St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 8 / Celebrations

Left: E. JohnK.H. Hudfield (A, 1962–6) entertaining the crowd with his band Sunfly. Right: A great draw on field side was a display of OSE vintage cars which were discussed and examined by those picnicking with much enjoyment. While 14 vehicles were promised the final tally was thought to be 22. The vehicles included ‘The Golden Ford’, a 1911 Model T Ford (raced by Henry Ford himself), a 1954 Rolls Royce Silver Dawn, a 1933 Talbot 75, a 1960 Lotus 7, a 1931 ‘M’ type MG, a 1974 JensenInterceptor,aBugatti,anInvicta,a1960XK150Jaguar Roadster and a 1933 Austin 10, which goes by the name of ‘Auntie Mary’. We are grateful to those who put such an effort into joining us with their fabulous vehicles. Known owners in attendance were OSEs Anthony Gibbons who drove directly from Monaco for the day, Peter Pitt-Brown, Brian Bell, Gideon Hudson, Malcolm Price, Don White, ChristopherEdwards,GeoffreyBradshawwhohadreturned from a rally in Italy the previous day, Neil Tuckett who restoredTheGoldenFordwiththeChannel4Salvagesquad in 2004, Shaun Pitt, Myles Castaldini and former parent Hamish Ogston.

Above: Hamish Ogston, CBE had given a hugely generous donation to the Schoolthatenabledthecreationofourstate-of-the-artLifeSciencesbuilding and the buying of the LemonTree site. At Prize Giving he was thanked by the Warden for his extraordinary gift and afterwards the Life Sciences Building received its new title – ‘The Ogston Building’. Above left: Gaudy Prize giving was held on field side due to the stage in the Quad and the picnics to follow, and the sun was firmly out by the time the eventbegan.ThespeechesbytheWarden,theGuestofHonour,GeneralPeter Pearson, OSE, Governor of the Military Knights of Windsor, the Chairman of Governors, Mike Stanfield and the Heads of School, were witty, amusing and none too long and we were all soon back in the sunshine, ready for House get-togethers followed by picnics. Heads of School, Lily Hinton and Angus Spratling,gaveexcellentspeechesandthecomplicatedbusinessofannouncing and receiving prizes went smoothly, as ever. It was notable that a number of prize-winnersweremissing as theywere at Henley.We of course got through to the Henley final, a tremendous achievement in our 150th year.

for such an occasion and the conversations covered many reminiscences of life at Teddies. The speeches by Revd Wippell and Warden Jones were entertaining, brisk, and highly enjoyable. Gaudy week was everything it was planned to be, and additionally the weather – brilliant sunshine from the Thursday of the week, and throughout the festivities – was spectacularly good. The Thursday evening Anniversary Concert with its Glastonbury-like stage in the Quad, was attended by the whole School as well as visitors and the music was impressive thanks to the tireless rehearsing of Alex Tester (Head of Music), Richard Powell and Gabriele Damiani, who conducted the School Symphony Orchestra, School Concert Band and School Chamber Orchestra respectively. Fireworks followed and were suitably spectacular in the sky above the Lodge. The Jazz Concert on the following night had a more relaxed feel in readiness for Gaudy itself. On Saturday the sun blazed and prize-giving by our Guest of Honour, General Peter Pearson, OSE, was brisk and the speeches amusing. Parents and OSE had come to the day fully prepared with picnics and all that is required for a good one. During the afternoon families and friends were spread out all round field side, watching cricket, talking to each other, and examining the remarkable and lovely vintage cars brought by OSE. The cars formed an elegant and inviting curve and glinted

There were so many there who had not seen one another for 50 years; many of whom had attended the 100th Anniversary in 1963. They often recognised oneanotheralmostimmediatelyexclaimingthattheyhadn’tchangedabit!We anticipatetherewerearound300OSEpresentmanyresplendentinfull‘rhubarb’. SomehadtravelledfromoverseastojoinusincludingRogerLeachfromCanada and Chris Phillips (C, 1950–4) from Australia who met up with a number of his contemporaries including good friend Malcolm Johnstone (C, 1950–3).

David Yeo (E, 1949–54) from South Africa told us that he had thoroughly enjoyedthecelebrationsandvisitingtheSchoolbutthehighlightofhisvisitwas ‘goingintotheChapelandhearingtherecordingof1951choirinwhichIsang. Not only that, I am sure I was the treble soloist!’(A 78rpm recording donated by OSE had been copied onto a CD for the occasion). Steven Handscombe (G, 1957–63) had reunited with a group of fellow Harriers for a reunion lunch on Friday followed by the celebrations on Saturday6th.Threeofthegrouphad intendedtorunthePortMeadowcourse but all injured themselves in training and they had to withdraw! One of the OSE bands playing on the outdoor stage in the Quad, Sunfly, was headed up by E. John K.H. Hadfield (A, 1962–6). John had made contact with two of his contemporaries who were in a band with him during their time at Schoolandover40yearsaftertheyplayedtogetherJonathanSilver(A,1962–7) and Paul Bentall (A, 1962–6) joined him on stage for a set. Their enjoyment at playing together again was clear. OtherOSEmusiciansentertainingthecrowdsincludedEdwardBell(C,2001–6), Robin Bennett (G, 1991–6) and Joe Bennett (G, 1994–9) with their band The Dreaming Spires and J. Ben Walker (F, 1993–8) with his band Candy Says. Prior to the Leavers’ Ball Peter Meecham (E, 1952–6) ended the day’s celebrations by flying his balloon The Wizard , from the Lower Fields.

Opposite and above: Picnickers on Field Side. Right: Set meeting times for OSE across the generations were held through the day at Rhubarb HQ. Here is a large group from the 1950s.

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