OS Newsletter - July 2014

Old Suttonian Newsletter 2014 July 2014 | Issue No. 60

Contents 8

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Interviews ............................................ 2 OS Clergy ............................................. 6 Events / Reunions ............................. 8

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OSInterviews In this edition of the Old Suttonians’ Newsletter, we feature three OS who have not only followed their faith but also achieved distinction in religious affairs: the Very Reverend Dr John Cairns, former Moderator of the Church of Scotland and Chaplain to the Queen; the Right Reverend Douglas Milmine, former Bishop of Paraguay, missionary and prisoner-of-war; and the Venerable Amaro Bhikkhu, abbot of a Buddhist monastery in Hertfordshire.

Car Show ............................................ 10 News of Old Suttonians ................ 20 Births .................................................. 32 Deaths ................................................ 33 Marriages ........................................... 40 OS Sport ............................................. 41 Development News ........................ 47

Old Suttonians’ Association Sutton Valence School North Street Sutton Valence Maidstone Kent ME17 3HL Telephone:

01622 845294 OSA 01622 845258 Development Office

Email:

osa@svs.org.uk development@svs.org.uk

News from the School ................... 48

OSNewsletter|2014

OSInterviews The Rt Rev Bishop Douglas Milmine CBE (1939 W) Shot down over Germany during the war, and on the run for six days before being captured.

Consecrated Bishop of Paraguay during 30 years missionary work in South America.

These are just two chapters in the remarkable life of 93-year-old Douglas Milmine, establishing him as one of the School’s most distinguished alumni.

The Rt Rev Bishop Douglas Milmine (1934-39 W) and his wife Rosalind now live in retirement in a seafront flat in Eastbourne, where he recalls his days at Sutton Valence, life as a prisoner-of-war in Stalag Luft 3, and riding out on horseback to visit indigenous Indians in his vast South American parish.

Leafing through a photo album of prewar photographs taken at the School, Douglas recalls his days as a 1st XV wing forward, company sergeant major of the Officer Training Corps (forerunner of the CCF), and leader of the School’s Christian Union, an early indicator of the life he would subsequently lead.

He was also captain of swimming – but not before he and other pupils dug the hole which became the outdoor

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Douglas Milmine (front, right) and friends take shelter in an SVS trench during the 1939 'phoney war' pool, and remains the foundation for today’s somewhat more luxurious indoor complex.

After leaving SVS, Douglas went up to St Peter’s Hall, Oxford to study theology.

But with World War Two raging, he joined the RAF, and underwent basic flight training at Babbacombe, Devon, where he first met his wife-to-be Rosalind. A gifted flyer, Douglas became an instructor himself, before applying to join Bomber Command.

Aged just 22, Douglas was given command of a Halifax bomber, flying raids over Germany and France. But on his eighth mission his luck ran out, and he and his crew were forced to bale out after the plane’s engines were hit by anti-aircraft fire and burst into flames.

Landing in a small copse, Douglas tried frantically to disentangle his parachute from a tree and scrabbled around to collect up propaganda leaflets, which his plane was to drop along with the bombs. All the while he could hear the sound of German voices nearby. “I knew roughly where I was”, he says, “so I decided I would try to get to Amsterdam”.

Moving only by night and surviving on stolen apples and milk, Douglas was finally captured after six days. He had made it to Holland, but was sent to the Stalag Luft 3 camp in Germany, and remained a prisoner for the rest of the war.

In a comment reflecting his phlegmatic and humorous view on life, Douglas recalls: “Actually, it wasn’t that bad

– if you could survive boarding at an English public school then you could survive prison camp!”

After the war, Douglas went to see Donald Coggan – later Archbishop of Canterbury – to ask his advice about continuing his studies, and attended Clifton theology college before being ordained an Anglican priest in 1947.

For the next seven years, Douglas was a curate at churches in Ilfracombe and Slough, where a colleague told him there was a need for missionaries in South America.

Douglas joined the South American Missionary Society, and in 1954 boarded a ship with Rosalind and their four small children for the 31-day voyage to Chile.

They settled at the Araucanian Mission, an outpost almost 700 miles from the Chilean capital Santiago, where Douglas preached at a little wooden church that had been built half a century earlier by Canadian missionaries.

Said Douglas: “Most of the Indians spoke the Mapudungu dialect and Spanish, so I decided pretty quickly I needed to learn Spanish”.

The sheer size of Chile, coupled with relatively few Protestant Christian missionaries and just one Anglican bishop in the southern region of South America, meant that Douglas was kept busy, travelling around to Indian villages on a broken-down bike, sometimes riding 25 miles there and back.

In 1962, Douglas found that his ‘patch’ was even bigger, when he was appointed an archdeacon of North Chile, Bolivia and Peru.

After a brief spell back in England, Douglas and his wife returned to South America, this time to Paraguay – a challenging posting, because at that time the country was a dictatorship, and the subject of suspicion and criticism in the American and European media.

Based in the capital, Asuncion, Douglas at least had an improved method of transport to visit Paraguayan Indians on their ranches and villages – he was provided with a horse, sometimes taking up to eight days to ride to various ranches visiting different communities!

flourishes in Asuncion to this day.

In 1973, Douglas was consecrated Bishop of Paraguay at a service attended by nine other bishops from across South America, and his work throughout the continent was recognised in 1983 by the British government with his appointment as CBE. In 1988, Douglas and his wife moved back to England, and he retired the following year, although remained actively involved in the church as assistant Bishop of Chichester, as well as helping at his local Eastbourne church.

During the ‘90s, Doug wrote two books, his autobiography ‘Stiff Upper Smile’, and a history of Anglicanism in South America.

Today he takes life at a gentler pace, but particularly enjoys the time he spends with Rosalind and the family of one daughter, three sons, 13 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.

Interview by Richard Harvey (1963 C)

His work was not only spreading the Christian message, but also helping to develop St Andrew’s College, which

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The Venerable Amaro Bhikkhu (1973 F) There can be few Old Suttonians whose lives have taken quite such an extraordinary path as that followed by Jeremy Charles Julian Horner (1967-73 F). Or, as he’s known today, the Venerable Amaro Bhikkhu, abbot of the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire.

By his own admission, Amaro was “a bit of an anarchist” in his SVS days, although he did well academically, going on to Bedford College, University of London, and on the sports field – he captained junior teams as hooker and later played wing forward for the 1st XV, and was Kent hurdles champion at junior and intermediate levels.

“While I loved the camaraderie and friendship of school life,” he recalled, “I wasn’t too keen on rules, and sometimes got on the wrong side of the teachers.”

Amaro acknowledges that, in common with most university students in the ‘70s, “sex, drugs and rock’n’roll” provided the standard diversions. “I was a Jack-the-Lad, enjoying London parties and Kent pubs.

“But I was also taking a psychology degree, and had read about meditation and the Asian way of articulating spirituality. I began to ask myself ‘What’s missing in my life? How can I find real freedom and satisfaction?”’

In 1977 Amaro set off from the family farm in Hawkenbury and made his way to Malaysia, Indonesia and, eventually,

Thailand, where he found himself at Wat Pah Nanachat, the International Forest Monastery. It was the journey that changed his life.

Just after his 21st birthday, he became a novice, and in 1979 was admitted as a Buddhist monk of the Theravada tradition – Theravada and Mahayana being the two distinct forms of Buddhism in Asia today, having spread from their source in ancient India.

Unsurprisingly, visits back to Kent resulted in his parents and friends being “aghast, bewildered and gobsmacked”, as they contemplated his Buddhist monk’s saffron robes and shaved head.

“I’m sure everyone thought it was a phase, and I would get over it”, he said.

Amaro stayed in England to help establish a Buddhist monastery in West Sussex, and then another in Northumberland. He chose a uniquely Buddhist way of making his first journey between the two. He walked – all 830 miles.

The journey, which he chronicled in his book ‘Tudong: The Long Road North’, took three months, during which time he slept in a tent in the woods or under hedgerows, and survived with the help and hospitality of local people and a handful of Buddhist supporters.

In the mid-1990s, Amaro went to Mendocino County, California where, thanks to a donation of 120 acres of land from the abbot of a nearby Chinese/Buddhist monastery, he established a forest retreat, which respected both the Theravada and Mahayana lineages of Buddhism.

“It was wonderful, because we have been able to build bridges and create a bond between the two,” he said. “As in other religions, there are often misunderstandings within the same faith, and we have helped to overcome these.”

The Great Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, monastery, where Amaro has been abbot for the past four years, teaches Buddhist ethics and meditation, as well as offering retreats to people of all faiths which, he says, “are particularly therapeutic because of the stress levels in society.”

Amaro’s 35 years of devotion to his religion have provided him with a life which is the very antithesis of stress. As he explained: “My entire adult existence has been built around this way of life. It has met all my wishes and what I was looking for – the qualities of complete freedom, contentment and ease.”

Asked what advice he would give to today’s Sutton Valence pupils he answered: “Respect the individual, with the quality of a good heart. Be unselfish, honest and compassionate.”

“Trust your inclinations towards goodness. Don’t feel you have to fulfil other people’s expectations. And be true to your own life.”

For further information about the Amaravati Monastery and Retreat Centre, visit www.amaravati.org Amaro Bhikkhu’s videos can also be viewed on YouTube.

Interview by Richard Harvey (1963 C)

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The Very Rev Dr John Cairns KCVO (1961 M) John Cairns is one of the few OS of any generation whose ‘Valete’ notice in the School magazine contained quite such a comprehensive list of scholastic, sporting and social achievements.

Or, as he puts it today: “I suppose I was a lucky geezer really. Right place, right time!”

Which is a witty, typically OS and unassuming way of describing his early accomplishments at Sutton Valence, which subsequently led to life as a prominent minister in the Church of Scotland and, ultimately, an appointment as Chaplain to the Queen.

The Very Rev Dr John Cairns KCVO (1955-61 M) today lives a well-earned retirement in Dunbar with his former GP wife Liz, and reflects fondly on his time at Sutton Valence.

As well he might, because few pupils have been so heavily engaged in all aspects of school life. He was captain of swimming, a first XV rugby player, and represented the School at fives, tennis and athletics, as well as being selected for Kent and Public Schools teams. In addition, he was Regimental Sergeant Major in the CCF, and clerk of the house for the Hunting (debating) Society.

In his final year, John was appointed Head of School, before leaving to study law at Bristol University, and then on to a career in the City as a commercial lawyer, where his contemporaries included Tim Archer (1956-60 W).

But in 1969 John gave up law to study theology, and was ordained a Church of Scotland assistant minister in

Morayshire five years later. “It wasn’t a Damascene conversion or anything like that”, he explains. “My family were Church of Scotland, we were always engaged in church activities, and I just felt that it was something I had to do, and wanted to do”.

For the next 34 years, John served as a minister for parishes in Dumfries and Galloway, Dumbarton and East Lothian, and became increasingly involved in additional work for the Church of Scotland.

From 1984-89 he was convener of a committee looking at the welfare of ministers, both in service and retirement, while from 1993-98 he visited service personnel in Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Ireland as convener for the Forces chaplains committee.

This commitment and enthusiasm marked him out as a ‘doer’, and recognition came in 1996 when he was appointed as a Chaplain to the Queen, and in 1999 when he became Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the church’s governing body.

It proved to be an extraordinarily hard-working and well-travelled year.

With the arrival of the new millennium, John found himself visiting Presbyterian churches in 22 countries around the world, from the Far East to the USA – where he led prayers in the US Senate and even flying in to visit a church in the rebel-held area of Sudan “and trying to exit the little plane before the government bombed it!”

In 2006, John became Dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland, which led to him preaching at Crathie Kirk, the parish church for Balmoral, and invitations to join Her Majesty as a weekend house guest.

After organising the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee service at Glasgow Cathedral, John was one of the leading churchmen asked to say a prayer at the

Coronation 60th anniversary service at Westminster Abbey, which was seen by a worldwide TV audience of millions.

Meanwhile, his gifts as a speaker, which had shown so much promise during those Hunting Society debates at SVS, earned him the Speaker of the Year accolade from the House of Commons Debating Society.

John’s remarkable career in the church culminated last summer when the Queen presented him with the insignia of a Knight of the Royal Victorian Order on his retirement as Dean of the Chapel Royal.

John remains close to both of his OS brothers – Sandy (1959-1964 C), who is also a retired Church of Scotland minister living in Montrose, and Jim (19581962 M), an estate agent in Tunbridge Wells.

He also regularly sees Ed Hall, one of the English Speaking Union (ESU) (1959-60 M) students from America who was his contemporary at SVS, and they celebrated 50 years of friendship by taking a trip to Peru.

In common with so many OS, John can’t resist telling one amusing final tale about life at Sutton Valence…..

“When I was at University, I took Liz to an OS dinner and dance held at the school.”

“As I recall, I was wearing a frilly shirt and coloured bow tie. On the way in I was greeted by (former master) Michael Fairbank who said: ‘Ah, Cairns, good to see you. Are you playing in the band?!’”

Interview by Richard Harvey (1963 C)

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OSClergy Our database indicates the following whose lives have followed a religious path. Please accept our apologies if your name is not listed and let us know, of any, who should be included.

Reverend Andrew C Baldwin (1964 C).

Reverend Michael D J Barrow (1953 W) (died in 1994).

Reverend Kenneth M Bell (1948 W), Anglican Church (retired).

Mr Rupert C Bristow (1964 F).

Mr Robert K Brumbelow (1990 W), Independent Religious Institutions Professional.

Reverend W Sandy Cairns (1964 C).

The Rev Canon John H Churchill (1939 M) (died 1990).

Reverend Robert H A Cotton (1908), ordained Truro Cathedral 1912, was Curate Holy Innocents, Hammersmith at outbreak of WW1. Joined RASC and died in Italy 1918. Buried in Taranto.

Reverend Richard N H Douglas (1955 F).

Reverend Simon C Farrar (1974 C), Senior Minister of Taunton Baptist Church.

Reverend Owen R Fulljames (1920 M) (died in 1990), Naval Chaplain.

Rabbi Michael Goulston (1948 M) (died 1972), Preacher and magazine editor.

Reverend Cecil Grant (1891), Headmaster St George’s, Harpenden.

Reverend David Grieve (1968 W).

Reverend Mark Hatcher (1973 L) Barrister and Ex-Governor.

Reverend Stephen Hingston (1966 W) Minister at St Michael’s Church,Blackheath and Finance Director of two Christian charities: Tearfund and OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship).

Reverend Frank Y C Hung (1963 W).

Reverend Tunde C A Johnson (1985 M).

Reverend James Lendrum (1904), Curate of Apsley End, Hertfordshire. Killed WW1 in Flanders.

Reverend Reginald C Luckraft (1937 W) (died 1970).

Reverend Franklyn de W Lushington (1887), Headmaster Dover College.

Reverend Lionel G Meade (1902).

Reverend Canon Philip G F Norwood (1959 F), Trustee of the Churches’ Tourism Association and leads pilgrimages, going to the Holy Land.

Reverend John F Smith (1965 W) Computer Consultant and self-supporting Deacon in Anglican Church.

Reverend Mike P Strange (1963 C) (died in 2008).

Reverend Paul L Taylor (1928 W) (died in 2001).

Reverend Alec R Vidler (1918 M), (died in 1991) Dean of Windsor and Dean of King’s College, Cambridge.

Reverend William M Walker (1973 W).

Bishop John G Walsh DD (1899), Bishop of Hokkaido.

Reverend Ian H Watts (1932 M) (died in 2007).

Chaplain Reverend Peter W Warland QHC RN (1953 F), Chaplain to the Royal Naval Association.

Reverend Ian A Watson (1947 W) (died in 1991).

Reverend Prebendary Charles Wedgwood (1935 M) (died in 2003).

Reverend Jonathan G Winter (1956 L) retired Dean of Woolwich.

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Request for Emails More and more OS prefer to receive letters, newsletters etc. by email; not only is this more convenient for them, but also enables the Development Office and the OSA to contain our costs. If you have received this newsletter by post and would prefer to receive it online, please send in your

Careers Are you able to help by providing work-shadowing placements to current pupils? Please contact Rebecca Riggs, riggsr@svs.org.uk.

LinkedIn We are in touch with almost 800 Old Suttonians through the website www.linkedIn.com. To become part of the group you need to register on the site, if you haven’t already, then ‘request’ to join the group Old Suttonians. You will also see that we have seven subgroups for OS in the United Arab Emirates, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, USA and Germany.

Facebook There is an Old Suttonians page on Facebook. Please ‘like’ the page so that we may keep you informed of current news and events.

email address to Rebecca Riggs at riggsr@svs.org.uk. ‘Sutton Views’ will only be sent by email as a link to a digital book, unless you have requested otherwise, but it is also available online through www.svs.org.uk.

Old Suttonians Webpages More information on events and communications can also be found through the School’s website: www.svs.org.uk. You will find the link to the Old Suttonian pages at the top of the page on the main title bar.

Awards 2013/14 Atchison Bequest Ashley Deveson (2013 Cl) Sophie Taylor (2013 H)

Bennett-Hunting Memorial Alexander Allsebrook (2013 F) Lewis Burnham (2013 Cl) Sasha Erander (2013 L) Christopher Mitchell (2013 F)

Twitter Old Suttonians can also be found on Twitter.

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EventsReunion Regional Reunion

Continuing our yearly regional reunions, this year 60 Old Suttonians met at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. The group received a guided tour of the Palace and gardens, finishing with lunch in the Spencer Churchill room.

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Oxford Reunion The Bennett tribe had another get together in September last year. This time they were joined by Robin Palmer (1959 M) who was not a Bennett boy but a good friend in St Margaret’s. Those who attended were Keith Gilham (1959 M), Robin Hollingsworth (1957 M), Tony Ruffell (1958 M), and David Harverson (1956 M). John Allen (1957 M) and Peter Knight (1958 M) could not attend on that occasion.

Founders Reunion There must be many examples of Old Suttonians forming long lasting friendships from their time at school and that of John, Roger and Brian has been going from around 1955 to the present date, 59 years so far! Roger and John were in the same year at school and formed a bond before Brian (a year above) joined

the trio by cycling to school with Roger, six days a week and in all weathers.

After Sutton Valence John went to university to study agriculture, while Roger and Brian started working in highway and water engineering (respectively) for local authorities and going on to university later.

In time John returned to his family farm in Marden, Kent while Roger and Brian completed their own studies and became chartered civil engineers. For some years after school their lives and social activities revolved around the Maidstone area but all three were married within 9 months of one another in 1974. John married Francoise, of whose English friends, Jane, married Brian.

Roger married Constance and came back to live in Collier Street, Kent.

The friendship continued over the years and all three couples had two children each. Holidays and social visits were (and still are) regularly taken together and have continued long after the children have flown the nests to start their own lives. Although they are now living further apart (John in Marden, Roger in Chew Magna, Bristol and Brian in Sidmouth, Devon) all three couples are going to celebrate their ruby weddings together with their families this year in Etretat, France at John’s wife’s family home.

OS Friends for nearly 60 years - Roger Bowdler (1960 F), Brian Bartlett (1959 F) and John Carpenter (1960 F).

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Annual Dinner 2014 Royal Over-Seas League

This year, the OSA Annual Dinner was held in March at the Royal Over-Seas League, London. Over 100 people attended. Speeches were given by Air

CarShow On 22nd June, Old Suttonians, parents and friends joined together for a Car Show. It was a huge success and we were delighted to see over 40 cars, motorcycles and tractors on the day.

All received a medal as a memento of the day, and the winner the 1968 Dodge Charger, a tankard for ‘Best in Show’.

We hope that this will now become a regular fixture in the School’s calendar.

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Cdre R S Peacock-Edwards CBE (1957 F), Douglas Horner DL (1962 M), President-elect, Bruce Grindlay, Headmaster and Matthew Parsons, Head of School.

Let’s Talk Careers On Saturday 22nd March the School welcomed six recent Old Suttonians, who kindly gave up part of their weekend to talk about their career journeys since leaving Sutton Valence to the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Forms. The pupils benefitted from hearing about the wide range of experiences these speakers have, from starting up and running their own business, succeeding in medicine, being an army doctor in Afghanistan, travelling around the world as an Ergonomist, working as a CEO in

industry and getting into the competitive world of film and television.

They had sound advice for the School’s young people regarding A Level and degree choices, the value of work experience and networking, making the most of the opportunities offered at school, career resilience, establishing a good work ethic and employability skills.

They finished with an excellent question and answer session with the Sixth Form at the end of a very busy, but worth-

while, morning.

From left to right in the photograph: Ed Moore (1992 F), Philippa Revest (1995 V), Will Selway (2004 G), Colette Davey (2001 S), Charlie Fermor (2005 H) and Tom Britland (2008 L).

If any Old Suttonians would like to come back to the School and share their experiences with current pupils, please get in touch with Rebecca Riggs (riggsr@svs.org.uk).

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OS and World War I At the outbreak of WW1 the ex-pupils of SVS were scattered throughout the country – and also in many places abroad. When they volunteered to fight they were attracted to the Honourable Artillery Co, the London Regiment, or other TA regiments where their usually bigger and fitter bodies, better education and potential leadership qualities and experience of operating in a team environment made them the best candidates to become junior officers.

Of the OS that were killed in the war, 60% were 2nd Lieutenants or Lieutenants.

On completion of their training, they were dispatched into whichever regiment had vacancies and so a lad living in Dorset might find himself serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers, and a Kentish boy serving with the Cheshire Regiment. Thus, it is the case that there are few, if any, theatres of the war without its contingent of Old Suttonians.

They fought in SW Africa, Flanders, The Somme, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Gallipoli and Salonika. They were found in the air over the trenches and at sea.

The first to be killed in the war was F F Smythe. He died, aged 20, on 18th September, three weeks or so after hostilities commenced for the British Expe-

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The grave of Old Suttonian, Lt Ronald d'Albertanson; just two days after winning the Military Cross he was killed in the trenches ditionary Force (BEF). He was killed just south of Laon as the British Expeditionary Force was being pushed towards Paris. Smythe and his captain were in a small trench at the end of their line when a shell buried them. When extricated, they were both found to be dead.

In a letter to his mother, speaking of the retreat from Mons, the terrible effects of the German invasion and the streams of miserable fugitives, he had said, “I do not care, neither do any of us, what happens to me if only we can keep our dear old land safe from the devastating hor-

rors we are witnessing here”.

He was a regular soldier, albeit in the very beginning of his career. Few other Old Suttonians were professionals, yet, by the New Year of 1915 close on 85% of those boys of the right age to fight that left the School between 1885 and 1914, had volunteered. But not all boys were of the right age. A de C Denny, aged 16, ran away to war, twice but both times unsuccessfully.

Headmaster Holdgate intercepted his intentions, the second time catching him at Maidstone

Old Suttonian, Lt Wilfrid Chambers, killed after just two months at the front railway station just before a train arrived. The poor boy was distraught at the death of his elder brother near Ypres and determined on revenge. However, as soon as he was old enough, he went to Woolwich and signed on in the Artillery and served with distinction for the rest of the war.

There were several sets of OS brothers who fought in the war, but in only one case were both brothers killed. F W Rogers, decorated for his effort in the Dardanelles and also in Egypt, was killed when well behind the lines by a shell, as was his brother E W Rogers MC, when he stepped out of a trench that was blocked by deep water and mud. The latter has no known grave but he is remembered on the Menin gate at Ypres.

There are cemeteries in France where as many as 80% of the graves are of ‘An Unknown Soldier’. Of the Old Suttonians, 25% of those who died have no known grave, being blown to bits like Rogers or whose bodies disintegrated in the many weeks between death and recovery in those places where the battles raged for countless days and nights, without prospect of a truce to collect and pay due respect to the dead. This is the case of C R Ronaldson, aged 42 and a veteran of the Boer War who enlisted in the Sportsman’s Battalion when this war broke out and was given a commission. He was killed in an attack on the German trenches by a rifle grenade.

When the Germans counter attacked, his body had to be left where he fell.

The life expectancy of junior officers was very short. There are no accounts in our records of men being killed in their first encounter with the enemy, but a good number, like Walter Pym, did not survive long. He returned from New Zealand “to do his bit”, joined the Inns of Court OTC and was gazetted to 7th City of London Regiment. He was only two months on the front before being killed. He was on the look-out for a sniper and having spotted him was about to fire, but the sniper was too quick and shot him through the head.

He was very popular with his men, who had grown to respect him for his many acts of kindness and consideration. Stanley Gabb only lasted three weeks before being mortally wounded by a shell. He had volunteered to be a machine gunner (a dangerous occupation, which was always the target for enemy artillery).

France. He was awarded MC for gallant conduct in Palestine. Later in the war, however, he was badly gassed, and his lungs were seriously affected. In the hope that the climate would bring about the desired improvement in his health, Captain Tuke went out to South Africa in 1919. Too energetic to be content with an idle life, he worked when he should have rested, and he died in 1919 at the early age of 29.

Not all the OS were fighters. F de W Lushington, Headmaster of Dover College at the outbreak of the war became an army chaplain, joining C PointzSanderson and W F Sorsbie.

Not all fought on the ground. R E G Fulljames is famous for surviving, when outnumbered, a dog-fight with The Red Baron. Gordon Apps won an MC for his work in the skies over Italy.

His brother was less lucky; J H M Apps, 2nd Lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers was killed at Bourlon Wood. In 1917, after his Old Suttonian, Lt John Kay, killed in action company had taken several German trenches, he turned an officer out of a dug-out and, instead Fifty-five Old Suttonians died in the of shooting him, tried to capture him. war, or, like Tuke, as a result of wounds He pursued him out of the trench and received during the conflict. This repreboth of them were immediately shot by sents something in the order of 18% of snipers. all those who had left the School in the span between 1885 and July 1918. Of The last to die was not a combatant. the survivors, as well as the dead, there R M Tuke died in Jamestown, South are many tales to be told of their heroAfrica. As a captain in the Royal Army ism and their stout resolution in fighting Medical Corps he saw considerable both the enemy and the environmental service during the war in Gallipoli, Serconditions. bia, Macedonia, Palestine, Egypt and

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Battlefields Tour 2013 Last October, the OSA organised a visit by 27 members and friends to the battlefields and immaculately-kept military cemeteries. It was a salutary reminder of the astonishing sacrifice made by the School’s alumni and their outstanding gallantry.

The OS tour group visited more than a dozen military cemeteries and the headstones of some of the OS who died, where David Pickard, Hon Sec and School Archivist, recounted their stories.

They also joined the hundreds meeting under the enormous arch of the Menin Gate in Ypres, where - with the exception of the German occupation in World War Two – wreaths have been laid and the Last Post sounded every evening since 1927.

Meanwhile, the name of School alumnus, Capt H J Clifford, who died at the age of 27 leading a charge against a German trench, is commemorated at Tyne Cot, near Ypres. Tyne Cot is the largest British war cemetery in the world

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where, poignantly, more than half of the 11,000 gravestones bear the legend: “A Soldier of the Great War. Known Only Unto God”.

A tour of the battlefields is inevitably overwhelming. The massive Thiepval Memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and engraved with the names of 72,000 missing soldiers, among them 2nd Lt John Kay from Sutton Valence.

The chilly gloom of the German cemetery at Langemarck, where 44,000 soldiers were buried. The design deliberately conveys the waste and sorrow of war which, on the day the OS group visited, was softened by the sight of a spray of flowers left by some English schoolgirls. The soaring grace of the

Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge, where Pte Wilfred Eyre is remembered, one of many OS who had emigrated to Canada, but immediately returned to serve the Old Country.

But, above all, the peaceful simplicity of the cemeteries to the British and Commonwealth war dead with their rank-upon-rank of headstones. There are 180 cemeteries in the Ypres area, and a further 630 in northern France.

And, among them, the boys who left Sutton Valence School and the beauty of its breathtaking view over the Weald of Kent, never to return.

Richard Harvey (1963 C)

George Lovett Bennett, Headmaster, Sutton Valence School, 1883 – 1910 “Best of men and most inspiring of Headmasters”.

“One did not fear him; far from that: but one feared to displease him.”

“He was an idealist, but a no-nonsense one, who always made you want to do better, whatever you happened to be doing, whether at work or play.”

“He could be severe in his criticism, but he could loudly admire and praise without stint.”

These were just the right qualities needed to bring our School, into the 20th century. Goodchild had begun the process in opening up the School which had been closed for re-building in 1840, and Milligan, the Headmaster who succeeded him, also proved to have very exacting standards. Kingdon, who preceded Bennett, had been the epitome of all the benefits of education, as espoused by Dr Arnold from Rugby School; the School began to look healthy again. As our ambition blossomed along came Bennett to nurture it, and constantly to encourage the widening of all our experiences.

George Lovett Bennett was an Irishman, born near Dublin. Educated at Rugby, he was a scholar of St John’s College, Cambridge; thereafter he spent three years teaching at Rugby as an assistant master, before being appointed the first Headmaster of Plymouth College, founded in 1877, where he remained until his appointment at Sutton Valence. During that time, before coming here, and in his early years at Sutton Valence, he refused offers of headships at more prestigious establishments, principally on account of his wife’s fragile health, and a preference for clean country air.

New ideas and new buildings began to take shape as soon as he arrived. He

bought the ‘Upper’ and built a pavilion on it. He asphalted the playground (Lambe’s quad) and re-cemented the fives court (in Lambe’s) and provided it with a low back wall. By 1886 Bennett was able to announce, proudly and truthfully, that Sutton Valence ‘ranks alongside such schools as Harrow, Winchester and Marlborough’, but he must have known that although producing most excellent boys academically, and beating nearly all other local schools at games, that with our small numbers we could hardly claim the comparison was true. However, each year thereafter work and play did continue at a high level and each year the Examiner spoke very well of the results of the annual summer examinations. In 1866 six boys were at Oxford and Cambridge, representing a high proportion of leavers.

Bennett’s failing, if it can be described as such, was that he was unable to increase the number of pupils within the School, despite having a fine reputation as a Classics scholar and author of various text books, much appreciated by those who read them. The hurdles he had to overcome were typhoid in Maidstone, the distance from the nearest railway station, the high cost of maintenance of an old building perched near the top of the Greensand ridge and a late 19th century recession. But if these were not enough Bennett, was no

businessman nor a marketer either. His leadership and reputation ensured a steady, if small, supply of boys from prestigious preparatory schools in London, such as St Paul’s and from throughout the length and breadth of the country.

Whilst ‘Rugby, (educational experience, the equivalent of) but at half the price’ might have been a good marketing slogan in London, locally it seemed to cut little ice. There was a very strong likelihood that the School would be closed in the late 1800s and early 1900s and given over to the Local Authority, or

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even to be used for a non-educational purpose. The Clothworkers’ Company publically praised his efforts and results, but discreetly sought to rid themselves of the financial burden that they had so valiantly borne for more than 300 years, after taking up the responsibility of fulfilling Lambe’s legacy. That the School remained in existence and in a strong enough condition to be taken up under the wing of the United Westminster School Foundation is in no small measure the efforts of Bennett.

As news of the company’s intention leaked out in Kent, it became even harder to sustain numbers. They could have been ruthless in letting the School go and it is to their great credit (and their recognition of Bennett’s achievements) that they continued to support it until they were able to enact a transfer to the UWS Foundation.

for him did not stop at the School gate.

Perhaps it is in his legacy that this School finds its strong family community that endures today. He was an undoubted father-figure, and one much loved and respected.

Even when needing to use the severest disciplinary measures, Bennett could be quite distinctive. Whenever a boy had cause to be beaten, Bennett would always be very polite and allow the boy to choose a cane from a bundle provided. Having given the boy ‘six of the best’, he would shake hands with him and present him with the cane, telling him that the cost of it would be deducted from his pocket-money. The boy was allowed to keep the cane, which

was hung over his bed as a trophy.

When the School was taken over by the United Westminster Schools Foundation, Bennett would have liked to have continued as Headmaster. It would have been a mistake. He was in his sixties and the School was destined for rapid expansion in its numbers and in its curriculum. He made way extremely graciously for his successor, W W Holdgate. It was the old boys who were less well behaved. Holdgate found he had to overcome much resentment from this body, which he did so magnificently; the old boys’ only excuse for such behaviour was their love of George Bennett and their sadness to see him go.

One of Bennett’s great strengths was in his appointments of assistant masters.

Victor Le Fanu, a relative of Bennett’s wife, played rugby for Ireland, but was only one of a number of men who could inspire excellence of the sporting field.

Valpy was a hockey blue and Lewis, who played minor counties cricket, inculcated in his boys a love of History. Innes and Hunting taught Modern Languages and Classics respectively with great authority. In between teaching boys the difference between ‘melt’ and ‘dissolve’, Hare would tell tales of his experiences in India. These men initiated and oversaw the creation of clubs for debating and entomology, and directed plays.

Musical tuition was provided by Dr Henniker, of much fame in these parts at that time. Bennett joined the boys in their love of games, playing in OS cricket matches and attending field sports events. He was a particularly good sportsman himself. He loved riding, and would often indulge in that pursuit during a school day between lunch and late afternoon lessons.

Many boys benefited from Bennett’s guidance well after they left the School.

He was always available as a counsellor, he wrote encouragingly in failure and readily gave congratulations in success and he had connections with influential people enabling him to support boys’ ambitions in a practical way. Education Bennett in his final year with his colleagues 16 - 17

Worsfold Family Tree three generations of Old Suttonians John and Janet Worsfold (1952 M) Founded Four Jays in 1963

Jackie Coyle (née Worsfold) and Gary Coyle

Sarah and Jonathan Worsfold (1987 L) Currently runs Four Jays

Emma Worsfold SVPS 2011 Plays hockey for Kent

Henry Coyle SVPS 1999 (2006 Cl) York University - Economics Currently working for the Bank of England

Ben Coyle SVPS 2001 (2008 H) University of Bristol Economics Currently working for KPMG

Emily Coyle SVPS 2003 (2010 H) University of Westminster Currently studying Interior Architecture

Jill McVarish (née Worsfold) and Andrew McVarish

Katherine Worsfold SVPS 2014 Head Girl, Plays cricket for Kent

Fred McVarish SVPS 2002 Brunel University Currently studying Engineering

Charlotte McVarish SVPS 2005 (2012 H) Nottingham University Currently studying Geography with Business

Angus McVarish SVPS 2008 (current SVS pupil)

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Memories of Squash at Sutton Valence The discovery of two match record books from the 1970s and ‘80s, together with the photograph, has caused John McCormick, Master, i/c for c.20 years, to pen these memories.

The photograph, taken outside the courts, shows the 1st V of early 1978, with the world-famous player A. Abou Taleb of Egypt, who coached them on many occasions. ‘Abou’ had been the British Open Champion from 1964 – 1966, at a time when this competition was the de facto World Championship.

A colourful personality, a genius with a squash racket in his hand, a wonderful coach, if a trifle unreliable on the punctuality front, he had a great influence on the play of our teams over several seasons.

In the photo are (left to right) Shahid Adamjee (1978 L), John McCormick, Alastair Shaw (1982 L), Abdelfattah Abou Taleb (1985 L), Nick Shaw (1979 L), Richard Bedford (1980 M), Alan Reeve (1978 M) (Capt.1977/8).

Two courts were built in the summer of 1971, at a time when the sport was booming in UK, and opened that autumn by the HM, Michael Ricketts.

They were ‘Banbury Courts’, a type then mildly revolutionary, being constructed of sections of pre-cast concrete, the playing surfaces painted with a paint which lessened considerably the problems of sweating caused by temperature- fluctuations, from which traditional brick and plaster courts could often suffer.

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Over the next few years, teams at various age-levels played matches, mainly versus, other schools, Inter-House Competitions and Individual Championships were begun, without any notable overall standard being achieved, although one player, the 1st V No.1 for two seasons, W M ‘Willie’ Walker was conspicuously better than all others.

raised eyebrows when our youthful team, ranging in age from 14 to 18+, turned up to play club sides of (occasionally grizzled) men, but the more frequent match play brought invaluable experience and toughness in match conditions, which often proved crucial in pressure situations against other schools.

By season 1977/8, it was clear that a group of very promising and most enthusiastic players at several different age-levels was emerging and the number of fixtures was increased, although there still tended to be more team defeats than victories. The first ‘external’ success in competition came in the Christmas holidays of that season when Robert Elwell - not a home-produced player; he came fully formed from the well-known squash nursery of Holmewood House, Tunbridge Wells – won the Kent U14 Championship, defeating Graham Cowdrey of Wellesley House, son of the famous Test cricketer Colin, while Nick Shaw played for the Kent U16 team in the S E Inter-Counties competition.

So we were able to establish ourselves firmly among the strong squash schools of Kent and Sussex, though only occasionally could we get the better of such as King’s, Canterbury and Tonbridge; bigger schools with long-standing squash traditions.

For season 1977/8, in a search for more match play, it was decided to enter the 1st V in a low division of the recently-created Outer Kent League for adult club teams. This produced a few

The six year period from 1977-1983 was a Golden Age for squash at SVS. In addition to the 1st V players in the photo, others who made an immense contribution to the sport were: Duncan Clark , Wade Kirkaldie, Rob Elwell, Guy Beckett, Dirk Siewert (Capt.1982/3), Asad Zia, Robin Thomas, Alistair Court, who all played many matches at 1st V level and there was always reliable backup from Mike Darling, Nick Leggett, Toby Foulkes, Nick Ward and others.

The (almost frantic) level of squash activity in these years can be judged by the statistic that Richard Bedford (1stV 1977-80), Alastair Shaw (1978 -82) and

Dirk Siewert (1979-83) all played over 100 matches at 1st V. They, and others, had begun their 1st V careers while still Juniors. Both Richard Bedford and Alastair Shaw reached Kent Junior Semi-finals or Finals and represented Kent at U16 and U19 levels, though neither succeeded in adding another County title to that of Rob Elwell in ’76.

These were memorable years, intensely enjoyable for both players and organisers, when lasting friendships came into being.

By the end of 1983, however, it became clear that, disappointingly, the ‘production-line’ (which hitherto had functioned so successfully) of young,

promising players likely to make their way through to 1st V was faltering badly and the standard at top level would not be high enough to make participation in the Kent (Men’s) League viable. So the fixture list was considerably reduced and this caused a decline in standards.

We continued to play matches against other schools, but team success was infrequent and further decline seemed inevitable.

In the years following, several players stood out for the quality or determination they showed Chris Leach (a multitalented sportsman, who was also a superb Rugby Fives player), Russell Blanchard (1990 F), David Plommer (1986 W) and Nick Griva (1989 L), who

would run until he could run no more.

However we had scant strength in depth at any level and the sport stuttered slowly to what I imagine was a near-halt. Match records after 1985 have ‘gone missing’. I should be intrigued to learn what competitive squash takes place nowadays.

By John McCormick (Ex Master 1964-2005)

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News of Old Suttonians BARTON, Benjamin (2000 W) Ben is an artist who works on paper and film. As well as publishing his writing in books and magazines, he also handcrafts ‘visual poems’ on super-8 film. Since 2008, these have been selected for over 25 film festivals, and have also screened at many film nights and art events. The films have also been selected by the BBC for the ‘Big Screen’ UK outdoor screening project and broadcast several times on Sky television in the UK. Website: www.benbarton.co.uk.

German Linguistics (1981-1986). Whilst he was a student, in London, he taught part-time at the then Polytechnic of Central London for a couple of years and at Goldsmiths’ College. In the late eighties, he worked at Essex University for 4 years on the EUROTRA Project, developing computer translation. In 1990, he changed tack and became a schoolmaster, teaching French and German at Lancing College and he has been there ever since. Andrew was a Housemaster from 1998 to 2010 and recently became Head of the French Department.

BAYAT, Mostafa (1957 L) Mostafa would be very happy to hear from any of the Old Suttonians wherever they are and be glad to meet them in Istanbul.

He is married to Hannah, in 1986, and has four children, the youngest of whom is now 20 and two of the four are working, one has just finished university and one in his second year.

After leaving the School, Mostafa stayed in London until 1959 and then to the University of Arizona to study Political Sciences. In 1963 he returned to Iran and joined the Foreign Ministry. In 1966 he went on a mission to the consulate in Geneva, 1972 to Brussels to the Iran Embassy and 1977 to a new mission in Ankara. It was here that he married his wife and has 2 sons. His eldest son is Bahman, who has his own business in Istanbul and younger son Kerim, is a lawyer.

Andrew still comes to Kent to see his parents (his father was in St Margaret’s during the war) but has not been to the School for a number of years. He is in touch with John Harcourt and recently has been in touch with Simon (Seymour-) Marsh (1977 F). He has also made contact with some OS via LinkedIn.

In 1979, the Iranian revolution happened and everybody had to find a job for himself and the system changed. In 1983, they went to Istanbul and have lived there ever since. Mostafa goes frequently to Iran trying to save whatever was taken away from them. Sometimes his is successful but there are many problems to overcome. During those years he has been in contact with Shaukat Fancy (1959 L) and Chai Diskul (1958 W). Sadly Shaukat has since passed away.

BETTS, Andrew (1977 F) After leaving Sutton Valence, Andrew studied Medieval English at Durham (1978-1981) and then went to UCL to do a Linguistics Diploma and a PhD in

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BRAY, Tony (1958 F) We have recently re-established contact with Tony. After leaving the Royal Navy and Submarine Service, he has been on several assignments with the Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA). He is living in New Zealand.

from 1995 until his retirement in 2008 and is active in the Church of England as a Reader in Trinity Benefice, Folkestone. He graduated from London University as an external student at Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, has taught on Voluntary Service Overseas (in Rwanda), was the second Director of the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA), and then Dean of Student Services at London South Bank University. He has also been a specialist adviser to a House of Commons select committee, edited and written for various educational publications and chaired Kent SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education). He holds a Master’s degree in Public Service Administration and a Diploma in Counselling and is the author of six books of prayers for Kevin Mayhew. He is married to Sarah, with two grown-up sons, Michael and Richard. Rupert is also an Honorary Fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University and a life member of Kent County Cricket Club. He is currently chair of trustees of Folkestone Rainbow Centre and a member of Elham deanery synod.

If you would like to find Rupert’s book of prayers and other material, Google his name or look on the Kevin Mayhew website.

One message Rupert would like to say to current students at the school is: “Don't leave it late to try writing for publication. If you have an idea, just go for it!”

BRITTON, Clyde (1954 W) Clyde has been married to Angela for 40 years and they have 2 sons.

BRISTOW, Rupert (1964 F) Rupert was Director of Education for Canterbury Diocese and a governor of Canterbury Christ Church University

Clyde worked for Rank Xerox UK Ltd/Xerox Corporation for 20 years until 1997. He achieved the Xerox Corporation Presidents nomination award twice as well as winning the premier Rank Xerox UK Honours Club on two occasions. Since his retirement, Clyde has worked in many countries for many very

successful companies.

In 2010, Clyde was awarded The Parachute Regiment Association medal for “Outstanding Service”.

Clyde, with his own horses, competed in the UK National Dressage Championships on many occasions and rides out on occasions. He is a Life Member of Windsor Park Equestrian Club and is a British Horse Society registered Riding Instructor. Recently, Clyde started practising Tai Chi at his local Port Solent sports club.

BURTON, John (1949 DB) After leaving the school John experienced numerous bouts of indecision.

The war was still on and there were a number of trouble spots brewing in the World, not least Korea, Malaya, Cyprus, and eventually Kenya.

John wanted to help, but did not know in which direction he should turn.

Horticulture seemed a good starting point, so he enrolled at the Kent Farm Institute from 1951, 52 and 53. Graduating from there he was almost immediately called up for the army with instruction to report to Canterbury, where he was enlisted in the Royal East Kent Regiment – the Buffs, – 3rd of foot.

It seemed that he had found something that he wanted to do and after a series of courses ended up as a training instructor at the depot, where he stayed for two years. Being discharged in 1954.

Again at a loose end and not knowing what to do, the only thing that he had made up his mind about was farming.

This was now well and truly off his radar.

So he started to shop around, soon learning that the Police were looking for people to go out to Kenya he went up to London, was given the forms to fill in and was asked to attend an interview the next day. The following day, after an interview with three men, he was asked to wait outside and soon was called in and offered a job as an Inspector in the Kenya Police. Within a month he was in Kenya, and dispatched to the General Service Unit, as 21i/c a platoon. His next two years were spent in a tent, doing very similar things as he had done in the army and quite happy with his lot!

To cut the tale short, he ended up in

Kenya until 1966 and was discharged with the rank of Superintendent.

At 33 odd he was looking for work and did not know what he was going to do! Through the Overseas HM Service he attended the London Polytechnic where he was offered the opportunity for a bachelor degree in Business Administration. John stuck it out for around six months and decided that his path had to be different than trying to compete with 18/19 year olds.

Again luck played a hand. Selection Trust was looking for people to staff their Diamond Mining Operation in West Africa. He applied and was accepted. In the 12 years that followed he ended up in Command of the Fire and Security Department.

Then it came time to move on, Sierra Leone was getting more and more unsettled; they had already been through 3 coups. John now had a family to consider, having a Canadian wife and a small son. He applied to Dow Chemical, Canada and was accepted into their Fire and Security Department. John ended up as the Manager of Eastern Canada Operations and Canadian Region Security and Internal Emergency Services; being offered a ‘golden handshake’ in 1997 which he could not refuse!

John’s 17 years of retirement, have passed quickly and been quite fulfilling.

CAPON AM OBE, Edmund (1958 L) Edmund recently presented a threepart programme, on ‘Art in Australia’.

He had a distinguished career in the Arts world, culminating in becoming Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. During his 33 years as leader of the institution, Capon steered it to "become one of Sydney's most loved cultural institutions, one that received 1.3 million visitors" in 2010. He was "its public face: ebullient, unorthodox, ready with the pithy quote but erudite, a Mandarin-speaking scholar of Chinese art.”

CHANCE, Robert (Ex Staff 1993) Bob writes, “Relying on my past experience of teaching English Literature and producing plays, I recently directed and

took part in a Shakespeare evening of drama and music, performed to an encouragingly large audience in Headcorn Parish Church. It consisted of short extracts from seven of Shakespeare's plays together with music of the period, the singing of madrigals and the playing of recorders. I enjoyed playing Malvolio (Twelfth Night), Justice Shallow ( Henry IV. Pt. 2) and John of Gaunt ( Richard II ) as well as being part of the Madrigal Group. I was delighted to see Geoff and Pam Piper in the audience; Geoff was a former Head of Physics, i/c the RAF section of the School's CCF and a former House Tutor of mine in St Margaret's House.”

CHANTLER, E David (1954 F) Edward David Chantler (1954 F) Chair, Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, receives an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List for services to farming and rural communities in Kent.

CLARKSON, David (1950 M) After leaving Sutton Valence, when National service was still in force, David filled in time in the farming world, before joining the RAF where he trained as a wireless operator and spent some time as the wireless operator on an Air Sea Rescue launch based at Felixstowe - a very different place in those days and later spent a year at Butterworth in North Malaya.

He married in 1969, has a son and daughter and qualified as a Chartered Auctioneer becoming a Chartered Surveyor, retiring as senior partner of a Norwich-based practice in 1990.

His hobbies were motoring and sailing, his first car, an SSII was older than him - it was followed by an SS100, XK120 and E type, but then he 'took to the water', bought a Broads yacht and spent many happy times as a member of the Yare Valley Sailing Club cruising the rivers and Broads of Norfolk and Suffolk.

David has been dogged by family illnesses for over twenty years, but he says “there have been special times - for many years we owned a second home in Victoria on Vancouver Island, B C and enjoyed some splendid sailing there with friends.”

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“Not having an eye for a ball, summer terms were spent gardening for the delightful second master 'Gammy' Kay (R L Kay, OS and a much respected master – a real Mr Chips if ever there was one.

He won an MC in WW1 and most thought he got his limp in that conflict, but the real reason was a lot more mundane…) where, with Chris Northover (1950 W) they busied themselves weeding his strawberry beds - as he does now some sixty plus years later.”

COYLE, Emily (2010 H) and SIMMONS, Alice (2011 G)

adjacent. Depending on the user requirements, the multi-functional partition can be pulled out from the wall for a large office or tucked away for a sleek and clean finish.

Lee Polisano, Partner at London architectural firm PLP, one of five judges on the panel – commented: “The winning entry demonstrated a truly imaginative approach, with originality and innovation that allows a modular use of living space. The complex design, created from such a simple yet intelligent idea, was presented to a very high standard.”

the family are becoming more permanently rooted in Tunbridge Wells and keeps in good contact with a number of other Old Suttonians.

EDWARDS, Leslie (1961 L) The Gardens team at Sutton Valence were delighted to receive a lawnmower donated by Leslie.

Winning the competition gave them a boost in confidence particularly when they found out they were overall winners. The design being chosen over those of industry professionals, giving them a flavour of the real world, and of course it’s a bonus on their CV. EVANS, Charles (1991 L) Having served on or under four oceans in five warships and a submarine, visited over 40 countries and deployed to Afghanistan, Commander Charles Evans is now in charge of logistics at Plymouth Naval Base, following the mandatory stint in Whitehall.

Emily and Alice won the inaugural Collective Design Award at a ceremony in London.

In their final year of studying BA Interior Architecture, at Westminster University, Alice and Emily had a short one week project to come up with an innovative solution of live work spaces at a site in Bayswater for The Collective LTD. The brief was a 'room of transient dreams' and one of the main aims of the competition was to promote conversation and explore the possibilities and challenges of small spaces. Exploring ways in which the space can combine functionality, good design and innovation.

Their design was based around an inventive sliding partition design, which acts both as a modern kitchen on one side and a practical office space on the

After 12 years near Winchester, the family recently moved to Bideford where the North Devon coast and two moors provide ample opportunity to exercise three young boys while Charles and his wife Hannah, a writer, embark on holidays, events and business at Hallsannery.

EDWARDS, John (1988 F) John is now Managing Director of the BrokerTec electronic trading business owned by ICAP Plc (FTSE 250), overseeing all aspects of the business and managing a team of about 20 people across Sales and Account Management, Product Development and Customer Support for electronic trading of fixed income products for the EMEA region.

BrokerTec is the leading Fixed Income trading platform for professional institutions, offering trading in UK Gilts, US Treasuries and European Government Bonds and Repo.

John and his wife, continue to spend their time between London and Tunbridge Wells, but with a new addition to

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When time allows and when he’s not waiting for the perfect wave at Westwood Ho, Charles still indulges in playing the organ at the local church.

FLIN, Rupert (1961 M) Rupert was very interested in Richard Mant’s piece in the previous newsletter (No 59) about his memories of the recently deceased Bob Hanworth. As a contemporary of Richard’s, he shares his views on Bob Hanworth, his deputy House Master and English teacher. He well remembers his breezy style, sitting (or perching) anywhere except behind the rather imposing desks used at the time, in keeping with his informal, but informative style.

His interests were diverse, indeed he several times diverted away from English Literature to explain the workings of a car engine (he had a Ford Prefect) and how the distributor could be likened to the heart of the engine, the oil the blood, etc. As a budding petrol-head, Rupert was fascinated. “He will be greatly missed.”

FREMANTLE, Charles (1951 M) Charles has published a book "Wellington's Voice" and a new one on Nelson's Band of Brothers will come out in 2015. His 3 children and seven grandchildren keep him busy and, of course, the fishing.

HAGGIS, Ian (1946 M) Ian was asked to reminisce about his School days, but told us that when started he couldn’t stop. He states that “it may not present a favourable image of the School but of course those were very different times, with no Health and Safety and so much more freedom. It does illustrate a degree of resourcefulness which is surely still encouraged today.”

Ian attended Sutton Valence from 1942 to 1946. They were war years and some of his memories relate to the war.

The School did not evacuate, as many public schools did during the war and prided itself in being the School closest to the enemy. Although, it was a much safer place to be than somewhere closer to London, he did see some of the action.

Ian remembers a small group taking a cycle trip down the hill around Headcorn, where the German bombers would jettison any of their remaining incendiary bombs into the hopfields on their return flights and where due to the softness of the soil, they did not detonate. They would return with their saddlesbags full.

They would then gather in the cycle shed behind St Margaret’s, unscrew the heads and empty out the thermite. The heads and one of the bomb cases would be taken up to Bloody Mountain and detonated. The succession of detonations was clearly audible to those remaining in the School.

Subsequently, a meeting in the cycle shed was convened and the store of thermite was lit with some difficulty, but once lit, burnt with such intensity, that the whole incandescent mass dropped through the cycle shed floor. Ian can only remember that happening once.

Once detonated, the bombs were reassembled and stored for the rest of the term along the hot water pipes in the junior and senior common rooms. Matron, after some persuasion, allowed the boys to store a good number between the spare mattresses which were kept in a small room at the end of the dormitory in St Margaret’s.

At the end of term they took their bombs home and converted them into table lamps to give to their parents, who they felt did not sufficiently appreciate them, considering the effort involved.

Ian still has a couple in his loft.

Very occasionally they were able to get to downed aircraft before officials took over and they had substantial numbers of unused cannon shells, which they later dismantled at School under the expert eye of their own firearms expert, who had an unbelievable knowledge of fire arms in general and pistols in particular, actually owning a Luger.

He contributed much to the safety during those procedures. A variety of distress flares, light pistols, aircrew goggles and other small aeronautical treasures were always available for swapping.

Ian states “I don’t suppose we would get away with all this at Sutton Valence now”.

One other vivid memory that Ian has of those years was the V1 flying bombs, or doodlebugs, which for a time flew past almost every night and sometimes during the day, heading for London. At night the very recognisable sound of their engines woke them and they would all rush to the dormitory windows and watch them roar through, flying very low with their fiery tails. In an effort to counter these attacks and to bring these buzz bombs down before they reached London, various zones were allocated by the authorities for anti-aircraft guns, fighter aircraft and barrage balloon. They were in the

fighter zones, where the fastest fighters at the time, mainly Tempests and Mustangs, would be scrambled as the buzz bombs came over the coast and had just the speed to be able to chase them and shoot them down, or to gently tip their wings, disorientating their gyroscopic control, when they spun to earth. Several crashed and exploded around the area.

Ian doesn’t remember so much about the academic side of life, but it did get him into Veterinary School!

HARBER, David (1965 C) After Sutton Valence, David enrolled at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester to study Farm Management.

After his 3 years at RAC, David took a gap year, starting as a stockman for the Hereford Herdbook Society, taking 20 cattle to South Africa on the Southampton Castle liner. He then went on to sell encyclopaedias and clothing door to door in Durban, then came back as dining room steward on the Windsor Castle.

He completed Chartered Surveyor exams whilst working on the Fens, and went off to Nairobi as a valuer, starting his own firm, Kenya Valuers and Estate Agents, in 1978. He has had many adventures, including being kidnapped on one job and escaping by a midnight

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swim across a tidal estuary. David is very happy in Kenya with his wife and three children, and has recently taken up kite surfing and gyro-coptering.

David would welcome news from old friends on daudi@kenyavaluers.com.

He keeps in touch with Chris Wheeler (1964 C), Colin Hosmer (1965 C), Robert Lynden Bell (1965 L) and Jonathon Sewell (1964 L).

HARRISON, Neville (1956 L) Neville retired from full-time employment in 1999, but continued as a consultant tunnelling specialist on the HS1 scheme. He has advised ‘Tyne Tunnel 2’ on water-leakage problems with the second Tyne Tunnel. Currently on the Mott MacDonald Challenge Team working on the cross rail, sprayed concrete, station works. He stopped playing cricket in 2012 and now plays golf.

Neville has two grandchildren, living in Cornwall, who they visit from time to time.

HARVEY, Richard (1963 C) Richard chaired the centenary fundraising committee at The Caldecott Foundation, Smeeth near Ashford, Kent, which cares for some of Britain’s most vulnerable children, all victims of physical or sexual abuse, cruelty or neglect.

The task was to raise £750,000 to provide vocational training facilities for older children, to teach them workplace skills such as construction, car mechanics and hair and beauty.

Fundraising events included a concert at the Royal College of Music, a London art auction and a garden party at Doddington Place, while more than 20 charitable foundations and trusts also contributed to the fund, including The Marsh Trust, founded by Old Suttonian, Brian Marsh OBE (1958 L). The campaign was hallmarked with a thanksgiving service at Canterbury Cathedral, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The target was achieved last year, and the new vocational training centre was formally opened in October. And there was one rather large bonus - as a result of the centenary campaign, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation donated an addi-

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tional £198,000 towards Caldecott's therapy services.

HATTERSLEY-SMITH, Richard (1987 F) Richard recently bought a classic Georgian property in the centre of Edinburgh which he is running as a guest house. He would be pleased to offer accommodation to Old Suttonians visiting Edinburgh at very reasonable price. See www.lanternguesthouse.com for full details.

HENDERSON, Lee (1983 L) Lee has developed Alert5® an iOS and Android app that has been designed to alert up to five people in the handset’s contact list with the exact location of the handset and its owner, at the touch of a button.

The app is designed to be simple to use, one tap to start the app and one tap to send the alert, as time is of the essence in an emergency.

The recipient will receive maps detailing who the alert is from and exactly where they are located. The app also tracks the handset for ten minutes in case the person who raised the alert is moving.

Alert5® was initially developed with the younger generation in mind when out and about in cities and where there is increased threat late at night. But, after discussions with many people and organisations it has become very apparent that Alert5® is applicable to many different people regardless of age and gender and can be used in a variety of ways. Alert5® may assist any lone worker / person, from security guards protecting premises to walkers on the Brecon Beacons where assistance may be required urgently, both on and off the beaten track. Similarly, elderly parents could easily press the button to alert their family when they need assistance which is not life threatening and does not require the emergency services.

Alert5® was launched in early August 2013. They are keen to link to as many companies / charities as possible so please contact Lee Henderson, 01892 574011, 07710 414583, lee.henderson@4productions.co.uk.

HOBSON, ALLAN (1952 M, ESU) Allan was delighted to learn that his memory (otherwise calamitous) was sharp for people and events of 62 years ago. This personal vividness was shared by his SVS friends who came to dinner at the Hotel Montague (Michael Beaman, Michael Everest, John Melvin and Michael Vant), his luncheon companions at the Travellers' Club (Dai Dodd and David Bunker) and his telephone contacts (Paul Anderson and Roddy Playfair). We all had great pleasure in remembering and in agreeing about our lasting impressions. The moral would seem to be that school is important as a social experience and that we learn as much from each other as we do in class.

To honour this principle and his former headmaster Brian Aspinall, Allan has given Bruce Grindlay, Headmaster, an endowment for a Speech Day Book prize for a student who shows notable originality outside the classroom. Alan writes “My only regret is that my time in London was too short and my reminiscences too few”.

HYLANDS, Peter (1968 F) and MARKS, Malcolm (1972 F)

On a visit to Afzalpur Village, Bangladesh, Peter met up with Dr Malcolm Marks (1972 F) and friends who are part of a British (UKaid through the Department for International Development) and Australian Government (Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade) led Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP). The CLP is implemented by Maxwell Stamp PLC, a UK based consulting firm and managed in Bangladesh

by Malcolm.

The chars are areas of sedimentation that may form islands or be precariously attached to the river bank. The CLP concentrates its efforts on island chars

that form in the major river systems of Bangladesh. Like many poor people on earth, chars communities are very much in the front line of the impact of climate change as flooding, river speed and subsequent erosion become increasingly problematic. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra (known in Bangladesh as the Padma and the Jamuna Rivers), deposit the silt washed down river at times of flood from India and Tibet. It is the silt that makes the chars so fertile, but traditionally precarious for those who live there.

with the CLP continue as he is moving into the project director position as part of his new role with MSP. Another new venture for Malcolm and his wife is to run a "chambres d'hôtes" in the beautiful part of RhôneAlpes where they live.

JACOB, Geoffrey (1945 M) At School in the early 1940s, Geoffrey writes “I was not academically gifted”.

He took from the School a good Christian grounding, as reflected in the School motto.

Last year, Geoffrey had a two week tour back to England catching up with two Old Suttonians, Mike Hogg (1947 M) and John Woodruffe (1945 M) in Cornwall.

JANNEH, Safia (1987 S) We have re-established contact with Safia. She is now an accountant living Stockholm.

KING, William (2009 G) Since leaving Sutton Valence, William graduated with First-Class Honours in Politics and International Relations at Lancaster University and is currently studying for an MA at King’s College, London. He also plans to study to Ph.D level, with an MPhil offer from Cambridge and a Ph.D. application under consideration at King’s College, London.

KNOTT, Jeremy (Ex-Governor)

All are over 85, but in Geoffrey’s words “still managing to totter around”.

What has occurred in the Jamuna River chars villages in the districts of Kurigram, Bogra, Gaibandha, Sirajganj and Jamalpur during phase 1 (20052010) is a remarkable transformation.

Here the combination of British Government funding (assisted in recent times in phase two by the Australian Government) and clever planning, the first phase of the programme has lifted some 55,000 households above the waterline and out of the devastating poverty trap in which these households once lived.

Phase two of the CLP programme which began in 2010 is lifting at least a further 67,000 households from extreme poverty. When complete the two phases of the Chars Livelihoods programme will have assisted some 500,000 core participants and benefited at least two million chars residents to participate in the ongoing economic and social development.

Malcolm has now left Bangladesh to work out of France. However, his links

JAINI, Azz (2003 M) A group of Sutton Valence pupils visited Brunei last year to undergo jungle training with the garrison, as well as enjoying some sight-seeing and assisting with community projects. Sutton Valence teachers, Glen Millbery and Christine Kitchen met up with Azz when he went to the camp and picked them up and went to Tuker Lines, the main Army Garrison. Both taught Azz when he was at the School and they had a good time catching up.

JAMES, Ghillie (née Studd) (1993 V) Ghillie’s latest book (her third) came out in July last year called ‘Amazing Grains’. It includes recipes using all the latest healthy grains that we should be eating such as quinoa, chia and freekeh as well as the favourites - rice, oats, wheat etc. The book is available from Amazon and all major bookshops.

Jeremy has recently returned from a six month secondment to SE Asia region (of ICAEW) spending three months in Singapore and three months in Kuala Lumpur where he worked with the local offices on exploring commercial opportunities.

The company has over 3000 qualified Chartered Accountants in the region working for accountancy firms or businesses (both local and multi-national).

They launched two executive leadership programmes out there which have been very successful in the UK: F-TEN (Finance Talent Executive Network) for aspiring CFOs and Women in Leadership to help women increase their presence at Board level.

Whilst out there, Jeremy took full advantage of the location and explored some of the regional locations like

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Ankar Wat in Cambodia, the beautiful beaches in Bali, Langkawi and Borabudur in Indonesia.

LICENCE, Ian (1977 C)

A few years ago, he was asked to come down for the OS Hockey matches and instead of playing, he brought his son Sammy. He had an old photograph taken by Ben Brown (1978 F) of himself by the wall in the quad. Ian and Sammy recreated the photograph with Sammy in shot as he had just played as a "ringer" in the OS 3rd team. Ian writes, “A lot of happy memories came flooding back.”

Licence Father and Son

1st XV Rugby

1st XI Hockey Ian Licence is now living in Oxfordshire and married with one son Sammy, aged 21. He started his career as a teacher and moved into Human Resources. He was HR Director for a number of FTSE 50 companies and is now working within the TATA group.

Having qualified and started to umpire cricket matches, he recently caught up with Mark Benson (1977 M) and they chatted through old times and old friends. Ian managed to send him some old school photos of them in the U15 Cricket, 1st XV Rugby and 1st XI Hockey teams. He also caught up with Willie Knocker (1977 C) on email and sent him some old school photos. Ian writes “It's amazing what you can find in those boxes in the attic and it was even better to catch up with some old friends.”

LICENCE, Simon (1980 C) Simon lives in Bahrain and has been there for twenty years. He is married and has three children, all of whom swim like fish and as well as he did.

Simon's eldest son has represented his adopted country at swimming, whilst Simon's daughter has also represented the Bahrain full national football team and played in the women's football World Cup. LION, Donald (1962 M) Donald has now concluded a 50 year career in construction that took him from the UK to the Caribbean and Florida. There were some qualifications gained, some interesting projects along the way and some notable clients as diverse as minor nobility, billionaires and some stage/screen personalities. In between there was sports car racing and rallying, which got a mention in the Kent Messenger.

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Peter finally retired last August. He and his wife Karen, will now live permanently in what was their second home on Hayling Island, right next door to the marina where they keep a sailboat. The exciting thing for them is that they have just bought another boat, which they will keep in the Med. It is a 43ft sailboat currently sitting in Spain whilst he does various upgrades but in the spring this year, they will sail to the Greek Islands, where they will keep the boat for the time being. The idea is to sail out there in the hip seasons and then sail the one in the UK in our summer.

He has two children, Adam who builds racing cars and Caroline who has her own clinic and is an Osteopath. His e mail is litchuk@aol.com should anyone still be around from Lambes 1961 era who remembers him and would be happy for them to get in touch.

MCGANNAN, Sophie (2013 S)

For the past 16 years, Donald has worked on lighting for the nationally televised Fort Lauderdale Pageant and since 2005 worked with a Bahamian foundation that provides free housing, indoor plumbing and kitchens.

Donald states, “although a bygone era, I have fond memories of Sutton Valence – even that heinous institution of fagging! Despite being independently minded, I benefited greatly.”

U15 Cricket Team

LITCHFIELD, Peter (1961 L)

Sophie is now living in Saint-Omer France teaching English in a private boarding school for children aged 11-18.

Sophie states, “It's very hard work and I

now feel very bad for having ever misbehaved in a lesson or annoyed a teacher at Sutton Valence. Unfortunately, the school life here isn't quite as much fun as Sutton Valence and having shared The Suttonian, my yearbook and numerous pictures and stories with my pupils, they now all want to come to Sutton Valence; so it's my doing if you have 300 new additions in September!”

She also volunteers at the local animal shelter in the town and just taking general trips around Europe when she can, as well as waiting on university offers.

MELVIN, John (1953 W) John advised and designed the plinth of a sculpture of Bishop Wardlaw, founder of St Andrews University which shows The Bishop holding up the papal bull which confirmed, St Andrews as a university in 1413. The sculpture was part of the 600 years celebrations.

Unable to consult in the production of wine, he took on a wine, food and travel radio programme and found himself on the best side of a wine glass all over Europe and South America. He stopped at Barbados to beg forgiveness from his old fagmaster, Martyn King (1964 L), who very kindly showed them his wonderful island. While in London, visiting their eldest son and his husband, they slipped out of town to visit two other Old Suttonians, who introduced them to some delicate and well-made whites from Sussex. Eric states, “and I thought the British only made first rate sparkling wines!”

They have kept a home in West Chester, PA, USA, but this year are spending most of the winter in Florida, where they are plotting their next European landing, which he swears will include his first return to see the Sutton Valence campus in......40 years.

MOYCE, Jonathan (2005 Cl) Since getting promoted into the Rugby Union championship with Ealing Trailfinders, Jonathan has decided to turn his head towards business.

After 2.5 years at the British Standards Institution an opportunity came up that he couldn't turn down. His partner’s uncle owns a pet product manufacturers in the US and wanted to establish a market in the UK and Europe, so worked with Jonathan to set up a company under his brand. Jonathan is now the owner of ‘Loving Pets UK’.

Loving Pets UK are manufacturers / suppliers of designer pet bowls and treats. They manufacturer a number of designs at their manufacturing sites in India and China, they also manufacture all natural treats in a production facility in the US. Loving Pets designed the "Bella Bowl" which is the best selling bowl worldwide, currently selling 500,000 bowls every month. They also have many other designs and treats which can be seen on the website www.lovingpetsproducts.com.

Jonathan is extremely excited about this opportunity. They are already the largest suppliers of bowls to ‘Pets at Home’ and ‘TK Maxx’ and accounts are growing every day.

Jonthan says, “The pet industry is a fun place to be. The people are nice, business is fun and making our pets’ lives more enjoyable is our motivation to continue producing quality products.”

MURPHY, Spencer (1996 F) Spencer won Taylor Wessing Photographic Prize at a London gala in November last year. He took the shot of jump jockey Katie Walsh at Kempton Park and won a cheque for £12,000. His work was selected by judges from 5,410 submissions. The work went on show at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

MENDEL, John (1950 M) John recently contacted us and is now retired from farming and living in Gloucestershire.

NEVE, Lauren (2006 L) Lauren has taken on the role of Club Link Officer for the County Sport Partnership, ‘Active Essex’ based at Essex County Council. In this role she will be working on creating opportunities for young people to take part in sport by linking secondary schools and colleges to community clubs. This is an initiative funded by Sport England for the next 3 years, with the main aim of reducing the drop out of young people in sport and to create sporting habits for life.

MILLER, Eric (1964 L) Eric has become very busy since retiring. In the past few years, he and his wife have sold both of their wineries and found a publisher for ‘The Vintner's Apprentice’ (now into second printing!)

Prior to this role, Lauren was lucky enough to be a Games Maker at the Paralympics at the Goalball competition held in the Copper Box. Lauren says “This was an amazing experience and I felt very privileged to be a part of show-

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casing what Great Britain can do to the rest of the world.”

Sport is a big part of her life, and is a passion which started from an early age.

She feels very lucky that she has turned something she loves into a career, and continues to broaden her skills by achieving new qualifications. This has recently included gaining Level 2 Ski Instructor badge, which she hopes to use on future ski trips.

PARKER, James (Jamie) (2010 M)

Robert was over from Australia and visited the School in the summer of last year, along with one of his daughters.

PERRY, C Lawrence (1970 M) In 1977, Lawrence worked as a volunteer in a children's hospital in Jerusalem, Israel, which led him to change from pursuing an accountancy qualification to a nursing one, and achieved his SRN in 1982. He added to that a BSc (Hons) Community Health in 2003 at London South Bank and became a district nurse at the age of 50, and now a decade later is studying towards a PgDip in Health Visiting at Hertfordshire University in Hatfield at 60 years of age.

PEVERLEY, James (Ex-staff 2008) James and Robyn are continuing to enjoy South Africa. Robyn is now Head of Year and James is heading up the PE department at their respective schools.

After Sutton Valence, Jamie moved on to Hurtwood House for his A-levels, where he studied Drama, Music Technology and English literature for two years, achieving two As and a B. He went on to attend Royal Holloway University of London, where he is now reading Drama and Theatre. Jamie has kept up both the acting and drumming since leaving SVS and during his A-levels spent two years playing in a rock band.

He still performs where he can in various productions and has appeared in several plays at university, where he is actively engaged in extracurricular drama. Having had the brilliant experiences of broadcasting a radio show for a year and performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year, Jamie is now attacking the rest of his second year at university with gusto.

PARSON, Robert (1965 W)

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PHILLIPS, Max (1989 L) After leaving Sutton Valence, Max studied at Manchester Metropolitan University and gained an HND in Hotel Management.

After graduating, he worked for Forte Hotels for a number of years, firstly at Heathrow and then in Dubai in 1996, working for Le Meridien as Rooms Division Manager. In 1999 he returned to the UK and took several management positions in Hotels; Forte, Moat House and Ascott Ltd. He is currently Area Manager, Korea for Ascott Limited, a Serviced Residence company.

Max still keeps in contact with two old Suttonians; Richard Fowler (1989 L) and Iain Jessop (1989 F).

PIPER, Geoff (ex-staff 2008) After leaving Sutton Valence and fulltime teaching in 2008, Geoff worked half timetable as a physics teacher 2008-9 Tonbridge School, 2009-10 Sevenoaks School and 2/3 timetable for two years 2010-12 at Benenden School. Now retired but still an associate teacher at Benenden, Geoff plays alto sax with the Invicta Jazz Orchestra and the Bodiam Concert Band. Over the last two years he has been taking flying lessons leading to his pilot’s licence in October 2013.

Once a month, he meets up with John

Posnette and Ray Sabine and goes 10pin bowling where he states “the sound of old creaking bones is usually louder than ball on pins.”

POWELL, Christopher (Sam) (1954 M) Christopher (Sam) wrote in to say that ‘he must be out of his mind’. He decided to design his own house and have it built on a small site in the middle of Montagu, Western Cape, South Africa where he has been living for the past 9 years. He sold his previous house quicker than expected and moved into rented accommodation just around the corner from the site. By the time you read this he and his wife Jane will have moved in - and it is then that he will realise all the things he should have included. Sam met up with Bill Ellis (1956 M) in February as he was in South Africa for a few weeks.

RICKETTS, Charles (1979 F) Charles is Head of Investment Funds at Cenkos Securities, an independent specialist securities firm.

He works in London part of the week and part from his home in Devon where he and his wife, Jill have a holiday cottage business. They have 9 cottages which can be viewed on their website, Corffe Hill Cottages.

Charlie's eldest son, Joseph, is training to be a quantity surveyor. He is just completing 9 months of his practical training with a company in Putney. The second son, Tom is training in sound engineering and the youngest, Luke, has four more terms at Blundell's School.

RICKETTS, James (1980 F) James lives in Italy. He is currently working with an Indian charity, returning to London once a month to their headquarters for meetings. For the past 4-5 years he was working in London with TAG a company dealing in all aspects of the media. James was in charge of the advertising and promotion for Dove overseas.

ROSS-LANGLEY, Richard (1963 M) After O levels in English, French, Latin et cetera, A level Physics and S level Maths and Chemistry, Richard was still a bit young for university, so spent a fas-

cinating nine months as a student apprentice for Joseph Lucas in their factory in Birmingham. Earning £10 per week, sharing a room in basic digs with a Latvian steelfixer, and riding a moped to work. Lunch was a Mars bar, as it was all he could afford.

A month in different departments of Lucas showed him a wide range of possibilities. He enjoyed welding and computer programming and chose the latter for a career.

Richard had intended to do Chemical Engineering via the Natural Sciences route, but flunked Maths and Chemistry.

Luckily Physics, Biochemistry and a final year in Experimental Psychology carried him through for a Natural Sciences degree. Richard recalls, “There are some talented people who get top marks and have a lively social life at university - not me, although I did meet my first wife there.”

Richard writes “There's a lot of family to catch up on, so get the coloured pens out. My first marriage to Käthy from Sweden gave us a son Martin and his two grandchildren. My second marriage to Barbara from Yorkshire brought our son Ben plus two step-daughters and their 6 (grand)children. With Shirley from N Ireland, no marriage this time, a love daughter Amy and her (grand)child. Now in my third and final marriage to my wonderful Christine (USA), a step-daughter and her 3 (grand)children. Fortunately all the family are on good terms with us and the life experience has been invaluable.

I've also found many more blood relatives across the globe through genealogical research, a minor hobby of mine.”

Richard’s commercial company www.mineofinformation.com (now dormant) was established in 1977 at the start of the microcomputer revolution and is one of the few remaining from that period. It sold computer books by mail order - beginning with 3 classic books by Adam Osborne - and rented him out as a contract programmer. A side venture was the computer game Othello (Reversi) which he wrote and sold for the Nascom-1 in 1977/1978, later developed and sold via Games of Skill Ltd for the Sinclair ZX-80, ZX-81

and ZX Spectrum.

Since 2011 he’s been running an IT Support social enterprise in Hertfordshire www.mineofinnovation.com with volunteers, no employees and no shareholders. All profits go back into the business and/or the community.

Richard says, “It's fun, emotionally satisfying, sustainable and useful.”

Kent Ladies’ Champion, having earned an impressive 5 and 3 win in the final at Kings Hill Golf Club in Kent.

What did he find at Sutton Valence?

Richard writes, “Among other things: good friends, an excellent academic and sporting education, acceptance of life's ups and downs, and the courage to go forward into the unknown with low expectations and high hopes.”

Richard also sent in his reminiscences “Our senior study was in the water tower, up the circular staircase at the top of St Margaret's. The housemaster Mr Macilwaine surprised us twice, appearing in his slippers while six of us were chatting instead of working. I got a frying pan, some thin insulated wire and a car courtesy light switch. Dug a channel in the tar at the base of the staircase, laid doubled wire in the groove, melted the tar and poured it back on top. Courtesy switch fitted to the staircase door, connected by hidden wire to battery and torch bulb - coloured red - just inside the study door. The next time Mr Mac arrived silently, we were model students - the red bulb had warned us he was on his way! I wonder if any wire is still embedded in the tar?”

University golf coach Cathy Mant travelled to the UK to see Emily play in the highly competitive British Girls Amateur Championship at Fairhaven Golf Course, Lancashire, this summer, where she finished 69th. She is the only British student to receive a golf scholarship – a second has been awarded to a teen player from Spain, also spotted at the BGAC. Golf is a big draw at universities in the States and the Georgia State University team – the Panthers - is ranked 58th in the Golfweek rankings. Emily, who has a scratch handicap, will join the eightstrong team, when she starts her fouryear accountancy degree at the university in August.

SAREMI, Kaveh (1978 W)

ROYER, Emily (2012 C) Emily has won a prestigious golf scholarship to study at the Georgia State University, USA. She was the West Kent Junior Champion in 2012 and in April this year, still aged only 16, became the youngest ever

After leaving the School, Kaveh attended Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA USA. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Business in 1981, and went to graduate school in Springfield, Mass. He met his wife (Debbie)

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and married in 1982. He received an MBA in 1983, after which point he worked for a local bank as an accountant, then work for a few insurance companies and agencies until he started his own business in 1993 (Consolidated Health Plans). He and his wife sold the business to Berkshire Hathaway in 2011 and are still working there for the time being. He has started another business called Future Health, where they educate people on drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders and mental health issues. Kaveh and Debbie have two boys, Ryan who is 27 and Tyler 24. Over the years, he has been in touch with a few Old Suttonians and would love to hear from others. His personal email address is kksaremi@gmail.com and would welcome anyone visiting Boston or New York city area to let him know in advance.

SELWAY, William (2004 G)

After leaving Sutton Valence in 2004, William embarked upon what seemed like a lifetime at university. Initially he undertook a 3 year Biomedical Sciences BSc at King's College London onto which he added another year to study for a MSc in Biomedical and Molecular Sciences Research. During his time on the BSc, he developed a keen interest in human anatomy and surgery. He spent a good 6 month period of his masters conducting research into Alzheimer's disease before graduating with Merit in 2008. He then undertook a 5 year medical study course at St Bartholomew's and The Royal London School of Medicine in Whitechapel, East London. During his time at the Royal London Hospital he developed a fondness for surgery and took great interest in trauma and orthopaedics. William graduated with MBBS in 2013 and then spent 7 weeks in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where he was attached to the trauma and orthopaedic surgeons. He then took his first steps onto the career

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ladder in August 2013 as a junior doctor at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford.

Throughout his time at medical school he participated in the hockey club, being elected both 1st XI Captain and Club President. He also played for the United Hospitals XI, an invitational team from the 5 London Medical Schools. In terms of where he would like to end up in his career, he is now working hard towards becoming a surgeon in trauma and orthopaedics.

SLATER Charles (1955 M)

He had an infectious enthusiasm for pure maths, but I felt the need to study a more down-to-earth subject and so changed to Mechanical Sciences, now called Engineering. I must just add that I loved English and enjoyed Biology, but didn't much care for Chemistry.

At Sutton Valence the only sport I was any good at was rifle shooting and this continued at Cambridge. I became captain of the Small-Bore Eight in1961 (we beat Oxford) and shot also in the fullbore match against Oxford (we won again).

I had a very good time, which is my excuse for only getting a 2.2 in Mechanical Sciences. This was then a general engineering degree covering electronics, electrical machines, mechanics, structures, thermodynamics, soil mechanics, materials and geology. I have never met any graduate of that degree who did not gain in his career by learning such a broad range of subjects – it is a pity that there are now several different specialised engineering degrees.

Civil Engineering appealed and I went to London to get the necessary design and site experience. Most people consider the term 'engineer' to represent anyone who makes or mends anything mechanical or electrical, even to the extent of believing that a civil engineer is someone who just digs holes in the road. Far from it: you have to have a good degree followed by some four years' monitored training and a further examination by the Institution that you need to join to become Chartered.

“Entry to Sutton Valence was assured by a scholarship in 1950,” Charles writes. “This was much based on languages but the brand new science and higher maths were sudden attractions, so French and Latin were banished to O-level study. Five years later, thanks to A-levels in Physics, Pure Maths and Applied Maths, I managed to get accepted

by Sidney Sussex, Cambridge to read Mathematics, very much with the help of housemaster and maths teacher P S W Macilwaine who had studied there himself. During the war, he was one of two radar scientists who were not allowed to travel in the same aeroplane, such was their value to the war effort.

After a year's design work on road bridges and tunnels, I started my site experience on the early stages of the Victoria Underground Line, at Victoria Station. Mr Evers, still SVS headmaster at the time, passing by, recognised me in my donkey jacket and safety helmet and asked me to go back to SVS later to talk about it all. I did, only to find he had forgotten to put the event into the Blue Book so that he had the embarrassment of dragging Sixth-Formers into the Hall to attend at the last minute.

I met my future wife, Diana, at the NatWest Bank closest to Victoria Station where she worked; she seemed to like

the donkey jacket and helmet get-up.

We and our children Richard, Lucy and William, (all three of whom went to SVS; you get a discount for quantity) have lived in England, Scotland, Turkey , Bahrain, Dubai, Cairo, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China and S. Korea. Richard and Lucy were born in Istanbul, but Will does not have this cachet: he was born in Maidstone, when I was working on power station construction in Dartford.

I don't understand why Civil Engineering does not appeal to more SVS students: you can stay in one place and work on a fascinating range of structural designs or visit many places and countries. Highlights of my time were, in sequence (and only some of them): Section Engineer for the European side of the first suspension bridge across the Bosphorous, Istanbul; site manager for the Ballachulish bridge, near Fort William; site manager for the Queen Elizabeth II bridge across the Tyne, Gateshead; Estimating Manager for Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Ltd (CBE); Manager, Bahrain, for CBE; Site manager for a Tank Factory, near Cairo; Construction Manager for Halcrow for Tsing Ma Bridge, Hong Kong (still the world's longest suspension bridge carrying both road and rail); technical and contractual adviser for China's then longest suspension bridge (across the Yangtse, west of Shanghai).

I remained in Civil Engineering for 44 years, becoming a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1997 and retired to Devizes in Wiltshire at age 68 in 2005. We took some six weeks to travel back from the final location of South Korea by way of Beijing and the TransMongolian and Trans-Siberian railways, stopping off at Ulaan Bataar, Irkutsk, Lake Baikal, Moscow and Prague.”

TARLING, David (1985 C)

Robert Rintoul (1985 F), Mark Gould (1985 C), Ali Castle (1984 C), Gavin Sturdy (1985 F) (North York Moors outside a tea shop that also doubled as a Bar and Dress Shop)

Robert Rintoul, Gavin Sturdy, Ali Castle, Dave Tarling (1985 C) As his son embarks on his D of E gold expedition this year, Dave Tarling has unearthed photos of the 1983 silver expedition to the North Yorkshire Moors and compared notes with Ali Castle.

There are some differences between an SVS 1980's expedition then and an expedition today.

At that time SVS D of E expeditions were run by Cornwallis' housemaster Mr Bates (aka 'Brobat'). The extensive selection of school equipment (including clothing) was mostly standard issue orange where the principal items were the extremely heavy double layered tents. Partly contributing to the weight were the enormous 'fly sheets' that had to be attached over the top of the tent, enveloping them to provide waterproofing. In the extreme conditions of an English summer, these fly sheets became huge wind traps and were ripped off by storms in the middle of the night.

Contributors to the tents’ weight were the large aluminium tent poles; there were so many that it took one person alone to be able to carry them. Getting to the expedition site was in the school white 'Bedford' van which took two

days to get up the A1. As the expedition took place in the summer, the weather was 'changeable' with sun one minute (encouraging huge clouds of 'midges') and storms the next. On one occasion the winds were so strong that they were forced off the moors and in pre-mobile phone days lost contact with their expedition base. Luckily they found a barn to dry out the orange kit and sleep in. Sharing these photos has brought David and Ali back to one of their great early adventures from their time at SVS and it is great to see D of E continuing to thrive today.

THOMPSON, Guy (1970 C) Guy Thompson studied Architecture at Newcastle University after leaving Sutton Valence and spent 30 years in private practice with the multidisciplinary firm Norman and Dawbarn where he was involved in a range of award winning buildings in the Health, Defence and Education sectors, the last 10 years as CEO/MD. Guy joined The Concrete Centre in 2006 to set up the Architecture, Housing and Sustainability department.

His work has been focussed on the major legislative changes arising from the Government’s Sustainable Construction Strategy in particular ‘The Green Guide’, The Code for Sustainable Homes and BREEAM. His role has involved him in The Concrete Industry Sustainable Construction Strategy as part of The Industry Forum, with particular focus on Responsible Sourcing and the annual publication of The Industry Sustainability Report.

The production of a range of publications for the design team has also been a major part of his brief to provide up to date advice for his fellow design professionals.

TURNER, Clive (1948 W) Clive has been fully retired since 1997, after a career, or several careers, covering the Army, mostly in Korea and Malaya; two years photographing Formula One racing; several years flying in the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm; many years in the tobacco industry in the UK and Hong Kong, broken by 12 years in

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the oil industry. Clive has three children, and five grandsons and lives permanently in Cyprus.

He will be celebrating 55 years of marriage and 82 years overall of happiness and good health, annoyingly interspersed by a mostly successful prostate cancer operation in 1996. Tennis and regular writing for the local English language media separately keep him reasonably fit and alert. Clive writes, “An undistinguished and unmemorable schooling in the midfifties did little for me, probably because I wasn’t really very bright, but it all came good years later with general manager and managing director level appointments, so something must have stuck!”

As a lifelong side interest (still upheld) he became a busy magician and remains an Associate Member of the Inner Magic Circle. He has taken part in TV shows, theatre performances, and countless gigs around the world.

WESSELINK, Coenie and Val (ex staff 2011) Coenie and Val are now with the International School in Moshi, Tanzania.

It has taken them time to adjust to the heat and the mosquitos, but they are coping. They are living in beautiful sur-

roundings and picking mangoes off their tree. The community is very friendly and they are automatically included in whatever is happening. Trees on the campus are apparently huge – Coenie estimates some are over 50 ft. tall.

They are trying to learn Swahili - a new word each day and they are not sure if they will manage, but the local Tanzanians are apparently so chuffed if you try. Val has 34 girls in the senior boarding house from the Nordic lands sprinkled with some Germans and then the rest are Tanzanian.

“Things are so much simpler here – if the internet is down then you wait till later. Same with the power – it goes off and everything is black till the generator kicks in. We also have had to lower our standards of cleanliness as there is red dust everywhere and you cannot keep on top of it as your windows are wide open to let in the little breeze that there might be!”

Val states that “It is so nice not to have the Health and Safety aspect as in the UK. On fire drills the girls break a seal on their windows and jump out to the ground and it is quite a jump. The seal

Births BRIGGS on 19th September 2013, to Emma (née Manchett) (2002 H) and Lee Briggs, a girl, Amelie. A sister for Harrison.

DAVIS on 11th June 2013, to Neil (1990 M) and Tamsin Davis, a boy and girl, Noah and Daisy. A brother and sister for Daniel.

EASTER on 22nd March 2014, to Rupert (1981 W) and Gilly Easter, a girl, Elektra Esmeralda. A sister for Dorothy, Wulfstan and Cleopatra.

EDWARDS on 18th November 2013, to John (1988 F) and Catherine, a girl, Zoe Margaret.

IGGLESDEN on 5th September 2013, to Alan (ex-staff) and Liz Igglesden (exstaff), a girl, Beth.

Many Old Suttonians and current staff will be interested in Iggy’s health. Iggy’s brain tumour is still stable, following a life-saving operation in 2009. He has 6

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is like a paper clip wound around the burglar bar. No school uniforms and they all dress very conservatively.”

WILMSEN, Viola (2002 S) Viola continues as a solo-oboist with the Deutsche Symphonie Orchestra Berlin (DSO). Website www.violawilmsen.de.

monthly monitoring scans. He plays cricket for a local team, Bingley and coaches for them too.

Deaths AKONI, Omololu (1989 M), died on 21st September 2013 at the Royal Free Hospital, London. He leaves wife, Sarah and the three girls, Omolara, Tamilore and Antonia. Lolu was a School Prefect at School and contributed to games bravely because of his debilitating illness and also took part in the Orchestra.

JOHANSSEN on 23rd September 2013, to Jacob Johanssen (2004 W) and his wife, a girl, Frieda Mei.

CHAMBERLAIN, William (1958 M), died on 7th September 2013.

After leaving School, during which time he had been an efficient House Prefect and stalwart of the rugby XV (he also represented the School at the Rosslyn Park 7-a-side competition), 'Willy' spent most of his time in New Zealand, first helping a farmer in the Southland and then as an 'essence compounder' in a flavours factory in Auckland. He returned to England for a spell and worked making steel staircases; but the lure of New Zealand was too strong. He moved to the Lake Taupo area where he loved to fish for trout and also to play the stock market. He burned his fingers in the crash of 1987 but not sufficiently to hinder the fishing! He retired in 2001 to live in Auckland where he learned all about gardening and computers. He leaves two daughters and a son.

CHARLES-MEUNIER DE ST VERAN, David (1957 L), died on 17th October 2013

JOHNSTON on 25th March 2014, to Steven (2001 M) and Sarah, a girl, Isla Elizabeth.

LYON on 16th November 2013, to Andrew (2001 F) and Charlotte (née Foreman) (2001 S), a boy, Rex Valentine.

SCHOEMAN on 18th November 2012, to Selina (née Woodward) (2002 H) and Johann, a boy, Lucas.

WATSON on 2nd September 2013, Stuart (1998 L) and Rebecca (née Pragnell) (1998 H), a boy, Joshua Bailey.

David Charles was born in Maidstone during 1941 and spent his childhood liv-

ing in nearby Bearsted, where his father was a director of the Primrose and Len Dairy and his mother was a member of the Rawling (Rawlplug) family. He attended Hill Place Prep School in Bearsted before coming to Sutton Valence School as a boarder in Lambe’s House in 1952. David’s father died tragically while he was at Sutton Valence and subsequently David became a day boy in Founders House in order to keep his mother company at home.

After leaving Sutton Valence in 1957, David worked for the Nature Conservancy in London for several years while continuing to live in the family home in Bearsted. He then set up a home based business, Cartographic Enterprises, to provide map and illustration work for authors in the publication world. This was very successful and he decided to move home and business to Cornwall to get away from the pressures of south east England. The move worked well for a time but having to travel regularly from Cornwall to visit authors and publishers eventually persuaded him to move back to West Sussex. He then lived successively in four different locations in the Midhurst area before the strain of close map working became too much for his eyesight and he decided to retire back to Tregony in Cornwall.

In Cornwall, David started a new business, to provide garden and home maintenance services to the rental property market in his area of Cornwall. This also continued successfully for some years until the holiday market declined in the south west and he decided to retire once more. David was never one to remain idle so he and his wife, Gillian, started to work part time for a house sitting agency and almost to the time that he died in October 2013 they travelled around the south of England looking after large and stately homes while their owners were abroad. David’s final permanent home was in Stiffkey, north Norfolk but he was taken ill while visiting his son in Cornwall and died in Truro Hospital after a very short illness.

David changed his surname to Charles-Meunier de St. Veran later in life in recognition of his ancestral connections with the Meunier family in the town of St Veran in the south east of

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France. He married his wife Gillian in 1968 and they had a son and daughter (Jonathan and Miranda), all of whom survive him.

COLVILLE-STEWART, Hilary (1933 W), died in 1988.

Hilary Colville-Stewart died in Ireland in 1988. He represented the School at Athletics and Shooting, was Sergeant in the CCF and received the Bloxam Prize (English) and Garside Prize (History).

He was also an Editor of the School magazine and a House Prefect.

also provided a caring and compassionate listening and advice service to those finding it difficult to cope with the daily stresses and strains of living in the community that is Sutton Valence. In Marge’s day there were five boarding houses and the School was numerically only about 60% of its present size. She was often, and regularly, in all the houses and forged a strong relationship with the Matrons (who also ‘lived in’) providing with them a strong back bone to the pastoral care system of which we are so proud.

A keen scouter, she led her own troop for a while and was also involved in the organisation’s leadership at higher levels. I am sure that if Sutton Valence had its own Scout Troop (as it did in former years) and she had been in any way involved with it, she would have thought herself prematurely in Heaven.

EVANS, E John (1953 W), died on 5th October 2013.

He arrived in Aden in 1956 after service in the Sudan and was Director of Intelligence in Aden and also an enthusiastic amateur artist. The photograph above, with Hilary facing the camera, was sent in by John Bushell, who served with him in Aden.

CROSBY, Marge (Former San Sister), died on 2nd November 2013.

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Whilst Sidcup Sports Club may not quite be St Paul’s Cathedral, nor was John its architect, nevertheless, it is a place that played a big part in his life, but more special is the fact that so many have come here today to pay tribute to his memory, drawn from all aspects of his life– his family of course, his business colleagues and associates, and his many friends from schooldays and sporting, social and community activities. We have only to look about us to realise the memorial to him that is this gathering.

I feel privileged to have been invited to contribute to this Celebration of John’s life. He was an exceptional person and, like you all I am sure, I feel fortunate to have known him.

Indeed, I was lucky enough to have known him for most of his life – we started school on the same day in September 1941 at Merton Court and then I followed him to Sutton Valence. Needless to say he enjoyed his school days.

Sutton Valence meant a lot to him and soon after leaving he volunteered for the Committee of the Old Suttonians’ Association on which he served, in many capacities and finally as President, for the rest of his life.

COULSON, Christopher (1972 F), died in May 2014.

We are sad to formally announce the death in November of 2013 of Marge Crosby, the School’s nurse from 1986-94.

Many OS will already know, because she kept up a chatty and newsy correspondence with very many of those of you who were at the school at the same time. She was the matriarch of a large family and seemed to treat all the members of the School in the same way as she would have done her loved ones at home. Marge was keenly involved in all our activities, and not only those that required her professional services. She understood the internal politics that ruled our lives and as a no-nonsense northerner, calling a spade a spade, she not only dispensed her pills and potions, but

John was no Latin scholar but it seems to me that those words capture the essence of this occasion. Si monumentum requiris, circumspice – words inscribed over the tomb of Christopher Wren in St Paul’s Cathedral. If you seek his memorial, look about you.

After Sutton Valence, John did his national service which, I know, he thoroughly enjoyed and about which I am sure there are many tales to be told and then went to Swanley Horticultural College in Hextable from which he graduated into the family business.

Written by Michael Hollingsworth for John’s Memorial Service At the time of his death John was the President of the OSA, which organisation he had served with distinction for almost all of his post-School life.

“SI MONUMENTUM REQUIRIS, CIRCUMSPICE”

I knew him in the Sports Club, here.

John’s main sport was rugby, which I didn’t play, but we played cricket together as we had done at School. He would have been the first to admit that he was not a natural cricketer. Batting was a bit of a whirlwind, anything overarm was somewhat alien so he didn’t bowl or field in the deep. Unwilling to play just a walk on part he decided at an early age that to be a wicket keeper was

the best way to be fully involved in the game and, typical of John, made himself into a competent keeper. Among the photos on this Order of Service you will find a very youthful wicket keeper.

I knew him in business too, where we enjoyed a long professional/client relationship. John was not one for formality.

He didn’t like writing letters and found it difficult to understand why I had to write to him. He much preferred personal contact or, so long as it was brief, the telephone. With the latter you had to be on your toes when he rang. He never said who he was, no polite enquiry after health, just ‘Michael’ and straight into the purpose of his call. I’m sure there will be many here who will recognise that scenario. To his part in the running of the family business, he brought, as he did to all things undertaken in his life, great energy and drive.

He wanted to get on with the important things and not be side-tracked.

Always generous with his time, John committed to and supported many causes. Locally, he was for 45 years a member of The Rotary Club of Sidcup.

His grandfather, Ernest, had been a founder member in 1935 and his father, Cyril, joined a few years later. John became a member in 1968 and throughout his 45 years played an active part in all the Club’s affairs. He was chosen to be President in the Club’s Golden Jubilee year in 1985/6 and more recently he was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship which recognises outstanding contribution to the principles of Rotary International, the award being named after the Founder of the Rotary movement in America in 1905. As in all things, John was a leader, an innovator, a bringer of ideas, a doer and very often with a sense of fun.

people in the area to help them undertake character forming activities. The target was £10,000. In fact over £14,000 was raised and more followed. The Rotary Club of Sidcup Educational Trust (commonly known as ROSET) was established. Boosted by a further £30,000 in the Club’s 75th Anniversary year, the Fund now stands at approximately £90,000 and has benefited more than 150 youngsters over the past 27 years.

Roset is indeed his lasting legacy to the Rotary Club and the Sidcup area.

I move on to 1993. These are John’s own words…”The newspapers were filled with pictures and articles about the war in Bosnia showing the atrocities being perpetrated, many due to socalled ethnic cleansing. The United Nations had been called in but were slow to act. At a lunch meeting of the Rotary Club in early December our President suggested we should make a donation to help those in need. Various sums of money were discussed at more than considerable length so I decided to finish it once and for all by standing up and saying that I would take a lorry full of aid down to Croatia and then asked for volunteers. Four responded immediately.

Game on. I didn’t really have a clue how I was to achieve this.”

Typically of John, achieve it he did, calling in favours from his many contacts and just four weeks later, in January mark you, they set off for Zagreb with a 7.5 ton truck, filled with supplies. The aid was safely delivered and as, you may imagine, they experienced many adventures along the way, including a brief visit to the front line.

From the many projects in which he was involved, I have chosen three that illustrate those attributes and his considerable contribution to Rotary and the wider community.

A year later John repeated the trip this time with his son, James, and sonsin-law Rod and Ross plus Bill from the Rotary Club who had also been on the first trip. Once again they entered a war zone and successfully delivered much need clothing and other supplies. A trip none of them would ever forget and so typical of John’s initiative.

During his Presidency in that Jubilee year, John wanted a project that would last into the future. His idea was to raise enough during the year to provide a permanent Trust Fund from the income of which grants could be made to young

A different idea came the following year in 1995, when he suggested to a member of the Club who had landed on Gold Beach on D-Day plus 1 that he might organise a trip to the Normandy beachheads. The late Tony Jenkins took

up the idea and did just that. Early one February morning about a dozen of us, some with our sons, assembled at Ruxley and drove off to Wrotham to collect Tony from his home which happened to be at the end of a small estate. I think it was around 6.30. John stopped us at the entrance to the estate, formed us into a platoon and proceeded to march us sergeant-major like (loudly left, right, left, right) along the road, halting us in front of Tony’s house from which he emerged in his Green Howard’s beret much to the bemusement of his neighbours awakened by this unusual disturbance.

The start of another memorable excursion and one that only John could have thought of and pulled off.

Rotary and the community benefited greatly from John’s membership and all that he did.

There are so many tales that could be told and will be. As we know, John lived life to the full and loved to involve others, family and friends, in all that he did.

I am proud to have known him for so long and for all of us, our world is a poorer place without him.

GREEN, Colin (1960 M), died in March 2013.

After leaving Sutton Valence, Colin spent several years in business in the USA, Holland, France and the UK working in the specialised steel industry and then in Radar defence systems. A keen sportsman, he indulged himself in ‘cars, boats and planes’ and in 1994 he became the Director of the European College of Aviation, based at Bournemouth Airport.

Colin died in March, last year, suddenly, on returning to London after a trip in his boat.

GURLING, Professor Hugh (1968 C), died on 2nd November 2013.

Whilst at School, Hugh was a house prefect and 1st XV rugby (colours) of which he was Hon. Sec. He played Fives and was also captain of the senior athletics squad. At junior level he had represented the School in all the major sports. A good all-rounder, he was in School plays, performed with the school

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orchestra and reached the rank of sergeant in the CCF.

Gurling began his research career in 1976, studying alcoholism under the supervision of Professor Robin Murray at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. As part of this project, he sought to uncover genetic influences on alcoholism.

This often involved him driving around London collecting blood samples and sometimes visiting patients' houses late at night.

With the emergence of the "new genetics", he realised the potential to gain radical insights into the understanding of schizophrenia and manic depression.

To this end, he collaborated with researchers in Iceland, where large family sizes and good genealogical records provided ideal material for his purpose. He began studying them with novel technologies to identify DNA markers for disease.

A course at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1977 and a year as a visiting scholar and Wellcome training fellow at Stanford University's department of genetics in 1981 added to his skills. After gaining a Wellcome senior fellowship, in 1987 he moved on to UCL, where he set up a molecular psychiatry laboratory.

The following year, he published a landmark paper in ‘Nature’, which appeared to demonstrate that chromosome 5 harboured a gene for schizophrenia. Although the exact implications of this paper are still disputed, it served as a stimulus for the development of innovative techniques.

His laboratory found genes that provide the code for neurotransmitter re-

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ceptor proteins, variants of which are thought to be centrally involved in causing psychosis. He published a paper showing that highly informative markers called microsatellites could be used in gene-mapping studies, and subsequently it became standard practice to use panels of these markers to localise the genes responsible for hundreds of genetic diseases.

As the research continued to progress and new technologies emerged, he seized on them enthusiastically. He was involved in work showing that small deletions or duplications of parts of chromosomes could cause schizophrenia. He published papers showing that changes to single DNA bases appeared to affect dramatically the risk of schizophrenia and manic depression.

Most recently, he sequenced all 3bn DNA bases of 100 subjects with manic depression and identified a number of changes that might be causing disease.

In order to confirm these findings, he arranged for these variants to be detected in samples of thousands of people with and without manic depression.

The results had the potential to identify definitively which variants in which genes could cause the disorder. He died before receiving them.

Hugh was born in London. His father, Kenneth Gurling, was a physician and inaugural Dean of Medicine at the University of Nottingham. His mother, Nonie Sempill, was a nurse. After attending Sutton Valence, Hugh qualified in medicine at King's College London in 1973. He specialised in psychiatry at Guy's hospital and then the Maudsley hospital, and continued with clinical work throughout his academic career, notably with a psychiatric intensive care unit, which housed patients too severely psychotic to be safely managed on ordinary wards.

Gurling excelled at sports – fives, squash and rugby – and threw the hammer for his county for several years. He derived enormous pleasure from listening to music of diverse genres and among the instruments he played were two from India – the sitar and its bowed relative the dilruba.

In 1987, Gurling married Meryl Dahlitz, an academic neuropsychiatrist.

She survives him, as do his children, Holly, Alisdair and Laurel, and sister, Catherine. Obituary courtesy of The Guardian.

HARRISON, Nigel (1970 M), died on 15th November 2013.

Nigel was a great all-round sportsman at School, being in 1st XV, 1st XI hockey captain and 1st XI cricket and he played the ‘minor’ sports as well. He was head of St Margaret’s when he left to go, initially, to Sussex University with relevant academic prizes – Winstanley and Kitchener, to read Molecular Biology, but after a degree there, he attended the London Hospital Medical College and qualified as a doctor. He went, immediately, into a practice in Cambridge, retiring as a GP only recently to resume life in sport, playing golf, and enjoying the hobbies of cooking and travel. He was travelling through India, on his way to see his brother, Gavin (1967 M), in New Zealand when he died.

HENDRY, Ian (ex-staff 1986-2001), died on 17th January 2014.

Leaving a large school in Scotland, where he had been Head of Department, to come to Sutton Valence in Kent was an adventure for Ian, but within a year of being here he was appointed as Housemaster in St Margaret’s and the challenge took on a new dimension. In a short time he made his mark and created a new regime with its own ethos and character, based on those in his charge reaching high standards of achievement and personal responsibilities.

Not only pupils, but also his colleagues in the staff room found entertainment (and enlightenment) when on the receiving end of Ian’s bon mots, particularly as they were delivered po-faced from one purporting to be a dour Scot trying (successfully, only to those who did not know him well) to disguise a sharp and bountiful sense of humour.

He involved himself in all aspects of the School, being a most reliable assistant to Dr Sabine in all matters concerning the 1st XV and he was also an officer

in the CCF for some years. He left the boarding house (sadly, for us) before his full term was complete (but joyfully, for him) to spend more time with his daughter Isabella. He left the School to revisit his native Scotland at a post in Rannoch, but in good time the lure of the south was strong and he transferred to Wellington College, before taking well-earned retirement in Devon.

In order to allow those Old Suttonians who were unable to attend his funeral earlier this year, the School will be holding a short Memorial Service for the life of Ian, on Saturday 27th September 2014.

Jones resisted, claiming that Westland’s chances of winning major defence orders would not be enhanced by becoming part of a group best known as a maker of car components. But the battle went swiftly to GKN and Jones joined the GKN board, where he was seen as potential heir to the chairman, Sir David Lees.

Alan led the renaissance of the Westland helicopter company in the aftermath of the so-called “Westland Affair” which caused dramatic ructions in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet.

1pm for 1.30pm Chapel Service A dedication of a plaque and plant will take place outside of St Margaret’s shortly after the service, followed by refreshments. OS are welcome to stay and watch the 1st XV home game fixture.

Please RSVP to Rebecca Riggs riggsr@svs.org.uk, 01622 845258.

HOLT, Julian (1964 F), died on 13th May 2014.

Recently retired university lecturer Julian Holt was a well- known face at Northern beer festivals, being an active member of CAMRA. He was a keen musician at School, playing clarinet in the orchestra and leading the School jazz band for the last three years of his career here. He was also the Editor of The Suttonian, in those days when pupils took on a lot more responsibility than is afforded them now. The ’64 magazine is striking for its choice of artwork on the cover. It also contains three of the poems he wrote to secure the coveted prize of the Critical Quarterly Society. More recently he turned his hand to writing fiction and won a short story competition titled ‘James Joyce at Speech Day’ www.homestart-bridgwater.org.uk/shortstory-prize-2014/james-joyce-at-speechday-by-julian-holt-winner.

JONES, Alan (1957 M), died on 22nd March 2014.

Jones was recruited from the Plessey electronics group to become chief executive of Westland in 1989, when the group was at a low ebb of morale and profitability. In the competitive arena of military helicopter manufacturing, Westland’s partnerships with Augusta in Italy and Sikorsky in the US required delicate handling, while its relationship with the Ministry of Defence remained bruised by the explosive row over the future of the company which led to the resignations of defence secretary Michael Heseltine and trade secretary Leon Brittan three years earlier.

But by the end of 1990 Westland was “soaring to success” again, as one headline had it, under Jones’s upbeat, problem-solving, no-nonsense leadership style. He cut costs, improved productivity and expanded the commercial aircraft component side of the business while driving successful joint-venture developments of the EH101 and Apache attack helicopters.

He also rebuilt relations with key customers, investors and partners. On one occasion when an issue with Sikorsky’s management required urgent resolution, he flew from Yeovil to Connecticut and back (via Concorde) in a single day and night.

Jones was about to succeed to the chairmanship of Westland in March 1994 when the industrial conglomerate GKN – having acquired the stake held

by Sikorsky’s parent company – launched a hostile £500 million bid.

Less than a year later, however, he departed to become chief executive of the cable manufacturing and engineering group BICC, whose underperformance offered him new challenges. Before long, Jones was reported to have “taken the group by the scruff of the neck and shaken it” but to little avail, as export sales were severely afflicted by the strength of the pound. In 1999 the cable businesses were sold off, leaving the group with only its engineering arm Balfour Beatty: Jones retired to take up a portfolio of non-executive roles.

Alan Wingate-Jones was born in Scotland and bought up in Surrey. His father was a bank official who rose to be a general manager of National Westminster.

An outstanding mathematician at Sutton Valence, he went on to read mechanical sciences at King’s College Cambridge on a scholarship funded by the General Electric Company (GEC), which he had joined as an apprentice after leaving Sutton Valence School.

On graduation in 1961 he returned to GEC to work directly for its formidable managing director Arnold (later Lord) Weinstock, and to gain management experience in factories in Chelmsford and later in Belfast and South Wales.

In 1973 he transferred to a competitor firm, Plessey – first as assistant to Michael Clarke, a member of Plessey’s founding family and creator of its military electronics division, then as head of Plessey Marine, and finally as managing director of the group’s defence businesses. Underlying a rather sudden move to Westland in April 1989 were the facts that Plessey was subject to a takeover bid by GEC and Siemens which placed his job at risk, while Westland had been without a chief executive for several months.

After leaving BICC, Jones was chair-

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man of Manchester Airport Group and of Britax International, which made child-safe car seats; he returned to the board of what was by then Agusta Westland, under Italian ownership, in 2005.

He was a member of the president’s committee of the CBI and the Financial Reporting Council.

FRCP (C) FRCP (Lond) Emeritus Professor of Medicine passed away peacefully at Millwoods Shepherd’s Care Centre in Edmonton, Alberta at 94 years. Dr Monckton, brother to John, Francis, Dorothy and Kathleen.

After retiring from the University of Alberta in 1985, George would continue his own practice until 1990 and would be a consultant to the Alberta Workers Compensation Board for a few years thereafter. Finally fully retired, he travelled to Egypt, UK, Peru and Indonesia.

He married, in 1974, Judi Curtis, who survives him with their son and daughter. Obituary courtesy of Daily Telegraph.

LYLE, Ian (1953 M), died on 13th April 2012 After leaving Sutton Valence at sixteen, Ian was articled to accountancy firm, Leaver Cole, in 1954, later becoming a partner there. He remained with them all his working life (although the company later became Bullimores) and this achievement was celebrated by the firm when he retired in 2006 following fifty-two years of service. The local press were invited along to the retirement party to cover the story.

Ian loved DIY and gardening. This provided a welcome contrast to his desk job. He was a dab hand at bricklaying and tackled projects such as building an extension and garden terrace, as well as growing vegetables.

Ian continued links with Sutton Valence through sending both his sons to the school - Peter and Richard - and he used his accountancy skills in his role as treasurer for the Old Suttonians Association in the 1970s and 80s.

He enjoyed sport, which Sutton Valence must have fostered as he was a champion Subbuteo player whilst there!

Later he moved on to playing rugby and then more latterly golf.

In 2010 he and his wife, Kathleen celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Sadly by then his health had begun to deteriorate and he died in April 2012 followed by his Kathleen seven months later.

A new neuroscience lectureship will be named in George's honour at the Neuroscience Institute.

MORRIS, Robert (Tim) (1953 F), died on 25th November 2013.

George attended the School until the age of 18. Like many conscripted wartime students, he was permitted to study Medicine at University of London.

He would work at St. Bartholomew’s and Park-Hewitt Hospitals before the Army finally posted him to India in 1946. Returning to London in 1947, he was accepted into the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases for advanced study of Neurology in 1948.

While in London, George met Jean Alice Jenkins and in 1951, they married.

Jean and George had three children: Elizabeth, Stephen and Simon.

With poor prospects for consulting Neurologists in post-war England, George followed colleagues to Canada in 1957 to become one of two Neurologists in Alberta.

MONCKTON, George (1938 M), died on 22nd March 2014

With his family firmly established in Edmonton, Dr Monckton joined the University of Alberta’s faculty of Medicine in 1958 under a grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Canada and would eventually become head of the Neurology Division until 1974.

Dr George Monckton MD (Lond.)

Over the course of his medical career,

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Dr Monckton specialised in the research and treatment of Muscular Dystrophy, supervising many graduate students, publishing dozens of academic papers and treating hundreds of patients.

Tim Morris was born at Ashford in May 1937. In 1940, his parents moved to Headcorn with Tim and his sister Mary. Tim came to Sutton Valence in 1948 and left in 1953. He then went to work on Place Farm, Headcorn with Mr Geoff Hosmer for a year and then moved on to the Kent Farm Institute at Sittingbourne.

On leaving, he did his National Service including a time on active service in Cyprus.

Subsequently, he worked for Foreman and Sons of Headcorn for many years, specialising in seed growing. He later worked for Honnors of Maidstone.

Tim was a craftsman specialising in picture framing and restoring antiques.

He was a great fan of New Orleans Jazz and he and Diana went all over Kent to listen to Jazz. He liked nothing better than listening, pint in hand, puffing on his pipe of Gold Block.

Tim and Diana were married in1962.

Sadly, Diana died some 8 years ago.

Tim was a countryman who lived in Headcorn for over 70 years, always laid back and could be single minded. We have lost a good friend.

A goodly gathering of OS attended the service at Charing Crematorium.

Written by E David Bunker (1954 M)

OLSEN, William (1960 F), died on 26th June 2013.

RODRIGUEZ, Paul (1962 F), died on 25th August 2013.

There were few aspects of house and School social life that did not see Paul taking part. He represented Founders at just about everything from Chess to Rugby. A prominent member of the orchestra, he also played in the wind ensemble in the jazz band, and as the CQMS in the CCF, he was Drum Major.

He left us with the R L Kay prize and the Grizelle Prize.

Paul dallied briefly in journalism before finding his life-long career in the music business. While in his late teens and early twenties, he and good friend, Bob Solly, started the rhythm and blues band, the Manish Boys, of which a young David Jones (soon after to become David Bowie) was lead singer. He worked at various companies including Pye Records and Chappells, before starting his own company, Paul Rodriguez Music, in 1974. He leaves three children, Wayne, Lucy and Frederick, and his daughter continues to run the company.

SETH, Mark (1975 F), died in Singapore, August 2013.

Christian Young (JRC Young) (1972 F), Nigel Nelson (1972 F), Stuart (Pepe) Gibbons (1970 F) and James Bent (1976 F) Christian had known Mark Seth since they were around seven years of age as they were both originally at Dulwich College Prep, Coursehorn in Cranbrook, before coming to Sutton Valence.

The occasion of the photograph was a get together of old friends from the

Swan, hosted by Jill Scrase-Dickens née Mallett who was the daughter of Vic and Jill who used to run the Swan. The lunch party naturally had a lot of Old Suttonians enjoying a reunion and taking time out to remember Mark. Christian was asked to say a few words about Mark who had died suddenly in Singapore.

A quote from some of Christian’s comments “Many sides to Mark, a great character. I knew him for 50 years, I attended his wedding to the lovely, fun and bright Pravda in a spectacular wedding at Spencer House in Piccadilly Mayfair, with fireworks in Green Park attended by many OS.” “We were in touch until he relocated to Singapore. Mark lived life to the full in fact more lived in the fast lane, he had many friends and will be greatly missed.”

“Successful business man, commodity trader with his own business, spent his time largely in London and travelling the world, though ultimately moved to Singapore.”

SHELDON, Philip (1967 M), died on 23rd October 2013.

Philip came as a scholar, obtained prizes throughout his progression in the School including the Garside prize, and he left with the Moxham Exhibition to Exeter College, Oxford where he studied History. At School, he was Head of House. He was in the Athletics squad and played for 2nd XV and 2nd XI Hockey. He took a full part in the various societies, being Hon. Sec. of the History Society and a member of the Hunting Society. He worked first for the food giant Rank Hovis McDougall and then went into Marketing on his own account.

SMITH, Clive (1951 M), died on 7th April 2013 after a long illness. His widow writes: “His time at Sutton Valence was very dear to him and gave him the confidence to live his life to the full”.

TAYLOR, Rodney (1969 L), died in August 2013.

TERRY, John (1947 M), died February 2014.

John came to the School in 1942 and left after fifth form. He was a promising athlete at School, a keen member of all sporting activities, representing the house at most things, and the School at a junior level. He was a corporal in the JTC (now CCF) and obtained an art prize.

URRY, David (1940 M), died on 5th December 2013.

David passed away peacefully at Richmond Letcombe Regis nursing home.

WALFORD, Michael (1965 L), died on 19th May 2013.

In a relatively short career at the School Michael packed in a good deal.

He was in 2nd XV Rugby, First VIII shooting teams and Lance Corp in the CCF as well as taking part in some academic Societies. He obtained the D of E silver award in the early years of our taking part in that scheme.

Michael died very suddenly after he was diagnosed Myeloid Leukaemia.

Four years prior to that he sustained brain damage when he was struck by a bus in London. He worked for several years initially owning a garage in Tunbridge Wells and then going into the money markets in the city where he had a successful time. He was due to retire four weeks after the bus incident. He leaves his wife Bobbie, two sons and a grand-daughter.

WILSHER, John (1939 M), died on 4th May 2014.

John Harold Wilsher, FCII APMI was one of the 20 oldest OS. During his school days he was an active athlete and no mean scholar. Within two years of leaving school in 1939 he was a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF and flew with 120 squadron out of Iceland and N Ireland on anti U-boat operations. After a spell lecturing in Air Navigation he resumed his career in Insurance, becoming Assistant Manager Group Pensions with the Prudential Assurance Co Ltd. from which company he retired in 1981.

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Marriages BRITLAND-STRANK on 10th August 2013. Thomas Britland (2008 L) to Sara Strank.

HORTON-COTTHAM on 26th March 2012.

Tom Horton (1996 L) to Katie Cottham, grand-daughter of John Terry (1947 M).

FERMOR-FRAME on 9th November 2013. Charles Fermor (2005 H) to Lorenza Frame.

Guests in attendance: Bottom row Simon West (1996 W) (married Lisa on 4th November 2013), George Horton (1998 L), Tom Horton (1996 L), James Vincent (1997 L), Ian Harrison (1997 L) (married Laura), William Terry (1972 L), Charles Terry (1975 L)

HARMAN-CARPENTER in September 2013. Nicholas Harman (1998 W) to Amy Carpenter.

HESTER-THOMAS on 7th September 2013 in Pluckley. Tom Hester (2004 W) to Amelie Thomas. Attended by Jake Tobin (2004 M), Nick Long (2004 M) and George Brett (2004 W).

Back row Holly Fletcher (2000 V), Laura Clifton-Holt (née Nesfield) (1999 V), Lucy Stewart (née Hendry) (1999 H), Rebecca Hoffman (née Lacey) (1998 H), Sarah Burton (née Lacey) (2002 H), Katie Horton (1995 V) IGGLESDEN-FARLEY on 2nd November 2013. Alan Igglesden (ex-staff) to Liz Farley (ex-staff).

WEST-DARNELL on 2nd November 2013 at Moorhill House Hotel, Burley.

Simon West (1996 W) to Lisa Darnell.

Tom Horton (1996 L) was best man.

Also in attendance was George Horton (1998 L), William Hodson (1998 W) and Richard Hemsley (1973 W).

WOODWARD-SCHOEMAN on 27th April 2012. Selina Woodward (2002 H) to Johann Schoeman.

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OSSport OS Cricket

Kent 60+ County Champions 2013 Andrew Dixon (1966 M) and Neil Richards (1967 F) played throughout the season of 2013 for Kent Over 60. The team, who finished as County Champions defeated Wales in the final at Oakham CC. Andrew seriously damaged his finger in the field but, “manfully” continued!

Report on OS Cricket 2013 It wasn’t a great start to the week to see Richard Bradstock, the scourge of many a bowling attack over the last decade, on crutches and unable to play at all this year. It no doubt cheered the opposition, but had the opposite effect on us.

In June, with a comfortable win against the School. Harry Bee and Ben Leale-Green both posted centuries in an OS total of 247-3 declared, and then Chris Vernon picked up two wickets in the first over of the School innings.

Thereafter, only one result was possible and School mustered 139 all out in a mere 27 overs. I suppose it is sign of the

times that they scored at 5 an over, but in an all day game you also have to be prepared to occupy the crease.

The week had a new look. Instead of rounding off with the Dragons we started with them. They were in Kent for the week and the change of date meant their league players didn’t have to leave the tour on the Friday, then return for our match on the final Sunday.

They were also celebrating the 80th year of their Tour in 2013 and David Bunker and I were generously invited to their celebration dinner at the Weald of Kent Golf Club. It gave us an insight into how much they value the relationship,

the hospitality and the quality of the wicket at SV. The old days of carousing with the opposition until the early hours are a thing of the past for most of us, but its value in maintaining fixtures should not be underestimated.

As to the match itself, we thought we had them on toast after the first hour’s play, when they were 47-4 in the face of hostile bowling by Jack Field and Chris Vernon. But their lower order batsmen dug in and they ended up declaring at 254-9. We had a similar early scare with Pat Stileman, Ben Daking and Matthew Day back in the hutch for a mere 11 between them, but Ben Leale Green, ably

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supported by Tim Watts, James Parrett and Simon Higgins steered us within sight of victory; Ben succumbing on 94 (silly boy) with a ton for the taking. That left our intrepid opening bowlers to finish the job they had started, with only three balls of the last over to spare. So, yet another great game against the Dragons.

The following day we played Linton Park for the first time; Marden having confirmed that they would be unable to put a side out. Geographically Linton Park is now probably the closest club to SV and several OS and former staff have links to it. They gave us a good drubbing, with Lewis Burnham opting to play for, the club he has played for since U11 and contributing 85 to a partnership.

We hope to tempt him to join the OS side for 2014. Earlier Tim Watts had been jug shy, being bowled on 98. Sadly our senior bowling line up (Richards, Fetherston, Sandbrook-Price, Curtis and Watts) – average age about 50 - was treated with rather less respect than appropriate.

So after the senior chaps had failed to make their mark on Linton Park our young brigade took the field at the Mote three days later. Unfortunately, the outcome was much the same, with Mote’s Sri Lankan star Kanishka (who has played first class cricket in Sri Lanka and for Sri Lanka at Under 15) making the run chase something of a formality with a classy 83 not out. Earlier Chris Vernon (60) and Harry Bee (57) had set up a decent score of 212, but on a big

outfield it proved difficult to defend.

Blair Hart, having brought an East Kent All Stars’ XI on the Friday, for several seasons had unfortunately decided to step down and Mathew Wooderson agreed to bring a side from Suffolk (supplemented at the last minute by Bromley Town). Woody’s side had a solid middle order who scored the bulk of their 228. We didn’t exactly look favourites to win with our first three contributing a princely 11 runs between them, but Chris Vernon (119 not out), ably supported by Ben Cooke (81) steered us to victory.

On the Saturday we struggled to get a side out, with regular players generally having club commitments, and others quite happy to drop out at short notice.

So we were a 9 man side, including OS cricketing legends Andrew Dixon and Neil Richards (both of whom are gracing the Kent Over 60s side) and posted a reasonable 190-6 in our 40 overs. We have come out on top in this match for most of the last few years, but this time the Davies XI made it for 8 down with 15 balls to spare, fittingly with Rob and Phil Davies at the crease. “Good for the fixture”, as one says through gritted teeth.

And so to the Roffensians. Chris Vernon, running this fixture for the first time, reckoned he had raised a pretty good side and planned to give our Rochester rivals a serious beating. But at 39-4 batting first, it didn’t look too pretty. Chris, ably supported by Tyler

Griffin, restored some respectability and we got to 201. It didn’t feel like enough on a flat track, and so it proved, with Roffensians reaching their target with six wickets down.

That seemed to be the pattern of the week, with the side batting second winning on all 6 occasions. In this level of cricket the bowling now is rarely strong enough (or the wickets are too good) to bowl sides out, which suggests that the only way to win is to win the toss and bat second.

Thanks as ever to Philip Higgins who did most of the umpiring. It would be good if we could recruit a willing scorer in 2014 - any volunteers? Ian Avery and his squad laboured manfully as ever and continue to provide one of the best wickets in the county. They probably don’t realise quite how variable (and “sporting”) many club and school tracks now are and we should treasure the opportunity to play on such a lovely and well-appointed ground. Thanks also to John Devine and the School catering team who have maintained our tradition of providing the best quality food for players and supporters alike.

And finally, as usual, our thanks to the Headmaster for making Upper available to us. He has agreed to do so for 2014, and we hope that OS cricketers will continue to appreciate and accept this generosity.

Desmond High (1973 F) April 2014

2013 results in summary. Won 3 Lost 4 23 June

OS 247-3dec (B Leale-Green 107, H Bee 103)

SVS 139

Won by 108 runs

11 August

Dragons 254-9dec (J Field 4-58)

OS 255-7 (B Leale-Green 94)

Won by 3 wickets

12 August

OS 198-5 (40 overs) (T Watts 98)

Linton Park 202-2

Lost by 8 wickets

15 August

OS 212 -7 (40 overs) (C Vernon 80, H Bee 57)

The Mote 218-5

Lost by 5 wickets

16 August

Mathew Wooderson’s XI 228

OS 229-3 (Vernon 119*, B Collins 81* )

Won by 7 wickets

17 August

OS 190-6 (40 overs)

P Davies XI 191-8

Lost by 2 wickets

18 August

OS 201 (T Griffin 50)

Roffensians 202-6

Lost by 4 wickets

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OS Hockey

Hockey 1st Girls

Hockey 1st Mens The OS v School matches were held on Saturday 16th March. We are grateful to Lauren Neve (2006 L), Dan Masters (2008 W) and Tom Morgan (1999 L), the team captains for organising the OS teams. Final scores were: 1st Ladies 1st Men’s 2nd Men’s

5-4 6-3 7-7

to the OS to the School

A trophy was presented to the 2nd Men’s team in memory of Alex Hatch.

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Hockey 2nd Mens

Hockey Tour 1968 Blair Gulland (1969 F) sent in the photograph of a hockey tour to Germany in 1968. I wonder if we could organise a reunion? If this is of interest, please contact Rebecca riggsr@svs.org.uk, in the first instance.

Single person top Blair Gulland (1969 F) Back row from left Nigel Harrison (1970 M) (deceased), Peter Pitt (1971 C) (deceased), Sebastian Neville-Clark (1968 M), Martin Miles (1968 C), Martin Phillips (1968 C) Front row standing Peter Boorman (1969 F), Harry Charalambou (1969 L), Chris Thornhill (1968 L), Patrick Macilwaine (Ex-Staff 1962), Roger Douglas (Ex-Staff 1988 deceased) Seated Peter Hudson (1968 C), Simon Le Grys (1968 C), Christopher Palmer (1968 W)

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OS Shooting

Bisley Team 2013 The Bisley team was made up of five Old Suttonians with the competition being shot just as any other of the Imperial meeting; using civilian rifles and professional shooting attire for match rifles. These are rifles with iron sights, not scopes.

This competition is shot at a range of 500 yards. The score is made from 12 shots. Two sighters (non-counting shots to test wind and trajectory) and 10 shots to make the score. Each shot has the maximum score of 5.1 this is called a VBull (a smaller ring was put inside the bulls eye to make the highest score harder) giving a maximum score of 50.10. The bull at 500 yards is the size of a side dish.

The first team shot placed them 34th in the competition, scoring 227.13v, out of a possible 250.50v. Then on the last shoot they were place 42nd.

There are over 100 teams put out and most schools put out as many as 5 teams.

Miles Sutton (2012 L), Freddie Pawlik (2011 M), Christopher Dale (2007 Cl), Benjamin Sutton (2010 M), Jack Field (2007 Cl), Thomas Fermor (2009 L)

Bisley Team 1959

Keith Clement (1961 W) kindly sent in the photograph taken at the Easter shoot.

Nigel Higgins (1961 W), David Hunt (1961 M), E Ian Overy (1959 W), Mr Coutts, Terence McCarthy (1959 W), Graham Fothergill (1961 M),?,Colin Green (1960 M) (deceased), Colin Frostick (1963 L), Sgt Major Sergison Seated Keith Clement (1961 W), Michael Gammie (1959 M), Gifford Wall (1960 M) (deceased), Peter Coulson (1960 L), Roger Kojecky (1961 L) Kneeling ?, Ian Morgan (1961 W), Michael Lay (1960 W), Freddie Clement (deceased),?

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Sergison Trophy In May, Old Suttonians, parents and pupils attended the annual Sergison Trophy shooting competition. The sun was shining, the BBQ lit, the targets up in the .22 range and a lot of enthusiastic participants. There was excellent coaching, the atmosphere was tense and all were concentrating on the marksmanship principles. Special congratulations go to Jack Field (2007 Cl) and Tom Fermor (2009 L) who achieved maximum points. Simon ByngMaddick (1991 L) received the trophy on behalf of the Old Suttonians.

Final scores were: Staff Parents Pupils OS

454 503 525 592

OS Golf In October, the annual golf day was held at Chart Hills with teams made up of staff, current parents and Old Suttonians. The weather was much milder this year and all enjoyed their day.

As this magazine goes to press, we can be proud that this year’s Grafton Morrish team will once again be representing the OS in the final stages at Hunstanton. Last year they reached the finals but got no prize – despite a photo that appears to show that they did.

At the Grafton Morrish in 2013, qualifying was a tough day at Knole Park with strong winds but the Old Suttonians had luck with the weather, as well as playing very well. Despite heroic performances at the finals in Hunstanton, the team failed to carry home any silverware. The

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team consisted of Colin Williams (1982 C), William Page (2002 F), George Palmer (2004 W), Benjamin Bardsley (2003 G), James Sanderson (2011 W) and Richard Raye (2002 F).

A group of intrepid OS entered the Independent Schools Putting competition for the Bunny Millard Trophy, held in June at the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club.

After a very tense evening they managed to survive in their group, if not to progress to the final and be automatically invited to compete next year. (25% of competing teams are relegated to a

‘waiting list’ and are not invited back until the third year after their expulsion).

Finally, your Hon Sec is very interested in organising - in the Spring of 2015 - a ‘golf day’ at the Sussex National or similar Golf course. He is in receipt of an offer from that club to host such an event and he welcomes any expression of interest from all those of you who play the game and who might wish to make up (or join) a team of four. There will be trophies and everything… pickardd@svs.org.uk

DevelopmentNews We started the year in fine fettle, with a very successful first Prefects’ Reunion.

Over thirty OS from the past three years joined Mr and Dr Grindlay, Mr Farrell and me for a reception and dinner at Balls Brother, Carey Lane, London. This coming year, we are extending invitations to the past five years and are anticipating an enthusiastic take-up.

Sadly, we tripped at the second hurdle and had to cancel the ‘Yuppies’ reunion. However, the regional reunion at Blenheim Palace in early July, was such a success we had to increase the number of tour guides we had arranged.

The annual Grandparents’ Day saw another bumper attendance, with friends old and new enjoying a tour and

lunch with their grandchildren. A wonderful community day!

Toward the end of term, a new venture proved very successful in bringing together Old Suttonians, parents, grandparents and children from both the Prep and Senior Schools, as well as friends.

At the annual Old Suttonian’s v School cricket match over 45 pre-1980 vehicles, or younger distinguished models, exhibited on the 2nd XI ground at Upper. We were blessed with fantastic weather, so the beer, kindly donated by Guy Beckett (OS) of Larkins Brewery went down very well. Congratulations to Mrs Emma Fulford (Senior School parent), whose bright yellow 1968 Dodge Charger 440 R/T was voted by spectators to be ‘Best in Show’.

As you will know, last year was the final Annual Fund. Whilst the fund has given both the Prep School and the Senior School pupils access to facilities and equipment they might not otherwise have had, we felt that the time had come to focus our attention elsewhere.

With no endowment, the School has to rely on fee income to support all that the School does, including providing bursary funds. Many of you generously gave to the Annual Fund, trusting the School to decide where the money would best be spent. In order to preserve access and the diversity of our community, we now feel this should be our focus; more of which you will hear in coming months.

Newsfrom the School Exerts from Headmaster, Bruce Grindlay’s Speech on Speech Day 2014 Our 1911 inspection, by the Board of Education, reveals much about the School: Sutton Valence now contains 60 pupils…. The new buildings are magnificently situated on the crest of the ridge above the village and old School House…. it is just a shame that they are still empty…

The financial prospect is very serious, as, owing to a reduction of numbers, the income from tuition fees will be less than £170. It appears likely that for this year the Headmaster will not only have to draw considerably on his boardinghouse profits but will also have to sacrifice his salary.

Compare that to our November 2013 inspection: At the time of inspection, there were 489 pupils and the School provides an excellent education and the pupils’ personal development is strong. It is supported by excellent pastoral care, a vast range of challenging activities and, for those that board, an excellent boarding education that encourages the development of key personal skills and confidence. There is a clear philosophy within the School, based on the belief of enabling all pupils to achieve their potential. This permeates the School’s work so that it successfully meets its aims of providing a caring, supportive and inclusive community, with a particular focus on the needs of the individual pupil.

But measuring educational success was a very different business 100 years ago than it is today: The 1914 Suttonian magazine states that although the highest Form is working on the lines of the London Matriculation, it has been wisely decided not to take any external public examinations for the present.

How different things are today. This year, our public examination results at GCSE were the best ever with 45% of the examinations being awarded A*-A grades and at A Level we achieved nearly 60% A*-B grades. Whilst these in themselves demonstrate a huge improvement over the years, what matters is that five years ago we were rated by

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Durham University, who do our valueadded benchmarking, to be in the top 25% of schools nationally for adding value, but in 2012 we had moved up into the top 20% and this year’s results put us in the top 14%. I look forward to being able to report in the years to come the realisation of our goal to be in the top 10% of schools for the difference we make.

Today, Hockey is one of our major sports and, this year, it has remained a real strength of the School with the Girls starting the year with a 54% win rate, led from the front by the 1st XI, who were also Indoor County Runners Up and John Taylor Regional semi-finalists.

The U12A were undefeated in their block fixtures and the U16, U13As and U14B all won over two thirds of their matches. Special mention must go to Anna Baker and Katie Latter who have been selected for the U17 and U16 Regional teams and play for Canterbury Hockey Club at 1st and 2nd XI level respectively.

In the Lent term the boys picked up the baton - or rather the hockey stick and managed a 59% win rate with the 1st XI being undefeated in 75% of their matches. It is worth recording that the U13D were unbeaten and a special mention must go to the U13A squad who not only won 81% of their matches, scoring 102 goals along the way, but were also U13 County Champions, Regional Quarter Finalists and DCPS Regional Tournament Champions.

Rugby was close to hockey’s percentage wins having a 50:50 season - so not our best, but a well-balanced fixture list allowed us to be stretched and to achieve. Highlights must be the 2nd XV’s 73% percentage win rate, only outdone by the 3rd XV’s undefeated season. Definitely ones to watch in the future though are the current U14As who have a very bright future as they progress up the School.

The girls excelled at Netball this season with the U19/U14/U13/U12 teams again reaching the top eight at county tournaments. Huge credit must go to the 1st VII and to their Captain, Charlotte Crouch, who led the squad bril-

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liantly to complete an undefeated season.

The U14s were similarly unbeaten scoring a huge 192 goals this season compared to 68 against. The U14 teams also travelled to Paris and brought home silverware from The Disney International Netball Festival where the A team won the Challenger Cup and the B team were runners up in the Shield Competition.

Having toured Cape Town in the Lent half term, our Senior cricketers were getting used to enjoying a game in the sun. Unfortunately – they came back to England! The weather this term, particularly on Wednesdays and Saturdays, has again caused many cancelled fixtures across all age groups. The 1st XI has performed well to date with wins against The Judd, Skinners, Worth and the Duke of York’s which included a fine 136 from the Captain Robert Sehmi.

The U14s also demonstrated huge potential with Max Denniff scoring the first century of the season against Sevenoaks.

Robert Sehmi , currently a member of the Kent County Academy and recently representing the Kent 2nd XI in a one day game against Middlesex, must be congratulated on two fine innings as captain of both Rugby and Cricket this year.

In Rounders our best wins have been against Epsom College and King’s Canterbury, whereas in Girls Tennis, Kate Woodford and Sophie Baxter won the U13 Benenden tournament and the 1st VI beat Kent College, Canterbury and Ardingly.

Like Sport, Music has grown considerably over the last 100 years. In 1914, the School used to boast one music master providing half an hour of class singing once a week with the junior years.

Today the Music Department is a busy, successful and thriving part of the School. We have performed with various ensembles at Christ Church, Spitalfields, St Peter’s Eaton Square, and St Botolph’s-without-Aldgate in London.

High quality concerts and services have

been enjoyed here and masterclasses have taken place with eminent professors from the Royal Academy of Music and internationally-acclaimed vocal ensemble, Voces8. Individual success has been enjoyed by Anya Livtchak coming second in the Maidstone Young Musician of the Year, William Moore taking the lead role in Les Miserables in Southborough Theatre and various members of the School involved in County ensembles.

But perhaps the artistic highlight of the School’s year was the senior production of We Will Rock You, that saw us transported into a future of force-fed computerised pop. Luckily for us we had two rebels within our midst who managed to save us from this tyranny in the forms of Thomas Alderman and Zoe Deighton-Smythe. All of the cast were incredible and audiences were left spell bound at the sheer weight of talent, comic timing and enjoyment exhibited by the cast, the band and the backstage crew.

70 of the juniors have rounded off the year fantastically with their interpretation of Alice in Wonderland which we enjoyed earlier this week and our LAMDA examination results have been the best ever with 84% of the seniors achieving a distinction.

This summer, for the first time in the School’s history, we are exporting our drama to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and our Upper Sixth students will have the chance to showcase their talent upon a national stage and we wish them well in this venture.

Earlier this year, the Art Department exhibited with the other Foundation Schools at the Prince’s Drawing Room in London and all who saw the displayed work, were bowled over by the quality and the talent on show. I am sure that any of you here today that have visited the end of year Art Show yesterday or today will concur with this: we have some truly talented young artists in our midst.

Old Suttonians’ Association Sutton Valence School North Street, Sutton Valence Maidstone, Kent ME17 3HL Telephone: 01622 845294 OSA - 01622 845258 Development Office Email: osa@svs.org.uk • development@svs.org.uk