40s and 50s Memories
childhood hobbies into an absorbing, well-paid
life-long career. I have worked as a research
biologist through the final years of the Golden
Age of Science. It has been totally absorbing,
and even in my late 70's I still co-author an
occasional research paper.
D. Glover
Meynell 1954
The OA Rover Crew Ben Lawers Expedition
1954 included some older OAs and some who
had left Kings that year, and therefore this
memorable event just qualifies for inclusion in
this book on 'Life After King's.'
Ben Lawers expedition 1954, the crew
David Glover recalls some high - and some
lowlights:
Our base camp was to be a barn at The Ben
Lawers Hotel, half way along the north side of
Loch Tay at the foot of the Ben. After 59 years
my memories are very vague. I think the leader
was Adrian Gibbs who in later years I bumped
into at various agricultural meetings. There were
also two Bamber brothers and, I think, Alastair
monro.unfortunately no one had noticed that
the hotel was a temperance establishment. Our
hopes of returning to base for a well earned
pint each night evaporated. It was decided to
set up base camp at the Lochan half way up
the mountain.the expedition was mounted
in conjunction with The Nature Conservancy
organization for whom we would make weather
observations, build a stone wall to produce a
semi-permanent snow drift to encourage the
establishment of alpine plants, and to chart
the Lochan by taking soundings from a rubber
dinghy.
We did our weather observations including
placing a Bilham Screen on the trig point at the
summit. The wall was built but we did not do the soundings. This was possibly due to the
very unstable dinghy, a very deep cold loch
and the absence of any buoyancy aids.the trip
taught me the need for meticulous research
when making plans. It gave me a taste for
whisky which still exists and some incredible
memories - the anemometer screaming up to
its maximum of sixty knots and sticking there, -
a very cold French girl in the shortest of shorts
who appeared at our tent on the summit one
morning - and the violent 90 mph squall that
flattened our summit tent with a hapless Tim
Brennand and Brian England hanging on to
the poles, and worse still, our dining tent on the
final morning.
Ben Lawers expedition 1954, the crew
H. J. HANN
Woodard 1945
John Hann left King's in 1945, having spent all
the war years there, having arrived in 1938. The
Housemasters at Woodard during his time were
s.j.fulton, "Digger" Bishop and the Headmaster,
Randall Unmack. He remembers a number
of school friends, d.f.d.grange- Bennet,
p.j.ridler, d.c.c.stott, and m.scott. Howard
Padfield made a great impression on him, and
is described by him as "a perfect gentleman".
His school career was a very successful one on
and off the sportsfield. He was House Captain
of Woodard, and School Captain. He captained
athletics and won Victor Ludorum in 1945. He
obtained a place at Queen's College, Oxford to
read Modern History.
Of his life after King's, he writes:
Before taking up my place at Oxford, I spent
50