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r e k c e l f OLD
DECANIAN
NEWS
SUMMER ~ Edition 4
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Contents Welcome
2
News from the Decades
6
International OD Representatives
5
News from the Archives
18
Old Decanian Events
36
News from the School
24
Obituaries
Welcome
48
Dates for the Diary
58
Old Decanian Society
Chairman
Committee 2017~18
President Chairman Vice Chairman Treasurer OD Secretary
Taylor and the other members of the Senior Leadership Team supporting all our events, meetings and other initiatives in Cheltenham and further afield.
Lord Bernard Ribeiro CBE (Tower 1962) Robin Bayliss (Tower 1983) Claire Harding (nee Bailey) (Mead 1972) Tim Lawrence (Field 1976) - Trustee Alex Hume (Dale 2002) - Trustee
Bella Acland (Fawley 2016) Louise Akenhead (Mead 2008) Helen Gregory (Hatherley 2012) Rupert Lane (Gate 1962) Andrew Marquand (Field 1971) - Trustee Jeremy Winter (Court 1961)
Honorary Members: David Evans: Senior Master of DCS Julie Kent: Current Staff Representative Emma Taylor: Dean Close Foundation Warden Richard Taylor: Former Deputy Head of DCS Committee Members Retired in 2017: Nick Akerman (Gate 1980) Garth Banks (Dale 2002) John Denley (Court 1988) John Lee (Brook 2001) Isobel Shayle (Mead/Shelburne 2002)
Contact Details: To contact anyone on the Committee please contact Connie Parker, Alumni & Development Assistant.
ods@deanclose.org.uk 01242 258000 Old Decanian Society, Dean Close School, Shelburne Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL51 6HE
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W
e have been celebrating 50 years of girls at Dean Close with various events this year. It seems highly appropriate to mark this occasion as a milestone in the School’s history, particularly alongside the 100th anniversary of women having the right to vote. As a big fan of the feminist movement (with three teenage daughters, do I really have a choice?), I am also very pleased to inform you that more females than ever are now serving on the ODS Committee. We are very lucky to have Alex Hume running the Society day to day supported by David Evans, Felicity, Connie, Grace, and many others who work tirelessly behind the scenes. This year the ODS has promoted and run 42 events. When I first joined the committee, we had Commemoration and the Gaudy each year – full stop! We could not have such a successful Society without the likes of Emma
The Committee has met twice (in March and November) and the Finance & General Purposes (F&GP) SubCommittee has met three times this year. There has also been a strategy group meeting to look at focus areas for the future. We have continued to provide financial support to the wider School community and some individuals whom we feel deserve support.
At the November committee meeting, I announced my plan to retire from the Committee after 24 years to make way for some energised younger blood! For 15 of those years I have been chairing the meetings and I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and benefitted personally from the experience. I am pleased to announce that at the AGM in June, Robin Bayliss was elected as the new Chairman and I am confident he will do a great job. I also fully endorse the appointment of Claire Harding as the new Vice-Chair, whose appointment, as I intimated earlier, marks a first for the Committee. I have every confidence the new leadership team will do a fine job in taking the OD Society on to greater things. With very best wishes, Nick Akerman (Gate 1980)
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T
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
I
New Chairman
President
his was my first year as both the President of the Old Decanian Society and the Dean Close Foundation, and a very enjoyable year it has been. There have been many highlights in what has been a jam-packed calendar of events, and one that sticks out was chatting to members of the Class of 1998 who came back for their 20 years on Reunion at this year’s Commemoration. It was fantastic to see them fall back into conversations with peers that in some circumstances were being picked up after 20 years!
The Foundation is in very good shape under the overall leadership of Emma Taylor, the Warden, who has completed her first year. I know I speak for the ODS and the wider reaches of our Close Community when I say how delighted we are to have Emma back. Emma spoke recently at this year’s OD Gaudy about Dean Close historically being a pioneer of new initiatives in the independent sector, with a key initiative being the early introduction of girls throughout the School, putting Dean Close as the first independent co-educational school in Cheltenham in 1968.
Secretary
have been a member of the OD Society Committee for 13 years and I am thrilled and honoured to have been appointed as the new Chairman. I left the School in 1983; I owe a lot to the School; and will always be committed to supporting Dean Close and will do my utmost for the Committee, Society and School. It goes without saying that I would like to thank Nick for being our Chairman, he has certainly left big shoes to fill.
Many competitors have followed suit over the years. I join our Chairman in saying that it was fantastic to see the 50th anniversary of co-education celebrated at Dean Close this year. I am continually encouraged to see that both the School and the ODS continue to go from strength to strength. I hope to see you at an event this coming year. Lord Bernard Francisco Ribeiro (Tower 1962)
A
nother year in the chapter of the ODS has gone past. As Nick mentions in his welcome we held 42 events throughout the year. Some of the highlights this year for me included a visit to St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle to listen to the DCS choir, hosting the annual DC Sixes Tournament (a girls’ alumni hockey tournament with 12 visiting schools in attendance), the Close Community Clay Pigeon Shooting competition at Ian Coley’s, the 1950s Reunion, Yoga in the Park, OD Day and the relaunch of the Gaudy - all of which you can read about in here!
With a new Chairman on board and new members on the Committee, the Old Decanian strategy will inevitably have a few tweaks. Once we have the results back from the biennial survey (which you all should have received – and completed(!) for the chance to win a night’s stay with dinner, bed and breakfast at Mal Maison.), a new strategy with a new set of goals will be put in place for the next 5 years. Some of the focus will be on looking to fulfil the requirements of our national and international members, there will be an increased focus on business networking and careers support, and we want to ensure that our events are relevant to the majority and minority sections of our community. I want to thank the School, especially the Archive and Development departments, for all their ongoing support of the Society as it ensures that the ODS continues to thrive and develop. Do not forget to keep us updated if you have any OD news or if your contact details change at www.deanclose.org.uk/update-your-details. Alex Hume (Dale 2002)
I will be proposing some significant changes to the Committee and the Society as we have reviewed our Strategic Report (last updated in 2015) this summer. We hope to further our support to the School, its Pupils and Old Decanians. These evolve around four key areas. The first is the most significant change and that is financial support via bursaries and hardship funds. Secondly, we need to greatly improve our international presence and reach. Thirdly, we will become an important avenue for careers advice, networking and mentoring to the leavers. And finally we will look at even better ways for all ODs to keep in touch and meet up. We have exciting plans that will shape our future and I look forward to providing more information in the near future. Robin Bayliss (Gate 1983)
WIN A NIGHT AT THE MALMAISON IN CHELTENHAM With Dinner & Breakfast included. All you need to do is complete the Old Decanian Society’s Survey by the end of October. The lucky winner will be notified by the beginning of November 2018.
www.deanclose.org.uk/ODSurvey SUMMER 2018 I FLECKER 3
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
PODS 2017 / 2018 Thank you to this year’s PODS (Pupil Old Decanians). The PODS are a key link between the OD office and the pupil body at Dean Close. Brook Court
Freddie Faux (Chairman)
Fawley
Grace Starling
Dale
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They have done a fantastic job in hosting at events and have also collected all the leavers’ contact information which enables us to keep in contact with our newest members of the ODS!
SO MUCH SUNDAy Sunday Lunch at Malmaison Cheltenham. An unlimited Chef’s Table of hors d’oeuvres, a choice of mouthwatering mains and delicious desserts. Two courses £19.95. Add dessert for £3.5.
To book, call 01242 370 655 malmaison.com
4 FLECKER I SUMMER 2018
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
International OD Representatives Hong Kong: David Ho (Gate 1985)
Alabama: Kirsten McTernan (nee Spalholz) (Shelburne 1997)
Dubai: Nick Anderson (Dale 2001)
Los Angeles: Ian Bishop (Court 1981)
Abu Dhabi: Rob Kinder (Dale 2001)
San Diego: Caroline Harwood (Shelburne 1981) Charmaine Haworth (Shelburne 1991)
Oman: John Keane (Tower 1993)
San Francisco: Sam Pickering Pick (Field 1997)
Qatar: John Toon (Gate 1976)
Seattle: David Richardson (Tower 1954)
South Africa (Johannesburg): Rick Hogben (Gate 1965)
Washington DC: Farrokh Jahandari (Tower 1981) Ottawa: Chuck Kennedy (Tower 1986)
Denmark: Euan Boddington (Tower 1983)
Singapore Richard Toh (Gate 1968) Sara Lynn Burrough (Shelburne 1976)
Australia (Perth): Stefanie Jones (nee Brooking) (Shelburne 1990)
If you would like to get in contact with any of the representatives please contact the OD office.
DID YOU KNOW?
W
e have Old Decanians resident in over 90 countries throughout the world! Dean Close is a truly International School! Dean Close is especially proud of our Uganda Link, set up in 2005; this is a Dean Close Charity, which supports a Secondary School in Western Uganda, Nyakatukura Memorial Secondary School. Nyakatukura School was set up by the Church of Uganda to provide secondary education to poor and orphaned children.
Visit www.deanclose.org.uk/Uganda-Link-Overview for more information.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
News from the
Decades 1930’s
The Rev’d Richard (Dick) Drown (Walton 1938), has moved permanently to Nanyuki, Kenya. Dick is now aged 99 and was Headmaster at St Andrews Turi in Kenya from 1965-1973.
1940 - 1949
We were very proud to see Phil (D.P.K.) Havard (Tower 1945) at his 90th birthday wearing his Old Decanian blazer and tie, which were purchased 60 years ago and are still going strong! He is pictured here in July along with his niece, Stephanie Thomas, who retired from the Dean Close Common Room five years ago having been Head of Learning Support for 13 years.
On the 2nd July, Peter Lynam (Gate 1946) celebrated his 90th birthday with ODs Arthur Blyth (Walton 1944), Derek Reynolds (Gate 1946) and Tim Stringer (Gate 1947).
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In May, we had a visit by John Halford (DCJS 1949). John was in Fortfield in DCJS from 1943–1949, before joining Cheltenham College for Senior School. Mrs Gould (Fortfield Housemistress) was given an insight into how Fortfield used to be run in the 1940s when it was an all-boys house! Fortfield was a boys’ house from when it was purchased in 1925 until 2001 when it became an all-girls boarding house, which it still is today.
Mrs Gould & John Halford
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
1950 - 1959 An iconic prospectus photo was sent in by Tony Lloyd (DCJS 1953), front row in the middle. Can anyone help with the names of any of the other boys? Tony attended DCJS then left to join Highgate School, which his father had attended previously. Apparently, Headmaster Langhorne was not happy at all with this decision! Picture taken April 1953 in a classroom in DCJS.
Professor Tim Bliss (Gate 1958) came to Dean Close to deliver a talk to current pupils about his award-winning work.
Professor Bliss is a British neuroscientist who was awarded the Brain Prize in 2016. This is one of the world’s most coveted science prizes which is awarded for outstanding contributions to neuroscience. Prof Bliss was awarded the Brain Prize for his major contributions to brain research, and specifically for his identification of a form of plasticity believed to provide the neural basis of learning and memory. In September, Professor Bliss delivered a lecture at the Royal Society, attended by many of the country’s leading neuroscientists and several Nobel Prize winners. Tim Bliss was a boarder at Dean Close School in the 1950s and was House Prefect and Librarian.
The talk was given in the School’s Bacon Theatre before a packed house of current pupils, former pupils and staff. The talk on memory provoked many questions, particularly from the Sixth Form scientists who asked whether memory was genetic and if devices such as smartphones and SatNavs are making our memories worse. Headmaster Bradley Salisbury said: “A speaker of Professor Bliss’s calibre has the ability to unlock an interest or start a chain of thought. Sometimes we are inspired to pursue the particular area and sometimes it is the example of someone who started in the classrooms of Dean Close and has risen to the very top of their profession that leaves a mark.”
Colonel Jake Hensman OBE (Field 1959) has published a book of his poetry called The Name on a Rug in the Hall. One of the poems is called 'School Days' and reminisces about his time at Dean Close School during the 1950s. You can order his book on the
1960 - 1969 DID YOU KNOW?
That the Old Decanian Society awards up to eight grants of £150 per year to support projects, travel or physical challenges where there is benefit to the participating individual, and others. For more details and how to apply, visit www.deanclose.org.uk/enhance ment-grant.
ODs watching the South Africa game at Lord’s. L-R: Chris Badger (Brook 1966), Nigel Timson (Tower 1965), Robert Reed (Brook 1962), Rupert Lane (Gate 1962) and Jeremy Winter (Court 1961).
L-R: Jeremy Winter (Court 1961), Robert Reed (Brook 1962), Mike McMahon (Court 1958) pictured watching the West Indies play England at Lord’s in September 2017. Not pictured but in attendance were Mike Wigley (Court 1967) and Rupert Lane (Gate 1962).
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1960 - 1969 Councillor Geoffrey Watt (Brook 1968) is the Mayor of Wirral
Clive Holland (Field 1967) is retired and living in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand with his wife Heather. He has a daughter Emily, married to Jakob who is Danish, and they live north of Copenhagen with two young daughters. His son Anthony works out of Bangkok and his youngest daughter Sonia is just finishing her PhD at Nottingham University, having first graduated in Food Science at Leeds. Clive recently found some photos taken in the summer of 1967 of the CCF and Mr Baines’ Military Band practising their drill on Big Field.
Geoffrey is a past Commodore of Hoylake Sailing Club where he has been an active competitor from the age of nine, racing the local classic ‘Opera’ Class boats. He was Captain of Dean Close Sailing team in 1967/1968.
Geoffrey was first elected to the Council in 1999 and since 2004 has served as a member for West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward, which includes Caldy, Grange and Newton. He has held various roles and responsibilities, including as the inaugural Chairman of the original West Wirral Area Forum and twice as Chairman of Wirral’s Pensions Committee, which oversees the investment and administration of the £8bn Merseyside Pension Fund. Geoffrey and his wife, Anne, married in 1983 and have a grown-up daughter and son.
Nigel Bell (Brook 1962) came and visited the School from Plymouth with his wife Brenda in October 2017.
Bill Liddiard (Tower 1964) from Wiltshire came to visit Dean Close whilst passing through Cheltenham in April.
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After leaving school, Geoffrey worked in branch banking in Liverpool and Wirral, before moving on to an estate agency in Birkenhead and cotton administration in Liverpool.
Rupert Lane (Gate 1962) had an expensive round of golf on Monday 16th July… Rupert was representing Cotswold Hills Seniors in a match against Henbury Seniors in Bristol when he had his first hole in one!
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1970 - 1979
1980 - 1989
After celebrating World Book Day at Dean Close in February, we made sure that the pupils knew that we had an Old Decanian to thank for thousands of words and meanings that have been added to the dictionary. John Simpson OBE (Tower 1971) was Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary between 1993 – 2013 and under his editorship, over 60,000 new words and meanings were added, including the word ‘selfie’! He published a book last year called The Word Detective.
Fantastic to see two Old Decanians competing in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Triathlete Chris Walker (Gate 1985) was representing Gibraltar in his 5th and final games, coming 29th overall. The other, Chris Gregory (Tower 2008), was also on the Gold Coast but representing England at Beach Volleyball, and made it through to the semi-finals where they were beaten by the hosts Australia. They are both pictured here in the athletes’ village.
William Lucas (Tower 1974) continues to be a prolific writer with two new books in the last year – Developing Tenacity: Creating learners who persevere in the face of difficulty and Teaching Creative Thinking: Developing learners who generate ideas and can think critically. Bill was recently appointed by the OECD as co-chair of the new PISA Test of Creative Thinking, to be held for the first time in 2021. After 2 years at Warwick Butchart Associates, Henry Hodgkins (Field 1978) has now joined the Cotswold Office of Oculus Wealth Management.
DID YOU KNOW?
On Friday 16th March 1951, HRH Princess Elizabeth visited Cheltenham and inspected a School CCF guard of honour on Shelburne Road, pictured here alongside A.N.Gilks, the Headmaster at the time. Nationally, the event of 1953 was the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and the School was granted a ‘Coronation Holiday’ that ran from 1pm Sat 30th May until Wednesday 3rd June, so that Decanians could spend the occasion with their families.
The 1986 Gold Cup winner Dawn Run was owned by Charmian Hill and all three of her sons (Jeremy, Oliver and Barton ParkinsonHill, at Dean Close during the ‘60s and ‘70s). Dawn Run is the most successful mare in the history of National Hunt Racing and her statue overlooks the parade ring at Cheltenham Racecourse! In April 2018, Rebecca Clouston (nee Acheampong) (Shelburne 1983) visited the School. Rebecca works in London as a Personal / Home Stylist. www.rebeccacloustonstyle.com On a Saturday in July, Sarah Anglade (nee Cavell) (Shelburne 1989) and Rachael Corrie (nee Edmunds) (Shelburne 1989) came and had a wander around Dean Close for a trip down memory lane.
Sing: Ultimate A Cappella, which was on Sky One at the back end of 2017, had a very Dean Close feel to it! Ben Sawyer, who is the vocal tutor to the choristers of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum at DCPS and Singing Teacher at DCS, was one of the ‘X Factor’ style judges. Also, Emma Brain-Gabbott (Mead 1988) was one of the back-up judges.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
OPEN MORNING Saturday 13th October
Pre-Preparatory and Preparatory School
DC
SCHOOLS
9.00am - 11.00am
CHELTENHAM
Senior School
10.00am Arrival and Registration C o - e d u c at i o n a l
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DEAN CLOSE
|
D ay a n d B o a r d i n g
Tel: 01242 258044 www.deanclose.org.uk
|
Age 2 - 18
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
1990 - 1999 Congratulations to Lisa Lodwig (nee Smith) (Mead 1993) who won an award for Best Design Photography on Houzz. Follow her on Instagram @lisalodwigphotography
David Wilkins MBE (Field 1993) has recently been awarded the Business Leader of the Year Award at a glittering ceremony in London. This is an award given to the ex-Armed Forces person who has made the greatest progress in business in the past year. He spent eight years flying helicopters in the Army Air Corps and then went into banking. He is now a Managing Director with Goldman Sachs. Adomas Navickas (Gate 1996) visited the school from Latvia whilst on holiday with his family in November 2017. Congratulations to Ben Marsden (Dale 1998) who has been appointed as Director of Sport at Cheltenham College. Ben’s previous role as Director of Hockey at Wimbledon Hockey Club has also been filled by another Old Decanian, Simon Organ (Field 1989), who moves in September, leaving his post as Director of Hockey at Queen’s College, Taunton.
Nicky Kay (nee Troughton) (Mead 1993) held a reunion for some of 'The Class of 1993' in her house in London before they made their way to Dean Close. Those who attended include Tessa Duane (nee Slabbert), who was over from South Africa, Justin Slabbert, Liz Lainé, Andy Kiln, Alex Abbott, Jo Cory (nee Marston), Charlie Wood (nee Forbes), Chris Newman and Kayles Gough (nee Ayling). Major Edward Taylor RA (Field 1998) was back at DCS for the Michaelmas Field Day. Ed attended the medals parade and presentation for the annual Inter House Combined Cadet Force Competition, which was won this year by Brook Court.
Kirsten McTernan (nee Spalholz) (Shelburne 1997) has written a book called Homeschooling: You can do it! which was published in July. She has chosen to name her publishing company after her boarding house: Shelburne Publishing. The book shares how Kirsten decided to home educate. It walks readers through the decision-making process to see if it would be a good fit for their family. If you like the idea of homeschooling, Kirsten's book is available to purchase on Amazon. You can also visit her website www.mcternan.com
We were thrilled to see Anthony Bird LVO (Brook 1994) in The Queen’s New Year Honours List 2018. Anthony has been made a lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) and is Chief Pilot of The Queen’s Helicopter Flight. This is a fantastic achievement, congratulations to Anthony who is on Her Majesty’s left in the photograph. Former Biology teacher, Dr Angela Percival (nee Knight) has been part of the National Garden Scheme in Devon for years and has raised a considerable amount of money by opening her beautiful garden to the public. You can take a look by visiting www.ngs.org.uk
In May 2018, Anthony Thompson (Dale 1996) had a reunion with three of his school friends, Andrew Taylor, Michael Jary and Duncan Gilroy who all left in 1996. They got together to celebrate their 40th birthdays, this was the first time they got all the families together as a complete 'picture'. After years of working in finance, distributing ballbearings in Singapore and fish farming in Zimbabwe, Justin Slabbert (Field 1994) recently returned to the UK to take up the CEO role at Counterweight (www.counterweight.org). The company's weight management intervention has changed healthcare thinking by attaining remission of Type 2 diabetes in overweight individuals, and has achieved success in half of all patients and 9 out of 10 of compliant patients.
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2000 - 2009 December 2017 marked a significant milestone for Christian children and young people’s charity Scripture Union as they celebrated their 150th anniversary. To recognise this important milestone, the charity had the great honour of welcoming Her Majesty The Queen to a special celebration service held at St Mary’s Church in Islington, close to where the organisation’s first meeting was held in December 1867. The 150th anniversary service was led by the National Director of Scripture Union, the Rev’d Tim Hastie-Smith (Headmaster 1998 - 2012) and the Revd Simon Harvey, the Vicar of St Mary’s Islington. Ashok Gupta (Dale 2006) competed in the International Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn, a highly prestigious piano competition in Germany. He did not quite make it through to the finals but won the Chamber Music prize - a superb accolade. Mary Perham (Fawley 2009) got married in May at Wells Cathedral with many ODs in attendance.
Andrew Tupper (Tower 2009) ran the Paris Marathon on 8th April 2018 in aid of Popli Khalatbari Charitable Foundation (PKCF).
Alice Neill (Shelburne 2009) was back at Dean Close in May, helping out in the Food & Nutrition Department and pictured here with her ‘old’ Housemistress, Mrs Kent.
Former Head of School, Emily Watkins (Mead 2009), performed at the Tuckwell in July as part of Folksy Theatre’s Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Tina Van Hove (Fawley 2009) visited the School in July whilst on holiday from Australia with her boyfriend and aunt.
Congratulations to Rajiv Ruparelia (Tower 2009) who married to Naiya at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London in August 2017.
Following three years of reporting on the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine, Jack Losh (Dale 2006) had one more assignment there last autumn, writing for Newsweek, Politico and The Washington Post. The Pulitzer Center then awarded him a grant to report on the civil war in the Central African Republic, where he spent a month researching stories and taking photographs for newspapers and magazines in the UK and US. He was shortlisted at Reuters' Kurt Schork Awards which honours freelance journalists working in dangerous areas. Congratulations to Matthew Goodman (Dale 2000) who completed the Flora London Marathon in April.
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Ben Powell (Dale 2005) played the violin at Broadway Arts Festival in Worcester in June.
In July 2018, Lawrence Ramsay (Field 2007) and his friend from the University of Reading, Chris Neale, travelled from the UK to Mongolia as part of the Mongol Rally in a Daihatsu Charade. The pair entered as team ‘Mongol Knights’ and took part in the annual rally in which hundreds of teams drive from the UK to Mongolia in the name of charity and adventure. They decided on their rough route, the Southern Route, crossing 20 countries, five mountain ranges and three deserts. The variation in climate meant temperatures ranging from 40+ degrees in the deserts of Iran (with no car AC) to below -10 on the cold nights in central Asian mountain ranges. This is the second time Mongol Knights have taken on the Rally. In 2017, two of Lawrence’s peers, Alex Harrison and Danny Pang, successfully completed the rally in a Nissan Micra and raised funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK.
They are hoping to raise as much money as possible for Cool Earth and Mind. You can find their fundraising page here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving .com/Team/ MongolKnights
They have posted many photos from the trip on the @mongolknights Instagram and Facebook pages if you would like to take a look.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
In April 2018, Tory Clarkson (Mead 2008) played for Lord’s Ladies in their fixture against Marylebone Maidens on the main ground at Lord’s. Lord’s Ladies won by 6 wickets thanks to some excellent bowling by Tory, who came away with 3 wickets from her two overs and did not give away a single run! The matches that took place on 24th April marked the inaugural MCC Women’s Day.
Well done to Jamie Legg (Brook 2005) who got through to the premiership hockey finals playing for Hampstead and Westminster. He beat Wimbledon 2-0 in the semi-finals but unfortunately lost on penalties in the final against Surbiton. Captain Josh McColl (Tower 2007) was 'pictured' with the Prime Minister, Theresa May, on BBC News as she was inspecting the troops.
Congratulations to Kristiana Bowden (nee Reynolds) (Mead 2008) who married Matt in May. Great to see so many ODs in attendance!
There were two Old Decanian summer weddings being held in the Dean Close Chapel this year… Isobel Butland (Mead 2006) married Andrew Hunter on Saturday 4th August and Sarah Hardwood-Smith (Mead 2004) is marrying Tom Harries on Saturday 1st September.
During the Michaelmas Half Term, Mary Taylor (nee Roast) (Mead 2001) swam 5km in the School’s Swimming Pool to raise funds and awareness for The Children's Hyperinsulinism Charity which supports her son Ewan. It took her 2hrs 23mins 28secs! To read Mary and Ewan's story, visit her Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/MaryTaylor12
Congratulations to Charlie Hazzan (Gate 2009) and Hannah Hazzan (nee McNair) (Fawley 2009) who got married this year.
Congratulations to Dr Susannah Fazekas (nee Shelley) (Mead 2009) who recently got married, with many ODs in attendance.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
2010 - 2018 It was a pleasure to have Rupert Maspero (Tower 2011) of MMTM talking to the Dean Close Business Club in March and giving us all something to think about when it comes to our digital online presence. Also, fantastic to see Rupert being featured in January's addition of the Business & Innovation Magazine!
In June, Raymond So (Gate 2014) visited the School on a day trip from London where he has just finished studying at the London School of Economics. Raymond heads back to work in Hong Kong at the end of the summer.
Will Merrick (Tower 2011), who recently played the role of Arthur Solway in BBC’s Poldark, is back on stage! Will is currently starring in All's Well That Ends Well at Shakespeare's Globe, London.
In September 2017, the Drama Department welcomed back two of its old boys, Will Merrick (Tower 2011) and Wes Lineham (Tower 2011), who provided one of the most stimulating and vigorous drama workshops the School has had in recent years.
Beatrice Lawrence (Mead 2012) starred as Olivia Burbage in WILL or Eight Lost Years of Young William Shakespeare’s Life by Victoria Baumgartner at The Rose Playhouse.
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Olivia Abbott (Shelburne 2012) successfully completed Commissioning Course no.172. The Sovereign's Parade was held on 13th April 2017 and was inspected by General Sir Nicholas Carter, Chief of the General Staff. Olivia has followed in her sister’s footsteps as Emily (Fawley 2009) passed out in 2016 (No. 152). Emily and Olivia are pictured here, flanked by their sisters Hattie (Fawley 2017) and Rosie (Fawley 2014) and mum and dad, Julia and John.
Great to see some of the Class of 2012 meet up at Cheltenham Races in October 2017.
Congratulations to Oscar Osicki (Dale 2013) who has been accepted to complete a Masters in Conducting at Yale University in the United States.
Congratulations to Tiff Eden (Dale/Gate 2013) on his move to Bristol Rugby Club. Hard work does pay off, well done Tiff!
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Harrison Williams (2013) stared in BBC Radio 4’s sitcom Relativity. Relativity is a witty and loving portrait of family life, with affectionate observation of inter-generational misunderstanding, sibling sparring and the ties that bind, that will resonate with anyone who has ever argued with their dad about how to pronounce crisp brand names. Sam Metcalfe (Brook Court 2013) has recently created a film about why one family are driving a tiny, draughty Indian tuk tuk 6000km from London to Istanbul for charity in memory of Emily Sumaria and in support of the charity SUDEP Action. So far, it has reached 25,000 views and been shown on This Morning and ITN news. Sam is also looking to build his portfolio work. If your business or charity needs a video produced, then please email
Christian Rabbitt (Brook Court 2014) ran the Bath Half Marathon on 4th March 2018 for Cancer Research UK. Christian was diagnosed with testicular cancer in August 2017 but was counted 'lucky' as he discovered it early and only needed one round of chemotherapy.
The event had been cancelled due to the snow, with no plans for it to be rearranged, so Christian ran it unofficially. Addie Hollows (Fawley 2014) has achieved 2:1 in Engineering and Management from Exeter University and is part way through the application process to do Royal Navy Officer Training.
Congratulations to Zoe Etherington (Mead 2014) who has received the inaugural Champagne Pol Roger Three Day Event Rider Bursary.
Lloyd Evans (Dale 2014) secured his future at Gloucester Rugby Club by signing a new contract. The 22-year-old is a product of the Club’s Academy and has made 13 first team appearances, scoring one try and 29 points in total. He has also represented England U18s and England U20s.
Ed Blogg (Tower 2014) will be undertaking an eleven-day trek to Everest Base Camp. The trek is 62km long, includes a 2,480-metre climb and is spread over 11 days to allow for altitude acclimatisation, before arriving at Base Camp 5360m above sea level. This was arranged through the society ‘Raise and Give’ at Ed's University in collaboration with the charity Hope for Children, with each student set the fundraising target of £2900. Hope for Children was founded on the belief that every child has a right to have a childhood and they tirelessly work all over the world to make this possible.
Rosie Abbott (Fawley 2014) and Ginny Troughton (Fawley 2014) met up at BUCS finals on 21st March 2018. Ginny won Gold in the Rugby final and Rosie’s hockey team are the BUCS National Trophy Champions! Jess Pool (Hatherley 2014) is in her Senior year in Milwaukee and will graduate with a Major in Business and a double minor in Marketing and Communications. She is hoping to stay in America for another year on her student visa to undertake Optional Practical Training (OPT) - hopefully with a marketing organisation. She is currently undertaking a part time internship with the local Ice Hockey Team.
At the time of going to print, former Head of School Charlotte Williams (Hatherley 2015) was climbing the tallest free standing mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, in aid of the children's rights charity Childreach International.
If you would like more information about the charity or the challenge, contact the OD office and we can put you in contact with Charlotte. Good luck Charlotte!
Polly Lorelli (Turner 2015) achieved a 2:1 from King’s College London in Religion, Society and Politics.
Polly is going straight into employment with Freuds Communications as a Corporate Executive.
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Good to see a BBQ close by when Peter Hicks Beach (Tower 2017) met up with his past Tower House Housemaster, Berian Williams-Jones, in Australia recently. Mr WilliamsJones, who left DCS in Michaelmas 2015, is Director of Boarding at Brisbane Grammar School.
On 4th March, Bella Stuart-Bourne (Fawley 2015) played for the University of Cambridge in the annual Ice Hockey Varsity match held at the Oxford Ice Rink and Cambridge WON!
Ollie Day (Field 2015) and Freddie Pearce (Field 2015) travelled around Europe last Easter in a van that Ollie designed and kitted out himself.
Will Warley (Tower 2016) ran the Cheltenham Half Marathon along with his girlfriend, Beth, in October. They ran it for a charity called TIC+ which provides free counselling for children and young people around
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Joe Morford (Dale 2016) has obtained a First in his second year of exams in Biology at Merton, Oxford and will therefore be promoted from Exhibitioner to Postmaster (the name given to Merton Scholars) for his third year.
ODs vs ODs...Hartpury (24) vs Ulster A (29) played at the College Stadium in the British & Irish Cup. L-R: Tom Seabrook (Gate 2017), Pete Browne (Field 2006) and Lloyd Evans (Dale 2014).
Will Cox (Brook Court 2017) has been competing in the Monoposto Racing Club's Autumn Championship (The Monoposto Tiedeman Trophy), which was contested over 6 rounds across three weekends at Donington Park Circuit, Castle Combe Circuit and Anglesey Circuit / Trac MĂ´n. He was competing in the 1600cc class in his
Salim Jaffar (Dale 2017) and Stephen Whitford (Field 2015) both feature in the newly released Love from King’s CD made by the King's College Choir, Cambridge. The CD is available to purchase on
Formula Vauxhall Junior. At the end of the championship he was his Class Champion and 6th overall out of 39 cars across 8 classes including F3 cars! He will be competing in the main autumn championships next year within the club with the same car.
Congratulations to Louis Morford (Field 2018) on winning the prestigious Nutland Trophy at this year's Cheltenham Festival.
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Tom Seabrook (Gate 2017) was selected to join the U20 Elite England Rugby Squad for 2018. This squad played in the U20s Six Nations (coming 2nd to France on point difference - won 4 lost 1) and the World Rugby U20 Championship (losing 25-33 to France in the final). Tom plays his rugby at Gloucester Rugby Club so you can watch him at Kingsholm!
A beautiful day on Thursday 17th May for our Old Decanians to collect their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards at St James's Palace. Hadley Trafford (Tower 2017), Poppy Phillips (Shelburne 2017), Matt Court (Field 2017), Samantha Smellie (Turner 2017), Matthew Welch (Gate 2017), Dominic McClaran (Brook Court 2017), Toby Huxtable (Tower 2017), Katie Colbert-Smith (Hatherley 2017) and Charlotte Finney (Shelburne 2017).
ODs at Cheltenham Music Festival! Last season, Tom also broke the Aviva Premiership Rugby record for the fastest try on debut in the Cherry & Whites’ defeat to Saracens last May. The winger took just 58 seconds to find the try line at Allianz Park at the conclusion of a flowing Gloucester move that started from their own twenty two metre line.
The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, which included Stephen Whitford (Field 2015) and Salim Jaffar (Dale 2017), gave a concert on the same day at Cheltenham College Chapel. Both also sang in the memorable televised carol service on BBC2 on Christmas Eve.
Will Hewer (Dale 2017) was selected to join the Great Britain Men’s Elite Development Programme (EDP) squad. Will currently plays his hockey with Loughborough Students.
No fewer than seven Loughborough Students players have been named in the squad which features talented players from university and club sides stretching the length and breadth of Great Britain.
Laurence Kilsby (Brook Court 2017) performed on Wednesday 11th July in the Chapel Arts venue accompanied by Jason Richards (Dale 2017).They were also joined by the winner of this year’s
The GB EDP has been launched as part of a strategic objective during the Tokyo 2020 cycle with the aim of developing future medal-winning Olympians, with the selected athletes having shown their potential to achieve that during a comprehensive selection process.
Pictured here playing for England U21 v Belgium where he also won his 50th junior cap.
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News from the
Archives
by Grace Pritchard-Woods - The School Archivist
This year some amazing items have been added to the archive collection including an old school bell, an organ from the first Chapel used from 1909 to 1917 and finally a long-lost treasure from the Dean Close story: The Silver Shield. The Shield was found in a cupboard by the swimming pool during last summer’s renovations. It was awarded to the Lidderdale brothers in 1906 when they won the coveted prize at the Public Schools' Gymnastic Competition.
They beat about 40 other public schools in order to win it, including Cheltenham College and Harrow, quite a coup for a relatively young school trying to establish a reputation amongst much older and illustrious institutions. The Decanian reported that on their return to Cheltenham:
“... A crowd of congratulatory enthusiasts met the winning pair at the Great Western Station ... and with the aid of a stout rope drew them in triumph to the School. Peace was restored at a late hour...”
Lent saw the arrival of Christine Leighton to cover maternity leave. Christine is the former Archivist of Cheltenham College and is a committee member of the School Archivist Group. She has previously worked for The National Archive and is still a part-time external editor.
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Dean Close, Old Decanians and WW1 Archives have continued to research those Old Decanians known to have died during WW1 so that this year, to mark the 2018 Centenary Commemorations, we can update the Roll of Honour book in the Chapel to include all 135 casualties we now know about. The original was compiled by Joyce Flecker, daughter of the then Headmaster, soon after the conflict finished and includes her fiancé Lionel Halse, OD and music teacher at DCS. The book was displayed during commemoration alongside archive material in the new Poppy Cloister built to commemorate those who fell and to display the ceramic poppies from the Tower of London exhibition.
Gifford Campion Thornton aboard HMS Sorceress during WW1
We Will Remember Them 747 ODs were in the armed services during WW1. Of them, 136 are known to have died and a further 140 seriously wounded. Lieutenant George Birch (pictured) is the first known OD to have died in WW1; he died on the 14th September 1914, aged 19.
However, the research process is not always straightforward. It was with some surprise that, having requested a photograph of Gifford Campion Thornton OD - reported killed in The Decanian November 1918 and recorded on the
memorial in chapel. His grandsons informed us he survived the war and became a GP in Cheshire! He died in 1988 aged 92. He is pictured here aboard HMS Sorceress during WW1 and again pictured with his wife Mollie, son Michael and daughter in law Margaret at his Golden Wedding party in July 1973.
PAT BRYAN
Sadly, in April we lost a valuable member of the team when Pat Bryan, former Deputy Head of the Prep School and archive volunteer, passed away. Every week Pat would go through the newspapers collecting articles with connections to the School. At his funeral, the Rev’d Katie McClure read an account of Pat’s life which revealed an extraordinary career of which we had little knowledge (see obituaries). This was the most amazing and inspiring life of service to others and yet we never knew and we never asked. The Department spends a lot of time discovering stories about past pupils and staff. This was a reminder not to wait until someone has gone but to be curious now and take a moment to listen to the stories which surround us each and every day.
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DID YOU KNOW?
One of the many prizes that were awarded on DCPS Speech Day this year was the WAM Edwards Award for Science. The prize is named in honour of William A M Edwards, who left the School in 1922 and is arguably the Old Decanian who contributed the most to Dean Close School. Not only did he financially support the School through providing countless scholarships and donations but he also served as a School Governor for 51 years. In the difficult post-war years his disciplined business approach was a major factor in ensuring that the school survived. The Senior School Dining Hall and surrounding classrooms that were built in 1987 are named after him as a thank you for his tireless dedication to the School.
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A new memorial was installed in 2017 at the entrance of the Dean Close Memorial Chapel to honour those that fell. The memorial displays the ceramic poppies (purchased from the Tower of London display three years ago) suspended on the glass walls.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL DEA
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FAUVEL 2n r 2nd S FARROW u e p rv d ic ated Ro of Rich War Po ll of Ho e and unveilin ard Att ctorial ems nour. g of the Leslie Brinsdon FEAR Lieut Maurice enboro debut a u g n h d picnic Year 8 p 's famo tre. e Tommy is a symbol of s in the u upils w Sunday ill Tuckwe s poems FITZGERALD Private Hubert Hope 11 Nov ll to be p be writing the remembrance created by the ember ublishe DCPS B d in Cots ir own origina o Lieut Frank Sidney Thomas FOSBER arders’ lw charity Remembered, as part wold Lif Truce F On Big e maga ar Novem ootball Field, fo zine. ber of their fundraising project Match FREAN Private Charles Stow FREE llowed film eve by a wa ning. Lest W rtime te e Forge ‘ere But Not ere’. Lieutenant E.A. FREEMAN 2nd Lie a and t Popp A displa y Displa y of pop Monda y pies cre using d don FURNESS 2nd Lieut William S y 12 Nov ated by ifferent For more information visit ember D materia Victory ls in the CPS pupils, Cadet G.T.P. 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In Praise of David Foster Lepine Organist and Choir Master at Dean Close, 1953 - 61.
David Lepine is perhaps best remembered as an outstanding organist and choirmaster of the newly rebuilt Coventry Cathedral, where he resided for eleven years before his premature death at the age of 43. Before then, David had been the organist and choirmaster of Dean Close. This memoir of David is written by John Harding (Tower 1958). I am not particularly qualified in terms of musical expertise as I cannot read music or play an instrument. However, in my last year at Dean Close I was invited by David along with six other pupils to join him in his study on Sunday evenings for an introduction to classical music. I was, perhaps, an unlikely prospect for Lepine’s instruction. I was the secretary of the Jazz Appreciation Society, meeting once a week with other aficionados to listen to scratched 78s and early LP’s of Jelly Roll Morton, Mugsy Spannier, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five and Duke Ellington recordings of the ‘40s and ‘50s. David admired Ellington's compositions in the way that he had forged his orchestra as his principal instrument. I accepted the invitation from David with alacrity. As a young man David cut quite a dash in contrast to the rather scruffy appearance of most of his teaching colleagues. He looked like a younger version of Dennis Price, who played the hero/villain in many black and white Ealing films of the ‘50s and early ‘60s. He wore fashionable brown slip-on shoes and grey flannels immaculately pressed, with tailored woollen jackets and often a silk handkerchief protruding from his breast pocket. His academic gown hung over his arms rather than his back.
We had nine Sunday evening sessions in his study, commencing in January 1958. I can only recall the names of two other people in the group. One was Tim Bliss who became an eminent neuroscientist and who won the Brain Prize in 2016. He remembers asking David what he thought of Ron Goodwin's film score for the film The Dambusters. Unabashed, David replied, ‘There’s a fine symphonic theme somewhere there, Tim?'
It is relatively easy to remember the first and last pieces David selected for our group to hear. We began with Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli, the Kyrie, followed by the Missa Brevis. For the uninitiated it was spellbinding and rapturous. David explained to us the meaning of
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polyphony and said that Palestrina was probably the greatest composer of sacred music. Throughout the sessions he let the music do the talking but after each piece, he stopped, explaining the musical essence of the composition, and invited observations rather than questions. How did we feel about what we have heard? Palestrina was followed by Montverdi's Vespers, a joyous blend of the secular and sacred with voices and instruments. Purcell next, passages from Dido and Aeneas, followed by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. The selective memory is poor at this point until the last two sessions when David went on to challenge us with English music - first, the Introduction and Allegro for Strings by Elgar followed by innovative work by Constant Lambert and William Walton. David greatly admired the prodigious talents of Lambert who composed Rio Grande at the age of 22. He explained that Lambert had drawn from a number of sources and Rio Grande could be described as a rhapsody in jazz style. Part of the composer's inspiration, he said, was hearing a group of black singers and instrumentalists, in particular the Will Vodey Plantation Orchestra who came to London in 1923. For us, the gloriously descriptive verse of Sacheverell Sitwell, the unaccompanied choir and the brilliance of the piano writing, had so many dissonant elements - sparkling, hard then soft and bluesy in passages. We were transfixed by this groundbreaking work. Walton's Facade was new to us. David gave us a vivid account of the original performance when the quirkily eccentric poet, Edith Sitwell, declaimed her poems to Walton's highly original music through a megaphone. Whilst admiring the sheer versatility of Walton's score for Facade, David left us in no doubt about Walton's masterpiece and, for him, the best choral music written over the previous fifty years, Belshazzar's Feast. All of us were stunned by the thrilling majesty of Belshazzar's Feast, with its extraordinary choral contrast of the yearning lines, By the Waters of Babylon to the hymn to the pagan deities, and finally, the glorious peal of Alleluias that lifted the spirit like nothing else. David looked bemused at the end of the work and said to his captive audience, smilingly, 'Would you like to hear it again?'
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An article on Richard St Barbe Baker OBE by Mike Sedgwick (Gate 1956)
A HERO OF TREES Richard St. Barbe
Following an article in last year’s Flecker, it came to our attention that Mike Sedgwick had written a fascinating article on the distinguished Old Decanian and man who founded the ‘Men of the Trees’ movement.
One hundred years ago, on the battlefields of Flanders, lay a young officer of the Royal Horse Artillery. He was wounded, presumed dead. Twice more during WWI he was wounded and recovered. He was awarded the Military Cross. After the war he was able to pursue his dream and study Forestry at Cambridge. He worked as a lumberjack in Saskatchewan, Canada. He realised long before the rest of the world the mathematics of tree felling. Cut trees make money for the lumber company. His equation was different, truer and will last for eternity: “When the trees go, the rain goes, the climate deteriorates, the water table sinks, the land erodes and desert conditions soon appear”. Tree loss means soil erosion, decreased biodiversity, loss of timber resource, climate change and decreased quality of life.
He began to encourage the planting of trees and had notable success in altering agricultural practices for the better in Kenya where he founded ‘Men of the Trees’, a group of Kikuyu chiefs and men who undertook to plant and husband at least 10 trees per year. Men of the Trees is now the International Tree Foundation and is credited with planting 26 million trees during St Barbe’s lifetime; he died in 1982.
During the 1950s he gave a talk at Dean Close. I remember it well, partly because we did not have great expectations of a talk about mere trees, but it was fascinating. At the time he was planning to halt the southerly expansion of the Sahara Desert by planting long bands of trees which would hold water in the soil and make the climate wetter. They also served as a barrier to the movement of sand. He was arranging planting in Nigeria, Kenya and Palestine.
Archive news from St John’s on-the-Hill by Christine Leighton Living near St John’s on the Hill School, it seemed appropriate for me to concentrate on sorting their archives whilst I covered Grace’s maternity leave.
Although some boxes of archive material had already been transferred to Dean Close, one of my first tasks was to identify further potential archives at St John’s. I began to sort through a large cellar containing several full filing cabinets, boxes stacked four high, plus a miscellany of other items (pictured below). Unfortunately, many of the boxes had been damp damaged in the past and consequently had collapsed, spilling their contents, which resulted in even more chaos! There was a large amount of curriculum-related material (later assessed by subject teachers, who either removed it or added it to the rubbish pile), old Accounts files, former pupil files, as well as potential archives. Sadly, some of the archive material had also been damp damaged, some irretrievably so. At the time of writing, the cellar is being assessed with a view to effecting any necessary remedial work before the area can be shelved to store both the old pupil files and the archives.
Meanwhile, further potential archives were rescued from other places around the School. Slowly, order began to appear as a preliminary sort identified archives from the former Brightlands School as well as from St John’s. There are governors’ papers, school magazines and newsletters, marketing papers, curriculum items and photographs – thousands of them! Whilst the more formal photographs, such as school photos and sport teams, have now been sorted and listed, most photographs are undated and unnamed, which is more of a challenge. However, it is nonetheless necessary to sort and list them as far as is possible – not least because they will be a valuable resource for the book planned to celebrate the School’s centenary in 2023.
If anyone was a former pupil and has any St John’s memorabilia (photographs, play programmes, sports records, magazines, newsletters, etc.) or would like to help sort photographs, please contact me at caleighton@deanclose.org.uk
He was aware of the felling of the mighty Redwood trees in California (some that are 3500 years old) and quickly gained the ear of President Franklin D Roosevelt. Preservation of the giant Redwood trees became law and you can see them today.
Pictured, a plaque commemorating the life of Richard St Barbe Baker at West End.
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DC
DEAN CLOSE
CHELTENHAM
SENIOR SCHOOL
News from the
School Oxbridge Success
Eight Dean Close pupils, five of whom started in DCPS, have received offers to study at Cambridge or Oxford University next year. We have a long tradition of pupils going to Oxbridge. H.C. Balance started at Dean Close in 1886 and in 1889 was one of our first pupils to attend Cambridge University (Emmanuel College). He went on to be one of the founding members of the Old Decanian Society and also came back to teach at Dean Close. Pictured (L to R): Tom Ford, Rei Chin, Louis Morford, Hugo Till, Bradley Salisbury (DCS Headmaster), Alex Vinokurov, Josh Stott, Patrick Xu and Izzy Montgomery.
Top School in Gloucestershire for Academic Progress In a recently published survey, Dean Close School ranked first in the county for academic progress from GCSE to A Level in 2017. The results on the government website show that Dean Close is the only school in the area to have achieved a score that is ‘well above average’ in terms of pupils’ progress at this key stage of their education. The figures released by the government show how much progress pupils who studied A Levels at Dean Close made between the end of their GCSEs and the end of their A Level studies, compared to similar pupils across England. The score our pupils achieved places Dean Close in the top 5% of schools in the country.
A score above zero means that pupils made more progress, on average, than students across England who got similar results at the end of Key Stage 4 (Year 11), while a score below zero means students made less progress, on average.
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NOTABLE
WORKS
Alexander Yang has been named as the winner of the first ever Khadija Saye Photography Award. The prize of £250 was awarded for the best photography portfolio by a boarding pupil from a state or independent boarding school, in association with the Boarding Schools’ Association. The award was presented for the first time at the BSA Annual Heads’ Conference in May.
The Boarding Schools’ Association launched the Khadija Saye Photography Award earlier this year in tribute to the outstanding photographer and former boarder at Rugby School. Khadija Saye sadly lost her life along with her mother, Mary Mendy, in the Grenfell Tower disaster in London. Khadija was a boarder at Rugby School, where she was a recipient of an Arnold Foundation bursary. This life changing opportunity helped her develop her passion for art. She was an internationally respected photographer and was exhibiting her work entitled ‘Dwelling: in this space we breathe’ at the 57th Venice Biennale at the time of her death.
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Sport
This year the Dean Close sport programme has achieved a great deal. Not only have the pupils achieved high levels of success within our teams but also individually. Sport For All is the underpinning philosophy of Dean Close Sport. This philosophy is upheld by 100% of the Juniors and 76% of the Seniors playing competitive sport, with nearly 450 separate fixtures across 12 sports and with over 90 teams ranging from A-D level. Our new partnership with David Lloyd, Gloucester has already proved extremely beneficial with our carousel groups going off site to experience activities such as ‘spin’ and ‘body pump’ as part of their games commitment, from which the feedback has been enormously positive.
Once more the hockey programme has delivered some fantastic results with six teams reaching National Finals in both the indoor and outdoor game, a fantastic achievement and one that the teams should be extremely proud of. It is the first time in the School’s history that two girls’ sides have made it to the National Finals in the
It is a privilege to witness the individuals within the various programmes excelling across a variety of sports. They have proved to be fantastic ambassadors for the School at all levels; be that in rugby, hockey, netball, fencing, equestrian, biathle or tennis to name but a few. It is fantastic to see so many challenging themselves to achieve their goals in their chosen discipline.
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same season, as well as the U14 girls reaching the Regional Netball Finals as County Champions. It is fantastic to see girls’ sports developing at such speed, especially as the School is in the midst of celebrating 50 years of co-education. With over 300 tennis lessons occurring on site each week throughout the year, it is no surprise that the girls’ and boys’ tennis teams are performing so well on the court. The boys’ rugby teams have once more put in some fantastic performances and have certainly enhanced the School’s sporting reputation, reaching the last 16 of the U18 National Competition and the last 32 of the U16 National Competition.
great to witness the growing numbers playing badminton for the School, as well as the numbers challenging themselves in the water under the guidance of our new Director of Swimming, Kelly Long. The major outing of the year so far was the Bath & Otter relays at the Olympic Pool in Stratford. The Dean Close Equestrian Team has celebrated great results in the dressage arena. The Dressage Team qualified for the Dressage NSEA County Cup Finals and the team are extremely excited to represent Gloucestershire at King’s Bromyard Equestrian Centre later this term.
Mike Powell, Director of Cricket, has been challenging the cricketers over the winter months and whilst the weather has unfortunately had a significant impact on the fixtures and opportunities to train outside, the boys and girls in the programme are certainly making great strides this year. With an increasing range of sports on offer it has been
Special mention should go to the following pupils who have achieved success: RUGBY
There are over 30 boys in the Gloucester Academy pathway with the following receiving particular recognition: England U18 - George Barton The following boys are currently in the Gloucester Rugby U17/U18 programme George Barton, Josh Gray, Tom Pearson, Ed Harvey, Archie Benson, Harvey Dickinson, Joe Lambon, Freddie Thomas, Matty Jones and James Humphreys
HOCKEY
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
England U18 - Jessica Thomas and James Hunt
Estella Depierre - Team GB in Biathle and Modern Pentathlon
There are over 40 boys and girls in the performance pathway, with the following achieving high honours: England U16 - Ellis Robson, Oliver Smart and Jacob Payton Wales U16 -Theo Bancroft
TENNIS
Aaron Osmond - U18 ranking (national): 60 and Men’s ranking (national): 139
Alice Howitt - Winner of the Cheltenham U16 Open and runner up in the U18 Open
Danielle Gibson - Senior Academy England Cricketer, Western Storm and Gloucestershire Women Matt Smith - in the British Ski squad for European Majors.
Sophie Clink - Cheltenham Water-polo - Women’s National League
Mollie Davies - Representing Great Britain at the European Selection Show Jumping trials in Belgium Lydia Ward - Winning the Pony Club Dressage Championships
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Drama
A busy year for Drama has included three major productions: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie at the Edinburgh Fringe, playing to full houses in our splendid new venue; an adaptation of The Beggar’s Opera, with music by Jason Richards OD as the main School Play in December 2017; and the Drama Scholars’ Play, Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, adapted by Rebecca Vines. Other productions have included a big Shelburne Show, Out of the Shadows, written, compiled and directed by Emma Hodgkinson.
It was a delight to hear that a member of our department, Lizzie Sharpe OD, has been accepted for an MA course at the prestigious drama school, East 15; and Sixth Form pupil, Guy Amos, is currently holding three offers for Foundation years – amongst them Mountview Academy and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which is an extraordinary achievement. There has been great success in LAMDA and Victoria College examinations across the School, with all candidates reaching well over 90%, and many at 100%, including several at Diploma level.
The Drama department is currently in the process of planning this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, where Close Up Theatre will be performing Nineteen Eighty-Four. All are welcome, please see the Edinburgh Fringe website for details. For December 2018, a lavish production of My Fair Lady, the biennial School Musical, is currently in pre-production. Look out for tickets advertised early in the Michaelmas Term – dates for your diary: 6th, 7th and 8th December, at the Bacon Theatre.
DID YOU KNOW? Dean Close was the first independent co-educational School in Cheltenham. In 1968, the first girl started in the Prep School. Her name was Shân Jenkins (nee Harper), the daughter of Gordon Harper who was Head of English at the time and after whom the Harper Library in DCPS is named (he taught at Dean Close from 1946 1978). Now, 50 years later, there are 138 girls in the Prep School.
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Honours and Achievements In the summer of 2017, 72 % A*B was achieved at A Level which included 32 A* grades this led to Dean Close coming top in Gloucestershire for A level performance in terms of Value Added. It was also a delight to see the number of A* grades awarded at GCSE increase to 34%.
The eight outstanding Oxbridge offers received by pupils from the current Upper Sixth, included: Rei Chin, Medicine, Queens’ College, Cambridge; Tom Ford, Economics and Management, St Hilda's College, Oxford; Izzy Montgomery, Geography, Queens’ College, Cambridge; Louis Morford, Music, Merton College, Oxford with Choral Scholarship; Josh Stott, Biochemistry, Oriel College, Oxford; Hugo Till, PPE, Queen’s
College, Oxford with Choral Scholarship; Alex Vinokurov, Engineering, St Catherine’s College, Oxford; Patrick Xu, Engineering, Robinson College, Cambridge.
Paul Huelsmann (Gate 2013) was also offered a place at Corpus Christi, Cambridge for his Masters in Finance, having been awarded a First Class degree in Management at Warwick. Will Foulkes (Brook Court 2013) has been offered a place at Hughes Hall, Cambridge to read Law. Gabbie Sills has been awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship for the Arts to read English, St John’s College, Durham and Isaac Crawford-Poxon has been awarded a coveted Degree Apprenticeship with GE Electric in Aeronautical Engineering.
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...yet more success!
Janice Ng competed at the finals of the Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year at Pittville Pump Room. The evening consisted of five impressive fifteen minute recitals on saxophone, clarinet, oboe and two on piano. The age range varied from 14 to 20 and so Janice was the second youngest performer.
MUSIC
This year Grade 8 distinctions were obtained by a number of accomplished scholars: Louis Morford (singing), Oscar Jack (clarinet), Maddie Dunn (singing), Orlando Giannini (singing), Hugo Till (singing) and Tatyana Cheung (piano). Several pupils were successful in gaining diplomas this year: Ashton Mackinnon ARSM (singing), Hugo Till ATCL (saxophone) and Doris Choi LTCL (flute).
Janice played a challenging programme: Bach Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, the final movement of Haydn’s Sonata in C Major and ended with the fiendish Third Sonata by Prokofiev. Janice gave a very fine performance, all by memory, and appeared to be totally at home on the concert platform. The audience seemed particularly impressed by the Prokofiev, with its more obvious virtuosity and Janice demonstrated full command of the instrument, bringing out an array of different colours.
In September, Jason Richards (Dale 2017) began his year as Organ Scholar at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, where he had the honour of being involved in the recent Royal Wedding! In October, Salim Jaffar took up his Choral Scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge and appeared (along with OD Stephen Whitford) in the Nine Lessons and Carols broadcast on Christmas Eve. Laurence Kilsby took up his place to study singing at the Royal College of Music. Louis Morford and Hugo Till have both been awarded Choral Scholarships to Merton College, Oxford and Queen’s College, Oxford respectively. Janice Ng reached the finals of the Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year competition, performing a stunning recital in the Pittville Pump Room as a result. Oscar Jack won the Philip F Walsh Memorial Prize from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music for achieving the highest Grade 8 Clarinet mark in the UK in 2017 (144/150). Similarly, Louis Morford was given a Silver Award in recognition of his outstanding achievement in his Grade 8 singing (146/150).
Freddie Faux, was appointed as one of nine Lord Lieutenant's Cadets for the County at the Lord Lieutenant's Awards ceremony. The ceremony was hosted by the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, Dame Janet Trotter OBE ODE, at the Officers' Mess, Imjin Barracks, Gloucester. The prestigious appointment, back in September, has seen Freddie support and assist the Lord Lieutenant on a number official visits over the year when VIPs and Members of the Royal Family have been guests at events and gatherings in the County. Further to this the Headmaster was on hand to receive a Silver Employer Recognition Award from the RFCA, for the School's ongoing commitment to supporting members of the Armed Forces Community.
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WEDDING
Earlier this week, several of the Dean Close community were very privileged to attend the Service of the Most Noble Order of the Garter at St George's Chapel Windsor Castle. Guests were in the presence of HM The Queen and many members of the Royal Family, as well as all the Knights of the Garter. The Order is the oldest and highest order of chivalry in the land, dating back to the 14th Century.
“
It was very exciting to see Dean Close so well represented at this most prestigious of events, and especially to witness the great talents of Jason Richards on the magnificent organ of St George’s Chapel
Dean Close was thrilled and proud that no fewer than three ODs and a former Warden were in attendance at the wedding of HRH Prince Harry of Wales and Ms Meghan Markle.
Jason Richards (Dale 2017), who left last summer, is currently Organ Scholar at St George's Chapel before going up to Jesus College, Cambridge as Organ Scholar in October to read Law. Jason was playing the organ as guests arrived in the Chapel. Andrew Thompson (Field 1999) is a Lay Clerk in the choir at St George's, and was a member of chapel choir and a distinguished baritone in his time at DCS.
Richard Lancaster (Field 1997) was in charge of all the camera work at the wedding, and while at DCS, was very active backstage in all technical work for productions in the Bacon Theatre. He graduated in the highly prestigious Tonmeister course at the University of Surrey after DCS, and has worked at the highest levels - Abbey Road Studios inter alia, and has operated with the greatest symphony orchestras and singers in the world since then. Roger Jones, former Warden, and his wife [Sue], both much-loved former members of our community here at DCS, were attending in Roger's capacity as Interim Headmaster of St George's School, which supplies the choristers for the choir at the Chapel. Roger was previously Headmaster at St George's before he came to be acting headmaster at DCPS 5 years ago.
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Dean Close teachers Helen Porter, Lynne Lawrence and Lloyd Allington met the former Warden of Dean Close School, Roger Jones and his wife Sue for lunch before the service, at which the organ was played by Jason Richards (Dale 2017). Andrew Thompson (Field 1999) a LayClerk at St George’s Chapel. Also present were Jason’s mother, Cathy, and his sister, Judy Richards (Mead 2016) and his brother George, currently in Year 10.
There was a large Decanian contingent: Sarah Duffin (Shelburne 2008) was at the service; and present outside the Chapel in Horseshoe Cloister were her parents Ian and Paul. Paul Hodges (Field 1997) former Head of Field and a leading musician at Dean Close in his day;
“
Royal THE
The Most Noble Order of the Garter
Maddie Harris (Hatherley 2017) and James Townsend (Tower 2005).
The service is an annual event when all the Knights of the Garter process in their magnificent robes of blue velvet and white plumes, escorted by the Military Knights of Windsor and the Yeoman of the Guard, and many other grandees. It is the most extraordinary and stunning spectacle – and perhaps has the most impressive ceremonial of the royal year, next to the State Opening of Parliament. It was very exciting to see Dean Close so well represented at this most prestigious of events, and especially to witness the great talents of Jason Richards on the magnificent organ of St George’s Chapel.
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INTER-HOUSE COOKERY CHALLENGE
In May, five mixed teams competed for the coveted title of the Inter-House Cookery Champion. The inaugural competition was held as part of a series of events to celebrate 50 years of Co-Education at Dean Close School. The teams tentatively entered the Cookery School to find the necessary ingredients for two complex dishes, a custard slice and the classic Swiss roll. Pupils were given a recipe to follow for the deliciously tricky custard slice, the Swiss roll on the other hand was to be attempted with no recipe at all! The ten pupils taking part were paired with pupils from different houses and year groups and had varying levels of baking experience, some having never baked at all.
The Great British Bake-Off style evening was hosted by pupil presenters, Lewis Heywood and Felix Nelson. The presenting duo kept the evening flowing with plenty of comedy and offered a helping hand to teams in need. Most of the teams opted for the custard slice first, thankful for the safety net of the recipe provided. However, some attempted the risky Swiss roll, all failing on their first attempt. With the teams set up with new ingredients, they were on their way again. However, one team clearly felt that one practice attempt was not enough and botched the Swiss
roll for a second time. Sophie Brown and Matt Smith managed to pull through on their third attempt, though undercooked and somewhat raw, their Swiss roll required some DIY, as they tended to their desert with a blowtorch! The custard slices seemed to go according to plan with thanks to a 25-step recipe allowing little room for failure. Unfortunately, this proved too little for one team who struggled to tell the difference between self-raising flour and caster sugar.
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As the final ten minutes dawned upon the teams, tensions were high as they scrambled to make their dishes look as close to the picture on their recipe sheets as possible. Washing up was heavily neglected and the finished dishes made their way up to the judges table. Dean Close’s very own Paul Hollywood, Deputy Head Mr Hall, impressively consumed over five custard slices! Finally, the winners were crowned and Phoebe Wharton (Fawley) and Matthew Chan (Gate) were the first winners of the Inter-House Cookery Trophy.
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Development Office
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
For the past year, Dean Close has been working on ambitious development plans with the central aim of giving pupils even better preparation for the future.
Campus
Work is now underway on the construction of the Day House Village: the development of a cluster of day houses on the eastern edge of the Senior School campus to replace the current day houses. The Warden, Emma Taylor explains: ‘Of course, there will be an immediate win for our day pupils, with the provision of purpose-built accommodation. But beyond this, by freeing up space in the heart of the school, the Day House Village project serves as the enabler for a really major project at the very heart of the Senior School, which will have profound benefits for every pupil.’ The Academic Quad re-development will be a transformational project with a strong focus on 21st Century teaching and learning, in preparation for the world beyond school and university. Having already invested significantly in the creation of the Day House Village, Dean Close will need help from generous ODs and parents to deliver this major project. So, a major capital appeal is planned.
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How it might look. A possible new configuration of the academic quad - made possible thanks to the construction of the Day House Village.
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The Day House Village: completion due in 2019.
‘We owe it to these young people to be bold in planning for the future’ Emma Taylor, Warden. Curriculum
The third area of development activity comprises an innovative approach to the curriculum to build in preparation for life beyond school, and employability. While there will be an immediate funding need for at least one staff position to drive this area of innovation forward, it is anticipated that the real scope for OD and parental support will come in the form of help with work experience, mentoring and networking.
DC F U T U R E S
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Community The late, Denys Carnill. The first Foundation Award is created in his memory and funded by ODs who were inspired by him. Dean Close is launching a new category of bursary: the Foundation Awards. This new bursary scheme will provide very generous feeassistance to talented and financially deserving pupils, who will inspire those around them and contribute to school life.
‘These pupils act as catalysts, energising everyone else. The spin -off benefits are massive’
Fundraising for the Foundation Awards is already underway, with a group of ODs funding an award in memory of the late Denys Carnill – a true Dean Close teaching legend. Indeed, with this fund now building, the school has awarded the first Denys Carnill place, and the new ‘Foundationer’ will take her place in the school in September 2018. Parents of 2018 leavers have also contributed towards the scheme, as pioneers for what we hope will become a Dean Close tradition. While an obvious benefit of the Foundation Awards will be the life changing opportunities offered to those who are awarded places, an equally important benefit will be the growing diversity of pupils backgrounds as the scheme expands. Bradley Salisbury, Senior School Headmaster: ‘Diversity of experience, attitudes and beliefs brings an educational flavour that cannot be replicated through theoretical discussions.’ Teachers are also enthusiastic about the effect Foundationers are likely to have across the whole school.
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Paul Montgomery, Housemaster, Field House.
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Leadership
Dean Close now has a Development Board. The aim of this new body is to serve as a forum for refining the development plans and to provide leadership and advocacy for the fundraising.
n Matthew Smith (Chairman) (Past Parent & DCF Board Member) n John Cutts (Tower 1968) n Helen Daltry (Past Parent & DCF Board Member) n Eve Fateh (Past Parent) n Vasily Pasetchik (Current Parent) n Mark Philip-Sorensen (Field 1991 & Current Parent) n Emma Taylor (DCF Warden)
Participation: The key to success
We are placing a strong emphasis on the participation of ODs in supporting the development plans. Felicity Copp, Development Manager: ‘We are providing a real choice of levels of support because we aim to reach a position where a really significant percentage of ODs are part of this. Whether it’s through giving a few pounds a month or much more, it doesn’t matter. Participation will be the key to creating a sustainable culture of support which is what Dean Close will need to fund these ambitious developments’.
Ready to receive
You can now support the three different elements of the campaign by making a pledge online – www.deanclose.org.uk/support-us.
Do also get in touch if you would like to know more about any of the developments or if you have other suggestions about how you might help; email us at development@deanclose.org.uk.
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September 2017
Old Decanian
Events One Year On Drinks, Class of 2016
Great to see so many of The Class of 2016 return for ‘One Year On Drinks’ held at The Beehive in September! Thanks to Bella Acland for her work in organising.
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Jonathan Lancashire Portrait Unveiling The BonBernard Gallery held a special event last September: the unveiling of a portrait of the previous Bursar, Headmaster and Warden, Jonathan Lancashire. The portrait was painted by George Thomas (Field 2013) who met with Jonathan six times over eight months to produce the 90cm x 70cm sized oil painting.
To coincide with the event, the School hosted a special exhibition of drawings and paintings produced by George since he left the School in 2013. George started as a caricature artist and after completing his Foundation Course, moved to London to study at the London Atelier of Representational Art (LARA). In 2016, George won the Tuscany Plein Air Scholarship, where he spent a week painting landscapes in a villa in the Tuscan countryside. He has had many painting adventures including climbing a flat top mountain on the Venezuelan-Brazilian border to paint a watercolour using water collected from a mountain stream; travelling to the Pyrenees to paint in the snow; and asking locals in Tarifa,
DID YOU KNOW?
Spain to sit whilst he drew their portrait.
George said: ‘My art is routed in the boundaries of observed light and form. Working predominately from life I seek to capture an accurate likeness of the figure, landscape or object I am depicting. I seek to capture the feelings and emotions of my subject. I design my composition to highlight the elements which bring the sentiment of the scene to life and convey these to the viewer.’
Head of Art at Dean Close School, Caroline Evans, said: ‘George has come a very long way in just four years. He was always one of our star pupils artistically when he was at School, but what he is achieving now is really impressive and makes us very proud! He would appear to have a wonderful career as a portrait artist laid out ahead of him and we wish him great success with this.’
The Open Air Theatre (Tuckwell Theatre) was designed by Old Decanian and architect, Herbert Thompson Rainger (Left DCS in 1900) and built by the senior boys of the School between 1934 – 1937. There has been an annual summer play held in the theatre most years since its opening and it has also hosted many DCPS Speech Days (DCPS boys pictured here in at a Speech Day in 1948).
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October 2017
November 2017
Class of 1972ish Reunion
1949-1959 Reunion Some of the Class of 1972ish met up for a pub lunch near Hungerford. Everyone had a lovely time and it was a great opportunity to catch up. Thanks to Stephen Oxlade for his year on year organisation of this event.
It was lovely to have so many ODs come back to School. It was a fantastic day, hosted by Emma Taylor, the Warden, at Dean Close House. It was brilliant to see memories relived, especially for those that had not been back in 60+ years!
Front row from left to right. Andrew Marquand (Field 1971), Chris Davidge (Brook 1972), Alan Price (Gate 1971), Claire Harding (nee Bayley) (Mead 1972), Nigel Hemming (Brook 1975), Peter Ward (Court 1970) and Mike Motum (Court 1972) Rear row from left to right: Will Hastings (Court 1968), Paul Hilltout (Field 1972), Dick Morris (Tower 1972), Stephen Oxlade (Court 1972), Chris Gilliam (Field 1972), Tony Ayres (Tower 1975) and Roger Horwood (Brook 1972).
Dean Close Sixes 2017
#DCsixes
On Sunday 22nd October 2017, we hosted the Dean Close Sixes (an invitational girls’ schools' alumni hockey tournament). Alumni teams from all over the country compete for the Carnill Cup named in honour of Denys Carnill, a long-time member of staff (1951-1984) at Dean Close who played hockey at three Olympics ('52, '56 and '60). This year’s winners were St Edward’s (Oxford) who beat Sedbergh in a thrilling final. Teams in 2017 included: Bloxham, Canford, Cheltenham College, Dean Close, King Henry VIII (Coventry), Malvern College, Marlborough College, Sedbergh, St Edward’s (Oxford) and Rendcomb. Visit www.deanclose.org.uk/dcsixes to view all the fixtures and results from the 2017 tournament. Next year’s tournament will be held on Sunday 21st October 2018.
20th Anniversary of the Music School
ODs Ashok Gupta (Dale 2006), Henry Neill (Brook Court 2007) and Brenna Tin (Turner 2015) took part in a fabulous concert to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Music School.
DID YOU KNOW? Dean Close opened in 1886. This is one of the first pictures of Dean Close School, taken in 1886 when the School first opened with a grand total of 12 boys! It was originally called Dean Close Memorial School, but after WW1 the Memorial was dropped and the School was known as Dean Close.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
December 2017
Service of Nine Lessons and Carols
The Service of Nine Lessons and Carols took place in a candlelit chapel with the Chapel Choir, conducted by Simon Bell, singing a mixture of traditional and contemporary carols.
This year’s service included a commissioned carol by Malcom Archer - As I Sat on a Sunny Bank – which was very traditional sounding in stark contrast to some previous commissions. Some of the more familiar carols were given a modern twist, such as Gabriel’s Message, arranged by David Willcocks, and Stuart Nicholson’s version of Ding Dong! Merrily on High. There were some reflective, tender moments in the well-known Coventry Carol and William Todd’s My Lord has Come. The Chapel was lifted by the congregation's enthusiastic singing alongside the choir, which was on excellent form and not only sang all nine carols with authority and beauty of sound, but also led the congregational carols, the sopranos in particular providing strong descants.
Merton College Chapel
January 2018
Choir trips to Windsor and Oxford In January, we were lucky enough to be invited to attend Evensongs at both St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle and Merton College Chapel, Oxford, with the Dean Close Chapel Choir singing at Windsor and the Schola Cantorum singing at Merton. After both occasions, ODs gathered afterwards for a get-together.
The festive service included readings by all of the Dean Close Heads as well as a lesson from the Warden of the Dean Close Foundation, Emma Taylor. As the congregation exited to beautiful organ music, a retiring collection was taken to support OpenDoors, a charity that serves persecuted Christians around the world by providing vital support, delivering resources, and providing training. All guests were then warmly welcomed for mince pies and mulled wine in the Dining Hall. What better way to end the term.
St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
March 2018
Relaunch of the Old Decanian Gaudy celebrating 50 Years of Co-Education
Cheltenham Races: Ladies Day
On Friday 23rd March, we held a Black Tie Gaudy Dinner to celebrate 50 years of coeducation at Dean Close School. The dinner was held in the Dining Hall with Emma Taylor, the Dean Close Foundation Warden, as guest speaker. A great evening. Potentially a Gaudy could be held every year?
Old Decanians were joined by past and current parents for this year’s Ladies Day at Cheltenham Racecourse. The racing and hospitality were fantastic and lots of money was raised for the Pied Piper Appeal.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
March 2018
Clay Pigeon Shooting
On Friday 9th March, Old Decanians, Staff, Current and Past Parents joined us for a morning of Clay Pigeon Shooting at Ian Coley’s in Cheltenham, followed by lunch and the all-important prize giving.
Thank you to everyone who attended. Make sure you are available for next year's event on Friday 8th March 2019!
May 2018
Class of 1998 Reunion
It was great to have some of the Class of 1998 back at Commemoration after 20 years!
From L-R (top row first). Will Swait (Gate), David Marsh (Brook), Philip Walmsley (Tower), Kerrin Masterman (Brook), Justin Forbes (Field), David Bull (Gate), David Cooper (Field), Stuart Bond (Tower), David Harvey (Field), Emma Keenan (nee Tucker) (Shelburne), Selina Bailey (nee Dowty) (Shelburne), Toria Clifton-Brown (nee Barritt) (Fawley), Katy Flores (nee Burne) (Fawley), Ellie Dailey (nee Rankin) (Fawley), Sarah Fuller (Fawley), Liz May (nee Doxat) (Fawley) and Kirsty Herbertson (Shelburne).
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
YOGA in the Park
“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can. Even if there are a few wobbles along the way.”
These were the words of Sally Hall to over 500 Dean Close pupils, parents, staff, Old Decanians and friends before an early morning charity yoga session. The entire Dean Close community woke up and rose together with an early morning yoga practice to help raise funds for children’s brain tumour charity, Blue Skye Thinking. Current treatment for childhood brain tumours involves surgery plus a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy or proton therapy. Each of these have devastating consequences in terms of side effects. Following the loss of their beloved son Skye, Sally and Andrew Hall (Deputy Head) set up the charity Blue Skye Thinking to fund research into innovative treatments. The charity’s target is to raise another £25,000 to get them to their £200,000 target for a second fulltime researcher. The Dean Close community coming together for Yoga in the Park was a great start towards this goal, with over £6,000 raised so far and donations still flooding in.
Liv Duffin (Shelburne 2011)
The session was led by staff member and yoga teacher Liv Duffin (Shelburne 2011), bright and early on the School's main playing field, followed by a healthy breakfast outside. Liv said, ‘It was such a special opportunity to get the whole Dean Close community together. I was blown away by the amount of people. I am full of so much admiration for Sally and Andrew and what they have achieved with Blue Skye Thinking’.
The pupils started the day feeling refreshed and positive, saying, ‘It was just amazing. There were over 500 people here this morning sitting together to do yoga and reaching for the Skye!’. Another pupil commented, ‘There are just no words. The energy on the field speaks for itself’. As well as raising a fantastic amount of money for charity, the Dean Close community were reminded that in the light of such sadness, there can always be positivity and hope for the future. To help Blue Skye Thinking reach their target, you can donate via the Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/liv-duffin
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
May 2018
Birmingham University Visit
The Old Decanian Society, along with David Evans (Senior Master), hosted an evening at The Stables for those studying at Birmingham. L-R: Mel Ferro (Hatherley 2016), Lucy O’Rourke (Shelburne 2017), Oli Birmingham (Dale 2015), Elise Ireland (Hatherley 2015), DRE, Jeremy Reid (Brook Court 2011), Hatty Parker (Hatherley 2015), Bryan Onwughalu (Tower 2015), Hattie Abbott (Fawley 2017) and Katie O’Rourke (Shelburne 2014).
June 2018
End of an era in Brook Court
On Saturday 16th June, Renny Slade & Brook Court boys past and present organised a surprise meal for Justin Slade as he retires from Brook Court at the end of the summer, after 14 years in charge. The evening was a huge success with over 80 Old Decanians, Current Pupils, Staff and Former Staff attending the black tie event at the Hatherley Manor Hotel. Special thanks goes to Boboi Rahedi (Brook Court 2014) and Will Coniam (Brook Court 2014) for all their organisation. We wish Justin and his family all the best in his new role at Dean Close.
Margaret’s Bench
At the back end of the Summer Term, the School held a tea party to welcome Margaret Bowen’s memorial bench to Dean Close. Located between the Dining Hall and the Astros, it’s a great place to watch the hockey from. It was fantastic to have John Bowen, along with friends and family, to remember such a wonderful lady.
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DID YOU KNOW?
Why is Dean Close called Dean Close?
The School was named in honour of Francis Close, one of Cheltenham’s best known clergymen, when he was appointed Dean of Carlisle ... hence Dean Close. Francis Close was also influential in the setting up of Cheltenham College (1841), Cheltenham Grammar School, and The Cheltenham Ladies’ College (1854).
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OD DAY 2018
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Saturday 23rd June
Old Decanian Day is a chance for Old Decanians to spend a day at Dean Close. There are sports fixtures versus the School, a BBQ lunch, activities for children, reunions, tours of the School, the OD AGM and a dinner in the evening. Netball - School (34) - ODs (32)
ODs (4) hool (1) c S y e k c Boys' Ho
Tennis - LTA Fast 4 format.
Class of 19 93
Girls' Hockey - School (7) - ODs (0)
A big thank you to all those who came to the BBQ and dinner in the evening, especially those celebrating reunions from the Classes of 1993, 2008 and 2013. If you would like to see more photos of the day, please visit www.deanclose.org.uk/odday
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Golf Report 2017/2018
Grafton Morrish Finals: 28th September to 1st October 2017
Ryan Brignull (Dale 2003), Robert Hornby (Field 1967), Nigel Newport-Black (Tower 1980), Jon Sidebottom (Brook 1997), Joe Jenkins (Dale 2003) and Ian Bevan-Jones (Tower 1972) represented the ODS in the Grafton Morrish Finals 2017 (UK wide, scratch golf competition) at Royal Norfolk Golf Club and Hunstanton Golf Club. It was a fantastic achievement to even reach the finals and they played some excellent golf over the 3 days.
Autumn Meeting (Hardy Trophy) Thursday 19th October 2017
BKW presented the Hardy Trophy this year was well-earnt by James Ford (Dale 1980), whose son Jack (Dale 2010) was in the top three ... a good days golfing for the Ford family.
Spring Meeting, The Presidents Cup 2018
Unfortunately, the first fixture of the summer was a wash out with the forecast of torrential rain coming to fruition, which was frustrating for the 25 golfers that signed up to play at Cotswold Hills Golf Club. The decision was made to play the Presidents Cup alongside the Odell Trophy at the Close Community Golf Day.
Grafton Morrish Qualifier at Denham Golf Club: Sunday 20th May 2018
Alaisdar Carroll (Gate 1984) and Tom Gower (Tower 1995)
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Unfortunately, under the captaincy of Joe Jenkins (Dale 2003), it was not meant to be this year, and the Old Decanians missed qualification for the finals of the Grafton Morrish 2018.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Close Community Golf Day at Minchinhampton Golf Club: Friday 18th May 2018
Russell Legg & BKW As mentioned above, this year there were two trophies up for grabs for the 30 players that signed up.
Edward Harris Cup: Friday 6th October 2017
This year the competition was held at Ross on Wye Golf Club. The team, made up of Alex Hume (Dale 2002), Chris Dyer (Tower 1980), Ian BevanJones (Tower 1972), James Ford (Dale 1980), Julian Rowett (Gate 1969), Alastair Carroll (Gate 1984), Stan Close (Tower 1959) and Chris Renfrew (Tower 1977), came joint 4th this year, level with Cheltenham College and behind Bromsgrove, the overall champions. 2018 sees the Old Bromsgrovians hosting the event at Blackwell Golf Club on Friday 5th October, which we very much look forward to.
Golf Week July 2018
Golf Week 2018 saw us play at three fantastic golf clubs. The first was Blackwell Golf Club where there was a tie between two teams; Alex Hume (Dale 2002) & Giles Barton (Field 1995) drew against Alastair Carrol (Gate 1984) & Derek Lewis (Brook 1962). On Day 2, we headed to the Manor House Golf Club at Castle Coombe, where Alastair Carrol was victorious, winning on the 18th green. We then moved onto Minchinhampton Golf Club. Tony Marchand won the overall with 39 points, just in front of Tom Gower (Tower 1995) and Andrew Odell (Field 1992). Mike Bawden (Gate 1965) got the award for closest to the pin and Andrew Odell smashed the longest drive.
n Winner of the Odell Trophy Russell Legg (Past Parent)
n Winner of the Presidents Cup Brian Wilson (Former Staff)
n Winning Team: (pictured below) Cod Carroll (Gate 1984) Tom Gower (Tower 1995) Ross Haines (Tower 2016) Rupert Lane (Gate 1962) n Closest to the Pin Brian Wilson (Former Staff) n Longest Drive (Men's) Giles Barton (Field 1995)
n Longest Drive (Women's) Tracey Legg (Past Parent)
Old Decanians vs Old Cheltonians, The Spa Trophy - Friday 20th July 2018
The Old Decanians managed to bring the Spa Trophy back to Dean Close for the 11th year in a row, after a 3&1 win over the ‘old enemy’...the Old Cheltonians (Cheltenham College). The match played on the Red Course at The Berkshire was another tight affair but the ODs comfortably crossed the winning line. The team picture here ... back row L-R: Julian Rowett (Gate 1969), Huw Davies-Thomas (Gate 1984), Alastair Carroll (Gate 1984) & Jon Sidebottom (Brook 1997). Front row L-R: Jeremy Winter (Gourt 1961), Ali Smith (Field 2003), Alex Hume (Dale 2002), Robert Hornby (Field 1967) and Nick Kenyon (Brook 1989).
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
OD Cricket Report By Jeremy Winter (Hon. Secretary)
OD Cricketers Two out of Two in 2018!
At the time of penning this, in the heat of 2018, the fact that rain was the cause of cancellation of cricket at Commemoration (May) seemed unthinkable, but, sadly, it was thus. With indications that side raising for the early July OD Cricket Week was proving difficult, a decision was made to leave out the evening T.20 on the Wednesday of the Week and concentrate on efforts for the Dumbleton and Gloucestershire Gipsies fixtures on Thursday and Friday. This proved successful and two excellent and exciting matches resulted in two victories for the ODs.
ODs vs Dumbleton Thursday 5th July The toss won by John Nicholson at Dumbleton for the 40 overs a side match was warmly greeted by the ODs and an excellent opening partnership of 139 resulted between Matt Nicholson and friend of a friend, Joel Price. Matt went for a fine 25 but Joel continued to score freely, assisted in turn by young Nicky Schubach and then in a big stand with school leaver Henry Sleeman during which Joel passed his 100, eventually to be dismissed for a magnificent 132.
Alex Hume then joined Henry and they had a most productive stand of 60 in the last 8 overs, resulting in a final team score of 273-3 with Henry 53 not out and Alex 22 not out.
The young and talented Dumbleton batsmen soon showed their promise despite the penetrating opening attack of Sam Wheatley and John Weaver, and it was the latter that struck first pinning Boorman LBW. Sam continued his fine spell with Joel Price’s off spin first, pinning down the other opener Bragg, thanks to a fine catch by James Schubach. Holland, one of
ODs vs The Gloucestershire Gipsies Another fine day followed at Dean Close with 12-a-side for the Gloucestershire Gipsies all day match, the visitors skippered by exEngland International rugby referee Chris White. It was also a welcome back for new OD captain Mark Whitney – who promptly lost the toss and took the field with just four of the star squad from the Dumbleton game – Wheatley, Price, Sleeman and Hume, plus 8 newcomers. One of the best opening pairs of OD bowlers in recent years, Jack Hobbs and Sam Wheatley, started off well but the early breakthrough was not forthcoming, although it was Hobbs who had Medhurst well caught by Henry Sleeman with the score at 75. Joel Price joined Hobbs in the attack and soon had Cheltenham Town’s player Steve Houghton caught for 43. Price then quickly had Micro caught by Nawaz Mucadam for 1. OD President Rupert Lane then had the pleasure of watching sons George and Joe bowling in tandem for a spell during which
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both were treated with considerable respect – George’s slow medium and Joe’s flighted leg breaks. It was George who had James Waters well held by Nawaz to bag the Gipsies’ fourth wicket with the score at 94.
A good stand of 87 then followed after lunch, with Tom Nicholls and Sam Waters taking the Gipsies to 179, when Mucadam had Waters caught by George Walker for 47. Young Nicholls continued to score freely in a sixth wicket stand until Chris White called his men in with the score at perhaps a possibly vulnerable 216 for 5 declared. Tom Nicholls was left with 55 no. Joel Price continued his fine form with the bat from the previous day and had an opening stand of 108 with the stylish looking school young left-hander James Humphreys, who had already done a fine job for the ODs as wicket keeper. James sadly missed out by 1 in getting his 50, falling LBW to the Gipsies veteran off spinner John Belfield.
the star Dumbeton players, was looking very dangerous and had good stands with three of the home side middle order.
John Nicholson, though, made sensible bowling changes, including himself in turn with leg spinner James Schubach and his brother Nicky’s medium pace. Holland passed his 100 as the home team’s run chase continued to gather greater momentum, but thanks to skipper Nicholson’s decision to bring back Price, Holland eventually fell for 116 to another great catch by Sam Wheatley – a vital breakthrough. Soon after, with Dumbleton requiring a fairly modest 30 in 6 overs with wickets in hand another vital skipper Nicholson decision was to bring himself back on again, who promptly got 2 wickets in 1 over!
With a dozen to win in still the last 2 overs, Dumbleton, now 8 wickets down, fell just short in the end, resulting in a great win for the ODs by 5 runs. Star bowlers of the day – skipper J. Nicholson 3 for 43 and J. Price 3 for 44.
Friday 6th July Sleeman then joined Price but the latter fell soon after for a fine 67. The ODs lost some momentum then with Nawaz Mucadam and James Davies missing out, but Henry continued his fine form from Dumbleton in a stand with George Lane of 67 until Henry missed a straight one on 43 with the home side at 198-5. The ODs by now were fairly well ahead of the run rate required and the very steady and correct straight bat of Lane (37 not out) and newcomer George Walker (3 not out) saw the ODs home in comfortable time by 5 wickets for the first OD win in the match since 2009! It was a great pleasure to see The Doctor’s Trophy presented to Mark Whitney by the ODCC President Rupert Lane (pictured), who spoke some wise and kind words of thanks to all, including the School caterers for such a fine post-match BBQ.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Recollections by Mike Wigley (Court 1967) of a great day captured by David Gibson’s painting.
Special Cricket Report from the Archives
A
Old Decanians vs Gloucestershire Gipsies - 27th July 1983
lways one of the best and most competitive matches of Cricket Week, this match was no exception. The OD team consisted of most of the stalwarts that played during the 70s and 80s, namely Mike Bawden, Doug Henderson, Rupert Lane, Jeremy Winter, Mike Wigley, Robert Reed, Richard Hardy, Tim Graveney, Nigel Newport-Black, Tim Lavis and Tim Postlethwaite. Other OD stalwarts playing for the Gipsies were Richard Padfield and honorary OD, Chris Kenyon. The Gipsies fielded many regulars including the burly farmer, Martin Baber, and Harold Haydon.
On a warm and partially sunny day, the ODs won the toss and chose to bat. We had a good start, reaching 110 for the loss of 2 wickets. Having batted and been out before the lunch break, I took a stroll around the ground and met David sitting with his easel by the sight screen looking towards the School. We talked for some time and I remember that he had started the painting by doing the background, being the school buildings and the trees etc. However, when the ODs were 145 for 5 he must have started on the pavilion and from the painting you can make out the score on the scorebox and underneath. Scoring for the Gipsies is Doc Andrews and for the ODs, James Padfield (Richard’s son even though in the scorebook it reads David). Next to them can be seen Tim Lavis, resplendent in his OD blazer, and Mike Girling, together with other ODs and spectators. The painting is a wonderful story of how the day was then to unfold. Realising that the pace attack was not making enough impact, Harold Haydon and Richard Padfield were brought on. With Harold’s wily flighted spinners coupled with Richard’s penetrating off breaks, the ODs faltered and were
bowled out for 220 by mid-afternoon. Harold had taken 4 for 70 and Richard 3 for 34. By this time, David had all but painted the pavilion area and moved onto the playing field at about the time that the ODs took to the field. The cricketer fielding at first slip in the painting, however, is uncannily like Richard Padfield or Chris Kenyon in a Gipsies sweater so David may have started just before the ODs took to the field.
David Gibson and Jonathan Lancashire
The Gipsies had a poor start against the new ball with Dougie Henderson and Tim Postlethwaite reducing them to 9 for 2 wickets down. However, the OD captain, Rupert Lane, was quick to realise that spin was the order of the day and brought on Jeremy Winter from the School end just before tea. Jeremy would bowl for the rest of the innings, some 18 overs and with his well flighted leg breaks coming out of a setting sun, late in the day he would be a force to reckon with. However, arriving at the crease came Chris Kenyon, a lovely player and those who knew him will never forget his effortless cover drives which he executed with such grace and elegance. He did not disappoint us that day and having built his innings slowly moved into overdrive and went on to score nine boundaries in his last fourteen deliveries. He was ably supported by
Martin Baber but with two or three fielders in the mid-wicket area we kept his run scoring down a little. Jeremy was slowly chipping away at the middle order and finally, after an epic innings of 67, Chris Kenyon fell to one of his leg breaks with the score on 148 for 8. With the innings nearly over, this left the stage clear for Harold Haydon to come in wearing one of the first batting helmets ever seen (remember this was 1983). Although the ODs had no bowlers of any significant pace, his rationale was that one of Jeremy’s well flighted deliveries out of the sun might hit him on the head! Sadly, the weight of the helmet reduced his speed somewhat and he was run out shortly afterwards, and the innings closed at 151 all out. Jeremy had taken 6 for 80. By now David had almost completed the main elements of his painting and included most of the players who were on the field that afternoon. You can see Tim Lavis bowling, Nigel Newport-Black keeping wicket, Mike Wigley at second slip, Mike Bawden in the gully area, Doug Henderson at fine leg, Richard Hardy at square leg, Tim Graveney at wide mid-on and Jeremy Winter in the extra cover area. Chris Kenyon is seen backing up at the bowler’s end, with Bill Mason umpiring at square leg, and Jeff Hardy (Richard’s father) umpiring at the bowler‘s end. As was the custom in those days, afterwards Mike Girling would invite all cricketers, friends and spectators for a meal in the School. It was always well attended and was a lovely way to finish the day before we retired to the Lansdown Inn for the odd pint! This was a wonderful match, in the true spirit of OD week, played with old friends against old friends, and reflected so well in David’s superb painting which many of us now have hanging proudly in our homes.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
August 2017
Obituaries January 2017
Kenneth ROOKE (Gate 1947) Died 11th January 2017 aged 90.
Kenneth joined Dean Close Junior School in May 1940, moving up into Gate House in the Senior School in September 1943. He achieved his School Certificate in 1946. Kenneth was also a Cadet in the JTC. Whilst at School his family lived on the Hatherley Road in Cheltenham.
He lived in Upton St Leonards with his wife Mary, whom he was married to for 59 years. They had a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Lisa. Kenneth was a qualified accountant working for Randell & Payne in Gloucester. We were moved to hear that Kenneth was cremated in his School blazer and Tie. April 2017
Derek Lorimer SAWERS (Brook 1950)
Derek Lorimer, adored husband, father and grandfather to six grandchildren, died on 11th April 2017 aged 83 from Parkinsons. A Memorial Service was held at St Peter's Church, Limpsfield on Wednesday 3rd May at 1.30 p.m.
Derek joined Dean Close in the Junior School in the September of 1940 coming up into the Senior School in 1947. He enjoyed hockey whilst at School, gaining his House colours, and was Lance Corporal in the CCF and School Librarian. He was the eldest of three brothers, himself, John and Robert, who were all in Brook House. Immediately after Dean Close he joined the RAF and was posted in Malaya. Derek eventually became a financial consultant working from Lingfield in Surrey.
July 2017
Malcolm Henry STRUTHERS (Tower 1942) 21st December 1923 - 28th July 2017, died aged 93.
Much loved husband of the late Joyce, dear father to Jane and Caroline and the late Mark, grandfather of eight and greatgrandfather of four. Funeral service took place on Tuesday 15th August 2017 at Bedford Crematorium. Malcom attended Dean Close between 1938 – 1942 and boarded in Tower House. His brother William (Tower 1936) and his son Dr Mark Struthers (Tower 1974) also came to Dean Close. He was a School Prefect, Company Sergeant Major in the JTC and gained his colours in Rugby, Cricket and Hockey. He was Captain of Cricket in his final year. He was also Honorary Treasurer of the Gramophone club, which restarted once the boys returned to Dean Close after being evacuated to Monkton Combe during the war. Malcolm was a Midshipman for the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve during WW2.
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David Christian James Stuart CLAYRE (Brook 1949) Died on 2nd August, aged 85. It was very fitting that David should come to Dean Close with the initials ‘DCJS’ Clayre ... David entered the Junior School in September 1940, starting alongside his younger brother Iain and later joined by his youngest brother Alastair in 1942. He left in 1949 with his Higher Certificate and at Commemoration won the Flecker Science Prize. David was also very active within the CCF and reached the rank of Company Quartermaster Sergeant. Elaboration of words spoken in Danish at the service in Grindsted on 9th August 2017, by Astrid Clayre (his daughter).
Born on 23rd September 1931, David Clayre was the eldest, and the longest living, of the three sons of Doris and Dr John Clayre. He was a caring brother and had a happy childhood until the Second World War. The bombings of Southampton sent them to boarding school, to Dean Close in faraway Cheltenham; experiences that set permanent marks.
As a young man he studied Medicine at St Andrews University in Scotland, with the intention of sharing his father’s practice. When his father unexpectedly died, he changed to the fields of Botany and Biology. For a student job he became a tram conductor, which endured in a lifelong passion for "rolling stock"; trams and trolleybuses, rooted in his boyhood love of steam engines and their tracks and signals. David was active in sailing, Scottish dancing and skiing, and volunteered with St John Ambulance.
He met our mother; the young family moved south. David completed his BSc. at the University of London and started his teaching career, first at Alleyn’s in Dulwich and later at St Paul’s. Besides teaching his subject he took part in School life: the School Corps, the Drama Society, excursions. Some of my earliest vivid memories are his performance of The Mikado, an expedition to Winkworth Arboretum, a Special Journey on the Flying Scotsman. Gardening was a great passion of his. David tended all of our gardens, mowing and mulching, growing vegetables and minding roses. When I was about three, the neighbours burnt a hole in the lawn. Daddy transformed the patch into a huge round bed of nasturtiums.
As the family expanded with a son, and later a daughter, biochemistry and the double helix of genetics modernized and excited Natural History; the time had come for new challenges. In Denmark the educational system expanded with more and new secondary schools. Almost exactly fifty years ago we arrived in Grindsted. Ever since I've been met with ‘æ du eht Clayres datter?’ (‘Aren't you Mr Clayre’s daughter?’). Whilst Mr Clayre most often spoke of his most gifted pupils, countless others have told me that he was one of the best teachers they ever had; inventive, enthusiastic and entertaining in his presentations of Science. I remember the time he had drosophila in test-tubes in the fridge and he fetched eggs at the local hatchery and fitted little windows through which his students could follow the development. And of course the forays to determine and pluck edible fungi in the autumn. Other journeys led further afield. Father and Mother enjoyed travelling and we have visited many interesting places. While we still lived in England we visited Denmark, and later on, there were summer holidays in Europe: Yugoslavia with a detour to Venice, the Swiss Alps with the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn and the Pilatus Bahn, Corsica and northern Italy, Norway, Scotland, the South of France. When we children had left home, our parents ventured even further, amongst other places to Canada, and the West Indies to the (previously Danish) Virgin Islands.
David Clayre had always done some translation work on the side, in due course he made this his livelihood and left teaching. About ten years ago our father showed the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. So in a way we have had a very slow and gradual parting with Daddy as we knew him. He passed at three o'clock in the morning of 2nd August aged 85. When I was a child we sang a lot together. I will finish to the sound of Jerusalem (And did those feet in ancient times) which is very pompous and very British - but it is one of the last songs I heard him singing.
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Roger Charles PRICE (Gate 1949) 3rd August 1933 - 2017
Roger arrived at the Junior School in February 1944 coming up to the Senior School in September 1945 and leaving in 1949. He served his National Service in the Medical Corps and after he completed his service read Social Services at the London School of Economics. He became a Probation Officer, which he found he did not have the patience for, but became very interested in criminal law. He used correspondence courses to obtain a Law degree and practiced as a solicitor in many firms around the country focusing on criminal law. His wife Jane mentioned that ‘he then decided that he was tired of defending criminals’ and became a prosecutor, working as a special casework lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service in Brighton, where he worked until his retirement.
October 2017
William Clarke GRAHAM (Walton Court 1941). Passed away on 7th October 2017 at the fine age of 93.
Born on 2nd February 1923, William came to Dean Close in 1936, leaving in the summer of 1941.
William was a very good hockey player and received School colours for his efforts. He was also Lance Corporal in the Junior Training Corps, which put him in good stead for when he was a Captain in India with the Army. After the Army, William became a Chartered Surveyor, firstly working for the Inland Revenue, then later became a Senior Partner in a specialist surveying company, from which he retired in 1986.
was either fixing or changing tank or lorry engines, gaining skills he would use for the rest of his life. On leaving the army, John had the most significant piece of luck of his life in meeting a pretty, petite blonde girl at the Town Hall Dance - where else in the early 60s?!!! ... and marrying Gill some two years later. Theirs was a strong relationship lasting for the next 57 years. In the 1960s, John and Gill had their three children - Stephen, Jeremy and Lucy, who in turn have gone on to produce 10 lovely grandchildren 4 boys and 6 girls ... so far.
John Ronald MOORE (Tower 1956) Died 4th October 2017 aged 79.
John was born in Bristol in 1938. The family relocated to Cheltenham to avoid the bombing at the beginning of the Second World War, and John went to school at Airthrie and Berkhampstead before boarding in Tower House at Dean Close, where today his granddaughters, Alice and Emma, are following in his footsteps. Dean Close, under Headmaster Douglas Graham, had a significant and lasting impression on John. Throughout his life he was often attending Old Decanian events where, I guess, “old boys” would become “young boys” again.
John was not your academic type - more your hands-on technical type. He was a successful athlete at school, and well-liked by staff and fellow pupils alike. Cross-country running was John’s forte and the winning of the VICTOR LUDORUM in 1956 at Dean Close for his athletic achievements was a very proud moment in his life (pictured above). After leaving school in 1956, John was caught up in the tail end of National Service, spending two years in the Royal Engineers – REME or as John often joked, “Rough Engineering Made Easy”. When he was not running for his regiment, John
John’s father died suddenly in 1971 leaving John to run and grow Cheltenham Surfacing into the successful and well-respected business it is today. Whilst John was devoted to his work, he often said to me he was always happiest at home with Gill and his expanding family around him. He didn’t like to travel far, only flying once on a business trip to Italy. He was not comfortable in confined spaces and was an annoying passenger to have in your car, consistently giving you a driving lesson until you gave in and let him move behind the wheel. Bournemouth was to become John and Gill’s “Costa” and they bought an apartment there in the 1980s which became a family escape and home from home, all without having to get onto another aeroplane.There were happy family times with Stephen working through the business from the bottom up and Jeremy pursuing an academic route through college, eventually setting up his own successful quantity surveying business. At Bisham Abbey, Lucy developed her considerable tennis skills as a player and eventually a coach, skills she had inherited from her mother who is still a very competitive tennis player and an ever-present supporter for Alice and Emma at Dean Close. He formed a close relationship with two retired bank managers - Geoff Miller and Peter Mason three ‘Ms’ who John liked to call the Three Musketeers. Probably a more appropriate title for the group would have been ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ - wine there was aplenty! They played a lot of social golf and were members of Cotswold Hills
and even played golf exclusively in the Queen’s back garden at Windsor. Their den was the New Club in Cheltenham.
They had many yachting trips together over the years and Geoff tells of John`s first visit to France where they sent him out to get some croissants, bread and milk, only to have him arrive back with two boxes of wine instead, as they were on a special offer, and complaining it was dangerous out there with cars driving on the wrong side of the road! On a later Channel crossing their engine broke down. Despite hating working in confined spaces, he located the problem and made a temporary repair by cutting up a section of an old baked bean tin!
John had a great ability to fix and mend anything for anyone, using his extensive practical skills and impressive range of tools. Occasionally he became carried away and Geoff recalls him fixing a wobbling three-legged table. John’s solution to this was to add a fourth leg to stabilise it, much to Geoff’s and wife Jo’s surprise!
When I retired some 10 years ago we spent a lot of time together, playing golf and keeping my stables and paddocks up together where his granddaughter Steffi was keeping her horses. In this environment John was in his element using his army skills. John was not an animal lover and I still smile to myself seeing ‘big John’ being chased across the field by a miniature 3’ high Shetland pony - he wasn’t so quick then as in his school days! John will be sadly missed as a loving husband, brother, father, father-in-law, grandfather and friend.
Adapted from a tribute by friend, Geoff Hester.
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December 2017
Jonathan WILSON (Brook 1958) 1st June 1940 - 17th December 2017, died aged 77 from complications following treatment for cancer. The funeral was held on 15th January 2018 at Toddington Church.
Jonathan was born in Cheltenham in June 1940 to parents Mac and Nora Wilson, with three sisters, Christine the eldest and twins Caroline and Elizabeth. His mother died in 1951 when Jonathan was eleven years old. His mother had been a Sister at Cheltenham General Hospital.
November 2017
Peter Edwin SMITH Passed away in Cheltenham on 11th November 2017, aged 87 years. Husband to the late Valerie.
Peter was a Schoolmaster at Dean Close from September 1958 to July 1978. He arrived from Chatham House in Ramsgate where he taught previously. Peter was involved in many aspects of Dean Close life. He was a teacher of Modern Languages, later becoming Head of Department, and was succeeded by Mr C J Carmell. He was also Housemaster of Brook for 14 years, from 1964 to 1978, and he handed the role over to Mr T G Odell when he left. The Headmaster in his speech at Commemoration spoke at some length about his service and the difference to Dean Close that Peter had made. He was a true Schoolmaster.
It was written in the Michaelmas edition of the 1978 Decanian… “When Peter Smith took over as Housemaster of Brook, the House had neither settled down to its new abode, nor had it accustomed itself after Stanley Hoare's long and distinguished tenure to the idea of a different Housemaster. With both these problems Peter Smith coped in his own straightforward manner.
The standards he asked for were simple yet high, with hard work, sound discipline and an uncomplicated approach to all matters being the virtues he demanded. Hence the House under his leadership soon settled into a unit, as united as it had been in the past. Much credit must go to him for this. He also found time for many activities outside his House, and he has been one of those band of Housemasters, who, while usually being the busiest men in the School, have still managed to give more than most to out-ofSchool activities, particularly on the games field. His funeral took place on Tuesday 28th November at the South Chapel, Cheltenham Crematorium.
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Jonathan joined the School from the Junior School in 1954, joining Brook House when ‘Moke’ Hoare was Housemaster. He clearly began to make his mark when in 1955 he was recorded in the Decanian as having produced a dignified music cupboard in a recess behind the organ which he made and installed during the Christmas holidays. The editor remarked how we are indebted to him for his enrichment of our furnishings. Before this, in the summer of 1954 we first met him as playing the daughter of Jessica Shylock in the School production of The Merchant of Venice.
He was confirmed with 56 other boys in March 1955 by the Rt. Rev’d. W M Asquith, Lord Bishop of Gloucester. In the summer of this same year he is mentioned in the CCF report of summer camp, which did not go too well, as CQMS – Cpl I J Wilson. In 1957, the School put on a production of The Beggars Opera in the open-air theatre where else in those days? Jonathan was especially mentioned for ‘sketching’ a superbly vulgar portrait of the jailer. He is also listed as a House Prefect. Jonathan left school in 1958, joining his father in the family business Amos Wilson, quality builders in Cheltenham whose specialty was fitting out banks with all that mahogany. In later years, in partnership with Sean Walsh, they developed a contracting business to spread their expertise into other fields.
For many years Jonathan was a keen sailor based at Salcombe and then his interests evolved into vintage motor cars when he attended many rallies, making new friends in the process.
His first wife Sheila and he had two boys, Andrew and Ian, but later divorced. For the last eight years Jonathan was married to Margaret and they had settled in Toddington near Winchcombe. Nigel Fuller-Shapcott (Brook 1958) acted as best man for both his marriages. Jonathan had been an active round-tabler and a freemason in Royal Union Lodge, Cheltenham for 50 years. He will be missed by all who knew him.
Written by John Dodwell (Field 1959), assisted by Ross Cole (Tower 1958) and Nigel Fuller-Shapcott (Brook 1958).
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hearted, successful in the city and full of fun. He took me to Twickenham, on a wine tour of Bordeaux, to expensive restaurants in the Exeter area and pubs in the City with his claret drinking broker friends.
February 2018
Paul TIPPER (Tower 1958) 10th April 1940 - 21st February 2018, died aged 77.
A eulogy for Paul Tipper by friend John Harding (Tower 1958).
I first met Paul in September 1951. It was the first day of boarding away from home at Dean Close Junior School, Cheltenham. We were in the same dormitory of seven beds. On either side of me were Tipper and Tucker. I was homesick. I think Paul was too. We both covered up our losses as best we could. The Junior Matron was long legged, young and beautiful. ‘Tipper’, said Tucker, ‘when matron comes in ask her to stand on the bed and open the window and then we can look up her legs’. Paul smiled precociously. ‘Matron, can you open the window?’ ‘Tipper’, she said, ‘I'm not falling for that game, it's been tried before.’ We roared with laughter and in a sense throughout our 66 years of friendship at one time or another we never stopped laughing.
Paul had nicknames - Ginger Tabs or Mekon Bonce after the character in the Dan Dare episodes of the Eagle. Always popular, sociable, he enjoyed the camaraderie of his new friends. Both of us missed home. You survive through a network of developing friendships. Paul was often on the fringe of trouble in the Junior School. He had a habit of placing his hand over his mouth, whispering obscenities to the person nearest to him, which made us laugh in front of a master. We were punished, he was not! He was never a team player in the sense of enjoying rugby or cricket, but he did excel at hand sports like table tennis and tennis.
Paul and I both had older brothers in the Senior School. We joined them in the same house, Tower, two years later (again, he was in the cubicle next to mine).
In his teenage years, Paul had a girlfriend in Cheltenham called Hazel. She was the daughter of a chauffeur/gardener to one of Paul's friends’ fathers, called Ross Cole. Hazel's parents were a humble couple and she was the only child. Paul and Hazel wrote to each other for three years, four times a week at least. This romance with Hazel became like a running edition of the Archers. Almost every day in the dormitory at night he read the latest epistle from Hazel. He went to their home for tea on Sundays, often illicitly. I suspect, as did
In his fifties, Paul met Jo who gave birth to his last son, Christian.
Latterly, Paul met Megan, the fifth Mrs Tipper, and as she said memorably at their wedding, the last Mrs Tipper. She was his rock, his support, confidante and friend. Without her he would have found it difficult to survive. She gave him the base to enjoy life, meeting old friends, supporting his children, watching Chelsea, enjoying Tenerife and India, and settling for a slightly quieter life.
others, that the family life of Hazel and her parents with their caring stability gave Paul something he did not possess in his own family. The relationship lasted for three years. He was endlessly teased about Hazel but nothing really flustered him. I believe Hazel's family helped them survive some difficult years.
Paul, as he grew older and, particularly, in the last 10 years of his life when he was with Megan, became a focus for the Old Decanian Fellowship in London. He organised reunions in pubs and restaurants in Chelsea and Sloane Square. At the Côte Brasserie in Sloane Square, he was always reserved a table by a Polish head waitress who looked after Paul with devotion. He always tipped her generously and asked after her family. She will miss him. Paul was that kind of man. After hearing of his death, I wrote to the OD secretary telling him of Paul's death. He was hugely saddened and I reminded him that Dean Close was part of Paul's DNA, giving him an extra sense of belonging and recognition.
In the decade that followed our departure from Dean Close School, I was not much in touch with Paul and did not see his beautiful daughters by Jenny, Alison and Harriet, although we got to know them later. He progressed in the City and became a partner in a city brokering firm. He also gave a leg-up to his brother who joined the same company. We saw much more of Paul when he married Judy and they had Jonathan and David. We saw Paul and Judy, either in Richmond, Nottingham or in Exeter. He was devoted to his children by Jenny and Judy. These were good years for him. He was generous, open-
Most times I saw him in the latter years we talked of his children and grandchildren. They were the joy of his life. He rejoiced in their triumphs and successes and agonised when they had setbacks in their own lives. He reflected on his own life and the sense of dismay of his childhood after the breakup of his parents’ marriage. We missed our brothers too, now dead. We both attended the other brothers' funerals.
I should mention here my wife Flick, whom he knew for all of 55 years. She, too, has been a rock for Paul throughout our married life. We were both hugely grateful to him for all his generosity over the years and she, like many of his close personal friends, offered a haven to Paul when he was on his uppers and a little low in spirit. She sustained him with meals and food and always a listening ear. She loved him, his roguish behaviour as well as his bestbehaved appearances. Finally, I shall miss the phone calls which always began something like this. ‘Tipper, where have you been, you scab. What the hell have you been up to now?’ Roars of laughter and a mild retaliation from him, ‘Why haven't you returned my calls recently, John?’ The awful silence will be filled by the memory; it's the best we can do. Bless you Paul, you have left an unforgettable stamp on our lives. Paul was buried at Mortlake at a private ceremony on 29th March and his Memorial Service was held at St Paul's Church, Chiswick on 10th April (which was Paul's birthday), followed by a wake at The Bull's Head, Strand-on-the-Green. Paul’s fervent wish was to support the Cats Welfare Charity in Tenerife, a charity he got to know over the years because of his love of cats. www.cats-welfare-tenerife.com/donation/
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Philip David GAINE (Brook 1957) 28th February 1939 - 27th November 2017, died aged 78.
David, former Uppingham School Master and beloved husband of Katherine and brother of Michael (Brook 1963), died peacefully at home on 27th November after a protracted illness. The funeral service took place at Uppingham School Chapel on Saturday 16th December 2017.
David was Head of School whilst at Dean Close and Captain of Rugby, gaining his School colours in 1956 and 1957. He went on to study Classics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He was a long serving and much loved School Master at Uppingham where he was a Classics Master, Housemaster, Director of Studies and Second Master.
Jeremy Coulton CRAWFORD (Brook 1961) Died 24th February 2018, aged 75.
Jeremy Crawford came from a Royal Marine home. His father and two brothers had been in the Service. He had an older sister, Marianne, and a younger brother, Andrew. He attended DCS from 1956-1961, following in the footsteps of his father Anthony (Brook 1933) and uncle Charles (Brook 1937). In his final year at School, Jeremy was awarded the role of Prefect and gained his 1st XV Rugby colours. Jeremy was always noted as a very passionate Brook House sports player.
An RN Scholarship led to RM Officer Training (1961-63). A variety of postings followed, including Singapore, where Marianne was at the British High Commission. The high point of his career was undoubtedly his secondment to the Trucial Oman Scouts (1969), where he built up a considerable reputation. He was fluent in local Arabic, at home in the Empty Quarter, and on his return often did not give much respect to any roundabouts that confronted his Land Rover! In the Mess, his favourite tipple was ‘rusty nails’ (mixed Drambuie and Whiskey). Leaving the Service in 1979, he read Estate Management at Reading and qualified as a Chartered Surveyor. After working with Knight, Frank and Rutley, he settled in Clapham and began a new career in picture
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framing, which he called FHF: Frame ’em, Hang ’em and Flog ’em. It was a trade he enjoyed, excelled in, and was well known for. Every wall in his house was covered with his work so it became his ‘showroom’. His house enabled him to rent out the top room, but he was fairly choosy in his selection. In 1993 the room was taken by one, Simone Adams, and in time a relationship developed. In 1998, despite his age of 55 and Simone’s unquestionable youth (20 years younger) and attractiveness, they married. It was a stunning partnership which brought them both out of themselves in very different ways. Within 3 years, Jeremy was diagnosed with emphysema, which ultimately led to his early death. Simone was there for him right up to the end. In 2014, she felt obliged to surrender her successful post in Advertising in order to care for Jeremy full time. Her staggering devotion and love made all the difference to his final years. Jeremy was a highly respected individual, a charming host, an exciting person to be with, full of wit, humour and dare devilishness. Not always popular with authority, he lived life to the full, but always with a genuine concern for others. Deeply respected by all who knew him well, he will be sorely missed.
A Memorial Service was held at Chelsea Old Church on 26th April 2018.
April 2018
William DRUMMOND (Tower 1951) 6th April 1934 - 1st April 2018, died after a fall aged 83. Obituary taken from The Times …
William Drummond was an art dealer to whom discoveries happened, or, as he put it, things “manifested themselves”. One weekend in 1964 he found a print of a giant sitting on a hillside in the shilling box outside a junk shop on Kings Road in Chelsea. He had recently been to a Goya exhibition and this had Goya written on the mount. He took it home and pinned it to the wall to enjoy, until he happened to mention it to a friend, Richard Day of Sotheby’s prints and drawings department. It was recognised as an impression of Goya’s rare El Coloso and sold to the Boston Fine Arts Museum for £20,000 (about £400,000 today). With that Drummond bought his first house, once the Dulwich home of David Cox, the 19thcentury watercolourist. Although their background was not particularly artistic his father occasionally bought pictures at the Royal Academy, and Bill and his elder brothers gravitated to the art trade. Nick and Bill became picture dealers. David, the eldest, opened Pleasures of Past Times, the second-hand bookshop specialising in theatre in Cecil Court, off Charing Cross Road in central London.
Nick’s boyhood interests were drawing and numismatics, and he would cycle around the junk shops of Crystal Palace and Dulwich, sometimes with Bill and his prep school friend Jim Sellick. Sellick’s parents were avid collectors and when Bill found a horse portrait by John Nott Sartorius, he sold it to them for £4. At the same time Bill ran a black market in sweet coupons at Dulwich College in southeast London, which he financed by selling Nick’s copies of Leonardo drawings. On one occasion he bought a suitcase full of old spectacles of various shapes and colours and irritated the teacher by getting the entire class to wear a different pair every day. Elegantly colourful spectacles became a life-long trademark, as did bright red socks. William Drummond was born in 1934, the youngest son of John Neill Drummond, a
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director of Pickfords the hauliers, and Jeanne Alice (née Pell), who was of partly French descent. Schooling was disrupted by the Blitz, and his progress was erratic. He was hyperactive; art and sport had greater appeal than more academic subjects and he represented Surrey as a runner. After the Dulwich headmaster warned that ‘if your son doesn’t improve, I shall have to ask him to leave’, he was transferred to Dean Close in the Lent term of 1948. He became a house prefect in Tower House, gained his School colours for Rugby, was a Lance Corporal in the CCF and appointed the School Librarian. Whilst in Cheltenham he explored the Cotswolds on his bicycle, gaining a love of church architecture. He also discovered a junk shop run by Teddy Raymond, who had once bought a walled-up cellar full of port. Bill would join him for a glass and a bag of chips during lunch breaks. He left school for National Service in the East Surrey Regiment. He failed to gain a commission but was appointed Corporal and sent to the Suez Canal Zone. Afterwards, as a reservist, he joined the London Scottish Regiment, which he greatly enjoyed.
His father helped him to a place with a City insurance broker, which he enjoyed less, although it gave him the chance to see works of art. Lunch hours might be spent in mudlarking for clay pipes in the Thames at Queenhithe. Later, even when besuited in the West End, he was a keen skip-diver, securing such diverse prizes as a pair of 18th-century candlesticks, and much-needed electric fans during heatwaves. In 1956 he found a job with Sidney Sabin, a picture dealer in Cork Street, Mayfair. There he honed his eye and acquired a bank of contacts and clients, charming academics and collectors with his curiosity, lightly worn knowledge and gently anarchic wit. Among those who bought from him were Drue Heinz, Paul Mellon and Jackie Kennedy. ‘She was always interested and knowledgeable,’ Drummond said of Mrs Kennedy, ‘but the thing I most remember about her is her extremely long, thin feet.’
He had as keen an eye for an attractive woman as for a fine drawing, and when Sabin would not offer enough to secure Nina Preston, a would-be gallery assistant, Drummond made up her wage from his own. They married in 1960 and their daughters, Sadie and Dido, were encouraged to look at everything with curiosity. They would go on to take a rather bohemian approach to regular employment. On them, with their cousin Harriet, the Senior Director for British art on paper at Christie’s, falls the task of sorting out his remaining accumulations. He and Nina divorced in 1990; she predeceased him.
Sabin would not make him a partner, so Drummond opened the Covent Garden Gallery in 1976, offering pictures to collectors of all pocket-
lengths. At the Grosvenor House fairs his stand was crammed with interesting things, priced on labels written in brown ink. He also made his own mounts. In 1986 he cofounded the annual World of Drawings fair at the Park Lane Hotel.
Among the applicants to be his gallery assistant was a vivacious redhead. Before he had made his choice, he ran into a fellow dealer who said: ‘I hear that Fergie’s coming to work for you.’ Drummond had not told her any such thing but thought it showed spirit and so he employed Sarah Ferguson, the future Duchess of York. He found her ‘unbelievably efficient, helpful, outgoing and thoughtful. She even managed to make me eat, which is quite a feat.’
A discovery at that time was a dirty little oil landscape that his brother Nick bought for £38 in a job lot at Bonhams and sold to him at a suitable mark-up. It had a faint inscription on the back pointing to Brightwell, a Suffolk hamlet near the home of his parents-in-law. He thought it might make a good present. After cleaning, its quality became evident, but not its authorship. He and Nina found the spot where it had been painted and glanced into the church that appears in the distance. There they found a framed article from an 1829 copy of The Gentleman’s Magazine which mentions that the writer had a watercolour of Brightwell, copied from an oil painting by John Constable.
Drummond’s panel was quite unlike Constable’s loosely painted little oil sketches, being fully finished. However, at the London Library he found a Constable letter referring to a commission at Brightwell. Eventually in 1980 he took it to the Tate on his scooter with a dossier of supporting evidence. After an excruciatingly long examination, Leslie Parris, the authority at the time, told him: ‘We could do with a Constable like this in our collection.’ It was bought for almost £110,000 (about £530,000 today). Research has revealed that the two tiny dots on the road are probably the smallest identifiable figures painted: the Rev Mr Barnwell, who commissioned it, and the blacksmith’s son, who watched Constable at work. The Covent Garden Gallery was demolished during the rebuilding of the Royal Opera House in the Nineties. Drummond began working by appointment from chambers in Ryder Street, St James’. He did his research in a much-loved Dorset cottage. Convivial to a fault, he was a member of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at Burnham-onCrouch as well as the Garrick, and was often to be found at that 18th-century throwback, the Academy Club in Soho. He was also a proud Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. As he succumbed to dementia, he continued to enjoy opera and sometimes expressed himself in French.
John Michael KEMP (Gate 1955) 27th November 1937 - 9th April 2018, died age 80.
John Michael Kemp of Summerland, British Columbia, Canada passed away on Monday 9th April 2018 at the age of 80 after a stay in Penticton Regional Hospital. He will be lovingly remembered and sadly missed by his wife, Ann, of 56 years; son Michael (Blanche) Kemp; daughter Patricia (Dwayne) Johnson; grandchildren Erin, Brandon, Brianni, Brett, and Scott; and great grandchildren Jayden, Bentley, Victoria, and Mavrick. John was predeceased by his parents, James and Annie Kemp, and his brother David. John started at Dean Close in 1950 and joined Gate House. He was active in all parts of School life; he was a School Prefect, a Sergeant in the CCF and was very sporty. He especially concentrated on and loved swimming, hockey and rugby, gaining School colours for all of those sports. After Dean Close he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1969 John, along with his wife and children, emigrated to Canada. He spent his career as an insurance underwriter and had also been a school board trustee in North Vancouver, BC and an alderman in Golden, BC. He was an active member of the Rotary Club of Summerland and SOWTS. He had many hobbies including golf, curling, gardening, reading and world travels. Ann mentioned, ‘They were fortunate to celebrate his 80th Birthday on 27th November while on a Western Mediterranean cruise’.
He had a lifelong passion for steam trains and model railway building. John was a very intelligent, quiet, kind and gentle man with a dry British sense of humour. His family was loved and very important to him. His Service of Remembrance was held on 10th May 2018 at St Stephen Anglican Church, Summerland, BC.
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Patrick (Pat) John BRYAN 25th June 1929 23rd April 2018, died aged 88.
African teachers. His tour lasted three years, by the end of which he had begun teaching nonscience subjects at a secondary school. That led to teaching Latin in Lusaka for University applicants as well as History.
In 1955, at the end of his first tour, Pat returned home and married Gina. They returned to Livingstone, where Pat continued inspecting schools and Gina did secretarial work. They returned to England in 1961, now with a family of two sons, Peter and Richard, for Pat to teach Classics at the Royal Hospital School near Ipswich. A third son, Nick, arrived in 1964.
Pat began life in Eastbourne and, like his father, attended St Andrew’s Preparatory School and Rugby School. Again, like his father, he won a Scholarship to St John’s College, Cambridge. However, at that stage he did not want to be a Classics teacher and thought the Colonial Office might provide an interesting career. He changed his course at Cambridge from Classics to Archaeology and Anthropology. Nevertheless, he went to the London Institute of Education and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) to gain his PGCE, preparing to work in education in Africa, where he knew help was very much needed. In 1952 he sailed to Cape Town on his way to Mongu, Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia, now a part of Zambia. His job was inspecting 200 or so primary schools, all run by missionaries with
In 1969, Pat and Gina moved to Cheltenham on Pat’s appointment as Classics Master at what was then Dean Close Junior School. He was a staff member for the next twenty years and thoroughly enjoyed it. Initially a House Tutor of Yeaman, he was appointed Housemaster from 1973-80. He became Acting Second Master (Deputy Head) in March 1981, being confirmed in the post in September the same year. He retired in July 1989.
Pat was a keen cricketer and ran the Junior School 3rd XI from 1978–82 and the 2nd XI from 1983–89. He also helped with Colts Rugby in the 1970s and the 3rd XV, and acted as Master i/c Squash. However, Pat’s interests were not confined to sport. He was Young Decanian Editor 1978-83. Keen on classical music well into retirement, he continued singing bass in the Junior School Chapel Choir and in Dean Close Choral Society. His love of sailing, developed at Ipswich, was expressed in organizing annual cruises for DCJS children, first on the SS Nevada, later on the SS Uganda, mostly in the 1970s. His love of archaeology was put to good use in the
John Gearing WHITE (Field 1966)
John died aged 68 in New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton on 14th May 2018 after a short illness, having been diagnosed with liver cancer the month before. Richard Henry White (Field 1970), John’s brother, sends this report.
John’s career in the School was from the Junior School where he played the lead actor in some of the School productions, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
He left the Senior School in 1966 after having sat his O Levels and went on to study Computer Programming but became disillusioned with such a career path in the belief that it was a ‘passing phase’ and that there was no future there. Later in life he continued to express that he would still be proven right. John’s social intelligence and ability to easily interact with all people he met, led him into a career in Marketing.
He had a short ten-year sojourn in South Africa in the 1980s where he
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Archaeology Club that flourished in the 1970s. For a brief time he ran a Gardening Club and in the early 1980s he ran a Cycling Proficiency course during the holidays. He was interested in School productions, reviewing several and even appearing as a ‘robber’ in the Staff Panto of 1980.
His last project before retirement was the Adventure Playground built in 1989, parts of which are still in use today between the Covered Playground and the School Field.
In retirement he continued his Dean Close connections. He was a volunteer with the Archives Department, finding press stories about Dean Close Schools every week. He continued singing with Dean Close Choral Society and came to watch cricket matches as well as attending concerts, dramatic performances and Speech Days. Apart from his Dean Close commitments, Pat was also a member of three other choirs, and a regular attender at the Three Choirs Festivals. He was a life member of Gloucestershire Cricket Club and tried to attend Cheltenham Cricket Week. He was a committed member of Christ Church, Cheltenham and of Cheltenham Civic Society, and a strong advocate for and supporter of, the project to open a museum in honour of Gustav Holst in Cheltenham.
Apart from the joy of his seven grandchildren, Pat couldn’t resist a little teaching. For a while he taught reading to primary school children at Christ Church Primary. Pat will long be remembered as an essentially quiet, loyal, hard-working, committed Christian and gentleman and a servant of the Dean Close Community of whom it can be justly proud. C. E. Whitney
set up a business selling electronic toilets, after which he returned to the UK and started the same business, this time also manufacturing. This business he eventually sold and moved on to manufacturing them and marketing craft-specialist clothing until his retirement some 8 years ago.
I spent many hours with him in his retirement talking about our shared experiences as sons of the colonies in the 1960s with our flights over Africa, including our school days, where he pondered about Hollington’s cryptic astrological punishment notations on the corner of the chalk board, which confused the other teachers, and his endeavours in a fledgling Athletics Club in the Senior School (achieving his School colours). He last visited the School some three years ago on a mild January day for the 1960s reunion lunch. Later in life he also tried to educate me on his politics with many facts and figures gleaned from information courtesy of his Daily Mail Diploma, but with no success. He is sorely missed by his son and twin daughters.
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Jack JENNER, FCAANZ, JP (Gate 1954) 26th July 1938 - 23rd April 2018, died aged 79.
Jack entered Dean Close in 1952 and left in 1954 with a Scholarship into the Navy. He soon switched to Accountancy and moved to New Zealand, where he met and married Beth (a teacher). He had a very distinguished career as an accountant. He was a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand; only 58 such honours granted worldwide and only two to UK citizens. He was also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators and Fellow Governance New Zealand of whichthere are only 250 Fellows in New Zealand. His family whilst at DCS lived on Brick House Farm in Up Hatherley. One of his brothers also came to Dean Close, Martin Jenner (Gate 1951), who now resides in Australia. He will be very much missed by Beth, his wife for 53 years, his children Alan and Tania, and Marian, and grandchildren Ana, Andrei, Charlotte and Tessa. A service for Jack was held at Mount Albert Methodist Church in Auckland, New Zealand.
May 2018
Roland Jens-Christian HÖVER (Brook 1981) It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Roland Jens-Christian Höver on 16th May 2018 at the age of 55. Roland, born on 24th May 1962, was the beloved son of Nanny and Erich Höver.
Of German descent, Roland’s early schooling was in Germany, before he ventured across the North Sea to Dean Close for the 5th and 6th form. Carpe Diem describes Roland’s approach to life.
His humour and ebullient personality, skill in athletics and basketball, adventurousness and joy in a night at the pub, added immeasurably to life at Dean Close. A particularly humorous evening in Brook House came about when Roland arrived back from Spring break with 40 different bottles of German beer and invited five or six mates over for a “tasting” event. After graduation from Dean Close, Roland worked as a foreign trader from 1983-1996, living in Bombay/Mumbai for a short period and traveling extensively in India and Pakistan. From 19972005 Roland ran his own company, importing thatch for beautiful thatched roofs that hinted at the simplicity of medieval times. From 2007 until his passing, Roland ran his second company, specializing in exporting paper, a business
continued today by his wife, Elke, and eldest son, Morris. (Roland loved MG’s!) A true test of an individual and those surrounding him, comes not in good times, but in the challenging moments. Roland had lived with and fought cancer since 2005. Our friendship began during the year we shared at Dean Close in 1979/80 and has strengthened each year despite Roland living in Germany and I in the US. His battle with cancer barely entered his conversation. I hear the same from his close friend Steve Reynolds of Cheltenham. What Roland loved to talk about was life and, to him, that meant his wife and children, his many close friends and the great adventure of being alive.
After returning from Roland's funeral in Hamburg, I came away saddened that Roland is no longer among us, but heartened that he left behind three wonderful children, that all have his same broad and mischievous smile. I also know that Roland was surrounded by loved ones until his last days and will be missed dearly. Among those are his wife Elke, sons Morris and Gordon, daughter Velia, brother Sven and his family, sister Anouk and her family, mother Nanny and all of his many friends and admirers from all walks of life. Andrew Moore (Gate 1981)
June 2018
Peter Kennion CALDER (Gate 1940) Died 3rd June 2018 aged 96.
Peter joined Dean Close in 1937, following in the footsteps of his brother, Major William Calder (Gate 1937), he joined Gate house.
Peter was involved in so many aspects of life at Dean Close. He was a School Prefect, was an Under Officer in the JTC, an actor (played Jolland in Vice Versa), a Chapel Warden and excelled in most sports; Including Athletics, Cross-Country, Hockey and Rugby. He gained his School colours in all of those sports.
The 1st XV report in 1940 mentions that Calder who played on the left wing was ‘a beautiful runner with a natural swerve and our chief scorer of tries: if he had any room to move, his pace and determination were usually too much for the defence’.
Cross Country running was what he did best. He received his colours in 1938, 1939 and 1940, in his final year being made captain.
During WW2 Peter was deployed with the Royal Navy Reserves. He volunteered for ‘Human Torpedoes’, and later, serving in HMS Cattistock. He was wounded during the war and lost the sight of an eye.
Directly after the war he worked on a stud farm near Ilminster and later on he worked for Horlicks Ltd (1946-51), then Marks & Spencer (51-65), and finally GB Brittan Ltd (65-81) from where he retired in 1982. He lived in Ashbourne in Derbyshire.
Dr John Philip SEDGWICK (Tower 1957) John passed away peacefully at home in Rottingdean on 19th June 2018, aged 79 years.
John arrived into Tower House in 1952 where in his last year (1957) he was awarded the role of House Prefect. He was very much part of all aspects of Dean Close School life, including the CCF, where he was a Sergeant, and especially sport. An all-round sportsman, he gained his School colours in all three major sports: rugby, hockey and cricket. John’s mother was a Nursing Sister at Dean Close after the war, arriving in 1948, and eventually moved to High Wycombe.
John left Dean Close to study Medicine at Guy’s Hospital, London University, eventually becoming Director of University Health Services at Brunel Hospital. In recognition of his outstanding service to the University, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2003. Beloved husband of Judy and dearly loved dad of Nicola, Helen and Philip. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends. A celebration of his life was held at Woodvale Crematorium in Brighton on Thursday 28th June.
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Timothy Edward Brooks EAGER (Field 1958) 22nd July 1940 - 9th June 2018, died aged 77.
This preparation for the inevitable was so strong that he commissioned a coffin to be made with wood from a yew tree that had been felled at the Royal Oak. He took delivery from the Winchcombe maker Will Hall and the ‘coffin’ became a pub table until a diner commented: ‘Is this a coffin? Have they forgotten to remove the corpse? Let’s have another table’. Soon after, the coffin was stored at their Oddington home.
A tribute to Tim by Bill Cheston.
At the Royal Oak, we met Tim in his (as I learnt over the next 45 years) usual attire: Tattersall shirt, cravat, cord trousers, Pringle sweater and suede loafers - probably with snaffles and yellow socks. He was a very handsome, debonair and classically dressed fellow. The Royal Oak was honoured to have such a smart, witty and engaging owner. On the way back, the ladies gushed and said all the right things to give the impression that Tim had had his usual effect. Tim was born on 22nd July 1940 in Bishop’s Cleeve to Ted and Edith Eager. He was followed by his brother Christopher - sadly no longer with us.
School at Dean Close was marked by Tim’s skills as a field hockey goalkeeper, in those days dressed in a shogun style armour. Dean Close had a very high standing in the school hockey world during the ‘50s and ‘60s when they were coached by the then England Captain, Denys Carnill. Whilst at School, Tim was also promoted to House Prefect in Field House (run by Denys Carnill), was a Sergeant in the CCF and gained his School colours not only in hockey but also in rugby and cricket. A key match with Marlborough was preceded by a party organised by Tim that went so well he was still inebriated on the Saturday morning. His non-appearance on the team bus needed teammates to find him, dress him and prop him up in his seat. At the start of the game, he was so useless that he stood exactly where he had been put and headed all attempts at goal, as other efforts would have toppled him with little chance of recovery. Dean Close only lost 3-2. After school, Tim played for the Lansdown Club where he was considered one of the best goalies that had played for the club. Kay reports that he was also ‘on the bench’ for the England hockey team.
Tim’s days at the Queen’s Head were extremely reliable: he always opened at 11 am and 6pm and served at every session unless he was away in Lanzarote. He still, however, managed to sack the staff every day but forgot on the morrow.
British to whom he no doubt sold his stuff. You can imagine Tim in this location as he was already dressing like he was at the Royal Oak: debonair, witty and no doubt having a flutter on the local tables. He must have been very popular. After Cannes, on returning to the UK, he raised funds for his next venture by taking a job building a motorway in the south of England. He then made tracks for the Royal Oak which was a free house. He was landlord there, with Vickie’s support for the next 10 years, when, in 1984, he set up in the antiques trade in Cheltenham at 1, Hewlett Rd.
Cricket was another of Tim’s happy memories. He played in Tom Lal’s Stow charity games wearing his Gloucester Gipsies blazer and matching cap. With the Tattiebogles he toured the West Indies with his friend Tom Graveney, whose daughter Beckie reports that Tim (or Lovejoy as he was called) was the star of the party for his wit, relaxed manner and mixing rum punches, if not necessarily for his cricket skills.
A working life beckoned, or at least a means of earning enough to support the life he sought. Tim rather surprisingly applied for a job at Lloyds Bank, not to become a banker but to be near a source of funds to acquire his dream ticket: an Aston Martin. He soon had the car but we don’t know how long he graced the halls of banking.
In August 1987, he arrived in Stow to take over the Queen’s Head to start a 16-year tenure that proved very jolly to all his new clients and untold tourists. Tim loved the countryside and his shooting days with the Butlers at Farmcote Wood and other shoots in the hills. He had the most gorgeous Labrador, Polly, who lay on the door step or on the protruding bench next to the fireplace. She was so loved by all that on her death a wooden bench was fixed outside the pub in her memory – still there, with her name plate.
In 1969, Vickie and Charlotte moved to Hampshire and Tim took off for Cannes in the South of France where, by some means unknown, he opened an antique shop. Lacking fluency in French did not seem to frustrate this initiative as he made his daily rounds of the Cannes hotels and restaurants meeting ex pat
In later years he developed a strange attitude to his eventual demise: nearly every year, to his locals, finding this take on life rather amusing, he would say: ‘I’ll be gone by Christmas’ and then open a book. Naturally, every Boxing Day he had to pay out.
In 1966, Tim married Vickie and welcomed their daughter Charlotte, born on 30th November 1967.
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Tim seemed to be very fond of the odd gamble, though it never seemed to be an obsession. He loved to “make a book” on any manner of incident, forecast or not.
In 1989, Kay joined the staff of the Queen’s Head and eventually became Mrs Eager. So started a long partnership that endured until he relinquished the tenancy in 2003 to retire to their new home Quags Cottage in Lower Oddington. Charlotte was married to Shaun in 2000, with twins Tom and James who are now nearly 13. Quite recently, with great pride, Tim saw the twins open the batting for the Mardon village team in Kent.
Tim Eager was known far and wide as a super landlord and loved as a true English gentleman.
Tim’s funeral was held in St. Edward’s Church, Stow-on-the-Wold on Monday 25th June 2018. ODs in attendance included Mike Bawden, Jeremy Winter, Roger Reece, Mike McMahon and Ian Dimmer.
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Ronald MACARTNEY (Walton Court 1950) Died 22nd July 2018, aged 82.
Ron was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 4th August, 1935. After a few years in DCJS, Ron joined his brother (W K MacArtney) in the Senior School in 1949, leaving early in the Michealmas term of 1950. He moved with his family to America at the age of seventeen to finish High School and College. He graduated from Yale University in 1958. His career enabled him to travel extensively with his family, working for Pharmaceutical companies in International Marketing, finally deciding to settle in Hinsdale, Illinois, where he worked for many years as a Realtor until his retirement. During retirement he was a volunteer driver for the American Cancer Society Road to Recovery program and also found time to write his memoirs for his family. Ron was the loving husband of Sandra Lind, father of Douglas, Lisa, and David. Grandfather of seven, great-grandfather of seven, brother of Ken, uncle of many nieces and nephews, and great friend to many. Visitation took place at Hinsdale United Methodist Church on August 3, 2017, at 2:00 p.m., followed by a memorial service at 3:00 p.m. All were invited to a celebration reception afterwards.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Dates for the Diary
For more information on these and other events visit our website, www.deanclose.org.uk/Events or call the OD Office.
September 2018
Wednesday 5th September - Thursday 4th October 'HIGHLIGHTS': ART EXHIBITION BY ROSANNA TATCHELL (FAWLEY 2005) BonBernard Gallery, Dean Close School. Private View: 5.30pm - 8pm on Friday 7th September. Saturday 8th September FIRST HOME FIXTURE: 1ST XV VS RGS WORCESTER 2pm on Big Field
Thursday 13th and Saturday 15th September HERITAGE OPEN DAYS TOURS Take a walk around the Senior School with the School Archivist and find out more about our History.
Saturday 15th September CHELTENHAM SOCIAL AND CLASS OF 2017: ‘ONE YEAR ON DRINKS’ The Stable, Cheltenham from 6.30pm.
Sunday 16th September DEAN CLOSE REMEMBERS, BACON THEATRE Matinee Performance: 3pm. Evening Performance: 7pm Old and current Decanians will take to the Bacon Theatre stage to remember those who gave their lives in WWI in what promises to be another moving and truly one-of-a-kind performance.
Friday 28th September BUSINESS CLUB BREAKFAST - DIVERSITY & INCLUSION: MORE THAN JUST A GAME With Past Parent Laura Haycock, Client Engagement Manager, Pearn Kandola. 8am, the Pavilion.
October 2018
Saturday 13th October DEAN CLOSE SCHOOLS OPEN MORNING Open Morning for Parents and Prospective Pupils 218yrs. Please call 01242 258044 to register or for more information.
Saturday 13th October - Sunday 14th October ARROW TROPHY AT COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT A sailing competition between independent schools' alumni.
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Thursday 18th October 1ST XV VS SOLIHULL SCHOOL: KINGSHOLM
Thursday 18th October THE AUTUMN MEETING - THE BERKSHIRE GOLF CLUB Any ODs who would like to play please contact Alex Hume on ods@deanclose.org.uk Sunday 21st October DEAN CLOSE SIXES Dean Close School Astros from 10.30am The Old Decanian Society hosts the annual Alumni Societies’ Girls’ hockey tournament. Come along and support the ODs. HOCKEY CLUB If you would like to play, whether you already play, haven’t played for a long time or have never played, everyone is welcome to join the School Hockey Club. Old Decanians, Current and Past Parents take part and everyone is welcome to come along and have a go. Coffee is served in the dining hall after practice every Saturday morning and there are plenty of opportunities to socialise, culminating in an end of season event. Matches are fun and competitive with rivals including Common Room staff, parents from other schools and even the teams’ own children. If you would like more information call Sarah Hick on 07815 937 755, email dcparenthockey@gmail.com or come to the Astros on a Saturday morning.
November 2018
Sunday 4th November FIREWORKS DISPLAY Big Field, Dean Close School from 6.30pm
Friday 9th November DEAN CLOSE FOUNDATION CHORAL REMEMBRANCE CONCERT The Armed Man, Tewkesbury Abbey. 7pm
Saturday 10th November SENIOR OLD DECANIAN LUNCH: FOR LEAVERS BETWEEN 1960-65 This coincides with the launch of the Denys Carnill Foundation Award
Friday 23rd November BUSINESS CLUB BREAKFAST
December 2018
Thursday 6th - Saturday 8th December SCHOOL MUSICAL: MY FAIR LADY Bacon Theatre 7.30pm. Tickets will be in high demand, please visit www.bacontheatre.co.uk or call 01242 258 002 to book. Wednesday 12th December SERVICE OF NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS Dean Close School Chapel, 7.30pm All are welcome to join us at this annual Service followed by mulled wine and mince pies in the Dining Hall.
On throughout 2018 DEAN CLOSE REMEMBERS 1918 - 2018 Please also see page 21 for the programme of events commemorating the end of World War One. 50 YEARS OF CO-EDUCATION 1968 - 2018 Page 39 outlines the list of events celebrating 50 years of Co-Education at Dean Close School.
Dates in 2019 Friday 8th March CLOSE COMMUNITY CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING Join us for a morning of Clay Pigeon Shooting at Ian Coley’s, Cheltenham. Saturday 25th May DCS COMMEMORATION Class of 1999 ‘20 years on’ reunion.
Saturday 22nd June OLD DECANIAN DAY You are invited to join us at Dean Close School for the annual Old Decanian Day. There will be sports fixtures versus the School, BBQ lunch for all, activities for children, reunions, tours of the School, The Old Decanian Society AGM and Dinner. To mark 5, 10 and 25 years, there will be specific reunions for the classes of 1994, 2008 and 2013.
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This is the first Dean Close whole School photo (1973) that included girls. It has been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame photographers and can be re-ordered by visiting www.gsimagebank.co.uk/deanclose using token log in deanclose2018 or telephone 01869 328200.
Editors: Alex Hume (Dale 2002) & Connie Parker (Development & Alumni Assistant) Supported by RFT and Lydia Evans (Mead 2014) Thank you to all those ODs that contributed to the magazine this year.
www.deanclose.org.uk/ods