SHENSTON IAN 88 - Old Silhillians Association

organiser of these walks which went all over the top peaks for he enjoyed the
gingery" places. He was not a rock climber but one of his ultimate aims was Jack's
Rake, a severe scramble which he eventually persuaded us to climb, so confident
had he become in his handling of his Wainright and the Ordnance Survey maps."
(K.A.B.)
How typical of Denis that he should be introduced to an activity by others but
end up as one of the organisers of these same people, enthusing them by his own
evident enjoyment, backed up by his willingness to learn.
That his pupils over the years have appreciated his capacity to enthuse was
evident in the various functions held at the end of last term to mark Denis'
retirement and few things have given him greater pleasure than the ability of at
least one former (and not unduly gifted) student to quote from a Shakespearian
speech that Denis had taught him many years previously. Present pupils showed
their affection and response to his deep concern for them in the warm and
prolonged applause that greeted him at his final assembly in Big School. But that
applause was no warmer than that given by Denis on so many occasions to all the
drama productions that he unfailingly attended and to the concerts that are such a
source of joy to him. His love of music, particularly that produced with skill and
verve by young people, and his desire to spread the pleasure of listening to high
quality music, led to the "Thursday Tapes", when he and and a small group of likeminded
people could be found in Big School creating an area of calm, like the eye
of a hurricane amid the whirlwind of School life.
But, if the quieter members of the School community enjoyed his company,
the "hearties" too had much to thank him for. He always enjoyed coaching rugby,
initially the junior teams but then, for a golden period, the First XV when they
reached one of the peaks of rugby in the School, giving Denis some of his happiest,
(as well as some of his most despairing) moments. To this day, there is little doubt
where Denis will be found on a Saturday afternoon in Winter; still encouraging and
exhorting the rugby players to greater efforts with ever constructive criticism.
All who have worked with Denis will remember him with affection, not only
as a fellow teacher but also as an orator whose farewells to departing colleagues
gave so much pleasure and amusement; as a performer, whether of "Pretty Little
Polly Perkins of Paddington Green", the monologues of Bernard Miles or "That
Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze"; as a wise counsellor whose advice,
often sought, was freely given but never thrust upon one; but mostly as a friend for
whom nothing was ever too much trouble and whose friendship was not a tool of his
office but the fruit of the genuine open-hearted sincerity that is his essence.
Three Headmasters have had cause to bless Denis' enthusiasm, wisdom and
calm. Bruce McGowan recalls Denis' phlegmatic reaction when, after persuading
an intruding member of a gang of "rockers" to leave peaceably, he was told by the
police: "What a pity! If only he had done you actual bodily harm, or better still ,
grievous bodily harm, then we could have had him!" Alan Lee recalls Denis the
"Crime-buster", steadily breaking down the more nefarious members of the
community by his patient detective woik and apparent ability to see through walls!
Denis, himself, has said that he would like to be remembered as the one who
fought for years, with eventual success, to bring trees and shrubs into the
Quadrangle and onto the hallowed lawns of the School. But perhaps Giles
Slaughter best summed up what we who have been privileged to know Denis and
Doris will remember when he said at the final Staff Dinner, attended by two
hundred present and former colleagues and their partners, that Denis, more than
anyone he knew, had been responsible for creating the ethos of the School during
his years as Second Master and that in any serious history of the School, the period
from 1969 to 1988 should be known as "The Tomlin Years".
Well, the "Tomlin Years" are now over but we have little doubt that The
Tomlin influence will continue and that the Tomlin antennae, ever alert in
Blackdown Rd., will register little waves of discreet disapproval if we who are left
should err.
Thank you, Denis, for your kindness, your humour, your immense labours,
your belief in high standards and your selflessness which have so benefiyed the
School and us all. May you and Doris continue for many long and happy years —
"just pottering about".
H.R.R.
Mr. L.C. Bailey
Mr. Bailey's association with the school began as a boy in 1940 during the
headmastership of A. R. Thompson, since when, apart from his years of training at
St. John's College, York and a period at Mottram's, the junior house of Caterham
School, his service here has been unbroken and when he retired in the summer he
had become the doyen of the staff.
It is clear from entries in faded copies of the School Magazine of the 1940s that
his life as a schoolboy was as full as it could be in those difficult wartime years. One
reads of accomplished dramatic performances, or record-breaking cross-country
runs and in times when wing-three-quarteers, even at International level, expected
to receive the ball occasionally, of frequent tries run in from that position.
Following his appointment to the staff of the Lower School in 1950 he quickly
established himself as a vigorous housemaster, immediately accepted by the boys,
whose response to his enthusiastic leadership was such that the outcome of house
competitions, sporting and cultural, soon became monotonously predictable and an
embarrassment to his colleagues who strove to produce teams capable of matching
his. His style as a schoolmater was, and still is humane but straightforward — firm
on matters of principle but tolerant whenever he could be, friendly and
approachable but always maintaining the necessary distance between teacher and
taught.
A skilful debater himself, and the possessor of a fine speaking voice, he
encouraged generations of boys in the Debating Society, and as a story-teller
provided the juniors with endless pleasure. At this time, too, he began to write a
long series of Lower School plays, based loosely on traditional stories: Robin
Hood, Ali Baba, Treasure Island, Jonah and the Whale, David and Goliath
(tempting into the role of the Philistine giant Robin Everitt, the Senior
Mathematician, large of stature, stentorian of voice.) His order or priorities as a
producer was absolute: cast first, audience (paying or not) second. He regarded it
as a matter of professional honour that at some point in the evening every boy in
the Lower School should strut and fret his hour upon the stage, whether as a
leading player or heavily disguised as a sugar cube or wine-jar. Management of
such numbers of junior boys would have taxed the organising talents of Cecil B. De
Mille, but most of the time, Laurie remained unruffled and confident, as the
multitude surged on and off the stage, more or less on cue. His ambition to involve
the maximum number of actors and to attain the highest possible level of realism
was not infrequently achieved at some cost to his audience. On one occasion a
coachload of more senior boys, returning wearily to school at 11.30 p.m. from a
professional production of their 0 level play were astonished to find the junior
production of Robin Hood still in full swing, with the audience visibly wilting, some
loriging for their beds, others, mindful of that shocking incident at Hastings,
ducking fearfully below the ramparts of Big School balcony to avoid the arrows of
the Merry Men — this wa's, of course, before the days of Health and Safety. In later