Page 93 - OO_2019

I asked the OO Club for the updated list for this patch. I discover we are known to them as ‘Region 12’. Using all the skills we can muster with ‘Geordie Analytica’, the team has given our data a stir. I asked for news of knighthoods, books published, crazy hobbies. I got livestock, oral hygiene and a good chunk of child- rearing! Here in Region 12 we live happily with low expectations, but free-range diets, extensive offspring and good breath!
Starting properly north, David Home-Miller (N 93) writes: “Does Region 12 include Berwickshire? I am still alive, just, and have nothing to report. The children are growing, dinner party chat seems to be all about schools and everyone around me seems obsessed by horses. Sorry not to help you outshine those other districts. Oh, to be Lincolnshire.”
I strongly suspect David talks to those fantastic Joicey sisters, including Miranda (W 18), who are great horsewomen in the Borders, and possibly also to cousins Will (Ldr 08) and Richard Joicey (Ldr 11), because there’s nothing else to do on a dark winter weekend up there!
This year’s newly-minted OOs are
Ollie Mills (B 19), George Gibson (Ldr 19), Patrick Kirkup (Sc 19), Tom Baker-Cresswell (Ldr 19), Harry King (G 19) and Emily Trevelyan (K 19). They will observe the change from Oundle holidays spent travelling persistently south, whether for the Hunstanton Tennis Tournament or a meet with Mark (D 85) and Paul Chatterton (S 88) at The Quorn Hunt.
Now, in student season, a tsunami of OOs flood north to Newcastle or Durham unis, giving us OO socialising on the doorstep. Region 12 has better nightlife than ‘down South’ and six Jägerbombs for a fiver! We are glad to welcome you for a sojourn and hope in later life you consider a return (see below).
Student data does not hit ‘Geordie Analytica’, but my spies see you regularly buying slabs of beer at Tesco in Jesmond or downing the
North-East
By Charlie Hoult (Sc 85)
‘happy hour’ deals at Jam Jar. For the record, it’s only Old Etonians and Marlburians who shop at Waitrose on Osborne Road. You have been warned!
Age is all relative and I’ve had to do some maths to reconcile both Jonathan Hunter (G 02) and Roger Dargue (G 61) both talking about “young families” and different Helens, despite a gap of 40 years. Jonathan reports a second thriving hive of bees, two-year-old son Rowan, two chickens, a Border Collie and an allotment. He qualified as a chartered accountant in June and is now a member of the ACCA. With partner Helen, he was in the final stages of wedding plans for the ‘big day’ on 14th September. Meanwhile, Roger reports: “My wife, Helen, and I are new to the North-East after completing a move from London up to Newcastle this April in order to be near our young family.” He’s a newcomer trying to understand what the locals are saying, enjoying the coast and countryside on days out.
If you’re not busy, Roger, your contemporary, Iain Stewart- Fergusson (Lx 63), near Beamish, is looking for volunteers to share his hobby of restoring semi-classic cars. In that vintage, I’d add Charles Escritt (St A 68), who has come to
roost in the Tyne Valley after years in the Czech Republic. I met him at a Conservative drinks party in the summer, where he had taken charge of the bar. Hence, my notes on his brother, Anthony Escritt (St A 60), are a bit squiffy. Anthony may still be in Norfolk or he may have moved north after decades in the Fens!
Andrew Galbraith (St A 88), son of local Conservative Party chairman John, is thriving in the motor insurance sector, near Swindon. Despite this all sounding ultra-dull, Andrew is the most fun company on his regular visits north!
While we are on politics, the only other Region 12 Tory MP north of the Tyne is Emily Trevelyan’s mum, Anne-Marie. She and Hexham MP Guy Opperman helped persuade me to stand as a Conservative for the recent election for Mayor of the Newcastle City region to sit alongside Messrs Andy Burnham, Andy Street and Sadiq Khan. Despite being heavily outgunned in a Labour stronghold, with UKIP, Liberal and Independent opponents as well, I reached the transfer vote run-off, so second preferences were counted for only Labour and me. Out of 220,000, I took 60,089 votes to be runner-up behind Labour, who registered 76,862. For anyone interested and with a strong stomach, see VoteHoult on Facebook.
For my party selection meeting, Simon Bevan (Lx 64) came over the causeway from Lindisfarne to vote for my candidacy – the first time he’d been to Newcastle for 10 years! Such are the tides that cover the road to Holy Island, he had to wait four hours until 1am to get home. That’s OO loyalty and dedication!
I received valiant campaign
support in many quarters, but
special mention to Steve Bedford (C
81)’s wife, Catherine, and Adrian
Waddell (S 77). Steve must have workshops running in his blood as a director of Osbit, which makes
awesome sub-sea cable equipment,
but he deputised to Catherine for the www
NEWS FROM HOME
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2018 –2019
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