OLD MANWOODIAN ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

MAY 2003

School News   

Following on from last summer’s excellent examination results the school has recently been notified that it has again won a School Achievement Award. The award is worth £21,760 and will be distributed to all staff to celebrate and reward their efforts.

The school is now waiting to hear whether it has been awarded Language College Status. Notification should hopefully arrive in June and the additional resources will be made available from September 2003. The school is set to receive an additional £½ million over the next four years if it is successful.

Additional music accommodation is presently being built at the school and should be completed by the end of September 2003. It will double the present facilities on offer and will include a small Recording Studio and additional multi-media equipment for the teaching of music.

Association News

2003 Annual Dinner

This Year’s Annual Reunion Dinner will be held on Saturday 15^th November. Guest speaker (OM) has yet to be confirmed but please put this date in your diary. More details in the next newsletter.

Brian Kennett’s Celebration Lunch

Brian was a master at Manwoods for thirty-seven years from 1945 to 1982. On 24th February he reached his 80th birthday and a few OMs from his early teaching years decided to commemorate his achievement with a celebration lunch, entertaining Brian at the King’s Arms Hotel in Sandwich. Despite his longevity Brian was as sprightly as ever, with the same powerful delivery so reminiscent of his classroom performance. All the participants enjoyed the lunch enormously and congratulations go to Dai Rickard and Tony Rumm for their faultless organisation. The ex-pupils at the lunch were R.H.Aspa (50/55), D.D.Barnett (52/58), M.O.Barton (51/54), C.F.Bates (50/57), J.V.Cope (48/55), P.J.Cullens (48/55), C.C.Daniels (45/53), A.F.Gibb (46/53), B.Halling (51/59), M.E.Hart (47/54), J.W.Hougham (48/55), C.W.Langley (50/54), M.A.Navesey (50/54), J.M.Pemble (45/54), R.D.Perry (49/55), D.C.Rickard (46/53), A.J.Rumm (49/52), P.R.Silverthorne (50/56), N.R.S.Tait (51/53), R.B.Wells (51/56) & B.M.T.White (45/55). This is an edited version of an excellent report (with photographs) which may be found on  Brian Halling’s website www.halling.org.uk.

Matches v The School

Forthcoming Events

News of OMs

Richard Ablett (57/62) was mentioned in the East Kent Mercury recently for his fundraising efforts on behalf of the British Polio Fellowship. Although Richard himself suffered from this disease when he was seven years old he made a good recovery with no evidence in recent years of what is termed ‘Post Polio Syndrome’ afflicting many of the survivors. Andrew Bushell (75/82) has spent almost 20 years in HM Customs and Excise and is currently managing an anti-smuggling Team. He completed a Diploma in History and Theory of Art, part time at University of Kent and has one year to complete the degree course but is currently having a gap 2 years. He still sees Paul Brown (75/82) from time to time. As Stan Butcher (48/56) has just retired he is hoping to find the time to catch up with old acquaintances. His two brothers David (53/61) and William (51/57) also retired at the end of last year. Duncan Campbell (81/88) is now commissioning editor for the University of Wales Press and is based in Cardiff. He spoke recently about the Welsh war poet David Jones, at the Imperial War Museum in London during an exhibition about the poets of World War I.  Peter Comfort (35/38) had a surprise Christmas present from his wife in the shape of an Amstrad em@iler. Although christened the ‘devil’ machine he has found enormous benefits in its use. It was not long before he was emailed a reminder by his 85 year old ex-Adjutant from the 13/18^th Royal Hussars and uncle of the late Airey Neave, to submit his name quickly for the 60^th D Day trip to Normandy in June. He is however, having second thoughts about attending the 150^th anniversary of the Crimea and the Charge of the Light Brigade in October. Supported by the Department of Education and Skills, a comprehensive survey entitled “Challenging Age”, and giving information, advice and guidance for older age groups has just been produced to help people in their 40’s, 50’s and beyond to develop new skills and achieve employment openings. The research team was led by Geoff Ford (51/57) who is consultant for the York and North Yorkshire IAG Partnership. His brother, Richard Ford (58/65) is not surprisingly finding headmastership an ever-increasing strain in these days of flux and change. Randall Gadd (staff 67/89) is the new president of Worth Cricket Club, while John Jones (57/64) is both president and chairman of Sandwich Cricket Club. As a brief resumé on David Gore (51/59), after gaining a degree in Horticultural Sciences at Wye, University of London, he drove overland to Nairobi where he stayed for 8 years. When he was posted to Morocco by Pfizer Agricultural Division he left with an American wife, two children and three tons of furniture. He has lived in Switzerland for 25 years but recently spent 2 years in Uzbekistan and is at present successfully undertaking a 3 year development of Pakistan’s Duty Free trade as CEO of Weitnauer Pakistan. After leaving Bristol University, Elizabeth Grigg (85/92) spent six years working in the Thames Valley for Deloitte & Touche where she qualified as a chartered accountant. She moved back to Deal in June 2001 to take up the role of Financial Accountant for a company named Amphend, based in Whitstable. Brian Halling (51/59) made a rare visit to Sandwich recently and was “surprised to see that Manwood Road remains largely unpaved. The place had a busy and purposeful air and the pupils showed the same politeness and courtesy beaten into us as boys”. Royal Navy officer Neil Hunter (74/81) has been promoted to Commander. David Hyde (74/81) qualified as a Chartered and European Engineer (Ceng, EUR ING) in 1993. He is currently a Project Manager based in London for BSI,  responsible for developing international standards for the construction industry.  Martin Hyde (72/79) achieved a Doctorate in 2002 in Discourse Analysis (linguistics). He is currently Deputy Director of International office, Canterbury Christ Church University College. Martin is responsible for international student recruitment and developing contracts with overseas universities and running the Erasmus student exchange programme. Sarah Irving (84/92) has spent eight months travelling and working in Canada, New Zealand and Australia. After a brief return to the UK Sarah is now returning to New Zealand to take up a 12 month position as a veterinary surgeon in a mixed practice on the North Island. Clifford King (54/56) received an unexpected telephone call at Christmas from Kevin Nock (54/59) who he hadn’t seen for over 45 years. They originally met in the late 1940’s when they started at the same prep school and then went on to board at the Grange. Clifford says that the last time they met they were both in short trousers and now Kevin is a step-grandfather 5 times over. Paul Lovell (64/71) reports that there were a few early server problems on his Manwoods 1967 website but that Steve Fairhead (68/72) kindly agreed to host the site on his server. They now have a very good array of photographs, but more are always welcome. The guest book has had about 12,000 visits with over 220 entries. The web address is now http://manwoods.com. Richard Pilcher (76/83) is now married to Paula and has a son Harry aged 5 and daughter Holly Jade born in December 2002. Although Richard started work with Lloyds, Dover, he then moved to James Capel Ltd in London, which was taken over by HSBC and found himself redundant in the reorganisation. He now works for Goldman & Sacks. Due to a broken leg in 1997 Richard has given up playing rugby but plays quite a lot of squash instead. Marten Rogers (56/62) is still researching and writing bits and pieces of local history, and putting it on line as appropriate, including of course Sir Roger Manwood himself. Marten feels that he has almost exhausted Manwood’s life now although he recently came across some detail of him having had a house in Westmarsh for a while as well as his main dwelling on the outskirts of Canterbury. To all those who have boarded at HMH or the Grange in recent years, Tim Setchell is ‘resting’ from the post of Housemaster at at the Grange from the end of this term and moving to his house in Margate. As stated in last September’s newsletter, Artie Shaw (50/55) and his wife Margaret intended to tour Australia. Margaret has kept Chester Bates (50/57) updated on their progress and it was the intention of the Hon Sec to compose a précis of the emails for this year’s Manwoodian magazine. However, due to the volume of material (20+ pages) an edited version will be used over the next few newsletters (to fill up the back page) and should be of interest to all those who have wondered what the country has to offer to the intrepid retiree or gap year student. Peter Spenceley (55/61) enjoys living in India where he makes documentary films for television, acting as “cameraman, editor, director – anything that’s needed”. He has an Indian wife and has recently had a new house built, beautifully situated on the plains below the Western Ghats, not far from the historic city of Madurai. As of late March, Chris Stevenson (55/62) reported that Qatar was relatively quiet even if it is home to the Command Centre for the war in Iraq.  There was no evidence of increased security activity except around the airport. The major changes appeared to be the postponements of social gatherings e.g. the Doha Players, the Doha Singers G & S recital and the St Patrick’s Ball! Graham Tappenden (84/91) married Michaela Gutjahr from Horb a.N. Germany on March 8^th in the Kurpark in Bad Homburg. Their daughter Sarah was born some days later on March 14^th. Pictures of the wedding are on their homepage. Whilst on her gap year before going to drama school in York, Gemma Watts (95/02) regularly returns to the school to direct the ‘Sir Roger Manwood’s Players’ drama group consisting of teachers, ex pupils, governors and parents. At present they are rehearsing a Tom Stoppard play called ‘The Real Inspector Hound’ to be performed at the school in June. Roger Withers (53/58) now spends much of his time abroad acting as an international tourism consultant for such bodies as the UNDP, the World Bank, and many governments of developing countries. Contrary to the idea of moving around the best resorts in the world, most of the work is in far less comfortable areas. Roger has just come back from Suriname in S. America and is soon to go to Mozambique. His travels have also taken him to Indo-China, China, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Angola. For those who might have wondered why their last newsletter envelope was franked as having been posted in Staines, Middx., your Hon Sec was on secondment from Dover for a few months to Heathrow Airport. In the wake of the Classical Swine Fever and Foot & Mouth Disease crises, as many may have read in the newspapers (not very accurately reported) there was a pilot study at Heathrow to ascertain the effectiveness of using ‘sniffer’ dogs to detect imported food in passengers’ luggage. It was certainly an interesting time. On a regular basis we would be disposing large quantities of meat, fish and dairy products of all kinds and states of preparation or decay per week, working (mainly) from just one airport terminal. To those members travelling outside of Europe this summer, play safe and don’t bring back any food of animal origin, not even a butter pat or portion of cheese from the aircraft! There are also restrictions on plants and plant products eg fruit, so be warned and observe the publicity posters on display in the airport terminals.

Obituary

We record with regret the death of:

BRIAN RICHARD GALE (57/64) on 12^th March 2003 aged 56 years at Maidstone Hospital.

BRIAN MARTYN JONES (51/54) on 18^th October 2002 aged 65 years.

DEREK WALTER JOHN MOREY (44/50) on 17^th May 2003 aged 69 years. He represented the school at hockey 1948/49/50, rugger 1949 and cricket 1949/50 (Captain 1950). His sporting achievements also extended to representing Kent Schools at County level in hockey, and went on to play for Deal Nondescripts (cricket), Cliftonville HC (hockey), Walmer Lawn (tennis) and for 40 years was a member of Walmer & Kingsdown Golf Club. On leaving school Derek joined the RAF. for National Service. He trained and qualified as a pilot and was appointed to a Short Service Commission flying Meteor jets before transferring to RAF Transport Command. On leaving the RAF he became an insurance inspector with General Accident before founding his own insurance consultancy. He retired in 1998. Whilst Derek may have led a full sporting, professional and family life, he still found time to serve on the OMA committee for several years.

DONALD ALBERT GEORGE WALDOCK (29/33) on March 24^th 2003 aged 87 after suffering a stroke. A memorial service was held on March 28^th. He was a Prefect 1932/3 and represented the school at rugger 1933. After gaining a BSc at London University he joined the BBC engineering staff in 1936 until serving in the Signals during the Second World War. He retired from the Canadian Armed Forces as a Lieutenant General. 

Best wishes,

Colin Worman (Hon. Sec.)

Sir Roger Manwood’s School,                                                                        

SANDWICH,                                                                                                 

Kent CT13 9JX.                                                                                        

Tel. 01304 613286                                                                                               

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E-Mail: headsrms@rmplc.co.uk                                                                           

Australian Travels

Some of the terms or phrases given in this “diary” are as quoted by Margaret and unknown to the Hon Sec in the absence of an Australian dictionary. Similarly, place names mentioned may or may not be found in atlases. Distances where given are in kilometres.

The journey started from Sydney, New South Wales on 5^th August 2002 after several days of preparation to remove the contents of the house into storage. In Margaret’s words, “You can pack 80% of the house in 20% of the time – the final 20% of the house takes 80% of the time.”

First stop was Port Macquarie approx 400k north of Sydney, staying in a motel with a buffet dinner at the Bowling Club. Everything one could imagine – soups, salads, hot meats, chinese dishes, pastas, 6 types of dessert etc.etc. – all one could eat for $10.90 a head. After sleeping off the excesses of this menu they headed north to Tweed Heads, 75k south of Brisbane.

10.08.02. Carnarvon Gorge in the middle of nowhere, probably halfway between Injune, north of Roma and south of Emerald, Queensland. Margaret has now swapped wearing her jeans in favour of ‘peddle pushers’ and after the sleep deprivation caused by rumbling trucks in Dalby on the 9th, a couple of days relaxation is planned. The facilities at the resort are very good. Camp kitchens, camp fires and clean wash rooms.

26.08.02. Darwin. Whilst it is 12ºC in Sydney, Darwin is at 30ºC. It has been a long dirty, dusty, dry, fly ridden journey since Carnarvan Gorge. The next stop was in the middle of the sapphire fields at Willows Gemfields. Very dry and basic but worth the visit. Many people go there for 3 months or so just to dig for sapphires – and they find them. Everything from $120,000 a pop to a few dollars. A very unusual place to shower when one comes out clean but smelling worse, thanks to the bore water which is definitely not for drinking. Went through Jericho on the banks of the river Jordan and saw emus in the main street. Obviously not the same Jericho as in the bible. From Longreach was the excursion for dinosaur hunting, through the dirt tracks up to Mattburra where the Muttaburrasaurus was found. Then more dirt tracks to Hughenden. Everywhere was so dry. The creeks were empty, the dams were empty and the rivers were empty. There weren’t even any flies – all died out. Very, very dusty though with the car turning browny/red both inside and out. Stayed in Hughenden and visited the local hotel where there was a round pool table. Now….the angle of incidence is not equal to the angle of reflection on a round pool table. It brings a whole new concept to playing pool. On through Richmond where one can dig up fossils at 12 different sites. The dinosaur museum there is really quite good. After a stop at a nice camp site in Julia Creek, then came Mt. Isa, officially the most expensive alcohol in Australia. Many aborigines all waiting for the grog shops to open at noon. Mt Isa did not favourably impress. On to Tennant Creek, avoiding the three twisters on the way. Marvellous place to camp, very civilised. Then into Renner Springs just in time for opening time at the pub. But then, opening time is 7am – 11pm and 11pm to 7am, so no need to panic. The thermal pool at Mataranka Homestead was most welcoming. The pool was only 100m from the actual camping site and is fed from a natural bore with 100,000 litres per day flowing through at a constant 34º, surrounded by pandanus grass, palms and other tropical vegetation. The next intended camp was at Edith Falls and we drove 20k down a dirt track through a bushfire, with the idea that the track would have been closed if there was a problem. At the bottom was the campsite, the fire brigade and the fire – Pine Creek started to look a better option and resulted in a stay at the Lazy Lizard Resort. A very adequate campsite with actual live grass.

The following morning was the visit to the Kakadu National Park. Turning right down the first dirt track to the waterfall we found…the waterfall was a drip, 100 Amway cars, 200 Amway people (all in the same shirt), 100 blue and white eskies, and dust. This visit took very little time. We returned and went to the lookout but decided that this would be much improved if we chainsawed down 40 trees and so a pleasant ½ hour was spent deciding which ones should go. The visit to the National Park had now been 3 hours and the coast was looking really good, especially now with the proximity to water, the flies came out big time. We found a great bush camp, slightly off the road and where one could camp down by a billabong, in peace and quiet, and look at the stars. But, simple mathematics took control. If there are X number of billabongs in the dry season, and there are X times 3 number of crocs in the Kakadu then there’s a potential problem. This is when rational thought dictated that perhaps it would be better to drive another 6k to the resort at Cooinda!

To be continued as space provides