The Newsletter of the Woolverstone Hall Old Boys Association

EDITORIAL
In February Bill Salisbury published volume 1, edition 1 of "WHOBA's Monthly Bash", which some of you will have seen. He included an article entitled "WHOBA Charity", in which he wrote "It is hoped that during the course of the coming year to take the Old Boys Association a stage further, by setting up as a charity, with a view to lending support to those of us to whom life has not been so kind". He goes on to ask for experienced professionals to get in touch.

The concept is admirable but, at the risk of appearing negative, I must put some thoughts forward for consideration before a decision is reached. Running a charity requires a dedication that is likely to impinge on volunteers personal and professional commitments. The Charity Commissioners will require the charity to be registered and to adhere to the strict legislation in force. A charity needs cash to be able to function and relying on OWs for regular donations could prove difficult as most already subscribe to their preferred charities. There are already many organisations providing charitable services that could deal with most of the requirements of OWs in need.

Whatever the decision it must not be taken without consideration of all the pros and cons.

LESLIE JOHNSTON
Merlin Channon wrote the following tribute to Leslie. "Woolverstone Hall was a very special place for those of us who were privileged to be part of the school in its earlier days: the beauty of its setting was complemented by the extraordinary characters who lived and worked there. Outstanding among these was the second master, known as Leslie J to his colleagues.

"Leslie and I worked closely in the production of operas at Woolverstone from 1959 until 1963. In 1958 we had been invited to supply school percussionists for the world premiere of Benjamin Britten's Noyes Fludde at the Aldeburgh Festival that year. Eight of our boys (Can anyone recall their names? - Ed -- see link below) played a variety of percussion instruments, including the slung mugs. A review of that performance in a national newspaper was headed "Toddlers Play Teacups".

"Following that incredible experience it seemed obvious to try the same composer's "Let's Make an Opera" in 1959. Leslie, already experienced at producing the school plays, agreed to work on this. Britten himself gave us every support: he drove over for a Sunday afternoon rehearsal, sent us a telegram wishing us well for the first night and attended the final performance. His speech to the audience showed that he had approved of the school's efforts.

"This production set in motion an extraordinary sequence of operatic productions. With the cooperation of the staff and girls at Ipswich High School, together with a few other friends, there followed Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and Weber's "Der Freischutz", both given in 1960, and Smetana's "The Bartered Bride" in 1962. They were presented virtually in their entirety with full orchestral accompaniment. No one would claim that our performances of these masterpieces were faultless, but we enjoyed working at them and learning the splendid music they contained.

Leslie Johnston was the guiding hand in these productions, with something like a quarter of the school taking part. He undertook to act not only as producer but also as coordinator of the support of the many members of staff, parents and boys who were willing to help. Leslie's delight in these enterprises was obvious, although he once warned me that if I thought of suggesting Verdi's Aida for the next school production, I could count him out. He made it quite clear that he had no intention of directing elephants in any Woolverstone opera!"

After leaving Woolverstone, Roger went to Brunel with Alex Baron and Phil Shadbolt (Where are they now? - Ed) to study polymer technology, which he followed up with an MSc at Leeds in environmental pollution control. After a stay at Lancaster University he moved to work on pollution problems around the Great Lakes with E B Eddy Forest Products Co, where he is now Vice President, Environment with responsibility for environmental issues for all divisions of the company in Canada and the US. As well as Bill Kitchen, he is in touch with David Howard (Halls 61-68), who lives close by in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Rob Sinn (Orwell 73-80) has recently moved to Huntingdon and got in touch. He is a software engineer at Internet service provider, UUNET Worldcom. He left Woolverstone with what he calls "disappointing 'A' level results" and went on to do a computing degree at Leicester Polytechnic. He has some fond memories of the school and the people he knew there, and, like many others, he wishes he could relive some of the moments. In hindsight he believes he would do some things differently to make the most of the tremendous opportunities that were offered, which at the time he did not fully appreciate. He enjoys hearing about the exploits of fellow OBs.

Alan Baguste (Halls 54-59), known during his days at Woolverstone as Freddie, found WHOBA through the Internet. His two sons were also pupils at the school, so he joins the OW father and son list, but does he hold the record with two sons? Alan, who works in banking, has made contact with Tom Newsham and they are attempting to uncover a few more names from their time. Alan has put out a message, accessible through the WHOBA home page, trying to contact several of his former colleagues.

Peter Almond (Corners 61/64), the former Daily Telegraph defence correspondent, recently met Cedric Delves (Halls 61/65) in Banja Luka, Bosnia. He is the officer commanding the 6,500 multi national UN/NATO peace keeping force in the south west sector. Cedric has an Internet connection, so it is hoped that he will see the electronic issue of Janus. Come on Cedric, you must have some interesting stories for the next issue.

SPORT OF KINGS
Harvey Angel sent a cutting from "The Sporting Life" dated 15 October 1997, reporting on the success of Goodwood Cavalier the previous day at Leicester. Harvey is part owner of the horse, trained by John Dunlop and ridden by Mark Rimmer, which came home at 50-1. The spur to Harvey becoming an owner was "having my hard earned money disappear into bookies' hands on that old nag Woolverstone Hall, I thought it was about time I bought a horse myself".

However, it had a less than successful start in racing. On its first outing, ridden by Pat Eddery, Goodwood Cavalier did a reenactment of that famous Hamlet cigar advert, where the starting stalls open, all the horses shoot off into the distance except one and the jockey ends up lighting a Hamlet. It did finish, but in last place and was rewarded by being gelded! It was out for a further 3 weeks when it caught a cough.

In its second race, wrote Harvey, "They stuck some idiot of a jockey on it, who sat at the back of the field blocked in by a load of no-hopers and finished well down the field. The stable concluded that the horse needed soft ground in order to race well. The eventual 50-1 win confirmed that it was worth waiting for". Harvey mentioned this to everyone at a prior 1st Thursday bash, so there are possibly a few other winners out there. Bill Salisbury remembers the advice but backed a different horse in that race!!

REAL SPORT
Australia based John Dawlings came a creditable fourth in the male 40-44 age group when he competed in the World Veteran 10km road race in Kobe, Japan, with a time of 34 minutes 53 seconds. Having decided to compete, John set off for Japan, arriving at Osaka at 10.00pm without any accommodation booked, but managed to get a reasonably priced hotel at the airport booking-office. The following day he travelled to Kyoto where he spent a few days getting into the Japanese way of life, discovering how to master the art of showering whilst sitting on a 6 inch seat, how pickles, rice and soup taste for breakfast and perhaps more importantly the taste of Big Mac Teriyakiburgers.

After a few days he moved on to Kobe, which had been virtually destroyed (No, not using a computer program! - Ed) during an earthquake three years previously. He remarked that if an Australian city had suffered similarly "three years on we would have had an inter-departmental committee delivering an interim report on strategies for reconstruction and counselling services". Kobe, however has rebuilt and there are almost no signs that there had been an earthquake.

The run went across the Akashi Kaikyo, the largest suspension bridge in the world, which produced a bit of outrage in John that anyone could outdo the Sydney Harbour bridge. But he reasoned that if they could "beat us in engineering, the least I could do was beat them in the run". The bridge is normally closed to pedestrians and rumour has it that many joined in as it would be their only chance to cross it on foot. At the gun he got a good start and saw an immediate break away by two runners, one English one Japanese, but the rest weren't running faster than John and he found himself sharing third place with two others. At the halfway mark they saw the two leaders coming back on the other side of the road several hundred metres ahead and out of reach. At the turn he picked up the pace and dropped the guy that had led them out, but he couldn't get rid of the other.

John found that the elevation to the centre of the bridge felt like running into a brick wall, something he hadn't noticed on the way out. The runner sitting on him went past as though John was standing still, but he hoped he could hold on to fourth place. The long run home did give him the opportunity to marvel at the runners still heading out, some of whom had cameras to record the once in a lifetime opportunity to walk across the bridge. Is fourth place the incentive to try again next year, John?

Nearer to home, Peter Almond (Corners 61/64) achieved a 12 year ambition when he competed in the London Marathon on 26 April. It was only his second marathon, the first one being Marine Corps Marathon in Washington in 1979. He had entered the 1986 London Marathon, but had to withdraw for professional reasons after training for several months. The US bombed Libya and two days before the race, the US newspaper he was working for at the time, sent instructions for him to board the first plane to Tripoli. He managed to drink in the atmosphere by hearing it on short wave radio in Benghazi. He had already been rejected for this year's marathon, as he had been the previous two years, but he got one of the guaranteed places allocated to the Royal Air Force Association, after having pledged to raise at least ��500. (He will still accept donations!! - Ed) So he donned the RAFA blue vest and completed the course in 4 hours 48 minutes. Were there any other OWs running in the event this year?

SNIPPETS
Brian Middlebrook recalled Leslie Johnston's wit when pushing his newly arrived daughter in her pram around the perimeter. Convinced, like all new parents, that she was the most wonderful baby ever born, Brian and Dulcie awaited the usual compliments from Leslie. He said to Dulcie "This husband of yours rarely heeds my advice. When he came I advised him never to marry; but if he must never to have children; but if he must never to have daughters. And see my advice ignored again. Typical!"

Wendy Winter, mother of four OWs, wrote that Leslie was "wonderful as a teacher and to us as a friend". She went on that had it not been for him, none of her family would have had such a marvellous education. Her son Clive (Halls 57/64) had won a place at Christ's Hospital, but a look round Woolverstone convinced Wendy that it was the better choice.

Neil Pearson recently appeared in the lead role of the acclaimed "Heaven on Earth", the two part drama seen on BBC television. Meanwhile, Neil has been busily promoting his soon to open play in the West End. It has a four person cast and features gratuitous language and cyber sex! According to recent press reports, Prince Charles has witnessed the brilliance of Fay Presto performing her magic illusions, is she now entitled to use the "by appointment" crest?

Fred Walmesley (Johnstons 52-59) wrote to say that he met John Dye when he was in Sydney during his world travels and they had a night on the town. However John did not turn up for the WHOBA Christmas party, scheduled for 20 December, but nor did anyone else. Fred suffered a heart attack and it had to be cancelled, It has made the super-fit 56 year old think of retirement although he believes he is now fully recovered and has hopes of visiting France and the UK in September or October.

Phil Evans (Johnstons 70/77), living in Australia, recently returned to the UK. His parents live in Woodbridge and he took the opportunity to visit the school, where he had a good look round the surrounding countryside. He remembered playing in the icehouse on the eastern side and he was delighted to find it, even though it was a little more overgrown than the last time he saw it. On his tour he blundered across Jocks grave. He photographed the inscription, "Jock - died 9th Nov 1911 - aged 20 - the devoted dog of H H Berners".

Nick Sykes, Trevor Wistow and Simon Redwood met up last year and would like to contact Raoul Chandrasekera. If anyone knows his whereabouts, write with details. John Martin (Johnstons 59-66) will be 50 this year and is trying to contact some of his former yearmates. Does anyone admit to being one of their peers?

CRICKET
Bryan Middlebrook recalled taking the Woolverstone cricket team, with Dick Mayes and Glyn Evans, on a tour to Cheshire at the end of the summer term in 1967. They played three games and stayed at Cheadle Hulme, where Leslie Johnston was headmaster. This followed a visit by Leslie's school the previous year. The Woolverstone team was led by Geoff Hindle and proved to be a very successful tour. They had a comfortable win over their hosts and drew with prestigious King's Macclesfield side, the game in which Nusrat Nazeer scored a century. They only lost to Mossley Hall on a rock hard wicket tailor made for their pace bowler, a local league player complete with reinforced steel toecaps on his boots. Jimmy Cotterell played the most courageous innings Bryan ever witnessed at school level. When Dick commented on the state of the wicket as another thunderbolt rose from a length and flew past Jimmy's ear, the Mossley head muttered that perhaps the wicket needed a little watering. Bryan omitted Dick's reply!

QUESTIONS ASKED
Having not found it in the dictionary Colin Ferris asked where the word tilly, the vehicle driven by Ken Bullard for many years, came from and whether anyone had heard it used anywhere else? ANSWER! He also wonders what happened to the double act of Algy Crack and Arthur Podd, members of the auxiliary staff, and what were their roles. He recalls Arthur as a huge cheerful man, whose immense size led to the comment "If that's arf a pod, I'd hate to see a whole one!" Algy he wrote was "noticeably less friendly than Arthur and seemed to have an innate distrust of boys, but he could be persuaded to do minor favours like duplicating keys without asking questions".

Rob Sinn (Orwell 73-80) asked whether anybody had written in about a particular OB "made good". The person he was referring to was an Orwell boy called Phil Swann, who left after a few years. He has since changed his name to Phil Jupitus and appears regularly on television, specifically on BBC 1's "Never Mind the Buzzcocks". Does anyone else recall him and is he still in touch with any OWs? [New message from Paul Masson] What other venues has he appeared at and does he do other television work?

BOOKS
A new book recently reviewed is Lord Berners: The Last Eccentric by Mark Amory, published by Chatto & Windus and retailing at ��20.00p. It is a biography of Gerald Berners (nee Gerald Tyrwhitt), born in 1883, who, at the age of 34, unexpectedly inherited the Berners title together with the estates and investments worth more than ��7m. Was this the Berners that sold the country house and the estate that Woolverstone occupied for 30 years?

Peter Almond (Corners 62/64) took on a three month project last year to produce a "big coffee table job called Aviation: The Early Years". The fruits of his labours, at a cost of ��20.00p, have now been published by Konemann of Germany, getting good reviews. It features 450 photographs from the Hulton-Getty picture archives of the development of aviation to about 1932 and the text is in English, French and German. Peter says it is not a book for "aircraft anoraks", having been structured for a wide public audience.

Richard Branson has ordered a few, as has Dick Evans, chairman of BAe and the Duke of Edinburgh has a copy. Getty Images had a gallery in Chelsea devoted to pictures from the book. Peter says that the book is hard to get hold of as Konemann has a "lousy distribution organisation in Britain" and the first run has virtually sold out. However it should be available through its ISBN number; 3-89508-682-7 or through Books Etc and Dillons or by mail from Harrods. The price is ��20.00p

Phil Evans (Johnstons70/77) sent a cutting from the Canberra Times dated 11 April 1998, in which Peter Pierce gave a 2 column 9 inch review of Alan Gould's latest offering, The Tazyrik Year. The review starts, "With an unremitting dedication to his craft, and a fierce ambition that seeks unfashionable outlets, Alan Gould has made one of the most striking marks on the map of recent Australian fiction. His work is still neglected, although it is hardly undervalued by those who have read him." The final sentence describes Alan's "courtly voice as one of the loneliest, but most arresting, in Australian fiction". The book is "a subtle and melancholy depiction of a strange love triangle". Has anyone seen it in the book lists or on the shelves in this country?

DISPLAY
Fred Moughton continues in his dual role of treasure and archivist/curator of the permanent display. His latter role includes maintaining a good relationship with Ipswich High School, which thanks to his excellent efforts is very good. He has also asked about the possibility of a WHOBA lunch or dinner at the school, which they would be pleased to host. If you think that a "get together" at Woolverstone would be worthwhile, send details of your preferences on time of day, day of the week, month etc. IHS is keen to promote its facilities, which can accommodate weddings, conferences, meetings, plays, concerts and private parties. If you would like more information for personal or business use, contact Sheila Martland on 01473 780201 or fax her on 01473 780985.

MUSIC
The late Guy Stevens (Johnstons 54/58) is the subject of research by New York based Kosmo Vinyl (Yes it is his real name he assures us! - Ed). Guy was a musician, who played for very popular Mott the Hoople. Kosmo is keen to find out about Guy's time at Woolverstone and would be interested in any photos of him taken at the time. Anyone with information can contact Kosmo via the Internet on charlo6@ibm.net.

He quotes Guy as one of the key figures in the development of British rock music. The Rolling Stones, The Who, Eric Clapton, Stevie Winwood and many others used Guy's knowledge and record collection as a source of material. He headed Sue record label, introduced numerous American soul artists to Europe and produced Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale. Why hasn't he received the credit he deserves? Kosmo believes it is a combination of the vested interests of many of the people who exploited his talents and if his life story is not told, he will be written off as a minor figure of little significance.

Colin Ferris (Halls 60s) recalled that in 1965 or 66 Halls held a concert in the dining room, which he believed was staged on the basis that if Orwell could put on two or three a year, then surely Halls could manage one. The things Colin remembered most vividly were the things that made him cringe with embarrassment, particularly Jonathan Knight (Where is he now? - Ed) getting the musical equivalent of writers block and being unable to extract a single note from his clarinet during his Stranger on the Shore solo. Halls also had to have a choir, like Orwell, which had recently put on a house performance of Bach's St John Passion. The Halls response was Green Grow the Rushes O! Are there other examples of inter-house rivalry?

INTERNET: http://www.net-ibaraki.ne.jp/aboys/janus/whoann.htm
Incredible but true; WHOBA is firmly established on the Internet. Eric Coates (Corners 58/64) launched a simple web page just over a year ago that got responses from across the globe. Believing there are younger and even brighter OWs with superior computer skills he sought a volunteer to enhance it. Tony Boys (Berners 62/69) replied from Japan where he has settled. He already ran a very professional web page and teaches, amongst other things, HTML (hypertext mark up language): the computer language for web page production. He started in April 1997 and it has been constantly updated and improved and is now superb but there is no holding back the advance of technology in this area so it will get even better.

Any OW with Internet access must have a look. The site is crammed with images and articles and offers opportunities for fast, efficient and cheap communication. Tony has just announced an increased website capacity from 3mb to 10mb so it will be possible to archive of almost every document relevant to Woolverstone on the site. The collection of Janus' in the "shrine" could be "scanned in" and made available. Modern IT makes this sort of operation simple and economical for PC owners. There is a directory of email addresses at the Website but the URL for this cannot be published here as it is on an unlinked page that is only available to OWs who have agreed to publication. If you have an email address and wish to be included in the directory contact Tony or Eric via the website. If you lose the address of the website or if your "bookmark" disappears you can try a search on "Woolverstone" which will almost certainly find some links to the site. If this fails email Eric at "eric.coates@which.net" and he'll send you the URL.

Whilst the possibilities of the website are endless, WHOBA will not become a "virtual association" and WHOBA will continue to send hard copies of "Janus" to members not on the Internet.