No . 135 The Trusty Servant
Katherine Mendelsohn ( Co Ro , 96-13 , VIBk Tutor , 06-07 ). When Oakeshott ’ s was re-purposed as communal living for new dons ( under Ralph Townsend ( HM , 05-16 ) the interconnecting doors were blocked up , the assumption being that as adults , the residents would no longer need her surveillance , and when No . 6 was also converted into dons ’ bedsits and named Thorn ’ s , ( after John Thorn ( HM 68-85 ), the buildings remained divided .
However , Thorn ’ s is now changing again , this time into a second girls ’ day house , and the arrival of the next cohort of girls in September 2023 will see the two houses once again conjoined . John Thorn has expressed delight that the two buildings will be connected : Walter Oakeshott was a hero of his , having interviewed the young Thorn for his scholarship at St Paul ’ s .
Rose and Jasper Gaunt outside Oakeshott ’ s ( 5 Kingsgate Street ), together with Alison Seymour ( Co Ro , 22- ). The building currently serves as study space for day girls .
Rose Gaunt , the only surviving child of Walter Oakeshott ( Co Ro , 31-38 & HM , 46-54 ) attended the Headmaster ’ s Guest Night on 2nd February 2023 with her son Jasper She toured her former home , where the HM ’ s office is now located and recalled that her father ‘ rode a bicycle ’ down the long corridor to demonstrate that the residence was truly ‘ too large ’. Headmasters since have resided elsewhere .
Books of Wykehamical Interest
David Lorimer ( Co Ro , 80-86 ) has published collection of poetry . He describes Better Light a Candle as ‘ a distillation of my life experience , a poetic reflection on life ’ s polarities , on light and darkness , hope and despair , love and fear , healing and wounding , gain and loss , spring and autumn , unfolding and refolding , opening and closing , birth , death and rebirth , remembering and forgetting , fire and water , time and the timeless , breathing in and breathing out , the flow , the rhythm and the cycles of life ’. Alexander McCall Smith describes them as ‘ poems of exceptional clarity and stillness .’ 98 Pages ; Rila ; ISBN 979-1041505692
John Falconer ( Co Ro , 78-14 ) has published Letters from Helfenberg , a family correspondence between Dresden and Cambridge , and beyond , 1909- 1948 . In 1913 his German grandmother married an English classics lecturer in Dresden ’ s Frauenkirche and moved with him to Cambridge just before the outbreak of the First World War . These selected letters , exchanged through war and peace , juxtapose local and personal news with frequent references to the great international events of the time , together with literary and musical allusions , philosophical reflections and engaging observations . 480 pages . Matador . ISBN : 978-1803132044 . Available from www . troubador . co . uk .
Jock Macdonald ’ s ( Co Ro , 64-01 ) book Gibbon ’ s Years has recently been published , a memoir that considers whether the eighty years since the Second World War compares well with Gibbon ’ s description of the Second Century AD , the time of greatest happiness and prosperity . To balance Gibbon ’ s prosperity is the impending disaster of the climate crisis . Allan Massie , the novelist esteemed by Lachlan Mackinnon , has a one-liner about it on the first page , “ Rich in recollection and reflection , a memoir to delight and disturb ”. 304 pages . Troubadour Publishing . ISBN : 978-180313938 .
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