The Website of the Old Boys of the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
OCTOBER 2009 NEWSLETTER
An Adobe PDF version of this newsletter is available here.
Items in this newsletter:
David Stone Derek Lindsay Gabriël Kroes John Comer Letter from Chairman, OW Letter from Headmaster Norman Stanners Shaping our Destiny Campaign Steve GamesterEDITOR WRITES:
It is great that the number of OWs who are sending in their email addresses, so that we can send a newsletter to them about 4 times a year has increased considerably in the last six months. If you did not receive an email that was sent out in June, and would like to hear any news from the OWs and the School, please send in your email address to me, ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk.
A number of OWs have in recent years asked about former or indeed present teachers, and I have on a number of occasions been able to put them in touch with the teacher concerned. I am still in touch with quite a few, so please do not hesitate to contact me on this.
I have recently received a book written by John Comer, who was at the RGS from 1954-1961. It is a fascinating account of his life at the RGS and Bucks in his teenage years. A number of masters’ names and boys are mentioned, so, if you are a certain age you may find your name appearing. John Saunders writes a review of the book later on in the newsletter.
Phil Doyle, who left in 1988, wants to have a Reunion of his contemporaries, and he has found his enthusiasm matched by those he has contacted. Other OWs have expressed a desire to host meetings of OWs. More details below. If you would like to have a Reunion at the RGS at some stage, please contact me, and I may be able to help you make contact with your contemporaries and advertise the event.
If you would like to have a tour round the school, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Terry Williams and Martin Berry, former Head of Maths, have been sending emails to all OWs on Friends Reunited. Many thanks to them! Many thanks too to Martin Berry, who has done such a wonderful job redesigning this website.
Ian Clark (ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk)A LETTER FROM THE HEADMASTER, ROY PAGE
It has been a great pleasure to meet so many OW’s over the last year and to enjoy the opportunity to reminisce. So many of you have real affection for the school and that is both encouraging and reassuring. This has also been a sad year with OW’s Ian Fraser and Richard Hickox both passing away. It was an honour to represent the school at the memorial service for the life of Ian and to meet his family.
The school remains a vibrant community that continues to deliver an education that not only develops the academic but also the whole person. Ian has mentioned the school website and I urge you all to take a few minutes to ‘log on’ and see all that RGS boys are achieving.
This year ‘The Wycombiensian’ will be produced electronically. My thanks go to Simon Noakes, who has once again led on this exciting new initiative that not only allows a new format but it will also be available on the RGS website for all OW’s to read at their leisure. Publication is due in the next few weeks.
The school continues to actively raise money for capital projects through the ‘Shaping our Destiny’ campaign. The need to do this is becoming ever more urgent with the latest indications suggesting that there will be no funding for new build at RGS until 2025. We have obtained planning permission for a new building on the foot print of the ‘New Canteen’ or ‘Sixth Form Common Room’, depending on your vintage. This will house a new fitness gym and much needed changing rooms. However we need to raise more money before we can start on this urgently needed facility. If you feel you can help with this do contact me directly at the school.
Some of you will be amused and others bemused to learn that the Gym Block or, to some, the Maths Block has been designated a listed building! We were hoping to demolish this tired and ageing building but we have had to rethink our plans. Not soon after the news came from the planning people than the ceiling fell down in the corridor, changing rooms and the maths office. We had to shut the building and urgent renovation took place over the summer break. The roof is now safe and watertight but we still need urgent repairs on the gutters and downpipes.
My thanks go to Ian Clark and his editorial team for their continued hard work. They do so much to further the OW Club.
I do hope that many of you will feel able to join us at the Annual Dinner when we can reminisce and even have a look at the changes to the school since you left. Why not contact some of your old friends and persuade them to join you.
I look forward to seeing you.
Roy Page
OLD WYCOMBIENSIANS’ CLUB UPDATE
Simon Molden, Chairman, Old Wycombiensians’ Club writes:
As you may have read in the 2009 edition of RGS Old Boys, over the past year, the OWs’ Committee has started to look at how it can communicate more effectively with OWs, and in particular those who are no longer in touch with the School.
This work has been led by Ian Clark and Terry Williams who have started to make contact with many OWs through online media such as Friends Reunited and Facebook. This work means that we now have up-to-date contact details for over 1,500 OWs. In addition, Ian has started to send out regular e-mail updates to all OWs on the club’s database. The club is very appreciative of all of the hard work that Ian has done and continues to do on this.
Building on this work, the Committee will be looking to work very closely with the School’s new Development Director, who, it is planned, will soon be appointed.
I shall keep you fully in the picture. However, in the meantime, if you are in touch with any OWs who are not currently on the OWs’ database, I would urge you to encourage them to contact Ian Clark at ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk. Further details can also be found on the OW’s Club website (http://www.rgsow.com/).
Shaping our Destiny Campaign
You may be aware that the School is currently running its Shaping our Destiny fundraising campaign to ensure that it continues to be able to provide the best possible learning environment for its pupils. In order to do this, it is vital that the boys are provided with modern facilities that will enable them to flourish and exceed all expectations.
The main focus of the project is the redevelopment of the Old Gym Block and the current Sixth Form Common Room. Planning permission for the first phase of this project, which involves the conversion of the Sixth Form Common Room to sports changing rooms with a modern fitness suite and cafe on the first floor, is being submitted soon and it is hoped that construction can commence later in 2009.
If you would like more details about the campaign, please visit http://www.rgshw.com/campaign.
NEWS ABOUT THE OLD WYCOMBIENSIANS
TIES
Danny White tells me that the redesigned OW tie has sold so well, it is now out of stock. We hope that it will be re-promoted at some stage.
ANNUAL DINNER
A reminder that the date of the Annual Dinner is Saturday May 8th.
Also on the same day, it is hoped that there will be Hockey and Shooting matches.
BOOK THE DATE NOW!
OW REUNIONS ABROAD
Colin Tett who was at the RGS 1968-1971 has written to say that he is very happy to convene a group of OWs who are living in his region of Australia, the north-eastern corner of NSW, close to Queensland’s Gold Coast. If you would be interested in attending a Reunion there, please contact him.
It would be good to have OW Reunions in different parts of the world, if there is sufficient interest. We know that there are a lot of OWs living in USA, Canada, New Zealand etc. If you were interested in such a reunion near where you live, please contact Ian Clark: ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk.
OXFORD REUNION
Arpad Turmezei (1959-1967) has offered to organize a group of Oxford OWs. If anybody living in the Oxford area would like to find out more, please contact him, arpad@turmezei.com.
Arpad (as at end of 66-67 season)
ANYBODY LIKE TO ORGANISE A REUNION OF YOUR OWS in YOUR AREA OR YOUR YEAR GROUP?
If any OW living in the UK would like to do something similar, please contact Ian Clark: ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk.
HELP NEEDED
Janet Philpott, who is Head of the Careers Department at the RGS, writes:
Help needed with work experience placements for our sixth formers. In the professions this is generally "shadowing" and offers of opportunities for just 1 or 2 days would be greatly appreciated.
Also, the RGS biennial Careers Fair will be held in the Queen's Hall on Monday July 5th 2010 from 6.30 to 8.30 pm and, again, offers of involvement in that would be greatly appreciated.
Please contact Dr Janet Philpott, if you are able to help in any way. Thanks!
RETIREMENTS
Steve Gamester and David Stone, both OWs, who went on to teach at the RGS retired in July. We wish them much happiness in their retirement.
STEVE GAMESTER
Steve joined the RGS in 1962 as a young boy, following in the footsteps of his father and his uncle. Steve was a pupil from 1962 until 1969 when he left to take up a place at Loughborough College of Education. Four years later he returned as a teacher of PE and Geography and has spent the rest of his career at RGS. His 36 years of uninterrupted and distinguished service to the RGS is typical of the man and his belief and passion in nurturing the opportunities for so many RGS pupils.
As a boy at the school, Steve was an outstanding sportsman. In fact it is not an overstatement to suggest that he was a legend to many of his fellow sportsmen. He was captain of both the 1st XV rugby side and 1st XI cricket side. An outstanding outside half/full back, he graced the school rugby teams, no doubt instilling in his teammates the desire to win in every game and a distinct lack of understanding of failure. He was an able cricketer, primarily a batsman, but also an aggressive fielder who could bowl some devastating spells with his leg spin.
Steve arrived at the RGS as a single man fully committed to further his sporting career. He joined Wycombe Rugby Club and was quickly elected as Captain of the 1st XV, and selected to play for the County side. Steve’s interest in boarding was evident as he served as a boarding tutor at Uplyme supporting the Housemaster, Derek Stubbs. I am sure that, at this time, he did not expect to spend 25 years as Housemaster. It was during his tutorship that Steve became reacquainted with Pippa, his future wife. Apparently, they had briefly met while Steve was at Loughborough and he offered Pippa some coaching in Archery. The rest, as they say, is history, and I know that Steve and Pippa have had great pride in watching their sons proceed through the RGS onto university.
Besides his passion for sport, Steve has a real interest in his teaching of Geography. Always keen to support fieldwork trips, Steve is meticulous in ensuring that all his pupils are fully prepared for their examinations. His results have always been outstanding, but it is instilling a real interest in the subject that Steve has excelled.
Steve was appointed Housemaster of School House in 1984 and then Head of Boarding in Fraser Youens in 1999. In 2000 Steve was appointed to the School Leadership Team and his contribution to the senior management of the school has always been thoughtful with a clear recognition of the history of the school and its outstanding ethos.
Steve has led his team of Housemasters and Tutors with distinction and has earned the accolades from so many parents who have recognised his care and concern for their sons. His experience of having dealt with such a variety of issues that only boarders can present will be greatly missed, but I know that we all wish Steve a long and healthy retirement. It is a clever man who retires and persuades his wife to keep working so that he can enjoy his interest in golf, their house in France and all the other projects he has in mind. I am sure his retirement will not be an idle one and of course he will always be welcome back at his old school.
DAVID STONE
David joined the school as a teacher back in 1975 but his connection with the school goes back to 1964 when he attended the school with his brothers. David’s father also attended the RGS as a boy - truly RGS through and through.
He worked in the Maths department teaching across the depth and breadth of the years. During his years at the RGS, he provided a well needed link between Mathematics and the other departments, trying to develop a common approach to teaching maths across the school. He also organised and prepared all the examinations for maths and more recently managed the internal exam invigilation timetable for the whole school. However it was his concern for the students he taught that will be the lasting memory for many of the boys. That and the fact that he used hockey to explain every maths problem there is.
His passion for hockey and cricket cannot be over estimated. He has been involved with the hockey and cricket scene both at the RGS and in the county for as long as he could stand up and hit a ball. Still now, David would be the man to turn to if you needed a cricket pitch for a national competition the next day. Together with Ian Wilson, David spent over 30 years running the U14 and U15 cricket teams. One particular highlight for David was when the U15s reached the National Finals at Edgbaston in 1985.
He ran RGS hockey for many years where the team reached an impressive standard reaching the National Finals in 1989, 1991 and 1993. RGS were National Champions in 1986 and 1988 and Indoor Champions in 1991. In addition to this success, RGS were invited to play a number of ‘curtain raiser’ matches at National and World events.
David also organised the staff cricket team, including a tour to Portsmouth and Bristol, and captained a club team for many years. He believed in high standards but he was also very encouraging to those who were not naturally talented. David always sought to involve everybody in the game, a real gentleman on the pitch.
And if his cricket and hockey skills were not enough, David was a pretty good golfer. In the staff golf days he never knowingly played a shot if it wasn't with a 5 iron. He could get round a golf course with just 2 clubs; a 5 iron and a putter.
He was a thoughtful and genuine man who was highly regarded in the common room. He will be sorely missed. As a member of the OW Committee for many years, he will no doubt continue to maintain and make contacts with OWs and so I am confident we will see him popping in and out of school in the future. We wish him much happiness in the years that lie ahead.
Three other teachers also left the RGS at the same time.
SAD NEWS
It is sad to report the death of Norman Stanners (1943-1949). We extend our deepest sympathy to his family and close friends. His friend, John Read writes about him:
Norman Dennis Stanners, who died on 8th July was born in High Wycombe in November 1932. His father, who was totally blinded in the First World War, ran a very successful wholesale tobacco business in the town. He was the youngest of four children- his elder brother, Geoff, attended the RGS in the 1930’s.
Norman entered the RGS in 1943 from St. David’s preparatory school, which was situated at the bottom of Amersham Hill by the railway. His main interest at school was as a member of the elite signals section of the CCF, which included amongst its unoffficial activities the electrification of the handle of their shed door to deter visitors, and attaching a telephone cable to the post office posts by means of cotton reels from the school to a house in Terriers well passed the Black Boy pub (nka The Terriers), a distance of some several hundred yards.
Norman left school in 1949 and went to work for Airmec Engineering on the Cressex Estate, his main interests being in all things electrical and mechanical. In 1951 he was called up for National Service and he served in the RAF servicing aircraft, coming home on leave on a powerful motor bike.
Soon after leaving the RAF Norman took employment with Wiggjns Teape at their laboratory at Butlers Court in Beaconsfield. Whilst there, he was sent to Brazil for several months to help install machinery in a new mill. During this period he studied, attending College in his own time and obtained an HND in electrical engineering. Later in his career he transferred to Glory Mill and was appointed Health and Safety chief a post he held until his retirement.
Norman played rugby at the Old Boys Club and after his playing days were over he refereed and became Club Chairman after a spell as Bar Chairman. He was also an enthusiastic amateur radio devotee and kept a boat in Poole in which he sailed down the coast to Cornwall and across to the Channel Islands and France.
Norman kept up his contact with the School by regularly attending the annual Old Boys dinner.
Norman was married to Diana for nearly 48 years and their two children - son, Andrew, (who also attended the RGS) and daughter, Angela between them presented him with five grandchildren.ANOTHER DEATH TO REPORT
Ron Wynands tells me that PADDY EMERY, wife of Ron Emery, has died at the age of 101.
TO THOSE OWs, WHO WERE AT THE RGS in 1962.
DO YOU REMEMBER GABRIEL KROES?
Dear Ian,
Thank you very much for your letter. My stay at the RGS was during the first two school terms of 1962. The school was celebrating its 400th birth year and was visited by the Queen who unveiled a plaque. If I remember correctly, the headmaster was Mr. Tucker and although I can remember quite a number of the faces of my colleagues I have forgotten all their names. I also took part in the performance of Benjamin Britten's St.Nicholas by the school choir and orchestra. To me it was an unforgettable experience to have had the privilege of teaching at the RGS during that particular year. Our first child was born at High Wycombe and in the meantime our family has grown to four boys and two girls, all married by now, and ten grandchildren. After teaching in High Wycombe I taught for a term in Perth (Scotland) before returning to South Africa where I taught for ten years at various schools, before joining the University of Stellenboch (Cape Province). I retired in 1995 at the age of 60 and at present I and my wife are enjoying a peaceful existence at the beautiful town of Hermanus on the coast of the Western Cape.
Best wishes to you and the school.
Gabriël Kroes
TO OWS WHO WERE AT THE RGS IN THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES
Dear ex-RGS men,
This email is to let you know that a new online forum has now been set up where Old Wycombiensians can discuss the old RGS school photos (and generally reminisce). It is at http://www.rgs.saund.co.uk/bb/
About nine years ago Tony Hare (RGS 1951-56) set up his website (http://www.rgs.tonyhare.co.uk/) to display my copy of the 1956 School Photograph. Later following inputs from OBs this expanded to include school photos for other years in the 1950s (and later the 1940s) as well as other school memorabilia.
I (John Saunders, RGS 1963-70) thought it was a great website so, with Tony’s active encouragement, followed his lead and set up a similar one, (http://www.rgs.saund.co.uk/) to display photos from 1958 to 1967.
Tony and I thought it would be a good idea to set up a forum where contributors to these websites could chat with each other openly (or privately – there is a private message facility) about all things RGS to their hearts’ content. Early viewers of my website might remember the successful Forum we had going for some time until it got trashed by juveniles following the TV series featuring the school.
Recently a group of OBs (now known as the 49ers) have been having great email conversations with each other. Tony and I thought it would be a good idea to resurrect the forum so the 49ers and all the other contributors to our websites could chat with each other openly (or privately – there is a private message facility) about all things RGS to their hearts’ content.
Tony and I are acting as site administrators, so if you have any questions, queries or suggestions, please get in touch with one of us (my email address is john@saund.co.uk and Tony’s is 2007ajh@googlemail.com). If you visit the forum, you will find it has some helpful advice posted on how to register, etc.
You can read any of the threads and comments at the forum without having to register, but in order to post comments, you will need to register under your normal name (forename/nickname plus surname, please). This is a pretty straightforward operation which won’t cost you any time or money (any problems, consult us), and we won’t pass your email addresses or details on to anybody else.
Note that Tony and I run our websites and the forum in a purely private capacity and we don’t have any ‘official’ status as regards the school. Nor are we in competition with it: we both liaise closely with Ian Clark, Hon. Sec. of the Old Wycombiensians Club, so here’s a plug for Ian’s excellent official Old Boys’ website – http://www.rgsow.com/.
Regards John Saunders 1963-70
Ed. Tony sent me a similar message. They have worked very hard on their websites, and if you were at the RGS in the fifties and sixties it is well worth looking at the relevant website.
THE OLD TIME by JOHN COMER (RGS 1954-61)
John Saunders writes:
This is an autobiography of his youth, encompassing his post-war upbringing in West Wycombe through to the summer of 1961 when he left the RGS for University. It is sensitively written and captures the essential “otherness” of the 1950s and early 1960s from a distance. In the mid 1950s he moved out of the area for two years and attended a different school, enabling him to draw a fascinating comparison between life at another 1950s grammar school in Canterbury and the “Ancient Regime” of Tucker/Morgan at the RGS to which he returned for a further four years in 1957. The aforementioned masters and one or two others are vividly portrayed in the book as are several of John’s school friends. As well as depicting our old school at length, the book evokes High Wycombe at the time, particularly the West Wycombe area where John grew up and received his primary schooling. I found it a delightful, nostalgic read and devoured the book in one sitting. It is replete with drama, subtle observation and humour and I’m sure other OWs will enjoy it. Some will find themselves mentioned in its pages (in some cases, names have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty.) The Old Time by John Comer is available through Amazon, priced £6.99 plus postage.
LETTERS/EMAILS TO THE EDITOR
Ian
I have just set up an OW group on LinkedIn (if you are not familiar with it, it is similar to Facebook but specifically for business people). I suspect you will not be able to see it without joining but perhaps you could pass on the link
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?viewMembers=&gid=2354996&sik=1254579690839&goback=%2Eanh_*2_*2_*2
There are a number of members who list a connection with the school and, over time, I hope they will join. It will be interesting to see how many can be added to your list of contacts. I intend to allow parents, employees and pupils (in all cases past and present) to join the group.
I hope all is well.
Peter Hollingsworth (1967-74)
I attended RGS from 1967 to 1976. I had the pleasure of having Roy Page as the coach of the Hockey team when he started at RGS. Roy always made training fun and enjoyable – I was goalkeeper for the 1sts for 2 or 3 years if I remember (and age grade teams from U-13?). I also spent a year helping Roy out with the younger teams in my final year at RGS. Roy also started up at Wycombe Hockey club ensuring some of the RGS team went with him and he also took training sessions down there. I also remember Malcolm Cook was the one responsible for me taking on the Goalkeeping role (when I was aged 11) and very pleased with himself about that decision / suggestion!
This was the time when we started wearing some fancy headgear to protect ourselves as GKs. I never seemed to get injured throughout the years, but I do also remember deciding to mess-around hitting the ball prior to a school game v Borlase (I think). Anyway I did manage to injure myself. The ball hit me in the eye and it immediately swelled up, ensuring I had difficulty seeing out of it. When Roy saw me he was not best pleased, especially when I told him the circumstances. Inevitably he gave me no sympathy, told me to get prepared for the game and preceded to take the piss out of me after the game!
After my first year in 1E with Mervyn Davies, I followed through the A stream. I ended taking 3 years in the 6th form, as it took me a while to recover from the death of my father when I was in the first year 6th. And in that regard I do remember how positive, encouraging and understanding was Roger File, who was my form master for the last 2 years.
After RGS I did a Business Studies degree and then went into Marketing and Advertising, working in London.
I have now been in New Zealand for 20 years – have a daughter aged 17 who is about to go to University next year. I was separated from my wife about 5 years ago and now live with a New Zealander, Kath. Both she and I work for multinational Media / Advertising Agencies (planning and buying advertising space) here in Auckland. Outside of our busy work lives, we try to take as much time at weekends to get away to our holiday home (bach – as it is called in NZ) on Waiheke Island, which is about 35 minutes ferry ride from Auckland city.
Best regards to you and all those involved on the OW - and especially to those teachers, many of whom I read about now and were part of my time at RGS.
Derek Lindsay (1967-74)
With my 70th birthday (well, 68th to be precise – I was never very good at maths) looming I thought I really ought to ask if I might join the OWs and have my name added to the database – if it’s not too late, that is!! Having regularly visited your splendid website, it becomes ever more intriguing to see what the faces of one’s formative years have been up to.
In some ways I haven’t lost touch with those far-off days as I keep in close and frequent contact with two life-long friends from Tylers Wood days, Brian Bull and Jerry Rendall. Brian lives near Benson and is semi-retired from the property business, and Jerry, who’s only a shout away from the RGS at Radnage, retired as a senior BA Concorde captain and now flies Tiger Moths with the ‘Tiger Nine’ aerobatic team to keep his hand in. And Ray and Barry Quirke also flit on and off the radar screen, as does Michael Claridge,
As for me. well, as I recollect, with CCF (not forgetting PD – Punishment Drill!) and compulsory Sunday morning services for those of us who boarded, I vowed I would never join either the Army or the Church. However, with the usual perverse irony that Life seems to throw up, I became a career soldier, serving with the Royal Artillery, mainly in UK, Cyprus and BAOR (not forgetting Northern Ireland), and finally learnt joined-up writing with a year at the Army Staff College at Camberley and, a bit later, punctuation and spelling at the National Defence College. I also had a four year interlude with the Canadian Army (I hail originally from Ottawa) which included a tour with an independent parachute battery in Edmonton. I commanded an anti-tank guided weapons battery in Bulford on Salisbury Plain, rose to the dizzy height of Lieutenant Colonel, and eventually retired from the army in 1984. After a spell in the aviation industry, I subsequently returned to the MOD as a civilian (Retired Officer – if that means anything) with the Defence Crisis Management Centre, located in a supposedly nuclear-proof bunker under Whitehall! When anyone asked me to justify my existence, my retort was that as we hadn’t been on the receiving end of a nuclear attack during my tenure of office – QED!!
I’m now pretty well fully retired in Salisbury, playing a bit of geriatric tennis and golf, taking it very easy on the ski-slopes, and with a bit of sailing thrown in now and then. I’m also a year into grandfatherhood which requires regular trips down to Beer in Devon, where my son-in-law hails from (as an OB am I now allowed to end a sentence with a preposition??).
I think that’s about as potted a Potted History as I can manage – trying to compose précis with Mr. L.T. Hollingsworth was, after all, over half a century ago!
With kind regards,
Bill Pender (1953-59)
Dear Ian
I recently visited John Saunders' excellent website and happened to click on the Old Boy's weblink. I see that you are looking to contact Denzil Walker who with his brothers Dominic, Gregory and family showed me great kindness when I first arrived in this country in 1959, having narrowly escaped with my own family Khrushchev's retribution of November 1956.
This is an extract from my email to John about Ron Fewtrell you might find mildly amusing, if not for anything other than how times have changed:
"My introduction to first team rugby bizarrely came in the previous 1963-64 season in the Oxfordshire VII's at Iffley Road under the captaincy of Ron Fewtrell, who as head-boy only weeks before had been compromised into having to slipper me for not wearing my cap on Amersham Hill. My plea for clemency as a half-colour and the only 1stVII middle-school prospect was thrown out by one vote, but unbeknown to the rest of the prefects meeting, Ron had suggested I slip a couple of exercise books into my pants that morning, just in case the 'rugby-prefects' were outnumbered on the day. So honour was satisfied all round. I got a hell of a beating but mercifully escaped a sore bottom. Heck of an all-round ball player and strategist old Ron, and a good sport to boot!"
Attended between 1959 - 67
Kind regards - Arpad
PS. Below is a dream kindled in 2E about playing for the light-blues, realised many years later by my son Tom.
Dear Ian
A few weeks ago I had the good fortune to see David Rance, who was in Derby with his choir from St Mary's, Wokingham, standing in for the cathedral choir whilst they were away for a week. Their singing was superb and David is most certainly a master craftsman.
The funny thing was that neither recognised the other, thanks to the ravages of time. When I introduced myself David immediately remembered. It all started when I e-mailed him thanks to the website. He did appreciate my visit. David was one who made me feel welcome when I joined the school in 1955(January).He was a superb pianist and, I believe, played the organ at his local church/chapel on Sundays.
If any OWs in the East Midlands would like to contact me, it can be done by e mail or telephone:01664859713.
ATB
John Nurcombe ( j.nurcombe@ntlworld.com)
Ed. Do contact John, if you wish meet other OWs in the East Midlands.
Dear Ian,
My brother Neil (RGS 1957-64) has passed on the very sad news to me that Mike Mobbs (RGS 1957-64) has died. Neil and Mike were friends throughout their school and university careers. They were in the same form from 2D to 6M4 and then both went to Cambridge (though to different colleges), and remained in touch. Mike became a bank manager and stayed in the Wycombe area. He was a very keen chess player and he and I were club mates for High Wycombe Chess Club for a few years in the late 1970s. I moved out the area but Mike remained a member and organiser of the HW Chess Club throughout his life. Mike was a smashing fellow and will be much missed by many people. My condolences go to his wife Brenda.
Regards
John Saunders
NEWS FROM THE RGS
Year 7 - Outward Bound in Buxton
Just after the end of the summer term a group of 38 intrepid adventurers from Year 7, together with 4 members of staff, made their way to Buxton in Derbyshire for three days of fun and excitement in the wide outdoors.
Split into 4 teams, they hiked, camped, climbed rock faces and built rafts – some more successfully than others – and generally got very wet and muddy. It was an excellent opportunity to make new friends and try new activities under the watchful eyes of trained Adventure Quest leaders.
Buxton is in a beautiful part of the country, and all enjoyed their stay immensely, arriving home exhausted but happy, in spite of the rain.
Ed. Did you do Outward Bound when you were at the RGS?
FOR FURTHER NEWS OF THE RGS, do look at the RGS website.
NEXT NEWSLETTER
This will be published on December 5th. It will hopefully contain extracts from the Wycombiensian, the School magazine. Please send in your contribution, your memories, and your photographs to me, Ian Clark ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk or post it to 5, Foxhill Close, High Wycombe. HP13 5BL.
Ian edits the Newsletter; Martin Berry ensures that it appears on the website.