STAFF FOCUS: TIM RILEY

SENIOR MASTER AND HEAD OF GEOGRAPHY 2008–2020

Little did we think that when we waved goodbye to Mr Riley at the end of the Lent term at the Upper Quad, it would be the last time many of us saw him in person at school. Luckily Emma McGowan had interviewed Mr Riley in February, in advance of his retirement from life as a school master and teacher.

When did you join WHS and what was your first job? I joined in September 2008 as Head of Geography. I had previously been Head of PE and Geography at Malvern College Prep School.

What extracurricular activities have you been involved in over the years? I have been on every Year 6 expedition from 2009 to 2019 going to the Peak District, The Usk Valley, The River Wye, North Norfolk and Dorset. I have run Rugby teams including the Colts A team, the Third XV and the U10 C team, the boys' hockey second team, and assorted Cricket teams, from the U13 thirds to the Colts A. I was involved with most swimming events, including running the inter house galas and assisted with athletics, notably in the Shot and Discus. I have been on the stage once, in my first term, turned cartwheels in a fairy costume and taken the boarders to the seaside with Miss Smith. Until March this year I had never missed a school breakfast and am a supporter of kippers and poached eggs as the best way to start the day.

Have many geography field trips have you led? For the first 10 years field trips ran to Dorset for Year 8, only stopping when the very comfortable “Old Malt House” closed. The first five trips were to the rather more spartan Leeson House (old girls will remember the rumours of bedbugs). On the very first of these a coach had been hired and the coach driver was to stay with the party. I was not over impressed when I found out that he was supposed to be sleeping in the same room as the staff. He was rapidly “promoted” to a room in a local B&B.

How has WHS changed during your time here? The building of the Astro has been the single most significant change in the daily life of the school but, the

same things matter to the pupils. The priority list goes something like this:

Being on time for a fixture.... need to leave a lesson 30 mins early so as not to be late; being on time for Speech and Drama/Music lesson need to leave a lesson 10 mins early, need to be on time for break, better be prompt. Getting to the first lesson after break - five minutes late is still on time... Leaving the changing room having put kit away.... no need to rush is there?

What are your happiest, funniest, stand alone and most extraordinary moments? My happiest moments will be my wedding reception in 2016, which was run quite close in the final moments of the 2019 2nd XI cricket match with Bilton Grange (Louis’s finest hour.) Sitting on the edge of Poole Harbour at sunset on the the Year 6 trips would be the most peaceful.

The funniest will be on the Year 6 Canoeing trip on the River Wye – a tall, silver haired, ‘prepared for any eventuality on a camping trip’ science teacher becoming progressively crosser with a canoeing instructer. Said colleague grabbed hold of the branches of a willow tree as his canoe continued on its leisurely way downstream whilst ignoring the wellmeant instructions before, in graceful slow motion, falling into the water.

Most extraordinary – and this is an easy choice – the trip back from Dorset with Year 6 last year. This was the three hour coach trip which lasted for nine. This was the trip when the coach driver had four separate incidents to deal with. We were stuck in the coach in a narrow Berkshire lane, blocked by a Tesco lorry one way and the ditch and hedge the other, and the wing mirror, the driver’s window and the driver imploded. Year 6 had to be decamped to a private garden to wait for the police to arrive to unclog the roads. Who should the policeman be but one of my former pupils!

On the games field several incidents come to mind. The first was while coaching the U13 third XI in my first term. Two players had gathered, crouching close to a ball on the ground, when I stopped to make a coaching point, both politely stood to listen, crashing their heads into my chin as they did so (this was the closest either got to making a tackle that season). The second, more recently, belongs to a games player of rare talents - a boy by the name of Miles, for reasons of anonymity. Miles was not born to be a rugby enthusiast. Finding himself, by chance, holding the ball he heard me say “Playing Advantage to the greens” and being a polite boy he carefully handed the ball to the nearest green player to ensure their advantage. With an empty field in front, the visiting player gladly ambled in to score.

You are known as ‘Mr General Knowledge’ at School talks and in quizzes. How have you acquired this fantastic skill and knowledge? I do enjoy learning new things, have a love of the curious and quirky and a memory that works best for the obscure. I have developed a fund of factual material that is of very little practical use and failed to learn all sorts of useful things such as playing an instrument or speaking another language. If I was to start again, my dream job would be to become a QI Elf.

What do you intend to do next? Next on the agenda is an open book, there will be a lot of dog walking, some geriatric friendly sports, Badminton, cricket and golf, trips away with Mme Momen in the camper van and possibly the odd part time job here and there. H