Old Princethorpians were greatly saddened to hear of the death of Philip Dawtrey just before Christmas. Phil, along with his brother Richard, was a pupil at Princethorpe in the early 1970s. Phil was married to Gill and had two grown up children and lived near Yeovil.
Phil was born on a farm in Norfolk where his father was a farmer in the mid 1950s. The family left that farm and went to Tanzania in 1960 to live. The boys went to school in Arusha near Mount Kilimanjaro which was three days by bus on dirt roads from where they lived in the Southern Highlands near the boarder with Zambia.
Later the family moved to Zambia from where the boys came to school at Princethorpe, flying home at the end of most terms, often in the company of fellow pupils Jean-Pierre Parsons and Derek Kelly.
Phil was a proud member of the basketball team along with Chris Cox, Colin Waldron, Jeremy Peacock and John Wheildon. He was Vice House Captain 72/73 for Benet House.
When he left school he went to college in Stockport to study engineering and design. He worked for a number of companies prior to joining Stenna Lifts as a design engineer, coincidentally he designed a lift for Princethorpe which was fitted a year or so ago.
Fellow pupil, Jean-Pierre Parsons, commented on his old friend, “My recollection is that Philip was always a popular boy during his time at Princethorpe. He was a good ‘all rounder’, proficient at sport, a talented musician and an excellent artist. Phil was always great company and had a good sense of fun. No doubt all of his former school friends will be saddened by the news of his death.”
Our thoughts go out to Phil's brother, Richard, his wife, Gill, and all his family and friends.
Phil is pictured in 1973 wearing the No 7 vest in this basketball team picture.
