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www on motorbikes of all kinds.
“Over the years he owned motorbikes
that some enthusiasts would have given their right arm to possess, one of them being a Vincent Montlhery Black Shadow, a classic motorbike which was used in 1952 to set a six-hour record at more than 100mph – an incredible achievement at the time.
“His ability to connect with people and his knowledge of motorbikes of all sorts meant that if he met you a few years after he had sold you a bike, not only would he remember you, but also the bike he had sold you. He will be sadly missed by so many from all walks of life.”
J.P.V. Thompson (D) died 6th February 2017.
1962
Gavin Peck (S)
died 6th February 2018.
His brother, Rab Peck (S 53), writes: “My brother Gavin was born in Nairobi in 1943. He was the third son of four boys born to our parents, Edward and Sylvia Peck, who by virtue of their employment with the British Colonial Service spent the majority of their working lives in Africa.
“Gavin’s primary schooling was in Kenya as a day boy, but he returned to the UK in 1949 when at the age of five he started his junior schooling as a boarder at Brunswick Preparatory School, Haywards Heath in Sussex.
“It was in May 1957 that Gavin started his Oundle career in Sidney House under the brilliant tutelage of the much loved and hugely respected Housemaster, L.S. Shaw - 'Tub' to everyone.
“Gavin was far and away the most intelligent and able of the four of us, both academically and in sport. He achieved much whilst at Oundle, leaving in 1962 with eight O levels, three A levels, School colours in cricket, in rugby and in fives, and having been appointed a School prefect for his last two terms as well as being School captain of fives.
“From Oundle Gavin joined the Army, spending three years at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as an officer cadet. He joined the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry, where for the next 10 years military duties took him to
Northern Ireland, Norway, West Berlin, Aden, West Germany, Belize and then to the Royal Military College of Science in Shrivenham from where he gained his degree in General Sciences.
“In 1969 Gavin married Clare Skinner in the parish church in Chagford in Devon. They were to have three sons, Simon, Alistair and James.
“After leaving the Army, he then took to the world of commerce, working for the next 10 years for the Incecape group in Bahrain, Oman and the UAE. These were very happy years for Gavin and Clare, who very much enjoyed their lives together in the Middle East.
“In the late 1980s the family came back to their home in Hampshire, where they have lived for the past 30 years, Gavin running his own business in the county before retiring in 2013.
“His family were especially supportive of him during the last few years of his life when he suffered increasingly from the encroachment of cancer. He died peacefully on the 6th February this year at the St Michael’s Hospice, Basingstoke, a much-loved husband, father, grandfather, uncle and brother who will for ever be greatly missed.”
1964
A.R. Graham (St A) died in 2018.
Peter Witchell (C)
died 21st September 2017.
Philip Olleson (S 65) writes: “Peter Witchell, who died after a short illness, came to Oundle in September 1959 as a highly gifted mathematician and a talented musician. He played an active part in the School’s musical life as a pianist and organist, and went on to read Mathematics at Lincoln College, Oxford, graduating in 1967.
“During his time at Oxford Peter came to realise that his true vocation lay in music and after graduation enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music on the four- year graduate of the Royal Schools of Music course. On leaving the RAM in 1971, he went to Sherborne School as Assistant Director of Music and in 1978 was appointed Director of Music at Oakham School, where he remained until his retirement in 2004.
“Peter was outstandingly successful at Oakham and immediately transformed
the musical life of the school. He increased the number of concerts, established a chamber orchestra and a big band, and set up a choral society, open to both pupils and staff and local residents, that gave performances of major choral and orchestral works. He also composed prolifically, for pupils, colleagues and friends. Among his compositions were three of the 16 musicals that he produced each summer at Oakham, notably Rutlandia, an orchestral work written to celebrate the re-establishment of Rutland as a county in 1997.
“In retirement Peter was able to enjoy his enthusiasm for music and musical theatre to the full. He was also able to take full advantage of his freedom to travel, making frequent visits to see his family and his many friends, and entertaining at his home in Knossington, near Oakham. He was always lively company, full of news of places he had visited and of concerts he had attended, in London and elsewhere. He will be remembered for his gift for friendship, his sometimes impish sense of humour, his complete lack of pretension and his disdain for any hint of pretension and pomposity in others.
“He is survived by his sister, Jane.”
1965
J.K.H. Cook (Sc)
died 15th August 2017.
1971
Christopher Graham-Wood (B) died 10th January 2018.
Kenneth Runciman Annand (B 71) has written the following epicedium:
We, friends of our bosoms both thine and mine,
As Thom eruditely spake - brothers by other mothers.
For half a century thus we interpolated the years
With gravity and sadness, fun and laughter.
We picked up where we left off, albeit in days, months,
Or the condemning years of Wood- whitening hair
And beard of mine - of thine a baldness of high-domed pate.
Of mine, two chins nay three, fur-
clad hidden. www
OBITUARIES
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THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2017 –2018