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Novo Nostalgia
from ONA 100
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To celebrate 100 issues of the ‘new-style newsletter’, we take a brief look back at key articles and features that highlight the contributions and ongoing legacies of Old Novos to the RGS.
Issue 15 1978
Front Cover
year as Headmaster, the Old Novocastrian Association undertook some developmental changes. One of these changes included The Novocastrian taking on a new-style. It was introduced with slight trepidation by the Headmaster, noting that the, ‘school is ready to be regarded as the fount and focus of ON activities and the Headmaster therefore has his part to play’.
RGS Hovercraft-sprayer project
This was a great era for our young scientists. Retired teacher Bill Elliott (52-88), known to countless ONs, outlined the wonderful success of the Hovercraft-Sprayer project which won the BBC Young Scientist of the Year award. Consequently, Paul Brown (73-78) and Alastair Wolf (71-78) were invited to enter the 10th European Philips Contest for Young Scientists and Inventors, competing successfully against competitors from 15 countries
Issue 1 1973
In 1973, during Alister Cox’s(72-94) first and winning one of the five prizes.
Issue 16 1979
Big Penrith Reunion of wartime “family”
The school’s evacuation to Penrith on Friday 1 September, 1939 was commemorated by a 40th Anniversary ‘Penrith Event’. This article details the notes behind the idea from the Headmaster Alister Cox (72-94). All 870 boys and staff were evacuated to Penrith until July 1944. The reunion centred on the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, the school shared with the boys’ counterparts; Wordsworth Hall, where lessons were also held and St. Andrew’s Church.
Issue 26 1984
The Novo Shield
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to revisit the school, you may remember seeing The Novo Shield hanging up in the Main Hall. However, in 1984, the large shield (three feet high and two foot, six inches wide) was reported to have recently been found in the cellars and a mystery to many, including the general secretary of the ONA and retired Maths master John C Douglas (56-94). In 1909 the editors of The Novocastrian reported the introduction of a new scheme in which the name of the boy who was deemed to be the, ‘most worthy’ and ‘best all all-round athlete of the year’ would have his name engraved on The Novo Shield. The lower scrolls of the shield are engraved, ‘Honour Roll of the First in Games’.
Issue 27 1984
Obituary –Sir John McNee
Interesting that the introductory paragraph to this article begins with, ‘Many ONs will remember the annual presentation of the ‘McNee English Prize for a Student of Science’ at the Prize-Giving Ceremony without having any knowledge of McNee himself.’ Sir John Willam McNee (1897-1904), born 1987 was noted in this article to join the school in 1894 and died on 26 January 1984, aged 96. Little is known of his time at the RGS, but a prominent physician and pathologist he became President of the British Medical Authority, physician to King George VI from 1937-52 and also to the Queen of Scotland from 1952-54. He was knighted in 1951. Dr Stanley Ashman (41-52), former President of the ONA, remembers Sir John accepting an invitation to speak at the London ONA Dinner in the mid-50s. To this day, the Sir John McNee Prize is still presented to students who achieve all A* results at GCSE.
Issue 71 2007
Novo Day
The year 2007 was a celebration of 100 years (innaugaration) of the RGS at Eskdale Terrace. On Saturday 3 March 2007, over 230 Old Novos, their family and friends gathered in the Main Hall, catching up with old school friends over coffee, browsing the archive displays, taking tours by the Prefects, culminating after in a buffet lunch with a rendition of The School Song, accompanied by Mike Barlow (53-64) on the school organ (yet to be renovated to its present magnificent state, with the help of the ONA).
Issue 84 2012
A History of the RGS in Ten People
In 2011, long-term serving ONA committee member and former ONA President (00-02) David Goldwater (51-62) started off a popular and long-running series, A History of the RGS, inspired by the BBC series, A History of the World in 100 Objects. In Issue 84 (Spring 2011) his search continued, with a change in emphasis from objects to people who have shaped or influenced the history of the school. A ‘difficult task’ it was noted at the time. David continues his series on a regular basis.
Issue 86 2012
RGS Bursaries Celebrates Ten Years
The school is immensely proud of its Bursary Campaign. The campaign was launched in 2002 following the demise of the government’s Assisted Places scheme. In 2012, David Goldwater (51-62) as one of the original members of the Appeal Steering Committee took the opportunity to celebrate all that is good about having a bursary scheme at the RGS and highlighted key people who took the campaign through its first 10 years, including Chairs, Ashley Winter (64-74), Crispian Strachan, and Andrew Major (86-90), former Headmaster James Miller (94-08) and current Headmaster Bernard Trafford as well as former Chair of Governors, Louis Taylor (75-85). Morgan Pretswell (05-07), solicitor and former bursary holder said in the article; ‘Obtaining a bursary from the RGS Bursary Campaign made it possible for me to access everything that the school has to offer. Upon attending the school, I felt academically stretched, challenged yet supported in achieving my full academic potential’.
Issue 99 2017
A Life Without Limbs
Finally, we celebrate the wonderful story of Zaamin Hussain’s (01-11) and Matt Walton’s(04-11) medical elective in 2016 and the superb and amazing work that they have been doing in Bangladesh to help people walk again with the aid of very low-cost prosthetics. The ONA was proud to part-fund some of the expenses towards this project and has been eager to follow Zaamin and Matt’s activities; not only their return to school to relay their experience to current students, but also their feature and coverage by the BBC programme, Inside Out.
