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taking type two fun to the next level and is heading off to France to cycle Le Loop (the entire Tour de France route) to raise money for the William Wates Memorial Trust, a charity supporting disadvantaged children – chapeau!
Alastair Logan (Ldr 04) moved to Edinburgh from Geneva last year and has been enjoying all that Scotland has to offer, whilst discovering that quite a few OOs can be found in and around Edinburgh, or who like to head north. For example, he had a great week fishing last year with Andrew Kennedy (S 04) and his wife, Sarah (née Sharples) (W 04). The Imperial Crown Haute Route ski tour with Doug Oppenheim (C 94) in May this year was also a highlight. On a more regular basis, he sees James Crossland (Ldr 04) for some activity or other (skiing, running etc) and manages the occasional drink with Harriet Hodgskin (W 04), Will Theakston, Will Shadbolt, Simon Hooley and Gavin Legg (Ldr 04). Talk of getting a group of 2004 OOs together remains, but they are yet to manage an actual date.
Tim Swinson (Ldr 05) has been seen by many of us rugby fans at Murrayfield in recent years, wearing the Scotland or Glasgow jersey. When I bumped into him at the Oundle Drinks in Edinburgh in May he was nursing a damaged foot, which was hindering his chances of Rugby World Cup selection this time round. He reported that in November 2018 he attended James Kennedy’s (C 05) wedding. James Johnstone (S 05) was also in attendance. He watched the Calcutta Cup 2019 with James Kennedy and Rory Gammell (S 04), who has recently returned to Scotland. As Tim wrote, he and his wife, Elly, and daughter Imogen were about to visit Andrew Bull (L 05) and family in Bury St Edmunds, along with Caroline Chamberlain (Sn 05).
James Russell (F 03) is now living in Paris, having moved there with wife Claire in April, after he was asked to help set up the new Bank of America Europe office. It is early days, but they are enjoying it so far. He has found Paris to be a great city with an abundance of bars and
restaurants, and he is slowly remembering the French he learnt in Mrs Worthington's classes! He regularly sees Paul Colley (Ldr 03) and Merrik Baggallay (S 03) at Tottenham games, although he expects to be attending fewer games this season.
Moving back a generation, Michael Beamish (Sc 75) writes that he effectively retired in 2011, when he sold his distillery business, but he is a non-executive director of The Borders Distillery in Hawick. It was completed in June 2018 and since then it has been distilling malt whisky and gin. The gin, William Kerr’s, was launched in November 2018 and he also sells casks of whisky to private investors, but clearly it will be some years before the malt whisky is bottled. Michael is also involved with the R&A, helping the ‘Home of Golf’ with the organisation of some of its championships as well as refereeing, so he went to The Open at Portrush this summer. He is a member there, so it was a particularly good one to attend. In fact, his father played in the event (as an amateur) when it was last held there in 1951. At the R&A he has met up several times with Duncan Monroe (G 75), who has just moved from Cumbria to Elie and is about to retire. Last year Michael enjoyed catching up again with Paul Hilton (B 78), who followed him from Oundle to Edinburgh University and now lives on the West Coast.
Simon Wood (S 82) and his wife are adjusting to life with no children in the house, as both are now at university in England. Fortunately, he says they still seem to be able to talk to one another! Simon reports that his life over the past five years has been rather dominated by son Edmund’s ski racing for the Scotland Alpine team and then a year full time before illness and injury persuaded him to go to university instead. Simon now seems to spend as much time and money settling his bar bills as he did buying equipment and organising his racing calendar! Simon himself is still a very keen cyclist and commutes every day to work by bike, and can be found out and about in East Lothian during weekends. The only other OO he sees on a regular basis
is Nick Sweeting (Sc 82). He is still working in the arts, mostly in London, and is very proud of his eldest son, Archie, who has been selected for the Scotland U18 hockey team. Simon did have a brief but good telephone chat with Jonathan Garner (S 82) a year or so ago. He is thriving, living in Hong Kong with seemingly many children.
Adrian Grant (N 65) reports that his historical researches continue. Following the publication of his book on King Arthur, Adrian has now got a handle on the whole of his life, which makes the way the legends grew far more understandable. He has now embarked on a study to explain the origins of Fife and Kirkcaldy, which is again wholly new to scholarship. Adrian says that it is amazing how much "fake history" there is about.
Neil Cameron (G 58) says both he and his wife have managed to conquer the ‘rash moment’ syndrome, having both recently retired from honorary positions in county and club curling last April. That brought their respective curling careers to an end and they took the opportunity to sell up in Stirlingshire and move permanently to their holiday home of 14 years in Arisaig. It is a slower pace of life, which suits them just fine.
Archie Burdon-Cooper (C 55),
although still based in Scotland, finds himself spending an increasing
amount of time in North Yorkshire,
where he has acquired, modernised
and extended a former crossing
keepers’ cottage on the former
Easingwold Railway. Since he sold his house in British Columbia about six
years ago, he has not seen Iain Smith
(C 56), who still lives near Vernon BC,
but has been regularly in touch. Iain's youngest son, Murray, was over here
on business last October and stayed
with Archie for a couple of nights in Yorkshire. The only other OO he has
seen in the last year or so is Alan
Budd (C 55), when they both met up
at the Over-65 London Dinner in
2018. To celebrate his 80th birthday
early in 2018, he arranged a special steam-hauled lunch train on the North
York Moors Railway, where he was
joined by over 80 friends and relatives, including cousins Richard (C 58) and www
NEWS FROM HOME
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2018 –2019
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