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Another term ends at King’s: another term of busy achievement, much of which is recorded in this news-letter. As usual, thanks are due to that key triumvirate of pupils, staff and parents who make this community the hive of activity that it is. Our weekly newsletter, King’s News and the School Magazine represent an archive of a special community.

Of course this term has special significance and some poignancy as we prepare to convert to academy status. My thanks to the many parents who have become in-volved in that process and who demonstrate how much they care about the school and their children’s educa-tion. And rightly so: education really is that important in preparing young people for a rapidly changing world. I have always maintained that a good education is not a privilege but a right and the plan for the school should perhaps be seen in that light. We must therefore work very hard to preserve the great qualities of this school as it embarks on a new phase in its history.

One member of staff who will be retiring at Christmas deserves spe-cial mention. Pat Hadwin has spent 26 years at King’s as Physics teacher, Electronics teacher, junior rugby coach, participant on Duke of Ed-inburgh hikes and veteran on school camp, organiser of stage lighting and

sound systems, and as one colleague recently said to me, the type of person who is willing to help out at the drop of a hat. A proud Cornishman, despite living in the dia-metrically opposite corner of the country, Pat deserves our best wishes for an active and happy retirement.

We will be joined again after Christmas by Doug Wells, who will take on Pat’s Physics and Science timetable. Mr Wells has been with us teaching Biology whilst Hilary Hamilton has recovered from her appendectomy and related complications: it will thus be good to achieve continuity from another distinguished Scientist. We also welcome Mrs Hamilton back to the school. And in that context, many thanks to Shona Smith who has looked after Year 7 with such authority and aplomb in Mrs Hamilton’s absence.

Thanks are due, as ever, to the choir for their wonderful accompaniment to the end of term festivities. The carol services have been a wonderful backdrop to Advent.

With best wishes to you all for Christmas and the New Year.

Edward WessonHeadmaster

KING’S NEWSWinter Newsletter December 2012

Pat Hadwin

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Autumn Term:

• We were proud to celebrate Prize Giving at The Sage.

• J2 enjoyed many opportunities to learn outside the classroom. They explored Tynemouth Priory, visited Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade at the Watch House, took a History walk around Tynemouth Village and compared Newcastle City Centre with Tynemouth.

• We attended the Family Eucharist and the Blessing of the new stained window in the Chapel.

• J3 were captivated by a Quentin Blake Workshop at the Laing Gallery in Newcastle.

• J4 delved into the lives of Ancient Egyptians at the Great North Museum.

• Three authors joined us in school to engage and excite our pupils in their love of story-telling.

• The whole school generously collected food for our Harvest Thanks-giving at Holy Saviour’s Church – this was distributed around the district by Community Meals and The Base.

• Reception took a nature walk to see the ‘Autumn colours’ and hear the ‘Au-tumn sounds.’

• Juliet Bradbury was confirmed in the Chapel by Rt. Revd Martin Wharton, Bishop of Newcastle.

• ITV Studios talked to some of our J1 and J2 boys for an initial audition for a new series starting in February – watch this space for the new ‘Ant and Dec!’

• The entire Junior School had individual photographs taken by Mr Lewis – an ideal Christmas present for family and friends.

• J2 were on the move again after half term – they went ‘rock pooling’ at St Mary’s Lighthouse and watched the causeway appear and disappear with the changing tides.

• Our fundraising got off to a fantastic start with the launch of ‘Mon-ey for Masasi’ via a non-uniform day and discos.

• M&M Theatrical Productions entertained KS2 with a riotous version of ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’.

• KS1 pupils were thrilled at the Northern Stage with Miss Penman, our Speech and Drama teacher, playing a wonderful role in ‘The Little Detec-tive Agency’. She then enthralled the children with a backstage tour.

• KS2 pupils also travelled to the Northern Stage to enjoy ‘The Borrow-ers’ – yet another excellent production.

• Our Choir and Choristers entertained many people over the Advent and Christmas period singing at Lancaster House, an old people’s home in Cram-lington plus assisting in the Lighting of the Christmas Tree on Tynemouth Vil-lage Green with Priory Primary School and Tynemouth Rotary Club – well done Izzie Thorneycroft for helping to switch on the lights.

• Ms Jessup, our Café K Manager, and her superb team served up a delicious Christmas Lunch with all the trim-mings, crackers and fun.

• More music followed with the 30th Anniversary of CLIC Sargent Carol Concert at The City Hall.

• Santa came to visit our youngest children at the end of their Christmas Party.

• Term ended with our festive end-of -term Carol Service at Christ Church in North Shields.

The Junior School

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JUNIOR SPORTHockeyThe girls have played two hockey fixtures this term against Dame Allan’s and Church High. It is a tricky transition stage for the girls as King’s lost some strong players and gained girls new to the sport of hockey. Nevertheless, the girls have battled well and had one win and one defeat against Dame Allan’s. This fixture was a mix of both J6 and J5 pupils.

Whilst against Church High, all J6 were selected to play. It proved a little daunting for some of the play-ers to play in a competitive match. King’s was resoundly beaten by a far stronger and more experienced opposition. The girls learnt much and are now ready to develop their young hockey careers.

Cross CountryEight pupils from J6 were selected from the Cross Country trials to represent Junior School in the an-nual Pier Relay. The girls’ team comprising Eleanor Anderson, Cara Blight, Sophie Thompson and Kate Sawyer ran extremely well and gained a very high placing amongst

the Senior School teams. Whilst the boys’ team, Max Ramage, Chris On, Adam Ragg and Samraj Singh Rai also ran a gutsy race.

A team from J5 and J6 girls, represented King’s along with Year 7, in the Tyne and Wear Cross Country at Haydon Bridge. Out of 13 teams, King’s came in a very credible 5th. The girls from Junior School ran against opposition one or two years older than themselves. It proved to be an extremely muddy venue this year – true cross country! The most outstanding performance was from Lucy Giles (J5) who fin-ished 13th out of over a hundred athletes. The team: Eleanor Ander-son, Sophie Thompson, Laura King, Amy Seager, Kate Sawyer, Lucy Giles, Anica Martinovitch, Harriet Weir.

U10 RugbyThe team has developed into a very strong rugby side. The boys have been competitive in all fixtures this term with a stand out performance against Dame Allan’s, winning by 10 tries.

The strong bond, unity and will to improve within the team have been the key factors in our development this term. We look forward to fur-ther challenges against the likes of the Royal Grammar School next term.

Team: Tommy Atkinson, Bobby Johnson, Willie McNellis, Ben Rook, Nicholas Stamford-Bewlay, Elijah Stannard, Oliver Clare, Luke Dreyer, Elliot Jerrard, William Lane, Nate Leather, Daniel Little, Luke Mitcheson, Miles Percy, Alex Rye and Jake Scott.

U11 RugbyThe team has developed dramati-cally this term. Although results have not gone our way, there are clear signs of progression and com-mitment from the team. If the boys continue to improve in this fashion then we will achieve greater success.

Team: Timothy Lee, Christopher On, Leon Overs, Adam Ragg, Samuel Watson, Ellis Collings, Edward Gardener, Charlie Langley, Jack Murphy, Matthew Ponting, Max Ramage and Samraj Singh Rai.

PIER RELAY 2012

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As ever, this term has been another exciting yet busy time for the Music School. In the first full week back in September, the Prizegiving Cer-emony – featuring the Choir, the Orchestra and an excerpt from the musical – was a huge success. The Orchestra tackled a Mozart sym-phony and music by John Williams, contrasted by the Choir’s animated performance of the famous Rhythm of Life.

The Choir also had a residential trip to Alnham in October, where we re-hearsed for forthcoming events and also sang a Eucharist at the end of the weekend for the Alnham com-munity. We had a Music Soirée Dinner in partnership with KSPTA, where our musicians gave truly out-standing performances to a hall full of parents, friends and guests. They were serenaded whilst also enjoying a fantastic five-course meal prepared by Jackie Jessup and her team.

Of course, the Soirée featured the first outing for the Choir for Adults;

a choir comprising parents, staff and friends who meet a few times each half term to sing and have a great time. The Choir for Adults perfor-mance was such a great success that they are contributing an item to the Senior School Carol Service.

The first half term ended with the School House Music Competition. This was a fantastic event with ex-cellent solos, and also very energetic efforts from the House Choirs.

Shortly after this, the Choristers and younger musicians contributed to a lovely Confirmation Service in our School Chapel, led by Bishop Mar-tin, Bishop of Newcastle.

At the end of November, a delight-ful Clarinet Concert lifted our spirits on a cold Friday tea time. There were some very high standard performances. Also, our J3s have been learning orchestral string in-struments this term to much suc-cess.

Of course, the run up to Christ-mas has been incredibly busy with Carol services at Whitley Bay Wil-low Club, Newcastle City Hall and St George’s Cullercoats. The King’s School musicians have worked ex-ceptionally hard this term and their music has been enjoyed by people from all over the region and beyond. We are very proud of the efforts our pupils put in to all the musical events for the King’s School.

Looking forward to next term, we will have a variety of concerts, a number of services and the staging of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down the Wind.

Philip SandersonDirector of Music

MUSIC & DRAMA

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Titus AndronicusFor the first Senior School dramat-ic production since A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2009, the choice of play was always going to be crucial. Intended as a deliberate alternative to the cheer and festivities of the musical productions, Titus Androni-cus, Shakespeare’s bloodiest play, was always going to be a challenge to bring to life. After three brilliant performances, I am pleased to re-port that the cast has met this ob-jective admirably and have created a production which will leave a lasting impression on both Drama in the

school and in the minds of everyone who saw it.

The production would not have been possible if we, as a school, had

not been blessed with such a tal-ented collection of actors. A true ensemble performance, the entire cast and crew deserve a massive amount of credit for what they have

achieved. Richard Hall and Mi-chael Bentham were both excellent in the lead roles of Titus and Aaron respectively, while Lucy Bennett, Richard Brierley and Olivia Hen-derson provided the calm centre for

all the chaos and bloodshed to swirl around. Claudia Minchella was thoroughly evil as Tamora, Queen of Goths. Alex Shaw was suitably slimy and misguided as Saturninus; and Kate Marriott delivered a fearless performance as the tragic Lavinia. Special note is perhaps due to those who suffered most at the hands of the fake blood: Alex Crawford and Lara Salam, who both ended up in a blood-soaked pit, and Mitchell Winthorpe and James Dodds, who must have ques-tioned the logic of auditioning in the first place when hanging upside down with blood spray-ing from around their necks. Ably supported by Chris Love-ly, Jack Winterschladen, Holly

Bryden, Sally Earl, Harvey Jamison and Joe Patterson and a wonderful backstage and technical crew, every member of the cast was outstanding and I am extremely proud of them all.

Whilst the majority of the leads unfortunately leave the school in the summer, the future remains bright for Drama at King’s with Alex Shaw, James Dodds, Sally Earl, Joe Patterson and Harvey Jamison ready to step into the lead roles of the next production, to be announced next term.

Now that the dust has settled and the blood has (mostly) been cleaned away, there is just time to publicly show gratitude to the Art and De-sign & Technology departments for their tireless support in construct-ing the wonderful set, costumes and weaponry and to thank everyone who came along to support the cast and crew.

Steven OldhamDirector

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RugbyFor the Seniors, the highlight of the term has been the rugby tour to Holland with 42 students playing 5 fixtures and winning 3. They showed real determination and character in some tough games. They also showed great respect for the opposition. They were excellent company for the staff and we would not hesitate in taking them all away again.

The Junior teams have continued to make progress and work hard on their skills. Matches have been hampered by weather but there are still highlights for each team. The U15 beat Grindon Hall which will give them confidence and belief for the rest of their games. The U14 continue their winning ways with an excellent game versus Dame Allan’s. The U13 and U12 teams had an excellent afternoon of rugby versus St Martin’s Ampleforth. The matches were very physical close

affairs but a pleasure to be involved in with the U13 losing 12-10 and U12 winning 24-17. The matches were very well supported and all enjoyed the hospitality after the game.

House SportsHouse events have been thriving this term with competitions in bas-ketball, football, rugby and cross country. It has been great to see so many students performing for their house and gaining those points that make all the difference in the com-petitions.

HockeyWell done to all our hockey squads for all their hard work this term. The tour to Edinburgh in October was a great success and players have really benefited from an intense three days of hockey. The region-al rounds of the National Schools competition were a great experience for our U16 and U14 squads. The U14 squad battled so well against very good teams and really raised the level of their performance. The U16 team will be disappointed not to progress further as they are a very talented group of players but illness

and injury were against them on the day.

A reminder to all squad members to keep up their fitness over the holi-days in readiness for fixtures next term.

Cross CountryWell done to our runners in the TWSSA cross country who competed in very muddy condi-tions. Highlights from an excellent morning of racing were Emily Large finishing fourth in the Year 7 race and the Junior team finishing third overall.

The North Tyneside competition has been postponed due to weather conditions.

Indoor Athletics Well done to the Year 10 team who won the North Tyneside Indoor Athletics competition.

KING’S SPORT

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KING’S ARTALNHAM PAINTING

WEEKEND

Although initially distraught at the prospect that they would have no mobile phone signal for 48 hours, the three Lower Sixth and one Year 11 pupil quickly forgot about the outside world as they revelled in the gorgeous sunshine throughout the weekend and painted the local countryside with enthusiasm and considerable success. Treated to gigantic meals at the local pub in the evening and fuelled by bowls full of coco pops, both students and staff enjoyed a most pleasant trip. The exaltation of the bucolic beauty was matched only by the realisation that they had a signal again just south of Rothbury.

SPOTLIGHT

Joseph Barker throws the Spotlight on Olivia Peacock.

As the most prominent student in the School, the Head of School has great responsibility from delivering the infamous Prizegiving speech, to the more mundane day-to-day tasks of preparing prefect rotas, so their schedule must be hectic. But what is it really like?

The new responsibilities Olivia has undertaken certainly are daunting; especially for someone who through choir, orchestra and drama, already commits large proportions of her time to King’s. Inside school time, there’s the small task of organising prefect duties for the entire 34-mem-ber prefect body. This entails chair-ing prefect meetings, in which she delegates tour guides for prospec-tive new parents on the numerous tours that take place throughout the year. Outside school hours, she is equally busy with Parents’ Evenings, Open Days and Open Nights. In addition, she must fulfil her ‘ambas-sadorial role’ for the School by at-tending events such as the Alumni Dinner.

Despite all this additional respon-sibility, Olivia thoroughly enjoys the role. Giving something back to the School is “reward enough’’, she explains as she strives to “make a dif-ference’’ to the whole school com-munity. Olivia promotes a strong

School ethos, and this provided the foundation of her Prizegiving speech, which was, in her words, “slightly terrifying”. She was in-spired, however, by the “incredible individual achievements” of many King’s pupils of all ages. To continue these successes, Olivia has forward-ed ideas for Pupil Forums that will allow “every voice’’ in the School to be heard. I believe Olivia, in the Head of School role, will leave the lasting legacy she desires: that every pupil will know the opportunities the School provides and will in turn take these opportunities to gain a full, broad education.

Olivia PeacockHead of School

Remembrance Day 2012

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NEWS IN BRIEFDUKE OF EDINBURGH

Saturday & Sunday, 8 - 9 September

At the beginning of the new school year, 26 students completed the final section of their Bronze awards in Northumberland. The four groups set off on their planned routes heading towards Castle Hill near the school centre at Alnham, completing their routes well ahead of schedule.

Saturday & Sunday, 29 - 30 September

At the end of September, 53 pupils embarked on Gold and Silver Duke of Edinburgh practice hikes, using our field study centre at Alnham as a base.

All our students who successfully completed the Duke of Edinburgh Award were presented with their certifi-cate on Tuesday 27 November in Café K.

EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES

The Foyer came alive once again in September with a variety of activities celebrating the European Day of Languages. Sixth form guitarists played Spanish classical music throughout lunchtime and others dressed for the occasion.

Students voted for their favourite painting by a Spanish artist. This year the paintings were ‘Masacre en Corea’ 1951 by Pablo Picasso and ‘El Tres de Mayo’ 1814 by Francisco de Goya. The winner by a slight margin was the Picasso.

Y7 and Y8 pupils entered a European poster competition organised by Madame Jacques and Café K Manager, Jackie Jessup. The competition was a major success, with over 100 students entering.

AUTHOR VISITAward-winning author David Almond returned to King’s in September to introduce our KS2 pupils to “The Boy who Swam with Piranhas”. He talked about the origins of the book and how he began his love of writing from visiting his uncle’s print shop as a small child. A great time was had by both pupils and staff.

J3 student Charlotte Snow and J5 student Owen Applegarth were the winners of a signed David Almond poster.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

PIER RELAY 2012

SPORTING SUCCESSWell done to Annie Henderson, Olivia Scott and Lucy Scott who have made outstanding progress through the England Hock-ey Single System Talent Identification Programme.

They have progressed through the Junior Development Centre, the Junior Academy (equiva-lent of Northumberland County) and have now represented their Junior Regional Performance Centre (Northumberland, Durham and Cumbria) against other performance centres in the north of England.

All three play starring roles in our U16 hockey team as well as playing for Durham Pumas.

LAKE DISTRICT TRIPThe weekend before half-term, a group of hardy students and staff from King’s braved the autumnal weather and succesfully climbed Scafell Pike and the Langdale Pikes.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Sixth-formers turned out a full squad in matching kit, unlike the staff who chose to sport more ran-dom attire. However, looks can be deceiving and there was nothing random in the way the Sixth Form’s net was rattled twice by Miss Patter-son in the first two minutes, swiftly followed by the first staff goal from Mrs Osborne.

The game was certainly on as Mrs Osborne netted a hat trick within the first quarter after Lotti Harrison evened the score early in the first half and Maddie Reece plucked a sub-lime shot out of nowhere after being rough housed by Ms Amsdorf. Play looked pretty evenly matched at 3-2 when Mrs Watson’s pass found Mrs

Osborne who put the staff 4-2 in the lead on the half-time whistle.

After a frantic reshuffle of players on both sides the teams came out with renewed vigour. However, the introduction of Miss Ede in attack, aligned with the dead hand accuracy of Mrs Osborne, led to a minute’s madness early in the second half. The staff score doubled to 8 goals with no reply from the students.

Ede and Osborne showed no mercy to their opponents. Maddie Reece managed a consolation goal for the Sixth Form but it was too little, too late. The final score was 15-3 to the motley crew. But both teams can be proud of their efforts in this

inaugural match as the net gain was £60 for the hospice which cared for Paul Baxter.

STAFF vs PUPILS NETBALL

The KSPTA ran an enormously successful Christmas Fair at King’s in December.

With Junior and Senior Choirs in attendance to add (along with Santa) a thoroughly festive ambience, there were stalls, refreshments, raffles and tombolas. The hard work of so many parents and volunteers was rewarded by a good turnout of visitors who were ready to buy the goodies and to have some fun.

Over £3,200 was raised on the day – a phenomenal effort.

KSPTA CHRISTMAS FAIR

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JANUARYMonday 7 January INSET DAYTuesday 8 January - Term BeginsMock Exams StartTuesday 8 January, 12.40pmStart of Term EucharistMonday 14 January, 7.30pmKSPTA MeetingTuesday 15 JanuaryMock Exams FinishWednesday 16 January, 4pm - 6pmGunn & Moore CricketClothing Sale, Drama StudioMonday 21 January, 5pmSchool Council MeetingFriday 25 January, 7.30pmKSPTA Burns Night SupperTuesday 29 January, 2.30pmVisitors’ Afternoon

FEBRUARYTuesday 5 February, 5pmYear 11 Parents’ EveningThursday 7 February, 7pmWinter ConcertFriday 8 February, 5pm - 6pmKindergarten Valentine’s DiscoFriday 8 February, 6.30pm - 8pmJunior School Valentine’s Disco

Friday 8 February, 7pm - 9pmK2013Tuesday 12 February, 2.30pm - 3.30pmVisitors’ AfternoonWednesday 13 February, 7.30pm - 9pmKTA Committee MeetingThursday 14 February, 9am - 10amJunior School Arts FestivalFriday 15 February, 9am - 10amJunior School House Arts Festival Finale

HALF TERM COMMENCES

Monday 25 FebruaryTerm RestartsWednesday 27 February, 5pm - 8.30pmYear 8 Parents’ Evening - The King’s HallThursday 28 February, 2.30pm - 3.30pmVisitors’ Afternoon Thursday 28 February, 4pm - 8pmReception to J6 Parents’ Evening

MARCHSaturday 2 MarchLondon Art Trip DepartsSunday 3 March, 9pmLondon Art Trip ReturnsMonday 4 March, 8am - 4.30pmBook Fair - Oswin’s AtriumTuesday 5 March, 8am - 4.30pmBook Fair - Oswin’s AtriumWednesday 6 March, 8am - 4.30pmBook Fair - Oswin’s Atrium

Wednesday 6 March, 5pm - 8.30pm Year 7 Parents’ Evening Thursday 7 March, 8am - 4.30pmBook Fair - Oswin’s AtriumThursday 7 March, 12.40pm - 1.20pmLunchtime EucharistThursday 7 March, 4pm - 8pmReception to J6 Parents’ EveningTuesday 12 March, 5pm - 8.30pm Upper Sixth Parents’ EveningThursday 14 March, 2pm - 4pmOpen Afternoon for GrandparentsMonday 18 March, 5pm - 8.30pmLower Sixth Parents’ EveningTuesday 19 March, 2.30pm - 3.30pmVisitors’ AfternoonFriday 22 March, 7pm - 9pmWhistle Down the Wind, The King’s HallSaturday 23 March, 7pm - 9pmWhistle Down the Wind, The King’s HallSunday 24 March, 7pm - 9pmWhistle Down the Wind, The King’s HallMonday 25 March, 9am - 4pmJunior School Easter Egg CompetitionMonday 25 March, 9.30am - 10.30amWhole School PhotographMonday 25 March, 7pm - 9pmWhistle Down the Wind, The King’s HallTuesday 26 March, 9am - 4pmJunior School Easter Egg CompetitionWednesday 27 March, 9am - 12pmJunior School Easter Egg Competition

TERM ENDS

CHAPEL NEWSIn September, we dedicated the new stained glass windows in the Chapel to the memory of Paul Baxter. We also remembered the life of Grant Davison whose family helped substantially to the cost of our new windows. With Hannah Stewart’s wonderful triptych also installed, the Chapel is a lovely space for worship, prayer and reflection in the heart of our school.

Our Confirmation Service was held in the School Chapel in November as seven candidates from across the school were confirmed by Bishop Martin Wharton, Bishop of Newcastle. The service was well-attended by parents and friends, including many who had been confirmed last year. The Bishop used the imagery of the saints of God as fireworks and encouraged us to be like fireworks rather than damp squibs! The Choristers sang a lovely version of Amazing Grace.

Our Carol Services will again bring our term’s activities to a close. Our opening reading at the Senior School service is from a Guatemalan writer, Julia Esquivel, who sees the Christmas story as a story of justice and trans-formation. May we too walk this path to discover real freedom, joy and hope in our lives:

“And those who saw the Star opened up for us the path we now follow.”Julia Esquivel

Harvest 2012

Remembrance Day 2012

Confirmation Service

KEY DATES

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KING’SWinter Newsletter December 2012

TYNEMOUTH ALUMNI

We sincerely thank all alumni who have forwarded current e-mail addresses to the Alumni Office over the past several months. For many of you, your e-mail address has activated your KTA membership and this newsletter is just the beginning of your renewed connection to your alma mater. To all those concerned, we appreciate your effort to help us reduce our mailing costs.

We’re starting to have enough alumni e-mail addresses to come out with a simple e-mail directory in early 2013. This directory will only be in electronic format and only available to those of you who already receive e-mails from the Alumni Office. It will not be included in any version of the newsletter nor on any of the KTA social media sites. We do care about your privacy and have no intention of releasing this information to the general public via printed or electronic formats. If you do NOT want your name, year group and current e-mail address to appear in this directory, please let me know by the end of January 2013.

Finally, we draw special attention to the publicity for the 2013 Annual Reunion Dinner. As you can tell, we’re ex-perimenting with some new ideas and we hope that you’ll enjoy the changes. Please be careful to respect our RSVP date of Friday 22 March 2013 in order to ensure your place at the various events. If you’re planning to attend the festivities, please don’t forget to drop your business/visiting card in the envelope along with your reply slip and cheque. Along with reconnecting with old friends, professional networking is also an important aspect of alumni gatherings. Your submitted card will help us provide a networking opportunity during this weekend gathering.

As usual, please don’t hesitate to contact the Alumni office with any questions, updates, memories, etc. Your input is appreciated!

Eileen Kerhouant alumni@kings-tynemouth.co.uk

King’s Tynemouth Alumni AGM

Wednesday 13 February 20137pm

Tynemouth HouseThe King’s School

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ABSENT FRIENDSBill Goldsbrough 1921-2010

Bill (1938) was at Tynemouth School from 1930 to 1938. His son Richard writes:

Born in Rio de Janiero on 31st March 1921, Harold Goldsbrough was called Bill from an early age. Bill’s childhood was spent on the is-land of Santa Cruz in Rio harbour where his father, a native of Dur-ham, was the Superintendent of a local shipping company. He was taught first by his mother and then at the British School in Rio.

On the death of his father when Bill was eight, his family left Brazil and settled in Bath Terrace, Tynemouth. In 1930, Bill entered Tynemouth School where he excelled at sport. He boxed, played rugby for the 1st XV at centre and was a remarkable cricketer, playing for the 1st XI from the age of fifteen. He was also the runner-up in the school’s singles tennis competition, a member of the school’s debating society and served as a school prefect. Outside school, he focused on scouting and was se-lected to represent Great Britain at the World Scouting Jamboree in

Washington D.C. in 1937, a nota-ble achievement which was reported in the local press.

Bill left Tynemouth School in 1938, aged 17 to work for Phoe-nix Insurance in Newcastle. In the Second World War, he served as dispatch rider in the Home Guard (Northumberland Fusiliers) until old enough to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. In the Navy, he served in some of the hottest and most successful Allied naval actions of the war in the tribal class destroy-er HMS Tartar. These were the epic ‘Operation Pedestal’ Malta Convoy in August 1942 and the triumphant Arctic convoy PQ18 to Archangel in Russia in the following month. Whilst stationed in Plymouth, he played rugby for United Services Devonport. Bill reached the rank of Lieutenant and ended his war ser-vice commanding the Fraser Battery in Portsmouth.

On demobilization, Bill resumed his career in insurance with the Phoenix in Newcastle. He was post-ed to Cape Town in 1947 and, after a stint in Port Elizabeth, landed the dream job in 1954 of running Royal

Insurance’s West Indian operations out of Jamaica where he worked for the rest of the 1950s. He met his wife Audrey in Kingston where she was working with the Foreign Office. They married in 1960 and enjoyed a blissful 50 years together, celebrating their golden wedding anniversary in the summer of 2010.

In the 1960s, Bill ran Royal Insur-ance’s operations first in Singapore, then in Malaysia and finally headed up all their Asian operations out of Hong Kong, where his only child Richard was born in 1963. Bill’s final posting was back to Jamaica in 1973 where he stayed until he finished working in 1979. On re-tirement, Bill and his family moved to West Lavington, Wiltshire. Bill spent most of his retirement garden-ing and playing golf at the North Wilts G.C. He also did voluntary work as the Wiltshire County Di-rector of St John’s Ambulance for which he was decorated with the Order of St John. Bill died peace-fully in his sleep on 30th December 2010 and is survived by his wife and son.

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Nic Holder 1979-2012

Nicholas (Nic) Holder (1998) died suddenly on October 6, 2012, aged 32. He attended King’s from Junior School through to Upper Sixth and thoroughly enjoyed his time there, especially his later years when he was let loose in the art and CDT rooms.

I have great memories of Nic and me at King’s. One of my fondest is spending our lunchtimes in the art room designing and making stained glass windows with Paul Baxter. In

his time at King’s, Nic worked on a number of windows, including those in the Chapel and the three Tambov panels in the Provost’s Block, which are a lasting testimony to his skills as an artist and craftsman.

Nic also loved the outdoors and King’s gave him the opportunity to develop that interest both at school camp and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions, as well as at the field centres at Alnham and Ho-wick; the latter was to become his spiritual home. He often went there with friends to camp on the beach and enjoy its unspoilt beauty. In fact, he was there with friends, many of whom were with him at King’s, just a couple of weeks before he died, and came back as full of love for the place as he did when he spent the weekend there in his first year of middle school.

Since leaving King’s he had a varied career centred on engineering. De-

spite studying architecture at Leeds Metropolitan University, once he’d taken his degree, Nic followed in our father’s footsteps, joining the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) as an engineer cadet. Whilst in the RFA he completed his cadetship and had many adventures at sea, including taking part in drug-busting opera-tions in the Caribbean.

He loved life at sea but decided to move shore-side and worked in a number of roles, including as a maintenance engineer, engineering trouble-shooter (which took him to the USA and Far East) and, latterly, as a superintendent at an offshore geological survey company in Tees-port.

Nic will be sadly missed by his fam-ily and all who knew him, but never forgotten.

Chris Holder (1994)

KING’S MERCHANDISE

KING’S CUFFLINKS£15.00

KING’S UMBRELLA£15.00

WHISKY TUMBLER£12.00

‘A History of King’s School’£10.00

KING’S 56” TIE£6.00

CHAMPAGNE FLUTE£12.00

To purchase merchandise, please contact Reception on 0191 258 5995

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ALUMNI SPORT

KTA Hockey MatchThe score in the match was 2-2. Former pupils were Gina Gardener (whose sister, Cherie, played for the 1st XI), Sally Marsden, Heidi Rat-ter, Amy Astill and Sarah Kincaid.

KTA Touch RugbyKing’s School Senior rugby played the Alumni at touch rugby

next to the hockey pitch. A very frantic first half saw the skills of the alumni coming through and taking the lead. Elusive running from Chris Marsden and Will Smith and direct running from Grant Davison made a difference. The second half saw a net improvement by the school team, probably due to their higher fitness level but also be-cause of the skill level introduced by Mr Thompson and Mr Nicholson. The school team came close at the end and nearly snatched a draw but tiredness overcame all and a late try meant the Alumni team won again. It was an enjoyable occasion with friendly sledging throughout. It was also pleasing to hear how the alumni were doing and to know that they were continuing to participate in sport.

RECENT NEWS

Virtual commercial firm, Excello Law, has appointed one of Darlington’s most experienced Legal 500-rec-ognised practitioners to head up its national expan-sion into the North East. Mark Gardner (1982) is a dispute resolution, insolvency and debt recovery solic-itor with over 25 years of experience. Mark is proud to be part of such a flexible and forward-thinking firm, stating that, “It means that I can work with clients as opposed to simply for them at times and in a manner that suits them, free from the constraints of the tradi-tional law firm model.”

Photo by Harvey & Hugo Ltd

Congratulations to Afnan Iftikhar (2006) who made it through qualifying rounds and appeared as a finalist in the first live show of this summer’s ITV programme, Superstar. Finalists were competing for the lead role of Jesus in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar.

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Another busy term comes to a close with the School in good shape. I hope that by combining King’s News with the Alumni Newsletter we are keeping you in closer touch with events at King’s. We very much see the School and its Alumni as in-extricably linked.

Many of you will have been taught by Pat Hadwin and will want to join me in wishing him well in re-tirement. I can report that recent retirees Johnston, Russell, Nichol-son (Irene) and Moore are regular visitors to the school: in fact Chris and Irene have been teaching here this term as cover, Alastair has pro-vided some cover in the Junior School and Chris continues to sing with the choir. So despite loving retirement and exploring other av-enues, they continue to play a role in the life of the community.

Of course as I write on the front page of King’s News, this term has special significance and some poign-ancy as we prepare to convert to academy status. I repeat that I have always maintained that a good edu-

cation is not just a privilege but a right. The decision to seek academy status was not taken lightly by the Governors: however, an overriding desire was to see the school continue to flourish and to be accessible to its community. At the same time I am clear that we will have to work hard to maintain the ethos, values and traditions of King’s that are so obvi-ously cherished by staff, pupils and parents, as well as alumni.

Where would academy status leave the KTA? To my mind our alumni would be as significant as ever. You are guardians of our traditions and embodiment of our rich history, and you undoubtedly contribute to the life of the school. We have three Alumni scholars at King’s: Olya Thompson, Jade Hope and Amy Robson. All bring huge qualities to the school and all are benefiting from a King’s education they would not otherwise have had.

With fees no longer payable, estab-lishing what to do with our Alumni Bursary Fund will therefore be a significant decision. Perhaps it could

become an Annual Fund, which could help the academy purchase non-essential but enriching facili-ties: I would ask parents and friends as well as alumni to contribute to that fund. That way, the alumni would continue to enrich the daily life of the school.

And I hope that alumni activities in the school will be able to grow fur-ther in the future. Eileen Kerhouant has come up with an exciting plan for the Alumni Weekend in May: it would be good to see many of you here. And if you do have questions about the academy proposal, we will hold a question and answer session over coffee and croissants on the Sunday morning (5 May). If instead you would like to ask questions before that, please do contact me at school. And please feel emboldened to visit King’s. You are always wel-come.

With every good wish for Christmas and the New Year.

Edward Wesson Headmaster

Down Memory Lane...

I thought I might remind those old enough to recall that in the early 50s we had three of our chaps picked for the final Under 15 England Trial which was a wee bit special when one considers just how small a school we were compared to many of our opposing colleges. Mike Dunlevy (centre), David ‘Doc’ Darling (prop) and Vin Bootle (full back) were all tremendous players and went on to perform with great effect for our 1st XV. Vin was a naturally gifted player who would have graced the game at Senior County level for many years but talent went unrewarded in those days and I seem to recall that he left to work for the local Whitley Bay ‘Seaside Chronicle’ which ended his sporting career whilst still in his teens. David Hallwood (1955)

Message from the Headmaster

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King’s Tynemouth Alumnicordially invites you to celebrate the

past, present and futureof your alma mater

FRIDAY 3 MAY 2013 – WELCOME BACK TO TYNEMOUTHSee who’s back in town, relax after traveling with a pint of locally-brewed beer and a bite to eat, participate in fun evening entertainment with Ben from The Wine Chambers...then the rest of the evening is yours to rest or party as you wish!

6.30 – 8.30pm BBQ or Hog Roast – Tynemouth Garden/Yard Dress Code: Casual Price/person: £10 (families welcome) Discounted Price/person (Friday & Saturday nights’ dinners): £32

8.00 – 10.00pm Wine Quiz – Holy Saviour’s Parish Hall – Manor Road (NE30 4RH) Price/person: £8 (partners and guests welcome, 18+ age limit)

SATURDAY 4 MAY 2013 – REUNION DINNERTake a tour of the school, celebrate a special year group reunion, enjoy pictures/stories of past years and exchange personal and professional contact details with new and old friends.

6.30 – 7.30pm Drinks Reception – Oswin’s Atrium

7.30 – midnight Annual Reunion Dinner – King’s Hall Dress Code: Black Tie or Lounge Suits Price/person: £25 (non-members, partners and guests welcome) Discounted Price/person (Friday & Saturday nights’ dinners): £32

SUNDAY 5 MAY 2013 – LOOKING FORWARDAttend a Sunday morning church service and/or join Headmaster Ed Wesson and fellow alumni David Bilton (1975), member of the KTA Committee and Chief Executive Officer of Woodard Schools, for an informal look at King’s progression in today’s socio-economic environment.

10.00 – 11.15am Service – Holy Saviour’s Church – The Broadway (NE30 2LD)

10.30 – 12.30pm Informational Q&A Session – Tynemouth House Join us for tea or coffee while receiving an update on the school’s academy/merger status. Look at information boards, images, etc. of the approved changes and feel free to ask questions.

RSVP for all events before Friday 22 March 2013Please complete enclosed reply slip

Cheques payable to The King’s School, Tynemouth

Out-of-town visitors:The Montagu Park Hotel is offering King’s School alumni a preferential rate (bed & breakfast included) for this 2013 bank holiday weekend. Please call 0191 257 1406 for more information, quoting “King’s Alumni”. If you have additional questions, please ask for Anthony Dorman (Sales and Marketing Manager).

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