twelve very happy years at the school. Gordon Reay (Junior Science, Director of Rowing) 2004 - 2011 Since leaving Monkton at the end of 2011 I have been working at the University of Chester as Sports Development, Performance and Coaching Manager and helping to shape and direct student sport at both participation and performance levels. It’s no easy task in the current University climate with budgets that are tight and staffing that is minimal, but we believe that we are putting together a strong sporting package that will both attract new students and help our current students excel in sport. The new role is certainly different from what I did at Monkton but I still manage a trip or two on the river helping the new breed of University rowers. I have tried not to be biased towards rowing but haven spent £40K on the boat club last year I think that I might have fallen short on that one. My family are very settled in Chester and both my daughters now attend the local primary school and are extremely happy. My wife has also managed to get a job at the University lecturing primary PE teaching. All in all it was a great move to Chester for us all but we have fond memories of our time at Monkton and I certainly miss the school holidays! Peter & Christine Robinson (Physics and Careers) 1978 - 1988 When Christine and I left Monkton for Rugby School in September 1988, I had been responsible for Physics and Careers and tutored in Hill House while Christine had run the Monkton lunchtime bookshop and helped to set up the Careers Library. Our children, Guy and Isabel, were pupils at MCJS and Glenburnie. We missed the Monkton family atmosphere - Rugby was twice the size so that staff did not know all the pupils and vice versa and our children’s new prep school was separate from Rugby School, in spite of sharing some staff and Governors. I was Head of the Science Department at Rugby while Christine became a tutor in a girls’ boarding house and she then also joined the Careers Department. After a decade in charge of Science, I moved onto wider school responsibilities and finally returned full-time to teaching. All boarding schools need their teaching staff to contribute in the round so I became a tutor in a boy’s boarding house and continued to help with CCF activities over three schools, I eventually clocking up 22 years with the RAF. Both Guy and Isabel were educated at Rugby. They now live in London where Guy heads his design consultancy and Isabel is a comedy actor and writer. We retired to Wiltshire as I approached 65. Towards the end of 40 years in teaching, we found ourselves teaching and advising the children of some of the pupils I had taught many years previously, including OMs. We are both still involved with the Extended Project Qualification. David Trentham (History, English & General Studies, Deputy Head) 1969 – 1977 I came to Monkton in January 1967, intending to fill a two term vacancy, and stayed on for seven more very happy years as tutor to Grange House and Second master to Dick Knight, after marrying Val who was teaching at Glenburnie. When we left in 1977 I taught in Beechen Cliff school in Bath for eight years. We were very involved in Bath City Church and bringing up four children. In 1985 we moved to the Southampton area where I was Head of a small 11-16 Christian School run by a group of churches there. In 1991 we moved back to Bath and I finished my teaching career as Head of Humanities at St Mark's, a small comprehensive on the east side of the city. You will have seen that we moved around in an unusual way, but we have valued the different experiences and have found God to be completely faithful to us in them all, and in the health challenges I have faced since retiring.
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.