OP Updates

Check Out Ciaran's New Book

OP Ciaran Murtagh's latest book, Genie In Training came out recently. It's the first in a rib-tickling new magical series

When Jamie's gran gives him a battered old teapot he reckons she's gone doolally! But then he cleans it, and out pops Balthazar Najar, a banished genie!

Balthazar grants three wishes but, for the last one, Jamie accidentally wishes he was a genie . . . He's whisked off to genie school where angry headmasters, deadly magic carpets and exploding lamps are the least of his worries!

Ciaran says, "If you have kids, are a kid or just have a thing for genies give it a whirl!"

Lionel Gibbs

I was at Princethorpe from 1983 to 1988. Originally as a weekly boarder  in the first two years and then as a day pupil for the next three. After leaving Princethorpe I attended Banbury Sixth Form Centre and then Hatfield Polytechnic for a year. I married in 1992 and have four children, who are now nearly grown up, though sadly the marriage ended disastrously a few years ago. After a brief career in catering I went to Strathclyde University and became a Maths teacher.

Last August I married Morag  and we live in Stirling. After 15 years as a maths teacher I am now back in full time education at the Scottish Baptist College studying theology. Once I have finished my studies I hope to enter into full time ministry. This in itself is raising a few eyebrows as my wife is already a part time minister with the local church as well as being the Youth Development co-ordinator for the Baptist Union of Scotland.

I have fond memories of my time in Princethorpe and have enjoyed looking through some of the old photos that appear, including the one from Southam A.T.C which some of us attended. Even in the age of Facebook, I have lost contact with the  friends that I had kept up with for a while. If I am ever in England during the next reunion I will make sure to come along.