Author Archives: Ian Westhead

The Hammond Perception: Romance and Revolution in an Alternative 1968

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The Hammond Perception is a new novel published by OB Martin Reed and is now free as an e-book on Amazon until the 8th September!

The blurb reads:

We follow Thomas Hammond from shy, insecure and sexually confused schoolboy to become a centred young man who has learned the difference between sex and love, and is prepared to fight for whom, rather than what, he believes in. 

December 1967, in an alternative world where a hidebound Britain maintains a fragile peace with Nazi-dominated Europe. Tommy doesn’t question his sheltered, repressed life until he meets Iona at the Sixth Form disco. She introduces him to a world of Left Bank intellectuals and left-wing philosophers. When the King suspends Parliament and appoints a venal crony as PM they become politically active, organising a schoolkids’ trade union. But as democracy collapses and fascists, Maoists and anarchists run wild, their relationship also hits the rocks. Around them, a cast of journalists and spies, students and politicians scheme, deceive and betray one another. 

August 1968 finds Iona caught up in Red Guard fervour while Tommy drifts in a psychedelic haze, as the madness reaches its violent climax in Trafalgar Square. 

“The Swinging Sixties on steroids, written by someone who was there!” 

Martin writes of the book and of his time at BS:

I was at BS from 1961-68. I went on to study Mathematics at the University of East Anglia, then had a career as a lecturer. In retirement, I have been writing techno-thriller novels set around that time. My latest is “The Hammond Perception: Romance and Revolution in an Alternative 1968”. Much of it is set in a grammar school not unlike BS, and those of my age will recognise Jasper Dodds, Tom Bircher and others. It’s available on Amazon in e-book and paperback; use this link to reach your local Amazon page. In fact, the e-book will be free for three days: 6th to 8th September.  

I’m very keen for feedback and reviews, so please download a copy!

Obituary: Douglas Deedman

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Jill Deedman has got in touch with the sad news that, on 22nd September 2022, her husband Douglas Deedman passed away peacefully aged 73 years at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

Douglas was a pupil at the school 1959-1966, later working at the school as a laboratory technician until going on to train as a teacher.

He taught Physics and Computer Science at the school and was also IT Co-ordinator from approximately 1990 until 2022.

The service is to be held at Bournemouth Crematorium on Thursday 6th October, 2.30pm. No flowers by request please, if desired donations to be made payable to Dementia UK C/O George Scott funeral services, 1537 Wimborne Road, Kinson, BH10 7BD, tel. 01202 578079.

Join Our Village Cricket Team

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Welcome to Bournemouth School Associates CC!

Calling all cricket enthusiasts – we have cricket for you! Now is the perfect time to reconnect with Bournemouth School through the game! If you, your friends and/or your family are interested in social, friendly cricket where you’ll be able to catch-up with fellow school associates then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.  You’ll find contact details and more information on the club below.

We play weekly Sunday friendlies across some of the most picturesque grounds that Dorset, East Wiltshire and the New Forest have to offer. Games tend to consist of innings of 35 overs and  more importantly a tea break between innings.  After each game there’s often a trip to a local pub for a post-match debrief.  We don’t have training sessions during the summer but do run a few pre-season net sessions in the later winter months to welcome in the summer and dust off the inevitable cobwebs.

As mentioned above, many Old Bournemouthians have joined our ranks and so the club is a great place for people who were previously involved in the school to meet up.  This said, we are also an inclusive club with a diverse range of players from around the local area.  We recruit men and women into our ranks – essentially anyone who enjoys a sociable and friendly approach to cricket is welcome – whether you haven’t played in years and are looking for a way back into the sport or are a keen cricketer looking for a Sunday side, BSACC is an excellent fit.

You can find out more by visiting our website here.

History

Staff here include Ken Maxted (centre) John Hawkins (seated) and Mike Webb (behind John Hawkins)

The BSA Cricket Club started life in 1969 as a Bournemouth School staff team, which played games mid-week and on Sundays either at Castle Lane, on the school ground, or in the surrounding countryside, often in close proximity to a country pub. As time passed and staff left or got older, the club opened its doors to include parents of pupils. With the further passage of time the staff element of the team disappeared completely and the remit widened further to include Old Boys of the school, which is mainly how the club operates today.

Contact Us

If you have any further queries and/or are interested in joining then please don’t hesitate to contact us.  Emails for our recruitment secretary and team secretary are included below.  Don’t forget you can also get in touch with and follow us on Facebook and Instagram by clicking the links below.

Imagine the scene – you’re at a picturesque ground bathed in the glow of a beautiful summer’s day. Why not make this a reality?

Tom Ansell
Recruitment Secretary
tomansell49@gmail.com

Max Harries
Team Secretary
max.harries@hotmail.com

School Athletics Record Holders

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The School P.E. Department recently got in touch following this year’s Sports Day at Kings Park.

They are interested in trying to reach out to some of the school’s Record Holders amongst the alumni community. There are plenty of records from the 90’s and 00’s still standing, and one from as far back as 1985.

Can anyone help make contact with the names below?

2022 Association Dinner

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Our 2022 Annual Reunion Dinner is scheduled for Saturday November 12th at The Highcliff Marriott Hotel, West Cliff, Bournemouth, starting at 7pm to be seated for 7.30pm. Tables of up to ten can be organised here.

The cost is £32.00 per member and £35.00 per non-member and the preferred method of payment is by bank transfer to Old Bournemouthians’ Association: Sort Code 20-11-39, Account Number 10339636. Please enter your surname followed by 22 as a reference.

If you are unable to access this link then please book directly with Ian Underwood, our Dinner Secretary, at underwoods4@yahoo.co.uk. Once again we have decided to open the event so that members may bring spouses/partners if they wish and we would appreciate early bookings so that we can organise seating. Dress is either black tie or lounge suits.

Our speaker is yet to be confirmed.

OBs Raising Money for Ukraine

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David Taylor, who left our Sixth Form in 1991, has persuaded some other Old Bournemouthians (along with six other friends) to undertake a mammoth Challenge in May this year, all in support of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine Appeal.

They will be cycling from Sandbanks to St Tropez between the 18 and 27 May’22 – a distance of 1300 km!

Further details of the challenge and about how to make a donation may be found at:

The team are also looking for corporate sponsorship – so please do get in touch if your company would like its logo on their team jerseys.

Obituary: Anthony Eric Baxter

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John Demont has sent this obitary of Tony Baxter, 1st December 1930 – 24th December 2021.

Brigadier (ret) Tony Baxter died peacefully in a Nursing home at Burleyon, 24th December 2021. Tony was at School 1941 – 48 and was one of four OBs who went straight from school to go to RMA Sandhurst (which must have been some sort of record!). The others being Johnny English, Tom Farmer and Dougie Sherwood. He was a School Prefect and Sergeant in the OTC, as it was then called.

Tony also was selected to go to Trinity College, Cambridge, where as a Commissioned Officer he got an Engineering degree before joining REME. This was a period he really enjoyed.

Tony was a good all-round sportsman and a member of the famous 1948 1st XI Cricket Team, which at one time provided nine of the Hampshire Schoolboys’ Eleven, when the outstanding Chris Eales was captain. As a medium fast bowler and excellent fielder, Tony often played for the OBs when his military duties permitted. He always enjoyed his cricket and was a lifetime member of the Arundel CC.

He enjoyed an active retirement in Worthing with his late wife Pat, using his talented engineering skills when volunteering with local projects.

Tony Baxter was a distinguished, well-liked OB and a real gentleman in every sense of the word – and a good friend. A real credit to Bournemouth School.

Obituary: Nick McCabe

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Mary Apperley, daughter of former teacher Nick McCabe (BS 1961-1988), has got in touch with the sad news that her father passed away on Saturday evening, 11th December, aged 94.

The service shall be at Bournemouth Crematorium at 10.30 on Thursday 23rd December, followed by a service of thanksgiving for the life of Nick McCabe at 10am on Wednesday 29th December at St Lukes Church, Wimborne Road, Winton. No flowers, rather contributions to the work of the Parish of Winton, Moordown and Charminster.

Nick McCabe joined the school in 1961, having moved from another grammar school in Kent, and was soonafter appointed as Head of Modern Foreign Languages. He is best remembered for organising the French exchange, which David Hilliam, in his book Bournemouth School 1901-2000, recounts:

The slow, then rapid, growth of the ‘French Exchange’ with Cholet is now part of the history of the school.

It is impossible to describe the sheer physical immensity of this annual undertaking, in which, by the late ‘eighties scores of teenagers enjoyed the opportunities which were being offered.

Boys and girls from other Bournemouth schools joined in, and the whole enterprise took on a gigantic family atmosphere. Nick McCabe was joined, every year, by various and numerous colleagues but the thrust of the organisation was his alone, for twenty-one years or so, until Nick retired.

It came as a surprise to Nick that in 1997 the French Government awarded him the honour of the ‘Palmes Academique’ for his services to education and international understanding.

More recent Old Bournemouthians will remember Nick’s son, Simon McCade, who followed in his fathers footsteps and also taught Modern Languages at Bournemouth School.

David Trenchard, Chairman of the Old Bournemouthians’ Association, writes simply, “another legend of the School has passed”.