32
We live in strange and difficult times. We were obliged to cancel the Spring Lunch last March, and because of the current limit of six in a group, we have been unable to hold planned KOSA Committee meetings. The reunion planned in September for the class of 67 by Chris Greenfield, Neil Matthews et al was also necessarily postponed, and also the 63-70 get together by Steve Garnon and Tony Pattemore planned for November. Both under review. Everything has been put on hold and severe doubts remain about when we can get back to ‘normal’, whatever that will be! However, we are pleased to produce yet another KOSA NEWS, mainly because of the contributions you have made, for which we extend our thanks. In fact we have had to hold over a few contributions until next time. I hope you will understand the number of obituaries we have included this time. It is surely right that we remember them and in many cases review the contributions and experiences of their lives. I have tried to compensate by including some other life stories and increasing the number of pages to 32. A bonus! For those wired ones, access to the back copies of KOSA NEWS is on the WEB. However, I would appeal to everyone to maintain their entry on our database and receive the hard copy by ‘snail-mail’. It is only by maintaining the database can we put people together, and we would otherwise have no knowledge of your interest in matters KOSA.. Remember, the existence of KOSA NEWS on the WEB pages depends on donations made by those who receive the magazine. Our policy is to only reveal contact details to KOSA members, but if you don’t wish them to be given, please let us know. No forms are in this edition, so if you still wish to make a voluntary donation to the work of KOSA you may either make a bank transfer to Lloyds, 30-98-06, #00746093 or send a cheque to our Treasurer, Martin Harryman, 5 Brecon View, Bleadon Hill, Weston super Mare, BS24 9NF. However, we still never chase for money! Finally, stay safe and well! The Editor The Magazine of the Old Scholars of Kingswood Grammar School and its successors Editor: Mike Bendrey, 26 Overndale Road, Downend, Bristol, BS16 2RT Tel: 0117 956 5689 E-mail address: [email protected] http://kingsoakacademy.org.uk/our-academy/kingswood-old-scholars-association/

Knews 57- PPX2 · 2020. 11. 13. · Garnon and Tony Pattemore planned for November. Both under review. Everything has been put on hold and severe doubts remain about when we can get

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  • We live in strange and difficult times. We were obliged to cancelthe Spring Lunch last March, and because of the current limit ofsix in a group, we have been unable to hold planned KOSACommittee meetings. The reunion planned in September for theclass of 67 by Chris Greenfield, Neil Matthews et al was alsonecessarily postponed, and also the 63-70 get together by SteveGarnon and Tony Pattemore planned for November. Both underreview. Everything has been put on hold and severe doubts

    remain about when we can get back to ‘normal’, whatever that will be!

    However, we are pleased to produce yet another KOSA NEWS, mainly because ofthe contributions you have made, for which we extend our thanks. In fact we havehad to hold over a few contributions until next time. I hope you will understand thenumber of obituaries we have included this time. It is surely right that we rememberthem and in many cases review the contributions and experiences of their lives. Ihave tried to compensate by including some other life stories and increasing thenumber of pages to 32. A bonus!

    For those wired ones, access to the back copies of KOSA NEWS is on the WEB.However, I would appeal to everyone to maintain their entry on our database andreceive the hard copy by ‘snail-mail’. It is only by maintaining the database can weput people together, and we would otherwise have no knowledge of your interestin matters KOSA.. Remember, the existence of KOSA NEWS on the WEB pagesdepends on donations made by those who receive the magazine. Our policy is toonly reveal contact details to KOSA members, but if you don’t wish them to begiven, please let us know.

    No forms are in this edition, so if you still wish to make a voluntary donation to thework of KOSA you may either make a bank transfer to Lloyds, 30-98-06, #00746093or send a cheque to our Treasurer, Martin Harryman, 5 Brecon View, Bleadon Hill,Weston super Mare, BS24 9NF. However, we still never chase for money!Finally, stay safe and well!

    The Editor

    The Magazine of the Old Scholars of Kingswood GrammarSchool and its successors

    Editor: Mike Bendrey, 26 Overndale Road, Downend, Bristol, BS16 2RTTel: 0117 956 5689 E-mail address: [email protected]

    http://kingsoakacademy.org.uk/our-academy/kingswood-old-scholars-association/

  • GORDON JACKSON (55-62), a regularcontributor to KOSA NEWS, has re-sponded to the last edition:‘No fewer than three articles in the lastKOSA NEWS have caught my attention.May I make a few comments?

    ‘GEORGE WILLIAMS (46-53) (see JUL-IE JOHN’S (68-75) on page 20/21) wasa near-neighbour of mine. My family livedat 30 Abbots Road (in Hanham Abbots)while his family lived (I think) at 48.George’s main talents were in Arts andCrafts. I believe at one time he taughtWoodwork. There were three genera-tions living in George’s house – hisgrandfather, his father and George him-self. They were all named George Wil-liams!

    As for details of some of the cast ofPyramus & Thisbe, I can help you withtwo of them. JOHN HUGGETT (55-56)was one of several siblings (I don’t knowhow many) at KGS at the same time.One day we learned that all the familyhad disappeared! Where and why theymoved we were not told.

    MICHAEL PUZEY (55-62) stayed longerat the School. He started off in the fourthstream, but after one term he was pro-moted to the top stream where he flour-ished. I believe he was privatelyeducated before he came to KGS. Cer-tainly he seemed a little posher than therest of us. I don’t know what his parentsdid for a living, but I know that they hada smallholding and kept chickens. Hewent to Queen Mary College, which waspart of London University before itselfbecame a university in its own right, tostudy French and Spanish, the latterfrom scratch.

    Only on one occasion did he do anythingnaughty. This was in the sixth form when

    Mr NELSON (Senior Master and Headof History) and his assistant Mr ARM-STRONG were teaching us History. MrNelson dictated a sample answer to anA-level history question (I forget onwhat), and Michael presented this to MrArmstrong as Michael’s own work. Theessay came back littered with adversecomments! Michael confessed and MrArmstrong confiscated the essay! Soonafter the history teachers went their ownways. Mr Nelson became a headmasterand Mr Armstrong got a post in a teachertraining college.

    MATTHEW THOMAS (53-60) wonderedwhy Mr HILTON (Music) retired early. Ihave no inside knowledge, but I knowthat KGS became a comprehensiveschool, eventually with the name Kings-field School. Since grammar schools andcomprehensive schools require differentteaching skills perhaps the older gram-mar school teachers decided to call it aday. Certainly at about the same time‘Fishy’ SAMMONS, Head of Chemistry,also decided to go.

    I slightly knew Mr Hilton’s successor, MrsTOWERSEY, and in the 1970s attendeda Gilbert and Sullivan show organisedby her – Trial by Jury, performed by thestaff, and HMS Pinafore, performed bythe pupils. There was a link with KGS’sproduction of ‘Pinafore back in the 60s.MARGARET REECE (55-62) (now Wills)who was Cousin Hebe in the earlier pro-duction played double-bass in the smallorchestra in the later production.

    I also knew Mrs Towersey’s successor,JOHN LAMBERT, because I had pianolessons from him. Mr Hilton had alsogiven me piano lessons years before. MrLambert also invited me to a G & S show– Ruddigore this time – which he con-ducted. As it was the end of the run there

    2

  • were after-show speeches, when thescenery fell down! The girl playing MadMargaret was in hysterics, which wasmore or less in character!

    In KOSA NEWS45 (Autumn2014) we ran apiece about a ra-dio programmebroadcast byJANET ANDER-SON (62-68). It

    was about her time in Parliament as anMP when she was a Labour Minister andGovernment whip and served as Vice-Chamberlain to the Household. In thatrole she was responsible for nightly re-ports on Parliamentary business to theQueen. We reported her interesting andamusing talk on Radio 4.

    Since then, Janet has written a bookwhich is a collection of some of thosedaily reports to the Queen, appropriatelytitled Dear Queen, and a copy has been

    sent to your Editor by Janet. Janet writes:‘At the outset, I decided to make it chattyand humorous where I could. I hadsensed …the Queen herself had a prettygood sense of humour.’

    And humorous and chatty many of thereports are. A no-holds-barred approachon reporting on how some of her fellow-MPs are generally regarded is adopted,from Michael Howard’s ‘cheap jibes’ toGlenda Jackson’s failure to appear as aJunior Minister. The book can be recom-mended as a good, easy and interestingread, with the veil of secrecy opened alittle to reveal what goes on in Parliamentand the Palace.

    Although Janet was born in Newcastle,her father was a Labour Party organiserso she moved around, hence her moveto KGS. After School (by then Kingsfield),having obtained A-levels in English Liter-ature, French and German, she went tothe Polytechnic of Central London andthe University of Nantes.

    After spells as PA to Barbara Castle MP

    3

  • and in the European Parliament, Janetunsuccessfully fought the seat of Ros-sendale and Darwen. In 1992 she en-tered Parliament and became PPS toMargaret Becket, Labour’s Deputy Lead-er. In Tony Blair’s government she be-came junior whip and Vice Chamberlain,becoming Minister for Tourism, Film &Broadcasting after a year, in which roleshe brought in free TV licences for theover-75s.

    During her spell in Parliament she servedas chair of a number of committees, in-cluding the All Party Writers Group, theIntellectual Property Group and the Per-formers Alliance Group. She lost her seatin 2010.

    In the 1965 photo of Form 4C on theprevious page, Janet explains: ‘PENNYSTAPLETON is at the end of the frontrow, next to our teacher, MRS COCK-CROFT, who was the most brilliantmaths teacher. Immediately behind herin the second row is VALERIE ED-WARDS, and I am to the right of Valeriein the second row.’

    A welcomeemail fromJULIE BA-BER (63-70) (nowMaclean)from Aus-tralia gaveus a cluethat shewas also apublished

    author, but of poetry. Julie writes:‘I've been so saddened by the passingof my old school mate--ANNE MAN-NERS. She was my buddy in Home Eco-nomics where we giggled our way

    through flat Victoria sponges and burntsaucepans. She was in love with PETE(WOFFENDEN) from a very early age.My heart goes out to him. (I rememberhis red hair). Anne only ever wanted tobe married and have a family. Iremember her lovely fresh face and opensmile. It's also been shocking to hear ofthe passing of DINGER BELL and Clank-er - STEVE LANGHORNE. They weresuch characters.

    Steve had a wicked sense of humour. Iremember one Saturday traipsingaround Bristol going into Jones musicdept where he'd ask to listen to the latestsingle by The Jackdaws. Then he'd goto the clothing department and ask forthe new jacket with the Jackdaw label,then the book department where heasked for the latest issue of The Jack-daw. He had the whole place in an up-roar.

    ‘I have very fond memories of KGS. Firstyear was daunting with such an empha-sis on wearing the terrible hat in and outof school, those Latin translations of oldmyths involving extreme violence, andalgebra. But once friendships were ce-mented and a certain camaraderie es-tablished against the oppressors, then itwas a lot of fun.

    ‘We were badly behaved in some class-es but in others we were lambs. Whenwe sensed that a teacher cared aboutus and showed passion for their subjectwe were hooked. I loved Bio Bill andMISS PITTAWAY.

    ‘One of her comments on a poem of mineset me on a trajectory. I became an Eng-lish teacher with a lifelong love of litera-ture, poetry in particular. Bio Bill was sokind. In an exam he tried to help me bypointing to a blotch on a leaf that we were

    4

  • supposed to identify as fungus or someinfestation. I couldn't see it. He tried sohard. We were so lucky then to haveteachers who would take after-schoolclubs and societies. My picks were Dra-ma and Natural History. Nothing like thathappens now as far as I can see.

    ‘They were great days. I loved the cross-country over Siston Common and thesports days, but not so much the Satur-day morning detentions for being caughtsmoking in the girls' toilets. One of thebest things was the 6th form college witha common room that was separate fromthe main school where we were suddenlytreated like adults and then started be-having like adults. My then boyfriend andI were invited to take afternoon tea withtwo of our teachers. We were subjectedto classical music and conversation. Thatwouldn't happen now without a majordrama or enquiry.

    ‘The day I flew to Australia for the hell ofit, and because living and teaching inEngland in the seventies had becomedire with power cuts, three-day weeksand endless debates about whether weshould join the Common Market, the oldschool burnt down. I was devastated.

    ‘My father broke the news to me. He'dcompleted his matriculation at KGS sowas invested in the school. I still havehis Complete Works of Shakespeare. Helived in Tenniscourt Road. My mother at94 is now looking at Aged Care in Ten-niscourt Road. I suppose we all think thatour years were the best years.

    ‘I would love to attend the 63-70 reunionnext November and will be in touch withSteve or Tony. I come back twice a yearnow and if anyone would like to makecontact I'm at [email protected] on Facebook. I often wonder what

    happened to CAROL BROWN, LINDABURROUGHS and JAN GREEN.’

    Given Julie’s clue about writing poetry,we went on the WEB and found that shehas published many books of poetry andreceived many awards. An extract reads:Born in Bristol, UK, Julie Maclean nowlives on the Surf Coast, Australia.

    As joint winner of the Geoff Stevens Me-morial Poetry Prize her debut collectionWhen I Saw Jimi was published in 2013by Indigo Dreams. After the publicationof her Poetry Salzburg pamphlet Kiss ofthe Viking she co-authored To Have ToFollow (Indigo Dreams, 2016). In 2017she launched her new chapbook Lipsthat Did (Dancing Girl Press).

    Her poetry has been widely published inanthologies and in magazines such asAustralian Poetry Journal, The BondStreet Review, Cordite Poetry Review,Ink Sweat & Tears, Mslexia, Obsessedwith Pipework, Orbis, Overland, PoetrySalzburg Review, Shearsman, and WetInk. Julie blogs at http://juliemacleanwriter.com/

    We welcome back DR TONY LAW-RENCE (48-56). Tony is a member ofthe Edinburgh Poets and examples ofhis work may be found on the WEB attiplawpress.com. He is described thereas having studied Chemistry and taughtBiological Sciences at Glasgow Univer-sity from 1968 to 2001. (See below forhis experiences in Biology at KGS!).Tony writes:‘The photo on page 22 in No. 56 is fullof memories for me. The attached coupleof poems, one for PAMELA WENDON,heartfelt and written shortly after herdeath and the other for BRIAN BAISHwho was a close friend in my last twoyears at KGS, although we never kept in

    5

  • touch after that. I remember his chess,but not the horse riding or fencing. Likeme at that time he was small but unlikeme, tough in accord with the moniker‘Basher’ Baish. We had long talks in thecloakroom after school, probably of ametaphysical nature.

    ‘Pamela was in my science group as wasPAT HARDING. Unfortunately my aca-demic history meant that I (far left, backrow, no tie) was two years younger thanmost, but not all, of the others. DEREKMOODY (far right, front) for one, was myage, but with a more sophisticated ma-turity. All of this meant that Pamela wasregrettably, out of my reach!

    ‘The picture is not characteristic of MISSBAGSHAW, the form-mistress. I seeher still patrolling the corridor, knittingwith light green wool.

    Old School TieShe lived with all the love she requiredand enough to pass on.She knew she was mine,cherished, but not yet desired as thoughour time together had not then begun,but hoping one day to walkhand in hand in the park for an hour totalk of all the things we had done,but that will not now come to pass.

    For Brian BaishColourblindnessHe was colourblind and lived in a worldof grey and light,but he dreamed of the apple orchards ofItaly.I think he thought that if he went there,The light would show the mystery ofgreen.

    I never thought that if I went thereand walked in the olive groves,in days full heat,

    or evening light,I might see things that I had never seen.

    ‘I was in V Remove in 1953 and remem-ber this as a happy and successful year.We took our O-levels at the end of it andcontinued into the second year of our A-levels. I confounded expectations bygetting such a good mark in English Lan-guage that HEADMASTER RIDLEYmade a public announcement of it (orso I remember).

    ‘The next year my A-levels were a dis-aster. Pass in Chemistry, fail in Biology- I had forgotten to revise any Botany! -and a more distinguished Z-ruling forPhysics. ie a notional pass at 50+%, butan awarded fail for the English. Thishighlighted me in Senior Mistress MISSQUINTON’S sight!’

    The reports on Brook Road Bistroprompted BRIAN CUFF (46-51) to write:‘I read with great interest the experienc-es of former pupils attending the BrookRoad school canteen (KOSA NEWS No.56 Spring 2020) and these brought backone particular memory which I share withyou.

    ‘The period was late 1940s; post warGreat Britain was living with strict foodrationing but school dinners were sup-plementary to the weekly allowance.These dinners were set, I believe, by theMinistry of Food and whilst nutritiouswere not always appealing to the eye orpalate, in spite of the school cooks' hardwork with the food resources availableto them.

    ‘There was a discipline in the schoolcanteen whereby you were given a settable (with seven others), three upperschool pupils and four juniors known as

    6

  • ‘fags’ and a dinner prefect (a school pre-fect). Our dinner prefect was BRIANTERRY GIBSON (known as Terry 44-49)and one of the juniors was ‘Frisby’ DYKEnicknamed after a character in the RadioITMA series. He was a very clever pupilwho I am sure achieved a very success-ful career in life.

    ‘On the occasion to which I refer we hadbeen served the first course and werewaiting for the pudding. When the serv-ing dish arrived we all stared at it instunned silence as it was tapioca pud-ding, commonly referred to as ‘frog'sspawn’, with a thick skin on top. Thesilence was broken when ‘Frisby’ Dykemade a choking noise in his throat which,to be fair, expressed our feelings perfect-ly. Our table prefect, Terry Gibson imme-diately gave him one hundred lines:- ‘I must not express my disapproval tothe dinner prefect by making idioticclucking noises in my throat’. The rest ofus on the table were given permission toassist ‘Frisby’ Dyke in the writing ofthese lines.

    ‘After I left school to embark on a bankingcareer I joined Kingswood YMCA, wherewho should I meet and become veryfriendly with but Terry Gibson. Ourfriendship lasted until Terry died and inthat time I often reminded him of the‘tapioca incident’.

    ‘After Terry's National Service in the Roy-al Air Force, based at RAF Filton he wenton to study at Goldsmith College wherehe achieved not only a degree in musicbut represented his college in tennistournaments and became Singles cham-pion on two occasions.

    ‘It was whilst at Goldsmith College thatTerry met and married Sybil. After sev-eral teaching appointments in London

    they moved to Colchester where heeventually retired. He died in 2003 andSybil in 2013 - their son David survivesthem’.

    JOHN BRITTON (52-59) wallows inmemories of his contemporaries at KGS:‘Thank you again for the ongoing workthat you carry out in connection withKOSA NEWS. I must say that for me,that little brown envelope is instantly rec-ognised and I immediately hive off some-where quiet to devour the relevant bits.It’s remarkable how the memory banksare stirred to the depths. I’m not sure ifit’s particularly healthy, but enjoyable, allthe same. I feel a bit like old Scroogebeing taken back to his school days andwatching various well-loved scenariosbeing played out, with all sorts of char-acters suddenly coming to life.

    ‘I see ROGER BEESE hitting a sublimeoff-drive straight through a classroomwindow down beyond the gym and thenanother time watching in wonder as oneof his rugby conversions sailed majesti-cally high over the posts, dead centre.

    ‘Then, being transfixed as GEOFFMACKAY’s magical dribbling skills sentmere mortals into outer space on thetarmac above the gym, much like Johan-ne Cryff’s turn bamboozled that unfortu-nate World Cup full back some yearslater.

    ‘I see GEORGE BUTCHER (English)picking up our stray football as he strolledalong the terrace in front of HEADMAS-TER RIDLEY’s window and hoofing itacross the field to us. He never lost therespect that that one act conferred onhim, and I guess he never realised howmuch he’d gone up in our estimation.

    7

  • ‘I find myself hiding in ERIC HILTON’sweekly Music lesson and being called tothe front to, ‘sing’ a tonic sol-fa to clap-ping accompaniment. I hadn’t a cluewhat it was all about (I still haven’t !) asmy legs clapped in time with my hands.Somehow - it all came out, Ta effi tafat-effi, tafateffi ta, tafateffi ta, tafateffi tafat-effi tafateffi ta ....etc and at the end, Eric’s“Well done, 10/10 ! “ left me speechlessas I simply floated back to my seat.

    ‘KEITH DUGDALE’s amazing Black &White photography - whatever happenedto Keith?

    ‘All of a sudden, I’m in the gym withSportsmaster JIMMY WILDE and aclass of boys standing under the ropesthat were hanging from a bar across theceiling. After JOHN (Willy) WILMOTTwith the powerful arms pulled himself uptwo ropes, one hand holding one ropeand one the other, Jimmy challenged usall with ‘2/6d for anyone else who cando that’ I reached the top to tumultuouscheers from the boys, but I am still wait-ing for my half a crown!

    ‘And last, but not least, ANTHONY(Ernie) HOOPER, an amazing soccerplayer (and KGS cricketer) with dribblingskills that left many excellent defendersin his wake before unleashing that re-markable right foot to score in many atop corner from distance - unbelievable,especially when you remember that hewas playing for Bitton Juniors at the time.They only ever won two matches in anyseason and that against the bottom club.Anthony Hooper had to be pretty specialto get anywhere near the opposition pen-alty area in the first place. Where are younow Ernie ?

    ROGER COLE (51-56) (aka Alfie), a new

    member, writes:‘Some from myclass may re-member me asAlfie – it’s my mid-dle name. Mybrothers alwayscalled me this toannoy me, refer-ring to the gorilla(Alfred) at BristolZoo at that time.I can be seen on

    page 9 of KOSA NEWS number 53(Autumn 2018) standing next to STANBURRAGE on the right second rowdown. MR BUTCHER was our form mas-ter.

    ‘My twin brother David and I enteredKGS in September 1951 with a mixtureof excitement and nervousness notknowing what to expect. My first impres-sion was a lot of pupils scurrying alongthe corridor to their classrooms. I soonsettled down and through the five enjoy-able years and knowing what type of jobI wanted to do, I left to join the big wideworld.

    ‘My main interest was orientated towardsscientific subjects such as Chemistry,Physics and Mathematics, but I knew Ihad to study English, History, GeographyFrench etc – I wasn’t too keen on Latinthough – that was dropped in the secondyear!

    ‘The teachers whom I mostly rememberwere Mr Sammons (Fishy) (Chemistry)who seemed to talk about anything witha bit of Chemistry thrown in at the endof the lesson. However, sometimes wedid experiments which we all enjoyed. Inlater years, MR MOODY was our Frenchteacher who was strict and took no non-sense from us. I remember taking my

    8

  • oral French exam at Bristol Universityand some time afterwards he gave usour results. I passed but apparently Ispoke French with a Bristolian accent!

    For Physics, we had MR AUSTEN(Bunny). Physics was my favourite sub-ject as I was interested in electrical ap-paratus and he recognised myenthusiasm for the subject. He encour-aged me so much so that I knew thenwhat type of job I would like when I leftschool. I obtained a distinction for myO-level exam and won a prize at the endof term prize giving.

    ‘MR HILTON our music teacher for thefirst two years always played someheavy classical music that (probably)none of us pupils enjoyed or understood.It’s a wonder that now I love classicaland I have a whole eclectic of styles fromthe 1920s to the present.

    ‘School open day was again a favouriteof mine when parents were invited to seearound the school to see their children’swork. Mr Sammons asked me to operateand display a coal gas experiment wherecoal was heated in a steel container andthe gas produced was cooled and wasseen burning at the end of the pipe. Onanother occasion, I helped Mr Austen inthe Physics lab with a few magnetic andelectrical experiments.

    What I didn’t like was cross country. Iwas no good at long distance runningbut we had to do it in rain, and some-times snow. I was always glad to getback to school for a hot shower. Mindyou, if you didn’t get in quick enough youhad the dap across your backside byJIMMY WILDE. Sport wasn’t my thing,although I enjoyed Rugby and 100 yardsprint at sports day – I wasn’t the fastest– that went to COLIN TICKTUM – he

    went like a greyhound! Then of coursethere was Cricket. Again I was uselessat the game and usually ended up witha couple of others watching the match.

    I left school from my class (5MS) andjoined Bristol Aeroplane Co (BAC) as anelectrical apprentice. I worked in variouselectrical and electronic departmentsand soon the managers realised I had aaptitude for electronics and I ended upin the guided weapons department work-ing on the ground equipment for theBloodhound ground to air missile. Some-times that meant going to Aberporth inwest Wales for live firings.

    ‘Sadly the government contract endedand after a year or so of odd jobs, I leftBAC and joined GCHQ in Cheltenhamas a radio technician. That was the startof a fantastic career that lasted over 30years, working on various ‘state of theart’ equipment. It was a job I loved andI got paid for it! I spent about 8 yearsoverseas together with my wife (Chris)and 3 daughters and ended my careeras the senior technical manager of thesatellite ground station in Cheltenham.

    ‘After retirement Chris and I travelledextensively in California staying at ourmiddle daughter’s house in Torrancenear LA. From there we visited sites ofinterest such as the Grand Canyon,Monument Valley, San Francisco, etc.

    ‘In my spare time I converse with peopleall over the world as a Radio Amateur,my call sign is G3REB which I have hadsince 1962. I also teach radio theoryand electronics to those wishing to ob-tain an amateur radio licence.

    ‘Overall, I feel very fortunate having thecareer I dreamed of and I put my suc-cess down to the teaching and discipline

    9

  • of KGS, with a special mention to MrAusten (Bunny).

    We welcome BILL BARKER (53-60) toKOSA. He writes:‘My name is COLIN WILLIAM BARKER,known as Bill or to some of my class-mates as ‘Debussy. The reason for thisis that my parents decided, at the lastminute, to switch my first names aroundotherwise I would have been known asWC Barker!

    ‘I was Deputy Head Boy and head boyof Davis House (The Reds) for the year1959/60.

    ‘My first job for a year after leaving schoolwas as a management trainee withSchweppes in Brislington. While there Iwas doing a course in Production Engi-neering at Technical College.

    ‘During that year I played rugby for KGSOld Boys RFC and we did well. I decidedto join Cleve Rugby Club at the end ofthe season as I had some ambition; myGrandfather was a founder member andmy father also played for them.

    ‘Unfortunately I failed part of the Techcourse and was told I would have to dothe entire year again. That was enoughincentive for me to follow up the adviceof a neighbour who said ‘There are peo-ple who apply and are accepted for Uni-versity but then fail their A-levels.’ Iapplied in August and was accepted byLeeds University to do a degree in Me-chanical Engineering.

    ‘These changes collectively resulted ina separation from former comrades. Youtend to take relationships for granteduntil you move apart and unlike today

    with modern communications I found dif-ficulty in maintaining contact with people.I guess that’s inevitable to some extentbut sad nonetheless, looking back.

    ‘During a break in studies I had movedto London and was living in a house fullof Australians. One of them worked inAustralia House and suggested I applyto emigrate. It would cost £10 but I wouldhave to stay for two years or repay theairfare. They could help me by movingmy files about!

    ‘My father was stationed in Sydney, Aus-tralia for the final year of the war as anofficer of the Royal Naval Voluntary Re-serve, looking after rest and recuperationof British Naval personnel. I thereforehad contacts to call on when I arrived ifI chose to. I emigrated in December 1966.My Scottish girlfriend in London also gotassistance and moved out the followingMarch. We got married in the July.

    ‘By the time the two years were up wewere buying 25 Acres (10 Ha) of land40km from Sydney CBD and had a son.Shortly after we had a second son. Weremained on that property for 46 yearsworking on the philosophy of having totravel to work rather than move aroundseeking work. As the property was ruralwe knew we could always live off the landif the worse came to the worse. It didn’tand we had an enjoyable life at Kenthurst.I have dual nationality, UK and Austral-ian.

    ‘In 2002 while visiting Australian friendswho had bought a partly restored burntout shoe shop in Brittany, France, wefound a property ourselves down theroad in dire need of repair and bought it.We have been over to Europe for 3months of every year since then to dorestoration work and also to take trips

    10

  • from our base in Brittany. The propertywas cheap and we saw it as an enjoyableform of work, not as lucrative as beforebut with potential to make a capital gainif needed.

    ‘We were very disappointed, as weremost ex-pats we know, when the UKdecided to proceed with Brexit. We arevery well informed here in Australia andI understand the arguments for andagainst. We couldn’t find any logic whichwould stand up to scrutiny for such amove. It seemed such a retrograde stepbrought on by people basking in pastglories. Britain is highly respected over-seas but this has done a lot of damageto its reputation. It seems so introverted.Australia, for example, is nowhere nearas emotionally tied to Britain as it waswhen we arrived. Large numbers of peo-ple have come from all European andmany other countries. For all that it is avery cohesive populace based on toler-ance and a fair go.

    ‘I have to thank Kingswood GrammarSchool for providing the launch pad forall of this. The French did eventuallycome in useful!’

    A comment has been received from BOBPERKINS (52-57):‘We had the greatest respect for ourteachers in the 50s but recently this I fearis not so. Our parents reinforced thatrespect and we were punished at homeif we ignored it. Nowadays a teacher ischallenged by parents for telling a childoff if they do wrong.

    ‘It was the talk of the school whenGEORGE BUTCHER (English) hrew ablackboard rubber at a pupil and the pupilpromptly returned it in the same manner!We didn't live in fear of our teachers.

    ‘I recall meeting ‘WOODY’ WILLIAMS(Woodwork) on two occasions in later lifeand being given the same respect andbeing treated as an equal. COLIN(Frosty) WINTOUR (French) and I usedto see one another frequently when walk-ing our dogs in the fields in LongwellGreen and we became quite goodfriends.

    ‘The same with RALPH HYETT(Chemistry) who lived across the roadfrom me. He was suffering with cancerand I used to sit and talk to him a lot,about old times and my family and inter-ests. I gave him COLIN PILLINGER'sSpace is a Funny Place which helped tocheer him up!

    ‘His wife asked me to stop calling him‘Sir’. ‘Please call him Ralph as you arenow his friend and not at school anymore.’ she asked. I found it difficult atfirst but it enhanced our friendship quiteconsiderably. I was with him a few daysbefore he died.’

    The secret of the 6th form art studio hasben revealed by BERNARD CLARK. Wedon’t have the years of this reprobate!

    ‘The recollections of ROS DALZIEL (53-59), (KOSA NEWS Spring 2020), con-cerning the loose floorboards in the artroom made me wonder if the under floorsecret of the 6th form art studio wasabout to be revealed. However, it ap-pears this means of access to the'underworld' did not encourage furtherexploration. I assume this must havebeen due to it being a somewhat claus-trophobic experience.

    ‘On the other hand the 6th form studiocontained a much more commodious

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  • access in the form of a trap door largelyhidden (deliberately?) beneath a largedesk. This trap door opened into a large,very dark void leading on to a subterra-nean 'corridor' beneath the main corri-dor. This feature is clearly visible on theaerial photograph of the burnt out build-ing on the back page of KOSA NEWS,Autumn 2019.

    ‘This underground 'corridor' extendedfrom the steps outside the hall to thecrossing point just beyond the scienceroom (K?), again clearly visible in theaerial photograph, as can a similar'corridor' in the upper level of the mainbuilding. Presumably there was anothertrap door access to this in the schooloffice or the deputy head's room. Theselocations would have kept it out of reachof the creative minds who unearthed thesecret of the art studio and who carriedout disappearing acts similar to thosedescribed by Ros Dalziel, although usu-ally involving larger numbers of miscre-ants.

    ‘Many happy hours were spent in thestudio and on one memorable day extra-curricula activity involving domestic sci-ence, disturbed our slumbers. More ofthat another day.’

    The last KOSA NEWS prompted VER-NON STOKES (38-43) to write:‘I was very interested in two of the entriesin the Spring 2020 KOSA NEWS. MAR-GARET LOVELL (50-55) wrote of herPop and Nan, as those two are, in fact,my Uncle and Auntie. They spent muchof their working lives in Bangalore, Indiain the employ of WD & HO Wills, ciga-rette manufacturers. They had three chil-dren, two daughters and a son and oneof the daughters was Margaret’s mother

    and hence she is my cousin.

    ‘With regards to the boundary with KGS;the garden during the war housed an Airraid Wardens’ Post and Uncle was incharge. My own experience was that Iwas attached to this post as a boy in theARP Messenger Service, but I left in1944 to join the Royal Navy as a volun-teer.

    ‘The other entry was by JULIE BABER(63-70) and her mention of TenniscourtRoad. Of Mr and Mrs Baber’s sons, Cyrilwas my boyhood friend and Roy was acommissioned officer in the RAF duringthe war. Roy was a KGS scholar, slightlyolder than myself, and was either a pilotor a member of the flying crew.

    ‘Nowadays, I can look out of my kitchenwindow and can see their house as I’velived in the village of Made For Ever formost of my four-score-years and ten andsome more!’

    Sculptress MARGARET LOVELL (50-55) responds from New Zealand:‘What a delight to have your messageregarding Vernon Stokes.

    ‘I did indeed receive the magazine earlierin week. I drive to the post box as it is'up hill and down dale' to get to - no frontdoor deliveries here! So when I saw itwas the old school mag. I was parkedthere by the box until I had read severalarticles and skimmed through the restbefore driving back....just couldn't wait toread it!

    ‘Yes I recall Vernon was my late Mum’s1st cousin, and youngest - and we al-ways thought he was good looking! Mumused to refer to him as R. Vernon in true

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  • Bristolian fashion - as to us children ....everyone related had the initial "R" be-fore their name, which later was under-stood by us children as being "Bristol" or"Kingsud" for "our"! His Mum was mygrandfather's youngest sibling and Ithink, the only girl. Auntie Clarice ownedthe pub "Made Forever" and my Mumalways liked spending time there withVernon when she came back from India,I think they were good friends besidesbeing cousins. My mum also used toenjoy being in the pub for company andI think she helped at the bar sometimes.

    ‘Vernon mentions ARP days and I re-member them too, as his uncle, (my PopNewman) used his lock up garage at endof lane behind his allotment adjoiningKGS, as their 'office'. In fact I was recent-ly looking at a photograph of the ARP'boys' with their tin helmets and watersiphon things I suppose all sitting ‘to at-tention’!

    ‘I’m also adding a picture of me at open-ing of sculpture show with my big (6' tall)bronze sculpture 'Nova Head' which wason show until March 2020, in the Atriumof Auckland Botanical Gardens. (seephoto above).’

    We find KOSA folk very generous andwe have had several substantial dona-tions to KOSA recently, for which we aregrateful.

    In addition we had to cancel the SpringLunch in 2000 and several membershave refused a refund and asked us todonate their dining fees to KingswoodFood Bank, which we have done.

    My full name was KATHLEEN WOR-MALD (66-70) (now Shave), although Iwas called Kate at KGS. When I left, Imoved to Canada, following my brotherDAVID WORMALD (62-68), who went toLeeds University after KGS. Sadly, hepassed away a number of years ago andI find myself at an age where I am reflect-ing on my past and wondering what roadlife took old friends down.

    If you were friends of Kate and wish tocorrespond with her, KOSA will put youin touch - just email us.

    We’ve had a postcard from RUTH HAN-MER (59-66), who lives in London,thanking KOSA for the contacts she hasmade. She has renewed contact withthree old school friends who are still liv-ing in Bristol.

    On page 31 we have announced detailsof the new Facebook page formed byJULIE JOHNS (68-75).

    On the next page is an example of theinteresting stuff to be found there. It’s aphoto of ERIC HILTON conducting theSchool Orchestra in the Hall in 1965. The

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  • picture was posted by ELIZABETHWICKENS. Accompanying it are someentertaining comments; Elizabeth saysshe is ‘scraping the violin’ under Eric’sarm and LESLEY ALLSOPP wrote ‘Oh,Lord! How I hated Orchestra! When Iwent to university I didn’t let on that Icould play as I didn’t want to be coercedinto an orchestra again. No Music faculty.

    Some extracts from correspondencefrom MAUREEN GRIFFIN (51-58):‘I was certainly not disappointed by thelast KOSA NEWS - full of interestingstuff. For me, I was particularly interestedto learn about the COLIN PILLINGER(54-61) ‘Shed’ in Bristol. I await 2024 anda return to the Moon possibly. AlsoMARK ADAM's (51-56) listening to KOApupils reading and the new ‘passport’incentive backed by the award of vouch-ers made available by KOSA - what agreat idea! My own grandsons would

    benefit from such a scheme.

    ‘Interesting to read of references to theBRITTON brothers who lived near me offCleevewood Road, keen Baptists grow-ing up, as were the GIFFORDS andLYNES, who lived near Page Park . I wasforced to attend Downend Baptist Sun-day School when young to give my par-ents a few hours' respite on Sundaymornings.

    ‘ROBIN FIDKIN (55-62) is the youngbrother of Carole Fidkin who was a goodfriend for a while as she lived in BromleyHeath Road. We both caught the bus toKingswood, then she caught another toSt George GS. After which we were bothgiven places at Secretarial Training Col-lege in Filton, paid a small salary to goanywhere in Bristol Aeroplane Co or Ae-ro-Engines, eventually to gain on-the-jobexperience...excellent training. Thenday-release to Brunel for an HNDCourse, such that it wasn't too many

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  • years before I got posts as Secretary tothe Managing Director of Colodense,then the same role at Gloucester Engi-neering, those were the days!

    ‘It meant that with the advent of comput-ers proper I could supervise a team ofword processor operators producinghighly technical documents. So now youhave a picture of my career.

    ‘The 1928 photo of KGS staff made quitean impression, as apart from BUNNYAUSTEN (Physics) most of them wereteaching when both my parents werepupils and also taught us in the 50s.FISHY SAMMONS (Chemistry) was him-self a pupil earlier.

    ‘It was fascinating to see what the MISS-ES Quinton, WYCHERLEY and WAT-TERS looked like in their younger days.I then went on to think that I am in my80th year and that there has been aconnection for me with KGS a goodmany of those years one way & another,and a good many of the 100 years too!Both parents met at KGS and I was al-ways told that I was one of the first chil-dren of ex-pupils - ANTHONYSTRUGNELL was another. Two aunts,an uncle, and four cousins also went toKGS, as did my Canadian brother inmore recent times.

    ‘KGS benefitted from two excellent andlong-serving headmasters during thosehundred years, its ethos being a stand-out feature among any of the grammarschools for miles around, echoes ofwhich are what largely make up thememories of most ex-pupils still living,whether or not they are members of KO-SA..’

    MARGARET REECE (55-62) (now Wills)

    spotted this photo of The Very Rev ROB-ERT WILLIS (59-65), Dean of Canter-bury, whose cathedral cat became asensation on the social media of Face-book and Twitter, with over 100,000 hits.

    Leo the cat wandered into view as Robertwas giving his sermon and disappearedbeneath his robes. Apparently, Robert,unmoved, continued with his sermon andprayers. Leo is one of no less than fourcats kept by the Deanery!

    JULIE JOHNS (68-75) has informed usof TIM BEEDELL (68-75) who becamea farmer in France and because of Brexithas become a French citizen. His fatherwas a Governor of the School in the1970s.

    Apparently, he was a budding entrepre-neur at School, fattening up geese andturkeys to sell to people’s parents atChristmas, and keeping a some livestockat various places in the area.

    Tim and his wife Mary have an interest-ing story of the trials and tribulations theyincurred when they applied for Frenchcitizenship.

    More next time.

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  • KOSA CHAIRMAN:

    It is with particular regret that we reportthe death of STAN ‘BUSTER’ BURRAGE(51-56), Chairman of KOSA for the past15 years. He was a contemporary of yourEditor and we were together throughoutour careers in KGS. In 1956 Stan couldnot wait to leave KGS and started anapprenticeship with Thrissell Engineer-ing in Easton, Bristol. After his appren-ticeship he had a long career inengineering, initially with the family busi-ness, Kelston Engineering Ltd, and lat-terly as a mechanical engineer, projectmanager and in project quality assur-ance.

    In the 1970s, as an acknowledged expertin the field of pump design, he workedexclusively in the development of off-shore refuelling systems for the oil indus-try worldwide and specialist units for mil-itary purposes from drawing board tocommissioning.

    Although Stan was born in TenniscourtRoad, he had moved around in his earlydays to Easton, then Ashton, near theCity Ground, and then to Spring Hillwhere he passed the 11 plus at The ParkSchool to transfer to KGS. He had alsosat for QEH, but he says ‘he was put offby the uniform’. At KGS Stan was knownfor his bad behaviour, and in his autobi-ography he admits that he was only in-terested in subjects appropriate to anengineering career, which from an earlyage he had decided to pursue. He alsoadmits smoking Woodbines in the boilerhouse and having been caned frequentlyfor many other misdemeanours!

    Stan’s particular mates at KGS wereMARTIN HARRYMAN (now our treasur-er), JIMMY BRITTON and MARK AD-AMS and despite a request toHEADMASTER RIDLEY, was refused atransfer to Rodway Technical Schooland he left KGS with 4 O-levels. Theseincluded English Language and EnglishLiterature (separate subjects) and Eng-lish Master GEORGE BUTCHER was soimpressed that he went to Stan’s hometo congratulate him!

    Stan married RITA RAYNER (53-59) in1962 and they had three children, all whosurvive him. He was a keen bellringerand he rang most of the churches in thearea and he became church warden atHorsley Church, near Nailsworth. Hesteered it through a church renovation tocreate a church which became the centreof the local social scene. This resultedin an award by the Council for the Pres-ervation of Rural England (CPRE) andprovided a benchmark for the develop-ment of other churches. He was buriedthere in May 2020.

    Stan took over as Chairman of KOSAwhen PETER WALTERS (48-56) passed

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  • away and during his period as ChairmanKOSA went from strength to strength. Hepresided over committee meetings andchaired lunches twice a year. He hadsome ideas to celebrate next year as thecentenary of the founding of the Schoolat Kingswood, initially as KingswoodSecondary School in 1921. However, itwas not to be. He will be a hard act toreplace and our thoughts go out to Ritaand her family.

    Your editor regrets to report the death ofRICHARD STRANGE (54-59). Richardhad been ill for some time with COPDand he moved from his home in Notting-ham to be near one of his daughters inBournemouth. He suffered a stroke, wastransferred to hospital, but passed awayon 8th March 2020.

    I first got toknow Ri-chardwhen hecontactedme as apasttrainspot-ter of Man-gotsfieldStationwhen hewas set-

    ting up Mangotsfield Railway Circle(MRC). That was over 40 years agowhen Richard got together a like-mindedgroup and his energy and enthusiasmhas kept MRC going ever since, meetingregularly at the Bridge Inn, Shortwoodfor chats, films, slides and talks aboutthe days of steam railways.

    Richard loved everything to do with rail-ways in the days of steam, and he madethat interest into his life’s work. As wellas virtually starting MRC, he also set up

    and was a driving force in Steam Rail-ways Research Society (SRRS) whichensured that records, photographs andmemorabilia of the stream age were pre-served for posterity. He was in regularcontact with the National Railway Muse-um to both collect and supply informationof steam operations under British Rail.

    His knowledge grew to encyclopaedicproportions and he was retained as His-torical Advisor to both Steam World andSteam Railway magazines in which hechecked the veracity of information be-fore publication. His collection of railwaymemorabilia was extensive.

    Richard was a stickler for accuracy, bothof the written words in English and thefacts they conveyed. He was the scourgeof authors of railway books who got theirfacts wrong. That would elicit one ofRichard’s letters taking the author totask. His view was that the transmissionof false information only served to bereplicated and became written in stone,and he was out to ensure that this prac-tice was minimised.

    Richard worked for British Rail in com-puters, but some differences betweenRichard and the BR bureaucratic ma-chine caused him to submit his resigna-tion. This only served to give him the timeto pursue his interest and hobby of rail-ways, and this he did, with the supportof Sue his wife, for his remaining years.

    Richard will be missed, not only for hisdepth of knowledge, but also for his, of-ten irascible, personality. He never suf-fered fools gladly, but he was known asa great source of knowledge throughoutthe country through the correspondencehe entered into in his roles in MRC andSRRS. He was a good friend with a greatsense of humour and great energy and

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  • organisational ability, but often with fixedideas.

    Sue pre deceased him, but he leavestwo daughters, Sally and Katie.

    As a measure of how highly Richard wasregarded in the steam community, thephoto above shows a tribute by theKeighley & Worth Valley Railway on oneof their preserved locos. They had nevermet Richard but had benefited from hisextensive knowledge. Appropriately,43924 was a Barrow Road, Bristol loco.

    DAVID OTLET (46-53) has advisedKOSA of the death of his brother:‘DR BOB OTLET (42-48) passed awaypeacefully at home after a very brief ill-ness on the 30th January this year, twomonths short of his 90th birthday.

    ‘Bob will be greatly missed by his family,his wife Jill, three children, four grand-children and two great-grandchildrenplus myself and the rest of the Otlet fam-ily, his work colleagues and his many

    friends.

    ‘At KGS Bob excelled in Maths and Phys-ics and in 1950, after his National Serv-ice, accepted a position at the AtomicEnergy Research Establishment at Har-well where he stayed for the next 40years! He played a key part in pioneeringthe use of high-level isotopes in medicineand industry and Carbon 14 dating pur-poses such as King Arthur's Round Ta-ble hanging in Winchester Great Hall andother high profile archaeological studies.

    ‘In 1951 Bob married his girlfriend fromKGS, MARIAN OSBORNE, and set uphome first in Didcot and then Harwellvillage.

    ‘When Bob retired from Harwell in 1990,he continued to do similar work settingup his own business (RCD Lockinge)with his colleague Jill Walker and up tothe time of his death was still active inthis very successful venture.

    ‘I remember Bob as a modest man whonever made much of his accomplish-ments but was known internationally forhis work. Whatever Bob did he workedhard to become proficient at, whetherwork or hobbies. In 2003 he purchaseda house in a small village south of Calais.Here he became known as “The Brico-leur” (Do It Yourselfer) using his buildingand carpentry skills to continuously im-prove and expand the property.

    ‘Bob was a very generous, fun lovingperson who enjoyed involving many ofhis friends and family in his pursuits, fromplaying squash, sailing, skiing (which heonly took up age 60) and learning to fly,camping and caravanning (England &Europe) and boating on the Canal duMidi in later years.

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  • ‘I could add much more information andanecdotes of his interesting life from my-self and everyone who came in contactwith him, but suffice it to say we were allenriched by the experience and willgreatly miss his fun loving, generous andhard working example and spirit.

    ELIZABETH HILLING (53-60) (nowStrong) has informed KOSA of the saddeath of her brother, DR DAVID HILLING(47–54):

    ‘David arrived at KGS in the Summerterm of 1947 when our family moved toBristol from South Wales. He was imme-diately dubbed 'Taffy'. His years at KGSwere happy, informative ones and hemade some lifelong friends. In 53-54 hewas made Head of School. It seems asif he couldn't keep away from the placeas he returned for a brief spell as a teach-er and immediately afterwards spent hisSummer vacation working as assistantcaretaker. David was at the top of aladder one day when a boy he was teach-ing a few weeks before turned up at theschool and was amazed to see his erst-while teacher wielding a bucket and wetcloth. He remarked that he hadn't real-ised that teachers were made to cleanthe windows while on their break!

    ‘In 1954 David became a student at Ab-erystwyth University reading Geography.This was followed by a post-graduatedegree at Sheffield University and teach-er training at the Institute of Education inLondon. In 1961 he travelled to WestAfrica to take up a post as lecturer inGeography at the University of Ghanawhich was then part of London Universi-ty. It was in Ghana that he met his wife,Wendy, also a lecturer.

    ‘They returned to theUK in 1966 and set-tled in Berkhamsted,with their two sons.David joined the staffof the geography de-partment at BedfordCollege which wassoon to be amalga-mated with Royal Hol-loway College inEgham. He taughthere until hisretirement,gaining adoctorate and beingawarded an Honorary

    Fellowship. His special academic interestwas in cargo handling and port develop-ment and he travelled widely. He hadseveral academic books published.

    ‘David had many interests and he contin-ued to lead a very active life after heretired. He worked for several seasonsas a lecturer on the Saga cruise shipsand once on the QE2. These were timeshe thoroughly enjoyed as he was neverhappier than when on water. For someyears he was vice president of the InlandWaterways Association and representedit on several government groups con-cerned with the promotion of waterbornefreight. For this work he was awarded anMBE.

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  • ‘He never forgot his Welsh roots and heand Wendy belonged to the Berkhamst-ed Welsh Society. And, of course, healways cheered for Wales inWelsh/English rugby matches! He was akeen member of KOSA and looked for-ward to meeting up with old friends at thelunch get-togethers.

    ‘In his final years David suffered verypoor health but he was always cheerful,positive and interested in life. He diedpeacefully in his sleep at home and willbe sadly missed by all those who wereprivileged to know him. He is survived byWendy, his two sons, Hugh and Christo-pher and me, his sister Elizabeth.’

    The photo on the previous page is ofDavid receiving a prize from SIR BER-NARD LOVELL on Speech Day 1954.

    JOYCE MIZEN (49-54) (now Jay) writesto inform us of her sister’s passing:‘Thank you very much for your continuingwork with KOSA NEWS, an extremelyvaluable publication. I scan it thoroughlyas soon as it arrives as I find it so inter-esting to know of the fantastic achieve-ments of past pupils, especially those inmy years.

    ‘I am sure none of the staff who had thepleasure of teaching me would rememberthe girl who was always in trouble fortalking, and being sent to stand outsideMISS QUINTON’S door, which my sisterdelighted in telling my parents.

    ‘I remember with great joy my days atKGS and the sadness of standing at thegates with our children on the morningfollowing the devastating fire. Dreadfulsabotage of pupils’ records.

    ‘It is with great sadness that I now wishto inform you that my sister SHEILA MIZ-

    EN (48-53) (later Langdon) who passedaway on the 18th February 2020.

    ‘Sheila had not enjoyed good health formany years and this time the wonderfuldoctors in the BRI decided her body couldnot take any more, and she passedpeacefully the following morning. Unfor-tunately the funeral wasn't arranged untilthe 20th March by which time we werestarting lockdown and in view of my med-ical history my children laid the law downand we did not attend, very upsetting.

    ‘Unfortunately so many stricken familiesare now in an even worse situation. Wemust keep on 'smiling through' as VeraLynn sang and have faith we will moveinto happier times soon.

    We have been informed of the death ofJOHN TIPPETTS (53-59), whose funeraltook place at Haycombe, Bath on 6th May2020. Attendance at the service was lim-ited, but it was broadcast on the Web.

    John was alifetime mem-ber ofHanhamMethodistChurch, hav-ing been amember ofthe youth clubas a youngman and lateras a steward.He also re-

    ceived an award for his contribution tothe activities of Wesley’s New Room inBroadmead. John became a Chemistwith Bristol City Council after leavingKGS and in the tribute given by his neph-ew Chris he was described as a keensports fan, supporting both Bristol Roversand Gloucestershire County Cricket

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  • Club.

    John loved to travel, and he visited coun-tries from Scandinavia in the North toCroatia in the South, but perhaps hishighlight visit was to the Holy Land. Hewas a founder member and Past Presi-dent of Hanham Y’s Men’s Club. Johnnever married, but looked after his agedparents in later life. A real gentleman.

    The obituary of ANNE FENN (42-46)(later Hill) has been sent in by her daugh-ter, Catherine:‘Mum regularly received a copy of KOSAand was always interested in its news.She went to a reunion of her year’s formabout 10 years ago, so there may bequite a few people still around who re-member her.

    ‘She married my father, Rowland, in 1951and they spent most of their working livesin Wolverhampton. They had 2 children- me (Catherine) and my younger brother,Russ. When Dad took early retirement,they moved to Dulverton in Somerset.They had just celebrated their 50th wed-ding anniversary when Dad died.

    ‘Although Mum didn’t do paid work, shequalified as a massage therapist and re-flexologist in her 50s. (She was a verytalented one, too.) After retirement, bothshe and Dad took up art and producedsome lovely work. She was always veryartistic and creative, doing a lot of sewingprojects and crochet.

    ‘Mum was widowed for 18 years. Shewas still very active and in good healthright up until 5 years ago, when she hada series of strokes that made it difficult tolive without support on hand, so shemoved into a lovely care home nearTaunton where she was very well caredfor and spent her last years happily.

    ‘Mum got a chest infection very suddenlyand died on the 14th January 2020. Shewas born in 1930 and had celebrated her89th birthday last autumn.’

    DICK GERRISH’S obituary has beensent in by his son:‘RICHARD (DICK) GERRISH (37-41)was born with his twin Jim in October1925. When their father was given thenews, he was carried about on the shoul-ders of his mates as he had twins. Jimwas always the sporty one and full ofmischief, whereas Dick was quieter, aman of few words. But Dick always knewwhat he wanted. His main saying was"Get your priorities right".

    ‘In his early years Dick contracted poliowhich stunted some of his growth result-ing in two different sized feet. But thismay have been where he got his deter-mination from in later life. He went to thelocal Redfield Edge Primary School inOldland and, passing his 11+, went on toKGS, where daughter JANE and sonROBERT were to follow many years later.Richard did well at school and gained ascholarship from the Merchant Venturers’College gaining an HNC in MechanicalEngineering and joined his father workingat Frys’ at Somerdale.

    ‘He worked as a draughtsman beforeprogressing to management, looking af-ter a team of draughtsmen and ancillarystaff responsible for the mechanical de-sign and maintenance of the chocolatemaking machinery. At one point he hadover 40 people working for him.

    ‘It was as a draughtsman he met his wife-to-be Peg at Somerdale, who was work-ing in the general office. Deciding hewanted the house of his own choosing,he designed his own and had it built. Hedid not move very far as it was built next

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  • to his parents’ house. To fund his mort-gage he worked additional hours teach-ing Frys’ apprentices evening classes toboost his pay. Many Frys’ tradesmen lookback to when they were in Dick’s classes.

    ‘Dick was also a keen gardener, particu-larly of vegetables, fruit trees and roses,and not long after getting married, he triedthe new hobby of beekeeping, but had togive it up when badly stung. He was alsokeen on photography.

    ‘Dick was always a family man, alwayswanting to stay at home with his grand-children, spending hours playing boardgames and building houses with Lego.As they grew older he was proud withtheir achievements.

    ‘As Dick’s health deteriorated he spenthis last 18 months in St Monica’s in theChocolate Quarter. It was ironic afteryears of designing chocolate machinery,his room in the Chocolate Quarter wassituated on the same floor as the mould-ing plant where they made the Cadbury’scaramel bar. Rest In Peace, Dad.’

    ‘We have received the sad news fromNESTA JEFFERIS (45-50) (now Chal-croft) that her brother, COLIN JEFFERIS(41-48) died on 11th August 2020 inLeicester. He had been ill in a retirementhome with a bad heart condition.

    ‘Colin went to High Street School beforegoing to KGS, after which he went toCheltenham Teacher Training College,St Paul’s. From there he taught in Leices-ter, eventually becoming headmaster.Before going to college, however, hespent two years in Austria for the Intelli-gence Corps.

    ‘At KGS he enjoyed sport, always goingin for the javelin, long jump and throwing

    the discus, winning quite a few times.Although he came from a large family oftwo boys and six girls, Colin and his wifenever had any children.’ Nesta com-ments that he probably had enough whilstteaching, his wife Eunice also being ateacher!

    JOHN BROOK (53-58) has informed usin March 2020 of his twin brother RICH-ARD BROOK’S passing and at the sametime has partly solved a query:

    ‘My wife Anne and I escaped our Spanishhome a week ago and found the latestedition of the excellent KOSA NEWSamongst our two month pile of mail. Hav-ing read it yesterday I was surprised tosee the photo of the ‘Informal Shots’ ask-ing ‘but who were the boys?’

    ‘Well, I can tell you that on the left is eithermy brother Richard or myself, howeverbeing identical twins even I do not knowwhich one of us is depicted in the picture.As to the other two, I regret that I cannotremember and I am unable to check withRichard as he regretfully died in April lastyear from renal failure.

    Richard lived in Perth Australia since heemigrated as a £10 POM in his early 20’shaving qualified as a surveyor at theBuilding College in Cheltenham. Whenhe arrived in Perth it was little more thana small habitation on the West Coast witha population of emigrant adventurers. Hestarted a building company and was re-sponsible for a large part of the housingdevelopment in Perth. His whole careerwas centred around building and survey-ing houses,also lecturing young peopleabout standards of building. He was alsoresponsible for the introduction of Build-ing Standards and Building Contractswhich were largely ignored in WA at thattime. He enjoyed a very successful career

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  • and had a family of two boys, and adaughter from his first marriage to ayoung lady from Hanham, who still livesin Perth.

    ‘I went on from KGS into the hotel busi-ness from which I retired some 20 yearsago. I also suffered from renal problemshowever I received a transplant 11 yearsago and am fortunate enough to enjoy alife split between our home in sunnySpain near Alicante, and Cornwall. Lifehas been very good to my wife and mewith two children, one an electronic engi-neer and our daughter a family lawyer inLeeds.

    ‘Enough rambling I think, at least I waspartially able to answer the question and,who knows perhaps someone can identi-fy the other boys.’

    TONY RICHARDS (54-61) has writtensome pieces about himself and also hisfriend TERRY ANSTEY (55-62):‘Terry died 23 March this year in Vancou-ver. I met him at KGS where he was inthe year below me, probably through rug-by or at Kingswood YMCA, and we re-mained friends since then.

    ‘You soon realised he was a go ahead/getnoticed person but he did get on and dothings. He often had photos in the localpress, one of him getting his Duke ofEdinburgh Gold badge at BuckinghamPalace, making me get on with mine andI did the same. We had a friendly, healthykind of rivalry. He had a flair for Art andwas also a bit of a musician.

    I recall one Christmas on my bike holdingon to the saddle of his mother’s mopedand being pulled by him at 30 mph or sothrough the dark back-lanes of Bitton toget me home as I was late. We were inHMS Pinafore together and we realised

    that if we learned to dance we would meetmore girls. He was a globetrotter, I havea photo of him in the Solomon Islandswith a young naked local girl!

    ‘We went our ways but did see each otherregularly over the years and when I wasin a flat in South Kensington he wouldcome up each weekend from Ashfordwhere he was working. I often playedrugby on a Sunday for a team called‘ffagins’ (see later) so he came along andformed a lifelong friendship with its play-ers, going on Easter tours with them andbecoming a regular player. He met sev-eral of them in North America and kept intouch with many others .

    ‘He married Julia and they moved aroundbefore settling in Vancouver and we metthem there in 2012 when we were aboutto do an Alaskan cruise. His lungs werenot good but an operation improved theproblem. They came very regularly to seeher mother in Malvern, stayed with us afew times and at other times we met forlunches somewhere. We stayed withthem in an hotel last year and he seemeda lot better and were expecting to seethem this June.

    ‘When told he was in the Scouts’ displayat the Museum he quipped ‘I knew that Ihad reached old age, but I never thoughtthat I would become a museum exhibit!’

    ‘As for my journey after leaving KGS I firstwant to inform those who knew my sisterVALERIE RICHARDS (50-55) that shedied in 1986 age 47 from an aggressivecancer. She had 3 children.

    ‘I went on to Imperial College, London todo a physics degree which I somehowgot despite being captain of athletics inmy last year and often playing rugby threetimes a week. I played for a team called

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  • ‘ffagins’, named after the first captain BillSykes. We were the 14th team in theCollege list but had county tennis players,basketball players etc and I once wasdropped to the College 2nd team andnearly the 1st team!. The team was dueits 60th Anniversary this year but it hadto be cancelled although people werecoming from worldwide. I met CAROLLOVELL (54-61) (now Pitson) a couple oftimes; we were Heads of Eaton Housetogether at school. ROY ELLIS was alsothere at the same time.

    ‘I went on to Guys Hospital to do an MScin Radiation Biology and Radiation Phys-ics and my first job was at Berkeley Nu-clear Power Station in Health Physics. Idid play for KGS Old Boys RFC beforeDAVID TAYLOR (59-61) asked if I wouldlike to join Bath, but it was not my bestplaying year by far. Then GARTH WOM-AR, who played at Chipping Sodbury,suggested I went there and I enjoyedseveral years of playing.

    ‘I used to meet ROGER BYE (56-61) (stillin touch with him – lives in California andstill a very keen motorcyclist) and JIMKNIGHT each Tuesday and most Satur-days in the Red Lion at Mangotsfield.

    ‘I realised my job was not for me andmoved to Medical Physics in Hammer-smith Hospital, working with radioactivepharmaceuticals in function tests andimaging (Nuclear Medicine) when it wasa very progressive period of develop-ment. The work was all patient-orientatedand included attending operations and acouple of post mortems!

    ‘I married, had a son, who is now Profes-sor of Surgery in Perth, and moved on toCardiff to a new university hospital. I re-married a few years later and had anotherson who lives in Birmingham with 3 veryyoung children, and a daughter who is in

    Singapore, therefore all my children aredispersed worldwide. One holiday inFrance we stayed near Huelgoat withALAN NOTT and his wife and very newbaby, but have since lost touch. I playedrugby a bit - in one match DAVE WALL(54-59) was in the opposition - but injurystopped that, although I could playsquash and progressed to be a coach atthe National Sports Centre, a referee andHonorary Secretary of the Welsh Associ-ation.

    ‘At work I moved on, finally becomingHead of Medical Physics besides Radia-tion Adviser to the University of WalesCollege of Medicine and also sat on manyWelsh Office committees. Was on theWales Environmental Advisory group,NHS Emergency Planning Group besidemany society, HSE and EnvironmentAgency ones, including Honorary Secre-tary of the then called Hospital PhysicsAssociation (later called IPEM - becamea Fellow). Also received Honorary LifeMembership of the AURPO (UniversityGroup) and Honorary Fellowship of theSociety for Radiation Protection.

    ‘I Attended as one of the British delega-tion to an international meeting in Hiroshi-ma in 2000 and again in Madrid in 2004.I was contactable by the police for anycall outs under the national scheme, dida few locums in Saudi Arabia and taughtradiologists in Beirut. My final committeewas a government one to dispose of theUK’s legacy of radioactive sources as the'Users' representative for hospitals, uni-versities and schools, the only time I wasin the Cabinet Office for a meeting. Mycareer was varied and enjoyed it until thelatter years and retired in 2007.

    ‘I had an allotment for over 40 years butnow given up as my garden at home isplenty big enough and I play golf or go tothe gym if raining. Sport has had its toll,

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  • both knees being replaced. As we bothhad health scares in 2000 we decided tosee as much of the world as possiblewhich has been quite successful! Keeppromising to attend the KOSA Summerlunch but something always seems tocrop up, maybe one day?

    ‘When we watch various quiz shows andI come up with something from the depthsI realise what a good education I wasgiven and depth of knowledge and thankKGS for that. I did enjoy my time there.’

    GORDON LEE (39-44) died in April 2020,his funeral taking place on his 92nd birth-day. A lifelong resident of Staple Hill, afterKGS Gordon worked for the Civil Serviceand apparently retired at 60, some 32years ago. He almost certainly worked forthe MOD and at one stage his office wasin Oldbury Court. His job was in Adminbut he did occasionally go out on inspec-tions.

    Gordon spent much of his spare timecycling. He joined Severn Road Club in1948 and the Veteran-Cycle Club in 1955.He was one of the original members ofthe Vets and became the longest servingmember a few years ago.

    In his younger days Gordon competed inTime Trials and Road Racing. He ex-celled riding his Penny Farthing to suchan extent that no one remembers himlosing a PF race! Those were the dayswhen cycle racing events took place atFry’s and Douglas' Sports Grounds. Inlater life Gordon rode out with BristolThursday Old Time Cyclists (BTOTC) andfor many years was President of SevernRC. He retired from that post in 2018.Much loved and much missed.

    JACK SANDOVER (45-53) confirms: It was good to see the photo on page 18in the last edition of the (45-52) ladies’

    visit to Oxbridge.

    ‘I can confirm that it's JOAN REDFORDat the back. The pair of us spent many anintensive lesson doing advanced mathsalone with MR RIDLEY in his office. Nat-urally Mr Ridley was aghast when I saidthat I wanted to study engineering at uni-versity (greasy overalls?).All the best. Jack Sandover (45-53, Ithink)’

    Sadly. short-ly after thisletter toKOSANEWS, Jackdied. Hisfamily haveprovided hisobituary:‘We’re sorryto have to letyou knowthat our Dad,

    Jack Sandover, passed away in July thisyear at the age of 86. Following his timeat KGS, he studied Mechanical Engineer-ing at King’s College, London. After grad-uation, he registered as a conscientiousobjector and for two years worked atRavenswood School, Crowthorne (aschool for children with learning disabili-ties).

    ‘His first professional engineering job wasat Rudolf Scheffuss in Brunsbuttelkoog,Germany, but after breaking his neck ina road accident he returned to the UK towork for Reed Paper Group as manage-ment trainee and, later, as project engi-neer.

    ‘In 1966, Jack was appointed ResearchFellow at Loughborough University. Aftervarious appointments in the Departmentof Human Sciences and a PhD in 1983,he retired early from his position as Senior

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  • Lecturer and carried out private consul-tancy on human responses to noise andvibration. He retired fully in 1999. Forsome time Jack was active in the Ergo-nomics Society as Chair of the HonoursCommittee and was awarded an Honor-ary Fellowship.

    ‘From 1986, Dad’s hearing deterioratedrapidly until he became totally deaf with-out hearing aids.

    ‘In retirement he was active with theLoughborough Hard of Hearing Club, theLeslie Edwards Trust (of which he wasone of the three founding trustees) andHearing Link (as Chair of the Communi-cations Working Group).

    ‘Dad married our Mum, Shirley, in 1963and together they followed their love ofnature and, in particular, birdwatching.His other hobbies included wood turningand genealogy. He leaves his two chil-dren, Bridget and Mike, and two grand-children.’

    CLIFF HENNEVELD (47-53) passedaway on 9th September 2020 and hisfuneral service was partly officiated by hiswife Revd MAUREEN CURRY (47-53),who is a Reader with the Church in Wales.The following is an extract from the ad-dress by Revd Jonathan Copus:

    ‘After a short stay in Glangwili Hospital,Llanglydwen, Church stalwart Cliff died atthe age of 86.

    ‘Cliff was a prefect at KGS eventuallybecoming Head Prefect in 1952-53. Atschool he met Maureen, and soon theywere hanging around together, and evengoing cycling. One of their favourite routestook them through a shallow ford wherea stream ran across the road. Maureenand her Head Boy were in the habit ofpedaling through this ford without stop-

    ping: untilone dayCliff sud-denly de-cided topull upand in-vestigatethestreammoreclosely.And ofcourse,Maureen

    cannoned into him – and literally fell forhim. It just shows you should never trusta man who pulls up in a Ford – especiallya Prefect and on 3rd November 1956 thepair were married. The marriage pro-duced two talented daughters: Nicola,who’s a prizewinning author of short sto-ries; and Petra, who’s Office Manager fora private international school in the Neth-erlands.

    ‘Cliff was an engineer, and spent prettywell all his working life in Bristol with WDand HO Wills. When they sold off redun-dant plant to the Chinese, it was Cliff’s jobto go to China and make sure it was in-stalled properly.

    ‘Those of us who attended LlanglydwenChurch know what a pillar Cliff was of thatworshipping community – playing in thehymns, mending the electrics, being aconstant source of wise counsel, therewhenever he was needed on a materialor spiritual level. And of course, so sup-portive of Maureen in her role as a Reader.

    ‘Maureen and family would like to thankeveryone for the sympathy and kindnessextended to them in their bereavement,and for the practical help and support sofreely given by so many friends.’

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  • JOHN COLE’S (49-56) wife, Elizabeth,has informed KOSA that John died on24th July 2020. John had been in hospi-tal for 6 weeks following a fall and thendeveloped pneumonia twice, which ac-celerated his Parkinson’s. John died athome.

    John was awarded a GloucestershireCounty Major Scholarship in 1956 afterobtaining his A-levels in French, Historyand Geography and he went to Birming-ham University to read Geography.

    After university, John remained in theMidlands and joined Dunlop as a man-agement trainee and travelled to India tomanage some of their operations there.He and his wife had links later with NewZealand with some of his family movingthere.

    John was a keen rugby player, and thephoto (above) showing the 1st XV of1955-56 in which John is on the left ofteam captain DAVE CHURCH, who’sholding the ball.

    We have been informed of the death on18th April 2020 of JOHN CLOTWOR-THY (55-62) who was in a care home inTaunton.

    John was born Clifton, Bristol in June1944 but grew up in Kingswood. In 1955he started at KGS, as previously had hisfather and was subsequently followed byhis younger sister, Sarah, at the timewhen they were living in ChampionRoad, Kingswood.

    Whilst at KGS he joined the newly-formed Boy Scouts troop – he’s on thefar right in the second row of the 1958photo on the next page. One of John’shates was the cross country run! He andGEOFF COLE (55-60) would drop outafter a short distance, walk to near theend, using a short cut, and then rejointhe last of the runners. However, Johnenjoyed playing tennis with his friendBOB BANE (55-62) for which they al-ways booked public courts. In duecourse, John’s father decided to createtheir own tennis court at the rear of theirhouse. Unfortunately, they ran out of

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  • time (and enthusiasm!) before the endof the Summer and then, shortly after-wards, the family moved to LondonRoad, Warmley although John and Bobcontinued playing until John left for uni-versity in the Summer of 1962. He hadachieved ‘A’ level passes in History, Ge-ography and French and won a CountyMajor Scholarship to go to UniversityCollege, London to study Geography.

    Upon graduating he took up a career intown planning which resulted in living invarious places, during which time hemarried and started a family. John pro-gressed very quickly. In 1976 he re-turned as Deputy Chief Planning Officerfor the Kingswood UDC and in 1978,whilst in his mid-30s, he became theChief Planning Officer. Shortly after-wards (1982) he moved to Crewkerne,working for Yeovil DC and eventuallybecame a Director of South SomersetDC.

    In the late 1990s he took early retirementwhich enabled him to spend more time

    in his many interests, including being anactive member of St. Bartholomew’sChurch, Crewkerne where he held nu-merous voluntary posts during the 38years before he died. He was a keenfan of Yeovil Town FC and often went togames , eventually taking his son, Roger,and lately his grandson, Jude.

    His love of music of all kinds led to himjoining the Stanchester CommunityQuire (not choir), including performing atthe Sidmouth International Festival andelsewhere. John leaves a wife, two chil-dren and four grandchildren and will bemissed by everyone who had the fortuneto meet and know him – a true gentle-man..ROB SHERRINGTON has reported thepassing of DAVID GINGELL (64-71).after a short illness. He had a careerin engineering and public highways andenjoyed painting, golf and tennis. Hisfriends at KGS were Rob himself, DEANFRENCH, STEVE GAPPER, PHILSMART, RICH GREY and the late ALANBATEMAN.

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  • JOHN TUCKER (62-69) has informedKOSA of the death of MOLLIE WIL-LIAMS (35-40) (later Mitford):‘Mollie Williams was born on ANZACDay, April 25th 1924 in Longwell Green.She was educated at Samuel White’sSchool, moving to KGS on a scholarship.

    ‘Mollie left KGS in 1940 and Mollie be-came employed in Bristol as a bookkeep-er. Until the tramway system wasdestroyed by the bombing, Mollie usedthe tram to get back to Hanham andwalked to Longwell Green where sheacted as a runner for the air raid wardensat night.

    ‘In 1946 she made her first trip, of many,to Switzerland, with 5 friends, and spent2 weeks travelling around which cost, intotal £35, a bargain we would think oftoday!. Mollie then moved to Poole andworked in that area until she met andmarried Peter Mitford who later becamean electrical engineer in the West Mid-lands area for the National Grid. Mollieand Peter first lived in Portsmouth thenmoved to Solihull in 1959, where shestayed for 46 years.

    ‘Mollie joined many organisations, suchas the RNLI, for which she worked tire-lessly. Over the years, they travelled tomany European countries for their holi-days, enjoying many times in Switzer-land. Peter died in 1994 and Mollie thenextended her travelling to Oregon, to visither sister in law, and to New Zealand,Australia, and Russia - a well-travelledlady.

    She moved back to Box in 2005, wishingto be in her home area and there shejoined the Methodist Church and the Cor-sham Civic Society where she was anactive member. She died in January2020 and apart from one small personal

    bequest, has bequeathed all her estateto charities, the RNLI, her favourite char-ity, receiving over £700,000. Mollie wasa generous and kind person who will besadly missed by all her friends and sur-viving relations.

    ANDREW HAMBROUGH (??) has in-formed KOSA of the death of BRIANALLEZ (65-67):‘We regret that we have learned of thesad death of Brian Allez. His widow,Glyn, informs us that he passed away asa result of pancreatic cancer in earlyDecember last year. He had been diag-nosed in the August.

    Many of us will remember Brian joiningKGS sixth form, along with his Lambrettascooter, in 1965. He then went onto Car-diff University where he graduated inCivil Engineering, leading to a very suc-cessful career. Eventually he took earlyretirement and moved from the Bristolarea to mid Wales, near LlandrindodWells.

    He and his wife rebuilt the shell of an oldcottage on a mountainside into theirdream home. He spent much energycreating a wonderful four acre garden.His intention to open the garden as a partthe National Open Gardens Scheme,was fulfilled posthumously, raising alarge sum for cancer research. We willraise a glass to Brian when we nextmeet, RIP.

    PAMELA JEFFERIES (54-59) (later El-lis), – Pam to all who knew and loved her- passed away on 16th January 2020 atthe Marie Curie Hospice in Solihull aftera prolonged illness. MADELINE ELVINS(54-59) (later Wilmott), friend and in thesame class for 5 years at KGS, washonoured with her husband to join Pam’sfamily and friends in Coventry for her

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  • funeral, which was filled with happymemories to celebrate a life lived as theheart of a loving family.

    Pam grewup inChurchRoadKings-wood andmet herhusbandDavid Elliswhen, at16 she

    started her first job with the Inland Rev-enue straight after she left KGS. Theymarried when Pam was 20 and livedinitially in Fishponds. Following David’sinternal promotions they moved toWorcester and then Coventry.

    Once she became a mum Pam focussedon her 4 children, their pets, her gardenand charity work, not forgetting support-ing Dave and his business. She will besadly missed by her large, extended‘family’. RIP Pam.

    We have also received news of the pass-ing of DEREK HARVEY (49-56), CAR-OLE ROBINS (55-60) (later Mair),LYNDA JEFFERY (59-64) (later Dunn,YVONNE WESTERN (47-52) (later Dy-mond), ANN HARRIS (43-48) (laterBest).We send condolences to all those whohave lost a loved one.

    WENDY EDWARDS (51-57) (nowCookes) writes again from Australia:‘Many thanks for another great editionMike.

    ‘I was very interested to have news of

    GEORGE WILLIAMS (46-53?),includedin obituaries on pages 21 and 22 in thelast edition. I can add a little to that infor-mation.

    ‘My father and his father were goodfriends, and he did indeed live in Hanhamas I did. He was a few years older thanme but we both attended the West ofEngland College of Art at the same time.I don’t believe he was ever at BristolUniversity, but may be wrong about that.

    ‘He did woodwork, and was very good atit, and according to my father ended upbeing a woodwork teacher. On a person-al level we were good friends and al-though we were never a ‘couple’ we didgo out together a few times, mainly toBBQs.....sausages, cider and guitar mu-sic on the banks of the river near theChequers Pub in Hanham. He was alovely man very kind and the perfect gen-tleman, being a few years older lookedafter me and made sure I didn’t get intotrouble. I seem to recall he was a friendof Acker Bilk, but that might be a ‘mis’memory.

    ‘BROOK ROAD BISTRO: Was the KenWilliams the same Ken Williams who washead boy about 1957? I always had asoft spot for him and wondered what hadhappened to him. He also was a verynice bloke and was very kind tome......does the name Williams havesome effect on people? All the best froma much cooler and rain soaked Australia!’

    Apart from the brick buildings to the rightof the old girls’ entrance (‘old’ being theentrance, not the girls!),the Bistro is nowthe only part of the original KGS buildingswhich still exists. Perhaps a reunionlunch there could be fun? - Ed

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  • We find KOSA folk very generous andwe have had several substantial dona-tions to KOSA recently for which we aregrateful and express our thanks for thoseand all your contributions.

    In addition we had to cancel the SpringLunch in 2020 and several membershave refused a refund and asked us todonate their dining fees to KingswoodFood Bank, which we have, of course,done.

    If you’re changing address, please let usknow. We’ve lost contact with Owen Le-leu (63-70), Jenny Taylor (59-66) (nowCunningham), Janice Maynard (64-71)(now Thomas), David Herod (46-50), andSandra Jerwood (63-70) (now Barton).If you know the whereabouts of theselost members, please let us know.

    The following have joined or rejoinedKOSA since last time:Lindsey Davis (63-70) (now Jones), JaneGerrish (65-72) (now Bradley), RogerCole (51-56), Adrian Groves (55-60), TimBeedell (68-75) in France, Bill Barker(53-60) in NSW, Kathleen Wormald (66-70) (now Shave), Tony Lawrence (48-56) and Bob Petty (64-71).Welcome to all.

    JULIE JOHNS (68-75) has resurrecteda Facebook Group now named‘Kingswood School and KingswoodGrammar School’ on the WEB. It’s aprivate group but you just request accesswith evidence of your links to the Schoolsand approval is virtually automatic. The

    URL is:https://www.facebook.com/groups/2221007770/about/Why not add your name and post a mem-ory? It already has almost 500 members.

    The photo on the back page is of thecelebration of the School’s 50th anniver-sary in 1971, having opened as Kings-wood Secondary School in September1921. It’s a reminder that the 100th an-niversary of secondary education on thesite takes place next year.

    Amongst the celebrations by KingsfieldSchool in 1971 was the publication of aspecial edition of Kingswood Chroniclesnamed Kingswood Jubilee. It containednot only the usual reports of school ac-tivities, but also poems and art-work bythe pupils themselves.

    We hope that King’s Oak Academy, thecurrent school will wish to celebrate thisanniversary in some appropriate way.KOSA, too, wishes to do something tomark the event. We have already had afew suggestions, but if you have anypractical ideas on how we can celebrate,please let us know.

    We understand that Kingswood HeritageMuseum are planning an exhibition in2021 to celebrate the founding of theSchool, and they particularly wish tohighlight the men and women who havemade a memorable contribution to thelife of our nation.

    We hope to be giving the Museum a listof names and their achievements takenfrom the KOSA records for inclusionsoon, but if you have a view about some-one who should be included, please letus know.

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