-
Old Orwellian News
Winter 2016
Leading Independent Coeducational boarding and day school 2½ to
13 Orwell Park, Nacton, Ipswich, Suffolk IP10 0ER Tel: 01473 659225
www.orwellpark.co.uk
Half Century Club Lunch 2016
Headmaster Adrian Brown, Nicole Brown and guests
-
2
2
Headmaster Dear Old Orwellians, When we consider the
achievements of our pupils last year, we can reflect on a very
successful year academically. At the top of the school Year 8 again
achieved 100% pass rate at Common Entrance and this is in the
context of entry to a wide range of local and national schools,
where competition for places is growing. In a year group of 43, 37
awards were achieved to senior schools, a record number of
scholarships for the school. As I mentioned on Speech Day, this
year we embark on a new 5 year strategic plan, which will look to
take the school forward in a sustainable way. Pastoral care will be
at the forefront, alongside teaching and learning. This duality is
at the heart of the proposal to move the Middle School classes into
one area in the stable block, giving greater unity and coherence to
that part of the school. The Governors have also agreed to invest
in the refurbishment and development of our boarding accommodation;
boarding is at the heart of the school and is key to our future
success, whether it be flexi, weekly or full boarding. We are also
looking at parking around the school site, a key area as we plan
the future development of the school.
In addition to these three areas (boarding, Middle School and
parking) we have identified the educational need for an indoor
swimming pool and a Performing Arts Centre and we will be
developing our plans for these two projects in the near future.
Last term saw the introduction of our core values: kindness,
collaboration, courage, spirit and respect, under the overarching
value of integrity. These core values have been derived from whole
school discussion and we will be exploring these with the children
in the terms ahead as we seek to embed them into the fabric of
school life. The Autumn term also saw the arrival of iPads in
school for every pupil in Years 3 to 8 and we have been developing
their use in the classroom and beyond. We were delighted to see so
many of you at Orwellian Day last June and again at the Half
Century Club Luncheon at the school in November; many memories were
rekindled for those Old Orwellians who attended the Act of
Remembrance on the school field. We were sad to hear of the death
of Lord Jim Prior, former pupil and distinguished Chair of
Governors; Lord Prior attended the Aldeburgh Lodge reunion at the
Wentworth Hotel, Aldeburgh in August 2015, when he shared many
stories of his time at school. Nicole and I very much look forward
to seeing OOs from the 1990-2010 decades at the Reform Club in
London in January.
Adrian Brown Headmaster
Contents:
Word from the Headmaster Page 2
Lord Prior Page 3
Memories Page 4
Half Century Club Luncheon Page 5
Hilary Cronin Page 6
Sam Tuke Page 6
History of Orwell Park Page 7
Future Events Page 8
Contacts Page 8
-
3
3
Lord Jim Prior (OO 1936-1940)
JML Prior is listed in the Aldeburgh Lodge magazine as having
joined the school in the Summer term 1936 and left at the end of
Spring term 1941. He was thus one of that select band who attended
all four locations – Alde-burgh Lodge, Orwell Park, Hembury Fort
House and Bedstone Court. He was born in 1927 in Norfolk. His
father was a law-yer and a director of Norwich Football Club and
Jim was a keen supporter of the club. This was reflected in his
career at school which saw him captaining the 1st XI. It is in the
Autumn term 1936 magazine that he receives his first mention for
his prowess on the football field, the editor being of the opinion
that in due course he would be a sound footballer. In the Autumn
1940 mag-azine, the editor goes as far as to say: JML Prior
(Captain) – Inside left. Can shoot well with either foot and has
excellent control. A most unselfish player, who has fed his
forwards judiciously. Already an outstanding footballer, he will
undoubtedly shine at Charterhouse. His captaincy of the XI has been
most successful.
During his time at Aldeburgh Lodge and then at Orwell Park, Lord
Prior not only excelled on the field in both cricket and football,
he was also a member of the debat-ing society, receiving mentions
in school magazines. He had a keen interest in natural history,
winning the school botany prize in the summer of 1940 when Orwell
Park was evacuated to Devon. He also took part in school plays and
was a keen shot. He was joint leader of the Labour Gang at Orwell
Park, which involved coordinating and carrying out manual jobs
around the school and grounds. The Gang not only made and carted
hay from the grounds but also helped with harvesting at Home Farm.
They laid cinder paths, picked fruit for the school and rolled and
marked tennis courts. Following Orwell Park, Lord Prior went to
Charterhouse and then did military service in the Royal Norfolk
Regi-ment, serving in Germany and India before going on to Pembroke
College, Cambridge, where he earned a first class honours degree in
Estate Management. Lord Prior reputedly said that he fell into
politics, hav-ing had it suggested to him that he stand for the
Lowes-toft seat when he was sitting on his tractor. He became the
MP for Lowestoft in 1959, and when the Suffolk seat changed, he
became the Member for Waveney in 1983 until 1987, when he was made
a life peer. Lord Prior’s political career: Vice Chair,
Conservative Party (January 1965-
July 1965) Secretary of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food (June 1970-November 1972) Deputy Chair, Conservative Party
(July 1972-
March 1974) Lord President of the Council and Leader of the
House of Lords (Privy Council Office) (November 1972-March
1974)
Shadow Secretary of State (March 1974-May 1979)
Secretary of State for Employment (May 1979-September 1981)
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (September
1981-September 1984)
Lord Prior was Chairman of the Board of Governors at Orwell Park
from 1985 to 1991. During his chairman-ship the sports hall and new
block were built, a signifi-cant development project at the
school.
1938 Orwell Park Football team—Lord Prior front right
-
4
4
LORD PRIOR CONT:
Memories I was sorry to read in the Old Orwellian News of
PJCooper’s death. Although I was a contemporary of his my OP career
was hardly in his league. However, I remember Noel Wilkinson
calling him “the harbour master’s friend”, as P.J’s loud voice
might be heard across the river at Pin Mill! In the 1950s small,
rectan-gular glass-topped box puzzles were the rage at Orwell Park.
Inside were ball bearings, or small shapes that had to be
positioned to complete a picture or pattern. On the base of the box
was a long sentence with every word starting with a “P”, as in
“Popular, perplexing puzzles.”
Before the days of Health and Safety we had Jet-X fuel for use
in various toys. During a cricket match, I think against Old
Buckenham Hall, there was a memorable explosion in the Round Pond
when an expensive model Vesper launch disintegrated, injuring its
owner (Cohen mi) and causing “stumps to be drawn”.
The mention of the museum in “Ghosts” brings back mixed
memories. On a wet Sunday it was a wonderful Aladdins cave for
lonely boarders to visit. The Tibetan prayer wheels, oriental
armour and curious flexible stones etc helped to stimulate the
interests of genera-tions. Many of us think that the loss of these
treasures is the single saddest episode in OP’s history.
The major educational omission at OP in the 1950s was Science,
although Mr Akenhead (Music and Maths) did his best to interest us
in Physics after Common En-trance with magnets, mirrors and
particularly pulleys. However, on the first of floor of the
buildings near Chandler’s workshop was Steady’s Laboratory (named
after a former teacher, Mr Steadman). Inside were test tubes and
bottles of who knows what, which we illicit-ly, and probably
dangerously, played with. Incidentally we were never caught!
Nat Barnardiston, 1951-1955
Current Waveney MP Peter Aldous has said Lord Prior had strong
values of compassionate Conservatism. Mr Aldous said his death was
the “end of an era”, as before his death Lord Prior was one of the
few surviv-ing politicians to have served in both the Heath and
Thatcher governments. “He was, to me personally, a great help and
support - since I was a candidate right the way through to being an
MP. When I needed his advice and guidance, he was always there to
provide it. He was never critical and always helpful. The best
tribute that I can give to him is that even though he left office
in 1987, still when I go around the constituency there are a lot of
people who speak very fondly about him. He was a very popular
person, in-credibly approachable and he treated everyone exactly
the same. He was a real character - he had a presence, he filled a
room and everyone was terribly fond of him.”
Aldeburgh Lodge reunion August 2015
-
5
5
Half Century Club Luncheon
On 11th November we were pleased to welcome back to Orwell Park
over 40 members of the Half Century Club. We were also delighted
that several members of the HCC were able to join the school for
the Act of Remembrance at the Ha-Ha.
After a super lunch, guests were entertained by pupils with a
short music recital. The Headmaster then gave guests a brief
overview of the most recent develop-ments at the school, which
included his recent visit to Mayo College in India. Tours of the
school, including the Observatory, were then conducted for those
who wished, and to the delight of some former pupils the “mythical”
tunnel’s location was revealed, the exist-ence of which having been
a subject of conjecture for many during their time at school!
Act of Remembrance at the Ha-Ha
The new Common Room in the Girls’ Boarding House
-
6
6
Hilary Cronin 1999-2004
Sam Tuke 1993-1999 While studying for his A-Levels Sam founded
his first company building customised computers for clients in
Suffolk. He graduated from the University of London's specialist
Philosophy and Theology College, where he become devoted to
collaborative Open Source technol-ogies, which he has worked with
ever since. For five years he advocated for a German-based NGO,
work-ing throughout Europe as a public speaker and cam-paign
organiser, before moving into Open Source pro-ject management and
marketing. He was recently awarded the Entrepreneurial Scholar-ship
from Tagesspiegel (a German national newspa-per) to complete an
Executive MBA degree at the Eu-ropean School of Management and
Technology, Ber-lin. While studying he leads Open Source email
mar-keting firm phpList Ltd. as Chief Executive.
Soprano Hilary Cronin studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of
Music and Dance under the tutelage of Teresa Cahill and Helen
Yorke. She completed a Postgraduate Di-ploma and an FTCL
Diploma
thanks to generous support from Trinity College Lon-don, Dame
Susan Morden and Robinson Hearn.
Prior to this, Hilary read Music at Royal Holloway, University
of London and, in her final year, she was awarded the Driver Prize
for Excellence in Perfor-mance and The Dame Felicity Lott Bursary
to help with postgraduate studies. She was a Choral Scholar of The
Choir of Royal Holloway and performed solos on Hyperion discs and
live BBC Radio 3 Broadcasts.
Choral singing plays a prominent role in Hilary's life and she
has also held choral scholarships at St Martin-in-the-Fields and
the Old Royal Naval College Chapel in Greenwich. She sings with St
Martin’s Voices, for whom she is a regular soloist. Previous
engagements include Mozart’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Ostro Picta and
Bach's St John Passion. Hilary now sings at St
Bar-tholomew-the-Great and St Sepulchre-without-Newgate. Hilary
completed the Genesis Sixteen choral
programme earlier this year and has sung with ensem-bles such as
Siglo de Oro, Renaissance, Illuminare, Britten Sinfonia Voices and
The Portrait Choir.
Hilary’s operatic roles have included Belinda (Dido and Aeneas -
Purcell), Noemie (Cendrillon – Masse-net), Gretel (Hansel and
Gretel – Humperdinck) and Cunegonde (Candide – Bernstein). In
Operatic Scenes, Hilary has performed the roles of Donna Elvira
(Don Giovanni - Mozart), La Mu-sique (Les Plaisirs de Versailles -
Charpen-tier), Rosmene (Imeneo - Handel), Lisette (La Ron-dine –
Puccini), Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito - Mo-zart), Mabel (The
Pirates of Penzance – Sullivan) and Yum-Yum (The Mikado -
Sullivan). Experience of contemporary opera includes Susan (A
Dinner En-gagement– Berkeley) with Opera Dinamica, Tina (Flight –
Dove) in Trinity’s Postgrad-uate Opera Scenes andNance (Banished -
McNeff) in Trinity's 2016 summer opera. Hilary covered the role of
Minerva inUlysses' Homecoming by Monteverdi and Diana in La Calisto
by Cavalli for English Tour-ing Opera's 2016 Autumn Season.
Hilary has sung in Masterclasses with Dame Emma Kirkby, Michael
Chance, Janis Kelly and, in August 2014, she took part in a
Competitive Masterclass with Dame Felicity Lott at The Three Choirs
Festival in Worcester. Hilary has just been awarded a Fellowship of
Trinity College, London.
-
7
7
The Foundation of Orwell Park School is producing a history of
Orwell Park School. This hard backed coffee table sized publication
will cover the years from Eaton House, Crespigny House, Aldeburgh
Lodge and the war years, all the way through to the move to Orwell
Park and to the present day. There will be sponsorship
oppor-tunities which will secure a mention in the book. The book is
being written by Edwina Langley (below).
If anyone has any memorabilia or archive material that they
would be willing to either donate or lend to the school please
could they, in the first instance, get in touch with Sarah
Kirby-Smith.
Edwina Langley is a journalist based in London. She started her
career at The Lady, England's longest running women's weekly. Over
four years, she worked across editorial, PR and Market-ing,
interviewing such figures as Oscar-winning actress Vanessa
Redgrave, singer Katherine Jenkins and chef Clarissa Dickson
Wright. From there, she moved on to edit luxury lifestyle magazine,
Absolutely Chelsea.
Under her editorship, the magazine featured interviews with a
diverse range of high profile individuals, from explorer Sir
Ranulph Fiennes to gardening expert Alan Titchmarsh, footballer
Frank Lampard and model Jodie Kidd. Two years later, she went
freelance, and has since contributed to publications including
Grazia, STYLIST, Mail on Sunday's You magazine and London Evening
Stand-ard online.
Edwina’s grandfather, James Langley, and uncle, Roderick
Langley, attended Aldeburgh Lodge and Orwell Park School
respectively.
View of the Ha-Ha from c.1876 showing Colonel Tomline’s
Tower
History of Orwell Park
-
8
8
For ease of communication it would help us enormously if we were
able to keep in touch with as many Old Or-wellians as possible by
email. We are building a programme of events for Old Orwellians
throughout the year, and communication by email would not only keep
administrative costs down but would also make a difference
environmentally.
If any Old Orwellian would like to receive communications from
school by email in the future please do let me know by email on
[email protected]. We do understand that this might not
be possible or convenient for some OOs, so hard copies will still
be sent as required.
Adrian Brown, Headmaster Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01473 659225 Bernadette Ross-Smith, Registrar Email:
[email protected] Telephone: 01473 653224
Sarah Kirby-Smith, Old Orwellian Secretary Email:
[email protected] Tel: 01473 653274 Sally Webber,
Headmaster’s PA Email: [email protected] Telephone: 01473
653297
Future Events
Contacts
19th January 2017 Two decade OO Drinks Party (1990-2010), The
Reform Club, London 7th May 2017
OO Golf Day
24th June 2017 Old Orwellian Day, Orwell Park 10th November
2017
Half Century Club Lunch, London
We will be hosting the second 10k Race and Fun Run on Saturday
18th March 2017 at 2.00pm. This event is open to all friends and
family of Orwell Park and is in aid of our three chosen charities
this year (St Elizabeth Hos-pice, Meningitis Research Foundation
and Facing the World).
We are inviting Old Orwellians to join us for the Fun Run or the
10k. If anyone would like more information, please contact Caroline
Brunt on [email protected]. The 10k was won last year by
Old Orwellian Harry Golding.
Every pupil in Years 4 to 8 will once again have the opportunity
to participate in the 3k Fun Run and to dress up in fancy dress, if
they wish. Children aged 8 and under are welcome to run but must be
accompanied by an adult. The 3km route is entirely on school
grounds and this year we have added a 1.5k run (one lap of the 3k
route), which may be more suitable for very young participants.
Adults are very welcome to run any of the three distances!
Can you help? We are again looking for sponsorship for this big
event to help with the organisational costs and possibly to
pro-vide goody bags should appropriate items become available. If
you are able to contribute in any way, please can you let Caroline
Brunt know as soon as possible.
10k and Fun Run for Charity