98th Annual Dinner November 2007
17 November 2007
As usual, the Oldfield Hall was transformed into a seething mass of Old Carolians and guests.
Who can you spot? Fairly easily recognisable are (in no particular order) Ken Ryder, Raymond Blount, Tony Bishop, Naomi Bishop, Arnold Beresford, Davina Bason, Beryl Bedford, David Morgan and in the bottom right-hand corner, (just about) Pat Yarnold, and there's a full list of those purchasing tickets for this year's event at the bottom of this page ...
Below, incoming President Peter Vaughan with Principal Guest Dr Richard Taylor MP, Member of Parliament for the Wyre Forest District, and Graham Herbert, representing Old Wolvernians' Association ...
... and Geoff Thorpe, President Hartlebury Old Elizabethans Association, Canon Owain Bell, Vicar of Saint Mary's and All Saints, Kidderminster, who kindly said Grace on this occasion, and Tim Gulliver, Head Teacher, King Charles I School.
We were also pleased to welcome (below) School Head Girl Lauren Spooner and Head Boy Matthew Modley, as well as some of our younger and newer members ...
... Sally Bull and Duncan Groves - they look as though they're enjoying it!
Duncan had also recruited a number of younger Members at the School open day earlier this year, and we welcomed - from left to right - David Morgan, (who played the organ at the School's Founder's Day Service at St Mary's Church on the previous day, and the piano for the National Anthem and Auld Lang Syne later at the Dinner!), Anthony Williams and Stuart Harris.
Following the usual Dinner fare of Winter Vegetable Soup, Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding, seasonal vegetables and roast potatoes, deep-filled Apple Pie, cheese, biscuits, celery and grapes etc., etc., Dr Richard Taylor MP proposed the Toast to The School and the Old Carolians Association. He also entertained the assembly with some anecdotes of his time in the House of Commons.
Headteacher Tim Gulliver responded on behalf of the School, listing some of its sporting and cultural achievements over the pat twelve months ... all this at the same time as the Wyre Forest Educational Review was being implemented, bringing with it the challenges of, amongst other things, the split site. However, the School would rise to these challenges and continue to go from strength.
Association President Peter Vaughan replied on behalf of the Association, reminding older members present of the leather strap which John Drake and Kingsley Raw used to mete out the occasional (almost) ultimate punishment! You can just see the very strap ("cosh"), which now resides in the School archives, in his hand.
Finally, Roger Perrin during his Toast to the President, performed the almost obligatory Presidential character assassination, but balanced that with some of the President's lesser-known attributes, of which there were many, including his life-long blood-donor activities.
After the formalities, the President, Peter Vaughan, posed with John Drake's infamous leather "cosh", with which he personally had a "close encounter" all those years ago! Enough to make your eyes water!
And here's a more detailed picture of this notorious instrument of torture, shown with the Old Carolian magazine and 98th Annual Dinner ticket and Menu, to give an idea of scale. And note the name "Drake" scratched in the cosh ... presumably to ensure it didn't get mistaken for anybody else's cosh within the School!
Those Members that booked tickets this year were: Ashcroft, David; Bason, Davina; Bateman, Foley; Bedford, Miss Beryl; Beresford, Arnold; Bishop, Naomi; Bishop, Tony; Blount(1), Eddy; Blount(2), Eddy; Blount, Ray; Booth, David; Booth, John; Bowkett, Keith; Bradley, Trevor; Broadfield, Norman; Brookes, R A; Bull, Sally; Campbell Slater, David; Charteris, R; Christopher, David; Clarke, Brian; Cooper, Jim; Doolittle, Bill; Drake, David; Easton, Martin; Eaton, R G; Elcock, Allan; Evans, Ray; Frost, Roy; Garbett, Ken; Gilbert, Don; Gittins, Brian; Goodbehear, M J; Groves, Duncan; Gulliver, Tim; Guy, Peter; Hadwell, Charles; Handley, Peter; Harris, Stuart; Harrison, Paul; Hobson, John; Hobson, Martin; Hobson, Roger; Hughes, John; Humphries, Martin; Isaacs, David; Isaacs, John; Ives, Andrew; James, David; Jeffries, Bob; Jones, Mick; Kemp, Sam; Kidd, Tony; Lloyd, Colin; Longmore, John; Massey, Mike; Mathews, G S; Mayfield, J; Meadows, John; Miller, Arthur; Morgan, David; Morgan, Terry; Morgan, Vic; Motteram, Brian; Moule, Andrew; Mulvey, M A; Nicholls, Roger; Nott, John; Oliver, Derrick; Page, Christopher; Payne, Charles; Peacock, Norman; Perrin, Roger; Picken, Pete; Pitt, Nicholas; Ryder, Ken; Sandall, Royce; Sheppard, Stuart; Slater, David; Spilsbury, John; Spilsbury, Robert; Thomas, D R; Thorpe, Geoff; Timmis, Bob; Underwood, Ron; Vaughan, Peter; Wall, Doug; Wall, Ray; Wase, David; Weaver, Alan; Williams, Anthony; Wilson, Mike; Wood, A R; Wood, Richard; Wood, Stephen; Wooley, Richard; Wright, Martin; and Yarnold, Pat.
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