was covered with grassy vegetation and penguins. A vast amphitheatre of glaciers and precipitous mountains provided a magnificent backdrop to the scene. In the early morning stillness and sunshine the enormity of a wildlife spectacle unfolded. Before us extended a colony of over 100,000 majestic king penguins and their huge downy brown chicks, a diversity of other seabirds and a multitude of irascible fur and elephant seals and their pups. A couple of hours and a myriad selfies later we reluctantly headed back for an early breakfast, many of the visitors in tears from their experience. Farther south, along the Antarctic Peninsula, if conditions were placid, as an alternative to a landing we would have zodiac “cruises” amongst towering icebergs or follow a group of whales, or just to experience the silence and bewilderment of the occasion. These, too, were magic moments.

One of the main attractions of the entire cruise was a visit to the grave of the renowned explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. He died at Grytviken, South Georgia, during his fourth Antarctic expedition just hours after arriving at the island in January 1922. [This was the expedition for which 18-yearold Grammarian James ‘Scout’ Marr had been selected by Shackleton as a member of the crew]. One of my duties, as Historian, was to deliver a toast to Shackleton’s memory at his graveside in the whalers’ cemetery. Once a group had assembled everyone was given a dram of whisky and I would toast ‘The Boss’ (as Shackleton was known by his men) with a little speech. As there could be up to ten such groups the last few speeches tended to become a little slurred.

Landing on Deception Island in the South Shetlands offered a special experience for the expeditioners – swimming in the Antarctic! The island is a caldera, the sunken crater of an active volcano into which a ship can sail through a very narrow breach in the crater’s rim. Some of the beaches are geothermally heated producing clouds of steam issuing through the black ash sand. Standing waist-deep in water near the shore the water temperature ranges from 2-5⁰C at the surface to 50-60⁰C at knee depth. Very therapeutic! While most of the hardy clientele just wallowed in sand hollows at the shoreline the more courageous took the plunge. Staff on duty had to be prepared for all situations – scalds, hypothermia, seal attacks, rescuing submerged cameras, retrieving clothing dispersed in a blizzard, etc.!

One season the ship’s doctor, from Poland, happened to have the forename Maciej (pronounced ‘Magic’). Dr Magic rarely left the ship, but on one such zodiac trip to experience humpback whales close-up he stood up to photograph a distant behemoth when a head emerged within a metre of the boat, towering about 5m above us. At that point he clicked the shutter and fell over. Chatting at the bar that evening he said his memory of the incident, and the photo, were just a blur!

On another occasion when we were patrolling through some channels between small islands, engaging with a pod of orcas and enjoying the decaying architecture and colours of the surrounding icebergs, we encountered a female leopard seal sunning herself, mermaid-like, on an ice floe. This was the first time our ‘guests’ had seen one of these ferocious animals up-close and, as it was about to unfold, very personal. An ideal opportunity for a photo-shoot. However, when we were just a few metres away a huge male of the species popped its head up at the side of our zodiac, casting a quizzical eye at its occupants. This created much excitement, and varying degrees of concern, amongst all of us, as well as the seal, particularly when it put a huge foreflipper over the seal-like (to him, at least) inflated tube, lifted itself out of the water and exposed a very large feature of its anatomy. There was much screaming – and swooning by some of the ladies on board – and some interesting photographs! [Image censored]

Post Script

A foible of Antarctic tourists, notably those with a distinctive American accent, was that many asked the most incredulous questions, to which we staff were expected to offer intelligent answers. The following are a few of several hundred genuine examples:

• When you said the Antarctic Circle is at 66½ degrees, is that in Fahrenheit or Centigrade?

• Surely this ship cannot be driven safely at night; it doesn’t have any headlights?

• What do you mean by saying the captain can navigate with a sex tent?

• If it is January at the South Pole what month is it at the North Pole?

• Which way is 10 o’clock? [Note: features of interest are announced on the intercom from the bridge as being in the direction of an hour hand based on a 12-hour clock relative to the bridge. Since most people had digital watches this could be very confusing]

• How long is Happy Hour?

• Is the east always on my left side?

• Are any icebergs volcanic?

• Did Shackleton have any ancestors?

• How far above sea level is this beach? [on being told how high the backdrop of mountains were]

• Will we be able to see the ozone hole?

• How many grams are there in an inch?

• Why shouldn’t I eat yellow snow?

• Is the ice always colder than the water?

• Why do they call this the Bay of Isles

• Is this vein of quartz really fossilized ice?

• Did Captain Scott die on his first or second expedition?

• What happens to penguins when the icebergs melt?

• Is that the same moon as the one we can see in Texas?

• At what time will we be able to see the midnight sun?

• Do penguins lay eggs or are their babies born alive?

• Why does the roll indicator only go to 55 degrees?

• How do penguins know what sex they are?

• Is there such a thing as a female Sperm Whale?

• Do King Penguins have Queen Penguins for mates?

The rest of my retirement has been distinctly mundane.

James Locke Nicholson

by Iain Reid (1951-1963)

Locke Nicholson, as he was known, was born on 22nd. March, 1921 in Blyth, Northumberland. His father was a seaman, in charge of a rock breaker, a vessel used to deepen harbours and worked all over Britain and France. Locke’s parents instilled a deep love of learning into their only son, a gift that he was to pass on to many generations of pupils. He served in the RAF during the war as a radio instructor and during this time he met Jack Dalby, who was to become Aberdeen’s Coordinator of Music.

After the war he taught general subjects in Bolam Street school in Newcastle. However in 1947 he received a letter from Jack inviting him to move to Aberdeen and teach music at Old Aberdeen School. When Kaimhill Junior Secondary opened, he set up the music department there and spent 10 happy years trying to ensure that all pupils had a positive experience and also getting involved in a variety of extracurricular activities, writing and producing the annual pantomime.

At the same time, he was a member of the Organists’ Association, and regularly performed recitals at the Art Gallery, sang in the University Operatic Association and became the first Musical Director of the Aberdeen Gang Show. In fact, he was immersed in the Aberdeen “music scene” and found it difficult to turn down any opportunity.

In 1958 he applied to join the music department at Aberdeen Grammar School. During the four years here, he contributed to many areas of the musical education. He probably embraced the more popular music of the day, but also introduced pupils to composers they had never heard of, hopefully encouraging a curiosity and introduction to concert performances. He took on the role of Noah when the school staged a performance of Noye’s Fludde. This was a huge undertaking, involving pupils from both primary and secondary departments. It even involved his wife, who made the rainbow! He also staged a performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors. Along with the Art Department, he helped to organise a trip to Italy to learn about the art and music of the country.

He helped out (in a purely supervisory capacity!) at Rubislaw one afternoon each week. He was the tuck shop’s best customer but was not an active sportsman. Although he thoroughly enjoyed working at Grammar, his growing family required him to increase his salary and he became head of music at Northfield Academy, where he became involved in setting up the Brass Band.

To end with, I thought I would include two “exam” questions which he often included in class assessments:

1. What is Brahms?

2. Who wrote Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony?

The Luther Kitson Smith Bequest

by Nigel Watt (1963-1969)

Luther Kitson Smith (1928-40) died in 2015 and in his will bequeathed a sum more than £500,000 to The Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils’ Club. The Club did not receive the funds until early in 2019.

The terms of the will were very specific. The funds were to be paid to the AGSFP Club to be kept separate from the Club’s ordinary funds and be used specifically to create golf competitions, comprising both match-play and stroke-play, for the schoolboys and schoolgirls of The School with handicaps of 15 and over, and to be named “The Luther and Muriel Smith Competitions”.

After due consideration it was decided to approach the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre in mid-2019 to ascertain whether it would be possible to set up regular coaching for the schoolboys and schoolgirls of The School. The Centre was very enthusiastic to be involved and dedicated one of its teaching professionals, Alan Stewart, to the task and he has been involved ever since overseeing coaching sessions on a weekly basis, usually on Wednesday afternoons. Alan is an FP and has proved to be outstanding in the role. Iain Stanger, Principal Teacher – Faculty Health and Wellbeing, has been the teacher in charge from the start and has been present at all the coaching sessions in a supervising capacity as well as conveying the pupils to and from the Golf Centre in the School minibus.

The Club Executive appointed Past President Nigel Watt to liaise with the School in view of his considerable experience in the golfing world. Nigel has been in regular contact with Iain Stanger and has attended coaching sessions.

The second playing of the Luther and Muriel Smith Trophy took place on Tuesday 11th June 2024 on the delightful and challenging nine-hole par three golf course at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre on a decidedly cool and windy morning, but thankfully the forecast heavy rain did not materialise.

There was a healthy increase in participation compared to the inaugural event with 25 in total comprising 23 boys and two girls competing and, as last year, it was decided to hold three separate competitions reflecting the abilities of those involved.

A scratch competition to cater for the pupils with handicaps lower than 15, a flag competition for those very new to the game and finally a nine-hole Stableford handicap competition for those of handicap 15 and over playing for the Luther and Muriel Smith Trophy. Alan Stewart, Iain Stanger, his assistants Calum Innes and Tom Flaherty, and Nigel Watt were all on course to help run the competitions.

All the participants and helpers

The trophy, as can be seen from the photographs, is in the form of the Claret Jug and was won by John McEwing with an excellent score of 21 points. Dylan Pearson won the scratch competition (McCombie Quaich) with a gross score of 34. The Flag Competition (Dave Swanson Shield) was won by Juan Harcus Garcia.

All the competitors received a bronze medal, and John also received a silver medal as the second winner of the Luther and Muriel Smith Trophy.

John McEwing, Juan Harcus Garcia and Dylan Pearson with their respective trophies

Nigel Watt presenting the Luther and Muriel Smith Trophy and Silver Medal to John McEwing

Reunion Events

1. Class of 1984: 40-year Reunion, April 2024

On Friday 5th April, a 40-year reunion for the class of 1984 was organised by incoming FP President Graham Thomson with the support of classmate Susan Christie-Green. Around 35 classmates gathered in the Dutch Mill for a very convivial evening of drinking and reminiscing! We had attendees from as far afield as Texas, the Netherlands and Spain! We were joined by our special guest, Neill Montgomery who taught us Chemistry and coached some of us for rugby in 3rd and 4th year. It was a brilliant evening and brought back many happy memories from our time at the Grammar.

2. Class of 1969: 55-year Reunion, June 2024

The weekend of June 14th/15th 20024 saw the 55-year reunion of the Class of ’69 take place in Aberdeen with more than 50 attendees participating in one of more of the various reunion events.

The main reunion event was the dinner on Saturday attended by 47 former pupils and was held in the splendid surroundings of the Royal Northern University Club. This number would have been closer to 60 had everyone who expressed a wish to attend had been available. A remarkable testament to the enduring friendships that we have built over the last 25 years.

Pictured L-R: Ken Allsop, Richard Haywood, Neill Montgomery, Graham Thomson and Tim Wood

We remembered more than 25 of our classmates who are no longer with us, and in particular, those who have passed away since our last reunion – John Whiteford, Neil Sandeman, Ian Sharp and Graham Shanks.

The weekend was a time to reminisce, to renew old and make new acquaintances, to reflect on the unique and timeless bond that we share that has, at its foundation, our Grammar School legacy and to fondly remember the teachers who were instrumental in shaping our lives.

During the dinner, Dr David Carroll proposed the toast to the School and John Curran gave the vote of thanks while Andrew Sim once again entertained us with “The Ashvale”.

Class of 1969

Group photograph taken outside the RNUC

:

Second Row: Bruce Anderson, William Petrie, John Milne, David Smith, Ian S. Fraser, Iain Wesley, Andrew Sim, Brian Boyd, Stephen Levinson

Third Row: Arthur Watson, Richard Morrice, Philip Turberville, Cairns Smith, Robert Mann, David Carroll, Gordon Morrison, John Curran, Alexander Clark, Robert Leslie, James Merson, Andrew Clark, Michael Baldwin, Graham Reid, John Fowlie, Stuart Cummings

Front Row: James S. Stephen, Alistair Garvie, Ian Mair, David Craig, George Yule, Ronald Farquhar, Iain Dickson, Austin Davidson, Steven Boyne, Eric Thomson, Ian C.C. Fraser, Alan Watson, Russell Budge, Norman Edwards, Keith Smith, David Reid, Keith Geddes

Back Row

Robert Cook, Nigel Watt, George Lawson, Douglas Simpson, Neil Craig

The reunion got off to a great start on the Friday evening with some 35 classmates joining the informal reception at the Dutch Mill Hotel. We were fortunate to have a room to ourselves which also allowed us to watch but not necessarily enjoy Scotland’s opening game of the Euros.

Twelve golfers participated in the golf tournament on Saturday morning on the Mackenzie Course at Hazlehead organised under the watchful eye of Nigel Watt. We avoided the rain, despite the forecast, and the winners of the competition were Norman Garden. Stephen Levinson and Mike Baldwin.

Former Pupils’ Club Founded 11 September 1893

Club Office-Bearers, 2024-2025

Honorary President

ALISON MURISON MA (Head Teacher)

Honorary Vice-Presidents:

A. KEITH CAMPBELL (1944-53), TEng (CEI), FInst AEA (President, 1992-93)

DOUGLAS G. FOWLIE (1950-64) MBChB, FRCPsych (President, 2002-03)

IAN H. McLEOD (1951-55) (President, 2004-05)

GORDON G. MILNE (1950-61) MBChB (President, 2005-06)

DAVID L. ALLAN (1945-58) QPM, LL.B, MPhil, FCMI (President, 2006-07)

GARY J.G. ALLAN (1963-76) KC, LL.B (President, 2007-08)

JAMES M. CLARK (1947-59) (President, 2008-09)

NEIL M. BORTHWICK (1952-65) BSc, PhD (President, 2009-10)

DONALD A. LAMONT (1952-65) MA (President, 2010-11)

TRACEY J.H. MENZIES (1981-87) MBE, DCH, LL.B (President, 2011-12)

NIGEL G.M. WATT (1963-69) LL.B, WS (President, 2012-13)

J. MARTIN JEFFREY (1942-57) BSc (President, 2013-14)

MARGERY G. TAYLOR (1975-81) BEd (President, 2014-15)

DOUGLAS R. HARPER (1944-58) MBChB, MD, FRCSE, FRCS (President, 2016-17)

IAIN S. HOPKIN (1962-68) MA, FCCA (President, 2019-20)

ALAN W. MARR (1969-75) CA (President, 2020-21)

STUART W. CUMMINGS (1965-1969) MA, MSc, PhD (President, 2021-22)

KENNETH C. McHARDY 1964-73) MD, FRCPE, FAcadMEd (President, 2022-23)

NEIL J.G. LAWRIE (President, 2023-24)

(Specially Elected)

J. PETER JEFFREY (1944-59) MSc (Eng) (Elected 2010)

H. ALAN S. HAMILTON (1943-56) (Elected 2012)

GRAHAM LEGGE BEd, MEd, (Rector 2004-15) (Elected 2016)

President

GRAHAM M. THOMSON MA, MBA (1979-84)

President-Elect

DOUGLAS M. WATSON LL.B (1979-85)

Vice-President of Club and Chairman of Executive

Prof. DAVID M. REID (1959-69) MBE, MBChB, MD, FRCP, FRCPE

Interim Secretary

STUART W. CUMMINGS (1965-69) MA, MSc, PhD

Treasurer

BRIAN P. DAVIDSON MA, CA (1968-74)

Interim General & Notes Editors of Magazine

STUART W. CUMMINGS (1965-69) and KIRSTEEN WATT (1976-82)

Regional Centres

Edinburgh: President – NIGEL G.M. WATT (1963-69)

Acting Secretary – NIGEL G.M. WATT (1963-69) ngmwatt77@gmail.com

Glasgow: President – MALCOLM GAULD

Secretary – MARGERY TAYLOR (1975-81) marg7ery@ntlworld.com

London: President – SANDY NICOL (1962-71)

Secretary – GRAHAM M. THOMSON (1979-83) grahamsally501@btinternet.com

Yorkshire: President – VACANT

Secretary – DAVID GALLOWAY (1976-82) davegalloway1964@hotmail.com

Canada: President – ROBERT C. SCACE (1954-60)

Secretary – MICHAEL G. KING (1951-60) michaelking806@comcast.net

Secretaries of Sports Sections

Cricket – GEOFFREY E. MORRISON (1992-98) geoff@aberdeencricket.com

Men’s Hockey – DUNCAN HARRIS (1985-91) dharris@technip.com

Women’s Hockey – EMMA A. MAIR (1985-91) emma.mair@gmail.com

Executive Committee

Chairman

Prof. DAVID M. REID (1959-69)

Vice-Chairman

STUART W. CUMMINGS (1965-69)

The Secretary, the Treasurer and the General Editor of the Magazine, ex officiis

The Head Teacher of the School, ex officio

Ordinary Members of the Executive Committee

FERGUS KENNEDY (2012-18)

EMMA A. MAIR (1985-91)

BRIAN P. DAVIDSON (1968-74)

GEOFFREY E. MORRISON (1992-98)

KIRSTEEN WATT (1976-82)

NIGEL G.M. WATT (1963-69)

DAVID C. WHYTE (1962-68)

WENDY WATSON (1984-90)

Invited: CLUB PRESIDENT – GRAHAM M. THOMSON (1979-84)

Section Representatives

Sport – GEOFFREY E. MORRISON (1992-98)

Staff – JANET C. ADAMS (1980-86)

Auditors

Messrs. SCHOLES Inc. BOWER & SMITH, C.A.

Club Consuls

Australia – JIM W. HOWISON (1937-50), 98A Hull Road, West Pennant Hills, New South Wales 2125, Australia. E-mail: howison@tech2u.com.au

Tel. 00 61-2-9875-1296

Australia – Dr. FORBES J. SMITH (1945-57) 1/18 Verdon St., Dromana, Victoria 3936, Australia. E-mail: forbessmith@pac.com.au

Tel. 0061 408 100 215

Canada – GORDON B. SINGER (1949-50), 2421 Erlton Street SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2S 2V9. E-mail: singsing@shaw.ca

Tel. 00 1-403-266-6448

Canada – DAVID R. AULD (1947-61), 2187 Lafayette Street, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, V8S 2P2. E-mail: davidauld@shaw.ca

Tel. 001-250-595-0616

Corsica – IAIN WARES (1941-52), Via G.M. Angioy 34, Cagliari 09124, Sardinia, Italy. Tel. 0039-070-652508

New Zealand – DAVID C. WHYTE (1962-68) 157 Mahoenui Valley Road, RD 3 Albany, Auckland 0793, New Zealand. E-mail: david@dcwhyte.com

Tel. 0064 021406767

United States – MICHAEL G. KING (1951-60), 1640 Williamsburg Way, Eugene, Oregon 974017836 USA. E-mail: michaelking806@comcast.net

Tel. 1-541-344-8931

Annual General Meeting 25th March 2024

The One-hundred and twenty first Annual General Meeting of the Club was held on Monday 25th March 2024 by Zoom. The Club Chairman, Prof David Reid chaired the meeting and reported as follows:

Appointment of Officers

David Reid and Stuart Cummings agreed to remain in post. Brian Davidson was approved as the new Club Treasurer.

The following Office Bearers were appointed:

Chairman David M. Reid

Vice Chairman & Interim Secretary

Treasurer

Stuart W. Cummings

Brian P. Davidson

All current EC members agreed to remain in post. Kirsteen Watt who joined as an ad hoc EC member mid-term and Wendy Watson, who had previously served on the Executive were formally nominated and approved as the two new Executive Committee members.

In addition, the following Executive Committee Members were appointed or re-appointed: Janet Adams (Staff Representative), Fergus Kennedy, Geoff Morrison (Sports Representative), Wendy Watson, Nigel Watt, David Whyte.

The following Club appointees are also invited to attend Executive Committee Meetings:

Graham Thomson (President)

Douglas Watson (President-elect)

Richard Steele (Administration Officer).

Other comments reported at the AGM and not otherwise mentioned in the following reports from the Chairman, President, School Liaison Officer, Centre Secretaries and Sports representatives are as follows;

Chairman’s Report

David Reid began his report with a short tribute to Gillian Thomas a former President of the Club whose sudden and untimely death was recorded in August last year. Prior to her death Gillian had taken on the role School Liaison. David expressed his gratitude to Emma Mair, a member of the Executive, who had offered to continue in this role.

David paid tribute to the outstanding years of service from two of the Club’s stalwarts, John Michie and Iain Hopkin (Hoppy) who were retiring from the Executive having served for many years as Treasurer and Secretary of the Executive respectively.

John has been a stalwart member of the Club and a frequent member of the Executive dating back to 1969 and Treasurer for the last eight years. In reply, John stated that he was happy to continue to meet and share information to help with the transition to a new Treasurer. He noted that the Club is not in a position to offer the level of support as it had done in the past and the ongoing challenge of attracting recent School Leavers to join the Club.

Hoppy has served as Secretary of the Club for the last five years but his contributions extend far beyond this remit to include managing the Club archives, co-editing the School Magazine and establishing the Club website. Hoppy will continue to support the Club in a non-Executive role focusing in particular on the Club’s archives.

School Liaison

One of the goals of the School Liaison role is to promote Club Membership to School Leavers. It is recognised that more needs to be done to target sixth year pupils before they leave school and to emphasise that school leavers benefit from 5 years free membership of the Club. There is also scope to emphasise the association between the Club and the School, e.g. by noting that many of the School prizes are funded by the Club and exploring ways in which FPs could sponsor additional prizes and provide financial support to school clubs and sporting activities. Efforts are also underway to encourage pupils and staff to create more content for inclusion in the School Magazine.

Some attendees raised a concern that Dun House has now been merged with Keith house and then long history of four School houses has been lost. It is understood this merger occurred for administrative reasons. The Club was asked if they could explore reinstating Dun House.

Treasurer’s Report

The draft accounts for the year ending December 31st 2023 which were circulated prior to the meeting were subsequently approved by the auditors without any change.

The incoming Treasurer, Brian Davidson noted that he had already held positive meetings with David Reid, John Michie and Iain Hopkin as part of his transition to take up role and stated that one of his objectives was to the ‘make the money work for us’, i.e. to generate income to support operating costs and increase financial support to the School. The same growth intention applies to the money held by the Luther Kitson Smith Trust, however it is noted that this money is ‘ringfenced’ for specific golfing purposes. Part of his remit will be to present quarterly accounts statements, prepare an annual budget and set a spending plan to support those activities which will provide the greatest return on investment to sustain and grow the Club and its relationship with the School.

The auditors Scholes has agreed to remain in post and had stated that the fee would remain unchanged for the current year.

2024 Digital Magazine

Stuart Cummings and Kirsteen Watt will continue to take on the main responsibility for collating content and producing the 2024 Magazine which is scheduled to be published in September.

Club Constitution and Moving to a SCIO

David Reid noted that a subgroup has been charged with revamping the constitution to make it fit for purpose and will explore options regarding moving the Club to charitable status which has certain financial advantages. Ken McHardy remarked on earlier work that had been conducted to redefine roles, terms of office, etc., and David noted that this work will be referenced as part of the wider review. The new President elect, Doug Watson, will be co-opted to this subgroup as he has particular expertise in charitable law.

Sports Section Reports

Ladies Hockey

Emma Mair presented a positive report with respect to women’s hockey noting that the FP Club can occasionally raise three teams if required. There is considerable engagement with the School particularly amongst sixth year girls who can pull a team together. There are good numbers on the FP ladies’ side and at the School. The senior teams have a wide age range and are well supported by the School.

Hockey, as is the case with other sports suffers from a limited window during the school year which makes it difficult to compete against private schools.

Mens Hockey

Geoff Morrison reported that men’s hockey and that amateur sport in general in the NE continues to struggle due to lack of enthusiasm and in some cases poor facilities. As a result men’s hockey now only fields one team but it is hoped to be back up to three teams soon.

Cricket

The Club won the Grade 2 league and the Cup played at Mannofield. Cricket coaching sessions for younger pupils take place at Rubislaw on Sunday mornings in the summer term. Cricket is moving in a positive direction although 2-3 stalwarts are retiring.

The 1st XI is certainly good enough to stay in the top league with the ambition to return to the Strathmore league. Work is continuing on a development team.

Luther Kitson Smith Bequest

Nigel Watt reported that the annual LKS memorial golf tournament will be held in mid-June and he will once again organise and officiate in conjunction with Ian Stanger of the School. In the meantime, weekly sessions are continuing.

Centre Reports

Mike King had provided a written report for the Canada Centre. The content of his report largely summarises information already communicated in the bi-annual Canada Newsletters. He noted that various Canadian FPs’ meet from time to time in different locations in Canada – Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.

Chairman’s Annual Report 2023-2024

David M Reid

I present my first report as Chairman of AGSFP Club for inclusion in the 2024 AGS Digital Magazine. The report is based on my remarks presented at the March 2024 AGM supplemented with updates from the last 6 months.

At the AGM I started by paying tribute to my predecessor Alan Campbell who had done such a sterling job for the Club during his eight years in office. Despite becoming quite ill soon after stepping down he had continued to provide me with wise counsel. Sadly of course as reported elsewhere in the Magazine Alan sadly passed away on 8th April 2024 and a heartfelt tribute to Alan was published on the AGSFP platform in May.

At the AGM I drew out just a few of the highlights that I had been working on along with my dedicated Executive team.

JJR Macleod Memorial Statue

As most readers will be aware from the monthly Newsletters and from the excellent review article in the 2023 magazine by Ken McHardy (President 2022-2023), a memorial to JJR Macleod was unveiled on 12th October 2023 in the Duthie Park, Aberdeen. The AGSFP Club and its constituent parts, especially the Class of 1964 and the Canada Section were major contributors to this wonderful statue and the walkway leading up to it is well worth a visit when you are next in Aberdeen.

Nearly one year has passed since that momentous occasion in the life of the Club and the JJR Macleod Memorial Statue Society have announced events that will take place on Friday 6th September 2024 which they describe as the Toronto Four Events – these will celebrate the contribution of Professor John James Rickard Macleod (President of the AGSFP Club 1930-31) made as part of the team of four in Toronto who discovered insulin. A morning event will be held at the memorial in the Duthie Park followed by an afternoon symposium at the University, Kings College, Old Aberdeen where the speakers will include several eminent Canadian scientists as well as our own Ken McHardy.

Rubislaw Field Agreement and the Canada Clock

The Rubislaw Field Agreement (RFA) was signed in 1924 and permits the School and former pupils of the School to the use the Rubislaw Playing Fields free of charge for various sporting activities including rugby, cricket and hockey as well as use of the original pavilion building in perpetuity. There is a need to update the century-old RFA and initial discussions were held with Aberdeen City Council in the second half of 2023 which stressed the need to retain the historical rights that we have to use Rubislaw as part of any revision. While there has been no further discussions in

the first eight months of 2024 on the RFA, there have been indications that Aberdeen Grammar Rugby, will be reporting on their plans to raise funds for extended rugby facilities at the adjacent Harlaw playing fields in mid-September. This welcome move by Aberdeen Grammar Rugby will provide the FP Club with a stimulus to engage further with Aberdeen City Council to update the RFA.

The Rubislaw Pavilion is of course home to the Canada Clock so generously donated by our Canada Centre which was installed in 2009. One of my pledges on being appointed Chairman of the Club was to ensure that the clock that stopped working more than eight years ago was repaired. By the time of the AGM that pledge had been partly met in that it was running albeit about 2½ hours ahead of real-time. Thankfully the clock has now been reset manually and I attach a photograph taken at 12.17 on the 15th of June.

Finance and Investment Update

At the AGM I reported that our longstanding treasurer John Michie was standing down. John’s service to our club has been exemplary, ably supported over the last several years by Iain Hopkin (Hoppy) who has managed the day to accounts and bank management as well as serving as Club Secretary for many years. Since the AGM Hoppy has continued in a supportive role assisting our new Treasurer, Brian Davidson who is actively working to establish a financial framework that will generate income to support operating costs and increase financial support to the School.

The contribution of John and Hoppy to the AGSFP Club is to be celebrated at a special Supper Club event to be held at the Bieldside Inn on 4th October – full details of the event can be viewed on the platform here.

Since the AGM Brian along with a sub-group of the 2024/2025 Executive have completed an Investment Policy Statement which has been approved by the Executive and will form the basis of an Investment strategy and portfolio that will be implemented in 2025.

Membership Update

One of my ambitions for the Club when taking over as Chairman was to increase membership and in particular, encourage many younger members to join us in an effort to reverse the demographic bulge towards members aged over 70. To assist in this process, the Club have appointed a parttime Administration Officer, Richard Steele (1963-1976) who in addition to membership duties also provides general website support. As reported elsewhere in the Magazine and in monthly newsletters we are seeing a small increase in new members in part driven by the move an alldigital offering to members through the website and by advertising to final year school pupils who currently receive free membership of the club for 5 years. Support of the school in enabling these adverts has been critical in the first part of 2024 and it is hoped that this support will continue for the rest of the year. Fergus Kennedy our youngest Executive member is working with a small group of recent school leavers who have joined the Club to advise the parent club on how we can expand our offerings to be more relevant to younger FPs.

Constitution and Charitable Status

As reported at the AGM, consideration of an investment policy led the Executive to start thinking once again about the value of the Club applying for Charitable Status. This approach has been followed by many alumni associations Moving in this direction would make it easier to provide support for educational, sporting and cultural activities at the School and in the wider community while also encouraging donations. Further consideration of this issue has continued at pace by a Working Group of the Executive enhanced by Brian Davidson, our new treasurer and our incoming President for 2025-2026, Douglas Watson both of whom have considerable professional expertise in forming and operating the current preferred model for charities in Scotland, a SCIO – Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Not only would the formation of a SCIO give AGSFPs the opportunity to operate in a more tax efficient way, but it would also absolve the Executive of their financial liability for the funds held by AGSFP Club.

Potentially moving our current FP Club into a SCIO has many advantages but also some downsides. It is thus important that every member of the FP Club could consider carefully the pros and cons of such a move. The Executive therefore plans an open consultation process with the membership over the next few months informed by an FAQs document and possibly a short video presentation to be made available on the platform, Following the consultation, a Special General Meeting will be announced at which a decision whether or not to proceed will be taken. Members of the Club should watch out for progress reports in future Newsletters.

In closing I wanted to champion the work of all the Executive members and thank them for their support. Many I have mentioned in my vignettes above, but others worthy of specific mention are Emma Mair for her School Liaison work, Kirsteen Watt and Stuart Cummings as editors of the Magazine, Nigel Watt for his continuing work on the Luther Kitson Smith Golf Legacy, Geoff Morrison for his work as Sports Convenor, Fergus Kennedy for his work on recruiting and supporting younger FPs and Graham Thomson our President for 2024-2025. I also wanted to say a special vote of thanks to the Canada Section, especially Mike King, Bob Scace and Peter Jeffrey who have been hugely supportive and many of their AGS CONNECT proposals have already been considered as part of the SCIO discussions.

President’s Report 2023-2024

Neil J.G. Lawrie

Taking up office after previous, truly illustrious, Presidents was a daunting task. It was made easier by the relatively recent introduction of the role of President Elect. Ken McHardy was a generous tutor to his apprentice and included me in many things prior to my taking office. Ken was a very active President to whom I wish to record a big thank you for his hard work. He worked, with others, to identify and initiate changes which were, and still are, essential for the long-term future of the Club. Thank you, Ken.

It has been a privilege to serve The Club as President, during a time when the pandemic restrictions have eased and virtually disappeared. I believe social interaction as a whole will perhaps never be quite the same and, along with other organisations, we must adapt to accommodate that.

Apart from pandemic issues, it has been a time of considerable change in The Club. The role of President itself changed with my inclusion on the Executive Committee as a full member, for which I have to thank (I think?) our new Executive Chair, David Reid, who took up office on the same day as me. The role had been described to me, prior to my term of office, as “an ambassador, rather than a politician”. Part of the ongoing modernisation and restructuring of The Club should be a review of the Presidential role to keep it relevant and appropriate if it is required at all.

In my ambassadorial role I have been proud and honoured to represent The Club in several different ways, probably best summarised as School, Success, Shows, Sport, Statues, Suppers, Socialising and Sadness.

Firstly, I would like to pay tribute to our past President, Gillian Thomas. It was a sad day in September when her family friends and FPs gathered in Mid Stocket Church to celebrate her life. She was President twice over in many ways and a dedicated supporter of The Club at home and abroad. She will be very sadly missed.

Representing The Club at our school was always an absolute pleasure, having very seldom returned since my last day as a pupil 50 years ago. Simply to see the vibrant, diverse, successful seat of learning and achievement that it undoubtedly is, was a pleasure. To be involved in the annual selection of the All-Round Trophy winners and both the Junior and Senior Prizegivings was an honour. Being in the audience of the school show, Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat, and the School Christmas Concert, were highlights for me. The exemplary displays of musical, dramatic and technical talent, combined with obvious enjoyment, skilled teamwork and leadership by the staff and senior pupils made for an unsurpassed experience, FP or otherwise, in my past year or more.

In my time at school, it was absolutely forbidden to walk on the gravel around the Byron statue. Who would have thought that in September 2023 I would have been sitting on a chair below it, in a short but moving wreath laying ceremony to mark 100 years since its unveiling. In October the statue theme was continued when I represented The Club at the much more lavish unveiling of the statue in The Duthie Park to commemorate our FP, JJR McLeod. It was a privilege and pleasure to sit next to our oldest FP John Cruickshank V.C. who is 104 years young. It seemed fitting that I witnessed (from my back garden!) the impressive flypast of a Catalina flying boat over his residence on 17th July 2024 to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the action for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

I am no sportsman, and that is an understatement! But on a warm summer’s day I visited the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre to see the golf competition which was the culmination of the coaching made possible by the Luther Kitson Smith bequest. The event was organised and refereed by our own Nigel Watt with transport facilitated by the replacement School minibus to which that bequest had also appropriately contributed. The weather was good, the golfers were good and the whole event was a credit to everyone involved. The bacon rolls were not bad either!

In addition to representational appearances came Socialising. Various informal meetings with our Chairman, the new Supper Club concept and a generous invitation to reply to the Toast to The Club at the Glasgow Centre’s annual Dinner, to name but a few. No one told me the Glasgow toast was to be proposed by King’s Counsel! A most impassioned, loyal and heartfelt toast was proposed by Garry Allan K.C. to which I made my best efforts at a reply. It was a poignant evening as neither Garry or Brian Davidson, another attendee, had met since Garry was a Scout with me in the 9th Aberdeen (Grammar School) Scout Troop and Brian and I represented Aberdeen at the 13th World Jamboree in 1971. Brian has since volunteered to be our Treasurer. Thank you, Brian.

I had an interesting involvement, with David, in meeting with the representatives of the Great Western Community Trust, who are managing the purchase of the former Holburn West Church in order to create The Great Western Community Centre. David has asked me to lead on this initiative and there may be opportunities for use of the facilities there for Club activities, but no progress so far – sorry!

My final ambassadorial, and social, engagement was on the 1st of March when I propose the Toast to the Gordonian Association at their annual dinner. The biggest challenge for me was speaking for the mandatory ONLY two minutes, but I came in at about three.

My role in the “Politics” of The Club, is rather more difficult to assess and on which to report. “Management” might be a less emotive, (although not so accurate??) term to use. It is a role which, until now, has not been one for the President, although my predecessor, Ken McHardy had worn both hats, in a consultative way. He was invited to make recommendations for change in the Executive and administrative structures of The Club and was instrumental in much of their adoption. I am not sure I have been so successful. I was appointed, with a background in Scouting,

in the hope that I might be able to encourage greater membership, and participation, by younger FPs. This was my own intention too, and why I expressed that desire, to be an ambassador for the entire membership. I feel it is my sad duty to report that I have not adequately influenced the existing culture of The Club in order that it has become relevant, or a benefit, to younger FPs, at least not yet. Some very non-scientific, limited and informal research revealed recent leavers had never even heard of it!! Far less their entitlement to five years free membership.

If the Club is to survive in the long-term we need to attract young people to a club which is beneficial to them and the activities of which enhance their lifestyle. Simple membership is not enough to attract FPs to join. I believe much more consultation with the members, and potential members, is necessary to establish what they want our club to be. Before they can make an informed contribution to that debate, they need more information on what the Club does, how it functions and what opportunities there are for them to get involved. Our new online membership platform, along with other moves towards electronic communication, will be vital in that aim. Supporting the School is one of our basic and continuing principles, but without an active, informed, membership, that will not be possible for long. Society is changing, our School has changed and evolves constantly. I believe the Club needs to change drastically to reflect those changes and be an asset to our FPs both past, present and future.

I mean absolutely no disrespect to the present office bearers and FPs who have worked tirelessly for the future of our club and recognise the need for change. We are all volunteers, and many clubs find themselves in a similar situation in our changing world. As I was once heard to comment at an Executive committee meeting “I don’t know what is required – evolution or revolution?” but as the latter often sees the end of Presidents I shall leave the choice to you. You may think that the President is best as an ambassador and, particularly this one, is not suited to politics, and I might even agree with you.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve the Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils’ Club. I will never forget my time as President. I wish good fortune and support to my successor Graham Thomson.

Neil J.G. Lawrie, President (2023-2024)

March 2024

Club President 2024-2025

Graham Thomson (1979-1983)

Graham was born at his family home in Dunblane on the 25th of May 1966 and had the privilege of being christened in the Cathedral. His early school years were spent in Dunblane, Edinburgh and Stirling with a brief period south of the border in Farnham, Surrey – home moves being dictated by his father’s engineering occupation.

Graham’s family moved to Aberdeen from Stirling in the summer of 1979 as his father, Marnoch joined Lloyd’s Register and started a long and successful career in the North Sea oil industry. The family home was set up in Beaconsfield Place and Graham joined the Grammar School in 2nd year at the age of 13.

There followed four very happy years at the School where Graham excelled academically and on the sporting field, becoming a Prefect and winning an all-rounder prize in 5th year. He was President of the Film Society and played first team cricket, but rugby was always his real passion. A nippy scrum half, with an Andy Irvine style side-step, he made the school 1st XV in both 4th and 5th years, inspired by school coaches such as Neill Montgomery, Brendan Adey and Garry Welsh.

Nicknamed “Grippy” by his rugby team mates, allegedly for his reluctance to buy a round, Graham made many life-long friends at the Grammar. He left in 1983 to take up a place at Aberdeen University, winning an academic bursary. He studied there for four years achieving a BSc in Geography and playing all the while for the Grammar FP Rugby Club. He was part of the victorious FP touring side to Texas in 1984 and greatly enjoyed his time in the club under the wing of stalwarts such as Ron Comber and Phil Clegg.

In 1987, Graham moved to Edinburgh for post graduate studies, achieving a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree and playing rugby for the University 1st XV. In late 1988, Graham moved down south to Harlow in Essex and began his career in international marketing for Revertex Ltd part of Yule Catto Plc – a chemical manufacturing organisation.

In 1995, Graham met his future wife Sally whilst working for a Pharmaceutical & Healthfood company in Swindon, Wiltshire. They set up home firstly in Bath and then in rural Oxfordshire where they live to this day. They have two boys Angus (23) a budding actor and Archie (20) who is currently studying Business at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Over the last 20 years, Graham has run his own consultancy company offering project management services to Financial Services companies with a particular specialism in Regulatory change. He continues his lifelong passion for supporting the Scottish Rugby team and has travelled in hope to the last two World Cups in Japan and France.

Graham has been a member of the FP Club since leaving the School and became London Centre Secretary six years ago. He was highly instrumental in resurrecting the activities of the Centre alongside President Sandy Nicol after a period of dormancy. Several successful social events have been organised with the highlight being a highly enjoyable dinner at the House of Commons in the summer of 2022 attended by FPs from far and wide.

As he sets out on his year as President, Graham would like to continue to contribute to the development of the Club and to the support of the School as a member of the Executive Committee. He is particularly looking forward to returning to the School to be part of the prize giving ceremonies in the summer.

School Liaison Update

Emma A. Mair

The AGSFP Annual Magazine seems like a sensible place to record a little of what has been achieved in relation to Aberdeen Grammar School and the AGSFP Executive Committee over the last year.

Janet Adams (Deputy Head Teacher) and Emma Mair (AGSFP Executive School Liaison Officer) have met on several occasions to look at the various ways AGSFP’s can support Aberdeen Grammar School. The AGSFP Club has an almost entirely new Executive Team, and the School has lots of things changing too so we hope to capitalise on opportunities as and when they are presented.

This year’s highlights include:

– The Club Executive has decided to present the School‘s Amenities Fund with £5,000 annually. These monies will be available to the School at the start of the academic year when groups or clubs can apply to receive some of the fund. Once the funds have been allocated the youngsters will be asked to confirm how they used the monies, and we hope to share this with the AGSFP Club.

– The Club Executive has paid for the renaming of certain trophies. They have also funded some of the prizes at Prize Giving and further engraving costs. Prize giving might have some further changes in the near future and the Club Executive will review how best to help the School in this regard annually.

– Janet and Emma have had other thoughts on how the AGSFP Club can assist the School. In current times there is a huge focus in Scottish Education on there being zero costs to learners and their families associated with the school day. This factor will inevitably offer the AGSFP Club many ways to assist the School. More will follow on this with time.

The School has, as ever, been very grateful for all the support provided this year.

Centre Reports

Canada Centre

The Canada Centre issued four newsletters in the past year – Summer 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024 and Spring 2024 – with the focus on keeping members abreast of activities in North America and in the Parent Club.

Currently the Canada Centre has 60 members on its mailing of whom 35 are members of the Parent Club and 25 members of the Canada Centre only. Of the 60 members in total 49 live in Canada and the remaining 11 reside in the United States.

Sadly, in this period we reported the deaths of six of our members who included David Thomson (Canada Centre President in 2012) and Gillian Thomas (President of the Parent Club from 20172019 and President of the Canada Centre in 2003). We also reported in detail on the death of F. Neil McKenzie (1949-1962) who was known to many of us as one of the finest FP rugby players of his generation but more importantly went on to have a distinguished medical career as the cardiac surgeon who performed the first heart-lung transplant operation in Canada in 1983.

The Canada Centre has not received any new members in 2023/2024.

The most notable activity of the Canada Centre in the past year was our financial support of the memorial to the distinguished Canadian FP Prof. J.J. R. Macleod, Nobel Prize winner as a codiscoverer of an effective process for the treatment of diabetes with insulin. Twelve members of the Canada Centre donated £2000 for the memorial which is located in the Duthie Park in Aberdeen and was unveiled in October 2023 with our President Bob Scace in attendance. Our contribution is acknowledged on a plaque on the memorial wall.

Each of our newsletters contained vignettes on FPs who have made and are continuing to make contributions to Canadian society, including some which are very significant. A total of 102 vignettes was published in the following areas; Medicine and Public Health (54) with two based in the US, Church (22), Arts and Entertainment (4), Dentistry (1), Human Resources (2), Journalism (5), Pharmacy (2), Veterinary Medicine (3) and Government/Diplomatic Service (7). These vignettes are produced as an ongoing labour of love by Bob Scace from archival FP sources.

No nationwide call was made for a weekend reunion in 2023 and 2024 but in early 2024 Peter Jeffrey arranged a regional one day gathering at his home on Vancouver Island. The gathering was held in January 2024 and was attended by five FPs and three spouses. The success of the gathering gives us hope that in some small way we can continue to overcome the geographical challenges of Canada and look forward to similar smaller regional gatherings.

Finally, the Canada Centre has been proactive in working with the Parent Club on their initiatives to improve membership levels, particularly with younger FPs and school leavers. Peter Jeffrey has submitted a discussion paper to the Executive on a concept called CONNECT which is successfully used by similar organisations and we await to hear the outcome of their evaluation of the concept. In addition, Bob Scace has highlighted to the Executive the success of the Canada Centre membership model in which there are no membership fees, and the membership requirement is simply that you are a former pupil of the school.

Michael G. King (1951-60)

Secretary AGSFP Canada Centre

Michaelking806@comcast.net

Edinburgh Centre

The Centre has now been inactive for six years which apart from World War 2 has been the only such period since its inception in 1932. Other Centres, notably London and Glasgow, have gone through a similar experience but have been resuscitated.

There is a willingness within the committee to facilitate social gatherings of FPs which will command sufficient support from the local membership and to this end, FPs are respectfully invited to be in touch with the acting Hon Secretary (contact details below) with views on what type of gathering might be of interest to them, or indeed to indicate that they have no interest in such. A similar plea in last three Magazines has elicited a zero response!

At present, like the Parent Club, there is no Annual Dinner of the Edinburgh Centre planned for 2024 but an informal get-together to meet with the current Parent Club President, Graham Thomson has been arranged to take place in the Café Royal, 19 West Register Street on Wednesday 11 September at 7pm.

In the absence of a formal AGM, which is traditionally held during the Annual Dinner, Nigel Watt continues as the Edinburgh Centre President and is also acting Honorary Secretary and Treasurer.

Any Former Pupil who is in the Edinburgh area, defined as the geographical boundary south of the River Tay and east of Stirling all the way south to the English border, or has recently arrived there and has not received any communication from the Centre is invited to get in touch with Nigel G.M. Watt, 10 Ware Road, North Berwick, East Lothian EH39 4BN | Tel. 01620 890305, Mobile 07802 404056, ngmwatt77@gmail.com

Nigel G.M. Watt (1963-69)

Edinburgh Secretary ngmwatt77@gmail.com

Glasgow Centre

The Glasgow Centre Committee organised their first Dinner, since COVID, in November 2023. This allowed the Parent Club President, Neil Lawrie to attend and give a comprehensive report on behalf of the Parent Club. Unfortunately, due to travelling problems to Glasgow, the School Representatives were unable to attend the Dinner but sent ahead their reports which were read out on the evening. It was a lovely occasion and allowed Former Pupils to meet up and socialise with each other. David Allan (1945-58), Malcolm Gauld (1947-61), Prof Graham Caie (1949-63), Graham U’ren (1958-64), Neil Lawrie (1961-74), Gary Allan (1963-76), Brian Davidson (1968-74), Malcolm Daniel (1975-81), Margery Taylor (1975-81) and Stefan Colling (1990-96).

In January 2024, The Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupil’s Curling Team played their last competitive match at Green Acres. Our Team Leader, Malcolm Gauld, applied for membership in 2004 to the Wanderers Curling League, who had been formed to encourage the game amongst teams of F.P.’s of Scottish Private Schools. Our first match was against Merchistonians on the 18th of November when our team consisted of David Allan, Gary Allan, Lesley Galloway and captain, Malcolm Gauld. We lost this match but continued to play, with varying success, throughout the years. Malcolm Gauld, currently the Glasgow Centre President, has been a great ambassador for this sport and has introduced many new players to this game. Some players have gone on to pick up this sport more seriously and play regularly for different Clubs. Malcolm himself has Curled for many years and has skipped the team to win our last ever match against Old Glenalmond 4-3. The team, consisted of Stefan Colling, Alastair Fyall, Malcolm Gauld and Margery Taylor. Other F.P.s who played for us over the 19 years included regulars Jim Leask and Brian Durward, with John Hannah and Stan Howard making the odd appearance. Everyone enjoyed the sport and camaraderie, but, due to diminishing numbers, we resigned from the League on a high.

The Glasgow Centre Committee are delighted to hear how the Parent Club are taking the initiative to secure new members of the FP Club and we would welcome any new members who are relocating down to Glasgow and its constituency.

Margery Taylor (1975-81) Glasgow Secretary margerytaylor5@gmail.com

London Centre

If terms of wider involvement in the FP Club, it has been a great honour for me to take up the position of Club President for the 2023/24 period. So far, in my Presidential year I’ve contributed to the selection of the AGS All Rounder prize winners and represented the FP Club at the Senior Prizegiving back in June. This brought back many happy memories as it was the first time that I’ve have set foot in the School Hall since 1983 (not much had changed)!. It was very rewarding to see so many successful pupils being recognised for their academic, sporting, musical and dramatic accomplishments with their proud parents looking on. It was also great to see the AllRound Trophies that have been renamed in memory of Gillian Thomas and Alan Campbell. Also, by way of continuing to strengthen the link between the Club and the School, the Prizegiving Programme included a write up about the Club and a QR code to link pupils to the Membership page.

Back in April, I also organised a 40-year reunion for the class of 1984. Around 35 of my classmates gathered in the Dutch Mill for a very convivial evening of drinking and reminiscing! We had attendees from as far afield as Texas, the Netherlands and Spain and were joined by our special guest, Neill Montgomery who taught us Chemistry. It was a brilliant evening and brought back many happy memories.

Graham Thomson (1979-83)

London Secretary and President of the AGSFP Club

Email: grahamsally501@btinternet.com

Yorkshire Centre

The Yorkshire Section has not been very active recently, as there have not been many FPs actively involved in the FP Club in the area. However, Yorkshire Secretary Dave Galloway will be getting in touch with Yorkshire-based members soon, to see if we can arrange a get-together of some sort soon and would be happy to hear from any FPs who are in the area.

David Galloway (1976-82)

Secretary Yorkshire Centre davegalloway1964@hotmail.com

Section Reports

Cricket – 2024

Grammar cricket has had something of a renaissance in 2024 as we have moved back to three teams Grammar cricket has had something of a renaissance in 2024 as we have moved back to 3 teams following being down to one for the last few seasons. This has been possible thanks to a local team called Abergreen coming under our banner and from engaging with the Afghan Refugee community and also re-engaging with childrens coaching. In fact Salman Bedaar who joined the club deserves huge plaudits for starting up Sunday coaching that has regularly seen 25 boys and girls across all ethnic backgrounds be coached at Rubislaw under a professional coach. It has been such a success, that there are plans to keep it going through the winter indoors, albeit funding will need to be arranged to make this a reality.

On the field the 1st XI had won Grade 2 in 2023 and were back in the far more challenging Grade 1 for 2024. The 2nd team were in Grade 2 along with the 3rd team, ideally, they would have been placed into Grade 3 but this did not occur as hoped.

The aims for the season were for the 1’s to stay in Grade 1, 2’s to push for promotion and 3’s to stay in Grade 2. 1’s are well placed to stay up and would need a set of improbable results to send them down, confirmed their status with an incredible tie with Cults on the final day albeit results went Grammar’s way anyway. 2’s have been promoted from Grade 2 and unfortunately 3’s have been relegated to Grade 3, this may be a better level to blood new players. With 2 teams now in Grade 1, the committee will have a decision to make on whether 1s look to return to Strathmore union cricket. The challenge of this is increased travel and cost as well as a need to improve facilities. The lack of cutting of the grass this season by the council has been nothing short of disgraceful and made many games poor spectacles. Again over the winter the committee will look at ways to remedy this.

On the pitch, 1’s have won 3 and lost 11 and tied 1 this season but have been unfortunate to see both games against Banchory off and an Inverurie game abandoned when strolling to victory. There have only been 2 heavy losses, 1st against Masterblasters who had a player who had recently stopped playing 1st class cricket and seems to be everything but a professional in name, but surprisingly has been allowed to continue playing. The 1st game against Bon Accord was also a heavy loss, but in the most recent fixture an inspired bowling display saw them dismissed for 113 and then some great running and batting by Harry Mapplebeck saw us to victory which is crucial to our hopes of survival. We also easily defeated Inverurie at home by 8 wickets and Cults by the same margin, skipper Agha Haider making an unbeaten 50.

Overall the main challenge has been weight of runs with many games lost by narrow margins, due to a lack of real quality in the middle order. Skipper Haider has been the main run getter with 302 runs at 25, but no one else has reached 200 runs. The batting challenge is also backed up by only 2 half centuries being recorded, the Haider knock mentioned and 55 from Rob Swiergon. Salman Bedaar has 199 at 20, Alex Keith has never got going this term with 189 at 14.5 and the real batting revelation has been Harry Mapplebeck with many vital knocks scoring 147 @24.5. George Gill, Karan Anand and Rasib Bashir have shown their high class but have unfortunately only managed 6 games between them due to work commitments.

With the ball 1’s have been impressive, and while Hasnain Javaid has been the leading wicket taker with 23 @ 19, Muhammad Hassaan with 10 at 15.35, Salman Bedaar (18 @16.7), Prash (15 @16) and Harry Mapplebeck (14 @16.6) have all impressed. The fielding has been a mixed bag and has been improved by Geoff Morrison giving up the gloves and saving many runs, along with Harry Mapplebeck, George Gill and Muhammad Hasaan bringing some athletic prowess. There should also be a special mention for Afghan youngster Nasseri who has contributed across the club, playing for all 3 teams and really growing into a popular club member, all the more remarkable given when he arrived on the UK shores, he had not played organised cricket and

Rob Swiergon batting at Rubislaw

Karan Anand’s injury problems robbed us of his talent for all but two games but he still got runs and wickets

was not able to speak much English. The strides he has made both on and off the pitch have been remarkable set against a very challenging personal circumstance and the way everyone has integrated him into the club shows what an engaging sport Cricket can be.

The 2’s have had a great season, claiming promotion winning 11 and losing only 5, ironically one loss coming against the 3rd team while we were still trying to fully grade some new players! Hassan Masood has been the main run getter with 464 at 33.1, making four 50s including two scores in the 90s. New arrival from Pakistan, Muaz Waheed has shown a lot of potential but needs to be more patient, but 101 not out against Methlick showed what he could do, he also smashed 77 on debut v Gordonians but his return of 246 at 41 could have been even better. Harry Murphy joined from Portcullis and opened with great ability scoring 225 at 18.8 and doing a lot of damage against his old side, Tom Murray a veteran of over 20 years made his highest ever score of 68 not out and has batted and fielded superbly and continued to be a key team man.

Naveed Ul-Hassnan has also been key to kids coaching but has also showed he still has it claiming 22 victims at 8.4, Kashif also has 21 wickets at 16.4 and has been well supported across the board. A number of the 2nd team players have played Grade 1 before and struggled so it will be key to practise hard over the summer.

Prash was a key bowler and reliable fielder Agha Haider captained and led front the front with the bat

The 3rd team have had a challenging season, and this team is really seen as a development side, so being back in Grade 3 will be helpful in that regard. Babar Kamal has led the side well and taken 18 wickets which is impressive in a struggling side. With the bat it has been a real struggle and the 2 other wins have been against Methlick where the visitors made just 69 and then 3s managed a fantastic win against Fraserburgh as they took full advantage of having Nasseri in their side as he claimed six wickets to go with his 60.

Overall though many games have been against clubs 1st XI and this is a huge ask and it is hoped 2025 will be a more all-round enjoyable season for 3’s.

The club is certainly going in the right direction with all games played when weather has allowed and an increased number of players. However we always remain on the lookout for reinforcements. There is a plan to enter the indoor league this winter and also work on some of the strategic initiatives to improve the ground and build out the children’s coaching. More money and hard work will be needed to achieve this, but the club has moved forward significantly in the last 12 months as last Autumn there were concerns if we could continue at all having lost over 20 players post Covid. We provide updates regularly on progress at www.aberdeencricket.com.

Geoff Morrison Secretary Geoff@aberdeencricket.com

Rob Swiergon

Women’s Hockey – 2023-2024

The women’s North District hockey season 2023-24 got off to a flying start as our Club entered and were joint winners of the North District 7’s pre-season tournament. The teams enjoyed a fun filled day and look forward to trying to defend the title next season.

September brought the start of a new look league set up. The teams across the North had been divided into two leagues, North District Division One and North District Development League. The challenge for the season would be having two teams playing in the same Development League. The Club had experienced this before and it can be a difficult situation to manage but the Club set about pulling squads together and were delighted to achieve the main goal of fielding three distinct teams weekly almost all the way through to Christmas!

Each week the various Committee Members have to do their bit for the Club. Pitches need to be booked, confirmed and paid for, then the opposition needs to be contacted. Often the contact with an opposition is not straightforward as teams try their best to juggle the schedules of all their players, umpires, coaches and pitch availability. Captains get to work on pulling squads together while umpires are found, and logistics are discussed. With three squads the Captains work extra hard to ensure all the players attending training are on a team sheet and the Club have been amazingly lucky to have Helen Bruce (1’s), Emma Williams (2’s) and Hannah Mair (3’s) taking on the Captains role for the three teams this season.

The first XI had a super season. The team was a fantastic blend of youth and experience. FP’s playing this season were Helen Bruce, Wendy Bradford, Alexandria Grant, Morag Rose and Emma Mair. They were joined on the pitch by some of the Club’s exciting youth players from Aberdeen Grammar School, namely, Megan Bruce, Hannah Mair, Corah Taylor (all S5) and Ella Gibson (S4). The team made a great start to the season and got to the halfway point of the season with only one defeat. The matches were all fairly close and the team dug deep to keep the results going in FP’s favour. In the second half of the season there were some injuries and work challenges and as a result the team’s consistency varied weekly. The Club was delighted the team finished a creditable fourth in the League and in fact were the only team to beat the eventual League winners. The final league positions were split by only a couple of points and goal difference and the Captain and squad were rightly proud.

The 2nd XI are always a joy to watch. They work so very hard for each other and are such a supportive group. They had the unusual challenge of facing their own Club mates in the first game of the season. Emma Williams was again the 2’s Captain which she does with tremendous organisational and people skills. FP’s Gill Graham, Caitlin Taylor and Julia Stenhouse played in the squad. Gillian also umpired a great deal for the Club, for which the Club is eternally grateful while Julia helped out with regular goalkeeper training. Current AGS pupils Fatima Sellami, Molly Evans (both S6), Maggie and Mia Murphy (both S4) were regulars through the season. The 2’s finished just above the 3’s in the final league tables with more points and a better goal difference which is probably thanks to Julia’s excellent guidance for Ona Onoshakpor the S5 goalkeeper for the 2’s. Well done to all. The 2’s had a great season.

AGSFP Hockey 2nd and 3rd XI’s 2023-2024

AGSFP Hockey 3rd XI 2023-2024

The 3rd XI has an amazing range of ages playing. The chart runs from 13 years right up to 81 years young and the squad had the loveliest of seasons. A whole new crop of S3 girls (Connie Taylor, Olivia Kelsey, Keanna Tomkins, Annabelle Hutcheon, Sadie Robertson, Violet Bavidge, Megan Williams and Mya Hayton) started in the 3’s and for some there were also matches in the second XI. The girls worked tirelessly on the pitch and had been regulars at training which helped them all develop as players. Their confidence was boosted weekly as the rules of the Development League allow the Club to field some more experienced players in the side to help guide and support the young players.

The Club would like to thank Emma Mair, Gill Lyttle, Gillian Bain, Lisa Tomkins and Gill Graham in particular for supporting these girls on the pitch. Hannah Mair’s 3’s squad came together quite quickly most weeks with many of the youngsters being very keen to play. When Hannah struggled the Club was also lucky to be able to call upon some retired players to dust off their sticks and shin guards and help the squad.

The squad managed some good wins and enjoyed a free-flowing style of hockey. Many of the girls will be pushing for places in the 2’s next season and Club is delighted to have them all pressing for places on the pitch.

The Club’s annual thanks go out to all the umpires, coaches and administrators whose efforts do not go unnoticed. The umpires juggle all their own timetables to ensure matches go ahead weekly. Gillian Bain is the Umpire Coordinator and she does an immense amount of work weekly to keep Captains updated on the plans for a weekend. Gill Graham, Rob Bruce, Andy Deady, Fraser Bruce, Rob Parfitt and many more have helped out as and when they can, and the Club knows how fortunate they have been to continue to have such excellent umpires available to officiate at matches. Rob Bruce and Helen Bruce need special mentions for being the main coaches for the Club. Rob coaches some of the AGS boys’ hockey as well as the Club group. Emma Mair, Lisa Tomkins. Emma Williams, Erica Taylor, Caitlin Taylor, James Williams, Julia Stenhouse, Megan Bruce, Corah Taylor and Hannah Mair all lead or help with coaching sessions through the week for the AGS girls’ hockey and the Club’s youth players. Somewhere in the region of 150 youngsters benefit from the Club’s efforts weekly which is an amazing achievement, and it would be impossible without the wonderful volunteers. Sincere thanks to all the above mentioned and all the others, of course, who make matches and training possible each week.

The 1’s Captain Helen Bruce continued to represent Scotland Masters Hockey World Cup in South Africa. Helen’s endless commitment and drive continues to be an inspiration to everyone at the Club. Sheila Reid has also been back playing for Scottish Masters Hockey. Well done to them both, the Club is very privileged to have you on the players’ roster.

Coaching S1 and S2

Indoor hockey continued for season 2023-2024 at a new venue. Indoor hockey’s challenge is that the pitch hire at certain venues in Aberdeen is either prohibitively expensive or not possible because of equipment issues and availability of the courts. North District elected to move the Indoor Leagues to Inverurie Academy for this season. The court was not ideal for indoor hockey but certainly a better venue than some of the other venues used in the last few years. The Club fielded two teams. The 1st VI played some amazing indoor hockey in spite of not having been able to do any training before the indoor leagues resumed. The 2nd VI also enjoyed their season and although it was a shorter season than the Club had previously experienced, it was still a highlight of the year. In particular, the matches were again being played at weekends which suited the players more than the arrangements for last season. Again thanks to all those who umpired and made the matches possible. Indoor is a lot of fun and the District has done well to ensure it remains on the hockey calendar.

As ever, if you (or someone you know) are keen to take up hockey again or have never played before you are very welcome to come along to training to see how you get on. Training is on Tuesday evenings at Rubislaw from 7.00pm-8.30pm. This coming season the usual youth session (any school) P7/S1 and S2 will be from 6-7pm on Tuesdays before senior training time. AGS school sessions will also resume.

Emma Mair Secretary emma.mair14@gmail.com

General Data Protection Regulation

The attention of Club members is drawn to the following abbreviated Privacy Statement in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation which came into force on 25 May 2018. The full Privacy Statement can be found on the Club website, www.agsfp.com.

About Us

The Aberdeen Grammar School F.P. Club is a small not-for-profit organisation. No officials receive a salary. Any reimbursement is on a receipt only basis.

The Information We Collect

The only information held about you will be names, postal and e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and years at school if you have provided this information.

The basis on which we hold this information is “Legitimate interests”.

Information about you will only be held for the following reasons:

1. To communicate with you regarding membership and subscriptions;

2. To communicate with you about FP Club or School events;

3. To enable FP Club Newsletter and Magazine distribution.

Telephone Calls

You may be contacted from time to time for the purpose of informing you of Club and School events or for maintaining your membership subscription.

Requesting Your Data

You may request details of personal data which we hold about you. You have the right to request that your personal data is erased from the records if you are no longer a member of the FP Club.

Amendments to our Policy

Any information found to be incorrect will be corrected as soon as possible.

Any amendments necessary will be intimated at the AGM or in future communications to you.

FP Club Membership Subscription Rates

The current policy of the Executive is to review Subscription rates annually, but in normal circumstances we would hope that it will only be necessary to amend them every five years. The Life Member “Top up” scheme – which has been hugely successful – involves a payment of £20 to cover a five-year period. Top-ups are now due for the period 2024 to 2028 inclusive.

The £20 “Top up” works out at just £4 per year for the 5-year period and greatly helps to offset the ever-increasing operating costs including producing the digital Magazine. We have had a tremendous response this scheme, which is voluntary, and the vast majority of Life Members have responded very positively. These payments are a vital part of the Club’s income.

Subscription rates for 2024 are as follows:

Life Membership: New Life Members: £100 plus a £20 “Top up” every five years, the first “Top up” being payable five years after Life Membership is taken out.

Existing Life Members: £20 “Top up” every 5 years.

Annual Membership: Ordinary Members: £12.50 by cheque or £10 if paid by Standing Order

School Leavers: Free up to five years from leaving.

Special Notes for Members over 75: Historically, all members of the FP Club become “Long Service” Members from 1st January in the year following the year in which they reach the age of 75. Life Members are not expected to make “Top up” Payments and Ordinary (Annual) Members no longer have to pay Subscriptions. However, as an increasing number of members are aged over 75, it is suggested that they might wish to continue to make “Top-up” and Annual payments on a voluntary basis.

Payment of Subscriptions: Subscriptions may be paid by bank transfer to the following account information:

Account Name: AGSFPC 3

Account Number: 00103055

Sort Code: 80-05-17

SWIFT / BIC Code: BOFSGB21351

IBAN: GB85BOFS80051700103055

New Life Members of the Club

1 October 2023 to 31 July 2024

Name Age School Years

David Allan 84 1945-1958

Dennis Anderson 77 1963-1966

Julie Avey 56 1979-1985

Derek Bavidge 72 1964-1970

John Bisset 76 1953-1965

William Broomfield 89 1945-1954

Peter Bruce 67 1968-1974

Michael Cooper 80 1948-1960

Neil Cromar 79 1956-1963

Mitchell Davidson 84 1952-1956

Arthur Dickie 84 1952-1958

Garry Duthie 70 1959-1977

Fiona El-Taweel 57 1979-1985

Simon Fogiel 47 1988-1994

Alexander Fraser 83 1945-1957

Lesley Galloway 62 1974-1980

Michael Gibb 81 1947-1961

Ian Glendinning 79 1948-1962

Ian Gordon 85 2024-2024

David Grant 84 1952-1955

George Henderson 64 1971-1977

John Hendry 77 1951-1965

Charles Kennaway 81 1950-1959

Stuart Lamont 40 1996-2002

Brian Law 76 1960-1965

Ronald McPherson 89 1946-1952

Damien McLeod 69 1969-1973

David McGregor 73 1963-1969

Peter Mulvey 80 1952-1962

John Murray 67 1961-1974

Russell Pennie 50 1986-1992

Stuart Pirie 57 1978-1984

Nicolas Robinson 68 1974-1983

Kenneth Shirreffs 67 1967-1974

Murray Smith 92 1937-1946

Nicholas Smith 47 1989-1995

Magnus Stewart 83 1952-1958

Gordon Stone 78 1957-1963

Graeme Sutherland 68 1968-1973

Lesley Watson 57 1982-1985

Wendy Watson 52 1984-1990

Alexander Yule 84 1952-1958

New Under-23 Members of the Club

1 October 2023 to 31 July 2024

Name Age School Years

Lewis Finlay Amonoo 18 2018-2024

Karanika Ananthan 17 2018-2024

Racha Benelkadi 17 2018-2024

Polly Connell 17 2018-2024

Tierney Da Costa 18 2018-2024

Anna Esslemont 18 2018-2024

Malak Elewa 18 2018-2024

Gregor Falconer 17 2019-2024

Sam Inglis 18 2018-2024

Naomi Jessiman 18 2017-2023

Nahian Khan 17 2018-2024

Aayan Khan 18 2018-2024

Martyna Malik 18 2018-2024

Ramisa Rahman 17 2018-2024

New Annual Members of the Club

1 October 2023 to 31 July 2024

Name Age School Years

Philip Barron 86 1950-1956

Gordon Buchan 71 1965-1971

Christien Clark 53 1982-1988

Martin Findlay 57 1978-1984

Kim Garrett 47 1988-1993

Michael McPhillips 56 1979-1985

Edward Ogilvie 72 1964-1970

Malcolm Ritchie 55 1982-1985

Paul Robertson 45 1991-1997

Robert Shand 67 1962-1975

Catriona Sinclair 41 1995-2001

James W Wallace 84 1945-1955

Ronald Wallace 69 1966-1972

Long Service Members

Congratulations to the following members of the Club who have or have attained or are expected to attain the age of 75 during 2024 and so will become Long Service Members on 1st January 2025.

Name Age School Years

Ray Brown 74 1962-1968

Ron Caie 74 1962-1968

Raymond Clark 75 1961-1967

David Cormack 75 1967-1971

Bob Donald 75 1958-1966

Saville Gunn 74 1954-1967

Douglas Hay 75 1954-1967

Bob Hutcheson

74 1962-1968

Mike Inglis 75 1961-1967

Ray Masson 74 1954-1967

Colin Munro 75 1954-1967

Phil Nicol 75 1954-1965

Alan Prosser 75 1954-1967

Ian Reid 75 1954-1967

Geoff Wilkinson 74 1954-1967

Graeme Wilson 75 1954-1967

David Wood 75 1954-1967

Long Service Members who have attained 90 years

For several years now we have published the names of our Nonagenarians. Sadly, 5 of these died in the past year, but 10 others have been added to the list who have attained the remarkable age of 90 or will do so later this year. We have three Centenarians in our ranks. We congratulate them all and thank them for their continuing interest and support. The full list, is as follows:

Name Age School Years

John A. Cruickshank 104 1932-1933

George C. Hadden 104 1925-1937

Eric G. Sangster 102 1927-1939

Michael P. Littlejohn 98 1939-1943

Ellis M. Philip 98 1937-1943

Quintin A. Aitken 97 1939-1945

James G. Matheson 97 1939-1945

Arthur W.A. Main 96 1939-1945

Ian Stuart 96 1933-1946

Name

Leonard Bird 95 1936-1946

William D.G. Coutts 94 1935-1946

Robert Walker 94 1940-1946

John M. Eddison 93 1939-1948

G. Moray M. Slater 93 1935-1947

Dennis A. Ritchie 93 1943-1946

Martin J. Wagrel 93 1943-1949

Arthur F. Tough 93 1946-1949

Alastair H. Hume 93 1936-1947

Brian S. Gray 93 1943-1949

Campbell Murray 93 1943-1949

Frederick P. Lynch 92 1936-1949

James Milne 92 1944-1950

Gordon G. Benton 92 1946-1950

Murray R. Smith 92 1937-1946

Alexander Cromar 92 1944-1950

Edwin Grieve 92 1944-1950

Neil V.R. Simpson 92 1947-1951

Hamish H. Duncan 91 1941-1950

Peter A. Murphy 91 1945-1951

George L. Chalmers 91 1946-1951

Ian S. Macdonald 91 1943-1945

Donald J. Stephen 90 1946-1952

William H. Guthrie 90 1939-1951

Robert G. Gauld 90 1949-1952

Charles Leslie Forbes 90 1938-1951

Gordon M. Philip 90 1939-1949

Tom Craig 90 1949-1961

James R. Walker 90 1941-1949

Don Ritchie 90 1943-1949

John Wilson 90 1949-1953

Ronald Pyle 89 1948-1952

Ian Creswell 89 1946-1949

Notes About Former Pupils

Kerr Anderson (1955-68)

I have been resident in the US now for 48 years – living down south initially but for most of it in Michigan. Since I retired 12 years ago, I have lived just outside Traverse City, MI which is in the NW part of the state – definitely in the heavy snow belt. Most of my career was in biotech research of one sort or another, largely with The Dow Chemical Company. Since I retired, I have spent most of my time getting more and more heavily involved in Community Theatre until now it is almost a full time (if voluntary) occupation. My wife Lorna (nee Craig – High School 62-69) and I have two daughters and five grandkids who live in Michigan and Nebraska.

A. Hunter Cairns (1945-56) Dip. Arch Aberdeen, FRIAS, MCIOB, MCMI

On leaving School in 1956, Hunter completed two years statutory national service with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders – one year training in the UK and one with British forces in the Cyprus Emergency. He was one of the last to complete compulsory national service which was abolished half-way through his period of service.

He then spent seven years qualifying as an architect at the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture in Aberdeen. His first post was with the Scottish Special Housing Association based in Edinburgh, initially designing housing projects and then as Head of a new Research and Design Group, pioneering Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) a project that went live in 1976, believed to be the first in the world.

In the late ‘seventies’, he moved to Heriot-Watt University to become Director of Studies for the Building Engineering Course. At the same time with his staff from SSHA, he set up a company Arcaid (Ltd), to develop and market a commercial system of CAAD. Unfortunately, after a few years Arcaid was driven out of business by American competition. Hunter then reverted to teaching and research in Heriot-Watt until he retired. During that time he acquired several patents in his name.

Throughout his life he has maintained a very strong involvement in Scouting both in Aberdeen and in Edinburgh. He was instrumental in building up the 1st Aberdeen Scout Group when it was affiliated with the Grammar School.

Dr Garth Glentworth (1948-61) OBE, MA, MIA, DPhil

On graduation from Aberdeen University, Garth began post-graduate studies in Columbia University in New York and then Edinburgh University specialising in Development in Africa. He then moved to Uganda in 1969 to spend three and a half years as a junior lecturer in Makerere University in Kampala, while also completing research for a DPhil, which he eventually completed in 1977 for Oxford University.

Returning from Uganda in 1972, He was appointed a Lecturer in Public Sector Management in the Development Administration Group of the Institute of Local Government Studies in Birmingham University. In 1978 he was seconded to a “quango” associated with the then Ministry of Overseas Development in London. He joined the Ministry permanently in 1981 and stayed (under its different names) until he retired as a Senior Adviser in 2006, the year he was awarded an OBE for “services to development”. Freelance consultancy followed until 2018.

At different times over his career, he worked on and travelled to about 35 countries in Africa, South and South-East Asia, the Caribbean, East and Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union.

Now long retired he lives in South-west London with his wife Jennifer trying to keep fit by light gardening and visiting a gym. He spends a lot of time fundraising for his local village hall, as well as having edited the 1st Group Scout Newsletter.

On entering medical school in Aberdeen, Alex was encouraged by J D (Jimmy) Morrison, the Lower School Headmaster, to join the TA, where he was commissioned in 1965. He joined the regular army 1967-1981, serving in UK, Europe, Africa and Central America. This included research on applied physiology and running a group general practice. He followed the fine earlier example of A Graham Nicol (1939-1952) as a medical officer to 22 SAS.

“Retiring” from the army in 2081, he worked in all aspects of the oil industry with Shell, becoming Chief Medical Officer Shell UK Ltd. He then spent two years as a Director of BUPA Health Services, before becoming Head of Group Health Safety & Environment (HSE), and Group Chief Medical Adviser for GKN plc, a UK based global engineering company. He was Chair of the Engineering Employers Federation HSE Policy Committee and a specialist adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Work & Pensions.

In retirement, he is Member Nominated Trustee of the GKN plc Pension Fund, Trustee of the Museum of the 6th of Foot (The Warwickshire Regiment) and was chairman of the Bidford and District History Society. Alex lives in Warwickshire with his wife Sandra (herself Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine at the Glasgow College). Son Russell has now flown the nest and is a partner and office manager at Knight Frank.

Dennis Inkson (1960-66)

Dennis has recently made the decision to move to Australia with his wife Lesley to be closer to their daughters, Lynn (1993-1998) and Lena (1994-2000), and his grandchildren. He is now residing in Perth, West Australia but hopes to visit Aberdeen as often as possible to meet old friends.

Dennis graduated from Aberdeen University with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1969. He started his professional career with the City Engineers Department of Aberdeen Town Council where he stayed until 1974 and then after a brief spell with Lothian Regional Council, he took up a post as Road Engineer with Dubai Municipality in 1977, long before Dubai became the metropolis that it is today. He became Senior Road Engineer in Dubai but in 1986 decided to return home where he took up a post with Grampian Regional Council.

He remained there until re-organisation in 1996 when he joined Aberdeen City Council as a Senior Roads Engineer. He retired in 2011 and then had a part-time job as a messenger with the Law firm Raeburn Christie Clark and Wallace. He finally retired in 2016 when he was then able to spend most of his time on the golf course at Deeside where he had been a member since 1986. Although he had a spell of playing rugby for FP’s when he left school, he also played football for Banks O’Dee Junior football club and played for Scotland Juniors. Dennis would be prepared to meet any other former pupils in Perth and if interested please drop him an e-mail @ dennis. inkson@hotmail.com.

Dr Ronald Lewis-Smith (1946-60) PhD, DSc, CBiol, FRSB

After graduating (BSc) at Aberdeen University in 1964 I was appointed as Plant Ecologist to the British Antarctic Survey (Birmingham, then Cambridge). My research commenced with two years at Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands, completing my PhD in 1968. During the summers between 1969 and 1971 I led a small team undertaking botanical research on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia but allowing time between seasons to marry Elinor (a North Orcadian). I was then appointed to the permanent staff of BAS, becoming head of the Plant Biology and Environment Division until my retirement in 2002 (but continuing for a couple of years funded by a Leverhulme Fellowship).

Over my 40 years undertaking research I led further research projects on South Georgia and Signy as well as throughout the Antarctic Peninsula region, Victoria Land and Eastern Antarctica, sub-Antarctic Marion Island (South Indian Ocean), and the Falkland Islands. During my career I published >200 research papers and several books. For my perseverance I was awarded the Polar Medal and clasp. Presenting one’s research findings at international conferences worldwide was one of the perks of the job. I was also responsible for preparing the management plans for all environmentally Protected Areas in Antarctica and was invited by the South African government to assess the suitability of sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands’ nomination as a World Heritage Site.

For a few years I was liberated from my reluctant retirement and ‘worked’ as a lecturer and guide on an Antarctic cruise ship, after which I became totally redundant. I was a member of the Rotary Club of Cambridge and co-founder of the Cambridge Friends of the National Trust for Scotland. Elinor and I moved from Cambridge to Moffat, Dumfriesshire in 2008. This allowed us to pursue our diverse hobbies, especially gardening, and to take up the environmentally appropriate sport of curling. We have a son, Magnus, and two grandsons in Warwickshire, and Stuart and two granddaughters in California.

Alasdair MacLeod BA (1947-61)

I left Aberdeen in 1967 and moved to Edinburgh where I worked for some years in the Health Service and in the tyre manufacturing industry. In 1973, I fulfilled a lifetime’s ambition to go to Africa when I was appointed by the Overseas Development Administration to a finance position in Malawi. I lived in Malawi for the next twelve years, working in the Ministry of Works and Supplies, the Auditor-General’s Department and then back in the Ministry of Works and Supplies where I worked with government-owned commercial organisations. On my return to the UK, I became engaged in the design and implementation of business and finance management systems. My work required much travel in North America and Europe. I am now retired. My wife and I live in Colchester, and our sons live in Aberdeenshire, Berkshire and Colorado. I fill my time by managing a garden with too many trees and reading history.

Harry Miller (1952-65) BMed Biol, MB ChB

After leaving school I started medical studies at the University of Aberdeen, graduating BMedBiol and eventually MBChB in 1972, by which time I was married to Frances. Following initial medical training in Aberdeen we moved to Edinburgh and then Dundee for postgraduate training in psychiatry and in 1980 took up my first consultant job in General Adult Psychiatry at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. The department was under threat of closure when I left, and it has since been razed to the ground to make way for a huge new general hospital.

We moved back to Aberdeen in 1991 to a post at my father’s former clinical base, the Ross Clinic, also now demolished following the opening of the new Royal Cornhill Hospital. There I was able to develop a part time interest in eating disorders with responsibilities for an out-patient service and a regional Managed Clinical Network. Around the time of my retirement from full time work in 2007 we opened a regional in-patient unit for severe eating disorders.

Frances and I enjoy a semi-rural life in Anguston, just outside Peterculter and we have 3 daughters and 5 grandchildren (all of whom make us very proud) making their way in the world in Central Scotland and the South of England.

I played in the back row for Grammar FPs before leaving Aberdeen but subsequently I didn’t find or make time to engage in regular exercise until my retirement. I now play some golf, badly, attend regular Pilates sessions, regularly exercise an active dog and thereby try to delay the inevitable effects of the advancing years. I am also engaged in politics, hoping to help create a fairer, more democratic nation with human rights at the core of our constitution.

Dr Gordon G. Milne (1950-61) MB ChB

After leaving school in 1961, I studied Medicine at Aberdeen and graduated in 1968. This was followed with various training posts, both hospital and general practice, before joining a practice in Elgin in 1973. In addition to general practice I also had a post as a part time anaesthetist at Dr Gray’s Hospital. Other appointments included one as Medical Advisor to the then Scottish Malt Distillers which took me to all parts of the country where SMD had production facilities – often by company plane from RAF Lossiemouth.

I also engaged in Medico-Politics for some years at local and national level.

Just before retiring in 1999 and for a few years after, I worked as a ship’s surgeon with Swan Hellenic on m.v. Minerva cruising to multiple destinations from St Petersburg to Hanoi but mainly in the Mediterranean Sea.

My extra mural activities included rugby, golf, bridge and antiquarian map collecting.

Married to Susie Raeburn KC since 2015 and comfortably settled in rural Moray where hobbies are sleeping and eating well and cruising in comfort round the west coast of Scotland.

Dr David William Smith (1954-65) MB ChB, MRCGP

After completing 35 years of service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, 26 of which saw service overseas in Germany, Brunei and Cyprus, Dave and his wife, Lil, retired to Drumoig, a golf resort 8 miles from St Andrews, where Dave had been born. For the next 14 years Dave continued, as a civilian, to do GP locum work for the Army and RAF in Fife, Edinburgh and Cyprus. Dave also continued as an examiner for MRCGP examination. They are both keen golfers and members of the Committee of the Drumoig Residents Association (ex Chairman and Social Secretary).

Having shown no interest in Robert Burns at school, the Army did what AGS could not do, and they now organise an annual Burns Supper in Drumoig. Dave and Lil split their time between Cyprus and Fife, playing golf and exploring the mountains of both countries. They have two happily married sons and four grandchildren living in Edinburgh.

George Kynoch Yule (1963-67)

George recently retired from a long career in the offshore oil and gas industry where he successfully ran and sold several businesses in Aberdeen which led to him being awarded the prestigious “Industrialist of the Year” award in 2009, following in the footsteps of luminaries like Sir Ian Wood and Sir Jimmy Milne. George is also a former President of the Grampian Chamber of Commerce, the founding Chairman of Aberdeen Sports Village, a Burgess of Guild and Globalscot. He is a former executive Vice Chairman of Aberdeen Football Club and stood down several years later on health grounds, but not before seeing the Dons lift the Scottish League Cup in 2014.

In recognition of his contribution to business and sport in the NE of Scotland he was awarded an honorary degree by University of Aberdeen in 2016 and an Honorary Professorship in 2020.

An ever present at the four Class of 69 reunions (ably organised by Stuart Cummings) George has experienced several setbacks with ill-health recently but still manages to attend various football matches regularly with his lifelong AGSFP pal JW (Jim) Stephen (1963-68).

“Aye – nae a bad effort for a Mastrick loon!” George says.

Death Notices and Obituaries

During 2023, the Club has been notified of the deaths of the following former pupils and one former teacher. Obituaries notices have been received for those names highlighted in colour and can be accessed by clicking on the name of the individual.

Name

Steven Brady June 2024

Rick Brown

William James Leslie Buyers

Alan G. Campbell

Robert Downie

Neil Falconer

Robin Forsyth

Arthur Grant

David Grant

Herbert William Girvan Donald

David Campbell Duncan

Fred Gardiner

Myron Grant Hampton

Iain Hendry

Duncan Hopkin

Norman Ironside

Jim Aldo Leask

Bill Jack

John Duncan MacGregor Leith

Wilson S Longmuir

Philip Noel Love

Douglas Marr

Alan Milne

Alasdair D. Milne

William Henry Milne

Alan Ferguson Morrice

Andrew Graeme Nicol

Patrick Blake Philip

James Merrylees Rae

Hugh Watt Reid

George Geddes Shirriffs

Cailean MacArthur MacFarlane Taylor

David Thomson

George Warder

William Yule

December 2023

January 2024

January 2024

March 2024

March 2024

January 2024

March 2024

July 2022

March 2024

June 2023

January 2024

February 2024

November 2023

1950-1958

1954-1958

1935-1946

1945-1958

Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils’ Club

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2023

Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils’ Club BALANCE SHEET

YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2023

(Note 3)

ACCOUNTS (Note 2)

We have examined the foregoing Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31st December 2023 and Balance Sheet on 31st December 2023. We certify that to the best of our knowledge and with explanations given they are correct.

A J B Scholes Ltd, Chartered Accountants, 10 Albyn Place, Aberdeen 14th March 2024

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNT as of year ending December 31st 2023

NOTE 1 – CAPITAL ACCOUNTS LIFE MEMBERS

NOTE 2 – REVENUE ACCOUNTS

NOTE 3 – INVESTMENTS

value as of 31st December 2023 £12,509

The AGSFP Club are Trustees of the Luther and Muriel Kitson Smith Golf Fund. This fund is not an asset of AGSFP.

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