By the time Stuart approached the Sixth Form , Mike had already completed two major international tours with the school , during the first of which the Whitney Buccaneers RFC was born , and he was in the throes of arranging something altogether more ambitious : a circumnavigation of the globe . As a measure of Mike ’ s ambition , in 1980 the England national side had played nine games of rugby in New Zealand , and Sevenoaks School was a close second with seven games played there ! A highlight of the tour was the game he arranged against Fiji in their national stadium in Suva , on the shores of the South Pacific with a 26,000-strong crowd , as a curtain-raiser to the Fiji vs All Blacks test match . Can there ever have been a greater game of school rugby ?
The recent 50th anniversary reunion of that first side to be coached by Mike took on an added poignancy with the knowledge that he had died peacefully the day before . Mike had given them , and generations of schoolboy rugby players , a love of rugby , values which have stayed with them for life and the strongest group of friends anyone could ask for . In memory of that great day in Fiji , vinaka vakalevu , Mike !
TERRY NEWBURY 1959-2023
Terry Newbury worked in the maintenance team of the Estates department from 1998 to 2021 . He had previously been a Royal Marines Commando .
Terry was a familiar cheery face around the campus , a valued colleague who was reliable and always ready to step in to help . With a calm approach to life , he had a wicked sense of humour with a joke for every occasion delivered in his easy and amiable manner .
He was a family man , with three grown-up children , and stayed loyal to his love of motorbikes , rock music and Leicester City Football Club .
It was a great sadness when we heard that Terry had passed away . His generosity and many kindnesses will not be forgotten .
Mel Divall and Anne Persson
Mike is survived by his beloved wife Rose and stepdaughter Klare .
Arabella Stuart , Alex Smith , Tony Stuart , Andy MacMaster , Nigel Connell ,
Stuart Thresher ( OS 1981 ) and Guy Hollamby ( OS 1974 )
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