N o .125
Charles ended up at Marlborough and then
on to Trinity, Cambridge, where his rugby
went better than his Classics. He turned
down a job from Cecil Rhodes in favour
of becoming a schoolmaster at Elstree,
from which he took a group of boys back to
Winchester.
About 30 years afterwards I was at
Winchester shepherding some Elstree
boys for the Examination. When they
had gone to bed, I accepted an invitation
T he T rusty S ervant
from four or five Winchester masters
to visit their room and smoke a pipe.
Among them was Mr Richardson, the
famous ‘Dick’, for many years Hostiarius
or Second Master. I was telling them of
the ignominious end of my own effort to
become a Wykehamist, when Richardson
jumped up, ‘What? You the chap? Wait a
minute.’ He soon returned and produced
my paper which had been reposing in the
Winchester arch ives all those years. The paper surprised me. It was beautifully
written and really was a heroic attempt
to put that sad stuff into passable Latin.
Euclid has been dead and buried now for
many years, unmourned, unwept so far as
I am concerned.
schools in Kensington and Chelsea);
Sophya Gordon (Gordon Fellow, since
2017; hoping to teach in Pakistan); Tina
Mudzamiri (Biology, since 2017; teaching
at Barton Peveril College, Eastleigh); and
Catherine Olver (Music, since 2017; new
post at St Catherine’s, Bramley). down Kingsgate St in a motorised sleigh,
much to the delight of your Editor’s
children, who were surprised to hear that
Father Christmas had made most of the
College benches and that Mrs Claus had
supervised the catering for their wedding
breakfast.
After 17 years at Elstree, Charles moved
on to Sandroyd, transforming it into a very
successful school, and staying there until his
retirement.
Wiccamica
Valete and Avete
Since the last edition went to press we
have bidden farewell to Emily Wright
(History, since 2014; not returning from
maternity leave) and Claire Crowther
(Spanish, since 2012; moved to
Northern Ireland). We have welcomed
back an old friend, Peter Cramer
(History maternity cover), and gained
several new ones with Benjamin Ponniah
(Economics), Thomas Thomas (Director
of Studies & Chemistry) and Guy Mavor
(Spanish), who joins us until the end of
this term. We hope they will enjoy their
time with us.
Several dons will be leaving at the end
of Cloister Time. They are: Andrew
Jaffe (Maths, since 2010; new post
at Bradfield); Jamal Sutton (Music,
since 2011; Deputy Head of Music at
Charterhouse); David Leigh (English
& College Tutor, since 2011; Head of
English and responsibility for academic
scholars at Stonyhurst); Coline Cadoret
(French, since 2013; hoping to teach
in Vienna); Julian de Bono (English,
since 2013; Director of Studies at Port
Regis); Matthew Pawlowski (Gordon
Fellow, since 2016; Classics MPhil at
Oxford); Edward Steer (Chemistry, since
2016; new post at Whitgift); Cheryl
Syrett (Art, since 2016; new post at
Stowe); Shane Higgins (MFL, since
2017; new post at Princess Beatrice
House, which houses boarders for two
We also mark the departure of two
long-serving matrons. Rebecca Batchelor
left Phil’s at Christmas after 16 years’
service. Her second housemaster, David
Yeomans, praises her ‘inexhaustible
support, endless kindness and infinite
wisdom.’ Kathryn Irvine-Fortescue
will leave at the end of Cloister Time,
after 25 years as matron first of Furley’s
(93-05) and then College (05-18); she
was the final College Matron to live in
Old Bethesda, and will be remembered,
amongst other things, for the wonderful
garden she created in New Bethesda. We
wish her well on her gap year in Africa.
But the ultimate longevity award goes to
Colin and Viv Nutbeam, who together
racked up an astonishing 93 years of
service to the College. Colin was chief
joiner until leaving at the end of Short
Half and Viv was Head of College
Catering, completing 50 years when
she left at Easter. When she arrived
in January 1968 the Beatles were at
number 1 and students were preparing
to revolt across Europe. The Nutbeams
were feted at Christmas by being driven
17
Cathers
On 5 th December the school convened for
an Advent carol service in the cathedral,
and returned on 4 th February to lead the
Education Sunday service. The school’s
links with William of Wykeham’s other
Winchester building project are long
and occasionally fractious, despite the
fabled defence of Wykeham’s Chantry
from Cromwell’s troops. All boys used
to attend Cathedral alongside the
regular congregation every Sunday,
until complaints from the locals forced
a change to a school-only service in the
Choir from 1890. This ceased in the