REMEMBERING PATRICK AND PAULINE QUIGLEY

Glen

Glen sadly passed away on 5 th December 2022. Mrs Knox and their daughter Jade shared lovely memories of Glen and told us how he often spoke of his time at school where he enjoyed playing the drums.

Their son, Julian, has written about his parents’ time at Gordon’s between 1974 – 1997. Together with their two other children, Brent and Kirsten, he spent many years living on-site at Gordon’s which became their family home.

‘My Dad, Patrick Quigley, Housemaster of Khartoum (now Balmoral) from 1980 – 1997, as well as History and English teacher from 1974 until his retirement in 1997, died on 9 th February 2023.

Sadly, my Mum, Pauline, who helped in the boarding house and with make-up/costume for pantos and shows, as well as teaching many boys the piano, also died recently, on 27th August 2022.

Many Gordonians have been in touch to offer sympathy and very kind words – for which my brother, Brent, my sister, Kirsten, and I are grateful.

The overwhelming tale of these messages has been how many boys thought my Dad appeared stern at first, before he won them over with fairness and understanding and a knowing sense of humour. Personally, I lost count of how many times I heard boys returning after leaving school and saying, “Your dad was hard when we were here, but I realise now what an excellent teacher and a great bloke he is”.

And, you know what? He was so proud of so many of his students. He and Mum took pride in simply getting some of them through hard times (homesickness hits hard!) or preparing them for life beyond Gordon’s - and also in hearing how well so many did after leaving school. (Almost as much pride as he took in reminding us of abseiling without a safety line on a field trip where Health and Safety was obviously an afterthought!)

Dad was a keen competitor. He liked his teams to win the House cups partly for the bragging rights but also because he knew that the time spent and memories created in winning together would help forge experiences that could be taken and used elsewhere. How often the cry of, “My young daughter could have done better than that!” drove boys on to fulfilling their potential on the playing fields.

He and Mum were a team: organising school trips behind the Iron Curtain to cold war Moscow and Leningrad (as it was) or stoking a keen interest in history for many boys on trips to World War battlefields in Europe, or, indeed, helping so many to thrive in sometimes unforgiving circumstances, miles away from home. They loved their time at GBS.

It is with huge sadness we shared the news that Arthur passed away in March 2023.

We will miss them. And we take heart in hearing that so many others will too.’