The Old Princethorpians were pleased to hear from Nick Eadon who attended the school from 1966 to 1970 and was a weekly boarder.
We passed his details onto fellow pupil Sean Kerrigan whom he remembered well.
Nick left the College and went into the Merchant Navy, we found an article from a 1972 edition of the College magazine including news of his travelling the world.
Nick now lives in Upton-upon-Severn and runs a fostering agency called Foundation Fostering.
Mary E Wheildon OP - St Mary’s Priory 1956 -61 - travelled to Antarctica on the Shackleton Centenary Expedition from 18th November – 12th December 2014
I was privileged to travel with Ice Tracks Expeditions + Friends of Scott Polar Research Institute on their Shackleton Centenary Voyage to the Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica with Lecturers including the late Henry Worsley, 11 descendants of Ernest Shackleton’s men & 80 other passengers who were all so keen to fulfil their dreams, aspirations & see a world so beautiful & historic.
Some of the passengers had worked in the Antarctic, for some the knowledge & love of the Heroic age is a hobby, for the descendants it was stepping into the memories of their grandparent’s tales on the lap as children. Others found deeper knowledge from all the stories shared by the lecturers, the friends & purely being in the historic locations.
We enjoyed two days on the Falkland Islands enjoying amazing wildlife, glorious countryside, wonderful bays & a marvellous insight into life in the capital Stanley both present & historic.
While at sea life was a mixture of lectures, life on deck spotting albatross, prions, petrels, storm-petrels, fulmars & of course looking out for whales when not eating, drinking or socialising. When all that was done – maybe relaxing in the hot tub or even the sauna!
I am so in love with South Georgia, for me it is the number one island in the world – Bhutan number one country after six visits! The beauty, the wildlife and the drama both climatic and historic are unsurpassed. Landing at King Haaken Bay was an honour, here with the descendants of Shackleton & his brave men who movingly read from the diaries while the penguins, seals and birds went about their daily routine.
The joy when we saw the endemic & critical South Georgia Pipit & the Wilson’s Storm Petrel as well as the South Georgia Pintail who at last are increasing after the eradication of the rats from the island which had been brought in & multiplied catastrophically with the whalers. These are all now happily on the increase after tremendous fundraising to spread the bait – not an easy or cheap challenge taking helicopters, pilots & staff so far from civilization. The herd of reindeer that was also introduced by the whalers has also been culled as they were eating the endemic plants relied upon by the endemic fauna – we enjoyed the last of the venison aboard!
The Centenary service we held at the tiny Norwegian church at Grytviken was solemn, moving & again a privilege to attend. Descendants of Shackleton, Wordie, Orde-Lees, McCarthy, Kerr, Spencer Smith, Ferrar spoke with Rear Admiral Nick Lambert (former Captain of the Endurance & Chairman of SPRI) taking the service. Henry Worsley, who is the only man to have sledge-hauled both the North Pole & South Pole also spoke, he was our Historian in residence.
From the church we walked to Shackleton’s grave beside his right hand man’s grave Frank Wild & raised a glass to ‘The Boss’. With the wildlife, a tour of the remains of the whaling & the museums visited, it was time to head towards the South Shetland Islands & onwards to Cape Wild on Elephant Island. We were all ready to land at Elephant Island but as ever, the weather got the better, we could but look with pure amazement how & where Shackleton & those brave men landed & survived for oh so long.
There were more landings where we enjoyed the company of so much wildlife. The characters of the various penguin species, both young & mature, the birdlife simply amazing & the flora – well: tough!
Our camaraderie continued to strengthen the further into the trip we travelled, listening & learning from the stories, experiences & travels of those we joined over breakfast, lunch & dinner; over a cup of tea, a smoothie or a beer in the morning; over a cup of tea & biscuit or that early glass of wine or whisky (or vodka) in the afternoon. Social life was at its best, more stories and songs & of course history.
But excitement gathered momentum landing after landing as we sailed the South Scotia Sea towards the Antarctic; we sighted more whales, enjoyed fabulous sunsets; icebergs became a more frequent photographic challenge and always the chance of a good picture of the seabirds.
We had with us some penguin researchers who were counting & studying each of the colonies we came to; from these young men we learned how modern technology allows them to count from satellite surveillance besides noting that a healthy colony will leave pink snow rather than an unhealthy colony green, produced from bile meaning that they were hungry – sometimes caused by over fishing of their krill. Recently unknown colonies have been discovered by this method.
Arriving down at the Antarctic shelf we were blessed with unbelievable sights, weather & wildlife. The waters were home to a few whales but many more penguin colonies, seals & icebergs, brash and other incredible ice forms.
We were able to climb high to gain better views, some enjoying sliding back down benefiting from the wet weather gear provided by the ship. These had kept us dry through thick & thin, but their jackets had to be left at the bottom of the slope as the temperature reached an amazing 22c.
We experienced our final zodiac cruise amongst icebergs, some resembled birds, animals & even the Sydney Opera house joined by spouting whales, cormorants & a leopard seal.
Again conditions prevented us when attempting to sail through the Gerlache Straights but the pleasures of a surprise ‘Drake Lake’ rather than the more challenging Drake Shake returning to ‘Cape Horn’ were much appreciated! It was beyond belief that I was able to stand out on deck with my evening glass of wine in hand taking the sun on that historically challenging point.
Our trip aboard the Vavalov, having finally sailed up the Beagle Channel had ended but our group had jelled like no other. We had learned so much from our incredible lecturers, we had been saturated in each other’s stories of ancestors, friends, experiences & travel. We were full of anticipation for future trips no more importantly than that of our great Polar Historian Henry Worsley. He was to attempt to cross the South Pole unaided on Shackleton’s planned route for the Endeavour Fund.
I met him again at a lunch party in September just as he was going into his training. Although held up for three weeks in Punte Arenas waiting for the weather to better, he finally started on this amazing challenge.
We have all been listening into his daily recordings; some days full of enthusiasm & joy, others drained after a day of pure uphill slog. Sadly just 30 miles from his goal after almost 1000 miles he was taken off the ice with what he felt was exhaustion - sadly this proved to be peritonitis, being ‘spent’ his body just closed down. What a tragedy – the loss of such a warm, enthusiastic, competent and kind man; he leads the modern Heroic Age.
I have been privileged.
MW - 8 February 2016
Loft Theatre, Leamington Spa - February 10 - 20 at 7.30 pm (excluding Sunday)
Princethorpe LAMDA teacher, Mary MacDonald, leads the company as Juno in Juno and the Paycock, playing at the Loft Theatre later this month. The play also features two of Princethorpe's young actors, Head Boy, Josh Popham and Old Princethorpian, Ed Statham, both making their debut at Leamington's Loft Theatre.
Hilarity and tragedy go hand in hand in Sean O’Casey’s masterpiece of Irish drama – featuring a trademark mix of comic double acts, consequences of war and rich and vibrant characters. Sudden news of an inheritance provokes dreams of escape from poverty for the Boyle family but, even before their rowdy celebrations are done, reality reasserts itself. A play to have you crying and laughing almost at the same time, with comedy and tragedy rubbing shoulders like Captain Boyle and Joxer leaning against a Dublin bar, pints of porter in hand.
Director, Gus MacDonald, is delighted with the way the play is shaping up: "I've been lucky to gather an absolutely super company in what is one of the most highly-regarded plays of the 20th century. It truly is a classic. Josh and Ed have been brilliant - hard working, reliable and with a fine talent for both comedy and waving guns around in a threatening manner! It's going to be a great evening's entertainment."
Please go along and support our Princethorpe actors. For more information and booking details look on-line at www.loft-theatre.co.uk.
A little bird has approached Old Princethorpians to wish OP Kate Critchley a big 'Happy Birthday' for Friday 19 February.
We were told that a lady never gives her age away but it is a BIG birthday!
We hope she has a lovely day!
Kate is pictured with husband Peter at last year's Summer Supper.
You may well recognise a family likeness when first spotting Crackley Hall's Reception Class' new Teaching Assistant, Antony. The clue’s in the surname - Kefalas. Little brother to Miss Rod Kefalas, Antony has joined the team in Early Years to work primarily with the youngest Crackley Hall pupils. “I’m really loving it”, he announces, “primary school work was something I had never considered until I did a two week work experience placement here last summer. It’s brilliant”.
Coming from an ICT background, the Old Princethorpian seems totally at home in Reception’s brightly coloured large classroom. Antony goes on to say, “I’d never been to Crackley before last summer but had obviously heard good things about it from my sister, Rod. It’s sort of strange us both working here but we’re so busy that to be honest we hardly ever see each other!”
Antony will also be putting his sporting acumen to good use by assisting with Key Stage 2 Games as well as some ICT support across the curriculum. And what does big sister make of Antony’s recent arrival? “It’s amazing to see how brilliant he is with the smaller pupils.” Confesses Miss Kefalas, “I think he will be excellent and you never know, he may end up staying as long as I have!”
Good luck, Antony, and welcome to the Crackley Hall family.
Talented singer Lucy Stanton is resorting to 'rocket fuel' to launch her singing career. She takes up the story...
Rocket Fuel is a fan-funding support project that helps aspiring artists raise money to reach their 'goals'. I heard about it from a scout who emailed me after the TeenStar competition Grand Finals in Birmingham. Currently, I have completed my first goal which was to write and record an original song which I will be 'releasing' on my Rocket Fuel page on the 12th February. https://rocketfuelhq.com/lucy-stanton
I am currently working towards my second goal, which is to write and record an EP (Extended Play) which will include two more original songs that will be recorded. I set up my Rocket Fuel page to encourage people to buy/donate/subscribe, and so far have managed to raise nearly £600. It is now an ongoing process to raise as much as I can for these up coming tracks, and I will be adding things like gig tickets for people to come and hear me sing.
To support Lucy's rocket fuel fund visit https://rocketfuelhq.com/lucy-stanton.
We're hoping that Lucy will be in the musical line-up for Princefest on Saturday 3 September, so more people will get to enjoy her vocal talents then!
