All Old Camdenians will be saddened by the passing of Jack Crook on 24th June 1997.

Jack, known to many of his friends as ‘Jasper’ was a gentleman in every sense of the word and a warm and generous person always willing to assist and advise. Many people benefited from his kindness and benevolence which emerged through a sometimes crusty exterior used to effect when exercising his sharp wit and humour.

His academic achievements were many, including a honours degree in modern languages and an accountancy qualification. After serving as an officer in the Army during the war, he worked in local government and until his retirement he was a college bursar. His main abiding interest was in the game of cricket, as a player, spectator and an administrator. It is true to say that this interest lasted until the end of his life for he was taken ill and died on his way from the Lord’s Test match.

Jasper was deservedly famous for his statistical publications and it is therefore fitting to end by recording his invaluable services to the Old Camdenians Cricket Club.

Chairman 1965-1984 (Elected as Honorary Life Member)

Fixture Secretary 1949-1955

Team Secretary 1950 s Scored 7320

Hundreds 1* F

ifties 13

Wickets taken 42

Catches 74

We shall all greatly miss Jasper and our heartfelt sympathy goes to his wife, Enid and family.

* Not Out

Leonard Daniels was a Britsh artist, teacher and administrator. He was born on 28 November 1909 in London and was educated at Holloway School. He went on to study art at the Regent Street Polytechnic and attended the Royal College of Art, RCA, between 1929 and 1932. Leonard won a prize for his portrait painting in 1932 and when he graduated from the RCA he taught at the Clayesmore School in Dorset. In 1936 he moved to Taunton’s School in Southampton. During World War Two, Daniels taught at the Southampton School of Art. After the school received a direct hit during a day-time air raid, which killed many staff and students, it was evacuated to Winchester. Daniels was instrumental in organising the move.

Leonard was a keen sportsman, but in April 1942 a fencing accident meant he temporarily lost the use of his left arm and leg and he spent over a month in hospital. The accident also meant he was deemed unfit for military service and in 1943 he was appointed Head of the Printing School at the Leeds College of Art. During the war, Leonard spent time observing the work of the Women’s Land Army and submitted several watercolours of their activities to the War Artist’s Advisory Committee, who purchased a number of them.

In 1948, he was appointed principal of the Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts. At Camberwell he recruited Gilbert Spencer, who had previously taught Leonard at the RCA. Leonard became Camberwell’s longest serving principal and was responsible for recruiting several leading artists to teach, part-time, at the college. These included Edward Ardizzone, Claude Rogers, Victor Passmore, William Goldstream and Richard Eurich. Leonard, supported by a Leverhulme bursary, spent time at the British School of Rome in 1957. He was active in the National Society of Art Education and in 1965 he was elected President of the Society. Leonard retired from Camberwell in 1975, but continued to paint and, on occasion, teach part-time.

Leonard died on 24 February 1998, shortly before a retrospective exhibition of his work opened at Winchester Cathedral. RH

We were very saddened to hear that John had passed away on 31st October 2019. He was a popular member of the football club during the 1950s and 1960s and played a key role in the 3rd XI’s 4-0 defeat of Old Cheyneans in the London Old Boys Minor Cup Final of 1959. For much of the game, we were under siege by our skilful opponents, who had lost only once during the season. However, much against the run of play, it was John’s stunning 25 yard volley, on the turn, into the top corner of the net which put us on the road to victory and changed the course of the game. However, George Perry, added a hat-trick of breakaway goals thus securing the club’s first ever Cup Final success. Happily, there were many more to come.

John was a great club man and clearly enjoyed returning to the fold, from his home in Berkshire, whenever he could to attend our annual reunions. He will long be remembered in club circles, not just for his footballing talents, but for his warm personality, sociability and good humour. Our sincere condolences have gone to Rose, his wife of 62 years, and to the three generations of his devoted family, at their sad loss.

Alan Meyer

Once again we are the bearers of sad news. We lost Colin on 23rd December 2012. The funeral will take place on 10th January at Peterborough Crematorium at 14:30.

Colin was an Honorary Old Camdenian who played football, cricket and Vets football for the Club in addition to various administration duties.

Colin Davies, whilst not an O.C., gave years of dedicated service to the cricket and football clubs, and to the development of Burtonhole Lane. Not surprisingly therefore, a large gathering of O.C.s attended his funeral in Peterborough, both to pay their respects and to celebrate Colin’s eventful life. All three will be greatly missed and long remembered.

Richard Deletant, who died suddenly near his home in Yapton, West Sussex in 1995, and was at the School from 1958-1965. On completion of his A-level studies at the school he went to Leeds University where he gained an upper-second degree in English. After spending a period working for an insurance company he trained as an accountant and subsequently worked with the Audit Commission.

Richard had an adventurous spirit and was enthusiastic about many things. He took up canoeing, won a bronze medallion from the Royal Life Saving Society and was a black belt in karate. He was deeply interested in early history of the peoples of these islands and read widely about the Celts, the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. He retained his interest in Old English and books on the subject could be found on his bookshelves alongside those on sailing and karate. In addition to these personal interests, Richard always showed a great concern for others and was always willing to give up his time for them.

He leaves a widow, Cathy, and three children, Aidan, Edwin and Rowena.

Mike Duffy 1958-63

Janet Duffy- Mike’s Wife informed us that Mike has died after a short illness. He died in 2012. His Funeral will take place at

All Saints Church
Woodham Lane
Woking

At 2-30pm on Wednesday 14th. March 2012

And afterwards at
Hoebridge Golf Centre
Old Woking Rd.
Old Woking
Surrey GU22 8JH

Family Flowers only
Donations to Woking Hospice

Janet informs us that the Family will follow the cortege on foot as the Church is a short distance from their home. She has invited any Old Camdenians, if they wish to follow also on foot.

The Address is
ST. Quentin House
559 Woodham Lane
Woking GU21 5SH

There will be no eulogies delivered at the Church Service but Janet has invited anyone who wishes to speak to do so at the Reception following the service.

Mike was a long standing member of the O.C. Committee and most importantly was the Club’s legal adviser. Indeed he worked tirelessly to secure the 30 year extension to the Mill Hill Ground Lease and negotiate the transfer of Title to the present day Trustees.

The O.C.s attending Mike Duffy’s funeral, close to his home in Woking, were invited to join family, friends and work colleagues following the cortege on foot. Later, at the reception, and again at the family’s invitation, George Ives gave a very touching tribute to Mike, emphasising his ever cheerful manner and tireless work for the Club, especially on the lease at Burtonhole lane.

Tributes have been paid to ‘brave’ former Bristol City midfielder Jon Economou, who died after a six-year battle with cancer.

Jon who was born in Holloway and attended Holloway School. He played 65 times for Bristol City in the 1980s, and died on October 11 2019, a fortnight shy of his 58th birthday.

The father-of-two, who lived in Portishead, leaves behind ‘adored’ daughters Hayley and Gemma and partner of seven years Mandi.

Loved ones, friends and former teammates all paid tribute to ‘a really nice bloke’ who will be ‘badly missed by so many people’.

In 2013 he was diagnosed with a rare sarcoma, and underwent countless operations and procedures in a bid to defeat the disease – but he died peacefully in his sleep after a brave battle.

Mandi said: “I was so lucky to have met Jon. “He brought me so much happiness in the seven years we were together.

“He was the bravest person I have ever met and always had a big smile on his face, even though he was sometimes in so much pain, he never wanted us to know, he fought with dignity right until the end. My heart is broken.”

Jon signed as an apprentice aged 16 for Bristol City and at 17 he was awarded a three-year professional contract. He struggled to gain a first team place until fate intervened in February 1982, when eight senior players, the Ashton Gate Eight, tore up their contracts as a necessary part of saving the club in its financial crisis.

Jon made his League debut in the next game at home against Fulham. One year later Jon recalled: “The Fulham game remains one of my most memorable. The atmosphere was fantastic and the thrill was only matched by my first league goal against Gillingham later in the season.”

Jon would go on to make 62 league appearances for Bristol City – three as a substitute – scoring three goals. After leaving Ashton Gate, Jon joined up with former team mate Gerry Gow, then managing at Yeovil Town, followed by Forest Green Rovers, Weston-super-Mare, Gloucester City, Minehead – then managed by another former teammate, Chris Garland – and Devizes Town.

Friend and sports writer Don Veale said “Not only was Jon a really nice bloke, he was also the bravest person I ever met.” Jon’s funeral was held at Bristol South Crematorium on October 31 2019.

RH

A gathering of Old Boys attended the very moving funeral ceremony at Finchley Crematorium on 7th April 1998 for a popular footballer and musician, Ray Edwards. I can remember inviting Ray to join the Old Boys when I spoke to a group of school leavers in ‘The Old Hall’. Even at the time Ray was becoming an accomplished guitarist and he continued throughout his life to play gigs in clubs and pubs every week. Many of his friends from the groups that he had played with were also at the ceremony. Ray played football for the Old Boys for a number of years and was liked by everybody. It was a sad moment for all of us present.

It is with  great sadness that I have to inform you that Howard Embleton, an Eminent Old Camdenian and a stalwart supporter of the club, passed away peacefully on 16th April 2023, in his nursing home, with his wife Mary and daughter Alex and her husband Chris by his side. Howard was aged 75 years.

Ronald Howard Embleton was born on 4th October 1947 in University College Hospital, London.  He enjoyed his time at Holloway School (1959 to 1965) where he worked with Brian Lofts who wrote, directed and produced the award winning silent film ‘The Prefects’, which was last shown at our AGM via Zoom.  An account was published recently in our quarterly newsletter in three instalments. Mary Embleton attended last year’s OCC’s Annual Lunch and presented items of memorabilia that Howard had treasured including the clapper board used in making of ‘The Prefects’.  Howard loved his cricket and collected a vast record of  club results. In 1989,  both Howard and Mary toured the West Indies with the Camdenians Cricket Club Team. Howard served on the OCC Committee for many years. Howard worked for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and was proud of his time on the Harrier Jump Jet project – indeed his favourite poem ‘Harrier II’ was read at his funeral. Howard became the Finance Director, British Forces Post Office Agency (BFPO). Howard will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

Howard’s funeral took place on Tuesday 25th April 2023, at 10 am, at St Marylebone Crematorium, N2 0SE. Howard’s favourite poem ‘Harrier II’ was read:-

To rise like a mighty bird
Vertically to meet the sky,
And there;
To do the unheard,
To hover, to dart, to fly.
To skim the hostile earth
And watch with eagle eye,
And no fear;
To give flight rebirth,
To Conquer the finite sky.

There was a cremation service with family and close friends, followed by coffee and cakes at 41 Shepherds Hill,N6. Ray Rowe, represented the Old Camdenians, where he addressed the gathering and told them of Howard’s love of cricket and for his involvement and support of the OCC over the years.

On Friday 28th April 2023, at 2pm, at St Michael’s Church, South Grove N6, there will be a  ‘Thanksgiving Service’  to which all are welcome. All are invited to stay for refreshments afterwards in the Church Hall.

Anyone who is unable to come to the Friday service is also welcome at the Crematorium. We know that those who can’t be at either service in person will be with us in prayer.

For catering purposes it would be helpful to know who is coming so please contact me at admin@oldcamdenians.info as soon as possible.

No flowers please, but if you wish to make a donation in memory of Howard, the family have set up a JustGiving for donations to Alzheimer’s Society www.justgiving.com/fundraising/howardembleton

Ray Rowe

Mr. Fashola obtained a degree in Education and became a teacher in Nigeria. In a letter to the school written in 1989 from his family in Ibadan, Abedowale remembered with affection classmates Tony Fletcher and Freddy Wainwright. Abedowale Fashola died in 1989

Charles Fellows

Charles’s nephew has just informed us of the loss of Charles due to a stroke in the early hours of 29th January.

Charles’s funeral will take place at Randalls Park Crematorium, Randalls Road, Leatherhead, KT22 0AG tel. 01372 363181. The service is on Thursday February 26th at 2.45pm and of course his family will be very pleased to see any of his friends who would like and are able to attend.

Obituary Charles Fellows, (School years 1930-1935)

Charles Fellows died following a stroke on 29th January 2015. He will be kindly remembered by Old Camdenians who played cricket during the late 1940’s to early 60’s. His love and passion for cricket stayed with him. On returning to civilian life after the war, in which he was a lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals and saw action in France, Charles was one of a small number of Old Camdenian ex-servicemen (including Jack Crook, Stuart Hamer, Fred Wilby, Ron Wilby, Bill Wraight and Dennis Steel) who restarted the cricket club after the war. He was a member of the first committee meeting on 27th March 1947.

Though not a stylish batsman, Charles could thump the ball hard. He was a biggish man and the ground would shiver a little if he was forced to run a quick single. I never saw him bowl though I do remember him taking a rather difficult catch (not off my bowling). He was a tremendous asset to the cricket club. In those days of Club cricket, there were no leagues. Each team had to find opposing teams and once you found a team that was prepared to play you, after a long process which could last several years, would exchange mutually convenient dates for home and away matches. As fixture secretary, Charles was responsible for improving the club’s fixture list each year. Sometimes it would be difficult to add the likes of the ‘better’ sides like Northwood, Kenton, Potters Bar and Ruislip to what in the early days a little known club playing at Finchley but coming from lowly Camden Town. He was patient and efficient, though not officious keeping meticulous statistics and records. He was well liked by the players and other fixture secretaries.
Another feature of playing cricket in those days was that each club was required to provide ‘tea’ for the opposing side. We were fortunate in that Charles’ wife, Edna, was a regular helper in the kitchen at Bow Lane. Charles and Edna were married for 62 years when Edna died in 2009. They had a good life together, cycling, touring Europe and serving the local community in various capacities, including chairman of the local Probus. In addition to all that, he had the good sense to be a Spurs supporter.

We extend our condolences to Charles’ nephew, David, and his family.

Richard Brown
1.3.2015

When Derek left Holloway in 1952, he joined the Old Camdenians Cricket and Football Clubs. Whilst he was not a ‘natural’ at sport, he tried his best. He maintained his interest in football by becoming a fully qualified referee. He was a kind, gentle person and very little could upset him. He was a regular attender at the Old Camdenians dinner. One of Derek’s last acts of kindness for the club was when he escorted the widow of Harold ‘Twink’ Martin from Beckenham to the dinner on the occasion that she presented a special donation of £2000 to be used for an art award in Harold’s name. Harold was a member of the Islington Canonbury Players and a stalwart of the Old Camdenians Dramatic Society. Derek died in 2015 and was laid to rest on the 5th of October 2015.

Richard Brown, September 2015

Professor Samuel Edward Finer was a political scientist and historian who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in the UK, pioneering the study of UK political institutions. His most notable work is The History of Government from the Earliest Times – a three-volume comparative analysis of all significant government systems. He was also a major contributor to the study of civil-military relations with the publication of his book, “The Man on Horseback”.

Samuel, the youngest of six children, was born 22 September 1915 to Romanian-Jewish immigrant parents who had emigrated to the UK, and who ran a greengrocer’s stall at Chapel Street market. His parents were killed in January 1945 by V-2 rockets. One of his brothers, Herman Finer, was also a distinguished political scientist. Although Herman emigrated to the United States, his achievement was, according to Finer, an early source of inspiration.

Samuel went to Holloway School, where he won a scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford. He obtained a double first in modern history and ‘modern Greats’ (PPE). After this, he began researching Sir Edwin Chadwick, a Benthamite civil servant.

During World War II he served in the Royal Signals, where he attained the rank of captain. From 1946 to 1950, he taught politics at Balliol College, Oxford, acquiring an impressive reputation as a teacher and lecturer. From 1950 to 1966 he served as Professor of Political Institutions at the new University College of North Staffordshire (now Keele University). In 1966, he became head of the Department of Government at the University of Manchester, teaching Government and generally successfully contributing to the revival of the department’s reputation. In 1974, he was made Gladstone Professor of Government at All Souls College. He retired from this post in 1982, but continued writing..

He has been described as a charismatic lecturer and a very effective administrator. He believed that the academic study of politics required a firm grounding in history, and was sceptical of attempts to convert the subject into a science based on such deterministic frameworks as Marxism and behaviouralism.

He was chairman of the political Studies Association of the UK from 1965 to 1969 and was a vice-president of the International political Science Association.

Samuel was a passionate liberal democrat and supporter of the causes of electoral reform and Zionism. He was twice married and had two sons (one of whom is the musician Jem Finer) and one daughter. He died on 9 June 1993, aged 77, leaving a widow, Catherine.

Samuel’s magnum opus, The History of Government from the Earliest Times, is a comparative analysis of government systems, past and present. History of Government occupied Samuel’s retirement years, 1982 to 1993. After a heart attack in 1987, he was only able to complete 34 out of the projected 36 chapters; the missing two chapters would have been on the exportation of the modern state model outside the West, and on the variations on the theme of modern totalitarianism.

Samuel died on 9 June 1993.

RH

It is with great sadness that I have to let you know that Alan George Flook BSc., MSc.,, an Eminent Old Camdenian, passed away peacefully on the morning of Sunday 11th December 2022, at Milton Keynes hospital, with his daughter Jacquie and Grandson Adam by his side. Alan was 80 years old.

Alan George Flook was born on 2nd April 1942, at University College Hospital London, during an air raid. Alan was at Holloway School between 1957 and 1959 having come back to London from Cardiff.

Alan worked at the Unilever Research Frythe Laboratory in Welwyn, Hertfordshire. In the mid-1970s he moved with the company to their Colworth Laboratory, at Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire.  Unilever benefitted hugely from Alan’s skills and talents and many of his methods are still in use today.

After Alan left Colworth his skills were so highly recognised by big international companies like Zeiss and Leica that he continued to work with them writing computer programs and training their staff in the use and applications of these techniques. Alan travelled widely including to the USA, training others and further developing analysis methods.

Alan played a significant part in the work at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, in the early 1990s, on the original Human Genome Project, in DNA sequencing the entire human genome. A monumental task that was only completed in 2003. Alan was also an examiner of Postgraduate Studies at Loughborough University, albeit that he did not have a PhD himself.

Our sincere condolences go to his son Robert, daughter Jacquie and grandchildren; Adam, Tom, Jacob, Ellyna and Alistair at this difficult time.

Alan’s funeral will be held at 1:15pm, on Friday 6th January 2023, at Oak Chapel, Crownhill Crematorium, Danstead Way, Milton Keynes, MK8 OAH.

There will be a live stream of the service for anyone unable to travel. You can log on now using Webcast PIN 851-9917 at https://www.wesleymedia.co.uk/webcast-view in preparation.

Family flowers only and donations if desired are for Prostate Cancer UK via hwmason.co.uk MAKE A DONATION.

Enquires c/o H W Mason and Sons, 9 High Street, Newport Pagnell MK16 8AR. Tel: 01908 611112

Ray Rowe

Norman wrote to me on 16th September 1998 with the sad news of the death of his brother,

Leonard Victor Fost. Leonard is likely to be remembered by his contemporaries as a lively character, School captain, and eventually the winner of a languages scholarship to St. Edmund’s Hall, Oxford.

After a ‘wartime’ short course he became a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm and fortunately survived the war. following demobilisation he finished his degree in Russian at Oxford before taking up a distinguished career in the Prison Service.

Although not an active Old Camdenian, he always spoke fondly of his time at Holloway School. he died peacefully, of multiple maladies, at his home in Sussex in June this year.

He leaves a wife, two sons and two daughters and is much missed by friends and relatives. (NF)

Norman joined Holloway at Towcester in 1940 being one of the “evacuee” generation. His brother, Len, already a senior pupil, was billeted at Potterspury where Norman joined him and adapted to country life. He returned to London with the school in 1943, remaining there until 1947 having gained his Higher School Certificate. At school he became a prefect, vice-captain of Green House and a cadet in the Air Training Corps.

After a short spell working, intriguingly, at the “News of the World”, he joined the Army – not the most warrior-like of conscripts. Following National Service and a brief return to Fleet Street, he achieved his great ambition, becoming an undergraduate at St. Catherine’s, Oxford, where he became Chairman of the Junior Common Room and rowed for the college. University life suited him admirably.

After Oxford he embarked on his chosen career as a teacher, first at a South London comprehensive and then, following his marriage to Margaret, transferring to the more congenial surroundings of Devon. Here he spent many busy and rewarding years teaching at Kingsbridge, ending his career as senior history master.

Retirement provided happy times, divided between tennis, painting, choral singing and voluntary work with the Citizens Advice Bureau and, of course, spending more time with his family to whom he was devoted. Always genial and interested in people, Norman was guided by strong moral principles and a firm determination to accomplish whatever he undertook.

He leaves Margaret and their three daughters and his passing brings to an end a long association of the Fost family with Holloway School. As well as brother Leonard, a school captain, their uncle Alfred, was a pupil and a contemporary of Richard King.

Norman was born on 24th March 1929 and died on 22nd March 2006.

The funeral will take place on Friday 13th January 2017 at 12.30pm, at St Georges Church, Anstey Nr. Buntingford, Herts. SG9 0BY

Dereck Fricker and I first met in 1951 in the sitting room of the piano teacher who lived in a flat two floors above my grandparents in the Samuel Lewis Trust Dwellings, Highbury. Derek grew up in a house on Liverpool Road near to the Lewis Buildings and we met regularly as our piano lessons were in adjacent slots, that is until the time we both gave up receiving piano tuition! It wasn’t the lack of practice on both our parts, but as I found out in later years, a dislike of that particular tutor and her very stern approach to her pupils! I used to call at his house on my visits to my grandparents and we became good friends. Although we attended different primary schools, the friendship continued. It was quite a surprise to us both when we heard that we were going to go to the same secondary school.

Derek was at Holloway School 1955-1960. He (like me) was one of the 200+ boys who arrived at Holloway when it was transformed from a grammar school into one of the country’s first comprehensives. The new school buildings with their state of the art gymnasia and workshop blocks, extensive playgrounds and a magnificent hall with its sloping concrete roof and glass sides was quite a revelation to us both.

To our great surprise, we discovered we were both to be in White House! Like others, he was very loyal to his ‘House’ and surprisingly competitive especially at inter-house cricket competitions. He was a natural team player and was well liked. Derek fitted in to this new educational environment exceptionally well, aided of course by an enthusiastic staff, supporting a system which borrowed the grammar school traditions of Holloway but allowed a degree of vertical streaming and mixing of pupils of differing abilities. Derek soon found his forte was more aligned to matters ‘technical’ and he joined clubs which enabled him to spend more time in the metal and wood-working workshops than the official teaching curriculum dictated. He left Holloway in 1960 to start work as an apprentice electrician. He progressed well and eventually ran his own electrical contracting business. Derek had joined the Old Camdenians soon after he left school and was a strong supporter of the Old Boys Association, its ethos and of course, the cricket team.

Derek and I maintained our friendship throughout his school years and also after he left. I was his ‘best man’ when he married in 1966 and we have seen one another fairly regularly ever since, despite living some 300 miles apart – he in north Hertfordshire (and recently, Suffolk) and me in Plymouth. It was Derek who eventually persuaded me to join the OCs and to attend the Annual Dinner/Lunches and to meet up with some other OCs who had attended Holloway during the same years as us. I hadn’t joined earlier as I didn’t think I could participate or contribute to OC activities living so far away.

Derek was by then showing a number of signs of ill health and was regularly attending Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge for a variety of cancer related treatments. He phoned me in September to tell me that he had now been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and was to undergo further specialist treatment. He’d previously experienced so much chemo and radio therapy that I thought his system couldn’t take much more. Nevertheless, he was determined to see it through to Christmas and to be with his wife, Carole, their daughters and grandchildren. He finally succumbed to AML and gave up the struggle on Boxing Day.

Actually, we didn’t see one another that much at School, being in different forms but I do remember regularly sharing a seat with him on the top deck of the 617 trolleybus en route to the School’s playing fields at Bow Lane. However, during school holidays we were inseparable. Two particularly fond memories relate to escapades during our early teenage years when we terrified shoppers and tourists as we raced around the West End on roller skates and on another occasion caused traffic mayhem on Tower Hill when we fell off our borrowed bikes as we pedalled across the cobbles. He was the brother I never had, a great and kind-hearted friend whom I will miss enormously.

Peter Sims (31.12.16)

Have just heard that Bob (Peter) Frost has passed away 2015. Bob was very generous to the O.C.’s in as much that he provided all the “Discs” “Through the Years” and “The Prefects” free of charge. He also took a series of photos of the School refurbished.

The death was announced of the extraordinary timpanist and percussionist Charles Fullbrook, aged 72 years on Monday 16th May 2022.He had spent much of his time at Holloway in and around the music department, and left in 1968 after completing his ‘A’ levels in Music and German.

Although Charles was a versatile musician, it was to be Timpani and Percussion that he studied while at the Royal Academy of Music, London, with the renowned Professor Jimmy Blades O.B.E., going on to become one of the busiest British timpanists and percussionists. He played for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Academy of Ancient Music, Arditti String Quartet, Bach Choir, Canzona , Capricorn, Maddy Prior’s Carnival Band, The Cambridge Singers, Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Choir of New College, Oxford, the City of London Sinfonia, Collegium Musicum 90, English Baroque Soloists, English Chamber Orchestra, Ex Cathedra, His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts, The King’s Consort, The King’s Singers, London Brass, London City Brass, London Sinfonietta, the Parley of Instruments, Monteverdi Choir, , the Milton Keynes City Orchestra, New Queen’s Hall Orchestra, The Philharmonia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, The Sixteen, Stuttgart Barockorchester, Westminster Abbey Choir and many more.

One of his early stage credits was in the orchestra pit for a production of The Beggar’s Opera under the baton of Carl Davis at The Theatre Royal in Stratford. Then he went on the road with the Prospect Theatre Company for mountings of King Lear and Love’s Labour’s Lost as far afield as Australia. Charles sometimes played in rather unconventional venues performing concerts at HM Prisons, Korolevu Beach, Fiji and the Leeds-Liverpool canal!

Charles will most be remembered for being a Specialist Player of his beloved Baroque Timpani but was also very adept at playing a vast array of the other Percussion Instruments, anything that could be hit, shaken or even blown, and known affectionately in the Profession as ‘The Kitchen Department’!

Charles was immensely organised and ever inventive, and to address airline weight limits he designed his own touring fibreglass timpani and cases, which supplemented his huge collection of percussion instruments.

His discography is massive. Here are some highlights: Benjamin Britten Presents John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera with the City of London Sinfonia; Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts; Gavin Bryars: Henry Purcell: The Complete Anthems and Services, Vol. 7; Der Messiah with the Monteverdi Choir; Modern Times with London Brass; Music for His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts with Alistair Ross; Music from the Time of Civil Wars; Shepherds Watched: Christmas Music from English Parish Churches, 1740-1830; Sing Lustily and with Good Courage and Tapestry of Carols by Maddy Prior & the Carnival Band (Percussion & Vocals!); Thomas Arne: Six Favourite Concertos with the Parley of Instruments; and, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Les Symphonies Vol. 4 by the Academy of Ancient Music.

Charles also taught at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama and was appointed Timpani Professor at Trinity Laban in 2001. He also examined at the Royal College of Music, London, and Glasgow’s Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Charles was a kind and considerate colleague and family man; the simplest pleasures in life brought him great joy. He had various non-musical hobbies and interests, including cooking, travelling to sunny places, the environment and DIY. Charles is survived by his wife, Chrissie; their children, Hermione, Ben, Imogen and Phoebe; his siblings, Richard, William and Lizzie; as well as three grandchildren.

Bob Hartley

We sadly announce the passing away of Andrew Georgiou (Patata, Spud).

Andy passed away on Wednesday April the 8th 2020 at the age of 70 and leaves behind his wife Irene, two daughters Alexandra and Kristina, a grandson Ocean, and three sisters Dora, Julie and Thalia.

Andy was born in Famagusta the son of Christoforos (Taki) and Loulla Georgiou from Komi Kebir and Famagusta respectively.

At the age of two he immigrated with his family to London then after two years moved to Liverpool where his Father worked in building construction and opened a fish and chip shop. He lived there for ten years which accounts for Andy supporting Everton. The family later moved to London where Andy attended Holloway School. Andy played football for Holloway School being a member of the London Schools S.E. Tye Trophy (U18) winning team in 1968 (centre forward). He also played for the Old Camdenians football and cricket teams for many years. He was a keen spin bowler and achieved a hatrick against Kodak in August 1970. He co-founded and was player manager of Dynamo AFC that used to play in the KOPA Cypriot Football League. He also played for PAOK and Anorthosis in the KOPA League.

He attended Southbank College and became a quantity surveyor and later joined his father Taki who had started a sucessful building construction company called G&S Formwork that were helping to build massive buildings all over the country which included Heathrow Airport terminals.

On April the 8th 1979 he married Irene the daughter of Hambi and Maroulla Michael from Khirokitia and Ora respectively. Hambi was a former editor of Vema Cypriot newspaper in London.

In 1993 he founded and became a partner in a successful estate agents, Desirable Residences Ltd. (known as Des Res) based in Belsize Park.

The day he passed away was Andrew and Irene’s 41st wedding anniversary.

Andy was a great guy with an infectious smile and a wonderful sense of humour. He had many friends and always had time for people. He was a true gentleman, honest and hardworking. He achieved much for his community and loved his family and was so proud of them. He will be sorely missed.

RH

It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that Alf Goldsmith died peacefully in his sleep on 3rd September 1994.

After war service in the Royal marines, Alf trained as a specialist physical education teacher with geography as his subsidiary subject. In 1949 he joined the staff of Holloway School as Head of Physical Education. Alf was a gymnast of high standard and an accredited athletics coach.

This was still the time of the grammar school when the school hall was used as a gymnasium. How he fumed if assembly went beyond its allotted time. He appreciated, valued and used to the full the greatly enlarged facilities of the new purpose gymnasium which came with comprehensive education. He developed a wide range of activities within his curriculum and was amongst the first in inner London to introduce basketball into schools.

He maintained a link between the Old Boys football club and the school through his evening institute responsibilities and he still retained his interest and contact after he left the school and took up the appointment as Principal of Battersea Evening Institute.

Throughout his time at Holloway he entered into school life with vigour, enthusiasm, humour and an insistence on high standards for both himself and his pupils. He showed considerable skills as an organiser, as was exemplified by the sports day at Hilly Fields. White House boys will remember his contribution at Christmas parties. His successful revues provided lots of toil and also lots of fun. yet perhaps most of all will be lasting memories of those who were lucky enough to attend his annual school camps over the years.

Alf gave freely of his talents and skills and will be remembered with esteem, respect and affection by all those who knew him. We shall miss him.

ATB

As a teacher at a tough north London comprehensive, Jeffrey Gordon, who has died aged 82, (September 2008) pioneered the practice of work experience for pupils in the 1970s – years before it became part of today’s secondary school life. He was a respected sociology teacher at Holloway School during the 1970s and 80s. While some colleagues at Holloway boys’ school, Islington, dismissed certain pupils as uneducable, Jeffrey recognised that many – often from poor Afro-Caribbean or Greek families – needed self-confidence.

To help them, he scoured the streets in his spare time persuading local businesses to give his boys a “work experience” assignment or a paid Saturday or evening job. Jeffrey’s headmaster often said of an “aggressive” boy: “Give him to Jeff, he’ll sort him out.” He also inspired his pupils to attain good exam results – one is now a Coronation Street star, another became the soul musician Jazzie B.

An accomplished violinist, he would teach youngsters in his lunch hour. He also encouraged pupils to engage in political debate by setting up the school’s 20th Century Club, where politicians Tony Benn, then a government minister, and Frank Dobson, and writer Paul Foot gave talks.

Because of his reputation in education, the then London education authority, ILEA, made him head of a work experience programme for north London.

He served a seven-year apprenticeship as a precision tool engineer, making specialist equipment for bomber planes, and in the evenings and weekend learned the violin under one of the country’s leading orchestral players, Philip Hecht. A socialist, Hecht only made a nominal charge for tuition.

In his 20s Jeffrey worked first as an insurance clerk in London, then studied part-time for a degree until he took up teaching.

Inevitably, because of his socialist convictions, which had been encouraged by Hecht, he became a keen member of the National Union of Teachers.

A great organiser, Jeff led the campaign to help free his brother, wife, and their 11-year-old son after they were locked up during the cultural revolution in 1967 in Beijing, where his brother was working as a journalist. Jeffrey practically laid siege to the Chinese embassy and persuaded intellectuals such as Herbert Marcuse and Erich Fromm to take up our cause.

Though an atheist, he requested a Jewish Orthodox funeral. He is survived by his wife Janet and daughter Harriet, his brother Eric and his sister Linda.

Former pupils of Holloway School have paid tribute to their former sociology teacher at a memorial event in the House of Commons.

The soul musician Jazzie B, OBE, told how Mr Gordon would encourage political debate in class and even broadcast American civil rights leader Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech to pupils during lessons.

“Martin Luther King’s speech became one of my first recordings,” he said. “I used it as backing on my track, Fair Play. I would be proud to tell Jeffrey this year I was honoured with an OBE.”

The double Grammy award winner added: “Mr Gordon was a hell of a guy. He made me feel of value and showed us a way of working out problems. He told me it was no problem to say what I believed and I still go by that principle today.

“I remember he used to put us in charge of the class. That was just one of the great things he did. It gave me confidence and I was actually thinking about becoming a teacher because of Mr Gordon.”

The gathering, organised by Labour MP for Islington North Jeremy Corbyn, was punctuated by classical music composer Ernst Bloch and literary readings from radical writer Tom Paine and the playwright JB Priestly.

Former teaching colleagues described Mr Gordon as a “grafter” and a “pioneer” of work experience schemes at the school. Often, Mr Gordon would use his spare time to find placements for pupils at local businesses.

Another former pupil, Deep Harkishin, said: “I was doing really badly when I met Jeffrey. I remember I had been told to sit outside the classroom and I was just doing my drawings – that’s all I was interested in at the time, drawing. So he said to me, ‘come and sit in my class and do some drawing’. I did, and then, I don’t know how he did it, he turned the sociology lesson into a sociology of art and drawing. It got me interested anyway, and I got my sociology A-level, and then a degree, and in the end a Masters in Social Policy.”

Mr Harkishin added: “I remember he would come to our homes sometimes to check on us. What teacher does that? He was an inspirational figure in everything he did.”

Another former pupil said: “Holloway was a tough, tough school. Jeffrey didn’t treat you like a kid; everyone was allowed to have an opinion – and in Holloway School not everyone thought you were entitled to your own opinion.”

Musician Paul McDonough, also a former Holloway School pupil, said he owes his love of the violin to Mr Gordon’s gentle encouragement and supreme patience.

He said: “When I went there Holloway School was a lot different than it is today. It was a rough place mainly for working-class boys who often didn’t want to learn. “Not only did he keep the class quiet, which was an achievement in those days, but he wanted us to make something of ourselves.”

Another pupil, now a firefighter, said: “People thought that just because you went to Holloway you were starting life with lead in your shoes. He stopped me thinking like that. He was an inspirer.”

Sean Doherty, a teacher at Holloway School for 27 years and a former colleague of Mr Gordon, said: “He could get away with anything in the classroom. He taught me that if you didn’t put the students first you would get nowhere.

“He would encourage them into debate – that is the hallmark of all good teachers.”
Eric Gordon spoke about growing up with his brother Jeffrey in Manchester.

“He loathed prejudice,” he said. “He was a man in the making for decades who came into his own during his years at Holloway School. His empathy came from the route of experience. He would find jobs for the kids and was one of the pioneers of work experience.

“Eventually he was headhunted, for want of a better word, by the local education authority for a job overseeing work experience in other schools.”

Jeffrey Gordon’s wife Janet said: “He was a rover and loved the political life. He gave us a comfortable existence at home. Teachers can be a cynical bunch – but not Jeffrey. You never heard him complaining about other teachers or his pupils.”

MP Mr Corbyn added: “Jeffrey knew that the problem with society was that low expectation and poverty led to wasted talent. Education is about helping to expand people’s minds. There is a great tradition of teachers that remind everybody they can make something of themselves. Let’s carry on changing the world. That was Jeffrey’s legacy.”

HARRY HAYES was an early exponent of British jazz, a virtuoso saxophonist and a saxophone teacher of distinction.He died in 2002, aged 92,

Everything about Hayes was meticulous, from his smooth tone and elegant phrasing to his debonair appearance. He was once characterised in a Melody Maker headline as the “Beau Brummel of the Alto Sax”, and even in extreme old age he presented a handsome and imposing figure.

Henry Richard Hayes was born at Marylebone on March 23 1909, the son of a bookmaker. At the age of 11 he won a scholarship to the local grammar school and his parents rewarded him with the gift of a soprano saxophone and a copy of the Otto Langey Tutor. He took to the instrument immediately and became a professional musician at 16, taking a job at the Regent Dance Hall, Brighton. In 1927 he joined Fred Elizalde’s Orchestra, reputed to be the hottest British dance band of its day, at the Savoy Hotel. Although still a teenager, Hayes received the then astronomical salary of £18 a week.

A list of the bandleaders for whom he played, and the West End night clubs where they appeared, reads like a society roll-call of the period – Sidney Lipton, Maurice Winnick, Geraldo, Ciro’s, the Cafe de Paris, Grosvenor House. This was a world inhabited by top professional musicians, and jazz formed a very small part of the nightly repertoire.

However, in 1932 Hayes received a call to join the band being assembled, under the leadership of Billy Mason, to accompany Louis Armstrong on his first overseas visit. This tour remained one of Hayes’s most cherished memories, and his admiration for Armstrong, both as an artist and a man, knew no bounds. The opposite was the case with Armstrong’s manager, a Chicago gangster named Johnny Collins, who made the musicians queue outside his hotel room to be paid, and generally treated them with contempt.

In the same year Hayes took part in a memorable series of recordings by Spike Hughes and his Dance Orchestra, perhaps the most effective big-band jazz played by British musicians until then. Indeed, the inner circle of leading professional players, which included Hayes and fellow saxophonist Buddy Featherstonhaugh, produced the first generation of truly idiomatic British musicians: “To be a big-band musician in those days was good,” Hayes recalled in 1992. “You got paid to learn.”

In 1939, Hayes joined Geraldo’s Orchestra, which became the official BBC Dance Orchestra the following year. He was called up in 1940, serving in the Band of the Welsh Guards, but continued much of his recording and broadcasting work with Geraldo, whose 1940 version of Sweet Sue, featuring a solo by Hayes, is startlingly fiery for the period.

Released in 1944, Hayes led his own band at Churchill’s Club, which included the young George Shearing on piano. In the same year he signed a contract with HMV Records and began the series of small-band recordings which established his reputation with the wider public.

Based loosely on the small bands drawn from Duke Ellington’s orchestra, these featured such players as George Chisholm, Kenny Baker and Tommy Whittle, and often included compositions by Hayes himself, notably Five Flat Flurry, Dubonnet and Blue Charm. It was not generally realised that Hayes rarely improvised his solos. He would devise them in advance and even sketch them out on paper.

When the first records by Charlie Parker and other bebop pioneers began arriving, brought over in the late 1940s by musicians serving on transatlantic liners, they caused consternation in British jazz circles. “When I heard Parker for the first time I realised at once that I was obsolete,” Hayes confessed. But the feeling cannot have lasted long, because Hayes was among the first to come to grips with the new style.

Throughout this period Hayes also taught the saxophone, developing a comprehensive teaching method, complete with graded, printed exercises. “The system was so effective”, one former student recalled, “that we all ended up sounding like Harry.” He would also provide “personalised hot choruses” at five shillings each, or five for a guinea.

Hayes continued to play and to lead bands into the 1960s. For eight years he was musical director at Winston’s Club, where he accompanied such cabaret stars as Danny La Rue, Ronnie Corbett and Barbara Windsor.

For part of that time he also led the band for the show Tunnel of Love at Her Majesty’s Theatre. In addition, he opened a musical instrument store in Shaftesbury Avenue. In 1965 he retired from regular playing to concentrate on his retail business, which had grown to include three record shops in Fulham. He continued to perform occasionally, his last appearance being at the Birmingham Jazz Festival in 1992.

Harry Hayes was married twice, the second time to the singer Primrose Orrock. Their marriage lasted 57 years until her death in 1999. They had a son and a daughter.

Many of you will be saddened to hear that Tom died in the early months of 1992 as result of an accident at his home in Worthing. Jack Crook writes to say that soon after Tom came to the school he quickly established himself as an outstanding sportsman. After war service in the Merchant Navy, Tom resumed his successful sporting career as a pillar of the Old Camdenians cricket and football clubs. We all remember Tom as a friendly, outgoing chap who enjoyed the simple pleasure of convivial companionship and agreeable conversation. We shall miss him sadly.

Elsie head has written to me acknowledging a small donation we made on Tom’s behalf to a Charitiable trust and will be used towards buying equipment for mentally handicapped persons. Elsie says she will miss Tom’s comments on football and cricket matches. She has many wonderful memories of cricket matches wit the Old Boys Cricket Club and somewhat colder ones of that dreadful football pitch and slope.

You will be saddened to learn of the death of Stan Heritage during 1993. Stan came to last year’s dinner and I thought he looked so much better when I picked him up at King’s Cross. George Robb, one of Stan’s contemporaries of those great footballing years writes the following:

“I first came across Stan when he played for Yerbury Road School Juniors and I played for Pooles Park School Juniors – really competitive stuff in those days! We met up again at Holloway when of course Stan showed his abilities at soccer and cricket, so Green House won the occasional game. We both enjoyed the evacuation in Towcester. Back in London Stan joined the sea cadets and invited me to play soccer for them, which I did, despite being an A.T.C. member at school. Running the Sea Cadet team was a chap named Rogers who played for Finchley Reserves. Rogers introduced us both to Finchley and we often played together there, before Stan went to Oxford and was also picked for the great Pegasus side.

Stan played a very great part at inside forward in a successful school XI’s at the end of the, and years after, the War. We were all proud of him when he won his place at Oxford and of course he did very well at I.C.I.”

Stan died in 1993.

We learned with great sadness that Leonard died on 4th August 2002, just three days before his 93rd birthday. He attended the school from 1920 to 1927 and always retained a keen interest in the Old Camdenians Club and it’s support for the School students. He was, until quite recently, a regular at the Annual Dinner and continued to correspond even after he was no longer able to attend. Indeed, his last letter in November 2001 mentioned having found some old photographs, which he felt would be of interest for our archives.

Len served in India during WW2 rising rapidly from private to Captain. he worked mainly in the North of England and the Midlands and on retiring became a stalwart of the local British Legion. He was a cricket fanatic and played for his village side, Belbroughton, Worcs, on whose grounds his ashes are scattered. To his wife, Mary, and his family, we extend our deepest sympathy.

Fred Hirsch, an economic adviser to the International Monetary Fund in Washington from 1966 to 1972, died on 11 January 1978 at his home at Leamington Spa after a long illness. He was 46. Fred had suffered from a paralytic disease.

Born in Vienna on 6 July 1931 Fred Hirsch’s family moved to London and he attended Holloway County School. He graduated from the London School of Economics in 1952 and joined the staff of The Banker, a British periodical, where he became the assistant editor.

He started work for The Economist in 1958 and served as its financial editor from 1963 to 1966. For the next six years, Mr. Hirsch was with the International Monetary Fund.

In 1972, he was named research fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, and in 1975 professor at the University of Warwick, a post he held at the time of his death.

In 1977 Harvard University Press published his book “:Social Limits to Growth.” A review in The New York Times said the volume took a look at “the souring fruits” of the corporate economy that emerged at the end of the 19th century and contended that the “capitalist nostrum of unlimited economic growth” had begun to backfire.

“Eventually,” the reviewer wrote, “the competition is for what Hirsch calls ‘positional goods’—a house at the shore, tenure on the Harvard faculty, a Picasso on the wall—and these are, by definition, rather limited in supply.”

In May 1977, in an article in The New York Times, Mr. Hirsch said material growth “can no longer deliver what has long been promised for it—to make everyone middle‐class.”

“Raising the level of the ladder as whole no longer provides those on the lower rungs with the same lift as those climbing higher on the ladder,” he said.

Fred leaves his wife, Ruth, and three sons, Timothy, Donald and Philip.

RH

Joe Hogan prepared for the priesthood and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1956. He was posted to Nigeria where he devoted his time working in a number of villages and helping to set up village schools. He was attached to the Teacher Training College and his work was greatly valued by the community.

Throughout his life, Joe Hogan worked selflessly to help and support others. All of us who were privileged to work with Joe have enormous respect and admiration with his dedication, generosity, kindness, ability to relate to others, and his gentleness. A good listener, always willing to help.

Joe returned from Nigeria in 1970. He must have thought deeply and very seriously before he made the decision to leave the priesthood. His determination to help others never diminished. Joe believed that becoming a teacher would strengthen his quest to help and support others.

Joe attended Avery Hill Teachers College and completed successfully the PGCE course for prospective teachers. He did his teaching practice at Charlton School where he was offered a job. He taught Religious Education and worked in the Special Needs Department. Joe left Charlton in 1973 for Sir Williams Collins School where he was Head of Year. In addition he taught RE.

In January 1975 Joe went to Holloway School as Senior Master was then promoted to Deputy Head Teacher and then Acting Head Teacher for two years. He retired in 1988.

Characteristically, Joe worked hard and was a great support to those who worked and studied in Holloway School. He was greatly missed.

Joe was not for retiring. He worked for six years at Middlesex University as part-time Ecumenical Chaplain. He also worked at the Islington Sixth Form Centre.

In retirement he served as a school governor at his parish school and continued his mission of helping the needy by visiting nursing homes. He also did an enormous amount of work in his parish.

His friends and colleagues will remember Joe Hogan for his kindness, generosity, sense of humour, and outstanding record of serving others.

He is survived by his wife.