Great Times and Old Friends

SEPTEMBER 2016

Recent Leavers’ Drinks

It was wonderful to see so many of our 2016 Leavers join us for their first ‘official’ drink as Old Reedonians down at Reed’s Weybridge to watch the Reed’s v St George’s match.

OR Golf Society – Hartley Wintney

The final 2016 OR Golf Society day took place at Hartley Wintney GC, courtesy of OR Richard Plank (Blathwayt 1977). Despite a rather wet start, the course took the rain well and the afternoon cleared up so a great game was had by all, especially our overall winner, Peter Griffin (Capel 1984). If you are interested in more information about the OR Golf Society and dates for next year or would like to offer up a day at your club, please contact Sharmaine (smatthews@reeds.surrey.sch.uk).

Totnes Reunion

The annual Totnes OR Reunion was another rip-roaring success. Although a smaller group than last year, we were perfectly formed and the memories and stories were in abundance as ever, as well as the usual Reed’s bonhomie. Thank you to everyone who joined us, including wives, and to our absent friends who were definitely

there in spirit. We hope to see more of you in 2018.

ORs: Bernard Vincent-Pryke (Bristowe 1945), John Rogers (Bristowe 1946), Bill Collins (Bristowe 1948), Richard Raymont (Mullens 1949), Richard Borley (Capel 1951), Keith Miller (Bristowe 1951) and Chris Hawkins (Blathwayt 1962).

Grease Film Night

The first of our Film for the Foundation fundraisers was a great success, with not only ORs in attendance but a cross section of the wider School community (see ‘Back to School’ and

‘Syndicates’ articles).

ORs who came along to support Charlotte Mocatta (Mullens 1988) were: Jocelyn Mocatta obviously (Bristowe 1987), Sian Rowland (Mullens 1986), Victoria Cripps (Bristowe 1987) and Emma Aird (Mullens 1989).

OCTOBER 2016

Donor Thank You Reception

This was our third annual reception for donors to Reed’s and its Foundation, giving us the opportunity to thank everyone personally as well as report back on the impact their gifts are making.

As well as former and current parents, this year we were delighted to be joined by ORs: Matthew Close (Mullens 1995), Bill Collins (Bristowe 1948), Graeme Cottam (Mullens 1973), Bill Crawforth OBE (Blathwayt 1948), Angus Darroch Warren (Capel 1986), Mike Eaton (Capel 1969), Justyn Herbert (Capel 1983), Jocelyn Mocatta (Bristowe 1987), Charlotte Mocatta (Mullens 1988), Dan Murray (Blathwayt 1992), Ivor Nash (Bristowe 1948), Ernie Preece (Bristowe 1959), Jorrit Schrauwers (Capel 1997), Mark Snelling (Blathwayt 1979), George Spinks (Blathwayt 1953), Nigel Taunt (Mullens 1971), Tim Watney (Capel 1992), Matthew Whittle (Capel 2001), Andy Wotton (Mullens 1975), Nic Yellowlees (Capel 1975), John Alvey CB (Blathwayt 1940), Chris Hawkins (Blathwayt 1962) and John Rogers (Bristowe 1946).

NOVEMBER 2016 Headmaster’s Reception in Hong Kong

Every year the Headmaster invites ORs living in Hong Kong and the wider region to join him at a special reception held during the Education Expo week. We were delighted that this year Julian Doyle (Bristowe 2000), Dilal Ranasinghe (Capel 1999), Simon Hague (Capel 1986), Lucas Kiely (Bristowe 1994) and Tim Cheung (Bristowe 2010) were able to attend.

Oli Doyle Memorial Service

Out of sadness, often comes light. It was lovely to see a group of our 2007-9 ORs return to School for a special Chapel service in memory of Oli Doyle (Mullens 2007). Huge thanks to our Chaplain, Rev. Andrew Winter, Alex Balls, Caroline St Gallay, the Headmaster and all the teachers who joined our ORs: Ollie Bailey (Capel), Edward Lloyd (Capel), Ronnie Bourne (Bristowe), Will Cabourne (Mullens), Ed Cotton (Capel), James Kraftman (Mullens), Louis Lasa Tarbuck (Bristowe), Matt Riley (Bristowe), Kona Moraes (Mullens), James Simpson (Bristowe)

and Charlie Miles (Capel). Here’s to remembering Oli, gentlemen.

DECEMBER 2016

Recent Leavers Rugby XV v School 1st XV

The change of date for this fixture to later in the School’s season seems to have worked well. Not only did it allow for a more even match, but it has become a bit of a pre-Christmas celebration which is well attended by ORs, parents and former parents at Reed’s Weybridge.

The 2016 OR Leavers had a large and still relatively strong squad (despite the devastating effects of a term at uni!). This meant, after a hard-fought game, the OR captain, Toby Dabell (Capel 2016), lifted the President’s Cup on behalf of his team.

Reed’s friendships – forever!

They may be separated by around 60 years, but it’s great to see that Reed’s friendships stand the test of time. Two Christmas lunches – one with ORs from the 1940s and the other from the 2000s – took place simultaneously, both groups having met every year since leaving School! We are sure the banter was similar at both though and plans are afoot to get the two groups together to celebrate Christmas 2017!

MARCH 2017 OR Hockey – Stephen Shiells Competition

We held our annual OR Stephen Shiells Hockey competition down on the astros with two competitively fought matches: the School 1st XI and a Staff XI playing against a great group of ORs from across several decades! The end result was that the ORs lost in both matches but by only one goal in each; the important thing was that everyone had fun.

Gumpert (Capel 2015), Ali Hitch (Bristowe 2006), Rob Hurford (Mullens 2015), Max Kerslake (Blathwayt 2014), Patrick Leong-Son (Mullens 2016), Marcus Mahne (Bristowe 2016), Grace McGeehan (Capel 2011), Stewart Miller (Blathwayt 2011) (GK), Simon Moralee (Capel 1994), Archie Putt (Mullens 2016), Richard Smith (Capel 2005), Alec Ward (Capel 2016), Connor Ward (Capel 2016), Andy Shiells (Bristowe 1984), Ross Edser (Blathwayt 2014), Ross Edser (Blathwayt 2014), Jason Foster (Blathwayt 1995), Seb Horst (Blathwayt 2009), Jamie Hutchin (Blathwayt 1993), James Melville (Bristowe 2016), Stewart Miller (Blathwayt 2011) (GK), Harrison Moore (Capel 2014), Robin Page (Bristowe 1993), Ollie Pendered (Bristowe 1988), Tim Watney (Capel 1992), Ed Whiffin (Capel 2005).

Mini-Dutch School Reunion

As Alex van Holk was our guest speaker for the Andrew Reed Lecture (see Feature article), we thought it would be good to gather a few of our former Rijnlands Lyceum ORs. Despite it being a Tuesday night, it was wonderful to see: Rick de Jager (Bristowe 2004), Liza Dols (Blathwayt 2000), Mark Marijnen (Mullens 2005), Hylke van Slooten (Bristowe 2005) and Hilda

Veenstra (Blathwayt 2003).

APRIL 2017

20 Years On… 1997 Reunion

We had a really lovely family Sunday in May at Reed’s as we welcomed back some of our 1997 leavers to celebrate their ‘20 Years On’, and held a christening of an OR’s son!

(Mullens), David Bell (Mullens), Geraint Steer (Mullens), Rob Bakewell (Capel), Jorrit Schrauwers (Capel), Craig Wilson (Capel) and Luke O’Donoghue (Blathwayt) with their partners and children for a lovely afternoon of reminiscing and catching up.

We took a nostalgic walk around the grounds, making a special visit to The Close (where it all started) and some of the classrooms, especially the Biology lab named after Mr Hearle! This was all followed by a delicious cream tea and a browse of the Reed’s Heritage website (reedsschoolheritage.co.uk) where we found some hilarious pictures and mentions of the chaps. We hope to do this again soon, hopefully with a few others who sadly couldn’t make it.

A Reed’s Christening

It was also wonderful to see James Davey (Bristowe 1996) with his wife and family celebrate the christening of baby George at the School, after a service conducted by Reed’s Chaplain, Rev. Andrew Winter. A very special Sunday afternoon on a beautiful spring day at Reed’s.

870 ORS ATTENDED OUR EVENTS THIS YEAR

OR Golf Society – Tyrrells Wood

The Spring 2017 OR Golf Day saw 16 intrepid ORs tackling the wonderfully picturesque Tyrrells Wood course in Leatherhead, hosted by OR Andy Shiells (Bristowe 1984). The occasional sloping fairway favoured those with one leg shorter than the other, and it was no surprise that the winner had a low centre of gravity! Well done, Dave Edwards (Blathwayt 1982), for showing us a clean pair of heels, and many thanks to Andy for inviting us to a great venue and generously donating the prizes, leaving part of the entry fees to be donated to the Foundation.

MAY 2017

OR Golf – Grafton Morrish

Three cheers for our OR golfers who got through the qualifying round to reach the finals of the Grafton Morrish old boys’ competition which will take place on the weekend of 29th September. Team (L to R, F to B): Jamie Dawson (Capel 2014), Stephen Hobson (Bristowe 2013), Owen Kressinger-Dunn (Bristowe 2017), James Davey (Bristowe 1996), Andrew Macharg (Bristowe 1991) and James Ruddick (Blathwayt 2016) – thanks for giving up your time gents.

JUNE 2017

Reunion Day 2017

Thankfully it wasn’t as hot (or as wet) as the weather had been leading up to Reunion Day, making for another perfect opportunity to welcome back to Reed’s our ORs who left in a year ending with 7 plus our Totnes gents and Dogmersfield ladies. It was also wonderful to see so many families come along to picnic in the grounds and share the afternoon of games and cream teas.

The cricket was magnificent this year, and the Captains’ match reports make for some very entertaining reading.

OR Cricket – Dylan Paris XI v School 2017 Leavers’ XI Match report by Simon Stokoe (Mullens 1986)

With the usual Captain, Chris Gore (Mullens 1987), off to watch the Lions, the Dylan Paris OR XI had a new look when taking on the Reed’s Leavers XI on 12 (minus 5) Acre. Andy Shiells (Bristowe 1984) was also absent which wouldn’t normally matter, only he took his supporters with him, which was disappointing. However, the team had a refreshing set of new skills … for example, Earl Valentine (Capel 1987) – who flew in from Cape Town for the game like a favourite distant aunt who turns up surprisingly at your wedding – is a paragliding expert, so that helped.

As is tradition, the School side batted first and rattled along at a healthy pace despite some tight bowling by the legendary Dusan Jaksic (Mullens 1985) and Grayson Stuckey (Capel 2012) who is both a member of staff and an OR, although he doesn’t look old enough to be either. Our guest, David Miller, coped splendidly behind the stumps with our pace attack which was a major surprise considering he went to Claremont Fan Court as a schoolboy. Angus Darroch-Warren’s (Capel 1986) action had changed somewhat since his time at School: scaled down in favour of a curious, loopy number but – as he has connections in the dark world of security – let’s just say he bowled nicely and took a wicket.

Jonny Gleed (Mullens 1987) also embraced change this year with an unexpected appetite for sobriety. Certainly, his (only) contribution of passing the ball back to the bowlers from first slip had a greater accuracy this year although his usually enquiring and insightful sledging lacked a certain piquancy as a result of not being hammered. Although Mrs Gleed may not concur, back to the claret next year Jonny?

Joe Paris abandoned his inherited gift for spin bowling but instead gave us a credible demonstration of medium pace ‘seam up’. His father would have been impressed, I suspect. He’s a good looking lad and a chip off the old block, though frankly, a haircut and a shave wouldn’t go amiss.

Jamie Jamieson (Mullens 1985) bowled the longest continuous spell of five overs with a testing line and length, but the Captain must take responsibility for not realising Jamie’s Achilles heel, which is his Achilles heel! So when it ‘went’ during his fifth over, grave concerns arose regarding his capacity to open the batting.

The bowlers all did a fine job. Jaksic and Stuckey took two wickets apiece, D-W took one, assisted by a fine catch in the deep by Jamie, who followed up with a plumb lbw of his own. All of the bowlers were enthusiastically and ably supported by the fielders, other than Benn Shepherd (Blathwayt 1986), that is. To say Benn had quite a disappointing day in the field yesterday is a bit like saying Diane Abbott had ‘quite a disappointing’ election campaign. When he spilled his third sitter of the day off Mr Stuckey’s bowling, it was only being a School Governor that saved him from a ‘wedgie’. Ross Webster (Mullens 1995) showed natural leadership in the field that comes with being a former Captain of School cricket but, as he doesn’t bowl – he batted at four and got a duck – we must assume he was a heck of a fielder in his day?

The 20 overs came and went and the Reed’s XI scored an impressive but not insurmountable 158 for 6, with Burnett, Major and Wakeling doing most of the damage with the bat.

As the ORs had visibly not been shy with food since we all left Reed’s, we were encouraged to miss tea and carry straight on. Jamieson, now effectively using one leg (and Jo Paris as his runner), joined Simon Stokoe (a prolific run scorer in previous years and the people’s Captain – Mullens 1986) at the crease.

The pitch was bordering on unplayable for batting and, despite a neat leg glance for four, Stokoe succumbed to a vicious in swinger that lesser men could not have got a bat on, brilliantly taken at mid-off by Reay.

Shepherd, Ross, Jaksic and Darroch-Warren all went cheaply, with Cookman taking two wickets, and O’Connell and Major one each. Zadjler completed a remarkable spell of two overs for 28 which included 1 wide, 5 no balls, obviously no wickets and suitable hilarity among his unsympathetic team mates. (Curiously, Zadjler received an award at the end of the match for a 6-wicket haul in a previous match this term. The mind boggles.)

With Jamieson still in (hobbling like a lame donkey and aided by an increasingly thirsty Paris) and Stuckey joining him at 7, the game seemed entirely beyond our reach. However, this pair proceeded to deliver what can only be described as one of the great partnerships in the history of the fixture with a magnificent 100 run stand. Stuckey was 33 not out at the close off 30 balls for which he should be richly applauded. Jamieson opened the innings, faced 56 balls, scored 11 fours and 3 huge sixes for 80 runs and was run out just 2 runs short of the target (how good would he be with two working legs?!). The only cricketer who could match Dylan for pure class in our era was Jamie and he proved the adage yesterday that class really is permanent with an extraordinary display of shot selection and ball striking that we were privileged to witness.

The fact it was not quite enough for that long-awaited victory mattered not, as all involved had a thoroughly enjoyable match played in great spirit. On behalf of the Dylan Paris team, I would like to thank the school and the boys very much indeed for providing us with the opportunity to play this important match and we wish all the Leavers the very best of luck in their future pursuits. We would also like to thank Sharmaine and her team for helping so much to get us organised, and to the lovely support we had from all the wives, partners and children who came along to watch.

As for next year, this was such a close-run thing, I suggest we stick with the same 11 but advertise for a non-playing manager? If you know of a suitable candidate or would like to apply, please get in touch with Sharmaine (smatthews@reeds.surrey.sch.uk)!

Simon Stokoe (Captain, Dylan Paris OR XI, 2017)

OR 1st XI v School 1st XI Match report from Jonathan Hedges (Blathwayt 1999)

As is tradition, the OR XI batted first on Big Side and thanks to fifties from Alex Redmayne (Mullens 2012) and Michael Wakefield (Mullens 2005), the ORs took a comfortable lunch with the score at 138/2. Sadly, Michael failed to convert his fifty to a century as he was caught at cover for 97, trying to up the scoring rate in preparation for the declaration. However, a succession of quick wickets followed and the ORs looked in a precarious position at 233/8 before a 50-run partnership for the 9th wicket pushed the score to 280 from 56 overs when the innings was declared. With the bowling options a little light on the ground, early wickets would be crucial to stop the 1st XI completing a comfortable run chase.

Kieran Corbett (Bristowe 2014) delivered just that: two early wickets and then Wakefield claimed the big scalp of the 1st XI Captain and leading run scorer, Nathan Tilley just before the tea, leaving the 1st XI 38/3 at the break. However, a superb partnership for the 5th wicket of over 100 runs recovered the innings and, as the final 20 overs approached, only 120 runs were required. The OR XI then made the breakthrough and cleaned up the tail with relative comfort to complete a victory by a 60 run margin with Corbett finishing with 4 wickets. Thanks to those mentioned and the rest of the winning team: Sikh Rihal (Mullens 2001), Sam Brandon (Capel 2008), Rory Woolston (Capel 2012), Lewis Bowerman (Mullens 2015), Michael Woolston (Capel 2015) and Mickey Strang (Capel 2016).

Reeds Weybridge Update

For those of you who do not follow rugby too closely, then perhaps you should, because we have such a young and talented side down at Whiteley Village playing an exciting brand of rugby that makes for great Saturday afternoon entertainment, and a welcoming clubhouse as well. But you would have needed nerves of steel to stay calm during this last season of rugby.

In the previous season we had come so close to promotion and were bitterly disappointed to have missed out. We played eighteen League games, home and away, with the two top sides going up and, during the first half of this last season, we were looking the favourites to claim the top spot having had some relatively comfortable wins. However, we lost our ninth game, the last before Christmas, against a very good Old Haileyburian side.

The top three in the league were now Haileyburians, Reed’s and the Met Police. In the second half of the season we had some desperately close games against lesser fancied sides, nicking a win against Merton, and a very close game against Old Rutlishians away. But it was the next game against London Media that so nearly cost us promotion: we had stuck eighty-four points against them in the away game, but they came down to Whiteley with a completely different side and tore into us from the start. At half time we were nearly thirty points adrift and staring defeat in the face. With nothing to lose, we ran everything and Reeds fitness was crucial to the final result; seeing big Joe Moriarty, the winger, thundering down the touchline for the winning try was something that packed touchline crowd will remember.

Now for the home game against Old Haileyburians, which was also the occasion of the Past Players lunch. The Whiteley Village touchlines were packed, they had come to see their heroes win, but they didn’t… on the day our visitors were the better side and we went down by three tries to one – promotion hopes were now on a knife edge. We won narrowly against a very good Johnian side and that left us second in the league, our final game was against the Police: promotion would be decided on the result of that last game away at Imber Court.

Reeds had the better ‘points-scored’ record so the Police had to win and score four tries for a bonus point. Reeds could lose but, as long as we scored four tries, we would be promoted. We were all over the Police in the first quarter and then they scored three tries and we had just one at the change round. We just had to score three more tries; it didn’t matter how many the Police scored so long as we got the four. It was really nail-biting stuff, we collected another two tries, but it wasn’t until the last five minutes when winger Chris Stegmann received the ball out wide on the 22. The Police cover was fanning out, they got hold of him but just couldn’t bring him down-it was try time, the fourth, and Reeds was promoted. You really couldn’t make it up, a truly ‘boys’ own’ finish to the season.

George Spinks (Blathwayt 1953)

ORs at Surrey Schools Golf Society Festival, Bramley Golf Club

Old Reedonians were invited to play in the festival for the first time this year versus twenty teams from Surrey schools (the likes of Hampton, Tiffin, KCS, Wimbledon) at Bramley Golf Club. The tournament format was seven players with best five cards counting for your team score handicap limit 24. The mighty Reed’s team included Jeremy Sherwood (7), Andy Macharg (9), Dave Mcelhiney (13), Andy Shiells (15), Richard Plank (20), Ed Peters (24) and Adam Jones (11). We played off the yellow tees, the consensus of the course was short, tight and a little tricky on the first four holes.

This was no problem to Ed Peters who won the nearest the pin on sixteen and managed to birdie the most difficult hole. Ed was so keen to collect his prize, he was seen marching down the sixteenth fairway to collect the nearest the pin marker just to make sure! Although we didn’t win the individual prize, we gelled well as a team and won the team competition with consistent golf; Dave (35 points), Adam and Ed (34 points) Andy and Richard (31 points), Andy and Jeremy (29 points). We will be defending our title at Bramley next year.

JULY 2017

Reed’s ORs v Exeter Uni

Every year, Rhys Davies (Blathwayt 2011) organises a T20 match on Big Side between 11 of his 2011 OR contemporaries and 11 of his alma mater 2014 Exeter grads.

This year the following ORs took part with many who came down to spectate, and a great time was had by all!

Jack Puttock (Capel), Tom Edgerton-King, Rhys Davies (Blathwayt), Sam Chamberlain (Mullens), Sam Puttock (Capel), Michael Loizias (Mullens), Luke Steyn (Capel), Chris Heddle (Bristowe), Matt Beven (Blathwayt) and Harry Joyce (Blathwayt).

OR Tennis

Our OR Tennis team of Alex Croker (Capel 2012), Harry Burley (Blathwayt 2012) Josh Southern (Capel 2014) & Adrian Blackman started off the OR entry into the prestigious D’Abernon Cup in fine form by beating Old Etonians 3-1 in the first round match.

Then Josh Miller (Mullens 2005), Alex Bull (Mullens 2007), Ben Draper (Bristowe 2017) and Damian Rodriguez (Mullens 2017) (pictured) secured a 4-0 win in the semi-finals and will go on to play Old Reptonians in the final to be held on the hallowed turf of The All England Tennis Club.