Page 90 - OO_2018

year. Not content with this, he notes that this has coincided with a big house move and building work, helping his parents build a new cottage into which they plan to downsize and getting his children into the prep school world. He is in regular touch with OOs locally and across the country: Sam Mehew (Sc 96), Tim Brooks (Lx 95), Rick Le Sueur (B 95), Adam Heath (Lx 85), Jason Heath (Lx 87), Alex Kemp (S 97), Jonathan Turner, Ed Caudwell (St A 84) and Al Fearnehough (N 87), who are, according to reports, all on the usual good form.
Charles Holmes (St A 97) happily returned to Derbyshire in early 2018, having been living and working in the South-West. He regularly catches up with James Kilner (St A 97) for snowy and occasionally sunny hikes around the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales, paying due attention to a number of quality hostelries on the way! He reports of his younger brother, Eddie Holmes (St A 99), and his wife, Angel, having had a son, Ted, at Christmas, who continues to delight all. All were present at a friend’s wedding in Yorkshire in June and despite the groom being an Old Rugbeian, it was good to see a strong showing of Oundelians in Matt Joyce (St A 97), Bertie Foster-Ward (St A 94), Ollie Hallam (Sc 96) and Claire Hallam (K 96).
DrAlinkaGreasley(K00) isan associate professor in the School of Music at the University of Leeds, where she teaches Music Psychology to undergraduates and postgraduates, and leads a Master’s programme in Applied Psychology. She is also Principal Investigator on a project called Hearing Aids for Music, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which explores the musical experiences of people with hearing loss who wear hearing aid technology. She continues to play the violin and is currently a member of the Harrogate Philharmonic Orchestra.
Leo Ford (S 01) has recently launched his own travel company in West Bridgeford last year called Just Journey. He reports that things are going well and that they are starting to be noticed in the local area. He is happy to assist any OOs with their
travel plans. He is also involved with a local music festival which raised over £6,000 for local charities last year.
Alex Howe (K 01) and William Howe (B 01) have realised that they never told The Old Oundelian that they had got married! Having got together after their university years, they spent five years in London before moving up to Sheffield, where they currently live. They have two children, Lilibet (3) and James (1), and are in touch with quite a lot of OOs, including Alex’s father-in-law, Nick Howe (B 68), and brother-in-law, James Howe (B 99), who are both reportedly very well. They have a busy WhatsApp group and recently started a K 01 yearly reunion in the hope of catching up with friends more regularly. This year they have seen Oliver Parsons (F 01) and his wife, Zoe (Sn 02), along with daughter Flora at their son James’ christening. Alex also regularly sees Laura Dixon (K 01), Alex Grundy (N 02) and Lucy Whelan (K 01), all of whom are based in London. Tom Blackwall (B 00) is also a regular visitor when in the country with his wife, Anna, and son, Isaac. Toshiaki Suzuki (B 01) has moved back to the UK from Japan, so they see him a lot more, and they recently caught up with Sidney Ma (Sc 01) when he was over for a business trip, as well as holidaying in Spain last month with Jacqueline Hill (K 00) and Josephine Jones (K 00) and her family. They report that all were on great form and invite any OOs visiting up north and nearby to get in touch.
News of some ex-pats from the region now. Emily Booth (W 09) and her brother, William Booth (Ldr 07), are both living in London, and are about to move into a flat in Pimlico, where they are excited about the prospect of having a small garden in London for the first time. William is working in financial communications and Emily in tech sales. Both travel frequently to Yorkshire, where father Bill Booth (Lx 81) is busier than ever with the farming and field sports worlds, and apparently finds increasingly cunning ways to bribe his children to move back up north!
Ollie Chipp (Sn 99) is now based in London, being the founder of a
boutique health and fitness company, which brings CycleBar, the world’s largest indoor cycling brand, to the UK. He is currently building the first London studio near the new U.S. Embassy in Battersea, with plans to launch studios around the UK in the near future. He stays in touch with Will Dean (Sn 99), Nick Atkins (C 99), David Nicholson (Lx 99), James Morton-Haworth (C 99), Max Desoutter (Lx 99) and Henry Webber (Sc 99).
Isobel Ellis (Sn 14) has been living and working at the Wycombe Abbey International School near Shanghai for the last year, teaching Academic Music and sports. She has gained a place at Bath Spa to do her PGCE and Masters in Recording Music – and there’s me thinking we had finished funding education for her! She attended the OO Gala Dinner in Hong Kong in April along with Molly Clayton (L 14), William Tsang (G 14) and Tim Wong (St A 14) from her year, and since finishing teaching has been travelling around Thailand, Vietnam and Laos with Fleur Arkell (Lx 14) and Rhiana Gerry (D 14). She is planning to catch up with other OOs when she returns.
As for me – another busy year in the furniture industry has been interspersed with being your President for the year; a real honour to have been asked and a real privilege to serve you all. The OO year started early at Stephen Bagnall’s (Sn 86) 50th, meeting up with Neil Mullens (Sn 86), Mark Elliott (Ldr 81) and John Bagnall (Sn 59). Henry Fray (G 08) and Barney Ward (Ldr 08) were in attendance at the Salcombe Sevens at Easter, where we shared a beer or five. There have been many meetings with OOs since, all around the country as part of the presidency and at the well- attended Northern Dinner in April.
I noted in my first OO regional correspondent’s column a number of years ago that “you can take the boy (or girl) out of Oundle, but you can’t take Oundle out of the boy (or girl)” and I am really pleased that this is still very much the case today. It has been a pleasure to meet as many OO s as I have and my thanks to you all for your support.
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THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2017 –2018
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