THE

AYMESTREY

MAGAZINE

SUMMER 1996

OLD AYMESTREY ASSOCIATION

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR ENDED31ST MARCH. 1995

1 994

RECEIPTS£ £

80 Membership Subscriptions (including renewal of subscriptions

and donations to Association Funds)

205.00

39Abbey National plc - interest less tax on Investment Account

28.49

-Abbey National plc - gross interest on Treasurer's Account

3.67

506Excess of expenditure over income

118.05

625 355.21

EXPENDITURE£ £

625Contribution to School Magazine for year 1994/95

350.00

- Inland Revenue - Corporation Tax 5.21

625 355.21

BALANCE SHEET FOR YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 1995

1994 1994£ £ £ £

2,362Balance brought forward 1,855.65 Balances with Abbey

to 31st March, 1994 National plc:(506)

Less excess of expenditure (118.05) 705 Treasurers Accountover income No. K1424005

558.55

1,151 Investment Account 1,179.05No. K3649845

1,856 1,737.60 1,856 1,737.60

MINUTES OF THE 51st ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGOF THE OLD AYMESTREY ASSOCIATION

HELD AT AYMESTREY SCHOOLON SATURDAY 17TH JUNE 1995

PRESENT: George Johnson in the chair; The President Air Vice Marshall Nigel Blair-Oliphant, John Phipps,Anthony Thornley, Nick Coley, Georg & Philip Zoche, Toby & Ben Wise, James Alexander, Piers Gorman, Andrew Goadby, Daniel Taylor, Thomas Murphy and Hugh Griffith.

APOLOGIES were received from:- Douglas Birks, Lt. Col. Anthony Clayden, John Eyton Coates, Jack Coates, Simon Coates,Bill Dewing, Jonathan Edwards, James Edwards, John Essex, Tobyn Everitt, Geoffrey Howell, Richard Johnson, Abbas Kazerooni, Edward Lane, William Lane, Norris Leakey, Charles Leakey, Seumas, Sandy and Duncan MacLaren, Brian Massey, Ian McLeod, Andrew Moore, A. H. Slade and the Hon. Secretary Bill Stallard.

In the absence of the Chairman, the Chair was taken by the Vice Chairman George Johnson. As the Hon. Secretary Bill Stallard was unable to be present, the Minutes were taken by Toby Wise.The Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 18th June 1994 having been previously circulated were taken as read, confirmed and signed. The accounts for the year ended 31st March 1995 were presented and unanimously adopted.

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:-CHAIRMAN: George JohnsonVICE CHAIRMAN: Toby WiseHONOURARY SECRETARY / TREASURER: Bill StallardSCHOOL CORRESPONDENT: Gill GriffithCOMMITTEE MEMBERS: Daniel Taylor and Ben Wise to serve with Stephen Beard and James McLeod.

The need to elect a new School Correspondent recalled for the meeting Dan Asterley's long period of office in this role and his faithful memory of so many Old Boys, sadly no longer available. Gill Griffith was unanimously appointed School Correspondent.

Hugh Griffith proposed a vote of thanks should be registered, on behalf of the Association, to Bill Stallard for his generosity in funding the postage on over 400 copies of the magazine, year after year. Anthony Thornley seconded the motion which was carried with acclamation.

Daniel Taylor proposed that the high standard of this year's magazine should be officially recorded and this was seconded by Anthony Thornley.

It was resolved that the Association should contribute the sum of £350 to the cost of the production of the 1994 School Magazine.

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There was no other business.

George Johnson, as Chairman, thanked Mr. & Mrs. Hugh Griffith once again for their warm hospitality.

The Annual Dinner was held for the sixth time in the school dining room at Aymestrey and was attended by twenty four members and their guests.

OBITUARIES

David (W.E.) Davis (Uncle David) Aymestrey 1916-1921.

David Davis was head of BBC Children's Hour from 1953-1961 and of BBC Children's Programmes from 1961 to 1964. His was one of the most recognisable voices on the wireless and millions will remember him as the voice of Larry the Lamb in the Tales of Toy Town.He was born in Malvern and after Aymestrey went on to Bishop's Stortford College and then Queen's College, Oxford where he read Greats. He joined the BBC in 1935 as a musician to accompany visiting singers on Children's Hour but it was soon realised that despite his musical talents his microphone voice was his greatest asset. He enlisted in the RNVR in 1942 as an able seaman and was later commissioned. After being wounded he spent the remainder of the war in Forces Broadcasting. He returned to Children's Hour in 1946 to join David McCulloch (Uncle Mac).He visited Aymestrey in 1986 for lunch, on his way to open the Malvern College Preparatory Schools Arts Festival. In those days the prep. schools could perform their own plays at the festival and he was kind enough to go on stage after ours and say that he had seen many productions of Treasure Island but none to beat ours for the tension it created. He had many memories of his school days at Aymestrey, then in Malvern, and of 'Sir', Dan's father. In particular he remembered picnics on the Malvern Hills when they collected butterflies,

Sir announcing that 'General Allenby had entered Jerusalem' and most of all `Sir's' wonderful readings of Puck of Pook's Hill, Rewards and Fairies and the Pickwick Papers. He claimed that these were some of the happiest years of his life.He died on April 29th this year aged 87.

Mornay Sloane-Stanley (1935-1938)

Mornay Sloane Stanley was a well known local journalist who died at his home in Colwall recently. He worked for the Hereford Times, The Evening News and, until his retirement in 1990, at the Malvern Gazette and Ledbury Reporter.

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LEAVERS

I.R. Anderson - (Dhubai College) Came Summer 1995. Cricket XI, Cross Country and Choir.J. Aston - (The Chase) Came Autumn 1992 Cross Country, Cricket XI, Swimming & Choir. Colours for Swimming.B. Gibson - (Adams School) Came Autumn 1993. Soccer XI and Swimming.B. Griffin - (Shrewsbury) Came Autumn 1990. Judo 10th Mon. Cross Country. Choir. Prefect.A. Hewson - (Bristol Cathedral School) Came Autumn 1991.Cross Country, Soccer X1 and Athletics. Colours for Athletics and Drama. Choir. Grade V Singing. Judo 10th Mon. Distinction in E.S.B. exam.J. Read - (Warwick School) Came Spring 1990. Judo 10th Mon. Soccer X 1, Cross Country, Swimming, Cricket and Athletics. Colours for Cross Country, Swimming and Athletics. Prefect.M. Simpkins - (Wycliffe College) Came September 1989. Colours for Swimming. Judo 8th Mon. Choir. Scholarship for Technology.M.Watson - ( Hereford Cathedral) Came Autumn 1994.

NEW BOYS

Summer Term 1995I.R. Anderson

Autumn Term 1995L.G. Newton, J.P. Batten, H. Arnold-Harris, J. Chaplin and J.F. Tomson

Spring Term 1996

R.F. Aldworth

SCHOLARSHIPS

Congratulations to Anthony Davidson on his Music Exhibition at Malvern College.

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NEWS of OLD BOYSJames ALEXANDER (WRGS) is taking 'A' levels this year. He is in the third XI cricket team.Robert AUTY (King's) has seven GCSE's with Art at A* grade. He is going to spend eleven days on

one of the "Tall Ships" training schooners, this spring.Michael BEWS ('78-'83) is in his final year of a Ph.D in Computer Science and is engaged to be

married. He has started his own software company - Imagitech Ltd.Richard BLAIR-OLIPHANT ('75-'80) graduated with B. Mus. (Piano, Singing & Composition)

from Goldsmith's College, London University.David BLAIR-OLIPHANT (`76-'82) spent two months in Los Angeles with his pop group, financed

by an American company, having many of the group's pieces recorded.Matthew BURTON (WRGS) has three 'A' levels.Jonathan EDWARDS ('69~-'74) is married with two children and lives in Harpenden.Morton EDWARDS (WRGS) has taken part in house competitions for art and chess. He has joined the

RAF section of the CCF.John ESSEX ('80-'84) works for Traplet Video Productions in Upton-upon-Severn.Bradley GIBSON (Adams School, Newport) has settled in well.Piers GORMAN ('83-'86) is at De Montfort University , Leicester, reading Land Management.Roger GORMAN ('83-'88) is working for a year in a hotel in Jersey, as part of his Hotel and

Management Degree at Brooks University, Oxford.James GRIFFIN (Shrewsbury) is rowing in the A boat for the U I 5s.Ben GRIFFIN (Shrewsbury) is doing very well academically in the 3rd sets for Maths, English, French

and Science. He is taking French GCSE a year early.Simon GREEN-PRICE ('72-'77) is coaching rugby having gained his diploma with the Welsh Rugby

Union Coaching Scheme. He has been coaching the Luctonians and is now involved at county and national level, mainly with 18-21 year olds.

Neil HARRIS ('67- '72) has a second son .Oliver HEYNES (Manchester Grammar School) gained As in Maths and French in GCSE,which he

took early. He played for the first team at chess on board 8, at the Marlwood International Tournament, which they won for the first time. He has played squash for the second team and is in the Northern Tennis and Squash Club U 19 team which he has captained on two or three occasions.

Richard JOHNSON is responsible for crop production at Saxlingham Farms, near Holt, Norfolk. He has had great success with sugar beet.

Abbas KAZEROONI (King's) is a school monitor.Jason KIMPTON (`73-'77) is married with two boys. He lives in Kent and works for his father-in-law.William LANE ('77- '82) is enjoying teaching at Charterhouse where he is a House Tutor, teaches

history, coaches hockey and football and helps to run the drama. He also sings in a London choir - the Holst Singers.

Charles LEAKEY ( '60-'65) with friends, in his spare time, is doing up an old croft on the west coast, over looking the Summer Isles, north of Ullapool. His bookshop is doing well. Simon McGORMAN ('81-'84) is married and has two children. They also foster a boy aged ten. He works for the Social Services and lives in Worcester.

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Nicholas MICHELL has left the V lth Form College, having two A levels, and is taking a year out in Australia. He flew via Singapore to Perth, in February.

Tom MURPHY (King's) has ten GCSEs, with Art at A*.Andrew PERRYMAN ('76-'80) is married and has a daughter, born this year. He is manager of Great

Mills in Witney.R. PHILIPPS ('37-'41) is farming at Clyro.Anthony POWELL ('56-'62) has two daughters, the younger was born in February. He is being called as

an expert witness in a Public Inquiry about the Torbay ring road and has been involved with the future management of Nigel Mansell's woodlands on his golf course in East Devon. He also has a second career as a pianist, playing for singalongs in Old People's Homes and at wedding receptions. He would be interested to hear of any O.A.s in Devon.

Rodney POWELL ('65-68) runs a pony trekking farm near Hay-on-Wye.William RANKIN ('77-'81) is practising as a barrister in Liverpool.Nigel RICHARDSON ('79-'84) is at Sandhurst.Matthew RICHARDSON ('83-'88) is in New Zealand where he is playing rugby in the 1st XV for a

local club.David RICHMOND ('78 - '80) is married and has a daughter. He is in Germany with the Royal

Sherwood Forresters and is responsible for the maintenance etc. of all equipment for the regiment. The camp is fully operational and highly technical.

Jeremy SAWTELL ('82-'88) is in his final year at Reading University, reading agriculture. He is enjoying life and sharing a house with five friends. As the opportunities to farm are few, he has decided to do a fourth year at Cirencester and qualify as a Land Agent, with the ultimate aim of becoming a Chartered Surveyor.

Daniel SCOTT ('85-'88) is at the Guildhall School of Music and often works at the weekends, and in the evenings, at the Royal Albert Hall where he meets the rich and famous!

Mark SIMPKINS (Wycliffe) is enjoying life despite having to walk miles every day from his house to school! He took part in the National Fencing Championships at Darlington and came 14th in the Under 14s. He is also rowing in the Quad which beat the record (set by Wycliffe two years ago) at the City of Bristol Head of the River race.

Daniel TAYLOR ('80-'85) has bought his own house.Jonathan TAYLOR ('79-'81) is married and has a baby girl.Richard WHITE ('60-'65) is married with two children. He lives in Much Marcle and is a

farmer/property developer.Tim WELLSPRING ('82-'85) is Production Co-ordinator at London's Computer Film Company. CFC's

most recent work includes special effects for Braveheart, A Close Shave, City Hall and, shortly to be released, Mission Impossible

Justin WILLIAMS (Shrewsbury) has nine GCSEs at A* and two at A. He was in the Edinburgh Fringe in a musical, Jekyll, and he played Malcolm in the school play of Macbeth. He raised £160 for charity when he walked 44 miles. In his spare time he is preparing for Grade 7 piano and A level Art.

Rupert WILLIAMS (Shrewsbury) is rowing in the U15 B boat. He raised £150 for charity, after walking 32 miles.

Stuart WILLIAMS (Hereford Cathedral School) is rowing for the school. He also plays chess for the school and the county.

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Edward WILLIAMS (Hereford Cathedral School) is taking As and hopes to get at place at Cardiff.Toby WISE ('79-'85) had his company - visual and sound effects - featured on a BBC TV programme

in the new year. He has moved his company to Martley and calls it Light Unlimited.Adam WOOD ('74-'76) is married and has a daughter. He is working in Hertfordshire as a Chartered

Surveyor.Georg & Philip ZOCHE (`80-'81) were at Aymestrey for a term or two. They live in Munich and work

for their father who has designed, and now markets, a very special light weight, two stroke, aero diesel engine - Z0-01 A. This will provide light aircraft with 70 hp.

News of ex Members of Staff

Marcus CASH has been teaching for some years at a school in Kent. He is running the I.T. Department and is shortly to become Director of Studies.

James DRIVER is teaching in Surrey at Hall Grove where he is Director of Studies. He writes English Text books in his spare time, which are published by the Cambridge University Press

Simon PAGE is working for Del Monte where he is responsible for their exports to Belgium, France, Spain and South America.

GIFTS

We are most grateful to the following for their generous gifts:

Mr. & Mrs. Simpkins and Mark - a large scale map of the surrounding area.

Mrs. Hewson and Adam - wild life videos.Mr. & Mrs. Richardson - potatoes for November 5th.Mr. & Mrs. P. Williams - the new computer.Mr. & Mrs. P. Edwards - eating apples. Mr. & Mrs. Griffin - pears.Mr. & Mrs. Newton - model of an eagle and natural history encyclopaedia.Charles Leakey - a copy of Stolen Journey by Oliver Philpotts (O.A.)Ms. Gough - basketball nets, stands, etc.Mr. & Mrs. Richards & Ben for various pieces of games equipment.Ben Griffin - cricket bag and equipment.Mr. & Mrs. Boorn - Corel Clip-Art CD ROM

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The Chairperson, Secretary & The Friends of Aymestrey - A very great 'thank you' for all they have done for the school this year and in particular for the CD ROM Drive, extra computer memory and the Grolier Encyclopaedia CD ROM

We should like to thank Roland Simpkins for all the hard work and effort he put in, and still does, to

publicise the school, even though Mark has left.

The stage really came into its own at the end of last term and we should like to renew our thanks to Jeremy Cornwell who ironed out a few small problems this year. He must, also, have spent many hours making the boards for basket ball and then he and Chris Busby had a cold and wet experience putting them up one Sunday morning. We are most grateful.

It is hard to know how to thank Delphine Telfer for organising, and then with help from John Essex, editing the video of the school. It, was a mammoth task and must have taken hours of her precious time. John also came and took some shots - breakfast and billiards - which appear on the video. The finished product is of high standard and viewers are extremely enthusiastic.

It is so good to have Soozie Williams back as Chairperson and with so much energy, some of which she uses to bully DHG & GSG - for which we are very grateful!

Mr. & Mrs. Davidson have been kind enough to host two events for the friends this year and Mr. Davidson filmed "Oliver" and the other events on Open Day. The video is very good and his hard work is much appreciated by all the parents who now have a visual memento of their sons' lives at school.

ART

James Tomson won £500 worth of sports equipment for the school when Mrs. Wales entered him for the local Nat. West competition to design a Christmas card.

Hello! My name is James Tomson. I was so happy when it was announced that I had won the competition that I could feel tears filling up my eyes and I could not believe it. I had to go to the bank to receive the cheque and I felt proud because there had been lots of other children entering the competition. When I saw some of the other entries I was amazed that I had won because some of the cards were very good.

James Tomson

As usual, we took part in the Art Display at Malvern College in the Spring Term.

CRICKET

This was not a great season but we did have another splendid Fathers' Match. Read J., Anderson and Dhanoa all bowled well and with some sharp fielding the Fathers were bowled out for 113. Anderson (41) gave us a good start and, with contributions from Read J. and Dhanoa,the boys got the runs with two wickets to spare.Of the other matches, one of which was a remarkable tie - a most unusual result – one remembers Dhanoa's

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6 for 40 v the OAA followed by a 50 from Anderson. Read J's stubborn 26 when everyone else failed against the Abbey, and also his 4 for 30 when we were roundly beaten at Moffats.

There are some good juniors coming up and,with Mr. Major's expert coaching,prospects for next year look quite good.

ATHLETICS

Three boys achieved five star awards in both 3 Events and Pentathlon:- U 14 - A. HewsonU 12 - I. Anderson

U I I - M. Telfer

SWIMMING

As seems to be the pattern now the good, hot weather waits for the holidays so that although nothing like as cold as the old one the swimming pool is not very inviting to the average swimmer. We concentrated on the National Challenge awards and J. Read, M. Simpkins, J. Aston and L. Ludlow gained their Bronze. We took part at the Elms for the Limb Shield once again.

MACBETH

On June 29th, at the invitation of Mr. & Mrs. Williams, a party of ten visited the Ludlow Festival to see Richard the Third in the castle grounds. As always the play was beautifully presented, although,with the thermometer hovering on 90 degrees Fahrenheit, concentration for some was a little difficult at times!It was a memorable day, made more so by the scrumptious supper Mrs. Williams entertained us to on our way home.We are most grateful to our generous hosts for yet another Shakespeare experience.

CAMP

For the third consecutive year we were grateful to the Browns for their excellent facilities and hospitality at Sutton Court.As always camp is a time for learning - in particular learning about ourselves. This year Hewson and Gibson learnt that they liked to walk further than the main party! To facilitate this need they carefully packed their equipment in such a way that, at strategic times (i.e. when bringing up the rear) items of clothing fell off, or out, of their haversacks. The discovery later enabled them to fulfil their desire to walk further by setting off to retrieve them. The improved packing techniques allowed further items to escape along with previous escapees, until finally it seemed that we were accompanied by mobile washing lines! To everyone's credit we managed to get closer to school than previous groups, before calling for transport.

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REMEMBRANCE DAY

Four boys, E. Brown, J. Marriott S. Read and D. Busby, were interviewed by a reporter from B.B.C. Hereford and Worcester and were asked to give their thoughts on what Remembrance Day meant to them. The interview was broadcast on Remembrance Day and Mandi Harris taped it for the parents to hear.

CROSS COUNTRY

Our team results were disappointing but we were not surprised having seen the size of the opposition last year. Some individual results have been encouraging and a keen group of runners is developing at the junior end of the school.At the Preparatory Schools Championships at Malvern the juniors came 10th out of 16. The District Trials took place at the Old Hills during the coldest spell of weather that we have experienced for a long time.

Dhanoa and Busby volunteered to run and finished 19th and 20th respectively, out of 36 runners.The Cross Country Relay Championships at Abberley have now become a national event with 45 teams competing this year from as far away as Norfolk, Yorkshire and the Southern Counties. Aymestrey finished in 42nd position in the senior age group. Although the team finished low in the final position, Telfer ran an extremely fast first leg to finish individually in 4th place - at one stage he was leading - and this was captured on film by a newspaper photographer. This was a very good run considering both the strength of the opposition and the fact that he was young enough to be in the U 11 s. We were not able to run a junior team because of illness.We had more success in the event held at St. Richard's when the U 11 s came 2nd, Telfer coming in 3rd.Many boys have run extremely well in school over the 1500m woodland course. They all run this course and this year every boy managed to improve his own time, some by more than a minute. A new record of 5 rains. 59 secs. was set by Telfer.The following represented the school:Seniors:- E. Brown, A. Dhanoa, D. Busby, S. Read, D. Lewis & I. Anderson. Juniors:- M. Telfer, C. Cooper, J. Edwards, P. Williams, J. Chaplin, C. Newton & T.Underwood.

Colours were awarded to E. Brown, A. Dhanoa, D. Busby and M. Telfer.

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RUGGERFor various reasons this was a poor rugby season and, very sadly, we have lost our rugby tradition. The new safety laws make it more difficult for the small schools to play matches - in the old days tough ten year olds would be playing in 1st XV matches but now this is not allowed and there must not be more than two years' difference in age. We took some boys up to the coaching sessions run by Mr. Major on a Sunday morning but few now are mad keen on the game.

SOCCERWhat with frozen ground in January, snow in February and then very heavy rain - not to mention a crocked coach - football never really got under way. We only managed to play one match in the balmier days of March when we lost to a good Moffatts 'A' team on their ground. Thanks to some quick opportunism by the forwards we were 2 goals up at the interval but that was playing down hill and down wind. The second half was sterner stuff. The captain, Marriott, played bravely and intelligently in goal but even so Moffatts, who began to play much better, scored five times.

Ludlow and Dhanoa could be quite effective in the centre and the latter has a long throw. Read, Davidson, Underwood and Edwards all had their moments in attack, but, except for Underwood none has much idea of combining with others. Tomson, Busby and Allen worked hard in defence but, like so many others in the team, they tended to be one footed. No matter how enthusiastic you may be if you cannot use both feet and take, and give passes, you cannot call yourself a footballer. If the juniors will work on these skills we shall have a better team next year.

Marriott was awarded his colours.

MUSIC

The following grades were passed this year:

S. Llewellyn - Piano Grade 1 W. Bickham - Singing Grade 1 S. Read - Singing Grade 3

My Grade I Piano ExaminationIt was the last few minutes before the exam. and Read and Bickham were with me so I was not alone. I

was a little nervous. Soon the lady came in and said, 'It's your turn now', and then guided me to the examination room. The room was big and lofty with a grand piano in it. The examiner was dressed in black and was sitting before a very large table with some papers on it. After a while I began to get used to it. I got the start of most of the songs wrong but then it was all right. About two and half weeks later I had the result - I had passed!

Stephen Llewellyn

We took part, as usual, in the Dean Close and Malvern College Festivals.

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Worcester Competitive Music Festival with Speech and DramaWe entered the Speech and Drama part of the festival this year as well as the Music. Although the choir did not do as well - they came fourth with a Merit, Anthony Davidson won his class for U14 Treble Solos with Honours and sang in the Winners' Concert which was broadcast. For the sixth year running he won the class for Violoncellos or Double Bass and was awarded the Sybil Russell Shield, which is a tremendous achievement.

Charles Cooper won the 9 yrs. and under for Verse Speaking and Edward Brown the 18yrs. and Under for Public Speaking.

AYMESTREY BOARDERS' CHALLENGE

The O.A.s who were here with Dan will remember the walks, runs, night journeys, etc. that made up his pentathlon scheme. In the seventies it became too dangerous to allow boys to go outside the grounds in twos or small groups and we also started the 3 As. national awards. However, this year we have introduced a similarly challenging scheme which involves night journeys round the grounds, fires, knots, abseiling, assault course and survival training. Mr. Busby has come in to instruct in abseiling, survival, orienteering and archery. The latter two will be added to the challenge. The scheme will be in three stages - Bronze, Silver and Gold. As yet only the first stage has been tackled and Brown, Ludlow and Busby have their Bronze.

Climbing the limeTo be able to climb the lime all the leaves have to come out and you have to stick to the rules. One of these is that you have to have three parts of you touching the tree, i.e. two hands and one foot or two feet and one hand. Another is that you must test a branch before you put all your weight on it.

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Some places have special names, such as Seniors' Writing Desk, Witches Ladder, Witches Window, Chicken, Crash Dummy, Angel Falls and Crows' Nest. Crows' Nest is supposed to have £10 in it. Last year somebody fell from Read J's. Dare Route but did not seriously hurt himself.

David Busby

ENGLISH SPEAKING BOARD

This exam. has now become part of life at Aymestrey because Mr. Durham prepares the boys so well. It means that they learn now the art, which a great number of grown ups find so hard - of speaking in public. The results this year were again extremely good. The categories are:- unsuccessful, pass, good pass, very good pass, credit and distinction.

Senior IntroductoryB.Gibson, B. Griffin & M. Simpkins - Very Good Pass J. Read - CreditA. Hewson - Distinction

Junior Grade IVJ. Boorn, D. Lewis & S. Read - Very Good PassD.Busby, J. Cornwell & M. Telfer - Credit

Junior Grade 11J. Edwards, W. Bickham, N. Eastaff & T. Underwood - Good Pass J. Allen, S. Llewellyn & K.Thomas - Very Good PassC. Newton, M. Watson, P. Williams & C. Cooper - CreditE. Jones - Distinction

THE GARDEN WOOD

At the end of the Christmas Term 1994 Mr. & Mrs. Westwood moved to Crown East Cottage and bought the Garden Wood. He started at once to bring back life to it and restore it to its fullglory. He hopes to coppice it all in five yearsAs well as coppicing he has started country crafts and in his kiln is making traditional English charcoal, which he sells for £5 a bag. We go down there to help him when we can and have been making kypsie baskets which are made out of hazel. They are good fun to make but they take a time.

E. Brown & P. Williams.(Mr. Westwood takes guided walks round the wood. Ring 01905 425645 if you are interested.)

THE THAI CONNECTION

DHG & GSG taught General Somchai and Lt. Col. Tanit at their previous school and Tanit's brother, Chansil, came to Aymestrey (66-'68). Unfortunately he was killed in a car accident in Thailand in which Tanit was injured.

We stayed in Bangkok last summer for two nights and were royally entertained by the Hiranyasthitis. It was a most enjoyable visit and every detail was meticulously planned for our comfort and entertainment.

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One of our visits was to the Rose Garden - a major tourist attraction outside Bangkok, which is owned by the Yuvaboons. There Tanit entertained us all to lunch and to displays of Thai dancing, sword fighting and many other delights. It was a memorable two days.

OLIVER

We took the boarders to see Mandi Harris's production of "Excerpts from Oliver', in Malvern, and were so impressed with everything about it, that we took her up on her offer to do some drama here. We certainly did not regret the decision and in five weeks she produced Oliver, a little altered, and it was a great success. Mrs. Pamela Harris, Mandi's mother, dressed the cast quite beautifully - the clothes that did not fit she altered - and her father, Mr. Neil Harris came as advisor and stage manager. He lost his job, however, as Patrick Williams, after the first rehearsal had the whole thing organised - exits and entrances, positions, lighting, etc!

We are most grateful to the Harris family for their hard work, inspiration, expertise and patience.

Many thanks to David Read for the following:-

Parents want more OliverFamily and friends visiting this year's Open Day had a special treat in the form of an adaption of the musical 'Oliver'.Produced by parent and drama teacher Mandi Harris, and dressed with skill and expertise by her mother, Mrs. Pamela Harris, the story was narrated in humourous fashion by Edward Brown, making much of mislaying his crib sheets in top hat and coat pockets.

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The musical opened in traditional fashion with a stirring chorus of 'Food, glorious food' presided over by a fearsome and stern Mr. Bumble played by Arun Dhanoa. Patrick Williams emerged from the chorus line to sing a strong and tuneful 'Oliver', to be followed by Stuart Read, looking considerably more spruce than normal, in his sackcloth outfit, as Oliver, singing 'Where is love?' At least one mother had a lump in her

throat at this point. The arrival on stage of Harry Arnold-Harris as the Artful Dodger brought fresh peals of laughter from the appreciative audience as, with Oliver, he bounced energetically through, `Consider yourself at home, under the watchful eye of James Boom's policeman. Adding to the good natured humour were the silent scene changes, carried out with Chaplinesque timing by Kyle Thomas, and a fitting prelude to the entrance of the tallest Fagin - in proportion to the rest of the cast - yet seen in the long history of this production. The hirsute Mr. Griffith was soon in full swing with the chorus singing,'Gotta pick a pocket or two'. The boys seemed to be taking full advantage of being freely allowed to pick the headmaster's pockets.

James Marriott and Christopher Newton certainly caused a stir arriving on stage as Nancy and Bett. Their renditions of 'I'd do anything' appearing very sentimental up to the moment when the Artful Dodger had to sing `I'd do anything, for one kiss, anything'. It seems that some things over-ride the call of the greasepaint.

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Fagin conducted the chorus in a delightful version of 'Be back soon', before the show wound up to an enthusiastic climax with all the cast joining, 'Who will buy'? Messrs Davidson, Williams and Jones were outstanding in this number as the three flower girls, though it is sometime since I have heard girls sing with such deep voices as these delicate ladies!

There was long applause at the final curtain, and great enthusiasm amongst the parents for the excellent work put into the show by Mandi Harris and all the cast. More please Mandi!

David Read

Dogsbody writes:- Before it started I felt cold and shaky. It seemed like ages until Mr. G. gave us the signal. As I walked down the stairs I felt hot all over. I tried to forget about the audience but it was hard. As I got down some people laughed and I felt a bit better. After that I was not not hot and cold and shaky. I was not nervous any more. When it was all over I was glad. I enjoyed the play in the end.

Kyle Thomas

The Rose Seller, Workhouse boy, stage manager and electrician writes:- I played the part of the rose seller. I was dressed in a green dress, a wig of the same colour as my hair and a mop cap coloured white. I opened the Finale by singing, 'Who will buy my sweet red roses, two blooms for a penny'. It was good fun for me

because I enjoy singing loudly and that is what I could do. Also I did not feel nervous because I was enjoying it so much. Unfortunately it was all over so quickly.

Patrick Williams

Mr. Davidson filmed the Open Day events and has produced an excellent video. It has been a long and arduous task for him but it is a marvellous record to have of the music, the French play and Oliver, and parents are delighted with it. Very many thanks, yet again, to the Davidson family.

Some OAs might be interested in the following, composed and sung by Anthony Powell at the Aymestrey dinner in 1986.

In days of old, when we were young, To Aymestrey School a toast was sung, By Dan of course, the Headman he, At Bustup Dinner - not high tea!

He taught us how to sing this song, Enjoy good tunes, obey the gong!We loved his base game, minus shoes, And climbed the lime - Greys, Greens and Blues.

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We were good scouts, as Dan did wish, And went to camp, to watch him fish. In spite of rain and flooded tents, All Cuthberts kept their commonsense.

We're pleased to see so many here, To witness that momentous year. In sixty-one when we were tots, We beat the rest by lots and lots!

We tell a lie - Oh, Dan would say: A minor mark should come our way -But in those games we usually won: We never lost - that wasn't done!

Each team was coached by you-know-who: A motley crowd became a crew. We gave our all to get those tries: With Jay and Powell `twos no surprise.

When stumps were out in bright hot sun, Up wicket we did run and run. Our bowlers entered in the fray: The best were Conner and MacRae.

When soccer finished off the year, We all relaxed without a tear:We'd got the goals, we'd been good sports, With Tuthills, Barnes and all sorts.

It's twenty-five years from that day, When we helped Dan and Mrs. 'A,To boost the School, correct all faults, With porridge, rock cakes, cods and salts.

And here we are all much more big, So we can booze and have a cig!

Meeting her MajestyOn Friday, 3rd May, 1996 I had the honour of meeting, and being officially presented to, Her Majesty, The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.She had been invited to open the new library at the west end of Hereford Cathedral, which was built to house the Mappa Mundi and the famous chained libraries of Hereford. Before the Queen visited the library itself she unveiled a commemorative plaque in College Hall, in the presence of John Paul Getty, by whose great generosity the Mappa Mundi had been saved for Hereford.I was commissioned by the Friends of Hereford Cathedral to write an anthem to be given its first performance on the day of the opening ceremony and a leather bound copy of the score was made, which I had great pleasure in presenting to Her Majesty. (While waiting to present this I realised that my hands were very cold but luckily I was standing next to a radiator so I was able to do something about it!) I am

fortunate in having a very good friend, Philip Sharpe, who is a poet. He wrote the text for the anthem entirely based around the images of, and containing quotations from, the Mappa Mundi. The title of the piece, 'Ecce Testimonium Meum' (Behold my signs) can be found in the quotation scroll above Christ's head, who sits in glory at the very top of the ancient map.

Stephen Gowland

S.T.A. Tall Ships Training Trip, April 1996My dad found out about the S.T.A. when he read about it in the Daily Mail and I first made plans about it

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in March 1995. I decided with my parents that I would pay half the fees for the trip and they would pay the other half. The S.T.A. very kindly paid £200.

On April 4th we landed in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands at 5.45 p.m.and a coach picked up us all, including the Captain and the four permanent crew, and took us to Las Palmas where the Sir Winston Churchill was moored. We were then split up into 'watches' . There were three in all and I was in Fore Watch. There were thirteen training crew in each watch who were led by their Watch Leader and Watch Officer.

After our basic training, which included climbing up to the Crow's Nest and back down the other side, we eventually left Las Palmas at about 1.20 p.m. the next day. A couple of miles out we practised tacking which involved all three watches at first and then eventually just two of the three. We became very good at it.Over the next day and night we sailed west to La Palma. The watches were doing their four hours on watch and eight hours off, in turn., The one night watch was on from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. which was very tiring. What made it worse was that I was very sea sick for the first two days along with 80% of the rest of the crew. We arrived early on the third morning and then had a coach trip around the volcanoes on the island and also had a nice swim. That night we explored the small harbour town and left early the next morning to head for the western tip of Tenerife, where we anchored under the huge cliffs and swam off the ship in the deep blue waters. We then headed for Gomera and arrived late that afternoon. We had shore leave until 12 a.m. and I was on harbour watch from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. - we only did hourly watches in harbour. Next morning we sailed around the coast of Gomera and then, on the way to Tenerife, we did a 'dummy man overboard'. We motor sailed from Tenerife, because there was no wind, and that same evening were very lucky to see two whales, about 200 yards from the ship.

That night we had a Force 7 wind and rough seas. I was on watch from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. and it was very hard work, especially when we had to take the main gaff down, but our watch officer said that we worked extremely well.On the way back to Las Palmas we headed north straight into Force 7 North Easterlies so we had to switch on the engines. We had to force our way through some rough seas that afternoon and arrived under sail back in Las Palmas harbour, where we dropped anchor because anotDer ship was in our berth. The next day we berthed and I was asked to have lunch with the captain, which was great. We had bigger servings than the others, as well! The next day we were very sad to leave the Sir Winston Churchill. At Gatwick I exchanged telephone numbers and said goodbye to my new friends.

Robert Auty

Aymestrey is having a Fete on 6th July and, it may interest O.A.s to know, the boys are compiling a cookery book of school recipes which will be on sale. Athelney will be in it, with the secret ingredient missing. At the fete there will be some Athelney to taste and there will be a competition to guess the secret ingredient. It is guaranteed that if anyone guesses it the fact will be acknowledged and a prize will be awarded.

As always P.J. Wellspring has been a major help in the printing of this magazine. Without him we would have great difficulties, as the editor does not begin to understand modern technology!

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