OLD STAMFORDIAN UPDATE 01/10
January 2010
Contact: [email protected]
Circulation: 1742 (+4)
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We regret to report the death of Major John Owen (Jof) Flint DSO MC TD DL The
Royal Lincolnshire Regiment rtd (1925-34) on 15 December 2009 following a fall and
subsequent complications. The family funeral was on Christmas Eve. A Thanksgiving
Service will be held in St Martin’s Church, Barholm at 11.30 on Thursday 7 January 2010.
Donations please to the Army Benevolent Fund. We extend our condolences to daughter
Susan, son Jeremy and other members of the family of Jof and the late Kathleen. An
appreciation of his life will appear in the OS Newsletter in March/April.
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We also regret to report the death Walter Laws (David) Davison (left 1947) on 29
December 2009 following a fall on Christmas Day whilst on holiday with Maureen, his wife of
over 45 years in St Mellion in Cornwall. We extend our sympathies to Maureen and their
family. Dave lived in Selsey, West Sussex for fifty years. Further details in the next
OSUpdate.
PAST OS EVENTS
OS Rugby. Mark Walmsley reports: This was a fantastic event with a great turnout of over
180 spectators watching a keenly contested match, won by the Under 25 XV by 24 points to
21. This was followed by an excellent lunch with drinks in the Main Hall.
OS Stamford Branch pre-Christmas Luncheon. Given the number of competing events in
Stamford on the day (the town was heaving), there was an excellent turnout of fifty diners at
the Luncheon held at Lady Anne’s Hotel. The meal was first-class and there was a
tremendous atmosphere.
There will be more detailed reports of these events in subsequent Updates.
MEMORIES OF STAFF: Bartle Frere
Alistair Tarwid (1962-72) (from Germany): Once asked "What did you do in the war, sir?"
Uncle Bart replied that he had been a corporal whose main duty was serving tea to
senior officers in a tent in India. I suppose it could be true, but I always thought he'd probably
done something quite heroic and was just being immensely modest as usual. Does anyone
know what he actually got up to?
Simon Lock (1978-83): I saw the story on your latest wire and it brought back the most
wonderful memories of a true gentleman who taught me back in 1978. The Rolls Royce story
is so funny as it’s the greatest memory of this amazing man. He taught us about the
explorer Ferdinand Magellan, which apart from the 3 piece suits and the Rolls was my
memory of this great man.
General
John Hatton (1958-1967): Most of my memories of Stamford have been covered by others,
but I will list a few that stick in my mind. Feel free to use editor's licence if you want to ditch
them.
Algie Lamb ducking out of lessons every half an hour for a smoke in the preparation
room with the fume extraction fan on.
A sheep's eye pinned to Squibbie Bowman's blackboard with a message 'I've got
my eye on you'
Squibbie marking my lengthy calculation 0/10 for not putting units by the answer. He
would add the units as 'Cows' when it should have been Volts or Farads, marked it
wrong and adding the comment 'units u nit'!
Bang Wright saying grace before we had sandwich lunch in old Shell. 'Benedictus,
benedicat, dominum nostrum, Jesum Christum, Amen'
Keeping KV (Cave)
Memories of the Remove prefabs. Frozen milk, red hot boilers, pouring milk on the
boiler to make a ghastly stink', filling the coke hod with extra fuel when we were only
allowed one per day.
The old games changing rooms, smelly, walls covered in whitewash, lost kit
everywhere.
Swimming in the open air pool in 50F (10C) and apparently enjoying it. The joy of
passing the swimming test and taking off the white stripe on your blue woolly trunks
The sports field below little School before it was built on.
The 'Stinks' run; gas-works, sewage works and somewhere else that I can't
remember. The smell of hot paint and metal casting when running past Blackstone's.
Buying sweets and 'chew and view' gum at Mr. Dobbs shop as I walked to the
station. With each one you got a 35mm film image. If you were lucky, you got a
voucher to get a viewer to look at them.
Missing the train one day and having to knock on Miss Ennals’ door and wait for the
next train whilst enduring a telling off from her and a worse one from my parents
when I got home)
First day at school in Form 1 when Flint had his robot confiscated and put on Miss
Ennals' table. I was told off for playing with it, not a good start.
Hitching lifts home when I skived off school for the afternoon. Imagine this now. 12
year old fair haired boy getting in to a car or lorry....
Bart Frere throwing chalk and the board rubber. Reading us ghost stories at the end
of term with great expression.
Pont Douglas, art master, reading us Neville Shute stories and the R100/R101
Airship disaster
Making a stuffed golliwog and leather purse in Lower 2 class for handicraft with Miss
Dilks.
RAF camp at Little Risington. Flying in an Argosy and a Chipmunk. Raiding the dorm
of another school CCF and upending their beds as they slept
I also recall Mr. Forsdyke as a music teacher who had a Jowett Javelin; he parked it
between the music school and the remove prefabs. Were there two in the school?
Mr. Wolfenden, PT; I always though he was tough. 'Get those knees up boys'! I had
to do remedial exercises after lunch to help flat feet where we would wander round
the hall with our toes tucked in and stand there endlessly picking up or socks with our
clenched toes. Must have worked, I can run better now then I could then!
I loved the music competitions, but St Paul's always won and Cecil (my house)
always lost.
After CCF Army and RAF sections, joining the Fire Station group and squirting water
from a pond with a Coventry Climax pump which we succeeded in locking solid.
Station Officer Binks was not best pleased.
Vic Merrill (1942-47) Thank you for your interesting and entertaining emails, I enjoy them.
The memories, buried for years, flood back. I remember "Nunky" Hoffnung and being
entertained by him playing the bassoon as we busily created in the Art room. He kept an owl
in a little room as you entered the Art classroom. I was caught feeding it a frog, which upset
him a little and he dragged me out, by an ear, with the intention of taking me to see Canon
Day - but that's another story.
A ‘poem’ by Squibs Bowman (1966)
John Hatton again. I sent you some old reminiscences the other day, one being about
Squibs Bowman's insistence about getting the units right in calculation answers. This
(eventually) triggered my memory even more and I recalled a poem that he gave me way
back in 1966.
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And there was at that time a man who did not play the game.
And behold, he forgot his units; and if, perchance, he did remember them at any
time, lo, he measured his voltars in degrees Kelvin and his heat in Faradays.
And there was chaos throughout the land.
And the man was foolish and saith: Wherefore should I care about such trivial
things?
And his areas continued in cubic ohms, and his resistances in Gauss; and there
was chaos throughout the land.
And his hot air rose, and hot objects contained large amounts of temperature; and
he wast verily in ye doghouse.
And he labelled himself forsooth a nit.
And there came unto the man and ageing physics master with a bald egg.
And the physics master saith unto him: Wherefore art thou such a nit?
And the man saith: Pfui! What carest I about such matters?
And he was mightily stubborn and refused to heed wisdom.
And it came to pass on the Sabbath (being a Thursday) that there was a test; and
the man was put in detention for three hours for the rest of ye term
And on his paper was therein inscribed: UNITS U NIT.
And he was mightily wrath and came unto the physics master and saith: This is
not playing the game.
And the master replied: Thou dost not play the game; wherefore shouldst I?
And the man realised this was it.
Wherefore did he truly repent him of his sin, and saith: O Master. I see now that I
have been foolish; wilt thou forgive me?
And the elderly physics master spake thus: Thou must not misunderstand, I am
not cross. Play the game and all will be well.
So the man reformed, and forsook his cows, and peace and prosperity came over
all the land.
About Old Boys
Anthony Oglesby (1939-48) and the theatre: My longstanding love affair with the theatre
was undoubtedly formed at school, Messrs Parker and Sharp being primarily responsible.
I certainly acted with Neil as a lesser light in several plays. Alas, the ravages of old age
play havoc with the memory and I cannot remember which, nor a single line from all but
Julius Caesar. I do recall lying dead in my coffin in Act II with Mark Antony doing his "Friends,
Romans" bit over me, and gurning at him from the dead. I thought this was Neil but it may
have been the elder Harrison.
Neil was clearly marked out for thespian success and his early death (as with Gerard
Hoffnung) was a sad blow. Others (such as Mike Newington and John Donleavy) seemed to
me to be of similar calibre. Did they hide their theatrical lights under bushels?
I am unable to trust myself with lines any more, and my last foray was Hobson's Choice 15 years ago! To date, my daughter seems to have enhanced the interest. Her play "Really
old, like 45" is on at the National in February. She did offer me a part as an old man of 80'ish
shuffling onto the stage and with one speaking line. Not on your nelly!
Clive Bannister (1946-54): Ex St Peters House - St Martins - and Browne House - left in
1954 with little distinction but from a school that tried very hard and did give me great values
- (even if I was not an academic!) - and went to do my apprenticeship in a factory (Rover) at
the age of 16.10!
gillies mcbain (1953-60) [email protected]. Victor ludorums et al: i am mystified. now
that we have established that the dual victor ludorums (victores ludorum ?) are multiple,
would one of them please explain to us why they did it twice ? i do not think i ever did
anything twice at stamford, unless i had failed it the first time.
while these vainglorious victors were doing their extra 220s and 440s in pursuit of
duplicate glory, i was spending my sunday afternoons taking out the rector of uppingham's
daughter. no tinplate trophy she - but a girl of impeccable character, a credit to her family
and to stamford high school. i used to quote elizabethan love poetry to her in the long grass
on hot summer afternoons. it was of course from that year's english syllabus. again, it is not
what you learn, it is how you use it - "had we but world enough, and time - this coyness, lady,
were no crime . . . "
the real buzz was that this was achieved under the very noses of the 300 rival scholars
and athletes of uppingham school. (well perhaps under the noses of a hundred, if you
exclude the hundred out with their parents, and another hundred or so pounding the track in
hopes of their own particular day of athletic glory.)
but i was also required to perform an athletic feat. the longer i dallied with the rector's
daughter, the shorter was the time remaining before a tea time roll call back in stamford
twelve and a half miles away.
under the threat of a beating - (although these were already going out of fashion, in 1960)
- i once made this trip in 35 minutes, thus at an average speed of over 20 miles per hour.
admittedly this was mostly downhill and with a favourable wind, but remember that i had no
gears, and would have earlier made the same journey uphill and into the same wind.
"but at my back i always hear time's wingéd chariot drawing near . . ."
my regards, to the dual victor ludorums (victoribus dualibus ludorum ?)
i am happy to exchange memories with them - but still i would not change places.
JRC (John) Hatton (Scritcha) (1958-1967) Having barely scraped through A levels I studied
Metallurgical Engineering at Loughborough and spent 38 years working in the automotive,
then refrigeration and the last 22 in the shipping container leasing business working for Sea
Containers. That took me round the world many times, allowing me to visit practically every
country that had a major port and stay in many fabulous hotels in the Orient Express Group. I
left them a year ago and have since enjoyed my first 'silver gap year'. I have climbed
Kilimanjaro, am learning to fly and have put in a new kitchen in our house in South Bucks
and bathroom in our cottage in North Norfolk. I am Vice Chairman of my Parish Council and
Trustee of the Company's almost defunct pension scheme.
For those that remember my love of two wheels (BSA Bantam and Lambretta 175) I still
ride bikes and appreciate a fast car. Currently there is a V twin Ducati and a V4 Honda in the
garage.
I am married to Sally who came from Kettering, 42 years together and have three
daughters. One is a Pharmacist, the twins have just qualified as doctors.
Nigel Boon (left 1974) and the German Exchange. Great to read all this about Kalkuhl on
the website. I have to say that I wouldn't be where I am today if it had not been for those
trips to Bonn. I went in the minibus in 1972 and 1973 (along with Simon Tayler, Tony Wales,
David Anderson, Mike Hurry, Robert Liston, Mike Stafford and others) and then went back in
1975 for eight months between January and August as Sprachassistent for KF and his
colleagues. It's a bit of a cliché but going abroad for visits, and living abroad for that long,
really did broaden my horizons. I remember theatre visits in Wiesbaden, museum and
gallery visits in many places, and my first opera (Aida, in German) in Nürnberg. But the main
cultural memory is of a concert in the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, given by the (then East) Berlin
Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Sanderling, with Annerose Schmidt as piano
soloist. They played a suite from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky's Piano
Concerto No.1 and Brahms' Symphony No.4. That concert lit a fire which then burned out of
control when I was at University in York studying Linguistics.
I realised that although I didn't even have music O-level (irony of ironies, I had to drop
music in favour of German because of a timetable clash at my grammar school before I
came to Stamford), I wanted to work in the music business, so I left on a year's leave of
absence to see if I could make it work (my supervisor loved classical music and very kindly
supported my move) and very soon I ended up in a starter job at Boosey & Hawkes Music
Publishers in London. I stayed there for two years, joined Deutsche Grammophon in London
and worked there for three years, got called to DG's Head Office in Hamburg and stayed
there for fifteen years, the last four of which I spent as a producer, working with André
Previn, Oliver Knussen, Christian Thielemann and other conductors. Eight years in London
followed, mainly freelance, and for the last two and a half years I've been in Washington, DC,
as Director of Artistic Planning for the National Symphony Orchestra. Our future Music
Director is Christoph Eschenbach, one of the world's greatest German musicians.
So here I am, no music o-level, no degree, but very happy in what I do - and I do that
because of that concert in Bonn and because of those wonderful study trips to Bonn
For a fuller account of the history of the exchange with the Ernst Kalkuhl Gymnasium go to
www.ses.lincs.sch.uk. Click on Alumni/The Foundation, then Old Boys, then 50 years of
friendship – the German Exchange. Former participants of these exchanges over the past
fifty years may like to contribute to this open-ended article with memories of their own.
Contact [email protected].
Lt Col. Marcus Gartside (1971-80) has taken over as Commander Logistic Support
Headquarters 5th Division in Shrewsbury.
Tim English (left 1982)
BA Hons European Business Studies / French, Nottingham University, UK
PGCE Technology / Special Needs, Huddersfield University, UK
Tim joined British International School in Vietnam in 2005 as Special
Project Coordinator and Maths Teacher. Prior to this he worked for six
years as a Special Needs and Maths teacher at two schools in Brent,
North West London. He brings skills from other industries to his
teaching, predominantly in ICT and travel guiding. Tim has a keen
interest in developing community projects. He also likes writing,
travelling, socialising and playing (without notable expertise) many
sports.
STAMFORD SCHOOL
What the Good Schools Guide thinks of the School. (Latest report May 2009)
If you have access to the web or know someone who has, please have a look at the Report
by the Good Schools Guide. We think you will be impressed. To access the report go to
www.ses.lincs.sch.uk, and click on Good Schools Guide. This is a subscription service. The
inspection of the School took place in May 2009.
To whet you appetite, however, the following are comments from the report.
Impressive on all fronts. A privileged – but not spoiling – start in life for all but snobs.
Why pay more?
The boys we met were some of the most unpretentiously impressive and charming
we have met anywhere. This particular writer has visited over 150 schools for The
GSG and cannot remember more open, articulate and delightful boys anywhere.
They do the school great credit.
What the Independent Schools Inspectorate thought of the School (Latest report
October 2005)
You can access this very favourable report without charge via www.ses.lincs.sch.uk.
STAMFORD SCHOOL
The Under 15A Rugby team has reached the last 16 of the nationwide Daily Mail Schools
Knock Out Cup. Having beaten Greshams and Norwich School in its two previous
encounters the team beat Wymondham College 10-5 in a closely fought match.