The Chairman's Chit-Chat and other news from the Alumni Committee
05/08/2015
Blogs from the Chairman, Hans Rostrup and other members of the Bromsgrove Alumni Committee are below. The committee will happily arrange tours of the School for any Old Bromsgrovians or Friends of the School. Please contact us at Oldbromsgrovians@bromsgrove-school.co.ukDecember 2014 - Chairman Hans RostrupIt was great to hear, the other day, about Paul Holmes (Lupton 1972-1977) who has just become a grandfather. Is he the first grandfather from the Class of ’77? Paul sees a lot of Ashley Jones (Lyttelton 1978-1983) who still lives and works in Worcestershire and he sees plenty of ‘Ivor’ Allchurch (Walters 1980-1985) who is running a highly successful sales recruitment consultancy in Hagley. I also caught up, recently, with one of Paul’s contemporaries, Chris Elt (Lupton 1972-1977), still living in Worcestershire and works for a digital marketing consultancy. Another of these Lupton alumni from the 1970s is Robert Smith. He’s swapped his career as a farmer for one in photography and he now lives up in the North East where he is well known amongst the equine fraternity for his award winning pictures.And finally, for now, Tim Baylis (Lupton 1972–1976) was, up until recently, a neighbour of my brother Carl Rostrup (School 1977-1982) in Castle Cary in Somerset. Tim moved to Wincanton with his family (hopefully not because of the neighbours) but Carl and Tim see each other regularly as they are members of the same team that is battling its way through the Somerset Skittle Leagues! Carl continues to follow his passion for wine and works for Fells, one of the leading importers of fine wines and port, in the country.Closer to home, Adam Perrey (Walters 1972-1978) was spotted with his brother Harry (Walters 1975-1980) pounding the roads of Worcestershire on their bikes. Since ending their highly successful rugby careers the brothers have taken to the saddle and have completed a number of serious charity challenges including a journey from east to west from East Anglia, across the full width of the country, to Wales (or it may have been west to east!).Another Walters House alumnus is Pete Hodge (Walters 1973-1978) who singlehandedly took on the School in last year’s OB Sports Day squash event, with some success. Pete has returned to the equine world, after a short interlude in financial services, and is once again travelling the length and breadth of the country supplying everything for the horse enthusiast.Simon Vickers (Walters 1972-1975), returned to Bromsgrove after ending his RAF career and now works with one of the leading defence contractors, still finding time to indulge his love of ornithology (who’d have thought it!) and his role as a leading member of CAMRA (much more believable!).Adam Dummer (Cookes 1970-1972; Walters 1972-1975) can sometimes be found in the more popular venues of Chaddesley Corbett where he rubs shoulders with various members of the Jordan clan including Nick (Cookes 1966-1968), Jeremy (Cookes 1970-1972; Lyttelton 1972-1975) and Jeremy’s son Greg (Wendron-Gordon 1993-2004) who continues to build his horticultural business with great success. John Butler (Walters 1971-1976) was spotted in Worcester, a few months ago, on the eve of his marriage to Moira. John still sees a great deal of Roger Flower (Walters 1971-1976) when he comes back to the Midlands. Roger is running a very successful financial services company in Worcester.Stephen Overton (School 1973-1976) is living on the Welsh borders between Hereford and Monmouth, with his wife Jayne, while his elder brother Pete Overton (School 1969-1974) continues to practise as an osteopath in Stratford-upon-Avon. Stephen tells me that has been fully engaged in following up the war time story of a family member who was tragically shot down in France during WWII. This detective work has taken Stephen to a remote French village where he and Jayne have been welcomed by villagers and local dignitaries alike, as relations of one of the airmen that they took to their hearts.David Hope (Gordon 1972-1977) is now Senior Partner at the accountancy firm, Clear and Lane, in Leicester. David sees Phil Schofield (Gordon 1971-1977), regularly, who is running a highly successful manufacturing company in Bridgnorth. The youngest of Phil’s children, Phoebe, will leave Bromsgrove in the Summer of 2015 while son Will (Lupton 2001-2006) is living in London where he works for an IT company. Gemma Schofield (Hazeldene 1996-2007) works for NFU Mutual in Stratford-upon-Avon and still finds time for working with animals, meanwhile Hannah Schofield (Hazeldene 1999-2010) has graduated from Plymouth University.- Hans Rostrup (Chairman of the Bromsgrove Alumni Committee & Bromsgrovian Club)