St Edward's Rhubarb 2018

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

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From the Warden

2018 has been notable for being both the 100th anniversary year of the formation of the RAF and also the 75th anniversary year of the Dambusters Raid; two occasions of interest and importance to the School. At the March Annual Dinner I spoke about the “School for Heroes” (as quoted from Michael Cumming’s book Pathfinder Cranswick . Most people know about the exploits of Douglas Bader and Guy Gibson, and, in response to Theodor Abrahamsen’s

wonderful words that evening, I wanted to speak about other “ordinary heroes” (such as Alec Cranswick) who had made such a difference to the RAF’s war effort especially in the Second World War. (It turns out that Cranswick, who died on his 107th bomber mission and who flew more such missions than any other pilot, was a close friend of Theodor’s when at Teddies.) In all there were 285 OSE who served in the RAF in the War and the stories about them are endless. This year’s Rhubarb celebrates and emphasises the strong historical connection that the School has with the RAF, educating those famous names mentioned already alongside Geoffrey de Havilland, Louis Strange, Adrian Warburton, Arthur Banks and James Leathart to name only a few. This year’s Military Dinner was a particular highlight when OSE joined us for the CCF Inspection in the Quad during the day and stayed on attending our 3rd Annual Military Dinner in the evening where

the guest speaker was Air Marshal Sir Christopher Harper. This edition also includes a wonderful spread of current School news showcasing the broad educational experiences of future OSE. There is, as usual, the super section of OSE News alongside the Obituaries. OSE will have heard of the new Quad Development; the building contractors are on site and work is under way for the most significant building project since Simeon moved the School from New Inn Hall Street to the Woodstock Road site. This new development is central to the Teddies academic ethos and wider advances in educational practice. Learning is much more of a collaborative endeavour than it was when many of us were at school – pupils discuss, debate, share ideas and work together. More detail on the different elements of this ambitious scheme will appear in the summer edition of The Chronicle , out soon. A clever film on the website brings the Development to life for anyone who would like to see it as a 3D visualisation. I wish you a very good summer and I hope you enjoy this edition of r h u b a r b .

S O C I E T Y

Message from the Editor

Scan the code to view the Quad development https://vimeo.com/279026228

Corrections We apologise for any mistakes in Issue 6, and are grateful to OSE for pointing out the following corrections: p.20 Archives: The Female Influence at St Edward’s The article refers to “Chris and Mo Ruscombe-King, both pottery teachers in the 1960s and 1970s”. This is wrong. Chris Ruscombe-King joined St Edward’s in 1963 as head of the Art Department – he was in fact the only teacher of art at the time, and remained so for most of his time at the School, art being largely an extra-curricular Welcome to the latest issue of r h u b a r b . It has been another busy year in the OSE Office and it is so wonderful to be back in The Lodge and part of a brilliant team. I was a member of the OSE Department between 2012 and 2014 when I worked on the 9th Edition of the School Roll in preparation for the 150th Anniversary celebrations. At events I am now able put faces to many of the names that were

on an Excel spreadsheet for so long. The celebration of Teddies' links with the RAF this year has been particularly special and, as you will read, has given r h u b a r b this year a great focus. We have lots of exciting things planned in the next year so please look out for invitations, emails and at OSE information on the website and as always please do tell us what you have been up to. Dr Jenny McCarter

Society ............................................................. 1 School News ............................................... 3 Features ........................................................ 6 Rhubarb Rhubarb .................................12 Archives ......................................................15 Congratulations .....................................17 OSE in Business ......................................20 OSE News ...................................................22 Obituaries ...................................................30 Events .............................................................48 Martyrs Reports ....................................51 Contacts .......................................................53 Valete .............................................................54 Contents

activity, although there were timetabled lessons for the Shells, and a very few pupils, including myself, took A-Level. Until the mid- 1970s Mo did indeed teach pottery although this was entirely extra-curricular, taking place from 4 – 6pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Nigel Collins (G, 1968-1973) p.32 Obituary: Michael Hanks

Michael’s cousin, Richard Parker, kindly let us know that Michael left in 1945 not 1941 as printed in the obituary.