Branch Office Passion on a Passport - Wellington College

Old Boys in the News 

<strong>Branch</strong> <strong>Office</strong> 

James Jones (1980-1984) is an arborist - a curator 

at the Wellington Botanic Gardens. 

When he's high up in a tree, his safety gear latched 

to its limbs, the clouds skating above, and the wind 

ruffling the leaves and his hair, he almost feels part 

of the branches he is climbing in. 

James has loved trees since he was a kid growing up 

in Upper Hutt. His delight in them was cemented 

when he was ten and his parents went to live in 

Britain, in a village in the beautiful New Forest. 

That was stunning. There was an ancient oak forest 

and villages right amongst it. You only needed to 

walk a couple of hundred metres and you were in it. 

He and his friends bicycled, explored and climbed. 

This idyll lasted a year and the family relocated 

to New Plymouth where there were different, but 

equally beautiful, gardens and trees.Their house had 

a big section with fruit trees. 

Then back to Wellington and Wellington College 

after which James’ love of trees, and the fact that 

friends of friends had gone to work in parks and 

gardens, made his choice of career obvious. 

He joined the Wellington City gardening team as a 

labourer and found himself along Lambton Quay and 

Cuba Mall, tending the flowers and blasted by great 

gusts of diesel fumes belched out by roaring council buses. 

Not at all put off, he eventually studied for his National Diploma in 

Horticulture and did an apprenticeship. Ever since, he has worked for the 

council in its gardens, mostly in the Botanic Garden - though he was seconded 

for a time to manage Otari - and mostly concerned with trees. 

It is, he says, an amazing feeling to be up in a tree and knowing you’re trying 

to make it last 150 years. A floral bed goes for six months and it's gone. 

Trees have form, strength and beauty. You can enjoy them. When you’re up in 

<strong>Passion</strong> on a Passport 

As a young person growing up in Lower Hutt and 

commuting each day into Wellington to attend first St 

Mark’s and then Wellington College, I would never 

have imagined the kind of life that was before me. My 

father was a factory worker and he expected that I would 

follow in his footsteps. But my school life set me on a 

totally different journey. 

After finishing at Wellington College and Victoria 

University, I ended up in Motueka as a secondary school 

teacher. I then joined up as a full-time minister with the 

Salvation Army and took a life time journey through 

some of the world's troubled spots. 

With my wife Pam and our four children, we spent 

14 years in Africa. Then we moved to London and an 

international role and where l picked up my dodgy 

passport. I was fortunate to be part of a recovery team 

that went into Iraq after the invasion and for a short time 

was able to help the people in southern Iraq. We worked 

with the North Korean Government to help improve their 

dairy industry. North Korea is one of the most amazingly 

isolated and needy places on earth. 

48 • THE LAMPSTAND, 2011 

them in your harness you're almost part of the tree. 

He retains a sense of wonder at trees planted in the 

Botanic Garden in the 1870s that are still alive. Like 

old people, he says, they get characterful scars and 

bumps. He admires the age and importance of the 

Monterey pines – very important for their origin in 

Monterey and their gene pool. They’re some of the 

earliest planted in New Zealand. We really don’t 

know how long they will last. We could get another 

20 or 30 years out of some of them. English oaks in 

England last two, three or four hundred years but 

because they grow faster here they’re starting to 

decline now. Their canopy ages when they can’t get 

the sap to the top of the tree. There’s less foliage and 

loss of canopy density. That’s life. It’s like a person 

to see magnificent trees aging. 

James’ appreciates the beauty of the old Lebanon 

cedars and towering sequoias and the curious 

beauty of the garden’s most photographed tree, the 

relatively young – at about 40 – Cheiranthodendron 

pentadactylon, or Devil’s Hand tree with its yellow 

finger-shaped blooms and red claws. 

The trees need constant maintenance, much more 

than if they were growing in the wild. Broken 

branches need removal before they can fall on a 

wanderer with eyes glued on the tulips. 

Like flower-watchers, he says gardeners walk 

around looking at the ground. An arborist walks 

around looking up. Beneath the trees, he is 

responsible for lawns, grasses and bush, and helping 

train apprentices. Sometimes he needs to work indoors. 

The Botanic Garden is a beautiful place, he says, 24 hectares of native 

forest, exotic trees, bedding plants, rose - the whole shebang, really. I love 

the outdoors. I couldn’t go into an office. My life is trees. I’m lucky at 44 I 

can still do it. I’m one of the older arborists. You've got to be fit, which is why 

it's a young man's game, though there are a few women arborists. 

Saturday Magazine 

Working with the poorest people on earth took me into 

the mountain ranges in China and work with the ethnic 

minority groups in Mao Xian. 

Other placements included Pakistan, Afghanistan and 

Cuba. To top off my migrations, I spent three years in 

Southern Sudan as the Programme Director for World 

Vision. Working there to assist almost three million 

people in the newest country on earth was the most 

challenging role I have ever done. 

Now my life is fairly normal, working as World Vision 

New Zealand's International Director. I still have the 

chance to work with freeing children from bonded labour 

in India and changing communities across the twenty 

other countries we work in. My body is mainly in South 

Auckland but my mind and heart are still working for the 

poor of the world in some of its most needy spots. 

St Mark’s Alumni Magazine 

Seth Le Leu (1968-1971) 

Seth.Le-Leu@worldvision.co.nz

More than 30 years after a diving accident 

confined him to a wheelchair, a former 

Paralympian has the chance to walk his 

daughter down the aisle one day in the future, 

thanks to a pair of bionic legs. 

David MacCalman, ONZM (1971-1975) is the 

first in the world to own a pair of Rex bionic legs, 

invented in New Zealand and unveiled by Prime 

Minister John Key in July. 

The 193cm David says the opportunity to stand 

again has been overwhelming. The intimacy and 

opportunities are endless. My daughter is 17 and 

there's the potential to walk her down the aisle one 

day. At first I just didn't want to fall over and hurt 

myself. I couldn't take my eyes off my feet because 

they were moving independently for the first time 

in so long, he said. 

It was not until several hours after his first training 

session that the magnitude of what he had just done 

hit him. It wasn't really until I had time to think 

afterwards that I really reflected, and it was very 

emotional. That moment, when I broke my neck 

and realised that I was paralysed and probably 

wouldn't walk again, all came back. 

Richard Little, one of the creators and chief 

technology officer for Rex Bionics, said he 

couldn't be happier with his first customer. Dave 

is not only a great bloke, but he is a shining light 

in the New Zealand disability community, and 

in general. Seeing him standing and walking, it 

never wears off. That is what drives us to come in 

here every day. 

Dave is a Paralympics gold medallist, but says his 

sporting successes never made up for being in a 

wheelchair. I was the same person, but suddenly 

people see you differently. I used to go to a bar 

in town with a local basketball team and I would 

hang out with the guys I used to play with, but 

they were all so tall, and I could never get a 

conversation going. Rex will allow me to be back 

at eye-level, and there are a lot of people who 

have never known me other than in a wheelchair, 

The New Zealand Defence Service Medal (NZDSM) was 

instituted by HM The Queen signing the Royal Warrant on 6 

April 2011. 

The new Award is to recognise service in the NZ Armed Forces/ 

Defence Force since September 1945. This service is not only in 

the Regular and Reserve Forces but also under the Compulsory 

Military Training (CMT) scheme of the 1950's and the National 

Service scheme of the 1960's. 

Malcolm Faulls (1947-1951) was chosen to be in a representative 

group to receive the NZDSM at Parliament in April 2011. The 

attached photograph shows Malcolm being presented with the 

Award by Hon Judith Collins, Minister of Veterans Affairs. 

Other Old Boys receiving the Award on 14 April included Bill 

Hopper (1949) and Ken Douglas ONZ (1949-1953) . 

The number of Old Boys who are eligible for this Award will 

number in the thousands out of the 160,000 to be awarded 

nationwide. 

Back on his feet - after 31 years 

(Left:) David gives his new bionic legs a try out. (Right): David at the 1992 Barcelona Games 

so to see their reactions will be really neat. 

David was an elite basketballer, playing for 

Wellington in the NZ national league before 

joining Brisbane in the Australian NBL. He was 

on a basketball scholarship in California when he 

broke his neck diving into a shallow river. 

Since then he has forged a sporting career as a 

basketball coach and as a three-time Paralympian, 

winning gold medals in the shot put and javelin at 

Sydney in 2000. 

In a recent email with David, he wrote, As the first 

owner of a pair of exosceletal bionic legs I work 

closely with the REX company in development 

at their centre in Albany. I don’t currently have 

them at home so there are no new developments 

at the moment. I hope to have them home over the 

summer, however, and will try BBQing, dancing 

and walking every day in them... they are so much 

fun! 

I had hoped to take them to New York this 

November as I will be doing the marathon in a 

handcycle but the importation made the project 

complicated and expensive. 

NZ Defence Force Medal 

THE LAMPSTAND, 2011 • 49 

Old Boys in the News


I 

The Day(s) the Earth Moved 

t lasted 47 seconds and had the force of seven nuclear bombs, but miraculously no one was killed in the devastating earthquake that hit Christchurch on September 

4. Everyone in Christchurch will remember exactly where they were and what took place at 4.35 am on Saturday 4th September, 2010. Five months later, after the city 

had been comparatively lucky with both the location and timing of the September's magnitude 7.1 - the location of this one was within 10km of the city and at a shallow 

depth of 5km during the middle of a working day which resulted in destruction, injuries and deaths. 

From the rubble emerged stories of survival, hope and the triumph of the Kiwi spirit. Even though thousands are still without power, water and living in damaged homes, 

and still enduring regular shakes, New Zealand communities have banded together to show their love and support through donations and on-the ground labour to help 

Cantabrians get through what is set to be a tough period of rebuilding properties and lives. 

We were well aware that many of our Old Boys suffered considerable damage to their properties and major disruptions to family and work life – our thoughts are still with 

you as you move ahead and get through this most horrific disaster and aftermath. 

We asked one of our central city-based Old Boys, Peter Morrison (1970-1975) former Head prefect and current <strong>Branch</strong> convenor to tell us how he is getting on. 

We and our families are all safe and well. The 

Classic Villa is still standing with just some minor 

plastering and repainting needed. We were closed 

for three weeks, as we had no power or water and were 

also in the cordoned off area of Worcester Boulevard, 

opposite the Arts Centre. Fortunately, we could reopen 

in mid-March. 

Out of Adversity - we have H 2 0, At the Classic Villa, 

the old well (c1897) has come alive again from the 

‘shaking’ and thus, we have the delicious alluvial cold, 

cold water coming up - we have had it tapped – it’s 

great in the Gin! 

Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to those 

who have lost loved ones in this tragic event, as well 

as to those who have lost their homes and businesses. 

Quote: We will rise to this challenge. We will be better 

than before. We will build a City that will remember 

and honour those we have lost. This is our place, and 

not even the terrible tragedy we are facing can take 

this City away from us. We have a great future, believe 

it. Bob Parker, Mayor. -Thanks Mayor Bob! 

Then to top it off – we had snow and lots of it with the 

biggest snow fall since 1992 on 10 August. It looked 

pretty but after five days of it hanging around and 

collapsing our guttering, we were over it. 

Please come and support Christchurch. Great rates for 

Old Boys at www.classicvilla.co.nz - 40% off rack. 

Please also become friends with The Classic Villa on 

Facebook, where updates are done frequently. 

Cheers 

Peter Morrison, (1970 -1975) 

morrisonh@xtra.co.nz 


Wellington College turns ‘Red n Black’ 

The generosity of the student 

and staff community of 

Wellington College again 

came to the fore on Friday, 4 

March. 

To assist the victims of the 

Canterbury Earthquake it 

was decided to hold a RED 

and BLACK Day. Staff and 

students were encouraged to 

wear red and black clothing and 

contribute towards the appeal. 

The support was overwhelming 

and a staggering $7045 was raised. What was particularly warming for the organisers was the 

fact that many students gave over and above and even students who were not in red and black 

also contributed. UK-based Old Boy, Derek Golding (1960-1964) even chipped in a generous 

donation to boost the appeal after reading about the effort in the Collegian newsletter. 

It was decided that the money raised was to be shared equally between two of our brother schools 

in Christchurch. Shirley Boys' High School was severely damaged and Christchurch Boys’ High 

School also suffered structural 

damage. 

We cannot put a finger 

on whether Wellington 

College has ever held a 

‘non-uniform day before’ 

- perhaps one of our 

readers could enlighten 

us.

On the Right Track 

Current students of the College and no doubt 

many local Old Boys will shortly be able to 

ride the new Matangi Trains as they roll out 

from the Wellington Station yards. Not many 

will know that one Old Boy, John Brown (1958- 

1963) owns the Sydney-based team and works as 

Design Director for TDI Asia Pacific (Transport 

Design International). TDI created the Matangi 

industrial design for Hyundai Rotem, the Korean 

manufacturer. 

John, founder of Design Resource now one of 

Australia’s largest industrial Design Agencies, 

undertook design degrees in New Zealand and 

the Royal College of Art, London. He worked 

as a consultant with AID (Allied International 

Designers) in London for five years and founded 

Design Resource in Sydney in 1980. In 1989, he 

founded TDI (Transport Design International) 

working in conjunction with Martin Pemberton 

(TDI UK). 

John has worked on major industrial design 

projects in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand 

and the USA. Many of his client partnerships 

extend for periods of 20-25 years, creating 

ongoing ranges of successful product designs. 

TDI is one of the leading transport design studios 

John McLevie (1953-1947) attended St Mark’s 

and Wellington College as a clergyman’s son, 

as his father was the Vicar at St Barnabas', 

Roseneath. 

On leaving Wellington College, he went to work 

at the Reserve Bank and then decided he wanted 

to be a teacher, thus completed his degree at 

Victoria University. 

John went on to teach at Rongotai College as 

a PE and History teacher. He married Elaine, a 

teacher at Wellington East Girls College, and they 

decided to go overseas for 18 months. However 

they never returned (except for a holiday). 

John spent time teaching in low income 

schools in London and then taught at Alexandra 

Grammar school in Singapore where he became 

housemaster of the Boarding School. 

He recently met 14 Ghurka men who had been 

boarders - now all retired from the British and 

Nepalese armies. 

They continued to see the world and went to 

Hong Kong where John became a lecturer in 

in Asia, specialising in Passenger Rail and Marine 

design. John comments, My passion is styling and 

giving new products the wow factor. 

His favourite projects include consumer 

products, sustainable design and transportation. 

Don Ramage was my art master at Wellington 

College, so that’s where it all started. In addition 

to product design, design management and 

innovation management, John acts as an expert 

witness in design related legal matters. He is a 

past judge for the Wheels Car Design of the Year, 

and has lectured at a number of Australian and 

New Zealand Design Universities, and is a Fellow 

of the Australian Institute of Design. 

The emergence of rail transport as a major 

solution to transport growth in Asia and North 

America has seen TDI create visionary rollingstock 

design solutions for many global cities 

over the last two years. They include Auckland, 

Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, Hong Kong, Cairo, 

Istanbul, Athens and the Sydney Millennium, 

John and Majur Malou, the Executive Director 

of the Refugee network. 

Education. John and Elaine also had their third 

child and after four years decided to go to the 

United States. They both went to Michigan State 

University where they completed PhDs in English 

and Education. John then went to San Diego State 

University where, over 14 years, climbed to the 

rank of full Professor and the Director of Teacher 

Education. He also spent three years in Brazil as 

Chief of Party of a US consulting team. 

John then proceeded to Associate Dean for 

Teacher Education at the University of Houston 

at Clear Lake, Texas before they headed back to 

California where they took up positions which 

involved John visiting 54 universities, training 

OSCAR and Waratah double deck trains. It is 

encouraging to see how New Zealanders can 

influence global design. 

John said, We are especially pleased with the 

Matangi, due mainly to the unique multi-purpose 

carriage solution where a number of special 

needs passengers can comfortably use the train. 

Wheelchair and motorised scooter users, the 

elderly, families with strollers and bike riders can 

all easily enter the platform height carriage. The 

wide aisle multi-purpose layout, with its special 

features, is unique in international carriage 

design. 

Outside of his professional activities, John’s 

interests are endurance horse riding, dressage, 

life drawing, water-colour and pastel, collecting 

early industrial artefacts, visiting art galleries and 

collecting art books. 

John Brown 

johnb@DesignResource.com.au 

A Life of Learning 

teachers for schools. He then retired but spent two 

years as a visiting professor at Northern Illinois 

University, West of Chicago. 

They finally settled down in San Diego to be near 

their children and seven grandchildren. Of course 

this didn't stop them as they are now volunteers 

at the Episcopal Refugee network where John is 

President and Elaine is the Community Relations 

<strong>Office</strong>r. They serve refugees settled in the area 

by the UN and the US government. They have 

about 3500 Sudanese from Kenya and Cairo 

camps; 2000 Karen and Karenni Hills tribes— 

people from the Thailand border and about 200 

Bhutanese from Nepal. Their jobs are very busy 

helping the refugees learn English, get jobs and 

housing. 

John plans to visit New Zealand for the Rugby 

World Cup - hopefully supporting New Zealand. 

St Mark’s School Alumni Magazine 

John McLevie (1943-1947) • JMclevie@aol.com 




Wellingtonian Profile: In Hell and Loving it! 

Hell Pizza founder Callum Davies (1986-1989) 

talks about pizzas, wanting to become a 

stockbroker and Wellington's entrepreneurial 

spirit. 

Is it true you came up with the idea for Hell 

Pizza while at high school? 

No, that's an urban myth. But I did have an afterschool 

job at a pizza place in Karori when I was 

15, and did start thinking about pizza then. 

When you were growing up what did you want 

to do? 

Believe it or not I wanted to be a stockbroker. In 

the 1990s the stockmarket seemed so exciting and 

those guys were making heaps of money by they 

time they were 24 or 25. 

Were you good at maths and accounting at 

school? 

Maths was probably one of my best subjects at 

school. Accounting wasn't so great. I found that 

sixth form [Y12] Accounting was just not that 

relevant. 

You must have a good head for numbers. 

I have an OK head for numbers, but it wasn't until 

I took on my business partner, Stu McMullin 

(1985-1989), that I learned about how much it 

actually cost to make pizza. He taught me that. I 

had been pricing them according to what was in 

Legends of the NZ music scene, Hello Sailor, 

were inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame 

at the APRA Silver Scrolls Awards Night. 

JKL 

It's been 36 years since the band's first official gig 

in Tokoroa, but Graham Brazier, Dave McArtney 

(1964-1968) and Harry Lyon haven't stopped 

doing what they love most - making solid rock 

tunes for an appreciative audience. 

Speaking on TV, the aged rockers reflected on the 

heady days of rock and roll in the 1970s and 80s 

and what has kept the iconic Kiwi group going. 

Determination is what has really kept us together, 

said Dave. We put the music first and we're more 

into the content than anything. 


the market. It seems silly now. 

What was the first pizza business you owned? 

I opened a store in Wainuiomata called The Pizza 

Place. It had been advertised for $7000, including 

the stock. The catch was it was in Wainui. It was 

pretty challenging running a pizza place there, 

because it's not the most affluent suburb. I would 

have all-you-can eat specials and get the rugby 

league guys to come in. League's big out there 

and once I got them in, everyone else followed. 

You opened Hell Pizza in Kelburn in 1993. 

Why choose Hell as a brand? 

I had friends who ran a radio station called Fish 

FM and everything had to have a fish theme. I liked 

the idea of having something themed. I thought 

the pizza industry was really boring at the time, so 

wracked my brains and came up with Hell. 

Were you concerned about using the name 

Hell? 

When we opened the Kelburn store we were a bit 

worried potential customers might think we were 

back-yard devil-worshippers or something and 

not order from us. I tried to think of other names, 

but I couldn't come up with anything better. 

How did you allay your concerns? 

We went to a graphic design company and they 

suggested we keep everything light and fun, 

so we did. We needn't have worried. The place 

really took off. We couldn't answer the phones 

fast enough. We were very lucky, though. We were 

close to Victoria University and a group of web 

design students offered to set up a website for us. 

The website basically took off because people 

couldn't get through on the phones. 

Was it hard work getting that store off the 

ground? 

I worked every night possible, except for two 

weeks at Christmas. At the time I was 21 and all 

my friends were going out drinking. I was missing 

out on that, so I thought, `This had better be worth 

it'. Thankfully it was. 

Several Wellington businesses, including 

Havana Coffee and 42 Below vodka, started at 

the same time as Hell. Was it an exciting time? 

Yes it was. Wellington was really changing. You 

would go out at 9.30 at night and no one would 

be out and hardly anything would be open. That 

was changing, the coffee culture was really taking 

off and Wellingtonians really appreciated it. 

Wellingtonians really appreciate when they get 

something good. 

How many Hell Pizza stores are there now? 

We have 63 in New Zealand, and franchises and 

owner-operated stores in Australia, UK, Ireland, 

Canada, India and Seoul. 

How popular is pizza in South Korea? 

They have three pizza brands in Seoul. It's become 

very popular, mainly with the emerging middle 

class, especially the kids. They seem to want to 

move away from tradition and be more Western. 

Were you concerned about using the Hell 

brand in any overseas markets? 

I was worried about Ireland, because they still 

have religious wars going on. But they were 

fantastic. I probably wouldn't try opening a Hell 

in Texas, though. 

You travel a lot for business. Do you enjoy 

travelling? 

I love to travel. When I came back from the UK a 

few years ago with my wife and children we took 

three months and travelled by train, boat and 

automobile through Mongolia and Russia. It was 

absolutely fantastic. 

What pizza topping is the most popular in New 

Zealand? 

Definitely Lust – that's our meat-lovers' one. New 

Zealand is definitely a nation of meat-lovers. 

Having said that, our gluten-free and dairy-free 

pizzas are really popular. 

The Hell Pizza headquarters are in the former 

Mt Cook police barracks, which are said to be 

haunted. Have you seen any ghosts? 

We haven't seen anything, but one of our rooms 

is filled with Halloween and Hell-themed 

paraphernalia, so it looks quite spooky. 

The old cells are still there, though. Apparently, 

then, men would go out drinking on Friday 

nights, be placed in the cells and then on Saturday 

morning their sons would line up and hand over a 

penny to get them out. 

The Wellingtonian 

Hello Sailor enters NZ Hall of Fame 

The band members of Hello Sailor are somewhat 

silent on the excesses of a rock and roll lifestyle 

these days. That doesn't mean they have stopped 

playing classic songs, like Gutter Black and Blue 

Lady, that have made them famous. We just keep 

playing. We've just about finished a new album 

that's going to be released next year, Dave said. 

As for their hard-earned recognition, the band 

is surprised and pleased to be honoured by the 

NZ music fraternity. It's really nice to be in the 

company we're keeping. I never imagined it would 

happen, said Harry. 

Despite their rock and roll status, the band doesn't 

expect to be celebrating like they used to. We 

certainly won't be waking up in Singapore with a 

beard two weeks later, jokes Dave. 

(L-R): Dave, Graham and Harry

Wellingtonian Profile: The St John’s Man in Charge 

St John's in Willis Street senior minister Allister 

lane (1988-1992) talks about Wellington 

College, how he was ‘called’ to be a Minister 

and whether Christianity remains relevant. 

Did you come from a religious family? 

In our household there was no opportunity not to 

go to church on Sunday. That was clear. I'm very 

thankful to my parents for that. But we weren't a 

pious family, or strictly conservative. 

How did you find Wellington College? 

Coming from Wadestown Primary, it was a big 

shock, being thrust into such a huge environment. 

It was rather overwhelming for a start. We had 

a long family tradition at the school – my father, 

uncles and older brother had gone there. I 

thought it was a great college and it set me up 

academically. 

Were you into sport, or drama or public 

speaking? 

No sport, that's for sure. I've been described as 

‘a-sportal’. I was relatively shy and did very little 

extra-curricular stuff at school. 

You studied Accounting at Victoria University. 

How was that? 

The longer I did it, the less I enjoyed it. I 

got through it. I lived at home while I was at 

Victoria, and didn't involve myself in areas like 

student politics. Through my college years and 

while I was at Victoria, my extra-curricular life 

revolved around the church. That's where I learnt 

leadership roles and devoted my energy. 

Did you work as an accountant? 

No, I knew by the end of my degree it wasn't for 

me. I worked in banking and insurance. 

Did you enjoy your work? 

Very much, and I'm grateful for that time. The 

experiences I had then, and the people I met, have 

been extremely helpful to me now in this job. 

I read you then had a ‘calling’ to become a 

minister? 

While I was working, I was taking theology papers 

from Otago University. The more I did, the more 

I loved them. Finally a friend said I should have 

a look at my life – my work with our church, my 

In December, Koro Bessho (Class of 1969), and 

now the Deputy Vice-Minister for Foreign Policy 

in the Japanese Government made a return visit 

to his old school. Koro’s father was the Japanese 

Ambassador here in Wellington in the late 1960s. 

International Director, Mike Pallin, Deputy Principal, 

Robert Anderson and Japanese Teacher, Shinichi 

Muroya welcomed Koro and gave him a tour of the 

College, stopping in at one of the Junior Japanese 

classes to see how the language is now taught and the 

number of students who take the subject. 

obvious interest in theology. He made me reassess 

my life, and I decided I wanted to be a minister. 

However, it wasn't that clearcut. I asked my 

girlfriend of two months, Naomi, what she thought 

about it, and she was very encouraging. So we 

moved to Dunedin and I was there for five years. 

A student again? 

Yes, but a ‘mature’ student. I was in my late 20s 

by then. 

And your girlfriend? 

It worked out well. She's now my wife. We've been 

married eight years. 

When you became a Minister, did you choose 

to live in Wellington? 

I was ready to go anywhere in New Zealand. You 

make the decision in consultation, but I never 

expected to be moving back to my home town. 

When you got your job as senior Minister at St 

John's in 2008 you were 34. Was that young? 

It was for this church. This has been a very 

conservative church. It only got its first New 

Zealand-born senior minister in the late 1970s. 

They previously came from Scotland. Ministers 

have got younger over the past decade or two, but 

I was young. 

Was that a problem? 

Not at all. I've been made to feel extremely 

welcome at St John's. 

This is an unusual church in that you don't 

really have a geographic parish. Where do 

your parishioners come from? 

All over Wellington, really. We're pretty traditional 

and the people coming here appreciate that. We 

have a lot of families. 

Is there much competition among Presbyterian 

churches for parishioners. 

Not competition, but there is a certain sensitivity 

in that area. 

How do you get on with other denominations? 

Very well. We have excellent relationships with 

the St Peter's Anglican and St Mary of the Angels 

Catholic churches nearby. We have combined 

services on some occasions, and meet and discuss 

issues relevant to us all. Grant Robertson, the 

local MP, is excellent in bringing inner-city 

groups together, and we are part of that. 

The number of church-goers is declining. Is the 

church still as relevant today? 

I'm sure it is, but in other ways. The number of 

people attending church is declining, but that 

doesn't mean Christianity is less relevant. In fact, 

the feedback is that it is more relevant. I'm not 

anxious that people are losing their faith. The 

challenge is to present it in a way which suits 

today's society. 

St John's has a reputation for its rather edgy 

billboards. Are you behind that? 

No. They were going before I got here. Stuart 

[Simpson, the other minister at St John's] and I 

have kept them going. We try to get a message 

across, usually using humour. The Tui billboards 

have been a good model for us. It's a balancing 

act. You want a strong message, but you don't 

want to offend people. 

What do you think of Wellington? 

It's a smashing place. The buzz and the liveliness. 

I've not experienced anything like it in any other 

New Zealand city. And the closeness of everything 

is a big asset. There's always something happening 

in Wellington. It has an edginess I like, and its 

leaders are always looking to push forward. 


_ 

Yokoso, (Welcome) Minister 

(L-R): Mike Pallin, Koro Bessho, Robert Anderson, Shinichi Muroya 




NZ on Air music manager Brendan Smyth (1954- 

1968) talks about missing out on seeing The 

Beatles, working in the public service and his 

affection for Shihad. 

Were you always interested in music? 

Ever since The Beatles. The first record I bought 

was The Beatles. I was born in 1950 and was 13 

when The Beatles came here. I was a teenager 

and just discovering music. 

Did you see them play in Wellington? 

I was boarding at Wellington College – it was a 

boarding school then – and we were not allowed 

out. So we climbed the top of Mt Vic to watch their 

motorcade come in from the airport. Meanwhile, 

our housemaster, who we thought was quite 

square, went to see them perform. That was one 

of the greatest injustices of the world. 

You never studied music. What did you do at 

university? 

I started a law degree at Victoria. That did not 

work out happily at all, so I ended up studying 

philosophy. Our philosophy lecturer said there 

would never be "situations vacant" ads for 

philosophers, but it still served me well. I was 

able to get a job straight out of university. 

Wasn't your first job with the Ministry of 

Transport? 

When I finished university the public service was 

employing just about every graduate going. They 

didn't care if you had a philosophy degree. A 

degree of any sort was fine. So I started out with 

the Ministry of Transport. 

What was that like? 

It wasn't that inspiring. It was basically a transit 

In June, this year, retired Deputy Principal, 

Mike Pallin - now our International Students’ 

Director, hosted a function for our Thai Old 

Boys, in Bangkok. Joining him [far right photo] 

included Den Wasiksiri (1967-72) [left] and his 

brother Dow Wasiksiri (1969-73). 

Just last month, Nikhom Tantemsapya (1957- 

1959) visited the College. Nikhom moved to New 

Zealand when his father set up the Thai Embassy. 

In the early 1980s, Nikhom himself became the 

Thai Ambassador, based here in Wellington. Now 

retired and living in Bangkok, he returned to New 

Zealand for the opening of the new Thai Embassy 

in Thorndon. 


Wellingtonian Profile: Mad About Music 

camp for everyone; they all wanted to go into 

social work or become policy advisers. 

When did you become involved professionally 

with the music industry? 

When I was at Transport, a job came up for an 

advisory officer at the Queen Elizabeth Arts 

Council (now Creative New Zealand). I applied 

for it and got it. 

Wasn't the council mostly involved in funding 

and promoting the fine arts? 

There was a small group working on music and 

I was running that section. I got to know a lot of 

people through the job, so when I came across to 

NZ On Air it was an easy transition. 

What was your first job with NZ On Air? 

NZ On Air was just being set up in 1989 and I 

came on board as the radio manager. It was all 

about getting more New Zealand music played on 

commercial radio stations. 

How much New Zealand music were 

commercial stations playing back then? 

Back in the 90s a survey was done to find out how 

much New Zealand music was played on air. It was 

just under 2 per cent. Now it's about 20 per cent. 

You were involved with establishing New 

Zealand Music Week. 

A group of us had formed the Kiwi Music Action 

Group and music week was one of our ideas. 

Everyone involved was very nervous about that 

week, because we were not sure if it was a naff 

idea or a cool idea. But a programmer from one 

of the big commercial stations said he had been 

really humbled by it. 

Now it has morphed into NZ Music Month. 

A week just was not long enough. And now so 

many organisations have become involved, from 

Hallensteins and their music month T-shirts to 

local libraries staging events. 

What was it like to be made a 

Member of the Order of New 

Zealand for services to music? 

The investiture was at Government 

House and was an amazing 

experience. I was in the company of 

people who had done great things, from brain 

surgeons to those who had contributed to their 

local community. It was very humbling. 

What up-and-coming band should we look out 

for? 

Family Cactus. They're from Wellington, play altfolk-rock 

and deserve our support, because they 

are really good. 

Shihad is one of your favourite bands. Why? 

Shihad and NZ On Air have grown up together. 

We were involved with their first video and we've 

been involved ever since. I love those boys and see 

them as friends. I love that we have been behind 

them since the beginning. I'm looking forward to 

Jon Toogood's new record. 

You love music. Were you ever in a band? 

No, not really. I've been in a music video, Bliss, 

by The Dudes. It was shot at the Cricketers' Arms. 

I'm the hippy with bushy hair at the front of the 

video. I didn't actually know it was being filmed at 

the time. I had just gone along to see The Dudes, 

who were the hot new band in town. 

Describe Wellington's music scene. 

There's a really cool scene happening here, much 

of it centred round Mighty Mighty bar. There's 

an alt-country-folk thing going on at the moment. 

Before that, it was dub – Fat Freddy's and The 

Black Seeds, which are both still very much alive 

and going strong. Wellington is a very integrated 

[music] scene. People turn up in each other's 

bands all the time. 

Other than music, what keeps you in 

Wellington? 

I went to Lyall Bay School, Wellington College 

and Vic Uni. My life is Wellington. I live in 

Wellywood, literally, in Strathmore. I go to 

Miramar New World and I'll see some Hobbits. I 

wouldn't live anywhere else. 


NB: Brendan’s brother Roger is Class of 

1969 and his son Harry is currently in 

Y12. 

Sawatdee Khrab

Whit's fur ye'll no go by ye! (What's meant to happen will happen, old Scottish saying). 

Ray Wallace (1979-1981) swept to power in the 

2010 Lower Hutt mayoral election, trouncing 

his sole rival, incumbent David Ogden, by 

5000 votes and became the 21st person to occupy 

the <strong>Office</strong> of Mayor since 1891. 

The former real estate agent - who admits to being 

a sci-fi buff and ‘bit of a Trekkie’ [A Trekkie is a 

fan of the Star Trek television series/films], now 

heads an organisation that employs 490 people 

and controls $1.2 billion in assets. He and his 

partner Linda live in Wainuiomata. In his spare 

time he enjoys working on landscaping plans 

for the couple’s property and hitting the Petone 

foreshore on his bike. 

Ray has extensive experience in local body 

politics. He was first elected to Hutt City Council 

as a councillor in the Wainuiomata Ward in 

1995 and served as Deputy Mayor from 2001 

to 2005. During his 15 years as a councillor, 

he held various senior positions on council 

committees, including Chair of Operations and 

Compliance, Chair of Community Grants, Chair 

of Community Services Committee and Chair of 

Heritage Advisory Committee. 

A strong sense of community mindedness 

has also seen Ray involved with numerous 

community projects such as fundraising for the 

local volunteer fire brigade, organising foodbank 

appeals and coordinating youth awards. He has 

been a Justice of the Peace for sixteen years. 

Ray’s primary goal is to be known as the ‘people’s 

Mayor’ and to inject vibrancy into Lower Hutt 

while reducing crime through the Hutt Safe City 

programme. Latest crime figures for Lower Hutt 

already show a reduction in the crime rate and a 

recent poll of residents show 95 per cent loving 

living in the city. 

I think Lower Hutt has a rich cultural diversity 

and has much to offer the 100,000 or so people 

1981 SCHOOL COUNCIL EXECUTIVE 

Back: S Grimwood, P Dawson, R Anyon, B Gordon, A Shvarts 

Second: S Grimshaw, A Moss, J Silver, I Rennie 

Front: J Albren, N Lourantos, A Ioannou, R Wallace, R Kan, P Swallow, M Heron 

who live here. It is a place where people feel safe 

and have easy access to the Petone foreshore, 

the river walks, our native bush reserves in the 

surrounding hills and the numerous parks and 

gardens. 

We are actively promoting business opportunities 

to build prosperity and provide jobs for our 

young people so they can stay and raise their 

families here. Lower Hutt is one of the first cities 

to benefit from the Ultra Fast Broadband and 

this will benefit local business and provide new 

opportunities for our young people who will make 

use of this resource and prosperity for the area. 

A Wainuiomata ward councillor since 1995, Ray 

was always destined for a career in politics. His 

family emigrated from Scotland in the 1960s 

when he was just three. Though no trace of the 

accent remains, Ray is still fiercely proud of 

his Scottish ancestry and hangs both the New 

Zealand and Scottish flags in his mayoral office. 

With a name like William Wallace, which is my 

full name, where else am I going to come from? 

And yes, I have seen Braveheart, many times. 

Though a Labour man early on, Ray ‘fell out’ 

with the party’s Rogernomics policies and stood 

as a National Party candidate for Pencarrow in the 

1990 general election. He lost in the safe Labour 

seat by 208 votes. I was young, energetic and 

keen to see change. But when National digressed 

from some of its policies, Ray stepped down from 

national politics for good. Local body was where 

his heart lay. 

Hutt South MP and Wainuiomata local Trevor 

Mallard says Ray is a damn good bloke and is 

pretty hard to dislike. We haven’t always agreed 

on stuff but he’s straightforward and honest 

and he’s certainly worked in the interests of his 

constituents as No 1. His only broken promise to 

me has been promises to get fit. He’s never done it. 

In his formative years, Ray attended Te Aro 

Primary, St Mark’s and Wellington College. He 

was a Prefect and recalls winning his first election 

while at College when he ran for Student Council 

President against 13 other candidates. It was a 

landslide with over 80 per cent of the vote. I was 

even out campaigning with billboards then, so 

I’ve had plenty of practice. 

His teenage campaign platforms were remarkably 

similar to todays. That I was approachable, that 

the role of the School Chairman was to serve 

the students, and it’s no different [now]. I want 

to be the people’s Mayor. I am a servant for the 

people. That’s very much where I see myself for 

the duration of this term and hopefully beyond. 

I am loving the role and challenges of being 

Mayor. There have been some big issues that I 

have had to deal with coming up to my first year in 

office. The values that I was taught at Wellington 

College have trained me well to cope with those 

issues and the training I received as a Prefect 

serves me well looking after twelve Councillors. 

oldboys@wellington-college.school.nz 

I have News... 

Please send us your news to share with fellow Old 

Boys. 

Don’t forget to send us your change of address if 

you move house or email provider. 




School’s Out for Retiring Principal 

Principal of Tawhai School, Stokes Valley since 

1987, Ron Wainwright (1958-1962) can look 

back with satisfaction at the school he leaves in 

the hands of his successor. 

His last ‘school report’ otherwise known as the 

ERO report, described him as an effective leader 

with a collaborative approach, empowering staff 

to take appropriate roles and responsibilities in the 

development and implementation of sound literacy 

teaching practices. 

In fact he’s proud of the fact all eight ERO reports 

over that past 25 years have been positive. I’ve been 

lucky to have a great lot of students and a dedicated staff, many of them 

long-term at Tawhai, providing stability. Added to that, we have been well 

supported by parents and a high-calibre Board of Trustees, he says. Take 

away any arm of that triangle and the whole structure collapses. 

Emphasis has been on literacy and numeracy throughout the school, with 

a special emphasis on giving new entrants a head-start by making the 

transition from Preschool to Year 1 as stress-free as possible. The 2009 ERO 

report says more than 92 per cent of students were achieving at or above the 

expected level at both six months and after one year at school at the end of 

2008. The hard work by the school community had led to a well-resourced 

school, with attractive learning environments and grounds. 

The Spirit of Adventure 

My adventure in April was amazing on all sides of 

the spectrum. The skills I learnt, the things I saw 

and the friends I made will surely be memories 

that will stay with me for a long time to come. 

From a young age, I had seen this proud ship anchoring 

outside my window, and had been told by young and old 

what an amazing adventure it offers. However, it was 

only after I saw that there was a chance of obtaining 

funding to help me afford the trip, that I really started to look at what the 

Spirit was about. By doing this I just got positive feedback, all talking about 

this whole life-changing experience. I managed to obtain the funding and 

soon after I was on board the ship. This Spirit had A LOT to live up to. 

But the Spirit definitely lived up to its expectations. In April, 40 trainees who 

were almost complete strangers went on board with fourteen crew on a tenday 

journey. My Voyage travelled from Wellington through the Cook Strait, 

through the Marlborough sounds to Nelson. We managed to sail Cook Strait 

in the first day, which allowed us eight days to explore the sounds around the 

top of the South Island. 

However although learning how to run a 60-foot boat was helpful, the sailing 

itself was one of the least important highlights of the trip for me. During this 

time, I constantly found myself taking charge of up to 20 trainees in turning 

the boat around or anchoring it. It was things like this that improved so many 

aspects of myself and the trainees around me. 

Some of the friendships I made on the trip are now stronger than friendships 

I have had for years and years, and the lessons I have learnt have changed my 

life. The trip highlights included seeing dolphins, climbing the mast, being 

the cook on trainee day (the final day, where the trainees completely take 

over and direct the ship into Nelson), meal times, the list goes on. 

I am often asked why it was so good or what was the best part, and I find 

myself struggling to answer properly. Each highlight on its own seemed 


Educated at Wadestown Primary, Wellington 

College, Victoria University and Wellington 

Teachers College Kelburn, Ron Wainwright began 

his working life as a meteorological technician 

before becoming a teacher. Stints working on the 

railways, driving trucks and working in the bush on 

the East Coast ‘rubbing shoulders with all walks of 

life’ helped hone his understanding of people. 

He taught Forms One and Two at Newlands Primary 

before spending seven years in special education 

at Porirua East. In 1976 Ron came to teach in the 

Hutt Valley and was at Eastern Hutt School from 

1977-1983 before returning to Cashmere Avenue in 

Khandallah, until he became the teaching Principal at the 140-pupil Tawhai 

School in 1987. Now the roll has more than doubled and at its peak in the 

post-2003 Network Review had 350 students. 

Retirement plans include some overseas travel and more time indulging in his 

love of tramping in the New Zealand outdoors. He is also looking forward to 

spending more time with his adult twin daughters, both of whom have shared 

interests with him in teaching and the well-being of young people. Becky 

is currently a teacher at Taita College and Charlotte is a trained clinical 

psychologist working with disadvantaged children, who intends to follow a 

career in psychology and education on her return from her OE. 

The Hutt News 

Auckland Old Boys Sponsorship Assists Student to Sail 

as rather ordinary, like learning to sail or seeing the 

dolphins. But it’s more than that. It’s the experience 

and all of these things put together with 40 kids that 

make this trip so special, the experience that sets you 

up for not only a ten-day adventure, but your future 

as well. 

I left the ship more determined and focused than I think 

I have ever been, and it has continued through to this 

day. 

So, thank you to the Auckland <strong>Branch</strong> of the Old Boys’ 

Association for giving me the opportunity to partake in this journey, and to 

those who are thinking about going on the Spirit - I thoroughly recommend 

it. And if you don’t believe me, ask the 60,000 others. 

Fletcher Mills, Y12 

MEN BEHAVING BADLy... NOT AT WELLINGTON COLLEGE 

It’s not always the teens who need to learn a few bus manners. I was 

on a crowded bus last week when an older woman got on. A shylooking 

young man in his Wellington College uniform stood up and 

gestured for her to sit in his seat. In a loud and stern voice she said: Sit 

down and don’t patronise me... It made me angry and disappointed to 

see this young man’s confidence knocked so dramatically. 

JUST WHAT WAS IN THE WATER? 

There must have been something in the Wellington College drinking 

water back in the early 2000s. Comedian Dai Henwood says ahead 

of him in the school’s Junior Drama Club were Bret McKenzie, from 

Flight of the Conchords, and thespian raconteur Jeremy Randerson. 

The year after him was Barnaby Weir, from Black Seeds and Fly My 

Pretties. 

Who would have thought those grey uniforms could be so inspiring? 

The above quips both appeared in recent Dominion Posts’

Adam Glover (1986-1989) is a man 

on a mission, be it by bicycle. Adam, 

who for the past five years has lived 

in London, working in the construction 

industry decided he was ready to return 

home to catch up with family and friends. 

But for this Old Boy, it wasn’t the usual 

Heathrow to Auckland non-stop route but 

instead, Adam has decided to do it by bike. 

So on 2 April this year, Adam set forth for 

home on a 24,000km ride – using only 

his bike, and boat for a 12-month plus 

journey from London’s Tower Bridge to 

Wellington. 

We caught up with Adam in Kyrgyzstan, 

having already cycled 10,600km through 

17 countries including France, Belgium, 

Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, 

Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iran, 

Turkmenistan Uzbekistan and Tajikistan 

with a further ten more countries to 

cycle through to his destination. His 

ETA in New Zealand is April/May 2012 

after cycling through the likes of China, 

Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, 

Singapore, Indonesia, Timor and 

Australia. 

On average, Adam cycles 100km a day, 

but has cycled as much as 174km between 

Nis in Serbia and Sofia in Bulgaria. 

Adam says the trip is a personal challenge 

for him and a fantastic life experience. 

As he is an asthmatic, he decided to give 

more meaning to the trip by raising funds 

for Asthma UK and is funding the entire 

trip out of his own pocket. The trip to 

date has made him a much stronger and 

healthier person as well as losing around 

10kg going from 83kg-73kg. Leaving the 

stresses of life in London hasn’t done him 

any harm either. 

Adam’s bike - a Surly Long Haul Trucker 

- is pretty much self-contained and he 

carries around 40kg-50kg of weight which 

includes camping equipment, spare parts 

for the bike, food and water (sometimes 

up to ten litres) when he headed into more 

remote parts such as the Turkmenistan 

Desert of Turkmenistan and the Wakhan 

Valley of Tajikistan. 

Heading Home - going about it the long way 

Adam tends to ‘wild camp’ around 50 

percent of the journey, resting just off the 

sides of the road. Other overnight spots have included fields, orchards, city 

parks, and by lakes and rivers. In larger cities, he treats himself to a cheap 

guest house or hotel. Fortunately, he has also been invited into people’s 

home to stay overnight, which is a fantastic bonus. 

Some of the major highlights that Adam has experienced so far include 

the side trip to Gallipoli, the historical cities of Yazd and Esfahan in Iran, 

and the Silk Road city of Bukhara in Uzbekistan. Scenery-wise, the remote 

snow-capped alps of the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan and cycling along 

the Danube were sights to be seen. To date, Adam says the best country 

he’s ridden through was Iran. He found the people overwhelmingly friendly 

Above: Looking back down the Valley towards the Afghan 

Mountains of the Wakhan Range from just below the summit of the 

4344 meter Khargush pass (Tajikistan). 

Below: Resting by the Salt Lake after crossing the 4344 metre 

Khargush Pass (Tajikistan) 

and where he received the most invitations 

to stay in actual homes and experience 

the warm hospitality and attention – all 

the time, feeling completely safe and the 

modest attention of being a celebrity. 

The toughest terrain to date was crossing 

the 460km Turkmenistan Desert on a fiveday 

transit visa in 55 degree heat. With 

strong head winds and blowing sands, it 

was an arduous sector which resulted in 

him taking refuge in an abandoned farm 

to escape a sandstorm. In the desert, 

he needed to carry ten litres of water to 

survive each day – not always enough – 

and the search for water one day took him 

over 80km. 

Cycling through the remote Pamir 

Mountains of Tajikistan, Adam had to 

push the bike for 25km one day because 

the road was just not possible to access 

easily with parts very steep, sandy and 

other parts very rocky. Escaping blowing 

snowfalls over a 4255 metre Kizill Art 

Pass, was also a challenge - the highest 

pass he crossed, Akbaital Pass was 4655 

metres high. 

Adam’s journey hasn’t been all smoothsailing 

so far. He said that the scariest 

moment was hearing the sound of the 

safety catch coming off a machine gun 

when the Tajikistan Army tried to sneak 

up on him when he camped by a river next 

to the Afghanistan border. With hands up 

and the words ‘tourist’, ‘tourist’ saved the 

day for Adam. 

He’s only had a few mechanical problems 

to date with two broken chains, a ripped 

tyre, a blow out and just five flat tyres in 

10,000km – sounds like Lady’s Luck is on 

his shoulder - for most of the time. 

While much of the journey has been 

tough-going, getting an invitation to rest 

up at a villa adjacent to the Caspian Sea 

in Iran - which resulted from a random 

meeting of a local in a fruit shop - helped 

ease the weary body. Whereas one of the 

best moments was finding cold water in 

the Turkmenistan desert. 

Unique sights abound across 10,000km – 

one included coming across two eccentric 

Englishmen driving a 1950s Bentley 

through the rugged Pamir Mountains. 

Adam says that one of the great advantages of being on a bike is that it’s a 

great draw card and an excellent way of meeting so many kind people. 

Keep up with Adam’s journey through his Facebook page ‘Adam 

Glover cycling London to New Zealand’ or his word press blog: 

www.2011adamglovercycling.wordpress.com 

All the best Adam. We look forward to hearing and reporting on part two of 

your journey and your eventual arrival back home. 



The Funny Side of Life 

Power Ranger and now a rising 

comedian - Nic Sampson 

(2000-2004) is pretty happy with 

the way things have turned out. The 

24-year-old actor and comedian 

grew up in Wellington, attending 

Wellington College, and now lives 

in Auckland. 

Nic studied Drama at College, 

though said he never thought he 

would make it his career. I wanted 

to be a magician, but I was terrible. I was eight 

or nine and all my tricks came from this one book, 

he said. I wanted to be a rock drummer, too. I was 

generally either in a play or in the Music Room. 

Afterwards Nic travelled to London's Globe 

Theatre following his performance in the Sheilah 

Winn Shakespeare festival. In London he received 

news from an earlier audition that he had secured 

the part of the yellow power ranger in the Power 

Rangers television series. 

Slaving Over a Hot Cello 

Having fled from Nazi Germany to New Zealand with his family in 1937, 

Wilfred (Wilf) Simenauer (1944-1945) first started school at Otago 

Boys’ High School before transferring to Wellington College in 1944. 

He returned to OBHS a year and one term later. 

School days weren’t always the happiest for Wilf and his brother Frank 

(who did not attend Wellington College), with many boys of the war-time 

era, more than a little insensitive. However, he says his own classmates 

eventually came to understand the difference between a Nazi enemy, and a 

German refugee. 

Wilf was also a very fine musician, which led his father to withdraw him 

from the 1st XV at OBHS, Dunedin - in order to ‘protect his hands’. And it 

was music which became Wilf’s greatest love. 

Old Boys in the News Aterrible magician, a yellow 

Having travelled to Britain, Wilf joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra 

where he was sub-Principal Cellist from 1950 to 1953. He played as 

Principal Cellist for the Sadler’s Wells Opera & Ballet Orchestra from 1953 

to 1955, while also deputising for the BBC’s Symphony Orchestra, the 

BBC’s Concert Orchestra, and other symphony orchestras in London. 

Wilf then went on to play for the Philharmonia Orchestra (1955-1957); the 

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1957-1960) with whom he also played four 

Glyndebourne Opera Seasons, and in 1959 he became a Founder Member 

and co-Principal cellist with the St Martin-in-the-Fields Ensemble; and 

from 1960 to 1964, Principal Cellist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic 

Orchestra . 

Upon returning to New Zealand, he became the Principal Cellist for the 

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra from 1965 until 1970, when he went as 

Principal Cellist to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1970, after which he 

returned to the NZSO as Principal Cellist until 1993, when he retired. 

He has also been a regular soloist with the BBC, ABC, Radio NZ, and the 

New Zealand Chamber Music Federation, along with playing concertos in 

the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. 

Wilf was the solo cellist on the NZSO’s Tour of Australia in 1974, along with 

Dame Kiri te Kanawa and Michael Houston. 


Filming took a year, and Nic said 

the experience was fantastic. I was 

thinking this is what I'm going to 

do. If this is what being an actor 

is all about why doesn't everyone 

want to do it? I had tons of money 

and was running around Auckland. 

I had a pretty deluded idea of the 

acting world. 

When filming ended, the work he 

expected to keep rolling in didn't. 

While working at a bakery he 

decided to stop waiting around for someone to 

come to him, and began creating his own pieces. 

After some joint writing, mostly with friend 

Joseph Moore (2002-2006), Nic went out on his 

own last year, writing Idiots. It included actress 

Antonia Prebble, was part-directed by Tom 

Sainsbury and was staged in Auckland. 

I'd wanted to do something with all my friends. 

It was the first piece I'd written solely myself. 

Patrons were not charged for tickets, but rather 

were asked at the end to pay what they thought the 

show was worth. It encouraged people to come; 

there was no pressure to pay. The concept, and 

play, obviously appealed, he said, because they 

pulled in about $1200 over the three nights. 

Nic has had a few cameo appearances including 

as a mechanic on Go Girls, and can be seen in 

the occasional McDonalds and KFC television 

advertisements. In 2007 he was cast in fantasy 

action film The Warrior's Way, which starred 

well-known actors Geoffrey Rush, Danny Huston 

and Kate Bosworth. 

He enjoyed acting, but said his real passion was 

writing and performing comedy. One of the script 

writers for C4's [British comedy show] The Jono 

Show, Nic has hopes of writing his own television 

series. He particularly likes Spaced, by Simon 

Pegg. I really like writing. It's even better when 

people you really respect do [perform] it for you. 

For me, it's more fun to see someone else do it. 


Wilf’s book -Slaving over a Hot Cello is a stimulating account of an idealist 

whose career was at times turbulent and possibly controversial. 

Although largely autobiographical, it also covers the exploits of many of the 

world’s greatest conductors who have ever lived, such as Victor de Sabata, 

Giulini, Koussevitky, Beecham, Karajan, and many others. The foibles of 

human nature and corruption engendered by the freelancing world, are 

equally exposed. Many amusing anecdotes experienced in a lifetime of 

playing in orchestras are liberally scattered throughout this book. Some 

matters of musical interpretation and technique will also be of interest to 

many. The strong musical opinions held by the author may be given some 

credence by the many testimonials by such luminaries as Sir Adrian Boult, 

Sir John Pritchard, and many others ( to be found in the appendix). 

https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/slaving-over-a-hot-cello/ 

isbn/978-3-8443 1819-7

Last October at the Commonwealth Games in 

Delhi, Old Boy Gareth Kean (2005-2009) 

thrilled us all with his wonderful exploits in 

the pool. His silver medal in his favoured 200m 

Backstroke was a marvellous effort. His 

time of 1:57.37s lowered the NZ record 

by more than one second and it was the 

eighth fastest time swum in the world for 

that event in 2010. 

Less remembered, but also impressive, 

were his efforts in making the finals of 

both the 100m and 50m Backstroke 

where he placed fifth and eighth 

respectively. Gareth turned 19 during the 

Commonwealth Games. 

Gareth has been recognised a number 

of times this year for his excellent 

performances in 2010. His awards 

include: 

• the Westpac Emerging Talent award at 

the Halberg Awards in February. 

• the Most Outstanding Performance of 

the Year in International Competition 

at the State insurance Swimming NZ 

Awards in April. 

• the Wellington Sportsman of the Year 

award at the Wellington Sports awards in May. 

Gareth was also presented with his sporting Blues 

from University Sport New Zealand in June. 

In international competition this year, Gareth 

has continued to raise his standing amongst 

the world’s elite backstroke specialists. At his 

first FINA World Championships in Shanghai 

in July, Gareth again showed a capacity to lift 

himself for the big occasion. This time it was 

his performances in the 100m Backstroke that 

captured attention. He broke the NZ record 

twice on the way to placing eighth in the final of 

that event. Gareth improved his best time going 

into the meet (54.47s) by nearly a second which 

is a huge improvement at this level. His time 

of 53.50s was faster than Liam Tancock’s time 

in winning gold at last year’s Commonwealth 

Games and it now ranks Gareth eighth fastest in 

the world in the 100m Backstroke (from 28th in 

2010). Perhaps more importantly, it has qualified 

him for the Olympics in England next year with 

the qualifying mark set by FINA at 54.40s. 

In his specialist 200m Backstroke, Gareth’s 

heat time was just outside the top eight and he 

did not make the final. While he would have 

been disappointed about that, the greater mark 

had already been made. Race analysis showed 

that the greater part of Gareth’s improved 100m 

Backstroke times were due to improvement in 

his starts and turns – a particular focus he and 

his coach Gary Hurring have had this year. In 

time, these gains will also transfer to the 200m 

Backstroke. 

Gareth was again to feature prominently on the 

international stage at the World University Games 

in China a couple of weeks later. He won gold 

Gareth Kean - Still making a Splash 

Gareth Kean found himself the centre of 

attention when he showed off the silver 

medal he won at the Commonwealth 

Games to fellow Wellington College 

students. 

in the 100m Backstroke, bronze in the 200m 

Backstroke and narrowly missed another medal 

in placing fourth in the 50m Backstroke. Gareth’s 

fast lead out in the backstroke leg of the medley 

relay played a significant part in New Zealand 

securing a rare bronze medal in international relay 

competition. 

Gareth is now training again after three weeks 

out of the pool due to illness since the University 

Games. He has recovered much of the 7kg he 

lost during that time and is positive about what 

lies ahead of him. Having now qualified for the 

Olympics, his goals now include making the 

Olympic finals in each of the 100m and 200m 

Backstroke events. In the interim, Gareth will 

continue to train under the watchful eye of Coach 

Gary Hurring – himself a former New Zealand 

backstroking great who won Commonwealth 

Games gold and World Championship silver 

medals more than 30 years ago. He will target 

minor international meets later this year, like the 

Queensland and NSW State Championships in 

Australia, as part of his build-up for the London 

Olympics. 

Gareth is humble about his swimming 

achievements and very appreciative of the 

continued interest the College community has 

in how he is progressing. He is very proud to 

be a Wellington College Old Boy and has been 

generous in making himself available to the 

College. Last year he visited the College as 

the assembly guest for that year’s swimming 

presentations. Afterwards he spent much longer 

than he needed, mixing with students and staff, 

providing many with an opportunity to see what 

a Commonwealth Games medal looks like and to 

have a photo taken with him. 

At just 19 years of age, Gareth is an exciting 

prospect who has done extremely well to rank 

within the top 10 in the world in both the 100m 

and 200m Backstroke. We were all very proud of 

Gareth’s efforts at the Commonwealth Games and 

will be watching with a great deal of interest his 

progress in the build-up to next year’s Olympics. 

We wish Gareth well with his training and every 

success in pursuit of his goals. 

Martin Vaughan 

Wellington College Swimming Convenor 

At the 2010 College Sport Wellington Awards, longtime 

Wellington College Swimming Convenor, Martin 

Vaughan was awarded the Volunteer of the Year 

Prize for his contribution to Swimming at Wellington 

College since 1983. The ‘total-enthusiast’, Martin has 

single-handedly ensured that swimming has remained 

an important component of the sports calendar at 

Wellington College as well as at the inter-collegiate 

level. 




Peter Taylor - Rowing to London 

With his festive season over, Peter Taylor 

(1997-2001) can expect to spend most of the 

next 300-odd days getting flogged from one 

end of Lake Karapiro to the other. 

Doesn't sound like much to look forward to, but 

the 27-year-old Wellington rower relishes the 

thought of returning to full training next week. 

Olympic gold medals aren't won in the pub and 

anything less than standing on the top step of 

the London Games' dais next August will be a 

massive disappointment for Peter and lightweight 

double sculls partner Storm Uru. 

We get three weeks off, straight after world 

championships, so this is pretty much our 

Christmas and new year break, Peter said during 

a rare trip home. 

"We get to relax, so a group of us travelled a bit. 

You get stuck into some really bad food and have 

a few drinks here and there. It's just a chance to 

take the brakes off a bit and let the mind have a 

break. 

It's fun, but after about five days of that you 

feel a bit gross. You normally find a few of the 

rowers are either back in the gym or out on the 

road running, just to try and get the body feeling 

healthy again. So it's back up to Cambridge on 

Sunday to start training again on Monday. You 

know, there's some unfinished business there so 

we want to start working again." 

Peter and Storm finished just centimetres short of 

claiming their second world title, at September’s 

championships in Bled, Slovenia. Having led 

early, they were eventually pipped on the line 

by the Great Britain double of Zac Purchase and 

Mark Hunter. 

Initially I was pretty disappointed. It was a bloody 

good race and a bloody tough race, I can tell you 

that, said Taylor. 

But we had a good race and we were happy with 

how things had gone. Looking back and reflecting 

now, we had a really good six-week buildup and 

a good week of racing and, on that day, we got 


beaten by a technically sharper and clinically 

better crew than us. 

I can see us having quite a lot of improvement 

left in our stroke and the technical side of things, 

so I'm actually quite upbeat and quite positive, 

looking forward to London. 

It sounds strange that people can spend half their 

life in a boat and still not be happy with their 

stroke. 

It's like the perfect golf swing, isn't it? You always 

search for it, you always aim for it and some 

people are just a lot better at it than other people, 

Peter said. 

There were glaringly obvious things that I can 

see we need to improve on from that [world 

championship] race. You know, I was pretty 

devastated afterwards because we'd worked so 

bloody hard for it and we believed we could do 

that race well. To fall just short hurt quite a bit. 

Still, second was an improvement on last year's 

third place and meant the 2009 winners now have 

the full set of world championship medals. 

Yeah, it did, said a laughing Peter. But it's not 

something I was trying to aim for. 

No, the only colour the Wellington College Old 

Boy is interested in is gold. 

We know we're not going to do well in London 

without working our arses off. But we're both 

fully committed to rowing, there's no outside 

influences. 

Everything else is put on hold for London and we 

both know that's what needs to be done. 

It must be quite a thing to have your name and 

your dreams so intertwined with one other person. 

Mention Peter Taylor to sports fans and chances 

are they'll think you're talking about the former 

Australian offspinner or the man who helped 

Brian Clough guide Nottingham Forest to two 

European Cup football titles. It's not till you 

preface it with Storm Uru that you automatically 

associate it with rowing. 

We get on bloody well, we really do. We'll be good 

friends after rowing. We haven't had a fist fight 

yet. 

We both have times when we need to escape 

because when you get tired of training you can 

get grumpy or short-tempered pretty easily. 

But we've been around each other so long now 

– it's been nearly four years – that nothing that 

happens in the heat of the moment is ever taken to 

heart, Peter said. We're both working towards the 

same goal and need to achieve it the same way. 

The Dominion Post

With almost seventy years between them, 

long-serving staff members Vic Paulson 

(left) and Rob Corliss (right) aren’t any 

closer to throwing away the chalk, or in their 

cases – hanging up their whistles. 

Vic and Rob, besides teaching, have dedicated 

themselves to four score and ten years 

collectively to coaching Basketball (in Vic’s 

case) and both Rugby and Cricket in Rob’s 

case. 

Vic started here at the College in 1974, hailing 

from the US where in North Dakota he was in the 

starting five of the local High School team (he 

comments that there were only eight boys at high 

school and three of them were wrestlers). Missing 

out on the Junior Varsity team, he gave Basketball 

away for a while until he moved to New Zealand. 

He began teaching Physics initially here at the 

College and as Technology and IT came to 

the fore, Computer Studies. Vic’s passion for 

Basketball was realised as soon as he started 

at Wellington College by coaching the Junior 

B team (who incidentally won the Wellington 

Junior B title) and by the year had stepped up to 

take the Senior A team. Outside school, he was 

also playing for the Wellington National Club 

tournament. 

1975 saw Vic coach around 16 Wellington 

College teams plus a Form 3 and 4 Inter-form 

competition – a further 14 teams – certainly a 

very busy schedule for one man. 

Vic says his most memorable game was the 

Senior B team playing at the Nationals in Rotorua 

in 1976 where they beat the favourites, Church 

College in the quarter-finals by eight points – it 

was the most physical game I have ever coached, 

En Garde! 

For several lawyers around the country, their 

athletic passion centres on a sport that can trace 

its origins back to the battlefields of yore. 

It may sound silly, but the sport of fencing is very 

like the sport of tennis, says Anderson Lloyd 

partner Barry Dorking. You’re slowly leading your 

opponent into making a mistake. Barry is one of 

several lawyers who fence in Dunedin, and many 

who do so throughout the country. There are a lot 

of lawyers who fence, says Barry. Fencing has 

always been a strong university sport, and a lot of 

the university fencers are law students. The legal 

mind applies quite well to fencing. It’s often been 

described as physical chess. 

The point about fencing is that it’s one sport 

where it requires a mixture of skills, so it’s not 

just the strongest, it’s not just the fastest, it’s not 

just the cleverest, says Roger Hayman, (1962- 

1966) founding partner of Hayman Lawyers in 

Wellington, a firm that has a fencer in action as 

its logo. You have to be capable in all those areas 

to be successful, but you can still be a successful 

fencer if you’re small and not that strong, if you’re 

he said. Four hours later, was his least memorable 

game when the jubilant team’s good fortune came 

crashing down in the semi-finals, by losing to 

Christchurch Boys’ High School. 

Players who stood out in Vic’s mind include 

David MacCalman (1971-1975) who went on 

to be the top-point guard in the National Men’s 

Club Champs in his first year out of College 

and by year’s end, in a wheelchair following an 

horrific diving accident (see David’s story on 

page 49 of this Lampstand). Tony Smith (1976), 

who for around ten years was Point Guard for the 

national team, Rewi Thompson (1974-1978), 

who while at school was in the NZ men’s rep team 

and attained three MVPs over five matches) and 

debuted in the Tall Blacks later that year. Rewi 

is now coaching High School Basketball in New 

Jersey. 

Vic’s personal involvement outside school saw 

him play in the NZ Men’s Club nationals from 

1975 to 1982, acting as player/coach for the 

last two years. He played in the inaugural NBL 

season in 1982 and in 1983 and also coached. 

And 30 years plus on, Vic is still coaching at the 

College – College Basketball is more exciting 

cunning and fast. With fencing, 

it’s not necessarily the most 

athletic person or the strongest 

person who’s going to win – 

there’s a considerable mental 

element. It’s about deceiving your 

opponent, and even though they 

may be bigger and have longer 

limbs than you have, it’s still 

possible to beat someone like 

that, so it’s a great challenge. 

Both Barry and Roger were first 

introduced to fencing as high 

school students, Barry at Selwyn College in 

Auckland, and Roger at Wellington College. One 

of the teachers at Selwyn was in the New Zealand 

fencing team, and within a couple of years of first 

picking up a sword as a 15-year-old, Barry made 

the Auckland senior team and started going to 

national tournaments. Roger also had a good first 

teacher; his coach at Wellington College was the 

late Justice Tony Ellis (1948-1952). He ran that 

club on his own, and taught us. For Roger, who 

is now the patron of Fencing Central, the appeal 

of fencing was very simple: I think it was a bit 

about the romance of playing with swords, and 

you know, the old way of doing things, just the 

A Coaching Marathon 

he says. And where to in 2012? Still in the 

planning stage he replied cautiously. 

Five years after Vic started, Rob Corliss joined 

the teaching staff, fresh out of training college 

and into the Maths Department. Rob’s keen 

interest in both Cricket and Rugby was called 

upon and he assumed the role of coach of the 

2nd XI in the summer and the 4B team in winter. 

His rugby coaching and enthusiasm kept him on 

the number one until 1999 with the senior teams 

including the 1st XV in 1998 and 1999 where he 

achieved two consecutive and remarkable wins 

in the National Top Four competition. He then 

stepped back and for the past ten years has coached 

various Under 55kg teams with the jubilant honour 

of winning the grade competition this season. As 

Rob says, any win over Silverstream, is a good 

win. However his least memorable match and 

loss was the Quad final in 1998 when we went 

down to Nelson College. Players under Rob’s 

tenure who have gone onto further success include 

Neemia Tialata, Kane Thompson, David Palu, 

Ross Kennedy, Brendan Watt, Otto Rasch, Ben 

Castle and Justin Purdie to name a few. 

Rob’s cricket involvement and successes mirror 

his rugby coaching, taking junior teams from 

1979 through to the 1st XI in 1987-88 and 

again for a season in 2002. There are not too 

many weekends where Rob wasn’t coaching or 

supporting cricket and rugby fixtures where the 

College was involved - and this has continued. 

You certainly have to admire the countless 

personal hours, days and years that Vic and Rob 

have given to the extracurricular programme at 

Wellington College. Both are great role models, 

both who have made huge sacrifices – all for the 

enthusiasm, passion and love of the game. 

romance of duelling with swords. 

Roger, who fights with the foil, 

gives pointers on such technique 

to youngsters at Club Toa, which 

is run out of the gym at a local 

school in Wellington. The oldies 

like us just come along and fence, 

as long as we give a few bouts to 

the juniors, and teach them a few 

tricks, they welcome the veterans 

to come along, and just take part, 

he says. I attend the club every 

Saturday morning and fence for 

an hour and a half and then go to the pub for a 

drink. Although he doesn’t take part in official 

competitions much any more, Roger did recently 

place third in the open division at a tournament 

to celebrate the centennial of his old Victoria 

University Club. He laughs that he won a $25 gift 

voucher, but had to spend several times that on 

the physio, following his efforts. 

NZLawyer magazine 

In contact with Roger with regards to this article, 

he said that George Stratigopoulos (1963-1967), 

another Old Boy, is still fencing with Roger on 

Saturday mornings. 




We may not have any Old Boys in the All 

Blacks in this year’s Rugby World Cup. 

However we do have four Old Boys playing 

- albeit for Tonga and Manu Samoa. 

Our congratulations to Tomasi Palu (2000-2004), 

William Helu (1999-2004), Kane Thompson 

(1995-1999) and James So’oialo (2005-2006) on 

their international selection. 

Tomasi, William and Kane all played for the 

Wellington College 1st XV while James moved to 

Rongotai College and to their 1st XV. (L-R): Tomasi Palu, William Helu, [Tonga] and Kane Thompson, James So’oialo [Manu Samoa] 

Au revoir, Neemia 

Neemia Tialata (1999-2000) has always had a 

lot more to him than just the ability to shunt 

other big men backwards at scrum time. 

Sport has been his meal ticket for the past 

eight years and the 28-year-old believes he has 

the ability to carry on for another decade if his 

body allows. But as his Hurricanes career ends 

it deserves to be remembered for more than just 

scrums, tackles and hit-ups. 

Few players have impressed more off the field 

than the affable giant. When Samoa was hit by 

a tsunami it was Neemia who designed and sold 

T-shirts to raise funds for the victims, with tens 

of thousands of dollars going back to the islands. 

Of the many other examples, perhaps the most 

endearing was when Christchurch was struck 

by February's devastating earthquake. As rugby 

folk ummed and ahhed over what to do, Neemia 

tweeted immediately to cancel the match against 

the Crusaders and focus on what really mattered – 

the victims. He then organised a charity basketball 

match that raised more than $30,000. 

Leaving his family behind was the toughest part 

of his decision to sign with French club Bayonne 

from next season. I'm at a stage of my life where 

I'm ready to move on and start my future with my 

partner [Sally] and further my career and get 

more experience, he said. I think I'll enjoy the 

French culture. I'm really looking forward to that 

and I know I'll grow more as a person as well. 


International Rugby Kudos 

Wellington College Old Boys in the 2010 Lions team at Albany Stadium with TV3 Presenter, John Campbell, 

after playing North Harbour 

(L-R): Reg Goodes, Neemia Tialata, Dane Coles, John Campbell, Nick Passi, Lima Sopoaga and in front, 

Buxton Popoali’i 

That has been a constant theme for the tighthead 

prop, who is looking forward to completing 

the final year of a degree in visual arts. I've 

always liked working with kids and teaching was 

always going to be there when I finish rugby – 

intermediate or secondary schools. I've always 

loved my art, so I have that to fall back on. I've 

been lucky I have built up a pretty big portfolio 

over the last eight or nine years, just doing bits 

and pieces for a lot of charities and my own stuff 

as well ... clothing, tattoos, all sorts of stuff. 

Neemia's rugby hasn't been all plain sailing. A 

few years back he was given an ultimatum by 

the All Blacks coaches at a time when the ELVs 

(experimental law variations) were reducing the 

game to a confused hybrid of touch and rugby 

league. It was more of a wakeup call for myself. 

I wouldn't say I was cruising, but I got a bit too 

comfortable and got a kick up the butt and got 

back into it. 

My partner plays a big role and my mum as 

well, but also the players – my good mates Ma'a 

[Nonu] and Piri [Weepu]. I still remember my talk 

with Ma'a at the time telling him how down I was 

and how I had let things slip and I'd let it get to 

me. He helped me through that. 

An ambassador for Arthritis New Zealand, 

Neemia says he has learned to manage his knees 

and hasn't had any pain for the past two years. 

An easy interview, Neemia hasn't always had an 

affinity with the media. He was an easy target for 

critics who labelled him too slow for the modern 

game. Some of it has been unfair. Pushing 130kg, 

Neemia was never going to be fleet-footed but has 

always fitted the job description of a tighthead 

prop. He showed during last year's ITM Cup that 

he was no spent force and earned an All Blacks 

call-up for the end-of-year tour. 

He should thrive in France, where tightheads play 

well into their 30s. I'm not going over there to 

retire, he says. 

Neemia grew up dreaming of being a Hurricane 

and rates the 2006 season in which the side 

reached the ill-fated ‘fog final’ as the highlight. 

But he says he'll cherish the friendships with 

fellow players, rather than the rugby memories. 

His final season with the Hurricanes will be 

remembered as much for what he did off the field 

as on it. 

Hurricanes debut: 2004, v Chiefs 

Wellington debut: 2003, v Otago 

All Black debut: 2005, v Wales (Tests: 43)

Buxton Popoali’i (2005-2009) was a star at 

Wellington College and for his Northern 

United Club but the fullback struggled to break 

into the Lions' NPC side and took his sidestep to 

Otago this year. It was just a decision I made for 

my footy, more game time in the ITM Cup and 

hopefully I can stand out more, he said. 

Buxton is living in Dunedin with schoolmates 

and fellow Otago squad members, TJ Ioane, 

Joe Hill, Titapu Pairama-Lewington and 

Hanipale Galo. Buxton is also an accomplished 

rugby sevens player, and appeared in two sevens 

tournaments for New Zealand in 2009. He was 

again on the New Zealand sevens squad in 2011. 

Speed and stepping, it suits a little fella like me, 

I'm not that big. I also want to aim for that black 

jersey [All Blacks] and I've got to start somewhere 

so hopefully this is the pathway. 

New Hurricane 

Jeffery Toomaga-Allen (2000-2004) is a 

gentle man and a handy set of monkey 

bars to the Thorndon School kids who 

hang off him, but it’s not why the Hurricanes 

are crowing about their big signing. At just 

20-years-old, the tighthead prop has been 

snapped up on a two-year contract with his 

home franchise and touted for a huge future 

in rugby. 

Is Jeff an All Black? was the question of 

the youngsters, who hung off their hero. 

Not yet, but whatever the future holds, it’s 

unlikely to affect Jeff’s popularity at the 

Wellington primary school where he works 

three days a week as an after-school carer. 

I’m studying education at the moment and 

looking to become a primary school teacher 

so it works out quite well with rugby, he 

said. We play games, that sort of stuff. 

There’s about 100 kids and eight of us. 

Jeff’s rise is a home-grown tale with the 

Porirua-raised kid heading to town at attend 

Wellington College, where he was in the 

same 1st XV as Highlanders 1st five, Lima 

Sopoaga. An U20 national representative 

last year, he was enticed to Marist St 

Pats and despite not having played for 

Wellington, has secured a Super Rugby 

contract. I’m keen to prove to myself at that 

level and if people back me I back myself... 

There’s a lot of pressure but pressure is just 

a challenge and challenge is good. 

I've only had two sevens tournaments, Dubai and 

South Africa in 2009. But I've played a lot with the 

It’s Blues for Hobbs 

Michael Hobbs has joined the Wellington exodus to the 

Blues after being overlooked for a Super Rugby contract 

with the Hurricanes. Michael, who can play first or second 

five-eighth, confirmed he had signed a two-year deal with the 

Blues, who he played for in 2009. The 23-year-old, who has 

recovered from a back injury to resume ITM Cup duty for the 

Lions this season, joins fellow Wellingtonians Piri Weepu and 

Ma'a Nonu in Auckland. There was nothing that turned me 

away from the Hurricanes. At the end of the day it wasn't an 

option, unfortunately, Michael said. 

No Looking Back 

Reg Goodes (2006-2009) attracted the 

attention of the Wellington selectors after a 

stellar performance for local club, Poneke 

to make the Wellington Lions 2011 team. 

Reg emigrated from South Africa in 2006, 

and spent three years in the Wellington College 1st XV 

and culminated his selection for the NZSS team which also 

included Lima Sopoaga. 

His desire now is to become a Hurricane and one day earn 

a trip back to his former home in Pretoria and play at the 

hallowed Loftus Versfeld. I've got a few mates playing for the 

Bulls in the Currie Cup, and I'll hopefully play against them 

one day. That's my big goal for the next few years, he said. 

Once, Reg might have spent a lot of time looking back over his 

shoulder towards the old country. But he's here to stay now. I've 

been living here almost six years, so I'm kind of building the 

accent and I feel like a true New Zealander. I'm a permanent 

resident but I'm also applying for my citizenship soon. 

Taking a Shine to Sevens 

Norths boys, mucking around and backyard footy. 

I'm learning off the experienced guys. 

Buxton's path to top-level rugby hasn't been 

straightforward - he had heart valve replacement 

surgery in 2006. I still check it, every six months, 

just to see how it is. I take medicine every month 

but it doesn't annoy me. It gives me an extra boost 

and keeps the germs away and the blood running 

through my body. 

Looking for more playing time, Buxton moved 

to Otago for the 2011 ITM Cup. He quickly 

established himself as a starter on the wing, and 

scored his first provincial try in a 32-25 victory 

over Auckland on 20 July. He finished the season 

as the province's leading try-scorer with 4, and 

was the only Otago player to start every match 

over the year. 

Blue’n’Gold Nugget 

Lima Sopoaga (2005-2009) is the oldest 

of four boys. His younger brother, 

Tupou (2006-2010), currently plays for 

the Bulldogs in the Toyota Cup. Playing 

for the College’s 1st XV, Lima won four 

local championships and captained the 

side in 2009. Sibling number three is Zek, 

who has just spent his second year with 

the 1st XV and still has another year at the 

College, and there’s still one more yet to 

start at Wellington College. 

Aged 19, Lima was selected for Wellington 

in the 2010 ITM Cup and made his debut 

against Manawatu. He quickly established 

himself as the squad’s starting number 

10 with a series of performances which 

belied his age. He finished the season 

with 88 points in nine appearances to help 

Wellington to reach the semi-finals of 

the competition, where he impressed by 

scoring 21 points although Wellington fell 

to eventual champions Canterbury. 

Lima followed his former Wellington 

coach Jamie Joseph south, signing with 

the Highlanders for 2011. Expected to 

back up Colin Slade, he ended up starting 

the opening game of the season against 

the Hurricanes with Slade injured, and 

responded in fine fashion by scoring a 

try and kicking two penalties in a 14-9 

victory. However, in his second start he 

suffered a shoulder injury which ruled 

him out until the late stages of the season. 




Scarfies Make NZ Universities Rugby Team 

The NZ Universities U21 side was created 

to develop a pathway for rugby playing 

students into the senior NZU team and further 

representative honours. 

The U21 team that toured the USA this year, were 

selected from the nine New Zealand University 

clubs. The three games were against the US 

Collegiate All-Americans, made up of the top 


(L-R): Luke Fiso, Ian Tulloch, Jesse Johnson 

A Quad of Wins 

It’s been a stellar year for 1st XV Coach, Chris Wells 

(1971-1975). Not only did his 1st XV win Quadrangular 

for the ninth successive year, but the team also took out 

the Wellington Secondary Schools’ Premier One Title. 

If 1st XV coaching didn’t take up all of Chris’ free time, 

he also managed to coach the Wellington U18 team who 

won the Hurricanes U18 title – for the fourth successive 

season – and with seven of our own 1st XV in the squad. 

Chris, who joined the teaching staff in 2000 has coached 

the 1st XV for eight years between 2000 and 2011 and 

has six Quad wins and four Premier One wins under his 

belt. He stepped down at the end of this season. 

Not content to let the grass grow between his feet out 

of the rugby season, Chris is head of the College’s new 

Sports Academy and Head of Athletics. 

rugby players at university in the USA. The 

games were held in San Diego, Santa Barbara 

and San Francisco over a two-week period. The 

USA provided strong opposition the NZU team; 

the USA team won the first game 60-17 in ‘tepid’ 

conditions of 35 degrees. The USA showed pace 

and an ability to score from turnovers. NZU 

created good scoring opportunities but converted 

only half of them; NZU’s undoing was the 

unforced errors. 

World Cup Champions 

The second game at Santa Barbara in the cooler 

climes of the Californian coast was a much 

closer affair; NZU leading at half time with 

some sound defending and strong attacking, 

showed how quickly the team had come together. 

Unfortunately it was all undone in the second half 

with a lapse in concentration for ten minutes, let 

the USA take the lead and shut out a close game 

21-11. Never to lie down, the NZU team rallied 

and felt the last game was for the taking. In the 

inspiring surroundings of Stanford University 

the team approached the game in true University 

rugby style, throwing caution to the wind and 

delivering a fantastic match where the lead 

changed three times and hung on the last play of 

the game, defending their line for 25 plus phases. 

NZU 23-20 USA. 

Jesse Johnson (2004-2008) and Luke Fiso 

(2003-2006) were some of the stand out players 

for the NZU team and will surely have a chance 

of making the NZU senior side in the near future. 

If you are intending to study at University make 

sure you connect with the affiliated rugby club. 

The people, style of game and camaraderie is akin 

to what you experience at Wellington College. 

Ian Tulloch, Coach (1984-1988) 

Congratulations to Solomona Sakalia (2005-2009) [second, bottom left] and Lima 

Sopoaga (2005-2009) [far bottom right] who were members of the New Zealand U20 

team that beat England in the World Champs in Italy, sealing a fourth consecutive crown 

for the Baby Blacks. 

Cricket at Wellington College (c 1930s)

The Best Prop ever... 

Born 24 June, 1938 last Test 

14 June, 1969 v Wales 

at Auckland 

Died 18 November, 1992 Tests 24 

Club Petone Games 26 

Province Wellington Total Points 27 (9 tries) 

All Black 

Debut 

23 October, 1963 v Oxford 

University at Oxford 

Ken Gray (1951-1954) gave even Colin Meads 

a run for his money in their era, writes David 

Leggat of The NZ Herald. The greatest All 

Black? Simple. Colin Meads, right? 

It is a general assumption that the King Country 

farmer was the finest of all men in black. But 

there are those of his generation who reckon Ken 

Gray's ability and contribution meant he gave the 

legendary ‘Piney’ a run for his money over the 

period they were the rocks of the All Black pack. 

He was the equal, at least, of Meads, former All 

Black back Grahame Thorne said. He was the best 

forward I ever played with. 

Meads is invariably held up as the epitome of the 

ruggedly powerful, irresistibly dominant All Black 

footballer. But whenever Ken's name is mentioned, 

contemporaries talk with a degree of reverence of 

an immensely powerful, uncompromising prop, 

who departed the game in curious circumstances. 

Ken, even at 31, would have been a cornerstone in 

the All Blacks' campaign to win in South Africa 

for the first time in 1970. 

But Ken opted not to tour in protest at the political 

situation in the republic. The selectors tried 

repeatedly to persuade him to change his mind. 

He didn't, and that was the end of a great career, 

which had begun on the tour of Britain, Ireland 

and France in 1963-64. 

The Wellingtonian, who never made the 1st XV 

at Wellington College, played his early serious 

rugby as a lock before moving one row forward 

in 1961. His debut came at Dublin against Ireland 

in 1963 and the only tests he missed until 1969 

were through injury. He played 24 tests, missing 

four only in 1967-1968. 

Standing 1.87m and weighing around 101kg, 

Ken combined formidable strength with superb 

All Black No. 636 

technique. Those qualities, combined with a 

reputation as a player against whom it was unwise 

to take liberties, helped ensure ‘Hoodeyes’ was 

unchallenged by no opponent. 

As the All Blacks steamrolled their way through 

one of their greatest periods - 1965-1969 - Ken 

was a key player. With hooker Bruce McLeod and 

fellow prop Jack Hazlett, he anchored the scrum 

in an unchanging eight through the four tests 

against the Lions of 1966. 

Ken was surprisingly mobile and, as teammate 

Waka Nathan recalled, as a No 2 in the lineout 

there wasn't anyone else up to his standard in the 

country. But it was more than that. His handling 

and short bursts were spot on and he never 

stepped back, Nathan said. He and Pinetree were 

two of the toughest guys around at the time. 

During his time in the All Blacks, other props came 

and went - Sir Wilson Whineray, his first captain, 

Barry Thomas, Hazlett, Alistair Hopkinson, Brian 

Muller - and Ken swapped sides as needed. 

At representative level, Ken led Wellington 

to wins over South Africa and the Lions in 

successive years, but twice was in charge of 

unsuccessful Ranfurly Shield challenges, a source 

of deep personal regret. 

After his rugby days, Gray became prominent in 

local body politics in the Hutt Valley and Porirua 

and had been confirmed as the Labour candidate 

for Western Hutt in the 1993 national election. In 

1992 he died suddenly of a heart attack. 

A great forward, wrote TP McLean. Durable, 

vigorous, relentless, pursuing and supremely 

intelligent. 

NZ Herald 

Cricket 1st XI returns 

to School Competition 

The Wellington College 1st XI is returning 

to the College Cricket competition after a 

ten-year absence. The change was one of 

the recommendations to come out of Cricket 

Wellington's club cricket review this year. 

Wellington College has played in the Men's 

grades since October 2001 and spent two years 

in the Premier Men's competition, in the Hazlett 

Cup. They were relegated from Hazlett last year 

but at the end of summer, they were near the top 

of the Senior 2 men's grade. 

Their return to the College competition will 

strengthen the Premier 1 grade and should be 

welcomed by the other schools, which in the past 

decade have only been able to test themselves 

against Wellington College if they met in the 

Gillette Cup playoffs. 

Wellington College will now be the team to beat 

in Premier 1 – which from this summer will be 

known as the Premier Youth grade. Next term 

they play Hutt International in the Wellington 

final of the 2011 Gillette Cup competition. 

However, Wellington College has not made the 

Gillette Cup national finals since 2008, with HIBS 

winning the Wellington playoffs last year and St 

Pat's Silverstream being successful in 2009. 

Robbie Kerr, (1979-1984) director for Cricket 

Wellington and a former coach of the Wellington 

College 1st XI, said their return would be 

fantastic for the College Premier competition. Not 

having Wellington College in the competition has 

detracted from it and we do see it as a good result, 

Robbie said. The aim was to raise the standard of 

the Premier College competition to a level similar 

to the Senior 2 Men’s grade. 

Graeme Sugden, the President of the Wellington 

College Cricket Club, said he was disappointed 

that the 1st XI had to stop playing Senior 2. We 

would have liked to have stayed where we were 

but we can see both sides of the arguments and 

hopefully it will help the school competition. 

The return of Wellington College means that the 

Premier Youth grade will be expanded to eight 

teams this summer, with either Paraparaumu or St 

Patrick's (Town) being promoted from Premier 2. 

St Pat's will be promoted if they beat the HIBS 

2nd XI in a match scheduled for Labour weekend, 

while Paraparaumu will gain the last spot if St 

Pat's lose against HIBS or if the game is drawn 

or washed out. 

The eight-team Premier competition will begin on 

29 October and for the Fourth Term will comprise 

seven rounds of one-day matches. The top two 

teams will meet in a final, while the bottom two 

will compete with the top two from the second 

division for the right to remain in the grade. 




Hard Work Pays off 

No more chasing rubbish 

trucks or digging drains for 

Joe Austin-Smellie (2003- 

2007). Instead, the Wellington 

College product can now ink 

his occupation as 'professional 

cricketer' and knuckle down 

towards his long-term goal of 

becoming a New Zealand test 

wicketkeeper. 

The 20-year-old snared his first 

Cricket Wellington contract 

last year. He wasn't hugely 

confident, and felt he had just 

an outside chance of nailing 

his career goal he had set 

since leaving school. The last couple of years I 

really focused on playing cricket. I haven't really 

thought too much about other careers, he said. 

I worked a lot of different jobs: running behind 

rubbish trucks, a teacher's aide, landscaping, 

labouring - all sorts of things. 

Joe was the headline act of the province's ten 

contracted players, largely because he got the 

wicketkeeping slot ahead of veteran former 

international Chris Nevin. While it was a tough 

call on a loyal Wellington stalwart, those at Basin 

Reserve headquarters felt Joe's cricketing talents 

couldn't be ignored. 

Everyone from chief executive Gavin Larsen, to 

Wellington Firebirds coach Anthony Stuart, to 

high performance coach Shane Deitz will tell you 

Marc Ellis as a Cricketer 

In March, a Twenty20 

Earthquake Relief Cricket 

Match at the Basin raised 

$500,000 for Christchurch. 

Well done to all those involved 

in organising the match. A full 

report was posted on Cricket 

Wellington’s website. 

I was interested to see All Black 

Marc Ellis back on the cricket 

field. When I was at Wellington 

College, he was captain of our 

1st XI (1989-1990), a team that in those years 

was coached by former Wellington player Wilf 

Haskell and also included future Wellington allrounder 

Stephen Mather and future All Whites 

midfielder Simon Elliott who impressed at last 

year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa. 

Marc Ellis was first coached by his father and 

cricket lover Chris Ellis (who played for Kilbirnie 

Cricket Club and who gave Marc the cricket 

initials ‘MCG’ Ellis). Marc was a schoolboy allrounder, 

could bat and bowl and also kept wickets. 

Aged ten, he played for a local Hutt Valley rep side 

at Wellesley College in Eastbourne. He was also 

an U18 Wellington rep. I was looking through my 

old copies of The Wellingtonian. There’s mention 

of Ellis as a wicket-keeper batsman in the 1988 


how good the youngster is, with 

bat and with gloves. 

Dunedin-born Joe made his 

first-class debut in 2009 against 

Northern Districts in Hamilton, 

amid an injury crisis. He was 

dismissed for three by test 

paceman Tim Southee, then 

returned in the second innings 

to bat 4 1/2 hours for 97 

before falling lbw to another 

international quick, Brent 

Arnel. After three first-class 

matches, his batting average is 

a handy 40.50 and he has snared 

five catches. 

Deitz, his mentor and a former South Australian 

wicketkeeper, said: He's ready to go and he's 

done the job in first-class cricket. He can only 

improve on what a good start he's already had. 

Everything about the way he trains and his 

attitude, it makes him very easy to coach. He ticks 

all the boxes. 

Joe is a naturally gifted player, and in Deitz's 

words, a dynamic gloveman in the Brendon 

McCullum mould. 

He took up the gloves when he was ten, when 

his idol across the Tasman was at the peak of his 

powers. When I was young, I guess every young 

keeper looked up to Adam Gilchrist. I haven't 

really modelled my game on him but he's a guy I 

season highlights: ‘M. Ellis 73 

v Hastings’ and a partnership 

of ‘107 between Ellis (68) and 

Stephen Mather (49) v New 

Plymough Boys’ High School’. 

In the traditional fixture against 

Wanganui Collegiate, Ellis 

blazed 49 in the First Innings. 

Against Hastings, Ellis batted 

‘intelligently and with great flair’ 

in a fifth wicket partnership of 

127 with Brian Watson. 

The captain’s report by Alex Blades reads: The 

1st XI of 1988 was an impressive side. The team’s 

strength lay in its depth and diversity of talent: 

the batting line-up was strong and dependable, 

the bowling attack versatile and consistent while 

fielding was generally steady without being 

exceptional. Of its nineteen matches, the Eleven 

was unbeaten in all but two. 

I gather from Ellis’s biography Crossing 

the Line that he played some club 

cricket after Wellington College but 

then gave up the game for rugby. He 

continued to play in the Auckland 

Business House cricket competition 

after retirement from rugby league 

and rugby. Ellis states: Of all the 

really looked up to. I'm a bit more traditional with 

the bat, he said with a chuckle. 

Joe played rugby on the wing for the Wellington 

College 1st XV but the decision on which sport 

to choose was a no-brainer. I was just better at 

cricket. It was always No1. 

He credited his father, Mike Smellie, as a huge 

career influence; always obliging his requests for 

throws at the park as a youngster. There is also 

a future pathway to England for winter playing 

stints with the help of a British passport via his 

mother, Claire Austin. 

Now the hard work begins. Austin-Smellie doesn't 

own a car – maybe next year – so has to catch the 

train to Mana for pre-season training, or rely on a 

mate for a lift. 

His first goal was to make the eleven for 

Wellington's first Plunket Shield match, then 

prove himself in all three formats this summer. 

I see myself making a contribution in Twenty20 

but I can't count my chickens. It's exciting, but for 

me the dream is test cricket. Twenty20 is fun and 

it's exciting and everything is over in three hours. 

But the longer form of the game is the big goal 

for me. 

Along with Joe, three other Old Boys have 

contracts for the 2011/2012 Firebird’s season 

including Harry Boam, Josh Brodie and James 

Franklin. 

games I’ve ever played in my life, cricket is my 

favourite...I still play cricket now and I just love 

spending a whole day in the sun with my mates, 

having a laugh. Ellis showed something of his 

batting ability in the earthquake charity Twenty20 

making a useful 25 not out off 11 balls, including 

two fours and two sixes. His bowling was less 

successful with 41 runs taken from his two overs. 

That same year of Ellis’s cricket successes, 1988, 

the Wellington College Cricket Pavilion was 

opened at 10.30am on 15 October by the then 

Governor-General of New Zealand Sir Paul 

Reeves. Those at the ceremony included former 

New Zealand batsman Johnny Beck who played 

against South Africa with Sutcliffe and Blair in 

the famous Second Test at the rugby ground Ellis 

Park, 1953/54 season. Sir Paul and John were 

teammates in the Wellington College 1st XI of 

the late 1940s. 

Mark Pirie (1987-1991) 

(Sources: Wellingtonian 1988, 

Wellingtonian 1990; Marc Ellis: Crossing 

the Line, with Kirsten Matthew (Hodder 

Moa, Auckland, 2006) and Cricket 

Wellington’s website)

Students of the Wartime Evacuation 

Back: D Salkeld, ESD Forbes, JL King, AH MacLeod, JN Weston, BN Simpson 

Front: L Bor, D Mawson, ACD Forbes, K Stuart Wellingtonian, 1940 

Millions of British city children were evacuated 

to safer places during the second world war. 

Some hated living away from their families 

– others didn’t want to go home again. 

In 1940, Wellington College played host to at least 

ten boys evacuated to New Zealand from war-time 

Britain. It all began in June 1940, after Dunkirk, 

when Britain stood alone against the might of 

Hitler and his armies. It seemed inevitable that 

Britain would be bombed and invaded. 

Such a grim possibility encouraged the Dominion 

Governments of Canada, Australia, South Africa 

and New Zealand to offer to look after children 

from Britain for the duration of the war. In response 

to this generous offer, although not without 

controversy, the Children’s Overseas Reception 

Board (CORB) was set up. It arranged for children 

aged from 5 - 15 to be evacuated. No parents or 

relatives were allowed to accompany the children 

but volunteers (mostly school teachers) served as 

escorts, one for every 15 children. 

Meanwhile, back in New Zealand, a committee 

was formed in Wellington to find suitable families 

willing, as part of the war effort, to adopt the 

evacuees for the duration of the war. 

The first shipload of 89 evacuees arrived in 

Wellington on 27 September, 1940 on board the 

Ruahine. They were all from Scotland and were 

given a warm welcome by the Prime Minister, 

(Peter Fraser) and other officials and later, were 

introduced to the families who had volunteered to 

care for them. A week later the Rangitata arrived 

with 113 English children who were also given a 

warm welcome. 

While the two ships were nearing New Zealand, 

tragic news arrived that the ‘City of Benares’, 

a ship with evacuees going to Canada had been 

torpedoed in the Atlantic and 77 children lost their 

lives. Such was the U-boat menace at this time, 

that the CORB scheme was abandoned and no 

more evacuees were sent abroad. Altogether 1532 

children went to Canada, 577 to Australia, 355 to 

South Africa and 202 to New Zealand. 

Four of the evacuees attended Wellington College 

from October 1940. They were Andrew and 

Spencer Forbes and myself from Scotland and 

David Salkeld from England. The evacuees were 

given a warm welcome at the College and quickly 

settled into College life. 

Both David and Andrew were in the College 

Orchestra while I played College Rugby and 

Cricket, and was in one of the finals of the College 

Boxing Tournament. I recall that in August 1942 

in my final year at College, I was commanded 

to come before a court set up by the Senior 

Debating Society to raise cash for the Patriotic 

Fund. A formally prepared summons accused me 

of importing into New Zealand a Scottish accent 

without the express permission of His Majesty's 

Customs <strong>Office</strong>rs. 

After a hilarious ‘trial’, I was fined sixpence and 

discharged. The evacuees remember Wellington 

College with gratitude and appreciation and will 

always be thankful for the way New Zealanders 

provided a home away from home during the war 

years. 

At the end of WWII, I returned to Scotland with 

the other evacuees and in due course, graduated 

from Edinburgh University with a MA and BD 

and a MLitt from Durham University. I returned 

to New Zealand in 1958 as a Church Extension 

Organiser for the Baptist Union of New Zealand. 

In 1962, I became a Minister of the Oxford terrace 

Baptist Church in Christchurch and then general 

Secretary of the National Council Churches in 

New Zealand. 

Angus MacLeod, Auckland (1940-1942) 

amacleod@clear.net.nz 

Barracks’ Week 

I 

came across this photograph which I thought 

would be of interest. The photograph was 

taken by Jack Short, the Evening Post Head 

Photographer, at the final parade of Barracks 

Week, during February 1955. 

Cadets was a compulsory school activity, and 

1955, being only a few years after the end of the 

Second World War, Army activities were still 

taken seriously by all concerned. 

At this parade it was traditional for the students 

to take over control of the Cadet Battalion, and 

although the Masters were present and in uniform, 

they took an observer role. In addition there was 

usually an army dignitary who would inspect the 

Parade and take the salute at the dais in front of 

the Assembly Hall of the main school. On this 

occasion it was the highly decorated and greatly 

respected New Zealand Army Corp <strong>Office</strong>r, 

Brigadier Alan Andrews. 

With the main ground being renovated for the 

Quadrangular Tournament later in the year, 

the final parade was held on the number three 

ground, which was an ideal space for the six army 

companies of four platoons each, an ATC (Air 

Training Corp) company and a Naval company. 

Major EMP (Eric or Fane to the students) Flaws 

was the Battalion Commander and Frank Crist, 

Wing Commander of the ATC. I have a feeling 

that the Navy unit was under the direction of a 

Naval <strong>Office</strong>r from Navy HQ. 

In this photograph below, the three senior under 

officers from left to right are myself, Alan Lockie 

and Trevor Bringans. The Naval <strong>Office</strong>r is Don 

Stewart. (It’s good to see everyone in step). 

Of further interest in this photograph is the Old 

Boys’ Pavilion in the background and the fence 

surrounding the Bell Baths. Both have since been 

demolished. 

Warwick Bringans (1951-1955) 

wbringans@xtra.co.nz 


your Letters

your Letters 

Fond Memories of 

Eric Flaws 

E 

(Eric)MP Flaws taught me English both in 

the eleventh year and thirteenth year in 1955 

and 1957. He was Head Prefect of Wellington 

College in 1939 and had gone on to the 1940-45 

war where he had come back as a Major in the 

New Zealand Army. He was commonly known as 

Fanny (or was it Fane, as I later found to be a 

family name) or sometimes Butch. 

He was one of the best teachers that I had at 

Wellington College over my time there. A man not 

to suffer fools gladly, but a deep understanding 

of how to motivate most boys. He was at times 

demanding but fair, and took a joke on himself, if 

it was a good one. His style of teaching was not 

orthodox, but very successful. 

Once he came in on a Monday morning 

complaining of the quality of the referee his 

favourite 2A rugby team that he coached, had 

had on Saturday and consequently suffered a loss. 

After several minutes about what was wrong, he 

made the comment that that he was not blind. To 

which Hugh Williams, now Sir Hugh replied, No 

Sir definitely not, just a little one eyed. Fanny 

gave him a baleful stare but went to his desk and 

began lessons for the day. 

Another time he was giving me a dressing down 

and finished with the shot, As for you, you don’t 

even have to shave every day. My voice headed 

off my mind with the reply, I bet there are many 

times when you are in a hurry, and wished you 

didn’t have to too Sir. I waited with bated breath, 

but a quiet grin was the result on his way back to 

his desk. 

We of course tried to get him to talk about his time 

at the war. It would take up some teaching time 

and be interesting. He usually declined, but one 

day he told us of a little of his time in the Pacific 

Islands. The main drive had gone through and left 

a number of the smaller Islands still occupied by 

the Japanese. They were aware if they left them 

alone they could end up as a problem. To remedy 

this, small groups were sent in by submarine to 

keep them unsettled. 

They would leave the submarine in a small boat 

and quietly land on a suitably situated beach. 

After their job was done they would rendezvous 

with the submarine again and depart. The small 

group consisted of Fijian solders with Eric in 

charge. He made the comment that he was just a 


boy amongst men at this job. 

They would establish where the sentries were, 

often by their smoking. One would silently creep 

up on the unsuspecting sentry and dispatch him 

with an arm around his neck and then snapping 

it. Eric said they moved in absolute silence and 

even a few metres away there was no sound. 

The sentries dispatched, they had two favourite 

methods to stir things up. One was to carefully 

enter the tents where the Japanese slept in threes 

for safety and knife the middle one and take off, 

the other was to set trip wires between the tents 

attached to explosives. Once the trip wires were 

set they would then proceed to the canteen and 

make one hell of a row with the pots and pans. As 

the explosions were going off they would quickly 

retreat back to the boat. 

However one night the submarine was unable to 

rendezvous and they spent a very uncomfortable 

twenty four hours trying to avoid the Japanese 

that were running around like angry hornets. All 

of them carried some form of injury of sort and he 

displayed a scarred web between his thumb and 

forefinger when asked where he had been shot. 

This was the only time in my memory that 

he referred directly to the war. All of us were 

mesmerised by the descriptions and never once 

did we ever think he had delivered a tall tale. 

For one thing it didn’t fit in with Eric’s nature 

or perhaps he thought he would settle a few old 

scores all at one time. I don’t think so. 

Kahu Pattison (1953-1957) 

kahuitara@clear.net.nz 

Sporting Genes 

As is evident in many New Zealand sports 

the talents of one generation seem to follow 

through to later generations of the family. 

Here are two examples which will interest Old 

Boys who attended College in the early 1940s. 

Kane Williamson - a current New Zealand Black 

Caps cricketer is a grandson of the late Stuart 

Williamson (1941-1943) [D: 1994]who was an 

accomplished sportsman at the College in the 

early 1940’s. 

Kane played cricket for Bay of Plenty seniors 

at the age of 15 years, and fulfilled his potential 

in that sport becoming a Black Cap at age 20, 

scoring a century in his first Test Match. He 

attended Tauranga Boys’ College and in his last 

year, 2008, was Head Boy. 

Contemporaries will remember that his 

grandfather, the late Stuart, played in the 1st 

Cricket XI in 1942 and 1943, 1st Hockey XI in 

1941 and 1942, making a successful switch of 

codes in 1943 to become a member of the 1st 

XV that year. He also performed well in Tennis 

and Boxing championships in 1941 - 1943. After 

leaving school, Stuart played Hawke Cup Cricket. 

James O’Connor - this young Wallaby Rugby 

star is a grand-nephew of Ray O’Connor (1942- 

1946) who played Cricket with Stuart Williamson 

- 1st Cricket XI in 1943. James, who was born 

on the Gold Coast, Queensland, first played 

Rugby League and Union in South Auckland at 

a very early age. He attended Nudgee College, 

in Brisbane. He soon appeared in Australian 

National Schoolboy Rugby teams. James is now 

a regular member of Australian Rugby teams 

and plays Super 15 for ‘Western Force’. His 

grandfather, Maurice, Ray’s brother, played 

Rugby in Wellington before and after WWII. 

As well as his prowess in Cricket and Hockey – 

both 1st XIs 1943 – 46, Ray O’Connor won the EO 

Hales Prize for All-Round Sport in 1946, having 

also been successful in boxing during his time at 

College. Ray went on to represent Wellington, 

Auckland and Canterbury provinces, and the 

South Island at Hockey. He also represented NZ 

Universities at Cricket and Hockey. Ray now 

lives in retirement in Sydney’s suburb of St. Ives. 

Sources: ‘Wellingtonians’ 1941 – 46, Rugby CV’s 

on the Internet, R O’Connor & O. Nixon. 

Gerald Aburn (1941-1945) 

gerald.aburn@xtra.co.nz 

Name the Photos 

I 

have just returned from many weeks around 

England, Europe and USA and have finally got 

around to opening up this year’s Lampstand 

[a really wonderful production]. I notice that 

on pages 9 and 70 you are asking for photo 

recognition and I certainly can help with some 

but of course you may already have received the 

answers by now. Anyway here goes. 

Page 9.....laughing boy on the left [half face] 

is the late Jack O`Brien. Boyd Gardiner is in 

the centre facing camera and K.G. Stewart on 

extreme right. I really should know the others too 

but at this stage can`t put names to faces without 

seeing the team sheet. If you have a list it might 

help me further if you need more. 

Page 70...the first three boys standing at bottom 

right are all old Karori boys...Olstan Whitehead 

[front], Max Lusty [middle] and Bruce Porter. 

The one standing directly above the girls heads 

could very likely be me but I can’t be 100% sure. 

Barry Hornblow (1943-47) 

barryaich@xtra.co.nz 

Truancy Pays Off 

I 

thought you may be interested in an incident that 

happened to me back in my time at Wellington 

College and would probably not happen today. 

While I was a student, I had a job in the winter 

months at Athletic Park selling rugby programmes 

on Saturday afternoons. 

During one winter, there was a mid-week game 

where we were obliged to sell the programmes. I 

think it was a Springbok game. Along with two 

others from the College, we took the day off from 

school without permission. 

The following day, we returned to school with the

‘required’ note to explain our absence of being 

away ill. 

Unfortunately we were all seen and thus reported 

to the school. The following morning at assembly, 

we were summoned to the Headmaster’s office 

where Mr Heron suspended us for three days. It 

had mentioned in the following day’s newspaper 

that three boys from Wellington College had 

played truancy to sell programmes but our actual 

names were not mentioned. For the record, I 

made £10 which in those days would have been 

equal to an average man’s weekly wage – well 

worth it. 

Vass Coory (1953-1956) 

Bonjour 

Receiving a list of the Firth House and 1966 

reunion lists allowed me to recognise many, 

many names, faces and personalities and all 

the things we used to get up to, as though it all 

just happened yesterday. Indeed, I only have the 

most delightful memories of those years I spent 

at Wellington College and wouldn’t have traded 

them for anything. 

Since many of my former Old Boy friends sent 

me their best wishes on the occasion of the recent 

reunions via my brother (Charles) who attended 

the Firth House Reunion, it may be of interest to 

many of them to hear from me as it indeed is for 

me to hear from them. 

Having lived out of New Zealand for since 1971, 

I qualified as a NZ Chartered Accountant and 

have worked, travelled and lived in the United 

States, England, Vanuatu, a number of African 

countries and France – where I now reside with 

dual nationality. I am bilingual in English/French. 

I am also a qualified practitioner of Traditional 

Chinese Acupuncture having achieved a Diploma 

in Chinese Acupuncture (UK, France) in 1988 

and have worked in that capacity in Africa in 

conjunction with my Chartered Accountancy 

assignments and continue to do so in Pontarlier, 

France where I live with my French wife. 

Please convey my warm wishes to all those who 

may remember me from 1962-1966. Who knows, 

perhaps one day I just may be able to make it back 

for a future reunion. 

As an aside, on page 69 of the 2010 Lampstand, 

Bob Balchin wrote in respect of EO Hall 

(deceased). Eric Hall is in fact my uncle, and it 

may be of interest to some readers, especially 

Bob, to obtain further information on this subject. 

Chris Taylor (1962-1966) 

chris500taylor@aol.fr 

Nick Hill (1963-1967), with the approval 

of Trevor Mackay (1954-1957) sent us 

a copy of Trevor’s book One Man’s 

View – the reflections of 

a Nomadic Journalist. 

Trevor is the great-grandson of 

Headmaster, Joseph Mackay. Joseph 

was one of the makers of Wellington 

College as Headmaster for ten years from 

1881. He has sailed from Aberdeen to 

Australia in 1865, then to New Zealand 

to teach Maths at Nelson College. Two 

years after his arrival in Wellington, he 

appointed his protégé from Nelson, JP 

Firth, to the College staff. 

His great-grandson, Trevor Mackay, 

was no such scholar but became an 

accomplished sports reporter, who two 

years ago, published One Man’s View as 

a fund-raiser for the Wanganui Cancer 

Society. Below, we have reproduced 

Trevor’s chapter on his time at 

Wellington College 

If breeding counts for anything - 

and racehorse breeders say it does, I 

should have been Dux of Wellington College. 

For my great-grandfather was a long-serving 

Headmaster at the school. 

In truth, I failed miserably as a scholar and 

could not wait to leave the establishment. I was 

overawed from day one, perhaps because I was 

one of the smaller boys in a large congregation. 

My interests were sport, sport and more sport 

and, to a slight extent, girls. On the first day of 

my attendance, a fellow called Mr McAloon 

(called, uncharitably ‘Loony Mac’ by the boys, 

but not within hearing distance of him), who was 

then Deputy Principal, announced at an assembly 

that a great grandson of a former Headmaster 

was in the audience. I remember being extremely 

embarrassed. There were to be no favours for the 

relative of the former principal. A teacher named 

Bernie Paetz ensured that I was the first boy 

strapped in the class. The offence, from memory, 

was ‘talking’. Mates tell me I haven't changed. 

Our third form master was Mr Haig, who 

apparently suffered from a disorder from the war. 

He reacted badly to the sounds of bombs about 

to drop. The genteel lads at Wellington College 

imitated the sounds at certain moments and drove 

him away. 

Bullying among the boys, rather than boys acting 

insufferably toward vulnerable teachers, came 

in the form of students given rank over others in 

military training sessions at school. Half-witted 

upper fifth formers took the opportunity to drill 

their ‘soldiers’ after the sessions were supposedly 

over and during the students’ morning break. 

Teachers had access to canes and straps and to 

the awarding of detention – Room Nine, boy and 

Prefects were able to impose detention, too Room 

13, boy. 

One Man’s View 

I recall wanting to discuss the merits 

of an All Black team with my mates, 

and wishing to do this in relative 

privacy. So we quietly went to the 

College's top ground, away from 

the masses, but seems this was not 

allowed at lunchtime. A zealous 

Prefect followed us and it was Room 

13, boys. You could do a lot of things 

on the top ground, but they did not 

include eating lunch away from the 

hordes. 

The one joy of being in the Army A 

company at Wellington College - I was 

not officer material, you understand, 

although my grandfather was an 

army career officer and my father 

was the physical training instructor 

for the Maori Battalion - was that my 

marching companion was Ian Uttley, 

later to be a gifted All Black centre. You 

could talk sport and have a joke with Ian, 

who seemed to have, invariably, a happy 

disposition. As a rugby player, and one 

who exhibited his skills at an early age, 

he was a glider as a runner. Opponents 

seemingly had him covered, to make a tackle, 

only to find they were clutching mid-air. 

College days were interesting, too, because 

Wellington Cricket Captain Trevor Barber was a 

neighbour and he helped develop my enthusiasm 

for cricket. I once got some crucial runs in an 

inter-form match because I had special armour 

for my groin. Mr Barber kindly lent me his steel 

groin protector. I was fearless that day. My fellow 

players had to protect their parts with Len Hutton 

plastics – imagine fragments of plastic imbedded 

in the wrong place - but I was the man of steel! 

But I was less than that on the College rifle range, 

despite having family with a military background. 

Our squad had to, on the double, place their paper 

target on the target board and then race back, 

gather their rifles, and, with everyone in a firing 

position, Fire, fire off shots at their respective 

paper targets. I led off, carrying a paper target 

across the range to the target board, but it was a 

windy day. Commands were being shouted and 

had to be obeyed. I had time to insert perhaps 

one, instead of four, drawing pins to secure the 

target. I may have got two of four scheduled shots 

away, with the target flapping in the wind, when 

we were ordered to stop. 

The best days at College were when the 1st XV 

played. Half a day off and it was a delight to 

attend games. Wellington College had some good 

teams in my years there, the centre Bill Fleming, 

a Junior All Black and Wellington representative, 

being one of the stand-out performers. 

Another game was trying to board a packed 

tramcar simultaneously with hundreds of others 

straight after school. When boarding, you 

grabbed hold of a bar and hung on, hoping to be 

swept irresistibly aboard by the multitude surging 

behind. Rugby’s maul might have been invented 


your Letters

your Letters 

by a coach seeking to catch a tram and seeing how 

Wellington College boys did it in the 1950s. The 

idea was to get on the tram so that the 3.58pm 

train to Johnsonville could be caught. You would 

possibly see the Tech girls. The sane alternative 

was to walk a few blocks, on leaving the school, 

and catch a half-empty tram at Courtenay Place. 

The St Patrick's College boys fared badly in the 

tram-boarding stakes, being one stop down the 

track after the Wellington College boys’ main 

point of entrance. I’m ashamed to say that I was 

a small and silent witness when, in some cases, 

St Pat's boys who tried to board were pushed 

off. In another tram saga, a Tech student kindly 

took my cap and threw it on to another track. I 

disembarked quickly but before I could gather it, 

a tram, travelling in the opposite direction, ran 

over it. Tech paid for my new cap - and we beat 

that school at rugby with our 2nd XV. 

Having started in the midstream of students at 

College, in Form 3B, I graduated to 4B, no longer 

being hoisted from behind by my trousers at 

school assembly and apparently standing for what 

seemed an age when everybody else was sitting 

down. Nor was my friend Bruce Heather using 

me as often to demonstrate to classmates how to 

apply professional wrestling’s aeroplane spin just 

before classes resumed after lunch. 

Life was becoming agreeable, with a Springbok 

tour imminent and rock ’n’ roll coming into vogue. 

But in 1956 I had new classmates. I was one of a 

few demoted to an apparently lower form. There 

was no warning. Class rolls were read at assembly 

and former classmates departed without me. The 

Springboks kept me fully occupied in my School 

Certificate year. Why study if you could follow 

the progress of teams in that epic rugby year? 

Fortunately, my form master in 1956 was Frank 

Crist, good enough to play rugby for Wellington 

as a tight forward, and the celebrated coach of the 

College’s 1st XV. 

Frank was a hard but fair man. He knew my father 

and shared our interest in sport. So he overlooked 

my pitiful efforts in Science and Maths. At one 

unforgettable Maths class, New Zealand was 

heading for its first cricket test win, at Eden 

Park, against the West Indies. Frank, bless him, 

put the radio on for the cricket commentary and 

chalked the scoreboard on to the blackboard. We 

were doing Maths of a kind, counting runs and 

wickets. But Frank was not a fellow to be trifled 

with. Students who fell afoul of him felt the 

power of his arm in The Valley of Death to which 

he had invited them. They never wanted a second 

helping. 

My unfortunately modest cricket skills restricted 

me to Saturday morning cricket only at 

Wellington College (apart from special games 

played immediately after school). I captained my 

form team and was keen enough to bat and field 

with a broken arm on one occasion. I got a ball 

on leg stump and there was applause from team 

mates when I hit it for four. The pain in the arm, 

which I brought into play, was excruciating. 

Because of my limited sporting skills I decided 

an early retirement as a rugby player was in 


everybody’s interests. 

At 14 years of age, in 1955, I became a copy 

boy for Wellington's Sports Post, which was 

published on Saturday nights. My job was to go to 

various grounds to assist the kindly, erudite, Ben 

O’Conner who, apart from being an accomplished 

journalist, was a good tennis player. But my role 

as a copy boy was related to Ben’s Saturday winter 

role as the Sports Post's rugby league reporter. 

Ben would write up the early game, usually at 

Anderson Park, and I would take his copy, as fast 

as possible to the Post sub-editors in Willis St (no 

mobile phones in those days). You’d have thought 

I was carrying the crown jewels. Speed was the 

essence without dropping Ben’s copy. There was 

a downhill run to the Cenotaph and then it was 

full throttle up Willis Street. 

I developed a healthy respect for rugby league 

and its players in the mid and late 50s. Wellington 

had some good players in my teenage years, St 

George’s Johnny Dodd among them. 

But 1956 was principally the year we beat the 

Springboks and the year in which we recorded 

our first test cricket win. School Certificate was 

a non-event by comparison and it was certainly 

that for me. As an example, for the maths exam, I 

at least read the paper before going to the movies. 

The year 1956 was the year two of the Springboks 

came to Wellington College, spoke at assembly, 

and indicated they would ask a question. I had a 

fleeting moment where I thought I might be able 

to answer. I had studied Wisden Cricket Almanacs 

and New Zealand Rugby Almanacs and they had 

been my homework for some years. The question, 

when it came, was political: Who is the Minister 

in South Africa for... What a let-down. Not a 

question about sport. A swot got the right answer. 

Damn the Boks. Hope they lose the next test. 

Oh, yes, my upper fifth year. It was going nowhere 

in particular so, at 16, I put College days behind 

me, had a holiday in Auckland, and joined the 

New Zealand Government Tourist Department. 

Thomas Paul 

I 

came across The Lampstand and the article 

about Thomas K Paul while researching a 

cousin of my late father. My father’s cousin was 

Jack O’Callaghan the rear gunner on Wellington 

Z8793 on 1st January 1944. I have also made 

brief contact with a chap whose grandfather was a 

cousin of Thomas K Paul. The true story of Violet 

and Tom was again deeply moving. 

I’m not sure if I can add anything more to the 

information you already have, as the little I have 

is mainly about Jack and his time in the RNZAF. I 

only have one picture of Jack taken in 1934 which 

I’m very happy to share 

Kate Tame, kktame@sky.com 

Gidday 

Happy New Year to you. I hope you are enjoying 

the lull at school before 2011 gets into full 

swing. 

First off, thanks for including my article in the 

Lampstand last year. My parents and old school 

mates really enjoyed it and it is something to be 

proud of. It made my day when Roger Moses sent 

an email giving me a pat on the back for how far I 

have come. The next leap in my career is tackling 

a Masters of Engineering at the University of New 

South Wales in March - looking forward to that! 

Paul Wrigley (1997-2001) 

paul.wrigley@gmail.com 

Photo Identities 

Thanks very much for the latest magazine. With 

regard to the picture on page 9 Wellington 

College vs St Patrick’s (Town), Athletic Park 

1947. Half Time - and you ask ‘Can anyone name 

the players for us?’ Well yes I can do just that, as 

I was in that team. The players shown from left to 

right are; half of Jack O’Brien, Peter Riddell, 

Bill Wilson, Barry Usmar (obscured), Boyd 

Gardiner, Noel White, Dave Arbuckle and Ken 

Stewart (Captain). 

Also, on page 70, the supporters were at the 

above mentioned match which was the only game 

played at Athletic Park by the 1st XV that year. 

Wellington College won this game 8-6 but later 

lost to Silverstream (0-6), as well as losing twice 

to Hutt Valley High School 6-17 and 3-5. 

Note: In those days, a try was worth three points 

and if converted (two points) was called a ‘goal’ 

(five points). 

Peter Riddell (1943-1948) 

peterriddell@xtra.co.nz 

Yokoso 

Confirming my contact details and to advise 

that I currently work for the US government 

but live on Yokota Air Base in Tokyo and 

write for Stars and Stripes newspaper, which is a 

daily newspaper for members of the US military 

stationed overseas. 

If any classmates are in Tokyo, please get in touch 

and I’ll shout you a beer and a round of golf. I can 

even arrange rugby if you still play. My cell is 

+818055114257. 

Seth Robson (1983-1987) 

RobsonS@pstripes.osd.mil

Lampstand Updates 

You may already know of this death but I had a 

call from the younger sister of Bill Shirer to 

tell me that Mack Nicol (1941-1944) had died. 

I think he would have been in 5A in 1943 and 6B 

in 1944. He was a good friend of a good friend of 

mine who married my informant, Judy McNiell 

(formerly Shirer). 

The good friend of mine was Peter McNeill 

(1941-1944) who would have been in the same 

classes as Mack Nicol and who left school after 

getting his Higher School Certificate. Notice the 

difference in the name spellings. Once he was 

of age, Peter reckoned that McNiell was more 

correct than McNeill so he adopted it. 

He was the last born of the McNeills in a firm 

of engineers called Hamilton McNeill that had 

their workshop on Aotea Quay on the wharf side 

opposite the end of the platforms at the railway 

station. Peter was from a large family of eight; 

sadly his mother was widowed in the Great 

Depression years in the early 1930s. 

Peter was living in Kenthurst, Sydney when he 

died from a massive heart attack on Christmas 

Day in 1981. Peter was a public accountant turned 

farmer (in Warkworth) but hard work on the farm 

was the start of heart problems for him. When 

I last saw him, he was Secretary to an education 

authority in Whangarei. 

I don’t believe I’ve set eyes on Mack since he 

finished at College in 1944 (maybe once with his 

wife some years after). However, I believe that 

he and his wife and Peter and Judy were good 

friends and probably saw a bit of each other while 

both couples lived in the Wellington area. 

Peter worked for Wilberfoss Harden initially and 

I saw he and Judy a bit while I was single until 

about 1952 I would reckon. [Bill was at Med 

School, Dunedin for six years 1946-1951 and I 

Potential All White 

This is a photo of me in my 1946 NZ Universities 

Jacket, awarded to me for selection in the NZU 

Football Team. Perhaps I could have been 

chosen to represent New Zealand at the 2010 

World Cup given my original famous status. 

Of course I would have required certain special 

conditions given my advanced age – such as being 

allowed to have a nap every 15 minutes – which 

would refresh me for a further quarter. At halftime, 

I could have given a mini Meaning of Play 

lecture, symbolising my 50 books and 350 written 

articles, to arouse all the players to a frenzy. 

Brian Sutton-Smith (1939-1941) 

Sarasota, Florida 

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, 

in 1924, Brian grew up roaming 

the rugged seaside hills around 

the small suburban town of Island 

Bay. He relished rough-and-tumble 

play, which he called ‘feverish 

exploits’, excelled at Soccer, and 

went on to study at Wellington 

was in Christchurch at CUC 1946-1949 so my 

contact with Bill was minimal for six years after 

I left Wellington College]. After Judy and Peter 

were married they lived in the Shirer weekender 

at Titahi Bay until Peter decided on going into 

farming. First he got into training by going into 

share-farming in the Waikato (like going from the 

frying pan into the fire I reckon) and after that I 

think Dr Shirer senior financed them into their 

own farm in the Warkworth area. 

I moved to Australia in 1955 and used to make 

a point of catching up with Peter on my rare 

visits (too costly in those days) if possible. His 

farming came to an abrupt end when he had 

a heart attack (ostensibly from too much hard 

yakka as we say in Australia). My last sighting 

of him was in Auckland when he was secretary to 

the Whangarei Schools Board. 

Next, he and Judy moved to Kenthurst in Sydney 

where his married middle daughter and her 

husband were into horses. Sadly most of the 

family were together there on a Christmas Day 

when he had a massive and fatal heart attack. I 

understand that Bill (who was present there at the 

time) said there was absolutely nothing that could 

be done to save him. He would have been aged 

about 55 at the time. Sadly, we never caught up 

in Sydney after his move there. 

Judy McNiell and I are the only ones left (out 

of a fairly large group well known to each other 

in WWII times and just after) as Judy keeps 

reminding me. Aged 83 I hardly need reminding. 

I was interested to see the shot of the Pipe Band 

(c. 1946 -1947). I think my brother-in-law can 

confirm this. He is the piper (aged 14) on the 

extreme left in front of the last drummer on the 

extreme left. I think that the band was newly 

formed about 1944. 

I was delighted to read the snippet on Arnold 

Hansson. We haven’t seen each other since 1945 

but my contribution in 2001 on the formation of 

Teachers’ College because it 

allowed Wednesday afternoons 

off for sports. Afterward, at 

Victoria University, he gained 

an introduction to play theory 

and began teaching primary 

school, where he became 

fascinated by what he called 

‘unorganised games’ - physical 

play unsupervised by adults 

He completed a BA and MA, 

and was then awarded the first 

Education PhD in New Zealand 

in 1954. He then travelled to the 

USA on grant from the Fulbright 

Programme, where he began an 

academic career with 

a focus on children's 

games, adult games, children's play, 

children's drama, films and narratives, 

as well as children's gender issues and 

sibling position. 

Brian has been the President of The 

Anthropological Association for the Study 

of Play and of The American Psychological 

6A Lower brought him out of the woodwork, so 

to speak, and we have been in touch from time to 

time since. 

I was also most interested to read the obituary on 

Craig Burrell. Ivan Cher and I have been in 

touch with each other for about the last 50 years 

since he moved to Australia (I moved to Sydney 

in 1955). Perhaps in the very late 50s or very 

early 60s, I became aware of the doings of the 

five medicos that were in 6A in 1945 and Craig 

Burrell and Colin Fenton from 6A in 1944. 

As I have mentioned previously, 6AL was created 

in 1944 but before this happened I was one of six 

boys who joined the 1943 residue of 6A for about 

a fortnight and this residue included Craig, Peter 

Whittle, Colin Fenton and Graeme Joplin all of 

whom distinguished themselves in later life. 

However, I had no idea that Craig was so active 

in the New York Academy of Sciences. I was 

very pleased to see that you found space for 

recognition of Eric Hall. It is hard to believe, but 

I have little recognition of ever seeing him after 

1945 when I went off to Canterbury University 

College, as it was then. 

The only other contemporaries of mine who 

are still living who merit detailed obituaries are 

Peter Whittle, a retired professor at Cambridge 

University, who was Dux in 1944 and Ivan Cher 

(retired opthalmic surgeon) who was Dux in 1945. 

Bob Coleman (another professor at CU) has died, 

sadly. Another from my year who comes to mind 

is R.V.J. (Ray) Windsor who, I believe, was a 

missionary doctor in South East Asia. 

Also, in passing, I could add that Ian Blow, who 

you met last year, is a member of my Probus Club 

and early this year we made him a Life Member 

of the Club. I am also pleased to report that he 

seems to be in improved health since you met him. 

Bob Balchin (1943-1945) 

rebalc@onthenet.com.au 

Association, Division 10 

(Psychology and the Arts). As 

a founder of the Children's 

Folklore Society he has received 

a Lifetime Achievement Award 

from the American Folklore 

Society. For his research in toys 

he has received awards from the 

BRIO and Lego toy companies 

of Sweden and Denmark. He has 

participated in making television 

programmes on toys and play in 

Great Britain, Canada, and the 

US, and has been a consultant for 

Captain Kangaroo, Nickelodeon, 

Murdoch Children's Television 

and the Please Touch Museum in 

Philadelphia. 

His academic life consisted of ten years at Bowling 

Green State University, Ohio, ten years at Teachers 

College, Columbia University in New York, and 17 

years at the University of Pennsylvania. He is now 

retired and lives in Sarasota, Florida. Brian was 

recently engaged as resident scholar at the The 

Strong in Rochester, New York, home to the Brian 

Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play. 


your Letters

Obituaries 

Wellington College and the Old Boys’ Association extends its sincere condolences to the families and friends of those listed below for whom the 

Association has received notification of death since the 2010 Lampstand. 

• An obituary (sourced from the media or from family) is included on the following pages for some Old Boys. If you can assist us by 

adding to an obituary or providing one that we do not have, we would be most appreciative. This year, the list is recorded in cohort years. 

Class of 1927 

• CAlVERT, Russell John 

1909-2011 of Nelson 

Wellington College: 1923 

WWII:Staff Sgt 2nd EZEF 

Class of 1930 

• GUNN, Kenneth 

1914-2011 of Auckland 

Wellington College: 1926-1929 

Class of 1931 

CORNFORD, Arthur lindsay 

1914-2011 of Wellington 


WWII: RAF, Wing Commander 

Class of 1932 

DYETT, Nelson Dalmain 



Class of 1933 

• De lISlE, John Felix 


Wellington College: 1931, Firth House 

Class of 1934 

• CAUGHLEY, Alexander Michael 

(Mick) 



WWII: Major; Artillery <strong>Office</strong>r, 

awarded Military Cross 

Class of 1935 

TELFORD, Robert (Bob) James 

1918-2011 of Palmerston North 


WWII: NZMC, 2nd NZEF, 3rd Div 

(Pacific) 

Class of 1936 

BARDSLEY, Albot Herbert 



CURTIS, Jack Compton 

1918-2011 of Ashurst 


WWII: LBdr 4NZ FdRegt 2 NZEF 

Class of 1937 

• ADAMS, Cliffe Vaughan 

1920-2010 of Taupo 

Wellington College: 1934-1936, 

Firth House 

WWII Captain, Dental Corps 

AUGUST, Ashley Meredith 

1918-2010 of Levin 


DONKIN, Norman 

1920-2011 of Hamilton 


EVANS, Philip Thornton 



Firth House 

WWII: RNZAF LAC 

HART, Henry (Harry) Francis MBE 




• PARLANE, Ian McDougall 



REID, Colin Sydney Fraser 

1919-2011 of Thames 


RNZAF: Flying <strong>Office</strong>r 

STONE, James (Jim) Craigie 



WWII Capt. 7 Anti-Tank Reg, POW 

Class of 1938 

COOPER, Alan William 

1919-2011 of Wanganui 


• GAllOWAY, James (Jim) McDonald 



SPINK, George Arthur 



WWII: Pvte NZMF 

Class of 1939 

BROWN, Charles Keith 



CRAIG, Kenneth David 



DOWSETT, Rowan Thornton 



WWII: RNZAF Warrant <strong>Office</strong>r 170Sqd 

FLAWS, Fane Francis George 



Prefect 1940, 1st XV 1940 

• LYNNEBERG, Ross 

1921-2011 of Porirua 


WWII: RNZN Telegraphist 

Class of 1940 

• ARMOUR, Frank Moore 

1922-2010 of Sussex, UK 

Wellington College 1936-1939 

Firth House Prefect 

BANKS, William Herbert 

1923-2009 of Surfers Paradise, QLD 


• ClARKE, Maurice Leon 



1st XV 1940, Prefect 1940-41 

WWII: RNZAF 607 Sqd. 

CRAIG, Robert John 



GLASSON, William (Bill) James 



• GUNN, Malcolm Bryce, Dr 

1923-2011 of Cambridge 


Head Prefect 1942 

IRONSIDE, Robert (Bob) Hamilton 

1921-2011 of Waikanae 


NICHOLSON, Bernard Rostron 

1923-2009 


SCOTT, Robert Neil 

1921-2011 of Hastings 


TOMBS, Noel Whitcombe 

1921-2010 of Lower Hutt 


WWII: RNZAF, FlSgt 

TROUGHTON, Edward (Ted) Alfred 

William (JP) 



WWII: Lt. RNZVVR 

Class of 1941 

ORNSTIEN, Philip Ross 



WILLETTS, Arthur Benson 



WWII: 2nd NZEF Pacific Forces 

Class of 1942 

ANGUS, Paul Alistair 



• CUNLIFFE, Wayland Hughes 



• DEMPSTER, Eric William MBE 

1925-2011 of Dunedin 


DOVEY, Raymond Eldon 



KERR, Douglas Sidney Stratford 

1924-2010 of Blenheim 


OSTEN, William (Bill) Victor 



Class of 1943 

COLE, Wilfred (Bill) Ernest 

1925-2010 of Paeroa 


WWII: RNZAF 

• GRANT, Alexander Marshall CBE 

1925-2011 of England 


HENDERSON, John Basil 

1925-2011 of Greytown 


HOWEY, Douglas Leonard 



WWII: 20 Squad. 

LEE, Peter Charles 



1st XV 1942 

WHITAKER, Cyril, QSM 

1925-2011 of Havelock North 


Class of 1944 

CARRAN, William Gordon 



DAVIS, Ross Bulmer 



HARRIS, James (Jim) Godfrey 

1926-2011 of Pahiatua 


NEILSON, Wallace Grant Herbert 



• SAlKElD, David 

1928-2011 of Wiltshire, England 


Firth House 

SCOTT, William (Bill) Frederick 

1927-2011 of Upper Hutt 


WILSON, James Robert Graham 

1927-2011 of Waipukurau 


Firth House 

Class of 1945 

EATON, John Bishop 

1927-2010 of Tauranga 


GOODSON, Lewis Arthur 



Firth House Prefect, 1st XV 1945 

• HANSSON, Arnold George 

1926-2011 of Paraparamum 


NICOL, William Mack 



PHILIP, Ian Gavin 

1927-2011 of Whangamata 


SMITH, Clyde Alexander 

1928-2011 of Nelson 


1st XV 1943 

SNADDEN, Malcolm Wylie 

1926-2010 of Clyde 


Firth House (Prefect) 

SWAFFORD, George Frederick 



WELCH, Donald Cranstoun 



Master: 1950-1956 

Don left the College for Stratford 

Technical High School in 1956. 

• WINDSOR, Raymond Victor James 

(Dr) 


Wellington College: 1945, Dux 1945

Class of 1947 

GLEN, Colin Morton 



1st XV 1947-48, 1st XI 1947 

LENA, Raymond Sydney 

1930-2010 of Foxton 


LIDSTONE, William (Bill) Kenneth 

1930-2011 of Levin 


McCUllY, Robert (Bob) James, 

BPharm 



Class of 1948 

• BRASCH, Donald James, Professor 

1931-2003 ofDunedin 


• GASKIN, Henry Ernest 

1930-2011 of Masterton 


Firth House 

JACOBSEN, Frank Hoban 

1930-2007 of Whakatane 


McAllUM, Stuart Henry 

1930-2010 of Sydney, NSW 


Firth House 

REID, Leonard Robert 

1930-2011 of Paraparaumu 


McElWAIN, Barry Edward John 

1931-2011 of Upper Hutt 


• STIMPSON, Harold (Harry) Claydon 



THORBURN, Douglas Donald 

1930-2010 of Picton 


WAKElIN, James Robert (Bob) 



• WILSON, Ian George Bruce 

1930-2011 of Christchurch 


1st XI Hockey 

Class of 1949 

MASON, Royston Norman 



1st XV 1949 

MATTINGLEY, Barry Frederick 



TAYLOR, William (Bill) Desmond 

1931-2011 of Levin 


1st XI Hockey 

Class of 1950 

• REEVES, Paul Alfred (Most Rev, Sir) 



1st XI 1949-1951, Prefect 1951 

Class of 1951 

WHITlOCK, Ralph Marcus Lawson 

(Toby), Dr 



Class of 1952 

THOMAS, Evan Edward 



1st XV 1951-52 

Class of 1953 

• HAY, Roger Douglas 



MARTIN, Alan Ross 



• REED, John Matthew 

1936-2011 of Hunter Valley, NSW 


Class of 1954 

KITTOW, Graham Bruce 

1936-2010 of Waipawa 


Firth House 

LITTLE, Kenneth John, JP 



WOODWARD, Warwick Stratford 



Class of 1956 

ANDERSON, Charles (Chas) Stuart 

1938 – 2010 of Byron Bay, NSW 


Prefect: 1956, 1st XV 1956 (C) 

JOHANSEN, Peter David 

1939-2011 of New Plymouth 


Prefect 1956, 1st XV 1956 

• MATSON, William (Bill) Lindsay, 

ONZM 



MUIR, Neville Howard 

1937-2011 of Levin 


1st XV 1954 

TOON, Robert (Bob) George 



Class of 1957 

• MITCHELL, David John 



ROBERTS, Donald Bruce 



STONE, Melvyn Arthur 

1940-2010 of Otaki 


• WHEELER, Charles Grant 

1940-2011 of Chichester, England 


Cross-Country Champion 1957-1958 

Class of 1958 

CLOUSTON, Robert (Bob) William 



JUDD, William (Bill) Neville 

1939-2010 of Feilding 


Firth House 

KNIGHT, Philip Leigh (Professor, DPhil) 



McPHERSON, David Eyton 



STEWART, Edward (Ted) John 



Class of 1959 

• ARNOLD, Scott 

1941-2010 of Levin 


• DRAKE, William (Bill) George 

1941-2011 of Santa Fe, USA 


FROST, Michael Gavin 



• MILLER, Alexander Bruce, MNZ 

1940-2011 of Franz Josef 


Class of 1960 

SCOTT, Brian William John 



TAYLOR, Terence (Terry) Mervyn 



Firth House 

Class of 1961 

HATTEN, David Bruce 



Class of 1962 

HENSKIE, Brian Frederick 



Class of 1963 

BEVAN, Ross Graham 



Class of 1964 

HURST, Anthony (Tony) Noel 

1946-2011 of Shropshire, England 


Tony passed after a courageous 

three year battle with cancer. He 

came to Wellington with his family 

from Dunedin in late 1963, and 

completed his secondary schooling 

at Wellington College. He then 

went on to Victoria University 

and after teaching in NZ for a few 

years, headed off to England where 

he spent most of his working life 

counselling students in high schools 

in the Midlands, UK. 

Brian Hurst JP, (1964 - 66) 

Class of 1965 

COOKSlEY, Graham Noel 

1947-2011 of Greymouth 


Firth House 

CUTHBERT, Alexander (Sandy) Morris 



LANG, Garrick Thomas 

1947-2011 of Picton 


LAWRENCE, Roger William 



Firth House 

Class of 1968 

EWING, David William 

1950-2010 of Sydney, NSW 


Class of 1969 

GUERIN, Michael James 



• MOODY, Graeme Cameron 


Wellington College 1965-1970, 

1st XV 1967-70, 1st XI 1968-70 

Class of 1972 

• lITTlEJOHN, Roger Philip 

McMillan (Dr, PhD) 

1955-2011 of Mosgiel 

Wellington College: 1968-1972, Dux 

Top in NZ in Scholarship, 1972 

Class of 1975 

THOMAS, Gregory Keith 



Firth House 1st XV 1974 

Class of 1976 

BAKEWEll, Nigel Ralph 

1958-2011 of Seattle, USA 

Wellington College 1972-1974, 

Firth House 

KITCHING, John Oxley 



Class of 1977 

DUNCAN, Noel William 

1960-2011 of Foxton 


Class of 1979 

• WHITE, Warwick John 



Cross-Country/Athletics Team 

NZSS Cross-Country Team 

Died in Budapest 

Class of 1982 

LAU YOUNG, Mark Fritz (Pastor) 



1st XV 1982, Prefect 1982 

Class of 2004 

• HOWARD, John (Jack) William 

Rangitane 



British Army: Private 3rd Bat. 

Parachute Reg. KIA in Afghanistan 

Staff 

• CROWLEY, Bruce Balharry 

1925 -2011 of Wellington 

Former Master: 1957-1961 


Obituaries

Obituaries 

Cliffe Adams 

Cliffe Adams died at Taupo, where he was living 

In retirement, following a short illness. He was in 

his 92nd year. Cliffe was born in Pahiatua where 

he had his early education, coming to Wellington 

College in 1934, where he started In Form 4A. He 

left College In 1936. 

His Father, Robert Tasman Adams attended 

Wellington College (1901-1904) as did Cliffe's three 

brothers: John (1931-1934), Bob (1937-1939) and 

myself, Donald (1944-1948). All three of us were Firth 

House boarders. 

Cliffe had happy and successful years at College - as 

a scholar in his final year, as a Prefect and holding 

senior rank In the Cadet Battalion. He was an 

enthusiastic sportsman, playing Rugby for the 1st 

XV as a speedy number 8 forward, and excelling in 

Athletics. In 1936, he won the senior championships 

in both the 100 yard and 220 yard sprints and also 

winning these events in the Inter-collegiate Sports. 

After leaving school and while attending Victoria 

University and Otago University, he continued with 

his love of the sports field - winning New Zealand 

University Blues In the 100 yards and 220 yards 

sprints in 1938 and 1939. In those same years, 

his brother John won new Zealand University 

Blues in field events - shot-put and discus. These 

achievements were a matter of great pride to their 

father Robert, who had been a keen sportsman 

while at College, as senior hurdles champion and 

also competing in Gymnastics. 

Cliff graduated in dentistry from Otago in 1943. 

After a short appointment at Wellington Hospital 

he was commissioned in the New Zealand Dental 

Corps, serving in new Zealand and the Pacific region. 

On his discharge from the Army, he returned to 

Pahiatua, where he practised general dentistry until 

his retirement to Taupo in 1985. 

In 2009, Cliffe attended the ‘60 Years Plus’ Old 

Boys’ Reunion, and in 2010, he attended the Firth 

House Reunion, Cliffe regarded these as very special 

occasions. It was a great joy for him to return to 

the school as an honoured visitor and learn how 

it flourishes. He met (a few) old friends but made, 

many new friends. At the Firth House Reunion, he 

was the oldest present and was privileged to light 

the College Lamp at the Dinner. For him this was a 

most significant and symbolic occasion, to ‘take the 

light and hand it on’. 

Cliffe is survived by his second wife, Catherine and 

his three children from his first marriage to Diana. 

Don Adams (1944-1948) 


Frank Armour 

Frank Armour passed 

away peacefully at home 

in England, in November 

2010 at the age of 88. His 

daughter Carole tells the story 

of her father’s involvement in 

ASBAH - from the beginning. 

Dad found, when I was born with spina bifida, 

that there was little, if any, support for families in 

the same position and so decided to try to make 

a change. He subsequently became a founder 

member of Sussex ASBAH (SASBAH) and ASBAH. 

This involved contacting the national press, other 

pockets of parents around the country and arranging 

meetings in London and elsewhere. He was the first 

national Hon. Secretary from 1966 until 1968 when 

the first General Secretary was appointed. 

Together with my mother Betty, his commitment 

to improving the lives of people with spina bifida 

and hydrocephalus led to many years of voluntary 

service for SASBAH. 

As well as his experience with SASBAH he was a 

member of the ASBAH Executive Committee for 

several years before becoming its Finance <strong>Office</strong>r 

in 1973. He held this post for ten years before 

‘slowing down’ in 1984 and finally retiring in 1986. 

On retirement he became an Hon. Life Member of 

ASBAH. 

During his time the Executive Committee included a 

number of surgeons, doctors and physiotherapists. 

Now called the Board of Trustees, half the members 

have SB&H, a move he certainly approved of and 

which shows where we have come from since 1966. 

Representing ASBAH, Frank, my mother and I 

joined other senior members of staff and their 

families at a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham 

Palace in July 1979. He lived to see both ASBAH and 

SASBAH develop from parents-led networks to the 

comprehensive organisations they are today. 

In 1969 Dad organised the final leg from Horsham 

to Brighton of ‘The Great Walk’ from Berwick to 

Brighton. The vast majority of walkers (there were 

340) were, in the words of the home-made board 

carried all the 28 miles, for spina bifida children. 

In the 1970s and early 80s, Frank assisted with 

the organisation of the ASBAH annual conferences 

which were held in several cities around the country. 

Speakers addressed these meetings on subjects 

such as housing and medical issues. 

These conferences regularly attracted an audience 

of 100-140 people (these being parents, doctors, 

educationalists and an increasing number of adults 

who had SB&H.) Over the years, Dad wrote several 

articles for LINK: 

• The Great Walk. (Autumn 1969 p.13/14) 

• ASBAH’s first 18 years. (Nov/Dec 1983 p.3) 

• Colourful Beginnings. (April 1991 p.20) 

• ASBAH Pioneers. (Aug/Sep 1993) 

He later wrote another article How and Why ASBAH 

began. His closing words in that article were We are 

now where we are. It is 2004, keep at it! 

His commitment and good wishes to ASBAH 

remained until his death. 

Carole Armour, January 2011 

Scott Arnold 

Scott Arnold passed away in April 2010 in Levin 

where he had been living for a year or so since 

moving from Auckland. Scotty was rhythm 

guitarist for the Tornados - from Titahi Bay in the 

early 60s. His move was prompted by the formation 

of Reunion, a band made up of a few 'relics' from the 

Tornados (Scott's band), Skyrockets, and Supersonics, 

whose main activity centred around the Levin area, 

in March 2008. A funeral service was held for Scott 

at the Levin RSA with friends and family. 

He took on the task of revitalising his guitar skills 

with passion but was hampered by a severe arthritic 

related condition in his hands which surgery later on 

helped to some degree. 

The Tornados original line up were, Barry 

Coupland (1954-1957), Scott Arnold, Bob Taylor, 

Kevin McKeefry and Ian (Lemmie) Hughes. They 

enjoyed moderate success locally including several 

recordings released by HMV (EMI). After a very 

popular season around Nelson and Motueka, they 

made critical career choices and moved to Australia 

where their decision was quickly justified. Johnny 

Devlin adopted them as his own and gave them the 

new name, Devils (a description which still applies!). 

They were also known as the Kiwi Four in Australia 

and were very popular especially in the many league 

clubs there. Inevitably, a few shuffles occurred 

which saw, among others, the inclusion of Colin 

Lock, ex Skyrockets, into the band. 

The reunion was held at Barry's home in 

Horowhenua. All the original Tornados were there ie 

Barry, Scott, Ian, Bob and Kevin. Colin, who was not 

an original, arrived on Sunday and stayed overnight. 

It has to be said that the success of the reunion was 

largely due to the huge impact that the music of 

those days had on us all. No wonder our musically 

inclined grandkids still thrive on it. 

Don Brasch 

The last issue of The Lampstand noted that Don 

Brasch had died, but perhaps appropriately for 

the reserved and quiet man he was, it did not 

record his distinguished career. 

Don grew up in Waikato Street, Island Bay Our Street 

in Brian Sutton-Smith’s 1950s book of that name, 

and attended Island Bay School. His father was a 

cabinetmaker. Don came to Wellington College in 

1944, and was placed in Form 3A. He stayed in the 

A forms throughout his College career, finishing as a 

member of the 6A Class of 1948. 

On leaving College, Don was awarded a DSIR 

Bursary to study Science. He spent the next four 

years at Victoria University. Long vacations saw 

him working at the Dominion Laboratory in its old 

premises behind Parliament. On graduating MSc 

with Honours in Chemistry, he began full-time work 

at the Dominion Laboratory. In 1954, newly married 

to Pat Quinn, Don travelled to the United States. The 

next two years were spent at the Pulp and Paper 

Institute in Wisconsin and a further two years at 

Queen’s University in Canada where he completed 

a PhD in Carbohydrate Chemistry. On returning to 

New Zealand, Don resumed his career in the DSIR, 

now at the newly established Chemistry Division in 

Gracefield. 

In 1967 Don was appointed Senior Lecturer in

Chemistry at Otago University. Soon promoted to 

Associate Professor, he spent nearly thirty years at 

Otago. 

Don was a most dedicated member of staff in the 

Chemistry Department. As well as being in charge of 

the teaching of Applied Chemistry, he led an active 

research group in Carbohydrate Chemistry and 

published numerous papers in research journals. 

During those years his life mainly revolved round 

the Chemistry Department and his family. However 

he was an active member of the Otago Tree Society. 

Just a few years into his retirement, Don suffered a 

serious stroke, after which he was largely confined 

to his house in Dunedin. Don died in 2003 and 

his wife Pat a year later. They had two sons and 

two daughters. One son (Michael) manages a 

wine-bottling plant in Marlborough, while the 

other (Stephen) is in the electronics industry in 

Christchurch. Their daughter Nicola is a Chemistry 

Professor in the United States while Helen is a 

Consultant Pathologist at Hutt Hospital. 

Sir Michael Hardie Boys (1944-1948) 

Russell Calvert 

Born in Masterton in 1909, 

Russell Calvert celebrated 

his 101st birthday two 

years ago. I’m not what I 

used to be, he confessed, 

although Oakwoods Village 

(Nelson) staff and residents 

were amazed at his agility and quick wit. After going 

to Wellesley College, Russell attended Wellington 

College, then Nelson College. Russell had originally 

wanted to join the merchant navy, but he was 

unable to find the money necessary to fund his 

career as a captain, so eventually started work with 

his uncle as a dental technician in Wellington. He 

worked as a dental technician throughout his career 

and started a dental laboratory in Dunedin, where 

he lived for 52 years. 

He lived through both world wars, and served in 

WWII in the army in Greece and the Middle East, 

and for a short time in New Caledonia. 

Russell was Mayor of Dunedin from 1965-1968 

and forty plus years on, still retained an interest in 

the issues of local body politics as he was when he 

campaigned for rates reform in Dunedin in the early 

1950s. If it affects people, you become concerned, 

he said. And councils affect places in which people 

live. If wrong decisions are made, it can make life 

unpleasant or impossible. 

He became involved with the Kew Ratepayers and 

Householders Association in the 1940s, but it was 

as organiser of the Dunedin Combined Ratepayers 

Association’s 1953 campaign for unimproved value 

rating that he first enjoyed local body success. 

Winning against council - I was very pleased with 

that. It was my first stride out into independence. 

His council career comprised a hat trick of byelection 

wins in 1958, 1961 and 1970 and a spell in 

the mayoralty from 1965-68, always on a platform of 

Labour Party principles if not always on the party’s 

ticket. He also had four terms on the Town and 

Country Planning Appeal Board and was chairman 

of the Clutha Valley Development Commission in 

the early 1970s. 

During his time as Mayor, Russell officially opened 

the new learner’s pool at Moana Pool and led 

the Council which authorised the introduction of 

fluoride into the city water supply. The visit of the 

Queen Mother in April 1966 stood out as a highlight 

of his mayoralty, although he did not find anything 

exalting or terrifying about it. She was a dear old 

soul. She had a good sense of humour and was fairly 

open. It was a great privilege to be able to get into 

conversation with a person of that stature. But it’s 

not what makes the clock turn around. There were 

more important things in the world, he said. 

After his first wife, Eileen, died in 1977, Russell 

spent three years at the couple’s holiday home in 

Arrowtown as unofficial and unpaid assistant green 

keeper at the local golf club. He and second wife 

Win moved to Christchurch and then to Nelson to 

be near her family and Russell helped her campaign 

for those with spouses in care to qualify for a bigger 

pension. 

On both sides of his family, people have lived to old 

ages. I’ve inherited the right genes; my father died 

at 96. 

Mick Caughley 

Alexander Michael ‘Mick’ 

Caughley attended 

Wellington College from 

1930 to 1933. His brothers 

Denis and James also 

attended the College during 

this period. 

He joined the ANZ Bank after 

leaving school and continued 

to work for the bank right through his career until 

retiring at age 60 as the South Island Manager. His 

42 years continuous service with the ANZ Bank was 

only broken by the war years. 

In 1940, Mick joined the Royal New Zealand 

Artillery. He served overseas until 1945 in Greece, 

Crete, North Africa and Italy and finished the war as 

Major AM Caughley MC, ED, m.i.d. 

In October 1942, he was awarded the Military Cross 

while manning an observation post in support of the 

23rd New Zealand Infantry Battalion in Tripolitania. 

The citation reads (in part): Approaching dusk, 13 

enemy tanks approached the defended position 

firing continuously. Captain Caughley, in the face 

of heavy fire, moved his observation post to a flank 

where observation was easier and he could direct 

the fire of two batteries against the tanks, causing 

them to withdraw. His quiet and determined effort 

to neutralise the hostile tank attack undoubtedly 

saved a great many casualties by driving the tanks 

away. Throughout the campaign, Captain Caughley 

has distinguished himself by courageous work at his 

observation post on more than one occasion and his 

leadership has been an inspiration to all. 

During his college days before WWII, Mick 

contributed to the Wellington College Cadet Corps 

as a Sergeant-Major. Such military acumen and 

prowess was developed further during the War 

when he demonstrated his capability as an excellent 

soldier and leader. 

After WWII, Mick returned to his banking career. He 

held various managerial roles in Wellington, New 

Plymouth and Christchurch. 

Mick had three children, Helen, Robert and Hugh. 

Robert also attended Wellington College in the 

1960s. 

After retiring in 1976, he lived in Waikanae, Taupo 

and Auckland. Although suffering from increasingly 

poor health in his later years, his interest in the RSA, 

his beloved Fifth Field Regiment, and Wellington 

College Old Boys never diminished. 

Hugh Caughley 

Leon Clarke 

Leon Clarke was born in 

Wellington and lived a 

good part of his life there, 

although during his later 

years he lived in Melbourne, 

Brisbane and Auckland. After 

attending Hataitai School, 

Leon and his older brother, Brent (1935-1940), 

went to Wellington College. Leon was in the Tennis 

Team from 1938 to 1940 and 1st XV in 1940. He 

was a Prefect in 1941 before he left school early in 

the year to follow his brother and friends into the 

RNZAF. He joined Vacuum Oil Co Pty Ltd (Mobil), 

while waiting to enlist later in the year. 

Leon joined the RNZAF where he undertook pilots’ 

courses at Taieri and Woodbourne Air Force Stations 

and gained his wings. Leon was shipped to the UK, 

where he was seconded to the RAF. He soon took 

his first flight in a Hurricane. The squadron was 

converted to Spitfires and Leon saw active service 

in the UK, the Middle East and lastly in Burma with 

607 (County of Durham) Fighter Squadron. It was 

in Burma that his plane crashed and caught fire. He 

was badly burned and taken to India for treatment. 

Within weeks of Leon’s crash in Burma, Leon’s 

brother Brent was killed in Bougainville. During the 

Wellington College 125th Jubilee Celebrations, the 

Clarke family donated a display case for memorabilia 

in the Pavilion in his memory. 

After the war, Leon rejoined Vacuum Oil Co Pty 

Ltd and continued to live in Hataitai with his wife 

Margaret and family of three girls, Leonie, Janet 

and Sandra. He was soon promoted to Aviation 

Manager. Later the company was renamed Mobil Oil 

New Zealand, and he worked there until retirement 

in 1981 after 40 years’ service. 

Leon was a founding member of the Wellington 

branch of the Brevet Club, an ex-service aircrew 

club affiliated to the RSA. He was an active member 

of both and in Auckland where Leon and Margaret 

settled. He continued his involvement with these 

clubs, as well as the NZ Fighter Pilots’ Association 

and the NAC Pilots’ Association. He also maintained 

a lifelong connection with the Wellington College 

Old Boys’ Association and with members throughout 

the country. 

Margaret, Leon’s wife of over 62 years, continues to 

live in Auckland. Two of his daughters, Leonie Clarke 

and Sandra, and her husband Graham Cheetham, 

live in Auckland. Janet Clarke and her husband Jim 

Ormiston live in Washington DC. There are two 

grandchildren, David and Karin Cheetham. Leon’s 

younger brother, Maurice Clarke, lives in Wellington. 


Obituaries

Obituaries 

Bruce Crowley 

On Friday, June 17, 2011, 

Mana College hosted a 

service to remember, 

honour and farewell a truly 

amazing New Zealander, 

Bruce Crowley (aka ‘The 

Crow’), an exceptional teacher, leader, soldier and 

sailor. Bruce was a great conversationalist, selftaught 

pianist, keen gardener and cook, traveller, 

animal lover, writer, poet and avid crossword fan 

(who was still attempting the daily crossword and 

code cracker two days before he passed away). He 

was a family man who loved life and contributed 

with great wisdom to so many people throughout 

New Zealand and beyond. 

Bruce was actively involved in organising his 

farewell service with his trademark lists and 

attention to detail. He created a ten-page timeline 

of his life, wrote a poem entitled Memories of an 

Incurable Romantic for inclusion in the service 

sheet, selected photographs for the slide show and 

prepared a mock-up of the programme. Above all, 

Bruce wanted his farewell to be a happy occasion 

and this is exactly what happened with many stories 

being shared that had the College Hall ‘rocking’ with 

laughter, no doubt like some of the assemblies that 

Bruce took. 

The Principal of Mana College, Mike Webster, 

recalled the love for this mighty Mana College totara 

at the College’s Golden Jubilee in 2007, where Bruce 

received a standing ovation. 

Born in Tauranga on 1925, Bruce had many 

wonderful memories of his primary school days in 

Tauranga and secondary school education in New 

Plymouth and Palmerston North, before going on to 

Christchurch Training College and University in the 

early 1940s. 

Bruce’s great love was teaching and his first posting 

was to Raetihi Primary School followed by a relieving 

position as sole charge teacher at Makakahi Valley 

School on the banks of the Manganui-o-te-ao River. 

Bruce described the 12 pupils as lovely mischievous 

kids who had me on a wild horse in no time after 

solemnly telling me it was a placid old horse. By 

1946, Bruce, aged 22, had been appointed Acting 

Headmaster of Mohaka Maori School! One day 

after school, a group of scrub cutters asked Bruce 

to check their applications to join J Force and on 

impulse he filled in one too. Three weeks later, he 

was in the army! 

Bruce was based in Japan in 1947 and 1948 where 

he made a name for himself with the Colonel by 

taking English classes for junior and senior students 

and getting his pupils to put on concerts in addition 

to his army duties. This helped to foster better 

relationships with the locals and Bruce felt really 

at home in his new community. Winning a photo 

competition and a Commonwealth talent quest 

helped his cash flow and Bruce also passed a history 

paper towards his degree while stationed in Japan. 

He was very sad when it was time to leave. 

Bruce’s love of travel saw him plan his first OE 

in 1949. As he was now an accredited freelance 

journalist, he used the additional cash to pay for 

his insurance policy. In planning for his funeral 

service, Bruce commented that this insurance policy 

happens to be paying for today’s funeral and your 

drinks at the after-match function! 


From 1950 to 1952, Bruce covered most of the 

world’s shipping lanes as a steward in the British 

Merchant Navy. After returning to New Zealand 

in 1953, Bruce taught at Tokomaru Bay before 

moving to Wellington in 1956. While completing 

his BA and Diploma in Education, he did some relief 

teaching at Wellington High School and then took 

up a permanent position at Wellington College 

teaching Physical Education, English, French and 

Social Studies. 

Bruce began teaching at Mana College in 1961. He 

was appointed Deputy Principal in 1968 and, after 

a brief spell at Tawa College, he returned to Mana 

College and remained there until his retirement in 

1985. He continued to relieve at the College well 

into his retirement. 

One speaker at Bruce’s farewell service warmly 

shared that this instinctive and intuitive man had a 

special soft spot for the students that needed a little 

something extra, those on their own or on the outer. 

Bruce was able to inspire, encourage, motivate and 

connect with them in a way that no one else could, 

often through humour, and this gave them an extra 

‘hand up’ in life. 

And a former student’s message on a special card 

made for Bruce before he passed away said one of 

the truly great gentleman and mentors in this world, 

we all loved this man with a passion. Bruce was a 

mighty totara, he was a champion. 

With a love of honky tonk and jazz, playing the piano 

was an important part of Bruce’s life and he formed 

a jazz band with a few lads from the sixth form 

called Father Crow and the Scarecrows. No matter 

what the occasion, if there was a piano in the room, 

Bruce would soon be hammering out the old songs 

with a pint of beer bouncing precariously on top! 

Bruce yearned to visit the places he had not seen 

or wanted to see again and, in his retirement, he 

enjoyed overseas trips to Europe and Britain and 

cruises through South East Asia, the Pacific, the 

Caribbean and Panama Canal. As Bruce put it, I 

called this spending my sons’ inheritance! 

We celebrate the life of this remarkable man 

whose influence continues on through the students 

whose lives he touched, through his many friends 

throughout the world, his loving wife Valma, sister 

Paddy, sons Dean and Mark, and their families. 

Mana College 

Wayland Cunliffe 

Wayland Cunliffe was a 

quiet man who enjoyed a 

quiet beer and watching 

his beloved Avalon play on 

Fraser Park. To those in the 

know however, he was much 

more than just a rugby follower. 

The 81-year-old, who was always known as Way, 

was a giant of sport in Taita. A Life Member of the 

Taita and Avalon Rugby clubs, the Wellington Rugby 

Football Union, the Centurions Rugby Football Club, 

and the Taita Bowling Club, he was also a vicepresident 

of the Taita Cricket Club. 

His greatest achievement was undoubtedly the 24 

years (1967-91) he spent as the honorary treasurer 

of the Wellington Rugby Football Union. In these 

days of professionalism, the treasurer’s job was 

unpaid but hardly straightforward. 

One of his jobs was to collect the money for 

matches at Athletic Park. In the days before eftpos 

and Ticketek, everyone who bought a ticket paid 

with cash. Way had to collect the money and sitting 

under the old grandstand, he had to count every 

dollar. 

Fittingly, his funeral was held at the Avalon Rugby 

Club and attracted a who‘s who of Taita sport, as 

well as former All Black captain, Andy Leslie who 

acted as a pallbearer. A number of senior WRFU 

staff also attended. 

Way joined the Taita Rugby Club in 1946 as a 

player before becoming an administrator. He 

never married but devoted his spare time to sport 

particularly rugby. He had an unswerving passion 

for Avalon and attended every match until his health 

stopped him from attending away matches. In 2005, 

the Club recognised his 60 years of service with a 

silver salver. 

Outside sport, Way was involved in the Taita RSA, 

and having sent three years at Wellington College, 

worked his entire career for the Mines Department 

and enjoyed taking scenic train trips. 

Way suffered a stroke in April and in the past few 

months, a number of Avalon members stayed by his 

bedside. 

The Hutt News 

John de Lisle 

John de lisle, former Director of the NZ 

Meteorological Service died in May this year. 

John was one of a generation that became involved 

with weather forecasting during WWII. John only 

attended Wellington College for one year - 1931 

- when he was one of many who were evacuated 

from Napier following the 1931 earthquake. He 

returned to Napier Boys’ High School the following 

year. After leaving Auckland University in 1937 he 

went teaching, and then was commissioned in 

the Meteorological <strong>Branch</strong> of the RNZAF in 1942. 

He served in the Pacific Islands, where forecasters 

often flew with aircrews as observer/gunners, and 

occasionally took part in combat. 

John returned to teaching for a time after the war, 

then joined the NZ Defence Scientific Corps in 1950 

and was sent to study meteorology at Imperial 

College, London. John gained his PhD in 1953, 

then returned to New Zealand and re-joined the 

Meteorological Service in 1956. He started in the 

Climatology Division, eventually becoming Assistant 

Director (Research) in 1967 and Director in 1973. 

His published research covered a broad area from 

climatology to numerical weather prediction. He 

was a member of many scientific committees and 

learned societies and represented New Zealand at 

the Seventh Congress of the World Meteorological 

Organisation in 1975. 

After his retirement in 1977, John took on the 

considerable task of writing a history of meteorology 

in New Zealand. This was published as Sails to 

Satellites in 1986 by the NZ Meteorological Service 

and remains the standard reference work on its 

subject.

Eric Dempster 

Eric Dempster MBE, attended 

Wellington College from 1938 

- 1939. He was a talented 

left-hand batsman, who sold 

his wicket dearly and a left-arm 

finger spinner who relied on 

accuracy rather than spin to get him wickets. 

He played for Wellington from 1947-48 until 1960- 

61. One of the features of his batting in the middle 

order was that he tended to shine in adverse 

conditions. He had the ability to defend dourly or 

attack with relish. He made one first-class century 

in 1956-57 against Canterbury, 105, and shared a 

sixth wicket partnership of 140 in 118 minutes with 

WCOB, John Beck, who made 56. 

He played five tests for New Zealand between 

1952-54 and toured South Africa on New Zealand’s 

inaugural tour in 1953-54. 

He played his entire club cricket for Midland and will 

be forever remembered as a forthright captain who 

was a martinet. He believed that a senior player 

should look a senior player and his teams that won 

three senior Wellington Championships were the 

best turned –out in the history of Wellington cricket. 

He left Wellington for Dunedin in his role as an 

orthopedic technician making prosthetic limbs. He 

became the District Manager of the Dunedin Limb 

Centre and in his spare time he became a cricket 

umpire who controlled 14 first-class games and 

three international limited overs games. 

In 1986 in the Queen’s Birthday Honours he was 

made a Member of the British Empire, MBE, for his 

service to the disabled and cricket. 

Don Neely 

Bill Drake 

Bill Drake, a long-time member of the Wellington 

Alpine Club passed away earlier this year in Santa 

Fe, USA. Those who knew Bill will remember him 

as a keen ski-tourer, climber and tramper. His love 

of the outdoors was reflected in his photography, 

and his work and hobby of map making which was 

recognised world-wide. He leaves many friends with 

fond memories of trips to remote and wild areas of 

the mountains. 

Henry Gaskin 

Wairarapa tennis has lost one of its true identities. 

News that Henry Gaskin had passed away at 

Wairarapa Hospital in March will have many happy 

memories flooding back for those who had the 

pleasure of enjoying his company, on or off the 

tennis court. One wonders how many of them would 

have blinked in disbelief in reading that Henry was 

actually in his 80th year. 

It only seems like yesterday that the name Gaskin 

was regularly appearing on the scoresheets of 

regional one inter-club games. But that’s hardly 

surprising because Henry was, in fact, still a member 

of the Masterton club’s premier team into his late 

50s and early 60s. 

Not only that, he was regularly beating players who 

were often one-third of his age. 

The Henry Gaskin playing style had no frills about it. 

Yes, he could be an astute tactician but he was never 

into long rallies. 

For Henry if the opportunity was there to hit a winner 

he went for it no holds barred. In his heyday the 

power of his ground shots had many a higher rated 

opponent grasping at thin air, and that wasn’t only at 

club level but in the many hundreds of representative 

games he played for Wairarapa as well. 

The advent of Masters tennis was a boon for Henry. 

He travelled widely to compete against those of his 

own group and, it goes without saying, the results 

were impressive. Most of the tennis there is of the 

doubles variety and Henry relished that discipline, 

the power of his shots often having players at the 

net scrambling for cover. 

The fierce competitiveness shown by Henry on the 

court was the exact opposite of his demeanour 

off it. He had the gentlest of natures and his quick 

wit was always apparent. Laughter was in the air 

whenever he was around. 

Henry’s elder brother Albie attended the College 

from 1940-1944. 

Wairarapa Times Age 

Bryce Gunn 

They no longer make doctors 

like Bryce Gunn. He turned 

out any time of day or night 

for a sick patient. People 

came to his home and knew 

they would always get help. 

Often he was paid in garden 

vegetables or with a fresh-baked cake. Son Graeme 

(1964-1965) says his father was not in it for the 

money. 

In the wild Coromandel of 60 years ago Bryce’s 

Dodge car commonly became an ambulance taking 

sick or injured to hospital. At least, once a body was 

tucked into the boot for a long ride from the rural 

outback to the Coromandel Hospital mortuary. 

For five years in the 1950s Bryce (backed by his 

doctor wife, Meredyth) was the sole general 

practitioner in the Coromandel peninsula. The 

roads were poor and unsealed. Coromandel was 

considered ‘remote’. 

In 1958 they moved to Cambridge where there were 

four doctors and room for a fifth. They established 

a medical practice. The surgery was a room in their 

home. The practice was a 24-hour-a-day sevenday-a-week 

job and Bryce and Meredyth swiftly 

became a part of the community. Bryce was part 

of the cricket scene, the Cambridge Golf Club, the 

Cambridge Harness Racing Club, Deputy Mayor 

and at one point – a community leader. Meredyth, 

mothering two sons and two daughters, was the 

family representative in educational organisations, 

and ‘the doctor is in’ when Bryce wasn’t. 

Two with professional commitments, family 

commitments and community commitments, is a 

recipe for stress, and by 1973 the marriage wore out. 

Meredyth moved away. Bryce stayed in Cambridge. 

He was a much-loved doctor, loyal to his patients 

and they were totally loyal to him. He continued 

in practice till the 1990s. Computerisation became 

a necessity in the evolution of general practice. It 

was a hurdle Bryce was not prepared to face, and 

effectively he retired. Some older patients wanted to 

stay with their old-fashioned doctor (even without a 

computer) and he tended their health needs till just 

a few years ago. 

Bryce’s own health deteriorated in the last decade. 

A brief final illness took him on March 27. He was 87. 

He is survived by his second wife, Dot, sons Graeme 

and David (1955-1958), daughters Diana and Cindy, 

adopted daughter Rebecca, nine grandchildren and 

four great-grandchildren. 

Bryce was the oldest son of Mafie and Harold Gunn 

and was born in Christchurch on December 20, 

1923. His father was a health administrator with 

the Department of Health. They moved back to 

Wellington. Bryce enrolled at Wellington College 

and was a good student and sportsman. He was in 

the Cricket 1st XI from the fifth form and in his final 

year, captain of the Hockey 1st XI and Head Prefect. 

After his final year he was conscripted into the army, 

trained at Linton Camp, learned to use anti-aircraft 

guns, and became part of the wartime defence of 

Rongotai Air Base (now Wellington Airport). In 1944 

he took his medical intermediate at Wellington’s 

Victoria University and entered Otago Medical 

School in 1945. He played hockey and golf for the 

university and gained a New Zealand University Blue 

in hockey. While at Otago University he met and 

married fellow medical student Meredyth Wilson. 

He completed medical school in 1949, did his two 

house officer years at Palmerston North Hospital, 

and a further year as a medical registrar. 

Bryce and Meredyth headed for Coromandel in 

1953. The unsealed roads were frequently washed 

out or closed by slips. Bryce’s practice took in the 

whole of the peninsula, including Whitianga, often 

a difficult trip. There was a large marae-based 

Maori population and Bryce made monthly visits to 

Colville, Port Charles, Kennedy’s Bay and Fletcher’s 

Bay. There was much obstetric work. 

Son Graeme recounts family lore: the roads were 

so bad the sump of Bryce’s car was always at risk. 

To protect it a steel plate heavy enough to defeat a 

landmine was installed. 

Daughter Cindy Farquhar (a post-graduate professor 

of obstetrics and gynaecology at University 

of Auckland) says Bryce continued to be the 

quintessential family doctor when they established 

in Cambridge. He was involved in all aspects of 

family health including deliveries, elder care and 

child health. He did not run an appointment system 

– patients turned up. Eventually his clinic moved to 

the house next door. 

Graeme, led to cricket enthusiasm by his father, 

says Bryce had no chance to play at Coromandel 

but looked to golf opportunities. He was one of 

those responsible for the establishment of the 

Coromandel Golf Club. Graeme notes that Bryce 

was president of the Cambridge Golf Club in 1966- 

67 when the clubhouse was extended. His services 

to golf over the years earned him membership of 

the elite Waikato Eagles. 

In Cambridge, cricket opportunities quickly offered. 

Bryce played for the Cambridge Cricket Club in 

the era when Cambridge dominated the Hamilton 

senior competition. 

Brian Jonasson, President of the Cambridge Cricket 


Obituaries

Obituaries 

Association, says Bryce’s fellow players credited him 

with above average skills. He was regarded as a very 

quick player, whether in cricket, snooker or golf. He 

was a batsman of great enthusiasm. 

He was reputed to have challenged bowlers by 

advancing down the pitch to meet them before 

they released their delivery, sometimes earning 

the rebuke I’m not ready yet! Although his time in 

whites at Cambridge was towards the end of his 

playing years, he was noted for quick reflexes and 

picking up difficult catches. 

In 2008 Bryce was elected the association’s patron, 

a position he held till his death. His interest in cricket 

never flagged. He generously shared with younger 

players his knowledge of Cambridge and the Victoria 

Square cricketing venue, says Brian. 

Charlie Hunter, president of the Cambridge-Te 

Awamutu Harness Racing Club, says Bryce served 

the harness racing community as honorary doctor 

for more than 40 years. He was elected a life 

member. He bred and raced several trotters with 

some success. Bryce never missed a race meeting 

in more than 40 years as club medical officer. 

He retired three or four years ago when health 

problems became too much. He enjoyed the social 

aspect, was keen on horses and liked a flutter. 

In 1988 Bryce’s services to his community were 

recognised with the Cambridge Community Medal. 

It was a very special presentation by then Governor- 

General and Old Boy, Sir Denis Blundell. 

Bryce was a particular friend to St John Ambulance, 

as were all the local doctors, says one former 

ambulance officer. He did a lot for Cambridge. 

Bryce’s funeral was a private family function 

followed on April 8 by a memorial service held in the 

Cambridge Raceway Alf Walsh Lounge. There was 

a large attendance. Among those paying respects 

were dozens of Bryce’s former patients including 

many middle-aged people that his doctor’s hands 

helped deliver into this world. They acknowledged 

he was from a different era. 

Roy Burke (1946-1947) 

Ken Gunn 

Ken Gunn was born at Roxburgh, Otago at the 

beginning of the Great War; the third child of 

a family of five boys and one daughter. At the 

age of four his family moved to Pleasant Point near 

Dunedin. His father, a Presbyterian minister, was 

killed tragically in a motorcycle accident leaving his 

mother Annie to bring up a young family in poor 

circumstances with Jim still to be born. 

The family later moved to Wellington and it was 

there that the boys had their secondary schooling 

at Wellington College (Arthur, 1926; Ian 1929; Ken, 

1936; James 1933) and was perhaps the oldest 

living Old Boy at the time of his death. 

After leaving school he took up employment with 

the Railways. He always wanted to be an engineer 

but his application for an engineering scholarship 

through the Railways was turned down because 

of his young age [15] and the opportunity to go to 

University was apparently lost. 

In 1935 shortly before his 21st birthday he moved to 

Samoa where he took up a position as a very young 

manager of a copra plantation. He married Joy in 

1940 and worked in Wellington in the Public Service 


before moving to Auckland with his young daughters 

Bonnie (Jenny) and Fairlie to begin his own business. 

He later worked at NZ Insurance and studied for his 

accountancy exams at night, obtaining a position 

at Crown Lynn as an accountant and rising to a 

directorship at Ceramco and ‘right-hand- man’ to 

Tom Clark. His job at Ceramco took him around 

the world, visiting the famous English potteries, 

trade missions to Korea and Japan, discovering and 

exploring developing clay deposits and quarries 

from North Auckland to China. He enjoyed a highly 

successful business career at Ceramco. 

Retirement gave him time to pursue his many 

hobbies; writing [including the family history], 

painting, woodturning, bee-keeping, gardening and 

skiing until age 89, and travel. 

He always had some project on the go and was a 

delightful dinner companion, able to converse on 

any subject - travel, sport or politics. 

He held endearing and admirable qualities and 

was really a true product of his age and generation 

which served him well all his life. Faced with early 

hardships he showed the grit and determination of 

a Southern man with patience and stickability to the 

task in hand. 

He was blessed too with physical strength developed 

from his love of outdoor pursuits — tramping, 

mountaineering and skiing. He was erudite and 

learned as demonstrated by his writings, his artistic 

talents, his skill with his hands - an extraordinary allrounder. 

A devoted family man, he maintained traditional 

ties with Scotland and the Shetlands but he was also 

modern and forward—looking with his acceptance 

and adjustment to modern technology. He had 

great rapport with his grandchildren and special 

pride in his great-grandchildren and will be sorely 

missed as head of the family. 

The Gunn Family 

Arnold Hansson 

In the 2010 Lampstand, 

we made special mention 

of Arnold Hansson who, 

from the proceeds of selling 

his beloved woodworking 

tools made a very generous 

donation to the College’s Technology Department 

which enabled them to buy a specialised laser 

cutter. 

Arnold was the only child of his father Arnold (born 

Hansen) and an English mother. His father was a 

forestry expert who migrated from Norway (near 

Oslo) to eastern Canada in the early 1900s and 

probably changed his family name at the same time. 

He served in the Canadian forces in WWI and met 

his future wife in England at that time. 

Arnold (snr) was a graduate of Yale but deterred 

Arnold from attending university of the ground 

that (in his opinion) having a university degree did 

nothing for him. 

Arnold was one of nature’s gentlemen and had many 

talents, to say nothing of his painting. He was an 

only child. He was only married once to a divorcee, 

I believe and there was no issue from that marriage. 

I have the impression he as very much liked at Kapiti 

for all of his fine talents and as a person. 

He did mention to me once that he saw something 

of nephews and nieces of his wife who was an 

Australian. I believe that Arnold worked mainly in 

advertising and this is how he met his future wife. 

Arnold was a very talented painter and was featured 

on television last year with regards to his passion. 

Bob Balchin (1943-1945) 

Roger Hay 

Roger Hay, Architect, long 

time Arch Centre member, 

recent Fellow of the NZIA, 

tireless battler for the rights 

of the disabled and a scourge 

of incompetent officialdom 

everywhere, passed away in September 2010 aged 

76. Roger will be missed by many for his tireless 

championing of the rights of the disabled and for 

his work on revising the building code. Suffering 

from bad emphysema, and with his partner Valerie 

disabled as well, he knew first hand how hard it is to 

be disabled in the modern world. 

Born in 1934, he attended Wellington College 

from 1949-1952 and then gained his degree in 

Architecture at Auckland in the 1950s. He worked 

for the Ministry of Works on projects such as the 

massive South Island hydroelectric dams, and 

their powerfully massed structures housing New 

Zealand’s turbine power, including the mighty 

Benmore power station. He was taught in the days 

when all standards were set, firmly, by the MoW, 

and this continued on in his time with the NZ 

Standards Association. 

His love of getting details correct, and of setting 

out his argument in a logical, numerical manner, 

probably was generated in this period of his life. 

He continued his work with IBS in the 1960s, 

and still had a passionate fervour for systems to 

logically industrialise buildings. Roger wrote a 

lengthy, detailed and carefully structured appraisal 

of Invercargill in 1963 The Face of Invercargill – A 

Critical Survey for the NZIA Journal, which probably 

still stands as one of the better discussions of 

architecture in our southernmost city. Other written 

works for the NZIA journal include an article on 

Professionalism, The Fire Bylaw – a Trojan Camel… 

on Two for Te Aro and Control Debate on the battle 

with the law over Building Standards 

. 

Roger was an active member of the Architectural 

Centre, being the Secretary in 1961, and on the 

committee in 1967 – 68, where he was responsible 

for the newsletter. In recent years, Roger has been 

a guest lecturer at both Victoria University and 

Weltec, where his knowledge and entertaining 

storylines will be sorely missed. 

Weltec Newsletter

Jack Howard 

It was with sadness that the Ministry of Defence confirmed that Private Jack 

Howard, from 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, was killed in Afghanistan 

on Sunday 5 December 2010. 

Private Howard was serving with 16 Air Assault Brigade's Reconnaissance Force 

on a patrol ten kilometres south west of the provincial capital of Helmand 

province, Lashkar Gah, when he was fatally wounded during an action conducted 

against insurgents operating in that area. 

Having arrived in the United Kingdom he applied to join the Parachute Regiment 

and subsequently completed the Combat Infantryman's Course held at the 

Infantry Training Centre Catterick, North Yorkshire. On successfully passing out 

in November 2007, Private Howard was posted to 3rd Battalion The Parachute 

Regiment (3 PARA) in Colchester. On joining the battalion, he was posted to B 

Company and deployed to Afghanistan in March 2008 on Operation HERRICK 

8. During his time with 3 PARA, he deployed on exercises in the Netherlands, 

Norway, Kenya and the USA. Throughout this period Private Howard served with 

distinction and was identified by his regiment as a potential high flyer with much 

to offer. 

True to form, in April 2010 he volunteered for service with the Brigade 

Reconnaissance Force and successfully completed the Brigade Reconnaissance 

Force cadre, excelling during the demanding build-up training, before deploying 

on Operation HERRICK 13. During this time he qualified as a sharpshooter and a 

team medic. Right from the outset of the tour he rapidly established himself as 

a leading personality in his section and platoon. His sense of humour and easygoing 

attitude made him an immensely likeable figure whose friendships with 

his comrades spanned both rank and age. He had been at the very forefront of 

all the Brigade Reconnaissance Force operations up to the point when his life 

was tragically taken. 

All of those who knew Private Howard will be poorer for the loss of this engaging, 

compassionate and inspiring young man. He leaves behind his parents Roger 

and Anne, two sisters Charlotte and Isabella, and his girlfriend Sophie. 

Lieutenant Colonel James Coates, Commanding <strong>Office</strong>r, 3rd Battalion The 

Parachute Regiment, said: Private Jack Howard was the archetypal paratrooper. 

Choosing to leave behind a life in his native New Zealand, he volunteered 

for the challenges of service in The Parachute Regiment and rose to those 

challenges time and time again. Jack was selected for service with the Brigade 

Reconnaissance Force [BRF] of 16 Air Assault Brigade and moved across to this 

elite unit from 3 PARA in July of this year. 

He had always aspired to serve in this role, very much in the vanguard of 

operations in Afghanistan, and he fulfilled his aspiration in spades. He was an 

exceptional operator and made a real impact on all those who had the pleasure 

to work with him. This was his second tour in Afghanistan. 

Where others might have chosen the easy option in life, Jack lived his dreams in 

full knowledge of the risks involved. He was a brave and utterly dependable man 

and a good friend to all. The regiment has lost a rising star. "Jack was immensely 

proud to be both a Para and a New Zealander. He was absolutely passionate 

about what he was doing. 

www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations 

Slain soldier Jack Howard‘s (2000-2004) emailed accounts of war in Afghanistan 

told of battles, booby traps, air strikes and near-death experiences, writes 

former Wellington College schoolmate Jonathan Chilton-Towle (2000-2004). 

Jack kept in constant email contact with his friends back in New Zealand, and 

these messages form a journal of his experiences in Afghanistan. He was a 

talented writer. For those of us who knew him well, reading his accounts of 

combat and life in the war-torn country was pretty amazing. He wrote of closerange 

gun battles with the Taleban, calling in air strikes, explosive booby traps 

and near-death experiences. 

News of his death this week came to me when my cell phone rang and the 

number showed up as Jack’s phone. That’s weird, I thought – maybe he’s giving 

me a call from his base. But when it turned out to be his dad on the line, a feeling 

of dread began to grow. 

Jack has been killed in action, Roger Howard told me in a shaking voice. He 

wanted to let his good mates know before it becomes official. It felt like being 

hit with a baseball bat. I just stood there stunned for a while, and then I knew 

I needed to get home. I walked through the central city in a daze. Everyone 

around me seemed so happy going about their lives without a care in the world, 

and at that time I hated them for it. 

My family shared my deep sense of shock and loss. I remember thinking over 

dinner that if things are this bad in my home, the horror facing Jack’s parents 

must be unimaginable. After dinner, mum gave me a lift over to my friend Alex’s 

place. A few of Jack’s closest friends gathered there to remember him and to 

help each other cope in that black time. Everyone seemed as stunned as I was, 

and many people’s eyes were red from crying. We talked of the past and the 

good times we had with our friend. 

I came to know Jack in the third form at Wellington College. I’m ashamed to say 

I don’t recall the first time I met him, but he was part of the group of people I 

began to hang out with regularly. 

Jack was a great guy and had all the qualities that were most important in a man. 

He was confident, determined, ambitious, intelligent, charming and a natural 

leader, but most of all a good and loyal friend. I always thought he would go far. 

He was popular with everyone in the school and although he was not a prefect, 

he was a top student and was heavily involved in extra-curricular activities, 

especially drama which he loved. 

Jack always had a martial streak in him. He was fascinated by all things military, 

he loved reading military history, going paintballing, watching war films, and 

even tabletop war gaming. He was also involved in the Air Force Cadets after 

school and had a leading role in that organisation by the time we graduated. 

We were not surprised when Jack decided to join the NZ Army after school. He 

attempted to enlist as an officer and although he did well in the selection tests, 

he was rejected because they said he was too young and they wanted him to 

have more life experience. I know that it was Jack’s ambition to return to NZ 

and enlist as an officer again once his service in the paratroopers was done, 

and there is no doubt in my mind that had he returned he would have made a 

fine officer. 

Jack was pretty down after failing army selection. He came to join the rest of us 

at Victoria University, but he didn’t enjoy it. He once told me that he was ‘burnt 

out’ and that he felt his study was ‘irrelevant’. He wanted to do something 

more in his life. Jack quit university after first year and flew to the UK, where he 

enlisted in the British Army as a paratrooper. 

A lot of people thought he was crazy for doing it and told him so, but he would 

not be dissuaded from this goal. Jack passed the rigorous paratrooper training 

with flying colours and soon enough he was serving his first tour of duty in 

Afghanistan. 

My heart goes out to Jack’s family. The grief and pain they faced must be a 

thousand times worse than my own. I want them to know that they do not need 

to suffer alone. Jack had many friends and every one of us is there to help bear 

this terrible burden. 

Rest in peace, Jack Howard – you were the best among us and you will be 

missed. 


Obituaries

Obituaries 

Roger Littlejohn 

It is with sadness that we 

report that Roger littlejohn 

died on the morning of 6 

March, 2011, following a battle 

with secondary melanoma, 

having just turned 56. 

Roger was employed as a statistician with 

AgResearch (formerly Ministry of Agriculture 

and Fisheries), based at the Invermay (Mosgiel) 

campus, from August 1983 until his death. He was 

an expert in the analyses of time series and in the 

application of hidden Markov models, and made 

major contributions in the analysis of hormone 

profiles and data on animal positions through time. 

He devised practical solutions to the diverse range 

of problems that were presented to him and was 

greatly appreciated by his workplace colleagues. He 

contributed to over 200 publications. 

He contributed to the wider statistical community 

in a number of ways, including being a committee 

member of the NZ Statistical Association. Roger 

was the Editor of the NZSA newsletter 2002-2006, 

President of the NZSA from 2006-2008, and NZSA 

Webmaster J2004-2010. For the last few years Roger 

has been the ANZJS Non-Editorial Management 

Representative and on the Awards Committee. He 

was a member of several conference and workshop 

organising committees, as well the board of 

directors for the NZIMA Hidden Markov Models and 

Complex Systems programme. He also contributed 

a number of time series procedures to the Genstat 

procedure library. 

Roger was always ready to help and promote others, 

as was seen in his mentoring of a number of project 

and thesis students. His own contribution on writing 

work plans is a testament to his eloquence and 

humour. 

Away from work Roger was an active member of 

the dramatic society, and of his church. He was 

a devoted father and husband. He leaves his wife 

Annette and two children, Jeremy and Tabitha. 

Roger will be missed as a colleague and friend by 

us all. 

AgResearch Stats Team 

Ross Lynneberg 

A 

new signature was added to the National Army 

Museum’s wall in the museum’s popular Prisoner 

of War display. The wall contains signatures of 

New Zealand POWs from all services, including 

those of Charles Upham VC and Jack Hinton VC. 

More recently, the National Army Museum was 

lucky enough to have added that of Ross lynneberg 

(# OSAKA14/619). 

Ninety-two year old Ross Lynneberg served in 

the Pacific with the Royal NZ Navy before being 

transferred to the Royal Navy. He arrived in Hong 

Kong the day before the Japanese attacked Pearl 

Harbour, the same day they bombed Hong Kong. Like 

many others, Ross was captured by the Japanese in 

Hong Kong on Christmas Day, 1941. 

Nine months later he was shipped to Japan together 

with 1,816 other captured Allied soldiers on the 

troopship, Lisbon Maru. The troopship carried no 

Red Cross markings to indicate POWs were aboard 

and was torpedoed by the USS Grouper and severely 


damaged. The Japanese troops aboard were 

transferred to another ship but the POWs were left 

locked in the holds with no food or toilets. Beriberi 

and dysentery were rife, and the Japanese were 

going to leave the POWs to drown. 

As the ship began to sink some of the POWs escaped, 

some were shot, others were killed in the water and 

others including Ross jumped overboard, swam for 

a few miles before being picked up by a Japanese 

patrol boat. Only half of the men who boarded the 

Lisbon Maru made it to Japan alive, and a further 

200 died soon after arrival. 

Ross spent the remainder of the war in POW 

camps, serving 1,374 days in captivity. He suffered 

malnutrition, beriberi, malaria, and was subject to 

cruel and unusual punishment. He also witnessed 

the bombing of Hiroshima and remembers seeing 

the B29 fly overhead and the huge mushroom cloud 

explosion. He is a living piece of history and the 

National Army Museum gives its heartfelt thanks to 

Ross for sharing his story and adding his signature 

to the POW wall. 

Alan Main 

Alan Main was born in 

Dunedin. His family 

then lived for a time in 

Napier before moving on to 

Wellington in time for him 

to attend College as a ‘Karori 

Boy’. 

He will be remembered as a very thoughtful, caring, 

competent person and, a natural leader in anything 

he became involved in. At College, he was a School 

Prefect and a member of the 1st XV for two years. 

He considered he had been fortunate to have been 

a student at Wellington College and maintained a 

keen interest in it for the rest of his life. 

Another lifelong interest was in his Scottish ancestry. 

He pursued this when called up to do CMT by joining 

the NZ Scottish Regiment in which he later earned a 

commission. 

He started studying Accountancy at Victoria 

University but did not finish because of a lack of 

money and the fact he was not prepared to impose 

on my parents. Instead he joined Woolworths in 

1954. By 1959 he was the youngest branch manager 

in New Zealand. He went on to become the NZ 

Distribution Manager and, finally, the Auckland 

Regional Manager. In later years he held senior 

positions with a number of large national companies 

finally retiring in 1999 at which time he owned his 

own kitchen appliances business. 

Alan had an acknowledged expertise in the world 

of retail marketing where he achieved a national 

reputation. He lectured in this subject at university 

level and was prominent as the leader of a number 

of organisations in this field namely, at various 

times, the president of the Wellington, Auckland 

and New Zealand Retailers’ Associations. Finally he 

became the inaugural President of the NZ Retailers 

and Merchants Assoc. 

After retiring Alan was an active golfer, a mentor 

for small business operators and keen overseas 

traveller. He was also President (for two years) of his 

Probus Club. It was typical of this man that he took 

great pride in, and was completely loyal to anything 

he became involved in. Nowhere was this more 

apparent than with his regard for his own family. He 

is survived by his wife Judy, three children and four 

grandchildren. 

Alan died after a long battle with cancer. During this 

time he didn’t waste time bewailing his fate. He got 

on with life. He was a brave man. 

John Laurenson (1951-1955) 

Bill Matson 

The Kapiti and international 

swimming community are 

mourning the passing of 

Bill Matson, who died, on his 

birthday, aged 72. 

He was the boy from the bay who met the Pope 

and the Royal Family, but always had time for his 

grandchildren and the Raumati Swimming Club, said 

his family. 

Bill, who lived in Waikanae, dedicated more than 

40 years to swimming administration and was Vice 

President of FINA, the international federation for 

aquatics, since 2005. 

He died following surgery in Shanghai, China, while 

attending the FINA World Championships. 

Born in Oriental Bay in 1939, Bill began work for 

the Labour Department in 1957 after he finished at 

Wellington College. 

A keen cornet and trumpet player, he played in 

bands around the country and in the early 1960s 

was national cornet champion. He played for 

the national orchestra until they became fully 

professional and wanted Bill to join. His wife Joan, 

whom he married in 1962, said music was a hobby 

to Bill, not a career. 

The couple had two children, Paul and Sue, and 

moved to Hamilton and Dunedin for Bill’s work. Paul 

was given swimming lessons for his fifth birthday and 

from there Bill joined the local Dunedin swimming 

club and started his decades-long involvement with 

the sport. 

Mrs Matson said her husband was a good 

administrator and the family joked that Bill could 

not swim two strokes to save himself. That’s the 

irony of the whole thing, said daughter Sue. 

Bill retired at 60, as Deputy Secretary of Defence, 

after 42 years’ public service. Son Paul said the 

world of swimming kept Bill busy — something to fill 

in the hours when he wasn’t playing golf. 

The family estimated Bill spent between 15 to 30 

hours a week volunteering, depending on what 

competitions were on. He held many administration 

roles locally, nationally and internationally, including 

Past President and Life Member of Swimming New 

Zealand and also of the Wellington Swimming 

Association. 

Bill was president of Oceania Swimming Association 

from 1991 until 2008 and was only the second 

New Zealander to be elected to the FINA Congress. 

Last year he was appointed an <strong>Office</strong>r of the New 

Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for his services to 

swimming. 

Through his voluntary roles, Bill met the Pope in 

Rome in 2009 and nearly all of the royal family, bar 

the Queen, said his family. Mrs Matson said her

husband, who grew up in Titahi Bay, used to say, 

what’s a boy from the Bay doing here? when he was 

travelling the world and meeting famous people. 

He’s a good one to play six degrees of separation 

because he would normally nail it in one or two, said 

Sue. However, Bill still enjoyed popping down on 

a Sunday night to Raumati pool, said Mrs Matson. 

He had a dry sense of humour, but despite his hard 

exterior was a gentle giant on the inside. He would 

only let you through if he wanted to, but he was all 

soft and smushy inside. 

Alex Miller 

Environmentalist Alex 

Miller, who was honoured 

for his efforts on the West 

Coast, died of cancer aged 

70. The Franz Josef man was 

awarded the New Zealand 

Order of Merit in 2007 for his conservation work on 

the West Coast. 

A friend and colleague said Alex will be sorely 

missed by the conservation community. Alex 

possessed a unique talent for mediating difficult 

discussions - a skill particularly useful during his 

time on the West Coast Conservation Board. He was 

also former ranger for Totaranui and Franz Josef and 

more recently, he was known for his work designing 

a Cessna to be used for tracking birds in a kiwi 

recovery programme. 

Alex was a half-owner of the company and lived at 

Docherty Creek just down the road from Franz Josef 

Glacier where he owned his own private airstrip. 

His experience as a ski plane pilot goes right back to 

the days of the Mount Cook company. In the early 

1990s, he purchased the West Coast operation but 

continued to use the Mount Cook name and pooled 

the two Cessna 185 ski-planes he purchased with 

the Mount Cook fleet. Eventually, the Mount Cook 

side of the operation came up for sale and Alex 

teamed up with Richard Royds to take full control of 

the ski plane operation. Prior to flying ski planes for 

a living, Alex was a national park ranger and before 

that, a mountaineering guide. 

David Mitchell 

David Mitchell, poet, writer, 

performer, teacher and 

cricketer, died in June this 

year. He was arguably one of 

New Zealand’s finest poets, 

and certainly one of the more 

innovative. 

David Mitchell was born in Wellington in 1940. He 

was a keen sportsman in his younger years. His 

biographers Martin Edmond and Nigel Roberts note: 

He enjoyed cricket, rugby, fives, swimming, diving 

and water-polo. At Wellington College in the 1950s, 

New Zealand captain John Reid named Mitchell 

as one of Wellington’s five outstanding schoolboy 

cricketers. At rugby, he was a second five-eighth and 

coached by Sam Meads, cousin of Colin and Stan. 

His first poem publication was in the Wellington 

College annual The Wellingtonian. 

After school he attended Victoria University (1958- 

59), then graduated from Wellington Teacher’s 

College in 1960 and taught his probationary year 

at Upper Hutt Primary School, before leaving New 

Zealand for London in 1962 (doing casual and relief 

teaching) and travelling to Europe. Overseas his 

experiences drastically altered his poetry and he 

returned to Wellington in 1964 somewhat ahead of 

his time. 

Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, David quickly 

established himself as a leading poet on the 

New Zealand poetry scene (especially with the 

publication by Stephen Chan and later Trevor Reeves 

of his collection Pipe Dreams in Ponsonby (1972, 

1975). In 1975, he received the Katherine Mansfield 

Memorial Fellowship to Menton in France. David 

was often the iconic poet of the period, as Peter 

Olds wrote: David was good with the girls, he looked 

good, he dressed well, he spoke well…while people 

admired him I think they secretly envied him. 

Throughout this time, he lived variously across the 

Tasman (Sydney, Wellington and Auckland) and 

worked briefly in the Education Department in 

Wellington in the mid 1970s. 

Perhaps health issues and concerns or retreat 

from literary fame dogged much of his life after 

the 1970s. His poetry output was seldom in print. 

However, he worked as a teacher for 30 years, and 

in the 1980s co-founded the successful poetry 

readings at the Globe in Auckland (now continuing 

at various venues as Poetry Live), later completed a 

BA at Victoria University, and he kept up his cricket 

interest playing club cricket mostly for the Grafton 

Club until 2002. His biographers note: Cricket was 

poetry, David said. 

Despite publishing little, his poems made their way 

into major Oxford and Penguin anthologies of New 

Zealand poetry as well as specialist anthologies like 

James Bertram’s New Zealand Love Poems, Alistair 

Paterson’s open form - 15 Contemporary New 

Zealand Poets, Alan Brunton, Michele Leggott and 

Murray Edmond’s Big Smoke: New Zealand Poems 

1960-75 as well as journals like Printout and Poetry 

NZ in the 1990s. 

Yet it wasn’t until 2010 when his friends Martin 

Edmond and Nigel Roberts put together his selected 

poems, Steal Away Boy: The Selected Poems of David 

Mitchell (Auckland University Press) that he again 

appeared in book form. That same year, in declining 

health, he was also very happy to be included in 

the anthology A Tingling Catch: A Century of New 

Zealand Cricket Poems 1864-2009. 

David is survived by his two daughters: Sara and 

Genevieve. 

David’s presence will be missed. Like Syd Barrett, 

the Pink Floyd founder, who in some ways mirrored 

aspects of David’s life towards the end: his crazy 

diamond will shine on. Wish you were here. 

(More about David at his blog: davemitchellpoetry. 

blogspot.com) 

Mark Pirie (1987-1991) 

Graeme Moody 

One of the amazing things about sports 

broadcaster Graeme Moody’s premature death 

was to learn that he was 60 years old. 

Moody – ‘Moods’ to so many of his mates - was not 

one of those overweight sports reporters who did 

no more than watch from the sidelines. He was fit, 

active and perpetually young. 

He biked from the family home in Seatoun to work 

at Newstalk ZB in Abel Smith Street each day. He 

started cycling seriously several years ago when a 

dodgy knee caused him to stop jogging. 

He was also a keen yachtie. As a youngster he had 

been a talented cricketer and rugby player, good 

enough to spend three years in the Wellington 

College 1st XI, which he captained, and four years in 

the 1st XV, of which he was vice-captain. 

But his real sports love was surfing, which made 

his death by drowning in Australia while surfing all 

the more ironic. He loved nothing more than to get 

out in the surf at Lyall Bay or, even better, up the 

Wairarapa coast. 

He was always so full of bounce that his death was 

even more devastating to his legion of friends. 

His funeral at Old St Paul’s drew more than 500 

mourners. 

Graeme attended Karori Normal School and later 

remained at Wellington College until he was 19, 

returning in his last year, he said primarily for sport. 

He did the journalism course at Wellington 

Polytechnic in 1971. From there, he took a job at 

the Whakatane Beacon. He stayed in the town and 

moved to Radio IXX. 

Though he loved sport, he covered everything in 

Whakatane, from the Matata Water Board to the 

local council. l was playing rugby and reporting it, 

he said last year. To read the reports you’d think I 

played quite well. Whakatane was where he caught 

the surfing bug - and won two Royal Humane Society 

awards for surf rescue. 

He had a stint in Australia, doing odd jobs, such as 

labouring and spraypainting the inside of fridges, to 

fund his surfing obsession. 

When he returned to Wellington in 1973, his life 

turned around. He met his future wife, Bev Wood, 


Obituaries

Obituaries 

who was training to be a teacher, So l did three years 

at Wellington Training College, followed by three 

years primary school teaching in Auckland, he said. 

The two married in November, 1976, and settled 

in Wellington, where Graeme finally turned to his 

true calling, sports reporting. He'd been practising 

since he was six. He was enthralled by the rugby 

commentaries of Winston McCarthy and after a big 

game, would rush into the yard of the family home 

in Croydon Street, Karori, and score wonderful tries, 

describing them in his best McCarthy imitation. 

At the 2ZB offices in Wellington, he impressed with 

his knowledge and enthusiasm, so much so that 

some of the more seasoned and less industrious 

sports broadcasters got a bit sniffy initially, feeling 

he was showing them up. 

Graeme came to national attention as a rugby 

commentator during the controversial 1981 

Springbok tour of New Zealand, when he and 

John Howson covered the matches for Radio New 

Zealand. Graeme covered the news side of the 

tour. John was perceived as pro-tour and I was 

perceived as anti-tour, he explained. John was the 

No 1 commentator and I was there to provide the 

balance. But it wasn’t like that. John was just an 

outstanding broadcaster, and my views on the tour 

really swung, depending on what I’d been seeing 

that day. In the end you would have to say it was 

hard for New Zealand. What a winter that was. 

Graeme’s first test call was the 1987 World Cup 

match between France and Romania in Wellington. 

Five years later, he replaced John McBeth as the 

country’s No one radio rugby caller and for the next 

few years travelled the world covering the All Blacks. 

He was an outstanding commentator, with clear 

delivery, the ability to sum up quickly and a master 

of voice inflexion. 

In 2007, he won the Mobil award for the best New 

Zealand sports commentator. He was always very 

enthusiastic. At the 1990 Commonwealth Games he 

said on air: If Anna Simcic wins this final, I'm going 

off the 10-metre diving board. She did, and he did. 

However, he eventually decided the life of a touring 


commentator wasn’t for him. He'd done two 

Olympics, five Commonwealth Games, four Rugby 

World Cups and countless other rugby tours, but 

was never carried away by the job. 

It was noticeable at his funeral how often the point 

was made that, even in a profession where ego 

often runs rampant, he was exceptionally modest. 

He stopped touring because he preferred to be 

home with Bev and to do the more simple things in 

life, especially surfing. 

He and Bev bought a shed from the Fort Dorset 

Army Base and had it transported to White Rock on 

the Wairarapa Coast. There they spent many happy 

weekends, often with friends and family. And, of 

course, all that surf was on his doorstep. 

With his friendly personality, he would have been a 

natural for television but never ventured down that 

road. I’ve got good face for radio, he joked. He liked 

the anonymity that radio offered. 

So he became a Wellington broadcasting identity, 

reporting for Newstalk ZB, delivering the sports 

news every day and covering local rugby matches. 

He seemed happy in his own skin and had friends 

everywhere which made his sudden death all 

the more tragic, a hammer blow, as his boss at 

NewstalkZB, Jason Pine described it at his funeral. 

Graeme’s older brother John Moody, attended 

Wellington College 1962-1966. 

Joseph Romanos, The Dominion Post 

Ian Parlane 

Ian Parlane was a member of the Tawa Rugby Club 

for over 50 years. 

With the rapid development of Tawa Flat as a 

desirable place to live together with the post-war 

baby boom, there was an urgent need in the late 

1940s for the establishment of schoolboy rugby. At 

the time, the Club had two 11-12 age group teams 

but there was nothing available for younger boys. 

Ian was asked if he would organise rugby for the 

younger set. He accepted the challenge and within 

two years, Tawa had four teams playing rugby on 

Saturday mornings. Not only did Ian organise this 

section of the Club, he was able to set up a fundraising 

team to buy jerseys for the players. This was 

a very successful operation and in the short space 

of a few months, all teams were playing in the club 

jerseys. The title ‘Godfather of Tawa Schoolboy 

Rugby’ sat well with Ian. 

Towards the end of the 1950s, Ian became a 

member of the Executive of the Club and in 1960 

was appointed Club Captain. He held this position 

for three years. In 1994 he was made Life Member 

of the Club. 

Ian was very proud of his achievements within the 

Club and at the 60th Jubilee, he was one of the 

speakers who captivated the members with his 

knowledge of it in the early days. He was a very loyal 

supporter. 

Pat Quinn aka 

The Great Franquin 

After a life of scrabbling 

to make ends meet, Pat 

Quinn hit upon a winning 

formula at the age of 35. In 

fact, he hit the jackpot. As the 

Great Franquin, hypnotist extraordinaire, he wowed 

packed houses in his homeland New Zealand, as 

well as in Australia and Hawaii, earning enough 

money over three years to keep him and his family 

in style for the rest of their lives. At the height of 

his popularity, he received up to 4000 letters a 

week from people seeking cures for their ailments, 

although he was often quoted as saying he was just 

an entertainer. In 1957, John Sands named a board 

game after him called Franquin’s ESP. 

Francis Patrick Joseph Quinn was born in 

Christchurch, New Zealand, on January 22, 1914, 

the second of five children, to Laurie and Edith 

Quinn. His father was a theatre manager and his 

flair for promotional stunts made him popular 

with employers and the public. But in 1919, a stunt 

involving corseted chorus girls displeased the city’s 

bishop and Laurie found himself unemployed. His 

search for work took him and his family all over New 

Zealand and to Australia. 

Pat developed an interest in hypnotism after reading 

George du Maurier’s 1894 novel Trilby. As an adult, 

he loved to tell the story of when, as a nine-year-old, 

he hypnotised a neighbour’s child, curing her of her 

habitual sniffle. 

His introduction to show business came after he 

met Eileen Smithson while on a seaside holiday in 

1932. She was a singer and when her father, Joe, 

who sang, yodelled and played harp and piano, 

organised a charity concert for the unemployed in 

1932, he appointed Pat MC. 

In 1934, Pat became assistant manager of a cinema, 

just as his father had been. He also became breakfast 

announcer on an Auckland radio station and had his 

own show at night, The Film Fan Show, in which he 

and Eileen sang hits from movies. In 1935, the pair 

were married by the station’s manager, the Reverend 

Colin G Scrimgeour. Pat enlisted in the army in 1939 

and, after the attack on Pearl Harbour, was sent to 

Tonga as an intelligence officer. While there, he put 

together a revue that featured dancers, singers and 

musicians, with the cast made of soldiers, nurses 

and whoever else was available. On hearing about 

the show, a US admiral asked Pat to put something 

together for ‘his boys’. With little time and no cast, 

he made a show by combining his showman skills, 

quick wit and hypnotism. 

When the war was over, Pat put his gift of the gab 

to use in a sideshow of a travelling fair. He acted as 

spruiker for the show, which included a motorcyclist 

who rode ‘the globe of death’, two Russian roller 

skaters and a puppet show. His next sideshow act 

was Nella Axion, the Psychic Half Lady, who was 

able to impress punters with her presence thanks 

to her partner, Jenny, who quizzed the people while 

they bought tickets and relayed the information to 

Nella via an earpiece. This successful act broke up 

when Pat, who had been romancing Jenny, turned 

his attentions to Nella. Jenny began to feed Nella 

misinformation, ruining the show. Pat’s next act, a 

50-centimetre horse, was another success. 

It was while working on the sideshows that Quinn

first saw a display of mnemonics and realised it 

would be the perfect partner for hypnotism. 

His Great Franquin stage act began to take shape in 

1949. With his sister Laurel as assistant, he began 

his debut tour in Wellington, at first playing to a 

half-empty house. However, when John Shannon, 

a former sideshow crony and inventive and diligent 

promoter, joined Pat’s small team, their fortunes 

changed. 

It was Shannon who arranged for the use of a 

shopkeeper’s window in the town of Blenheim to 

be used as part of the act: Pat would hypnotise a 

subject and have them stretchered to the shop 

window where they would remain, asleep, until the 

next day’s performance, when he would awaken 

them on stage. This became a standard openingnight 

procedure and the crowd that accompanied 

him from the theatre to the shop and back again 

added to the spectacle. By the time the group 

arrived in Auckland four months later, the Great 

Franquin was a sensation. 

The show’s success was repeated in Australia. He 

opened in Brisbane and by the end of the run, he 

was selling out Her Majesty’s Theatre. 

He and his family moved into a house at Dover 

Heights and he spent three years touring Australia. 

In 1953, having made his fortune, Pat retired from 

show business and went to work on a crayfish 

trawler in Western Australia. A year later, he was 

back on tour. I just got bored doing nothing, he told 

The Sun in 1955. 

He toured Australia, New Zealand and the mainland 

US and played at the 6000-seat Civic Auditorium 

in Honolulu for the second time. He also appeared 

on Groucho Marx’s You Bet Your Life and made 

television specials for channels Seven and Nine. 

He quit again in 1960 but in ‘67, he was back, telling 

The Sun-Herald in early ‘68: I reckon this tour really 

will be the last. I don’t want to be like Nellie Melba. 

This time he was true to his word. He had divorced 

Eileen in 1962 and in 1971 he and his second wife, 

Beris, moved to the Gold Coast, where he spent 

his last decades enjoying the fruits of his property 

investments. He is survived by his daughter, 

Robynne, and granddaughter, Elizabeth. 

John Reed 

In Australia, when John Reed established the 

publishing branch of A H & A W Reed Australia in 

1964, popular and ironical book trade gossip was of 

The New Zealand Publishing Invasion. Timing could 

not have been better. The series of full-colour New 

Zealand books Reeds had published were translated 

into Australian full colour books that covered similar 

genre; natural history, Aborigines and the Australian 

landscape and cities. These were all large format 

books that had not previously been available in such 

abundance of colour illustrations and at relatively 

modest retail prices. 

In Wellington, John had been production manager 

of the book publishing company. In Sydney 

he was managing director of the brand-new 

company. His chairman commissioned the first 

Reed list of Australian titles and John looked after 

warehousing and marketing, before taking over the 

commissioning and publicity. 

In the 1980s, the overall Reed company ran into 

financial difficulty. They had outgrown their financial 

backing, and were facing stronger competition from 

Paul Reeves 

As a Prefect at Wellington College in the 1950s, 

Paul Reeves stood at the gates to ensure pupils 

pulled up their socks and straightened their 

caps before heading home. As governor-general 

three decades later, he was a breath of fresh air, 

dispensing with the stuffed-shirt formality of his 

predecessors. 

Where previous governors-general reserved 

the ballroom at Government House for official 

functions, Sir Paul saw it as the ideal space for 100 

whanau invited from Taranaki for a sleepover. 

Only 15 years before his appointment, New Zealand 

governors-general still wore plumed hats and 

ceremonial uniforms in public. He became the first 

to be photographed wearing running shorts. 

But he also exuded the gravitas and dignity that high 

public office often demands; putting him at the top 

of the list when Labour Prime Minister David Lange 

decided the next governor-general should capture 

the mood for change sweeping New Zealand. 

As someone of Maori descent who easily straddled 

the Māori and Pakeha worlds, Sir Paul was also 

symbolic of the era of reconciliation the Lange 

government hoped to usher in. He was urbane, 

down-to-earth, witty, warm and tangata whenua - 

the perfect choice for a country asserting its newfound 

independence and on a quest for identity. 

For Sir Paul, it was the latest step in a public life 

marked by firsts. As well as being the first Māori 

governor-general, he was the first clergyman to take 

the post, the first Māori to head the Anglican Church 

in New Zealand and the youngest bishop when he 

took the helm of the Waiapu diocese at 38. 

After his five-year term as governor-general ended 

in 1990, he became the church’s first permanent 

representative to the United Nations in New York - 

a post that was followed by significant roles in the 

rewriting of the Fijian constitution and monitoring 

elections in troubled Commonwealth states. 

The man who made the move into Government 

television, radio and UK-based publishers. Such an 

unhappy ending overtook all the locally financed 

book publishers of Australia and New Zealand, 

including Angus & Robertson. 

In the breakup of the Reed company – at the time it 

had five office-warehouses and over 100 employees 

– John was the one who suffered most, for the 

downfall that he was not personally responsible for. 

John had immense gifts, which he passed on to his 

children, a multitude of friends and to his publishing 

business. He had courage, endurance and 

generosity – just weigh these words as you think 

about John, Courage, Endurance, and Generosity. 

He was everybody’s best friend and an 

understanding loving father . 

John went too soon, which is an injustice. He had 

lived a very full life and probably strained his physical 

core by hard work. The publishing century that 

linked Alfred, Clif and John Reed has ended John 

Reed was the last of a century-long dynasty of Reeds 

who were book publishers, and who revolutionised 

book publishing in New Zealand. 

House in November 1985 was very much shaped by 

the experiences of the boy schooled at the college 

next door. 

Paul Alfred Reeves was born in Wellington on 

December 6, 1932, the second son of D’Arcy and 

Hilda Reeves. His father was a tram driver, and with 

little left from his wages after mortgage payments 

on the family’s modest house in working-class 

Newtown, times were tough. 

Sir Paul recalled his start in life with fondness and 

pride. However, taking umbrage when an Auckland 

newspaper said he was raised in one of the less 

desirable inner precincts of Wellington. It happens 

to be the suburb which I loved and where I was 

loved, he said. 

At Wellington College, he was taught by men 

who had just returned from WWII and who were 

looked up to as role models of leadership, courage, 

discipline and duty. 

He learned early, too, to deal with life’s knock backs. 

Despite excelling in his favourite subject, history, he 

unexpectedly failed School Certificate and had to 

repeat the fifth form. 


Obituaries

Obituaries 

His ability to bounce back from disappointment was 

illustrated by his significant academic achievements 

after he left school. He enrolled in Victoria University 

after winning a Sir Apirana Ngata Scholarship, 

and completed an MA before going to St John’s 

Theological College in Auckland. 

He was ordained as an Anglican deacon in 1958, and 

the next year married Beverley Watkins, a young 

teacher who grew up in Karori. The pair met at 

university, but church rules required Sir Paul to wait 

a year after becoming a deacon before marrying. 

Five days after the wedding, the couple sailed for 

Britain, where he took up a scholarship to study at 

Oxford University. He served as curate in two English 

parishes and was ordained a priest by the Bishop of 

Oxford in 1960. 

They returned to New Zealand in 1964 and he 

became the vicar at Okato, in Taranaki. The move 

led to him reconnecting with his Māori roots. His 

mother was from the Taranaki iwi Te Ati Awa and 

he began to learn tikanga Māori from relatives in 


the Puketapu hapu. This awakening of his Māori 

side would lead to close involvement in many Māori 

issues, including the Port Nicholson Block treaty 

claim years later. 

He also began a rapid rise in the church. He was 

elected Bishop of Waiapu in 1970, taking up the 

post in March 1971, became Bishop of Auckland in 

1979 and Archbishop of New Zealand in 1980. 

He took a public interest in social justice and political 

issues, campaigning against racism, poverty and 

nuclear testing. He was a leading supporter of the 

Citizens for Rowling campaign (a failed grassroots 

bid to get Labour Prime Minister Bill Rowling reelected), 

and a vocal critic of sporting contacts with 

South Africa and the 1981 Springbok tour. 

His political activism was a source of controversy 

when Mr Lange confirmed him as governor-general 

designate in March 1985. National leader Jim McLay 

said he had ‘reservations’ about the appointment, 

given Sir Paul’s tendency to express strong political 

views, and warned him to keep his counsel in the 

new role. 

But Sir Paul, who was knighted on becoming 

governor-general, continued to speak out. In 

1986, he pushed the boundary by saying the 

Government’s economic reforms were increasing 

the gap between rich and poor. Mr Lange brushed 

aside the criticism, but rebuked Sir Paul when he 

made similar comments in 1988. 

It was what Sir Paul did behind the scenes that most 

marked his time as Governor-General, however. 

Given a steer by Mr Lange to modernise and 

demystify what many saw as an archaic institution, 

he threw open the doors to Government House. 

He organised public open days and sleepovers for 

whanau from his connection, hiring mattresses to 

deck out the ballroom floor. 

His warmth and often self-deprecating humour 

ensured a more down-to-earth atmosphere at 

Government House. He ensured those invited to 

events there were drawn from a range of socioeconomic 

backgrounds. 

A comment to The Listener just before he took 

up the post illustrated how he was unaffected by 

his lofty elevation in status. What will I be called 

as Governor-General? Looks like it will be His 

Excellency, the Most Reverend Sir Paul Reeves. Hell 

of a long handle, eh? But my mates will still call me 

Paul. 

As his term drew to a close in 1990, he was confirmed 

as the Anglican Church’s first full-time diplomat 

to the United Nations, a three-year appointment 

which included liaising on issues such as refugees, 

famine and the Middle East. Between 1995 and 

1997, he chaired a committee that reviewed Fiji’s 

constitution, with recommendations that paved the 

way for multi-race elections in 1999. He was also 

involved in constitutional reform in Guyana and 

observed elections in Ghana and South Africa. 

He became the inaugural chairman of Toi Te Taiao: 

Bioethics Council in 2002 and the chancellor of 

Auckland University of Technology in 2005. He was 

admitted to the Order of New Zealand in 2007. 

In July this year, he stepped back from most of his 

public duties after being diagnosed with cancer. He 

was buried after a state funeral in August. 

He leaves behind his wife, Lady Beverly Reeves and 

three daughters. Sir Paul’s grandson, Ben Tunui is 

currently in Y10 at Wellington College. 

Sir Paul being knighted by Sir David Beattie in 1985

David Salkeld 

David and Elizabeth with Roger Moses in 2009 

David Salkeld was born in November 1928 in Sea 

Mills, one of the first council estates in Bristol. 

The family soon moved to Monks Road in 

Bristol, where David attended Bishops Road School, 

conveniently situated just over the garden wall. Less 

conveniently David then contrived to catch almost 

every common childhood ailment, (and some not so 

common) and break his arm. 

His mother, a gifted mathematician, coached 

him during long convalescences, and he won a 

scholarship to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital in Bristol, 

taking up his place just as war started in 1939. The 

pattern of resilience in the face of adversity which 

we associate so strongly with our father was set 

early on. 

In 1940, fearing that air raids would cause heavy 

loss of life in industrial cities, his parents took 

advantage of a British Government programme 

to evacuate inner city children to the Dominions. 

Following a gruelling voyage in which the convoy 

he sailed in came under attack, resulting in a detour 

around Iceland during which he later said that he 

had never felt so cold or so seasick, he, his elder 

sister Margaret, and two younger brothers, Donald 

and Oliver, arrived in a welcoming and warm New 

Zealand in October 1940. 

David saw this time in New Zealand as the turning 

point in his life. The family he stayed with, the 

Stewarts, gave him an example of generosity that 

he took as a model for his own conduct. He threw 

himself into school life at Wellington College 

with enthusiasm, learning the clarinet, playing 

fives, joining the swimming team, making lifelong 

friendships. Holidays were spent on farms in North 

Island, where, always accident prone, he managed 

to break his arm again. 

In 1944 he won a place to study engineering at 

Christchurch University, but the end of war in 

Europe was approaching and he was brought back to 

England early in 1945. Back home in Bristol he was 

able to meet his youngest brother, Stephen, born 

in 1943. He returned to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital, 

winning a City senior scholarship for university 

entrance exams in 1945 and 1946, but was unable 

to take up a place as universities were flooded with 

returning service personnel. However, he applied to 

be a lab assistant at Bristol University, and always 

resourceful, subsequently wangled a place to read 

Physics there, graduating in 1949. 

Called up for National Service, to his surprise he 

found the Royal Air Force to be ‘just his cup of tea’, 

perhaps relishing the combination of adventure, 

intellectual challenge and public service that it 

offered. He applied for a permanent commission, 

and spent short periods in Germany and Egypt. 

In 1954, a colleague from Farnborough, Peter 

Stevenson, took him sailing to France and Alderney. 

In Alderney he met Peter’s cousin, Elizabeth, whom 

he married in September 1955 at St John’s in the 

Wall, Bristol. 

In 1962, accompanied by two children, our father 

and mother went to Singapore. There, apart from 

military duties that took him to Thailand and Hong 

Kong, my father sang in operetta, taught us to swim 

and, to the alarm of many of his military friends, 

took us on camping holidays on the beaches and in 

the hills of Malaya, where on one occasion he was 

memorably arrested as an Indonesian spy. 

We returned to England in 1965. Postings in MoD 

and Yorkshire were followed by two years in 

Washington DC as defence signals liaison with the 

British Embassy where his experience of satellite 

communications came into its own. There were 

more family camping holidays, this time in a tiny 

beaten up caravan, touring right across the USA and 

into eastern Canada. David sang with the Embassy 

Players and built lasting friendships with colleagues, 

neighbours and in the congregation of St Andrew’s 

Church, Arlington. 

Returning to England early in 1974, he was seriously 

injured by an IRA bomb planted at the National 

Defence Staff College, Latimer. The bomb left him 

permanently deaf. Hearing aid technology was 

undeveloped, as were public attitudes to disability. 

Never one to accept second best or to dwell on 

what might have been, he chose to be invalided 

out of the RAF in 1975, and in 1976 went to work 

for British Aerospace in Stevenage. He learned how 

to lip read; was an active member of St Nicholas 

Church in Stevenage, and in 1980 renewed his 

ties with New Zealand, visiting Wellington for a 40 

Years On Reunion of his class, from which renewing 

of friendship, many more visits followed. He also 

renewed his connection with the West Country, 

where his parents and brother still lived, buying a 

small house in Bath as a weekend retreat. He and 

Elizabeth were searching for a larger house in Bath 

to move to on retirement when they serendipitously 

came across New House near Corsham. They moved 

here in 1988. 

Retired, but not retiring, David continued to lead 

an active and vital life. He went to study metallurgy 

in the Engineering Department at Hong Kong 

University; where he was encouraged by Brian 

Duggan to go for tests for a different hearing 

aid. We can still remember him telling us he had 

been alarmed by strange sounds on his umbrella 

walking down to the University - it was the noise of 

raindrops, which he hadn’t heard since 1974. The 

new hearing aid proved a sound success, a liberating 

device which accompanied him everywhere. He 

attended church at St Bartholomew’s Church, 

Corsham, volunteering to edit the parish magazine, 

and established it as the lively ecumenical magazine 

it still is today. Following his heart attack in 1994, he 

and Elizabeth have attended the smaller church of 

St John’s Gastard and have been profoundly grateful 

for the worship and fellowship there. 

David’s scientific and historical interests continued 

too. He was twice Chairman of the Society for 

Interdisciplinary Studies, (the STS) and editor of its 

journal. Through this he made new friends across 

the world and engaged in research that stretched 

from the scientific basis for dating archaeological 

evidence to celestial dynamics and explanation 

of unusual patterns of radioactive decay in rock 

formations. He and Elizabeth visited friends and 

family in America, Hong Kong, Australia and his 

beloved New Zealand, and also had memorable 

holidays in Egypt and Hawaii. 

When a major stroke took away his language in 

2003, he battled to regain his speech, and to learn 

to read and write again, in order to continue his 

friendships, conversations and research. He and 

our mother continued to travel the globe, making 

journeys to New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and 

the States only last year. 

David spoke warmly in hospital of the love of family 

and friends. He had wide interests, an unquenchable 

thirst for knowledge and a wonderful sense of 

humour. His delight in puns brought laughter to 

many meal times and is a sin inherited without 

compunction by his children. Indomitable to the 

last, he fought back from many physical challenges. 

David never ceased from exploration. He travelled, 

studied and delighted in life until the end. 

Pepe Erskine and Kim Salkeld, England (April 2011) 

Ted Stewart 

Ted Stewart started at 

Wellington College in 1954. 

He came with a reputation 

as a fine schoolboy cricketer 

having been a Wellington 

Representative at primary 

School level. 

He was quickly into his stride in the ‘elite 4A third 

form’ team. He was an elegant left hand batsman 

who was clearly earmarked as 1st XI material. 

Having achieved this goal at an early age he 

became a fixture in the team with his consistent 

performances. 

At College, he was remembered with affection by 

many of his contemporaries. He never seemed to 

be anything other than a pleasant personality with a 

keen sense of humour and loyalty. 

Ted spent his whole working life in the 

Pharmaceutical Industry and seemed to love his 

work. Cricket however, was his greatest love. He 

joined the Wellington Collegians Club after leaving 

College and very soon was scoring runs in the 

Premier Grade. He continued to play cricket into 

his sixties and was a very loyal and respected club 

member of that club and indeed all that played 

against him. Ted would clearly not have tolerated 

the sledging that is common in today’s cricket! 

Ted was also a keen rugby follower who would 

analyse last week’s game with anyone who was 

prepared to listen. 

His workmates and old team mates alike remember 

him as a good friend. 

Bruce Heather (1954-1958) 


Obituaries

Obituaries 

Harry Stimpson 

Harold Stimpson died with his boots on, and by 

all accounts, that was a fitting way for him to 

go. Harry, as he was known, was found on his 

forestry block during a police search when the 

80-year-old failed to come home for lunch. 

An active and long-standing member of the 

community, Harry was probably best known 

for establishing the family business, Stimpson's 

Pharmacy, in the 1960s, and helping to found the 

Aramoho Shopping Centre in Wanganui. 

An enthusiastic tramper with a passion for plants 

and native trees, Harry liked to find his own way. If 

he could get off the usual tracks and forge his own 

way cross-country, that was what he enjoyed the 

most. As a ‘brilliant’ navigator and map reader, he 

never got lost - not for long, anyway. 

A recent trip to Great Barrier Island was a good 

example of Harry's ‘independent’ way of tramping. 

He had arranged to meet a fellow tramper and get 

on to a newly-laid track. Harry had set off ahead so 

he could set his own pace, and they were to follow 

and meet up at a boat at the end of the track which 

would take them back around to the start. What 

we didn't know was that we had to turn left almost 

immediately, so we carried on ahead. Eventually, we 

realised, and about half an hour after we got back 

this boat came in with him lolling in the back, asking 

where we had been. 

Harry’s bushcraft skills were something to be 

admired, and he would be missed by the club. He 

might not have been as active as he was 20-30 years 

ago, but people still had a huge amount of respect 

for him. Harry could still be found sweeping up 

leaves at the shopping centre long after he retired. 

His family said Harry was a shy man but had a lot 

of friends, thanks to his active involvement in the 

community. As well as the tramping club, he was 

a member of the jazz club, the Cossie club, Probus 

and he would listen to children read at Gonville 

School each week. 

Harry's daughter, Brenda Stimpson, said she would 

always think of him as a man of few words, but great 

presence, who liked a dry joke and had the ability 

to laugh at himself. He was quietly amused by the 

follies of life and was certainly a less-is-more man. 

What you saw was what you got, there was no 

artifice about him, she said. 

Last year her parents took a trip to visit their three 

children living overseas: Bruce in Brisbane, Susan 

in Paris and herself in Los Angeles. While in Los 

Angeles, a friend suggested to her father that they 

tramp up in the San Gabriel Mountains - he was 

worried about how steep it would be, but once 

they got there he left the young bucks in the dust 

- despite being nearly 81, she said. He was gentle, 

kind and generous and would be sorely missed. 

Grant Wheeler 

Grant Wheeler, who was a New Zealand Cross- 

Country representative in 1965 and 1967, died 

recently in England at his home in Chichester, 

West Sussex. 

Grant was a member of the first New Zealand 

team to compete at an International Cross-Country 

Championship in Ostend Belgium in 1965 under 

the management of Ossie Melville. Grant finished 


31st and coincidently also finished 31st at the 1967 

International Championships in Barry, Wales 

. 

He won the Wellington Centre Junior Cross-Country 

title in 1958 and the senior title in 1964. He also 

won the Centre marathon title in 1967. 

The first New Zealand team that competed in 

Belgium in 1965 was: Jeff Julian 6th, Peter Welsh 

16th, Pat Sidon 18th, Norris Wyatt 20th, Bryan Rose 

24th, Geoff Pyne 26th, Grant Wheeler 31st, Barry 

Everett 40th and Alan Parkinson 71st. 

Cyril Whitaker 

Cyril Whitaker, QSM was 

born in Oamaru in 1925 

and his love of aviation 

was sparked when he was just 

four and seated on the lap 

of his father, who took him 

for a flight. That was in 1929, and in 1938, after 

his family moved from the South Island to live in 

Hastings, he would often cycle out to the Bridge 

Pa Aerodrome to watch the aircraft. He served 

his apprenticeship in the auto electrical business 

and also the power industry and at the same time 

furthered his interest in flying at Bridge Pa Aeroclub, 

amassing over three hundred hours in Tiger Moths. 

He joined the local Air Training Corps during the war 

years and met Piet Van Asch, who was his adjutant. 

Having done electrical work for Piet, he eventually 

joined Aerial Mapping as a navigator and at Piet 

van Asch’s bidding took over the Company’s flying 

duties after doing his twin engine training in the 

Royal New Zealand Air Force. It would become a 

long and happy association - with Piet developing 

New Zealand Aerial Mapping. 

Cyril had a long association with the Aviation 

Industry, gaining his Commercial Airline Pilots 

Licence in 1960, and during his distinguished career, 

flew more than thirty different types of aircraft. 

Cyril was a life member of the Hawke’s Bay and East 

Coast Aero Club, and had been patron for the past 

14 years - only recently being unanimously voted 

into that role for another year. Many of the Club’s 

pilots flew a formation tribute after the funeral 

service which was led by an aircraft from New 

Zealand Aerial Mapping - the aviation company he 

was with for 38 years. 

Warwick White 

The life of New Zealand 

adventurer and 

businessman Warwick 

(Waz) White ended tragically 

in Hungary in September, 

2010. 

The 48-year-old had just competed at the Triathlon 

ITU World Championships in Budapest. Hungary 

media reported that he was found on a city street 

in the early hours of Sunday morning after being 

stabbed. He passed away while being taken to 

hospital. 

Waz will be sorely missed by his friends and family, 

including a son and daughter in Wellington, a 

grandson, his mother and sister in Christchurch, 

father in Levin and four nieces and nephews. His 

large network of worldwide friends is a testament to 

his easygoing personality, love of fun and willingness 

to help others advance adventure sports. 

Waz had spent most of the last eight years living in 

South America and Europe. He travelled extensively, 

setting up language schools and adventure 

programmes around the globe and developing 

property. Waz achieved excellence by winning the 

international LTM Star awards held in London in 

the category of Best New agency in 2006, being a 

finalist in 2007 and being short listed for Best Small 

Spanish School Latin America in 2009. 

Before leaving New Zealand he had spent close to 

15 years as a secondary school and tertiary teacher 

in Wellington and the Wairarapa, as well as running 

several adventure tourism businesses, owning the 

Big Coast and sharing his passion for the outdoors 

and the adrenalin rush of sport. 

Waz was a passionate sportsman and adventurer 

all his life, in particular loving running, climbing in 

New Zealand and Nepal, rafting and triathlon. He 

was in representative teams in Christchurch and 

Wellington as a school boy where he attended both 

Christchurch Boys’ High School and Wellington 

College. He also represented New Zealand in 

corporate triathlons in the 1980s. 

When he died, Waz was representing Ecuador at 

the World Triathlon Championships in the 45-49 age 

group where he finished 38th in the men’s sprint 

event. He was due to return home to New Zealand 

to climb Mount Cook later this year. 

Ian Wilson 

Ian Wilson signed on a 

ship to work his passage to 

England. With an honours 

degree in engineering from 

Canterbury University, where 

he had come top of his class, 

he should have had no trouble 

getting a job in Britain. 

The ship turned out to be a tramp steamer, going 

wherever there might be cargo to pick up. This 

meant the voyage to England might take years. 

When Ian discovered this, he left the ship in 

Australia, on the understanding he would sign on 

another of the company’s vessels. Instead, he took 

an engineering position on a giant project to install 

an industrial sewerage system in Victoria. 

In 1995, he married his long-time girlfriend, Ginny 

Holmes, from Masterton and settled into his career. 

Ian would become well known in Christchurch as 

a consulting engineer and a caring person who 

brought energy and cheer to his many pursuits. He 

developed Alzheimer’s disease eight years ago and 

died in January, aged 80. 

He was born and raised in Wellington. After 

schooling at Island Bay Primary and Wellington 

College, he began studies at Canterbury University 

in 1947. His first job was at the Wellington City 

Council’s waterworks, as assistant engineer. 

The couple returned from Australia in 1958 and 

settled in Christchurch. Wilson became design 

engineer for Holmes Engineering and lectured at 

Canterbury University. He much preferred working 

in the field and soon gave up the academic life. 

His work on many construction projects with Holmes 

involved him in collaborations with noted architect 

Sir Miles Warren, who designed the Wilsons’ 1960 

family home on the Port Hills. He later became a 

partner in the firm of Davie, Lovell-Smith.

When work tailed off in the 1980s with the 

economic downturn, the Wilsons ran the St Martins 

Rest Home for twelve years. He also did real estate 

exams and sold properties, then ran Harcourt’s 

property management section. But, always an 

engineer, he established his own consultancy, which 

he ran from home. 

He was active in the Institute of Professional 

Engineers of New Zealand and its British equivalent. 

He enjoyed politics and served twelve years as 

an elected member of the Christchurch Drainage 

Board. He chaired its finance committee. 

His forays into national politics were less successful, 

much to the relief of his family, who wanted to see 

more of him. His involvement in Jaycees led him 

to the National Party, whose ideology of individual 

responsibility and freedom he shared. He chaired 

the Christchurch Central electorate committee. 

However, his tilts at election to Parliament in St 

Albans, Riccarton and Sydenham, respectively, 

failed. Ginny says he was not too upset, as these 

seats were Labour strongholds and, besides, he 

disliked party leader Sir Rob Muldoon. He opposed 

National over the controversial issue of raising 

the level of Lake Manapouri to increase its power 

station’s generating capacity. He argued that an 

equal increase could be achieved by enlarging 

the outfall tunnel. As author Les Hutchins says, in 

Making Waves, later events vindicated him. 

Ian was similarly vindicated over his promotion, 

in the 1960s and 70s, of an ocean outfall pipe for 

Christchurch’s treated sewage, when such a system 

was installed 35 years later. 

His conservation ethic led him to active membership 

of the Save Manapouri campaign, the Christchurch 

Civic Trust, which he chaired in its early stages, and 

the short-lived Scenery Preservation Society. 

Much of his spare time was spent helping others. 

With Jaycees, he made regular visits to show films to 

intellectually handicapped residents at Templeton 

Hospital. Daughter Debbie said, He liked to serve 

the people and loved to help the needy. He allowed 

no discrimination against any groups in society. 

He liked children and, in his thirties, began acting in 

plays for the Children’s Theatre. This led him to the 

Repertory Theatre, with whom he did some acting 

and much administration. He was chairman of the 

Repertory for many years. 

Ian learned to fly while doing compulsory military 

training with the air force in the early 1950s. He then 

joined the Canterbury Aero Club and made many 

flights over the years, often carrying passengers on 

joyrides and scenic excursions. 

He was an avid tramper and photographer, who 

never went anywhere without his camera. He 

played the piano by ear and loved to liven up social 

occasions with old favourites and popular songs. He 

was keen on astronomy and enjoyed playing squash. 

His father came from Scotland and Ian kept the 

Scottish link alive by membership of the Burns Club. 

He missed few Burns Night dinners in Christchurch 

over many years. 

Ray Windsor 

Raymond Windsor, who 

died in Auckland in 

August, aged 83, was a 

distinguished Old Boy who 

achieved renown in several 

spheres. He spent only one year, 1945, at Wellington 

College after transferring from Otago Boys’ High 

School, but in that year he earned 1st XV and 1st 

XI honours, was made a Prefect, won the 6th Form 

Chemistry Prize and both a Turnbull and a University 

National Scholarship. 

He displayed exceptional musical talents, giving 

piano recitals while still at school and later with the 

National Symphony Orchestra. He also had a fine 

baritone voice and performed as a soloist with the 

Auckland Choral Society. 

He devoted his early career to surgery and 

graduated from Otago Medical School in 1951. After 

two years of residency in Auckland hospitals, where 

he met his wife-to-be, Gwen Thompson, a nurse, 

and advanced surgical training in Wellington, Dr and 

Mrs Windsor moved to Britain, where he gained 

specialist surgical qualifications. On returning to 

New Zealand in 1958 he became a research fellow 

and then a locum consultant at Greenlane Hospital’s 

famous cardiovascular surgical unit, training under 

(Sir) Brian Barratt-Boyes. 

A deeply committed Christian, Ray had long 

cherished a desire to serve people of the developing 

world as a medical missionary. He and his wife 

joined the Bible and Medical Missionary Fellowship, 

which sponsored hospitals in India. His first 

appointment was to Mussoorie in North India and 

in the ensuing 20 or so years he served in various 

capacities as a doctor, community healthcare leader 

and administrator in the sub-continent. He was 

made an <strong>Office</strong>r of the British Empire (OBE) in 1983 

for ‘services to the people of India’. Throughout this 

period the Windsors raised a family of five children. 

In 1982 they moved to England where Ray was 

appointed principal of All Nations Christian College, 

a leading missionary training institute. His tenure 

was interrupted in 1985 by news of his mother’s 

ill health and he returned to New Zealand to help 

care for her. He remained actively involved in global 

mission work with a range of Christian organisations 

but in more recent years the onset of Parkinson’s 

disease reduced such activities. 

He died peacefully at home in Mt Albert, Auckland, 

survived by his wife and children. 

David Lawson (1941-1945) 

Jim Galloway 

While serving with the 

2NZEF in Italy WWII, 

Jim Galloway had some 

commonsense knocked into 

him the hard way. 

While on sentry duty on the 

banks of the Senio River, near Faenza, he was shot 

in the head by a German sniper bullet. There were 

entry and exit holes on the top of his helmet. He 

was stunned and his head was grazed as the bullet 

passed through. He found the spent bullet the next 

day in the mud of the sentry trench and held on to 

it, as a reminder of his good fortune, for the rest of 

his long life. 

When he left Wellington College in 1938, Jim began 

work as a clerk in the dairy division of the Agriculture 

Department. He embarked on part-time commerce 

studies at Victoria University and joined the Army 

Territorials, as a member of the Khandallah Platoon 

of the Wellington Regiment, attending weekend 

camps. When war broke out in 1939 he was too 

young to enlist so he continued his studies and 

joined a firm of public accountants. 

In 1942, he enlisted and saw active service in the 

Pacific and at Guadalcanal. He was later sent to 

Italy with the 2NZEF’s 23rd Battalion where he saw 

further action in the advance from Cassino to Trieste 

via the River Po. 

Three of his four grandparents emigrated from 

Fifeshire in Scotland and he always wore his Galloway 

tartan tie when attending pipe band concerts or 

contests. McDonald was his grandmother’s maiden 

name and he was proud of his Scottish heritage. 

After the war, he resumed his studies while working 

in an accountancy firm. In 1949, he joined Odlins 

Timber and Hardware, where he worked for 36 

years until his retirement in 1985. With Odlins he 

was first an assistant accountant and then moved up 

the ranks to assume the roles of company secretary 

and general manager, finance and administration. 

It was at Odlins that he began his association with 

Wellington Free Ambulance and the Odlin Trust, set 

up by the general manager in his time, Charles Odlin. 

It was no coincidence that Odlins was located next 

door to the Wellington Free Ambulance station in 

Cable St. As a member of the Odlin Trust, Jim served as 

secretary, trustee and later chairman of the trustees, 

investing funds for the purchase of ambulances. 

He was a trustee for many organisations. He was 

appointed by the Presbyterian Church Assembly as a 

member of the church property trustees during the 

1970s and 1980s before being appointed chairman 

of trustees from 1982 to 1984. 

He was also a trustee of the NZ Red Cross Foundation, 

following in the footsteps of his father, Malcolm, 

who was general secretary of the Red Cross for 36 

years from 1923 to 1958. Malcolm Galloway had 

earlier won a military cross in the trenches in France 

during WWI. 

In September 2010, Jim was awarded a North 

Wellington Voluntary Service Award for his 

outstanding contribution to Khandallah Presbyterian 

Church. He was a member of the church choir in the 

tenor section and played the piano at the Malvina 

Major Retirement Village for ANZAC Day and other 

services. He also played a prominent role in the 

sporting arena and was a senior rugby player for 

Onslow Rugby Club. He was a long-playing member 

of the Khandallah Bowling Club and a RSA national 

bowls titleholder. 

As a chartered accountant, he gave freely of his time 

to help many people with their tax returns, financial 

affairs and dealings with the IRD. 

Given Jim Galloway’s active altruistic life after 

WWII, there are plenty of people in the Wellington 

community with good reason to celebrate the fact 

that a German sniper was narrowly off target when 

he fired at a Kiwi sentry on the banks of the Senio 

River in Italy 67 years ago. 

The Dominion Post 


Obituaries

Obituaries 

Alexander Grant, CBE 

Alexander Grant (1939- 

1941), who died on 

September 30 aged 86, 

was the Royal Ballet’s most 

remarkable actor-dancer in its 

golden period from the 1940s 

to the 1960s. 

Alexander created such 

indelible roles on stage as the lovable simpleton 

Alain in La Fille mal gardée; Bottom in The Dream 

(dancing on point); the Pirate Chief who raped 

Margot Fonteyn in Daphnis and Chloe; and an 

apparently nude Eros in Ondine. These, and many of 

his other great performances, were in ballets by the 

Royal Ballet’s choreographer Frederick Ashton, who 

would fall deeply in love with Alexander. If Fonteyn 

was Ashton’s muse for female roles, Alexander’s 

influence on Ashton’s more unorthodox male 

characters was no less important. 

As a dancer, Alexander’s brilliance was recognised 

very early in the Sadler’s Wells Ballet; people there 

described him as “like a puppy dog”, and he was one 

of the company’s most popular members. The great 

American critic Edwin Denby saw in his dancing the 

beautiful suspense of an animal pounce, and his 

youthful bravura was enshrined in the scorching 

solo of leaps and turns created for him by Ashton as 

Spirit of the Fire in Homage to the Queen, the ballet 

made for the Queen’s Coronation in 1953. 

As a comic mime, he was generally thought to be 

unsurpassed, able to invest the most eccentric 

roles with true pathos; and while this aspect of his 

performance became celebrated worldwide, most 

men in the company knew that he also outdanced 

them in classical roles. Michael Somes, Margot 

Fonteyn’s chief partner, poured a jug of water 

over Alexander’s head after Sadler’s Wells Ballet’s 

dazzling debut in Los Angeles - Professional jealousy, 

I suppose, Alexander observed. 

Alexander’s activities were just as colourful offstage 

as on. He always felt a bit guilty, he said, for 

introducing Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn to 

the hippie area of San Francisco, Haight-Ashbury, 

where in 1967 they were caught up in a police drugs 

raid and jailed overnight. 

Alexander Grant was born on 22 February 1925 in 

Wellington, New Zealand, the son of hoteliers. He 

was one of two brothers who would become major 

names in the Royal Ballet: Garry Grant, 15 years 

younger than Alexander, later took over many of 

his parts. Alexander resolved to become a dancer 

when he was six. Inspired by the rare tours of 

émigré Russians to the islands, he studied ballet at 

Wellington College, and won a scholarship to the 

Sadler’s Wells Ballet School in 1944. Because it was 

wartime, the London company was short of men, 

and Alexander was swiftly taken into the company 

itself. 

Two years later the former Diaghilev choreographer 

Léonide Massine came to London to stage Mam’zelle 

Angot, decorated by André Derain. Massine seized 

on Alexander for the virtuosic central role of the 

amorous Barber, and it made the young dancer a 

star. Massine and Grant had much less success with a 

Scottish-themed follow-up, Donald of the Burthens, 

designed and composed by Scottish artists, with 

Alexander as the kilted Donald threatened by Beryl 

Grey as the figure of Death. 


Above all, Alexander’s distinction as a classical 

dancer, combined with his mastery of character, 

enabled Ashton to develop what were usually 

subsidiary supporting roles – the bravura trick 

soloists – into key players in the main drama, often 

introducing a provocative sexual charge. 

As a young man, Alexander was lusted after by both 

sexes, as well as by Ashton himself. As the Pirate 

Chief in Daphnis and Chloe (1951), the dancer 

described his orders: I used to have to rush on stage, 

pick Margot up with one hand and run off with her, 

and then ... swing her round and round, throw her 

on the floor and proceed to jump all over her. The 

swooning fans who gathered at the stage door to 

catch a glimpse of him were astonished to find how 

short he was. 

In Sylvia (1952) he had to stand immobile through 

most of Act 1, resembling a naked stone statue of 

the love-god Eros; when he suddenly moved, it 

created a shock much enjoyed by the audience. 

Ashton then cast him as the sailor hero of a Madam 

Butterfly-like ballet, now lost. This was Madame 

Chrysanthème, with an Alan Rawsthorne score and 

a Nagasaki setting, in which Alexander’s insouciance 

underscored the tragedy of the Japanese geisha 

whom he betrayed. 

In 1957 Alexander was closely involved with the 

gestation of Ashton’s ballet Ondine, as the composer, 

Hans Werner Henze, stayed in his Battersea house 

while Ashton and Alexander worked on what would 

be a very radical rewriting of the classical ballet idea. 

Alexander himself danced the Mediterranean Sea 

god Tirrenio, in a stormy whirl of green seaweedlike 

costume ravishingly designed by Lila de Nobili. 

His superb incarnation of the puppet Petrushka 

and his eccentric Dr Coppelius in Coppelia laid the 

foundation for the two most famous character roles 

Ashton then created for him: as the capering halfwit 

Alain in La Fille mal gardée (1960), and Bottom the 

Weaver in The Dream (1964). 

In the first, sporting topknotted hair, he turned 

gawky cartwheels and conveyed a vain hope of love, 

finding solace in his red umbrella when spurned. 

In the second he turned a few short minutes, as 

Bottom wears a donkey’s head and capers about in 

point shoes, into a cameo of great pathos as well 

as comedy. 

When Ashton died, he bequeathed the ownership of 

La Fille mal gardée to Alexander, and its popularity 

kept him busy staging it globally, from the Bolshoi 

Ballet to the National Ballet of Canada, where he 

was Artistic Director from 1976 to 1983. 

Alexander continued to perform character roles 

created for him by Ashton, requiring less active 

dancing but no less powerful characterisation. He 

was the blustering William Meath Baker in Enigma 

Variations (1968) and the dejected husband Yslaev 

in A Month in the Country (1976), opposite Lynn 

Seymour. 

Arguably, the frequency and power with which 

‘older man’ roles recurred in British choreography 

by Ashton and his successor Kenneth MacMillan 

could be traced to the conviction and stage presence 

brought to bear by Alexander. 

He was a keen collaborator on Ashton’s 1971 film 

Tales of Beatrix Potter, in which he performed 

Pigling Bland, repeating his feat from The Dream 

by dancing on point while wearing an enormous 

animal head. The following year, Alexander became 

director of the Royal Ballet’s outreach wing, Ballet 

For All, and was asked to take over leadership of the 

National Ballet of Canada four years later. 

There he was sometimes accused of overloading

the repertoire with Ashton ballets, but by the time 

he left in 1983, the Canadian Ballet also had a wide 

international modern ballet repertoire that included 

work by Kenneth MacMillan, Maurice Béjart, 

Jerome Robbins and rising home-grown talent such 

as the later NBC director James Kudelka. 

On his return to Britain, Alexander was an extremely 

popular guest, in 1984 dancing the Dago in Ashton’s 

evergreen early hit Façade at the choreographer’s 

80th birthday gala at Covent Garden. Alexander also 

had character roles with London Festival Ballet, such 

as Dr Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker and Madge 

the Witch in La Sylphide. 

Vale • Noel Lynch 

Though not an Old Boy of Wellington College, Noel 

Lynch was a long-standing and respected stalwart 

of the Wellington College family - in particular, 

to our rowing community. Noel passed away on 16 

October, 2010. 

Noel was an incredible person and the Rowing 

Club was extremely fortunate to have obtained his 

coaching and mentoring advice over the last decade. 

The boys, coaches and parents who were lucky 

enough to meet Noel, will have fond memories of 

this charismatic approach to the sport of Rowing. 

In 2006, he was awarded a Life Membership of 

the Wellington College Rowing Club. This was 

among many other life memberships that he has 

gained over the years at schools, clubs and rowing 

associations. In 2002, he was honoured with the 

New Zealand Order of Merit for a lifetime of services 

to Rowing and Music. The rowing team gave him 

a Guard of Honour at Government House. This 

involved the boys lining up with rowing oars to form 

a tunnel, so that Noel could walk through, before 

he was presented with this prestigious award. In 

2010, another generation from the Rowing Club, 

who were coached by Noel in their Novice season, 

gave Noel a Guard of Honour, but sadly this time it 

was at his funeral. James Butchers (2006-2010) who 

attended this service has compiled the following 

memories of Noel, from past and present students 

of the rowing team. 

Without doubt, Noel Lynch has provided some 

Alexander Grant is survived by his companion of 

more than 50 years, Jean-Pierre Gasquet, and by his 

brother Garry. 

The Telegraph 

A NOTE FROM THE ARCHIVIST: 

While touring Europe in 1956, my mother and I 

arranged to meet Alexander in a small pub, after his 

performance at Covent Gardens. 

It was a night of much laughter and happy memories, 

as talk of wartime concerts for the troops at 

Paekakariki and the Hutt were recalled. Alexander 

of the fondest memories for Wellington College 

Rowing both on the water and around the dinner 

tables with his singing lessons. It was a very special 

occasion back in 2005 when the rowing squad sang 

in public under the tutelage of Noel. They spent a 

great deal of time practising at the Johnsonville RSA 

in preparation for a fundraiser event and it was a 

real privilege for a lot of the rowers to get involved 

in that performance. Another notable occasion of 

Noel’s singing was a demonstration that occurred 

during one of the notorious and prestigious 

rowing singlet presentations at Assembly. After the 

Headmaster, Roger Moses, asked Noel to say just 

a few words, he proceeded to the podium only to 

proclaim the lack of musical talent among the boys. 

This was followed, as expected of someone with as 

high standards as Noel, by a singing lesson to the 

900 Wellington College students in attendance. 

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was one of the entertainers engaged, my mother a 

wartime driver. 

In 1990, I wrote to Alexander. He remembered that 

long ago evening and kindly sent a pair of his ballet 

shoes, photographs and newspaper clips for the 

newly established Archives of his old College. 

The ballet shoes, photos and concert programmes are 

on display in the Reception Foyer of the College. 

Paddianne W Neely 

Eventually, once the quality had reached Noel’s 

expectations, the singlets were finally handed out 

in front of the reluctant audience as it had now 

dragged into their precious interval time. 

While away on rowing camp, not only did Noel make 

good to his reputation as a musical instructor, with 

numerous threats of ‘I’ll whack you with my stick’ as 

he tried to teach the squad the music and lyrics to 

songs such as Hey Ho, Nobody at Home, but he also 

made good to his reputation as a rowing fanatic. 

Noel had been involved in bringing the sport of 

rowing back to Wellington College and for that 

which we are all extremely grateful. Noel was a 

fine man - as a teacher, musician, rower, coxswain 

and coach - he was always generous with his time, 

advice and praise. That said, he did have a sharp wit 

and tongue – during one spring camp he asked the 

novice coxswains why they should steer the boats 

up the right hand side of the river, most of whom 

replied with an answer along the lines of it being 

something to do with the tides/currents. It was to 

this that Noel replied, No, it's so you don't get hit by 

the bloody boats on the left hand side! 

Obviously a trick question! Noel had a phenomenal 

memory and an interest in all the rowers. After each 

session on the water, he would sit us down and go 

over specific parts of the stroke on which we could 

improve individually, as always looking for the 

best in everyone. On behalf of Wellington College 

Rowing we pay tribute to Noel; a magnificent man 

with a strong spirit and zest for life. 

Email us... 

oldboys@wellington-college.school.nz 

I have News... 

Please send us your news to share with fellow Old 

Boys. 

Don’t forget to send us your change of address if 

you move house or email provider. 


Obituaries

Classifieds 

WCOBA Ties and Badges 

Don’t forget about the Wellington College Old Boys’ Ties and 

Lapel Pins - available for purchase from the WCOBA <strong>Office</strong> 

or via the order form overleaf. 

The Ties retail for $30.00 each and the Lapel Pins are $5.00 each. 

WELLINGTON COLLEGE OLD BOYS' ASSOCIATION 

This is to certify that A. N. Old Boy 

who attended Wellington College 

during 1945-1950, is a Life Member of 

this Association. 

Dated at Wellington, NZ 

this 10th day of October, 2011 

Old Boys may be like to 

subscribe to The Collegian 

(the College’s monthly 

newsletter) to acquaint 

themselves with current news 

of the College and forthcoming 

events. Each issue includes 

news from the Headmaster, the 

Head Prefect and the Board, plus 

coverage of our Arts and Sporting 

activities and success stories 

achieved by our students, plus 

academic news, international 

students’ activities and the Old 

Boys’ Association. 

The Collegian can be emailed to 

you or read on our website (free 

of charge) or you can subscribe to a mailed copy. 

Wellington College Cufflinks 

Old Boys, Mark McKeown (1999-2003) and Cameron Johnston (1999- 

2003) have set up their company Cufflink Suite - they manufacture and 

provide a vast range of cufflinks, including ones made for particular 

schools such as New Plymouth Boys’ High School and St Thomas’. 

At the time of going to print, a sample of the Wellington College Cufflinks 

was not available to show you. However, Old Boys can contact Mark direct 

to get more information about placing an order for College Cufflinks. They 

will retail for $30.00 a set and to see examples of their extensive range, 

visit their website: www.cufflinksuite.co.nz or email Mart at mark@ 

cufflinksuite.co.nz or telephone 04 801-7950 


You can also subscribe to a Life 

Membership to the Association 

for $150.00 which gives you your 

certificate and Lapel Badge, which 

helps support the Association in its 

endeavours with the College. 

Subscribe to the Collegian 

Please complete the fold-out form (right) to order your subscription. Back 

copies can be read on our website: www.wellington-college.school.nz 

(About Us/News/Collegian). You can also catch up with the lastest daily 

College News and Events by going to our Intranet Site: www.mycoll.school.nz 

Wellington 

College Founded 

1 8 6 7 

Home About Us Academic Sport & Culture Enrolment International Our Community Development 

Remember The Archives before 

you go to the tip! 

Are you an Old Boy or former staff member of Wellington College? Do 

you have any relatives or know friends who are? If so, you may be able 

to help the Archives obtain some of the following: 

Memoirs Please send your stories 

Photographs 

College Life; Students, Staff, Old Boys, Trophies, 

Prizes 

Uniforms Caps, Ties, Blazers, Boaters 

Sports Gear Jerseys, Caps, Boots 

Medals Dux, Badges, Awards, War Medals 

Book Prizes Academic Awards 

Art Work Paintings, Sketches 

Books By Old Boy Authors 

Music Recordings by Old Boys 

Reports Academic, Certificates 

Papers Governing Boards, Headmasters, Parents’ Association 

Correspondence Letters to and from Staff, Students and Old Boys 

Please contact Paddianne W Neely • Wellington College Archivist 

Tel: 04 382 9411 (W) • 04 386 2072 (H) 

or Email: oldboys@wellington-college.school.nz 

Rugby Badges 

HAvE YOU PLAYED fOR THE WELLINGTON COLLEGE RUGBY CLUB? 

Were you in the 

1st XV • 2nd XV 

U15 As • U14 As 

U65 As • U55 As 

Here’s your chance to support 

the WCRFC and gain 

recognition for your selection 

into these premier teams. 

Buy one, or more of our gold and enamel badges and wear them with pride 

on your hat, tie, or blazer when supporting your old school on the sidelines. 

Or buy one as a memento for the next generation. Samples above show the 

Club Badge, the 1st XV badge and the Under 15As Badge. 

The Club Badge is $12 each (incl p&p) 

The Team Badge is $15 each (incl p&p) 

Email your order to: rugbybadges@wellington-college.school.nz 

Make cheques payable to: “Wellington College Rugby Club Trust” and 

send your order to: Rugby Badges c/- Wellington College, PO Box 16073, 

Wellington 6242

Will You Help Save 

the Lampstand? 

Dear Old Boy 

You will be dismayed as I am that the future of the Old Boys’ 

magazine The Lampstand is uncertain. 

It is primarily a matter of funding, with the operations budget of the 

College getting tighter each year. 

Yet the strange irony is that we are getting better and better at giving 

every Wellington College student an accelerated start to College life. 

This focus on providing excellent academic teaching requires the 

College to regularly define what expenditure is absolutely necessary 

and what is not. 

With your help, we can continue The Lampstand in its current 

format, size and quality. 

There is a view suggesting that The Lampstand is not essential. Yet 

I know that you will agree with me that it has is a vital place in 

College life. If you enjoy reading this issue, you will consider that 

The Lampstand is an integral part of bringing Old Boys together and maintaining the long-lasting links with your 

old school. 

Imagine leaving Wellington College with no way of learning what former classmates and team members are up 

to. Imagine no WCOB database of Lampstand recipients to invite to reunions. It links strongly with the Old Boys’ 

Association and helps maintain the substantial College Archives. 

If you regard that The Lampstand as an essential publication, your contribution will help cement its continuance. 

Your donation will send a strong message that the Old Boys value The Lampstand, the keeping of the database of 

Old Boys, the continuation of reunions around New Zealand and other parts of the world, as well as maintaining the 

College Archives. 

Using the attached form and pre-paid envelope, please make your donation so that I can inform the College and the 

WCOBA Executive Committee that the response to ‘Save The Lampstand’ appeal has been substantial and a clear 

vote for its ongoing publication. 

If you are able, please make a generous donation, so that next year’s publication is ensured. 

With my thanks for your anticipated support. 

Roger Moses ONZM 

Headmaster, Wellington College 

THE LAMPSTAND, 2011 • 91


The Wellington College 

OLD BOYS’ ASSOCIATION 

and THE ARCHIVES 

PAST � PRESENT � future 

Lumen accipe et imperti

Dear Roger 

I wish to support the Wellington College Old Boys’ Association and the 

College Archives today AND Save the Lampstand... 

With my donation of: 

� $250 � $100 � $50 � $25 � Other: $___________________ 

� I enclose a cheque made payable to Wellington College OBA 

� Please charge my credit card: � Mastercard � Visa 

Cardholder’s Name: ______________________________________________________________ 

Credit Card Number: 

.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|..........|.........|.........|.........| 

Expiry: ........|.........|.........|.........| Signature: __________________________________________ 

Alternatively, donations can be made to the WCOBA Bank Account. 

Please record your details for identification and receipting purposes. 

02 0500 0590254 025 • BNZ, Wellington 

Please return this slip with your donation in the enclosed pre-paid 

envelope after you have completed the details below and overleaf. 

� Tick here if you require a receipt: by email � or by post �. 

� Making a Bequest? Tick here if you would like more information on 

how to leave a gift to Wellington College and/or the Wellington College 

Old Boys’ Association in your Will. 

PERSONAL DETAILS 

Surname: 

Title: � Mr � Dr � Prof � Other: _________ 

First Name: 

Mailing 

Address: 

Post Code: 

Email: 

Tel: Home 

Tel: Work 

Mobile: 

Year Started @ WC .........|.........|.........|.........| Form Class: 

Year Left WC .........|.........|.........|.........| Form Class: 

WCOBA INFORMATION 

Please send me details on the Class of 1962 Reunion 

Please send me details on the Class of 1972 Reunion 

Please send me details about the 55 Years + Reunion 

WCOBA Life Membership Subscription $ 150.00 

WCOBA Tie $ 30.00 

WCOBA Lapel Pin $ 5.00 

Mailed copy of the monthly Collegian N’Letter $ 25.00 

Emailed PDF of the monthly Collegian N’Letter No Charge 

TOTAL $ 

� I enclose a cheque made payable to Wellington College OBA 

� Please charge my credit card: � Mastercard � Visa 

Alternatively, payment can be made to the WCOBA Bank Account. 

Please record your details for identification and receipting purposes. 

02 0500 0590254 025 • BNZ, Wellington 

Cardholder’s Name: ________________________________________________________________ 

Credit Card Number: 

.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|..........|.........|.........|.........| 

Expiry: .........|.........|.........|.........| Signature: __________________________________________ 

Family Links 

Do you have relatives who have 

attended Wellington College so we can 

link up family members? 

Relationship 

ie Father/Son/ 

Grandfather 

(SEE PAGE 47 FOR MORE DETAILS) 

Initials, First Name 

and Surname 

Years at 

Wellington 

College 

Still 

Alive? 

OTHER RElEVANT INFORMATION and FEEDBACK 

Change of Address/News/Achievements/New Contacts/Obituary/ 

Suggestions of Old Boy to Profile/Your Profile 

PLEASE REMEMBER TO SHARE YOUR NEWS WITH US 

THE 

ARCHIVES 

DEVELOPMENT 

OFFICE 

WELLINGTON 

COLLEGE 

OLD BOYS’ 

ASSOCIATION 

OFFICE 

THE LAMPSTAND, 2011 • 93

Branch Office Passion on a Passport - Wellington College

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