Incoming President

Centre: Gordon Mizner

2019 Gordon Mizner

I arrived at MHS in January 1965. I remember being referred to as an ‘odd termer’ and it therefore taking a while to establish friendships with those in my year who had started in the previous September. I had come from a grammar school (Christ’s College in Finchley); I believe that the school had been recommended to my parents by some of friends of theirs.

The mid-late 1960s was a time of great change everywhere including the school. My time at school started under Roy Moore (whom I recall teaching me English Literature for an A/O level) and Michael Hart who brought along a new broom.

I was a day boy (Murray) at a time when we were very much in the minority and the timetable was structured to keep the boarders busy. Murray House was a shack (and I use the word carefully) backing on to the farm (near Fishing Net). It had been the shooting range I believe. In winter it was dreadfully cold.

As a small house (in numbers) we all had to muck in, and anyone who was vaguely sporty was conscripted to represent the house in all manner of competitions. Yet we managed to perform above our weight, having produced several 1st team players/ captains in all major sports.

My main sport was tennis at which I represented the school for two to three years, which took us to Wimbledon where the inter school tournament was played. I also had representation in cross-country and occasionally athletics. My greatest memory on the sporting field however was Murray winning the Senior Cricket Cup against stiff competition and all odds – quite an event.

I was a violin player and played in the school orchestra as well as participating in the house music competitions. I remember well the major summer concerts when Verdi’s Requiem or Handel’s Messiah were performed and for this the orchestra was supplemented by a number of more mature and advanced players – these were impressive shows and fun to be part of. I followed the science route and ended up taking double maths and physics at A-level. This was at the height of the space race to the moon and the year of my A-levels saw the moon landing. This inspired me to go on and study Aeronautical Engineering at Queen Mary London University, and after completing my BSc I continued with a PhD.

During this time I played rugby for seven seasons with the OMs. I usually played in the 3rd or 4th teams, but I did have one season with the 2nd and that enabled me to play against the school 1st XV on Top Field – something I had never managed to achieve at school. The rugby club atmosphere at Headstone Lane in particular was vibrant, and the annual tour to Devon could never be forgotten.

After my studies I joined the Royal Dutch Shell Group and my first job took me to Chester. This coincided with me breaking my ankle in my last ever game for OMs and getting engaged/married to Angela. Hence my rugby career came to a rather premature end. We spent five very happy years in Chester where I worked at Shell’s research laboratory. I attended the OMs NW dinner on several occasions keeping my membership active.

We were then moved to London in 1982 and our two sons Andrew and Philip were born. Contact with the OMs was limited to attendance at the newly formed Engineers Dinner founded by Alan Woolaston together with David Rodda and Ronnie Aye Maung. I was spending a lot of time travelling in the Far East, Europe and South America so spare time was rather limited.

Gordon Mizner

Our next stop was Cape Town where we moved ‘en famille’. This was an exciting time of change with Mandela being released. There was one other OM (whose name I cant recall) working at the Caltex refinery and we had an OM dinner supplemented by a couple of ‘snowbirds’ wintering in Cape Town – the Twogood brothers.

After three years we moved back to London where I headed up the Worldwide Commercial Lubricants portfolio and I attended the Engineers dinners once more. In 1997 we moved overseas again, this time to Mauritius (yes! – but not for holiday). From there I did a lot of travelling having responsibilities in Madagascar, La Reunion and some business in East Africa. We enjoyed our time in Mauritius and it was here that I played golf more regularly for the first time. It was then that I moved back to London, where I became one of the Global Marketing VPs for three years. After almost 30 years with Shell it was time to seek new challenges and I took an early retirement.

I changed direction and became CEO of a UK-wide charity (The Engineering Development Trust) which worked with companies, universities and institutions to encourage young people to consider engineering and technology careers. This brought me into contact with a whole new range of people and places. I retired at the end of 2017.

During this latter phase I started playing golf with the OMGS and it has been a great pleasure doing so. It really is a thriving part of the OM community. I was also persuaded by David Rodda to take over the organisation of the annual Engineers dinner, and I am pleased to report that this is still going. As a resident of SW Hertfordshire I was delighted to have the opportunity to join the Oakers for the monthly luncheon get together at the Boot in Sarrat led by the wonderful Gerry Westoby (see page 36).

I am honoured to be the OM President for 2019/20, and I am looking forward to meeting many OMs . I can honestly say that all the contacts and activities that I have had with OMs and the Club over the years have been really enjoyable and worth every second of the effort put in to keeping in touch – good reasons for an alumni society.