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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0 founder member and very much involved in setting up the club. He was also much involved in the running of both clubs, cricket probably more than football, as he organised and participated in tours especially the Football Club Easter Tour and the Cricket Club visits to Broad Halfpenny Down - the birth place of cricket - a rare privilege to gain that fixture, and regular tours to Norfolk. He was also the skipper of the Football 3rd XI and the Cricket 2nd XI. A habit that Peter also initiated was to watch, or even umpire, the school cricket matches to keep an eye on potential talent that maybe persuaded to join the Old Boys when they left the school. In those days the former pupils organisation was known as the Stationers Old Boys Association (SOBA) and the football and cricket clubs were separate organisations. In 1963 it was decided to re-organise the constitution, re-name it as the Old Stationers Association and amalgamate the football and cricket clubs with it to make it fit for the second half of the 20th century. Peter again was very much the driving force to bring this into effect. The football club continues to exist and operates under the same name but recruiting its players from different sources. The cricket club unfortunately closed in 1994 mainly due to circumstances beyond their control but the Association with its social activities continues to thrive In 1964 Peter was elected President of the Association at the relatively young age of 37. Peter devoted a great deal of time and energy to the running of the sports clubs being involved in the multitude of tasks that lead to the smooth running of these organisations. That contribution also continued long after his physical participation in the matches had ceased. I think that his efforts, especially in connection with the new constitution, can be regarded as his legacy to fellow Old Stationers as I am sure it is a contributory factor in that the Football Club now over 100 years old still fields 5 XIs each week and the Association, 30 years after the school was closed, has over 500 members. Recitation of composite verse of School Song. Thank you Peter for all that you have done for your fellow Old Stationers. May you rest in peace. Leslie Lane BRIAN SIMPSON 1943 – 2014 Brian Frederick Simpson, more commonly ‘Sim’, was born in Wood Green and started at Stationers’ at the same time as me in 1954. We had little in common in our schooldays, save Major Halls’ CCF where he outranked me, as sergeant, and outgunned me on the rifle range, and it was to be many years before our paths crossed, literally, again. It was in 1978, when we were crossing in opposite directions the car park which separated the main offices of Broxbourne Council at that time from its satellite buildings, that we recognised each other 19 years after leaving the School. Brian had just joined my Authority’s Solicitor’s Department as Senior Legal Executive so we agreed to have a pint together at lunchtime. It quickly became apparent that we had many shared interests, not least sport and freemasonry, and thus began a firm friendship which spanned the next 36 years. On leaving School, Brian began legal training at Royds Rawlston before moving to the London Borough of Haringey’s Legal Department. Some years later, he broke away from the legal profession for a while to join Abbey Life, dealing with life assurance, and then the London Borough of Hackney as a Rent Assessment Officer, until taking up the post with Broxbourne Council. In 1982 he moved into private practice and, in 1988, joined Breeze & Wyles, Solicitors, in Hertford, where he remained until retirement in 2009. In private life, Brian took a keen interest in music, playing guitar in a skiffle group whilst still at school and later forming a band, Patents Pending. He also enjoyed the theatre and acting, becoming a member of Group12 Amateur Dramatic Society, performing at the Intimate Theatre in Palmers Green as well as other venues. By all accounts, he was an assured actor capable of masking the odd fluffed line but, on one occasion, he brought the house down by inadvertently changing Kipling’s famous verse to “tho I’ve beaten you and flayed you; by the livin’ Gawd that made you; I’m a better man than you are, Gunga Din!” It was at Group12 that another member of the Society took his eye and he began courting Angie, leading to their marriage on 14th August 1976. Their first house was in Broxbourne, later moving to Hertford Heath, and he played squash at Broxbourne Sports Club, although his sons, Ben and Tom, recall him spending rather more time in the bar, and he organised the Club’s Bonfire Night fireworks displays and New Year’s Eve celebrations for a number of years. Another passion was golf and we always enjoyed a round together at Essendon or Brickendon Grange. His interest in freemasonry began when his father initiated him into his Army and Navy Lodge in 1974 and he became its Master in 1984 and again in 2004. In Hertfordshire, he was a founder member of the Guy Marsden Halsey Lodge in 1990, and its Master in 1992. In 1991 he was exalted into the Royal Arch and, in 1994, he was a founder member of the Guy Marsden Halsey Chapter and its 1st Principal in 1998. He received London Honours in 1996 and was a Provincial Officer in both Craft and Chapter. Brian was a member of the Toastmasters and Master of Ceremonies Federation and its President in 1998. For many years he has been Toastmaster at our Annual Dinner at Stationers’ Hall, resplendent in his red jacket and OSA bow-tie and the epitome of efficiency in guiding proceedings along. He was, of course, an OSA member and regular attender at our ‘Intake Year of 1954’ reunions. In 1995, he was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, which he successfully overcame although an overdose during radiotherapy left him with scarring to his neck. In retirement, Brian was able to lavish plenty of time on grandson Freddie, buying him a set of golf clubs when he was six, arranging lessons for him and taking him to the driving range for practice, trying out go-karting at Rye House, ‘helping’ him put 46
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0 together complicated Lego constructions and, having recently bought him his first guitar, was teaching him to play. Also, he and Angie could indulge their love of the theatre more frequently, taking in West End drama and musical productions, and taking regular holiday trips abroad. It was whilst in Malta with friends that Brian was taken ill and died on 26th May. Brian was easy-going, affable and reliable and, as testament to the high regard in which he was held, over 120 people attended his funeral at Harwood Crematorium, Stevenage, including Old Stationers Roger Melling (OSA President), Roger Engledow, Doug Fussell, Tony Hemmings, Michael Mote and Peter Redmond. It can be truthfully said that Sim lived respected and died regretted. Tony Hemmings ROY TREMLETT We were advised on the 5th August that Roy Tremlett of Glebe Road, Hornsey died last week at the age of 88. The call was from his carer – he apparently never married and the closest relative is thought to be a cousin. At the age of 88 Royston would probably have gone to the School in 1937 and then possibly to Wisbech in 1939. Tony Hemmings Honorary Secretary ALAN ARIS 1933-2014 I have been advised of the death last November of ALAN ARIS, class of 44-49. I believe he was involved with the Hornsey Historical Society and had been unwell for the last few years. Gordon Alan Aris Alan spent all of his life in the Hornsey area. He attended Rokesley School, and on obtaining a scholarship, he became a pupil at Stationers' Company's Grammar School in September of 1944. After leaving school and completing National Service, he embarked on a career in Life Insurance with Sun Life, but in 1970 Alan decided on a change and obtained a Bachelor of Education degree, teaching in many primary schools. Alan was father to three daughters and grandfather to three girls and three boys. Apart from his family and his teaching profession, Alan had many interests, he travelled widely to Europe, North Africa, USA and Australia. A keen Francophile, he was a member of a French conversation group, and had passions for impressionist art, rock music and opera. He was a committee member in the Hornsey Historical Society with published works on local matters. He retired from full time teaching in 1998, but continued with part time tuition, together with working one day a week at the Museum of London, and his involvement in Local History. Allan attended every meeting of the 'Class of 44' since the first reunion in 2002, up to 2013, a popular member he had a fund of fascinating information on Hornsey as well as many other wider matters. He is fondly remembered and will be sorely missed. TonyTight DAVID WATTERSON 1954-1960 David died on the 12th November 2014 in the Isle of Man, where he had lived for some time. Denis Hamment 1926 - 2013 Dear Geraint, fayfield@live.co.uk 5th February 2015 I was very sorry to learn that Denis Hamment had died. We were good friends at the Calthorpe L.T.C. in Crouch End. He and his great friend Alec Linford were often challenging for the men's doubles championship versus me and my friend Keith Grewcock (also an old boy). We all also formed the backbone of our Club's Tennis Team. Denis, as Treasurer, used to keep a beady eye on me. I was the Club's Secretary, so therefore received and distributed our Club's Wimbledon Ticket Allocation! I fondly remember Denis asking my wife Yvonne and I to spend a long weekend with him at his family's smallholding in Kent. He was learning to drive, so had purchased an ancient Austin 7. He wanted to practice driving around the smallholding, so needed me to be his qualified eo-driver to get there. Unfortunately the car only had a wooden back seat, so poor Yvonne obtained a very sore backside! Also, Denis stalled negotiating the Blackwall Tunnel Thames Crossing. I could only get the thing going again by using the engine's starter handle. Driving this time, I had my vocabulary extended by remarks from the many held up truck drivers! Still, we all had a lovely time, but unfortunately I cannot find my photographs of Denis careering around the farmland and getting stuck! Finally, I had no idea of all Denis' travelling and other activities, (other than orienteering). I shall miss seeing him at out Dinners etc., it was so nice to be his friend. Arthur Field 1944-1949 The definitive history of Stationers’ Company’s School written by Robert Baynes (Headmaster 1962-1982) is now available in its third reprint due to popular demand. Priced at £18 plus p+p it is available from Tim Westbrook, email: tim@timwestbrook.co.uk 47
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
Page 35 and 36: WHY WE SPEND NEARLY HALF THE YEAR I
Page 39 and 40: My first excursion to Norway was pr
Page 45: PETER BULLEN 1927-2014 A Service of

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