DEATHS AND OBITUARIES
We regret to announce the passing of the following OPs and we extend our sympathy to their families and friends:
DEATHS AND OBITUARIES
Peter Allen( 59-66) of York, 5 July 2025, aged 77.
Bruce W Bridgewood( 49-57) of Kent, 5 January 2025, aged 83.
Nicholas Clements( Headmaster 00-07) of Upper Swell, Cheltenham, 10 June 2025, aged 68.
Laurence Coates( 55-61) of Sheffield, 23 January 2024, aged 82.
Thomas( Tom) William Dawson( 45-52) of Farnham, Surrey, 13 October 2025, aged 91.
Christopher John Derbyshire( 45-55) of Burghfield, Reading, 28 November 2025, aged 88.
Michael Anthony( Nick) Galtress( 44-50) of Ludlow, Shropshire, 24 December 2024, aged 92.
Michael Graves( 44-52) of Louth, Lincolnshire, 2 June 2025, aged 92.
Jessica Hurrell( née Rogers, 94-01) of London, 22 August 2025, aged 42.
Paul Hutton OBE( 49-56) of Peterborough, April 2025, aged 85.
David Andrew Kilby( 86-88), of Armthorpe, Doncaster, 9 November 2025, aged 53.
Timothy William Isherwood Lovel( 47-54) of Durham, 22 March 2025, aged 89.
Judy McHenry( Former Staff 89-04) of York, 25 November 2025.
Keith A I Moor( 64-69) of Richmond, Surrey, 4 September 2024, aged 73.
Arthur John Riding( 45-53) of Dumfries, Scotland, 4 June 2023, aged 86.
Heather Mary Skaife( Former Matron, Wilberforce) of York, 3 November 2025, aged 91.
Sir Tom Stoppard( 51-54) of Dorset, 29 November 2025, aged 88.
Samuel Hugh Sutton( 92-96) of Leicestershire, 5 November 2025, aged 43.
Mark Thompson( 63-71) of Braintree, Essex, 13 July 2023, aged 70.
OBITUARIES
Bruce William Bridgewood( 51-57) was born in Hull in January 1941, the only child of an RAF navigator who, after serving throughout World War II, was posted to various countries overseas, hence Bruce was sent as a boarder to Pocklington at the age of eight.
He left school in 1957 to join a Forces scheme to encourage public service in African colonies, where he then served as a mounted policeman with the British South African Police in Southern Rhodesia( now Zimbabwe).
His interest in the Church began while he was still at school but developed further under the influence of ffrench-Beytagh, a famous anti- Apartheid campaigner, then Dean of Salisbury.
Now married with two children, Bruce moved to South Africa in 1965, where he trained at St Paul’ s Theological College, Grahamstown; he was made deacon in 1967 and ordained priest the following year in Cape Town Cathedral, thereafter, serving as an assistant priest in parishes around Cape Town.
In 1971, he took a break from his priestly ministry, working as a commercial property agent. By the time Bruce returned to England( 1977), he had married his second wife, by whom he had two daughters. Living in Brighton, he continued to work in property, but resumed his ministry as a priest, serving as an unpaid curate in a Sussex parish.
After another divorce in 1985, Bruce married for a third time. The couple now lived in London with their two sons, while Bruce assisted in various parishes, including St Matthew’ s, Westminster, before becoming full-time parish priest of St Peter-le-Poer in north London.
After retirement – and a third divorce – Bruce moved, briefly, to High Wycombe and then to Folkestone, where he assisted in the parish of St Peter’ s, soon becoming highly appreciated, as he was throughout his ministry, as an inspiring preacher and devoted priest.
Fr Bruce died peacefully from respiratory problems on 5 January, supported by family members and the sacraments of the Church. A beautiful and moving Requiem Mass and thanksgiving for his life were held in Folkestone.
Bruce will be sorely missed by many who enjoyed his lively company, his witty and entertaining conversation – in which some of the views and language were more reminiscent of his Yorkshire origins than of his clerical profession – his uninhibited enjoyment of the good things of life and his openness to and interest in new people and experiences.
But those who saw only this apparently bluff and extrovert exterior were missing the other Bruce – a serious thinker who wrestled with life’ s existential problems, a voracious reader( including of much contemporary poetry), and a scholar who earned a Master’ s degree in Theology from King’ s College, London, at an age when many people have retired.
His last connection with the school which he first saw as a lonely little boy of eight soon after the Second World War was when, on the occasion of the School’ s 500th anniversary, as a private OP initiative, he fulfilled the duty imposed by Dr Dowman on his scholars in his Charter and celebrated a Sung Mass of Requiem for the Founder and his kin- and all the School’ s departed – in a London church.
( Geoffrey Cox, 51-59)
Nicholas Clements( Headmaster 00-07)
It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Nicholas Clements on 12 June 2025, aged 68. A Headmaster of Pocklington School from 2000 to 2007, Nicholas was a dedicated and ambitious leader, who was passionate about educational excellence, and a devoted family man.
A graduate of the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, and of Magdalene College, Cambridge, Nicholas’ early career was as a REME
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