In Memoriam

We regret to announce the deaths of the following members of the BGS family and extend our condolences to everyone that knew and cared for them. William Barlow (Bill) Blanchard 1945-1951 Ronald (Ron) James Chorley 1944-1949 Beverley Lewis Chuter 1944-1951 Brian Colston 1932-1939 Richard Charles Millward Cook 1941-1952 John Royston Drinkwater 1952-1959 Christopher John Gillingham Evans 1944-1954 Donald (Don) Furze 1955-1962 Nabeel Israrul Haq 1989-996 James Richard Harris 1942-1945 Michael John (Mike) Hayden 1944-1951 Jonathan Claude Binyon Higgens 1949-1958 MichaelJohn Richard Hodge 1944-1947 Peter John Hurley 1942-1949 Robert Jenner (Staff) Left BGS in 2013 Robert Hamilton Jordan 1950-1958 Robert Alexander Kennedy 1945-1952 David Mogford Lloyd 1935-1944 Mandy Meredith (Staff) 2010-2021 John Stuart Colin (Colin) Osborn 1941-1945 Roger Grahame Poolman 1947-1952 William John Hurlstone (John) Robson (Staff) 1963-1969 Geoffrey Richard Savory (Staff) 1948-1953 Richard Dodgson Sykes 1946-1950 Petrina Brealy nee Trueman 1983-1989 David John Weeks 1946-1954 Michael John (Mike) Winter 1944-1949 

William Barlow (Bill) Blanchard 1935-2018 BGS 1945-1952

His daughter Diana writes,

It was brilliant that my father got the opportunity to attend such a good school and I can see why there is real anger from many that grammar schools were abolished -or as in your case went independent.

My father was a very intelligent man and no doubt benefitted from being in an academic environment - he went onto to Dartmouth Naval College after school and became a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy where he served for 20 years before coming out and training as a solicitor. He eventually joined the Crown Prosecution service as a senior prosecutor until after a sudden brain haemorrhage and several major brain operations he took early retirement.

Ronald James Chorley 1933-2021 BGS 1944-1949

Beverley Lewis Chuter 1933-2021 BGS 1944-1949

After leaving BGS he went on to Pembroke College, Oxford and subsequently became Senior Classics master at Chester School.

Brian Colston 1922-2021 BGS 1932-1939

His daughter Nicola writes:

My father, Brian Colston, who has died aged 99 of abdominal cancer (after a short illness) was born in

Bristol. His father, Edward Colston, was an undertaker and his mother, Margaret Moore (known as Rita) was a teacher before her marriage.

Brian went to Bristol Grammar School, where he excelled in sciences and mathematics. At the outbreak of war, he volunteered to join the Royal Signals. When interviewed by the BBC for VJ Day in 2020 he said this was because he had “no interest in killing people.”

His war experiences in India, Burma and Java influenced his decision to study medicine, which was enabled by the post war forces education scheme. He became a student in his 20s and met his future wife, Enid Furnival, at the University of Bristol. They married in 1951. Brian did not find permanent work in his beloved south west, so the couple moved to Birmingham with a young baby, rather than his AJS motorbike on which they had travelled to Spain. He worked in Birmingham all his professional life, extending and improving health services in primary care.

His work as a general practitioner included delivering babies. One, notably, was by candlelight on a barge at the central Birmingham Gas Street basin - a problematic forceps delivery of a 14th child. He consequently had a key role in setting up a GP led maternity ward to assist safer maternity care. Among other innovations, his practice was also the first in Birmingham to have dedicated asthma and diabetes clinics, a joint academic appointment with the University of Birmingham, and an attached social worker. He led the development of multidisciplinary healthcare in the city and was actively involved with Birmingham Health Authority and the Medical Practitioners Union. He became a fellow of the Royal College of GPs in 1978. Funding was eventually found to provide a purpose built health centre in the deprived ward of Lee Bank, where he worked as senior partner.

His achievements led to the award of the OBE in 1989. He was a practical man, turning his hand to most things, such as gardening and DIY. He loved photography and took 16 mm film of the working Bristol Docks in his youth. He played squash, qualified as a yachts master, and often sailed to France. He loved cooking, and enjoyed snooker and the theatre. He was a determined, hardworking,often generous, and kind man, who will be sadly missed.

He leaves his wife, Enid; three children (Lucy, Simon, and myself, Nicola); and six grandchildren. His eldest son, Tim, died in 2014.

Richard Charles Millward Cook 1933-2020 BGS 1941-1952

Richard Cook attended Bristol Grammar School from 1941-1951.

After pre-clinical studies at Merton College, Oxford, where he gained honours in Physiology, Richard went to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London for his clinical training, graduating BM, B.Ch in 1958. It was there that he met Bart’s nurse Ann Watford, whom he married in 1960.

Two months later, he and Ann flew to Kenya where, as part of the Colonial Medical Service, he worked at various rural hospitals. In 1963, he returned to the UK and worked in hospitals in London, Sheffield and Liverpool. After a short stint at a Children’s hospital in Seattle, USA, Richard took up a consultancy post in Paediatric surgery at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool in 1971 and he held this post until his retirement in 1995.

Richard was one of the last of the true “generalists”, a surgeon who could do everything from neurosurgery to urology (including hypospadias surgery) and make it all look effortless. Universally regarded as one of the finest technical surgeons of his generation, he was one of the first surgeons in the United Kingdom to use Pena’s approach for ano-rectal anomalies.

A devout Christian, Richard was an active member of the Christian Medical Fellowship and the large house which he and Ann bought in

South Liverpool was deliberately chosen to accommodate Christian Medical Fellowship meetings and other Christian activities involving people from all walks of life and a range of countries.

After Ann’s death in 2009, Richard subsequently moved to Cheltenham to be near family. As ever, visitors were welcomed to his home and he was active in his local church. He died peacefully on 8th December 2020.

Richard left four children: Nicholas, John, Rachel and Kathy, and eight grandchildren.

John Royston Drinkwater 1941-2021 1952-1959

John left BGS for Exeter University, and went on to SOAS to study Chinese. He subsequently entered the Civil Service and worked in the Office for National Statistics. He was married to Dr Hazel Waters and they lived in London. John retained a lifelong passion for Chinese literature and art, and he loved the natural world and classical music.

Christopher John Gillingham Evans 1935-2022 BGS 1944-1954

Christopher John Gillingham Evans, Age 86 of Hale Barnes, passed away on January 2nd, 2022, from

mesothelioma. Survived by his loving partner, Carol, his children Martin (Angela) and Deby (Huw) and his five grandchildren, Sarah, Harriet, Zoe, Olivia, and Gareth. Preceded in death by his wife Patricia, sister Louise Gordon and parents John and Audrey Evans. Chris spent most of his school years at Bristol Grammar School where he excelled in sports and did well in his academic classes. In 1946, he was awarded the Milsom Cup for excellence in athletics, along with several other awards and was elected head boy in his final year.

Having gained his MA in metallurgy at Jesus College, Cambridge and served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals for his National Service, he spent his working career as a plant and site manager in the smelting and chemical refining industries which took him all over the world.

Throughout his life, Chris was an avid sportsman running and playing rugby for Bristol Grammar school, Jesus College, Bristol RFC and Gloucestershire. He competed in the inaugural London Marathon finishing in a time of 3 hrs. 37 mins and 51 secs as well as completing 50 Gwent league races as a veteran runner. As a keen sportsman he enjoyed seeing others thrive and volunteered at the Salford Triathlon and the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games supporting the South African team.

In his later years, he joined the Bowdon Croquet Club and became an avid croquet player. Always willing to share his knowledge he was a vibrant athletic coach and this willingness to coach continued into his love of croquet as he recently gained his level 1 coaching certificate.

The Funeral Service was held at Altrincham Crematorium, on Thursday, January 22nd, 2022, and was well attended by family and friends with the eulogy delivered by The Reverend Michael Burgess of St. Peter’s Outhrington.

Donald (Don) Furze 1944-2022 BGS 1955-1962

We have recently been notified of the death of Don Furze, and hope to include an obituary in the next issue of Bristolienses which will reflect his work for the School, the Society and the Sports Club.

Nabeel Isarul Haq 1978-2021 BGS 1989-1996

After contracting leukemia, Nabeel died of Covid while in hospital.

James Richard Harris 1928-2021 BGS 1942-1945

James left BGS to work at BOAC; he remained in touch with and was a supporter of BGS throughout his life.

Michael John (Mike) Hayden 1933-2021 BGS 1944-1951

Michael won a scholarship to BGS and was a pupil there from 19441951. He thoroughly enjoyed his seven years at BGS and credited them as the most formative of his

life. He made many friends some of them life long, John and David Higson and John Evans to name just a few, and considered himself fortunate to come under the guidance of Michael Booker and other enthusiastic and dedicated teachers of that period. His enduring passion for cricket was born there also his love of rugby, and he played both sports for the school often touring with the cricket team in the school holidays.

He obtained several ‘A’ levels and gained a place at Bristol University to read geography and economics his aim being to become a teacher, but he decided to defer his place while he completed his obligatory National Service. He applied to join the Royal Air Force, following in the footsteps of his older brother, and was persuaded to sign on for three years as this would allow him to be taught to fly. After completing basic training in this country, he was posted to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and gained his wings.

He loved the life and after three years signed on again becoming an accomplished pilot serving in the Middle East and the UK flying the Chipmunk, Harvard and Piston Provost in basic training, graduating to the Meteor (the first jet engine in the RAF) and then on to the Vampire and Hawker Hunter fighter aircraft. He was later trained to fly the Canberra bomber. In the early 1970s, now Squadron Leader, he was fast tracked for instructor training on the Jet Provost and qualified becoming Chief Flying Instructor at the Royal Air Force No. 1 Training School at Linton on Ouse in 1975. In 1976 he was promoted to Wing Commander.

Once his age no longer permitted

him to fly he completed two tours at RAF Biggin Hill on the interviewing board at the Office and Air Crew Selection Centre before retiring in 1988.

Jonathan Claude Binyon Higgens 1939-2021 BGS 1949-1958

J C B Higgens (see photo on previous page) was clearly a very good swimmer and so there are many references to his participation in swimming and water polo competitions with other schools and within BGS.

He was in Osborne’s House and was Captain of Osborne’s in his final year.

He was a member of the School’s Cadet Force, Royal Naval Section. He is recorded as being a Cadet Leading Seaman in Aril 1957 and passing his Proficiency Test Part II in July 1957.

He was also one of the Senior Librarians in April 1957 and was secretary to the Literary Society for two years leading up to his departure in July 1958.

He left BGS to attend Peterhouse, Cambridge

Michael John Richard Hodge 1931-2021 BGS 1944-1947

Peter John Hurley 1931-2022 BGS 1942-1949

Robert (Bob) Jenner 1937- 2021 Left BGS 2013

Bob was for many years the peripatetic music teacher for brass instruments, and this extract from the 2014 Chronicle is a fitting tribute:

This beautiful and atmospheric work was performed with flair by ensemble and soloists alike, and conducted by long-standing BGS brass teacher, Bob Jenner. As Bob was due to retire after Christmas, it was with a special poignancy that he was asked to conduct, having been the trumpet soloist for the original performance of Quiet City, conducted by Aaron Copland himself.

Richard Osmond writes:

Bob Jenner was a member of the BGS community for a great many years. As the school brass teacher he primarily taught trumpet, but was also very comfortable teaching French horn and trombone.

Although a relatively unassuming individual (despite the very bright red Alfa Romeo he used to park outside the Music Department) he was friendly and jovial, and many knew him well in the Common Room.

His impact on the school as a whole was perhaps greater than some might realise, as Bob was always responsible for preparing the trumpeters to play the last post and reveille on Remembrance Day: he therefore helped to make one of the most important days in the school calendar that bit more special.

It is a testament to how much he cared for the school that prior to his retirement he ensured that he had recorded both of the Remembrance Day fanfares for the school in case we ever found ourselves one year without a suitable trumpeter.

Robert Hamilton Jordan 1939-2021 BGS 1950-1958

His wife writes:

I wish to inform you of the death of Robert Hamilton Jordan, born in Dublin 19th February 1939, died 29th December 2021 aged 82. Rustat Exhibitioner at Jesus College, Cambridge 1958. Taught Classics at Sevenoaks School, Methodist College Belfast and Queen’s University Belfast. Awarded PhD in Byzantine Studies in 1997.

Married to Margaret Kay Patterson with one son and one daughter.

Alongside his teaching career he spent many years translating Byzantine monastery documents for Queen’s University Belfast and Dumbarton Oaks USA.

He was very fond of Michael Booker as his house master and as a result decided to enter the teaching profession when qualified. This gave him many years of enjoyment and the opportunity to write and perform in staff pantomimes.

He was a contemporary of Keith Robbins who wrote the history of Bristol Grammar School ‘Pride of Place’ and Robert appears in two photos in the 1950s.

Robert Alexander Kennedy 1933-2021 BGS 1945-1952

David Mogford Lloyd 1926-2021 BGS 1935-1944

His son writes:

One of Bristol Grammar’s (very) old boys, David Mogford Lloyd, has died this year peacefully,

after a short illness, at the ripe old age of 95 years. He leaves behind five children and (very!) many grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

There is a tradition of Lloyds at Bristol Grammar – David’s sons Nick and Tim both went there, as well as his younger brother Roger. Roger in fact passed away this year as well not long after his brother David, aged 94.

Both David and Roger were in the school Rugby team, along with another old boy, Tom Graveney, who went on to play cricket for England! In the photo you can see David seated at the front, with his younger brother Roger next to him, and behind him Tom Graveney, David was Captain of the Rugby Team in 1943, and Roger went on to play for Bristol Bears. David’s son Tim played for the school first XV and BGS Old Boys for many years. A true Bristolian, David was born in 1926, the seventh of eight children, born to Arnold and Evelyn, living in Wellington Park just off Blackboy Hill. His maternal grandfather, Thomas James Wise, was Lord Mayor of Bristol in 1932 and his paternal grandfather, Gabriel Lloyd, was a lay preacher on the Downs.

Despite this illustrious heritage, David often recalled how he had to wear his older brother’s rugby boots, which were too big, and stuff them with paper as they couldn’t afford to buy him some of his own – or were perhaps just being thrifty with eight children!

Anyway, he seems to have managed okay because whilst at Bristol Grammar School he excelled at both rugby and cricket; however, he was not particularly the academic type and, in any case, his education was disrupted by the war. When the war started, he was too young to join up, so he became an air raid warden, putting out fires, rescuing the injured and dealing with unexploded incendiary bombs, saving at least two lives!

As soon as he could, David joined the army and became a tank driver. He missed the Normandy Landings by a matter of weeks as he had not by then completed his training. Another measure of his character was that he managed to travel by himself, aged 19 and with little money or resources, all the way from Palestine across a war-torn Europe to get back home when he heard his father was dying, a momentous and no doubt terrifying journey that he often talked about. After the war, David went into the family fishmonger’s business on Whiteladies Road with his brother Graham, and later had a second career as a greengrocer with a shop in Henleaze that had been bought by his grandfather Gabriel in 1903.

Never one to throw anything away if he could possibly help it, for decades he cornered the market from the Henleaze shop, selling penny lemons, frying tomatoes and cracked eggs! The shop became a Bristol institution and was taken over when David retired by his son, Robert, and is now run by his grandson Mike. David enjoyed sailing and often visited Cornwall and Devon, with his wife of 73 years Susan and their five children. David was always extremely proud of being an ‘Old Boy’ and in fact Susan asked for him to be dressed for his funeral with his old school tie on! Once a Bristol Grammar Old Boy always a Bristol Grammar Old Boy, it seems.

Mandy Michelle Meredith 1959-2021 BGS 2010-2021

Mandy was a well loved member of the BGS Catering Team, and she and her welcoming smile will be greatly missed in the Great Hall, in the Sixth Form Team and at Failand – and by all of us who would regularly pop down to the Sixth Form Centre for a coffee, a bite and a chat with the JCR Team.

John Stuart Colin (Colin) Osborn 1927-2022 BGS 1941-1945

We have recently been notified of the death of Colin Osborn, and hope to include an obituary in the next issue of Bristolienses which 47

will reflect his work for the Society and especially as an early Editor of Bristolienses.

Roger Grahame Poolman

1937-2021 BGS 1947-1952

From his wife, Susan:

Roger Graham Poolman, age 84, passed away peacefully at his home in Wellingborough on Wednesday 28th July 2021. His loving wife of 28 years, Sue Poolman, was present at his bedside when he died. Roger’s health had deteriorated in recent years. He is survived by three children, Mark, Rachel, and Christopher, and two grandchildren, Joseph, and Sylvianne.

Those people that were fortunate enough to have encountered Roger in their lives would all attest to his kindness, dedication to the community, unwavering selflessness, and devout faith.

He was a man who achieved so much while asking for so little in return. Born in Bristol in 1937 to Graham and Irene Poolman, Roger was educated at Bristol Grammar School. After a short career in insurance, Roger was accepted to train for ministry at Bristol Baptist College where he met his first wife, Sylvia Mary Rogers, at the Youth Fellowship at Broadmead Baptist Church. They married at Broadmead in 1960, and shortly afterwards Mark and Rachel were born.

For the next 21 years, Roger exercised his Baptist ministry in various locations around the country, ultimately landing in Northamptonshire where he resided for the remainder of his life.

Following the loss of his first wife to cancer, and the arrival of his third child Christopher, Roger changed careers to one supporting social services, and various volunteer organizations around the county.

In 1993 he married his second wife, Susan Poolman. The latter years of Roger’s life were characterized by continued voluntary efforts, such as chairing the independent monitoring board for the Wellingborough prison (where previously he’d worked part-time running the Visitor’s Centre), helping to establish the Wellibus (a transport service that predominantly supports elderly and disabled people) and managing the Daylight Centre Fellowship (an organization that helps individuals with personal challenges including homelessness).

Outside of his considerable contributions to society, Roger was an avid traveller and an enjoyer of wines of the red persuasion.

His funeral took place at All Saints Church Wellingborough.

William John Hurlstone (John) Robson (Staff) 1933-2021 BGS 1963-1969

John Robson came to BGS in 1963 as Head of Classics. He left Oxford with a Double First in Literae Humaniores and taught first at Fettes College Edinburgh and then at Merchant Taylor’s School, Northwood.

From the Chronicle:

Mr. W. J. H. Robson came to the Headship of the Classical Department from Merchant Taylor’s School in September 1963. His brilliant and formidable learning, lightly borne, have ensured the maintenance of immensely high standards in his Department; a single instance is the fact that despite reductions in numbers in the Classical Sixth which the trend of the time has (shortsightedly in my mind) produced, twenty one classical awards at Oxford and Cambridge have been secured by the School during Mr. Robson’s reign.

We are grateful to him too for his help in a number of ways outside the classroom, for his wise counsel and for the astringent wit which unerringly punctures the balloons of nonsense and pretension.

He left to take up the Headship of Bury Grammar School, Lancashire and retired in 1990.

Geoffrey R (Geoff) Savory (Staff) 1921-2021 BGS 1948-1953

He taught Modern Languages at BGS and went on to Kingswood School and then Radley College. 48

The Chronicle welcomed him in 1948, ‘Mr Savory went from Marlborough to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where his career was interrupted by over five years’ service in destroyers and submarines.’ Then Dehn’s House bade him a reluctant farewell in 1953, ‘Regretfully we must say goodbye to Mr Savory, who has given much of his time to the house. He will be teaching not very far away and we hope a part of his allegiance will remain

with us in future years. From his family:

Geoffrey Savory’s passions were his wife and family, and his strong Christian faith. His many interests included music, birdwatching, walking and the Royal Navy, and of course his teaching career. He died in Witney, Oxfordshire on 5th October 2021, aged just over 100.

Geoff was born on 2nd September 1921 in the village of Abbots Leigh, just the other side of the Clifton Suspension Bridge from Bristol, where his father Harry worked in his own father’s printing and publishing business on Park Row. He was sent away to prep school at the age of seven, for him a distressing experience which he still talked about in old age. His teachers at Heddon Court School in East Barnet included for a year the young John Betjeman. After that he was educated at Marlborough College, which was a much more positive experience. He had already begun playing the piano, and at Marlborough took up the organ, eventually winning an organ scholarship to Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 1940. By then of course the country was again at war; Geoff turned 18 the day before war was declared, and little over a month later his adored mother Doris died after a long illness. The following year he deferred his place at Cambridge to read Modern Languages – as it turned out, for six years – in order to join the Royal Navy.

Starting as a young rating, he became an officer a couple of years later and eventually a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve after the war – he stayed in the RNVR until the late 1960s. At first he served in Huntclass destroyers, which apparently rolled alarmingly in rough seas – in Geoff’s words he was “as sick as a dog” on a number of occasions, whereas in later years the roughest of ferry crossings to the continent or to Scandinavia never bothered him. In 1943 he transferred to the Submarine Service and served in HMS Rorqual, a Grampus class mine-laying submarine. Rorqual’s last operation of the war saw the crew sail all the way to Fremantle in Australia, taking in Malta, the Suez Canal and Ceylon along the way. Rorqual surfaced numerous times to sink defenceless Japanese sailing vessels and coasters with gunfire, and it’s a measure of Geoff’s humanity that this stayed on his conscience for the rest of his life. On 8th May 1945 Rorqual received the order to ‘splice the mainbrace’ to celebrate the end of the war in Europe. In Geoff’s words “we didn’t splice anything: we had to be as quiet as mice as we were in Japanese waters”.

Safely back in Portsmouth in the late summer of 1945, Geoff almost immediately met a young WRNS officer and Plymouth girl called Elizabeth Marsh. The romance proceeded apace; Geoff proposed to Elizabeth on top of Sheepstor on Dartmoor, and in September 1946 they married in Plymouth. They were soon in Cambridge, where Geoff completed his degree in French and German in the space of eight terms – no confidencebuilding year abroad for him.

During his time at Trinity Hall he became devoted to the Chaplain Launcelot Fleming, later Bishop of Portsmouth and then of Norwich. Such was Geoff’s Christian faith and interest in the church that

Elizabeth was convinced for a while that he would take holy orders. Instead, he decided on teaching and in 1948 was offered a position at Bristol Grammar School by the Headmaster John Garrett and moved into a flat on Regent Street in Clifton, a stone’s throw from his father’s childhood home at 4 Rodney Place (now the Rodney Hotel). Geoff and Elizabeth were keen to start a family, but this proved elusive. In 1952 Elizabeth decided to re-join the WRNS; no sooner had she done so than the inevitable happened, and in June 1953 their elder son Richard was born, followed two years later by Tim.

Geoff always appreciated the opportunity of teaching at BGS and had an enduring respect for John Garrett. One of the highlights of his entire career, which he talked about into old age, was taking a group of pupils to Paris in 1951, accompanied by Elizabeth. He had compiled a list of addresses of all the boys making the trip and had then got the coach driver to tour Bristol picking them up, very early in the morning. He got them all home safely, too. In 1953 Geoff moved to Kingswood School in Bath, where for the second time he struck lucky with a second Headmaster who he highly respected, AB Sackett. Elizabeth had been brought up a Methodist and was as comfortable with the ethos of the school as she had been at BGS, and the growing family had six happy years there. While not wildly ambitious, Geoff sought advancement, so in 1959 he took up what turned out to be his final teaching job as Head of Modern Languages at Radley College. He found Radley to be a ‘sporty’ school, although Geoff’s participation more or less began and ended with coaching lowerschool hockey, as it had done at BGS and Kingswood. Geoff was an enthusiastic proponent of the innovative language lab, and among other initiatives fostered a close relationship and exchange programme with Schondorf, a school in Bavaria.

Geoff was more interested in long rambles than team sports, and he took on the Ridgeway and the Pennine Way among other lengthy walks. Holidays were spent at bird reserves or walking in the Brecon Beacons or on Dartmoor. In 1966 he took his excited family for their first foreign holiday, driving all over the Netherlands. Typically, being a proper linguist, he took the trouble to learn Dutch for several months before they set off. He got lost one day in Rotterdam and stopped the car to ask a policeman for directions. Running out of Dutch steam, he asked the policeman whether he spoke English. “Why should I”, replied the policeman, “when you speak such good Dutch?”

In 1981 Geoff and Elizabeth ‘retired’ to Plymstock and shortly afterwards to Brixton, a village in the South Hams where Geoff served as Chairman of Governors at the local primary school and on the parish council. His interest in languages was very much maintained – for ten years or more he examined French at GCSE and A Level for the Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, which provides educational assessments for over eight million learners in over 170 countries. This took him

all over the UK, several times to the Channel Islands and, memorably, twice to Mauritius. In retirement, Geoff and Elizabeth acquired six grandchildren, and made regular visits to Leeds, Witney, Geneva and Avignon to visit them. By the evening of his life he was delighted by the addition of four greatgrandchildren.

During his teaching career Geoff had always continued to play the organ wherever and whenever he could, and retirement gave him the opportunity to do so on a regular basis. For the better part of thirty years he was church organist, firstly at the Church of the Good Shepherd at the Royal Naval Hospital, and when that was closed in the 1990s at St Nicholas Church at HMS Drake, the Devonport naval base. He played at numerous weddings and funerals, including his son Richard’s wedding at Radley Parish Church in 1980. Ultimately, though, he gave up playing seven or eight years ago when, in his words, “I realised that I’d started to make mistakes”. A year or two later, aged 94 in 2016, he gave up his car and driving licence for the same reason….. His final and to him his most important job started after Elizabeth developed vascular dementia around 2010. He became as devoted a carer as one could wish for, and in the last year or two of her life could usually be found on his knees beside her, holding her hand, and answering with infinite patience the same question that she would ask thirty or forty times every day.

Elizabeth died aged 96 in April 2016, just short of 70 years into their marriage. Geoff had already agreed that it would be a good idea for them to move to Witney to be close to Linda and Richard, and after her death decided to go ahead with the move to a flat that had already been found for them. He moved into an ‘assisted living’ retirement complex that June, and was able to live independently with initially minimal but later much increased care by the excellent on-site Orders of St John Care Team. Signs of his own dementia – Alzheimer’s – were already clear by 2019, and progression was such that he had an official diagnosis in January of this year. Thankfully he developed few of the more distressing symptoms commonly associated with Alzheimer’s, and to the end of his long life continued to charm his family, friends and carers with his winning smile.

Geoff was a person who was very rarely heard to complain about anything; he always looked for the best in people. He had strong views about what he saw as being wrong with society – back in the 1960s this often related to long-haired men, mini-skirts and pop groups – but as is sometimes the case his views mellowed as the years rolled by. In some ways he was ahead of his time; his son Richard (as a young teenager) has a very clear and formative memory of him having a heated disagreement with a visitor who said he would not want to sit next to what he termed ‘a coloured man’ on the bus.

Geoff was a great supporter of a dozen or more charities and has left a third of his estate to be divided between five of them. A long life, well-lived.

Dr Richard Dodgson Sykes 1932-2021 BGS 1945-1950

After a successful School career including appointments as House and School Prefect, and membership of the 1st XV, 1st Cricket XI and 1st Hockey XI, Richard went on to Cambridge to read Classics.

Petrina Brealy nee Trueman 1970-2021

BGS 1983-1989

David John Weeks 1935-2021 BGS 1946-1954

After a successful career at BGS, as School Second Prefect, House Captain and 1st XV colours, David went on to Bristol University to read Mathematics.

With thanks to Bristol Bears:

David John Weeks was educated at Bristol Grammar School, where he represented Gloucestershire Schools. He then went to Bristol University, where he captained First XV. He made his Bristol United debut in the 1956-57 season, but his main Bristol playing career began two seasons later. He scored two tries on his first team debut against Esher in October 1958, having been selected on a day when many players were absent on county duty.

At the time of the Esher game David was a twenty-two-year-old shop floor apprentice at Bristol AeroEngines Ltd.

He was at work one Tuesday about a fortnight after his debut when his manager appeared and asked: “Is your name Weeks? There’s someone on the phone who wants you to play at Ashton Gate tonight. Is that important?” David’s instant reply was: “It is to me!” Bristol were playing Tony O’Reilly’s XV in a special floodlit game, and David was called up to play when John Radford withdrew with an injury. It was his first match with the bulk of Bristol’s senior players, and he took part in a memorable 26-25 victory.

He was awarded his Bristol United

cap at the end of the season.

From the start of the 1959-60 season, David Weeks became a first team regular. He became part of a wonderful crop of players who played an innovative and entertaining brand of ‘Bristol Fashion’ rugby under skipper John Blake. He won his first team cap in 1959-60 and his blazer a season later. He was a regular try-scorer, with 16 in 1959-60 being his best haul for a season. In 1961-62 he became Bristol’s vice-captain under Derek Neate, and the 1961-62 team photo shows him sitting in the captain’s position as Neate was ill at the time.

Despite being mainly a centre, David also featured for Bristol as a winger and, when John Blake was injured, as an outside half. He was on the wing during a classic Easter Monday victory against Northampton in 1960, a game which was viewed at the time as an unofficial English Championship decider. David scored two tries in Bristol’s 25-13 victory, both after thrilling runs. Another seminal fixture in which he played was an unofficial floodlit match with Cardiff in November 1961, staged at Cardiff City’s Ninian Park ground.

Bristol produced some stunning rugby on the night, winning 20-3 despite having two players off the field with injuries during the second half. David was particularly proud of playing in this game.

David made a sensational start to the 1962-63 season. Bristol started their campaign at the Torquay Festival, and he scored four tries in a 22-3 win against Roundhay.

This was Bristol’s 75th Anniversary season, and one of the events celebrating this milestone was a special sevens tournament at the Memorial Ground. Bristol won their own tournament and David was a member of the winning squad. He remained a first choice player for this and the subsequent two seasons, making his last appearance at Liverpool in the final game of the 1964-65 season. By this time he was working in the Midlands and was finding it difficult to travel back regularly for games. In all he played in 213 first team matches, scoring 50 tries.

David made his debut for Gloucestershire in the 1959-60 season, and in total he made 13 appearances for the county. He played in the Gloucestershire team which lost the 1964 County Championship semi-final to Lancashire at Bristol, and he was still representing the county during his final Bristol season. In addition, he was one of nine Bristol players who appeared for Western Counties against the touring South Africans at Gloucester in 1960.

The Springboks were a strong side, losing only to the Barbarians in the final match of their tour, and they defeated Western Counties 42-0.

When he retired from first class rugby David turned out for Old Bristolians until injury forced him to stop altogether. However, he made an interesting return to the game at the age of 45, at a time when he was working in Ghana. He and various other ex-pats organised a match with Nigeria, and as a result he could claim to have played international rugby for Ghana!

Michael John (Mike) Winter 1933-2021 BGS 1944-1949

Captain Michael John Winter, Merchant Navy. ‘Mike’ Passed away peacefully at home on 9th October 2021 aged 87 years, surrounded by his family.