and the Bacon Sandwiches! From The Archive

I have been lucky enough to work with many great colleagues – the senior leadership team, teachers and support staff –and have tried in particular to raise the profile of the support staff, who play such an important role in the success of the school. I should also mention the governors: having spent 28 years as a school and college governor myself, I recognise good governance when I see it and the RGS has been very fortunate to have strong governors, in particular the four Chairmen who have served in my time here. I would like to think that I have also done my bit to support the ONA, since it is so important to maintain links with former generations of RGS students and staff.

I have to admit that I really enjoy building things – or, rather, getting other people to build them –and I will miss the opportunity for that kind of involvement. There has been quite a lot of building work while I have been at RGS – including Brandling House, the Performing Arts Centre, the artificial turf pitch and, most recently, the new pool and sports facilities. We have also put a lot of effort into improving the older facilities, and I look forward to seeing in a few years’ time the major new building which will replace the old swimming pool. It is very satisfying to look back at these projects and to feel that I made some contribution to their design and construction.

And finally, if I am totally honest, I will miss the bacon sandwiches!

Do you have one particular memorable moment from your time at the RGS?

There are so many happy memories that it is hard to pick out particular highlights. Tigging Jonny Wilkinson in a Charities Week game of touch rugby between the staff and Newcastle Falcons was clearly the rather belated peak of my rugby career. Sadly, it stands in sharp contrast to my more modest success in recent staff vs students netball matches, also in Charities Week.

What are you planning to do when you retire?

No major plans – no yacht, no world cruise and no renovating a derelict farmhouse in France. So far I have been invited to become a governor of two other independent schools, I am continuing as regional secretary for the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association, I have recently become a compliance inspector with the Independent Schools Inspectorate, and have offered to help other schools with major building projects – so I’ll be keeping in touch with the independent sector. I am also a judge for a national awards scheme run by my professional institution, the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM). There seems to be a general assumption that all bursars take up golf when they retire, but not this one: if I get round a nine hole pitch and putt in under 50, I think I am doing well!

FROM THE ARCHIVE Junior School Extension Nears Completion

In less than 12 months the new Junior School accommodation has gone from being a drawing to the finished article. The new classrooms, hall, library, junior science laboratory and teaching kitchen will be used by the music, economics and politics departments for the coming year, whilst the second phase of our building programme, the performing arts centre and modern languages suite, is completed.

The old South Block, home to the music department for the last 30 years, will be demolished during the summer holidays and work on the new performing arts centre will start at the beginning of the autumn term. Once completed the performing arts centre will rival any such development in the country, providing a 300 seat auditorium for music and drama, a recital room, dance/drama studio, a recording studio and a range of practice rooms for instrumentalists. Modern linguists will benefit from a new language laboratory and a suite of classrooms and seminar rooms. Similiarly, outdoor pursuits, a rapidly growing area of school life, will benefit hugely from the additional space provided by the new building.

The new building will be completed by August 2006 in time for the beginning of the autumn term.

Royal Grammar School Newsletter, Summer Term 2005

Above: architect’s sketch and building phase of the Junior School block Below: the completed Junior School as seen today