Reverend Mary Hawes has responded to my request for details on how her brother, Gilbert, was faring:

Gilbert Hawes

Gilbert started an engineering degree, then discovered that teaching was his talent & passion. He married, moved to Hong Kong for 6 years, teaching  IT, discovered a love of travel, came back and settled with Charlotte & their two daughters in Bury St Edmunds. He’s still teaching – and has eschewed a Head of Department post because admin doesn’t suit him as well as being with the students. In a separate post, Mary relates that  Gilbert still plays hockey with Bury St Edmunds Hockey Club, a game that Dave [History] West taught him at RLS.

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I’ve become a frequent visitor to my Dentist Peter Denton, father of  those fine Old Latins:  Luke and Nisha. One of Peter’s  receptionists is the charming Mrs Barnes. She’s hinted that her son, David, is working for Network Rail. From that clue, I’ve pieced this progress report

David Barnes

David took a first class degree in Product Design and Multimedia at the University of Liverpool.  For some years, David has  been based in London, a city that he loves.  He’s been working for Network Rail  becoming an Assistant Project Manager in a redevelopment of King’s Cross and presently as Project Development Manager on a big redevelopment of Waterloo and Charing Cross.  It may sound corny, but it’s clear that he’s being fast-tracked by Network Rail.

Tags: Staff, The Nineties, The Seventies, Where Are They Now? // Add Comment »

(Click to enlarge image)

We picked up the Cricket Pavilion, a.k.a. Ed’s Shed, from a local farmer. Technically, it was mine for a time because I handed over some filthy lucre as the school’s invoicing system was slow & bureaucratic.

What a fine lot of lads we have here with Andrew Ferenczy as our permanent scorer – I reckon he was there for our sandwiches – much finer than Brookfield fare. 

At the time 76 for 11 (?) had some deep meaning. Was it the Aylesbury Grammar School score when we thrashed them on our baked and cracked, clay wicket?  Or, maybe, it was an elliptical reference to Mr Tad (Geography) Newton celebrating “legs eleven” on his  76 trombones.

How many of the faces can you name?  ED

(image by courtesy of the R.Smith archive)

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Boys Hockey 1974-5

I think it was prabably that suave, urbane History Teacher,  Mr David West who introduced Hockey as a representative sports for boys at RLS. He was certainly a fine hockey player and a most useful batsman in the Staff Cricket team, too.

This picture comes from the coffers of Ronnie Smith - you’ll see him in RLS sweat-shirt and wearing pads. In fact, it’s difficult to remember R.Smith without his pads. He donned them for hockey in the winter and kept them on all summer,  for when he wasn’t piling on the runs, he was our keeper behind the sticks. I must remember to ask his wife whether he keeps pads on in bed.  I recollect all the faces in this picture but some of their names have faded: please write in and revive our old grey matter.  ED

Tags: Staff, The Seventies, Where Are They Now? // 1 Comment »

image by Terry Rickets of the Bournemouth Chamber Music Society

News from the South Coast

Barbara and Peter Taylor moved south about 14 years ago. Barbara, once a dance tutor I think, at Stowe School now teaches flower arranging and design. The picture shows one of her recent creations.  RLS teachers and students will remember the Taylors through their active support for our school on behalf of their unforgettable daughters: Caroline and Melanie.

Caroline was tall, fair and very driven. She possessed considerable academic ability and was a fine, versatile musician who displayed great flair on her flute. Do I not remember her playing Debussy’s tricky Syrinx for solo flute with  characteristic intensity and insight around the time that she was preparing for her Grade 8 exams? Putting bits of information together, I shall hazard a guess that Caroline has developed her music and  has fledged into Mrs Caroline Moss, Acting Director of Music at Pipers Corner School, a well-respected Girls’ Public School in South Bucks near to High Wycombe. So, double belated congratulations seem to be in order.

Melanie’s trajectory through RLS was different. In life we all need to reinvent ourselves  from time to time and modern media – such as Facebook- make that more difficult that before.  Before veering  into allusion, I’ll add that Melanie squared (a.k.a. Mel Taylor &  her friend Mel Smith) left an indelible impression on me and I reckon that many pupils and teachers will recall the dynamic duo with facility, too

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. . . .

That was then, what of now? Both Mels are in their early 30s. According to Mum, Mel Taylor has travelled far and may be looking towards the sunny uplands. The last time that I heard of Mel Smith she was doing well in business.   ED

Tags: Staff, The Eighties, The Nineties, Uncategorized, Where Are They Now? // Add Comment »

culled & trimmed from the Lutterworth Mail  (May 2012)

PRINCIPAL SAYS THANK YOU

THE PRINCIPAL of Lutterworth College has spoken about how much he is enjoying his new role – a few weeks after passing the halfway stage of his first year in the job.

Andrew Cooper (43) became principal last September …

Having had a variety of experience in a wide range of schools over the past 21 years, Mr Cooper says he is intent on raising standards even further in the College.

He added: “Having had a couple of terms here I now want to move up a gear.”

“During our last inspection, in November 2008, Ofsted inspectors judged Lutterworth College to be good.

“My aim is to ensure we are consistently good, day in, day out and ultimately I will not be satisfied until we are outstanding in every aspect of our work. Our students deserve nothing less.”

… Andrew has been a principal in two other schools – the Royal Latin School in Buckinghamshire, which was judged as ‘outstanding’ under his leadership, and an inner-city school in Sheffield which he managed in more challenging circumstances.

He said: “…I’m delighted to be working in Lutterworth… I have had a fantastic couple of terms. Everyone has been supportive but best of all the students here are superb. They are a pleasure to work with – by far the best group of young people I’ve met in the eight schools I’ve worked in.”

Looking forward, Mr Cooper is keen for the college to remain at the heart of the community.

He added: “I already feel very much at home at Lutterworth College. I’m enjoying working in Lutterworth – it’s a great town. I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be right now.”

(emboldening and coloured text are editorial. ED)

Tags: Staff, The Noughties, Where Are They Now? // Add Comment »

Yesterday, at a party, I met Miss Dorothy King, now Mrs Tinsley as she’s  married to the Reverend Derek Tinsley, one-time Rector of Maids Moreton and father of RLS pupils: Anne (of Porton Down)  & Tim (Nuclear Energy).  It was a chance to catch up with old times. I was heartened to hear that the Tinsleys, who live in rural Derbyshire, travelled to East Anglia for Patti Pearce’s funeral and that Dorothy, an active Lay Reader, had taken her service. Unfortunately, nobody from RLS except Miss King managed the long journey across East Anglia  for that sad occasion but it was good to hear that Dorothy who taught alongside Patti in Kenya before they both came to Buckingham was there as a  friend who knew Patti in her prime.   

Pupils will be delighted to know that “Miss King” remains in fine, trenchant form, very clear of mind and purpose. I thinks she regards her years at RLS as the best of times but knows that she bowed out at an appropriate time. She keeps in touch with the world of RLS through Margaret & Roy Walker and she visits them from time to time.  Readers may be intrigued to know that Dorothy, once a confirmed techno-phobe, has fallen in love with her iPAD and was delighted to receive an upgrade, or was it a boot-up? , to a 2nd generation model when she unknowingly stepped backwards on to her first machine.

ED

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We are formally opening the RLS Archive (which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund) on Tuesday 1st May 2012. You are warmly invited to join us in Rotherfield between 2.00pm and 5.00pm. Cream Teas will be served in the garden during the afternoon. A number of Old Latins will be speaking about their memories of RLS and members of the School Archive Group will be presenting some of their research. We’d be delighted if you could join us!

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Andy Cooper by emailing acooper@royallatin.bucks.sch.uk or telephone 01280 813065. Please come into the site via the Chandos Road entrance on the day.

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c.1975

Sorry, Gary, I know you’re a real Aussie, these days. ED

Tags: Boarding, The Seventies, Where Are They Now? // Add Comment »

Phew – some like it hot. This is another image from the Ronnie Smith Picture Archive. I’ll spare the blushes of those couples who didn’t marry, but it was hot, Mum, in 1976 enough to drive sixth formers mad with ….

Of course, 2 in this picture  kept their cool.

Surely, it’s Mick Smalley with the wide brim and, of course, it’s Graham [PE] Collis plotting the assault on Mount Romance on his 1″ Ordnance Survey map?

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The trees look gaunt and bare and the sky is bleached. I presume this is a Winter House Sports’ Afternoon in the early 1970s, possibly Cross Country afternoon. The avuncular figure is Figg y ( or by then “Pop”)  E W A Archer, Head of Geography, then nearing retirement who had served RLS since the late 1940s.   I recall that his daughter, was she called Rachel?, had been Head Girl  at the time of the new school’s opening in 1963.  Mr Archer had been very keen and keenly involved in school sport in his younger days. He was a useful pianist who played in Assemblies during the 1950s. He and his wife lived in Thornborough, where I lodged in Margaret & Hans Kusserow’s house in my early days 1968-9. These days, I suppose, Thornborough remains the fiefdom of George and Margaret (English) Capel.

The picture has been supplied by Ronnie Smith. To its left we see the fine profile and Northern jaw of MJ(K) Smalley, rugger man &  bit-part cricketer. To the right is Dennis Hilsdon from the famous clan of Water Stratford Hilsdon’s. What an educated, elegant bat, Dennis possessed. A decent, softly-spoken chap, although rumours sugget that the infamous occasion when I turned up at Sponne School with half a first XI, hoping the rest, including Ronnie Smith, the skipper, were coming in the other opening bat’s battered car was caused by my team having spent a riotous night partying in Dennis Hilsdon’s “spare” house .

Looking further back in the image , I feel the girl with fair hair  in the grey duffle coat ( remember them?) was a boarder. Who is the 5th form girl to her left?  And what of the male sixth former paying such attentive and polite court to them?

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