Arthur Grosset
GEORGE WATSON'S COLLEGE - LEAVERS 1963 50TH REUNION

"MEMORIES AND REFLECTIONS"

NAME: Arthur Grosset
ADDRESS: Church Cottage, Church Hill, Monks Eleigh, Suffolk, IP7 7JQ
EMAIL AND TELEPHONE: arthur[at]arthurgrosset.com 01449 740091

MEMORIES OF WATSON'S

Teachers
Sandy Mac during double Latin on Tuesdays and Fridays preparing his Scotsman crossword for the Wednesday and Saturday editions. "Eyes on the board while I run through it."
Mr Ball: "Fifty or eight" as a punishment. We could choose to write either 50 lines or 8 lines of poetry.
Donald Scott lining us all up at the age of about 10, tallest on the right, shortest on the left then counting off groups of 15 from the tallest downwards. I was one of the runts who was too small at that age to join one of his rugby teams. I have to say that I never thought it was a terribly good approach to improving rugby at Watson's.
Miss Dalgleish was a lovely lady teaching us in Primary. One of her attractive qualities was that she was only marginally taller than we were.
There was also Miss Parks, if I remember her name correctly, the Rosa Kleb of Primary gym.
And Mr Rattray, the Junior and Primary Headmaster - rarely seen except on state occasions or if you had been very, very naughty.

Fellow Pupils
Was there not a rock band called Unit 4+2 involving Charles Alexander on rhythm guitar, Howard Murray and several others who I can't remember

Most fun time
Enormous weekend-long sessions playing "Diplomacy"
Serried ranks of boys armed with snowballs attacking other cohorts of boys defending the tops of the air raid shelters. (Have they disappeared now - the shelters not the snowball fights - or has 'Elf 'n Safety done away with snowball fights as well?)

Most embarrassing time!
Not owning up to Tiger Jamieson that it was me who was making the owl hoots. He belted the whole class. I am deeply sorry and very ashamed.

Other
Marcus Grant et al producing an epic film entitled "Ben Who" and involving "Papa" Hendry and "Captain" Morgan approaching each other from either end of the corridor to the theme from "High Noon". Whatever happened to that film?

POST SCHOOL EDUCATION
Aberdeen University: MA Honours Geography and Dip. Ed.

SOME FAMILY DETAILS
Married to Libby Malcolm in 1970.
Daughter Elizabeth (born in Mexico City) now 39 and living in Suffolk with husband and 2 sons.
Son Neil (born in São Paulo) now 33 and living in Abu Dhabi with wife and daughter.

WHAT HAVE I DONE "WORKWISE"?
J & P Coats (1968-1999)
Various Sales Management positions in Portugal, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Glasgow Head Office (1970 - 1986)
Various General Management positions in Chile, Brazil and Colombia (1986-1996).
Sales & Marketing Director of J & P Coats based in London (1996-1999)
Currently Hon. Treasurer of the Monks Eleigh Community Shop and Trustee and Hon. Treasurer of the Monks Eleigh Millennium Green Trust.

HOBBIES, PASTIMES, SPORTS
Wildlife Photography (mainly birds) which led to co-authorship of the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful DVD "Birds of Brazil"
Maintenance of my website at www.arthurgrosset.com
Baking, specialising in sourdough bread, oatcakes and cream caramels for family and friends.
Family History.

REFLECTIONS ON MY LIFE (INCLUDING THE IMPACT THAT WATSON'S HAS HAD ON IT)
Beakie Gibson very gently and incredibly subtly taught me a lesson about plagiarism that I have never forgotten.
Tiger Jamieson taught me that honesty is the best policy whatever the consequences (see above)
Sandy Mac tried to teach me Latin and, although I was never a good student of Latin, it stood me in good stead as I learnt first Spanish and then Portuguese during my 27 years in South America. While at school I never thought that I would spend so much time living abroad but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Life has taught me:
that you can never overtake anyone by following in their footsteps;
that the consumer is not a fool; she is your wife;
that you should never panic (as in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)