WFA News Michaelmas 2025

WHITGIFT FOR ALL news

MICHAELMAS 2025

HEADMASTER’S WELCOME

Dear OWs,

It is an enormous pleasure to write to you as Whitgift’s 30th Headmaster. I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to all members of the Whitgift community who have welcomed me so very warmly over the past year and a half. It’s hard to believe that it was back in March 2024 when I attended my final interview for this remarkable role and, since then, I’ve had the great privilege of reacquainting myself with Whitgift in a number of ways.

Over the past eighteen months, I have visited the School on several occasions and had the opportunity to meet boys, colleagues, parents, Governors, and alumni at a range of formal and informal events. I have also greatly benefited from the wise counsel and unwavering support of Mr Andrew Halls, whose contribution in his year as Headmaster has been immense. I know the whole community joins me in thanking Andrew for his superb leadership and in wishing him well for the future. I am personally very grateful to him for facilitating such a thoughtful, generous and thorough handover.

I say I am reacquainting myself with Whitgift because my first visit was as a young boy, playing cricket for my school’s U12A team. I would love to say we left victorious—but sadly not. Deposited at the bottom of Haling Park Road, we were both daunted by the hill and overwhelmed by the view; I suspect we

lost the match before stepping onto the square. I’m hopeful that from now on, I’ll find myself on the winning side more often!

It is an enormous pleasure to write to you as Whitgift’s 30th Headmaster. ”

My family and I are thrilled to be back in South London. I was born in Beckenham and, aside from periods spent overseas, I’ve lived most of my life in this wonderful part of the world. With family and close friends nearby, alongside all that the capital has to offer, it has been a real joy to begin rediscovering London after thirteen years away. Talking of family, I must also mention I have another connection with Whitgift as my uncle, Graham Leeke, is a proud OW having attended the School from1948-56!

Along with my experience in London schools for the first part of my career, those thirteen years were professionally formative and have shaped the educational philosophy I now bring to Whitgift. My beliefs balance high academic ambition with the broadest possible opportunities beyond the classroom. Whether music, drama, sport, trips, or other co-curricular pursuits, it is often these experiences that pupils remember most vividly, and which shape them most profoundly. I am certain that academic commitment combined with meaningful co-curricular engagement is of mutual benefit to both areas.

I also believe that character and curriculum matter equally. Integrity, empathy, and self-awareness are as essential as academic credentials, especially for young men navigating an increasingly complex world. These qualities are nurtured in countless ways - in a corridor conversation, on a school trip, in a classroom debate, a piece of independent study, or through the simple act of welcoming a visitor. Every moment counts in shaping not just pupils’ intellect, but their sense of self and their place in the world.

WHITGIFT FOR ALL NEWS

It’s already clear to me that these values are deeply embedded in the culture of Whitgift. From the School’s impressive academic outcomes such as this summer’s GCSE, IB and A-level results to the recognition of Whitgift’s co-curricular programme as a “significant strength” in the recent ISI report, Whitgift feels like a community committed to excellence, integrity and care.

The strength of Whitgift’s local and global community was very much on show and active throughout the summer holidays through both the Summer School and Community Summer School programmes. These two projects are of great importance to the School, the John Whitgift Foundation and of course our local community in Croydon. My thanks go to staff and pupils involved in these hugely beneficial schemes and also to those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes this summer to prepare the School for the year ahead including improvements to the estate, a major refurbishment of the Music Block, the installation of a new semi-artificial pitch at Edridge.

Over the summer, many of our pupils and staff took part in an array of enriching trips and events. From Canada for the Senior Rugby Tour to water sports in Greece, two language and cultural exchanges in Germany, Gold Duke of Edinburgh in Corsica, cricket at Oakham, shooting in Ashburton and even preparations for the new hockey season in Nottingham - the spirit of adventure and engagement has been alive and well.

I hope you enjoy this issue of WFA News which demonstrates what an inspiring and dynamic school community Whitgift is, and I very much hope to meet many of you over the coming school year.

With warmest wishes,

Toby Seth Headmaster

I write this at the end of a glorious few weeks during that precious time when summer memories (family holidays, England cricket, the Lions) are fresh and excitement is building towards the new year ahead. Those of us who have had a career in education and are used to its cycles find this period before the start of a new academic year inspiring and exciting, and I am hopeful I will feel equally excited, if not fully refreshed, when you are reading this later in Michaelmas term.

This edition of Whitgift For All News is combined with the annual Old Whitgiftian News, which Nigel Platts (OW 1955-64) has researched, written, and edited for many years. I hope you enjoy reading more about the lives and accomplishments of Whitgiftians in this special issue.

of their achievements, appearances in honours lists, personal milestones, or obituaries. If you’ve had the pleasure of knowing Nigel, you’ll know that his knowledge of Whitgift’s history is unparalleled. He is a passionate and proud supporter of the School, and his contributions (which he will continue to provide) have been invaluable.

It has already been a pleasure working with our new Headmaster, whom we are fortunate to have guiding Whitgift for the coming years. Toby brings great experience and compassion to the role and understands Whitgift very well indeed. I do hope you take the opportunity to meet him at an upcoming event.

Talking of events, I had a fantastic time meeting so many of you during the Trinity Term at one of our OW events: The Corps of Drums 120th Anniversary, Annual Reunion Lunch, WFA Evening of Cricket at the Oval, Subba Row Memorial cricket match, Celebration of Whitgift Life and individual visits. A big thank you to Emma Helbert who both masterminds these events, brings this publication to life and who put a huge amount of effort into our recent Giving Day campaign for Whitgift For All.

Meeting Old Whitgiftians is one of the best parts of my role at Whitgift, so thank you for your continued engagement and good humour. As an Old Whitgiftian, we hope you continue to feel connected to Whitgift and each other for many years and I am delighted to support the School in maintaining this link. If you would ever like to visit the School or discuss how we can support you and your peers, please do contact us to arrange using alumni@ whitgift.co.uk.

a transformational bursary, please get in touch. Unlike some other charitable organisations, 100% of any donation (plus Gift Aid where applicable) will be used towards paying school fees for someone who wouldn’t otherwise be able to come to Whitgift.

I am delighted to update you on the progress of one of our current Bursary Award holders supported by Whitgift For All. While I can’t mention specifics, you should know that the young man you have supported through his first year at Whitgift has embraced the opportunities on offer. As well as working hard in the classroom, he has made great friends and thrived in both sport and music. Please do follow us on social media to hear more stories of the impact a Whitgift education continues to have.

Lastly you should know that the Community Summer School (now in its 6th year) was a great success this summer. 160 local young people, nominated by their primary school headteachers, came to enjoy a week of lessons, activities, food and friendship at Whitgift during the summer holidays, and thoroughly enjoyed their experience. Thank you to the Whitgift School Parents’ Association (WSPA) and an individual donor to Whitgift for All for making this such a rich experience for the pupils.

As an Old Whitgiftian, we hope you continue to feel connected to Whitgift and each other for many years. ”

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Nigel for his tireless dedication over the years in sharing news about Old Whitgiftians - whether through stories

Thank you to those who gave so generously to our Giving Day campaign in June for Whitgift For All. Thanks to your efforts, we raised £171,000. This is a tremendous achievement, representing the cost of providing a full Whitgift education for a deserving boy from a local family. Your contributions are very much appreciated, and necessary at a time when bursary funds don’t go as far as they used to. In case you were wondering, Dodd’s House won the Giving Day Challenge with the greatest number of donors, closely pushed by Cross’s and Tate’s! If you are in a position to and would like to donate to support

I hope to meet many of you this term. If you are available, please do come to the Winter Fair on Sunday 30th November. This is organised by WSPA and is a fantastic community occasion at which you have a great opportunity to stock up on Christmas (I can’t believe we are already mentioning it!) presents at one of the fantastic stalls. There will be food and entertainment on offer and it’s a great opportunity to come back to Whitgift.

Andy Marlow Assistant Head – Partnerships and Development

ow EVENTS

WHITGIFT REUNION LUNCH 2025: A CELEBRATION ACROSS THE DECADES

On Sunday 19 May 2025 we welcomed back Old Whitgiftians from the classes of 1955, 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005, and 2015 for a joyful and memorable Reunion Lunch. Spanning seventy years of Whitgift history, the event brought together alumni from across the generations to reconnect and reminisce..

The day began with a drinks reception in the Andrew Quad, where guests were greeted with a glass of fizz in the spring sunshine, followed by a lively lunch in the Staff Dining Room. Tables were arranged by decade, allowing guests to catch up with contemporaries and share memories of teachers, sports fixtures, school plays, and fun times at Haling Park. The class of 2015 brought youthful energy and fresh memories, while the class of 1955 offered reflections from a time when Whitgift - and the world - looked very different.

The room was addressed by Headmaster Andrew Halls who spoke warmly

about the strength of the Whitgiftian community and the importance of maintaining lifelong connections with the School.

The afternoon concluded with guided tours led by staff which gave guests a chance to recollect as well as get a glimpse of the modern Whitgift.

As guests departed, there was a shared sense of gratitude - for the friendships rekindled, the memories relived, and the school that continues to bring OWs together.

Our Reunion Lunches are an annual event, so if you left school in a year ending 6, look out for details of our 2026 event.

AN EVENING OF CRICKET AT THE KIA OVAL: A CELEBRATION OF SPORT AND SUPPORT

Friday 20 June 2025 was a night to remember as alumni, parents, staff, and friends gathered at the Kia Oval for an evening of cricket and connection at the

Vitality Blast match between Surrey and Middlesex.

Guests were welcomed to the John Major Room and Terrace, where they enjoyed panoramic views of the pitch, a welcome drink, and great company. The event was held in support of the Whitgift For All Bursary Appeal, and thanks to the generosity of those attending over £3000 was raised during the night.

As the match unfolded under the summer sky, the crowd was treated to a highoctane display of T20 cricket. Surrey secured a comfortable win over their London rivals and three Old Whitgiftians in the Surrey squad (Laurie Evans, Dom Sibley and Jason Roy) made the evening all the more special for those watching from the terrace.

Their presence on the field served as a reminder of the talent nurtured at Whitgift and the pathways the school continues to create for young people. The success of these players (and several other OWs now playing professional cricket) is a testament to the school’s

sporting legacy and its commitment to excellence both on and off the field.

Whilst Surrey sealed a convincing victory, winning by 79 runs, the evening was not just about cricket - it was about giving back, celebrating shared roots, and looking ahead to a future where more young people can benefit from a Whitgift education.

DOMINI MATCH V ALUMNI XI REPORT

At 8pm on 4 June, the Domini peaked. Jason Bell smoked a four and we needed just 28 off 32 balls. This seemed impossible hours before, during an underwhelming net session beneath ominous skies. Equally ominous was the news that the Alumni XI were “young and strong!”. However, our spin-heavy attack proved ideal on Northfield. Muttitt, Reid and Hartman all claimed wickets, with debutant Harris unlucky to miss out. Chauhan also got a scalp and Godsal did what he always does – arrived late, bowled fast and fielded like you’re meant to. Despite all that, Watkins was the standout, with 3 catches and 2 wickets.

After we were rocked by the early loss of McGroarty, Jordan got us going with a quickfire 17. Lawton was unlucky to play on for a duck, but an enormous six by Rex (yes, me) turned the tide and a 50 partnership with Watkins put us on track. I was bowled for 37, only for Godsal to come to the crease and smash a rapid 18. Bell joined Watkins next, and the rest is history… but for all the wrong reasons.

Our innings imploded amid dot balls, ducks and deviations from the batting order (ask Muttitt for details). A couple of boundaries gave us hope, until Watkins was last out for 41. Somehow, we had lost.

Huge thank you to Andy Marlow for making the game happen, as well as to Kendo for setting everything up on the day and Wardy for sorting out tea / umpires etc.

Mr Oliver Rex Domini XI Captain

On Saturday 21 June Whitgift 1st XI played Cranleigh School in memory of OW cricketing legend Raman Subba Row. Raman’s wife Anne and son Alistair attended the event along with his children and some of Raman and Anne’s dear friends.

Anne and Alistair generously donated a painting of Raman together with his 1947 colours blazer both of which will be proudly displayed in the Subba Row Room in the Sports Centre.

Sadly, the match didn’t go Whitgift’s way, but a great day was enjoyed by all with Phil Everest chairman of the Surrey Schools Cricket Association ringing the bell and Phil Fladgate conducting the toss.

SUBBA ROW MEMORIAL CRICKET MATCH

Class of ‘95 at OW Reunion Lunch

Guests at the Evening of Cricket

Domini Match v Alumni XI

Domini Match v Alumni XI

Anne Subba Row and the Whitgift and Cranleigh Cricket Captains

Guests at the Evening of Cricket

Guests at the Evening of Cricket

OW CORPS OF DRUMS 120TH ANNIVERSARY

The 120th Anniversary celebration of the Corps of Drums held on Saturday 7 June 2025 was a wonderful occasion. We had 76 guests ranging in age from 18 to 93 with former members of the Corps from the 1940s to the present day. In addition, the current members of the School’s Corps joined the concert to make it a truly memorable event.

Guests arrived to a splendid drinks reception in the Concert Hall and had the opportunity to meet fellow drummers, their friends and families. There was a chance to look at the Corps’ heritage collection including photos from the past and historic items such as the old Drum Major’s mace and the classic ropetension drums.

Much to the delight of the audience, a quartet of young side-drummers opened the concert with an energic set of Drum Solos and display of flourishing. A combined concert band led by Senior

Drum Major Richard Bateman (1973-74) was formed of OW Drums members, current School drummers and special guests. Some of those who joined us on stage had not touched an instrument in decades. We ran through a repertoire of traditional military marches which would have been familiar to the audience and evoked some fantastic memories of parades gone by.

This was perhaps the largest combined Corps (School + OWs) we have ever assembled with 18 flutes, 10 sidedrummers, 4 tenor-drummers, a cymbalist and a bass drummer.

After the concert, guests made their way to the Staff Dining Room where they enjoyed a delicious lunch and had the opportunity to catch up with peers from their respective eras. Although some drummers did not initially recognise each other, they soon became reacquainted with the help of some old stories and treasured photographs.

This was perhaps the largest combined Corps (School + OWs) we have ever assembled with 18 flutes, 10 sidedrummers, 4 tenordrummers, a cymbalist and a bass drummer. ”

The CCF’s Contingent Commander Lt Col. Hogben (Drum Major 1995-97) made the Loyal Toast followed by the Floreat Domus delivered by Nick Somers (OWA President). This was responded to by the Headmaster Andrew Halls who spoke of the unique and remarkable character of the Corps of Drums and assured guests that the Corps, together with the CCF, will continue into the foreseeable future.

A presentation was made to Chris Carter-Pegg (Drum Major 1990-92) for his long and dedicated service to the School Corps and to the OW Drums. His commitment to administration, passion for the music and contribution to all aspects, including instruments, equipment, uniforms and the Drums Room itself, were duly recognised. Corps of Drums ties were also presented to the Headmaster (who immediately put his on) and to the OWA President.

The formal proceedings closed with a spirited rendition of the school song, Carmen, with side-drum and bass drum accompaniment. To finish, a group photo featuring all the guests and a remarkable photo featuring 22 drum majors. We have shared the whole batch of brilliant photos captured on the day on the OW Drums Facebook page for those who’d like to see more. The day concluded with guided tours of the School and Drums Room.

Many thanks to the School’s Alumni and Development Team for their considerable assistance with the event and for welcoming us back to School. Due to the success of event on 7 June, there have already been calls for a 125th anniversary celebration!

The OW Drums Event Committee

Interested to get involved again?

For those Drummers who wish to again, the best way is to attend the combined music practice which takes place at Warlingham Scout Hall, CR6 9SA on the first Sunday of each month. No need to let us know in advance, no need to attend every month and no payment required. Musicians from Whitgift, Cinque Ports and Warlingham play together and enjoy coffee and cake.

If you would like more info, please contact: owdrums@yahoo.com

Professor Andy Schofield (OW 197785), who has been Vice Chancellor of Lancaster University since May 2020, has been appointed Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Glasgow with effect from 1 October 2025.

On his appointment, Andy said: “It is a great honour to have been appointed as the next Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow. Glasgow is an impressive, world-changing institution which has made huge strides under Sir Anton Muscatelli’s leadership. I very much look forward to building on his legacy and working with a brilliant set of colleagues to take the University forward.”

Andy Schofield combines his duties as Vice Chancellor with the role of Senior Independent Member on the Science and Technology Facilities Council. He chairs the USS Employers Pensions Forum and is a board member of the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association. He is also an honorary fellow of the Manufacturing Technology Centre and champions the UK International Campus Alliance Network.

Andy will be the University of Glasgow’s 51st Principal and Vice Chancellor in an unbroken line dating back to its foundation in the mid-15th century.

The distinguished career of Tony Walker, CBE, DL (OW 1966-73) has been overlooked in previous news of OWs.

After leaving Whitgift and with a degree in psychology from Newcastle University, Tony spent 42 years in the automotive industry, initially with Ford at Dagenham and Halewood but latterly with Toyota (he was the fourth British person appointed) at Burnaston near Derby. As head of Human Resources Tony played a fundamental role in the establishment and development of the company.

From 2001, he lived and worked in Brussels for Toyota’s European operation, returning in 2010 to become deputy managing director at Burnaston for a further eight years. He finished his career as managing director of Toyota Motor Europe’s London office until his retirement in 2019, where his responsibilities brought him in regular engagement with cabinet ministers and civil servants over key issues such as Brexit and climate change.

Tony’s career was recognised with the award of a CBE in 2008. He looks back on his career and observes that “The thing that I am proudest about is that Burnaston has never had a single person, a single minute, out on strike, despite the fact that we are still working in a car industry with a production line and physical and repetitive work.”

In 2015 Tony was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Derbyshire and was High Sheriff of the county in 2020/21.

Simon Warren (OW 1975-82) has been appointed Professor of Dermatopathology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Simon was previously Associate Professor at the University of Indiana. Simon read Economics at Jesus College, Cambridge (1983-86) then changed career to study medicine at London University before moving to the United States. He trained in Anatomic Pathology at the Medical College of Wisconsin and while there completed a research fellowship in immunobullous disease. This led to a first-author New England Journal of Medicine paper on pemphigus, amongst others. He spent three years as an Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, founding the dermatopathology lab within the dermatology department. He subsequently spent three years in private practice in Miami. From 2008-2024 he was Dermatopathology Division Director at Indiana University, as well as Fellowship director from 2009-2022 and Associate Director of the Immunohistochemistry lab from 2022-4. He has an interest in training dermatopathology fellows from the developing world and has set up basic dermatopathology labs in developing countries such as Nepal and Tajikistan. He joined the Michigan Medicine Departments of Pathology and Dermatology as a Clinical Professor in 2024. Simon Warren’s current research interests focus on the application of molecular technologies including spatial transcriptomics and NGS to the diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous disease, particularly melanoma, histiocytic neoplasia, and lymphoma while maintaining clinical effort in Dermatopathology and teaching.

After his degree in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at UCL, Nathan Lamb (OW 1994-2003) has worked in arts management at the Royal Albert Hall (Retail and Merchandise Manager) and the English National Opera (Director of Commercial and Visitor Experience). With effect from January 2025, Nathan has become Commercial Director at the London Museum and will be a key player in the Museum’s move to Smithfield in 2026.

Pride of place this year goes to Professor Jacques Heyman (OW193441), Emeritus Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, doyen of structural engineers and former head of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, who celebrated his 100th birthday. He went up to Peterhouse in 1941 at the age of 16 and has therefore been associated with the College for over 80 years. The photograph shows him at a birthday celebration in Peterhouse.

Colonel Peter Stitt (OW 1983-90) is now Commander North Region, a new role based at Catterick and Preston.

Headquarters North was formally established on 1st August 2024 when Headquarters North East, based in Catterick, and Headquarters North West (in Preston) were merged. The purpose of Headquarters North is to make the military community in the North the best it can be by championing the Army in the North of England and the North of England in the Army through working with trusted local partners to apply coherence, authority, structure and local context to all Army initiatives in the North.

Chris Goodwin (OW 1974-82) read archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge, Clare College, but is best known as Secretary of the Lute Society for the past 28 years and Editor of Lute News and The Lute.

For over 20 years, Jeremy Hargreaves has been at the heart of Liberal Democrat policymaking, devoting thousands of hours of his time as a volunteer. Jeremy has held senior positions in the party’s highest policy-making and strategysetting bodies. He has been a member of the Federal Policy Committee since 2001, spending 16 years as its Vice Chair. He has also served on the Federal Board since 2017 and has been its Vice Chair since 2020. He chaired the Liberal Democrat Policy Working Group on Quality of Life (2009-2011) and the Policy Working Group on Public Services (2013-14).

King’s Birthday Honours List 2025

MBE – Colonel Nigel Gilbert (OW 195663) – For services to veterans.

Nigel served as a regular army officer for over thirty-six years becoming Colonel of his regiment and an ADC to HM the Queen. In retirement he became Captain of Invalids at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea (in his words “housemaster to the Chelsea Pensioners”) for some ten years. He continues to be Chair of The Royal Army Service Corps and Royal Corps of Transport Association and a trustee of the Royal Cambridge Home in East Molesey which cares for the elderly, principally those with a service background.

New Year’s Honours List 2025

MBE – Jeremy Hargreaves (OW 198792) – For political service.

Deputy Director of the UK Pavilion at the 2025 Expo in Osaka, Japan.

In the world of cricket, two Surrey OWs have had remarkable achievements.

There have been several changes for OWs serving in the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. After four years as Director in charge of Gibraltar negotiations Robbie Bulloch (OW 1982-90) has been appointed Director for Overseas Territories and Polar. This appears to offer little respite from the seemingly endless discussions over Gibraltar as the Polar regions are now considered to be a key area of international tension. Andrew Whittaker (OW 1986-94) is now Head of the FCDO’s Cyber Policy Department, having previously been Head of Strategy and Network in the Consular Department and Consul General in San Francisco. HE Simon Thomas, OBE (OW 1985-93) has ended his term as UK Ambassador to Croatia and has returned to the UK prior to his next posting. HE Chris Trott (OW 1976-84) remains in post as UK Ambassador to the Holy See. This year must have been a remarkable experience: present in Rome at the time of the death of one Pope and the election of another while acting as host to visiting British dignitaries. A glance at Chris’s account on X is a reminder of the extraordinary wealth of ecclesiastical architecture to see in Rome whilst elsewhere in Italy he has been able to attend the spectacular Palio horse race in Siena. After serving as Political Counsellor in Manila following a period as Deputy Head of Mission in Ulaan Baatar, Iain Cox (1995-2003) is

Jamie Smith (2010-18) was named as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year (Whitgift’s fourth following Raman Subba Row, Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley) and, in addition, his innings of 184 not out in the second 2025 Test Match against India was the highest ever recorded by an English wicketkeeper. Dominic Sibley (2007-14) was the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs in the 2025 First Class Season. With Rory Burns (2001-06) as Captain, Dominic Sibley as Vice-Captain and Ryan Patel (2009-16) as Captain in the 2025 One Day Cup not to mention other OW players, Surrey sometimes seems an extension of North Field.

Derren Brown (OW 1981-90) was the inaugural recipient of the David Berglas award by The Magic Circle for “showmanship, creativity and originality in magic”. This new award commemorates David Berglas MBE, the German-born British magician and mentalist. His technique of locating a particular card within a pack, the Berglas Effect, has been described as the Holy Grail of card magic. He was one of the first magicians to appear on UK television.

Kit Connor (OW 2016-22), whose young career has already been marked by numerous awards, has received the following accolades in recent months for his Broadway début in Romeo and Juliet – Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance; Broadway.com Audience Awards for Favorite Leading Actor in a Play, Favorite Breakthrough

Performance (Male) and Performance of the Year (in a Play). Kit was also nominated for several other awards for that Broadway début.

Recent broadcasts on Radio 4 Extra have included Second Holmes, a comedy detective series by Grant Eustace (OW 1954-62) about the grandsons of Holmes and Watson solving Conan Doyle style mysteries and Lucy Loves Desi: a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom, a serial directed by Martin Jarvis, OBE (OW 1953-60) which tells the story of how Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz changed the conventions and techniques of TV broadcasting in the early 1950s in the hit show I Love Lucy.

Publications with a Whitgiftian interest:

The research of Professor Steven Gunn (OW 1971-78) into accidental death in Tudor England has been featured in previous editions of OW News. This research has now led to a book An Accidental History of Tudor England: From Daily Life to Sudden Death by Steven and his co researcher Tomasz Gromelski. The book was published in June 2025 and received outstanding reviews as it presents an endlessly fascinating window onto Tudor life, told through ordinary people’s untimely deaths.

How did ordinary people live in Tudor England? This unique history unearths the ways they died to find out. Uncovering thousands of coroners’ reports, An Accidental History of Tudor England explores the history of everyday life, and everyday death, in a world far from the intrigues of Hampton Court

Palace, Shakespeare’s plots and the Spanish Armada. Here, farming, building and travel were dangerous. Fruit trees killed more people than guns, and sheep killed about the same number as coalmines. Men stabbed themselves playing football and women drowned in hundreds fetching water. Going to church had its dangers, especially when it came to bell-ringing, archery practice was perilous and haystacks claimed numerous victims. Restless animals roamed the roads which contained some potholes so deep men could drown, and drown they did.

From bear attacks in north Oxford to a bowls-on-ice-incident on the Thames, this book uses a remarkable trove of sources and stories to put common folk back into the big picture of Tudor England, bringing the reality of their world to life as never before.

Jason Okundaye (OW 2008-15) was a finalist in the Orwell Prize for Political Writing with his book Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain. Peter Frankopan, Chair of the Orwell Prize for Political Writing panel 2024 described Jason’s book as follows: “A sparkling book that is all the more remarkable for being the author’s first. Okundaye is an outstanding guide to what it means to be black and gay in Britain, providing a perspective to the last four decades that is as revelatory as it is important. A marvellous piece of work that makes us think hard about how much we truly know about the country we live in.”

The Orwell Prize owes its foundation in 1994 to an OW, Professor Sir Bernard

Crick (OW 1939-47). The two original prizes for books and journalism were originally ‘to encourage writing in good English – while giving equal value to style and content, politics or public policy, whether political, economic, social or cultural – of a kind aimed at or accessible to the reading public, not to specialist or academic audiences.’ As well as being a distinguished political theorist, Sir Bernard was the first major biographer of George Orwell

James Ellson (OW 1981-89), who continues to combine his life as a Peak District small holder, apple grower and bee keeper with writing thrillers, has published his fourth novel in the wellregarded DCI Castle series. Base Line has Rick Castle back in Manchester in charge of Special Investigations – it is a police procedural that has attracted strong reviews from delighted readers. The next book in the series wvill be published in 2026.

Since the last appearance of OW News, the indefatigable Jamie Bulloch (OW 1979-87) has five more translations from the German in publication. Playlist and The Gift are psycho thrillers by Sebastain Fitzek, a highly successful German writer several of whose books have been filmed; Murder at the Castle by David Safier, the number one German best seller and first in the Miss Merkel series – Miss Angela Merkel (familiar name?) has retired from an exhausting stint as the most powerful woman in the world and retired to the seemingly idyllic village of Kleinfreudenstadt-onDumpfsee. But baking and hiking just aren’t as exciting as global meltdowns or deranged US presidents. And the

ex-Chancellor’s fellow villagers all seem to want something, from her AfD-voting neighbour to the local aristocrat eager to bury the family’s Nazi past.

On a more serious note Jamie has also translated The Buried City: Unearthing the Real Pompeii by Gabriel Zuchtriegel and Generation GDR: Truth, Freedom and One Man’s Last Journey by Peter Wensierski. The former, described by Stephen Fry as “the best book on Pompeii I’ve ever read” is a revelatory description of how people lived in Pompeii written by the Archaeological Director of Pompeii. Generation GDR tells the story of young people in East Germany in the 1970s and 80s, yearning for freedom but held in contempt by the Stasi and the authoritarian state.

The recent book by Clare Mulley, Agent Zo, which tells the story of the Polish SOE heroine Elżbieta Zawacka and which was short-listed for the Women’s Prize for Non Fiction 2025 includes reference to an unpublished memoir by Andrew Bilski (OW 1955-61) entitled Secrets of the Green Box, which tells how Andrew discovered the said green box after his father’s death and with it the story of his wartime exploits after being parachuted into occupied Europe in 1944. Kazimierz Bilski (known as “Rum”) was a regular officer in the Polish army at the end of the 1930s who escaped to England but returned to cause mayhem to essential enemy infrastructure. Not to know everything about one’s parents may be commonplace but to find that one was a decorated war hero must have been something of a shock for Andrew.

Chris Trott

Simon Thomas Kit Connor

Derren Brown

OW NEWS

FROM LOCAL BOY TO NATIONAL HERO

OW Jamie Smith has made a phenomenal start to his England career. In his first 15 Tests, the wicketkeeper/batter has made 1075 runs at average of 48 per innings, including two centuries and six half centuries with the highlight being a superb unbeaten 184 against India this summer at Edgbaston.

It is not just in the longer form of the game Jamie has been such a success. In both ODI and T20i England cricket he has literally smashed the ball out the park. His most recent 50 over innings for his country at Southampton saw him set the stage with rapid 62 when again opening the innings helped England reach a record breaking 414.

Jamie was further recognised for his terrific achievements when he was named one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year 2025. This prestigious accolade, awarded by the iconic cricket almanack, recognises players who have made a significant impact on the English cricket season. A further feature article in The Cricketer magazine this summer entitled ‘The Making of Jamie Smith’ not only outlined Smith’s rise to fame from his beginnings at Whitgift but also had

comments from players and coaches who have played a part in Jamie’s career so far.

The summer’s domestic T20 Blast and highly successful Hundred competition saw fellow OW’s Laurie Evans, Jason Roy, Dom Sibley and Ryan Patel join Jamie Smith in playing key roles for either Surrey, London Spirit or The Southern Brave.

Read more here

Simon Beck Registrar

CELEBRATED VIOLINIST ENJOYS ONGOING SUCCESS

Award winning violinist Kryštof Kohout (OW 2017-2019) continues his remarkable career. Having made his Barbican Hall debut aged 21 playing the Berg Violin Concerto, Kryštof works as a soloist with orchestras internationally. His performances are regularly broadcast including on BBC Radio 3 and he has recently recorded works by George Walker, Kaija Saariaho, and Missy Mazzoli in collaboration with the Barbican Centre and BBC Radio 3 for their Total Immersion series.

NEWS FROM THE SCHOOL

Recent highlights include his Carnegie Hall debut recital, Barbican Centre, Musikverein Vienna, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Zeneakadémia Budapest, as well as festivals such as the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and Edinburgh International Festival. He is a laureate of the Bartók World Competition in Budapest, a recipient of the Musicians’ Company Silver Medal (the company’s oldest award) and has recently been selected as the sole instrumentalist to join the prestigious Classeek Ambassador Programme in Switzerland. This season has seen Kryštof perform concertos with orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, South Czech Philharmonic and Prague Chamber Soloists, along with recital debuts at Wigmore Hall and Bridgewater Hall. Chamber Concerts have included Berlin Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie de Paris, and the Aldeburgh Festival.

Kryštof studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama as a full scholarship student. This year he won the prestigious Guildhall Wigmore Recital Prize. He has also received the highly respected International Artist Diploma from the Royal Northern College of Music. All this incredible success and still just twenty five years old.

As ever, the School year finished off in spectacular fashion with the Celebration of Whitgift Life taking place in the Sports and Conference Centre in front of a packed audience. In amongst the awarding of prizes and the dazzling co-curricular interludes, there were also some moving, thought-provoking speeches, the highlights coming from guest of honour, Major General Jon Swift OBE, who was School Captain many years ago when I was still a student at Whitgift, and outgoing Headmaster, Andrew Halls. Jon spoke poignantly about his time in the army and drew interesting parallels between values espoused at Whitgift and those of the British Army. Andrew talked about the privilege and honour he felt at being given the opportunity to return to the School (having started his teaching career here in the 1980’s) as interim Headmaster for a year. And what a year it has been under Andrew’s stewardship: an outstanding report in the ISI Inspection, fantastic admissions numbers despite the crippling restrictions imposed on private schools by the current government, the usual co-curricular highlights and some record results in public exams – more on these later. In his final email to staff, alumni and parents (I currently get all three!) Andrew quoted Sir David Attenborough’s comments from when

he visited the School to open the water garden: “You have an astonishing school. I have never seen anything like it. Perhaps you know this, perhaps you don’t, but take it from me, you have an amazing school.” He then proceeded to use this accolade to praise the staff, boys and wider Whitgift community, thanking everyone for making his unexpected extra year at the School such a rewarding, positive experience. Well, I would like to respond on behalf of the School and thank Andrew for his sterling service over the course of this year. He simply could not have done more and, what is more, he brought a sense of warmth, enthusiasm and, dare I say it, fun back to the School to banish all the negativity created due to the Covid legacy and the current government’s attack on our way of life. Thank you, Andrew: enjoy your retirement but please feel free to return and take another one of your wonderfully creative and inspiring assemblies!

The first set of public exam results to come through were the IB grades, which arrived the day after the school broke up. With 98% of all Higher Level IB grades at levels 7-5 (equivalent to A*-B at A Level), Whitgift’s class of 2025 set a new school record. Indeed, Whitgift boys achieved an average score of 38.9 points out of a maximum score of 45.

For comparison, last year the equivalent figure at the school was 37 points, and the international average is around 30 points. No boy gained below a 4 in any subject, and every boy gained his diploma. Five gained 44 points out of the maximum possible score of 45. Later on in August it was the turn of the rest of the leaving Upper Sixth to return to school and nervously await their results – this time for A-Levels. They needn’t have worried: more than one in four of all A Level grades were at the very highest grade of A*. 60% of all grades were at A*/A. 25 boys gained three or more A* grades, and 69 gained three or more grades at A* or A. Once the IB results and A Level results are combined to reflect the success of the whole cohort of 186 boys, this year’s Upper Sixth Form achieved 28% of all grades at A* or its IB Higher Level equivalent and 62% at A*/A. And finally, GCSE results. This year’s Fifth Form cohort did outstandingly well, with 43% of grades being awarded at 9 and 69% at 8 or 9. 18 students achieved grade 9s across all their subjects, while 35 attained at least nine GCSEs at grade 9. These public exam results reflect more than academic excellence; they are the culmination of each student’s commitment to all areas of Whitgift life - from sport and music to leadership and community service. They also highlight

Jamie Smith

Kryštof Kohout

A Level Results Day

Corps of Drums performance at COWL

The Lightening Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

NEWS FROM THE SCHOOL

the invaluable support of families and staff throughout the boys’ studies.

The big summer show this year was the electrifying The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical. For three vibrant nights, the show transported audiences into a world of myth, monsters, and music, powered by a cast of talented students and a band that roared like a rampaging minotaur. This wasn’t your average school musical - Joe Tracz’s book and Rob Rokicki’s genre-bending score were brought to life by Miss Spedding (Director and Choreographer) and Mr Morrison (Musical Director). The set design was outstanding, and with the addition of striking lighting sequences, every scene came to life combining a multitude of hit songs and emotions. Beyond the spectacle, the production resonated deeply with themes of identity and neurodivergence. Percy Jackson, a boy with ADD and dyslexia, struggles in school until he discovers these traits are actually battle instincts - gifts, not burdens. His journey speaks to many neurodivergent students who feel misunderstood in traditional classrooms. The show was a hit with families and fans alike - this

production was loud, heartfelt, and unashamedly fun - a celebration of difference, resilience, and what it truly means to be a hero. Whilst the whole cast were excellent, Rahul Chakravarty, who starred as the eponymous hero, was outstanding and would not have been out of place in the West End. Indeed, he reminded me of OW Geddy Stringer, who has gone onto great things in the performing arts since leaving the School, most recently starring in the world tour of Les Miserable: The Arena Spectacular.

When speaking at the Celebration of Whitgift Life, Major General Jon Swift mentioned what a good grounding the School’s Combined Cadet Force (CCF) had given him for his subsequent military career. The current iteration of this is going from strength to strength, and once again demonstrated its excellence during the Annual General Inspection which took place earlier on in the summer term. Brigadier Matt Birch (OW 1987-92), who previously inspected the contingent two years ago, returned to assess its progress - and his feedback could not have been more positive. In his report, Brigadier Birch commended the CCF for the remarkable strides it has

made since his last visit, highlighting the dedication, discipline, and enthusiasm displayed by both cadets and staff. His observations underscore the hard work and commitment that have gone into strengthening the programme and ensuring its continued success. Receiving the final summary impression of “Absolutely Outstanding” from Brigadier Birch is a tremendous achievement and a true credit to Whitgift. Such high praise reinforces the value and impact of the CCF, reflecting the School’s commitment to leadership, teamwork, and excellence.

It has been a decent term for the School’s cricketers. Inspired by the ‘Boy’s Own’ exploits of OW Jamie Smith, who so far this year has been named one of Wisden’s cricketers of the year and scored 180 not out in the Edgbaston test against India (the highest score ever by an English wicketkeeper in test cricket), the Whitgift boys have produced some stirring performances of their own. Whilst not matching their hockey counterparts and securing national titles, the First team still enjoyed a creditable season including some convincing victories against old foes St Paul’s and Dulwich, as well as new ones in touring teams, Grey College from South Africa and Scotch College from Australia. Captain, Dougie Beckett, followed in Jamie Smith’s footsteps by scoring heavily throughout the season, including a majestic 120 not out in a high scoring loss against Merchant Taylors School. In other age groups, the U15As made it to the final of the ESCA

T20 competition only to be edged out by Epsom College in a pulsating match. The U13As also met Epsom College in a final, this time the Watcyn Evans Surrey Trophy, and they went one better, winning convincingly by 8 wickets.

In other sports, the School’s golfers made the most of the glorious summer weather to dominate the fairways and greens. U13 pair, Gary Miao and Charlie Martin, enjoyed an exceptional week in mid-June. Following a strong 3rd place finish at the Independent Schools Golf Association (ISGA) Junior League Finals at the start of the week at Radley College, the boys returned to action on the Friday at the ISGA Junior Open 2025 held at Drayton Park, Oxfordshire – with even more success. Charlie delivered a superb individual round to secure 2nd place with 64 points, while Gary followed closely behind in 4th place, scoring 60 points. Together, their consistent performance saw Whitgift clinch 1st place in the team competition, triumphing over Millfield Prep by an impressive seven points. Both competitions were played off scratch in a modified Stableford format, effectively placing all competitors on a level footing, which made the boys’ composure, talent, and teamwork all the more impressive. In football, the U13A team became national champions by delivering an exceptional performance in their thrilling victory over Thomas Telford School, winning 3-2 at West Bromwich Albion FC to clinch the PlayStation Elite School Cup. Despite being behind at half time,

the team demonstrated remarkable skill, teamwork, and determination to turn the game around. This achievement not only highlights their talent but also their dedication and hard work. And finally in athletics, the School enjoyed one of its best seasons in recent memory.

In the Croydon Schools Athletics Championships, we were age group winners at U13, 14 and 15! In the highly competitive English Schools National Track and Field Cup Southeast A Regional Finals, we came 5th in the U15s and 4th in the U13s. On an individual level, no fewer than eight school records were broken and two of them by extremely promising 400m runners. Tommaso Crosara, whose time of 36.23s was the fastest U15 time in the country this year (they only run 300m at that age group), and Freddie Hake, whose time of 47.97s was seventh fastest in the country at U20 level. Both boys also went on to become national champions in their respective age groups. Maybe some future Olympians to join the likes of Joe Choong, 2020 Modern Pentathlon Gold medal winner?

Finally, I would like to pay homage to all the hard work done by Mr Andy Marlow and his Alumni and Development team for this year’s Giving Day in June – the third one the School has run. In the build up to the day, current and old boys were issued with the 1596 Challenge, a personal or group challenge relating to the number 1596, the year the School was founded. If you go on the news

section of the School website, you can see a variety of images detailing the plethora of activities that the boys took part in, ranging from the physical (press-ups, running, basketball shooting etc) to the rather more quirky origami (anyone got space for 1596 folded cranes?) and, even, trainspotting! As I write this, the day has currently raised a whopping £171,473 from 473 donors – all proceeds going towards future bursaries. In a thank you email sent out by incoming Headmaster, Mr Toby Seth, he commented on how impressed he was by the School spirit exhibited by current and former pupils, “Wow! I knew Whitgift was a special place, but reading the comments on the Donor Wall about the impact this School has had on so many people over the years has made me even more excited to join this community as Headmaster in September.”

Well done Whitgift on a great 2024-25; let’s see if we can do even better next year!

Dominic Edwards (OW 1988-96) Teacher and Housemaster (Mason’s)

CCF Inspection

Major General Jon Swift presenting a prize at COWL

Freddie Hake

Tommaso Crosara

4th Form 1596 Challenge on Giving Day

The Lightening Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

DEPARTMENT SPOTLIGHT - ANIMAL CLUB

Each issue we like to give readers of Whitgift For All News insight into the unsung heroes behind the scenes that help give students such a rich educational experience on a daily basis. During the summer break, the Alumni Team popped into Animal Club to meet Animal Care Lead, Erin Badhan, to find out more about the ever-popular club and her passion for all creatures great and small.

Tell us about your academic and professional journey to date.

My journey with animals began at thirteen years old, when I started work experience at a veterinary surgery. Over the past fifteen years, I’ve continued to work with animals in a variety of roles alongside my academic studies. These roles include assisting as a dog groomer, hosting at the Sealife Centre in Brighton, and at an animal hospital. I learnt a real wealth of invaluable experience in these very different roles!

After graduating with a degree in Biology (BSc Hons) from the University of Sussex, I joined Whitgift in 2019 as a Junior Biology Technician with some Animal Care duties. Since then, I’ve progressed to the role of Senior Biologist and now serve as the Lead for Animal Care, supported by a team of deputies. The animal room itself, I have expanded from six animals to over 20 different individuals (not including the stick insects – I estimate we have around 20 but I am not counting!).

During my time at Whitgift, I’ve earned qualifications in Herpetology and Ethology, and I’m proud to have recently achieved Registered Scientist (RSci) status in recognition of my work. Looking ahead, I plan to pursue a master’s degree, followed by a PhD, in animal biology and behaviour. I intend to study for these part time so I can continue in my current role at Whitgift.

How did you get involved with Animal Club?

Originally, it was just my responsibility to assist in running the club. I was very inspired by the enthusiasm of the students, and in many ways, this mirrored my own younger self! I made it my aim to turn the club into something better, something that not only teaches and engages the students, but challenges them too! After only a few weeks in my role, I decided to initiate the ‘Animal Prefect Programme’, which the regular animal club students can apply for. If successful, these Animal Prefects, have multiple sessions with me a week, where I teach them anatomy, husbandry and proper handling practices. These students generally end up bonding with a particular animal, which is wonderful to witness. For example, Rex the painted dragon will do a recognition ‘head bob’ when he sees his favourite students!

What does Animal Club involve?

Animal club has been running weekly for the last six years and has a steady group of around twenty students who attend every Thursday. September is usually exceedingly busy, last year we had eighty plus students signed up on SOCS! Every week is different, from handling to dragon bathing, guinea pig brushing or lizard feeding; no two weeks are the same!

Animal prefect wise, I currently have eight students, most of which have been attending for at least three years. This year, I have had five animal prefects graduate from Whitgift and head off to their prospective universities. Most of which have been an animal prefect since year seven! This does mean I have some vacancies for more animal prefects, so those application forms will be going out soon, watch this space!

Do you have a current favourite resident?

This is the most difficult question; each individual is so characterful! Our Leopard gecko Gertie is such a gentleman, and his friend Squeak is very introverted but once she knows you is so trusting. Our bearded dragon Ember is a greedy, messy girl, but is a very good listener, and comes running over when you call. Rex the painted dragon thinks he really is king of the room, angrily displaying to people he has decided he doesn’t like (including my boss-oops!), but extremely affectionate and protective over those he is bonded with. The real boss of the room is Shelly the Hermann’s tortoise, highly intelligent and knows how to get exactly what she wants, she will chase you round the room for a shell scratch!

Our axolotls (Doug, Axel, Bruna and Pepper) are all so individual, and have their favourite snoozing spots. Guinea pig Darwin is a gentle sweetheart who loves cuddles, whereas his son Huxley is a food menace and very stroppy when being brushed. Brie the hamster is a genius with the nose of a bloodhound, she tracks down hidden treats in minutes! Our little baby crested gecko Stevie, is new to the team, and it’s so sweet watching her learn to jump and begin to trust me. Henry our praying mantis is like some kind of amazing superhero with his senses, and Sonic our Giant African snail loves nothing more than a shower in the sink and is just amazing, did you know snails have the most teeth in the animal kingdom?! Speaking of teeth, goldfish like our Amber and Micheal have around six layers of teeth in their throat! Micheal in particular is full of excitement whenever someone enters the room, and incredibly, is now over fifteen years old, a true testament to the care and attention he has received here at Whitgift.

Last, but certainly not least, are our three beloved snakes: Mobius, our shy

yet cuddly Royal Python; Nemo, the confident and curious Corn Snake with a nose for adventure; and Sebastian, our elder gentleman Corn snake who is almost an incredible twenty-eight years old!

As you might have guessed, I am deeply attached to all the animals in our care, but the snakes hold a particularly special place in my heart. Often misunderstood, they are among the most misunderstood creatures on the planet. I am especially proud of the number of people with ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) who have had their perceptions changed by these three gentle souls.

Do you have any pets at home?

Yes, I have a very large, fluffy black and white rescue cat named Hugo, a tank with five fish (Pisces, Blackbeard, Port, Starboard and Pike) and an Amano shrimp called Ghost, his exoskeleton is transparent!

You have been spotted occasionally taking a crate home on a Friday! Which has been your most memorable house guest?

Unfortunately, animals don’t follow a 9-5 schedule, their needs can arise at any time. Whether it’s monitoring, medication, or just a bit of extra TLC, they often require care around the clock so get a weekend sleepover with me. You name it, I’ve had it round my house! Whether that’s baby chicks, hedgehogs, mantids, stick insects, giant millipedes, orphaned baby songbirds or pigeons, if there’s an animal needing some rehab, I will do my very best to support it in any way I can. I think at this point, my family and friends are used to me saying, sorry I will be late…just medicating a hedgehog (or something along those lines)!

My most memorable guest, has to be Shelly the tortoise. In the wild, tortoises hibernate throughout winter, emerging in spring after around sixteen weeks of hibernation. In captivity, you can help induce this hibernation stage in a few different ways, one of the most recommended being the ‘fridge method’. After many weeks of ‘winding down’ this essentially involves you putting your tortoise into a large box with soil and coverings and many temperature probes, into a fridge for 16 weeks! Doing this for the first time with Shelly it felt very strange, and so I decided to bring her home and put her in my kitchen fridge so I could monitor her. To my husband at this point, this kind of thing is normal, but a friend of mine visiting one day was

shocked to open the fridge and see a snoozy tortoise staring back at her!

What happens to the animals in the school holidays?

Myself and my animal deputies, Kate Bright and Jennifer Petey, share the responsibility throughout all school holidays. We constantly monitor all behaviour and feedings and communicate on a near daily basis. I am extremely lucky to have such a dedicated team, and the animals are in the absolute best of hands when I am away on my own holidays!

Are there any opportunities for OWs to get involved?

Yes absolutely! I am always open to anyone who would like to meet the animals and share their own expertise. I have brought to the role, the option for teachers to request me and an animal to teach a lesson. Generally, these requests are from biology teachers, where I visit and teach full sessions on evolution, adaptation, anatomy and behaviour to students of all ages. However, these sessions are open to the whole school community; I have even been into art with my animals! Prospective veterinary or medical students can also request sessions with me, whereby I present them with medical case studies either through my own witnessed experience or my veterinary contacts. I have done assemblies, lessons for Japanese and German exchange students and of course the international summer school.

Do we ever rehome animals? (I’m thinking exotics rather than cats or dogs!!)

Yes, a couple of our animals are rescue; Stevie the crested gecko is from a mutual friend and Sebastian the corn snake is from a colleague at Trinity School. I am a big advocate for rescue animals and would absolutely take on more if I could. The only hurdle here though, is often rescues have a very limited history, which can make things more variable when I am writing my risk assessments. Of course, the animals are important, but the boys’ safety is paramount, and so I must ensure that all animals they handle are safe and well trained. For this reason, all animals are assessed for their temperament and put through my training programme before they interact with any students or staff.

Any memorable stories you’d like to share?

One of my most memorable stories has to be the four ducklings that I was caring

for in spring 2020. We had just agreed to keep, and hand rear our ducklings we had incubated and hatched out in animal club. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and the nation was put into lockdown!

Being a keyworker, I was allowed to visit Whitgift to do base levels of animal care, but the time I was allowed on site was very restricted. Ducklings, however, need more round the clock care, and so this meant for the next five weeks whilst the ducklings grew to adult size, they lived in my bathroom! It was extremely hard work, with four ducks viewing me as their full-time parent, in a time when animal food was very hard to source due to lots of panic buying and limited imports. They also cheeped incessantly every day at 4am, only settling when I let them out so they could sleep on my lap!

Despite my sleep deprivation, I am very pleased to say though that all four thrived and were released into Whitgift’s water gardens at the end of their extended holiday with me. Due to the duck food shortage, Neil, who cares for the flamingos and peacocks, kindly agreed to share the flamingo food with the ducks. Flamingos in the wild, get their pink colouration from their diet, and to replicate this in captivity, a pink dye is added to their food. Fast forward a few weeks, and my four brilliant white ducks were now a shade of pale pink! Thankfully, the students weren’t on site to witness this; not sure how happy they would be that Ms had turned their duck’s pink!

Another memorable moment happened during an open day, when the Animal Club display was its usual hive of activity. I noticed a parent standing intently in front of what he believed was the stick insect enclosure, determined to count every single insect and win the coveted prize, an animal badge.

After about ten minutes of focus, he approached me and confidently announced that he had counted eighteen stick insects. At that moment, the animal prefects burst into laughter and informed him that he had, in fact, been staring into the wrong box the entire time! Rather than counting insects, he had been carefully studying a container full of bramble cuttings which had been gathered earlier by students as food for the real stick insects. Thankfully, he saw the funny side of this and swore he had seen some of those branches move! The prefects and I agreed to award him the badge anyway for his efforts.

Interview by Emma Helbert Alumni Relations Officer

Shelly Hugo and Ducklings Pepper

SENIOR RUGBY TOUR TO CANADA

We have just returned from an action packed two weeks in Canada and it has been a great experience for everyone involved.

A touring party of 52 boys and six coaches and Dr Sam Barke left Heathrow on Saturday 26 July to fly to Canada. Everyone was in good spirits and looking forward to the rugby and the many activities that had been lined up.

We landed in Calgary and watched a local rugby club game and met a lot of the locals, before going back to our accommodation at University of Calgary, which was excellent.

The following morning, we had a productive training session back at the club, before going to watch the local basketball team, the Calgary Surge, play Winnipeg, which was a great game. We had a squad dinner and met OW Richard Oakley and his wife Marion. It is always great to meet OWs when we are touring and this was no different, with Richard sharing his memories of his time

at Whitgift in the mid-60s, as well as chatting to many of the current squad.

We had our first matches against Calgary Mavericks the following day playing well in both games, to get the tour off to a winning start.

The next day we headed into Banff, to go up the gondola and explore this beautiful town on a lovely sunny day. It was a great day and definitely lived up to its reputation. A drive through the Rockies to Revelstoke didn’t disappoint and we were really starting to see how beautiful the West of Canada is. We continued to drive through some outstanding scenery, before we reached Kamloops, where we were playing our next match.

Kamloops Rugby Club hosted us superbly during both nights of our stay and after two, hard fought victories against TORA (Thompson Okanagan Rugby Association) U17 s and U19s, we had a great night singing and mixing with the locals. Massive thanks to Ale, Andrew and everyone at the club.

On Friday we headed over to Vancouver, again marvelling at the beautiful scenery and had a fantastic day riding the bikes around Stanley Park, overlooking the ocean, on a lovely summer evening, whilst also catching up with OW Olly Dickerson, who played with us in the Cup wins in 2010 and 2011. It was great to see Olly again 16 years after we took him on our 2009 tour to New Zealand. He was still talking about how much he enjoyed that tour and hopefully the boys will be doing the same about this tour in 16 years’ time!

We had a weekend of fun filled activities lined up and both the white water rafting in Chilliwak River and the zip-lining in Whistler did not disappoint. The boys loved them, and it was great to see everyone having so much fun, laughing all the time and coming together as one big squad. The singing on the bus, controlled by the impressive Social Sec Ned Beattie was excellent and brought the squad together. As our stay in Vancouver came to an end, we met up as a squad with OWs Christian Petschi, Fergus

O’Brien and Olly Dickerson again. It was a brilliant weekend that everyone will remember for a long time.

Now it was time to go on the ferry over to Victoria and what a ferry crossing it was - again the scenery continued to impress everyone and the three days we then had in Vancouver Island were outstanding. A good couple of wins at the impressive Shanigwan Lake School on Monday and then an amazing day in Victoria and whale watching on the Tuesday. We were extremely lucky to see a pod of four orcas, humpback whales, sea lions and seals and I’m sure the boys will remember this for a long time. We had a squad dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory, inviting our driver Robbie along as a thank you for doing such a sterling job.

On Wednesday we played two very tough, physical games, again at Shanigwan Lake School, getting two hard fought wins. The rugby was good preparation for the season ahead. We could work on how we wanted to attack

and defend, as well as rotating the squad and developing our depth, which gives us a good foundation to work off for the season ahead. The 1st XV was very well led by Sam Marshall, as our captain Alexei Clapperton was unable to play all Tour, but he did play a full part off the pitch, introducing some great games on the coach, that I am still trying to work out! Alexei was outstanding off the pitch and came into the coaching group and led the squad for the last game, doing an excellent job.

We then went for drinks with staff and parents, next to the boys having dinner, in Victoria, near the harbour. It was an excellent way to end the tour, to meet up with parents, boys and staff, as a way of thanking everyone for their support on the touch lines, as well as in the build up to the tour.

I have to say the boys were a credit to Whitgift on and off the field and were a fantastic bunch of lads to take on tour. I hope they will always remember the two

weeks they had in Canada with all their friends and reflect on a great tour.

These tours don’t just happen by chance and there has been a huge amount of work put into making this happen. I would like to thank the School and Headmaster and SLT for their support as well as all the parents who helped fundraise, came and supported, made donations/ bought prizes and a number came over to Canada as well. England Rugby Travel have been great to deal with and all our hosts in Canada looked after us superbly. My final thanks go to my fellow coaches (Mr Morley, Mr Goovaerts, Mr Webb, Mr Wheadon and Mr Watkins), who have all been outstanding, alongside the brilliant work of Dr. Sam Barke. We are very much a team off the pitch as well and all the staff have been first class. Thanks a lot for everyone’s help and support.

Chris Wilkins Director of Rugby

TOUR AIMS

• Enjoy • Improve

• Prepare well for next season

• Always be positive

I am pleased to say that all these have been achieved, which bodes well for the 1st XV, 2nd XV and 3rd XV this season.

owgs news

May is normally quite a busy month in the society calendar but this year there is only one event to report on, namely the match (alongside the schoolmasters) against the School. Played in a four ball, better ball format, the match was played in excellent conditions at Croham Hurst, on an evening which only got at all cold after the sun went down.

This match is often referred to as ‘the society’s annual golf lesson’, as we watch the boys hit the ball miles, and sometimes also straight. It proved the case on this occasion, as the boys scored a reasonably comfortable victory, by three matches to one, with one halved. New Captain Mark Chatham was the only victorious OW (pictured on the first tee). Many thanks to the masters and the school for providing such pleasant company, in addition to some welcome refreshment after the golf.

Another defeat came in June, this time in the annual fixture against Old Alleynians at Tandridge. The weather at the start of proceedings was more reminiscent of Deal in February than Tandridge in June, but there it was; the warm dry spell was at an end.

16 players on each side was a good turnout, and four fourballs set off from each of the 1st and 10th tees, in matchplay format, the better ball on each side counting on each hole. The course was in excellent condition and the fast and treacherous slopes on the greens caught many a player out at some stage, sometimes resulting in a ball which was being putted on the green finishing at some distance off it!

The afternoon finished with another Tandridge supper, the exchange of pleasantries between the captains, and the revelation that the Dulwich side had emerged the winners by five matches to three.

Captain’s Day was at a new venue for the society; Nizels Golf and Country Club, just south of Sevenoaks, brought to our attention by society captain Mark Chatham, who was men’s captain at Nizels at one stage. And a thoroughly pleasant venue it proved to be, with an attractive and challenging golf course that presented problems for most of our members. Relatively few played close to their handicaps. It was a baking hot day, and whilst there was plenty of water in the course hazards, there was probably not enough consumed by members, some of whom struggled in the heat.

23 started, a good turnout for us. Most people took time to adjust to the run on the A group of men standing together

on a golf course fairways, which was considerable on the dry surface, and the pace of the greens, which were slightly slower than expected; hence scoring on the back nine was in most cases better than on the front. In the end, count back determined all the ‘podium’ places, with Alan Blok (32 points) edging out Kevin Prideaux de Lacy (also 32) for third place and Society president Pip Burley nipping in front of guest Paul Stewart, both on 33 points, to win the top prize and the Captain’s Trophy.

The society’s new golf shirts made their first significant appearance (photo bottom left – Hughes, Chatham and McMillan)

Thanks to Mark for his administration of an enjoyable day.

Just a word to congratulate Whitgift alumnus Riccardo Fantinelli on reaching the semi-final at the R&A’s Amateur Championship, the winner of which gets a place in the field at The Open.

Unfortunately Riccardo lost his semi-final at Royal St George’s, but the achievement in reaching the last four is underlined when you consider that the competition comprises 288 top amateur golfers, who have to play two rounds of stroke play (this year at Royal Cinque Ports and Royal St George’s) and finish in the top 64, who then play knockout golf for six rounds to determine the ultimate winner. Riccardo shot 6 under in the stroke play,

to finish tenth best of the qualifiers, and then won four knockout matches before finally losing in the semi-final.

The last Whitgiftian to reach the same stage of The Amateur Championship was Peter Hedges in 1982.

Riccardo might take further solace in the fact that another Italian lost the semi-final in 2003. His name? Francesco Molinari. Well done, Riccardo.

CYRIL GRAY, 25th June 2025

Whitgift 1, Canford 2

As Whitgift set out to defend the title they won so impressively in 2024, this is definitely not the result they would have been anticipating.

On a day which became increasingly hot, Whitgift started with great expectations of another decent run through the competition, even though first round opponents Canford have a very good record of their own (four competition wins, one more than Whitgift). Whitgift played their third pair up front, hoping it would work in their favour, but as it turned out, Canford did exactly the same, so no advantage was won or lost. Jonny Ufton and Mark Haswell went out first, Martin Hayes and Neil Williams (unbeaten over two years in the Cyril Gray) second, and Richard Gibson and Nick Edwards brought up the rear.

The early signs were not great; in the second game, perennial winners Hayes/ Williams went behind to a par on the first, having missed a short putt, and there was every indication in the first few holes that Canford were not going to be rolled over easily. In fact, Canford were soon ahead in every match, and putts were dropping for Canford whereas Whitgift struggled by comparison on the greens. At the turn, Canford were 2up in the first match, 3up in the second, and level in the third (which soon changed when Canford won the 10th in that match). So Whitgift were up against it and facing an early exit; could they respond?

Hayes/Williams birdied the 11th to reduce their deficit to two, but quickly lost the 12th, and saw Canford hole another decent length putt to halve the 13th. Still 3 down. Williams holed from 12 feet on the 14th to salvage another half, but holes were running out, and when Hayes found the green side bunker on 15, with a difficult lie, that match was lost 4&3. Canford had played superbly, scoring 3 under par through 15 holes, with seven putts holed from outside 6 feet.

However, light was beginning to dawn elsewhere. Ufton/Haswell clawed a hole back on 12, somehow halved 13 and 14, and then got back to parity on the long 15th. The par-3 16th was halved in unimpressive fives, by which time Gibson/Edwards had themselves dragged

their match level after 14. So Whitgift could still win the tie if both outstanding matches went their way. It looked promising when Haswell summoned a huge and straight drive down 18, so impressive that his opponent pulled his drive short and left. Canford could only find the bunker with their second, and Ufton secured a once-unlikely win with a seven-foot putt for par. Whitgift had secured that match, having never been in front until the very end.

So, all attention turned to the last match, where Canford, who had seemed to be getting a little wayward, scored two birdies on the 15th and 16th, to win both holes, before messing up on the 17th and allowing Whitgift to win that hole with a bogey 5. As Edwards struck his 150-yard approach to the 18th green, it appeared perfect to start with, directly over the flag, but it proved a club too many and fell off the back of the green, from where Gibson came close with his pitch but not quite close enough. A par was enough for Canford, and the tie was theirs, 2-1.

A bitter pill for Whitgift, but a close match played in good spirit by two teams who, on their day, would be capable of going the distance in this competition. Canford were just a little more ‘on their game’ and were deserving winners.

Tony Mason and Peter Blok

Hugh, Chatham and McMillan

Standing l to r; Ufton, Haswell, Gibson.

Cyril Gray Seated to r; Williams, Hayes, Edwards

Whitgift win the Cyril Gray Plate L to R; Mark Chatham; Nick Edwards; Mark Haswell; Martin Hayes (Capt); Richard Gibson; Jonny Ufton; Neill Williams

RESULTS

Whitgift beat Fettes 2-1 in the Plate first round, with wins for Hayes/Williams (on the 19th) and Ufton/Haswell (comfortably). Gibson/Edwards lost 1 down.

26/6/25 Whitgift bt Stonyhurst 3-0 in Plate second round. Hayes/Williams 7&5; Gibson/Edwards 19th hole; Ufton/ Haswell 1up.

27/6/25 Whitgift bt Brighton 2-1 in Plate semi-final. Hayes/Chatham lost 3&2; Gibson/Edwards won 5&4; Ufton/ Haswell won 3&2.

Whitgift bt Ampleforth 3-0 in the Plate Final. Hayes/Williams 6&5; Gibson/ Edwards 2&1; Ufton/Haswell 3&2.

Ufton/Haswell won all their five matches in the week.

WHITGIFT WIN THE CYRIL GRAY PLATE

Whitgift’s third win in the Plate, following on from 2001 and 2011.

Tony Mason and Peter Blok came second (to Canford) in the Cyril Gray Seniors with 26 points.

In the main competition, Glenalmond won the Cyril Gray Salver for the first time ever, beating Chigwell 2-1 in the final. Chigwell also lost the 2024 final – to Whitgift.

The President’s day meeting was held at Copthorne GC towards the end of July.A person looking at a person in a bush

Copthorne is a venue last visited by the society in 1958, and so it was new to many of the 24 who played, and they will perhaps have been caught unawares by the ditches which line, and in some cases cross, the fairways, unseen from a distance but very evident when your ball lands in one. Even the eventual winner Don Anderson was a victim.

The test match in Manchester, being played the same day, had the best of the weather, but Copthorne, whilst dry and reasonably warm to start with, endured a spell of persistent rain in the afternoon, and all of those who played were wet by the end of play. In such circumstances, the scoring was good, with all three podium places being earned with a very respectable 34 points. Countback therefore decided the prizes, and Don Anderson finished first, winning the President’s Putter and Prize, with 19 on the back nine, followed home by Martin Hayes (18) and Robert Hollidge (16).

President Pip Burley addressed the meeting over a pleasant dinner, and thanked in particular John Gould, who organised the day with his normal enthusiasm and care. Pip awarded the prizes, assisted by the captain Mark Chatham (photo above)., with Don Anderson in the middle).

July started at Purley Downs GC, for the match versus Trinity GS. There were

RIFLE CLUB NEWS

twelve Purley Downs members within the two teams, seven for Trinity and five for Whitgift; this provided a solid base for the two teams, which is very welcome as we have sometime struggled for numbers for this fixture. The course itself was in great condition, with the greens running at their normal speed (fast), and there were fantastic views over London on a bright and quite hot day.

Five pairs set out, playing four ball better ball, and only one Whitgift pair (Alan Blok/Peter Gale) registered a win, the other four matches all going in Trinity’s favour. So, the Harrods’ Putter, first contested in 1971, stays in Trinity’s hands.

Peter Gale, Hon.Sec. (OW 1963 – 1969)

This year Whitgift entered the Ashburton Shield at the CCF Schools’ Meeting at Bisley run by the National Rifle Association. It was the 151st competition and the last year for participants to use 7.62mm rifles. As one of the 13 founding schools, Whitgift has a long-standing history with the event but withdrew from the CCF Schools Meeting in 1996 after a former Headmaster decided to end school shooting. It wasn’t until 2023 that Whitgift re-entered the competition with a team of four. In 2024 and 2025, the School achieved the mammoth milestone of fielding a full team of eight.

We began our weekend on Sunday packing and getting ready, travelling to the hallowed ground of Century range and having our team briefing at 600 yards ready for the week ahead. As the Team Captain, I felt it important to stress that whilst we maybe one of the originators of the competition, we don’t currently have the backing some other schools enjoy (with 10+ staff and volunteers running their support), so the aim of this week was to improve on last year and enjoy the last iteration of this competition. We started on Monday morning and over the coming week our cadets went from strength to strength. Each cadet was able to shoot twice at each distance of 300, 500 and 600 yards with Iron Sights! A test of skill, consistency and patience, with wind and weather conditions challenging not only the shooter, but also the coach.

The morning of the Ashburton competition itself was nerve-racking. We began at 300 yards, the wind and

rain begging to threaten a difficult day for even experienced shooters. Our 300 scores reflected the difficult conditions (as did many other schools) but we moved back to 600 yards with determination, moral was high and at 600 yards our shooting continued to improve, everyone improving dramatically from the difficulty of 300. Finally, after a short lunch break, we moved down to 500 for the final shoot of the competition. With the last heroic effort, the students shot excellently, doing Whitgift proud.

Sadly, we didn’t take away any trophies coming 15th (an improvement of 4 places on last year), but Freddie Lynch was chosen to collect a Silver Medal on my behalf as I managed to succeed in coming second in the staff competition with the support and coaching from Freddie. I wasn’t there to collect myself as prize giving clashed with the arrival of Whitgift Veterans Rifle Club to compete in the NRA Schools Veterans Match – a short competition fired after the Ashburton each year at 500 yards.

The Veterans were one of the few schools able to field 3 teams for the NRA School Vets, and had a very strong consistent set of results with the A team coming 27th overall and the school coming 9th in the aggregate of all 3 teams. Together the Vets and Students came 7th in the Lucas Cup, which aggregates the A team in the Vets and the Ashburton team. A fantastic result all round before everyone got changed into their finery for our Annual Dinner held at the Artists Rifles Clubhouse on Bisley Camp.

Our dinner filled out the clubhouse with 48 parents, students and club members. The Vets were incredibly proud to be able to present the Veterans Senior Cup to Freddie Lynch (for the second year running) and the Veterans Junior Cup to Alex Woodford. It was wonderful to see students, parents and alumni all together celebrating the fantastic success of the students all of whom were guests of the Vets.

One week of shooting, for many only the second or third time shooting at this level, and a really fantastic experience for everyone that they will speak about fondly for years to come. I was incredibly proud of each and every student, but especially our youngest students, 2 of whom were under 16 and achieved top 20 places in the U16s, Alex Woodford having never shot the 7.62mm rifle before, and Edward Lynch massively improving his personal consistency. The Vets will continue to be shooting at Bisley for the foreseeable future, having done so since 1896, and we will be celebrating 130 years of the Whitgift Vets next year. Much has changed in 130 years, but one thing remains the same - we welcome new members! So, if you, or your family wish to take up shooting or revisit an old past time please do get in contact! We will be having an Open Day on Saturday 13 December. If you are interested in attending, please contact Whitgift Veterans Secretary: secretary@wvrc.org.uk

Henry Parritt (OW2009-2016) Secretary of the Whitgift Veterans Rifle Club

Don Anderson falling victim to the ditches Don Anderson (middle)

FROM THE ARCHIVES

ICELAND 1955 SCHOOL EXPEDITION

In 1955 five Whitgift students and a teacher spent three weeks on a scientific expedition to northern Iceland. It was ‘a school journey with a difference’ with ‘a touch of adventure’. With the rough open ground of snow fields, lava deserts, lakes, rivers, and mountains offering plenty of scope of surveying for botany, ornithology, and geology.

This story is based on the logbook which has a day-by-day account and includes reports for botany, geology, and ornithology. From a total of 24 days, seven were spent on the core part of exploration, with the rest made up of sailing to and from Iceland on a freighter and travelling to and from the northern part of Iceland. The expedition had three camps: near Lake Myvatn, the area of Odadahraun, and beyond the small fishing port of Husavik.

The team comprised of the following: Roy Kennedy, driver and teacher; Rodney Gaynor (1948-1956), geology and camping equipment; David Gee (19491956), geology and cine-photography; Peter Grant (1947-1955), botany; David Herbert (1949-1956), ornithology; and Crawford Lindsay (1948-1957), food and first aid. In all, a highly versatile group of six cooks, five ornithologists, two geologists, two photographers, a botanist, and a truck driver.

To excuse the pun, the travelling to Iceland wasn’t plain sailing. Two of the party were nearly knocked down by a bus at Kings Cross station, and on the

Gullfoss freighter to Reykjavik only Kennedy got through the sea-crossing unscathed. Though as Herbert wrote in his report, ornithologists can ‘make their observations in almost any circumstances whether on board ship, travelling by car, or even while sunbathing’. Certainly, this was the case on the Gullfoss when Herbert relied on the party members to provide reports of their bird observations as he was sea-sick and lying prostrate for 36 hours. Other than seasickness the only other problems on the expedition were blisters.

The Reykjavik tourist bureau sourced a red Dodge army truck from a local businessman with the group paying £92 to hire the vehicle for a fortnight. The use of the Dodge is like one of the Top Gear special programmes of buying something cheaply and seeing just how far it can be pushed in harsh terrain. Everyone and everything squeezed in. It managed to take two up front and four in the back; luggage in the rear section; the camping equipment and a large box on the newly fitted wooden roof rack; and most of the rucksacks tied to the front mudguards. It was quite a surprise for the students ‘when the whole contraption moved away from the dock and headed for the open road’ though at ‘28mph the whole truck developed a perceptible high-speed wobble and shuddered in an ominous way’. Several times the Dodge got stuck or developed mechanical problems. And each time, Icelanders came to their aid.

All this kindness was greatly appreciated by the group. Two medical students helped with changing a tyre; the dynamo was welded back into place by two truck drivers at a service station who

‘literally laughed when we took out money’. Or when, on the way back to Reykjavik, water got into the petrol tank and a passing car with music playing passengers offered to take one of the students to a local farm near Godafoss. The drive was a hair-raising experience! The ‘driver was extremely skilful, as he had to be because he never used more than one hand and was talking to me, with his head twisted right round, for most of the time’.

The car zigzagged down a mountainside at speeds of up to 70mph accompanied by jazz music from the other passengers.

‘After a few minutes of wide-eyed terror I found the whole thing quite incredible and dismissed, if as a fantasy’. After contact with the farm mechanic the Dodge was towed back to the farm where the farmer’s wife prepared hot drinks. The water problem fixed; the group carried on towards Reykjavik.

On their penultimate day in Iceland the group and the Dodge made it back to Reykjavik despite a large rattling sound from the vehicle. The Dodge was cleaned out and returned to the owner. Aside from the vehicle problems, the kindness offered by the people of Iceland extended to food and accommodation.

The original plan was for the party to eat normally and be self-sufficient. The hospitality they received ensured their five weeks of rations was more food than they needed. The Whitgift party ate well with their rations supplemented with greatly appreciated fresh milk and bread at farms. And the meals started getting larger as the expedition progressed. Boys also ate Kleinur which was described as

‘brandy-snap-dried-doughnut things’, home-made sweet biscuits, chopped eggs on brown bread, smoked salmon on bread. And drank coffee.

Most of the food the group brought with them was a success with very few complaints. Favourites were Artic biscuits, Kendal Mint Cake, and tuna fish. And the cook, with a packet of curry powder, ‘was able to concoct some unrecognisable but apparently edible dishes’. A couple of mistakes were made: a few rashers of bacon went mouldy, and some butter became slightly rancid.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food supplied dehydrated food in the form of beef, pork, kidney, mutton, carrots, cabbage, potato, raspberry, apple, peach, and meat bars. All ‘supposed to be the last word in condensed energy’. Most were a great success apart from beef which when rehydrated turned into ‘a rather tough grade of rubber’. And the only real ‘hate’ were the unpalatable meat bars.

By the 6th of August food rationing was relaxed. Lunches consisted of Nestle milk chocolate, dates, Symbol biscuits, and raspberry flavoured drinks made with deliciously cold water from the river; while supper consisted of panflake soup, Symbol biscuits, tuna fish, bacon, tomato, sausages, baked beans, cabbage, potato; then rhubarb and milk, followed by tea, biscuits, and cheese, and Milo, a malt powder drink.

There isn’t much about the sleeping arrangements other than nights were a mixture of camping and sleeping in barns, the latter being ‘a genuine pleasure’. This entry from the 11th of August tells a story of local children staging ‘an acrobatic display after midnight and used our sleeping bags (with us in them) as a safety net – intentions were friendly’.

The end of a successful expedition came on the Saturday, 13th of August, and the sailing back home. For the boys’ ‘it was a sad moment, for we all had succumbed to the strange attraction to Iceland in a very brief way’.

This article can’t do justice to the observations and conclusions offered in the reports. What is clear in reading the logbook is the amount of work, time, and passion the students spent on collecting the field data and samples. In what was only a week of the geology and botany parts of the expedition.

The geologists decided to limit investigations to volcanos around the area of the Lake Myvatn, along with other forms of eruption such as geysers, hot springs, fumaroles, solfataras and mud-pools; and to study the lava desert around the immense crater of Askja. The area around Myvatn itself ‘was literally a mass of craters’ some 10m high and some up to 200m. The report is comprehensive in analysis and explanation including interpretation of water features at first hand using knowledge to come up with theories about volcanic features of cracks around Myvatn.

The students visited the lava field of Dimmuborgir. The name translates as dark cities, forts or castles and is a landscape of naturally occurring features. It was described as a strange dream of peace, where caves in found in the walls, of grotesque animal shapes in the contorted roofs and the cool air scented by tiny yellow flowers.

Grant’s Botanical report lists 135 plants collected and identified. 97 plants were brought back. Data and material collected and surveyed methodically with observations about species population according to factors such as soil composition. At this time about

500 species had been recorded or identified in Iceland. And Grant received a ‘handsome certificate’ from the Natural History Museum for sending the museum several plants.

The Ornithology report offers a general impression of bird life in Iceland. Even in the short time spent in Iceland, Herbert recorded the sightings and locations of 61 bird species ‘of the 70 of birds which he could possibly have hoped to see’.

Other reports are included, for example, the Film report notes that the party took 1000 feet of black and white with the 16mm Bell and Howell cine camera described as ‘unimpressive’. As Gee noted with self-depreciating humour in his cine report, it would have been ‘would have been foolish to entrust valuable colour film to an immature cameraman and an over-mature camera’. The film and slides were shown to audiences of parents and students totalling nearly 1000 and ‘they seemed to enjoy themselves’. We have in the archive this 16mm black and white silent film giving a visual record of the expedition, alongside a bound copy of the Logbook that has a selection of black and white photographs, and an article in The Whitgiftian magazine.

This article wouldn’t have been possible without the logbook and the magazine cared for in the archive. We are always pleased to receive material and recollections from this and other school trips and expeditions.

David Clifford School Archivist

A picnic near Myvatn

OW obituaries

Dr John Dargavel (1942-51)

John Dargavel, who died on 25 July 2024 at the age of 92, was Hon Secretary of the Hansard Society and YHA Group and a committee member of the Debating Society at school. He left from Upper Vith Science A to go to Edinburgh University. He left a remarkable legacy in forestry and environmental sciences marked by ground-breaking contributions to the fields of Forestry, Forest History, Environmental History, and particularly in integrating social sciences into forestry practices.

The following tribute came from the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University:

Dr. John Dargavel, a long-standing member of the Fenner community, passed away over the weekend, leaving behind a remarkable legacy in forestry and environmental sciences. Born in London on August 15, 1932, John’s career was marked by groundbreaking contributions to the field of forestry, particularly in integrating social sciences into forestry practices.

John’s academic journey began with a BSc in Forestry from the University of Edinburgh in 1956, followed by an MSc in Forestry from the University of Melbourne in 1970. His PhD from the ANU in 1983 presented a radical analysis of the Tasmanian wood industries, highlighting his innovative approach and deep understanding of forest economics, planning, politics, and history.

John’s professional career spanned several continents and institutions. He worked as a forester in government and industry for twenty years, including a

significant period at APM Forests Pty Ltd in Victoria, where he was in charge of forest planning and economic analysis. His academic career included a research and teaching stint at the University of Georgia before he joined ANU in 1982, where he remained a pivotal figure until his retirement.

A pioneer in forest history and social sciences in forestry, John founded the Australian Forest History Society and published extensively. His notable works include “Fashioning Australia’s Forests” (1995), “The Zealous Conservator” (2008), “Science and Hope” (2013), and the autobiographical “Anthropocene Days” (2023). His leadership in the late 80s and early 90s Otway Forest Management Planning Project, a joint project between the ANU and the Victorian Government, demonstrated his commitment to multidisciplinary approaches in forestry.

John was also a beloved mentor and colleague, known for his collegiality and dedication to his students. He held honorary positions at the Urban and Environment Program (RSSS), CRES, SRES and, finally, here at Fenner. His engagement with various academics and his contributions to numerous research and advisory committees reflected his lifelong dedication to forestry and environmental science.

John’s impact on forestry and his pioneering work in integrating social sciences into the field will be remembered and celebrated by colleagues, students, and the broader environmental science community. His contributions to forestry and environmental science will continue to inspire and guide future generations. He will be deeply missed.

Keith Ebden (1965-72)

Keith Ebden left school with a scholarship in engineering at Peterhouse, Cambridge. The following is a tribute to Keith Ebden from his school friend Dr Vincent Needham:

Keith quickly made his mark academically, particularly in maths & the technical subjects, at Whitgift. He gained popularity with his engaging character, impish humour, and sharp wit. He gained notoriety, though, as a consequence of the adverse effects of the very aggressive treatments he received at The Middlesex Hospital in his mid-teens for Hodgkins Lymphoma, namely alopecia, and the blue linear mapping of limbs from lymphangiograms. The treatments were successful, and he became one of the first patients to be cured of the disease. His physical health being compromised, his natural enthusiasm led him into other areas of endeavour: he was a crack 22 rifle shot, and a key figure in the CCF Corps of Drums.

Keith read engineering at Cambridge, where he rowed for his college, before taking an MSc in Naval Architecture at UCL. On joining the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors, (RCNC), he worked with the Royal Navy. He thrived in this environment, thoroughly enjoying sea time, and overseeing frigate refits at Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. After a few years he accepted an exchange with the Royal New Zealand Navy, taking his young family to Auckland, where he later formally transferred and emigrated. After a successful few years, a government reorganisation prompted him to resign & set up a successful IT business, but his naval architecture remained his professional passion.

The legacies of his teenage treatments caused him difficulties in his adult life, but he always attacked these head on, and with humour. He had his first hip replacement at 27, his surgeon aghast when he arrived at his first out-patient review in motorcycle clothing. When this hip wore out and was replaced again, Keith retained the femoral prosthesis as his front door knocker!

His competitive and social outlooks found expression in croquet, which he played at high level, and through which he met his Kiwi second wife, Kay. They were superbly matched, and Kay

was persuaded, having denied several previous suitors. The humour of each was as mischievous as the other’s. They enjoyed 11 years together in Tauranga, though the last 2 were compromised by Keith’s illnesses, again secondary to his teenage Hodgkins treatments.

He died peacefully at home on 17 May 2025, supported throughout by his beloved Kay. He also leaves his first wife, Sue, their daughter and son (a past NZ Olympic archer).

Those who watched the OW Rugby Club in the 1970s and 80s will remember the wonderful silky running of Ken Anderson who died in August 2024 at the early age of 68. He was a splendidly talented sportsman who also had the talent to be the youngest dealer on the floor of the Stock Exchange when at Akroyd and Smithers and also the determination, as Club Treasurer, to mastermind the funding of a new clubhouse for Deben Rowing Club in his adopted county of Suffolk.

The following eulogy was given at Ken’s funeral by his great friend Richard Veldeman (1966-74):

Quite simply, Ken was a true friend – generous and loyal; 50+ years is testament to that. We grew up together from teenage years at school and, through those early years of adulthood in particular, discovering life, we got to know how each other ticked and became firm friends. Fundamentally, I believe that Ken valued friendships very highly; just look at everyone here today - I am sure that all of you will have recognised that quality in him and his passing will certainly leave a gap in all our lives.

But what of the persona, let’s be honest, he was a character…intoxicating, infectious, engaging, energetic, demanding – you run out of adjectives; in short, he was fun to be with!

I have always thought of him as The Great Entertainer. He really was, he just couldn’t stop himself! He could always make fun of something and with his quick wit, his sharp & creative mind, his way with words he did it superbly. Any time, any place be it at the rugby club, high jinks on tour, The Stag & Hounds, The Dolphin, The Refuge, to name but a few of his haunts….

There was no crowd too large – famously, on a boat trip back from Ireland when he had the whole lounge under his spell for over an hour (what a shame there were no mobile phones or YouTube then – or maybe not!) - and no crowd too small – after a Christmas lunch (just the pair of us) he stood. I thought he was off to the loo but he completely caught me out when he launched into a Churchillian style speech, so funny. There are countless moments to which I could not do justice – as they say, you had to be there – but suffice to say, he would have us in stitches. I am sure you all will have your own personal memories of such happy and hilarious moments.

However, Ken was also a keen sporting man, blessed with an amazing sporting talent. I am sure he could have played at the highest level if he wanted. What entertainment that would have been. It was through sport that Ken & I first really met, when we were 15. Our school rugby coach decided that the backline defence needed some beefing up and judging that Ken and I were good tacklers he decided we should both move from our usual positions to form the new centre pairing. I have to thank him for that decision for the enduring friendship that came out of it. As it happened, on the field, the change worked well and we had a reasonably successful time but most of all we had fun doing it. It was also clear to us all then that Ken had a gift.

We continued to play together up through the school and Ken flourished being selected for the 1st XV a year ahead of his year. By this time, we had also already started playing for the Old Boys. Inevitably Ken’s quality shone through and soon he was playing regularly for the club 1st XV.

After leaving school Ken started work at the Stock Exchange for a stock jobbing firm. Not surprisingly Ken fitted in very well and achieved quick success rising to be the youngest dealer on the floor at the time. In those days the big institutions would have sporting competitions and on one occasion Ken was playing for the Stock Exchange and came up against one of the incumbent England centres, who he proceeded to make an absolute fool of – yes, he definitely had something special.

Around the same time, he was also invited to join a summer tour with the Public School Wanderers (a bit like the Barbarians - invitation only, no home ground and you had to be good!). We were on holiday in the West Country and I recall Ken leaving mid-way through to join the tour. I cannot remember who he played with or against but you can be sure they would have been amongst the top echelon of the time and needless to say he did very well.

There was also another invitational side called the Combined London Old Boys (CLOB for short) who selected the best players – and there were some very good ones – from the many Old Boys’ rugby clubs that existed in those days. CLOB had a very impressive fixture list and inevitably Ken was invited to play; he became a favourite of the CLOB founder, Alan Cooper, who described Ken as “oily”. An unusual and uncommon description for sure but I think it encapsulated his fluid movement, his guile, elusiveness and unpredictability – a slick operator you might say!

I seem to recall also there was interest from London Scottish but can’t recall the exact details of this.

From 1979 -1981 Ken was captain of the club. A shrewd and thoughtful leader, there was always a plan, always the big motivating speech but equally a separate word of advice or instruction to an individual in way to suit them – the Mike Brearley of the Old Whitgiftians, if you like. He was also very aware of the team effort and would make sure all were recognised and appreciated –for example, he may have just scored a wonder try in the far corner but he had the time to wave acknowledgement to the pack who had fought hard to deliver the ball to make it possible in the first place.

Ken Anderson (1967-74)

OW obituaries

Ken played regularly for the club clocking up 194 appearances for the 1st XV and he scored many points both touch downs and kicks. There are too many great moments to relate but at his best Ken was untouchable, truly special. A few quotes from the local press at the time may give you a sense:

“Anderson shines with four tries” “Anderson on top” “Handy Anderson” and a line that sums it all up for me: “In the end, it was only Anderson’s individual skill, both as try scorer and kicker, that separated the teams.”

Ken was confident, audacious and could see things others couldn’t but, crucially, blessed with skills in abundance to execute these ideas – a natural. These skills were easily transferrable; while he was a rugby player through and through, he always said to me that football was his first love and had Whitgift offered that sport, it would have been his first choice. In fact, he did take a bit of time out from rugby to try his luck with a local amateur football club – Carshalton Athletic, I think. My memory is a bit hazy on this – while he obviously did well, for one reason or another it didn’t last long and he returned to the Old Boys.

His rugby career came to a painful halt when he broke his leg and fractured his ankle. Nevertheless, he managed some games afterwards with Chris Rees’s A XV (a mixture of experienced ex first team players and young talent) – I sometimes felt (not for long though) that it was a little unfair lining Ken up against some of the unsuspecting opposition, they really didn’t know what to do with him! Anyhow, it was two years of great fun and success, on and off the pitch, in many ways coming full circle with the pair us playing in the centre together where we had first started.

Through the 80s Ken & I would often go to Twickenham to watch England (more often than not to lose!) but on one memorable occasion we went up on spec to see them play the All Blacks and miraculously England won. What a wonderful day. We were hoarse at the end of it! Ken supported England enthusiastically but deep down he was he was proud of his Scottish roots. My lasting memory of this will be in 2019 when we went to Collioure in France to watch the Rugby World Cup. In the Café Solo (the bar that became our local and

whose owners were passionate rugby men) I can see Ken now in a makeshift tartan kilt with the saltire round his shoulders standing on a chair cheering on the men in blue in turn being applauded by the rest of the bar…Mel Gibson eat your heart out!

Ken moved to Woodbridge where family life became very much the main focus. However, he also discovered some new pastimes, rowing and cycling … and, guess what, he was very good at those too! While he gave up the rowing some years ago he was still able to indulge in some gentle cycling up until a year or so ago which I know gave him much pleasure.

I must mention one other sport that he was fanatical about – not one that he participated in (as far as I am aware) but one in which he was a great afficionado and followed closely – horse racing. His knowledge of this sport was encyclopaedic, such detail, and he would visit meetings whenever possible – Newmarket was not so far away and he was a regular attendee at the Cheltenham Festival with his good friend Mark. In typical Ken style he had decided to adopt the nom de plume Lucky Gypsy to undersign his thoughts and tips which he would share with his racing buddies. In more recent years, for many reasons, we all decided that the Cheltenham festival was too much but Ken had a new plan, to go to the Dublin Racing Festival instead: this idea was a huge success and we will continue to repeat this trip for as long as we can. Despite his failing health Ken made a big effort to come to the meeting earlier this year but it was clear it was not easy for him and, I believe, this was the last time he made any big trip away from home.

We will miss his sparkling and knowledgeable company, perhaps for future trips we will introduce the Lucky Gypsy trophy in memory - there’s a thought, but for now, farewell Lucky Gypsy, old friend, see you at the finishing post.

David Priest (1944-51)

David Priest was a very well-known and much liked OW who was very actively involved in OW sport and administration. The following is based on the eulogy given at his funeral by his eldest son, Philip:

David Edward Priest was born on 5th February 1935 in South Croydon to parents Ted & Wyn.

He had an elder brother Michael and a younger sister Brenda. He grew up in the 2nd World War and had memories of watching dog fights from the back garden in the skies above Croydon, of Morrison and Anderson shelters dug in the back garden and ‘doodlebugs’ flying overhead while cycling to school! School days at Whitgift where he started in September 1944 aged 9½ was a great time. He made many lifelong friends and excelled at studies and sports, representing the school in rugby, cricket and athletics, particularly the high hurdles where he once held the school record. He was Junior School Captain of Cedar House, an honour that was also bestowed upon his three sons and a House Prefect of Smiths in the Senior School. He rather surprisingly he left school at 16 and continued his education at a local college in Croydon where he studied Civil Engineering following which he took an apprenticeship with a local Croydon company.

After two years National Service as an officer in the Royal Engineers, David joined Marley as his first “proper” job. Sadly, elder brother Michael, a very talented sportsman and an England rugby trialist like their father Ted, died from a brain tumour when David was 22.

Social life revolved around the Old Whitgiftian Rugby Club just down the road from home and David made his first team debut at the tender age of 16 playing in the second row against fully grown men in a very high standard of club rugby - it would certainly not be allowed now - and he went on to represent the Old Boys 1st XV 325 times,

a record until broken by his brother in law Gerry Bowthorpe who played over 400 games). David played in the same OW team as another future brother-inlaw, Peter Toon, who married younger sister Brenda. The rugby club has a lot to answer for! David also represented the Army and Surrey at rugby. David was also a keen golfer, first at Croham Hurst, where his mother was a keen and talented player, then at Walton Heath and latterly at Rye.

David met his future wife, Wendy, at the local church and remembers the many famous ‘Hamley’ family tennis and tea parties at Nr 86 Croham Road. It was no coincidence that it was right opposite the rugby club, where the romance blossomed! This is where the ‘Priests’ went up market, marrying into the Hamley Toy Shop dynasty! David and Wendy were married in September 1959 at St. Pauls Church conveniently opposite the rugby club!

After early years of married life and the birth of sons, Philip and Ian, the family moved to Kingswood in 1969, where David used his construction and architectural skills to design, build and project manage to convert an aging 1930s 3-bedroom house into a large 5 bed family home. Further children, Andrew and Louise were born in 1971 and 1973.

In 1972, David took his first real business risk and left the secure management job at Marley to run his own house building business with two golfing friends. Although he found it a relief to escape from the restrictions of a major corporate business, the enterprise failed in the mid-70s recession. Despite the financial crisis of a big mortgage, a big family and school fees David immediately started a small building company converting houses into flats. There were a few good years with that business but another recession in 1979 ended that. He then started Kitchen Partners which served the domestic and construction markets and finished his working life with some success before finally retiring at the age of 77 and selling the business in 2012.

In January 2000, David’s wife Wendy died while they were on holiday in Zimbabwe. In late 2001 David remarried and lived with his new wife, Annie, for a further 23 years. David was very proud of his TWO wives and was overheard,

when in hospital, telling a nurse “I’ve had two lovely wives, one of 40 years and the other of 25 years”.

David was a very well-liked man - the main themes that ran through the messages received by the family on his death were that he was a true ‘Gentleman’, a ‘Great Wit!’ and that his was a Life Well Lived.

Peter Sparks was among the oldest living OWs when he died at the age of 97. The following is based on the eulogy given at his funeral by his son Tony:

Our Father Peter always had an affinity with the sea. His Father, Jack, had bought Church Farm in East Wittering and in their youth, he and his older brother John spent many happy hours mucking about either by or on the sea. He loved the sea so much, that his quite precise instructions for when he died included not only the hymns he wanted for the service but clear instructions to take his ashes to the beach off Blue Anchor, and, and this is important, at LOW EBB, chuck them in the sea - no need for a headstone, our lovely beach is enough.

Peter Greville Sparks was born in Gunnersbury Avenue North London on the 15th January 1928 to Beatrice (née Surridge) and Jack Sparks. Father also left a specific request that I mention his own father, Jack, who he was very proud of. Jack had been in the Royal Flying Corps, even before it became the RAF. He rose to the rank of Captain, was awarded a DFC (which our cousin Penny still treasures) but was badly wounded in action. I understand that till his dying day - which was a year before I was born- he still carried with him in his head a lump of

shrapnel. In an attempt to recuperate, he became a Jackeroo in Queensland.

Tragically, he subsequently received news that his older brother Ralph had been killed in action and he had to come home to care for his nephew - also Ralph - who had been abandoned by his mother following his father’s death. So effectively, when Jack and Beattie got together and subsequently married, and John and Peter were born, they already had a cousin at home who they regarded as their older brother.

Then of course, another war started, and young Ralph immediately signed up to fly. One of the saddest moments of father’s life was when he came home from Whitgift and was told that young Ralph had also perished in a tragic flying accident.

Jack Sparks had started a car park on a bomb site in Streatham Hill. His cousin, Jack Kingdom had built the cinema and the Locarno Dance Hall on Streatham Hill and needed somewhere for his customers to park.

Jack subsequently built a petrol garage - The Dutch Boy, on Sternhold Avenue which is when the business John A Sparks & Co Ltd was incorporated in 1954. They were BMC dealers and built such a thriving repair business they built a 30,000 sq. ft works round the corner in Ardwell Road. Father joined the business after leaving school as he failed his military medical due to problems with legs and eyesight. Throughout his life our Peter was blighted by osteo problems - in his youth, we understand, he was fitted with callipers and in later life he had multiple hip replacements and two new knees.

Despite that, he played rugby for Whitgift, was a decent squash player and was a member of the Mogador Wanders Cricket club. It is only in later years that I realised that the lack of their own pitch probably meant that there was more drinking beer than playing cricket. By this time the family were living in Kingswood and Peter also joined the local golf club.

He met his future wife Ann - a London Welsh girl from Clapham - at a wedding. She was a nurse at the West Middlesex Hospital so we assume that there was much diverting from Streatham to West Middlesex at the close of business.

Peter Sparks (1940-45)

OW obituaries

Father was a grafter. He loved engines but was passionate about hydraulics. The engine business paid the bills, but unfortunately for him, he could never get his passion for hydraulics to pay off. He worked with a delightful, but eccentric boffin, called David Nicholls creating - amongst other things - chicken shed automation: not a financial success. As a little aside, his cousin Stuart Surridge, the former Surrey cricket captain and bat maker, asked him to make a hydraulic press to process the new Jumbo cricket bats at a constant pressure. I went with him when he proudly delivered this huge machine to the Surridge factory in Witham. Unfortunately, it did too good a job and the bats were no longer Jumbo. After a hearty lunch with Uncle Stewart - we returned to Streatham Hillwith the machine. It remained in a corner of the workshop for years!

He was however far more successful with the Dorman Engine business. He had spotted a gap in the market - Dorman were the suppliers to Simplex locos the engines which moved all Britain’s steel around steel works and all over the country as well as coal from the mines in South Wales. He opened a shop in Tudor Street in the Tiger Bay area of Cardiff, employed some ex Simplex engineers and within a few years was doing a roaring trade. One of my earliest memories as a child was going with him during school holidays and cleaning the windows of the pretty run-down shop.

The business continued to thrive and Father and his brother John closed the car garage business as Dorman expanded their range of engines to cranes and generators which kept our stores and service fleet busy in London and Cardiff.

Whilst he was a hard worker, Pa always managed to find time to play golf, go boating in Wittering and take the family on lovely holidays. He was also a passionate gardener and was very proud of his Frank Headley geraniums.

Father was asked to join the Coachmakers livery by his old friend John Lines whose family made Triang toys in a factory in Wimbledon. He and John became a firm pair at the annual golf tournament held jointly with the Leathersellers at The New Zealand Golf club. There was a natural time for Father to take a back seat from business when he was elected Master Coachmaker in

1996. That was a wonderful year for my parents. Highlights I can recall were judging the British carriage driving competition with Prince Philip at Smiths Lawn and driving a tank with our affiliated regiment the Royal Dragoon Guards … in Germany. Martin Payne - a fellow Coachmaker- kindly sent us a short video of the Hagley Hall celebration of the centenary of the Motor Industry in Father’s year as Master. It was a wonderful snapshot of my old man in full swing and particularly touched my boys who had few memories of him being such a suave, engaging and fun man.

His old friend and fellow livery man Derek Reffell had become governor of Gibraltar and he and his wife Jan invited our parents for tea at the Convent, the official residence. So off to Brize Norton they went, where no 10 Squadron whisked them away. I think tea was just an excuse and they had a couple of days staying at the convent, inspecting the guard, and being wined and dined. Not bad for a garage boy from Streatham Hill I can hear Pa say!

On their retirement, our parents had a good few years of travelling the world - in between hip replacements - sometimes with friends. Sadly, Ann died suddenly at Wittering in 2003 and whilst Father did continue his cruises with his companion Helen, it was never the same.

He made the permanent move to Wittering in about 2010 and threw himself into local life. Among those here are friends from the Village some of whom got to know him through the cricket and croquet club where he was Vice President.

Our father was a great father and grandfather to both me and my two boys, to Judy’s three children and the four great grandchildren.

Finally, Judy and I would like to thank you all for being here today, for sharing in our sorrow, and for celebrating the remarkable life of Peter Sparks. Whilst we mourn his passing, let us also celebrate the remarkable life he lived and the legacy he leaves behind. Pa- you will be deeply missed, but your love and sense of fun will remain with us.

Roger Freeman (1952-61)

Roger Freeman, or more formally Rt Hon Lord Freeman of Dingley in the County of Northamptonshire, was House Captain of Tate’s, Second Prefect and very much an elder statesman of the school when he left for Balliol College, Oxford. He had a seriousness and maturity about him which was very different from most of his contemporaries although two others (Peter Bowness and Graham Tope also became Life Peers through political service). At Oxford he was President of the University Conservative Association and subsequently qualified as a chartered accountant winning prizes in his professional exams. The following obituary is taken from The Daily Telegraph of 8 June 2025:

Lord Freeman, who has died aged 83, was the least-known of the seven members of John Major’s Cabinet who lost their seats as New Labour swept to power in 1997; he had been Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and minister for the public service (effectively Lord High Everything Else) for almost two years.

Previously Roger Freeman had impressed Major as Minister of State for Transport – piloting through the Bill privatising the railways – and for Defence Procurement. An accountant turned banker, he had helped set up Lehman Brothers’ London office in 1972, and after losing his seat chaired the UK operations of the French electronic and defence contractor Thales.

Hardworking, with an eye for detail and a certain stiffness in manner, he was a safe pair of hands in a government running out of talent and steam. As righthand man to the deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine, he took charge of eliminating red tape, e.government (IT

and communications), the cull of elderly cattle when BSE kicked in, and noncooperation with the EU when it banned British beef. He was the first Cabinet minister to publicise his email address.

Freeman readily acknowledged his relative lack of profile. Meeting commuters in 1991 wearing his Citizen’s Charter badge, he admitted: “Some people mistook me for a ticket collector.” Challenged on television about the unapproachability of “politicians in grey suits”, he retorted: “I can’t just start turning up to work in a jumper.”

Much of his value to Major lay in his ability to lower the political temperature. It was Freeman who was chosen in 1996 to wind up the highly charged debate on the Scott Report into ministerial connivance at the shipment of military equipment to Saddam Hussein, in which two ministers – Sir Nicholas Lyell and William Waldegrave – came within a whisker of being forced out.

Weeks later, he took a contentious divorce reform Bill through the Commons after the Lords forced the government to accept pension-splitting when a marriage was dissolved.

Yet Freeman, like so many politicians, would be haunted by one casual remark: his suggestion in 1992 that the railways should operate two classes of train, “cheap and cheerful” for typists and the like, and more luxurious for those paying more. He recanted after a howl of protest from commuters, but the phrase stuck.

Roger Norman Freeman was born at Neston, Cheshire, on 27 May 1942, the son of Norman Freeman and the former Marjorie Ellis. He was educated at Whitgift in south London and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read PPE and in 1964 was president of the university Conservative Association.

Articled to Binder Hamlyn, he qualified in 1969 as a chartered accountant. That year he moved to Lehman Brothers, working in New York and London and becoming a partner; he stayed until appointed a minister.

Treasurer of the Bow Group in 1967, Freeman fought Don Valley in 1979. He was elected for Kettering in Margaret Thatcher’s landslide of 1983 when the sitting Labour MP had retired;

boundary changes helped him take the seat by 6,583 votes over the SDP. He began by calling a public meeting to ascertain constituents’ views on capital punishment, before voting against it.

At Westminster, he joined the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee; was the only newly elected Tory to vote against rate capping; opposed Sir Keith Joseph’s increase in the parental contribution for student grants; and rebelled to support letting councils keep the proceeds from selling houses to tenants. He favoured joining the European Monetary System, and despite strong liberal instincts attacked the Church of England’s “worn-out socialist dogma” on the inner cities.

In 1986 Mrs Thatcher made Freeman Under-Secretary for the Armed Forces. Much of his time was spent on complaints that Army recruits were being bullied; he announced measures to tackle it after a campaign by the Labour MP Jack Ashley. Freeman’s initiative included making the forces more diverse; he agreed to the ethnic monitoring of recruits, but insisted positive discrimination would be illegal.

Reflecting a more open attitude within the MoD, Freeman approved the BBC’s showing a documentary by Duncan Campbell on a defective national defence control system. He also righted a long-standing wrong by apologising to Major Peter Cory for the department’s repeated false assertions to prospective employers that he had left the Army with a criminal record.

In December 1988 Freeman moved sideways to Health, when Edwina Currie was forced to resign after stating that most of Britain’s egg production was affected by salmonella. Mrs Thatcher asked him to investigate the extent to which the mentally ill were being dumped on the streets as their hospitals closed. Freeman also attacked the BMA for whipping up “unfounded fears” about NHS reform.

In May 1990 he was promoted to Minister of State for Transport.

Discontent among commuters was worrying Mrs Thatcher, and he toured the rail network meeting them.

Moving his office to Docklands for a week in response to complaints about “shambolic” operation of the Docklands Light Railway, he transferred it from

London Transport to the London Docklands Development Corporation.

Under Major, rail privatisation came on to the agenda and Freeman handled the details: spelling out how responsibility for the track and train operation would be separated, and supervising Railtrack’s emergence from British Rail. He also opened the bidding for consortia to construct and operate the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1). He was made a privy counsellor in 1993.

In July 1994 he returned to the MoD as Minister of State for procurement. He was there only a year, but it was a busy one. He announced an end to the “fratricidal” policy of competition between more than one British contractor in the same field and raised no objection to GEC taking over the naval shipbuilder VSEL; it eventually became part of BAE Systems.

After a damning report from the Health and Safety Executive, Freeman brought the MoD’s atomic weapons facilities under the same safety regime as nuclear power stations. He launched an international competition to replace the RAF’s ageing Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft, and, most controversially, confirmed that Rosyth naval base would close.

When Major reshuffled his team in July 1995, having defeated John Redwood’s leadership challenge, he brought Freeman into the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Much of his work concerned the machinery of government: privatising HM Stationery Office and proposing a nationwide network of public computer kiosks.

Freeman suggested halving the membership of the Commons, with MPs retiring at 60, and tried to water down the Government’s response to the Nolan Report on “sleaze”, so ministers found to have deliberately misled the House would “offer their resignations” rather than go automatically.

At the 1997 election he lost Kettering to Labour by just 189 votes; his Cabinet colleagues Michael Portillo, Malcolm Rifkind, Ian Lang, Michael Forsyth, Tony Newton and Waldegrave were also defeated. He received a life peerage in Major’s resignation honours, and William Hague made him a party vice-chairman: Freeman served until 2001.

OW obituaries

In the Lords, he chaired the Select Committee on the European internal market and served on the Science and Technology Committee, the Committee on the Speakership and the EU Committee on defence, foreign affairs and international development. He retired from the Lords in 2020.

Freeman became a partner in PwC, and Thales UK, from 1999, was the highest profile of several companies he chaired. He was president of the British International Freight Association from 1999 to 2002.

Roger Freeman married, in 1969, the architectural historian Jennifer Watson. She survives him, with their son and daughter.

Roger Freeman, born May 27 1942, died June 2 2025

where he played on the rugby team and competed in high jump and hurdles. After joining the British Army in 1954, he attended the Royal Military College of Science. In 1957 he received a 2nd Class Honours Bachelor of Science Engineering degree from the University of London in person from the Queen Mother Elizabeth at the Royal Albert Hall. He was then commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. In his 11year military career Neil served in Kenya, Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean, and as a Liaison Officer with the British Army of the Rhine in West Germany, rising to the rank of Captain. During his period of service Neil performed surveying missions in the Serengeti in Kenya and on Royal Air Force Canberra jets and enjoyed ocean racing with the Royal Engineer Yacht Club, including participation in the Fastnet Race from England to Ireland and back.

all over the world. He became a skilled bridge player and teacher, following in the footsteps of his mother who played duplicate bridge at an international level for England.

Neil is survived by his sister Diana, sons Michael (Mikyung) and David (Margaret), grandchildren Elizabeth, Stephen, and Brian, brother-in-law Jerry, sister-in-law Alice (Jack), cousin Judy, seven nieces and nephews, and many good friends in the Chippewa Falls area and around the world

way. Later in life he took to tennis, golf and skiing, which he particularly enjoyed. He first took to it at 36 and skied well until 84. He used to say that on holiday from work if one was faced with a steep slope, it was impossible to think about anything other than how to get down it. Beach holidays did not provide that sort of distraction. At school he had joined the Scouts and in that group was his lifelong friend Pat Brenchley. He was made Head boy. He said that he had discussed with his headmaster the practice, at that time, of Prefects wearing gowns and being allowed to beat pupils.

cancer of the bile duct, a particularly aggressive disease: he had chemo and immunotherapy but, unfortunately, they failed to stem its rapid growth.

After leaving school Simon, where he was a good 1st XI cricketer, used his statistical skills in market research roles in a variety of industries chocolate manufacturers, the construction industry, power tool manufacturers, over the counter pharmaceuticals and the security industry where he met Chrisi, his wife for 40 years.

s sleep Friday morning April 11, 2025 in Fullerton, 17 He was born on April 27, 1934 in County Cork,

Neil Goodall served in the British army before moving to the United States. After his death the school was pleased to receive a donation in recognition of his time at Whitgift. His life is described in the following tribute from his son David:

Neil Goodall, 90, passed away peacefully in his sleep Friday morning April 11, 2025 in Fullerton, California, where he had been living since 2017.

He was born on April 27, 1934 in County Cork, Ireland, of the late Harold and Olive Goodall. Neil grew up in Ireland until the end of World War 2, then in 1946 moved with his father, mother, and sister Diana to Croydon in suburban London. He attended Whitgift School in Croydon

In the summer of 1960 Neil met Ann Catherine Sazama of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin while she was travelling Europe after her university graduation. They conducted their courtship via international letters between the United States and Kenya, including Neil’s proposal of marriage, which necessitated a 6 week wait for Ann’s affirmative reply. Imagine the suspense! Neil and Ann were married in 1961 at Notre Dame church in Chippewa Falls on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The newlyweds spent their honeymoon in Duluth, Minnesota and then moved to West Germany where Neil was stationed. Two boys were born in West Germany, Michael John in 1963 and David Neil in 1964, before Neil resigned his commission and the family returned to live in Chippewa Falls in January 1965. Neil started working as the plant engineer at Cornell Corporation and eventually became the company president, retiring in 2004 after nearly 40 years in the roofing industry.

Neil and Ann were part of the founding group of the Lake Wissota Yacht Club, and as a family enjoyed many vacations visiting relatives and friends in the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. Neil was an avid fly and bait fisherman, skier, gardener, and reader of history, especially of World War 2. He also loved telling unfunny dad jokes, long before the term was widespread!

War 2, then in 1946 moved with his father, mother, ondon. He attended Whitgift School in Croydon mpeted in high jump and hurdles After joining the Military College of Science In 1957 he received a ineering degree from the University of London in he Royal Albert Hall. He was then commissioned ers. In his 11 year military career Neil served in , and as a Liaison Officer with the British Army on ank of Captain During his period of service Neil

After Ann’s death in 2005, Neil continued his travels and took 49 cruise vacations

Jerry Evans was an outstanding Whitgiftian – School Captain, excellent sportsman and academically successful. He was a Cambridge graduate in classics (Christ’s College), a high-flying civil servant and a family man. Those who were lucky enough to see him play for the OW 1st XV in the early 1960s will remember a lean, fast, subtle centre –one of the stars of a great decade and more of OW rugby: how full of talent must the University have been that he did not win his blue at Cambridge. The following tribute is written by Alison, Jerry’s wife for over 60 years:

By any measure Jeremy/Jerry lived a good life. After a stable home life, Whitgift, National Service, reading Classics at Cambridge, he entered the Civil Service later working his way through a highly successful career in some way linked to Government and the field of energy and transport.

In 1975 after a year spent as a Sloane Fellow at the London Business School, he was appointed the organising secretary of the British National Oil Corporation,

created to try to reinforce the UK’s control of the fledgling North Sea oil industry. It was time consuming work, involving international travel, long periods away from home and family but he found it exciting and satisfying. In 1988 after he left the oil industry and BP’s takeover of Britoil, BNOC’s privatised company, he had a spell working for himself. He taught himself to touch type and acquire essential IT skills, used to good effect for the rest of his life. He found consultancy work with the Government, with oil companies and Eurotunnel and then joined British Rail as Director of Corporate affairs for the last seven years of his working life until that too, like Britoil, was privatised. There are not too many in the world who have been one of the first five in and the last few last out of a medium sized national oil company (BNOC/Britoil) and privatised twice. He always enjoyed the jobs he had, especially the last one, but said, on retirement, “I am so happy not to have to ask anybody if I can go on holiday”.

In his late fifties and in his retirement, he signed up for other responsibilities, serving on the General Dental Council, a Trustee of the Board of St Piers Lingfield, and of Dormans Park Trust. He rejuvenated the Junior Section of his golf club – Royal Ashdown Forest - during a five year spell, He loved that particular task, consuming time and energy and many of the young school age golfers went on to have single figure handicaps.

So, what was he like? He had a powerful work ethic and clear ideas of what he wanted and was expected. He was also thoughtful professional and kind with an enviable sense of humour and wit. He enjoyed good things, was somehow simple and did not feel the need to show off. It was said of him that he could see ‘further around a corner than most’.

He had natural sporting ability and Whitgift allowed that to mature and flourish. Cricket (wicket keeper) was his favourite and rugby a close second. He enjoyed fives, fencing (captain), and badminton elsewhere. Post Whitgift he played both Cricket and Rugby for Cambridge, but not against Oxford, and later at centre for Surrey, London Counties and the Army. He captained the Civil Service team. He loved Sevens and in 1963 helped the Old Boys win through to the final day of the Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham. Then work got in the

His passion, apart from sport was opera, which was crystallised when, as a National Serviceman he had cycled from Pirbright barracks to Covent Garden to hear Wagner, from the old wooden seats in the upper amphitheatre. He used to say he had all the requirements for opera, the passion, the love of language the drama …just not the voice. He was a lifetime supporter of the Royal Opera House and several other companies.

At the core of his life was his family, his 60 years together with his wife Alison and their three children. He was an encouraging father, always curious about how his children were pursuing their paths and tremendously proud of them and of their children, happy watching them grow and mature. His true passions, music and sport, shone through even the cloak of aphasia which he cruelly suffered for the last few years of his life.

He joined Chrisi in her business, providing corporate services to companies listed on the London Stock Exchange and they built a successful venture working together for over 20 years.

Simon played cricket for the OWs for a number of seasons – he was a forthright batsman who attacked the bowling from the outset: on one occasion the score was in the high 20s after the first over of a league match, a remarkable assault not greatly appreciated by the opposition. He developed spinal problems and was obliged to give up cricket at the age of 40.

Simon’s other great passion was railways both steam and model with his greatest interest being the Somerset & Dorset Line. He was very well known in the railway fraternity for his modelling and knowledge. I did suggest we had a USB port inserted into his brain so I could download all the knowledge before he departed!

In 2009 we retired to Somerset and took on a project to transform a 1950’s bungalow into our retirement home. The garden is over an acre in size and we were able to design into the garden a steam driven garden railway and an electric one. The later appeared on the front cover of Railway Modeller magazine in August 2024 and he was proud of the article’s description “Simon Kennedy has created an impression of the much-loved Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway in O gauge in his garden, with automated digital control”. The railway can be viewed operating in all its glory on YouTube.

Simon was always supportive of the Old Boys Association and attended many annual dinners in Somerset even when we were living in the midlands. He took

Neil Goodall (1947-51)

Jerry Evans (1946-55)

Photo: Jerry Evans in his office c. 1994

Simon Kennedy (1959-66)

This tribute to Simon was prepared by his wife, Chrisi:

Simon John Kennedy died in June 2025 at the age of 77 after suffering from

OW OBITUARIES

over the organisation of a biannual SW dinner for several years, handing over the mantle about 4 years ago. During Covid he met regularly with a group of old boys including Geoff Austin and Howard Bairstow for a Zoom catch up.

Sadly, we were not blessed with children.

Ian Munro was in Tate’s house and was a school prefect. He was a serious and studious boy considerably affected by the early death of his father and the responsibility that he felt to his mother and younger brother Bruce to be “Head of the Family” while still an adolescent. After school, where he was in the VIth Economics, Ian joined Midland Bank where he stayed for his whole working career – the bank became HSBC but to Ian it was always the Midland and it was that heritage that was the core of his business life – he reached a senior level in corporate banking before taking early retirement.

Ian and his family – his wife Joy and their three children – lived in the Sutton/ Banstead area and Ian was much involved in local activities notably St John’s Church, Belmont, where his funeral took place. The service was led by Rev Anne Doerr who told the congregation how supportive Ian had been when she started her ministry. Ian was also for a number of years a governor of the Priory School in Banstead. His love of debating led him to the Kingston Debating Society, founded 1886, of which he became President.

Ian was a most loyal OW. He attended many events – dinners, concerts, plays, reunions and, for many years, the annual Remembrance Day service at school. In

November 2024 he felt unable to carry on to lunch with friends after the service – he was ill and it was assumed that this was a deterioration in the back problems that he had suffered for many years. No one thought that this was his final appearance.

At Ian’s funeral there was some talk among his old friends about his prowess at boxing (he was Captain of the school boxing team) and there were reminiscences of inter house competitions and the influence of the redoubtable Prince Samy as boxing coach (which other school had an Ottoman Prince as a gym teacher?). One of those present, Doug Eland, reminded those present that he had faced Ian in the ring – they were the same weight but there was some disparity in height and ability: the bout did not last long and Doug had nothing to show but bruises.

Ian remained very grateful to Whitgift and the Foundation for providing bursary support to him and his brother after the death of their father. Not surprisingly he became an active supporter of Whitgift for All.

Ian was a good man who will be missed by many.

Brian Lay (1944-51)

Brian, who died in February 2025 at the age of 91 was one of three brothers who were brought up in Wallington. His brothers Michael and Richard (a former President of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) were also at Whitgift. Brian went to school initially at Collingwood, which was next door to his childhood home, and he remained devoted to that school

which has produced so many future Whitgiftians. One of the speakers at Brian’s funeral was the current Headmaster of Collingwood and he spoke in glowing terms of Brian’s interest and commitment to the school over many years as a governor, chairman and ultimately emeritus governor. Brian knew everything about Collingwood’s past, present and future and provided freely of his wisdom. In the same way he was devoted to Wallington United Reformed Church (formerly the Congregational Church) which he attended throughout his life and where his funeral took place. Another speaker, now a Church of England vicar, told how Brian had been a great support to her as a teenager when she first contemplated studying theology and how he had maintained close contact over the subsequent years. Brian’s involvement with the church, its services, its youth club, its dramatic productions were all symbolic of a good, rather oldfashioned gentleman who really cared.

Brian was a good OW, committed to supporting events and attending the necessary parts of regular discipline like AGMs and meetings of the Benevolant Society. He was a good man, who lived alone in the same flat in Epsom for well over fifty years until frailty took its toll towards the end. Brian was by profession a chartered accountant, which meant that his National Service in the RAF was spent not as a fighter pilot but rather as a payroll officer. A jaunt into industry was not too agreeable so he went into finance with a Lloyds broker which suited him much better. The traditions of the City were more to Brian’s taste than the cut throat ways of industry and possibly provided more time for his commitments to church, Collingwood and the Wallington Operatic Society of which he was a past Chairman.

Brian was a thoroughly agreeable man who will be much missed.

James Brown (1986-91)

James Brown FRCS was an outstanding vascular surgeon who died as the result of an fall at his home at the age of 50. Notification of his death came from his sister, Katie; the following has been based on the tribute, prepared by his family, and given at his funeral, attended by family and friends from all over the world, in the parish church of Dedham, Essex:

From his earliest childhood James was keen to learn and learning to him was easy. He had a great sense of fun, commented on by numerous friends writing to members of the family after his untimely death. As an example, he was at the centre of a school leavers prank that involved stringing large, cut out “yeti” footprints from the roof of Big School: it was several days before they could be removed, and great entertainment was enjoyed by the perpetrators. Fun, and a love of sailing inherited from his parents and a passion throughout his life, did not prevent James from having a successful academic career at school where he became fascinated by computers. He went to medical school and qualified as a doctor on the eve of his 22nd birthday. He chose to specialise in surgery and said to a medical friend that surgery was the peak of medical practice because “a chance to cut was a chance to cure”.

He became a very successful and responsible vascular surgeon blessed with great insight into his patient’s needs. He became an FRCS at the age of 34 and became well known for his skill in vascular surgery, in recent years at Southend Hospital. His innovative use of IT in surgery enabled him to carry out more aneurysm procedures in at least one year than any other surgeon

in England and Wales. James loved the team at Southend and their regard for him and shock at his death was reflected in numerous messages to James’s family. The Chief Executive of the Mid and Southeast Essex Hospital Trust described James as an excellent surgeon, compassionate, gentle and kind and a powerful advocate of the value of IT in improving patient outcomes.

James was very close to his family and there were many comments about his care for them and for his friends, his sense of fun and his competitive nature when it came to sailing – computer skills made him a most efficient navigator whether sailing for leisure of racing at Cowes. His chief delight, however, was in his daughter Jessica and the pleasure he took in sailing and skiing with her and supporting her love of ballet.

In short, James was an exceptional man, an adornment to his chosen profession and a son, brother, father and friend loved by many and taken far too early.

WITH SADNESS WE REPORT THE PASSING OF THE FOLLOWING OLD WHITGIFTIANS SINCE OUR LAST WFA NEWS PUBLICATION IN MID APRIL 2025

APRIL 2025

George (David) German (OW 1949-1955)

Died 24 April, Aged 86

MAY 2025

Keith R. Ebden (OW 1965-1972)

Died 17 May, Aged 70

Anthony (Tony) R. Legat (OW 1962-1970) Died 28 May, Aged 73

JUNE 2025

Donald Newman (OW 1939-1945) Died 5 June, Aged 95

Simon J. Kennedy (OW 1959-1966) Died 17 June, Aged 77

JULY 2025

Don Gillard Staff (OW 1960-1994) Died 16 July, Aged 91

David C. Munns (OW 1959-1966) Died 28 July, Aged 78

AUGUST 2025

Nigel Bradley (OW 1964-1971) Died 25 August, aged 73

Michael B Humphries (OW 1950-1958) Died 31 August, Aged 84

Ian Munro (1959-64)

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Founder’s Circle and 1596 Society Event

Saturday 15 November 2025

Whitgift Christmas Fair

Sunday 30 November 2025

OW New York Drinks Wednesday 3 December 2025

Whitgift Veterans Rifle Club Open Day

Saturday 13 December 2025

OW Under 30s Drinks

Wednesday 11 February 2026

WFA Spring Lecture

Thursday 12 February 2026

Tim Davie (OW 1980-85) Director General of the BBC

WFA News is published termly by the Alumni and Development Office. If you would like to contribute, please contact the Editor, Emma Helbert at: alumni@whitgift.co.uk

Whitgift School

Haling Park South Croydon CR2 6YT United Kingdom

020 8633 9922 alumni@whitgift.co.uk whitgift.co.uk/alumni