Newsletter - July 2017

[Rogernoble]

White Star NewsletterNo 1 – July 2017.

Dear All.
We are now up to 18 members so I would like to welcome Simon Lee, Simon Hunt, and Paul King. I should explain what I am up to. We have all been inundated with emails in recent months and we need to collate all the information we have gathered into a more structured system so that our existing members can refer back to things and new members can catch up. We can all now access the web site and I will send a monthly newsletter until we have got everything up and running and a quarterly one thereafter. If we all feed our information into these two mediums we will have an easily accessed record for the future.

The search.
With something like 120 other names the search goes on. One problem that is regularly turning up is illustrated by my search for Tim Reynolds. Richard Harvey gave me a good lead saying he was a partner in Masons, solicitors but it became clear that Masons had been taken over by Pinsent Mason. I called them but it seems the takeover was several years ago and their receptionist was not helpful. There then followed another firm of solicitors before he disappeared to France. As I retired (except for a few non exec positions) in 2008 I felt someone searching for me would possibly run into similar problems, so I thought who would have my up to date details. As a chartered accountant our institute could be approached by another chartered accountant and the Dover College old boys would also have my current details. If we can identify professions I suspect this would be useful. The only old boys association I have so far gone to was at St Lawrence. Although the search foundered for other reasons they bent over backwards to help me. So if you can add professions and schools to people on the list it would help considerably.Of course none of this is new. Charles Gethen (sorry for the wrong spelling last time) managed to get 61 people to the 1989 dinner and it is reasonable to assume there were others who lived too far away, were on holiday etc. etc. I would love to get my hands on his list. As you are aware I have sweated blood getting the present twenty odd people together and plagued you all in the process. I am trying to figure out how Charles achieved this and had not left a trace behind himself. The only rational explanation I can think of is that he was operating from a list provided by someone else (Nigel Coates springs to mind). I have desperately been trying to get hold of Charles but was hitting a brick wall until Robin produced information which suggested he lived in Sydney and had gone to Ardingly after leaving Hillside. I have renewed the search through Ardingly Old Boys Association. Today David Rangeley has given me an address in Old Woking which I have also written to. Do any of the people who went to the dinner have anything hidden in their address books as to where they replied to the invitation?

The Website.
First a reminder of the website access:http://hillsideschool.org.uk/site/index.php?page=news&type=view&id=andrewhs-blog%2Fhistory-1951-1969Martin has put an enormous effort into creating the web site so I would urge you to support him by signing on if you have not already done so. For all you struggling recycled teenagers like myself who want to add something the process is: Having registered and logged inGo to near to the top right hand corner of the opening page and you will see a little figure. Click on that.Then click on “my profile”.Then click on my “blog post”, fill in the title and your wording and then click the post button.Andrew Harvey and Robin Whicker have already loaded a history and James Gurrey has updated his Bridge article. So please go back over the emails you sent in and add the information you submitted to the web site.

White Star Magazine.
Robin has a complete set of the White Star magazine and is liaising with Martin to see if it can all be loaded onto the web siteEmailsI am very conscious the volume of emails could be causing a problem to some people. Could anything on the search for members be addressed to me and I will give everyone an update with future newsletters. You can at all times add content to the website.

Where is all this going?
It would be nice to all get together at some stage, perhaps for another dinner at the Inn on the Lake or in London somewhere. I have suggested RHRW’s birthday on 10th March. Once the membership drive has progressed to a decent level I will canvas your views.

Hillside Culinary delights.
As I was writing my recent blog I got to food. I was complaining of the horrors of tapioca, semolina etc. when I remembered Mrs Milton’s Friday treat of stodge (marmalade pudding?). If anyone has the recipe it clearly needs to go on the website together with any other culinary delights that come to mind.

Pal’s corner.
A couple of requests for contact with old pals.David Rangeley – David is anxious to get in contact with Richard Butler. A likely match is Richard Jesty Owen Butler of Atkins Wilson Bell LLP, solicitors. Address Witley GU8 5OS. Does this mean anything to anyone? David is following this up but let him know if you can add anything.Roger Noble – I am trying to locate Nick Pedley. There is a NZ squadron leader, ex UK, aged 70 who looks hopeful. I suspect my best bet is to contact his brother Jonathan Pedley. Can anyone help?This will be a regular feature for those looking for old friends.

Roger Noble