NEWSLETTER JANUARY 22ND 2005

AWFUL NEWS ABOUT JOHN HOY

An article in the Independent on Jan 6^th indicated that John Hoy (1970-1977) was missing following the Tsunami that swept through the Indian Ocean. The article is available on-line at:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=598197

(if you get a not found error, please search for the phrase "John Hoy")

Roger Orr (1970-77) writes about John as follows:
John was my contemporary at school and we shared many interests in common during our school days. We were both chess players – John was Secretary of the chess team - and members of the cross-country team, which John captained. He was faster than the rest of us – I proudly recorded in my diary on the 15 Sep 1976 after a cross-country race at school that “I was second, only two minutes behind John Hoy”. He was particularly hard to keep up with on hills – the rest of the team were convinced John didn’t slow down when he ran uphill.

I had a friendly rivalry with John over academic work during our time at school, but we were well matched.

After the sixth form John wanted to study Electrical Engineering and decided to go to Birmingham University. I recall a certain amount of pressure that he should try for Oxbridge but John was quietly determined that Birmingham was the best place to study his chosen subject and that he would therefore go there.

Between school and University John had a gap year when he went to teach in Kenya with a charity called Project Trust. This trip seems to have helped John make some decisions about what he wanted to do with his life – he changed direction and ended up after studying at Birmingham and the LSE with an MSc in economics. He then started work, in 1984, with the Overseas Development Administration.

I remember John needed to be vetted for his job and I was interviewed for this purpose somewhere in the MoD. The interviewer seemed interested in John’s visits abroad (which included Poland by this point) and asked some unsubtle questions about whether he’d made any ‘special friends’ abroad or belonged to any extreme political organisations, like CND. As a member of CND myself I took offence, but bit my lip since it was John’s vetting not mine!

We kept in touch, off and on, during this period – I had moved to London and we were relatively close together for a while; although this changed when he was posted abroad. Working for a government department made it easy to keep in touch (in the days before email) – mail was forwarded from the FCO in King Charles Street and you could even use a standard 1^st class stamp.

Over the years John kept up his interest in running, and most recently was a member of the Blackheath & Bromley running club; he was still a fast runner who ran the London Marathon in under 3 hours a couple of years ago.

In Bangkok in the late 80s John met and married Nim, whose parents live a couple of hours drive from Bangkok. We were delighted with the news and were able to meet up with both of them on some of their visits to Britain. Over the years since then their three children were born; Robert. David and Kate in 1997. John continued to work for the ODA/DFiD in Thailand, London and also for some while in Delhi. He returned to the UK a few years ago but decided to return to Thailand in 2003 for another tour of duty.

I remember John as an unassuming person who, despite his quiet demeanour, was loyal, passionate and dedicated to the people and causes he loved. He was a great Old Boy for the RGS.

Editor: I remember him as Captain of the School Chess team, a lovely young man who will be much, much missed by all who knew him. We extend our deepest sympathy to Nim and his parents.

Old Wycombiensians’ Sporting Reunions, AGM and Annual Dinner
Saturday 16^th April 2005

From 2.30 pm An opportunity to take part in hockey, fencing and shooting and to meet old friends. The application form is enclosed with the magazine.

6.00 pm Tours of the school. The new Music Centre and Economics and Business Studies Centre are well worth seeing. We hope that the bar will be open from this time.

6.30 pm AGM in the School Library.

7.30 pm Annual Dinner in the Queen’s Hall.

Our Guest of Honour is Andrew MacTavish. Andrew taught at the School for a number of years, going on to give distinguished service as Head of the John Hampden Grammar School and subsequently as Head of Wycombe High School. He completed his hat-trick of boys, girls and mixed by being Head of the “King’s School” featured in the Channel Four series That’ll teach ‘em shown in the summer of 2003.

The Headmaster, Tim Dingle, will talk about the RGS at present and give the vision for the future. A number of former and current staff will be attending and we hope that John Mitchell, the school archivist, will be present. There will be a four-course meal, and it should be a very good one. A bar will be organised by the RGS Parents’ Association and all profits go to school projects.

As in past years, we are reserving tables for those who play in the various sporting events on April 16^th. As 2005 is the 30^th anniversary of my own departure from the School, I shall be encouraging those who left in that year to attend, but if you left in 1965 or 1985 please do make contact with your friends and make a special effort to come to this occasion. For everybody else, we will try to arrange the seating to suit you.

We hope that the formal part of the evening will be over by 9.45 pm, so that there will be plenty of time for conversation. It should be a really enjoyable occasion, and I hope that you will be able to be there.

This year the cost will be £27.50. If you would like to come, please complete the form below, and send it to Ian Clark as soon as possible, and by Saturday April 9^th 2004 at the very latest. If you want to participate in either or both of the Sporting Reunions, do send in the reply slip for that at the same time. If you want further information, please contact Ian Clark on 01494 530782, or e-mail (ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk).

You will receive the confirmation of your application for the Dinner and the Agenda of the AGM, but not before March 19^th. Please send a DL envelope with your application.

We look forward to seeing you on April 16th.

Crispin White

Chairman

Ticket application form for the OW Dinner

Please return this form to: Ian Clark, 5 Foxhill Close, High Wycombe, HP13 5BL by Saturday 9 April.

Booking form for Sports Reunion Days

Please return this form to: Ian Clark, 5 Foxhill Close, High Wycombe, HP13 5BL by Saturday 9 April.

SAD NEWS

We have recently heard of the sad news of the death of Bert Scott, who taught Maths at the RGS from 1946-1982 and in the later years became the Head of Department. Only a couple of years ago Bert came back to the OW Dinner and OWs were delighted to see him. We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife, Joan, and his three daughters.

ANNUAL MAGAZINE

The annual magazine for members of the OW Club will be posted shortly, with articles and news of OWs. If you do not receive your copy by the end of February, please contact Ian Clark. If you are not a member of the Club, and would like to become one, either complete the application form to be found on the website, (please click here), or contact me and ask me to send you one. You will then be able to receive this year’s magazine. Life Membership for £30 must be regarded as very good value!

Reply slip for the School Play on Thursday 17 March 2005

Please send to: Ian Clark, 5 Foxhill Close, High Wycombe, HP13 5BL by 24 February 2005.

Old Wycombiensian Sporting Internationals

There is to be an Honours Board at the school for all OW Sporting Internationals. Alan Yeates, who is co-ordinating the project, wants to ensure that nobody is omitted and has asked if we would publish the following list of OW Sporting Internationals.

If anyone spots a mistake, an omission or can fill in any of the gaps or verify any of the details in BOLD, please contact Ian Clark (by telephone on 01494 530782 or e-mail ianrclarkuk@yahoo.co.uk)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Ian, (This email was sent in Feb. 2004 but somehow got mislaid!)

I have just received the latest copy of the Old Wycombiensian magazine and I want to say how much I have enjoyed reading it. I was at the RGS 1960-1965. I entered the Grammar School via the old 13plus exam. We were the first to enter the RGS in that way. A new class/stream was created. We entered at 4Z and progressed to 5UZ for O-Levels and then on to the 6th Form. I left just as the swimming pool was opened. Shame!!

In the latest OW magazine there was a picture of the 1^st XV Rugby Team. I seem to recall that they were my seniors and prefects, but I played golf with Mike Mason, who is in the photo. We were very close friends then.

Cheers!

A.D. Low-Tonyblue

Dear Mr Clark

You may consider my part in the building of this Hall and adjacent classrooms to be of interest. If not, please cast it into the bin.

My name is Bill Mercy, and after a very modest academic career between 1940 and 1947, during which my only claim to recognition was being the first (?) pupil to arrive and depart noisily on a motor-bike, I started work in a local firm of Architect and Surveyors as an articled pupil to the firm's Quantity Surveyor Mr L.T.Sworn. (His son, Chris, was among the most able of RGS scholars at a later date, and proceeded easily to Cambridge.)

After many happy years with the firm, and two less happy years in the Royal Engineers, I joined the County Architects department in Aylesbury and took part in a massive building programme, mostly to do with schools.

I became linked with the Hall project because of my association with the RGS. It was not a straightforward project, as it had to be designed and tendered for in a very short time. I do not know why. It was decided to let the contract on the basis of a "Bills of Approximate Quantities " saving several weeks on the pre-contract period.  I helped at this stage, with several other QS's. The tenders were duly received, mostly from local contractors, including Ron Emery's firm. The contract was awarded to Y. J. Lovells and work started in time to be blighted by the severe winter of 1963. I had much more to do than usual, as all the work had to be remeasured, and much of it was inevitably different from that in the Bills of Approx. Quantities. Cost control was vital, as the Ministry did not care for cost over-runs, nor did Fred Pooley, the very dynamic County Architect.

The C.A.'s team was quite a good one, and everyone worked with enthusiasm on this somewhat glamorous project. The use of this adjective in this context reminds me of an occasion when our Clerk of Works (an ex R.E. Major) was visited by his daughter, a girl so attractive, that all work was suspended for a while so that the workmen could regain their equilibrium.

My opposite number on the Contractors team, with whom I had to agree all costs, was an energetic fellow, a few years younger than me called Len Worley. He was an England amateur football player and played also for Wycombe. Footballers are a race apart, and hate to lose at anything, and Len was no exception. The nature of our work gave rise to much argument, and life was never dull. He knew I played tennis and he challenged me to a match on the Rye one day after work. He did not play tennis at all, only at it, but in no time at all, I was 6-0, 6-0 down. He declined to play with his shoelaces tied together, and I was only too pleased to buy the beer.

The severe winter held things up, and as the completion date drew near, a date that was important, not the least reason being the presence of important people at the opening ceremony, Mr Pooley called for a special site meeting attended by Mr Peter Lovell the Contractors M.D. to discuss the matter. The work to be done seemed to me to be far too much to achieve completion on time, but when Mr Lovell, a quiet public school sort of man looked Mr Pooley squarely in the eye and said "It will be done", I felt it would be. And it was.

My Chief, Mr Larkin allowed me to take his place at the opening ceremony, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, especially when Lord Carrington teased Mr Pooley about the fountains that did not work too well.  I forget Mr Pooley's response, but no doubt it matched the spirit of the moment.

A final item. The columns around the modest cloisters have stone cappings, which have various initials carved in them, e.g. FBP (County Architect,) TML (Chief QS) etc. The one I think sums up the project is L-W the leading Carpenter. I must check up on the -. I think he is Lionel-Webb, and constructed much of the hall ceiling.

Happy Days!                                    

Bill Mercy

Dear Ian

I've just returned from a long holiday in the USA and over a dinner party one evening I recalled that I had seen a live American football game in the nineteen-fifties. Boss Tucker agreed to let the First-fifteen pitch be used for this I think at the request of the US base in Dawes Hill Lane. I remember the game, the hot dogs and the hamburgers all of which were totally unknown to English schoolboys of that era and a great time was had by all.

The question for you and your readers please is who started the game? It was either Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield or is my memory really playing tricks with me?

Best wishes,

Ralph Stockwell

Editor: I understand it was Jayne Mansfield. Has anybody got any pictures of the occasion?

Dear Ian,

Re the latest newsletter, Roger Scruton's contribution ended with “My Grammar School devoted itself with only partial success – to the production of gentlemen. If you were a contemporary of Roger, do you agree with his statement? If yes, did it succeed in your case?”

I don’t think I was a contemporary of him. I don’t remember the name and no years were given, but I do agree with the statement. The RGS gave me a great education but far beyond that it taught me many other things.

It must have been a combination of my school and my parents that taught me respect and understanding of others. I am sure if I was at another school, I would have got just as good exam results, but would I have gone on marches for racial equality? Would I have gone, along with others in my year, to Amersham Hospital and put on a show for sick children?

Would I have learnt to appreciate Classical Music? (Thank you Mr Holmes for that wonderful gift you taught me!) As I remember it, and it was a long time ago, school at RGS was about far more about passing exams. Yes, the exams were important, but the school let you learn in so many other ways. Some went in for sport (not my scene at all), some for art, some for political expression, but the teachers encouraged us to grow as we could, pointed us in the right direction, and I hope, that in the eyes of today’s RGS staff, I can be considered a gentleman.

You also mentioned the sad loss of Mr. Mike Eaton. I have many fond memories of his teaching and I can share some of them. I remember that art was split into 2d and 3d and I hated the 2d. No matter what medium, anything I did was awful and looked like a child's painting (and I mean a 4 year old, not an 11 year old) but the 3d was totally different. Mr. Eaton taught in an isolated terrapin and to me, the room was full of wonders. Weird powders that you dissolved in spirits to get gold leaf effect on wood, a huge selection of tools, and throwing wheels and kilns. I was (still am I guess) science orientated rather than art but being taught by Mr. Eaton was not 'school', it was fun. I remember he always had radio 4 on, and listened to the Archers every lunchtime. Mr. Eaton must have been a supreme organiser, because I remember him spending so much time with me correcting and improving my techniques. However, I was nobody special in the arts, he spent the same amount of time with every pupil. How he managed to do that, and control the class and organised the lessons is amazing in hindsight. The best memory I have of Mr. Eaton is my Art O Level. My 4th year piece was an abstract sculpture of the world, in wood and plaster. My Art mock was again an abstract in wood and plaster, this time of a lobster. Both these pieces were good enough to be taken on some county exhibition so I was looking forward to the actual O Level. This time I choose wood and metal. I forget the title now, but it was a prism of 2 triangles of wood, joined together, about 30cm long and between the edges was going to be curved wire. Well, making the wooden frame was no problem but getting the curves in the wire was impossible, and so I used piano wire, cut to the right lengths to give the right curve I wanted. It took the full two weeks to assemble and the day before the exam arrived. Everybody was taking his clay out of the kiln, praying it turned out all right and I sat there, with my bound up wood sculpture, praying that the glue had set. I undid the ties holding the whole thing together and the glue held. The wood did not though. The tensile strength of all that sprung piano wire was to much and in less than a minute I had 10-20 bits of wood and about a hundred lengths of piano wire. I was mortified, and not ashamed to admit I just burst into tears. Mr. Eaton saw at once what had happened, put his hand on my shoulder and told me to go outside for some 'air' and then come back and talk to him when I was calmer. When I went back in he sat down with me, agreed that nothing could be done with the piece, but... He had me get my 4^th year piece and my mock piece, all the drawings and plans that I had used for this and write a short note to the examiners saying what went wrong. Well I did all of this in a sort of daze and then left feeling miserable. He, obviously, knew much more about the exam system than I did. I got a grade 4 and you know, it meant more to me than my 1 in Physics. A wonderful teacher! The world needs more teachers like Mr. Eaton.

Regards

Mark Fisher

In the weeks before Christmas, the Bucks Free Press published photographs that were sent in by OWs.

David Perfect, 76, of Hemel Hempstead sent in this photo. He played for the club’s third team mainly at scrum-half and lived at Totteridge but left in 1959. He is sitting on the ground at front right, and he says many of his friends were school friends. Were you a friend of David? How many of these can you recognise?

John Bennett of Coleshill sent in this photograph of the OW 1^st XV in 1949-50. The team captain is Ron Emery, a sports master at the RGS, who is sitting in the middle of the front row. Don Adams is at the left end of the middle row. His father donated Loakes Park to Wycombe Wanderers and he also donated the clubhouse behind the team. In the front row, second from the right, is Sir Peter Fry, who was a Tory MP.

CAN ANYONE NAME THE REST?

The following letters appeared in response to the publication of the photos of the OW Rugby teams, and the photograph of the ATC, which appears above:

Dear Sir,

The picture of the 708 squadron in 1945 brought back many wartime memories for me. In 1939, there was already an army training corps at Wycombe Grammar School. It was a small voluntary group. Soon after war was declared, the Headmaster, Mr. E.R. Tucker, announced that OTC membership would be compulsory for all pupils except those in the Junior Forms. Most of us were issued with 1914/18 type uniforms, with peaked caps and puttees. Parades and arms drill were held twice a week and most of the students came to school wearing khaki.

The formation of the RGS squadron of the ATC came fairly early in the war. It was not a compulsory activity, but such was its popularity among the boys, that hundreds of them joined. This did not exempt them from membership of the OTC. The ATC was issued with air force blue uniforms. The ATC parades and instruction was twice a week. On those days we wore our blue uniforms. These afternoons could be devoted to military activities, because the school shared its facilities with Chiswick High School, which had been evacuated to Wycombe to avoid the bombing raids. We RGS pupils used the classrooms in the mornings and the Chiswick boys in the afternoons.

On leaving school most pupils continued their ATC membership and attended parades and lectures after work. I think that most of the people in the photo would have left school and been at work by 1945. In the front row, third from the left is Chips, and fifth, the officer, is Mr. Price. He taught Chemistry. In the middle row, second from the left, John Bunce, next to him Rogers, number four is John Brooks, eighth is Ginger. Number 12 is John Wright, and on the extreme right is Stan Peasley. The white flashes in some of the caps signified that the wearers had volunteered for and been accepted for RAF aircrew training.

Lou Hanks.

Dear Sir,

With reference to your photo in this week’s BFP, I was surprised that there was no mention of John Woodward who went on to achieve national fame for Wasps and England. Ron Emery was my sports master when I was at the RGS from 1947-1950 and Peter Fry was a prefect and sixth former.

I knew John Woodward as I lived in Lane End and John often served in his father’s shop on Saturdays before he achieved fame.

G. Plumridge

Dear Sir,

I was at the Royal Grammar School from 1943-50 and several of those in the team were at the school while I was there. The player who became the most famous was Ted Woodward, who went on to play for Wasps for many years and gained 15 caps for England with six tries. He is a regular at Wasps matches.

Sir Peter Fry (as he now is) was Head Boy and always stood as Conservative candidate in the school elections. It was no surprise when he became an MP years later. As Head boy he was entitled to administer chastisement to deserving cases at “prefects meetings” and I remember receiving the cane from him. I had prudently put on two pairs of trousers in anticipation so didn’t suffer very much. I am tempted to say that I am the only person I know to have been caned (legally) by an MP.

Tony Duckering (third from the left in the back row) was an all-out rugby player. I remember him playing the cello very well at the annual school music competition. It was really good to know that such a competitive rugby player such as him could have an artistic side!

David Wiltshire.

Dear Ian,

While you obviously put in a lot of work on the newsletter, as an OW who left in the 1980s I am very disappointed that there is so little written about the younger old boys.

With best wishes,

Ian

Editor: I agree. Can you and all your friends write something for the next edition? Read on! There will be something for younger OWs later.

WHAT’S GOING ON AT THE RGS THESE DAYS?

Here are three items from the RGS website that you might have missed.

RGS pupils under the direction of Mr Stephen Armstrong starred on ITV's 'This Morning' programme
in a live broadcast from West Wycombe Park with the programme's presenters, Fern Britton and Phillip Schofield.

The RGS boys joined members of the High Wycombe Choral Society to perform a verse of 'O Come All Ye Faithful'.

 RGS's Will Gamester travelled to Wigan to participate in the the biggest Olympic free-style wrestling tournament in the UK - the Aspull International 2004.  

Competing against teams from  Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Belgium, Germany and the Ukraine, Will's    Slough Olympic Wrestling Club was very successful; all 7 members won a medal.

Will Gamester  was in a "round robin" with 4 other fighters and gained a Bronze Medal in his weight category after winning two of his four bouts.

pictures courtesy of www.britishwrestling.org

Many of you will remember Steve Gamester as boy or teacher at the RGS. His son is doing very well at wrestling.

The wide range of clubs and societies on offer at RGS now includes Karate.

The History Department's Dr Titchen offers instruction in this ancient system of self defence and physical culture

view video of the session (494 kb)

The term derives from the  Japanese words Kara (empty) and Te (hand), symbolising that its practitioners - Karateka - are unarmed, but use their hands and feet for blocking and striking.

Anyone interested should attend the sessions that take place in the Sports Hall after school on Mondays.

More information

Did you learn Karate at the RGS? You can now!

You may want to have a good look at the school website. PLEASE CLICK HERE

WYCOMBIENSIAN 2000

Here are extracts from the Wycombiensian of the Millenium Year.

The following teachers left:

Harry Clark, who started his time as a boy in 1951 and as a teacher in 1961. He retired after 39 years as a Biology Teacher and was Head of Department for the last three.

Garth Ratcliffe, who is still in close contact with the RGS in his role as Assistant Chaplain;

Janet Clark, who retired and is now doing Counselling work;

Simon Webber, who is now Head of Art at John Hampden School;

Ross Barker, who after a period away from teaching, has now re-entered the profession;

Ann Ralph, Greg Head, Chris Gibson, and Ros Sunley all left to teach elsewhere;

Katy Buchanan, who left teaching.

Have you any memories of any of these teachers? If you have, please send them in.

• University Entrance: Nine students went to Oxford University, six to Cambridge, and 147 went to other Universities.

• Nick Spearing wrote about a trip with others to a town in Southern Albania to take much-needed equipment there, equipment that had been bought with money raised partially by a Benevolent Fund Collection and a RGS Sponsored Walk.

• Chris Williams wrote about his experiences running in the New York Marathon. Tim Dingle also ran it in the same year.

• The School Play was King Lear, directed by Oliver Godfrey. In a much-praised production, Jasbir Purewal played Lear, his performance described by Peter Gibson as “one of the finest in thirty years of RGS drama.” Also in the cast were Tristan Sherwood-Roberts, Andrew Rackstraw, Daniel O’Shea, Chris Gurney, Chris Hoult, Ian Copete, Chris Barber, and Rory Morrin.

• There were two Chaplains’ trips to the Isle of Wight.

• David Tang wrote about the Upper Sixth Biology Field Trip to North Wales, Jonathan Adair wrote about the ski trip to the Canyons, Salt Lake City, Philip O’Hagan about the ski trip to Italy, Paul Thomas about the Osnabruck Exchange, and James Alleyne about a trip to Brittany.

• The World Challenge Trip took 46 boys to Northern India, where they trekked through snow at over 5000m, involved themselves in Community work, such as building a concrete footbridge, taught cricket to local youngsters and put their artistic talents to good use. They then went on an elephant safari and visited the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort of Agra.

• Numerous Sixth Formers benefited from work experience in Germany, France and Denmark.

• Senior and Junior Vulture organised trips to see the musical “Candide”, the plays “Copenhagen”, “The Importance of being Earnest”, “The Tempest”, and “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”, and the ballet “Coppelia”. There were tours round Stratford-on-Avon and the Dome.

• John Roebuck organised an exhibition to show the wide diversity of careers and occupations that OWs have found their way into. The local community was well represented by the current Mayor of High Wycombe, a local GP, a solicitor and various businessmen. Academic life was illustrated through Professors of Law and Chemistry and an Oxford don. Business was represented by commercial broadcasters, magazine publishers, computer company managers, management consultants, a pharmaceutical manager, an accountant, a Concorde pilot; the arts by an actor, a stand-up comic, an international conductor, a musicologist, a concert violinist, a museum curator, rock stars, an archaeologist, an antiques’ expert; the law by a barrister and legal consultant; sport by the captains of England rugby and British hockey, an international fencer, a Walker Cup golfer: medicine by a consultant surgeon; the media by a Mirror editor and a BBC correspondent; the armed services by a naval VC, a Gurkha colonel (and Everest mountaineer) and an air marshal; politics by former and current MPs, and a member of the House of Lords; the church by a bishop.

• The musical “Crazy For You” was a joint RGS and Wycombe High School production. It was a superb production by Jeff Walker, and all his team. Chris Kowalski as Bobby was outstanding. Also in the cast were David Hunt, Matthew Atherton, Tim Jacks, Oliver Rundell, Oliver Blaiklock, Jonathan Potter, and James Stuart. Alistair McNicoll and his team organised all the scene changes most efficiently.

• There were reports on various Clubs and Societies: Christian Union, Astronomy Club, Computing Club, Role-Playing Society, Chess Club, Kart Club, Philosophy Society, and a Mock UN Meeting. At meetings of the Jeremy Paxman Society the speakers included Mark Mortimer, who rowed across the Atlantic, Lord Mackay, the barrister, Michael Beloff, Mark Saggers, Head of Sky TV Sport, and Lawrence Dallaglio’s agent.

• In Young Enterprise one group produced colourful silk ties and scarves, another tee-shirt designs and a third clocks, pens and web-sites.

• On the sporting front the rugby teams had another very successful year. Ross Coull was the captain and Nick Duncombe, whom Colin Tattersall described as the best scrum-half in the country, had the honour of captaining the England Under 18 XV. Unfortunately he broke his neck in the opening game. (Ed As most will know, Nick amazingly recovered from that to play again only to die tragically of an illness about two years ago.)

• The hockey teams enjoyed two fairly successful seasons, with Oscar Webb, Edward Harrison, the skipper, Russell Bowry, Simon Parnell, James Cremin, playing a leading part.

• On the cricket field the 1^st XI certainly had a good season, and for the third time in four years finished the top school in the RGS Cricket Festival. Daniel Grant, the captain, Chris Allfrey, James Nicholas, Matthew Honeyben, Alex Melrose, Aidan Shaw and Rob Bentall, and Charles Langley all scored runs or took wickets.

• The Rowing squad had a season of solid achievement, plenty of races won, and a high level of rowing consistently produced. The 1^st IV consisted of Richard Barksfield, Elliot Cole, Mark Relf, Paul Arthur and James Bowman.

• The Fencing Teams had successful seasons. Ben Pygall, Andrew Waterfall and Tom Bennett all did well in the Public Schools’ Fencing Championship.

• Ben Chapman, Duncan Au, Nick Spicer, Tom Coales, Tim Harris and Chris Williams represented the school at Cross-Country.

• RGS dominated the District Sports, with outstanding performances from Adam Gilbert, John Huson, Chris Murphy, and Chris Record.

• The CCF was very active. The RN Section visited HMS Dryad, and HMS Bristol, as well as sailing at Medmenham and Queen Mary Reservoir. The Army section had a trip to Snowdonia in October, and went to Leek for the Easter Camp. The RAF Section went on its week-long Summer Camp to Scotland in July and go gliding each week-end at Halton.

• In the OW notes, the deaths of the following former teachers were reported:

Roger Edmunds (1975-76): Arthur Leggett (1946-76): Brian Poll (1963-68).

If you were at school in 2000 and this summary of the 2000 Wycombiensian brings back any memories, please send them in.

PHOTOGRAPH OF AN UNKNOWN GROUP

Who are these and in which year was this photograph taken? How many individuals can you name? Any suggestions to me please.

The next newsletter will be published on 22^nd March.

Old Wycombiensians’ Annual Dinner 2005

To be held in the Queen’s Hall

on Saturday 16^th April 2005

Please send in your booking form as soon as possible

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS!