The Magazine for former pupi ls, friends and staff of Austin Friars SchoolIn Omnibus Caritas

Issue No.7Lent 2017

30th Anniversary year of Girls at Austin Friars! • Mille Miglia 2016What Happened Next • Sarah Hughes: Treading the Boards

Welcome

Welcome to this, our 7th edition of the CaritasMagazine for Former Pupils, Friends and Staff ofAustin Friars School. This issue is largely dedicated to acelebration of the 30th anniversary year of girls atAustin Friars. It also coincides with the appointment ofAustin Friars first ever female Deputy Head, MrsJacqueline Thornborrow.I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful festive season andare now looking forward to some skiing, before we turnour minds to summer and the good weather.This is our first magazine following the retirement ofMr Barr, however, we are still enjoying his company inSchool three days a week, as he begins the mammothtask of tracking down every member of the FriarsAlumni since the School opened in 1951! Not too much toask!!For all those with Facebook, please do follow ourFormer Pupil page ‘Austin Friars Former Pupils’Association’.

Former Pupil LeisurewearAs you know, we launched a range of Leisurewear forFormer Pupils, Parents and Staff: past and present,and Friends of Friars back in the Autumn. Please dotake a look at the website: Former Pupils https://www.ragingbullsportswear.com/austin-friars-school-former-pupilsParents, Friends and Staffhttps://www.ragingbullsportswear.com/austin-friars-school-parents-friends-staff

Former Pupil TiesFormer Pupil Ties are now available to purchase, alsothrough the Raging Bull website, as above.

Alumni CommunityI continue my plea, that as our Alumni Communitycontinues to grow, I would urge you to encourageanyone wishing to receive this magazine, be invited toevents, get back in touch with FPs, or just be kept up todate with what is going on here at School, to pleasecomplete the Data Capture Form on the School website,under the Alumni tab/Development. I cannot stresshow vital your details are in order for the School to beable to include you all in future events. Former Parentsand Friends of the School are also welcome to receivethe Magazine and attend various events, so please doencourage them to let us know their contact details too.

With warmest regards

Edith McColganDevelopment Director

Contacts:School Website - www.austinfriars.co.uk Former Pupil Facebook page –Austin Friars Former Pupils AssociationGerard Barr, Assistant Development Director -gerardbarr@austinfriars.co.uk Edith McColgan, Development Director -edithmccolgan@austinfriars.co.uk Karen Marshall, Development Office, Database Manager –karenmarshall@austinfriars.co.ukDesign & Artwork: Benzie Graphics 07775 580528

3 Lesley Davidson4 The Girls!6 Sarah Hughes7 In Omnibus Caritas8 What Happened Next?• Charlotte Arter

9 Where Are They Now?10 Steve Graham - Mille Miglia 201613 What Happened Next?• Greg Beedle

14 Notices

Contents...

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1986/1987 was an eventful year on the world stage;Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Specialenvoy was kidnapped in Beirut, the British FerryHerald of Free Enterprise capsized in Zeebrugge, theChannel Tunnel is given the go ahead, the Great Stormbattered the South Coast and Austin Friars openedtheir doors to girls for the first time. Having completed two years in a secondary school inBuckinghamshire, I was appointed girls PE and gamesteacher, working alongside Mr Dudley Smith. Lookingback over my time in the PE department it has been apleasure to work with so many wonderful students andI am now in contact with children of these studentsthrough the school which makes me feel very old! There are so many highlights over the last thirty yearsthat it has been difficult to pick out a few. We have hadcontinued successes in hockey winning CountyChampionships and travelling to various schools in theNorth West of England. Many of our players have beenselected to represent Cumbria, North West Englandand the North and some have gone on to higherhonours. I have worked alongside some excellenthockey coaches but most of the girls will rememberMrs Grant and her quiet, encouraging voice during thehalf time talks’ she always had something positive tosay. I remember our combined rugby/hockey trip toNorthern Ireland in 1999 with players such as MaryClaxton, Alice and Frances Holmes, Katie Wood, RosieWigglesworth, Shanika Jayawardena and NatalieSmith. We played Omagh Academy not long after theOmagh bombings and the Irish players were so gratefulthat we didn’t call off the fixture due to ‘The Troubles’.In subsequent years we have had mini tours toHarrogate and York and Ireland which have been greatfun for staff and students alike. A year before, in 1998, Mr Smith and I took a teamover to compete in the Superschools’ Event at St

Augustine’s College in Dungarvan which saw ourstudents compete against other countries in eventssuch as swimming, basketball, hurling and athletics.Many friendships were made and all events wereplayed in a competitive but friendly spirit. Our girl’s tennis teams in the 90s were extremelysuccessful; Rosie Wigglesworth, Rachael Messenger,Anna Nightingale, Shanika Jayawardena and CarolynBell were a force to be reckoned with and achievedgreat success over a number of years, reaching theNational Quarter Finals of the Midland Bankcompetition which saw us competing against top classschools in Birmingham and Wrexham. A personal highlight for me was when the School wasawarded the Sports Mark Gold Award twice due to thenumber of students that were involved inextracurricular sport and activities. Mr Smith and Iwere invited down to Edgbaston in Birmingham toreceive our award from Dame Tanni Grey Thompsonwho was an inspiration to all who heard her speak. Girls have made a great impact on the life of AustinFriars, not only on the Sports Field but in the Danceproductions with Dance shows displaying artistictalents of the girls (and sometimes the boys). Mrs JoCoke joined the staff and produced a piece of work in2000 which saw the group travelling down to performat the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester as part of theMillennium Celebrations. Girls have playedincreasingly important roles in School plays andmusicals; Annie, Oliver, Oklahoma and continue to doso in recent times in Grease and West Side Story. Our choirs and music groups have been changed andenhanced by the contribution of the girls; one year wewere able to put on a combined music and danceconcert with students performing to music and singingprovided by Mrs Harrison, the then Head of Music. One constant theme that has run through the last thirtyyears that girls have been part of this School is thesense of community and empowerment that has beengiven to them to go out to be the best they can be intheir adult life. It has been a privilege to workalongside these students and watch them develop intostrong independent people who care passionatelyabout each other and have been able to take up theopportunities that Austin Friars has given them. I amsure the next thirty years will be just as eventful.

Lesley (far right) on a trip to Ironbridge with theHistory Department

Lesley DavidsonPE Teacher, Austin Friars 1986 -

Lesley with Heather Little

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In 1984 the thorny issue of introducing girls intoSchool was raised at a Head of Departments Meeting.A number of staff were in favour of the idea and it hadbeen mentioned before, but a number, including somefemale staff, were against. It was decided to hold alarge open debate to help guage the mood of the Schoolbody as a whole and especially the parents. The debatein the New Hall was crammed full with every seattaken and the debate was strongly contested. Havingbeen asked to be a main speaker against the motion(whilst I support it wholeheartedly), I was delightedto lose.The Academic year 1986-87 saw our first intakewhich included 4 girls in the Lower VI and 16 in theFirst Form. In no time at all we appointed our firstfemale Games/PE teacher, Mrs Davidson, and MrsQuinlan soon became the Housemistress for all girls.The days of getting boys to play the girls’ parts inmusicals were gone. Girls took a full and active partin every aspect of School life and added many newfeatures such as Dance Shows, Fashion Shows and anenrichment of the Sporting, Musical, Artistic andDramatic life of the School. Their impact has beenenormous, not only to the cultural nature of theSchool but they have also had a significant input tothe Academic life of Friars.The doubters were soon convinced and the girls wenton to become the role models we all expected theywould become. The first four girl VI Formers went onto do great things and they have been followed bymany hundreds since that date.

Gerard Barr

Caption

30th Anniversary of theIntroduction of Girls toAustin Friars

SophieFerdinand

Tiegan McMann

Claire Routledge 2001

Rachel Barker, Charlotte Sadler,Sarah Forster

Julie Forsyth

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RosieWiggleswoth,RachelMessenger1999

Camilla Thompson, William Vasey, Alice Holmes, Helen Gilligan,Claire Warnes, Rohan Shenoy, Natalie Smith and Helen WorkmanClearly the girls dominated that Young Enterprise Team 1998

Caption

Caption

Mary Claxton - future Head Girl1st XI Squad

Caption

Lucy Dickson, Tania Mohacs, Nicola DimondSports Day 1995

Helen Sevar,Anne-Marie Pearson

Fr Rolls and his girls

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Interviewed by school recently she said “I reallyenjoyed my first year at Conti and I am loving the startof second year. The course is really intense, with 9 hourdays, 5 days a week! However, I feel my abilities in allthree disciplines have vastly improved and, for this, Ifeel the long hours are worth it. I learned such a lotfrom my time at Friars. I would never have had theconfidence I have in singing without my teacher of 11years, Naomi Dodd. Without Mr Judge (Head ofDrama at Friars) I would have stood little chance ofeven getting in to Conti. His constant advice andguidance over the years, especially with acting, issomething I am truly grateful for. I also believe Friarsgave me the confidence and the ability to make greatrelationships with people. It has set me up so well for‘the real world’”Sarah has already returned to London to continue hersecond year and we wish her every success.Gerard Barr

Sarah HughesAustin Friars 2008 - 2015

It is always good to hear of former pupils achievingsuccess in their lives no matter whether it is sporting,academic or work related. It is particularly rewardingwhen we hear of someone who has only just left Schoolin August of 2015 to find that she is starring inPantomime. Such is the case for Sarah Hughes whomoved to London in September 2015 to study at theItalia Conti Academy which specialises in MusicalTheatre. Sarah has just finished playing Jill in theCarlisle Pantomime ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ which ranover the Christmas period.Sarah has long graced the boards at Friars starring in avariety of performances from Shakespeare to modernmusicals such as ‘West Side Story’ where she playedMaria. Sarah has always wanted to be an actor but shespecialises in Musical Theatre where her acting,dancing and singing talents can best be displayed. Iremember well Sarah stepping up to the mark on thefirst night of the 2012 production of ‘Grease’ when oneof the leading roles fell ill on the day of the firstperformance. That first night she had to use a script toget her through some of the part however, by thesecond night she was word perfect. Sarah was alsoheavily involved in choreographing the dance routinesfor ‘West Side Story’ and can turn her hand to almostanything.

Sarah on the catwalk in the School fashion show

Sarah as Jill in the 2016 Carlisle Panto Sarah as Adriana in The Comedy of Errors

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In Omnibus Caritas

The Impact of Instilling Community Spritinto Studentsby Lauren Donnison1997 - 2004During my time at Friars we were always stronglyencouraged to help others, especially those lessfortunate than ourselves and to serve members of ourcommunity in any way we could. These values havealways stayed with me and I have always felt that I hadsome duty to help those in need. After leaving Friars, I pursued my Law degree but afterthree years of study, I felt that maybe a traditional legalcareer was not for me and I set off on a number ofadventures around the world. I spent time volunteeringin Nepal, Laos and Thailand and then decided to studya master's degree in International Development inBangkok, so that I could pursue a career workingoverseas in the field of development. Studying overseasand being confronted with the issues we studied in theclassroom on a daily basis reinforced my desire to workin the field of development and reassured me that Iknew I had chosen the right path.After completing my studies in 2013, I was given theopportunity to work in a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border teaching community development ina higher education program to young leaders. I felt veryfortunate to meet such amazing young people who hadexperienced such trauma and devastation but still hadsuch thirst for life and knowledge. It was veryinspirational to see that most of my students, aftergraduating, went to work for local Community ServicesOrganisations (CSOs) or Non GovernmentalOrganisations (NGOs) and they strove to help andserve their local communities. Following this, I decided to move to Myanmar in 2014and due to the political climate, the country had begunto open up to the outside world and this provided aspace for international NGOs to begin working in thecountry. It was at this time that I began working withBABSEACLE as the Pro Bono Initiatives Managerbased in Yangon. BABSEACLE is an International NGOthat collaborates globally in the development of justiceeducation and access to justice initiatives whilesimultaneously fostering generations of pro bonominded champions. In Myanmar, BABSEACLE wascollaborating with the 18 law departments across thecountry to develop Community Legal Education( CLE)programs, therefore we carrying out training across thecountry for both law teachers and students by teachingthem about CLE and helping them implement CLEprograms at their universities. Furthermore, in thisrole, I coordinate our annual Asia Pro Bono Conferencewhich brings together academics, law students,lawyers, judiciaries, pro bono professionals, policy

makers, civil society and non-profit representatives, toconsider the multifarious ways pro bono initiatives canstrengthen access to justice in Asia and internationally.I feel very honored to be doing this work in Myanmarand working to train more socially conscious and probono minded lawyers of the future. In Asia, there islimited government legal aid for poor and marginalizedcommunities that face legal issues, therefore it isimperative that lawyers provide pro bono services toensure that these legal needs are met. When leaving Friars I never imagined that my pathwould lead me to working on the other side of theworld helping to develop legal education andpromoting access to justice. Now, I couldn't imaginebeing anywhere else and I always encourage otherpeople to follow their hearts and do the things thatseem most impossible. I think that it is important forFriars and other schools to instill this sense ofcommunity value into the youth of today and toprovide opportunities locally and globally for studentsto work to serve their communities.

Lauren, ironically she is pointing to an area of theworld she now works in

Lauren leading a workshop at Mandalay Rule of LawCenter

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Charlotte ArterAustin Friars 2002 - 2009

After finishing my A Levels and leaving Austin Friars in2009, I headed to Cardiff to study my undergraduatedegree at UWIC, where I studied Sports Conditioning,Rehabilitation and Massage. After graduating in 2012 Iwas lucky enough to be in the position to be offered afull sport scholarship to the University of New Mexico,in Albuquerque, famous for its green chile andBreaking Bad! With 310 days of sunshine, 5,000 ftaltitude and a fantastic athletics programme, it was anoffer I couldn’t turn down! I studied for my MSc inSports Administration whilst living the life of a fulltime athlete, as well as fully immersing myself into theAmerican culture and way of life. Albuquerque wasvery different to your typical America, but I was luckyto race all over the US, seeing and experiencing thedifferent states and cultures. The collegiate system inthe US is unreal and I raced in all NCAA cross countryand outdoor track championships, with my highestachievement being two time All American with an 18thplace at NCAA Cross Country Championships andfinishing 3rd as a team. After completing my MSc Imanaged to stay for another year, taking classes tokeep my status as a student, before my visa ran out andit was time to return to the UK. It really was the mostamazing three years and although it was extremely sadto be leaving, I reached the stage where I was ready toget back to the UK and enter the ‘real world’.I returned back home to Cumbria in May 2015 andspent the summer applying for jobs all over thecountry, but in my mind I knew I wanted to go back toCardiff. It’s such a great city and in terms of running, itwas certainly the best place for me to be, as my coach isbased there and there is a great group to train with. Soin September I headed to Cardiff, with no job andnowhere to live! Luckily the majority of my friendsfrom university are still based in Cardiff so I crashedwith them for a few weeks until I found my feet. I waslucky enough to get my current job and a house to livein all in the space of a few weeks. My job role is Performance Sport Officer at CardiffUniversity, which consists of running the HighPerformance Sport Programme providing variousavenues of support for elite athletes to excel in boththeir academic and sporting careers whilst studying atCardiff University. There are currently 70 athletes onthe programme. It’s a great job and I really enjoyworking in the higher education sector. Alongsideworking full time, I’m also training full time with atypical week consisting of 80 plus miles, comprisingtwo runs per day for most of the week as well asstrength and conditioning sessions throughout theweek. It sounds a lot, and it is a lot, but I’ve got myself

into a great routine and I can balance work andrunning as well as still managing to fit in a social life! 2016 was a great year, I gained my first Great Britainvest at the Great Edinburgh XC in January 2016, ranmy debut half marathon ranking 9th in the UK,finished 5th at the British Championships in the5000m and towards the latter end of the year finished2nd at the European XC trials in Liverpool, gainingautomatic qualification for the European CrossCountry Championships in Chia, Sardinia, my firstmajor championship. Although my individual resultwas far from what I hoped for in Chia, to get silver as ateam and stand on the podium was an extremely proudmoment. Following on from this, earlier this year I againrepresented Great Britain at the Great Edinburgh CrossCountry where I was first GB scorer and 7th overall inan international field. Things are certainly moving inthe right direction as I now turn my focus to indoorand outdoor track and with the Commonwealth Gamesqualifying period this summer, there is nothing to loseand everything to gain! A lot has changed from thedays of House Cross Country and CountyChampionships at AF, but that’s where it all began andlots of dedication and miles has got me to where I amand I have every ambition to make it as far as I can.

What happened next?

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Whe

re A

re T

hey Now

?Dance Show 1999

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Have you ever fancied spending three days or sodriving around Italy, ignoring every speed limit,passing through red lights at will and flouting everyother “rule of the road” as much as you want? Also,would you like to drive your car though the historiccentres of numerous Italian towns and cities which arenormally closed to traffic: such as Brescia, San Marino,Rimini, Loreto, Rome, Siena, Parma, Lodo, Bergamoetc? Well you can; it’s called the Mille Miglia and takesplace every May (always the week before the MonacoGrand Prix). Not only is all of the above condoned, it is facilitated bya small army of police cars and motorbike outriders,who do their best to keep the other road users out ofharm’s way, whilst the competitors make their wayfrom town to town on a long loop from Brescia down toRome and back up again, covering 1000 miles. There is a more serious competitive side of the event,comprising about 75 special tests and seven average-speed regularities, but the majority of people enter theevent just so they can drive as quickly as theycan/want, through some of the most scenic towns andcountryside of Italy, in the late spring each year.In April 2015 I decided that I wanted to do the MilleMiglia in 2016. Therefore, I set about trying to find acar that would be likely to secure an entry for 2016,

hastily making contact with friends that might know ofsuitable cars in the UK, France, Italy, Germany,Denmark etc and also trawling the internet for suitablevehicles.Having spoken to a number of people about the MilleMiglia, I was aware that the event is always over-subscribed and therefore choosing the right car wasessential. The only way of guaranteeing an entry is touse a car that actually took part in the original eventbetween 1927 and 1957. However such cars areincreasingly rare and command sums in the multi-millions. Therefore, the next best option was to find a“rare” car of the type that took part in the event and ishence “eligible”. To cut a long story short, betweenApril and June 2015 I considered dozens of cars, buteventually settled on a 1951 Nash Healey S1 RoadsterIt is a classic example of the very limited run of 104cars that were produced in the UK between 1950 and1951, all of which were exported to the USA. Only 20or so of the original production are currently accountedfor and only a handful of these have been restored.Tony (my brother and long-standing co-driver) and Iarrived in Brescia on the afternoon of Tuesday 17 May2016, met up with the car and our service crew (Ianand Riki) and proceeded speedily through theformalities of signing on and scrutineering, helped in

Steve Graham - Mille Miglia 2016

Tony (left) and Steve

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part by the fact that we knew the official scrutineerfrom our UK rallying experience. We had been warnedthat this “officious” process would take many hours,but we seemed to time it right and were all done anddusted in two of hours. We then had time to lookaround the hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth ofcars assembling for the event and Tony had time to sitin the sun and set to work on the Roadbooks thatwould be our guide for the next few days. I must saythat the quality of the Roadbooks provided wasexcellent and probably the best we have ever used. We awoke on Thursday morning to unrelenting rain,rain and more rain, so the hood came up and remainedfirmly up until Saturday afternoon! Our start time was3.50pm, so we partook of the very nice organised lunchand then battled our way through the uncontrolledmass of cars to the start line and we were underway; wehad started the 2016 Mille Miglia.The rain continued relentless and heavy for the firstfew hours; I felt truly sorry for the many competitors inopen top cars. Our hood leaked and so did the bootand, as I had foolishly left my “waterproof” bag open, itquickly filled with water and soaked our coats andjumpers, but at least we had some protection from theelements, unlike others including one of the other NashHealeysNaïve as we were, we began the event as we wereaccustomed to (having been penalised on the RallyeMonte-Carlo Historique for speeding), obeying all thetraffic signs, speed limits, driving on the correct side ofthe road and driving the correct way aroundroundabouts. However, the first two towns we visitedwere grid-locked, with no apparent traffic control andwe began to fall behind our notional time. We drovepast Lake Garda, which would have been spectacularapart from the rain and poor visibility. We also had aleisurely drive through the extremely impressive ParcoGiardino Sigurtà at about 6.00pm, but there wasn’t asingle spectator in the park, quite a strange and almosteerie experience. The Nash Healey has a three speedgearbox with overdrive in second and third gears. Wehad already had clutch-related problems when testingthe car, but these seemed to have settled down.However a recurring problem was the car jumping outof second gear, and first gear being sometimes difficultto engage. So when we arrived into Rimini, Ian andRiki had the task of adjusting the clutch linkage, asother than that the car seemed to be running well.We started the second-leg at 9.15am, with improvingweather and an improved clutch; however we had tochange the plugs, which had become fouled with oiland second gear was only useable when going uphill!At about 10.30am we had a very impressive drive up toand through the centre of the San Marino Castle,

despite the foggy conditions. At about 2.00pm wearrived in the equally impressive centre of Loretto,where we were given “Free Kisses and Hugs” from twolocal beauties! Before we had started the event we had had a numberof problems with the dynamo to water-pump linkagemechanism, so we had been keeping a close eye on this.During the couple of hundred miles we hadexperienced some water loss and attendanttemperature related-issues. Therefore when we wereapproaching Fermo, having noticed a slight leak fromthe water-pump, we decided to fit the spare water-pump and linkage at about 5.00pm. Wrong move! Weset off again and only covered a few miles before thelinkage failed completely and detached itself in amassive plume of steam. No panic, we had the parts tobe able to repair it. However, the work involved Ianand Riki doing some welding, which the on-boardgenerator couldn’t handle, so they headed off to thenearest garage to avail themselves of some mainselectricity. It was fixed and we were ready to go againbut it was now about 8.00pm and we were about threehours behind our notional time. Therefore we decidedto head straight for Rome on the motorway andinformed Race Control of our intentions.We covered another 60 miles or so directly south onthe motorway but then noticed that the headlights weredimming and the ignition light was coming on. After abit of investigation we established that the dynamo coilhad burned out, probably caused by the misalignmentof the water-pump linkage. Once again, no panic, wehad a spare which Ian and Riki quickly fitted.It was now about 11.00pm and we faced a hugedilemma. Given our current predicament, should wecarry on going south to Rome, where we would need tobe for the start of the third leg, or find another way ofre-joining the event route? We knew that we wouldpick up thousands of penalty points if we didn’t get tothe Saturday re-start in Rome, as we would beconsidered to have missed all of the controls and testson the third-leg, even if we actually did them. We werenow on the east coast of Italy (near MoscianoSant’Angelo) and the event route for the next day wason the other side of the country, following the line ofthe west-coast. I was determined that we must do thepart of the route in Tuscany, through Siena and

Italian weather can be unpredictable

Florence, having visited those beautiful places in 2015.We noticed there was a hotel a couple of hundred yardsfrom where we had pulled over, so we plotted our routeto Siena for the next day and (somewhat deflated butresolute) we checked into the hotel. Our cross-country route from east to west towardsSiena was about 200 miles and we calculated that itwould take about four hours for us to re-join the routein approximately the right position. During thisjourney second gear was still pretty much useless, westill had a water-loss problem and the overdriveseemed to have stopped working. We arrived just southof Siena at about 2.00pm. It was now warm and thesun was shining, so off came the hood and we dressed(as we had expected to be dressed all week) in short-sleeved shirts and shorts. We had a fabulous drivethrough the centre of Siena, right through the Piazzadel Campo, an experience that money can’t buy. Wehad a very nice drive to Poggibonsi where we stoppedfor a welcome lunch, before heading to Firenze(Florence). The route through Florence was a bitdisappointing, as the closest we got was the view fromPiazzale Michelangelo, without having any time tostop. Having said that I have no idea how you couldarrange for 450 cars to drive through the centre ofFlorence, which struggles to cope with a few taxis mostdays. The next destination was Bologna, but throughsome magical Italian event coordination, we met upwith the traffic exiting from Mugello after the Moto GPqualifying! As we were running non-competitivelyanyway, we reluctantly decided to forgo the run thoughBologna and a drive past the Ferrari factory at Modenaand headed for the over-night stop at Parma. When wearrived at Parma I soon realised I had burned theoutside of my left arm, the inside of my right arm (notenough sun-cream) and part of my right leg (where thesteering wheel has rubbed the sun-cream away).Anyway, at about 10:30pm the four of us enjoyed afabulous Gala Dinner in the centre of Parma, withevery type of pig-related food you can imagine,together with some nice wine, rather than just theomnipresent (and often welcome) cans of Perlage fizzywater. However, having made the wrong call at thewine table, Tony has decided he doesn’t likeLambrusco!On the final day (Sunday) we had quite an early start(8.15am), but the weather was absolutely fabulous -dry, quite hot and sunny. As it was Sunday the roadswere naturally quieter, except for the thousands ofspectators lining the route and packing the towns andvillages en-route. However, the driving seemed to bemadder than ever and everything seemed to behappening at a much faster pace. By this time we hadrealised that the style of driving required was to ignoreevery speed limit, drive on whichever side of the roadwas least busy (including going around roundaboutsthe wrong way) and ignore any red lights, trusting thatthe police motorbike outriders and self-appointed local

marshals would keep any local traffic in check. BySunday we had partially solved the second-gearproblem by switching the overdrive system offcompletely. Therefore we had no overdrive, but I hadthree useable gears. We passed through Lodi at about 10.30am, where wecould hardly move for spectators everywhere, thenthrough Cremona. From time to time we tried to followone of the Police motorbike outriders (the fastest wayto make progress) which we did, until after a longseries of roundabouts I began to experience severebrake-fade, as a result of repeated braking from highspeed. We were so close to the finish of the event andwell ahead of time, I decided to back off a bit. Also, aswe were still losing water, we had to stop every hour orso to check the level and top-up as required, but thiswas the most enjoyable day of the whole event. Wewent through the historic centre of Bergamo at about1.00pm, then off to Monza for the final test. At Monzawe were given a unique opportunity to drive on thebanked circuit, as well as the normal Monza track. Itwas a strange experience being chased around theMonza circuit by a police car, as one followed usaround (just for fun I guess). The route into and out ofMonza involved driving through the immense park thatsurrounds the circuit, which was full of tens ofthousands of people and quite an experience in itself.All we now had to do was make it back to the finishpodium in Brescia.All day so many people filled every town and village,until we made it at about 3.00pm to the final timecontrol and lunch halt in Gussago, where we neededour branded-umbrellas to keep the sun off us, ratherthan keeping the rain of us, as we had needed them onThursday and Friday. Finally we drove in convoy backto the centre of Brescia, where we received ourfinishers’ medals on the podium at about 4.20pm.We had finished the 2016 Mille Miglia!Many thanks must go to Ian Chamberlain and RikiMusson, as without their help and support we wouldn’thave made it much further than Rimini.

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Beautiful car in a beautiful city

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listed us as one of the top 50 places to get married inthe UK. We are almost fully booked for 2017, whichwill be our 10th season. We do 25 weddings a yearbetween April and October, which is enough to pay thebills, manage the farm workload and have a family life(just about). October is my favourite time of year as wehave finished the season and taken the marquee downfor the winter, and are just able to grab a short holidaysomewhere hot (having persuaded one of my brothersto mind the farm for a week). Do have a look at ourwebsite, www.gantsmill.co.uk, and you will see howlucky I am to live and work in such a beautiful place.(I have and it looks fantastic. Editor)The business is going well and we love the work. It isalways a joy to help people on such a special day forthem and the difference in our lifestyle has beenimmense. I think it is true to say that I don’t miss therat race at all.I have kept in close touch with Dan and Liam Donnellyfrom AF days. I have also made contact with PaulMurphy (who is now a BBC TV reporter in EastYorkshire), Peter Bellini (who is a tax accountant andlives in Ealing), and with some others throughFacebook (including Sean Murray, Paul Forsyth andPaul Griffin). As we are so far south, it is a struggle tomake reunions, so social media is very useful.My brother Geoffrey (AF 1983-1988) is married withthree children and lives not too far away from us inYeovil. He is a test engineer in the defence sector. Some 20 years ago Elaine and I stopped off at ClarePriory on our way to a friend’s wedding. There we metFr Baldwin (who I knew from Bishops Court) and FrO’Mahoney, who was so lovely and emotional about‘his boys' he made Elaine tear up when we left. I thentried to explain to her how much he had mellowed, andabout his nickname at School. I was very sad to hear ofhis passing last year: he was a great man.I have fond memories of my years at Friars. Iremember speaking passionately in favour of theintroduction of Girls to the School in the Open Debatethat was held in the New Hall 1984/5. The vote waspretty unanimous as I recall and it has no doubtchanged the School in many ways. I hope it continuesto prosper.

Greg BeedleAustin Friars 1980 - 1985

After leaving Friars in 1985 I read Politics at theUniversity of Leicester, though, in truth, I spent mostof my time in a band with Dan Donnelly (also ex AF).Dan is now a Senior Lecturer at Leeds University inChemistry and has already appeared in Caritas. We stillkeep in touch and he visits when he can with his family.The band we started back in 1986 still gets togetheronce a year for a Charity Ball at Gants Mill, which is agreat excuse to meet up with old friends and relivememories of our youth.After university I went to London and trained as aChartered Accountant, and met my wife Elaine. Wemarried in 1994. In 1999 we moved to Derby when Igot a job as Finance Director for a railway engineeringcompany, and had three children there (Jamie - now17, Adam 14 and Rose 13). In 2004 we moved backsouth to Chalfont St Giles when I got another job inaerospace. These positions were reasonably highpressured, so in 2007 I quit the rat race and we movedto Somerset. Elaine’s parents wanted to retire and sowe worked out a way to take over the farm, find a wayof making a living (farming sheep is a lot of work but itdoes not give you an income!), and all live together in abeautiful place. We started a wedding venue business,which has been a great success: the Independent has

What happened next?

14 caritas

BirthsTo Laura Frost and Sam Frost (AF 1995-2002), a sonJacob James, welcome brother for Joshua, born 18thAugust 2016To Hannah Pearson and Matthew Pearson (AF2001-2008), a son Robert Ellis Hay, born with a fullhead of hair on 15th September 2016 weighing 8lb 6ozTo Jess Hewat and Colin Hewat (AF 1990-1997), ason Milo Odysseus, born at Wellington Hospital, NZ on5th August 2016To Janet Brown (AF 1987-1994) and Dominic Lynch,a daughter Harriet (Hattie) Francesca, sister to Rhys,Tom and Sadie, born 25th June 2016To Hazel Willis and Alistair Willis (AF 1990-1997), ason Ben Ronnie, brother to Oscar, born 28th May 2016To Catriona Wilgoss (nee Maclean-Eltham) (AF1997-2004) and Peter Wilgoss, a daughter FionaMarie, born 22nd November 2016 weighing 7lb 9ozTo Louise Geary (nee Dolan) (AF 1994-2001) andMalcolm Geary, a son Henry Stephen, born 30thOctober 2016To Hania Oddie and Andrew Oddie (AF 1990-1997),a son Rufus Jake Nicholas, brother to Abigail Freya,born 27th December 2016To Jacqueline Turley (nee Haslam) (AF 1999-2006) and husband Adam, a son Fred (Freddie) bornin Carlisle on 5th February 2017

Notices

Kate Sarginson and Lauren Paterson Chloe Streatfeild and Kallum Lowe

Matthew Pearson with son Robert Ellis Hay

caritas 15Former pupils are more than welcome to contact Mrs McColgan at School, with regard to discussing the possibility of holdingChristenings, Marriages and Funerals in the School Chapel.Contact Details 01228 550706 or edithmccolgan@austinfriars.co.uk

MarriagesChloe Streatfeild (AF 1999-2006)married KallumLowe on 3rd September 2016 at Hayton ChurchBrendan Walsh (AF 1965-1972)married LauraKeynes on 1st October 2016 at Our Most HolyRedeemer and St Thomas More, ChelseaKate Sarginson (AF 1989-1996)married LaurenPaterson in October 2016Katherine Howell married Henry Stybelski (AF2000-2007) on 22nd October 2016 at MeerwoodCounty House HotelChloe Warburton (AF 2003-2008)married AdamColla (AF 2003-2008) on 6th August 2016 at StAugustine’s RC Church, Carlisle

DeathsBrian McGlone (AF 1951-1954) passed away on 26thAugust 2016David Hetherington (AF 1988-1995) passed away inNovember 2016Robert Coulthard (AF 1984-1989) passed away on17th January 2017

HonoursDesmond Clarke (AF 1957-1963) now a retiredpublisher, was awarded the MBE in the New YearHonours for services to British Public Libraries and toLiterature.

Charlotte Grice, James Clarke, Maxine Stewart, YannickTremain, Helen Henderson, Fiona Braidwood, BenLandels, Jenny Smith, Chris Jones, Shona Venn, MatthewWhernham, David Queen and of course Victoria Milbourn

Adam and Chloe Colla

“Yes she is the first female D

eputy Head at Friars.”