Falcon Old Boys

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This book is an anecdotal memoir of my life as a young lad in Rhodesia, remembering the people and places that  influenced me from an early age.

The book reflects on my life of privilege in a society that was facing increasing pressures from the outside world.

Then there is Anopa  the young Shona boy who’s culture and lifestyle is also threatened by the insurgency of ruthless terrorists.

As the paths of our lives cross one another we are both caught up in the events that changed our country forever.

My schooling days at Falcon will interest you and I am sure it will bring back many a memory.

This book is as much about me as my fellow peers who grew up during that tumultuous era.

You can find out more about the book at www.lowveldsnow.com

Tim Sinclair, (Founders 1979)

Many of you will have seen the news about the P-51 pilot who sadly crashed at an air show in Reno on September 16th 2011.

A titbit picked up on the Internet by James Whidborne (H’78) , with A C Grayling, one of Falcon’s better known luminaries, telling tales of canings and running away etc

http://www.intelligencesquared.com/talks/a-c-grayling-on-running-away-from-boarding-school,-at-5×15

…there will, of course, always be debate about who holds the caning record. Some say it’s Tim Hawkins but did we really count them? Having listened to the speech, I personally think there are quite a few embellishments e.g. “the headmaster, whom we never saw from year to year” is clearly wrong as DET was very much to be seen every week in assemblies, classes etc. Still, taken with a liberal pinch of salt, it makes a good yarn!

Colin Bewes, H’79

The annual London FOBS dinner will be held on 23rd June 2011. The venue is the same as last year, Buck’s Club in London. Last year was a huge success (photos from last year can be found here), and we look forward to repeating that this year. I’ve managed to keep costs roughly the same as last year with the dinner (including pre-dinner drinks) at £45 a head, and wine at £22 a bottle. The details are below, please let me know if you want to come or have any questions.

Regards,

Peter Coulson

You are invited to a reunion dinner of Falcon Old Boys (and Girls) at 7.30pm on 23rd June 2011. The dinner will be held in the Buckmaster Room at Buck’s Club, 18 Clifford Street, London W1. We hope to have a guest speaker and will confirm nearer the time.

The cost for the evening will be £45 which will cover pre-dinner drinks and a three course dinner, with all proceeds (after costs) going to the Falcon Overseas Trust, which raises money for the college. There will be a cash bar in operation for wine etc with dinner.

Please respond to me at peter.coulson@falconoldboys.com

This just in from Duncan McAulay

Our mother, Betty McAulay who was SAN sister from 1967 to 1986 passed away suddenly in England yesterday afternoon.  My brother, Richard and I grew up at the school, and as a result, have very strong ties to the College, as both residents and scholars.

Mum had a wonderful time at the 1978 FOBS reunion in Cape Town in May last year, and met up with many of the ex-staff and boys whom she knew so well.  It was a very happy couple of days.

I would deeply appreciate it if you would, on our behalf,  let the FOBS community know.

Kind regards,

Duncan (Butch) & Richard McAulay

Peter Steyn (Staff 1961-70) has been awarded the Gill Memorial Award for 2011 at BirdLife South Africa’s recent AGM in March 2011 at the Bundu Country Lodge, Nelspruit, Mpumalanga. Here’s a link to the page announcing this

Birdlife South Africa – 2011 Gill Memorial Award

Peter has, over the last 60 years, published 8 books and more than 350 articles about birds. You can read more about him in our Famous FOBs section – here is the link to that.

Tardy of us to notice that a former Falcon and Professor of Philosophy, Anthony Clifford Grayling (F’62), is pretty well known, but if, like me, you’d never heard of him (and you weren’t at Falcon in 1962), then here’s a chance to correct that and find out more about him. Click the link below to the Guardian’s article about his new book.

Guardian page on A C Grayling’s new book, “The Good Book : A Secular Bible”

There are also numerous other links that pop up with a quick web search, including his own site ACGrayling.com , a Wiki page, and even a Facebook fan page.

Falcon Old Boy, Adrian Heili (Tredgold 1999) has featured in the news after giving evidence at the 7/7 Bombings Inquest. The embedded movie below gives the main details of his quick-thinking action on 7th July 2005 when terrorist bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan detonated a bomb in a tube train he was on at Edgware Road tube station, killing six people.

One of the worst-injured survivors of the bomb was Daniel Biddle, who lost both legs, his spleen and his left eye. When the bomb went off, he was thrown out of the carriage and into the gap between the train and the wall of the tunnel.

Adrian Heili had been in the carriage behind Biddle’s. Adrian heard Biddle calling out and shouted to him out of the train.

Adrian forced the door open then jumped onto the adjacent track before working his way to an area close to where Biddle’s cries were coming from. There he met a driver, Lee Hunt, who had been taking a refreshment break at the station. Read the rest of this entry »