Anthony McNaught
Having previously been Director of Music at Perrott Hill Prep School in Somerset for eight years, Assistant Director of Music at Bishop’s Stortford College for five years, and Teacher of Violin at Hillingdon School, Anthony McNaught was appointed Assistant Director of Music and Head of Strings at Cheltenham College in January 1993. His second year was spent as Acting Director of Music, before the arrival of Gordon Busbridge in September 1994. He was a popular tutor in the boys’ day House, Wilson and later in Southwood, where he developed, led and directed numerous highly successful House performances and consequently created an enviable name for the musical talent of the day fraternity. As a consummate musician of the highest calibre, Anthony has had many musical roles at College, the most important of which has been to inspire and enable pupils and staff alike with his talent, knowledge, gentle nature and innate musicality. This has manifested itself in numerous musical offerings, including solo performances in Chapel, the leading and directing of many orchestras, string and chamber ensembles as well, of course, as his inspirational work as a violin and viola teacher to pupils of all ages throughout College and the Prep School. Some of the most memorable performances from a myriad of music include the Mendelssohn Octet, music from Schindler’s List and Massenet’s Méditation from Massenet’s opera Thaïs. In addition to his work as Head of Strings, he was previously the Junior School (as it was then) Organist and an accompanist, coach and teacher of Music Theory across both schools. As a traditional schoolmaster and in addition to his work as a tutor, Anthony was also a vital cog in the Third Form Challenge machine and, as such, knew pupils and staff from all areas of College, which proved essential in his intrinsic understanding of College, its pupils and students, their needs and aspirations. Since September 2011 Anthony has continued as Head of Strings in a part-time capacity. This has enabled him to increase his prolific work as an examiner of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, on both the diploma as well as the main panels. He also teaches A Level Music at the High School for Girls, Gloucester and Violin at Pate’s Grammar School. He can regularly be seen playing as part of Cheltenham Chamber Orchestra, and we hope very much that we will continue to see him playing with the orchestras of Cheltenham College, who in their various guises have benefitted so tremendously from his warmth, experience, expertise and unparalleled violin playing. Naturally modest, and always keen to help and inspire others, the pupils and staff of Cheltenham College owe him a great debt of gratitude for his uplifting performances, his skills as a coach and mentor, his ability through musical osmosis to engender the same beautiful tone on the violin as he
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demonstrates in his own playing, his deep-seated musicality and perhaps most of all, for his kind and gentle skill as an enabler, which he has offered to so many throughout his 23 years at College.
Mr David McKee
John Menzies
This summer saw the retirement of John from the Groundstaff. John has been a valued member of the team for eight years, when he moved from Catering and into the Estates Department. John is a retired RAF electrical engineer who was based in many places in Britain and Europe. Operationally, he served through the Cold War and in the Falkland Islands and the Gulf. Those who met John recall his Scottish charm and candid nature. He entertained us with stories of his travels and experiences with the RAF and his vast repertoire of silly jokes came out during a tea break. I am very grateful to know John; the help and support he has given me since I have been at College has been invaluable and I will always be indebted to him. On his final day with us, which was the last day of this summer’s County Cricket Festival, he was presented with a Jack Russell print by Will Brown, Chief Executive of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. We were also able to say farewell with a traditional end of Festival pint and I know it won’t be the last! The Estates Department, and the Grounds team in particular, join with me to wish John well in his retirement. Thank you John; you are always welcome to visit.
Mr Christian Brain
Richard Moore
Rich joined College from King’s Bruton in 2008, following hot on the heels of his great mate Fergus Llewellyn, who had followed the same Somerset to Cotswolds route just two years before. ‘Mates’ or ‘pals’ were soon aplenty as Rich’s bonhomie and passion for sport meant he rapidly became an embedded and committed member of Common Room, as well as a magnet for the pupils and his many tutees, who have always treated his classroom as their own informal common room with Haribo on tap; working, chatting, amiably hectoring Rich or else absorbing his eclectic music tastes from 7.30am (when his first tutees clock in) until late into the evenings, as A2 History coursework comes to the boil. Rich’s shout of laughter and great glee taken in on-going jokes with both colleagues and pupils have always brought a lightness to New Block, no matter what stage of a long term it might happen to be. There is a serious side too: Rich is deeply committed as an historian, and his genuine love of the past, and particularly the ‘isms’ of the twentieth century, is routinely explored via fat,
freshly published hardback tomes, avidly read from cover to cover. He was instrumental in devising a highly successful course on the rise, decline and fall of the British Empire, witness to his breadth of knowledge, as Rich firmly believes that it is not acceptable for any historian to attempt to claim ‘not my period’. As Head of Government and Politics he has latterly developed an abiding interest here too, running hard-fought Collegewide elections with all the political manoeuvring that such an endeavour can engender. Lively intellectual enquiry informs his creative teaching (Rich once somewhat mournfully observed, ‘does nobody create their own resources any longer?’) and feeds into his pupils’ routinely successful examination scores. Only last year Rich chose to teach a new unit on Vietnam in the last year of the specification’s life (and with no resulting need for re-sits): it is rare that a busy teacher will, for the simple pleasure and challenge of it, invest in educating themselves and planning and resourcing a course which can then only run a single year. Rich has always taught large sets, and lots of them, with never a thought to the weight of his timetable, as being in the room with the children is what he thrives upon (along with, of course, being on the pitches, more of which later). Every new pupil entering Room 2 will typically receive a remoulding of their name within their first few weeks, usually an addition to their surname of an ‘s’, ‘sy’ or ‘er’, occasionally a ‘so’, or a truncation, and, for the lucky few, the definite article: on their departure, they will typically sign off thank you notes with these badges of friendship and mutual respect. The pupils commonly find that Rich has ‘supported me so much and given me confidence in myself… I can’t imagine not being able to pop into his classroom for a chat’; that he is ‘fun and amazing’; ‘fantastic’; and ‘the most memorable’ of all their teachers. Whether it’s teaching 23 Fifth Formers Wednesday period eight, herding reluctant Sixth Form ‘cats’ through future life choices, or destroying Father Dunning’s Nordsee fleet to the strains of The Hymn To the Fallen, as an epic Risk game plays out, Rich does it all with unique gusto and an irrepressible energy. His energy on the touchline frequently resembles that of some caged big cat, as he is utterly committed to sport as a vital component of ‘schoolmastering’, and will visibly live every twist and turn of the game, arms folded and legs planted wide apart under the posts, along with his team. Rich loves the Cheltenham ‘circuit’ and its pedigree, and has taken the Junior Colts A for eight years and regularly seen them both unbeaten and through the Daily Mail Cup; he is a familiar face at Rosslyn Park Sevens and at Queen’s Club, supporting his beloved rackets; and he has maintained many friendships with Old Cheltonian cricketers via his membership of the wandering Free Foresters and Gloucester Gipsies, having coached them through long summer days on the square, in the Twos, The Eleven, and as Master in charge of Cricket. In Hazelwell, Rich always welcomed duty nights as further time well spent with the boys and housemaster ‘Coolie’, and his passion for College’s historic tradition of ‘yardage’ reflects how Rich is deeply sensitive to, and appreciative of, the impressive story of College. His love of all things military and his great experience in running school trips has meant he has been invaluable in both researching and paying respects at the last resting grounds of so many ‘sons of BACK TO CONTENTS