Page 82 - OO_2018

NEWS FROM HOME
Birmingham & West Midlands
This being my first year in post as the OO West Midlands Correspondent, I was not sure what to expect when I sent out my request for news. I had been assured that it would not be an onerous task and, thankfully, that has been the case. For that, I am grateful to all the people who have replied.
Themes to the responses to my request for news this year have been people claiming to have not done much and then reporting on quite an eventful year, and also people replying after years of not having done so.
John Brentnall (Sn 77), for example, described himself as a “non-existent correspondent over the last 40 years”. He recently sold the veterinary business in which he worked for the last 30 years and then spent the last 12 months assisting in its assimilation with its new PLC owner. Like others, though, he has not reached pipe and slippers mode yet, and is offering consultancy services to the veterinary profession, as well as undertaking occasional locum work. A couple of months ago, though, he had a serious car accident from which he is recovering well and then celebrated his 30th wedding anniversary (with his wife, Claire). Amongst the guests at the weekend get-together was Dr Richard Allibone (S 77). Unsurprisingly, John is in regular contact with his son, Harry Brentnall (S 11), who is working for INEOS as a chemical engineer, playing with sulphuric acid. His brother, Neville Brentnall (Sn 75), is semi-retired when he is not providing dairy consultancy services and looking after his commercial lets. He also bumps into Patrick Cooper (B 61) from time to time.
My favourite response was from Peter How (Sn 49), who replied simply that he was “still alive at 87, still married after 67 years and still meet up with John Nathan (Sn 49) after 73 years’ friendship”. He also still makes it back to Oundle at least once a year, usually for the excellent Oundle lectures & dinners.
It was also good to have some responses and news from younger OOs, including Emma Trevor-Jones (D 11), who, having graduated with a Medicine degree in July 2017, has just completed
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By Jon Terry (G 93)
her first year as a doctor in Bath. Apparently, it's been a steep learning curve, but brilliant fun. She is now off to Australia for a year of training, but not before she completed the Cardiff Velothon, cycling 140km in 30-degree heat.
Another OO medic, Giles Hall (L 09), got married last summer to Rebecca Cockayne. Having worked in orthopaedics for two years in Warwick Hospital, following on from being a junior doctor in Cardiff, he startedt GP training in August in the West Midlands deanery.
Nick Copestick (Ldr 69) reports this summer has seen him retire from being Headmaster at Edenhurst Prep School after 42 years. The school gave him and his wife a great send-off, including a posh ball featuring a wonderful eulogy, in the form of a poem, from former parent and great friend Peter Pentecost (St A 73). He is not totally leaving the profession, though, as he is being retained as a consultant to some of the other Heads in the Bellevue Group. However, he does still expect to find time for family and golf.
Richard Smith (St A 89) has enjoyed a busy year of travel following various racing events across Portugal, Italy and Spa, and an expedition to Machu Picchu (clearly the bug to travel that he caught at the 1989 OS Belize Expedition is still with him). He suggests, though, that this has been a quiet year interspersed as it has been with some big work projects at his company, AFH Financial Group PLC.
David Boddington (St A 50) has <<<RETURN TO CONTENTS
enjoyed spending more time on Bromyard Downs this year, as well as taking advantage of local train services and occasional air travel to take trips to the Scottish islands. He has also been keeping up a bird-ringing study scheme on the Welsh border, something that he started at Oundle and which is now the longest-going study of its type in the UK.
Adrian Colledge (Lx 72) and his wife, Carol, travelled around Australia for the Ashes in December and January 2017/18, and whilst in Perth, met up and stayed with Marcus Marchant (Lx 73) and his wife, Sue. Many escapades were re-lived, including the famous ‘mmm still warm’ prank, and the Marchants were most hospitable, showing the Colledges around the beautiful city of Perth. They also bumped into John Wake, former School 1st XI cricket coach, at the final Test at the old WACA.
Mark Glossop (D 54) appears to have had a busy and successful year heading a campaign to set up a community shop in his village following the closure of the last shop and post office in 2017. He reports that their recent share sale exceeded target and hopefully by the time of publication they will be underway with the shop. He does find time to meet up with Johnny Crabbe (G 55), as they are both in a small local share club which seems to be flourishing.
Toby Service (Ldr 96) is still living in Ludlow, enjoying the Shropshire rolling hills and fresh air. He is so pleased he didn’t decide to move to London all those years ago! Having spent the last 18 years working for Brightwells Auctioneers, he is now heavily involved with the development of the business as a whole, but in particular with their classic car department, managing the team who run it and picking up the gavel at every stage he can. Now running 12 classic car auctions a year, mostly at Brightwells’ head office in Leominster, but also now at Bicester Heritage in Oxfordshire, he successfully beat his personal best from the rostrum this year, selling a 1934 Riley Amilcar Special for £132,000. It is worth noting that if any OOs would like to enter a classic car in one of their auctions, Toby
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2017 –2018