St Edward's Rhubarb - 2018

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1 ST EDWARD’S r hubarb
Message from the Editor
From the Warden
S O C I E T Y
Corrections
We apologise for any mistakes in Issue 6,
and are grateful to OSE for pointing out the
following corrections:
p.20 Archives: The Female Influence at
St Edward’s
The article refers to “Chris and Mo
Ruscombe-King, both pottery teachers in
the 1960s and 1970s”. This is wrong. Chris
Ruscombe-King joined St Edward’s in 1963
as head of the Art Department – he was
in fact the only teacher of art at the time,
and remained so for most of his time at the
School, art being largely an extra-curricular
activity, although there were timetabled
lessons for the Shells, and a very few pupils,
including myself, took A-Level. Until the mid-
1970s Mo did indeed teach pottery although
this was entirely extra-curricular, taking
place from 4 – 6pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays,
Saturdays and Sundays.
Nigel Collins (G, 1968-1973)
p.32 Obituary: Michael Hanks
Michael’s cousin, Richard Parker, kindly let us
know that Michael left in 1945 not 1941 as
printed in the obituary.
Welcome to the latest issue of rhu barb.
It has been another busy year in the OSE
Office and it is so wonderful to be back
in The Lodge and part of a brilliant team.
I was a member of the OSE Department
between 2012 and 2014 when I worked
on the 9th Edition of the School Roll in
preparation for the 150th Anniversary
celebrations. At events I am now able put
faces to many of the names that were
on an Excel spreadsheet for so long. The
celebration of Teddies' links with the RAF
this year has been particularly special and,
as you will read, has given rhubarb this
year a great focus. We have lots of exciting
things planned in the next year so please
look out for invitations, emails and at OSE
information on the website and as always
please do tell us what you have been up to.
Dr Jenny McCarter Society ............................................................. 1
School News............................................... 3
Features ........................................................ 6
Rhubarb Rhubarb.................................12
Archives ......................................................15
Congratulations.....................................17
OSE in Business ......................................20
OSE News...................................................22
Obituaries...................................................30
Events.............................................................48
Martyrs Reports....................................51
Contacts .......................................................53
Valete.............................................................54
Contents
2018 has been notable for being both the
100th anniversary year of the formation of
the RAF and also the 75th anniversary year
of the Dambusters Raid; two occasions of
interest and importance to the School.
At the March Annual Dinner I spoke
about the “School for Heroes” (as quoted
from Michael Cumming’s book Pathfinder
Cranswick. Most people know about the
exploits of Douglas Bader and Guy Gibson,
and, in response to Theodor Abrahamsen’s
wonderful words that evening, I wanted to
speak about other “ordinary heroes” (such
as Alec Cranswick) who had made such a
difference to the RAF’s war effort especially
in the Second World War. (It turns out that
Cranswick, who died on his 107th bomber
mission and who flew more such missions
than any other pilot, was a close friend of
Theodor’s when at Teddies.)
In all there were 285 OSE who served
in the RAF in the War and the stories
about them are endless. This year’s Rhubarb
celebrates and emphasises the strong
historical connection that the School has
with the RAF, educating those famous
names mentioned already alongside
Geoffrey de Havilland, Louis Strange,
Adrian Warburton, Arthur Banks and
James Leathart to name only a few. This
year’s Military Dinner was a particular
highlight when OSE joined us for the
CCF Inspection in the Quad during the day
and stayed on attending our 3rd Annual
Military Dinner in the evening where
the guest speaker was Air Marshal Sir
Christopher Harper.
This edition also includes a wonderful
spread of current School news showcasing
the broad educational experiences of future
OSE. There is, as usual, the super section of
OSE News alongside the Obituaries. OSE will
have heard of the new Quad Development;
the building contractors are on site and
work is under way for the most significant
building project since Simeon moved the
School from New Inn Hall Street to the
Woodstock Road site. This new development
is central to the Teddies academic ethos
and wider advances in educational practice.
Learning is much more of a collaborative
endeavour than it was when many of us
were at school – pupils discuss, debate,
share ideas and work together. More detail
on the different elements of this ambitious
scheme will appear in the summer edition of
The Chronicle, out soon. A clever film on the
website brings the Development to life for
anyone who would like to see it as a
3D visualisation.
I wish you a very good summer and I
hope you enjoy this edition of rh ubarb.
Scan the code to view the
Quad development