Page 110 - OO_2019

www of travelling to the UK for the Cricket World Cup/Ashes, but unfortunately that didn’t materialise. So, Jes had to make do with going to bed late and waking up early to watch England’s varied performances. Cue onset of anxiety, with the added bonus of the likelihood of a severe ribbing if England lost, so the win over Australia in the semi-final was doubly good. Jes’ children are doing well at school. Son Jack is more focused on sport (playing cricket, football and basketball) than studies, whilst Alana is more focused on studies, but has taken up cricket and basketball. Job-wise, Jes is enjoying the more relaxed work/life balance of working in a family-owned agency – as opposed to the corporate culture of a global agency group. Sometimes smaller is better!
David concludes with his own news, which has been much the same as previous years and inevitably resolves around work – in which context David has seen Richard Piper (Lx 66) – golf, fishing, cricket-scoring and rugby-watching. Indeed, David bumped into Ian Hodgson (Sc 78) on one of many sorties to Twickenham. David has also continued to enjoy his role as Honorary Reporting Accountant to the OO Club, which provides the opportunity to revisit Oundle and catch up with all those who are involved in the Club. The only bad point of the year was a nasty head- on accident in February with a Romanian who thought he was driving in Romania. David’s Discovery won the head-on contest and the air bags did the job, but the end result was a write-off for the Discovery. Just to make matters worse, the Romanian was uninsured and the car that ended up in the ditch was not taxed, MOT-d or SORN-ed. Fortunately, David and his passenger, AJ Johnsen, were unharmed by the experience, but David’s insurers were less well off!
Tim Gummer (Lx 00) is a corporate tax lawyer and partner at Ashurst LLP in London, and is still happily married and living in Surrey with his wife (Frances) and two children (Henry and Owen).
John De Lucy (D 67) noted that,
apart from the delightful and consuming time with their four children and 10 grandchildren, he is mostly working with Chinese museums exhibiting their historic family collection of photographs (over 30,000) taken during nearly 70 years in China from 1886-1952. Last year he exhibited and gave talks at Weihai Museum and Shandong Museum in Jinan, while this year it has been with Xiamen Museum, with more to come at Beijing, Tianjin and Jinan again.
Howard Macnamara (Sc 49) reported that he is looking forward to his annual holiday in the South of France and that he had attended the funeral of John Athron (Lx 51) in early July. He is awaiting with pleasure the annual West Sussex Dinner on 6th November.
Guy Pashley (D 79) is enjoying a sabbatical following 35 years in the City and fulfilled an ambition by attending the West Sussex Dinner for the first time in November, which he greatly enjoyed. Whilst contemplating his next career options - if any (retirement appears very appealing!) - Guy now lives in Surrey with his wife and two children.
James Banks (S 96) has this year left McLaren after nearly 18 years with the brand to start his automotive venture, LaSource, specialising in the sale and acquisition of very rare and collectible sports and competition cars. He lives in Guildford with his wife, Debra, and their two children.
Malcolm Watson (D 66) reported the sad news that his father, John Watson (D 37), died, aged 99, on 3rd July. He was a great fan of the Over- 60s' Lunch, attending five of the first six held. It is understood that they are still the only father and son to have attended.
James Radcliffe (Sn 58) is still an usher at Glyndebourne and still running if nearly 80!
Hamish Donaldson (Ldr 54) has had a busy year. Last October he directed the local opera company’s production of the musical Chess. Then in May he ran the eighth Haslemere Festival with its mix of evening concerts (from classical to jazz, folk to opera), weekend family events (dog show, classic car show,
cycling sportive, Gruffalo) and weekday talks (mainly anniversaries, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s 500th and local affairs). This year it is brother Malcolm Donaldson’s (Ldr 67) 70th birthday, with family celebrations planned in Steyning and Haslemere.
Peter Brown (Lx 57) recounts that this may be only the second time he has replied! He started in Laxton in 1951, with, amongst others, Clive Robertson and Ian Sellars, both very good friends, who have since died. National Service followed in the Royal Navy and he then attended Christ’s College, Cambridge, to read Mechanical Sciences. A career followed in the sugar industry in Liverpool, London, Kenya and then around the world. He is now retired in Kent with three children and five grandchildren. He is still sailing, although now only in a small motor cruiser. Roger Walkinton (Sc 76) retired from fundraising (12 years for St Paul’s Cathedral and previously 21 years for the National Trust) last year and is now enjoying a liberated lifestyle, playing the organ, accompanying on the piano, singing in more choirs in Sussex and London, going on more holidays and enjoying three young grandchildren! As an active Grocer Liveryman, he runs into several fellow OOs at Grocers’ Hall.
James Glover (Sc 91) is still married with three children aged 15, 13 and 10, and commutes to London from North-West Hampshire most days. He is loving the new job working for a small fund research and investment consultancy. The highlight of his OO news this year was attending the Troubleshooters’ 50th Anniversary Dinner, where he saw Matt Parker (Sc 91) and Tom Barnes (Sc 91) for the first time since leaving the School, having shared dormitories, studies and bedsits with them for five years! There were several other contemporaries at the dinner, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, as well as many of the more familiar faces from the various Troubleshooter matches. In June the Chute Cricket Club hosted their annual six-a-side tournament, where OOs were well represented, with
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THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2018 –2019
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