120

2 Chris#

Newsletter of Old Boys & Friends of 70

London BB Company

REFLECTIONS

Edition

April 2013

The

The The

The

xt xt

Reunion

ReunionReunion

Reunion

etc

…

ll we have reached number 10 after five not uneventful years...

Thanks again to Alan and to all past contributors.

Details on page 8, but the date for the next Reunion is…

Saturday October 11

2014

All quiet on the website front over recent months, but have just added five Bugle Band

Marches, with first and second bugles, to the Audio / Marches section. Despite their

simulated sound, these will hopefully stir the memory... Have a listen and please let me

know of any marches I have missed - the music for 'Jellico' is promised for November.

If you

would like a CD of these please get in touch.

Please keep Alan, Avis and family in your prayers and thoughts and also Bill Pizey who

continues to undergo treatments and tests. Bill asks that his regards be passed to all. We

also heard recently from Jack Mayhew who is well.

Please keep us in touch with any news.

Dave

In this Edition

…

Owen Clark was not a

particularly

tall man

but as a

Christian, sportsman and teacher he

was a giant! We have devoted much of this edition to covering the story of Owen’s amazing

life, as recounted by his wife, children, brother and best man.

In the last edition we challenged the wit of OB’s with our caption competition… you will

see from the results that you did not disappoint.

Cricket has long been a favourite sport for many OB’s. We include further revelations about

the ‘Seveno’ side, still ‘playing the game’.

Most of us would agree that memory loss is sadly a condition of our advancing years.

However memory aids, as taught long ago in the company First Aid classes, are put to the

test. You may be surprised with the results!

Alan

REFLECTIONS

Page 2

THE OLD BOYS FOOTBALL TEAM C1957

Owen is centre stage

Owen Clark

Owen Clark Owen Clark

Owen Clark

–

––

–

The Early Years 1933 to 1961

The Early Years 1933 to 1961 The Early Years 1933 to 1961

The Early Years 1933 to 1961

Owen was born in 1933 and was thus at the beginning

of the w

ar evacuated with several other children on the

Mitcham Bordergate estate to Caversham, just across

the river from Reading, which at the time was

considered a safe area.

Here was a complete change from the restrictions of

family life so that at weekends h

e enjoyed going out

with a scruffy lot of very young children over the

surrounding farmland, roaming along the river bank or

round the town, playing knock down ginger and in

season scrumping from neighbours’ back gardens. It

was perhaps more “Cider with Ro

sie” than “Lord of the

Flies”. However the residents must have thought it was

one of Hitler’s dirty tricks.

But it was too good to last and in 1943 he returned to

the constraints of family life in Mitcham except for a

brief respite during the doodlebug pe

riod in 1944 when

the family went to Canvey Island and another gang was

formed. In due course he went to Mitcham County

School and although allegedly regarded as the class

clown eventually left with good exam results.

At this time the church at Tooting was served by very

enthusiastic pastors who recognised the value of the

youth activities in bringing youngsters into the church.

They realised

that without young people the outlook for

church growth would be bleak. In particular Chris

Parnell was very keen o

n getting young people involved

and spent much time with them and in fact he started

the youth club, staffed by ex-servicemen. After he left

to go to help the Cape Coloured people in South Africa,

the church was fortunate in getting Eddie Gabb who

followed a similar line with the youngsters. This

support paid dividends as old boys became officers and

then deacons. The church and company in effect

mutually reinforced each other. The church also had

regular missionary weekends and sponsored two

missionary families who had left to go to India and

South America. So there was a regular call for young

people to follow these examples of overseas service for

the sake of the Gospel.

Meanwhile both of Owen’s parents, Roly and Ivy, were

church members and served one in the BB and the

other as Life Boy leader. He attended all the usual

activities including bible class and Sunday school and

later the Young People’s Fellowship and church on

Sundays and other BB activities during the week. He

was a good gymnast and sportsman as well as a

drummer playing in a massed band at the Albert Hall

and before King George VI in 1951. He had a good sense

of humour and was very popular both with the boys and

girls. He was promoted to staff sergeant in the company

before leaving for National Service.

On leaving school Owen first worked in the laboratory at

Lactogal at Mitcham Junction and then, when he took an

external BSc. he worked near the college at Kingston

getting a deferment from National Service until he got his

degree, which, what with working all day and studying at

night took some doing. He joined the Royal Signals and

was sent to Cyprus which was a difficult posting as troops

were generally confined to barracks because of terrorist

activity (EOKA) and he worked long shifts handling coded

messages to and from London

When he returned from National Service Owen had a

serious frame of mind and after a spell of teaching his

upbringing and the strong church encouragement clearly

influenced his decision to become a missionary teacher.

After the Belgians had left the Congo in chaos in 1960

there was a civil war! Owen went there in 1961 during a

period of comparative calm under the auspices of the

Baptist Missionary Society.

Peter Clark