Obituaries

from ONA 100

by RGS Newcastle

RGS Bursaries

Robert EO Waddell (37-45)

Born 21 November 1927, died 22 September 2016, aged 88

public house in Riding Mill. Whilst leaving, he missed his footing going down a step causing him to fall. He was particularly pleased to have instinctively kept his arms into his sides, picking himself up none the worse, “Just like parachuting onto Salisbury Plain! Most people would have put out their arms to break their fall and broken a wrist or finger,” he told us – the fact that his head had just missed a large stone urn at the bottom of the steps was irrelevant! He was de-mobilized in 1947 but, having experienced military life, Light Middleweight Champion in I was lucky enough to meet in the

Robert (centre), aged 11 at Evacuation Day, 1 September 1939

Born in Glasgow on 21 November 1927, Robert’s early years were spent in Paisley before his parents and older brother, Michael moved to Corbridge.

Educated at the RGS, he was an active member of both the rugby and boxing teams achieving Colours in both sports. With the onset of war, the school was evacuated to Penrith. Due to petrol rationing and a general shortage of transport, Robert and Michael used to cycle home to Corbridge on weekends and at the start of the holidays.

After leaving school Robert joined the army, completing his officer training in Deolali in India and on 10 November 1946 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery and was deployed to Palestine with 159 Para Light Regiment (airborne Artillery –Pegasus) where he served in Quetta under command 6th

His parachute training never left him and it came to the fore only last summer when he had lunch with friends at the Duke of Wellington

he then joined the Territorial Army and, on 19 November 1948, was commissioned into 43 Royal Tank Regiment where he also pursued his passion for boxing and became TA 1952. The Regiment converted back to an Infantry Battalion in 1956 as 6th City Battalion Royal Northumberland Fusiliers with their HQ at St George’s Drill Hall (now demolished) next to the City Baths. He was promoted to Colonel in 1964 and became Commanding Officer in 1965. One of his fellow officers described him as, ‘one of the most magnificent men Airborne Brigade.

Territorial Army.’

Robert went to Durham University where he studied Dental Surgery and met Fiona Margaret McCallum (his future wife), who was studying Medicine. He played rugby, squash, and a lot of golf and was always extremely competitive.

He graduated from Durham on 2 July 1954 as a Bachelor of Dental Surgery and married Fiona on 4 October 1958 and moved to Corbridge where he set up as a dental surgeon for almost 35 years. He was actively involved in politics throughout his life and held parties at home with politicians as guest speakers. He stood for Tynedale District Council Elections in 1973 and as perspective parliamentary candidate for the Referendum Party in 1997. He was also an incredibly kind man; as a friend wrote after he’d died, ‘He didn’t have an ounce of arrogance or self-importance about him and he must have made so many people’s lives better’.

He had an enforced sabbatical from dentistry due to ill-health and taught himself picture framing which he did meticulously; he was good at anything he turned his hand to. After retiring, he learnt to make and repair clocks –he attended courses, set up his own clock workshop in the house and was a member of the Royal Horological Society.

Robert remained optimistic and full of life right until the very end and was devoted to his dear Border Terrier, Annie. Happily – and by total coincidence –the three of us all saw him together the night before he died at home, as he would have wanted.

We had a family funeral on 4 October 2016. He was laid to rest next to our mother in Corbridge and by total coincidence it happened to be their 58th wedding anniversary.

By Robert’s children, Adrian, Charles and Vanessa

Correction (Issue 99)

Page 17. We incorrectly stated that Robert died on 23 September 2016.

Warren Barnett (81-82)

Born 17 March 1964, died 2 June 2016, aged 52

I first saw Warren when a teacher, (whose name escapes me), introduced him to me as a, “New boy” and asked me to show him around the school. ‘New boy’ thought I; this feller looks like he’s been shaving since he was 11! Indeed Warren carried an air of maturity and experience; his ability to wait a second before talking sense (unlike me now and then) distinguished him from the pack of teenagers that surrounded us. He was, even then, a man amongst boys.

At the time, scholarly responsibility and I were not natural companions. Having a mental age of nine and a half, possessing a motorbike – which on ceremonial occasions was ridden through the school –and living at a time when Johnny Rotten had far more moral authority than any politician (I’m still correct about that one) did not make me an individual whom teachers would normally consult on matters of strategic educational development. So, the novelty (for me) of responsibility in introducing Warren to the lads gave me every reason possible to cooperate –as I suspect they knew I would all along. I did the honours, being casual and offhand with all, as I knew then that over-enthusiasm would be regarded with great suspicion. Warren, as much to humour me, played along, and within a week he was completely accepted and had his own circle, subtly different to all others but allied to all. The truth was, he would have ended up playing bridge with the Lord Lieutenant, assessing the merits of the head of Classics and criticising his port within a month anyway.

We saw proof of that the day we played rugby in Gateshead. I had fought a futile campaign in order to play football at the RGS, despite being in the First XV. The travelling to isolated mill towns in Yorkshire, like Leeds and Bradford; and British Public School Work Camps like St. Bees and Ampleforth on a Saturday cramped a man’s style somewhat. That, together with A Level homework made weekends dutiful and academic –instead of two nights gigging and boozing on Sunday afternoon with the East Side Torpedoes! Rather than being released to football though, I was sent to the 3rd XV where we had a wonderful time, playing local teams who all wanted a piece of us ‘posh kids’. Warren loved rugby, he liked playing the game but he loved the atmosphere of the club, the trip away, the banter and its happy clash of violence and affability. Mischief too; when ‘Henners’ (a great man) was parking the mini-bus; the opposition teacher naturally assumed that Warren was the designated teacher and representative of the mighty Newcastle RGS 3rd XV; Warren, to our delight played along, showing his natural bohemian artistic anarchism dressed up in a tweed jacket as he discussed the term ahead and the problems with teaching in the 80s. He had steel though. I’ve seldom met tougher men than Warren. He was defined by two of the best words we can describe a man by – passion and standards. When organising a trip to Amsterdam for the Tynedale U17s rugby team, and being confronted with the kind of sullen opposition only an adolescent can summon, Warren defeated all opposition with the immortal and credible threat, “I’ll leave you here; you’ll be refugees”. Don Corleone could not have delivered it with the same gravitas, and it worked, the teenagers behaved. Warren showed this toughness throughout his life, sparring with planners, councils and suppliers all to ensure that the people he served –the real people who lived in the real homes he designed –got the best possible outcome.

He liked his life; he loved a bevy, good food, expansive conversation, cars, art, and a project that came together in the end. If you talked to him though, you’d never see the tension, the stress, the hours of work and the pain of the ankylosing spondylitisthat hurt him and may even have contributed to the accident that killed him. Instead, you’d see a strong man smile, laugh, then discuss the state of the world and how he was going to help it. And he would have.

Warren was always that little bit ahead, he would have made a magnificent politician (Labour) as he was always a leader with the inspirational ability to change the world for good. He and his wife Claire (whom he met at Central Newcastle High School) brought up their boys, Hector (08-15) and Milo (06-13), to be people with hearts and brains; individuals, active citizens, people who questioned things. I remember him laughing over post-work

beers as he described the latest cataclysmic disaster that had unfolded in a subsequently wrecked kitchen, and failed to convince me that he had any commitment to future parental discipline. I remember his irreverence as he described the methodology of successful weaponised vehicular pheasant destruction on country roads (he loved his cars – he used to drive us about in his Triumph Stag at the age of 17 when such wonders seemed normal), or the comparison of the costs of hotel accommodation in town versus the taxi fare to Humshaugh as we pretended we were still capable of such riotous behaviour. I remember his forgiveness when I caused scandal at his local (The Crown, I think) when I drunkenly moved furniture around the bedroom after my wife had offended against Northumbrian lore by using nail varnish at the bar. I remember visiting his magnificent office in Newcastle’s Plummer Tower as he regaled me with tales of watching representatives of the lumpen proletariat pass between the ‘Clap Clinic’ and the ‘Methadone Clinic’ and the types of hen party that could be seen and categorised in the Ware Rooms from his masonic balcony. I remember thinking that I hadn’t seen Malcolm F Cheyne (58-64) born 1945, died 10 February 2017, aged 71. Peter Richard Donkin (60-67) born 1949, died 16 November 2016, aged 67. Brian Hepple (48-56) born 1937, died 14 April 2017, aged 79. 1934, died 22 August 2016, aged 81. him for a while and consoling myself that we’d have a drink soon, and then I remember that day last May, when his sister called me on holiday to tell me he’d been in an accident and wouldn’t, couldn’t, recover…

I remember feeling sorry for his brother-in-law Mark who gave the best possible eulogy at his funeral trying as well as it could be done to sum up this great, sophisticated intellectual, bohemian maverick. Warren defied all categorisation and it takes far greater talent than mine to sum him up in mere words.

I remember holding the rope that lowered him down into his grave and hoping he was alright, then turning round and seeing his devastated wife and sons and his inconsolable father. Many of the lads I introduced him to that first day at RGS were also there, three of them helping me with his coffin. Maybe that shows the worth of this great man, but his legacy is friendship, love and care for his people. Take care mate.

Keith Eckford Hulse (49-51) born By Billy Corcoran (75-82) Matthew Piet Janes (86-91) born 1973, died 19 January 2017, aged 43.

Richard Geoffrey Smith (57-63) born 1946, died 17 February 2015, aged 69.

Wing Commander George ‘Trevor’ Thain (29-34) born 1918, died 30 December 2016, aged 98.

Robert Thomson (32-39) born 1921, died 6 May 2017, aged 96.

Born 2 November 1935, died 11 April 2017, aged 81

‘Bill’, as he was known to his contemporaries, was a pupil at the RGS from 1952-55. He was a Prefect who formed the Brewery & Industrial Plant Visitors’ Association (The Novocastrian, July 1954). He also rowed for the school in the Tyne Cup Challenge 1954. This was described on the programme as a, ‘Maiden fouroared race of about half a mile in clinker-built boats.’ His interest in rowing boats and sailing stayed with him for the rest of his life.

After qualifying at Herriot Watt, Edinburgh in Industrial Chemistry his career in the brewing industry led to him working in various breweries in Hartlepool, Burton-on-Trent, Barbados, Sri Lanka, Germany, Scandinavia, setting up a micro-brewery in the Eden Valley, Nigeria and the London area. He died in Sri Lanka of cancer after a period of ill-health.

He is survived by his second wife Audrey, sister Vivienne, children Sarah and Thomas (of his previous marriage to Geraldine) and grand-daughter Laura. His daughter Alison predeceased him in 1991.

By Sarah Daniel

ONA Diary dates

RGS Day

Saturday 1 July 2017, RGS, Newcastle upon Tyne

As usual, we issue a warm invitation to all ONs and their families to visit us on RGS Day, when we celebrate everything that is good and fine about the RGS and its students. My ‘State of the RGS’ address will take place in the Main Hall at 10.30am, after which refreshments will be available in the marquee. There will be various exhibitions and musical performances, and the Junior School will, as usual, be holding its Summer Fair. If you fancy some larger scale entertainment, at 1.30pm there will be a performance of the ever-popular musical, Oliver!, in The Miller Theatre: it’s directed by Tim Clark, who retires this term and will also take the pivotal role of Fagin. Please contact Jill Graham for tickets (j.graham@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk), as it is likely to be a sell-out. Check the school website for the detailed programme nearer the event. Bernard Trafford,Headmaster 92nd Annual ONA Dinner

Friday 13 October 2017, RGS, Newcastle upon Tyne

RGS Community Choir

The RGS Community Choir is looking for new members following on from their third successful year. The choir meets every Thursday (term time only) from 6.30pm until 8pm in the RGS Performing Arts Centre.

There is no cost involved to participate and members will receive all vocal scores free. Potential singers can join the choir in September.