OA Bulletin - Autumn 2008 Edition

OA BULLETIN

Roger Seymour (52) found this photo of cricket at Belmont, dating from the early 1900s

Old Albanian Club

DIARY DATES December 2008

Annual Dinner – Friday 20th March 2009

OA CLUB www.oldalbanianclub.com President

Stephen Burgess 01727 867868 hawkeyeb59@btopenworld.com Secretary David Buxton 01727 840499 d.buxton@virgin.net Treasurer Brian Sullman 01582 460317 Membership Secretary Roger Cook 01727 836877 Rogercook@btinternet.com OA SPORTS www.oasport.com RUGBY President Adrian Tominey 01727 830226 ajt@rudwickhall.fsnet.co.uk Chairman Robin Farrer 01727 832621 robin.farrer@OARugby.com Treasurer Sandy Bell 01727 833519 sandy.bell@OARugby.com Secretary Peter Lipscomb 01727 760466 peter.lipscombe@OARugby.com Mini & Junior Rugby Chairman Rory Davis 020 8267 0003 rory.davis@OARugby.com OA Saints Chairwoman Tasha Saint-Smith 07971 849290 Tasha.saintsmith@club-concierge.com FOOTBALL www.oasoccer.co.uk Club President & Manager Simon Bates 07720 383600 / 01442 240247

Nick Chappin – Editor Andy Chappin – Design & Production Roger Cook – Membership Mike Highstead – Gazette Printing - Herts & Beds Printing 01923 234959 2

OA BULLETIN DECEMBER 2008

Treasurer & Club Secretary David Hughes 07890 831315 / 01727 769237 dh@sherrards.com Sponsorship Secretary David Burrows 07841 431614 CRICKET www.oacc.org.uk President Aln Philpott Chairman Andrew McCree 07890 831315 / 01727 769237 andrew@oacc.org.uk Treasurer Denis King denis.king@btinternet.co.uk Fixture Secretary Julian baines Jules_baines@msn.com TENNIS Membership Enquiries Sue Barnes 07970 301345 sbarnes@st-albans.herts.sch.uk Coaching Enquiries Diana Wilkinson 07767 237474 diana@kennett37.freeserve.co.uk OTHERS Rifle & Pistol Andrew Wilkie 01727 856857 Angling Geoff Cannon 01582 792512 Golf Peter Dredge 015827 834572 pjdredge42@aol.com OA LODGE John Williams

OA COMMENT

O A C O N TA C T

OA BULLETIN DECEMBER 2008

Editorial

Better late than never…

First, an apology: due to the continuing ill-health of our elderly father, and compounded by a work mountain of Himalayan proportions throughout the Autumn, my brother Andrew and I have been unable to devote the usual time to producing the Bulletin. As a result, you’re probably reading this Winter issue as the first crocuses are sprouting.

We’re sorry for any disappointment or inconvenience this delay may have caused to our readers, but as you will appreciate, there are inevitably times when other aspects of one’s life simply must take precedence.

In fact, this serves to highlight one of the major issues facing the OA Club today. Traditionally, clubs such

as ours have relied heavily on the goodwill of a number of unpaid and often unsung members, who give freely of their spare time for the common good. However, the harsh realities of commercial life demand that its facilities are run as a profitmaking concern, and that the School continues to invest heavily in its infrastructure to attract the best pupils and teachers in an increasingly competitive education market.

To put it bluntly, the voluntary efforts of a few dedicated members is no longer enough in today’s world.

Woollams employs a professional team to run the day-to-day operations and develop the business – a far cry from dear old Beech Bottom – and the School has appointed a full-time Development Officer with the longterm aim of securing future revenue streams. As her title suggests, Kate

01438 715679 jtwilliams@onetel.net

SCHOOL WEB SITE www.st-albans.herts.sch.uk

Address for correspondence: Nick Chappin 18 The Pleasance, Harpenden, Herts AL5 3NA Telephone: 01582 461674 (home) 07980 565645 (mobile) e-mail: nick@chappin.co.uk

Form 5A of 1955, sent to us by Dr Anthony Harrison-Barbett (55)

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President’s Notes Le Sueur’s role is to develop the network of former St Albans School pupils, and her first task was to track down as many OAs as possible around the world. As a result of her labours, and building on the sterling efforts of Membership Secretary Roger Cook down the years, we now know the whereabouts of around 75% of OAs likely to be alive. Kate will be a regular contributor to the Bulletin, and you can read her first report on page 18.

Elsewhere in this issue you’ll find the usual reports from the President, the Headmaster and the OA Lodge, and news of a number of successful

reunions organised with the help of the School Development Office. We say farewell to a number of OAs – many tragically young – and applaud the achievements of current and former pupils across all walks of life.

My thanks as always to all those who have taken the trouble to write, and to all our regular contributors for their continued support. I look forward to a bulging postbag in time for the next issue, which will be with you sooner than you think…

Nick Chappin (75) Editor

Notes for budding authors

guide a page in the Bulletin is around 450 words. Please note that we reserve the right to edit the text as appropriate.

■ In response to a number of enquiries, here are a few helpful tips for all you budding contributors out there Subject matter Absolutely anything you think would be of interest to fellow OAs, from anecdotes and recollections of your schooldays to the events and experiences over the intervening years. Your contribution can be in any form, from a letter or article to a snippet of news or a simple photo caption, and can be submitted electronically via e-mail or in hard copy format by post to the address below.

Length There is no limit to length, but as a

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Photos Photographs on any subject are always welcome. They can be submitted either electronically (preferably in JPG format) or in hard copy format to the address below.

Once scanned, the originals will be returned to the sender. Both colour and black and white photos are acceptable, as the Bulletin is printed in mono but appears online in full colour.

Address Please send your contributions to Nick Chappin, Editor.

Post: 18 The Pleasance, Harpenden, Herts AL5 3NA Email: nick@chappin.co.uk

Time flies ■ In December, OA Club President Stephen Burgess will have completed two years in office, and he looks back at some of the main changes that have taken place during his tenure The November Drinks Party was the sixth function I have hosted. I also attended a reunion of those who commenced school on the 18th September 1958. The reunion was also on the 18th September 50 years on.

Changes brought on by age seemed irrelevant as all had a good time. This is the second such reunion in the last two years, enjoyed them greatly and many old the earlier one being for those who started friendships have been rekindled. school in September 1957. I understand At Founders’ Day in July, there was a other reunions are in the Goudy of the 1970-79 leavers pipeline. and there was a record The records now The chief change that has attendance of 113. In addition, occurred in my term of office 27 former Heads of School from cover approaching the 1930s to the present day has been the decision to merge the Club’s records and the attended the lunch. Stephen 75% of those likely Gell, Spanish master at the record keeping with those of the School under the care of the school for 41 years, marked his to be alive and Development Office, headed by retirement in July with a lunch Kate Le Sueur. At the start, we for some of his old pupils and e-mail addresses of 39 attended this lunch on handed over our records of around 3,000 former pupils. We Founders’ Day. Well over 200 40% of members have been able to confirm most OAs were lunching at the of those records and amend school that day spanning where necessary. In addition, leaving dates of over 70 years. the whereabouts of approximately 2,700 I mention this because to my mind this other OAs have been established so that the fully justifies the decision to merge our records now cover approaching 75% of those records. It will lead to more OAs being able likely to be alive. In addition, we have been to keep in touch and maintain friendships. able to establish e-mail addresses of about I congratulate Roger Cook for keeping 40% of the membership. records so diligently up until 2007 and Kate All this is a tremendous result and has on the successful expansion of our records enabled the successful reunions of the 1957 over the past year. As you may know, the and 1958 starter years. I believe that every School gives a block grant to the OA Club one of those who attended these reunions and all new contacts as well as school

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attend the dinner should contact Kate Le Sueur at the school on 01727 814391 or by email to development@st-albans.herts.sch.uk

leavers automatically become members of the OA Club and go onto the mailing list.

This brings us into line with the practices of other leading schools and former pupil associations.

In recent months, the St Albans School Foundation has been established to provide wide long-term support for the School not just for specific developments. A Gateway Society is to be established to give recognition to those Old Albanians and friends of the School who wish to remember the School in their wills, and as President, I give these initiatives my full support.

A change of date for the dinner Since the last Bulletin, your committee has decided to change the date of the annual dinner to the Spring with next year’s dinner to be held on March 20th 2009 at the

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Presidents’ Lunch: OA President Steve Burgess discusses the wines with Dick Knifton of the OA Lodge Woollams Clubhouse. Please put this date in your diaries.

At present, we have a Presidents’ Garden Party in June and the dinner has been held before Founders’ Day in the first week of July. Founders’ Day is an important day for the President who in addition is invited to speak to school leavers on Graduation Day also in early July, which makes for a crowded programme. By moving to March there will be a more even spread of functions and this has the full agreement of the School. The dinner will not coincide with the Bulletin but the new records and particularly the email records will enable us to give more timely notice. Those wishing to

and rugby clubs encourage junior sport and with impressive organisation. The two clubs combined have over 600 junior members from 5-18. A visit to Woollams on any Sunday morning of the year will confirm what a great success junior sport is at the club.

The sports clubs are all effectively open clubs but the links with the School remain strong and our junior activities are greatly helped by the School who give the OA sports clubs access to the School’s facilities.

As in the past I encourage all OAs to discover and use their clubhouse and our fine sports facilities.

Woollams The clubhouse and grounds at Woollams continue to be hives of activity. The weather was not kind this summer for cricket but all the clubs sides managed to maintain their positions in the competitive Herts League system. The Saturday Firsts had a struggle but a strong finish kept them safe with the promise of some returning players for next year.

Tennis continues to thrive and we keep our fingers crossed that finance may be granted for As I write these The website headlights on the all weather Our new website has been a notes, we are courts. Our netball girls had a great success with a much solid season so congratulations greater number of visits. The heading for a to them. average time on the site has The new rugby season is well increased with an encouraging recession, and I underway as I write these number of new visits. As on so notes. We did not get a result many sites, the photo page is fear that it may be the greatest interest. If you from the first game against a Luton side coming down from are an OA and have something protracted the National Leagues but the of interest, particularly second game against Haywards pictures please get in touch Heath was much better with an with Kate Le Sueur at the excellent and entertaining win. Our lower Development Office detailed earlier in my sides are looking much stronger this year notes. with a particularly strong second team.

Your support is always welcome. The side Economic hard times play in a very strong league which this year As I write these notes, we are heading for a includes Jersey so supporters get to attend a recession, and I fear that it may be very good away fixture. protracted. Such times are easier to bear if We still field an enthusiastic football we maintain friendships and help each team and golf is well supported. We have other so I urge you to remain considerate two very successful ladies rugby teams with and supportive to your friends, neighbours excellent coaching support. Woollams is a and those who find it difficult to help fine venue for holding events as many themselves. visitors can affirm.

Stephen Burgess As you may know both the cricket club President, Old Albanian Club

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Headmaster’s Notes

Rivalling Beijing

Carey retaining the County Schools U18 Championship, beating Berkhamsted in the final. Our first girls’ pair, Katie Pollitt and ■ Headmaster Andrew Grant reports on the Amy Scott, reached the ladies’ final for the progress of an extensive building and first time but was defeated by a very strong refurbishment programme for the School – and another Summer of outstanding sporting pair from Queenswood.

In athletics, Tom Brooks in the 800m and and academic success David Prince in the High Jump, became County Champions, while Lucy Yates took All summer the School has the Silver medal in the South of England been a building site as major 800m championships at Crystal Palace. We remodelling of the ground floor of the Sixth Form Centre had seven individual District Champions and took second place in the District has been going on alongside overall. Tom Brooks was selected to phase 2 of the refurbishment of the Hall; an represent the County in the overdue repainting programme; English Schools Championship the state-of-the-art at Gateshead.

In athletics, Tom refurbishment of two Physics Heroes of the cricket season labs courtesy of the grant from were the U12 (First Form) year Brooks in the Wolfson Foundation; group, who, in the course of the installation of a huge amount of year have carried off the the 800m and new computer equipment; the trophies from four major first ground works for the David Prince in the competitions: The Broxbourne Sports Centre in the Orchard Rugby Tournament; our own, and, last, but by no means least, High Jump, became inaugural Prep Schools cricket the erection of an ultra-modern tournament; the District new bicycle shelter at the top of County Champions Cricket Championship, where the Orchard, instantly dubbed they beat Verulam by 7 wickets “Terminal 5” by those who first and the County Cup, in which saw it in situ. they bowled Heath Mount out for 70 and The Bursar and his team are to be went on to win by 3 wickets. congratulated on bringing to a successful The U14 team claimed their District Cup, conclusion in a tight timescale an too, with a strong whole-team performance undertaking that, for those on the spot, has at times felt as though it rivalled Beijing’s… in the final against St Columba’s.

The First XI kept their end up well, with which, of course allows me to segue a total of 13 victories in a season in which smoothly into talking about achievement and success, of which there has been plenty, twins James and Richard Leather amassed 46 wickets and nearly 750 runs between both last term and over the holiday. them and the School drew against the MCC Throughout the summer term, our tennis for the first time in a very long while. Their teams continued to make good progress with the U16 team unbeaten in the National outstanding win was that in the Bedford Twenty/20 tournament, in which they saw Team Tennis Competition and the senior off the County side as well as the hosts on men’s first pair of Jamie Dillon and Ben

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their way to the win, while Jack Reynolds was named bowler, and Will Reed batsman, of the tournament.

The most satisfying victory, though, was almost certainly the 5-wicket win on Founders’ Day over an OA President’s XI that had come with the serious intention of turning the tables this year.

Earlier, the Choir (and trumpeters) had led our Commemoration Service in fine style on a day notable for the attendance at the Gaudy of more than a hundred OAs from the 1970s and 27 former Heads of School who came for the unveiling of the new Heads of School honours boards in the Library foyer.

A highlight of the end of term was the Art and Design Technology Exhibition.

This is an area of the curriculum where there has certainly been no dumbing down and where the standards achieved are extremely high by any objective criteria.

Over the holiday, the CCF Army section were busy on Summer Camp at Crowborough, where the Ghurkhas and the Paras were on hand to train 69 of our cadets in fieldcraft in what officers judged the best

annual camp of recent years. The adventurous training opportunities included rock climbing, mountain biking, windsurfing, kayaking, canoeing, sailing and archery, while the contingent put in a very strong performance on competition day against twelve other schools. St Albans School won the Command Task and the Indoor Range and earned silver medals in three further areas, finishing second overall by the smallest of margins.

Soon afterwards, the Norwegian fjords were a perfect setting for the summer adventure training exercise, which my wife and I had the pleasure of visiting this year, together with the Second Master. Highlights included overnight camps with bonfires beside Norwegian lakes, rafting on Grade 3 rapids, rock-diving in the nearby lake, Elg stew and timed Formula One style go-kart races, where cadets had the opportunity to take on the staff, with mixed results.

The trip also enabled seven Lower Sixth cadets to complete their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Gold Practice Expeditions in terrain used for training by many nations’ Special Forces, earning

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this was made to look somewhat ordinary themselves a write-up in the local by the 10% leap in the A*/A ratio at GCSE. Norwegian paper.

At over 81%, this put us in very select Forty Geography students and five company, and, again according to The members of staff enjoyed a highly Times, among the top ten boys’ schools in successful 5-day trip to Iceland, putting to the country. the test what they had learned theoretically Among some outstanding individual in the classroom. The Head of Geography, performances, Charles Read, with four A always prepared, like all my colleagues, to grades at A level, another at AS and a suffer in the service of his vocation, writes Distinction and a Merit in Economics and lyrically of swimming in geothermallyHistory AEAs deserves a mention, not least heated turquoise water at more than 40° C because he then went on to win a national in an air temperature of around 12°C and of essay competition on the theme: “What sort pupils being initiated as Vikings by of relationship with Europe would be best consuming putrefied shark and sheep for Britain in the first half of brains. the 21st Century?”, for which As the summer drew to a one of the judges was the It is rare indeed close, cross-country training at acclaimed novelist, Frederick Pen Arthur and Rugby training Forsyth. Charles, and Ben these days for an at Woollams were well under Gallop were among the top ten way and the First XV played entire working life of the 1,489 candidates in the their first competitive rugby of country for Edexcel the season in the Saracens/St Government and Politics this to be devoted to Albans School U18 Pre-Season summer, while Adam Rugby Tournament. the service of one Wagenfield and John Cook From16 teams from as far were among the top ten of the afield as north Norfolk, Surrey 2,796 candidates for Edexcel school and Kent, the First XV won Design and Technology – their way through to the final Product Design. where they faced Oaklands At GCSE, David Phillips achieved the Rugby Academy whom they held to a exceptional feat, one year on from having scoreless draw. On count back, been merely one of the top five candidates – unfortunately, Oaklands had scored 12 tries a year young – in AQA’s standard Maths in the course of the competition to St GCSE, of being declared, on the basis of his Albans’ nine, but it was a highly auspicious Additional Maths GCSE, the top candidate opening to the season proper. in the entire Mathematics group of AQA I imagine that this year’s A level and GCSE subjects, in which there were 280,297 GCSE examination successes are by now candidates this year. Meanwhile, Simon well known. The proportion of A and B Dean, Simon Collings and Michael grades at A level was more than Grimshaw were among the top ten of the respectable, at 87%, our second-best ever, 60,878 candidates for Edexcel Drama. and good enough to keep us comfortably in Remarkable though the Fifth Form’s the top echelon. The Times ranked us 25th GCSE performance was, however, they may coeducational sixth form nationally, but

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not be in possession of their record for very long. The Fourth Form laid down a threat to blitz all previous records with 94% A*/A in this year’s Maths GCSE, so the future looks encouraging.

At the end of last term, we bade farewell to two very long-serving colleagues.

It is difficult to know where to begin to do justice to the rich and varied contribution Nigel WoodSmith has made to St Albans School in his 35 years with us, and I am pleased to say that he will be remaining in contact as one of our honorary archivists. However, even Nigel’s his years at the School are outmatched by Stephen Gell’s 41. It is rare indeed these days for an entire working life to be devoted to the service of one school and it was good to see around forty of his former pupils at a retirement reception held for him on

Founders’ Day. I am sure both will stay in touch, on which subject, it was a great pleasure to meet so many members of the year group that joined the School in 1958, reunited 50 years on for a visit to Woollams and the School by Mike Hodge, assisted by the tireless research of Kate Le Sueur in our Development Office.

This is the second such year group reunion and I hope there will be many more. The percentage of OAs for whom we now have contact details would be the envy of many schools. It is a tribute to the spirit of St Albans School as well as to a great deal of hard work by Kate, Roger Cook and many others. I look forward to meeting many more alumni in the months ahead.

Andrew Grant Headmaster

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OA Lodge

Open secrets ■ In another fascinating insight into the history of Freemasonry, OA Lodge Secretary John Williams explains how the myth of secrecy surrounding the organisation came about The Lodge year commenced in May when the new Master of the Lodge, Roger Shrimplin, was installed in the Chair by the outgoing Master, Dr Max Pitcher. Roger (OA 66) qualified as an architect from Cambridge University in 1974 and is an architect and town planner in private practice.

He has a wide experience in the sort of work carried out by many small practitioners in the United Kingdom and in Spain, where he is also registered as an architect. Roger is a Max Pitcher entertaining in chilly conditions

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Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Member of the Institute of Linguists.

He speaks Spanish and French (and conversational Catalan). Roger is also very much involved with the RIBA and other professional organisations. He is currently Chairman of the RIBA Insurance Agency advisory board and has served as an RIBA Delegate to the Architects’ Council of Europe, Union Internationale des Architects, and Commonwealth Architects’ Association.

In July the Lodge Charity Steward Dick Knifton and his wife Gill once again very generously hosted the joint Old Albanian/Old Verulamian Lodges’ Summer Garden Party.

Despite the poor weather compared to the previous year, the event was

very well attended and members to take an much enjoyed by all. oath or obligation. In Once again we were consequence entertained by Max Freemasonry almost Pitcher (now the came to a halt. immediate past master) However prominent playing his violin to the freemasons the Earl of delight of all.

Moira and the Duke of In recognition of Atholl called on the their services, at the Prime Minister (William September meeting the Pitt, not himself a brethren elected past Freemason) and Napoleon Bonaparte masters Ray Hughes, explained to him how Charles Bloxham and Freemasonry was a Des Harper to honorary membership supporter of the law and lawfully of the Lodge. Ray and Charles are constituted authority and was much now in their 90s and find attending involved in charitable work. (Their the Lodge difficult, and sadly Des is intervention might not have met now resident in a nursing home. with success had it been known in The members are gratified that England that Napoleon had become a past Lodge entries in the Bulletin Freemason in Malta in June 1798!). have enlightened the editor regarding As a result Freemasonry was some aspects of freemasonry – ‘the specifically exempted from the terms usual urban myths’, but would like of the Act provided that each lodge to correct his assertion that it secretary once a year lodged with the remains an ‘essentially secretive local Clerk of the Peace a list of the organisation’. Certainly in the 17th members of his lodge together with and early 18th centuries, when life their ages, professions and addresses. was perilous and the Lodge was That provision continued until 1967 perhaps the only place where when it was rescinded by Parliament. thinking men with differing religions The election of Albert Edward, and political persuasions could sit Prince of Wales (later King Edward down in true fellowship and VII) as Grand Master in 1874 gave harmony, secrecy had to be great impetus to Freemasonry. The maintained. Furthermore, at the end Prince was a great supporter of and of the 18th century, in the wake of publicist for Freemasonry and he the French Revolution a number of regularly appeared in public, both at Acts of Parliament were passed in an home and on his tours abroad, as attempt to curb trade unions, Grand Master laying the foundation political clubs and other ‘subversive’ stones of public buildings, bridges, organisations. The 1799 Unlawful dockyards and churches with Societies Act banned any meetings of Masonic ceremonial. His presence groups which required their ensured publicity and reports of

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Masonic meetings at all levels appeared regularly in the national and local press. The Grand Lodge had grown to 2,850 lodges when the Prince resigned the Grand Mastership on becoming King in 1901.

Thereafter Freemasonry was constantly in the public eye and Freemasons were well known in their local communities. Examples of this are the public procession of Freemasons that took place when the foundation stone of the Old School Hall was laid, and some 20 years later the ceremonial laying of the keystone of the 1st Form block. Openness was to continue in the 20th century; however the period leading to the outbreak of the Second World War was to have consequences even today. A great deal of anti-Masonic propaganda came out of Nazi Germany and Franco’s Spain in the 1930s. In both countries Freemasonry was banned and many Freemasons were imprisoned and killed. Plans were laid by the Nazis to seize prominent Freemasons when they occupied Britain.

As a consequence English Freemasonry turned in on itself – and unfortunately continued to be excessively private after peace came.

Allied to that, from the 1950s there was a deliberate policy of not dealing with the media and, more importantly, not correcting factual errors. As a result a mythology grew up of Freemasonry as a secret society serving its own aims. In effect Freemasonry was taken out of the community of which it had been a

King Edward VII in coronation robes

Freemasons’ Hall, Covent Garden

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very visible part for events including nearly 250 years. product launches, Thankfully this policy fashion shows, was reversed in 1984 conferences, drink and the United Grand receptions and dinner Lodge has been actively dances - with previous countering that events including parties mythology and for the Hitchhikers’ pursuing a policy of Guide to the Galaxy openness on and King Kong film Freemasonry since that premieres and Monty time. For those Python’s Spamalot interested, information opening night party to can now be obtained on mention just a few.

Phyllis Sutton Vane, Grand all aspects of The Library and Swordbearer in the 1930s Freemasonry from Museum of numerous publications Freemasonry in and websites – although beware, Freemasons’ Hall houses one of the there is a plethora of misinformation finest collections of Masonic material from non-Masonic sites! Much can be in the world and it is open to the learned from the website of the public, Monday to Friday, free of United Grand Lodge charge. Until Friday 19th December www.ugle.org.uk and Freemasonry there is a special Centenary Today magazine exhibition to commemorate the first www.freemasonrytoday.com. hundred years of women’s Freemasons’ Hall is also well worth a freemasonry in England. visit. Grand Lodge has been in Great By the end of the nineteenth Queen Street since 1775, the present century women were campaigning Hall being the third building on the for full civic and legal rights and site. Built between 1927 and 1932 as a wanted to join Masonic lodges too. memorial to the Freemasons who The exhibition examines the died in the First World War, it is one development of freemasonry for of the finest Art Deco buildings in women and the changing England, and is now Grade II* listed relationship with traditional both internally and externally and freemasonry. It looks at the role fully open to the public. played by the suffrage movement and It is a venue with an established theosophy in fostering women’s and well-respected reputation. For involvement. Objects and more than a decade Freemasons’ Hall documents on display for the first has been available as a location for time will include documents and film and television productions and records relating to the early women’s for photographic shoots. It is also the lodges and examples of their regalia perfect setting for a whole range of and badges. Amongst the important

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Membership Secretary’s Notes figures represented are Annie Besant and Francesca Arundale, leading theosophists and campaigners, the men who played their part – Dr George Martin and the Rev William Cobb – and the women who helped to foster the organisational development of freemasonry for women such as Marion Lindsey Halsey, herself the daughter-in-law of a senior freemason.

The Lodge meets only five times a year on the second Saturdays in January, March, May and September and the first Saturday in November.

All those connected with the School,

including fathers of past or present pupils are welcome to apply for membership, for which purpose the first approach should be to any Lodge member, the Secretary as below, or Nigel WoodSmith or Alan Smith at the School. Members of other Lodges, be they OAs, parents of past or present pupils, staff or Governors are encouraged to visit the Lodge whenever they wish, and the Secretary will be delighted to hear from them. The Lodge website address is: www.oa-lodge.co.uk John Williams Lodge Secretary

Roger Seymour (52) has sent us this photo of the School Shooting Team circa 1950/51. Back row left to right: Keith Kitching, Roger Austin, Roger Seymour, Ron Munday. Front row: Malcolm Burr, unknown (the face is familiar but I do not recall the name), Trevor Tyson and Michael West

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Connecting OAs

member of the School staff.

■ Membership Secretary Roger Cook reports on a successful transition to the new club website as part of the ongoing effort to keep OAs connected

Waifs & strays Unfortunately this item is not available this time. It will be reintroduced in the Spring edition.

OAconnect As I reported in the last issue, the oldalbanianclub.com web site has now closed and is replaced by the www.OAconnect.co.uk web site.

Kate Le Sueur, the School’s Development Manager, reports below on the work she has done in contacting OAs. She is responsible for the new OAconnect website and has already made a significant and successful contribution to the OA Club. I wish her well and congratulate her on her recent marriage to a

Bulletin subscriptions As usual, those who receive a postal copy, will find the year your subscription expires on the address label. I remind those who read this Bulletin online that hard copies are available by post for a subscription of £18 to cover three years’ deliveries.

1 Pondwicks

OA ties I have a stock of ties (silk @ £12.50 bow-tie @ £15, post free).

Roger Cook Membership Secretary

Close St Albans AL1 1DG Telephone: 01727 836877

Geoff Cannon has sent us this photo of people gathering outside Beech Bottom for the OA House Sevens, believed to date from around 1950

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Development Officer’s Notes

In touch ■ School Development Manager Kate Le Sueur reports on the latest successes in tracking down former pupils from across the world I’m continually amazed and amused by the OAs we have tracked down here in the Development Office – the variety of talents and achievements we hear of is simply staggering, and reminiscences of outrageous pranks, nail-biting sports matches and memorable teachers can be quite hilarious.

With the help of many thousands of freepost envelopes, e-mails and telephone calls, we are now in contact with over 76% of all living OAs, compared to just 51% this time last year, and have significantly improved records on the interests and careers of those we are in touch with, which will help us to plan even better events and communications in the future.

Much of this success has been due to very close links between the Development Office and the OA Club, and I hope the benefits of our research will continue to be mutual. As you know, the central database of OAs is now held here in the office, which allows for easier administration of OA events and a central and full-time communication point for enquiries.

The new website, www.OAConnect.co.uk has been a great success since its launch in March, with nearly 1,400 registered users, and an average of 23 visitors

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per day. Please do visit it regularly, as news and photos are updated frequently. You can also book tickets for all OA events online, using a credit or debit card.

Looking to the future, we will soon be launching The Gateway Society, as a means of acknowledging during their lifetime those OAs who have chosen to include the School in their will. Please contact me if you would like further details. A fundraising campaign to raise money for some exciting building projects at the School has been slightly delayed, but we will be able to give you more information about this in 2009. In the meantime, look out for a new termly e-newsletter for OAs, with snippets of news, reminders of forthcoming events and other items of interest.

For those of you I haven’t yet met at OA events, I joined the School last June from a previous post based at the National Gallery in London. I’m originally from Jersey (hence the unusual surname, pronounced ‘Le Swer’ as in ‘swerve’!), and graduated from Durham University in 2003. If you are ever visiting St Albans please do pop in to the Development Office for a chat – it is always good to put faces to names and to ‘pick your brains’ about missing contemporaries and memories of your time at School.

Kate Le Sueur School Development Manager

De fortunis Albanorum

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● Martin Searle (03) gained a First Class Honours Degree in European Social and Political Studies at UCL.

● Donald S Green (37) died on 18th May 2008 after some months in hospital.

● Sam Cartwright (04) was awarded a First Class Honours Degree in History at York University.

● Kenneth J Langley (41) died on 30th June 2008 after a short illness.

Cyril Mobbs writes: “Ken was a member of the illustrious and victorious Shirley House Senior Rugby Vll in 1941. He trained in London for and subsequently was commissioned in the Royal Engineers, being based in Palestine under the British Protectorate. After demobilisation, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant, working generally in London but also travelling throughout the UK. He was a lifelong supporter of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, became a member of Chapter and a Secretary of same for over 20 years, apart from volunteering upon retirement by auditing local schools.

He is survived by his wife Shelagh and two children.”

● Benedict Crampton (05) at Caius Cambridge and Matthew Grant (05) at Queens Cambridge both gained Firsts in Part ii of the Maths Tripos. ● Libby Richardson (05) at Durham University was awarded a First Class Honours Degree in History. ● Lucy Shipley (05) was awarded a First Class Honours Degree in Archaeology at Southampton and is going on to do a Masters. ● Lucy Yates (08) has gained a full Athletics Scholarship to read History at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA. She was the fastest middle distance runner in her age group in the 2008 season.

National Olympian Competition 2008 The following, all of whom left in 2008, achieved as follows: Physics: Rory Carver (Silver), Todd Davidson (Bronze) Biology: Joseph Wragg (Highly Commended) Chemistry James Madgwick (Gold) and Matthew Bevan, Paul Harris, Laura Evans (Highly Commended).

● Peter J Saunders (44) died on the 8th February 2008. ● John Sait (late 40s) died unexpectedly during a routine operation on 2nd November 2008. An obituary appears below. ● D R (Bill) Groom (50) died in Bedford in January 2008 after a long illness. He had been with Vauxhall Motors for his entire working life, ending up as Service Manager.

Deaths It is with regret that the following deaths are announced:

● Alan J Torry (53) died on 29th June 2008 from cancer. The nurses who

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helped him through the later stages of his disease commented on how he was always dignified throughout his treatment and what a gentleman he was. ● Richard Brierley (59) died on the 30th August 2008. He was Head Boy in 1958-9 and Senior Cadet in the Army Section of the CCF. He played in the cricket and rugby teams. He had a car accident when he was 25 years old, which had left him severely disabled. ● John Daykin (66) tragically drowned whilst on holiday in Spain. An obituary appears below. ● Michael Gaubert (65) died on 12 September 2008 following a long and courageous battle against cancer. An obituary appears below.

Obituary ● John Sait 1932-2008

By Jim Putterill John Sait attended Hardenwick Prep School in Harpenden, where he lived, and then followed in his father’s footsteps to St Albans School in the 1940s. He was a natural joker and possible anarchist, and is unlikely to appear in any archive recording sporting or academic excellence.

Leaving after taking the School Certificate he worked in Barclays Bank, and on one memorable occasion refused to cash a cheque for his old French master, Papa Garnier, who for a moment failed to recognise him, on the grounds that he was an

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undesirable alien.

National Service followed in a Hong Kong where no building exceeded six stories, and as a member of the Pay Corps he profited from changing HK dollars for rupees when the homeward troopship stopped for refuelling in India.

He was a keen and competent golfer, and for many years a jovial member of Harpenden Common where he and I played erratic and occasionally successful golf every Saturday for some twenty years.

John was a devout Roman Catholic (one of ‘the rest’ at assembly) whose uncle, a Monsignor, once invited him to dinner at his club. Sait arrived early, was well supplied with aperitifs by a waiter and then left discreetly on realising that he was at the wrong club.

He became manager of Barclays Bank in Wheathampstead and took early retirement on its amalgamation with Harpenden.

Moving to Norfolk and Suffolk, he and Jane brought up their own four children and then made the heroic decision to adopt two Down’s Syndrome babies, now in their twenties.

John was a thoroughly involved member of his Church in Lowestoft and for his last few weeks in Beccles, where he had also been a regular attendee at meetings of The Society of Friends, who regarded him highly for his rare spirituality.

He died unexpectedly during the course of a routine operation on 2nd November 2008. At the requiem mass, the celebrant (a former master at

Downside) stated that he wished that he had known John for longer, as he had much to learn from him.

An OA to be proud of.

Obituary ● John Michael Daykin 29th July 1948 - 20th August 2008

By Peter Thrussell & Mike Hodge To know John Daykin was a blessing. To enjoy his friendship was a very great privilege. A man who seemed to exhibit extreme enthusiasm whatever he did in life.

Even quite unpleasant experiences could seem like rare treats in his company!

He qualified as a Veterinary Surgeon at Bristol University in 1971 and moved to Lewes, East Sussex in 1973, shortly after his marriage to Caroline. During the last twenty years as Senior Partner of the Cliffe Veterinary Practice, John developed it into a substantial and highly respected concern employing 40 people. At the time of his death, due to drowning whilst on holiday in Spain, he was looking forward to semi-retirement, which was due to commence in April 2009. When his funeral was held at St Anne’s Church in Lewes the building was filled to overflowing with many wishing to pay their last respects.

His interests included music, opera, wine, playing hockey, watching cricket, the countryside, steam railways and his family. He leaves Caroline, his wife, daughters Suzie and Laura and three grandchildren. His family always

gave him a sense of enormous pride.

Every achievement was appreciated while the development of his grandchildren was a particular source of pleasure.

He was a key member of the School old boys’ hockey team which returned each year to play the current school team. This event continued until the old boys were fifty years old and had never lost a match against the school. John was the goalkeeper, which meant that he alternatively barked out orders to his team before flinging himself at the feet of the opposition forwards.

When riding on steam trains he would always stand in a vestibule for the duration of the journey, however long. London to Edinburgh, hunched at a window, where he could watch the locomotive and time the train with his stopwatch, was an extreme pleasure. Naturally, for a man with his appetites, he ‘expected’ a glass of red wine to appear at regular intervals. Our last trip together was a run from Liverpool to Carlisle and back on 10 August 2008. As usual he was enthusing about the locomotives, the splendours of the Settle and Carlisle railway, the wonders of the landscape and the richness of the wine in his glass.

On 11th August I left him at Green Park Underground Station. A big grin, a firm handshake and the predictable declaration “Bloody good weekend!” Then he was gone for ever, leaving behind a great number of people with fond memories of the time they had spent in his company.

He will not be forgotten.

Please send all items for inclusion in the Gazette to: Mike Highstead, 33, Cornwall Road, Harpenden, Herts AL5 4TQ

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The Class of 1965 outside Woollams clubhouse

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Obituary Michael George Gaubert 11th February 1947 – 12th September 2008

By John Bedford Mike Gaubert was a true and loyal friend; a rare calm gentle man with a deep sense of humour, knowledgeable in so many fields. His great passion was for cars and motor sport, an avid MG enthusiast who owned several different models. Many youthful hours were spent spanner in hand with his cars, among friends, at race meetings and sharing more than the odd pint. Buses were another hobby fascination and area of expertise; he was also a collector of ephemera - the enigmatic contents of several boxes. Mike had studied engineering for a while after leaving school, but eventually found his career in insurance with the Prudential and

moved with them to the new Reading HQ where he met Tricia, and married in 1977. He was a wonderful father to James and Louise, and grandfather to Jack. At 49 he was diagnosed with a brain tumour which he dealt with philosophically. Mike was courageous throughout the latter years but succumbed, too soon. He will be sadly missed.

50 not out ■ On Thursday 18th September 1958, ninety boys met at the School for the first time. Fifty years later, on Thursday 18th September 2008, 56 of those boys were reunited over lunch at Woollams. Mike Highstead reports on an outstanding reunion Many of those who met on that fateful day are still in contact with each other to this day, and the

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Headmaster and the Chairman of Governors gave welcome speeches to those attending the day’s festivities.

The collected ‘boys’ were from many walks of life, but the glue for them was the activities that they had been involved in at school. Much comment was made about members of staff of the era, teams they had played in and scrapes they had got into.

There were many members of my 1965 hockey team who had come back to play against the School 1st XI for 30 years – indeed until I retired – which they were begging me to do as time went on and their fitness declined. The success of the team was amazing – 30 games played, 28 wins, 2 draws and one cancelled due to an unfit pitch. There were also nine of the First Form Cricket Team present.

It was with regret that it was noted that nine of the year group had died.

Some OAs had travelled far to be at the event: from Australia Les Hawkins and Mick Reddish; from Hong Kong Vernon Moore; from the USA Mike (Tom) Thomas and from Namibia Chris (Slug) Smith.

Following on from the Thursday, Phil Talbot, Senior Tutor, took a large group round the School on the Friday. Many remarked on the changes which had taken place – not surprising since 50 years had elapsed!

The comprehensive tour was much appreciated.

Mike Hodge had arranged a day of golf to take place after the tour – 12 played. This game was followed by a dinner at Aldwickbury Park Golf

The First Form cricket team then…

Left to right, back row: Hodge, Eborall, Knapp, Travers, Matthewsman, Dew R Front row: Homewood, Merriott, Wade, Thomas, Dew P

…and now Left to right, back row: Eborall, Knapp, Travers, Matthewsman, Hodge Front row: Merriott, Wade, Thomas, Dew P Club in Harpenden. There was once again a large turn out. Again stories of escapades best left to the imagination were going around until, reluctantly, people had to leave for home. It was due to the personality and gritty determination of Mike Hodge, who I know had begun to search for the year group two years ago, that the occasion was so well attended. Add to that the great help

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given by Kate le Sueur, the School’s Development Officer, who followed up all the leads given to her and tracked down many of the year group, and we had a recipe for an outstanding reunion.

And it was. Charmian and I were privileged to be there.

Class of ‘88 ■ Prompted by an invitation to the annual London Drinks Party, Justin Davidson (88) sends us news of a successful reunion this summer for the class of 1988

The class of 1988 pose in the orchard

I just got this email and it reminded me to forward you a photo of some of those who made it along to the 20 year reunion earlier this summer of the Class of 1988.

In all we had 25 members of the

year (plus our guest, Mrs Louise James, former French teacher) attend for some or all of a lunch at Woollams, followed by a tour of the School by the son of the present School Doctor (1988 Class member, Dr Phil Sawyer) and then the evening at The BeeHive courtesy of a friendly landlord (Class of 1988 member, Mike Fisher).

Golden Daze ■ Nick Corble (77) has recently published his first novel, after a long and successful career as a non-fiction writer. Here is an extract from the publisher’s press release “Golden Daze gives a voice to football’s unsung heroes: anyone who’s ever experienced the passion and reality of following an

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unfashionable team – a Fever Pitch for fans whose teams never appear on Match of the Day. Set a quarter of a century ago, it’s essential reading for anyone who looks back with nostalgia on a more complex and yet also a simpler time, and understands that the rhythm of the football season is also the pulse of life.”

Special Offer Golden Daze is available to OAs at a special price of £7.50 a copy including postage and packing (normal RRP £8.99) if ordered direct from Nick’s website www.nickcorble.co.uk and readers quote ‘OA’.

The mystery banker David Buxton spotted this unusual reference to an OA in Jeffrey Archer’s 12 Red Herrings – does anyone know upon whom this character could possibly be based?

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Hot stuff Friendly Fires are setting the music scene alight with the release of their debut album and numerous appearances on national television and radio.

Formed by three OAs who all left in 2002 – Edd Gibson, Ed Macfarlane and Jack Savidge, pictured here – Friendly Fires played at this summer’s Reading Festival and have been described by Radio 1 presenter Zane Lowe as “the best new British band around at the moment”. The boys have enjoyed extensive airplay on the station as well as a recent appearance on BBC2’s Later with Jools Holland.

Find out more at the band’s website: www.wearefriendlyfires.com Lowe point: Friendly Fires are “the best new British band around at the moment”

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The green man ■ Maurice Cain recalls some vivid memories of rugby teammate Dick Thrale on tour in France.

I was interested to read the obituary of Dick Thrale, whom I knew as a fellow member of the rugby club in the early 1950s. His name brought back vivid memories of the club’s Easter tour to Northern France in, I think, 1953. Our hosts were L’Iris Club de Lille, a large multisports club, and we played three or four games over the weekend. I’m uncertain of the results, but we certainly found it hard work, coming for the first time up against what has become known as ‘Gallic flair’. This involved throwing the ball apparently haphazardly over the shoulder, in the certainty that a pair of hands would appear as if by magic, take the ‘pass’ and continue the assault.

The social side included a tour of the nearby World War I trenches at Vimy Ridge, an impressive sight with memories of the Second War still relatively fresh, and a memorable official dinner. This appeared to consist of innumerable courses, accompanied by copious amounts of vin ordinaire, which played havoc with my vocal chords as well as my brain cells. The meal culminated in a riotous bread fight, with ever-larger chunks soaring through the air. I recall a Frenchman sitting nearby gleefully weighing half a loaf in his hand, smiling and remarking ‘le twenty-five pounder’ before hurling it

across the room. I don’t know what Dick thought of the evening, but I guess nothing like that ever occurred at ‘The Barn’. I also recall a late night singsong in a fairly deserted bar, where a local resident misinterpreted the nature of the entertainment and responded in a fine tenor voice with an aria from the opera Manon. The explicit gestures accompanying the next OA rendering left him in no doubt about his error, but his broad smile of comprehension and immediate attempt to respond in kind were cut short by his lady companion, who grabbed his arm and hustled him out into the night!

What part, I guess you are wondering, did Dick play in all this to bring back vividly these almostforgotten memories? I don’t recall his part in the games or social events, but the image I have of him is on the outward journey - a night ferry crossing in cold and windy weather (it was an early Easter in late March). The cross-Channel ferries of those early post-war days were not the stabilized floating hotels of today, and the deck was certainly moving about. Dick was, I believe, one of only two of the 1st XV to top six feet in height in those days before abundant protein allowed our youth to achieve its full growth potential. He stood erect and unmistakable on the deck in the light of the cabin and, as I walked to and fro to keep out the cold, I watched in fascination as his face slowly turned from red to pink to white to ashen grey and then to a delicate, almost phosphorescent, green. I had heard of

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The Sykes family relaxing with guests Peter and Jean Knight

people going ‘green about the gills’ but had not really believed it could happen until that night.

I don’t think Dick was seriously ill, and he certainly recovered to play in the games on the tour. No doubt other contemporaries will have memories of that weekend, but mine will always be triggered by the vision of Dick suffering silently on the cross-Channel ferry.

Singapore sailing ■ Former OA Committee member and rugby club stalwart Chris Sykes sends his best wishes from the Far East Thanks for the OA Bulletin – you do a great job as editor – somehow its more interesting to read when you live overseas! Read the article by Peter Knight and saw he was heading for Singapore so dropped him a speculative email. Peter and Jean brought ‘Hinewai’ alongside a

couple of days ago and picked up my email. To cut a long story short, we met up for beers and then spent yesterday at our place enjoying the Hari Raya bank holiday with a BBQ, too many beers and fond reminiscences of St Albans School.

Fond regards to all.

Law unto himself ■ Michael James (58) recalls how challenging military authority and resigning from the School Corps stood him in good stead in later years.

At school I thought one really had to do and accept what one was told.

Everything changed when compulsory National Service was cancelled for my age group. Up to then my only military links were with the School Corps itself and through my father who had been an officer in the Home Guard during WW2. He apparently carried his Sten

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gun when going to work on the London Underground to much protest from some passengers.

I needed Latin ‘O’ level to become a solicitor (although that requirement was also cancelled a few weeks before I sat the exam) and was struggling. Stamping my feet and shouting on the parade ground was giving me migraine. Well, to be honest I had not forgiven them for failing to make me a sergeant. So I decided to resign.

I went to see Sergeant Major who greeted my enquiry with genuine disappointment and referred me upwards. “You can’t leave the School Corps” said the CO. Back to father who told me to “put it in writing.”

Summoned back by the CO whose parting shot was “You will never be a school prefect or get into university if you leave the Corps.”

The next week seven more resigned and I was supervising work periods for our motley crew of conscientious objectors and hangers on. The upstairs rooms in the Abbey Gateway had recently been superbly restored and we had the classroom to ourselves, high above the noise of the Army, Navy and Air Force marching below.

Moreover, Mr Heath asked me to run the library, which was the next door room in the Gateway. Thus I gained the keys to my own palatial private study and got stuck into the wretched Latin and A levels.

My interview with the Sub-Dean of the Law Faculty at University College London was not going well. I sat self-conscious and feeling very

conservative middle class in my new sports jacket. Dennis Holland, bless him, was clearly a left wing type and struggling through my CV trying to find a common interest.

“What’s this CCF Part I and II'?” he asked. I explained.

“What you mean some sort of military qualification?”

Clear disapproval. My heart stopped.

“But, sir, I left the School Corps when National Service was abolished for my age group.” Silence. “Did that make you unpopular?”

“Yes I suppose it did, especially when others followed suit.”

“What did you do instead?”

“I ran the school library, sir.”

Silence, followed by “I'll give you a place.”

I never found anyone else in my year who got a place at interview. In time and after more struggling with exams I became a Solicitor and ran my own firm. I found the experience of not believing and challenging what I was told stood me, and my clients, in good stead.

My only other responsibility at school was running the second team rugby for Abbey House. Gower wanted some Saturday afternoons off so that he could go with his parents to see his sister who had started at Sheffield University. His father had told him to ask. Against the rules the deal we made (and over-riding one Master who enquired) was that if Abbey House won our match on Wednesday, Gower could have Saturday off. He said his parents were really grateful.

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About Easter time Gower informed me that I had applied to the London School of Economics to read law.

How did he know that, I asked.

“Well, my father is Professor of Law there, and says if you want a place you can have one.”

Old Masters ■ In the second of our series of recollections from ‘The Berts’, a group of five who were at School between 1951 and 1959, they recall some of the masters from the time An article has already been published about our activities involving explosives, rockets and other pyrotechnics. As recollections they are subject to some haziness due to the mists of time. For this we crave your indulgence.

We would ask others who attended St Albans School during these years to submit their recollections as well.

Headmaster W T ‘Stoker Bill’ Marsh The nickname arose because he had apparently been in the navy but no one knew which rank. He seemed to ‘own’ the School - feared by masters, students and parents alike. He gave the impression that he would have liked St Albans to do better at sport, but somehow he couldn’t find a way of combining this aim with his ideal of academic achievement. Sport always seemed to lag behind academic attainment (measured in those days by the number of Oxbridge placements) and the CCF. Bert 2 has the recollection of being

summoned to his office after the ALevel results were out. He had achieved the first S-Level mark in Biology that the school had ever achieved and was expecting some form of congratulations. All he got was “Come in. I find it very difficult to understand how someone who can do so well in one subject can manage to fail Physics! Good-bye.” Marsh set the academic standards (and achieved nearly all of them!) and also imposed the strict discipline and standards needed to make the School work so well.

Mr P Avery He coached rugby and was a 2nd Lieutenant in the CCF. Mr D ‘Triangle’ Billingham He taught Latin and looked after the CCF Signals section. His nickname came from the shape of his head. He had a pointed chin and rather a flat head. He owned an early Morgan three-wheeler.

Mr C T Bloxham PT, sports in general, swimming, History, English and Geography. A threatening phrase he used if someone misbehaved was “There will be blood on the moon!” He had an Oxford blue for rugby and trialled for England before damaging a knee, which ended his playing career. He selected and coached the School 1st XV which at one time was captained

by Bert 3. During a match at Bishops Stortford Bert 3 suffered an injury, which it was thought might have been a broken neck. He was

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shipped off to the local hospital for medical attention. Mr Bloxham called in on his parents that evening to tell them what had happened, to reassure them, and to explain that their son would not be returning home that night. In fact a neck vertebra had been cracked. It was not often that we saw the human side of masters.

in 1955. He was a hard taskmaster. On one April Fool’s Day some lads turning up in kilts! Jock got his own back by making them do hand stands against the wall for ten minutes. During gym sessions and sports training he would close all the windows in the gym so that we got used to exercising with depleted oxygen!

Mr ‘Bummer’ Brown Taught Physics at A-Level.

Mr K ‘Laddie’ Finley He joined the school at the beginning of our 5th year. He only seemed to teach RE (Religious Education) but had a Full-Blue in Athletics from Cambridge and so Marsh thought that he was a worthwhile addition to the school. Bert 5 has a photograph of him coming second to the Rev Nick Satcy in the Varsity match 220yds at the White City having previously won the 100yds. He also competed for British Universities in the World Student Games, as did Bert 5, in 1959 in Turin. He had a thin, almost gaunt, face and a rather intense nature. In RE he kept telling us about someone called Jahweh, which most of us never understood until many years later. In case everybody else has forgotten Jahweh is a name for the God of the Old Testament as transliterated from the Hebrew consonants YHVH. Isn’t education wonderful?

Mr O C ‘Ozzy’ Buck He taught French and ran the RAF Section in the CCF. He was an RAFVR officer and had tales from the war, which he would relate to us in lighter moments.

Mr Burton He was our first music master. He was rather a boring and not very good teacher. He seemed to have too many favourites and toadies. He was drowned saving a boy during a swimming trip. This happened at the medieval fishpond in the grounds of Gorhambury House, near the A5 to Redbourn.

Mr ‘Doc a Doc’ Coles He taught classics.

Mr ‘Diver’ Davies It is recalled that he came into 1C early in 1952 and the Abbey flag was flying at half-mast. He wrote on the board "Le Roi est mort" - George 6th.

Mr ‘Jock’ Faulkner He had been a PTI in the RAF and came when the new Gym was opened

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Monsieur ‘Froggie’ Garnier Our main French master, in more ways than one. He had a wonderful range of quaint Anglo-French phrases and our task was to keep count of the number of specific Froggie-isms that occurred during

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any particular French class. One of the experts in this task was a lad at the back of the class in the Classics section (Webb?) who used to ask specific questions designed to prompt the maximum number of Froggieisms in the reply. A great skill, unique to St Albans School. During our time at school a mischievous item appeared in a local newspaper advertising his services as a gardener (see Pryke). He did not appreciate the joke!

Mr ‘Happy’ Heather He never looked happy and hence the nickname. He had a son in our year – John Heather.

Mr ‘Gabby’ Hayes He taught physics. Doing specific heat experiments he talked about using a "copper calowimiter in an owdinawy tweakle tin"!

Mr Denis Holman He taught History, was an Oxford graduate and played rugby for Richmond.

Mr Peter Hurford After the death of Mr Burton, our first music master, a young Peter Hurford arrived. He had just been appointed as principal organist in St Albans Abbey. Rather like Owen, Hurford was another inspirational teacher and music became an interesting and enjoyable class. He turned out to be the finest organist in the UK and went on to an illustrious career. We realised early on that he was very good and were rather proud

of him, in a funny school-boyish kind of way.

Mr G F Jarry He taught Latin and had what was regarded as a very unfair way of marking. He started with a total mark and subtracted one mark for every mistake. This meant that we sometimes ended up with a negative mark. Very demoralising. However he managed to get Bert 2 through Latin O-Level, which was no mean achievement!

Dr Keefe He taught Chemistry at A-Level. He arrived at the school when we were in the 5th or 6th form. He came to the school having previously been a Chemist in Industry. He was a very knowledgeable chemist, but not a very good teacher.

Sgt Major ‘Killer’ Kilpatrick Not a master but he had an influence on everyone in the school. He was one of those key people without whom the school could not function.

He had been the youngest CSM in the Scots Guards. He acted as the School Caretaker and lived in the premises down by the Armoury.

Mr F S ‘Slab’ Marshall The nickname arose because he always had one hand in his trouser pockets. He taught the top level Physics. Under his tuition Bert 3 gained an S-Level in Physics.

Mr Miles He taught several subjects and was a

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secondary Latin master to G F Jarry.

He also coached some of the school rugby teams. He was a Roman Catholic and held morning prayers for Catholic boys, which included Bert 3, in a room in the Abbey Gateway. They, and other non-C of E, were known as “Heathens”. He is remembered for reading us stories from some interesting books, including authors such as P G Wodehouse and Damon Runyon, when we had a spare/free period. We found this much more interesting than his official lessons. It is believed that he had flown De Havilland Vampires during an earlier part of his career. During his time at school, he belonged to the RAAF and flew Gloucester Meteors.

It is believed that he ‘buzzed’ the King Harry playing fields during Saturday games on more than one occasion. He rode a very large, oily and slow revving motorcycle, a 1000cc Vincent ‘V’ twin, which was usually parked by the toilets in the lower playground and admired by many a student.

Mr Owen Mr Owen arrived at the school when we were in 3rd/4th form as a young Welsh English master. He immediately established himself as one of those inspirational teachers whom you always remember. He did not teach from a text book and did not seem to take much notice of the curriculum. He encouraged everyone to write creatively - not just the bright ones - and found something to praise in everyone’s homework. He

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got us all to stand up in the front of the class and speak on a subject of his choice for two minutes. We then found that he thought it was fun if we managed to start on the given subject and end on a completely different one, as long as we accomplished the changes seamlessly and with style. He was so good that Bert 2 even contemplated changing from Science to Arts. In those days we were not allowed to mix Arts and Science subjects at A-Level.

Unfortunately he did not stay very long at the school. He left after 1 or 2 years to go and teach in Uganda.

Whether he did not like the school or the school did not like him or was simply an idealist, we never found out.

Mr B ‘Barry’ Phillips He arrived in about our second year and taught History. He had been Head Boy of the school earlier and had the uncanny knack of remembering everyone’s names. He was also an officer in the CCF. Mr G E ‘Percy’ Pryke A tall thin man who seemed quite pompous and self-important and was certainly inordinately proud of his rank in the CCF. He followed (Major) L G Walker as commanding officer of the CCF and was promoted from Captain to Major. It was well known that he was a Mason. He seemed to have favourites whom he invited home for tea. His car, a Ford Prefect, was advertised for sale in a local newspaper by a mischievous student.

(See Garnier)

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Mr ‘Daddy’ Read Deputy Headmaster. He taught either History or English. He was quite a small and ascetic looking man, but was understood to be a good teacher at the higher levels in the school.

Mr J B ‘Jim’ Roberton In the Lower School Jim Roberton took General Science and although he was the only Biology Master in the school this workload prevented him from offering O-Level Biology. If anyone wanted to take Biology they could only sign up for A-Level in the 4th Form. Bert 2 was one of those students who joined his small ALevel Biology classes, together with the Dowse brothers, Clutterbuck, Bigg and one or two others. Hill joined later when he had convinced Marsh that he wouldn’t sit the Oxbridge entrance examinations and intended to go to Agricultural College. Bert 2 had enjoyed his general science classes in the Lower School and thought that he was one of the most ‘normal’ masters in the school (not all that difficult if you take the others into account!) and an extremely good teacher. He also seemed to be a much under-rated master by the school, possibly because he was rather quiet. Bert 2 and Hill gave his reputation a considerable boost when they achieved the first two S-Level grades at A-Level in Biology ever obtained in the school. One of the reasons that Biology was becoming a more exciting science during this period was the discovery of the structure of DNA by Crick & Watson in the 1950s.

Mr ‘Pin-Head Pete’ Sawyer He taught French.

Mr ‘Scruffy’ Schofield He took Mathematics in the senior school. He had a son at the school. It was understood that he was a ‘conscientious objector’ during the war and so was relieved of any military service.

Mr ‘Rocket’ Stevenson He took French. Bert 1 and Bert 5 were in a group who went to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland with ‘Rocket’ and ‘Laddie’ in 1956. There were then ten Swiss francs to the pound! He also took a group to Paris.

On this trip Bert 4 shared a hotel bedroom with Alan Macrae, Mike Richardson, and Bert 1. Bert 4 recalls taking it upon himself to buy a bottle of rum from the concierge of the hotel next door, and a saucy magazine from the newstand outside.

He rejected the ones on display and asked for something more exciting from under the counter, which duly appeared. He returned to his room and no sooner had the magazine been opened than Rocket burst in and confiscated it, explaining that “We wouldn't want to be caught at Customs with it would we?” He had a smile on his face, though, and didn’t find the rum so it wasn't too bad.

Mr E W ‘Bob’ Tanner The school Art master, a big man and a great character. He genuinely seemed to like all of his students, and almost everyone responded similarly to him. He was a lovely man. Art was

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not a subject that could be taken at O- or A-Level and so Bob, as one of the oldest masters in the school, was tolerated by Marsh. Bob made art enjoyable and tried to encourage everyone, even those who had very little artistic talent. He had a very large art classroom upstairs in the main building. He had a phrase that he used to show appreciation of a piece of student artwork. “Have a fizzy kiss!” He and ‘Beery’ Webster were good friends and drank together. ‘Beery’s’ death upset him a lot.

Mr Tahta Taught Further Mathematics and is mentioned by Stephen Hawking as his inspiration. It was Tahta who started the Higher 6th Form Special Maths Set. Hudson was part of that set from our year and Bert 2 remembers being invited to see the computer that they had built under Tahta’s tutelage - an amazing achievement in the 1950s.

Mr L G Walker He taught Geography and was the officer commanding the CCF when we arrived at the school. He ran the school shooting eight, of which Bert 4 was a member.

Mr A H ‘Hot Ass’ Warburton An excellent Chemistry master who was completely unflappable. He got most of the Berts through Chemistry A-Level. He played the guitar well.

Mr J O W ‘Joey’ Webb He taught mathematics. A phrase he

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often used was “I am no respecter of persons”. We never knew what this meant until years later. He had a habit of throwing a softish board wiper at boys he thought were not attending. Bert 3 recalls that he caught one such missile as it flew past aimed at someone behind. It was totally a reflex action and Joey looked so surprised. He died in a fire at his home.

Mr ‘Beery’ Webster He was the form master of 1c and taught History. At lunch-time he and Bob Tanner strolled across to a local hostelry and in the afternoon his breath gave away where he had been.

He had an unusual way of determining rank order for the reports. He had us all standing up in class and we were arranged in mark order around the classroom. We then counted ourselves off from the front.

That gave us all a rank order. When this was done we walked past his desk at the front and reported to him our name and rank order, which he noted against the register. Allowance was made for boys with equal marks.

‘Beery’ was in the medical/ambulance corps during the 1st World War and during some rare, free periods he told us many stories of what happened during that horrific war – something that not many people would speak about. One story was about how the Germans admired the British sense of humour, which seemed to allow them to survive the brutalities of the war better than the Germans. So the German High Command

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commissioned some cartoons to be sent to all the troops. One of these showed some German soldiers taking shelter in a ruined and derelict house with walls full of shell holes. The caption underneath read ‘Zey must have very large mice around here!’

(In German, of course).

Beery was a lovely man – kind and gentle – but he found it hard to retain control of classes. We all played him up unmercifully, as only 12 year-old boys will do! He had a very prominent Adam’s apple with a single long hair on it, which dusted the knot of his tie as he spoke. One day during our later years we were all shocked when his premature death was reported. We somehow felt a collective responsibility for his death.

Mr ‘Wet Bath’ Westgarth-Walker A large man with a booming voice.

He taught geography and coached rugby.

Mr Wheeler He taught French. He lost an eye to a German 88 while in a tank during the Western Desert campaign. He told us once how, seeing a dead donkey in front of his unit’s positions, he put a bullet through it to relieve the boredom, only to regret it immediately afterwards because the wind was blowing towards him.

Mr J Willé He was the senior Mathematics master and took the double A-Level in mathematics group. He also coached athletics.

Summary It is worth saying that, despite all their idiosyncrasies, or lack of them, all the Masters at St Albans School during our years were a uniformly good and fair-minded set of teachers.

An aspect which helped the easy relationship between masters and students was the fact that most of the punishments were imposed by the prefects - lines, detention, and beatings (in those days) - and so the masters could leave much of the disciplining of students to others.

We have enjoyed compiling this document with one recollection triggering off others as we discussed them or circulated them by e-mail. At an early stage we met up at Ye Olde Fighting Cocks for a leisurely lunch and a long afternoon of planning.

Others of our number are working on articles about the CCF and sport.

The triathlon experience ■ Jeremy Newby-Ricci (86) completes the London Olympic Triathlon – and raises £2,500 for UK Kidney Research Recently, I completed the London Olympic Triathlon for UK Kidney Research in a time of 2hrs 53mins – and am still able to walk.

My parents, Helen and Max together with a loyal band of supporters watched the race, which began with the swim (and a perfectly executed Bachmann bomb, to enter the water) and was no more pleasant that I had envisaged.

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430 guys were in my heat and the start was quite something, with a great deal of jostling for position and oxygen. The field quickly thinned out and 35 minutes later I got out of the brackish, diesel tasting docks to start my bike leg.

This took everyone to Tower Bridge and back twice through the Limehouse tunnel which was a welcome break from the wind and provided a nice downhill section to get the speed up. Unfortunately, it was also followed by the inevitable uphill section.

Luck was clearly on my side, as just as I turned into transition, 200 yards from the end I got a puncture.

Fortunately, I was able to ride on and then just run with the bike, this would have added at least five minutes had it happened earlier...

My second transition (bike to run) took a little longer than it should as I had to apply not only a plaster to cover a blister on my foot that was picked up in training, but socks (not normally used in triathlon) to ensure that it got no worse. The run, my worst and least practiced event went really well, especially considering that I had not even completed the six mile distance before in training. My back just wasn’t up to the run training and so I had only completed two 3-mile runs in the lead up to the event.

This venture has already raised over £2,500, it has meant a great deal to Helen and I to be able to raise money for Kidney Research and we could not have done it without our sponsors’ help.

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60 years on

The 1948 prefects

■ Brian Evans (49) sends us some wartime reminiscences of School – and offers to organise a reunion of the 1948 prefects Wartime boys should be able to put surnames to the following members of staff, affectionately known as Happy, Beery, Squits (“my notes”), Ernie (“eh Lad”), George, RO, Sandy, Johnny, Scruffy, John E, Bunny, LG, Westgarth, Difor, Froggy (“stop zee noise”), Billy, Charlie, Stoker Bill and Bob. Some of the boys had nicknames too: Willy, Jez, Russ, Niffy, Tor, Neddy, Beezy, Rosie and Jos. I suspect those of you that can put surnames to these nicknames of 60 years ago, won’t (like me) remember whom we met last week!

Can you remember the ‘stalls’ at the side of the playground, set up by the entrepreneurial older boys? “Win two marbles if you hit the larger marble or five if you hit the smaller one” they shouted. We younger lads always lost and ended up with no marbles after a few minutes. How about the slides on the frozen winter playground? With double summertime it was always dark and cold when we approached the school via George Street. There one could buy a hot roll from Barrats the Bakers, open it up and then go to Ma Piggots the sweet shop. With no sweet coupons we could only buy exlax chocolate, which was delicious melted in the hot roll. An hour or two later, in class, one’s hand was

raised a few times: “Please Sir, may I be excused?” If we caught eating the roll in the street this inevitably resulted in being ‘Up Prees’ and receiving two, or more , of the best.

The 1948 photograph of school prefects shows a legal bias, Harold Wilson QC and John Chalkley became circuit judges and after I retired from private practice I was appointed by the Lord Chancellor to preside over substantial inquiries into Government projects. I was also a Tribunal Chairman.

I suspect there may have been others who had some other connections (voluntary) with the law.

As far as I can remember the names of the prefects are: Standing: Halton, Hudson, Thrale, Wilson, Tarling, Chalkley, Evans ??, Smith Toogood, Simon Seated: George, Batty, Clifford, Ashworth, Mumford, Lyall, Foxall.

Jo Barnett should be in the photo.

What happened to him and his friend Alan Dalziel, a dab hand on the ‘cello. They used to cycle back home with Gordon Jarry. I recall one day cycling past Clarence Park on my way home from school when I heard bagpipes from the football ground. I went in and was the only spectator on my side of the pitch watching the King and Queen and the two princesses inspecting a Scottish Regiment. I was carrying a loaf of bread, and when I got home my mother was furious in case the King had seen me with the loaf under my arm. Obviously the reason why I never got my K. It would be good to emulate the 1963 prefects who met up recently.

Their before and after photos were in the last edition of the Albanian.

Sadly I know Thrale, Chalkley, Ashworth and Mumford are no

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longer with us and there may be more like them. I would like to know what happened to Derek George who went back to Colombia and Frank Toogood who returned to Brazil. If the idea of a reunion appeals, let me know and I will try to arrange something. In any event it would be good to receive a phone call from any of you, just to let me have your news and present whereabouts.

Ammunition for a future article.

Brian Evans Tel: 01329 843462 E-mail: evotitchfield@btinternet.com

Remembering the fallen ■ Frank Armour (41) recalls many of his classmates who fell in battle but live on in the OA Roll of Honour Congratulations on such an interesting 46 pages in the Bulletin for June – I forgot my lunch till after 3pm! Congratulations as well to Anthony Lane for his very accurate picture of his boyhood hero, Dick Beckett!

Being an ‘A’, I was sat next to him for four school years, or very near him, in September 1936 when dear Sam Webster sorted us out in strict alphabetical order that morning. I can assure Anthony that his picture of him was very true to life, and I had four years of sitting close to him to find out!

It was not long before we were joined by Dick Fookes, another of the same mould, who was guaranteed to

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keep us all laughing through the day.

Dick B was perhaps for rugger, as you tell us, but Dick F excelled in the summer as the best wicket-keeper the team ever had, or so we all thought.

I am sorry to recall Dick did not take Godfrey Evans’ place as we expected he might. The OA Roll of Honour records his inclusion as he now rests in the RAF War Cemetary at El Alamein (in September 1942).

Beckett also came to fly Lancasters across the world, but managed to survive to become a vet in the postwar world, which we knew was his aim in life.

Between them, they soon showed me life at the School was to be enjoyed and their memory remains still a joy for me, and I soon lost my timidity!

Roy Henley is another from that class of nearly 30 who is also on the Roll of Honour (December 1941). We had 30 or so in that class and a second Third Form as well in 1936!

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Rugby

New faces ■ OARFC President Adrian Tominey welcomes some quality additions to the squad as the First XV looks for a top five finish in the highly competitive London League One The 2008-09 season was preceded by friendly training games against Dorking and Peterborough, and the Tring Festival. Performance was more important than results, and these games indicated that we had a squad which was greatly improved in numbers and quality from last season.

Having retained many of our older heads in Greg Botterman and Paul Mansfield as rotating captains, Alex Bennett, Arthur Mate, Tryfan Edwards, Richard Gregg and Eddie Panting, Mark Mansfield and Adam Gelman, we have recruited significant new players. Two antipodean forwards have joined us, and others including Terry Adams (ex-Esher), Simon Lye (ex-Fullerians), Henry Whitford (ex-Bedford and a Cambridge Blue), Chris May (exManley), and former Saracens stars Paul Gustard and Andy Edwards.

These additions give our squad real depth and quality, and real competition for places. Training has gone well under Bruce Millar and Mark Langley, and we kicked off the season with some optimism.

Our first league game took us to Luton, down from the National Leagues, and we were beaten by a very strong side but far from disgraced. Next we beat Haywards

OARFC Presidents old and new: Ali Mills and Adrian Tominey Heath soundly with a very good performance, only to travel to Portsmouth with a squad depleted by injury or the unavailability of key players, and we reverted to our old ways – losing a game we clearly could and should have won.

Following this setback we were able to field what must be close to our first-choice side and beat Bishops Stortford comprehensively at home followed by a crushing victory at Hertford 44-15, the biggest score in this local derby in living memory.

So we are cautiously optimistic for the future in what is a highly competitive league. What with the changes to the league being imposed by the RFU for 2009-10, we aim to be in the top five or six to retain our place in London One which will become a ‘national’ league of 14 clubs next season.

The strength in depth we have

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achieved this season has replicated down through the lower senior sides.

Currently our 2nd XV are looking formidable, racking up big points wins, and having lost only one league game are top of their league. Great success has also been registered by the 3rds, 4ths and 5ths, and we have good reason to be hopeful for the rest of the season for these teams.

The OA Saints are fielding two sides this season, again with promotion the objective for both. At the ‘Georgie Robinson Memorial Day’, they achieved a fine victory over the Army 10-7, a great feather in their caps, on what was a superb day for the club, with the 2nds winning 122-7 and scores not dissimilar to this for our lower sides. The Saints raised about £1,500 for the Rainbow Trust charity in support of the Georgie Robinson Day – so well done to the ladies in keeping her memory alive.

We continue to run two colts sides and a development team. These are The 200809 First Team squad

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very important nurseries for the senior teams and dovetail nicely with our mini/junior section which has been integrated with the senior club.

Numbers in excess of 630 are at bursting point, and fitting them all in is a real problem – even at a facility as wonderful as Woollams. They continue to be successful throughout the age groups, with many fielding two or three sides. Finding opposition for all these aspiring boy and girl rugby players is a significant problem!

The club is therefore in good health throughout its ranks, with an air of confidence around Woollams that we are striving to convert into success for all our teams and players.

As costs continue their inexorable rise we are grateful to our supporters and to the continued generosity of our many sponsors in these testing financial times!

Adrian Tominey President, OARFC

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Angling

Tennis

In the swim

Doubles all round

■ OA Angling Society Secretary Geoff Cannon reports on the biggest catch of the season – a fellow member fished out of the river in Dumfries!

■ Club Secretary Sue Barnes reports on a fantastic summer of success for OA Tennis, with promotion for the Ladies and Mixed Doubles teams

Since the end of the coarse season in March, salmon and trout fishing has been in full swing in particular the mayfly season which continues through May with visits to rivers as far apart as the Piddle in Dorset (of Tolpuddle fame), the Test in Hampshire, the Derbyshire Wye, Lough Melvin in Ireland and sundry still waters nearer home.

On a salmon fishing expedition to the north in Dumfries, Brian Ward noticed an object floating down the river which turned out to be a fellow member, who had slipped whilst wading. He promptly fished him out with no ill effects to either party.

As the game fishing season comes to a close and the coarse fishing season is now upon us, we are looking forward to further winter outings.

Once again, any Old Albanian who is interested in joining us, please do not hesitate to contact Geoff Cannon.

Geoff Cannon Honorary Secretary, OA Angling Club

One of St Albans’ best-kept sporting secrets has just completed the most successful summer in its short history.

The teams of Old Albanians Tennis, based at the Woollams sports ground on Harpenden Road, have won both their Ladies and Mixed Doubles divisions of the Watford & District league.

The Ladies team, captained by Helen Hartley, faced a season-long battle before securing their title but the Mixed team strolled to a perfect record of twelve victories, the only team in the 19 divisions of the league to complete the season unbeaten.

Indeed, it was only set difference that prevented the men’s team, skippered by Matt Hume, completing a clean sweep of promotions for the club.

With the prospect of floodlights being added next year, things are definitely looking up for the fledgling club but, keen not to rest on their laurels, they remain on the lookout for new players so that this year's success is just a starting point.

The Junior teams also had a very successful season and won nearly all their matches.

Anyone interested in playing tennis at one of the best facilities in the county, whatever their standard, can contact the club secretary Sue Barnes at sbarnes@stalbans.herts.sch.uk

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Shooting

Golf

Hit and miss ■ Secretary Owen Simmons looks back on a summer of mixed fortunes for the OA Rifle & Pistol Club Herts Summer League 2008 Our team of four (Owen Simmons, Andrew Wilkie, Andrew Moore, Moray McMillin) were promoted to Division 2 of the Herts postal leagues this summer. We found it tough in the higher division, especially as our scores were well down from last winter. We lost all our matches to finish in sixth place. The individual averages were:

Hon Secretary O L Simmons 2, Honeymead,

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Owen Simmons 93.8 highest score 98 Andrew Wilkie 94.7 highest score 98 Andrew Moore 93.8 highest score 95 Moray McMillin 94.5 highest score 98

team of four (Owen Simmons, Andrew Wilkie, Andrew Moore, Moray McMillin), shooting at 300 yds and 600 yds on the Century ranges, achieved a team score of 366 and 26V bulls, versus the Old Alleynians team total of 370 and 29V bulls. Individual scores were as shown in the panel below.

However, our disappointment was tempered, that evening, by the end of season dinner and wine hosted by the Old Alleynians, in the North London Clubhouse at Bisley.

Find out more Anyone wishing to find out more about the Club should contact one of the club officials listed left.

Owen Simmons Secretary, OA Rifle & Pistol Club

On course ■ Peter Dredge, new Secretary of the OA Golfing Society, looks forward to a full programme of events in 2009 The 2008 golfing year was, as always, highly enjoyable from a social point of view although the programme was somewhat curtailed due to inclement weather. An excellent victory over Mid-Herts Golf Club was followed by a narrow defeat against Old Cholmeleians at Highgate Golf Club.

The OA Cup was won by Graham Tate, with Peter Dew runner-up.

Rick Drakard takes over from Lewis Hawke as Captain of the OAGS, and a full programme is being planned for 2009 (see below). All OAs are warmly welcomed and those interested in receiving details of events should contact the Secretary.

Programme of Events for 2009 ● Saturday 2nd May: Match v MidHerts GC ● Friday 15th May: Captain’s Day at Gog Magog GC ● Tuesday 23rd June: OA Cup and Dockree Trophy at Dunstable Downs GC ● Friday 21st August: Match v Old Cholmeleians at Mid-Herts GC ● Friday 28th August: Old Boys Foursomes Competition at Highgate GC ● 6th/7th September: Trip/Overnight stay at Thorpeness GC ● Friday 9th October: Briggs Goblets Competition at Mid-Herts GC ● Friday 20th November: OAGS Dinner for members and their ladies (venue tba)

Peter Dredge 38 Gustard Wood Wheathampstead Herts AL4 8RR 01582 834572

Welwyn AL6 0EG 01438 840674 Hon Treasurer A Q S Moore 69, Long Fallow, St Albans

Bisley Summer 2008 continued Our summer season at Bisley finished with disappointment on Saturday 27th September 2008. We were unable to regain the Arnold Cup from the Old Alleynians after another close fought match. Our

AL2 3ED 01727 830344 Captain A W B Wilkie 5, Batchwood Drive, St Albans AL3 5RZ

Owen Simmons Andrew Wilkie Andrew Moore Moray McMillin Old Albanians Old Alleynians

300yds 45.1 50.7 45.2 46.4

600yds 44.5 45.3 43.3 48.1

Total 89.6 95.10 88.5 94.5 366.26 370.29

01727 856857

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