oa bulletin

Old Albanian Club

MAY2007

OA

BULL

ETIN

DIARY DATES

Garden Party – Sunday 10th June 2007Annual Dinner – Friday 6th July 2007Founders’ Day – Saturday 7th July 2007

Last Post: Archive material from Donald Plenderleith, killed in Burma during World War II; OA Gazette, 9

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OA BULLETIN MAY 2007

Nick Chappin – EditorAndy Chappin – Design & ProductionRoger Cook – MembershipMike Highstead – Gazette

Printing - Herts & Beds Printing01923 234959

Address for correspondence:Nick Chappin18 The Pleasance, Harpenden,Herts AL5 3NATelephone: 01582 461674 (home)07980 565645 (mobile)e-mail: [email protected]

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OA CLUB www.oldalbanianclub.com

President Stephen Burgess01727 867868

[email protected] David Buxton

01727 [email protected]

Treasurer Brian Sullman01582 460317

Membership Secretary Roger Cook01727 836877

[email protected]

OA SPORTS www.oasport.com

RUGBYPresident Ali Mills

[email protected] Richard Milnes

[email protected] Director Simon Heath

[email protected] Director Chris Walker

[email protected] Director Peter Lipscomb

[email protected] Secretary Darren Ead

[email protected] of Coaching Bruce Millar

[email protected] of Rugby Steve Bedford

[email protected]

Mini & Junior Rugby Chairman Rory Davis01727 843538

FOOTBALL www.oasoccer.co.ukClub President & Manager Simon Bates

07720 383600/01442 240247Treasurer & Club Secretary David Hughes

07890 831315/01727 [email protected]

Sponsorship Secretary David Burrows07841 431614

CRICKET www.oacc.org.ukPresident Alan PhilpottChairman Andrew McCree

01727 [email protected]

Secretary David Hughes07890 831315/01727 769 237

Treasurer Denis [email protected]

Fixture Secretary Julian [email protected]

OTHERSRifle & Pistol Andrew Wilkie

01727 856857Angling Geoff Cannon

01582 792512Golf Royce Bryant

01727 863130

OA LODGE www.oa-lodge.co.ukJohn Williams 01438 715679

[email protected]

SCHOOL WEB SITEwww.st-albans.herts.sch.uk

OA

CONTA

CT Editorial

History in the makingMaybe it’s an age thing. But as Iapproach my half-century, I findmyself taking an increasingly keeninterest in my personal history: thepeople, events and environment thathave shaped who I am today. An oldfriend of mine is an avid amateurgenealogist and has been tracing myfamily tree – or at least my father’sside – during the abundant down-time on the oil rig to which hedisappears every other month. Theresults are fascinating, ifunsurprising – like, I suspect, themajority of the population if you goback far enough, I’mdescended from a longline of rural peasantry;the only blue blood inmy background is thevaricose veins in thelabourers’ legs fromstanding around in fieldsall day. And like most oftheir contemporaries, myforebears weren’t greattravellers. The furthestmost of them managedwas moving fromHarpenden to Redbourn,although one intrepidbranch did actuallyreach the outskirts of St Albans –albeit the Harpenden side.It was with great interest,

therefore, that I began to read anearly draft of Membership SecretaryRoger Cook’s history of the OldAlbanian Club. As he points out inhis introduction, there have been OldAlbanians since 948 (although nit-

pickers may suggest that for this tobe true these earliest old boys musthave left the moment the School wasfounded rather than waiting untilthey’d completed the medievalequivalent of GCSEs). “But it isinteresting to reflect that OldAlbanians probably fought atHastings, Agincourt andBannockburn, sailed into battleagainst the Armada, served underNelson at Trafalgar and helpedpioneer America, Africa and Asia,”he continues. “We also know that anOld Albanian was the onlyEnglishman ever to become Pope.This was Nicholas Breakspear who,

from 1054 to 1059, wasPope Adrian IV and afterwhom one of the Schoolhouses was named.”Thus the history of

Britain and its empiremust, in some small partat least, have beenshaped by former pupilsof St Albans School.Concrete evidence,however, has only beenavailable for the last 120years or so as the OldAlbanian Club was notformally organised untilthe late 19th century,

when a number of local old boysdecided to form a dinner club. Thefirst recorded committee meetingminutes were dated May 1892, yet arecently unearthed excerpt from theHerts Advertiser of February 1887(see page 24) shows that informalreunions (and I use the wordadvisedly given the apparently

OA

COMMENT

The history of

Britain and its

empire must, in

some small part,

have been shaped

by former pupils of

St Albans School

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OA BULLETIN MAY 2007 OA BULLETIN MAY 2007

formal nature of the occasions) werealready taking place at least fiveyears earlier. What this doesdemonstrate, though, is the dearth ofreliable information available. Thislabour of love is the result of anexhaustive trawl through thecommittee minutes and otheravailable documentation, but thereare inevitably gaps in the narrativeand Roger would be delighted to hearof any additionalhistorical sources whichmay add to ourunderstanding of theorigins of the Club.You’ll find his contactdetails on page 17.This early dinner at St

Albans Town Hall wasattended by suchluminaries as theReverend F Willcox (whowas to retire in 1902 after22 years as headmaster)and A H Debenham,another noted OA after whom aSchool house was also named. Thegathering was chaired by CharlesWoollam, perhaps the School’sgreatest benefactor and the firstPresident of the Old Albanian Club.Among the other nuggets mined fromthe committee minutes of subsequentdecades are the registering of theClub colours – “a crimson groundwith black stripes intercepted by anarrow stripe of gold” – in 1909, anda proposal, put to the AGM in 1912,that the name of the club be changedfrom old boys club to the OldAlbanian Club. The motion wasdefeated by four votes and it wasn’t

until 1919 that the current name wasadopted.Roger Cook’s magnus opus is

currently a work in progress, andshould be available in all goodbookshops (or at least on the OAwebsite) soon. We shall be includingextracts from the history in futureeditions of the Bulletin. In themeantime, Old Albanians arecontinuing to make an impact in all

sorts of spheres acrossthe globe. One of ourmost noted formerpupils, Professor StephenHawking, visited theSchool last autumn, andthe current crop ofpupils continue todeliver the highest levelsof academic and sportingachievements. We alsobid a sad farewell toseveral Old Albanians,including well-knownphotographer John

Timbers (see obituary on page 19).On a lighter note, the OA sporting

clubs continue to flourish, and thecricket club is looking forward toanother highly successful summer.The Annual Dinner on Friday 6thJuly returns to the Woollamsclubhouse after a two-year sojourn atthe School pavilion (see the bookingform enclosed), followed byFounders’ Day the following day.It is always a pleasure to hear from

Old Albanians of every generation, soplease make the effort to contact meeither direct or via OAConnect.

Nick Chappin (75)Editor

President’s Notes

Good to be back�Having returned to the OA Club Committee18 months ago, new President StephenBurgess reflects on the progress made inrecent years and looks forward to an excitingfuture for the Old Albanian Club

A tribute to Andy BarnesI feel that as the new President of the OldAlbanian Association I should rightly pay atribute to the past president Andy Barnesfor his three years of hard work. This hasbeen a period in which membership, withthe co-operation of the School, has becomefree to all School leavers and to existingmembers. This has been funded by theSchool, which makes an annual grant to theOld Albanian Club. While this makes someaspects of life easier for the MembershipSecretary and Treasurer of the Club, therewill be more people to keep track of and nopayment can mean looser connections. I amsure, however, that this will be a beneficialdevelopment both for the Club and theSchool. Andy and our MembershipSecretary Roger Cook have also workedhard on the OA Connect site and the OAClub’s internet site. We hope to developthese further. Andy has also helped tofurther connections with younger members,an area in which I would also like to takeinitiatives. The president of the OldAlbanian Club becomes an ex officiogovernor of the school and in this capacityAndy has done a lot of work on a newproject about which I hope to be able to giveyou further news in due course. He has alsoinitiated the Summer Garden Party, anexcellent social event which I aim tocontinue. In all these activities Andy hasworked diligently to ensure their successand I thank him for his sterling efforts.

Back to the CommitteeI have only returned to the OA Committeein the last 18 months, but I served on itfrom time to time from the mid sixties tothe early eighties and did a several yearstint as secretary to the Ground SubCommittee that ran the club at our previousBeech Bottom home. I was also on theRugby Club Committee for nearly 15 years,so in being elected to the presidency I feel Iam returning home and very proud to be inthis office. At 63 I am perhaps one of theolder presidents of the club – and certainlyso in the last 30 years – but I havemaintained connections with manybranches of the Old Albanian activities andsports clubs and thus I believe I can providecontinuity from Andy’s stint and that ofAndrew Mills-Baker who preceded him.

Andrew Mills-BakerThree years ago Andy Barnes paid tributeto Andrew Mills-Baker’s presidency and thetremendous work he undertook over thedevelopment of Woollams and the move tothe new club grounds. Andrew hascontinued making a major contribution asChairman of the Sports Association whichoversees the day to day activities of theclub, ground and constituent sportsactivities. This has required a considerablecommitment on his part, which he has

OA

COMMEN

T

One of our most

noted former

pupils, Professor

Stephen Hawking,

visited the School

last autumn

New PresidentStephen Burgess

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unstintingly given. He has now steppeddown as chairman of the Sports Associationand has handed over to the new Chairman,Mike Peters (82). Fortunately for us he willcontinue as a trustee of the SportsAssociation, and of the 948 Charity as wellas a member of the OA Committee. I ampersonally very grateful for Andrew’svaluable work over many years and hopethat he continues to serve on thesecommittees for many more years.

A School GovernorAs a governor of the School I was delightedto join two other members of my A LevelHistory set: Ian Jennings, Chairman of theGovernors, and Professor John Barber whorepresents Cambridge University. Two othermembers of the Governing Board are oldrugby colleagues of mine in Andy Barnesand Peter Dredge. It is a strong GoverningBoard, and a lot of hard work is undertakenby its members.As President of the Club and as a

Governor I am sure I will have frequentbusiness and social interaction with theheadmaster, Andrew Grant. I will let youinto a secret: both Andrew and I aremembers of the Verulam Cycling Club, andwe frequently gasp at the top ofHertfordshire’s cols and swap notes duringelevenses at the inevitable garden centre.We know some of our respective strengthsand weaknesses, which get tested over 50 to60 miles on Sunday mornings.

The Dinner: Friday 6th July, 7.00 for7.45pmThe last two dinners have been held in theSchool pavilion due to other events takingplace at the Woollams clubhouse. We aregrateful to the School for providing theirfine facilities, but I am glad that we are

returning to the Woollams clubhouse thisyear. The cost of the dinner includes adrinks reception on the terrace. I am surewe will enjoy a fine evening and anexcellent dinner. I believe attendance willbe up this year and urge you to contact mea soon as possible. As usual, the dinner willbe followed the next day by Founders’ Daywith a service in the Abbey and anafternoon of sport at Woollams. For those ofyou who live away from the area, why notmake a weekend of it? Please complete theform included with this Bulletin. By populardemand this year’s dinner will be loungesuit order.

The Garden Party: Sunday 10th June,1.00pmThe fourth garden party will be held at theWoollams clubhouse with drinks, canapésand a light buffet. Come along and enjoyyourself and see a good game of cricket. Aform is provided and the cost is £15 a head,a very reasonable price for a good afternoonout.

Roger CookI have mentioned earlier in these notes thatI sat on the committee in the early 1980s. Irecall that Roger Cook had taken over asMembership Secretary, and I have nowreturned to the Committee and Roger is stillhere doing his diligent work. He has arecord of over 3,500 OAs and, of course,these records continue to build. Well doneRoger, and thank you.

Roy BaconI feel I should say a few words about RoyBacon, who after a long while on theCommittee has stood down partly throughindifferent health. When I left school in 1962and joined the Old Albanian Club and Rugby

Club, Roy was an active and busy memberorganising fixtures for the Rugby Club,working on the fete and serving on the OldAlbanian Committee. Roy’s commitmentcovers well over half a century. His advicewas always sound and his companyexcellent. Thanks to you as well, Roy.

948 CharityThis charity was established by the Clubsome five years ago to provide help foryoung people in sport in St Albans andDistrict. Money has been provided both toour own sports clubs, to St Albans Schooland to other schools, clubs and someindividuals in the district over the last fouryears. Over £100,000 has been distributed sofar and the charity is by far the largest inthe area providing sporting grants. I amproud of the work the trustees do and of thebenefits the charity can provide in theClub’s name. If you know of a club or sportsorganisation in the district which couldbenefit from some help, please feel free tocontact the secretary Mrs Julie Dekker atWoollams (telephone 01727 864476) or thechairman of the trustees, Geraint John, on01727 857682.Finally, I look forward during my

presidency to meeting old friends and newacquaintances. The Club is in good healthand we have wonderful facilities atWoollams. If you have not visited the newClub I urge you to do so. The Cricket Clubis doing very well and the terrace is a greatplace to watch a game. The Rugby Club hasfinished mid-table in a highly competitivedivision just below the national leagues andthe quality of play is excellent. There is athriving Tennis Club with plans to growand prosper, and a well-equipped health andfitness centre. The ground is used by theEngland Women’s Rugby Team as their‘home’ pitch and Saracens Rugby Clubplays its ‘A’ team home fixtures on aMonday evening. This is a tribute to thequality of the facilities, the welcomeextended by the staff and, I’d like to feel,some of the tradition flowing through fromOld Albanians of the past and continuinginto the present.The Committee can organise events but it

is up to you, the members, to takeadvantage of what is on offer. Get togetherwith friends, come to the Dinner and theGarden Party, and enjoy yourselves.

Stephen BurgessPresident, Old Albanian Club

OARFCPresident AliMillsentertainsthe guestsat the VPs’Lunchbefore theBishop’sStortfordmatch

A brief history of term� A superb production of Beauty and theBeast, record GCSE results, 100 rugby winsin the season and a visit from one of ourmost famous former pupils, ProfessorStephen Hawking. Headmaster AndrewGrant looks back at some of the highlights ofthe winter and spring terms

It was a pleasure to see a goodnumber of OAs in the Abbeyfor the Carol Service thatclosed the autumn term andto hear the Choir absolutely

on top form. A week earlier, thehilarious Beauty and the Beasthad played to full houses,ensuring an eventful termclosed on a high note.The term’s successes were

many and varied. If the biggestcoup was unquestionably thevisit of Professor StephenHawking, to address a Hall fullof our students and those from16 other schools, there wereplenty of other highlights.Though “highlight” is hardly

the term for it, the steadytrickle of upgrades following appealsagainst, particularly, some outrageousGCSE results in English, brought us to thepoint where the 2006 GCSE results are now,ironically, a record for the School, with theproportion of A*/A grades nudging 68%.Our team of Sixth Form Economists,

Jason Suares, Heather Wong, JessicaRoberts, Jake Watson and Paul Sopher, wontheir regional heat of the Times/Bank ofEngland Target Two point Zero interest ratecompetition, though they did not get beyondthe regional final, whilst St Albans also

provided – in George Goldberg, GordonTveito-Duncan, Nick Goldberg and GeraldFlahive, the individual silver medalist – theyoungest team ever to have won the Opencompetition in the English Schools’ SkiChampionships.For the first time in our history, School

rugby teams reached the magic total of 100wins in a season – 111 in fact – and a recordoverall win rate of 79%. The First XV lostonly three matches, for a 77% tally and theSecond XV and Under 16s both kept anentirely clean sheet. Among the blockfixtures en route to these statistics, we hada clean sweep against Bancroft’s, University

College School and Verulamand came within one match ofwhitewashing Haberdashers’,Merchant Taylors’ andStamford, so well done to allour rugby players.Some notable scalps were

taken by the netball team andthere were some good wins inbadminton, while in swimming,all the teams made a good startto their Herts Leaguecampaign.The cross country squad

retained all the term’s trophies,beginning with an individual win in theAbbots’ Langley 5km race for DominicEaster and ending with a particularlyimpressive run in our own Geoffrey Prykerelay. Meanwhile, in the Varsity Match, 2004captain Matthew Grant won his CambridgeBlue in helping the forces of light (blue) tovanquish the Dark Side.This year’s round of Oxbridge

applications brought 10 offers; three fromOxford and seven from Cambridge.After Christmas, among a number of new

arrivals on the staff, we welcomed our new

For the first time

in our history,

School rugby

teams reached the

magic total of 100

wins in a season

Bursar, Derek Todd, a graduate of WadhamCollege, Oxford and a Fellow of the Instituteof Chartered Accountants, whose previousrole was as Deputy Chief Executive of theThinktank Trust and the Millennium PointTrust in Birmingham, the largest lottery-funded project outside London.Following Ryan McIntosh’s defection to

Haberdashers’ as their new Director of PEand Games, Martin Langston joined thepermanent staff as our Deputy Director ofPE and Games, having taught full-time hereduring the summer term 2005 and continued

to coach hockey and cricket for us sincethen. Martin is a former England hockeyinternational and an international coach,and adds to a wealth of hockey expertise inthe PE department.The season began well for the First XI,

with a win in a triangular tournamentagainst Gresham’s and Oakham on the firstweekend of term. Thereafter, things wentoff the boil a little, before a mid-season rallythat saw them go from strength to strengthto finish with crushing victories over someof our strongest rivals of recent years (5-0 v

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Headmaster’s Notes

ProfessorStephenHawking, OA,addressed aHall full ofstudents ona recentvisit to theSchool


10 11


Hitchin; 9-1 v Stamford) and an overall winrate in excess of 75%, the best in recentmemory.By the end of the spring term, our

intermediate swimmers had won the HertsLeague, with the Juniors and Seniors eachtaking second place.Our basketball and badminton players

had some successes, as did our footballteams, particularly at more junior levels inDistrict competitions and our U12 rugbyplayers came close to sweeping all beforethem.In orienteering, Adam Bennett, who also

runs for South East England, finishedsecond in the Senior League,whilst James Harrison andCraig Lye finished second andthird respectively in the JuniorLeague.The cross country squads

completed their season withsome excellent performances,the senior boys’ only defeatscoming in the two events thatattract a national entry: theKnole Run at Sevenoaks (wonby Judd) and the King HenryVIII relay in Coventry (won bySt Anselm’s, but with Judd welldown). In both cases, St Albans took secondplace and Dominic Easter, this year’s 948scholar, was individual second fastest.Both races were also notable for the

success of a combined St Albans girls team,led by Lucy Yates to third place at theKnole and a win at Coventry, where for thegreater part of the day, both boys’ and girls’races were being led, unprecedentedly, bythe same school – St Albans. A uniquedouble appeared to be on the cards, but inan epic boys’ race, our last runner, ChrisGraham, was caught 50 metres from the line

for one of the most exciting finishes theevent has seen. Despite having to settle forsecond, the team ran the fifth fastest time inthe history of the race; only three otherschools have ever run faster, so as defeatsgo, it was an heroic one.St Albans finished the season in fine

style, taking the Senior South EasternSchools Championship ahead of old rivalsJudd. Individually, Dominic Easter wonboth the county championships for whichhe was eligible; he and Lucy won South ofEngland Championship silver medals andDominic, captaining Hertfordshire, went onto silver in the National Inter-Counties

championship and fifth place inthe English SchoolsChampionship in his first yearin the age category.Just before the end of term,

the whole School communitywas shocked and saddened bythe untimely death of AnthonyJames, a member of theEconomics Department, afterwhich the intense activity of theend of term, and the holidayitself, provided a welcomeopportunity to refocus.Anthony’s students in the

Business Enterprise Group converted theirplanned balloon race to a memorial eventwhich raised something in the region of£1,000 for Oxfam, his favourite charity, withthe furthest-travelled balloon being reportedin North Yorkshire.Grayson Jones’s final Joint Schools

Concert before he moves in September totake up his post as Director of Music atGuildford High School for Girls took placein the Abbey before a full house. The choirand orchestra gave an assured performanceof some of the greatest works in the choral

repertoire, and can be proud of theirevening’s work in giving Grayson a fittingfarewell to this particular event.Author William Nicholson, known both

for his world-wide best-selling fantasytrilogy The Wind on Fire, and also for thescreenplay of Gladiator and the playShadowlands, visited to speak to LowerSchool pupils about creative writing andfollowed this with a book signing in thelibrary.This was the beginning of a feast of

literary activity for the First Form, who, afew days later, had their annual CreativeWriting Day, on which pupils come dressedas their favourite characters for a day ofworkshops led by professional writers. Thusit was that writers Dominic Mieville, JohnMole and Sandy Brownjohn were met bynumerous Alex Riders, several James Bondsand a woad-stained Nac Mac Feegle, thecompetition for the most impressive outfitbeing won by a very impressive MockTurtle from Alice in Wonderland.The Drama department had a busy end of

term with assessed performances at GCSE,AS and A2, each providing an entertainingevening in their own right, and the Lower

Sixth offerings of two Joe Orton plays, Lootand The Erpingham Camp, deliveringparticularly high octane – not to mentionhigh camp – comedy performances thatwere very funny indeed.The holiday was almost as busy as the

term, with more than a third of studentsand staff involved in School activities ofsome sort over the break, including themusic tour to the Czech Republic; a Classicstrip taking in Rome, Ostia, Sorrento,Pompeii, Herculaneum and MountVesuvius; a CCF Duke of Edinburgh’sexpedition in the Peak District and an RAFEaster Camp at MOD St Athan, SouthWales; a ski trip to Vars and four days ofcoaching and competition at Windmill Hillfor our Tennis and Golf players.At the time of writing, the cricket season,

rather unnervingly, is getting off to a startin the sort of weather for which one hopes,almost always in vain. There may be someinterim benefits to global warming. Let ushope it continues to Founders’ Day, when Ihope to see a good many of you up atWoollams.

Andrew GrantHeadmaster

The choir and

orchestra gave an

assured

performance of

great works in the

choral repertoire

receive support every year and since1984, over £6 million have beendonated. In 2006, individual grantsranged from £500 to £7,000, andtotalled £500,000. And, of course, thisis in addition to the considerablesums raised by Freemasons aroundthe country in support of their localhospices. This year an additional andseparate allocation of £100,000 solelyfor children’s hospices has beenmade. There is also very widespreadsupport in the Craft for the fantasticlife-saving services of air ambulancesand last year a grant of £180,000 wasgiven in support.Emergency Grants for victims of

floods, earthquakes and otherdisasters around the world areauthorised by the President of theGrand Charity throughout the yearas the need arises. Much of the reliefwork, supported by the GrandCharity's Emergency Grants, isundertaken by the International RedCross and Red Crescent Movement.Such grants were made following theKenya Floods, the IndonesianEarthquake, African Food Shortages,the South Asia Earthquake, Floodingin Carlisle, Tropical Storm Stan –Guatemala, Hurricane Katrina, theNiger Aid Appeal and the LondonBombings.Freemasons are taught to practise

charity and to care, not only for theirown, but also for the community as awhole, both by charitable giving, andby voluntary efforts and works asindividuals. Amounts contributed byindividuals are entirely confidentialof course.From its earliest days,

Freemasonry has been concernedwith the care of orphans, the sickand the aged. Notable amongFreemasons of the 19th century wasDr Thomas John Barnardo(1845–1905), nicknamed ‘The Doctor’,a leading reformer on a par with SirRobert Peel, Elizabeth Fry andFlorence Nightingale. Single-handed,over a period of four decades, heimproved the life of hundreds ofthousands of destitute children. Hisfirst home opened in the East End ofLondon in 1870. At his death, inSeptember 1905, there were nearly

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Caring:notableFreemasonDr ThomasJohnBarnardo,founder ofBarnardo’sHomes

A warm Wellcome� Secretary John Williams welcomesnew younger members to the OALodge and looks back atFreemasonry’s proud tradition ofphilanthropy, charity and care

The Lodge is looking forward to Maywhen the new Master, Dr MaxtonPitcher MA, MD, BM BCh, FRCP,who was elected at the Marchmeeting, is installed in the Chair bythe outgoing Master, Rodney Bendon.This will be followed by theappointment of the Lodge Officers forthe ensuing year. It is invariably thebest attended meeting, and dinnerjackets are the norm – although thisis entirely optional. Max, who leftSchool in 1981 and graduated fromOxford in 1988, is a ConsultantGastroenterologist at Northwick Park& St Mark’s Hospitals, Harrow.Among his other pursuits, he is asuperb violinist and was leader of theHerts County Youth Orchestra andOxford University ChamberOrchestra.It has been an excellent year and

the Lodge is in good heart, with twoyoung initiates and also a joiningmember who is both an Old Albanianand the son of a former member. Oneof our young members is studying atuniversity and the United GrandLodge of England now runs aUniversities Scheme. If you are acurrent student or postgraduate, youmay well find that there is a specificlodge associated with yourinstitution, such as Apollo UniversityLodge in Oxford or the Isaac Newton

University Lodge in Cambridge.There are many other lodgesassociated with universities and it ispossible to visit them on a regularbasis whilst at university. For fullinformation please contact thesecretary at the address below.At the forthcoming Installation

meeting the Lodge will be donating afurther £5,000 towards theHertfordshire Provincial Fund for2009 ‘Festival’ Appeal in support ofthe Grand Charity, whichHertfordshire is hosting. This willbring the total sum transferred bythe Lodge to date to a magnificent£25,000, with two years to go to meetour target of £40,000. The GrandCharity is the central grant makingcharity of all Freemasons in Englandand Wales. All the funding for theCharity comes from donations byindividual Freemasons and theirfamilies. The provision of ‘MasonicRelief Grants’, which provideassistance for Freemasons and, aftertheir death, their widows and otherdependents in need of financial help,is still one of the primary activities ofthe Grand Charity. Financial supportis also provided when needed to theother three main Masonic charitiesand to non-Masonic charities. Indeed,since 1981, more than £30 million hasbeen given to non-Masonic charitablecauses under five main headings:

� Medical research;� Vulnerable people;� Youth opportunities;� Hospices; and� Emergency grants for disasterrelief, both at home and abroad.

Hospices in England and Wales

OA

UPDATE OA Lodge

Check your details!� OAconnect now has well over 1,000registered members – but please goonline to check that your contactdetails are correct, says OA ClubMembership Secretary Roger Cook

OAconnect siteOver 1,030 members have registeredwith the OAconnect site. If you havenot yet registered, please do so now!OAconnect is an online system

that enables you to update yourrecords whenever you so wish. Iwould therefore ask that you accessthe site (via the OA website is theeasiest way) and check that yourinformation, especially your e-mailaddress, is correct. There arecurrently many incorrect e-mailaddresses on the site, which negatesthe site’s main objective of enablingyour friends and the Club to contactyou!Don’t forget that the OA website

and the OAconnect site are not thesame. The former is managed by theOA Club, whereas we pay anindependent company a significantfee to run the OAconnect site for us.A summary of the results of the

autumn questionnaire has been sentto all registrants.

OA website:www.oldalbanianclub.comThere have been one or twocontributions to the personalinformation page – why not provide ashort item that you feel may be ofinterest to other OAs or use it to findlost friends? Just go to the news page

and follow instructions.The site also provides links to allother OA sites.

OA BulletinThis Bulletin and previous issues areavailable on the OA web site.As you know, we do make a

nominal charge for postal delivery ofa hard copy Bulletin. The cost is £18for three years, and the year whenyour Bulletin subscription becomesdue is shown on the address label.If you are one of the original ‘life

members’ of the Club, you areentitled to a free postal copy.However, it would help our postalexpenses if such members couldmake a contribution towards thepostage, and I would like to thankthose of you who have already doneso. Alternatively, you may be willingto forego the hard copy and view theBulletin on the OA website – if so,please let me know.

Waifs and straysAs reported in the last Bulletin, Ihave divided the ‘waifs and strays’into two lists. This issue contains thenames of those who left school before1985.

TiesI still have a stock of OA ties (£12.50,silk or £15, bowtie; postage free).

Roger CookMembership Secretary

8,000 children in 96 of his residentialhomes. The influence on Barnardo tobecome a Freemason may haveemanated from his friendship withSir Henry Solomon Wellcome(1853–1936) the American-born Britishpharmaceutical entrepreneur. SirHenry was a dedicated and veryactive Freemason, whose closeness toBarnardo was, at a later stage,greatly enhanced when, in 1901,Wellcome married Gwendolin MaudSyrie, Barnardo’s daughter. HenrySolomon Wellcome (1853–1936) was aremarkable man with many facets tohis complex character: a scientist,businessman, philanthropist,archaeologist, collector andFreemason. He left behind a legacythat has immortalised his name ineach of the fields in which heexcelled with equal success. Hisphilanthropy is manifest in TheWellcome Trust, established as anindependent research-fundingcharity, as required in his will, on hisdeath on 25 July 1936.Following the very successful

Lodge visit to the historic city ofTallinn, the capital of Estonia afterEaster last year, this year a visit tothe Palatine Lodge, Mannheim inGermany has been arranged overfour days in late June.Staying at the Goldener Hecht

Hotel in Heidelberg overlooking theOld Bridge and the River Neckar, theschedule arranged by the EnglishSecretary of the Lodge includes:

� A champagne reception inHambrücken;� Dinner in the student pub ZumRoten Ochsen in the Old Town of

Heidelberg – with members ofPalatina Lodge and theirwives/partners;� Palatina Lodge ‘Johannisfest’meeting;� A guided tour of Heidelbergincluding the castle;� A drive down the magnificentNeckar valley to the ancient spatown of Bad Wimpfen - a fortifiedhill-top town which has notchanged for 700 years.� Guided tours of the historicchurch of St Mary The Virgin, theBlue Tower, and the Emperor'sPalace;� A visit to Maulbronn Abbey (aWorld Heritage Centre). This is an11th Century Cistercian OrderAbbey and altogether quitemagnificent and almost unchangedsince it was built.The Lodge meets only five times a

year on the second Saturdays inJanuary, March, May and Septemberand the first Saturday in November.All those connected with the School,including fathers of past or presentpupils are welcome to apply formembership, for which purpose thefirst approach should be to anyLodge member, the Secretary asbelow, or Nigel Wood Smith or AlanSmith at the School. Members ofother Lodges, be they OAs, parents ofpast or present pupils, staff orGovernors, are encouraged to visitthe Lodge whenever they wish, andthe Secretary will be delighted tohear from them. The Lodge websiteaddress is: www.oa-lodge.co.uk

John WilliamsSecretary

14 15


OA

UPDATE

Membership Secretary’s Notes

1 Pondwicks

Close

St Albans AL1

1DG

Telephone:

01727 836877

16 17


1960 D M ROBERTSON Herts1979 P ROLLINGS Harpenden1948 G T ROSS Radlett1984 Hugh ROSS Harpenden1978 M G SAMUEL St Albans1980 M E SEABROOK Chislehurst1979 Mark SEDDON Great Stukeley1978 M R SMITH London SW71942 Peter D SMITH Beaminster1981 M G SPURGEON St Albans1977 C J STANSBURY St Albans1980 G D STAPLEHURST Belgium1983 Adam STEPHENS Market Lavington1900 Frances TANGYE1973 D K THOM Stevenage1966 R N THOMAS Edgware1982 Stephen THORNDIKE Farnham Royal1978 C THRALE Berkhamsted1977 Shane TOMBLIN Slip End1970 M R TOWERSEY Hitchin1979 P TYNAN Cockermouth1980 T WADDINGTON St Albans1984 Jon WARBURTON New York1982 Nicholas WASTELL Twyford1976 Kevin WAYGOOD-WEST Hatfield1979 C W WEIR Balham1977 David J WELSH St Albans

1978 Keith WELSH Eccles-Aylesford1977 E D WHITFIELD St Albans1939 A D WILKINSON Harpenden1974 M C WILLIAMS Slip End1971 D P L WILLIAMS Harpenden1900 Chris WILLIS1983 Dave W H WILSON Kirriemuir1944 A J WOOD Welwyn Garden City1980 J C G WOODROW Wheathampstead1952 R A WORTLEY London1941 JA WRIGHT St Albans

If anyone can help with thepresent address of any of the above,please contact me.

Roger Cook

OA

UPDATE

Waifs and straysWe have lost contact with thefollowing OAs – can anyone help?

Year Name Last knownlocation

1979 C D ALBURY St Albans1967 Paul M ANSELL Luton1979 Stephen ARMITAGE Leyton1925 Charles ASHLEY1947 M F AULT Harpenden1971 Mark BARKER Sandbach1978 Graham BARTLETT New York1977 David K W BATEY Heybridge1977 T A BAYOUMI Welwyn Garden City1976 M J BELSHAW St Albans1933 J E BES Maresfield1957 S C BISHOP Shefford1943 C M BRACEWELL Desford1936 K F BREHAUT Cuckfield1970 Tim J BROOKER Wolverhampton1932 J BROOKES Harpenden1938 KM BUCKINGHAM1976 JM BULSING Welwyn Garden City1978 R G BUNTING Leighton Buzzard1970 Rob CALLOW1975 A P CAUNT Edinburgh1979 N A J CHAPMAN Middlesbrough1977 I CHARLESWORTH Bricket Wood1962 J CLARKE Knebworth1927 J F CLEAR Shenley1981 Peter CLEGG Windlesham1977 P A CLITHEROW Harpenden1967 P A COCKBAIN Redhill1974 A G D COOK Germany1955 B J COOMBE Brookmans Park1924 E J COOPER Lyndhurst1979 R C COOPER Luton1984 M J CORNWELL Harpenden1968 R M CRAIGHEAD Potters Bar1976 D C CROSS Southsea1954 N C DILLEY High Wycombe1979 C DIXON Harpenden1977 Andy DRAPER1970 Chris DUFFIELD1971 M J DUXBURY Hitchin1971 G EARL Newbury1980 J R EDWARDS Luton1980 A W G EVANS Bristol1932 E J EVANS St Albans1978 N G EVANS Hemel Hempstead1975 I A FORBES Bristol1979 K FORD Tring1975 J B FRENCH St Albans1975 Stephen C FUNNELL Barnet1980 A J GEORGE Flamstead

1968 R R GINGELL Bury St Edmunds1963 J R H GOTT St Albans1977 Andrew GRANGER London1934 K GREEN Wimborne1979 M HALL Rickmansworth1900 Chris HALLIDAY London1970 Nigel HARTRIDGE1980 P L HAYES St Albans1980 A HAYWARD St Albans1981 R J W HODGE Peterborough1928 S I HOPKINS St Albans1944 P H F HUDSON Cranbrook1976 Nigel IMI Hove1956 P INGRAM Glasgow1981 A JACKSON Harpenden1984 Neal R JACKSON Ulverston1982 P A JENKINS Boscombe1977 A P R JONES Keighley1949 Roy JUGGINS South Africa1974 D R KINGHAM East Grinstead1965 D KIRK Walthamstow1918 G A M KNIGHT Kirkcudbright1955 J V KNIGHT Blackboys1900 Andrew LATHAM1971 D J D LAWRENCE St Albans1984 Robert LAWTON Harpenden1964 J Charles LEE Harpenden1977 A P LEE Abergynolwyn1979 John R LESTER Crewkerne1900 Anthony LION St Albans1938 N K LOVATT Canada1967 A MARSH Borehamwood1974 J T J MARSHALL St Albans1977 N J MARSHALL St Albans1970 Iain G MARTIN Harborne1964 A T J MASLEN Newcastle under Lyme1900 Frances MATTHEWS1972 R J MATTINGLY Baldock1983 Guy P MEADOWS Southampton1979 B MENZIE Wheathampstead1959 K J MILLS Stoke-on-Trent1978 Nigel D MORGAN Camberley1958 P J O SULLIVAN Harpenden1976 C A ORANGE London1900 Roy PALMER1981 Andrew E PALMER Bracknell1978 P E PARKER Harpenden1972 S C PARKER Harpenden1923 V A PEACH Eastbourne1983 Simon PEGG Bristol1931 H M PINNOCK St Albans1981 J S C PIPER Hemel Hempstead1942 G H POWELL St Albans1983 Tim J PRYCE London1982 Adam TJ PUTTERILL Hong Kong1980 Mark QUINLAN Billingborough1980 JC RABUSZO St Albans1979 J RIDDLE Wakefield

Visit OAconnectthe OA online database

follow the link on www.oldalbanianclub.com

WHO TO CONTACTPlease address your correspondence to the following people – you’ll find their contact details on page 2.OA Bulletin Nick Chappin, EditorComments, letters, photosSubscription/membership enquiries Roger Cook, Membership SecretaryChange of address, notification of deathsOA Gazette Mike Highstead, ArchivistMember news, obituaries, School archive and museum

� Anthony Holdham (41) died on 26thOctober 2006.

� Donald Plenderleith (41)OA Club President Stephen Burgesswrites: “In the May 2005 Bulletin wepublished an obituary of RobertPlenderleith DFC, a distinguishedpilot who was my wife’s stepfather.In going through his papers we foundsome interesting items relating to hisbrother Donald who was killed justshort of his 21st birthday in Burmaduring an attack on a heavilydefended Japanese position. Donaldwas an officer in the 1st GurkhaRifles and the material included aphoto of Donald in his Gurkhauniform as well a photo of the 1940/41prefects and a photo of drums andbugles by the War Memorial. Therewas also an Albanian of January 1941listing the prefects. The only one Iknow for certain is O M A Butler,second from the left in the front row.Donald was a prefect but I cannot

pick him out in the picture.Perhaps of most interest were a

series of tributes from his fellowofficers in the 1st Gurkha Rifles,including a tribute from a fellowofficer in the attack who wouldappear to be the only officer tosurvive the action. It is a touchingtribute but there seems to be somedoubt as to how Donald died, from agrenade or a sniper.Mrs Plenderleith, Bob

Plenderleith’s widow, would like thepapers to be held in the SchoolArchives.”

� John Timbers (50s) died on 14thOctober 2006. He was an eminentphotographer. The following extractsare taken from his obituary in TheIndependent, 27th October 2007:The humblest item claimed onexpenses by the photographer JohnTimbers was ‘Eggs, 32 pence’, yet itled to one of his most iconic shots.Commissioned by the Radio Times toproduce an egg-themed portrait ofDelia Smith for her 1978 televisioncookery series, he had tried variousapproaches, from breaking andbeating to whisking and separating,but nothing worked until the futuregrande dame of British cuisinepicked up an egg and held it againsther face. “It was the simplest shot,and certainly the best,” said Timbers.Timbers also laid claim to another

sub-cultural icon of the day, EdnaEverage’s gladdy. In 1973 he was

18 19




� Justin Pollard (86) had his bookThe Rise and Fall of Alexandria –Birthplace of the Modern Mindpublished on 19th October 2006.

� Howard Clark (99) has achieved aPhD in Civil Engineering atSouthampton University.

� Matthew Scase (96) has beenoffered – and has accepted - the postof Visiting Assistant Professor in theDepartment of Maths at Cornellduring the time he is there on hisFulbright Scholarship. He went toPerth, Australia in November 2006 todeliver an invited lecture.

� Nicholas Ireson (04) has beenawarded a postgraduate place at theRoyal Academy of Music to study thehorn.

DeathsIt is with regret that the followingdeaths are announced:

� Lancelot Peter Baenzinger (20s)died on 17th February 2007.

� H L B ‘Len’ Moody (37) died inMarch 2007. His brother Brian Moody(43) writes: “Born in 1919, Len Moodywent to St Albans School in 1929, thelast year of Montague Jones’headship, and left for Cambridge in1937 having been Deputy Head Boy toJ C McDonald. The most abidingthings he acquired at school were alove of mountains and open spaces,especially the Lake District wherethe School held regular walkingholidays, and also a love of choral

singing. His last year at School wasmy first, but the only time weactually met was at the officialopening of the new Science Block byDean Henderson in November 1936.During the War he managed to

find some more open space when hejoined the Long Range Desert Groupof the Royal West African FrontierForce, spending much of this timepatrolling the African desert. Onreturning to St Albans from overseas,he became English master atHaberdashers’ Askes’ School, andSecretary of the St Albans BachChoir, where he worked closely withPeter Hurford, them Master of theAbbey Music. Meanwhile, hisViennese wife Johanna taughtGerman at St Albans School, and alsoorganised the library.In the 1960s Africa called him

again, and he joined LondonUniversity and later the BritishCouncil, to become an overseasteacher of English as a secondlanguage. He started as Professor ofEnglish at Ife University in Nigeria,and over the next 20 years carriedout similar work in other countries ofWest Africa and South America, andonce even in distant Wales.In retirement he lived on the

Yorkshire moors near Bentham, andspent much of his time guiding localwalkers and singing in local choirs.At his March memorial service inSettle they were all there, toremember the inspiration he hadgiven them in various ways.”

� Robert P Judges (40) died on 15thJanuary 2006.

OA

GAZETTE De fortunis Albanorum

Donald Plenderleith in his Gurkha uniform

20 21


Green and Gaudy, and class lists ofthe time.

� David Morgan (46) has given abook entitled St Albans Abbey whichshows the architectural detail of theAbbey and has fascinating details ofstonework and carvings. Originallythe book was one of a limited editionand this particular copy waspresented to the Earl of Verulam in1877.Plans for the museum are

progressing, so please keep itemsflowing in.

The class of 1982�Mike Peters, the Chairman of OASport, writes“I am trying to rally troops who leftthe school in 1982, 25 years ago, toattend the dinner at the OAs on the6th July. We already have severalconfirmed including David Varty,Andrew Bird, Mark Knighton, MarkTant, Richard Mumford and SteveThorndike. If anyone from that yearis interested in joining us can theycontact me via e mail:”[email protected]

Wight side of the law� Ian Pratt (70), senior partner of RJRSolicitors on the Isle of Wight, has justfinished his year as President of theIsle of Wight Law Society. He sends usan extract from his closing speech“One year ago I was elected thePresident of the IOW Law Societyand I have really appreciated myyear in office.

I have particularly enjoyedrepresenting the legal profession onthe IOW at various conferences anddinners around the south of England,and meeting many people, fromhumble solicitors in private practiceto university professors, Law SocietyPresidents, judges, senior bishops ofthe Church of England, well-knownnewspaper legal correspondents, andfinally the Lord Chief Justice.My greatest disappointment duringmy year was being involved in a four-hour traffic jam in Oxfordshire andconsequently missing the BB & OLaw Society dinner at BlenheimPalace.However, this was more than made

up for when a week later I met andchatted with the LCJ Lord Phillips ofWorth Matravers at the Dorset LSdinner and last summer had theRight Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, thebishop of Winchester as my dinnerguest at the Hampshire LS dinner inthe Great Hall at Winchester.”

OA

GAZET

TE

Please send all

items for

inclusion in the

Gazette to:

Mike Highstead,

33, Cornwall

Road,

Harpenden,

Herts

AL5 4TQ

commissioned to photograph BarryHumphries for Harpers & Queen, andcame up with a double portrait of “avertically challenged Barry, timidlyproffering a single gladdy to adomineering Edna”. The gladiolitheme became an integral part ofEdna’s act, and the sitting markedthe beginning of a 30-year friendshipwith her creator Barry Humphries.Known principally for his

outstanding theatre work, JohnTimbers was always the mostcollaborative of photographers,producing pictures which grew fromhis knowledge of the stage and hisfriendships with those who trod theboards. As he was fond of saying, heworked with performers and not forthem.John Timbers was born in London

in 1933, in Tottenham, where hisgrandfather made footballs for theSpurs team. After National Servicewith the RAF in Germany, he studiedat the Regent Street School ofPhotography (now WestminsterUniversity). “Imagining that I kneweverything”, as he put it, he appliedfor the job as photographic assistantto Antony Armstrong-Jones, who,having satisfied himself the applicantcould “handle a knife and fork in theproper manner”, asked him to startwork next day. He joined Armstrong-Jones in his miniscule Pimlico studioat the un-princely salary of £6 aweek. Then, one Friday afternoon in1960, Armstrong-Jones gathered hissmall staff together and announcedhis engagement to Princess Margaret.“The studio was closed withimmediate effect and everyone was

kept on full pay until they foundother jobs,” said Timbers.In 1975, Timbers married the stage

manager Belinda Barr, daughter ofthe actor Patrick Barr. Theirrelationship was strengthenedindissolubly when their first son,David, died at just 10 weeks old. Theyhad two more sons, Will and Tom,who grew up in the convivial familyhome near Wandsworth Common,complete with a darkroom at the endof the garden.In his spare time, Timbers was a

keen amateur cricketer, describinghimself as a “slow left-arm bowler ofmediocre talent” though he proudlyremembered playing for a president’sside that included the actors DavidHemmings, Robert Powell and JohnAlderton.

� Anthony James, teacher ofEconomics, died in March 2007.

� Pauline ‘Pip’ Michell died in March2007. She had been a teacher atHeathlands School for Deaf Childrenand came to St Albans School forseveral years to accompany a deafboy from Heathlands, acting as atranslator of the lessons into signlanguage.

Museum and Archive

� The family of Anthony Holdham(41) has passed on several itemsrelating to him and to his brotherJack Holdham (37). These include aBlack Book with many staffsignatures, programmes of the 1938Sports Day and the play Badger’s

Ian Pratt

and Andy Chambers, have recentlyattended OA events. Jon worked inthe city after Cambridge and is nowinvolved in private equity, whileAndy Chambers qualified as anaccountant after graduating fromDurham and has had a fine career asa management consultant as well asinvolvement with City UniversityBusiness School. Andy and Jon meetup from time to time.Captain Ian Jennings felt that the

team, and particularly the forwards,were very tough, yet five went toOxford or Cambridge so there wasalso a strong cerebral element. Ofthose who did not go to Oxbridge,two were awarded doctorates.To complete the picture, Ian spent

his career at Vauxhall Motors. Hiswork meant he spent various spellsaround the England and Scotlandbefore returning to St Albans, and

over the last ten years he was headof UK marketing communications.Stephen left school and spent the

whole of his career in fundmanagement, spending the last 18years with Newton InvestmentManagement where he was directorof Segregated Pension Funds.Ian, of course, is now chairman of

the governors and as President of theOA Club Steve is also a new governorof the School – full circle.”

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Where are they now?� The 1961 School First XV remainedunbeaten – but where are they now,wonders OA Club President StephenBurgess

Ian Jennings and Stephen Burgess,both members of the 1961 1st XV,were talking recently about theunbeaten team. They were pleasedthat they have been in touch withmany of their team-mates over theyears, but wondered where a few ofthem are now.Stephen and Ian have been firm

friends ever since leaving School andquite regularly see Jimmy North,who divides his time between Sussexand the Florida Keys.Chris Goddard played for the OAs

before moving to Sussex, where herefereed and played for Heathfield.He spent his career in thepharmaceutical industry and is nowhappily retired. He is a regularattendee at Twickenhaminternational matches where hemeets up with Ian, Steve, and BrianShort (61).Bruce Campbell lived in St Albans

for many years before moving toCalifornia as head of research for alarge pharmaceutical company. Theybelieve he has retired and is nowback in the area. They would like tomeet up.Dennis Dugwell was awarded a

PhD at Sheffield University and isnow Professor of ChemicalEngineering at Imperial CollegeLondon. Steve recently met up withhim.

David Canning went to Cambridgewhere he read Engineering and henow attends events such as theLondon Drinks Party and Founders’Day. He lives in Early, near Reading.His brother Paul, the youngestmember of team, spent his career inthe police service but neither Ian norSteve has seen him since he leftSchool.The half-backs were Malcolm Ogle

and Ricky Collinson. Ricky, an estateagent and surveyor, still lives locallyand is seen at the Club from time totime. He also played rugby andcricket for the OAs in the sixties andearly seventies.There is no knowledge of where

Malcolm Ogle is now. He qualified asan accountant and played hockeyand cricket for Welwyn Garden Citybut thereafter, nothing is known.The centres were Phil Yetton and

Paul Cooper. Paul Cooper moved toCheshire in his early twenties, andstill lives there running a thrivingbusiness. He occasionally visits StAlbans but Phil Yetton has not beenseen by Steve or Ian since he went upto Cambridge. He was awarded a halfblue for judo but it is not knownwhere he went after Cambridge.Jon Ron Oliver was tight-head

prop. He also went to Cambridgewhere he gained a golf blue, butagain nothing is known to Steve orIan since he left university. He had ayounger brother Christopher, whowas also at the School and left in1962, whereas Jon Ron left atChristmas 1961.The last two members of the team,

Jon Cohen (who became Head Boy)

22


OA

GAZET

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1961 vintage First XV: back row, left to right– S Burgess, B Campbell, C Goddard, DDugwell, D Canning, P Canning, M Ogle, RCollinson. Front row, left to right – J Oliver,J North, P Yetton, I Jennings (Capt.), PCooper, J Cohen, A Chambers

24


25


Early dinner� Brian Moody (43) uncovered thisfascinating snippet from an 1887 copyof the Herts Advertiser, which mayrepresent the earliest known recordingof a formal OAs gathering

“I photocopied the enclosed HertsAdvertiser item by accident, when Iwas actually recording something inthe next column!It seems to be recording an

important point in the Woollamsstory (the history of which I amcurrently studying in detail). I wassurprised to learn that the Old Boyswere so well organised at such anearly stage, and I wonder if there areany other records of theirproceedings in the Archives?I also wondered whether it might

be of interest for readers of the OABulletin to learn how theirpredecessors used to carry on. I amalways interested to find a referenceto Mr Isaac Newton Edwards, thethen Town Clerk, presumably an OldBoy himself.Incidentally, Charles Woollam soon

changed his mind about ownership ofBelmont Hill; in 1890 he would behanding the freehold over to theSchool.”

Herts Advertiser, Saturday 12February 1887The old boys of the Grammar Schoolmet at a dinner in the Town Hall onThursday evening, when over 40 satdown. The reunion was a mostpleasant one, speeches being madeand songs indulged in after the

removal of the cloth. Mr C Woollamoccupied the chair and Mr F RWebster the vice-chair. “The Queenand Royal Family” and “The School”were given from the chair. Thehealth of “The School” was proposedby Mr L Lipscomb and responded toby the Rev F Willcox (headmaster)and Rev R E Faning (deputyheadmaster). The last namedgentleman the proposed “The oldboys”, the Mayor of St Albans andMr A Josling responding. “The oldmasters”, having been proposed byMr A H Debenham, the vice-chairman proposed “The health of Mrand Mrs Woollam”, which was drunkwith musical honours.In response, Mr Woollam

announced that he had purchasedHolywell Meadow, and that after thefrontages had been sold for buildingpurposes, he intended to allow theremainder to be used by the schoolfor a playground; and although heshould not actually give the ground,he should make arrangements for itto be always at the disposal of theSchool. He also mentioned the factthat Mr A H Debenham had given£100 towards draining the field andputting it in proper order.The Mayor proposed the health of

Mr I N Edwards, who, in responding,suggested that a subscription shouldbe raised in the room for a challengecup, to be called the “Jubilee Cup”,to be held for a year by the boy whowon the greatest number of events inthe proposed Grammar Schoolathletic sports.The sum of £14.14s was

subscribed.

OA

LETTERS

The birth ofsatire: TonyHendrahones hiscomedicskills (aboveright, andsecond left,front row)

Acting the fool�Martin Evans (59) sends us twopictures of satirist, writer and OATony Hendra as he developed hiscomic talents at the School in the 1950s

“Reading the piece about DWHolman and Julius Caesar, in which Iappeared (very briefly) in the firstscene, I dug out the attached which I

think was the year before directed byJ Finlay. I have no idea of the title,though my character (with thesword) was called Arslan, I think!The real point of the picture is thatthe guy on the right with thelampshade on his head is TonyHendra of ‘Spinal Tap’ fame.Amongst the prefect line-up, there heis again second from left front, actingthe fool as ever.”

26 27


years: the jubilee of the reign of KingGeorge V and Queen Mary in 1935and, a year later, the death of theKing together with a large statefuneral. We expected Edward VIII toascend the throne, but that was notto be, culminating in his speech byradio of his intention to abdicate in1936. This was followed by theaccession of King George VI andQueen Elizabeth and theirsubsequent coronation on 12th May1937. Momentous times indeed! Andthe weather cooperated, too!Amid all this celebration, I

received a very formal notice that Ihad been accepted into St AlbansSchool as of the following September,so there was much to be done.First of all, the acquisition of a

three-piece dark ‘clerical’ grey suitwith long trousers (from Burtons atthe corner of Chequer Street andLondon Road... made to measure toboot!), plus white shirts with semi-stiff detachable collars (from Marksand Spencer!) complete with backand front stud and cuff links. ASchool tie and cap (from Andrews inthe High Street) completed thetransformation to adult St AlbansSchoolboy.On the first Monday in September I

walked to School (I lived too close tobe able to cycle), assembled in the‘playground’, and was eventuallycalled to the Main Hall where thestage was already occupied by a largenumber of gowned persons now to beknown as ‘prefects’. We were calledto order by ‘The Head of School’, andthe Masters filed on followed byWTM, all displaying their various

degrees.Prayers, led by the Headmaster,

were followed by notices and thenthe ‘New Boys’ were allocated theirForm Room and Form Master which,in my case, was 2 Lower A – situatedin the upper right side of the ‘Lower’School – led by the well renowned RO Sanders, a veritable gentlemanindeed! The majority of the time inthose days we stayed in the formroom and the Masters came to us,one in particular making a veryimpressionable initial entrance. Hewas ‘Froggie’ Garnier, a man ofrelatively small stature but loudvoice with a large collection of booksetc. usually held tightly under hisright arm. “Ouvrez la fenetre!”, heexclaimed, followed immediately by“Fermez la porte!” I believe that wewere all transfixed and a silenceensued! After that, we all knew whowas in charge!Other Masters came including A J

Coles for Latin, ‘Harry’ Schofield forMaths, and ‘Johnny’ West forgeography (if my memory serves meright). We did, however, visit ‘Bob’Tanner in the Art room – adjacent tothe Gateway – for sketching andpainting, ‘Ernie’ Nightingale in the‘New’ Science Block – sincedemolished – for Physics andChemistry and, last but not least, SgtMajor ‘Charlie’ Argent whoconducted Physical Training in theHall, and who introduced us all to hishelper ‘James’ – who ‘helped’ memany times vault from thespringboard and fall over the woodenhorse! The changing room was in theCloisters where we hung our coats,

A gentle jibe� Stan Armstrong (41) shares someanecdotes about St Albans School

“I have two items which mightamuse some of the Old Albanians.My son was married in

Massachusetts some 20 years ago andafter the wedding my wife and Itoured New England. Visiting StAlbans, Vermont, I was talking to thelady behind the counter in the PostOffice and mentioned that I had beenat St Albans School. She said “Really?I didn’t know we had any Englishguys there.” “No,” I said “ I was at StAlbans School in England. It wasfounded in 948” She said “Oh! Ours isolder than that, it started in 1922.” “Ididn’t say 1948, it was 948!” and all shecould reply was “Oh! My gawd.”A few years ago, when I was still a

barbershopper, I came to aHarpenden BHC teach-in at School.Sitting in the large lecture room thegroup was amused when I said: “Thisis where I learned most of myphysics.”About 15 years ago I brought an

American client to St Albans toentertain him. In the evening wecame to the School and engaged asixth former in conversation (therehad been something on in theAbbey). He told me of his ambitionwhich was to do better than hissister. He planned to achieve that bygetting to Cambridge as she had‘only’ gone to Oxford. I asked himwhich college she was at and he saidMagdelene. “Oh, well! You can’t dobetter than her!” was my gentle jibe.

I came to the new playing field oneweekend a few years ago but saw noone I recognised. I also met JohnWillé about 15-20 years ago but hecould not remember me. That is partof a much longer story which is besttold over a pint!”

Owers indebted� Colin L Owers (31), one of our mostsenior members, writes:

“Many thanks for the latest copy ofthe OA Bulletin. I am alwaysinterested in the goings-on at the oldSchool; I think my parents must havebeen among those contributing to thesports funds, as they attended mostof the fund-raising events whilst Iwas at the School. At that time theswimming bath and tennis courtswere top priority – neither of whichunfortunately appeared before I left! Irecall that we were advised to tryand get our fathers to buy you lifemembership of the OA Club as hewould no longer have to pay schoolfees. In my case it did not work, but Idid eventually become a life memberand it must have been one of the bestinvestments I ever made!”

The Summer of ’37� Cyril Mobbs (42) writes fromOntario, Canada, recalling thesummer of preparations for life at StAlbans School while war cloudsgathered

“There had been a number ofnational events in the previous two

OA

LETT

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28 29


and outside were placed the Housenotice boards.We soon fell into a routine of

proceeding in file from the School tothe Abbey first thing on Tuesday andFriday, and Assembly in the MainHall the remaining four days eachweek. Tuesday and Friday afternoonswere allocated to ‘Corps Training’under RSM Charlie Argent,Wednesday and Saturday afternoonsto Rugby football (usually at TheCauseway at Verulamium andsupervised by Charles Bloxham),Athletics in Spring and Cricket in theSummer at Belmont Hill (sometimesswimming in the pool afterwards –bright red bathing costumes for thosewho had not passed their two lengthsand black when completed), theremaining time being spent in ourHome Room.Examinations took place in

December and the following June,the results of which determinedwhich ‘stream’ you would be placedin September, when another intake ofnew boys replaced us. A very full sixdays of education which becamequite enjoyable after the initialadjustment, going up to the ThirdForm in the room by the sideentrance to the Hall in ’38. But warclouds were on the horizon!”

Getting on� Dave Varty (82) sends us somememories triggered by the lastBulletin – and contemplates greaterfuture involvement with the Club

“It was interesting to read Andy

Barnes’ comments in the October2006 Bulletin. Whilst some celebrate50 years of intake, others couldcelebrate 25 years of leaving. Adifferent perspective I know, but amilestone nonetheless.So now we face the daunting task

of seeing if really we can geteveryone together… let us leave thatfor a review?I enjoyed Nick's discussions of

Acronyms. A few years ago friends ofmine actually registered TLA as acompany name! As far as I know it isstill there.Despite having the London Drinks

party in my diary for the best part ofa decade, I have singularly failed toattend – this time due to an over-running conference call with my newemployees in San Francisco. Notworking in the City it begs thequestion as to whether others likemyself would be more able to attenda ‘Christmas drink’ at Woollams?So, now I am getting old I think I

need to register for my Rugby VPlicence and encourage more old farts(of which I am undoubtedlybecoming) to mutter into our beer.Where do I register my willingnessfor more involvement? Especiallynow that Mike Peters has reachedsuch dizzy heights for which he mustbe congratulated. However, whilst hecaptained every team I think I beathim to some extent. Starting in 1981and playing my final game for theVets on the final day at BeechBottom and playing for every teamand with such luminaries as theChappins and Mills. (However, I don'tsuppose Mike's familial links will

OA

LETT

ERS

deny me this one!)I remember that I was in a

Sergeant's Mess with the CCF thenight everything broke loose in theFalklands. Having just recentlyplayed rugby for the School againstSt Albans College Buenos Aires, andhosted some of their players the yearbefore, we should not forget morerecent conflicts and also those onboth sides caught up in something ofwhich they had been innocentsportsmen and students until shortlybefore.I also note with interest the

retirement of some familiar namesand the continued involvement ofothers. Despite a peripatetic existenceover many years, perhaps time isright for me to commit more time toa Club who through rugby providedme with many memories. If youthink a distant member can be ofhelp please let me know.”

Out of Africa� Chris Smith (65) looks back on histime at School – and how it preparedhim for varied and successful workingcareer in Africa

“Hells bells! It’s 42 years since I leftthe School and I remember so clearlyall those good intentions to ‘keep intouch’, join the OAs and generallysupport School activities. Now it istime to look back and reflect. Aserious retrospective coming up! Ionly get one chance at this, guys.A tense period followed waiting for

A-level results; university, a thicksandwich course, an apprenticeship

with a thin sandwich or was I tofollow my father’s advice and get amanagement training position withone of the many expanding technicalfirms? Well, much to everyone'ssurprise, especially mine, I scrapedtogether passes in Maths, Physicsand Chemistry and despite the rottengrades I found myself at ManchesterUniversity in the Metallurgy faculty.And there I was, a revolting studentamongst hundreds of similar suchanimals are set free from theconstraints of parents and disciplineready to set the world alight with ourbrilliance. And yes, many of them did‘speak funny’ although I couldunderstand most and no, nobody inManchester was wearing clogs!This was the first time I had to

stand on my own two feet, alone,with no immediate fallback support.A nerve-racking time! How was lifegoing to work out? Well, the purposeof this article is provide someperspective as to how the Schoolbuilt upon my pre-school life andprepared me for this moment andbeyond. How successful this was Ishall leave the reader to makejudgement as it is difficult from meto be objective!But, now aged 60, I'm sitting at my

desk in a pair of shorts in front of mycomputer with all its technicalwizardry. It is a late evening,absolutely quiet, about 23°C with agentle breeze and when I look out ofthe window I can see a brilliantswathe of stars all across the sky. Atsunrise I can look out at themountains rising to over 7,000 feet,wildlife periodically wanders through

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the river-bed below and a couple ofhouses are just visible in thedistance. The occasional drummingof a distant locomotive will disturbthe early morning silence but thenwill be heard no more and the onlyannoyance will be aeronautic fleastransporting tourists to their dreamdestinations! And, of course, in thesedays of technological achievement Idon't even have to sit and write oreven tap away at the keyboard toproduce output; speech to textsoftware rules!How did I get here? Well, my first

year at university proved everyoneright, I was never destined foracademic brilliance. But beer, rugbyand girls made life bearable and nodoubt contributed to my failure inChemistry! And it soon emerged thatmy course was not relevant to myambitions. I wanted to go into thebusiness of extracting metal fromrock and was not terribly interestedin crystallography, dislocations anddendritic growth in steel! I wanted towork in a place with big smokychimneys and the bright flow ofmolten metal. An ambition derivedfrom a ‘black sheep’ uncle whoperiodically materialised from fardestinations (also an OA) and fromseeing a dirty old steelworks innorthern France while on a trip inEurope with the Senior Scouts. Theinner world moves in mysteriousways!Somehow School careers advice,

my ambitions and ManchesterUniversity Metallurgy faculty failedto meld. An awful lot of fellowstudents had the same problem and

was, to some extent, the cause ofincredible waste as students ‘droppedout’. Later experience showed thatthe real problem was that schoolsand universities were quite out oftouch with a rapidly changing worldand its job needs. But the beer, rugbyand girls did make life bearable!And these were the days, when as

a driver after 10 pints of the dreadedliquid, you staggered to your car andthe local ‘plod’ came up to you andrequested, oh so politely, “pleasedrive home safely, Sir.” How life haschanged!Fortunately, my tutor was in touch

with the real world and directed medown the road to John DaltonCollege of Advanced Technology thatspecialised in Extractive Metallurgy.So I spent a year as an underagetruck driver to make some money,met my wife-to-be and found anemployer who would both providepractical training and put methrough a thin sandwich course atthe CAT. And pay me.So I trundled off to Bootle and a

tin smelter squeezed between thecanal and rows of cramped terracedhouses, and a world that myupbringing had hidden from me.Bootle was tough country, poor,violent, cohesive, heavily unionisedand full of social ills which I didn'teven know existed. On my first dayat work I got a punch on the nose asa "stuck up snotty southerner"; inretrospect, it was probably the bestlife lesson I ever got!But something I had learnt along

the line kicked in; I have a feelingthat it was the self-discipline and self-

confidence the School had somehowand miraculously instilled in me.Whatever it was it worked and fromthat point on I found I was able toquickly adapt to different situations.This characteristic has stood me ingood stead in many future events.The smelter moved to Kirkby,

some 20 miles away, and I becameaccustomed to the delights of feralteenagers, mindless vandalism andthe impact of social engineering,something for which the UK is stillpaying dearly. The onset of kids, theinsanity of Liverpool industrialrelations, permanent hypothermiaand my wife made the decision toleave the UK very easy. My wifewanted somewhere close to the sea,somewhere politically stable and lotsof sunshine. So we moved to miningcamp in the mountains of WesternUganda.Well, there was plenty of sun but

then we had chosen one of thewettest places in the world, althoughto be fair, most of the rain fell in theperiod between finishing work andthe evening meal. Thus everyonedescended upon the Mine Club andwatched the rain through a hazeinduced by cheap local gin. So far, sogood. Unfortunately the sea, as wewere in the middle of Africa, was notquite on our doorstep and politicalstability was disrupted as Idi Amincame to power the week before wearrived. May we live in interestingtimes!But again the School had provided

me with the tools to cope, plus I hada wife who came from a BritishArmy family and had experienced

lively conditions; this turned adifficult situation into one thatturned out to be great fun. IndeedAfrica, from this point on, despite ormaybe even because of its difficulties,was fun. Certainly in suchenvironments the experientiallearning curve is steep and one getsaccess to many areas of activity, thatin a UK environment, would beimpossible. The eviction of the Asiancommunity just added to thisexperience.The atrocities in Uganda opened

my eyes. By now I had grownconfident in my chosen career andhas begun to realise that life’s richpattern was a result of a general plansignificantly influenced by occasionalchance moments, which if capitalisedupon were catalysts to enrich thatpattern. Writing this article hasrecalled many such moments, someof which were missed, some of whichwere mishandled and several ofwhich proved to be significantmilestones in my progress throughlife. I was also discovering that inAfrica it is not possible to sit on thefence when it comes to expressingopinion; it is not possible to sink intosecure comfort zones and hideamongst the masses and bureaucraticooze. In Africa you are visible;mediocria firma, the old Schoolmotto, does not work! There is nomiddle road. It was also about thistime I became interested in politics(note, small p), economics and



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computer age with enthusiasm. Myeyes were further opened to theworld of finance and skulduggery(my opinion!) – the land of the quickmegabuck. After the transfer I leftrather noisily as it was quite evidentwhat was going to happen, and it did.After a token effort and heavy doseof PR the company shut down amidsta flurry of excuses! The indifferenceof financial players to people wasnoted. Anyway, by now the kids werein the final stages of their educationand setting out on their own roads.New doors opened.My departure from mining

coincided with Namibia’sIndependence (1990) so I became aself-employed ‘consultant’ – looselyunder the heading of ‘managementterrorist’! There was plenty of work,both private and public, in our newcountry. Oh, and I became aNamibian Citizen. It was then Irealised the invidious and corrosivenature of ‘aid’; the reams of advice oftransitory outsiders, some with good

intent, but most with an eye tolucrative short term contracts; the‘Boeing and Going’ brigade.A combination of tragedies (the

death of two kids in separateincidents/countries) and chanceencounters took me into the innersanctum of government, the CabinetSecretariat as part of a ‘Policy Unit’(1997). I took a brief to change thebudgetary process of government (all30 ministries) so as to integrateoutcome based performance, nationalpolicy and planning and resourceallocation, to change mindset from‘how much we spend’ to ‘what are wetrying to do and how are we doing’.Only Africa could offer such achallenge and such access! With helpfrom the UK Civil Service in practicalimplementation the job was done andtransferred to the Ministry ofFinance as a going concern by 2004.Another fun time but time to moveon again! Now aged 57. Where tonow?I had already done a Windhoek to

especially monetary theory; and howI struggled with the latter until Irealised how simple it was! Anotherlesson learnt.Uganda set the scene; the School,

the Boy Scouts, my parents and ‘outof comfort zone’ experience createdthe armoury for the future. Chancemoments were providing the threadof future direction and Uganda addedadditional dimensions throughincidents that most people will finddifficult to believe. Directing Libyanofficers to suitable gun positions tothwart the imminent arrival of aBritish aircraft carrier on LakeVictoria or Idi Amin’s effectiveindustrial relations actions wouldhave most people severely doubtingmy credibility (or sanity)! But suchsituations opened my eyes to therealities of the world, the cynicalindifference of the internationalcommunity and political patronageand self-interest.A chance moment, while on leave

in the UK, led me to Botswana aspart of a commissioning team for alarge mine and innovative smeltercomplex. In those days Botswana hadbut 11 km of tar road and theOkavango Swamp was still virginterritory. From this developed a loveof overland travel, the bush and areturn to my latent love affair withmotorcycles. Zambia, Zimbabwe andMalawi became long leavedestinations; three kids, a LandRover, the ski boat and a well payingcontract opened up the world.The kids thrived in an

environment of bare feet, the freedomof the bush and a need to create their

own amusement (no TV). But kids dogrow up and by now I realised thatgood secondary education wascritical to their development; equallyI was becoming bored with my job asall was running so (technically)smoothly. Time to move! Andanother chance moment lead to meto, what was then South West Africa,eventually to become Namibia. Thatwas 26 years ago!I moved to Tsumeb in the north of

Namibia, technically a war zone inthe struggle for Namibia’sindependence from South Africa. Outof the frying pan, and into the fire!Here was an environment wherethere was absolutely no middle road,especially being an English speakerand part of the senior manager team.But I went into this with my eyeswide open and although by now myviews on life were fairly well sortedout, it was, to use an overusedpolitical word, ‘challenging’. I alsolearnt the importance of avoiding theconstraints of membership ofpolitical parties, professionalinstitutions and issue groups; visibleindependence of thought and actionbased on rational, but carefullypresented, argument was essentialand eventually paid dividends.My direct association with the

mining industry ended abruptlywhen the US company I worked forsold out to a ‘local’ company. Duringmy time in Tsumeb I had changedmy career towards an emphasis onthe strategic; I re-read many of myold books with new eyes and foundmyself involved in M&A negotiations,and I embraced the start of the small

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On the roadagain: ChrisSmith andhis trustyHonda

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form master ‘Joey’ Webb. He insistedfor some strange reason that I shouldbe nicknamed ‘Bert’ because mysurname began with B. I soon foundthat he had little imagination becausehe had also designated another lad in1C as ‘Bert’ B as well – after the musichall song ‘Burlington Bertie’. The twoof us decided to make a merit out ofthis mockery and formed the SecretSociety of Berts with members Bert 1and Bert 2.

Bert 3’s bolt bombBert 3 really recruited himself afterthe following exploit in the sameyear. He arrived at School onemorning and showed us a large metalnut with a bolt screwed in each end.He had spent the previous eveningscraping all the heads off a box ofSwan Vestas matches and put theresulting powder into the middle ofhis metal contraption. The next thingwe saw was Bert 3 dropping thismissile down on to the stone stepsbetween the upper and lowerplaygrounds. There was a huge bangand the missile disintegrated. Wescarpered, but Bert 3 was caught bythe Prefects and sent ‘up-Pres’.

Chemistry connectionIt turned out that we all had aninterest, and indeed ability, inchemistry. This interest lastedthroughout our School careers andon into University. But the reasonthat the Berts were a secret societywas our decision to specialise inmaking explosives – a veryglamorous objective for 11-year-oldschoolboys!

Information and suppliesI had a mentor in a boy called PatCoker, who lived in BeaumontAvenue, St Albans and was one ortwo years ahead of us. Coker wasalso interested in chemistry and withhis more advanced knowledge wasvery useful to us. I think that we allhad chemistry sets at home and weused Mellor’s Modern InorganicChemistry, paperbacks on explosives,encyclopaedias and St Albans PublicLibrary (at the top of Victoria Street)to further our research. Of course,this was nothing compared to theenormous information source of theInternet today, but it did teach ushow to research a subject properly.The main advantage that we didhave in those days was access tochemicals – some from local chemistshops (my main shop was locatednear to the Clock Tower in the towncentre and there was another one inBeech Road) and some by mail orderfrom companies like Becks. Theproprietors of the local shops werealways suspicious of boys buyingunusual, dangerous or concentratedchemicals, so we had to think upsome ingenious reasons for ourpurchases. We were nearly caught byMr Roberton, the first year sciencemaster, who became rathersuspicious of our activities.

MalphateOur first project, in our first year orpossibly our second, was to make an

Cairo to Europe trip solo on mytrusty Honda in 2003 and the bug hadbitten! The bike was a great way tothink (very Zen), it kept me fit and Iwanted to explore the moreinaccessible parts of Africa, find outthe real truth and write! So I did.That is another tale – but the three-day trip on the old ship up LakeTanganyika was great. Rwanda isone of the most friendly places, andon my return to Western Uganda anold guy recognised me from 34 yearsbefore! And I found a little islandcalled St Helena, and its mailship,the RMS. Africa has got so manythings right but…The planned three “geriatric gap

years” are up this month. What to donow? Don’t worry, there is plenty inthe pipeline, I think!But the purpose of this tome was

to reflect on the School and itsinfluence. What did it give me andwere there areas of failure?

� It gave me self-confidence, self-discipline and a latent ability tothink and rebel!� It gave me a broad educationalbase that has stood me in goodstead.� It taught me to be bothaggressive and moderate – mainlythrough the rugby field and theCCF.� It failed in career guidance butgave me the tools to manage thefuture.� It failed to alert me to thenastiness of some of the world butsomehow gave me the mentaltoughness to survive and thrive!� It taught me how important a

good secondary education is forkids – but this is only realised afteryour own kids reach that age!� It taught me mediocria firma,well it isn’t!Who were the stars of the School

who influenced me so well? The oldart teacher, Bob Tanner, who got meto understand subtlety and to see thehidden message (he also taught myfather!); one Findlay (?) who taughtDivinity and got my brain cellsticking (eventually) and opened upavenues of radical thought; Dyer-Lynch, who bashed numbers andmaths into my head, got myquantitative juices flowing whichgave me competitive advantage inthe job market, and finally; one GPryke who ran the CCF, with whom Inormally had a running battle, whothrough some feat of magic gave meself-discipline and presence.And there were others but the

School gave me a good start; I tookthe road out of the comfort zone andhave no regrets. I am sure those whotook other routes have fared just aswell.Thanks School, thanks Africa and

especial thanks to Namibia.”

Old Bangers� Explosive revelations from AlanBridgman (58) as he describes thebomb-making activities of the SecretSociety of Berts

The origin of the name“When we arrived as new boys at StAlbans School in September 1951, twoof us were soon singled out by my



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few close friends to join, despite thegeneral clamour. The Berts neverexceeded seven members, each ofwhom was given a unique Bertnumber. This article is the result offive of the original Berts poolingtheir recollections in several veryenjoyable sessions at The FightingCocks and Woollams.Our last recruit was the son of one

of the Masters in the School. Bert 7was a very good craftsman and madea series of beautifully designed modelcannons in brass. He was the onlyBert to use Malphate to fireprojectiles at a target – the rest of usjust used it to fire projectiles, withoutbothering about targets!

Our Big Bang periodDuring our Second and Third years,Bert 1, who was the best chemistamong us, went into overdrive andwas the main experimenter, althoughthe rest of us helped in the researchwhenever we could. Bert 1manufactured the weedkillerexplosive – sodium chlorate andsugar. He then went on to createnitro-glycerine (exploded by heating),dynamite (nitro-glycerine pluskieselguhr), copper and silveracetylide, mercury fulminate and guncotton (exploded by hitting with ahammer). He failed to make Corditeand he probably would have madeSemtex, if it had been invented then!An amazing achievement, in view ofthe fact that he didn’t blow himselfup… or his family… or the school!

Rocket adventuresBert 3 was determined to make a

working rocket. After all, if VonBraun could make a V2 rocket, whatcould be so difficult? Bert 3 dissectedseveral firework rockets to see howthey were made. He then made aspecial rig that allowed him to pack acardboard tube with gunpowder(Malphate was not so good as arocket fuel!) but leaving a conicalhole in the middle. He tied stringaround the bottom to constrict thetube, then sealed it with paper andinserted our very reliable andconsistent Jetex fuse to light it. And,amazingly, it worked!Bert 1 took Bert 3’s instructions

and started launching his rocketsfrom an angled tube across the roadoutside his house into a friend’sgarden opposite. This missile launchprogramme came to an abrupt haltwhen the last rocket claimed a directhit on a parked soft-top MG Sportscar!I, as Bert 2, decided not to build a

rocket from scratch but modify anexisting commercial firework. I spenta lot of my pocket money on thelargest rocket I could afford. I tookthe top off and emptied out all thecoloured balls. I pushed a cork withgrooves cut into the sides into thebottom. In each groove I insertedshort lengths of Jetex fuse to linkthe propellant chamber with mymodified top. I filled the top chamberwith our trusty Malphate and sealedit with the cardboard cone. Ilaunched this missile late at night,



alternative to gunpowder. We decidedthat gunpowder was not a veryefficient formulation, so we workedout the function of each gunpowdercomponent and replaced it withanother chemical that would, wehoped, work better. After a certainamount of experimentation weconcocted a new mixture which wecalled Malphate. The name wasderived from the beginning, middleand end letters of each of thecomponents of the mixture. Bert 3can even remember the proportionsof each chemical, but in this day andage of political correctness it wouldbe inadvisable to publish the details.Malphate remained our regular

explosive for the rest of our schoolcareers. We usually ignited it withJetex fuse wire, which we couldobtain from most Model shops.Malphate burned very quickly so wecould get a satisfactory bang even ifit was only contained in cardboard.In a stronger container, for example apiece of gas piping, the explosionwould create a very satisfactorycrater. A cigar tube full of Malphatecould be guaranteed to blow a largebush out of the ground. A cast ironpipe of the stuff – whew!

Nitrogen iodideWhen we progressed to the 2nd Year,all three of us were in Form 2B. Ourclassroom was situated immediatelyat the top of the side steps into theold Assembly Hall from the upperplayground. We were now beingtaught proper Chemistry by ‘HotArse’ Warburton (‘Warm Bottom’!). Ican’t remember how we found the

formula but one very excitingcompound was nitrogen iodide. Itwas made from 880-ammonia andiodine crystals. After mixing the twochemicals together, you poured theresulting mixture through a filterpaper. The filter paper contained thesolids, which were perfectly stablewhen wet. However, as soon as thepowder dried it would explode at theslightest touch – even a fly landingon the paper would set it off.There was one Master, whose name

we cannot remember, who alwayscame into the classroom andimmediately straightened up thefurniture and desk contents beforestarting the lesson. It could have beenWestgarth Walker (Geography) or G FJarry (Latin), ‘Froggie’ Garnier(French) or ‘Doc-a-Doc’ Coles (Latin);it wouldn’t have been Geoffrey Pryke(too dangerous!) or ‘Beery’ Webster(too nice!). We made a fairly largeamount of nitrogen iodide and scrapedit off the wet filter paper next to thecorner leg of the desk away from thedoor, after having carefully skewedthe desk on the podium. Sure enough,when our unsuspecting Master camein, he went through his usual ritualand CRACK – the nitrogen iodidedetonated with a cloud of purpleiodine vapour! As there was so littleevidence left, I think that we actuallymanaged to get away withoutpunishment.

Expansion of the BertsAs you can imagine, the Berts’notoriety made them the Schoolgroup that everyone wanted to join.But we held out and only invited a

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when the neighbours weren’tlooking, from the bottom of thegarden. To my amazement the rocketflew beautifully but instead offinishing its flight with a giganticbang, there was complete silence!Just when I thought that the missilehad failed, there was a tremendousboom at rooftop level over thehouses in Fleetville. I hadmiscalculated the speed of burn ofthe Jetex fuse, or the speed ofdescent of the spent rocket! Needlessto say I kept a very low profile in thearea for a few days.

Upper School activitiesOur explosives work took a back seatin our final years at St Albans –academic studies, CCF involvementand sport took precedence. I wasmade School Armourer in the CCFon the recommendation of theprevious occupant of that post, PatCoker! Why on earth RSM “Killer”Kilpatrick would put a Bert in chargeof all those weapons and ammunitionis a complete mystery to me!

The thunderflash effectMy position as Armourer wasusually able to provide the Bertswith a few army thunderflasheswhen the occasion demanded. Weusually got together on Guy FawkesDay to create a bit more mayhem.Our favourite meeting place was TheWick, a piece of rough groundopposite Beaumont Avenue, acrossSandpit Lane. There were theremains of an old road in The Wickand this still had had its draincovers in place. We discovered that if

you lit and then dropped athunderflash into one of these drainholes, the resulting explosionphysically lifted several other cast-iron drain covers further along theroad! This shocked all the peoplestanding close by, but it wasn’tpossible to attribute the cause to usbecause a thunderflash, frommemory, has about a 10-second fuse!

A reunion of the Old Bangers!When we left school in 1958-9, we allwent our separate ways – on toLondon, Keele and CambridgeUniversities and other careers. TheBerts were no more and ourexplosives hopefully buried safely insome long-forgotten place. We oftenscared ourselves silly, but lookingback, it was amazing that none of uswas badly hurt or killed. Bert 3 didmanage to burn his face and was offSchool for a week or so, butotherwise we survived unscathed.It wasn’t until 2005 (47 years after

we parted) that five of the originalBerts met again, thanks to the OldAlbanian Club and the NovemberDrinks party in London. There havebeen several subsequent meetingsand hours of reminiscences, only afew of which appear in this history ofthe Berts. I haven’t been able toinclude stories about many of theMasters that we remember – P R‘Happy’ Heather, ‘Rocket’ Stevenson,‘Beery’ Webster, ‘Slab’ Marshall, andmany others.Happy times, a great School and

excellent science masters – it justshows what a good education can dofor you!”

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Pushing theboundaries� A new Aussie fast bowler, four sidesin the Herts League and a flourishingjunior section – just some of thereasons to look forward to anotherground-breaking season for the OACricket Club, reports HonorarySecretary David Hughes

It is a sunny Thursday evening atWoollams. The wicket is firm andvery dry – abnormally so for April.The first fixture of the season is nowjust days away and the umpire’scoats hang washed and pressed; theboundary rope is stretched back tothe very edges of the field. Theenergy, excitement and passion of anew cricket season are waiting in theweeks and months ahead.OA Cricket Chairman, Andrew

McCree, continues to oversee amotivated and lively managementteam that is committed to deliveringsuccess on the field and driving theClub beyond its existing boundariesoff it.The highlight of the successful

2006 summer was the Herts Leaguecampaign of the Saturday 2nd XI,who remained undefeated throughoutthe season, guided by captain DavidGoodier, eventually finishing aschampions. The season alsowitnessed two key underlyingdevelopments for the Cricket Club.The first was the introduction of acoach, and the second was asignificant increase in the number ofpeople playing on a regular basis.

The Club was incredibly fortunateto secure the services of Mike Dale ascoach, with further luck bestowedwhen he agreed to represent OACCin a playing capacity as well. Mike isone of the leading coaches andbatsmen in Hertfordshire, and had anenormous impact throughout theClub in his first season. The Club hasidentified Mike’s continuedinvolvement as integral to itsdevelopment and is proud toannounce that he will be captainingthe 1st XI during 2007, as well ascontinuing his coaching role.OA Cricket has also announced

that it will be fielding four sides inthe Herts League on Saturdaysduring 2007. Additionally, the Clubwill continue to enter two teams inthe Chess League on Sundays.Club Captain, Tom Preest,

explains: “The aim is to provideLeague cricket for players of allabilities. We had many new playersjoin the club last year, which madefielding a regular 4th XI a happynecessity. Luckily, they all had agreat time and we are now fieldingsix league sides each week. It ishoped that between them these sixsides can match or better the twopromotions that were achieved lastsummer.”OA cricketers and supporters have

been buoyed by this summer’soverseas acquisition: 6’6” Aussie fastbowler, Chris Hussey, who arrivesfresh from grade cricket at thefamous Essendon Club in Melbourne.The Club’s leading run scorer in

2006, Mark Winchester, is followingup his impressive debut season by

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31 Dalmatians� As he stands down after a recordeight years as OARFC President,Alastair Mills looks back at anothersuccessful campaign for the Club –and looks forward to the end of seasontour to Croatia

“The time has come, the walrussaid," and this is my last report toyou as I will be standing down asPresident at the end of this seasonafter eight years in office. I never setout to break any records but it hasbeen very important for the Club tohave continuity over the period oftransition from dear old BeechBottom to the quite wonderfulfacilities that we enjoy now. LondonLeague One rugby and the increasedplaying membership have alsobrought new challenges for ourorganisation and administration,which are being met withenthusiasm and endeavour by theCommittee.

Since I last reported, the 1st XVrecorded some great wins in the runup to Christmas, most notablyagainst then top of the table Ealing,and Shelford away. The early NewYear brought more scalps against thelikes of Guildford and HaywardsHeath away, but our form thendeserted us again as we slumped todefeats against Richmond,Portsmouth, London Scottish and –worst of all – Bishop's Stortford.However, we recovered some form toget good results against Staines andBarnes before succumbing away toWorthing, who just failed again toget promotion to the NationalLeagues. Nevertheless, a mid-tableend of season position is stillsomething that the Club can feel verysatisfied in this most competitive ofleagues. Such concentration of efforton the League resulted in our dismalloss to Stevenage in the semi-final ofthe County Cup, after trouncingTabard on the way to that stage.For cups and awards, we had to

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taking on the captaincy of the newlypromoted Saturday 2nd XI. TonyPerkins will continue to providereliable leadership of the Saturday3rd XI and David Hughes will leadthe 4th XI into their debut season inthe Herts League.At the junior end, another year of

exponential growth for the coltssection is reflected in the entry of amultitude of teams in the HertsLeagues at U10, U11, U13 and U15levels, and the availability of ‘Kwik’cricket at U7, U8 and U9 levels.And so, the moment has arrived to

build on the successes of lastsummer. A mild winter and someprolonged spring sunshine have

created a delicious expectancy for theforthcoming months. Not evenEngland’s less than gloriousaccomplishments at the recent WorldCup can rain on this field ofexpectation.

David HughesHonorary Secretary, OACC

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OACC’s new overseas player, Australian fastbowler Chris Hussey (left) with 1st XI captainand coach, Mike Dale

GregBottermangoes overfor a vitaltry in thewin overleagueleadersEaling



Saints march on� The women’s section of OA Rugbyhas made huge strides forward inrecent seasons. OA Saints PressOfficer Alexa Ransome looks ahead toan even more successful future

OA Saints – the women’s section ofOA Rugby – has made a significantimpression on the Club since itscreation in 2002.The original squad was an

established women’s side invited thatwas invited to join from St AlbansRFC when OARFC moved to its newWoollams ground – hence the name‘Saints’, which the OA women’ssection bears with nostalgic pride.Since 2002, the membership has

leaped from 25 to well over 50registered players aged 17 to 37(maybe older!) along with acommitted body of supporters. Werun two squads, and also managed toset up a junior squad for 12-17 year-olds at the start of the 2006-07 season.The Saints’ 1st XV has made

excellent progress and is now in itsthird season of league promotion,moving up into National PremiershipTwo from South East League Onewith a 100% home record.Matches against teams such as

Clifton, Leos of Leeds, Waterloo andPlymouth, as well as rivals morelocal to home such as Wasps IIs andSaracens IIs, make the season bothtough and enjoyable for player andspectators alike.

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rely on the Colts and Junior Sectionsto make up for the disappointmentsof the 1st XV. The Colts won theirleague and beat Bishop’s Stortford inthe County Cup Final, the U17s wontheir league, as did the U16s. TheU15s won the final of the NationalLexus Tournament, held atWoollams, and they also won theirleague. Not to be outdone, the U14swon their County Cup final, with theU15s again featuring as runners-up.Once again, we have fielded five

regular sides as well as theDevelopment Squad and the Colts,which is testament to the enthusiasmand hard work of the playingcommittee and captains. In Januaryof this year, we even had a weekendtour to Barcelona for the 3rd XV,which your President felt obliged toattend. We had a wonderful time,playing in the Olympic Stadiumunder lights and enjoying fantasticweather, sitting outside for ourSunday Lunch and then doing a bitof site-seeing!The women’s section has enjoyed

another good season (see reportright) and has provided oneinternational to the Italian SixNations team – our congratulationsto Nadia Brannon. The girls havefielded two regular XVs throughoutthe season. The Club was once morehonoured with hosting two RFUWInternationals this year, England vScotland and England v France, bothwon by England. The Club has beenholding the Saracens 2nd team homegames, which have very muchbecome a feature of our season.There is nothing like watching

exciting games under the competitionlights, with a cold beer and a burgeron a freezing Monday night atWoollams!As the season draws to a close, we

are looking forward to our traditionalend of season tour this year toCroatia and yes, your President feelsobliged to go! Why end the habit of alifetime, and where is Croatiaanyway? A party of 31 is lined up togo and with a bit of luck, 31 willreturn. Unfortunately, we did leaveone player behind in Barcelona, butthat player is on the Croatia trip,with the one proviso that we don’tleave him behind again! Watch thisspace.Somehow, I cannot believe that I

will not be doing this slot nextseason but I know my successor willkeep you amused with news andviews about the Club’s progress. Asfor me, well my wife has arranged forsome counselling sessions for me inhow to cope with life after standingdown! Unfortunately for you all, I amnot disappearing off the planet andlook forward to catching up with youall next season at Woollams – andmaybe see you on tour!As always, we look forward to

welcoming new OAs to Woollams,the home of OA Rugby.

Alastair MillsPresident, OARFC

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Supported bytheir A Teamcolleagues,the EnglandXV lines upfor thenationalanthemsprior to thematchagainstFrance atWoollams inthis season’sSix NationsChampionship

season for some years.The Club made strides by fielding

a reserve team for the first time,which provided strength in depth forthe 1st XI squad and increased theClub’s income. The joy of promotionwas further enhanced by the newsthat the 2nd XI had been acceptedinto Division 5 of the Review &Observer Herts League.Highlights of the season included a

six game winning streak inSeptember and October, duringwhich time the OA team scored 24goals. This was in no small partdown to the goal-scoring prowess ofDave Hagen and James Crane, who

finished the season with 38 and 15goals respectively – with Hagencontributing an astonishing six hat-tricks during the season.Bates is looking forward to a

summer of rest before plotting nextseason’s double campaign: “It is along time since we first kicked offthis season, last September. It wasclose at the end, but we just made itover the finishing line – and it hasgiven us something to build on nextyear. We have been posting ourprogress on the OA Football notice-board at Woollams and will keep thisup-to-date with developments. Watchthis space!”

David HughesClub Secretary, OAFC

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Last season saw the establishmentof a second string for new anddeveloping players, meeting agrowing demand for women’s rugbyin the area and catering for manywho were completely new to thesport.The Saints 2nd XV squad romped

though their first season last year towin their league outright and gainpromotion. The team has maintainedits presence in South East NorthLeague 3 this season, facing teamsfrom the greater London areaincluding Romford, Hammersmith,Teddington, Ealing and Bracknell.This year OA Saints has achieved

three international honours. NadiaBrannon received two caps for Italyduring the Six NationsChampionship, and Sarah McKennaand Hannah Clark were selected forEngland’s U19s squad.High standards of rugby on the

pitch are matched off the pitch witha very active and energetic socialcalendar. OA Saints have succeededwhere many clubs fail in balancingserious rugby for any level of playerwith a serious social life! Be it racenights, Hawaiian evenings, slaveauctions, or indeed any opportunityfor fancy dress, OA Saints areusually there en masse to supportand raise funds for the Club.OA Saints are always looking for

new players of any age, size orexperience – from complete novice towould-be international – to join ourfantastic Club. We are home toplayers from Greater London,Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire andEssex. Our committed squad ofplayers travel far and wide to be partof the OA Saints family!

Alexa RansomePress Officer, OA Saints

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Going up�New faces and a new reserve team –OA Football Club Secretary DavidHughes celebrates promotion and themost successful season for severalyears

In the end, it all came down to thelast day. OAFC had done enough toedge into second place in Division 3of the Review & Observer HertsLeague, and needed third-placedCottonmill to lose in order secure

second and automatic promotion.Cottonmill duly did the gentlemanlything and against all expectationssnatched a 2-0 defeat from the jaws ofvictory, leaving OA Footballcelebrating promotion and asuccessful season.Promotion was a fitting reward for

a season of rebuilding andrestructuring for manager SimonBates, following relegation last year.Many new players joined the club,while OA veterans found formto record the most successful

Football

The newly-promoted OAFC First XI

Final Standings Review Herts League Division 3Played Won Drawn Lost Goals For Goals Against Difference Pts

Radlett ‘A’ 18 15 1 2 96 36 +60 46

Old Albanians 18 10 4 4 60 42 +18 34

Cottonmill Warriors 18 10 2 6 67 47 +20 32

Skew Bridge Rothamsted ‘A’ 18 9 2 7 57 50 +7 29

Crown Reserves 18 7 4 7 39 49 -10 25

King Harry 18 6 6 6 60 50 +10 24

George, Harpenden 18 7 1 10 32 49 -18 22

Marquis of Granby 18 5 3 10 33 53 -20 18

Phoenix ‘A’ 18 5 3 10 35 69 -34 18

Gate 18 2 2 14 25 59 -33 8

Herts County Teams Winter 2006/07Three from the Club (OwenSimmons, Andrew Wilkie, AndrewMoore) were selected for the CountyReserves C team, competing inDivision 9 of the National postalleagues. As at round 6 the team werelying in first place, having won alltheir matches so far.

Bisley Summer 2007Our summer season at Bisley startedwith great success on Saturday 14thApril 2007 with victory over the OldLawrentians – the first for manyyears. Our team of four (OwenSimmons, Andrew Wilkie, AndrewMoore, Moray McMillin), shooting at500 yds and 600 yds on the Centuryranges, achieved a team score of 362and 21 V bulls, versus the OldLawrentians team total of 352 and 18V bulls. Individual scores were:

� Owen Simmons 90.4� Andrew Wilkie 92.7� Andrew Moore 91.5� Moray McMillin 89.5

Anyone wishing to find out moreabout the Club should contact one ofthe following:Hon Secretary O L Simmons

2 Honeymead, Welwyn AL6 0EG

Tel: 01438 840674

Hon Treasurer A Q S Moore

69 Long Fallow, St Albans, AL2 3ED

Tel: 01727 830344

Captain A W B Wilkie

5 Batchwood Drive, St Albans, AL3 5RZ

Tel: 01727 856857

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Strumpshaw toAgincourt� OA Angling Society Secretary GeoffCannon reports on a varied winter ofcoarse fishing from the Norfolk Broadsto northern France

The members of the Club haveenjoyed the winter seasoncommencing in the autumn with aweekend at Geoff Cannon’s barn inStrumpshaw, Norfolk. A social andpiscatorial time was enjoyed by allthe participants.The winter weather has been very

variable from extreme cold to floodedrivers, which made prearrangedvisits difficult. However individualfishermen took advantage of thefavourable periods and visited theNorfolk Broads, Kennett and theNene, fishing mainly for pike.On one occasion, a member was

fishing for roach with a 2 lb breaking

strain line and landed a 12 lb pike,which had engulfed the small roachhe was landing.Social events were the Fishwives

Supper held again at Potten End, anda Club outing to France attended bynine club members. We stayed atMontreuil for the night. No fishingtook place but in order to justify thevisit, a cultural visit was made toAgincourt.The coarse fishing season has now

ended and the members are lookingforward to the trout and salmonsummer season.As usual, anyone interested in

joining our merry band will bewelcome and should contact:

Geoff L CannonHon Secretary

14-16 Church End

Redbourn AL3 7DU

Tel: 01727 861622 (daytime)

01582 792512 (evening)

Fax: 01727 861623

E-Mail: [email protected]

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Shooting

Angling

Shooting stars� David Buxton reports on asuccessful winter season for the OARifle & Pistol Club, and anencouraging start to the summerseason

Herts Winter League 2006/7Our team of four (Owen Simmons,Andrew Wilkie, Andrew Moore,Moray McMillin) competed in

Division 3 of the Herts postal leaguesthis winter. We won three, tied oneand lost six to finish in fourth place.The individual averages were:

� Owen Simmons 93.7– highest score 97� Andrew Wilkie 95.3– highest score 98� Andrew Moore 94.8– highest score 98� Moray McMillin 93.4– highest score 97

oa bulletin - spring 2007 edition

Documents

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secretary julian

secretary darren

david buxton01727

director simon

oa gazette

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