Ackworth
Old Scholars’ Association
Stewart was born on the 5th August 1946 in Dorset, the younger son of Eric and Margot but at an early age the family moved to Ford Castle in North Northumberland when his father was appointed warden of an educational field centre and his mother the domestic bursar. With transport to the local school in Berwick being difficult, Stewart was offered a place at Ackworth where he started at age 11 in 1957. Stewart enjoyed life at Ackworth but holidays at Ford Castle were special and school friends were keen to visit.
Remaining at Ackworth until 1964 having studied Geography, English and French in the 6th Form, Stewart then started work with a law firm in Bradford where he undertook his Articles of Clerkship. 5 years on and with the Law Society exams behind him he was enrolled as a Solicitor in 1969. As a result of an unexpected job offer from a friend he met on the Finals course, Stewart moved to a legal practice in Leyburn, Wensleydale where he specialised in Town & Country Planning and Settled Land law as well as the more routine Wills, Trusts and Probate and Conveyancing work.
Jane grew up on a remote hill farm in West Northumberland, living in an extended family. In her early years water was drawn from a well, electricity arrived in 1952 and Primary school was reached by a walk through fields. Living too remotely to attend secondary school daily and with Hexham Boarding House being full, in 1957 she was offered a place at Ackworth where she thrived, despite initial homesickness.
After 6th form, Jane read English at Manchester where one of her tutors was a friend of J.R.R. Tolkien. She specialised in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Literature, but has never put them to much use! While teaching in Newcastle, Jane met up again with Stewart and the rest is shared history.
Married in 1971, they moved into a Yorkshire Dales village, Thoralby, having bought an old farmhouse dated 1641 and spent the next 50 years renovating it. Their daughter, Kate, was born in 1976, followed by Toby (1977) and Luke (1980). Beyond work and house, Stewart has enjoyed long-distance cycling with friends, completed the Munro challenge and started painting again. Jane dug a garden from a field, painted the house several times, walked Dalmatians, dabbled in village politics and fundraising for charities
JANE & STEWART HUNTINGTON PRESIDENTS A.O.S. 2022-23
Edited by David Wood
Photograph by Charles T. Stuart
ADMINISTRATION
STEERING GROUP 2022-23
Old Scholars
President
Secretary
Membership
Editor
School Head Teacher
Deputy Head
Liaison Officer
Bursar
Jane & Stewart Huntington
Janet Blann
Mike McRobert
David Wood
Sal Wright
Anton Maree
Jeffrey Swales
Rebecca Edgington
Susan Allen
FORWARD 2022
Welcome back in a year in which activities returned to something like normal, following on from two years of restrictions and cancellation of meetings and events during the COVID-19 pande At the time of writing (July 2022) the disease i from eliminated, but Ackworth School has skill steered a way through the crisis.
Traditional Old Scholars’ reunions resumed November 2021, with the first OS weekend Glenthorne Quaker Guest House for three years. long awaited return to traditional Easter Gatherings was achieved, though the lower than usual attendance suggested that confidence had not quite fully returned in April 2022.
Much of the material in this report has once again largely been gathered from the school’s termly magazine “Ackworth Today”, but with some expansion of items that had to be abridged or omitted from the school’s edition.
Every Annual Report from the very first edition (1882) to the present day is now available to download on the Ackworth School Connect website. Some tablet/phone apps will allow you to read the pdfs in the same manner as e-books, with easy page turns. Once you have signed up with Ackworth Connect, a quick link to the Annual Reports is https://ackworthschoolconnect.com/resources/4
I do recommend that anyone interested in Ackworth School’s history makes use of this interesting resource. When scanning the old reports, I found the long process was drawn out even further by the temptation to stop and read the many interesting contributions, with fascinating insights into how the school developed.
David Wood
EASTER 2022 WELCOME AND ANNUAL MEETING
President Pete, Nici and family, Old Scholars and friends, welcome to this edition of “Not the AGM”! The new shortened version gives Pete longer to address us, or hopefully the opportunity to get our dinner sooner.
We’ve missed you! Let’s hope for a fabulous weekend, with good weather, good friendships and, I’m sure, plenty of good food.
Rachel Belk, Old Scholar Representative to the School Committee, reported on her year serving on School Committee
Now it’s time for my report of the work of the Steering Group.
Firstly, I’d like to give a massive thank-you to Sal for all the hard work she put into our “virtual Easter Gatherings” over the last two Easters. I know from one piece I submitted how much hard work it was. We still managed to have a quiz from Chas Stuart and get-togethers in the Common Room via Zoom It was particularly good to be able to include Tim Benson from Canada, and also to meet Dorothy Walker Robbins, the granddaughter of Frederick Andrews, also in Canada. Sadly, Dorothy died shortly before her 101st birthday on October last year. She was the last living descendant of Frederick Andrews.
We have missed meeting up with Old Scholars, but the Steering Group have kept in touch by email and meeting on Zoom, which has saved a good deal of travelling from different parts of the country. Planning for the Easter Weekend has continued to be a headache, as continuing problems due to Covid have led to uncertainty for many reluctant to book, and problems with the combined school and Old Scholar databases continue. We are hopeful that Easter Gatherings will continue, and will work hard to seek ways to do this
We have been saddened to learn of of the deaths of several Old Scholars known to many:
Dorothy Walker Robbins, John and Margery Bunney, and their son, Andrew
Colin Mortimer
Edward (Ted) Milligan
Celia Ball
Marguerite Hill
Juliet (Binkie) Norris
Stephen Kelsall
Margaret Burtt (who had just celebrated her 100th birthday) All of the them will be greatly missed.
We have a new liaison officer, Rebecca Edgington, whose full title is “Alumni and Development Assistant”. Rebecca has been learning the ropes, trying hard to find out what is needed. She is the port of call in school for any enquiries regarding contacting Old Scholars. She also makes sure that events are posted on the Old Scholar Portal. Any queries she can’t answer directly she passes over to the OS representatives.
In 2019 I said “Perhaps in our dreams we could wish for a dedicated Old Scholars’ room and our own member of staff (which some schools are lucky enough to have) for the future. The School is now working on creating “The Bright Room”, a room which can be used to house some OS memorabilia, display photos and give visitors a flavour of the school, and Quaker history. Named after Old Scholar, John Bright – well known as a politician, serving as an MP in Manchester and then Birmingham, opposer of the Crimean War, and founder of the Anti-Corn Law League. Unfortunately, we aren’t able to see the room this weekend, as work is still underway, but we look forward to seeing it next year.
In November, approximately 30 Old Scholars spent a weekend at Glenthorne in Grasmere, walking, shopping, visiting local attractions ad enjoying each other’s company. This was the first Old Scholar event since the beginning of the pandemic, and it was good to be able to meet up again. If you would like to join us in the future, please speak to Mike McRobert.
We would also like to encourage Old Scholars to join in the annual school Founder’s Day celebrations. We are welcomed to join in year group activities, or to join them to enjoy a traditional bangers and mash meal in the evening. Information about Founder’s Day can be found on the school website, or via the Old Scholar portal.
Another regular fixture on the school calendar has been the PSA Summer Ball, held in the evening after Open Day: a magnificent black tie event to celebrate the year ending and student successes. The School is keen that we involve more Old Scholars in this event; there may be accommodation available in school or nearby. Information regarding the Ball will be posted in Centre Library during the weekend, or on the noticeboards in the Vestibule More information will be available on the website, or you can book tickets c/o the PSA –psa@ackworthschool.com.
The school has organised some reunions around the country: one recently held in London, another in Dubai, sometimes tied in with local marketing events,
attended by Anton or members of the Marketing Team The next event is planned for Leeds in May – see the website for more details.
We continue to discuss reporting on Old Scholar news (providing you send us some) in Ackworth Today. There is a mixed response to the publication, with some Old Scholars commenting that they don’t need to see all the information about what is happening in school Personally, I like to see what is going on!
Ackworth Today is available on the school website under the heading of News and Publications. You can also opt to have a paper copy sent to you by post. We are always grateful for your news and any get-togethers you have had with other Old Scholars and also obituaries for publication. These should be send to David Wood OSEditor@ackworthschool com We are looking at ways to report on Easter Gathering as the regular termly edition of Ackworth Today dies not have sufficient space – we have considered publishing an extra OS Special Edition, just for the summer term, containing all the reports from the Easter Weekend. Watch this space...
Incidentally, under the same heading on the website, you will also find back issues of Ackworth Today, The Cupola (the School Year Book) and Mosaic (a collection of writings and artwork by students).
We would like to encourage Old Scholars to sign up to the Ackworth Connect site – accessible through the school website or directly at www ackworthschoolconnect com Ackworth Connect enables you to see up-todate news of events, contact other Old Scholars, arrange reunions, set up your own groups such as local Old Scholars or year groups, contact the school to ask for information of other Old Scholars, make donations to the school’s fundraising projects and keep us up-to-date with your whereabouts. We are still finding our way round this site and discovering new possibilities. You can also have a link directly to the Ackworth Connect site as an icon on your phone
Now I’ll ask Annabel McRobert to propose the name of an Old Scholar from September 2022 -2026 and members of the Steering Group.
“Rachel Belk has completed a first term of office and is eligible and willing to serve a second term of office from 2022-2026.
“The following Old Scholars currently serve on the Ackworth Old Scholars’ Steering Group and are willing to continue their service:- Janet Blann, Mike McRobert, David Wood and Sal Wright.
“These Old Scholars serve alongside representatives from the school – Anton Maree (Head), Jeffrey Swales (Deputy Head), Sue Allen (Bursar), Tom Shennan-
Barker (Marketing) and Rebecca Edgington (Alumni and Development Assistant).”
Can I ask for a show of hands, if these names are acceptable to the meeting? (Approved)
I’d now like to present a basket of flowers to Nici Fletcher-Causer and introduce you to our President Pete Causer.
Pete, you’ve had three years to practise your address. We expect you to be word perfect!
Janet Blann
2022 President’s Address - Pete Causer
My time at Ackworth was short but enjoyable – some might say too enjoyable! – spending only one short year at the school in L6 in the 1971/72 school year. I had spent the previous 5 years at a large comprehensive school with about 1700 pupils in Cumbernauld, not far from Glasgow, but had not performed to expectations in my SCE Higher Grade exams and my father thought that packing me off to boarding school would instil some discipline into me. How wrong he was!
I was born in 1955 in Stevenage, Herts, to parents who were both architects working at the time for the London County Council. When I was two years old and my younger brother had been born, my father took a position as one of the 12 architects who were designing the new town of Cumbernauld in 1957 and the family followed shortly afterwards.
We occupied an old semi-detached house in what was then a small hamlet of about 10-15 houses at most, but within a few years a whole town was beginning
to form. My younger brother and I attended the local primary school which was in the old village of Cumbernauld after which the new town was named, about a mile and a half away down a steep path. Initially, of course, we used to take the school bus but later on we used to walk there – something that would be unheard of these days.
Eventually we moved on to the newly built High School which had probably been open for only a couple of years when I moved up. This was a little closer, but not much, and there was no steep hill. By that time we either used our bicycles or Shanks’ pony to get to school so I suppose it kept us reasonably fit, although exercise has never been one of my favourite pastimes!
At the age of five, I was taken skiing for the first time to Val d’Isere and this started something which went on for years afterwards. That first time in France, I must admit to not being keen to start with but when I could see my 3 year old brother enjoying it, I decided to give it a go. However, I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with it until my mid teens.
I never got to go abroad and ski again for another 30 years or so but we did ski most weekends during the winter season at one of the 3 locations where some facility had been set up to get people up the hill, either at Glencoe or Glenshee which were both about 90 minutes drive from home, or the Cairngorms which were about a couple of hours away. The two former places would only mean we would go up in the morning and be home at night but a Cairngorm trip usually
meant a weekend away, with us staying firstly in a caravan in which a group of my parents’ friends had a share (bitterly cold at night of course). Later on, dad got involved with the Scottish Ski Club and designed and oversaw the building of a
club “hut” up on the mountain (actually quite a posh timber structure where skiers could get refreshments and shelter while they had their lunch), which meant for a while we had accommodation in a rather nice hotel only a few miles from the hill so it became a bit more pleasant.
Going to Glencoe however meant that although there was a chairlift that took you up to what was known as the “plateau”, most of the time there was no snow until a fair distance further on. So we used to have to carry a pair of old fashioned heavy wooden skis for a long way wearing ski boots which are the most uncomfortable things to walk in and clothing which really didn’t keep the cold out. Consequently, coupled with what were usually pretty foul conditions, we would be frozen before we started. In those days too, if we were enrolled in a ski school class, it meant a lot of standing around on the mountainside waiting for your turn to go a few yards down the slope and just getting colder so it really wasn’t very nice at all.
Glenshee did mean that we didn’t have to go far from the car park to be able to ski, so we could get moving and warm up a bit straight away, but skiing in both resorts frequently meant that we would either freeze before we started or the conditions meant that the mist was down and the snow was wet and heavy or just sheet ice.
Generally the extra altitude of the Cairngorms gave better conditions, but it was never as reliable as continental skiing. So really, I believe that if you learn to ski in Scotland you can probably ski in any conditions, no matter how challenging. In
summertime we used to camp quite a lot which was great fun and when I graduated from the Cubs to the Scouts at the age of 11 I got to go away with them and have a whale of a time without parents being around – a bit more freedom! As the years passed I graduated to being a patrol leader and having done a course at our local Scout camp site, by the age of about 14 I was qualified to take a group of boys there without a leader being present Each summer we would have a week at annual camp somewhere and I remember going to various places from near London to the north of Scotland.
Some time in 1969/70 I was put forward for a competition and eventually selected to join the Scottish contingent of Scouts to go to Japan in the following year for the 13th World Jamboree, a real trip of a lifetime with 3 weeks spent in the country.
During our time there we were privileged to have a few days in Tokyo, staying individually with Japanese families – although mine look very sombre here, they were anything but, and took me to swim in the 1964 Olympic swimming pool and see a variety of things modern and traditional around the city in the short time we had.
We then travelled by coach southwards, stopping off in the Ito peninsula for a night and a civic reception, and visited a folk museum with a zoo on the way to the Jamboree site on the lower slopes of Mount Fuji where we stayed for 10 days.
A couple of days in, we got the warning that a typhoon was on its way and that the Japanese hosts were making facilities available for us to evacuate to. This would have been a massive operation since there were something over 80,000 Scouts on site. The Americans were by far the biggest contingent with around 10,000 boys and their leaders took the decision to move out We decided as a troop that, like Bruce’s spider, the Scots were made of sterner stuff and weren’t going to be put off by a bit of wind and rain so we would prepare ourselves and stick it out.
We moved all our luggage into a couple of tents and doubled up the numbers in the ones we slept in, double guying and digging ditches around them to divert water. One of the troops next to us was American and a couple of
the lads with them took one look at the evacuation centre and decided to come back. We soon made friends and adopted them as honorary Scots! There was also a team of Japanese personnel assigned as guides and helpers who were initially very upset and distraught that their Jamboree was going to be a disaster and you could see the shame they felt. However, when we told them we weren’t going anywhere they perked up and became our best friends too!
The wind and rain duly started and within 24 hours, ground which had previously
been pretty solid turned to knee deep mud but fortunately only the edge of the typhoon caught us and there was no significant damage that I can remember, certainly not to our camp.
Things returned to normal after the weather passed and although some activities were cancelled, the majority of things went off ok and the ground dried out pretty quickly. We still managed to have a
wonderful time, enjoying various activities and meeting Scouts from many other na k camp and went on to continue our tour.
We gradually worked our way down to Kyoto stopping a night somewhere on the coast where we witnessed fishing with cormorants, went to a working tram and railway museum and took in a guided tour of the Sanyo TV factory.
In Kyoto we visited the Buddhist Kinkaku-ji Golden Temple which is a real beautiful sight, had a visit to a Shinto shrine and had a couple of days where we ome the back
So it was that when I returned from Japan, my parents had been researching boarding schools and that interviews had been set up at a couple, the first of which was at Ackworth. We duly arrived at the school where we were introduced to another new boy at the time – Gordon McKee had just started as new head and I believe that I may have been one of, if not the, first of the prospective students that he interviewed.
I knew nothing about the school before I came other than it was a Quaker school, that the son of family friends attended the Quaker school at Leighton Park near Reading and seemed to enjoy it, and that Ackworth’s new head had also taught there. Neither did I know anything about Meeting, silence or anything else about the Quaker way of life or ethos.
The interview seemed to go well and I liked the buildings and grounds which obviously had some history and I think that by the time we left that I had been offered a place. I seem to remember that we cancelled the other interview and went home to prepare for the first term at my new school.
In Scotland I had done my Highers in English, French, Maths, Physics and Chemistry with an “O” grade in Metalwork done as a one year crash filler, mainly being given a drawing of an exercise piece and left alone in the workshop to get on with it, having been briefly shown the basic controls of a lathe, and a master occasionally dropping in to see that I hadn’t destroyed the workshop! Health and
Safety would have a fit nowadays but pupils seemed to be given more responsibility for their own safety 50 years ago! There was one period a week where I was thrown in with the 4th years for their theory class but that was all the tuition I got. My results weren’t great, scraping by in the Highers in English and Physics although I also managed to get the “O” grade in Metalwork despite being mainly self taught on the practical side.
Moving to Ackworth I needed to chose 3 “A” level subjects and would have liked to do English, Maths and Physics but the timetable at the school couldn’t accommodate that so I ended up doing Economics in place of the English. By part way through the first term I realised that I really couldn’t get to grips with the Economics but had discovered that I could swap to “A” level Metalwork instead which suited me far better.
I had also made friends with Dave Biggin (known as “Boggin”) who had a small motorcycle that he was permitted to use to go home to Barnsley at the weekends. Dave had brought another bike to school which had been used as a field bike but had seized the motor. Under the guidance of another new boy that year – Graham Buckley had taken over in charge of the Metalwork shop and happened to be a bit of a bike enthusiast himself – we carefully stripped the machine down, sourced and fitted a new big end bearing and rebuilt the bike. And yes, it did start and run when we’d finished, albeit rather loud as it had no exhaust pipe at all, and there were two foot long blue flames shooting from the exhaust port!
As part of the metalwork course I had to pick a couple of projects to do and after som d be one
manufacturer into the frame produced by another was quite common in those days So after some consideration and guidance from Graham Buckley, the chosen frame and wheels became available in Snaith, not far from Chris (son of former AOSA President Mary) Robinson’s home so a trip over there to see it was organised and we returned to school with the start of the project. An engine was found too which I eventually found was the wrong model and would take rather more radical modification to the chassis than I wanted to do. My time at Ackworth ended prematurely at the end of term but that was the start of a hobby which has stayed with me ever since – more of that later.
My education continued at college in Glasgow where I enrolled in an OND sandwich course in engineering at the city’s Stow College of Engineering where I also resat one of the previously failed Highers and took another couple at the end
of the first year of the course, gaining passes which would ultimately gain me access to university without having to rely on the OND result. Being inherently lazy this probably wasn’t good because I didn’t put in the effort in the OND the following year and failed one paper which would put me back a bit later on.
I spent the six month summer break working as a civil engineering technician on a road interchange project which I thoroughly enjoyed before returning to college to complete the course. I got a job in a whisky bond and bottling plant the following summer to earn some cash before going to university but also managed to fit in a trip with a couple of old school friends from Cumbernauld. We canoed from Inverness along the length of the Caledonian Canal and on down to Ballachulish where we had to cut our planned trip short due to a turn in the weather but by that time we had completed about 90 miles, effectively walking on our hands!
I also passed my motorcycle test and had been steadily working on the bike project since taking it home, had sourced a replacement engine and it was nearing completion by the time I left to start a BSc course at Nottingham University
I finished the bike, got it road legal and took it back down after half term on the train in case I had any teething problems. Just as well because I had a few things to sort out before I risked the first long run to London and back, this time with a passenger on pillion. Even that trip produced problems, a puncture on the way down and a silencer falling off on the way back, only to be flattened by a following truck!
Every trip seemed to bring one problem or another including having to strip and rebuild the gearbox at the gates of Brands Hatch when a few of us made the trip to watch a race there Fortunately I used to carry enough tools to do pretty major work but eventually it stopped on the way to another race meeting at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire with a more serious engine problem than I could fix at the side of the road so had to leave it and hitch a lift home. Unfortunately the bike was stolen before I could get back with a van to collect it and I never saw it again However, I did get a modest payout from insurance and managed to source a replacement bike – this time a 1962 Velocette 500, the marque having been a favourite of Graham Buckley’s, and in fact the very same machine that I still have to this day.
Once again, the education system and I didn’t gel completely and I didn’t go into my second year at uni, no doubt having spent too much time in the students’ workshops maintaining and making parts for my bikes or attending concerts given by the many excellent bands that came to play at the Students’ Union!
After a summer doing temporary jobs and trying without success to find something more long term and suitable in the area, I returned to Scotland where I eventually found a position as a Student Medical Physics Technician in Glasgow’s hospitals, in due course being assigned to the mechanical workshop in a radiotherapy department. This meant going back to college on day release to do an ONC which I completed with great results, at the same time retaking the paper I had failed previously in the OND and passing that too. I became a fully fledged technician and did a year of the HNC course, again on day release, but had too many other distractions and decided in the end that I could make my way without further qualifications – a decision that of course I would eventually come to regret!
I did manage my first couple of trips to the Isle of Man for the TT races during that time too – obviously the start of things to come!
I loved the job in the Health Service but at that time wasn’t getting a great wage and made the move to work in the computer industry as a quality assurance technician in a printer factory.
The Velocette had been put away during that time – I enjoyed the machine which had been a reliable companion which I’d decided to keep if possible. It was
replaced by a 750cc BSA which was 10 years younger but, as it turned out, a lot less reliable After two years when I’d replaced the big ends 4 times, it was moved on and replaced with a two year old 650cc Kawasaki.
In July/August 1980 this bike took me with my then girlfriend on a road trip across Europe to Corinth at the southern tip of Greece and back, covering 6,000 miles in three weeks and visiting 12 countries along the way. We saw some beautiful sights, had some great times, one minor spill, was shot by some kids with
catapults loaded with plums (that hurt, with a combined impact speed of around 100mph!) and met some great people.
On the return leg we visited the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau which I can honestly say was the most moving experience I’ve ever had. Never before or since have I ever experienced the atmosphere of oppression that I felt there, to the extent that I had to leave before I’d managed to complete the visit. It’s true what they say about the birds not singing in those places.
In the end I didn’t enjoy the factory job and left about 18 months later, working for a while in a local motorcycle shop which really wasn’t going to go anywhere before a friend from University gave me the chance to work with him and his business partner as mechanic/service manager/general dogsbody in their growing bike business in the Midlands. I was 6 years with them during which time the business grew from being a small shop and breaker’s yard but with a Kawasaki franchise to two shops and eventually to main Kawasaki dealer status.
During this time my interest in racing had developed from spectating to helping others with a bit of spanner work and eventually to competing myself. By then I’d fallen off enough times on the road to know it hurt(!) so decided that a stabiliser wheel would be a good idea and took up sidecar racing. I’d got married and with my wife as passenger we did enough during our first year to get past the novice licence stage, tuning and improving the machine and our placings but also having a couple of destroyed engines along the way. Fortunately there were no crashes but I decided the chassis had to be replaced with something better for the following season if we were to improve further and took up the offer from another competitor to build us something new. This turned out to be a mistake since the chassis never properly materialised but I continued to help a couple of other riders – one competing in grass track and speedway on sidecars and one doing road and short circuit racing on solo machines. And my wife produced a daughter to add to the son I’d had from a brief relationship back in Scotland before I’d moved south.
The sidecar crew had a tumble on the grass at one point and the passenger decided that he would call it a day at the end of the season but the driver wanted to continue in speedway. Somehow I got roped in as the replacement passenger and in the end completed about 4 meetings. You’ve no idea how much hard work being a passenger on a speedway outfit is until you’ve done it but great fun too once you’ve got a bit machine instead of fighting against it!
1988 was a year of ups and downs, with my rider sometimes doing well but frequently crashing – I later worked out that he had actually crashed at every meeting that year, either in practice or in the race – including two crashes during practice for the TT, where most of my first year working there was spent in the garage gluing plastic fairings back together!
That had to come to an end though because the other rider I was helping started to get some good sponsorship and I had to make the decision between enjoying myself with no particular future or going where there was a possible career path.
On the plus side, the family came with me to the Island that year and Gemma had her first birthday there – apart from her birth, it was one of only three occasions in 35 years that I was able to be there for her birthday.
Nearing the end of the season the sponsor had finally had enough and fired the rider but soon replaced him and asked me to help again as mechanic for the new rider’s inaugural meeting. I’d made other arrangements by then and had to turn him down but I soon had another desperate call, with the sponsor pleading for me to help with the next couple of weekends when he tried to do the job himself and caused more problems than he fixed! The season ended with a couple of good results but no more crashes and after some discussion I was offered a full time contract for the next three years – a step up from working on a semi-professional basis until then.
So began two years of great success The rider was a guy named Ian McConnachie, whose main claim to fame was that he was the only British rider at that time to have ever won a mainland British motorcycle Grand Prix, taking victory in the 80cc class in 1986 at Silverstone.
In 1989 we started in British meetings backed by the sponsor’s business as a main Kawasaki dealer and spares distributor, competing in two national championships, initially in 5 different classes with machines from 250 to 750cc After a while we whittled these down to just two when it was decided that it was far too much for one mechanic to be looking after so many machines
yet still remain competitive Half way through the season we also helped another rider by lending him one of Ian’s bikes to ride at the Isle of Man TT. He managed to get himself into a podium position until a drive chain failed on the last lap and put him out of the race but Ian finished the season by winning both the championship series that he completed, giving us four championship titles with many wins along the way.
I spent most of that year living in a caravan in the shop compound in Clay Cross, getting back to see the family in Nuneaton every week or two in between races. Shona, my second daughter, was also born part way through the year. Eventually we managed to sell the house and had found another not far from Clay Cross but it was close to the beginning of the 1990 racing season and I had a lot of work to do as well as organise the move.
At the end of the ’89 season the rider had agreed that the machines for the following year with the sponsor would be the new version of the production based moving and these were duly ordered
The Japanese machines arrived predictably in good time, I attended a course for mechanics and technicians which gave me a lot of insight to how to prepare and maintain the Honda, stripped the Kawasaki and turned it into a racing machine and patiently waited for the Aprilia to be ready for collection……..and
waited…… and waited.
Eventually, much later than planned, we got the word that the Aprilia would be ready on the following Tuesday so I was dispatched in the van to go and pick it up from the factory in a town called Noale, near to Venice in north eastern Italy. I shan’t bore you with the details but suffice it to say that it is a saga in itself that would take far too long to recount What I will say is that prior to this I believed I could work with anyone but, if not by the end of the trip, certainly by the end of the year, I had learned that I can work with anyone but Italians! They are lovely people socially and great fun, but there always seemed to be one problem or another when you were working with them!
Eventually I got back to Clay Cross with the bike and set to work preparing it for the forthcoming season, getting bodywork painted and stickered up, checking the motor was set up as we needed it to be, organising and cataloguing spares, making stands, etc, etc. Too soon it was time to go testing and we set off to a test day at Cadwell Park with all 3 machines and a couple of jerry cans of Super Unleaded fuel, the highest pump octane rating that we could get.
This turned out to be perfectly ok for the Honda and Kawasaki but the Aprilia didn’t like it at all, holing a piston within a few laps. Consulting with another mechanic who had a lot of experience with these particular engines, it was advised that they didn’t like unleaded fuel and the decision was made to change to a mix of aviation gasoline and 4* leaded petrol, a commonly used mix in racing. No more holed pistons but it wasn’t perfect and took us a long time to work out what really gave the best results, although we still managed some good finish positions.
The time came for the first meetings of the season – at a couple of circuits in Spain - Jerez in the south, not far from Gibraltar, and Calafat in the north east, near Barcelona – just with two bikes, the Honda and Aprilia. This coincided with our moving date but I had to leave the moving to friends and in-laws since we were heading for Plymouth to catch the boat to Santander.
We drove then from Santander to Jerez, practiced and raced to a mixed start to the season with a lowly 26th position on the Aprilia but much better on the Honda with a good 6th to start the attack on Europe.
We then drove back up to Calafat, where we practiced but the racing was cancelled due to excessive wind, and returned to Santander to sail back to Plymouth and on back to Clay Cross.
That trip convinced the boss that the 4-ton van that we had used for the past year wasn’t up to the job of trekking around Europe. The rider had made the trip down with his wife in his own motorhome but the rest of the team – the sponsor, myself as mechanic and two guys who were going to help out while we were away – did the 2,000 mile van journey in the front seats of the van which was only designed to seat three at the most, pulling a caravan with us too. Not long after we got back he bought us a brand new 7½ ton van with a bench seat behind the driver which we fitted out with an extra fold away bunk above, improving long haul capability by a long way. We also had a good awning fitted so we could work under cover, and a loading ramp that doubled as a work bench. We fitted it out with storage for all the spares, wheels and equipment we would need as well as carry all the bikes, including a couple of motor scooters so we could get around when the truck was parked in the paddock.
That season had its ups and downs – the expensive Aprilia turned out to be a lot of hard work to get the best out of it and it took until mid season before we managed a win in Britain on it – something we couldn’t achieve in Europe. But consistent good places on the Honda, including a narrowly missed win in Germany, resulted in a final 4th place in the European 125cc Championship by the end of the season,
only a point or two behind third which was going to be my loss later on. At home, we won the British 125 Championship too, giving us a fifth British Chamionship title despite missing several rounds while we were away in Europe.
Ian also had a teammate that year who was only doing the British season on an identical Kawasaki to ours but this resulted in some fantastic on-track battles The first aim is always to beat your teammate but the competition between the pair was so fierce that third place was usually a long way behind! The teammate won the championship, having done all the rounds, but Ian finished a good second, winning most of the battles between them.
The racing season finished and I had hoped to continue with Ian for the following season by moving to the World Championship but the sponsorship arrangement changed – if we had got those extra couple of points to give 3rd place in the Euros we would have had our travelling expenses paid in the GPs but without it the money had to come from somewhere else. Until then my wages were paid by the sponsor but that changed to the rider getting a figure out of which he had to pay me as well as all the other expenses so he had to top up with what he could find from additional sponsors. I had a figure that I needed to keep the roof over the family – Ian decided he couldn’t afford it and went with someone else. He said later that he wished he hadn’t since he never again got the results we did but hindsight is a wonderful thing!
I had been taken on as a three year plan however so I was given the job of training shop staff for a while and later running a Jet-Ski hire operation on a lake near Sheffield on behalf of the shop. But I hoped to get back into the racing field if I could the following year and made approaches to various teams, also learning to drive heavy goods vehicles since it seemed that teams wanted mechanics who could drive their race transporters too
I was lucky enough in the end to be taken on by what was then one of only two British motorcycle manufacturers and the only one to have an official racing team which had already managed some success and fan base following over the previous few years. I was to join a team of ten at JPS Norton looking after two riders who had two machines each, with four
technicians looking after the four bikes under the guidance of the chief mechanic. There was a team manager, an engine builder and two people employed to make and modify all the parts we needed back in the workshop, and a team secretary to deal with the paperwork. The mechanics also had to drive the team truck but after a couple of years where I had to perform most of these jobs myself, albeit for just one rider but with relatively little experience, it was good to be with an experienced team from which I could learn a lot, although it would mean a daily commute of 50 miles each way to the team workshop at the factory at Shenstone, near Lichfield.
My rider that season was Ron Haslam, who was well experienced at every level of bike racing and regarded as one of the best development riders in the world and we got off to a pretty good start but he had a bad tumble at one meeting, breaking his leg rather badly. A replacement was recruited who could do most of the season until Ron returned but there were a few meetings where we had to find others and in the end I looked after five riders that season, one of whom was for a ride which was a last minute addition to the year’s plan but would turn out to give the team its most important result and establish its place in the history books.
The family gained another member in May of that year, when Nicola was born. She has since become a regular visitor to Easter Gathering as many of you will know!
Our main replacement rider – a Londoner named Terry Rymer –gave us some great results and by the end of the season narrowly missed taking the British Championship.
But it was Scotsman, Steve Hislop, who was drafted in at the last minute to ride at the Isle of Man TT, that really did us proud, being the man who rode the first British bike to win the Senior TT since 1961 –a gap of 31 years since another motorcycling legend, Mike Hailwood, also riding a Norton, won the race. I would say that was the proudest moment in my career as a race technician, having played a strong part in the preparation of the machine, all the way through to playing my part as the wheel change man of the pit crew.
We were glad to eventually welcome Ron Haslam back to the team for the final couple of meetings of the season fully recovered from his injury and the standing ovation and cheers of the crowd when he appeared back on track for the final meeting of the season at Brands Hatch could be heard above the noise of the engines!
Unfortunately even the best results don’t guarantee the survival of race teams and other factors caused JPS Norton to wind up at the end of that season. I had to start looking for yet another job but soon found one working for the official British Honda race team. I spent a couple of months doing associated short term freelance contracts and jobs in between and started with them in January of 1993 at their HQ in Louth, Lincolnshire, with the same rider who had won the TT for us at Norton – Steve Hislop.
I had decided that the limit for a daily commute would be 50 miles which took about an hour on good roads. The new workshop was about half as much again and more across country so it was just as well that there was a room in a cottage on the team manager’s family farm that was part of the deal Of course, most of the race meetings occurred at the weekend and preparation was done during the week so for most of the time I’d manage to have a couple of days at home after a meeting to be with the family. Only Gemma had started at school by that time so I still managed to have some quality time with them.
I was looking after a very exclusive machine that year – a prototype machine, one of a few hand built by the Honda race shop in Japan between 1985 and 1992 to
compete mainly in 24 hour Endurance racing. I have never, before or since, worked on a machine which had been built with such intricate attention to detail. Absolutely everything on the machine had been made to allow the fastest possible removal and replacement of parts either for routine maintenance or in the event of crash damage during the course of a race. This is not normally a necessity in the sort of racing in which we usually participated, where if you had to do a pit stop during a race, you would lose so much time that it was impossible to make it up again. It did come in very useful on one occasion though when, during the final warm-up session in the morning before the race, the engine in the machine had a fairly major failure which meant it had to be replaced. Normally on a machine like this, an engine change would involve a couple of mechanics working for up to two hours. But this machine was made in such a way that I completed the job alone in the space of 50 minutes. Not only that, but I did the job whilst wearing a white shirt………and it was still white when I finished, as confirmed in this photo!
We participated in one event in the British racing calendar where pit stops were
the norm which was the Isle of Man TT but this time an Irish rider , Phillip McCallen, would take the controls The races there are run over either four or six 37¾ mile laps and there are limits to the size of the fuel tanks which mean that very few machines are capable of completing more than two laps without having to refuel. At some pit stops where, in those days, the supplied fillers would take about 35 seconds to fill the tank, we would take the chance to change the rear wheel for one fitted with a new tyre to give the maximum grip and tyre life through the race. The previous year, the Norton would take me 30 seconds to change the wheel with practice, which is pretty fast even on a racing bike – try to do it on a road machine and you’ll see what I mean. But the design of the Honda meant that I could put the machine on its stand, get the wheel off and a new one on, then drop it off the stand again within eight seconds. We never actually tried it but I did believe that I could probably have changed both wheels in little more than the 30 seconds it took to change the rear wheel on the Norton! Whether this had any direct bearing on the result I don’t know but the combination of rider and machine gave me a second Senior TT win in two years.
Things weren’t to last however, and my contract terminated early. I made use of the heavy goods licence I had gained a couple of years earlier by filling in with some agency driving in between freelancing with several riders at British and European rounds of British and World Championship Superbike and Sidecar events and for a Manx team at the TT and Manx Grand Prix for a while but wasn’t getting enough work in either field to be able to make ends meet and decided that the last thing I wanted to do for the rest of my working life was to drive trucks for a living.
Eventually I followed up a newspaper advert for an HND course in engineering aimed at mature students and at the age of 40, started my first term at Coventry Tech for four days a week. Having dropped out of education in the past, I was no longer eligible for an education grant
and had to fund the entire course using student and career development loans with some supplemental income from truck driving on the three days I wasn’t at college.
I continued with the driving and racing work during the summer break until a Dutch rider I had got to know five years earlier while we were doing the European Championship, called me to say that he needed an extra mechanic for the British Grand Prix at Donington and ask if I was available. Of course, I took up the offer of a weekend’s work, during which we talked about the possibility of doing the rest of the season with his team Having restarted my education though, I wasn’t going to give up the course, so told him that I would join the team if he would pay for my flights to and from each meeting. After Donington he went back to Holland and I had a call within a couple of days saying that I should get on a plane to Schiphol and he would meet me at the airport.
I had a couple of weeks preparing machines at his workshop and then had my first experience of driving a 40 ton left hand drive articulated truck on the wrong side of the road when I took one of the team’s two trucks the 1,000km from southern Holland to the Austrian Grand Prix circuit near Graz. After the race we drove back to Holland where I was dropped at the airport to fly home, pick up my tools and drive to Heysham to sail to the Island to fulfil my earlier commitment to the Manx team for the fortnight of the Manx GP. In the end it proved impossible to get economic flights from the Isle of Man to Italy for the next meeting after which I would have had to return to the Island to collect my tools and sail back to Heysham to collect my car. So in the end it was decided that my next meeting would be the Spanish GP which was a week after I’d started back at college. I cleared it with the course director by turning the trips into research for the final year project that I had to do, which I proposed was going to be based on the use of telemetry and data acquisition on racing motorcycles.
The next few weeks were very busy – two weeks after the Spanish trip I had to fly out to Brazil, then two weeks later to Australia, missing a week at college this time, and in between each trip I was back at college. But I had the research needed to get on with the project. I continued on to complete the course but at times thought I might have overextended, particularly since I had
decided to go for 16 units in the course where we were advised to do no more than 13 (the minimum for a pass would be 10 but I needed something which was going to make a real difference to my future). In the end I passed all 16, with distinctions in most and took an award for the highest number of distinctions ever achieved in an HND course at the college.
The result would mean that a few months after finishing college, I would start a job as a development engineer with Ford at their Research and Engineering Centre in Basildon, Essex, where I would eventually spend just over ten years as a contractor. But I’m sorry to say that my marriage to the girls’ mother had broken down over the previous years – I’d also met Nici on one of the trips to the Isle of Man and that relationship had developed to the extent that she came to join me in Essex a bit over a year later, getting a transfer from her company at home to their office in London.
A couple of years before I started at college I had been asked to help out a private rider with a blown motor at a race at Donington circuit. This developed into a relationship that had me working with the rider at all the British Superbike championship meetings for the next 8 years. He paid me for doing all his engine work, taking motors home after meetings when they needed work and taking them back to the next meeting to be built back into the machine. I would then help him out with all the mechanical work over the weekend while his wife made sure we were fed and the three of us would bed down in their caravan at the end of the day. This continued all the way through the time I was at college and while I worked for Ford during the week until he retired from racing and we’re still firm friends.
Around the same time Nici introduced me to a Manx businessman who sponsored up and coming riders in
the MGP, the amateur version if the TT, and needed another mechanic to help at the meeting that year. I negotiated a deal, spent two weeks working on the Island in August and after the meeting was immediately asked to come and do the same again at the TT in June of the following year. This arrangement continued for the following 13 years, working for many riders and with great success, particularly in the MGP where we had over 20 wins over the years.
I began having some health issues around 2006 to 7 which were eventually diagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis but not before I’d been admitted to hospital, being unable to walk more than a few feet without falling over. In fact, we had booked to go to Glenthorne two weeks after being admitted and I was fighting to get discharged so that we could still make the trip. They eventually let me go and we drove to Janet Blann’s in Birmingham, swapped cars and came the rest of the way together, bringing the wheelchair with which I’d been discharged. Later that evening Mike McRobert pushed me to the pub but I did manage to walk back using the wheelchair as support. It’s amazing what a few pints of beer can do!
It took around a year before I could walk again well enough to return to work, having arranged with my supervisor in the meantime to send me work that I could get on with at home, and we wondered if it would be feasible to continue the arrangement if we moved back to Nici’s home ground on the Isle of Man. With reservations my supervisor said that he’d give the arrangement a chance so Nici got her boss to agree reluctantly to voluntary redundancy, we bought a house and made the move on the 1st of August 2008.
The treatment I was receiving meant that initially I would have to return to London once a month so I said I would come into the office while I was there but after my first session they said they could in fact treat me on the Island. I told work that things had changed and now there was one day a month that I couldn’t go to the office but if I was needed any other time that I could make the trip across, an arrangement that was much more agreeable to my supervisor.
For the next couple of months I worked away but the 2008 credit crunch meant that he thought things wouldn’t last. In the event, at the end of December when all contractors normally had their contracts renewed, 95% of contractors, of which I was one, found themselves out of work.
The sort of work I had been doing was non-existent on the Island at the level I had been working and my health would still dictate that I needed monthly treatment days and visits to health professionals from time to time which would interrupt any full time working schedule so, after a while in a workshop where initially it looked like my skills would be well utilised but in the end found that I was fighting against a manager who made out that he knew what he was doing and when proved wrong would divert people to ever more menial tasks. Needless to say, this eventually developed into a huge fall-out, our ways parted and I decided to step back to what I knew and work from our home garage, servicing bikes, tuning and repairing engines and preparing racing motorcycles.
Gradually I formed a friendship with a close neighbour who, although not a youngster, raced in several classes with good support and he started to pay me fairly well to look after his machines. Sadly though, he lost his life when a normally very strong and reliable component in the engine failed suddenly for no apparent reason and caused him to crash, killing him instantly. This wasn’t the first time I’d lost a rider but it hit me hard because Nici and I had become firm friends with him and his partner over the years He’d also been a guest at our wedding when we finally got married in 2013, 20 years after we’d first met and after 14 years of living together.
It’s an unfortunate fact that motorcycle racing is a dangerous sport and racing on public roads, such as several of the meetings on the Isle of Man are, is particularly hazardous when the riders compete on narrow roads lined by stone walls and trees, and pass through main streets of villages and towns at speeds at times sometimes exceeding 200mph, with no appreciable run-off or margin for error. I was under no illusions about the chances that it might happen, since, from my first time as a spectator, I was aware of the odds of losing at least one competitor each year in the TT, with similar odds in the MGP. Gradually, as I got more involved and started getting familiar with more riders, the chances of knowing them grew until eventually the inevitable happened and I lost the rider I was working for at the time. It was small comfort but I was informed fairly quickly that the cause was rider error and that there had been no mechanical failure.
I did think long and hard about it after that first loss but came to the conclusion that, since I’d prepared two TT winners and had a couple of second places, I had an idea that I might know what I was doing when I was putting a machine together. I decided in the end that I would rather it was me that was doing the job and give my riders, who were going to continue riding whatever I did, some confidence that their machines were as well prepared as they could be, than leave it to other less experienced people who were just along for a holiday and didn’t really know what they were doing.
Over the years I can count ten riders that I’ve worked for that are no longer with us. Sadly, three died on machines that I had built or prepared for them, one of which was whilst I was working for him and the rest at later times One had nothing to do with racing though, since he died whilst piloting his own helicopter after a very successful riding career. But none will ever be forgotten.
A year or two before my final loss it had been suggested that I ought to join the team of scrutineers – the technical inspectors that do the checks to make sure the bikes are put together properly and are safe to ride At first I had too much to do looking after my rider during the course of meetings to spare time for this but gradually their need for maintenance during race days decreased and I decided to give the scrutineering a try. I did the necessary training seminars over the off season and got my licence to become a Tech Official, going on to help at the next few short circuit events and was asked to join the scrutineering team at the TT. For short circuit, one day meetings, this means checking every machine and the
rider’s clothing and helmet over at the beginning of the day and again if they are involved in an incident, then repaired and want to race again. At road meetings such as the TT though, all the bikes are checked before each and every session of practice or racing. At the TT and MGP there is a team of around 30 of us, although not necessarily all at the same time, who will perform a total of around 3,000 inspections over the two week period, a very busy time.
I’m not the only one in the family involved with the sport – Nici has been an official at the Island’s events for probably longer than I’ve been wielding a spanner for a living. She was probably stealing away from home to watch the practice and race sessions somewhere as a 14 year old when I first went as a spectator in 1976 but it would be another 17 years before we met and the rest is history. In more recent years, eldest daughter Gemma came to stay with us while the MGP was on and, rather than have her standing around getting bored while we were working at our duties, she was given a push and told to go and help one of the other officials. It appears that she enjoyed herself so much that she soon told us that she had booked holidays to come the following year but for race fortnight plus a couple of days either side so that she coul get cheaper crossings. She has not missed coming for the eve since!
Basically, I can blame Ackworth for my interest and involvem – it all started here and has been an enduring hobby and perhaps obsession ever since, has made me many friends, given me a living (but will never make me rich!) and it has taken me around the world. A bit like steam engines, they all have character and soul, their evolution and engineering is fascinating, they can give great enjoyment and excitement and really get the adrenalin flowing. They also have to be treated with great respect and bite hard when you get it wrong, sometimes with the worst possible results. But when the bug bites, it doesn’t let go!
So, one son, three daughters, two of whom are here this weekend, a grandson and a granddaughter further on – if any of them took
an interest in bikes or any similar activity I would never hold them back, other than to attempt to teach them to try to understand and respect what they’re dealing with, much as they would a wild animal.
The last big family event was Nicola’s marriage to Nathan which finally took
place on one of the best days in July last year after being postponed a couple of times due to Covid – a lovely day for many reasons! Only one left unmarried now but we’re not holding our breath waiting for anything to happen on that front!
June ’22 will bring the return of the TT after Covid scuppered it for the last two years but before that we have a trip to Mull with the McRoberts and Seeds and then………who knows!
Peter Causer (President 2019-22)
Easter Evening Reading 2022
Being a Quaker, and the Role of Music within my Faith
I was born into an essentially Quaker family, although there were links with both the Church of England and the Baptist Church.
I grew up attending Meeting for Worship weekly, progressing through Children’s Meeting – the younger children’s group led by my mother, and moving on to the older group with my father. I learnt to tell the time by watching the clock to see when it was time to go out to the Children’s Group - “Is it time yet...?” “No, five minutes...” “Is it time...?” “Two minutes...” in loud whispers. I learnt my times tables counting the panes of glass in the windows and multiplying them – in panels of 3’s, 6’s and 9’s, similar to those in the Meeting House at Ackworth, although not so large! It was interesting to note that in Charles Stuart’s Easter quizzes a few years ago, when asked “How many panes of glass are there in the Meeting House?” many of us were only a few panes out, and teams could be observed mentally counting the windows and multiplying the panes in each. (The answer is 300, by the way.) I forgot one of the round windows, so was only 5 panes out.
Friends who don’t know I’m a Quaker find it hard to believe – I’m noisy, a chatterbox, fidgety, love to sing and enjoy a drink. However, it also fits another trait: I don’t like being told what to do!
I find the discipline of sitting quietly for an hour particularly good for me, even though I still fidget. It’s often hard to clear my mind and I find words from songs invaluable in helping me to settle – particularly many from Sing in the Spirit, the Quaker Song Book compiled by The Leaveners approximately 15 years ago. This first song, taken from the words of Psalm 46, is usually my starting point: Be Still/There is that of God
I’m essentially a “glass half full” sort of person, which encourages me to look for the good in people, as we are encouraged in the Quaker Advices and Queries, no. 17: “Do you respect that of God in everyone, even though it may be expressed in unfamiliar ways or be difficult to discern?”
I also need to remind myself of the rest of the advice: “Each of us has a particular experience of God and each must find the way to be true to it. When words are strange or disturbing to you, try to sense where they come from and what has nourished the lives of others. Listen patiently and seek the truth which other
people’s opinions may contain for you. Avoid hurtful criticism and provocative language. Do not allow the strength of your convictions to betray you into making statements or allegations that are unfair or untrue. Think it possible that you may be mistaken.”
Music has always been a big part of my life As I said earlier, there were also links with both the Church of England and the Baptist Church. My mother had been brought up in the Anglican Church and still regularly attended Sunday Evensong. My sisters and I were all part of the church choir, where we had our first experience of choral music. We also earned pocket money, as choristers were paid – 2s: 6d for a wedding, and sometimes we would sing for two, three or even four weddings on a Saturday! I thought I was really rich when I was promoted to joint Head Chorister and earned the princely sum of 7s: 6d per wedding.
At school, I was always part of one of the choirs and enjoyed competing at the Pontefract Music festival, both with the choir and performing duets.
Prior to World War I, my father’s patents had been Baptists, after which my grandfather joined Friends to witness to his conviction as a pacifist. There was never much to do on a Sunday afternoon, so we would often attend the Baptist Sunday School near the house, which generally good fun and gave me a sound introduction to the Bible and its teaching. I found worship songs lively, but didn’t like the doctrine, or being told what I should believe.
In early adulthood, I found the restrain of the established church didn’t fit with my beliefs - of looking for God in everyone, no matter what their creed, colour or sexual orientation. I began attending You Quaker events, where I met my first husband. Young Quakers felt even then a sense of urgency about our place in the world and how to make it better for all. Young Quakers also enjoyed singing. The Leaveners – a Quaker Youth Theatre formed in the early ‘70s, took themes from concerns about the world, and commissioned musical dramas, including “The Gates of Greenham” about the American airbase and women’s peace protest at Greenham Common – written by Tony Biggin, an Ackworth Old Scholar. More dramas followed with themes varying from Quaker history and world peace to conservation and refugees.
Being a Quaker gives me space to think about what is important in my life: to reflect; to take part in bigger collective action and to remember to be kind to myself too; to recharge my batteries and take away something positive for the busy week ahead.
The next choice of music that inspires me is also taken from Sing in the Spirit and
helps to centre my mind into worship:-
Wait in the Light (sung by Janet Blann and Nici Fletcher-Causer)
Being a Quaker has been important at work; in fact it led me into running my nursery. My Area Meeting was considering selling one of our local Meeting Houses, as there was no longer an active Meeting for Worship held there. Birmingham has a lot to choose from within close proximity to each other. However, the Meeting House was one built by George Cadbury and many of us didn’t want to see it being lost to the Society of Friends. There were two proposals for its future use: one for it to be used by The Leaveners as a base for their work, office space, storage of costumes and rehearsal space for projects; the second to sell it to the nursery that already met there and had been running for 20 years or more. The present nursery owner was wanting to sell the business to retire and had offered it back to the chain that used to own it
We held an extraordinary Area Meeting where the two proposals were to be considered. I went with the intention of supporting the work of The Leaveners, as by then my children were involved in their projects. I listened to both proposals and was not at all impressed by the presentation of the Nursery business owner; he also owned a local garden centre and a local ambulance service He wanted to buy the lease of the building and run the nursery for 51 weeks of the year, from 7.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., unlike its previous role as a pre-school playgroup, leaving Quakers no access to the building. I muttered to my neighbour “I could do that!” to which she replied, “Why don’t you?” After a shuffle break, we settled into Meeting for Worship to consider the way forward. There were several contributions from other Friends, when I experienced one of those rare Quaker moments. I felt myself trembling and almost as though I was being pulled from my seat. I knew it was a moment for Ministry, but tried to resist as I had no idea what I was going to say. Eventually I got nervously to my feet and spoke briefly about my work as a nursery nurse. I was, at the time, working as a classroom assistant in a local school and not enjoying it. I shared that before having my family, I had considered a proposal to run a nursery at a local private hospital, an idea which I didn’t follow through, as I became pregnant. “Perhaps I could buy the nursery...” I said, and was perhaps more shocked than others at what I had said.
“How exciting. We could have a Quaker nursery... Area Meeting would continue to own the building... We would all support you... We could loan you funds to buy the business...” were some of the contributions that followed. The rest is history. I bought the nursery with a business loan and help for the deposit from local Friends. Nineteen years later, I am now considering my options, as I look
forward, eventually, to retirement.
The next piece of music, “Discernment” from Sing in the Spirit, Laurie and I used at our wedding, sung by members of my family and Nici. Again, it inspires and reminds me to be still, and listen following the promptings of Love and Truth as pronounced by George Fox.
Discernment (sung by Janet Blann, Nici Fletcher-Causer and Tom Bootyman)
Period of silence
In 1656, George Fox implored us to:
“Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that you carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone.”
It’s a big ask, but one I try to live with in my daily life.
I’d now like to ask you to join in singing “How can I keep from Singing?”. As you may not be familiar with this, I’ll ask David to play it through once, before we join in.
Hymn: How can I keep from Singing?
Silence
This ends my address, but as we leave the Meeting House, my final piece of music, also from Sing in the Spirit, is more uplifting, and I hope also a message for us all to take with us, in our hearts and in our lives.
CD track: The Harmony Calypso
Janet Blann – Scholar 1966-72
Old Scholars’ Cup Citation
This person has impressed the staff and wider community with their pro-active, positive, and friendly manner. They have embodied the very best of what we expect in terms of behaviour and representation from our students. Their willingness to go the extra mile to make other people’s life easier has been noticed by a wide range of people within the school
When gathering information for this citation one member of staff said, “Where do we start with this student? How do we narrow it down? From accidentally mentoring the lower school students through kindness and friendship, to diligently introducing new students to the Ackworth way by giving tours and generally making people feel settled and secure ”
This person is a committed member of Woolman House and whilst they are not House Captain, their contribution to the House and the House system has been outstanding, rivalling even die-hard Woolmans as top woolly mammoth in terms of House Spirit.
This person has done a huge amount to encourage participation in House events by members of all ages and has arguably single-handedly revitalised ‘House’ competitions. Without him, it would not have been possible.Evidence of this includes that he is ‘far away’ from being a singer, but got the whole house singing as a choir. Geoguesser, e-sports - these new House initiatives were spearheaded by him Dubbed as something ‘new and different’ to encourage participation.
House meetings online are entirely down to him encouraging people to work together, motivating people to be involved, putting in the time and effort to keep this important school tradition alive.
As a sports leader he has been fantastic He helped in organising the inter-form Olympics just before Christmas, the Olympic day, and Race to Japan. His commitment and support of these events has been wonderful. Not one to let go of the microphone easily, he was the Master of Ceremonies for Olympic Day and interacted with Coram House children brilliantly.
Contributions to Sixth Form entertainment have been overseen by this person in their own special way, organising staff participation and learning new skills to deal with the video editing required for this year. He is also the only person ever to convince Erica Dean to become a difficult person and coax her acting talent out of her. To make this happen in the face of adversity is a real achievement.
This person embodies the ethos of Ackworth School and his contribution to so many aspects of the school community makes him a very worthy winner of the Old Scholars’ Cup. He is, of course, Ben Cawood.
OLD SCHOLARS’ STORIES
Josephine Beaumont
On 21st July, we were treated to a visit to the school from Josephine Beaumont and her niece, Lorraine Simpson. Josephine was a pupil at Ackworth from 1943 to 1946 and she had some fascinating insights into life at Ackworth during the war years Josephine comes from a long line of Bowmans who have attended the school from its earliest days. The first of her ancestors to arrive in March 1780, were two little sisters from Chesterfield, Alice and Sarah, aged 11 and 8. This was just 5 months after the school opened. They appear as numbers 84 and 85 in the first Admittance Book.
Josephine’s grandfather, John Edward Bowman (scholar 1879-83) was a wellknown Wakefield businessman, and Lorraine has prepared his diaries for publication at the end of the year. We look forward to seeing a finished copy of “The Diary of a Wakefield Draper” and reading about his days at Ackworth in the latter part of the 19th century.
Visits like this constantly add to our knowledge of the history of the school and of the people who have passed through its doors.
Rob Woodall
During my years at Ackworth, dad bought an Austin Westminster, as a suitable car for towing a caravan, partly to use for “leave weekends”, a journey of almost 90 miles. I remember helping him work on this car during my holidays, and how it dispatched its towing duties with ease. Having spent my life in the motor trade I thought it would be interesting to restore one of these cars and make the journey back to Ackworth along as much of the “old road” as possible.
After an extensive restoration, with the (once scrap!) Westminster finished, Jean and I booked ourselves into Rogerthorpe Manor at Badsworth and drove the mostly familiar route, over the Woodhead Pass, through the much-changed roads of Barnsley, ending our journey driving into Back Lane.
Tony Biggin
Tony Biggin was born in Barnsley, arriving at Ackworth School in 1963. Already a competent pianist, he had lessons with Noelene Walmsley, and learnt the cello from scratch at Ackworth under Mr Baines, leaving the school with three Grade 8 certificates (with distinctions). He dipped into composing whilst still at Ackworth, and won the 1965 School Christmas Carol Competition.
After studying music at the University of Wales, Tony Biggin became a teacher, developing a strong commitment to music education within which the encouragement of creativity for all has been central Developing from his numerous youth music-theatre pieces, written and produced for schools, he moved on to work as a freelance composer and musician. Concern for peace and justice led to a long-term collaboration with writer, Alec Davison. They worked together to create and direct the Leaveners, primarily The Quaker Youth Theatre, but also creating the Quaker Festival Orchestra and Chorus. A string of tuneful and dramatic works ensued, including two secular oratorios, ‘The Gates of Greenham’ and ‘Cry of the Earth’ as well as a host of large scale music theatre works such as ‘Fires of Levana’, ‘The Bull of Minos’, ‘Quest of the Golden Eye’ and ‘The Fire and the Hammer’ (based on the Life of George Fox).
Performances of his work have taken place in prestigious venues with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Manchester Camerata in venues including London’s Royal Festival Hall and the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool For some years Tony was Musical Director of Cantor Ltd, a commercial multi-track digital recording studio and computerised music laboratory. As well as taking on concert- based commissions he produced recordings (including Bryn Terfel’s Shwanengesang), processed music for publishers and arranged and composed for T.V., radio, the theatre and concert hall.
Tony composed the Valleys Live commission ‘Just Give Us The Flowers Now’ to words by Alan Osborne, which was performed by Evelyn Glennie, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and numerous community youth music groups. Other commissions funded by the Welsh Arts Council include Rhoed y Gair, which was televised by HTV and recorded on the Sain label, and ‘The Forbidden Hymn’, a “people’s opera” to words by Alan Osborne While Head of Music at Edge Hill
University (1992 – 2000) he collaborated with Phil Christopher to produce the human rights music-theatre work Unseen as well as Last Gasp, for Saxophone and Orchestra, premiered by Simon Butterworth (saxophone) with the Lancashire Sinfonietta.
He later became Director of Music at Leighton Park Friends’ School.
Tony moved into the leadership of Local Authority Music Services in 2002 when he was appointed Head of Arts for Schools for Harrow Council, London. He subsequently became Director of the East Sussex Music Service between 2005 –2013 where he wrote numerous annual Great Big Sings for primary aged children involving up to 3000 participants annually and ‘A Sussex Overture’ for the awardwinning East Sussex Youth Orchestra.
In 2014 Battle Festival commissioned Tony to write ‘We Wunt be Druv’ for local primary school children which was performed at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea. A further commission included a setting of ‘The Steyning Poem’ for baritone and orchestra.. The following year Battle Festival commissioned Tony and poet, Ian McMillan, to write ‘The Seven Ages of Man’, a children’s musical inspired by Shakespeare.
His ‘Requiem’ is available on YouTube and was to have been premiered in full in Leiden, Netherlands, during May 2020 but Covid-19 meant that it was postponed.
In 2016 the John Lewis Partnerhip’s Cavendish Ensemble commissioned Tony to write ‘A Christmas Day’ for Orchestra which was premiered in the Royal Festival Hall, London.
Most recently, Tony has composed the music to ‘String’, a community musical with book and lyrics by Stephen Plaice. A Covid-compliant, semistaged premiere took place in Hailsham Pavilion, East Sussex in September 2021 featuring Roger McGough as narrator – a full theatrical performance will take place in October 2022 with John Bowler (another Ackworth Old Scholar) as narrator.
Tony has been awarded a doctorate in Music from the University of Wales and is now works as a full time composer as well as chairing Hailsham Festival
Tony is married to Anna Rowntree and has 3 grown-up children: Elin Alaw, Nia Delyn and Tomos Aled.
ACKWORTH SCHOOL CONNECT
Ackworth’s alumni are known as ‘Old Scholars’ or ‘Ackworthians’. Our Old Scholar community is a vibrant and diverse group that spans the globe. As a member of the Old Scholar Association, you know that we have a strong sense of community, built around the importance of equal, positive, and exciting relationships.
Our Old Scholars stay connected through our online networking platform, Ackworth School Connect. This platform is like Facebook, but for Ackworthians. Follow the latest news from the school, see what your former classmates are up to, and reach out to some familiar faces you haven’t seen in a while.
Visit www.ackworthschoolconnect.com to sign up today.
Ackworth School aims to encourage a sense of community amongst its old scholars and provides a connection between the school today and its former pupils.
OLD SCHOLAR REUNION 2021
Geoffrey R. Pedlar, AOSA President 2005-6, stands surrounded by octogenarian classmates from the 1952-60 era as they attended their annual lunchtime gathering at the Kestrel Vintage Inn, Harrogate, on Thursday 5th August 2021. A lovely afternoon was enjoyed by all.
ACKWORTH ARCHIVES
I was 14 years old on 28th February 1955. I remember it well, as the alarm had been raised after a fire broke out in a common room immediately below the Cupola clock tower. It was discovered by the music teacher on his return to the school premises in the early hours of Monday morning while, to quote the paper, “400 pupils slept on “ . At the time, there was a fair amount of speculation about this masters’ nocturnal activities prior to his discovery.
The feature in the paper shows a ‘posed ‘group of pupils carrying rescued items
from the common rooms. I say ‘posed’, because we are pictured coming into Shed Court from the direction of the ‘Green’, when in reality we came from the opposite direction, as they were being taken to be stored in the Craft shop.
I am in the frontline of the procession wearing my Sunday suit. I should have changed into uniform, but probably ignored it in my eagerness to join the ‘fray’. The girl on the right, carrying a box, was Elizabeth James (scholar 1952-58) and the sister of Professor Philip James (scholar 1949-56) who, among his many accomplishments, became a prominent advisor to the Government on diet and nutrition in the 1980s and 90s. He often appeared on television. Prof. Phillip James married Jean Moorhouse, another Old Scholar. The boy second from the left is Richard Walker (scholar - 1952-60). He found a baby owl [***see photo 2] which had fallen from its nest and adopted it for the summer term, before taking it home for the holidays. Unsurprisingly, it was named ‘Twit’ and whenever Richard whistled, it would fly on to the classroom windowsill, much to the amusement of the assembled class.
Richard’s Father was himself an Old Scholar as was his brother, lan (scholar 1956-63) who also was married to an Old Scholar.
Another O.S. of note during my time was John Gledhill (1950-55) who was an award-winning composer professionally known as ‘Patric Stanford’.
And so ends a little more of Ackworth history. Best wishes, Tony Lucas
GLENTHORNE WEEKEND
November 2021
It was two full years since the last “official” meeting of Ackworth Old Scholars. Only three months after the 2019 Glenthorne weekend, COVID-19 had spread around the world. Ackworth School skilfully weathered the storm, but all OS events were put on hold, with two successive Easter Gatherings being cancelled. Pete Causer had his term as President extended by a further two years, making him the joint longest holder of the position, the only other being during the 1914-18 war.
As ever, preparation for the Glenthorne Weekend had progressed efficiently, but this year, Mike McRobert and his co-organisers had much more to consider, with safety and ever-changing COVID regulations a constant worry.
Sadly, Stephen and Joyzelle Kelsall were unable to be with us, but Anne TelfordKenyon stepped in to prepare the Friday evening quiz, which had a Cumbrian theme (a topic Anne is well-versed in, being a local resident). The generous Ackworth spirit prevailed, as the winning team shared their prize with the entire group. Several of this year’s visitors didn’t attend Ackworth School as pupils, but were either friends or relatives, all of whom took a full part in activities.
On the Saturday, a walk was arranged by Nick Seed and Mike McRobert, but with a choice of challenges. The weather throughout the weekend was characteristic of the Lake District, particularly on the Saturday. As we set out (in the wrong direction, but Nick dealt with that most diplomatically) it was dull and misty, but reasonably dry. The main focus was Alcock Tarn (which many of us had had never heard of), but before reaching that, it was agreed that a few walkers would do a higher-level walk. Some Lakeland walkers are more competitive than others, so when Aidan Mortimer and friends branched off to the higher challenge, a few of us decided to follow them, while the “sensible” people continued towards Alcock Tarn.
It soon began to rain, and the wind increased. We passed the Wainwright summit of Stone Arthur, but sadly one of our number had a niggling knee injury, so two walkers decided to descend, before things became worse. The rest of us progressed upwards as the weather deteriorated. We reached the ridge of the Fairfield Horseshoe, close to the summit of Great Rigg. This is normally a great viewpoint in all directions, but the mist prevented any such reward. Fortunately, we had maps, compasses and a reliable GPS unit to guide us along the ridge towards Heron Pike and Nab Scar. We searched for a suitable place to consume our Founder’s Day style packed lunches (kindly provided by Glenthorne Quaker Guest House). By the time we had found a soggy, walled area for shelter, the rain had penetrated our rucksacks, and the sandwiches were drenched.
Nevertheless, we ate them. Meanwhile, the sensible group enjoyed their packed lunch at a picnic bench, albeit a damp one
Our high level walk became windier and wetter. Two of our group saw their waterproof rucksack covers blown off the ridge and lost forever. Sometimes a gust of wind would blow us to the ground, but we were in no real danger, as the ground was mostly soft and the ridge was wide. As we descended from Nab Scar, the mist cleared and the view was magnificent. We had hoped to catch up with the other group, who were on the path that skirted the opposite banks of Rydal Water an Grasmere, but were much too late for that, so opted for the shorter “Coffin Route” that led us directly to Grasmere village.
Glenthorne has a drying room. It was full of clothes, shoes, and people trying to find spaces to squeeze in yet more shoes and clothing Saturday’s evening meal was appreciated more than ever.
Nici-Fletcher Causer and Trudy Seed co-hosted the rowdy, but exciting Saturday evening entertainment: “Play your cards right”.
Sunday morning included Meeting for Worship, individual walks and coffee at the Wordsworth Hotel.
An interesting distraction during Sunday dinner was seeing a number of red squirrels* in the Glenthorne garden, after which we dispersed to our homes, regretting that the weekend had been so short.
-69)
Ackworth School Old Scholars’ Association
LIST OF PRESIDENTS
1882-83
Joseph Simpson
1883-84
William Coor Parker
1884-85
James Henry Barber
1885-86
Joseph Stickney Sewell
1886-87
Henry Thompson
1887-88
Thomas Pumphrey
1888-89
Joseph Pattison Drewett
1889-90
William Jones
1890-92
Henry Tennant
1892-93
Frederick Andrews
1893-94
Charles Brady
1894-95
Alfred Simpson
1895-96
Helen Bayes
1896-97
Sir James Reckitt
1897-98
Henry Ecroyd Clark
1898-99
Albert Linney
1899-1900
Mary Caroline Pumphry
1900-01
William Harvey
1901-02
John William Graham
1902-03
Robert Henry Taylor
1903-04
Rachel Oddie
1904-05
Alfred Henry Taylor
1905-06
Philip Burtt
1906-07
Joseph Firth Clark
1907-08
Septimus Marten
1908-09
Joseph Spence Hodgson
1909-10
Anna Louise Jackson
1910-11
William Whiting
1911-12
J. Travis Mills
1912-13
Samuel E. Brown
1913-14
Caroline C. Graveson
1914-15
W. Trevelyan Thomson
1915-16
Sheldon Leicester
1916-19
William Graveson
1919-20
Frederick Andrews
1920-21
Ellen M. Fry
1921-22
Charles H. Smithson
1922-23
Isaac Henry Wallis
1923-24
Harold Collinson
1924-25
Henry Binns
1925-26
Margaret Andrews
1926-27
William F. Nicholson
1927-28
Alfred E. Binyon
1928-29
Mary F. Hartley
1929-30
Edmund Henry Gilpin
1930-31
Walter Robert Bayes
1931-32
Gerald K. Hibbert
1932-33
Leila Sparkes
1933-34
Edgar B. Collinson
1934-35
Frank Ward
1935-36
Ernest Bowman Ludlam
1936-37
Jane H Williamson
1937-38
Thomas Foulds
1938-39
Joseph H. Lester
1939-40
Bertha Smith
1940-41
G. Noel Hyde
1941-42
Helen Andrews
1942-44
W. Arthur Cooper
1944-46
James Westwood
1946-47
Blanche M. Bennett
1947-48
Rowland C. Moore
1948-49
J. Stanley Carr
1949-50
Reginald Broomhead
1950-51
Eleanor Crosland
1951-52
Rex Yates
1952-53
Theodore W. Allen
1953-54
R. Percy Foulds
1954-55
Dorothy Mussell
1955-56
Bernard Wright
1956-57
A. Eric Ellison
1957-58
Lucy Binks
1958-59
James S. Lidbetter
1959-60
Ashton Watts
1960-61
Lucy O’Brien
1961-62
Eric Bellingham
1962-63
Arnold Sewell
1963-64
Elfrida V. Foulds
1964-65
Helen J. Neatby
1965-66
Arthur G. Olver
1966-67
Stanley G. Horner
1967-68
Ralph E. Handy
1968-69
Kathleen Binns
1969-70
Phillip Radley
1970-71
Donald Birkett
1971-72
Margaret Martin
1972-73
Phyllis M. Sadler
1973-74
Albert F. Lindley
1974-75
Stephen Burtt
1975-76
Mary Rogers
1976-77
Hilary W. Smith
1977-78
Roger Spinks
1978-79
Walter Fearnley
1979-80
Agnes Thompson
1980-81
Ian Bailey
1981-82
D. Keith Daniel
1982-83
Elisabeth F. Heywood
1983-84
John R. Postle
1984-85
Stephen Ward
1985-86
Mary Fulford
1986-87
George Bunney
1987-88
Molly Longley
1988-89
Colin Mortimer
1989-90
Peter Norris
1990-91
Margaret Postle
1991-92
Sheila Banks
1992-93
Celia Brebner
1993-94
Gordon Mckee
1994-95
Mary Robinson
1995-96
Michael Hargreave
1996-97
Anne Telford-Kenyon
1997-98
Margery Bunney
1998-99
Robert Gibson
1999-2000
Grace Hunter
2000-01
Christopher Moore
2001-02
Celia M. Ball
2002-03
Peter Lambourn
2003-04
Michael & Annabel McRobert
2004-05
Marguerite Hill
2005-06
Geoffrey R. Pedlar
2006-07
David J. Bunney
2007-08
Diana Chadwick
2008-09
Christopher Rengert
2009-10
Donald Elliott
2010-11
Martin Dickinson
2011-12
Shirley Day
2012-13 Stephen & Joyzelle Kelsall
2013-14
Christopher Jones
2014-15
Michael & Marjorie Bliss
2015-16
Peter Speirs
2016-17
Nicholas Seed
2017-18
Belinda Walters
2018-19
Aidan Mortimer
2019-22
Peter Causer