MAY 2015 - ISSUE 42
Associates News
www.ascl.org.uk/associates
2 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
ASSOCIATES NEWS
Associates News, the magazine for associate
members of the Association of School and
College Leaders, is published four times
a year.
Associates News is available online at:
www.ascl.org.uk/associatesnews
Editor:
Florence M Kirkby
Publisher:
Association of School and College Leaders,
130 Regent Road, Leicester LE1 7PG
Tel: 0116 299 1122
Editorial correspondence:
[email protected]
Design:
Lucie Fenton
Contact us
General enquiries:
[email protected]
Finance:
[email protected]
ASCL Professional Development:
[email protected]
Conferences:
[email protected]
Membership queries:
[email protected]
Publications:
[email protected]
Contents
4 Editorial Florence M Kirkby
4 Financial matters Florence M Kirkby
6 Report from Associates’ Committee
Paul Baker
7 Associates News survey Tony Richardson
8 Book review John Sutton
9 Imaginary words Andrew Finch
10
Rejoice Paul Baker
11 Crossword by Bawl
12 An educated life: part two Tony Storey
17 Crossword solution
18 London Marathon – part two Sean O’Reilly
21 Moments JF (Ian) Saul
22 A profile of Tony Richardson
John Sutton
24 Valentine’s Day 2015
26 But headmaster! Visitors Bernard Barker
Ian Beer
31 Nomination form for the Associates’ Committee
Website:
[email protected]
Reception:
[email protected]
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 3
ASSOCIATES NEWS
Financial matters
Editorial
My heartfelt thanks to those who have sent
contributions but I am very short of material for
the next issue. It is true that you have until 19 July
to send articles in (the next issue will reach you
between 4-9 September) but please do not forget
and leave your contribution until the last minute.
In this issue you will be interested in the results
of the survey, these are ably summed up by Tony
Richardson and they are, of course, very varied.
Some Associates would like more articles on
educational activities, others are interested in
retirement and many other issues.
Nominations are required for the Associates’
Committee to serve from 2015-18, the people
retiring this year are:
Maureen Cruickshanks
Ann Mullins
Tony Richardson
John Sutton
You do not have to wait for another survey to
suggest what material the Associates News should
contain. Comments are always welcome and could
very well be included in future editions of the
magazine.
David Binnie ASCL’s pension consultant will detail
in Leader magazine the implications of the changes
to pension regulations and may indeed have
something to contribute to Associates News.
As we mainly have the security of an indexlinked pension then most changes will not affect
Associates but we also have members who may not
have contributed to that scheme and others who
may have retired early and entered into additional
pension provision.
There seems to be a lack of adequate information
on the state retirement pension. In particular how
it will relate in detail to the length of contributions
and to the age and the circumstances in which
entitlement will occur. Those who have already
retired and are of pensionable age will not be
directly affected but pensions earned in retirement
under different schemes will adhere to the new
regulations.
What is of concern to all investors is the low rate of
return on fixed income savings and in particular the
very low annuity rates which might in the past have
seemed a good provision for the pensioner and
their dependents.
One thing is certain, the prospect of people
Florence M Kirkby having a lump sum to dispose of under the new
regulations will attract the attention of those
offering investment opportunities which might not
be financially sound. The old adage “if it seems too
good to be true then it probably is” remains as relevant
as ever.
ASCL weekly email
newsletter
If you would like to sign up to receive the
weekly email newsletter then please contact
[email protected] stating your preferred
email address, full name and membership number.
You will receive the email every Tuesday during
term time.
4 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
To wonder why people respond to such offers
is to undervalue the skill of those who make the
presentation and who in some instances may
have convinced themselves that their projects
will succeed. It is a matter of some concern that
financial publications of repute do give serious
consideration on occasion to interesting but
unstable investments such as wine, antiques and
indeed almost anything one can think of.
As I wrote fairly recently about the advantages of
making a will, and charities often ask you to be
mindful of them, I cannot refrain from pointing
out that the ASCL Benevolent Fund is a registered
charity and qualifies for tax relief. Fortunately few
Associates need financial relief, though the gift of
flowers or a card can boost the morale of those not
well or having other problems. The main concern
of the fund at present seems to be with those who
through ill-health are forced to take premature
retirement. They and others may have immediate
needs which had not been expected and therefore
not provided for, and of course it is always difficult
to adjust to a reduced income.
On a more cheerful note some years ago I received
an article of advice on downsizing. It was very
relevant and full of common sense and was most
helpful. If you have any information such as that to
contribute please let me have your views.
Florence M Kirkby
Financial peace of mind.
One call, one email is all it takes.
Do you need more income? Are you worried about how you would
pay for long-term care? Would you like to help your grandchildren
financially or pass on more of your wealth to your loved ones when
you are gone? We offer practical, affordable financial advice specific
to you that can resolve these and other financial issues.
Book a complimentary, no obligation appointment with one of our
professional financial advisers now.
Call 08000 85 85 90
Email [email protected]
Making your money work harder
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FINANCIAL ADVICE
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www.ascl.org.uk/associates 5
ASSOCIATES NEWS
Report from Associates’
Committee – Leicester
Wednesday 18 February 2015
Eager to commence business, for some reason
the committee gathered in the meeting room
rather than in the eating room. Colleagues were
sorry to hear that John Sutton was unwell and
not in attendance but delighted to see veteran
campaigner Florence Kirkby to discuss the
Associates News survey and also to welcome Marsha
Elms. Marsha may have wished she was still on
the high seas as her journey from Birmingham
had taken three hours! Another addition to the
meeting was Ruth Swift from ASCL HQ secretariat.
Ruth’s predecessor, Lisa Oldham, gave birth to
her son Sebastian on Sunday 15 February 2015.
Congratulations were sent to Lisa.
Chair Ann Mullins informed us that links to
Associate business on the ASCL website had
now been improved. Overall membership of the
association now stood at just over 18,000 with
associate membership at 1,970. Tony Nicholson, in
especially fine one-liner form, was delighted by the
quality of the graph. Shortening the vertical axis
made ‘50 people appear to be 500.’
The committee was saddened to hear of the death
of Christine McGarva who had for many years
provided membership information.
Feedback was given on the retirement seminars.
Crucially, lunch had improved, but there was a
concern about a lack of ASCL presence at the
meetings; no logos, display boards and name plates.
Chair packs and delegates’ lists were also missing.
In addition, the Associates News magazines which
should have been in the delegates packs, were left
to be picked up. All these matters were referred
back to create the polished-up ASCL experience. On
the positive side, there had been an opportunity for
the chairs of each seminar to say a little about the
6 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
joys of the opportunities after ‘work’; and Stephen
Casey, the new ASCL pension specialist, was praised
for his input.
The review of the Associates News magazine was
dealt with next. Disappointingly, only a 3 per cent
response. As Tony Richardson so aptly put it, “an
astonishingly anodyne level of satisfaction.” There
were some proposals for some new areas following
suggestions from the survey and this included an
input from HQ, one topic per edition, ten bullet
point format, on a current issue. Ann Mullins,
Florence Kirkby, Jayne Ferns and Tony Richardson
agreed to produce a brief report on the review for
the next edition. There are many former leaders
serving on governing bodies and they could obtain
valuable up to date information by signing up for
ASCL’s weekly email (see page 4 for details).
David Binnie provided an up to date resumation
of the pensions and superannuation situation.
The new freedom scheme starts in April. Perhaps
not as ‘free’ in reality! Insurance companies are
looking for new products for clients to invest in.
The much vaunted £144 per week will not apply to
professions such as teachers who have a contracted
out scheme. Legislation is not in place in a number
of Celtic fringe areas. The DfE has set aside £90k
for research on a Working Longer Project. Perhaps
they could look at an NHS survey which found
that people do not want to work longer, do not
like working longer and that the there is little
evidence of a more efficient workforce. There was
considerable surprise at the outcome of this survey
from committee members! David Binnie did ask for
any real evidence, not anecdotal, of the impact of
working longer. He suspected there would be more
ill-health retirements to come. The average age of
retiree headteachers was 59 years old, for classroom
colleagues it was aged 62. He would be writing a
report for Leader magazine which will be reprinted
in a future issue of the Associates News.
There was still a substantial need for the Benevolent
Fund and some case studies were mentioned.
Amalgamation of the two funds is still awaited.
The London reunion is 21 May 2015. Unfortunately
an application form was not reprinted in the last
Associates News. Numbers are currently around 14.
An email is to be sent out to Associates to remind
them. The Cambridge reunion information and
application form was in the last edition. Closing
date is 1 May 2015. Both promise to be very
enjoyable events.
Associates News survey
Notice of the elections needs to be in the next issue.
There are four current members of the committee
who need to seek re-election. Candidates are
allowed to self-nominate. It is important that all
eligible to stand for the Associates’ Committee
know the appropriate dates in good time.
This meeting was especially fruitful and, as always,
effectively chaired by Ann Mullins.
Date of next meeting is Wednesday 13 May 2015.
Paul Baker
Reading the newsletter seems generally to be
a private matter – only four people recorded an
unequivocally positive response to the question, ‘Do
you share the magazine with others?’
Three quarters of respondents did not wish to see any
items removed from the magazine, though there were
a number of individual comments suggesting that the
Imaginary words series, fascinating and entertaining
though it had been, had perhaps now run its course
(see the final entry on page 9).
Churchill is said to have described Attlee as a modest
man with much to be modest about. The results of our
survey of readers’ opinions of Associates News similarly
afford a modest degree of satisfaction within a modest
compass. The modest compass is set by a response
rate of only 3 per cent – 58 people, to all of whom we
are grateful for their taking the time and trouble to
send in their views.
The majority of the responses were positive. More
than 80 per cent of respondents were satisfied or very
satisfied with the magazine overall. 75 per cent rated
its articles as good, with a further 14 per cent going
so far as to consider them excellent. More than 80
per cent thought that the overall style and layout of
the magazine was excellent or good. Respondents
overwhelmingly thought the length and frequency of
its publication to be about right.
Though a majority of respondents were not able
to suggest any additional items that might be
included, there were 20 individual suggestions
of further possible topics. The most frequently
recurring suggestion (6), perhaps surprisingly, was
for articles to do with current issues in education,
although members also receive Leader and can
access the weekly email newsletter (see page 4). At
the Associates’ Committee meeting in February, we
discussed how we might best respond.
Many respondents complimented and thanked
Florence Kirkby for her work as editor. In the end,
Associates News is for members and by members and
there are no paid contributors. Please send us your
articles as they are always very welcome.
Tony Richardson
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 7
ASSOCIATES NEWS
Tracy Borman: Thomas Cromwell
The Untold Story of Henry VIII’s Most Faithful
Servant, Hodder & Stoughton, 464pp. £25
ISBN 9781444782851
With Hilary Mantel’s celebrated
novels, Wolf Hall and Bring
up the Bodies and their
adaptation on television,
the life of Thomas Cromwell
has received much attention
in recent years. The books,
however, although based on
deep historical research, are the
author’s fictional re-creation
of what his life must have
been like and they provide a vivid insight into his
remarkable character. The historical truth is no less
fascinating, as Tracy Borman’s biography brilliantly
demonstrates.
Thomas Cromwell’s humble beginnings as the son
of a Putney blacksmith are well-known enough, but
his path to high office of state less so. As a young
man, partly to escape the tyranny of his brutal
father, he went abroad and gained experience
as a soldier in other people’s wars and as a trader
in other people’s goods. His outstanding talents
enabled him to make himself useful to whoever
engaged his services and he rapidly acquired broad
military, financial and commercial experience. Thus,
when he returned to England, he was recruited by
Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey as someone who
had the potential to be a great deal more than a
simple gopher in the business of government.
It was in Wolsey’s service that Cromwell’s qualities
flourished. Hard work and total loyalty were the
hallmarks. No task was refused or left undone and
he was clear about where his loyalty lay: to Cardinal
Wolsey, yes, but ultimately to the supreme authority
of King Henry VIII. The king could not be bothered
with the details of government, for which he relied
on his ministers but, in terms of policy, he knew
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what he wanted and expected his ministers to
deliver it.
This was never more apparent than in the crisis
over the royal succession when the king, desperate
to have a son to succeed him, sought to end his
marriage to Catherine of Aragon and to marry Anne
Boleyn. Desperately though he struggled, Cardinal
Wolsey was unable to find a way to meet the king’s
needs and his fall from power was as complete as it
was sudden. The faithful Cromwell did not fall with
him. He had already become close to the king as his
principal secretary and, by thinking the unthinkable,
was able to solve the problem. If the Pope forbade
the divorce or annulment, then deny the Pope’s
authority and do it yourself.
It did not stop there. When Anne Boleyn proved
no more successful than Catherine in producing a
male heir, the king clearly sought a way out of that
marriage too and, as Tracy Borman sees it, it was
Cromwell who found it for him. He masterminded
the plan to brand her as an adulteress and traitor,
thus, with her execution, opening the way for Jane
Seymour, who did give birth to a son, but died as a
result. Cromwell went on to provide the king with a
massive boost to his finances and patronage by the
dissolution of the monasteries, making sure, in the
process, that he did well enough for himself as well.
For 11 years, from 1529 to 1540, Cromwell was
effectively the head of the king’s government and
Tracy Borman suggests that he initiated greater and
more significant changes during that time than
any other chief minister, before or since. The whole
economic structure of the country was transformed,
the machinery of government was developed,
Parliament acquired a greater role and the nation’s
religion was irrevocably changed.
It was this last change which brought about his
downfall. By removing the authority of the Pope
in England, the cork was released from the bottle
of religious reform and, when the king, who only
wanted to take the Pope out of the picture and
leave the rest much as it was, decided that he
wanted to put it back, not even Cromwell’s political
expertise could do it. His enemies pounced and
that was that. Such was Henry VIII’s volatile temper
and ingratitude that his most faithful servant died a
traitor.
Some historians are sceptical about biographies,
arguing that they exaggerate the individual at
the expense of the context. This cannot be said of
this book, not least because Cromwell dominated
the context in which he operated. Tracy Borman
narrates the story of his remarkable life with a clarity
and a pace which, just as a good novel does, keeps
one turning the pages to discover what happens
next. While not entirely denying Cromwell’s
reputation as a ruthless Machiavellian schemer,
this is a definitive portrait of an outstandingly able
politician and a multi-dimensional, multi-talented
man.
John Sutton
Imaginary words
IMPECURIOUS – like someone who is wondering
why he’s short of money.
BITTERWISTED – bitter and twisted; probably
resentful.
FLUDDIBOOLE – silly ass.
IMP-CROSHENT – cross and impatient.
SCARREMBLING – scared and trembling.
HAPLIBRATING – happily celebrating.
SWADDEEPY – sad and weepy.
PARROTTWEILER – the offspring of a mixed union,
like a big dog, very aggressive, but with brilliant
plumage; he tends to repeat what other creatures
say, so he probably has only a limited power of
original thought.
TENVING – tender and loving.
FAGREE – fat and greedy (GREEFA is also found; it is
listed in the more up to date FICTIONARIES).
CHEERHAP – happy and cheerful.
CHIMPANDA – the only member of the ape family
that lives almost exclusively on bamboo.
JENKINE – kind and generous.
SENTINELEPHANT – an elephant put on sentry duty,
to conserve man power. Unfortunately there is a
problem, in that it is taking a long time to teach this
particular elephant to cry “Halt, who goes there?”
Once he has learnt it, of course he will never forget
it, so the efforts to teach him will be continued, and
indeed redoubled.
SPLONDEROUS – slow and ponderous.
RHINOMETER – an instrument for measuring the
size of a rhino’s horn, so that a suitable piece of
colourful material can be wrapped round it, making
him even more beautiful. (The same instrument
can also be used for taking his temperature if
he’s feeling unwell, but this has to be done with
the utmost care, a sick rhinoceros is a very badtempered creature.)
PALSATIAN – an Alsatian guide dog.
CAMELEPHANT – a jumbo giving someone the
hump.
CAMELELEMENTARY – a camel of limited education.
CATERPILLOW – a sleeping caterpillar.
Andrew Finch
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 9
ASSOCIATES NEWS
Rejoice!
The Sage presented its annual Christmas
celebration on 8-9 December 2014 under the
heading Rejoice. For most of its ten year existence,
this Christmas concert has reminded the audience
of the true meaning of this Christian feast and this
year, having been to all of the concerts, I thought
that the programme truly captured the spirit of the
season with its mixture of seasonal music, carols
and oral reflections.
Simon Halsey, formerly principal conductor of
choral programme at the Sage until 2012 and
now Professor and Director of Choral Activities at
Birmingham University, returned to lead the Royal
Northern Sinfonia and the three choirs, Quay Voices,
Quay Lasses and Quay Lads. Every year a guest
presenter links the items with reflective readings.
This year it was former Blue Peter presenter
and now working on Holiday Hit Squad and
Countryfile programmes, Helen Skelton. The first act
commenced with Dvorák’s ‘Festival March’ with the
choirs and audience joining together for ‘Once in
Royal David’s City.’ Helen Skelton then set the tone
for her reflections with a reading from Saint Luke
chapter 2, the Birth of Jesus. The musical highlight
of the first half, in my view, but also from the
audience reaction, theirs too, was Benjamin Britten’s
‘As Dew in Aprille’ performed by the Quay Voices
and accompanied just by harpist Sharon Griffiths.
The counterpoint between voice and harp was
just magical and presented to the audience a very
different piece of music. Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’
from the ‘Messiah’ was a close second.
10 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
Audience conversation at the interval was buzzing
about the variety and quality of the music and the
second half lived up to the first. Tavener’s ‘The Lamb’
performed by the Quay Voices was moving, while
‘The Christmas Turkey’ by Hall and Beckingham and
sung by the Quay Lads, introduced both young
enthusiasm and humour to the programme. Helen
told us about the holly and the ivy; the holly male
and prickly; the ivy softer and more yielding. It is
said that whichever is brought into the house first
on Christmas Eve, will see either male or female
dominating for the year. Her husband, said Helen,
was quite competitive and would want to get his
shrub into the house first; ‘I don’t know why he
bothers’ she concluded. We also heard how the
robin obtained his red breast, fanning the dying
embers of the fire in the stable at Bethlehem to
keep the infant Jesus warm and scorching his breast
at the same time. Mary said to him, ‘From now on,
let your red breast be a blessed reminder of your
noble deed.’ (From ‘A Christmas Stocking’ by Louise
Betts Egan).
This and all previous seasonal concerts have been
supported by Sir Peter and Lady Vardy, through the
Vardy Foundation. The whole ensemble, musicians
and audience, joined in the final carol, ‘O Come All
Ye Faithful’ with ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ as
the encore. Then outside into a biting wind blowing
from the Tyne!
Paul Baker
Crossword by Bawl
1
2
3
4
4
8
10
5
5
9
9
6
6
7
7
25 Brown container is Macbeth’s victim (6)
26 Conduit may defend comments (8)
11
12
13
Down
14
1 Grape is nothing in measure and time (8)
14
2 Poet is dull if backward (4)
15
16
18
20
17
19
22
18
23
18
18
18
18
24
24
18
25
3 Funny stuff, I’m into old Bill (6)
4 Rotated quickly for tragedy in bits (7)
22
18
18
19
21
18
17
18
6 Shattering shattered – iron it out! (10)
18
26
26
5 Birth mother exiting right in confusion (8)
7 Girls on the move add direction to young salmon (6)
13 Contract in awkward polar region (10)
16 Poor farmer hides learner and is amiable (8)
Across
18 Upper shell is fish swallowing article and top card (8)
8 Back a top Conservative being lazy (8)
19 Two men and a fodder crop (7)
9 Whole tree in disrepair (6)
21 Breech or muzzle within Gulf strait (6)
10 Back entry for old land measure (4)
22 Mulch a pelargonium hiding holy place (6)
11 Blame axe in order to be testable (10)
24 Once Queenstown, hazelnut hotel for NATO (4)
12 Bird wharf? (6)
14 Was the PM once your cup of tea? (4,4)
15 Secret police get post sent round (7)
17 Co-exist for things from foreign climes (7)
20 He’ll crew turbulent banker in Oxford (8)
22 French swimmer is an unfounded rumour (6)
23 Naughty child is hot stuff in Slovakia (10)
24 Cloak to wear on a headland? (4)
Crossword solution page 17
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 11
ASSOCIATES NEWS
An educated life: part two
Hayfield School
Quite how I managed to be appointed headteacher
at 31 still bemuses, but then Sir Alec Clegg and his
West Riding entourage were risk takers. I recall a
somewhat vague interview in 1971, in an otherwise
deserted council chamber in Wakefield, at the
time of a lengthy postal strike. Perhaps due to the
latter there was a dearth of external candidates
for a new comprehensive still being constructed
in the West Riding Doncaster Division. At the time
Doncaster Borough was a separate LEA with middle
schools surrounded by new West Riding 11-16/18
comprehensives, all erected to Poulson of Wakefield
designs via a CLASP process. Hayfield School was to
lose a vast section of its flat roof in the great gale of
December 2013 but fortunately no one was injured.
Its water tower has just been removed as redundant
given a switch from coal fired boilers.
Learning the ropes
I enjoyed my Exeter PGCE year with the somewhat
aloof Professor D’Eath at its Department of
Education and a full spring term TP at The
Humphrey Davy Grammar School in Penzance. Jim
Batten, scion of a Cornish fishing family, was head
of geography and a brilliant teacher to observe in
action with ‘chalk and talk’, penetrating questions
to students, and the ability to sum up a lesson with
bullet points. “Don’t let the sixth form play you up” he
said, “engage in repartee”. I duly did and came out
on top. The school was very traditional under a Mr
Crask-Rising who rarely appeared other than at
assembly. The boys wore scarlet blazers and caps
raising the latter to staff, including students on TP,
if met in the town. AL Rowse, the Oxford historian,
inspired a Cornish heritage of scholarship.
“Were all headteachers eccentric souls?” I wondered,
recalling the three I had experienced at QEGS
Hexham – Major Hirst who actually taught rugby
skills in class and regularly used the cane; Mr
Whatmough, a shy classicist, who abhorred team
games, extolled the virtues of Stalin in assembly and
abandoned school uniform; to be quickly replaced
by Mr Brooks, a man of stern science mien and
pugnacious character. He had little sense of humour
when I insisted in avoiding the science wing of the
sixth form, nor when he expelled me at the end of
the upper sixth. As head boy, I led an overnight post
I suppose I was an off-piste candidate with an odd
A level prefect posse in piling all school furniture
CV given I had never been head of department, year into a massive pyramid in the school hall and
tutor or deputy head. In the 12 years since leaving
stabling a pony in his study. “It’s a police matter” he
the sixth form of Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School pronounced belligerently upon our late next day
(QEGS) Hexham in Northumberland I had managed arrival, causing me to smile given we had been
‘an educated life’. End on to my University of
conveyed home to rural Tynedale in two police cars
Nottingham geography degree and PGCE at Exeter at 2am courtesy of a peer group, police sergeant,
University it encompassed teaching in a Wirral
father. As six of us achieved State Scholarships he
grammar school and Oxfordshire comprehensive;
had to eat humble pie and invite us to return from
tutoring at Oxford University Department of
‘uni’ for speech day.
Education; an overseas visiting lectureship in
I was to unexpectedly come face to face with ‘The
Southern Africa; and a spell as assistant education
Brooks’ eight years later whilst visiting Blackpool
officer in Westmoreland.
Grammar School to observe an Oxford Education
12 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
Department student on TP. He was still not amused!
However he sorted out QEGS Hexham end on to its
brief headship disorder.
In a rash moment I applied for the headship of
QEGS in the mid 1980s but rapidly withdrew whilst
on interview when I discovered some of the ‘odd
balls’ who taught me were still in post!
Chalkface
My first teaching post was at Wallasey Grammar
School in the Wirral in 1961. Its recently retired
head, Mr Allen, had a reluctance to appoint other
than ‘Oxbridge’ or London, graduates, but its new
head, Mr Oliver was willing to risk ‘red brick’. The
boys still wore short trousers in Year 1 (now Year 7)
and, as a form tutor, one was expected to partake of
regular inspections to check with a ruler the correct
exposure of boys’ leg twixt top of gartered socks
and trouser hem. Try that today and risk accusations
of child abuse!
I recall a staff meeting where Mr Oliver asked us
how the new Year 7 had fared in its A, B, and C
streams. “As normal” the old hands replied. “I didn’t
actually stream them this year” came the head’s
response and wry faces. A learning curve.
The staff room, in its Edwardian brick edifice, had
a shove halfpenny table, kept highly polished by
our gowns, and a coal fire tended by an ancient
handyman (‘Rigor Mortis’) until 9pm so that young
bachelor staff could return from digs or flats to
‘mark’, and retreat to the local pub which closed at
9.30pm on weekdays. Sixties Wirral pubs still had
‘men only’ rooms and the Old Wallaseyans Club was
an aging male domain best avoided. Old boys with
talent played for New Brighton Rugby Club, which
at the time had a high class fixture list.
As a ‘new boy’ I was handed the school ‘Ship Society’
to run which entailed Saturday visits to liners,
merchant ships, and warships in Liverpool Docks
utilising the school’s impressive contacts. This
came end on, or interspersed, with Saturday rugby
including the under 14s. The school had a strong
rugby tradition and a cherished fixture list including
Ellsemere College, Rydal School, King William (Isle of
Man), Birkenhead School, St Marys RC and Merchant
Taylors in Liverpool, Calday Grange Grammar
School, and King Edwards in Southport. Education
in the 1960s was still a six-day job for young staff
and to be honest very enjoyable.
I also helped organise a sixth form ‘Umbrella’ Society
on Friday evenings with guest speakers on theme
evenings and occasional ‘hops’. I booked a local
group for one of the latter composed of 17/18 year
old ‘Scouse’ lads playing rock and roll standards.
Little did I realise that The Quarrymen were shortly
to morph into The Beatles and the Cavern scene.
I paid them £21 but sadly didn’t keep the receipt
signed by all of them bar Ringo as Keith Best was
then the drummer. At the end of my career at
The Hayfield School one of our pupils was Louis
Tomlinson now, at 22, a millionaire member of One
Direction. There can be few heads who can name
drop the Beatles and ‘OD’ 50 years apart!
After three years I moved on from the Wirral having
casually applied for a post advertised in an obscure
section of the TES. A triple header: tutor at Oxford
Department of Education in Norham Gardens (three
days); curriculum development in geography at
Bicester School a new 11-18 comprehensive (two
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 13
ASSOCIATES NEWS
days); and Warden of Commonwealth Lodge a
small, rather basic, eight student hostel run by the
Royal Commonwealth Society on Banbury Road
in North Oxford. The department was seeking
to appoint a teaching method mentor who was
currently proactive at the chalkface and young!
I may well have been the only candidate and
slightly bemused to be offered the post. It was to
prove an immensely enjoyable multitasking role.
Commonwealth Lodge was only a ten minute walk
from the department where my top floor attic room
overlooked the parks and summer cricket – were
it not for tree foliage. The morning bus to Bicester
had a stop on Banbury Road which, given I couldn’t
drive, was handy.
Oxford life
The Oxford Education Department in 1964
was under the directorship of Alex Peterson, a
somewhat austere, ex-public school, headmaster
and the Liberal Party education spokesman.
Despite a staff of seven he rarely met us, bar a
start of term sherry party. We were left to get on
with our student method mentoring, seminars,
and occasional lectures to the 120 annual PGCE
intake. Somehow I was given the task to outline the
concept of comprehensive schools given my two
days a week at Bicester School! I recall meeting Mr
Peterson on the department steps after a year in
post – I’m not sure he knew who I was. Visitors to
garden social events included Jeffrey Archer who
was a PGCE student proactive in raising money for
Oxfam and Robert Maxwell MP, who offered me a
job at Pergammon Press which I wisely refused.
My young department colleagues included
Patricia Story who became involved with the
‘Classics in Schools’ project in Cambridge where
she still resides; Dick Woolett who, after a role
as housemaster at Westminster School, became
head of an LCC boarding school in Essex; Barbara
Hosegood who moved on to philosophy at
Goldsmiths College; and Bill Taylor a rising star in
14 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
the sociology of education ending up as Pro Vice
Chancellor at Hull University.
New young university staff were invited to Lady
Pucky and Lady Pym’s Headington Sunday garden
parties for butler-served cucumber sandwiches and
grass court tennis – a Royal Commonwealth Society
link as the doyens were of the Raj in a maternal role.
JR Tolkien was one of the house guests with whom I
once conversed and can thus name drop.
As warden of the eight students in Commonwealth
Lodge (next to Gregs the Greengrocer on Banbury
Road, and now a posh restaurant) I inherited a role
in convening lunchtime RCS meetings with visiting
speakers at Norham Gardens, doing my best not
to be overtly out of kilter with the audience of
ex ‘colonials’. The lodge was basic with a shared
bathroom in the loft and a basement kitchen with
strange Indian, SE Asian and West African cooking
smells. As warden I had invitations to Rhodes House
and its croquet lawn and to High Table at St Peters
where to my amazement the conversation was not
always unduly taxing. I acted as ref for Saturday
afternoon rugby at Teddy Hall with a post-match
pint in the Buttery – 1960s Oxford was still a world
of its own. If my account at Blackwell’s bookshop
was overdrawn at the end of the year I received a
hand written letter “wondering if I could see my way”
to reimburse “when in a position to do so”!
One of my seminar students at the Oxford
department was Dave Fielding in his mid-20s, fresh
from a spell as a colonial district officer in Brunei.
End on to his PGCS he held a post in teaching
geography and geology at Radley College for
decades – we still keep in touch.
Most of the Oxford PGCE students were ex-public
school, grammar school, and Oxbridge. In the
spring term they were out on TP nationwide and
I was peripatetic to assess their performance in a
range of private, direct grant and prestigious city
grammar schools. Hence visits to Eton, Radley, RCS
Newcastle, Bloxham, Summerfields and Dragon
Prep Schools; Latimer Upper, Westminster, Blackpool
GS, et al. Most were rather strange environments
for a Northumbrian 11+ working class, small town,
grammar school lad. Occasionally a student chose
an inner city, sec mod or comprehensive – I recall
one young lady coping well with a large Year 11
group in a Slough sec mod and then watching a
student at Eton in the afternoon with a class of six
studying A level history in another world!
Bicester School in North Oxfordshire was a new
comprehensive amalgamating the town’s small
grammar school with a sec mod. The head was
Bill Percival recruited from an earlier headship
at a Cambridge Village College. A cultured man
interested in drama, music and literature with
immense leadership skills – he inspired me to set
a goal of becoming a head, hopefully with some
of his talents and staff recruitment attributes.
He stood no nonsense, but built a strong team
many of whom were to end up as headteachers
– John Greswell at Malton in North Yorkshire; Alan
McMurray at St Neot’s; Tony Manners in Westonsuper-Mare. Here I befriended Jan Russell, a gifted
drama teacher and musical director (my late in life
current partner); Ray Baxter an eccentric extrovert
with a passion to help less able youngsters; Colin
Walker an amazing art master with a hobby in
railway and landscape photography; and Jonathan
Brown running the school’s FE. Ray was to have
a career in teacher training and student support
in Durham; Colin to tutor in art in Coventry and
publish his books of photographs of the Great
Central railway, Cunard liners, and the Pennine Way;
and Jonathan to operate FE and WEA in Newcastle.
Sadly Colin and Ray are now deceased as is Bill
Percival. His wife Audrey, now living in the Lake
District, was a major support in his headship and
college principal roles.
South African Outreach
Out of the blue, in 1966, I was given secondment
from Oxford to take up by invitation a British
Council post as visiting lecturer in education
for nine months at the multi-racial University of
Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland surrounded by
apartheid South Africa.
I outreached from the remote Drakensberg ‘Roma’
campus in Lesotho, to run courses in Gaberones on
the edge of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, and in
Mbabane in citrus growing lowland Swaziland. This
involved long car journeys across the republic and,
in Lesotho, visits to remote outback villages where
one teacher coped with 80 ‘all age’ pupils in a basic
school with little resources. Professor John Turner
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 15
ASSOCIATES NEWS
headed the University Education Department – a
wonderfully supportive man with a long career
ahead in Sub-Saharan education development and
end on a major senior role in Manchester University
and in local Methodist preaching. He died in 2013.
My new wife Pam flew out to join me in a Trek
Airways, four engine Constellation with lots of
stop overs compared to my VC10 British Council
BOAC flight via Nairobi to ‘Joburg’ and on to
Bloemfontein, then by car on dirt road to Roma in
the Drakensberg Mountains. We played tennis in
the thin air at 6,000 feet on the campus with the
future King Moshaeshue II on vacation from Oxford
University. My wife acted as my driver for the 500
mile journeys across the republic.
As a geographer I tried to encourage teachers to
interest pupils in their local economic infrastructure
and problems of soil erosion (Lesotho), aridity
(Botswana) and commercial citrus crops and fast
growing timber (Swaziland), to ask questions
not just accumulate facts, and to use the local
environment. The three ex High Commissioner
Territories had startling contrasts – the mesa and
butte Arizona landscape of Lesotho beneath the
Drakensbergs; the flat cattle ranching Lobatse plain
of Southern Botswana with bush desert to the west
and swamps in the north; the contrast between
sub-tropical lowland Swaziland and its fast growing
coniferous forested uplands with asbestos mines.
Dalesman
My Oxford post had a four year tenure. End on, in
my usual idiosyncratic way, I applied for the role of
assistant education officer in Westmoreland, and
to my surprise was appointed having assured the
local farmer councillor on the panel that I was a
‘dalesman’! I had five months to learn to drive, move
into my first newly built bungalow (£6,000!) in a tiny
South Westmorland hamlet and turn up for work
at the county office in Kendal. My boss was Guy
Greenwood, a young CEO, with whom I established
a rapport and benefitted from his wisdom and
16 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
willingness to delegate. He is still proactive in
Westmoreland life at age 92.
We ran the county education with a very small
close-knit team Guy, Bernard Waites (the deputy
CEO), myself, four advisors (primary; special needs;
school meals; and PE), a chief clerk, an admin
officer and three secretaries. Under our wing
were 50 primary schools including a host of one
teacher rural schools; nine secondary schools (three
grammars; three sec mods; three comprehensives)
and Charlotte Mason College of Education at
Ambleside. Bill Percival, my former head at Bicester
School, was soon to become principal of Charlotte
Mason and revive its fortunes.
To my delight I was allowed a polyglot role –
refurbishing primary schools and helping to design
new ones; clerking the governors at some of the
secondary schools closing one teacher schools
with less than ten pupils; devising comprehensive
schemes for South Westmoreland. Lots of car
journeys to delightful places in the Lake District,
Pennines and Vale of Eden – “get out and about
and meet the teachers” was Guy’s philosophy.
Amusingly we often found several of us turning up
on a summer Friday afternoon at the remote one
teacher, five pupil school on South Stainmore, for a
picnic lunch! I recall a very hostile public meeting
at Knock in the lee of the Pennines in the midst of a
blizzard when I announced the intended closure of
its one teacher, eight pupil village green, school – I
remember the A road journey back, late night over
a drifting snow Shap summit to Kendal.
Westmoreland had its eccentricities in the 1960s. A
county council dominated by landowners, lawyers,
and clergy but, in Dr Elizabeth Kemp, a left wing,
pro comprehensive, chair of education, who had
slipped into the post from vice chair when the
chairman died.
Westmoreland was not prepared to break with
succession tradition, even if her ideas were
politically circumnavigated. Hence my South
Westmoreland comprehensive schemes, at her
request, were not to fructify at the time. There had
been no option given size but to make Appleby
Grammar and Kirby Stephen Grammar Schools
comprehensive (and the new Lakes School at
Windermere). In the south of the county Heversham
Grammar School, Kendal Grammar and Girls
High School and QEGS Kirkby Lonsdale remained
staunchly selective alongside two Kendal sec mods
and one at Milnthorpe.
Parts of Westmoreland were in a time warp in the
1960s. Whilst clerking Kirkby Stephen Grammar
School (Comp) governors I recall having to gently
tell them that it was not appropriate to discuss
the suitability of local suitors for a female member
of staff, nor to allow the ‘Band of Hope’ to inhibit
Sunday use of the school’s open air swimming
pool. Mr Dent the former chair of governors on his
re-election for the ‘umpteenth’ time stated it was an
‘unexpected honour’ then read a prepared speech.
The liveliest governor was Mr Parrott, an 80 year-old
Quaker, who often walked the 15 miles to county
council in Kendal – an amazing character with a
warm heart.
Whilst in Westmoreland I had befriended and
been inspired by Vic Gray, the maverick head of
Milnthorpe sec mod – an amazing extrovert. He
had been a Japanese POW and in his youth a
gifted rugby player in the Scottish borders. He ran a
fantastic school with strong community links.
Guy Greenwood CEO became aware that I missed
the life of a school and aspired to be a headteacher.
He happily let me attend a once a week day
course for ‘future heads’ run by the University of
Manchester in Preston based on the then vogue
for in-tray exercises. With the reorganisation of
local government pending in 1974, wherein
Westmoreland was to become part of Cumbria,
led in educational terms by Gordon Bessy (‘God’),
I began to apply for headship at 30! I suspect I
achieved three interviews due to my unusual career
path – I backed out of two at Wern in Shropshire
and Henley in Arden (house prices!) and landed the
third in the West Riding where Sir Alec Clegg was
happy to take a risk on youth for a new ‘comp’ south
of Doncaster. Hence 38 years end on as head of The
Hayfield School.
Tony Storey
Associates’ reunion lunch
in Cambridge
The next Associates’ reunion lunch and tour at the
Murray Edwards College is on Tuesday 1 September
2015 in Cambridge. The cost will be £36 and the
return by date for bookings is now Monday 1 June
sent to [email protected] For full details please
see the associates’ section on the ASCL website or
contact Philip at [email protected]
Crossword Solution
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www.ascl.org.uk/associates 17
London marathon, April
2014 – part 2
Put on your iPods please – all plugged in and
ready for the off
It was too late to enter the lottery for the London
marathon. I wanted to run a marathon in the UK
to reduce insurance costs and to benefit from the
services of a free NHS in the event of things going
wrong during the race. It was still possible to get
into the London marathon by supporting a charity
and I contacted the Thomas Coram Foundation,
now known as Coram. I had helped set up their
London marathon gold entry scheme in the
1990s and had run for them on several occasions.
Unfortunately they had already allocated their
marathon places but it was good to know that they
were still fully involved with the marathon. The
Coram is the world’s oldest incorporated charity
and has strong links with Handel, Hogarth and
other former London notables. Success came my
way when Cheshire Disability (of Leonard Cheshire
fame) gave me a place provided I raised a minimum
of £2,000 for this worthy cause.
I now had less than four months to get in shape
with the added challenge of three weeks in
Singapore and Vietnam, visiting our daughter, and
two weeks in Austria following in my wife’s ski
tracks! I managed to swim nearly every day whilst
visiting our daughter but managed only three runs
in the extreme heat. Running in Austria at high
altitude was tough but beneficial, but my beer
and wine intake on the ski slopes was increased.
During March I was able to do my normal routine of
golfing, running, walking, swimming and some gym
short sessions that also included bike workouts.
My longest total weekly mileage was two weeks of
about 26 miles and my longest run was a session
lasting two hours 35 minutes on grass paths. I am
fortunate to be able to achieve fair marathon times
for my age and weight, 68 years old and 75kgs, on
18 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
a much lower mileage than most other runners
are. I think that this is the reason along with crosstraining that my joints are still okay.
I registered for the marathon at the O2 centre,
next to the Thames in East London. There I had the
pleasure of having my photo taken with one of
the greatest modern day distance runners, Haile
Gebrselassie. He recently held the world record for
the marathon and is a multi-gold medal winner in
Olympic and world championship events. He was
the pacemaker for the marathon.
Marathon day
I arose at 6.10am and had my usual porridge and
banana. Well Vaselined and kitted up, I cycled to
catch the 7.15am train from Hertford to Charing
Cross on a glorious sunny day. I bought a strong
coffee and the Sun newspaper, very light reading
only required, and then boarded my train. Sitting
opposite was a fellow runner. This tall amateur
rugby player was participating in his first marathon
and was sorting out his iPod. He told me he had
loaded up 60 songs/tunes for his run. It was clear to
me that he thought that he needed this music to
motivate him to get round the course. Of all the big
city marathons that I have run, London is well ahead
when it comes to crowd support and fancy dress,
not to mention the Pearly Kings and Queens.
I told this young man that there would be nearly a
million spectators cheering him on and he would
not need any motivation from his music, which
would in fact cut him off from both his fellow
runners and the spectators. He would miss the
random interactions and real joy of running the
London. He listened but I think he had already
made up his mind to plug himself into the music
world of his own making. He was not to be the only
one. I estimate that 30-40 per cent of the runners
were plugged into their iPods. I did my best to
get some runners to unplug and engage in some
banter and hear the crowd support but I am afraid I
could not hold back the iPod tide.
At Oxford Circus, we met a runner from Yorkshire all
ready to run with no extra kit and hoping to break
three hours, tough chaps these Northerners. There
was no sign of any iPod on him. His previous best
was three hours and five minutes.
I arrived about 45 minutes before the start and
had time for a photo with the Banana Man and
another with the Lion King. I always like a strong
coffee before the start to sort out the build up of
lactic acid later on in the race – well I think it works
after a fashion. A last call came over the antennae
for all runners to put their kit bags on the lorries
and I quickly put my coffee aside and rushed over
to my designated area. Later I realised I had left
my Vaseline, suntan cream and eye drops in my
kit bag which did not auger too well for my final
preparations. It had been three years since my last
marathon in Milan so I had forgotten aspects of my
normal pre-race routine. I did manage to borrow
some Vaseline from a runner who was putting it on
their eyebrows – great idea to stop the sweat going
into your eyes. Why did it take me 30 years to learn
this?
Because of my uncertainty about how I was going
to fare in this race, I started near the back of the red
start – with about 20,000 runners in front of me.
This turned out to be a big mistake. I soon realised
this when I had to step sideways to get past slower
runners. I passed a man carrying a fridge after about
three miles. He was wise enough to start towards
the front and let other runners pass him. My mistake
would catch up with me around the 18 mile mark.
As usual there was great crowd support and it was
a lovely day, if a little on the hot side. I was very
impressed with the number of runners supporting
charitable causes, some very personal. One woman
that I talked to, not plugged in, told me that she
was supporting a liver transplant charity. Her
mother had a liver transplant 20 years previously
at age 38. She said the only sign that anything was
wrong was her mother’s yellow skin colour. An
Irish girl from Cork was running for breast cancer
research in honour of her mother who died from
the disease. I noticed a young woman wearing a
Delmelza Children’s Hospice t-shirt. In 2003, I ran
the Budapest marathon for this charity. I managed
to get her to unplug her iPod to have a chat. I also
had a chat with a police officer whose running
vest had the words ‘I want an arrest’ emblazoned
on it. A cheerful Canadian couple were running
London because they had heard about the great
atmosphere.
I estimated that over 90 per cent of runners were
running for charity. In my first London marathon
in 1984, a minority of the runners ran for charity.
There was also a very big increase in the number of
women runners. One welcome IT development was
the ability to track the progress of each runner. My
daughter was able to do this from Singapore; but
my wife who I hoped to see near Canary Warf found
the system was overloaded.
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 19
ASSOCIATES NEWS
Just after the Cutty Sark, I was pleased to see the
Cheshire Disability supporters and that extra cheer
sent me on my way to Tower Bridge. I was happy
with my pace but had the continuing problem of
having to step sideways to pass slower runners. The
soles of my feet were getting sore with this unusual
sideways movement. I was hoping that no blisters
would develop. I was very surprised how crowded
it was even from mile 17 onwards. It was difficult
to see the road ahead to avoid stepping on empty
bottles. I was pleasantly surprised when a woman
runner introduced herself to me. She recognised
my Cheshire Disability running vest and told me she
had run the marathon for them the previous year.
She lived near one of their homes in the North of
England. I then saw her falling sideways towards the
kerb and managed to grab her. Other runners tried
to avoid us and we nearly had one of those mass
crashes that you see in the Tour de France bike
race. She had stepped on an unseen rolling empty
Lucozade bottle.
I could see the Houses of Parliament in the
distance. I now found myself with a runner from
South Africa – he asked me to take a photo of
him with Parliament in the background whilst still
running. He told me he had run the Comrades ultra
marathon in South Africa. I wondered how he had
so much energy left. I wanted to tell him to run on
ahead but I could not – ‘keep going Sean’ I said to
myself. Going up Birdcage Walk, he wanted another
selfie and one of the two of us with Buckingham
Palace in the background whilst still running. I have
never finished a marathon like this before. Then we
sprinted up the Mall – I think I just got over the line
before him – but it did not matter. He then wanted
another photo of the two of us at the finish.
The soles of my feet were very sore by mile 18. I was
still sure that I had no blisters and I knew what was
needed was a bit more cushioning. Luckily, I saw a
St John Ambulance station and asked them to stick
some bandaging into my socks. Five minutes later I
was off and running on air. Job done. At the Tower
of London I met the Cheshire Disability supporters
again. I also waved to crowds on an overhead
bridge and got a tremendous ‘You can do it Sean’
response. I had my name ‘Sean’ printed front and
back on my running vest and felt almost as popular
as Shaun the Sheep!
A copy of my book Marathon Adventures across
Europe and Beyond: 30 Years of Running Pain and
Pleasure can be downloaded from Amazon for a
few pounds.
The Tower has been a place of torture and
incarceration down the centuries and at this section
of the race I was hitting my own wall of torture.
Achilles tendons were beginning to play up a bit,
odd pangs of pain in calves and kidney area. Was I
beginning to fall apart? Would my bypasses burst?
Sorry, too much negative thinking. Stay positive.
Yes, we can!
20 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
I had made it and in a time of four hours 40 minutes
plus my five minutes at the St John Ambulance
station. The body had held together. The Cheshire
Disability was £2,500 better off and my wife badly
needed a cup of tea.
Sean O’Reilly
Moments
Time for thought
Lost in the mind’s eye –
Stimulus and response –
Met by a stare and ‘Who are you?’
‘What relevance is that?’ Or even ‘So?’
Completed tasks repeated with deliberate zeal
Patterned to satisfy a driven simplistic target.
Where are we now and why?
Then on again to ‘fill’ life’s time.
How can agile perspicacity
Be lost like this?
Petra
Beheaded
Statues with no name, no head
Stand proud yet represent the dead.
Not the tyrant Periander nor even Pericles.
But unseeing eyes will stare from any head with ease
To see beyond the present neck and shoulders.
And who would be the chosen holders?
Now museum bound they all stand and wait
Ready for a nose and stony glare. Their fate,
Testament to cynicism or maybe life,
Is to endure a sterile plinth – no strife.
Unknown leaders set in stone, removed, replaced.
No features, no distinction, all effaced.
JF (Ian) Saul
Echoing horseshoes and clattering wheels
Quicken the nerves and still the observations –
Not now glimpse past reddish streaks
To narrow sky blue – way above the Siq
But cower for safety against the darkened walls.
Then, unsteady steps across irregular stones –
Concern and anxiety grow ‘til the Siq ends
Bursting into a crush of horses, carriages, touts
and tourists.
Souvenir sellers taunt and test the unwary
As the Treasury oversees and stares across the
human melee.
Ponder now the Greek theatre and the old spice
trade routes
Where did the Nabateans live and how?
A lively story of busy trade and urban life.
Make Petra’s story real.
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 21
ASSOCIATES NEWS
A profile of
Tony Richardson
The great strength of ASCL, and of SHA which
preceded it, is that it is an organisation run
by members for members. That strength has
always depended on the impressive number of
outstanding members who put themselves forward
to serve, either as volunteers or as employees. A
good example of both is Tony Richardson, the story
of whose career is an illustration of the changes
which have littered the path of educational
development over five decades.
Tony was born in a lower-middle class family in
Accrington and although they moved when he
was five, he has remained a Lancastrian through
and through. His new home was in Ashby-de-laZouch in Leicestershire where, at the age of ten, he
passed the 11-plus to enter Ashby Boys’ Grammar
School. Typically of the way things were in the 50s,
the school took the important decisions, without
a nod in the direction of parental consultation or
pupil choices. The bright ones were placed in the
express stream and set to learn Latin and Greek.
For those classicists, whole swathes of what would
be regarded as essential areas of the curriculum
today were ignored: no history, geography or art.
Ashby went even further than most and Tony found
himself doing ten O levels when he was only 14,
giving him four years in the sixth form, in the last of
which there was little left to do but to carry out the
duties of head boy.
Fortunately, however, Tony enjoyed all aspects of
his school days. He had not been converted to
classics, though, and he went to King’s College
in London, to read English, already believing that
teaching was to be his destiny. With the benefit of
hindsight, he thinks it ought to have been law but
careers advice – or rather the lack of it – being what
it was, the possibility never presented itself to him.
So, with a BA in English, the natural progression
22 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
took him to do a DipEd, which he did at Reading
University. It was while he was at Reading that he
met fellow-student, Rebecca. They married two
years later. Almost as fortunate was the outcome of
a successful teaching practice at Ashmead School in
Reading, which produced an offer of a job, without
application or interview, which was duly accepted.
Ashmead, how very 1960s, was a boys’ trilateral
school, where the principal contribution on the
technical side was to the building trades. As Tony
delicately points out, this particular strength was
not one which tended to attract the intellectual
elite of the area and he sought another outlet to
supplement both his experience and his income.
He followed up an existing interest in youth work
and soon found himself running two youth clubs
in the evening and at weekends. This clearly helped
him to secure his next appointment, which was
as youth tutor at Priesthorpe School in Pudsey,
a progressive and successful secondary modern
school. This was in white rose country, the West
Riding, which at that time was under the leadership
of Sir Alec Clegg. Tony recalls joining 250 teachers,
turning out on a Saturday morning to be inspired
by an address from the great man.
By this time, Tony was himself aspiring to leadership
and realising that youth tutoring was probably
not the most promising career path, he secured a
year’s secondment to study at Bradford University
for a MSc degree in Education. This worked a treat
and he returned to Priesthorpe in the role of head
of English and director of studies, at a time when
the school was needing to adjust to the academic
demands of going comprehensive. Three years at
that and he was ready for deputy headship, which
was fast becoming a career post in management
instead of a reward for long service in the common
room. He secured a very good one, at King Edward
VI School Morpeth, a 13-18 comprehensive, formed
by the incorporation of no fewer than five schools,
under George Chapman. Tony found Chapman
to be an instinctive leader, who was able to
demonstrate how successful a large comprehensive
school could be.
This was the best possible training for headship,
after three years Tony threw his hat into the ring
and was appointed head of an 11-16 school in the
Abraham Moss Centre in Manchester. This, sadly,
would probably have been described by Sellars
and Yeatman as not a good thing. One of the many
experimental reorganisations of the 1970s, this
was a grand institution which included, in addition
to the school, a library, a leisure centre, a college
and a theatre. The school students were able to
roam extensively and, in overall charge, there sat a
principal, who reserved to himself most of the key
decisions. Tony found himself in the unenviable
situation of having all the responsibility for running
the school, but none of the power.
After two years, Tony was able to escape to Bury,
where he became head of Stand Girls’ Grammar
School as it evolved into Philips High School, an
11-16 mixed comprehensive. Tony describes the
next eight years as ‘exciting and happy’. He had a
good staff, he and Rebecca were raising a family, he
was SHA representative in Bury and he was doing a
lot of running in his spare time.
Enjoyable though this was, Tony had a hankering
for a school with a sixth form and, in 1987, he
was appointed to be head of Ormskirk Grammar
School, which, despite its name, had become
comprehensive years before but, as Tony
discovered, it did not seem to know that it had. It
was a tough nut to crack. There was no provision
for special needs, the curriculum had never been
discussed, the concept of staff consultation was
not understood and the attitude to change was
decidedly hostile. Turning all this round was his
hardest job ever, but his efforts were crowned
with success as the atmosphere changed, public
perceptions were improved and the school became
a successful comprehensive. There were particularly
notable achievements in debating and public
speaking, successes matched by Tony himself,
who had become chairman of the Lancashire
Association of Secondary Heads and been elected
to SHA Council, where he was an eloquent and
effective debater.
It would be a terminological inexactitude to state
that Tony retired in 1998. True, he resigned his
headship at Ormskirk, but he immediately took
up a new appointment as SHA field officer in
the Northwest. ‘Probably my best job ever’ was
Tony’s retrospective summary of his eight years
of service in this demanding role, one for which
his entire previous career seemed to have been
the preparation. He derived immense satisfaction
from striving to achieve the best outcome for
each member he represented and they in turn
had good reason to be thankful for his passionate
commitment and professional skills. This experience
also revived his old hankering for the law and,
when he really did retire, he enrolled on an Open
University course in law, graduating with a first class
honours LLB.
Tony’s portfolio in retirement also makes the word
seem inappropriate. In addition to his legal studies,
he is active in the University of the Third Age,
chairing a book group and running cycling tours: he
cycles 2,500 miles every year! He is an enthusiastic
folk dancer, leading a group called Regency
Rejigged, performing 17th and 18th century English
country dances in costumes straight out of Jane
Austen. He is chair of governors at his local primary
school, ‘because I feel useful’, and trustee and clerk
for a local charity.
At the same time his commitment to ASCL
continues. He is a long-standing member of the
Associates’ Committee and was the organiser of last
year’s highly successful reunion event in Liverpool.
He is a trustee and honorary treasurer of the
ASCL Benevolent Fund where he finds especially
rewarding the contact he has with those clients for
whom he acts as point of contact and visitor. Such
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 23
ASSOCIATES NEWS
is Tony’s committed support that those clients find
his clear-sighted and empathetic friendship every
bit as rewarding for them.
This year Tony and Rebecca celebrate their golden
wedding anniversary in their home village of
Newburgh. Their daughter is a senior lecturer at
Keele University and their son works in IT for a bank
in Australia. They take great pride in their three
granddaughters. Meanwhile, there is no sign that
Valentine’s Day 2015
Bernard Barker rediscovers his parents on BBC
Breakfast.
My efforts at family history began in 2008, shortly
after my father’s death and my own retirement. My
aim was to salvage my parents from obscurity and
to bring their writing to a new, wider audience.
Seven years later, my hopes have been fulfilled by
the publication of My Dear Bessie: A Love Story in
Letters (by Chris Barker and Bessie Moore [ed. Simon
Garfield], Canongate, 14 February 2015). This is the
story of the book and our big moment on BBC TV.
The make-up artist guides me to a seat facing a
mirror and dusts my cheeks with powder, ‘Just to
damp down the reflections’. As she speaks, I notice a
screen to my left.
My mother (Bessie) and father (Chris) scroll through
in photomontage: a glamorous studio portrait from
wartime London, a soldier with a broad grin in
Alexandria, a snap of them together in the 1940s,
an elderly couple beaming from a railway carriage
window, and finally a shot of them together on
Blackheath, mum’s last outing from her care home
in Greenwich. Dad’s CND badge is on his jacket
lapel as ever, and despite a wheel chair, white hair
and lined faces their expressions are as lively and
loving as ever.
I hear the voice-over actors reading my parents’
loving words.
24 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
Tony is putting a foot anywhere near the brake
pedal. He continues to be a dynamic, enthusiastic
and good-humoured contributor to ASCL and to a
broader world as well. PG Wodehouse would have
described him as ‘a good egg’. Indeed, he is.
John Sutton
“20 hours have gone since I last wrote. I have been
thinking of you. I shall think of you until I post this, and
until you get it. Can you feel, as you read these words
that I am thinking of you now; aglow, alive, alert at the
thought that you are in the same world, and by some
strange chance loving me?” (Chris)
“How do I feel? – Such a large question, sweetheart,
oh! Such a large question! So difficult for me to tell you.
When I received your telegram, I sat down and wrote
immediately but nothing would really come, I was like
a sleepwalker suddenly awakened, didn’t know where
I was, felt all soft and pappy, tremulous and bubbly
inside.” (Bessie)
I find myself on the BBC Breakfast sofa. Charlie Stayt
asks how I felt when opening my parents’ small
cardboard box of love letters, written between
1943 and 1946. His question airlifts me from the
safe world of an education academic to the virtual
reality of Media City, the BBC’s new complex at
Salford Quays.
Dad gave me the box in 2004 and I promised
no one would read the letters before they were
‘both gone’. Feelings only set in when I read the
correspondence after his death. I shed tears at the
sight of his familiar, neat hand, squashed into every
available space on the official blue aerogramme
paper. ‘Did I know my parents were romantic types?’
Not really, parents are just parents, but they loved
each other and I feel fortunate to have such an
inheritance.
Naga Munchetty asks Simon Garfield (the book’s
editor) about his part in My Dear Bessie. When he
was finishing To the Letter, an elegy for the lost art
of letter writing, Simon was acutely conscious he
had included letters from celebrated literary lovers,
like Heloise and Abelard, but none by ordinary
people. He is a trustee at Sussex University’s Mass
Observation so at the last moment asked the
archivist whether she had anything he might use.
She told him that 500 Second World War love letters
had just come in, part of the ‘Chris Barker Papers’
curated and deposited by his son Bernard. Simon
hurried down to Sussex and after a day’s reading in
the archive knew he had found something special.
The Barker/Moore letters were inserted between
chapters in To the Letter and readers were soon
skipping Simon’s text to find out what happened
to these two former post office clerks, as mortars
pounded RAF HQ Athens (Chris) and German V2
rockets fell on London (Bessie).
Letters Live events, with Benedict Cumberbatch
and Louise Brealey reading the couple’s exchanges,
were sold out almost before they were advertised.
John Carey wrote in the Sunday Times: ‘With Chris
and Bessie it is the sheer unclouded openness that
captivates.’
Diana Athill asked every reader’s question: ‘What,
one longs to know, is going to happen next to Chris
and Bessie? The thrillingly intensive experience that
they lived through will continue to resonate for as
long as those sheets of paper are read.’
So Canongate decided to give Chris and Bessie their
own book, My Dear Bessie: A Love Story in Letters.
After six weeks, there was a prisoner exchange,
followed swiftly by home leave. The couple met as
lovers for the first time and spent a week by the sea.
Nine months later, they took advantage of Dad’s
final wartime leave to marry on 24 October 1945.
My father was finally released from the army in
June 1946, just in time to welcome my arrival that
August. My brother Peter joined us in February
1949. Chris resumed his post office career
while Bessie cared for the boys and became an
accomplished artist. Our parents enjoyed a long
and happy life together in South London. Bessie
died in 2003 age 90 and Chris in 2007 age 93.
The show over, I head for Manchester Station
and begin to come to terms with my parents’
posthumous celebrity. The letters were not written
for publication and achieved a degree of openness
that few of us are prepared to risk. I suspect the
real Chris and Bessie may have been embarrassed
by the publication of their passionate words and
mutual frankness. But Dad was a talker and writer
who loved an audience. He had more than a
suspicion that his correspondence with Bessie was
remarkable and valuable. He gave me the letters
with some vague hope of new readers in his mind,
but could not have imagined that ‘Chris and Bessie’
would join the literature of World War II.
Their flowing words enabled them to overcome
anxiety, loneliness and distance. Now their
engaging language helps us understand what it
was like to live through those dangerous times.
Bernard Barker
Charlie has a final question for me: ‘So what
happened next, Bernard, how did your parents
get together?’
Dad survived attacks in Athens, was taken prisoner
by the communist partisans (ELAS) and was
marched through the Greek mountains in winter.
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 25
ASSOCIATES NEWS
But headmaster!
Visitors
their two children entered and the older one said,
not realising to whom she was speaking, “You know,
Mummy said that they were not ready for us when we
arrived!” Christopher Chataway spent most of the day
One of the great privileges of talking with individual boys who clearly very much
being a headmaster is that it enjoyed the privilege of meeting him. At that time
is acknowledged that you can he was member of Parliament for Chichester in West
write to anyone inviting them Sussex, but to the boys he was an Olympic athlete.
to come and speak to the
Field Marshal Montgomery of El Alamein came to
school or to a group of pupils.
visit us at Lancing. I had previously heard him at
Many people, distinguished
Marlborough when he addressed the whole school
in their own fields, quite enjoy meeting members of
and awarded them a half a day’s holiday in honour
the next generation and therefore, in my experience,
of his coming. The school was rapturous in applause
very few of them tend to refuse. In looking for
and he therefore leapt to his feet and awarded a
distinguished people to speak at Churchill songs
second half holiday much to the obvious annoyance
the only two who did refuse were the President
of the master! He visited Lancing early in my career
of the United States of America, and the German
at the time when the hair was still very long. I
Chancellor. My wife saved his reply, just(!) from the
remember so well introducing a group of about six
incinerator. I did not really expect either of them to
senior boys to him and he gazed at them, turned to
accept but it was well worth a try.
me and said “headmaster their hair’s too long!” I was
Many headmasters are faced with the task of finding pretty well fed up with the whole subject of hair by
then and so I simply turned to one of the boys and
a distinguished visitor who will be inspired and
said “and how do you respond to the field marshal”?
inspire others when prizes are given away. I do
The boy looked at the field marshal, thought for one
know that many headmasters find this a difficult
task as not everyone who is well-known is good at moment and then, to my horror, said “Sir, it wouldn’t
be that you would just be jealous, would it?” There was
speaking to the young. I was fortunate that both
a terrifying silence and then the field marshal roared
at Lancing and Harrow the tradition was that the
headmaster should give away the academic prizes with laughter and turning to me said, “I think they are
to the pupils. In those two schools, therefore, I was all right!”
spared the task of finding somebody. At Ellesmere it
Angela had slaved, as usual, over the stove for the
was different, and so in my first year as headmaster I
previous 24 hours preparing a luncheon for our
had to find my first visitor. I was extremely fortunate
distinguished guest, especially as he had a delicate
that Christopher Chataway, whose decade of
stomach, but when it came to the event all he
athletic fame overlapped with my decade of playing
wanted was soup. A tin of Heinz tomato soup was
rugby, accepted my invitation. We had something in
opened at the last moment and this was all he ate,
common as we had also both worked for Guinness.
but in his thank you letter he complimented my
He had married slightly younger than I and so, when
wife on her ‘delicious lunch’! Over lunch I asked
he came to visit, he and his wife brought their young
him what he thought of one of our prominent
children with them. They arrived earlier than we had
Cabinet Ministers of the day. He said very firmly “I
anticipated and we had to make a few emergency
wouldn’t go into the jungle with him”. So I tried him
arrangements. My wife was in the kitchen when
out with another well-known politician of the day
26 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
only to receive the same answer. The third time I
tried yet still the field marshal would not go into the
jungle! Somewhat in desperation, I asked him with
whom he would go into the jungle then? Hardly a
pause and answer came, “Enoch!” He was, of course,
referring to Enoch Powell, who several years later
was our guest when he came to preach at Harrow.
sideburns and he told me that he wanted people to
remember him, as he intended to go into politics. He
claimed that with such an absurd hairdo he would
not be forgotten. I think he was correct!
A much more gentle man was Cliff Richards and
I shall never forget the way he tuned his guitar to
our piano in the drawing-room prior to playing it
Whilst at Lancing we also entertained Tom Driberg and then, eventually, addressing the pupils in the
shortly after he had stopped being a minister in
chapel. It was a powerful and sincere address which
Harold Wilson’s government. He was charming
delighted not only the Lancing pupils, but hundreds
to meet and he spoke very well to the pupils. He
who came from neighbouring maintained schools.
told me that when he and Evelyn Waugh were at
Nor will they forget the Sunday evening in chapel
Lancing they arranged the high altar cloth together when the West End cast of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’
as they were both sacristans. Driberg said it was not performed at the special request of Tim Rice, who
straight, but Waugh said “if it’s straight enough for me was an old boy of the school. Tim had asked the cast
then it’s straight enough for God.” I must confess, I had to perform in the chapel at no cost in order to raise
no idea then of his homosexual orientation. It was
money for the completion of the rose window. They
not until the publication of his autobiography that finished performing in London late Saturday night,
I realised why he had so enjoyed the company of
packed up all the properties they required and drove
the young that evening. In his book he describes
to Lancing early on the Sunday morning. They spent
his visit to Lancing, writing that the admirable
all day preparing the chapel for the performance
young headmaster had no idea of who was staying at 8pm. After the performance, they dined with us
in his house that night! In complete contrast was
before packing it all up again and returning in the
John Betjeman’s visit when he was Poet Laureate;
early hours on Monday morning to the West End.
no worries about our guest and the boys on that
It was one of the most generous gestures from a
occasion, amazingly observant of his surroundings. large group of people that I have experienced, but,
We waited together for the London train at
as one leading actor said to me, “for Tim we would
Shoreham-by-Sea railway station and he gave us an do anything.” I have never before been able to thank
impromptu lecture about the Spanish influence on them publicly.
the architecture of the station. (Next time you are
Another wonderful act of generosity came from
there look at the chimney pots.)
Lord Denning. He had accepted my invitation to
come down to Lancing to address the friends of the
Sometimes I invited somebody to address the
chapel one Saturday in the autumn term. The week
common room and one of the more memorable
visitors was Dr Rhodes Boyson, then headmaster of prior to the event, we were hit by a terrible attack of
Hong Kong flu. It was the first of several outbreaks
a huge comprehensive school in London, before
to take place in England and therefore the media
he eventually became Minister in the Department
of Education under a conservative government. He were extremely interested. A huge number of the
inhabitants of Lancing College were struck down
astonished my colleagues by stating that, on one
and we had to introduce emergency procedures.
occasion, he had knocked a boy to the ground in
his study because the boy was so ill-disciplined and My wife was up in the dormitories acting as an
violent. I asked him why he wore such ostentatious extra sanatorium staff member, ie collecting up and
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 27
ASSOCIATES NEWS
dishing out paper hankies, aspirin and water. Rarely
did I ever succumb to school epidemics but, on this
occasion I too had been brought down with it. I was
in bed with a very high temperature and still trying
to deal with the media when, suddenly, the whole
experience was changed as, one boy suffering
from the flu contracted pneumonia and died. It
happened so quickly and although it hardly helped,
we were told there was nothing that we could
have done to prevent it. The boy died on the Friday
evening and I immediately cancelled Lord Denning’s
visit. Unfortunately, it turned out that he was on
holiday in France and could not be contacted. My
wife invited the parents of the deceased boy to
lunch when they came to visit on the Saturday,
together with the chaplain and housemaster. The
salmon, which was to have been the celebration
lunch for Lord Denning, caught by my brother-inlaw in Scotland, became the lunch in honour of the
sad parents.
Just as lunch was about to begin, my wife as
the hostess, and with me upstairs in bed with a
temperature of over 103 degrees, heard a knock on
the door. Lord and Lady Denning were outside. My
wife answered the door, explained the situation and
Lord Denning, without any hesitation, simply said,
“We are so sorry. Give our condolences and sympathies
to the boy’s parents, convey our sympathies and good
wishes to the headmaster and tell him that whatever
date he wishes for me to come to Lancing in the future I
will come.” They quietly left the house and college.
founded and is now only used as part of the Harrow
Museum for tourists and other visitors. The pupils
in those far off days used to carve their name in the
wooden panels of the room. Therefore, the names of
Byron, Trollope, Churchill and others are to be found
there. Today, the boys have their name carved for
them on panels, which are hanging in their boarding
houses. However, in the bay window of the fourth
form room, on the left hand side, a small panel is
missing. When I took St John Stevas in there we
were talking about Cardinal Manning, who had been
a pupil in the school. He said to me that he had a
small piece of wood with his name carved on it and
when I showed him the empty space in the fourth
form room he said that he thought that it could
well be the missing piece. He promised, I hope not
jokingly, that he would try to remember to leave
that piece of wood to Harrow School in his will. If it
is the correct piece of wood neither he nor I could
imagine how it had come into his possession!
Margaret Thatcher spoke at songs when she was
Prime Minister. As the local community knew
that she was visiting the school, they organised
a huge demonstration complaining to her about
some decision or other that she had made. The
demonstration took the form of a procession, not a
quiet one, which was to confront her as she drove
over the hill. I was by the Speech Room listening
to the police on their radios as they succeeded
in directing the procession away from the Prime
Minister’s car. This meant that the Prime Minister’s
car would arrive at Speech Room without her
I wrote shortly afterwards and invited him again with knowing anything about the demonstration at all.
a date for the following year. His charming letter
My wife was suddenly given the direction by the
confirmed the date, he came and was brilliant.
Police “Either you leave the house in the next minute
or you will not be allowed to do so for half an hour.” I
We invited Norman St John Stevas to Harrow to
could not but think then how difficult it must be
judge one of our speaking competitions when he
to know what people really think when others do
was Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge. He
was delightful company and clearly very interested their best to make certain you are not confronted.
However, having arrived we took her into the
in the history of the school. I took him into the
Memorial Hall on the way into Speech Room. Once
fourth form room in the Old Schools. This was the
in the hall I said to her “Prime Minister, you can relax
original fourth form room when the school was
28 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
looked so polite, harmless and friendly. Nevertheless,
at the end of the day, totally exhausted, I collapsed
in my house only to receive a telephone call from
The Sun newspaper. They asked how the day had
gone and I confirmed that it had been memorable
and above all, a happy day. I felt the Queen had
enjoyed herself. The reporter then asked me the
first name of a pupil whose surname he quoted. I
enquired why he wanted to know but he asked me
what was my reaction, and the Queen’s reaction,
for her to be welcomed on Harrow Hill by a pupil
waving nude pictures of Bridget Bardot at her. I
A few years later she came to lunch one day and I
was dumbfounded. I inquired what he was talking
was immediately struck by how her own personal
about and it transpired that one boy had pasted on
security had been increased. Not only the number of the inside of his hat a picture of Bridget Bardot. The
security men and women but the armoured plated Sun photographer, having taken a huge number of
car, the searches and so on. However I voted in
photographs, apparently blew up the inside of every
private I had always, as a headmaster, tried to ensure hat to see what he could find. I fear I had nothing to
that my public face was one of independence, but say other than “if this is the best way for you to spend
on this occasion I could not but help feeling sorry for money, and if this is the best way to use space in your
her. She was isolated from the ordinary people. She newspaper, then you do not deserve to be a national
came in a purely private capacity so there was no
newspaper at all!” I slammed down the phone as I
need for much police security but we were allowed heard my wife staying “Darling, I do hope that has not
to tell no one, not even our daily help. So our
younger son, who was then at university, was woken
in the morning to be told by his mother that she
had a job for him. “You mean,” he said, “I have to move
the compost heap yet again?”, “No, you can wait on the
Prime Minister at lunchtime.” This he did with great
aplomb and then joined her for coffee to tell her of
some of the problems of the university campus he
was attending and of university funding.
now as Harrow is a friendly place and you can enjoy
yourself.” I received one of her famous ticking-offs she
exclaimed “headmaster, in the Speech Room are over
800 boys waiting to hear me and they terrify me. How
can I possibly relax; I am really worried!” I then realised
how easy it is to become familiar with your own
circumstances. Talking to 800 boys did not cause me
very much trouble but I would have been petrified
in the House of Commons! Needless to say, she was
quite brilliant and when she spoke to them as a
mother she had them in the palm of her hand.
The security for other visitors varied enormously.
King Hussein brought his own bodyguards but they
were rather conspicuous, primarily because of their
bulging jackets! Members of our own royal family
always seemed to be protected in an amazingly
discreet and sophisticated way. However, modern
technology makes life very difficult for everyone.
The day her Majesty the Queen came the boys were
lining the streets of Harrow Hill, cheering her car as it
passed them and raising their Harrow hats. Everyone
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 29
ASSOCIATES NEWS
done a lot of harm.” It hadn’t, as The Sun published,
myself run the gauntlet down the middle of the road
sensibly, nothing. I must confess, however, having an as we walked from Speech Room to my study. It was
amusing interview with the young man concerned a moving experience.
who was astonished that I knew what was inside
his hat!
Ian Beer
The last visitor I ever entertained made the request
herself to come and visit the school on my last day
as headmaster. Therefore, I was hugely delighted to
welcome Princess Margaret in July 1991. She was in
quite excellent form, talking with all the boys and
masters and then joining in with Harrow Songs on
my last afternoon. The police closed the streets so
that her car could depart easily and the boys, as had
become the custom for members of the royal family,
threw the white carnations they were wearing all
over her car as she departed. Unknown to me, the
boys had persuaded the police to keep the roads
closed for just a little longer. They then lined the
pavements
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30 www.ascl.org.uk/associates
Associates’ Committee nomination form
Four members of the Associates’ Committee retire in 2015
Maureen Cruickshank Ann Mullins
Tony RichardsonJohn Sutton
Serving committee members are eligible for re-election. ASCL will deal with elections by a single
transferable vote. Please return nominations by Friday 29 May 2015 so that details may appear in a
subsequent newsletter. Nominations should be accompanied by a very brief statement of up to 90 words,
written in capital letters. Please note that you can nominated yourself. This form can be used by any
member wishing to stand for the first time and for those who are standing again. Please give this matter
your urgent attention.
To nominate please fill in the form below, using the space overleaf for your 90 word statement.
Name of nominee
Your name
Address
Email
Former School/College
Any national or branch offices, responsibilities held
Please return completed nomination forms by Friday 29 May 2015 for the attention of
Tirath Sanghera, HR and Operations Manager
ASCL, 130 Regent Road, Leicester LE1 7PG
www.ascl.org.uk/associates 31
Associates news
Association of School and College Leaders
130 Regent Road, Leicester LE1 7PG
T: 0116 299 1122 F: 0116 299 1123 E: [email protected]
W: www.ascl.org.uk
www.ascl.org.uk/associates