News & Events
HEADMASTER’S FINAL ADDRESS SPEECH DAY SATURDAY 9TH JULY, 2005
Mr Dean, Dean Robert, Madam Mayor, Mayoress, Madam Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, For the Historian autobiographies - whether of politicians, churchmen and women or Headteachers - are notoriously difficult sources. And for a sometime Historian and a Headmaster, who has been in office at this special school for 18 years, I am well aware of the dangers of a loss of a proper perspective, if not deliberate distortion, on an occasion like this in front of so many colleagues and former colleagues, governors and former governors, pupils and Old Herefordians and, indeed, my own family.
It was for this reason that my former mentor, the late Dr. David Newsome, when asked after his retirement as Master of Wellington College, whether he would update his own History of the College to include his period as Master in the 1980s signally refused to do so - "That is for others to pronounce upon" he magisterially pronounced. And that must be right and is something I will remember if I ever get around to writing this school's History. I am also well aware of the dictum of another Historian, albeit of a more literary kind - that is Benjamin Disraeli - who wrote in Lothair "when a man falls into his anedotage, it is a sign for him to retire from the world" and I will try to avoid that particular danger over the next several minutes. (I nearly said 'few' but I hope colleagues have not staked anything on a short swan-song; otherwise I fear they may end up out of pocket ..) Despite those caveats, and with apologies for what may come across either as exercise in self-indulgence or as a partial and rose-tinted reminiscence (if not an apologia pro sua vita), I feel it is incumbent on me on this my final speech day here to say something about how Hereford Cathedral School has developed 18 years on from the beginning of my tenure.
In many respects an educationalist who looks back on September 1987 seems to be viewing another world. Indeed, perhaps there has never been a period of greater educational change than that of the past two decades. In national terms, in the mid 1980s neither the National Curriculum nor the Children Act existed, old style 'O' and 'A' levels were still being taught, the school leaving age had been raised to 16 within recent memory, school mission statements were in their infancy and performance tables had yet to be devised, there was no key stage testing, 'chalk and talk' was the predominant teaching method, the inspection of schools was in the hands of HMIs rather than OFSTED or its independent equivalent, fewer than 20% of school leavers went on to Higher Education, traditional boarding schools flourished and government support for independent education was strong through the Assisted Places scheme. Independent schools - HCS not excepted - could not stay immune from subsequent winds of social change, even though their independence gave them a greater degree of freedom than schools in the maintained sector. In 1987 at HCS I took over a school of 600 pupils, with just over 100 junior boys, aged 7 to 11, in No. 28 Castle Street, the Cathedral Preparatory School (as it was then called) having been acquired by the governors the previous year. 40% of the senior pupils were subsidised by the government through the Assisted Places scheme; and there were about 100 boarders between the two schools in three boarding Houses. Today, we area 3-18 co-educational day school, the last remaining former boarder (Giles Roderick) having just completed his year as a Gap student at the junior school before embarking on his Cambridge Classics degree. Saturday morning school also disappeared so that we now operate a five day academic week, albeit one with a full Saturday co-curricular programme. Overall, we have increased day numbers in the senior and junior school by nearly 300 pupils so that HCS and HCJS is now a co-educational Foundation of almost 900, the biggest school roll in our History.
Correspondingly, we are now fully independent - for the first time since the introduction of Direct Grants in 1945 - and please note that it was a Labour administration that introduced this far-sighted measure which, with the 1944 Act, has done more for social mobility than any other government initiative. Today, no pupil's fee is subsidised by the government, the last assisted place student having left HCS in July 2004. This has perhaps been the greatest change during my time here, and in this context I am pleased to have launched a Headmaster's Bursary appeal, which I warmly invite you to support, the details of which will be sent out with end of term reports. Both in numerical and financial terms the magnitude of the turnaround at HCS since the loss of APs should not be under-estimated. Since 1987, for every former Assisted Place pupil two new fee-paying pupils have been admitted; and the £1 million government subsidy has been replaced by an annual Scholarship and Bursary Fund, administered by the Old Herefordian Trust Fund, of £100,000 - equivalent to the capital sum left in the early 1970s to the Old Herefordians by Arthur Zimmerman. And this change has been achieved over the past few years, despite the pressures of the increase (inevitably and justifiably) in the school's rent rolls to its landlords, the government's imposition of stealth taxes like the increase in National Insurance contributions paid by independent schools, and the delicate state of the local economy post the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease. As a consequence of these pressures, we have had to become a more professional business, albeit one that continues to offer excellent 'added value' in all spheres of its operation. In respect of its buildings, the school has also developed substantially.
The expansion of the junior school has been accommodated by the building of the Moat and by HCS's relinquishing of Nos 29 and 30 Castle Street (including, I may say, the finest room in Hereford to the Headmaster of HCJS), as well as St. David's Hall, the Old Buttery and part of No. 2. In turn, the senior school has used No. 1 and the Old Deanery, its former boarding Houses (Philpot House having been released by the OH Trustees to provide income for Bursary Funds) for day purposes. Facilities for Art, Technology and ICT were dramatically improved with the rebuilding of New Block (now the Portman Centre) in 1992. The acquisition and conversion of the Post Office Exchange (now the Zimmerman Building) in Church Street four years later gave us a further 20,000 square feet of space for four departments, as well as a new Games Hall and Studio Theatre. And the release of the 'Big School' Studio in Old Block has enabled us to rebuild and double the size of the Gilbert Library, now the key educational resource area in the school, as well as create a new Careers Centre. Most recently, we have re-arranged the 6th Form Studies, computer networked the whole school, acquired another playing field and refurbished the pavilion so that we can now properly host our Wyeside guests in the Eric Jenkins lounge. All this has been accomplished alongside the constant need properly to maintain our 17 listed buildings, a task almost as thankless and just as necessary as the repainting of the Humber Bridge; and despite the necessity, in a conservation area, to design new or improved buildings to a high level of specification - the results being the RIBA regional awards and local conservation awards, gained by Angus Jamieson, our architect, and Wheatstone and Plant, our contractors, for both the Portman Building and 'The Moat', a unique achievement for an independent school.
These developments should go alongside the achievements of hundreds of pupils during my 18 years here. Academically, I am immensely proud of the recent year on year improvements in our external examination performance which culminated last year in the best 'A' and GCSE results in the school's History. At 'A' level, all students met their university offers, averaging 340 university points (3 B grades and 1 C at AS) with a near 70% at A or B grade. At GCSE, every pupil gained at least 5 A-C passes, some 60% of the candidature achieved at least 5 A grades and 20% at least 10 A*s and A grades. Our A*/A rate, overall, was 56.6%. In addition, we had three national prizewinners - Fizzy Watkins for 'A' level Art and Christine Batchelor and Pia Dowse for English Literature. Christine and Pia were from the same set and were taught by the same teacher - another unique occurrence, I think. Clever children should, of course, gain very good results but what is particularly pleasing, given the base-line testing that we started in 1999 at 11+ for the 2004 GCSE cohort, it can now be proved from nationally recognised criteria that HCS adds academic value over almost all schools in the independent and maintained sectors at GCSE as well as at 'A' levels. In other words, HCS pupils gain better GCSE and 'A' level results than they would have done elsewhere. HCS's academic enhancement of the performances of all its pupils, compared with those of schools nationally, is a very significant achievement indeed.
But HCS has always been about much more than what goes on in the classroom and examinations hall, and over recent years we have maintained and built on our traditional strengths in the Arts, sport and adventure activities. By the 'Arts', I refer specifically to Music, Drama and Art but also to new subjects like Design and to traditional strengths like Debating and to broader cultural activities like creative writing, artistic creativity (in the broadest sense) and music composition. This both goes back generations and owes something, I believe, to this locality - an idea brought home to me by that distinguished Old Herefordian Poet and literary critic, John Powell Ward, who generously donated signed first editions of his recently completed 'Borderlines' series. "In cultural terms", John writes, "the region is as fertile as (in parts) its agriculture and soil", and of the 24 biographies he edited of eminent authors, musicians and painters from the 'Marches', no fewer than three are of Old Herefordians - Thomas Treherne (there is absolute proof that Treherne was educated at HCS, although the Brasenose connection is suggestive), Arthur Machen (in Linda Dowling's phrase, 'Pater's prose as registered by Wilde') and Philip Wilson Steer, O.M., the acknowledged leader of Impressionism in Britain and already in his own lifetime held to be the natural heir of Constable and Turner. Such creative geniuses like Treherne, Machin and Steer, as well as the lesser poets, authors and painters that this school has produced in considerable numbers, in the words of Canon Ralph Godsall, OH at Commemoration "see the extraordinary nature of the ordinary and enable us to begin to see with new eyes." How much Treherne, Machin and Steer owed to HCS - HCS gave less, I suspect, to these distinguished alumni than to John Powell Ward - is a moot point. Nevertheless, in this generation the school has done a considerable amount to stimulate artistic endeavour among its pupils. Sir Michael Parker, .O.H., the organiser of royal occasions extraordinary, and a boy here in the 1950s, certainly recognised this development when I showed him around the school a few weeks ago, a tour which included a visit to his former dormitories in what was (to put it kindly) then a rather spartan School House: "Dear Howard," he wrote after his visit: "Thank you very much for taking so much time to show us around the school. It is so completely different ... since my day (Thank God!). Very impressed with all your creative side - we didn't do that much!"
Apart from the inspirational teaching and the abilities and receptiveness of the pupils, one major reason for this has been the creation of excellent facilities and distinct bases for Music (in No. 31), Art and Technology (in the Portman Centre), and Drama (in the Zimmerman Building) - facilities which have recently been added to with the refurbishment of the first floor of the Old Post Office as a new centre for teaching of Music Technology and class-room Music. And it is not difficult to show by the advances in creative education that HCS has made in recent times, that we have put these facilities to very good use. In Music, about half the school now learns an instrument and a greater proportion are involved in some form of music making than ever before. As we saw recently in our massed production with the Junior School of "Noye's Fludde" involving some 350 children, almost every pupil at the junior end of this school sings in a choir. Thank God for that indeed! And there are over 20 music groups here, giving some 40 concerts a year, the last one of this academic year being in the Cathedral this afternoon - do come! - although my favourite has always been the Invitation Concerts in the Bishop's Palace at the end of the Spring Term. What a privilege it has been to witness such incredible virtuosity from so many students, a number of whom have gained professional diplomas during their time here, and some of whom are making their mark in that most competitive world as professional musicians, including, this year, Jemima Phillips, the Royal Harpist, and John Robinson, the sub organist elect of Carlisle Cathedral. In Drama, we regularly perform five or six productions a year, including our late summer classical play directed by Old Herefordians. Within the curriculum, every pupil experiences Drama (as with Music and Art and Design) for three years as a discrete subject. The invitation to perform "The Merchant of Venice" as part of the Shakespeare Schools' Festival in the Malvern Theatre on Sunday (one of only 400 schools nationally to be so honoured), gives some idea of our standing in this regard. In Art and Design-Technology, you have only to see the stunning work as displayed in the exhibitions in the Portman Centre after these proceedings are over, to realise the high standards achieved by HCS pupils in the visual Arts. Finally on the creative side, I would single out Debating as a kind of performing Art and, as activity in which HCS excels, albeit one that is run as a co-curricular activity. As retiring President of that Society, I have always been extremely proud of the achievements of its members and former members over the years and not least, those of three young Old Herefordians - James Probert who debated for England in the Guildhall in the World Schools debating championships final in 1999 (perhaps the greatest single achievement by any pupil during my time here), and who with Alex Outhwaite reached the grand finals (last 4 in the country) in both the Oxford and Cambridge Union competitions in that same year; and Edward Tomlinson who was elected President of the Oxford Union Society for the Hilary Term 2004.
In sport, there have been in my time some exceptional sports-persons, many of whom have represented their county, some their region, and a few of whom have gained national recognition or national titles. Among former students these include Helen Aitcheson, Rob Allen, Adam Billig (the most capped Herefordshire school-boy of all time) David and John Bray, Toby Eckly, Joel Evans, Helen Ellison, Alex Gallagher, Harriet Lowe, Stephen Price (in two sports), Rachel Smith, Robbie Symonds, and George Thomas; and among current pupils James and Robert Lewis, who last season both gained Welsh under 18 rugby caps. But as sport is primarily a collaborative effort, I should also mention the significant success of teams that have competed well in national sporting competitions. Over the past decade, three boys'sides - the Under 18s in 1995 and the Under 15s in 1996 and 2003 - have reached the national quarter-finals of the Daily Mail rugby cup, and the Old Herefordians won the Brewers' old boys cricket cup in 2003. In terms of girls' sport, we regularly win county competitions (at all age groups) in hockey and netball and take part as county winners in the West of England hockey festival, and we are one of very few schools in the country to play an annual cricket fixture against MCC Women. And it should also be remembered that these successes over the years have bee invariably achieved against much larger schools than HCS. Overall, I believe that HCS sport has never been stronger, and I suggest in the next year or two, HCS teams may well eclipse anything achieved by their predecessors. I look forward to watching these events unfold from a distant boundary.
Relating to sport, I should also emphasise HCS's consistent record in undertaking different kinds of adventure activities at home and abroad. This is something I partly inherited, but during the past two decades we have built on our traditionally strong outward bounds programmes. Let me first cite some illustrations. Over 150 O.H.s have successfully completed officer training for the Armed Forces since 1990; in the past decade HCS teams have twice won the national cadet orienteering championships, as well as twice reaching the final stages of the RAF Ground Training competition, and, in David King, Tilly Spencer and Helen Wynn we have produced three national cadet orienteering champions. Only recently, Fieke Taft O.H. was the youngest officer ever to have received a Lord Lieutenant's commendation for "outstanding service and devotion to duty", and over the past three years, over 70 pupils have gained gold, silver or bronze Duke of Edinburgh Awards, and there are more than 100 pupils currently involved in the scheme. And there can be few comparable schools that provide such opportunities for outdoor education in the widest sense. By this I mean, in particular, expeditions and tours at home and abroad. Last October half-term, for example, there were six such visits: two to the USA - the Economists went to New York and the Cathedral Choir to Atlanta and Florence; one to the Himalayas, including a visit to our link school in Ghachok, for which we have raised £8000 over the past few years; two to Italy - the rugby players to Venice and the Artists to Rome; and one (the Duke of Edinburgh Gold group) to Scotland. Music and sports tours, Art trips, field expeditions and adventure holidays - whether at home or abroad - are now an important part of the educational package that HCS provides. As I have said before: "Join HCS and see the world!"
Such developments and achievements could not possibly have been sustained over the years without the huge support of many different constituencies. And may I begin this personal note of thanks by starting with the pupils themselves, without whom we would have no school! I can do no better here than quote a line from a letter (sent to me last May by e-mail, no less) from one of the shortlisted candidates for the Headmastership. "I think the school is delightful", he wrote, "and I have rarely (if ever) met such a pleasant and utterly likeable group of pupils." I say 'Amen' to that, and that would go during my time for the past as well as the present generation of pupils here. One illustration will suffice. HCS pupils have been and are very 'giving' in many senses. And throughout my time here many thousands of pounds have been raised for local and national charitable causes, and for emergency relief aid - for example for the Armenian refugees, Bosnia relief and this year the tsunami victims. But it is not so much the formal charitable causes that we support but rather the spontaneous acts of generosity - recently from the junior pupils who cleared up the flower tubs around the Cathedral, or the very senior pupil who helped save a person's life on the London tube - that best captures the spirit of this place. So may we all - guests, staff and governors - recognise this fact by giving the present student body a well deserved round of applause? And the pupils would not be here without the generous support given in so many ways by you, the parents.
A few days ago, at a splendid dinner organised by the PTA, I expressed my gratitude to all those scores of people who had served on the PTA committee over the past 18 years. Without their support in raising and giving well over £100,000 to many different academic departments, to various clubs and societies, to Confirmation retreats and to the library and pavilion projects, the school would be literally a much poorer place. But quite apart from all this, I know from personal experience something of the financial sacrifices made by all families who put their children through independent education. I know, too, how much encouragement you give your children to achieve their best and to participate in our many different co-curricular activities. Our mission statement truthfully proclaims: "To realise our ideals demands a talented and committed staff and the full moral and practical support of parents. The boys and girls of Hereford Cathedral School will be best served within such a spirit of trust and co-operation." Thank you for the trust and co-operation that you have all given over the years. And, in recognition of this, may I now ask all the pupils to stand and acknowledge in the usual way all the support they have received during their time here.
The Old Herefordians are another vital constituent element of Hereford Cathedral School - and I am delighted to see a number of O.H.s here this morning, as representatives of the OH Club. I have expressed my thanks to them at the splendid O.H. London dinner at the East India and Public Schools Club that took place in April but I would also like to use this opportunity to thank all O.H.s - and, not least, those who have served as governors, O.H. Trustees, and O.H. committee members - for their material and personal support over the years. I am grateful to you all and extremely proud to have been made an honorary member of the O.H. Club. I will wear the tie with pride and do my best to prove that HCS was indeed re-founded in 1381, and is therefore one year older than Winchester College and deserving of the seventh rather than the eighth spot for our shield on the Public Schools Club staircase! It should go without saying that the governing body is crucial to the effective governance of any school and I have been fortunate to have been supported by the services of some 40 governors, including three Chairmen (two of whom are on this platform) during my time here. I cannot begin to calculate the time that these dedicated people, all of whom have led or lead busy professional lives, have voluntarily put into this place. Ladies and Gentlemen you have all served this place admirably, and Hereford Cathedral School is in your considerable debt.
Ultimately, however, it is the staff who are the most precious resource in any school. And I very much include here the non-teaching support staff - matrons, secretaries, caretakers, technicians, groundsmen and works team, kitchen staff and cleaners - all those who make HCS tick, and indeed, who help make it such a pleasant place to work. It is invidious to name such names, and with apologies to those who I have left out, but may I simply mention here the great personal debt I owe to the two enterprising Heads of the junior school during my time, Stephen Sides and Tim Lowe; to my three personal secretaries - Yvonne James, Eunice Cole and Sue Gurgul, who have served me so loyally; and, on behalf of all the support staff, to my two Bursars, David Langstaff and Simon Jones. Finally, I would like to pay a particular tribute to Mary Lawrence, who looks after so many in this Foundation, and to Brian Goode, who retires this month after over 27 years looking after what have now become - and largely through his care - our immaculate grounds at Wyeside. [Applause] And now, to the teachers themselves, who in the grateful words of one current pupil "change the world one child at a time." It is true. Firstly, although I have appointed the vast majority of the Common Room, a word of congratulation to the 14 who were appointed by my predecessor and who survive me! It may not have always been easy but you have made it! Secondly, I should mention my dedicated and long-suffering First Deputy, Guy Rawlinson, who has served this school loyally for 17 years. And finally, my heartfelt thanks to all my colleagues, who give so generously of their time and talents to the cause of education in this school. You are all a great credit to a noble profession. [Applause]. A special word is needed, however, for the six teachers who leave HCS today. Gill Foulds and Ruth Deaville have been with us for a short time this year covering maternity leave but thank you both for your sterling work in the English department. Fiorella Amodeo, on the other hand, will no doubt experience many more Speech Day occasions as Head of Spanish at Malvern Girls' College but not, alas, at HCS. For the past six years, Fiorella has not only been a brilliant Spanish teacher but also a fine Tutor and successful leaders of the RAF Section of the CCF. Thank you Fiorella for your many contributions here and Godspeed! [Applause] Three senior colleagues leave today with a combined service of nearly 87 years between them. As founder Head of both a new department and a new subject, Bob Clarke has been a formative influence on the creative and practical side of the curriculum and been at the forefront of educational change at HCS for over two decades. For from small beginnings - Technology here started as an after school club, with a few hand tools in a corner of the Physics laboratory, before moving to the basement of No. 31 - Mr. Clarke has shaped the magnificent Technology department that you see today in the Portman Centre, a department that has a strong record at both GCSE and 'A' levels and one that in Anthony Goddard and Simon Middleton has produced two coveted Arkwright scholars within the last eight years. Outside Technology - as an Oxford-educated Physicist - Mr. Clarke has taught Physics to a high level; he has run Young Engineers and Young Enterprise Clubs; he has been a staff representative on the PTA and Professional committees; and he has held the posts of Minibus supremo, INSET Co-ordinator and primary schools liaison officer. On the pastoral side, with his wife Carol, he ran the girl's boarding House, and he has acted as a pastoral Tutor for more than 20 years. Hilary Gould, too, retires today after 25 years teaching at HCS. Mrs Gould has taught Modern Languages to the highest school levels. She has been appointed successively Head of German, Deputy Head of Modern Languages, Head of French and Co-ordinator of Modern Languages, and has also seen her department move three times from the old "New Block" (now part of the Portman Centre), to No. 34 and to its present modern facilities in the Zimmerman Building. And, again, Mrs. Gould has been an outstanding middle school and 6th Form pastoral Tutor with Cornwall House for more than two decades - this must be something of a record tenure with one House - and a Higher Education Adviser for that same House for the past five years. Finally, and the last serving 1960s Common Room appointment, an appointment which predates my two immediate predecessors as well as myself, there is Mr. Jim Dunn, who arrived at HCS fresh from the University of Cambridge in September 1968 and who has stayed here ever since - a 37 year stint, without break and without a single days illness (at least in term) during that time. What a remarkable record! And during that time, service has been Mr. Dunn's watch-word - in his younger days as master i/c of the canoe club and organiser of canal holidays and CCF Quarter-Master; as committee member and President of Common Room for much of my time; and, again, for the whole of my period as Examinations Officer, a job that has to be right and that few could do. But it is as a formidably accomplished Chemistry teacher, and latterly as Head of Chemistry, that Mr. Dunn would, I think, most like to be remembered. His thorough understanding and full awareness, through his examining, of the development of the subject; his meticulous attention to detail; his clear exposition and demonstrations ("The Golden Spangles" and "Black Arthur" experiments are two that I particularly remember from my observations!); his academic rigour and high standards; and his infectious enthusiasm for the subject - these have become by-words to generations of HCS pupils, many of whom have gone on themselves to distinguished Science careers. And to the less gifted, "Jim's notes" have invariably got them through! So on this special occasion, we salute Bob Clarke, Hilary Gould and Jim Dunn - three distinguished teachers and loyal servants of Hereford Cathedral School. We thank them for their enormous contributions, in their distinctive ways and over several pupil generations, to the welfare of this place and wish all three long and happy retirements.
And now to the future - yours (in terms of HCS) and mine. Although I am not given to prophetic utterances, and as an Historian, I am more used to (and aware of the danger of) observing "golden ages" from the past, now that we have reached full independence, I believe that HCS is on the verge of a really special period in its History. Let's list some of its assets : a progressive governing body; a really splendid person as our new Headmaster, for whom I willingly give up my "archididasculus" stall (only to move, I should add, from cantoris to a more senior decanae stall); an able and committed -and from September relatively youthful - staff; an admirable pupil body; a thriving Junior School; good and strengthening links with both local primary and preparatory schools; a reputation for all-round excellence; and, above all, a special ethos and atmosphere, which is invariably apparent to prospective parents even on their first visit. Let me illustrate this by quoting from a letter I received a few days ago from a new parent whose son had just spent a "taster day" at HCS: I know it is very early days for us (she writes), but your school is an extraordinary place, attaining a tangible balance of tradition with progression, and an exceptionally friendly atmosphere where the individual is obviously cared for. Of course, no school can stand still and we need to continue to strive to improve all aspects of our operation. We can all make our own wish lists, and in terms of plant, mine would include a refurbished Science Block, an all-weather surface at Wyeside, a new Sports Hall, more space for children in the early learning years, and a stained glass commemorative window in this place. But whatever the future holds - and, no doubt, there will be many challenges ahead for this school - we need to hold in mind that new is not always better; that educational changes should always lead to improved teaching, learning (and I would add) being; and (echoing Reinholt's Niebuhr's famous prayer : "Give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, courage to change what should be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other".) that what one cannot do is sometimes more important than what one can do. And what I hope will never change about this place are a loosening of the strong bonds that now exist between school and cathedral, links reinforced in so many ways - most obviously through the immense privilege we enjoy of holding our 'chapels' daily in this wonderful building; through the periodic singing of Evensong by our school choirs and the periodic holding of our school concerts here; through the annual admittance at Evensong of the Dean's Scholars; through the annual Evensong service and reception for new staff; through mine and the Chaplain's canonical appointments; and, above all, through the school's duty to educate the Cathedral choristers. The Cathedral and school are one Foundation and let that never be gainsaid!
One of the high spots for me in our weekly "Music in Chapel" this year was the guitar piece composed by David Greatrex, which he entitled: "I wish I know how it means to be free". Well, David, I am about to find out, although it may take you a number of years to experience the same! And being free in retirement, I am told, is a great feeling, which has recently (and perhaps reliably) been described to me as "like being in Heaven without actually dying." So exciting times lay ahead for me personally as well as for this school! And during this heavenly period, I hope to find time in Lord Avon (Anthony Eden's) words "to go back to the things I used to enjoy" like cricket, golf, singing and History, as well as experiencing new things like gardening, cooking, and looking after our adorable grandchildren, Oliver and Esther. Indeed, our family, like those of many here, owe much to this Foundation. Heather and I are especially thankful that our four children, Clare, Michael, Sarah and Edward, attended HCS - over a period of 13 years in all - and we are grateful for the outstanding education that they received here. We look on their achievements with great pride and feel that the school set them up brilliantly for their careers and (more importantly) for adult life. An education for life indeed, as well as a partner for life for two of them! Finally - and it is finally! - at the end of my first speech day in July 1988 I made the pledge that under my Headship HCS would : " not only continue to work for genuine excellence in education, but also strive to uphold its founder's vision - without which the people perish - of HCS as a place which not only nourishes the virtues of truth, beauty and goodness but also add to them trust, hope and love which only a Christian can truly call his own". I hope that that pledge has been redeemed and that I have been worthy of the trust placed in me by the governors on that (for me) unforgettable winter day in November 1986 when I was appointed Headmaster of this fine school. Floreat Schola Herefordensis! Howard Tomlinson
