Riding High ON takes charge of the White Helmets Army Motorcycle Display Team Also in this issue: ONA Geography Essay Prize 2014 | Something Mortal | Meum Vale
Issue 91 | Summer 2014
ONA Magazine Issue 91 Summer 2014
Contents
ONA Magazine is the magazine for the Old Novocastrians’ Association Editor: Jane Medcalf All correspondence should be addressed to: The Development Office, Royal Grammar School, Eskdale Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4DX Telephone Development Office: 0191 212 8909 email: ona@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk The Editor reserves the right to edit, alter or omit all submissions to the magazine. Copy may be carried over to the next edition. The Editor’s decision is final.
Contribute!
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We are always looking for articles and news from Old Novos to include in the magazine, so send your contributions, via email (if possible) to: ona@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk or to the Development Office at the school. Please include relevant pictures if possible. They will be returned as soon as the magazine has been printed.
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The deadline for acceptance of copy for the Autumn 2014 issue is Monday 11 August 2014. Copy may be carried over to a future issue. Special thanks to David Goldwater (5162) for his research and contributions to the ONA Magazine, particularly on his search for A History of the RGS in Its People.
The ONA Magazine is available online Please note that the magazine is circulated both in hard copy and by email to many members of the Association. Each edition is added to the ONA website shortly after circulation. By submitting an article or news for inclusion the contributor is accepting that it will be available through both formats and will also be accessible beyond the Association membership through internet search engines or any member of the public viewing the ONA website. Please note that the ONA Magazine content does not neccessarily reflect the views of the school or the ONA and is based on personal experiences, recollections and memories of its contributors. Design www.infinitedesign.com
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10 President’s Welcome News and Congratulations ONA Now and Then What My RGS Bursary Means to Me Riding High Something Mortal A History of the RGS in Its People Meum Vale Au revoir, Madame Boucaud ONA Geography Essay Prize 2014 Dimensions of the Spirit Obituaries
Welcome
The highlight of the Spring Term was undoubtedly the London ONA Dinner at the RAF Club in Piccadilly. Guest speaker Timothy Kirkhope (53-62) took time out of his extremely busy schedule as a Member of the European Parliament to entertain thoroughly a record attendance and it was a delight to see such a good mix of Old Novocastrians. We were lucky enough to have the Head Prefects, David Coates and Rebecca Smith, in attendance and their company was as usual very much appreciated and enjoyed. Along with the current Upper Sixth, David and Rebecca will be sitting their final A Level exams this summer, so on behalf of the Association, I’d like to wish them and all those sitting exams, the very best of luck. This will also be the last round of exams for two of the school’s teaching staff, Dave Merritt, who retires and Lindsey Boucaud who leaves in the summer. Turn to pages 12 and 13 for a flashback of their time at the school. Both Lindsey and Dave will be invited to the ONA Dinner in Newcastle on 17 October 2014 and I am delighted to announce that our guest speaker will be journalist, author and entrepreneur Tony Boullemier (57-64). The Association took on the school at both football and netball, narrowly losing both fixtures. I’d like to thank Andy Snedden and Kate Jarvis (02-04) for continuing to help organise these events from the school’s perspective. The Sunday Football League season came to an end with the ONA Football Club finishing in the lower half but they did still manage to bring home some silverware: the Sportsmanship Trophy. Not bad at all for their inaugural season! In this issue of the ONA Magazine, don’t miss A History of the RGS in Its People in which the series continues with former teacher, Michael Roberts, on pages 10 and 11. Read about the influence of the River Tyne by Charlotte Barke, Year 12, the recent winner of the ONA Geography prize on pages 14 - 16 and make sure you check out our cover story on Captain Richard Carr (95-02), page 7. Autumn 2014 will mark 70 years since the school returned from its temporary location in Penrith during World War II. As such the Association is organising a reunion, including a tour of the school, for those pupils who entered the school in September 1944. More information will follow. One last thing to mention is that there will be an informal drinks evening on Wednesday 17 September in the Collingwood Arms in Jesmond so if anyone is interested please do come along. As usual, please keep an eye on the website for details and updates. Have a great summer and enjoy the magazine!
David Westwood (95-02) ONA President
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Summer 2014
News and Congratulations We are delighted to have heard recently from…
Our congratulations go to…
Fraser Forster (96-06), Celtic goalkeeper who has been named in the FIFA World Cup 2014 23-man England squad. He made his debut for England in the international friendly against Chile in November. We wish Fraser the very best of luck in Brazil this summer. Alister Cox, former Headmaster who turned 80 years of age in May. Alister retired as Headmaster in 1994. Melvyn Hughes (59-69) who has been awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Law in recognition of his role in reshaping legal education and as a business leader of the legal profession. Matthew Ridley (04-11) who continued to
Peter Tyrell who sent us a photo of himself and fellow ONs who he describes as the ‘three musketeers’. He writes: This is a photo of three Old Novos, Stowellite, ex-prefects who met up recently in Sri Lanka. From left to right as you look at the photo are:
triumph in the BBC2 competition, University Challenge as part of the Trinity College, Cambridge team (see Issue 90). The team won the competition, 240 points to 135 by beating Somerville College, Oxford in the final, broadcast in April.
Peter Tyrrell (55-65) studied Civil Engineering at University
of Aston and then spent the rest of his working life supplying ready mixed concrete to major projects throughout UK and Dubai and Middle East. Now retired and living in Paphos, Cyprus but still travels extensively following the exploits of the England rugby and cricket teams and The British Lions.
Scarlett Milligan (09-11) who has been awarded one the prestigious Princess Royal Scholarships by The Honourable Society of The Inner Temple. This award is a Bar Professional Training Course Award of which only five Princess Royal Scholarships were awarded.
Stuart Hall (58-66) studied Geography at St Catharine’s,
Cambridge and spent his career in marketing and business management. Now retired and living in Puckeridge, Hertfordshire, he still reads The Racing Post every day, making sound investments based on information gleaned by ‘studying the form’. Peter Graham (55-65) studied Dentistry at Newcastle Dental School and developed highly-regarded dental practices in Whickham and Burnopfield. Past-president of Blaydon Rugby Club and still President of Blaydon Cricket Club, he now lives with his new family in Bentota in Sri Lanka where he is developing a boutique holiday resort.
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Scarlett Milligan (09-11) speaking at the UCL Law Faculty Barristers’ Cocktail Party 2014. Our thanks to UCL Laws for kind permission to use this photo.
Join us on Facebook and LinkedIn There are plenty of Old Novos social media groups around, but we have our own groups. Join us by becoming a fan of the Old Novocastrians Association pages on Facebook and LinkedIn.
ONA Membership – Standing Orders If you still have a standing order set up to pay the ONA subscription fee, please cancel it as soon as possible. ONA membership is FREE to all Old Novos and former members of staff.
Dr Andrew Kilner (76-83), former Head Boy, 82-83 who was recently awarded The Evelyn Baker Medal. His father, John Kilner (47-56) (‘A proud father’!) recently wrote: ‘the medal was presented on Friday 17 January 2014 at the Conference of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland at the QEII Conference Centre, Westminster’. The Evelyn Baker Medal was instituted in 1988 for outstanding clinical competence, recognising the ‘unsung heroes’ of clinical anaesthesia and related practice.
Request for information about first world war ON combatants including survivors
Ed Blazey (96-01) on the publication of A Boy
The Association is planning a programme of events in conjunction with the school to commemorate the 1914-18 War in the most suitable and meaningful manner. As readers will be aware, the organ, inaugurated in 1923, is a registered War Memorial and records the passing of 161 of the 162 pupils of the school who fell in that terrible conflict. Throughout 2014-18 there will be countless centenary events throughout the nation. In keeping with its recently stated goal of relating more closely to the existing students of the school, the Association is looking to remember not only those who never returned from those foreign fields, but also the very large majority that did come home to their families and resumed their lives and careers.
Called Ralph. A Boy Called Ralph is a children’s book commissioned by Northern Architecture as part of their ongoing Byker Lives Project, in association with Igloo Regeneration Fund about the building of the Byker Wall and its notable architect, Ralph Erskine. Written by Joseph Conrad, Ed has beautifully illustrated the book in pen and watercolour.
As we approach this momentous anniversary, the ONA is appealing to all those who can provide evidence of their family’s part in this momentous story. Please send in any information you would like to share, however sparse, whether it refers to survivors or those who sadly did not survive. The Association is planning to publish the names of those recorded on the organ (newly restored) on its website, as well as the programme of events as it unfolds. Please write to Jane Medcalf at ona@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk or to the school’s postal address. David Goldwater (51-62)
Email addresses
The ONA is keen to contact ONs by email in order to inform you about ONA and school events that might be of interest. If you have an email address that you are happy for us to use, please email us at ona@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk. Also, we are aware that some of our recorded email addresses are now out of date. Please check with us and let us know if our records are correct or not.
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Summer 2014
ONA Now and Then
Total commitment blended with mischievous humour and an ability not to take ourselves too seriously: that’s the RGS through and through, now as then.
My dad was always a keen cricketer and for many years combined the arduous role of country GP with that of captaining the village cricket team. Years later, somewhere in Somerset, he bumped into a chap who used to captain the police team in Shepton Mallett. They started reminiscing. “Who was that old bloke you used to have umpiring?” asked the now-retired policeman. “He was an awkward old whatsit. One time, as I took my guard, he asked what I’d like. When I replied that I’d prefer a slow full toss outside the off-stump, he snapped, ‘Come, come: this is a serious game of cricket.’” “Ah”, Dad responded “that would be my father.” The great summer game has always attracted wags and wits as well as passionate devotees. The RGS has certainly seen plenty, and it’s a joy to see that write-up of the staff versus 2nd XI game of 1964. There’s always that distinctive RGS banter (Lord knows, there was a lot of it when the class of 1963 got together last autumn! – see Issue 90): but we can be sure that, at the same time, the game will have been keenly contested. Total commitment blended with mischievous humour and an ability not to take ourselves too seriously: that’s the RGS through and through, now as then. This summer, though, will witness some serious cricket. 2014 sees the return of the RGS Cricket Festival after six years. There are seven Royal Grammar Schools in the country, all (as far as I know) bearing the title as a result of Queen Elizabeth I’s sorting out of royal charters – and establishing education as a charitable activity, would-be meddlers please note – towards the end of her reign.
Colchester, Guildford, High Wycombe, Worcester and Lancaster (see back cover). Inter-school competition brings some of the best in every sport: think of the Daily Mail (now NatWest) Cup in rugby; the ISFA (Independent Schools Football Association) competitions at Senior, Under 13 and Junior School levels; and, closer to home, the splendid Northern HMC Athletics Competition, inaugurated by St Bees School in 1981 and this April attracting no fewer than 21 northern independent schools to Gateshead International Stadium on 30 April. School days create so many lifelong happy memories: but most stem from activities outside the classroom, not in it. Sport provides more memories than most other undertakings, perhaps. None of that would happen without the inspirational and generous teachers who give a lead and give up so much of their time beyond the classroom. As I recall that fact, it’s nice to find my contribution preceding between the cricket write-up and a memoire of Michael Roberts (1902-1948), poet and RGS teacher. As it says, Roberts was ‘a charismatic, if unorthodox, schoolmaster, encouraging his pupils in independence of thought, a love of the outdoors and especially mountaineering’. I’d like to think we still have teachers who fit precisely that bill, not to mention dozens of others who make their own different and distinctive contribution. Teachers like that make a school great, because their pupils respond to them. They are certainly the elements that make the RGS great. Long may that continue. Bernard Trafford
Headmaster Six of them get together every year for this cricket festival at the end of the Summer Term, rotating the duty of hosting. So to Jesmond (and other local grounds) will come the Royal Grammar Schools from
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ONA Now and Then
Staff cricket match, 1964 Fifty years ago, the late Timothy A Reuter (59-65) (later to become an influential medieval historian) reported on a staff cricket match against the 2nd XI.
Above: Vic Crew (58-64) 121 runs Right: Pages from The Novocastrian, September 1964 Vol. LXXI No3 pages 48-49
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Summer 2014
What my RGS Bursary means to me By Martin Dickson (10-12)
the opportunity to have a lifestyle which I did not expect to be able to have, coming from my background, and it is RGS that has made this achievable. It is for this reason that I regard the two years I spent at RGS as arguably the most valuable years of my life. I am looking forward to the day when I can provide a bursary to a student to experience what RGS has to offer and allow them to pursue a career which might not otherwise be obtainable. My RGS Bursary and its donors have influenced my life immensely, and I hope to be able to do that for somebody else.
It has been two years since I left RGS, but its influence on my life has not ceased as it set me off on the career path I always wanted to pursue.
I travelled over 60 miles every day from Berwick to get to school, but there wasn’t a day that I resented that journey. RGS, and specifically my bursary, provided me not only with a second-tonone education, but exposure to a higher calibre of conversation and identification with current affairs that I have needed to get to where I want to be. My ambition is to go on to work in a City law firm, and the standard of applicants now for vacation schemes and training contracts means that you need much more than grades. Law firms differ on the criteria they identify as relevant, but the one feature that is constantly spelt out as of prime importance is commercial awareness, or a variant on this. It was the culture of RGS and the students’ desire to engage with economics and politics, whether that be in the classroom or extra-curricularly in debating or the various societies on offer, that provided me with the makings of this that is very hard to achieve in a state school environment. RGS revealed doors that I didn’t expect could ever be opened to someone from my socioeconomic background. Without the education and career guidance that the school could offer, I would not now be reading Law in Oxford and I would not have had the opportunity to work for a fantastic, entrepreneurial law firm in Jesmond, Square One Law. Everything RGS has provided me: from good grades, to contacts and determination, has meant that I am now in a position where I have vacation schemes with a number of Magic Circle Law firms. If I go on to turn any of these into training contracts, I will have
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“
RGS revealed doors that I didn’t expect could ever be opened to someone from my socio-economic background.
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If you would like to help other students like me, please contact Jane Medcalf on 0191 212 8909 or by email at campaign@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk. Further information about the campaign can be seen on the school’s website.
Riding High ON takes command of Royal Corps of Signals White Helmets Army Motorcycle Display team. Richard McKenzie Carr (95-02) is a Captain with the Royal Corps of Signals and has been with the Signals since commissioning from Sandhurst Royal Military Academy in December 2008. Richard is presently carrying out a two-year posting as officer in charge of the Royal Corps of Signals White Helmets Army Motorcycle Display team and he is currently preparing for the 2014 UK tour. He has just completed his first major display at the Royal Military Tournament held annually at the Earls Court arena in London which turned out to be a resounding success for the whole team.
He was previously with the Royal Gurkha Signals based in the City of York and with whom he carried out his six-month tour of Afghanistan.
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Summer 2014
He is presently based down at the Signals HQ in Blandford, Dorset but still keeps in touch with friends in Jesmond etc. as often as he can and in fact David Westwood (95-02), President of the ONA attended Richard’s Commissioning Ball at Sandhurst. In order for Richard to become officially a White Helmet team member (despite being the officer commanding) he had to graduate by displaying similar riding skills to those of his team members, and he was presented with his White Helmet by the Corps Colonel. This graduation event was held down at the Blandford HQ in Dorset on the 12 April and was attended by family, friends and VIP guests. By Stephen Carr
Above: Richard with the Mayor of Blandford, a retired Colonel, previously a commanding officer of the White Helmets Below: Richard leading several of his team by riding through the fire jump at the graduation event
ONs IN PRINT
Something Mortal Keith Jewitt (70-77) describes a unique publishing project involving three Old Novos, Oxford, and one of England’s best-loved poets. The late Nick ‘Monty’ Montgomery (70-77) in Norway Photograph courtesy of Keith Jewitt (70-77)
T
he funeral of Nick Montgomery (70-77) on 9 January 2012 (see obituary in Issue 85) was, for me, one of the saddest hours of that year: but it was the beginning of a chain of events which led to one of the most exhilarating evenings of 2013 – 17 May, when Nick’s poetry collection Something Mortal was posthumously launched. In order to tell the story properly, I need to start at the beginning – in other words, at RGS. Nick was a not close friend at RGS. He was popular, a bit of a joker, wellknown as a talented artist, and always referred to as “Monty”. When we encountered each other in Oxford, one of the first things he told me was that he never wanted to be called “Monty” again, so from that point on he was “Nick” or “Nicholas”. He was reading English, and his terrifying description of it – Dickens one week, Thackeray the next and so on – partly explained his increasingly nervous manner, heavy smoking and even more ominous drinking. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in view of the depth of musical prowess at RGS, I had never heard of Nick’s skill as a pianist. This emerged in my second year when I was forming a band. His credentials were entirely ‘classical’ and he didn’t possess either an instrument or an amplifier, but I recklessly invited Nick to join. Dangerous Nonsense (the least bad name we could think of) managed to play one gig each term for five terms, which doesn’t sound much, but during that time both Nick and I were rusticated by our colleges for persistent acts of delinquency, while Nick battled what are conventionally known as his ‘demons’, including drink. Amazingly, both of us emerged from Oxford with respectable ‘seconds’. Nick’s survival owed much to the benevolence of his tutor, John Fuller, who was prepared to lend a sympathetic ear when Nick turned up at tutorials after a sleepless ‘essay crisis’ night, bearing only a few scribbled notes and some interesting but half-formed ideas.
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While I saw this as the typical behaviour We lost touch again when the band of an ‘old-school’ Oxford don, Nick split up in 1992. By that time Nick had regarded John as a kindred spirit. become a habitual non-drinker and, like the other five members of his family, After Oxford, I trained as a chartered decided to become a teacher. Over accountant, and temporarily abandoned the next twenty years he obtained my musical ambitions: but this period, a second degree and a doctorate from the mid-80s, was Nick’s ‘rock-star’ Newcastle University, grappling with phase. He spent a year as keyboard the structure and mechanics of English player for John Peel favourites Literature: and while teaching at both Microdisney, led by the brilliant and university and schools, he began, in charismatic Cathal Coughlan. During secret, to create literary work of his that year, Nick toured all over Europe, own. There were plenty of good times, appeared on the BBC’s Old Grey but also increasingly long relapses, Whistle Test, and lived mainly in the especially after 2006, when his older back of a van. Sadly things didn’t quite brother Stephen Montgomery (6875) died from alcohol-related illness. work out and Nick came home to the North East, to his family, who always So – moving on to January 2012, adored him and wanted to help him. where this piece started – as I walked down to St Ann’s Church on that fine When I next saw Nick, in 1989, he January day, I felt that Nick’s finest looked like a man with one foot in the grave. His doctor had warned him that, hour, creatively speaking, was the music we had made together. At the if he continued to drink, he would live funeral, Nick’s sister Catherine read for only six months to a year, which one of his sonnets, describing an I thought optimistic. Nick told me that he was going into hospital for a make- imagined walk with their father’s ghost or-break detox and that when he came through a landscape of classical ruins. The poem included the wonderful out, he wanted us to form another closing couplet: band. The idea wasn’t entirely his – he was encouraged by an NHS music ‘We scoured Caunos for an ancient past therapist called Keith Mills, who In search of something mortal that (I guess) was trying to find something would last.’ positive for Nick to aspire to. Things happened quickly when Nick emerged from hospital. Suddenly he found a use for his time and energy: instead of going to the pub, he sat at the piano and wrote. Drawing on his own life experiences, using skills picked up from Cathal Coughlan and Microdisney, Nick became an astonishingly inventive and prolific songwriter. Keith Mills joined us as a guitarist, slickly adapting his style to the style of the songs, alternating between mellow acoustic textures and conventional rock. A drummer and singer were found: and, with our usual recklessness, we invited Nick’s youngest sister, 15-year-old violin prodigy Josephine, to play violin. We called the band Swim-Two-Birds, after Flann O’Brien’s novel, and it was the focus of our lives for the next two and a half years – playing gigs, delighting audiences, and most importantly interpreting Nick’s songs.
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Summer 2014
A fellow mourner informed me that a large cache of sonnets had been found after Nick’s death, and I also learned that Nick had recently sent a number of poems to John Fuller (by now one of England’s most respected poets). Later that day, I rang Patrick Ingram, another close Oxford friend, whose Laurel Books imprint publishes a quirky collection of contemporary and early 20th Century poetry. I gave Patrick a brief account of the sonnet read at the funeral, and he immediately offered to publish Nick’s poems, an astonishingly brave offer. In spite of their intense grief, Catherine and Josephine searched Nick’s papers and computer to make sure they brought all of the poems to light. There were no ‘bad’ ones – Nick’s quality control was utterly ruthless, as it had
been in our music-making days. We also contacted John Fuller, who immediately (with typical magnanimity) offered to provide an introduction. When John’s contribution arrived, I was simply dumbfounded by its quality. In retrospect, it’s not really surprising that such a revered poet and critic is able to say so much in so few words about poetry. What still surprises me is that John, all along, had understood Nick so well. I don’t think any book ever had a better introduction, and it was profoundly moving to hear Catherine read these words at the launch of the book now two years ago: “If poems exist to preserve our best thoughts, it is no wonder that they can end up as mirrors of our personality as we might perhaps want to be remembered. In them we recreate the things we have questioned, felt or observed. Their well-worked words are more or less faithful to the mind’s explorations, and these words miraculously survive the mind that conjured them.” Sixteen months on from the funeral, the launch was a happy occasion, an opportunity to remember Nick at his best. I’m hoping that other Old Novos who remember Nick (or “Monty”) will get in touch and share their memories with us. The book can be bought from Laurel Books (www.laurelbooks.co.uk) – please feel free to send personal messages when you order the book.
A HISTORY OF THE RGS IN ITS PEOPLE by David Goldwater (51-62)
Michael Roberts at Tignes, French Alps, 1934
Michael Roberts One of the most extraordinary appointments ever made to the RGS Staff was that of William Edward Roberts. Born in Bournemouth in 1902, he went to Bournemouth School and in 1920 went on to read Chemistry at King’s College, London. In December 1921 he won an exhibition in Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge and in 1922 graduated from London with a BSc. He arrived in Cambridge in October and decided to read Mathematics. He greatly admired the 18th Century Russian polymath Mikhail Lomonosov and chose to be called Michael. He became an active member of the University Socialist Society and in his third year applied to join the Cambridge branch of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), but as there was no official training group he could not then become a full member. In June 1925 the Headmaster of the RGS, Dr Thomas visited Cambridge in search of teachers in Maths and Physics. He met Roberts, having been warned that he was “distinctly left-wing”. They talked for two hours, mostly about Elizabethan poetry and Thomas promptly appointed Roberts senior physics master at the Royal Grammar School; Roberts duly took up this post in September. For the CPGB, Michael Roberts’ move to the North East was timely. In May 1925, Tyneside was considered ‘one of the weakest’ Party districts; by October 1926, it was one of the strongest in the country. This reflected an influx of miners after the General Strike, but Roberts may well have played a part. He seems to have become a full party member soon after moving to Tyneside, and then became chairman of a ‘presidium’, managing the affairs of the North East Coast District while also directing party training. However, Roberts did not remain long in the party, which in 1927-8 was convulsed by doctrinal conflicts: it seems he was expelled within a year or two as a ‘Trotskyist’. He spent much of his time writing and the story was that he papered an entire wall of his home with rejection slips. Roberts was to make a profound impression on the school. His interests remained literary as well as scientific, and through his love of mountains and the countryside, he was involved in the establishment of School Camps and walking tours with his colleague, RFI Bunn. In 1930, he led a party to the Jura mountains on the French-Swiss border, and then in 1934, more adventurously, to the Alps. Brian Main’s and Anthony Tuck’s (48-59) (Ed.) ‘History of the School’ is informative on his great contribution to the life of the RGS. Walter Wood (37-44) remembers his first Chemistry lesson with him: ‘He moved around the lab like a man possessed, reaching for bottles, mixing as if by accident and producing the most spectacular colours, fizzes and bangs. We were on the edge of our stools for the whole lesson.’
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Roberts moved to London, teaching at Mercers’ School from 1931 to 1934 (where WD Haden was Head from 1946-60). It seems his colleagues at Mercers’ were much less sympathetic to him than at RGS and in early 1934 he was dismissed in mid-term for his outspoken views. ER Thomas then re-appointed him and he returned in September that year teaching Maths, Physics and English. Having published a first poetry collection in 1930, he started to edit anthologies, of which New Country (1933) became celebrated for the group of poets, including WH Auden. In 1934 he took part in a high-profile series of radio broadcasts, Whither Britain?, together with major figures such as Sir Winston Churchill and Ernest Bevin. In 1935 he married Janet Adam Smith, critic and anthologist, and fellow mountaineer; they lived in Fern Avenue, Jesmond, Newcastle, where WH Auden visited them in September 1937. In 1939 they went to Penrith in Cumberland when the school was evacuated there. There, surrounded by his beloved mountains, he combined his dedicated work for exiled RGS boys with a social life including many visits to their home by poets and writers of the time including William Empson and Kathleen Raine, who shared their home for some time.
Top: Michael Roberts with school party on Le Grand Taureau in Jura mountains – Easter 1930 Left: Michael Roberts at age 35 Right: Michael Roberts (centre) with schoolboys, Cumberland, 1932 All photographs © Roberts family archive
The Faber Book of Modern Verse (1936), which he edited, is the single piece of work for which Roberts is now best remembered. He followed it with poetry and prose writing. In 1941-45 he worked in London for the BBC European Service, mainly on broadcasting to German-occupied countries. After the war, European colleagues told how precious those links had been. From 1945 to 1948 he was principal of the College of St Mark and St John in Chelsea, London, where one of his colleagues was the biologist Cyril Bibby. He died of leukaemia in 1948. The noted scholar Marcus Cunliffe (32-40) describes Michael Roberts as follows: ‘Everything about him was stretched and attenuated, to the point of distortion, as in an El Greco figure, so that to a small boy he seemed immeasurably tall and thin, gaunt and fierce. You saw him advancing down the corridor like a tiger… His clothes hardly ever varied, they only became more disreputable. It was said he came to school once with his raincoat inside out, explaining it was too dirty to wear in any other way.’ Brilliant, inspiring, unique, eccentric; all these things and more; how fortunate for those who were taught by Michael Roberts to have met such a man. “‘Voy wawm’ said the dustman One bright August morning– But that was in Longbenton, Under the trees.” (from Roberts, ‘Hymn to the Sun’) I am greatly indebted to Michael Roberts’sons, Andrew and (particularly to) Sir Adam Roberts for their comments and amendments, as well as for the photographs. Also to Walter Wood (37-44) for inspiring this piece.
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Summer 2014
Meum Vale By Dave Merritt (63-73) Having first entered the portals of the RGS in September 1963, I only spent five of the following 51 years totally away from the place! With a pleasing sense of symmetry I am concluding my teaching career in the classrooms where I started my education. Now the Humanities area, in 1963 it was the Junior School presided over by Major Bertram and his longserving staff including Joy Knowles and Hugh Patterson. I was no great scholar in those early days, being a Geordie Gateshead lad with a bit of a chip on his shoulder and a primary interest in football and cricket. On my last report the Head wrote ‘he can do better than this!’ and indeed in the senior school things took a bit of an upturn and I ended my days as Captain of Rowing, Deputy Head Boy and with a place at Cambridge. I came under the influence of some school masters with remarkable qualities such as Bill Cuthbertson (28-35), Frank Budden and Roger Hennessey. Two Yorkshiremen were particularly significant. John Rowling introduced me to evangelical Christianity during what can only be called a revival time for that faith in the RGS whilst David Rhodes opened up for me the fantastic and fascinating world of geography. Though I was to deviate a tad from those paths some time later – what a foundation! Dusty Rhodes deserves special mention. He is still spoken of in hushed and awed tones by those who were taught by Dave Merritt at the Freud Museum, London
him. He is undoubtedly one of the iconic figures of the RGS in the late 20th Century. He taught me in his first year at the school, sent me to St Catharine’s, his old college, and then invited me back on the staff after I got my degree! From him I learnt a vast amount about passion for a subject and the art of effective pedagogy. As well as teaching geography, in the early years I wore a variety of exciting hats. I was master in charge of lockers (a noble calling), and assisted with rowing, rugby, and badminton. I was very happy to initiate what was then called ‘remedial swim’ for students who struggled with water. It is now known as ‘improvers’ swim’ – rather more politically correct as a term. Another bit of early initiation with Bill Gibson (63-69) was a long distance school visit – now commonplace occurrences. In 1983 and 1984 we led two memorable visits to communist USSR visiting Moscow and Leningrad. On a more parochial scale, I oversaw all School Camps for six years and ran the one at Ryedale with a brilliant team including Messrs Hall, Mains, Swinden and Renshaw. Then at the tenderish age of 30 I became Head of Fifth Form in 1985 and took over the administration of major public events from John Elders. In the 90s I took a spell out from all that and did some church work, only coming to school once a week to teach some RE. Church work morphed into an interest in counselling and therapy and I undertook training in those areas. My third RGS Head after Haden and Cox, James Miller, invited me back for a fuller role in the late 90s as the school’s first counsellor. In 2000 he decided it was time for the RGS to offer Psychology and I was privileged to be asked to pioneer this new department. We started with 13 Lower Sixth students and then it grew! In recent years we have always had around 70 in the Sixth Form studying it with some going on to enjoy and excel at it at university. Now the energy levels are waning below what I regard as satisfactory for high octane classroom performance and as Mr Gove introduces yet another wave of exam changes and educational reforms I feel it is time to retire…a bit! I’m still not fully leaving those portals and will still be seeking to serve the school as counsellor. I’m also going to work two days a week as a consultant with a counselling and training agency I worked for in the 90s – a bit of applied Psychology! In my wee bit of extra spare time I’ll be looking to travel more (once a geographer…) and spend time more with my dear wife, Lizzie, who, like many RGS partners, has put up with a lot of absences and long working hours. What will I miss? The people, of course. “Many a name on the scroll of fame…” goes the abandoned school song. I have known the names and the persona of countless staff and students over the past 50 years and it’s been a joy, a pleasure and a privilege to meet and share a slice of life with such talented, interesting and stimulating individuals. Thanks to all of them (you know who you are!) and thanks RGS.
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Au revoir, Madame Boucaud Leaving after 24 years What year did you start at the RGS? I remember in September 1990 receiving the key to the beautiful main door and being thrilled to teach in such a prestigious and academic environment. Although qualified to teach French, Spanish and Italian, the school only offered French and German at the time, but it still offered exciting challenges; I was given the full range of classes and was in charge of teaching Oxbridge candidates, which I have continued throughout my time here. I was working with wonderful characters and intellects such as Mike Oswald, Alan Hall, Pat Sainsbury and Dave Walton; such an interesting group of cultured people who welcomed me as one of the family. Our passion for languages engaged us in many an interesting conversation during gargantuan meals chez Alan, Mike and Pat, with wine, French music and yes, the odd sing-song or dance with Alan. As well as teaching your subject, what else have you been involved with at the RGS?
In 1993, I took charge of Prizes and started to teach Spanish as part of Sixth Form General Studies, and eventually GCSE in a year. When Spanish was introduced into the curriculum in 2003, I was elated to be teaching it in several classes. Wonderfully rewarding French Exchange visits to Haute Savoie, Burgundy and Spanish trips to Barcelona and Santander, the many visits to the Tyneside Cinema foreign film events, a ‘Cinema Italiano’ club I led for two years, and eventually teaching Italian in the Sixth Form Enrichment Course have all added to my incredible time here. My ‘Diaghilev and the ‘Ballets Russes’, the Fokine-Nijinsky period’ and the ‘Cinema Italiano’ sessions for the Lower Six have also allowed me to introduce these passions of mine to a range of students. Everyone here has the chance to do or to learn something different, which is very much part of the wonder of RGS. What will you miss?
RGS has been a huge part of my life. I have really appreciated the many different personalities, every interesting conversation, each student’s accomplishments, and the thoughtfulness and amiability which have come with the quest for knowledge. I have absolutely loved studying many works of literature with the Sixth Form; Balzac, Proust (my third year at RGS;
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Summer 2014
my Upper Six didn’t know what had hit them!) Mauriac, Camus; I started a French Literature Group this year and we had several enjoyable sessions discussing 17-21st Century writers. Then there’s the singing; such a great way to improve fluency; and not just text book songs, no, the real thing! With one Sixth Form group, we recorded ourselves around the piano. I realise being here has given me so many opportunities to open young minds to a whole world and culture beyond the classroom and for this I am very grateful. RGS has allowed me to do what I love and to experience many wonderful things apart from languages; I am very fortunate to have seen Jeremy Thomas’s Forty Years On and some of his many challenging pieces, and to have attended so many memorable concerts. I have often been in awe of our talented students. Why should they care about the pleonastic ‘ne’ when they can play like that?! I love seeing another side to these young people. I was also introduced to sport. Feeling I had stepped into a Merchant Ivory set, I watched my first cricket match. It was a lovely day, we had afternoon tea, but I just couldn’t understand why the lab assistant was always ‘in the way’. Apparently it was the umpire. I have seen so many wonderful people grow up to achieve great things, and then move on, but it has never been sad; it is still good to hear their news, to receive an email, a letter or even an invitation to coffee! What are you planning to do when you leave?
My husband and I cannot wait to go back to Abruzzo in October, to Paris, to the Salon du Livre, the Salon International de l’Agriculture (yes, really!), the Cannes Film Festival, to go back to Palermo, for the Santa Rosalia Festival, all of which take place in term time. I’ll hopefully have more trips to the Palais Garnier, the Cimetière russe in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, Père Lachaise, the Cimetière de Montmartre, the Cimitero San Michele in Venice, to pay tribute to Nureyev, Isadora Duncan, Nijinsky and Diaghilev respectively, as well as my annual Keats pilgrimage to the Cimitero Accatolico in Rome, oh, and to Gucci, of course. All this, and time to see my parents more regularly, read great books, and look forward to driving into the sunset with Michel.
ONA Geography Essay Prize 2014 For several years now the Association has set essay competitions for the school and we continue to be overwhelmed by the quality of entries. Over the following pages, you’ll find the latest winning essay from Charlotte Barke, Year 12 who was recently awarded a new prize for 2014, the ONA Geography Prize.
The River Tyne’s influence on Newcastle is as strong today as it ever has been
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T
he River Tyne’s influence on Newcastle has been historically very strong. It was primarily a mode of transport for local industry, with a major positive influence on Newcastle’s economy. However, the decline of these local industries and globalisation has greatly weakened this influence, despite the efforts of central government to return the river to its previous importance through regeneration. Historically, the Tyne has been of great importance to the settlement of Newcastle. In Roman times, the Tyne served as a defensive measure, a ‘sufficient fence’, as well as a navigable channel with a good port. These positive attributes led to Romans settling there and creating the first origins of Newcastle. The physical properties of the river in the area of Newcastle allowed the Romans to construct the first bridge; a sandstone ridge meets the Tyne at Gateshead, causing the river to constrict (see fig.2). Therefore between the present day Redheugh Bridge and Tyne Bridge (see fig.1), the distance between the 100 ft. contour on both banks is less than for several miles upstream and at any point downstream. The Romans took advantage of the river narrowing, building at the point where the Swing Bridge (see fig.1) now stands. This was important for Newcastle as it created a line of communication between the
north and south sides of the river. However, with the development of technology such as phones, computers, and email this line of communication became less important. Nevertheless, the ability to place bridges across the Tyne from just south of Newcastle’s City Centre to Gateshead (see fig.1) serves as an excellent transport link. In medieval times, the construction of the quay (see fig.1) occurred. A market existed there, as did many chares; narrow lanes at right angles to the river, with merchants’ houses and warehouses for trades connected to shipping and sailors. These chares and other similar streets created the Quayside’s poor infrastructure that warded off potential investors, and led to Newcastle Quayside’s regeneration in the 1990s. Despite the beginnings of Newcastle’s trade industry, it was predominantly viewed as a frontier town, due to its proximity to Scotland. In the 17th Century the coal trade allowed Newcastle to prosper, dominating the Tyne until the mid-20th Century. At this time, the Tyne’s influence on Newcastle was at its peak; Newcastle merchants monopolised the Tyne so that only they could use it for coal trade, preventing other places on the river such as Wallsend or Tynemouth (see fig.2) from benefitting from this trade. This meant Newcastle gained the maximum economic value it could from the river, the cause of the City’s great prosperity at the time. This increase in commercial functions for the Quayside meant that by the 19th Century, population density of the riverside had significantly reduced (compared to the 17th Century) as those who had thrived from trade moved to better housing locations such as Jesmond. However, many migrants – especially the Irish – still sought accommodation on the waterfront, due to its low cost.
Newcastle’s economy diversified during the mid-20th Century; Wills tobacco factory was set up, as were several industrial estates such as in Killingworth, reducing the economy’s dependency on the river. The decline of the three industries dependant on the river; heavy engineering (Armstrong’s factory, Elswick employed 20,000 in 1910, this workforce was reduced to a fraction of that by the 60s); coal mining and shipbuilding, meant the Tyne’s influence on Newcastle’s economy was effectively eradicated. This was further displayed by the City Centre’s move away from the Quayside further north, to Grainger Street in the mid-18th Century and then eventually to Northumberland Street (see fig.1) in the mid-20th Century.
Fig.1: map showing River Tyne and its bridges around central Newcastle area
Fig.2: map showing River Tyne’s course from Newcastle to its mouth at Tynemouth
In the 1850s, the Tyne Improvement Commission (TIC) was formed; they dredged the river, making it deeper so that large boats could gain access right up to Newcastle Quayside. This was an end to the monopoly of the river by the Newcastle merchants; however, with the formation of another two river-dependant industries in the 19th Century, shipbuilding and heavy industry, Newcastle’s economy did not suffer greatly. These industries were located on the river to take advantage of the local cheap coal – transported to their sites on the river – and out of convenience for transport (via the river). The Tyne’s influence was still as important for Newcastle as it had been before the TIC was set up, the river was just available for other areas use too.
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The decline of the three industries was prior to and a cause of the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation’s formation in 1987. Without these industries the Tyne lapsed into dereliction; 33% of the riverside was classified as derelict. There were high levels of unemployment, outdated infrastructure and a dispersal of people from the riverside. Sites on the riverside did not attract investment due to poor infrastructure, poor access to the City’s commercial centre and environmental problems such as unstable river edges and difficult ground conditions. This lack of interest from development investors and subsequent lack of resources needed to adapt the area for modern business meant the riverside economy faced a fragile future.
The Quayside is important for business investment, but would be just as important if situated in another area of Newcastle away from the river.
The Tyne and Wear Development Corporation planned and carried out the regeneration of the River Tyne and surrounding area. They had four main aims; to create a new business district, increase employment, revive the riverside as a place to live, and to improve the environment of the riverside by removing dereliction and decay of riverbanks. On Newcastle Quayside, the Corporation created a new business and leisure quarter spanning 1km of City Centre riverside. It included prime office space and rented housing; £161/m2 in 1997 compared to £75/m2 in 1987. These developments were supported by infrastructure provision and community development, including the local community in the regeneration process through community-based projects such as Live Theatre on the Quayside and the Tall Ships Art Exhibition. The Corporation, City Council, universities and health trust also managed to secure one of 12 millennium landmark schemes as a beacon of the regeneration; the International Centre for Life (see fig.1).
Quayside with its new Millennium Bridge and the Sage (see fig.1) building became a key site for media coverage when Bear Grylls zip-wired off the Tyne Bridge with the Olympic torch. The regeneration scheme was successful; the fall of unemployment in Newcastle for 1985-96 was higher than the national level, and Newcastle rose to fourth on the list of top business locations. The scheme met its aims by developing the Quayside’s infrastructure, in March 1997 38.8km of infrastructure had been created, rising to 45.5km in March 2000, and creating many jobs; in March 1997, 28,111 jobs were created, rising to 39,281 in March 2000. Although this infrastructure moved transport away from the river the road and rail networks, the bridges retained their key roles. Despite regeneration, the River Tyne itself still does not hold as much importance as it did historically. The river became an icon of Newcastle, a tourist attraction, no longer a transport medium for coal/other trade. The Quayside is important for business investment, but would be just as important if situated in another area of Newcastle away from the river. Therefore the River Tyne’s economic influence on Newcastle was not restored by regeneration to the importance it once held. Globalisation has meant Newcastle’s present and future has much to do with what is decided elsewhere. The growth of large companies such as Starbucks and Marks & Spencer has tied the City into an urban network on a global scale; decisions which affect Newcastle and its economy are made elsewhere, in London or New York. This is a vast difference from when Newcastle merchants had control of the Tyne, and the City’s economy. In summary, the Tyne’s influence on Newcastle is a mere fraction of what it once was. Regeneration has made the river a viewpoint, an attraction for tourists, possibly bringing in some revenue to nearby cafes and hotels. However, this is inconsequential compared to the river being the most influential part of Newcastle’s economy as it was historically; changes in industry have rendered it economically unimportant, therefore vastly reducing the Tyne’s influence on Newcastle. Sources:
The regeneration scheme aimed to improve the image of the Quayside to attract investment. A by-product of the scheme was the river and its many bridges becoming an icon for Newcastle. The extent of this was seen in 2012 when the
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• TD Douglas, RJ Buswell, M Barke, Historical Atlas of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1980 • Tyne and Wear Development Corporation, The Tyne and Wear Development Corporation Regeneration Statement, 1997/98
ONs IN PRINT
Dimensions of the Spirit Update from Eric ‘Spike’ Middleton (45-53) Having enjoyed the ONA Dinner in 2012, meeting old friends from 60 years ago, I thought I would share an update on my second book, Dimensions of the Spirit: Science and the Work of the Holy Spirit. It was good to meet Peter Wells (49-56), Gordon Hewlett (48-54) (from our string quartet), Peter Robson (45-53) (fellow boxer) and others. To launch the new book, I have been giving talks to national conferences on science and faith, to St John’s College, Durham, and to sixth forms at St Bees, Barnard Castle, etc. The first book was actually republished by the Templeton Press in the States, and led to a book-promoting tour of universities across North America, from New Jersey across to Oregon and back over to Minneapolis (see Issue 77). Here I was hosted by retired Professor Ken Reid (46-54), my old boxing friend from RGS and Cambridge (see photo).
I usually invite my audience to come on a journey with me, never knowing where it would lead. These are real stories of healing, of hurting memories and often physical healing in the name of Jesus, not only true accounts of lifechanging encounters with the Holy Spirit, but also new insights from contemporary science. These spiritual dimensions, as many Old Novos know, are also to be found in music, art, drama and indeed sport, and may touch our own spiritual needs for healing.
Left: Ken Reid (46-54) left and Eric ‘Spike’ Middleton at a book signing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 2009 Right: Vision of a cathedral, Eric’s acrylic painting (16”x25”)
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My main expertise from schooldays, (still used) was playing the violin under Jack Wolstenholme. I’m still playing in orchestras and string quartets. My art master would have been surprised that I have taken up acrylic painting with great enjoyment. The photo shown is my original acrylic painting used to illustrate the vision behind the book when I give talks about it. However it is my grandchildren of whom I am most proud! I should be delighted to have contact with other Old Novos: Email: eric.middleton2@btinternet.com www.thenewflatlanders.com/dimensions
Obituaries
George V”. He was a frequent visitor to the School (for example, he much enjoyed the recent productions of Oklahoma and Flotsam at the PAC) and was a keen supporter of the Bursary Campaign. It became known after his death that he had made a substantial bequest to the school in his will.
W Ray Eden (32-37)
On leaving school, Ray became an agricultural student and worked mostly on hill farms (he always said that he much preferred sheep to cattle), but he also joined the Territorial Army, as a gunner in the Royal Artillery, and so when war broke out was called up immediately. He eventually wound up in the Middle East, was commissioned into the Royal Armoured Corps and posted to the 11th Hussars. Ray was always at pains to point out that he was not actually commissioned into the 11th Hussars, because in peacetime they had been a rather posh cavalry regiment, where in order to become an officer you might have been expected to have both a private income and a string of polo ponies, neither of which Ray had.
Born 6 April 1921, died 20 January 2014, aged 92
Ray was born 6 April 1921: “If my father had been less shy, he could have had an extra year’s child tax allowance”. Ray’s many friends who attended his 90th birthday party at Newcastle Cricket Club in 2011would have put good money on reconvening there ten years later to help him celebrate his 100th, such was Ray’s physical and mental health and the active retirement that he continued to lead. Sadly it was not to be. Rushed into hospital before and re-admitted after Christmas, Ray was diagnosed with cancer of the liver on 2 January and, having refused any kind of treatment, died less than three weeks later at his home in Jesmond. Ray had followed his elder brother Myles (30-35) to the RGS in 1932 (school number 3208) where he was in Eldon, won house colours for cricket and rugby and boxed for the School (“I must have been a wee thug”). He claimed to have enjoyed almost every day of his time at school and indeed a more devoted Old Novo it would have been hard to find. For years he served on the selection committee for the Old Novos Rugby Club (one of his regular choices was Tim Duff (51-59), who received the ultimate selection to take Ray’s funeral) and, a long-standing supporter of Northumberland cricket, served on the committee of the Newcastle Cricket Club, from its inception in 2006 until his death, as the member responsible for liaison with the RGS, which entailed regular meetings with the Bursar. He was a loyal attendee of the annual Old Novo dinners, accompanied regularly by Bill Peacock (45-50), whom he once described memorably as “just a boy”, where he would respond proudly to the President’s invitation to “take wine with those who attended the School in the reign of King
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But, in fact, the 11th Hussars was a very professional armoured regiment (“a good crowd”) and Ray served with them throughout the remainder of the War: in North Africa, then Italy and finally in North Western Europe from D-Day plus 3 onwards, not being de-mobbed until 1946, by which time he was a Captain. He continued to wear the regimental tie with pride, as can be seen in the accompanying photograph opposite. There can be no doubt that Ray’s experiences in the War had the most profound effect on him for the rest of his life, on the way that he looked at life and on the way that he conducted his life. In the desert in 1942, the Stuart tank (or “Honey” as it was better known), which he was commanding, received a direct hit and Ray was wounded and blown out of the turret. As he acknowledged afterwards, he was the lucky one because the other three members of his tank crew – his driver, gunner and radio operator – were all killed instantly. Then, in Italy, while he was wounded again, on more than one occasion the armoured car immediately in front of him was blown up by a mine. Although not of a religious disposition, Ray concluded that “someone up there liked me” and, having survived the war, felt that nothing else could be as bad. Some of his close shaves during the war were, in retrospect, quite humorous. A classic story of Ray’s was how, in the desert, he had ordered his tank to fire a warning shot at what he thought was a German staff car speeding across his view. To his horror, the car made a sharp 90 degree turn and sped towards him. It screeched to a halt, whereupon an incandescent brigadier dismounted and enquired of Ray: “Do I look like f****** Rommel?!!” Ray had to agree that, on closer inspection, the brigadier did not bear much resemblance to the Desert Fox and had just
about managed to calm things down when his gunner let rip at what they thought must be a new version of a Messerschmitt fighter flying overhead, only to have the brigadier explode again: “Stop firing, you idiot. It’s one of ours!” Order having been restored, the brigadier’s parting words to Ray and his chastened crew were: “Well, carry on Eden, you’re doing a grand job. But you have to admit that was a first-class finish to a f****** fiasco!” Following demobilisation, Ray went to the USA, where he had relatives, and worked in the agricultural sector. It was only the sudden and tragic death of his elder brother in the polio epidemic of 1950 that caused him to return home. He joined West Cumberland Farmers (WCF), having telephoned the managing director and told him that he thought he would be an asset to his organisation. Starting at WCF’s HQ in Whitehaven, Ray gradually moved back to the North East, via Brampton and Hexham, to finish in charge of the grain division at Morpeth and, after his retirement in 1984, continued for many years as a consultant.
Ray in September 2013: Newcastle Cricket Club surprised him by unveiling a ‘Garden of Eden’ plaque on the new verandah at Jesmond Cricket Ground.
Following the death of his wife Robbie in 2002, other than a step-daughter, Dorothy, Ray had no family but had an enviable capacity for making friends and keeping friends. He continued to visit many of the farmers and their families with whom he had dealt in his WCF days and he was a familiar figure walking the streets of Jesmond, serving for many years on the committee of the Jesmond Residents Association and latterly as deputy chairman of the Jesmond Senior Men’s Club. This wide circle of friends was a great solace to Ray in later years, as was the company of a ‘Heinz 57 varieties’ terrier called Lottie, whose devotion to her master in his final days was touching to witness and who happily has been found a new home in Cumbria, thanks to Ray’s great friend of longstanding, Nick Lindwall. One particular longstanding friendship initiated in wartime Holland in 1944, when Ray’s unit liberated a family hiding in a cellar, was renewed in the 1980s when one of that family Nellie van Deynen and her daughter, Anne-Mieke, came to stay with Ray. Thereafter they made annual visits to see him and he would in turn visit them in Holland.
A memorial to Ray Eden RGS and Newcastle Cricket Club are making arrangements to remember the much-missed Ray Eden, and also a very active member of the committee of the cricket club. We will be scattering his ashes at the Jesmond Ground, and unveiling suitable mementos to mark his lifetime of close association with the ground and school. This informal event will take place on Thursday 11 September at 12:30pm. Light refreshments will be available from 12 noon, and the Pavilion Bar will be open. Please bring umbrellas if the weather is inclement! You will be very welcome to attend and we would be grateful for help with passing this information to his friends and associates. If you have any queries, please get in touch with Olwyn on 0191 281 0746 or by email at secretary@newcastlecc.co.uk.
John Higson (44-49) born 1932, died 19 December 2013,
aged 81. Anne-Mieke sent a moving written tribute to be read at Ray’s funeral (her mother having died only the year before). But the last words of the eulogy delivered had been suggested by Ray himself shortly before he died. They were two lines from a poem by WB Yeats: “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, And say my glory was I had such friends.”
Alexander Peter Beaton Mitchell (29-37) born 1920, died 9 December, aged 93. Christopher David Murray (80-88) born 1971, died 15 December 2013, aged 42. James ‘Jim’ Reed (33-40) born 1922, died 13 January 2014, aged 91.
Charles Linaker and Bill Peacock (45-50) Keith Adam Tate (37-43) born 1926, died 27 August 2013,
aged 87.
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Obituaries Geoffrey Wheeler (45-48) Born 24 September 1930, died 30 December 2013, aged 83
Geoffrey Wheeler was born in Manchester in 1930. His father was in the catering and hotel trade, managing hotels in West Hartlepool, Hunstanton, Sheffield, Newcastle and Manchester. Geoffrey therefore had a very restless childhood, constantly having to move schools and make new friends. His first schooling was at a Roman Catholic convent in Hunstanton and then (after periods of evacuation to the Derbyshire countryside which he found “absolutely idyllic”) at King Edward VII Grammar School, a school with a severe regime where “there were always people queuing up to be caned”.
Geoffrey Wheeler (45-48), ONA Day, March 2007, standing in the school’s Main Hall, below the portrait of his fellow ON, the late Peter Taylor (38-49). Photograph by David Goldwater (51-62)
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being promoted to Captain. His stated interest in drama meant that he was posted to Catterick in Yorkshire, where he joined the Garrison Drama Group and found himself cast as the male lead in a production of Rebecca opposite the General’s daughter.
Whilst at Catterick he successfully auditioned for BBC drama at Newcastle Studios. He took part in many plays, Saturday Night Theatre, Curtain Up, and lots of plays for Children’s Hour produced by Trevor Hill. A highlight was playing one of the leads in Fame Is the Spur by Howard Spring opposite Sir Ian McKellen. As his father was posted to Newcastle, Alfred Bradley, the senior drama producer North region, later described Geoffrey was sent at the age of 15 to him as ‘the best light comedy actor in the Royal Grammar School, which the North’. After the plays in had a very different regime, as ‘the Manchester and Leeds, Geoffrey Headmaster was a Quaker and moved on to outside broadcasts, everything was done on trust’. In his covering the Lord Mayor’s Show 80s he described the school as and in 1957 a royal visit to France. “a great school, a fantastic school” and his time there as “marvellous”. At the same time as he was working He was Company Sergeant-Major of for the BBC, Geoffrey began a Law the school JTC (Army Cadet Corps). degree at Manchester University, He was very much formed by his time where he met and fell in love with his in Newcastle, and despite being born future wife, Sheila. He estimated that in Manchester always thought of himself as a Geordie, as his repertoire he must have made 200 or so of stories showed. It was plain that his programmes while at university, driving Sheila to distraction with his lack of time at RGS was one of the happiest periods of his life, and his children later application to his course work. became almost as familiar with the cast Nonetheless he still managed to leave Manchester with a degree in Law. of the RGS characters – ‘Slinker’ Owen, ‘Boiler’ Smith and Anatole Theakston, for example – as he was. After his Law course Geoffrey landed a BBC job in which he could both When his schooldays ended, and to produce and introduce programmes fill the time before National Service, for a department called ‘Variety Geoffrey became an apprentice at the (Outside Broadcasts)’, making such Dorchester Hotel in London. When he programmes as Workers’ Playtime was called up for National Service he with embryo stars such as Benny Hill was drafted into the Army where after and Ken Dodd. Later, Geoffrey was the usual recruit training he was promoted to Blackpool Night, a threecommissioned into the Royal Army hour show with the likes of Rob Wilton, Education Corps, almost immediately Bob Monkhouse and Morecambe
Michael Thomas Ryle (36-46) Born 30 July, 1927, died on 7 December 2013, aged 86
and Wise. He also worked with the NDO, the Northern Dance Orchestra. From Variety Geoffrey went on to general programmes, and began one which he worked on for 21 years – Songs of Praise. He was already working on Songs of Praise when he left the BBC to go freelance in 1963. He took the schools’ quiz Top of the Form from radio to television, and chaired the programme for 12 years. He presented Jackanory in 1976 and was a team captain on Call My Bluff between 1969 and 1971. In the mid70s he devised Winner Takes All for Yorkshire Television, fronted originally by Jimmy Tarbuck and then by himself when Tarbuck left. It is remarkable to read that the show was so successful in its heyday that it achieved audience figures of between 13 and 14 million and beat both The Good Life and the World Cup into second place in the ratings. In the 90s he returned to radio with shows such as On This Day, and documentaries such as The Palace of Laughter. He was a committed Christian all his life and combined his faith with his professional expertise in his work as a reader at St Peter’s Church, Hale, being licensed in October 1969. He was a reader for 40 years, later developing a Healing Ministry and setting up Healing Services at St Peter’s. The obituaries all comment in similar terms on his distinctive qualities; his gentlemanliness, his friendly manner, his sincerity and genuine interest in those he met and interviewed. The many tributes his family received after his death bear this out. Above all, he was a consummate professional and a master of his broadcasting craft. By Major Robin Wheeler
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ONA – Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Summer 2014
But Michael, even at an early age, had studied politics much more seriously than the rest of us. After leaving school he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery and completed two years National Service in Malaya. Michael took his place in Merton College, Oxford, where he read PPE and was awarded first-class honours in 1951. He joined the House of Commons Clerk’s Department, remaining in it until his retirement in 1989. I first met Michael in 1936 when we entered the Junior School of the RGS on the same day and continued there for the next nine years, forging a lasting friendship. Although our paths separated after 1945, we have never lost touch. He had several distinguished family connections: Gilbert Ryle, the philosopher; John Ryle, a well-known physician; and Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, were all related. The RGS was evacuated to Penrith in 1939. Michael’s mother took a house in Langwathby, five miles away, and lived there with Michael, his sister and his younger brother, Andrew (38-47). At school, Michael developed a keen interest in history, much influenced by Sammy Middlebrook, the head of the department. He participated in many school activities, was an enthusiastic and well-informed cricketer, acted in dramatic productions, and became Company Sergeant-Major in the Army Cadet Corps. He often spoke at Debating Society meetings, at which he proclaimed his support for the Liberal Party, unusual in post-war Britain when the Conservative and Labour Parties were far more popular.
His main achievement was to develop a series of select committees to oversee the workings of each Whitehall department. This was not initially popular with all MPs, but Michael’s discreet lobbying persuaded those who saw the significance which select committees brought about in increasing the efficiency of government departments. One of his close associates has said that, “Michael Ryle should be remembered as one of the great modernisers.” He held a series of posts of increasing importance reflecting the recognition of his work. He was a consultant to three eastern European parliaments and was on the council of the Hansard Society; following his move to Somerset he became vice-chairman of the Exmoor Society. Michael leaves a widow, Bridget, whom he married in 1952, a son and two daughters. By Dr Rodney Turner (36-46)
ONA Diary dates
Summer Invitations RGS Day and the Peter Taylor Lecture A detailed programme will be published on the school website www.rgs.newcastle.sch.uk nearer the date: but ONs wishing to drop RGS Day falls on Saturday 28 June. in for an hour or so might be well advised to arrive sometime before As usual, at the heart of this day will the Headmaster’s address and enjoy be four Prize-giving Ceremonies in some refreshments and meeting the Main Hall, encompassing all the year groups in the Senior School. people in the marquee (on the hallowed turf of the 1st XV pitch). In addition there will be talks, demonstrations, exhibitions and the During the day Year 8 students will Headmaster’s ‘State of the Nation perform Robert Bolt’s marvellous (or, at least, of the RGS!)’ address at 11:00am. Then at 11:30am, in the children’s play, The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew. There will also be Lecture Theatre, the Peter Taylor music in the marquee and in the Main Lecture will be given by Sarah Hall before prize-giving ceremonies. Stewart. The chief executive of the NewcastleGateshead Initiative Do come and see us if you can: RGS will speak on the UK Detroit? Challenging Misconceptions About Day is nowadays a very happy event in the school’s calendar and one of the North East. which we are intensely proud. ONs are warmly invited to join the school at two major summer events that mark the end of term.
RGS Cricket Festival This year the six Royal Grammar Schools that participate in the annual RGS Cricket Festival (Colchester, Guildford, High Wycombe, Lancaster, Newcastle and Worcester) meet in Newcastle to play their round robin of matches from Monday 30 June to &RIDAY July. Play will start at 1 : 0 am each day and go on until, well, the usual range of times at which cricket matches finish! There will always be two other venues in use each day. Inevitably, fuller details will be available on the school website nearer the time. Any ON wanting to come and watch a bit of cricket will be very welcome.