Page 89 - OO_2018

the British winter. You may recall in recent magazines details of Anthony’s excellent challenge of visiting pubs within a 30-mile radius of his home. He and his wife have now completed 144 pub lunches, although at the time of writing they were having a sabbatical for the summer before resuming their quest in the autumn. His travels recently led him to meet Andrew Smith (B 79), who spotted his OO tie on its annual outing to Wimbledon.
Dick Shepley (D 68) has just returned from a weekend in Ontario, Canada. The purpose of his visit was to attend the 100th birthday of his Aunty Bidy, whom he had never met. She was married to his uncle, Douglas Shepley (D 36), for just six weeks before he died as a result of enemy hostilities on 12th August 1940. He was a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain and was shot down near the Isle of Wight, having downed two confirmed enemy aircraft, another likely and a fourth possible. He was just 21 years old and would have celebrated his 100th birthday on 14th July on the same date as Bidy. The Shepley family suffered the loss of three members of that generation in the first year of the war, including Rex Shepley (D 29) and Jeanne Shepley, and all three are commemorated in Oundle School Chapel in the ambulatory window depicting Shakespeare's lover. Also, Douglas' name is included on the brass plaque in the School Armoury, along with the other brave OOs who served as fighters in the Battle of Britain. Bidy moved to Canada after the war, having remarried to a wounded Canadian soldier, whom she looked after during his recovery. The Shepleys maintained contact until 2008, when contact ceased without explanation. Assuming she had died, Dick was amazed to receive a message on his answerphone six weeks ago by a family member in Owen Sound, Ontario, who had used the internet to trace him. He explained she was alive and well, so Dick jumped at the chance to attend her party, meet all her large family and re-establish contact. Bidy was amazed by the visit, as Dick’s arrival was kept a secret from her. They had a wonderful time
reminiscing and he learnt what she had been doing for the last 78 years. He was treated like royalty and some members of her family are set to visit the UK in the future and take a long break with the Shepleys.
Bob Harrap (B 68) meets up periodically with Jon Holmes (B 68) as a member of the Mick Fitzgerald Racing Club, of which Jon is the eminence grise. Bob also occasionally sees his daughter, Bryony Harrap (N 08), who is based in London, and his son, Jon Harrap (B 05), who is now based in New York. He is not entirely sure what they do in London and New York, but thinks it is connected to the arcane world of finance! He still plays golf regularly and participates in many OO events, having enjoyed the Queen’s Club Sports Lunch and the OO Northern Dinner at Bowcliffe Hall, as well as various trips to Lord’s. At all the above he met, amongst others, Mike Haigh (Sc 87), Ian Lane (Ldr 77), James Ellis (Sn 63) and Tom Ellis (Sn 91) – and miraculously all returned safe and sound from each event! He shoots regularly with yours truly and many of the above named OOs during the season.
Ian Lane notes that his son, Tom Lane (Ldr 03), gets married this year, as does his nephew, Ben Lane (B 06), all during the year he hits the big six zero! He reports that his new factory was opened by HRH Duke of Gloucester, a former Barnwell resident, and that exports had recently hit a new high, although Brexit may scupper this next year. He does not spend enough time at his Mallorcan retreat, but did catch up with Dominic Shapiro (Sc 81) and Charles Miller (Ldr 76).
Richard Law (Sn 79) is still partaking in a bit of OO golf, having recently played at Moortown against Sedbergh in a match kindly organised once again by Robert Blackburn (Sc 73). He has been travelling with his son, Charlie Law (S 16), to the Far East and met up with Jeremy Pong (Ldr 83) for some unique local cuisine at a dining club in central Hong Kong.
Robin Johnson (St A 81), as ever, has been getting some business air miles racked up, doing deals in Papua New Guinea, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, Latvia, Sweden
and South Africa, to name but a few. He has seen James Keyes (B 81), Jonathan Turner (S 84), Nigel Ward (Sc 79) and Andrew Latchmore (Sc 68) amongst others, and is off on a golf tour soon with Andy McCartney (G 83), Ian Young (Sn 81), Bill Simms (C 81) and others. He notes he would love to spend more time playing OO golf, but feels as if he needs to wait for a recession to allow this to happen – let’s hope it is a while then!
Mike Haigh is still involved in the commercial property market in the North of England and sees a bit of his uncle, Christopher England (Lx 54), amongst others. He recently participated in a bike ride in aid of the RAF Benevolent Fund to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Dambusters’ raid, cycling all the way to the Moehne Dam.
Tom Ellis continues to occupy the office next to mine and enjoys his long-distance cycling, although this has not made an impression on his general weight, much to his wife’s disappointment! He sees relatives Roger Ellis, James Ellis, Peter Cole (Sn 54) and Anthony Cole (Sn 56) on a reasonably regular basis; Guy Ackerley (Sc 94), Will Roberts (N 94), Ian Lane, Mark Hallam (Sc 92), Olly Quarmby (N 93) and Mike Haigh on the Yorkshire social circuit; and Jim Connell (N 81) in a business group environment.
Tom Mawhood’s (S 82) only news is that he is doing some work with Mike Copestake (Sc 69) as part of an East Midlands Angels Consortium, having done a number of successful investments in both the SME and property development markets. Mike himself is a part-time consultant at Freeths solicitors, where Ian Payne is a consultant. Based in Nottingham, they are a 12-office, 1,000-staff business. He notes that David Joyce (D 66) has retired from the board of Norwest Holst and Nigel Thorpe (Sc 68) is enjoying life on the water in Dartmouth.
Charlie Hague (S 93) writes with news of an exceptionally busy year, rolling out a regional expansion plan for Swiss private bank Julius Baer by opening offices in Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh, with Birmingham, Cambridge and Bristol later in the
NEWS FROM HOME
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2017 –2018
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