Welcome

Dear OKS

Welcome to the fourth edition of the OKSOverseas Newsletter. In this edition welearn how salmon and trout were firstestablished in Tasmania and NewZealand, in response to the desire of theearly settlers for fishing; how India isdeveloping ‘smart technology’ to answerthe water challenges faced by its growingurbanisation, and how Catarina deBragança married Charles II of England,bringing with her the custom ofafternoon tea. These are just snipets fromsome of the articles in this edition and Ihope you enjoy reading them as much asI have.

The OKS Overseas network is thriving,and we have recently established a newKing’s in Hong Kong Society. This is anetwork for OKS, and current and formerKing’s parents based in Hong Kong. Werecently held a hugely successful drinksreception in Hong Kong and the next onewill be advertised in due course via theOKS website.

OKS NigeriaJason Mycroft (Linacre House 1983-1988) and Baba-Jallah Epega (LuxmooreHouse 1985-1990) have recently createda new OKS Nigeria network. Jason andBaba have already held one ‘get together’and are planning another in the nearfuture.

Jason is the Director at Vanso Nigeria Ltd:a Leading FinTech company in Nigeria forMessaging, Payments and building Apps.He has lived in Lagos for 4 years but hasbeen visiting regularly since 1991.

Baba is the CEO of an events, marketing& conferences agency emc3, located inLondon's Notting Hill with an Africanoffice in Lagos, Nigeria where he iscurrently based.

If you would be interested in attendingfuture OKS Nigeria reunions, please lookout for details on the OKS website orcontact Jason and Baba onNigeria@OKSMail.org

We currently have nearly 1,000 OKS based overseas and it’s lovely to hearyour news. If you would like to contributean article to the next OKS OverseasNewsletter, please do let me know.

With best wishes,

Kirsty MasonOKS Coordinator

OVERSEAS NEWSLETTERIssue 4

In this issue: Salmon Fishing beyong the Yemen. Mark Swann (SH 57-62) An OKS Amongst The Canaries. Mike Gough (SH/BR 74-77) Rowing Around the Globe. Victoria Spencer (MT 92-94)

Indian. Urbanisation and Water Challenges Neville Bhasin (SH 72-74)

Lisbon: Then and Now. Peter Kirby-Higgs (GL 61-66) A Letter from province . Anthony de Moubray (MR 60-65)

Jason Mycroft

Baba Epega

Organisers of King’s in Hong Kong Drinks(l-r) Darrin Woo, Rosanna Chan, Paul Sheldon, Will Bersey, Graham Sinclair, Amanda Snow, Hamish Backhouse, Peter Wells, Vivienne Wells

Tasmania is a fascinating place about asfar south as you can get before you hitAntarctica and there is nothing betweenthe West coast of Tasmania and the Eastcoast of South America (some15,000kms). The great Southern Oceanand the Roaring Forties pound the coastand a large part of the western half of theisland has still not been completelyexplored and is a World HeritageWilderness site. Where clearing andagriculture have been established thecountryside is very English with smallfields with hedgerows but also somespectacular scenery particularly in thehighlands around Cradle Mountain.At about 70% of the size of England,Tasmania only has a population of about500,000.

I used to fish in the Stour when I was atKings in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s andused to get some good sized graylingand the odd trout. My passion for thesport hasn’t declined and I recently wenton a trip to Tasmania to a fly-castingschool for three days. I have to say, as aresult, there has been great improvementin my casting ability!

One can understand the desire of theearly free settlers to indulge in field sportsand consequently many species wereintroduced from England, but luckily nofoxes. For many years they tried tointroduce trout and salmon, but it wasnot until 1864 that some trout ovasurvived the long journey to Hobart.From Tasmania trout were introduced toNew Zealand and now these twodestinations have the reputation of beingthe best wild brown trout fisheries in theworld especially for sight fishing fortrophy size (10 lbs) specimens. I thoughtI’d share the amazing story of how theova were sent from England in the 1860’s.

The first attempt was in 1852 and wasvery crude. Wooden tubs on gimbals withgravel in the bottom to replicate a riverbed. Needless to say all the ova died assoon the ship reached warmer waters. Itwas thought that only live fish wouldsurvive the trip, but a certain James Youlworking out of Crystal Palace believedthat retardation of the development ofthe embryos was the only solution. In duecourse the Victorian AcclimatizationSociety became interested in hisretardation experiments and offeredfinancial assistance. In 1859 a reward wasoffered for the first living salmon to bedelivered to Tasmania but after threefailed attempts James Youl finallysucceeded in his retardation work andattempts were made to adopt hisprincipals of transportation of ova.

Special ponds had been prepared nearHobart using the cold waters of theDerwent River to receive any ova or fishthat survived. Experiments continuedusing huge ice blocks from Chicago tokeep the temperature down during thevoyage. They started with 15 tonnes, butthis only lasted 68 days. Eventually JamesYoul proved that ova could be kept alivefor the necessary 120 days andpreparations were made for theshipment. The 100,000 salmon ova and3,000 trout ova from the Itchin and Wyerivers were packed in pine boxes withperforated sides. The packing waselaborate; the first layer was charcoal,then a layer of crushed ice then a layer ofclean washed moss with roots attachedand on this layer the ova were carefullyplaced without touching each other.Over them another layer of moss andthen another layer of ice. The 181 boxeswere then placed in a 50 tonne (yes 50tonnes!) ice house.

On arrival in Melbourne they wereimmediately trans-shipped to Hobart andtransferred to the ponds awaiting theirarrival. It was estimated that 14,000salmon and 300 trout survived. The ovarelished their new surroundings and theDerwent River provided an excellent foodsource and spawning grounds. Large fishwere seen and caught in 1868 and it wasthought they were salmon but it wasrealized some 15 years later that theywere in fact large Trout. No salmonsurvived and in fact wild Atlantic salmonhave not been able to establishthemselves in Tasmanian waters.

From these humble beginningsTasmanian and New Zealand fisherieshave developed into some of thecleanest, greenest wild populations ofbrown trout in the world. Trout are foundin almost every river and lake in thosecountries. The Snowy Mountains on themainland also have many rivers and lakesthat provide excellent sport.

Any OKS who are contemplating a fly-fishing trip down under, please docontact me through the OKS Association.

Mark Swann

Salmon fishing beyond the Yemen: The transportation of the Salmonidae to the AntipodesMark SwannSchool House 1957-1962

Australia

Mark & Dian Swann

Taming the Trout in New Zealand

When I entered the Mint Yard gates for myfirst day of school in 1992, I knew myexperience at King’s would be lifechanging. Little did I know that it would bethe time spent at the rowing shed atWestbere that would lead me on a patharound the world and into rowing as a fulltime profession. After graduating fromWarwick University in 1997, I spent sometime traveling before taking up a Graduateposition with a large ManagementConsultancy firm. Whilst I loved living andworking in London, I had a passion for anoutdoor life and active lifestyle and it wasnot long before I switched careers to workin rowing.

In 2005 I moved to Australia to work withRowing Tasmania, grasping theopportunity to work with and bementored by a world-class coach. Fromthere I moved to Adelaide in 2006 to runthe rowing program at Walford AnglicanSchool for Girls. During my time here Ihave built the program into one of themost successful girls rowing schools inAustralia, winning many titles at State andNational level. Last year I was excited toqualify a crew to race in the inauguralJunior Women’s Quad Sculls event atHenley Royal Regatta. Whilst we were inthe UK I took the opportunity to bring thegirls down to Kent to visit King’s. It wasvery rewarding to see how in awe theywere of the age and tradition of the school– which outdates the discovery ofAustralia by many centuries. The girls werefascinated by the history of the school anduniqueness of the study environment. Itopened their eyes to what opportunitiesthere might be to study in similar historicalenvironments for university, with some ofthe group now looking at opportunities

in Cambridge and the US and at least oneoff to study at Harvard University.

Pushing off the boating stage at Westberehas not only taken me to Australia, it hastaken me all around the world. I have beenon several Australian rowing teams as acoach and team manager, which has takenme back to Europe on a regular basis. In2010 I coached the Australian JuniorWomen’s Four to a bronze medal at theJunior World Championships in CzechRepublic. The following year (2011) Icoached the U23 Women’s pair whofinished 4th place at the U23 WorldChampionships in Amsterdam.

This year I have been appointed as a coachfor the US based Australian U23 teamalong with my husband, Andrew, who isalso a rowing coach. This is an excitingnew initiative by Rowing Australia to workwith talented Australian athletes whohave been recruited by the US colleges.Rowing is taking these young peoplearound the world too and our aim is tokeep in touch with them in the hope theywill some day return to vie for Olympicteam selection. Andrew and I travelled tothe US in June to run a selection camp forthe crews at Princeton University beforemoving to Dartmouth University in NewHampshire for a short training block. InJuly we were in the air again as we

travelled to Italy to join the rest of theAustralian U23 team who were at the‘European Training Centre’ in Varese. Thiscentre is owned by the Australian Instituteof Sport and provides a training base tothe various elite sports teams who spendmuch time in Europe each year forcompetition. Finally we travelled to Linz inAustria to compete at the U23 WorldChampionships.

Living and coaching in Australia has givenme many unique experiences. The cycle offlood and drought in this vast landprovides its challenges; one year we willbe wading through sticky mud to reachthe water of the Murray river whilst thenext we will be fighting fierce currents.Most regattas take place locally butannually we will embark on an inter-statetrip to the National Championships. FromAdelaide this will be either a 10 hour driveto Melbourne, a 17 hour drive to Sydney,a 10 hour drive with a 12 hour ferrycrossing to Tasmania or a 36 hour driveacross the Nullabor Plain to Perth.Suddenly Nottingham does not look so faraway from Kent!

In Australia the coffee is as good as thewine, so once you have come and enjoyedthe fruits of the Barossa Valley, feel free toswing by West Lakes and join us for amorning coffee by the lake. We love tohave visitors and would enjoy catching upwith any OKS in this area.

Victoria Spencer

Rowing Around the Globe Victoria SpencerMitchinson’s House 1992-1994

Australia

Taking boats

Victoria Spencer and her rowing girls

I’ve been the OKS overseas representativefor a couple of years now, and I’mdisappointed not to have been contactedby anyone. At the very least, I was hopingto be asked to stand bail for a recentschool leaver who had misbehaved in anight club on the famous “Strip” in Puertodel Carmen.

The reality, of course, is that Lanzarotequite probably doesn’t appeal as aholiday destination to most OKS and theirfamilies – it just doesn’t have the cachetof The Caribbean, although we do enjoysignificantly better weather!

But my Lanzarote is somewhat differentfrom the one portrayed in Thomsonholiday brochures. I live with my wife in a150 year old farmhouse in a village in thenorth of the island, where the famousartist and architect César Manrique spenthis final years. The village nestles in abowl shaped valley, 300 metres aboveand about 3 kilometres from the nearestbeach. Walk up one side of the valley, andyou’ll see the spectacular Famara cliffs, goup the other and your breath will betaken away by the vision that is the islandof La Graciosa, said to have been theinspiration for Treasure Island. Beyond LaGraciosa, just 70 nautical miles from us,lies the Saharan coast of Africa. Indeed,although we are Spanish “owned”, TheCanary islands are as far from Madrid asMadrid is from London.

We came here when the children werestill young, just over 13 years ago. Bothmy wife Julie and I were well and trulycaught up in the rat race in Britain – I wasFleet Development Manager atVolkswagen UK and she was Finance

An OKS amongst The CanariesMike GoughSchool House/Broughton House 1974-1977

Lanzarote

Helming to Africa from Lanzarote

Director at an IT company. Our jobsinvolved frequent travel, and despite highincomes and all the trappings of success,our quality of life as a family was poor.

We booked a villa holiday here, hoping forsome early winter sun, and fell hopelesslyin love with the incredible light, the starkvolcanic landscape and what appeared tobe a wonderfully slow pace of life. Lazingaround the pool one day, I said to Julie “Icould sell everything up and move overhere.” I expected her reply to be the usual,pragmatic “Stop dreaming!” But shestunned me by telling me she had beenthinking the same thing! In the end weagreed to put the house on the marketand “see what happens.” The house soldin three days, and we were back on theisland within a couple of months, jobless,with kids aged 8 and 10, an old Englishsheepdog and the most basic grasp of theSpanish language.

The years since then have been awonderful blur – we’ve had theexcitement of building and then sellingone business; the excitement of building up our current business, which consists of

a network of websites serving bothtourists and residents; buying ourfarmhouse and restoring it from a ruin;seeing the children grow up stronghealthy, confident and bilingual; and,above all, sharing every moment of it as afamily.

If there’s one thing King’s gave me allthose years ago, it is a long held belief thatI should try everything once, and it’s inthat spirit that I became an avid scubadiver in my 40s and waited until my 50sbefore discovering triathlon.

Lanzarote, as you may or may not know, ishome to what it reputed to be the world’stoughest triathlon event – IronmanLanzarote, which takes place here eachMay. If the heat and occasional strongwinds don’t get you on the run, the 8,000foot climb on the 180KM bike course will!I’ve done several shorter distancetriathlons over the last year and I finallycompeted, with my wife, in the big one in2014, and I’m delighted to say that weboth finished the race in good shape!

That’s a short, sharp summary of life in thisoutpost for a lone OKS. If anycontemporaries are reading this, I’d bedelighted to welcome you here and sharea cold beer or two while we reminisceover all things King’s and decide whowore the biggest flares over their platformboots in 1977.

And if you’re a more recent leaver and youdo get into trouble one night, just tell theGuardia Civil that you went to the sameschool as Don Miguel from Haria!t

Mike Gough

Medals upon completing the Lanzarote Iron Man

India is part of a global phenomenonwhich now sees more people living inurban areas compared with rural areas.One of the key services and provisions tothese emerging cities is water supply; thechallenge is to arrange and manage thisvital resource. People in the developedworld take water from the tap as grantedwith quality being a non-issue. This is notthe case in developing countries.Technology has a role to play, but moreimportantly water has to be used in asustainable manner. Since cities areeconomic growth drivers, theinfrastructure required in the form ofenergy, water and transportation is nowa prerequisite for sustainable growth.

A recent McKinsey article highlightedgrowth clusters in India which willexperience rapid economic developmentand there are around six to eightthousand cities or towns where migrationfrom rural areas is taking place. ThePimpri Chinchwad area is one of thefastest growing cities in India. It has astrong industrial base, which hadspawned work opportunities and hasseen the population grow rapidly. Assuch, the water supply infrastructure hadkept pace but there was room to improvethe service. Krohne, the company withwhich I am associated, and I undertookan initiative to modernize the watersupply through the use of ‘smarttechnology’. A SCADA (Supervisory,Control And Data Acquisition) project,combining hardware (metering andother field instrumentation) withsoftware, has enabled the municipalauthorities to effectively manage thewater supply. The role of data generationhas allowed them to equitably distributethe water through a network oftreatment plants and storage reservoirs.

A further pilot with the help of a Frenchfirm, Suez, established the concept of24:7 pressurized water supply. Thisresulted in substantial water and energysavings at the consumer level. The resultsof these projects have emboldened theauthorities to extend the 24:7 concept toall the areas under their jurisdiction.Needless to say, these initiatives havebeen recognized by the government ofIndia and multilateral agencies such asthe Asian Development Bank and WorldBank. Furthermore, having seen thepositive outcomes from this project,other states are now replicating themodel in various towns and cities. Thecitizens have reacted with amazement tothese developments in view of pastexperiences of intermittent supply ofthree hours in the morning and similarhours in the evenings.

The use of such advanced technology hasalso found a place in the goals of the newgovernment, which has announced thedevelopment of one hundred ‘SmartCities’ across India. No doubt water will beone of the verticals in these cities. Thereis a huge business opportunity awaiting,which will see the emergence of anecosystem in which multiple companieswill work together with local municipal

authorities and citizen groups. In factthere are a number of pilots at presentbeing executed globally. A similarapproach of ‘smart technology’ willimprove the management of sanitationservices with concomitant benefits ofimproved health and productivity ofcitizens. In fact sewage is now viewed asa resource allowing the treated water tobe reused in industry and agriculture aswell as generating energy.

Put into a historical perspective, the IndusValley civilization (c.2500 B.C.),comprising multiple cities in theSaraswati River basin, placed a premiumon water management and civicplanning. These principles were part of anexchange of ideas with a global networkof trading blocs in the Bronze Agecomprising the Minoan, Egyptian andMesopotamian civilizations. Hopefullythe present Indian society will embracethese water values to grow a sustainablesociety. Water has been central to thedevelopment of civilizations in the past.We forget these lessons at our own peril!

The above opportunities are in line withcurrent objectives of not only managingscarce resources efficiently but alsoensuring the sustainable growth ofsocieties and I am fortunate to be part ofthis evolution.

In the event any of you are interested inparticipating, do get in touch!

Neville Bhasin

Urbanisation and Water Challenges: the introduction of ‘smart technology’ in Indian citiesNeville BhasinSchool House 1972-1974

India

Nevill and Surekha Bhasin

Kas Plateau, India

I first arrived in Lisbon on a damp day inApril. As the plane descended over therooftops – the airport is close to thecentre – over the shantytown, the firsttime visitor had the distinct impressionthat the pilot had got his navigationwrong. Surely this was not Europe?

This was 1972 and Portugal was aneconomic and political backwater withone of the last two surviving Europeanfascist governments, the Acção NacionalPopular; any similarity to “NationalSocialism” was not a coincidence.Portugal’s economy was dependent onthe colonies in Africa, notably SouthAfrican gold from Moçambique. Thelegacy of Salazar, who had been replacedby like-minded colleagues after hebecame senile, was based on the nobilityof poverty: a concept in which Salazar,who was fanatically un-corrupt and froma humble rural background himself,genuinely believed and which was ahandy doctrine for his mean mindedsuccessors. Apart from Salazar, Portugalwas famous only for a fado singer, AmáliaRodrigues, who had had a hit in the USAand Eusébio, the star of Benfica,revelation of the1966 World Cup.

The English had begun to discover theAlgarve, a great combination of sun,cheap real estate, low taxes and a fewretirees were trickling in. This was longbefore Quinta do Lago and the otherorganized resorts.

I was 24 years old and had been sent onassignment by Unilever, probably theyoungest ex-patriot manager in thehistory of the Company. This was actuallythe second time I had been in Portugal.When I left the LSE four years earlier mystepfather decided that it would be goodfor my soul to spend at least some timedoing a real man’s work before settling

down to the effeminate occupation ofselling soap. One of our neighbours inGreenwich was a shipping agent andbetween the two of them they contrivedto have me assigned as deck hand to asmall Dutch cargo ship (called a “coaster”,650 tons); a kind of cargo taxi. We wouldbe despatched to pick up a cargo fromport A and take it to port B, while thedespatcher in the Hague tried to find thenext cargo from a port at least close toour destination. Incredibly hard anddangerous work: these days Health andSafety would go berserk.

Our first voyage was from Hull to Leixões(which is unpronounceable in anylanguage except Portuguese) the portserving Oporto. In those days most portsin southern Europe were surrounded bysleazy bars. Leixões, however, was (is) alsothe largest fishing port in the country sodubious bars and fish restaurants wereinterspersed. The younger members ofthe crew discovered charcoal grilledlobster washed down with vinho verde, aluxury most of us would never have beenable to afford back then in the UK orHolland. Now of course the bars are longgone and the town is door to door fishrestaurants, a candidate for the best placein Europe to eat fish; is there anywhereelse where you can eat a kilo of fresh sea-bass or turbot for 25 Euros (with wine), orfresh sardines and a nice Douro red for 10Euros?

Two years after I had been living andworking in Portugal they decided to havea revolution.

I actually got quite involved with thewhole revolutionary process, activelyparticipating in the worker’s commissionsand political rallies as the country wassystematically shuffled towardscommunism. The revolution was handledin typical Portuguese fashion, lots ofrhetoric and political manoeuvring andvery little actual confrontation. On oneoccasion the commanding officer of abesieged government barracks refusedto open fire because “…someone mightget hurt.” The non-violence ended brieflyin November 1975 when the commandoregiment was unleashed to storm theparliament building and oust theCommunists who had usurped the newdemocracy.

I was recently married then, to Gaby, a girlfrom Oporto (yes, the marriage stillsurvives) and, unlike the majority of

foreign professionals and manyindependent businessmen who opted toabandon the country, I saw no reason toleave and bought a flat on the coastoutside Lisbon. Unilever had other plans,however, and sent me first to Istanbuland then to Nairobi.

After 10 years of Turkey, East Africa andCanada, where I was Marketing Directorof Pepsi-Cola in the middle of the “Colawars” and General Manager of Playtex(yes, the bras), we moved back toPortugal.

In 1986 Portugal had joined the EuropeanUnion. I was already working as anindependent business consultant inToronto and received a phone call from avague acquaintance who was then aDirector of BP: would I like to help themreorganize the operation? Of course Iwould. One thing led to another and Iaccumulated consulting work for theforeseeable future.

The family moved over and we have beenhere ever since. Apart from consulting,which I still do, I am involved withbusiness associations as a mentor for theAssociação Empresarial de Portugal andam president of the Sales and MarketingDirector’s Association, a Luso-Brazilianbusiness network. I also teach MBA at afew universities.

All peoples have unique nationalcharacteristics and the Lusitano is noexception. Portugal is the only sizablestate or province in the Iberian peninsularindependent from Castile. As a frustratedRoman general once said “These peopleneither govern themselves nor letthemselves be governed”. ThePortuguese have retained theirindependence, apart from their allegedungovernability, because at critical timesin their history, when independence wasthreatened, they manage to rallyobediently behind a central governmentthat knew how to forge strategic alliances– usually with England / Britain.

Lisbon: Then and NowPeter Kirby-HiggsGalpin’s House 1961-1966

Portugal

Peter and Gaby Kirby-Higgs 1974

In 1147 the Portuguese conqueredLisbon from the Moors with the aid ofEnglish Knights Templar; the first Bishopof Lisbon was English. In 1385 theSpaniards were beaten at Aljubarrotawith the aid of English archers, manyyears before Agincourt. When Charles IIwas to be wed, the best choice was thedaughter of the monarch of the richestcountry in Europe at the time - Portugal:Catarina de Bragança arrived in a newlylibertinized England with a retinue ofpuritanical catholic ladies and a trunk fullof a strange brew called “Cha”, discoveredin China. Catherine was responsible forthe five o’clock tea as her habits at courtwere emulated by anyone who couldafford to buy the stuff or visit one of thenew tea-houses. Incidentally, Catherine’sdowry included Bombay and Calcutta,providing the base for the subsequentBritish domination of India.

The first defeat suffered by theNapoleonic armies was at the hands of acombined Anglo-Portuguese forcecommanded by Arthur Wellesley, whobecame Duke of Wellington and Baron ofthe Douro. A few decades later the Britishengineered the Portuguese civil war.Charles Napier commanded the Liberalsto victory and Dona Isabel to the throne.Even Salazar, who was supposed to besympathetic to the other side or at leastneutral, leased the Azores to the Allies asa submarine and air force base duringWWII and offered to send troops to helpthe Australians against the Japanese.

The relationship with the British has beenlike most love affairs, not always smooth.The Portuguese national anthem has aphrase “against the cannons March!March!” (It was written before WW1). Very few Portuguese know that the original

version was “against the Britons March!March!” This was because of a disputeover who had the right to colonise theZambezi in 1890. The lyrics were laterchanged in the interest of politicalcorrectness.

Part of the Portuguese psyche explainswhy it is said to be difficult to do businesshere. Unlike the Italians who usebureaucracy as a deliberate form of tradeprotection, Portuguese bureaucracy actsas a burden primarily on the Portuguesethemselves – as well as on foreigninvestors and residents. After observingthis phenomenon, that perplexes thePortuguese themselves, for a fewdecades it has become obvious to methat the problem is the incapacity of thePortuguese collectively and individuallyto assume responsibility: buck passing issuch an ingrained habit that it is seen asnormal. This also reflects itself in the over-passive entrepreneurial practises thathave condemned most of Portugueseindustry to low-tech.

So the Law simply doesn’t work, judgescan’t make decisions. Portugal has acolossal civil service that communicateslargely with itself and suffers fromingrained noblesse oblige. This, togetherwith consistently ill-advised economicpolicies from a string of highly centralisedand occasionally corrupt governments,explains why the economy is in its currentmess.

Since joining the EU Portugal has beentransformed (no more shantytown nearthe airport). As a prominent economistand former Minister of the Economy putit: “From a rich country with poor peopleto a poor country with rich people”. Ahuge and relatively highly paid civilservice, the best motorway network in Europe, whose maintenance is now

unaffordable, the best shopping malls in Europe, stocking mostly imports, thesecond highest automobile ownership inEurope and more mobile phones percapita than the UK. Fruit of two decadesof credit-based spending. Also a largedynamic parallel economy and ashrinking low-tech industrial sector. Thislast is expected to foot the bill for all therest.

So why live here?

As the GM of the British Chamber ofCommerce put it recently (in a tone thatsuggested that this was a stupidquestion) “---because of the quality oflife!” Duh!

Portugal is essentially a user-friendlycountry with a great climate, spectacularscenery (much more than just theAlgarve), a cultural heritage that is bothunique and interlaced with our own, afabulous culinary inventory still largely tobe discovered by outsiders, every sportand cultural activity known to man (yes,even cricket!) good inexpensive servicenetworks ……. and it’s just a fun place tolive. Both our children decided to stayand make their lives here.

Difficult to get things done? That’s part ofthe fun too.

Peter Kirby-Higgs

Continued ...Peter Kirby-HiggsGalpin’s House 1961-1966

Portugal

Sintra Castle, Portugal

Peter and Gaby Kirby-Higgs 2013

I am writing this under a clear blueProvençal sky, the black clouds whichhave been hovering over Mont Ventoux(highest mountain in Provence, anarduous climb for the Tour de France)have all been swept away by the Mistral.

We have spent three years renovatingand extending our house here inVaucluse – I don’t think it will ever befinished – there is always some newproject dreamed of (problem of beingan architect). We have just finishedcreating a studio ‘gite’ out of an oldgarage building. As well as our vineyardwe have 50 apricot trees, as well as figs,almonds and plums. This May promises amuch better harvest than 2013 when forthe first time in my life I consideredputting on the central heating at thebeginning of June! A very late frost andgale force winds ruined the blossom onthe fruit trees. So hopefully this year weshall have lots of delicious jams andcompotes.

In October we hosted a big family partyin the XIVth century chateau in our hill-top village. Several OKS came – brothers-in-law Jon-Philippe Green and AndrewRedpath, David G.M.Scott, my son Arran( and his French cousin Xavier Martin whospent two terms at King’s in the 1980s)Vanessa Linforth (Danielle’s God-daughter) and her father Richard, as wellas Jane Edred Wright

A few days ago we walked down to a lakewith a group of locals with whom I giveEnglish conversation classes, and we met

on the way about 30 monks from thenearby Benedictine monastery. This wasbuilt in 1987, reputedly with some fundsfrom an African dictator. The subject ofthe monks is never discussed in thevillage, which is divided into those whosupport their extreme right wing politicalviews, and those who do not. Not far fromthe monastery ( but as far as I knowwithout an intercommunicating tunnel!)is an Abbey whose nuns won acompetition recently to find the purestvoices. Their CD “Les Soeurs d’Avignon”went to the top of the American classiccharts.

We enjoy our ex-pat community ofvarious nationalities, as well as our manyFrench friends and neighbours , but oneis never far from some connection withThe King’s School. and at parties there isalways someone who is a relation of, orknows, an OKS. This goes across the pondas well – last year my daughter spent afew happy days with Nick Livingston andhis wife in Buenos Aires.

Although semi-retired as an architect, Istill go to UK for work every monthhaving retained a number of clients. Iprefer to go by train from Avignon toAshford rather than flying, and recently Ihad what now seems an amusing journeybut which wasn’t at the time: My train toParis Gare de Lyon was late arriving; strike

day; no metro; traffic jams; missed my Eurostar at Gare du Nord. Was advised toreturn to Gare de Lyon where they wouldput me up for the night; yes they did, in avery uncomfortable train carriage whichI had to leave at 5am after no sleep; finallygiven a new ticket for Eurostar to Ashford.Trouble was it didn’t stop at Ashford andI found myself in St Pancras, too late foran important meeting in Kent which iswhy I had gone in the first place…..

P.S. Kirsty Mason has the good idea thatwe should have a reunion party for OKSliving in France. In practical terms thismight be difficult – France is a very largecountry – but it may be possible to havetwo or three regional meetings from timeto time. If you would like to participate,let me know (demoubray @hotmail.com)

Anthony de Moubray

A Letter from ProvenceAnthony Jankowski De MoubrayMarlowe House 1960-1965

France

View of Mont Ventoux

Anthony Jankowski De Moubray

Dr Chris Andry (GL 74-78) USAEast@OKSMail.orgAndy Riding (MR 86-91) Australia@OKSMail.orgRoger Sutton (WL 51-56) Australia1@OKSMail.orgMark Swann (SH 57-62) SouthAustralia@OKSMail.orgSelwa Moore (BY/BR 92-94) Belgium@OKSMail.orgViki Bennett (GR 88-90) Canada@OKSMail.orgMike Gough (SH/BR 74-77) CanaryIslands@OKSMail.orgMervyn Cumber (MR 62-65) CaymanIslands@OKSMail.orgBrain Sun (MO 87-91) China@OKSMail.orgAnthony Jankowski de Moubray (MR 60-65) France@OKSMail.orgRoy Rogers (GL 78-82) Germany@OKSMail.orgHamish Backhouse (MO 97-01) HongKong@OKSMail.orgCaroline Gentles (WL 95-00) MiddleEast@OKSMail.orgAndrew Gent (LN 68-73) Mexico@OKSMail.orgSarah Watson (MO 78-80) NewZealand@OKSMail.orgJason Mycroft (LN 83-88) Nigeria@OKSMail.orgBabatunde Epega (LX 85-90) Nigeria@OKSMail.orgPeter Kirby-Higgs (GL 61-64) Portugal@OKSMail.orgSimon Green (MO 73-78) Russia@OKSMail.orgAndrew Balanda (GL 74-78) SouthAmerica@OKSMail.orgRajasingam Vijeyasingam (LX 76-78) SouthEastAsia@OKSMail.orgJulian Camble (BR 80-84) Spain@OKSMail.orgChristopher Uhde (LN 97-02) Sweden@OKSMail.org.ukJeremy Davies (GL 70-74) Switzerland@OKSMail.orgDr Mark Belsey (SH 91-96) Switzerland@OKSMail.orgDavid Quine (WL 63-67) Thailand@OKSMail.org

OKS Association Contact Details.Kirsty MasonOKS Coordinator++44 1227 595669oks@kings-school.co.ukwww.oks.org.ukwww.kings-school.co.uk

Overseas RepsOKS Association