Page 208 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

I had been researching the possibility of farming meat rabbits and John, Rundle’s driver
who was undergoing treatment for cancer was doing bits and pieces for me preparing the
outbuildings when he felt up to it.
While living at New Bolingbroke for 14 years, Ruth and I had taken the community to our
heart. Our business had been largely based in the village and we employed local folk.

I had been a Parish Councillor for 10 years and a member of the Town Hall management
committee alongside, John Rundle’s father “Jack”, Les Langstaff the local electrician’s
elderly father, Ivor Bush the local tyre retail supremo and of course Harry Hubbard.
Less demanding tasks were as a member of the Parochial Church Council and governor of
the local primary school and secondary school.

It had been our Vicar, Revd. David Loake who had been instrumental in my joining the
governing body at William Lovell. As I have mentioned in “Our Trout”, I had served with
him for several years on the County “Sponsoring Body for Ecumenical Partnership”.

He had managed to have me appointed as the official Anglican representative for the
whole County to this group, so when a vacancy for Church governor occurred at William
Lovell, I was appointed as the most suitable person!
Leaving the village allowed me to relinquish most of these tasks. I remained Chairman of
Governors of the Primary School until its closure as part of a total re evaluation by the
County Education Department but William Lovell Secondary School just seemed to be
something I wanted to hang on to.

William Lovell
School, Stickney.
Photograph
reproduced ©
Copyright
JThomas and
licensed for
reuse under this
Creative
Commons
Licence

About the time of
our move I was elected Chairman of Governors. The serving Head, Jack Dyde was an old
friend and encouraged me to stay. Ruth and I had sent Helen, our daughter away to
school on the advice of her Primary school head, so we had not had children at William
Lovell. Even so, I just knew that this school was somewhere very important.
Jack, during his headship, with his staff, had developed the school into the undisputed
“best secondary school in the whole area”. Parental choice had enabled parents from a
wide area to take advantage of this “paragon of secondary-modern education”.

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