The 94th Annual Dinner took place on Saturday 22nd November from 6:30 pm for 7:30 pm until 11:30 in the Oldfield Hall, King Charles I School, hosted by President John Atkinson.
President John Atkinson welcomed our two guests of honour, Cllr Helen Dyke, Mayor of Kidderminster, and Cllr Maureen Aston, Vice-Chairman Wyre Forest District Council. Helen Dyke herself went to Harry Cheshire, but she said that she was aware of the fact that the best-looking boys went to King Charles. Her size and shape didn't lead to sporting excellence, and she had been a goody two shoes while at school herself. She had had two children at King Charles and had been a Governor for four years, and so felt well-qualified to propose the toast to the School and Association.
In reply, the Headmaster, Alan Brooks, said that the School had built upon the very successful Ofsted report from the year before. At the very end of the summer term, they had been informed from the DfES that they had been successful in their bid to become a specialist school. That would give them more money each year for the four years of designation before they had to reapply – £126 a pupil. For King Charles, this represents about £120 000 a year extra. They had had to raise £50 000 of their own sponsorship, which they did thanks to a number of benefactors, including the Old Carolians. To this £50 000, the government added a further £100 000 for a capital build project. He was eager to state that what it would not mean that they concentrate on just Science – far from it. He turned to the issue of an educational review in Wyre Forest. They wanted to preserve all that is good about King Charles; they wanted to maintain the name; they wanted to maintain the ethos; they wanted to maintain the staff; they wanted the School to live on; they did not want it to be lost. He hoped that the Association, as a body and as individuals, would work to ensure that Kidderminster still had a King Charles I School as it had since its charter in 1636 – the School was too good to lose. In the past year, they had also converted their Sportsmark accreditation to a superior Sportsmark Gold, again in partnership with the two feeder middle schools. They had had another good year in the examination room. At GCSE, it was their second-best ever year, 2002 being the best. Some students achieved 13 A* or A grades. At Advanced level, all their students passed their vocational examinations – that is, GNVQs – and, at A2, there was a 96% pass rate. All the students applying for a university place secured their choices. The Sixth Form continued to grow, and at the beginning of the new academic year had more than 200 students. He paid tribute to John Atkinson, the new President, who was due to retire from School at Christmas. He had made many significant contributions to King Charles over a large number of years. Alan Brooks thanked him for his clear thinking, his meticulous attention to detail, his loyalty, his commitment and his friendship.
John Atkinson said that he was honoured to have been invited to be President, succeeding Peter Guy, whom he congratulated for his very successful year of office. He reminisced that he arrived at the School in 1981, three or four years after the reorganisation that led to the creation of the current school. By that time, he had built up a good deal of experience in both comprehensive and grammar schools. With that background, he said that he had some inkling of just how daunting a task it must have been to bring together three single-sex grammar schools as a mixed comprehensive school. He returned the compliment to Alan Brooks, saying that he had led the School through two very successful Ofsted inspections. Although he did not attend or teach at King Charles I Grammar School for Boys, over the years, he had attended a number of Old Carolian Dinners and sometimes thought it possible that he had developed a condition of acquired memory. 'Have I really seen a cycle raised to the top of a flagpole or a Morris motor car slotted into a Fives court? Have I been caught by the Headmaster in an illicit game of cards, only to be advised how best to play the hand? Was I really asked to translate into Latin, "The boy lost his cap behind the pig-sty"? Was I the innocent victim of that Latin master's rage and despatched unceremoniously from assembly? Perhaps not. But I would have very much liked to hear more of the memories of a man who had watched native girls rolling tobacco on their thighs'. The President also brought with him an enormous amount of School memorabilia, which members enjoyed poring over in great detail.
The President's chosen 'assassin' for the night, Davina Bason, is an Assistant Headteacher at the School and previous Head of Sixth Form; she is also the first female Committee member of the Association. Guests on Davina's table include the School's Head Girl, Aimee Preece, and Head Boy, Nicholas Crumpton. Davina went on to discuss the President's career in some detail, calling him 'extremely competitive'. Since his early days in Widnes, he had become keen on badminton, squash, cricket and football, and was a keen cyclist. He was not half-hearted about anything and had been on the local Parish Council for many years. She thought him 'a true professional'. The President himself remarked afterwards that they were the 'kindest cuts of all' from a potential assassin.
As usual, the evening ended with a rendition of the National Anthem and 'Auld Lang Syne', but, this year, there was a difference – they were interspersed with an impromptu performance of 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' to celebrate England's win in the Rugby World Cup Final in Australia that very morning.
Here's a full list of those who attended:
David Allsopp, Jayne Aston (our newest member at the time), John Atkinson, Davina Bason, Beryl Bedford, Philip Bell, Andy Benton, Arnold Beresford, Tony Bishop, T H T Bloomer, Eddy Blount, Ray Blount, David Booth, John Booth, Paul Booton, Keith Bowkett, Trevor Bradley, Norman Broadfield, Tony Brooks, Lisa Broomfield-Harrison, Anthony Bunn, Bob Charteris, David Christopher, Brian Clarke, Brian Cooper, Nicholas Crumpton, Trevor Davies, John Davis, Bill Doolittle, David Drake, Don Durham, Martin Easton, Allan Elcock, Ray Evans, Ben Ford, Martin Gallagher, Ken Garbett, Brian Gittins, Mike Godbehear, Peter Guy, John Hall, Peter Handley, Geoff Hayes, John Hobson, Martin Hobson, Roger Hobson, Peter Hooper, Martin Humphries, David Isaacs, John Isaacs, Bob Jeffries, Alan Jinks, Sam Kemp, Tony Kidd, Joanne Knight, John Longmore, Theresa Loveridge, Mike Massey, Geoff Mathews, John Meadows, Reg Mills, Andrew Moule, Mike Mulvey, John Nott, John Nott (yes, there really are two of them!), Charles Payne, Garth Payton, Norman Peacock, Roger Perrin, Peter Picken, Charlie Pratt, Aimee Preece, Royce Sandall, John Sanders, Stuart Shepherd, David Slater, David Campbell Slater, Bryan Smith, Kevin Smith (a bona fide member of the Association but present this evening as our guest – he's also President of Hartlebury Old Elizabethans!), Bob Spilsbury, John Spilsbury, George Styles, Bob Timmis, Peter Vaughan, Dr T B Vaughan, Doug Wall, John Webster, Keith Weston, Mike Wilson, Richard Wood, Robert Wood, Richard Woolley and Pat Yarnold.