Obituaries

Hugh Patterson Deputy Head, Junior School 1960-1982

A remembrance by Colin Patterson (60-69)

My father Hugh Patterson died on 7 May 2008, aged 90. He taught at the Junior School from September 1960 until his retirement in December 1982, and was Deputy Head during most of that period.

Of all the things in his life, Hugh was probably most proud of his association with the RGS. As a child he had passed the entrance examination for the Senior School, but was not able to take up a place, as his parents could not afford the fees. It was therefore a source of great satisfaction for him to spend the best part of his teaching career preparing Junior School boys for Senior School entrance, and to see his sons and grandsons going through the school.

Alan Anderson (19-25)

born 1909, died September 2009, aged 100.

James William Walton (34-39)

born 1923 died 30 June 2009, aged 86

Ian Angus (31-37)

born 1919, died 7 August 2009, aged 90. I was in Hugh’s class for a year, and had the interesting experience of being a pupil called by my surname during the school day, then a son called by my Christian name once we left the premises. He was most careful to avoid any favouritism. As a teacher, I found him methodical and patient, yet ambitious for his pupils’ progress: he knew that bright children enjoyed being stretched. I remember the thrill of learning some elementary algebra, getting asneak preview of what properly belonged to the Senior School syllabus. One regularly found that Hugh knew a surprising amount about all sorts of things. An all-rounder, he was able to teach most subjects, both in the classroom and on the sports field. He took over the teaching of art when R.B. Bertram retired, and when the Junior School moved from Eskdale Terrace to Lambton Road, it was Hugh’s good fortune to be able to design the new art room himself. He did not accept the first plans, which had the sinks at adult height!

Many of Hugh’s most enduring friendships were with fellow staff members, from the Senior School as well as the Junior School. He saw the RGS as a way of life, not just a job. On a Saturday morning, he would often be out on the school field reffing an informal game of rugby for Junior School boys. He became known as the staff football team’s “Stanley Matthews,” playing in the annual staff vs. prefects match until well into his fifties. A keen walker and rock-climber, he helped to run a summer camp on the Isle of Arran for several

Peter James Lamb (49-54)

Born 1938, died 27 November2009, aged 71.

Francis Stuart Lowe (26-32)

Born 1916, died 26 November 2009, aged 93. years. He was also a gifted craftsman. For a couple of months during 1965 he would disappear into the woodwork block several times a week after school was over, and busy himself building a small sailing boat for my brother Ken and me. It was first launched in the school swimming pool, and proved free of leaks!

Hugh was proud to be a Geordie. He was born in Jesmond, and courted my mother, Evelyn Brown, while they were both at West Jesmond Teacher Training College. They married in 1951, and were hardly ever apart for the next 47 years. In preparation for retirement they moved from Newcastle to a cottage near Wark, and thrived on their love of the countryside. They regularly visited their caravan at Derwentwater, and walked the hills in the Lake District. On his 80th birthday, Hugh resolved to learn word-processing so that he could write memoirs of his time as a prisoner of war. In spite of his shock at Evelyn’s early death in 1998, he went on to publish his book, Geordie Hussar, P.O.W. As that saga makes clear, he emerged from the war years resourceful, resilient and grateful for life –and these were qualities that never left him. He spent his last years in Hexham, alert and active, regularly attending plays and concerts at RGS to support his grandsons, Jonathan and Campbell. A faithful husband, father and

grandfather, he is sadly missed. Correction: in the last issue we incorrectly reported the death of Ian Gray (67-74). Ian is in fact alive and well and living in the Midlands.

David Salkeld (30-38)

Born 1919, died April 2009, aged 89.

David Salkeld was born in Newcastle and educated at the RGS. He chose to do medicine and having started his training at King’s College in Durham, in 1938 went to Charing Cross Hospital which was to become his alma mater and source of huge pride. He qualified in 1942.

During the war he worked in trauma and orthopaedics in London before moving home to the North East to become a GP in Newcastle. Initially he worked as a single handed doctor gradually building up a large practice which was to become the Saville Medical Group and he remained Senior Partner of his practice for more than four decades.

David was one of those doctors that the patients just adored, and his family keep being told about his patient care over his 50 years in practice – mainly positive, sometimes funny stories, some sad one. What always comes through was his dedication and commitment and how much his patients trusted him, and more importantly genuinely loved him because he was always ready to go the extra mile for their care. He continues to be remembered with great fondness by many of his patients who knew him as a straight talking gentleman who could always be relied on to offer help and sympathy in their times of need. Heaven knows how many babies he delivered: David’s family are forever meeting people who tells them that he brought either them or their children in to this world!

David Salkeld was a man for all seasons: the rugby season, the golf season, the football season! He was a committed and talented sportsman from being a lad. He played very successfully on most of the RGS school teams in cricket and rugby. He played for and captained Durham University and London University’s 1st XI and 1st XV teams and captained the Combined London Universities in rugby. He captained the 1st XI and 1st XV teams of the United London Hospitals when he was at Charing Cross.

He played his club rugby for Old Novos and was their captain from 1946-48; he was honoured to play for Northumberland County and was their captain in 1947. He played for South Northumberland Cricket Club and captained that side between 1956-59 during which time they won the Northumberland league twice. He also played for Northumberland County between 1944-49. He was a talented boxer at school and was a mean tennis player in his day, teaching his three daughters to play a useful game of both tennis and squash. He was a committed member of the Gosforth Bowls club. He played his golf for Northumberland Golf Club, managed to get his name up on several trophy boards and was made captain in 1986. Northumberland Golf Club probably gave him the most enjoyment in the last 20 odd years since retiring –it’s only a couple of years ago that he had to hang up his golf bag but he continued to be an active and opinionated member of the club, and enjoyed the old boy friendship network that was very special for him. Even when he was no longer able to compete, David still had a huge and active interest in all sports, especially football. He was passionate about the game and having been the team doctor for Newcastle United for many years, he was hugely honoured to be made a Club Director for a few years back in the 80’s.

He loved his garden –right up to the turn of this year you would find him pottering and his lawn was his pride and joy. He loved nothing more that a trip to the local nurseries where you would think he was re-stocking Kew Gardens and it gave him much pleasure.

David and his wife to be Marion Angus, a Central High school girl, met as teenagers when they were both still at school, thanks to Marion’s brother Ian who was also in the same year at RGS. They were married in 1947 and they got their telegram from the Queen on their 60th wedding anniversary.

Having been a keen member of the OTC, David became a member of the Territorial Army and was the Medical Officer of both 439 and 101 Regiments, Royal Artillery. He followed in his father’s footsteps and became a Mason and a member of the RGS Lodge. He was also a talented violinist playing in the school orchestras.

Despite the hardships of illness, David never gave up. He had a strong Christian faith and was a true fighter – many a weaker man would have given up years ago and even at the end he was more worried about the family than he was about himself. David is survived by his wife Marion and three daughters Lindsey, Alison and Judith (all Central High girls).

Alison Moodie

Obituaries

Eric Wilkes (30-37)

Born 1920, died November 2009, aged 89.

Eric Wilkes, educated at RGS, went up to Cambridge in 1937, ostensibly to read Modern Languages but in fact to act. He was an enthusiastic amateur but most unusually he was given the main part in a play produced by Dodie Rylands in his first term. He was well reviewed in the National Press and two years later became the President of the University Amateur Dramatic Club. The war prevented him taking this up and he never acted again.

In 1940 he trained as a Signalman. Five years later, after service in India, the Middle East, Malta and Italy he was a 25-year old, decorated Lieutenant Colonel commanding aRegiment in Germany. He spent most of his war in forward areas intercepting German radio traffic for M15.

As the war approached its end, like so many of his generation, he had to re-plan his life. He has always been grateful to King’s College, Cambridge for letting him return to the university, this time to study medicine. He eventually qualified from St Thomas’s Hospital, London with various prizes, at the age of 32. He then spent 18 busy, happy years as a Country General Practitioner in the village of Baslow in Derbyshire, until he was appointed Professor of Community Care and General Practice at Sheffield Medical School.

His impact may be informed from the fact that the percentage of Sheffield Medical Students opting for a career in General Practice became the highest in the country. He was invited on to the National Cancer Subcommittee and there he wrote the Wilkes Report on Terminal Care, published in 1980. He recommended greater attention be paid to the needs of dying patients and their relatives and the diversion of health care resources to the community. Twenty years later, the UnderSecretary of State for Health praised in Parliament the foresight of the report and the influence it had on altering the pattern of health care in Britain.

Eric had by now become involved in the hospice movement, opening the first modern unit outside London. The quality of bedside care at StLuke’s Hospice, Sheffield, gained anational reputation –integrating complimentary treatments with conventional skills. He also opened the first Day Hospice, copied by other units up and down the country. AsCo-Chairman of the national charity Help the Hospices, he emphasised the vital importance of physical symptom control and worked to improve the management and communication skills of hospice personnel. With the support of the Minister of Health he brought unity by convening and chairing the meetings between the independent hospices, the NHS units and the major charities concerned to form the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Care Services. Although due to retire, they made him honorary Vice-President.

In an age of specialism, Eric remained a determined generalist, conscious of the social responsibilities of the physician. He served as Chairman of the Sheffield and Rotherham Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders. He gave a kick start to the Sheffield Victim Support Scheme. He held meetings at the University, at which psychiatrists and social workers could meet with the police members of the Drug Squad to discuss the evolving problems of drug abuse. As Chairman of the Prevention Committee of the National Council of Alcoholism he encountered government indifference and a refusal to face a difficult future. He served on the Council of Mind and on the Advisory Council of the Charities Aid Foundation.

A master of words, he was Public Orator to Sheffield University. A frequent broadcaster, his series of Thought for The Day and Sunday Epilogue were well received, as were his lectures on Dr Johnson and Gibbon.

He was awarded many honours; in addition to his military MBE he was awarded the OBE for service to Medicine. He was elected to the Fellowship of three Royal Medical Colleges: Physicians, General Practitioners and Psychiatrists. He was awarded Honorary Degrees from both Sheffield Universities, heserved as High Sherriff of South Yorkshire and a Deputy Lieutenant of Derbyshire.

A happy family man, he was not interested in personal publicity and was rather taken aback when in retirement a medical journalist called him the last of the great eccentrics. His family were the centre of his world and he enjoyed many years of retirement with them.

Eric died peacefully at home. He leaves his wife Jess, his three children and six grandchildren all much richer for having shared his love and life. He will be much missed and always treasured.

Ruth Ostrovskis-Wilkes

Brian Shallcross (50-57)

Born December 1937, died August 2009, aged 71.

Andrew Peter Manley (75-82)

Brian Shallcross, a political broadcaster, was a former chairman of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. During his successful television and radio career, Shallcross interviewed most of the leading British politicians of the past 50 years, including Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair.

On leaving RGS, Brian went to Durham University to read English. He was also the president of the students’ union and editor of the university newspaper. After university he joined Thomson Newspapers, but soon moved to Tyne Tees Television, where he presented a weekly studio discussion called Youth Puts the Question, before moving on to presenting North East Roundabout and chairing Front Page Debate, a political programme.

In 1973 Shallcross joined Southern Television. As well as producing and presenting the station's political programme, Your Westminster, he covered parliamentary affairs for the nightly news programme Day by Day, and presented Agenda. Brian also found time to write and produce documentaries both at home and abroad. In the early 1990s Shallcross moved into radio, joining the Southern Radio Group, as parliamentary lobby correspondent. In 2008 he started producing a podcast for Classic FM, Window on Westminster. He also wrote a popular blog about the House of Commons, called Brian in the House.

Brian Shallcross was based at the Press Gallery at the House of Commons and had a desk there for over 30 years. For four years, he was chairman and then deputy chairman of the Press Gallery.

He is survived by his wife and their three children. Born 1963, died 15 August 2008, aged 44. One of Andrew’s passions was cricket. For the school a left-arm fast bowler, he played also for Northumberland, and Durham City and Esh Winning in the Durham League. During his gap year he played for Colne in the Lancashire League.

Another passion was theatre. He appeared in the RGS productions of Royal Hunt of the Sun, as Northumberland in Henry IV, and Estagon in En Attendant Godot. As stage crew, he lit Peter Schaffer’s demanding Black Comedy.

Inspired by the teaching of Mr Alan Mitchell, History became Andrew’s chosen subject. AtUniversity College London he took a First in Medieval and Modern History, the Sir William Meyer Prize, and, jointly, the intercollegiate Derby prize for the best First of the year. His postgraduate research work concerned the role of Islam in the history and culture of West Africa, under the direction of Louis Brenner at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

He went to live in a Malian home in Segou, on the banks of the Niger in the cotton-growing area of the Sahel, south of the Sahara. From there he travelled with local people over much of the West Africa, developing an insight into how societies are shaped by their history, religions and cultures. There followed extended stays in Paris where contact with the African communities of the 18th Arrondissement deepened his interest in the politics, economics, cuisine and above all, the music of Francophone Africa.

On his return he was invited to join the Economist Intelligence Unit as Africa Editor. Later, he became a freelance writer contributing to a range of journals, newsletters, professional briefing services and broadcasts on BBC and RTF. In recent years his expert witness reports were frequently critical in ensuring that African asylum seekers to the UK got a fair hearing on appeal. His love of Africa was deep but unblinkered. He experienced a military coup in Mali, was an EU/UN observer at elections in Nigeria and Tanzania, was with French Special Forces in Djibouti, and had a rushed escape from Chad after a brush with the security services of a government unappreciative of his kind of probing journalism.

Music was fundamental in Andrew’s life. Early exposure to the heavy rock music of the 1970s (typically ahead of his age) was followed by punk bands like the Clash. In London, he worked at the legendary Ray’s Jazz Shop, at the heart of Soho’s jazz community. It was inevitable that he would embrace the emergence in the 1980s of African performers on the UK scene. He made his pilgrimage to Timbuktu to meet the guitarist Ali Farka Toure, made recordings of Fulani flautists in the field, and of Toumani Diata in his home. In recent years, he wrote pungent reviews for the world music journal Songlines.

Andrew is buried in Foulridge churchyard, among his roots in North East Lancashire. School friends were pallbearers at his funeral. His headstone reads: Historian and Africaniste.

Alison and Peter Manley

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