Rhubarb

34 St Edward’s r h u b a r b

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extremely difficult for John as he tried to steer her to a better path. Despite saving his life he never forgave the QE hospital for, as he saw it, giving him MRSA. He joined the MRSA support group and visited the Houses of Parliament with them. He also took up the Equitable Life cause writing to and visiting local and national politicians with letters detailing the monetary losses he felt he had suffered at their hands including fiendishly complicated spreadsheets and calculations. In November 2013 he fell into a bunker and fractured some ribs spending a month in hospital. I feared his Christmas message saying “I enjoy defeating my geriatric health problems” was wildly inaccurate. He continued to deteriorate generally and was admitted with pneumonia in February 2014. He was discharged with a care package and was only coping due to his grim determination. He was re- admitted a month later and sadly died on 28th March 2014. MARPLE – On 7th January 2015, David Rodney Marple (F, 1948-52), after a long illness in the South of France. He was the brother of Robert Marple (F, 1944-1949). He attended London University from 1953- 1954. RM 1954-1955, MN 1956-1957, was a Steel Broker from 1959-1988 and had lived in France since 1988. McCARTNEY – In January 2014, Raymond LS McCartney (E, 1938-1940). He attended Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehra Dun, from 1941-1942, and was a Major in the Gurkha Rifles from 1942-1946. He worked at CF Anderson & Sons, London from 1947-1989, and was Associate Director and General Manager from 1980- 1989, before retiring in 1989.

The family moved from Weybridge to Bournemouth in 1966 where he was technical manager for the traffic light division of Plessey. In 1968 he got a job as Head of Technology Services for GKN Screws and Fasteners division in Smethwick. They moved to Solihull which was much more to Sheila’s liking than Smethwick. Between 1977 and 1983 he worked as a project manager for GKN projects concerning cold storage and chickens in Iraq. He then worked for British Aerospace, Kingston, on a project in Iraq, I suspect, on the back of his previous contracting experience there. He explained to me once that this experience largely consisted of knowing the likely cost of bribes! After he retired in 1988 he threw himself into Olton Golf Club. He was B Team Captain 1991-1993 and after this continued to organise working parties and play an active role within the club. I suspect John never really appreciated how much he relied on Sheila until she died in 1999. He had half his colon removed for cancer in 1979. In 2002 the remaining half of his colon twisted, leaked and had to be removed. When I first visited him in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, a few days after surgery the first thing he expressed was concern over the Olton Golf Club B Team captains. He asked me to run the database and make sure everything proceeded as it should do. It was typical. If he said he would do something he would, whatever circumstance he found himself in. Grim determination and a sense of duty. Sadly Pip died in 2003 after a long-term eating disorder and latterly heroin addiction. The last few months of her life were

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John Lattey

He continued to play cricket at Clare. He had played cricket with his brother for years claiming Derek wanted to bat so he became good at bowling. Derek followed him to St Edward’s and Clare. His love of cricket is displayed by a meticulously kept record of all bowling and batting 1948-1968. He was graduate trainee at Rolls Royce Aero Engine Division between 1952 and1954. He then worked at the Guided Weapons Division, of Vickers Armstrong and BAC at Brooklands. He was group leader and manager working on the Vigilant anti-tank missiles and TSR2. The latter was a fighter jet which was scrapped due to governmental finance issues. He was made redundant because of this in 1966 but the TSR2 was always the work of which he was most proud. He met Sheila at a party, and they married on 1st January 1955 despite her spending much of their courting watching him play cricket. They had three children Nick (1959), Sara (1961) and Pip (1963).

John attended Manor House Preparatory School, Horsham and then boarded at St Edward’s from 1943 to 1947. He was a House Prefect at Segar’s House, and Captain of Cricket and Swimming. He played cricket for the 1st XI 1944-1947 and also played 3rd XV rugby. I also went to St Edward’s and remember him telling me the following: The toilets did not have doors. You swam naked in the outdoor pool. A boy was punished for turning up in trunks. A bad report in History led to him and Richard Whittington (G, 1943-1947) (later Birmingham’s coroner) cramming selected past paper topics. Their favoured topics all came up in “O” levels and they both got top grades much to the surprise (and disgust) of their teacher. National service in the RAF was followed by reading Mechanical Engineering at Clare College, Cambridge. The advice to me from this period concerned sharing a flat and cooking duties. When asked to cook – do so.... do it badly so that you will never be asked again!