Richard Bird (Sackville 63)

Happy days at a great school, now in France and Spain, thanks guys. Chris Berry (Grote 64 I doubt it will interest many, but this year marks my 50th year on the roll as a solicitor. All with the same firm in Lincoln’s Inn. (2021)

Revd William Allberry (Sackville 66)

Thank you for the article in last year’s Sennockian about the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh. I have often recited part of a poem, ‘Prince Philmit’s Visage’ by Geoffrey Kitchener (Hardinge 67) from the 1966 edition of Sennockian. I couldn’t remember two of the lines so it was wonderful to receive them from the school archivist:

‘ With Aaron and hatson and grey soots abound, And senior mastsirs who bow to the ground, The press and the pressed, the rites of the tea, We welcomed our Herzog at thirty-past-three.’ (2022)

Graham H Breakwell (Fryth 67)

Living the dream in Los Angeles. At the time of writing, my only daughter, Weiwei, is expecting our first grandchild in a week’s time. (2021)

Brian 'Jon' Fay (Wordsworth 67)

Post-pandemic life becomes closer to normal every day here in south Florida. The high heat and humidity are challenging, especially for us tennis and pickleball players, but tall cool drinks as the sun goes down help us chill out! I am very involved in my community as a Palm Beach Ambassador for InterNations, president of our community wine club and a social member of the British American Chamber of Commerce. We have resumed back to ‘live and in-person’ gatherings – so much nicer than those Zoom events. However, those kept us all in touch during the darker days of the pandemic. Hopefully we will get back to England soon to see family and friends, and maybe some OS friends too. I would love to get together with any OS in south Florida. Please email me via the Old Sennockians. (2022)

Ian Brinton (Fryth 68)

My recent publications include Language and Death, a translation of poems by Philippe Jaccottet (Equipage, 2022), Paul Valéry’s selected poems (Muscaliet Press, 2021, with a Preface by Michael Heller), Paris Scenes, a translation of Charles Baudelaire’s ‘Tableaux Parisiens’ (Two Rivers Press, 2021) and Islands of Voices, the selected poems of Douglas Oliver (Shearsman Books, 2020). My translation of Gérard de Nerval’s Les Chimères will appear from Muscaliet Press later this year. I also review for The London Magazine, PN Review, Litter, Long Poem Magazine and Golden Handcuffs Review, co-edit the magazine SNOW and help to curate the Cambridge University Library Archive of Modern Poetry. (2022)

Robert Mills (Grote 68)

I graduated from the London Hospital Medical College and became an ear, nose and throat surgeon, specialising in diseases of the ear and balance disorders. The final years of my career were spent in Edinburgh, where I was Professor of Otolaryngology at Edinburgh University. In 2009 I married a Thai ENT doctor and the following year I retired from the NHS and moved to Thailand. We live in Khon Kaen, in the north-east of the country, where my wife is now the director of a 1000-bed government hospital. I have a teaching role at Khon Kaen University and have been involved in charitable ear surgery camps in various parts of Asia (Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Laos and Sri Lanka). I am a trustee and board member of the Briton-Nepal Otology Service. I teach on two ear surgery courses each year, one in Khon Kaen and one in Bangkok. In my spare time, I play golf and write novels and short stories, mainly crime fiction and science fiction. Normally I return to the UK for two or three months each year to visit my children and grandchildren but have been unable to do so since the onset of Covid-19. (2021)

John Andrews (Fryth 69)

John retired as Chairman of the Special Forces Club, London, in 2020 having served for almost six years. Fortunately the Club was able to hold a major Anniversary Reception and Dinner at St James’s Palace in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal, Club Patron, just before Covid put paid to such events. (2021)

John Barnsdale (Park Grange 69)

I now live in Auburn, California (43+ years) and continue to practice medicine (anesthesia, as we spell it). After leaving Sevenoaks I dropped, feet first, into the tumult that was the University of California, Berkeley. To say I had a great experience would be an understatement. Time and again I reflected on the incredible education I received at Sevenoaks, both academic and personal. I have jokingly told many people that I was trained to go out and serve an Empire that no longer existed and to do it well. Completing a degree in Engineering (at UC Berkeley) and subsequently Medicine (at UCLA) I then trained in Anesthesia and moved to Auburn. Each step of this journey was aided by my experience at Sevenoaks. I recognised many of the names in our decade and would look forward to hearing from them. Even back then we were a surprisingly mobile lot. (2021)