EAC Magazine - Alleyn's School

I nm e m o r i a mtrip was Geoff Charnley who lives in the Isle of Man. I still havemany photographs of the trips.‘Inviting the local girls paid off since Michael Stewart andI married two of them!’Roger Coulson (Spurgeon’s, 1953-59)Roger Coulson lived in Warlingham, Surrey, and he died inApril 2010 after an illness of six months. Roger played golf in12 meetings. His first meeting was the 33rd Meeting atSundridge Park, and his last was at the 53rd Meeting atBetchworth Park. He won the Bantick Singles KnockoutCompetition in 1977, the Guest Day Singles at Walton Heath in1978 (41st Meeting), and the Afternoon Competition at RoyalWimbledon (43rd Meeting) also in 1978. Roger was a memberat Croham Hurst Golf Club and played off a handicap of 12.Golf Society ArchivesJames Eburah, 1919-2010 (Dutton’s 1930-1935)Jim was born in Birmingham, butmoved south with his family in 1923.He attended Dulwich Hamlet JuniorSchool, before winning a scholarshipto Alleyn’s in 1930. His father died in1935 so, very reluctantly, Jim had toleave school a year early. He wasfortunate to gain a place as a traineewith the then Post Office, in itsengineering department.In 1940 he joined the Royal Signals, and in October 1942 foundhimself enjoying some Mediterranean sun with the 1st Army inAlgiers, and then in Tunisia. In 1944 he was in Italy where hewas seriously injured by a landmine. He was subsequentlyposted to the War Office where he stayed until 1947.A varied career followed in Civvy Street: PO engineering,Ministry of Transport, and finally Highways and Transport withthe then newly created Greater London Council (GLC). One ofhis responsibilities was the creation of many of London’s nowfamiliar one-way streets.He was very much a family man; married to Margaret in 1941,four children, and so far eight grandchildren; an active memberof his local church in Warlingham in Surrey, and a gentlemanof sound principles.Alan Whitten (Tyson’s, 1953-60)Sidney Giles (Brown’s, 1933-42)Sidney died aged 86 on 22 March. He was School Captain atthe time of the School’s evacuation to Rossall in the SecondWorld War. His wife, Sheila, writes: ‘I know he played a livelypart in school in what remained his two great and absorbinginterests throughout his life: theatre and music. Sidney laterwent on to play Caesar in Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra, at theMiddlesbrough Little Theatre when the theatre was opened bySir John Gieldgud in 1957. There are contributions from Sidneyin the recent Drama & Music: The Performing Arts at Alleyn’sbook. He retained a friendship with the headmaster of thattime, Ralph Allison and his wife, Rita, until their deaths.’Cyril Alfred Herring, 1915-2009 (Dutton’s, 1924-31)In his very last days, Cyril’s carersdescribed him as an old-schoolgentleman, courteous, kind andcharming to the very end. He will bemost missed not just for his sharp witand intellect but for his infinite patience,good temper and unwavering politeness.Cyril was a Londoner, born and bred inDulwich. He won a scholarship toAlleyn’s and proved a bright scholar, butsadly had no chance to continue ontouniversity, an omission he more than made up for at a laterstage. His early career was spent in and around the City,notably as a bank messenger for Thomas Cook. But his mainand abiding love was for ‘figures’, and at an early stage hepassed his exams to be an accountant. This stood him in goodstead for the rest of his career, and three years before the warhe joined Whitney Straight Aviation in Weston-super-Mare asits chief accountant.Although he learnt to fly with the RAF Reserve before the War,when he applied to join up he was told that he was more usedoing what he was already doing – running an aircraft factory(for Straight Aviation), which he continued to do throughout theWar. He also became a Lieutenant in the Home Guard, so for hischildren this was truly ‘Dad’s Army’. Most importantly, though,the day before War broke out he married his wife: as he used tojoke, from that day on there was no more peace. Four yearslater Adrian was born, and then two years later Nigel. Manyyears later, a third son, Gerard, was added to the family.In 1946 he was appointed as one of the very first employees ofthe newly formed British European Airways in west London, androse to be chief accountant ending up as financial director witha seat on the board. With the merger of BEA and BOAC in 1972he was appointed to the combined board, and as financedirector for British Airways from 1975-78, at which point heretired from a long career in aviation.When he moved back to London in 1946 he also enrolled for aneconomics degree at the London School of Economics. In spite ofthe pressures of family and work, he obtained a good degree,continued to a post-graduate qualification and even lectured fora while at the LSE. He also took further accountingqualifications, became a fellow of the Institute of Transport androse to be President of CIMA, the accountants’ professional body.He was fascinated by all forms of mechanical transport, firstmotorbikes and trialling, then cars and finally aircraft.He maintained his pilot’s licence and jointly owned a smallaircraft well into his sixties.When he retired from British Airways in 1978, he had nointention of ‘going into retirement’. First he got a post on theBritish Rail Advisory Board, and then in 1981 bought severalfranchises of Budget Rent-a-Car. The majority of thesebusinesses were sold in 1986 when he moved down to Cornwallpermanently. He kept a modest car-hire business going inPlymouth until 2002, but his main focus moved to his work asa management consultant, advising smaller businesses on howto grow and expand.He also delighted in the progress of his three sons and fourgrandchildren, and three years ago, was very proud to becomea great-grandfather for the first time.Sadly though, the years took their toll. A big blow for him waswhen he developed macular degeneration in 2000, whichmeant that he could no longer do what he most loved doing –driving, solving crosswords and poring over share investments.24