Worth Society Blue Paper 2010

The

blue paper Magazine 2009/10

Will Walder’s ascent of the un-climbable mountain Worth Society Life

LinkedIn The business networking phenomenon 50 years on the 1959 Founder Members’ reunion Life and Times of Worthians

Seven days of torture An audience with Sir David Bell The Old Place

Completing Worth Abbey Church Fr Stephen’s chaplaincy to the girls

The

blue paper

Contents Worth Society Life

38

India – An Assault on the Senses Nigel Laughton (C’84)

04

Chairman’s Report 2009/10 Nick Butterworth (G’76)

40

BBC2’s Mastercrafts with Monty Don Charles Hooper (C’80)

05

Need a Professional? Get LinkedIn Ben Babington (G’96)

42

The Un-Climbable Mountain William Walder (C’98)

06

Message from Olivia Henley

45

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Worth Society Events: 2010 City Lunch – Glenn Robertson (former member of staff) 1959 Founder Members’ Reunion – Rodney Bligh (C’64) 1979 Leavers’ 30-Year Reunion – Sandy Mallet (R’79) 1989 Leavers’ 20-Year Reunion – Eddie Robinson (B’89) 1999 Leavers’ 10-Year Reunion – Alistair Myles (G’99)

Realising a Childhood Dream William Hurst (R’86)

46

From City to Jungle James Arney (R’02)

48

Announcements – Births/Engagements/Marriages/Deaths

50

Books Sleuth: The Amazing Quest for Lost Art Treasures

By Philip Mould (StB’78); Reviewed by Luke Elwes (G’79) Galactic Ramble Co-authored by Giles Hamilton (B’82) Reviewed by Max Walker (StB’80)

51

1959 Founder Group Summaries

54

News in Brief

13

Careers Fair in Ace Week Duncan Pring, Head of Careers

14

Work Experience at AON George Calvert (C’09) Ben Hancock (G’90)

15

Global Action Awards: Year 9 Olivia Henley

16

GAA: Magical Mexico Fridolin Steinbeis (R’08)

18

GAA: Good comes from Adversity in Uganda Tristan Stutchbury (StB‘01)

20

Supporting Good Causes: My Call to Holiness - Will Desmond (C’09) The Cardinal Hume Centre - John Butterworth (G’69)

22

Worth Society Sport Rugby: 09/10: Season’s Review (James Madsen - B’02; Desmond Calnan - R’69) Rugby: Tom Mitchell: England Universities Squad (Alan Mitchell – Staff) Rugby: Cronk-Cunis Under 21s Tournament (Tom Mitchell - F’07) Cricket (Simon Jones - StB’98) Golf (Ken Ross - G’65) Golf: Worthians versus Eastbourne College (Charles Bellm - R’04) Football (Andrew Taylor - Gervase Housemaster) Tennis (Crispin Hayhoe - StB’82)

Life and Times of Worthians 28

Worthians Caught on Camera

30

Knight Vision: The Sir David Bell Interview (C’64)

32

Seven Days of Torture Oliver (StB’98) and Sam (C’97) Barnett

34

Facing Redundancy James Crofton (B’95)

35

A Life-changing Experience Valentinas Dulis (B’05)

36

A Leap of Faith Je Ahn (R’01) and Maria Smith

The Old Place 58

Obituary – Mike Robinson Humphrey Berridge (former member of staff)

59

Message from the Headmaster Gino Carminati

61

Summoned by Belles!

Fr Stephen Ortiger

62

Completing Worth Abbey Church Abbot Christopher Jamison

62

A House Called Paddockhurst Dom Ian Condon

63

WS: Second Generation at the School Sons of Worthians Registered at Worth University Places Gained

Worth Society Directors Nicholas Butterworth, Simon McMenemy Worth Society is a not-for-profit limited company (number 06506005)

Worth Old Boys’ Society Patron Fr Christopher Jamison, The Abbot of Worth Trustees Nicholas Barnett, Nicholas Butterworth, Julian Gairdner, Crispin Hayhoe, Fr Luke Jolly, Simon McMenemy Worth Old Boys’ Society is a charitable trust (registered charity number 1084948)

We would like to extend our thanks to: Gordon’s Wine Bar The Bleeding Heart and The Don Restaurants for their support

Magazine designed and produced by Green Lizard 01892 619888

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Chairman’s Report 2009/10 Dear Worthians In the last issue of The Blue Paper I reported on the celebrations

age of 18. We were also greatly saddened to learn of the death,

marking Worth 75. In the year that has followed, celebrations have

in December, of Paul Leahu (B’71) and former member of staff

continued in recognition of Worth’s half centenary as a senior

Dr. Mike Robinson who died in August. Prayers were offered

school. The events started with a reunion of 21 of the surviving

for each of them and all departed Worthians at our annual

30 founder members of the school, who arrived to be greeted by

St. Benedict’s day Mass in London in March; please do remember

Fr. Kevin, as they had been 50 years before in 1959. The superb

each of them in your own prayers.

report by Rodney Bligh (C’64) in this issue highlights in so many

As ever, I am immensely grateful to those who serve all members

ways why Worth has thrived over the following fifty years.

of our Society through the Committee. The growing range of

The core values of a community where everyone is warmly

activities, support and advice given in the last year reflects a

welcomed, individuals are guided and encouraged to develop

significant amount of work and time and I thank each of them on

personally, whilst also supporting and helping each other’s

your behalf. Particular and immense thanks are due to two people

development and made aware of the needs of others outside the

who sadly, for us, are standing down from the Committee. Simon

community, is a hallmark which typifies Worthians. Living in an

McMenemy (R’89) is among our longest serving members and has

environment with those values, is a fundamental reason for the

provided an extraordinary amount of time and expert guidance

extraordinary diversity of skills, careers, interests and caring

serving as a member, Chairman of the Trustees and Director

attitudes among those who have been fortunate enough to

of Worth Society. Simon and Marie-Clare, our former excellent

experience Worth; which for a relatively small and young school

secretary, have between them given 20 years’ service to the

is astounding. This issue of The Blue Paper provides a further

Society, and on your behalf I thank them very much. I am also

wonderful insight into the extent to which Worthians practice

very sorry to announce the departure of our current superb

what they were taught and encouraged to do while at Worth;

secretary, Olivia, who has made a massive contribution to the

and I know that the monks and members of staff derive immense

Society in the last three years. Olivia has worked tirelessly and

reward from seeing their efforts prove so worthwhile.

regularly in her private time and much of the development of our

Over the last year the Committee has continued to work hard to promote further unity among Worthians, assisting with 10-, 20and 30-year leaver reunions and a City lunch which included, for the first time, those of our Honorary members who could attend.

We continued with our support for the Worthian sporting groups; and extended financial support for those seeking to help others or the environment through our Global Action Awards and sponsorship programmes. We have also sought to increase help to past and present pupils through careers’ guidance, an ambition

activities recently is down to her. I constantly receive incredible compliments about Olivia’s efforts to help Worthians, and she departs in September with the Committee’s immense gratitude for all she has done. Olivia will, I am delighted to say, not be too far away as she leaves us to take up the appointment as Marketing Manager for Worth School from September. Going forward I am delighted to say that Mark Collini (StB’89) and Daniel Pring (R’03) have recently joined the Committee and their enthusiasm to contribute is already evident.

greatly assisted by Dr. Duncan Pring, who is a valued member

Finally may I thank each member for their continued support to

of our Committee. Additionally, we are seeking to increase the

the Society through membership. I also thank those who have

opportunities for Worthians and pupils at school to experience

made kind donations to the Society, to everyone who has

different careers through work placements and work shadowing –

supported the events that have been organised and those who

and we are extremely grateful to those Worthians who have

have contributed to this issue of The Blue Paper – which the

provided invaluable experience already. Could I please encourage

Committee hopes you will find enjoyable.

as many of you as possible to offer the opportunity of work

Nicholas Butterworth (G’76) May 2010

experience to Worthians if you are able?

in a sport in which he had achieved extraordinary success by the

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

Over the coming weeks, we are arranging for ‘Linkedin’ to be embedded into the Worth Society website, in order to create easy

There is no need to wait until Linkedin is formally embedded into the Society’s website, you can join the group immediately at www.linkedin.com. If you are already a

Society members are also able to use the forum as a convenient way of getting back in touch with old friends, as well as view forthcoming business and social events.

Our Society contains a wealth of professional talent, with members who can offer their services as lawyers, surveyors, accountants, estate agents, builders, doctors and more.

Oh yes – and one Worthian who specialises in the sale of development sites and new homes in London and the Southeast. His contact details can be found on the website under “Worthians In Property”(!)

Ben Babington (G’96) May 2010

Worth Society Committee Contact Details Ben Babington (G 1994-96) Office: 020 7664 6649 benbabington@jackson-stops.com

Julian Gairdner (S 1984-89) — Trustee Office: 020 8652 4084 Julian.Gairdner@rbi.co.uk

Duncan Pring — Careers Office: 01342 710239 dpring@worth.org.uk

Nick Barnett (G 1968-73) — Trustee Office: 020 7404 4022 nicholasbarnett@fsmail.net

Crispin Hayhoe (S 1977-82) — Trustee, GAA Mobile: 07718 339802 crispinhayhoe@hotmail.com

Edward Robinson (B 1984-89) — Social Events Office: 01628 637 600 eddie@robinsonestateagents.co.uk

Robert Bodnar-Horvath (B 1969-74) — Treasurer Office: 020 7305 2443 robertbodnarhorvath@blueyonder.co.uk

Olivia Henley — Secretary Office: 01342 710241 worthsociety@worth.org.uk

Dominic Strickland (C 1976-81) — Arts Office: 020 79371776 dominic@strickland.co.uk

Abbot Christopher Jamison — Patron Office: 01342 710320 cjamison@worth.org.uk

Worthians Cricket Club Simon Jones SKJones@ReedSmith.com 07736 686107

Nick Butterworth (G 1971-76) — Trustee, Chairman Office: 020 7664 6644 nbutterworth@jackson-stops.com Gino Carminati Headmaster Office (sec): 01342 710 222 gcarminati@worth.org.uk Mark Collini (StB 1984-89) Office: 020 7783 4941 mark.collini@ofcom.org.uk James Forte (C 1968-1972) Home/Office: 01628 599313 Mobile: 07884 268264 james.forte@vision40.com

Fr Luke Jolly (C 1966-71) — Trustee, Novice Master Office: 01342 710308 ljolly@worth.org.uk

Worthians Golfing Society Ken Ross (G ‘65) Kenneth.ross2@virgin.net 01323 733499

Simon McMenemy (R 1984-89) — Trustee, Chairman of Trustees Office: 020 7079 8163 smcmenemy@boodlehatfield.com

Worthians Rugby Club Des Calnan (R ‘69) Desmond.Calnan@shell.com

Daniel Pring (R 1998-2003) Mobile: 07865 064439 danielpring@ymail.com

Worthians Sailing Giles Turton (F’02) gilesturton@hotmail.com

A plea from our Secretary! If you do not currently subscribe by direct debit, can we please urge you to take this opportunity to do so – it makes a huge difference to us and helps relieve the significant administrative burden relating to the collection of annual subscriptions.

You will find a direct debit form to complete and return to the Worth Society office on our website at www.worthsociety.org.uk under ‘About Us’ in the Membership section.

leaving Worth, of Henry Surtees whilst competing at Brands Hatch

Worth Society Life

Now, we are proud to announce the expansion of the business networking side of the Society, which has been designed to help Worthians promote their businesses as well as facilitate the sharing and gaining of knowledge, expertise and contacts.

A ‘Worthians Group’ has already been established and without any publicity, has so far attracted 63 members from a wide range of professions including property, media, hotels, banking and law. Several subgroups have also been established including “Worthians in Property”, “Worthians in Healthcare” and “Worthians In Insurance” with the provision for a further 17 groups to follow. Such groups allow members involved in specific professions to easily identify others operating within their own industry, as well as make it easy to search for Worthians (male and female) who may be able to assist them in another.

member of Linkedin, simply search for ‘Worthians’ in the ‘Groups’ database and click on ‘Join Group’. If you have not yet joined Linkedin, join the 65 million others who are on this “Facebook for Professionals” site. It only takes a couple of minutes to sign up.

A note to non-Direct Debit Subscribers

The year was marred by the tragic death in July, only weeks after

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Over the years, much of the work of Worth Society has centred around keeping the network of former pupils in touch and upto-date with all the latest news, as well as bringing members together for social and sporting occasions at numerous and varied events throughout the year.

access to the professional talents of our Society members. This will allow members to network, research and keep in touch with each other directly from the Society’s own website.

The Old Place

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The following attended the City Lunch:

Message from Olivia Henley

I’d like to extend my particular thanks to our stalwart team of Worthian sportsmen (soon to include sportswomen!); to those of you who have so kindly acted as event coordinators for your year-group gatherings; as well as to everyone involved in the committee. Without your support and enthusiasm we could not achieve nearly the level of activity that is reflected in the forthcoming pages of the magazine.

During the course of 2009/10, we marked a particularly significant milestone in the history of the School and of Worthians – as we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the start of the Senior School. To mark this special day, we welcomed 21 of the surviving 30 Founder Members to a celebratory lunch here at Worth on the 21st September 2009. It was absolutely delightful for me to have the opportunity to meet these Founder Members – whose parents took the daring leap of sending their boys to a brand new Senior School 50 years before – and to witness them re-kindling former friendships, catching up on the ‘intervening’ years and exchanging jokes and anecdotes of times gone by with Fr Kevin and Fr Stephen.

And next year will be equally as exciting for Worth Society – as we welcome our first group of 32 girls who join the Worthian ranks in July 2010 upon leaving the school.

There is always something new to work towards and I have certainly never experienced a dull moment during the past three years that I have been involved with Worth Society and WOBS. And so, it is with a hint of sadness that I write this, my final message, as secretary and editor of The Blue Paper. From September 2010 I will start my new role as Marketing Manager and Editor of Publications for Worth School – so happily my involvement with Worth continues, albeit in a different capacity.

2010 City Lunch I was particularly struck, as I arrived at the Bleeding Heart Restaurant on Thursday 25th February 2010, at the sense of history that pervades the whole place. It is not at all difficult to believe that a murder or three occurred.

Indeed, Lady Hatton copped it here, in the 17th Century, for being rather over-familiar with too many Royals, Bishops (surely not), and Foreign Ambassadors. It was of course a foreigner that did for her – and her ‘bleeding heart’ gave the place its name.

The restaurant itself is delightful – and I was greeted to a room full to the brim with 58 Worthians, from the sixties to the noughties – Father Stephen and Desmond Calnan being the oldest and Chris Madsen the youngest. Each decade was well represented – with those from the Seventies, numbering 23, topping the table.

Father Stephen and Father Kevin were with us for the spiritual input, and Father Stephen delivered a wonderful Grace and blessing: “Bless this bunch as they munch their lunch!” Additionally, Helen Sweetman and Evonne Gubbins were present (just in case anyone should require medical attention!). Messrs Owers, Robinson (Nicholas) and Robertson were there to provide scintillating wit and rampantly anecdotal material for those present (just the same as the days when they taught the assembled throng!). The whole event was formally informal – the usual suspects arrived at the wrong time and some didn't quite do ‘dress code’.

justice, but it gives you an idea. I was on Nick Metcalf’s mid-70s table and I would like to thank them wholeheartedly for their generosity and excellent wine selection (and for allowing me to pop to the loo whilst the bill was settled!).

Returning briefly to the historical: the memories recalled were, without doubt, fond ones and inevitably amusing – Father Roger’s beer; Father Edward’s St Bede’s theme pub; Father Fabian climbing up a tree to catch the smokers; Father Dominic who would often share a ciggy with his prefects; Father Benedict’s sailing; Father Bernard’s history classes; Rutherford Parties; Russell Coleburt’s mobile fruit bowl; Roger Stokes’ Chapman Soirées – and so the list went on … and on. And as one circulated a little more, we were regaled with further stories of rugby tours of Aurillac; ski trips with Mike Margrett; A-level geography trips with Keith Owers and JD; and Art trips with James Cockburn (all allegedly in the interests of education).

I cannot mention all present by name – but it was with particular warmth that I was reconnected with families with whom I have been lucky enough to see both father and son through Worth. The girls now add an extra dimension to that family continuity. The news that Harry Whelpton had been Head of Rutherford caused Keith Owers some amusement. And Chris Coffin is father of Worth’s first Head Girl – Jessica. There will be many more links in the chain in the years ahead, I am sure.

Elizabeth Robertson (B’86) Alex Walters (StB’80) 90s Ben Babington (G’96) Simon Douglas (B’90) Charlie Gerada (R’90) Alex Kenney (B’97) Will Kenney (B’95) Richard Lynton-Jones (StB’97) 00s Je Ahn (R’01) Luca Belpassi (G’01) James D’Arcy (StB’02 Giles Heather (F’03) Mark Lane (F’03) Chris Madsen (B’04) Rorrie Mars (R’03) Tom Podbury (C’02) Adrian Pring (R’01) James Pymont (B’00) James Wallace (StB’02) John-Henry Wicks (G’00) Honorary Members, Monks and Worth Society: Fr Stephen Fr Kevin Evonne Gubbin Keith Owers Nick Robinson Glenn Robertson Helen Sweetman Olivia Henley

The final point has to be the warmth and strength of feeling that Worth generates. The Benedictine values that Worth is based upon came through very strongly as a core value in the lives of most of the people I spoke to. Some may not realise it, but their friendship, hospitality, sense of humour and concern for others says it all.

On behalf of everyone there, our thanks must go to all those involved in the organisation of the event, and to Olivia Henley in particular.

Glenn Robertson (former member of Staff) March 2010

When the whole throng had assembled, Simon McMenemy welcomed everyone and said a few words about the Society, following which, Father Stephen responded on behalf of the guests.

I was particularly lucky that my daughter, Elizabeth, could be there at the lunch – and it was highly amusing to find out just how many Worthians had been her babysitter! The guests located their respective peers to dine alongside, and the spread was just wonderful – to describe it as crab, lamb, chocolate pud and coffee certainly doesn’t do it

Giles Heather, John-Henry Wicks, Mark Lane and James Pymont

Sean Donnellan, Crispin Hayhoe and Martin Hunt

Rory Mars, Luca Belpassi and Tom Podbury

Simon Douglas and Mark Collini

Michael Worrall, Fr Kevin and Desmond Calnan

Ben Babington, Will Kenny and James Blake

Charles Hooper and Alex Walters

Simon McMenemy and Nick Robinson

The Society is in very good shape, with more new initiatives for members in the pipeline – so I much look forward to supporting its continued growth and success in the years to come.

Charlie Gerada and Elizabeth Robertson

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Worth Society Life

Jeremy Fletcher and Michael Berkeley in the foreground

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

I 07

Events

Once again I am indebted to everyone who has contributed to this latest issue of The Blue Paper – which, I hope you will agree, is packed with fascinating stories about the lives and experiences of Worthians.

60s Desmond Calnan (R’69) 70s Andrew Agnew (G’77) Nick Barnett (G’73) Michael Berkeley (G’76) James Blake (B’77) Mark Breen (StB’76) Robert Bodnar-Horvath (B’74) Nigel Burnford (StB’72) Paul Cattermull (StB’73) Mark Drummond-Brady (B’75) Hugh Easterbrook (R’76) Jeremy Fletcher (G’72) James Forte (C’72) Steve Fowler (R’75) Gavin Hamilton-Deeley (R’70) Brian Heathcote (C’70) Paddy Jago (StB’75) Nick Metcalf (R’75) Steven Noel-Hill (StB’74) Stephen Thorton (C’75) Tony van den Bosch (C’74) Anthony Ward-Thomas (B’76) Charlie Whelpton (B’74) Michael Worrall (R’71) 80s Mark Collini (StB’89) Sean Donnellan (StB’86) Crispin Hayhoe (StB’82) Charles Hooper (C’80) Martin Hunt (StB’81) Simon McMenemy (R’89)

1959 Founder Members’ 50-Year Reunion The big day finally arrived – Tuesday 21st September 2009.

Front row from left to right: Christopher Setter, Peter Esmonde, Mike Gilpin, Fr Kevin, Bernard Elkington, Simon Slaughter, John Muscat, Julian Lee Middle row from left to right: Patrick Nivelles, James Pontifex, Sir David Bell, Anthony Aris, Nicholas Wynne Back row from left to right: Paul Clegg, Jeremy Best, Christopher Frederick, Michael Clarke, Tim Carr, Terence Delaney, Rodney Bligh, Gareth Dancer, Vincent Ellis-Brown

I arrived with my old friend Chris Frederick. The first to greet us in the reception hall were the very same Fr Kevin and Olivia (“Oh, when mine eyes did see Olivia first…”). To start the day Fr Kevin and Fr Stephen concelebrated Mass in the west side chapel of the Abbey Church. The server was Jeremy Best – the first boy through the door in 1959 – now a retired international banker. The readings focused on thanksgiving for God’s love and blessings, surely received in abundance by everyone present. It was the right moment to commemorate our deceased founder members Michael Aris, Nicholas Byrne, Simon Kenny and Anthony Shelmerdine.

Then there was coffee on the lawn outside the Cowdray Room (the former monks’ refectory and before that Viscount Cowdray’s breakfast room) and the Headmaster’s room, now occupied by Gino Carminati,

who exchanged some good stories with us of times past and present – and from whom we learned that the school will soon number 600 students.

Members of the Sixth Form (Years 12 and 13 these days) had kindly volunteered (or been volunteered, no change there) to show us round the school in groups of three. In my group was Mike Gilpin (the first Head Boy and top of the school leader board in Reception, he had flown transatlantic from Vermont where he has a manufacturing company); and Julian Lee (all the way from Turner’s Hill, who is no stranger to prosperity since performing his memorable Sir Toby Belch all those years ago). We were most capably led and entertained on our tour by Jessica Coffin, the first Head Girl of the 32 who joined the Sixth Form last year. The old Austin House on the hill has been converted into St Mary’s House for girls, where boarders enjoy what one visitor described as mini-suites. All boarders now have broadband internet access.

As we walked through the main school, the new Gervase House and Patrick Lamb Centre, St Mary’s House, the Tower buildings, Performing Arts Centre, science and technology labs, playing fields, sports hall and grounds; we were left feeling that something truly great and enduring has been created at Worth which far exceeds the sum of its many parts; all accomplished by the ora et labora Benedictine discipline and tradition of the Community, the many lay teachers and staff, and the contributions of thousands of benefactors.

By this time the chimes of the Tower Clock (which some of us remember being exactly the same in 1954 prehistory) drew us back to the same lawn for champagne and the group photograph. We were lined up in the same positions as the original 1959 photo – now in the old locker room opposite the Reception Hall, under Head Masters Fr Maurice, Fr Dominic, Fr Kevin, Fr Stephen and Fr Christopher. The strict order not to fall off the chairs was obeyed by all; habit of a lifetime.

And then there was luncheon. In the brightly sunlit Cowdray Room a single long table was superbly laid for 30, the colours of Worth resplendent in blue delphinium and gold gerbera flower arrangements. I had the good fortune to be sitting between Terry (Sebastian) Delaney, who is organising the transport infrastructure for the 2012 London Olympics; and Nick Butterworth, Chairman of Worth Society, who works long and hard with Olivia to ensure the success of this and many other Worth Society events.

Emma Hickmott, the school’s catering manager and her team had created a repast – indeed a feast – which would win any of them instant appointment as head chefs at any restaurant in London. It was well worth waiting 50 years for. After Grace, offered by Abbot Christopher, we enjoyed the freshest imaginable pigeon and foie gras salsa salad, perfectly offset by a citrus and gooseberry Pouilly-Fumé ‘Les Griottes’ 2008, followed by filet de boeuf with classic vegetables and a fine 2004 Rioja, Marques de Riscal Reserva, all cherry and blackberry. Taylor 2002 accompanied myriad cheeses and a dessert of peaches, raspberries and ice-cream. Truly a time for Chaucerian Tales and Fun. To remind the founder members of the excellence of their vintage, there was an opportunity to taste a quite youthful

Anthony Aris, Terence Delaney and Julian Lee

Christopher Frederick, James Pontifex and Vincent Ellis-Brown

Hospices de Beaune 1959 – one of the finest Burgundy years of the century, still tannic and cedary as Worth itself.

Events

Events

Worth – magnificent in late summer sunshine – is still approached by the same broad drive that we all took on another sunny day 50 years ago (and with similar trepidation) to begin the work of building a new senior school from scratch, based on the preparatory school most of whose 250 boys went on to Downside. There were 34 of us in that first year, and today, 21 of the 30 of us still living returned.

Gareth Dancer, Bernard Elkington and Vincent Ellis-Brown

During the feast Fr Kevin let us into a 50-year old secret.

As the 28 first term boys were arriving at Worth in September 1959, he and Headmaster Fr Dominic were shaking in their shoes with apprehension (he actually used a higher-impact expression which I doubt The Blue Paper would print!). They were painfully conscious that for their adventure of setting up a senior school as proposed by the first Abbot Victor in 1957, the community was poorly equipped, with no expertise, no money and no facilities.

We then heard from Sir David Bell – the second Head Boy – that if the boys had realised this and called Abbot Victor’s bluff, we could have taken over and run the place ourselves. Might have been tricky that – I wondered if he remembered Fr Kevin sending the whole school to Headmaster Dominic for talking in prep, who promptly beat every boy in turn!

Suddenly coffee was served and the reunion lunch was almost over. Chris Frederick had asked if Fr Charles, not well enough to join the lunch, could see us briefly.

Fr Stephen took Chris and me to visit him in the monastery where we chatted for a few minutes. Chris then produced a bouquet of flowers and we walked over to the Abbey Cemetery where he laid them on the grave of Fr Fabian,

Fr Stephen

The atmosphere was convivial, comradely, celebratory, gay (as in hussar) a little unreal perhaps, but primarily very, very special. No shortage of conversation topics – we shared amazement that so many of us had made it, incomprehension that those absent and still living could possibly have anything more important to do on this special day, and exchanged information on whole careers and generations described in two minutes. Bernard (Malvolio) Elkington was hardly recognisable un-gartered.

Gareth Dancer

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Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

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The 1959 Founder Members’ Reunion was attended by:

Fr Kevin, Christopher Setter, James Whitehead

Jeremy Best and Gino Carminati

The visitors had dispersed and it was time to leave.

What a debt we owe to Nick, Olivia and all their colleagues for the enterprise, energy and hard work which made the occasion possible, not to mention the detective work tracking down all but two of the surviving founder members (Anthony Doherty and Michael Lewen).

Returning to the outside world I am sure every founder member was thinking or expressing the same sentiment as I was – thank you, Abbot, Community and School for this wonderful day, et floreat Worth, in saecula saeculorum!

Rodney Bligh (C’64) September 2009

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Nicholas and Sally Wynne

It was the year Margaret Thatcher came to power; the year Trivial Pursuit was invented; the year, in fact, when nudists were first allowed on Brighton Beach! Plus, of course, it was the year that Pink Floyd came out with “We don’t need no education”.

They were joined by: Abbot Christopher Jamison Fr Stephen Ortiger Fr Philip Gaisford Fr Kevin Taggart Gino Carminati, Headmaster James Whitehead, Deputy Headmaster Alda Andreotti, Chairman, School Governors Nick Butterworth, Chairman, Worth Society Olivia Henley, Secretary, Worth Society 50 year reunion event photographs by BeesKnees Photography

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Lunch in the splendour of the Cowdray Room

Abbot Christopher and Christopher Frederick

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

Hardly surprising then, that the gang of boys leaving Worth that year – the class of 1979 – included some of the greatest stars in the school’s illustrious history. Sporting heroes such as Nick Hiley and Pawel Kisielewski-Dunbar, gurus of levelheadedness like Mark Shepherd (who was nick-named Future Head Boy even in our second year, with inevitable prescience), and out-and-out rock stars like, well, me.

I was surprised we weren’t heralded by the media then, when fifteen of us who left that illustrious year met for a reunion on Friday 9th October 2009 to feast in the bowels of The Bleeding Heart Restaurant in the City of London.

It was bizarre to stand there as more and more Worthians came into the room – none of whom I’d seen for thirty years (a period longer than the reign of Charles II). But, quite strangely, we began to recognise each other pretty quickly, and dived into catching up with a lot of backslapping and hearty guffawing. Actually, I did have to prompt a few chaps as to who I was, and was later voted the most changed of all of us. Not necessarily a bad thing, but quite likely to be so!

The polite ‘what are you doing now?’ conversations didn’t last long, and we were soon recounting old punishments and remembering the rickety bench by the cricket pitch where we used to go and smoke. An early highlight was the arrival of Father Kevin, who had very gamely accepted our invitation to be the token ‘grown-up’. Something must go on in that monastery down in Sussex – hidden in its secret rooms the monks must brew up an anti-ageing potion of great power – for Father Kevin didn’t look a day older than the last time I saw him a couple of decades ago! More than that, he was hugely entertaining, and frighteningly knowledgeable about who was who, and who’d been doing what over the intervening years. A joyful guest; and his being there was a great treat for us boys.

Sir David Bell talking to Year 13 pupils – the first girls to join the Worthian ranks in July 2010 Christopher Frederick, Fr Charles and Rodney Bligh

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1979 Leavers’ 30-Year Reunion

Anyone educated at Worth will recognise four references to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. They recall a 1961 production

by Peter (Wiggy) Whigham in which most founder members acted. Wiggy is remembered as a brilliant English teacher and poet (if a somewhat short-tempered master who twice threw boys out of his classroom windows).

Michael Gilpin and Tim Carr

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The Old Place

The dinner started in earnest – mountains of food and a certain amount of gentle supping of soft drinks (possibly some wine as well, I don’t remember). Fervent babbling and hoots of laughter this way and that. We swapped places before pudding to catch up with as many as possible. And then the great moment for the team photograph – all of us puffed up like an amateur rugby XV –

snapped by the long-suffering waitress. What a handsome bunch – and quite an impressive roll-call of achievers too; with swathes of bankers, solicitors and lawyers and the odd architect – even a tree specialist. Next time I’m clapped in irons and headed for the Old Bailey, I’ll be safe in the knowledge that there will be a friendly Worthian who can come running to the rescue.

I’m sure a lot of us will be getting in touch more often as a result of our evening. We are, after all, ancient friends with a great deal in common, including many shared jokes. We were just stupidly out of touch for a wee while (for thirty all-too-short years). And I’ve got something more to look forward to as well. It appears that Jeremy Sharman has got a tape of Voyd playing their greatest hits. Voyd – as I’m sure everyone knows – was one of two great school bands of the late 1970s (the smoothie one as opposed to the punk one) and I’ve been trying to find a recording of me and the band for years and years and years. Now at last the truth can be revealed.

Before we all broke up – some to head for the pub and some to start their long journeys home – I remember looking round with huge satisfaction. I was rather in two minds about the evening beforehand I must confess, but how comfy and jolly it all turned out to be, and how packed it was with interesting people. Something tied us together as well – not just the many dozens of common experiences but also a deep-rooted approach to life.

Something characterised by willingness and good grace that made me more than a little proud. It became clear again what a good thing it was to be a Worthian.

There was a further benefit to the evening in that I had been allowed to take some of the credit for the whole event. As it happened, I hardly did a thing, and the main responsibility for its success must go to Olivia Henley at Worth Society, ably backed by Jeremy Sharman and Alex Stewart-Clark. They must all be congratulated on a wonderful evening; special not just for getting everyone together and feeding us so well, but for masterminding a distinctly moving and powerful occasion.

Above 1. From left to right: David Caillard, Alex Buchanan and Ian Gilmour 2. Jeremy Sharman and Nick Hiley 3. From left to right: Dominic Warren, James Marmion, Mark Shepherd

Nick de la Bedoyere

Alex Canneti and Nick Hiley

Sandy Mallet (R’79) November 2009

The 1979 Leavers’ 30-Year Reunion was attended by: Alex Buchanan David Caillard Alex Canneti

Nick de la Bedoyere Ian Gilmour Nick Hiley Pawel Kisielewski Sandy Mallet James Marmion Steve O'Brien

Jeremy Sharman Mark Shepherd Alex Stewart-Clark Chris Urwick Dominic Warren Fr Kevin Taggart

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Events

Events

our Housemaster. Fr Stephen then said a prayer at Chris’s invitation. It was a moving moment in the sunshine, on that beautiful lawn where rest the monks who devoted their lives to Worth; along with some of the students whose lives tragically ended during their education.

Anthony Aris David Bell Jeremy Best Rodney Bligh Tim Carr Michael Clarke Paul Clegg Gareth Dancer Terence Delaney Bernard Elkington Vincent Ellis-Brown Peter Esmonde Christopher Frederick Mike Gilpin Julian Lee John Muscat Patrick Nivelles James Pontifex Christopher Setter Simon Slaughter Nicholas Wynne and Mrs Sally Wynne

The 1989 Leavers’ 20-Year Reunion was attended by: Nick Gilodi-Johnson Shane Allin Peter Blake Dominic Hirons Mark Collini Paddy Hopkirk Neil Davy William Horner Peter Escott Chris Kenny

Alex Kitchin Richard MarriottDodington Simon McMenemy James Maxwell Scott

Adrian Penfold Eddie Robinson James Vernor-Miles Mike Watts

1999 Leavers’ 10-Year Reunion

1989 Leavers’ 20-Year Reunion If you were a fly on the wall you could be forgiven for thinking that this was a meeting of heavyweight wrestlers (long past their best before date) or people with shortterm memory loss who had no recollection at all of the person sitting next to them!

There were 18 of us who reconvened on that autumn evening – and each of us had a thoroughly good time reminiscing about the ‘old days’ and catching up with recent news. We all decided that it would have been a very good idea to have attended the ‘Become a Banker’ careers talk given during our last year at Worth and wondered if we could sue the school for poor advice. One (nameless) attendee said that we had no defence under Statutory Limitation and he was not bothered – probably because he is now a Barrister!

We all tucked into some cracking Italian food and wine, and as the evening drew to a close we repaired into the night to go our separate ways. A considerable volume of texts and emails followed afterwards which made very interesting reading – some of us never change eh?!?

I think the really positive thing about any Worthian reunion is that you know just what to expect – after a very short time everyone falls back into the habits and humour of their school years and you realise that everyone there

Simon McMenemy

played some part (however small) in your teenage years at school. Anyone who attends a reunion is not there to reopen old wounds or to score points – simply to reconvene with old friends and enjoy an evening of fun and frivolity.

So, my advice to anyone who is ‘thinking’ about going to a reunion of their peers, is to stop procrastinating and just go for it – you’re bound to have a good time!

There is always a common theme and, at each reunion that I have attended two particular sentiments are always voiced by the gathered group as our time together draws to a close – “We really should do this more often" and "I had a great evening which far exceeded expectations".

Unfortunately some of our peer group were unable to make the journey to London which was a shame, while the date did not suit others. It obviously isn’t possible to please everyone all the time, and the truth is that we would have liked more to attend – but at least there are many more of us in touch with one another now than there were before this gathering. Facebook has been particularly helpful, especially for our international contingent!

Thanks to everyone who came along and made the evening the great success that it was. I look forward to seeing you when we’re another 10 years older – and hopefully before!

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It came as an unwelcome surprise when I discovered – via the magic/sorcery of Facebook – that it was ten years since we had left school. Happily a reunion was being organised by Matt Grinsted, Andrew Tjaardstra and Alex Perales, with the support of Olivia Henley, and that is how we all came to congregate at The Antelope pub near Sloane Square on Thursday 3rd September 2009 (clearly a favourite reunion haunt, as I know of various other schools with a Catholic bent who have held events there of late!)

A select band of around 14 of us enjoyed several beers and some pub food while catching up with familiar, friendly faces – some of whom we had seen recently and others not at all.

Mike Matthews, now a music teacher at Worth, provided us with all the details of the big changes at the school over the past few years as well as updating us on those teachers that are still around who taught us back in the 90s.

Alex Kitchin and Chris Kenny

Dom Hirons, Paddy Hopkirk and James Vernor-Miles

Paddy Hopkirk and Alex Kitchin

Various apologies were made due to the inevitable honeymoons, weddings and the like; but those of us who did make it really enjoyed catching up with one another and reporting on the whereabouts of other members of the class of 1999 who are spread all over the place and doing a myriad of different things with their lives.

Left - back row, from left to right: Richard Griffiths, Eduardo Panizzo, Alex Perry, Julian Staveley, Alistair Myles, Claudio di Petrillo, Marcus Ripley and Matt Grinsted

“We must meet up more often” was the general consensus as the evening drew to a close. For me, it was particularly gratifying to find out the different paths that each of us has taken over the past decade since our days at Worth, and make the welcome discovery that, despite ageing by ten years, none of us has really changed at all!

In front, from left to right: Oliver Rumsey, Andrew Tjaardstra, Pearse Lynch, William Taylor and Mike Matthews

Many thanks to the organisers and see you all soon!

Right - from left to right: Oliver Rumsey, Claudio di Petrillo and Andrew Tjaardstra

Alistair Myles (G ’99) November 2009 The 1999 Leavers’ 10-Year Reunion was attended by: Tom Carter Matt Grinsted Eduardo Panizzo Claudio de Petrillo Pearse Lynch Alex Perry Danny Garrigan Mike Matthews Marcus Ripley Richard Griffiths Alistair Myles Oliver Rumsey

Julian Staveley Will Taylor Andrew Tjaardstra

Careers Fair in Ace Week Two things made 2009 very special – the first was the fact that we had girls in the audience for the first time! The second was the outstanding contribution made by Worthians – eight of whom came to speak to our students:

Eddie Robinson (B’89)

Richard Marriott-Dodington, Shane Allin and Adrian Penfold

Clockwise around the table: Nicholas Gilodi-Johnson, James Vernor-Miles, Mark Collini, Patrick Hopkirk, Peter Escott, Mike Watts, William Horner, Alex Kitchen, Eddie Robinson (head of the table), James Maxwell-Scott, Chris Kenny, Richard Marriott-Dodington, Adrian Penfold, Shane Allin, Peter Blake and Dominic Hirons

Ten years have certainly passed unbelievably quickly and we haven’t changed very much – other than acquiring jobs, wives, houses and all those other things that awaited us when we left Worth as fresh-faced 18-year-olds in 1999.

Je Ahn (R’01) – Architecture Robert Birchall (R’01) – Law Thomas Butter (B’04) – Consultancy Chris Ferrante (G’98) – Film and Drama Chris Lamb (R’01) – Journalism Max McAlister (G’02) – Financial Management Nick Norton (R’72) – Engineering Jonathan Stordy (St B ’81) – Marketing For the third consecutive year, Worth School organised a Careers Fair for its Year 12 (Lower Sixth) students. This took place on the 2nd July 2009 and was part of the ACE week programme – designed to encourage students to think about wider issues, including life beyond Worth.

The format was the same as previous years, with a dozen outside speakers talking about their own career to small groups of students. Each speaker made their presentation four times, so students had the opportunity to learn about life in four careers that were of particular interest to them.

It is extremely important that students understand what is involved in different careers, as this can help to guide them either towards or away from a particular profession.

This knowledge comes best, “straight from the horse’s mouth” and all the Worthians in question have all spent time in their respective careers. Their advice is very helpful and I would like to express my gratitude to them, and to all the Worthians who have supported our careers programme over the years.

Far left: from left to right: Jonathan Stordy, Chris Agius Ferrante, Nick Norton, Max McAlister, Christopher Lamb, Je Ahn and Robert Birchall Above left: Jonathan Stordy spoke to Year 12s about Marketing Above right: Max McAlister spoke on Financial Management

Duncan Pring, Head of Careers

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

Events

Events

The 20-year reunion for Worthians who left in 1989 was a dinner held on Thursday 8th October 2009 at Franco's, Jermyn Street, London SW1.

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The Global Action Awards

His enthusiasm for even the less enthralling tasks was admirable and he was given the opportunity to see all the different component parts of the Group

GLOBAL ACTION AWARDS

The Global Action Awards: Year 9

Work Experience The benefits of a period of work experience for pupils in their final year at school or Worthians at University are significant. It really does help to add weight to a CV and give candidates a competitive edge, while also helping them to shape their future as they decide on a particular career path.

We continue in our efforts to tap the wealth of experience that exists among you – our valuable Worthian resource – and ask you please to assist Worth Society in our efforts to support our current pupils and ‘young’ Worthians at University.

If you feel able to help us by offering work placements or internships within your company, then please don’t be shy about getting in touch with the Secretary on 01342-710241 or e-mail worthsociety@worth.org.uk We are very grateful to Worthian, Ben Hancock (G’90), who arranged a two-week placement for George Calvert (C’09) during the summer of 2009.

And, as the synopsis below from Ben and George clearly illustrate, the benefits are most clearly two-sided …

Ben Hancock (G’90) I left Worth School back in 1990 and after University and some time in the Army, I joined the insurance industry as a broker. I currently work for the Financial Services Group at Aon Ltd – the largest global Insurance and Reinsurance Broker. Although Aon is relatively unknown on the ‘high street’ at present – thanks to a sponsorship deal with Manchester United, the brand is set to become much better known.

Olivia contacted me earlier this year and we arranged for George to come and spend a fortnight with Aon over the summer. Before he joined us, George met some other insurance brokers, which meant that he had a fair understanding of the wider insurance sector before he started. We set George a number of tasks, including helping to upload and update information on our databases, conducting research on potential clients (everything from high street banks to boutique hedge funds) and assisting with ‘broking’ deals with the underwriters in the landmark Lloyds building.

George was excellent company throughout his time with us and fitted in well with the whole team. His enthusiasm

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If you’re thinking of taking a sabbatical or planning to do some voluntary project work in the UK or overseas, you could be eligible for a bursary of up to £1,000 by applying for a Worth Society Global Action Award.

for even the less enthralling tasks was admirable and he was given the opportunity to see all the different component parts of the Group. Most importantly, he was able to experience the working environment and get to know some of the individuals who make up the Group. We all enjoyed George’s company and his enthusiasm and very much hope he will come and see us again next summer.

If you are interested in joining the insurance sector, you might want to consider the graduate trainee scheme that Aon runs each year. It is always over-subscribed, so coming and spending some time on work-experience will help to bring your CV to the attention of the selection board.

Further information about the graduate trainee scheme can be found at: http://www.whatifaon.co.uk/ George Calvert (C’09) Naturally I was a little apprehensive about going to work with strangers in a corporate environment for two weeks. My apprehension was soon overcome when I arrived at the offices of Aon – not just because of the air conditioning after a sweltering walk through London, but because of the friendliness and approachability of the Aon staff. Although I had never met Ben before this first day, it was just like meeting an old friend – everything fell into place as both of us shared a common purpose having been to Worth.

I really enjoyed my time at Aon. In the first place it was wonderful to have secured a period of work experience in such troubled times and, having been exposed to the insurance market before with two rival brokers, it was refreshing to see it from a different perspective. While I was with Aon I got up to all sorts – from going out into the market to helping master the company’s infinitely complex databases. It was great to be back in the London market where everything and anything is insured: from a company director pressing zero a few too many times on their keyboard, to turning billions into trillions (which is what I was doing), and insuring Ugly Betty’s teeth.

The Global Action Awards (GAA) programme has now been running for nine years, during which time we have awarded a total of £11,380 to Worthians who have spent time in unpaid work for the good of others and the community, working both at home and abroad.

We continue to encourage Worthians at any age, or stage in their careers, to apply for a GAA; or for sponsorship support if you are participating in events for good causes.

The table below lists the GAAs we have awarded since 2000, and clearly demonstrates the depth and breadth of the projects that are considered.

So, if you are thinking about taking a sabbatical and utilising your time for the benefit of others, do get in touch. It would be great to see more mature Worthians taking advantage of the support offered through Worth Society – as Benedict Kelly (StB’78) did in 2008 when he was offered a three month sabbatical from work and went to help children in the mountain communities near Cuzco in Peru.

During 2009, we saw the return of Fridolin Steinbeis (R’08) from Mexico (see page 16) and Tristan Stutchbury (StB’01) from Uganda (see page 18).

Fridolin travelled to Mexico with ‘Projects Abroad’ where he worked with Aids orphans before volunteering in a hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city. Here he “experienced many wonderful and impressive, but also contemplative and reflective moments. Mexico is a truly marvellous country with many different faces. Many

incidents brought me closely in touch with the Mexican people, their culture and their daily lives. This experience has enriched my life, my point of view and will have a positive impact on my future – I will always look back on it with great fondness.”

We are inviting applications for the 2010 Awards – which are available to Worthians who are proposing to spend time in unpaid work for the good of others and the community.

Interested? Then please contact Olivia Henley at worthsociety@worth.org.uk or 01342-710241 – and do think about getting your applications to us as soon as you can, as they will be considered on a first come, first served basis.

Worthians who have successfully applied for Worth Society GAAs recently include Benedict Kelly (StB’78), Rob Carson (G’94) and Tom McMurray (B’08). Benedict raised much-needed funds for the children of struggling mountain communities near Cuzco in Peru and spent some time in Cuzco identifying and supporting the selected projects. Rob ran a holiday camp for disabled children in Ireland, giving the children a much-needed holiday and their carers a break. While Tom (pictured above right), spent 14 months in Entabeni, South Africa on a six month training course to become a qualified Game Ranger and field guide; before working as a park ranger to protect animals, help in the rehabilitation of injured animals and deterring poachers by patrolling the park.

For more details on how to apply for a Worth Society Global Action Award, please contact Olivia Henley on 01342-710241 or email worthsociety@worth.org.uk Worth Society: Registered Company No 06506005 Worth Old Boys Society: Registered Charity No 1084948

Tristan’s own experience in Uganda was not without incident – it soon became apparent that the Ugandan-led NGO with whom he was working was a complete scam. But, as a result of his patience and tenacity, he proves that good can come from adversity when he travelled north to work at a Children's Home which provides food, housing and education for 92 orphaned children. The experience at St Jude Children's Home “was everything that I had hoped for when I planned my six months’ voluntary work in Africa, and it was worth experiencing the three months of adversity in Uganda's capital, for an equal amount of time in that little oasis of good work.”

If you are interested in finding out more about the Global Action Awards, then please do visit our website at www.worthsociety.org.uk and go to the ‘Activities’ section.

If you would like to apply for a GAA, donate to the GAA fund, or find out about any projects in need of volunteers, then please do contact worthsociety@worth.org.uk for further details.

Olivia Henley

Rob Carson (G’94) – running camp for disabled children in Ireland £850

GAAs Awarded 2008-09 Tristan Stutchbury (StB’01) – teaching English in Uganda

Edmund Chedgy (G’00) – elective in China

£500

£750

Johnathan Craik (C’00) – elective in China

£500

Max Watson (F’05) – voluntary work in Tarma, Peru

£250

Benedict Wintour (B’09)– teaching assistant in Kenya

£750

2004-05 Daniel Grace (F’05) – teaching in Chile

£500

Elliott Webber (R’04) – teaching in Nepal

£500

2007-08 Benedict Kelly (StB’78) – fund-raising for communities in Peru

£500

This is a sure bet for anyone who would like an introduction into the City as there is always a buzz in the insurance market and there are many interesting areas to work in.

Furthermore, a period of work experience really strengthens one’s CV so I would urge any Worth student to grasp any opportunity on offer.

Tom McMurrary (B’08) – nature guide training in South Africa

£500

2003-04 Andrew Welsh (B’04) – teaching in Galagapos Islands

£500

Fridolin Steinbeis (R’08) – working with aids orphans and as a hospital volunteer in Mexico

£780

2002-03 Francis Binney (G’00) – conservation in Indonesia

£200

Mark Haden (G’03) – building nurses homes in Zambia

£250

Thanks once again to Ben and Aon for giving me a really enjoyable and memorable two-week experience in the workplace.

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

2006-07 Luke MacWilliam (R’07) – eco-tourism in South Africa; teaching in Malawi

2001-02 James Powys Lybbe (B’02) – carer in Romanian orphanage

£500

Rob Carson (G’94) – running camp for disabled children in Ireland £500

Alex Tyrwhitt (G’02) – teaching English in China

£250

2005-06 Dominic Moor (StB’00) – elective in Uganda

£500

2000-01 Nick Smith (C’01) – teaching in Uganda

£500

Michael Burr (F’06) – conservation in Cambodia

£500

Ed Bonn (G’01) – teaching in Kenya

£250

£750

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The Global Action Awards

This experience has enriched my life, my point of view and will have a positive impact on my future

Far left: Both teams after the football game – Fridolin’s team, Casa Juan Diaz, is dressed in white shirts and he is pictured in the back row, second right Left: Casa Juan Diaz are the winners! Fridolin is pictured in the back row, far left

Magical Mexico

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t’s 4am on the 1st October 2008 and I’m at my home in Rimsting, Oberbayern, Germany. My alarm clock is trying very hard to wake me for my 24 hour journey to Guadalajara, Jalisco in Mexico where I will spend the next nine months. On this cold, rainy autumn morning, I have the feeling that something special awaits me in this fabulous country, something that will open my eyes and my mind, and the feeling that I will be able to do some worthwhile work while experiencing a whole new world.

Once all the masks were finished, the boys took part in a mask dance

And then the day I had been waiting for finally arrived – I was to start work at the Orphanage!

The papier-mâché masks – selfmade, decorated and coloured by the boys

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The training started to have a positive impact – some of the boys began to get the idea of listening, thinking and following instructions, to motivate others and start playing as a team. Then, just before Christmas, ‘football euphoria’ broke out at the Orphanage! Letters were being written to the ‘Niño Jesus’ asking for football equipment for Christmas – and so it came to be that footballs appeared everywhere in Juan Diaz.

After a few hours’ sleep, the jingling bells of the wonderful cathedral ‘Expiatorio’ bring me gently back to reality. I am in Mexico! A bit jetlagged, I started my first Mexican day in Guadalajara – a beautiful, modern but at the same time traditional city to the west of the Mexican highlands, with about 6 million inhabitants. My first impressions were of happiness, liveliness, a constant hustle and bustle and countless colours in the so-called ‘mercados’.

Later on that day I was introduced to my host family who lived on the outskirts of Guadalajara in a rather poor but very traditional and wonderful neighbourhood. Without any Spanish skills, my ‘Mum’ cordially received me and proceeded to talk to me without drawing breath for more than an hour… speaking no Spanish at all, I have no idea what she was talking about! As my language skills improved, these conversations gave me an insight into the Mexican culture, their way of life and their way of thinking. My host father – a calm and very gentle man – was hardly ever at home. He toiled hard, working 24 hour shifts as a security man with just one week’s holiday a year, in order to feed his family and pay for his children’s higher education. My 24-year old host brother, who said he was privileged to be a teacher, left the house at 7 in the morning and didn’t come back until 10 at night – also in order to support the family and his sisters’ education.

Jose works on his mask

training sessions, to show us their motivation before – one week ahead of the tournament – being selected for the final ten!

I particularly remember my first day at ‘Casa Juan Diaz’.

Immediately I found myself surrounded by little boys – talking, asking questions, shouting, jumping, running, climbing up my body, tearing me to one side, pushing me to the other side. They were overloaded with energy and exuberance. All they wanted was attention and acknowledgement – I tried my best… and was duly exhausted after my first week among them. Nevertheless, from that first moment I felt I was in exactly the right place. I felt integrated – never a stranger – what a warm and wonderful welcome!

My turn! … My turn! ... My turn! …

As time moved on though, tensions heightened and fighting between the kids became more serious. I felt increasingly helpless as this situation developed. It became very apparent to me that it was all about unexpended energy for which they had no outlet. There were over 50 boys aged from 3 to 13 years. They were all located in one big house with no garden. They had just one housemother to look after them and offer much-needed attention and one housefather to undertake the discipline. That is, I decided, what they were trying to communicate through their behaviour, but no one was listening. So why stick to the routine? Why not go outside to do some sport and give them some outlet for their energy– let’s play football!

I spoke to “Projects Abroad” about these plans. They were more than enthusiastic and helped where help was required (within Mexican timescales!).

From now on, Jorge (from Projects Abroad), Sven (another volunteer) and I went out to the local soccer pitch with ten boys, twice a week for about 11/2 hours. The boys were unbelievably happy to be outside – to have a change in their daily routine, to whizz around and burn off all that accumulated energy. It was 11/2 hours of action-packed fun and training – as well as some strain and pain sometimes.

Just before the Christmas break we planned a small football tournament against another orphanage team. Our goal was to give every kid the chance to attend and play in the

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

After the game, the boys were absolutely thrilled – dancing and jumping with joy! The most moving part was at the point that we returned to the Orphanage where ‘la Tia’, the housemother, was waiting for us. Normally a rather serious person, she was absolutely elated to hear that we had won and, with tears in her eyes, grinned from ear to ear and started hugging everyone. Later on, she fully endorsed our programme by confirming the positive impact that football had had on the lives of these boys, and how much calmer, more peaceful and adorable they had become as a result.

After the Christmas break I moved on to a three-month medical placement in a very small public hospital.

Once again I was warmly welcomed by the doctors and especially the nurses, who introduced me to everything and everyone – showing me around and inviting me to their legendary taco sessions. From the emergency ward to paediatrics, cardiology, gynaecology, gastroenterology and the surgical ward, they gave me a really good overview on all the different medical disciplines.

I found it fascinating to observe the medical system in this country – not least because it allowed me to participate without any medical education at all. They taught me how to receive patients, how to undertake basic examinations, how to measure blood pressure and sugar levels, how to make an infusion and take blood, and allowed me to practise sutures – first on bed sheets, then in real life.

Other highs included examinations in the prenatal department – measuring and calculating the growth and age of a baby, listening to its heart beat via Doppler – and being witness to the birth of babies.

There were also some very moving and thought provoking moments – when young pregnant girls came into the hospital to see the doctors (abortion is illegal in Mexico); when a whole family died in a car accident due to drunk

driving; when suicide victims in the hospital died, or were saved as a result of medical intervention.

After three intense months I returned to the Orphanage for my last two months. Unfortunately I was unable to proceed with the football project, so I switched to a more creative activity – namely handicrafts! It was a good distraction for these boys; probably with less visible effect on them and their behaviour than the football; but nevertheless associated with it was a lot of fun. So, we created masks and painted and decorated them wildly – not to mention our clothes, to the horror of ‘la Tia’!

My time at the Orphanage came to a sad and sudden end as swine flu hit and forced the Orphanage’s temporary closure (along with all other institutions). When the boys were spread to different host families, I decided to take part in a conservation project on the Pacific coast. It was a turtle camp in the middle of nowhere – far away from viruses, hysteria and people – wonderfully placed near a lagoon, surrounded by beautiful nature and 25km of untouched, endless beach. Our job was to patrol the beach at night and to look for fresh turtle tracks leading to new nesting places. Thus we dug out the eggs, brought them to the camp, and buried them in a safe environment, until they were ready to hatch.

Team tactics before the start of a soccer training session

The reason for this procedure lies in the value of the turtle eggs. In the past they have been collected by locals and sold for very high prices for their ‘natural’ aphrodisiac qualities. As five of the seven turtle species have their breeding sites on Mexican beaches, this has had a severe impact on the overall turtle population.

In the end, I experienced many wonderful and impressive, but also contemplative and reflective moments during my time away. Mexico is a truly marvellous country with many different facets. Many incidents brought me closely in touch with the Mexican people, their culture and their daily lives. This experience has enriched my life, my point of view and will have a positive impact on my future. It was a very special time in my life – so free, eventful and lively – and I will always look back on it with great fondness.

For all this and everything else I experienced, I would like to thank Worth Society personally for supporting me and helping to make this fabulous trip possible.

Fridolin Steinbeis (R’08) December 2009

Freshly hatched Olive Ridley turtles Adult Olive Ridley Turtles

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The Global Action Awards Far left: Tristan (far right) and a Dutch volunteer (left) with the ‘Directors’ of Africa Initiative for the Needy Uganda

If you’re interested in finding out a little more about the work of, or making a donation to, St Jude Children’s Home in Gulu, northern Uganda – do visit their website at www.stjudechildrenshome.org where you can make donations on-line

Left: The legendary Brother Elio Croce, Director of St Jude Children’s Home Below: A typical Acholi settlement in Gulu District, Northern Uganda

Good comes from Adversity in Uganda

A

fter endless meals of posho and beans I was crying out for some greying goat meat from one of Kampala’s street markets (even if I was at risk of suffering a monsoon of diarrhoea as a result!), but Africa Initiative for the Needy Uganda was reluctant to serve me such expensive fare. In fact, they were reluctant to do anything, including helping the needy Ugandans.

Porridge time – a period of quiet contentment at St Jude orphanage

I had found this Ugandan-run NGO on the internet in January, and had been impressed when I read that they were “working to reduce poverty and improve the livelihoods of poor communities”. But after two months of aimless voluntary work in Kampala – including trying to hand out condoms to drunken men in bars! – I realised that it was all just a scam. They didn't have any orphanages or schools after all; just an attractive website and a post office box at Entebbe Airport. It was simply a trick to embezzle money from foreign donors, and they needed a Muzungu in their online photos as a stamp of authenticity.

The situation became ugly at the end of March when my Dutch colleague was almost assaulted by the 'Board of

Directors' for announcing that she was leaving along with her consignment of 30 computers. I suddenly realised that this NGO could be capable of a lot more than just corruption.

So, the next morning – following the advice of the British Embassy – I left a resignation letter on the kitchen table and slipped away quietly to an undisclosed location.

For over a month I lived in a backpacker’s hostel on the edge of town, teaching English at a little primary school down the road. The hostel was a cheap and cheerful place run by South Africans, but the mattresses were crawling with bed bugs and it was difficult to sleep at night. Often gangs of drunken gap students would stagger into the dormitory at 3 am, laughing at how much money they had lost in the casinos. It was all so far removed from my original intention of doing voluntary work in rural Africa.

I was considering throwing in the towel and going back to England when, by chance, a group of aid workers from Darfur became my new room-mates. They told me that the Catholic Missions were always looking for volunteers in Northern Uganda and suggested that I get in contact.

I did, and several days later found myself aboard a post bus lurching its way north.

The city of Gulu is very different from Kampala. Since the 1980’s it has endured nearly 25 years of civil war, frequent famine and the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the country.

It was here that the BBC reported on children as young as nine being kidnapped and transformed into child soldiers by the Lord’s Resistance Army. It wasn’t until 2004 (after a great deal of international pressure) that government forces finally chased the rebels into the Eastern Congo, leaving the Acholi at peace. Today, Gulu contains more NGO’s per person than any other city in Sub Saharan Africa, with foreign aid flooding in to help this tranquil but traumatised place.

The Comboni Missions have been in Gulu from the very beginning – building schools and hospitals during the bloodiest years of the civil war. St Jude Children’s Home is one of their success stories and, despite being named after the patron saint of lost causes, has kept children out of harm’s way since 1982. It is run by the legendary Brother Elio Croce; a sixty-year-old Italian who speaks fluent Acholi and is revered by the locals for his many confrontations with the rebels. When I arrived there in March, St Jude was providing food, housing and education to 92 orphaned children – by the time I left in June, it was for many more than that number.

Working there was total immersion. I lived with an Italian volunteer in a little house in a section of the orphanage devoted to mentally and physically disabled children.

During the day, crippled teenagers who had fallen out of mango trees or been beaten into paralysis by the rebels, sat on porches doing their homework. While at night, young victims of cerebral malaria wailed themselves to sleep. Some days I would find a feral girl rooting around my garbage bag outside, in search of tasty scraps that she had become accustomed to eating in her previous refugee camp.

Having been an EFL teacher for two years, my job was mostly to teach, but also to help with some of the care work.

I spent each morning teaching in the primary school, with the specific task of preparing the 7th Graders for their Leaving Exams. Curiously, although English is Uganda’s national language, most of the students only communicate in their local dialect and have such limited grammar and vocabulary that they struggle to enter secondary school.

So, in my lessons, the poor kids had to endure hours of present perfect continuous and formal letter writing.

It was a far cry from teaching in Spain or South Korea. The classrooms were large dusty venues with flimsy desks that

had a habit of collapsing under the weight of three pupils.

In many of my classes, disabled children studied from wheelchairs or while lying on mattresses on the floor. But the most striking difference of all was that these pupils were very eager to learn, because they knew it was their only chance of a better future. I still marvel at the way they used to stand up at the end of each class and say in chorus, “Thank you for teaching us sir. Your services are most appreciated.”

In the afternoons I would help out at the orphanage, serving porridge and playing with the infants. It is a tough world they live in. With only eight ‘Aunties’ to look after almost a hundred of them, the children run around in various states of undress, fighting over worthless trinkets or for the attention of a volunteer. I once saw two babies screaming and scratching each other over a single piece of jigsaw puzzle! But a memory that will remain with me, was the sight of them flopping around contentedly in the sunshine after a large cup of millet porridge, or walking hand-in-hand around the compound before evening prayers.

Yes – St Jude Children’s Home was everything that I had hoped for when I planned my six months’ voluntary work in Africa, and it was worth experiencing the three months of adversity in Uganda’s capital for an equal amount of time in that little oasis of good work. I would like to thank Worth Society most sincerely for donating £700 towards my expedition, without which it would not have been possible. It was a fantastic experience and one that I am going to repeat next August after some further fundraising in South Korea.

Tristan Stutchbury (StB’01) November 2009

Far left: Tristan helps out by teaching at a ‘little primary school down the road’ in Kampala Left: The aimless distribution of condoms in a Kampala slum

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Supporting Good Causes

Supporting Good Causes

My Call to Holiness When I reached the point in my life where, rather than having to go to church, I was actually getting to go to church, I knew that my life was going to take a very different path.

Playing Jesus in the Crucifixion Drama

Playing humanity in the drama ‘Puppet’, performed to Moby’s “Why does my heart feel so bad?”

Initially I had thought about going surfing in South Africa for my gap year. But I came to the conclusion that doing what God wanted me to do was the best thing for me. So, instead of going abroad for my gap year, I decided to join the Sion Catholic Community for Evangelism – seeing it as a challenge that God was calling me to – and I have not once regretted that decision.

After a series of interviews, I moved in to join the Cross Purposes team in mid-August 2009. They spend the year visiting Catholic Schools all over the country, as well as running events for young people. My first six weeks were spent in formation and training, during which time I changed considerably, being introduced to a completely new outlook on life. My first enlightenment was the richness of the Catholic faith and how much easier it is to follow one’s faith when one fully understands what Catholics are doing and why. My second enlightenment was how, as a Catholic, my main purpose is to evangelise (from the Papal document Evangelii Nuntiandi). Before it had always been about me and my faith, it had never occurred to me that I should talk about it to other people to the extent that I now do.

In spite of all the training, I still remember feeling underprepared for my first mission at an all girls’ school in South London (having spent most of my time at Worth surrounded by boys this was a whole strange new world!).

However, there is a prayer from Ephesians 3:20-21, that we often say in community:

The team leading an assembly in prayer

The band leading worship

“Glory be to Him, whose power working in us, can do infinitely more than we ask or imagine; glory be to Him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.”

It is true that we can do things beyond your wildest dreams with God’s help. At Worth, I had trouble speaking in public, now I can stand up in front of 1,200 people and tell them my life story without batting an eyelid. A mission week is similar to a trip to Lourdes with the OMV (minus the alcohol!). From the time you get up at around 6am right through until 6pm, one does not stop interacting with young people – exhausting but also very rewarding. Seeing God work before your very eyes is an amazing thing.

Each day of the week we explore a different theme.

Monday begins with assemblies, when we talk about our faith and its importance in our lives. On Tuesday we look at our relationship with God as a loving father, and at

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The Cardinal Hume Centre

Will Desmond

issues to do with our own self worth. On Wednesday the assemblies follow the life of Jesus and we look at His mercy and grace, and include some teaching on reconciliation. In the evening, after school, we run an event called 'Maximus' – a social time leading into prayer, a time for building relationships and informal discipleship. Thursday is about the Holy Spirit, when the assemblies go deeper into prayer and teach about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Later on the young people are invited to a time of personal prayer – for many a profound experience of God. The ‘Thursday Night Thing’ runs under the title "The Time Is Now". It is a time for the whole community, including parents and parishioners, to come together to laugh, sing, pray and share faith together. Mission ends on Friday when the day is focused around the Mass. It is explained to help young people understand what they are encountering during the Service, and to enrich their future visits to Church.

In the assemblies we use drama, sign language, mime, dance, testimony, video and music to present the Gospel in a relevant and effective way. I was rather shy about acting in drama productions at Worth, but my recent experiences on mission have given me far more confidence. Playing Jesus in the drama of the Crucifixion was a particular eye opener for me – actually understanding what Christ did for us first hand, so that we could all be set free from sin, is a humbling experience.

Battle of the Bands was always an exhilarating experience for me at Worth, and I get that same feeling being able to play my bass everyday on Mission. Giving my testimony is my favorite part of the week – although some of the conversations with pupils following it can be very difficult.

Hearing the pain and suffering in other peoples’ lives can be very hard, but God is always with me to help me say the right words.

At the time of writing, I have only done four of my nine missions and I haven’t even done an event yet. Someone said to me while praying with me at the start of the year that they saw a picture of me in a fast car with Jesus sitting beside me. They said that I was already going fast, but if I let Jesus take the wheel I would go faster than I could ever imagine. Looking back over the last four months, I can clearly see that this is the case. I look towards my future with an open mind, as I have learnt from this experience that doing what God wants is the best thing for me. As the Benedictine Monk Ian Petit once said: “Let go – Let God!” Will Desmond (C’09) January 2010

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

The 50th Anniversary celebrations of Worth School continued in November 2009 with the staging of a unique concert at Central Hall Westminster in London.

The choirs and musicians of the Benedictine Schools of England – Ampleforth College, Downside School, St Benedict’s Ealing and Worth School – came together for the first time to play a varied musical programme to an audience of over 1,000.

The retiring collection raised over £1,500 for the Cardinal Hume Centre in central London. For 24 years the Centre has been transforming the lives of homeless young people by providing accommodation; practical and emotional support; healthcare and counselling; education, training and employment advice from one site.

Abbot Christopher is a Patron of the Cardinal Hume Centre, and its current Chairman is Worthian, John Butterworth (G’69). Here John gives us an insight into the valuable work undertaken by the Centre.

In the early 1980s, street homelessness was much more visible in London than it is today, especially, but not solely, in the piazza outside Westminster Cathedral.

In true Benedictine tradition, Cardinal Basil Hume reacted with compassion and pragmatism. Founding the Passage first, and then wisely realising that a one size fits all service for homeless people simply didn’t work, the Cardinal Hume Centre was established in 1986 to welcome and help homeless young people and families. Much has changed in the last 24 years – but not the Benedictine ethos of welcoming the stranger and providing sanctuary to those in most need, especially the young.

I was elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees in December 2008, having been a Trustee since 2001. I have to confess that I felt quite apprehensive at my task ahead as Chairman, which involves far more than chairing board meetings. The Chief Executive, Cathy Corcoran, asked me recently how I was finding the role after a year in post.

To my surprise I replied that I was thoroughly enjoying it.

It has been a privilege to get to know much more about the work of the Centre, and the positive impact it has on so many peoples’ lives. Whenever you visit the Centre, you are struck first by the unfeigned warmth of the welcome and then by the commitment and professionalism of the staff and the volunteer team.

Anyone who first comes to the Centre for help – whether they are homeless young people, badly housed families, refugees, asylum seekers or migrants – comes through the ‘Gateway’ which offers a warm welcome whether the

If you would like to hear more, and if you would like to help us – with your time or by offering financial support – to assist more of the country’s most vulnerable people, please do contact John Butterworth by e-mailing: info@cardinalhumecentre.org.uk; or write to me at the Cardinal Hume Centre, 3-7 Arneway Street, Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2BG; or visit our website. www.cardinalhumecentre.org.uk.

need is for emergency accommodation, health care, help with financial planning and debt management, adult education and literacy, immigration and benefits advice, spiritual support or simply a listening ear.

The first team to come into play is the ‘Assessment and Client Engagement Team’ who work with clients to assess both their immediate and longer-term needs and to help them begin a journey of personal development; while accessing the many services on the one small site in Westminster. If we cannot help, we will signpost people to another organisation who can.

The ‘Housing Team’ gives advice across the Centre, and the main hostel provides accommodation and support to 32 homeless young people helping them to get into education, training and or work. A smaller hostel provides a safe haven for people in recovery from substance misuse with specialist staff available. When residents are due to leave we give them help with moving on to more independent living.

The ‘Learning, Development and Employment Team’ provides a wide range of services from English classes to Adult Literacy, from IT training to CV writing, from job searching to interview preparation and work placements.

‘Family Services’ offers state-of-the-art play and development activities for children under five, who are living in inadequate or overcrowded accommodation. A crèche enables parents to access the education, training and employment services on site. The ‘Medical Surgery’ provides a two-doctor general practice, specially tailored to the needs of homeless people of all ages from across the whole of London. And last, but by no means least, the ‘Charity Shop’ is a well-known landmark in the area – popular with office workers in need of a good book or looking for a bargain and with many people who are in need of clothes, household goods, pictures, toys and teddy bears.

Left: John Butterworth with Archbishop Nichols at the Centre’s Annual Reception Right: Abbot Christopher Jamison, one of the Cardinal Hume Centre’s Patrons

Story time with children in the Family Centre

The road to employability may be an especially long one for some of the clients – such as the parents in the Family Services for pre-school children, or the young people from broken backgrounds or those fleeing war overseas – but all our interventions are geared towards the goal of financial independence which is the doorway to a better and more fulfilling life.

A special pleasure for me, as a Worthian, is the relationship between the Cardinal Hume Centre and Worth – both the Abbey and latterly the School. We greatly value having Abbot Christopher as one of our Patrons and we are delighted that Fr Paul works at the Centre every week.

Different members of the staff and volunteer team stay over at Worth three times a year, taking some time out from their busy lives, and learning more about the Benedictine ethos and tradition of the Centre’s founder.

I think the Centre is a unique and special place where small miracles happen every day; the magic ingredient being the clients’ willingness to learn and develop. Every time I visit the Centre, I am struck by the optimism of the clients as well as their courage and determination to make a better life for themselves.

John Butterworth (G’69)

Students learning about tenses in an English language class

The 50th Anniversary celebrations of Worth School saw the staging of the Benedictine Schools’ Concert.

The retiring collection raised over £1,500 for the Cardinal Hume Centre

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Back Row from left to right: Jamie Hutton (guest), Stef Humphries, Adam Braverman, Chris Brown, Dan Pring, Oscar Elochim (guest).

Tom Mitchell Selected for England Universities Rugby Squad

inevitably lacked pace wide in the backs to trouble the defences. This shortage of pace is unusual – although the signs are that this will be reversed for 2010/11 when our speedier players return to the fold. In a lean period during January and February, we managed two crucially important victories against the Amplefordians and Merton; while holding our own but sadly with ‘nil points’, in some plucky defeats. By March the alarm bells had truly rung and the team reformed to win a key encounter against Mitcham – including a remarkable hat-trick of tries from Hammond – to ensure good prospects of a respectable place in the Surrey 3 League table.

Tom Mitchell (F’07) is in his second year at Bristol University studying English and Philosophy. He has been playing for the University and was invited to play in a combined university side in last summer’s Tuscan Sevens in Kenya. He played against national sides from all over Africa, plus a select French side and was asked to attend the regional trials and then a final selection session at Uppingham. Tom was lucky enough to be selected for the Elite Squad and was in the lineup against the National Portuguese side. Despite playing nearly all his rugby at fly half at school, and at inside centre at Bristol, he has been playing at 13 for England. He seems to enjoy the space. They flew out to Lisbon and had a few days training before the game. Despite being well in control in the first half the Portuguese came back in the second half and scored a late try to win 21-18. Reports of the students’ performance were very positive in this, their first outing against a full international side.

Worthians 2009/10 Rugby Season Sport

We started the 2009-2010 season with a real challenge – pick a match-winning Worthians back line to play in the 2008-09 season and the names that sprang to mind would be: Jamie Bruce (R’04) at 9, Ed Gordon-Steward (guest) at 10, Lee Howard (guest) and Mark Wilson (B’87) in the centre, Kevin Danagher (B’03) and Simon Hawkins (R’01) for real pace on the wings, and Tom Calnan (R’95) at fullback.

But – we lost the lot for the new 2009-2010 season!

Tom Calnan, talisman for the Worthians backs at number 15 for 15 years, had accepted a job offer in Abu Dhabi and moved out there with his new wife Angela; Jamie Bruce, last year’s player of the season, had left the side to join the Armed Forces; Simon Hawkins and Kevin Danagher both moved away from London with work; Lee Howard and Mark Wilson faced long term injuries; and last, but by no means least, the Scottish play-maker and big character, Ed Gordon-Steward, was forced to retire soon after falling on his knees to secure his marriage to the lovely Louise.

The Committee also saw some changes: Alex Podbury (C’04) replaced Tom Calnan as Vice Captain and we said goodbye to James Burt (R’98) as Social Secretary, welcoming in his place, a man who would be coveted by any London Rugby Club (or indeed night club) – namely Rob, ‘I provide the gas’, Cottrell (R’97).

Phil Myles was ‘Man of the Match’ after the Worthians 5-0 victory over the Old Amplefordians

Worthians RFC play versus Old Amplefordians with the Worthians skipper, James Madsen, competing in the line-out... watched anxiously by Danny O'Connell, Richard Hammond (guest) and Phil Myles (hidden)

The mass exodus in the backs meant that the boys had to do some fast networking – with spectacular results resulting in some great new talent joining the ranks. New Worthian, Tom Woodman (F’07), grabbed the number 9 shirt and immediately slotted into the squad – as did Chris Hill (guest) who joined us on the wing and Simon WynnDavies (G’64) (our first Junior House Worthian) at full back.

With Jamie Garratt (guest), Rob Cottrell and Tom Podbury (C’02) providing the experience, and newcomer Adam Braverman (G’05) always looking dangerous on the field, we were just left with the all-important number 10 jersey to fill. This came in the form of Mathieu Denarnaud, a young talented Frenchman who happened to stumble across the Worthians RFC one day – and stayed on. With Mathieu came Arnaud De Cazaux, a slim winger with an

impenetrable defence. Our resident sevens specialist, Dan ‘Waisale’ Pring (R’03), was regularly drafted onto the wing to bolster the backs and had a fine all-round season.

As always, Ben Calnan (R’97) rallied to the cause and played well in the few games that he was not sidelined by a groin injury.

The forwards were not so hard-hit by departures, and a steady front row club was established over the season comprising Dave Osborne (R’04), Mark Lane (F’03), Rohan Wilson (guest) and (occasionally) Mikey Goodall (guest) supported by VC Alex Podbury, Tom Middlehurst (R’03), and the ever-versatile John ‘I play in all three rows’ McArthur (guest), doing sterling duties at prop invariably), line-out duties (often) and throwing-in (sometimes).

John-Henry Wicks (G’00) and a greying, but mobile, Ben Holloway (C’93) also filled in when necessary.

The second row was well supported since our ageless watch-tower, Richard Hammond (guest), had elected to play for yet another season. He relished the opportunity to make his mark on old rivals – particularly the muchlamented ‘Mitcham scum’ (which he did in no small measure). Joe Green (B’05) offered bulk, ball skill and pace, while Danny O’Connell’s (R’02) hands provided certainty in the lineout. The back row was not as crowded as usual, but the skipper had plenty to choose from with newcomers Dave Morris (guest) and Adam Williams (guest) on regular duty. The key go-forward man in the back row was Jack Bodkin (G’03), who returned from his travels in China to study Law and, most importantly, to rejoin Worthians RFC. Jack really proved his value as ‘two men in the squad’ by filling in with prop duties as required. Chris Madsen (B’04) and James Burt always made a huge impact at number 8, when work and family allowed.

On the field, our play was characterised by two contrasting features. We invariably dominated the lineout (with jumpers aplenty in Madsen, O’Connell, Pring, Hammond and McArthur) and some very good lifting techniques from our props and Joe and Jack; as well as the bulls-eye accuracy of the throw-ins from Lane and Podbury. But, we

Driving the team forward in his second season as skipper was James Madsen. James put in an enormous amount of effort both on and off the field – but left suddenly in March 2010 to take up a great work opportunity in Dubai.

He was supported, as ever, by Chairman Desmond Calnan (R’69), who did his best to keep the show on the road (bringing a nervous cheer from the Old Tiffs crowd in a key game, when an early injury to the skipper forced the intrepid Fox to swap his flag and bottles for mouth-guard and boots!).

The players who really stood out in the Squad were Dan Pring – back to his very best form and playing with assurance whether jumping in the line or scoring tries on the wing; and Jack Bodkin who had a massive influence on all games, showing great No 8 technique when picking up and driving with great effect, even when our scrum was on the retreat.

We are always on the lookout for, and welcome, new Worthians who would like to join us. Our first fixture of the season is the annual Young Worthians versus Old Worthians match at Worth School, which is already fixed for Sunday 12th September 2010. Worthians are most welcome to join the Sevens campaign which takes place in April and May. See also Tom Mitchell’s separate report on the success of our Young Worthians at the National Under-21s competition – which is to take place this year on 30th August 2010.

Sport

Front Row from left to right: Sam Barnett, Stephen Ebbett, Mark Breen, Lee Howard (guest), Ben Calnan.

The conditions for the next game against Irish Colleges could not have been more different. From the sunshine and dry pitches of Portugal, the squad travelled to Newcastle to be greeted by constant rain for four days! They played at Gosforth Rugby Club on the 3G pitch – when the weather took a turn for the worse and it started to snow. Within minutes the pitch was carpeted in two inches of snow, and a team of volunteers were frantically clearing the lines whenever there was a stoppage in play. The England side played open running Rugby and won the game convincingly at 42-9. Tom played the full 80 minutes and set up a number of scoring opportunities – although he is hoping that he can get on the score sheet himself if he is lucky enough to play in the final international this year against French Universities.

This game is being played near Clermont Ferrand and will be a very tough test as the French squad is full of regular Top 14 players.

Alan Mitchell (father of Tom and a member of staff) March 2010

James Madsen - B’02 Desmond Calnan - R’69 March 2010

If you are interested in joining Worthians RFC, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Desmond Calnan, Worthians RFC Chairman Tel: +31 6 1097 2976 Desmond.Calnan@shell.com

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Worthians RFC Cronk-Cunis Squad:

Cronk-Cunis U21 National Old Boys Tournament

Front Row from left to right: Tom Priestley (R’07), Warwick Symcox (R’07), Ed Armstrong (R’07), Tom Mitchell (F’07), Jake Ambridge (C’07), Matt Pierce (F’07), Tom O’Hare (B’08), Teddy Noel-Hill (StB’07)

This was Worth’s fourth appearance in the Cronk-Cunis Under 21s tournament, which took place on the 31st August 2009. A total of 45 Old Boys teams represented schools from all over the British Isles for this annual Reunion Festival.

The day for Worthians RFC began well, with a full squad arriving at the ground a full hour ahead of the first kick-off – a first for the Worthians! We went into our first game against Gordonstoun confident that the dry, sunny conditions would allow us to play expansive running rugby. By half time, we realised that expansive running rugby was not so well suited to our rather lacklustre fitness levels! But, thanks largely to a 24-man squad comprising of leavers from 2007, 2008 and 2009, we managed to overcome any fleeting concerns over fitness, and cruised to our first victory of the day, winning 5-0.

Our next fixture aroused some old school rivalry as we faced Tonbridge – on a pitch so small, it was reminiscent of our Junior House days. True blue and gold spirit came

to the fore, as the boys showed some ferocious midfield defence, and Jake Ambridge and Tom Priestley reliving the centre partnership of yesteryear. Going into the second half 3-0 up, we knew the game was far from won.

Mid-way through the second half, despite some stern defence in the pack from the likes of Pierce and Jukes, Tonbridge managed to score a try after what looked like a blatant knock-on from the try scorer as he gathered a loose ball, taking the score to 5-3. Time was against us, but the team grouped together well and with some great work from O’Hare and Blott we found ourselves in the opposition half. Powerful work from the Worth forwards took us to within twenty metres of the line, and Tonbridge’s indiscipline led to a penalty. A sigh of relief was audible from the touchline as the ball flew between the uprights courtesy of Mitchell’s trusty boot. We progressed to the narrowest of victories at 6-5 – a proud moment for those involved, as our opponents had not tasted defeat in their previous 30 games at the school.

Dulwich College was our next opponent in the quarterfinals of the main competition. O’Sullivan and Armstrong did their best to lead the forwards against a sizeable Dulwich pack. It was the mismatch in size and some weak Worthian defence that led to Dulwich’s early lead. The Worth spirit was evident once again as we fought back in the hot sun with a try before the break and another late in the second half. But, in the end, the organised Dulwich forward pack proved too much for us and they came out on top of what was a very closely fought encounter.

Every member of the Worthians team who was involved gave a great account of themselves and enjoyed the day to the full. Thanks must go to Jamie Bruce who mustered the team over the summer months – aided by former skippers Simon Jukes, Giles Sacarello and Tom Mitchell.

Jamie managed the side on the day with masterful insight, supported by Worthians RFC Vice-Captain Alex Podbury and Des Calnan, the evergreen (ever-grey?) Silver Fox who is the stalwart of Worthians RFC. Together, they secured another great event for Worthians.

Tom Mitchell (F’07)

Calling all Worthian squash players We are holding our first squash match for Worthians on Saturday 20th November 2010, here at Worth School and are very much hoping that this will become an annual fixture to add to the Worthians sporting calendar.

If anyone would be interested in playing, then please do make contact with the Worth Society Secretary – worthsociety@worth.org.uk. Jeremy Dowling, who many a squash player will remember, is helping to co-ordinate this new fixture for Worth Society.

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Worthians 2009/10 Cricket Club Report Worthians Cricket was much enjoyed by everyone who took part in matches during the 2009/10 season. Not only were we lucky with the weather, the team managed two very narrow defeats and a couple of wins (which is better than most years!) and, most importantly, we had some very good younger Worthians in the team who all enjoyed getting involved.

Sport

Sport

Back Row from left to right: Fergus Grady (C’08), George Gwilliam (StB’07), James Soulsby (B’07)), Anthony Lamb (R’08), Michael O'Sullivan (R’07), Tom Woodman (F’07), James Henwood (C’07), Charlie Beecroft (R’07), Peter Osbourne (R’08), Tom McMurray (B’08), Simon Jukes (R’09), Matt Blott (B’08), Andrew Furness (F’08), Dom Bosher (R’08), Joe Bradley (R’09).

Captain: Tom Mitchell (F’07), Jake Ambridge (C’07), Ed Armstrong (R’07), Charlie Beecroft (R’07), Dom Bosher (R’08), Joe Bradley (R’09), Andrew Furness (F’08), Fergus Grady (C’08), James Henwood (C’07), Simon Jukes (R’09), Anthony Lamb (R’08), Tom McMurray (B’08), Teddy Noel-Hill (StB’07), Tom O’Hare (B’08), Peter Osborne (R’08), Michael O’Sullivan (R’07), Matt Pierce (F’07), Tom Priestley (R’07), Giles Sacarello (StB’08), James Soulsby (B’07), Warwick Symcox (R’07)

The season began with our annual Speech Day match against the School 1st XI. A great innings of 87 runs by James Wallace was not quite enough to reach the School’s competitive target of 148 off 30 overs – in a very close, tense finish the Worthians team fell just 4 runs short in the final over. While not quite a winning start, it was a very close game which gave the boys a boost for the start of the season.

Our next game against John Denman’s Worth Occasionals was another nail-biter. Worthians batted first, posting a very competitive 197-8, with Tom Wright contributing an assured 85 and Angus Gairdner chipping in with a quickfire 36. However, James Anthony’s usual tight bowling and three wickets were not quite enough to ensure victory.

The Occasionals squeezed past our total in the last over with only four balls to spare. So, once again, the Worthians had to accept defeat – snatched from the jaws of victory.

We had another hard fought battle in our next game against St. Hugh’s College Oxford Old Boys. This was our first fixture against St Hugh’s, a team run by a friend of mine who I go on tour with every year (as a ringer – unfortunately I didn’t quite make it to Oxford myself!).

St Hugh’s batted first and scored 146 all out in 42 overs.

Did the Worthians chase down the runs with ease?

Certainly not! St Hugh’s had us 8 wickets down before we scrambled over the line for the win, with just a few overs to go. Max McAlister captained on the day and to quote him, “Great weather, great oppo, great day all round!”

Our final game, on the Worth Oval, was against St Chad’s College Durham Old Boys captained by Worthian, Richard Gairdner who went to Chad’s after leaving Worth. Chad’s won the toss and elected to put the Worthians team in to bat.

A great performance from Paddy Hopkirk with the bat, led the Worthians to a total of 196 all out. St Chad’s obviously felt the pressure in the face of such a commanding total from the Worthians team, and we managed to bowl them out for 120. It was great to end our season with a win on a very enjoyable day with a great deal of support from spectators and picnickers on the boundary.

The Worth grounds provided a lovely backdrop for all our games as always, and our thanks must go to the groundsman for his work on the wicket which improves year on year. The Worth ground is a beautiful place to play, and a wonderful way for spectators to while away the day picnicking on the boundary.

We are always keen to hear from Worthians who would like to get involved – either as a player, an umpire, scorer or simply to come and watch us play at Worth. Please don’t hesitate to send me an email at skjones@reedsmith.com if you are interested in getting involved.

Simon Jones (StB’98) March 2010

The Worthians team who took on the Worth School 1st XI on Speech Day 2009: Back row from left to right: Sam Outram (guest), Nick Michell (StB’03), Michael Bilbe (StB’06), Thomas Bilbe (StB’06) and Angus Gairdner (StB’96) Front row from left to right: Ed Long (G’03), James Wallace (StB’02), Julian Gairdner (StB’89), Andrew Keatley (C’96), Nicholas Palmer-Brown (B’03) and James Anthony (G’97)

Below: Angus Gairdner (StB’96) pictured left, the Worthians team captain with brother Richard (StB’98), right, the St Chads Durham team captain.

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Worthians 2009/10 Golfing Society Report It opened with our annual match against The Old Gregorians in April 2009 at our usual venue, Royal Ashdown Forest.

The Worthian team – Hugh Bett, James Blake, Philip Davey, Peter Gottelier, Simon Pickard, George and Kenneth Ross, and Matthew Wood – sat down to lunch 4-0 up. In true Worth style we began to celebrate slightly prematurely (!) with wine and port, but fortunately did manage to hold onto our lead winning by 5 to 3 matches – each match in the afternoon being a close call.

Patrick Davey (F’01) and Matthew Wood (B’77) demonstrate two quite different golfing styles at a recent meeting of the Worthians Golf Society!

Flushed with victory, we hoped to do well in the annual Grafton Morrish Public Schools Scratch Foursomes event at Knole Park but unfortunately the team – Patrick and Philip Davey, Stuart Hiscocks, Rupert Pridham, Ken Ross and Simeon Stevens – failed to qualify for the autumn knockout event at Hunstanton. I confidently predict that we shall qualify in 2010!

Better things were to come however. And so it was that on the first Sunday of June 2009, six well primed golfers set forth for Woking Golf Club to take part in the annual

By popular request, the Spring Meeting was once again held at Moor Park in May 2009. One of the Society’s most longstanding members, Hugh Maguire, carried off the Rose Bowl first prize with a very credible 36 points, closely followed by John Shepherd and James Blake. Simeon Stevens flexed his muscles to win the longest drive, and Hugh and Patrick Davey picked up ‘nearest the pin’ awards as well. The 2010 meeting will also be held at Moor Park on Friday 30th April.

The Autumn Meeting at Royal Ashdown Forest was very well attended. It was particularly heartening to see Glenn Robertson and Michael Margrett strolling the fairways.

Nick Barnett – again a longstanding supporter of the Society – romped home with 37 points to win the Silver Salver with Rupert Pridham and Mike Margrett both scoring 34 points to take 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

‘Nearest the pin’ prizes were won by Rupert and James Blake with John Shepherd having the longest drive.

All in all the Golfing Society continues to flourish but we would definitely benefit from attracting more members of all standards. If you are interested, then please do contact me at kenneth.ross2@virgin.net or on 01323 641221.

Kenneth Ross (G’65) Secretary – Worthians Golfing Society March 2010

Worth 2004 Leavers v Eastbourne 2004 Leavers On the 12th September 2009, two teams from rival schools – Worth and Eastbourne College – met up to play in a two-day golf tournament at Goodwood in Sussex; with Foursomes taking place on the Saturday and Singles on the Sunday, interspersed with various team bonding dinner parties inevitably!

As the 4 fourballs set off from the Clubhouse on Saturday, we were blessed with probably one of the finest summer days of 2009. A keenly fought front nine saw the pairing of Ingram and Andy Pollen far ahead, with the other three Worthian teams levelling with their Eastbourne opponents.

Things changed a little after the front 9, Ingram and Pollen wrapped up their game and Alex Pollen and Daniel Brown scraped through their game by winning on the 18th green. Things in the other two games were far from settled though. After building an initial lead after the 14th, Charles Bellm and Guy Bartleet had a temporary loss of form and squandered their lead, finally losing their match on the 18th also. The final grouping of Roger Greaves and Tom Cottrell struggled in the back 9 and were unfortunately beaten too.

So, after the first day the scores stood level at 2-2, with all to play for on Sunday!

Morning broke and the players arrived back at the course for a day of Singles. The programme consisted of eight matches played back-to-back before a late Sunday lunch. As the matches teed off the tension was

26 I

building – Oliver Ingram and Daniel Brown were clearly dominating their matches, while Alex Pollen and Roger Greaves held their own against their opponents. But other matches were not going the Worthians way sadly – we were up against far more experienced golfers and although they had handicap advantage we were always underdogs in the matchups. As the round went on, Brown and Ingram wrapped up their victories, with Pollen also clinching victory on the 17th. But the other matches, as close as they were, failed to secure any points for the Worthians.

And so it was that the Singles scores ended up at 5-3 to Eastbourne – thus handing them a 7-5 victory over the two days.

Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and a great opportunity for us all to reconvene. We are very much hoping that this will become an annual gathering. Inevitably the Eastbourne boys were smug in their victory – but we will be doing our utmost to wrestle back that trophy as soon as the opportunity arises!

Charles Bellm (R’04) September 2009 The Worthians who challenged Eastbourne College Leavers to a weekend’s golf in September 2009 were, from left to right: Charles Bellm (R’04), Guy Bartleet (R’02), Daniel Brown (B’04), Alex Pollen (StB’04), Oliver Ingram (B’04), Thomas Cottrell (StB’04), Andrew Pollen (StB’00), Roger Greaves (StB’04).

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Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Worthian Football XI Team – back row from left to right: Livio Belpassi (B’04), Lorenzo Belpassi (B’04), Constantin Meyer (G05), Josh Taylor (F’05), Ben Taylor (F’03), Mike Matthews (B’99), Adam Braverman (G’05).

Worthians versus School 1st XI Football Match The sun welcomed the team of Under-21 Worthians on the last Sunday of the Lent Term when they arrived at Worth to play football against the School 1st XI. Having already been postponed twice because of inclement weather (namely copious quantities of snow!) the players were well ready for this keenly contested match.

We saw a number of nations taking part – and it was good to see Germany and Italy represented in the Worthians team. Names like Klipper and Belpassi rolled off the tongue, as we remembered that 2010 is a World Cup year.

Thanks to the International Baccalaureate, we have seen a renewed interest in, and enthusiasm for, football at Worth. We are indebted to Nick Hopkins for agreeing to arrange the Worthians team for a second year and a third time. (If memory serves me right, I think Nick enjoyed a little too much Taylor hospitality one evening, and thereby ended up agreeing to act as the Worthians team co-ordinator!).

Front row from left to right: Chris Quail (staff member), Dan Hyde (G’05), Stephan Humphries (C’05 – captain), Laurenz Klipper (G’05)

Henry’s group of 2009 Leavers will play against the 1st XI, and to invite John Surtees to present the Cup after the match. This will be housed in a trophy cabinet in the new Café – to be called the Pit Stop in Henry’s memory.

After the match, and over a few beers in the Patrick Lamb Centre, there was talk of holding two matches next year on the penultimate Sunday of the Lent Term – with an under-21 as well as an over-21 Worthians team playing versus the School.

It’s about time that Football is given the recognition it deserves, and with so many Worthians showing an interest, I am sure we have started something that will become an annual fixture in the Worthians sporting calendar in the years to come.

Once again, thank you to those Worthians who participated, and to the School for securing the Cup! Andrew Taylor, Gervase Housemaster

The match was closely contested. The School secured victory, winning the match 3-1; although there were accusations that the referee was a ‘homey’ (honestly!).

Stef Humphries scored for the Worthians, while Pablo Wansborough scored two and Chris Gyere one for the school. That ended a very good season for Pablo, who was the 1st XIs leading goal scorer – just ahead of Chris who was last season’s leading scorer.

The teams were playing for the Henry Surtees Memorial Cup, which was presented to Matt Jeffery, the School Team Captain, by the Headmaster in the final Assembly of term. We hope that next year a number of boys from

Worthians 2010 Tennis Report After a fairly dismal run of results from the Worthians perspective, there were very high hopes for the team for 2010.

I will quickly gloss over the 2009 result where, despite the valiant efforts of Messrs Ben Elwes (G’81), Jonathan Sharpe (B’84), Alex Tyrwhitt (G’02) and myself, youth won out over experience and the Worthians went down to a straight sets defeat. Alex and I managed to put up a little resistance but unfortunately, because of a certain lack of practice on Alex's part and the absence of sufficient quantities of WD40 on mine, the inevitable was only staved off for a very brief moment.

The omens for the 2010 match were much brighter. For the first time in the decade-long history of the challenge, the Worthians fielded a team of eight players. Many thanks to Christian Bruning (StB’88), Sean Buckley (G’83), Philip de Ayala (C’76), Ben Elwes (G’81), Greg Pickard (StB’81), Chris McCourt (B’83) and Chris Yim (StB’08) for volunteering to take on the challenge.

I am pleased to say that the result was much better than in previous years, in that the team did not lose a single set, did not lose a single game, and indeed did not lose a single point. Long-time readers of this report may detect a certain inherent improbability in this result but, it is I assure you, strictly accurate. That being said the team did not win a single set, win a

The Old Place

Sport

Sport

I optimistically forecasted last year that, following our first win against the Downside team, that many more wins would follow – and this year has been a particularly successful one for the Worthians Golfing Society!

Russell Bowl Catholic Public Schools Scratch Foursomes competition, which has been dominated by Ampleforth for the last few years. This time, by lunchtime, the team – Patrick and Philip Davey, Peter Gottelier, Stuart Hiscocks, Rupert Pridham and Will Kelly – were lying in third position with Downside and Ampleforth ahead and Stoneyhurst behind. Fortified on this occasion by the excellent lunch and wine, they amassed 91 points in the afternoon (11 better than the next highest score) to win the competition by 8 points with one of the highest scores recently recorded.

Special mention must be made of Peter Gottelier and Rupert Pridham’s two over par round, collecting 34 points.

single game or indeed win a single point either. The reason for this somewhat unusual result was the wonderful British climate which meant that the match was cancelled because of bad weather.

While some might be disheartened that the best result achieved by the tennis team since the inaugural match was to have the match abandoned for bad weather, I see it as grounds for optimism for the future. Some might criticise such a Panglossian view but to such naysayers I say: • tomorrow is another day, • this is a team that can dig deep and bounce back, • tennis is a game you have to take one point at a time and it is the last point that counts, • the team has a lot of potential, • it is not about winning it is about how you play the game, • this is a team that can roll back the years, • it is about making the other team play one more shot, • if something is worth doing it is worth doing well.

Anyway – roll on 2011!

Crispin Hayhoe (StB’82)

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Caught on Camera

Fr Kevin catching up with Worthians and their families over dinner in Hong Kong at Easter. Clockwise l to r Mrs Bowers and Shaun Bowers (R’84) with their twin daughters, Simon Wall (StB’82), Tony Tyler (C’73), Fr Kevin, Stephen Geiser (R’66), Mrs Geiser and Dominic Geiser

Mel Carson (B’90) signals that he’s very happy (or perhaps he needs to come up for air!) at his marriage to Ashley Seffernick at Gig Harbour in Washington USA

Owen Lean (C‘01) performing at the ‘City Of Wings Festival’ at Ypres in March 2010

Peter Cullinan (StB’82) worked as project manager and resident engineer for the new Durban Stadium in South Africa

Dominic Waghorn (StB’87) scooped the title of Television Journalist of the Year at the Royal Television Society Journalism Awards

Phil Holmes (StB’97) right, receives the Metropolitan Police Force Endeavour Award in May 2009 from Sir Tim Gordwin, Deputy Commissioner

Andy Stewart (B’72) and Fr Stephen pictured in May 2010

Ben Hancock (G’90) in London on Poppy Day with Martin Bell, MP and former war correspondent, and his former work colleague, Rawden Leigh. Ben launched ‘London Poppy Day’ four years ago; they raised £60,000 this year

Tom Carew-Hunt (StB’01), John Barnes (StB’06), Francois Pereire (R’06) and Robert Butterworth (StB’06) on the London Eye

Oli Mulcahy (C’05) with his winning robot at the RoboCup Rescue competition in Germany

Robert Herring (G’68) in the Tridos Mountains, Cyprus

‘Surfs up’ – Philip de Ayala (C’76)

Charlie Vaughan-Fowler (R’02) with Golden Sword (who was second in The Derby in 2009) while working for South African trainer, Mike de Kock in Dubai Sinclair Webster (R’66) back to full health after going through major surgery, pictured with his wife Stephanie

Michael Bray (R’65) and his wife, Jo, pictured with their two children, James and Anna, in the South of France during the summer of 2009

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Fr Bede and Fr Philip celebrated their Golden Jubilee of Clothing as novices in August 2009

A mini reunion of (l to r) Patrick Davey (F’01), James Thorp (G’01) and Ed Morgan (G’01)

Patrick Flynn (B’78) caught relaxing in downtown Bordeaux

Andrew Rome (G78) pictured on holiday in Greece

Jaime Zobel de Ayala (StB‘77) at the end of his 8-day tour of Peru by motorbike – on the edge of Lake Tikicaca

Simon Douglas-Dufresne (G’80) with his son Dylan Dean and wife Carolyn at the ‘Leopard Party’

2009 leavers Joe Bradley (F’09), Antony Riley (R’09), Felix Barber (StB’09) and Nathaniel Rankin (R’09) reunite for a casual breakfast in Hong Kong before the 7s weekend

Nick Donovan (StB’93) with his wife, Joanne, and their three children – Oliver 10, Flynn 7 and Ruby 2

Patrick Wilkinson (StB’92), 4th from right in the front row, winning the Leinster Branch RFU Veterans’ Cup with Bective Rangers

Angus Gairdner (StB’96) caught “On Air!” in ‘producer’ mode in September 2009

Andrew Bayles (B’98) at his wedding to Maeve Mulcahy on 6th June 2009. (Top l to r) Anthony Woodward (B’98), Richard Lynton-Jones (StB’97), Alex Ryan (B’98), Luke Windle (C’96), Dan Hughes (R’98), Ed Keelaghan (R’98). (Bottom l to r) Dom Clarke (C’98), Simon Bayles (B’90), Andrew Bayles (B’98), Maeve Bayles, David Micallef-Eynaud (B’98), Will Pasquali (B’98)

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

Tom Carew Hunt (StB’02) and James Condie (B’02) organised a ‘quiet’ drink with two other Worthians at The Goat in Boots in Fulham on the 5th February 2010.

It wasn’t long before word got about and the gathering snowballed into a group of around 30 Leavers from 2002. Pictured above are Tom Nelson, Charlie Slevin, James Condie, Alex Looseley, Ben Newman, Jasper DoyneDitmas, Chris Kellaway, Ben Leslie, Matt Maguire and Ronan Cloud. Other attendees included Luke Bodkin, Alex Simpson, Alex Tyrwhitt, Je Ahn, Gus Wardle, Jonny Smyth, Tom Carew Hunt, James D’arcy, James Maclean, Tristan Duke, Mark Churchman and Richard Holt.

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a rock-hard sausage out of the Infirmary window – only to see it hit a monk below on the shoulder! This did not do me much good...

How did your experiences as a pupil at Worth influence the paths you have followed in your life?

Knight Vision – The Sir David Bell Interview Worthian, Sir David Bell (C’64) has had a particularly distinguished career. After graduating from Cambridge with a 2:1 in History, Sir David completed his MA in Economics and Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He worked at the Financial Times for 37 years until he retired in December 2009. He became its Chief Executive in 1993 and Chairman from 1996 until December 2009.

He became a Director of Pearson plc in 1996 and retired from the board in the summer of 2009.

In July 1998 he was appointed Pearson's Director for People, with responsibility for the recruitment, motivation, development and reward of all the people across the Pearson Group which is the largest educational publishing company in the world and employs some 35,000 people in 61 countries. In addition to the FT and a range of education companies, Pearson also owns the Penguin Group.

Sir David is Chairman of Sadler's Wells, a Non Executive Director of The Economist, a Director of the International Youth Foundation, Chairman of Crisis, the charity for single homeless people, Chair of the University of Roehampton, Chair of the Media Standards Trust, Chair of the Transformation Trust, Chair of Common Purpose and Chair of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

He received his knighthood for services to industry, the arts and charity in 2004.

Olivia Henley caught up with him recently …

What are your fondest memories of your time at Worth School?

Sunny, summer evenings in the Sixth Form when I suddenly realised how very beautiful Worth was (and is) and what a difference it had made to me.

What are your least fond memories?

Awful food – especially in the prep school. I once sent a piece of meat home by post as a protest and another time threw

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Enormously – we were allowed enough ‘space’ to develop as individuals and the school had a strong ethical sense which surely grew out of the Benedictine ethos. We had some inspirational teachers – Peter Whigham who taught English in the prep school, Dom Edward Cruise who ignited my love for history and Russell Coleburt who was the first ‘intellectual’ I had ever met. It was their inspiration which lay behind my applying to Cambridge to read history and they gave me ways of thinking about things which have stayed with me ever since.

What was it like to be one of the actual ‘founder members’ of the School 50 years ago?

Rather nice. There were only 28 of us and we got lots of attention. We didn’t realise it but Fr Dominic, the headmaster, and his small team of other monks were having to make things up as they went along! That changed as the School got bigger, but we were lucky to have a chance to get to know them as we did. We were also conscious that we were starting a new school and thankful that it did not have a huge weight of tradition like some older schools – and we were keen to show Downside that we had arrived!

Did you have any particular hobbies / interests outside work at school?

It sounds a bit pathetic but not really. I tried fishing (and bred maggots in my locker until I was caught) but I wasn’t very good at it. I loathed all forms of sport, especially cross-country running. And I gave up riding after a horse took off with me. But I was very interested in politics and current affairs as well as debating and in the process of formulating and deploying an argument. The school encouraged that and no subjects were ever off-limits.

Do they still feature in your life now?

Well yes, as far as politics and current affairs go. And, somewhat to my surprise, I have become a staunch supporter of Arsenal with a season ticket. But that’s more the influence of my sons than Worth!

How did you come to work in the world of media and what path/s has your career followed since leaving Cambridge University?

I always liked contributing to the Worth Record and when I went to Cambridge I worked on Varsity, the University paper, and was lucky enough to become Editor. I got a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania where I taught part-time as a supply teacher in some very rough schools. That was a fantastic time to be in the US – Vietnam, civil rights, Bobby Kennedy and so much more – and I loved it!

So the more interested I became in what was going on, the more journalism really appealed to me. So, when I returned to the UK, I secured a trainee job on a local newspaper in

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Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

Oxford, which I also loved. I suppose part of the appeal is that journalism is ultimately about people and how they interact, and I have always been interested in that. From Oxford I went to the FT, where I had several journalistic jobs ending up as Managing Editor. Then I was transferred to the commercial side and was Advertising Director before becoming Chief Executive. From the FT I moved to Pearson, the parent company, and my job changed again.

So, although I’ve been 37 years with the same company, it’s been very varied.

What particular challenges have you faced in your role as Chairman of the Financial Times Group and during your time as Pearson’s Director for People – particularly during the challenging economic times we have been facing?

I’ve faced a lot of challenges. If I had to single out two they might be these. First of all, the process of technological change has accelerated all through my career and shows no sign of slowing down. We had no computers, no internet, no mobile phones when I started. Now these devices and many more are totally re-writing the rules and we have to run to keep up.

The second challenge is as old as time. It is how to manage people fairly, to help them fulfil their maximum potential, and always to treat them as individuals; never to take away their self respect. It involves erring on the side of generosity and trying to remember that people work with you, not for you. Of course leadership is about setting standards and keeping to them as well. I think Worth did play a big part in giving me a model for the kind of management approach that I value. And it does work even in challenging times like the present.

Can you pick one good and one bad ‘incident’ in your career that you would advise to follow, and one you’d advise against!

The ‘good’ incident followed a difficult decision to close our printing plant with the loss of hundreds of jobs. We made the decision to offer to train any of our printers who were interested as journalists, even though they scarcely had an academic qualification between them. We selected 16 people – eight did become journalists and four came to work on the FT where they did very well. To us it underlined how easy it can be to ignore talent and it was great to see the project work.

There have been quite a few ‘bad’ incidents. Almost all were because I forgot to listen and they involved individuals who should have been treated better. Ironically, I often quoted from the rule of St Benedict who said something to the effect that you should “always listen to the young monks because they know all the things you have forgotten!”

I think Worth left me with a strong sense of two things: that I was lucky to have had such a good education and that this brought with it a kind of obligation to put ‘something back’ into society

which led to the formation of Shelter. My wife and I support an orphanage and a medical centre in Tanzania which we came across when one of our sons was teaching there in his gap year. I have a strong interest in children and the importance of giving them opportunities which they might otherwise not have, whether it’s in Zambia or Syria. I guess part of this may have come from the Worth mission to Peru, which was a very powerful example of what can be achieved in rural and slum areas.

What do the positions that you hold for these individual charities actually involve for you personally?

It varies. They are very well run and don’t usually involve much day-to-day intervention. But when things go wrong, or key people quit, it can suddenly be very different and involve quite a lot of work.

How do the Christian values that you were taught at Worth find a place within your work?

They underpin a lot of what I do.

If you were to offer advice to any Worthian who is just starting out and looking for a job during these difficult economic times, what would it be?

Don’t panic. Try out several things if you don’t know what you want to do and try to find people of your age who are already doing what you think you might like to do. If you can afford it, always agree to unpaid internships because it is surprising how they can lead on to a proper job. Don’t complain about being exploited. Always, and I mean always, make it clear that you are willing to do anything, anytime of the day or night, anywhere. If you take a job and don’t really like it, don’t think you have to do it forever. Keep your own counsel and look for something else.

March 2010

What motivated you to become involved in the particular charities that you support?

I think Worth left me with a strong sense of two things: that I was lucky to have had such a good education and that this brought with it a kind of obligation to put ‘something back’ into society. My interest in the homeless goes right back to Cathy Come Home – a great TV play

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Far left: Taking cover from the heat, check point 3, day 3 (35km point) Left: At the end, tired but jubilant Below: Early morning in the bivouac Below: Making good progress on day 1 - little did we know what was to come...!

Seven Days of Torture Above left: The long road ahead...

Above right: Sam and Ollie at about the 30-mile point on the 50-mile stage Below: The long way behind...

Below middle: Sam at the top of a steep climb Bottom left: Sam at the end - No 1 (?!)

Bottom right: Doc Trotter’s medical tent, getting bodies patched up

B

ack in December 2007 my brother, Sam (C’97), suggested we enter the Marathon des Sables (MdS).

I knew a little bit about it – namely that it’s a few consecutive marathons in the Sahara desert. So I said “Yes”, we put our names on the waiting list and I put it out of my mind…

Fast forward to Jan 2009 and Sam reminds me that I have agreed to do the MdS in 2010, and that really the build-up training should start now – it was at this point that I thought I’d do some further research into what kind of event requires 15 months’ training!

It turns out that the MdS involves running the equivalent of 6 marathons in 7 days across the Western Sahara in Morocco. In addition to the distance and the heat, competitors are required to carry their own food and equipment throughout (apart from water and a tent).

With this in mind, training began in April 2009, with the London Marathon. We both put in respectable times – although the prospect of doing five more consecutive marathons was a little terrifying! Over the next 12 months we completed a series of events in preparation – including mountain marathons, back-to-back marathons along the Pembrokeshire coast, back-to-back 30-mile marathons and a weekend of ‘sessions in the heat chamber’ at the Porsche human endurance centre at Silverstone. And we found out just how extensive the ultra-marathon community is!

And so it was that, on the 1st April 2010, we congregated at Gatwick Airport to fly to Morocco for the start of an adventure of unknown magnitude. Our first evening was spent at a hotel in Morocco, before we were bussed out the following day for a six-hour journey to the middle of the desert. Here we had our first experience of the bivouac – a large circle of 150 ‘tents’, which would be our homes for the duration of the event. The ‘tents’ were bits of material

strung up over old bits of carpet – there were no sides and the wind and dust blew straight through. We underwent our final medical and kit checks, until finally, on Easter Sunday at 0900 local time, we set-off on the 25th Marathon des Sables.

Our kit weighed in at around 13kg each – though we anticipated reducing this extremely quickly by eating as much of our food as early in the race as possible! To break us in gently, Day 1 was a reasonable 30km (19 miles) effort – although it was our first exposure to the type of terrain that we could expect to encounter. Despite being mostly flat, the ground was either energy-sapping loose sand dunes or rough rubble – better on the legs but it took its toll on the feet and led to blisters and hot spots. Sam and I had vowed to stay together throughout, and we crossed the line for this first stage in just over four hours and in reasonable shape – which left us feeling reasonably confident for what lay ahead.

Day 2 (35km/22 miles) was significantly harder than the first – due mostly to the fact that it was much hotter (in the late 40s at its peak), included a lot of hills and one huge sand dune in the last 3kms. Afterwards, Olympic gold medallist, James Cracknell, who was participating, proclaimed that Day 2 was the single toughest experience he had ever had! Sam and I completed Stage 2 together in around 5 hours 20 minutes. As we settled into our evening routine of stretching, eating and re-hydrating, we felt a little more apprehensive about the rigours that lay ahead.

For Day 3 (40km/25 miles), the terrain was much flatter so we were able to make good headway to start with. But, once again, it was noticeably hotter and after the second checkpoint at about 20km, we had to slow the pace right down as we crossed what seemed like a never-ending dried-up lake. We arrived at checkpoint three at the 35km mark feeling really frazzled, and had to push ourselves hard to carry on. So we completed the last 5km as best we could and completed this stage in just over six hours.

The eight of us who shared the tent together were still going well – although ahead of us we had the 4th stage looming, which was a distance of 80km (50 miles) in one hit. Our strategy was simple – we would be disciplined with our pacing and would not set off too fast and risk burn out (quite literally) before the end. The going was not easy, mainly loose sand and dunes for the first 30km or so, and at the second checkpoint around the 27km point, our morale was very low – we knew that we still had a long long way to go!

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Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

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We pushed on and by last light had reached the 50km point. From then on things became easier – we knew that we had well and truly broken the back of it. Unfortunately, for 20 of the last 30km we were faced with some serious sand dunes – at least we hit them in the dark so we couldn’t see them looming ahead of us in the distance!

We finally completed this stage at about 1.30 am, roughly 16 hours after starting.

Sam and I had stuck together throughout the MdS, and the camaraderie and teamwork element of the race was as enjoyable and as important to me as its successful completion. We finished 234th and 235th out of about 1,000 competitors (the record book will show Sam officially beat me by 1 second; I will never forgive him for ducking me on the finish line...!), which was a pretty pleasing result.

We were lulled into a somewhat false sense of security after completing this long stage – thinking that the worst was over and that we could saunter through the last couple of days. Oh how wrong we were!

All this effort was in aid of Take Heart India (www.takeheartindia.org), an education and development charity based in India that is run by a friend of ours. With the help of family, friends, colleagues, Worth Society and several Worthians, we hit our £20,000 fundraising target, which is really pleasing.

Stage 5 is a full marathon (42km/26 miles), and we went off at a fast pace. One big bonus was our lighter bags, which helped us to push hard throughout the day. It was a fairly flat stage, which meant that we crossed the line in about 5 1/4 hours – not a great time for a marathon under normal conditions, but reasonable given our circumstances. We only had a half marathon to go, so there was a bit of a party atmosphere in the bivouac that night as the Paris orchestra played a concert. We didn’t bother to sit in the audience, but it was quite relaxing (if not a bit surreal) dozing off to the sound of classical music in the middle of the desert!

So, thank you to everyone who donated and supported us.

Ollie Barnett (S’98) May 2010

We had heard that the final stage could be pretty quick, as people push hard for the final time. And this year was no exception. We knew that for about half of the final 20km (13 miles) we’d be faced with sand dunes, and they were as hard as they had been all week – the fact that it was the last day didn’t make them any firmer or less steep! We pushed on hard and crossed the finish line in about 2 1/4 hours.

There was the inevitable elation at finishing, as well as a hug and a medal from Patrick Bauer, the crazy Frenchman who dreamed up the whole idea of the MdS. The elation was rapidly replaced by exhaustion – and as we sat on the bus for the six-hour journey back to civilisation we suddenly realised just how much we stank!

Above: On top of a ridge line, day 2 Left: At the end of the 50-miler, tired but relieved!

All the macho talk about “having a few beers when we got back”, turned out to be just that – talk. We had a decent wash, a massive feed and then went to bed! The following day we spent at the hotel relaxing and eating before flying back to England the day after. Here we said our goodbyes to people who’d become staggeringly close friends in a very short space of time – simply because of shared hardship and ultimately shared success.

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We had never had any real savings and any money we did have had been spent on our recent wedding

Facing Redundancy

T

o leave school in the mid-90s and enter the world of work was a very exciting time. Getting a job was easy.

Spending money was even easier. I had never heard of a ‘credit crunch’, and couldn’t care about ‘negative equity’.

Getting a loan was as simple as phoning the bank manager and asking for it – no forms to fill in and no questions.

My generation grew up in a bubble. From our parents we heard about the stories of doom and gloom from days gone by – sure – but that was history, and the days of ‘boom and bust’ were over.

Top: James and Kate on their wedding day on the 29th August 2008 Above: Their reclaimed wasteland allotment at home in Tunbridge Wells

Three weeks later I arrived in Butler House, where only Mr Dunhill knew of my background

James and Kate pictured on a train on their long awaited honeymoon to Thailand – when life took a positive about turn for both of them

bankrupt stock at auction and reselling at markets and on eBay. This enabled us to pay the bills at the end of each month. We were growing our own fruit and vegetables and even making our own ‘hooch’ for a picnic at the allotment!

And so it is that I now find myself writing this article – about my experiences of being made redundant and being out of work for nearly a whole year.

Six months became nine.

By now I had given up on finding any work within the mortgage market and was desperate to take anything.

I had applied for so many jobs and had lost count of the number of CV’s I had sent out; with little or no response.

I had done some odd bits of manual work and even started a job as a Sales Manager for a security company which proved not to be so secure, as it folded a month later. What a kick in the teeth.

To bring you up to speed – I left Worth in 1995 and embarked upon a career within the hospitality trade. By the age of 21, I had managed various bars, restaurants and the odd nightclub. All this was great fun, but I saw no real future in it so I moved into financial services and ultimately ended up working as a mortgage broker for the largest estate agency in the country.

We were finding things pretty tough by now and worked out that we could survive for about another month on the money we had. So, we took that money and went on our long awaited honeymoon to Thailand. It was all or nothing.

Some said we were reckless. I said, “Sod it!” We were going to be out of our home at the end of the month so we might as well go out on a high.

We all knew the market was changing about a year before the ‘global meltdown’ – certain products were slowly being withdrawn and competitive interest rates weren’t being passed on to the customer. We all watched nervously as our bonuses slipped away and the housing market slowly ground to a halt. Then suddenly thousands of products were withdrawn from the market one day – and with it my career. There was nothing we could do. People could no longer get the loans to remortgage their properties or to move on up the property ladder – let alone get onto it.

There was simply no longer a job for me.

And I am so glad we did. It was in Bangkok that I managed to secure a new job with Coca-Cola, and Kate learnt she was getting a promotion. It could not have happened at a better time for us.

Being out of work did not trouble me at all – I had been made redundant before and had never been out of work for more than 24 hours. This time, however, it was different – the qualifications I had gained over the last four years were of little or no use to anyone, despite all my skills being entirely transferable.

We have still got the allotment, and are about to sow the seeds for this year...

The days soon turned to weeks, which quickly became a month.

This was a critical time for my wife, Kate, and I. We had never had any real savings and any money we did have had been spent on our recent wedding. We were only four months wed and this was going to be our first real challenge.

I am now working as a brand ambassador for Relentless and Monster Energy Drinks; getting paid to have a lot of fun.

Kate’s career has stepped up a level and she is really moving forward and making me proud. We managed to keep our home and we now budget to the penny, we shop wisely and save regularly. We have never been this well off and we’re not earning any more than we did before.

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was born in Lithuania and by the time I was eleven, I had no parents and had been living in an orphanage for four years. Food was in short supply and the harsh discipline and lack of care made me selfish and untrusting – but I don’t remember being overly unhappy about my life.

Then one day, completely out of the blue, I was contacted by my Grandmother – a Greek lady who was living in England – who I hadn’t known existed until that moment.

She arranged for me to come to England to stay with her and to give me a new life.

Coming to England was a very rare thing in Lithuania, particularly for anyone living in an orphanage! I was the focus of envy amongst my peers. It was a very exciting opportunity for me, and I felt like it was a new beginning.

Very soon my vision of a glorious rich life fell to pieces.

My grandmother turned out to be a tremendously strict and highly demanding lady who was not rich. She was very pro-education and as soon as I arrived in England I was placed in the local school. When I was not at school my grandmother would concentrate on her methods of education – which I recall involved me and the English dictionary a lot! She demanded at least two pages of the dictionary copied and learned. Very soon the number of pages grew and, in parallel, cultural and ‘polite behaviour’ lessons began.

Even though the teaching was intense and I was making fairly fast progress, I was finding it hard to make friends and felt like a fish out of water. Soon my grandmother fell ill and began to lose her boundless energy. I drifted from my strict routines and found myself getting involved in the wrong crowd and some criminal activities at school.

This landed me with expulsion from school and a police reprimand.

My life appeared to be heading down hill again. My grandmother’s state of health was getting worse. Soon she was exploring options of adoption, which sounded like back to square one for me – I was feeling that I might as well have stayed in Lithuania. At least I spoke the language there and had friends.

James Crofton (B’95) March 2010

James is now working as brand ambassador for Relentless and Monster Energy Drinks

But miraculously, through the intervention of a local organisation and my grandmother’s resilience, I found myself in Father Christopher’s study in the Spring of 2001 and was offered a place at Worth; provided that the Reedham Trust – a charity that specialises in helping children with no parents to find boarding and to organise funding – could obtain the fees.

One month became three.

We began to cut down on the ‘non-essentials’, slowly at first and then it became pretty extreme. Our weekly food budget was reduced to £5 for the two of us. I lost three stone, which was not a bad thing! We started to become very industrious – gambling our rent on buying

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A Life-changing Experience

Three weeks later I arrived in Butler House, where only Mr Dunhill knew of my background. He was extremely hospitable and kind. As time went by, School began to feel like home. I slowly began to appreciate my environment

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and the opportunities it had to offer. Life in Butler was quietly supportive under Mr Dunhill’s guidance. Gradually I began to feel part of Worth and really appreciated being taken for the person that I was. In addition, the international background of many other pupils’, meant that I didn’t face the discrimination I had experienced in my previous school.

I never felt quite up to the standard of education that Worth offered, as I had in my previous school, and did not receive a great deal of encouragement due to language difficulties and so on. Having said that, I did manage to salvage nine GCSE’s and three A-levels as a result of some excellent advice from top-class teachers, and a secure environment where I could study. It wasn’t as though you could skive work or avoid the teachers – as most of them lived on site!

I left the Upper Sixth (Year 13) with absolutely no idea as to what I wanted to do with my life – in spite of the careers advice offered and MORRIS B tests in attempt to guide me on the right path.

So, I ended up travelling in Australia with my best friend from Worth, Oliver Potton (StB’05). We spent almost a year travelling up and down the East coast, participating in merriments – booze and parties – that the monks would not have approved of! And, as a result of working in bars, restaurants and fruit plantations, we obtained a real sense of the value of money.

Top: Pictured on holiday in Wales Above: And here’s to the future...

On my return to England, I found a home with an aunt and started work at the Children’s Trust in Tadworth. Here I work with profoundly disabled young people. It was challenging to deal with the practicalities of their daily existence at first, but I soon saw them as full personalities, although their hold on life is very fragile.

Working in a team with the doctors and therapists, I face highly rewarding challenges every day. I am also a Special Constable with Surrey Police and hope to join the regular force very soon. Studying has brought me a Higher Educational diploma in Psychology.

At 23, I have not yet worked out where the faith of the Worth community fits in with my thinking, but I realise that its practical expression has been hugely influential in setting me on my path ahead.

Valentino pictured in his uniform as a Special Constable with Surrey Police

I feel profoundly grateful for the opportunity I was offered. Although I didn’t know it at the time, the move to board at Worth was the beginning of a process that completely changed my life, and now that I have left Worth I can look back and see how much my life has changed for the better.

Valentinas Dulis (B’05) February 2010

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Currently we are working on getting Littlehampton in West Sussex into the record books for having the longest bench in the world

A Leap of Faith Above: Je Ahn and Maria Below and top of opposite page: Our ‘Boomerangs’ project in its various guises Background picture: We are working towards getting Littlehampton in West Sussex into the record books for having the longest bench in the world!

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t was a great pleasure to be invited to return to Worth and to talk to students at the Careers Fair on the 2nd July 2009 – it brought back memories of myself (albeit ten years younger!) feeling clueless and exasperated by the 3-inch thick UCAS course guide book – and I tried to imagine what useful advice I could have given myself at this same stage.

Studying Architecture for me was a leap of faith – an indefinable conviction that it was Architecture that would satisfy both a keen interest in maths and engineering, as well as an obsession with the turpentine-scented art room!

And so it was that, on leaving Worth in 2001, I went to study Architecture at Bath. This gave me a solid grounding in the subject and also offered exchange programmes with other European architecture schools. In my third year

I went to Technical University Delft as part of the Erasmus programme, and spent a fantastic year cycling about and taking film and philosophy classes. It was in Delft that I met my wife, Maria. She had come from Bath too, but we didn’t get to know each other until we went abroad.

At the end of that mad year in Delft, Maria and I took a year out to work in London. While working at our respective practices, we spent our evenings (some of them anyway!) and weekends working on competition entries and ideas for projects. Just a couple of weeks before we were due to return to Bath to continue our studies, one of these projects suddenly turned into an opportunity.

We had created a small proposal for the London Architecture Biennale 2006 and decided to see it through.

This meant changing all our plans. At the very last minute we transferred to London Metropolitan University in order to complete our degrees while realising this project. So, inbetween moving to Bath (tenancy agreements having already been signed!) then back to London again as quickly as possible while spending too much time on the Great Western train line – we designed, fundraised and realised our 140 Boomerangs Project.

As the name suggests, the project comprised 140 boomerang-shaped pieces that all together formed a large helical structure in a city garden for the duration of the Architecture Festival. It then came apart and formed street play furniture which we sold to the City of London and

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gave away to local schools. We also worked with 140 school children who made clay sculptures, creating an exhibition of underwater creatures as part of the same installation.

The network of friends and supporters we managed to gather for that project became the basis that enabled us to set up our practice – Studio Weave.

Since that heady summer, we have been working on all sorts of art and architecture projects – from providing architectural support to a parental school campaign in Camden, to writing and realising fairytale pavilions in Northumberland. We have undertaken work for local councils across the country, for art and architecture foundations and festivals, as well as for private clients and the Forestry Commission.

As a result of working for client groups that tend to involve many stakeholders, we have become very aware just how important good communication is to the ultimate success of any project. This ignited our interested in the art of story writing as an integral part of the design process, as well as being a very engaging way of involving everyone surrounding a project – both adults and children.

Currently we are working on getting Littlehampton in West Sussex into the record books for having the ‘longest bench’ in the world; on redeveloping some public spaces in the City of London including the Barbican Highwalks; and various other projects that include singing,

composing, instruments, rooftop pavilions, and attending a camp for improbable thinking.

To date our work has been predominantly in the public realm. We are, however, very interested in growing our practice to include both public and private buildings and also work abroad. We have been very fortunate to have been awarded a number of prizes – most prestigiously in the summer of 2009, two of our models were included in the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition and we won the Prize for the Best First Time Exhibitor in the Architecture Room. We also made an appearance on “Newsround” which was very exciting!

Below: The place for proposals – Feya’s Cabin on Kielder Water in Northumberland Freya’s Cabin in the snow

But there has been one fantastic accolade that we received which outweighs all the others – a few months ago, a young architectural student chose our pavilion by the side of a reservoir in Northumberland as the place to propose to his girlfriend! She said yes – thankfully!

Je Ahn (R’01) and Maria Smith December 2009 Studio Weave, 33 St John’s Church Road, London E9 6EJ e-mail: hello@studioweave.com Website: www.studioweave.com

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In less than a month, we had to prepare for this 59-match event to be played over 36 days in eight different venues across South Africa

de Villiers and Gilchrist playing at the IPL semi-finals

India – An Assault on the Senses

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o say that Indians love their cricket is a profound understatement – and during 2009 I had the incredible good fortune of becoming immersed in their passion; returning to the UK with so many memories – not just of the cricket but of the ethos of the people, their culture and their holy festivals.

Above top: Nigel with the Delhi Daredevils player, Dirk Nannes during the Diwali Festival Above: Nigel pictured with the Champions League T20 Trophy Below: Nigel pictured at the Champions League T20 Final at Hyderabad in late October 2009

I arrived in Delhi in March 2009, employed as Tournament Operations Manager for the IPL, looking after the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. My previous cricketing memories from Delhi did not bode well for this latest trip – in 2003, I had managed the England ‘A’ Tour to India, where the team played a 4-day match in Delhi. For three days I watched a young Kevin Pietersen score 100s in both innings, before a declaration offered our opponents an ‘impossible’ 501. At 1 for 2 wickets, with Simon Jones and Sajid Mahmood heading the attack, I was planning some golf for the afternoon of Day 4. But, by the evening of the following day I had played no golf and our hosts had scored 503 for 4!

Our initial three weeks of preparation for the forthcoming tournament started smoothly enough, but it was not long before concerns for security forced the IPL to transfer to South Africa. It just so happened that the tournament dates clashed with the Indian General Elections, which in any other year would not have posed a threat. However, this was 2009 – just months after the Mumbai bombings and the very recent attack on the Sri Lankan Test team, en-route to the stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. The Head of Police confirmed that it would be impossible to secure a countrywide cricket event in parallel with the 5-week elections and thus, with a small management team, we flew to Johannesburg to re-schedule and make our

preparations in another country. In less than a month, we had to prepare for this 59-match event to be played over 36 days in eight different venues across South Africa!

As the host country changed, so did my role. Having been based in Delhi, it made sense for me to assist the Delhi Daredevils (DDs) in South Africa. I found myself primarily undertaking a manager’s role – helping with the endless logistical issues associated when dealing with a 25-player squad, 10 support staff, a fluctuating dozen or so family members and a number of the Franchise’s hierarchy. The squad played 14 group matches in six cities – albeit never playing two matches consecutively at the same stadium!

It was a punishing cricketing schedule and the DD group of around 50 people moved around between matches in a blur of airport transfers and hotel check-ins and checkouts. Incredibly, the squad – which was littered with world stars and match winners – won 8 of the first 10 matches and became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals; although they had no answer in the first semi-final to an onslaught by Adam Gilchrist. A blistering 80 in 30-odd balls was pure magic to the neutral spectator; but was of little consolation to a defeated and dejected DD squad.

Our flight home was buoyed by the news that their third place at IPL had qualified the DDs, as the 12th and final team, for the Champions League T20.

Which meant that we were to meet once again!

And, so it was that in August 2009 I was appointed as Event Operations Manager for the Champions League T20.

Within weeks I found myself back in India – this time in Mumbai – ready to start all the planning and preparations.

For this tournament, I was responsible for the 12 participating clubs (the champions and runners-up from the national T20 competitions). My initial challenge was to arrange the warm-up matches and the training schedules; as well as setting-up the three staging venues in Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad to ensure they were ready for the matches, which brought big crowds and worldwide audiences. Alongside this I had the task of co-ordinating the Anti-Corruption Unit and Anti Doping Team – both ubiquitous in the modern era – as well as overall responsibility for the squad’s security.

By the time the final was played in Hyderabad in late October, I had criss-crossed this vast country to watch each of the 23 matches played. Working with my three venue managers and their staff we had seen some really outstanding cricket (and rather disappointingly, some poor performances by the local IPL teams!). It was very

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caught, retrieved and returned balls from any match; hooters, firecrackers and whistles greeted each of the 18 simultaneous matches; whilst gambling was as integral to each match as the bats and the balls! It was certainly quite a sight to behold.

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hard work but a truly exhilarating experience. In the end, New South Wales Blues defeated Trinidad & Tobago and walked away as ‘The Champion of Champions’ – taking with them a diamond studded trophy and a cheque for US $2.5m – the spoils from a US $1billion TV rights deal.

An unexpected bonus of my time in India, which contributed so significantly to the entire experience, was my involvement in two major Festivals celebrated by the Hindus – Holi (The Festival of Colour) and Diwali (The Festival of Light). The first, Holi, in early March coincided with my arrival in Mumbai for the 2nd Indian Premier League (IPL), while the celebrations for the second holiday, Diwali, were central to the ethos and theme of the inaugural Champions League T20 (CLT20) tournament.

For the widely celebrated day of Diwali on the 17th October 2009, the CLT20 cricket scheduled a late afternoon fixture between the Cape Cobras versus the Victorian Bushrangers.

The aim was to encourage the Bangalore cricket fans to fill the central 35,000-seater stadium in time for the second match – a showdown between their own Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils. By the 8pm start time capacity was far exceeded. It has been said that watching cricket in India is an “assault on one’s senses”. It certainly felt like this on Diwali; with the noise of firecrackers, whistles, music, fireworks, and constant cheering for the full three hours. Add to this all the unique sights, the smells, the heat and ‘taste’ in the air, and you can begin to get a feel for the magnificent and unforgettable spectacle to which I was a witness.

And the story does not end there for me – as I return to India once again in February 2010 to manage the Cricket Operations for the 2010 IPL… Nigel Laughton (C’84) December 2009

Above top: Holi Day Celebrations – the Festival of Colour Above: Nigel pictured in front of the Taj Mahal Below: Nigel with the Delhi Daredevils player, Collingwood, during shirt-signing

During Holi, it is not just the cricket stadiums that are full to capacity; every street throughout every city is heaving – full of people celebrating the start of Spring. The noise is deafening and the excitement pulsating. Jet-lagged from a sleepless night flight, I ventured out into the heart of Mumbai for a short walk and lost myself in the sheer wonder of the whole experience. Returning to my hotel five hours later, I was literally covered from head to toe in coloured paint. Courtesy of the too many kind and wonderfully hospitable locals, I had tried a variety of ‘home-brews’, eaten food that I had been warned never to touch, and had even been persuaded to come out of cricketing retirement! Surrounded by hundreds of partying spectators in a city scrub area – in a space no bigger than a large rugby pitch – were 18 sets of batting stumps (namely dustbins, boulders and rubbish!) lined-up against the ‘touchlines’, with 200 or so participants playing cricket throughout the day. Back-to-back bowlers ran in from the centre to their respective stumps; fielders

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BBC2’s Mastercrafts with Monty Don Above right: The wildlife pond in Guy Mallinson’s woods Below: Monty Don and Mike Abbott discuss Sarah’s chair Bottom: Charles hones his skills on the pole-lathe

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n leaving Worth in 1980 I went on to pursue a career in advertising as a TV commercials producer in Australia and UK. After more than 20 years, I ultimately found this career unfulfilling and about ten years ago I decided to embark on an arts degree and graduated with a BA (Hons) in Landscape Design.

My work as both a Landscape Architect and Garden Designer has been varied and rewarding. Working for private clients in the UK, France and Italy, I have also completed some interesting commercial projects in both the UK and Trinidad.

Over the years I have become increasingly interested in the processes behind Permaculture or Agroforestry – which is a relatively new application of one of the oldest forms of agriculture known to man. It involves the carefully balanced use of design to utilise plants that can be harvested for food, fibre, dyes, saps, resins, etc. Ultimately, it is an ecologically sound system for sustainability, which minimises inputs and recycles all potential waste.

With a 5-acre site in mind, I had been designing a Forest Garden in Sussex. A Forest Garden adopts the principles of Permaculture – where the plants are grown in a three dimensional landscape within seven different layers: the root zone, ground cover, herb layer, fruiting shrubs layer, dwarf trees layer, tree canopy layer and the high canopy or vertical layer. These plants are then harvested for their food, medicinal or other qualities, and care is taken to allow re-growth or regeneration. The idea is to create a living example of self-sufficiency, where people can learn about Forest Gardening – whether for a small back garden or a larger community project. I was in the thick of this project in the summer of 2009, when I attended the South of England Show at Ardingly.

As I wandered around looking for new ideas and inspiration for my Forest Garden Project I was approached by an assistant producer from Ricochet, a TV production company based in Brighton. He asked me if I was interested in learning a traditional craft – I was intrigued and wanted to hear more. He went on to explain that they were making a

BBC TV series called ‘Mastercrafts’, hosted by Monty Don, which would explore the place for traditional crafts in today’s modern society. He took my details and said they would be interviewing soon.

I attended a brief screen test in Brighton – and by August I received confirmation that I was to be one of three apprentices learning about ‘Greenwood’ craft. Filming was to take place in Dorset for six weeks in the Autumn of 2009.

‘Greenwood’ is unseasoned wood – and has quite different properties to that of seasoned timber. Once felled, the timber is split using a froe and the centre (pith) is removed.

The timber is then worked by either using a draw-knife on a shave horse (a sort of primitive but highly effective vice) and finished with a spoke shave and then a cabinet scraper; or it is placed on a pole lathe (an ancient foot-operated lathe) and then turned.

In its green state, the wood carves like butter. The process of seasoning takes place when moisture leaves the wood, which then causes natural shrinkage – for Ash this will be 10% in the direction of the grain and 5% across the grain.

The wood can either be dried naturally, over weeks and months, or placed in a steamer which speeds up the process. Understanding the level of shrinkage is essential to dry jointing – this is the process when a dry tenon (which becomes oval as it dries) is put into a wet mortice allowing shrinkage and tightening around the tenon – thus making a solid and immovable joint. No glue or nails are used in creating a piece of furniture and, if the timber is selected carefully and fashioned to within a 0.2mm tolerance, a chair constructed this way should last more than 100 years!

For my final project I made a rocking chair. An early mistake – drilling a hole in the wrong place – meant that I was unable to finish my chair on time, for what had predictably become a competition. My decision to finish something that I was proud of, rather than compromise the design, did ruffle a few feathers and it certainly started an interesting debate about what craft is really all about. (I’ll leave you to ponder that one – but my feeling was that ‘if a job was worth doing...’!)

Left: Charles and Adam make a ‘bodgers shelter’ Right: Charles waxing lyrical to camera!

I was incredibly fortunate to be selected for this programme and to have experienced six weeks tuition under the immensely talented Guy Mallinson, a former cabinet maker.

Having learned the art of Greenwood furniture making – this has become the final piece in the jigsaw for the Forest Garden Project. Apart from teaching people the principles of Forest Gardening, we also hope to offer courses in Greenwood furniture making and other woodland crafts at Forest Garden Shovelstrode from the Spring of 2011.

Below: Willow weaving the chair seat Bottom: The completed rocking chair

Mastercrafts was broadcast in February on BBC2 and repeated in March 2010 on BBC1. Following the great success of Mastercrafts, the BBC are considering commissioning a second series where they will also follow-up on what the original apprentices have gone on to do. If you are interested in hearing more about Forest Garden Shovelstrode and the courses that will be run, or wish to be kept informed about the new Mastercrafts series, you can register your interest at www.forestgarden.info Charles Hooper (C’80) May 2010

It all sounds very complicated – but the joy of working in this way when you are deep in the woods (much as the old chair ‘bodgers’ used to) is that you take your time to get it right. There is an immense sense of achievement in producing your own chair from a tree.

In the six weeks we were being filmed in the woods, I made a spatula and turned a priest (not the Worth variety – but a small cosh for knocking out fish!). I also made some rather cumbersome skittles and carved a large wooden bowl before going on to making a ladder-back chair with a woven willow seat.

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I 41

The Un-Climbable Mountain I looked at the rope sliding through my figure of eight; a thin 8.5mm line. I prayed it was solid. As I abseiled down the face, I wondered if it was secured to anything at all? Perhaps it was just frozen in the ice or maybe somewhere out of sight it was rubbing on a sharp edge. I had no idea how old the rope was, I had no idea who put them on the face or how qualified that person was. I really didn’t know the condition of the rope and I had committed my life to it on the basis of a brief examination of its first four metres. Below me, I could see the rope had frayed. I continued the descent very slowly – thinking ‘lightweight’ thoughts.

The damaged section of rope passed through my glove and into the abseil device. The thin faded golden rope snapped, and before I knew what was happening I too was falling.

I was high on the Grey Tower and totally exhausted. As I abseiled down the endless vertical rock wall, my mind was working hard to stay focused on the threat the Grey Tower presented. I was only too well aware of the two climbers who had died on this section in 2008. Both were separate incidents but the cause was the same – they had simply abseiled off the end of a rope; their bodies would never be recovered.

I had joined a team that was attempting a winter ascent of one of the hardest mountains in the Himalaya. Ama Dablam sits beside Everest and measures in at 22,494ft. This was way beyond any climb I had ever attempted, and I had no idea how my body would cope at extreme altitude.

It was undoubtedly a big risk because nothing guarantees success on a Himalayan mountain. There is no point worrying about the factors that you can’t control, so I got to work on those I could: I was going to need support, so I turned to my old school friends and found everything I needed in three fellow Worthians.

First of all my climbing partner, David Burckett St Laurent (StB’98), with whom I have shared many a great adventure.

David holds the record for being the youngest person to walk to the North Pole. This gives him a deep-rooted understanding of cold climates and what it takes to live and operate in them. He is also a mountain medic and was able to provide advice and training on high altitude medical issues such as ‘Oedema’. In addition to David, I roped in Cormac Stanford (StB’98) and Ed Keelaghan (R’98) who proved to be a great support on the physical training. Cormac put together a training weekend in Snowdonia, and Ed competed with me in several endurance races. These guys were on call 24/7 for any advice, training or support I needed, and they went above and beyond their call of duty to assist me.

Base Camp 15,300ft I wasn’t able to eat a thing. I’d picked up a bug in the Kumbu and spent two days vomiting. So I struggled to Base Camp, as weak as a newborn kitten. I was now camped in the intimidating shadow of Ama Dablam and in my current

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The thin faded golden rope snapped, and before I knew what was happening I too was falling condition, the challenge ahead seemed insurmountable.

As I gazed out of my tent, Sir Edmund Hillary’s description of Ama as “an un-climbable mountain” never felt so relevant.

Things that were out of my control were rapidly destroying my chances of summiting. I had two weeks here at Base Camp to sort myself out and acclimatise before our summit attempt.

The Summit Attempt It was pretty much dark as our team trickled through the boulder field below Camp 1 at 18,800 feet. We struggled over boulders the size of cars in our heavy high altitude boots. Although one of our team was really suffering, we just had to press on or we’d be climbing in the dark. It was a real slog but we made Camp 1 – all of us suffering from utter exhaustion and with one seriously ill team mate. We still had ourselves to sort out and the daily ritual of sorting gear, melting snow and cooking food is a real burden at altitude. It takes an hour to boil a litre of water and we needed at least four per day. It was a while before we were eating our ‘boil in the bag’ rations and swilling it down with hot chocolate.

When dawn finally broke, I found myself suffering from a splitting headache and nausea from the altitude. I couldn’t eat, so I boiled some water for a hot cup of tea and gulped down some headache pills. Within the hour our team had packed and we were on our way – all but our one poorly member who had deteriorated overnight and was going back to Base Camp.

Opposite: The infamous Camp 2 at 19,800 ft – with sheer drops all around and spectacular views Top: Will on the Grey Tower Above: Will pictured on the summit of Ama Dablam with Everest in the background and Tae, his climbing partner in the foreground (officially the world’s most accomplished mountaineering Koala bear!)

The climb from Camp 1 to Camp 2 gets increasingly steeper and climaxes in the ‘Yellow Tower’, a very steep blank rock face – on top of which sits the infamous Camp 2

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Left: Will descending from the Summit of Ama Dablam Middle: Tore, our team leader, traverses across to the start of the Mushroom Ridge Far left bottom: A victory beer in Nambche Bazaar Below: Will abseiling

Realising a Childhood Dream

at 19,800 ft with sheer drops all around and spectacular views. We climbed onto the ridge and marvelled at the dizzy void on both sides. At times we would balance along the crest and at others we would traverse across the flank.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we reached the Yellow Tower. I wanted to free-climb this pitch – the exposure is huge but it made me feel so alive. The euphoria was brief, it wasn’t long before I had another splitting headache, and Angus and I struggled to eat more than a couple of mouthfuls before camping down for the night.

Dawn came all too quickly. We clambered out of our tent – which was perched precariously on the edge of the void – and it wasn’t long before we were battling our way up the ‘Grey Tower’, fighting for safe purchase on the vertical face of precarious loose rock. A few hard pitches and we were approaching the tower’s summit. We found a ledge near the top – the only flat surface – and strapped on our crampons. From here on, it was all snow and ice.

Scratching our way up the last rock section, we topped out onto a steep snow slope. Next was a traverse on a thin snow ledge, our heavy packs doing their utmost to pull us down into the void. We completed the traverse and climbed onto a steep ice chute that we followed straight up to gain the “Mushroom Ridge”. Relief came in a wave as I finally reached another steep ice chute and the safety of Camp 3 at 20,439ft. I collapsed into my tent – totally exhausted, nauseous and with a thumping headache. But at the back of my mind was a glimmer of hope; maybe I could actually make the summit!

the protection we had in place wouldn’t hold a fall. This sudden realisation acted like an injection of adrenalin and a few moves later, I pulled myself over the lip with both ice axes. All that lay ahead was the 55 degree snow slope to the summit. It was hard work – every step a huge effort and I started taking a pace for my family, then my friends, spelling out each name individually to take my mind off the tumultuous effort. Then I looked up. I could see the summit. I had run out of mountain to climb!

And so it was, that on Saturday 28th November 2009, I stood for a few short moments on the summit of Ama Dablam.

The ascent was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but in many ways it was the descent that really challenged me. There were so many uncontrollable factors and, as any climber will tell you, most accidents happen on the way down – particularly in the Himalaya where your mind is fogged with tiredness and you haven’t any energy. There is always the pressure of speed and the need to get down to the thicker air at Base Camp.

I started attempting to make a living as an actor only about five or six years ago, having spent a few evenings with friends at The Central School of Speech and Drama.

We put on a showcase in front of a collection of agents and casting directors and, post show, we all milled around the foyer awaiting our invitation to Hollywood and superstardom. Surprisingly, neither of them came that night – we were told that we were good and to carry on!!

To cut a long story short, five of us co-wrote and produced a play and took it to the Edinburgh Festival; it then transferred to London and New York; all on the fringe, but it gave us some momentum and inspiration to continue.

When I was abseiling down the Grey Tower and the rope broke on me; I was so glad that my training and preparation had taught me to take a little extra time and energy to tie myself onto a second rope. Even though this ‘backup’ rope was in terrible condition, it held my fall and ultimately saved my life. When you are under pressure to get down the mountain fast and you’re exhausted, these precautions can easily get overlooked.

Somehow, after about fifty telephone calls, I actually got an agent to call me back and suggest me for a part in a Ken Loach movie. Bingo! I secured a part in “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” and on the back of that, an agent too.

So, I was up and running. Somehow my day of filming with the maestro didn't end up on the cutting room floor, and I’m sure my minute or so played a major part in the movie winning the Palm D’Or at Cannes!!

So, I offer heartfelt thanks to all the Worthians who helped me to realise my dream – and to my beautiful wife Sofie who encouraged and supported me throughout it all. It is to her that I dedicate my ascent.

From there I had little bits in “Emmerdale” and “Primeval 2” (after plenty of disappointments when I didn’t get parts; or would get down to the last two and then end up not being chosen by the producer we had never met). I did a few plays here and there, and some voiceover work too.

William Walder (C’98) February 2010

And then, would you believe – Hollywood came calling with a $200 million budget that they wanted to spend on me!! (mostly on make up and special effects to cover my rugby battered nose, etc). But, I was given a line or two

Summit day arrived and we packed our gear in the pre-dawn light. Today, we were carrying the absolute minimum – one litre of water, an energy bar, spare gloves and a photo of my wife. Up here the air was thin and it was extremely cold. Plodding slowly up the steepening slope in the ethereal dawn light, I was in a dreamlike trance hardly daring to believe that I could actually make the summit.

At this altitude, I was taking just four steps before stopping to suck in as much air into my lungs as possible, my head was spinning from the effort. I was very weak and I could feel the cold creeping into my hands. As I gasped for air on the top of a vertical section of ice, I realised that

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have been an actor (like us all!) since I was about five, when I wandered around aimlessly in a homemade sheet cunningly disguised (as a result of my mother’s efforts) as a Hebrew in the Primary School Nativity Play. I smiled inanely at the audience and the ceiling, and shuffled about as self-conscious as a Worth boy experiencing their first day as a prefect (it didn't take long before I lost that privilege, but that’s another story).

Left: Bill Hurst Bottom left: In “The Golden Compass” Bill had the role of the Magesterium Commander in Trollesund and had to go head to head with Lorek the armoured bear. Here we witness an action sequence of Sam Elliot pointing the gun at Bill

in Icelandic and dressed up, not for the first time, in military uniform. I was given the role of the Magesterium Commander in Trollesund for “The Golden Compass” having to go head to head with Lorek, the armoured bear.

I was very spoilt for a few days at Shepperton Studios on the same set where African Queen had been filmed. I had a dressing room next door to Daniel Craig and a door with a sign and star on it saying Bill Hurst – at last my childhood dream had been realised!

A great deal of fun was had, and I spent my time on set high on pure adrenalin. It is amazing how much detail and how many people go into making a big blockbuster movie.

And of course, it is business, big business – so you have to get over yourself pretty quickly and get on with the job.

When the director says “action” and the camera is pointing in your direction, there is no time for that childhood shuffling of primary school days – you have to hit your mark and nail your lines without hesitation – nerve wracking initially and then phenomenonally exciting.

So, learning Icelandic on the spot and hanging out with Sir Tom Courtney and Sam Elliot for a couple of days really was a blast – even if Sam did put a gun in my face! (only on-screen I hasten to add).

But, to those budding actors out there, I will tell you this for nothing – it's a tough business and it’s very hard to make a living. Some are lucky and, being ridiculously photogenic they get snapped up and made into stars overnight. Others may wait their whole career before they get recognition. I am surviving, but I’m always fighting to get that ‘next role’ and that ‘next break’ which will put me enough into the public pysche to get producers calling me up and offering me the parts.

I soldier on.

Bill Hurst (R’86) November 2009

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Far left: James jungle training with his platoon in Brunei Left: Desert patrolling in Afghanistan

From City to Jungle I worked for a well known and well respected company, but didn’t feel that I was being challenged, nor that I really shared a huge amount in common with the people I worked alongside

W

hile at Worth I was absolutely convinced that I was going to join the Army. Then I went to University and the thought of working in an institution no longer appealed to me. So, I migrated to London in the hope of a good salary, a swanky flat and the prospect of experiencing some high living about town.

Although I enjoyed my life in London outside 9 to 5, the job itself didn’t give me any satisfaction at all; it was simply a means to an end. I worked for a well known and well respected company, but didn’t feel that I was being challenged, nor that I really shared a huge amount in common with the people I worked alongside.

Outside the workplace, I joined the Honourable Artillery Company (a TA unit in London) and the challenges and sense of achievement it gave me made me realise that a life in the Army was, after all, for me. So it was that, in January 2008, I found myself on the Old College steps at Sandhurst with my ironing board and 10 wooden trouser hangers!

My year at Sandhurst was a rollercoaster – packed with milestone fitness events and command tests. You quickly realise that success is only possible when you all work together as a team. One of the lads in my platoon described Sandhurst as “public school with guns” – albeit a slightly crass statement, in some ways he had a point: compulsory church services, nominal rolls, classroom work, fitness sessions and a time for ‘lights-out’. In reality though, it was a lot more than that. Our instructors were all men who had recently returned from Operations, and we all knew that we’d be in Afghanistan before too long.

While at Sandhurst, I was fortunate enough to be selected for the Royal Gurkha Rifles. I had always been keen on joining the Gurkhas – due to the reputation of the soldiers, the specialised role of jungle warfare, the chance to learn another language, the travel (especially in South-East Asia) and the opportunity to embrace a new culture.

But, before I could meet my platoon, I had to attend the Infantry Platoon Commanders Battle Course in Brecon for three months. Despite the horror stories, I enjoyed Brecon.

Of course it was freezing and the weight we had to carry made me even shorter! But the hardships endured made me learn more about myself every day. Despite being exhausted and often hallucinogenic through lack of sleep and food, I felt more alive than I had ever done at my desk in London. While at Brecon I was thrown a fastball one afternoon and told that I was going to deploy to Afghanistan in three weeks’ time.

On arrival, I was placed with the Gurkhas ‘Police Mentoring Teams’ which involved fighting alongside the Afghan National Police (ANP) against the Taliban. Despite the

danger that I was confronted with each day, I can honestly say it was the best time of my life. My enjoyment was tempered with great sadness during the summer of 2009 when almost everyday we attended repatriation ceremonies for our fallen; saying our goodbyes and dealing with the loss of another familiar face around camp was difficult.

But, everything I have learnt in my life to date has in some way been tested or proved to be of value while in Afghanistan. Working alongside the ANP, interacting with local people, helping to build bridges and seeing children attending school once again was all incredibly rewarding.

When you are actually there on the ground, you can see the real situation and the small differences you can make – as opposed to all the spin and negativity put out by the politicians and the media.

Life as an infantryman in Afghanistan can best be described as long periods of immense boredom – playing cards, growing moustaches, making gym weights out of fence pickets, buying goats for the boys to eat for dinner, reading the same copy of Nuts magazine for the tenth time in two days, and staring at the star-filled night sky trying to figure out what it all means – followed by shortperiods of intense activity where the adrenalin kicks in and hours feel like minutes.

I would recommend platoon commanding in Afghanistan to anyone. I was predominantly a soldier when I was out there; but I was shadowing a platoon commander and when I return in 2011 I shall have my own platoon. The job sees you training thirty men for one of the toughest combat environments in the world, and the rapport you

enjoy with them is second to none. You develop an indefinable mutual understanding that few other walks of life could ever offer.

Since Afghanistan I have travelled around Nepal for three months, where I learnt the Nepali language and went trekking across the foothills of the Himalayas. After that I attended the Jungle Warfare Instructors Course in Brunei for six weeks. I am currently based in Brunei training my new platoon for our return to Afghanistan in 2011. With South-East Asia right on my doorstep, it’s been a great few months so far.

To any student at Worth or at University, or to those not content in their jobs, I would highly recommend giving the Army some thought. In a time of recession and high unemployment the Army provides safe employment and a secure income, with a great disposable income. If you’re under 30, the skills you learn, the friends you make, the places you go, the responsibility you gain and the sights you see are vast and rich. I can think of few other careers where everything you have ever done in your life is of value. All the subjects I learnt at School and University are relevant. All the sports I ever tried are on offer in the Army. All the experiences I gained in the City help me to manage my platoon more effectively.

Above top: Visiting retired Gurkha serviceman in eastern Nepal – James is seated second from left in the front row Above: The view of the Himalayas from the British Camp at Pokhara

The job, I assure you, will bring rewards you can scarcely imagine.

James Arney (R’02) March 2010

Right: Adventure Training – sailing in Germany

Far left: James’s instructors at Sandhurst

Far right: James covering sentry at an ANP Patrol Base in Babaji, Helmand

Left: Taking a water break in the jungles of Belize

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Worth Society Life

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I 47

Don’t forget to e-mail worthsociety@worth.org.uk with any announcements – engagements, marriages, births, major wedding anniversaries or distinctions

Announcements Dylan, David and Llinos Connolly’s first son Andrew Micallef-Eynaud and William

Births

Engagements

To Andrew Barnett (B’94) and Emma, a son, James William, born on 24th April 2010

Mark Collini (StB’89) to Alexandra Finch on 28th March 2010

To Antony Bromley-Martin (StB’87) and Lorraine, a daughter, Flora Louise, born on 7th September 2009

Crispin Hayhoe (StB’82) to Anne Looney on 25th June 2009

To Alex Buckley (G’88) and Shauna, a son, Nathaniel Alexander, born on 4th November 2009, a brother to Jack and Oliver

Christian Jamison (StB’93) to Victoria Chernaya in November 2009

To Richard Gairdner (StB’98) and Emma, a daughter, Jemima Jane, born on 2nd April 2010 To Ben Holloway (C’93) and Fedoua, a son, Samuel Francis, born on 9th April 2010, a sister to Amelie

Richard and Tania Lynton-Jones

James and Ciara Burt

Beatrice and James Albert

Dymphna and Tom McGrath

Marriages James Albert (G’93) to Beatrice de Taisne on 12th April 2008 in Blois, France James Baybutt (StB’99) to Elizabeth Skerrett on 22nd August 2009 in Northampton James Burt (R’98) to Ciara O'Reilly on 3rd May 2009 in the Cotswolds Tom Calnan (R’95) to Angela Butterworth on 11th July 2009 in Fetcham, Surrey

To Neil Laughton (C’82) and Caroline, a daughter, Amber Gillian, born on 23rd December 2009, a sister to Oscar and Scarlett

Mel Carson (B’90) to Ashley Seffernick on 15th August 2009 at Gig Harbour in Washington, USA

To Gareth Maguire (B’97) and Genevieve, a son, Finlay, born on 19th December 2009

Tom Carter (C’99) to Hannah Sollars in July 2009 Justin Duckworth (G’91) to Heidi Bryson on 8th August 2009 at Corfe Castle in Dorset

To Andrew Micallef-Eynaud (B’96) and Katia, a son, William, born on 20th December 2009 To Nick Mifsud (C’87) and Sophie, a son, Edward Robert, born on 6th November 2009, a brother to Thomas

Richard and Emma Gairdner with Jemima

Hugo Sanders (R’00) to Milly Broadbent in September 2009

To Christopher Lamb (R’01) and Isabel, a son, Joseph Patrick Hugh, born on 14th April 2009

To Charles McHugo (G’85) and Myriam, a son Dylan, born on 20th November 2009, a brother to Sam

Alex Buckley and Shauna pictured with their three boys – Jack (5), Oliver (3) and Nathaniel (6 months)

Tom Holt (StB’00) to Sophie Hall on 27th February 2010

Stefan Reynolds (G’89) to Silvia Bence-Jones in September 2009

To Julian Gairdner (StB’89) and Melissa, a son, Frederick (Freddie) James Temple, born on 28th December 2009, a brother to Olly

Genevieve and Gareth Maguire holding Finlay

Zia Dottridge and Alistair Myles

Alistair Myles (G’99) to Zia Dottridge on 15th January 2010

To David Connolly (R’95) and Llinos, a son, Dylan, born on 6th October 2009 To Justin Duckworth (G’91) and Heidi, a son, Connor Edward, born on 19th January 2010

Charles McHugo and Myriam’s two boys – Sam (3) and Dylan (6 months)

Adam Fudakowski (G’02) to Katie Tween on 26th August 2009

Anthony Haggar (G’93) to Maria Luz Porcella on 14th February 2010 in the Dominican Republic James Heywood (B’00) to Alice Dorrington on 10th April 2010 at Pembroke College, Cambridge Richard Hook (B’92) to Diane Hayne in July 2009

To Julian Tang (G’93) and Teresa, a daughter, Gabriella, born on 19th August 2009, a sister to Gwendolyn and Gideon

Justin Jaques (G’90) to Vincci Chan on 9th April 2010 at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Hong Kong with Fr Kevin officiating

To Marc Wiehe (R’88) and Xenia, a daughter, Sasha Clara Catherine, born on 26th November 2009, a sister to Freddy, Alex and Charlotte

Nicholas (Nick) Little (G’98) to Helen Harries on 29th August 2009 at St Donats in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales Richard Lynton-Jones (StB’97) to Tania Letts on 4th September 2009 in Christchurch, Dorset Tom McGrath (StB’96) to Dymphna Clancy on 23rd May 2009 on the banks of Lough Derg in Ireland Matthew (Matt) Wharton (B’99) to Elaine Smith on 3rd May 2010 in Northumberland

Deaths

Tom and Angela Calnan

Paul Leahu (B’71), 29/06/1953 to 20/12/2009, aged 56 Dr Mike Robinson, former member of staff, 20/06/1941 to 02/08/2009, aged 68 Henry Surtees (C’09), 18/02/1991 to 19/07/2009, aged 18

Julian Tang with his family – Teresa, Gideon, Gwendolyn and their baby, Gabriella Wei Tze, born on the 19th August 2009 at Women’s Hospital in Vancouver

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Sophie, Thomas and Nick Mifsud with baby Eddie on his Christening Day Mel and Ashley Carson

Worth Society Life

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I 49

Sleuth: The Amazing Quest for Lost Art Treasures

by Philip Mould (StB’78) “What first got me interested in art”, writes Philip Mould, “was the thrill of seizing upon things others might have missed or undervalued”.

Book Reviews

That thrill has not diminished over time – as is clearly evident in the stories he tells us in his new book, Sleuth. Starting with silver teaspoons and shoe buckles while at Worth, Philip’s fascination with historical objects expanded into the realm of historic paintings.

His career as a dealer started early, with the simple but effective notion of “offering antique portraits to the sitters’ descendents which I had picked up in minor London and country sales”. His success combined both his acumen as a dogged investigator, of paintings and people, with a keen eye for a bargain.

The art business is as competitive as any other, and it is a measure of his genuine success that the risks he has taken in the saleroom in pursuit of hidden treasures – and now increasingly on the web, where last year he found an early Gainsborough for 200 dollars on e-bay! – has allowed him to recover lost masterpieces for the historical record as well as build a reputation as one of the country’s leading authorities on British portraiture. Some years ago he presented the historical series, “Changing Faces” for Channel 4, and since 1998 he has been official art adviser to the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Today, he is perhaps best known to a wider public as one of the experts on the “Antiques Roadshow”.

Galactic Ramble Compiled by Giles Hamilton (B’82) and others…

Although he was two years below me at Worth, I remember Giles Hamilton and his love and passion for music well – I often had discussions with him about different genres, styles and the merits of this or that band. A particularly fond memory is of Giles arguing that the Sweet were every bit as valid as Genesis – and of course, he was right!

So, it's no surprise that he is part of a team of writers who have put together “Galactic Ramble”, a complete encyclopaedia of British rock, pop, folk and jazz of the 1960s and 1970s. What is a little surprising is just how fascinating a book this is! Along with descriptions of every band from the period you’ve ever heard of, there are original posters, album covers and, most interestingly, reviews from all the music press at the time, including Melody Maker, Sounds and Record Mirror. It’s a real treat to be able to read the original assessments of seminal albums such as Sgt. Pepper, Dark Side of the Moon and Sticky Fingers.

Whether your tastes at School were as mainstream as the Beatles, Stones, Genesis, Supertramp, Pink Floyd (or even the Sweet!); or your penchant was for something a little more ‘out there’ such as Hawkwind, Uriah Heep, Blodwyn Pig, Family,

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The art world can often appear arcane and secretive to outsiders – so it is particularly interesting to follow his adventures through it; casting light as he goes into some of its darker and more obscure corners. It sometimes feels like an episode of “Lovejoy”; a colourful world inhabited by runners, forgers, urbane auctioneers and eccentric collectors. He tells the curious story of Earle Newton, indiscriminate hoarder and academic, whose compulsive collecting ranged from old cars, TVs and stuffed animals to pictures by Hogarth and Gainsborough; and the tale of the art ‘angel’ who “can spend half an hour trying to work out how to save £15, and walks around with lengths of used string in his pocket”, while bidding £35 million for a Rubens at Sotheby’s!

Both Philip and I have spent our respective working lives in this strange world – and yet it is a measure of how varied and specialised it is that our paths, as dealer and artist, have rarely crossed.

For the most part, Philip’s work is to do with the afterlife of a painting while I work at its inception. Although I deal with a different cast of characters in the contemporary art world encompassing artists, critics, gallerists and curators; I spend most of my time working in the Studio. What it means, or what its value might be, is up to the connoisseurs of the future. The one thing that unites the two spheres – dealer and artist, past and future – is the perpetual fascination we can all share with the evolving face of art itself.

Luke Elwes (G’79) February 2010 To view Luke’s work visit: www.lukeelwes.com

Sleuth: The Amazing Quest for Lost Art Treasures

by Philip Mould HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2009 ISBN-13: 978-0007281367 pp320 Hardback £20.00 (£10.92 from Amazon)

UFO or The Mahavishnu Orchestra – they’re all covered.

But what makes this book really interesting, is the bands that you have never heard of. Fat Mattress, anyone? I thought not!

But we learn that they featured the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s bass player, Noel Redding, though for even the most ardent Hendrix fan they are probably best avoided – Giles describing their debut album as “an unmemorable collection of soft psych.” Or how about Toe Fat? Different kind of fat, still not much cop. It’s genuinely fascinating stuff.

And, of course, the Sweet are in there too; and thirty years on I’m pleased to see Giles is still championing their cause: “Despite being dismissed as a bubblegum act, Sweet’s reputation has been enhanced over time. The fact that they released a string of classic pop rock 45s is beyond dispute, but what's less known are the bona fide hard rock classics buried on each of their LPs… that will thrill even the most demanding head bangers”.

And “Galactic Ramble” will thrill even the most demanding Worthian who wants a tome worthy of accompanying their youthful musical memories!

Max Walker (StB’80)

Galactic Ramble

by Richard Morton Jack, Giles Hamilton and others Foxcote Books 2009 ISBN-13: 978-1905880072 pp 550 Paperback £30.00 (£19.55 from Amazon)

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

health, a great family, seen a lot of the world and have happy memories of my school days. What more could one ask for? Thank you, Worth.

1959 Founder Group Member Summaries Sir David Bell See interview on page 30.

Jeremy Best Despite passing the Royal Navy selection board for entry to Dartmouth in 1965, I unfortunately then failed my medical due to being shortsighted and was forced to seek other career opportunities. I joined Barclays Bank as a junior clerk in 1965, rising through the years to management positions in the UK. I married Bronwen in 1973. In 1989 the opportunity arose to apply for the role of Resident Inspector for the bank in the Bahamas where I worked for four years, auditing both in the Bahamas and the Caribbean (not a bad first overseas posting!).

In 1993 we moved to Accra in Ghana (a very tough posting, especially as far as the climate was concerned) before moving further east to Africa in 1996. We spent seven years in Nairobi, Kenya (a very agreeable posting as far as living conditions were concerned, but very challenging work – Nairobi isn’t known as Nairobbery for nothing!!), where I was Regional Inspector for Barclays until I retired after 37 years with the bank in 2003. Through Corpus Christi parish in Wokingham I organise fund-raising for a Catholic primary school in one of the slum areas of Nairobi, with which I became involved while living there. On our return to the UK I applied to become a Magistrate on the East Berkshire Bench.

In 2005 I was sworn-in, and hope to undertake my Chairman training early in 2010.

Rodney Bligh Back in modern prehistory (1964), thanks to Worth in general and Russell Coleburt in particular, I went up to Exeter College, Oxford to read Geology and then Imperial London to learn exploration technology. After short spells with a few mining and consultancy companies; six partners and I set up a geophysical contracting business which we sold after four years of 7-day working weeks. I then joined the leading contractor in the industry (French) and have stayed with them for 30 marvellous years doing various jobs in 52 countries. This gave me enough time and space for what really matters in life – such as marrying Ann and raising Monica and Toby who in their turn are now benefitting from their education at Mayfield / Worth and Exeter University; and life in France and Asia. We now live in Singapore and Surrey and welcome anyone from Worth coming to, or through, Singapore. Returning to Worth in September this year for the splendidly organised Founder Members’ 50-year reunion was a stunning revelation of how far the community and school have progressed in that time. I hope to be of some service to Worth when I retire in 2011.

Tim Carr On leaving Worth in 1963, I joined the family business and the following 12 years were a bit of a blur. Since 1975, when I stopped drinking, I have worked for myself running a couple of small businesses – being an IFA and renovating houses. In 1980 I married Fiona and have spent a lot of time travelling and seeing the world with her in her job with British Airways. In 1989 our son, Tudor, was born – so for the last 20 years weekends have been spent beside a cricket or rugby pitch! He is currently at Loughborough. We are renovating a house in the middle of rural France as a holiday home, so any spare time is spent over there. I still love ski-ing and try to go twice a year – will always remember Kuhtai; Peter Lazarus and Father Kevin, thank you for introducing me to the best sport! I have always worked, never made much money, have my

Michael Clarke After leaving Worth in 1963, I worked in research chemistry, initially for Shell, and qualified with HNC, meanwhile passing SAS Selection as a TA Reservist. In late 1969 I went to work overseas in the oil industry, starting out as a Drilling Mud Engineer in Texas and Louisiana; then Kuwait, Turkey and places in between; it was in Rome that I met and married my wife Erminia. I then progressed into oil production as an oilfield chemicals service engineer, working all over North and West Africa and the Middle East, specialising in oilfield corrosion engineering, a career which I continued until the mid 1980s; eventually becoming Honorary Secretary of the Institute of Corrosion. As a family we moved from Rome to London in 1978 when I became active again in the TA SAS – continuing to serve until 1998. As a corrosion engineer I played a part in the development of corrosion monitoring philosophy and practice – training oil industry personnel and HSE Inspectors as well as personnel from service companies, and acting as a consultant, in which capacity I also advised reinsurance companies. By the 1990s I had moved on from corrosion data management to wider applications of data management and database design, and have developed innovative database systems that are used today in exhibition management, cancer registries, tissue banks, academic institutes, fundraising and knowledge management.

Our two sons, aged 27 and 32 have both graduated and are successful in their own careers.

Paul Clegg After Worth I qualified, at the age of 22, as a Chartered Accountant and within a year was a Partner in a Preston firm. Professionally matters progressed well and by 25 I was Group Secretary to the Vernons Organisation (Pools) who were looking to float on the Stock Market.

Unfortunately the recession of 1974 closed that opportunity to us, and I established my own Practice focussing on family businesses – it has developed well, providing general taxation advice and audit services.

For over 20 years I have lectured for the Institute of Chartered Accountants specialising in financial planning and financial services matters; so developing a specialism in the audit of financial services registered companies. I have been President of the NW Society of Chartered Accountants and President of Rotary in Lancaster. Rotary is a wonderful way of helping society locally and internationally, and has enabled me, at a local level, to participate in supported games events for the disabled, work in the local Hospice and provide support within the community; reminding us all that we are so fortunate. My involvement in Rotary followed six years in local politics – by accident rather than design – they needed a seat filling! I ended up as Chairman of Finance in one Local Authority and shadow spokesman for Personnel in Lancashire County Council. However, family and business comes first, so I left to concentrate on the really important part of my life – some may remember that for a number of years Georgina and I used to spend Easter at Worth. We married and, 33 very happy years later, have two girls and one boy in their 20s. My focus has been the family and Georgina over the years and I have spent a great deal of time with them - with the golden rule ‘not to work at weekends’. Sport and quality of life were always important to us, so the children have grown up in the country with freedom and space to play and roam. I continued to play sport competitively after Worth – rugby, cricket, tennis and squash – and couldn't have imagined life without it. The odd County Trial came by but I didn't quite make it. My involvement in Local Authority work took me into education and the Governor for Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and, of particular interest, Governor for special needs children. Those appointments have run their course and I am now Chairman of the private prep school where I and my children attended. Life has come full circle and is good!

Gareth Dancer Worth was for me an essentially happy place. So first, some essential tributes. To Dom Dominic Gaisford for combining strong discipline with wisdom and compassion. To Dom Edward Cruise for getting me into University. To Peter Whigham for teaching me to love literature and for persuading me to sit on Julian Lee’s knee and give him a kiss

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in his memorable production of Twelfth Night. Above all, to Dom Kevin Taggart for being initially a father-figure and subsequently a lifelong friend. Post-Worth, in the Spring of 1964, a three-month course at L’Universita per Stranieri, Perugia, taught me basic Italian and a lasting love of Italy via extensive hitchhiking. Cambridge (Christs, 1964-67) was long on legal study and short of girls. I didn’t pursue law after graduating, probably a big but rational mistake. Instead, I drifted into industry and a largely unfulfilling career ensued; essentially in sales and marketing in the paper and print industries with chunks of car hire and office equipment thrown in. Highlights: 2 years (1974 and 1975) working in Lagos, Nigeria for the wonderfully titled Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Company (actually De La Rue UK); global travel 1992-98 with Arjo Wiggins Appleton, especially to South America, the Far East and around Europe. My enduring partner of 22 years, Pippa, and I divide our time between our abodes in Bromley and Greece, and I pursue lifelong interests in the arts, especially music, and in sport – cricket, squash, skiing; I’ve run four marathons. A final tribute: huge thanks to Steve Urquhart for introducing me to Elvis Presley and his pompadour.

Terence Delaney After leaving Worth I did a French Diploma in Lausanne before going to Bristol University to do a degree in Civil Engineering, combined with rugby and cider! I then worked for four years as a site engineer. Kathy and I met in 1970 and married in 1972 at St Joseph’s in Highgate.

I worked as a Planning Engineer for four years. Our first son, Joseph, was born in 1974 and Owen in 1977 – then Sean as an afterthought in 1986! During this period we moved from North London to Teddington, where we still live. I became tired of commuting and joined a small consultancy where my first six months was spent in Cyprus followed by some time in the Middle East. I formed my own Company and acted as the UK base for a Saudi contractor and then as a consultant on various railway projects. Recently I spent five years on CTRL at St. Pancras Station and I am currently working with ODA Transport on Olympic projects. Sadly, as I work for myself, I will never retire! Owen married Kate in 2003 and we now have two grandchildren, Tom (4) and Megan (2). Joseph (G’92) married Sarah in Australia last year and they are living in Sydney. My youngest son, Sean, graduated last year and is still looking for work! I’d like to thank Worth for feeding my passion for skiing which we still enjoy every year – I have many fond memories of Kuhtai with Dom Kevin.

Bernard Elkington I left Worth in July 1964 and in September I was on the boat train heading for the Hook of Holland to start working for C&A – on the recommendation of Fr Andrew Brenninkmeyer. I worked in Holland for three years where I learnt the trade and became fluent in Dutch. I was then transferred to England where I worked in London, Glasgow and Manchester. I became a buyer on the ladies coat department. I then decided that C&A was not for me and started my Articles to become a solicitor. I married Rosemary in 1984 and we had two boys – Benedict who is now 24 and Laurence who is 22. We lived in Petersfield where Rosemary opened a solicitors’ practice under the name of Elkingtons.

Rosemary died in 1989 and I carried on the practice where I stayed for ten years. Our elder son, Benedict, continues in the law but is based in London. I then purchased a nursing home which I ran for five years and, having sold that I am now involved in a hotel and holiday business based in America and Mexico.

Vincent Ellis-Brown I left Worth in 1963 and lived in Lancashire for several years before moving to Harrogate. I qualified as a solicitor in 1974, married Penuel in 1973 and we have four children – James 36, Rebecca 33, Philip 31 and Ben 27. I have spent most of my time in private practice and involved with a busy family in mid-Sussex. On the work front I was engaged in crime, matrimonial disputes, child welfare and general civil litigation, with a little conveyancing, wills and probate work (all for others of course!). We have a Jack Russell and I do plenty of walking and lots of reading. It’s been a very interesting journey so far.

Peter Esmonde In 1963 I left many friends behind at Worth. By 1972 I was speaking ChiBemba as a curate in Zambia but, imbued with the radicalism

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of the 1960s, I left the formal priesthood in 1976 and gained a BA in comparative religion and a teaching certificate. I worked for Oxfam, taught in Zambia, and from 1981 was obtaining governmental grants for ActionAid. In 1982 I married Tsehai Berhane-Selassie, a social anthropologist, historian and civil rights activist. Between 1987-89 I helped establish ActionAid in Ethiopia. While teaching in Addis Ababa University (I have an MSc in Sociology of Education), I wrote on education and development and did work for the Lutheran World Federation’s aid wing and consultancies for UNECA. Subsequently LWF employed me full-time (Ethiopia 1994-1999, Kenya 1999-2001). As Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser I travelled widely, mainly in Africa – an incomparable privilege. After my brother Kevin (Worth Junior School and Downside) died in 2001, Tsehai and I returned to Ireland to look after my mother. Over the years I have been involved informally in human rights; like others, bashing my head against barriers erected by accomplices of criminal governments, whose damage on the ground is far too gruesome to ignore. peter.witham.esmonde@gmail.com Michael Gilpin Having been born and brought up in Argentina and Uruguay, arriving at Worth underlined how unfamiliar I was with things English. The fact that I was able to adjust to this foreign world was largely down to a wonderful cast of characters, including Father Kevin, Peter Lazarus, Andrew Bertie and Colonel Vredenburgh. To them I am immensely grateful. In 1964 I went to Durham University and read Economics.

On getting my degree in 1967, I really had no idea what I wanted to do.

I tried accountancy and retailing and eventually ended up running a small group of restaurants in London – while physically very demanding, it was hugely enjoyable. In the late 1970s I decided on a career change.

I moved to Bristol and studied production and mechanical engineering, specialising in composite materials. These were exciting times, as carbon fibre began replacing traditional materials. I have spent the last thirty years in the world of glass/carbon fibre structures, mostly for the aerospace and medical industries. The work involved substantial travel, particularly in Europe and the United States, setting up composite manufacturing facilities. My wife, Jackie, and I live in Vermont. I am now retired and have plenty of time for travel (have just returned from Uruguay), tennis (doubles only) and cycling.

Sean Goodsir-Cullen I live in the Neath valley with Sue and our two children – Eoin (13) and Erin (11). I am the main carer – writing novels and seeking a publisher of vision. Our children have absorbed my interests – Eoin is a precocious guitarist, forming a band; Erin regularly appears on stage and was crowned Bard at an eisteddfod. I lived mainly in London where I usually had several occupations – pursuing my interest in music and campaigning on many issues including miscarriages of justice, AntiApartheid, health, peace and civil rights. I wrote for the underground press, including International Times, OZ, Gandalf’s Garden, Black Dwarf, Ink, the European edition of Rolling Stone, The Daily American and High Times. I discovered London’s erupting music scene (especially such clubs as the 100, UFO, Marquee and Flamingo) and attended festivals including Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight. My most unusual job paid £5 a minute, a huge rate in the early 1970s, for appearing on stage and doing absolutely nothing! I have been a director of several wine companies, a newspaper and magazine editor, copywriter, private detective and performance poet. I attended three London University colleges where I studied philosophy. At the suggestion of my friend Vivien Stanshall, whose ‘residence’ was on the river, I lived on a houseboat for several years.

Julian Lee In my first year in the Lower VIth, I was studying English and History but wanted to be a doctor. I then had really serious emergency surgery that took me out of school for three months. As a result, I left Worth a year early to go to a science crammer to try and get into medical school.

The most important events in my life were: marrying Lesley in 1975, the birth of our five children and watching them grow up (two went to Worth, three to Mayfield). Since 1985 we have lived fairly close to Worth and now live in East Grinstead, with Worth as our parish church.

My life since leaving Worth has been a series of events that I didn’t plan!

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Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

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I began by going to medical school – keen to follow in both my parents’ footsteps. That only lasted 18 months when I realised that I was better suited for another career – any other career! I was Articled as a Chartered Accountant in a small firm in the City of London, qualified in 1969 and went on to become a partner in Arthur Andersen & Co (then one of the major international firms). Long after I left, it had problems with Enron and merged into other firms. I resigned my partnership in 1981 to join a global financial services group that was a client. In 1985 I moved out of the financial sector and have led five different groups of companies.

These were in different sectors of the service and retail industries and generally operated globally. I finally stepped down as a Chief Executive in 2002. I now Chair the teaching hospital in Brighton, I am a nonexecutive director for a number of companies and troubleshoot and advise others. Lesley and I enjoy our lives; watching as our children build theirs and we wait, maybe for grand children, or maybe not!!

John Muscat My first job was with BT, in London, planning (?) telephone exchange expansion for the 40 year period to 2011; very interesting but scary considering the amounts of money I was committing them to and the uncertainties that were involved. I studied computing at night school and was recruited by IBM. I looked forward to seeing what the new industry of computing was about. I married Mary Foody in 1972 and moved to Roussel Laboratories. A major move in 1974 took us to Dublin for me to join an Aer Lingus consultancy offering the opportunity for cheap travel, which, as it turned out, we hardly ever used! Our three children, Anne, Paul and Brian were born there a year apart. Part of the reason for our move to Ireland had been for any children to grow up in the country rather than in London. Two friends and I started a software house, but in 1982 I was offered a job in Manchester which I took – the family reluctantly following me two years later. Five more years and I formed my own IT consultancy and recently wound that up to work for the Bank of New York Mellon where I am at present.

Patrick Nivelles I left Worth in 1964 and went to read Economics at UEA. After that I did a three year short service commission in the Army which was enormously enjoyable; got married and then moved into industry joining GKN, a large engineering group. After two years there, I went on to do an MBA at Warwick University specialising in finance. My final project involved consultancy work with Barclays, which led into the City. US banks were exciting then, and I joined First National Boston, working in their Special Industries Division in London – we financed films, aircraft, shipping and other interesting things. I spent the next 25 years in corporate and international banking and travelled the world; lived in Hong Kong for a while and had a very rewarding time. Sadly my first marriage ended in divorce some years ago, but I am now very happily married to Suzy, and have two children, Guy (went to Worth) and Faye (St Mary’s Ascot).

It’s been a joy to watch them grow and develop; Guy married Christine in the USA and they have two young sons – Henry and Rupert – we hope they will go to Worth and be skiers (we all love skiing!). I now run a small property consultancy company and am also very active in our local church.

James Pontifex I left Worth in 1963 and trained as a teacher before getting my history degree (late, in my 20s, the hard way) at Birkbeck College, London University. I taught in two London comprehensive schools. The second I loved as head of history in the old St Clement Danes Grammar School in West London. I suppose my fate was sealed when I bumped into a Hungarian in a dingy hotel in Rome back in the early 70s. We struck up a lifelong friendship and it was through him that I moved into the Hungarian world, met my wife (a teacher) and left teaching for a new career. In 1989, with the Berlin Wall down, we set up a Hungarian language school/translation agency in London. We have been involved with this ever since; teaching and organising Hungarian courses for British and US diplomats and business people – first in London and now in Budapest. It’s been fascinating to experience the East opening up at close hand. We have two children, János (John) and Sári (Sarah).

Brits love Budapest – so, if any of my Worth contemporaries come over here I would be delighted to hear from them.

Christopher Setter On leaving Worth I joined the family business which was a moderate sized firm of building contractors based in Bristol. I studied quantity surveying, general building construction and planning at College in Bristol. Quite soon I felt that I wanted a rather different business profile and started to create companies that had an involvement, variously, in development, project management and businesses away from the construction industry altogether – for example storage and distribution – and we put together an electrical firm dealing with rather specialist electrics / electronics around petrol filling stations and bank cashpoint machines. I was joined by my brother, Michael (G’64) who had, and still does have, an interest in Ecclesiastical Property of all sorts and denominations. This organisation operates nationally as an Ecclesiastical project manager and property consultancy. Probably by a fluke, most of these businesses did pretty well and a couple of years ago my wife started running the argument that we had enough money, one way and another, to buy the sort of small estate we both craved, somewhere, as she put it, ‘nice’. So that's how we bought this place in Devon. Having lived all my life in, or near to, Bristol this – at my advanced years! – was something of a bold venture although it has proved, over the last year and a bit that we’ve been here, to be most successful. We farm around 400 acres of livestock and arable and have some particularly good salmon and sea trout fishing on the River Torridge which almost surrounds us; as well as a challenging high bird pheasant shoot. A particular interest of mine is the herd of pedigree Gloucester cattle, who still figure on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust’s endangered species list, but who seem to thrive and breed in Devon.

Along the way I married twice, although not at the same time, and produced one son, now aged 32, who lives in Hove. Quite frankly, I thought I’d done kind of OK until I met the rest of the founder members at the spectacularly good reunion last year and realised what real achievement was – no, sorry I jest, but Fr Kevin looked like he’d go on for ever (and so did Fr Stephen’s sun hat!).

Simon Slaughter Having left Worth in 1963, I went into banking for ten years before realising I needed a more stimulating career. In 1972, I joined the ’Fleet-Air-Arm’ (the flying part of the Royal Navy) and after training as a helicoper technician, I was subsequently attached to Royal Marine Commando helicopter squadrons for the next fourteen years, which took me all over the world, although sadly I never made it to the Far East.

However, no one day was the same and it was an incredible adventure, meeting a wide range of people from all walks of life. I loved it – you just had to keep fit! In 1986 I met Sarah, a reception class teacher and we were married the following year. She has recently finished working after 38 years without a break! I retired from active service to become a civil servant, now working in Gosport until 2011, when retirement beckons. We live in the small and pretty Hampshire village of East Meon, and I would be delighted to see any Worthian from that outstanding ’50th Anniversary Day’!

Nicholas Wynne I began work in the City of London for the Bank of London and South America. My London years were uneventful – until the idea of going abroad in 1974 began to appeal. Pursuing this avenue I decided, together with my small family, to move overseas to the Middle East.

I found life as an ex-patriot tough to begin with but things soon changed for the better. During my seven years in the Gulf, change occurred so frequently that every day seemed totally different to the one before.

I discovered that I needed more stability so I returned to the UK. Up until 1989 life was difficult and full of many challenges. I realised that the only reasonable place to be was back in the City of London again. I made a career move into the pension world where I saw many opportunities and a chance to be more active as I assessed, investigated and provided solutions for many clients – I had at last found my niche and was very happy and fulfilled. After a stroke in 2004 I have returned to work with the same pension company, after three and half years, and hope to retire there. The Worth reunion was a great success and thoroughly worthwhile. My only regret was that I did not get to speak to everyone, but hopefully there will be another opportunity.

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News in Brief 1960s

Michael Bray ’65 I am still alive and well and living near Guildford in Surrey.

I have been married for nearly 37 years, to Jo, and we have two adult children.

I spent 34 years of enjoyment (and a bit of work) in the Army, followed by a year in industry and six years helping soldiers in need. Currently I am company secretary for COBSEO (Confederation of British Service and ex-Service Organisations) www.cobseo.org.uk encouraging Service charities to work together and the Government to do more for the armed forces community.

I thought it might be a gentle route to retirement – but how wrong I was, although I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge! In my spare time I am Governor to a Catholic girls day and boarding school – Fr Kevin is on the same board, and he still manages to make me feel I am back in the sixth form with his smile, gentle encouragement and sense of fun!

Peter Gilbert ’68 I have recently been appointed to the Government's Equalities Programme Board to lead on religion and belief, and am working on a national multi-faith/belief project which is concentrating on areas around mental health.

During the past year I have been leading a research programme on spirituality and mental health for Birmingham and Solihull MH Trust. My new book on social work and mental health is to be published in June. I have been undertaking some work in Jersey with my old friend, Julian Clyde-Smith (G’68). I completed the Taunton Marathon last month in just over 4 hours.

John Harben ’69 After a short spell in journalism – and what seems a lifetime in business – I took a first degree in history at the University of East Anglia in 2007, at the age of 56, and then went on to qualify as a teacher of English as a foreign language on a University of Cambridge course. Now my work is a mix of teaching in a prison and child-minding. I am married to Ursula Renouf (I married the Worth art master’s daughter at Worth in 1972) and have three children who are brave and well-rounded. The last few years – and Ursula – have taught me that this is the adolescence of old age – hit 50 and you start getting mood swings, there are awkward changes to your body, and an unsettling but usually exciting sense that anything could happen in the future!

Robert Herring ’68 I run a village B&B in Northamptonshire, write for the Open University on energy and environment themes and manage the county's Best Village Competition. I had my eyes lasered 10 years ago so thankfully don't wear glasses any more!

Raibeart MacDougall ’69 I am living happily in St Albans with my beautiful wife and two young daughters. I would love to hear from anyone I knew at Worth.

Anthony McGrath ’68 Well, I suppose it would amaze anyone who tried to teach me at Worth that I am now two-thirds of the way towards a DPhil at Sussex University in Art History. My period is the late medieval and it has given me pleasure to be able to include in my thesis a reference to Dom Thomas Symons and his 1953 translation of the Regularis Concordia. He was a wonderful man and a great entertainer on the organ in the old chapel. I remembered that he was spoken of as a highly respected historian but, as he did not teach, there was no evidence for boys of his learning. So, discovering his book fifty years later was peculiarly satisfying.

John MacWilliam ’66 I have now been in Tunisia for two years, after thirteen years working as a White Father missionary in Algeria, next door. I take care of a library/study-centre for local schoolchildren where they can do their homework in peace and quiet in the evenings. It is part of the inter-religious encounter which is so important in today's world. A serious fire in our house in January cost the life of one of our priests and destroyed thousands of books of the senior library. With much help from far and near we are trying to put things back in order – but it'll need lots of prayers please. Not much chance of my visiting the UK these days, therefore.

James Pontifex ’63 I live in Budapest with my Hungarian wife and family. We run a language school and provide cottage accommodation for holiday makers at our house in the Budapest hills. (See our website at www.orchardviews.com).

Jonathan Vernon-Hunt ’69 By a rather diverse route (five years overseas, five years for which I can't immediately account, and 20 odd years in local government) I am now a commercial lawyer with Veolia Environmental Services plc in their HQ in London (in what was St James’s, Pentonville). A professional binman you might say – and I'm enjoying it very much (it's a French company, but that isn't their fault). Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Eastbourne are four

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Sinclair Webster ’66 Having seen friends struck down at 60, I should have been prepared – but it could never happen to me... A routine ERCP investigation of a suspected gall stone led to five hours emergency surgery and six months off to recover; during which time I lost a third of my body weight and muscle mass, so that I had to have cushions to sit on and a stick to walk around the garden. Then the walking and physio kicked in and I wore out shoes as I got stronger – so much so, that I went out with the shoot on beaters’ day in January and was treated to the gentlest handling I have ever had from the Keeper (so I must have looked terrible even when I felt fully recovered!). I resigned from my practice at the end of January and am now adjusting to the idea of part time consultancy. It has been a pleasant surprise how much has come my way. Being a complete mug, I have become president of the Woking Circle of the Catenian Association this year – the largest in the Association. Few who knew me at School would have seen me becoming an exemplary Catholic. Maybe that’s the secret!

John Weguelin ’69 I am currently in between jobs. For the last five years I have been CEO of an Islamic Investment Bank in London. Prior to that I was with Bank of America for 20 years.

1970s Joe Brown ’72 I am currently undergoing a seamless transfer from Naval service to Civil service to run the RN and RM promotions division.

Justin Brown ’78 Since 2000 I have been providing updates on market climate, market potential in Myanmar. I can be contacted at jahbrown@starhub.net.sg.

Nigel Burnford ’72 I am living near Oxford and am married to Nicole (38 years soon!) with three grown-up and ‘fled-the-nest’ daughters at PWC, Santander and Celine. I hope they will soon be keeping me in the manner to which I would like to be accustomed! Three weddings to come – ouch!

Anthony (Tony) Considine ‘71 Resident with my family in Perth, Western Australia and establishing new connections in the business and sports community after 13 years overseas. Commenced a new challenge – as CEO of North West Iron Ore Alliance in early 2010 – building a new infrastructure to move up to 50mtpa of iron ore to the Asian markets. Reaching a major milestone for the family as our eldest son, Jonathon, completes his chemical engineering degree mid-year.

Christopher (Chris) Cussons ’70 Still doing some work (sadly!). I am involved in a BIMBO of a fabrication company in Yorkshire (anyone know anyone who wants a MUGA (Multi Use Games Area – www.lightmain.co.uk)? Surely retirement must be around the corner, as work is the curse of the boating man.

Philip de Ayala ’76 After years spent travelling the world, I met a very special lady in 2004 and settled down close to a stunning Cornish beach. Since then I have been developing my various property holdings, helping in the local community and surfing some of the UK's finest waves. I’m still addicted to tennis, but no longer quite so desperate for the perfect forehand! Early this year began to research a book I am writing about a family champagne house, one of the original “Grandes Marques” – so will soon be packing my bags again for major trips around Europe and South America. Pura vida.

Patrick (Errol) Flynn ’78 Living in East Molesey, Surrey, with my wife Teresa, and three sons Jack (17), Tom (15) and Joe (8). After a lifetime of working for other people, I have now started a new property management company, with two others, called Preside. Need a block of flats looking after in London? Then call me!

James Griffith ’72 Four children have now left home leaving space at last for Sue and myself. I am still running my architectural practice in Cambridge working for the National Trust, Independent Schools, Cambridge University and private clients. Struggling to keep up the squash games and have stopped playing cricket this year. Now spend as much time as possible travelling, which has taken me to France, Malta and Vietnam recently.

Richard Hawkins ‘76 I am working for Commerzbank (who took over Dresdner Kleinwort) and have been happily married for 28 years to Jane. We have three children – Vanessa (recently engaged) Clare and Stuart.

Brian Heathcote ’70 I celebrate 25 years of marriage on the 3rd August 2010!

Francis Hobbs ’77 I am living in Midhurst and married to Jo who is a local GP. We have four children, two dogs and currently a complete lack of horses. Running a CSR programme called Force for Good creating commercial quality virtual offices for charitable organisations in the cloud (the in-term for "web-based"!)

Julian Hughes ’78 I am an old age psychiatrist at North Tyneside General Hospital and was appointed Honorary Professor of Philosophy of Ageing in the Institute for Ageing and Health at Newcastle University last year. My most recent (co-edited) book “Supportive Care for the Person with Dementia”, published by Oxford University Press, appeared early this year. Anne and the children – who have partially flown the nest – are flourishing idiosyncratically.

Patrick (Paddy) Jago ’75 I am President at Willis Reinsurance, Lime Street, London. Married Jane (née Denny) in 1985, and we have two children – Freddie and Maddy. I am living in Fulham and Shaftesbury, Dorset – when not on business trips to the US. My e-mail, for anyone who would like to get in touch, is paddy.jago@willis.com.

Chris Kelly ’78 A warm welcome to anyone who wishes to discover Vezelay in the heart of Burgundy, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is a living shrine which attracts pilgrims, artists and visitors from all over the world.

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Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

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Nigel Kennard ’74 Since 1979 I have largely worked in Asia Pacific, the Arabian Gulf and Australia. I look forward to hearing from others who enjoy the tremendous variety of challenges, sunrises and sunsets that are encountered in this part of this very small world. Do feel free to contact me on: nigelkennard@gmail.com.

Neil Leach ’76 I have now moved from the University of Brighton to take up a Professorship in architecture at the University of Southern California; where I am living on Venice Beach with my surfboard and a convertible Mini! Father Kevin, attended my inaugural lecture at the University of Brighton and I recently caught up with Julian Dare, former Classics teacher at Worth. Although my academic career started with a translation from the Latin of L B Alberti's treatise on architecture, de re aedificatoria, I moved on to publish a series of books on philosophy and architectural theory, and am now working on digital design theory. I am curating two exhibitions in China this year – an exhibition on ‘Swarm Intelligence’ in Shanghai, and an exhibition on digital design at the Beijing Biennial.

Edward (Ed) Mannix ’78 Still living in Méribel with Diesel the dog and working as a tax consultant when not skiing. I’m 50 this year, with a son going off to University.

Dominic Nevill ’74 I am living in East Sussex and have four girls ranging from 9 to 27. Looking forward (nervously!) to the first wedding this September. I am a property investor with a portfolio in London, the South East and Berlin.

Steven Noel-Hill ’74 I am running a treatment facility in Amsterdam specialising in helping young adults (aged 16-23) who are starting to have consequences for self destructive behaviours; especially around drugs, alcohol and more frequently obsessive computer gaming. I have worked with Tania Byron in helping to form policy in this area. I also act as a consultant for The Priory on adolescent and addiction problems.

Andrew Rome ’78 I am still peddling smart country houses for Knight Frank based in Winchester. Have two children currently doing Common Entrance and GCSEs – my goodness, they take it so much more seriously than we did (especially my daughter who is in a school where Adrian Aylward (R’76) is Headmaster)! I am still wasting ‘not enough time’ fly fishing, but the current Mrs Rome of many years may disagree!

Jeremy Sandle ’74 I had a civil partnership ceremony with Mark Curry last year. My two daughters, who are aged 23 and 29 are both working and very supportive. I am now dividing my time between homes in Mijas, Andalucia and Teddington. I run a property firm, Nightingale Estates which is based in Teddington, and dispose of incredible bargain commercial properties in Scotland and the north east of England, as well as villas and apartments in Mijas.

Do visit the website: www.nightingale-estates.co.uk for more information.

Jonathan Stordy ’79 I have been in Madrid for 12 years working in drinks.

Very happy. Ciaran (16) has been at Worth for two years. When Sarah, Anna (12) and I go to see him, Worth’s constant development is incredibly impressive – and of course seeing Fathers Stephen, Kevin and Charlie is just great. I saw Eddie Fyfe (B’80) in London after 20 years, who was in great form. Always in touch with Bob Mannix (StB’81) and so impressed to read of Neil Laughton’s (C’82) achievements.

Tim Tyler ’71 I am now retired from the Army and trying my hand at a civilian job leading a major defence outsourcing bid for Serco. The family grows – down the next generation – I now have a grandson and a granddaughter.

Ewan Ward-Thomas ’77 I have embarked on a complete change of career – leaving the world of high technology to start a full time BA education degree at Roehampton University, London in September 2009. I aim to qualify as a primary teacher. I have moved to London full time and live on a houseboat in Ealing. In my spare time I lecture on the Mary Rose, the Tudor warship of Henry VIIIth. Jaime Zobel de Ayala ’77 I have just finished an 8-day tour of Peru by motorcycle – see photograph featured in ‘Caught on Camera’.

1980s Andy Bernard ’80 I am still working in the Axis of Evil, EC2. Married to Catherine – and still, somehow, funding our children! Patrick is now at St Andrew's, Edmund is on a gap year and Genevieve is in the run up to GCSEs. Life is good and I love it!

Antony (Brommers) Bromley-Martin ’87 I have now moved to Essex and am an associate partner with Strutt & Parker based in Chelmsford and living in Felsted. My wife, Lorraine, and I now have a 7-month-old daughter called Flora who was born on the 7th September 2009 at 11:29pm by emergency ‘C’ section weighing in at 4lb 11oz.

Alexander (Alex) Buckley ‘88 Married to Shauna and we have three wonderful boys; Jack (5), Oliver (3) and Nathaniel (6 months). Still living in Epsom and working for Venda – we build eCommerce sites for companies such as Tesco, TK Max, Fat Face, Urban Outfitters, The British Museum and many more.

Sean Buckley ‘83 Enjoying life with my wife, Sarah, and our two children, Alicia (13) and Max (12) as well as a huge dog called Dacre. Lucky enough to keep in touch with several Worthians, Tony Sugrue (G’83) in particular. I have also met up with Mark 'Max' Walker (StB’80) on several occasions at his gigs – an awesome drummer and great to relive the rock acts of yesteryear! Still a keen skier, though failing to improve due to the convivial nature of the resorts I seem to end up in!! Playing squash and racket ball on a regular basis and have recently dusted off the old clubs and may get back to golf again. I also do a boxing class once a week which is great fun. Professionally, I am privileged to be a dentist with a private practice in Bromley and sit on several committees connected to the profession. I am doing an increasing amount of botox and filler treatments these days which is both exciting and rewarding. Would love to hear from any Worthians - you can find me on Facebook – but am probably one of the least computer literate of our generation!

Mel Carson ’89 I travel the world talking about advertising at conferences, on video and on Twitter. In August 2009 I married Ashley in Seattle.

Rohan Cavaliero ’81 I live in Kuala Lumpur with Aileen and our three kids; Ella, Mia and Charlie. I run a property development company building a golf course and resort project in Langkawi, a beautiful Malaysian island in the Andaman Sea. Despite first leaving the UK some 17 years ago, I still keep in touch with many friends from School. Gerry Ambrose (G’76) also lives in Kuala Lumpur and is on great form – and I have regular visits from that lunatic Henry Thornton (B’80), always a special treat.

Damian Chunilal ’85 I am living in Hong Kong and married to Anastasia. We have two daughters – Natalia and Alexandra. I am retired for the time being, so we are spending our time in Hong Kong, the UK or travelling around Europe and Asia. I intend to start my own investment management firm within the next year.

Mark Collini ’89 Recent highlights include learning to cook Moroccan tagine in Fez, teaching my 4-year-old nephew, Joseph, to ski and a crash course in Viennese waltzing. And this year I’m looking forward to walking the length of Hadrian’s Wall and planning my wedding! I’m delighted to announce my engagement to Alexandra.

Peter Cullinan ’82 I worked as project manager and resident engineer on the new Durban Stadium in South Africa (see photograph featured in ‘Caught on Camera’). Now back in South Africa for five years after a six year stint in the UK. Simon Douglas-Dufresne ’80 I have been living the most wonderful life in Kenya since I left college. In 1990 I started an electric fencing company and now, 20 years later, I am selling this company ready to start a new life – which will be spent between Kenya, Mexico and USA. I have a wonderful co-pilot in my wife, Carolyn, and our two children. Life is fantastic, wonderful and the best. Everyday I telephone to boss and say thanks – I'm looking forward to everyday, and everyday gets better!

Benjamin (Ben) Drummond ’83 I married Alicia (nee Midwood) in 1993 where Dominic Latham-Koenig (B’83) was, and still is, my best man. We have two daughters (Eliza, 14 and Daisy, 12) who are currently at Hurstpierpoint College and live near Lewes in East Sussex, having moved from London in 2007. I am a wine merchant at Berkmann Wine Cellars, a wholesale/ importer of wine.

Aaron Firth ’81 I am thriving and have launched a cycling jersey business called ‘Telegraph-Road Cycling’. Dominic Strickland (C’81) has commented on the benefits of cycling in his Telegraph-Road jersey. If any Worthians happen to be heading for the super-weight division, then do visit www.telegraph-road.com.

Paul Fremantle ’87 I'm Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at WSO2, a software start-up that I co-founded in 2005. I was recently named one of the top 25 CTOs in the world by Infoworld magazine. Outside of work, my wife Jane and I have two children – Anna, 13 and Daniel, 9 – and we live in Emsworth. Anyone who is in the area or passing by, do feel free to get in touch. I’m still in regular contact with Andrew Gregory (R’87) and James Marshall (R’87), and looking forward to meeting up with Enrique Biel Gleeson (B’87) soon.

Julian Gairdner ’89 Mel and I are delighted at the arrival of Freddie James Temple who was born on the 28th December 2009 – a brother to Olly and someone ‘to wrestle’!

Giles Hamilton ’82 It scarcely seems credible that it is 27 years since I left Worth and started work in the City. In that time I’ve worked for several investment banks/brokers. I was part of the original team that opened a London office for Bank of China – the investment banking arm of Bank of China in 2001 – having specialised in asian equities at Merrill Lynch. But far more importantly, I am the co-author of “The Galactic Ramble” - the most exhaustive study of the ‘60s and ‘70s music scene ever published. The book has had ecstatic reviews, even in The Telegraph. So, those years of taking exams at Worth and listening to John Peel under the pillow were not wasted! See www.galacticramble.com and review by Max Walker (StB’80) on page 50.

Crispin Hayhoe ’82 I have got engaged to Anne and we are to be married by Father Stephen in June 2010 – hopefully more news next year.

Bruce Henwood ’88 Married to Asami with two daughters, Saori (6) and Yuri (4). After eight years in Tokyo, I moved to a new post in San Francisco with Deutsche Bank at the end of 2009.

Dominic Hirons ’89 I am living in Teddington with my wife Louisa and three daughters Lexie (6), Beth (4), Jemima (1) and working at Morgan Stanley in London as chief operating officer of the European compliance department.

Canice Hogan ’88 I am living near Midhurst in West Sussex and have two girls – Saskia, 9 and Tilly, 7. Working for the Japanese investment bank, Nomura, and loving life!

John Jamison ’85 I am married to Nikki with two children Archie (8) and Bonnie (6) and we are living in Ottershaw, Surrey. I work for Samsung Electronics in Chertsey. Play poker with Francis Hopkinson (StB’85), Mike Bishop (StB’85) and James Bisset (B’85). The proud owner of a Nissan. Living the dream …

Neil Laughton ’82 My next expedition project, in the summer of 2011, is Project Rough Seas when I will lead 40 disadvantaged kids on an overland expedition to Norway, then sail a Tall Ship across the North Sea and up under Tower Bridge. Potential supporters / sponsors please get in touch with me via: www.neillaughton.com. Delighted to announce the arrival of Amber Gillian who was born on the 23rd December 2009 and joins Oscar (aged 3) and Scarlett (aged 2).

Nigel Laughton ’84 Currently employed by the BCCI to head up the cricket operations for the Indian Premier League and Champions League T20 tournament (see article on page 38). When not working in India, and / or South Africa, I live near Bath with Sarah and Olivia (5) and our two Labradors.

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News in Brief

News in Brief

Stephen Bamford ’69 I am working for a very interesting company. www.ximaxwatersolutions.com and am hoping that it will provide for my retirement. With a golf handicap of 9.8, I’m still hoping to get down to single figures. Very grey haired!!!

very lairy teenagers (fully blended, of course) whose height and physical prowess is a source both of pride and, how can I put it, jealous irritation!) as well, of course, my inestimable external hard drive, Katya. Memories of Worth seem to get fonder as time goes by. Fr Kev – sorry to have missed your Worthians Mass in London this year, but great to see you last time and will be there next year! Best regards to all and sundry.

Charles McHugo ’85 Our second son, Dylan, was born on the 20th November 2009 and Gordon Moore (G’85) is his proud godfather. For any Worthians thinking of moving their business, or themselves, to Switzerland, then please don’t hesitate to contact www.network-relocation.com where I am the business development manager for Suisse Romande (+41 79 816 52 70). It would be great to create a Worthians group over here – where people pay less tax!

Simon McMenemy ’89 I have recently moved to the law firm, Boodle Hatfield in New Bond Street. I specialise in employment law and would be happy to speak to any Worthian who wants an initial discussion about any employment issue! Marie Clare and I have three children (Charlie, Annabel and Lizzie) and we live in Sussex, near Worth.

Stefan Reynolds ’89 I am currently working at London University as conference administrator and finishing a PhD in Medieval English Literature. I will be marrying Silvia Bence-Jones in July 2010. Interested in meditation, yoga and Christian mysticism. I am a Benedictine Oblate and novice Knight of Malta. In contact with Michael O'Sullivan (B’89) and William Horner (B’89) from School.

Edward (Dobbo) Robinson ’89 Had a great time at the 20-year reunion despite having just had a knee ligament replacement – not a rugby injury – more a stupidity injury! It was really fun to see some old faces again. I’m married to Helen and we have Tim, 6 and Jamie, 4. We’re living in Maidenhead and always ready to accept any calls from Worthians who have a house to sell in, or near, Maidenhead!

Alexander Saunders ’82 I am currently living in Chicago and have been married for ten years to Mary, with a step-daughter, Olivia, and a son, Gabriel (trying to encourage the latter to support England and not America in the World Cup!).

I am an account executive at WFMT Radio, America’s finest classical station.

Dominic (Dom) Sharkey ’85 Married to Sara, with a daughter on the way – our first – in early October 2010. Both of us are Lieutenant Colonels in the Royal Corps of Signals. I have recently taken command of 39th (Skinners) Signal Regiment (Volunteers), a TA Regiment in Bristol; and Sara commands 10th Signal Regiment in Corsham (until maternity leave beckons).

Dominic Waghorn ’87 Married to Penny with two boys and a girl – Hal (7), Samuel (5) and Mae (2). I have been in Jerusalem for just over three years as Middle East Correspondent for Sky News, and before that was in Beijing for just under three years as asia correspondent. I won a few awards in China and am loving working and living in this region too. Interests are largely dictated by the children namely; lego, cycling and tortoise rearing, and exploring the Holy Land.

Occasionally I find time to play the piano and to garden. Don't have much news of peers except I hear that Alex Walker (StB’87) recently excelled himself at cheese rolling in Gloucestershire! Best regards to anyone who can remember me. I have very fond memories of Worth – especially locking Father Christopher out of St Bedes and studying the crusades through the barrage of Father Stephen’s pipe smoke!

Mark (Max) Walker ’80 Still drumming in various guises, still happily married to Claire and still the family continues to get older. Currently experiencing teenagers in the house with A levels and GCSEs – now I understand why our parents sent us away..! Looking forward to playing at Glastonbury with Rolf Harris for the 5th time, a trip to Marrakech, the annual sojourn down to Cornwall with fellow Worthians, and most of all the reunion in September for our 30th anniversary of leaving Worth. 30 years...?!? Shurely shome mishtake...?

Eoin Carson '92 Having finished my third tour of Iraq and having been present with my Battalion (5th Battalion The Rifles) at the monumental closing ceremony of Basra contingency operating base and the subsequent withdrawal of UK forces from Iraq in June 2009, I handed over as adjutant and headed to Oman to be on loan to the Sultan of Oman's armed forces. Clearly the Army promotes just about anybody to Major, as I will be coming back to the UK at the end of this year in order to attend Staff College in Shrivenham. I am very much looking forward to my first England posting since 2002! Rugby has made way to diving, snorkelling, and motor biking through the Jebel - wonderful!

Paul Collini ’91 When not mucking about with Matthew (15 months), Joseph (4 years) and Magda (somewhat older and now a GP!), I am a specialist registrar in infectious diseases in Sheffield and about to embark on a PhD in HIV research.

Raphael Coman ’95 I have opened an accounting business in South London called Coman & Co, and would be delighted to hear from Worthians who might be interested in using our services. Please do contact me at work on: 020 8653 4454 or e-mail: enquiries@comanandco.co.uk David Connolly ’95 I am pleased to announce that my wife, Llinos, and I had our first son, Dylan, on the 6th October 2009. He was born at home in Cardiff and I am really loving being a father – despite not having had a full night’s sleep in six months!

Benjamin (Ben) Calnan ’97 I have a new addition – a black lab/retriever approaching a year, called Bertie. Enjoy walking lots, and still playing rugby (when not injured!) for Worthians RFC. Working for a social care team at Surrey County Council.

Tom Calnan ’95 I am currently living in Abu Dhabi with my wife Angela, where I continue to work for the law firm, Berwin Leighton Paisner, in the commercial

56 I

Richard Morgan ’97 I am currently working as a Staff Officer in the Ministry of Defence doing media ops planning / policy where I work for Brigadier Mark van der Lande (StB’80).

Alistair Myles ’99 Still a solicitor doing matrimonial work for Levison Meltzer Pigott Solicitors in the City and living in Wandsworth. Life is treating me well!

Mike Rigby ’90 Married to Kate with one son, Oliver, who was born in May 2008.

Kate is pregnant with a little brother or sister for Oliver, which is due to arrive in July this year. I am working for Barclays Bank in Canary Wharf. Ran the London Marathon this year raising over £4k for Baby Lifeline.

Justin Duckworth ’91 2009 was a big year – I married Heidi in Corfe Castle in Dorset. Tim Franks (G’91), Alasdair Prescott (G’91), Hugh Crossley (StB’91) and Dom Newland (C’91) were there. 2010 has got a little busier still with the arrival of young Connor.

Mike Eddleston ’98 I am still living in Australia – recently transferred to Sydney from Brisbane. Still working as an environmental geologist and really enjoying life. Still haven’t mastered the surfing but got the NRL down to a T! Dominic Floyd ’90 I am now Headmaster at Ashdown House and we have enjoyed returning to Sussex after five years in Cornwall. Married to Maria with two children, Freddy and Tabitha, and we have become fully engrossed in the day-to-day running of Ashdown. It has been great to catch up with some old familiar faces – none other than Keith Owers on the touchline when he came to watch his grandson play rugby against Ashdown, and Fr Kevin at the wedding of Justin Jaques (G’90).

Angus Gairdner ’96 I am working in London as director of broadcast at The Poker Channel and in the midst of launching the channel in Latin America, South Africa, and a dedicated French language version – putting my “Tricolore 4B” standard of French to the test! Am an uncle nine times over now following the birth of Jemima to Richard (StB‘98) and Emma in April (see Richard’s entry below), Charlotte to Ed (StB‘91) and Lizzie in March, and Freddie to Julian (StB’89) and Mel in December. I am now living in Fulham and still a regular for Worthians Cricket.

Ben Holloway ’93 Fedoua gave birth to Samuel Francis on 9th April 2010. His sister Amelie is now four and very proud of her baby brother.

James Burt ’98 I married last May and my wife, Ciara, née O'Reilly, is 31 weeks pregnant – so our first baby is due on the 26th June 2010. I have been working at JPMorgan Cazenove for about six years now, as a UK small/mid cap equities broker, and still find myself bumping into the odd Worthian through work; as well as the rest of our lot who stay pretty close. Hope everyone else is well.

Thomas (Tom) McGrath ’96 (news sent via Tom’s father, Tony McGrath (StB’68). In 2009 Tom married his long term girlfriend, Dymphna Clancy, at an open air ceremony on the banks of Lough Derg in Ireland officiated by his cousin Fr Simon Sleeman OSB. They are now living in Brighton. Tom is an economist at the Department of Work and Pensions in London. Dymphna is a primary school teacher at a school in Brighton.

Nicholas Donovan ’93 Happily married to Joanne (Flory) for 12 years in June 2010 and we have three children – Oliver 10, Flynn 7 and Ruby 2. Still living locally in East Grinstead and work in recruitment. Contracted rheumatoid arthritis in 2002 at the age of 27, but it is now under control with the use of lots of drugs! I had to give up rugby but am now running and boxing.

1990s

Ollie Barnett ‘98 Still working for C Hoare & Co in private client wealth management and enjoying the job very much. Keeping fit and have just completed the Marathon des Sables with my brother, Sam (C’97) see article on page 32.

Gareth Maguire ’97 We had a baby boy, Finlay Maguire, on the 19th December 2009. Both Genevieve and Finlay are doing very well. We have moved to Geneva in Switzerland and would love to meet up with other Worthians who are in the Geneva area, so do get in touch! My e-mail address is: maguire.g@pg.com.

Justin Pavry ’91 Still in Washington DC working for part of the World Bank group financing renewable power projects in developing countries. Share the house with my lovely wife and three monkeys – who are 7, 4 and 2. Looking forward to a road trip into the deep south this summer.

Richard Gairdner ’98 My main news is that my wife, Emma, and I had our first child on the 2nd April 2010 – a little girl called Jemima weighing 7lbs 4oz. Also, I’m about to take the third and final stage of my CFA qualification and looking forward to getting my life back after June!

Andrew Barnett ’94 I work as a surgeon in Bristol and am married to Emma (née Houssemayne du Boulay). We have a new arrival, James William, who was born on the 24th April 2010.

Alasdair (Ali Mac) Macdonald ’95 I am living in Malaysia with Beth and our three kids – Angus, Georgie and Milly. I arrived in January on a two-year assignment to grow Accenture’s Consulting practice in the communications industry. We left Scotland under a couple of feet of snow and -18 degrees and arrived in Kuala Lumpur 24 hours later to 34 degrees and 94% humidity! If you’re in KL, do make contact on Tel: +60 3 2282 0785.

Rob Cottrell ’97 I am very much in touch with a number of Worthians – mostly Joe Thompson (R’97), Steve Ebbett (R’97), Dom Clarke (C’97), John Pollen (StB’98) and several others with whom I play Rugby for the Worthians RFC team.

My aim is to complete the Barcelona triathlon with my brother Gooch (R’98).

Marc Wiehe ’88 Married to Xenia (Gooby Goodman) and we are living in Surrey.

Have just had another baby girl called Sasha in November 2009 – a sister to Freddy, Alex and Charlotte...living through the year of the dreaded 40th birthdays...

James Albert ’93 I married a beautiful French lady, Beatrice de Taisne, in 2008 and in 2009 was back at ‘school’ embarking on a masters in Madrid where I found the time to take up the drums again after a seven year break. Now I’m back at home trying to balance my personal life with my job – which involves travelling to remote manufacturing sites advising them how to work more efficiently.

Richard Lynton-Jones ’97 Currently living in Jersey with my wife, Tania, and son Jacob. I am working for Barclays Wealth as a private client relationship manager. We were married last year and have baby number two on the way – due in October.

Nat Holloway ’94 We've been in Auckland for over six years now, and have been building houses all that time. I would love to hear from travelling Worthians.

Family update – we have Oli who is 4, Christie 3 and Benji 1. Kate – slim and attractive; me – uncle to 8 (soon to be 10!) greying, deaf and quite happy.

Looking to build your own sustainable house in New Zealand? Then look no further than www.arhaus.co.nz.

Tom Holloway ’91 I am now working in Canada in charge of safety at the British Army's largest training area – BATUS. Patty and son, Bertie, are now over here as well, and the exciting news is that we are due another baby in August 2010.

Phil Holmes ’97 I joined the Metropolitan Police Force in 2008 and am based at Ealing Borough, London. I am loving my career.

Christian Jamison ’93 I recently got engaged to Victoria Chernaya and Abbot Christopher will be marrying us in London in September of this year.

Alex Kenney ‘97 I am working and living in New York as a management consultant for banks and asset managers.

Nicholas (Nick) Little ’98 I married Helen Harries on the 29th August 2009 at St Donats in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It was a beautiful sunny day, which was further enlightened by the presence of several Worthians, including Mike Eddleston (R’98) who performed admirably as best man.

Nick Lobb ’90 I am currently studying for British Horse Society stage exams.

Dominic Stobart ’90 I am married with two children. Living in New York and working as a TV producer.

Rob Stewart ’99 It seems as though I am well and truly stuck in the RAFs training system now and, after spending two years instructing on the Hawk at RAF Valley, I have been posted to South Africa to fly their brand new jet trainer!

As the Kruger National Park is a ‘weekend-able’ visit from where I am, it’s a great excuse for people to visit!

Matthew (Matt) Wharton ’99 On Monday 3rd May 2010 I married Elaine Smith in Northumberland.

David Wiehe ’90 Married to Sophie de Vitry, living in South London, and expecting our first baby in July 2010. Have just survived Joe Warwick's (R’90) ‘stag weekend’ in Brighton along with Kevin Solan (R’90), Tom Pullen (R’90), Charlie Gerada (R’90) and others...

Patrick Wilkinson ’92 I am working for Northern Trust in Dublin as in-house counsel. Married to Susan with three children – Timmy, Bella and Ruth – and living in Greystones, County Wicklow. Recently resumed playing rugby with Bective Rangers veterans team - my wife is convinced I've started my mid-life crisis early; although I've no plans to buy a sports car any time soon.

2000s Hugo Boys ’03 I remain in the insurance world, working for Jardine Lloyd Thompson, in the offshore energy sector. Two and a bit years have flown by and it seems like only yesterday I was enjoying extended holidays while at Oxford Brookes! I continue to be a very keen skier, getting to the likes of Chamonix whenever possible. The quieter time of the year allows me to enjoy my other passion – fishing with my father and friends on the chalk streams of Wiltshire.

Fred Bradley ‘04 Having graduated from Portsmouth University, I am working in the radio industry – at Heart 106.2 in the prestigious location of Leicester Square! I am a runner and assistant producer for the Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott breakfast show. I also work (currently for free) at Mercury FM (that local station close to Worth!), as an assistant station producer, while learning the ropes. I am a devoted member of the Student Radio Association, (despite not being a student anymore!), where last year I was southeast regional officer and this year I have been elected as network chart officer, producing a nationally syndicated chart show around the country. Outside the radio industry (hold on this could be difficult!), I'm living on the cheap in London – not quite homeless – and also when I have time I am doing some freelance web development work. Would love to hear from fellow Worthians – my e-mail address is hello@fredbradley.co.uk.

Jamie Bruce ’04 After a great gap year in Fiji and fulfilling various sports business internships, I didn't enjoy my first year in Sports PR. I left in 2009 to go for the Royal Marines Commandos. At the time of writing I am trying to recover from a knee injury suffered during selection for the 2010 officer batch. Have loved playing Worthians Rugby and being given the chance to meet and keep in touch with so many chaps.

Tom Carew Hunt ’02 Having completed my two years on the TeachFirst programme, I am continuing my teaching career and spreading my focus between RE, Theology and Psychology. My friends never seem to tire of hearing about my experiences in a Croydon comprehensive – and I will take many memories with me when I leave: the laptop-hurling 12-year-old in my first class;

trying to ‘sell’ Latin to my Year 7 tutees; the gun in my final observation... It’s hard to pick one that stands out! Seriously though, it has been a fascinating journey and I look forward to hearing about the great successes of my pupils in the future!

Chris Coxall ’02 I made the big step of moving out to Los Angeles at the start of the year and am working for a PR firm in Hollywood – a far cry from Turners Hill!

Will happily meet any California-based Worthians for a beer...!

Adam Fudakowski ’02 Getting married in August 2010 to Katie Tween. Have just founded a company called NanoClave Technologies making sterilisation equipment for hospitals.

Tom Hammond-Davies ’03 Having graduated from Oxford, I have taken on a masters at the Birmingham Conservatoire as a conductor. I still work in Oxford and joined the choir of Magdalen College as a countertenor last Autumn. I’m also continuing my work as director of music at the City Church of Oxford, choral director of the Blenheim Singers (professional chamber choir resident at Blenheim Palace) and resident pianist at The Randolph Hotel.

James Heywood ’00 I completed my PhD from Cambridge University in March 2009 and graduated in July 2009 bringing to an end an 81/2 year long stint at Cambridge University and, even more disappointingly, an end to an unbroken run of six cricket Blues. I am recently married to Alice. The ceremony was held at Pembroke College, Cambridge on the 10th April 2010 and was attended by four Worthians. I am currently applying for Post-Doctoral research jobs and struggling.

Tom Holt ’00 I am thrilled to announce my engagement to Sophie Hall – our wedding is planned for the 18th December 2010.

Christopher Lamb ‘01 The Abbot married myself and Isabel in 2008 and we have just celebrated the 1st birthday of our first child, Joseph. I am working at “The Tablet”.

Owen Lean ’01 I have just finished my new two man show “M For Magic” in London and have recently been cast in the comedy web series “I Am Tim” which can be found at www.iamtim.tk. And you can find me online at www.roadmage.com.

James Longman ’05 I’m finishing a four-year degree in Arabic at SOAS in London and am preparing for an MA at LSE in comparative politics and international relations from September. I've been involved in the campaign for my local Lib Dem parliamentary candidate and am looking to start working in political consultancy when I (finally!) finish studying.

James Madsen ’02 After three years in London doing Financial PR, I moved to Dubai in February to take up an overseas position with the same company. I now live on the Palm Jumeirah and life has certainly changed – with a view of the beach, delightful weather and a relentless night life, things could definitely be worse! Currently recovering from a knee injury, but hoping to get back into playing rugby within the next six months for one of the local sides here – although I'm greatly missing all the Worthians Rugby boys back in London, whom I look forward to meeting for a few jars in July!

Matthew Maguire ’02 On leaving Worth I studied geography at the University of Edinburgh. After a year at Sandhurst, I commissioned into the Intelligence Corps and was immediately deployed to Iraq to assist the Queen’s Royal Hussars in their mission to support the development of Iraq’s principle port. Since the withdrawal of British forces from Iraq, I have returned to serve with the regiment in Germany Tom McConnell ’05 Now working for Coutts in London. Keen to hear from fellow Worthians in the area.

Henry Morgan ’04 I started with the Royal Marines on the 31st August 2009, having graduated with a degree in Chinese from Edinburgh University in July 2009. I look forward to 15 months of training ahead, but couldn’t be more excited!

Oliver (Oli) Mulcahy ’05 Currently finishing MEng at Warwick University (all things being equal!) having enjoyed recent success winning the RoboCup Rescue competition in Germany as part of my course. Planning to take another ‘gap’ after Uni before, hopefully, joining the Royal Navy as an engineering officer.

Sean Rebecchi ’05 I joined Pragma Consulting, a strategic consultancy in March 2010, and am nearing the end of my masters in business psychology.

Hugo Sanders ’00 I got engaged in September 2009 and am due to be married in September 2010. The lucky girl (!) is Milly Broadbent.

Guy Shepherd ’05 I left University after a year to pursue a career in the British Army. I am starting at Sandhurst in January 2010 and hope to get a commission in the Gurkhas.

Philippe Thoemmes ’08 (news sent via Philippe’s mother). Philippe spent part of his gap year volunteering for an NGO – an organisation caring for street children in Mexico. During the spring and summer of 2009 he took up two internships in Munich, working for two months with BMW and three months with Rhode and Schwarz, a manufacturer of electronic test and measurement equipment. Having been offered places at all the universities he applied for, Philippe started a bachelor course in economics and engineering at Karlsruhe University in Germany in October 2009.

James Thorp ’01 I have started working as a freelance producer for Match of the Day and the Football League Show. Loving it!

Charlie Vaughan-Fowler ’02 I have been on a graduate programme called Darley Flying Start, in the horse-racing industry, that has taken me to Kentucky, Australia, Ireland and Dubai over the last two years, learning about the breeding and racing of thoroughbred horses in those places. Back to the UK in July to get a real job!

Peter Vere ’00 I was called to the Bar of the Cayman Islands in August 2009 and am now a full time Attorney doing corporate and commercial work in the Cayman Islands.

Hugh Lynch ’95 I am managing environmental brokerage at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe.

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

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News in Brief

News in Brief

Gaye (née Robertson) Wilmot ’88 I celebrated 10 years of married bliss and turned 40 last summer! Still teaching and living in Leeds with Bob and our daughter Billie. I am preparing to say goodbye to my own class - the class of 2010 - my tutor group, who I like to think I’ve nurtured through their school life.

I’m not sure they would agree but can’t wait to see them in action at “The Prom”!

Looking forward to what 2010 brings – changes seem to come every five years for me so, who knows?

real estate department of the firm’s recently established UAE office. We moved to the region in August 2009, following our marriage in July. We are both enjoying the change of scene immensely, and Angela is working for the law firm, Lawrence Graham in Dubai. I am also playing rugby for the Abu Dhabi Harlequins – and still keenly follow the progress of Worthians RFC in Surrey!

Mike Robinson 20/06/1941 to 02/08/2009

M

Obituary

ike came to teach at Worth in 1968 when the senior school was still in its infancy. He was a physics graduate from Oxford, where he had stayed on to do research and gain his D.Phil. He then went to work for RCA in Zurich for a short time, before deciding that he would like to be a schoolteacher (his time in Switzerland gave him particular expertise in the art of cheese fondue making which later greatly impressed some lucky pupils who sampled it at his house!).

After Ambrose Bristow’s inspiration, Mike (pictured above) became a considerable influence in the Royal Horticultural Society. He wrote and lectured for them and became chairman of the RHS Rhododendron and Camellia Committee.

Teaching was certainly the right decision – he quickly became a thoroughly professional schoolmaster who was well liked and respected by his pupils. He had the gift of explaining complicated ideas in simple ways and, whenever possible, used practical examples and demonstrations to bring topics to life – ex-pupils will remember his gyro demonstration which involved standing on a pivoted platform clutching a spinning bicycle wheel with a lead piping tyre! – an experience not lightly forgotten.

Everything was planned with great care and his marking was an example to us all. He would frequently sit with each individual to go through their prep and take a personal interest in getting their work up to a higher standard.

As Tony Tyler (C’73) said, “We were very fortunate indeed to have ‘Doc Rob’ as our teacher – he was an exceptional teacher. Unlike many others, he never had any disciplinary issues in his classroom or lab: I think this was partly because he made what he was saying or demonstrating sufficiently interesting for everyone to want to follow it; but also because he never talked down to pupils of any age. He treated us all as mature individuals who had come to learn”.

‘Doc Rob’, pictured right, in the optics lab at Worth with John Wild (C’70). The photo was taken by Humphrey Berridge who used the same lab for making large quantities of home-made beer!

His love of practical experiments was perhaps linked to his love of using his hands. In those days we made much of the equipment ourselves, and Mike decided that it would be good to demonstrate mechanical principles using a friction-free linear air track. A long square-section metal tube was purchased, and Mike patiently drilled thousands of tiny holes along its length – a feat which took him over a week. Of course it worked brilliantly, powered by a salvaged vacuum cleaner which certainly would not have passed modern health and safety inspections! Isaac Newton would have been thoroughly impressed.

We managed to persuade the bursar to allow us to buy a laser – rare equipment in schools back then – and the teaching of optics was revolutionised. This was not enough for Mike; he wanted to make a hologram (a new word in the 1960s). Typically, he researched the project in great detail (without the benefit of the internet). Making the components gave him a good excuse to use the Myford precision lathe in the workshop, and an anti-vibration

58 I

table was constructed using sheets of marble – recycled from Lady Cowdray’s bathrooms – interleaved with old judo mats from Andrew Bertie. All this was assembled in the attic above the art room, shared with the model railway club (another of his passions). It took a lot of patience to get the set-up exactly right, with a toy car at its centre, but Mike’s efforts were rewarded, and Worth became the first school in England to produce a hologram.

A great believer in providing intellectual stimuli, Mike founded a Science Society which not only had erudite talks on “The Origins of the Universe”, but also provided wine tasting sessions where he invited all to sample four wines – from plonk to Premier Cru. Having given a most knowledgeable description beforehand, absolutely no opportunity was provided for spitting the wines out because he considered that a terrible waste. Later he became a careers advisor, and spotted the potential (when computers became common in schools) to digitise the ISCO tests. He spent much time working on this, and must have significantly reduced the man-hours spent on analysing results at schools across the country.

He remained at Worth for 19 years before moving on to become head of physics and head of science at Ardingly College – just a few miles down the road from Worth. Here he continued his successful career; working hard to raise educational standards and to challenge and enthuse his pupils, before retiring in 2001.

While at Ardingly College, Mike kept in contact with friends at Worth, especially the enthusiastic plants man, Ambrose Bristow (whose Obituary Mike wrote in the 08/09 issue of The Blue Paper).

Ambrose was a horticultural genius, who took Mike to the Valley Gardens at Windsor to see the rhododendrons and camellias in spring. Mike was hooked – and spent the rest of his life searching for different varieties across the world and growing new ones from seed (“one of the most civilised pastimes of all”). He gathered an impressive collection in his garden in Ashdown Forest and became a considerable influence in the Royal Horticultural Society for whom he wrote and lectured; culminating in his role as chairman of the RHS Rhododendron and Camellia Committee. He cowrote an impressive tome, “Pocket Guide to Rhododendron Species” in which he is described as “one of the world’s foremost experts on the genus“. Thankfully, the final published version was delivered to him the day before he died.

Worthians could do no better in remembering these two remarkable teachers, than purchasing one of Mike’s cultivars when it becomes available in a few years time. It is called Rhododendron ‘Ambrose Bristow’ and has an RHS Award of Merit.

At his memorial service, Mike was described as a polymath.

This should not be taken as an indication of an ability to recall vast numbers of trivial facts suitable for a pub quiz.

Mike was definitely an ‘in depth’ person – everything he did was done thoughtfully, meticulously, passionately and to very best of his considerable abilities. He was a scholar and a person of great humanity.

His unexpected and untimely death was a great shock, and he is greatly missed by his family and friends.

Humphrey Berridge (former member of staff)

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

T

his past year has been one of great success for Worth, and there is a tremendous amount to celebrate. In September 2010, the school will be the largest it has ever been with 535 pupils. Girls will join us for the first time in Years 7 & 9, and the number joining has exceeded our expectations. Our staff numbers are increasing to meet the growing demands of an expanding and vibrant school. The range of curricular subjects and extra curricular activities are expanding; the facilities of the school are being upgraded continuously and the spirit of the school community remains buoyant and keen to be challenged further.

My optimism for this year and the foreseeable future is a reflection of the realities that Worth enjoys and the product of hard work, careful planning and the effective use of resources. It is also the reward that comes from having committed governors, monks, teachers, support staff, pupils and parents.

Much of our success is owed to the considerable efforts of our staff - whom I thank and congratulate. I would especially like to record my thanks to those colleagues who will be leaving Worth at the end of this academic year; Mr Knowles, who will be retiring after 37 magnificent years of service to this school, a service founded on grace, dedication and true schoolmasterly professionalism. He has led and championed the cause of modern foreign languages and many of our pupils and Worthians owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude. Mrs Childs who, for the past 27 years has loyally worked alongside Mr Knowles, will be retiring at the end of the year; Mr Smith who, after 11 outstanding years of service, is leaving to become Director of Studies at Haileybury School. On behalf of the entire school community, I thank those who are leaving us for their efforts, and wish them every success for the future.

Our success is the story of a community working together on the key values that make Worth not only a centre of high achievement, but a place where each individual can flourish in mind, body and spirit.

This success was reflected in the celebrations surrounding our Worth 50 anniversary; the aim of which was to focus on aspects that reflect our key Benedictine values and our sense of community. Consequently, in September we held a reunion of the original cohort of 1959 pupils that began the transition from prep school to senior school. These boys, who are approaching their 70th birthdays, together with their original housemaster, our very own Fr Kevin, kicked off our celebrations in true Worth style – made all the more memorable by the generosity of one Worthian who supplied the reunion lunch with an exquisite 1959 claret. This was followed in October, by a further reunion of former staff who spanned the generations of this school.

In November 2009, Worth School was delighted to organise and take part in a memorable concert at Westminster Central Hall, along with Downside, Ampleforth and St Benedict’s Ealing. The concert not only enabled each school to showcase tremendous musical ability but, for the first time, brought together the communities of the four English Benedictine schools in a public display of shared tradition.

We have also published the Worth School Prayer and Hymn Book which has helped to further dignify Thursday Worship.

An icon of St Benedict was commissioned from the artist Sylvia Potter. It hangs in the reception area of the school, where its brilliance and warmth welcomes all our visitors as they enter the main building. In addition, the St Benedict’s Scholarship scheme, designed to support pupils in gaining entry to the school in Year 7 and the Sixth Form, was instituted at the start of the academic year.

As part of Worth 50, the school community was challenged to do something active and positive to help others less

Message from the Headmaster fortunate than themselves. Each house was given the target to raise a minimum of £500 for a charity of their choice, and the running total raised so far is £8,760. In addition to this money raised by the houses, other charitable donations raised so far this year amount to in excess of £7000 for a variety of charities including £1000 raised in a single week in response to the Haiti earthquake. In total, the school is well on target to raise some £20,000 for charity, thereby helping a great many good causes and giving tangible meaning to many of the values we hold dear.

In addition to our anniversary celebrations, the year started very well with excellent academic results. At GCSE all pupils gained a minimum of five or more GCSEs at grades A* - C, with 56% of all grades at A* - A grade. The Year 13 Leavers secured a 99% pass rate with 74% of all grades achieving grades A or B. The IB leavers once again performed especially well, securing a 100% pass rate with an average of 35 points (compared to the world average of 28 points) thus putting Worth School in the top 15 IB schools in the UK once again. This year sees a national picture where over 150,000 school leavers have been unable to obtain a university offer for the forthcoming year – yet within this very tough and difficult climate 98% of our Year 13 pupils have secured offers from their two preferred choices and six places have been awarded at either Oxford or Cambridge, including two to former pupils.

As well as high levels of success in academic endeavours, the school has once again had a rich and productive year in many other aspects of life.

For the first time the school entered pupils for Lambda examinations in Speech and Drama and all 15 entries obtained a variety of awards, the vast majority with either Merit or Distinction. In Music, pupils continue to be awarded an avalanche of grades with either Distinction or Merit including 8 awards at Grade 8 and one of our musicians, a gifted cellist, has been invited to attend the Junior Royal College of Music. In the National Mathematics Challenge 20 pupils achieved Gold, 28 Silver and 15 Bronze. Two of the Gold recipients qualified for the Mathematics Olympiad, with one being awarded a Distinction. In the Middle School Biology Challenge, pupils also fared well, achieving eight awards at Gold, Silver and Bronze and five highly commended.

The Music department once again excelled itself in the Whisps Concert, performed in partnership with four local maintained schools. The department organised a highly successful choir tour to North Carolina in December. They produced a deeply moving Sequence of Words and Music for Lent, an uplifting Candlelit Christmas Carol Concert, a Remembrance Day Requiem and a multitude of small chamber concerts during the course of the year.

The Drama department has been extremely busy and has pushed the boundaries of achievement and ambition to new heights. This was especially obvious in the very demanding and yet brilliantly engaging production of Bulgakov’s “The

I 59

Master and Margarita”; while our junior actors should be congratulated on their world premiere performance of “Hamalot” performed with great energy and good comic timing.

In the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, 25 pupils have completed the Bronze Award, 27 Silver and 19 Gold.

Congratulations to them and to the 110 pupils who have taken part in Community and Voluntary Service work this year in a variety of activities which include working with disabled children, the homeless and local primary schools.

Anne and Gino Carminati

In sport, the school continues to offer a wide range of opportunities for competition and the development of physical talents. The Rugby season delivered a mixed set of results but it was pleasing to see an improvement in the number of matches won overall, and four of our players were selected to represent the County. I am also delighted to report that the school has appointed a Rugby Development Officer with effect from September. In football, the teams had little opportunity to play competitively against other schools given the horrendous conditions produced by deep snow, frost, and heavy rain. Nevertheless, solid victories were achieved in the matches played and it is good to see that our links with coaches from Chelsea Football Club are bearing fruit. In Cricket, the school is having a very good season with some notable wins – and particular congratulations to five of our cricketers who have been selected to play for the County. The Hockey season was very successful with the majority of matches won and in Netball the girls showed great spirit and camaraderie. The Year 9 five-a-side football team became champions by winning the Phoenix Cup and in Basketball, the school once again won the Sussex Independent Schools’ League. We continue to perform at a high level in Fencing, winning the vast majority of the inter school matches and two of our fencers have also qualified for the National Championships. And, for the first time, the school has set up a horse riding team to compete in equestrian competitions – and I hope to see this area of sport expand.

Other notable events for the year include a very successful trip to Peru with staff and pupils working with our link school in Tarma; our Geographers completed an exhausting and awe-inspiring trip to Iceland where they examined the coastline, glaciers and less active volcanoes; and pupils enjoyed a very successful ski trip to Canada. The Chaplaincy once again organised days of reflection, the Kintbury Retreat and several pupils have spent time in the monastery experiencing religious life; while the girls shared a retreat with the Poor Clares at their convent in Arundel. I am also delighted to report that 47 pupils of the school have been confirmed during the year and 4 baptised.

As for the future, it has already been reported that the school is in robust good health and is able to plan, with confidence, its continued development towards being a co-educational school of 600 pupils.

This year we have seen the completion of St Mary’s House and the establishment of St Anne’s, the girls’ day house as part of the £12.5 million investment plan for Worth over the next five years. In September 2010 we will see the opening of the new Social Centre – immediately behind the Clock Tower – a modern facility where everyone can socialise and enjoy comfortable surroundings. This facility will be called “The Pit Stop” in memory of Henry Surtees, a wonderful young man and a highly gifted racing car driver and pupil of this school whose life was so tragically cut short last summer.

As a result of the Abbey’s closure from the end of June until Christmas, the school will be making alternative arrangements to sustain our joint services with the monastic

60 I

community and to provide appropriate opportunities for prayer and worship. We look forward to reassembling in January 2011 in the newly refurbished Abbey Church, which is so central to our existence as a school community and which will inspire us still further in our religious and spiritual life.

An exciting sequence of further developments has been agreed that will add significantly to the school’s existing facilities and infrastructure over the next five years. A planning application is to be submitted for the construction of a new boys’ boarding house to be built in the area adjacent to the Alex Leaney Memorial Garden. This house will be the new St Bede’s to be occupied in September 2012, while the current St Bedes will be refurbished to provide additional teaching rooms, common rooms and study accommodation for day pupils.

Two additional laboratories will also be created adjacent to the existing Science Department, and an extension to the Sports Hall will be constructed to provide additional changing room facilities and a fitness training suite. Old Rutherford will be demolished and in its place the existing teaching block will be extended to house up to twelve classrooms, departmental offices, an extension to the Staff Common Room and washroom facilities. The remaining area of ground currently occupied by Old Rutherford, will be landscaped to create an open vista across the central aspect of the campus thus adding to the sense of space and beauty that we already enjoy. The Art department has already expanded into the old Design Technology area and will continue to develop the design elements of its curriculum. The school will continue to invest appropriately in the expansion of its IT infrastructure and this summer holiday will see the refurbishment of the School Library.

Such an extensive and exciting programme of developments over the next five years, will enrich every Worth pupil’s experience and will establish the material resources to construct our future.

In addition to this impressive list of budgeted developments there are two other planned – but not yet budgeted – elements, namely a floodlit Astroturf and a swimming pool.

These items are important to the future development of the school, but our ability to complete them quickly is dependent on donations from outside our regular income stream. We are currently seeking sponsors and donors and have made a positive start towards raising the half million needed for the Astroturf and the £1.2 million needed for the swimming pool.

Within this period of change, Worth remains focussed on the primary reason for its existence namely to be, as St Benedict wrote, “A School for the Lord’s service in which the strong will have ideals to inspire them and the weak may not be frightened away by excessive demands”. To help us in this, we remain a community whose life is based on the living out of our Benedictine tradition. However, the spiritual and reflective manner of our being, does not prevent us from being ambitious and assertive in our desire to achieve the very best.

I thank everyone who has contributed to our progress and success. I especially wish to thank the current Year 13 pupils for embracing and supporting the transition to co-education and for enabling us to achieve a level of success that has exceeded all expectations. I ask that everyone continues to support this magnificent school in its continued development and in its aspiration to attain true and worthwhile greatness.

Gino Carminati, Headmaster May 2010

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

Summoned by Belles

T

hree cheers for reincarnation! Having worn several hats during my time in the school – teacher, housemaster, headmaster – I now find myself happily reinvented as chaplain to St Mary’s, the girls’ house at Worth.

I donned this new hat in September 2008, when 32 year 12 (LVI) girls arrived to lend enchantment to the Worth view.

At the time I was, and still am, doing a fullish-time job for the Bishop; liaising on his behalf with all the Religious Orders in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton; most of these Orders are female and most members of these Orders are elderly. So, I am now in contact with both ends of a delightful spectrum – chatting one moment to an 80-yearold Sister and, perhaps later the same day, to a 17-year-old St Mary’s girl. How fascinating is that? The original cohort of 32 girls was augmented in September 2009 by an intake of a further 29 chapesses, so I live and move and have my chaplain’s being surrounded by 61 young ladies.

Being a chaplain is very different from being a housemaster – I’m not part of the disciplinary structure, nor am I ‘in charge’ of the girls (what male was ever in charge of women?); my role is to give spiritual input, to support the housemistress and to be of help to the girls when required.

‘Spiritual input’ means celebrating house masses and leading house prayers, but also includes such para-liturgical activities as reading the boarders a Pooh bedtime-story, followed by ‘a little something’, e.g. hot chocolate. It’s important that liturgy and life go together. Supporting the housemistress, being Robin to her Batman, is a great pleasure; in case you didn’t know, she is Mrs Caroline Brown, née Willet, sister of Worthian Tom Willet (G’85).

Caroline and her husband, Stephen, who are parents of two 20-something daughters, live in what readers of The Blue Paper will remember as Austin House – bachelor-pad of such legends in their lifetime as Russell Coleburt and John Stanton. The St Mary’s girls live alongside what used to be the lay community building; now extensively madeover, mod-conned and greatly extended. At the time of writing, all the girls are sixth formers, half of them are boarders. But, in September 2010 there will be a Year 7 and Year 9 intake (ages 11 and 13 in pre-metric language), at which point the day-girls will form a new day-house, called St Anne’s, with its own housemistress, Mrs Julia Cook. In the fullness of time, Worth will have 140 girls out of a total student body of 600 pupils.

As might be expected, the girls are certainly making their mark in every area of school life. Alongside the head boy there is now a head girl; the first of this new line being Jessica Coffin, daughter of Worthian Christopher (G’73).

She and two other St Mary’s students, Charlotte Hart and Anna Webb, were offered Oxbridge places after four terms at Worth; so the girls have clearly arrived academically.

They have also, and rapidly, become a huge asset to the school’s music and drama departments – gone are the days when we had to import young ladies from Mayfield, Woldingham, etc. We are now blessed with a galaxy of home-grown talent.

Impressions from the touchline: the girls have settled in excellently and are definitely, in ‘1066 and all that’ language, a good thing.

27 years on from housemastering in St Bede’s, I am struck by a number of contrasts. The acoustics in a girls’ house are very different: more volume, different pitch and frequent shrieks of delight; especially at the beginning of term when the girls may have not seen each other for the eternity that is three weeks. Another difference – the ‘pamper evenings’ when a visiting beautician comes in to give the girls the full cosmetic Monty with potions, creams, leg-waxing, etc; sorry, chaps, there’s no prospect of equal opportunities with this one – you’ll have to stick to rugby boots and mouth-guards!

And girls are emotionally far more demonstrative. When I went on a three-day trip to Italy, I was amazed to find myself on the receiving end of multiple emails from the girls; wishing me a safe trip, a lovely time and come back soon. And, on my birthday, they presented me with a folder containing a tsunami of lovely messages, photos, drawings, and poems. I was amazed. Blokes, being blokes, express themselves differently, or not at all, and, as the emperor in ‘Amadeus’ was wont to say, “there it is” but it’s very chuffing to receive such billets doux; having attended single-sex schools, a single-sex (as near as dammit) university and, for the last 49 years, a single-sex monastery it is pleasant, to say the least, to be in pastoral contact with such extremely kind representatives of 51% of the human race.

Fr Stephen with some of the Year 13 girls from St Mary’s house: from left to right: Chloe Noakes, Sophia Knight, Dani Jeyes, Charlotte Perry, Fr Stephen, Anna Webb, Laura Hurley, Zarah Manning, Jess Coffin (head girl), Louisa McCarthy, Olivia BarclayHudson, Katie Jones, Natasha Plummer, Celia Young

The acoustics in a girls’ house are very different; more volume, different pitch and frequent shrieks of delight

When I began this job in 2008, a parent said: ‘from Abbot to chaplain – what a comedown!’ I disagree. Having had the honour of serving 26 monks, I now have the honour of serving 61 young ladies; this is not demotion, I suggest, but another proof of the existence of God. By the time this edition of The Blue Paper appears, the current Year 13 girls will be Worthians. To them, and to all St Mary’s girls, I want to say: thank you for the enormous pleasure of your company. Being chaplain to St Mary’s is a wonderful privilege for which I am hugely grateful.

Father Stephen Ortiger January 2010

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Worthians—The Second Generation: April 2010

Completing Worth Abbey Church

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monastery church is at the very centre of a monastic community’s daily life. That is especially true in the case of Worth Abbey, where the church is a pivotal link between the monastic community and the thousands of people served by the monks. The experience of prayer lies at the heart of Worth; offering a profound relationship with God in Christ, centred upon the Eucharist celebrated each day in the Abbey Church. There is no more important building at Worth than this. That is why the completion of the Abbey Church is our fist priority.

result will be a harmonious interior that invites people to personal and liturgical prayer, with solid fittings that will endure over the long term. The project comprises:

The foundation stone of the Abbey Church was laid in 1968, and the building was consecrated in 1975 while still an incomplete structure. The narthex, sacristies and other facilities were added later. But, 40 years after the laying of the foundation stone, the church interior remains unfinished.

This comes as a surprise to many people familiar with the church. A careful look, however, reveals that many concrete surfaces are substandard, the lighting system is minimal with heat stains now visible, the sound system is weak, the chairs were thrown out from other churches and moved to Worth temporarily but were never replaced.

There are still no choir stalls for the monks and no furniture such as the ambo for the proclamation of the Word of God. The past cutting of corners has now caught up with us – and we have an interior unworthy of the beauty of the church structure.

Expand car parking and improve the entrance from main road

Thomas Heatherwick has devised an interior design that enhances the Church’s structure, deals definitively with all the missing elements and remedies the defects. The

Church interior: (cleaning of concrete, new sound and light systems, alterations to choir area, renew confessionals, renew balcony, ambo) £1,000,000 Furniture: new congregational pews and monastic choir stalls

TOTAL

£500,000 £500,000

Christian Name

Current Year

House

Pupil Surname

Christian Name

Current Year

House

(house, year left)

Clyde-Smith

Benjamin

12

Coffin

Jessica

13

Elwes

Jasper

Marcos

Father’s name

Father’s name

St Bedes

Julian (G'68)

Neville Smith

William

12

St Bedes

David (prep school)

St Marys

Christopher (G'73)

Noel-Hill

Michael

12

St Bedes

Steve (StB'74)

9

Rutherford

Benedict (G'81)

Owers

Samuel

10

Butler

Paul (G'81)

Ferdinand

11

Rutherford

Ferdinand (R'74)

Pickard

James

10

St Bedes

Simon (StB'78)

Marcos

Joseph-Simon

9

Rutherford

Ferdinand (R'74)

Pickard

Rory

12

St Bedes

Simon (StB'78)

Marcos

Vincent

8

Rutherford

Ferdinand (R'74)

Spencer

Piers

9

Butler

Peter (G'78) RIP

Metcalf

James

11

Rutherford

Nicholas (R'75)

Wheeler

Ruan

9

Rutherford

James (C'68)

Neville Smith

Alexander

13

Gervase

David (prep school)

Whelpton

Harry

12

Rutherford

Charles (B'74)

(house, year left)

Children of Worthians Registered to Join Worth: April 2010 Pupil Surname

Christian Name

Barnett

Emily

Bayles

Sebastian

Birrell

George

Dring

Proposed start date

Year group

Father’s name (house, year left)

Pupil Surname

Christian Name

2011

7

Nicholas (G'73)

Morrissey

William

2017

9

Simon (B'90)

Morrissey

Frederick

2011

9

Mark (G'77)

Owers

Guy

Francis

2010

12

Dominic (G'80)

Pickard

Elwes

Samuel

2010

9

Benedict (G'81)

Elwes

Barnaby

2012

9

Harries

William

2010

Harries

Toby

2012

McDermott

Robert

2011

9

Stephen (B'88)

Proposed start date

Year group

(house, year left)

Father’s name

2012

9

Patrick (R'84)

2015

9

Patrick (R'84)

2010

9

Paul (G'81)

George

2010

9

Gregory (StB'81)

Quigley

Alexander

2014

9

Donal (R'81)

Benedict (G'81)

Shanahan

John

2013

9

John (G'70)

9

David (G'80)

Sharpe

Frederick

2011

9

Jonathan (B'84)

9

David (G'80)

Woolgar

Edward

2012

12

Dermot (G'83)

£2,000.000

The total, amounting to £2 million, is being funded by donations and, in addition, the Abbey maintenance budget will fund external roof repairs and new window frames. We have already received pledges of nearly £1.2 million and are hoping to secure a further £300,000 by the end of June 2010.

Worthians—University Places Gained Autumn 2009 Name

Course

University

Name

Course

University

Samel Aboitiz

Maths & Economics

University of Virginia (UVA)

Jaron Leung

Nottingham

Chris Adlam

Sports Exercise Science

Oxford Brookes

Electrical Engineering with Management Studies

Jake Ambridge

Veterinary Medicine

Royal Veterinary College

Thomas Ludicke

Economics

St Gallen

We would be delighted to hear from any Worthian who might like to contribute towards the funding of this project.

Please do feel free to contact the development office at Worth by phoning 01342-710274 or e-mailing jgriggs@worth.org.uk. Donations will enable work on the interior to begin and be substantially complete by Christmas 2010.

Felix Barber

Philosophy & Theology

Leeds

Robbie Maffei

History

University of Wales, Lampeter

Economics & Business

University College London

Abbot Christopher Jamison May 2010

A House Called Paddockhurst

D

om Ian Condon has written a brief and fascinating history of the beautiful manor house that forms part of Worth School – once owned by an enterprising builder, a pioneering inventor and a Peer of the Realm. The booklet, “A House Called Paddockhurst”, reveals the architectural development and gives an insight into the remarkable residents of the building.

and Abbey buildings so interesting.

The house was sold to Worth Abbey by the Cowdray family in 1933 along with the surrounding farm buildings, workshops and cottages. It was here that Abbot John Chapman of Downside Abbey, Somerset, decided to set up the Junior School that was to become Worth Senior School in 1959.

The 24-page booklet is published by Worth School (ISBN 978-0-9565229-0-0) and is available from the Abbey bookshop @ £2.00 per copy.

Fr Ian has dedicated himself to uncovering the history of the site and, in particular, the architectural flourishes that make the Worth School

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Pupil Surname

Worth Society Life

Life and Times of Worth Old Boys

The Old Place

Laurence Bartleet

Classics

Durham

Daniele Manzi

Patrick Bernard

English

St Andrews

James Minch

History

Bristol

Thomas Bisgood

Philosophy & Political Economics

Exeter

Samuel Nurse

Police & Criminal Investigation

University of Central Lancashire

Joseph Bradley

Economics & Politics

Durham

Sebastian Ottersbach

Politics

Royal Holloway

Web Design

Kent

Charles Bridge

Natural Sciences

Cambridge

James Padolsey

Jeroen Bromilow

Spanish & Arabic

Exeter

Win Pongpiriy

Economics

Bristol

Sam Buckley

Geography

Royal Agricultural College

Geoffrey Price

Physics

Liverpool

Business Management

Exeter

Elliot Byrne

Art & Design

Leeds Art College

Nathanial Rankin

George Calvert

Chemistry

Imperial

Chris Rayment

Surveying

University of West England

Benedict Cardozo

Mechanical Engineering

Imperial

Dominic Rollo-Walker

Accounting & Finance

Nottingham

Eduardo Collar

History & Economic History University of Madrid

Lorenz Rubner

European Law

Exeter

Tom Cruz

International Business Management

Northumbria

Rory Ryan

Mechanical Engineering

Leeds

Giles Sacarello

Sports Science

Oxford Brookes

Martin Danagher-Smith

History

Royal Holloway

Felix Sainsbury-Martinez

Natural Sciences

Exeter

William Desmond

Real Estate

Reading

Fabian Schiedat

Medicine

Cologne

Jack Dickerson

Philosophy

Southampton

James Shepherd

Maths & Economics

Reading

Jack Featherby

Physics

Durham

Patrick Slevin

Russian

St Andrews

Alexander Fey

Economics

St. Gallen

James Smith

Music Production

Leeds College of Music

Niall Flynn

Economics

Durham

Toby Smith

Agriculture

Nottingham

Andrew Furness

Sports & Exercise Science

Swansea

Andrew Talty

Business Management

Bath Spa

Harry Glaisher

Popular & World Music

Leeds

Sebastian Tenberge

Business Administration

Cologne

Fergus Grady

History

Bristol

Jasper Tilmann

International Relations

London School of Economics

Charles Hepburn

Divinity

Aberdeen

Nicholas Travers

Medicine

Sheffield

Guillermo Heuze

Architecture

University of South Carolina

Tom Ward

Theology

Birmingham

Eduard Iaboni

French & Spanish

Manchester

Edward Watson

History & Philosophy

Exeter

Osaro Idemudia

Law

Gloucestershire

Ben Wright

Ancient History

Manchester

Simon Jukes

International Economics

Brunel

Oliver Wright

Film & Theatre

Reading

Laurence Kalthoff

Medicine

Cologne

Tom Wright

French

Exeter

Thomas Keefe

Natural Sciences

Durham

Martin Yeung

Biomedical Sciences

Keele

Alex Lau

Electric & Communication Engineering

Kent

Wendelin Von Rittberg

Politics, Philosophy & Economics

Durham

James Leaver

English

St Andrews

Please note these details were correct at time of going to press

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Bid for a complimentary three course dinner for four

The Bleeding Heart and The Don restaurants have generously agreed to support the Worth Society by auctioning a complimentary three course dinner with a glass of champagne as apperitif followed by Trinity Hill wines, for four people, on a date to be agreed with either restaurant.

This generous offer by two of London’s leading restaurants is available to Worthians by auction.

Please e-mail your bid to worthsociety@worth.org.uk by 14 September 2010.

The successful bidder will be notified as soon as possible after the auction date.

The Bleeding Heart Restaurant Bleeding Heart Yard EC1N 8SJ www.bleedingheart.co.uk The Don The Courtyard, 20 St Swinthins Lane EC4N 8AD www.thedonrestaurant.com

The

blue paper Magazine 2009/10

Charles Hooper in BBC2’s Mastercrafts with Monty Don

Worth Society Life

A business networking phenomenon 1959 Founder Members reunion Life and Times of Worthians

Seven days of torture for the Barnetts An audience with Sir David Bell The Old Place

Completing Worth Abbey Church Fr Stephen’s chaplaincy to the girls’ house

The

blue paper Magazine 2009/10

Charles Hooper in BBC2’s Mastercrafts with Monty Don Worth Society Life

A business networking phenomenon 1959 Founder Members reunion Life and Times of Worthians

Seven days of torture for the Barnetts An audience with Sir David Bell The Old Place

Completing Worth Abbey Church Fr Stephen’s chaplaincy to the girls’ house

Jubilarians In August 2009, Father Bede and Father Philip celebrated their Golden Jubilee of Clothing as novices Dominic Waghorn Pic 1 Sky Correspondent, Dominic Waghorn (StB’87), scooped the prestigious title of Television Journalist of the Year at the Royal Television Society Journalism Awards. He also won the International News Award for a special feature focusing on baby snatchers in China John Barnes London Eye Pic John Barnes (StB’06) sent us this photo of four of his peer group who met up in London for a champagne flight on the London Eye – from left to right, Tom Carew-Hunt (StB’01), John Barnes (StB’06), Francois Pereire (R’06) and Robert Butterworth (StB’06) Mel Carson A jubilant Mel Carson signals that he’s very happy (or perhaps he needs to come up for air!) at his marriage to Ashley Seffernick at Gig Harbour in Washington USA Ben Hancock From left to right, Ben Hancock (G’90) is pictured in London on Poppy Day with Martin Bell, independent MP and former war correspondent, and Rawden Leigh a former work colleague and member of the TA. Ben launched ‘London Poppy Day’ four years ago – it all started with a few friends collecting for the Poppy Appeal one lunchtime; culminating this year with a staggering 200 ex-servicemen and 50 serving personnel in uniform collecting at 20 tube stations during morning and evening rush hours. They raised £60,000 for the Poppy Appeal Andrew Bayles and Worthians at Wedding Andrew Bayles (B’98) surrounded by his Worthian peers who attended his wedding to Maeve Mulcahy on the 6th June 2009. Top row from left to right: Anthony Woodward (B’98), Richard Lynton-Jones (StB’97), Alex Ryan (B’98), Luke Windle (C’96), Dan Hughes (R’98), Ed Keelaghan (R’98) Bottom row from left to right: Dom Clarke (C’98), Simon Bayles (B’90), Andrew Bayles (B’98), Maeve Bayles, David Micallef-Eynaud (B’98), Will Pasquali (B’98). In Andrew’s words, “It is a great testament to how well the Worth boys stick together after school.”

Fr Kevin in Hong Kong Fr Kevin had the opportunity to catch up with some Worthians and their families over dinner when he visited Hong Kong at Easter. Pictured clockwise from left to right are Mrs Bowers and Shaun Bowers (R’84) with their twin daughters, Simon Wall (StB’82), Tony Tyler (C’73), Fr Kevin, Stephen Geiser (R’66), Mrs Geiser and Dominic Geiser Phil Holmes receiving Award Phil Holmes (StB’97) receives the Metropolitan Police Force Endeavour Award in May 2009 at Hendon from the Deputy Commissioner Sir Tim Godwin Nick Donovan Family Pic Nick Donovan (StB’93) pictured with his wife Joanne (Flory) and their three children – Oliver 10, Flynn 7 and Ruby 2 Peter Cullinan Pic 1 and 2 Peter Cullinan (StB’82) worked as Project Manager and Resident Engineer for the new Durban Stadium in South Africa. Pictured here is the last element of the arch being installed and the finished product Michael Bray and family Michael Bray (R’65) and his wife, Jo, pictured with their two children, James and Anna, in the South of France during the summer of 2009 Charlie Vaughan-Fowler with horse Charlie Vaughan-Fowler (R’02) with Golden Sword (who was second in The Derby in 2009) whilst working for South African Trainer, Mike de Kock in Dubai Oliver Mulcahy RoboCup Oli Mulcahy (C’05) pictured with his winning robot at the RoboCup Rescue competition in Germany which formed part of his engineering course at Warwick University Simon Douglas-Dufresne Pic 1 (crop please) Simon Douglas-Dufresne (G’80) pictured with his son Dylan Dean

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Simon Douglas-Dufresne Pic 2 Simon Douglas-Dufresne (G’80) with his wife Carolyn at the Leopard Party Sinclair Webster Sinclair Webster (R’66) is pictured with his wife, Stephanie, on the road to recover after going through major surgery ………….

Sinclair Webster healthy …… and pictured in May 2010 back to full health Joe Bradley and friends 2009 Leavers Joe Bradley (F’09), Antony Riley (R’09), Felix Barber (StB’09) and Nathaniel Rankin (R’09) reunite for a casual breakfast overlooking Hong Kong before the 7s weekend Philip de Ayala Surfing ‘Surfs up’ – rather reluctantly supplied by Philip de Ayala (C’76)!

Patrick Wilkinson playing Rugby Patrick Wilkinson (StB’92), 4th from the right in the front row, recently resumed playing rugby with Bective Rangers veterans team – here the team is photographed winning the Leinster Branch RFU Veterans' Cup Angus Gairdner Angus Gairdner (StB’96) in September 2009, caught “On Air!” in ‘producer’ mode Patrick Flynn Patrick Flynn (B’78) caught relaxing in downtown Bordeaux Owen Lean Owen Lean (C‘01) performing at the ‘City Of Wings Festival’ at Ypres in March 2010 Robert Herring (crop legs – his request not mine!)

Robert Herring (G’68) pictured last year in the Tridos Mountains, Cyprus Jaime Zobel de Ayala Motorbike Jaime Zobel de Ayala (StB‘77) pictured at the end of his 8-day tour of Peru on a motorbike at Puno, a town on the edge of Lake Tikicaca James Thorp Mini-Reunion A mini-Worthians reunion of, from left to right, Patrick Davey (F’01), James Thorp (G’01) and Ed Morgan (G’01) Fr Stephen and Andy Stewart Older, wiser, holier – Andy Stewart (B’72) and Fr Stephen pictured in May 2010 Andrew Rome Andrew Rome (G78) pictured in xyz on holiday