40s and 50s Memories
managed to get some poems published.
I now live a very active life in Otterton in East
Devon. Ten years ago I married a charming lady
and we are most happy. She accompanies me
on visits to the College and is very interested.
P. KEYSER
King Alfred 1941
Peter Keyser left King's in 1941, a critical period
for Britain in the early part of WWII and critical
too for those leaving school at that time. R.D.
("Popsie") Townsend was his Housemaster
and he remembers F. Grint and Dungey as his
particular friends, and Baines and Herr Meuman
as teachers of music and german respectively.
He tried most activities the school had to offer,
including The Choir, Scouts, OTC and ballroom
dancing, without in his opinion achieving
anything "outstanding."
Of his life that followed he writes:
My first "job" was to join the RAF with whom I
took an RAF Short Course in Physics at Queen's
University, Belfast. I wanted desperately to be
a pilot of Spitfires, but in the end I trained as a
bomb-aimer in Lancasters. Then the war ended
just as my training did, so I was never called
upon to aim an actual bomb. Before I left the
service, I did spend time in Germany.
ter some minor jobs, I worked for a number
of years in a finance business that my father
had started. He had become an MP and my
workplace at this time was in Westminster and
later Staines.
In the 1960's, I moved on to a wonderful job
with Bowaters as an export sales Manager for
their international business in packaging in
Europe. This was a large UK-based company
with 92 offices in this country, according to the
information officer as I joined. "No." he said,
"93, another one has just been opened!" I
was immediately struck by the sheer scale of
the international operation. The first order from
Denmark I had to handle called for 200 million
baking cases!
With Bowaters I got to travel from their Sunbury
office to most European countries, from Iceland to Cyprus. I remember once, at an international
exhibition in Belgium being quite surprised and
impressed to find a crowd of our Bowaters'
agents from all across Europe, from Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, France, and Germany etc.,
in the bar, all speaking happily in English.
I retired in 1990 from this job I had enjoyed
greatly for getting on for 30 years. After I retired
I was sorry when Bowaters went the way of
many a large conglomerate, and was broken
up after being taken over, piecemeal.
My wife and I now live at Wateringbury, near
Maidstone, and we run a small animal sanctuary
at Shoreham in Kent, with horses, donkeys
and ex-battery kept chickens. This is a very
satisfying undertaking and we both hope it will
continue for a few years more.
I think fondly of King's and am proud to be a
member of the OA Club.
J. KILLINGBECK
King Alfred 1955
John Killingbeck was in both the Junior and
Senior Schools at King's. He became a Prefect
in King Alfred House and represented the school
at tennis. Unsurprisingly he was Chairman of
the Geographical Society.
I worked with the British Antarctic survey from
1960 - 1963. I was Base Leader/Magistrate
at their Base on Deception Island, South
Shetlands in 18 months, then supporting the
first survey of Adelaide Island (67°S 68°W) with
five companions and 6 dog teams, travelling
1,000 miles over wonderful mountainous
landscapes and sea ice. Adelaide is about the
size of Cornwall. In 1993/94 I had the honour,
yet sad privilege, to represent the older B.A.S.
dog drivers on the last Husky dog journey in
the Antarctic. Young John Sweeny and I were
supporting the science work on Alexander
Island (72°S 68°W), an island the size of Wales.
These last two dog teams left the Continent on
22 February 1994 as they were banned from 1
April 2004 under the Environmental Protocol to
the Antarctic Treaty. They were deemed to be
"non indigenous species".
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