16th Reigate Scout Group

Number 210

February 2009

I sent what I called a 'cajoling letter' to all Old Scouts who had not replied to my e-mail. One of the recipients called it a 'knuckle-rap'. Many of you have replied with news, much of which is reproduced here, more or less in the order of receipt.

Richard Charlwood says : " I have work commitments in Norway at the time of the Reunion, although in truth I am not clear at this time whether they clash. I usually get very little notice, for example, on Christmas Eve I was asked could I be in Oslo 30th December. Answer No, but I was there 3rd January. Some people think I'm mad chasing around like this at my age. The simple fact is I still get a buzz."

Tim Coombs, after I wondered whether emails were getting through, replied :
"I am getting your emails. Thanks very much. Unlikely I can make the
dinner as I still have young children who take up most of my time,
especially at weekends. It takes a bit of planning to organize a trip to Reigate now. Pete Cowl did send me an email about this dinner and you know I am a gregarious bloke who likes to meet up with old friends again but I don't think it's going to be organized this time."

Roland Ford wrote after a long gap : " Just to let you know that I am almost definitely coming to the reunion on Feb 28. We are normally in Portugal at this time of year, but for various reasons we are returning prior to the end of Feb this year. The bad news is that we will have to suffer UK weather, but for me the good news is that for once I will be able to meet up with old scouts, you and Aubs.

Tim Formoy explained : " Chris Ingram called to remind me to let you know whether I am coming to the reunion or not and to update you with my email address. Firstly, my old computer died suddenly last year and so I lost everything, including email contacts. It took me some months to replace during which I moved to Sky so I lost access to any old emails on the old ISP. This may sound rather odd but reflects the nature of last year - I seemed to spend most waking hours at work. I was involved with a major re tendering at work for a global deal that involved me and all my team. It took all of 2008 and unfortunately we heard just before Xmas that we were not successful. I have had better years!! Apart from work, my relaxation includes playing golf at the weekend. Remarkably for me, I have now joined the Saturday morning early starters. In the middle of winter, on a freezing day with driving rain and wind, I can be found hacking around the course as soon as it gets light. No more lie-ins for me! Trish also plays regularly and if we can get in 9 holes on Sunday afternoon we do. Trish is now Head of Department for languages at Leicester High School for Girls. She is still part time but the HOD role means she is effectively full time now. Both the girls (Emma 16, Claire 14) are doing very well at school - both significantly brighter than I ever was. Not that you would find that hard to understand! Claire is also a black belt at Taikwondo and plays rugby for Market Harborough. Also more athletic than her father!! Reunion. I would love to be there but it is still unclear as to whether I will be able to attend. I am scheduled to be in Spain that weekend (yearly golfing break with some friends in the village). There is a chance that I will not travel ( currently have a bad back) and so I may cancel and try and get a substitute.

Phil Constable is another voice from the past : "I'm still living in Shropshire, about a kilometer from the Ironbridge itself, and still working in IT, currently for BP. I travel down to the office each week, so only home at week-ends. I'm married to Ann, and we celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in September. We spend most of our leisure time walking our dog, and trying to keep on top of a Georgian house in a 2-acre garden. Both our 'children' are now at university - Sarah is in her final year at Manchester reading Geography and Geology, and David is in his first year at the University of West of England reading real estate valuation and management. Both are thoroughly enjoying their courses, though what the future brings in this current employment environment, no-one knows.

Tim Banks has written : "Your letter about the group reunion on the 28th Feb finds me back in Reigate, rather than our usual home in York, albeit in less than ideal circumstances. Our first-born, Harvey Joseph Banks, arrived on 17th November last year. After 2 weeks of not feeling well, Melissa was admitted to hospital in York and diagnosed with pneumonia and given two courses of antibiotics. We came down to Reigate to spend Christmas with my family and when her condition worsened, we went to visit the local GP. He referred Melissa to East Surrey Hospital with a suspected heart murmur. She spent the two weeks over Christmas and New Year in the coronary care unit, and was then referred to the specialist cardiac centre at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge. Her last meeting with the consultant team was much more positive and although there is still a very long way to go, things are now looking much better than they were.
Anyway, we're down in Reigate for the foreseeable future, which does mean that I will be able to attend the reunion. Do you know if anybody else from my era will be coming (Andrew Powell and the like.)
Since leaving School, I did a BEng degree in Music Technology at York University and then went to lecture in the same at Bretton Hall College near Wakefield. I now work for Leeds University, having recently changed jobs after 10 years of lecturing and am now School Manager and Faculty IT Manager. Leeds have been great about my current situation and have told me to forget about work for at least the next 6 months. I'm really starting to value the job security of working in the education sector...
Anyway, it will be good to come along and meet up with you as well as other ex-scouts like myself. I'll certainly be up for a bit of micro-campanology for old times' sake."

Gordon Collins says: "First a rather belated thank you for the many years of faithful delivery of the newsletter. I have meant to respond so many times... Please do email newsletters in future. Reunion; I would naturally shy away from such things, but am going to say yes. I hope you reach a viable number. So, some news: I am married to Andrea and have three children, David (11), Anna (8) and Niamh (5). I have been roped into Scouting again via an ex-colleague who is the Scout Leader at the 17th Reigate, as an assistant (non-uniformed) leader. David is a Scout (a Cub and Beaver before that), Anna a Cub Scout (1st girl in the pack) and Niamh is on the waiting list for Beavers. I helped set up the campsite for last weekend's area Frost Camp at Bentley Copse. The UK distributor of a German brand of Jurte brought one along to demo and this brought back memories of the Marquee. A Jurte has a fire place in the middle and it was noticeable how an enclosed space with a fire seemed very special - it certainly got a lot of visitors. One small memory of 1976 (in the vicinity of the Marquee) was an old scout (who?) singing Streets of London accompanying himself on guitar. Quite a few memories of 1976 in fact, including ladybird / wasp gladiatorial combat in bowls of orange squash, holes dug deep in sand to escape the heat, and a very long walk to the water carrying heavy canoes."

Ken Frost is another from whom we had not heard for about fifteen years.
"Hope you're well and happy. I'm looking forward to coming to the reunion on 28th February and catching up with everyone. I guess we're all struggling a bit with the current financial situation, but the nuclear security side of the business is doing o.k. Terrorism seems to be recession-proof. Onward and upward.

Riccy Green wrote from central Scotland: "Many thanks for your email and for the latest newsletter. I always enjoy reading it and catching up on the news of people from the distant past. I regret that I will not be able to attend the reunion on 28th February. We do not have plans to travel south at that time - we will be animal-sitting for Clare while she is away skiing. Pat and I continue to jog along in the Scottish Highlands. We seem to keep busy on jobs in the house and garden, plus walks and bike rides when the weather is OK. A possible new road scheme is threatening to come very close to the houses here and so quite a bit of energy is going into trying to get the plans changed. Alison is working in Lagos, Nigeria but her UK home is close to us now. Clare continues as a GP partner north of Aberdeen. Please say "Hello" to Aubs for me."

Brian Henry, as a pianist, accompanied one or two of our concerts fifty years ago.
"Thank you very much for the invitation to the reunion on the 28th Feb. I should have liked to join you very much and catch up on your news and other people. However I shall be in South Africa at the time so can't be with you. I am staying with a friend of mine who is Bishop of the diocese of Saldana Bay - I've known him for a few years, originally through Arthur Westall, with whom I am travelling this time.
My news is not very startling. I retired from teaching just over five years ago - three years early as I had lost my voice and could no longer talk at volumes necessary for a classroom - I had a withered vocal-chord, which also meant I could no longer sing, which was rather a shame.
I had been at The Windsor Grammar School (subsequently renamed The Windsor Boys' School for 37 years teaching German). Since retirement I have reinvented myself as a professional musician, which I had been doing at the same time as teaching for 30 years, and am now conducting (various opera companies), including a touring company which performs at such venues as Wilton House, Hatfield House, Arundel Castle and Penshurst Place. I'm also playing piano in a piano trio (Trio Dolce - www.triodolce.co.uk), which is great fun, and included a recital at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe a couple of years ago. In two weeks' time I'm doing a run of performances of Tosca, just before going off to Cape Town.
I wish you all success with the reunion and do send best wishes, if anybody still remembers me from the gang shows of 50 years ago!
If possible please forward to this to Aubrey Scrase, so that he can catch up on my news too."

John Griffin (Hawks 1960 - 64) explains where he is:
"Sorry I wont be able to make the reunion; Uganda is too far away.
I'm still managing a web site design business here and continue to enjoy the near perfect climate It rarely goes above 25C nor falls below 20C during the day and is usually sunny although we do get the occasional impressive downfall. I am getting a bit old for active scouting (now 60), but did enjoy camping for a few days in Mabira Forest, - a region of un spoilt lowland rainforest."

Commodore Malcolm Avery, RN Retd. wrote : "I'm sorry but I won't be able to make it to the Reunion on 28th February. Other commitments keep me in the West Country, I'm afraid. A little snippet of news for you. Having appeared in the Birthday Honours List last summer, I have been awarded an OBE. Sarah and I, with sons Alex and Russ, had a grand day out at Buckingham Palace for the investiture at the end of November (see attached), followed by lunch at Claridge's. A joyous occasion after my 36-odd years of loyal service in the Navy to which the family contributed as much as me.
Best wishes to you and any at the Reunion who remember me."
Congratulations, Malcolm !

Bob Burnett sent a long missive, with interesting meanderings :
"Very sorry not to have replied. Emails are getting through as is Royal Snail when you or the school use it. I should be able to get to the reunion but I would expect to be alone. Weekends tend to be a bit precious as Susie, my better half, works away in Bath during the week and we tend to try to re-bond with our sole remaining home-based child, Amy, 15, though as she is allowed to grace south west London with her social presence on Saturdays, we may not always be blessed with her availability.
My wife works in Interim Executive recruitment. If any old scouts need any interim executives at the moment she is very, very good at her job and has more applicants than she knows what to do with ! 'Interesting times' is a bit of a 'mis-underestimatement' for the recruitment industry right now ! I have just started work again after five fairly fallow years since leaving ntl. We did move house twice in that time, and I used to do the school run when the above-mentioned daughter was still at primary school. We now live, since April 2007, in a flat that was once owned by Andy Taylor of the eighties band Duran Duran, of whom you may have heard. The flat (all 3,000 square feet of it) is in a converted Victorian orphanage known as the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building. It was originally built with proceeds from the Royal Victoria Patriotic Fund to house female orphans of service men who lost their lives in the Crimean War. It celebrated its 150 year anniversary in the summer of 2007 and Prince Michael of Kent, Queen Victoria's great (?) grandson was the guest of honour. (Two 'greats' I reckon, - R.) Queen Victoria herself laid the foundation stone and we have what is reputed to be the largest outdoor statue of Saint George slaying the dragon in the country on the front of the building. Aubs has also been to visit: he came for lunch at the bar/restaurant which occupies one of the three quadrangles in the building. Apparently he used to work very nearby and knew the building from his days at Battersea Town Hall. (Is that right, Aubs ?) I am doing a short contract for a company called Arqiva. They are an amalgam of all sorts of broadcasting organisations: Inmedia, ntl, National Grid Wireless and even some bits of good old BT. They physically broadcast a huge proportion of the growing amount of digital TV and radio which exists in the UK. I am working with their IT people on gathering the data for a new group-wide service management system. It should keep me busy for a few months with a bit of luck.
Our sons are Tom, doing Sports Science finals at Exeter Uni (St Lukes) this year, and Luke in his first year of Sports & Fitness Coaching at Bath College. Both are serious rugby players and gym junkies and brag about their 'clean and jerks' and bench pressing prowess. Tom plays for Rosslyn Park seconds when he is home and Exeter Uni 1st's, and Luke plays for the RP development squad. They were both at Emanuel school which was built in the 1870s as the boys' orphanage counterpart to the building in which we now live. I am sure a few of the older ex-Scouts will recall gritty rugby matches against Emanuel before they did the same as RGS and went independent and co-ed.
Sadly neither boys were scouts. We did try with the Putney Sea Scouts (less land-locked than Reigate) but the troop leader, Len, had one leg and smoked roll-ups on parade, so that was a bit of a rum do. They did do Beavers which was a pre-cubs sort of thing but all they did there was play football in the crypt of a church in Eaton Square. They are, however, very happy to camp: for the last two years our summer holiday has involved the kids camping (and us staying in a hotel...) on an island called Herm, which is just off Guernsey. (The kids used to stay in the hotel but their bar bills started eclipsing our own.) It is not camping as we would remember it, - with pre-erected frame tents, gas cookers, fridges and heaters and ready inflated air-beds, but they think it's real, and I get to tie knots and make things out of sticks so it's all better than nothing. The island is only 1.5 by 0.5 mile so they don't even have very far to hike if they run out of BBJ.
Yoof of today, eh ?"

David Dench is succinct, and to the point. "E-mails getting through fine. Sadly, it does not look like I can get down to the reunion. Family of five kids all still at home and very demanding. Best wishes to all."

James Young was one of those at our final Summer Camp in Devon.
"Thank you for the invitation but unfortunately I cannot make it to the reunion. Hope all is well with you. As you can see I am still here (in Hampshire), and am a qualified accountant now! Been here for almost 8.5 years since I did my A-levels at Cricklade College in Andover after leaving School from the 5th form! Best regards to you and everyone."
Graham Richardson said : "I'm afraid that I will not be able to attend the reunion. Apologies about the tardy response, my wife is expecting our second child in a few months so everything is being planned at short notice at present."

Neill Ransom helps us catch up on his news with long (business-ese?) sentences :
"After 25 years in Rearsby, Leics, - where we moved when I became Principal of Wreake Valley College in '81, - Kate and I downsized coming up to 3 years ago into a 300 year old house on Syston High Street, - with a ¼ acre walled rear garden. In centre of town and can walk to all amenities & shops, - but a superb house. Son Mark (now 35) and his partner live in next village and granddaughter Jessica Emma now 2 yr and 3 mths.
My fortunately successful UK Educational Consultancy, - which was responsible for planning, funding and project managing some £300m of school building projects from 1988 (when I took early retirement from Headship) to 2002, - I sold to Mouchel plc in 2002, - but had to stay on and earn out until 2005. However, I retained Chelstoke International and have so far done some 147 Facility Planning consultancy projects for International Schools in 58 countries. Current projects in Kiev, Qatar (2), Brussels Intl School, Lisbon, and building is currently on site in Milan for the American Intl School, where I have previously worked with the British Intl School and also helped appoint their last 3 Heads, as also last 3 for one of the schools in Qatar.
I became involved in setting up the British Schools of America, - where we now have successful schools in Washington, Boston, Chicago, Huston and Charlotte plus a Shell linked school in Qatar. The investor group who supported this development sold to an equity company last April 4, - which proved a pleasant windfall on my investment contribution with them since 2000.
Since 2005 I have helped son Mark develop his sign business and probably spend too much of my time as unpaid Admin Director at Signs Now, East Midlands Ltd, - have also become something of a specialist on Hotel signage, - where we have the contract for a group of 225 star hotels across the country, and contracts such as new Doncaster Stadium. At least it keeps me from getting bored. 2008 was quite busy with trips abroad for International Schools, plus we have a syndicate share of a cruiser on French rivers & canals and were over on two occasions. In early August we celebrated our 40th anniversary on Tresco, - boats and sea my passion. Then late August a quick 5 day trip to Denver for a wedding of American family friends, - to discover history in the making with the Democratic convention in town and were within two miles of Obama entourage and his acceptance speech. Mark's sign business was also part of a franchise group of 5 stores awarded Sign Business of The Year 2008!
Like too many others, - as names I recognise on old Scouts list, - have just been sent a letter to start drawing State Pension from April coming!!
Thanks as ever for your continued time and effort in keeping the word of 16th Reigate ex-group and network alive and kicking - even when some of us are tardy in responding. Always a pleasure to read the newsletters. Kind regards and appreciative thanks."

Peter McCarthy wrote :
"Thought I'd give you a quick update as to what's been going on over
the past couple of years as I seem to be one of the worst at keeping
in touch with anyone from my previous life at School.
I think I mentioned in my last email that since leaving Uni I have
spent my whole working life in Pharmaceuticals, initially as a Sales
Representative and then as a Data and Business Analyst. Various roles
with various companies have seen me move something like ten times in
the last 13 years, the most major being a move to America where I
spent time living in New York, New Jersey and finally Philadelphia.
I eventually returned to the UK after being invited to join the board
of a speciality Pharma company. This was a great opportunity for me
to do things my way (I always hated taking instructions from others!)
and I had a huge amount of fun in doing it. I was responsible for the
Market Research team, Business Information dept, Competitor
Information dept, Customer Relationship team and the e-Business and
IT departments - a heady mix that was obviously driven by my
extensive use of the BBC computers at RGS and my outstanding exam
results in Maths and Chemistry! Unfortunately the successes we had
caused my company to be bought out by a competitor on the day we were
meant to be floating on the Stock Market. Sadly, after the new
company dumped their board of Directors on us, I decided to leave to
explore adventures new.
Strangely this was the first time since the age of 12, when I started
working in the butchers at weekends, that I found myself out of work,
and it was a totally alien experience to me. The great thing was that
with a nice redundancy package behind me I was able to sit back and
relax for a bit and work out my next steps.
It was fairly obvious that a recession was coming and the least
sensible thing to do would be to start my own company, so that's
exactly what I did! I knew that when a downturn starts most companies
in my industry tend to look for ways to rationalise, restructure and
find more cost efficient and effective ways of doing things and that
they all need help to achieve this, so that's what I decided
to specialise in. In the past ten months since I set up I haven't
stopped, sharing my time between several major Pharmaceutical
companies in several countries offering consulting services to help
them through these interesting times. To my surprise I'm even having
to turn down work! The only downside is that I now have no time for
myself. My intention now is to get through the next few years, have the mortgage paid off, quit the rat race for good and then go and do something far more fun like open a bike shop near one of the National
Parks we used to visit as Scouts. But in the short term it's going to
be a constant round of airports, taxis, hotels and not much else.
Still not married (although I have a long suffering and patient
girlfriend) and still no kids, but on the plus side I haven't had to
move house in an age. I bought myself an old School house in a
village just outside Cambridge and have spent what time I do have
renovating and restoring it to it's former glory.
Now down to more pressing issues, the Reunion. Unfortunately I am
going to be in Frankfurt for 3 weeks at the end of Feb and beginning
of March so I'm not going to be able to attend but I'll raise a beer
on the 28th to you all. Anyway, that's enough from me. I hope all is well with you and you are in good health. Send my regards to those from my years who attend the Reunion, and especially to Dennis."

We have just heard the sad news that Gordon Irvine died last October. We have no further details, though he did tell us several years ago that he had some sort of heart problem. He was one of the original eighteen Scouts, in the Owl patrol, when the Troop started in January 1954.

So there we are, eight pages of news. Let's have a lot more !

Robin H. Bligh, 39, Monks Walk, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 0SS.
01737 - 248135 < robin@reigategrammar.org >