St Edward's Rhubarb

ST EDWARD’S

AIKMAN

– On 1st May

2017, Robert (Robin) Colville

Aikman (G, 1945-1950). The

following obituary has kindly

been provided by Mrs Aikman:

Robin’s working life had

three strands:

Aeroplanes:

After leaving

university with a degree in

Aeronautical Engineering he

spent two years in the Royal

Air Force rising to the rank of

Flying Officer. He then had five

years in the aircraft industry.

For part of that time he was

an aerodynamicist working

on the Fairy Delta 2. This was

a research aeroplane with a

Concorde-style wing which,

in 1956, set a new World Air

Speed Record by flying at Mach

1.7. It was a very advanced

aeroplane for its time.

Computers:

Then, in 1960,

Robin moved into computing.

After some years with a

computer manufacturer he

moved into a large services

company eventually becoming

Managing Director of the

IT consultancy division. He

then left to set up his own IT

consultancy which he ran for

nearly 20 years. He was kept

very busy during this time –

mostly in the UK but with

significant periods in the USA.

Wine:

Also for some 15

years Robin was owner and

manager (together with his

wife Maureen) of an English

vineyard. They produced some

excellent dry white wine,

which was sold quite widely in

the UK, and were particularly

pleased when it was stocked

by a well-known store in

Edinburgh. For some four years

Robin and his wife owned and

ran The English Wine Shop

in London. The vineyard was

sold in 1996 and Robin retired.

He and his wife moved from

London to Hertfordshire in

2000.

In retirement Robin’s

interests included: old cars,

old aeroplanes, genealogy,

calligraphy, old watches and

walking. In recent years he

did less walking but, in 2000,

he did pioneer a new long-

distance walk. This runs from

Hadrian’s Wall to London Wall

and is 365 miles long. Robin

walked it solo in 26 days. Robin

was a dedicated and much-

loved family man and will be

sorely missed by his wife, twin

daughters and four grandsons.

ALEXANDER

– On 11th

March 2017, William James

Alexander (B, 1964-1968),

brother to John (B, 1961-

1964) who kindly provided the

following words:

One of the only advantages

of departing this life early is

that all your friends can attend

your funeral and this was

certainly the case with Will (as

he was called within the family)

as Pershore Abbey was packed

to the rafters and amongst

them a strong contingent of

friends from St Edward’s who

heard him played in to “The

Lark in the clear air” and

played out to “An Coulin” both

traditional Irish airs.

Will was born in Pershore,

Worcestershire and lived the

majority of his life there when

he was not in western Ireland

where he spent increasing

periods of time. He went to

The Wells House Prep. School

in Malvern before going on

to join his brother, John, in

Sing’s. In those days the best

advice was to keep your head

below the parapet and Will

was very successful at this.

As part of this strategy he

soon joined the Piscatorial

Society and spent much of

his time tramping the Oxford

canal with rod in hand and on

occasions (usually at weekends

and with the assistance of a

bicycle) getting to know the

Windrush. Towards the end

of his time at the school he

decided that by applying for

a school travel scholarship he

might be able to explore the

rivers of southern Ireland. This

led to four Sing’s schoolboys

having an epic holiday of

fishing in the day and singing

and drinking at night, but

unfortunately the members of

the party had forgotten the

requirement to give a lecture

to the school on their return.

After St Edward’s, Will

went on to study history

and archaeology at Exeter

University, discovering an

idyllic life renting a converted

mill house on the River

Otter at Bickleigh. After

completing his degree Will

spent a year at Wye College

in Kent completing an

M.Sc

. in

landscape, design and ecology.

This experience fostered in

him a lifelong love of trees and

of the natural landscape. He

decided to follow his brother

into the law and the two of

them practised together as

solicitors for more than thirty

years in Worcester before

both retiring together and

closing the practice in 2011.

After this Will spent nearly

all his time living in his house in

County Galway amongst the

friends and craik that he loved

so much. He never found the

time to marry.

OSE Obituaries

V A L E T E

O B I T U A R I E S

William Alexander