St Edward's Rhubarb - 2018

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

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BLACK – In the last couple of years, Ralph Walter Black (F, 1941-1944). Born 25th March 1927. Managing Director of his own advertising agency in Redditch. MIPA MInstM. BOGLE – On 19th October 2017, John Wakefield Bogle (B, 1955-1960), aged 75.

BOSTON – On 17th January 2017, John Terence Patrick Boston (C, 1939-1943), known as Patrick, aged 91. Brother to John (C, 1942-1947) and Roger (C, 1945-1949), and uncle to Jonathan (C, 1974-1979). Fleet Air Arm – RNVR 1943-1946. Pembroke Cambridge 1947-1950 BA Agriculture. Farmer 1950- 1958. Diploma in Education, Oxon 1959 then Assistant Headmaster at Rickmansworth Grammar School, later King’s College, Budo, Uganda. BRADSHAW – On 7th December 2017, Geoffrey Kenneth Allan Bradshaw (E, 1940-1944), despite his eternal optimism and positivity, lost his hard-fought battle against numerous cancers aged 91. Geoff enjoyed an extraordinarily full life stretching from the rugby pitches and classrooms of Teddies and Oxford University, a short but supercharged stint as an RAF fighter pilot through a lengthy career as an insurance broker and consultant, finally retiring in 2015. A loving and supportive father and husband, his spare time was filled with ever-present projects involving all manner of automotive or aquatic mechanical contraptions in rebuild and ‘improvement’. Geoff followed his cousin Pete Forshaw (E 1930-1933) to St Edward’s in 1940. By 1944, he was an Apsley House Prefect, school Sacristan and member of the 1st XV and 1st VIII. His brothers Philip (E, 1943-1947) and Tony (E, Richard Coley (E, 1950-1954). On leaving St Edward’s, Geoff volunteered to join the RAF having gained a place at Trinity College, Oxford, for a 6-month University Short Course. The Universities had set up Short Courses during the War to 1944-1948) joined him in Apsley followed by cousin

Bristol University 1960- 1963 LLB. Partner in local Solicitors, Area Legal Aid Board Committee and Director, Harlow & District Sports Trust. John was a regular attendee of the OSE Cornwall Lunch. He leaves his widow Ann and children Paul and Sarah who miss him greatly.

cater for university-standard undergraduates who were entering the Services. While at Trinity, he won a Half-Blue as the Oxford University XV hooker; there were no full Blues awarded during the War. Once in the RAF, Geoff learnt to fly on Tiger Moths and Harvards before graduating onto Spitfires as a Fighter Reconnaissance pilot. Pilot Officer Bradshaw’s first operational posting was to 208 Squadron at Ein Shemer, Palestine. He spent 12 months patrolling the pre-partition skies of the soon-to-be Israel in Mk VC, IX and XVIII Spitfires, collecting a bullet ‘up my jacksie’ from an unknown belligerent. He returned to England to qualify as an Air-Sea Rescue Officer but, even before his first lecture, he was posted to Habbaniyah, Iraq, on the edge of the Syrian Desert – not much Air-Sea Rescue to be done there! He joined 249 Squadron, then equipped with the fearsome Hawker Tempest fighter-bomber, and conducted numerous patrols of the oil pipelines stretching from the Iraqi oil wells to Haifa. After the end of his 4-year Short Service Commission, he followed his Father’s advice to become an insurance broker. As crisis flared on the Korean Peninsula, Flying Officer Bradshaw re-mustered into the RAF and converted onto Vampire and Meteor jets via the Griffon-engined Spitfire Mk 22 although he was not called upon to deploy. Back in his City suit, he worked for various insurance companies ending up as Managing Director of Needler Heath & Co in 1988. Following a take-over, he became an insurance consultant responsible for his own, predominantly marine, account until 2015. Invariably in his well-used boiler-suit at home, Geoff had many interests both nautical and automotive. As a young, proud

V A L E T E O B I T U A R I E S

Geoff Bradshaw