Rhubarb Issue 2

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spell in Germany. After this, he read medicine at Trinity College, Oxford. In 1952, he won the University Champion Pairs and he rowed twice in The University Boat Race, in 1953 and 1955; in 1954, while secretary of the boat club, he contracted glandular fever and had to drop out. After Oxford, Marshall moved to St Thomas’s Hospital, London,

when a friend or relative expressed interest in a particular subject. And there was always music, including the love of opera developed whilst a student at Oxford, family chamber music ensembles, and a lifetime of choral music; he was a stalwart of Pershore Abbey choir until very shortly before he died. He is fondly remembered and much missed by his wife Janet, four children and many other family and friends – he gave us all so much wisdom, inspiration and love.” WOODHOUSE – On 14th April 2011. Geoffrey Leslie Whitaker Woodhouse (B, 1941–1945), aged 83. Brother of Raymond (B, 1939–1942). RM 1945. Having lived and worked for many years in Hong Kong, he lived for some years in the UK and then retired to France. He was also a great sportsman. He is survived by his widow Mrs Gillian Woodhouse and his two daughters and three grandchildren.

homes inspectorate.

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He led an extremely full and active life. He spent hours researching local history …and was an authority on the history of the Pershore area, and was always responding to requests for information about the town, its past and people’s ancestors. Among his many projects, was a book on the history of Pershore,

D John Wilson

and then Wolverhampton where he trained in midwifery and paediatrics. He was then offered an assistantship at a GP practice in Brewood, Staffordshire. In 1961 he was invited to join his father’s practice in Pershore and spent the rest of his career as a GP in the town, becoming senior partner in 1977, finally hanging up his stethoscope in 1991. During the 1980s he became the GP representative on the health authority’s District Management Team, and his involvement in medical affairs continued after retirement with the nursing

prepared to mark the town’s millennium celebrations in 1972, and subsequently developed by co-authoring a more comprehensive Book of Pershore , published in 1980. Reading was another passion, and he built up a large collection of books. People coming to the house would invariably be drawn to browse his library would always find something to interest them. He took great pleasure in seeing people go off with borrowed books under their arm, and he would “stock up” with appropriate books

Obituaries Former Common Room DRAKE – On 23rd September 2011, The Reverend John Paul Drake at the age

ALEXANDER – On 25th January 2012, Dr. Frederick John Alfred Alexander at the great age of 103 years. Former Head of

TAWNEY – On 25th October 2011 David Archer Tawney, at the age of 80, formerly Head of Science at the school. Appointed in 1959 by Warden Fisher to succeed Freddie Yorke in the Physics Department, he was a

of 92 years. A Late Scholar at Queens’ College, Oxford he was the second School Chaplain to be appointed to

Modern Languages until his retirement in 1969, after 28 years’ service. Graduating from St Catherine’s College Oxford and The University of Vienna, he arrived at the beginning of the Second World War after a short spell at Radley, gradually settling into his teaching life in Oxford and becoming an increasingly powerful force at the School and one of the most intellectually able of his time. His teaching was much appreciated by generations of Modern Linguists. He was very much more than a classroom teacher and his cultural and literary interests were wide and cosmopolitan. For years he ran a highly successful Arts Society and many will recall motor trips when he drove with little awareness of other motorists, more intent on the discussion at hand. Also for many years he was responsible for the school timetable ‘out of which he wove a wonderful confusion every July, to be resolved by remote control alchemy from abroad during holidays’! Remembered with affection by colleagues and pupils alike for the crazy logic of his thinking recalled in a score of ‘half-delighted, half exasperated quotations’, he was a great character and a fine school master. Dearly loved husband of Mary he left one son, two grandchildren and one great grandchild.

succeed Robert Holtby and served the school for 11 years between 1958 and 1969. A fine scholar and a ‘genuinely holy man’ he rose to the challenge with an easy confidence, behind rather a shy exterior, because he was assured in his faith and values. Popular and approachable, his pastoral skills being based on a stable and happy family life. Remembered for his thoughtfulness for other people and his involvement in many spheres of school activity, including constant ferrying to and fro in his Volkswagen and partaking in end of term Common Room shows. He left to become the Vicar of Stewkley in Buckinghamshire where he remained for seven years, becoming intimately involved in the successful fight against a third London Airport which would have meant the possible demolition of his church. He later moved on to five further parishes before his retirement in 1985. His wife Rosemary pre- deceased him by three years and he left two children and four grandchildren.

Scholar from Pembroke College, Cambridge and this scholarship shone through in all his works. Responsible for many ambitious projects, mostly very successful, his enthusiasm for science teaching was infectious. A serious man, he did not always find traditional public school life to his taste but nonetheless threw himself into it. A separate interest was the transformation for staging a spate of Common Room shows with the help of his wife Jill. The couple were a lively presence in the collegial society of the day and were appreciated as such. Intolerant of anything second rate, his enthusiasm and drive eventually took him to Keele University in 1967 as a Lecturer in the Department of Education responsible for training future teachers. Nine years later he was appointed Director of the Consortium of Local Education Authorities for the Provision of Science Services (CLEAPSS), which advised teachers how to equip their laboratories. He retired in 1996 but continued as a consultant for CLEAPSS as well as taking a keen interest in photography and travelling to London regularly to see the opera. His health began to falter even in middle age and he eventually died of heart failure after a hip operation.

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