Chairman's Letter.

A warm welcome to the Autumn 2005 edition of The Mitre. The committee met at Simon's in Bury St. Edmunds on April 17th and again on 24th July on their behalf I send you their best wishes for health and happiness as we all get a bit longer in the tooth! If any of you have ever thought of joining the committee, let me assure you that lunch and relaxing conversation in Ounce House are certainly part of the perks of the job.

If there are any of you who have considered coming to a reunion but are unsure of whether your contemporaries will be present, there are details elsewhere in this edition of how you can log onto the OMA website and leave your name saying you are CONSIDERING coming and is there anyone out there who knows you who might join you. If you do this early enough who knows what reply might be forthcoming and with what success.

It would also be enjoyable if some of you could give us an anecdote about the school at the end of the Reunion dinner in October. Although it's nerve-racking to stand up and say a few words, I can assure you any contribution will be very well received by a receptive audience.

There's always a need for copy for The Mitre, so as this production is being put to bed, the plaintive eerie cry of a Martin can be heard - " more, more, more", for the Autumn edition. Any snippets will be extraordinarily welcome. This is a real case of you get out of this publication what you put in! Just e-mail it and someone will sort it out. Which brings me to Martin's cry for assistance with the editing of The Mitre which has to date fallen on deaf ears; there must be someone out there who could lend a hand now that everything can be passed so quickly and easily by means of e-mail?

Next year will be the 60th anniversary of the founding of the school. If anyone has any ideas that could be seriously considered to add to the usual mix of good company that I think we have at the moment, then by all means let us know before the next AGM, which incidentally will be held at 3.30pm on Saturday 29th October at the Le Strange Arms. For those of you who are coming for the weekend it would be great to see more of you adding to the debate on where and what we do from here on in!

Whenever I have been up to the Le Strange recently it is busy irrespective of the time of year so I do suggest that those who wish to stay there over the weekend, book your rooms as early as you can - just  a thought.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in October.

Kind regards

 

 
 

Text Box: Eric Bocking R.I.P.

 

Sadly we heard in December that Eric Bocking had died. 

Eric was a Churchwarden at Ingoldisthorpe for many years. He and his wife Margaret were always on hand to help out with the OMA. Any information we needed about St Michael’s Church and with all local news. Including any old boys and old girls who turned up wanting news of what was going on, and he was always ready to put up posters to advertise the reunion. 

David and I used to stay at the Le Strange several times a year and we would call on Margaret and Eric just to have a natter and talk about past times and the fun we all had. We would be greeted with a cup of tea and biscuits, it was a nice port of call and will always be remembered. 

Our very best wishes and thoughts go out to Margaret and we trust and hope that we shall still see her on the Sunday morning at St Michael’s Church each OMA weekend. 

Eric will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

I very much look forward to seeing a good number of Old Michaelian’s at Old Hunstanton for our traditional weekend on the 29th and 30th October.

 The Committee have organised something which is perhaps traditional and innovative and it is always the greatest joy to see who has returned after many years in the Absent Book! Any former pupil whom we have not seen for some time is especially welcomed and for the more senior members I hardly need tell you that the School having been founded in 1946 next year will be the Diamond Jubilee!

 Please send any news through the OMA website, and let us know where you are, what you are doing and how life is treating you. The old faithful will be back at the Le Strange Hotel at the end of the month and we all look forward to seeing you there.

 


  Thoughts & Observations from Hinckley Towers

 

 

It is a little while since I made a contribution to The Mitre and, I must say, I thought I must have upset Martin and the whole of the OMA Committee when the Spring edition of the Newsletter failed to dump itself on my doormat this year.

What have I been up to during 2005?

Well, no exotic holiday's for us this year. We decided to stay in the UK and in April made our way north back to Dumfries and Galloway and to a beautiful Hotel we found two years previously at Balcary Bay. I suppose we did take a tiny bit of a chance with the weather and it did not disappoint us one bit. One minute we enjoyed brilliant sunshine and the next we were shrouded in thick mist and driving rain. At least when the weather allowed us to see further than our noses we delighted in the stunning countryside and views.

In June we decided to go back to the Isle of Wight. Well, when I say go back I mean go back, since I had not stepped foot on the Island since boyhood and I have the photographs to prove it.

We stayed in Bembridge and I have to say what a simply delightful place the IOW proved to be. We tried to visit as many places as possible around the island during our week long stay and one of the highlights of our visit was a drive across the island to The Needles.

The other big highlight of our visit to the IOW was that, after some 40 years, I managed to play around with Felicity. No, you misunderstand me.......................I mean I managed to play A ROUND OF GOLF with Felicity.

Felicity and I have kept in touch with each other for many years and when Angela and I decided to holiday on the IOW this year I made sure that the golf clubs went into the car before the luggage! We had a great day on the golf course at Ryde and, although I am sure that Flip will recall a different story, we actually tied the game. Well, a man has to do what a man has to do!!

We are just about to depart for a few days at Rye and Hastings, neither of which I have ever visited before, so maybe the Editor will allow me to tell you all about that part of holiday in the next Newsletter.

My commitment to golf remains absolute and I try to master the game whenever time allows. Although I still remain a member at a local Golf Club here in Leicestershire, I do also play a lot of golf with a very dear friend of mine in Bakewell, Derbyshire. Not only is it necessary for a fair degree of fitness, but Bakewell demands that you resemble the agility of a mountain goat. It is therefore surprising to me that since I do not qualify on either of these terms, why I keep on playing the course!!

Due to other commitments here at home, it was impossible for me to attend the OMA Reunion weekend last year, but I am hoping to try and keep the said weekend free this year and join you all again.

Sorry this is so short this time around. I will try and do better next time.

John Wallington.

 

 

 

This is a photograph sent to me by John Wallington who says….. 

Please find attached a little picture which you might consider including in the forthcoming Newsletter. For no other reason but to prove that I am still in the land of the living. And before anyone asks, the two young ladies are NOT holding me up!!

 This is a magazine likely to read by children and ladies of a certain age who may be susceptible to fits of swooning so I was very dubious about including this but knowing John’s clean, honest, sober and monk-like life I felt reassured  (Editor:)

 


Highlights of the OMA Spring committee meeting.

(with thanks to John King)

 

The Spring committee meeting took place on Sunday 17 April 2005 at Simon Pott’s home in Bury St Edmunds.  There was a full turn out of committee members. A résumé of the subjects that were discussed are as follows. 

· Eric Bocking the Ingoldisthorpe organist died on 19 December 2004, aged 80, and 3 committee members attended the funeral in Ingoldisthorpe church.  Eric had  asked for donations to be made to the church and £30 was donated on behalf of the OMA.

· Simon proposed that the refreshments offered following the Sunday church service should be served in the church instead of going to the village hall as it might encourage more people to take part before leaving the church.  Permission and feasibility is being undertaken.

· There is a new Head teacher at Ingoldisthorpe V.A. primary school.  He is Mr Keith Thwaites.  The Association is sponsoring an annual award to the school which is payable in May of each year.  The award is given to a pupil who has shown exceptional effort following a setback in life.  The Chairman received a letter from the school with a nomination and the background for the nomination.  It is hoped that OMA members may wish to donate to this worthy cause so that it is not financed from Association funds.

· Martin as Mitre Editor and Membership Secretary has said that he wishes to hand over as Mitre Editor next year.  He has very ably undertaken this job for 7 years and feels that the time has come for a younger person to take on the job.  Various soundings have been made without a volunteer coming forward.  It is a real possibility that without a replacement for Martin the Mitre will cease to be produced as from next year.  This would be a tragedy as it is an exceptionally useful communication tool particularly for those not on the web and for some overseas members.  There must be some UK member or partner who is sufficiently interested to continue this work.

· The committee also considered that, in the weeks prior to the dinner, the names of those attending should be notified on the web in order to encourage other members to join those already attending.  It might also lead to members doubling up on transport to save costs, or to transport those who are unable to drive themselves to the reunion.

  At the AGM a suggestion was made that a notice on the lines of a “blue plaque” should be attached to the old rectory at Ingoldisthorpe to show that the building had previously been St Michael’s school.  The present owner of the ground floor flat has been approached and was clearly not enthusiastic.  The Association has therefore abandoned the idea. 


The committee meeting held on 24th July at Bob Hill’s home was poorly attended as most members had prior engagements or were ill.

Those attending were Ruth and Michael Chilvers, Pat Frost, Rachel Golby, Bob Hill. Simon Pott attended for pre-meeting discussions.

Apologies were received from Michael Catterick, Bill Cullin, Ian Dupont, Martin Graville, John King, Louise Taylor.

In the absence of the Secretary David Golby took the minutes, the salient points being as follows…

· School Award. The cheque which should have been sent to the school in May had now been forwarded.

· Sunday service refreshments. The church was considered a good venue but a big problem was the lack of toilet facilities, particularly for the ladies. Ian & Bob to seek the vicar's permission to use the church for the supply of refreshments

· Menus: As these were not available for discussion at this meeting Rachel was asked to procure a set and a decision on which one to use to be decided by Ian, Bob and John.

· No obvious replacement to replace Martin as Mitre editor. Further discussion at the AGM and in the meantime a plea would be in the next Mitre. It was suggested that Martin was finding that the amount of content to fill two Mitres a year difficult and Ruth and Rachel suggested that one Mitre and one newsletter might be a more viable solution.

· Bob suggested that Ian write to David Ratcliff to pencil in date of service for 2006.

· Bob suggested that music for dancing should be provided after the dinner, if Le Strange management agreed.

· The meeting started at 3.25 and ended at 4.55. Thanks were given to Bob and Christine for their hospitality.

Secretary's note: I am indebted to David Golby for making notes in order for me to complete these minutes. Also to Ruth for forwarding them to me.

 

The following is a letter I had from Les Roberts at the beginning of the year. Because there was no Spring Mitre I reproduce it here, complete, unabridged and in a style inimitably Les’s own. It was really written for the Oz OM’s only but with Les’s permission I think it deserves a wider audience

 ___________________________________________

Gooday Australians

We are the people of a free nation of blokes, sheilas and the  occasional wanker. We come from many lands (although a few too many of us come from   New Zealand), and although we live in the best country in the world, we   reserve  the right to bitch and moan about it whenever we bloody like. We are One  Nation but divided into many States.

First, there's Victoria, named after a queen who didn't believe in  lesbians.  Victoria is the realm of Mossimo turtlenecks, cafe latte, grand final day,  and big horse races. Its capital is Melbourne, whose  chief marketing pitch  is that "it's liveable". At least that's what they think. The rest of us  think it is too bloody cold and wet.

Next, there's NSW, the realm of pastel shorts, macchiato with sugar, thin  books read quickly and millions of dancing queens. Its capital Sydney has  more queens than any other city in the world and is proud of it. Its   mascots  are Bondi lifesavers that pull their Speedos up their cracks to keep the  left and right sides of their brains separate. 

Down south we have Tasmania, a State based on the notion that the family  that bonks together stays together. In Tassie, everyone gets an extra  chromosome at conception. Maps of the State bring smiles to the sternest  faces. It holds the world record for a single mass shooting, which the   Yanks  can't seem to beat no matter how often they try.

South Australia is the province of half-decent reds, a festival of  foreigners and bizarre axe murders. SA is the state of innovation. Where  else can you so effectively reuse country bank vaults and barrels as in  Snowtown, just out of Adelaide (also named after a queen). They had the Grand Prix, but lost it when the views of Adelaide sent the Formula One  drivers to sleep at the wheel.

Western Australia is too far from anywhere to be relevant. It's main claim  to fame is that it doesn't have daylight saving because if it did, all the  men would get erections on the bus on the way to work. WA was the last state  to stop importing convicts and many of them still work there in the  government and business.

The Northern Territory is the red heart of our land. Outback plains, and  dusty kids with big smiles. It also has the highest beer consumption of  anywhere on the planet and its creek beds have the highest aluminium   content  of anywhere too. Although the Territory is the centrepiece of our national  culture, few of us live there and the rest prefer to flyover it on our way  to Bali.

And there's Queensland. While any mention of God seems silly in a document  defining a nation of half arsed sceptics, it is worth noting that God  probably made Queensland, as its beautiful one day and perfect the next.   Why  he filled it with dickheads remains a mystery.

Oh yes and there's Canberra. The less said the better.

We, the citizens of Oz, are united by Highways, whose treacherous twists   and  turns kill more of us each year than murderers. We are united in our lust  for international recognition, so desperate for praise we leap in joy when   a  rag tag gaggle of corrupt IOC officials tells us Sydney is better than  Beijing. We are united by a democracy so flawed that a political party  albeit a redneck gun toting one, can get a million votes and still not win  one seat in Federal Parliament.

Not that we're whingeing, we leave that to our Pommy immigrants. We want to make "no worries mate" our national phrase, "she'll be  right  mate" our national attitude and "Waltzing Matilda" our national  anthem (so  what if it's about a sheep-stealing crim who commits  suicide). We love   sport  so much our newsreaders can read the death  toll from a sailing race and  still tell us who's winning.

And we're the best in the world at all the sports that count, like cricket ( O yeah and just WHO won the Ashes Ed:),  swimming, netball, rugby league and union, AFL, roo shooting,  two up and  horse racing. We also have the biggest rock, the tastiest  pies, and the  worst dressed Olympians in the known universe. Only in  Australia can a   pizza  delivery get to your house faster than an  ambulance.

Only in Australia do we have bank doors wide open, no security guards, or  cameras but chain the pens to the desk.

Stand proud Aussies - we shoot, we root, we vote. We are girt by sea and  pissed by lunchtime. Even though we might seem a racist, closed  minded,  sports obsessed little people, at least we feel better for it.

I am, you are, we are Australian!

P.S We also shoot and eat the two animals that are on our National Crest!!!!

No other country has this distinction!

 

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY - January 26, 2005.

 

Mining - UGH!!!!!!

At the 50th Reunion someone asked why I took up Mining as a career. I’m sure I gave a somewhat flippant answer. I suppose I am the only known OM to enter the field so perhaps some sort of explanation is called for.

At the outset let me stress that the type of schooling we received would have prepared most of us for a career in mining. I really believe you have to be a “Jack of all trades” to be successful in the business and I think Saint Michael’s produced lots of Jacks!

In my last term we had a convincing guy talk to us about the Fleet Air Arm. Short service commissions (5 years) paid out a gratuity of £5 000 – a lot of money, and landing planes on Ark Royal sounded romantic. He didn’t mention life expectancy! On the other hand I came from a mining area and my father’s Churchwarden was the local Mine Manager and he convinced me to try mining first. I could always revert to the Fleet Air Arm later.

So this very raw recruit, with a bit of a plummy accent, started “down’t pit” just after my 18th birthday. My Gran was outraged. “Surely I could get a job in the time office?”

I should mention that I wasn’t the school’s best student and 2 A levels in English were hardly encouraging for an engineering career so I enrolled at the Tech. and very quickly started to make amends for the fun time I’d had at school.

The first two years underground were a little traumatic. A week after starting I lost a finger and within a couple of weeks of return to work I broke two back vertebrae, narrowly missing damage to the spinal cord (costing 4 months of rehab.) and a whole lot of minor injuries. I thought the Good Lord was warning me off the “pit”!

A part of essential training for a Mine Manager was 2 years work on the coal face. This I really enjoyed and it paid very well. Most of the time was in the “Three-quarter Seam”, ¾ of a yard thick. Cramped at first but you soon got used to it.  I vividly remember an old miner telling me this story that I think sums up the standing of miners in the community. The traditional “bait” or mid shift snack was a bacon sandwich. The local Co-op had this sign painted on the shop window, “Miner’s bacon, 1/9d a pound, so good we could almost eat it ourselves”. This Co-op was boycotted for weeks! I’m afraid we miners brought some of the derision on ourselves. After the lockouts of the thirties miners tended to work the days they wanted to and absenteeism ran as high as 40%. I remember one miner being asked why he only worked 3 days a week; his reply “cos I can’t manage on 2”!

After 6 fairly hard years I had “made it”. I had a Manager’s ticket and Chartered Engineer status and underwent 2 years of so-called Management Training. But the “slump” had already hit the industry. Uneconomic mines, particularly in the north, were closing down on a large scale and it was a fairly easy decision to move offshore – the only employer of mining engineers in the UK was the National Coal Board. So in 1964 we moved to Africa, to Northern Rhodesia first and then to South Africa in 1975. I was lucky to be chosen to attend a short course at Harvard in 1980 which turned me in to a dangerous individual – a Mining Engineer who understood a balance sheet! Since 1982 I’ve been 100% involved in the financial side of mining. I’m currently a (non-executive) director of South Africa’s largest gold producer, its second largest platinum producer and the largest Russian gold producer listed on the LSE. By the end of 2004, in my 70th year, I plan to resign my directorships but maintain informal links with the sector.

I have been very fortunate in my chosen career. I’ve met some really good people in the mining world and developed lifelong friendships.

Thank you Saint Michael’s, you put me on the right road. I owe you.

Michael Pleming.

 

 

Reunion Arrangements


As usual, for anyone arriving on Friday night, there will be a gathering of OM’s at the Le Strange during the evening, just hunt around till you find someone!!

The Reunion proper starts at around mid-day on Saturday when a downstairs section of the bar in the Mariner’s has been reserved for our use, look out for the OMA signs. Bar-meals and snacks are available and whether or not you intend to come to the AGM or Evening Function you are welcome to join us at this lunchtime gathering.

The AGM will be held in the Palace Suite and it is there that John King our Secretary and Archivist will have set up his vast array of  Old Michaelian photographs and memorabilia. The start time is 3.30 and tea will be provided.

If you wish to stand for election to the committee (or know somebody who would) do speak up, we do need some new ‘younger’ blood on the committee so if you can spare two Sunday’s a year please consider it. We meet, usually, at a committee member’s house and wives/husbands are very welcome to come along.

We start to assemble for the evening festivities at 7.00 p.m. with pre-dinner drinks in the Palace Suite. Dinner is at 7.45 p.m. and the menu is as follows-

Starter

Melon Kiwi & Orange Platter

Main course

Roast Leg of Lamb with rosemary port wine & redcurrant sauce

Selection of Vegetables & Potato         

Dessert Course

Poached Oranges in Grand Marnier & Cream

 

Coffee & Mints

there will , of course, be a vegetarian option and any special needs can be catered for by the Le Strange staff if you arrange it with them.

The Speaker will be Simon, plus anyone else who wishes to say a few words; the only provisos being that Simon knows, preferably before the meal, that you wish to speak and that you restrict yourself to 3 minutes. A raffle will be held during the evening.

When we (finally) get to bed remember that the clocks go back 1 hour!! If you remember to do this, not only will it give you an extra hour of sleep but it will also make sure that you arrive at Ingoldisthorpe at the proper time for the Reunion Eucharist which is at 11.00 a.m. The celebrant and preacher will be Roger Wikeley.

Refreshments this year will be served in Church and not at the village hall. For your relief, however, arrangements have been made for the village hall to be open.

Have a safe journey home and remember...

The next reunion is a big one

The Diamond Jubilee of the founding of St Michael’s

28th & 29th  October 2006

 


  The Editor's End Word's

 

 

 

 

             So now is the time to grovel (don’t grovel Graville) and say sorry for missing the Spring Mitre. I have no real excuse except a distinct lack of input from the majority of OM.s. There are very honourable exceptions and they know who they are.

             All being well this is my last input as Editor of the Mitre. I have been doing the job for 7 years and that is enough to encourage a mutual parting of the ways. I hope to continue to have my say in the Magazine, trusting that the new incumbent wishes to hear from me and I shall be continuing, providing I am asked of course, in my role as Membership Secretary.

On the whole I have very much enjoyed my time with the Mitre, my only reservation being the poor response from you, the members, to appeals for copy.

There can be not one of you who hasn’t something of interest to say whether it a far flung holiday (or even one in Cleethorpes), new job (or retirement from an old one!!), chance meetings with OM’s or the great and good (or are the two synonymous?), thoughts of school days, memories of friends made and not seen for years, a favourite joke or observation on life (it’s life, Jim but not as we know it!!)...the list could go on and on but it needs YOU to talk to me or at least to my successor, as editor.

It doesn’t need me to tell you that there are no new Om’s, the nearest we come is rediscovered ones, and the website ( 5 28 www.oma.org.uk) has found and is continuing to find Michaelian’s who had lost touch with us and were not aware of the Association. It may even be true to say that the OMA would now be defunct without our presence on Mr Berners-Lee’s world wide web. I can close my eyes and hear all you technophobes crying “what is he on? What a load of rubbish” but I am serious, it has never been easier to communicate, so if you have been lost for 40 years and are now found, what have you been doing for all that time? We want to know, we are anxious to know, we are desperate to know. Silence, in this case is, most certainly, NOT golden.

This brings me onto the subject of the committee. Last year Michael Catterick asked for nominations for the management committee. A form was placed in the Mitre and the end result was...a complete blank, zilch, nichts, nada, niente, rien, not one single volunteer. There are many who have served on the committee as man and boy, and will no doubt continue to do so until old age and senility bar them, but new blood is desperately required if the Old Michaelian Association is to flourish. Next year is the 60th anniversary of the founding of St Michael’s and a knees-up of monumental proportions is proposed. Join the committee and help plan it. This appeal is particularly aimed at the pupils who attended St Michael’s in the mid to late 60s. who are sadly under-represented.

Finally, I should like to thank those select few OM’s who have supported me with articles and the like in the past 7 years. The job I originally took on, or so I thought, was as technical editor, to physically produce the Mitre and not be responsible for the editorial content. I was soon disabused of this fanciful thought and now you are shut of me blathering on. I shall miss it, I have no doubt whatsoever that, when the Mitre lands on our doorstep, I shall say to Barbara, “that’s not the way to do this or that” and she will say to me “if you don’t like the new way you shouldn’t have stopped doing it the old way” and  although she is undoubtedly right, now is the time to say au revoir and to extend my very best wishes to the new Editor when he/she is installed.