Issue No.6 Spring 1995
"THE
DORKINIAN”
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Contents
N W Bradshaw ‑ 90 years old this year ‑ Max Holland 1945-53
Diary ‑ Events, Book Token & Logo
Memories from 'All Day AGM' 1994 ‑ School Hall, Dining Room & Games ‑ Hazel Larcombe
Membership Secretary's Report ‑ Sheila Sandford
Membership Miscellany ‑ Where Are They Now?
David Sheppard ‑ 1947-53
Justine Crow ‑ 1975-80
John Adderley ‑ 1977-83
Gillian McTaggart ‑ nee Coppock 1975-82
Michael Coppock ‑ 1979-8?
Frances Malam ‑ 1980-84
Philip Rose ‑ 1982-88
Freda Bussey ‑ P.E. staff 1980s
Richard Eyles ‑ 1979-85
Maureeen Brown ‑ staff 1975-94
Janet Roodbol ‑ nee Birkin 1956-63
Doc Morgan's 80th Birthday ‑ Alan Gent reports
Mr Rowlatt remembered ‑ Chemistry 1946-57 ‑ by Barrie Hayes
Mr Howard remembered ‑ DCGS 1947-78 ‑ by his son Tony
Mr Howard remembered ‑ in Newdigate
Frank Hitchcock ‑ 1919-95 ‑ Ann Hitchcock
Anna Stevens ‑ nee Hammond 1925-94 ‑ Dick Stevens
Births reported ‑ by members
Old Dorkinian Football Club ‑ Peter Mills
Old Dorkinian Cricket Club ‑ Dave Wilcockson
Solution of Puzzle ‑ Rob Worsfold
Dear 'Dorkinians',
I am glad that some of you write to us with your news, whether
good or sad! We hope that you enjoy reading this newsletter, so before you put
it away in a cupboard why not sit down and drop us a line to tell us what you
have been doing and what life has to offer in your part of the world.
We are very pleased that Norman Bradshaw has accepted our
invitation to become an honorary life member of the Dorkinian Association, and
those of you who manage to get tickets for the "Strawberry Tea" on
11th June will have an opportunity to congratulate him also on having achieved
the milestone of 90 on the previous Sunday 4th. Enclosed, you will find a
tribute from Max Holland with which I am sure we all wish to be associated.
There are many of us who have had very good careers in the wider field of
Mathematics who feel a great debt of gratitude for the excellence of his
teaching, as well as for his friendship.
It is sad to record the deaths of Mr. Rowlatt,
Bob Howard, Frank Hitchcock and Anne Stevens (nee Hammond), but it is good to
be able to publish the appreciations enclosed. I was surprised to discover that
Mr. Rowlatt was about 90 when he died, as it cannot be more than about 10 years
ago when he was teaching 2 of my children and when I met him at a Parents'
Evening I was somewhat taken aback by this benign (yes!) gentleman, still very
alert.
The AGM last October was a great success, with over 90 people
turning up during the day, some at lunchtime, some for the Dinner (at which
Paul Mills gave a very witty, entertaining speech), and some all day.
On the Committee front we shall need help, as the chairman and
treasurer must stand down after 3 years in office, under the terms of the
constitution, and the membership secretary must have assistance if she is to
chase up all those members who fail to pay their subs!
This newsletter has been compiled mainly with items supplied
by Maureen Farley and Sheila Sandford, for which I thank them as well as the
other contributors who have made the job of compiling very interesting even
though it has caused me to miss at least one round of golf!
David Mountain May 1995.
N W Bradshaw
‑ Former Mathematics Master and Scout Leader 1931-68
90 years old
this year
Those former scholars fortunate enough to have known and been
taught by Norman Bradshaw will have their personal recollections of him. I
understand he started teaching at the school in 1931 and continued until he
retired in 1968, with just the one
break when he joined the RAF from 1939 to
1945 during the Second World War. My
own contact with him was restricted to the period 1945‑53. I can
clearly recall my first day at the school and all the masters such as Norman,
recently demobbed, marching briskly into the main hall for morning assembly in
best military style on the first day of the Autumn
term. Even in those early days he was the senior mathematics master so we
juniors had little contact with him and seen from my lowly vantage as a new
second former he appeared a figure to inspire fear and trembling. By the time I
became a sixth former, I had come to realise that although he was firm, he was
always fair and would go to great lengths to help those who persevered with
their studies.
As form master for the upper sixth, he encouraged us to spend
our lunch hours learning to play bridge as he considered it a necessary social
accomplishment. As a schoolmaster he managed the impossible and got some of us
unlikely mathematicians through A‑levels by a process of continual
practice exercises and repetition and I for one am most grateful to him for his
efforts.
He led the 19th Dorking school scout troop from its start in
1931 until his retirement 37 years later. In scouting activities he was always
known as Brutus and was assisted in running the troop by Pip Rawlins. In the
immediate post war years he took the troop to local camp sites in an old
Bedford coach which emitted a terrible whine from the straight cut spur gears
in the gearbox. The coach was generally pretty full with hordes of scouts plus
their kit (why is it that the youngest and smallest scouts always had the
largest kit bags?) and when climbing up hills it often sounded as if it was
doubtful about reaching the top.
I attended short camps at Friday Street and Ranmore and the
longer summer camps in the New Forest near Fordingbridge, Shropshire near
Church
At the New Forest camp the weather was good, but we were
camped on very damp soggy ground. If you dug a hole more than a foot or so deep
it filled with water. Those of us townies who thought water came out of taps
and should be clear and colourless were concerned at the peaty nature of the
dark liquid in our well, it looked more like cold tea, but Brutus assured us
that it was safe to use. At any rate we all survived, in those days we didn't
dare prove him wrong.
The year we camped in Shropshire had seen a very severe
preceding winter. As a result the hills were littered with the carcasses of
dead sheep and the air was thick with flies. We were camped on low ground
beside a river and whenever you went outside you walked in a cloud of flies and
practised what is now known as the Australian wave. There appeared to be a “Fly
line" at 1000 feet so it was a relief to go climbing.
For the camp in Snowdonia, we travelled by train to North
Wales passing by the old Menai railway bridge and
through that station with the unpronounceable name. We were transported from
the station to the campsite at Llanberis by the local
taxi service, which consisted of two very large and venerable Rolls‑Royce
cars of 1920s vintage, one of which looked as if it had seen earlier service as
a hearse. We were camped on a steep hill side, it rained every day and we soon learned the importance of
digging a drainage trench all along the uphill side of the tent. I seem to
recall that Brutus had pitched his tent on the only flat bit of ground for
miles around. Old age and treachery will always triumph over youth and
enthusiasm.
Let us wish him health and
happiness as he enters his 91st year.
Max Holland 1945‑53
£25 BOOK
TOKEN PRIZE ‑ thanks to Roderick McLeod's imaginative generosity,
twelve people (some of whom had introduced ten or more members) qualified for
the draw made at the AGM in October, and the lucky winner was John Gent ‑
who was subsequently persuaded to join the committee! Our thanks go to all the
unlucky ones.
DIARY
1 "STRAWBERRY TEA" ‑
Sunday 11th June 2.30 to 4.30. Tickets, which will be limited to 50 in total,
will be available at £2.50 on application to Sheila Sandford. We are delighted
that Rosa Baigent, Miss Barter and Mr.Bradshaw have
all accepted invitations to join us on this occasion.
2 OD Cricket Club Tournament ‑ Wednesday 26th July ‑
please see ODCC report and separate application form.
3 OD Football Club ‑ Dinner Dance - Saturday
7th October ‑ see ODFC report.
4 "ALL DAY AGM" ‑
Saturday 14th October ‑ the format will follow last year's, with a buffet
lunch, the AGM at 2pm, Dinner (provisionally set for 6.30pm), and various ideas
for passing the time between the end of the AGM and Dinner. Full details will
be given in the formal AGM papers to be issued in September.
LOGO
Some interesting ideas came to us in response to the
invitation in the Interim Newsletter, and we hope to have a proposal for
discussion at the AGM in October.
MEMORIES SPARKED BY THE ALL DAY
AGM 1994
OLD SCHOOL HALL:
My first
memory of the Grammar School, coming to sit the Entrance Exam in the Hall. I remember
an enquiry by a potential scholar, "Please, what does punctuate this
passage mean?" Frosty reply by black robed master, "If you need to ask
that, you shouldn't be here!" No, it wasn't me!
The
introduction of Miss Macaulay to the assembled school. Am I right
in thinking that, up to about that time, it had been a school tradition to
refer to lady members of the Staff as "Sir", a throwback to the days
of the separate schools! I seem to remember writing a note to myself to put in
my pencil case, reminding myself NOT to call Miss Macaulay "Sir".
Oh, that I had followed her
good advice given to me when in the Sixth Form.
The return
of the masters who had served in the Armed Forces. The coming
of a deeply tanned Dr. Moore and the fading of
his tan as his seagoing days were left behind.
Singing
Brahms Requiem, and listening to the sound of The Wasps by Vaughan Williams,
coming from the Music Room.
Do you too remember the coming of
the French Assistante, probably too soon after the
war had ended, for the serried rows of pupils brought back to her tragic
memories of concentration camp
Her coming showed us that
there was now a possibility of actually travelling to Europe.
French was no longer a dead
language. 'Holidays at Home' would soon become a memory.
THE VANISHED ENTRANCE TO THE LIBRARY:
The entrance has gone. So too has
the large noticeboard opposite the stairs on which
was pinned a poster, inviting us all to attend 'A JAM SESSION' to hear ‑‑,
a prominent member of the Sixth Form, blowing her own trumpet. Along came Dr.
Trefor Jones and the poster was ripped down.
THE OLD DINING ROOM:
School meals
in wartime, especially one which had coagulated, having been interrupted by a
spell down the shelter.
Competition between servers to see
who could balance most plates along their arms, with the occasional disastrous
results.
The Biology lesson in which we
observed the dissection of a dogfish preserved in formalin only to find fish on the menu for the school meal. Not much was eaten.
SPORTS AND GAMES:
Handstands
against the railway fence, the heat of summer, the bitter cold of winter. The
huge poplar tree
by the tennis court must have gone long ago, but only after its roots had
ruined some of the
courts.
I remember the hockey sessions ‑
who doesn't ‑ but my hockey stick had been swapped in exchange for
clothes coupons.
It seems fitting to recall the
Annual Cross Country Run. We were allowed to go to the end of the course to
watch the runners come in. Two of the less athletic lads at last appeared with
a message stretched between them, saying
THE
END!
HAZEL LARCOMBE ‑ 1943‑49
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY'S REPORT 30th
April 1995
Once again it is my pleasure to
thank many of you for the notes and phone calls, which are a source of
encouragement to those of us working behind the scenes!
It was wonderful to meet so many of
you at the 'All Day AGM' and take even more pride in the splendid people turned
out by Dorking County School and its successors through the ages!
I am glad to say there have been
very few queries or lost cheques this year!
Quite a
relief. After the "high" of the 'All Day AGM', I was happy
to report that membership had leapt from 147 in 1993, to 325 in 1994,
largely due to YOUR efforts in persuading your friends to join ‑ a big
THANK YOU to those who helped in this way.
I expect you can understand my
disappointment at the poor response to the invitation to renew subscriptions
which went out with the Autumn Newsletter. I faced the Committee at its meeting in early April
with the news that we had ONLY 180 paid
up members. Following distribution of the Interim Newsletter, the figure today
stands at 235, of which 20 are new members, and 215 are renewals. So ‑
unless about 100 people take VERY SWIFT ACTION AND SEND ME THEIR SUBS, this may
be the last Newsletter they receive! Hint, hint!
To those who sent their cheques in promptly
‑ or even before the due date of December lst 1994!
‑ I send my warm thanks. Thank you too to those who have responded to the
Interim Newsletter. Even warmer thanks go to those who decided to pay by
Banker's Order ‑ this year the system has worked with only one small problem (a late transmission of the form
to the Bank!) and the Treasurer and I are very grateful to the 64 of you who
now pay by this method ‑ it really does help us enormously. It also saves
you the bother of remembering to send that annual cheque. Another opportunity
for you to pay by this method will be offered when you are invited to renew
your subscription for 1996.
Hoping to meet more of you at the
1995 AGM,
Sheila Sandford, 73, Copthorne Road,
Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 7EE
Tel: 01372 ‑ 372936
MEMBERSHIP MISCELLANY
CHANGE OF
ADDRESS:
From the enclosed list of members, please note the new or amended addresses
shown for:
Neil ARMSTRONG Julie GOLLER
Barbara BOOTH Anne HORRELL
Rosemary DALE Maureen MEIER
John FINN Rob WORSFOLD
WHERE ARE THEY
NOW?
Unfortunately, only one response was received to these pleas for
information in the Autumn Newsletter ‑ and, at the end of the letter, the
writer realised he had been talking about the wrong person anyway. However ‑ thank you for trying.
This time we are hoping to make contact with:
Noelle Sasportas circa
1968‑70
Richard Romero 1965‑71
Glenn Claydon 1965‑71
Elizabeth Allnutt 1965‑72
Nigel (Jimmy) Greaves 1965‑72
Alan
Quilter 1965‑72 (whose cello was bigger than him!)
Any news to the Membership Secretary please.
THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO HAVE RESPONDED TO OUR REQUEST FOR
INFORMATION FOR A CAREERS DATABASE ‑ ANY MORE OFFERS? SOME OF YOU MUST
HAVE SOME VERY INTERESTING JOBS……….
AND A REQUEST! Any offers of prizes for the All Day AGM Raffle would be
greatly appreciated and warmly welcomed! Please contact Maureen Meier or the
Membership Secretary....
FORTHCOMING ATTRACTION!
Caroline Salmon (1965‑72) is our latest recruit! She
lives locally in Cobham and will be having an art exhibition at the Thorndike
Theatre, Leatherhead for three weeks from 29th May. She will be there
personally on Wednesdays and Saturdays and would love to have some support from
local Dorkinians!
Apologies to you Caroline for the typographical errors in your
address in the Membership list ‑ I plead too much pressure, having to
meet editorial deadlines, yet wanting to, include your name when your
application was received virtually on publication day!
A strange tale has
reached our ears ‑ it surely could not have involved a Dorkinian, could
it? Someone, out for a country run, drove some considerable (i.e. several
MILES) distance with the handbrake on ‑ and then wondered what the smoke
was, billowing out behind! if you recognise yourself,
please contact the Membership Secretary to claim the £5 prize.
NEWS OF DORKINIANS
David F Sheppard 1947‑53
"Living in South Africa as I have done for almost 26
years, makes it unrealistic for me to rejoin the ODA. (we
need to discuss this, David!) I do keep up with the ODFC, to the extent of
visiting them usually when I have been in the UK during the football season. I
have paid many business trips to Europe, UK and USA, and usually spend the last
weekend with my younger brother and my son (both of whom live in Wimbledon),
and pay a visit to Pixham Lane. I have been extremely busy with voluntary work
for schools, scouts and the church here, and am now trying to limit my
involvement a little ‑ governing body of a Government school, trustee of
a private ("public school"), governing body of a girls hostel at
another school, legal adviser to the Diocese, trustee of area seats on their
finances and property committee. I have had a lot of American business
travelling (about three times a year). I also have my elder daughter and grand‑daughter
in New Zealand and we are visiting her again in April. So life remains rather
hectic. In addition I am responsible for the Patent court work at the largest
firm of patent attorneys in South Africa. For relaxation I play golf, having
retired from cricket and football. Joan and I did the (ODA) magazine for a
number of years about 30 years ago!"
David wishes
us every success. Maureen Farley.
Justine Crow ‑ DCGS and The
Ashcombe School 1975‑80
"When I grew up I was going to be an actress, and I was
nearly a Reigate County girl! My folks felt that a female atmosphere might
smooth the grit in me, but Dorking Grammar wanted me and I wanted it so I
became an Ashcomber. Colourfully average
academically, I was thrilled to leave with seven good O levels, having decided
to forsake my As for Europe. There, I spent a punk twelve months in Holland and
several educative years in Brussels and Paris, thoroughly sold on the languages
and cultures that interlock like antlers. While my old school friends were at
universities, I learned about architecture, politics and how to pay a gas bill
in both French and Flemish. I travelled and saw the insides of nine other
countries. I returned to England to found a career and, after a brief lonely
sojourn in rainswept Southsea,
captured an excellent job with Pan, the publishers based in Chelsea. Now I was meeting literary heroes such as Angela
Carter and Roth and Carver, discovering opera, buying a house. I progressed to Hatchards, learned to drive, loved to ski and lost my best
friend to AIDS. Inevitably, I wrote a novel.
I changed tack. I took a job with an independent firm and
currently perform the marketing for eight bookshops as well as running one for
myself in the windy suburb of Crystal Palace. Just as my second novel was
underway, I had a baby! Luckily, the grit remains ‑ I earn and 'mum' and
manage also to work with the Booksellers Association. I give lectures for the
Book Trust, too. Once I wanted to act. Now I cannot imagine life without the
written word. And I am determined that my daughter will be just as proud to be
European as I am."
John Adderley
1977‑83
I went to Christ Church College, Canterbury to study Music
with Radio, Film and TV Studies. That was '84 to '87. While there I worked for Invicta Radio, the independent station for Kent, presenting
their weekly classical music programme amongst other things. I then did a post
graduate diploma in Radio Journalism at Falmouth School of Art and Design.
Since July 1988 I have worked for BBC Radio Devon, mostly in Exeter. I started
as a reporter in the newsroom and worked up to producer ‑ producing news
programmes, presenting news sequences and bulletins, and guiding reporters on
stories. I spent seven months working for BBC Radio Gloucestershire in
Gloucester in 199 1, producing and presenting a series of documentaries on
business and industry. In 1993 I spent six months presenting the breakfast news
sequence on BBC Dorset FM ‑ the Beeb's newest,
and probably last, local radio station, based in dorchester. I am now a senior producer at Radio Devon
having just relocated to Plymouth, where we now work alongside our colleagues
in the BBC regional tv
newsroom. Incidentally, I have also presented tv news bulletins, but my first love remains radio.
I'm not sure where my career will take me next ‑ maybe
to a more senior post in local radio ‑ a medium I greatly enjoy as you
are close to your listeners and can influence what goes on air very directly ‑
or I may look to regional tv (a well‑worn
route) or more likely to national radio in London. Well see."
Gillian Coppock ( now Mrs. McTaggart)
1975‑82
"After a year at Friends' Provident I decided to apply
for some college courses and managed to get onto a Business Studies Degree
course at Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University!). This course
involved three six month placements, and on my final placement I met Dougie my husband. We now have two boys Calum
and Evan. I stopped working when I had Calum but I'm
keeping myself busy by sitting on the Mother and Toddler Committee, and also
being clerk to the Board of the Primary School ..........
My brother is -
Michael Coppock 1979 ‑(?) is at
present living in Chiswick. From Ashcombe he went to Loughborough Grammar
School. He graduated in English from Leeds University and is now working in the
Treasury Department at the Royal Bank of Scotland." MF
Frances Malam 1980‑84.
Left Ashcombe at sixteen years of age to do a medical
secretarial course. She then went to work at Barts
Hospital, London, in the anaesthetic department where she stayed for five
years. She is now in her fourth year of a B.Ed.
degree Course at Bishop Otter, Chichester studying P.E. and English. Francis
has a sister Mary‑Ann, four
years her senior who also attended The Ashcombe.
Phillip Rose 1982‑88
Went to
Drama School. You may remember him from school productions MF
Freda Bussey‑ P.E. Staff 1980s - reported to be working near Bognor
Regis.
Richard Eyles 1979‑85
Richard is a pharmacist at the Birmingham City Hospital, and
in his spare time he sings with the Birmingham Symphony Choir and plays his
trombone in a big band. He has two cats and is not married!
Maureen Brown 1975‑94 Staff
Having
started at Mowbray School in 1975, Maureen worked in the school office for
19 years and
retired in 1994. MF
Janet Roodbol (nee Birkin
1956‑63).
Having travelled from Holland for the 'All day AGM’ last
October, Janet has asked to have her name added to the list of Overseas
Dorkinians, maintained by Frances
Carder.
STOP PRESS!
Dr. Morgan's 80th Birthday‑
just in time, Alan Gent has faxed from Australia to his brother John (our
very energetic new committee member), as follows: "'Doc' Morgan had his 80th birthday on April 8th, and my
wife Terry and I were lucky enough to be invited to the party. Doc's house is
in Yanchep, about one hour's drive north of Perth
within sight and easy walking distance of the Indian Ocean, and the beautiful
sandy beaches. Derek and Barbara have lived there ever since they emigrated
from England about 20 years ago.
Apart from their son Patrick, all of their children Cynthia, Helen, Keith,
Alison, and Fiona ‑ were at the party, as well as Dr. Richard Hancock ‑another
OD ‑ and his wife Annabel who had travelled from England specially for the occasion. (Patrick is skipper of a harbour
boat in Onslow, and was called away to carry out a
seismic survey around the Montebello Islands). There were about 50 people
present ranging in age from 21 months (grandchildren) to 91 years,
but fortunately there was TV to occupy the non‑wrinklies,
so the house didn't seem quite as crowded as might be expected. The highlight
of the afternoon, I believe, was the concert put on by Derek and Barbara,
playing on their two pianos music by Debussy and Handel (Concerto Grosso). 'Doc', who by the way still does not require
glasses (and hasn’t smoked for years) was playing
better than ever. Even the first decent rain we'd had since November didn't
dampen our enthusiastic appreciation. Ithink it's
fair to say 'a good time was had by all'!
MR.
ROWLATT
Head of Chemistry ‑ 1946‑57, died December 1994
It is with much sadness that I have just
learned of the death of my much revered and remembered Chemistry master and
mentor, Mr. Rowlatt. Despite the sad circumstances, it is my honour and pleasure
to have been asked to write a few absolutely non‑ biographical but, as it
turns out, very indulgent personal notes in his memory.
It is probably difficult for younger people
today to realise the formality of the student/master relationship of some forty
years ago, especially if he was a strict disciplinarian. So, even at this late
time, I cannot bring myself, nor yet dare or wish, to use his Christian name
with such unwarranted familiarity, lest I be frowned upon or am still in some
way within his reach.
Let it suffice to call him 'Rowlatt', in the
same way we reserve awe and reverence for Elgar or Beethoven. Respect and
affection in such a relationship are not so engendered or enduring in too
liberal an atmosphere.
My memory tells me that he was a moderately
tall, slim man, with a general expression of controlled disapproval which only
changed when something really worthwhile justified it. No one ‑ except
the unknowing or stupid ‑fooled around when he was in charge, and then
only once. He gave himself unstintingly to his work and recreation and expected
the same of everyone else. He commanded and received as much respect and, in
some cases, fear from all his pupils, regardless of whether he actually taught
them, as anyone in the school.
What a man! Why would anyone want to write
in his memory?
Well. Beneath this exterior he was
enthusiastic, encouraging, helpful and kind to those who obeyed the rules and
were willing to work hard enough to deserve his support. Because he was a
character, because he was sincere, because he was an excellent teacher, because
he wasn't gullible and, as a result of all these, when the help, encouragement
and kindness appeared, they were the golden gifts, not cheap or easy to obtain
but there to be worked for and to cherish and, like everything worthwhile,
lasting and not readily forgotten.
Well, that's the way it was with me and, as I
sit writing these notes with the sun streaming across my desk, my mind wanders
mistily back to:
The sun shining across the wooden chem lab benches
The never changing characteristic smell of
the reagents
The squeal of the chalk on the blackboard
The squeal of the defector as the chalk
unerringly hit him
The sun shining on the wooden benches
The notes being secretly passed to
girlfriends
The view of Box Hill always there
Being told that my discovery of manganitartrates was interesting but of little value
Heart leaping at the returned smile from the
hoped for girlfriend
The sun shining on the wooden benches
Lining up in silence
outside the lab. to be let in
The sun shining on the window sills
Being told in awe that the King was dead
The girls' hockey captain with a Rowlatt's stick bruised leg
The end of term report saying "he
possesses a huge amount of chemical knowledge most of it irrelevant!"
Rowlatt's justified rage ‑
all sheltering behind inadequate glass reagent jars
Good friends
Help with advice and encouragement outside
school hours
The dust in the sun's rays
The smoke filled lab as a retort cracked on
heating
Words of pleasure and satisfaction when we
did well
The exhortation to succeed as we left for
the last time
The sun shining on the
benches.
.... Sensuous
recollections, a wistful, poignant kaleidoscope, never really forgotten, just
below the surface waiting to be recalled as now.
Fairly soon after I left school, Mr. Rowlatt
moved on to a promotion elsewhere and so I never expected to see him again. His
influence on me had been enormous and I felt an obligation to make chemistry
the basis of my career ‑ and that is what has happened one way or
another. So if I have spare doodling time at work or leisure, I doodle ‑
but my doodling is always chemical and the molecules run from page to page ‑
it would not have been that way without him.
When the momentous 60th Reunion took place,
it was with much delight, surprise and anticipation that I learned Mr. Rowlatt
was to be present. Amongst the large crowd of people I looked long and hard,
fearful that I might miss him. When eventually I found him, it was not
surprising that it took so long, for his appearance was, to me, unchanged and
not much older, as, of course, I had expected.
So it was with some joyful expectation that I
introduced myself to him, told him of his influence on me, my love of chemistry
and the benefit it and he had been to me ‑ only to receive the response “I
don't remember you ‑ which school did you go to?" Of course I should
have expected it, being only one of thousands, but in due course he did profess
some recognition ‑ the
As he looked so young on that occasion, I wondered
if he had discovered the elixir of life: clearly not, but I imagine he was
quite close. If I discover it, I will dedicate it to him.
We usually look on the past via the fondest
memories: clearly this is the case with so many who had the good fortune to
attend Dorking County Grammar School.
Nevertheless, after such a long separation,
the news of the death of Mr. Rowlatt has had a more profound effect upon me
than I would have imagined. Bearing in mind that my close contact with him was
just four years long, I believe that my memories say much for him as a fine
teacher and a good man, and I for one am more than grateful for his life.
BARRIE HAYES 1947‑54
BOB HOWARD
A.W.Howard, known to all affectionately as
Bob, died on 17th June 1994, aged 76. We extend our thoughts and sympathies to
his wife and family, remembering his quiet diligence, his efficiency and his
sense of humour. We are glad to include tributes from his son Tony and from the
Newdigate History Society:
Tony writes:
"ARNOLD
WILLIAM HOWARD was known to everyone, except his Essex family, as Bob,
thanks to his wife Kath who renamed him! He was born in Sible
Hedingham and from the
village school went to Earls Colne Grammar School,
and on to gain a B.Sc. degree in Physics and Maths at Goldsmiths College in
London. The Second World War intervened and Bob served in the Army Education
Corps, editing a daily news‑sheet for the troops as they advanced into
Europe after D‑Day. After demob he was appointed to Dorking Grammar
School in 1947, and there he stayed until his retirement in 1978! His first
involvement with the village of Newdigate was when he and the family, Kath and
son Tony, moved here in 1954 and, being a keen and active sportsman, he became
opening batsman for Newdigate Cricket Club. After his retirement from work and
cricket he spent more time on village activities, serving for many years on the
committee of the Community Centre. Keen on DIY, his talent moved from working
with wood to working with wool, as shown on the two beautiful kneelers he made
for the Church 900th Anniversary. A keen golfer, he belonged to the Dorking
Club, spent more and more time in his garden, and in following the fortunes of
Essex County Cricket Club and Bolton Wanderers F. C. Latterly he had given much
support as a founder member of the very successful Newdigate Society, taking on
the office of Treasurer and photographer. Bob Howard will be missed!
An appreciation from the Newdigate
History Society:
We first got to know Bob when he became Treasurer of the
Newdigate Society in the mid 1980s. He had lived with his wife Kath at
Kingsland Cottage since the early 1950s and, following his retirement as a
teacher at the old Dorking Grammar School, he devoted much time and effort with
the Society. Bob was meticulous with all the duties he undertook on behalf of
the Society. He handled the accounts with much care and pride, regularly
producing fists of members who needed to be chased up for their subscriptions!
He took over the onerous responsibility of copying all our photographs on to
slides- over 1000 in total. Each slide was carefully numbered and recorded, and
those who attended his slide shows, complete
with voice overs, at our Open Days will know the
excellent quality of his work. He obtained a suitable camera second‑hand
and built it into a special frame to ensure perfect copies. In the study at the
top of his cottage he also stored all the Society's maps, and using these as a
primary source produced a number of thought‑provoking articles for the
magazine. We in the Newdigate Society will miss Bob immensely, and the village
will be the poorer without his presence."
FRANK
HITCHCOCK ("Twanky")
Group Captain R. F. Hitchcock, MBE, AFC
1st November 1919 ‑ 10th March 1995
Frank and his sister Grace (now Mrs. Webber)
attended school in the 1930s. After leaving in 1936, Frank joined the Royal Air
Force at the age of 16, as a Halton Apprentice. After
three years training, he passed out first out of seven hundred. With war
looming, Frank was very keen to learn to fly but 1940 saw him in France as an
engine fitter on No. 16 Squadron. However, after being chased out of France by
the Germans, he managed to get a Pilot's course in South Africa. He passed out
top of his flying course but was immediately retained as a Flying Instructor.
He got back to England where he learned to fly the Wellington bomber and later
the Lancaster.
After the war, he remained in the R.A.F. and
converted to jet aircraft in 1949, flying the Meteor and Vampire, after
completing a tour in the new country of Pakistan. In 1952 he was posted to
Singapore where he flew the Mosquito operationally in the Malayan Emergency. He
was awarded the Air Force Cross during that campaign.
Later on ‑ now no longer a secret! ‑
he flew on operations as a Wing Commander in a
specialised and secret role linked to the Cold War. Frank held posts with the
Inspector General of the R.A.F. ‑ in Turkey with CENTO (Central Treaty
Organisation ‑ now defunct was originally the Baghdad Pact): also as
Commander at R.A.F. Henlow, the War College at Greenwich and lastly with NATO
in Brussels.
He retired in 1974 to St. Mary Bourne in
Hampshire where he was very involved in village affairs, on a number of
committees ‑ and always busy! He married Ann Perry‑Keene in 1950
and they had two sons, Allan and Robert.
ANN HITCHCOCK
ANNE STEVENS (nee HAMMOND)
23rd April 1925 ‑ 24th November 1994
Anne came to the school in 1940 as an
evacuee. In 1982, she suffered the first of a series of strokes. She was
seriously afflicted but, with great determination, made a very good recovery.
She regained her power of speech and also her ability to write. In the fast
respect, she sought to achieve this by writing the story of her life, in a
simple exercise book.
Born near Paris of a French mother and
English father, she spent her early years in France, coming to this country in
1935, speaking very little English. She and her family lived in Whyteleafe,
just below Kenley Aerodrome.
Her story was terminated abruptly when she
suffered a second stroke in 1990. It ends with an account of the move to
Newdigate and her attendance at the school. “ ..I went to Dorking County
School. I went into VA where there were 16 boys and 4 girls...."
And one of those sixteen was me! I remember
vividly this striking blonde girl with two looped pigtails being brought to the
classroom in mid‑lesson and being shown to a seat near the front where I could
just see the back of her beck. I knew at once she was the one for me. Of course
I was much too shy and awkward to do anything about it immediately. How I eventually
contrived we should meet is another story and involves one of life's
extraordinary coincidences.
We married in 1947. Life was bliss.
RICHARD
(DICK) STEVENS 1939‑44
BIRTHS
Anne Harding
1975‑82
To Anne and Chris Horrell ‑
a daughter Nicola on 13th January 1995, a sister for 3 year old Andrew.
Anna Boutillier 1975‑82
To Anna and Richard Myerscough
‑ a son Albert George on 28th January 1995.
OLD DORKINIAN FOOTBALL CLUB Peter Mills,
Hon. Secretary.
The ODs have recently completed a fairly successful season in
the Old Boys' League, particularly the Senior side who
have carried off the Championship of Intermediate (South) in convincing style
with a playing record of P22 W 17 D2 L3, goals 62‑21, points 36. They
have therefore swiftly regained their senior status which they lost at the end
of last season when they were relegated from Senior Division 3. Notably, home
and away victories were achieved over Old Reigatians
3 ‑0; 2‑ 1, Old Wilsonians 3‑ 1; 2‑0,
Old Tiffinians 1‑0; 5‑0, Old Meadonians 5‑4; 4‑1, Cardinal Manning OB 4‑1;
3‑1, and Old Sedcopians 2‑1; 3‑1,
equalling a club record which has stood since the 1947‑48 season!
In the AFA Senior Cup a fine 5‑3 extra time away victory
over London Welsh, of the Southern Olympian League, gave them a home tie with
Norsemen, of the Southern Amateur League, which they drew 1 ‑ 1, the
visitors equalizing in the 96th (!) minute, but they lost the replay 4‑0.
A fine run in the Old Boys' Senior Cup with victories over
Leyton County OB 2‑1 away, Old Wykehamists of
the Arthurian League 6‑1 at Winchester, took them to the quarter finals
where they were beaten 2‑0 by Glyn OB at Ewell, leaders of the Premier
Division of the league.
Of the other OD sides, the Reserves and Fourth XI held their
own in their respective divisions, but the Fifth XI have unfortunately been
relegated following their promotion at the end of last season. The Sixth XI, in
only their second league season finished third in Division 9 (South).
The Club are looking forward to celebrating their 65th
Anniversary with a Dinner Dance to be held at the Surrey Hills Hotel at Beare
Green on Saturday 7th October next.
Further information can be obtained from the Club Secretary,
Peter Mills 01737 843022. Why not make up a party and
enjoy a significant
evening in the Club's history!
OLD DORKINIAN CRICKET
CLUB - Dave Wilcockson, Hon. Secretary
In its 46th season the Club has added two innovations to the
normal fixture list. In June it will tour the West Country with three games
against Exmouth, Paignton, and Sandford under the captaincy of Mike Haigh, and
in July there are plans for a single wicket competition at Meadowbank. Andrew Culton will again captain the Saturday side with the new
Sunday skipper being Andy Leopold.
The '250 Plus', Six‑a side tournament sponsored by
Denbies, the local wine estate, and successfully organised by David Culton on its first appearance last year (as mentioned in
the previous Newsletter) will be repeated this year on Wednesday 26th July. A
separate sheet enclosed with this Newsletter gives more detail, and you really
are welcome to look in for as long as you wish ‑ and, we hope, be
able to admire the continuing prowess of the organiser!
With a week‑end programme of games it will be a busy
season, and any OD either young or old who is considering playing cricket
should contact Club Secretary Dave Wilcockson on 01306 883428.
1995 FIXTURES
SATURDAYS
SUNDAYS
MAY
6th No Fixture H 2.00 MAY
7th Giltec A 2.00
13th
Old Caterhamian A 2.30 14th Newdigate A 2.30
20th BURGH HEATH A 2.30
21st
BOOKHAM H 2.30.
27th Ockham A ‑2.30.
28th Kingswood
H 2.30.
June 3rd
Old RUTLISHIANS H
2.30 June 4th Downsiders H
2.30
10th South
HATCH RACING H 2.30. 11th
17th
FOREST GREEN A 2.30 18th Whyteleafe A 2.30
24th KELVIN H 2. 30 25th HORSHAM
TRINITY A 2.30
July 1st No Fixtures (Apres Tour) July 2nd StoneleighPark H 2.30
8th Wimbledon United A 2..30 9th OCKLEY A 2 30
15th OLD
Caterhamians
A 2.00 16th
22nd Woodmansterne H
2.00 23rd North
HOLMWOOD A 2 30
29th Oakwood HILL A 2.30
30th LALEHAM
VILLAGE A 2,30
August 5th
Burgh Heath A 2.30 August
6th Woodmansterne A 2. 00
12th 13th Whyteleafe H 2.30
19th Newdigate H 2.30 20th FALCON A 2.30
26th Giltec H 2.00 27th Ockham H 2.00
Sept
2nd Wimbledon United H
2.00 Sept 3rd Bookham A 2.00
9th SOUTH HATCH RACING A 2.00 10th
Westcott A 1.30
16th Warnham A 2.00 17th
to be
Arranged
23rd to be
Arranged 24th to
be Arranged
30th South Nutfield A 1.30 October
1st No
Fixture