Page 93 - OO_2018

hockey team at their children’s school, playing alongside Jules McAlpine (Lx 88), Paul Chatterton (S 88) and others. They also organised a tour to Bilton Grange, where they faced a team led by Stuart Morgan (Lx 91). Away from sport, Tim is now Editorial Director of the digital business at Bauer Media, owner of 107 magazine and radio brands.
Mike Thorpe (Lx 87) writes with news of the family. Mike lives in Dubai, which he enjoys, but has half an eye on returning to the UK in the next year or so. His brother, Roger Thorpe (Lx 93), continues to be successful in the York area. Having launched and sold his first venture into the pub/restaurant industry, he has now moved on to another interesting project. Their father, John Thorpe (Lx 57), continues to be very active in The Worshipful Company of Farmers and remains a hugely attentive and generous grandfather. He and his wife, Sue, are still very active, playing golf, travelling and visiting their grandchildren in all corners of the UK.
Andrew Spurrell (D 54) has now retired as Chairman of the Oundle Festival of Music and Drama after 27 years in that position.
Nicholas Kernick (L 10) is halfway through completing his MBA at Harvard Business School after a few years at the Boston Consulting Group. He is looking for opportunities in the outdoor and travel sectors for summer 2019.
Andrew Gordon-Stewart (Sc 57) recently heard the good news that his grandson, Hamish, had passed his Common Entrance to start at the School in September. He is a representative of the fourth generation of his family to go to Oundle – a tradition begun by Andrew’s father, Malcolm Gordon-Stewart (B 21). He sees Brian Trent (Sc 58) and Jackie regularly, and also meets up with Chris Pocock (Sc 60) at the Christmas lunch at the RAC Club in London.
Stephen Johnston (Oundle Staff 1983-2010) emailed to tell me about his book about Wilfred Brown, tenor and broadcaster. The book is called At the Crossroads of Human Experience. There is not enough space to give a synopsis here but, suffice to say, it has received very good reviews. If any OO
is interested in purchasing the book, it is £30 (Em Publishing, ISBN number 978-0-9572942-2-6).
Another OO with a book published is Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon (B 61). His is called Clouds Are Not Spheres and is now on sale on Amazon. The link to the publisher’s website is: https://www.worldscientific.com/worlds cibooks/10.1142/q0138.
I was pleased to hear quite early on after my email asking for news from Bridie Layden (L 04). She is working in philanthropy at Oxfam.
Henry Krempels (L 08) is working in theatre as a writer and director. In 2016 he founded Anima Theatre Company, which aims to find new ways of making theatre through inclusion. In April he returned to the Stahl with his experimental play, The Sleeper, based on the real experience of finding a refugee hiding in his bunk on an overnight train through Europe, and ran workshops with Fifth and Sixth Form students.
Robin Reynolds (Lx 58) has moved back to the UK from South Africa and now lives in Catworth, near Kimbolton. He is in touch with the Troubleshooters and hopes to attend a meet in the future.
Louis Supple (Sc 06) must be one of the fittest OOs! Since leaving, he has run hundreds of kilometres through the most inhospitable climates on earth. He has raised a lot of money for charity; his website www.louissupple.org gives more details. In 2015 he set himself the challenge of running ultra marathons in the desert, mountains, jungle and Arctic. Fast forward three years and he has achieved his goal. First, he travelled to Morocco to compete in the Marathon des Sables. Motivated by his commitment to raise money for the Hope for Children charity, Louis overcame the extreme desert heat to run a six-day, 250km ultra marathon across the dunes of the Sahara. In the same year he competed in The Everest Trail Race, a high-altitude, six-day, 160km ultra marathon that winds through the Himalayas. He then travelled to Peru to run the Jungle Ultra Marathon, a five-day, 230km race held deep in the Amazon rainforest, where humidity reaches 90%. Finally, he endured the extreme cold of the Arctic
to finish fifth in the Ice Ultra Marathon, a five-day, 230km race through Europe’s last wilderness, Swedish Lapland. Many of these races require runners to be self-sufficient, which means Louis often had to carry everything he needs to survive in extreme environments in his backpack. Well done Louis on these tremendous achievements!
James Singlehurst (Sc 74) was able to secure an EU grant to double the capacity of his game bird hatchery. This was a politically sensitive issue, so the application was shuffled around like a hot potato. It was one step away from needing ministerial approval. Thankfully, someone found that a small game farm grant was awarded in 2009, so nobody had to set a precedent. So, James, at the ripe old age of 60 (!), has taken his seasonal day-old pheasant and partridge hatching capacity to over one million.
Holly Wake (L 10) let me know about the marriage of her sister, Chloe Wake (L 05), to Benjamin Ashman on 4th August. By the time you read this, they will be married, so hope the day went well!
Daniel Maitland (Sn 02) continues to enjoy teaching at Bedford Prep School. He and his wife, Jessica, had their third child in March (Merryn), joining Rafferty (October 2015) and Aria (May 2014). He says his hands are fairly full (I’m not surprised!), but he has found some time to do a fair amount of running, more off road and on trails and mountains these days.
I am very grateful to all those who sent their news. As for myself, I keep in touch with several OOs – Peter Scaife (B 71), former work colleague Richard Owen (Sc 70), Robert Morton (Sc 71) and Nigel Youngman (Sc 71). I had been playing tennis up to three times a week but developed a back/leg problem which has curtailed me somewhat. After having an MRI scan, the physio asked me what I had been doing, as it was one of the worst injuries she had seen in over 40 years! I have had cell regeneration treatment and although not cured, it has improved. The one disadvantage of not exercising is putting on weight! If anyone knows a good back surgeon, email me! I may have to go down that route (albeit very reluctantly).
NEWS FROM HOME
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2017 –2018
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