School House and 70s Lunch 2025

This October saw the annual School House Lunch move from London to Worcester, held at the OV owned and run Bank House Hotel. Originally, the School House Lunch was for those former boarders who knew the late Dan McTurk to remember his time as their Housemaster but this year the lunch welcomed all OVs from that era, irrespective of House, although perhaps knew Dan as a teacher and had some memories of their own to share.

The lunch was co-ordinated by OVs Stephen Coulter (S 57-66), Dr Tim Wadsworth (S 56-61), and Mike Page (Cr 60-65), with support from the King’s Alumni Office. We are grateful to Stephen for providing an overview of the Lunch:

The lunch was held this year at the Bank House Hotel in Bransford near Worcester. Twenty nine guests attended, including the new Head of the Kings Foundation, Ben Charles. Very unfortunately, Rory McTurk was not present owing to a missed train connection.

Guests were welcomed in short speeches by Stephen Coulter and Alec Mackie (Cl 47-56). Lunch, preceded by a Grace spoken by The Reverend Canon William Burke (S 57-65), was a delicious three course meal. At the end of the meal, Tim Wadsworth reminded guests of the special qualities which Dan McTurk possessed and the respect in which he was held and guests raised glasses in his memory. Tim also proposed toasts to the memories of Martin Lorenz (S 45-50) and David Gregory (S 50-58), both of whom had been deeply involved in the School House Lunches in London since 2007; sadly, both passed away earlier this year. David’s widow, Gwen, was a special guest at this year’s lunch.

Ben Charles also gave a short speech introducing himself and telling guests of his previous teaching posts, his personal interests in music and rugby and of the warm welcome which he and his family have received from the Kings community since moving to Worcester.

The Bank House Hotel proved to be a popular venue and it is hoped that the lunch will be held there again next year.

More photos from the Lunch can be found in the Galleries section of the Vigornian Hub here.