Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 2011

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

127th year No. 249 (New Series 116th year No. 240)

Vol 114 September 2011

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

General Editor Brian K. Crookshanks, TD, MA, LL.B & Editor of 99 Fountainhall Road Notes etc. Aberdeen AB15 4EB

Secretary of the John F. Hendry, LL.B FP Club 36 Albyn Place Aberdeen AB10 1YF

Treasurer of the Alan W. Marr, CA FP Club 4 West Craibstone Street, Aberdeen AB11 6YL

Membership

Douglas McAllister Secretary Gowanwell Cottage, Methlick, Ellon Aberdeenshire AB41 7JL

The General Editor is happy to receive contributions for the next issue of the Magazine at any time before mid-May 2012

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 E-mail to editor@agsfp.com

In order to assist in the distribution of the Magazine, members of the Former Pupils’ Club are requested to advise the Membership Secretary promptly of any changes of address

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

OUR ADVERTISERS

As a Club we are most grateful to all our under-noted advertisers who have supported the production of this Magazine by taking advertising space. Club members are encouraged, in turn, please to patronise our advertisers who would value our members’ custom every bit as much as we value theirs.

A. U. Alumnus Association

Aberdeen College

Aberdeen Asset Management

Aberdeen Property Leasing

Aberdeen Solicitors’ Property Centre

Adam Cochran

Atholl Hotel

Brewin Dolphin

F.G. Burnett

Country Ways

Michael C. Hastie

Jamieson & Carry

Langstane Press

Marcliffe at Pitfodels

Petrofac

Anderson, Anderson & Brown

Bain Henry Reid

Bower & Smith

Campbell Connon

D.M. Hall

Inchmarlo Retirement Homes

Kenway Tyres

MTM Construction

Michies the Chemist

N. Sainsbury & Sons

University of Aberdeen William Wilson & Co

Williamson & Dunn

School Section

Head Girl & Head Boy 2010-11

Jennifer Mackay and David McCreath

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine School Section

Rector’s Report

The national Curriculum for Excellence programme has been implemented from August 2010 when the new first year pupils started on the revised, and updated, curriculum. Along with traditional subjects our pupils have enjoyed interdisciplinary activities focusing on Scotland, Multi-cultural Society, crime scene investigation and e-in the park. The new curriculum arrangements will take six years to be fully in place for all year groups.

This session has brought a large number of new staff to the school. In August when the school opened 20% of the teachers were new to the school. I anticipate that the reduction in funds to public sector services will reduce further the number of teachers and support staff for session 2011-12.

However, it is reassuring to note that the pupils of the school continue to perform well in the national examinations, remaining in the top 10% of all local authority schools in Scotland. The Sunday Times newspaper ranked the school in overall 14th position in the country.

In a new development this session, five pupils studied a course delivered by the Open University. The pupils easily adapted to the distance learning approach of the OU and all passed the university course.

The School continues to be a popular choice amongst pupils and parents. We opened the session with a roll of 1050 pupils.

In July 2010 a group of thirty-six pupils and four teachers participated in a World Challenge expedition to Costa Rica. All involved thoroughly enjoyed, and benefited from, contributing to community and environmental projects. Another group of thirty-six pupils are raising funds and planning for a similar expedition to Tanzania in July 2012.

The school shows continue to be popular. In November large audiences were entertained by enthusiastic performances of the “Wizard of Oz” and in March the senior drama group produced an abridged version of “Hamlet”.

Our concert band continues to go from strength to strength. In April they represented Scotland in the UK national Schools Concert Band Competition held in the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and received a Gold Award for their excellent performance.

The Senior Football team has been very successful this year winning both the JM Lowe and President’s Cups. With creditable performances in league games, the team has had a very successful year.

June, 2011 Rector

Aberdeen Grammar School GRAHAM LEGGE

School Section

School Office-Bearers - Session 2010-2011

Head Boy: DAVID McCREATH

Depute Head Boys: ANDREW MILNE

S6 Prefects:

Head Girl: JENNIFER MACKAY

Depute Head Girls: CHELSEA GRAY NEIL STANTON CATRINA CASSIE

LANA ALLDRIT CALUM HUTCHEON

KATIA ARNASDOTTIR KATHERINE INNES

LEE ASHCROFT NEIL JOHNSTON

LUCY BENNETT CAMERON JOHNSTONE

FIN BLAKE CATRIN JONES

ANGELA BOYNE LAUREN KANE

LEE CALDERWOOD STRUAN KING

RACHEL CAMPBELL EMALINE KULASINGHE

LOTTE CARRUTHERS CHRIS LEIPER

HELDA CHIN SOPHIE MASON

TATIANA COCKBURN MARYANN McDONALD

DANIEL COGHILL EMILY McDONALD

DUNCAN COGHLAN SCOTT McKENDRICK

MELISSA DAVIDSON ANDREW McKINLAY

GRAHAM DOIG

MICHAEL MORRISON

HANNAH FERGAGUE MANAL NACEF

JOHN FERRIER REDHWAN NACEF

JAMES FETTES SHAUN PATTERSON

LIA GARDEN OLIVIA RATTRAY

PHILIPPA GERRARD CHLOE RAYNER

TIMOTHY GILLIES LISA ROSS

JAMES GRIFFIN IAIN ROSS

MARTIN HAMMOND PETER SCLARE

JESSICA HARRIER ANDREW SHARPLES

STACEY HAUAN KIRSTEN STEPHEN

LEWIS HOLMES CRAIG YEAMAN

S5 Prefects

Fiona Adams, Kate Angus, Clare Armstrong, Rachel Brown, Stuart Christie, Geraldine Cooper, Lucas Duncan, Rachel Elliot, Thomas Fraser, Amy Harrison, Matthew Henderson, David Hewitt, Cameron Howe, Jack Hughes, Susanna Ingold, Claire Innes, Helen Innes, Mark James, James Johnson, Finlay Johnston, Bethany Lamont, Charlotte Lawton, Kalle Leopoldt, Francesca Lihou, Meg Lough, Ellen Masters, Rachel Matson, Elidh McRobert, Callum Michie, Katie Morrison, Mugdha Nagrath, Campbell Simpson, Melissa Smart, Bruce Strachan, Ieuan Thomas, Craig Walton, Charlie Watson, Gordon West, Hannah Whitcombe, Megan Wisely

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

School Prizes 2010-2011

The Joyce Tease Award for excellence in Post 16 Joint Lisa Tretmanis Modern Languages Award Anne Devlin

The Former Pupils’ Club Prize in Modern Studies Susanna Ingold

The Former Pupils’ Club Prize in Physical Education Zoey Clark

The Hamish Adams Greig Prize in Biology Clare Armstrong

The Former Pupils’ Club Prize in Spanish Susanna Ingold

The Former Pupils’ Prize in Drama Rosie Dewar

The Former Pupils’ Prize in Home Economics Kate Glennie

The Samuel Pope Prize in Art & The Donald Paton Prize for Painting Rebecca Fennell

The Sandy McIlwain Prize in Religious & Moral Studies Philip Chan

The John Muir Robertson Prize in Accounting & Finance Michael Morrison

The ALBA Trophy for Business Management Eithne Monaghan

The Gordon McMinn Prize in Computing Studies Joint Alexandra Ross Award Bruce Strachan

The Masson Bain Prize in English Alexandra Ross

The William Brebner Prize in French Matthew Bell

The Charles Alexander Walker Prize in History Alexandra Ross

The Campbell Connon Prize for Geography Matthew Bell

The J. Mortimer McBain & George G. Whyte Prizes in Mathematics Rachel Brown

The Gavin Falconer Memorial Prize in Music Duncan Coghlan

The Basil Emslie Memorial Prize in Technical Studies Elias Mangoro

The CNR International Prize for Physics

Alexander Duncan

The CNR International Prize for Graphic Communication Craig Walton

The Wellmac Ltd Prize in Product Design Derrick Chan

The CNR International Prize for Chemistry Joint Ewan Bain Award Alexander Duncan

Rachel Brown

The University of Aberdeen Prize for Human Biology Rachel Brown

The Caritas Cup for Contribution to Charities Group Activities Joint Scott Docherty Award Kieran McDonald

The AGS Dramatic Society Award for Drama Sophie Mason

The AGS “Face the Music” Award for an outstanding Performance in the School’s Musical Production Shaun Patterson

The Concert Band Player of the Year Iain Ross

The AGS Junior Literary & Debating Shield Eilidh McCreath

The Edith & David Bishop Prize for Public Speaking David McCreath

The Andrew Middleton McLaren Prize for Enterprise Hannah Whitcombe

The Montgomery Trophy Shaun Patterson

The Philip Love Trophy David McCreath

The Jamie Blair Fiddes Award Lorne Thomson

The Pied Piper 2000 Award for outstanding talent and Commitment from a Cast or Crew Member Chloe Rayner

Sports Awards

The Arthur McCombie Senior Golf Trophy Cameron Howe

The David Swanson Junior Golf Trophy Anthony Harkin

The Isobel O Anderson Medal for Swimming Joanna Anderson

The Fowlie Cup for Swimming (Girls) Joanna Anderson

The Rector’s Medal for Swimming Charles Watson

The Dr Morland Simpson Cup for Swimming Suleman Butt

School Section

Inter-House Competition Awards

Junior Inter-House Debating Trophy Byron Eilidh McCreath

The Inter-House Hockey Cup for Girls (Junior) Keith/Dun Lauren Spence

S5/6 Inter-House Football Cup Keith/Dun Lewis Macaulay

The Inter-House Hockey Cup for Girls (Senior) Byron Chelsea Gray

S4/S6 Inter-House Boys’ Cricket Keith/Dun David Blues

Iain Wolstenholme Inter-House Swimming Cup Melvin Charles Watson

The Junior Inter-House Cookery Competition Byron Andrew Wilson

The AGS Inter-House Basketball Cup Keith/Dun Lucas Duncan

The Inter-House Badminton Shield Byron Nada Ralston

The Inter-House Table Tennis Trophy Melvin Daniel Li

The Inter-House Challenge Cup Keith/Dun Jack Hughes

Ellen Masters

All-Round Awards

The Dr Alexander Cormack Prize to the best All-round Pupil in S1

Lucy McLeod

The David Alexander Irvine-Fortescue Prize – S2 Irina Rotariu

The Norman Mackie Memorial Award in S3 Marc Walton

The Former Pupils’ Club All-Round Award in S4 Georgia Smith

The Former Pupils’ Club All-Round Award in S5 Rachel Brown

The Former Pupils’ Club “1965” Award Iain Ross

The Runner-up to the Former Pupils’ Club All-Round Trophy for Girls

Jennifer MacKay

The Runner-up to the Former Pupils’ Club All-Round Trophy & the Agnes Durward McDonald Prize Iain Ross

The Former Pupils’ Club All-Round Trophy for Girls Chelsea Gray

The Former Pupils’ Club All-Round Trophy & the John Ivo Dawson Prize David McCreath

School Cap for Chess Maryann McDonald

School Cap for Squash Christopher Leiper

School Cap for Debating David McCreath

Dux Award Shaun Patterson

Sport

Athletics

Full Colours

Basketball Full Colours

Half Colours

Colours Awards

Zoe Clark

Mishkat Ahmed, Bethany Lamont, Redhwan Nacef, Rachel Simpson

Lucas Duncan, David Hewitt, Kalle Leopoldt, Campbell McKendrick, Tommy Morrison, Neil Stewart, Ieaun Thomas

Cricket Half Colours Michael Buchan, Andrew Milne

Football

Junior Colours David Blues

Full Colours Euan Anderson, James Cairns, James Fettes, Ian Rodger

Half Colours Greg Alexander, Lee Calderwood, Nathan Douglas, Seamus Duff, Lewis Macaulay, Andrew Milne, Redwhan Nacef, Jennifer Reid, Gordon Smith, Kane Winton, Grant Wright

Golf Full Colours Cameron Johnstone

Half Colours Cameron Howe

Gym

Aberdeen

Junior Colours

Grammar School Magazine

Gavin Kinnear

Junior Colours Chloe Kemp, Georgia Smith

Half Colours Rachael Gilmour

Hockey Full Colours Chelsea Gray

Half Colours Catriona Cassie, Hugh Cruickshank, Melissa Davidson, Michael Gordon, Jack Hughes, Charlotte Lawton, Ellen Masters, Tommy Morrison, Kirsten Stephen, Craig Walton

Junior Colours Alice Goldie, Hannah Mitchell, Prasanth Thangaraj

Netball Half Colours

Natalie Innes

Rowing Junior Colours Jacob Vyse

Rugby Full Colours

Finn Blake

Half Colours Matthew Henderson, Cameron Howe, Finlay Johnston, Kalle Leopoldt, Matthew Maddox, Tom Morrison, Finn Muller, Tom Perritt, Lawrence Sahebi, Peter Sclare, Campbell Simpson, Dominic Wallen

Skiing Full Colours Kate Angus

Swimming Half Colours Charlie Watson

Tae

Kwon-Do Full Colours Mark Smith

Tennis Full Colours Bruce Strachan

Arts & Culture

Charities Group Junior Colours Maryam Al Mahtot, Johanna Bokedal

Chess Full Colours Maryann McDonald

Half Colours Hamish Olsen

Junior Colours Ian McDonald

Craft Half Colours Rachel Brown, Emma Mason

Debating Half Colours Alex Duncan, Gordon West

Film & Photogy Half Colours Graham Love

Face the Music Full Colours Lewis Holmes. David McCreath, Jennifer McKay, Shaun Patterson

Half Colours Lia Garden, Jessica Harrier, Catherine Hopton, Struan King, Sophie Mason, Chloe Rayner, Andrew Sharples

Music Full Colours Emily McDonald, Sophie Mason, Shaun Patterson

Half Colours

Fiona Adams, Ewan Bain, Rachel Brown, Rachel Elliot, Amy Harrison, Mark James, Eilidh McRobert, Rachel Matson, Rachael Robertson, Melissa Smart, Julia Stubbins, Kirsten Urganci, Hannah Whitcombe

Junior Colours Gillian Bain, Abigail Barclay, Karra Kennedy, Gavin Kinnear, Timothy Tagor

Worldwise Half Colours Matthew Bell

Geography Junior Colours Jack Reynolds

School Section

School Sports Clubs

Senior Boys’ Basketball

This term the Senior Basketball team was entered into the Scottish Cup. After narrowly losing to Westhill Academy, the team rallied and went on to defeat both Robert Gordon's College and Cults Academy. However, despite these victories, we did not progress to the next stages of the cup. The team showed great strength and determination this season. We look forward to building on these achievements in the future.

The Inter-House Senior Boys basketball tournament took place in March with Keith and Dun House being triumphant over Byron, who came second with Melvin House third.

The senior basketball team would like to thank the Former Pupils’ Club Amenities Fund for their donation which enabled the team to buy new strips for the senior league.

Campbell McKendrick (5M3)

Cricket

After a fantastic winter, for reasons to be explained later, the Cricket season took off in the last week of the Spring term with House Matches at Rubislaw Field. An exciting close game saw Byron beat Melvin with the last ball of an enthralling contest. Byron were coasting it until some superb bowling and fielding forced them into a couple of panicky run-outs. Tommy Morrison batted well for the winners and would have won it until he was needlessly run out with four overs left. Jeston de Costa batted very well for Melvin with his 21 not out. He also bowled an economical final over which almost won the game for his side.

The following day saw Melvin take on Keith and Dun. Melvin won the toss and surprisingly chose to bat. On the football pitch wicket on which we played it was probably better to chase than defend a total, and so it proved. Four run-outs and five ducks in the Melvin batting card told a sorry story. Keith and Dun needed only 30 to win. It looked easy. It wasn’t. Melvin took some excellent catches, including a real stunner from Cameron Howe. Like Melvin, five Keith and Dun batsmen did not trouble the scorers. Only powerful hitting from Liam Alexander, with 16 not out, and sensible batting from David Blues, who played the ball effectively into the gaps, saw them home.

As I write this it is pouring. Tonight’s final between Byron and Keith and Dun looks in doubt, which is a pity. There have been two great games so far with tremendous enthusiasm shown by the players. It may be that the House trophy will have to be decided on the usual cricket tie breaker – run rate.

After the Easter holidays we came to back to find our kit had been destroyed in a fire at the shed at Rubislaw. Much of our never-used new kit went up in flames as did new kit provided by Rebecca Lovie for her Primary pupils. Ian Johnston did have a bag in his car boot which we used for our matches in April, but it was practice standard only, not top quality equipment which we were saving, to borrow a golfing term, for match play. (Stop Press! The Rector has just told me that the Council are to make good our losses through their insurance.)

We travelled to Gordon schools, Huntly and found their two openers in sparkling form as they put on 61 in 8 overs for the first wicket. We then came back well with some good bowling, catching and ground fielding in the middle and latter part of their innings. Michael Buchan was the pick of our bowlers with 3-32

When it was our turn to bat Michael Buchan and David Blues provided a solid platform for ten overs, even if they did not score as quickly as we needed to chase our target of over 6 runs an over for victory. Mid- innings our middle order got the ‘rabbit in headlights’ syndrome as they were mesmerised by a slow turner from the Huntly team who

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

took four wickets in five balls as part of his 5 for. The hat trick victims from our team were all out playing no shots to balls that bowled them or got them lbw.

However, we were not finally dismissed until the final over. Liam Alexander came in at No 6 and batted well for his 18 until he was out heaving in the final over. All in all it was a good performance by the team who just need that bit more consistency in their bowling and application when they bat.

And so to Gordonstoun two days later. Team selection was a problem as several of our senior and better players were not available. We made the trip with nine players, including two last-minute additions from third year, Gordon Fraser and Ashhab Zoha. Thanks guys! Our hosts kindly lent us two players who helped out in the field when our opponents batted on the main square in initially bright conditions. Gordonstoun batsmen peppered the short boundary as we tried our best in difficult bowling and fielding conditions as the weather took a dramatic turn for the worse. We played for half an hour through rain. As it intensified the game was reduced from 25 overs a side to 20 overs. Reaching the 20 over mark was as far as we got. The rain became heavier and heavier and the game was finally called off at 2.30pm. Gordonstoun were as generous as usual with their hospitality and welcome. They even offered to give us some kit to help us through our season.

Long may we continue as a school to play good cricket against sporting and gracious opponents in a delightful setting, such as we have enjoyed at Gordonstoun over the years.

Four days later we headed to Countesswells to play local rivals Robert Gordon’s College. We had a fairly strong bowling attack which proved, alas, to be not as strong as their batting line up. Our hosts scored 176 for 1. We replied with 52 all-out, as we were skittled out by bowlers who were just as good as their batsmen.

Despite this defeat, the following day we travelled in hope and high spirits to Fettes College. We bowled and fielded magnificently in the baking sun of the capital. We took some excellent catches and our ground fielding proved to be the best it has ever been in what was the final match for many of our players. Skipper Andy Milne led the way with three wickets, David Blues, Tim Gillies and Lickson Munjoma took two each and Shariar Chowdhury took one. When we batted, Michael Buchan and Lickson scored 17 and 16 respectively. Then the Fettes 1st XI bowlers came in at great speed to beat flailing bats and static footwork to rip through our middle order. One of their fast men finished with figures of 4-1 from four overs, including a hat trick from balls our batsmen barely saw.

At the end of a very sporting game, where we took the plaudits for our attitude and commitment, the journey home was made in high spirits. Next year’s captain was announced in McDonald’s, Forfar as the Bervie chipper was closed – Michael Buchan. Thank goodness for the Royal Wedding holiday the following day, as we did not arrive home until just before 11pm. This match concluded the senior season. Although results were not what we hoped for, partly due to our inability to field our strongest side for any of our games, the lads have played some good cricket. They also seemed to enjoy themselves, which might be either a primary or secondary but worthy objective. Over the year new pupils have been introduced to the game and have represented the school occasionally. I hope the game has taught them something. I wish them well in the future.

At the time of writing this the Junior season is about to start now that the seniors are on study leave. We look forward to a few games where the young lads can have the opportunity to show off their skills after Activities Week.

This will probably the last despatch for the FP magazine from this particular correspondent. Being involved with school cricket over the years and trying to write about it has been extremely enjoyable. If you have played your part in any way, ‘Thank You’ for your support.

The Ken Peters Memorial Trophy

School Section

Earlier this year the Former Pupils’ Cricket Section received from Handel Williams, nephew of Mrs Arunda Peters, a bequest in memory of her late husband Ken Peters, a long-time supporter of Grammar FP Cricket who died in 2001. His widow died in the autumn of last year.

The bequest is of the sum of “£3000 to the Grammar FP Cricket Section with a direction that part of the bequest be used for the purchase of a suitable trophy in memory of my late husband Kenneth to be awarded annually to the young player who contributed to the Cricket Section by his/her enthusiasm and dedication to the team, the Club and the game in general during the season”.

A small sub-group comprising representatives from the FP Cricket Section and the School met and has resolved that the first winner of the Trophy should be Andrew Milne 6B2. Andrew has represented the School cricket team on many occasions. He is now in his final year at School and has started playing for the Former Pupils in the natural progression of his cricketing career. His attitude has always been first class. As captain of the 1st XI this year he has led the team with sportsmanship, determination and considerable ability. He has enjoyed the total respect of team members. He was an inspirational figure who led the team by example. He also put a lot of work into team management and support for his players. He was a tremendous help to staff of both School and FP Club who organise, coach and help out with cricket. He without doubt has a fine cricket future ahead of him. He is a worthy winner.

Left – Right: Richard Ferro, Andrew Milne, Ian Johnston

Football

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Senior Football

The 2010-11 season for the senior boys’ football team was one of the most successful to date. The team reached the last 16 of the Scottish Cup before narrowly losing out to St. Andrew’s and St. Bride’s High school of East Kilbride. It was a hard fought game with AGS struggling to get back in the game from 3-0 down. The boys’ hard work and perseverance in the second half clawed back 2 goals to make it 3-2 and a number of chances were missed right at the death unfortunately. The final score was 3-2 to the home team ending our hopes of winning the senior Scottish Cup.

The success of the team came in the regional trophies as AGS lifted the silverware for both competitions – the JM Low regional trophy and the President’s Cup. This now means that AGS have won these trophies more than any other school – six times and seven times respectively. This also meant becoming the first school to ever lift the JM Low trophy three years in a row.

The final of the President’s Cup took place at Milltimber playing fields between Grammar and Cults Academy. The final score was 6-2 for the School with goals from Gordon Smith, James Fettes, Greg Alexander (2), Seamus Duff and an own goal. An early 3-0 lead within ten minutes of kick off was enough to see us sail through to a convincing victory allowing James Cairns to lift the silverware for the team.

The final of the JM Low trophy was the last game of the season for the boys and it certainly didn’t disappoint with AGS triumphing in a 7-3 win over Westhill Academy. A slow start from the boys allowed Westhill to take a 2-0 lead within ten minutes of kick off. The second half was an epic turn around as we really showed what we are made of to dominate the game and turn on the style. Goals from Liam McCall (3), Iain Rodger (3) and James Fettes sealed the win for the team and ended a remarkable season with a second piece of silverware.

This season was pure entertainment with the team scoring 64 goals in only 10 games!

Under-13 Football

Aberdeen Grammar School Football Team recently won the Under 13s Football League Trophy. It was a very close league decider between Grammar and Cults Academy. The league journey started with a strong 10-1 victory against Harlaw Academy. From then on, the season progressed well with various other notable successes, including the league decider game against Cults Academy, which was won 3–2. It was a very close game and was decided late in the game, with goals from Lachie MacLeod and Neil Cumming. Although the score may say it was not, the game was very tense and exciting.

We had only one draw in the League, which was the match against Portlethen Academy, the second-last game of the season. The score was 1–1 after a sublime overhead kick equaliser from Lachie MacLeod. The only remaining game was against Hazlehead Academy. It was a crucial game and Grammar desperately needed to win. If we won, we won the League. The game had a fantastic result, 4–0 to the School, all four goals being scored brilliantly by Cameron Tough.

After reaching the Semi-Final of the Green Final Trophy and the 3rd round of the ESSO Trophy, the season ended on a high.

Goalkeepers: Aidan Hodgins and George Mitchell ; Defenders: Christopher Evans, Steven Innes, Aaron Ritchie, Alistair McKinlay and Sam Harrison.; Midfielders: Mark Gilmour, Cameron Tough, Neil Cumming, Jamie Buglass and Duncan Crawford; Forwards: Lachie MacLeod, Jack Stevenson, Michael Fraser, Wilson Sutherland and Peter Dijkhuizen.

School Section

Boys’ Basketball Team

Senior Girls’ Hockey Team

S e n i o r F o o t b a l l T e a m B a c k : R N a c e f , S . D u f f , E . A n d e r s o n , L . C a l d e r w o o d , L . M c C a l l , A . M i l n e , I . R o d g e r , N . D o u g l a s F r o n t : G . W r i g h t , G . S m i t h , J . F e t t e s , G . A l e x a n d e r , J . C a i r n s , K . W i n t o n , L . H e n d r y , L .

U n d e r1 3 F o o t b a l l W i n n e r s

School Section

School Section

Girls’ Hockey

During the 2010/2011 season the Grammar Girls’ Hockey Coach was Sari Johnson, a Former Pupil and captain of the AGSFP Women's Hockey 1st XI. Chelsea Gray, depute head girl, was selected to be the senior 1st XI captain, whilst Charlotte Lawton, an S5 prefect, was chosen to be her vice captain. Both of these players have been a great asset to girls’ hockey this season, as they have enthusiastically coached all levels of hockey teams and have continued to motivate and encourage their fellow team-mates to achieve their personal best. Chelsea and Charley make a great partnership and Chelsea will be greatly missed by the team next season, but particularly by Charley. Active Schools made it possible for training sessions to be open to P5-7 pupils from the school's feeder primaries in preparation for producing future generations of Grammar hockey players.

The FP Women's Hockey section allow "schoolies" to attend training and play for the club, and it is well attended by many school players. The school girls benefit greatly from this and three members of the school's 1st XI were given the opportunity to play at the highest level in the Women's Section. Hannah Mitchell, Chelsea Gray and Alice Goldie all played for the 1st XI FP team this season.

The School played annual fixtures against St.Margaret’s, Robert Gordon's College, Lathallan and Albyn, with varied results across the year groups. Despite a slow start, the senior 1st XI team managed to achieve some great wins over the season, beating St.Margaret’s, Albyn and Lathallan, whilst only, at best, managing to achieve draws against RGC.

Due to the record amount of snow, a number of weekly training sessions and scheduled matches had to be cancelled. The senior tournament was originally played on 12th March, however due to snow it had to be rescheduled. It was continued on 28th March and the senior 1st XI did extremely well, coming third overall but second to Robert Gordon’s College, as they took both first and second place.

In the North District Schools’ Cup, the senior 1st XI played Robert Gordon’s College; the game was very close throughout, however our girls were unfortunately beaten on penalty flicks.

Over the last year, a number of girls have been selected to represent the North District Squad, at both under-16 and under-18 levels. Congratulations go to Charlotte Lawton, Chelsea Gray, Ellen Masters, Hannah Mitchell, and Morven Duff, who all made the final selection.

The House Hockey tournament was won, at senior level, for the third year in a row by Byron House, who comfortably beat both Melvin House and Keith and Dun House to retain the House Hockey cup. At junior level, the tournament was much closer, but Keith and Dun House managed to achieve the title by winning their last game!

Boys’ Hockey

2009/10 was a successful season, when School won the under-16 Scottish league, reached the final of two other national cups, and finished fourth in North District Men’s League Division 2

The 2010/11 team was captained by Andrew Scrimgeour, with Hugh Cruickshank as vice- captain. This season was not as successful as the previous one. The lack of senior boys playing hockey made the step-up from under-16 to under-18 level a significant challenge.

The School were defeated in the Scottish Schools Cup by Robert Gordon’s College 1st team, who went on to win the cup. The School also entered the Scottish Club Cup under the AGSFP banner, (i.e. every player was from Grammar) and won the North qualifying group in Aberdeen, but were defeated (2-1) in the quarter finals in Dundee on the night that the November blizzards struck.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

In the North District Men’s league Division 2 the squad improved on last year’s performance of fourth place by playing consistently well throughout the season, and finishing a close second. Regular training is helping the players to progress into both district and national level hockey. Several players have also made the step up from youth hockey to club hockey, playing at varying levels for AGSFPs, including the 1st team.

Individual achievements have been:

North District Under-18 players: Andrew Scrimgeour, Max Mackay, Stuart Christie.

North District Under-16 players: Alex Morrison, Jack Hughes, Prasanth Thangaraj, Euan Christie.

North District Under-15 players: Alex Morrison (Captain)

Scotland Under-16 squad: Euan Christie, Alex Morrison

A large number of players were also invited to Under-16/18 Scotland trials.

The team have benefited significantly from weekly training sessions after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from the help of the senior Coach, Dr Andrew Webster, and Assistant Coaches Fred Lawson, Greg Anderson, Magnus Willett, Tony Duguid and Ben Johnson. Regular youth matches and competitions on Sundays have also helped. Support from Aberdeen City Council and groundsmen at Rubislaw, Alan Christie and Dave Harper, has been much appreciated. Regular use of the School’s new minibus has been invaluable, as has the generous financial contribution made towards youth hockey by the Grammarians.

Junior Girls’ Netball

Since the summer the Junior Netball Team has improved greatly in both our skills and our confidence. Despite recent defeats against Lathallan and Albyn we remain positive and enthusiastic towards our games against other teams. This year, particularly in the spring term, we have seen an increase in the number of people becoming interested in the game and joining the Junior Netball Club, and this not just girls from first year. This shows that the club is proving itself to have a good reputation.

In a typical session the focus is on games after a brief warm up, as playing games is not only fun but helps to build our stamina and skill levels. In the summer term we hope to consolidate our skills and win our next match.

Eilidh Matheson 2M3

Senior Girls’ Netball

The senior Girls’ Netball team have had a fantastic year, moving from strength to strength. The girls have bonded very well as a team and, with the addition of a few new members this year, have showed great determination in moving from once being the underdogs of the competition to being major competitors in the league. With the majority of the girls returning next session we hope to progress further and build on these achievements.

Bethany Lamont 5B2

Rugby

School Rugby in season 2010-11 brought two trophies to the School in the Saltire Schools Cup. The first of these was the John Risman Cup for years S2/S3 in which School were drawn against Westhill Academy.

We were first to strike, taking advantage of an early knock on to allow a score in the corner. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful but this gave us a 4 - 0 lead. Westhill swiftly retaliated with a try of their own, through a Scott McNeil try from short range to level the score. The try was successfully converted by Niall Hall to give them the lead. Westhill Academy completed their set but an outstanding full range score from Jamie

School Section

Dunbar successfully put Grammar back in front and this try was swiftly converted by Mike McKenzie.

Grammar kept on the pressure through some well-worked team play which allowed Pablo Sikazwe to score under the sticks, the conversion unsuccessful, taking the score to 6 - 14. Westhill 's Niall Hall was the next to cross the whitewash and he scored in the near corner after a long pass which rounded the Grammar defence. Hall failed to make the conversion, leaving the score at 10 - 14. We forced the error from Westhill with some good defensive play before recovering possession, allowing Pablo Sikazwe to break through the defence and score in the corner to increase our lead, but the conversion was unsuccessful (18 - 10).

Westhill rallied after this to try and get themselves back into the match and having forced the error, capitalised and scored under the posts through an Angus Clarke try, Hall missing the conversion to leave the score 18 - 14.

Westhill were on the charge again, putting Grammar under pressure, but a loose pass was knocked on providing us with an opportunity to regain possession, which they took willingly through a Joe Davie try in the corner, duly converted by Mike McKenzie to give us a 24 - 14 lead.

Grammar received the re-start and worked up field before Westhill took the ball from a handover on their 40 metre line. Clarke threw off several would be tacklers before being brought down short of the line. Westhill applied more pressure on our line before finally crossing through a well worked move. The try was converted by Hall taking the score to 20 - 24.

Westhill's battering ram, Angus Clarke, received the ball from the kick-off and ran through three tackles before off-loading a ball which was intercepted by Grammar only to be knocked on. Westhill had possession as the final hooter sounded and it looked as if they might score a last minute try to claim the win, but a solid scramble defence from Grammar whipped the Westhill wing into touch thus securing the win and the John Risman cup for us with the final score 20 – 24.

The second trophy from the Saltire Schools Cup competition was the George Fairbairn Cup for S4/S5 in which we were drawn at home at Rubislaw against Whitehill Secondary School.

Whitehill kicked off. Our forwards collected the kick and worked up field well by a powerful drive by Finlay Johnston before we were awarded a penalty for off side. This resulted in a Grammar try through Lawrence Sahebi. Unluckily the conversion attempt hit the post, taking the score to 4 - 0.

We dominated the early possession, spreading the ball wide to Cameron Howe who crossed the line to increase Grammars' lead. The extras were added by Lawrence Sahebi (10 - 0).

Whitehill placed a deep kick from the restart which forced the error from Grammar and a penalty put more pressure on our line but a double movement against Whitehill saw us awarded a penalty on our own line.

We broke through the defensive line and Campbell Simpson crossed under the posts with Sahebi kicking the conversion (16 -0).

Whitehill again forced the error off the re-start putting them in a good field position before spreading the ball wide for Matthew Aird to dive over for the score. (16 - 4).

Grammar restarted the match with a deep kick before Whitehill were awarded a penalty for offside. Some outstanding defence from our forwards was marred with a penalty for offside, resulting in Whitehill applying pressure to the Grammar defence.

Whitehill continued to attack our line but we managed to absorb the pressure and regain the ball from a knock-on from the kick.

Grammar's forwards powered up the field before conceding a penalty on the Whitehill 20-metre line. They were unable to utilise the possession, knocking on in centre field. We

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capitalised on the error and Campbell Simpson's off-load to Findlay Johnston saw Johnston speed down the wing to score in the corner. Sahebi converted to increase Grammar’s lead to 22 - 4.

Whitehill were awarded a scrum from a Grammar knock-on and floated the ball out to the wing but a knock-on gifted possession back to Aberdeen, who worked the ball wide to Sahebi who ran in from the half-way point to score. He converted his own try. (28 - 4).

Aberdeen began to stretch their lead with a breakaway score from Finn Muller, Sahebi converting the extras to increase the lead to 34 - 4 at half time.

Grammar re-started the match and Whitehill worked well to complete their set before Robert Seivwright powered his way through their defensive line to score. Sahebi again converted, giving us a 40 - 4 lead.

Whitehill began to mount an attack deep in the Grammar half, but were unable to convert the possession into points and gifted the ball back to us. Lewis Clark broke through but was well tackled by Jason Sharkey who forced the knock on. We regained possession and Kalie Leopoldt buuldozed his way over the Whitehill line. (44 - 4)

Grammar continued to hammer the Whitehill line and Matt Henderson received a wide pass to score in the corner. Sahebi hit the conversion attempt off the post leaving the score at 48 - 4.

Whitehill began to show more composure and Sean Toner broke down the wing but he was tackled into touch. We spread the ball wide again and Sahebi, who was outstanding, broke down the wing before being brought down on Whitehill's 40-metre line.

With ten minutes to go, Grammar again rounded the Whitehill defensive line to allow Tom Perritt to score in the corner. Sahebi hit the post again with the conversion but this time it found its way over the crossbar to make the score 54 - 4.

Whitehill regained possession with a short kick which bounced into touch and gave them a strong field position for an attacking set before Cameron Sinclair managed to cross the whitewash and score out wide. Sinclair converted his try to make the score 54 - 10.

Whitehill finished the game in a flourish with some strong defensive play which forced the error to regain possession. Sharkey made a break through in centre field and Whitehill desperately tried to use the flanks to penetrate our line. The pressure paid off and Robert McDonald dived over for Whitehill. Fraser McTaggart converted to make the score 54 - 16 before the full time whistle, but the George Fairbairn Cup was deservedly ours.

Golf

For the second year in succession, the School’s golf team qualified for the semi-finals of the Aberdeen Schools League, and for the second year in succession were beaten 2-1 by Robert Gordon’s College. However, the latter team were beaten in the final by Torry Academy.

At the annual Aberdeen Schools Stroke Play Competition, held this year at Murcar Links, Cameron Robb, S5, was second in the handicap section. In session 2011-12, we hope to run a School inter-House golf league, where both juniors and seniors will compete against each other for House points.

In the School’s golf competition, the David Swanson Junior Cup was won by Anthony Harkins, S3, for the second successive year, and the Arthur McCombie Trophy for S4-S6 pupils was won by Cameron Howe, again for the second successive year.

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Clubs and Societies

Art Club

I am in first year at Aberdeen Grammar School. Every Tuesday at lunchtime I go to an Art Club. There are quite a number of other pupils who attend and we are under the guidance of Miss Forrest. During the past year we have worked on many good, interesting projects. We also enter competitions which we have researched. We worked on a project for the Royal Wedding. ‘Kynoch and Robertson’, painters and decorators, asked us to make a display which advertised the Wedding for the window of their shop in Rosemount Place. Together, the Art Club decided to work on making a Wedding Cake. It was great fun but also a quite a challenge. We turned it into a collage to make it more interesting and appealing. Some second year pupils also made part of the collage. I think the finished cake looks fantastic!

I have really enjoyed the project and look forward to others in the future.

Gloria Brown 1B3

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

School Debating

Senior Debating Society

As always, debating remains a popular and successful activity at the School, both the junior section – which this year has been run by a group of five fifth year pupils – and the senior section having been enthusiastically attended throughout the session, with pupils enjoying the opportunity to voice their opinions concerning a range of issues as well as taking part in the infamous fortnightly Senior Debating Quiz!

Our senior debaters have had numerous achievements this year. David McCreath and Iain Ross (both in S6) have enjoyed success across Scotland, breaking to the finals of the Aberdeen, Edinburgh and St Andrews University competitions, although sadly never quite managing to go all the way to winning. Further afield, David McCreath and Clare Armstrong (S5) have won through the Scottish heats of both the Cambridge and Oxford University Schools Debating Competitions to attend the Finals Day of each respectively. This made it the second consecutive year that Clare has won through to the Cambridge Finals Day and the third consecutive year that David has won through to the Oxford Finals Day. The year ended on a high as David McCreath – who is coming to the end of a sixyear-long debating career at the Grammar – was selected to be a member of the Scottish Debating Team, made up of five pupils from across Scotland, which will go on to represent Scotland in the World Schools Debating Championships this summer (albeit that the competition this year is being hosted in Dundee!)

As some of our long-serving senior debaters leave, we have been left in no doubt after this year that we have many budding junior debaters who are more than capable of filling their shoes. As reported in more detail below, our junior teams have participated with marked success in several competitions this year. Of particular significance was the achievement of our second year team of Eilidh McCreath and Emma Alderson who, in reaching the Regional Finals of the East of Scotland Debater Competition, went further than any Grammar team has made it in the past.

Well done to all our competitors and thanks go to all those who participate in and run the Debating Society, ensuring that it remains a popular activity at Aberdeen Grammar School. We look forward to our new S1 recruits joining us after the summer.

Junior Debating

2010/11 has been another successful year in junior debating. We continue to meet during Wednesday lunchtime, but this year has seen an ever-growing number of junior pupils participating. Our increased attendance is due largely to the hard work of our senior debaters. S5 pupils Clare Armstrong, Julia Stubbins, Alex Duncan and Gordon West have ensured that a stimulating debate is organised every second Wednesday, and during the intervening weeks they provide a coaching session to try to develop the debating skills of our juniors. Our Head Boy, David McCreath (S6), made a significant contribution to junior debating this year, preparing many of our debaters for a range of local and national competitions. Thank you to all our senior pupils for their invaluable support.

The debating year ended recently with the ‘Auld Hoose’ competition at Robert Gordon’s College, where our team of six S2 pupils put in a fantastic performance. Eilidh McCreath, Julia Stenhouse, Ewan Shand, Finlay McRobert, Calum Webb and Sam Pirie represented Aberdeen Grammar against some of the best debating schools in Scotland.

Our Inter-House competition show-cased the best we have at Aberdeen Grammar School. Eilidh McCreath S2 won the competition for Byron, with two further S2 Byron pupils, Julia Stenhouse and Sam Pirie, picking up joint second place. Miss Innes judged that the calibre of debaters in our final this year was the best she had seen in our InterHouse competition. Well done to our other finalists who were Irina Rotariu, Ewan Shand, Finlay McRobert, all S2, and Jenna Gillespie from S1.

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In addition to our local competitions, our debaters represented the School in the national English Speaking Union Competition, East of Scotland Debater and the International Competition for Young Debaters. Eilidh McCreath and Emma Alderson S2 only just missed securing a place in the final round of the International Competition for Young Debaters. However, they did make it through to the regional final of the East of Scotland Debater. Also representing Aberdeen Grammar in the first round of the East of Scotland competition were Denzil Benny and Andrew Wilson of S1. Our ESU hopes were pinned on Finlay McRobert (S2) and Cameron Angus (S3) who took us to the second round of the English Speaking Union Competition. Congratulations to all our debaters who ensure the continued success of our club.

Music

Concert Band

It has been a very successful year for the Concert Band. We have gone from almost losing our music service altogether to winning several impressive awards at National level. Near the end of 2010 Aberdeen City Council proposed to either cut or privatise the music service, which would have meant that many pupils would lose their instruments and their instructors. Fortunately, after an eventful city-wide protest from hundreds of pupils, the music service was saved.

After the relief of still having our music service, we were able to go the National Concert Band Festival regional in Glasgow, for the fourth time, where we won a platinum award. This meant that we were though to the finals. In previous years we have attended the finals in Warwick and Cardiff but this year they took place in Glasgow where we won another Gold award.

After our success over the last year, we are planning several exciting trips and performances. In Glasgow we met another band from Scotland who are keen to take part in an exchange, in which we will swap conductors, music and general advice in the hope of improving both bands. If we do get through to the finals next year, they will be held in London. Hopefully, we will get the chance to see some shows and do some shopping too! However, the thing we are all most excited about is our plan to go and perform in Belgium next summer.

It would be extremely devastating to have the music service cut from our lives and we are very grateful still to be playing as a group. Hopefully, we have a long successful future ahead of us.

Rachael Robertson S5

Senior Choir

During the last year the Senior Choir has, as usual, taken part in various School concerts. The contributions to the October concert and the spring concert were widely appreciated. A rendition of the much loved Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody” was a feature of the programme in October. The Choir then went on to repeat their success in the spring concert with “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine” from the unique musical, “Hair”. Unfortunately, the St.Machar concert at Christmas was cancelled due to the extreme weather conditions but otherwise the Choir would have performed the beautiful song “Quanta Qualia”, which was originally performed by the soprano, classical crossover artist, Hayley Westenra. This gave us the chance to sing in Latin. The song mainly consisted of a few words: anima mea (my soul), mane (wait), quanta qualia (how great and how wonderful), conventus gaudia (the joys of the meeting) and erunt (will be). It’s a shame that the concert had to be cancelled as I’m sure the audience would have loved hearing the soothing language of Latin, as well as the sweet voices of the Choir.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

The Senior Choir has flourished under the leadership of Mrs Nicholson, and we have seen several new members during the course of the year who have further strengthened the Choir’s position as an AGS representative group.

The hope is for further increased membership during the years to come, and for the Choir to grow in strength as well as reputation.

Karra Kennedy

Saxophone Quartet

This Quartet is a new addition to the Grammar’s music department, set up over the past year by the School’s woodwind instructor, Ms Dow. The group, consisting of Tom Neil (S2) on baritone sax, Timofey Tagor (S4) on tenor sax, Ewan Cahill (S1) on alto sax and Ewan Bain (S5) also on alto sax, gave their premier performance at the this year’s Spring Music Concert, playing the film classic, ‘The Pink Panther’. This proved very popular with the audience and the group plans to build on their success over the next year by playing a variety of tunes from ‘The Song of the Volga Boatmen’ to the theme of ‘Sesame Street’. There is even the potential to perform a piece composed by Iain Ross, a 6th year student. Here’s hoping that this group becomes a regular feature at the school music concert so that they can continue to entertain for years to come.

Ewan Bain 5B

String Orchestra

Our String Orchestra has a wide range of talent and skill. There are players from 1st to 6th Year in the Orchestra who, by being part of it, are given the opportunity to play an interesting repertoire which would be unplayable solo or in chamber groups. The Orchestra play all types of music ranging from Baroque to Pop, and everything in between. It is run by Mrs Boag, Violin Instructor and Miss Cromar, Cello Instructor, who are both very enthusiastic about the Orchestra and put a lot of time and effort into it. A yearly barbecue is held for the Orchestra at the end of the summer term, to celebrate the enjoyment and fun which they have experienced by being part of this Orchestra.

The String Orchestra has enjoyed performing at both the Autumn and Spring concerts this year and is already working on a new repertoire for the next concert.

String Quartet

The String Quartet has had a very successful and exciting year. We have had the privilege of playing for various School events – the Prize-Giving and concerts in October and March – and this has been thoroughly enjoyable. The year started off well with the Quartet winning the Music Festival in June 2010. Just after this our teacher took up a post in Bermuda and we found ourselves without leadership.

Thankfully Theresa Boag – violin/viola instructor – stepped in to help us and we are very grateful for this. We are currently rehearsing for the 2011 Music Festival for which we are hopeful. This year has been both challenging and enjoyable as we have been experimenting with different techniques and genres of music. This has helped us develop both as a group and individually. String quartet is a very rewarding group to be in and I personally have enjoyed being a part of it for the past four years.

Emily McDonald 6KD1

Drama at the Grammar

School Section

S1 Drama Club & The Link Project

The S1 Drama Club started in 2008 as part of a Link project with the English department. The focus of the project is to develop literacy skills. The purpose of the Link Project is to give P7 pupils a ‘feel’ for the work they will do in S1, to address any worries and concerns they might have about the move to secondary school and to give them an opportunity to experience the English and Drama departments. The Link Project also gives teachers in the English department a sample of pupils’ writing with a view to class setting and offers teachers the opportunity to watch pupils engage in group discussion. In addition, the project provides secondary teachers with an opportunity to enter into professional dialogue with primary colleagues.

Primary 7 pupils are brought to the School to watch a play created and performed by the S1 Drama Club. With Miss Stewart and the current S1s being new to the school they decided as a club to put on a show that would show off individual talents. The show is a medley of musicals such as Beauty and the Beast, Wicked, Westside Story, The Lion King and Annie. The theme of the show is friendship, as they believed this is an issue which affects everyone when coming up to secondary school. The S1s have been working extremely hard to be ready for performance in June.

After the play the primary 7 pupils are taken to an English classroom where they discuss the content of the play and write a problem page letter based on any fear relating to their move from primary into secondary. After this, pupils discuss a chosen problem in groups and decide on advice they would give to the writer.

Pied Piper

Pied Piper is a theatre club run by and for S6 pupils. It is the senior pupils’ responsibility to choose a play, cast it, rehearse it, direct it, and stage manage it into a professional production fit for performing in front of an audience. This year’s Pied Piper was no exception. They decided to take on the challenge of performing their own abridged version of Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. With Chloe Rayner as the director, Sophie Mason as the stage manager and a strong cast of ten, including David McCreath as Hamlet, Shaun Patterson as the King and Monica Burns as Ophelia, they put on a superb version of the play which utilised the space, set and costumes amazingly, and helped the audience to focus on the intense acting and understand the complex meaning of Shakespeare’s language. Another excellent production, Pied Piper, well done!

Wizard of Oz

Aberdeen Grammar School’s Face the Music was ‘off to see the Wizard’ in their latest production of The Wizard of Oz (RSC Version) in November. A cast and crew of over 100 pupils brought to life one of the most famous musicals which most people know and either love or fear. The dedication and motivation of all those involved in the show superseded all expectations. They had nine weeks’ rehearsal time to put together an all-singing, alldancing extravaganza. The result was three amazing shows performed at the beginning of November, two of which were sold out! The cast’s amazing energy and talent highlighted all comical and sensitive aspects of the script beautifully, which left audiences feeling awed.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

The S4 Fairtrade Committee has been very busy this term, particularly because Fairtrade Fortnight was from 28 February to 13 March. There were pupil and staff stalls every day during the Fortnight, selling a wide variety of Fairtrade products, and these were so popular that we had to order more stock not just once, but twice!

We also held an Inter-house Fairtrade Cookery Competition where pupils submitted a dessert recipe using at least one Fairtrade ingredient. Congratulations go to Andrew Wilson of 1B2 who won with his Tropical Crumble. Well done also to the runners up, Cassie McGunnigle and Shannon Woodside, both of 2KD2. Thank you to the Home Economics staff who helped us to run the competition in their department. Our thanks also go to Mr Stanger and Mr Goodlad who judged the entries.

To end Fairtrade Fortnight on a high note, there was a Fairtrade Fayre in the main hall during lunch on Friday 11 March. This was popular among both staff and pupils as they took part in:

 Reynolds’ Cross Bar Challenge – where you had to hit the cross bar of a goal with a football from three different ranges. The only four contestants to complete this amazing feat were teachers Mr Stanger, Mr Gibson, Mr Combe and Mr Stage. This has thrown down the gauntlet to the pupils to brush up on their footballing skills for next year.

 Tom’s Bola – this was immensely popular with pupils and staff alike. To be in with a chance of winning some superb prizes you paid £1 for three chances to win prizes including chocolate, mug sets, peanut butter, hot chocolate and coffee. The prizes for Tom’s Bola were very kindly donated by Mrs Riddoch and the Co-op and Starbucks, both on Union Street.

 Ubuntu Cola Challenge – one of our free stalls where you were asked to pick out your favourite cola from a choice of two. Of course the Fairtrade cola, Ubuntu, won every time!

 Taste Bud Challenge – another one of our free stalls where you were challenged to taste different items such as orange juice, chocolate, bananas and gummy bears and guess which ones were Fairtrade. These were obviously the better-tasting ones!

 Easter Egg Hunt – this event got off to a flying start with one pupil winning a star prize within minutes of the Fayre opening.

 Information Stall – where you could pick up free leaflets telling you all about Fairtrade.

 Food Stall – another opportunity for everyone to stock up on Fairtrade goodies!

Charities Group

There has been a good and enthusiastic attendance at Charities Group meetings this year. Pupils have been keen to take part and make suggestions about how to raise funds and help with the practical ways of doing it.

Two brief examples. On the final day of the summer term last year, the Rector gave permission for pupils and staff to wear shorts and shades for the day and make a contribution to charity for so doing. Great! It would have been unfair to ask the hard working Office staff to count the money on that day, which was a gloriously sunny one. During the holidays, the tragedy of an earthquake in Pakistan had devastated the country, causing massive damage. In August, when we returned, pupils decided that these monies raised should be sent to a charity helping to alleviate suffering in the region. £660.44 was sent to the charity Islamic Relief, which is run by a former School Chaplain, Habib Malik, who had to relinquish his post due to the nature of his work.

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A second example: A fourth year pupil suggested that we do something to support victims of the Japanese Tsunami. This time the Rector agreed to let pupils wear hats on the final day of the spring term, again paying for so doing, and as a result £667.21 was sent to the Red Cross to assist with their work in flood stricken Japan.

Other campaigns which the Charities Group have tried to help this year include Operation Mercy in Tajikstan, Project No 85096221KHG, where former English teacher Kisrty Buchan is working to improve maternal health. We have donated money to the National Blind Children’s Society, Barnardo’s, Instant Neighbour, UNICEF, Mental Health Aberdeen, and RNLI. Money has also been allocated to a World Challenge Project in Tanzania where over 60 pupils and four members of staff are going to be working in the summer of 2012. A band concert by Organix for UNICEF was not the rip-roaring success we had hoped it would be, as there were some technological problems and a limited audience. However, those who did attend had a great time and we raised £70. This was in addition to the money sent to that particular charity from some of the Sponsored Walk money,

Pupils at a meeting also decided to donate Tuck Shop profits to the runners-up charities about which pupils made presentations at the Youth Philanthropy Initiative event held in school in June.

84 pupils and four members of staff took part in the Cyrenians Sponsored ‘SleepOut’, to raise money for homeless people at Transition Extreme on 26 March. At the time of writing, sponsor money is still coming in. Pupils sold Poppies in November for Poppy Scotland. Pupils also donated goodies for a former member of staff, Mrs Welsh from PE, who is a human dynamo of a person who collects shoe boxes filled with gifts which she sends to children of all ages in war-torn Kosovo. She has been doing this for years and even though she is long since retired she still organizes and runs her KAFKAH group which does this valuable work.

The inclement weather conditions meant that our Annual Christmas Carol Service at St Machar’s Cathedral had to be cancelled. The school still made a donation, through the Minister and Kirk Session of the Cathedral, to Christian Aid and The Mitchell Hospital in Old Aberdeen.

The British Heart Foundation received from pupils and staff bags of clothes, toys etc, which among other things, achieved the impossible. Donations and bags received managed to make the classroom where they were taken for passing on to the BHF even more untidy than usual! That was a tough job but pupils managed it with the volume of their generosity!

The above are just some of the fund-raising events organized by and through the Charities Group. There has been a lot more charitable work done by others in the school beyond the realm of this report. For example, Mr Gibson has done more than his fair share of work. He, with the Technician Mr Smith and Mr Fleming are competing in a decathlon in the Highlands in June to raise money for different charities. The Home Economics staff has raised money for MacMillan Cancer Relief and Breast Cancer Charities. Miss Nicol and other ladies are taking part in A Race for Life. Other staff have run marathons and taken part in other events to support worthy causes.

The Office Staff deserve special praise for the way they count, process and distribute monies received. To all pupils and staff who have taken part and raised funds for different charities – ‘Thank You’.

The F1 Challenge

The F1 Challenge is something in which I hope every individual has the opportunity to take part. The challenge is based around designing, testing, building, racing and presenting a 220mm balsa wood composite car. The team put forward by our Young Engineers Club representing Aberdeen Grammar School was named Team AeroFlux. It comprised Peter

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Sclare, Team Leader, Elliot Ewen, Assistant Leader, Gregor Wittrick, Design Engineer, Catrina Cassie, Graphics Designer, Daniel Coghill, Manufacturing Engineer and Michael Morrison, Resources Manager.

The F1 In Schools Technology Challenge gave the members of Team AeroFlux an opportunity to pursue a multitude of interests ranging from finding out the way things are done in the real world to pursuing a curiosity from catching the tail end of the last Grand Prix on television. The reasons why team AeroFlux members joined were different but the goal which we aimed to achieve was the same - to become the Scottish National Champions.

To achieve this, a number of areas needed to be covered: designing the car, designing the graphics for the car, creating rule compliance orthographics..... This part of the competition was a long uphill battle, with each member of the team having to juggle their commitments to school and other activities with socialising whilst squeezing in as much 'AeroFlux' into an evening or a free period as possible. Thankfully everyone in the team pulled their own weight plus some, making my job as team leader a whole lot easier. In hindsight I am fairly sure that we could not have achieved what we did without everyone's 100% effort from the start of the challenge. Although everyone was putting in a huge effort, for the first few months there was very little evidence of this, with the team still at square one on the design process. Being a completely new team to the challenge gave us the problem of not having a platform to work from. This then meant that we were unsure of what tolerances and shapes to use within the design, and as long as we were unsure of the design of the car very little else could be worked through.

In January of 2011 we finally completed the design and sent off for the components to be custom built. It was at this point that the frantic work surrounding the creation of a folio, a presentation and all other aesthetic areas began. I don't think that any of the team look back on this period with a great deal of fondness; countless sleepless nights and grumpy mornings were the norm.

At this time we were informed that we, by virtue of being the only Scottish team competing, had been crowned the Scottish National Champions and we were invited to attend the British National Finals.

We jumped at the chance to do this and travelled to the London Excel Centre to present to the judges our vehicle and also our pit display and presentation. I can safely say that the weekend of the 12th of March will stay with me forever. I don't think that I have ever before laughed so much with a group of friends and had such a good time. This is not to say we didn't take the challenge seriously. We came away with one of eight awards for “Perseverance in the Face of Adversity”. This was explained to us as not being the trophy for the losers, but for the team who would have won with more time and/or support.

Looking back on this experience I can see how much I personally learned not only about F1 but also about myself and the way I like to be a perfectionist and how I sometimes need to take a step back and let people get on with their own thing. This challenge has taught me innumerable lessons about myself and others which I will take with me into University and later life. Having recently spoken to every member of the team about what the challenge taught them, each and every one of them immediately spoke about what it had taught them about themselves and groups rather than something about cars and F1.

For this unforgettable experience we have our sponsors and supporters to thank. These include BP, Optimus, Blubaker, JC Hydraulics, and Score Group Plc. whose employee, Stuart Cowie, was unbelievably helpful.

Peter Sclare

School Section

Young Enterprise – Spektrum

In July 2010 Spektrum joined the Young Enterprise initiative with a few pairs of earrings and some modest ambitions. Now, with the year of selling coming to a close, it has emerged as one of the success stories of the year. Made up of twelve S5 pupils, we sell a wide range of handmade jewellery including bracelets, hairclips, necklaces and earrings which, as the name suggests, suit many ages and tastes. We are supported by our Link Teacher, Mrs Arthur, and business advisors, Susan Bradie and Adam Lea.

Spektrum have sold at a variety of fairs and selling events since November, including the PTA Ladies’ Night, Malmaison Christmas Market and Young Enterprise selling events on Belmont Street and at Inverurie, where we were awarded runner-up best product.

Spektrum has also proved itself to be a very attractive business for investors. Before selling even began, several local companies invested money in Spektrum which we spent on building the foundations: paying the registration fee and for initial stock. Last December, four members took part in the Dragon’s Den event at Talisman House where, along with two other Aberdeen Grammar companies, they pitched to three ‘dragons’ to win money. Spektrum were awarded £350 from the very impressed judges who declared us to be the overall winners of the event.

After submitting a detailed report about the company last term, Spektrum was selected to be one of six companies to attend the Young Enterprise Grampian Final, the first time a team from Aberdeen Grammar School has qualified. Held at the Marcliffe Hotel on Wednesday 4th May, we will sell more jewellery and give a presentation to many successful business people. Most notable is entrepreneur and star of ‘Dragon’s Den’, Duncan Bannatyne, who will give the final verdict on whether Spektrum will qualify for the National Finals.

It has been a very profitable and successful year for Spektrum. Our jewellery has been extremely popular, with sales exceeding £1000 over the last year, and has been bought by all ages. The whole experience has taught us all a lot about business, teamwork and commitment. We hope our achievements will encourage others to continue Aberdeen Grammar School’s success in Young Enterprise for many years to come.

Cool Science Day

Transition – Progression – Support

Fortunately it was dry as 160 primary pupils, our new S1 intake, gathered in excited groups waiting to experience the 9th annual ‘Cool Science Day’.

Based loosely on the theme of energy, pupils took part in a variety of investigative and challenging activities including Windmills, extracting their own DNA, Siege Engines, Energy Debate, Build a Buggy, Maths Challenge and Chemical Cells. S3 Biology pupils and their primary teachers accompanied the primary groups as they went.

For these pupils this is a fun way to taste life at Aberdeen Grammar School as part of their transition experience. For many it will be a continuation of their progression, already begun, sometimes as early as P3, with visits to the Biology labs to ‘Boil Blood’ and conduct other science experiments. On a more educational note, these experiences allow staff to develop the principles of the Curriculum for Excellence, embodying the use of open-ended, active, investigative and interdisciplinary approaches.

Nationally, we know that this country is not producing scientists in sufficient numbers. Over the years, activities like ‘Cool Science’ should have enabled at least some pupils to see that science can be a career option. Mentors from BP, research engineers from Robert Gordon University, lecturers from Aberdeen University, and science ambassadors from many different areas of the oil industry helped to make this real.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

As usual everyone enjoyed the day as illustrated by the following comments made by pupils.

‘It made me realise something I did not care about was so important’ ‘I got to use my imagination’ ‘I would like to know more about what the million steps in your DNA mean’

‘It was a team challenge, we won and it was fun’

Parent Teacher Association

The PTA committee is made up of parents and two members of staff, and we are supported by a group of volunteers on our tea/coffee rota.

We have had another successful year of raising funds for the School through a variety of social events, the sale of refreshments at parent/teacher evenings and school concerts, raffles and the sale of past papers. We use the money to purchase items which enhance the school facilities, based on suggestions from the staff, pupils and parents. In recent years this has included benches for the playground, diaries for pupils, support for the MyMaths programme, litter bins and a grand piano!

Achievements in 2010-2011

 Grand Piano. In November of 2010, after three years of fundraising, we finally took delivery of a new grand piano for the school. The Bosendorfer 275 is now in pride of place in the assembly hall. Our thanks go to everyone who was involved in this project – past and present PTA committee members, and parents and pupils who supported our fundraising efforts. We also had invaluable help from two former music instructors at the school, Avril Tulloch and Ian Lovegrove, who advised us on the final selection of our piano. Check the school website for more information and photos. A celebratory concert is being held in the School on 21st June, with performances by pupils and staff past and present.

 MyMaths. The Maths department brought this online study aid to our attention and the PTA agreed to fund the programme for one year. It is available to all pupils taking Maths.

 Litter Bins. The School requested that we provide litter bins for the school grounds and we have agreed to buy three bins which will be fixed at various locations in the playground.

 School Diaries for Pupils. We have agreed to fund the cost of these diaries which are to be given to every pupil for the session 2011-2012.

Fundraising Events

Ladies’ Night. For the second year running we held a very successful Ladies’ Night in school, on 11th November. It was an enjoyable evening with many lovely stalls, which included five young enterprise groups from the school, a raffle and an opportunity to socialise as well as shop. Lesley MacKay, of Skin Deep, started the evening with a talk about Dr. Hauschka products and then ladies were free to browse the selection of stalls. We raised £1191.27 for PTA funds. 80s Disco. We danced the night away in aid of MyMaths at an 80s disco held in March at the Aberdeen Squash Racquet Club. Mike McDonald, who provides catering at the FP Club Centre, supplied delicious stovies. Ticket sales, a raffle and a ‘heads and tails’ game raised £968.

Tennis Tournament. Several members of the PTA committee and their partners took part in this small fundraiser on 24th April at Westburn Tennis Centre and raised £97.

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Quiz Night. This has become a regular event on the PTA social calendar. Les Hutton is our quizmaster and as usual the evening takes place at the FP Club. This year’s quiz will be held on 3rd June.

Teas/coffees/raffles at school events. The PTA also supports the School by providing refreshments at parent/teacher evenings and school concerts throughout the year. We could not do this without the help of our group of volunteers and our thanks go to all those involved. Raffles are held at some of the school shows and concerts and these are well supported by all who attend. We are indebted to local businesses and individuals who donate prizes for our raffles, and all gifts are much appreciated.

Sale of past papers This session we started collecting and then selling past papers in school and this has proved to be a worthwhile enterprise. The papers are sold at parent/teacher evenings and at selected lunchtimes in school. All unwanted past papers can be handed in to the school office.

Sale of school uniform and sports wear. We are also planning to collect and sell secondhand uniform and sports wear within the school. As with the past papers, these items will be sold at parent/teacher evenings.

Easyfundraising and Easysearch

If you shop online, Easyfundraising is an effective way of raising funds for the PTA without any extra outlay. Simply log on to www.easyfundraising.org.uk, go to Find a Cause and click on Aberdeen Grammar School PTA then follow the instructions. A percentage of whatever you spend is donated by the online companies to the PTA. You can also raise funds for the PTA by using the search engine, Easysearch. To use go to http://ags.easysearch.org.uk.

The Association can be contacted by email: pta@grammar.org.uk or by letter to Aberdeen Grammar School, Skene Street, Aberdeen AB10 1HT.

Details of forthcoming events and PTA newsletters also appear on the School website.

Parent Council

The Aberdeen Grammar School Parent Council has had a year which has been both interesting and busy.

At the beginning of the current school year, we became involved in the Aberdeen City Council Learning Estate Strategy, when the Council launched an informal consultation on proposals to merge secondary schools so that the city would have eight secondary schools instead of twelve.

While Aberdeen Grammar School was not one of the eight schools which it was planned to merge, the proposals also involved the re-zoning of the catchment areas of the remaining secondary schools and this part of the proposals had the potential to affect the Grammar and its feeder primary schools.

For some time now we have been concerned that, throughout the city, there are several schools which are operating well below their capacity and that, at a time when funding is a major problem, this is a not an efficient way of using increasingly limited resources. We, therefore, sent a letter to each of the councillors on the Aberdeen City Council Education, Culture & Sport (EC&S) Committee advising them that, in principle, we supported the proposals and offering to work with them on any proposals to re-zone the catchment area of the Grammar to ensure that the ethos of the school was not adversely affected. We also sent a deputation to the meeting of the EC&S Committee at the beginning of December to make sure that they understood that, in principle, we supported the proposals and that we wanted to work with them on implementing them.

At the meeting, it became clear that there was no political will to close schools and, while we had been told throughout the informal consultation that the status quo was not an

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

option, this is exactly what we got. In fact, instead of closing schools, the Committee made a commitment to build two new secondary schools, one in the West of the city to replace Northfield Academy and one in the South of the city to replace Torry and Kincorth Academies.

However, the EC&S Committee also decided to keep the proposals to re-zone the catchment areas of the Grammar and Harlaw Academy on the table. While it was difficult to see how the re-zoning of these schools could be done in isolation, this move left parents at both schools and their feeder primary schools uncertain about what the future held. This situation continued until the meeting of the EC&S Committee in March, when it was decided to look at the re-zoning of all of the primary schools in the city and then look at the re-zoning of the secondary schools.

Parents at the Grammar have also been very interested in the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence, which it is claimed will revolutionise education in Scotland, and we have spent a considerable amount of time finding out how it is being implemented at the Grammar and at other schools both within Aberdeen and elsewhere.

It is probably fair to say that this issue has polarised parents both at the Grammar and across the city – parents either strongly support its introduction or fiercely oppose it, and there appears to be very little middle ground. The parents who appear to be the most concerned are those who have older children who are following the old system and younger children who are following the Curriculum for Excellence.

It is almost certain that the debate will continue as the pupils who have recently moved into S2, and who form the first cohort who are following the Curriculum for Excellence, progress through Aberdeen Grammar School.

The effects of the cuts to the education budget in Aberdeen are now becoming clear and it is concerning to see the school losing its School Services Manager, who was only appointed relatively recently to allow senior staff in the school to devote more time to managing the school from an educational point of view. It is also concerning to find that the Grammar is losing 48% of its Pupil Support Assistant hours. Unfortunately, this will adversely affect both the pupils who require additional support in the classroom and the other pupils in the class.

To close on a positive note, it is pleasing to note that the EC&S Committee has recently decided that S5 and S6 pupils from across the city will travel to the Grammar and Harlaw Academy for two afternoons per week to study subjects which are not available at their own schools. This will have the positive effect of preserving a wide subject choice at the Grammar and preserving some teaching posts.

We would like to record our thanks to the staff at Aberdeen Grammar School for the high standard of teaching which they continue to deliver at a time when Curriculum for Excellence is being introduced and the budget cuts mean that resources are limited.

The Phil Love Trophy

The Trophy this year is awarded to David McCreath, in recognition of his contribution to the school through debating. David has been debating since he came to Aberdeen Grammar School, progressing to Finals Day of the International Competition for Young Debaters held at the Oxford Union when he was in first year, and also in the two years which followed when it was held in Cambridge and Oxford respectively. He has also won through the Scottish heats to compete in the Cambridge Schools Debating Competition this year, and the Oxford Schools Debating Competition for the past three years. In Scotland, David has been one of the top speakers in the country for the past two years, most recently being named best speaker in the Edinburgh University Schools Debating Competition, and has been a finalist in the St Andrews, Edinburgh and Aberdeen University Schools Competitions, winning the latter two years in a row. This year saw his greatest success in debating when he was selected to be one of the five-member Scottish Debating Team

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which will go on to represent Scotland in the World Schools Debating Championships this summer, having been selected to trial for the team for the previous two years. Keen to ensure that Aberdeen Grammar School’s strong tradition in debating is continued, he has been heavily involved in running both the Junior and Senior Debating Societies in his senior years, providing coaching, support and advice for the next generation of debaters at the school.

Outside the world of debating, David is also an avid musician, playing both the piano and double bass, gaining Grade 7 and Grade 8 in each respectively. He has played an active part in many of the musical ensembles in the school throughout his time here including the Concert Band, String Orchestra and, in his sixth year, jointly running the Dixieland Band. In between training and competing for debating this summer he will participate in his second course as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. He has also enjoyed a bit of acting during his time at the Grammar, starring in several school shows and taking up the role of Hamlet in this year’s Pied Piper production. Having had a successful and enjoyable sixth year as Head Boy, David hopes to continue to pursue all his activities as he leaves to study Politics and Economics at Edinburgh University.

Mr William J. Johnston

As we go to press we have learned with sadness of the tragic death of Mr William J. Johnston, Rector of the School from 1987 until 2004.

The death occurred as the result of an accident while hill-walking in his beloved Highlands and has both shocked and stunned all who knew him. He was a Rector much admired by his pupils and a colleague much respected by his staff.

With his passing an important link in the history and tradition of the school has been lost.

A full tribute will be paid in the next issue of the Magazine.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Living in an Active Earthquake Zone

By 22 February of this year life was returning to normal, some five months after an unidentified ancient fault produced a 7.1 earthquake that damaged part of Christchurch, New Zealand, and its environs. Most of the repair work was nearing completion, the thousands of aftershocks were abating, everyone had a renewed optimism and preparations were underway for the forthcoming Rugby World Cup tournament, a major part of which was to be held in the City.

All that changed at 12.51 pm that day when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake occurred on the south-eastern fringe of Christchurch, discharging a vertical energy force four times that of the tremor which caused the catastrophic Tsunami in Japan a couple of weeks later.

Unlike the September earthquake, this one caused fatal casualties, 182 dead or missing, and injured hundreds of people, many of whom were trapped in rubble for several hours. It devastated the City Centre, Eastern and Port Hill suburbs, demolished two office blocks, extensively damaged churches, hotels and houses, ruptured sewage, plumbing and power infrastructures, and disrupted transport systems.

At that time, my wife Joan, and I, were in the upstairs lounge of our home in the village of Lincoln, 12 miles south of Christchurch, when we heard the onrush of an approaching blast which suddenly struck the house with a jolt. Joan ran for a doorway, grabbing the doorpost to prevent herself from falling over. I held her around the waist to support her and braced my feet on the concrete floor, which I swear was moving like waves over sand at the beach.

The energy force, which was accompanied by a loud roaring noise, continued to build momentum and made the back of my legs ache. The entire house vibrated and the windows and doors rattled in their frames. I recall feeling that we were completely at the mercy of the earthquake and believed that it was going to seriously damage our home, undoing twelve months of almost completed renovation work in the process.

Twenty odd seconds later the tremor ceased, just as suddenly as it had started. We ran, shaking and shocked, outside to the car, thinking that was the safest place to be. As the first of several major aftershocks struck, causing the car to rock violently from side to side, and the petrol to slosh about, unnervingly, in the fuel tank, we repeatedly tried contacting our children, Joan’s brother and sister, and our work colleagues on our cell phones, but the system was overloaded.

Eventually, the aftershocks temporarily abated and although initial reports on the car radio indicated that Christchurch had sustained serious damage, none was apparent in our street. I ran inside the house and was relieved and surprised to find it intact with everything in place and power and plumbing still functioning. I advised Joan accordingly and decided to return to my office in the Public Health building near the City Centre.

En route to work, I received a text message from Joan to the effect that our children and her relations were unharmed. I also learned that my work colleagues had evacuated the Public Health building, without sustaining injury, and had either gone home or to our fall back Emergency Operations Centre in the basement of Christchurch Women’s Hospital.

After significant delays due to traffic congestion I arrived there and took my place in the Planning and Intelligence Team. As the afternoon wore on, the scale of the devastation became apparent and we knew that we were in for a “marathon response, not a sprint”, to quote one of the Medical Officers of Health.

For the next four weeks I remained working with the Planning and Intelligence Team, witnessing at first hand how Public Health battled successfully to prevent the outbreak of communicable diseases, despite: many homes having no power, sewage and plumbing; drinking and recreational water being contaminated with raw sewage; silt - the product of dreaded liquefaction - omnipresent in houses, gardens, streets and public parks; and the presence of dust and hazardous substances.

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St Luke’s Church, Christchurch

Civil Defence, emergency services, the local authority, public utilities and foreign rescue teams did a marvellous job in responding to the disaster, but at the time of writing in early June, the city centre remains a ‘no-go’ area for everyone other than demolition and repair crews. Nevertheless, our GM, three colleagues and I managed to talk our way through the cordons and into the ‘red zone’ twice in the first 24 hours after the earthquake.

At 9pm that first night I drove them to our office car park, using full beam headlights to penetrate the pitch blackness, carefully and slowly negotiating the subsidence, potholes, and fissures on the road surfaces, and thus enable them to retrieve their vehicles.

The following morning, we returned to our internally damaged office to recover personal effects of colleagues, such as wallets, car keys, cell phones, and reading glasses, all left behind when they hastily fled the building. This proved difficult in that we had to clamber over bookcases, filing cabinets, VDUs, computer terminals, dividing panels, glass particles, and the contents of cupboards and drawers, all strewn about the floors. We also hoped to rescue our servers, but alas couldn’t access the room in which they were kept.

On leaving, we grabbed the keys for the pool cars and drove them out of the ‘no-go’ zone, in convoy. This enabled our Health Protection Officers to operate in the field, which was invaluable to the success of our response.

Travelling within the prohibited zone was a surreal experience. The streets were reminiscent of scenes from the London Blitz, churches with gaping walls, buildings with no roofs, shops without frontages, rubble lining the kerbs and sides of the carriageways. Yet, many buildings appeared intact, including cafes, their deserted tables and chairs still in situ.

Since the emergency response has been scaled down, I have been facilitating earthquake response debriefs across all sectors of the Canterbury District Health Board, from Orderlies to Senior Managers, Administration Clerks to Child Health, Community Dental to Hospital Wards. This has been a challenging, rewarding and interesting role, learning how the Health service coped, and it did so very well, in extremely adverse

Photo courtesy of Ross Becker Photos

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

circumstances. There are many heroic tales to tell of how both individual staff members at all levels, and teams, really stepped up to meet unforeseen and testing challenges.

Joan is quite upset at the devastation of her home town, particularly of the places that hold special memories of when she was growing up. Moreover we are sick and tired of the aftershocks, which strike daily, without warning or regard for the hour. It is of no consolation to know that the current seismic activity is the product of a rare and temporary rupturing of faults that were last active between 15 and 20 million years ago.

Aftershocks manifest themselves in various ways. Some produce a sudden and instantaneous blast and are gone, others can be sensed approaching, and then strike with a shudder and make buildings and furniture vibrate for several seconds. A third type is silent, presenting a rolling, wave type motion which makes one feel light headed.

While the media focuses on reporting magnitudes, the depth of the tremors and modified Mercalli intensity scale (ground shake) are actually of much more relevance. Hence February’s 6.3 earthquake being considerably more destructive than the 7.1 last September.

A sense of humour goes a long way in enabling one to cope with these manifestations. The current jest is that you can easily spot a visitor to the City by the way they drop, cover and hold at the merest hint of an aftershock, whereas the hardened locals don’t bother losing sleep for anything less than a 4.5. One common diversion is to estimate the magnitude of the latest aftershock and then Google ‘Quake.Crowe’ to see who has bragging rights.

Despite the interruptions of aftershocks, and the inconvenience of not having a city centre, fewer shops, eateries, sports centres and places of entertainment, life goes on. The rural cafes and vineyard restaurants are doing a roaring trade and the country lanes around Lincoln are thronged with cyclists every week-end as people from Christchurch seek the solace of the relatively undamaged villages and countryside.

For us the greatest inconvenience is not getting our renovations finished because the tradesmen have been called away to effect emergency work. Leisure-wise, fly fishing for trout and tramping in the hills is on hold, for safety reasons, until the seismic activity settles down. However, we can’t complain because many people, including some of my work colleagues, have lost their homes and possessions.

My old Maths and Physics Teachers would be astonished to know that I now fully comprehend the theory behind the logarithmic scale, sinusoidal waves, vertical and lateral energy forces, and appreciate their practical application. To those of my former classmates who similarly struggled, I do not recommend living through two major earthquakes and almost 7000 aftershocks as being a good way to become enlightened.

For those of you with an interest in the ongoing seismic activity ‘down-under’, the following websites are very informative and interesting: http://quake.crowe.co.nz/ and www.geonet.org.nz

Hamish J.B. Sandison (1963-69)

Hamish Sandison is an Emergency Preparedness Co-ordinator in the Communicable Disease & Emergency Preparedness Team of the Community & Public Health Department at Canterbury District Health Board.

A Botanist at the Natural History Museum

As my 80th birthday was in 2008, I am often asked why I still go into London to work three days a week. I am a plant taxonomist, i.e. I name and classify plants; and I work at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington.

Just as you have a name of your own (e.g. John) and a family name (e.g. Smith), plants are all given names; but their names are in Latin form, and the ‘family’ name comes

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first. Thus, although the common daisy in our lawns has many names in different countries, it is known scientifically throughout the world as Bellis perennis. The first name indicates the group, or genus, to which the plant belongs, and the second (the species name) applies to itself only. Rather confusingly, ‘family’ in botany is usually applied to a group of genera (plural of ‘genus’).

My job is to examine groups of plants in order to find out how they are related, what their correct names are (or to give a name to those that do not have one), then to describe their characters and distribution (where they grow naturally) and to provide a ‘key’ (a series of related questions) that will enable them to be identified. From an investigation of this sort, it is often possible to obtain an idea of the evolution of the group. It would be quite impractical to travel to all parts of the world in order to collect the plants from their natural habitats, so I usually study specimens. These are mostly plants, or parts of plants, which, having been collected in the wild, or sometimes in gardens, have been dried under pressure in a plant press before being mounted on a sheet of stiff paper. A label giving details of where and when it was collected and its name (if known) is added. A collection of such specimens is called a herbarium, a word which is also applied to the room in which the collection is kept. The flowering plant part of our herbarium contains over three million specimens, the oldest being from the 17th century. Studies often involve visits to other herbaria, some local (e.g. Kew), others far away (e.g. New York); or specimens may be obtained on loan from these herbaria. Finally, to discover what has already been written about the plants is essential, so one must have access to a good library. Those at the Natural History Museum and at Kew are among the very best in the world.

When I started working at the Natural History Museum in 1962, after studying at Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities and working for six years at Kew on the plants of the Zambesi basin, its name was still British Museum (Natural History). Although it had been separated from the British Museum in Bloomsbury in 1881, when the main part of the present South Kensington building was opened, it still had the same trustees as the Bloomsbury Museum. Most people think of it as a place of public exhibitions, particularly of dinosaurs; but its international reputation depends on its five research departments –Botany, Zoology, Entomology (insects), Palaeontology (fossils) and Mineralogy – where the work was (and to a large extent still is) based on their collections of specimens. Today, however, new techniques to investigate relationship are widely employed. In the first three departments, these mostly involve molecular methods (e.g. using DNA).

In Botany, classification is presented in two main ways, in Floras (studies of plants of an area, e.g. Central America) or Monographs (studies of related groups of plants). I have worked in both ways, but my special interest has been monographic. As an undergraduate in Aberdeen in 1950, I was given the British species of Hypericum (St. John’s Wort) as a research project, and I have worked on this genus intermittently ever since. It comprises almost 500 species with an almost worldwide distribution, except for the lowland tropics and very cold or very dry regions. My monographic treatment of Hypericum will be in nine parts, seven of which were published in the Museum journal (1977-2006). The eighth was published in 2010 in another journal, and work on the ninth is well advanced.

The name Hypericum comes from the Greek for ‘above the image’, huper eikon Since ancient times, plants of this genus have been thought to be effective in warding off evil spirits, so the Greeks decorated their religious figures with one or other species of Hypericum at times when spirits were said to be most active. One of these times was Midsummer, when many species of Hypericum are in flower. As pagan festivals were mostly adopted into the Christian calendar, Midsummer became the celebration of the birth of St. John the Baptist (24th June) and the plant was therefore called St. John’s Wort. In mediaeval Europe, Common St. John’s Wort (H. perforatum) was known as Fuga Daemonum (Make the Demons Flee).

Hypericum is interesting to me for several reasons. Although the petals are nearly always yellow, in other characters it is very variable. The stamens form groups in some

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

species and not in others. Translucent glands containing oils that are present in all species result in the ‘holes’ in the leaves, black or reddish solid glands containing hyperacid occur in most, and both types form distinct patterns in different parts of the genus. A study of these and many other characters in relation to the distributions of the species has enabled me to produce a new classification of this quite large genus (484 species). It ranges from trees up to 10 m. in East Africa to tiny herbs about 3 cm. tall in, for example, California. The detailed study which I have made has been fascinating in many ways, not least in the light it has thrown on the evolution of Hypericum. For example, I am able to state fairly confidently that Hypericum spread from Africa to all the other continents, either overland before the southern ones were formed by the break-up of the super-continent Gondwanaland or, more likely, by transport of the small seeds by birds or wind. It is because of ideas of this sort that I continue to go into the Museum to work more than twenty-three years after my official retirement in 1988.

Norman K.B. Robson (1933-40)

The above article previously appeared in the St Peter’s Limpsfield Pariah News and is reprinted by kind permission.

The Glory Years Of Grammarian Hockey

In the mid-nineteen-sixties Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils were the dominant force in Scottish hockey. For many years Grammar FPs had ruled the hockey roost in the north east, apart from occasional short term challenges from Aberdeen University. There was no national league structure in those days but the setting up of an annual Scottish Cup tournament around 1963, initially known as the Daily Mail Scottish Cup, enabled FPs to compete against the best teams in the country and to establish their claim to national preeminence.

FPs had an outstanding record in the initial years of the new Scottish Cup, appearing in three successive finals, winning in 1964 and 1966 and losing only after extra time in 1965. Hockey was a true amateur sport in those days, with no sponsorship of clubs. Membership of Grammar FP hockey teams was restricted to former pupils of the school, whereas many of the opposition teams had membership open to all comers. While this restriction may have been a handicap in some ways, it engendered a great team spirit amongst players who had known each other for many years at school and were proud to wear the famous green and magenta shirts.

The achievements of the 1964 to 1966 teams were all the more remarkable considering the casual approach to fitness and match preparation. Training was held only once a week in the old school gym. This consisted of a few warm up exercises, followed by highly competitive football matches, which amazingly resulted in relatively few injuries, despite full bloodied tackling. Any benefit that might have resulted from this so called “training” was immediately undone by a subsequent recuperation session in the bar of the Atholl Hotel! In all my time playing FP hockey, we never once trained or practised on a pitch at Rubislaw – no astro turf or floodlights in those days! Tactical team talks or game plans were completely absent. Nevertheless, once we took to the field on a Saturday afternoon, there was total commitment to the cause, under-girded by pride in representing our beloved school. We also had great confidence in our ability, knowing that we had many outstanding players. Predominant amongst these were our Scottish internationalists, Eric Watt, Fred Lawson and Jimmy Wight, but we also had a number of others who reached Scottish trialist level. In addition, virtually every member of our teams had been chosen to represent North District in the annual Inter-District Championships.

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What follows is a brief summary of our three Scottish Cup campaigns during that vintage period in Grammarian hockey:-

1964 Scottish Cup

In cup competitions a home tie is always a great advantage, but we were unlucky in being drawn away in every match but one (in 1965) during the entire 1964 to 1966 period. In the semi-final we were drawn away against Glasgow Eastbank. The match was played in Garthamlock, on a blaes pitch. For most of our team this was a new experience and we took time to adjust to the new type of surface, going a goal down early on. Thereafter, we gradually took control of the game and ended up with a narrow, but deserved, 3-2 victory. Our goal scorers were Ian Middleton, Les Forbes and Fred Lawson. Sadly, this was the last game ever played for FPs by one of our stalwarts, Ian Middleton. He had bravely played through back pain for most of the season and I can still recall him, on the way home from the semi-final in Glasgow, lying on the floor at the back of the team bus, trying to get relief from the pain. He was desperate to play in the final but this was not possible and his place on the left wing was taken by Hamish McIntyre. Otherwise, we fielded an unchanged team in the final (see below for details of team personnel in all three finals).

Our opponents in the final were Whitecraigs, from the suburbs of Glasgow. FPs were strong favourites to beat Whitecraigs in the final at Peffermill in Edinburgh, but all did not go to plan. In another illustration of our casual attitude, we nearly missed the start of the match. We travelled by team bus and stopped for far too long for lunch at a hotel in Kinross. Eventually, realising the time constraints as we reached the outskirts of Edinburgh, wives and girl friends were ushered to the front of the bus and averted their gaze while the team changed at the back. We arrived at Peffermill only five minutes before starting time and the Scottish Hockey officials were furious with us. They would not allow us any time to warm up and we had to go straight on to the pitch and start the match. We were clearly unsettled by this and did not play to our best until the second half of the match. Thereafter, we were the dominant team but our finishing was not as clinical as usual. It looked as if extra time would be required but with less than five minutes to go the breakthrough finally came with a typical individual goal from our talismanic centre forward, and man of the match, Fred Lawson.

We had done it the hard way but the Scottish Cup was deservedly coming back on the team bus to Aberdeen. That evening, Glen Gibson, the presenter of Saturday Sports Report on Radio Scotland, informed an expectant nation that Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils were Scottish hockey champions. Grammarians had entered the hockey history books.

The 1963-64 team was probably our strongest of the three glory years. In addition to winning the Scottish Cup, that season FPs also won the North District League, the President’s Cup, the May Tournament and the Sixes Cup.

1965 Scottish Cup

We received our only home draw of the 1964 to 1966 period in the 1965 semi-final, defeating Edinburgh Northern 2-1 after extra time in a closely fought game at Rubislaw, Les Forbes and Fred Lawson scoring.

The final was held at the ICI Grangemouth sports ground and we were favourites to beat Glasgow Clydesdale. Perhaps we were over-confident and we went behind mid-way through the first half. Fred Lawson again produced a cup final goal to level the scores and thereafter the match was evenly contested. However, in extra time, which was a sudden death affair, Clydesdale eventually managed to score the deciding goal.

On the balance of play we did not deserve to lose but neither did we do enough to earn victory. We knew that the only way to remove the hurt of the cup final defeat was to come back to the same ground and win next year’s final. Against all the odds, that is exactly what we managed to achieve.

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1966 Scottish Cup

The final was again held at ICI Grangemouth’s sports complex but, for once, we were the underdogs, playing against a highly-rated Inverleith team from Edinburgh. Inverleith had our former stalwarts, Jimmy Wight and Ally Philip in their team. No less than four of our first choice players were unavailable for the final, which was a massive blow. However, their replacements rose magnificently to the occasion and our performance in the final was probably our best over the entire three-year period of cup glory. Our left sided attackers, Joe Leiper at inside left and Stan Leslie on the left wing, were outstanding and repeatedly created havoc in the right side of the Inverleith defence. Joe scored twice and Stan once.

We were two goals in front until early in the second half, when Inverleith pulled a goal back and put our defence under great pressure. With goal keeper Walter Dick and full back Eric Watt at their imperious best, the onslaught was weathered and after our late third goal, we ran out deserved winners. On paper, Inverleith would have been expected to win but our experience of playing in finals, allied to our team spirit, gave us our most satisfying victory of all.

Although Grammar FPs did reach a further two Scottish Cup finals in 1969 and 1971, 1966 was the last time that FPs won the cup. For a three year period from 1964 to 1966 Grammarians were at the peak of Scottish hockey and the school and its former pupils can look back with pride at those golden years. The green and magenta jerseys may now have been discarded but the achievements of those who wore them in the mid nineteen sixties live on in the record books.

Team Personnel

1964 Team - v - Whitecraigs (1-0)

Walter Dick; David Ness and Eric Watt; Keith Campbell, Jimmy Wight and Alex Hampton; Les Forbes (Captain), Donald Ross, Fred Lawson, Alastair Philip and Hamish Mcintyre.

1965 Team - v - Clydesdale (1-2, after extra time)

Walter Dick; Sandy Cromar and Eric Watt; Alex Hampton, Keith Campbell and Donald Ross; Les Forbes, Jimmy Milne, Fred Lawson, Alastair Philip (Captain) and Joe Leiper.

1966 Team - v - Inverleith (3-1)

Walter Dick; Bill Gatt and Eric Watt (Captain); John Drummond, Jimmy Milne and Donald Ross; Les Forbes, Peter Donald, Fred Lawson, Joe Leiper and Stan Leslie.

Donald F. Ross (1946-60)

Japan – Land of the Rising Sun & Falling Powder

When my wife handed me a brown A4 envelope on my 34th birthday last November, telling me that it was my present, I wasn’t too impressed; however I was very pleasantly surprised upon investigating its contents. It contained tickets for the skiing adventure trip of a lifetime - a 16-day trip to Japan! Speechless…

Japan boasts 700 ski resorts, more than any other country in the world, and an average yearly snowfall of 15 metres makes it a skiing mecca. In addition to the skiing, the trip

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was about experiencing all aspects of Japan, including its incredible culture and travel systems, not to mention the food.

We set off from Aberdeen on Saturday, 12th February 2011, first stop T5 Heathrow to meet the rest of our small group. There were five other adventurers plus our guide, Lee. After a swift coffee we boarded the 11-hour flight to Tokyo Narita.

Arriving in Tokyo at 9.15 next morning, and after experiencing phenomenally efficient Customs, our private shuttle bus whisked us to the Tokyo Hilton where we were to stay for one night. Our early morning arrival afforded us the luxury of exploring our way around Tokyo. We chose not to join an official ‘Tour bus, Tokyo’, but instead, armed with a tube map and some recommendations from the hotel concierge, we headed out like a school trip! We visited the Shinjuku Gyoen Japanese gardens, the Imperial Palace and the Senso Ji Temple. There was many a photo-opportunity with the contrast between palaces and temples built in 1590 and the modern high-rise neon lights of modern day Tokyo, pristine Japanese gardens full of Koy carp, Bonsai trees and the first sign of cherry blossom. Growing hungry and tired we popped into a traditional Japanese restaurant for tempura and the local speciality, tendon!

Shona and Grant in Japanese costume

After a good night’s sleep and a leisurely breakfast we transferred to Central Tokyo station where we boarded the quite remarkable 200mph Bullet train to Nagano. Arriving in Nagano we took a Japanese-style ‘fast food lunch’ - fresh, tasty noodles, cooked in minutes in front of you; imagine Wagamama’s but better. Appetites satisfied, we took a short transfer to the Jigokundani Snow Monkey Park, home to the Japanese Macaque, or Snow Monkey, who utilise the hot Onsen pools in the winter months to keep warm and find food. After a huge number of photos were taken we headed to Nozawa Onsen, our first ski resort. We arrived in time to settle into our Japanese rooms, freshen up in the Onsen and dress suitably in mandatory Kimonos, (not to be confused with Yukata which

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are for bathing!) for our first elite Japanese dining experience. Our very excited group retired to bed early at the prospect of our first day’s skiing the following day. It snowed heavily overnight and snow was still falling when we awoke. After a hearty Japanese breakfast we headed to the slopes and were not disappointed. The slopes were quiet due the visibility being quite poor, however our first experience of fresh Japanese powder did not disappoint. I had never skied on such light and fluffy snow; we were definitely spoilt for our Japanese skiing baptism. Our good deed for the day was to rescue a Japanese teenager from an eight-foot hole on our last run of the day. He had been skiing off-piste himself, which is never a smart idea, had fallen down the hole and was doubled in half, unable to get any traction to climb out. After establishing that he wasn’t injured, thanks to international sign language(!), Lee and I tried various techniques to rescue the terrified teen. We didn’t have a rope with us on this occasion, so had to make use of a silver birch to pull him out. Needless to say he was very grateful and offered us a giant bar of chocolate in thanks. He was very fortunate that we heard his calls for help; had we not, he would have perished overnight. We escorted him to the lift station to reunite him with his friends.

Our second day in Nozawa Onsen was incredible. The skies had cleared and we were blessed with beautiful blue skies and not a cloud in sight, and perfect powder conditions. We all eagerly hit the powder from first thing in the morning, starting off with some of the same runs we had tackled the previous day, but this time with visibility. The views from the top of the mountain were stunning, and it was great to be able to see the surrounding mountains. We tackled a few new backcountry areas in the morning which ended with us having to make our own track to traverse back to the piste. However, as more of our group flattened the track it did get faster and faster. My wife, Shona, took Lee’s advice of ‘keep your speed up’ to heart and ended up missing the sharp turn towards the piste, and instead flying off a small ledge and into a small silver birch! My heart sank as I saw her disappearing into the soft powder snow and was relieved to see some of our travel companions pulling her out by her feet by the time I reached the scene! I should have pointed out before now that my wife was twenty weeks pregnant at the time. Thankfully both she and bump were, and continue to be, fine. Lee instantly regretted telling an exinternational ski-racer to go quickly!

Lunch was a welcome break from the ‘excitement’ and we all indulged in the usual Japanese fare, huge bowls of noodles with a variety of sauces all prepared in minutes. This re-set our energy levels for the afternoon as we prepared ourselves for ‘the big one’ –one long run which would enable us to be off the hill by 3:30pm. The run was great; we had six or seven steep sections to ski and as there were some pretty tired legs by this point the result was some spectacular falls, tumbles, roly-polys, back-flips and just sitting down! I had a pretty spectacular fall which resulted in losing both skis and the group were concerned that they’d be carrying me out of the valley! After a good ten minutes of searching we found them; why isn’t there an ‘app’ for that!? We skied down, getting back to the hotel just in time for the bus at 5pm...so much for the ‘shorter’ afternoon. However, it’s safe to say that everyone enjoyed the day and there were a few weary legs to show for the 25.1km with a total vertical descent of 4000metres – now there is an app for that!

We transferred to our next resort, Hakuba, that evening where we were to stay at the Hakuba Tokyo hotel. This was a fantastic hotel with fantastic food, facilities and just a five minute free shuttle bus ride to the ‘Gondara’ station (said in Japanese English accent). We started the next day with a huge buffet breakfast, with a choice of Japanese or Western food. We hit the slopes by 9.30 and the off-piste was good – chopped up wintry powder, with pockets of soft fresh snow to be found. A cheeky coffee in Mr Branson’s Virgin café and then into the secret routes that Lee had discovered on last year’s trip. Hakuba does not promote off-piste skiing, however they do turn a blind eye to it and have an off-piste backcountry company in town.

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The hills here are more mountain-like, a little similar to Alpine resorts, however with miles and miles of silver birch trees it is clear that you are in an Eastern resort. We were treated to views right across the valley and skied all day till the 5pm bus back. A quick soak and rejuvenation in the ‘Onsen’ was followed by a fine Japanese dinner.

Our second day in Hakuba in the ‘Happo One’ area started with snow, lots of it. The rain/snow limit was about 1000m which left half the mountain in cloud. We ascended the summit chair, the ‘Grat Quad’, where we found some fantastically light powder. A few more runs together, taking slightly more challenging tree lines, and then took a break to refuel by lining Mr Branson’s pockets once more. The weather closed in during the afternoon so we called it a day at 3.30, retiring to the bar for a hot ‘Sake’ or a beer and then back to the hotel to load the private taxis for this afternoon’s transfer to our final South Island ski field of ‘Akakora Kanko’ near ‘Myoko Kogen’. The journey took a little over two hours, travelling south back through Nagano and then north-east up out to Myoko. It snowed for the entire journey, as we crossed from Nagano to Nigata prefecture (like our counties). The snow just got heavier and heavier and was drifting at the side of the motorway.

Arriving at our next hotel at 6.30, we settled into our rooms and met at 8pm for dinner. The hotel is perched on the side of the ski hill, a stunning white and red building of 5-star luxury, frequented by the Japanese royal family, and complete with infinity pool. For a bit of variety we opted for a mouth-watering French dining experience. All were early to bed in anticipation of tomorrow’s conditions.

Everyone had a good night’s sleep, even those who were still suffering from jet lag. It must have been the comfort and ambience of the superb hotel that provided the perfect relaxation. As was becoming the norm, there was a choice of Japanese or American breakfast and the group split equally down the middle in their choices. For a change, everyone was on time for breakfast as we were all eager to sample the superb powder that had greeted our arrival the night before. There was so much snow that we all considered ski tracers (4-metre luminous cords which you attach to your ski) a necessity in case anyone lost a ski.

The area is not a large one, but with so much powder the off-piste was incredible and we seemed to find an infinite number of routes through the trees. I would like to be able to tell you the names of the lifts and runs which we used, but unfortunately the piste map is all in Japanese; suffice to say that we covered the whole of the area but mainly kept high up the mountain as this provided the best snow conditions for tree skiing. Eventually we all made it to lunch and then we had a few more lovely runs in the afternoon and only just made the last lift, due to a late fall and lost ski by the token Welshman in our group. We then returned to the hotel for a drink in the beautiful bar overlooking the hotel’s infinity pool. Even our guide remarked that the snow we had skied today was the best he had ever experienced.

On our second day in Myoko, February 20th, we would ski a local resort called Seki Onsen. The blogs which our guide had read the night before said ‘Don’t go if the top lift isn’t open’, or ‘it hasn’t recently snowed’ - thankfully more snow than we had ever seen had fallen! There are only two lifts anyway and you could almost walk up faster than the top one! The top chair bore an uncanny resemblance to the Tiger chairlift at Glenshee but without the safety bar.

With the hotel concierge’s assistance our guide established that the top lift was running and booked a taxi for 8.30 for the short thirty-minute drive around the north-east side of Mount Myoko. As we rode the first lift the sun beat heavily onto the South-facing slopes and ‘Phirrip-Son’ (Phillip!) questioned how we would make the day last in this ‘small’ resort – if only he knew! A couple of warm-up runs on the only piste there is, past the only restaurant there is and we were ready for off-piste. We knew that there were three ski-able valleys here which ‘almost’ returned you to the lift station and with full backcountry safety equipment we set off to explore. Then we struck gold.

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A local guy called Araki Yosuki who had been helping on the lift approached Lee and the conversation went a bit like this:

‘You want ski off-piste?’

‘Yes please’

‘I show you secret place, top secret, yes?’

‘Yes please’

‘I show you, come with me, top secret yes, and you eat please in this restaurant’ (pointing at the only restaurant there is!)

‘Yes O.K sounds good, thanks.’

As we rode the chair with our new friend and local guide, Araki, he handed me a token for one ride on a chair lift in the next resort of Q-kamar and proceeded to explain the route. He didn’t join us but explained it well, and when we got into the first slightly steeper section it opened up a great face of cold north-facing Japanese powder, awesome! This long valley took us on a real backcountry experience which brought us out at a chair lift in the next valley – one short ride and a ten minute walk and we were back at the bottom chair in Seki Onsen. Simply outstanding!

From that point on Araki gave us tips and suggestions and we skied over into both valleys on either side of the resort ‘aspect chasing’ due to the hot sun, yet skiing northfacing powder all day. Lunch in the restaurant was fantastic and was served by, yes you guessed, Araki. It turns out his family own the restaurant and the two lifts! We had found the best Japanese guide this side of Tokyo.

That evening we enjoyed another exquisite Japanese meal, Sukiyaki, and recollected the day. We had skied amazing powder and European style off-piste for the last six days in the South Island; tomorrow we fly north.

Monday, 21st February was ‘Travel day’ to the North island of Hokkaido. It started with a particularly amusing incident when Shona dropped her phone down the toilet, rendering it useless. There are about fifteen different buttons on your average Japanese toilet to wash, dry, clean, heat, play music etc…unfortunately for Shona, there wasn’t one for phone retrieval!

This was obviously a sign of things to come that day. Japanese time-keeping is better than the Swiss, so when there was no bus at the hotel on time we awaited news. Sure enough the staff of the hotel informed us there had been a crash in the tunnel coming up the road; they would shuttle us down, and we would then walk through the tunnel with our luggage and connect with another bus. The crashed bus in the tunnel was indeed ours! Thankfully the remainder of the journey passed without incident as we made our way to Niseko, the powder capital of Japan.

We were staying in the Vale Hotel in Niseko, a very modern apartment-style hotel with great food, outstanding coffee and high-speed wireless internet access. After a delicious evening meal and several beers the group crashed out, exhausted after the day of travel.

The following morning we were shuttled the short journey to Rusutsu, a small local resort not typically frequented by westerners. With the sun shining and a clear blue sky we were treated to spectacular views of the Mt. Yotei volcano. We met up with our local guide, ‘Powder Pete’ – well, local Aussie!, and enjoyed a fantastic day’s skiing among the trees, ripping up untouched pistes and knocking the living daylights out of our knees on a ridiculously long rut line through a mogul field. On the final run of the day we skied untracked snow all the way down to the road edge where our taxi picked us up to return to Niseko.

The next day saw a stark contrast in the weather, a real pea-souper!! The weather was against us, which meant that we couldn’t get high enough up the mountain for the steeper runs, or through the famous backcountry gates, so we had a relaxed day on the lower pistes, generally just mucking about! That day we had numerous coffee breaks and a particularly long lunch. The lazy day would actually set us up well for experiencing the

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world’s largest night skiing area that evening. The entire mountain, on and off piste, was floodlit and practically empty. Night skiing is fantastic, in that you instantly feel like you ski better and faster – whether you do or not I am not sure; what it does do is narrow your focus of attention and increase concentration, thus creating a better and finer focus point and a quicker reaction time. Everyone was buzzing after it, and we managed to take some great video footage.

Our second day on the pistes in Niseko saw similar weather to the day before, with the top lifts closed due to wind, preventing any backcountry gate access. ‘Niseko rules’ is a system of gates accessing the off-piste areas there, thus allowing the ski patrol to regulate the safety aspects and decisions – this gains respect from the powder hunters preventing any illegal rope-ducking.

Unfortunately the North island was a little bit of an anti-climax due to promises of the best ever skiing not materialising due to the poor weather. We were very lucky that we had been spoilt with phenomenal conditions on the South island. Ever the optimist, our local guide, Powder Pete, set out to take us all over the mountain in search of pockets of powder in amongst the trees. We worked harder than we thought we’d have to but actually had a pretty good morning’s skiing.

During lunch our guide hatched a plan to liven up the afternoon - Tele-marking! With off-piste limited it seemed a good idea at the time. Only one member of our group had tried this before and it was safe to say we were appalling at it. All being very competent with our preferred mode of skiing, we struggled with the tele-marking technique and provided plenty of amusement to groups of Japanese school children. As the afternoon wore on our confidence grew and for the last run, we all took the gondora much higher up the mountain. A quick shot of Dutch courage and we set off. Dusk was falling and the lights had come on at this stage. Everyone made it down safely, but I am not sure how many will be sticking on the tele’s in future.

After a quick freshen up we met in the bar before heading to a small steak bar, Steak Rosso Rosso. If you have never cut a steak with the back of your knife, you have to try ‘Kobe beef’. It truly was melt in the mouth steak, delicious if not a little on the expensive side, but well worth it. We were the last to leave the restaurant and coffee, or more beers, were taken back at the hotel whilst reflecting on a great, if a little topsy-turvy, skiing adventure.

February 25th was our departure day from the North island, and with light snow flurries falling it gave the wintry look back to Niseko for final photos, a great brunch and some souvenir shopping. We checked out of the Vale and took the short transfer back to Sapporo airport for our afternoon flight to Tokyo’s Narita airport. We checked into the Hilton Narita and popped into town for our final Japanese team dinner.

Shona and I had opted to stay on in Tokyo for a few extra days to explore; it would have been stupid not to considering the distance we had travelled. We stayed in another Ryokan, this one being even more basic that the one we experience previously, with traditional tatami mats on the floor and the equivalent of a camp mat to sleep on. It served us well, as it was in the middle of Ginza, which is the iconic shopping district of Tokyo and by the look of things uses more than it’s fair share of neon lighting. We sampled the delights of numerous shops, traditional temples, gardens and restaurants and were lucky enough to see part of the 2011 Tokyo marathon too. Our last little trip took us to the reclaimed island of Odaiba where we visited Fuji TV’s headquarters, the Toyota museum, which had an incredible selection of past and present cars on show; and yet more shops! One final Japanese dining experience in down-town Ginza and then early to bed for travelling home the following day. The pièce de résistance on what was already an amazing trip was being upgraded to business class for our flight home.

The timing of our trip could not have been more fortunate for us, departing on February 28th, ten days before the tragic tsunami and earthquake that struck on Friday 11th March. It was very sobering indeed to see areas in Tokyo, where we had been, being

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destroyed by fire or buildings significantly damaged. Knowing how ingenious, welcoming and friendly the Japanese are they will not let the tragedy get them down and will recover. I would still thoroughly recommend a trip, skiing or otherwise, to Japan; it is an incredible place and one which I would hope to repeat at some stage.

The iminient arrival of junior Hamilton may put a temporary hold on adventure ski trips for the near future! However, I’m already eyeing up a trip to ski seven volcanoes in Chile…..

Grant A. Hamilton (1988 -1994)

NEVER LOOK BACK – AGS IN THE THIRTIES

A few years ago, at one of the November Former Pupils’ Club dinners in the Caledonian Club, London, the Assistant Rector was heard to remark to others at the top table, "these fine old gentlemen now coming in for the dinner possibly don't realise that the School today is quite different from what it was when they were pupils".

This was at a period when London Club Centre dinners had become increasingly lowkey affairs compared to their hey-day years when attendances, swelled by the presence of wives and women friends (but unfortunately not women FPs) were quite massive. Of course the remark was true, but then change takes place whether we like it or not, and the Grammar School today is still a prestigious school which continues to produce many pupils who will later enjoy interesting and distinguished careers.

There is no question that the School provided an education in my day (1930-42) which was comparable to any anywhere in the United Kingdom as the record of former pupils shows. Ambassadors, top lawyers, medical specialists achieving knighthoods, notable sportsmen and adventurers tell the story. There were probably fewer pupils at the School in the thirties (800 rather than 1200 plus) and for the most part they were fortunate in having supportive parents and home backgrounds. There was a democratic mix of boys, one of my classmates being the son of a tram conductor, the boy next to him the son of a recent Lord Provost of Aberdeen, while farther away, living in the Boarding House, was the son of rubber plantation parents living in Malaya. Robert Gordon's College at the time claimed to be more democratic than the Grammar, but I doubt it.

There were memorable teams of women teachers in the Kindergarten and the Lower School. Who will ever forget the Misses Clark, Stevenson and Garioch with the Infants and Misses Duff, Gracie, Davidson and Stewart in the Lower School? These worthy women taught us to read and write properly, led us through the mental gymnastics of basic arithmetic and gave us a knowledge of world geography. The men they might have married were lost, no doubt, in the 1914-18 war, and they all grew grey in spinsterhood.

In the senior school the men who taught us all had distinctive personalities, illustrated by their nicknames – Happy Harry, Suivi Souter, Goofy Milne, Beery Bob (in the Workshop), Pa Hendry and Pa Walker, not to mention Pa Paterson the deputy rector. At another London Club dinner one speaker said "Who can forget Gavin Falconer, the music teacher?" – whereupon he burst into song "Out of the Night that covers me!" There was the legendary Maths teacher Bill Stewart, and the year before I left the distinguished educationist J.J. Robertson took over as Rector aided, of course, by the school secretary Miss Beattie Brown. There was always a good relationship between the boys and the masters, and there was never any doubt as to who was in charge. In later years when retired masters were entertained at FP dinners, there appeared to be an element of affection in the relationship.

During my time there the School was accused of laying too much emphasis on sport, the jibe being that "the Grammar education consists of 70% sport (Games masters Duncan Macgregor and, during the war years, Freddie Edwards) and 30% work". I don't take this seriously, as many pupils I knew went on to pursue scholarly careers in philosophy,

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

classical languages and librarianship and I can remember plenty of hard class work and homework being done at the time.

Certain aspects of the education one received in those days, however, must come under criticism. Dare I say it, but on reflection I think I would have been better served in a mixed school, growing up with the opposite sex always being there. The reason for this is that going to university straight from a boys only school, and having to mix with young women equal in ability and ambition, can be a traumatic experience for a young man. Many of the girls one met there were, of course, in the same boat. One experience never to be forgotten whilst still at school was going to Madame Murray's ballroom dancing classes in the High School and meeting High School sixth formers.

In early 1939 a school party visited Paris and I remember that the evening we arrived was spent walking about in the streets near the hotel, enjoying the warm air (in contrast to cold Aberdeen). We visited a post office to buy stamps for our postcards home. In spite of having read in class the classic French of Guy de Maupassant, Alfred de Musset and Chateaubriand, I was tongue-tied when having to ask for a stamp! Surely every-day spoken French should have been essential practice in class. Things, of course, are very different today, but we were certainly under a handicap.

Another criticism was the games routine. I myself liked cricket, but then everyone can do something in cricket. To me rugby was a pain. It is a specialist game where one has to be fast, quick-witted and preferably heavy as well. I do not think it should be imposed generally on all young boys, and I can well remember many cases of broken collar bones, arms and even legs as a consequence of this blanket coverage. Young boys like sport, but there should be a variety of sporting pursuits available to them. I know that these views are shared by many of the FPs I met in later years.

I have found my education at the Grammar in those far-off days to have been of inestimable value through my life, and the regular Club meetings and dinners a source of lasting enjoyment. My hope is that the London Centre of the FP Club will experience a revival in the future and that many convivial dinners and other meetings, attended by both sexes, will result.

John G.C. Brown (1930-42)

Former Pupils’ Section

Former Pupils’ Club

Founded 11 September 1893

Club Office-Bearers, 2011-2012

Honorary President:

GRAHAM LEGGE, BEd, MEd (Rector)

Honorary Vice-Presidents:

T. GORDON COUTTS (1938-49), QC, MA, LL.B (President, 1980-81)

JAMES A.N. WATT (1927-39), CA (President, 1982-83)

BRIAN K. CROOKSHANKS (1934-46), TD, MA, LL.B (President, 1983-84)

ERIC D. WATT (1937-50), BEd. (President, 1984-85)

Prof. PHILIP N. LOVE (1952-58), CBE, DL, MA, LL.B, LL.D (President, 1987-88)

W. MORRISON BROWN (1933-46) (President, 1988-89)

T. IAN MORRISON (1934-47), TD, BSc, MSc, CChem, FRSC, (President, 1990-91)

DR. J.R.S. INNES (1923-35), MB,ChB. (President, 1991-92)

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

IAN M. DUGUID (1938-43), OduM, MD, PhD, FRCS, FCOpth, LL.D, DO (President, 1993-94)

JAMES C. LYON (1953-59), RIBA, FRIAS (President, 1996-97)

J. EDWARD FRASER (1936-49), CB, MA, BA, FSA(Scot) (President, 1997-98)

RICHARD H. CRADOCK (1940-51) (President, 1998-99)

RICHARD F. TYSON (1944-49) (President, 2000-01)

STEPHEN A.C. ROBERTSON (1939-51) MBE, MA, LL.B, MUniv. (President, 2001-02)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ARTHUR L. McCOMBIE, MA, FSA(Scot) (Deputy Rector, 1973-90) (Elected 1991)

ALISTAIR M. NORTH (1937-50) OBE, BSc, DSc, PhD, FRSE, FRIC (Elected 2004)

WILLIAM J. JOHNSTON, BSc, DipEd (Rector 1987-04) (Elected 2005)

J. PETER JEFFREY (1944-59) MSc, ARGIT, CEng, MICE, PEng (Elected 2010)

President:

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

Vice-President of Club and Chairman of Executive: DOUGLAS McALLISTER (1962-68)

Secretary:

JOHN F. HENDRY (1951-65) LL.B

Treasurer:

ALAN W. MARR (1969-75) CA

General & Notes Editor of Magazine: BRIAN K. CROOKSHANKS (1934-46) TD, MA, LL.B

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Regional Centres

Edinburgh: President – W. MORRISON BROWN(1933-46)

Secretary – JAMES H. RUST (1963-71) james.rust@btconnect.com

Glasgow: President – MALCOLM GAULD (1947-61)

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

London: President – DONALD A. LAMONT (1952-65)

Secretary – SANDY NICOL (1962-71) anicol@lineone.net

Yorkshire: President – DOUGLAS SKENE (1959-64)

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

Canada: President – GEORGE STEPHEN (1936-42)

Secretary – GILLIAN A. THOMAS (1975-80) gillianthomas@shaw.ca

Secretaries of Sections

Cricket – RICHARD S.T. FERRO theferrofamily@lineone.net

Curling – IAN P. SOUTER (1947-61) ianpsouter@aol.com

Football – KENNETH MACPHERSON kmacpherson@talktalk.net

Golf – PETER M. ROBERTSON (1967-73) pmrobertson@adamcochran.co.uk

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

Women’s Hockey – EMMA WILLIAMS emmamcara@hotmail.co.uk

Pétanque – KAREN VASS kaz.15@hotmail.co.uk

Rugby – GORDON THOMSON g.thomson@talk21.com

Executive Committee

DOUGLAS McALLISTER (1961-74) Chairman

Vice-Chairman

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

The Rector of the School, ex officio

NORMAN K.B. EDWARDS (1959-64)

RUSSELL GRAY (1951-65)

LAURA JARRET (1982-88)

LUCY MITCHELL (1985-90)

H. ALAN S. HAMILTON (1943-56) GEOFFREY E. MORRISON (1992-98)

GRANT A. HAMILTON (1988-94) HARVEY E. MORRISON (1951-65)

DEREK A. HARLEY (1974-80)

IAIN S. HOPKIN (1962-68)

BARRY J. SHEPHERD (1988-94)

KIM STUART (1988-93)

W. ROBERT HUTCHESON (1962-68) ANGUS J. THOMPSON (1969-75)

Section Representatives

Club Centre – DALLAS G. MOIR (1969-75)

Cricket – JEREMY D. MOIR (1969-75)

Curling – COLIN R. SUTHERLAND (1947-60)

Football – RICHARD NICHOLSON (1975-81)

Golf – DALLAS G. MOIR (1969-75)

Hockey –Pétanque – RONALD R. COMBER (1947-52)

Rugby –

Women’s Hockey – FIONA CAMERON (1991-97)

Staff – JANET C. ADAMS (1980-86)

Auditors

Messrs. BOWER & SMITH, C.A.

Former Pupils’ Section

Club Centre Committee

DALLAS G. MOIR* – Chairman

RICHARD DARGIE* – Secretary

HARVEY E. MORRISON – Treasurer

K. BARNETT, M. CALLAN, K. DOUGLAS, N.K.B. EDWARDS

M. EWEN, N. GARDEN, A. HAMILTON, W.R. HUTCHESON, D. HARLEY, J.F. HENDRY, I.S. HOPKIN*, D. INKSON, A.W. MARR, C. PHILIPS, K. PRITCHARD, K. VASS, D.M. WATSON*, D.YOUNG* (* Denotes member of Management Board)

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), 242 Main Creek Road, Main Ridge, Victoria, 3928, Australia E-mail: forbessmith@alphalink.com.au

Tel. 0061-3-5989-6234

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 – PETER J. GREEN (1946-57), 157 Dibble Street, PO Box 2407, Prescott, Ontario, Canada, K0E 1TO E-mail: chantagrie@bell.net Tel. 00 1-613-925-9037

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

Hong Kong – MARSHALL H. BYRES (1960-69), 2A Hatton House, 15 Kotewall Road, Hong Kong E-mail: marshall.byres@hk.ey.com Tel. 00852-2846-9878

Ireland – ANDREW M.M. STEVEN (1936-50), 5 Beechhill Avenue, Saintfield Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT8 6NS. Tel. 028-9070-2315.

New Zealand – MICHAEL B. THOMSON (1938-51), 39 Jubilee Road, Khandallah, Wellington 4, New Zealand E-mail: thomson.wgtn@xtra.co.nz Tel. 0064-4-479-5678

Thailand – Prof. ALASTAIR M. NORTH (1937-50), 79/78 Soi 7/1 Mooban Tararom, Ramkhamhaeng Road Soi 150, Saphan Soong, Bangkok 10240, Thailand E-mail: amnorth@ksc.th.com Tel. 0066-2-373-2818

United States – Michael G. King (1951-60), 806 Northpointe Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103-3346 USA E-mail: michaelking806@comcast.net Tel. 1-801-363-3097

Annual General Meeting

The One-hundred and nineth Annual General Meeting of the Club was held at the Club Centre in Aberdeen on Monday 30 March 2011, with Mr Bob Hutcheson, the VicePresident, in the Chair. The Chairman reported as follows:

My two years as Chairman of the Executive has sped by. I am pleased with progress in some areas but less pleased with the position in others. With the benefit of hindsight, there are things that we could have done better. I refer to these points in my report and in so doing I hope that they may assist the Executive in determining its priorities going forward.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Funding of Club Centre improvements

The funding of the improvements to the Club Centre was undoubtedly the most timeconsuming and also the most fraught issue I had to deal with. We were unlucky that we were seeking to raise finance at a time when banks were unwilling to lend, particularly to organisations such as clubs. Given the very significant value of the properties owned by the Club, one would have thought that it would be relatively straight-forward to raise a loan secured on those properties. In our favour was the revenue stream from the lease of Bayview Road and the proceeds of the Club Centre Appeal. Against us was the unwillingness of the banks to lend to Clubs, particularly those with a trading arm which was struggling to break even.

Our normal bankers, Bank of Scotland, intimated at the outset that they would not be prepared to lend us the £70,000 we were seeking to borrow. We worked with RBS for more than a year but reached the stage where, despite having given us the go-ahead to get the builders started, I found myself in the position where I had to part-pay personally the second of the three invoices. It was a great relief to all concerned when Bank of Scotland changed its stance and ended up providing us with a ten-year loan for £91,000, which not only funded the cost of the improvements to the Centre but also enabled the Club’s balance sheet to be re-financed, paying off in full our long-standing overdraft.

There has been a huge improvement in not only the appearance of the Club Centre but also its ability to generate income. The next step is to deliver the income-generation expected from this more marketable asset.

Finance

Alan Marr will present his Treasurer’s report for the year to 31 December 2010. In general terms the finances of the Club continue to be healthy, with the rent from Bayview Road being a very important element. Our support to the School has continued, and this year’s figures also absorb costs specifically to do with the re-financing which we could have carried forward but have chosen to write off immediately.

Alan, some 14 years in post, has advised that he is keen to pass over the role of Treasurer when a suitable candidate is identified. We picked up this search recently but have yet to identify a successor. My own view in relation to key roles in the Club is that it is unreasonable to expect someone to take on a role without having a defined period in mind. When speaking to possible candidates I have suggested that the period of tenure should be two years – a compromise between the time it takes to understand the detail involved in the role and the concern that, once taken up, it would be hard to pass on.

We are hugely indebted to Alan for all he has done on our behalf, both this year and in years past, and for his invaluable assistance in our dealings with our bankers.

Membership

Doug Watson has continued to streamline the membership records and has also developed the team approach a stage further, with sterling assistance from Kim Stuart and Grant Hamilton. His two-year stint as Membership Secretary is now up. In discussing how we should deal with the role going forward, we have concluded that the part which involving communication directly with Club members should be dealt with by the Chairman rather than the Membership Secretary. As prospective Chairman next year, Douglas McAllister agrees with this approach. The plan is to continue with, and perhaps develop further, the team approach to maintaining the membership records. The ‘bespoke’ database has not been successful. We continue to use a spreadsheet system which is now linked online for updating by those granted access to it. A web-based system is still thought to be the ideal solution, but as yet we have not progressed down that route.

We have 1038 ‘active’ members of the Club but 83% of these are aged 50 and over. There are 515 ‘active’ members of the Centre, but more than half of these are not FPs. Now that we have a much improved Centre there is no doubt that we have a far better product to sell. In my view the following matters merit further consideration:

Former Pupils’ Section

 How can we encourage younger members (including school-leavers) to join the Club and the Centre and be actively involved in both?

 Could we encourage more Club members who are not also Centre members to view the cost of Centre membership as a donation to the Club/Centre?

 Review of the cost of Club and Centre subscriptions, most particularly the latter.

Communications

We are again indebted to Brian Crookshanks for all the work he does as Editor of the Magazine and also for the Newsletter each January. As Chairman I receive a number of communications from members; one of the most frequent comments is how highly members value the Magazine.

Our website has been fully operational now for more than a year. We are grateful to Grant Hamilton for the work he does to maintain the website and we encourage all members to make full use of it.

Annual Dinner

We held the annual Club Dinner last Friday at the Marcliffe. I hope that the members and guests who attended enjoyed the event; the feedback I have received to date has been favourable. We were very fortunate to have such an accomplished host as our President, Donald Lamont, and such an excellent speaker as Alan Campbell.

Despite running the event in broadly the same way as the last Dinner, the number of Club members who attended this year was well down on 2010. Last year numbers were boosted by a reunion whereas this year we were unlucky in that there were a couple of conflicting events and a few regular attendees were on holiday. I am sure that we all recognise the gradual decline in the numbers attending our Dinner, which is not unconnected with the Club’s aging profile. Having attended the Gordonian Dinner for the first time this year I was struck by the number of their members who took partners and who hosted guests. There was also a fair proportion of younger members attending. The need to redress the falling numbers at our Dinner will be reflected on when organising the 2012 Dinner.

1256 Appeal

We still have over £17,000 of available funds from the 1256 Appeal. As the architect of this major fund-raising effort, Martin Jeffrey is working up proposals to present to the Executive as to how these monies might be disbursed. Martin intends to present his proposals in the next couple of months.

Thanks

I mentioned in my report last year that I needed to become more involved in Club matters to fully appreciate the work done by a small, but very energetic, number of our members to keep the Club and Club Centre ticking over. In terms of the Club, I have already thanked Alan Marr and Brian Crookshanks. As we all know, Jock Hendry continues, as he has done for many years, to guide us in the right direction. I would also like to add my personal thanks to Doug Watson, my predecessor, who has helped me in many ways during my period in office – in membership, in communications, in good ideas and even for a fair number of the prizes for the raffles at the last two dinners.

Finally I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to try ‘to do my bit’ for the Club over the last two years.

General Business Section Reports

Reports were submitted by representatives of the various Sections and of the Club Centre, and similar Reports appear elsewhere in this Magazine Accounts and Treasurer’s Report

The 2010 Accounts (reproduced at the end of this Magazine) showing a surplus of £1,787 were submitted and approved. The Treasurer explained that the drop of some £3,000 in the

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

surplus as compared with the previous year was due to non-recurring costs in relation to the refinancing arising from the Club Centre refurbishment. The Balance Sheet confirmed, as before, that the Club is in a healthy state.

Election of Office-Bearers

Officials of the Club were elected in accordance with the list published elsewhere in this Magazine

Auditors

Messrs. Bower & Smith, CA, were unanimously re-appointed Auditors of the Club and Section Accounts for the coming year.

In terms of the Club Constitution, the Annual General Meeting is always held on the last Monday in March.

The 2012 A.G.M. will therefore be held on Monday, 28 March at 7.30 p.m. in the Club Centre, 86 Queen’s Road, Aberdeen

President’s Report

Former Pupils’ Section

Neil Borthwick and I have known each other since, I suppose, the age of six or seven and have kept in touch throughout that time. So it was, in one sense, no surprise to get a phone call from Neil in early 2010. The surprise came when, after a short chat, Neil came to the point of his call – would I be interested in taking over from him as President of the FP Club? Few things, I have to confess, had been further from my mind than to hold that office, but I found myself almost embarrassingly pleased to be asked, and readily agreed to my name going forward for consideration.

In common with, I suspect, virtually all of my predecessors, I look back on the past year with great pleasure. It is not that you establish any record of achievement; in essence, you are eating and drinking for the Club. But it is a pleasure to meet and chat to FPs in different parts of the Kingdom and in Canada, and you hope that you are making some small contribution towards keeping alive the links and friendships that give the Club its value.

My first engagement was in Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Centre’s Dinner on 23 April. That was an elegant occasion in the surroundings of Bruntsfield Golf Club, and was my first exposure to the admirable way in which the Rector, Graham Legge, kept his own account of the School’s achievements brief, allowing the Head Boy and Head Girl (or, on other occasions, their Deputies) to give their own presentations. These concentrated on the non-academic, extra-curricular activities which have been such an important part of the Grammar’s character over the years. It was really encouraging to hear how many opportunities are available to today’s pupils, and how successfully they are taking advantage of them.

At the end of June I came north again to attend the School Prize Giving on 25 June. This is an easy one for the President – you don’t have to make a speech, just make sure you don’t drop any of the prizes you hand over on behalf of the Club. It was a great privilege to hand over to some outstanding young men and women the All-Round Prizes and other Prizes including, of course, the 1965 Prize, created by my own School Year and with the particular feature that the winner is chosen by his or her peers – the pupils – for their contribution to the School.

The Prize Giving was a memorable affair, carried out with flair and panache, from the flags being paraded through the attractively decorated stage of the Music Hall and great music performed by the School’s Concert Band. And just skimming down the programme confirmed how the Grammar keeps adapting and changing in order to equip its pupils for the demands of today’s world, with prizes not only for the traditional academic and sporting disciplines, but also for activities such as Accountancy and Finance, Graphic Communication, Product Design, Charities Activities, and Enterprise.

My next official appearance was in Ottawa for the annual get-together of the Canadian Centre over the weekend of 10-12 September. The Canadian Centre is a truly outstanding phenomenon. I recall that when my daughter told a fellow-student at Cambridge that she lived in Glasgow, this evoked the response, “My Goodness, that’s a long way away!”

Against that rather blinkered view, the notion that FPs travel hundreds, nay, thousands of miles to attend the annual reunions in Canada (alternating between East and West) is truly amazing. The whole weekend, from a reception on Day One through Dinner and concluding with Brunch on the Sunday, was enormously convivial, friendly and fun. The Centre has, of course, made a significant contribution to the School in recent years, notably in the clock at Rubislaw, a sterling example of how the School’s Former Pupils can enrich the experience of succeeding generations.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Back in the UK, I unfortunately could not make it to the Yorkshire Dinner in September – a real sadness as it has a firmly established reputation for conviviality. But Glaswegians (even adopted ones) would be hard to beat for conviviality, so it was with pleasure that I accepted the invitation to attend the Glasgow Centre Dinner on 29 October. It was raining heavily, as I recall, but the atmosphere over dinner was warm and lively. As at other Dinners, an AGM was conducted during the evening. I carried no stopwatch, but I would reckon Glasgow would be hard to beat for the speed of transacting business –knowledge that the car park is about to close does wonders for keeping contributions from the floor crisp!

My final official appearance was, of course, at the Parent Club Dinner in Aberdeen on 25 March. It is an event that differs from the other dinners on the “circuit” in being held without spouses or partners; I admit to a personal feeling that it suffers rather than gains from that restriction, but cost inevitably plays a part, I suppose. For the President, the Aberdeen Dinner has the particular appeal that he (or now, happily, she) is not the main speaker. I was most grateful to Alan Campbell, ex-Chief Executive of Aberdeenshire Council and cyclist extraordinaire, for accepting my invitation to speak. Alan, another representative of the ubiquitous Year of 1965, excelled with a witty performance which made a great contribution to a most enjoyable evening.

Before concluding, I take this opportunity to thank all those who hosted Lynda and myself so generously, and all who contributed to making my Presidential Year such an undiluted and unique pleasure.

Looking back on the Year, I reach two conflicting conclusions. On the one hand, the School continues to be a lively, vibrant and successful institution, with dedicated and highly professional staff preparing boys and girls for today’s challenging world. On the other, the Club faces the difficulty of many organisations in the UK and beyond –maintaining relevance in a world where so much interaction is electronic. I offer no magic solution; a symptom of the problem is that in Ottawa, the Centre’s then Secretary, Halsey Bradford (yet again, of the 1965 Year!) and I realised we were the “youngest” FPs present! Nowadays, only those seeking money or the mentally disturbed would describe either of us as “young”! But things go in cycles and the fundamental desire of people with something important in common to meet, talk, joke and eat and drink together must surely reassert itself. I certainly hope so.

Donald Lamont (1951-65)

Pupils’ Section

Former

Tracey J. H. Menzies (1982 - 1988)

President 2011-2012

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Presidential Profile

Tracey J.H. Menzies (née Robb) MBE, DHC, LL.B

When Tracey told me a few months ago that she had been asked to be the first female President of the Former Pupils’ Club I was reminded that we have known each other now for more than thirty years. Many of these years have been spent playing and supporting the sport we both love, hockey. This shared enjoyment started for us in our early years at Aberdeen Grammar School from where Tracey went on to play for school, club and country with distinction during a long and successful career. Indeed becoming FP Club President adds to the recognition which Tracey has received during 2011 having, in the New Year Honours List, been awarded an MBE for services to hockey.

Tracey moved with her family - father Arthur, mother Jean and older sister Jenniferfrom Warwickshire to Aberdeen in 1979. She and Jennifer duly enrolled at Mile End Primary School and it was there that I first met Tracey when she joined my Primary 6 class.

In 1981 we both moved to the Grammar sharing the daunting first day experience of sitting in the assembly hall with more than 250 other new pupils waiting for our names to be called. Tracey joined Class 1/3 while I was in Class 1/9. As such, we shared few classes other than Games over the next couple of years. Latterly, shared academic and sporting interests meant we were frequent classmates again during our senior years at the School –Mr Gelly's Higher geography class was particularly entertaining. Tracey was appointed Head Girl in June 1986, just days before the devastating fire at the end of that summer term. As Head Girl, she played a key role in ensuring that “normal” school life continued as much as possible during that challenging school session.

As Tracey herself acknowledges, her hockey career had a rather inauspicious start. She did not shine as an outfield player, and bravely decided to give goalkeeping a go in S2. Goalkeeping in those days was not for the faint-hearted as the equipment, often borrowed from cricket, offered little real protection and was rather restrictive to movement. This situation was at odds with the key skills of quick reactions, speed of movement, and flexibility required by a hockey goalkeeper to succeed. Fortunately the creation of modern, strong, lightweight goalkeeping equipment transformed the art of goalkeeping beyond recognition just as Tracey commenced her long international career.

In common with many who attended the School during the 1980s, Tracey’s sporting career at the School was influenced by two things. The first was the dedication, skill, and support offered by the excellent Head of PE, Mrs Joy Webster, and her staff, including Miss Ellie White and Miss Sandra Ramsay. The second was the Scottish teachers’ strike during 1984 and 1985. Aided by Mrs Webster’s tuition, our early school years were spent rapidly learning the basic skills and tactics of hockey. This enabled us to catch up and then overtake our rivals from mostly private schools who had started playing a few years earlier. As our last line of defence Tracey was sometimes left exposed by errors made in front of her. I recall one S3 game in particular (against Morrison’s Academy) when our team were 3-0 down before I had even touched the ball! I expressed my frustration as the third goal hit the backboard a bit too forcefully, forgetting that Mrs Webster was standing only a couple of yards behind me. Needless to say I learned a very valuable lesson that day about the joys and frustrations of team sport – you win as a team and you lose as a team.

The teachers’ strike in 1984 and 1985 had a devastating effect on school sport across Scotland. Many teachers reluctantly stopped the extra-curricular activities which they had supported for years and, sadly, Girls’ Hockey at the Grammar School ceased after the first few weeks of the 84-85 season. As the formation of the Women’s Hockey Section of the FP Club was still a year or so away, Tracey had started playing senior hockey for Merlins Hockey Club during the 1983-1984 season. Several other FPs started their senior hockey careers with Merlins, including former Scotland Captain Margery Taylor née Coutts. I

Former Pupils’ Section

joined Tracey at Merlins in 1984 and along with Kerry Smith we played together for three great seasons during our Senior school years.

Fortunately Mrs Carrie Welsh, then in the early days of her 25-plus-year association with North District, ensured that representative hockey at all levels continued. Carrie went on to play a major role in Tracey’s hockey development. She took over as head coach for the School Girls’ Hockey and, as Scottish Schoolgirls U-16 coach, gave Tracey her first Scottish Cap. During her final year at the School, Tracey was awarded the Philip Love Trophy and a School Cap in recognition of her success representing Scotland.

In 1987 Tracey went to Aberdeen University to study Law. At the same time, she started her lengthy association with Glasgow Western, the most successful women’s hockey club in Scotland. Becoming the next in a line of International goalkeepers to play for Western, Tracey received her first full Scotland cap at the age of 18. She joined a truly dominant team filled with exceptional, dedicated and inspirational players. She played a significant role in continuing Western's record breaking run of 178 games unbeaten. Tracey and Glasgow Western won four successive silver medals at the European Club Championships from 1989 to 1992.

With the support of her employers and her parents, Tracey was able to undertake periods of full-time training. She was reserve goalkeeper for both the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. It is a measure of her determination and dedication that she put these disappointments behind her and continued playing for Scotland until 2003. Tracey received 153 caps for Scotland and 8 for Great Britain. She was honoured to captain Scotland at the 2002 FIH World Cup in Perth, Australia and at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Playing in a specialist position meant that Tracey did not initially play as frequently as some of her outfield contemporaries, but few put in the long, sometimes lonely, hours of travel and training needed to succeed at the highest level over such a sustained period.

Tracey graduated LLB with First Class Honours in 1991 and, after completing her Diploma in Legal Practice, joined Ledingham Chalmers in 1992. She became a partner, specialising in commercial property development, in 2000 and worked there until 2006, when she joined McGrigors as a partner in their real estate team. Alongside juggling work and hockey commitments, she found time to complete an LL.M in Construction Law at Robert Gordon University in 2002 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Aberdeen University in 2005. Tracey is also a member of the General Council of the University and is a Governor of Robert Gordon’s College.

Through mutual friends, Tracey met her now husband Sandy Menzies in the summer of 1999. Happily married since 2005, they live in the West End of Aberdeen with son Rory, born in 2009, and beagle Jura. She continues to play hockey as an outfield player for Merlins Gordonians and enjoys the occasional game of both tennis and golf.

Rhona M. MacLennan (1981-1987)

The Origins of FP Hockey

By 1900 Hockey had taken off as a popular sport for men and women throughout Great Britain. Part of the great Victorian enthusiasm for team games, hockey was played in many of the older schools by 1880, the Hockey Association was founded six years later, and the first international match was held in 1895.

Yet hockey struggled to get going in the Grammar School of late Victorian Aberdeen. There were several reasons for this. Organised games were not yet an established part of the school curriculum, although the visionary Rector H. F. Morland Simpson, who took up office in 1893, recognised their value and quickly set about improving the opportunities for sport for pupils and ‘old boys’ alike. There was as well a physical problem, for the only

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

land directly available to the School for games lay around the main school building and these over-used arenas were frequently waterlogged. In leisure moments, football (i.e. rugby) predominated in the winter months and cricket in the summer. And to some extent, in an all-boys school, hockey suffered from the fact that it was also popular in other institutions such as the Albyn Place School. Early references to hockey in the School Magazine suggest that the main interest in the game stemmed from the ‘social’ matches between Aberdeen Grammar School and the girls’ schools which were a popular feature in the Christmas holidays of the 1890s, enjoyed by players and spectators alike.

Serious hockey in the School probably only began in 1894, with ‘a good turnout of players’ for the twice-weekly practices, and the coming of competitive matches against other clubs in the city. The first mention of a match seems to have been a clash with West End on 3rd January 1894. No score was recorded in the Magazine, so we can assume that the fledgling School side went down to defeat against a well-established team of older players. Progress was rapid, however, for the School side won revenge against West End a month later, a fact that the Magazine editor was happier to record. By this time, Morland Simpson had unveiled his plans for a Former Pupils’ Club to promote the social and athletic interests of the AGS community, a great spur to the development of hockey in the School and amongst FPs.

The following year, the Magazine records how attitudes to the sport were changing. Hockey was now being recommended as a suitable form of exercise, even for devotees of the oval ball, offering ‘capital training for wind and speed when the ground is too hard to play football’. Plans for a Hockey club at the School were aired in 1900. By 1905 Former Pupils were a significant force in the University hockey side. The traditional duopoly of rugby and cricket was even under threat from the suggestion made in 1907 that rugby should only be played at the School up to Christmas, with the spring term made over to hockey. During the Christmas holidays of that year, “hockey reigned supreme. There was no football or skating but hockey every day. ‘What’s the match tomorrow?’ was the question at the end of every match” noted the Magazine editor. Local shopkeepers certainly understood the growing appeal of the game, for their advertisements increasingly featured references to hockey equipment.

Mention of an FP Hockey Section was first made in October 1910. All that was required, advised the editor, was to “get 15 or 16 Old Boys to promise to play and the Section will be quickly formed”. The volunteers clearly emerged, for a proposal for a Hockey Section had been made to the FP Club Executive by the following May. A Section secretary was soon in post, but much of the early spadework seems to have been done by Robert Forgan (1898-1908), a stalwart of early FP hockey and a prolific goal-scorer to boot.

The first official season of FP Hockey was therefore 1911-12. They struggled. With no regular hockey at the School there was no supply line of talent into the FP squad. Many of the new Section members were beginners to the game, while FPs with experience of the game had often already joined other clubs in the area. With Rubislaw only a glimmer in Morland Simpson’s eye, there were no practice facilities and there were difficulties in even getting a pitch for games. The first FP hocketeers were nomads, playing their matches at the Duthie Park, Stewart Park at Hilton, the University ground at King’s College and at Walker Park in Torry in the shadow of the Girdle Ness Lighthouse. The biggest problem for the team however was the lack of a specialist goalkeeper. Five FPs got a try-out in this position without much success. The final choice had ‘no claims to be a real goalkeeper’, an opinion borne out by the ‘goals against’ column in the final league table. In this first season in the Northern District Championship, FPs played nine matches, losing seven with a total of goals against of 23. But, and it’s a huge ‘but’, they took three points from their two games against Gordon’s College FPs, winning 4-1 and drawing 3-3 to win the only league that mattered by a clear margin. Hope for the future health of AGS hockey lay in the relative success of the second XI in this first season. The ‘Junior FPs’ won three of

Former Pupils’ Section

their matches and in their four games against sides from Gordon’s, they rattled in an impressive 23 goals. Another indication of future potential was the selection of an FP for the very first Scottish International Trials which were held that season.

By the end of their first season, FPs had an organisational structure, had managed to fulfil their commitments, incurring a loss of only 15 shillings in the process, and had fixed on club colours of a harlequin navy and white shirt, navy blue shorts and belt, with scarlet stockings. However, the limitations of Edwardian dye technology meant that a more practical all-navy shirt with white collar was quickly adopted instead. Regular First XI players also wore a navy velvet cap with a silver tassel and white silk ‘AGS’ monogram, and similar caps were ‘sparingly’ awarded to the best members of the Seconds. Hockey was even winning over some from the older sports. In 1913 the school editor noted that ‘our rugby footballers take so naturally and enthusiastically to the quieter game of hockey...(however) their play was far less graceful than that of their opponents’. Hockey, he continued, was useful in keeping all athletes in good condition and helping to counteract ‘the effects of plum pudding and the other delicacies popular at Christmas time’.

By the end of 1914, new obstacles faced the Hockey Section. The field behind the School was now given over to military drill. Almost all members of the Section were training for the Front or were already in France. Formal sporting fixtures were suspended and at best a scratch FP side was raised for the occasional friendly. There are few mentions of hockey in the School Magazine during the next few years of war, other than when a keen player fell in action, such as George Dawson (1896-1901) Vice-Captain of the Hockey FPs, who was instantly killed by a German shell in August 1915. All sporting life at the School declined during the Great War and, in early 1918, the editor sadly noted the ‘deserted state of the field’. However the School, the FP Club and the Town Council had laid impressive foundations for a new sporting life after the war with the creation of a magnificent sports field at Rubislaw.

The FP Hockey Section reconvened in October 1919 but only a few of the pre-war stalwarts came home. Most of the members in 1919 were new faces and the Section had to make a fresh start. Encouragement came in 1921 when founder member Dr Robert Forgan became the first FP to represent Scotland. That season the FP Captain could call on a squad of almost thirty players, including one E. R. R. [Eric] Linklater, who was to become a world famous novelist and Hollywood scriptwriter. Linklater was penned in the Magazine that year as a ‘good tackler, lacking speed and inclined to clear indiscriminately.’ Nevertheless his team enjoyed a successful season, winning their first five matches, including the obligatory victory over their keenest local rivals from Schoolhill. As the full benefits of Rubislaw bedded in, FP hockey went from strength to strength, with the Section regularly fielding three sides in local leagues and doing well in all. By the late 1920s, Grammar FPs had played their part in making hockey one of the most popular participatory sports in north East Scotland.

Much of the praise for that success must be directed to Dr Morland Simpson, one of the School’s greatest Rectors. A keen hockey player himself, he laid the foundations for a century of FP Hockey success by championing the FP Club and the Rubislaw project. A gaunt, stern, visionary character, many at the School were unsure what to make of him at first, until he appeared one day on the field in his hockey kit. Soon, he had ‘had his shins well barked for his pains’ but he had made his mark. Any lingering hostility to him flickered and died and ‘a proud respect took its place’. Nihil mutatur (nothing much changes) as older FPs might opine.

Richard Dargie (1966-73)

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Hockey Centenary Weekend Celebrations

A series of events, organised by the Hockey Section, both Men’s and Ladies’, took place over the weekend of 24 - 26 June with the emphasis on fun and friendship.

On the Friday morning a Golf Outing was held at Peterculter Golf Club’s picturesque and challenging course on the banks of the River Dee. Following the obligatory bacon roll, coffee and blether, 22 golfers were marshalled onto the course by Magnus Willett to be blessed with sunshine, sporadic light showers and a red kite.

The Centenary Champion was Michael Watt of FPs, with Richard Harbottle of Dragons, Wales in second place and Brian Moore of Scottish Hockey Umpires third. The Ladies’ Champion was Hazel Stuart of Aberiginals, Wales. Kieran McLernan had the longest drive, Ben Johnson had the shot nearest the pin, while the Team Prize went to Jim Lyon, Nick Blyth and Ian Goodenough of FPs and Adam Murray of Inverurie.

In the evening, a Civic Reception in the Town & County Hall was hosted by Councillor Irene Cormack, on behalf of the Lord Provost and the City Council. She welcomed FPs and their guests and congratulated FP Hockey on their achievements and on their significant contribution to the sport over the last century. She spoke of the history of FP hockey, mentioning some of the facilities and funding for hockey at the School, Rubislaw and in Aberdeen generally. Councillor Cormack presented FP Hockey President, Ben Johnson, with a wooden montage of the Town House to mark the Centenary.

Lee Cousins, President of the Scottish Hockey Union, spoke most highly of the leading role which FP Hockey has had in North District and Scottish Hockey throughout its history, thanked FPs for their many contributions and congratulated them on their successes. He presented Ben with a Centenary Quaich, which was suitably christened at the Club Centre on the Sunday, using the Centenary whisky (Glendronach 15-year-old with special labelling) commissioned by Dave Beattie.

On behalf of the Hockey Section, Ben thanked Councillor Cormack for her warm welcome and the City of Aberdeen for honouring us with such a splendid reception. He then welcomed representatives of the North District clubs, Grammarians of various vintages from 1939 to the present, and members of the Welsh, Scottish and local hockey teams which were competing over the weekend. He acknowledged the foresight of James Esslemont, who in 1912 had instigated the purchase of Rubislaw for £1000, and subsequent FPs who established rights in perpetuity for the School and its Former Pupils to use the playing fields and built the Pavilion as a War Memorial in 1924. He thanked the Council for its ongoing support, in particular the provision of the Astroturf pitch in 2004, the Pavilion refurbishment and new changing rooms in 2009 and the indoor hockey facilities at the School gym in 2010. He acknowledged the contribution made to FP Hockey over the last fifteen years by ‘Grammarians’ to youth development and international veterans’ hockey and by coaches Malcolm Ewen (adult) and Andrew Webster, Fred Lawson, Tony Duguid and Ron Fraser (youth).

Over the weekend two Veterans’ Tournaments were played. On Saturday morning the Junior (35 - 55) competition at Aberdeen Sports Village was co-ordinated by Andrew Webster with participating teams from Gordonians, North District, Exiles (exGrammarians) and current Grammarians. The Senior (55+) event included Dragons (Wales Over 60s), Aberiginals (Wales), Thistles (Scotland Over 60s) and current Grammarians.

Early afternoon witnessed the youngest FP hockey squad ever assembled for a photograph, with a spate of recent offspring being paraded under the banner of “FPs Mixed Team, circa 2020”.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon two feature matches were played at Rubislaw with a North District Ladies’ Select beating FP Ladies 3-0 and the SHU President’s Team beating

Former Pupils’ Section

the FP 1st XI 6-3. Both were terrific demonstrations of the modern game and the large crowd was well entertained and very appreciative.

The success of the Tournament was facilitated by a particularly high standard of umpiring, co-ordinated by Dick Wallis. Grateful thanks are also due to David Wallis, Bob Dickson, Bob Bell, Magnus Willett and two marvellous lads frae Dundee, Martin Boag and Brian Moore. The presence of Technical Delegates, Lorna Clyne & Gill Graham, kept everything running smoothly and to schedule. They added a wonderful touch of ‘gravitas’, humour, coffee and sweeties to the proceedings.

On Saturday evening our Centenary Dinner was held at the Douglas Hotel. The company of 176 was seated at tables named after famous hockey grounds. Honoured guests included Lee Cousins, the President of the Scottish Hockey Union, Martin Boag, Honorary President of SHU Clubs, Tracey Menzies, FP Club President, Gill Graham, FP Ladies President, Charlie Benzies, President of Gordonians Hockey Club, and Graham Legge, Rector of the School. Rev. Arthur Main (1939-45), who was FP Hockey Captain in 1947, composed and delivered a grace which was most appropriate to the occasion and the company.

The Toast to FP Hockey was to have been proposed by Peter Monaghan, Director of SHU and a former member of Stepps and Western Hockey Clubs, but unfortunately he was ill. Kieran McLernan very kindly read the speech which Peter had prepared, and did so with humour and skill.

James Lyon, FP Hockey Vice-President replied in a humorous speech, his jokes intermingled with facts about FP hockey from the Golden era of 1964-71, their opponents and friends. Jimmy’s delivery was faultless and the company showed their appreciation with a great and thoroughly deserved ovation.

Iain Bruce, 1st XI Captain, thanked the Chairman and the organiser, Nick Blyth, and his Committee for all their efforts. He also thanked the Club’s guests for joining us and complimented the SHU President’s XI on their victory, acknowledging that they displayed a level of skill to which FPs aspire.

After the Toast to ‘Bon Accord’ it was the Disco for some…. and a ‘quiet corner’ for others. The evening finished traditionally with ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

On Sunday the veteran teams played their final matches and then headed for the Club Centre and a Farewell Barbecue. Heavy rain resulted in the company being fed indoors, but this did not dampen the mood. Trophies made of Aberdeen granite were presented to the winning teams, Gordonians and Dragons.

The City of Aberdeen’s motto is ‘Bon Accord’, which translates as “good fellowship”, and that is really what FP Hockey have been celebrating – 100 years of fun and friendship.

A more detailed account of FP Hockey is scheduled to be published in 2012. Official photographs can be seen on: www.muirheadphotography.co.uk

Centre Reports

Club Centre

The past year has been, for a variety of reasons, a difficult period with regard to the wellbeing of the Club Centre. We have been unable to sustain the advances which we had wished, and allowed for, regarding the utilisation of the Club’s amenities, both by the current membership and the envisaged additional commercial lettings.

One of the main reasons for this has been the length of time it took to secure the necessary funding to enable the Club refurbishment to become reality. What should have been a fairly straightforward exercise in procuring the necessary funds to start the work turned into the ‘negotiation from hell’, with the new bankers concerned seemingly unable

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

to even understand, and commit to, their own requirements. Bob Hutcheson, who as chairman of the Executive, was the FP side of the negotiating team, has to be completely exonerated from any blame regarding the length of time which it took for this matter to come to fruition. He, at all times, acceded to every request for information, and could not have been more positive, and helpful. Fortunately the Club’s own bankers had a change of heart and finance is now in place.

The main effect of these protracted negotiations was to delay the commencement, and therefore the completion, of the refurbishment, which in turn led to the anticipated income from the renting out of our meeting rooms not being met in 2010. Unfortunately, at the time that our meeting rooms were becoming available, our Club Manager, Maggie Tirey, handed in her resignation which, again, put us on the back foot in our efforts to establish our meeting rooms as a viable commercial amenity.

In Maggie’s place we appointed David Forbes who was able to commence employment whilst Maggie was working her notice, thus avoiding a lengthy hand over period. David was tasked with increasing the turnover of the Club Centre, both from a member’s utilisation front, and from the commercial letting of our new rooms. Sadly, David has since decided that the licensed trade is no longer for him and he has left us. It can be confirmed that subsequent to David’s departure several candidates for the vacant position were interviewed and an offer of employment was made to Andy Seaton who, it is pleasing to report, has accepted the offer and has agreed to commence work in mid-July.

At the same time as Maggie resigned, our Club caterer saw fit to absent herself from our kitchens without any warning whatsoever. Our previous caterer has agreed to return until we can find a permanent replacement.

On a more positive note, thanks to new local residential parking restrictions, we have been able to let out a number of our car parking spaces to neighbouring businesses during weekday working hours. This will provide valuable extra income, and does not impinge on our member’s access.

We have a wonderful Club Centre, and an amazing range of amenities to utilise. It is vitally important that members do not take for granted the continued existence of the Centre – it is our collective responsibility to ensure that we all maximise its usage. The committee is continually trying to devise new ways to encourage increased footfall over the threshold, but we need the assistance of all the club membership in this respect.

We must acknowledge the unstinting work put into the running of the Club Centre by the Management Board. The past year has undoubtedly seen the Board having to deal with a considerably more varied schedule of work than normal. Especially we have to thank Brian Deighton, our tireless Secretary who may have thought that he had retired from regular work, but must think otherwise now. We have been aware for some time that Brian has been looking to pass on the responsibilities of Centre Secretary, after some twelve years of sterling service. It can now be reported that Richard Dargie has intimated his willingness to take over from Brian and officially acceded to this position in late June.

The committee is always looking for members who are willing to commit their time and expertise to the workings of the Club, and any willing to give of their time should make themselves known.

Canada

The 18th Annual Reunion Weekend of the Centre was held Ottawa on 10-12 September 2010. It was attended by thirty-four FPs, spouses and guests. This year FPs travelled from Ontario, British Columbia, Missouri and Utah, and we were delighted to welcome the FP Club President, Donald Lamont and his wife, Lynda, who travelled from Sussex, England to be with us.

Former Pupils’ Section

The activities started on the Friday evening with a get-together at the Army Officers’ Mess in downtown Ottawa. On the Saturday evening the formal dinner took place in the wonderful setting of the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. The evening commenced with the installation of George Stephen (1936-42) as our new President, when Ken Pirie, the outgoing President, presented him with the Badge of Office and the Duguid Decanter. After dinner, George proposed the toast to the Club and the School in a most interesting and lively speech about his schooldays during the Second World War. Donald Lamont gave a very good and informative reply and Halsey Bradford concluded a very pleasant evening with the traditional toast to ‘Absent Friends’.

On Sunday we met for brunch at a lively restaurant in the market area of Ottawa which gave us a last chance to share stories and memories – until next time in Calgary

The following FPs were present at the Reunion (in the customary order of year of entry to the School): George Stephen (1936-42), Etobicoke, Ontario; Bill Guthrie (193951), Brighton, Ontario; Bill Wolkoff (1942-53), Jefferson City, MO; Bill Buyers (194255), Deep River, Ontario; Peter Jeffrey (1944-59), Qualicum Beach, BC; Edward Anderson (1945-57) Manotick, Ontario; Ruaraidh McIntyre (1945-52) Greely, Ontario; Peter Green (1946-57) Prescott, Ontario; Phil Barron (1948-56), Kanata, Ontario; Mike Hardie (1948-59) Almonte, Ontario; Ken Pirie (1948-57), Sidney, BC; Halsey Bradford (1951-65), Toronto, Ontario; Mike King (1951-60), Salt Lake City, Utah; Donald Lamont (1951-65), Sussex, England; Alex Hume (1952-58), Kitchener, Ontario; Ian Thomson (1952-60), Nepean, Ontario; Ian Marr (1954-58), Kanata, Ontario.

We are very sad to have to record the death, last summer, of George Rickart. We were proud to have him as our President in 2005. Last year, at the age of 96, he drove from his home in Vancouver to the Reunion Weekend in Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island, a trip which included taking the ferry from the mainland to Nanaimo. He was a most delightful person and an inspiration to us all. When asked what his idea of a good day was his quick response was, “If I wake up!”

Halsey Bradford, who succeeded Peter Jeffrey as Secretary of the Centre in 2009, always saw his appointment as an interim one, and he has now been succeeded by Gillian Thomas (née Crookshanks) who is based in Calgary.

This year’s reunion will be held on 9-11 September in Calgary, and is being organised by Gordon Singer and Gillian Thomas. It will be on the usual lines, and the Dinner on the Saturday will be held in the Ranche Restaurant just south of the city.

Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Centre held its Annual Dinner on Friday 15th April 2011 in the Clubhouse of the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society. Very unfortunately President W. Morrison (Morr) Brown was indisposed and in his absence our Honorary Secretary and Treasurer James Rust took the Chair. James welcomed the company of thirty seven members and guests, including Past President of the Parent Club, Steve Robertson, who was the principal guest, Depute Rector, Janet Adams, the Head Girl, Jennifer Mackay, the Head Boy, David McCreath, the recently installed President of the Parent Club, Dr Tracey Menzies and Malcolm Gauld, the President of the Glasgow Centre. Apologies were received from various locally based FPs and from the Canada, London and York Centres, all of whom conveyed their best wishes for the evening.

Steve Robertson reminded us all of his gift for entertainment with a skilful mix of self-deprecating humour and poetic reflections much appreciated by the company, concluding his remarks by proposing the toast of “The School and the Club”. Replies were made by the Depute Rector, Jennifer Mackay and David McCreath on behalf of the School and Tracey Menzies for the Club, in her first function as President.

The Centre AGM was held during the evening, when Morr Brown was re-elected as President and James Rust was re-elected as Honorary Secretary and Treasurer.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Last August the annual golf match with the Glasgow Centre was played at Harburn. The match ended in a win for Glasgow, as a consequence of which Glasgow retained the trophy for the second year in succession.

Next year’s Annual Dinner is scheduled to be held in the Clubhouse of Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society on Friday 20th April 2012.

Any FP who has recently come to the Edinburgh area and who has not received a communication from the Edinburgh Centre is invited to contact James Rust at his home address, 19 Denham Green Terrace, Edinburgh, EH5 3PE (Tel. 0131 552 6603) or by email to james.rust@btconnect.com.

The following FPs attended the Dinner (in order of entry into School): P.C. Millar (193344), J.S. Fowlie (1935-42), J.A. MacGregor (1935-44), J.M. Hunter (1936-47) J.E. Fraser (1936-49), D.G. Kilgour (1938-50), T.G. Coutts (1938-51), A.W. A. Main (1939-45), S.A.C. Robertson (1939-51) D.A. Brittain (1943-49), N Johnston (1945-53), A.H. Cairns (1943-56), W.A. Steele (1945-51), R.S. Rilley (1947-55), I. H. McLeod (1951-55), D. I. K. MacLeod (1952-54) B.S. Allan (1952-58) N.M. Borthwick (1952-65), M. Gauld (1947-61) J.H. Rust (1963-71), J.C. Adams (1980-86), T.J. Menzies (1981-86).

Glasgow

‘Astounding, Amazing, Fantastic’ were only a few of the comments about the seating plan at our annual dinner on Friday 29th October 2010 at the Park Inn in the centre of Glasgow. President Stefan Colling warmly welcomed 34 members and guests, including Past President of the Parent Club, David Allan, who was the principal guest, proposing the toast to the School and the Club. Helen Innes, deputising for the Rector was very ably assisted by Head Boy David McCreath and Depute Head Girl Chelsea Gray in replying for the School. Donald Lamont, the President of the Parent Club, responded on their behalf. We were also very pleased to entertain Neil Borthwick, representing the Edinburgh Centre, Doug Skene the Yorkshire Centre and Myrtle McGregor the High School.

During the evening, the A.G.M. of the Centre was held, the accounts approved, the committee, for their sins, re-elected and Stefan passed the President’s chain to Malcolm Gauld. The meal was good, the speeches were first rate and a fun time was had by all.

This year’s dinner should be held on Friday 28th October 2011. We are still at the planning stage but any FPs new to the area, or those interested in finding out more, should please get in touch at the details given below.

Unfortunately, despite our one victory being over the eventual winners, our curling team were last in the 6 team Wanderers league. Our squad of Gary Allan, Stefan Colling, Malcolm Gauld, Alistair Fyall, Jim Leask and the occasional guest, are improving and have high hopes for next season. New players, even ‘ice virgins’, are always most welcome, so contact Malcolm on 01355 237039 or mwrg@hotmail.com

The annual golf match against Edinburgh was a success for the Glasgow team and volunteers for this year’s match are currently being sought.

In April, we sent a questionnaire to forty members on our mailing list asking for feedback on the activities of the Glasgow centre. Five were returned as ‘not known’ or ‘gone away’ and we received one valid reply. We would therefore be delighted to hear from any FPs interested in becoming involved in any of our activities or even just going onto our mailing list to be informed of future events. Please contact our Secretary, Margery Taylor on 0141 562 9638 or at marg7ery@ntlworld.com

Thanks, as always, to our local committee Gary Allan, Peter Cairns, Stefan Colling, Malcolm Gauld, Jim Leask, David McNay and Margery Taylor..

The following FPs attended the annual Dinner (in order of entry into school): Peter Cairns (1945-57), David Allan (1945-58), Malcolm Gauld (1947-61), Donald Lamont (1951-65), Neil Borthwick (1952-65), Douglas Skene (1959-64), Jim Leask (1960-66),

Former Pupils’ Section

Ian Fraser (1962-68), Gary Allan (1963-76), Alan Kinghorn (1974-79), Margery Taylor (1975-81) and Stefan Colling (1990-96).

London

In the first instance, I would ask you to forgive this rather brief report. The London Centre started 2010 with hopes of regeneration and a restoration of its fortunes. Sadly, that was not to be. Outside events conspired to divert committee members’ attentions away from the London Centre and to thwart those hopes.

On a much more positive note, however, Parent Club President Donald Lamont agreed to take over the London Centre Presidency after completion of his term in the senior role –much to the relief and gratitude of our current and long suffering President, Grahame Young! Donald has been a longstanding member of the London Centre and a stalwart of some memorable dinners, especially in the eighties, before his numerous overseas appointments. We look forward to his active return and to the experience and guidance which he will bring.

The London Centre is now planning a modest, but varied, programme of events for the 2011/12 season.

Yorkshire

The Centre held its fifty-second Dinner at The Grange Hotel in York on Friday 24th September 2010 with thirty members and guests attending. This year the Club President was unable to attend, so the format was altered to vary from the traditional, and a taste of Burns was added at the finale.

The School was ably represented by Depute Rector Helen Innes, together with the Head Girl, Jennifer McKay and Head Boy, David McCreath and, continuing a long series of first class presentations, they captivated us with their reflections of time at School and their plans for the future. Our connection with the School is cemented by these presentations and two Centre members, writing afterwards, commented on the accomplished presentations and on the assurance and ability of both senior pupils.

The toast to the School and the Club was proposed by our own President, Doug Skene, who congratulated the School on academic, sporting and extra-curricular activities in addition to confirming the Centre’s delight that the school was in such good heart. Our Centre faces problems in maintaining membership, with a quick show of hands revealing that we had only one FP who had left school in the last 40 years. As a group we need to recruit more members as they leave school and head for university.

On behalf of the parent Club our President presented a silver quaich to Neil Borthwick, immediate past President of the Club, thanking him for carrying out his duties in such a dedicated, relaxed and characteristically friendly manner.

The finale was a majestic performance by Malcolm Rennie of Tam O’Shanter, which evoked a standing ovation.

This year’s dinner will be held at The Grange Hotel, York on Friday 30th September 2011

Former Pupils attending the Dinner (in order of entry into School) were:- Wilson McIntosh (1932-45), Alistair Miller (1942-55), Robert Cromar (1944-49), Dick Tyson (1944-49), Brian Bruce (1947-51), John Wilson (1949-52), Willson Taylor (1950-63), Jock Hendry (1951-65), Ian McLeod (1951-55), Neil Borthwick (1952-65), Malcolm Rennie (195265), Douglas Skene (1959-64), Ian Fraser (1961-68), David Galloway (1976-82) and Stefan Colling (1990-96).

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Section Reports

Cricket

First XI

The 1st XI had a comparatively successful season in 2010, managing to buck the trend of recent seasons and survive in Grade 1 for another year. The season went down to the wire, with a win required at Banchory on the last day of the season to secure our place in the top flight.

The win at Banchory was a fitting end to the season in which Jerry Moir hung up his boots with a great all-round showing, including bowling figures of 4-8, winning the game for Grammar with one ball to spare. Well done to Jerry for a long and distinguished career. Jerry is well respected throughout Scottish Cricket and is a true gentleman of the game.

We were comprehensively beaten by Inverurie in the Aberdeenshire Cup, and disappointingly failed to raise a team for the Turriff Cup match with Ellon.

In the Thistle Sports Sevens we played 3 and lost 3 but enjoyed the event.

Season highlights included Jerry Moir’s 86 not out versus Mannofield at the Links, which included 10 sixes. Jerry amassed 27 sixes throughout the season, out of a team total of 34. Jerry and John Lord scored the most runs overall, Jerry almost reaching 400 runs for the season at an average of 31. Geoff Morrison had a much improved season with the bat, and took on the role of opener when John Lord was out of action through injury.

Key to our survival in Grade 1 was the win against Inverurie, with John Eagles’ bowling exploits and John Lord’s 65 sealing victory, and the draw with Cults at Rubislaw.

John Eagles was the season’s best bowler with 32 wickets in all at an average of 12. Aly MacDonald took most catches with six while Chris Clelland took the wicket-keeping honours with thirteen victims.

Overall, we could have done much better and let Inverurie off the hook the first time out and also run Kintore and Mannofleld close. Apart from the top four teams in the league we should have done better and finished higher in the standings.

Glen Miller returned to Australia at the season’s end. His enthusiasm, aggressive bowling and batting and good-humoured banter will be missed. It is safe to say that we always got 100% out of Glen.

Some new players arrived in 2010 – Tabrez Malik played with the 1st XI as an allrounder and Yorkshireman Paul McDonald was a welcome addition in the field and with the bat, managing on one occasion to hit a six over the Rubislaw pavilion!

On the youth front, Sam Knudson and James Lord continue to develop and open the 1st XI attack in Grade 1.

Over the close season, and with the significant help of the Lords Taverners’ Charity, we have replaced the artificial wicket at Rubislaw and we look forward to some consistent bounce and many runs over the 2011 season. Our thanks go to all who helped to make this possible, including much valued support from the School.

2nd XI

The 2010 season was one of the best for many years as the 2nd XI finished in third place in Grade 3.

The season started with three defeats in four matches, but we then went on a winning run of eight matches, which saw us climb to the top of Grade 3. Two defeats and a draw followed and, despite winning our last match, we missed out on promotion to Grade 2 by a mere 1.25%.

Our success was due to improved and more consistent batting and bowling. On the batting front, John Davey fulfilled his potential by scoring 100 not out against Methlick, Tom Booth scored 76 against promoted Academy and Rob Fryer scored 53 not out against Dunecht.

Former Pupils’ Section

Fryer also topped the 2nd XI averages, scoring 267 runs at 22.25. Second top scorer in the averages was wicket-keeper Muthu, who scored 182 at 16.5. There were also two century partnerships, Booth and Muthu added 113 against Academy, and Davey and Muthu added 112 against Methlick. A measure of our batting strength of depth was a partnership of 63 for the eighth wicket between Muthu and Rizwan at Stonehaven, which changed the game.

Batting at Rubislaw every second week does not help batting averages due to the grass being rather long at times, but we look forward to the installation of a new artificial wicket before the 2011 season.

Our bowlers had a great season, with four of them taking five wickets in an innings. The top individual performance was by Kieran Whyte, who took 6 for 47, a Grades best against the hard hitting Grade 3 winners, St Ronalds 2nd XI. Magesh bowled with a newfound consistency and fully deserved his 5 for 9 and 5 for 36. John Davey spun his way to a 5 for 24, and Karthik ended the season taking 5 for 31 in the last game.

Magesh was top wicket taker with 25 Grade wickets at 11.24 and a further 2 in the Reid Cup match. Whyte was runner up with 22 wickets while Karthik and the accurate Rizwan each took 16 wickets. Whyte was a great success as opening bowler and Magesh benefited from his accurate opening spells.

More accurate bowling meant more chances behind the wicket and wicketkeeper Muthu was a stand out, with nine catches and two very good stumpings. Harry Houghton at slip took three catches, the slip area no longer a place for a snooze.

The fielding in general was sharp, some great catches being taken, a couple by Muthu and catches by MacDonald and Karthik standing out, and only a few chances being missed. Several run-outs were also very satisfying.

We were well beaten by a very strong Gordonians team in the Reid Cup.

The large squad was fully utilised, 33 players in all turning out, including eleven new players. Unfortunately FPs will be losing a few players, the biggest loss being classy wicketkeeper / batsman Muthu, whose work sees him leave for Singapore.

Muthu's enthusiasm was an example to everyone and his running between the wickets had to be seen to be believed. Muthu was a key man and well deserved winner of the All Rounder Trophy.

Next season should see the 2nd XI pushing again for promotion to Grade 2, and this year’s experiences can only benefit the team in 2011.

Curling

Our informal arrangement with Rubislaw continues to provide challenging curling for our members. With the teams being mixed, it is not really appropriate to mention successes or failures. However, in the knockout competition a team skipped by our President, Stephen Mair, succeeded in winning the George Cruickshank Cup.

This trophy was inaugurated this year in memory of one of our long-standing members, George Cruickshank, who sadly died during this season. George has been a loyal member and supporter of the Club for many years and his cheerful presence on the ice is being missed.

Our numbers continue to be depleted and we would welcome anyone connected with the FP Club to come and try the sport. Please contact Ian Souter as below or any other member of the Curling Section if you are interested.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Football

Season 2010-11 proved to be a disappointing campaign for the FP Football team with midtable mediocrity being as good as it got.

The harsh winter resulted in weeks of inactivity both on the games and training front, in addition to which a number of players suffered season-ending injuries, the first being a dislocated shoulder before the season even started. This was perhaps a sign of things to come.

In the Scottish Cup we were drawn at home against Bellshill, but after a spirited draw at Rubislaw we were defeated in the replay away from home. However, as is usually the case on such occasions, our sorrows were drowned on the bus home by the camaraderie and banter which flowed freely.

As the season fizzled out like a cheap firework a horrendous backlog of fixtures in the last few weeks eventually took its toll on the now weary squad. In our final game injuries resulted in our playing three different goalkeepers or, perhaps more accurately, three different people standing between the sticks nursing various degrees of impaired bodily functions.

On a positive note our veteran striker, David Sinclair, along with his tummy busting support shorts, made it to the end of another campaign, although whether either will figure in 2011-12 is another debate.

El capitano, Steven Fraser, also made it through another season and in doing so managed to keep the tubigrip factory running at maximum production.

A personal highlight was the comeback of Paul Smith in Grammar colours after a period in Kuala Lumpur. Sporting a fresh pair of green, red and black boots Paul quickly displayed the cultured talents we had missed for so long before being sent off inside ten minutes for clumsily tripping up an opponent when clean through on goal. As Paul tried to use his quick wit and sales patter to secure only a yellow card the referee was unimpressed and it was the early shower for Smithy.

As we look towards Season 2011-12 we do so with optimism and with the collective aim of improving on last year’s performance. With a number of the squad now in the latter stages of their 30s and some in their 40s we should have a good mix of experience and even more experience,

Should any reader be interested in joining the Grammar FP Football Section, and reducing the average age of the squad, please contact the Section Secretary on 07831 887216 or via email at kmacpherson@talktalk.net

Golf

We had two outings last year to Braemar, a wet and curtailed outing to Huntly and midweek outings to Alford and Kemnay which were well attended. We also had our weekend trip to Taymouth Castle.

It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of John Cradock in September. For six decades John was a great stalwart of the Golf Section, rarely missing an outing and regularly winning silverware. John was a good golfer for ALL of his life. As others get fouled up in the mechanics of the game, not so John, whose simple and repetitive swing served him well throughout his golfing life. He should have written a book. Address the ball with heels together, size 12s slightly splayed; move the left foot a couple of inches to the left; move the right foot a couple of feet to the right. Right, then, that is the stance taken care of. On with the swing. Take the club back smoothly, allowing the shoulders to rotate naturally. A three-quarter swing is all that you require. With no perceptible change of pace, commence the down swing hitting through the ball, not at it, and again a three-quarter follow through is all that you require.

Former Pupils’ Section

It is well worthy of note that John went round Royal Aberdeen’s Silverburn course in seventy-one at the grand age of 81. A remarkable achievement. He will, indeed, be fondly remembered by all who had the pleasure and privilege of accompanying him round the golf course.

Men’s Hockey

This year the Hockey Section celebrates its Centenary, and the occasion is being marked with a series of projects and events. In January, a successful Ceilidh/Dance was held at the Forum, with music from Hedge Hog Pie getting our Centenary year off to a swinging start. A Club photograph was taken at Rubislaw, with several vintages of ‘Grammarians’ on parade, and this was followed by soup, beer and banter at the Club Centre.

The main weekend of celebrations in June is reported elsewhere in this Magazine. In September there are to be a Gordonians Centenary Hockey Tournament and an FP Youth Tournament, both at Rubislaw. In November the Grammarian Cup match, between Grammarians and Grammar School Colts, will be played at Rubislaw and in December the annual J.P. Drummond Trophy match between Grammarians and the School 1st XI will take place at Rubislaw. Finally, to round off the Centenary celebrations, there will be a Centenary Christmas Social.

1st XI

Season 2010/11 was the 1st XI’s best season for fifteen years, with terrific squad spirit. They came third in National League 3, narrowly missing promotion. Iain Bruce, their Captain, and Malcolm Ewen, Manager/Coach, will hopefully get FPs back into National League 2 next season. The Williams Trophy for the 1st XI Player of the Year was awarded to Dave Whyte, the top goal scorer, while Ben Frizzell was our sponsors’ Man of the Season.

2nd XI

This was the 2nd XI’s best season since joining the Regional League, in which they finished fourth. Andrew Webster, their Manager, blended youth and experience. Bob Dickson was an ever reliable umpire.

3rd XI

Last season was 3rd’s best for two decades. They won North District League 1, the League Cup and the Scottish Reserve Plate, and were awarded the Stronach’s Trophy as FP Team of the Year. The Squad consists of former 1st XI players and promising youngsters, galvanised by Murray Bisset, their Captain.

4th XI (Grammarians)

Grammarians had a reasonable season, finishing third in North District League 2. The annual fund-raising lunch and social event at the Club Centre was held in December, however bad weather delayed both games until Easter, when Senior Grammarians lost the Grammarians Cup to the School Colts, 5 - 7 and Grammarians won back the John Drummond Trophy from the School 1st XI, 4 - 3. These were two great games.

Veterans

The following senior players competed in Over-60 Internationals (Home Nations and World Championships): Ian Downie and Kieran McLernan for Scotland and Ben Johnson for Wales.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Youth Hockey

Section members continue to organise hockey for the School and although there is a good U-17 squad, there is a lack of junior schoolboys playing the game. Euan Christie played three games for the Scotland U-16 team at Easter and was made Captain for a game against Wales. Stuart Christie, Max McKay and Andrew Scrimgeour represented North District in the regional competition.

Hugh Cruickshank received the Colt of the Season Award and the Graham Fraser Trophy as FPs’ most improved player. Craig Walton was awarded the Grammarians Medal.

Youth Coaching takes place on Thursday afternoons and is undertaken by Andrew Webster, the Senior Coach, with assistance from Fred Lawson, Tony Duguid and Ben Johnson.

Umpires

AGSFPs are most grateful to a dedicated and skilled group of umpires who regularly operate at international, national, regional and local level on our behalf, namely David Wallis, Bob Dickson, Dave Beattie, Malcolm Ewen and Kevin Pope. Many others have helped on occasions.

Committee

The Men’s Hockey Committee has worked hard and effectively, with the efforts of Howard Smith, Treasurer, Malcolm Ewen, 1st Team Manager and Coach and Andrew Webster, Youth Coach, deserving special mention. Ron Fraser and Ben Johnson have been elected as Vice-Presidents.

Petanque

A very successful end-of-season dinner was held in the Club Centre on 22nd October at which Peter Henderson, Captain, thanked all the members and Club staff who had assisted him during 2010. Peter was presented with a plaque which is to be attached to one of the garden benches looking on to the pistes. It reads:

PETER HENDERSON

Bonne retraite Pierre le jardinier et balayeur extraordinaire

At the AGM on 6th March 2011, Peter was again unanimously voted Captain of the Section. Ron Comber, with the assistance of Thomas Pinet, is in charge of the pistes and catering has been delegated to Sheila Ritchie. Karen Vass has taken on the role of Secretary and Joan Comber remains Treasurer for a further year.

The results of the 2010 competitions were as follows:

Club Triples Championship

Winners: Peter Henderson, Nicola & Scott Hunter

Summer Solstice Singles Competition

Winner: Peter Henderson

Runner-up: Ron Comber

Club Singles Championship

Winner: Sandy Stuart

Runner-up: Richard van Beugen

Club Doubles Championship

Winners: Andrew Garden & Oliver Smith

Runners-up: Alastair Ritchie & Richard Cradock

Maurice Chevalier Trophy(Singles)

Winner: Magnus Brown

Runner-up: Mark Tabrett

Former Pupils’ Section

The usual competitions will be held this year, with the Club Triples on 7th May, the Summer Solstice Singles on 18th June, the Club Singles & Doubles on 27th August and the Maurice Chevalier Singles on 24th September.

Rugby

At the start of the 2010/11 season the coaches were set the aim of achieving Premier B this season and Premier 1 in 2011/12. Happily they and the players over-achieved and we are all delighted that, under the new League Structure devised for Premier 1 and 2, our 1st XV secured promotion to Premier 1. The final promotion place was decided in the very last match of the season in a “Winner Takes All” match -v- Watsonians at Rubislaw where the home men ran out winners by 37 - 24. All the coaches, players and members of the committee deserve warmest congratulations for their outstanding contributions throughout the season.

For this season Alex Duncan was appointed head coach, with Kevin Wyness as his assistant forwards coach. They were assisted by Alan Hardie and Craig Parslow was appointed as the second XV coach. Rob Currie was appointed as the strength and conditioning coach. All of them have worked very hard in what has been a long season, with many postponed matches over a particularly bad winter period. Due to the bad weather the 1st XV went without any matches for a ten-week period.

A number of new players were recruited to our playing squad this season. Rob Aloe, Martyn Flavelle and Apelu Alapati were recruited from New Zealand. They were joined by a number of new players who have moved to work in the area or are attending one of the Universities in the City.

During the particularly bad weather the use of the Field for training was very limited but we were fortunate to have some use of the Sports Village facilities over most of this period. Without this we would have struggled to maintain our focus, fitness and continuity.

During the year we have upgraded the stand and the rucking shed received new window inserts, electrical transformers and lights. Major works were carried out to upgrade the grass on both the pitches and the training area which has greatly improved the playing surface. Unfortunately the rucking shed was destroyed by a fire deliberately set during the night of 13/14 April with the loss of about £11,000 of equipment.

1st Team Squad

This season in Premier League 2 up to the cut-off point we finished in third place, qualifying for the Premier B play-offs to try to gain promotion to Premier 1. Our League record was

Played 11 – Won 8 – Drawn 1 – Lost 2

Points For 340 – Against 217 - Bonus Points 7

Total Points 41

In Premier B we finished fourth, and our record was:

Played 7 – Won 4 – Drawn 0 – Lost 3

Points For 194 – Against 143 - Bonus Points 5

Total Points 21

In the new National League Cup format we beat Howe of Fife at home in the first round and Hamilton away in the second round.. In our final match we lost out to Currie (away) and so failed to qualify for the knock-out stages.

During the season we used a total of 45 players in all 1st team games (compared with 48 last season).

There were joint top try scorers this season, Steve Aitken and Sam Ryan having nine tries

each. Top points scorer in the league was Rob Aloe with 175 points.

2nd Team Squad

The Seconds had a tough season, with the aim of developing a brand new team with young inspiring players coming up from the U-18s and other clubs around the U.K. It was tough and the season did not finish in the way we wanted by staying up in Reserve National 1. As the season went on, however, the team went from strength to strength and every single player has improved and they all gelled well together as a playing squad.

The Second team have seen some great players come through their ranks, such as Sam Knudson, Gregor Porteous, Harry Broomfield and Cammy Caine who have all played in the First team in some form, either in the league or the cup. Mark Cowie, who joined us from Garioch, has come on so much and absorbed everything which the coaching staff taught him.

It has been great to have Matty Dixon return from his neck injury and other players come in so that it was often extremely difficult to select a team. Our success in winning games after the Christmas break shows how much talent we really have within the club.

Seconds regularly showed the First team players just how good they were during training, but for some strange reason they just couldn’t get it right on the park, until we travelled to Melrose and got a well deserved away win of 29 -17. After that, Seconds started really to believe in themselves and in what they were capable of doing. They started to play some fantastic rugby, ripping apart West of Scotland 90-10 (if we had had a real kicker that day it would have been well over the 100 point mark) and beating Stewarts-Melville 49-18. However, the mystical dark forces were against us in the Edinburgh Accies match when we were denied a try in the last minute of the game, and again against Glasgow Hawks when a few decisions just didn’t go our way.

One thing that was hard this season was the unfortunate loss of students at certain points as they went home to spend time with their families for festivities. This, along with injuries, put a strain on the 2nd XV.

We are sorry to see Paddy Watson go after this season after fourteen years of playing with us through the different age groups. He has decided to venture across the pond to play in America to try some new and no doubt interesting rugby.

We have been delighted to have Sam Bingham and Gregor Porteous represent the Grammar 2nd XV playing for the Scotland Students’ Rugby League Team in this year’s Home Nations Competition, earning each of them three caps. Sam has also been picked for the Scotland A Squad for this year’s Amateur Competition.

There is little doubt that next season the 2nd team will bounce straight back into reserve national 1, if they keep working together, train hard and keep improving in the way they have done.

Junior and Youth Sections

The U18 team this season was very young, mainly U-16 and U-17. As you have two years at this level, we decided that it was best to gain as much experience as possible this season and to build for 2011/12.

In the NE/NW League we played well, with only one defeat, and made the play-offs, beating Highland by a single point 13-12 which gave us entry to the National Competition. We lost to West of Scotland in the National Cup and then to Boroughmuir in the Bowl. We led in both matches and played well but were unable to cope at this level over seventy minutes against players with more experience in U-18 Rugby. In the Caledonia Cup we lost in the second round to Perth by 13-10. Once again we played well but once again we were unable to finish the game off when leading. Two players, Chris Simpson and Ed Farquharson, were in the Caledonia select team at U17 and U-18, playing in all matches. Overall, after a slow start we have come a long way,

Former Pupils’ Section

with many players improving at great pace; all players are now more confident and looking forward to performing at a higher level next season.

Stats: 5 League games cancelled – teams withdrew from league Games Played 14 Won 9 lost 5 Points For 324: Points Against 232

The U-16s had a pretty decent season. They won all but three matches, scoring 603 points in the process. They defeated Highland, Biggar and Dalziel in the National Bowl and now play Currie in the final at Murrayfield on Saturday 7 May. In the Caledonia Cup they were beaten 20-12 in the quarter final by Perthshire (the eventual winners) in a closefought match played on a wet and heavy Westdyke. Playing numbers and availability have been a bit of an issue again this season, with a few games played with only a squad of 17 players; on a few occasions the squad comprised only 15 players, mainly due to injuries, exams and re-scheduled matches being played during school holidays. On the plus side, we had six players in the Hurricanes squad, one of whom was selected for Caledonia U-16s. We will have some promising players moving up to the U-17/18s next season.

The U15s had a poor start to the season with early defeats in the Caley U-15 league . The team then rallied, with resounding victories over Mackie in both league & Caley Cup fixtures. There was the predictable weather disruption to matches and training over the winter and subsequently we fell foul of Stirling County in the second round of the Caley Cup. Undaunted, the team gathered momentum and were unlucky to concede a try in the dying seconds of the league return match with Wanderers leaving the scores tied. The last match of the season saw a well deserved win against Garioch.

The minis

The mini section continues to grow in numbers and we presently have 80 registered players. Our season got off to an excellent start with a winning streak for all our teams in attendance at Dundee Eagles tournament. Each of our age groups managed to top their individual sections. Unfortunately, once again, weather prevented many of our fixtures and training sessions taking place. However, the sun shone to allow Ellon’s tournament to go ahead and the P6 section won gold. This level of success continued, and our P5 section claimed victory at our home tournament with P6 and P7 being the runners up.

In addition to all on the field action the Minis have been very active off the field. We have hosted a Barbecue, a quiz night and a ceilidh. Due to the success of these events we have managed not only to raise enough funds to provide each mini player and the coaches with a waterproof training top and training trousers but have, hopefully, emphasised the social side of our club.

Aberdeen Youth Rugby Association

The club continues to support the activities of AYRA. Colin Philips departed his post in November 2010 and has taken up a post with the Scottish Rugby Union in the North as a performance manager. He has been replaced by Callum Harris who will be introduced to the players and coaches in August. He hails from Helensburgh and for his sins is a scrum half. The Association continues to grow the game in schools, and camps for children will be run this summer and during the October holiday

Leaving / Retiring

A number of players have retired or moved on; we say farewell to Billy Russell, who has moved back to New Zealand after five years, as has Martyn Flavelle. Colin Philips has retired and Niall Shannon has also left us.

Vote of Thanks

Our thanks go to all our supporters, sponsors and our coaching team and to the committee

members and others who see to our administration needs. We are also much in the debt of our emergency medicine and physio team of Louise McCullough and Julie Campbell, thanks to whose efforts most of our players have been fit for most of the season.

Women’s Hockey

Another busy season for the hockey girls has come to a close. Notwithstanding a drop in overall membership the required efforts made both on and off the pitch have been as great as ever. Many stalwarts of the Club have had other priorities to deal with this year and the Club hopes to see the return to the pitch of some of the ‘old’ faces in the not too distant future. In particular this season there were many occasions when there were several pregnant Club members cheering on their team-mates from the sidelines. Again we have been delighted to see so much enthusiasm from our younger members and many of them have had to take on a bigger role in matches as some of the older girls had some time out. Thanks as ever go to all those who gave their time to help the schoolgirls with their training. The Club is forever indebted for your efforts.

The other great thing about this season was the number of new members to join our ranks. It has been great to welcome new blood to the Club and this has also helped to cover our sometimes dwindling resources! We look forward to the new season with great hope that a combination of these new players, our improving youngsters and the return of some old hands will help the regulars to a successful 2011-2012 season.

Our thanks go to Gillian Graham, Fiona Cameron and Sari Johnson in particular this season for keeping the Club on track in challenging times. Morag Rose also did us a great service by completing two years as North District Secretary on behalf of the Club. As ever, thanks also go to all the umpires who supported us and all those unsung heroes who make it so that matches can take place at all. Thanks also to members who helped to take our training sessions this year. These contributions are all very much appreciated.

At the end of last season the Club decided to enter only two teams into the North District Leagues for this season. It was a decision taken carefully and in hindsight, there is no doubt that it was the right thing to have done. Our first XI played in North District Division One and our second XI in Division Two.

Again the playing highlight for the year was the indoor first team retaining the Division One title of the North District Indoor Leagues. In slightly less dramatic style than last season the team retained the league with a 4-1 win in the penultimate match of the season, when an Emma Mair hat-trick against rivals Inverurie secured the title. The team will hope to make it a hat-trick of titles by performing well again next season.

The second indoor team also had a good season, as many of our youngsters had benefited from regular indoor hockey training sessions in the fantastic School Games Hall. These skills sessions have benefited the Club’s results in both indoor and outdoor matches.

Outdoor Update

The 1st XI has had another excellent season. The team thanks Sari for all her efforts in getting the players and umpires to the right places on the right days. As has been the case for the last few seasons Sari’s job has been made harder with the playing personnel available to her being less flexible in their availability than they once were. In particular the second half of the season saw the team lose a couple of regulars meaning that some of the youngsters were thrown in at the deep end with little notice.

The team finished a creditable second in the league and, given the difficulty it had in fielding a team in some weeks, the outcome could have been quite different. The team played well but, as in previous seasons, dropped a few vital points in a couple of crucial games in the second half of the season.

Results: Played 17 Won 11 Drawn 3 Lost 3 Goals For 44 Goals Against 13 Points 13

Former Pupils’ Section

The 2nd XI can be very proud of their performances this season as older members supported the younger ones coming through. Rachel Clark took on the role of captain following the departure of Claire Drummond to America and both did the club proud with their efforts to ensure everyone got a game and that we had 11 players on the pitch. As ever work commitments, holidays and injuries took their toll on the ability of the players to be available every week. The team will continue in Division 2 next season, which allows our younger players the opportunity to develop their skills and confidence at the top end of the table.

Results: Played 16 Won 5 Drawn 4 Lost 7

Goals For 28 Goals Against 32 Pts. deducted 2 Points 17

Indoor Update

The 1st VI had an excellent run in the indoor season and, as described earlier, retained the title of Champions, which was particularly satisfying as there was some very tough opposition this season.

Results: Played 9 Won 8 Drawn 1 Lost 0

Goals For 49 Goals Against 13 Points 25

The 2nd VI really enjoyed their indoor season and had every right to be proud of their performances. Once again the team was a development one and Hannah McManus, Hannah Mitchell and Caroline Mudie played in their first indoor season and showed that the future of indoor hockey is looking very promising. Their efforts, along with those of more experienced players, allowed the team to finish a creditable fourth in the league, including a nail biting 4-4 draw with Hazlehead in the very last match of the season.

Results: Played 8 Won 2 Drawn 2 Lost 4

Goals For 20 Goals Against 27 Points 8

Other highlights of the season were the School First XI versus the President’s XI fixture, and for this the teams took to Rubislaw late in March. Luckily the weather was kind and the match was played in a great atmosphere and enjoyed thoroughly by players and spectators alike. Again the President’s XI was triumphant but the School team gave the team plenty to think about and created some great chances.

As ever, if you are keen to take up hockey again, or even 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 6.00 – 7.30pm, and starts on the first Tuesday in August.

For further information contact:

Emma Williams, Secretary – emmamcara@hotmail.co.uk

Annual Dinner

The Annual Dinner this year was once again held at the Marcliffe at Pitfodels on Friday 25 March 2011. There was a significantly lower number of FPs and their guests in attendance than previously attributable, at least in part, to a number of other conflicting functions held that evening. As usual there were representatives from the regional centres of the Club and from local Former Pupils’ Clubs of other schools. Also present were the Rector, Graham Legge together with Head Boy, David McCreath, and Head Girl Jennifer Mackay. Several of the Club’s Honorary Vic-Presidents were among the company.

The President of the Club, Donald Lamont, occupied the chair and brought all his diplomatic skills to bear on ensuring that the proceedings went ahead in good order. As we have come to expect, the hotel provided an excellent meal and their staff were most attentive to our needs.

The toast to “The School and the Club” was proposed in humorous vein by Alan Campbell, the recently retired Chief Executive of Aberdeenshire Council, whose shafts of

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

wit were much appreciated. He expressed the debt which he owed to the School for not only the excellent education which it had given him but also for the training in manners and morality which it had provided. In the course of his career he had met many prominent people and never felt inadequate, which he attributed in large measure to the grounding received at the school.

Replying on behalf of the School, the Rector commented on the prime position which the school holds in the league tables, ranking in the top 10% of state schools and with the Sunday Times placing it 14th out of 400 in Scotland. He reported that in 2010 83% of school leavers went on to higher education which was an excellent record. Mr Legge also drew attention to the difficulties arising from the local authority financial situation, with further staff cuts imminent including a reduction in the number of administrative staff and a 50% fall in the number of support staff.

Head Girl Jennifer Mackay gave an account of some of the school’s extramural activities, with particular reference to the successes of the music department. She highlighted her colleague’s success in composing a fanfare which was used at the Music Hall anniversary celebrations and reported that the concert band had reached national finals. Head Boy David McCreath reported on the sporting successes of the rugby and football teams with both junior and senior rugby teams through to the Scottish final. Himself a debater, he commented that the senior debaters had reached several finals this year but had not recorded any wins. He was pleased to report that there is at present a group of enthusiastic junior speakers, giving hope for a continuation of debating success.

Replying for the Club, the President commented on the highlights of his year in office and remarked on his gratitude to the Club for conferring the Presidency on him. He had been impressed by the high standards demonstrated when he had attended the prize-giving and on his visits to various of the Centres he had found the Club to be in good heart.

Bob Hutchison, chairman of the Executive Committee, expressed his thanks to the President for his able conduct of the evening’s proceedings and to all who had in any way assisted with the arrangements for the evening.

The following FPs attended the Dinner (in order of entering School): J.R.S. Innes (1923-35), W.M. Brown (1932-46), A. Stuart (1932-45), B.K. Crookshanks (1934-46), W. Anderson (1939-51), W.H. Guthrie (1939-51), S.A.C. Robertson (1939-51), M.G. Lyall (1935-48), H.B. Paterson (1941-50), J.M. Jeffrey (1942-57), A.D. Johnston (194554), R.H. Cradock (1943-51), H.A.S. Hamilton (1943-56), A.H. Cairns (1944-56), A.K.Campbell (1944-53), L.D. Scorgie (1946-59), N.V.R. Simpson (1947-51), M.S. Webster (1949-57), J.F. Hendry (1951-65), I.H. McLeod (1951-55), R.C. Shirreffs (1951-65), M.B. Colvin (1952-65), I.W. Douglas (1952-57), G.C. Letts (1952-62), H.R. Millar (1952-65), D.A. Lamont (1953-65), K.G. Jones (1957-66), F.I. Lloyd (1958-65), M.A. Batchelor (1959-65), A.G. Campbell (1959-65), B.M. Drummond (1959-65), N.K.B. Edwards (1959-64), R.D. Houghton (1959-64), B.A. Smith (1959-63), D.N. Yule (1960-66), D. McAllister ((1961-74), I.A. Fraser (1962-68), I.S. Hopkin (1962-68), W.R. Hutcheson (1962-68), S. Nicol (1962-71), D.G. Moir (1969-75), A.J. Thompson (196975), G.K. Crookshanks (1979-85),

In addition to the Rector, Mr Graeme Legge, former Staff member W.S. May was present.

RE-UNIONS

1951 Leavers

An intimation directed at those who left School in 1951 appeared in the 2010 Magazine at the request of Richard Cradock. Through an unfortunate error in

Former Pupils’ Section

Richard’s email address as published only a small number of responses were received. Despite this, four met together for the Club’s Annual Dinner on 25 March who mostly had not met up over the intervening sixty years. An exception was Bill Guthrie, who travelled all the way from Canada and who had met Richard at a Canadian Reunion weekend when the latter was President of the F.P. Club.

Richard reports that a lot of ground was covered in the course of the evening and, although only four in number, they had a memorable get-together which they hope to repeat again.

Class of 1956 Reunion

A Reunion of those who attended the School during the years 1943-1956 took place on 3rd and 4th June 2011.

The first scheduled event was a splendid afternoon tea hosted by Mike and Elizabeth Park on the afternoon of 3rd June in their beautiful garden at their home in Rubislaw Den South. Being together in such pleasant surroundings on that lovely afternoon meant so much to a company of friends, most of whom had been together only an hour or two earlier at our class-mate Sinclair Forbes’s memorial service at Rubislaw Church. An obituary on Sinclair appears on page 94 of this Magazine

We reconvened in the evening for our main event, our dinner at the Atholl Hotel. It was a fine meal although, as Neil Munro correctly forecast, the listening and the speaking were even more pleasant than the eating and drinking. Although most had met at a reunion only two years ago, some were meeting for the first time since the reunion held thirty years ago, which was attended by some of our schoolmasters, including Mr John Flett, Mr Robert McLeod (Tarzan), Mr Ian Stephen(Twinks), and Mr Ronald Wilson (Bobo). At the dinner Douglas Aberdein gave us a fine rendition of the well-known Doric

Neil Simpson, Bill Guthrie, Bill Anderson, Dick Cradock

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

poem “The Puddock” in the presence of our own Doric scholar Douglas Kynoch, and invited us to his home, Abermore in Coull, for a barbecue next day. The following WAGS (Wives of AGS men) who attended a dinner elsewhere in the Atholl were Pat Burr, Denise Cairns, Elizabeth Park, Val Parkinson, Liz Shimmins, and Sheila Watson.

On the afternoon of Saturday 4th June the company reconvened at Coull for the barbecue, where Douglas Aberdein, aided by his son and daughter, was ever the perfect host, giving everyone a second pleasant outdoor afternoon gathering.

The following members of the class were present: Douglas Aberdein, Fred Adams, John Bell, James Burr, Hunter Cairns, John Christie, Neil Edward, Norman Horne, Douglas Kynoch, Gordon Lees, Bruce Lenman, Ronald Malcolm, Alistair Miller, Michael Murray, Neil Munro, Stephen Pacitti, Michael Park, Sandy Parkinson, Alan Paterson, George Phillips, Walter Robb, James Shimmins, Alastair Smith, Mario Vicca and Elliott Williamson.

F.P. 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 5 years. The Life Member “Top up” scheme – which has been hugely successful – involves a payment of £20 to cover a five-year period. Topups are now due for the 5-year period 2010 to 2014 inclusive. The Life Fund is stronger than it was, but still requires further “topping up”. The £20 “Top up” works out at just £4 per year for the 5-year period. We also draw down 5% of the Life Fund each year and this works out at roughly £1 per Life Member, so that, when this is added to the £4 from the “Top up”, the Club receives £5 per Life Member in total each year. This doesn’t yet match the £10 or so we receive from Annual Members, but we are moving in the right direction and we are certainly much better off than we were before the “Top up” scheme was introduced in 2000. We had a tremendous response to the introduction of the scheme, which is voluntary, and the vast majority of Life Members responded very positively. The response to the “Top up” appeal for 2005-09 went very well and it is hoped that the current period will be as successful. These payments are a vital part of the Club’s income.

Subscription rates for 20 are as follows:-

Life Membership:

New Life Members: £100 plus a £20 “Top up” every 5 years, the first “Top up” being payable 5 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

Under-25 Members: £6 (Members must be aged under 25 on 1 January of Subscription Year)

School Leavers: £5 (covers remainder of year of leaving plus 1 year)

School Leavers –

Former Pupils’ Section

(Extended): £20 (covers remainder of year of leaving plus 5 years)

Note: School Leavers also become Members of the Club Centre when they reach the age of 18, for the same periods as defined above, for their Membership of the parent Club.

Special Notes for Members over 75:

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 over 75 are no longer expected to make “Top up” Payments.

Ordinary (Annual) Members over 75 no longer have to pay any Annual Subscriptions.

Payment of Subscriptions:

Subscriptions should be sent to:

The Membership Secretary, Douglas McAllister, who will also deal with all Membership queries, changes of address etc: His address is:

Gowanwell Cottage, Methlick, ELLON, Aberdeenshire AB41 7JL.

Tel: 07767 – 463121

Email: membership@agsfp.com

Donations and Bequests

The Second Century Fund was set up in 2000 to receive all Donations and Bequests. This Fund is used to finance specific School and Club projects, and is not used for normal ongoing Club expenses. As will be seen from the Accounts elsewhere in this Magazine, the total from this source in 2010 was £308 which was placed in the Second Century Fund. Our grateful thanks go to everyone who has contributed. It is hoped that this Fund will receive a significant boost from the new round of Top-up payments now being requested. *

New Members of the Club – 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011

Life Member

Alan R. Webster (1948-56)

Annual Member

Gordon G. Benton (1946-50)

Congratulations to the following members of the Club who will attain the age of 75 during 2011 and so will become Long Service Members on 1st January 2012.

Life Members Ian

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Andrew Campbell 1943-53 Norman Johnston 1951-54

Ian F. Chalmers 1942-50 Duncan L. Macrae 1948-52

Herbert W. Donald 1941-45 David D. Morrison 1947-53

Robert F. Gillan 1941-55 Graham F. Reid 1946-52

John L. Harper 1940-54 Max Williamson 1941-55

Annual Member

William E. Lamont (1948-53)

Long Service Members

For several years now we have published the names of our Nonagenarians. Sadly, two of these have died in the last year, one of whom had been the senior member of the Club since 2008, but they are replaced by two others who have attained the remarkable age of 90 or will do so later this year. We congratulate them all and thank them for their continuing interest and support. The full list, with their dates of birth, is as follows:-

Trevor Gray 1921-32

James Morrison Staff

Donny Innes 1923-35

John Jamieson 1930-35

Alan Hutchison 1923-35

Ernest Jack 1930-38

Douglas Reith

James R. Guy

Donald

George

George

Harry S.W. Golding

Joseph Craig

July 1916

July 1917

September 1917

November 1917

February 1918

December 1918

June 1919

July 1919

October 1919

1919

May 1920

January 1921

September 1921

Former Pupils’ Section NOTES about FORMER PUPILS

Honours and Awards

Member of the British Empire

Tracey Jayne Menzies (née Robb) (1981-87) LL.B was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 New Year’s Honours List in recognition of her services to women’s hockey. Tracey has been capped for Scotland 153 times, and captained the side in the 1998 World Cup in Holland and in the 2002 Commonwealth Games at Manchester. A full account of her career appears elsewhere in this Magazine recognising her election as President of the Club for 2011-12.

John Ross Baird (1952-64) has been appointed as a director of OEG Offshore and tasked with driving forward the company’s plans for global expansion. He will be responsible for the basket and container division which specialises in the design, building and rental of cabins and cargo-carrying units for the offshore oil and gas market. Ross has been in the offshore service industry for over twenty-five years, having been formerly the managing director of CTC Container Trading. Most recently, he has operated Offshore Containers & Tanks, a company which he set up in 2006 specialising in refrigerated and freezer units.

Michael Lewis Bowyer (1963-69) BSc has been appointed chief operating officer of Senergy at its headquarters in Aberdeen. After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering he joined Baker Oil Tools as a trainee machinist and spent ten years in engineering, latterly as engineering manager. He then held progressively more senior roles including area manager for northern Europe, regional manager for Europe Africa and managing director for Asia-Pacific. He then joined PES which was later acquired by Halliburton. After a spell as UK country manager he became managing director with responsibility for the company’s UK business and in 2006 he became country vicepresident. In his new post he seeks to position Senergy, with its interests covering a wide field, not restricted to oil and gas, for significant growth.

Joe Boyd (2003-09), who is presently studying chemical engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and who was the winner of the Phil Love Trophy in his 6th year at School, was guest Horn soloist at a concert given by the Grampian Youth Orchestra in the Music Hall in April.

Neil Keith Buxton (1948-58) MA, PhD received the award last November of an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Hertfordshire where he formerly served as Vice-Chancellor from 1992 to 2003. He currently lives with his wife, Margaret, in New South Wales, Australia and keeps his hand in by lecturing in economics and history. His brother Ian William Derek Buxton (1947-54) MBE, MA joined the Overseas Civil Service on leaving University in 1958 and served in Uganda until 1971. On his return to Britain he joined the newly created Commission for Local Administration in England and worked as Finance and Estates manager until retiring in 2001. He served as a magistrate for South West Essex from 1986 until 2006, the last three years as Chairman of the Bench. He lives with his wife, Elizabeth, in Essex and last October celebrated their Golden Wedding.

Stephen Peter Cook (1972-76) is currently the chief executive of Empire HR Ltd, a rapidly growing firm of specialists in employment law with offices in Aberdeen. At the end of 2008 he married former STV news presenter Pauline Fraser.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Heather Cowie (1999-05) MPharm having now completed her pharmacy studies has taken up a post with Michie the Chemist in Aberdeen and is presently working in their pharmacy at Mile End.

Steven Charles Cox (1982-88) has joined the corporate and commercial insurance broking team of Central Insurance in Aberdeen. He was previously director of Towergate Risk Solutions in Aberdeen.

Jeremy Wynne Creswell (1962-65) was recently honoured at the Scottish Green Energy Awards 2010 when he received an award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the renewables industry. He is a co-founder of the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group and played a leading role in securing Aberdeen as the home of All-Energy, the country’s largest renewable energy trade exhibition and conference. He has been heavily involved in the European Offshore Wind Development Centre project off Aberdeen Bay. He is editor of the Press & Journal monthly energy supplement.

Gillian Anne Thomas (née Crookshanks) (1975-80) and Gordon Bruce Singer (194950) were two of a field of 2280 cyclists who took part in the 2011 Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer at the end of June. This 200km ride took place over two days through the rolling foothills of the Rocky Mountains south of Calgary, with an overnight stop in tents at Chain Lakes Provincial Park. Heading south on Day 1 was sunny, but not too hot, while the return trip next day saw torrential rain and a temperature of 6 degrees. This was followed after the half-way stage by a strong north wind which made progress on the flat difficult and on the hills almost impossible. A total of $8.6 million was raised for the Alberta Cancer Foundation, which will enable it to make a substantial increase in its funding for break-through research at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary and the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. Gillian has already signed up for next year’s Ride.

John Alexander Cruickshank (1926-29) VC is one of a number of military veterans, all holders of the Victoria Cross, whose gallantry has been commemorated by having sixteen accommodation blocks at RAF Kinloss named after them. Mr Cruickshank was present at the naming ceremony last summer, shortly after he had celebrated his 90 th birthday. Sadly, the future of these buildings is now a matter of speculation following the closure of RAF Kinloss as part of the government’s defence spending review.

Stuart Devine (1982-88), who is the operations director at the Ashvale Fish Restaurant in Aberdeen, recently received the Fishermen’s Mission Fundraiser of the Year Award for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Graham Charles Andrew Fyfe (1972-77) CA is one of the two founding partners of Fyfe Moir & Associates, chartered accountants in Aberdeen. The firm incorporates FMA Training and Solutions, launched three years ago to provide one-to-one information technology training and coaching for entrepreneurs, managers, directors and their staffs in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

Gillian M.E. Graham (1991-97) has been appointed deputy head teacher of Walker Road Primary School in Aberdeen.

Brian Douglas Miller Grassick (1939-52) MB,ChB, DObst, RCOG has recently returned to the North-east and is living at Cultercullen, Udny. After graduating in medicine from Aberdeen University in 1961 he held a number of medical posts including in Borneo and in Nassau in the Bahamas before entering general practice in Slough in 1970. While there he played a major part in the development of the Wycombe Industrial health service, based in Slough and catering for the needs of employees of the many factories and industrial concerns in the area. Accidents during employment were commonplace and the clinic which he operated was highly valued. He retired from practice a number of years ago.

An enthusiastic rugby player at School and at University, and later with the Golden Oldies, he looks back with pride on the School 1951-52 season when all matches were won and only one try and one penalty were scored against the 1st XV in the entire season.

Former Pupils’ Section

Trevor Gray (1921-32) is a survivor of the Battle of Britain “few” and has been active signing memorabilia for the many aficionados of that period. He was invited by the Battle of Britain Historical Society to take part in a commemorative flight marking the seventieth anniversary of the Battle. The flight took place on 28 August last year in an Airbus of British Airways, the passengers being survivors of the Battle and guests. For part of the time a Spitfire and a Hurricane joined in to form the familiar ‘vic of three’. Trevor reports that it was an extraordinary experience to be part of a ‘vic’, even allowing for the fact that it included an Airbus. He reflected that the last time it had happened was seventy years ago and on that occasion he had been flying one of the aircraft.

Gregory John Herrara (1981-87) is a partner in Energy Ventures, a venture capital group which has taken a minority stake in Foster Findlay Associates, a 3D seismic-data specialist producing tools which reduce drilling risk, increase exploration success and improve production for oil and gas operators.

Clive Johnston Kelty (1983-89), is spending a year in Sydney, Australia with his wife and family. His wife was in Christchurch, New Zealand for a medical conference at the time of the devastating earthquake in February of this year, but fortunately was unharmed.

Adam Ward Johnstone (1980-86), who formerly held a commission in the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (REME) and played hockey for the British Army, is now British Telecom Openreach general manager of network investment for the Midlands and Wales. He reports that whether it was a mid-life crisis, a personal challenge or just an opportunity to raise funds for charity, he ran in this year’s Virgin London Marathon. Not surprisingly, the charity benefiting from his efforts was the Royal British Legion, which this year celebrates its 90th birthday. The weather was very hot, resulting in several runners being hospitalised, but Adam was happy, after eight months of training, to finish in 4 hours 52 minutes. He found it demoralising to be overtaken at eighteen miles by someone dressed in a rhino costume.

William J. Johnston (Rector 1987-04) BSc, DipEd graduated from Aberdeen University in July last year with a first class honours degree in Gaelic Studies. He has now embarked on a further course of study.

Nick Macandrew (2003-09), who is entering the third year of studying for a law degree at Aberdeen University, was selected to represent Europe in the 2111 Palmer Cup at Stanwich Country Club in Connecticut. The only British player to be selected, he was also the only one not attending a university in the United States. He was picked on the strength of his seven-shot victory at the R&A Foundation Scholars tournament at St Andrews. The Palmer Cup features the leading eight collegiate players from the United States facing their European counterparts in a Ryder Cup-style format. At School, Nick won the scratch title in the Craibstone Aberdeen Schools Competition in 2008 and 2009 and, with his partner, won the Aberdeen Schools league trophy in 2009.

Kenneth James McEwen (1962-68) attended Aberdeen College of Commerce before working for eight years with Aberdeen Journals. After a spell with the North East of Scotland Development Association he set up a public relations partnership in Aberdeen in which he was for a time associated with Neil Bruce Slessor Robertson (1976-79). Since last year he has been operating Ken McEwen Public Relations in Aberdeen. From 2006-10 Ken was chairman of the Aberdeen branch of the Institute of Directors. He is also a Burgess of Guild of the city.

David McLeod (1973-79) BSc , who began his career with Halliburton in 1983 working in the North Sea, has been appointed the company’s Country Vice-President of Southeast Asia and Australasia, overseeing their operations in nineteen Asia Pacific countries. He is based in Perth, Australia. Previously he was based in Kuala Lumpur as Eurasia Pacific regional manager for the Production Enhancement product service line. Before that he had worked in Houston as Global Operations manager for well intervention and as strategic business manager for production enhancement. He has also served in the UK, Europe and Africa in various locations. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and is a

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

graduate of Halliburton’s President’s Leadership Excellence Programme. Married to Gillian (née McCready) (1976-81) he has a son at Strathallan School and a daughter at school in Perth.

Douglas McLeod (1969-70) is now regional director for Scotland of Barratt Homes and at the same time managing director for the group’s east division in Scotland. He spent only his fifth year at the School, having come from Kaimhill Junior Secondary School, and left to take up a post with the Clydesdale Bank. One month was enough to convince him that a career in banking was not for him and he joined the construction industry as a trainee quantity surveyor with William Talbot and Partners in Aberdeen. He studied building at the former Robert Gordon Institute of Technology. He joined Barratt in the mid-70s first as a quantity surveyor and rose through the ranks to a directorship. In his present dual role ha has responsibility for operating divisions at Blairton House, Balmedie and in Edinburgh.

Margaret Jacelyn Macrae-Gibson (1977-82) LL.B a partner at Paull & Williamsons, the Aberdeen commercial law firm, has been accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as an employment law specialist. She has specialised in this field of law for several years.

Martin Neil McWilliam (1971-77), who has been on the British Airports Authority staff for several years, is currently area manager of Glasgow Airport.

Lorraine (Lori) Manders (née McKenna) (1979-85) has been appointed director of development and alumni relations at University College London. For the past twelve years she has been director of development and external affairs, as well as director of marketing, at Aberdeen University.

Shona Marshall (née Milne) (1979-82), who farms at Glenkindie, Strathdon, has further distinguished herself in the world of shooting by winning a silver medal in the clay target trap singles at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last year. She felt that this compensated for her missing out on medals at the Melbourne Games in 2006 when she came seventh and just missed the final.

Peter John Milne (1959-72) CA joined Deloittes (Meston & Co) on leaving School and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1977. He then worked in Hong Kong with Peat, Marwick Mitchell for two years, returning to Aberdeen in 1980, working first with Skean Dhu Hotels and then with KCA Drilling. He moved overseas again working at a Mobil Oil joint venture project in Saudi Arabia for three years. Returning to the UK he rejoined KCA Drilling, working in Great Yarmouth and London before returning to Aberdeen in 1993 where he was appointed finance director of KCA and later its parent company Abbot Group, a position which he held until his retirement in the autumn of 2010.

John Edgar Mutch (1980-84) is chairman of the Aberdeen branch of the Scottish trade association for the electrical industry.

Neil Farquhar Pithie (1977-83) LL.B has joined Aberdeen law firm Wilsone & Duffus as a partner to head up its Dyce office, trading as Key Moves. Neil was previously a partner at the Inverurie office of Aberdein, Considine. He has been handling property transactions for over a decade and is an independent financial adviser.

Graham Reid (1946-52), perhaps better known as ‘Thumper’, joined C. Davidson of Muggiemoss after completing national service. He spent eight years working with the firm in Rhodesia before returning to Aberdeen in the late ‘60s He was mine host of the Corner House hotel in Montrose for 29 years until retiring in 1999. After six years in the Lake District, golfing and playing a lot of bridge, he emigrated to Thailand in 2006. He is keen to hear from former school friends and may be contacted at reidthai@hotmail.com

Charles Duncan Rice (1949-60) KB, MA, PhD, FRSE was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at a recent Northern Star Business Awards ceremony in Aberdeen. The award, sponsored by Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, recognises his fourteen years as Principal of Aberdeen University.

Former Pupils’ Section

Norman Keith Bonner Robson (1933-40) BSc, PhD whose article on the life of a botanist at the Natural History Museum appears elsewhere in this Magazine, has been involved in this field of work for sixty-five years, having entered Aberdeen University in 1946 to study Botany. He spent a year on post-graduate research before moving to Edinburgh to study for his doctorate and at the same time did some lecturing. His first post was at Kew Gardens where he worked on the plants of North and South Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Botswana and Mozambique. He obtained a permanent post at the British Museum (Natural History) in 1962 where he remained until, retiral in 1988. As will be seen from his article, he is still working part-time twenty-three years later.

Stephen Alexander Cormack Robertson (1939-51) MBE, MA, LL.B, MUniv , whose term of office as Rector of Aberdeen University is coming to an end, has written an account of the journey made by himself and his two colleagues, Buff Hardie and George Donald as they took their particular brand of north-east humour to a wide and appreciative audience.

Hamish John Brooks Sandison (1963-69) LL.B , who retired a few years ago from his post as an Inspector with Grampian Police, having latterly been in charge of the Force Control Room, moved with his wife and family to New Zealand’s South Island. His wife is a Kiwi and this meant for her a return to a more congenial climate than the cold Aberdeen winters could offer. Hamish obtained a post with Community and Public Health, which is a division of the Canterbury District Health Board. He lives in the village of Lincoln, twelve miles south-east of Christchurch. From his home he has a view of the Southern Alps, snow-capped for much of the year. His work-load has increased tremendously as a consequence of the earthquakes of recent months, and he readily agreed to the Editor’s request to write about these for this Magazine

Ewan Sinclair (1990-96) and Joanne Elizabeth Smithers (1990-96) both went on from School to study at Edinburgh College of Art. A couple of years ago they converted a small caravan into a mobile cinema which they then used to give screenings of vintage footage of life in the Western Isles. They utilised the local Council’s community video archive to feature cattle sales, lobster fishing and even thatching in the late 1970s. They hope to be able to develop this form of entertainment for isolated northern communities.

Charles Pirie Skene (1940-47), who is an honorary professor at Aberdeen Business School, is involved in a pioneering new course which will give students at Robert Gordon University the opportunity to set up their own businesses in the classroom. The purpose is to give students the chance to develop practical business skills in order to boost their prospects in the current challenging economic conditions. Mr Skene’s view is that there is a desperate need to enhance the enterprise and competitive skills of our young people so that the UK can compete with the emerging economic giants of India and China.

David Pringle Smith (1946-47) has been elected President of the Yorkshire Union of Golf Clubs for the year 2011. Being the largest county in England, Yorkshire boasts a total of 193 golf clubs. David is also a member of the English Golf Union’s Tournament Panel. Arthur David Stewart (1963-76) BSc, PhD has joined an international group of advisers who will give guidance to Olympic athletes on protecting their health from the dangers of extreme weight loss. He is one of seven specialists on the International Olympic Committee panel which has been set up to address the risks of athletes being too light or too thin. The group will examine the problems of top-level athletes indulging in harmful weight-loss practices which are of particular concern in aesthetic, weight-category and gravitational sports. The panel will also suggest practical approaches to tackling body composition issues and set out criteria and methods to assess the risks to athletes’ health. Dr Stewart is a Reader at Robert Gordon University and deputy director of the Centre for Obesity Research and Epidemiology.

Neil Stirton (1992-98) now runs his own business technology consultancy, providing a wide range of IT and business services to local businesses. He continues to compete in the sport which earned him the Phil Love Trophy in 1998, rifle-shooting. He took part in the Commonwealth Games at Delhi last year winning Gold in the Men’s 50 metre Prone Pairs

and Bronze in the Men’s 50 metre 3-Position Pairs. These two medals add to the Silver medal which he won at the Melbourne Games in 2006. Neil comments that Shooting was Scotland’s most successful sport in the Delhi Games, with nine medals out of the twentysix won by Scotland.

Colin Gordon Taylor (1958-63) has been elected by Aberdeen City Council to the board of Sport Aberdeen, a trust created to run the city’s thirty-one sports facilities. The trust took over responsibility for the facilities from the beginning of July last year.

Innes Taylor (1974-80) successfully completed his level 2 Hockey Coaching Badge with Scottish Hockey in March. He is to continue for his fourth season as Scottish Hockey North District U-18 Boys lead coach for Indoor and Outdoor squads. This season the North District Boys Outdoor Squad finished higher than any other District boys or girls squads in finishing third out of five Districts by beating Midlands and Highlands Districts. Innes continues to coach weekly at club level and recently coached the Squad which won the Men’s North Indoor Development League.

His son Thomas Scott Taylor (2002-07) is also to continue for his fourth season as North District U-18 Boys assistant coach. Unlike his father, who has retired from playing, Thomas continues to play hockey and was the only player to play in every game of the squad which won the Men’s North Indoor Development League.

George Wyllie Warder (1937-45), has responded to the Editor’s repeated plea for Club members to provide information about themselves for these Notes. He reports that he was called for National Service in the Black Watch, became a Royal Engineer and served in the British Army Occupation Forces in Germany. He emigrated with his family to Australia in 1948 where he continued his interest in hockey along with his twin brother, and they were both selected to represent Sydney Hockey Association, he against Pakistan and his brother against New Zealand. He was also selected for New South Wales for the 50th anniversary match for the Noall Shield in Melbourne in 1951. At school he had played full back but for the state he played inside right.

He was appointed claims manager with QBE Insurance, working for them for forty years until retiring twenty years ago. Since then he has enjoyed travel overseas with his wife and has once visited the School on a trip to the UK in the 1990s. He met by chance in the United States some years ago Dr James H. Gauld (1956-62) – another hockey-player –and has since had a regular correspondence with him. He recalls with affection those stalwarts of the School staff who gave him such a sound basis for life.

Douglas Morgan Watson (1979-85) LL.B has been appointed as a partner in Ledingham Chalmers, and is a member of its private client team in Aberdeen. Previously, for twenty years, he had been a partner in Adam Cochran , advocates in Aberdeen.

Gordon Scott Williams (1933-46) reports that after retiring over twenty years ago he continued to coach hockey at various levels in the Farnham area. He decided that he should retire from this also on reaching the age of eighty and before he had to use a zimmer frame or wheel-chair. He is now involved with the local Crime Prevention Panel and the Residents’ Association. In addition he runs his local Neighbourhood Watch and comments that he has devised an easy method of running such a scheme which requires very little time once initiated.

Alison Wiseman (1978-84) MB,ChB, MPharm , having recently completed her pharmacy studies, has taken up a post as a pharmacist with Grampian Health Board.

Marriages

Calder (1982-88) – At Castle Fraser on 14 August 2010 Colin John Calder, son of the late John P. Calder and of Mrs Betty Calder, 12 Beechgrove Gardens, Aberdeen to Nicola, daughter of Robert and Fay Mills, Auckland, New Zealand

Former Pupils’ Section

Morrison (1992-98) – At Craigiebuckler Church, Aberdeen on 30 October 2010 Geoffrey Elmslie Morrison, son of Harvey Elmslie Morrison (1951-65) and of Mrs Lesley Morrison, 3 Viewfield Crescent, Aberdeen to Shirley, daughter of Mr & Mrs Ronald E. Grieve, 50 Woodburn Gardens, Aberdeen

Obituaries

William Alexander (1945-48) MA, LL.B died in an Aberdeen hospital on 11 September 2009 after a short illness. He was aged 78. He spent his early boyhood in Aboyne, where his father was a chemist, and came to the Grammar in Upper IV from Aboyne Higher Grade School. He graduated from Aberdeen University in Arts in 1951 and in law in 1954 and began a career in law, working for a time with Mackenzie & Wilson, advocates. Before long he decided to switch into teaching and, after periods at Powis and Hazlehead, he became assistant head teacher at Fernielea and latterly deputy head teacher at Airyhall. Outside his career he had three main interests – music, tennis and hill-walking. On the musical front he was not only a keen listener, enjoying the full spectrum of classical music, but also an accomplished pianist. In tennis he was an enthusiastic member of the Rubislaw Tennis Club. In hill-walking he was a staunch member of The Cairngorm Club, completing the Munros in his younger days, and still leading low level walks well into his 70s. He is survived by a sister.

Douglas Bremner (1950-56) BSc died peacefully in hospital in Dumfries on 12 July 2010 aged 71. He graduated from Aberdeen University in 1960 with honours in Zoology. He was a nature conservationist, and began his career as a biologist and whaling inspector for the Institute of Oceanography on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, where he spent the winter of 1960-61. He then worked first as assistant warden, then as warden and director of field studies for the Field Studies Council at a centre in North Yorkshire. In 1969 he was head-hunted by the National Trust for Scotland to be principal and chief ranger for Scotland’s first country park at Culzean in Ayrshire, where he helped to develop visitor facilities at the home farm and promoted and managed the 560-acre park. His exemplary work at Culzean led to his appointment as chief ranger for the Trust in 1975, leading his team in the development of interpretive displays and exhibitions. In 1989 he became regional director for Lothians, Borders and Fife, and later Lothians, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway. He wrote the history of the National Trust for Scotland for its 70th anniversary in 2001 and a short biography of Sir John Stirling Maxwell, an important founder of the Trust.

Douglas maintained an interest in the NTS after retirement through membership of the committees of the Friends of Broughton House and the Galloway Members’ Group as well as serving on the NTS council. He lived at Parton in Galloway and is survived by his wife, Vivien, and three sons. His brother Alan Bremner (1950-54) died in 2005.

David Basil Stuart Brown (1956) died peacefully in an Aberdeen hospice on 11 March 2011 aged 69. Born in Insch, he came from Elgin Academy to the Grammar in late September 1956 but spent only a week in the school before leaving for a post in a legal firm in Aberdeen. He then became a police cadet, training with a force in central Scotland. He returned to Aberdeen to join the City Police, later Grampian Police, working in most departments including community involvement, recruiting and training, criminal records and general enquiries. He was promoted to inspector in 1980 as training and liaison officer on matters relating to home defence and the UK warning and monitoring organisation.

He was a talented cricketer, serving with Aberdeenshire for over twenty years and was for much of that time their left-handed opening batsman. He was capped for Scotland nineteen times and captained Shire’s 1st XI in 1974 and 1975. He played on a number of occasions for FPs and also for British Police and Scottish Police. He often volunteered for

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

a night shift on Friday so that he could play on Saturday, work the night shift again and then be on duty on Sunday afternoon. In November last year he was inducted into Aberdeen’s sporting hall of fame. He is survived by his wife and son.

Ian McMaster Clubb (1953-58) CA died peacefully at his home near Balmoral on 7 September 2010 after a long illness. He was aged 69. At school, and later for FPs, he was a talented scrum half, rumoured to be a ‘prospect’ for Scotland. He trained as a chartered accountant, apprenticed to Galloway Brown & Co. in Aberdeen. Aged 22 he moved to London where he took up a post with Thomson McLintock. He joined the Thomson International Organisation as a systems analyst, working his way up over ten years to be chief accountant. He was involved in the negotiations which led to the sale of Times Newspapers to Rupert Murdoch. He held senior posts with various Thomson companies as finance director and while holding such a post with Woodside Petroleum he became involved in the development of the North West Shell gas project off Australia in 1982. On his return to the UK he helped to set up the broad-based energy group Carless Petroleum.

In his long and varied career he was regularly head-hunted to help struggling companies and invariably succeeded in doing so. He had a keen analytical mind and a keen eye for the correct business strategies to apply to any given situation. Once he had seen the books and figures, even of a business in which he had no expertise, he was able to turn its fortunes around. He was also much in demand as a non-executive director of a wide variety of companies. Possibly his best-known success was as chief executive officer and chairman of First Choice Holidays – he earned a reputation as being the man who ‘made First choice happen’.

Perhaps the best decision he made was a personal one. In March 1974 he was booked to fly from Paris to London on a Turkish Airlines flight. A friend in Paris insisted that he stay for lunch and catch a later flight. Turkish flight 981 crashed en route with the loss of all on board.

Ian retired in 2005 but was diagnosed with throat cancer three years later. He spent his last months in his holiday cottage by the Dee where he always said that he belonged. He is survived by his second wife, by three sons, a daughter and three grandchildren.

Former Club President

John Whitby Cradock (1940-46) CA died very suddenly at his home in Aberdeen on 20 September 2010, aged 81. Born in England, he came to Aberdeen in 1940 and was for a time a boarder at the former School Boarding House. A prefect and a member of both the 1st XV and 1st XI at School, he went on to train as a chartered accountant. National Service in the Royal Air Force followed, after which he was encouraged by his uncle Richard Irvin (1914-18) to join the family firm of Richard Irvin, fish salesmen, which had been founded by his great-grandfather. He began as a fish salesman’s clerk and progressed through office manager and company secretary before succeeding his uncle as managing director. He later became chairman and chief executive of the Richard Irvin Services Group, now specialists in building services, engineering and fabrication, supply chain management and marine safety. He retired as chairman in 1994, but continued to take a keen interest in the company’s activities.

John was appointed to Aberdeen Harbour Board in 1973 and became its chairman in 1985. He served as chairman of Aberdeen Fishing Vessel Owners Association and of Aberdeen Fish Producers Association and as president of the Scottish Trawlers Federation. He became an honorary manager of Aberdeen Savings Bank in 1962 and six years later was made a trustee and member of the board. He was appointed chairman of the Bank in 1983 and named as regional chairman on the formation of TSB Scotland with a seat on its board. He held various other directorships.

John was a member of Royal Aberdeen Golf Club for over sixty years, its captain in 1982-83 and had recently been made an honorary member. He served for several years on

Former Pupils’ Section

the Executive of the FP Club, was Vice-chairman in 1971-73, Chairman in 1973-75 and President of the Club in 1977-78. He was co-opted to the then newly formed School Board in 1989. He played both rugby and cricket for FPs for several years and was a member of the famous Strathmore Union side of 1948. He was a stalwart of the Golf Section, of which he was a former captain. The programme for the Gala RFC match at Rubislaw on the Saturday following John’s death contained the following tribute:

“John, as a player, committee man, sponsor and honorary vice-president, was a wholehearted supporter of the Club through good times and bad. He spoke intelligently about our sport with a bias towards encouragement as opposed to deprecation, and always with humour and good grace”.

John’s wife, Vina, died a few years ago, and his son Alan Irvin Cradock (1962-75) died in the Piper Alpha disaster of 1987. He is survived by his sons David and Innes as well as by grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His brother is Richard H. Cradock (1940-51).

Andrew Milne Hay Crawford (1943-57) died peacefully in Grange Nursing Home, Chertsey on 6 April 2011, aged 72.

Martin Jeffrey (1942-57) writes: “Drew was born in Aberdeen on 2 December 1938 and started at the Grammar in the Nursery Class in 1943 under the eye of the redoubtable Miss Robertson. He made steady, rather than spectacular, progress over the years, but attracted much envy from classmates when he became one of the first owners of a motor bike and then a car. This sparked an enthusiasm which continued throughout his life. After leaving school, Drew fairly quickly went off to do his National Service. This included postings to such varied places as South Cerney, Malta and Kenya at the time of the Mau Mau troubles. It was there that he suffered fairly serious injuries when a service vehicle in which he was a passenger overturned. Thankfully he made a full recovery. On his return to Aberdeen he joined Marine Harvest and quickly became manager of the very first salmon fish farm in Scotland, located at Lochailort on the west coast, where he spent many happy years. This was followed by a posting to the Production Department of Marine Harvest in Torry.

“Drew married Kathleen Matthewson at Udny Green Parish Church on 17 July 1971. After a short spell in Aberdeen they moved to Waltham Abbey in 1972 and finally to Shepperton in 1975. Drew moved through a series of posts, largely with Unilever, before retiring in 2003. He and Kathleen built a wide circle of friends in the Shepperton area and Drew was very active in the community. This included chairmanship of the Village Fair, stewarding at Twickenham, playing tennis and watching rugby on a regular basis. Sadly, Drew’s health started to deteriorate and the onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s resulted in him entering the Grange Nursing home in February 2009. He was one of life’s true gentlemen and always excellent company. He will be greatly missed by his many friends.

“He is survived by his wife, Kathleen, daughter Susan and son Andrew”.

Alistair Dudley Rae Fiddes (1936-43) died peacefully at Hutton, Essex on 12 December 2010 aged 84. The son of Dr. John Douglas Fiddes (1896-02), who died in 1966, he was resident in the Boarding House while at School. He was a keen sportsman, playing in the 1st XV, in which he was awarded colours, and in the 1st XI which he captained. He was described as an “exceptionally fine captain, a real student of the game and as promising an exponent of it as has played in the XI for some time”. He was Cricket captain of Dun House and secretary of the Tennis club. From School he served in the army, being commissioned in the Royal Artillery. After leaving the forces in 1949 he qualified as a chartered quantity surveyor, working in private practice in and around London. Prior to his retirement in 1990 he was senior partner of his firm.

His enthusiasm for cricket continued and he played for his local Hutton Cricket Club, captaining the 1st XI for eleven years and remaining associated with it until his death. He was also a member of the MCC. He joined Thornden Park Golf Club and once his

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

cricketing days were over he played there regularly, invariably with other cricketers. He was instrumental in forming the Thornden Park Cricketers Golf Society which still continues. He was very fond of his garden and missed pottering there when he became too frail.

He is survived by his wife, Pamela, by a son and daughter and by two grandchildren.

Sinclair Thomson Forbes (1947-56) BSc, MSc died peacefully in a hospice in Aberdeen on 26 May 2011 aged 73. At School he was a Prefect, vice-captain of the Hockey 1st XI, vice-captain of Cricket for Byron House and Modern Dux in 1956. Described in the Prefect notes in the June 1956 issue of the Magazine as ‘an inoffensive scientific genius’, “Finkel”, as he was known at School, went on to Aberdeen University where he graduated with First Class honours in Natural Philosophy in 1960 and was awarded the Arnot Prize in that subject. He went on to obtain a Master of Science degree in Physical Instrumentation.

He worked first as a research physicist with British Nylon Spinners (later ICI Fibres Division) in Pontypool, South Wales where he played hockey for Monmouth County. He returned to Aberdeen to work at the Marine Laboratory, specialising in fish detection by sonar and under-water acoustics. His work entailed a good deal of sea-going in the North Atlantic and took him frequently to Greenland, the Faeroe Islands and further afield. He also had secondments to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and to the British Overseas Development Authority. Taking early retirement some years ago, he continued to play and later to umpire hockey until arthritis forced him to give up; but two new hip joints gave him a new lease of life.

Music played a large part in Sinclair’s life. He was for many years the Tenor leader in Rubislaw Parish Church choir and he was a regular singer with Aberdeen Lyric Music Society, appearing on the stage of His Majesty’s Theatre over a long period in their annual productions. He was for many years a part-time manager of the Rubislaw Church Centre, and a member of the Aberdeen City Children’s Panel Advisory Committee, a post which he found very rewarding. He enjoyed family history research, became something of a computer ‘whizz’, always ready to come to the aid of the less competent, and did some desk-top publishing, mostly of music.

Sinclair is survived by his wife Edna, two sons, Alastair Gordon Forbes (1979-85) and Colin George Forbes (1982-88) and by two grandsons. His younger brother is George Stewart Forbes (1947-59).

John Harold Galloway (1941-55) died peacefully in hospital at Perth on 23 September 2010 following a long illness. He was aged 73. The elder son of the late Harold William Galloway (1905-16), he served an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker with the family firm of Galloway & Sykes in Aberdeen. Following National Service in Wales and Germany he rejoined the firm in 1961. On the retiral of his uncle Eric James Galloway(1908-18) in 1982 he became managing director. In 1989, following the closure of the business, he changed career and became a hotelier and with his wife, Elsie, acquired the Lochgair Hotel near Lochgilphead on the west shore of Loch Fyne in Argyllshire. He retired some years ago to live in Auchterarder and had latterly been in poor health.

John is survived by his wife and by three sons, a daughter Julie Elizabeth Galloway (1984-89) and by seven grandchildren. His brother is David Brian Galloway (1944-58).

James Brian Kenworthy (1954-67) BA, FSA(Scot) died peacefully in Nairn on 8 March 2011 following a long illness. While at School he developed an interest in archaeology, visiting various sites of standing stones, cairns and stone circles and proceeding to study for his A level, travelling to England to sit the examination as the subject was not available in Scotland at that time. He proceeded to Cardiff University, obtaining a BA degree and later submitting a thesis on the stone circles of north-east Scotland. He was appointed as a

Former Pupils’ Section

lecturer in archaeology at St Andrews University, where he became involved in the work of excavation and preservation of historic sites in the city. He worked with the Fife Coastal Survey, recording sites in danger of erosion, and also carried out extensive field work on Loch Tummel and on Rannoch Moor.

Over a period of twenty years he carried out significant excavations at Nethermills, near Banchory, revealing large quantities of carbonised wood and nut fragments. Analysis of these indicated a dominant presence of oak. His findings were the subject of The Use of Wood as a Natural Resource at a Scottish Mesolithic Site, which he published in 1993.

On the closure of the archaeology faculty at St Andrews in 1987 he moved to Nottingham University where he was recognised as an inspiring teacher with an enthusiasm for his subject which was readily communicated to his students. He continued to return as often as possible to carry out fieldwork in the North of Scotland.

Ill-health forced his early retirement in 1995, when he returned to Scotland, to work as an independent field archaeologist on a Bronze Age site at Sleat in Skye. His health restored, he returned to Aberdeen as an extramural lecturer at the University, teaching and leading field trips, and also continued excavation work at Lumsden and Kildrummy. He was the author of several academic papers, making a valuable contribution to the appreciation of Scottish archaeology. He was made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

He is survived by his former wife and by a son and daughter. His brother is David Clive Kenworthy (1964-70).

Robert Thom Kessack (1942-47) died peacefully in a care home in Aberdeen on 21 December 2010 aged 81. He joined Aberdeen Savings Bank on leaving School and spent his entire working life with the Bank and its TSB successor. This was briefly interrupted by National Service spent with the Royal Artillery, for part of which he was attached to 54 Anti-Aircraft Regiment in Gibraltar. He served in various branches of the Bank and in 1984 was promoted from advances manager at the Aberdeen head office in Union Terrace to be manager at Cults. He is survived by his wife Sheila, with whom he celebrated their Golden Wedding in 2007, by his son and daughter and by five grandchildren.

Gordon Dalgleish Lamont (1934-46), after a long illness, died peacefully in a hospice in Aberdeen on 7 October 2010 aged 81. Gordon went into the bakery trade, joining his close school friend George Strathdee. He trained in the bakery and went on to become sales manager for Strathdee’s Bakery. He joined the Seven Incorporated Trades of Aberdeen and went through office in the Bakers Incorporation, of which he was Deacon in 1967-68. Later he bought a newsagent’s business in Holburn Street which he ran for several years before operating a similar establishment in the Woodend shopping complex in Aberdeen. He retired a number of years ago. In his leisure time he was an enthusiastic bird-watcher. Gordon is survived by his wife, a son and daughter and four grandchildren.

Raymond Alexander Leslie (1949-52) BA died suddenly, but peacefully, in an Aberdeen hospital on 14 September 2010 following a long illness. He was aged 73. Leaving school at 16, he joined Aberdeen Town Council education department as a clerk. He completed National Service with the RAF at Kinloss, and then returned to the Education department under whom he studied to obtain various qualifications. In 1965 he became a registration officer at the former Robert Gordon Institution of Technology, later Robert Gordon University, rising to become academic registrar and deputy secretary.

In 1977 he graduated BA from the Open University. His work at RGU involved him in much travel to recruit students and he was recognised as a first class ambassador for the University. He served on many internal and external committees but in 1991 was forced to take early retirement on health grounds. Two years later he was awarded the first honorary fellowship of the University in recognition of his distinguished service.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

He was a keen golfer, a founding member of Stonehaven Lions Club, a former chairman of Stonehaven Unionist Club and former secretary to Stonehaven and District Probus Club. He is survived by his wife to whom he had been married for fifty-five years, by his two sons Gary Raymond Leslie (1968-72) and Roderick McDonald Leslie (196972) and by three grandchildren.

David Ivor Morgan (1948-54) MA, LL.B died peacefully in an Aberdeen care home on 11 March 2011 following a long illness. He was aged 74. He came to the Grammar in Lower V from Hutcheson’s Grammar School and went on to Aberdeen University where he took a degree in Arts, with honours in Latin and French in 1958. He then obtained a Law degree in 1961. He served an apprenticeship with Bower & Gibb, advocates, under the tutelage of the late Scottie MacLachlan, who was at that time Secretary of the FP Club. He continued for a year as a qualified assistant before moving to a similar post with Davidson & Garden, advocates, with whom he became a partner in 1964. He later left private practice on his appointment as a Regional Chairman of Industrial Tribunals in Scotland. He had been retired for several years.

David is survived by his wife Diane, to whom he had been married since 1962, and by his two children.

David Mark Wotherspoon Nicol (1933-44) died peacefully in a care home at Arbroath on 17 September 2010,aged 84, after a long illness. He was a Prefect and an active member of the Dramatic Society at school. He was called up at the start of the summer term of 6th year and served for four years in the Royal Engineers, latterly with British troops in Austria. He was able to indulge his fondness for hill-walking in the mountains of Carinthia and Styria. On demobilisation in 1948 he studied architecture at the then RGIT and at the same time served an apprenticeship with D. & J.R. McMillan, architects in Aberdeen. While at college he was variously Secretary and President of the Students’ Representative Council and a founder member and President of the new Students’ Union.

After graduating in 1954 he joined the schools architect’s department of Hereford County Council, then heavily engaged in post-war school building. He was then employed by British Rail on designing a new station for Peterborough, plans for which were abandoned after the arrival of Dr Beeching as controller of BR. From 1967 until his retiral twenty years later he was Development Architect, and latterly Building and Works Officer, to Queen’s University, Belfast. This was during a period of major expansion, taking the full time student numbers from 2000 to 6000. While he was in Ireland, through the involvement of his children in competitive swimming, he was successively President and Secretary of the Ulster Branch of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association of which, in gratitude for his services, he was made an honorary life member.

In retirement he was an enthusiastic member, and for a time Secretary, of Friockheim and District Probus Club. Mark is survived by his wife, Muriel, by his two sons and a daughter and by seven grandchildren. His younger brother Kenneth Moir Nicol (1934-45) died in 1994 and his elder brother Thomas James Trail Nicol died in 1998.

Douglas James Cochar Patterson (1926-38) died in Aberdeen on 7 November 2010 aged 89. On leaving School he joined his father in the restaurant and licensed catering business in Aberdeen. On the outbreak of war in 1939 he joined N.A.A.F.I. as a manager to open canteens and restaurants in the Highlands. When he became eligible for call-up he joined the army and was sent to the Middle East with the Royal Army Service Corps to carry out the same functions for the 8th Army. He was awarded a commission in 1945 and continued in the same line of work, finally in Palestine. After demobilisation he went into the insurance business, retiring in 1984 as South Region pensions manager for the Scottish Life Assurance Company. He was predeceased by his wife a few years ago.

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FP Club’s Oldest Member

George Barclay Rickart (1923-30) died in Vancouver on 22 July 2010, aged 97. He was at the time the oldest member of the FP Club. He joined the Phoenix Insurance Company in Aberdeen on leaving School. His career was interrupted by war service in the Royal Air Force as a wireless operator in Bomber Command. He trained as a pilot in Canada and later worked as an instructor, rising to the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He returned to the Phoenix in Aberdeen and by 1951 was a senior inspector. He then emigrated to Canada, settling in Vancouver where he became manager of the insurance department of Balfour Guthrie (Canada) Ltd, a company mainly concerned with marine insurance. When the firm later merged with H.A. Roberts Ltd, insurance agents, he became their joint manager in Vancouver. In 1964 he was appointed secretary-manager of the Vancouver Insurance Agents Association and the Insurance Agents Association of British Columbia, of which he was the immediate past president. When he retired in 1980 he was the recipient of widespread tributes to his professionalism.

George returned to Aberdeen in 1991 and was recognised as a wonderful raconteur on his regular visits to the Club Centre on a Saturday evening. His wife died in 1999 and three years later he returned to Vancouver. On the formation of the Canadian Centre of the FP Club in 1993 he was an early member and regularly present at the annual reunions when these took place in the West. He was elected President of the Centre in 2005, and it was noted then that, at 92, he was the oldest ever President of any part of the Club. In 2009, at the age of 96, he drove from his home in Vancouver to the Canadian Reunion in Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island, a trip which included taking the ferry from the mainland to Nanaimo. George was a perfect gentleman, delightful company and an inspiration to us all. When asked what his idea of a good day was, his quick response was “If I wake up!” On leaving the 2009 reunion he cheerily remarked “See you chaps in Calgary in two years” –sadly that will not happen.

George is survived by his daughter and a grandson.

James Roberts (1961-66) died following a short illness on 28 July 2010 aged 61. He came to the Grammar from King Street Primary and after six months at the old Frederick Street Junior Secondary School. He enjoyed playing both rugby and cricket at School but his main sporting interest was football which he played for both YMCA Hearts and Grampian Spurs. On leaving School he joined Aberdeen City Council education department and then held a number of clerical posts in various Council departments before taking early retirement in 1999. He was a dedicated family man and outside family his interests were electronics, golf, tropical fish and musical quizzes – he was a disc jockey at the Beach Ballroom. He was a lifelong supporter of Rangers Football Club. He is survived by his wife, Moira, by his son and daughter and by four grandchildren.

Edward Macallan Robertson (1936-41) MA, MLitt(Oxon) died peacefully in hospital in Perth on 9 April 2011, aged 83, following a long illness. He completed his secondary education at Robert Gordon’s College from where he went on to Aberdeen University, graduating in 1949 with first class honours in Mental Philosophy. He was awarded the Henry Prize in Moral Philosophy and with a Clark Bursary went up to Queen’s College, Oxford, where he graduated B. Litt in 1951. He then studied at the College of the Resurrection at Mirfield, Yorks before his ordination as a Deacon of the Church of England at Bristol Cathedral in 1955. Raised to the Priesthood in 1956 he was appointed Priest-in-Charge at St Luke’s, in Swindon. He returned to Scotland as Rector of St Cuthbert’s, Hawick in 1960, moving to Alloa in 1970. Charges in Linlithgow and Strathtay followed before his final post as Priest-in-Charge at St Kessog’s, Auchterarder and St James, Methill in 1990-93. He was the brother of the late Aberdeen sculptor Richard R. Robertson. He is survived by his wife, a son and daughter and five grandchildren.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Alastair William Scott-Brown (1946-52) MB,ChB, FRCPsych died peacefully in hospital in Inverness on 9 September 2010 after a long illness. He was aged 75. Born in Madura, in Southern India, he spent his early childhood in India, where his father was in the Indian Civil Service, only coming to Aberdeen after the War and entering the Grammar in Lower V. He was a Prefect in his final year before going on to study Medicine at Aberdeen University. He played an active role in the Officers Training Corps and after graduating in 1958 and the usual house officer posts he took a short service commission in the Royal Navy in preference to two years’ national service in the Army. This stretched to 23 years.

His first posting was to Culdrose Royal Naval Air Station where he first became interested in psychiatry. Two postings to Singapore and the Far East followed and in 196364 he undertook training in psychiatry and specialist posts, leading to his diploma in psychiatric medicine from London in 1965. In 1974, as a Surgeon-Commander, he was consultant psychiatrist and clinical tutor at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, Southampton and from 1979 senior consultant at the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar, Gosport.

When the Falklands crisis hit in 1982 he sailed on the P&O liner Uganda, hastily kitted out as a hospital ship. He was one of four senior commanders on board and they played a vital role during the conflict. Alastair was much admired for his compassion and skill, and for his sense of humour, common sense and level-headedness.

On his return to the U.K. his next posting entailed a desk job in the Ministry of Defence which would have involved no patients so he decided to leave the Navy for a post at Craig Dunain Hospital in Inverness. There he built a reputation as a sound clinician and a wise doctor who applied common sense to all he did. It was said that in Inverness medical circles they were so pleased when he came to Craig Dunain and the Hospital Board had a sane, down-to-earth, reasonable psychiatrist to discuss things with. While there, among other appointments, he had forensic responsibility at Porterfield Prison and was a senior lecturer in Psychiatry at Aberdeen University. In 1995, at the time of his retiral, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

In retirement Alastair was never idle. He was a keen cook, gardener and photographer, and the latter led him to take up painting, to which he brought his usual enthusiasm and skill. He also delighted in travel, and especially cruising.

He is survived by his wife, Ardyn, with whom he celebrated their Golden wedding in 2009, by two sons and a daughter and their children. His younger brother is Ronald ScottBrown (1946-55).

Erik Malcolm Smith (1925-38) died suddenly, but peacefully, in hospital in Aberdeen on 7 December 2010 aged 90.

His son Malcolm writes: “Thoughts of a career in banking were postponed by the outbreak of War in 1939 and he joined the Royal Navy, where he showed enough ability to achieve promotion to Sub-Lieutenant and a job handling signals. It sounds like a routine job, but Erik excelled at routine and crossword puzzles and was clearly a man for the job. He served on HMS Norfolk, the ship which took part in Arctic convoys, the destruction of the Bismarck in 1941 and the Scharnhorst in 1943. Norfolk was so badly damaged in the latter battle, when two 11-inch shells hit the ship, that it was as much as she could do to limp back to Newcastle for repairs. The damage also meant that Norfolk was not involved in the D-Day landings, but somehow or other Erik spent time in June 1944 camping in a Normandy apple orchard continuing his work with signals. The Navy’s involvement in this is a mystery. The rest of his war was spent in the Far East preparing to push the Japanese out of Burma, but the war ended before he was sent to a combat zone.

“After leaving the Navy Erik worked as a clerk in the Union Bank of Scotland spending a short period in the Bank’s branch in Lerwick, much to his surprise and enjoyment as many family holidays had been spent in Shetland. In 1949 he made a career

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change and moved to assist his father, Malcolm, with the running of the family fishing industry business. Following his father’s death in1963 Erik again changed course, leaving the fish trade and acquiring the wholesale paper merchant’s business of William Fraser in Aberdeen. Thus, at the age of 44, he started a completely new career in which he continued successfully until retiring around 1980. In retirement he indulged his love of ships and travelled to Norway, his favourite foreign destination, taking trips on the coastal steamer and retracing part of the route of the Arctic convoys. He also tried to have at least an annual visit to Shetland.

“Although he was not a very enthusiastic sportsman, Erik nevertheless enjoyed the fresh air. His fitness cannot be doubted for, as a young man, he toured the Aberdeenshire countryside by bicycle, getting to know the country pubs and gaining an encyclopaedic knowledge of the country roads and locally brewed beer. Later, as a car owner, family runs to favourite picnic spots depended on his knowledge of interesting stops beside streams to let the children out to play. Then the beverage was strictly tea from the flask.

“His wife, Jean, whom he married in 1949, died in 2005 and Erik decided to live on at the family house, only moving to a nursing home three months before his death. He is survived by his two sons, Malcolm and Charles and by his daughter Helen. Helen and Charles are twins”.

Eric had become one of the FP Club’s celebrated nonagenarians in June last year. His younger brother Archibald Harold Smith (1929-38) died in 2008.

Thomas Gibson Smith (1936-43) died suddenly but peacefully at his home in Brechin on 22 February 2011 aged 81. From School he went on to Merchiston Academy. An enthusiastic rugby at School he was hooker in the FP 1st XV for several seasons, playing alongside such stalwarts as the late Doug Georgeson. He was frequently selected for North District and was reserve hooker for Scotland on a number of occasions although never called upon to play.

In 1953 he passed the professional examinations of the Land Agents’ Society and served as Factor to Lord Cowdray at Dunecht Estates for several years. He then moved to Brechin where he was employed as a surveyor and evaluator of estates for Savilles. He was a keen collector of antiques.

Tim was unmarried and was predeceased by his brother Malcolm and by his sister.

John Coutts Smollett (1938-43) died in hospital at Banff on 17 November 2010 aged 84. After war service he took up a post with the Demerara Co. Ltd in Leonora, British Guiana where he worked for several years as a sugar planter. He later returned to the UK and took up farming in Banffshire, retiring in the early ‘90s. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Alan Fletcher Stephen (1949-58) died peacefully at Cupar, Fife on 16 July 2010 following a short illness. He was aged 70. He studied at the T. Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and was for some time employed with Mackie, Ramsay & Taylor in Aberdeen before moving to Cupar. There he worked in Fife County Council Architect’s department until his retirement a few years ago. He was a keen hill-walker, rock and snow climber, often to be seen at Lochend bothy in Glen Muick. He was a talented musician, proficient in several instruments, notably the guitar with which he enjoyed entertaining with a wide range of bothy ballads. He was a writer of short stories, some of which have been aired on BBC Radio and some of his poetry has been published in Fife. In his leisure time he enjoyed golfing at Ladybank.

Alan is survived by his wife, Rhonda, and two daughters, one of whom is following her father into architecture.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Ian David Fiddes Thomson (1944-48) died peacefully in an Edinburgh hospital on 3 February 2011 aged 79. He joined Aberdeen Journals as a junior reporter in 1948 and after ten years became assistant to the publicity manager, succeeding him in 1960. Seven years later he moved to Edinburgh as publicity manager of The Scotsman and the Edinburgh Evening News. He was then for nearly thirty years the energetic and inspirational force behind publicity and sponsorship events for both newspapers. He was prominent in the planning of such events as the Festival Cavalcade, for which he was chief marshall, and the Dispatch Trophy golf event.

Having played both sports at school, he then played both hockey and cricket for FPs while in Aberdeen. Golf, which he took up at the age of 30, was later his main sporting interest and he was a 5-handicap member of Duddingston Golf Club. As a member of the Society of High Constables, he was twice captain of Ward XXII Portobello, and held the 35 years’ service bar.

Ian was predeceased by his wife but is survived by his son who is head professional and director of golf at The Carnegie Club, Skibo Castle.

Ian Lewis Torvaney (1943-48) died peacefully in hospital in Dundee on 15 May 2010. He was aged 78 and had been in poor health for some time. On his return from National Service he joined Pirie Appleton Ltd. (a subsidiary of the Wiggins Teape paper group) in Aberdeen as a sales representative. In 1965 he was appointed representative of the Group for half of the city of Glasgow and later became their principal agent for the south of Scotland and part of the north of England. He retired on health grounds at the age of 55.

He was a firearms enthusiast, a keen shooter, and ran his own business, Clyde Valley Reloading Supplies, selling firearms and ammunition. He was also a golfer. In retirement he enjoyed travel, especially holidays in France. A few years ago he published a collection of poetry, largely about experiences in World War I, written by his father, the late Rev. W.R. Torvaney, a double M.C. holder who had served with the Black Watch.

Ian was predeceased by his wife, Nina, but is survived by his son and daughter and by four grandsons. His older brother Alastair William Logie Torvaney (1938-40) died about ten years ago.

Gordon Will (1959-64) died suddenly but peacefully in hospital in Aberdeen on 3 May 2011 following a long illness. He was aged 63. With his wife, Helen, he ran the Willdance School of Ballroom and Latin American dancing in Aberdeen since 2004. Dancing had always played a major part in their lives from their first meeting in the former Palace Ballroom in Aberdeen. The Willdance School is attended by more than 300 pupils of all ages, and on one occasion they returned from a competition in Blackpool with a total of 127 trophies which their protégées had won.

Gordon was a keen golfer and a former captain of Cruden Bay Golf Club. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a grandson.

Brian Richard Clark died suddenly but peacefully in hospital in Aberdeen on 14 May 2011 aged 64. Having qualified as a chartered quantity surveyor in Edinburgh, he worked for Ian Shaw & Partners, who posted him to Aberdeen to work on the new Shell building at Tullos. When that was completed he remained in Aberdeen and after a number of years worked on his own account from an office at his home.

Derek Younger writes: “Brian played his schoolboy rugby at Royal High in Edinburgh and then went on to play his club rugby as a Number 8 and Captain of the 1st XV at Trinity Accies in Edinburgh. And then someone up above us smiled on Aberdeen and he arrived at Grammar some 30 years ago. Immediately he was a promotion-winning Coach

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at Grammar, then at various times went on to be Team Manager, Caledonia Selector, Club President and, most recently, Director of Rugby.

“One remarkable measure of his commitment and love of the game is that since the early ‘80s we estimate that Brian travelled more than a hundred and thirty thousand miles to matches, equivalent to more than 5 times round the world. Many of us shared only some of those long journeys with Brian, but I can vividly picture him on the way home, in his usual place at the front of the bus, with his trusty travel companions - the ubiquitous and well-deserved cans of McEwans Export – guaranteed to celebrate the victory or soften the memory of defeat!

“As much as he accepted and enjoyed his role as an administrator, Brian’s real love was related to what took place on the field of play. Although confined to touchline duties for the last thirty years, his enthusiasm for the sport and his support of the players ensured that he also made every tackle, caught and passed every ball, pushed in every scrum and touched down every try. He shared the pain and the glory as keenly as his 15 warriors on the pitch.

“His empathy with the players was uppermost in his involvement. Over the years, many hundreds of young men have benefited greatly from his understanding and encouragement of that special role in being a member of a rugby team. He knew what it took to improve and perform as a player at the highest level in the Club game. Unselfishly and freely Brian gave advice to enable countless players to achieve their ambitions. His legacy will endure for many years to come.

“Brian dealt with everything – looking after kit, keeping the coaches in line, team selection, player recruitment, organising accommodation, flights and employment, recording team and player statistics, organising maintenance and improvements at Rubislaw, peace-keeping duties with the Rubislaw Groundsmen, representing those players who fell foul of the SRU disciplinary system, organising dinners, collecting subs, mentoring fellow committee members and, his most enjoyable role, completing the referees assessment card after the end of each game!!

“My personal vignette of Brian is at Rubislaw, puffing the occasional fag whilst pacing up and down the touchline, only to be interrupted too frequently by the referee penalising us for an obviously undeserved infringement. He would stop in his tracks, fix the whistler with a bewildered and astonished glower, followed by an exaggerated shake of the head before offering his measured assessment of “absolute rubbish ref!!” He would then resume his touchline marathon, continuing his further advice to the ref on offside Law 11.1. That was about as controversial as he got – because Brian was the epitome of decency and without doubt a true sportsman and ambassador for the Club.

“For the last 3 decades Clarkie, as he was affectionately known, was the glue which held our rugby club together, throughout our successes and failures. He did so with a great humour and an unselfish attitude. Brian was always prepared to listen, guide and advise and he was always there at the front of the queue whenever help was needed. He will forever be regarded with great respect and warmth by all those who were lucky enough to know him. Brian was indeed a great and gentle man who had honesty and integrity by the bucketful.

“In the last few weeks of his life Brian recorded a triple crown of plaudits and successes. Firstly, by playing his part in his beloved Grammar gaining promotion to Premier 1 and then being honoured, on the same evening in early May, with an Aberdeen City Service to Sport Award and also the Grammar Club Man of the Year Award”.

George Cruickshank died suddenly but peacefully in hospital in Aberdeen on 12 January 2011 aged 80. Born in Cove Bay and educated at Mackie Academy, George was a longstanding associate member of the Club Centre whose professional advice had frequently been sought and readily given. He attended the School of Architecture, qualifying in 1953 and serving an apprenticeship with Aberdeen City Architect. National Service in the Royal

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Engineers followed after which he returned to the City Architect. He designed the original café at Hazlehead Park and was responsible for the first multi-storey block in Ashgrove Road West. He moved to private practice in Dundee, then returned to the public sector as planning officer for Dunfermline. In 1968 he returned to the north-east as county planning officer for Aberdeenshire and was involved in early projects at the start of North Sea oil. He became a partner in Baxter, Clark & Paul in 1972 and was also director of town and regional planning at Dundee University. He retired in 1990 but continued to do consulting work and appeared frequently as an expert witness at planning inquiries.

He was a member of both Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce and Grampian Housing Association, a Fellow and past President of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, and a Fellow of both the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He was a Burgess of Guild, a Rotarian and past President of the City of Aberdeen Probus Club. He was a bowler and curler, (curling at one time for FPs), formerly enjoyed sailing and he was a Burns aficionado, delivering countless Immortal Memories and ‘Addresses to the Haggis’.

George’s wife, Kathleen, died in 2003, but he is survived by two sons, two daughters, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Frank Peterhoff (German assistant 1966-67) died peacefully on 13 November 2010 in hospital in Germany after a short illness. He was aged 66.

Donald Hawksworth and Robin Grant (1955-68) write: “During his year at Aberdeen Grammar School he proved himself to be an enthusiastic teacher who was popular with both pupils and staff. He had an excellent command of English and was even able to turn on a Scottish accent on request. In addition to his normal teaching duties at the School, he took an active interest in extra-curricular activities. A keen mountaineer, he was a regular participant in expeditions with the school hill-walking club. As a former pupil of the Oberrealschule (later renamed the Goethe Gymnasium) in Aberdeen's sister city, Regensburg, Frank's personal acquaintance with staff of that school was invaluable when the Grammar School's Music Department was planning musical exchanges with that school. He accompanied the large group of choir and orchestra members on their visit to that city in 1967, and he proved invaluable as an interpreter. He was himself a good flute player and he enjoyed singing in the choir.

“After returning to Germany, Frank completed his degree in Philosophy at the University of Regensburg before entering a full-time career in teaching. During his career he taught both Geography and English at a number of different schools in Bavaria before retiring in 2008. He maintained a keen interest in Scotland and kept in touch with various former members of staff from the Grammar School, particularly James Morrison, Donald Macaulay and Donald Hawksworth. He returned to Scotland on holiday with his wife and family as often as he could, taking the chance to visit old friends, explore new places and climb a few more mountains. He very much enjoyed attending the Edinburgh Festival. He loved travelling, both in Europe and further afield, and over the years had spent time in various parts of the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Laos, Vietnam, South America and Israel.

“Frank will be greatly missed by all who knew him. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son”.

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Section

of Accounts for Year ended 31 December 2010

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Abstract of Accounts for Year ended 31 December 2010

F.P. Club Centre

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine