Page 100 - OO_2018

Sometimes we feel remote from the buzz of Brexit Britain in Newcastle, but it was good to see the recent Oundle Foundation stats which showed Newcastle Uni is the most popular destination for Oundle students. Add in Durham and some 20%+ of the OO output is heading this way. The more recent OOs don’t get on to my radar, as it’s linked to home address. I suspect a large proportion live in Jesmond student digs. If we could track you down, we’d know to avoid your rowdy party nights! I’ll send a posse of local Tyne Valley’s current and recent Oundelians, from the families Mills, Gibson, Joicey, Dodd, Kirkup...
As ever, there’s been a great crop of email news from my fellow Northumbrians and I can report a few casual conversations from bumping into OOs in the region.
Firstly, I came across Chris Wancke (C 76) at the parents’ evening at RGS Newcastle, where he teaches Biology. We shared some yarns about Ioan ‘Ticky’ Thomas and what a smashing chap he was. I’ll not forget his colonial chat with me and Chris Stephenson (Sn 85) when we were planning our Dudgeon Venture trip to Mount Kulal, Kenya. He fixed Chris with a stare and said: “Whoppi maji moto?” Chris replied quick as a flash, being also fluent in Swahili. (Translation: Where is the hot water?). Wancke is superbly in the Thomas mode as a perennial bow- tie wearer with full beard. He hails from Hexham and did mention a brother, but my recall was sidetracked by admiring his knitted waistcoat and I’ve fully forgotten what he said about his bro.
Only yesterday I was looking at property development sites and found the set not only for reality TV show Geordie Shore, but also ITV’s hit detective show, Vera. The chief producer on this show is Will Nicholson (G 94) – and long may their run continue.
Equally surprising was starting my first Mythos beer at Neilson Lesbos, only to find that Charlie Bennett (N 84) was booked for the same week and
North-East
By Charlie Hoult (Sc 85)
standing at the same bar. We had a great chance to catch up! Charlie has fond memories of our (unbeaten) season in the 6th XV and we fantasised about getting the team together, though not getting further than recalling Bill Quantrill (St A 84), Jonny Hand (Sc 85), Mike Bird (G 84) and Jerry Epton (N 84) as possible other team-mates. Where are you all now?
It’s a sign of the times that I’m now getting quotes for my parents to install a stair lift. I picked up the phone to a local supplier and had a long conversation with MD Bob Lines (N 83) with a slight sympathy for the poor chap, thinking it was a bit of a bum business, only for him to slip into conversation that (a) he was an OO and, slightly later, that (b) he has installed and maintains 14,000 of the lifts! Sympathy soon evaporated after I got my quote and multiplied that by 14,000!
Raymond Liow (C 86) saves me from blathering on, updating us that he has lived and worked in North Yorkshire for over 20 years now as an orthopaedic surgeon specialising in shoulders. He was based at the major trauma centre of The James Cook University Hospital, Teesside, and the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton. He recently moved to North Tees in Stockton, where he heads the upper
limb surgery unit, but continues his specialist field of sports injuries to the shoulder and hence treats a large number of sportspersons and military personnel. A few years ago, he decided to take up piano lessons and, quite by accident, found himself taught by Penny, the wife of Graham Merriam (C 72).
Raymond’s daughter, Alice Liow (Sn 17), had a wonderful five years at Oundle. She thrived within the vibrant Music department and Raymond’s wife, Jane, enjoyed many trips to Oundle (and abroad!) to listen to the concerts. Raymond adds: “I have had frequent visits to the School and can report it remains a wonderful place to gain an education - an excellent institution that has evolved with the times. I found it strange when I first saw girls in the School, but I had the impression that it is a more vibrant, kinder and less harsh environment compared with the time when I was in an all-boys Oundle. Its facilities remain quite impressive and the academic record solid.”
Alice has travelled in Malaysia and Singapore, and met up with Anneka Shah (L 17) and Nick Ho (G 17). Alice is a dental student at Bart’s and the London (Queen Mary), Anneka has just completed a stint teaching in Shanghai and will start uni at SOAS in the autumn, while Nick is studying Psychology in Warwick.
Other Oundle connections to report are Raymond’s cousins (another clan of OOs!). Yuen Soon (B 86) left Guildford and the NHS, and moved to Singapore a few years ago, practising as an upper gastrointestinal surgeon. Kar-Binh Ong (C 89) is an anaesthetist at Great Ormond Street, London, and intends to visit every country in the world (he is into the 150s presently). His brother, Kar-Yi Ong (C 93), flies people around the Far East with Air Asia, South-East Asia’s equivalent of Easyjet.
Raymond’s nephew, Christian Chew (C 16), is presently doing Engineering at UCL and spending the summer holed up in the IT department of Ernst and Young, Kuala Lumpur.
NEWS FROM HOME
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THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2017 –2018