Posted by Smith on October 12, 2006 at 17:42:03:
Just browsing the website. Nothing new, of course, if anything, rather moribund. Spent a moment perusing the webmaster's "In Memoriam" page which invokes intriguing memories and feelings. The death of Mark Hopkins, whose passing pre-dated my arrival by two years or so, still assumed a quiet significance amongst boys who never knew him. I remember this feeling now with a warm sense of community. Looking at others in the list it never ceases to amaze that the beautiful Christine Fairhurst, whom many of us secretly (or maybe not so secretly) adored, is sadly no longer with us. How can one so lovely, one we fanatasised about so much as boys, not be as lovely and full of life now? Paul Jarvie, tough and rugged sports master, who would make us run the hill a dozen times for whatever infraction; Jonathan Hall, who probably enjoyed the least applause of all those who trod the boards of our Alma Mater; Frank McGuinness, who, despite an authoritarian and reactionary style, dreamt of transforming the lives of boys whose experience may otherwise have remained constrained by circumstance. The irreplaceable Carl Gallagher, the comedian who sought refuge in Alice Cooper and alcohol, who bowed out at 37. Gentlemen, we'll raise a glass to them all:
'...A dust whom England bore, made aware,
Gave, once her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blessed by the suns of home...' As I said, rather too much wine!