16th Reigate Scout Group
Number 213
N E W S S H E E T
December 2009

Those for whom the School has no e-mail address may not have heard that I have recently had a heart bypass operation. From mid-August I had felt a slight discomfort behind the sternum when walking uphill. Sent to hospital for an angiograph, I was expecting to be home in a few hours, – but they kidnapped me, would not let me go! Well over forty Old Scouts have sent me good wishes, by card, phone, e-mail, or even visiting in hospital! The Community Nurse saw me and went through possible reasons for slight angina; I have never smoked, don’t drink, am not obese, or even over-weight, have always been active. The only box she could tick was “Age”.

So I must express MANY THANKS for all these good wishes. I saw the surgeon three weeks after the op, and she said I was recovering remarkably well. So I hope to be back to more or less normal in the New Year. All the e-mails have allowed an early NewsSheet:

Peter and Michael Morris were Scouts, and contemporaries will remember that their parents Shirley and Harold were virtually members of the Group.  They wrote:
“It is wonderful what ‘they’ can do with heart problems these days. So we are pleased to hear you are making a good recovery from your heart bypass. In a more minor way, we have been adding to our family stent club - Our Anne's husband had a heart attack and two stents put in in November; Harold had one inserted last year, and Peter had three the year before! All are now "normal" and very thankful for the medical men and women who developed all these procedures! We hope the bypass will be totally successful and we wish you happiness with your family over the festive season. All good wishes from Shirley and Harold and the Morris lot.”

Pete Manfield e-mailed: “All is well here in Johannesburg. Theo, our son, is now five months old and growing up fast. I found out recently that he was born a few days after James Woodall’s daughter!”

I’m spending quite some time travelling in the region at the moment, having just returned from Malawi on Friday and now off to Lesotho to prepare for the forthcoming flood season. Then we’ll all be going home on Christmas Eve to see family in Copenhagen and Redhill. Free time these days seems to revolve mostly around getting home to see grandparents when we can.”

Steve Borer e-mailed: “I was sorry to hear from John Manfield about your recent illness, and sorry that it takes you being ill to receive an email from me! I was also ill with a heart condition a few years ago although I am pleased to say it makes very little difference to my life these days, although just a few more pills to pop! However, I remember how I appreciated emails and cards from people at the time so thought I would drop you a quick email to say hi and let you know I hope you are on the mend.

Summing my last 15 years up in something short enough for my typing to cope with is not easy but is summed up by; 4 years in London after University (and a round the world trip which included a season of rugby in NZ) where I met my now wife Emma. Emma grew up, up the road in Tadworth and even knew lots of people in my year at school but we never met until London. We moved to Australia soon after and lived in Sydney for 4 years where I joined Michael Page where I still work doing marketing recruitment. After 4 years we returned to UK and lived in Weybridge for 4 years before I was offered a career opportunity up in Birmingham where we are now.

We are slowly settling in after a year and, fingers crossed, will be signing on a house in Solihull this week which will leave me heavily in debt to the bank but us with a home at last after a year in a city centre apartment.

Rugby has sadly been left behind since the heart issue although I played until I was 30 odd and played in NZ, Australia and even the US which I absolutely loved. However, you will be pleased to know the Scouts gave me a love for getting out in the country and we regularly enjoy getting out to the Cotswolds or Snowdonia etc walking, mountain climbing and mountain biking. I can’t quite persuade Emma to camp yet though! She does not know what she is missing!

Anyway, I won’t bore you with too much of my news, I just wanted to send you something to let you know I was thinking of you and that I know what a scare a heart issue can give you, so I know much of what you are experiencing. I even know the ins and outs of what the various parts of the heart etc are all called etc! Amazing how you become almost able to self diagnose!

I hope you are starting to get back to good health, and are up and about sailing, kayaking, walking and camping again soon!”

Colin Parsons says: “Sorry to hear about your recent operation but I understand from a friend who had a quad bypass 3 weeks ago that one of the exercises is Ironing and his wife was quite keen on him taking that up!

It would appear that in May I should become a Grandfather for the first time - I'm not sure quite how I feel about that , delighted in one way but it does make one think that time is going past at an ever increasing rate . Huw and Paula live near Taunton, but until July he was teaching science to the bottom set of a 10 class entry in Exmouth. I say until July, he resigned and is now doing supply teaching to special needs and similar children 12 to 17 year olds, and to be honest he is thoroughly enjoying it - challenging yes but as he's dyslexic he has a lot of sympathy with some of their problems. I don't think he's had a day without being asked to work since mid- September so at last he may have found his real vocation.

I trust apart from the reason for your heart op you are keeping well. Regards and have a Merry Xmas from a rather wet South Wales.”

Mike Pupius sent good wishes, and also said:  “I was sorry to miss you back in the summer when you were passing through for the painting trip. I was on a ranger training weekend. Well I have now passed all the assessments and am a fully qualified volunteer part time Park Ranger. The final assessment was a cross between taking an NVQ in park history, countryside safety and biodiversity and a Scout's badge in advanced navigation and survival. The navigation assessment day started with a theory paper, followed by preparing a route card from a list of map references and then going out in threes onto Langsett Moor with a full time ranger. It was quite tough and off piste as they say. We had to show we knew where we were all the time and how to find specific locations, – a bit like orienteering. I hope to start my duties in the New Year.
The family is off next Monday on safari in Tanzania to celebrate my eldest son's 30th birthday. There are six of us including other son, their partners and Jenny. We travel to three lodges in our own dedicated vehicle.”

Alex Hawkes added to his greetings: “I still have fond memories of your lessons, particularly one where we used a computer program to discover the day of the week our birthdays fell on (both March 13th). I went on to study computer science with maths at Exeter University and now I'm working for Nomura - a Japanese investment bank - as a software developer. I moved to London briefly but am now back in Surrey at the corner of Linkfield Lane and London Road, opposite Redhill tennis club. I'm hoping to be able to move to a place in Reigate soon but house prices are so expensive. My parents still live in Doran Drive - I'm sure you don't remember coming round to visit with Mr Dobson when I first joined the Scouts! (Yes, I do. – R.)

My Scouting skills are still coming in extremely useful. Last month I went hiking along the Great Glen Way in Scotland which runs from Fort William to Inverness along Loch Ness. I'm planning to walk round Lake Windermere in the New Year and will try and find the clearing we camped at for our scout camp. (Alex sent a photo of himself, complete with map-case, and rain-soaked.)

I'm still good friends with Robert Fraser. He's currently working in Barcelona, also as a software developer, and due back for Christmas. Robert Mundy is working in London and living in Hackney. Most people seem to come back around Christmas so hopefully I'll catch up with them in one of the Reigate pubs.”

Colin Cook e-mailed:  “I am sorry to hear that you have had a spell in hospital, and I do hope you are on the road to recovery now. Since we met at the last Scouts reunion, I have regained contact with Paul Mundy who also lives in Winchester, and in the summer provided a guided tour for a group of friends from his Reigate days who were staying for the weekend.

In August, I took my wife and son on a 2,000 mile 'Cooks Tour' of France, Germany, Austria and Italy. Both my wife and I had fond memories of the Black Forest from our youth and despite the heavy rain, I snapped a picture of the Hirschsprung 50 years on. I attach both the original and latest one for comparison. I don't recall the monument being painted bright green in 1959!

I also attach photos of Freiburg including one of the open gulleys that run down the sides of the cobbled streets. En route to Germany we stopped overnight in Laon which is twinned with Winchester and enjoyed a meal with one of their guides who in fact was German by birth. She had been brought up in Freiburg, and her fondest memory as a child was paddling in these little streams!

We also visited Lake Titisee and Lake Constance, staying in Friedrichshaven, which I found fascinating as the home of the Zeppelin.”

From Ross Letten Australia: “I was dismayed to hear from John Manfield that you had had a heart operation recently. How are you feeling now? John said that you were having to curtail your activities somewhat and I know how frustrating that can be. There is a limit to how much reading you can do before your eyes get tired. On my last sailing trip I took some talking books on an iPod to while away the long night watches. It worked well because listening didn't interfere with night vision.

I've also been in the wars but only to a minor extent. You may have heard the adage attributed to Uffa Fox, the well known English yacht designer: A man needs a foot of boat waterline for every year of his age. Well I disregarded this sound piece of advice and entered my 13'4" Laser dinghy in the annual Sail Brisbane regatta in Moreton Bay last week. Looking around the dinghy park before the start it was clear that I was at least 40 years over the average age of the other competitors in the standard rig class. Anyway all was well until the gybe mark towards the end of my first race in a stiffish wind. It's normal in a Laser to apply hard opposite helm for a moment as the boom comes across to offset its momentum. The trouble was that an unanticipated quartering wave aggravated this and swung the dinghy back onto the previous gybe. I was completely unprepared and failed to move quickly enough to avoid the boom. It caught me handily behind the ear, knocking me clean out of the boat and under water. I was feeling pretty groggy and not hearing too well so dragged myself off to the doctor the following morning. Diagnosis: perforated eardrum. So no more dinghy sailing for a while in case I get more water into it.

I first started sailing Lasers in Cape Town where the 30 to 35 knot south-easter is commonplace and rather prided myself on my strong wind survival skills. It is very clear, however, that I've failed to notice the progressive deterioration in reaction time and agility that advancing years have exacted. A bit depressing really; I'll confine my Laser sailing to the Brisbane River at Chelmer from now on!

Have been doing a little bit of commercial work as skipper of a charter yacht recently. My next job is on Saturday taking a Christmas party of 12 for an extended sail around Moreton Bay on a Seawind catamaran for the day. Keeps me off the streets I suppose and some of the clients are very interesting to chat to.

May Shez and I wish you a speedy recovery and all the best for Christmas and the New Year. Any thoughts on another visit to Australia soon?”

Steve Lanzon says: “I expect you were trying to climb some hill in the fog and rain when this all happened, hope all is well and you recover quickly, how old are you now?

By the way, I still get in trouble every so often with my wife when I leave the fat in the frying pan to re-use, I tell her ‘my Scout Leader told us that's what we should do, – saves on the washing up and it’s fine to re-use’. She never quite sees it my way, – I blame you.”

Chris Wise wrote: “I heard that you are a little under the weather... so I hope you are pulling through with your customary resilience….

We are thinking of lining up our two lads and maybe even our daughter (ages 7,6 and 1 respectively) to go to Reigate eventually, as it holds such good memories after all these years and I’ve heard through the grapevine that its facilities are now even better….hard to believe after all those lessons in prefabs but it’s apparently possible to improve on perfection. So I hope you’ll accept my good wishes for a speedy recovery in time to greet them!”

Ashlin Harrington sent a ‘South African up-date’ before news of my operation leaked out: (An earlier e-mail from him seems to have gone astray.)

“Greetings from the Drakensberg mountains where we arrived this afternoon after a quick 1¼hr flight from Port Elizabeth to Durban this morning and then an ‘interesting’ drive in our 4x2 vehicle up through the swirling mist and drizzle, trying to avoid wandering animals and people on the road! This is probably the first time things have felt really rural, as we passed many small and poor-looking communities, many with the traditional little thatched rondavels – though a few with rather modern looking chimneys as additions! Since I sent my first email, we feel as if we have lived several months here as we seem to have done so much. We drove from Swellendam where I sent the email, up over a very scarey mountain pass on very rutted, potholed roads with glorious views but precipitous drops to a small town called Prince Albert in the Groot Karoo semi-desert region. It was a pity we only had a night there and Ash was suffering from a tummy upset and fever so he wasn't really able to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere but I felt as if we were at the end of the world.

From there we drove out a different way, thankfully - through the main ostrich-farming area and down onto the coast onto the Garden Route at Knysna which we really liked. We had a lovely self-catering boathouse overlooking the lagoon which was great for bird-watching as it was tidal. We enjoyed exploring the lovely coastal towns and nature reserves around there and saw our first whales and dolphins along with what must have been hundreds of gannets plunging into the sea after a shoal of fish. The last couple of days we have been staying in the lap of luxury up in the hinterland north of Port Elizabeth in a country house near the Addo Elephant Park and were able to do a Sundowner game drive in the park the first evening when we saw lots of elephants and our first lioness and three 11-month old cubs feeding at a warthog kill. Apparently we were very lucky to see them so it was an exciting evening.

Next day we drove up another scarey pass on dirt roads to a place where we did a 40-mins elephant back ride - it was a special experience but probably good that it didn't last any longer as we wouldn't have been able to get off again! I had no idea elephants' backs were so broad - going downhill was the worst bit but I kept telling myself it was only pain!! (in the hips mainly). Yesterday before we left Ash did another game drive in Addo but I had had a violent bout of D and V in the night so I had to give it a miss. Thankfully I am now okay and ready to tackle dinner again!

Tomorrow we are going on a trip up into Lesotho in a 4x4 although we are being driven, which I think will be just as well - though it depends on the driving, as it will again be quite a hairy experience I think! Supposing we live to tell the tale we will then be off again on Tuesday further north in the mountains for four nights which will include a much-needed day off. It is an area good for San (bushman) rock art so we hope to do a walk to some of the caves. We feel so fortunate to have had such wonderful weather so far, met so many lovely and very helpful people (especially the ones who changed our tyre and fixed the puncture when Europcar emergency phone number didn't work) and to have mostly had the energy and health to undertake our demanding schedule! But I will definitely be going home for a long rest, – and will appreciate a lot of things about home, having seen life here from very different viewpoints.”

Brief e-mails from Mick Youles say he remembers his early Scout Camps at Bagnières de Bigorre and Bala, with Neil Butcher among others.  Mick’s activities have included racing at Le Mans.

So again, many thanks for all your good wishes. I’m doing well.

If you read this before Christmas, – Season’s Greetings!

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