No . 132 The Trusty Servant
Wiccamica
Do Co Ro : Ave atque Vale
In addition to those mentioned in May ’ s edition , the following dons departed at the end of Cloister Time : Daniel Wright ( Duncan Louis Stewart Fellow of Natural History , since 2020 ; new post at AWOL Adventure ); Hannes Buckow ( German , French & Chinese , since 2019 ; Head of German , École Jeannine Manuel , London ); Stephen Shuttleworth ( G , 71-75 ; Chemistry , since 2011 ; retirement ); and Malcolm Hebron ( English , since 1992 ; retirement ). At the end of Short Half , we shall bid farewell to Sam Hart ( Physics , since 2008 ; HoDo , B , since 2015 ), who leaves to become Headmaster of Giggleswick ; at the end of Common Time we will say goodbye to Revd Justin White ( Chaplain , 06-14 ; Dean of Chapel , since 2018 ), who becomes Senior Provost of the Woodard Corporation . We thank all of these colleagues for their time with us and wish them well for the next stage .
We offer a warm welcome to this half ’ s new dons : Frederick Clay ( Classics ); Matthew Conolly ( Sports Fellow ); William Hale ( English ); Ali Harber ( Deputy Head Pastoral & History ); Peter Mapstone ( Head of Computer Science ); Michael Marcas ( Head of Economics ); Oliver Marjot ( Classics & French ); Sara Moreno ( Spanish Assistant ); Xiaoli Pan ( Chinese ).
We have two new housemasters in post this term . Anthony Dakin ( English , 00- ) succeeds James Hodgins ( Maths , 96- ) and Laurence Guymer ( History , 10- ) succeeds Mark Romans ( History , 00- ) in Beloe ’ s . Aurélien Vieilleville ( French , 09- ) will succeed Sam Hart in Toye ’ s at the start of Common Time .
Vale , John Brooks
John Brooks leaves at the end of Short Half after 49 years at the College . He arrived aged 18 in 1972 as the technician for the school ’ s pioneering Language Lab , an auraloral experiment driven by Count Nicolas Sollohub ( Co Ro , 54-73 & 74-80 ) and supported by the Nuffield Teaching Foundation . The HoD was John Surry ( Co Ro , 53-84 ), who was cousin to John Brooks ’ s mother , the nepotistic explanation for his employment ! He has seen seven HoDs and six HMs . When he started , the Language Lab used reel-to-reel quarter-inch tapes mostly recorded by colleagues – perhaps John ’ s trademark tie-tucked-inside-shirt look stems from a desire not to get garrotted by one of the machines . He finishes with the current computer-based system of almost infinite video clips . The interim stages were a move from B6 to Headmaster ’ s old house in 1974 , the installation of then-cutting-edge cassette technology in the late 1980s
Starting pistols at the ready at Athlā 2021 . and the introduction of a videocassette library ( only playable in the Science Lecture Theatre and the ‘ cinema room ’, now D10 ). John has been centrally involved in wider school life . He served in the CCF from 1981 to 2019 , finishing as a Major in the Army Section and enjoying camps in Snowdonia and , latterly , Mallory Challenges in the Lake District . He helped Colin Upton lead the cross-country running ( see ‘ Tolling : the Golden Age ’, TS 127 ) and has organised the steeplechases right up until this year . He was AssHoDo of B , 07-12 , under his former HoD , Patrick Herring . We are pleased to report that he will remain in the area , living in Compton . He plans to volunteer with SSAFA , the Armed Forces charity , and to bag some more Munros in the Highlands .
Go Bo Ave
In December we shall welcome our first internationally-based Fellow , Brian Li Man-Bun ( E , 87-92 ), who is Co-Chief Executive of The Bank of East Asia .
Pupil Achievements
Two Wykehamists attended COP26 in Glasgow earlier this month . Dev Sharma ( F , 21- ), who is a Young Food Ambassador for the Children ’ s Right2Food Campaign , was a speaker and panellist at an event on youth involvement in food-systems transformation . Dev has been a Young Food Ambassador for three years . He has delivered a charter to 10 Downing Street , met with a number of cabinet ministers and Labour leader Keir Starmer . He has received the Diana Award for his food-poverty activism . Jona Cordonier Gehring ( Coll , 19- ) received a gold medal for
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