Memories of Ken Although today is a sad occasion, Margaret and the family would like it also to be a celebration of Ken’s life and achievements, and so I want to look back at some of the good and amusing times that I’ve enjoyed in his company. Ken and I met in our first year at St Olave’s Grammar School in 1955 – an almost unbelievable 57 years ago!! We were friends through all of our school life and, in particular, we played many sports either in the same school teams or against each other in the inter-house competitions. Our friendship remained a strong one right up to the present day. We are all defined by our character and interests, and the things that defined Ken for me were his taste in music, his love of sport, his delight in horticulture, and his devotion to his family. When you mention Ken and music only one name springs to mind – Leonard Cohen. Cohen is a Canadian singer from the 1960s, whose songs were almost always emotional and sad, and often soporific. I recall that after one cricket match in the seventies about a dozen of us went back for a few drinks at Ken’s place. Inevitably, he put on a Leonard Cohen album, and one by one the assembled company fell asleep – eventually leaving just Ken himself enjoying the music! Nevertheless, Ken always remained a great fan of Leonard, and named one of his daughters Marianne – the title of one of Cohen’s greatest songs. However, I don’t think Leonard Cohen ever wrote songs with the titles Jennie or Lawrence, so the choice of those names remains unexplained! Ken played a wide range of sports – including cricket, rugby, and fives, but he excelled at athletics. He was an outstanding sprint hurdler, and was not only school champion but also set the school record which I think may still stand today, some 50 years later! He was also South London Schools champion for several years, and I feel sure that, if he had continued with athletics after leaving school, he would have reached a very high level. As a cricketer he was a stylish batsman with a textbook forward defensive stroke of which Geoffrey Boycott would have been proud! Bat and pad firmly together and his nose over the ball - I think he could have played that shot all day! However, he also had a penchant for the sweep shot which often proved his undoing. Ken would frequently go down on one knee to sweep the ball, only to be struck on the pad, and hear a loud shout from the bowler for LBW. All too often that resulted in the Umpire’s finger going up to give him out – I often thought that perhaps he should have played that elegant forward defensive shot instead! Ken was also a swift and elegant fielder, often in the covers or on the boundary, where his speed, athleticism, and a strong flat throw often proved the undoing of a batsman expecting to take a comfortable run. As some of you will know, the OOCC tours Devon each year and, one year Ken, myself, and Paul Chapman reached the last game without ever having hit a ball (partly due to the weather which had caused several games to be cancelled)! On that Friday Paul managed to hit a few balls before getting out, I eventually got a few runs, but Ken never got to the wicket at all that day, and so managed to go through the whole week without hitting a ball!! Probably a unique record for the OOs tour. In his later years Ken spent much of his time supporting Lawrence in his cricket career, taking him to most matches and helping the Biddestone club with work on their pitch and other facilities. At the club, Ken established a place with 2 friends on the ‘grumpy old men’s bench’, no doubt reminiscing about how things were better in our day, but sadly Ken and one of the others are no longer with us, and their will only be one GOM in the coming season! Ken was a keen and valued member of the OOs Fives club in the 1960s and 70s. Between 1965 and 1971 he played 123 matches for the club, winning 92 of them. He won the Joe Ward Tankard in the club Pairs competition in 4 successive years from 1973-1976. He is remembered as a reliable and enthusiastic member of the club team, known for playing the game hard, but fairly, and with a smile on his face! Ken always had a great interest in plants – indeed he was the only person in his year to do Botany at A level, even though that meant he had to study on his own! Over the years sport gradually took a back seat for Ken as he devoted more of his time to gardening – although he was more of a horticulturalist and plantsman than a mere gardener. He soon got himself an allotment in the 1970s, where he grew vegetables for the family, and that love of horticulture continued for the rest of Ken’s life. No visit to Colerne was complete without a tour of the extensive vegetable garden and a discussion about how the Soay sheep were doing! And you would invariably leave with a heavy bag of home-grown produce which would see you through the coming week! Ken was always looking to increase his productive acreage, and a few years ago he even managed to convince the local Council, after many months of debate and discussion, to give planning permission for him to put up a large poly-tunnel for his vegetables. I’m sure the Council thought this was intended to develop as a commercial nursery – but it really was only for Ken’s own personal use. As a corollary to his vegetable gardening, Ken developed a love of cooking – mainly using his home-grown produce - and he would frequently spend a large part of our visits beavering away over the Aga to produce many a fine vegetarian meal for Linda and I – usually with the accompaniment of a good bottle of wine or two. Needless to say, we normally stayed the night! For all his other qualities, Ken was first and foremost a real family man. He was a loving husband to Margaret and a devoted father and grandfather to the kids. When his first marriage ended he made sure that he was not an absent father, and always had Jenny to stay with him at weekends, despite having the pressures of a demanding job at Guy’s Hospital during the week. And over the years, he has also been strong in his support of Marianne and Lawrence in their sporting and musical hobbies – providing a taxi service to all points of the compass, and getting great pleasure from their achievements! Ken will be sadly missed by his many friends, and I’ve received a lot of warm comments from other OOs which pay tribute to his sporting ability and his personal qualities. I share the regrets expressed by those friends at his loss, but nevertheless I’m honoured to be here today to say goodbye to Ken, a good friend, a fine sportsman and plantsman, a loving husband, and a devoted father. I’m sure we’ll all be saddened by the loss, but I know that we’ll hang on to the fond memories which we have.