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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 7 8 well) was The Moderator of the Church of Scotland and at the same time another former pupil, Finlay Calder, was in Australia captaining the British & Irish Lions. Therefore DSMC had a legitimate claim to be the only school to have provided leaders for both The Christians And The Lions!!!! One final anecdote from a fellow player. Emie had the ability for short, pithy, snap replies - and when he was congratulated on becoming a grandfather said: 'Thanks - but I didn't do anything!' Looking back to earlier days, he met the love of his life - VERA. Their marriage of 47 years has been blessed with four sons Andrew; Alan; Roger; & Richard and Roger's marriage to Sarah has further blessed them with two grandchildren ..... Emily & Robbie who brought great joy to both Emie and Vera. Over the 47 years, Vera was there -looking after the family (and here I quote them} "All Dad's achievements; all his cricket; his hillwalking; his 39 years of Carbisdale; overseeing of Duke of Edinburgh walks were only possible because Mum was there to support him. Regrettably, the past year has not been an easy one for them, after he was given the diagnosis of his illness - which came as a great shock to all of us who have known him to have kept fit and well throughout his life. One of the enduring gifts of this life for which we are eternally grateful is that all our experiences are undoubtedly enriched - not only by the things that we do - but also by the people that we meet day by day; by those with whom we work; those with whom we share a common interest and a common bond of friendship; those who add more than just a little to our everyday living. Ernie was that type of person; one who enriched our lives; who added considerably to one's experience of people; and all of us will hold him in our hearts forever together with the many, many memories of this most sociable and likeable of men. Tribute by J N D Gray The death of Dr Ernie Wilkins on 17 September 2013 marked the passing of a great schoolmaster, dedicated to teaching and learning, to generations of boys and to the best traditions of Stewart's Melville College. Although not a Former Pupil, Ernie always gave the impression, from his devotion to the school and assiduous attention to all its aspects, that he must have been, and he ensured that his four sons enjoyed the benefit of a Stewart's Melville education. A Londoner by birth, married to a Yorkshire woman, he was a convert to Scottish landscapes, their 'Munros' and the stark beauty of some of the most inhospitable terrain in Europe. Ernie was a staunch exponent and one of the longest serving and durable leaders and supporters of the Carbisdale experience. He encouraged fathers and then their sons and some grandsons up hillwalks, to the Bothy and on the two day expedition to Croick. He was always the heart and soul of the occasional evening walk to Hillwalk 3. It's sad that he will not be with us for the 50th Carbisdale in 2014, having been there from 1972 and almost all that followed. An exceptional teacher and Head of Chemistry (he had a First Class Honours degree and a PhD from Leeds), Ernie had a sharp, analytical, encyclopaedic mind. Sympathetic to boys' difficulties, he could answer their questions on almost any subject, whether pertinent to the study of science or otherwise. As Senior Master in the 1990s, he was fair, consistent, an excellent organiser and, to boys, the epitome of the Stewart's Melville allrounder: an academic, a sportsman (especially cricket at which he excelled), a mountaineer, a raconteur and a man who had a fascination with the workings ofthe natural world. One of his great disappointments in the course of his final illness was that he was unable to pay a much wished for visit to the Galapagos Islands where Charles Darwin first began to conceive his theory of evolution. In 1999 Ernie retired from his full-time, permanent position at Stewart's Melville although he continued teaching Chemistry on a part-time basis for several years afterwards, and devoted his attention and undiminished energy to the life ofthe 48
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 7 8 Former Pupils' Club as its redoubtable secretary, a role in which he continued until 2009. He was largely responsible for bringing the life and activities of the Club, the associated clubs and the school closer together, established the decadal system of membership for schoolleavers, and the custom of regular reunions for hosts and generations of Daniel Stewart's and Melville College and Stewart's Melville College Former Pupils. The Clubhouse at Inverleith has more than justified the cost of its construction in the revenues taken from the many get-togethers, dinners, soirees and birthday parties (21st, 40th, 50th and 60th) which have taken place at Ernie's instigation or through his encouragement. The Club today is as healthy as it has ever been, on the eve of its Annual Dinner, for which I understand there is a waiting list and from which Ernie will, sadly, be an absent friend. Ernie was a good man, warm, emotional, completely devoted to his wife and family, to the school, to its Former Pupils and to his many colleagues and friends. In many ways he was an institution in himself. Life will not be the same without him. I owe him a personal debt in that he was an avuncular figure to me when I was first Principal, full of wise advice, support and encouragement, when I was rather green and uninitiated to the ways of the Erskine Stewart's Melville Schools. It was, however, his forensic mind which most fascinated me. The booklet he wrote in his retirement, on the trees of the school, with the help of Head Groundsman, Willie Purdie, was an outstanding example of his mind and character: esoteric, scholarly, precise, with a scientific attention to evidence and detail, underpinned by a sense of wonder at the natural world and a love of the school and all connected with it. We shall miss him. JND Gray Principal ERNiE WiLKiNS SCHooL DAYS: 1951 - 1958 Ernie Wilkins joined the School, from St Paul's C of E Junior School, on the 4th September 1951. David Turner has reminded me that Ernie travelled from Winchmore Hill to Haringey West station. David also travelled on that train in company with Keith Woodley and Roger Shadbolt. One hopes that they all had their caps firmly in place while walking to the School, for, to be spotted Nigel Wade & Ernie Wilkins at the 2011 Annual Dinner by a master without one's appropriate headgear in place could lead to a detention Initially Ernie was placed in Form 1b and Caxton House, but his academic performance promoted him to Form 2 by the start of his second year at the School. He did well in Form 2, coming 1st, 2nd equal and 3rd at the respective end of term examinations for that year. From then on Ernie was always a consistently good academic achiever, usually hovering around the tenth place in the top form. He was one of Laurie Buxton's fast track mathematics group, taking, and passing, GCEmathematics in the 4th Form. Laurie had the brilliant ability to make mathematics fun, and to enthuse us for the subject. I am sure Ernie enjoyed those lessons like the rest us, and also joined in the humorous, but rare, occasions when Laurie Buxton would get tangled up in pulley strings whilst endeavouring to demonstrate the workings of that aspect of Applied Mathematics. I cannot remember exactly when and how I got to know Ernie, but I have a vivid memory of a genial face topped by a mop of tousled hair. Ernie was a very interesting conversationalist, and he and I, with John Peacock and others, would talk about just about every topic under the sun. It did not take long for Ernie's skill with the cricket ball to emerge. In the 1952 School Sports Ernie was placed third in the throwing the cricket ball competition, an event which was inexplicably dropped in future years. In the following year Ernie was in the Under 14 XI, though the team only managed to win two and draw one of the eight fixtures played. Ernie had a distinctive batting style, and Roy King has described his forward defensive stroke (modelled on Ernie's hero Trevor Bailey) as making him a bugger to get out."David Sochon, who came first in that cricket ball throwing competition, recalls that he used to play a verbal game with Ernie in which each would challenge the other to name the county for which randomly named cricketers played. A variant of this game involved naming county teams playing current matches, and the close of play scores. David concedes that Ernie was usually the winner. Ernie's cricketing skills increased as he progressed from year to year at the School. In the July 1954 edition of The Stationers' Magazine he was described as 'The backbone of the Under14's batting ...", and "as skipper, and wicket keeper has been a great power in the side." By the Summer of 1955 Ernie was a member of the School's First XI cricket team (see photograph), which remained unbeaten during the season, although there was a propensity to finish matches with a draw. The December 1955 issue of the magazine records that Ernie was awarded his cricketing colours. An honour for relatively young shoulders. It was also the year that Ernie was a member of the School eleven that gave a spirited performance against the Old Boys' team who narrowly avoided defeat by finishing with only one wicket remaining, and 31 less than the School's score. Ernie was commended for an excellent catch from one of the Old Boy's opening batsmen. Ernie continued to improve and play for the School First XI. In the December 1957 issue of the magazine he was described thus: He again proved that he ranks among the best wicket keepers that 49
Page 1 and 2: No 78 /February 2014 The Old Statio
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