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President’s Welcome
from ONA 81
Welcometothelatest edition of ourmagazine
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.
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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
Newsand Events
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 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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!
