O B I TU A RI ES
Eric died on 18 April 2018, leaving his devoted
wife Jenny, three sons, six grandsons and two
granddaughters, his sister Annette, and many friends.
His funeral took place at St Mary’s Church, Knebworth
Park on 2 May 2018.
Richard Gunner (Wordsworth 60)
crash. After Eric’s mother Anne died the same year,
the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund looked after
his education, and he spent school holidays with his
maternal grandparents in Sevenoaks.
On leaving school he briefly spent time in the
City with a bank and then a firm of stockbrokers
before joining the Civil Service. In 1964 he married
Jennifer (née Sharp) and they lived in Tonbridge
as Eric embarked on a career in the Land Registry
Department. Soon promoted, Eric (by now a father)
and the family moved away to enable him to take
up his appointment as the Senior Executive in the
Stevenage area. They finally moved to Knebworth by
which time he and Jenny had three sons, whom he
greatly encouraged with their sporting activities.
In 1995 Eric was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis
and retired. Subsequently he was plagued with major
heart conditions requiring surgery and confined to a
wheelchair, which he found increasingly frustrating.
He would however treasure the summer months in
their beautiful garden, listening to music, reading,
and latterly investigating the history of his beloved
Sevenoaks area from afar. He kept in regular touch
with many of his old friends, and sometimes managed
a visit back to the school.
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Bjorn Hoffmann 1975-2018 Michael Townsend 1930-2017
Bjorn Christopher Hoffmann passed away peacefully
on Saturday 6 January 2018 aged 42 following a
tough fight with cancer. He was a much-loved
husband, father, son and brother who will be greatly
missed by all his family and friends. Geoffrey Michael Townsend was born in France in
January 1930 and spent his early childhood there.
He was sent to school in England at the age of nine
and lived with aunts. His parents escaped from France
at the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.
More of Eric’s father’s story can be read in
Lancaster Down, by Stephen Darlow. Sven Hoffmann
Sarah Emly 1974-2017 Mark Long 1953-2017
Sarah Emly died in December 2017, aged 43, after
bravely fighting ovarian cancer for two and a half
years. She joined Sevenoaks School for the Sixth Form
from 1989 to 1991, where she enjoyed her time
boarding at Sennocke House. Sarah was a keen tennis
player and played for the school and then for Bath
University, from where she graduated with a degree
in International Management with Modern Languages
in 1995. After leaving Sevenoaks in 1973, Mark Sebastian John
Long graduated from the University of East Anglia.
He pursued a career in journalism, becoming editor
for London and regional newspapers. Such was his
modesty that he never mentioned his interviews with
such eminent people as Tony Blair and Bishop
Desmond Tutu, nor his regular help of the homeless,
particularly at Christmas. He had a passion for cycling,
and the preservation of rural England.
Sarah joined Fleming Asset Management (which
later became JP Morgan Asset Management) as a
graduate, rising to become a highly rated UK equity
fund manager, responsible for managing a range of
specialist UK equity portfolios, including two large
quoted investment trusts. David Williams (Caxton 72)
Over 400 people attended the service to celebrate
Sarah’s life, which was held at St George’s Church
in Beckenham in February. Sarah was the sister of
Gillian (OS 1989), Tim (OS 1997) and Ben (OS 1999).
A wonderful daughter, sister, aunty, godmother
and friend, she was kind, modest, generous, loyal
and caring. She never had a bad word to say about
anybody and always saw the best in people. Given
Sarah’s love of Guernsey, where she enjoyed so many
happy family holidays over nearly 40 years, a bench in
her memory has been located overlooking the beach
at the Richmond end of Vazon Bay on Guernsey’s
west coast.
Gillian Chaplin (née Emly)
Peter Sherrard 1930-2016
Peter Dudley Sherrard had a long and successful
career with Rolls-Royce. He worked at their Derby
factory until the mid-Sixties, when he and his family
moved to East Kilbride in Scotland. He retired from
the company in 1990. Peter married in 1953 and had
two children, myself (Paul) and my sister Rachel. He
died after a brief illness, at a retirement home in
Chippenham. He is survived by his wife Kathleen, his
two children and three grandchildren. He was always
very proud to be an Old Sennockian and followed the
fortunes of the school to the end of his life.
When I met him at Johnsons in March 1946 he was a
witty and sophisticated 16-year-old. He was behind
the greeting the boys had written in the snow for
me – WELCOME TO BELSEN – as the housemaster
Edward Groves had told the house the night before
that there was a boy coming from a Japanese POW
Camp in China the following day. Mike did not excel at
Sevenoaks but enjoyed his years there. He learnt the
Morse Code in the ATC (Cadets) which stood him in
good stead for his later passion as a radio ham.
He worked for a number of years for GEC as a service
engineer and was posted to Nigeria in the 1970s. Back
in England he met his wife Catherine at a party and
they travelled a great deal together, especially in her
native Ireland. They had no children.
Mike had a great love of French cuisine and wines.
He also loved big cars, owning a series of Rovers and
even a former Police Jaguar, and he loved driving on
the French highways. I recall that he and Stallard and
Penwarden would discuss the merits of cars when we
were at Johnsons together.
He did jury service 43 years ago and met a fellow
juror, Sue Scott. She and the Townsends became
great friends. After Catherine’s death in 2003 she
accompanied him on several visits to Sevenoaks and to
his beloved Paris. It was Sue who organised his funeral
after his death from COPD in September 2017.
Colin Neilson (Johnsons 1948)
Paul Sherrard
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2017-2018
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