Concordia

Concordia Winter 2018 3 Introduction An introduction from the Head Master: 04 Christopher Hirst (1958-1965), President of the OMT Society, looks back on the headmastership of Hugh Elder 08 Michael Illing reflects on 40 years teaching Maths at Merchant Taylors’ 12 Paul Raschid (2006-2011) writes of his career in independent film 14 This year’s Remembrance Address, given by History master Jonny Taylor 16 A report from the Remembrance Concert at the Birmingham Symphony Hall 18 Archivist Sally Gilbert writes of the restoration of the Monitors’ and Prompters’ boards in the Dining Hall 20 Development 30 Class Notes 34 Obituaries In this issue We have made every attempt to locate copyright ownership of archive photography but have not always succeeded in doing so. Any owner of copyright of individual images is invited to contact the editor. Supporting MTS To find out more about how you can support the school, please go to: https://development.mtsn . org.uk/supporting-MTS L ast week I had the pleasure of attending the OMT Annual Dinner in the wonderful setting of Middle Temple Hall. I was delighted to see so many OMTs – 239 – in attendance. Few Old Boy societies around the country could boast such a fine turnout. It was a privilege for me to speak from the stage where Shakespeare performed the opening night of his play, Twelfth Night. All those involved in the occasion deserve congratulation, especially Max Weitzmann, who organised it and Hitesh Chowdhry, who was our brilliantly funny keynote speaker. The school has been marking the events of 100 years ago with an extended commemoration of the involvement of OMTs in the First World War. We have marked the occasions when three OMTs were awarded the highest recognition of gallantry, the Victoria Cross. We have learnt the remarkable stories of the bravery and endurance our old boys demonstrated. We remembered the single greatest loss of life that has occurred in the history of our school, the first day of the Somme, when so many OMTs paid the price for leading the British charge. Our commemoration came to its conclusion this term with two extraordinarily moving services. The first was our own school Remembrance Service; the second was our participation in a concert held on Armistice Day in the Birmingham Symphony Hall. With eleven other schools associated with Merchant Taylors’ Company, our boys performed an original piece written by Simon Couldridge, the Director of Music, and then participated in a mass performance of Mozart’s Requiem. Those who were there will remember it as a fitting commemoration of the 1800 OMTs who participated in World War I, over 300 of whom received citations for bravery and of whom 300 did not return. We continue to expand and improve the facilities here at Sandy Lodge. I am excited to see that our new Geography Building is almost completed; the opening event is on 1st March and I hope to see many OMTs there. It will be named for Edward Evans, a distinguished OMT. He was second in command on the ill-fated Scott polar expedition, surviving only because he was sent back to base camp with scurvy. He later commanded a destroyer in the First World War, winning fame for ramming a German destroyer amidships in the Channel and leading a cutlass charge onto its decks. There is an example for our boys! Thank you to everyone who took part in the telephone campaign over the summer – we had a wonderful response, as ever, and you gave over £100k during the two week campaign. We also received many offers of help in other ways too, which is so important to the school. Bursaries remain a central part of our fundraising efforts, and you can be sure that your support is going to the right people: boys who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend, who are going on to achieve at the highest levels. There are numerous and varied opportunities to get involved in the Merchant Taylors’ community in the coming months – social events, careers support events, networking, building openings, and so forth. We always enjoy the company of our old boys; we hope you will be involved in some way in 2019.