DEATHS AND OBITUARIES
Jubilee , and together with his wife Joyce attended a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace .
He was an active member of the Leeds Art Collection Fund serving on the committee for several years with particular interest in Temple Newsham House and the new Henry Moore Gallery .
Through his connections with the Polio Fellowship he was instrumental in setting up one of the first William Merritt “ Disabled Living Centres ” in Leeds which provided help , advice and apparatus to allow disabled people to live on their own .
With the exception of archery , which he took up after suffering from Polio , he was not a ‘ sporty person ’ but he became hooked on bowls and played regularly for the Bardsey Bowling Club .
After semi-retirement in 1983 , when he left the business in the hands of his sons Martin ( Pocklington 66-69 ) and David ( Pocklington 68-71 ), he and Joyce travelled extensively visiting most continents except South America and it was whilst on these trips he used his artistic skills to sketch many of the places they had visited .
His large scrapbook contains hundreds of drawings , recording architectural landmarks and amusing incidents .
Sadly , following a stroke in 2015 , he suffered from Alzheimer ’ s and unable to be cared for at home by Joyce , he was very reluctantly moved to Wetherby Manor Nursing Home , which enabled the family , who all lived locally , to visit regularly .
As often happens with Alzheimer ’ s his short term memory was nil but his long term memory was very good , particularly of his school and army days . He would recount the stories as a young boarder at Pocklington when , on return from a Sunday leave out , his parents stayed to talk to the Housemaster . They thought it would be amusing to have a fire drill once the boys were in bed and standing outside the boarding house , they watched as all the boys assembled except one John Richardson , who standing at the window , called , “ I can ’ t find my slippers !”
As his Alzheimer ’ s progressed , he was moved to a specialist Dementia Nursing Home in Harrogate , where he received exceptional care until he died in May 2017 .
He leaves a wife , Joyce , sons Martin and David , granddaughters Fiona , Helen , Gabrielle and Claudia and great-grandchildren , Noah , Pippa , Isaac and Felix .
( Joyce Richardson and David Richardson , 68-71 )
John Robert Rix ( 44-51 ), who has died at 82 , was the chairman of J R Rix & Sons Limited , the Hull group of companies specialising in petrol , shipping , vehicles and leisure homes .
A family affair founded in the 1870s by Robert Rix , he had been the fourth generation to come on board , joining at 16 when his father ’ s health failed . The business grew significantly under his stewardship and today employs more than 600 people . Originally a dry cargo shipping firm , it diversified considerably under John ’ s management and expanded into wind farm workboats , coastal and estuarial tank barges , fuel distribution , car sales and the
28 manufacture of static caravans , amongst much else .
Under his leadership , the fuel distribution business , Rix Petroleum , developed from a single depot operation in Hull into the largest family owned operation of its type in the country , with depots from Aberdeen to Bristol .
For more than 60 years , John instilled his strong Yorkshire values throughout the organisation where there was no detail or cost too small to escape his interest .
In recent years , he stepped back from the day to day running of the organisation , handing over the reins to his son , Tim , and was looking forward to seeing a sixth generation coming through .
At school , John was a member of both the swimming and shooting teams . He played rugby for the Colts XV in 1949 and the 2nd XV in 1950-51 and was a Lance Corporal in the CCF . In 1948 he was appointed as the first Head Boy of Lyndhurst ( now Pocklington Prep School ).
Throughout his life , John was a keen sailor and a staunch supporter of the Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club of which he was Commodore from 1984 to 1990 . He took part in numerous yacht races in the UK and abroad including taking his own 30-foot boat on the Fastnet race . In 1989 , he navigated a 34-foot wooden boat across the Atlantic using only a sextant and in 1992 he took his own 37-foot sailing boat to the Arctic . The three-man crew included the late Tony Jarman ( 42-47 ). Tony joined John again in 2009 along with OPs Jim Richardson ( 50-53 ) and Peter Fenby ( 52-55 ) to explore the Croatian coast on his 50-foot yacht ‘ Dynastar ’. As well as his involvement with the Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club , John was a Life member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club , the Royal Yachting Association and Clyde Cruising Club .
In recent years he was also president of the Driffield Agricultural Society , and received a lifetime achievement award from the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce , whose chief executive , Dr Ian Kelly , called him one of his generation ’ s leading businessmen – a straight-talker who commanded respect , and who received a standing ovation when he accepted his award .
He is survived by his widow , Veronica , son Tim and daughters Sally and Lucinda ( 09-14 ).
( Adapted from the Yorkshire Post 08 / 08 / 2017 )
Shawn Joseph Russell ( 80-89 ) died of leukaemia on 11 June 2017 aged 45 . He was described as a bold and decisive picture editor and for the past several years worked at The Daily Telegraph as deputy picture editor .
Tall and lolloping , with a disarming smile and an air of being an overgrown schoolboy that endeared him to colleagues , Russell was convinced that wellchosen news photographs could shape the public ’ s perception of important events .
He brought infectious enthusiasm to the job , but would firmly resist attempts by “ non-picture people ” to impose what he saw as the wrong selections .
Born on July 11 1971 in Exeter ; his father Gordon , a Warrant Officer in the Royal Marines who was awarded the British Empire Medal , was based at Lympstone at the time . When Shawn was a baby his mother , Leslie , died of an illness which would later afflict him .
He boarded at Pocklington School , where he excelled as a chess player , a swimmer and in the cricket team as a bowler . After a year working as a silver service waiter he went to Sheffield University to read Politics and History .
He moved to London after graduating , though he would often make trips to Yorkshire to visit his family , to whom he was devoted . He would talk with intense pride of his father ’ s military career .
He took a job in the Houses of Parliament on House magazine , and from there went on to Metro followed by The London Paper and then the Daily Express . Arriving eventually at The Telegraph was the fulfilment of a long-cherished ambition .
When acute myeloid leukaemia was diagnosed , Shawn Russell treated it as a minor inconvenience , and he was wryly amused by the hospital ’ s recommended footwear – washable “ Crocs ” plastic clogs .
He is survived by his stepmother Elizabeth , who brought him up , his father , younger siblings Alexander and Vanessa , and his partner Sarah .
( Adapted from The Telegraph 27 June 2017 )
Grahame Arthur Sutton ( 71-02 , Former Staff ) will be remembered as a member of the teaching staff at Pocklington School , where he taught for over 30 years ( September 1971 to August 2002 ).
Grahame was in charge of the Maths Department for over 20 years but perhaps his most valuable legacy to Pocklington School is the Careers Department which he established , providing help and guidance to all who sought it .