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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0 they probably feel they have little in common. To begin with we would need to sow some seeds (from little acorns etc.). Both the teachers and the Company will need to play important roles. On the football front perhaps the teachers could play a match against the OSFC Megavets or even an OSA walking football team on the School's sports day. The School could be asked to put together a suitable standard cricket team to play at Botany Bay in the President's Day match. The Golf Society could play an event in the Greenwich area and invite pupils, ex-pupils and teachers to join in or the golf match against the Company could be a 3-way match. A bridge match wouldn't involve many from the OSA but could form part of a bigger initiative. Longer term would the school's sports facilities be available for use on a Saturday? The OSFC 3rd (?) XI could be formed by ex-pupils from SCWS and play South of the river. (Some of you might think that a ridiculous idea; but these days each OSFC team is a separate squad within the club. If you play in the 2nd XI you won't get promoted to the Ones or relegated to the 3rds. Each team has, and uses a number of substitutes.) Further into the future, other teams could migrate to South of the river. Would the young ex-pupils want to come to our current functions. Who knows, but perhaps not. They might be fascinated to experience Stationers' Hall though. So a Summer Ball might interest them. This is where the Company might need to show its commitment by not charging for the use of the Hall so that the cost would be attractive to the South Londoners. When Tony Mash was President he was keen to expand our activities and give members the opportunity to involve spouses. So a boat trip on the Thames might come about after all. Do the two elements of an expanded Association need to mix a lot? It is probably not a big issue. In 30 years' time there won't be many of us who will be interested and the whole purpose of any coming together will be to extend the OSA's existence well beyond that time. Most of us probably feel that our subscription goes towards the 2 magazines we receive each year. If the new intake paid the same subscription they wouldn't have all that much interest in what we currently produce, although they could start to develop their own pages. The cost of that plus the few extra copies that would be needed wouldn't increase the magazine costs very much. Thus some of the extra income could be used to develop these extra activities or subsidise things like a Summer Ball for the SCWA contingent. Whilst thinking about what might interest youngsters joining the OSA it also occurred to me that a further extension of membership could include the sons, daughters and grandchildren of current members. That might help to retain some of the history as there would be a personal interest from them. It might also help the process of integration if the younger element was coming from more than one source. Maybe none of the above thoughts will come to fruition but they might see other ideas that do. In order to avoid assuming you now know how I would vote on any proposal put to us all please read the first sentence of the second paragraph again. However, having seen a lot of biased information (on both sides) in the Scotland Referendum my intention is to put some "food for thought" on the table so that members can start their thinking process regarding our future. We are likely to have 3 options i) embrace the new situation, ii) ignore it (and upset the Company?) or iii) provide some guidance to SCWA to set up their own Old Pupils' Association. Roger Engledow Old Stationers Walking Football Initiative Under the guidance of Roger Engledow we have started “walking football” sessions at the Power League Astroturf pitches on the junction of the North Circular and Colney Hatch Lane. We play each Thursday at 11 am. If you are 55 or over and think you are in better condition than the motley crew in this picture then come and join us for fun, exercise and a rekindling of those magic moments from your youth. We need a minimum of 12 players to allow for a rolling sub and oxygen breaks so contact either myself or Roger to declare your availability. If there is enough interest and talent we intend to join a local league later this year. Tim Westbrook 34
WHY WE SPEND NEARLY HALF THE YEAR IN LANZAROTE I was persuaded that I should not continue to put Brenda through the journey to Australia. Lanzarote is less than four hours away from Stansted. After ten years as geriatric gypsies trying to see how far we could roam it was time to settle down. The first try to reduce the travelling was achieved by finding a studio apartment for rent in Puerto del Carmen overlooking the harbour. We went to the same place twice a year for late autumn and late winter breaks. Unfortunately, I made some flattering comments on the website. The result was that somebody booked it for the October period before we set out for the February break in 2013. The solution was to seek our own place in the sun. Our luck held, we were offered a shabby, depressed two bedroom apartment at a very modest price by a local bank trying to recover a debt. We were taken to inspect it by an agent who told us that it was available but the price was not negotiable, up or down! We both agreed that it was a horrible mess but Brenda said "it needs TLC". So I offered the agent the asking price, which was accepted. The agent then gave us the names and phone numbers of tradesmen who could help us to provide the TLC. Eighteen months down the line the process is being completed while we are back in the UK. We have a spacious, elegant and modernised two bedroom apartment (72 square metres) with a patio (plus small sea view) and a forecourt, in the heart of the old town of Puerto del Carmen. We were away from the UK rather often and our UK property was showing signs of being neglected so we sold up and moved to a retirement complex in Saffron Walden, much closer to Stansted. The garden is maintained under contract and the manager lives in the flat above ours. Last year we spent 25 weeks in Lanzarote and we will do the same in this and subsequent years. There are many social events in the UK that we like to attend and we can avoid the complications which would arise if we go past 182 days in Lanzarote, including applying for residency which is not realistic. We now have the time to explore Lanzarote to discover some of its geography and history. It is said to be the first of the Canary Islands to explode from the Atlantic Ocean millions of years ago. In current terms it is the fourth largest island in the group and the closest to Africa, being 125 km from Saharan Morocco. The population is about 135,000 supporting a million tourists a year. It has a very pleasant climate (except mid-July to mid-September when it can be very hot). The rainfall is 140mm per annum - yes that is less than 6 inches! Lanzarote is a very barren land but its arid wastes are spectacular and such agriculture as occurs is a tribute to the initiative and cunning of the farmers. The local fishermen make a good living. The tourist industry discovered Lanzarote in 1960 and probably peaked in 1982. The worldwide financial crisis of recent years produced a major downturn here as elsewhere. There is some reference to Arabs visiting the island in the tenth century. By the end of the 13th century many ships T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0 AS FAR AS YOU ROAM visited the Canary Islands but Lanzarote would not have been a preferred destination as there have never been rivers. The Spanish and Portuguese disputed ownership until the Treaty of Alcazovar 1479 finally put the Spanish in control. Following the discovery of the Americas there was substantial shipping through the Canary Islands and Lanzarote was periodically under attack from French, English and Dutch pirates. Early in the 17th century 5000 Arabs took Lanzarote with an invasion by 60 vessels. In 1730 the island had a small population, with the economy based on agriculture and cattle rearing. On the evening of September 1st, about 11 km from the town of Yaiza the earth opened and the volcano of Timanfaya rose to 500 metres above sea level and lava flowed from the first and subsequent eruptions across the island until April 1736. This suffocated the livestock and covered the arable land in deep lava and produced many more volcanoes. Some thirty years later a drought for five years reduced the population by more than 2000 through hunger and thirst. In the 19th century various epidemics further reduced the population and the final volcanic eruptions in 1824 preceded yet another drought, which finally broke in 1847 leaving the island in its most depressed state. Modern technology has provided power from the sun and some drinking water from the ocean. Some of the beaches have been topped up with sand imported from the Saharan desert. Life for the farmers remains very hard. Water is very expensive and said to be not entirely salt free, although it tastes OK. They manage to grow vines and figs in hand made holes in the ground protected by walls of volcanic stones, which catch dew and occasional rain. There are some inland sandy areas supporting onion growing and some tomatoes and water melons but no one would claim they have any chance of making the place self-sufficient in the near future. We have had a look round and done some research and now are hooked. Four or five return tickets a year looks like the way forward. The climate is agreeable and the multiracial population in our area has been very friendly. For the time being we have the best of both locations. We can return frequently to our new neighbours in Saffron Walden to develop a social life there as well. Peter Engledow Dear Geraint, THREE PEAKS REPORT R.A.Griffiths@kent.ac.uk 5th September 201422:43:41 Great to meet up at Whipsnade recently. Here is the promised article about our Three Peaks walk in June, together with the extract from The Stationer 1975. The latter has some other interesting pictures (eg: me in the school play, Mike Brookes, Richard Comerford and Sean Leonard in the School 1st XI, and you John Watson and John Young in the staff football team - I can scan these if you'd like them). Also some Three Peaks photos. Let me know if you would like any further info. Best regards, Professor Richard A Griff iths 1968-75 35
Page 1 and 2: No 80 /February 2015 The Old Statio
Page 3 and 4: T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o
Page 17 and 18: 70th Anniversary of Operation Marke
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Page 39 and 40: My first excursion to Norway was pr
Page 45 and 46: PETER BULLEN 1927-2014 A Service of

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