M H Burden (1956) Michael was born on 25 March 1936. He grew up in Stockport and attended St George’s Church, where he sang in the choir. He was greatly inspired by the vicar, Wilfred Garlick, known as ‘The radio Parson’, who was instrumental in Michael seeking ordination into the Church of england. He came up to Selwyn in 1956 to read natural Sciences, later changing to Theology. His main interest at Selwyn was coxing the College boat. He then attended ridley Hall for his training as a priest, with a year out spent working on the docks in Bootle, Liverpool. Here he met and was greatly influenced by the reverend John Gaunt Hunter. Michael was ordained as deacon in 1962, made priest in 1963, having by this time met and married his wife ann, who gave birth to their first child, Charlotte. He served at St Mary Magdalene, Sale, Cheshire, before taking up the post of chaplain of St olave’s School, York, from 1965 to 1970. By this time, his second child, Jonathan, had been born. His next move was to Beverley, east Yorkshire, where he had family connections through his grandfather, who had been headmaster of Beverley Grammar School and mayor of the town. Michael became a master at the school where his father and uncle had been educated and was in charge of careers guidance and religious education from 1970 to 1974. He then became rector of Walkington until 1977. From then until 1982 he taught at Sir Leo Schultz High School in Hull. Following up his ideas on spiritual education, Michael gained his Med at Hull University. He then moved to Berwick-upon-Tweed, where he worked as priest-in-charge of Holy Trinity Church from 1982 to 1994; from there he went to Skirwith, Cumbria, as priest-in-charge of four country churches. His work there was in conjunction with his post as general secretary of the Guild of St raphael, which involved travelling throughout england, new Zealand and australia. Michael retired in 1999 to his cottage on Holy Island, from where he continued to work for the Guild for another year; still helping at the church, still with a vibrant personality and gaining happiness from island living. after he was diagnosed with alzheimer’s, Michael and ann decided to move to the College of St Barnabas in Surrey in 2009. Here, as much as he was able, Michael contributed to the religious life at the college whilst enjoying a level of care that made life easier for him and his wife. He died peacefully at a nearby care home in May 2018. Michael left a mark on many people’s lives with his Christian faith, huge personality and wicked sense of humour. His favourite quotation from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice mimics his mischievous character: ‘Let me play the fool. With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come. and let my liver rather heat with wine’.
D A L Whitbread (1956) It was thanks to the late Colin emmins (Se 1956) that I came to know his fellow Latymerian David Whitbread in 1956. Despite the difficulties we had in getting him up in the morning, his puckish, slightly devil-may-care attitude to the enjoyment of life made David’s friendship well worth having. He was born in Guildford in 1936 to
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Ann Burden (Michael’s daughter).
Leonard John and eunice Whitbread, and his sister Gillian was born in 1938. The family was based in egypt, where Leonard was a teacher and inspector of schools. David began his education in Cairo in 1941, by which time his father was an raF officer, but the approach of the axis armies saw David and Gillian evacuated with their mother to oudshoorn in South africa. There he attended school until it became comparatively safe in 1944 to return to the United Kingdom. Family periods with various relatives saw David attend three different primary schools before moving to Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith. There he acted in plays, ran the Debating Society and learned to fly a glider, as well as enjoying school trips abroad. He made the most of his raF national service (1954-6) by joining the russian course in Cornwall, training as an interpreter and becoming an raF intelligence officer. at school he had chosen to specialise in foreign languages, gaining a Levels in French, German and russian, and was offered a place at Selwyn to read russian and German. Here he quickly learnt to enjoy Cambridge immensely, especially punting, acting and becoming chairman of the Cambridge University United nations association, which in those days provided about a third of the total membership of the British Un students’ association. He bought an ancient austin 7 with £15 of his Belgian holiday earnings; any friends who rashly accepted a lift had to take care to put their feet on what remained of the floor and not on the tarmac visible below. Leaving Cambridge meant finding work, and after a few brief experiences he took advantage of his knowledge of russian (or was taken advantage of by the powers that be) and spent six years working for MI5, unable even to tell his friends the identity of his employers, let alone anything about his work. a fortunate encounter led to his immensely happy marriage to Margaret Luffingham in 1965. He was able to move from MI5 to a career in educational administration, first with the Institute of army education, then with norfolk County Council and on to Hertfordshire County Council. By then he and Margaret were the parents of three daughters, emily, Harriet and rosemary. Hertford remained his home for the rest of his life, but in 1983 he began commuting to London to work for the association of County Councils and then the Local Government association, where he was head of education until retiring in 1998. During his retirement, he kept a link with education as vice chairman and honorary treasurer of the national Foundation of educational research until December 2012 and as its vice president until his death. His happiness was augmented by the growth of his family with the appearance at intervals of seven grandchildren. David would cheerfully admit that he was not the best at keeping up with older friends. When at last I saw him at a Selwyn reunion with Colin emmins in late 2016, he agreed enthusiastically that we should stay in touch, only to meet a month later at Colin’s funeral. David’s sudden death in early 2018 brought scores of former colleagues and neighbours to his funeral, where they shared with his bereaved family many warm memories of a man much loved for his enthusiastic good temper and wit. His widow Margaret, their daughters and his grandchildren survive him. Gerald Morgan (SE 1956).
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