St Edward's Rhubarb Issue 5

42 ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

whom he called “the fiends”. We sat in the kitchen where we discussed seriously the merits of WG Sebald’s peculiar books. Stephen’s favourite was The Rings of Saturn which he had found on my bookshelves while I tried to find a drinkable bottle of wine in the larder; mine is Austerlitz which I think is extraordinary. I couldn’t find a drinkable bottle but I could find a bottle, and Stephen drank most of it as I watched, before asking if I had bought it at Lidl. I had, as it happened. The next day he dropped round again, clutching a case of very good Burgundy. He didn’t say a word but I knew perfectly well that he wanted to be given this next time he visited and that we were not to touch it otherwise. He came often. My children always bounced into his lap. He talked to Gudrun of singing and singers. He talked to me of books and writers, either of those he knew I would know or of ones that he knew I would want to know; and I pressed as many on him as he pressed on me. And what’s more, we read them. Stephen wrote his PhD thesis on the subject of Byzantine hymnals. I hadn’t known there were any, I confessed. One of the governors, more wittily, told Stephen that, although he might struggle to find members of the Common Room much interested in the subject, if he went down to any of the pubs by the docks at Fleetwood of a Friday night, he would find there that they talked of little else. Stephen once asked me what I had written my thesis about, knowing I hadn’t done a doctorate at all, just to undergraduate dissertation on the Australian novel”, I told him. “Oh”, he said, “I didn’t know there was one.” Stephen was a vain man. Not sartorially. He was the put me in my place. He did that regularly. “I wrote my

end of every Sunday, as I am doing now. Quiet, thoughtful, peaceful. And I must be finished before my longer-standing Sunday evening ritual of “Match of the Day 2”, especially as I hear on the wires that Leicester City came back from a two goal deficit to beat Manchester United this afternoon! I was the Senior Deputy Head at Rossall when Stephen arrived as the new headmaster in 2008. I had been in post for three years. He had been retired for a couple of years but, living in the south of France in the prophylactically named town of Condom, he had grown bored. Ah! There is a time in every man’s life when he grows bored of Condom, I remember musing when he told me about this. No-one had been more surprised than I when he expressed interest in the headship of Rossall, knowing as I did his reputation; but he came to visit and something about the place seemed to attract him (besides Gudrun that is, whom he adored from their first meeting). I think quite simply that, while at Uppingham, he had enjoyed being king of the castle and he wanted to storm another one while there was life enough left in him. Rossall didn’t know what to make of him at all. He didn’t care much. I knew exactly where I was with him. I was brought up in North Oxford and many of my Mum’s best friends were academics every bit as intellectually waspish as Stephen, although few were quite as charming or humane. Early in his first term he dropped in on us at home. He had left his wife Jenny back in Kettering with Bella, the last of his children who remained at home, and Jenny was not to join him for some months yet. Stephen needed company. He warmed to Gudrun immediately as I have said and he also liked our children,

Mark loved golf almost as much as cricket. In later years he settled in Sandwich, and loved playing at Royal St George’s. The house in Sandwich was a living testament to Mark’s lifelong habit of collecting memorabilia – especially relating to cricket history. But they weren’t the only things he collected. Mark had an extraordinary circle of friends – from half the countries of the world. He was a great communicator, and a far better writer and speaker than he realised. He will be much missed. For this friend, Test Matches at Lord’s will never be the same again. Mark was separated from his wife Jo, with whom he had two children – Charley, also a diplomat and terrific all-round sportswoman, and Simon, a talented photographer and father of Mark’s first grandson Bodhi, of whom he was deeply proud. WINKLEY – On 3rd April 2013, Stephen C Winkley (F, 1957-1962), brother of Roger Winkley (F, 1959-1964). The following piece was written by Fergus Livingstone (C, 1981-1986) after Stephen’s Memorial at Uppingham School in September 2014. Fergus was Head of School 1986, Headmaster of LWC, and now lives in Reykjavik; It is Sunday. This afternoon Gudrun and I attended a memorial service at Uppingham School for one of the great schoolmasters of recent times whom we took pride in acknowledging as a friend - Dr Stephen Winkley. I haven’t until now felt able to reflect upon and write about Stephen’s influence on us as a family and have looked forward to this moment of quiet contemplation. He is a good subject for me to have as I inaugurate a new academic year’s resolution: I am going to write my blog at the tail

Visit. He gave HM the Queen a personal tour of the exhibition which narrated a history of the cricket links between England and India through photographs. On leaving the Diplomatic Service in 1999 he was selected from 400 applicants to become Chief Executive of the Lord’s Taverners, a post he held with great distinction and dedication until 2007. His investment in cricket – a sport he continued to play well into his sixties - had paid off. He loved the job, and countless members, activists and beneficiaries had every reason to be grateful for his selection. Up to the time of his death he served as Director and Strategic Communications Adviser of Sport for Life International – continuing his work to help disadvantaged young people through cricket and sport more widely, something he passionately believed in. The insight he gave them was considerable, in the technical aspects of cricket and running a charity, and in dealing with authorities in Pakistan, the West Indies and in England. Following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2007, Mark briefly returned to India as a strategic risk consultant for the Royal Bank of Scotland. His network of contacts from his time in Delhi and his understanding of the security and cultural environment of the subcontinent were invaluable in planning RBS’s future operations in the country. From 2011- 2014 Mark was a member of the General Committee of the MCC. It was a period of considerable controversy, particularly in relation to the development of the Lord’s site on which Mark challenged the club to be truly visionary. His courage in standing up for what he believed in and fighting the ‘establishment’ was admirable as were his efforts to improve the club’s engagement with its ordinary members.

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