MUSIC
More than one OD has remarked that I seem to favour John Joubert (O, 1944) above all other musical ODs so much coverage does he receive in these newsletters.
I can't argue. He was an OD at the very top of his craft. He filled the world, through his compositions, with his music and, through his teaching, with musicians. It would seem strange to me to ignore just how great he was. He is, an OD who we should all know about, be proud of and celebrate.
On Easter Saturday, I was thrilled to have been at a concert in his honour in the iconic King's College Chapel, Cambridge. There, the King's College Choir, directed by the legendary Stephen Cleobury, performed John's St Mark Passion. And what a beautiful, well-crafted piece it is. The Chapel was packed, the piece sublime and the singing perfect. It was fitting that Stephen Cleobury who retired at the end of April after 37 years a Director of Music at King's College, chose John Joubert's St Mark for the last passion of his conducting career.
On the Tuesday after Easter, I was at the service marking the inscription of the names of celebrated musicians into the Book of Remembrance for musicians (ee picture above) . This take place annually at St Sepulchre's-without-Newgate in London and the book is held in the church's Musicians' Chapel. The packed and very musical Service of Thanksgiving was led by the choir of Gonville & Caius, Cambridge.
uc celebration of Jon both as a man and a musician makes me wonder why Bishops, John's school which he so loved and talked so fondly of all through his life have not yet honoured the life and passing of this great OD, while all over the world and especially in the UK, not a week goes by without one of his pieces is being performed in his memory.
I for one am very proud to be able to claim John Joubert as a fellow-OD.
The photos above are, left, John's name inscribed in the Book of Musicians and right, the programme entry for Easter Saturday, 2019 at King's College.
Concerts and recitals
The programme of concerts and recitals at 22 Mansfield Street - the best value classical music in London - can be read HERE
Bluthner Pianos also hold occasional recitals at the Lansdowne Club just off Berkeley Square and the next one is on the 11th June. These are short very piano recitals to show off their pianos and Bluthner artists and well-worth attending.
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TIM BRAVINGTON
CELEBRATING 60 YEARS IN THE PRIESTHOOD
Sixty years ago this year, on the Feast of the Transfiguration, a young Tim Bravington (S, 1951) armed with an English Literature and Divinity degree from Cambridge was ordained in St George's Cathedral Cape Town. So started a long and full life in the service of God and the Church which included: a stint as the assistant chaplain at St Andrew's in Grahamstown, Deacon of Holy Trinity where he served under the Rector, Foster van der Byl (O, 1945), Rector of Namaqualand (with Ali MacGregor (S, 1951) as his assistant), St Martins in the Field in Durban North, Rector of St Mary's, Stellenbosch and, before taking retirement, St Michaels and All Angels, Elgin.
Tim and his wide Rosemary, who he met and became engaged in Namaqualand are also trained Lifeline councillors.
In his time, Tim was involved, in those politically dark and dangerous days of the 1970s, brokering meetings between foreign politicians and members of the Anglican Church, including Desmond Tutu.
He and Rosemary now live in Oxford where he serves as a locum for several churches in the Diocese of Europe.
To celebrate Tim's 60 years in the priesthood, St Peter's, Wolvercote, Oxford will be holding a service on Sunday 4th August at 10am. Friends and ODs are invited to attend
For a life dedicated to Service and services, we congratulate Tim and wish him and Rosemary well in their retirement years.
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INVESTMENTS
Jo Cockburn (F, 2008) writes:
I have joined a private equity outfit called Ethos Partners which focuses on making small PE investments (£3m-£10m of Ethos funds) into established, growing, cash generative businesses in the UK. We’re led by two industry veterans – Brian Phillips and Julian Carr – who have been operating in this segment of the market for 30 years at top funds and have generated market-leading returns.
Both Brian and Julian invest substantial amounts into each deal, as do I and the rest of the team (smaller absolute amounts, but just as meaningful relatively!). The remainder of the funds come from our network of high net worth investors and family offices, who subscribe on a deal-by-deal basis and grant Ethos authority to manage the investment through to exit in 4-5 years. Investors subscribe to £25k units (i.e. £25k is the minimum subscription), but we have a few who commit £250k per deal (the average is around £60k). It is looking very likely that we will be fundraising for two deals in the coming couple of months.
We currently have c. 170 investors and are looking to grow this to 250-300 in the next 12-18 months. It occurred to me that the OD Union in London likely has a number of members who fit the profile of potential investors and who may be interested in allocating a portion of their overall portfolios to private equity but may currently lack the access. I therefore wanted to see whether you had any suggestions as to how I might best gauge the interest of the OD network. I’ve attached our newsletter from earlier in the year to provide some further info on the team and our current portfolio (this can be shared freely). We’d be delighted to meet any potential investors to have a chat or, if there is sufficient interest, to host a drinks or dinner event one evening.
If you are interested in following this up with Jo, please email him at jo@ethospio.com
Please note that although the ODU is very happy to make other ODs aware of investment opportunities, it neither endorses nor warrants such investments and potential investors need perform their own due diligence before investing.
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ODs ON THE MOVE
This month our congratulations go to:
Stephen Morrell (B, 1988, left) who has founded Thames Mammography, Stephen is a Deep Learning Specialist in Computer Vision for Medical Images (Mammography) and in transcription. Highest single-model performance (AUC and Specificity at Sensitivity by patient) in the worldwide Dreams Mammography Challenge. Previously he was Head of Regulatory Capital Management for Rates Trading at CS. Before that Head of Institutional Equity Structuring for Europe.
Chad Cruickshank (G, 2006) who passed his final CFA exam last year, has started as a Due Diligence Consultant at AON a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. They employ 50,000 people in 120 countries working with clients using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.
Ryan du Toit (F, 2008) is now working in Business Intelligence at Bloombergs in London where his job entails maintaining the coverage data and analytics for the South African, Irish and UK mutual funds market. He is also in charge of the Bloomberg data for African electronic traded funds and editor of the Bloomberg South Africa Funds monthly newsletter that encapsulates all the market moving news, fund analytics and interviews with managers in the industry.
Byrne Baister (K, 2004) has started with Prodigy Finance, a company who provides students, local and international with alternate ways of funding their UK studies.
Previous to this, Byrne was with R&M Derivatives and before that Credit Suisse. Although based now, for the time beng, in Cape Town, Prodigy is a UK organisation.
Congratulations to Chris Olds (O, 1999) who has just graduated from the Oxford University Business School with an Executive MBA. How, on top of his day job and all the travel it entails, moving cities and helping with the Diocesan College UK Trust he found the time to do this we'll probably never know. But well done to him.
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SPORT
Rowing:
Little did I know when in one short sentence in last month's newsletter in News From Bishops I reported on the School's fantastic rowing achievement at the 2019 South African Rowing Championships (VIIIs) - silver medallists, first time ever - that I would unleash among some ODs the thrill and pride in exactly what it was that the School had achieved and why this achievement is so significant.
Rowing, while growing in popularity, is still the runt in the Bishops sporting pack with cricket, rugby and athletics dominating. Rowing is a tough person's sport. But the training (5am) and discipline, teamwork and emotional resilience is what makes it the sport of choice at top UK and US schools and universities and the ultimate test of character. In South Africa, it is still growing into that.
Choppy Bands (K, 1990) was a rower back in the day and wrote in response to Bishops coming second in the 2019 SA Champs to St Benedicts (who - for the moment - own the sport):
"Please allow me to give some context on how remarkable this achievement is: when I was rowing at Bishops (1987 to 1990) the highest placing that Bishops achieved was fourth in the 3rd VIII category. Yes, the Bishops 1st VIII was only at the same level as the 3rd VIIIs of St Stithian’s, Jeppe, Parktown, KES. In those days St Stithian’s ruled the roost with KES and Parktown battling out for 2nd.
"The first medal I recall a Bishops crew winning at the SA Champs was the U16 coxed IV which won the 3rd IV category in 1993.
"[Now, in 2019, the 1st VIII results are]:
1 St Benedicts College (RSA)6:04.80
2 Diocesan College (Bishops) (RSA)6:10.22
3 St Andrews College Grahamstown (RSA)6:12.79
4 St Johns College for Boys (RSA)6:14.63
5 Parktown Boys High School (RSA)6:18.75
6 King Edward VII High School (RSA)6:26.95
7 St Stithians Boys College (RSA)6:27.44
8 Rondebosch Boys High School (RSA)6:30.45
"Brad (Smith, Bishops rowing coach), I would like to add my congratulations to those of Nick Heesom (W, 1961 and a generous benefactor to Bishops rowing). Knowing how difficult it is to do any sort of meaningful training on Zeekoevlei, and then to compete at altitude, is no mean feat. It really makes my heart burst with pride to see Bishops battling it out on equal footing with schools that have always enjoyed greater support, better facilities and equipment, and Roodepoort dam on their doorstep.
"I share Nick’s desire to see some sort of live-action footage of this incredible achievement. And please convey the heartfelt congratulations of this OD to your crew. I know how hard they’ve worked to earn this.
"And the coxless IV took gold at SA Champs, Jeppe, Buffalo (which is a fiendish stretch of the Buffalo river in East London, usually into the wind) and WC Champs. That is a phenomenal achievement.
The coxless IV is, to my mind, the purest example of the art of rowing. All of the attributes required to win: timing, technique, coordination, discipline are amplified by the absence of a cox. (I managed to steer the UCT coxless pair into the side of the course at Intervarsity in Maritzburg. But then I’ve never really had a good notion of where I’m going!)
Cricket:
On 30 April, wicketkeeper/batsman Chris Cooke (M, 2004, left, acknowledging his century) smashed a personal best of 161 (off 127 balls!) playing for Glamorgan to help his side beat Gloucestershire by 74 runs. Chris captains Glamorgan, having played for Western Province in South Africa
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HARROW AND THE OLD HARROVIANS
I accompanied my godson to Harrow at the end of last month where he was sitting his entrance exams. I used the opportunity to visit the Old Harrovian Association and explore how the UK ODU and they might join in certain events. Work-in-Progress, but watch this space.
Harrow have produced eight British Prime Ministers including the hapless Spencer Perceval remembered chiefly, if at all, as the only British Prime Minister ever to be assassinated (in 1812).
I also toured the school and its historic buildings and the collage above shows pictures of their absolutely gorgeous chapel.
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WING COMMANDER LAURENCE HULL DFC
Out of the blue, from a group calling themselves the Field Detectives, we received a letter informing us of the commemoration of Wing Commander George Laurence Bazett Hull DFC (OD, 1930) who died in a flying accident on 17th May 1946. It turns out that not only was Laurence Hull something of an WW2 aviator celebrity who flew bravely and successfully in many sorties against the German Luftwaffe during the war, he was also an OD. Although in those days the School magazines did not record the houses of the boys, we do know that he was a house prefect, matriculating in 1930.
Laurence is yet another example of an OD devoted to service and protection of others and who, according to his cousin Caesar Hull (also an OD, spoke proudly and often of Bishops.
It you would like to read about Laurence Hull, click HERE.
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ODU BEANIES
There are five of these pure New Zealand wool OD beanies left. To order yours, please click HERE
£17 each including postage
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ODU MAGAZINE - MARCH 2109
The third edition of the new-format biannual ODU magazine was published in March. To download or read online, please click on the cover picture below.
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SOUTH AFRICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SUMMER DRINKS PARTY
Although not an ODU event, the SACC Summer Drinks Party on Wednesday 3rd July provides an opportunity to build your networks and have a good time among a familiar accent (or accents).
To reserve your place, with costs £24, please RSVP HERE or click on the photo above. If you don't have an SACC account you will be asked to register (for free) before you can book a ticket.
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Public Speaking:
Four Bishops boys, in a team of seventeen, were selected to represent South Africa in the International Debating and Public Speaking Competition last month.
Tennis:
Bishops had a boy selected for the South African U15 tennis team which competed against Zimbabwe last month.
The Bishops Tennis team will be touring England next month. Their itinerary can be seen HERE. ODs who are in the area of the schools are encouraged to lend their support for the boys.
Rugby 7s:
Sacha Mngomezulu was chosen to play for the South African Schools 7s team in Namibia and was part of the team which beat Germany 29-5 in the final.
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2019 DATES FOR THE DIARY
To be added to during the year
As always, wives and partners most welcome to all events and functions
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Saturday 8th June
5th UK ODU vs Old Tonbridgians Golf Match
10.30am-6.30pm
RAC Surrey
Contact Alex Price (M, 2007)
Memorial Service for Tony Honoré
The Codrington Library, All Souls College Oxford
2.30pm
No RSVP necessary
Young ODs Supper
Oxford University
Tour from 4.30pm
Drinks 6.30pm and supper after
Contact Matthew Golesworthy
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Friday 14th June
18h45-midnight
UK ODU Annual Black-tie dinner
The Carlton Club,
69 St James's Street, SW1A 1PJ
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Saturday 10th August
UK ODU vs Old Haileyburians Golf Match
10.30am-6.30pm
RAC, Surrey
Contact Alex Price (M, 2007)
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Saturday 12th October
12h15-
Oxfordshire Pub lunch
The Bell at Hampton Poyle, OX5 2QD
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Friday 29th November
18h30-midnight
UK ODU Year-end Party
The Hollywood Arms
45 Hollywood Road, Chelsea, SW10 9HX
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14th December
14h00
Thames Hare and Hounds Alumni Cross Country Race
Wimbledon Common
Contact Rowan Nicholls (O, 2010)
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