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June 2013Issue 6 June 2013

The Alumni Association has begun a new project tobring new life to the amazing documents in ourarchive by opening them up to you, our members.Over the past two years, work has begununcovering the wealth of archive material, whichhas spent many years gathering dust in the schoolattic.

This major project will take time to complete, butour aim to make these archives accessible in asmany ways as possible, whilst protecting yourprivacy, is now beginning. Many of you will fondlyremember your time at The Gregg and we hopethat access to these materials will quickly becomea major part of membership of the AlumniAssociation. These archives are your history; theydocument students who have attended the schoolin the past.

Our archives have hundreds of fascinating,personal stories to tell. Our collection of wholeschool photographs provide a window onto eachgeneration of students who have passed throughthe school’s doors. Other photographs, from tripsand musicals, depict the real happy memories ofschool life. The notorious school report featuresheavily!

We'll be publishing a variety of photographs fromthe archives every month onto our Facebook page- details of which can be found on the back page.

Do you have any memories or keepsakes fromyour school days you want to share either in ournewsletter or our archive? Or do you have a fewhours to spare to help us sort and share ourrecords? We would love to hear from you - ourcontact details can be found on the back page.

(Print) ISSN 2044-9550 (Online) ISSN 2044-9569

Opening the Archives

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Summer continues to show its face in short bursts. A couple of sun-drenched Maybank holiday weekends have left me feeling brighter after what seemed to beperpetual winter. I had the pleasure of visiting the Townhill Park House Gardens OpenDay on Monday 6th May, a stroll through the Bluebell woods and around the sunkengarden reminded me just how much progress the friends of the garden have made inthe 11 years since I left the school.

This year, the Association has started work on one of our keyobjectives; to support the school in organising and archivingits significant collection of photos, reports and othermemorabilia. Whilst there is still plenty more work to be done,you will find a small selection of the photo collection withinthis edition, whilst further updates will be made online. Shouldyou have a desire to help us in uncovering and recording thearchives that date back to the 1950s, please get in touch.

In other news, the Alumni Cricket match was postponed inSeptember due to school commitments; however this will nowtake place on Saturday 6 July at 12.00 noon, to coincide withthe School's Summer Fayre. The sports facilities at TownhillPark House continue to improve (removing the tree in themiddle of the football pitch was a good start), and I am verymuch looking forward to seeing the "old boys" return to winthe inaugural game against the young boys (currentstudents!). If you would like to take part in the match, pleaseemail the School's Head of PE, James Barritt:jab@gregg.southampton.sch.uk

As always, there are numerous year group reunions that willbe taking place throughout the year. If you would like to share

details of an event that you areorganising, would like any support in getting someold friends together, or are interested in helping to organisethe Alumni Autumn Ball 2013, please do get in touch.

Our Facebook page is becoming more and more active, atfacebook.com/greggalumni. Here we will be updating ourarchive progress and any news on events, whilst it alsoprovides a space for all members to share their thoughts withthe Alumni community. You can also follow us on Twitter@greggalumni, find us online at www.gsaa.org.uk, email uson committee@gsaa.org.uk or send us a letter to The AlumniOffice, The Gregg School, Townhill Park House,Southampton.

May I sign off by thanking you for your ongoing support of theAssociation, and hope that you have a wonderful summer

Best Wishes,Spencer

Memories of the Gregg School

Welcome from the Chairman

I suppose it all began on December 6th 1978, the feast of StNicholas. I had been teaching for nearly two years atSouthlands School near Lymington which was a school foradolescent boys who were “emotionally disturbed.” Perhapsthat terminology is not PC these days, but I was looking for away out, and it so happened that The Gregg was looking forsomeone to lead RS and Music. I applied and wasinterviewed by Roger Hart and Trevor Rice on that SaturdayMorning. I had previous knowledge of The Gregg as one ofmy organ students, Chris Tambling had been a pupil herebefore going on to Christ’s Hospital, and subsequently toOxford. He is now Director of Music at Downside School.

So my career at The Gregg began in earnest on January 4th1979, and one of my earliest memories was invigilating the 5thyear (now year 11) mock ‘O’ level and CSE exams. Therewas no music room as such and any music in the early dayswas taken in small classrooms in what was number 13, WinnRoad. That was mainly theoretical, but with the chance to dosinging in the Hall. The problem with that was that the pianowas probably past its sell-by date as it never stayed in tune formore than a week as the tuning pins were working a littleloose. However, we got through. The problem with teaching

in the hall was that number 15 Winn Road, a house which theschool subsequently acquired was divided into flats and in thesummer, the lady occupant of one of the flats would sunbatheoutside, much to the delight of the 3rd year boys! As well asteaching Music, I also taught boys’ games alongside DaveBrushett. Football and cricket were always played on theCommon and Dave and I would “crocodile” pupils across TheAvenue at the bottom of Winn Road. This is not to beundertaken today! The school began to expand a little and Istarted to work in a new music room, which for years hadbeen the Needlework room and was “Room 6” situated next tothe Science labs. Science and Music have always beenlinked and I did try at one time to link them even closerthrough the study of sound.

As an aside, in my second year at the school, I beganteaching French, something which I have never regretted,particularly as I had never studied it beyond ‘O’ level exceptgoing on an intensive course at the University. I can neverthank enough Sheila and Ken Charisse for the support that Ienjoyed from them all the time that I taught French. Bothwere absolutely wonderful in the guidance that they gave me.

Duncan Bradley, Staff 1979-2012

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June 2013

So back to the music! In the 1980s came the chance to forgea link with the Royal Marines Band Service. I was invited togo on a “Directorate Naval Recruiting Acquaint Course” at theRM Band headquarters in Deal. Thus began a long and veryfruitful link between the School and the Royal Marines. As aresult, we were able to send students on Acquaint courses atDeal and then at Portsmouth. We have also had visits toSchool from members of the band service and our own windband has visited the School of Music on many an occasion.Since then, of course, the School has also forged a link withthe Band of the Rifles based at the Sir John Moore Barracks inWinchester. The School saw the beginnings of a Choir and aWind Band, both of which took a long time to establish. TheChoir began as a girls’ choir but in recent years has developedinto a 4 part choir, with senior boys taking on bigger rôles.

As the School expanded further and occupied the buildingknown as 17 – 19 Winn Road, where St Winifred’s School iscurrently situated, the Music room was situated on the topfloor adjacent to the art room. As well as having conventionalclassroom instruments, we decided to invest in keyboards andtried also to invest in computers. Unfortunately the onlycomputers that were fully equipped for music then were Atarimachines, but however, we did eventually acquire a Yamahacomputer which did at least give us a start. When 17 – 19Winn Road came into being, I remember teaching singing inthe then Hall, and teaching RS in a small room in number 15Winn Road. I remember very well three students in particularwhom I taught both Music and RS, (more of the latter), thesestudents being a certain Sherilee Dawson, Karen Hart andBeth Phillips. Teaching these three certainly taught me thevalue of patience! (and a sense of humour!)

The school splashed out on a new piano for the Main Hall. Itcame in the form of a second hand Ibach grand which had aconversion to be a “player piano” or a pianola. However, itwas wonderful to play, but awesome to move! Some 30 fourthand fifth formers together with four male staff frequentlymoved this beast from floor to stage and back again as andwhen it was necessary.

So came the move to Townhill Park House. The original musicroom was in what is now Room 16. It was quite interestinghaving a class of eighteen in there with keyboards and aseating capacity of sixteen. Singing was impossible, but thehall was from time to time available. Those were the dayswhen we could get a full school into the main hall together withstaff and the wind band. For my sins, I not only prepared themusic for assemblies, I also took many of them. Little did Irealise at that time that it would stand me in good stead forfuture ministry.

When the barn/garage was converted into the DesignTechnology area with the Music room above, I felt that Heavenhad arrived. Here was a big room which, with the rightfurniture, could be extremely versatile and so it was. With theaddition of two practice rooms and a Music office which alsodoubled as a practice room, the department took off.Teaching became so much easier as did rehearsing aseverything was under one roof. Computers also arrived andso we invested in the Sibelius software, still a world leadertoday. Having been trained as an organist, and having a greatlove for Cathedral Music, the choir began to be based on this

ethic, and the Christmas rehearsal room reflected the set up ina Cathedral Song School.

So where are we now? My final Christmas as Director ofMusic was, for me, a very tearful affair. I love the ChristmasMusic and to hear the Choir singing music that I had writtenand also to hear the Choir singing “The Shepherds’ Farewell”from “L’Enfance du Christ” by Berlioz, followed by the PhilipWilby anthem “God be in my head” was so special and I willadmit to trying very hard to keep the tears away.

I now look forward to a different ministry, that of Reader in theChurch of England. I am now in the third year of training and Ilook forward to being licensed by the Bishop of Winchesternext October. Being an Oblate of Alton Abbey (that is aperson who enjoys both the spiritual life of the monastery andthe secular life outside the monastery) has helpedenormously. So instead of marking books and preparinglessons, I write essays, and prepare sermons, which, I hastento add, do not last longer than ten minutes! Yes, I still markexam papers as I am an examiner for Edexcel GCSE Musicand I still have the occasional slot on Radio Solent.

Do I miss it all? I do not miss the lesson preparation, themeetings, the report writing and the like. I do miss thepreparation for Christmas, I miss the company of the staff,

(particularly the early morning breakfasts with Sue when weput the world to rights,) and I do miss the students I taught.Above all, I miss training and conducting the Choir and WindBand when they were “on song!” That became a real privilegeand I do feel very humbled to have worked with somewonderful young people and who had real talent. One lastthought – I was reading an email from Mrs Lait the other day,where she wrote that she very much enjoyed the half term runup to Christmas. That, to me, was when the complete warmthof the school was truly felt. The atmosphere of the school issuch that it simply cannot be equalled by any othereducational establishment, and what makes it special is thatthe atmosphere is generated by everyone in that school,irrespective of age, status, colour or creed.

May God bless the School, all who teach and all who learn init, and all those, past and present who make The Gregg thespecial place which it truly is.

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Find us Online

You can now find us online at www.gsaa.org.uk

Among other things, our website contains all past

editions of the Gregorian, information about the

constitution and committee, details of alumni events and

details of exclusive alumni benefits.

Or, find us on facebook at:

www.facebook.com/greggalumni

Have Your Say

A-Level results? Graduating? First Job? Getting married?Having Kids? Retiring? If you have anything interesting tosay, get in touch! To contribute to the next edition of theGregorian, simply email your news, stories, and photos tothe Media Officer, media@gsaa.org.uk or write to

Alumni OfficeThe Gregg SchoolTownhill Park HouseCutbush LaneSouthamptonSO18 2GF

For general enquiries, email committee@gsaa.org.uk

DatesGCSE Art ExhibitionThursday 20 June 6.00pm until 8.00pmFree admission, refreshments will be served

"A Summer Prelude" ConcertSaturday 22nd June, 18:00at the Royal Victoria Country Park, Netley

Tickets: adults £8, concessions £5Refreshments included

Musicians from The Gregg School provide an evening concertof music performed by the School Choir, Wind Band,Instrumental Ensembles and Soloists. Following the concertthere will be wine, cheese and refreshments provided. Ticketsare available from the School office.

English Summer FayreSaturday 6th July, 11:00 - 15:00Flyer attached

Senior Drama ProductionThursday 11th July and Friday 12th July, 19:00

Upper school students present Oscar Wilde's "The Importanceof Being Earnest". Tickets available from the school office

Gardens Open DaySunday 14 July, 14:00 - 17:00Free parking, free admission

GSAA Annual General MeetingSunday 14 July, 14:30-16:00Join us to discuss the future of the association and get involved!

Heritage DaySunday 15th September, 14:00 - 17:00Free parking, free admission

Townhill Park House and Gardens open to the public Guidedtours by current students.

Year Group Reunions

Let us know if you are planning a reunion for a specificyear group or year groups. We are more than happy toemail alumni who are on our contact database to pass ondetails about your event and to publicise it in ournewsletters.

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