NEWS | FEATURES | CONNECTIONS | EVENTS
Finding creative flow BECKY HANNEY
2020
THE OE NETWORK MAGAZINE
In this issue… Contact details:
Dudley Thomas
development@kesbath.com TEL
01225 464313 extn 257 POST
Development Office, King Edward’s School, North Road, Bath, BA2 6HU
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WEBSITE
PRESIDENT’S WELCOME
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CELEBRATING KES SPORT
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Darren Willison OE ACTIVITY AWARD
www.kesbath.com/oe
David Cass
Contact the Development Office to:
Sam Lascelles
* Arrange a visit to the School * Book tickets for OE events * Contribute news/articles for
the OElink and OE e-newsletters
RECONNECTING WITH KES
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* Join the committee – new * Make a donation to the
* Pledge a legacy to the School and join the Blake Odgers Society
LONDON DINNER 2020
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Becky Hanney
SPEAKING ABOUT SPORT
* Offer careers help to the School
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John Watson
School’s Bursary Fund
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Saul Philpott A WORLD OF LANGUAGES
* Purchase merchandise * Request log-in details
Michael Pell
* Update your contact details
Martin Boden
AU REVOIR
for OEs Online
*
As soon as circumstances allow
Current Executive Committee:
HEADMASTER’S VIEW
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PRESIDENT
AN AMERICAN UPRISING IN CORNWALL
Nadeem Shad
CHAIRMAN
INTO THE UNKNOWN
SECRETARY
Jason Bees
Claire Davies, current staff
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10 12 14 16 18
Kate Werran
Dudley Thomas 1955-1964 Sam Lascelles 1993-2000
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CHAIRMAN’S LETTER
FINDING CREATIVE FLOW
members are always welcome!
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A FRIENDSHIP BOUND TOGETHER BY RUGBY
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Tim Dunn FRONT COVER
Horizon Painting © Becky Hanney EDITOR
Claire Davies PROOFREADING
Tessa Williams DESIGN
Caroline Curran Design
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22 Follow the OEs:
1944: SHOULD WE BOMB AUSCHWITZ?
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LETTERS FROM LOCKDOWN
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IN MEMORIAM
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OE NEWS
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KESBathOEs | Follow KES:
KESBath
Ben Jones was the most inspirational teacher I ever met. My best grades at O and A Level were in History.”
Dudley Thomas
President’s welcome
1955-1964
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wonder how many OEs spent their bonus free time during lockdown as I did? I started the first week by putting the chest of drawers in order, which revealed various treasures, including the service sheet from Brian Holbeche’s memorial service at Bath Abbey. Thereafter everything that needed tidying was tidied. The house and garden now look immaculate, very Homes and Gardens. All these menial tasks left me with a lot of thinking time, cogitating life in general, thinking about the past and definitely avoiding too much thought about the future. So, what to talk about? It would be very boring to go on about all of my tidying achievements except to confess that I discovered I own 37 screwdrivers. That’s one for every two years of my life! No, what I want to tell you about is the three Mr Joneses during my time at KES. I entered Big School in Broad Street in 1957 and there was then one master with that surname – the caring Leslie Jones who was Head of Maths. He also taught Life Saving on the top floor during the lunch hour. He was a committed Christian and attended Argyle Church in the centre of Bath. He was a very kind man and I remember that once in the Sixth Form we were invited for tea at his home in Camden. We had some interesting sandwiches that consisted of mashed banana topped with Smith’s crisps. Three years later KES changed dramatically with the move from Broad Street to North Road and the arrival of the new Headmaster, Brian Holbeche. I have always thought it was he who moved the School forward and prepared it for the brilliant long-term expansion into the King Edward’s that it is now. The move to North Road brought in a number of new masters, including Ben Jones (Head of History) and Lang Jones (Head of Physical Education). Ben Jones was the most inspirational teacher I ever met. My best grades at O and A Level were in History. He too was a generous man who felt that we should learn something of the finer life and his chosen topic was sherry. He organised a serious tasting session, bringing Harvey’s of Bristol across for us to learn about various types of sherry. He regarded it an essential part of our education that we should be able to distinguish fino from amontillado and that from oloroso. He later moved on to become Headmaster at another school. The other Mr Jones will require little introduction as he taught many
Lang Jones
The other Mr Jones will require little introduction as he taught many generations of Edwardians – Lang Jones, of course.”
generations of Edwardians – Lang Jones, of course. He came to us straight from Loughborough College and he had a strong North Walian accent which had been modified slightly by his time at college in the Midlands. I can hear him still: “You are as daft as a brush, Thomas” sometimes varied to “You are as thick as that wall, Thomas”. Notwithstanding Lang’s early impressions of me, we became great pals in my last year at school when he was the form master of 2B and I was form prefect. 2B contained many mischief makers but were generally a great bunch and fun to work with. At one time Lang had a problem – an attractive mother had developed a crush on him, and he was anxious to avoid her unwelcome attention. So as not to have to walk past her in her parked car on North Road, Lang often rode pillion on my Vespa 125 and we took off up North Road away from the lady in question. Yes, those were happy times. I hope that you are all keeping safe and well in these strange times. I also very much hope that we will be able to move on before too long and get back to enjoying the great social events that the Association is so good at arranging.
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Celebrating KES sport The Old Edwardians’ Sports Dinner held on 23 November 2019 was a fantastic celebration of KES sport, friendship and supportive team spirit. The event, which included a sporting exhibition and the screening of tour films, brought together nearly 70 OEs, current and former members of staff along with members of the wider KES community in the School’s Wessex Building. Guests enjoyed sharing sporting memories and reminiscing about memorable moments from tours and matches played!
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It was a fantastic evening and a wonderful trip down memory lane. I loved sitting between two tables of OE sportswomen who were pivotal in the shaping of girls’ sport, especially netball, at KES. To hear where life has taken them was a real pleasure, and to learn that so many are still heavily involved in sport at so many levels was very special. Another highlight was reminiscing about past sports tours, both local and overseas. A table of sportsmen and sportswomen from the New Zealand and Fiji tour of 2003, along with some past tutees, brought further stories and a reminder of how the years can fly by, yet it can still feel like yesterday! Thank you to all of those who attended, and I look forward to future events. Louisa Gwilliam
This is a biennial event, and we very much hope to be hosting it again in November 2021.
It’s always thoroughly enjoyable to attend the OE Sports Dinner. It’s not just being able to catch up and reminisce with OEs with whom I have shared many sporting endeavours around the world, but also that it connects those pupils currently representing the School with those who did it so well in the past. This year it was great to have two different generations of KES sportswomen at the Dinner: the earlier generation at the forefront of building the foundations of girls’ sport at KES, and the later generation a super reflection of how far girls’ sport has come at the School. I look forward to catching up with more OE sportsmen and women at the next event. John Tidball
www.kesbath.com/oe
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Reconnecting with KES
OE Activity Award
The group aims to target LGBTQ+ phobia, and to spread awareness, self-confidence and pride. Set up by pupils for pupils, the group meets every other Monday lunchtime to provide support, share ideas and organise activities to promote the LGBTQ+ community within the Senior School. Last year we were lucky to be awarded an OE Activity Award for 2019-2020 and the group used this to organise an LGBTQ+ movie night with an informal talk by our very own OE actor, comedian and writer Jon Monie. The event also reached out to the wider community and invited other Pride groups from schools in the Bath area. Jon kicked off the evening by speaking about his own experiences as a gay person, including growing up in Bath and going to KES. There was then an open discussion and we watched a rather appropriate film called Love Simon. It was a lovely evening that everyone enjoyed, and contacts were made that will hopefully enable future events to take place. We are very fortunate at KES to have an LGBTQ+ group, and to be able to host an event like this. We are grateful for the OE Activity Award, but most of all we are grateful that we are supported, acknowledged and respected by the KES community.
Photo: Claire Newman-Willaims
KES Pride is the School’s support group for everyone – the LGBTQ+, label-less and surrounding community.
As a recent joiner to the OE Committee, I wanted to give a bit more insight into what it is all about and how I have found myself really enjoying my reconnection with my alma mater.
Jon Monie
It was a great experience to watch an LGBTQ+inclusive film and talk with an OE about stuff that’s rarely discussed in schools. I hope there are more events like this in the future, and that even more pupils and teachers across Bath will attend.”
Darren Willison
Year 12 pupil
The OE Committee meets three times a year (broadly once a term). Meetings are held on a weekday evening in the Wessex Building. Accompanied with a buffet supper and a glass of wine, they never last longer than an hour and a half. I really like engaging with current and former staff and OEs from a range of eras both younger and older than mine. We typically discuss matters arising across our focus areas: • our events programme and how we can use it to nurture existing relationships between OEs, grow the community and have some fun; • supporting the School through the skills and time of OEs, with services such as careers guidance, and through financial support to the School’s Bursary Fund; • the recently-introduced OE Activity Award, which provides pupils at the Senior School with an opportunity to bid for financial help for their clubs and societies. It has been great to review the applications from pupils. The Committee works best when it is made up of all generations, meaning our activities offer something for all vintages. Why not get involved and ensure your year group is represented?!
David Cass 1993-2001
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Chairman’s letter Sam Lascelles 1993-2000
London Dinner 2020
Welcome to this year’s edition of the OElink! The more observant of you will have noticed that you are reading this on a screen and not as a printed publication. The OElink has, over the years and under Claire’s editorship, become a very impressive alumni magazine which I know many of us really look forward to reading. In line with its other key annual publications, the School kindly funds the cost of producing the magazine. The Headmaster explains how the School has responded to the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in more detail on page 18 but suffice to say that a necessary focus on financial prudence has meant that, for this year, we have arranged to reduce some costs and go digital. This will also help the School to direct valuable funds to the Hardship Fund to support the education of pupils whose parents have been severely affected by the sudden economic impact of the current crisis. Please do send us your feedback on how you find reading the OElink in this digital form. Whilst the pandemic has accelerated the use of technology for us all, we appreciate how important the printed edition is to many of you and we are not ruling this out for the future. Do please let us know if you would prefer
reading the magazine in print, and equally if, as a digital native, you prefer this format. Please direct your comments to development@kesbath.com. In other news, and looking back before coronavirus, the OEs enjoyed two very memorable social gatherings during the past year. Our biennial Sports Dinner held in the School’s Wessex Building last November was a fantastic event and we were delighted to welcome impressive cohorts of sportswomen from 2010 and 2018, alongside strong representation of sportsmen from the 1960s through to the 2010s. It was particularly good to see groups who had toured together reuniting to reminisce. And, of course, our flagship London Dinner event at the Houses of Parliament in February was a sellout success. We were made very welcome by our host, OE John Glen MP who showed us around his office (tour of the Palace of Westminster!) before a wonderful dinner for 140 guests with partners, friends, current and former members of staff joining OEs of all vintages in the Members’ Dining Room. We plan to next meet formally in London in 2022. Please let us know if you have access to any special venues that might lend themselves to a similarly excellent occasion. Unfortunately, this year’s Anniversary Reunion and Summer Reunion events were unavoidably postponed, but we hope to be able to meet again socially at some point in 2021. We will, of course, be in
touch with plenty of notice as soon as we can safely hold in-person events again. Finally, I’d like to say a special thank you to Michael Pell, retiring Head of Art and Photography, who has been our OE/staff liaison for the last 10 years. In addition to his tremendous help and support with our events programme, he has played a vital role in engaging the wider OE and staff community. We wish Michael a very happy retirement and look forward to his future involvement with the OEs as a former member of staff! I wish all Old Edwardians and their families well. Please do keep in touch.
I’d like to say a special thank you to Michael Pell, retiring Head of Art and Photography, who has been our OE/staff liaison for the last 10 years.” www.kesbath.com/oe
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London Dinner at the Houses of Parliament 29 FEBRUARY 2020
Our grateful thanks go to OE John Glen MP for hosting this special evening, and to all the guests for their part in making the event such a success.
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I am inspired by fractals, the patterns in nature that are present in all visual experience.�
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Artist Becky Hanney 2011-2013 with an insight into the inspiration for her artwork, and why those keen to pursue artistic study should trust their creative instincts.
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s an artist I follow a somatic calling to explore the unknown worlds and creatures my paintbrushes can create. My paintings help me access a space beyond the rational mind, into the sensual swirls and rhythms of the flow of being. They enable me to fall into a deep intuition and find stability amongst the chaos and, to me, are incredibly peaceful while being full of energy. I am inspired by fractals, the patterns in nature that are present in all visual experience. They traverse all types of structures – landscape, plants, animals – and through studying them I learn what comprises visual reality so that I can better explore on my own.
Find the thing that you are good at, put in the time and become highly skilled and valuable. The technique I use begins with improvisational automatic mark-making. Initially I create traditional, abstract Expressionist designs, which I then work into fractally with progressively smaller brushmarks. These interact constructively and descriptively to create a three-dimensional illusion, suggestive of landscape and organisms. I call these ‘the planets’, which are the freest asymmetrical mark-making. I then give the energy different rules to follow, such as perspective and symmetry, creating landscapes, organisms and figures. I endeavour to see the hyper-object from as many angles as possible, with each painting as an aspect of the whole, learning from each to then bring them back together. My advice to recent leavers keen to pursue artistic study is to follow your highest excitement. Meditate, clear your mind and use your body as an antenna. Think of what you could make and feel the bubbling potential, perhaps a little adrenaline. Follow your internal resonance and you will know when something feels right. Trust your instincts, be completely authentic and do not worry if it does not fit in, that is what makes you special. Art-making comes in infinite shapes and sizes. Make different things, look back, find a pattern and refine. Find the thing that you are good at, put in the time and become highly skilled and valuable. The work
should not feel forced and should come naturally to you, and while it will still take effort to manifest it will be deeply satisfying. If you are going to be an artist these are the things that will maintain you and your practice. Nowadays I think it is particularly important to have an online presence. Interact with people and build a non-local audience. As well as making finished works of art, you are making content. I would suggest looking into novel ways of funding your art such as Kickstarter and Patreon. For example, last year I crowdfunded a group exhibition with Kickstarter, which exceeded my expectations, and I will look to do this again in the future with a solo show. In terms of further education, an art foundation before university is great if you are unsure what your discipline or style is yet, as there you can explore different aspects of art-making. It is also important to know that art education becomes increasingly self-led and university is not the only route. Taking a year out may be beneficial to help you figure out what you really want to work on, without external pressures. Art-making requires self-direction and self-motivation, so you should feel comfortable with both, inside and outside academia.
www.beckyhanney.com
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I joined BBC Sport just in time to cover the London Olympics in 2012, and reporting on ‘Super Saturday’ from inside the Olympic Stadium remains one of my career highlights.”
Images clockwise: John with Alastair Cook, Eddie Jones, BBC Breakfast and at the Australian Open
Speaking about sport John Watson 1990-2001 is a sports presenter working for BBC Breakfast and BBC News. He reflects on the ways sport has been affected by this year’s events, and his experiences getting into the industry.
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Ever since my days at KES, it was an ambition to work for the BBC as a sports reporter.”
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s we stood outside the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park at January’s Australian Open, all the pre-tournament conversations centred around the terrible wildfires that had devastated the country. Landing in Melbourne you could smell the smoke hanging in the air and, when a player collapsed with breathing difficulties in a qualifying match, delaying or even cancelling the tournament was being considered. Who could have predicted that soon the organisers of every major sporting event this year would be facing a similar decision, but for a very different reason? I liken covering a major tournament to living and working inside a bubble. You immerse yourself in it, watching matches, attending press conferences and doing interviews. It’s not unusual to lose touch with events elsewhere. This year, however, proved an exception: when listening in to the news programme before every live broadcast it became clear that one story was dominating the agenda – Coronavirus. As we are now only too aware, the impact of the pandemic has been felt in every corner of the globe and in every sphere of life. For sport, the knock-on effect has been immense. I was due to follow England at the European Championships this summer, a tournament now moved to 2021, and the postponement of the Olympic Games was an unprecedented decision that will have far-reaching ramifications for athletes,
sponsors and the Japanese economy. As I write, there is still no firm date as to when fans will be allowed back into stadiums to watch live sport. Amidst all of this came the Black Lives Matter protests and the world of sport making its voice heard on the issue. With hardly any actual sport taking place, it has been these two global stories that have shaped my work over the past few months. Ever since my days at KES, it was an ambition to work for the BBC as a sports reporter. In my view it is the best way to combine my love of sport and my natural curiosity about people and stories. Live TV is also an exciting environment to work in and offers many challenges. You learn to deal with the unexpected; drunken fans outside a test match often feature! Talking to time is a skill that requires practice (editors get irritated if you go over your allocated timeslot) and dealing with directors and producers talking in your ear as you relay the events of the day takes some getting used to. Were it not for KES, I wouldn’t be where I am today. It was the School that gave me my first break when, in 2000, I responded to an advert on the Sixth Form Centre notice board for someone to assist on Bath FM’s Saturday Sport Show. Numerous weekends given up to this unpaid work experience paid off, and this was the first step in a career that has seen me cover the World Cup in South Africa, the Wimbledon Championships, the London Olympics and the Australian Open.
After studying Journalism at university I initially returned to Bath FM before moving to London in 2007 for my first BBC job, on Newsround, and in 2011 relocated with the BBC to Manchester, where I still live with my wife and two children. I joined BBC Sport just in time to cover the London Olympics in 2012, and reporting on ‘Super Saturday’ from inside the Olympic Stadium remains one of my career highlights. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to interview sporting stars such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Dame Jess Ennis-Hill, Sir Alastair Cook and Eddie Jones. I still contend that the 4am wake-up when I’m presenting the sport on BBC Breakfast is harder than handling any tricky interviewee. Breakfast remains such an exciting show to work on. As I finished the sport segment the other morning, Boris Johnson was sitting on the sofa opposite me in readiness for the next news item. It’s not every day you get to discuss the previous night’s football with the Prime Minister! I had a great time at KES and feel lucky to have grown up in such a great city. My school friends are still my best friends today. People often ask me what is the best way to get into the industry and I always say try to get a foot in the door where you can, take any opportunity that comes your way and be prepared to put in the hard yards at the start for little reward. Sadly, Bath FM has long since closed but keep your eyes on that Sixth Form Centre notice board, you never know what might go up on there. And if we ever find ourselves rubbing shoulders inside a stadium – whenever that day might come – please do say hello. It’s always nice to see a friendly face and hear a story or two about KES.
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As well as providing me with such interesting and varied professional opportunities, studying languages has meant that for the past 13 years I have been living outside the UK. During that time, I have met some wonderful people and been to some truly magical places.”
Saul Philpott 1989-1999 looks back on his interest in languages, and how this led to a career in translation and his current role as a translator at the UN regional commission in Chile.
I In particular, two memorable exchange trips to Pamplona cemented my interest in a languages path, and above all in Spanish.
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was delighted to read about the School’s new classrooms for Modern Languages opening last year. At a time when the study of languages appears to waning, it was a heartening success story. It was the staff at King Edward’s – Mrs Bailey, Mrs Bougeard, Mrs Chambers, Mrs Finch, Mr Vass, Mrs White, to name just a few – that introduced me to French, Latin and Spanish, laying the foundations for my career. In particular, two memorable exchange trips to Pamplona cemented my interest in a languages path, and above all in Spanish. After KES, I took a BA in French and Hispanic Studies at the University of Sheffield. In the third year of my degree, I was lucky enough to study in Réunion in the Indian Ocean and in Uruguay in South America. I then set my heart on a career in translation and applied for the MA in
Interpreting and Translating at the University of Bath. Although I had taken a module in interpreting – translation of the spoken word – at Sheffield, Bath was my first real experience of implementing the skills involved. We practised simultaneous interpreting in the same type of booths as those used at the UN and EU, learned about note-taking for consecutive and liaison interpreting and even spent two weeks at the UN Office in Vienna in a dummy booth, pretending to interpret for meetings. By 2007 I was in Spain. I found a job at an agency, translating anything from property deeds to websites, and also interpreting in court cases and at international congresses and municipal events. One year later I was at BBVA, Spain’s second largest bank. My specialisation in financial translation
Far left: With my wife, Gema, outside the Presidential Palace in Santiago. Right: In front of the Palacio de Santa Cruz, Madrid (Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Below: In Montevideo in 2002.
then helped me move to the Madrid office of the financial services company KPMG. There, we translated a multitude of financial and legal documents, including the accounts of some of the largest Spanish and multinational companies. Four years later, I applied to work at Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After five rounds of translation tests and an exam on Spanish law, I found myself working at the Language Interpretation Office. The Office serves all of Spain’s ministries, as well as some of its agencies and the royal family. The work is extremely varied, but the most nerveracking are the speeches, which may be given at the highest level. Not one to be discouraged by more exams, I then decided to apply to the UN. To be included in the roster for vacancies, translators must pass a set of translation, précis-writing and editing tests, and must be mother-tongue speakers of one of the official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) and proficient in another two. Several months later, an opportunity arose at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), one of the UN regional commissions, which is based in Chile. The weeks passed, and then an email appeared. We were moving to Chile! Work at ECLAC includes translating and editing statistical papers, economic reports, social programmes, presentations and minutes for regional meetings. The Commission works with governments and civil society in the areas of economic, social and sustainable development, and statistics and planning. Ensuring that the documents produced by the Commission and its subsidiary bodies are available in both Spanish and English, and often also in Portuguese, is fundamental to ensuring that its messages reach the largest possible audience and are available in the official languages of the member states. As well as providing me with such interesting and varied professional opportunities, studying languages has meant that for the past 13 years I have been living outside the UK. During that time, I have met some wonderful people and been to some truly magical places. Having first visited Madrid with the KES Art Department in the 1990s, I made it my home for 12 years. The city is home to not only the Prado but also the Thyssen
It was the staff at King Edward’s – Mrs Bailey, Mrs Bougeard, Mrs Chambers, Mrs Finch, Mr Vass, Mrs White, to name just a few – that introduced me to French, Latin and Spanish, laying the foundations for my career.”
and Reina Sofia galleries, a plethora of bars and restaurants, endless concerts, exhibitions and shows and of course Real Madrid (¡hala Madrid!). Sadly, Madrid has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. I now live in Santiago in Chile, a city dominated by the Andes, which seem to stretch right up to the heavens. Indeed, Chile as a country is defined by the Andes, which separate it from Argentina and Bolivia. It is a place of extremes that begs to be explored: from the frozen southern tip, through the lush green land of volcanoes and lakes, to the wine-growing centre, right up to the Atacama Desert. The translation industry has changed dramatically since I began my career. Computer-aided translation has become indispensable, resources are almost entirely online instead of printed and the market has grown enormously. The range of job titles has also expanded exponentially, as more and more companies and organisations reach beyond the borders of their own countries: translator, interpreter, transcreator, post-editor, project manager, localizer, editor, proofreader, terminologist, to name but a few. Since I first wrote this article, the COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the globe. It has been heart-wrenching to watch Spain and the UK in the news, but I am heartened by two things: firstly, the wonders of modern technology, which have enabled me to continue working in almost exactly the same way as at the office, and secondly, knowing that the work we do at ECLAC is crucial in these awful times.
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I have been given the freedom to develop and nurture an Art School ethos, always looking to instil the core elements of a rigorous and broad art education.�
Retiring Head of Art and Photography, Michael Pell reflects on his 25 years at KES and having had the best job in the world.
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n 1995 I arrived at KES from nearby Monkton Combe School, just as the School was transitioning into becoming fully co-educational. My elder son George entered Year 7 and so began 25 years of close family association with the School. In a recent letter to the Headmaster I commented on a phrase much quoted by the legendary Mr Lang Jones. He often said that he felt that whilst teaching at KES he had “the best job in the world”. As I reflect on 25 years as Head of Art and Photography, I would have to offer a counter claim, that actually “I have had the best job in the world”! It has been a delight to spend a teaching career focussed on delivering the subject I am passionate about in such a wonderful environment, supported by so many extremely talented and creative colleagues. Throughout we have concentrated on creating an Art department that strives to offer an exciting, welcoming, creative and stimulating environment where our many talented pupils could express and explore their imaginative visual ideas. I have been given the freedom to develop and nurture an Art School ethos, always looking to instil the core elements of a rigorous and broad art education. I was supported in introducing Photography as an A Level and as a discipline it has grown into a vibrant part of the department. I have been fortunate to teach gifted and motivated pupils who have never failed to impress, entertain, challenge and extend my view of the contemporary world. Many have made the journey through the Art department and gone on to study at Art School and to forge successful creative careers. Outside the department I have also shared many wonderfully enriching times on the annual Sixth Form art tours, with visits to such cultural centres as Venice, Rome, Florence, Berlin, Amsterdam, New York, Barcelona and Marrakech. Those trips have generated so many exciting experiences, memories, stories, photos and sketchbooks and undoubtedly broadened and enriched my life. Other key artistic moments would include the many visits to Oxford to the Ashmolean
With artist Kurt Jackson
I have loved the coaching role, building and training new teams each season, developing a team spirit and trying to impart the powerful KES rugby ethos.” and Pitt Rivers Museums, trips to the major London galleries, and the annual art lectures and exhibitions when we have heard some inspirational words from visiting speakers such as Kurt Jackson, Jonny Hannah and Chris Stephens. Another key feature of my time at KES has been an involvement in sport, particularly rugby. I have loved the coaching role, building and training new teams each season, developing a team spirit and trying to impart the powerful KES rugby ethos. Refereeing has been great fun (not, perhaps, for the players!) and helped me remain actively involved in a sport I love. My involvement in rugby has also given me the opportunity to travel to prestigious tournaments such as the Rosslyn Park 7s and the Sedbergh 10s and to run and support major overseas tours to South Africa, New Zealand, Fiji, Canada and France. I will never forget some of the spirited and characterful match performances of our boys, nor the many tour adventures including trips to safari parks, swimming with sharks, whale watching, seeing the Rockies, visiting townships, facing the Haka … I could
go on but, “what goes on tour stays on tour”! Other highlights I will treasure include Activity Weeks to Kingsbridge in Devon, Barcelona and Norwich, working with colleagues to structure exciting activities for our younger pupils, and the annual visits to the beautiful Bath Abbey for the atmospheric Carol Service and Founder’s Day. It has been during these events that I’m reminded of the incredible history of the School and how important it is to retain our rich traditions and links to the city of Bath. Further memorable aspects of school life have been acting as a senior Sixth Form tutor, working on the Fathers’ Committee (how can I forget performing It’s Raining Men in drag at a Fathers’ Committee Ball!) and holding the role of Chair of the Common Room. Having served the Old Edwardians’ Association for many years, both on the Committee and as the OE/staff liaison, it is odd to consider that I am now to become an OE myself! I have helped organise and attended some fantastic OE events, London Dinners and Reunions at locations including L’Escargot in Soho, the Carlton Club and the Houses of Parliament and the OEs’ Sports Dinner, now hosted at KES but first held at Bath Rugby Club. Meeting and socialising with the School’s alumni has been a joy and a privilege, and I look forward to my continued involvement with the OEs and meeting up at future OE events and gatherings. Ultimately, however, what has made my (and George’s) time at KES so enjoyable and rewarding has been the wonderful people, colleagues and pupils, and the lifetime friendships forged.
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Martin Boden
In the current unprecedented circumstances, time seems to have taken on a new, flexible form, with weeks passing in the blink of an eye and events of only a few months ago feeling as though they happened in a different decade.
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ur leap year gathering at the Houses of Parliament was certainly a highlight for all who attended, a lovely celebration of the spirit, friendship and history of the OE community in a suitably wonderful setting, and yet it feels like a lifetime ago that John Glen kindly welcomed us to the Palace of Westminster for a most memorable occasion. Just three weeks after our London Dinner, the country moved further towards lockdown as schools were closed and teachers, pupils and parents found themselves operating in a remote learning environment on a scale never seen before. Nearly six months on, and with a Summer Term unlike any in our 468-year history behind us, schools are now open again for all pupils, and KES is once more abuzz with chatter, activity and learning, albeit with a rather different look and feel to the old place as we all adjust to a raft of mitigation measures and logistical considerations in this ‘new normal’. Throughout these challenging recent months, the KES community has shown remarkable fortitude and adaptability,
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Left: Senior School production of Romeo and Juliet Below: KES team: winners of the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber First Girls Competition
and I am very grateful to everyone affected for their patience, co-operation and support as we have adjusted to new routines and expectations in all aspects of school life. I particularly want to pay tribute to the latest additions to the KES alumni, the class of 2020, who have remained engaged and positive throughout the upheaval, despite being denied the opportunity to sit the exams this summer for which they had worked so hard during their Sixth Form career. I should like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate them, to wish them well as they embark on the next stage in their lives and to welcome them most warmly to the OE community. Amidst all the disruption of the Summer Term, it is easy to forget that two thirds of the last academic year were relatively ‘normal’, with the usual array of activities and achievements in and out of the classroom again marking the pathway of so many of our pupils. Individual and collective effort and success on the sports field, on stage, in the concert hall or debating chamber, in adventurous and creative pursuits and, of course, in academic engagement – to mention just
some of the fields of endeavour – have once again been hallmarks of the last 12 months, and even lockdown hasn’t been able to halt that flow completely, with necessity certainly encouraging invention on many fronts, not least in the charitable engagement of many pupils and staff. This included a sponsored 10k event featuring 175 runners who raised over £6,000 for NHS Charities Together, as well as a sterling effort from colleagues in the DT department, who made around 1,500 visors for local hospitals, hospices and GP surgeries. We very much missed being able to welcome OEs back to school during the summer for our traditional reunion lunches, but are already looking forward to when that might again be possible, hopefully in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, we have very much appreciated both the many messages of encouragement from our alumni and also the support that a number of you have very kindly provided to our Hardship Fund which ran last term and is in place again for the autumn and which has enabled a number of KES families significantly affected by the financial
Below /eft: Year 11 Geography Field Trip, North Wales Below: U15 Boys’ Hockey
Nearly six months on, and with a Summer Term unlike any in our 468-year history behind us, schools are now open again for all pupils, and KES is once more abuzz with chatter, activity and learning, albeit with a rather different look and feel to the old place as we all adjust to a raft of mitigation measures and logistical considerations in this ‘new normal’.”
consequences of the pandemic to keep their children at the School during this worrying and unsettled period. Please do contact the Development Office if you are interested in finding out more about this. Most importantly, I hope that all OEs and their families, wherever you may be around the world, are keeping as safe and well as possible in these uncertain times. The many fascinating and varied stories in this edition of the OElink magazine confirm that the OE community remains a richly active one, and I look forward once again to catching up with you in person when circumstances allow.
www.kesbath.com/oe
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…in Cornwall Kate Werran by Jane Cox Photography
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Kate Werran 1988-1990 reveals how she uncovered the incredible story of a Second World War shoot-out between black and white American soldiers in a quiet Cornish town, an event that ended up putting the UK-US ‘special relationship’ itself on trial.
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n a cool September evening in 1943, a group of AfricanAmerican soldiers calmly returned to their Cornish camp, armed themselves with tommy guns, ammunition and bayonets and marched back into town, three abreast. The sound of their armyissue boots clomping in formation for nearly a mile echoed heavily in the pitchy night of blackout England. The Americans were ready for the fight of their lives – but it was not the official enemy that was in their sights. Instead they stopped when they arrived at Launceston’s war memorial, where a group of white military policemen were clustered around two US Army jeeps. Within moments, a few words triggered a dramatic all-American gunfight that left bodies, windows and vehicles broken. The spectacle captivated the nation as reporters from every newspaper rushed to the South West. Unsurprisingly, the sensational court martial into the ‘mutiny’ made front page news in both Britain and America, setting off alarm bells in Whitehall and Washington and prompting attempts at a cover-up. Clearly, good old-fashioned mutiny was not the real story here. An American Uprising in Second World War England: Mutiny in the Duchy is my considered explanation of what was truly at stake and it makes surprising revelations about Britain, race and the real ‘special relationship’ in World War II. Perhaps no-one was more shocked about this than me, mainly because of the story’s all-too-familiar provenance. Put simply, it came from my dad’s lexicon of legendary ‘war stories’ – a wonderful repertoire including the tale of when a German pilot parachuted into his garden and accounts of overly-violent races among school children to collect shrapnel. But the one that always stood out was this forgotten armed clash and it had achieved near-mythical status in my family over the years. Dad and Mum took us to Cornwall for every holiday and we all felt for ourselves the bullet holes left in Launceston’s bricks and mortar. Still, it didn’t feel real and we all knew that often the truth falls depressingly short of the myth. But not on this occasion. As I eventually turned that first page of the original court martial manuscript, obtained after a dragged-out freedom of information process, it was like beginning to read a film script. So, too, was the emerging narrative of why the shooting happened, which I pieced together using oncesecret government documents from the National Archives and the National Archives of America and various diaries and newspapers from the British Library,
The spectacle captivated the nation as reporters from every newspaper rushed to the South West.”
amongst others. It became altogether larger and much more significant than even one of Dad’s stories. Once I discovered that the targeted soldiers in Launceston happened to be tasked with landing at Omaha Beach on D-Day – well, my mission felt almost inevitable. This was a slam dunk of a story that needed to be told, especially since, nearly 80 years on, nobody knew what had really happened to the men involved.
I believed I had everything I needed to write about this, from my History degree, to a journalism career that started with work experience on the Bath Chronicle and went on to a decade in my dream job producing history documentaries for TV, with subject matters ranging from Churchill’s relationship with his generals to Live Aid and the 20th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike. But, looking back on it, every historical tool I used – treating the primary source as king, creating a watertight timeline of events, walking around a little in bygone shoes and, most of all, developing a pithy, compelling argument – was taught to me back in the leafy heights of North Road, Bath. Here, more than 30 years ago, I became part of the third cohort of girls to join the Sixth Form at King Edward’s, where I was lucky enough to learn from the formidable teaching duo of Mr and Mrs Rowe under the guiding auspices of the brilliant Dr John Wroughton. They brought with them what I believe to be the very best of British and European history (Carole Rowe taught the Wars of the Roses and the Tudors and Roger Rowe the reigns of Louis XI – XIV of France), a verve and passion for their subject, an unsurpassed ability to teach and the capacity to instil in me the
Top: the boxer, Joe Louis, meeting troops at Bodmin Barracks; Far left and above: Wings for Victory Parade in Launceston, 1943 Photos by George Ellis, courtesy of Kresen Kurnow
confidence to apply for and win a place to read History at Oxford. Quite simply, they confirmed and nurtured in me a lifelong love of my subject – and, in doing so, changed my life. So, as the book I have always wanted to write is published, it seems entirely and utterly appropriate to be back in the place where it all started. After 25 years in London I have returned and am once again at North Road on a daily basis with three of my four children, on a site that was green fields when I was last here. Even more fitting is that, three weeks into their first term at the Junior School, I was running late to pick them up (having been confused by a bypass that didn’t exist when I was last here) when I bumped into Roger Rowe and Frank Thorn, who happened to be there as I went sprinting past. I have come full circle. So, thank you to the fantastic Mr and Mrs Rowe, to Dr Frank Thorn, Dr John Wroughton and King Edward’s School for steering me to the life that I have led and for enabling me to write the lost, and now found, story of an American uprising in Cornwall. An American Uprising in Second World War England: Mutiny in the Duchy is published by Pen and Sword, and is available from all major bookshops.
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Photos Š Nadeem Shad
Travelling into the unknown Nadeem Shad 2004-2011 reports on his decision to move to Hong Kong to work as a senior journalist for the South China Morning Post.
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bout a year ago, when flying without a second thought was still possible, I was sitting by a departure gate at Heathrow Airport with one hand on my small carry-on and the other clutching my passport a bit too tightly. Every five minutes I was nervously checking the clock and sizing up the other passengers on my flight. I was about to fly to a city I’d never visited, Hong Kong, and start the next chapter of my career as a journalist in the fragrant harbour. The city at the time was in the middle of major upheaval: the Legislative Council Building had been ransacked by protesters two months prior and the situation seemed to be getting more violent. I hadn’t been to China in seven years and, only the day before, I’d said goodbye to my colleagues and my rather comfortable desk at the BBC. I guess when a person is about to make a big, life-changing decision it’s common to think about what led you to your current course of action. Muttering to myself, “This is what you’ve always wanted to do,” I ambled self-consciously onto the plane. I had 13 and a half hours to think about why on Earth I had decided to move my life halfway around the planet. It’s the kind of question I think about often: What exactly drives a person to do such a thing? And it’s made me think a lot about KES. In the end I think it’s my teachers who can take a lot of the credit for this adventure. Politics classes with Rebecca Davies, History classes with Richard Thomas and Classics classes with Seth Bolderow definitely left their mark on my life. Over seven years at KES, from 2004 to 2011, a keen sense of adventure and exploration steadily grew. I was always failing Maths and Science exams but I loved the challenge. I adored languages, although I failed to master them, and KES gave me a great sense of drive, passion and adventure. It’s partly why I enrolled in September 2011 at the University of Birmingham to read International Relations and subsequently did my Masters at the London School of Economics (LSE). At the LSE I realised that, while academia wasn’t for me, storytelling definitely was. I’ve always been obsessed with two things: the need to know the truth and the need for others to know it too. Quite by luck, my first job out of university was for Reuters on a breaking news team. While the hours were long and the job hard, I cannot quite convey the thrill and
Covering big stories is a great feeling, but one of many things you learn the longer you do the job is that, really, there is no difference between the big and the small stories. excitement on hearing my first news alert. It’s a special feeling when you realise that, apart from those immediately involved, you might be one of the first people on the planet to know about an unfolding event and that it’s your responsibility to send that knowledge into the wider world. After my first few weeks I was hooked. I knew immediately this was my ideal career and applied for my second Masters, this time at Columbia University in New York to take a Journalism degree. I was desperate to cover the US election and, on a cold November night in 2016, went to the Hilton Midtown Hotel where one of the presidential nominees, a certain Donald Trump, was spending the night. I spent that election night in the company of hordes of Trump supporters, covering what could well have been the first Trump rally of the new presidency. When you’re in a place that’s at the centre of an historic event or time and you’re a journalist you feel an enormous boost. Covering big stories is a great feeling, but one of many things you learn the longer you do the job is that, really, there is no difference between the big and the small stories. Whether you are doing a story about your local school closing down or covering an election, each has equal importance. After graduating I
moved to Washington DC for the BBC and did a story on an immigrant just settling into their everyday life. It is still one of my favourite stories. Another affecting story for me personally was accompanying my mother to Uganda in 2019 on her first visit since her family fled the country nearly 50 years ago. In a large way the course of my life was shaped in the hallways of KES. I honestly don’t know if I would be doing any of these things if it weren’t for the School. Without the initiative and gumption instilled in me there, I may not be where I am now. Currently, I’m living in Hong Kong and, after covering the last few months of the 2019 protests in the city and the Covid-19 outbreak in China in 2020, life is feeling pretty surreal. The unknown is a place where the surreal constantly happens, but I feel confident that I can deal with anything that might happen. With the implementation of the city’s new national security law looming, there’s a lot of uncertainty in the air. It’s made me think about the city’s future as well as my past. It’s made me think about all the opportunities I had at KES, all the things I wish I’d done more of, and how grateful I am for all the lessons I learned there.
Over seven years at KES, from 2004 to 2011, a keen sense of adventure and exploration steadily grew.” www.kesbath.com/oe
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A friendship bound together by rugby
Jason Bees 1982-1987 tells how he has made friends for life through his love of rugby, and helped bring together OEs of all ages with the Old Edwardians RFC.
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Clockwise: Bath Old Edwardians RFC teams from 1926 and 2020, Martyn Poolman and Jason Bees (left to right)
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have loved rugby for as long as I can remember, and it all started at mini rugby on Sunday mornings at Lambridge. The proper coaching began with John Palmer when I joined King Edward’s School in 1982. The matches, the games lessons, the afterschool coaching sessions and house rugby matches were the absolute highlight of my week in the Autumn Term. My year group had a pretty good team throughout my school days, with names like Dickie Pitts, Theo Cox, Andy Purnell, Dave Lobb, Andy Galley, Hugh Lacey, Johnny Abbott, Will Lamb, George Pope, Jim Thomas and Andy Whitehead springing to mind. We won every match in the Third Year and were known as Mr Rivers’ ‘Unbeatables’! He was an inspiring coach in an offbeat kind of way. He just let us work things out for ourselves, finding our own strengths and weaknesses and working out how to deal with them as a team. It was around that time that I became best friends with Martyn Poolman, or Lenny to his friends. To me, rugby is the only true team sport. Each player genuinely relies on all of his team mates. In a game of rugby, you have to face your challenges on your own, against your opposite number and together, as a team, all at the same time. It’s wonderful! I sincerely think that kids who don’t discover rugby and its charms are missing out on something magical. Not least the friendships that it builds. I loved my time at King Edward’s School, particularly the rugby. Rugby provided the fuel that kept the flames of friendship burning in the immediate after-school years. Work and university had spread us far and wide across the country. However, we were lucky to have grown up at a time when Bath Rugby reigned supreme. The almost annual pilgrimages to Twickenham were fabulous days. Journeys would be made from all over – Leeds, York, Plymouth, Larkhall – supposedly all in the name of
We have played some really good rugby over the years and had some wonderful tours to Budapest, Edinburgh, Prague and Dublin. Great memories.
the cup final but, looking back, it was just as much for the sake of friendship. I joined the Old Edwardians RFC in 1992, after playing on and off for a couple of other local clubs. I knew immediately that I had found what I was looking for. It put me in touch with so many OEs. There were guys like Ed Durston, Paul Daniels, Paul Perry and Andy Webster who were in the years above me at school. I was welcomed in by OEs Jimmy Creed and Jem Stoneham, who helped me settle into the 1st team, and I also made good friends with former OE players including John Isherwood, Mike Pettemerides, Nige Cottell, Henry Boss and Mike Weaver. I was soon joined by Lenny, Dave Lobb, Rich Shipp and Will Lamb and, for a number of years, we all played together most weeks. As time went by we were joined by younger OEs. There are too many to list them all but they have included Tom Boyce, Ed Blackmore, Matt Fallon, Jamie Alston, Simon Thompson, Dave Collins and Giles Norrington, to name a few. Apologies if your name is not there. We have played some really good rugby over the years and had some wonderful tours to Budapest, Edinburgh, Prague and Dublin. Great memories. I hung up my boots in 2005. Ridiculously, Lenny carried on until 2012. Now, I am the President of the club and Lenny is the Chairman. I can’t say it’s a substitute for playing, but it is satisfying being involved in the running of the club so that more recent leavers can enjoy the same thing that we hold so close. I also see part of my role as being the bridge between the past and present of the club. We have held a few old players’ events this season that have been well supported and I am keen to build on this for next season. I would love to hear from any old players who may have lost touch over the years. I would encourage all current pupils who like rugby to continue playing after school, and not only to play for as long as you can but also to keep in touch with the friends you make at school. The time at school is
The time at school is fleeting, but the friends you make will last a lifetime.” fleeting, but the friends you make will last a lifetime. The current team usually includes ten or so old boys and is coached by Greg Barrett from KES. This season, Sam Mills, Steve Rawlings, Joe O’Brien, Archie Parker, Kit Chapman, Benedict Gundry, Tom Isherwood, Charlie Harrison, Milo Barran, Luc Riou, Conor Sloan and Oscar Skevington-Postles have all pulled on the famous blue, maroon and gold shirts. Bath Old Edwardians RFC was founded in 1926 so that former pupils of the School could continue with their love of the game and also keep in touch with each other. The club holds that aim close to its heart to this day. We are renowned for being a friendly, welcoming and sociable club. If you are interested in playing that kind of rugby then a warm welcome awaits; you would be hard pressed to find a better club. As for me and Lenny? Well, you’ll find us at Bathampton on most match days. Now and again we look back on the amount of fun we have had together, wishing we could do it all again. We’ve been best friends for more than 35 years. A friendship that has been bound together by rugby. For the latest COVID-19 update for the Autumn 2020 season, please see the club’s Facebook page.
CONTACT: jasondbees@gmail.com BATH OLD EDWARDIANS RFC: bathoe_rugby@hotmail.co.uk
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1944:
SHOULD WE BOMB AUSCHWITZ? TV director Tim Dunn 1971-1981 writes about the drama-documentary that he recently worked on, which centres on the moral dilemma the Western powers faced when they learned about the genocide taking place in Nazi-occupied Europe.
I
’ve been working in the media for more than 30 years, pretty much since I left KES back in the 1980s. Every so often a story comes along that leaps out at you. In late 2018 I was approached by Oxford Films to direct a film about two Slovakian Jews, Alfred Wetzler and Rudolf Vrba, who escaped from Auschwitz in April 1944. They were on a mission to tell the world what was happening in the Nazi death camps. Getting the truth out from Nazi-occupied Europe was difficult and dangerous. The story has the elements of a spy thriller. But its essence lies in the response of the Western powers, once they were made aware of the horrors taking place at Auschwitz. It is one of the great moral dilemmas not just of the 20th century, but of history. I immediately agreed to direct the film, a drama-documentary for BBC2, ARTE in Europe and PBS in America. I have done a lot of work on World War II and the Holocaust, but this was a story I did not know. Moreover, I felt that it was an important story to tell. It’s hard to believe that there are still people today who deny the Holocaust ever took place. While it was happening, even more people were in denial. As late as the spring of 1944, information coming out of Nazi-occupied Europe was piecemeal, contradictory and
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The Protocol, once it could be smuggled out, had a very specific job: to convince the Western powers to act.”
Every so often a story comes along that leaps out at you.
too shocking to be believed. Courageous people had tried to get the truth out, for example Witold Pilecki, the hero of the excellent book, The Volunteer. But, for many reasons, Western leaders had not pieced all the information together into the sort of knowledge that could be acted upon. So, the horrors being committed by the Nazis against the Jews and other peoples went largely ignored. The two young men who risked everything to escape, Vrba and Wetzler, changed that. Hidden away in a safe house in Žilina, Slovakia, they compiled a report on Auschwitz. It ran to dozens of pages and included the number of people being murdered, descriptions of the Nazis’ killing apparatus and drawings of the camps. The devil was truly in the detail.
Vrba and Wetzler were forensic in their account because they knew that people would find it unbelievable. The Auschwitz Protocol, as it became known, was a dry, almost scientific document. It was meant to be. It was facts, facts, facts. There was no room for sentimentality. The Protocol, once it could be smuggled out, had a very specific job: to convince the Western powers to act. The focus of the film centres on the moral question facing the Western powers: how to respond to genocide at a time when the word did not yet exist. There were, of course, practical obstacles to stopping the Nazi killing machine at Auschwitz. It was deep in Nazi-controlled territory in what is today Poland. It was deemed too far to send in an army. It was much closer to the Eastern front and the advancing Soviet army. The Western front only really opened up after D-Day in June of that year. The Normandy landings were the priority for the military top brass. The war was at a critical point and there was a lot of concern about ‘diverting resources’.
The only real option was to bomb Auschwitz and the rail lines leading to it. Logistically it was possible. The Americans had been launching bombing raids against targets in that part of Europe from their airbase at Foggia in Italy. But the very idea of bombing Auschwitz and potentially killing a lot of innocent people was a loaded moral question and remains so today. While British and American leaders weighed up their options and did nothing, the mass slaughter continued. Between May and July 1944, 437,402 Jews were shipped to Auschwitz/Birkenau. As historian Rebecca Erbelding put it, the Nazis knew they had lost the war, but they were determined to win the Holocaust. By a twist of fate, in August and September 1944 Auschwitz and its surrounding camps were hit by US bombs intended for a nearby factory, IG Farben, which had been identified as a key industrial target. But the death camps, the gas chambers and the crematoria were never targeted. To some historians this omission is seen as a moral failing on the part of the West; others justify it, arguing that the best way to save the remaining Jews was to focus on defeating the Nazis. Balancing out these opposing views is challenging because, of course, Auschwitz remains a deeply emotive subject. My own thoughts are inconclusive. Part of me agrees with the historian Michael Berenbaum that there should have been “a total expression of moral outrage. And of recognition that what was happening there was thoroughly, completely and totally evil and unacceptable to the world itself’. But then you wonder how the Nazis might have used the killing of tens of thousands of Jews by Allied bombers for their own propaganda purposes. I always come back to a point made by historian Deborah Lipstadt, who says in the film: ‘I think it’s important, when people are being subjected to genocide, for the world to say we do give a damn because we don’t know where it’s going to happen next.’ It comes down to one basic question. If you turn a blind eye to an act of evil, can you claim to be neutral or does it make you complicit?
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John Evans 1944-1952
Being in our eighties, Olive and I don’t travel too far these days. However, we do like to go up the road for a hundred metres or so for a walk. We have got to know the neighbours better. If they are out while we are passing by, they more often than not like to speak. The other day a young man riding a bike stopped and said: “Hello, Mrs Evans, you used to teach me at infants’ school. I am 36 now and have three children.” My wife couldn’t recall teaching him but it made her day to be remembered in a kindly way.
Mike Gibbons 1963-1970
No, you aren’t going to Southeast Asia next Monday; or Japan and Beijing the week after; or France at the end of the month and Ibiza in six weeks’ time. Please apply for a refund here… and here… and here… Refunds are taking between eight and 12 weeks. Thank you for your custom and please bear with us. Good job I’ve used Zoom before, if never for choir practice! And after 33 years in broadcasting I suppose I should be glad I know something about video and audio editing. But I wasn’t planning on making a virtual choir, was I? Yet that’s what I’ve done and I seem to have been locked to my laptop all day and night (according to the family). We have Family Zoom Quizzes every two weeks and a monster 55-people Zoom hook-up with family around the world every Saturday. The church is on Zoom, the Parish Council is on Zoom, every village meeting is on Zoom, my work for the Olympics is on Blue Jeans (just to be different). The choir, though, like Zoom and I know an awful lot more about them now than I did before, courtesy of the weekly sing and fortnightly quiz, the Facebook group, the WhatsApp group, the virtual book club, their Top Ten Desert Island Discs, and their
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answers to quiz questions like this: ‘Which place always reminds you of a song?’ In my case the answer to that one is: Dunkery Beacon, Exmoor on a school camp near Dunster in June 1966, when Mike Allen (English, Cricket, Skiing and much more) took us Fourth Years for a week’s walking over the hills, and to Butlin’s at Minehead where we had our introduction to ‘Big L’, pirate Radio London, as we sat around the pool. We were back in time for Pick of the Pops and sat listening at the top of the camp field, hoping that The Kinks’ Sunny Afternoon would come straight in at No 1, which it did! Then ‘Which piece of music had an instant impact that you can remember to this day?’ and that, for me, was John Bishop playing Dave Brubeck’s Blue Rondo à la Turk on a beaten-up old upright piano in the wooden hut which passed as the Music Practice Rooms. Or, probably the best answer: Sitting at the back of KES Main Hall at a rehearsal for a Music concert, listening to Tim Lyons playing Fauré’s Élégie on his cello and falling in love with the instrument. Why couldn’t I play like that? Fortunately my daughter could and did! Strange how music keeps you going, even in lockdown. Now for tomorrow’s rehearsal…
Andy Williams 1974-1985
“Well, I thought that was a good session,” said I, the psychotherapist, to the young, female client. I had rapidly moved the whole of my psychotherapy practice from face-to-face meetings to the platform of ‘Zoom’ and was now cutting my teeth on how to conduct effective psychotherapy online with all my clients. My client was a vulnerable student in her twenties, living in her studio apartment during lockdown. Her accommodation was tiny, and the therapy session took place with her sitting on her bed, the webcam moving around with every one of her movements to the point that I was feeling quite seasick at the other end. “Yes, I thought it was a good session too,” stated the client. “Great,” I thought, “this is going well.” Suddenly another voice joined in. “Yeah, I think she’s doing really well and her anxiety is loads better.” Out of the tumultuous, stormy seas of her duvet appeared her previously-hidden boyfriend. He was topless, tattooed and mercifully wearing boxers. He got out of bed, stretched, scratched his Celtic-designed chest and then went out of camera range. Noises off included various relievings, flushings and brushings as he used the bathroom. This was just one of many ethical minefields encountered when moving a psychotherapy practice from totally face-to-face meetings to all online by Zoom. It has been incredibly stressful and a steep learning curve. I have been aware of my resistance to the change and my longing for things to go back to normal. My primary desire has been to go to Caffè Nero and buy a cinnamon swirl bun and a hot chocolate. Instead I have had to learn to ‘lean in’ to the new and am constantly having to problem-solve. It has meant learning new ways of being present and maintaining the feeling of contact with clients. I have learnt to use my hands a lot more, to act out representations of holding and being held: palms together to show the client closeness; two fingertips apart or touching to illustrate concepts of alienation and contact. Rapid reading and training have taught me about the phenomenon of ‘online disinhibition’, where clients receiving therapy online can be far more prepared to share intimate details of their history, and potentially to regret this immediately after the session. Online therapists have learnt to put the brakes on and slow the clinical work down, to avoid the client sharing too much, too soon.
As of mid-May the adventure continues, with no return to face-to-face work yet.
It turned out to be an unbelievable two-month stay in which they showed me real kindness and generosity.”
Chris Van Roon 1990-1997
I saw a uni mate in the week before lockdown. (I was in Ashburnham on a Christian retreat and he lives near Tunbridge Wells.) We discussed how unbelievable the situation was becoming. His wife works for the NHS in paediatrics in London, and she didn’t know if she was going to be needed in one of the red COVID teams at that point. They invited me to stay so I could help care for their three boys if she was needed to stay in the capital, and do some English and maths with them, while continuing to work for the Civil Service in a quiet space and chipping in to keep the house tidy. It turned out to be an unbelievable two-month stay in which they showed me real kindness and generosity. We were out in the garden in the glorious spring weather most weekends, identifying nature and constructing chicken coops, polytunnels and fruit cages. The local woods of the Weald were well explored. Tiger King and Sunderland Till I Die, together with Downton and Brideshead, formed evening televisual entertainment. I spoke to a few of my OE mates from 1997 on fortnightly Zoom quizzes. The extra space allowed me to think about my future and, after a decade in London, I have recently moved to Malmesbury. I hope to get more involved with KES again in the months and years to come.
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In memoriam MICHAEL DAVIES At KES 1948-1953 Passed away 25 September 2019, aged 79 Michael was a pupil at KES, but his father’s work took the family north and he completed Sixth Form at Morecambe Grammar School. He graduated from Worcester College, Oxford with a degree in Music. He joined the staff at the Junior School when Bill Paterson was Head, and whilst there wrote some wonderful musicals, including a memorable version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. He became a Roman Catholic and was ordained a priest after studying in Paris for five years. He spent many years serving churches in the West Country, including time as priest in charge at St John’s, South Parade, Bath.
David Hillier MICHAEL STANLEY ELLARD At KES 1943-1952 Passed away 12 January 2019, aged 84 Also known as Stan, Mike made many friends during his time at ‘Big School’ in Broad Street and kept them throughout his life. A keen sportsman, especially in the hockey and rugby teams, he also enjoyed playing several seasons for the Old Edwardians RFC after leaving KES. He qualified as a chartered quantity surveyor while working in private practice in Bath, before doing his National Service in the RAF. His career then took him to posts in the architect’s planning departments of both Bristol and Wiltshire Councils although he always lived in Bath. He married Ebeth in 1964 and they had one son, Robert (Rob), also an OE. For many years, Mike was a keen lawn bowls player to county standard. He followed the fortunes of all his favourite sporting teams with keen interest up to the end of his life. He was a man of deep faith and took great pleasure in nature, the countryside and supporting others in his own quiet way.
Ebeth Ellard DAVID MOSS AT KES 1945-1951 Passed away 23 December 2019, aged 84 After leaving KES, David joined his father in the family building and funeral directors business. At 18 he left to serve in the RAF as part of the National Service. He rejoined his father when this came to an end but decided after a while that this career was not for him. He then joined Lloyds Bank in Corsham and also worked in Frome and Pewsey. After six months he moved to Chippenham where he met his future wife, Wendy, and they married in 1960.
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Upon leaving the Chippenham branch, David was posted to Bristol, joining the inspection staff. Three years later he transferred to Taunton as Assistant Manager. Many appointments followed and he ended his career in Newbury as a Senior Manager. He took early retirement and spent the next few years playing golf and walking his beloved Border Collies. He died peacefully after a short illness in Gracewell Nursing Home, with Wendy at his side.
Wendy Moss SIMON MUMME At KES 1961-1971 Passed away 26 January 2020, aged 67
ROGER EDWARD PORTER At KES. 1956-1958 Passed away 26 July 2019, aged 77, following a diagnosis of renal cancer in June 2006 Roger joined the School from King Edward’s School Birmingham and, despite having already passed the Eleven Plus, was required to attend an interview with Headmaster, H M Porter. His assessment, in the form of an oral and written examination, resulted in Roger being offered a free place. At that time KES only had a limited number of free places being paid for by the local authority and competition was intense. School life was complicated by the diagnosis of a rare eye condition, Coats Disease, which caused him to lose the sight in one eye and prevented him from playing rugby and other contact sports. On leaving school, he joined a local firm of civil engineers and became a Chartered Engineer whilst working and attending evening classes.
He became a District Engineer in Wales. The highlight of this time was conducting a local male voice choir and attending the National Eisteddfod. He moved to London in the early 1960s to join John Mowlem and Company and combined this with parttime teaching at the University of London. He worked on many major civil engineering projects in the UK and worldwide. These included the tunnels of London’s Victoria Line, the New London Bridge and the second tunnel under the River Mersey. His work abroad included a long spell working in Athens for a Lebanese contractor, CCC. He made numerous lifelong friends in the Middle East. Overseas travel resulted in some interesting gifts. A kukri knife from Nepal could be carried on a plane as hand luggage, but the skull from Papua New Guinea failed to pass through customs. Roger’s working life was curtailed by cancer, but he was fortunate to have his treatment in Oxford where he was treated for 13 years by OE Professor Andrew Protheroe (1985). The shared educational experience came to light during one consultation when Andrew enquired why Roger, a lifelong supporter of Bath Rugby Club, was wearing a club scarf. The subsequent loan of a book about KES gave Roger the impetus to seek out his old school friends, John Ennor, Adrian Sawyer and David Cox. He attended Summer Reunions held at the School and was impressed by the growth of the School’s facilities and enjoyed the warmth of the hospitality. In retirement, he enjoyed photography and, as well as developing his own pictures, he later made videos to entertain family and friends. He was also a regular contributor to the letters page of The Times, a pursuit that enabled him to indulge his dry sense of humour. Music was an enduring interest and he enjoyed live concerts in London, as well as at Glyndebourne, Salzburg and more locally Longborough. He became a Roman Catholic in the last months of his life. Some years ago, on hearing that the Catholic chapel was to be closed, his local parish church invited Catholics to use their church for their services. Roger therefore followed his old and new faiths at his funeral. He was happily married for 49 years and is survived by his wife, Jane, their four children and partners, and 11 grandchildren.
Jane Porter ANTHONY (TONY) STICKLER At KES 1945-1953 Passed away 18 July 2020, aged 86, following a fall
KENNETH AUSTWICK Former parent and KES Governor Passed away 1 February 2020, aged 92 Ken was born near Barnsley and grew up in Morecambe where he attended Morecambe Grammar School. From there he headed back to Yorkshire, to Sheffield University where he graduated with a BSc in Maths in 1950 and then obtained an MSc in 1952 before becoming a Maths teacher. He taught at schools in Bromsgrove, Frome and Nottingham before returning to Sheffield University in 1959 as a lecturer. Six busy
years followed: two children, a PhD, three books on aspects of Maths and Programmed Learning, an article in the FT, promotion to Senior Lecturer, a consultancy to the OECD and a spell in the US and Canada as a visiting lecturer at the University of Michigan and at the University of British Columbia. In 1965 he was appointed as Deputy Director of the Institute of Education at Reading University and then in 1966, the year Bath University was granted its Royal Charter, he was appointed professor and became the founding head of its School of Education. Ken stayed at Bath University for 25 years and was one of its most respected academics, leading the Education Department to global recognition. He was on the Senate and the University Council and from 1971 to 1975 was Pro Vice Chancellor. It was in 1966 that Ken began his association with KES, initially as a parent and fundraiser on the Fathers’ Committee, then as a Governor and member of the Former Parents’ Association, and latterly as a grandparent and a regular attendee at Founder’s Day and other school events. Indeed, one of the last times he went out was to the Carol Service in December last year. He was an ambassador for the School in the City for almost 50 years, as a member of Rotary, as a magistrate for 25 years and as a member of the Bath Science Club. Despite achieving so much from a very humble background, Ken was a modest man. Everything about him was understated; he was never one to boast. He got on with life, never complained and was described as “one of the best, unfailingly courteous and kind, superintelligent, always a true gentleman”. He will be much missed by his wife of 63 years, Gill, his children Malcolm and Dawn, his grandchildren Charlotte, James, Richard, Rebecca, Miriam and Gabriel and his great grandchildren Rosie and Harry.
Malcolm Austwick
www.kesbath.com/oe
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DAVID HITCHINER 1972
TIM CAINES 2001
JONNY WHARTON 2002
OEs from my era may be interested to hear that I was elected Leader of Herefordshire Council in 2019. I stood as an Independent and was elected a county councillor in the May elections. I was elected Leader after we formed a coalition with another Independent group and the Greens. From zero to Nero in a very short space of time was as much a surprise to me as to the local political groups. A bit of déjà vu for those who remember back to 1971 when I was made Head Boy, to my own surprise as well as others’. I’m up for it now, as I was in 1971!
Congratulations to Tim and his wife, Karen, on the birth of their first child, Joshua Peter Caines, in July 2019.
Has set up the Stamp Music School at Hamswell Farm near Bath, offering music tuition for all ages, with future youth rock band workshops planned for 9-18 year olds. For more information email stampmusicschool@gmail.com.
CHLOE SELVEY 2012 Has launched a new financial wellbeing podcast called On the Money with co-host Shreenidhi Subramanian. On the Money seeks to help students, recent graduates and young professionals to understand the world of personal finance in a simple and engaging way. Season 1 can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast apps. More information on Instagram @onthe_money
LORNA BUECHNER 2014 Has a website www.geonimals.co.uk promoting her artwork, with a new colouring book available via Amazon.
KEEP IN TOUCH! Left to Right: Dave Crossman, Rich Bowles, Paul Branson and Steve Jones
1975 LEAVERS Four 1975 leavers and their wives shared a cycling tour of the Loire in France during September 2019. The ‘boys’ have kept fi t and active but found the cycling almost as arduous as rugby training was for the School teams. Apart from one unfortunate fall, a good time was had by all and the group returned in one piece, having covered a few hundred miles of picturesque French countryside. Two days after his return to the UK, Dave Crossman cycled the Trans Pennine Trail, with proper hills and far more wind. He covered 145 miles and climbed a total of 11,500 ft!
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OElink magazine 2020
Please contact us with your news, stories and photos to include in the next OElink magazine and OE e-newsletters. It’s great to hear about what you are doing now! Also, please don’t forget to update us with any changes to your email or postal address, so we can continue to send you the latest OE and KES news, and information about future events. Contact: development@kesbath.com