Class Notes
Archdeacon Norman Apthorp
(1936-1942) died 02/11/2013 aged 89.
From a eulogy delivered by his son
David Apthorp:
“After MTS, Norman completed a year
and a term at Cambridge University,
funded by the British Government, who
wanted science students trained for war
work. He and a young woman got o
the train together in Malvern in 1943,
clutching their letters of introduction
to the top secret Radar Research place
at the top of the hill. As Dad said in
his eulogy at our mother’s funeral: ‘We
walked up the hill together. We have
been walking together ever since.’
Like many sensitive, concerned young
Christian men, his wartime experiences
led him to the ministry, and he and
mum’s sense of adventure led them to
answer an advert oering 4 to 5 years
in a bush parish in Western Australia.
Narembeen in 1957 felt like the wild
frontier to us and it was here that Dad’s
lifelong love of the wide open spaces
of Australia was born. After a long
and faithful ministry they retired to
Brookton. His last great
work was steering his beloved Barbara
along the indistinct pathways of her last
12 years, as she gradually lost contact
with the outside world.
Athough Dad found it impossible to
give up pastoral duties; being helped
through taking his last service just
weeks before he died.
After sitting with his body, beautifully
laid with a rose on his chest by those
who cared for him at the last, I walked
out of the hospital in the middle of
the night. There was a big wind in the
darkness, shaking and kissing every
leaf on every tree, blowing and bearing
his spirit all over this wide flat land.
Now, reunited in joy with his wife and
his Lord.”
Neil Peet
(1940-1944) died 25/03/2014 aged 87. His son David (1971-1976) writes: “He was of
a wartime vintage where memories were of Home Guard duty on the roof of the
Great Hall, rather than anything more sporting or academic! He was always very
proud of his association with the school and the OMT Society and I know that he
enjoyed some of the members’ lunches earlier in his retirement. The OMT News
Sheet was always read eagerly for news of contemporaries, although not many of his
generation remain of course.”
Concordia
Merchant Taylors’ School
Peter Cima
(1939-1944) died peacefully on
23/11/2013 aged 87 years at Silverleigh
Cedars Care Home Axminster. Beloved
husband of the late Ivy Cima and much
loved father, grandfather and great-
grandfather. Philip Sankey (1952-1958)
writes: “I met Peter through the local
churches here in Lyme Regis. It is
fitting that the Service of Thanksgiving
should be in the Baptist Church where
he played the organ for many years.
After he was widowed he became less
active and for a time a WRVS (now
RVS) Meals on Wheels Team of which
I was part, delivered meals to him. He
spent his final years in the Care Home
in Axminster.
At some point we discovered that
we were both OMTs and although
he did not say a lot about his time
at school, he was grateful for the
Christian foundations laid at
Emmanuel Church, Northwood and
was a lifelong friend of the late Keith
Weston (1939-1944).”
John MacIntyre Lawson
(1936-1941) died 31/01/2014
aged 90. He died peacefully at
Salisbury District Hospital. Beloved
husband, father and grandfather.
Reprinted with kind permission of Camden New Journal
Alan Burns
(1943-1948) died 13/02/2014
