We moved to Pagham from Southampton in 1963 and I joined the School in the 4th year. Friends included John Wood, Keith Jackson, Mike Noble, Colin Tupper, Alan Baker, Glyn Rhys-Parry and Peter Makeham. For a couple of years, I ran the tuck shop – Pinks Drinks None Nicer – and was rewarded by KD for the money I raised by being made a prefect. I was in Story House and produced at least two plays in the house “am dram” competition. I commuted from Pagham on the Southdown 60 bus – going home on the 4 o’clock bus they usually used was JCD81 (how do I remember that?). People who knew me then knew my interests included politics, Elvis (still the King!), airship history and Radio Caroline.(Editor’s note: still floating gracefully a few miles from here in the Blackwater Estuary)
At school, I developed a passion for politics, thanks in part to Mr Powicke (who was President of Chichester Liberals) and the Cobden Society & Model Parliament. I represented Labour in the school mock election in March 1966. I lost. I went on to study politics at Manchester Polytechnic and at Kent State University, Ohio. In spite of my earlier setback, I stood for Labour in Chichester in the two 1974 general elections. I lost – hardly surprising in Chichester. After a stint at Harrods, I became a history teacher. KD offered me a job but I wanted to be nearer London. He got me in to speak to the 6th form and when I spoke at a public meeting at the school in 1974 he came along. We kept in touch and my wife and I visited Kenneth and Kathleen in Weobley, Hereford in the 1980s. He was very supportive and I am grateful to him and to the school that he headed.
My whole teaching career was in Essex but I also managed thirty-two years as a local councillor. Angela (Angela_Smith) and I married in 1978 and she has been more successful in politics having been an MP, government minister and is now in the House of Lords. I am retired and we have left Essex for Bognor Regis and maintain a small flat in Southwark. After several years membership, I recently joined the Old Cicestrians’ Committee.