DEATHS AND OBITUARIES
Nature Conservation, and the Yorkshire Dales Park
Committee. In 1977 he was awarded an OBE for his
services to agriculture and the countryside.
He and his wife, Mary, celebrated their platinum
wedding anniversary in May this year. She survives
him, with two children and three grandchildren.
(Andrew Dunning, 40-43 and the Yorkshire Post)
Dr Mike Lewis (60-68) was born shortly after
midnight on 1 January 1950. With his father in
the RAF Mike was constantly on the move before
arriving at Lyndhurst at the age of 8. He was gifted
academically and excelled at sport, drama and music.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was taking 5 for
3 as the 1st XI bowled out David Bairstow’s Leeds
Grammar School for 4 runs.
John Dunning (35-38) OBE died aged 97. At school
he was involved with the Scouts led by P C Sands’
son and was inspired to climb the ladder to King’s
Scout, the highest award in the Scouting movement.
He retained his enthusiasm for Scouting over many
years, doing much for the Raywell Scouting centre in
East Yorkshire and hosting Scout and Guide camps
on the farm. He also enjoyed rugby at school and
was chuffed to become captain of the Colts rugby
team, but somewhat less chuffed after his first game
– beaten by Ampleforth 67-0!
After leaving school, John joined the Royal Naval
Volunteer Reserve, mobilised in July 1939, trained
at Chatham and was then posted to HMS Carlisle.
He was a Lead Gunner and was involved in the
Norwegian Campaign and then the defence of the
Suez Canal in Aden. This was followed by the Battle
for Crete and finally the protection of convoys from
Alexandria to Malta, before in 1942 he was given a
compassionate discharge to take over the family farm
in the East Riding and help care for his ailing father.
After the war, he was a progressive farmer, starting
a dairy herd in the early 1960s and a pig unit
shortly thereafter. Trips to Europe followed to
learn new techniques, and he hosted many trials
of new agricultural methods, working closely with
the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and
BP, amongst other companies. He was the founding
company secretary of Beverley Pea Growers, one of
the co-operatives that began to grow for Birds Eye
in the late 1960s.
Agricultural education was another interest and
he was a Governor of the Bishop Burton Institute
of Agriculture, as well as the founder of the local
Young Farmers’ club. John was ahead of his time
in fostering wildlife conservation, and he pursued
a number of initiatives which in the 1970s seemed
visionary – creating refuge areas on the farm, ceasing
the cultivation of tumuli to preserve them, planting
trees and hedging, and creating a public footpath.
He was the chairman of the Farm Advisory
Committee at High Mowthorpe Experimental
Husbandry Farm, and became a member of the
MAFF advisory panel, the National Council for
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On leaving school Mike went up to Christ’s College,
Cambridge – a city he never left. Within a few
years he was headhunted for the Medical Research
Council where he spent all his working life on
scientific projects and producing acclaimed research
papers.
Thomas (Tom) Arthur Eadon (Former Staff,
73-84)
“When an old cricketer leaves the crease…”
(Roy Harper).
Tom joined the maths department of Pocklington
School in 1973 after graduating form York University
and quickly settled in being naturally gregarious.
Corny jokes abounded – many of them courtesy of
Ken Dodd. Two of his other abiding and widespread
interests were Aston Villa and Abba.
After a respectable and successful period at the
chalk face, Tom was appointed Head Teacher at
Lyndhurst. He again rapidly made an impact and
remained in post until 1984 when he moved on to
Bedford School.
In his spare time he played bass guitar in a band,
continued with cricket in the summer and in later
years he took up fencing.
Married to Caroline for over 40 years he had two
children – Joe and Holly. He luckily lived long enough
to enjoy his two grandchildren, both born within the
last twelve months.
Sadly, on 21 July 2019 he finally lost his 7-year battle
with prostate cancer, borne uncomplainingly and
with great stoicism.
The packed chapel at Cambridge Crematorium and
the moving tributes paid to him were testament to
someone much loved and respected who lived life
to the full. He will be sadly missed by his family and
an army of friends.
(Tim Sawdon, 60-67)
Now this is where we came in. Amongst all his
many other diversions, Tom’s first love – apart from
his wife and family of course – was cricket. Until
quite recently and for a number of years he was
the leading run scorer for the Pixies. He played
nearly 100 games, most of which were on tour. As
a Boycott-type opening batsman he accumulated
approaching 3,500 runs including several hundreds.
He also added a number for the school staff XI.
In later years, Tom turned more to golf as a sporting
pastime and by all accounts made a pretty good job
of it too.
Goodbye, old chum, you will be sorely missed.
Malcolm Woodruff (Former Staff, 72-92)
Antony (Tony) John Maltby (Former Staff, 58-
68) was senior history master at Pocklington from
1958 until 1968 when he became Headmaster
of Trent College, Nottinghamshire. In 1988, he
moved to Kent (his first appointment had been