40s and 50s Memories
he joined British India, also a P&O subsidiary.
They had cadet ships and although we were
frequently in port together, I did not come across
him. I noted from OA news that F.G. Bendell was
running a hotel in Port Alfred, S. Africa. When
we stayed there during one visit, we decided
to look him up but unfortunately the 'bird had
flown'. Two or three years ago I received an
email from Michael Ellis (Meynell 1950) who
was asking about Colin Smith. I saw him (Colin
Smith) once when I was an apprentice on a ship
in Liverpool and we met up in Bolton where we
went to a 'Palais de Danse'. I can just remember
one conversation with a girl who said, "Me and
my mate have coom from Leigh"!
About two years ago, after studying the OA
website we decided to call in and see Howard
Padfield while en route to the South Coast.
His room was in a pristine condition, just like
the piano. He mentioned a cup of tea once or
twice but we remained dry. I was rather sorry
that he asked me nothing about what I had
done or achieved since leaving King's. He died
about two years later. I had also contacted
Clive Charlton (BF 1951), one of my study
contemporaries who very kindly invited us to
lunch with him and his wife on our way home.
We enjoyed this very much.
Living in the same village of Dinas Powys (just
outside Cardiff) we meet one of the Reynolds
twins (John, King Alfred, 1950) regularly.
Unfortunately his twin brother, David, died quite
recently. We meet in the Probus (Professional
and Business) Club of Dinas Powys about twice
a month. I have now been retired 20 years and
recently became an octogenarian.
C. O. EVERARD
Bishop Fox 1951
Chris Everard ("Coolie") left King's in 1951 as a Prefect of Bishop Fox House. He was active on
the rugby and hockey sports fields. His interest
in biological sciences at King's formed him for a
career in zoology. Very sadly he died in 2012.
His widow, Jenny, has furnished us with a vivid
account he wrote in May 2012 of six years of
their early life and experiences in pre-civil war
Nigeria.
He wrote:
In the very prolonged winter of 1963 when it was
freezing in England all the time and snow did not
melt in London from January to March, I was an
assistant lecturer teaching BSc Zoology Hon.
students at the Polytechnic in Regent Street. At
the same time I was also undertaking research
for my thesis into predacious fungi that capture
soil nematodes, nematodes of agricultural
importance and brackish water nematodes.
Then, through the Department of Technical
Cooperation (DTC), I was employed to work
with the Western Nigerian Government at their
Moor Plantation Agricultural Research Station
in Ibadan as an agricultural nematologist.
With my wife Jenny, aged 24, and our daughter
Joanna, aged 3, I got off the plane in mid-March
at an interim stop at Kano in Northwestern
Nigeria. It was 96 degrees on the tarmac as
we walked to the un-airconditioned terminal
building. At our final destination at Lagos the
temperature was slightly lower, but it was wet
and thundery with over 95% humidity. All the
electricity had failed so there was no lighting
nor air conditioning at the airport and everything
was being done by candlelight. It was the same
story at the hotel when we got there.
After our arrival at Ibadan we were allocated
a house and a substantial but completely
overgrown garden. Again, there was no
electricity, no furniture and no fridge. All our
water had to be boiled or put through a non-
functional bacterial filter. I was informed
that everything had to be supplied by the
Public Works Department (PWD). I was then
introduced to the concept of "dash" without
which nothing at all could be accomplished.
Thus, when I gave the electrician one Nigerian
pound as a tip, not only did he connect up all
the external cables from the pole in the road,
but he also provided a completely new pole
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