Course: BSc Geography graduating in 2006/07

Current Location: MSc River Basin Dynamics, Aberystwyth University

Background : I finished my A-levels in 2004 at the Royal Latin School in Buckingham. I always had a keen interest to continue studying, and a degree seemed the logical progression. I had a very keen interest in geography (physical) and it was by far my favoured subject at school. I have always wanted to go into a career related to environmental issues, and a geography degree was the best way to enable this.

I loved the town of Aberystwyth (and the landscape), with its relaxed attitude to students and the ease with which they seemed to be accepted into the local population. I gained a scholarship to study at Aberystwyth (John Hughes Scholarship) too, so this cemented my decision.

Where are you now? I am currently doing a Masters degree (MSc) in River Basin Dynamics at Aberystwyth. This involves similar assignments and pieces of work to the undergraduate degree, except with a higher quantity, and higher academic standard is required. I enjoy the fact this is a challenging course, and I am kept interested by the array of topics covered. I also enjoy being an active member of the department, with closer contact to the staff members than is afforded by the undergraduate degree.

How did you get there? Various lecturers in my third year suggested the possibility of the Masters course. After attending an evening about the courses on offer, my decision was made.

The experience of being at university is a unique one, where your skills at making new friends from varied backgrounds increases from the very first day. The sports and societies on offer through the university allow for a wide range of extra-curricular activities to be undertaken. The social life is superb at Aber, whether you want a big night out in the Union, or a few quiet drinks in some of the pubs in town, there’s plenty to do.

The course offers the chance to study a large variety of subjects and, after the first year, subjects of interest can be specialised upon. The staff within IGES are always helpful and easy to approach, with a fairly informal approach. This makes it easy to discuss any potential problems. The tutorial system is also good. With tutorials every other week, these do not take up too much time required for essays etc, but allow enough time to get face-to-face contact with your tutor.  

I am a member of the University Society of Change Ringers, (bell ringers) who practise regularly throughout term-time. The band is made up of a mixture of students and locals, which helped me to become a further part of Aber’s community. Some of my closest friends in Aber are now locals known through ringing. The activity obviously requires a large degree of teamwork and technical ability. It takes a long time to master, and this dedication can be very appealing to future employers.

Where are you going? I have recently been offered a job with JBA, an environmental consultancy company working from Skipton, Yorkshire. I shall enter the company on a graduate training scheme, and hopefully work through the ranks. This company specialises in environmental projects, including coastal and fluvial flooding, which fit in well with my MSc.

What, if anything, would you have done differently during your time at AU to help you better prepare for your career/life upon graudation?

Not much – I may have used the Careers Service more.

What advice would you give to a student doing your subject at university now? The  key to succeeding in the second and third years is time management. With essay and dissertation deadlines, it is important to structure your work accordingly, as deadlines are tight. As long as enough time is assigned to each piece of work there is every chance a good mark can be achieved. And make use of the staff available. Their advice on academic matters and potential careers is essential, and they are always happy to help.

Data source : University of Aberystwyth’s website

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

Today’s Advertiser reports on the success of our school in the 2010 GCSE examinations. It reports our Headmaster, David Hudson recording:

” We knew this was a talented year group and I am delighted that the students’ hard work and dedication has been rewarded. With the help of some excellent teaching, the vast majority of students have attained and often exceeded their target grades. This means that they are now well placed to enter our sixth form and move on to the next stage in their education with real confidence.” 

Here are the headline figures:

• 30 gained at least 8 A* grades

• 95 students gained at least 8 A* or A grades

• 91% of the students gained 5 or more A* to B grades

• 68 % of the cohort came out with 5 or more A* or A grades

Well Done RLS!

Tags: The Noughties // Add Comment »

Today’s Advertiser reveals that a couple who taught at RLS : Barbara and Howard Norris are about to celebrate their 40th Wedding Anniversary [date:29.08].

CONGRATULATIONS!

Howard, of course, was Head of Technology at RLS for a number of years before he was head-hunted by Akeley Wood School.  Pupils will remember him also for his physical fitness: he was one of the regular lunch-time staff runners. Barbara taught at Buckingham School as well as RLS and became Head of  an ill-fated  joint venture with RLS : the Grenville Business and Information Studies Centre. Both of the Norris children attended RLS ; I remember teaching their son Computer studies and, if memory does not betray, I think he’s gone on to a career in IT.  Poor Howard is recovering very well from a nasty accident involving a tree a year or two ago. I still see the two of them around Buckingham as they live in the locality.

More generally, how many “couples” have taught at RLS? Can you add to my list?

Howard & Barbara Norris

Jim (History) and Barbara (PE) Robertson

Graham & Judy (both PE) Collis

Ed (Chemistry, Computing…) & Anne(French & Italian) Grimsdale

Colin(Music) and Rosie (French, nee McClintock) Lesser   [ married after leaving RLS]

Phil (Latin) and Valerie(Biology) Stonehouse

N.B. I’ve omitted same sex relationships and those in which staff have married former pupils – you can muse on those by yourself!

Tags: Boarding, The Eighties, The Nineties, The Noughties, The Seventies, The Sixties // Add Comment »

Colin Noble was born in Wiltshire in 1923. His mother Eleanor was a domestic servant whilst his father was a gardener. The couple settled in Maids Moreton and Colin, their only child,  attended RLS where he made good progress. Colin trained at Culham Teacher Training College in Oxford in the 1940s. At the outbreak of war in 1939, Colin would have been sixteen as seen in this well preserved photo of Colin taken in his Home Guard uniform doing his bit for King and country. The photograph was taken in Chapman’s Studio in Buckingham. After teacher training, Colin Noble joined Kingham Hill School in 1949 to teach mathematics and french. We thank the school’s website and the author of this piece, Mike Allen,  for these details about our alumnus.

A colleague reports: “Apart from being a very good teacher, he organised many out of school activities. Whilst running the Scouts he took boys camping in Cornwall and France. He was a man who gave 100% to the school and school life”.  What follows are memories shared  by Basil Benson and Stuart Bridley of Colin in the mid-50s, when Colin was in his early 30s.

The Saga of Three Men, a Canoe and not to mention the Swan.”Colin was a teetotal and a non smoker who loved life. He had a good sense of humour, and he laughed a lot.On one famous occasion he took me [Basil Benson] canoeing. Stewart Brindley drove us in Colin’s people carrier to the Banbury and Oxford canal. On arrival we unloaded the two-man canoe with its paddles and launched the canoe. Stewart left and drove off ready to meet up with us later that day near Oxford for our return journey back to Kingham hill.The most memorable part of the journey was when us two strong, stern schoolmasters were faced-down by a very large angry and aggressive signet-guarding mother swan. We both, shame faced, had to lift the canoe out of the water and hike around the field some several hundred yards away where it was safe to launch again. Colin, being rather correct, didn’t even swear, but on that day I most certainly did!!”

Later, Colin was  excited to have the opportunity to sail the Rohilla, which he said was a converted life boat and therefore very safe. (They said that about the Titanic). Colin was apparently excellent company, good fun and not at all stuffy.

The Tragedy

What is known about the Rohilla is, yes, it was a converted 16 ton ex-R.N.L.I Gaff Ketch life-boat fitted with a Gardner diesel marine engine, that gave a speed of 7 knots.The Rohilla was hired for two school trips that year by Kingham Hill School. Colin and his friend John had already made one trip that summer of 1959 across to France and the Channel Islands.It was on the second journey, with a number of pupils from his school ,one week later to the Channel Islands when the tragedy occurred. No one knows for certain what happened to cause this tragic loss. Over the years speculation has suggested that the Rohilla was run down by a much larger vessel.The fact that no wreckage was ever washed up, and only one lifebuoy ever found with the name of the Rohilla on it, gives rise to this theory.

Much later the sea gave back the bodies that where taken. This simple brass plaque (shown below) was unveiled and dedicated to all those who were lost. It can now be found in the Kingham Hill school chapel, discreetly tucked away on the back wall under the gallery.

Colin and his friend John - they perished together

Epilogue This draws on the memories of Susan Hatton [ her son, Jonathon a lawyer,  is an Old Latin] who is an expert on the history of Maids Moreton:

The family home - the Lodge Southfields

His Father, Laurence Edwin Noble, was gardener at Southfields, Maids Moreton’s Manor House.  The Noble family lived in the Lodge at the top of Avenue Road.  When Mr Noble retired to the one of the new council houses next to the church, he devoted his time to creating a wonderful garden – he used (I think) root stock from the hedges and grafted his own roses on to them.  They were a very kindly couple – Mr Noble outgoing and Mrs Noble quite a shy lady.  Mrs Noble’s unmarried sister came to live in Maids Moreton – I think she too had some kind of “service” background. The whole village was devastated at Colin’s death – I remember that Mr Abbs, [whose son, Willy, is an Old Latin]  the Buckingham dentist, had to identify Colin from his dental records. Colin was buried in the churchyard of Maids Moreton Church that lies halfway between his parents’ two houses in the village. It contains a quotation from St John’s Gospel,Let not your heart be troubled,  a message of hope for his parents and one appropriate to a former pupil of St John’s Royal Latin School.

Colin's headstone

 His parents and aunt never got over their loss I think, after Colin died -Mr and Mrs Noble and the Aunt just faded away – with little will to live – and who can blame them as the lives of all three had revolved around his?

Susan adds,”I have thought of Colin over the years – he was a tall and good looking young man when he died and I think he was probably a very good schoolmaster.”

Colin's grave lies between his father's (d.1969) and his mother's (d.1975) in the foreground

The Memorial Plaque in Kingham Hill School

Tags: Pre-war, The Fifties, The Forties, Where Are They Now? // Add Comment »

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

Click several times to enlarge this image

Just a gentle brain-teaser for you. I doubt if it’s necessary to reveal the last line that identified the subject of the piece.  I will say that his face has yellowed with advancing age, the word “Munt” may be involved, and these days he loiters in the Foyer rather than the Hall.

I wonder who the author, B.A. was?  Sadly,  I doubt if he’s still alive as he’d be 90 years old.

Tags: Pre-war, The Eighties, The Fifties, The Forties, The Nineties, The Noughties, The Seventies, The Sixties, Where Are They Now? // Add Comment »

Many students and staff will recall Matthew Morgan as an illuminating and effective Geography teacher who threw himself into so many activities at RLS. So, what’s he doing, now?

Well, he’s become a Chartered Geography Teacher - a rare species that knows its way around the world: backwards and upside down. This is a potted version of how his career is developing that I found on the Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) website:

MORGAN, Matthew:  Matthew is Deputy Headmaster at Sir Thomas Rich’s School in Gloucestershire, prior to which he was an Assistant Headteacher at The Royal Latin School. Matthew has participated in numerous geography CPD courses and has also had several articles published in journals such as Teaching Geography. He is the author of some fieldwork resources on the Action plan for Geography website, Geography Teaching Today. Matthew has worked with numerous schools and organisations, and has led inset on many occasions. 

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

Image from The Buckingham Advertiser

 How many remember Heidi Carascon, seemingly RLS’s Julie Andrews, who came to RLS from the fringes of the Alps in East Claydon? I certainly do for she possessed a warm and generous nature  allied to a good work ethic. Heidi has entered the Advertiser’s 2010 Talent Tour competition, organised in conjunction with Rockhopper’s enterprising David Hall.

We’ve got a week to vote for Heidi. Apparently, all we need do  is to send an SMS text message containing Heidi’s code : HED to 63333

You can check out Heidi’s voice  at: www.thetalenttour.co.uk  

and following its links to Buckingham & Heidi.

I’m sure that we all wish Heidi good luck.

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

I thought that this lively image, borrowed from today’s Buckingham Advertiser, would bring back memories of results’ days past to Old Latins. Today’s youngsters may be more exuberant than those of decades past, but it’s good to learn how brilliantly they and our school has done. 

I’m going to add the Head’s (”Call me Dave”?) thoughts, culled from the paper. I’ve not met Mr Hudson and now that I’m safely retired ( forever!), I can say that everyone to whom I’ve spoken – pupils, staff and even the school’s neighbours speak very highly of Mr Hudson.  What staff respect most, I feel, is the smack of firm but fair leadership. David Hudson listens, thinks, agrees or disagrees without rancour, and then acts. Were he to have sat his A-levels this summer, his coursework would probably  have received A* s from his teachers. It’s good to hear that after a lot of chopping and changing, once again our school’s in safe hands  and ones that have a grip on history and traditions.

Why not sent us your memories of results’ day!

Tags: Staff, The Noughties, Uncategorized // Add Comment »

Culled from the Buckingham Advertiser:

Published Date: 02 November 2000

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