The Abbey

Abigail ‘Abby’ Whitfield (née Wilkinson) (A’82)

19th October 1965 – 27th February 2022

It is with great sadness to report that Abby Whitfield (née Wilkinson) (A’82) passed away peacefully at home on the morning of Sunday February 27th, surrounded by Abby’s husband Charlie and their two daughters Minnie (M’16) and Martha.

Abby had been ill for some time but was determined to live life to the full for as long as possible, which she did, including

John Gwydyr Cameron (B’57)

13th November 1943 – 13th December 2021

John sadly passed away on the 13th December 2021. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for some time and passed away peacefully with his wife Jo and eldest child, Sophie at his side. He leaves behind his wife Jo, and three children: Sophie, James and Tom, and two grandchildren, Ella and Oliver, children of Sophie and his son-in-law Simon Scott.

John was popular at Repton being more academic than sporty. He always had a way of getting the best out of people with his keen sense of humour! John Eggar, his Housemaster, had him lined up for Head of House for his final year at the School, when John was denied that option and left Repton to join his parents, living in Rhodesia and Nyasaland, without attempting his ‘S’ Levels.

8th January 1940 – 1st January 2021 a family holiday to Belize just before Christmas. Abby will be remembered for how much she enjoyed life, how she always lit up the room, always had time for those that knew her and always had a hug for them.

Christopher, who died on New Year’s Day, a week before his 81st birthday, entered Repton in 1953 in Brook House following his father who attended Repton in the 1920s.

He had a successful career with A Levels in Modern Languages and began a lifelong love of the French language and France which he visited on numerous occasions in his life. He was in the 1958 cricket team where he was much admired for his brilliant fielding. He excelled at Fives, captaining the team in 1958. He stayed on at Repton for an extra term and was appointed Head Prefect for the Autumn Term. Only a few weeks before he died, we talked about Remembrance Sunday and his role in it as Head Prefect. This, of course, followed the wonderful video of last year’s Remembranceservice held at Repton, so different in many ways because of Covid but beautifully executed.

Abby will be missed but never forgotten.

Terry Wilkinson (P’82; Brother)

However, after a year off thoroughly enjoying himself in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, John returned to the UK to join Coopers and Lybrand to be articled as a Chartered Account with a year at Edinburgh University reading Scottish Law. This led him to be assigned to the Montreal Office where he met his wife, Jo.

Happily married for 48 years, John and the family settled in Clapham, London and John moved into Personnel Selection, first with Coopers, then on his own and finally, having recruited everyone for a particular organisation, he joined the organisation himself and appointed himself as the Personnel Director. Typical John – demonstrating that initiative to take that opportunity –presumably learnt at Repton!

Sadly, much missed.

Peter Cameron (Brother), Lt Col MC RM

Christopher elected not to go to university, but he did obtain a degree later at the Open University. Instead, he joined the family wine business, Dolamores, with branches in London and Cambridge. However, this was not for him nor a short spell in banking. He briefly taught at this time for Dick Sale at Oswestry and at Shiplake College under his old Housemaster, John Eggar. It was there that we became close friends although I was 3 years his junior at Repton.

He knew by then that teaching was right for him and initially he taught at Cothill, a prep School near Oxford. He was by then married with two children, Henry and Katy.

However, the bulk of his career was at Collet Court, the prep School of St Paul’s in London where he taught languages and was responsible for introducing a cuttingedge language laboratory, enabling him to celebrate the French language and culture with his pupils.

After the break-up of his first marriage, he met Stephanie Judson, a fellow teacher at Collet Court and after his retirement they moved to a delightful North Cotswold village where they both became pillars of the community. The church was important to both of them. Christopher used his skills to repair walls and stiles and designed stained glass windows. He read avidly and enjoyed listening to music.

He was diagnosed with leukaemia 5 years ago and showed great patience in dealing with the disease and was ably supported by his wife and children. In December he developed Pancreatitis and was unable to combat it with a weakened immune system and died in the John Radcliffe hospital. Owing to Covid restrictions a small family funeral was held. My wife and I met Christopher and Stephanie for lunch just before the first lockdown, and they were the last couple we met socially. An old friend dearly missed by many.

Christopher Anderson

John was born in Cambridge in 1924 and won a scholarship to Repton where he excelled both academically and at all sport. A national publication when he was 15, noted that he was proving himself remarkably adept at cricket, soccer, squash and lawn tennis. In particular, he played in the first cricket eleven for three years.

He went up to Clare College, Cambridge in 1942 for the two years allowed in wartime and played hockey, squash and tennis for the university. As he was reading engineering, he was allowed to go to university rather than be called up but he was bound by committee to determine what he did after he left. He joined the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors, qualified as a naval architect, and continued to play the same three sports. The pinnacle of his sporting career was to play hockey for Great Britain in the 1948 Olympics and win a silver medal. Earlier in the year he had been reserve for England at squash and a few weeks before the Olympics he had won a squash tournament and got through two of the three qualifying rounds at Wimbledon

He left the Navy after 6 years to pursue a career in business and worked for Baker Perkins for 36 years, based in Peterborough. During the 1970s he spent 4 and a half years heading up the Australian subsidiary and 2½ years heading up the American one. Ultimately, he became Managing Director and later Chair, and was awarded a CBE for services to industry in 1986.

He retired from Baker Perkins in 1987 and was either the Chair or a member of over 20 national and local boards and committees, including the CBI, the Manpower Services Commission, the RSA examinations board and some local ones including the Nene Park Trust and the Peterborough Partnership. He was very active in