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DOWNING COLLEGE ASSOCIATIONhis years at the College and his acknowledgement of the debt he felt he owedto it. All then repaired to the bar in the Howard Building to continuereminiscence and discussion.N EXT YEAR’ S P RESIDENTBorn in Gower, youth in Northumberland, wartimeschooling in Windermere, family brought up in deepWorcestershire, retirement in Anglesey, clearly mychoice of living space has been most fortunate. HavingDowning as my College seals it all. Chapel as a youngchild was influential. Our minister repeatedly drew myattention to ‘the heavens’ and looking there I foundthings of great interest – though probably not in theway he intended: I wanted to become an astronomer.Grateful for his guidance, at the age of five I showed my appreciation by puttinga pink ten-bob-note in the collection plate after one of his sermons. The sermon,as usual, was in Welsh and I didn’t understand a word of it which had theadvantage of it sounding magnificent whilst excusing me the need to disagreewith what was said. So from the start I was clearly not going to be any goodwith money as neither was my family, though, here and there, there was quitea lot of it about, certainly when compared with later times.A scholarship to a Dame’s School founded in 1705 provided contact withsome very fine teachers even though the staff was depleted because of the war.Conscription for two years into the Royal Air Force followed where I wangledan interesting librarian/instructor’s niche at Cranwell: then ... ..Downing. Ishall not try to recount the delights and satisfactions of being up here as theirkind are known to all members. Briefly, astronomy was catered for by readingPhysics at the Cavendish and who can ask for more than that? Not withoutexertion, Rugby and Athletics yielded Blues. I went down remembering thecomment of one of my schoolmasters that Cambridge would prepare youperfectly for the life which you could not possibly lead. The life I did leadhowever has been wonderfully fulfilling and enjoyable. It started with a year’sresearch into grain orientation in electrical steels then into managerial roles inmanufacturing with about 10 years in consultancy, some of it as sole proprietor,and work in 18 countries.My erstwhile wife and I brought up three daughters now successful inimportant and different roles which included providing us with 7grandchildren. My partner since 1980 has been Elvira whom I met in 195211