Winter 2004 - Bedford School

FROM THE
FOUNDATION
DIRECTOR
I am delighted to report that we
have raised well over £1 million in
the 18 months since the Foundation
started. Some £845,000 of this is
for the new Music School and, as
you will see from the pictures on
page 1, building work has now
started. We are most grateful to
the many Old Bedfordians, parents
and former parents who have
supported the Music School
campaign so generously but we
do still need to raise the remaining
£155,000 so that we can complete
and equip this splendid new facility
properly.
If you would like to support the
project and would like to discuss
how to spread your donation
or how to do this in the most
tax-efficient manner, do please drop
me a line or email or give me a call.
My contact details are on the
back page.
The photograph shows the staff
of the OB Club and the Foundation
offices. We work together on
the first floor of 2 Burnaby Road -
the house Douglas Galbraith
bequeathed to Bedford School
Trust. Angela Matthews, Jan Wilson
(both OB Club) share the main
office with the Foundation
Assistant, Dr Paul Russell. The
picture also includes John Sylvester
(OB Club Secretary) and Howard
Culley (Foundation Director).
More information about the
projects we seek to support and
the progress made to date is
available on the Foundation’s
website at www.bsf.gb.com or
via the School website at
www.bedfordschool.org.uk.
Many Thanks.
Howard Culley
MEMORY CORNER-40 Years Ago Today
Ernest Henry Bull
Picture from Ousel of Nov 64.
E H Bull was born on 11th June 1892
and died in Bedford on 14th
September 1964. He will be
remembered with fond affection by
many generations of Old Bedfordians
who were here during the 55 years
that he served the School.
He came to Bedford as the Bell Room
boy in 1907 aged 15 and was
appointed School Clerk in 1924. He
saw five Head Masters, hundreds of
staff and countless boys come and go
but his memory was so prodigious
that he rarely forgot a face or a name
and he had a well deserved reputation
as the fount of all knowledge about
the School.
The picture above shows E H Bull
with some Lower School boys in the
Bell Room as it was before the Great
Fire. This picture is proudly displayed
in the current Bell Room and in the
office of the OB Club Secretary.
VISIT TO CANADA
Michael Evison (51-59), John Sharman (53-64) and Howard Culley in Michael’s glorious
garden in West Vancouver.
John and Rosemary Sharman and I
landed in Vancouver on Thursday 29th
April to be greeted by stunning
scenery with snow on the mountains
and a pleasant temperature of 25
degrees; quite a change from the wet
and chilly London we had left 9 hours
before. We found a nice little
restaurant for dinner and then took
our jet lag to bed.
The next day Michael Evison (51-59),
the DVP, gave us a conducted tour of
the city and the surrounding area and
that evening the President of the OB
Club, Budge Rogers, joined us and a
number of OBs for dinner.
The reunion on Saturday night was
attended by 31 OBs and their ladies;
several had come from as far away as
Regina in Saskatchewan and Calgary
in Alberta. It was a most convivial
and enjoyable evening which ended
with a call for such reunions to held
more frequently.
Whilst John and Rosemary went off
to explore Vancouver Island and
Budge took a somewhat circuitous
route back to UK via San Francisco, I
picked up a hire car and had a superb
drive through the Rockies to Calgary
where Derek and Shelagh Lester (36-
39) were my hosts for three most
enjoyable days. Having been used to
the summer temperatures in
Vancouver, it came as something of a
shock to wake up to two inches of
snow on my first morning in Calgary!
Derek was an excellent host and
entertained me royally.
This was the first reunion in the East
of Canada for some 30 years and
quite a party it turned out to be.
Some 28 OBs and their ladies varying
in age from 28 to 78 had come from
as far away as Nova Scotia to attend.
The evening ended when I was invited
to auction off two cans of Charles
Wells beer found in a local shop and
raised $155 for the Foundation. The
following morning those of us still in
Ottawa met up for brunch at a local
restaurant and Hugh and Rosemary
Carter very kindly entertained me
before my return flight to London.
OBs and their wives at the reunion dinner in the Terminal City Club,Vancouver.
I found Canadian OBs to be amongst
the most hospitable and friendly of
people and I thoroughly enjoyed
my visit. The fact that half of all OBs
in Canada came to one or other of
the reunions must be something of
a record and we are most grateful
to the 3 DVPs for their efforts
to make the visit such a success.
We are now working on a scheme to
fund a Canada Room in the new
Music School. Howard Culley
WALKING TO THE
SOUTH POLE
A talk by Simon Murray (OB 49-58)
on his record-breaking walk to the
South Pole in 2003 with Pen Hadow
Erskine May Hall, Bedford School
4.30 p.m on Friday 12th November
(prior to the OB Club Dinner)
For more information contact
the OB Club