January 2011 offcuts_Jan Offcuts 2010.qxd.qxd - The OKS Association

Gavrilo Princip: The Assassin who
Started the First World War
Dear Editor,
I was a schoolboy at King’s from 1961 to
1965, during which period I managed not
to distinguish myself in any way, apart from
being placed bottom of the entire school in
mathematics, and being expelled from the
CCF for incorrigible indiscipline—an
event which led to a surprising if
temporary popularity.
History was my ‘best’ subject, and has
become an abiding passion. As I wrote in
the preface to my latest book, about the
assassin who began the Great War :
‘I first became interested in Gavrilo
Princip when researching the history of
assassination, at the national police library
in Hampshire. (The comma in this
sentence, as Lynne Truss might have
pointed out, is important.) In the account
of what happened in Sarajevo in 1914 by
Joachim Remak (Remak, 1959) Princip
springs to life in all his youthful
vulnerability and murderousness; and from
there on I was hooked. Further research
followed; a play or two; and then this
book.
I am not an historian by profession, and
have wrestled with the challenges of that
occupation since I first became absorbed
with the events of 28 June 1914 and my
need to write about them. Princip
himself, the young Bosnian dreamer who
made his dream into a reality, had captured
my attention, and I was to discover a good
deal of information on him—much of
which proved to be speculative, biassed, or
of doubtful veracity.
My interest expanded to the mysterious
Colonel ‘Apis’, who had supported and
equipped the assassins, if not actually
planned and directed the whole thing
himself; and to the character and ambitions
of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the
happily married paterfamilias with his
volcanic temper and impossible
inheritance.
I hope the subject may prove of interest to
my fellow OKS, if only because they would
never have marked me down as a
prospective author: and I would be happy
to supply further information as needed.
Finally, the book is dedicated as follows:
To the Masters at the King’s School,
Canterbury,
1961-1965
Who attempted to teach me history
With best wishes
Peter Villiers (WL 1961-65)
Peter Villiers was a senior tutor at the National
Police Staff College, Bramshill from 1986-
2004. Gavilo Princip : The Assassin who
started the First World War (publ. The Fawler
Press, 978-0-9566211-0-8) available online
from cpibookdeliver.com).
WORKING FOR EL SALVADOR 2010 (article No. 2)
The El Salvador project is an entirely
student-organised volunteer project that
first ran in 2002. A group of students from
the Imperial College Civil and
Environmental Engineering Department
travelled to El Salvador in order to assist
with the development of communities
devastated by the 2001 Earthquakes and the
1980-1992 Civil War.
Since then, the project has gone from
strength to strength, with a team of up to
13 students volunteering a number of
weeks of the summer break to work on a
variety of reconstruction projects. The
actual in-country project lasts for a period
of six weeks, however the planning,
fundraising, and post-project work
represents over a year’s worth of effort.
During their time in El Salvador the
volunteers work in partnership with the
local community.
As in previous years we owe a tremendous
debt of gratitude to REDES, a local Non-
Governmental Organisation (NGO) which
has facilitated the entire project.
This year there was an extremely high level
of interest from students at Imperial
College to take part in this project,
surpassing the number of students we could
take for logistical and financial reasons.
Accordingly, we took 13 students from
across the year-groups with a mixture of
construction, language and other skills,
hence creating a balanced team.
Monday to Friday was spent living within
the community where the team were
working, and the weekends were spent with
REDES being shown some of the culture
and history of El Salvador.
The 2010 project was a great success, but
was of a different nature to the previous
projects. Up until this year, the emphasis
has been on the construction of seismicallyresistant
houses. However, in 2010 the focus
of the project changed to the improvement
of sanitation in the small villages of San
Simon and San Francisco in the department
of Morazán.
The team spent the six weeks constructing
ten ‘aboneras’, which are essentially
outdoor composting toilets, and ten ‘pilas’,
which are outdoor sinks and water storage
units. The project allows students to gain
invaluable experience learning about the
application of engineering by being
physically involved in the construction
process. All volunteers get a chance to apply
practically some of the skills they have
learnt in their university courses. These
include mixing concrete, constructing
‘french drains’ and cementing breeze
blocks. Overall, by the end of the project
one of the major personal gains from the
volunteers’ point of view was confidence in
their engineering skills.
The beneficiaries were carefully chosen in
order to determine who was in the most
need of better sanitation and who would
gain the most from the installation of these
units. . We feel that we have greatly helped
the local community in numerous ways,
from improving their living environment to
providing them with hope for the future.
The volunteers have also experienced
development work, improved their
engineering skills and learnt about
engineering in a developing nation.
The team owe a great deal to the sponsors
who have allowed us to take part in the
project this year, specifically J.P Morgan,
who donated us $60,000 through their
Give-It-Away scheme. This year marked the
registration of Engage for Development as a
charitable company. Engage for
Development facilitates The El Salvador
Reconstruction and Development Project,
consisting of members of the El Salvador
Project Alumni Group. It has been a great
experience to work for them.
Matthew Fitch (MO 2001-06)
SanFranciscoandSanSimon,thevillages
wheretheprojectwasbasedin2010
OKS Offcuts • Jan 2011 • Issue 31
13
The OKS Association • www.oks.org.uk