OBA News Yet again Parkside has welcomed back some Old Boys doing their work experience. Will Gudgeon (02) returned to teach some lessons as part of his teaching practice, Tim Handel (01) has been helping Sid with the Cricket Academy, and Adam Laverick and Will Straughan (07) came in after their exams and made themselves useful around the School.
John Slade Willis (57) sent us a picture of himself playing the drums. He is a full time musician in the Modern Jazz World having retired from the Armed Forces.
Justin Dix (62) wrote to say that he has many fond memories of his time at Parkside when it was at East Horsley. He mentioned several of his old classmates and teachers and still reads the books he won as prizes!
Julian Abbott (64) is working for Hart Brown as a partner in their Trust and Investment department based in Cobham.
Edgar Engel (class of 85) left Parkside with his brother, Paul, in 1980 to return to Holland. They also spent some time in Belgium. He gained a major in Graphical Design and now works as a managing consultant for a company that designs software for medical purposes. Edgar is very keen to catch up with some of his old classmates.
Adrian Barnes (93) was married on his 30th birthday (5th June) to Zoe Moore and is living in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. His brother, Chris (88) is celebrating the birth of his second child, daughter Ellie born on 20th March in Los Angeles where he and his wife, Michiko and four year old son Oliver are currently living.
Alex Burgess (94) is due to get married in August 2011. He and Mary enjoyed a wonderful engagement party at Parkside in the summer holidays. He is currently training in Canada to become an Instructor and will take up his new post on the Platoon Commanders Course at Brecon Beacons on his return to the UK in December 2010.
Julian Draper (94) has completely refurbished the house which he shares with his partner Carolina, and is thoroughly enjoying being his own boss of a successful tree surgery business.
Daniel Burgess (96) has spent the last year working at King Edward’s School in Witley. He has enjoyed being fully involved in the daily routine of the boarding house and coaching hockey to the boys and girls teams.
Craig Procter (98) is living in Southampton and helping to run his mum’s care business with her and his partner. He has a little girl, Layla, who is two.
Mark Russell (99) has been on the production team of several TV programmes such as Michael Portillo’s ‘Great British Railway Journeys’. He is now a researcher but has also been able to do some camera work. Nick Smith (01) has his own Company UK All Sports.com. Currently he has over 2,000 coaches covering most sports on the books plus top names who act as Ambassadors for the Company. These include Tracey Hallam (Olympic Gold medalist - Badmington, Jeremy Bates - Tennis, Ian Robinson England coach, - Squash, Mike McFarlane, 4 x 100 metres Silver medalist etc etc. These top names and more ...England rugby , hockey, lacrosse etc etc they are available not only for corporate days training & coaching but are keen to work with schools, colleges & universities.
Fred Oomkens was at Parkside between 1971-1974 with a short intermission when he was at a Dutch "internaat" in 1973. He went on to Reeds and then read literature at (Harris) Manchester College in Oxford, and went into advertising at Saatchi's and has ended up in Germany married with a daughter.He remembers Parkside with great affection.
Peter Wilson (02), is in his third and final year at Newcastle studying Economics In July 2010 he planned to climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, and the highest freestanding peak in the world. – “This will push me to my physical and mental limits and will be a huge challenge for me. In doing this climb I will be raising money for a charity called Compassion. Compassion sponsor individual children by linking them to individuals in wealthier countries. They have a series of projects and only use local volunteers working through local churches to help release children from poverty. They currently work in 25 countries around the world, including Tanzania. My girlfriend and I support a child through Compassion in Tanzania and we plan to visit the project that our child is a part of followed by several weeks of volunteer work in schools and with a local church.” Let us know how you got on, Peter!
If you would like to read your own news here or on the website, drop me a line or two at pussdogs@hotmail.com
Forthcoming events
AGM & Reunion Dinner 2011
The Old Boys Reunion Dinner and AGM for 2011 will be held at the School on Friday 8th April - 7:30 for 8:00pm. Leon will provide the usual delicious carvery. Tickets will cost £15. Jackets and ties must be worn. We hope to see lots of you then! Contact your friends now and get a group together. Reminders will be sent in January. Please confirm your attendance by e-mailing Melanie Burgess pussdogs@hotmail.com