FAREWELL a list of ‘ been there and done thats ’ that demands acknowledgement . He initiated the 5-a-side football leagues back in 1985 , organised UI5 Tennis and UI4 Cricket during the mid ‘ 80s to ‘ 90s , ran the student councils from 1994 to 1999 , was the staff liaison for the Friends of Pocklington School from 1997 to 2002 , was involved with external Prep School marketing and significantly , alongside Andrew Dawes , was heavily involved with the steering and planning of the Pocklington 500 juggernaut of events and celebrations , including the visit of HRH Prince Andrew in 2014 .
Alongside of all of this , Mike as the Commanding Officer of the CCF since 1989 , led the development of a hugely successful sub-organisation in its own right . The weekly structure of activities , regular trips and visits , training exercises and flying experiences , external camps with regional and national trophies and awards achieved and won , along with the biennial inspections , was and is , a constant honour to Mike and his staff , reflecting over three decades of commitment and long hours , above and beyond the call of duty .
Externally , Mike was also the Chairman of the NE / NW Standing Committee for Science , and latterly an ISI Inspector .
Mike has organised and implemented so many memorable and fine things over the years , much of it unseen , and perhaps beyond the fuller glare of popular acknowledgement .
On a personal note , amongst the years of spending much of our extra-curricular organisational responsibilities in quite separate contexts of school life , we have remained Chemistry teachers of a similar traditional style , sharing many classroom practices together , thus providing a constant source of reassurance for my own self-reflections . Mike returned as Head of Chemistry in 2014 to the present day , steering the department through a rather turbulent few years as enforced staff absences and changes of personnel frustrated the natural order of things , but he has remained the same entirely approachable , genuinely affable and solidly reliable colleague and friend amidst the highs and lows – albeit that he supports the wrong Manchester football club !
The school though , will be the loser , as one of its chief organisers , the orchestrator of so many keycornerstones of the school ’ s contemporary public face , another one of those highly experienced teachers and members of the 30 + club , and of course the RAF / CCF Commander , parachutes off the aircraft .
DAVID WATTON ( 87-16 )
Dave worked at Pocklington for just under 30 years teaching Economics , Business Studies , Mathematics and Geography but for many pupils who passed through the school it was his love of ‘ life education ’ and sport that may have been their main contact with him . One of the generation for whom the outside elements of the job were as important to him as the high level of A level success his pupils regularly achieved , Dave ’ s roll-call of involvement would put many ‘ super teachers ’ to shame .
A senior house tutor organising house events in the days before the current house system he was also a regular in the senior boarding community for more years than he can remember , often taking boarders and day pupils on trips to Elland Road to see high quality European football , and Leeds . He also assisted on lower school house camps for over 15 years .
It is perhaps his achievements in the competitive sphere of the school that show his true ability in achieving the best from everyone and anyone who came his way ; taking teams to both first and second place in the York and District Chess team in the same year , coaching an U15 cricket team to Trent Bridge for a final against Millfield after a two year competition around the country and taking Lyndhurst to victory in both the six-a-side national cricket competition and the county football cup were just some of his teams ’ achievements . His eight-year spell as first team cricket coach yielded more wins than losses and he took a cricket team to Barbados ( overcoming his usual reluctance of flying to make it happen ).
As any who knew Dave at all will attest his three lifelong passions were financial matters , skiing and Leeds United . The former we will gloss over here but as for skiing ; as well as supporting the annual school trip Dave would organise other trips for experienced students to go with him an experience that might be referred to as ‘ proper ’ skiing . Some of the students from these trips have become lifelong friends . His preparation for his personal skiing started in about November when he would check weather forecasts and snowfall in places he was visiting weeks later . The advent of the ski resort webcam saw him overcome his distrust of the modern computer .
Students who never really came into contact with him , and as a mainly sixth form teacher , this was many of them , thought of him as a stern ‘ Yorkshire ’ figure but any who had contact with him found a warm and generous man who would inspire and motivate in equal measure . With his well-deserved retirement to the ski slopes in the winter and the borders of Scotland in the summer we lose another of a golden generation of Pocklington teachers .
SEAN HOULTHAM ( 06-17 )
Sean ’ s ( yes , it is pronounced ‘ Seen ’!) GAP years at Pocklington spanned the close of one century and start of the new millennium . Following university he began his life here as a teacher of PE and games in 2006 and through his career we have seen him become so much more .
We cannot underestimate Sean ’ s influence on a generation of pupils . Through his work in sport he has influenced and inspired ; through his pastoral roles as Housemaster of Hutton Lower School and boarding tutor of Dolman and latterly Fenwick- Smith House , he has cajoled and supported .
In his teaching of GCSE and A-level PE , Sean focused on innovative and imaginative ways of getting the very best out of his students in some difficult theory areas , particularly exercise physiology and biomechanics . Practical into theory has always been a watchword and who can forget the use of table tennis to help the understanding of energy systems or his specialist topic area of wall displays !
Sean ’ s day and boarding pastoral work has been tireless and every pupil through these years will have a snippet or a memory of Mr Houltham bending over backwards to get the very best out of themselves whilst at school .
All this aside , it has probably been Sean ’ s work in rugby , which he has most relished and for which the school will be forever in his debt . Coaching schemes , staff support , overseas tours and some incredibly successful seasons of senior rugby , Sean ’ s passion for this aspect of his career has been relentless .
So many senior rugby boys will look fondly at their time at Pocklington and their rugby life and ‘ Beany ’ will be the reason . And some were even there … with the Ostrich !
Most deserving of this promotion to Director of Sport at Barnard Castle , Sean leaves with us the best of him .
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