Thanks to Bevan Pumphrey, Chris Vodden, Barbara Surridge, Peter Rushforth, Stewart Brammer, Clifford Weschenfelder, Wendy Smith; Dick Dennis for all the forwarded e-mail news, the District Secretaries and all OS who sent in news via any method for the Annual Report 2003. I am very grateful to you all, PLEASE don’t stop sending. News deadline for the 2004 Annual Report - Christmas 2003, please. - Ed. Reporters: news from District 13 - Chris Vodden; all other news - Gill Jackson.

In 2002 I reported on a most interesting e-mail conversation between DICK DENNIS (1944-52) and Fred Wyatt “who lives in Victoria BC and is the son of old scholar EMILY CONSTANCE CRAKE who was enrolled as a scholar in 1907, and the nephew of WILLIAM A. (1902-04), JOHN C. (1902-05) and EMIL (1906-09).” ….In September 2002 we heard from Lola Mills, the daughter of Emil Crake, that her cousin Fred had died unexpectedly in November 2001. Lola had been to Australia and had visited Fred only a few months before his death and had been looking forward to the research he was going to do into their family history. Lola went on to say:- “My husband Bill and I visited the school 1985, it was holiday time, but extra holiday programme activities were in progress, luckily for us. So we knocked on the door and were met by a remarkable lady, do wish I could remember her name, she was like Mary Reader, very much part of the place, after explaining our reason for calling she gave us the most wonderful tour. She had in her possession all the keys for the complex, we finished upstairs in a room full of all records, and beautifully maintained volumes of school photos, it was a very emotional experience for me to see early photos of Emil and Emily Constance, group ones, team ones, how my Dad would have loved to be standing in MY shoes, I was never able to relate my experience as he had passed on. Something we will never forget and the highlight of our trip. We were sorry to hear of the school’s closure but I am sure those valuable records are in safe keeping. Twice within 3 weeks Emil was called to the headmaster’s office to be told first his Father had died, 27th Nov. 1906, and then his Mother 12th Dec. 1906, they are buried in the Quaker part at Bishopwearmouth Cemetery. The headstone was still in perfect condition after all those years. So the four Crakes had to cope with a terrible emotional shock at such an early age. That is another chapter for some later date. We have just returned from Australia, we have a son and family in Melbourne, where we attended the baptism for our latest addition, Max, born 16 June - Fred’s great, great nephew I will keep in touch, thank you for including me on your e-mail list.”

In February 2003, Dick Dennis and I had an interesting e-mail correspondence with John Calland, who was hoping that we could supply him with information about his mother FRANCES RAYNELL WELLS (1920-24) and her sister, GWEN WELLS (1920-23), they were the nieces of that redoubtable Aytonian, M. SOPHIA WELLS (1902-38). If anyone is able to help and has any memories of Frances or Gwen, I would be grateful if you could get in touch (0151 334 7563 – Ed.)

My first contact with BEVAN PUMPRHEY (1922-26) in 2002 was a delightful meeting with him during the summer reunion. Shortly after his return home, Bevan sent me the following details of the official reason for his visit to Ayton last June….. “ On the morning of the 26th June, 2002, Mrs. Frances Green-well,(mother of TESSA SNOWDON, 1981-88) in her regalia as Chairman of the Parish Council of Great Ayton, gathered with Mrs. Louise Holden, Clerk to the Council, and other officials formally to accept my donation of a seat on the High Green in memory of my mother, whose grandfather and father had been, respectively, the first and second Superintendents of the Friends’? School. The seat had been hand-crafted in iron by Robert Ward, blacksmith, of Carlton, close by the Cleveland Hills, whose father I used to watch shoeing horses when I was a small boy. The inscription on the plaque, made with particular care by Mr. Peel of Middlesbrough, to whom the name Pumphrey was familiar, reads:

DONATED IN 2002 BY BEVAN PUMPHREY IN MEMORY OF HIS MOTHER EDITH PUMPHREY NÉE DIXON, WHOSE FAMILY WERE CONNECTED WITH THE FRIENDS’ SCHOOL AND THE VILLAGE FOR OVER A CENTURY.