THE GORDONSTOUN ASSOCIATIONELGIN, MORAY, SCOTLAND IV30 5RF

ga@gordonstoun.org.ukwww.gordonstoun.org.uk/former-students/+44 (0) 1343 837 922

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THE GORDONSTOUN ASSOCIATIONPatron: HRH The Duke of Edinburgh KG, KT

WINTER 2015/16

CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME CONTENTS

Dear Old Gordonstounians,

I’m delighted to have this opportunity to introduce myself as the new chairman of the Gordonstoun Association and this new magazine for 2015/16. I have already served six years on the committee since coming back from a posting to Berlin. How I got involved was one of those small but significant moments in life. Being new to Aberdeenshire, I called the GA office to see if any of my old school friends were living nearby, and discovered how warmly the school greeted OGs who get in touch and how good the office is at creating links with possible friends in your area. It has been a great pleasure to find old friends from school and connect with their families and other Gordonstounians- all as a result of a phone call! I now feel privileged after a life of postings with my diplomat husband, to have a representational role with Gordonstoun and have a great team around me with the current committee. Briefly, I worked for Sainsbury’s retail management and buying before heading off to Japan, Zambia, Jordan and Germany, getting involved with diplomatic life, learning the languages and about the countries we were in, teaching and the children’s schools, and keeping up my sport and music. Aberdeen is my husband’s home town and where I work as a pastor or chaplain in Work Place Chaplaincy, but Dundee is home in a spiritual sense, as I have just been licensed as a lay reader at St Paul’s Cathedral.

As you will see the magazine looks back over the many events of the past year and forward to next year’s programme. Articles range from reminiscences of 1943 when the school was at Plas Dinam in Wales, an experience which led to a naval career and expertise in astronomy, to an OG partnership providing not only outside corporate catering, but also cookery classes and a venue for TV chefs at their base, Venturi’s Kitchen. You will find a spread of enticing articles showing how OGs have channelled their creativity into realising personal dreams. I always find the magazine inspiring to see the different paths in life OGs have taken. What comes through is how much Gordonstoun has meant to them and how their time at school has prepared them for serving others and achieving their goals.

Steve Brown, I know, has mentioned the ‘cluster groups’ around the world, but there are other initiatives we are working hard to put in place. One is to support Gordonstounians looking to launch or relaunch their career through a Linkedin group. There will be news on this soon, but if you feel you have something to offer those graduating in the past few years, again please be in touch, we would love to hear from you. Another initiative is the appointment of four new Student Representatives from the leavers of 2014/15. I’d like to thank Lewis Bungener and Hannah Potter (2014), and Natasha Pell and Jamie Salt (2015), all former GA Captains for taking on this role. GA Captains are the ones, whom you may have met, who show visiting OGs round the school. The idea behind the role is that if you left the school in the last few years, there will be events and reunions designed for you and if you are overseas, there’s a forum for you through the Student Representatives. The role will last two years and we will make appointments each year.

I have saved the best till last, and that is to thank Peter Ramsay for his considerable work as Chairman of the GA for seven years. He has made a wonderful job of his tenure, not only leading a happy and enthusiastic team of committee members, but also developing the programme of events and involvement with the school. I can speak for everyone on the committee that it has been a pleasure working with him. We welcome two gifted new members to the committee, Robin Gibb (G House 2005) and Ed Kirk (Duffus 2005).

Thank you for coming on board!

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Georgie MiddletonGA Chairman

CONTACT INfORMATIONThe GA Office Gordonstoun School Elgin, Moray, IV30 5RFTel: +44 (0) 1343 837922 Email: ga@gordonstoun.org.uk

www.gordonstoun.org.uk/former-students/ga

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2 Chairman’s Welcome

3 The GA Committee

4 View from the GA Office

5 Chairman of the Board of Governors

7 Gordonstoun International Summer School

8 Always Learning

9 Reminiscences of a Wonderful Year at Gordonstoun

10 Gordonstoun War Memorial

12 Of Speed Boats and Rowing Boats

14 Some Reflections on Leadership

17 Gordonstoun to Hollywood

18 Gordonstoun Memories

19 Maybe it’s Something about Gordonstoun

20 Living Gordonstoun… After Gordonstoun

21 From Naughty Boy to Nauti Bouy

22 Steering Through the Stars

23 Feed the World

24 Recipe for Success

25 My Journey of Plan B

26 A Passion for Service

27 Crossing the Chalbi

28 Cycling Across Africa and Life

29 Making a Difference

30 Jumping in Head First

31 My Trip to Romania

32 OGGS

34 Announcements

35 The GA 200 Club

HELP US GO GREENPlease let us have your email address so we can email you news and events, rather than printing and sending them on paper!

THE GA COMMITTEE

Georgie Middleton née HousmanGA Chairman

(Hopeman 1978)

Amanda Campbell-Lambert née Brown(Plewlands 1991)

Steve BrownGA Co-ordinator

Heather Glover née Main(Hopeman 1991)

Robin GibbGA Committee Secretary

(Gordonstoun 2005)

Andrew Clark(Windmill 1973)

Emma ThorpeGA Office Administrator

Edward Kirk(Duffus 2005)

Ben GossGA Committee

Nicky Montgomery née Ford(Hopeman 1980)

Peter Ramsay(Windmill 1973)

John Mulligan(Altyre 1981)

THE GA OffICE

Whilst every care is taken in the preparation of this publication The Gordonstoun Association cannot accept responsibility for actions or decisions taken by readers based on information supplied, that is subsequently changed or cancelled. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Gordonstoun Association or The Gordonstoun Schools.

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by Steve Brown, GA Co-ordinator

Each year when the GA magazine goes off to the printers I am gripped by mixed emotions. Initially there is a sense of satisfaction and relief (‘our work here is done’) but this is rapidly superseded by a sense of nervousness that the process is about to begin again with all the associated challenge of finding interesting pieces to live up to what has gone before. The fact that these fears ultimately prove groundless bears testimony to the creativity, tenacity and endless talent of those formerly of this Parish. There are strong themes of leadership, compassion, creativity and determination running through them.

I am sure that the diversity of experiences and accomplishments contained herein would draw an approving smile on Dr Hahn’s face. If you would like to contribute to next year magazine we would be delighted to hear from you.

It is not only in terms of the GA magazine where previous success brings additional pressure. It was always going to be difficult to follow both the range and popularity of the events associated with Gordonstoun’s 80th anniversary but I feel that in 2015 we were able to build on the successes of the previous year. We recently welcomed 10 OGs back to school to speak to the Year 11,12 and 13 students about life beyond Gordonstoun and all parties thoroughly enjoyed the occasion. There were really enjoyable Dinners in London (oversubscribed for the first time), Yorkshire and Edinburgh and also year group reunions for those who left the school 10, 20 and 30 years previously. This year we are very keen to do the same across the ‘6 decades so do look out for further information or get in touch to register your interest. Most of these reunions are likely to be held at Gordonstoun to coincide with GA Day on 30th April so please do put that date in your diary. This year’s GA Day falls once again on Bank Holiday Weekend and for the first time it will run alongside the Aberlour Highland Games and it promises to be a splendid occasion. You will find an invitation to GA Day printed in this publication so please do let us know if you plan to attend.

The GA is always very keen to find opportunities to bring groups of former students together but sometimes fellow OGs can be closer than you think. This year we had two OGs attend an event in London. They worked in the same department of a large multi-national financial institution but did not know that they had both attended Gordonstoun until they arrived at the GA event ‘what are you doing here?’ ‘no, what are you doing here?’ Priceless! Thus the development of regional clusters is something we have been keen to develop this year. This allows groups of OGs to share their email address, boarding house and leaving year with others in their region. Data protection constraints can make it very difficult to bring people together but this initiative enables OGs to find out who else is in their city or region (or even their company!).

Following on from the positive response from OGs in Australia to the formation of a regional group, we now have over half of them sharing their details. We subsequently emailed over 200 OGs in Germany with a similar request and so far we have over 70 keen to share their details. As a result of this we are planning to hold a Gathering at the European Space Agency near Frankfurt, next June. This is an initiative from Felicity Sheasby (née Higgins, Hopeman 1997). The plan is to follow this with a Gathering in Frankfurt that evening so if anyone has any suggestions regarding location for Dinner, or indeed would like to host a gathering, please do get in touch! This is one of a series of events scheduled for 2016 so please take the opportunity to get along to one and if there is not one in your area, we would be only too happy to help you to try to remedy that. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in 2016!

This has once again been a very busy year for the Admissions Department and, as ever, we have been hugely grateful for the continued support and advice from the OG community both at home and abroad. We really do appreciate the assistance that OGs provide and indeed the large number of recommendations from former students to prospective families embarking on the school selection process. This was particularly evident during a recent promotional visit to Nairobi when we were delighted to welcome a number of OGs to a very successful Lunch Party at the Muthaiga Club. Their input was invaluable and we very much enjoyed their company.

Gordonstoun remains in good health and we were delighted to see the Junior School numbers rise by 25% at the start of the academic year. This was a very sound reflection of the excellent work of Robert McVean and his staff and we were particularly pleased with the recruitment of 10 pupils into Year 3 which has proved to be a popular new addition. The balance at the lower end of the School of three year groups of 10 pupils in Years 3/4/5 is almost ideal and the overall increase in the number of boarders this year also gives rise for cautious optimism.

In the Senior School there has been a slight 1% fall in the UK Nationals Overseas figures which has been matched by a 1% rise in the Other Nationality Rest of the World total. Within the Junior School the Expat figures have dropped by 2% with a commensurate rise of 2% in the numbers of children coming into the school from Scotland. Over 40 different nationalities are still represented and the full boarding provision remains a highly attractive and vital aspect of life at Gordonstoun.

During the coming months we will be visiting Spain, Nigeria, Russia, Hong Kong, China and India as well as attending the Independent Schools’ Fair in London and we would be very pleased to link up with any OGs during the course of these trips and indeed to welcome you back to Gordonstoun at any time in the future.

Please do contact Mrs Fiona McWilliam in the Admissions Office on 01343 837 829 or mcwilliamf@gordonstoun.org.uk if you would like to arrange a visit or to receive any more details about life at Gordonstoun.

THE VIEW fROM GA HQ

By Chris Barton,Director of Admissions

NEWS fROM ADMISSIONS

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are still represented

Over 40 differentnationalities

by Simon Reid, Principal of Gordonstoun

PRINCIPAL’S WELCOME

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Peter Ramsay who stepped down as GA Chairman over the summer and who, in this role, did so much to strengthen the ties between the OG community and the school. When I came to Gordonstoun I really appreciated his positive and open approach. I am delighted that Georgie Middleton has taken over the role with enthusiasm and I know that she was already actively involved as a member of the GA Committee.

In addition to changes in the leadership of the GA, at a school level, there have been changes in the Development office. Richard Devey, who has led our Campaign over recent years with considerable success, was appointed Deputy Head (Pastoral) from the beginning of the Autumn Term. Those of you who knew Richard as a House Master of Bruce or Head of the Sixth Form will understand how easily he has taken on his new position and it is clear to all of us that he is revelling in a role that involves so much more interaction with students. His departure has led to a re-jig in this department and we have appointed Andrew Davies as Director of Development with responsibility for the GA Office and Campaign. Andrew has a great deal of experience in this area, joining us as he has from a similar role with National Trust of Scotland. He has moved up from Argyll with his family, his sons have joined the Junior School and he is immersing himself in all things Gordonstoun. This does not seem to be too much of a challenge for him as his love of the outdoors has meant that he has already explored much of the Moray Coast. He is ably assisted by Andrew Lyall who is now the Development Co-ordinator (Kurt Hahn Foundation), and who as both an OG and a long-serving member of staff, will be known to many of you. Steve Brown continues to be our GA Co-ordinator ably supported by Emma Thorpe who, I am sure, many of you will already know or have been in contact with at the GA office.

Another change this year has been the appointment of Dr Eve Poole as the first female Chairman of the Board of Governors. Eve has a degree in theology from Durham University, an MBA from Edinburgh and a PhD in Capitalism and Theology from Cambridge. She is Associate Faculty at Ashridge Business School where she teaches leadership and ethics. Eve’s inimitable enthusiasm and energy have made an immediate impact, but I will allow her to speak for herself in this magazine.

As I write, the Gordonstoun Documentary on Sky 1 is currently being aired. So many of you expressed an interest in seeing the programme and I do hope you will have enjoyed it as an accurate portrayal of life at Gordonstoun today; albeit within the confines of the documentary format. If you are interested in hearing more about what it was like for us all to have the cameras around the school for a whole year, can I invite you to read the article in the accompanying issue of the Gordonstoun Record.

We had the unusual honour this term of being awarded Moray Business of the Year by the Moray Chamber of Commerce. In the sometimes heated debate about independent schools it is easy to lose sight of the contribution that schools like Gordonstoun make to local economies: providing a range of jobs (we are one of the largest employers in Moray); our expenditure in the local area, and bringing in overseas currency and tourism. I would like to see these ties continue to strengthen.

It has been a busy and very happy start to the academic year. New students have settled in quickly. As usual, we have been busy on many fronts, from the Pipe Band playing at the Highland Tattoo to opening season successes on the sports fields; rehearsals are under way for the December musical ‘American Idiot’ and a group of Business Studies students won through to the final of the ‘Dragon’s Glen’. There have

been numerous lunchtime concerts under the direction of our new Director of Music, Dr Glynn Jenkins. Riding for the disabled were involved in the Princess Royal’s visit to Cranloch Stables and Year 13s are sending off their UCAS forms for university entrance - in fact many excellent offers have already been received.

I hope many of you will be able to come to the GA Day on April 30th (which this year will coincide with the Junior Highland Games at Gordonstoun) or one of the many GA events throughout the year.Of course beside the formal events, please rest assured that you are always very welcome to visit your School at any time. In the meantime, may I wish you all well for 2016.

Andrew Davies joined as the new Director of Development at Gordonstoun in August. Andrew’s fundraising career spans 20 years working with Arts Lottery projects, the Commonwealth Games Bid, and most recently the National Trust for Scotland. Andrew holds a MA in Museum Studies from University of Leicester and BA (Hons) from Queen’s University, Canada.

My early education was shaped by place but equally important, strengthened by people and purpose. I was fortunate to attend a small collegiate institute in a town founded by Scots in the thick of Ontario’s northern wilderness. Walking from campus these days, listening to my children recount their school day, I can appreciate why Gordonstoun alumni remain so supportive of and connected to this extraordinary school. The ‘settling in’ here has been made easy thanks to my colleagues and also members of the Gordonstoun Association who have extended such a warm welcome and a willingness to share their perspectives on both Gordonstoun’s past and future.This perspective is crucial as we further define how the fundraising and development function at the school must work, and also how we can secure the resources needed to achieve our short and long term goals. Some of the more immediate fundraising priorities are explored in a bit more detail on the school’s website. www.gordonstoun.org.uk/the-campaign-for-gordonstoun In essence, The Campaign for Gordonstoun will be focusing on a period of significant campus re-development, with Round Square at the heart of these efforts. This will see new classroom spaces at Round Square as well as a dedicated archive, which will for the first time, allow for Kurt Hahn’s significant and continuing contribution to modern education to be accessible and better known. Planning for the school’s future is also something fundraising and development must help to address. Andrew Lyall, (Duffus1988) has agreed to head up the Kurt Hahn Foundation and will be working to further embed legacy and planned giving for the School – a vital area that will help ensure Gordonstoun continues to offer and develop its world class education for future generations of students.As we embark upon a new focus for The Campaign for Gordonstoun, some things, however, will not change. Fundraising will always align itself with the School’s wider aims, and will have at its core, the School’s ethos to drive it forward. The support and vibrancy the GA has given and continues to give the School is needed as much now as ever before. I look forward to hearing from as many GA members as possible in the coming months. I sincerely welcome your thoughts, ideas, suggestions (and yes opinions!) on the exciting plans ahead.Our office door is open, but of course, you can also reach me ondaviesa@gordonstoun.org.uk or tel. 01343-837-922.

by Andrew Davies,Development Director

DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

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I am pleased to have this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Chairman of the Board of Governors. I teach leadership and ethics for Ashridge Business School, and I write books. My home is in Edinburgh, and I am always keen to meet up with OGs passing through.

I am delighted to be your new Chairman, because I am fascinated by the Gordonstoun curriculum. It is so rare to find a school so thoroughly focused on the development of character. At Ashridge I have spent a good deal of time working closely with a large volume of stressed-out senior executives, who I am certain would have benefited from a Gordonstoun-style curriculum a lot earlier on in their education.

Because of the research I’ve done at Ashridge into the neurobiology of learning, I know that the Gordonstoun formula really works. It works because the data we collected from leaders wearing heart-rate monitors showed a correlation between increased heart-rate and increased learning. Learning obtained under pressure not only has a longer shelf-life than normal learning, it is tagged with emotion in the brain, making it easier to retrieve for use under pressure later on in life. You don’t need me to tell you that, because whenever I meet OGs that’s exactly what they tell me. ‘After crewing Ocean Spirit in a gale, even the worst Board meeting holds no fears for me!’

by Dr. Eve Poole

CHAIRMAN Of THE BOARD Of GOVERNORS

Plus est en vous teaches you that you are infinitely resourceful. The expeditions, the sail-training, the international projects, all of these generate behavioural templates that are of real use and value in the world beyond school. And I think this is particularly important because character trumps confidence. It’s what’s left when confidence fails.

Speaking as the first female Chairman of Governors, I know many women languish in career terms because they are afraid to ‘lean in’. But girls from Gordonstoun know they can hold their own with their male counterparts, because they have already done so. Not only in the classroom, but on the mountain, on the water, and in the community. So there are comparatively fewer arenas where they have not seen women prevail and flourish. Like all OGs, they have been tested in all of these domains, and they know they can survive anything.

Of course the OG community already knows this. But we want to be able to quantify it. So we have just commissioned Edinburgh University to research the value of everything that Gordonstoun offers outside the classroom, so we can be more concrete about the benefits of a Gordonstoun education. I am confident that we will find evidence that Gordonstoun teaches you the deep-seated sort of confidence that means there is little left for you to fear.

I look forward to hearing your stories as part of this research, and I am looking forward enormously to serving as Chairman with such an inspirational set of governors, staff and students, past, present and future.

PiPers Ahoy!!Are you still piping having left School? Are you living or working in or within easy reach of London?

As the School’s first Pipe Major on departure my piping took a back seat until I came across a group of friends, members of the Pinstripe Highlanders, who run a weekly Tuesday evening piping practice with instruction at the Oriental Club in London’s West End. (W1C 1ES) 6.30 - 9.00pm.

As a Group we play at various events including the Scottish Rugby Club dinners, various Burns Night dinners and lunches and recently for The Princess Royal at a 75th Anniversary.

The dress is informal for practice nights and a kilt or trews for more formal occasions. There is no charge for piping tuition and food and wine is usually included where we are involved in an event.

Should you wish to maintain your piping expertise or just want to have a ‘blaw’ do come and join us - we would love to see you.

Having learnt so much from Scott Oliphant don’t let it all slip away!

For further information just ring me, Graham Neil, on 01865 407808 or email me at grahamneil@talk21.com and I will do my best to help.

Hope to hear from you soon!

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GORDONSTOUNINTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL

I left Gordonstoun (Windmill House) in 1985 and 30 years later have returned as the Director of the Gordonstoun International Summer School. It feels both odd and at the same time completely normal and lovely to see familiar blue jerseys, to hear the chapel bell ringing and to have lunch in the refectory (Moira is still in the refectory but has not shouted “put that back” at me yet!).

It still feels to me like the school I knew and loved, retaining the key Gordonstoun ethos but with some necessary evolution having taken place as well. The pastoral care is now clearly excellent, the accommodation improving and the sports/drama/dance facilities are super. Having Aberlour House on site is also lovely, it somehow completes the school.

by Claire MacGillivray,Director of Gordonstoun InternationalSummer School (Windmill 1985)

“It’s like heaven, AMAZING….GISS is the best summer school ever!”

I leave you with this lovely quote from one of our 2015 Summer School students;

“Gordonstoun is awesome; you do things you never thought you could actually do

and most important,that you can make friends for life!

I just love it!”

For many of us, the Gordonstoun International Summer School was also a part of our Gordonstoun experience as we became staff upon leaving after sixth form. In my case, I spent four happy summers back on site teaching woodwork and metal work to children who otherwise would not get to experience much of what Gordonstoun has to offer. Now as I return to it, I remember what a phenomenal summer it can be for children, both native English speakers and those who are learning English. Each year the summer school welcomes 300 children, aged 8 to 16 inclusive, from over 35 nationalities to enjoy three weeks of learning, fun and challenge. In addition to academic lessons, this includes all the things we enjoyed and more - exped type activities, sailing on the West Coast, sports, drama, art, technology, music making, quad biking, laser tag, riding, cooking etc.

As an OG, if you would like to give your child a taste of what we enjoyed, or perhaps it could be an introduction to Gordonstoun or boarding life in general, then please do consider the Gordonstoun International Summer School. If you have friends who might be interested then do encourage them to contact us in the GISS Office on 01343 837 821 or macgillivrayc@gordonstoun.org.uk and have a look for further details on our website www.giss.org.uk

I will be travelling to various countries to meet prospective parents and students; on these trips it would be lovely to connect with OGs and to see some old friends

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ALWAyS LEARNING

Soon after the school’s foundation Kurt Hahn warned his new Director of Studies, “You must defend your department. If I want to send a boy for health reasons into the hills for three weeks just before his examination you must resist me.”* Most people would think twice at putting up any serious resistance to a personality as strong as Hahn’s, but he was clearly not prepared to allow his belief in the value of outdoor education to run away with him and thereby compromise the important business of passing exams.

The benefits of developing character and the importance of academic achievement have sometimes been presented as divergent aims. It is all very well discovering oneself in the Cairngorms, so the argument goes, but it does nothing to help with the really important business of passing exams which, after all, are essential for one’s prospects beyond school. This premise has led to many schools becoming little more than exam factories, with students subjected at every waking moment (and probably in quite a few nightmares) to the preparation of GCSEs and A levels.

It would seem therefore, that the ideas of an eccentric refugee of the 1930s would have little to add to modern educational culture that values examination performance as the sole essence of a school’s worth. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Not only has Hahn’s educational vision proved remarkably enduring, it has recently enjoyed something of a resurgence. Far from being an inconvenient impediment to the academic curriculum, his ideas can enrich all that goes on in the classroom. There is no contradiction between giving young people a breadth of experience on the one hand and maximising their chances of academic success on the other; these aims are complementary.

The student who is impelled into experiences (to use Hahn’s phrase), who is challenged on mountains and at sea, is developing important qualities. These include resilience, perseverance, the ability to collaborate and to take initiative, to take calculated risks; exactly what is needed to fulfil individual academic potential and achieve success in life thereafter. Students who tackle intellectual challenges with the same tenacity they so often demonstrate on the playing fields, in the Cairngorms or onboard Ocean Spirit are students who are likely to succeed.

This message is opening up to a wider audience. The backdrop is, alas, mounting evidence pointing to a decline in the mental health of British teenagers. A mass of data highlights rising problems associated with depression and anxiety amongst young people from all walks of life. These worrying trends have promoted some within the educational establishment, including politicians, academics and royalty, to look anew at ideas familiar to anyone associated with Gordonstoun.

At Westminster, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility has published its ‘Character and Resilience’ manifesto. They proclaim their belief in “the relationship between effort and reward, the patience to pursue long-term goals, the perseverance to stick with the task at hand, and the ability to bounce back from life’s inevitable setbacks”. This, they claim, can be achieved through “having the fundamental drive, tenacity and perseverance needed to make the most of opportunities and to succeed whatever obstacles life puts in your way.”

Our universities have set off in a similar direction. Birmingham University’s Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues is one notable example. It aims to promote, build and strengthen character, describing it as “critical to human flourishing ... exercised within all human contexts [and] educable.” All this some eighty years after Kurt Hahn listed “an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self denial” amongst the foremost tasks of education. Small wonder Tony Little, erstwhile Headmaster of Eton and current Chairman of the Word Leading Schools Association, has observed that ‘character education has become fashionable again’.

Gordonstoun might be excused a sense of inner satisfaction that current educational debate has moved onto territory occupied by our

founders before the Second World War, but what does this mean for Gordonstoun’s academic curriculum in the 21st century?

In some ways the school of today bares scant resemblance to that of 1934. Our educational vision has had to adapt to the modern world and some aspects of the school’s curriculum have been consigned to the archives along with morning run, penalty drill and mid-morning exercise.

We also should accept that, despite all good intentions, there have been times in the school’s history when the academic curriculum has not served students as well as it should. I have met a number of OGs who loved their time at the school, they developed in many ways and still support the institution, but nevertheless look back with a feeling that they could have been pushed harder to achieve academic success.

The starting point is to strike a balance. There is no mystical formula and there will need to be realignments over time. Just as the school advocates the need for students to be out of lessons at certain times in order to undertake expeditions or sail training, there will be other times when it is imperative that the classroom comes first. Students will still benefit from a world-class outdoor education and will continue to be of service to the community, they will always participate in a wide range of sports, performances and activities; however, they sometimes have to take on fewer challenges in order to give maximum focus to their academic development.

Academic time should not be viewed as an inevitable and slightly distasteful expedient, only to be endured for exam preparation. The classroom is a place of personal development where the Gordonstoun ethos is to be exercised to the full. It must take students beyond their comfort zones. No-one ever said that our school motto was only for expeditions and it is therefore essential that the students should find aspects of their learning challenging.

The observation made by some educationalists that ‘FAIL’ stands for ‘First Attempt In Learning’ might make some of us wince at its simplistic earnestness but it coneys an important truth. One prominent OG has observed that “Failure allows you to succeed in the future because we are an experience-based learning organism”. * Winchester University’s Director of the Centre for Real World Learning offers an analogy: ‘nobody ever got more robust in learning without avoiding difficulty, just as nobody ever got fitter by avoiding exercise’*. At Gordonstoun, the learning grades, awarded to students twice termly, significantly reward perseverance, resilience and risk-taking; students who get everything right at their first attempt are not being educated. Not only do they respond to challenge, they enjoy it. Striving and then discovering the beauty contained in a piece of literature or within the underlaying mathematics of the physical world are great moments of personal development. Gordonstoun has never been an exams factory, recognising that, to be truly empowering, the academic curriculum must inculcate young people with qualities and thinking skills that are essential for success in exams and subsequent careers.

We should therefore be wary of glitzy pedagogical theories hedged with polysyllabic jargon proclaiming success is obtainable without application and a bit of grit. Nevertheless, we should also be alive to the reality that people develop at different speeds, in different contexts and at different times in their lives.

We are not fixed in our ability at birth. The hackneyed but relevant examples of the adolescent Churchill’s infamous Latin exam or young Einstein’s notoriously poor school results are often trotted out as evidence. We should not, therefore, be in the business of leaving people behind and we have an established culture of providing appropriate support for all our students.

We are fortunate to have hard working staff, devoting time to students in all sorts of ways. Undoubtably this is one of the great advantages of a boarding environment, where the hours after lessons are often used informally to reinforce learning. Academic departments also hold regular clinics where students receive additional assistance. A key source of support for many of our students are the EAL and Learning Support

by Titus EdgeDeputy Head Curriculum (Duffus 1991)

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Departments, who work with particular students in small groups to give them the structure needed to achieve their potential.

So, at Gordonstoun, the academic curriculum is both challenging and inclusive; students are stretched but no-one is left behind; Hahn’s ideas have renewed relevance and they complement rather than threaten academic advancement. However, Gordonstoun does not have all the answers, nor are we held in thrall to every utterance of our founder. There is no Little Red Book, detailing his abstract musings, which we dutifully apply regardless of circumstances. Hahn was a pragmatist. His loathing of the inhuman abstractions that spawned Nazism and Communism, with devastating results in his is own lifetime, had endowed him with a distrust of dogma. He was a doer, interested in what can be achieved in current circumstances and not in laying down iron laws of education.

Having been unable to pass the “Conway” entrance exam, I was sent to Gordonstoun in Plas Newydd, Plas Dinam. What a fortunate choice that was as it shaped my life from then until now. H.M.S. “Conway” followed a year later.From my year at Gordonstoun, I distinctly remember certain people and events. One of these was Frau Lachmann who made us all lie down after lunch and listen to her old fashioned gramophone with “thorn” needles and a huge horn. This awoke an abiding love of classical music which has never left me. I am reminded of the Christmas Carol “Good King Wenceslas” when I was chosen to sing the part of the Page. Right in the middle, my voice broke and there was total hilarity as a result. Frau Lachmann also tried – unsuccessfully – to teach me to play the piano.Then there was that incredible man Kurt Hahn who instilled the school motto into my bones. On one occasion he called me into his sanctum sanctorum and accused me of being a “scrimshanker”. As I had no idea what that meant, I was sent to meet the lord of the manor who told me that it meant that I was a shirker!! I had to pull up my socks after that one!I vaguely remember the housemaster Mr Brereton, a very kindly soul indeed.Across the valley, there was another large house and this was run and supervised by Herr Meissner, who we unkindly dubbed “The Kaiser”.Called to mind is also Mr Zimmermann, the PT Instructor, who bad-gered me to excel in the high jump – the one item needed to pass his fitness tests.Then there was a short break to the Outward Bound Sea School in Ab-erdovey. The highlight of that was the trip on either the “Garibaldi” or “Prince Louis”, after which I was actually land sick when we got back to port! It took a couple of days for my sea legs to get back to being land legs! But it was a wonderful experience even if very tough. Excellent to see that the OBSS tradition has become almost world-wide.There is however, one man who probably shaped my future more than anyone else. He was the Maths teacher, Mr George Liddell. He was a brilliant organist and one of my tasks each Sunday was to keep blowing up the bellows in the local Chapel. As he loved playing the bass keys, I had to pump like fury. No electric blowers in those days!Mr Liddell was also keen on church architecture and took me to visit a number of really ancient places of worship during the holidays, especially in Devon and Cornwall. Through him I was able to obtain a distinction in the O&C exams. One church outside Bath was dated about 800 AD and had a wonderful history. I remember it clearlyHe had an abiding interest in the science of Astronomy and showed me a bright comet through his refracting telescope. This was the seed

needed for my own interest, as I eventually ground, polished and figured a 6 inch, a 12 inch and an 8 inch mirror to fit my home built Newtonian instruments. Naturally, I joined the Astronomical Society in Southern Africa, being honoured by my being elected President for the country in the years 1980/1. I still have a book on the subject of Astronomy that Mr Liddell gave me when I left for training as a Naviga-tor. I eventually served a number of years as such on the Union Castle Mail ships, met lots of people in South Africa and eventually, in 1952, emigratedEven today, I am running a local Astronomical club with – after one year – sixty members. Occasionally I am called upon to lecture on the subject. With the incredible advances being made, it is almost impos-sible to keep up with the latest discoveries.Some might also remember Captain McGregor who had lost part of his leg. We could hear him coming from a mile away – “creak, creak, clunk”! Also ice cold showers in the dead of winter, followed by a cross-country run breaking icicles and frost en route! For years afterwards, I never caught a cold and I still like to sleep with my windows wide open.I also remember the introduction to “muesli” – a concoction which I thoroughly enjoyed but today’s muesli isn’t a patch on what was served up at the school!There are many other memories and I felt that at my advancing age (87), I should put pen to paper for the benefit of the lucky scholars of today. May they all enjoy a life as full and interesting as mine has been.Gordonstoun certainly gave me a wonderful start in life and set me on my eventual career as Chief Industrial Surveyor for a large International Insurance Broking House – a task which I continued after retirement as a Consultant until I turned 82 years of age. Enough was then quite enough. There was never was a truer saying than “There is more in you than you think”

Plas Dinam

Hahn bequeathed a broad set of core principles, but vibrant institutions, like people, are always learning, always striving to improve, and Gordonstoun is no different. The Sixth Formers of 2034, Gordonstoun’s centenary year, will be born over the next few months. As the school looks ahead to its one hundredth birthday, it is with the knowledge that the ideals of its founder are as relevant to future students as they have been to those that have gone before.

*1 (Brereton, 129)

*2 (Duke of York, Sunday Times 30 March 2014)

*3 (Claxton p.64)

REMINISCENCES Of A WONDERfUL yEARAT GORDONSTOUN 1943/44 - PLAS DINAMby Andrew Gray (Plas Dinam 1944)

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GORDONSTOUN WAR MEMORIAL

LEST WE fORGETI suspect that every member of the Gordonstoun family, students, teachers, parents and OGs, will have walked past the memorial plaques on the Colour Bearer staircase at the entrance to Gordonstoun House. The original war memorial plaque commemorates twenty three members of the school community who died in WW II, and two smaller adjacent plaques pay tribute to three more OGs, one who died in Korea and two in Ireland. The main plaque was erected in the late 1940s at the insistence of Leopold Jan Kronenberg, the father of the Polish OG who died fighting in his country’s resistance movement.

The full story behind the memorials is a complex tale. When the school returned to Moray at the end of the Second World War proposals for a tribute to the fallen changed a number of times. George Kennedy’s mural above the plaques conveys a vision of how the school would grow in the years after the war. On this a rather grand scheme is portrayed to build an extension to Round Square as a memorial library, but this was vetoed by Historic Buildings Scotland in the 1950s. However, work had already started on a set of steps inside Round Square and a stone doorway had been carved for the entrance. When the project was cancelled the steps were removed and the stone doorway was erected as an entrance to the Headmaster’s office in Gordonstoun House. This can be seen to the right of the mural. So in some ways the whole wall can be seen as a memorial to the fallen.

Smaller memorial plaques were added later, one after Lord Mountbatten was blown up in Ireland, also killing his grandson, and another in 1992 to commemorate a soldier killed in the Korean War and an airman who died in Northern Ireland.

Each year at the school Remembrance Service the twenty six names are read out by the Guardians and for many years the plaques and that oral tribute were all there was to remember those OGs who made the supreme sacrifice. Passing up and down the CB Staircase, not only would I wonder about the names listed there but also some of the places: Anzio, Arnhem, Atlantic, Australia, Singapore, Smolensk,

by David Monteith (former staff, 2007)

Tunisia. As an ex-serviceman I always wanted to know more. It has taken a number of years but now a record of the individuals can be found on the Gordonstoun Association web pages.

The history behind these digital tributes is a story in itself. In 1970 the then Headmaster John Kemp gave a remembrance address at Stowe School where he was impressed by their book of remembrance. He wrote to his predecessor Henry Brereton asking for information on individuals listed on the memorial plaque; Brereton replied by hand with brief notes on each individual. This letter, and the correspondence between the school and surviving relatives after World War II, survives in the school archives. When David Byatt was School Warden in 1992 he collated further correspondence with outside agencies and in collaboration with one of the governors, Grenville Johnston, further research was undertaken. Because I showed an interest this was passed on to me in 2001; finally in 2015 a digital record has been produced, which celebrates the lives of each person. Through internet research and contacts with surviving relatives detail has been added to each record and importantly photographs to give faces to names, nicknames, and anecdotes that bring them to life. At a later date it is hoped to produce a book of remembrance once the research is complete.

The stories of those commemorated involve accidents, tragedy, horror, and bravery; all part of the fortunes of war. The WWII casualties range from Northumberland to the Pacific. There is a German who died fighting on the eastern front at Smolensk. Two members of staff were killed in Action, both army Majors commanding companies in the Seaforth Highlanders, one during the invasion of Sicily and one in Normandy after the D day landings. One civilian died attempting to save a group of evacuee children when their ship was torpedoed in mid-Atlantic.

The five killed in Italy chart the long hard slog of the British 8th Army from Sicily to the north Italian plain. As part of my research I followed

The war memorial information may be found at the following link:http://www.gordonstoun.org.uk/gordonstoun-war-memorialThank you to the OGs who contacted me after my last article in the 2015 GA Magazine. I still need to find more information,especially pictures of the following:

John Murdoch Fearn 1923-1943John Roger Colston Small 1923-1945Jorg von Bonnet 1916-1941Stephen Julius-Berger (Burgess) 1930-1951

In particular if any German OG would be willing to help research Jorg von Bonnet. If you can help please contact me throughga@gordonstoun.org.uk

that trail in the week prior to the 2015 remembrance celebrations and returned with a record of the Italian OG graves and memorials; each a poignant tribute to the men who fought and died there.

My self-imposed task has reinforced my understanding of the debt we owe to all who fight for freedom and the need for constant vigilance to protect our way of life. The tragedy of each loss was summed up for me on the Headstone of OG Lt Alick Long in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Faenza, northern Italy.

OG Lt Alick Long

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Quis dersiderio sit pudor aut modus tam cari capitus?

What shame or limit can there be in our regret for so dear a person?

Horace, Odes Book 1, Poem 24, lines 1-2

the debtwe owe to all

who fight forfreedom

Of SPEED BOATS AND ROWING BOATS

by John Barton, (Round Square 1962)

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When I was asked by Steve Brown to write a piece for the GA Magazine I was very flattered and immediately agreed. Then I thought OMG what am I going to write about? So I started to do some research. I talked to friends, family and even to the Headmaster, who I chanced upon on a golf course. One friend, Ian Strachan, had spoken at his old school and said don’t tell them what to do. Tell them what happened to you. So that was it, I decided I was going to write about my life and some of the lessons I have learnt,

As part of my research, I read a talk given by OG Mags Mackean and thought how can I compete with her extraordinary experiences after leaving school? I felt she was a dynamic speed boat rushing through the waves of life whereas I am more of a battered old rowing boat being buffeted around by the waves. So if you’re not the speed boat type listen and I’ll tell you what happened to me.

I was born in India during the Second World War, the first son of two army officers. Two years later they left the army, my father to farm outside Brechin and my mother to be a doctor at the local hospital, Stracathro.

I went to Brechin High School and at 12 was sent to Gordonstoun where my grandfather had advised Kurt Hahn on the school diet and my uncle was one of his first pupils.

Fifty years ago Gordonstoun was very different from today. There were no girls, no Sports Centre, no Grand Chapel. It was pretty rudimentary; however the school still revolved around the axis of Gordonstoun House and the Round Square. More importantly, the principles of Kurt Hahn which have served me, as well as the school, so well over the last 50 years were exactly as they are today.

As part of my research, I discovered all of my old school reports. School reports were a bit different then. They weren’t shown or discussed with you. They were sent to your parents. So your concern was that they didn’t contain anything that upset them. Unread and forgotten for over fifty years, thank Heavens! For what they reveal is a pretty average (at best) sort of chap with only one or two redeeming features. Here are some examples:

“A bit lazy when all goes smoothly”“Unless I am mistaken he has virtually no reading habits”“His tidiness in all things calls for much needed improvements.”“Industrious jobsman not the craftsman”“Endeavour seems greater than interest at the moment”

On classwork, which out of 113 reports I found only nine “A’s” – all from the same teacher in the same subject – wherever you are Mrs Petrie ‘thank you’!

When I gave my wife my final report to read I asked her if this reflected the man she married. She said “Yes, absolutely” which is worrying because up to now I have always trusted her judgement.

However, there are a couple of redeeming features:

“He is a cheerful, good humoured type who gets on with his peers and the junior boys”

“At his best only under some kind of severe pressure he must not play safe” and my favourite

“Where there is a ball there is Barton” –written by Geoffrey Trubridge, my housemaster, who sadly died in my fourth year at school.

As I look back now I can see that it is those things that have shaped and driven my life. Almost without my conscious knowledge they have influenced all that has happened to me. All identified at 17! So read your school reports, particularly when they refer to your character, and learn about yourself.

So what happened?

To the immense surprise of the Director of Studies, Mr Burchardt, whose

last report on me read “a very determined boy who has done well to take two ‘A’ levels”, I actually got three and went to University and had a wonderful year at St Andrews. All those things in the Report drove me along. I played rugby for my college, hockey for the University, learned squash and got on with everyone.

Unfortunately no reading habits, no interest at the moment and the less than industrious jobs man wasn’t good enough and I was booted out.

This was a family disgrace. My grandfather was Chancellor of Glasgow University and no one in the family had ever failed exams before.My father who was desperate for me not to be a farmer (he’d been through the great depression of the 1930’s when farmers suffered dreadfully) took me into his accountant – a small local firm and I was indentured to five years of adding up numbers in a small room in Dundee. However, the University admin wasn’t very good and I continued to live and play sports with my undergraduate friends!But it was the office 9.00am to 5.00pm every day, bar two weeks holiday, for five years. When I finished, having passed all my exams, I applied to do an MBA at Strathclyde and I got in! I had omitted to mention in the application form that I had failed at St Andrews and when they found out they were furious. However, term had started and the fees were paid so I was allowed to stay and I passed the exams. So I finished up 7 years after leaving school as a CA with an MBA – to everyone’s – including my own - surprise.I decided to go to New York so I bought a return ticket for £59 and went in search of work. It wasn’t as easy as I thought. I had no money and no contacts so I stayed in a hostel, sharing a bed with three. We each had an 8 hour “shift” in the bed in a room with eight other beds that were shared in the same way, so 24 people slept in that room. I had the bed from 12.00pm to 8.00am.The best job I could find was as an elevator (lift) operator. I really discovered what it was like to be poor. After six months I returned to London to find a job that better suited my qualifications and budget.Now this was a pattern that would crop up again and again in my life. If things were not going well I’d up sticks and move on.The unknown journey has always excited me and made me do things – not always successfully - that others may see as a bit risky. Anyhow, I found a job as a management accountant with a company called Hunting. A few months later, in January, an opportunity arose – at very short notice – to go to Canada. Hunting had an aviation subsidiary which sold and repaired planes and was in trouble. They urgently needed a finance man and others, more experienced than me, had said no. I couldn’t wait and after a heavy negotiation the Company agreed to my one condition. That they would buy me a winter coat because I had heard that it was cold there in the winter.So I arrived in Toronto with a squash racquet, a pair of pyjamas and the clothes I stood in – including my new coat.I was delighted to discover that squash was played in Canada and I was immediately introduced to a group of particularly well connected young Canadians at the Toronto Racquet Club. After my first game (it was doubles) we had a beer and the other three went into a huddle, then one of them came over to me and said look we are one short in the house we live in. Would you like to come and live with us. Well I did and two of them have remained life-long friends and more importantly it was through them that I met Anne, my wife of 40 years. We had a lot of fun together and I shared their lives, their families and their country cottages! They were very generous to me.The business was a disaster and I spent most of my time inventing stories to pacify angry creditors. We had a small team of 4 or 5 and we got together and devised a plan to save the business, mostly closing the bits that didn’t make money and after three years of very hard work we saved it, made it profitable and I was offered another job – but in London.Well, that led to another crisis. Anne, who I had been going out with for a year said she would only join me if we were married. So after a brief but intense negotiation we agreed. That was on a Monday

morning and we were married on the Friday – she really knows how to close a deal!

Anne’s parents thought she must be pregnant (she wasn’t) and mine didn’t know as they were on holiday and out of contact – but we were happy.

Once we had settled down in London my work, which had been interesting, became rather dull and I had a young boss so the prospects of promotion were not that good. Most of my excitement was coming from playing squash, doing up houses with Anne and with the children – two sons who had appeared in our lives.

Then I saw an advert for a job in Hong Kong and went for an interview. I went home to Anne and after we found out exactly where Hong Kong was, she said no. But then I was offered the job. So I promised her it would be like a one year holiday (it wasn’t) at someone else’s expense so off we went, me to work for Jardine Matheson, a great Hong Kong trading company made famous by J Clavell’s book “Nobel House” as a management accountant and Anne to fight with their housing department for better accommodation which she won hands down!

After six months there was a similar experience with a subsidiary in crisis. This time in the Philippines – another visit to the atlas. It was a large public company Jardine Davies. I was sent down to investigate and it soon became apparent it was rapidly heading for bankruptcy. I was installed as Finance Director and we assembled a team and formulated a plan for the company. It had 25 different businesses and our plan was (again) to get out of the 15 that didn’t make any money! Many of that team are still close friends although they live all over the world. Outside work, life was fun. We had a large house, servants and I played squash, rugby and cricket for the Philippines although the competition to get into the team wasn’t too severe and most important of all our daughter arrived. After three years we had turned the business around.

It was 1980. I was now in my mid-30’s and Jardines offered me the chance to be the Finance Director of an embryonic insurance business in London. Well Anne was ecstatic, especially when I told her the company would pay all our expenses including taxes and school fees – so off we went, this time with her full approval. Two years in London, then back to Hong Kong for a year then back to London. They were exciting days and I thrived on the constant challenges all that movement brought.

Back in London in 1983 I had a call from Henry Keswick, the Chairman of Jardine Matheson. “John” he said “I have fired your boss and I would like you to run the business” What a shock! But what an exciting opportunity. So I went back to the former CEO’s office and sat in his chair and wondered what to do next. So I called in his secretary and told her what had happened and said, Stella, what do you think we should do?

“I think you should tell everybody” Good idea!

So I gathered the senior executives together and told them what had happened and asked them for their support and then the same question “What do you think we should do?” We sat down together and made a plan to grow the business. So for the next 18 years we worked together expanding the business all over the world. Today, the business we started with nothing, is worth over £2 billion, something of which I am very proud.

I retired as Chairman ten years ago and started a new career as a non-executive director. I was very lucky to have a head hunting friend who “sold me” to companies. I have now served on the Boards of twelve public companies and I have been chairman of seven of them. When I went to myfirst interview I was told – “you’ll never get the job”, but I went anyhow and did get it. So always have a go.

Although they were mostly in different businesses they all share the same characteristics. They are all teams of people who work together – sometimes in quite challenging conditions – to be successful. The moment I passed over the threshold of any one of them I felt I was part of their team and I would do all I could to help them succeed. I am still chairman of two, NEXT and EasyJet.

So now that I have become a Chairman person, something I could not have imagined when I left school. In fact, it is a bit hard to believe even now. I don’t feel like a chairman sort of person, I’m still that untidy, lazy boy who doesn’t read a lot and would rather be chasing a ball.

Anne and I still travel but now mainly privately, egged on by her who complains if we haven’t visited somewhere exotic in the last six months. My return to Gordonstoun helped to tick that box!!

As a result of my talk to the Sixth Form, I have for the first time tried to analyse what has influenced and guided my life and what lessons have I learned.

I’d like to divide them into two.

External – excluding luck which affects all our lives.

Internal – Back to that school report of fifty years ago.

First the ‘External’

I My parents. When I was younger - I was not particularly close to them. That came later. But they did two huge things for me.

1. They sent me to Gordonstoun which widened my horizons and which I will talk more about in a moment.

2. When I was a complete failure my father found me a job and a training that changed my whole life.

One word about parents. You will receive advice from many people but none will be offered more utterly and completely in your interest than that of your parents. They really want you to succeed. So listen carefully to what they have to say, but you don’t have to follow their advice. It is your choice.

II Gordonstoun

The big lesson from my time at Gordonstoun was that there is a balance in life. Particularly between body and mind.

I can still remember Henry Brereton teaching us that those who were academically clever should never look down on others who were good at other things. To be able to draw or kick a ball were much more complex tasks than simply remembering stuff. Boy did I remember that – it suited me very well! The lesson I have carried from that is that you must have a balance in life between “work” and “play”. Other things – they are equally important.

That balance in life has been very important to me. The balance between work, sport, and later, my family. I pursue each with commitment and passion and they have rewarded me with friendships and happiness, each in a different way and all complementary. When I failed in one I took great comfort from the others.

Now to the ‘Internal’ – me and that school report.

I’ll ignore the bad traits – no reading habits – lazy – untidy, though they all still exist and Anne works very hard to cure them, and concentrate on the three positive ones.

1. He is at his best only under some kind of severe pressure. Well, as you probably gathered, I manufactured that by travelling and searching for new things. I found the unknown journey exhilarating and made me do things, not always successfully, that others may see as a little rash. I found these exciting and stimulating although I am not sure the family were always as enthusiastic. In our 40 years of marriage we have lived in over 20 houses we have called home. I’m very grateful that they came along.

2. “Where there is a ball there is Barton”. My passion for sport has given me immense pleasure and made me many, many friends. My interest in squash even found me a wife! Although I am unable to play many of them now I still have pleasure in watching – almost anything that has a ball.

So here are one or two pieces of learning I take from life. If you have a passion never, ever lose it. Nurture it and develop it. It doesn’t have to be sport. It could be painting, reading, acting, collecting stamps – even politics – it doesn’t matter. It will help you to balance your life and bring you friends and pleasure and, who knows, maybe even a spouse.

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3. Now to the third and by far the most important. I only learned this in later life but it is this that has given me, a boy of average ability, what success I have had in life. Do you remember that ‘cheerful, good humoured type who gets on with his peers and the junior boys”. Well that turns out to be a bigger asset than any academic or sports achievements.

It doesn’t matter where you are, Canada, Hong Kong, the Philippines, the world is about people and people are basically the same everywhere - they have the same needs and desires. They will bring you frustration and disappointment but they will also give you excitement, pleasure and success.

So my sincerest piece of advice is learn to listen to the people around you, learn to work with them, learn to play with them, learn to share

by Chris Millar (Cumming 1966)

I recently wrote to the Principal having felt inspired by his email informing us that Dr Eve Poole was to be the next Chairman of the School Governors – in my opinion an inspirational choice. His announcement made me for the first time ask myself the question; in what ways had my experience at Gordonstoun influenced my working life particularly, given Dr Poole’s expertise, in the areas of leadership and ethical behaviour. I also thought that perhaps, if I wrote down my thoughts, it may possibly be of interest to Dr Poole as she takes on her new responsibility.

My Experience:-

I arrived at Aberlour House in January 1959, having previously been to a boys only prep. school in Devon. I had an uneventful time at Aberlour and moved on to Gordonstoun in January 1962. For the next two years I produced what, for others, must have been a relatively uninspiring performance both in the classroom and on the playing fields. My one great joy was being a member of the school’s

Fire Service. However by the time I moved on to the Sixth Form, the Gordonstoun system suddenly took a grip of me and by the end of my penultimate year I had become a ‘Colour Bearer’ returning in the September to find that I had now been selected as the ‘Helper’ in Cumming House. The following term I was made ‘Guardian’, a position I held until I finally left the school in July 1966.

Having gained a third A-Level after leaving Gordonstoun, I went on to read International Politics at Lancaster University. During this period I joined the Royal Navy and despite having a great time in this service decided to resign my Commission in 1977 and fortunately was able to immediately join the Royal Dutch Shell Group.

In Shell I held a number of managerial positions, before finally in my last five years becoming the Director of International Procurement, globally responsible both for the conduct of this activity and for the professionals within the discipline. The Shell culture was very much based on shared decision making, principally exercised through

with them. Be part of a team – in whatever role – in whatever field and help it be successful. Helping others to succeed will bring you more pleasure, opportunity and success than you can imagine. Today as a chairman person I still feel I am part of a team in each of the company’s I work in and I know without that team I am nothing.

Whether you are a speed boat or rowing boat, remember you are travelling on a sea of people. It is through working with and helping people that you will find success and happiness.

John was appointed as Chairman of Next in 2006 and of easyJet in 2013.

SOME REfLECTIONS ON LEADERSHIP

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committee discussions, where the most skilful and successful managers learnt to ensure that all participants felt that they had been listened to and their advice and concerns taken into account.

Throughout my career leadership, managerial skills and ethics played an all important role. My chosen discipline on the commercial side of Shell’s business, in particular, demanded the constant demonstrative exercise of strict moral principles. Both in the Navy and in Shell I was responsible for leading teams that varied in size from a few tens to a few hundreds; the latter in particular being often a broad mix of nationalities.

So now having been retired for several years it seems useful to look back to better appreciate the role played by Gordonstoun in the way I conducted myself in my Naval and business career.

The Plato Legacy

Kurt Hahn’s thinking when he created ‘Gordonstoun’ was heavily influenced by the writings of Plato and in particular through the thoughts expressed by Socrates in Plato’s ‘Republic’. Socrates describes a hierarchical society, but one nevertheless based on equality of opportunity; thus there are no slaves and no discrimination between men and women. Indeed both genders are to be taught the same things, so that they are able to make the same contribution to society based on their respective skills. At the top of his hierarchy, immediately beneath the ‘Philosopher Kings’, Plato describes a class of ‘Guardians’. Their role, as their name suggests, is to ensure in a caring and just manner that the guiding principles of the society are adhered to. The next level down is a class of ‘Producers’, again based on their respective skills rather than levels of wealth. A number of specific provisions aim to avoid making the people weak, for example the substitution of a universal educational system for both men and women, instead of the traditional emphasis of Greek society principally on music, poetry and theatre. Throughout this entire hierarchy all of the citizens are able to advance and take on more responsibility. However, while these provisions apply to all classes, the expectations of behaviour and responsibility from those nearer the top are much greater than from those lower down the organisation.

It is interesting to note straight away how Plato’s thoughts so easily apply to the modern business world. For instance, through Socrates,he points out the human tendency to be corrupted by power inevitably leads down the road to timocracy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny. From this, he concludes that ruling should be left to philosophers, who are the most just and therefore least susceptible to corruption. This “good city” is depicted as being governed by philosopher-kings; disinterested persons who rule not for their personal enjoyment, but for the good of the city-state. How true all this is of today’s CEOs and business organisations.Managers who are simply driven by their personal ambition or love of honour, succeed no more than those who give no direction and delegate aimlessly to their subordinates, leaving them collectively to make decisions. In my experience the great majority of those in the work place much prefer to work in an environment where the direction is clear and constant, while at the same time their views are listened to and demonstratively taken into account.

The School Motto

I cannot emphasize enough how inspiring the School’s motto has been to me. ‘Plus est en Vous’, which we translated as ‘More is in you than you think’, still resonates in my mind and is a positive encouragement in a broad cross section of situations, both in the work place and elsewhere.

Gordonstoun’s Tiered Structure

In reflection of Plato’s society Hahn broke away from the traditional English public School structure which simply had, at the top end, a Head boy and Prefects, while the rest of their school population had no particularly described responsibility, except perhaps on the playing field and in unofficial social groupings (i.e. school boy ‘gangs’). In its place

Gordonstoun had a tiered structure denoted by a simple small strip of material worn off the breast of a sweater. Most importantly pupils advancedthrough this organisation from day one of their time at the school. Each level carried with it, on one hand an increasing degree of responsibility, while on the other an increasing sense of freedom. While the lower levels were selected by the Housemasters, the upper end, the ‘Colour Bearers’, were selected by their peers. The Guardian was appointed by the Headmaster from amongst this latter group.

Looking back, I can now see that my experience of Gordonstoun’s internal structure prepared me well for both of my major work experiences. In the Navy for instance it never occurred to me that there was some sort of significant divide between officers and ratings; but on the contrary that the total ship’s company were a team, with each individual having an important contribution to make. Within this structure the officers and the Senior Ratings collectively provided the necessary leadership. In Shell too, I instinctively felt that the individuals within my various teams all had a significant input to make to any decision making process. Middle managers needed support on one hand and room to perform their duties on the other.

The Promotion System

The School’s all-embracing system instinctively created an environment that recognised leadership at all levels within the structure. This in turn led to both respect for others and in my experience a caring environment. ‘White Stripers’, for example, quite rightly felt that they had as much right to express and opinion as a ‘Colour Bearer’ - and that their opinion was to be taken into account. Again this is a good example of involving the relevant people in any decision making process. An equally important aspect was that there was never any question of the most senior boys being able in any way to directly punish their juniors. The natural respect within the system was sufficient to ensure that the leadership demonstrated by one’s seniors was to be followed. This overall sense of universal accountability provided a critical aspect that was irreversibly woven into this structure, namely a strong sense of compassion.

I once was lucky enough to have breakfast with Kurt Hahn and he specifically talked to us about the importance of always retaining a compassionate nature in one’s life. In particular he talked about the lessons to be learnt from the parable of the ’Good Samaritan’, clearly a favourite Bible story of his.

Perhaps surprisingly in retrospect, religion did not seem to play a big part in our daily life at the school. We certainly had two Ministers on the staff, one Church of Scotland and the other Presbyterian and they not only led worship, but also took the regular religious studies classes*. Chapel as it was called was for most of my time held in the ‘Services Centre’, St Christopher’s only opening during my last year in the school. For me the Michael Kirk was a place of meditation and quiet solitude, its spiritual significance enhanced by having to approach it along the ‘Silent Walk’.* Interestingly the only time I recall being introduced to Plato’s Republic and its significance to the School was in a religious studies class; otherwise it was seldom, if ever, mentioned!

An important feature of the school day was the nightly completion of the ‘Training Plan’. In retrospect this check-off list, which among other things included 2 x warm washes, 2 x cold showers, 2 x clean teeth, 60 x skips etc., was relatively mundane, but the fact that you completed it on your own and that, except in the first year, nobody else looked at your record, provided a major contribution towards one’s self honesty and self-discipline. An all important aspect was that if you failed to complete the daily tasks a pre-ordained number of times,you would have to give yourself a walking punishment, which again you undertook in your own free time.

This emphasis on self-honesty led inevitably to good self-discipline. You had to be organised to complete these various types of tasks during your day in addition to the normal school routine. Again looking back I now appreciate that this practice became instilled in me and allowed me to keep on top of my work throughout me working life.

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There was also a strong sense of the value placed on trust. I mentioned it in relation to the training plan, but in reality in pervaded every aspect of our daily life at the school. This too has been a good lesson, for it led to not just being trusted by the teachers, but also to a high level of trust between the boys themselves. In the work place also, when a manager delegates it is critical that the recipient feels that they are being trusted to simply get on with the task.

This whole system was an excellent introduction to ethical behaviour; on one side the ability to trust others and on the other the importance of being truthful with yourself, with your staff and, in business with your customers. I am certain that we never discussed this concept at the school, but it nevertheless has remained with me as a legacy. Undertaking a walking punishment in your time without any form of supervision inevitably leads to a regime of self-discipline and honesty in one’s own life.

The Services

The various services were a very important part of school life. Examples such as the Fire Service, the Coastguard and the Mountain Rescue all instilled in us both a sense of responsibility and of community. The contribution we made was to more than just within the bounds of the Gordonstoun estate. In other words our actions could and did have repercussions for others, often for people we would not otherwise have met; againan important lesson in business. For example, I worked in Nigeria for three years and it was always critical to keep constantly in mind that our actions could, if done well, benefit a local community, but if done badly could equally cause unnecessary hardship.

Participation in the activities of the Services also allowed individuals to build up a level of courage. If you are faced with a burning house or are searching on a snow swept moor it really challenges one’s own sense of self-preservation – a sense that by using the skills you have been taught you can overcome that fear to benefit those who are clearly in greater peril and seek help. Equally importantly it provided increased levels of stress in an otherwise relatively benign school environment. Whether it was burning scrubland or searching for a person on a dark, snow clad moor we had no option but to come to terms with the effect such experiences were imposing on our physical and emotional responses. In a great many ways this was invaluable experience when in later life I was faced with making decisions in what appears to be an increasingly complex business world. I did not think too much about this at the time, but when I look back I am more able to appreciate that my ability to make what turned out to be quick but nevertheless sound business decisions perhaps had its roots in experiences I had had directing the fighting of fires!

Sailing and Expeditions

Today’s leaders have to appear to instinctively operate in a volatile and complex world. At Gordonstoun, through the build-up of personal courage when faced with the wiles of nature, the sailing experiences in the Moray Firth and onboard the school’s yawls in particular made an important contribution to an individuals’ ability to manage in an environment which so easily could be filled with uncertainty. Likewise weekends spent camping and exploring in the Cairngorms taught one skills in self-preservation and gave an opportunity to demonstrate active leadership. As a teenager leading a group of one’s school mates high up in the Cairngorms, occasionally in adverse conditions,quickly taught us how to plan ahead using the best of the information available, how to set a target and how to ensure that one’s team bought in to and felt comfortable with the leadership that we provided.

The Lesson of Equality in the Classroom

Plato placed significant emphasis on equality within education, not just between gender groups, but also across all individuals. Hahn’s system of work assessment in the classroom skilfully reflected this requisite. For instance, it fully recognised that we all individually have specific skills. So assessment was based not on the constant recognition of the academic brightest within a class, but took into account individuals’ capabilities. Thus the brightest and the least bright could well end up with the same assessment; indeed if the former had clearly not worked hard enough they would be marked down as a consequence.

In the workplace too we all have specific skills and the good manager very much needs to recognise and encourage this amongst his team. For example, some are natural buyers, while others are natural sellers; some are by inclination engineers and others Human Resource professionals. At the same time we all need to learn from those we work with. Thus the best buyer fully understands the needs and practices and needs of the sellers with whom he deals. The best CEOs both fully understand the capabilities of their teams and of the market place within which they seek to successfully operate.

A final Thought on Leadership

Robin S Sharma wrote “Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers.” In many ways this sums up well what was quietly instilled in me during my time at Gordonstoun, now 50 years ago!

Cumming House

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GORDONSTOUN TO HOLLyWOOD

by Daniel Gerroll (Bruce 1968)

From Gordonstoun to Hollywood is as far as it sounds. From short pants, knee socks and open neck shirts in the dead of winter to palm trees, Malibu pants, swimming pools, acres of tennis courts, sparkling beaches…. in the dead of winter.

I spent approximately nine years as a Gordostounian (Wester Elchies and Aberlour House were run under the same ethos as the senior school) and about nine years in ‘Hollywood’. Both are, of course, a state of mind as much as a geographical location.

If I were to store individual moments from both ‘states of mind’ I think I would collect more from the Gordonstoun bank than from the Hollywood one.

Seven is very young to begin a boarding school education, granted, but when eight comes around the tears shed at seven become the water source for the new growth you have just become. As a young boy one emerges from the numbing pain of homesickness into the chest lifting pride of independence. So start the best memories:

The back woods with its hierarchy of schoolboy tribes building rickety forts on the weekend. Laramie and Fort A anyone?

The first and each subsequent time the Gordonstoun Pipe Band marches up the driveway. Dressed from the waist up in evening grey and from the waist down in proudly swinging kilts. The drum major hurling the staff into the air, the bass drum booming boastfully and the melodic wail of pipes that even today [often heard in the most incongruous places… outside Grand Central station in New York City for heaven’s sake] gives this half Jewish Sassenach a thrill.

Stepping in to bat on a warm Scottish summer afternoon with cricket pads still damp from whitening and making spindly legs almost tumble over each other while trying to appear warlike.

The weekend expeditions, clambering up Ben Rinnes and scree running our way back down.

Of course there were always those pesky 40 minutes class that seemed far, far longer and the morning porridge we’d cut our way through to get to the dollop of brown sugar in the middle. The embarrassment of being offered ’tea, milk or nout’ and choosing nout thinking it might be some Celtic specialty only to discover it meant nothing or neither.

But back to the pros at the expense of the cons. One week every term was spent sailing out into the choppy North Sea in the 39 ft clinker built dipping lug cutters. [Did I make that up or was it really what they were called?]. But not just the sailing and the timing of knots of which I’m sure most of us only remember one or two, not just the joy of splicing rope successfully but… the hot apple pies at the Hopeman bakery.

None of which of course is much preparation for a life on the stage. It was only in the fifth or the lower sixth that drama became part of my Gordonstoun experience. First there was holding a spear in Henry V staged outdoors in the magical Round Square, then my first speaking part in

Macbeth. Well it was intended to be a speaking part but the prompter had to do most of the speaking for me as I stood frozen in front of the visiting Royal Family who had come to support their young Prince who was very impressive in the title role… until I came on and almost ruined it. I used to wonder why stage fright has not been an issue in my professional life. Writing this piece made me understand why. I got it all out that one night in 1966! [Oh I do wish we were allowed photos of the production].

London in the sixties was, shall we put it mildly, a little different. Long pants and long hair, girls, popular music available 24/7 and not just for half an hour on Thursdays when Bruce House would gather to watch Top of the Pops.

And then there was theatre. Lots of it. Inexpensive tickets to see the greats of that period. Classical actors were still accorded the adulation of rock stars. The young actors coming out of the drama schools were very un-Gordonstoun. Films depicted rugby in working class mud fields rather than the pristine expanses of manicured privilege. Some of us hid our plummy accents, some bore them proudly.

Thanks to the Gordonstoun Association one can read with fascination of the diverse routes our graduates have travelled.

So… for a period of a few years I went ‘Hollywood’. In 1986 I was cast in that rare beast the grand big budget studio comedy, Big Business, released in 1987. It starred Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin and boasted a terrific supporting cast. Still somewhat ‘stiff upper lip’ by education I had actually at one point in front of the stars, the supporting cast and crew to be asked if I wouldn’t mind demonstrating some reaction to the situation. So much for ‘doing nothing’ being the art of film acting.

To many in my business Hollywood is the ultimate destination. Once there, there is no guarantee of continued success. Many actors plant themselves out there amid the orange groves and it has been said perspicaciously, eventually turn into oranges themselves. The live stage rather than the sound stage has always been my working home so having done my ’time’ I sprung myself and my family and returned to bright lights of Broadway. But it was a delightful sojourn while it and I was glad to escape before transmogrifying into a citrus.

If there were bold comparison to make it would be this: Gordonstoun can prepare you for almost anything in life (including Hollywood); Hollywood could never prepare you for Gordonstoun.

Daniel has appeared in many films and TV series. Following a major role in Chariots of Fire (1981) in 1980, he moved to New York, where his early work garnered a Theatre World Award and an Outer Critic Circle Award. Going to Hollywood in 1987 to appear in Big Business (1988), he stayed to play a variety of roles on TV and film. He later returned to New York in order to indulge his first love - the theatre. In 1999, he won an OBIE award for sustained excellence in theatre. He recently appeared in the Oscar winning film Still Alice (2014).

Daniel with the great Marian Seldes in The Royal FamilyDaniel Gerroll

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GORDONSTOUN MEMORIES

by John Bloomfield (Hopeman 1973)

I returned to Gordonstoun after 41 years, primarily to introduce one of my children (Justin 12, pictured right) as a potential new student. It was refreshing to again experience Gordonstoun’s unique location,Round Square and the boarding houses, and the breadth of facilities available to students. Moira Shearer from the kitchen staff, the only staff person from my vintage, gave me a warm welcome. I arrived at Gordonstoun, age 15, from Canada, as a 6th form entrant, initially in Windmill, then Cumming, and ended up as the color bearer for the first co-ed hostel, Hopeman. The school left a more decisive footprint on me that I probably gave it credit for, in a number of significant ways:1. Self-reliance and independence: It was initially lonely and tough going, adapting to a different culture, different

sports, cold showers, and morning runs. I had however some prior experience roughing it, having worked summer jobs at factories and construction sites. The education system was also more demanding and was initially a challenge. I credit Gordonstoun for providing the initial trauma to overcome, instilling in its students skills in dealing with a diverse range of personalities, and a lifelong appreciation for adapting to foreign circumstances. During my career, I would often arrive in a new country knowing no one, with no emotional or financial support, and valued the challenge of making a difference in new circumstances. I never did return to Canada, and became a citizen of UK, Zimbabwe, S. Africa, and more recently the U.S.

2. Exposure to Gordonstoun’s diverse international community whet my appetite and curiosity about the world, and I was keen to sample foreign cultures, wine, women, and song. By the age of 25 I had traveled as a destitute backpacker through most countries in the world, including visiting Gordonstoun contemporaries in Europe, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and S. Africa. Exploring poverty first hand in Asia, S. America, and Africa, I was struck by the resourcefulness, intelligence, good humor, and support networks of the world’s poor, which led to a career as a development economist in the front line combating poverty, inequities and injustice.

3. Quality education: Gordonstoun provided access to UK tertiary institutions, and I graduated in economics and development economics from LSE and Cambridge. At Cambridge I was recruited by Anglo/De Beers starting out as a management trainee in Johannesburg, rotating between Anglo divisions domestically and abroad. Unbeknown to the authorities at the time, I’d been active in the anti-apartheid movement in both the former Rhodesia, and S. Africa, and thrived on the subterfuge. By day I was flying in Anglo’s corporate jets learning their extensive businesses, and by night, strategizing with activists in Soweto. I suspect that my “subterfuge” history began at Gordonstoun, when I would sneak out in “disguise” to go to parties in Elgin.

4. Appreciation of individual uniqueness: My career spawned several continents, and professions and I currently reside in New Mexico heading up a nonprofit that develops supportive housing for the mentally ill, elderly, chronically homeless, in mixed income/mixed use communities. Some of our residents have PhD’s and Ivy League qualifications, but were felled by a mental illness in their prime. Our projects are important catalysts for neighborhood revitalization, and have won several national awards. In our communities the emphasis is on humility, tolerance, respect, and dignity, where our residents look out for each other, and are invested in the broader community, no doubt attributes that resonate with the Gordonstoun community.

GA CAREERS CONVENTION

On October 30th, 9 OG’s returned to school to take part in the GA Careers Convention. They met with all of the Year 11 pupils in the afternoon and in the evening had supper with members of the Sixth Form to discuss university and career options and life beyond Gordonstoun.

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MAyBE IT’S SOMETHINGABOUT GORDONSTOUN

by Hobart Earle (Cumming 1979)

When I left Gordonstoun in 1979, Brezhnev was in the Kremlin and two of the present-day members of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra were in Afghanistan. Without their musical instruments. We were on different planets, and the idea that the Soviet Union could cease to exist wasn’t even an idea. The world evolves, indeed: today, I speak Russian many days of the year, and bear the title “People’s Artist of Ukraine” – a country that wasn’t even an independent, sovereign nation until 1991. Looking back, my life’s unusual geographic path seems natural, but the truth is, the only constant over the years for me has been music. Everything else has changed beyond recognition. I never intended to be principal conductor of an orchestra in a country at war, but the tragic events of the past year have driven home the power of music as a unifying force for peace and good will. As a guest conductor, I’ve enjoyed making music with musicians on four different continents, and it’s reassuring - just to give one example - to perform works by Greek, Georgian, Armenian and German composers in Bangkok with the Southeast Asian Youth Orchestra and realise that many barriers have been transcended. Although I thought little of it at the time, I remember a brief conversation from many years ago. I had just completed my thesis defense at Princeton University, a presentation in front of all the professors, followed by a question and answer session. I must have been slightly nervous, but as I recall, I enjoyed giving my presentation without thinking twice about it. When it was all over, one of my professors came up to me and praised the manner in which I had handled myself. To my amazement, he went on to say: “maybe it’s something about Gordonstoun in you”. ‎(He was familiar with Gordonstoun and knew all about Kurt Hahn. Indeed, he was a walking encyclopedia on countless subjects). I remember being taken aback at my professor’s comment, but I suppose Gordonstoun instilled in me a love of the stage and a passion for performing. I’m sure my thesis itself was nothing out of the ordinary, but apparently - so I was told - my “performance” during my thesis defense was.My years at Princeton were an extension of all the performing I had done at Gordonstoun, ‎but far more importantly, an invaluable experience in the study of composition and music theory. Performers, I believe, have an entirely different outlook on music if they’ve studied composition themselves. Moreover, spending time around composers (as I did constantly during my university years) opens up an entirely new world: composers tend to think differently about music than performers do. I left university with a far deeper knowledge of the ‘inner-workings’ of music than I could have possibly imagined when I arrived. However, putting one’s knowledge into practice is a vital task for any performer, and fundamentally so for a conductor. At the time I graduated from Princeton, I spoke fluent French and Spanish, but these were of little use to me in delving into the depths of scores by the likes of Wagner, Mahler, Bruckner or Richard Strauss, never mind Alban Berg and his contemporaries. And so, off I went to Vienna, not just to learn German, but to absorb the performance tradition in this unique musical capital. Today, when asked to give advice to young musicians, one of my answers is simple: try to learn languages. So my theory goes (for instance): a deeper knowledge of German helps to give performers a better feel for the way music by German composers flows. In general, I think the same holds true across the planet.Aside from studying conducting at the Academy of Music, I attended rehearsals of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (and all the other orchestras) on an almost daily basis. I also decided to do the same thing Claudio Abbado and Zubin Mehta had done during their student years: become a member of the Vienna Singverein, a chorus with centuries of tradition. As a result, I sang in numerous performances with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics conducted by Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Lorin Maazel, amongst many others. Those were my unforgettable student years; learning my trade from the inside. Nowadays, when I’m asked how I could’ve possibly managed to adapt to life in the former Soviet Union, my first answer is to say I’ve been a foreigner all my life. Of course, this is usually dismissed as superficial, so as a next step I quote the school motto to my unsuspecting audience and say “maybe it’s something about Gordonstoun in me.”

Hobart Earle, Cumming House 1974-79 ‎is Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra. He has guest-conducted orchestras and opera companies across Europe, North America and Asia.

Hobart Earle conducting the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra in an outdoor concert at the Potemkin Steps.

LIVING GORDONSTOUN...AfTER GORDONSTOUN

Nirvana, The Charlatans, Blur. Lumberjack shirts and Doctor Martin Boots. John Major occupies No.10, and Mr.Pyper has just taken the helm at school. Mixed common rooms and house dances. The duplicitous audacity of girls wearing the shortest black skirts humanly possible during the week, long floor-scraping kilts on the weekend. Morning runs are virtually a thing of the past. Moria in the refectory still scorns “Put that baaaaaack!” Sea Spirit excitement, and Saturday afternoon buses into Elgin. Ridiculously early Sunday morning trips to a windswept Aviemore snowscape. Running from bashers, and then there’s the infamy of “The Lavvy”.

Now I’ve got you thinking about Gordonstoun in the Nineties haven’t I? So many dreams and aspirations ago. For most of my peers (class of ’95) we’ve either educated or stumbled our way through this and that. Life has forced many into twists and turns, both personal and professional. Relationships. Careers. Love and laughs. Achievements and setbacks.

Inevitably though, if you are reading this you are still connected to our school. The force is strong isn’t it? You are reminiscing now because of those years spent holed up in our gorgeous Scottish estate, whether it was the full run of five, or you were the erudite “Bentrant” surreptitiously installed to raise our national scholastic ranking in your fleeting two years. You have not cut ties with ‘Stoun because you can’t. It becomes a part of you. Some call it institutionalized; I prefer to think of it as my foundation. Gordonstoun built me.

On my very first day at the school, Ben Goss said to me in his most gruff Lord Kitchener“esque” (think World War One recruitment posters), “Ringrose, I want YOU to drain this place dry”. Ironically, (the irony destined to rear its head in later paragraphs) I did not do that. In fact I probably did the absolute, complete, mirror opposite.

Those of you who will (struggle to) remember me at school (considering my flagrant lack of achievement) will know that I barely participated in anything, let alone making it to a sporting match. I dodged morning chapel for the best part of my last two years as it conflicted with my adolescent routine lie-in. I avoided the most selfless of Services (like Fire or Community Service) in order to fulfill my surfing fixation in a kayak at Hopeman beach with the Corps of Canoe Lifeguards. I dragged my heels at every compulsory exped, and thankfully only once mistakenly volunteered for the winter skills expedition. I didn’t do well in schoolwork, my A level results were abysmal, and my tutor dreaded my apathy. Despite Gordonstoun literally bursting with opportunity, this “sponge” didn’t drain anything. I think it hardly got wet. Hardly the glowing post-school advertisement you expected, right?

by Nick Ringrose (Bruce 1995)

But something happened after leaving school, and in the weeks and months that have now turned quickly into years and decades, I started to live my Gordonstoun life. Don’t ask me how or why, but this lackluster seedling grown so un-inspiringly on those verdant Morayshire acres blossomed into a life and whirlwind career that has continued to thrive, challenge, and motivate me with such furious tenacity that would make Kurt Hahn proud.

At 19 years old after experiencing less than a year of university I left the UK for an “exped” of my own; an expedition that I am still undertaking twenty years later. With rucksack behind me and a humble clutch of travellers cheques in my pocket, I set out for the United States with the intention of having a few months to clear my head. The only thing is, I didn’t return to the UK.

Breath in, (apologies for the forthcoming narcissism) and....... GO! Six years as a professional snowboard instructor exploring the hills of Vermont then the splendid mountains of the Rockies in Utah, the off-seasons spent back-packing, camping, and searching for waves through the west coast, Central America, and Baja, surfing some of the most isolated and perfect waves on the planet. Professional sailing seasons in the Med, Florida and the Caribbean. Yacht crew, yachtmaster, mega yachts, super yachts, and all sorts of yachts in Greece, Antigua, St.Martin, The Virgin Islands and beyond. Over 10,000 ocean miles logged. Months of windsurfing and surf training in Barbados. 8 years fulltime professional sailing in New England, competitive sailing, race coaching, and marine management. Six years as a part-time professional-grade Firefighter and recovery (scuba) diver outside New York City (joining right after witnessing the horrors of 9/11) in my post sailing downtime, concurrent to singing and playing guitar in my bar band that gigged four to six times a month for five years. Music. Marriage. Children. Took a flying lesson. Silly thing. Got hooked. Dropped career. Flight training fulltime for eighteen months, then flight instructor for seven years, entrepreneur, business owner, now a fulltime airline pilot based in New York. Phew!

I cannot drive a normal desk. Mine has to be at 30,000 feet. Nothing is too lofty for a Gordonstounian. Every day we are forced to make decisions and weigh on the gravity of a poor one. But it’s all about attitude, perseverance, and the strength of our “Hahnian” character and “Plus est en Vous” spirit. Despite not realizing my Gordonstoun potential until I left, my experience at this amazing school invariably shaped everything that I have striven for since, and I am now in Ben Goss’s words “draining this place dry”. I am far from stopping!

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21

fROM NAUGHTy BOy TO NAUTI BOUy

by Clay Builder (Altyre 1995)

I was a member of Altyre House from ‘90 to ‘95. Gordonstoun School still remains the 5 best consecutive years of my life. I left school and after a very short, unsuccessful stint at University, decided to enroll on a 1 year graduate programme at the UK sailing academy, IOW.I completed my Yacht master as well as windsurfing, dinghy, kayaking and diving instructor tickets. The sailing experience and kayaking at Gordonstoun definitely set me up in good stead and I was the first student to ever pass the entire graduate programme.After completing the year, I was asked to work at the UKSA centre for the summer, teaching children watersports. I soon learned to have eyes in the back of my head, which came in useful a few years later.I was lucky enough to be asked to work at UKSA’s offshore training facility in Barbados, coaching future windsurfing instructors through a tough 6 week programme.After a year of fun, wave sailing and rum drinking, I decided to focus my attention on a more lucrative career on yachts.I started running flotillas in Greece and Turkey, guiding fleets of yachts for 2 weeks at a time around various coastlines. This is where the eyes in the back of the head came in handy as I soon realized that adults on sailing holidays were no different to children at water sports centre’s. The only difference being the size of the toys and sailing areas as well as the addition of copious amounts of alcohol being drunk by the holiday makers.I was then asked to open up routes in Croatia, which is now the company’s most popular destination.After five years of flotillas and a winter season running a ski chalet in Norway, I was headhunted and put to work, building a beautiful 30 metre carbon sloop in France. I spent a whole year with a French team in a yard, installing all of the deck gear, stepping rigs and completing sea trials on what can only be described as a weapon on the water. We regularly sailed at 20 knots in 10 knots of breeze with Code zeros flying and state of the art sails and technology.I spent 10 further years working on various sailing and Motor vessels up to 52 metres in length, doing both charter and private work all around the world. During this I managed to gain my OOW 3000 T unlimited ticket taking me to officer level and allowing me to be First mate and second in command.I decided to add another string to my bow in order to make myself more employable and with a love of food and drink, enrolled in several cookery courses, starting with a one month course at the Grange in Somerset, where I learnt to cook and present food with flare. I completed a 3 month Thai cookery course near Bangkok and also a 10 day Indian cookery course whilst travelling through Nepal and Northern India.I was lucky enough to sail around the world with another ex-Gordonstonian, Tash Wright, who was a previous school Guardian. She was Captain/engineer and I was Chef/mate. Together we sailed a 62 ft yacht from Scotland to Australia, for a private owner, over a 2 ½ year period. This experience allowed me to dive with sea lions, Scalloped hammer heads and Whale sharks in the Galapogos as well as snorkle with hump back whales in Tahiti. I sky dived in New Zealand and surfed in Australia, met great new friends and saw places and events that not many get the opportunity to see.Whilst working on a busy 40 metre motor yacht in Southern France, on a rare weekend off, I sat bolt up right in Bed at 4am and had a Eureka moment!My company NautiBuoy Marine was born. My concept was simple. A multi functional, inflatable floating raft, that could be used by owners, captains and crew for a multitude of purposes. Quick

and easy to inflate/deflate and small enough to be easily stowed. It had to be totally modular, connecting in every way possible, with a Teak foam top for aesthetics. Up until that moment, I was having to laboriously launch the yachts tender to clean the hull of the yacht and carry out maintenance, only to have to spend hours detailing the tender again which had to be guest ready for shore runs.I was also spending vast amounts of time repairing jet skis and yacht transoms due to ill-timed guest collisions. The modular system now allows crew to create jet ski docks, runways, watersports launch pads, etc, saving money and allowing crew to work smarter, not harder.The platforms also allow smaller vessels to have their own extra space, closer to the water to swim, relax and enjoy luxurious comfort. Like adding an inflatable balcony or conservatory to your floating property.It has recently been nicknamed “inflatable lego”After 4 years of prototyping and development as well as jumping in the deep end, with very little business acumen, we launched NautiBuoy Marine in London at a Super Yacht show. We have been overwhelmed by the response.We have sellers all over the world. Although it is extremely hard work and often feels like I am pushing a large atlas ball up a hill, I wouldn’t change it for the world. We have created our own global Super yacht brand.Next year we are adding SeaBob Docks and modular seapools as well as cleaning products and small gaps we have found in marine based products.The grand plan is to start landing helicopters on Inflatable heli pads.Nautibuoy Marine has was recently awarded a DAME Design Award for its innovative multifunctional inflatable marine platforms. Announcing Nautibuoy Marine as the winner, the judges commented, “We appreciated the four years of design that had gone into the production of the product and declared it a notable winner in a hotly contested category.”

STEERING THROUGH THE STARS

by Felicity Sheasby née Higgins (Hopeman 1997)

As a teenager on expedition, I was more likely to be found looking down into the dubious contents of my Trangia than looking up at the stars. Fast forward (quite) a few years and here I am focusing on those stars every day whilst working in Satellite Operations for the European Space Agency. Just to dispel any illusions you may have, I’ve yet to see anyone wearing a space suit at work, our canteen doesn’t serve space ice cream and we don’t drive around the site on moon buggies. Having said that:My boss is the German astronaut Thomas Reiter who holds the European record of 350 days in space. After that kind of experience I’m amazed he finds my financial reports interesting. I do get to help drive satellites, but more about that later; andDoes anybody actually like space ice cream?

What is the European Space Agency? ESA works on the same theory as Gordonstoun, in that we can achieve far more together than as individuals. By combining the financial and intellectual resources of our member states we can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. Our aim is to provide and promote space science, space applications and research & technology for exclusively peaceful purposes. We do this by developing satellite based technologies and investing in our industrial partners. We’re split over eight main sites across the world from our main launch site in Kourou, French Guiana to our Headquarters in Paris. Here’s a short summary of just some of them: At the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Holland we design and test satellites, and come up with fantastic new concepts for missions. Here’s where you’ll find the best chance to drive that moon buggy If you head to the pool at the European Astronauts Centre (EAC) nearby you’ve a good chance of seeing someone practicing a spacewalk in a spacesuit. Perhaps you can also test the food before it’s sent up as dinner on the on the International Space Station?The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany is where I am based. We control most of the ESA satellites from here, sending and receiving signals via our network of ground stations based all around the world. You might have seen us most recently controlling the landing of Philae on Comet 67P from the Rosetta Satellite.

What do you do there? Like any large organisation, ESA requires support in the areas “behind the scenes”. I’m a Project Controller, responsible for the budget and manpower planning for the operations of all of the ESA Astronomy satellites. I plan and control budgets from missions that have been in orbit for 15 years to “back of the envelope” calculations for concept

missions. Trying to plan the operations costs for a mission that will be launching 10 years in the future is definitely interesting, but when the mission launches and the science data begins to flow down, it makes all those challenges worthwhile. I know it’s a cliché, but I genuinely enjoy my job. I work with people who are at the top of their fields and most of them have wanted to work ‘in space’ since childhood. Sometimes it can test of all my people skills to try to focus the attention of a fantastically intelligent engineer on finance questions rather than orbit calculations, but it’s all part of the job. In satellite operations, everyone is motivated towards our common goal, to get the satellites working in space, and producing the best data that it can, on time and (most importantly for me) on budget. I am very proud of our all of our achievements ranging from the headline grabbing comet landing to the smaller technology demonstrating satellite Lisa Pathfinder, recently in November 2015.

The question is ‘how did I end up there?’ In 2003, my (then) boyfriend and I relocated to Germany for his job. As I had previous graduate experience working with the financial services company Skandia Life, I came to work at ESOC as a financial planner, initially as working as a contractor through Serco, and later as an ESA staff member. 12 years, one wedding, one house build and two kids later I still love living and working here.

What about the future? The future for me is working on more new missions and trying to extend our existing flying missions for as long as possible. If the moon buggy development team need a controller, perhaps I may move to Holland. For now though, the next time you glance up at the night sky, take a look out for one those satellites working above you, and think of us in Darmstadt steering it through the stars.

Sounds like a great place to work, how can I work there? • STUDENTPLACEMENTS - ESA offers students the chance to have a placement at ESA whilst working on their masters degree (e.g. three months whilst preparing a thesis). • YOUNGGRADUATETRAINEESCHEME(YGT) - ESA offers around 80 places a year to graduates for a one year placement working in one of the ESA establishments. Vacancies for YGT’s go online once a year in mid-November. Note – applications are only open to nationals of ESA member / cooperating states • FULLTIME - ESA offers permanent posts in a full range of competencies. For more information see www.esa.int/careers.

Can I visit ESA? Keep an eye on the ESA website for tours or open days at an ESA site near you. The Gordonstoun Association and Felicity plan to organise an OGs reunion in Germany in June 2016. On offer will be a tour of ESOC in Darmstadt during the day, followed by dinner in the Frankfurt / Rhein-Main area. for more information about ESA in general see www.esa.int

22

fEED THE WORLD

by Philipp Saumweber (Altyre 1997)

The dry and barren landscape outside of Port Augusta, a small town about three hours’ drive from Adelaide, barely gets half a page in the Lonely Planet’s guide to Australia. In this remote part of the country, there are coal-fired power stations, lead smelters, mining operations, a prison and vast tracts of overgrazed saltbush, that thrive on brackish groundwater seeping through the arid soil. The indigenous fauna includes poisonous redback spiders, king brown snakes, the occasional emu or wallaby and a raft of insects, though mostly flies. This is a harsh environment and it is no wonder that it has one of the lowest population densities in Australia, itself renowned for being one of the world’s most sparsely populated countries. The area around Port Augusta, though, offers up an abundance of sunshine, seawater, and land.

It is here that I chose to build a company that helps solve some of the world’s food problems by harnessing these abundant resources. The company, Sundrop Farms, grows food in state-of-the-art glasshouses using a unique proprietary technology developed to harness renewable resources – mostly sunlight and seawater – while making use of land not traditionally considered for agriculture.

While attending fire service call-outs, sports practices, or out on expedition in the Highlands, I must confess that I never contemplated a career in agriculture. After Gordonstoun I read Economics at Dartmouth College, completed an MBA at Harvard, and my chosen career path took me from Goldman Sachs to hedge fund management to the family investment office. My resume could not have read finance any clearer. However, while at the family office, I was looking at an agricultural investment proposal and was struck by the challenge to feed an ever growing world population with ever less natural resources – land, water, and energy. Having led several investments in the agricultural space I eventually traded in my City office for a container office in Port Augusta to start Sundrop Farms from scratch in 2009. Today, as the CEO of Sundrop Farms and I have proudly built the company into the world’s first commercially and environmentally sustainable arid climate agriculture business.

Growing food in the desert sounds quite counterintuitive and seems like something an enlightened futurologist might have dreamed up for the 21st century. Most crops actually grow better in high light environments, such as deserts, but here high temperatures and fresh water availability are usually an impediment to plant growth. The Sundrop Farms system uses solar power to create the heat, electricity, and desalinated water needed to feed and power Sundrop Farms’ growing operations – creating ideal conditions for natural plant growth.

Entering the company’s Port Augusta complex from the scorching outside desert, passing sun-tracking parabolic solar mirrors, the state-of-the-art desalination facility, a shiny power island, and computers steering the operations, feels like you have arrived at tomorrow-world. The climate controlled air inside the greenhouse is laden with the scent of ripening tomatoes and is in such contrast to the harsh landscape outside, where it reaches a parched 40C for much of the year. Thousands of plants are drip fed with water so pure, that micro-nutrients and minerals are added to the water in the ideal doses for the crop. Beneficial insects are carefully placed to prey on pests, avoiding the need for pesticides and harmful spraying of the crop. This really is a farm of the future where nature is mimicked to replace extractive forms of farming.

Growing the Sundrop Farms way allows us to save massively on water, land and fuel costs vis-à-vis our competitors. This cost advantage has allowed the Sundrop team to win a long-term supply agreement with Coles Supermarkets, one of Australia’s largest supermarkets. As such, we are currently undergoing a 100 fold expansion to 20 hectares, due to be completed in early 2016, which will produce more than 15,000 tons of vegetables annually for markets across Australia.

As the world’s population continues to grow, Sundrop Farms is making it possible to de-couple food production from finite resources to grow the world’s food industry, not just profitably but also sustainably. I, together with most of the senior Sundrop Farms team have recently moved back from Australia to new headquarters in London, where we are building on this agricultural innovation for arid climates and coordinating expansions into the Middle East, North America and other supply-constrained markets around the world.

23

tofeedan ever growing

world population

24

RECIPE fOR SUCCESS

by Laura Beaumont (Plewlands 2003)

Bella Blackett (Windmill, 2004) and I both dislike the word team building. We prefer to use the term breaking down barriers. And that is exactly what we do on a daily basis, helping both very small and very large companies bring their teams together. The answer to our secret lies in cooking. Venturi’s Table, our London-based corporate cookery school offers a variety of group classes, ranging from making and enjoying a full 3-course dinner through to learning the skills of pizza or pasta making and working with clients to create bespoke menus or challenges for the groups. The school can host groups of 7-70 guests and we regularly welcome teams from companies including GSK, BP, Google, Blackrock to name but a few. And despite our distant fond memories of Moira in the refectory shouting “Poot thaat baack,” this is not a motto that we have adopted at Venturi’s Table, where guests are invited to very much make themselves feel at home. Think of it not as a strict cookery class, but more like a fun time away from the office where you are able to enjoy being creative in the kitchen with a glass or two of fine wine and without the tedious planning, shopping and washing up that normally go hand in hand with cooking.

We both credit our time all those years ago at Gordonstoun with helping us achieve the success we have today. We firmly believe that the school’s approach to an all-rounded education, which encourages you to explore and push yourself to achieve your dreams, has helped us to take chances and given us the confidence to take on any challenges we face.

Passionate about food since a small child, on leaving Gordonstoun Bella spent a month on a cooking course before doing a ski season in France working as Head Chef in a chalet. On her return, she secured work experience with an events company who were putting on a party with a huge budget. The excitement of seeing her creative concepts come to life quickly drew her in, and with this goal in mind Bella embarked on an Events Management degree and quickly secured her first job with a well know events company in London. Over the years, Bella worked on events ranging from intimate dinners to large-scale extravaganzas for over 1000 guests.

Turning my foodie dream into a reality was more of a bumpy path. Having graduated with a Business Management degree, I worked in Management Consultancy for a few years. However, the city life was not for me and at the end of every stressful day all I longed to do was play around in the kitchen experimenting with new and exciting recipes and cook for friends. With a business plan of setting up a children’s cookery school written on a piece of scrap paper, I took the plunge to leave my secure job mid-recession and trained for six months at Leith’s Cookery School. After a couple of years of working as a

freelance chef and teaching cooking whenever the opportunity arose, I stumbled across Venturi’s Table where the buzz and the atmosphere of the kitchens quickly drew me in. Admittedly, teaching a bunch of corporates wasn’t quite teaching children as I had once dreamt (adults are much less likely to listen!), but the beautiful kitchens, fun classes and almost party-like atmosphere quickly won me over. On learning that the company’s founder was looking to retire and threatening to sell the business to someone who would not carry on the legacy she had created, I decided to take matters into my own hands and it didn’t take much to convince Bella to join me.

Having been running the company now for almost a year, Bella and I have been non-stop and loved every minute. The Gordonstoun ethos of ‘Plus Est En Vous’ is never far from our minds with the many hurdles we have had to leap over and processes involved in running a business that we have had to learn as we go. This certainly seems to be paying off and the cookery school is growing in leaps and bounds. We have slowly moved Venturi’s Table away from purely being Italian-themed to introducing delicious new recipes and more exciting menus. The hen and stag party classes we have created are quickly becoming legendary and our kitchens have hosted many a celebrity and Michelin starred chef filming their latest TV shows. The company’s catering arm, Italian Secrets Catering, has also catered for numerous different private and corporate events both hosted in the school’s stunning kitchens and across London.

And so what have we learnt since taking on Venturi’s Table? Well, we believe that the powers of making pasta or profiteroles are stronger than you might think! We are repeatedly told by our clients that the experience of cooking and sharing delicious food together in our beautiful kitchens really has helped break down boundaries within their teams. The teams often arrive at the school as a cluster of micro-groups and leave happier and more relaxed with the foundation of relationships much stronger within the team as a whole.

Venturi’s Table hope to host a GA event soon, but if in the meantime you would like to find out more,visit our website www.venturistable.com

25

My JOURNEy Of PLAN B

by Vanezza Zabert (Altyre 2004)

During those morning walks in 2003, from Altyre to the Chapel, I was convinced that I would be following a linear career path after school. Start a job, climb the ladder, step by step. But my journey turned out different. It took me on a path of adventures, uncertainty, personal innovation and one of purpose and fulfilment.

Whenever I meet with friends, they are hungry to hear of my latest stories and adventures. And seem to enjoy a different perspective to their routine jobs. And so it comes to no surprise that I write this article, at the chaotic Manila airport lounge - about to head back to London, and conclude a summer of work travels to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

My initial interest in cross-cultural understanding, inclusive development and poverty alleviation stem from my roots of being German-Filipina. An upbringing in both countries (and ten years in the UK) enabled me to get to know very different regions, which are on opposing poles of a continuum, with regards to social, health and economic wellbeing.

During my AS-Level summer, I travelled to the Philippines, to see for myself what it means to be poor, what ‘bottom of the pyramid wealth creation’ meant, and to meet those individuals, who fight for their survival on a daily basis.

“If you could wish for anything in the world, what would you like to have for your Christmas present?” I asked Bryan, a six-year-old boy at a Centre for Abused and Abandoned Children, in the Philippines.

His quick response was: “A birthday!”

At first, I was totally baffled and did not quite understand, until it was explained to me that many children were found alone in the streets. Bryan was very young, he did not know his name, age, and parents or where he came from. Neither the Centre, nor the local government had the equivalent of £10 to pay for a birth registration.

But really, Bryan was more thinking about all the birthday presents that he missed out on, than his future prospects. However, without a birth certificate he will not be able to attain other certifications such as school reports, driving license, marriage certificate or apply for employment. His young friends shared similar stories. This was a grim face of poverty that I had not known.

Having met Bryan and the others, I wanted to support the children out of poverty through educational sponsorships. Raised by friends, relatives

and European students, to avoid a life of illiteracy. I was determined to do something.

But the complexity surrounding poverty and its multi-dimensional nature, pretty much slapped my nativity in the face.

That summer, my idealism was crushed. Like many, I did not consider the importance of the local context, behaviors and bigger picture. And it opened my eyes to the need to go much deeper into the importance for holistic approaches. Simply pouring in resources, such as money will not do, nor the idealistic view that humans behave rationally.

I learnt my lesson.

I set out on a path to gain a solid academic background in the area that I am immensely passionate and enthusiastic about: International sustainable development. Which is, “about finding creative solutions to complex societal issues, that take into account the well-being of future generations and not just our own.“

A Masters Degree from the London School of Economics in Population and Development and currently an Executive Masters in Behavioural Science, form the basis. However, I quickly realised that text books alone teach you so much, to understand what is happing in reality, it is important to go into the field and understand the root causes of problems on the ground.

In my current role as European Director for the Philippines’ leading development foundation, my favourite part is to travel with students of business and development degrees, to Southeast Asia.

As part of their experiential learning programmes, with topics focused on: sustainable development, global leadership, cross-cultural intelligence, social entrepreneurship and human-centred design thinking.

My initial plans from those early walks to Chapel did not materialise.

I am glad they did not.

“If you organise your life around your passion, you can turn your passion into your story and then turn your story into something bigger - something that matters”

(B.Mycoskie, founder of Tom’s Shoes)

26

A PASSION fOR SERVICE

by Katie Marsden (Hopeman 2005)

Earlier this year I returned to Gordonstoun for the first time since leaving at the end of sixth form. It was the ten-year reunion for the class of 2005 and gave me just the excuse I needed for a weekend break on the beautiful Moray coast. My husband (or fiancé as he was at the time) was keen to join me having heard me talk so much about my time at school. However, as I am sure is a common experience on visiting Gordonstoun, I don’t think it was until we were walking the school grounds that he first truly understood what I had failed to articulate about the uniqueness of a Gordonstoun education. Like the current sixth form who presented that day on their recent experiences volunteering internationally, I know that by the time I headed off to university after two short years at Gordonstoun, I was fired up with a passion for public service, a commitment to do my best while helping others and a recognition of the importance of an international outlook.

Throughout my time at university my commitment to work in public service stayed with me and during my final year I applied for the Fast Stream, which offers an accelerated route to leadership in the Civil Service. The programme enabled me to work in a number of Government Departments, undertaking a diverse range of jobs including roles in policy, strategy, finance and project management. I would be happy to talk to anyone about it if they are interested in applying.

Having completed the Fast Stream programme, I am currently working for the Welsh Government in the Welsh Treasury. Whilst I am thoroughly enjoying my role developing innovative financing routes to support public infrastructure investment, the Gordonstoun motto of ‘Plus Est en Vous’ is never far from my thoughts and I have continued to look for additional opportunities to stretch myself and to make a difference. That is how I now find myself spending the next two months in Lesotho, working to help an NGO mobilise resources and develop its strategy and business plan for the next five years.

My placement in Lesotho has been enabled by the Welsh Government’s International Learning Opportunities Programme, which gives Welsh public and third sector workers the opportunity to work in sub-Saharan Africa on development projects and, in doing so, enhance their leadership skills. Since 2007, the programme has delivered 143 projects in sub-Saharan Africa, including projects in Uganda, Lesotho, Zambia and Cameroon. These assignments focus on enhancing the skills of participants whilst contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and adding value to existing Wales for Africa links.

The Kingdom of Lesotho is a small, mountainous and landlocked country, completely surrounded by South Africa. Lesotho is classified

as one of the Least Developed Countries and more than half the population live on less than $1.25 a day. The country has the second highest HIV / AIDS prevalence rate and average life expectancy stands at 48.7 years. I arrived here in early October and despite the significant challenges facing the country, have found the Basotho people I have met to be optimistic about the future and committed to improving the well-being of all. They have also been overwhelmingly welcoming and made me feel immediately at home in this fascinating country.

I am fortunate to be working with She-Hive Association, which was established in 2012, and works towards the eradication of gender-based violence in Lesotho. Despite enacting a number of gender-sensitive laws, a recent study reported that 86% of women in Lesotho had experienced gender-based violence in their lifetime. It is in this context that She-Hive Association provides psychosocial support, legal and medical referrals, livelihood support and undertakes advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns with the aim of strengthening legal and judicial systems. Whilst She-Hive Association is providing support to survivors of gender-based violence, it also undertakes preventative action aimed at breaking the cycle of abuse and there is a focus on integrating projects to support women living with HIV / AIDS.

The organisation is ably led by the charismatic ‘Me ‘Mamakhethe Phomane and staffed entirely by volunteers, whose dedication and professionalism is inspiring, and whose commitment to expanding the organisation to help more women and families I can’t help but admire. However, as with many such organisations, a lack of finances is a real issue and there is a need to move to a more sustainable resource and funding model if the excellent work is to continue.

During my eight weeks, I will be focusing on helping them in this endeavor. However, there is a significant amount of competition for funding and a lot of work to do. Never have I been tested more on the principles that underpin a Gordonstoun education – Challenge, Service, Internationalism and Responsibility - and I would be very grateful if anybody has any advice for me or, indeed, for She-Hive Association.

Eight weeks is by no means enough time and whilst I am hopeful that I can make a contribution while I am here, I am sure this is only the beginning of my continued relationship with this incredible organisation.

If anyone is interested in knowing more about She-Hive Association, or thinks that they might want to get involved, please do get in touch.

She-Hive Association jewellery making class to help women become financially independent.

27

CROSSING THE CHALBI

by Oliver Tillard (Cumming 2005)

The expedition took place in Northern Kenya. The plan was to be the first people to cross the Chalbi Desert unsupported. The idea had been dreamt up by myself (Cumming ’05) and Henry Haselock (Cumming ’06) whilst reminiscing about the days at school spent out on the hill. Both of us had embraced the outdoor education Gordonstoun provided us with and had undertaken a number of expeditions since leaving school. Henry has crossed much of Mongolia on foot and spent time in the jungle in Belize. I had cycled across the USA and led expeditions in Bavaria before joining the military. The only criteria for this expedition were something that was achievable in 2 weeks and also hadn’t been done before. A detailed search of the world’s deserts presented a number of possibilities. Of the many options the Chalbi Desert, a virtually flat, sandy desert of over 100, 000 kilometres squared seemed perfect. The route consisted of travelling east to west across the desert’s widest point, a distance of 190km. As it is one of the driest and most arid regions of East Africa we would have to tow trailers with enough water, food and supplies for ten days. Attempting the expedition unsupported meant we had to be totally self-sufficient and able to cope with any situation in the 40 degree heat. Accompanying us along the way were two armed rangers in a support vehicle providing protection and useful mediation if any situation got out of our control.

The expedition started from Nairobi with an eight hour drive north to Marsabit. This small rural town, the last population centre before the border with Ethiopia, was to be our starting point. From here we set out, each trailer laden with over 100kg. It would be useful to add that up to this point the plan was going as it should have done and previous experience had served us both well. Lessons learnt at Gordonstoun and in later life meant that our ability to con-plan and foresee problems had prevented a number of snags occurring along the way. Initially our biggest hurdle was the fact there was very little known about the route we were about to undertake. The armed rangers thought the plan was ridiculous and made little effort to hide their delight at being paid for ten days up front; they firmly believed they would be home in two.

The first couple of days were without drama. The heat was taking some getting used to and we had started to get the hang of manoeuvring the rather unwieldy trailers. The landscape could best be described as Martian, the odd tree surrounded by enormous and overflowing ancient lava flows. Local tribesmen, mostly goat herders of the Gabbra tribe, occasionally crossed our path and took great pleasure in getting harnessed up and pulling our trailers. This was until they got bored after a couple of minutes and headed off to catch up with their livestock!

As we neared the end of the second day, spirits were high and we were

making good time. The “Plus Est En Vous” spirit was strong and our love for adventure, born all those years ago in the Scottish Highlands, was being realised once again. However, it soon became apparent that our trailers were not up to the job and the wheel bearings had begun to disintegrate. This was a serious blow that immediately shattered our claim to an unsupported desert crossing. We quickly changed tack; we would carry all of our kit in a Bergen, the water would go on the vehicle and we would fill up what we needed for each day in the morning.

With the new plan simply to be the first recorded people to cross the Chalbi Desert we cracked on determined not to be beaten at this early stage. Over the course of the next few days we made extremely good time despite the weight on our back. We averaged 30km per day and quickly became adept at putting up a poncho for shade from the midday sun. The aridity of the desert meant there was no life whatsoever so when we weren’t moving it was eerily quiet. We were constantly taking on water, sometimes up to ten litres a day, and had to be strict with each other to ensure we took rest at the appropriate time.

By the eighth day it was clear we were nearing civilisation again. Our path was crossed by herds of camels and the flocks of sand grouse suggested we were beginning to move out of the arid, dry desert. Swelling and blisters combined with bruised shoulders meant we were delighted to see our final destination; North Horr. In just over a week we had covered 190km, drunk 140 litres of water and crossed the Chalbi Desert at its widest point. It was an incredible journey in a stunning and relatively untouched part of the world.

Ollie and Henry’s trek was to raise funds to be divided between two charities; Tusk, a small organisation which helps fund conservation, community projects and education programmes across Africa. The other is Veterans Aid, an organisation that works on the front line addressing homelessness and addiction among veterans.

http://www.veterans-aid.net/crossing-the-chalbi-for-veterans-aid/

28

CyCLING ACROSS AfRICA AND LIfE

by Rory MacKay (Round Square 2007)

I reflect on those school years and mixed emotions are unstirred in my mind. Memories of rules and thick stone walls, made habitable by the friends and characters bound (for the most part) within them. Back then I would not have regarded myself a high acheiver, a late developer perhaps. However, my Gordonstoun education rubbed off on me in a manner I could never have predicted and I have reached this juncture with a story to share. A story of achievement.

Fresh off an absorbing three weeks sailing the ‘Ocean Spirit of Moray’ up near the North Pole, I was thrust into the world. After spending the best part of two years working odd jobs around Southeast Asia and New Zealand, I moved to Australia to study architecture. It was during my years in Brisbane that cogs began to spin and stars aligned. Late 2010, I undertook an internship with an architectural firm in Hong Kong. This entailed spending three hours each day riding the metro, an experience more akin to that of a tinned sardine than a human being. This commute either side of days stuck in front of a computer didn’t endear me to life in an office. My favourite activities soon became reading adventure books and admiring the view from my desk. A seed for adventure was planted in my mind.

Fast forward one year. Having restored an old road bicycle in Australia, I flew it over to Vietnam and set off from Saigon heading north. A month and 2500km later I had reached my target of Hong Kong! It was such a satisfying endeavour as I really got to know myself and the places I passed through. As people, we all seem to be searching for a purpose. There was something beautiful about the simplicity of cycling as a form of adventure; getting from A to B felt immensely purposeful because my progress was tangible. I knew this would spur me onto bigger and better things.

Another couple of years passed as I knuckled down and completed my architecture studies in Australia. During my final year, I hatched up a plan with an old friend to do trans-Africa on four wheels. I worked for a while longer down under to raise funds and made preparations to head to Cape Town end of 2013. Only three weeks prior to departure, my friend wanted to put the trip back one year, I however was not in a position to oblige. This was the time, this was the chance to do something great! Travelling alone I lacked sufficient funds to purchase a motor vehicle, so was pressed into a last minute decision as to my means of transport across the continent. Sod it, why not by bicycle?

Without a moment to lose (literally on the day of departure), I grabbed my old mountain bike from the garage, whacked it into a cardboard box and made haste for Africa. After a few weeks of preparation and travel around South Africa visiting friends, I embarked on what ended up becoming a 16,000km adventure across eleven nations.

At the outset I wasn’t very sure how far I’d get and took it very much one country at a time. First things first, I forged my way up the west coast of South Africa. Riding north, the landscape became increasingly arid untill I reached the heart of the Namib Desert. Crossing Namibia

was one of my favorite experiences; the rugged beauty of her landscapes making the enormous expanses and searing summer heat worth the toil; running out of water hundreds of kilometres from anywhere was a dicey exercise. I headed inland to Botswana and the Okkavango Delta, hitching a few rides across parts of the vast Kalahari Desert. The riding and bush camping amongst lions and elephants in these parts was absolutely awesome.

Continuing in a north easterly direction I hit Zambia and Victoria Falls. The nature of riding thereafter changed, as the empty deserts of the south transformed into the populated forests of Zambia, Malawi and Southern Tanzania. An abundance of people on the roadside bringing with it a new set of challenges. Riding the Indian Ocean coastline of Tanzania and Kenya was a great experience, backed up by then circumnavigating Kilimanjaro. Onwards to the mountains of Ethiopia and one of the most unique countries on this earth. Exploring at the pace of a bicycle, I truly got a feel for the cultures and landscapes navigated. Ethiopia was nothing short of a revelation.

This was followed by an epic descent into the Sudan and the Sahara Desert onwards. Crossing this part of the planet tested every fibre of my being. Getting poisoned in Khartoum and spending time in a Sudanese hospital was a definite low point of the trip. I somehow found the fortitude to continue, following the Nile up into Egypt and gradually regaining my strength. Needless to say, it was surreal and incredible to reach Cairo on that crusty old bicycle! Cycling from Edinburgh to John o’Groats with my father was a fitting way to cap an epic five months on the road.

After working for half a year in Scotland, I went on to travel the Americas and Carribean before settling down in Hong Kong. I recently founded an adventure & eco tour company called Wild Hong Kong. Now, with running my own business and twins due in the new year, my next big adventure is just round the corner.

No regrets.

29

MAKING A DIffERENCE

by Sarah Anderson (Hopeman 2007)

I will always remember the first talk Mr. Pyper, headmaster at the time, gave the lower sixth class of 2005, emboldening us to never miss an opportunity that passed us by. These words inspired me to create a fresh start for myself at Gordonstoun. A school trip to Thailand between my lower and upper sixth years opened my eyes to the health challenges that basic human requirements like clean water mandate. With a team of Karen villagers, we installed a plumbing system and river dam to facilitate fresh running water. Before arriving, I thought I was going to build a dam. When I left, I knew that I was involved in protecting a village of Thai people from the problems arising from stagnant, contaminated water—something that generations of humans from the first world take for granted every day. I realized that the knowledge of this fundamental right to health can be easily shared and disseminated. It shaped my path of study, and ultimately, my decision to pursue an undergraduate degree in public health.

My senior paper was a project in which we had to design an intervention for a public health problem of our interest. I chose to research the health implications of human trafficking. This fascinated me because one typically thinks of human trafficking as a human rights violation, without acknowledging the severe impacts it has on populations. I designed a rehabilitation center in India for rescued victims. My hypothetical intervention had the primary aim of restoring health to the victims. A physical health assessment would be made upon their rescue, including tests for TB, HIV, and STIs. I emphasized the importance of a mental health evaluation, as many of the victims suffer from anxiety, depression, and PTSD. After completing the project, I was eager to see how my idea of a safe-house differed from one already existing in India.

After graduating from the George Washington University, I went to Mysore, Karnataka in South India to volunteer with Odanadi, an organization that executes rescue operations and houses victims of trafficking until they are finished with school. While my case study emphasized the treatment of disease and mental health problems, the home in Mysore focused largely on education and future life goals. Although nutritional deficiencies were obvious in the underdeveloped children, the main concern of the organization was that they be educated and move forward in their lives with less vulnerability to traffickers. My primary role was to act as an English teacher, as the ability to speak English in India is crucial for professional and social currency. While this experience illuminated the idealism of my senior project, I knew that I hadn’t reached my full potential.

It was clear to me that in order for me to make a bigger impact in the lives of those in underserved communities, I would need to advance my education in public health. Having a strong mathematical background and an avid interest in biostatistics, I decided to concentrate my master’s degree in epidemiology, or the study of the causes and trends

in illness among populations. My passion for travel and living among new cultures led me to pursue my degree in Stockholm, Sweden at the Karolinska Institute.

I was fortunate enough to be at a university that gave me the flexibility to write my master’s thesis outside of Stockholm for our final semester. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to gain field experience before settling into a career after studying. I connected with a research group in Zambia based out of Emory University in the United States, as they were planning the implementation of an electronic fingerprinting system to track HIV among high-risk groups in their clinics. The timing was serendipitous, and I spent three months between Lusaka and Ndola conducting the pilot test of the new system. As an epidemiologist trained in Sweden, the experience of data collection and analysis in a developing country was incredibly challenging and rewarding, and I knew I had chosen the right career path.

Despite having left home in Los Angeles at the age of 16 to attend Gordonstoun, I still didn’t feel ready to return home when I finished my master’s in June. I have since returned to the UK, where I’m working as an epidemiologist at a consulting firm in London. Here, we research and forecast trends in diseases in 30 countries globally, to facilitate biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the allocation of their resources. Having previously only worked for non-profit organizations, this has been a fascinating opportunity see the full spectrum of global health players, and to witness the interconnectedness of the public and private sectors. I can sincerely say that my time spent at Gordonstoun was paramount in my decisions to pursue opportunities abroad and to take the career path that I did, and I’ll always be grateful for the unwavering encouragement of my teachers and peers during and after my time there.

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JUMPING IN HEAD fIRST

by Emma Jones(Windmill 2009)

Since leaving Gordonstoun in 2009, one experience during my time at school impacted me in such a profound way that it entirely decided my career path. Taking a year out after school, I applied to the University of Bradford, one of six global Rotary Peace Centres, to study Peace and Development. The decision to pursue Peace Studies was cemented by a return trip I made to Rwanda during 2010 where I revisited the project site of a Gordonstoun International Voluntary Service Project undertaken in Rwanda during 2005.

Originally, the Gordonstoun team had built a volleyball court in Kirehe District (South Eastern Rwanda) for Kaduha Primary School. When I returned in 2010, the primary school facilities remained much the same although with the net missing, the volleyball court was clearly not in use and the school was largely empty (the Government of Rwanda had built another nearby to fulfil promises of nation-wide access to primary education). Thanks to the intensity with which the Gordonstoun Project had affected me and because I travelled without the original Rwanda team to re-visit the project site, the decision to return independently in 2010 meant that my perceived truths about charity, development, volunteering and aid were called into question in a powerful and personal way.

Returning to the project site and establishing the tangible impact the project had made fuelled my concentration in lectures and my appetite to professionalise my experiences when I enrolled at the University of Bradford. During my degree, I sought exposure through modules on conflict resolution, peace studies, security studies, development economics and international relations and, in particular, a three month internship with Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) in Uganda which is, funnily enough, right next to Rwanda.

Interning as a first year undergraduate, I worked alongside highly qualified peers and realised just how experienced and qualified one has to be to work effectively in international development. During my internship, I matured significantly and returned to finish my degree, graduating with first class honours. On graduating, ACODE invited me to apply for a position as a full-time Program Assistant, supporting their Peace and Democracy Programs which I duly did; I wasn’t going to wait to be asked again!

In the past year, I have returned to Rwanda as part of a delegation to

co-host a Regional Security Roundtable, the 4th so far. ACODE worked with the University of Bradford and the Rwandan Peace Academy to bring together military and security experts, academics and civil society representatives to critically engage in a frank and honest conversation, deepening the understanding of the security dynamics, threats, and possible interventions to strengthen the security architecture of the East and Horn of Africa. It was absolutely fascinating and terrifying in equal parts and we are now busy organising the 5th one.

Within Uganda, the formidable Local Government Score-card Council Initiative (LGCSCI) team have been endlessly patient with me as we have navigated 30 districts in Uganda. My specific role within the team is to provide administrative support and take the lead on collecting, coding and analysing qualitative data on service delivery during project activities as LGCSCI works to enable citizens to

demand excellence of their local governments and enables local governments to respond effectively and efficiently to those demands with the use of a scorecard tool (designed and developed by ACODE).

Meanwhile, the monthly State of the Nation Platform (STON Platform) has exposed me to a variety of public policy issues and forced me get to grips with them instantaneously; I’m now a co-author on issues as diverse as the liberalisation of the pension sector, the militarisation of the National Agricultural Advisory Services , the localisation of post-2015 development goals, electoral violence, peace and conflict in the Great Lakes Region (specifically Burundi and South Sudan) and reducing levels of mortality in children under the age of five years old, to name a few.

Life has certainly been one heck of a ride already, and jumping in head first has been both an advantage and a disadvantage beyond the cocoons of Gordonstoun. An ability to bounce back and just get on with things is an undoubted advantage although I now realise how much I took for granted in terms of the emotional and practical support offered by staff at Gordonstoun. In an amusing turn of events, I found myself working as an Assistant House Mistress immediately after graduating from university (for my former head of boarding, Mrs Natasha Dangerfield, previously of Windmill Lodge) and only lasted three months because, sincerely, it was too difficult!

Nevertheless, my initial trip to Rwanda with Gordonstoun left an indelible mark on me that I have struggled to shake; it’s thanks to the exhaustingly adventurous and original staff that I’ve found myself living and working in Uganda, taking a motorbike to and from work, crushing cockroaches, learning new languages, enjoying some of the most incredible food and company I’ve encountered (aside from the unendingly cohesive Windmill girls – we’re still in touch constantly via whatsapp). As it stands, I hold Gordonstoun entirely responsible for my current state of affairs; if I didn’t know there was more in me, I’d have put the brakes on a long time ago!

The ACODE Team at a team building event, Kampala, 2015

With my former housemistress, Natasha Dangerfield,whilst working (briefly) as an Assistant Housemistress under her Headmistress-ship, 2013,United Kingdom

31

My TRIP TO ROMANIA

by Shalise Defreitas (Windmill Year 13)

My trip to Romania was an absolutely amazing experience and one that I will never forget. I’m guessing you all know that the Romania Service Project? Of all of the Gordonstoun International Service Projects Romania is renowned for being emotionally challenging and I have to say I was certainly challenged! Saying goodbye to all the kind people we had got to know and the faces we became so used to seeing was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. At the end of the project we were all deeply concerned for the future welfare of the young people of whom be had become so fond.

During my time at Little John’s Summer School I became very close to a brother and sister from the local children’s hospital named Raúl and Georgina. They both suffered from Muscular Dystrophy, which meant that their muscles will continue to weaken and waste away.

Raúl was a very bright character; very smart and he spoke very good English. Despite his physical disability he loved playing basketball and football as well as bouncing on the trampoline. Raúl and his sister were preparing to leave the hospital and go back home to their parents and other siblings. I do hope he and his sister are doing well.

Another pair of young people close to my age were Luca and Maria. These two were best friends and both came from a rehab facility which was within the children’s hospital. They had both been addicted to drugs since they were about 13 years of age and they really wanted to stop but given the environment in which they had grown up, it was very hard for them. What really moved me about these two was that even when they had only known me for a day they really opened up and told me their stories. I am pleased to say that I felt that I did establish quite a close friendship with these two over the course of summer school. They also really helped out their Carers with the younger ones that came with them from the hospital.

Inspired and moved by my experiences in Romania I have made the decision to go on to study Child and Youth Studies or Childcare at University. After this trip I have learnt to appreciate enormously what the majority of people would take for granted. Many of the children we worked with did not have their parents and they highly valued the attention and friendship they were given. I feel that the experiences I gained from the trip have readily prepared me for what I could face in my chosen career. I believe that after this I am ready to face what may come in my future and always have a sense of perspective on it that has been enriched by my experiences in Romania. Romania has changed all of us in ways that we never really expected.

I could have told you much more about my time in Romania but I thought it would be best to tell you about some of the people I spent time with and the profound effect the experience had on me. I do hope I have given you a flavour of my incredible experiences and I would to thank the Gordonstoun Association for enabling me get to Romania;I really appreciate all your help and support!

32

OGGS

by Andrew Gordon(OGGS Captain Windmill 1971)

After five years Angus Morgan the founding captain of OGGS stepped down as captain at the AGM in April this year. Angus was the driving force behind establishing OGGS and over the past five years he has encouraged and cajoled people to join OGGS and get involved such that OGGS is now well established with a good number of members (95) and events. Angus was deservedly given a good round of thanks at our AGM and since his retirement from the captaincy his golf has flourished as you will see from the results of this year’s events.

Set out below is a summary of the events for 2015:

Ilkley – April

This was the 9th meeting held at Ilkley and the 16 golfers had the most delightful weather as the sun shone brightly and there was no wind. A beautiful and challenging golf course with the river Wharfe running alongside a number of the opening holes ready to gather straying golf balls. Phillip Campbell played very well to win the day with 39 points. The golf was followed by a highly convivial dinner at which we had 26 people and we welcomed Richard Devey and Steve and Kay Brown with news from the School.

Martin Scriven is to organise his 10th and last meeting at Ilkley in April 2016. Martin has been a wonderful and generous host over all these years and it would be good to see a large turnout to support him in his last year as host.

Moray - May

The Thursday and Friday before the GA weekend at the beginning of May are now firm fixtures in the calendar for OGGS. The match at Nairn on the Thursday against the School was played in beautiful sunshine though there was a strong northerly wind coming straight off the Moray Firth to remind us of those cold days learning seamanship in Hopeman harbour! OGGS won the match 3.5 to 1.5. The School team this year was made up of a number of younger players and we can only expect that these players will progress into a better and stronger team over the next few years under the enthusiastic leadership of Ryan Denyer the master in charge of golf.

On the day of the School match we also held the AGM and a further 10 members of OGGS played Nairn following the match against the School. We are indebted to Graeme Govan for making the arrangements at Nairn not only for organizing the event but also ensuring we could use the club’s boardroom for the AGM and allowing us to have access to the club’s very interesting archives.

At the AGM we approved a donation of £500 from OGGS to the School to support coaching for pupils and after the meeting a member of OGGS very generously agreed to match this donation.

Our Annual Golf Meeting was held the next day at Castle Stuart, an excellent modern links course with the most wonderful views over the Moray Firth towards the Black Isle and the Kessocks Bridge crossing. Another beautiful sunny day with thankfully less wind than we had had the previous day at Nairn. We had 31 players at the event which was won by Garry Welsh with 35 points on a countback from Andrew Gordon with Harry Gow third on 34 points beating Andrew Lyall also on a countback. Greg Carnie won nearest the pin and Matthew Tawse won the longest drive.

This year we also had for the first time an over 70’s trophy (a pewter mug) kindly donated by Greg Carnie. The inaugural winner was Angus Morgan with 32 points, 22 gathered on the first nine. We can only

assume that the poor return on the back nine was due to tiredness setting in following the wild celebrations he had had the night before on his retirement as OGGS captain.

Lufness – May

At the invitation of Harry Waugh the Edinburgh event moved from Brunstfield to Lufness in East Lothian. Lufness is one of the very best of the East Lothian links courses, many say, particularly Lufness members, that it is the equal of, if not superior, to Muirfield!

On Friday 29th May a select band met at the club for an excellent (and long) lunch before teeing off in very good conditions. The final scores were close with the Founding Captain walking off with the idiosyncratic Edinburgh trophy. Once seen never forgotten.

London Scottish School Golf Society – June

Thanks to Bill Logan OGGS had a team in this match held at Denham golf club and we managed a creditable third place out of 18 teams. Stewart Melville won with 98 points and we scored 96 points (best 3 stableford scores from 4 team members). OGGS were represented by Bill Logan, David White, Andrew Gordon and George Sutherland.

This is an annual event held in June each year at Denham which is a fine Harry Colt course and the club is renowned for it’s excellent lunch. Bill is keen to put out at least two teams next year and the date for your diaries is Tuesday 28th June 2016.

Denham – September

Mike Doughty kindly organized this event for the second year at Denham. We had moved it from July to September to encourage more OGGS members to increase the participation from the 13 who attended in 2014. Unfortunately the change in date didn’t swell the numbers, but as for all the other OGGS events this year, we were blessed with wonderful sunny weather. Ian Durrant ran out the winner again this year with 34 points even after having had his handicap cut by 2 from the prior year. Mike Doughty was second on 33 points with Bill Logan finishing third. Andrew Gordon won the longest drive.

I would like to finish by giving my personal thanks to all the organisers of the events and to Martin Scriven our treasurer and Brian O’Connor our secretary for the time and commitment they have all given to providing a successful programme of events over the past year.

The Edinburgh Trophy

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OGGS MATCHES 2016

ILKLEYfriday 15 April 216. 10th Anniversary Meeting.

MATCH V THE SCHOOLThursday 28 April 2016 at NairnAGM to be held prior to the match

ANNUAL OGGS TOURNAMENTfriday 29 April 2016 at Castle Stuart

LSSGS TEAM EVENTTuesday 28 June 2016 at Denham

EDINBURGH & LONDON MEETINGSDates and locations to be advised

34

ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you wish to share the news of your graduation, engagement, marriage, birthsor notify the Gordonstoun Association of a bereavement,

please contact the Gordonstoun Association Office. Tel: +44 (0)1343 837922 or Email: ga@gordonstoun.org.uk

MARRIAGESGROVE, Sally (Hopeman 1997) to Simon Keen on April 5th 2015

DOAK, Jaime (Plewlands 2002) to Blake Roger on August15th 2015 in Scotland

OBITUARIESPOULSON GARETH - 1953

LT COL KEITH MCINTOSH - Hopeman Lodge 1951

HUGH MONCKTON - Windmill 1966

GEORGE LOWE - Altyre 1955

THE DUKE OF FIFE - Gordonstoun 1948

CHAMERLAYNE-MACDONALD Alexander - Altyre 1977

COLLINS Ian - Round Square 1953

THE REV WALTER VERNON STONE - Round Square 1937

SIME Marjorie - Former Staff

HALLAM HUGO - 1956

The Gordonstoun Association requests the pleasure of your company on

GA Day at GordonstounElgin, Moray IV30 5RF

Saturday 30 April 2016

This year GA Day coincides with the Junior Highland Games at Gordonstoun and will conclude with dinner in the evening.

Please contact the GA Office if you would like to attend.E: ga@gordonstoun.org.uk T: 01343 837922

HALLAM HAROLD (SAX) -Duffus 1959

BEADLE MARTIN - 1954

JONATHAN NEALE - Gordonstoun 1946

JOHN R FABER - Duffus 1948

RICHARD W HARBINSON - Round Square 1964

ALEXANDER MORGAN - Bruce 2009

JOHN FRIEND - Gordonstoun 1957

COLONEL BEN ARKLE MBE TD - Round Square 1943

JONATHAN JANSON – 1950

DAVID URQUHART – Cumming 1970

35

THE GA 200 CLUB

THE GA 200 CLUByOU COULD BE IN WITH A CHANCE Of WINNING £1000!!!The GA 200 Club requires more members. Membership of the GA 200 Club costs just £30 a year. If you join the GA 200 Club you will be doing your bit to help current students. The surplus money that GA 200 Club generates goes into a fund known as the Student Support Fund which is available to students who require financial help in order to participate in overseas projects, such as the Thailand Water Project,the Romania and Ethiopia Projects

Consideration is currently being given by the GA Committee to increase the prize fund to the following top annual prize of £1500 (from £1000) May & Nov to £750 (from £500) and the remaining months to remain at £40. Final go ahead can only be given once the number of members has increased from 110 to 145. In the interest of all please apply for membership as soon as possible, multiple numbers can be held.

The annual GA 200 Club £1000 prize is drawn during the AGM, which this year will be held on GA Day, at school on Saturday 30th April 2016. As well as the £1000 prize drawn in May there is a £500 prize which is drawn in November and also a £40 prize drawn during each of the ten remaining months of the year.

If you are interested in becoming a GA 200 Club member, please contact the GA Officeby email ga@gordonstoun.org.ukor phone 01343 837 922to request an application form.

Do you have a story you’d like to see published in the next edition of this magazine?

If so, please get in touch with the GA Office: ga@gordonstoun.org.uk | +44 (0) 1343 837922

UPCOMING EVENTS

CALCUTTA CUP WEEKENDEdinburghSaturday 6th February 2016 THE GA ANNUALLONDON DINNERFino’s Wine Cellar, LondonFriday 11th March 2016

THE GA yORKSHIRE DINNERIlkley Golf ClubFriday 15th April 2016

GA DAy 2016GordonstounSaturday 30th April 2016

GA GATHERINGGERMANyFriday 17th June 2016

GA GATHERINGSOUTH AfRICACape TownTuesday 19th July 2016

THE GA ANNUALEDINBURGH DINNERNew Club, EdinburghFriday 26th August 2016

yEAR GROUP REUNIONS