Old Wheatleyans
Dear Old Wheatleyan, Our U6 leavers always try to surprise us with a novel take on leavers’ day, even if - without exception – they always end up getting very wet! This year they adopted the theme of ‘I’m a student, get me out of here’, coming to school dressed in jungle wear, and we were then treated to a fun leavers’ concert. What a very fine bunch of young people they have become, and we wished them every success as they embarked on their A level exams. I have no doubts that they will make our world a happier, freer and friendlier place. The following day, the rest of school set out for our annual Expeditions Day, with spirits undampened by the rain! Pupils visited Warwick Castle (History), RAF Cosford (Science), Compton Verney (Art and English), Bletchley Park (Maths and History), the Peak District (Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition) and Coombe Abbey (team-building and community service). A coach also departed for Strasbourg for a few days’ French and German immersion. All of these activities and experiences, as well as our extensive co-curricular programme, help to mould our children into the young adults who eventually leave us, well equipped for the next stage of their journey. I hope Old Wheats can identify with this: there is far more to Bablake than the pursuit of academic excellence, for our intention is to provide an education for life. Recent research by the University of Edinburgh amongst 1,000 former pupils of Gordonstoun found that non-academic experiences had an “overwhelmingly positive influence on students’ personal growth and development”. According to the Times, respondents said that such experiences had helped them to grow personally, supported their careers and enhanced their academic studies. As our pupils finish their exams (both external and internal), I am sure they would agree with the article’s headline: ‘Pupils thrive when exams take a hike’! Best wishes,
John Watson Headmaster 1
Former Pupil News Anthony Wells (Class of 1955) ‘A Tale of Two Navies’ Tony has kindly given the school library a copy of his latest book, published in January 2017 by the US Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland: "A Tale of Two Navies: Geopolitics, Technology, and Strategy in the United States Navy and the Royal Navy, 1960-2015". His book has been well received in the US, UK, and internationally.
The book presents a history and analysis of the unique and enduring relationship between the US Navy and the Royal Navy. Having served in both forces, Tony is ideally positioned to examine the intertwined histories, strategies, operations, technology and intelligence activities between them and provides an insight into the workings of the US and UK intelligence. Tony gave talks last year on his book, by invitation, at King's College London, Oxford University, the Army and Navy Club in London, The US Department of State, The US National Maritime Intelligence Center, the British Embassy in Washington DC, the Washington DC Naval Attaches Association, and the University Club in Washington DC. Also, in April, 2017 he was invited to give the Keynote Address on board HMS Victory, in Portsmouth, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Zimmermann Telegram. HRH Princess Anne was the guest of honour, and at the special dinner were past and present members of the Five Eyes intelligence community - the UK, US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The US was represented by the Director of Naval Intelligence and the UK by Admiral Lord Alan West. The event was held on the main gun deck of HMS Victory. He is the only living person to have worked for British intelligence as a British citizen and for US intelligence as a US citizen!
John Haidar ‘Disco Pigs’
(Class of 2002)
John Haidar’s production of ‘Disco Pigs’ (with Evanna Lynch) played at the New York - Irish Repertory Theatre January to February 2018. Take a look at the link: https://irishrep.org/show/2017-2018-season/ disco-pigs/ I’m sure we will be seeing and hearing John’s name more in the future.
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Spring Coffee Morning March 2018
Once again we were joined by former pupils for our annual Spring Coffee Morning. It proved, again, to be a delightful event. We were joined this year by 2ACP, a 2nd year class who joined us with their English tutor Mrs Carrie Martlew. The children spent the time talking with our guests about their lessons, the school in general and also learning from our guests about their time here‌.. there was a lot of laughter too! If you would like to come along to our next Coffee Morning in the spring of 2019, please contact me sosullivan@bablake.coventry.sch uk Mike Godwin (Class of 1962) with Rob Colledge (Class of 1956) left and with Max Field (Class of 1961) right.
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London Drinks February 2018 Bablake alumni working across a number of industries, from finance to law, media and education, met at The Antelope Pub in London in February to chat, network and generally get together with friends and teachers for a reminisce!
It was a joy to see so many familiar faces, and to hear about the continued success of so many of our former pupils. We also had some of our older alumni there, the oldest being Mr Tony Averns, who was Class of 1939. The youngest being Lantian Pinkey Class of 2010 (Left).
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Class of 1998 Reunion May 2018 On an extremely sunny day in May, we welcomed back the Class of 1998 for their reunion. The atmosphere was convivial and it was lovely for both current and former staff to share happy memories with their former pupils. Of course there was another event taking place in London on that day, the Royal Wedding! The wedding was shown on our main screen in the foyer and gave a great backdrop to our event and we even had a patriotic theme! After assembling in the main foyer, guests were encouraged to tour the campus, revisit their original form rooms and view our new facilities. You will be able to view more photographs of the event by visiting our ‘Old Wheatleyans’ website http:// www.bablake.com/726/old-wheatleyans/events/event-coverage
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Special ‘Thanks’ to Mrs Alison Tumber for the excellent photography 7
A Word from our Archivist….. Mr Peter Burden (Class of 1961) It is always enjoyable to be in the company of other Bablake former pupils, whether those I have taught, my own contemporaries or the rather dwindling band of my seniors. I was sorry to have to miss the London Drinks gathering because of a prior commitment, especially as there were one or two people in attendance I would have loved to see again. Ironically, when it came to it I wasn’t well enough to fulfil the prior commitment either. At the Coffee Morning in March it was a great pleasure to meet Peter Godfrey, with whom I had already been in email contact. Peter had promised some Seaborne reminiscences, and did not disappoint. When Peter as a pupil requested time off to attend a wedding the Headmaster’s sharp, and at first baffling, response was “Is it blood?” Still better was that Peter donated to the archives some reports and other documents from his schooldays. Particularly revealing, I thought, was a document the Headmaster sent out to parents of pupils who were to join the School in 1941, during the evacuation to Lincoln. I had not seen this before and was delighted to find in it a characteristic Seabornean combination of concern for his young charges and brusqueness. Parents were urged not to send their sons off with more than half a crown, as "more is unnecessary and is liable to lead to temptation, to waste or to mischief.". John Law recalled being summoned to Seaborne for the cane, only for him to be sent away with the words “I cannot get down that low”. Since my last report I have also had the very great pleasure of visiting Michael Harris and swapping some memories. Michael has most generously donated many volumes in splendid condition to our library. It was good to see so many at our Reunion for the 1998 intake. The atmosphere was warm and good-natured. I don’t think I have ever known a year group disperse so rapidly afterwards. Perhaps our sharing the day with both the Royal Wedding and the Cup Final played a part in that. I do try to vary what items I put on display on such occasions and at open sessions. I was mildly amused that a plaque, in Latin, marking the opening of our swimming pool briefly confused our linguist Headmaster! Terry Patchett has decided that the board marking our stay in Lincoln, which for many years hung in our library, deserved renovation. I am also on the lookout for an appropriate picture of Lincoln Cathedral for display. Watch this space! Urged on by the enthusiasm of Mr Martin Rhodes I have decided to organise a Reunion for staff and former staff, something I last did in 2003 to mark the retirements of Ron Jones, Terry Patchett and Edward Jenkins. It will, however, have to wait until the Spring term of 2019 in order not to steal thunder from the Drama Reunion which seems already to be building up quite a head of steam. 2019 will also see the second edition of The Lion and the Stars. I think the Headmaster and I have finally come to a decision on who is going to be printing this and how it will be funded. The bread-and-butter work of the Bablake archivist goes on much as ever. I confirm former pupils' examination results, find what I can about grandfathers and others, lament the black holes in our system in the early years of the twentieth century and spend the odd happy hour as a filing clerk. I bat away friendly inquiries about the effect on me of changes in the law on data protection. One of the odder requests I have had recently is for a copy of a song on which the Old Boy concerned sang a solo in the early nineteen-fifties. We have the song on an LP, though finding how to get it onto CD was a little more problematic. At the 1998 Reunion I mentioned that John Drury is about to complete 43 years on our teaching staff. This led to a conversation with John about how close this was to a record. He had already overtaken Alfie Carter and Mark Stokes (both 1888 to 1930), F.W.Humberstone (1870 to 1911) and John Malin (1943 to 1984). He is about to equal John Lawrence (1958 to 2001). I believe his only rivals then are Gerald Atkinson, who taught here from 1914 to 1958, and Henry Mander. The latter took over the School at the age of eighteen in 1824 and remained in post until his retirement 46 years later. It would be extraordinary indeed if John were to surpass that, but you know Bablake likes to set people a challenge, John!
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Where are they now? Rod Prime (Former teaching staff) A few words from David Prescott…... We are very happy to say that Rod is currently quite well and living in a residential home not far from school! Recently, following a few posts on Facebook, quite a few former pupils enquired after him so we asked David Prescott to give us a few words….. “Having been asked to write down some of my thoughts about Rod Prime, I realised that they all really concern events after his accident. There are many former students who can better write about his scholarship and successes as a Classics teacher, English teacher, and sports coach, and I hope that they will do so. When I went into the staff room on my starting day in 1975, the first thing Ron Jones said to me was, 'You're tall, you can help with the basketball while Rod is away’. Rod was also a specialist in 'difficult' forms and I soon noticed that Bill Hayes had assigned me, a long-haired newcomer, to teach Form 4P, an 'interesting' group, which was to have been Rod's form that year. So, Rod, even in his absence, was influential from day 1 of my teaching career at Bablake. Rod had experienced a severe head injury while playing rugby on hard ground in the summer of 1975. Ron Fewtrell and Rob Jones had visited him in hospital and they were both shocked at the severity of the effects. It soon became clear that Rod's injury would not be a short term business and some strategies were put in place to help him re-adjust. The most obvious symptom was that Rod had no short term memory and remained 'stuck' in 1975. Some time later, Rod was stable enough to come back into school, where he helped out in a number of ways over the years. Under the watch of Stan Owen and John Long, he helped coach Latin; he helped with photo-copying for a while, as well as supervising in the school libraries. I always thought that it was a sign of the school's care and compassion that it tried so hard to find roles for Rod. Roy Cooke and Martin Barker were very supportive concerning his return to school. I cannot imagine that many schools would consider this option, which lasted nearly 40 years. Rod has strong likes, and even stronger dislikes. A few of his likes are beer (particularly Ruddles), Margaret Thatcher, S & K supermarket and competitions. Amongst his dislikes (best not to mention these in his presence) are Arthur Scargill, ironically Roy Cooke (overpaid), hospital consultants (one in particular... overpaid) and one of the school librarians. We tried to keep Rod involved in school life as much as we could. Ron Fewtrell, Rob Jones and I took him with school groups to see the professional National League basketball, Coventry Team Fiat as they then were. We took him to cricket and rugby matches to watch the school teams. At one Edgbaston final, Mr Sutton's head count was slightly awry on the return coach trip and Rod managed to hitchhike his way home as he had been delayed at the bar as the coach departed. Rod did manage to remember this significant event. Rod used to love listening to Joe Rolfe's magnificent meandering stories in the staff room at lunchtime and he was energised whenever Joe returned after his retirement with his gift of a four-pack of Ruddles. Rod, as they say, had deep pockets and short arms. Living in a world where, as in Monty Python, he was used to buying four pints and a Chinese banquet for 50p, he had no intention of paying today's bar prices, no intention to ever pay those prices. Rod had great memories of his teaching years at Bablake. He could, and did, recite the form lists of his forms, giving rise to my nervous twitch every time he came to 4P of 1975. Many students will have different memories of Rod, from the 1960s to the 21st century, and hopefully they will reflect upon all of his contributions to school life at Bablake.” David Prescott Former Head of Drama 9
Love is in the air We were delighted to hear of the marriage of Anna French and Will Hine (Class of 2006) Former Pupils Anna and Will met whilst at school and married on 5th August 2017 on a very sunny day at the bride’s home in a Warwickshire village.
Many congratulations to you both from all here a Bablake, we wish you many happy years together.
‘Old Wheatleyans’ Facebook Group We have a very active Facebook group called the 'Old Wheatleyans/ Bablake Former Pupils' which consists of nearly 2,000 members, with regular posts from this office, Mark Woodward and other former pupils looking for advice, sharing memories or promoting business ventures. Many former pupils have found this group to be an easy way of keeping up with what the school and what its former pupils are achieving; it also, for those of you off to undertake further study, can be a quick and easily accessed research audience for assignments. Please follow the below link and request to join the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/bablakereunited One of our recent posts is by former pupil Mike Godwin, who recently posted asking if there are many of these around… do any of our readers know ?? The metal-wire badge must be getting on for 90-100yrs old...
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Obituary Mark Whitehead 1957-2018 (Class of 1967) We were very saddened to hear of the passing of former pupil Mark Whitehead. His brother Guy (also a former pupil), has sent us s few words about Mark and his life and achievements……. “Mark was at Bablake 1967 - 1974. For note, I was there 1973 1980. In our Shell years we both had Mr E Jenkins as form master. Mark achieved an enormous amount at school. He won the Shell Trials, became a prefect and was an exceptional rugby player, playing stand off for the first XV. However, it is his extraordinary professional achievements that I would like Bablake to know of and place on its record. I am sure the school would agree Mark Whitehead's outstanding career is one to be extremely proud of. The family certainly is and we have all enjoyed extraordinary adventures in Asia over the years with Mark. The family grew up in Coventry in Finham. After achieving very well at A levels attaining 3 grade As, Mark declined to stay on at Bablake for Oxbridge, instead going to Nottingham University, where he read law, attaining a 2:2 hons. Then he attended Chester Law School, where in those days the law study was over a gruelling 6 months period. Mark passed all the law exams in the first take and was one of the highest achievers in those exams in the UK. Mark did his two years’ articles at Norton, Rose, Botterell, & Roche in the City. (The firm today is called Norton Rose) and then stayed for a short time as an associate before leaving the UK for what was to be forever. Mark moved to Hong Kong joining law firm Johnston, Stokes & Masters as an associate in the shipping litigation department. Mark then moved to law firm Hampton, Winter & Glynn and then finally in 1987 joined Jardine Matheson as an in-house legal counsel. Mark remained in the Jardine Matheson Group for the rest of his distinguished career. At Jardine Matheson Mark's career moved on from solicitor to business executive. He worked for Jardine Transport Services Group and was the Jardine Matheson Group’s senior representative for Indo-China from 1996 to 1999. He was then appointed Managing Director of Schindler Lifts Hong Kong, during which time Jardine Matheson sent Mark to Harvard University for a period. Mark on his return from Harvard was appointed as an Executive Director for Hong Kong Land. Mark's final senior executive position was as CEO of Hong Kong Airport Cargo Terminal Limited (HACTL). He was appointed there in 2010 with the specific task of steering the company through huge challenges. Under Mark's leadership HACTL continued its investment and modernisation programmes, achieving greatly in the industry, winning a host of awards. The company handles over 100 airlines and more than 1.8 million tonnes of cargo. Mark also led HACTL to become the largest freighter ramp handler in Hong Kong. Under his management HACTL's logistics subsidiary, Hong Kong Air Cargo Industry Services Limited (HACIS), went through significant expansion. Mark was a prolific and talented sailor. He started out on a Mirror 10 dinghy at Draycote Water near Rugby. In Hong Kong Mark was a long time member of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, sailing in both inshore and major offshore races. He was Commodore of the prestigious club 2014 - 2016. He died in his sleep. It was Saturday 31st March. He was just 61. Numbingly awful was that Mark had retired from Jardine Matheson only on 7th March 2018. Mark leaves two adult children, Francesca who lives in New York and Charlie who lives in New Zealand. It is with added sadness that both our parents, Diana and Tony, have survived Mark. Their loss is great.” Guy Whitehead (Class of 1973) 11
Obituary Mark Whitehead 1957 - 2018 (Class of 1967) Some school photos...
Obituaries We were also extremely saddened to hear that the following former pupils have also passed away: Name
Class of
Name
Class of
Bower Huber t
1939
Jarvis Ter r ance
1966
Netherwood Rober t
1953
Stickland Char les
1970
Wales J ames
1948
West Roger
1936
Dix Thomas (Jim)
1934
Hubert Bower May 1928 to March 2018 (Class of 1939) We were very sorry to hear of the passing of one of our oldest former pupils. Hubert passed away in March this year. Hubert was one of the many boys who had been sent to Lincoln during the war.
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Drama Productions Reunion Saturday 13 October 2018
‘LOOK NOW AN INVITATION… LOOK NOT DELIVERED BY HAND'
You are most warmly invited to return to Bablake to celebrate fifty years and more of outstanding drama. A getting together of all those who have been involved in Bablake Drama (including backstage, front of house and music) over the years seems a very exciting prospect providing an opportunity to meet again the people you worked with in plays and musicals. Reminiscence, anecdote, memories, discussion, recollection will be the order of the day with photos to look at and programmes. There may be songs from the shows but the arrangements for the day will be finalised when we know who is coming and who would like to contribute something specific. We would start the day with welcome drinks, a buffet lunch and afternoon refreshments would be provided. WIA will be there …. DFP will be there ….. and emerging from the mists of time will be Graham Nurser….. and perhaps some mystery guests!! An email with registration form was sent out in June. However, if you have not received this and do want to come along and join us on the day, please contact our Sylvia in our Alumni office sosullivan@bablake.coventry.sch.uk It is of great importance to us that you let us know asap, so that we can or ganise a successful and enjoyable occasion. Further information will be sent out once we have decided on the exact proceedings of the day. From the interest and registration forms we have received already, it should be a great event with lots of memories, fun and music!
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School Publications Online You can now read Bablake publications online. Visit the publications section of the school website using the following link: http://www.bablake.com/547/information/publications and simply click on the cover to view in an interactive PDF viewer. Published annually, the Wheatleyan is Bablake's official school magazine. Each issue celebrates the best of the preceding academic year.
Stretch appears once a year and is edited by a small group of L6th students in their work experience week. We believe it is student journalism at its best!
Sixth Formers' thoughts on Bablake and beyond
Diary Autumn 2018 Drama Reunion Saturday 13 October 2018 Spring 2019 Coffee Morning (date to be decided)
As well as highlighting forthcoming events, our termly newsletter is an instant record of Bablake’s pupils’ most recent tremendous achievements.
Summer 2018 Class of 1998 Reunion Saturday 18 May 2019
Bablake Privacy Policy
As I am sure you are aware, there are new data protection laws to help protect your personal information. Our former pupils are very important to us and we want to keep you informed of what is going on at the school. A Bablake alumni database shall be maintained and is referred to as the 'Old Wheatleyans'. The purpose of this is solely to retain contact information to enable former pupils/parents to exchange/receive relevant information and news regarding the school, including events, reunions, career advice, networking and newsletters. As has always been the case, you have the opportunity to un-subscribe at any time. We are assuming you are happy to continue receiving information from Bablake School. However, if you want to withdraw your consent, you can ask to be removed from our database by contacting our Alumni Office by emailing fpadministrator@bablake.coventry.sch.uk We will always respect your privacy and assure you that any personal information we have will be kept secure. Please see our Data Protection Policy http://www.bablake.com/terms for further information.
Contact: Email: Telephone: Website: Facebook:
Sylvia O’Sullivan - Alumni Relations Officer sosullivan@bablake.coventry.sch.uk 024 76271259 www.bablake.web-intouch.com/ www.bablake.com/former_pupils.php www.facebook.com/groups./bablakereunited Twitter: www.twitter.com/bablakeschool 14