Rhubarb 2020

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

spoke. Barry was a staunch supporter of “all things Martyr” using his Rhubarb blazer on every conceivable occasion. Famously he will be remembered by the Oldham Mountain Rescue Group – he was a member for 25 years - as his blazer is to be worn by speakers henceforward, providing the garment is not altered in any way! PHILLIPS, CHRIS (C, 1950-1954) Chris has written to us about his life in Australia and friendships with OSE: Back in the early fifties during the last years of Henry Kendall, Derrick Stevens (D, 1949-1954) and I developed a friendship that has lasted to the present day. In spite of my migration to Australia in 1966 we have remained in touch. We both played together in the Hockey X1, both of us lived in Oxford and both of us developed a love for the sea and bought cruising boats. I volunteered as a watch leader on South Passage a 100 ft gaff rigged schooner, the Queensland Sail Training ship that took a crew of 24 teenage children out on up to four-day cruises along the coast to teach them the rudiments of sailing and discipline of life at sea. Even on these short excursions, it was interesting and satisfying to see the change in maturity and development as they were forced to adopt the sort of schooling that only the sea can teach. No easy winches, everything was hauled and sweated by hand in a team spirit. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to see a lot of the world through my wife who represented two international airlines and a chain of international hotels, so it became relatively easy 40 years ago to jump on an aircraft and take advantage of the free travel and accommodation offered, not only this but to take advantage of diving in some of the more interesting spots around the world. Evenings at the Cowley swimming baths in Oxford over 60 years ago learning to scuba dive with quite rudimentary gear (my tanks were just two small oxygen bottles taken from a meteor jet aircraft and welded together) was an introduction leading to several more qualifications that I acquired while living here in Oz. Wreck diving then became a fascination for me, and included, among others, dives to the

largest accessible wreck in the world, the SS President Coolidge , a victim of World War 2 when it was sunk in the Pacific in Vanuatu.  During a recent visit to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, Derrick became interested in some underwater photography and I was able to help in the editing of some footage he sent me. He became very enthusiastic over the results that I managed to send back to him, so I suggested that he come down to Australia and I would show him a small piece of Queensland and the Barrier Reef. It was great to get together again as the last time had been the 150th at Teddies… the tyranny of distance! While the weather was perfect the underwater visibility was not crash hot and that limited our activities somewhat, but if you are interested to see the results obtained there of the island and facilities, it can be found on YouTube by searching ‘4 days on Heron Island’. I arrived in Australia in 1966 and found it much as I had expected and before long I felt at home here. I lived in Sydney at first and moved up to Queensland when I retired and have never regretted the move I made to come to the other side of the world. I have certainly been able to do a lot of things here that might have been more difficult in the UK; learning to fly being one of them. While I no longer do this, a convenient drive of 20 minutes to the local aerodrome could find me airborne in a cloudless sky with the coast beneath me. I swim all the year round which is also a great plus for me. So far the recent pandemic has not struck us as hard as many other parts of the globe, for which we feel fortunate, but that’s at the time of writing and circumstance can unfortunately change quickly in this respect.

I have had a few visits from OSE including Tim Coles (C, 1954-1954), who sadly died recently, Tim Cherry (B, 1949-1954) and his wife Ruth, Peter Vermeylen (C, 1949-1954) who also is sadly no longer with us. Pamela Keeley- Butler came out here a few years back with her husband Paul and not forgetting David Wippell who we were pleased to meet for the first time a while back. When I lived in Sydney I spent a great deal of time with Colin McClelland (C, 1951- 1954) who I shared a dormitory with in Field House all those years ago. When we left in 1954 he enjoyed a successful career in the Fleet Air Arm before also migrating to Australia and flying with Qantas. Unfortunately, he passed away nearly 30 years ago, at far too young an age. Australia is a country that has treated me well and should any other OSE be planning to come this way when travel once again gets back to normal I would be glad to see them if they manage to get as far as the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. With an Engineering degree, Chris first worked in large companies, AEI, Siemens, but then became a sound recordist for film for 30 years. Eventually he returned to engineering and founded his own company Ambient www. ambient.de in Munich, Germany where he developed products for the film and broadcast industry. In 2008 he sold his part and moved to Portugal where he makes wine. Now in his 79th year he still manages to do a 12-hour day and runs a small (4.5 hectares) successful organic winery, Vinhos Cortém, set in the hills and valleys a few kilometres east of Caldas da Rainha. The wines are now quite well known and have won four gold medals this year. PRICE, CHRIS (B, 1955-1960)

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