Ashvillian Update

Issue 60 Summer 2014

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ASHVILLIAN SOCIETY, THE ASSOCIATION OF PAST STUDENTS OF ASHVILLE COLLEGE, HARROGATE Ashville’s Downton Star Re-Opens Soothill Hall After £2.25M Refit

FORMER Head Boy and Downton Abbey Star Jim Carter was the guest of honour at the re-opening of the Soothill Hall, which has undergone a £2.25m refurbishment. Jim arrived at his old school for a lunch with invited guests, before spending an hour with drama students in the drama studio. Follow- ing a short ceremony, Jim uncovered a plaque bearing its new name — The Carter Studio. It was then to the Soothill Hall, where he cut the ribbon to declare the auditorium officially open, before taking to the stage for “An Audi- Nick added: “The Soothill Hall Celebration Weekend at a Glance ence With Jim Carter”, which was one of the has been totally transformed, headline acts at the school’s Arts Festival. Friday 27th June and is a far cry from the hall 7pm Senior Speech Day - Harrogate Interna- OA President Nick Breton, who had the pleas- tional Centre that I performed in back in the 9pm Governors’ Reception – Memorial Hall ure of meeting Jim said: “Jim is a fantastic late 1970s and early 1980s. Saturday 28th June ambassador for Ashville and is probably the 10am Senior School Sports – Yew Tree “It was a pleasure sitting in the Fields school’s best-known old pupil.” Noon Friends of Ashville Summer Fair - Pre- audience listening to Jim talk Prep 1.15pm Sports Day Prizes – Yew Tree Fields about his days at Ashville and st 2 pm Ashville College 1 XI v Staff Cricket his fondness for the school. Match – Main Square 7pm Ashvillian Society Black Tie Dinner – “From acting in house and Dining Hall school plays, he is now one of Sunday 29th June 10.30 am Ashvillian Society AGM – Richard- the most recognised faces on son Room 11.30am Ashvillian Service – Soothill Hall TV today. 12.15pm Pimms Reception – Headmaster’s Lawn “We are very proud of our very 1pm Old Ashvillians v Ashville College 1st XI Cricket Match – Main Square own Downton Abbey super- 1.30pm Tours of School star.” 3.30pm Cricket teas – Dining Hall

www.ashvillian-society.org Ashvillian Society UPDATE

OA Appointed Premier League Director An OA famed for his expertise in Sports Law has been appointed as a Director of the Premier League, the most successful and watched football league in the world. Peter McCormick OBE, Senior Partner of McCormicks Solicitors, will take the position while the Chairman, Anthony Fry, recovers from illness. He will Chair Premier League Board meetings in Mr Fry’s absence. Mr McCormick has been a member of the Legal Advisory Group of the League since 1996 and Chairman of it since 2008 Peter said: “My thoughts and those of everyone at the Pre- mier League are with Anthony Fry and his family. We wish him a speedy and full recovery. ”For my own part, I'm very proud and feel privileged to have had the trust and confidence of a unanimous vote of the 20 Clubs placed in me. I shall do all I can to justify the faith placed of Richard Scudamore, the Chief Executive, the Audit and Remuneration Committee and the Clubs." Mr McCormick is an internationally recognised expert in Sports and Media/Entertainment law and is ranked by the

Thank You Clare! The Society would like to place on the record its thanks to membership secretary and administration assistant, Clare Dolman, who is leaving at the end of the academic year. Her husband, Jonathan, the head of Ashville Junior School, has been appointed Housemaster of Powell House at Down- side School, Bath.OA President Nick Breton said: “Clare has been a valuable addition to the Society and we will certainly miss her. We wish her, Jonathan and their Clare Dolman daughters our very best wishes for the future and hope they settle in quickly in their new surrounds.” Archive photo: If any OA knows if this is from the First or Second World War, please do get in touch

Page 2 Ashvillian Society UPDATE News It’s Been A Busy 12 Months For President Catch Up With Jack Ingham Nick! OA President Nick Breton, former teacher Don Gray- son and OA David Cockle (pictured) spent an after- “Looking back so far on what has been a busy start noon reminiscing with legendary French teacher, Jack to 2014, I'm deeply impressed by all that the Ashville Ingham. community has achieved and celebrated. Once Jack is now in his 90s and is living in Knaresborough again it has given many of us a lot of pleasure to with his wife, Winsome. see pupils new and old, staff, families and other sup- porters joining in on a number of events and activi- It is hoped—health permitting—that he will be make ties. We ended 2013 with our now traditional Christ- the journey to Windermere later this year for the 75th mas drinks reception in the Memorial Hall; though anniversary dinner of the school’s evacuation to the numbers were a little lower than last year, this is an Hydro Hotel. important point in the Society's calendar. In February and March we had OA reunions in Lon- don, Nottingham and Newcastle, some of us catch- ing up on over 30 years since last meeting! Then in March who could fail but to have been bowled over by the energy and creativity of the Arts Festival? It was good to welcome back actor and ex-pupil Jim Carter to open the newly refurbished Soothill Hall, and to re-name the Drama Centre. The Society is looking forward to the Celebration Weekend and AGM at the School on 28-29th June, to which everyone is invited. Then over the weekend of 18-19th October several dozen of us will make our way to the Hydro Hotel in Windermere to remember and give thanks for the School's wartime evacuation there on its 75th anniversary. Again, this event is still open to any former pupils who wish to come, regard- less of age (please contact Clare Dolman at the School if interested). Details of this and other events are on the 'Development Ashville' group page on Facebook. I am very pleased that with assistance from the School we plan to continue to issue two printed Up- dates each year. In it we intend occasionally to promote the work of the Ashville Foundation, which Newcastle Gathering seeks to assist pupils' families with fees when fi- nances suddenly become a problem; I am sure we On Saturday, March 1, Andrew Johnson was can count on your kind support for this excellent delighted to host 11 Ashvillians from Newcastle cause. and Northumbria Universities as well as some Finally for now, I wish to thank my fellow Officers and other Committee members for their help and visitors from more distant universities. Students support, and also the Headmaster and staff. I want who had left over the last three years were especially to thank Clare Dolman for all her hard there and it was good to be able to share with work as Society Assistant; we shall miss her and them news from Ashville and learn of their pro- Jonathan once they leave the School this summer.” gress as well as allowing them to catch up with each other’s news. While there we were con- tacted by Ian Brown, the owner of Six Restau- With all best wishes rant in the Baltic Art Gallery so perhaps we can Nick Breton aim even higher next year. President

Page 3 Ashvillian Society UPDATE *PICTURE SPECIAL* Christmas Drinks Reception

There were plenty of familiar—and new—faces at last December’s OA Christmas Drinks reception. Once again Jean had laid on super festive treats, and the school provided the liquid refreshments

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Society Reports

Society Assistant’s Report . The intention is to introduce our U6 to the Society and how they may get involved in the future.

Visit to Jack Ingham We are currently in the process of organizing a visit to our eldest surviving member of staff, Jack Ingham who lives locally in Knaresborough. A small group of Database 4 OAs and staff will visit Jack at home in the next I am delighted that thanks to Tom Foxton in the ICT depart- month or so, once we have made final arrangements ment, the fields for the new Society database are complete. We with Jack’s daughter. are now currently in the process of transferring all the data from Contact Cards the old database. When all the data is finally transferred, we will Please would the Committee and Officers consider have a much more user friendly system, which will provide us whether we would like to reproduce contact cards with more information on each member of the Society and will again this year and if so, the financial implications. also allow us to easily identify various groups within the Society such as all those from the 1980s or all those OAs currently liv- Clare Dolman ing in London or all those in a chose profession. There is regular communication from OAs on a daily basis, either providing updated contact details or asking for contact information for fellow OAs. I have noticed a real surge in interest in the Soci- The Ashville Archive – report for The Ashvillian ety since I have been contacting OAs on Facebook. I have put Society forward a request that OAs are eventually able to update their own contact details but Tom is not sure about the viability of Current situation this at this stage. This is certainly a target for the long term fu- Location ture. The Ashville College Archive is currently held in two Reunions rooms on the top floor of the Main Building of the Although it was a small gathering this year at the Christmas school. One is a combination of workroom and store- Drinks Evening, OAs enjoyed the opportunity to have a festive room, the other is simply a store-room. catch up with fellow OAs and College staff. I would ask the Offi- Contents cers if they have any suggestions about how best to promote The contents were originally assembled in a rather this event in order to attract as many OAs as possible and haphazard manner and, until Mike Burke began to whether the current date of the 18th December is the best devote time in his retirement to sorting out the collec- choice. tion begun by Bill Booth, they were stored haphaz- Following requests from our OAs in London, Society President ardly as well. There are books, photographs, trophies, Nick Breton hosted a reunion at the Lancaster Gate Hotel on th bits of uniform, ceramics, magazines, minutes of Gov- February 25 , which was much appreciated by some of our ernors’ Meetings and other committees. London based OAs who find it difficult to get to Harrogate. On st Mike Burke and Jane Petts devoted considerable Saturday 1 March, Mr Johnson and Mrs Ellis are hosting reun- time to ordering what Bill had left, and the fact that the ions in Newcastle and Nottingham respectively, hoping to storage-boxes are accurately labelled is the result of gather together any OAs at university in these two cities. their herculean efforts. Without the work done so will- We now have 51 bookings for Saturday 18th October at the Hy- th ingly by Mike and Jane it would be almost impossible dro Hotel in Windermere and 41 for Friday 17 October. This to find anything in the Archive at all! does not include any College staff attending. I suggest we Use really promote the Windermere Reunion in the next edition of th Currently the Archive is used in a very varied and in- the Update. The cost of dinner only on Saturday 18 October is formal manner: when specific requests come in to £25. school from former pupils or visitors, the Head asks if Gift for U6 Leavers there is anything about the person or about the topic The suggestion from the Officers for a potential gift for our U6 they are pursuing in the Archive – a case in point is Leavers is a lapel pin. I will research costings for this but I former Head Prefect Nick Jackson and more recent would suggest that we perhaps put this to the Committee for former pupil Max Dutton researching the Great War their approval before placing an order. and its impact on Ashville, admittedly for different pur- President’s Visit to the College poses. Another example would be Ian Swales MP Further to discussion at the last Committee Meeting, Nick checking his 2nd XI batting average before addressing Breton, President of the Society will be visiting our U6 formers the College at Speech Day 2013. With careful plan- at some point during the second half of the Spring Term ning the archive could be more widely used and better known within the current school community.

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Society Reports

Cont’d from page 5 remiss if I were to allow her departure from the Archive to Staffing pass without some word of tribute. The late Mike Burke devoted a day per week for several years to the Archive: Jane Petts has done likewise in her retirement, other commitments permitting, until her recent Andi Barker decision to stand down. Don Grayson works on the Old Ashvillian database when he is able to and Clare Dolman works on the OA records to enable the College to contact Headmaster’s Report to the Old Ashvillian Society OAs quickly and more reliably than in the past. Don works on a voluntary basis: Clare works in Archives alongside The School her work in the Modern Language department. Andi The term started with 760 pupils enrolled in the College works as the College Archivist alongside his Barker and with number continuing to grow, we expect next term teaching commitments in History and Politics: researching to begin with 770 on the roll. Boarding numbers remain for the Headmaster the school career of distinguished healthy. OAs, eg Jim Carter, or the complex procedure of planning and building the Soothill Hall – escorting OA visitors – We are projecting slightly lower numbers overall next searching for Great War material for local displays – year with uptake in the early years being sluggish as par- checking to see if we have photographs of former cham- ents delay committing to independent education. How- pion choirboys – all this and more. ever, Year 7 numbers are already better than predicted Future developments given the small demographic locally of that age group. In There are a number of things which I would like to see addition, we have recruited so far the largest day pupil happen, some of which may be less practical than others: intake into the Sixth Form in the College’s recent history. a proper and practical catalogue, so that searching for This is due to the changing perceptions locally of the any item would be less hit-and –miss than it currently is; School’s academic strength and other key initiatives have a display facility in the heart of the school, near the Soot- helped increase our reputation and the confidence in us. hill Hall, so that pupils, staff and visitors get some idea of The future therefore remains positive in outlook. what we hold; a way to cope with the extension of the archive to accom- Staff News & Appointments modate more material as time goes on;  Owen Edwards will join the College as the new room to bring classes into the Archive for PrePrep, Junior Head of Mathematics in April. Owen is currently a School and also from Year 7 as they do the History of Housemaster and assistant Head of Year at GSAL Ashville element at the start of their course; (Grammar School at Leeds) where he is also a opening up our archive to interested parties from the keen rugby coach and led his side to victory in the wider community of Harrogate, including the Nidd Valley Methodist Circuit, and also the Methodist Church nation- Daily Mail Cup last year.  ally. Ashville Trading has appointed Natalie Sykes to Jane Petts start as our Interim Lettings Manager in April, to As I have already indicated, the Ashville Archive owes a cover Krista Wood who will be on maternity leave. significant debt to the work of Jane Petts, both while she  We have a new structure in the Learning Sup- was still active as Head of Girls’ Games and since her port Department, with Fiona Allinson taking on retirement. The timeline which she and Mike Burke con- a new role as Learning Support Co-ordinator ceived and produced gives visitors, staff and pupils a (Senior School) and Stephanie Morris taking on sweeping summary of the key events and developments the new role of Learning Support Co-ordinator in the history of the College and is admired by everyone (Junior School and Pre Prep). who sees it. Less obvious to the majority of people is the  Our Chaplain, the Rev Dr David Barker is on sab- organisation and clarity of thinking which Jane brought to batical this term and his teaching and Chaplaincy bear on the bulk of the material held in the Archive up- duties are being covered by Mrs Catherine Frieze. stairs. Jane and I attended a conference for school archi- vists last autumn and she was keenly seeking advice College Development about the task of establishing a practical catalogue, a The Soothill Hall has been refurbished and this is now mammoth undertaking which is still in the planning stage. Jane has given her time gladly, but the calls on her time completed, save for a few snagging and technical adjust- and energy from the various branches of her family, ments. The hall is back in use and we are enjoying again young and old, near and far, understandably take priority the community feel of the College through assemblies, and so she has felt unable to continue with her role. I concerts and other activities. The hall will be thoroughly hope to be able to pick her brain and benefit from her road tested in the 11 days of the Ashville Arts Festival counsel in the coming years, but I would be dreadfully beginning on 12th March.

Page 6 Ashvillian Society UPDATE Society Reports

OA and former Head Prefect Jim Carter, better known Junior School Sport for his acting roles and screen and TV, currently best Nathan Hale, Matthew Rudolph, Beth Lilley, James known as Carter the Butler in Downton Abbey, will for- Sadler, Phoebe Dixon and James mally open the Hall on 16th March after dedicating the Shackleton (Year 6) all competed in the Yorkshire Swim- Drama studio as the Crater Studio and working with ming Championships: drama students in the College in a master class.  Matthew won the 100m Backstroke Dame Evelyn Glennie, the renowned international per-  Nathan finished 3rd in the 100m Freestyle and cussionist, who performed in a major role at the Open- ing Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics will feature reached the 100m Butterfly Final in the Festival as will pupils in a variety of recitals, per-  Beth recorded a personal best time in the 400 formances and concerts. A Fringe Festival will also metre freestyle. take place alongside the main events and pupils and  James Sadler – 200 Backstroke staff will be juggling and performing ‘street style’ around  James Shackleton was ranked 15TH in the 200M the campus. Breaststroke, and College Uniform & New Shop In Foyer  Phoebe Dixon – 200 Breaststroke The College will introduce a new uniform from September Senior School Sport 2014. This will see an end to the old wool blazer, much  Isaac P ye (Year 11) r epresented N orthern complained about and expensive, and a new dark bur- E ngland in t he C asterton T riathlon w hich gundy blazer for pupils from Reception to Year 11. Boys consisted of a 3000m run 200m swim and will retain the traditional ties and girls will wear a blouse an 8km bike. Isaac finished 6th out of 146 an open neck. House badges will remain as now. Pre- competitors and recorded the fastest run time Prep and Junior School blazers will be traditionally cut of the day and a swim personal best. and will sport the College crest. From Years 7-11,  Lucy Lister (Year 11) represented Yorkshire blazers will be suit cut without a crest but dulled brass in Netball matches against North-East and buttons will be emblazoned with the College crest. An North West teams ‘Ashville Tartan’ kilted skirt will be worn by the girls. I can confirm that the rumour that boys were being made to wear kilts is not true. The Uniform will be sold on site in the new shop in the Foyer. Governors Week The 3rd – 7th March has seen all of the College Gover- nors visiting a host of different activities including les- sons and meetings to see the College in action. Recent events/trips World Book Day Science Week Chinese New Year House Drama Greenholme trip to Edinburgh Ashville College Headmaster, Mark Lauder Years 10- U6 Trip to the Crucible Theatre Adventure Day at Ingleton Yr 7 Ashvillian Society Black Tie Dinner Saturday 28th Science Live Trip Yr 7 J u n e Environmental Studies Fieldtrip to Brimham Rocks Sixth Form In order to provide a seating plan that reflects the Trip to Magna Yr 6 wishes of guests, the final date for applications for the Black Tie Dinner is Friday 13th June. Visit by Team GB gymnast and Junior European Cham- Where possible we would like to encourage guests to pion, Nile Wilson make up their own tables of eight, so please do let us World Aims Disaster Day building waterproof shelters Yr 9 know any preferences you may have with regard to seating arrangements when you make your booking. ISI Intermediate Boarding Inspection Please email Clare Dolman in the OA Office at We are still awaiting notification of the Inspection which [email protected] for further information. is now due.

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THE ASHVILLIAN SOCIETY

NOTICE OF THE 115th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 29th June 2014

Notice is hereby given that the Hundred and fifteenth Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held at Ashville College, Harrogate, on Sunday the 29th June 2014, commencing at 10.30am in the Lancaster Library.

AGENDA

Apologies For Absence

Minutes of the Hundred and fourteenth Annual General Meeting held at Ashville College, Harrogate on the 7th July 2013

Matters Arising from the Minutes

The Headmaster’s Report

Honorary Treasurer’s Report

The President’s Report

Election of Officers

Vice-president: Kirstin Barnes (2014 to 2015)

Honorary Treasurer: Alistair Wright (2014 to 2015)

Honorary Archivist: Andi Barker (2014 to 2017)

Update Editor: David Simister (2014 to 2017)

School Representative Sally Ellis (2014 to 2017)

Reunion Coordinator David Bulmer (2014 to 2017)

Membership Secretary OA Office appointment (2014- to 2017)

Election of Committee

Retiring Senior and Deputy Senior Prefect

Appointment of an Examiner of the Society’s Accounts.

Any Other Business David Bulmer Honorary Secretary Ashvillian Society Page 8 Ashvillian Society UPDATE

OA Kieren Barnes Tells Of Climbing Mt Kili- harder to relax and rest. The day before the summit climb manjaro for Afghanistan we reached Kibo hut which stands at 4,700m feeling very As a student at Ashville in the 1990’s I made a couple of tired and cold. We ate some dinner at 6pm and were in- trips to Africa, first on a rugby tour to Zimbabwe and then formed by our guides we should try to sleep at 7pm be- later to Kenya and Malawi. Through the support of Neville cause at 11pm we would need to get up, have tea and be Bevis I then spent a year teaching at a school in Zimbabwe ready to start to the summit climb at midnight. I slept for and it was at this point that my fascination with working about 2 hours, which was clearly not long enough! At mid- overseas was firmly cemented. After university and working night we followed the trail of head torches on the steep in Edinburgh for a number of years I finally managed in slope leading up to Gillmans point, the rim of the crater. It 2009 to move out to Nairobi and started work in an urban was a slow, tough, steep climb as we zig zagged up the project for children at risk. scree and through patches of snow. At 6:30am exactly I Kenya is a beautiful country with some incredible national reached Gillmans point, 5,681m and managed to watch parks and outdoor activities. My dream was to climb Kili- the glorious view of the sun rising across Mawenzi peak manjaro in Tanzania, however due to my asthma I didn’t and above the clouds. Words and photos will never do believe it would be possible. This all changed 3 years ago justice to such a sight. I felt elated and surprisingly full of when I joined a group of friends to climb Mount Kenya, the energy to keep going to the highest peak which was second highest peak in Africa. I amazed myself by achiev- around the other side of the crater. ing the climb and on the way down, feeling reasonably con- Uhuru peak did not seem too far away however at this alti- fident, I questioned the team whether we should consider tude we were down to about 50% of the oxygen that you climbing Kilimanjaro. The response was positive and in would be accustomed to at sea level. I walked about 10 February 2014 we begun the challenge of climbing the high- paces, extremely slowly and then would stop for about 2 est mountain in Africa. minutes to catch my breath. The sense of elation and en- Work life had moved on after the Mount Kenya climb and I ergy had quickly passed. A walk that would normally take joined an International Humanitarian Organisation based 20 minutes on a lower level took over 2 hours. I reached out of Switzerland called Medair. My first posting was in Uhuru peak, the highest point on Kilimanjaro, 5,896m and Somalia, responding to the horn of Africa crisis. When our there were no feelings of euphoria, just complete exhaus- project came to a close I quickly moved over to the Medair tion, I had given ever last ounce of strength to reach the programme in Afghanistan where I eventually took over the peak at 8.40am. I just wanted to sleep. I forced my eyes role as Country Director. Our programmes currently include to stay open and did the best to take in the magnificent helping to provide clean water, build latrines, reduce diar- views as we stood on the roof of Africa, the clouds below rhoea in under 5’s, increase the food supply for households, us and the blue sky above, I had made it, my dream was prevent flooding which destroys crops and homes and help realised. Now all I had to do then was walk the 8 hours the communities to become stronger and more resilient. down to a lower camp and to bed for some well need Medair is focused on bringing life saving support and help- sleep! ing to relieve the suffering of some of the most vulnerable and the hardest to reach communities in the world. During the planning stages of the Kilimanjaro expedition I decided this would be a great opportunity to raise funds for our Af- ghanistan programme. I left Kabul on the 6th February and after meeting up with the team in Nairobi we started our ascent in Tanzania on the 11th February. Our expedition was planned to be 6 days long, using the quieter Rongai route on the Kenyan side of the mountain. The days were long, often walking over 6 hours, although the slopes were not so tough in the early days of the trip. For an average hiker the first few days don’t pose too much of a challenge, however sleeping at altitude is not easy and the cold in the evenings also makes it

WINDERMERE 2014 CELEBRATION INFORMATION

Outlined below is a provisional outline for the Windermere Reunion weekend. We are now up to more than 60 provisional guests. Friday B&B £47.50 per person (optional) Saturday Arrive for afternoon tea served in the Ballroom between 3.30 and 5.00pm A formal dinner will be served in the dining room at 7.30pm with drinks in the headmasters study, now the bar from 7.00pm! Overnight accommodation, dinner and breakfast on Sunday for £77 per person. Attendees can call the hotel and quote ASH1710 to make a reservation The Hydro Hotel @ Windermere 01539 444455 http://www.thehydro.co.uk

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Julian said: “I’d like to thank all three organisations for this OA MP Presented With Unique “Beer award, which means a great deal to me. Champion” Award By OA Brewer “The regional – and national – pub and beer industry needs to be protected, and seeing the pernicious beer An OA MP has received a special award for his work in duty escalator scrapped was a step in the right direction. helping to secure last year’s historic cut in beer duty. “The government has now gone two steps further by re- York Outer MP, Julian Sturdy (pictured right), was pre- ducing duty on beer in the last two Budgets. sented with the new “Beer Champion” award at a “This is helping secure jobs and giving breweries such as ceremony in Dunnington’s Windmill Inn, by OA, Simon Theakston’s the confidence to invest in their businesses.” Theakston, Yorkshire Chairman of the British Beer and Pub Simon Theakston said: “I’ve known Julian for a number of Association (BBPA). years and he has – and continues to be – a champion for The special award is a joint initiative from the BBPA, Cam- our industry. paign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and the Society of Independ- “I’m personally delighted to have been called on to present ent Brewers (SIBA), who wanted to recognize the contribu- him with this honour.” tion of Mr Sturdy, who supported Britain’s national drink during 2013, especially for his support in scrapping the beer duty escalator, which led to the momentous cut in beer duty. All three bodies joined forces for the second year running to lobby Parliament for a further freeze in beer duty. In the event the government went further and actually re- duced beer duty much to the delight of brewers and land- lords all over the country. Brewing and pubs are vital to the local economy in every corner of the UK.

Dave “Dice” Wright tells Update about a small gathering in New York

“Following the summer reunion at school, the better halves of our party, ie the wives! hit upon the idea of having a reunion later in the year in New York. Taking a lead from Frank Sinatra, it was decided that Autumn in New York would a good choice. Consequently, my good lady Jude, made all the arrangements and the three families , two flying from London and the Fallow clan from Glasgow, descended upon the Affinia Hotel, Manhattan and enjoyed a wonderful four night stay in the big apple. Plenty of walking, eating and drinking plus a bike ride in Central Park for the boys whilst the girls shopped 5th Avenue to the maximum luggage allowance. A great time was had by all and we look forward to the next reunion on foreign soil....after the Summer and Windermere reunions of course!”

“Reunionsts” were: Helen and David Fallow 1968 to 76 Jane and Mark Hanson 1969 to 1977 or was it 78 or 79 even! Jude and David Wright 1968 to 76

Pictured are the Fallow,Hanson and Wright families outside The Mulberry Bar, Mulberry St, New York.

Page 10 Ashvillian Society UPDATE News OA Dennis Fenter Tells Update about Brent However we did manage to get over that problem eventu- Lodge Wildlife Hospital, which he set up. ally. We built a cage in The most common question I am asked is “How do you the garden where start a wildlife hospital?” “Tiny” as we called her, could spend the My answer is always the same, I didn’t start Brent Lodge day getting used to the as much as fell into it and it just grew around me. sights and sounds of the big wide world, It all started in 1971 in Rustington, where my then wife complete with her own and I ran a photographic shop and studio. We lived near small nest box filled enough to the shop to go home to lunch and on that fate- with the ever neces- ful day nearly 43 years ago had done just that. As we got sary paper towel. She out of the car with the dogs, they diverted to our goldfish soon learned to feed pond and started barking at it. Interested to see the cause herself. First from the of the commotion we crossed the lawn and saw a tiny bowl of mashed egg baby sparrow sitting on a water lily leaf in the middle of and then from seed the pond which for some reason was not allowed by our scattered on the cage two rough collies. bottom. After a few We rescued it and took it indoors wondering what we weeks we tentatively could do to help it. First we dried it in a kitchen towel and opened the cage door. then warmed it up in a cool oven, so far so good, but how She took several days to feed it and what on was not so obvious. A phone call to to pluck up courage to investigate the garden, but before our vet was little help as he insisted he had never reared long was going for longer and longer trips, but for a long babies of this type. It came from an egg, so egg seemed a time returned nightly to her roost in the cage. Eventually good start as we had no other ideas. We soft boiled an she flew off, and didn’t return that year. egg, cooled it and mashed it up with a fork. We envisaged Meanwhile, we were as pleased as punch at our success problems with getting it to feed but need not have worried. and being rather stupid humans we boasted about it with A child’s paint brush dipped in the egg mash picked up a the inevitable result . . . a ring on the doorbell and there in drop of the mixture and as the paint brush tip was offered our porch stood our next door neighbour with a blackbird to the tiny mite, its mouth gaped wide enough to pop the with a damaged wing, saying she had brought it to us as brush in its mouth and after five minutes you could see we ‘knew about birds’. This was a completely different ket- the crop on the side of the birds neck bulging with the tle of fish and we called our vet once more. He helped us food it had taken and it stopped opening its beak when strap the wing in place and administered anti biotic after the brush approached. cleaning the wound. Problem solved! Or so we thought. What we hadn’t reck- The Blackbird went out into Tiny’s old cage and settled in oned with was how quickly it emptied the crop and started with amazingly little fuss. We had learned our lesson with begging for food again. On average it needed feeding Tiny, and kept contact to a minimum, only ever handling every 15-20 minutes of daylight, so soon we had to pur- the bird when absolutely necessary to check its wounds chase further supplies of eggs. I say daylight as baby and put fresh food in the cage. birds are not fed after dark by their mums, which gave us time off to eat for ourselves whilst the baby slept in a nest After four weeks the strapping was removed and the bird of crumpled kitchen towel in another room with the light left in the cage to exercise its wings. It proved to be able to off. 6am next morning it started peeping for food again use it and after a couple of days we opened the door and it and so started another day. When we went to work it flew off. We were over the moon. We had reared a baby came with us and sat in its nest telling us when it was sparrow and repaired a damaged blackbird. Had we hungry and getting more demanding as it started to grow learned our lesson . . . had we heck . . . we started boast- a fine covering of feathers. ing again and so got a then totally unjustified reputation as bird doctors and a slow trickle of injured or baby birds Much to our surprise it prospered and within a few weeks started to arrive at our door. we had a fine young sparrow flying round the inside of the house, following us everywhere. This posed another prob- As for Tiny, she did come back the following year and lem. How do you release a humanised bird to the wild. raised two healthy families! First lesson learned, don’t humanise. Keep as little contact as possible when rearing babies for release.

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Letters Loved the update! Dear OA Update, Tomorrow meet up with M. G. Miles in Mel- Thank you for the Old Boys' memories you have pub- lished about their days at Ashville, which are of great in- bourne. Thanks to you! terest for those with memories of our own. Haven't seen nor heard from him for 50 years. My period from 1960 at New College was most interesting Jack Ingham taught me French and I'm de- as there were opportunities for adding to our absorbing lighted he is still alive. science lesson experiences in the labs. The newest elec- David Walker I recall as Head Prefect, his tronic devices then were transistors, just appearing in radios that few boys at first had. A day boy, David Young brother Geoff was with me at Soothill where we brought a kit to school that enabled us to build something were cast in a play called St George & The of great interest to several of us that the other radios Dragon and fought a duel with scimitars. would not do - it enabled us to transmit! We were soon I will go through any old memorabilia and scan taking a receiver across the New College sports grounds them to you when I have time. to see how far we could go and still hear the classroom based one transistor transmitter. Later I had one of these Regards, Ron Cash kits and it also enabled one to build a three transistor au- dio amplifier. As medium wave was already receivable on The Brothers Cash most radios,the physics curriculum taught by Mr Welsh and Mr Senior gave us the formula for winding the right size coil to make up a diode crystal set for the BBC tv sound channel. Mr Senior told me one day that he had an aluminium chassis that he had made before he came to Ashville, as well as a variable capacitor bought with a view to building a Band Two VHF FM sound tuner. He said that as he was not likely to ever finish it would I like the chassis and capacitor for a project. With gratitude I used the chassis for the three transistor amplifier as it had no case. The capacitor enabled one to tune the crystal set to the TV sound channel after passing the very bubbly sounding vision signal. This was first tried one evening in Holmwood and I had to check in Mr Senior's Radio Times to confirm that I was hearing BBC TV ! As boarders we used to get magazines to read on the train back to school and one of these, 'Radio and Electronics World', had a Thank you for the Ashvillian Update. I always enjoy spellbinding article about the Telstar TV satellite only just reading it. launched in July 1962. There were two of us that built our It was good to see Jack Ingham`s photograph. An- own portable transistor radios from kits and they were other Ashvillian nonagenarian is the widow of our Chester and myself, both of us in the Radio Club. In the former headmaster. Mrs Joan Southam was 90 on sixties there were tons of ex government valves being Christmas day. sold off cheaply, so many that some were sold still in their equipment also very cheap. An advert for a 38 set AFV With best wishes. portable transceiver for only 12/6d caught our attention Richard Clark and soon there were a number of these being investi- gated. Helpful dayboys purchased for us the extra parts Have You Got News For Us? that we needed to adapt them, as the parts shop was not accessible in the 20 minutes trip possible in town. We If you, then please send your stories, letters found that the 38 sets could be used with the crystal ear pieces from most transistor radios and before long we had and photographs to David Simister, an evening net running before lights out between most of [email protected], and we will do our the houses along Green Lane. very best to include them in the next Update, When one considers that most peoples' everyday activi- which is scheduled for publication in early ties now could not take place at all without radio links, it January 2015. appears our science experiences at Ashville were indeed preparing us for how things were going to change in the future. With many thanks for my days at Ashville, Mike Wade (1960-66)

Page 12 Ashvillian Society UPDATE Letters I have just been reading in Newsletter 59 about one or two boys who I remember from schooldays at Ashville in the late 40’s. Joynson, Pickles, and Walker are names that come to mind. I have a couple of photos taken at the house further down than Holmwood, I forget the house name. The master was Mr Davies. I am attaching the photos, perhaps they may be of interest. As I was at the last term in Windermere I can vouch for the scarcity of striped blazers, and later, the condition of Elm- field after the RAF had finished with it. The photo taken of the school in 1925 is interesting as my uncle, Charles Lambert is on it. Best Wishes

Derek Lambert

Among your alumni there must still be many oldies who, like me, were called up for National Service at the start of the Cold War and found ourselves, in some bewilderment, teenaged commissioned officers in charge of men with medals on their chests. We all found our own ways of coping with this, and “The Paper Caper” (though a novel) is based upon mine. I don’t know if the Army will like it very much but your Old Boys might: could you possibly mention it to them in your next Newsletter (and to the youngsters too, as a hint for Grandad’s Yuletide stocking)? Send your letters, photographs and recollections to Best wishes Update editor David Simister by November 22 for Tim Topps inclusion in Update 61

Appreciations

John Cecil Burt It is with regret that we have learned of the death of John Cecil Burt, brother of Alan, also at School. He recently moved to Great Ayton and lived opposite OA John R Kirkpatrick in the Friends School development. John worked in the lagging industry for many years including working with Asbestos, and it is feared this is partly to blame. John Kirkpatrick said: “We had many long and deep discussions, searching my past knowledge as a G.P. There is to be an inquest in August and I will keep you informed.”

Richard Timberlake, an Ashville College leaver in 1961, Harold William Johnson, passed away on 5 April at the died on 27th November 2013. He trained as a Civil Engi- age of 88. He was at Ashville (at Windermere) from 1939 neer and spent much of his career in the Middle East, to 1942, and subsequently served in the RAF from 1943 working on major engineering projects. He remained a life- to 1947. He trained as an engineer, and was managing long friend of Kingsley Gardner, who was best man at his director of Feeny & Johnson Ltd, in Wembley, from 1964 wedding and gave the eulogy at his funeral. to 1990. Together, they enjoyed over 50 years of practical jokes. His funeral took place at Emmanuel Church, Northwood, Richard insisted on keeping his sense of humour right until on 22 April, and was attended by members of his family, the end, sending Kingsley Gardner a Mister Man book enti- friends and former colleagues at Feeny & Johnson and tled 'Mister Mischief' as a 71st birthday present! Richard Steering Developments Ltd. will always be remembered for his wonderful sense of fun His twin brother, Kingsley, who was at the school at the and his generosity. same time, is still alive but is in poor health.

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OA Hockey Tournament April Forty Five Ashville Old Boys arrived at the College on Sun- day morning to make up four teams of Old Ashvillians and take on the Senior Boys’ 1st and 2nd XIs in the 2nd all-day Festival of Hockey. The teams were arranged into two groups of three and during the morning played against each of the other teams in their groups. Group A was narrowly won by last year’s win- ners, Sexton’s Superstars, a team selected from the best players from 2003 – 2010. This was despite their being held to a goalless draw by the Ashveterans from 1985 – 2009. The Ashveterans, however, could only finished third as they had previously been beaten by a Rory Miller goal for the College 2nd XI. The 2nd XI only missed out on a place in the final by virtue of a 1-0 defeat in a close game against the Superstars. In Group B, the College 1st XI got off to a flying start with a 4-0 victory against the Older Ashvillians of 2009 – 2012, thanks to goals from Jeremy Barker (2), Dave Swarbrick and Matt Swenson. The most recent Old Ashvillians from 2012 -2013, led by last year’s Captain of Hockey, Miles Buller, defeated the Older Ashvillians 1-0, to set up a tense showpiece match against the 1st XI to decide who would proceed to the Final. The Old Ashvillians were tactically superior in the first half in closing out the threat from dan- german Dave Swarbrick, and they made the most of their chances to take a 2-0 half time lead. The 1st XI came back strongly after half time and Dave Swarbrick managed to At 5pm the players and their families made their way claw one goal back, but despite considerable pressure, the down to The Black Swan for a most enjoyable buffet and OAs held out and the 1st XI had to settle for 2nd place in the social evening. Everyone commented on how much they group. had enjoyed the day and looked forward to returning on After lunch in the dining hall, a series of play-offs decided April 19th next year for the 3rd Ashvillian Festival of the final placings. The Older Ashvillians took 5th place with Hockey. a 4-1 victory against the Ashveterans, in a closely fought It was a wonderful celebration of hockey and as well as to match only decided by 3 late goals. Goals from Ben Fore- all the parents, pupils and staff who supported, thanks man (2), Rory Miller, Matt Butcher and Bukho Mahlati then must go to Mr Williams and Mr Barker for their photogra- gave the 1st XI a 5-0 victory over the 2nd XI to secure 3rd phy, to the umpires Mr Exley, Mr Clemerson and Mr place. The Final was fittingly the Game of the Tournament. Horsley, and to our younger pupils, Tom Booth, Will Sexton’s Superstars were on top form and opportunities for Farrar, Ciaran McGarrell and Jack Hughes, who stood in a strong Old Ashvillian side were few and far between. The at short notice to cover for injuries and ended up playing Superstars gradually took control of the match with Chris more games than anyone! Sunderland giving them a 1-0 half time lead. After half John P Sexton time, the Superstars moved the ball superbly, to dominate possession, eventually sealing a 3-0 victory with further goals for Chris Sunderland and Andy Ace. After the final, Peter Holt presented the trophies his family had kindly donated to the winning Superstars team and to Player of the Tournament, James Townsend. The new Read Sunderland trophy, donated by the Sunderland family, was then presented to the 1st XI leading goalscorer for the season, Ben Foreman.

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School News

Ashville College Swimmers Smash Own Record At National Final

Swimmers from Ashville College have smashed a num- Duncan Archer, Ashville College’s Head of Swimming and ber of records at a national schools swimming competi- Athletics, said: “Over the course of these two days our tion. young swimmers really excelled themselves. The annual Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Confer- “To break six records, rank fifth nationally in two events and ence (HMC) Schools’ Bath and Otter Championships - retain the Aldenham Trophy was a truly magnificent perform- held at the Olympic Park Aquatics Centre in Stratford - ance. saw the girls team reach the finals of both the freestyle “Our swimmers certainly rose to the challenge in the Olym- and medley relays in the Small Schools category, finish- pic pool. This is extremely encouraging given we will be ing in seventh and eighth place respectively. back very shortly to compete in the British Schools’ Modern The boys’ team swam a controlled heat in the freestyle Biathlon Championships.” relay, qualifying for the Small Schools final with the third Mr Archer added: “We are very much looking forward to fastest time. competing in next year’s competition, where we hope to re- However, with all swimmers clocking quicker splits in the tain the trophy for a fourth year and strengthen our perform- final than the heats, the Ashville boys comfortably saw off ance across all events.” the competition with a time of 3:46:08, beating the cham- pionship record – set by the Ashville’s 2012 team - by some eight seconds! This time would have secured fifth place in the main final. In doing so, Ashville also became the first school to retain the Aldenham Trophy – awarded for victory in the Small Schools Freestyle Relay - for three consecutive years. In the medley relay the boys set a new school record, qualifying for the overall final – the Otter Cup, instead of the small schools category. The team beat this record again, shaving over a second off their qualifying time in the final, and finishing fifth overall. As part of their preparations, both teams also competed at the Whitgift School Invitational Gala the day before the championships. The school finished fifth overall with Mat- thew Rudolph, Jonathan Bradley, George Humphreys and Beth Lilly all breaking school records.

Ashvillian Rugby Stars Chosen For England around the region. They will also receive professional ad- Development Programme vice and coaching to further improve their game. Ashville College Director of Sport Phil Holmes said: “To have four boys selected is a reflection of both their hard A clutch of Ashville work throughout the season, and the strength of the rugby College pupils programme here at Ashville. have been se- “We are very proud of the players and they fully deserve lected to train with this opportunity. the England “Last summer, we launched a partnership with Leeds Car- Rugby Developing negie, with the aim of improving the boys’ skills and seeking Player Program out rising stars – which it is already achieving. (ERDPP), follow- “The programme is a fantastic opportunity for the boys to ing highly competi- develop their game with the best young players in the re- tive trials. gion. “It will complement and build on the positive messages and Five promising rugby players were put forward by the encouragement received through the school’s rugby coach- school with four being selected for the training pro- ing team.” gramme, designed by Sir Ian McGeechan and run by Phil added: “These achievements reflect both the hard work Leeds Carnegie. put in by the boys over the years, but also that of Damien As part of his program, the boys; Ben Thewlis, Sam El- Warren, our Head of Rugby in his first season in the role at son, Matthew Chow and Ben Waller will attend regular Ashville.” training camps with other highly-skilled players from Page 15 Ashvillian Society UPDATE

ASHVILLIAN SOCIETY CONTACTS PRESIDENT HONORARY TREASURER HONORARY SECRETARY Nick Breton Alistair Wright David Bulmer 1 Huby Park [email protected] 37 Pecketts Way Strait Lane Harrogate Huby HG1 3EW LS17 0EE Tel: 01423 531 654 [email protected] [email protected]

UPDATE EDITOR MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY IMMEDIATE PAST David Simister Vacant PRESIDENT 5 Bachelor Gardens David Bulmer Harrogate HG1 3EL [email protected]

FACEBOOK DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Follow the latest news for Ashville College and the Ashvillian Society on Facebook “Development th th Ashville”. Celebration Weekend 27 -29 June 2014 OA Girls Hockey Tournament LINKED-IN th Saturday 6 September, 2014 Join the LinkedIn “Ashville College Harrogate OA Rugby Tournament Saturday Alumni Group” 6th September,2014 Ashville College Open Day 4th Oc- UPDATE tober 2014 If you would like to submit a story for the next edi- Windermere Reunion 18-19th Oc- tion of UPDATE, please email it to the Editor, tober David Simister at [email protected]. Annual Ashvillian Society Lunch Deadline: November 22 2014 — Celebration of Drama at Ash- ville College Saturday 15th No- Archive photo—but from what year? vember, 2014 Carol Service Sunday 7th Decem- ber Christmas Drinks Wednesday 17th December University Visits Saturday 7th March Ashvillian Society Committee meetings 15th November 2014 and 7th March 2015 OA Netball Saturday 21st March 2015 OA Boys Hockey Sunday 19th April 2015 Celebration Weekend 26th-28th June 2015 Ashvillian Golf Day Monday 6th July 2015

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