| New Series No. 89 | January 2006 |
Old Pharosians’ Association Newsletter
Cover picture: David Elleray hands over the Presidency of the Association to Jack Kremer at the annual meeting.
LIST OF CONTENTS
NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION
- Officers and Committee Members
- President’s Message
- Annual Meeting, Football Match and Dinner 2005
- Centenary Year – From The Committee Room
- Lost Members
- Archivist’s Corner
- Items For Sale
- Can Anyone Help?
- 100 Minute Bible
- Mr Reg Payne
NEWS OF THE SCHOOL
- The Centenary Year
- Improvements
- Top of the Poll
- Top of the League
NEWS OF OLD BOYS
- Obituaries
- Members still Living and Learning
NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION
OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE 2005-2006
| PRESIDENT and CHAIRMAN: |
Jack Kremer 37 Old Park Hill Dover CT16 2AW |
| VICE-PRESIDENT: |
| PAST PRESIDENT: | David Elleray |
| SECRETARY: | Philip Harding 6 Chestnut Road, Elms Vale, Dover CT17 9PY 01304 205007 |
| ASSISTANT SECRETARY: | Graham Tutthill 21 Orchard Drive, River, Dover CT17 OND 01304 822121 e-mail: graham@tutthill.freeserve.co.uk |
| TREASURER: | Neil Beverton 6 Riverdale River, Dover CT17 OQY 01304 820628 |
| MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: |
Roger Gabriel 229 St Richard’s Road Deal CT14 9LF 01304 366110 e-mail: dgsb@thegabrielhouse.eurobell.co.uk |
| NEWSLETTER EDITORS: | Terry Sutton MBE 17 Bewsbury Cross Lane, Whitfield, Dover CT16 3HB 01304 820122 e-mail: terry.sutton@route56.co.uk and Graham Tutthill |
| ARCHIVIST: | Peter Burville Seagate, Goodwin Road St. Margaret’s Bay, Dover CT15 6ED 01304 853267 |
| WEBSITE MANAGER: | Paul Skelton Little Rock, 6 Park Road, Temple Ewell, Dover CT16 3AJ 01304 822260 e-mail: websmaster@dovergrammar.co.uk |
| COMMITTEE: | Maurice Smith (to retire 2006) Paul Skelton (to retire 2006) Barry Crush (to retire 2007) Mike Palmer (to retire 2007) Reg Colman OBE (to retire 2008) Rev John Philpott (to retire 2008) |
| AUDITOR: | John Sheather |
| HEAD TEACHER: | Sally Lees |
| STAFF REPRESENTATIVES: | Francoise Lloyd Two to be elected by the staff |
| HEAD PREFECT: | Ed Haste |
| INTERNET ADDRESS: | http://dovergrammar.co.uk |
| E-MAIL ADDRESS: | pharos@dovergrammar.co.uk |
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
It is a new experience and a honour for me to be elected President/Chairman of this fine Association and for me to make my maiden speech at the well attended Annual Dinner. My thanks to Maurice Smith for his excellent organisation of the dinner and to Peter Burville and his helpers for their fine exhibition in the Great Hall of items from the Archives. I found them very interesting.
On Old Boys day, I attended the annual football match and I was pleased to present the Andrew Kremer trophy to the winning team — the Old Boys. The match was refereed by the retiring President, David Ellery. It was a pleasure to meet and work with David during his year of office. I particularly enjoyed his speeches which contained some of his experiences as an International Football referee.
During the last year, progress has been made in respect of the “Turnpenny Clock”. It has been necessary to re-site the clock and it is hoped that it will be installed during the next year.
In my speech at the dinner, I referred to my endeavours to revive the annual cricket match. During my term of office I hope to advance plans for this revival.
I also plan to meet this year’s school leavers to encourage them to join the association. My best wishes to you all for 2006.
Jack Kremer
President
ANNUAL MEETING, DINNER AND FOOTBALL MATCH
In the morning, the meeting was attended by Sally Lees (head teacher), Neil Beverton, John Booth, Peter Burville, Bill Collard, Barry Crush, David Elleray, Philip Ewer, Ian Fenwick, Roger Gabriel, Trevor Heaver, Rev Dr Michael Hinton, Jack Kremer, Francoise Lloyd, Mick Palmer, Ian Pascall, Rev John Philpott, Paul Skelton, Maurice Smith, Terry Sutton, Graham Tutthill, Martyn Webster and Denis Weaver, and apologies for absence were received from Lester Borley, Denis Doble, Phil Harding, John Le Prevost and Arthur Tolputt.
At the start of the meeting, members stood in silence to remember Old Pharosians who had died during the previous year.
Sally Lees said it had been a very busy centenary year, with two inspections. OFSTED inspectors had confirmed the school’s own concerns and a subsequent HMI visit had been very positive. Students had received the best set of exam results for some years, and the best GCSE results in the history of the school, making it one of only four grammar schools in Kent to achieve 100 per cent passes A* to C grades.
The building refurbishment programme is continuing, and Mrs Lees said pupils were beginning to understand how good they were and what they could be achieving.
The accounts showed that during the year income had exceeded expenditure by £1,076.54. At the end of July the balance carried forward was £11,223.76. A suggestion that a Gordon King Scholarship Fund should be established in memory of the former teacher is to be discussed.
Changes to the constitution were approved, including the creation of the new post of Chairman. Jack Kremer was elected President and Chairman, and thanked David Elleray for all he had done during the past year as President. The other officers were re-elected en bloc, with the addition of Paul Skelton to the committee.
Paul said the Old Pharosians’ website had received 43,000 hits, at the rate of about 900 a month. The association agreed to pay the £100 annual cost for the website space.
FOOTBALL MATCH
On a pleasant afternoon, the Old Boys ended a run of three successive defeats in the annual fixture for the Andrew Kremer Memorial Cup by beating the School 4-1 in an entertaining and hard-fought game. Out-going President David Elleray once again refereed the match, although his ability to control a game was not tested in an encounter that, as usual, was played by both sides in a sporting manner throughout. The Old Boys’ squad contained two sets of brothers, Matthew and Dan Robinson and Paul and Steve O’Brien, as well as Paul Castle, Gary Beeden, Simon Gretton, Stephen King, Ryan Doel, Paul Padfield, Ian Pascall, John Stonebridge, John Spence and Steve Betts.
Ken Loft, Norman Woolhouse and Trevor Heaver pictured at the Centenary Dinner.
The dinner was a very successful event, with 149 old boys and guests, the most for many years, attending.
Because of refurbishment work being carried out to the science labs, which are normally used by the caterer to prepare the food, the venue for the dinner had to be moved from the Great Hall to the Dining Hall.
We gathered in the Great Hall at the start of the evening, where exhibitions had been prepared of some of the historical items from the school, including admission registers.
After singing “Forty Years On”, we descended to the Dining Hall for an excellent meal.
President Jack Kremer spoke of how he joined the school in 1943 when it was in wartime evacuation in Ebbw Vale. Jack’s reminiscences included memories of some of his old classmates and he spoke with affection about his favourite sport of cricket.
Among those present were former head teachers Reg Colman OBE and Neil Slater to hear current head teacher Mrs Sally Lees tell of the progress of the school.
On view at the Great Hall, where we gathered for a welcoming sherry, were displays of school memorabilia including official books logging the records of boys’ arrivals at the school way back to 1905. One Old Pharosian was able to find his grandfather’s record and several others their fathers’ details which included their examination results and the employment they went to on leaving school.
Old photographs were on view – thanks to the efforts of the association’s archivist Dr Peter Burville – and in pride of place were four original school caps each bearing the old house colours.
Martyn Webster, who had travelled from Brighton to join us, provided another display. This detailed the life and times of the school’s founding headmaster Fred Whitehouse including, his parentage, teacher’s training, arrival in Dover, progress in establishing the school (with about 60 boys and girls) 100 years ago, his home in Frith Road, and his eventual death in 1939.
The following morning Martyn laid a wreath – which had been on display in the Great Hall – at the Whitehouse family grave at Charlton Cemetery (see photo on previous page). The wreath, in four colours, represented the school’s house colours. Thanks were expressed to Maurice Smith who, despite the numbers attending, organised the dinner and its complicated seating arrangements.
FROM THE COMMITTEE ROOM
The subject of the Clock Appeal took up quite a bit of our time at the committee meeting. Because of the increased cost of siting the clock on the roof of the Great Hall, discussions have been taking place about an alternative location. Top of the list at the moment is the school tower, with clock faces on both the south and east sides of the tower. Another suggestion was on the roof of the pavilion — if the pavilion could be renovated, the cricket square brought back into use, and effective anti-vandalism measures could be introduced. So the talks go on. In an attempt to encourage sixth form leavers to become interested in — and members of — the association, three representatives from the Old Pharosians will talk to sixth formers at their assemblies this Spring and Summer. Flowers, a card and best wishes were sent, on behalf of the Association, to Barbara Ruffell, widow of Ken Ruffell, to mark her 90th birthday in November. The committee is due to meet again on 8 March at 7 p.m.
LOST MEMBERS
By adding a return address to the labels on the newsletter envelopes for the past couple of postings, we have discovered about 100 that were being sent to addresses that members had moved from — some quite a few years ago. That means that although we have a current membership of 810, only about 700 or so are receiving newsletters. At the latest committee meeting, we also decided that those whose membership has lapsed will be sent a note asking them to renew their subscriptions as soon as possible, or we will have to take them off the list. So, please help us to keep you in contact with what’s happening at the school by keeping your membership up to date, and letting us know whenever you change your address. Thank you!
ARCHIVISTS CORNER
Greetings. As you can imagine it has been a very busy centenary year for the School. In addition to undertaking an extensive programme of activities to mark this important year in the life of the school there have been various inspections to cope with. There will doubtless be reports on these events elsewhere in the Newsletter but, certainly from my perspective, they have all been a great success and a record of them will feature in the archives.
Some of the boys volunteered to help with the exhibition of material from the archives and to produce a display for the day of the Annual Reunion Dinner. Arthur Alfred Charles Tolputt (1934-1940), a regular member of the archive team, told a group of the boys about his experiences as a soldier during the war – well, some of his experiences. From this, the boys produced a display. As a boy who was evacuated to Ebbw Vale with the school, William Frederick Gibbons (1940-1945) was able to tell another group of boys what school life was like during the war away from parents. Bill (William) has deposited in the archives a photograph of the Middle 1 class, taken during the summer term of 1941 at Ebbw Vale, and, helpfully, named all the boys.
With all the publicity given to the centenary there has been an interesting increase in the offerings of material for the archives. Even Dover Museum has given me photocopies of photographs of events associated with the school. The photographs, which cover the 1930s, are part of a collection the museum has obtained. Naturally enough the opening of the Astor Avenue building is one of the subjects featured.
Michael James Davis (1947-1955) sent information and copies of photographs of sporting activities, including cross-country running and athletics, and school play production material. The plays included R. U. R. (1949), Julius Caesar (1950, which at the time I found very helpful as it was on our English curriculum), The Government Inspector (1951), The Rivals (1952), and Noah (1953).
Andrew Michael Renouf (1971-1975), returned a bound copy of a set of Pharos Magazines (No. 2) but he could offer no explanation as to why he had the volume in the first place. Anyway, it was excellent to get it back. Brothers David Vincent Andrews (1971-1974) and Richard James Andrews (1971- 1973) were also at the school. It looks as though the family moved to the Dover area in 1971. Some enquiries that come in are of a genealogical nature. A David Woollett of Portsmouth made enquiries about the teacher of French Rupert Norman Woolett (1954-1976), wishing to know if I had any information on his family and origins. Unfortunately I did not but perhaps a reader of the Newsletter has some information that may be of help. Mrs Lisa O’Connor contacted me about her father Raymond Thomas Pressnell (1947-1952), who has just celebrated his 70th birthday (see “Can Anyone Help?” below).
It is hoped to list more of the recently deposited material in the next issue of the Newsletter.
ITEMS FOR SALE
Just to remind you, Old Pharosians can still buy a centenary tie from the School for £6 including package and posting. The burgundy-coloured tie features a Fiat Lux logo, based on the design we know so well, by first-year student Matthew Farrow. A cheque for £6, payable to “DGSB”, sent to the school will secure a piece of history. Also, there are a few copies of the hardback Fifty Years on 1931-1981 history of the school still remaining. The cost is £20, plus £1 p&p (making £21), with the same purchasing arrangements as above. In addition one can also have a copy of the booklet The Dover County School 1905 to 1931 included with the book for an additional £2, making a total cost of £23. On its own the pamphlet costs £3 including p&p. There are still a few video versions of The School on the Hill film, made in 1965, available at the cost of £10 including p&p. The same purchasing arrangements apply. In an attempt to “move with the times” I hope to be able to offer the film on DVD in the near future. There are still some people to be identified on the film so if you can help with that task your assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Finally, some films relating to the school have been found in what used to be the sixth form room. These reels need assessing for quality and relevance to see if a conversion to a digital form would be justified. Does anyone know who could and would be prepared to carry out such as exercise? My approaches to a local firm that deals in such matters have not produced any response.
Hoping you all enjoyed the centenary year.
Peter Burville (1946-51)
CAN ANYONE HELP?
Could anyone who was at the school from 1946 to 1952 help Lisa O’Connor put together infor
mation about her father’s time here please? Professor Raymond Thomas Pressnell was born in Dover in 1935 and celebrated his 70th birthday in September. Lisa is putting together photos and memorabilia about his time at the school. “Apparently he was quite a sport-mad person and perhaps someone has information on any cups he achieved etc? For anyone who remembers him, his working life was spent as an Electronics Engineer and he worked around the world including South Africa, Saudi Arabia, USA and Canada. He graduated from the Open University in 1976. He has had a huge amount of technical articles published and is at the very highest level within the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. (Can you tell I’m proud of him?)” says Lisa. If anyone can help, please contact Lisa on oconnor062@aol.com or at 14 Albert Road, Morecambe, LA4 4HB.
Anne-Marie Magub, who lives in France, is looking for her ancestor’s family, including George Magub. Her father Henry George Magub is in one of the school photos.
100 MINUTE BIBLE
Former head teacher the Rev. Dr. Michael Hinton has come up with a way of making the Bible more accessible and readable. He has written the 100- Minute Bible which was launched at Canterbury Cathedral and aims to introduce the Bible to those who have never read it while also reacquainting practising Christians with its central themes. It contains 50 Biblical stories each of which can be read in two minutes.
“We proceeded from two premises,” he said. “The first is that for Christians the Bible is about Jesus and his ministry. Secondly, we wanted to put those familiar Bible stories – such as the story of Noah’s Ark – into their context. “I’m hoping people will read this book and be enthused to read the Bible as a whole.”
The idea for the 100-Minute Bible came from publisher Len Budd, who runs the 100-Minute Press. “I come from a generation when 50 per cent of children went to Sunday school. Now the amount is less than five per cent,” he said.
“We wanted the 100-Minute Bible to be an easy read and a page-turner, as a way of bridging that gap between those who might want to read but don’t have the time to do so. Our primary market is the interested outsider. We have made it so the language is not so formal, but so that it’s not slangy either. The Bible is also like a reference book and we wanted to make it a lot more user-friendly.”
Mr Budd is hoping that the 100-Minute Bible will be popular with schoolchildren doing their religious education and in hospitals. He is planning to have the book translated into the world’s major languages and market it across the globe. The publishers have not set a recommended retail price, but the 100-Minute Bible sells for about £3 a copy. You can log on to www.the100-minutepress.com for more information.
Mr Reg Payne
Towards the end of last year we heard that former teacher Reg Payne was seriously ill in a London hospital. Several old boys sent greetings cards and letters to him. Brian Marsh was among those who visited him in hospital and found him “in remarkably good form, talkative, good company and not at all disconcerted at meeting someone from 45 years in his past!” We are pleased to say that Reg has now returned home, but is still unwell.
NEWS FROM THE SCHOOL
CENTENARY YEAR
The school celebrated its centenary in spectacular style in July with fireworks and bagpipers playing from the school tower. It was one of a series of events held to mark 100 years of service to the community by the school that began as a fee-paying education centre for boys and girls with classes held in Ladywell and on Priory Hill.
Around 200 teachers, governors, parents, friends — but only four Old Pharosians — were at the school for a dinner and ball. The four were former head Reg Colman who shared a table with Denis Doble, Martyn Watts and Terry Sutton.
Soon after dusk, on a balmy night, they lined the school quad to watch the firework display and to listen to a team of bagpipers playing from the tower where the school flag fluttered in a light breeze.
There were a series of competitions with money raised aiding the Aspen Unit at Whitfield and the Demelza children’s hospice. The celebrations continued for more than seven hours, ending at 2am.
On 12 September, the actual centenary day, a service, with the theme “Let There Be Light”. was held at St Mary’s Church, attended by representatives from the Old Pharosians, followed by a pop concert and picnic at the school. Musical and arts events were held in the autumn, there were fireworks and a barbeque, Christmas Fair, Carol Service and Senior Prizegiving and the centenary celebrations ended on the last day of term with the lowering of the school flag.
IMPROVEMENTS
Refurbishment work has continued, and the school now has a new ICT suite and a new toilet facility on the Quad level, a first-class indoor PE facility, and modern science labs.
TOP OF THE POLL
Three students Edward Haste, Andrew Martin and Jethro Thompson put themselves forward to represent the youth of Dover in the Kent Youth Parliament at Maidstone. In a closely fought campaign they took three out of four seats available in the district. They join 48 youth representatives to debate and initiate KCC youth policy in the coming year.
TOP OF THE LEAGUE
Our school was one of four in Kent which achieved a 100 per cent pass rate of students earning five or more A* to C grades at GCSE, topping the county league table along with the Dover Girls’ Grammar School.
NEWS OF OLD BOYS
OBITUARIES
CHARLES (BUD) ABBOTT (1937-42)
Bud (Charles) Abbott passed away on 20 August 2005. He always kept in contact with the school, and often sent e-mails from his home in Australia as soon as he received his newsletter to comment on items of interest. He was at the school for part of the time when boys and staff were evacuated to Ebbw Vale. He started at the school the same year that Ken Ruffell was appointed and Ken was Charles’s form master for Middle 2 in 1939. Charles recalled that the form clubbed together and bought Ken and Barbara a biscuit barrel for a wedding present.
In one of his e-mails, he recalled that when he joined the School in September 1937, his passmark in the Scholarship examination was rather low and was initially put into Form Lower 1. He worked consistently during that year and finally won the Lower 1 Form prize in July 1938. It also meant that he was upgraded to Form Middle 2 and then went into Middle 3 and was awarded the Middle 3 Form Prize in May 1941. He won the Middle School Art Prize in June 1942 and the School Certificate Art Prize in July 1943. He kept his book prizes in his library.
After passing the School Certificate Exams with exemption from Matriculation, Charles returned to Dover and found employment in a building firm working for the Royal Navy located near the Eastern Arm. He worked there until April 1944 when he was called up for service in the Royal Navy.
In 1945 he was transferred to Australia to join a Submarine Mother Ship as an electrical mechanic handling torpedoes for the sub flotilla. He married Jean, an Australian of Scottish heritage, in March 1946 and returned for “demob” in Britain at the end of 1946.
He then worked for an American Oil Refinery Engineering firm in London as a Piping Draughtsman for four years until they decided to return to Australia at the end of 1950. In 1960 they returned to Britain for seven months and then emigrated to Toronto, Canada for a year, and then to San Francisco where they lived and worked until their return to Australia in 1963. Charles qualified as a structural and mechanical engineer in Western Australia and determined that he would do what he had always wanted, which was to become an architect.
It was in 1966 that he became a qualified architect and following two years as the Architect in Charge for the US Navy, he started his own practice until about 1996 when he was forced to retire because of health reasons. When he wrote to the school in 1998 he said: “It’s been a great life”. He and Jean had three children, Paul, a Doctor of Physics and lecturer at the University of Western Australia, David, a geophysicist, and Lesley, a High School teacher. Charles lived at Dianella in Western Australia.
As recently as 2004, he wrote: “I still keep in touch with both Les Vale and Peter Prescott and if I ever win the Lottery I would hope to take a last trip back to the UK. My best regards to the old school.” Sadly it was not to be.
STEPHEN NEWMAN
Stephen Newman, who was only 20 and lived in Deal, died from multiple head injuries after his car hit a parked lorry in a lay-by off the A20 between Capel and Dover in April. He was studying performance percussion at DrumTech, a music college in London. Formerly with the band The Divide, he was also a member of the groups Silent Minority and Rise of Raphia.
HAROLD “BOB” SLATER (1935-43)
Bob, one of the twin sons of the late Joe Slater, died suddenly at his Folkestone home in September. He was 79.
Bob and his twin brother Peter were known at the school as The Spudlets because their father, a senior teacher at our school for many years, was known affectionately as Spud. On leaving school Bob went to Goldsmith’s College and trained as a teacher.
Called up he went into the army and was selected for the Royal Army Education Corps. As brother Peter observes: “Bob fell on his feet and, for part of his service, was posted as a sergeant to Dover where he joined the staff of the army school at Broadlees where the head teacher was Miss Goodfellow.” Demobbed, Bob joined the staff of Barton Junior School (where he taught co- editor Graham Tutthill) and, on promotion, joined a primary school at Folkestone where he retired as deputy head.
He was secretary of the Old Pharosians’ Association from 1956 to 1974.
STILL LIVING AND LEARNING
BRIAN BACON (1940-48)
Brian travelled from his home in Australia to attend the Centenary Dinner. “We hadn’t been back to the UK for quite a few years so you might say it was a case of ‘bringing home the Bacon!’ But I must say that it’s a long way to come for a plate of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding!
“It was nice to meet chaps I haven’t seen for 57 years, in fact I have known Bill Collard for a lot longer back to when we were five years old at Temple Ewell School. I am an Australian now and so I was very careful not to mention anything about cricket to anyone! However the word did get out and I had to put up with a few facetious remarks pertaining to our loss in the series. In cricket Australia are your old enemy but being beaten by England has been good and a great boost for the game. But beware, like the Phoenix arising from the ashes, in two years’ time we will take back what really belongs to us!
“But I stray from the subject of the Centenary. I’d like to mention Paul Skelton who maintains the Old Pharosians’ website. He has done and continues to do a wonderful job and in particular his insertion of the history of the school draws attention to everything that Fred Whitehouse did a century ago in getting it off the ground. Believe it or not it was known in the late 1930s as ‘Fred’s Folly’. The word means a lack of understanding, a useless and costly structure. Fred was not such a man. He had vision and was a man of his time. He gave us the motto Fiat Lux for our inspiration and motivation and even borrowed our School Song from Harrow.
“Both my wife and I enjoyed the event but perhaps a little disappointed that it wasn’t held in the Great Hall because most people took their leave after the meal and we would have liked to have had dialogue with contemporaries that we missed. I have nostalgic memories of my time spent at the school, remembering all the teachers who have passed on and of those my old mates wherever they are in the world today. The singing of Forty Years On brought a lump to my throat. Thank you. It was well worth coming 10,500 miles to attend. I can now put a face to names I read about in the OPA Newsletter.”
N J BANNISTER has qualified for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the University College, London.
PETER BLACKMAN (1969-78)
Peter spent 1978-84 at Lancaster University (Grizedale College) gaining his BSc and PhD. “Great days, on the fells in the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales,” he recalls.
He left Lancaster to work in (snowy) Michigan, USA spending every weekend cross-country skiing. He returned to the UK and joined Shell Research in Sittingbourne in the late summer of 1985. He met Judy at the Woodstock Club and they were married in 1997. He had bought a house in Sittingbourne in 1986 before moving to a little village near Faversham. He transferred to the Shell Centre, London, in 1990 and spent the next eight years in a variety of business jobs in the chemicals industry, travelling extensively in Eastern and Western Europe, Russia, Middle East, Asia and USA (at one point he was held up at gunpoint in Croatia).
During that period they moved to Sevenoaks and Peter completed his Business Degree. He left Shell in 1999 to join a new start-up company to head up Strategy – and he is now developing new businesses for the same company and ‘”trying'”not to travel so much.
“On the home front we now live in a tiny Berkshire village and have two super daughters who are a lot of fun,” said Peter. “Still into the same old things – sailing in a big way, ‘big’ boats (I like the added luxuries these days! … 10 of us chartered a 62-foot Whitbread Round The World boat and sailed it to the Channel Islands and back for a bit of fun a while back), and our four dinghies plus a bit of windsurfing, fast cars and motor racing I went to the 2005 British Fl GP as a guest of Ferrari. I also play a bit of tennis and golf and we all love travelling. We spent a month backpacking and boating in the Andes (Ecuador/Peru)and Galapagos a few years ago and have done a few trips to visit friends and relatives in Australia and New Zealand.
“I also like writing in any spare time – one day I may even get round to publishing. I manage to visit Dover and Deal a few times a year to visit family and see a few old faces at Downs Sailing Club.”
TONY BRADLEY (1945-52)
Tony wrote after receiving the last newsletter to say he was saddened to read of the death of George Curry, who with his wife visited Edinburgh while Tony and his wife were there. “We were able to see his interpretation of the Dickens readings.”
Tony’s wife discovered by chance that an Oxfordshire solicitor who had been going to a French course with her in Abingdon for some months is Graham Bayford, who, with his brother, was at the DGSB for several years before his parents moved away from Dover. Graham took part in an Old Pharosians reunion at Pangbourne in 1998 when Tony was President, supported by Peter Hearn, Ken Loft, Michael Marsh and others of that vintage.
STEPHEN BURNS (1985-92)
Since leaving school, Stephen has attended Bristol University and then joined Macfarlanes solicitors in London as a trainee where he qualified as a solicitor in 1999.
He recently left Macfarlanes to join Charles Russell solicitors in Guildford in November. He married Vaneeta approximately three years ago and they now have a daughter, Anya, who is one and half.
STEPHEN CALLIS (1961-67) says that along with most of his form he took up an apprenticeship with English Electric, Rugby, when he left school. He moved on to the Central Electricity Generating Board and after working at several power stations he has now retired and is living in deepest Suffolk. “I have been trying for some time to get in touch with Colin Taverner, who was at DGSB the same years as myself or he may have left a year later. To date I have been unsuccessful.” Can anyone help?
TERRY CLEAR (1960-65) again travelled from his home in Spain to be at the centenary dinner. He said the displays in the hall were excellent and very interesting, and the meal was well presented in what is a difficult location.
EJ EWELL (1924-35) His son Lt Col Adam Ewell, who lives in the Netherlands, stumbled across the OP website and was delighted to see an excellent photograph of his late father E J Ewell in “RUGBY 1934-35”
JOHN FITZPATRIC (1946-53) has moved to Shimpling, Norfolk.
THOMAS FREEMAN has gained a BSc degree of the University of London and the Associateship of the Royal College of Science (ARCS) with Second Class Honours (Upper Division) in Mathematics (BSc 3YFT).
PETER GRAVES (1948-56) was another who added many names to photos, particularly in the 1950s.
DAVID LAWRENSON (1974-80) has published a book entitled Successful Property Letting: How to Buy to Let.
MARK LONG has been awarded the MSci degree of the University of London and the Associateship of the Royal College of Science (ARCS) with Second Class Honours (Upper Division) in Physics (MSci 4YFT)
DAVID MARRIOTT (1953-56) who lived in Deal when he was at the school, tells us that he and his wife spent a year in Canterbury in 1999 and still feel part of East Kent, even though they now live in Australia. In 1991 they rode their bicycles out of Heathrow, down to Cornwall and up to the Lake District via Wales, completing 2,000 miles in a three-month honeymoon. “We did another 1,000 miles in 1999, from Kent to Cornwall before pausing in Canterbury.”
Steve has served with the Port of Dover Police for the past 22 years, having spent two years with British Transport Police in central London. He is married to Denise, a human resources manager, and they have a 13- year-old son Elliot.
RICHARD McHUGH has gained a first class honours degree in Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Hertfordshire.
STEVE MOAT (1987-94) Steve was among those sorry to hear that Paul Skelton was leaving the school staff. “I think my best lessons were with you, Mr Fieldwick and Mr Smith,” he wrote. “I’ve still got every CDT item I made and vividly remember feeling the wrath of the latter for leaving the chuck key in the lathe a few times!!” Steve has been able to add several names to one of the school photos, among them Martin Milner, Lee Hatfield, Charles Bocock, Brian Moat, Tony Tingey, Daniel Proud, Simon Wakeham, Terry Ellender, Anthony Perkins and Simon Redfern.
PETER MORGAN Peter, a retired Professor at Pittsburgh and Osaka and a NASA and Boeing consultant in California, has also added names and details to some of the faces in the 1953 school photo. They include C Jarvie, a retired Professor of York University at Toronto, Canada; and Brian Sanders who worked at the US State Dept and was tragically mugged and killed on the streets of Washington DC
JOHN MUMMERY (1949-1957)
Lord Justice John Mummery, a Lord of Appeal, has been appointed Treasurer of Gray’s Inn, the top post in that law profession organisation. He recently held a reception at Gray’s Inn at which Denis Doble (1948-1955) and John Booth (1948-1956) were guests.
John was born on a farm near Dover, went to our school where he was debating society chairman and an active participant in dramatic productions. He was also a cross-country runner. He won a history exhibition “thanks to an excellent history master’ to Pembroke College, Oxford. Before taking this up he was called up for his National Service and served in the Royal Army Education Corps.
At Pembroke he read Law and took a special interest in the legal field of defamation. He chose the Bar as his profession and Gray’s as his Inn of Court where he is now referred to as Master Mummery. His career has followed many paths but they include a spell as Counsel to the Attorney General for charity cases, Junior Counsel to the Treasury, he became a High Court judge, President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal and in 1996 was appointed to the Court of Appeal. During his career he has worked for the prosecution on important cases including the GCHQ trial and one of his last was the Spycatcher trial.
His other professional activities have included the chairmanship of the Royal Courts’ Citizens’ Advice Bureau, a member of the Legal Advisory Commission for the Church of England and President of the Clergy Disciplinary Committee. He is also President of the Investigatory Process Tribunal. John and his wife Anne have a daughter who is a teacher and a son who is a medical practitioner. John and Anne live in Islington but they also have a house near Canterbury.
WILLIAM (BILL) NEWMAN MB FRCS FRCOphth (1973-80)
Bill, a consultant ophthalmologist at Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital, is back home on Merseyside after voluntary work in Northern India with a charity dedicated to prevent childhood blindness. Bill is the son of William Newman, a former chairman of Dover District Council, a Labour county councillor, a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent and an old boy of our school. In Northern India his son instructed trainees through a series of lectures and surgical demonstrations both on board the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital and in local New Delhi hospitals. It was the first time Bill had volunteered to work with the Orbis charity. Back home he said: “Giving up your time is not anything really, but what you can do in terms of teaching is really amazing, particularly because the trainees are so eager to learn.”
India is home to 270,000 blind children, one of the highest concentrations in the world. Orbis was founded 23 years ago as a practical response to the overwhelming problem of avoidable blindness.
PAUL O’DONOVAN (1961-67)
Paul started his first career as a Deck Officer in the Merchant Navy. The last 25 years have been spent in Northern Bavaria (where he lives) and Frankfurt running IT departments for small industries and banks/broker houses. “I remember well those six years of mornings walking first a mile to the station in Aylesham and then another mile up Priory Hill before scraping in just before the bell sounded. Many folks despised us Ayleshamites for being rowdies and not as boisterous young lads from a multi-culti mining town in the charming Kentish countryside. Aylesham provided many avid sportsmen for the school in the names of McMahon, Bruce, Williams, Bartlett, Braziers, Meehan to mention just a few.” Paul played basketball and cricket as an Under XV but has failed to find himself in any of Arthur Elliot’s photos. “But if you look at the 1963 school photo Segment 1, Row 2, Number 7 you will espy me.
“‘Forty years on growing older and older’ . . how those words of the old song have become reality!”
RICHARD PASCOE (1982-89) married Clare Griffin in New York in September.
BILL PEARCE
Bill found his father Philip (Pip) Pearce (who died in 1983), pictured in a rugby team standing behind his father (WEP). “I remember him talking about Jack Ewell as his friend who is to his left in the photo,” said Bill.
JACK PEARSON Jack is one of three generations of his family to attend the school (but not the first – see Martyn Webster’s notes below). Jack visited the website and was able to identify 75 boys on the 1959 school photo. His eldest son was in photos of the 70s and he also found his Dad, Ernest Pearson, in the 1933 photo. “I’ve also located Bob Willis up in Cleveland and Mike Goodwin is buying the new bungalow that’s been built next door to us,” says Jack, who retired a couple of years ago after a career at sea.
GERALD PLATER (1945-1950)
Gerald, who retired from the electricity supply industry in 1993, has written recalling the school’s move from various town centre buildings in 1945 to “the school on the hill”, until then occupied by the WRNS.
“I transferred from Simon Langton’s to our school when it came back from evacuation to Dover with the return to the school on the hill taking place early in the summer term of 1945. I well remember the weekend of the move. We had gone to the school lower playing field to play cricket when, just as the morning match was finishing, an open-backed lorry stopped by the bicycle sheds and the driver asked for volunteers to help move the desks from Frith Road up the school.
“There being no health and safety rules in those days, some of us did help, for how long a time I can’t remember,” recalls Gerald whose father (also in the electricity supply industry) was President of the Old Pharosians’ Association in the early 1950s. Gerald played a “modest game” of football, rugby and cricket for Buckland House and occasionally for the school’s second teams.
On leaving school in 1950 he joined the electricity industry and retired 43 years later as a Chartered Electrical Engineer and with a degree in management. He adds the school has always meant a lot to him and praises the educational foundation he received from teachers, Messrs Archer, Baxter, Coveney, Jacques, King, Large, Pearce, Ruffell, Uncles and others, especially the head J.C. Booth.
STEVE RICKWOOD
Looking at the photo of the camp in 1974, Steve says it was at RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire. He picked out Mark Sullivan in the photo and recalls that after graduating from Swansea University Mark was employed by a company at Tonbridge which became part of North West Water. Mark married Janet, sister of Andrew Trollope (1971-78), and moved to Ashford. They had two sons, Thomas and James, but sadly Mark was killed in a road traffic accident in South Africa in September 1994. He was 34 years old. Steve also said that the cadet sitting next to Chris Templeman in the photo is Paul Flood.
E M SMITH has qualified for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Ancient History from the University College, London.
ROY STONE (1972-77)
Responding to the request for information on the archives website, Roy Stone tells that Andrew Knott (1974-79) went into the Royal Navy and only “retired” from it a year or so ago. He lives near Plymouth, working at Plymouth Marina. Andrew Cripps (1974-81) works and lives in Canada and has a website dedicated to his life and family. Roy says that Ian Potts took part in Mastermind in the 1980s. At the time Roy contacted us, he said the school had been a subject discussed that day as he travelled up with Andrew Trollope to visit another old boy from the 1970s, Steven Rickwood, to see his newly-arrived daughter.
Roy himself started at the school in the third year in 1972, going on to finish in 1977 at the end of the sixth year.
“‘Jack’ Bird was my form master in the fourth and fifth years, Ken Ruffell in the sixth. I had a very uneventful time there (other than being subjected to bullying by some who thought it was a fun thing to do) though I did make some friends in the year I was in, plus others in years either side and younger. It helped living in Deal and having to travel on the 128 bus with different people. I was in the CCF Navy Section and helped run the Wargames club at one point. I was the class rep on the School Council at times.
“Above me were people like Clive Towe, Chris Danican, Phil Blackman and Ken Goodwin. In my year were Peter Barnacle, Aaron Plews, Chris Coleman, Jason Hunnisett, Ian Renshaw and others, along with Richard Blackman, Lenny Howell, David Thomas, David Palmer, etc. A number of others I made and retained friendships with included Ian Bottle, Steven ‘Henry’ Rickwood, Gordon Goodall, Glyn Price, Andy Young, Mark Sullivan (up until his unfortunate death), Steve Fulton, Doug Williams, Andrew Trollope, Andrew Knott, Mike Slater and others. Quite a few of them I still keep in touch with.
“When I started looking for employment, Ken Ruffell was compiling some references for me when he steered me into an interview to work with his neighbour for Thomas Cooks, as a Foreign Exchange Cashier (hope Mr Slater doesn’t recall my Maths efforts!) on the ferries. Glyn Price and Mike Slater joined me a year or so later. I worked for them solidly all over the country, including quite a time on the Travel Agency side of the business, until the money exchange side was taken over by Travelex, whom I still work for but now finally have itchy feet! Mike Slater’s wife has worked with me for the last few years!
“After leaving school I became involved with the setting up of a number of Rotaract Clubs in the area, eventually becoming President of the Deal Club before ‘retirement’ (read that as marriage). Many old boys passed through the then clubs in Deal and Dover, with Richard Blackman going onto higher things within Rotary. I was invited (as was the done thing then) to join the Deal Regatta Committee in the early 80s, working in the background assisting as and when. For some time now I have been the Vice Chairman and have total responsibility in organising the Deal Carnival and other events, whilst also assisting in the logistics and organisation of numerous others around the area, including Dover.
“In that guise I come in contact with many old boys, some I recognise and others I find out about later, including Ian Kilberry (my ex economics teacher) as one of the local town councillors (he’s just had a new addition to his family – yes at his age!). My own son spent a couple of years at DGSB.
MIKE WEBB (1957-65)
For the first time in the history of the school one of our old boys has been appointed Town Clerk of Dover. Mike Webb, who for several years played an active part in the life of Dover as town centre manager, has left that post on his appointment as Town Clerk. Our school has provided several Mayors of Dover, even a Recorder, but this is the first time an old boy has taken the top job in the administration of the town. Another old boy David Hannent (1957- 63) is an Independent (non-political) member of Dover Town Council and therefore one of Mike’s employers!
Mike said he was “quite chuffed” to be invited to be guest speaker at the school prizegiving – “I was never a star pupil. I did benefit from a good education, which set me up well for university.
During his speech to the guests and boys, he outlined a couple of the mishaps at school. including slipping whilst throwing the discus. “This was, at that time, undertaken on the middle field, near the slope, which runs from the school to the road. My discus (I was actually quite good) flew over the slope and embedded itself into the front door of a house on the other side. The owner was not too amused. Neither was the head ”
And then there was the Powell Cup. “We all had to go on a cross-country race, along the hills, behind the school, for no discernible reason. Several of us got to the top of the hill, then hid in a copse until the keen runners panted back into view. We subtly joined the runners, with a view of peeling off and going into the changing rooms. Unfortunately, the whole school was assembled to witness the finish which involved a circuit of the track, below the spectators’ vantage point. Obviously, as we were fresh, unlike the others, we did a credible track lap, with the school cheering. That took some explaining too, when it was found that we hadn’t passed any en-route marshals.”
Mike told of his worldwide travels and travails (a coup in Thailand, earthquake in Japan, floods in Indonesia, closure of Tunis airport because of a hijacking, having his passport taken away in Libya, etc). As Town Centre Manager of Dover he became involved in projects such as Riverwatch and Shopwatch, and the annual paper boat race. He stressed the need for a good education and for open-minded, life-long learning, plus the need to get involved and to help others.
MARTYN WEBSTER (1960-67) As well as compiling the very interesting and timely exhibition on the school’s founding head Fred Whitehouse, Martyn has been in contact with webmaster Paul Skelton to supply more photos, including the 1st and 2nd form choir at the Christmas Concert 1960. His was the first family to have three generations of pupils at the school. His grandfather George Wyndham Webster was one of the first 100 pupils to enrol in 1905, and his father and uncle, Leslie George Webster 1932-1937 and Norman Webster 1935/6-1940, also attended the school.
BEN WILLIAMS (1986-93) Ben provided us with the address for Gavin Joisce that we had appealed for in the last newsletter. Ben, who lives in Maldon, Essex, is now general manager of a company which remediates contaminated land and groundwater. He still plays rugby although he says he has now got the pace of Danny Porte (1986-93)
BARRIE WILSON (1950-57)
Barrie has retired after working for 14 years in the UK and 32 years at the European Commission in Brussels. He is married to his French wife, Annie, and they have three children, Sandrine, Jerome and Julien, and are living in Kraainem – in the suburbs of Brussels.
STEPHEN YARROW (1975-83)
Stephen, Director of Music at Dover’s parish church of St Mary’s, gave a blast on the organ of Forty Years On during morning service to celebrate his 40th birthday in July. The previous evening he organised a concert in the church as part of the celebrations. Stephen, who runs the Forwoods music business from St Radigund’s Farm on the hills above River, has taken over as secretary of the Rotary Club of Dover, succeeding John Graeme another Old Pharosian.
And finally …
Graham Tutthill maintains a database of old boys’ e-mail addresses so that any news of the school can be sent out quickly. If anyone would like to receive news items in this way, please send Graham your e-mail address (his contact details are on page 3).