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OPUS • Issue 6 • Spring 2012
Portsmouth Grammar School • www.pgs.org.uk
In Brief
Portsmouth Festivities
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OP Nick’s Survival Instinct and Natural Ability as a Wildlife Filmmaker Nick Cockcroft OP (1988-2001) may have had a long and circuitous journey to establish himself in wildlife filmmaking, but his determination and patience has recently reaped the most spectacular of rewards. Nick, who gained a distinction in his Masters degree in Biodiversity and Conservation from Exeter University, took on a number of roles from being an intern for a large corporate social responsibility organisation in Singapore to a conservation volunteer for Portsmouth City Council before landing a contract as Creative Development Researcher for Tigress Productions, which has a worldwide reputation for the quality of its wildlife documentaries. He impressed bosses at Tigress with his involvement on the programme Red Sea Jaws, which charted the Great White Shark attacks on holiday makers in the Eqyptian resort of Sharm el-Shiekh and which, in turn, led to him working this summer
OP Club Annual Dinner The 113th OP Club Annual Dinner took place last December and among the distinguished guests were a great number of current Sixth Formers and recent leavers, greater in number than ever before. OP Club President John Bartle (1947-1957) gave a most entertaining speech before urging all those present, who had not already done so since leaving, to come back as often as possible to support school events. “I know that you will be made welcome and that you will come away with your spirits lifted by the energy, vitality, spirit of optimism and joie de vivre that permeates the whole place”, he told a packed Dining Hall. John was given a unanimous mandate at the recent OP Club AGM to serve another term as President. His Annual Dinner speech and AGM Presidential Address can be found on the OP Club section of the school website www.pgs.org.uk (under PGS Association tab).
Portsmouth Festivities is an annual event which celebrates young people and the Arts, at the same time celebrating the culture and heritage of Portsmouth as a city of international significance. Supported by Portsmouth Grammar School, the Festivities now attracts over 30,000 people to 70 different events over ten days.
In 2012 Portsmouth Festivities will take festival-goers on a journey with the world’s greatest storyteller, as we celebrate Charles Dickens’ birth 200 years ago in Portsmouth. Great Expectations will take place from Friday 22 June to Sunday 1 July, with a wealth of literature, music, film, theatre and exhibitions exploring the power of storytelling and the significance of Dickens’ quest for social change. This is where the OP community comes in! The Festivities relies enormously on the generous sponsorship of the companies, organisations and individuals who support us.
This year the Festivites are offering a number of ways in which businesses and organisations can support Portsmouth Festivities and at the same time gain considerable benefits and brand awareness. Also, Portsmouth Festivities will have a much increased online presence as we move to an online ticketing system for 2012. With 30,000 people attending Festivities events and a unique opportunity to promote your brand locally and across the South East, it is a great opportunity. For further information about Portsmouth Festivities, or to receive a free programme of events, please email festivities@pgs.org.uk or telephone 023 9236 4248.
Seventh Annual Portsmouth Luncheon Club 2012
with the television naturalist Nick Baker in Namibia on the natural history programme Beautiful Freaks for the Discovery Channel. He has recently completed production on Hippo: Nature’s Wild Feast for Channel Four. The programme, anchored live from Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, shows the events
of a fortnight as an entire ecological system including predators, scavengers, birds and insects consume the enormous carcass of an adult hippo. Nick helped deploy a battery of remotely-operated cameras and painstakingly waited to see what species would come to feed on it.
Once again, there was an impressive turn out of Old Portmuthians and former staff back in January at the Royal Beach Hotel in Southsea for the annual gathering of the OP Lunch Club. After a hearty lunch, the assembled throng was treated to thoughtprovoking address by PGS Surmaster and OP Steve Harris (1968-1978) on the subject of ‘Risk’. Then it was time for old house rivalries to re-surface as tables were pitted against each other for archivist John Sadden’s highly entertaining school quiz.
Attendees: Tony Adams (1954-1965) Dave Allen (1958-1967) David Allison (1946-1953) Ken Bailey (1939-1944) John Bartle (1947-1957) Sally Bartle Paul Brown (1953-1964) Bob Cooper (1947-1956) Phil Charters (1946-1951) Deane Clark (1944-1953) Laurie Goldstone (1956-1964) Roger Hyson (1952-1958)
David Jones (1957-1966) Howard Jones (1953-1962) John Kidd (1948-1957) Martin Lippiett (1954-1964) John Main (1938-1948) Angela Main Dave Morey (1945-1948) Dave Nuttall (1954-1964) John Parr (1952-1959) Mike Peters (1945-1955) Martin Pickford (1960-1970) Tim Runnacles (1954-1965) Michael Shepherd (1948-1957)
Dave Stenson 1947-1952 Geoff Stokes 1958-1961 Bruce Strugnell 1958-1967 Pete Sykes (1960-1970) Tim Thomas (1960-1968) Peter Wason (1954-1961) John Willshire (1951-1961) Roger Wilkins (1951-1961 & Former Staff ) Peter Barclay (Former Staff ) Gareth Perry (Former Staff ) Tony Savage (Former Staff ) Doreen Waterworth (Former Staff )
In Loving Memory Joan Kinch and her daughter Caro Steward are no strangers to the PGS quad. For many years now they have made the pilgrimage from their respective homes in Langstone and Calne in Wiltshire to tend the tree and memorial plaque which commemorates a much-missed husband and father Gordon Kinch OP (1928-1935). However, in recent years the plaque has become more and more obscured as the herbaceous border it sits in matures. Cue Deputy Bursar Stan Lowe to the rescue! Stan took it upon himself to commission a new plaque and
had it re-sited at the entrance of the newlycreated Neil Blewett Memorial Garden outside Cambridge House. Joan and Caro visited last Autumn to see the plaque in its new home: “We thought that the way the tree has been incorporated into the garden has been done beautifully”, said Caro. Gordon’s late brother, Robert James Kinch OP (1931-1937), who was himself appropriately, an accomplished amateur gardener, was also remembered during the visit by means of a very generous donation to the school’s bursary fund.
Joan Kinch (far right), with her daughter Caro Steward
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