Philip Booker: That's incredibly sad. Some of my best times at Woolvo' was playing tennis with Shakey every summer.

Terry Ashcroft: Hi Phil. Yes he was my housemaster and Margery was our Matron. I wanted to call on them and really say thankyou for the way they both looked after us back then.(58 to 63.) Felt deflated. Neighbour 2 doors away didn't know them. The neighbour next door looks after their home but i called twice and he was not at home. I don't think if i could have located the Care Home they would know who I was.

Terry Ashcroft: At least one can remember them as they were. Dementia is such a cruel illness

Philip Booker: Indeed Terry.

Chris Snuggs: Very sad to hear that. Shakey was at WHS for 26 years; what it was is down to dedicated teachers like him, Stretch and almost all the others, particularly the long-serving ones who provided priceless continuity. He was my first housemaster, and I don't remember a single occasion when I felt he was ever unfair or mean or vindictive; always the opposite. He took us on trips, ran the badminton, was for me always positive At least one supposes they will be looked after. Not sure what else to say.

Louis Parperis: Thanks for sharing this, Terry, deeply sad though it is. There is an inevitability about the challenges facing the people who shaped our lives as their own lives move towards the ineluctable conclusion, whether they are our parents or our teachers. It is an encouragement for each of us to spend time with them while we can and not put it off, even if it's only for a few months.

Terry Ashcroft: Yes. We used to go once a term for a dinner and tv. About 6 or 8 of us. You were treated like grown-ups. Another nice memory

Terry Ashcroft: I used to play him at table tennis and sometimes won!! Also became a good badminton player in later life thanks to him

Graham Forster: Very good tennis player as well he had some great games with Doc Thornberry

Philip Booker: Graham Forster He was annoyingly good at tennis.

Michael John O'Leary: Sad news indeed! Him and his missus featured in my last escapade at Woolverstone. I would have loved to have talked to him about it! Also, I remember him playing tennis and saying "Zut alors!" all the time.

Terry Ashcroft: It is Sad. I look back at those times and think 'Why didn't I re visit more often' I did visit them once when they lived in Shotley. Those times when you look back were so Important. I'm not sure now if the Young could understand how we all seem to feel.

Philip Booker: I remember being in a class of his in a top room at Berners House, with a view across the Orwell, one early winter's evening. The class finished in chaos as we witnessed an incredible, but never explained UFO occurrence from across the river. I remember very detail of what we saw, to this day and have never witnessed anything like it since .....

Harvey Angel: I saw Shakey at Doc's memorial service. I thought something was probably wrong even then because he didn't know who I was. Nobody ever forgets who I am! I tend to leave a lasting impression on people (not always a good one, I should add)! Anyway, he was a great teacher and I missed the opportunity for a natter on that last occasion, as previously he was always a great conversationalist. (The picture is from around 1999)

Philip Booker: That picture is still over 20 years after I left Woolvo', but he's pretty much as I remember him.

Nick Brackenbury: They both look happy; I am very pleased for them.

Ray Brady: How sad; great French teacher. Dementia is such a horrible disease.

Terry Ashcroft: So great to see that photo. Just as I remember. Sad that we talk in the past tense. He is still here. I do wish I could have seen him today.

Brian Cooper: End of term prank; my friend was climbing the drainpipe up to the roof of the main building in the dark when, nearing the top, an adjacent window opened and Shakey looked out at the climber. 'Do you have your housemaster's permission to be here?' he asked with a straight face. What prevented my mate falling to the ground with the shock I'll never know - true story. Sad to hear about the current situation.

Barry Clark: Exact same thing happened to me!

Michael John O'Leary: BTW, Brian Cooper, are you the Cooper B of the Cooper B and Cooper C fame? If so, I haven't seen you since then, 57 years ago!

Brian Cooper: Hi Mick, the answer to your question is yes - I played second row with Chris Webb in school teams and then prop in the 2nd XV - you were the demonic scrum half in those teams. Happy days.

Michael John O'Leary: Hi Brian! It's great to hear from you after all this time. Do you remember you and Chris Cooper were always called Cooper B and Cooper C? In those days, for reasons I don't understand now, we never called each other by our first names.

Brian Cooper: I seem to remember people called me 'O'! I don't know what I called you but I'm pretty certain it wasn't Brian. And why do you say I was 'demonic'???As you say, happy days, long past but not forgotten!

Brian Cooper: O'Leary 'demonic' in that it was difficult for opponents to pin you down when farming the ball from the scrum to the threes. Remember one game when the opposing scrum won the ball, passed out to the wing, Chris Webb and I intercepted the poor guy, picked him up with one of our arms under each of his and raced to our opponents line. Once there we removed the ball from the bemused winger and scored the try. Funny what you remember after all these years.

Mike Wardell: Top bloke, tough to beat at badminton as well.

Chris Snuggs: Did you ever manage it? I nearly did once .....

Graham Campbell: That's very sad news - I will never forget Shaky's crack shot aim with a chalk board rubber in French class and that streak of white in his quiff white I was never sure was actually white through the stress of having to teach us a second foreign language (the first being correct English) or whether it was chalk dust he'd rubbed through.

Bob Coates: Wasn't he also expert at spinning excercise books back through the air to his pupils even if you were thirty feet back in the classroom on the top floor of the main building?

Chris Snuggs: If you find out where they are does it make sense to send some flowers? Fred Moughton has some WHS funds for that kind of thing.

Harvey Angel: It's a nice idea, but if they're at the point where they don't know whether they're coming or going and don't know who anyone is, would sending flowers serve any purpose? Better for individuals to visit and take the chance of maybe stimulating their memory buds? They could then let us know on here how they got on. But first, the address is needed, of course.

Chris Snuggs: Yes, but do we really know or sure what the situation is? They may have been having a bad day when they saw you. They may get lucid moments. And anyway, they may be able to react to flowers positively even if they have no idea where they came from. There is no right and wrong here, I guess. Is it some kind of blessing that they both have this simultansously? It is a truly horrible thing, but maybe after a certain stage it is worse for those loved ones who have to watch your personality disappear.

Harvey Angel: When I last saw him, although he didn't recognise who I was he said, "I'm 90 years old!" I think he was slightly less with it than his wife on that occasion, but definitely a blessing that they've both lost their marbles around the same time.

Louis Parperis: I think it might be appropriate for someone to make contact with those caring for the Shakeshaft's welfare so that, as a group, we offer appropriately considered assistance whether that be in the form of visits or anything else designed to make their experience of life in care as comfortable as possible. My assumption is that they are living in a care home in the Ipswich area and, if so, I will happily visit them on my next return to the UK and take them out for lunch/tea or whatever their carers suggest and I am sure that many others will happily follow suit.

Terry Ashcroft: The man next door is called Archie. He has visited them in the care home but he wasn’t in when I called twice. I wonder Barry Clark if you could pop round to ask him what home they are in. His bungalow is 30 next door.

Barry Clark: Hi Terry Ashcroft, I will give it a go in the next week, and report back.

Terry Ashcroft: Cheers Barry. If you can get the Care Home phone number i could give them a call and find out about them.