ONA 81

. .

ONA Ol d N o v o c a s t r i a n s A s s o c i at io n M a g a z i n e Issue 81 | Spring 2011

In this issue:

1990 Leavers Reunion My Year in Thailand A History of the RGS in Ten Objects

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

Contents President’s Welcome News 1990 Leavers Reunion 100 Years of the Cadet Force My year in Thailand A History of the RGS in Ten Objects Bursary Campaign Obituaries RGS Arts Diary 1 2 4 5 6 8

10 13 17

5

6

8

ONA Magazine Issue 81 | Spring 2011

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.

The deadline for acceptance of copy for the Summer 2011 issue is Monday 14 March 2011.

Copy may be carried over to a future issue.

ONA magazine is the magazine for the Old Novocastrian 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.

Designed and produced by www.infinitedesign.com

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

Welcome

1

Welcome to the latest edition of our magazine I was honoured to be voted in as President in October. Thirteen years have passed since I left RGS as a pupil and during that time it has been fascinating to witness the great changes taking place at the school – particularly as these changes were initiated and underway whilst I was still at the school.

On reflection my 10 years at the school were a bridging moment – between Headmasters, staff and buildings old and new. I was taught by some ‘masters’ who had taught my dad!

It is this bridging theme I hope to continue as President by continuing to raise awareness of the ONA amongst current pupils through various initiatives, and involving members of the ONA during this process.

Read about the latest initiative on page 8. The history of the school will come to life as we seek to tell the story of the RGS in 10 objects.

It is hoped that this project will come to a climax at the next RGS day on 2 July 2012, and I will be working with the Headmaster to ensure we reach out and involve as many people as possible. I have already been inspired by the interest and enthusiasm for the project. I hope you will be too.

I would like to thank Mike Barlow (53-64) for his enormous contribution as Immediate Past President. Mike has worked tirelessly for the ONA, and it is thanks to him that we have a dynamic committee that represents a 21st century RGS. Mike continues as a dedicated committee member, and we look forward to the events he is organising throughout 2011 to celebrate the centenary of the CCF. The last term was full of highlights. The last Annual Dinner was one of the best attended ever, the ONA prize scheme continues to develop and I was able to award the latest prize at the festive Christmas assembly.

We now have a fabulous website at ona.rgs.newcastle.sch.uk – but its success relies on your contributions. We’re particularly interested in photos from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, so please send photos, stories or news to the ONA office. It was fascinating to read about the experiences of James Lawrence (02-09) on pages 6-7 as he reports back on his gap year in Thailand – an experience we were able to support through our Gap Year Fund.

I am delighted to be working with David Westwood (95-02) who will be supporting me as Vice President, and together with the committee we will continue to strengthen links between the school and the ONA. I’m confident that the next couple of years will be thought provoking, inspiring and engaging for all.

Adam Goldwater (87-97) ONA President

2

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

News and Events

Ex RGS teacher Deniol Williams, who taught biology and ran the rowing club at RGS before moving to Monmouth School in 1996, recently took up the post as Head of Sixth Form at Wisbech Grammar School in Cambridgeshire.

Mike Hogg (46-54) I worked in Newcastle after I left school until 1963, but I then worked overseas for 35 years in the Middle East and am now retired and living in south west Ireland.

How it Was: Memories of Growing Up in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s

by Howard Temperley (41-51) I read Howard Temperley’s How it Was: Memories of Growing Up in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s a year ago with, at first, a little trepidation. After all, I was a new arrival at the RGS, had barely started to hear about the Penrith generation and had never met Howard. But I became absorbed by the book and, by the end, felt I knew the author very well, and very personally.

It is, as Howard suggests, a chronicle of a changing world.

He describes with great honesty how he ran wild in Cumbria.

Homesickness and perhaps a longing for routines and regimes faded, and he led a fairly lawless life that in a boy’s imagination might seem wonderful, but was (as he described) really pretty rough, and certainly lacking in the usual love and comfort provided by home. His experience was not unique, nor that of the entire Penrith contingent: his account is a sharp reminder of the cost of war to non-combatants, to civilians, to children.

His recollections of adolescence and young manhood are no less fascinating. There is the extraordinary account of his friend being killed by a train. His description of life at Oxford is fairly bizarre, and entirely believable! In all he manages a vivid recollection of two or three eras: vivid but never nostalgic or sentimental. On the contrary, it’s a harsh spotlight that he turns on them, and description is mercilessly penetrating, if rich.

A phrase that struck me forcefully was the description of his first encounter with ‘the smell of poverty’. It has stayed with me, as have several scenes and descriptions described economically yet powerfully. I recommend the book unreservedly, not because it is by an ON, and not because it describes the RGS in exile in Penrith: but because it is a fascinating read.

Bernard Trafford, Headmaster

How It Was: Memories of Growing Up in the 1930s. ’40s and ’50s by Howard Temperley available from AuthorHouse for £11.30, hardback and £6.80 papereback. www.authorhouse.co.uk Telephone: 0800 197 4150

Rob Blake (79-84) writes: a quick update on matters military, I spent eight years in the full time service leaving in 1998 and subsequently joined the TA. I am now commanding the Regional Training Centre, as a Lieutenant Colonel, in Strensall Barracks, York. The unit delivers TA recruit selection/training and elements of officer training, as well as a number of specialist courses. I have some good contacts within the 15 Brigade area that might be useful.

There are less opportunities for wearing of foliage these days but I have very fond memories of those days in the CCF. Tim Armstrong (64-74): After nearly 30 years’ career with BP, most of which was spent outside the UK, I took early retirement in 2008 and now work part-time as a consultant in the oil sector. My consultancy work takes me to some very interesting locations, including Angola, South Africa, Malaysia, India and Trinidad.

My wife Caroline, is French. We married in 1982. We have three sons, one currently working in London, the other two at university, one in Lille, one in Paris. Having recently sold our main house in Aix-en-Provence, we are currently wintering in our holiday home in Perros-Guirec, a very attractive town on the northern coast of Britanny, renowned for its pink granite coastline. The plan is to purchase an apartment in Paris; thereafter, we intend to split the year between the two locations.

I’m afraid that I have very little contact with RGS, but I do keep in touch with Chris (C.F.H.) Baker (64-74), Angus Muirhead (67-75) and my cousins Alistair Graham (5868) and David Graham (55-64). My older brother, John Michael Armstrong (62-72) has lived in Wisconsin for some years. My father John Leonard (Len) Armstrong (32-40), an old boy of the Penrith era, died of cancer in 2001. I enjoy reading the magazine, even though I very rarely return to Newcastle these days.

David Cartwright (74-77) is currently based in Melbourne, Australia, where he is the Chief Operating Officer of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

Niall Hudson (94-04) is a PhD student at Durham University.

3

News and Events

Chris Thompson (64-74): I trained as a chartered accountant with Thomson McLintock and then worked for that firm and for KPMG for a further seven years in Newcastle and London. Since then I have worked in finance roles within a number of retailers including Asda and Woolworths, have been CEO of the Co-operative Funeral Service and have also worked in food manufacturing. I am now Chief Financial Officer at University of Nottingham.

ONA History Essay Prize Awarded Back from visiting the battlefields of the First World War, it was the turn of the Year 11 to enter the ONA history prize competition. The title was “Keeping the faith; a response to McCrea’s In Flanders Fields”, and the winner was Kit Mercer, with Milo Barnett and David Matthews as runners-up. The prizes were presented at the final assembly of the year by the ONA President, Adam Goldwater. The winning essay will be published in the next issue of the ONA magazine.

David Smith (61-68): My second career has taken me to a variety of international destinations including Botswana, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. Nowadays my work is more localised but still reaches the four corners of Britain, though rarely, sadly, to Newcastle.

Robert Finlayson (56-60): I’ve been married twice and have four children from 19 to 48 years old. I have just retired after 25 years with Royal Insurance and then a few other USA Insurance companies such as Travelers, and the last one with one of Warren Buffett’s companies. I am still playing cricket, do rare mini-triathlons, tennis and yoga.

Simon Burke (72-79): At present I am living in Perugia with my wife Anya, two children, Jack and Alice, and two retrievers, Whisky and Bianca. I am managing to keep my TV writing career going despite being out of the loop here in Italy! Since Chancer in the eighties, I wrote one-off dramas and adaptations and series such as Liverpool One, etc. – but I haven’t made that movie yet! I am in touch with several Old Novos, including Mike Teasdale (72-78), Jeff Dodds (69-79), and Mark Allen (74-79). I thank goodness for Sky Italia, because I don’t get to St. James’ Park as often as I’d like!

Reverend Michael Thompson (58-64) has been appointed as Honorary Canon of Newcastle Cathedral.

Join us on Facebook

ONA President Adam Goldwater (middle) with the prize winners.

Forthcoming Events London ONA Dinner Friday 4 March 2011 at the RAF Club, London CCF Centenary Mess Dinner Saturday 25 June 2011 at RGS

There are plenty of Old Novos Facebook groups around, but we have our own (official) group where we’ll post news, photos and information about events on a regular basis. Join us by becoming a fan of the Old Novocastrians Association page on Facebook.

Booking forms for the above events are included in this issue of the magazine, or can be downloaded from the ONA website: ona.rgs.newcastle.sch.uk

4

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

1990 Leavers Reunion

by Rod Etherington (80-90)

The boys came from all directions, by train from the South or the North; Metro from the coast; a lift with parents from the Tyne Valley and some very local, within walking distance.

And so it was 20 years later when we held our reunion for 1990 leavers, only now those boys are flung much further afield – scattered through the Midlands, Scotland and of course the bright lights of London but others from France, Germany and even Grand Cayman. Such was the appeal of catching up on the last 20 years.

For many it was the first time they had stepped foot in the school since collecting their A level results in 1990. How things have changed. After a few minutes of handshaking, vague recognition and then more detailed recollection we set off for a tour of the school as it is today. Of course some of the Sutherland buildings remain and there are many recognisable features but on the whole there has been a transformation in the facilities available to current students.

Most were warmly accepted but one or two were condemned – glassing in the previously wind-swept porticos considered to be nothing more than molly-coddling!

The hall, classrooms and stairs once more filled with our raucous laughter as we toured around recalling stories and events from years gone by. After coffee there was unanimous agreement that a trip to the pub was in order and so we reconvened in the Carriage which, it must be said, has changed much less than the school.

In the evening we all met for dinner and tales were told of others among our ranks who could not be with us – Alastair Leithead (80-90) who seems to travel the globe seeking out trouble and strife and Tom Hargreaves (83-90) who we recently read about in this magazine, flying Apache helicopters in Afghanistan were among those mentioned.

A touch of genius by Stuart Clark (85-90) was to bring the entire school photograph that hangs on his parents’ wall, although he did this by photographing it with his camera rather than produce the unwieldy hard copy.

There was much amusement as we scanned the hundreds of faces trying to put names to each. Dinner rolled into drinks at the bar which rolled on long into the night...

We would all like to thank Tove for her legwork in circulating the information and generally getting us all to where we should be and thanks also to the happy band of Sixth Formers prefects who accompanied us on our tour round the school, I am sure they enjoyed every one of our stories!

By the way, the next reunion is in 5 years time, 2015, so please get in touch with Tove in the ONA office and make sure your details are kept up to date. All of those who celebrated our 20 years will be there and look forward to catching up with more of you then!

5

100 Years of the Cadet Force

100 Years of the Cadet Force

This year the cadet force at RGS celebrates its Centenary. As part of this we are putting together a brief history of the Unit since permission was given for the foundation. Trying to put together all the relevant material is turning out to be a time consuming exercise, not least because of the flood that swept through the archives two years ago. (Interestingly, this is not the first flood of this kind, as during the research an article was spotted in the Novo of December 1913, referring to a very similar flood in September of that year that left boys undergoing an entrance exam stranded on their desks.)

The first reference to a cadet force in the RGS is found in The Novo of July 1911, where there is reference to an offer from the Governors to “furnish such a corps”. It would appear to have been started in the middle of the Summer Term, not leaving enough time to learn “the drills necessary to go to camp this year”. The full title at the time was Royal Grammar School Contingent Officer’s Training Corps. Establishment strength was 80, and the school secured Sergeant-Major Challons as instructor. The Headmaster of the time, Mr Logan, appointed Mr Atkinson (O.C.) and Mr Little as officers. At this time the number of boys in the school varied between 450 and 500 with the Sixth Form in 1913 being 18 strong.

The oldest photographic record found, which has been restored, was taken before a Church Parade at St Thomas the Martyr in the Haymarket (above). The Officer in the centre is the first O.C., Lt Atkinson, on his right is 2Lt A W Little, and on his right is 2Lt A N Strong.

No further reports appear until late 1912, after the Contingent had taken part in the Brigade Camp held at Bordon, Aldershot. In one of the major exercises Mr Little took command of an RGS half company, with Bridlington and Hymer’s College providing the other half.

The Bridlington OC took overall command. The link with Bridlington continues today when the Contingents meet at Central Camps.

In light of sizes imposed at Central Camps today the figures of those taking part are staggering. “5,000 cadets together with regular troops, including artillery and mounted Infantry taking part in the manoeuvres”.

And all this under canvas for the cadets. Not surprisingly the Bell tents familiar to those attending school camps some 50 years later were the main accommodation. Lord Roberts came to inspect the camp.

At the beginning of the Summer Term 1913, the new Headmaster, Major John Talbot took command of the Contingent, and Lt Atkinson was promoted to Captain. Before coming to RGS the Major had been part of Harrow OTC, and his experience there proved beneficial to the Unit. Attendance at Parades also improved when the new Headmaster allocated first one, then two periods a week in addition to the voluntary Saturday morning.

Camp in 1913 was at Rugely, and the following year, after Race Week spent near Barnard Castle, the Contingent departed for Salisbury Plain.

With the onset of the First World War much changed, not least the make up of the unit, as older boys and masters were called up, but enthusiasm for the Corps continued.

It is hoped to continue the story during the year, so consider this to be an early Chapter. Could I once again encourage those who were in the CCF in the early ’50s to put their thinking caps on, as I would like more detail if possible about Field Days spent at Shaftoe Crags, for example.

It had never occurred to us that these areas might have been used.

M R Barlow (53-64) CCF Officer 1979-Present

6

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

My year in Thailand James Lawrence (02-09) looks back at a year of volunteering

It is hard to explain just how much I have learnt from being a volunteer teacher in Detudom, Thailand for the past year. Looking at the words I wrote down when I first arrived as a volunteer with Project Trust, my opinions have changed. Now that I have wrapped my head around the language and what to expect from the culture I feel I have a better view of Thailand.

James with some of his students

Motorbiking through Vietnam

My Year in Thailand

During the year at DTEC, the college where I taught, I formed many friendships with students and staff. We were welcomed with open arms at the start of the year and absolutely everyone have helped us in anyway they can. At the start of the year I had very little way of showing my gratitude to the people when they helped us. Now, though, I can speak a nice amount of Thai and I feel more comfortable and free in Thailand than I ever have in England. This is due to Thai culture, law, and the kindness of most, if not all the people.

7

“My year in Thailand was better than anything I could ever have hoped for. It helped me overcome self-doubt and grow in confidence.

Before I volunteered, I was quite passive and would let a lot of opportunities slide. This year has been the complete opposite, because I was lucky enough to spend my year with people who have similar ambitions and the same new-found, ‘why not?’ attitude.”

English in the college was minimal. Even students who knew some English would not speak because they felt they didn’t need to, or, in most cases, were shy. So we came up with an idea to get the students to speak English with us outside the classroom. We introduced a school currency, and called it the DTEC Dollar. I designed it and then we started printing. To stop any duplicates we signed the back of each dollar. Every time a student spoke English to us outside the classroom we would give them a DTEC Dollar. Then at the end of term we all chipped in and bought lots of presents to hold an auction with the DTEC Dollars the student had earned.

I was also able to travel to Nong Kai, near the Laotian border, to volunteer at the Sarnelli House orphanage. The orphanage was An achievement I am particularly proud of was getting the students founded by one of the most generous people I have ever met, Father involved in English by introducing an English phrase into the Thursday O’Shay. He runs the Sarnelli foundation with donations and his own morning assembly. We also encouraged students to ask basic money to care for orphans who are HIV positive. Not only would he pay questions and offer simple answers to everyday questions in English. for their antiretroviral drugs, their food, and a place to stay, but he also let Now our students could earn a dollar by asking us these questions, parents live off land he owns surrounding the orphanage. Working there but in English. for just five days was such an eye-opener, hearing truly horrendous stories of what people went through before they made it to Sarnelli.

At the start of the year my teaching was heavily vocabulary and games It was a very heart wrenching, but rewarding, experience. based, which didn’t really give the students something they could use when speaking to foreigners. I assumed that everyone knew how to During the year there were huge riots, but we never really came face-tointroduce themselves and hold their own in basic English; I was very face with it. The reports from abroad seemed to be misleading, at times wrong. So in the second term I introduced the circle of greetings to describing the entire country in a panic and chaos when the area where every class I taught which also let me teach them how to do a proper we lived was absolutely fine. The only time I felt uncomfortable in was on hand shake. I built gradually on this as the term went on, slowly my way back from the islands, passing through Bangkok the day after introducing other questions I had taught and eventually a dialogue. the worst riots they had seen in ten years. The streets were eerily quiet, With my most advanced class my greatest achievement was teaching there were no food stalls open, no mopeds or cars on the roads, only them the western method of telling time; this may not sound like much taxis. The riots in the capital worsened once we were back in our but it is because this is so different to their system. Then to back it all project. This was a horrible time because we were getting emails from up we had the DTEC Dollar scheme which encouraged all the students Project Trust, warning of the possibility of being sent home. None of us to practise their English. wanted to leave.

My gap year would finish with a three month holiday with the other Project Trust volunteers. We decided to bike through Vietnam on Minsk motorbikes, so when the time came we bought stupid-looking leather jackets and shades (we had to do it right!), and set off on a 24 hour bus journey through Laos to Hanoi. Our trip through Vietnam and Laos made us realize just how lucky we were to be living in Thailand. People in Thailand were just so much friendlier than anyone we met in the surrounding countries. We felt that if you wanted people to be friendly to you in Vietnam or Laos they had to have something in return. The bike journey itself was intense, exciting, and the most tiring five days of my life – we didn’t fully appreciate just how amazing the journey was until we had actually completed it!

My year in Thailand was better than anything I could ever have hoped for. It helped me overcome self-doubt and grow in confidence. Before I volunteered, I was quite passive and would let a lot of opportunities slide. This year has been the complete opposite, because I was lucky enough to spend my year with people who have similar ambitions and the same new-found, “why not?” attitude. I have experienced a vastly different culture from the perspective of a local to the point where I feel patriotic to a country which is not my own. I have no way of summing up my year; there is just too much that has happened! All I can say is thank you to the Old Novocastrians Association for giving me a grant which went towards making my year in Thailand one of the most significant of my life!

8

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

A HISTORY OF THE RGS IN TEN OBJECTS

I

nspired by the BBC’s excellent series A History of the World in 100 Objects, hosted by the British Museum’s Neil McGregor, it occurred to me that a similar approach could be taken with the long and varied story of the Royal Grammar School.

After some thought, there are a number of ‘Objects’ which would be familiar to almost everyone who has attended the school over the past few hundred years. Rather than merely list and provide a photograph of each, the idea developed into something wider, which it is to be hoped will forge a new and innovative link between past and present members of the school, Old Novos and boys and girls at present studying at our great school.

Most of the seven objects selected here fit exactly into the mould. What ONA Magazine is interested in is three further objects to make up the ten, selected by students at the school, as well as Old Novos . As in the recent BBC series, we would like some additional detail through background research, either from the study of school or local archives, or perhaps even received information from Old Novos or other sources. Of course, it might be difficult to contact Old Novos who attended the school before the 20th Century, but you would be surprised at the store of knowledge held by many ONs from the last (20th) Century!

Here, then, are the seven objects (so far) which stand out as being special to the History of the RGS.

1

First is the Royal Charter of 1600 granted by Queen Elizabeth the First to the Town and County of Newcastle by which its rights and privileges were ‘defined, confirmed and improved’. One of the consequences of the Charter was the removal soon after of the School from St Nicholas Churchyard to the Hospital of St Mary the Virgin in the Westgate. Where is this Charter? What does it say about the School?

9

A History of RGS in Ten Objects

2

Next is a Stone Pillar, similar to the two which stand outside the present School buildings in Eskdale Terrace. Where does this stand and what was its original function?

3

4

Third is the heavy Oak Table which stands on the stage at the front of the School Hall.

What was it for and where was it originally used and whose carved signature stands out as special?

5 Fourth is the Stained Glass Window which is now built into the North part of the School near the changing rooms and lecture theatre. Who designed and produced it? Where was it originally?

The School Clock must be one of the best known objects at the School. Thousands of motorists speed along the Central Motorway which swept away the old Pinfold at the Great North Road end of the school field in the 1950s. Many of them will be unaware that this timepiece is part of our school.

How did it come to grace the buildings in Eskdale Terrace?

6

7

At the front of the school hall and our number seven is the great Organ. When the school moved to Eskdale Terrace just over a century ago, the hall had no Organ. Who donated this and who manufactured this impressive instrument? It would be fascinating to hear it in regular use once again.

8, 9, 10...

Sixth on our list is the NOVO Magazine. When did this first appear? Several covers have graced this publication since it was launched. Some research on this important item in the school’s life would be of interest to all.

There are many more ‘objects’ which may spring to mind.

But the Association would like members of the school and Old Novos to be involved in introducing three more and also producing further research on the seven so far.

We hope that the RGS History department, who have already shown great interest in the links between members of the ONA (that’s all of our readers) and present school students, will be able to pass this message on and see what transpires by the next issue of ONA Magazine. It might also be interesting to produce a display around this at the next RGS Day in July 2011.

David Goldwater (51-62)

10

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

Bursary Campaign Gleanings from the bursary committee

Committees! Many of you will shrink at the very word. After all, wasn’t the camel designed by a committee? Whatever does a committee ever really achieve? How can a disparate bunch of people sit down together and make things happen?

Well, there may be a fair number of such bodies who are largely driven by one or two forceful individuals who drive matters along their own agendas. Very often, however, perhaps through serendipity or maybe inspired selection (!), committees do exist whose members reflect a wide variety of interests and connections. Such is the case with the RGS Bursary Campaign Committee, meetings of which are full of enthusiasm, good humour and businesslike, hardly ever over-running the clock. The Committee’s members are listed at the end of this feature, which we hope will shed a little light on our work, and hopefully inspire some of the ONA membership to support the Campaign’s aims in the most tangible way.

As a member of the Bursary Campaign Committee, I offered to put some items together for the ONA Magazine, which is the main link between the school and its alumni, its former pupils. Who, I thought, is a person to whom countless Old Novos can relate and who holds many of the fondest feelings of ONs over very many years at the School? Who other than John Armstrong (member of staff 19722003)? So I contacted John, who is in the best of fettle and whilst showing his usual characteristics of shyness and modesty, expressed his thoughts on the Bursary Campaign.

At the time when he was working as Second Master, his position on the Committee was part of his job, but on John’s retirement, James Miller asked him to stay on the Committee. He made it clear that whilst now wishing to keep a discreet distance, he welcomes the chance to contribute to the Committee because of his belief in the objectives of the Campaign and in the opportunities bursaries provide.

After the demise of the Direct Grant system and later the Assisted Places Scheme, the Bursary Campaign is the only way the School can remain accessible to those whose families cannot afford the fees. John is glad to be associated with what has in a very few years become such a significant factor in this effort. The School hasn’t been static: it has changed, adapted, and developed, while at the same time there are so many important continuities too. Bursaries (themselves an adaptation) sustain an essential continuity. He believes that the RGS continues, as ever, to have a great role to play in the present and future life of the region.

John Armstrong

Bursary Campaign

11

2010 is another landmark, also for the Bursary Campaign. Those who joined the school aged 11 in 2003 finished their time, completed A levels and moved on to university or gap year in the summer of 2010.

They were joined along the way by other bursary holders, principally entering aged 16 to do two years in the Sixth Form. It was my privilege and pleasure to get to know the first 2003 cohort of bursary holders, a remarkably impressive bunch. Jenni McDermott (08-10) joined that group in the Sixth Form in 2008 (at the same time as I joined the school). In the true RGS tradition Jenni and the others were talented, hard-working, clever and multi-talented students, engaged in a host of activities outside the classroom as well as in it, and enormous fun to be with. They are now making the most of the opportunities university or gap year is affording them.

Bernard Trafford, Headmaster, is one of the most enthusiastic members of the Committee.

Here he offers some thoughts on an exemplary Old Novo, the foundations and progress of the Bursary Campaign and how he feels about the involvement of Old Novocastrians. Do take a few minutes to read his message: 2010 was an important landmark year – marking the bicentenary of the death of one of our most illustrious former students, Admiral Cuthbert Baron Collingwood of Caldburne and Hethpoole. There is a particular poignancy in Collingwood’s association – albeit a brief one – with the Royal Grammar School. Collingwood attended the RGS and joined the Royal Navy because his family were very short of money: there was no entry fee for the Royal Navy. The financial angle is attested to by Collingwood’s classmate, John Scott. The future Lord Chancellor of England commented that they met at school “because neither his father nor mine could afford to place us elsewhere”.

Is it mere coincidence that two of the most illustrious names of the early nineteenth century were at school together at the RGS? To be fair, it is pure coincidence. Yet it illustrates the historic tradition and purpose of education as provided by the RGS over nearly five centuries. The RGS was founded and functioned for its first few centuries (at least) as a school for relatively poor boys.

Yet the school has never forgotten why it was founded. After the 1944 Education Act children from less affluent homes were funded at the RGS through the Direct Grant scheme. When that ended, and the school rightly took the decision to become independent, it seized the opportunity of the Assisted Places Scheme which ran for two decades.

And when the Blair government ended that scheme, abruptly, the first generous donations from concerned individuals paved the way for the present Bursary Campaign.

Thus the mission continued unchanged. To be sure, the education offered is rather broader than that offered under the great Hugh Moises, but we never forget that the purpose of the school is to offer that education to young people who will benefit from it and make the most of it. I am more proud than I can say that we have at any one time between 6.5% and 8% of the students in the school supported by bursaries, more than half of them on 90% to 100% assistance. Those are the sort of children for whom the school was founded: and still it reaches out to them, continuing unbroken that historic mission.

Collingwood believed passionately in helping his young officers to develop into outstanding leaders of men. It is well known, too, that he had a habit, when in the country, of taking from his pocket one of the many acorns he invariably carried and planting it when he saw a likely spot. He always looked ahead, whether he was bringing on midshipmen and creating the next officer cadre or planting acorns that (as far as he knew at that time) would provide oak trees to build ships for centuries to come. He saw each action as planting the seed that would become the future. A lasting testament to his vision lies in the famous plantation of Collingwood Oaks at Hethpool in the beautiful College Valley on the north edge of the Cheviots. In truth, Collingwood did not plant those. But in 1813 his widow planted one acorn for every ship that had taken part in the battle of Trafalgar in commemoration of her husband, and continuing his vision of planting and preparing for the next generation.

We too can play our part in continuing Collingwood’s vision of planting the seed that will become the future by donating to the Bursary Campaign. Until now the Campaign has been hugely successful, notwithstanding the economic downturn. But we will never have “enough” money to provide all the help that we want and need to.

There are still more talented boys and girls out there, ready and willing to take the opportunities that the RGS offers, if only we can provide the necessary financial support from our bursary fund. So please think whether you as a former member of the school can contribute to the tradition that created such great men as Collingwood and Eldon and provide the best of futures for further generations of RGS students.

I hope you will, and that you will give generously according to your means and ability.

12

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

Bursary Campaign

After five years as Campaign Chairman, Crispian Strachan recently handed over the Chair to Old Novo Andrew Major (86-90). Andrew is hoping to bring a no less energetic, but different approach to the Committee’s work: It is 20 years since I left the RGS. I was therefore delighted, this summer, to be asked to take the Chair of the Bursary Campaign’s Steering Committee, which I’ve served on for the past three years.

You may not be aware that the Bursary Campaign has had such a huge impact. In response to the phasing out of the Government’s Assisted Places scheme, the RGS pro-actively created a replacement vehicle to ensure that a limited family income does not prevent aspiring young people from benefiting from an RGS education and all it entails.

Between 6 and 8% of the school’s 1249 population are receiving some help with fees at any one time and thus far giving the ‘Gift of Education’ has been possible due to the generosity of (generally) local charitable trusts, some Old Novos and other individuals with a connection to or interest in the school. Our achievement is the envy of many other schools.

The Campaign has to date worked well. Last academic year £625,000 was raised in cash and pledges from donors. However, the year ahead is a challenge economically and we will do well to raise somewhere near our £645,000 commitments to fund current bursaries, without drawing on the small reserves the fund has built since inception. Annual fees at the school remain competitive at just under £10,000. Over a seven school year timescale, the school’s commitment to funding a bursary becomes clear.

If I have one objective for the Campaign over the next few years, it is to expand considerably the membership of this all too limited club of donors. Only 269 Old Novos financially support the Campaign, 6% of us. Can you help us support the next group of students achieve their aspirations by Giving the Gift of Education?

The Bursary Committee members are Andrew Major (Chairman) (86-90), Bernard Trafford, Richard Metcalfe, Catherine Wood , Catherine Young, Charles Penn (69-79), Claris D’Cruz, David Goldwater (51-62), Gillian Hall, Graeme Twaddle (66-76), Jean Ross, John Armstrong, Judith Wallace, Lucy Bird and Mike Barlow (53-64).

We all work together in the most supportive way. This is the friendliest and most positive committee I have ever served on. But the work we carry out is all the more satisfying when we receive substantive feedback – it’s what the Campaign exists for. In whatever way you are able, please support us in our goal.

David Goldwater (51-62)

Bursary Campaign Chairman Andrew Major (86-90)

13

Obituaries

Obituaries are there of rigour on the intellectual and the physical side? His role as Head of Geography needs particular mention: it would be hard to explain the deep-rooted attachment of the RGS to this multi-faceted discipline without reference to his input. It’s true that he wore his intellectualism lightly, but one quickly learned that his poised posture on every vexed question was not just instinctive but thought out.

Colin Nichols RGS Master 1953-1986 Arrived at RGS 1953, appointed Second Master 1967. Retired 1986.

Died October 2010, aged 84.

It may look bad if the author of this tribute to Colin Nichols starts with a word about himself, but it will soon bring me to the very essence of what I want to say. I have to admit that, since my retirement from the RGS Headship in 1994, I have so buried myself in a ‘new life’ in France that my former friends and colleagues in Newcastle may simply assume (wrongly but understandably) that I have ‘lost interest’ in those 22 years of my life. Worse, I have been remiss in failing to react to the death of colleagues for whom I had the highest respect, and whose families have good reason to think badly of me. I hope and believe however that they’ll understand why the news of the death of Colin Nichols immediately punctured my posture of detachment. Distant though I was, I just had to hear from former colleagues who attended his funeral, and (for once) I lost no time in getting a message to Betty about what her husband had meant to me. My mind had meanwhile been flushed with strangely vivid images of those days in 1972 (precisely half my lifetime ago) when I first entered the orbit of the RGS. If this was a ‘hinge’ in the social history of the school, any detailed examination of it will show up the central role (yes, central, not subsidiary) which Colin Nichols as Second Master played out with such finesse. If there was continuity amidst a welter of change, Colin was the core of it, such was his gift for reading situations and reacting wisely to them. For situations I think I mean Headmasters! My predecessor Bill Haden was probably well equipped to handle the intergenerational battles of the 1960s, being himself a hardened battler, ready to take a hard line with ‘troublesome youth’ and equally unafraid of alienating those of his own staff whom he regarded as ‘feeble’. They were turbulent years at the RGS, and Colin had fulfilled his role of ‘interpreting’ HM to staff (and vice versa) with discretion aplomb –

before deploying the same interpersonal skills in the less explosive context of the 1970s and of a new HM who was a classic case of being chosen for being different.

The pattern of joint-management which developed between us was not unlike that of the ancient Roman consuls – two of them, each with a power to block the other’s initiatives. Rarely did I proceed down paths which did not seem sensible to Colin, and (to say the least) this required courage and in some cases a readiness to wonder if I had it wrong!

There were tensions of all sorts to be eased (the Sixth Form to be allowed more adult freedoms, the ‘fliers’ stream to be declared no longer fit for purpose, managerial responsibilities to be spread more widely across the staff), and Colin was for me the perfect ally in bringing such things about, often being one jump ahead in what needed to be done. It’s true that he regarded ‘principles’ with worldly cynicism, but his pragmatism was laced with admirable priorities which he would occasionally spell out – for example that ‘ease of administration’ (for which he had a gift) should never be an end in itself. All his dealings at every level had the human touch. It says much for Colin that he switched with seemingly effortless ease from being my ‘rival’ for the Headmastership to being a stalwart ally and advisor. You could say without exaggeration that the RGS got two for the price of one.

To earn respect within the RGS community it’s as well to have a stake in both the academic and the sporting or extra-curricular world. Colin’s dual credentials had been forged in the fires of Cambridge geography and rowing – and what better guarantees

Colin’s emotional equilibrium, which could never be faulted, depended in part on his commitment to ‘life beyond school’. My first lesson from him on this was before I ever started: to my question whether I could perhaps meet my future colleagues on the day before term began, the answer was a courteous yes, but a hint that I should not make a habit of it! His own use of time during the school day was organised in such a disciplined and systematic way that I’m sure he reckoned on taking home with him the absolute minimum not only of the paper-work but of the ‘worries’ which went with it. His home was a haven and a fortress, manned by that remarkable duo of Deputy Heads who had a way of converting the chores into pleasures (Betty as proud of Colin’s cooking as of her own!), and whose habit of many a weekend was to drive in the comfort of their cherished Volvo to their equally cherished rural retreat in Forest Head. A privileged circle of good friends shared these unpretentious pleasures with them, and will have been amongst those who found no surprise in the ailing Colin’s insistence on getting over there ‘just once more’. It did prove to be the last time.

I hope it will be clear from these unashamedly personal remarks what I owed to Colin Nichols – and, more important, what the school owed to this formative figure in its twentieth century history. Old Novocastrians who read this will see at once what a mass of appreciative detail I have left out. For them to fill it in!

Alister Cox RGS Headmaster 1972-1994

14

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

Obituaries

Donald Peden RGS Master 1953 - 1988 Born 1928, died 29 September 2010, aged 82.

Don (as he was known by everyone in the Common Room) was appointed to the staff by Oliver Mitchell in 1953 to teach mathematics and rose to second within this highly prestigious department. He had previously served in the Army before graduating with a BSc from King’s College, Newcastle and acquiring his Diploma of Education.

Having played football in the Army and qualified as a football coach, he was very suitably placed to enter the general life of the school and was soon coaching rugby, playing cricket with the Staff XI and involving himself in various rock- climbing expeditions. During Race Week, he ran successful school camps in Teesdale, Dentdale and Ribblesdale.

Perhaps his greatest contribution to out-ofschool activities was as master in charge of chess, which he fulfilled for over twenty years, becoming regional Controller of the Sunday Times Chess Tournament.

Mathematics remained his main interest and in 1962, was awarded his Master of Science degree in Pure Mathematics for his thesis “Limiting Behaviour of Harmonic Functions”.

was so arranged as to take place on the ground floor. It is worthy of note that he was never known to have complained of his lack of mobility.

He became a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and a member of the Council of the Mathematics Association. Later, he became chairman of the Programme Committee, responsible for planning the Association’s Annual Conferences.

Don retired in 1988, following 35 years of loyal service to the Royal Grammar School to enjoy his hobbies of reading and listening to music and eight years later, both he and Moira moved to a spacious cottage in Acklington, with ample access for a wheelchair. He maintained his independence and drove about in his specially adapted car enjoying both the countryside and making as many stops for coffee and/or lunch as possible.

Don’s organisational skills and experience had not gone unnoticed at school, as he was appointed master in charge of both internal and external examinations, a post which he held from 1960 to 1986. This was both a mammoth and complex task which he played like a finely tuned military operation (woe betide anyone who would dare to question their apportion of invigilation).

Following his service in the Army, Don joined the TA and was a member from 1949 to 1969, ending as Regional Signal Officer for this region and in this capacity, he examined RGS cadet signallers which would certainly have assisted in maintaining high standards. He was awarded the Territorial Decoration and clasp and retired with the rank of Major. Don was also a Past Master of Reserve Forces Masonic Lodge.

It was in 1970 that Don became aware of his growing lack of mobility which was later diagnosed as MS. He moved skilfully round school on his arm crutches and his timetable

On occasions, he would book an electric wheelchair within Eldon Square and whilst Moira would go in one direction, Don would move in the opposite direction, browsing and generally enjoying both his independence and shopping expedition.

Donald passed away (suddenly) and peacefully at his home in Acklington on Wednesday 29 September 2010, aged 82 years. Following a private cremation, a Service of Thanksgiving was held at St. John the Divine, Acklington which was very well attended. Donald leaves his wife Moira, four children, Gillian, Allison, Andrew (74-81), Fiona and four grandchildren.

W.G. (Bill) Elliott member of staff 1952-1988.

P B (Bev) Gelder (40-47) Died 22 September 2010, aged 80.

Bev Gelder died a few days after his 80th birthday, having lived a full and busy life until age and infirmity caught up with him, causing him much frustration.

At school he gained his swimming colours, and blossomed as a pianist, giving a number of solo performances, but in later life he played only for pleasure, indulging his catholic taste.

Subsequently he developed a very hands-on

bakery business, starting with a single shop in Ponteland, which eventually expanded to eight. Keenly interested in motor sport, he did a lot of rallying, and scored some successes.

He was even happier on water, owning successions of boats, and hankering for another even during the last months of his life, despite his incapacity. Some of his happiest times were those spent with Pat at their apartment on Majorca, where they made many friendships.

He took up golf when still quite a small boy and this was an enduring joy. Latterly he played at Matfen Hall, despite finally having to resort to a buggy. It was fitting that he should have passed away on Majorca suddenly and without pain, and appropriate that his ashes was scattered from the quayside which had formed the backdrop for so many memorable holidays.

Bryan Stevens (44-49)

15

Obituaries

Philip Vernon (32-40) Born 1928, died 3 September 2010, aged 87.

Philip Vernon was a keen sportsman. He played rugby, cricket and water polo. He also swam for the School. He was musical and played the flute in the orchestra under Arthur Milner.

At the outbreak of war, in 1939, he was among those evacuated to Penrith. Some years ago, he and his wife, Irene, attended several pleasant reunions for the ex-evacuees.

Michael Anthony Read (47-50) Born 1931, died 21 August 2010, aged 78.

Michael Anthony Read died at Carter Bequest Hospital, Middlesbrough after a short illness. His cremation took place on the 27 August followed by a moving humanist ceremony at home with family and friends, to celebrate Tony’s life.

He served in the RAF from 1942 to 1946, mostly in India and the far east. Eventually he joined the Trustee Savings Bank (now Lloyds Bank) and served as Manager at Rothbury for six years and, subsequently in Leeds until his retirement in 1983.

He married in 1953 and had a son and two grandsons.

Philip died peacefully, after some weeks in hospital, at the age of 87.

Irene Vernon

Tony Read was born on 24 November 1931 in Keighley, West Yorkshire to Mari and Arthur Read and brother to Elizabeth. He attended Keighley Grammar school but when the family moved to Newcastle in 1947, he transferred to the Royal Grammar School.

Arnold M. Danziger (formerly Arnold Morris) (36-40)

He was bright and gifted but enjoyed life too much to limit himself to academic matters alone, skipping French lessons sometimes to play snooker and billiards. In fact on his final term’s report from school it read, “The only thing that’s improved in Read’s last term is his snooker and billiards which he played whilst the Head was teaching.”

Dr. Arnold Danziger was originally called Arnold Morris, but changed his surname to Danziger after graduating. Danziger was the original family name, but his father had changed it to Morris in response to anti-German sentiment during the First World War.

Undeterred, Tony went on to put his considerable social skills to great use: he became a very successful property salesman and was always a first class conversationalist, full of charm, with a great sense of humour and very popular. He was a good rugby player and played hooker for RGS, and subsequently played for the Old Novos.

He married Pauline Wood in 1963 and moved to Middlesbrough where he lived with Pauline and his stepdaughter, Pam. Pauline died in 2009 and Tony’s sudden death left a deep sadness with Pam, and Tony’s 18 yearold grandson, Jackson.

His family paid this tribute to him: Tony’s death leaves much sorrow, but we can honour him and his enjoyment of his life as well as the contributions he made to all our lives. He leaves a legacy of warm memories; his good nature and human value to all who were close to him, and even strangers enjoyed his warm banter and good spirit, will live on. His loving influence will continue in those who loved him. You can all carry him with you in your hearts.

Pam Wood

Born 1925, died 17 November 2010, aged 85.

Arnold Morris (as he then was) spent his early years in Whitley Bay, attending the Royal Grammar School, first in Newcastle, and then after the school was evacuated during the war, in Penrith.

He read medicine at Caius College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1942 and spending two years in Cambridge under the accelerated wartime medical training scheme. After Cambridge he continued his medical studies at the London Hospital Medical School, and then after qualifying and completing his house jobs he spent two years as a Medical Officer in the RAF. He then pursued a career in anaesthesia, becoming a consultant anaesthetist in the North Manchester Group of hospitals in the 1950s. In the ’50s and ’60s he published papers and letters on a number of areas in which he was interested, including the treatment of intractable haemorrhagic shock, the use of hypothermia in intracranial neurosurgery, and techniques to improve the safety of dental anaesthesia. His anaesthetic career was cut short by ill health in 1974, and he subsequently practised in other fields of medicine up to his retirement in 1985.

He married Patricia in 1959, and after her death in 2007 at the relatively young age of 68, his own health deteriorated. He leaves behind two children, Josh and Verity, and three grandchildren.

Josh Danziger

16

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

Obituaries

Obituaries Ivor Saville (39-46)

Francis (Frank) Robinson (46-57)

David Nicholson (47-55)

Born 1928, died September 2010, aged 81.

Born 1931, died 3 June 2010, aged 71.

Born 1938, died October 2010, aged 71.

Everyone who knew Ivor smiled when his name was mentioned and we mourn his loss. He was born in South Shields. At the outbreak of war he was evacuated with the school to Penrith, where we all benefited from the great headmaster E R Thomas and the kind principal of the junior school, Mr Anderson.

Frank Robinson was instrumental in making historical and bibliographical sources of the 18th and 19th centuries accessible.

He produced reference works in many formats but his greatest work was the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC), a bibliography of more than a million records, a subject classified, union catalogue of the 19th century holdings of big British and American libraries. It was bought by libraries worldwide.

David was one of Britain’s most respected flautists and flute teacher. He was a driving force in founding the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 1974 and served as its principal flute until his retirement.

On leaving school Ivor intended to read geology and meteorology, but joined the RAF for his national service. Upon release he joined the family music business in Shields as his father had become ill. He and Lila married in 1954, and the business moved to Sunderland in 1965. He always enthused about his jazz and big band music.

Ivor became a devoted member of the Citizens Advice Bureau, joined the Marriage Guidance Council, and served as a Magistrate on the South Tyneside bench.

His appointments included chairman of the medical appointments panel, and he was a conciliator for the local Health Authority.

A very active member of the Jewish community, he was also a Freemason, and was a very strong supporter of all ExServicemen’s activities, always present on Remembrance Day parades.

Ivor was always a very devoted family man.

He and Lila have three sons: Fraser, Leigh and Adam, and five grandchildren. A man we will always miss.

Colin Ross (40-47)

Frank was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1938, where he was brought up by his great aunt and uncle. In 1944 he started school at Newcastle Church High, the only boy in that school. In 1948 he went down the road to RGS, where he particularly enjoyed studying military history, culminating in an open scholarship at Keble College in Oxford.

After Oxford he returned to Newcastle upon Tyne where he taught at Wharrier Street School, whilst also researching for his PhD thesis on education in the northern counties in the 18th century.

Later, Frank published guides to subscription lists, becoming Senior Research Associate on the Project for Historical Bibliography (PHIBB) at Newcastle University, funded by the publisher William Dawson. When the funding came to an end Frank set up his own publishing company, Avero Publications Ltd, publishing a variety of texts, including the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC), a project that would occupy Frank for the next 20 years.

As his health declined, Frank closed down Avero Publications in 2002, but in his retirement continued to compile data for subscription lists.

He died of vascular disease in June 2010.

He is survived by his wife Jennifer and their three children.

After RGS he spent three years with the band of the Royal Artillery in Woolwich, London, before studying at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He founded a variety of music groups, including the Edinburgh-based quintet The Amphion, and in 1997 established the Edinburgh Flute Course, which he directed until his retirement.

He was a music professor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow for more than 40 years.

He is survived by his wife Jo, his son and daughter, and a grandson.

Timothy Parkin (56-67) died 11 August 2010, aged 62.

Peter Gordon Lloyd (28-39) died 22 September 2010, aged 90. Represented the British Council in various countries, ending with Greece 1976-80. Author of The Story of Democracy.

Reverend Eric M T McLellan (28-35), died 2 October 2010, aged 94. After RGS, Eric attended St John’s College, Durham, and upon graduation went into the Anglican ministry. Eric never forgot his roots and was, until his wife died in 2001, a regular visitor back to the north east.

Ronald Ernest Hudson (36-42) died 20 October 2010, aged 82.

Robin S B Macro (50-61) died 8 October 2010, aged 68.

David Lucas (73-80) died 3 December 2010, aged 48.

17

ONA — Old Novocastrians Association Magazine

RGS Arts Diary Spring Term 2011 RGS Chamber Music Thursday 20 January at 7pm A concert featuring school chamber groups, including string quartets, a brass quintet, wind quartet and string ensemble playing a variety of music, from Haydn to Villa-Lobos. Free entry

Newcastle University Gilbert and Sullivan Society presents “The Grand Duke” Thursday 24 to Saturday 26 February at 7.30pm NUGSS’s cast of students return with a high-speed cut-down production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s final comic operetta. Fed up with Friends Cabaret Night in their economically prudent Grand Fenwick and Lilburne Duke, the citizens of a small Friday 28 January at 7pm Germanic dictatorship plan to revolt, A showcase for talent of all kinds. and who better to lead the revolution Tickets £3/£2 than a bunch of actors? Monumental RGS House Singing and Music egos clash in a spree of duelling, gambling and sausage roll eating Monday 31 January at 7pm while it is determined who will play Each house puts forward their best performers in the hope of winning the the lead part. Tickets £8/£5 coveted House Cup. Always a noisy and entertaining evening. Free entry RGS Post Tour Concert Wednesday 3 March at 7pm RGS Charities Week Senior Wind Band and Brass Monday 31 January to Ensembles play a selection of Saturday 5 February traditional wind and brass music as well as some well known film A host of exciting events to raise music. Free entry money for local charities. Details to be announced.

RGS Spring Recital in Recital Room RGS House Drama Wednesday 7 March at 7pm Thursday 10 February at 7pm In the same vein as our wildly An informal music concert where entertaining Year 7 & 8 House Drama Junior and Senior School musicians event, students from Year 9 and perform their latest pieces. Free entry above take to the stage to show off their devising and improvisational Steinway Concert skills in the hope of winning the Wednesday 16 March at 7pm House Drama trophy. Free entry Steinway & Sons, renowned for over 150 years for producing the world’s Inter University Dance finest pianos. In association with Competition Tyneside Piano Company, we are Saturday 12 February 12–5pm proud to welcome Steinway to the UK Universities show off their dance RGS for a pianistic extravaganza featuring a talk offering a fascinating skills and compete for prizes in all insight into the production of these types of dance styles! Tickets £5 world famous pianos. The event Newcastle Jewish Players in Alan concludes with a concert on a Steinway Concert Grand featuring Bennett’s “The Lady in a Van” our fine young pianists and our own Wednesday 16, Thursday 17 and piano tutor Nicholas Nowicki will Saturday 19 February at 7.30pm Bennett’s bittersweet diary of a batty give a recital. Entry by donation old woman who unceremoniously parked herself in his back garden and long outstayed her welcome.

A class act in slick humour and heartbreaking philosophy. Not to be missed.

Tickets Wednesday and Thursday £8; Saturday £9, Concessions £6.00

RGS Dance Showcase – New Horizons Friday 18 March at 7pm An energetic evening of vibrant dance including Bollywood inspired movement; style studies of both Michael Jackson and Bob Fosse; and site specific work involving multi media. Along with these new dance pieces, we will be incorporating some old classics such as Street Dance and Stage. Free entry New Tyneside Orchestra Saturday 19 March at 7.30pm The New Tyneside Orchestra’s Spring Concert features Tchaikovsky’s popular 5th Symphony. In addition, there is a chance to hear Britten’s Four Sea Interludes and Jacob’s Little Symphony. The strings of the Orchestra complete the programme with a performance of Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro for Strings.

Tickets £9/£7 conc. /£4 student

RGS Stars and Stripes Forever Concert Tuesday 12 April at 7pm The RGS Orchestra will play an American themed concert featuring classics such as Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 From the New World. Free entry RGS Junior School Concert Wednesday 13 April at 7pm A hugely enjoyable celebration of Junior School musical talent, including items from the JS Orchestra, Choir, various small ensembles and soloists. Tickets organised by the Junior School

Chernobyl Continuity presents Youth4Youth11 – 25th Anniversary Concert Friday 15 April at 7.30pm Young people from the North East of England perform in a variety concert to raise money to bring teenagers from Belarus to the North East on RGS Mini Gala Concert month long respite holidays. Hosted Monday 22 at 7pm The Mini-Gala will feature the best of by Denise Robertson MBE – the Agony Aunt on ITV’s Good Morning the RGS Senior School’s younger and attended by His Excellency, the ensembles. Orchestral music from the Sinfonia, Jazz from the Blue Note Ambassador of Belarus and many local dignitaries. Tickets £6 Jazz Band, Choral singing by Cappellina and the big sound of the Concert Wind Band, as well as smaller chamber ensembles from For tickets, please contact Years 7-9. It should be a grand event Jill Graham and well worth attending! Free entry T: 0191 212 8930 J.Graham@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk RGS Festival Monday 4 to Friday 8 April A feast of entertainment across the whole site. Look out for the Festival magazine which will give full information about this exciting new event.

Northumberland Orchestral Society in Concert Saturday 9 April at 7.30pm Exciting programme to include Bruch’s Symphony Number 1, Brahms’ Hungarian Dances and Elgar’s Nursery Suite. Tickets £8/£4

ONA Merchandise Cufflinks £10 Enamelled cufflinks (presentation box included)

Polo Shirt £18 Wall Plaque £25 Canterbury polo shirt with embroidered crest.

100% cotton. Available in black or royal blue, in sizes M and XL.

Tie £10 Polyester tie, striped with crest.

Hooded Sweatshirt £35 Canterbury hooded sweatshirt with embroidered crest. 60% cotton 40% polyester.

Available in black or grey, in sizes M and XL.

The new ONA merchandise is now for sale To order any of the items, please send a cheque (payable to ONA) to: ONA Office Royal Grammar School Eskdale Terrace Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4DX

Remember to include your name, address, phone number and/or email, so we can contact you if delivery is likely to be delayed, and to indicate which item you are ordering.

The ONA accepts no responsibility for nondelivery via standard post. If you would like your order to be sent by special delivery, please contact the ONA office for a price list.

All goods are sold subject to availability.