NEWSLETTERAPRILNo.2 – April – 2013

For the Members, Family and Friends of the

OLD WEALDEN ASSOCIATIONJoint Editors:

ALISTAIR McGECHIE (1957)PETER LUCK (1943)

Reunion :27th April 2013The Reunion forms are out, many of themreturned already. Have you sent yours backyet?

Even if you can’t come please send theform back and remember to put your news onthe back. We can use it in these Newsletters.

_______

Your News …FROM SYLVIA ROBINSON …Thank you for your reminder about the next HWCSReunion and the news from various ex-pupils. It isalways interesting to hear what other people havebeen involved in over the years. I haven’t got anyparticularly interesting news, though I keep myselfvery busy, mainly with voluntary activities. As aformer infant teacher trainer in Zimbabwe for a goodnumber of years, I enjoy helping individual childrenwith their reading at a local Primary school; I’m avolunteer “teacher’s assistant” with a first levelEnglish class for people from around the world at ouradult education college; and I help twice a week inmy church’s little café. But none of this is worthputting in the Newsletter – I just wanted toacknowledge receipt of your email.Hoping to be at the Reunion.Sylvia Robinson[ED:– Sylvia, I hope you won’t mind if I disagree withyou about the worth of putting your news in theNewsletter. I always find it extremely interesting to readwhat OWs have been doing and I know others agree.]

FROM JEAN HOOK …I am really sorry that I cannot come to the Reunionthis year. I have very much enjoyed the three times Ihave been in recent years, and had hoped to unearthmore of my contemporaries for this, the 80thanniversary.

Unfortunately, the date has clashed with the finaltwo performances of “La Belle Hélene”, the show inwhich I am appearing at Erith in Kent.

If you think the readers of the magazine would liketo know a little of my Am-Dram experiences over thelast 40 years, I would be happy to submit a humorousaccount. You may ask what it has to do withHWCGS, but I was inspired to dance through my PEteacher, Mrs Fitzgerald and her encouragement, andfirst joined a musical show as a dancer in 1973, whiletraining to be a ballet teacher.I hope everyone has a great day![ED: I have asked Jean to write her piece for a futureNewsletter.]

FROM MARIAN (HARDING) WHITEHEAD(1948)I am so sorry to miss the Annual Reunion but I shallbe on my annual trip to Washington DC, USA, tovisit my daughter and grandsons. My daughter is anindependent documentary film maker and has justcompleted a film about the life and artistry of apioneering woman photographer of the “rock androll” era in Seattle. For details go to:www.heraimistruemovie.comThe children of Old Wealdens still makewaves!

SHIRLEY (ROWLES) READ (1945) …Shirley regrets she will be unable to attend theReunion – but she has contributed some extracash, along with her subscription, to go towards thebubbly …!

YOUR NEWS: Please send to: alistair.mcgechie@btopenworld.com or

p.luck123@btinternet.com

THELMA (GYOURY) WOOD(1943) writes …

I like the idea of sparkling wineand anniversary cake! I’ll raise myglass of sherry and drink to TheWeald but I probably won’t standup and sing the School Song! I hopeall goes well, which I am sure it will,and that you get a good attendance.

Hope you are all in good health. Iam fine (just the ever-present backtrouble) and keep myself as busy asever. At the moment I am resting onmy laurels, having just producedone of our quarterly 24-pagenewsletters! I run a Theatre Groupand go every month. I also run aWriting Group and am a member ofthe Music Appreciation, Latin,Reading, Computer, Comedy,Poetry and Cryptic CrosswordGroups!!! I also do some child-minding for my two young grand-sons (7 and 9) taking them to andmeeting them from school whenrequired. So you see, I’m having apretty active retirement!

Please remember me to the gangand to anyone else who may enquireif I’m still in the land of the living!

SANDRA (SEAMER)MORGAN (1943) writes …

After 45 years on the WorplesdonParish Council I have had a roadnamed after me. Morgan Close is asmall group of houses about half amile from my home in Worplesdon.

SHEILA FITZGERALD (Staff)(1958) writes …

I find it quite amazing that in twoweeks’ time I shall be the same ageas the school!!!

I am still being reminded “not torun” as I always have done – and Irealise how fortunate I am to beable to do so. So often OWs are inmy thoughts – twelve of the happi-est years of my life – lovely to see somany every year – long may it con-tinue.

ANGELA ROSEMARY (WEST)BUISSON (1947) writes …

Sorry that I can’t make it to theReunion. I shall be in Shropshire ona week’s walking holiday with King’sLynn Ramblers. Happily my hus-band and I are still pretty fit. I also

enjoy Swimming, and English andScottish Country Dancing.

I am membership secretary of theHunstanton U3A and I also play thehandbells, so I keep very busy. I amat the moment reading “La Muertede Lord Edgware” by AgathaChristie in Spanish.

I send best wishes to anyonebetween 1947 and 1952 who mightremember me.

PAT (PAMPLIN) MITCHELL(1943) writes …

I sailed for Northern Rhodesia(now Zambia) in 1956, as a NursingSister, and 18 months later cameback to All Saints, Harrow Weald tobe married to a Yorkshire man I hadmet while abroad, before returningto Africa for the next 30 years.

I had always kept in touch withJean (Hall) Robson, Margaret(Evans) Fuller, Margaret (Nicholls)Cole and Audrey (Farrow) Martin(all 1943). We used to meet biannu-ally together with husbands.

I used to be a golfer and havealways loved entertaining. We live atBedford now which is in easy reach

of Milton Keynes, Cambridge andNorthampton.

We are members of the EnglishSpeaking Union which is a veryinteresting organisation. My maininterest now is Bridge – I play twiceweekly at the Club and some socialbridge as well.

We have a family of three; all arein the UK living in London,Nottingham and Wilmslow.

Pat says anyone who is passingnear to Bedford would be very wel-come. Call 01234 354879.

BURSARY APPLICATIONPENDINGThe grandson of Margaret (Kay)Paine (1941) and son of LindaPaine-Winnett (6th Form 1980) hassubmitted a claim on the MemorialBursary Fund for a trip in the sum-mer of 2014 to Ecuador.Rowan Paine-Winnett is expectingto be involved in wildlife conserva-tion projects and community serviceprojects. He is currently washingcars amongst other things to helpraise the approximate £4,000 whichwill be needed to fund the trip.

THESE TWO oldie Old Wealdens, now living on the island of Sark,came to Harrow Weald in 1938 and 1936 respectively but didn’t

really meet until after the war when they were both regulars at OldWealden functions: badminton, table tennis, mixed hockey, dances, etc.They were married in 1950.

Our photo shows Eve and Roy taken in the summer last year on theterrace of their house, on the cliff and facing east towards France.

Recently they have been experiencing blizzards which is most unusualand pretty devastating. Not unlike what the UK has had !

Recent 62nd Wedding Anniversary Celebration forEvelyn and Roy Cook

AFTER MANY YEARS in localgovernment I retrainedand started a second career

as a potter. I did the ceramics BAat the University of Westminsterin Northwick Park, one of the bestin the country. The seed of thisnew career was sown fifty yearsago in Connie Passfield’s art room.Although pottery was not part ofthe syllabus, there was a potter’swheel in the classroom and I hada go on it. It was difficult: you hadto stand on one foot, kick thetreadle with the other, whichcaused you to wobble, and thenmake a pot. These school wheelswere designed to put people offpottery but it failed to put me off.Mrs Passfield had also got a bookfor the school library called“Practical Pottery and Ceramics”by Kenneth Clark – not the arthistorian but a successfuldesigner of tableware, tiles andarchitectural ceramics. “PracticalPottery” was only eighty pageslong but it was good – well writtenand nicely illustrated. Clark saidin his acknowledgments, "I mustfirst, as an ex-student, say howmuch I owe to Miss DoraBillington for her teaching andinstruction on which I haveunashamedly drawn.”

Then I went to KeeleUniversity, in the shadow of thePotteries. I spent evenings in theart room trying to make pots andafter graduating continued inevening classes and read as muchabout pottery as I could.

Miss Billington kept croppingup in my reading. A dictionary of

pottery by Robert Fournier was“Dedicated to the memory of DoraBillington. For the sound basis ofknowledge that her training gaveto me and many others.” QuentinBell (son of Clive and VanessaBell), who studied pottery withher at the Central School of Artsand Crafts (now Central SaintMartins), called her “the kindlysovereign of the place”. I foundthat she had published one of thebest handbooks on pottery, areview of which said that herstudents regarded her withrespect, almost with reverence. Ilearned about her catholic tastesand her encouragement of theyoung. While studio pottery wasinspired by the Orient anddominated by rough, brownthings, served with a dollop of

Eastern religion, she praised theyounger English potters who wereinspired by the Mediterraneanand made things painted in brightcolours, as I do.

I tried to discover who thisMiss Billington was but foundthat almost nothing had beenwritten about her, despite thefact that she taught at theCentral for almost forty years.Now, as well as making brightlypainted pottery in my St Albansstudio, I am writing a biographyof her, interviewing the fewpeople who remember her (all intheir eighties now) and looking inarchives. If anyone has anyconnection with her orinformation about her, I wouldlove to hear from them.

And fifty years after borrowing“Practical Pottery and Ceramics”,I still have it. If there is a libraryamnesty, I will bring it back.

marshall@marshallcolman.com

FEATURE

INSPIRED TO BECOME A POTTERBy Marshall Colman (1957)

The author at work.

Obituary

CLIVE J. BIGGS (1946)1935–2013

It is with great sadness that Iwrite to tell you of the death of myhusband, Clive, on 1st February.

We first came across one

another when he played footballon Saturday mornings and I washelping with refreshments –though neither of us rememberedthe encounters very well. We metup again later and married in1955 (they did try to tell us wewere too young, as the song says)

and we had 57 good yearstogether.

Clive was not a great academicbut he thoroughly enjoyed histime at Harrow Weald for all thesporting activities. He also didwell in Maths and Sciences, butfelt that was down to luck rather

than effort. After an electricalengineering apprenticeship Clivejoined the Royal Air Force andserved 12 years as a RadarTechnician and from there joinedthe management team of anelectronics company. Hecaptained their cricket team foryears – until his knees gave out; allsport was the love of his life, aswell as gardening and, of course,the family, but I’m not sure whatorder they came in!

Neither Clive nor I achieved agreat deal at School and we bothhad to leave early for familyreasons, but it did instil in us thedesire to learn and showed whatcould be done if the opportunitieswere taken up. We passed this onto our children and they, and ourgrandchildren, have all done verywell and we have been very proudof them all.Yours sincerelyJenniferMrs Jennifer (Harding) Biggs(1948)

[ED – We send very sincere condo-lences to Jennifer, her children andgrandchildren.]

More sad news …We also have very recent sad news of the death of David Lush (1943)

after a considerable period of illness. We will have a full obit later in theyear. For now we recall David’s brilliance at school, his considerableprowess as a sprinter in athletics and, of course, later, his work for theAssociation as Archivist.

We send our sincere condolences to his wife, Eileen, and theirchildren.

David is in the picture below, to the right and nearest the front, on oneof the Easter jaunts which were indulged in during the fifties. Photo byPeter Brigginshaw.

Others in thepicture are: behindDavid and to hisleft, Carol (Bell)Vad; back row rightto left: Shirley(Hopson) Lamb,Margaret (Dodgson)Hill, Geoff Davies,Veronica(Humphries)Mason; the middlerow left to right:Dennis Bower, TonyCook, Janet (Ryan)Woodward.

RON HOLROYD COMMENTS …

GRUMPIES OF THE WORLD UNITE ! !SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR FIXING THE ECONOMY

Dear Mr CameronPlease find below our suggestions for fixing England’s economy:Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks, that will squander the money on lavish parties andunearned bonuses, use the following plan:–You can call it THE PATRIOTIC RETIREMENT PLANThere are about 10 million people over 50 in the workforce.Pay them £1 million each severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:–1) They MUST retire. Ten million job openings – UNEMPLOYMENT FIXED.2) They MUST buy a new British car. Ten million cars ordered – CAR INDUSTRY FIXED.3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – HOUSING CRISIS FIXED.4) They MUST send their kids to school/college/university – CRIME RATE FIXED.5) They MUST buy £100 worth of alcohol/tobacco a week – and there’s your money back in

duty/tax etc.6) Instead of stuffing around with the carbon emisssions trading scheme that makes us pay for

the major polluters, tell the greedy b******* to reduce their pollution emissions by 75% within5 years or we shut them down.

If more money is needed, have all MPs payback their falsely claimed expenses and sec-ond home allowances.

STOP PRESS: –

ANTHEA (TARLING) FLINN(1948) writes fromMacclesfield…

Thank you very much for con-tinuing to send “OW News &Views”. I very much appreciate thework that goes into it.

I didn’t make the headlines orattend every Reunion but I do readN&V cover to cover the moment itarrives.

MALCOLM BENTOTE (1953)writes from Pinner …

At a recent Quiz Night onequestion was – who wrote “Tostrive, to seek and not to yield”. Iwas fortunate to remember thatthis was the Tennyson (my house)motto. The only other one Iremembered was “Damned be himwho cries ‘Hold, enough’ ”. Wecame second in the quiz.