DEATHS AND OBITUARIES
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DEATHS AND OBITUARIES
We regret to announce the passing of the following OPs and we extend our sympathy to their families and friends :
Peter Malcolm Clark Bradshaw ( 38-46 ) of Bury St Edmunds , 24 January 2020 , aged 91 .
Paul Briggs ( 53-62 ) of Durham , 22 March 2020 , aged 76 .
Peter Cuff ( 34-39 ) of Beverley , 15 February 2020 , aged 93 .
George Robert Dixon ( 45-51 ) of Patrington , Hull , 22 May 2020 , aged 85 .
Christopher John Fletcher ( 64-69 ) of Grantham , 31 August 2019 , aged 68 .
( Roger ) David Karran ( 49-52 ) of Oswestry , Shropshire , 6 January 2020 , aged 84 .
Robin John David Lindsay ( 45-51 ) of Hornsea , 29 August 2019 , aged 84 .
Ivor Loney ( Former Staff 57-91 ) of Pocklington , 23 July 2020 , aged 90 .
Malcolm Gordon Milne ( 55-62 and Former Staff 71-03 ) of Pocklington , 31 December 2019 , aged 76 .
Rachel Porter ( née Marsh 88-90 ) of Wigan , 14 June 2019 , aged 47 .
Arthur Quarmby ( 47-51 ) of Holmfirth , 4 March 2020 , aged 85 .
Timothy Hessel Slater ( 55-66 ) of Wressle and formerly Pocklington , 30 April 2020 , aged 72 .
George Edward Taylor ( 56-63 ) of Nottingham , 9 May 2020 , aged 74 .
Nigel Graham Thackrah ( 58-63 ) of High Peak , Derbyshire , 9 December 2019 , aged 74 .
Clive Brett Walker ( 59-70 ) of Alnwick , Northumberland , 11 October 2019 , aged 68 .
Michael James Ward ( 48-55 ) of Eastleigh , Hampshire , 12 November 2019 , aged 82 .
Brian Anthony Weeden ( 42-46 ) of Chesterfield , 28 April 2020 , aged 86 .
Robert William Wood ( 59-65 ) of Whickham , Newcastle upon Tyne , 18 March 2020 , aged 73 .
OBITUARIES
Peter Malcolm Clark Bradshaw ( 38-46 ), or Malcolm as he was known , died on 24 January 2020 aged 91 . His education at Pocklington School and St John ’ s College , Cambridge was punctuated by two years ’ national service in the Intelligence Corps . After graduating , Malcolm began his career in banking before going into teaching for the rest of his professional life . He married Annie Gair in 1959 and had three sons .
At a dinner six years ago held in St John ’ s , Malcolm Bradshaw told a gathering of Old Pocklingtonians , that there were two institutions that had shaped his life : his old school and his Cambridge college . His affection for either is in many ways surprising . As a boarder at Pocklington School , he experienced immense hunger and austerity throughout the war . In letters addressed to his parents , he begged for food : “ Please please , if you can spare any tuck to send me I promise not to eat it all at once but to use it sparingly … I have exams soon and I am struggling to survive on the little food we get here ”. He also spoke of the ice wave one winter that left him shivering all night long . “ I am sleeping better now as I have three dressing gowns and two vests as well as my pyjamas ” he reported , in an attempt at cheerfulness . What he omitted to mention were the rats and mice who scuttled around each night . Nor did he talk about the Canadian airforce officers whom he and his school pals befriended in the neighbouring airfield . “ We ’ d give the planes nicknames and paint the names on the fusillages . The Canadians would give us sweets . But then they would fly off in sorties to occupied Europe . Sometimes , none of the planes would come back .” But young Malcolm did sometimes mention the air raids that also kept him awake .
But overcoming the vicissitudes of life was something he and his generation seemed to excel at . And such war time experiences , far from shaking his faith , served only to reinforce his lifelong commitment to Christianity . Despite winning all the accolades – academically and sportswise ( he was Captain of the 1st XV , 1st XI and Head of School ) – he was always immensely humble and far more interested in other people than himself . He left Pocklington with
a deep abiding affection for the school and its staff .
Going straight into national service , he had to wait a couple of years before he could take his place at St John ’ s . During those two years , he worked in counter-intelligence in Germany and Austria . In this role he saw how harshly the Soviets treated returning soldiers and how decimated the Axis-countries were . Bombed out cities like Cologne haunted him for the rest of his life . Though he seldom talked of such experiences – until his last decade of life .
Once “ de-mobbed ” he was ready to enjoy life at Cambridge . Only to find that rations were worse than during the war – as Britain was now having to feed not just itself but the Germans . The strapping athletic undergraduate continued to find he was perpetually hungry . He also found the teaching chaotic – as postwar Cambridge struggled to accommodate all the demobbed entrants . Courses were truncated and often blighted by absent dons who had been called up . Nonetheless , he enjoyed the intellectual stimulus of college life and left St John ’ s with a clutch of friends and a deep affection for the College and Cambridge itself . In retirement , he was a regular attendee at the reunions and was one of the oldest to attend when he reached his late eighties .
A polymath with a rare gift for imparting knowledge , he was an avid stamp collector from age seven building up a vast collection which fed his interest and knowledge in everything from politics to history to horticulture to science , He was a natural teacher . So , it was no surprise that after a few years of working in banking – Martin ’ s Bank ( now part of NatWest ) – aged 30 , he switched careers and became a school master . He taught chemistry for short periods in Cambridge and Lincolnshire before joining the staff of Wells Cathedral School in 1967 until his retirement as Head of Chemistry in 1989 . He doted on his many grandchildren telling them that the family motto was “ It is better to be bald than bankrupt ”. Fortunately , he was neither to the end of his life !
( Jeremy Bradshaw )
Paul Briggs ( 53- 62 ), younger brother to Patrick ( 51-59 ), was born in 1943 in Bury , Manchester . He was an active , happy boy , full of fun with a shock of fair , curly hair and always on the go .