No . 136
The Trusty Servant
Michael Coulman ( D , 46-51 )
His oldest friend , Andrew Myrtle ( also D , 46-51 ) pays tribute to one of Winchester ’ s most successful schoolboy sportsmen .
Mike had a happy childhood in Wales until disaster struck on 13 th April 1942 . Mike ’ s father , Colonel Raymond Coulman , was amongst the 71 injured and the 25 killed when one of the RAF fighter aircraft taking part in a fire power demonstration at Warminster accidentally opened fire on the spectators instead of the targets . Mike ’ s father was paralysed below the waist and never walked again , living the rest of his life in a wheelchair .
In 1943 the family moved to live in the Horris Hill Prep School
Grounds and Mike ’ s father became a respected member of the staff . His courage in overcoming adversity made him a role model for Mike .
I first met Mike when we both went to Horris Hill aged 7 in 1940 . His skill as a competitive sportsman was soon evident . He captained the Soccer and Cricket XIs and played with success for two years in the National Under 15 Squash Competition .
In 1945 fate smiled on Mike . He was playing for the Horris Hill Cricket XI against the Parents , who were captained by Freddie Goddard , a housemaster at Winchester . Largely thanks to Mike , the Boys defeated the Parents and , as a result , Freddie Goddard persuaded Mike ’ s parents to send him to his house at Winchester instead of to Shrewsbury , his father ’ s school , so in 1946 Mike and I joined Freddie Goddard ’ s House at Winchester .
Winchester has produced a number of well-known sportsmen who achieved fame nationally after leaving school , but none of these distinguished sportsmen had a sporting record comparable to Mike ’ s whilst they were at Winchester . Mike ’ s outstanding record needs telling .
Two years in the Winchester Football team , Captain his last year ; three years in the Soccer XI , Captain his last year ; four years in the rackets First Pair , winning the Public Schools Rackets Doubles Championship three years running , Captain his last two years ; four years in the Cricket XI , Captain his last year . In the annual match against Eton he made 47 & 27 * his first year , 55 & 102 * his second year and 28 & 200 his third year .
With typical modesty Mike wrote in a letter , ‘ I did quite well at sport at Winchester !’ It gave his proud father immense pleasure to watch Mike ’ s success on the Cricket and Soccer fields from his wheel chair .
At Oxford Mike played rackets , squash and real tennis for the university , but not cricket , which he played for pleasure . Mike ’ s tutor wrote a charming letter to one of Mike ’ s potential employers : ‘ Coulman , a notable sportsman and a very likeable person , was never conspicuously or dangerously idle academically ; and it is likely he could apply considerable diligence to any task that lay before him , if he fully realised that this diligence was necessary for the job and therefore profitable to himself .’
In the 1960s triumph and disaster both struck . The triumph was his marriage to Jackie , which led to a happy family life , initially in London . Disaster occurred in the squash court when Mike fell and damaged his hip beyond repair . The surgeons were not keen to operate on anyone under 50 , so Mike waited until the 1980s for his first hip operation , which was followed by four more . From then on never complain ; never explain became his watchwords . Sport for Mike would in future be confined to golf - and bridge .
Disaster struck again in 1978 when Jackie cruelly died from cancer , but still throughout his career Mike carried out Kipling ’ s famous advice , and ‘ met those two imposters just the same .’
Three years later Paddy married Mike – a piece of golden luck which he often acknowledged . She brought up their five children as one happy family , and supported Mike in every way possible , first for twenty years at Horsmonden and then for twenty more at Iden .
90 is a fine innings and when Mike , with his golf bag over his shoulder , made his way to the Heavenly Club House in the sky , there must surely have been cheers from a guard of honour of sportsmen , with the Club President greeting him with the words : ‘ Well played !’
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