Soham Grammarians - 2012 Reunion

Who booked for the 2012 Dinner

for the link to the talk please go to the bottom of the page

This year we welcomed nine who had not been since at least 2002.
Four former SGS staff were present: Mr Dick Bozeat, Mr Peter Scott, Mr Chris Wain and Mr Gareth Wood.
Chris Bent SG53 was again our MC and John Dimmock SG59 was our box office manager.

Guests of Honour Dr Carin Taylor - Principal of Soham Village College since 2006 Mrs Ann Jarman - daughter of Mr CJ Ford Introduction - Chris Bent SG53 GRACE Rev (Rtd) Gwyn Murfet SG 56, using his old - now virtually loose-leaf - SGS service book. Loyal Toast : THE QUEEN (Mrs Ann Jarman): Ann recalled the well deserved warmth and affection shown to the Queen during the Diamond Jubilee events of this year. The ‘Roll Call’ – when each stood in turn, using the microphone, to tell us their name/SGS years/where they lived ‘then & now’ Welcome to Guests by the MC - Chris Bent SG53 Welcome to Soham Village College - Dr Carin Taylor Toast: ABSENT FRIENDS (Wilkes Walton, SG36) TALK FORTY YEARS ON

MENU Prawn Cocktail served with Homemade Bread Roll Steak, Kidney and Mushroom Pie Served with Creamed Potatoes, Glazed Carrots, Garden Peas and Braised Red Cabbage* Bread and Butter Pudding, or Fresh Fruit Salad served with Cream Cheeseboard with a Selection of Biscuits Coffee and Mints * a vegetarian alternative was offered when booking

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Chris Bent SG53, was our MC for the evening. After welcoming our guests - Dr Carin Taylor, Principal of the Village College, Mrs Ann Jarman (née Ford) - Chris said he had the best seat in the house, sitting with Carin and Ann. This year he kindly forbore from describing some of the rest of us as grey haired old men. Chris spoke of some having wondered whether we might find a lunch time event more acceptable than coming in the evening as in recent recent years. Obviously we would still like to be in Beechurst. He said that we would look into it and then consult before making a decision about the timing of next year's event, which will be on Saturday 5th October 2013. Later, he presented bouquets to Dr Carin Taylor, Mrs Ann Jarman and to Sara Coutts who was in charge of the catering for our evening. He also presented the cash from the silver bowl that had been passed round to a representative from the very smartly turned out SVC senior pupils team that so capably served us.

Chris Bent SG53

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Guest of Honour Dr Carin Taylor BA PhD CertEd NPQH Principal of Soham Village College since September 2006 Dr Taylor thanked the Grammarians for their invitation to once again attend the Dinner. She said it continued to surprise and delight her that the Soham Grammarians meet in such numbers, and that we had such evident fellowship with each other and remembrance - of different kinds - of our time at the school. Soham Village College continues to thrive and much of the ethos of our time continues. There is an application form for any SGs who wish to become a 'Friend of Soham Village College'. Many may have had family who attended the College after their own days at SGS.

Dr Carin Taylor

The pre-Dinner announcements on-screen included the following The Official London 2012 Olympic torch stopped at SVC on 8th May as part of its tour of the United Kingdom. Soham was the only College visited in Cambridgeshire by the iconic symbol of the Olympics. The London 2012 logo is beautifully embossed onto the torch that features eight thousand small holes, each representing one torch bearer.

with thanks to SVC's Summer 2012 edition of Snapshot

The Toast to Absent Friends - Wilkes Walton SG36 Wilkes said he had been invited earlier in the week by Frank to step in for this Toast, usually proposed by George Dann SG33. George had been present earlier in the evening but as planned had left early to look after his wife who was poorly. He said for those of his generation Absent Friends particularly meant the dead of WWII, old SGs like the athlete Johnny Norman and Fred Hockley, executed by the Japanese, whose photos had been among those on-screen during the meal. He asked us to note that he was wearing the Sneesby Memorial bow-tie, given to him by the late Pat Sneesby in memory of her husband Norman Sneesby SG36 who wore it to our Dinners. Those whose deaths had been notified since our last Dinner were listed in the programme for the evening [Colin Blackwell SG60, Graham Chambers SG61, Peter Eland SG44, Keith Fuller SG40, Peter Herod SG51, John Humphreys SG'50', Bryan Lowe SG60; Mr Norman Sherrington.]

Wilkes Walton 36

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Those sending apologies were:

John Ansell SG47 Alan Barber SG59 Barry Bartholomew PE 67-68 Philip Bobby SG44 Brenda Bott, Cook 46-52 Jeeps Brown SG‘36’ Rodney Brown SG48 John Browning History 47-51 John Butcher SG47 Richard Carter SG38 Nigel Faben SG59 Oliver Fyson SG35 Al Gunn SG70 Geoff Griggs SG60 Mike Hawes SG69 Bryan Hollamby Biology 66-70 Kathy Howells Biology 68-69 John Humphry Geography 65-72 Kenn Hunter SG67

Roger Johnson SG59 Leon Kitchen History 51-57 Brian Lane SG48 Bob Leonard SG41 Brian Lythell Chris Mason SG68 Robert Medlock SG68 John Middleditch SG53 Dannie Nicholas SG59 Charles Peacock SG44 Bill Rennison History 61-67 Geoff Rouse SG56 Steve Salisbury SG61 Stephen Seymour SG68 Roger Smith SG56 Clive Taylor SG55 Jane Taylor (RAT’s daughter) David Warren SG51 Tony Willenbruch SG62 Denis Wilkins SG53

A get-well card for Mrs Brenda Bott, School Cook 46-52 was passed around for signatures.

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Some 2012 Reunion Dinner photos

Please contact the editor about any missing or incorrect IDs. Name and entry year are shown.

Some tucking in, some looking at the stream of images on the screen, most having a good chat

Dr Mike Yeomans SG60, over from New Jersey
Did anyone get a group photo of the other SG60s?

Norman Talbot SG60 - Andrew Smith SG60

Wilkes Walton SG36 - Roy Palmer SG37

Chris Wain (Maths 1966-70) - Dick Bozeat (Woodwork 1959-72)

Derek Murton SG53 - Stan Harley SG53 - Terry Lupson SG55 (over from Cyprus)

Terry Rule SG55 - Graham Bye SG53

Malcolm Coe SG57 'emigrated from Burwell to Exning' - Roger Logan SG57

Barry Lowe SG55 - Reg Brown SG47

Fred Eden SG44 - Brian Leonard SG49

Michael Turner SG47 (not 45!) - David Sparkes SG47 - John Waller SG47 - Malcolm Lloyd SG58

Mrs Ann Jarman, née Ford, seated opposite ...

... Dr Carin Taylor

Chris Bent SG53 presents flowers to Sara Coutts who was in charge of our catering for the evening

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Please click here for the report on this talk and the additional material that was gathered

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images: unless otherwise stated, Frank Haslam
page created 8 Oct 12: last updated 9 Oct 12: 23 Oct 19: 19 Dec 19
If you have good images to add to or improve this page, please contact the editor