Old Lawrentian News 2010/11

Peter ‘PRO’ Jones (Grange
1974-1979) left St Lawrence
College to join the Army and
was commissioned into the Royal
Engineers in April 1981. He saw
active service in the Falklands
Campaign landing at San Carlos.
He then did two tours in Cyprus
working firstly with the United
Nations north of Nicosia and then
the RAF at Akrotiri. Following two
years as a training Instructor, he
volunteered to train troops for the
new Ugandan Army, being formed
following the end of the civil war.
After a jungle warfare course in
Brunei, and then two years in Berlin
as second-in-command of the
Independent Engineer Squadron,
he left the Army for a short time to
take a trip through Africa before
rejoining the Army with the Black
Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
for a tour in Northern Ireland.
• Pro on a rafting expedition
OL UPDATES
PETER ‘PRO’ JONES
In 1990 he left the Army and
returned to the Victoria Falls area
of Africa where he set up three
rafting companies (one in Zambia
and two in Zimbabwe and over a
five-year period saw the tourism
industry grow exponentially.
In 1997 he built a lodge, The River
Club (www.theriverclubafrica.com),
on the Zambian side of the
Zambezi River above the Victoria
Falls. It is now part of the highly
successful Wilderness-Safaris
collection of camps, although it
retains its independent ownership.
The lodge has won many awards
over the years, more notably its
Top 10 in the world ratings from
Fodors in 2004.
Peter has also put a huge amount
of effort into assisting the local
village, alongside his running of
The River Club.
The lodge has built a police
station, community hall, clinic,
school library and kindergarten
classroom; put 50 children through
high schools in nearby Livingstone
and three teachers through
university-level courses.
It now raises funds to ensure that
50,000 litres of clean drinking
• The Lodge supports local villagers
water are pumped to the
community on a daily basis.
Peter has also invested in reviving
the 100-year-old Livingstone golf
course returning it to an 18-hole
international course, and
renovating the 80-year-old Capitol
Theatre in the town, a wonderful Art
Deco building which once hosted
visits from Alfred Hitchcock and
Danny Kaye!
More recently, on four occasions,
he has set up and run the Zambezi
International Regatta where alumni
from Oxford and Cambridge
Universities compete against top
teams from South Africa. The event
is a revival of the rowing events on
this river which, in 1910, saw the
World Professional Sculling
Championships held there.
OL UPDATES
Passionate about the local history
of the area, Peter is researching
the incredible Jewish history in the
early years of Northern Rhodesia,
and the campaigns of the First
World War in Africa.
In his spare time he still finds time
to raft in the gorges, host members
of the Royal family, chase
elephants out of island camps, help
deliver babies in the middle of the
bush, catch crocodiles in people’s
swimming pools, raise money for
the Victoria Cross and George
Cross Association and act as MC at
Andy Mama’s (also Grange 1974-
1979) 50th birthday in Harare.
By coincidence
Andy and Peter
set up two firms
with the same
name, Amanzi,
but in different
countries!
Peter still likes
to keep fit and
has plans to
raise money for
Help for Heroes
soon with a
mammoth walk
around the UK
in 2012.
To read Pro’s full update go to the website - www.olsociety.co.uk
• Peter with his
partner Jacki
38
39