The RGS in China Bill Gibson (63-69) on how the school is developing links with China Also in this issue: RGS Bursaries celebrates ten years | Old Novo Eye Surgeons
Issue 86 | Autumn 2012
ONA Magazine Issue 86 Autumn 2012
Contents
ONA magazine is the magazine for the Old Novocastrians’ Association Editor: Tove Elander All correspondence should be addressed to: The ONA Office Royal Grammar School Eskdale Terrace Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4DX Telephone ONA Office: 0191 212 8924 email: ona@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk The Editor reserves the right to edit, alter or omit all submissions to the magazine. Copy may be carried over to the next edition. The Editor’s decision is final.
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Contribute! We are always looking for articles and news from Old Novos to include in the magazine, so send your contributions, via email (if possible) to: ona@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk or to the ONA Office at the school. Please include relevant pictures if possible. They will be returned as soon as the magazine has been printed.
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The deadline for acceptance of copy for the Spring 2013 issue is Monday 10 December. Copy may be carried over to a future issue.
The ONA Magazine is now available online Please note that the magazine is now circulated both in hard copy and by email to many members of the Association. Each edition is added to the ONA website shortly after circulation. By submitting an article or news for inclusion the contributor is accepting that it will be available through both formats and will also be accessible beyond the Association membership through internet search engines or any member of the public viewing the ONA website.
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Design www.infinitedesign.com
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President’s Welcome ONA Update News and Events The RGS in China A History of the RGS in Ten People RGS Bursaries Celebrates Ten Years Old Novo Eye Surgeons Obituaries
Welcome
It’s been quite a year for weather, sport and flag waving across the entire UK and in the microcosm which is the RGS, multiple flooding and sporting success continued as usual. Perhaps it is the ONA’s role to wave ‘Team RGS’s’ flag and help it to maintain its excellent profile a across the North and the nation at large. I trust that during my two years as President, I’ve managed to do my bit in that role, as well as forging closer links between the Association and existing students still attending our School. This issue of the Magazine is as varied as ever in its content. Bill Gibson of the Maths Department writes on the RGS developing links with China; the Bursary Campaign marks ten years of successful work; A History of the RGS in Ten People continues on page 8; Oliver Edwards, History Teacher and Archivist, writes of the recently acquired 1709 School Library Catalogue – the oldest known. Very sadly, we have recently learnt of the death of Alex Fotheringham (50-58), who made this rare document available to the ONA and the School. His obituary is on page 17, together with other ONs, including Lawrence Shurman (38-50) and Derek Wanless (59-66). The Annual Dinner, held in October, provides an opportunity for ONs scattered far and wide to ‘return to the nest’ and meet up again. The monthly luncheon, held on the last Friday of (almost) each month at the Northern Counties Club, in Hood Street, Newcastle, is a superb venue for a very good interlude in an oasis of calm and, the food’s good too! To book, phone Peter Magnay (55-66) on 0191 488 7459. I cannot close this note without paying tribute to Tove Elander for her constant hard work and support for the Association over the past 12 years. Tove is moving on to other scholastic pastures in Newcastle in October and we wish her much success in her new post. May I also thank ONA VicePresident David Westwood (95-02) for his support over the past two years. He can be assured of mine in the future. Enjoy the Magazine!
Adam Goldwater (87-97) ONA President
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ONA Update
Join us on Facebook There are plenty of Old Novos Facebook groups around, but we have our own group. Join us by becoming a fan of the Old Novocastrians Association page on Facebook.
More Old Novos Around the World By Brian Lowrie (54-65) Well done Ian Gatenby (50-61) and his wife on their circumnavigation under sail. They started before us and finished after, does it matter who was first, or maybe there are other longdistance sailors out there? My wife Anne and I bought our 42ft Hallberg Rassy sailing boat in 2001, left work in September and left UK in October crossing the Bay of Biscay to Spain, then on to Madeira, the Canaries and the trade wind route to the Caribbean, arriving there in time for Christmas. We soon tired of the tourist filled palm-fringed beaches but spent more time travelling to Venezuela, the ABC Islands, Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba on to the Yucatan, Mexico, Belize and holed up for the hurricane season in the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. The following season saw us sailing down to Panama, exploring the stunning San Blas Islands before transiting the Panama Canal. Anchored overnight the boat was struck by a bolt of lightning with severe consequences, destroying all our electronic equipment and most of the electrics. We limped in to Panama where we spent the next ten weeks working 12 hours a day to repair the damage. In 2003 we were (nearly) ready and set off into the Pacific Ocean to visit the Galapagos – just amazing – on to the Marquesas followed by the Tuamotos then to Tahiti and Polynesia. After a brief return home we returned to the delights of the South Pacific – Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, then down to New Zealand for a re-fit, particularly needed as we lost the rudder 100 miles out. In 2004 we set off homewards via Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea then across the barren north of Australia to
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Darwin. There we faced the big decision – should we go the shorter route via the Suez Canal with the risks of pirate attack, or the longer, rougher Indian Ocean? We chose the latter and set off for Cocos Keeling and a boisterous 3,000 miles to Durban, South Africa, via Mauritius and Reunion, then worked our way down the coast to Cape Town. In 2005 we entered the South Atlantic, visited St Helena and arrived in Brazil in time for carnival, staying for a month before making the long fetch home via the Azores. In all 40,000 miles, 40 countries and a wonderful experience. Unlike Ian Gatenby we experienced some severe winds in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans but the boat stood up to them. We sold that boat, but being boatless was not for us so we now keep another, Spirit of Zoya, on the far North West coast of Scotland, the best cruising ground in the world – if not always the best weather!
ON Luncheon Club The ON Luncheon Club still functions, meeting on the last Friday of every month (except July, August and December), in the very pleasant and civilised surroundings of the Northern Counties Club, on Hood Street. The contact is Peter Magnay (55-66) 0191 488 7459, who will be delighted to hear from you.
ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Autumn 2012
Promenade Concert The 2012 Jesmond Community Festival began with a Promenade Concert at the RGS Performing Arts Centre, moving to the School Main Hall. The concert opened with Puccini’s Crisantemi, followed by Handel’s Water Music. The second part was an ambitious performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, notable for the School Choir of more than fifty accompanied by Brian Varley (5563) playing the school organ, which is benefiting from an ongoing programme of refurbishment. Many ONs will recall this iconic instrument in daily use throughout their school years and it is due to the persistence and passion of Mike Barlow (53-64) that the organ was ready for this performance. The whole evening was a magnificent swan song for Neal Parker, Head of Performing Arts and Director of Music since 1999. After almost 13 years, Neal has moved on to take up a deputy head role at the Grammar School at Leeds.
ONA Membership – Standing Orders If you still have a standing order set up to pay the ONA subscription fee, please cancel it as soon as possible. ONA membership is FREE to all Old Novos and former members of staff.
The Three Ls: Latin, Learning and Libraries at the RGS In December 2011, through the good offices of Alex Fotheringham (50-58), the School was given first refusal on a manuscript he was offering for sale, Catalogus Librorum Scholaepublicae Novocastrensis, Dec. 20 1709 or, in plain English, a catalogue of books in our school library from 1709. The School immediately agreed to pay half the cost of acquiring the manuscript and a small group of enthusiastic ONs, backed by the ONA Committee, provided moral support and a promise of raising the remaining funds. By April this year there was enough money to buy the catalogue which now becomes the second oldest document in the School Archive. The catalogue was the work of Thomas Rud, headmaster of the grammar school (1699-1709). The books are listed according to size in his fine hand. This was a painstaking task undertaken by a scholar and bibliophile. What sort of books were in the early eighteenth century library? Stock included Bibles in Latin, the literature of the classical Greek and Roman world, patristic writings and renaissance texts, such as Erasmus’s Adages. The books in the library reflected the rigid classical curriculum of the eighteenth century grammar school, whose principal function was to teach pupils to speak, read and write Latin. Indeed Rud himself was the author of a book on Latin grammar and prose composition used by pupils at this school. Some of the books in the catalogue were set texts. Cicero’s Letters, for example, were a staple of the fourth form Latin course. Yet, as Richard Tuck (56-66) notes in the school history, the Library ‘represents not so much a collection of textbooks for lower forms as a scholarly library for upper forms and for the masters’.
the Library and he oversaw the uniform rebinding of many volumes. The RGS may have been a provincial grammar school but it owned a rich library, confirming its pedigree as a genuine centre of learning. The scholarly Rud was subsequently appointed librarian to the Dean and Chapter at Durham and spent his later years producing a catalogue of the manuscripts belonging to Durham Cathedral. Our catalogue will now be sent to Tyne and Wear Archives where conservators will undertake some modest repair work. A facsimile will be put on display in the School Library while the original will remain in the Archive. There will, however, be an opportunity to see the original on RGS Day 2013 as part of a small Archives Exhibition. It is now fashionable to give libraries names like Learning Resource Centres. We still call our library by its traditional name and, happily, in an increasingly digital era it still houses large numbers of printed books, just as it did in 1709 and, now as then, it is well used by students and teachers alike. We are delighted to own the catalogue and to have laid claim to a piece of our heritage. Richard Sharp (60-71) puts it well. It will serve as a reminder to ‘present and future generations at the RGS that they are heirs to a noble tradition of humane learning.’ The thread of scholarship runs continuously through the history of our great school.
The School would like to thank the following donors whose generosity made it possible for us to buy the 1709 Catalogus Librorum: ONA Committee, Steve The manuscript is more than just an index of books; it bears Lawson (53-64), Richard Sharp (60-71), Professor witness to later loans and gifts. There is some nice human Richard Tuck (56-66) and detail. Then as now, the life of a library book could be Chris Calver (60-71). precarious. In 1709 the Reverend Robert Thomlinson borrowed volumes by St. Basil and St Gregory of Nyssa for life. In return ‘I do promise at my death to give the Schole Oliver Edwards Library the entire works by both these authors.’ His promise School Archivist was never redeemed but Edmund Lodge, headmaster of the school 1715-38, records that at least the two books he had originally borrowed were returned on August 13th 1737. I suspect our current Librarian would not tolerate a 28-year loan! Rud compiled the catalogue prior to leaving Newcastle in 1709. The document testifies to his love of books. On his appointment as Headmaster, he had set about organising
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The 1709 library catalogue.
News and Events Jonathan Gair (85-95) read Mathematics at Cambridge. After graduating, he stayed on to read Part III Mathematics and then a PhD in astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge. Upon completion of his PhD in 2002 he went to Caltech for two years as a postdoctoral scholar in the Theoretical Astrophysics group. He then returned to St Catharine’s College, Cambridge for three years as a research fellow before beginning a Royal Society funded Research Fellowship in October 2007, also at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge. He is a College Fellow in Mathematics and the College webmaster.
Jonathan’s research is focussed mainly on gravitational physics. The title of his thesis was Generalised Tolman-Bondi Cosmologies and Kerr Metric Atoms but his current research is in gravitational wave astrophysics, in particular on aspects of source modelling and data analysis related to the NASA/ESA space based gravitational wave detector LISA. More information about Jonathan can be found on his departmental webpage www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jgair/. Outside work, Jonathan’s interests include many sports, hiking and the theatre. Patrick Place (70-77) Since I
graduated from Newcastle University I have pursued a career in computer science. I worked for GEC Telecoms (Hirst Research Center) and then Imperial Software Technology. And therein we see the many dualities of my career: I’ve worked for a large company and for a startup; I’ve worked in research and the supremely practical; I’ve worked in development and I’ve taught various university courses. For the last 23 years I have been employed by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon. Our role is to advise the
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On 5 July Professor Sir Ian Gilmore (55-65), past President of the Royal College of Physicians, was Guest of Honour at the annual prize giving at Longridge Towers School, near Berwick, where the Chairman of Governors is former classmate John Smithson (55-61). The photograph shows Sir Ian (on the right) and John (centre) with Tim Manning, Longridge’s Headmaster, and some of the senior prize winners. US Government on issues relating to the acquisition and development of software. I’m married to an American and we have two boys in whose education I take great interest; sadly what is available to them is a far cry from the education I received at the RGS.
completed core surgical training in 2009 along with the MRCS exam and entered higher specialist training in the field of urology within the North central London region in 2010 to present. Tony Morris (76-83) writes: the
mention of the organ in the summer 2012 issue reminds me of what I believe to be my unique exploit. I think I am the only former pupil to have Richard Shaw (61-71) actually smoked a cigarette inside the I moved to Atlanta in 1984 and workings of the instrument. The year worked for advertising agencies as would have been around 1980. a copywriter and creative director. witnesses included Liam Anderson (76-83) and David Duns (76-81). There is a small access door on the first I relocated to a farm in north Georgia in 2007, where I ride a tractor, do some floor balcony, which was usually kept marketing consulting and celebrate the locked but not always! Quite an impressive smoke cloud formed over Geordie-Redneck cultural interface. the pews of the assembly hall, Ashoke Roy (93-00) after finishing fortunately this was not spotted by the Medical school in 2006, Ashoke authorities. I emerged from the organ,
covered in dust, a hero. This event was revisited on our tour of the school during our 25th reunion in 2008, though sadly on this occasion the access door was locked and seemed to have shrunk in size. Looking back, I shiver at the thought that I could have burnt the school down – all that dust and bone-dry timber – but it is one achievement from my schooldays of which I am proud! Jamie Wanless (58-67) I am a Fellow
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. After leaving the RGS I worked on a farm in Northumberland for a year and then went to Nottingham University for three years to study Agriculture. On qualifying I couldn’t get a job in agriculture so I joined a small firm of chartered accountants in London. After three year I qualified and then joined Arthur Young’s. I stayed with Arthur Young’s for three years and then was poached by an American finance company (Avco). After being promoted to finance director I was head hunted by Lombard North Central and stayed for two years. I then spent a year raising finance to set up my own finance company, Welcome Finance in Nottingham. After the company was sold to Cattles PLC, I stayed for a year but then left on gardening leave over a disagreement on management style, treatment of customers and accounting policy. After the end of my gardening leave I set up another finance company, First Response Finance. I was approached two years ago to join Kingdom Bank Limited as finance director, a niche bank lending to Christian organisations. I am a regular church goer at a local Vineyard Church and am a Trustee of a Christian Charity in Nottingham, The
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Autumn 2012
Malt Cross. I am married to Sue and have two daughters. I hope to retire in about 18 months back to the North East and have bought a house in Longhoughton. John Davison (46-54) After finishing RGS, I completed national service, and sailed to Australia in 1957 to the promise of a new home and life. Two years later I returned to Newcastle, worked a little, felt the cold and realised that I had changed so much that I returned to Australia, via New Zealand, where I lived for a long time.
In Australia I studied accounting and worked in various accounting roles in several large companies. For the 15 years before I retired I was head of salaries department at the University of Melbourne. I have always lived in Victoria but my wife and I have travelled worldwide frequently. I have loved sport since school days and only recently stopped cycling. In recent years I have become a keen wood turner. My memories of RGS are great. The swimming, cross country running and exposure to the elements prepared me for the world. So too, did Dicky Akhurst, who wrote “Manners Maketh the Man” across the blackboard. It stood me in good stead. I was once told by music teacher Mrs Watson that I was a “grunter” but I’ve proved that to be wrong. I still have my wooden school crest, and my blazer. On my last trip to England I took my wife to RGS and we were fortunate to be able to walk through those hallowed halls. We also met up with Mike Hogg (46-54) and his wife. My school days were a wonderful part of my life and my memories of Newcastle are as clear and detailed as were my school days.
LONA
LONA President Andrew Taylor (61-71) with his wife Melanie at the 2012 dinner – the first time ever a President’s wife has attended a LONA dinner! Congratulations to: Richard Coates (02-09) first class
degree in Law from Pembroke College Cambridge. James Stephen (98-08) first class
degree in History from Glasgow University. Ben Glaister (01-08) first class
degree in Mechanical Engineering, Leeds University. Phoebe Kemp (07-09) first class degree in English from Pembroke College, Cambridge. Robert Henderson (00-07) MEng
Aerospace Engineering, Bristol. Annelise Tvergaard (05-07)
graduated with a BA in History of Arts from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, and is working as a research assistant for Foster + Partners.
The RGS in China By Bill Gibson (63-69), RGS Maths Teacher Way back in 1983 and 1984 Dave Merritt (63-73) and I took a group of RGS pupils to the then Soviet Union, visiting Moscow and Leningrad (now St Petersburg). Some of you reading this article may have been on one of those trips! Later the RGS developed an exchange partnership with a school in Tambov. This came to an end in 1992, but in recent years there have been RGS visits to Moscow and St Petersburg.
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ow, near the end of my teaching career at the RGS, I find myself preparing to take a group of RGS students (as we now call them) to visit China. This has come out of visits by me to Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, in December 2009 and 2010. (Hebei is the province which surrounds Beijing.) I went out to try to discover why Chinese secondary schools seem to produce such good mathematicians. The answer seems to be: (a) mathematics is seen as a very important subject, (b) the Chinese students want to do well in it, and (c) they work extremely long hours. My visits were arranged by a contact in Newcastle who helps to arrange partnerships between schools in our region and schools in Hebei province. These visits were for my own interest, so I paid for the flights myself. Dr Trafford kindly gave me some days off school to facilitate the arrangements. Much to my surprise, the Hebei Ministry of Education paid for my accommodation and transport once I arrived in China. In October 2011, several schools in Newcastle were approached about the possibility of taking a few Chinese students from Hebei province into their Sixth Forms. The RGS, Dame Allan’s and the Church High School expressed an
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interest in this scheme. Dr Trafford decided that if the RGS were to be involved in this programme, it should also be involved in the exchange programme which has been running for some years and which now involves about fifty schools from Alnwick down to Middlesbrough. Consequently, he and his wife went out in November 2011, along with representatives of Dame Allan’s and the Church High School, to visit the proposed partner schools and to see a little of Beijing. He returned very enthusiastic, as you may have read on his blog. Our partner school is Tangshan No.1 Middle School. Tangshan is a city of over seven million inhabitants and is about 100 miles east of Beijing. The name may be familiar because it was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1976! It is actually a “senior high school”, taking our Years 11-13, or Fifth and Sixth Forms for those of you from an earlier vintage. It has a history stretching back over a century, but the current buildings were erected recently and it has about 4,100 students, most of whom are boarders. It already has links with schools in many countries and over half of their students go on to study at international universities. In December 2011 I made my third visit to China. My time was divided between our partner school in Tangshan and a junior high school (Years 8-10) in Baoding. I spent about a week in each school, working with teachers and comparing their syllabi in mathematics and the sciences with ours. The conclusion was that generally they were ahead of us, especially in mathematics. On my first visit to a school in China, I was amazed when the head teacher asked me to do some teaching. When I asked who would translate, I was told that the pupils would understand me! Thus I ended up giving a series of 90 minute talks on quite diverse topics… and the pupils did seem to understand me. Nevertheless, the biggest obstacle to Chinese students coming into our Sixth Form is their English. We are talking of only a handful coming in any year, so they need to be integrated into normal classes and there cannot be much allowance for not being a native speaker. This project is still developing, with the target of the first Chinese students coming in September 2013.
was only arranged after my visit last Christmas and is also quite expensive, so only eight RGS students are going. But that is probably quite good for the initial visit. We are going out for the week before the half term and the half term itself. We fly to Beijing, have a couple of days sightseeing there, and then transfer to Tangshan. We have five days there. We shall be staying in a hotel, but expect to spend time in the school and with families. There will be a programme of lessons and visits. After that we return to Beijing and then take the overnight train down to Xian (no doubt reminding me of the overnight Moscow to Leningrad train!) to see the terracotta warriors. Finally, we return to Beijing for a day and then fly home. Hopefully this will become an annual event in the RGS programme. Probably we shall host some students from Tangshan during their Chinese New Year holiday in January/February 2013. There is also the possibility for our gap year students to spend a year, or half a year, in Tangshan No.1 – or somewhere else – helping with the teaching of English. Most of their expenses will be paid by the Chinese and they should be able to combine some sightseeing with their work. Some of those going on the trip in October have already expressed an interest in this. Another aspect of the partnership was a very brief visit to the RGS in June by the headmaster of Tangshan No.1 Middle School, with two members of his team. Also, Dr Trafford and his wife returned to Tangshan for the school’s 110th anniversary celebrations in late September. Since the RGS is part of the Hebei partnership scheme, there is also the possibility for a few teachers to go and help to teach English for two weeks on a summer camp and have a week’s holiday, with everything apart from the visa and insurance paid for by the Hebei Ministry of Education. Three RGS teachers did this in the summer. Hopefully some of the teachers of English from our partner school will be able to come to visit us in order to improve their English, collect some resources, familiarise themselves with the RGS and tell us something about their school and their country.
A key part of the exchange programme is students I have found my visits to China to be both visiting their partner schools. The first RGS visit to pleasant and interesting. I hope that some of our China is scheduled for October 2012. The visit students and staff will have a similar experience.
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Autumn 2012
A HISTORY OF THE RGS IN TEN PEOPLE
Self: Digestive biscuits, boiled sweets. Tucker retired at the age of 66 and was awarded an Honorary Master of Arts by Durham University. He died in 1972, the address at Jesmond Parish Church given by the Archdeacon of Lindsfarne.
Arthur Robert Laws (1863-1945) I am indebted to Bryan Stevens for the following notes: if we are considering the School in terms of its personalities, then surely Daddy Laws, as he was affectionately known, has as good a claim as anyone. An enthusiastic and skilful teacher of Physics and Chemistry for over 30 years, he was the first to undertake any serious research, apparently entirely on his own initiative, into the story of the School and those who have passed through it. In 1925, the year he succeeded the redoubtable A History of the RGS continues with the ‘Bulldog’ Stallworthy as Second search for ten people who shaped or Master, he published a two volume history of the School down to influenced the history of the school. 1845, under the title of ‘Schola David Goldwater (51-62) ponders Novocastriensis’, comprising not only a historical account, but also on this difficult task. biographical notes on the masters and ONs of that period, so far as they could be traced. His grand design was to produce a third volume, on the same lines, to bring the saga up to copied from older boys. It was a Any attempt at producing a ‘Top Ten’ date, a vastly ambitious and probably vestige of his days in the School’s with ease was always fraught with unrealistic project, for which he spent evacuation to Penrith, a special train difficulty. We are now extending this most of his remaining years collecting having left Newcastle for Penrith on series into the next issue of ONA September 1st 1939. Many ON’s still material, giving up only in 1939. Magazine and there will be an online When I was compiling the School remember his kindly stewardship, vote in 2013. Continuing our notable Register years later, I came across when he served as Mr Thomas’s Old Novo stories (which include staff billeting officer. By the end of 1940, he all this material hidden away in a as well as pupils), we begin with: storeroom, very few people realising was fully responsible for five large it was there. Until quite recently, the Thomas Tindle Anderson (Tucker) ‘hostels’, no mean task in wartime School was not good at looking after was born in 1894 and is probably best circumstances, far from home and his its records and there are now no remembered for his gentle character distinctive silver hair might well have official details of admissions prior to during his 36 years in the Junior School dated from this time. 1906. Laws clearly had access to (1924-60), 27 of them – formally or the registers for the period 1870informally as its Head. His humanity His involvement with the Upper 1906, for he laboriously copied them had manifested itself in his pacifism School was through the many camps out before they were lost. Without during the First World War, something in England and Scotland he largely his work, the School Register which remained a difficulty for much organised, something he described of his life, as he continued to serve a to Laurence Watson in 1971, when he (publ.1955) would have been variety of causes dear to his heart, was 77, as the most rewarding of all his very sketchy. including the League of and later the concerns. He was always ready to United Nations, Spanish Food Aid recommend suitable clothing (“a shady For many years, a shortened version of Laws’ history (produced jointly with (during the Civil War), Save the hat”), buy the tickets, walk the fells, J.B.Brodie, Senior English Master and Children, War on Want to name a few. cook the food, and tell stories by the author of the School Song) was I recall, as a Junior School boy of the camp fire. A grocery list for 1956 presented to every new boy, sadly early 1950’s, Tucker having a speaks for itself; after five pages of mysterious tag – “put that light out!”, camp supplies, a barely sybaritic entry: now discontinued.
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Hugh Moises (1722-1806)
succeeded the eminent classicist Richard Dawes as twenty-third headmaster in March 1749, on the recommendation of the master of Peterhouse, Edmund Keene. At that time, the School was situated at the Virgin Mary Hospital in Westgate, one of the entrance pillars of which still stands near the Stephenson memorial (Ten Objects No.2 ONA Magazine 82). He found the School ‘almost entirely deserted of scholars’ but pupil numbers grew rapidly under his stewardship and when he left there were 133 pupils. His success in reviving the School’s reputation was quickly recognized by the corporation of Newcastle, who in January 1750 raised his salary from £50 to £120. Described as affable and kind, Moises was assisted by two under-masters, by no means confining his pupils to a purely classical curriculum. English prose composition was taught, regular lectures given on the New Testament, as well as lessons on astronomy and geography, as well as Hebrew, Greek and Latin. He took great pleasure in his pupils’ successes and among his more illustrious pupils were the lawyer brothers John Scott, first earl of Eldon, and, William Scott, Baron Stowell, the Newcastle antiquary John Brand, who also taught as an usher at the school, and Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood. Of Collingwood, King George lll, when reading one of Collingwood’s despatches after Trafalgar in 1805 remarked on his splendid English, but then recalled himself that he (as well as the Scott brothers) “was one of Moises’ boys”. In 1787, Moises was succeeded as Headmaster by his son Edward and died in 1806. A fine white marble memorial by John Flaxman was placed in St.Nicholas Cathedral in 1810 by a subscription amongst his pupils. Oliver Worden Mitchell was
appointed Headmaster in 1948, following the retirement of Dr. E.R.Thomas after 26 years. Like his predecessor, Mr.Mitchell had presided over a successful wartime evacuation of his former school, Owen’s in Islington, (now relocated to Potter’s Bar, Hertfordshire) to Bedford Modern School. He thus came with the highest recommendations and soon proved to
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Autumn 2012
Thomas Tindle Anderson
Oliver Worden Mitchell (picture reproduced by kind permission of Alastair Mitchell (48-55))
be a leader of great enthusiasm, sympathy and humour. He was a great supporter of extra curricular interests and School Societies proliferated during his Headship. If three or more boys with an interest could persuade a master to approve a Society (by becoming a Vice-President – OWM always acting as President), a new one could be created. As a keen amateur musician, OWM was proud of having no less than four orchestras at RGS.
had yet to agree a plan to increase accommodation originally designed for 500 boys.
Roger Darsley writes: “there were around 40 during my years (53-60)… O.W. Mitchell wanted children’s minds to expand rather than be confined and that’s what made the RGS so different during his time”. There was a constant stream of visitors to Eskdale Terrace. During the 1950’s, the curriculum was expanded to include Russian, Geology and Engineering Drawing, as well as General Studies in the Sixth Form. The School grew in numbers during this period from 719 in 1948 to 1,021 in 1960, Mr Mitchell presiding over ten extra forms, although the Governors
Mr Mitchell was an energetic networker, in modern parlance, and was ever keen to maintain close relationships with numerous organisations in the educational world and beyond. He fostered relationships with Masters and Senior Tutors at Oxford and Cambridge, though he always worked sympathetically for the individual needs of those more suited to a provincial or local university. He retired in 1960 at 62, and is still remembered with great affection by a vast number of ONs. Still to come: Miss (Ma) Steven,
legendary School Cook; Jeremy Thomas, teacher of English and Drama; Jack Wolstenholme, Head of Music; Peter Murray Taylor, Lord Chief Justice; John Elders, Sports Teacher and England Rugby Coach; John Forster, friend and biographer of Charles Dickens, John Lilburne, Thomas Addison and the Hancock brothers.
RGS Bursaries celebrates ten years The Queen’s Jubilee, the London Olympics and ten years since the launch of the Bursary Campaign – it’s hard to believe it’s been ten years! By David Goldwater (51-62)
“
The success of the Bursary Campaign has been hugely important – for the RGS, for the North East, but primarily for the large number of able young people who have benefited from the generosity of so many donors.
”
social breadth of the school’s intake’. This desire prompted the formation of the Appeal Steering Committee, chaired by Ashley Winter OBE (64-74) (Chairman, 2002-2005, Trustee) to launch an appeal for bursaries at its inaugural meeting held on 26th March, 2002, so that the school could help disadvantaged students to continue to attend the RGS. James remembers: “There was some debate on what the target should be. I thought that raising more than £1.5 million was very unlikely; Louis Taylor (75-85), who led things from the Governors’ side with real drive and David Goldwater enthusiasm, insisted that the initial target should be £3 million – and mentioned I joined the Committee of the Bursary £5 million as a possible target. I am “Campaign”, as it was then termed, at delighted that he has been proved the outset. I was not a Direct Grant boy, right and that the campaign has now but, having attended the School from exceeded the £5 million mark. Over 1951 to 1962, met very many pupils the last few years, many independent who would never have seen the inside schools have tried to raise bursary funds of the RGS, let alone benefitted from its in order to satisfy the Charities high standards, but for the government- Commission. The RGS was way in funded scheme which ran from 1945 advance of that move and acted solely until it was abolished in 1976. out of conviction rather than expediency.” Continuing the broader social mix of the school, the government’s Assisted Places Scheme followed soon after, running for over 20 years with the last pupils leaving RGS in 2004. So, when previous Headmaster James Miller arrived at the school in 1994, it was no surprise to him that one of the desires of the teaching staff was to ‘maintain the
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Bursary holders have been achieving great things. Thanks to the bursary that Morgan Pretswell (05-07) was awarded in 2005, she is now studying towards the Firm Specific Accelerated Legal Practice Course leading to a Training Contract with law firm Clifford Chance to commence in February. She reflects: “Obtaining a bursary from the
RGS Bursary Campaign made it possible for me to access everything that the school has to offer. Upon attending the school I felt academically stretched, challenged, yet supported in achieving my full academic potential.” Morgan’s experience is just what RGS Bursaries are all about! “Independent education is not about privilege but about creating opportunities for young people and levelling up, so that every student can develop their abilities to the fullest extent possible and turn their aspirations into real achievements.” (Crispian Strachan CBE QPM, Campaign Chairman 2005-2010, Trustee). Dr Bernard Trafford, Headmaster, says: “It’s hard to believe
As James Miller reflects on the campaign – ten years on from his Herefordshire fastness – he says, “The success of the Bursary Campaign has been hugely important – for the RGS, for the North East, but primarily for the large number of able young people who have benefited from the generosity of so many donors. The need does not, however, diminish, and raising money will not become easier; the continuing generosity of the whole RGS community will remain crucial”. Many of the Direct Grant students who attended the school when I was there are still close friends, and have given regular support to our efforts, which have partly helped to replace those old
Morgan Pretswell
Crispian Strachan
Andrew Major
that we’ve already raised and spent more than £5 million: what is harder to believe that such an enormous sum isn’t enough. But it truly isn’t. Whilst we should be proud of what’s been achieved so far, we must be equally determined not to rest on our laurels, rather to redouble our efforts to extend the help we can give to further worthy bursary holders.
schemes. Andrew Major (86-90), Chairman of today’s Steering Committee, stresses: “To continue our work I sincerely hope many more Old Novos will help us do the same again over the next ten years so that we can reach out to the next generation of young people”.
indeed a further donation, then please call Jane Medcalf, campaign manager, on 0191 2128909 or by email at j.medcalf@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk who will be happy to hear from you. You can also donate online at http://www.rgs.newcastle.sch.uk/ rgs-bursaries/how-to-donate/
I am proud of everything I have been able to do to work with my fellow “We are helping 83 students this year. Committee members to make an RGS It’s wonderful to be able to help so education available to those whose many – at an annual cost of some only route into our school is through the £700,000: yet we are still turning away financial assistance we facilitate. It’s significant numbers of bright boys and often been light-hearted and good fun! girls who satisfy our stringent Please support us! If you can help us in academic entry standards but whom we cannot help because we don’t have celebrating ten years of RGS sufficient funds”. Bursaries by making a donation, or
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Autumn 2012
To date, James Miller, Crispian Strachan and Louis Taylor have been made Fellows of the RGS by the governors in recognition of their outstanding contribution to RGS Bursaries, joining 13 other individuals and trusts who have been similarly honoured for their generosity and support and are listed on a handsome plaque in the entrance to the school’s Performing Arts Centre.
Left to right: Graham Kirkby (60-70), Alistair Laidlaw (74-80), David Cottrell (60-70) and David Steel (79-84) Below: Craig Goldsmith (84-92)
Old Novo Eye Surgeons Four ON members of the British and Eire Association of Vitreo-Retinal Surgeons (BEAVRS) were present at its annual scientific meeting recently in Canterbury. Another, Craig Goldsmith, was unable to attend the dinner and is pictured separately.
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Vitreo-retinal surgery is a fascinating subject that involves microsurgical procedures on the inside of the back of the eye to treat conditions such as retinal detachment, severe eye trauma and the later stages of the effects of diabetes on the eye (photos and diagram). Many of the conditions would cause blindness if left untreated. Operations are done mostly under local anaesthetic. (The patient is awake but the eye is numb).
largely prescribe spectacles and contact lenses. The commonest operation in the UK is cataract extraction (removal of the misty lens of the eye) with around 350,000 procedures annually. There are only 1135 Consultant Ophthalmologists in the UK and of these about 110 are Vitreo-retinal specialists, so it is truly remarkable that five of these are ONs.
Vitreo-retinal (VR) surgery is a subspeciality of Ophthalmology. Ophthalmologists are qualified doctors that specialise in the medical and surgical management of eye diseases. Optometrists/Opticians are different: they are not medically qualified and
Graham (AKA Reg) Kirkby (60-70)
Pictured, from left to right, are:
I qualified in Medicine at Newcastle University in 1975 and after junior posts in Newcastle joined the RAF as a medical officer serving in the UK and Germany. After five years, I re-joined the NHS and did more ophthalmic
training in London and Leeds before being appointed as a Consultant at the Birmingham and Midland Eye Hospital, in Birmingham, in1986. I was at the first meeting of BEAVRS in 1986 when there were only about 12VR surgeons in the UK. As someone who could never be described as particularly academic at school, I have rather surprised myself by managing to publish 55 papers (one collaboratively with Alistair, see below) in peer reviewed journals and even a chapter in a textbook. I am currently Vice President of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and Chair of the Professional Standards committee. I married Vivienne (nee Dalzell, ex Church High) in 1975 and we have
two sons: Mark 34, an Accountant and Alistair 32, a Dentist. We also have two lovely grandchildren. We still visit the North East regularly as we have a cottage near Embleton on the coast. We keep in touch with Alan Suggett (64-70) and Roger Smith (57-67). Roger is also an Ophthalmologist, in Carlisle. I will be retiring in May 2012 and, though we will continue to live in Birmingham, I am looking forward to playing more (uninspiring) golf at Bamburgh, where I am a member. Alistair Laidlaw (74-80)
whom I do slow triathlons and both road and mountain biking. David G Cottrell (60-70)
I went to OxfordUniversity – BA (Physiological Sciences) First class honours 1974, and then qualified in Medicine at NewcastleUniversity in 1977. I trained in ophthalmology in Sheffield, Sunderland and Newcastle and was appointed as Consultant Ophthalmologist at Newcastle GeneralHospital then RVI, 1984 onwards. I Trained in Vitreo-retinal surgery in 1987 and was later President of the North of England Ophthalmological Society in 1999. I was also Vice-President and Chairman of Education, Royal College of Ophthalmologists, 2005-9 and for ten years have chaired the subcommittee there which has rewritten the training curriculum in a modern, web-based format.
I studied medicine at Newcastle University between 1980 and 1985. My ophthalmology training was initially in Newcastle for two years, where I worked for David Cottrell. Following this I trained in Bristol for six years which included a research higher degree. My training continued with three years at Moorfields Eye Hospital where I learned retinal surgery. In 1998 I was appointed as Consultant Vitreo I am a veteran of 26 Great North Retinal Surgeon at St Thomas’ Runs between 1983 and 2011 Hospital in London. (times between 1.34 and 2.18) – not bad for someone who was lousy at I also have an academic bent sport at school! expressed through ongoing clinical research and am involved in Medical I married Sheila in 1981 and we have Politics as Honorary Secretary of the three sons (Jonathan, 28, doing a PhD British and Eire Vitreo Retinal Society. in philosophy in New York, Thomas, 25, Retinal surgery is a small world and I’m doing a PhD in pure maths in Sheffield, pleased to number Graham Kirkby and and Jack, 19, in the first year of a history Davids Steel and Cottrell among my degree at Oxford. Dare I say it, they all professional friends. Graham and I went to the local comprehensive have jointly published the world’s school and yet each got four A grades biggest series of a very rare eye at A-level (but I’m sure they benefited condition, a study conceived in the bar by proxy from my time at RGS!) at a research conference to which we I recently started coming to ONA were both invited in 2002. One of the dinners in Newcastle and find them highlights of the most recent meeting great fun. of that research group was being guided round the slopes of Wengen by I’m really lucky as I can’t think of a David Steel: three of the approximately better career than being a retinal seventy invited members of that surgeon! – but it’s hard work so I am international Society are ONs! looking forward to retiring in the next couple of years. I married Fiona in 1987, we have two children: Ben is now 20 and in his final David Steel (79-84) I studied medicine at Newcastle year of Physics at Bristol and Claire from 1984-89 and then trained in aged 18 is hoping to study medicine Ophthalmology at Sunderland, after A levels. Newcastle, Bristol and Melbourne. I was appointed as a Consultant VitreoFiona’s sister is married to my RGS retinal surgeon at Sunderland Eye sixth form Physics and Chemistry infirmary in 1999 and am also a Senior classmate Ian Reed (88-90) with
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Autumn 2012
Lecturer in Retinal Regeneration at the Institute of Genetic Medicine at the Centre for Life, Newcastle. I am a board member and revalidation lead for the British and Eire Association of Vitreo Retinal Surgeons and meet up with my fellow “Vitreo-retinal Novocastrians” at the legendary annual meetings each year . I live with my wife Claire, son Ben (15) and daughter Rachael (17) in Northumberland where we enjoy running, walking, mountain biking and sea kayaking. I am no longer pole vaulting, which I did at School, but have attended the English schools cross country championships with my daughter Rachael on several occasions where we’ve seen Paul Ponton (PE teacher during my time at school) marshalling the course – he looked exactly as I remember him 27 years ago! Craig Goldsmith (84 -92) I was extremely lucky to follow my brother, Paul, into the RGS, being inspired by the shiny looking textbooks and multiple rugby pitches. My years there set me up nicely for medical school at Cambridge, despite my overwhelming desire to study English. Not sure what went wrong there. I’ve actually just been looking at my school reports, which feature quotes such as “medicine may be too much for him” and “not Oxbridge material”.
After Cambridge I spent my junior doctor years in East Anglia, with a year of A&E and medicine back in Newcastle, before heading back south to train in ophthalmology. I have been a consultant VR surgeon in Norfolk now for five years, still very much on the learning curve which started when Headmaster Alister Cox gave me that RGS assisted-place. I am married to Ailsa, a GP, and have three children – Lara (5) and twin boys Toby and James (4). I still run with great enthusiasm, if not speed, but miss the hills of the North East and my daily run around the Town Moor that I used to do throughout Sixth Form, emboldened by the legendary Gerry Keating.
Obituaries Sir Derek Wanless (59-66) Born 1947, died 22 May 2012, aged 64.
After leaving his job with NatWest he found himself in demand by Gordon, resulting in the Wanless Report on the NHS. ‘The NHS have received x billions, but have no idea where they spent it’, he said to me. This Report was followed by a second analysis four years later Securing Good Care for Older People. He may not have had this incorporated into an Act of Parliament, but he did provide an early warning on provision for all of us who choose to live longer and yet put less aside for their care. Locally he was much, well too much really, involved in the Northern Rock but later, as chairman of Northumbrian Water, helped end the business career on a good note. Derek was credited a full page obituary in The Times on 31 May 2012, having prematurely been taken away from us by pancreatic cancer on 22 May, aged only 64.
Hardly a quiet boy, Derek would groan like the rest of us when Melvyn Wallhead (56-66) master ‘LM’ was announced at the annual timetable reading. He would laugh, as well as master Joe Liddell, when a boy inverted his dinner over the head of another in ‘his’ place. He Laurence Shurman (38-50) was suitably cowed when the fearsome Billy Boll sat in for the timid Mr Macro for one maths lesson. Humour he would Born 1930, died 27 July 2012, aged 81. have needed in plenty when inquisitioned by the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee who refused to recognise the ‘Sir’, and in dealings with the dour Gordon Brown. His joviality never extended to the swimming baths though, where he was to be found shivering in the shallow end. In a different deep end, he towered over NatWest Bank as Chief Executive, with Chairman Lord Alexander, akin to John Hall and KK in their heyday. Blessed with a magnificent intellect, he was the local boy made very good, but never deserted his roots suffering, in common with fellow Geordies, at St James’ Park over many years. He was born in the West End in 1947 in humble surroundings and sponsored by Westminster Bank to the RGS, entering at the senior school level. He was the guy to whom the head of maths, Frank Budden, referred when proof reading for his book. Derek was a mean school chess player too.
Old Novos will be sorry to hear that Laurence Shurman died in July this year.
Laurence made a distinguished contribution to British public life through his leading role in the development of the Ombudsman service as a means of securing wider access Derek was faithful to his sponsors and gained experience in to justice for ordinary people. He was Banking Ombudsman the bank during holidays. Sixth Form was inevitably followed from 1988 to 1996. He helped to found what is now the by King’s College, Cambridge and then Harvard. Returning British and Irish Ombudsman Association (BIOA) and to the bank he was catapulted through the ranks, homing in became its first Chair from 1991 to 1999, encouraging the on London. By now he was married to Vera, a local girl who development of the role and taking the lead in establishing how it should be carried out. He continued to be fully he met at the Oxford Galleries, and remained so to her for involved in BIOA after his time as Chair. He was also an the rest of his life. The trappings of the job included a fine active member of JUSTICE, the all-party law reform and panelled office in Lothbury, City of London, a Jaguar with chauffeur and a family of five children. ‘How did you manage human rights organisation. He was a Governor of the RGS from June 1991 to November 2000. your job with twins?’ – ‘like a zombie’ he said.
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Laurence’s forebears were among the many Jewish families who fled the Russian pogroms of the late Nineteenth Century and set about making their way in British society. He was born in 1930 and joined the junior school of the RGS in 1938. He often commented on the total absence of anti-Semitism in the school, and coped perfectly well during the evacuation to Penrith in a billet run by a couple of Methodist ladies. He contributed to and enjoyed a wide range of school activities, and did a great deal of walking in the Lakes and Cheviots. Along the way he made friends who lasted a lifetime, among them a remarkable generation of RGS lawyers which included Geoffrey Bindman (45-50), Humphrey Potts (44-50), Jim Stephenson (44-51) and Peter Taylor (38-49). He made many friends later in life, but he once said to me that old friends were the best because the depth of shared experiences gave them solidity.
establishing his own fair mindedness and impartiality. Laurence was a wide and enthusiastic reader – one of his last aims in advocacy was to persuade his friends to join him in his admiration for Stefan Zweig. All in all, Laurence came across, particularly in his later years, as an exceptionally fulfilled and happy man.
I first met Laurence in 1938 in J1b, the lowest form in the school. We were painting our models of a prehistoric village when I felt something odd on the back of my head. I reached behind me with a hand and brought it back covered in green paint. I turned to see Laurence behind me wearing a broad grin. Seventy four years later and just a few days before he died the two of us met for what we both knew would be the last time. I reminded him that shortly before his terminal illness was diagnosed he had managed to climb Helvelyn again. He said that yes, he had, though he was probably the last person to get to the top that day and certainly the last to Laurence won an Exhibition to Magdalen College Oxford, get down. At which he gave a big, brave, whole-hearted grin. where he read law and rowed in the First Eight. After moving That characteristic grin had remained essentially unchanged to London he was fortunate in making an exceptionally over the years. So the wheel came full circle. happy marriage to a Mary, an American teacher of English. She was not Jewish – I once asked him if his parents did not David Boll (38-49) find this difficult. He replied that they did but that her parents found it great deal more difficult.
John Porritt
Establishing a solicitor’s practice in London was not easy – he had unfortunately lost the sight of one eye and had a wife (RGS maths teacher 79-93) and three children to support. But he won through. He came Born 1933, died 2012. to enjoy a very happy family life and a wide range of friendships from the twin bases of his house in Highgate John Porrit was a member of the RGS Mathematics team and lovely cottage in Suffolk. between 1979 and 1993. He will be remembered for his considerable contribution to its academic spine. However, Laurence would not have been fully satisfied simply to make a good living for himself and his family, John studied Mathematics and Philosophy at Cambridge. respectable aims though those are. He told me he had Those were still the days of national service, but, as he had started in law simply to earn a decent income, but as time already developed his convictions sufficiently, he did his as went on his respect and understanding of the law had a conscientious objector. That took him to Vienna for a year, deepened. With his move to the Ombudsmanship at the where he worked with refugees from the Hungarian uprising age of 58 he came into his own. It gave him the opportunity in 1956. His teaching career in Mathematics began with a to play an important part in improving the quality of justice for stint at Rickmansworth Grammar School. There he rubbed all. People should be dealt with fairly by government and shoulders with Frank Budden who shortly was to be other large organisations such as banks and insurance appointed Head of Maths at RGS. It was also at that time companies. Sometimes redress for unfair treatment could that he met his future wife, Heather. John decided that he be obtained through the courts, but often litigation was aspired to a degree in full-honours Mathematics so he unaffordable or no remedy was available – the Ombudsman completed a BSc (London) by studying part-time. That role filled this gap and was free. wish to be a thoroughbred in the subject later flowered in aspiration to do research (in differential geometry, under His growing involvement in public service no doubt had Tom Wilmore, then a governor at RGS) when he later many causes. But one of them will have been the standards moved to Durham; he achieved an MSc for his work on and ideals of the RGS of his day, forcefully promulgated by Riemannian manifolds. a great Headmaster, E.R.Thomas. After his work at Rickmansworth, John moved to Penang In his first report as Banking Ombudsman his trenchant in Malaysia, where he worked from 1963 to 1966 on the criticisms were picked up by the newspapers and led to training of teachers. In 1966, he was appointed to Bede much dissatisfaction on the part of the banks themselves, College, Durham, to continue in that work. It is no surprise but he stood his ground, thus probably surprising them with that he was seconded in 1971 to do two years at the the power which his exceptional integrity, strength of University of the South Pacific. His lengthy service at Bede character and potency in argument brought to his dealings came to a premature close in 1979 with the upheavals with others. Over time he was able to win their trust by which followed the incorporation of Bede into the University
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Autumn 2012
Obituaries (continued) of Durham. John was made redundant, but given his previous acquaintance with Frank Budden, he took the opportunity to join the Mathematics team at RGS, where his academic background and aspiration to thoroughbred excellence fitted naturally with the outlook of the department. His approach to the subject was thoroughly rigorous, and he delighted in its logic and clarity. During his RGS years John turned to involvement with the Open University (from where another long-standing colleague, Pauline Perella, was recruited on John’s strong recommendation). That same style was brought to bear on M336 Groups and Geometry. In due course when John retired I took over the same role and knew that I had an exemplary act to follow. John also readily responded to the challenge of the weaker RGS students. I remember doing some teamwork with him on a pair of sets of Form 5 (Year 11) doing O-level. That entailed alternate weeks of work on a past paper – again that clarity and focus, but this time suitable amplified for the lesser intellects. At the back and watching, I was often party to the odd bits of repartee to which John was quite oblivious but which suitably reflected the atmosphere of the occasion! He also devoted time and enthusiasm both to RE and to the Christian Union. His religious convictions were not overt in Mathematics but could not be missed by anyone who became more than an acquaintance. Another of his interests was bridge, something to which he would devote much time in retirement. He started the RGS Bridge Club and it was soon making regular competitive visits to other schools. After RGS, life did not stop. He left at 60 to assume more responsibility with the OU. He continued until forced to retire fully on age grounds at 70. By then he had moved to Riding Mill where he took full advantage of his new surroundings – gardening, church work and bridge gave him retirement fulfilment, as well as the opportunity to develop his gifts as a linguist and to tutor the odd student. Among his recent accomplishments are the long-distance walks, St Cuthbert’s Way and the Bede Way, in 2010.
reforming streak which made him a bracing person to know, both as a colleague and a friend. Our condolences go to his widow, Heather, and his children Siobhan, Juliet and Stephen. Peter Mitchell (RGS Maths Teacher 1980-2003)
Raymond Dixon Peacock (38-45) Born 1927, died 15 March 2012, aged 84.
Ray was was evacuated to Penrith between 1939 and 1944, and consequently had only two years schooling at Eskdale Terrace, one before, and one after, the Second World War. He was a cross country runner rather than a rugby player, and a member of the school team for two years. He was also one of those who kept the school chess club alive in Penrith, and together with ‘Bobby’ Walker and his twin brother Douglas produced a short-lived (one part) of a Removes rival to the school magazine the ‘Novo’, entitled the ‘Rovo’. How this got through the school bureaucracy to the printing stage remains a mystery, but there were no repercussions from the Headmaster, Mr Thomas. After obtaining an honours degree at King’s College, Newcastle in 1948, his PhD studies took him into fluorine chemistry. Fluorine is a dangerous gas which was then of little practical application, but known to be crucial in the understanding of some aspects of science. He continued his studies of fluorine compounds at Imperial College, London, where in 1953 he was appointed Assistant Lecturer and later Lecturer. After a period at Birmingham University where he followed through his interests in fluorine compounds and the noble gases, he was appointed to the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Leicester University. In contrast to many in academia, he treated his research students as equals, His friendships consequently became worldwide, with visits to India, Australia and California to pursue his research. He was twice Head of Chemistry and twice Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University.
Ray was a keen gardener, walker and cyclist, and Sadly his end came with a battle with cancer and he died in entered many races while at Leicester. He also cycled from Land’s End to John o’ Groats to raise money for his May this year. During that final period he would ring me up church. He was proud to be labelled ‘the cycling professor’ from time to time, still his old combative self, but by then both at Leicester and while doing a stint at Berkeley dialogue was becoming difficult for him. His funeral was University, California in the early 1970’s. In retirement near what he would have wished – in St Aidan’s United Reformed Church, Hexham, with many of his family, friends Oxford he took a great interest in place names, and started learning Welsh to gain greater insight. He was elected an and colleagues present. ‘Honorary Welshman’, being the only Englishman in the class. Though in voluntary exile for many years ‘down south’, he I shall remember him as an old-fashioned grammar school teacher, worthy of the calling, but with a forward-looking and retained an interest in things Northumbrian, from the names
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of the Roman forts, to Northumbrian dialects, events at the Morpeth Gathering, and an annual visit to play golf. He is survived by his wife, Dorine, who was a great support in his last illness (a return of prostate cancer), by his children (Malcolm, Helen and Duncan), and by three grandchildren (Joanna, Ben, and Oliver). Douglas Peacock (38-45) and Neil Peacock (42-48)
Alexander Simpson Fotheringham (50-58) Born 1940, died June 2012, aged 72.
Alex Fotheringham was born in Earsdon and after a successful schooling at the RGS moved to Cambridge to read English at King’s College. Whilst at the School he enjoyed an enviable reputation as a cross country runner. After graduation, he eventually became a schoolmaster at King’s School, Bruton, in Somerset. He was always something of a bibliophile and frequently had a stand at various provincial booksellers fairs. In due course he decided to become a full time antiquarian bookseller and joined Marlborough Rare Books in New Bond Street, London and where he was subsequently made a director. As well as travelling extensively on buying expeditions, he was also closely involved in the administration of the business; in particular he prepared and monitored the budgets. Although I had come across Alex whilst at School, I got to know him well after I moved to London. Over the years I had built up a small collection of the works of Thomas Bewick, the Tyneside engraver. Alex went to great pains in helping to develop this collection and many gems were added to it following several of his overseas visits. We met regularly and I very much enjoyed his company. However we saw less of each other following my retirement and his leaving Marlborough Rare Books, to set up his own business in the North East. I recall that Alex had a penchant for acquiring properties in wild areas. For some years he had had a cottage in one of the valleys at the north end of the Howgill Fells; he also acquired a roofless croft on the Isle of Muck in the Hebrides which he saw as a long term restoration project. Upon returning to the North East, he settled in a small cottage at the end of the road at East Chesterhope, near Ridsdale in Northumberland. From here he developed a very successful antiquarian business and issued regular catalogues. One of the last deals he concluded before his death involved a 1709 manuscript catalogue of the School library, which has now happily been secured for the School archives.
William Michael Poulton
David Cleminson
(50-56) born 1939, died 8 February 2012, aged 73.
(44-51) born 1932, died 16 April 2012, aged 80.
Betty Nichols
Geoffrey Ord
(widow of Colin Nichols, Second Master 67-86) died 21 March 2012, aged 87.
(44-49) born 1933 died 20 April 2012 aged 79. Alfred Raymond Holt
Austen Buckle Miller
(36-46) born 1929, died 10 April 2012, aged 83.
I will miss him and our wide ranging discussions, latterly on the telephone.
John Norman Adams
Christopher Dean (45-53)
(49-57) born 1939, died 14 April 2012, aged 72.
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Autumn 2012
(24-29) born 1912, died 3 May 2012, aged 99. Peter Horrocks
(52-60) born 1940, died 8 July 2012, aged 71.
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