Three Amigos back at King’s

It was a delight to welcome three great friends from the 1970s, OVs Steve Gwilliam (Br 70-76), Mark Foley (Cl 67-77) and Peter Burnham (Ch/W 72-77) back to King’s earlier this month.

The Year of 1977 is a particularly close-knit one, with this trio still regularly seeing each other and others from their cohort. However, they hadn’t returned to their former school for many years – Steve not since the 1980s!

Walking around the School site, Steve, Mark and Peter happily regaled Hannah Sparrey and Amanda Sutcliffe from the Alumni Office with fantastic memories of the antics they got up to during their time at School, favourite teachers, and House Masters. They were pleased to see that although much had changed at King’s, there was still a lot that was similar and familiar.

The OVs were impressed with the Keyes Building, especially the climbing wall, agreeing it is a considerable improvement on the one they had used: outside, on the end of the Geography Block! Mark had been a keen Basketball player while at School and he relished the thought of playing in the Keyes Sports Hall.

All their respective House Rooms had been in the Annett Building, then known as the New Block, and they were eager to return. Walking from the Keyes Building, the group paused at the John Moore Theatre. Steve, Mark and Peter shared how their productions had all been in College Hall, agreeing that they would have happily been more involved with Drama had the theatre been available.

Reaching the Annett Building, the visitors spoke with Maths Teacher Anita Fitzpatrick, whose classroom had been one of Mark’s House rooms. Although there have been some changes to the building’s layout over the years, the OVs were still able to easily recall where they had spent many hours, and fond memories of their House Masters.

Onwards to the Michael Baker Boathouse as Steve had been a keen rower while at School. They were greatly impressed by the award-winning facility, especially the scale of the boat garage, and enjoyed reading about their contemporaries on a display in the building. Steve had opportunity to catch up with one of the current rowing coaches, Darcy Simon, about the paces through which today’s King’s rowers are put!

Visiting Biology, they all noted how the building both looked, and smelled, the same! They had some great memories of fun and frolics in Biology and especially remembered being taught by the Rev’d Michael Nott (Hon OV). As Steve said, “A great guy”.

Unfortunately, due to exams, they were unable to go into College Hall but peeked through the window at the recently renovated Undercroft, which had returned to the Cathedral a few years ago and is now used as an education centre. Steve, Mark and Peter recalled how the Undercroft had been a sanctuary in the Sixth Form, with a pool table, record players, and space away from teachers’ prying eyes and ears.

A trip to Choir House was essential, as this was where Peter had boarded for the first couple of years at King’s, while he waited for a place as a day boy. Choir House is now home to the English department, and Peter’s first dormitory, “The Barn” has since been divided into two rooms. One had an active English lesson taking place, but the other is currently a computer room, so Peter had the opportunity to share with everyone the layout of The Barn with great clarity, including who had slept where, although the overriding memory was of the extreme cold. He was pleased to note the heating now in place! Peter’s Upper Remove dormitory had been smaller than The Barn but no less cold in his day. The Fifth Formers enjoying their English lesson were happy to take a quick break to hear Peter’s memories.

The Science Block was more Mark’s domain when they were at School and was amazed to see the stairs had not changed at all! Most of the Chemistry and Physics classes were taking end of topic tests, but the group were delighted to have a quick, and quiet, chat with Physics Teacher Alison Gamble (Hon OV).

The trio were very keen to see the Art School, a new facility since their time. In there, they spoke with Head of Art, Chris Haywood (Hon OV), who had crossed over with some of the OVs’ former teachers including Stewart Davies (Hon OV), Tim Hickson (Hon OV) and Tim Crow (Hon OV), with some great reminiscing. All three thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Art School and speaking with some of the A-level Art Students about their work. Mark had been steered away from doing Art A-level, although had wanted to, but picked it up again later in life. The visit to the Art School, however, had inspired him to once again take up an Art class!

The final stop on their visit was the Swimming Pool, which has recently been refurbished and they found amazing. In their day, the pool had been open air, and absolutely freezing. This did mean, however, that it was fantastic in the summer holidays, when they would cycle to the pool with friends, get their towels out on the grass and spend the day by the pool, mixing swimming with a bit of football!

We’re looking forward to welcoming Steve, Mark and Peter, along with more of their OV friends from the Year of 1977, back to King’s again in the summer for VigFest 2025 in July!