Rhubarb Issue 12: November 2023

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR SIMON OFFEN AT CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL 20TH MAY 2023 F riends and family gathered to celebrate the life of a hugely loved friend and family member.With 20 minutes to go before the service started, Christ Church Cathedral was full and porters were scuttling off to the college’s offices to print off more orders of service and gather more chairs. 800 people had turned up to pay their respects and say goodbye to a dear old friend.

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Giles spoke not only of Simon’s extraordinary generosity of spirit but also his tremendous sense of fun . ”

Reverend Canon Prof Nigel Biggar of the House led the service and poignant readings were given by Simon’s old sporting friends from Cambridge University.The tribute to Simon was given by old Christ Church friend Giles Vicat who was a neighbour of Simon and Katherine’s in Oxfordshire. Giles spoke not only of Simon’s extraordinary generosity of spirit but also his tremendous sense of fun, telling the congregation how Simon (rather tongue in cheek) had decided to respond to the increasing trend of grander and flashier cars being brought by parents to a leading Oxfordshire prep school’s summer prize giving, by hiring a bright pink stretched Hummer to park by the cricket square!

OSE EVENTS

The Christ Church Cathedral Choir sang beautiful hymns chosen by Simon which included ‘Morning has broken’,‘The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want’,‘O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hand hath made’ and the anthem ‘My Soul, there is a country far beyond the stars’.

After the service, the congregation (which included sporting internationals Gavin Hastings and Rob Andrew amongst many old Cambridge and Oxford and Teddies sporting friends) went on to swap stories and reminisce (prompted by a display of photographs of Simon playing sport and entertaining, including one of him wearing an all-in-one golden cat suit with flared bottoms!) in the Great Hall of Christ Church where he was both a graduate student and Deputy Director of Development. The congregation then went on to Vincent’s Club on King Edward’s Street, where Simon had served as Bursar on a part-time basis so loyally for over a decade. Here the stories and wine really began to flow, just as Simon would have wanted. A huge number of OSE and old teachers were in attendance and we were all treated to a wonderful eulogy by OSE Phil Blanchard (Cowell’s, 1977-1982) which included a five-minute film of Simon’s life. As the laughter echoed round the clubhouse’s walls and tears were shed, we were reminded what a force of nature Simon had been and how incredibly good-looking he was as a young man, with a twinkle in his eye that could outgun most lighthouse lanterns.

Simon Offen Cowell’s, 1976-1981

Report by Stephen Sparrow (Mac’s, 1983-1988)

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