MHS Society Newsletter 2011-2012 - Marlborough House School

donations to charity per head. As usual useless at
football and didn't win anything at all at the Olympics.
As the famous Viennese song puts it, as one gets older
and colder, the wine remains.’
Michael JACOBY (47-51) Michael and his wife have
been touring the chateaux in the Loire Valley recently
in mixed weather. ‘We were not too drenched. Soon
after that I submitted to the surgeon’s knife for a
laminectomy/ back operation, from which I’m
recovering satisfactorily. I have now been retired from
my general practice for ten years – it seems only
yesterday that I gave up. Brothers Robin and Richard
have also retired from the NHS, though both indulge in
a little work. We have three grandchildren, two at
school and one just over a year old.’
John KINAHAN (56-60) John is a member of the
Cyclists Touring Club (CTC). In July he took a
fortnight’s holiday in Colorado organised by the CTC.
‘Having turned 65 I made another desperate attempt to
prove there is still life in the old dog…. Not content
with climbing two 11,000ft passes, we also climbed
over two 12,000ft passes in 30 degree heat. Several
days more climbing over 5,000ft cumulatively, with
one day of 7,000ft and another gloriously descending a
total of 8,000ft. Now for some R&R!’
George LAMB (45-49) George laments the passage
of time, but don’t we all: ‘Yet another year has gone by
and I am a year older – it is no longer tempus fugit but
tempus decadit! Medical science keeps me alive and
well so that my wife and I can continue the good life.
We celebrated our 51st wedding anniversary at
Bailiffscourt Hotel and Spa at Climping near Arundel
where my wife spent a whole day enjoying the
massaging and beauty treatments which you can
imagine were not cheap. We had a wonderful holiday
with the whole family this summer in Santa Eularia,
Ibiza. We have some timeshare apartments there and
suffered from the heat. Every day at midday the
temperature reached 34C - thank goodness for airconditioning.
However the heat worked in my favour
as my wife said it was far too hot to go shopping! My
children spent a fortune on tickets for the Olympics but
said the experience was worth every penny. At my age
my wife and I enjoyed watching it all on TV.
Unfortunately my grand-daughter is mentally sick so
we have a role to play in looking after her She is nearly
18 at which age Social Services give up. We are
concerned at what the future may bring. At my
advancing years I still have happy memories of
Marlborough House.’
John LE MARE (45-50) John writes: ‘Most of my
time is spent working with circuses. Not as a performer
though! My business sells tickets online for Australian
circuses and I also work, on an honorary basis, for the
World Circus Federation based in Monte Carlo. This
gives my wife (Angela) and myself plenty of excuses
for travel. We are in Europe at least once a year and
recently had lunch with Richard TOMS (45-49). He’d
prepared a wonderful organ recital which he played
especially for us in a local Church. (For those of you
who may remember Richard's varied keyboard skills,
he still plays "Marigold" though in a vastly more
complex version than he achieved in Hawkhurst). We
met up with relations in England recently and then
spent two weeks in France seeing the lavender fields,
the Roman amphitheatres and aquaducts. A few days
in Italy followed. Our next trip will be to Florida in
January 2013 (yes, circus business!) and Europe (yes,
Monte Carlo again). Otherwise we live and enjoy life
in our home, one and a half hours north of Brisbane,
Australia. We are active members of U3A (University
of the Third Age).’
David LEISHMAN (56-60) No news from David
except an email to say that he had never resided for
more than seven years in any one place on the globe, so
his time in a Lincolnshire village had probably been
‘just over the average at four years.’ The last we heard
was that he was living at Barnard Castle for a short
time while looking for a rented house either in Teesdale
or the Eden Valley.
James MONTGOMERY (54-58) On the 19th
August, out of the blue, I received the following email:
‘Hello! Is this the James of “Blue Star” fame?!’ The
Blue Stars was a four-piece pop group for which I was
invited to join playing the drums for some reason at
Wellington in 1960ish. The email was from Julian
LAWRIE (53-57). Not surprisingly I had completely
forgotten that he was at MHS too, and naturally I
contacted him immediately, after further email
exchanges with Jonathan FERRIER (54-58) who
turned out to have been a good friend of his and rightly
expressed his surprise of my lapse of memory. By
chance Julian had been handed the Newsletter by an
acquaintance and equally by chance my name rang a
bell. Again, the power of the Newsletter, because
consequently Julian and his lovely wife Sue came to
afternoon tea with us and left at about a quarter to
eight! Such was the heart-warming exchange of
memories, career news and so on. His career was far
more impressive than mine, in The Scots Guards and in
retirement, remaining a fine mover and shaker in that
esteemed regiment. Last year I was immersed in doom
and gloom in the Newsletter on behalf of my daughter
Tara, commiserating with the tribulations of any young
person in their early twenties trying to find a job which
wasn’t as an intern. This was prompted by her
predicament. Most fortunately after nine frustrating
months bashing off internet applications in all
directions the ICRC (International Committee of the
Red Cross in Geneva) expressed interest but then took a
further four months before inviting her to go through
the rigours of a three day interview process in London –
re-arranging building blocks on the floor observed by
red crossocrats, psychometric tests etc. etc. – then a