Rhubarb December 2025

M alcolm and I took two holidays together.The first was a short trip around the Gothic and Romanesque churches and cathedrals of France.The second was on a much grander scale – Belgium, Germany, Italy and France – all in a geriatric Renault 4 and, because neither of us had any money, camping to boot. Even now when we go to Ravenna,Assisi or Aachen, the memories come back.A number of memories of that trip are still very fresh: pushing the car on the Autobahn because it kept overheating, likewise just prior to entering the Mont Blanc tunnel; the brakes failing as we were going down a steep hillside somewhere in rural Italy, and finally Malcolm receiving the stigmata as the tonic bottle that we were using to chip off some ice exploded cutting Malcolm's wrists! And, of course, we saw so much art, in churches, in galleries, on walls, and in museums. My enthusiasm and love of art continue to this day and will live on as a tribute to Malcolm, though my interests may tend towards the more modern and abstract end of the spectrum than Malcolm's, but it was his original generosity and enthusiasm that means those seeds sown so long ago remain firmly rooted today. A smaller trip included a tour of Northern England: Leeds, Bradford, Manchester and places in between.We stayed with Malcolm’s mother Rose and her welcome (and her cow heel stew) was as warm and generous as you would expect. It is clear where many of Malcolm's strengths come from. I have a lot to thank Malcolm for. I am a better person because of him, I am a socialist because he showed me that liberal ideas are not just for the elite and that Thatcher was one cause worth railing against. Finally, I have a love for good food and wine and enjoy cooking for friends as I learned from the master! Sadly, I never managed to acquire the taste for gin and tonic – one area of Malcolm's generosity that passed me by.

W hen I think about Malcolm Oxley, I think about a man who was generous with his time, his ideas, his intellect and, of course, his food and drink!

FEATURE

Segar's House 'On the move' – MSO's Guided Tour of Paris.

n around 1968, I and about 14 others went on a wonderful trip to Venice and Rome by railway. One teacher, Malcolm, and a bunch of SES pupils. A wonderful experience that has stayed with me all my life. Malcolm was a mine of information, but it was probably drinks in the Bar Americano in St Mark’s square that most of us will remember. I’m certain that could not happen nowadays!

Visit to Rome, 1992.

Segar’s trip to Normandy, February 1980 – photo by Roger Hillyer.

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