Page 139 - OO_2018

We met in a dormitory in the mid- September of fate
In '68 at Bramston House, Oundle, Northamptonshire -
School of my Father and your family before us.
School of lessons, school of life, hard knocks, hard winters.
We were neither of us high-flown academics - for you, Chris,
A sandwich bar in Levallois - do you remember my telling you That your coleslaw was ghastly
and your sending me
To a Paris market, for my chosen
ingredients?
Adopting my recipe, do you
remember a customer telling you - That he could do without a fruit
salad with his luncheon, meat?! For me, it was as a BBC Singer,
crooning on the red light. Both, our public serving, in
inestimable, unfathomable ways. We, curious at times, questioning of
values; the very existences
Of others diabolical lives of ill-gotten
gains and Thatcherite greed: Changed values in a changing and
altogether different world
Than that in which we were forged
and cast in that Hallowed Shire. Fettled in workshops, polished into
an existence of finer values, Wrought for a different age of lost
empires and colonies -
Both dead before we had even
arrived.
Perhaps that was the problem for
us both, born out of time,
Out of a natural place in which we
should have existed -
To help those less fortunate in the
formation years, than us.
We found that our ages of man
were not necessarily the age
To which we had been assigned at
birth,
But through joys and crises loyally,
we stumbled both through,
With each other’s help - these nigh-
on 50 years.
This September we were going to
celebrate at Maxim's -
Do you remember that tryst of
collaboration we had planned? You, my dearest brother by another
mother, have removed from me, That great pleasure so nearly
granted; by your untimely death.
Christopher Graham-Wood - always there - and now you have gone.
My Brother and my Friend - Requiescat In Pace.
1972
N.J. Rowe (St A) died 23rd April 2018.
1975
N. Coles (Sc) died in 2018.
1976
Robert Hinchliffe (G)
died 8th March 2018.
Ian Lane (Ldr 77) writes: “Robert died after a short but courageous battle against pancreatic cancer. He never gave up his fight after the prognosis and it was typical of him that he told his family and close friends of the stark news, individually, in person.
“Robert – or ‘Hinch’ to his friends – was the oldest son of John Hinchliffe (N 45) and followed his father’s schooling from Aysgarth and then to Oundle. His love of all things country meant he enjoyed Aysgarth far more than he did Oundle. His battles with his Housemaster, ‘Jock’ Thyne, were constant throughout Oundle life, concluding, at best, as a score draw.
“It was soon apparent that Hinch had been born before his time, with his traditional viewpoint more likely to be heard from our fathers than a young adult. Leaving Oundle, he attended Leeds University, reading Textiles. It was here that Hinch seemed to find himself and made lifelong friends who understood him, encouraging his ‘bon vivant’ to life’s challenges.
“Despite staying a year longer at Leeds than planned, he exited with the appropriate gentleman’s degree. He joined the family’s Huddersfield textile business, specialising in high-quality cashmere cloth production, to all over the globe.
“He soon worked out that girls were hugely interesting, after being in all-male establishments. It led him straight into the country sports of hunting, shooting and polo. This was not to say Hinch only mixed with the great and the good; he was just as happy in his ‘second front
room’ in the village as he was at the Hunt Ball. Hinch’s horsebox was used as a hotel placed near the Hunt marquee; any guest was made far too welcome!
“A Robert trademark was his complete inability to arrive anywhere on time. The more staff he kept, the later he was and never because he had stayed in bed too late. Robert always kept a confidence, never once compromising his friends wanting his counsel.
“He was a fine ‘high bird’ shot, his favourite shoot skippered by Willi Booth (Lx 81). The first drive was renamed ‘with or without’ (Hinch) and later ‘the green drive’, usually the colour of his house guest who stayed the night before.
“His generosity around the dining table was legendary, with the finest claret served but never on time, as Sunday lunch guests found at 9pm! He was a fine chef and chose his meat like his claret.
“He became a father quite late in life and his two sons became the spine in his life. Already they are the third generation to follow him to Aysgarth, showing the Hinch strength of spirit.
“Hinch’s funeral was no quiet wake – a marquee added on to the village church to hold the hundreds of mourners and two front rooms for afterwards, which included the one in the village. And yes, he did choose the wine!”
1985
H.D. Brun (S)
died 17th September 2015.
1990
S.A. Piers-Hall (G) died in 2018.
1993
N.E. Lappage (K) died 24th April 2018.
2004
H.P. Richards (Sc) died in March 2018.
2010
V. Atroshenko (G)
died 31st December 2017.
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OBITUARIES
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2017 –2018
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