In the last issue of The Old Princethorpian, Jose Ramon Quintanal, who is now based in Mexico City, asked for our help to track down some friends from the Class of 76/77.
Paul Cluett responded to our search, recalling his friendship with Jose and his brother Victor which started in 1976 when the pair came to Princethorpe.
Comments Paul, "Victor was in my Form, and Jose Ramon the year above. As I have some Spanish roots, the two brothers used to come back to the family home in Rugby for a change of scene and for the chance to speak Spanish. They tried out their newly found linguistic skills on my family with interesting results as, unsuprisingly, some of their newly found expressions were 'interesting' over Sunday lunch!"
"Over the course of their year in Princethorpe, the English got better and a strong friendship between Victor, Jose Ramon and my family developed. Some years ago, whilst on business in Mexico, my father was welcomed into the Quintanal family with great affection."
Jose takes up the story, "I was able to contact Paul, as well as his parents, over the telephone this summer. It was the first time we had had the opportunity to talk to each other after almost 32 years. It was great to hear those voices again. The last time we talked, we were still teenagers. Now we are almost entering into the 50´s!!"
Both men value their experiences at Princethorpe.
Paul, is now director of a company specialising in funding leisure developments and lives with his family in the Cotswolds. He says, "The school and Fr Clarkson's influence had a profound impact on me. I was certainly no academic, but the values and ethos have stuck with me."
Jose agrees, "Princethorpe provided me with those basic principles that are the basis for succeeding in this complex world, more global and diverse than it was back in 1976. Nowadays I work for a Global Financial Corporation. The fundamentals learned at Princethorpe have been put in practice every day for the last 25 years."
"Clearly, the type of relations developed at Princethorpe is something that has no price."
Paul is pictured top and Jose Ramon bottom.
