This Section
The November update of the website has raised interest amongst former pupils of the school and several have written to members of the Committee. Their news and comments are reported here.
If you would like to contact any of our contributors, please email your request to a member of the committee. We will then pass this on to the contributor.
Likewise, if you wish to make contact with a former pupil, please let us know and we will see if we can provide assistance.
John Holdstock (Editor)
Bob would like to hear from any acquaintances from his time at EGS. If you would like to make contact, please let us know.
John H (Editor)
ROBERT (BOB) HOLMES
Writes from their small ranch in the Nicola Valley,
among the Cascade mountains, 280 kms inland from Vancouver, Canada
Robert Holmes
To: John Oxley, Colin Miell, Victor Boulter and John Holdstock
Dear John et alia,
I was fiddling away some idle winter hours yesterday, and what better place to do that than on the internet. On a whim I decided to look up my old school, Ealing County Grammar School for Boys, as it was known in the 1940’s. I came across The Old Ealonians website.
I was intrigued to see photos of one of the old school plays. The photos brought
back strong memories of those times and I can now recall only a few of the fellow
members of the cast, particularly of Arnon Bentovim, my best friend and who, like
myself, became a doctor. He ultimately became a child psychiatrist at the Middlesex
Hospital, whereas I worked in Uganda, East Africa, and later emigrated to British
Columbia, where my wife and I have lived for fifty-
I noted that John Oxley grew up in Southall, as I did -
I was at Ealing Grammar from 1947 to 1954, when I went up to St. Mary’s Hospital
Medical School, -
Looking back (Respice) I am amazed that I learned the script of Julius Cesar while I was in my final year at EGS, while studying four A levels, which also entailed travelling to Acton Technical College twice a week for evening classes in Botany and Zoology.
I attained four A levels, including a Scholarship in Chemistry (thank you, Mr. Thornhill) to add to my eight 0 levels. That level of concentrated learning held me in good stead at St. Mary’s Hospital, where most of my colleagues had been to public school.
I last caught a glimpse of the old school in 2004 when I was staying at a friend’s
flat in London. It was a sad sight -
I am almost 85 years old now and my wife and I celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary last year. We have five children and fourteen grandchildren. I have spent most of my medical life working with ‘native’ indigenous peoples, from whom I have learned so much and gained so much personal and professional satisfaction; not for me the rat race of Harley Street.
We live next to an Indian Reserve and are surrounded by hills and mountains. We are blessed. The Indians are North American Indians, now politely called ’First Nations’. The tribe that I have lived among and worked among most of my life are the Nlaka’pamux. Please don’t try to pronounce it, but you can google it with benefit.
I have spent most of my life and medical career among so-
I attended North Road Primary School in Southall from 1941 to 1947, and can well
remember walking home in September 1944 with buzz-
You say you grew up in Hanwell (John H, Editor). My fondest memories of Hanwell are of the hill in Hanwell Park, which was wonderful for tobogganing, especially during the long cold winter of 1947. Twelve years later I was running a weekly Outpatient Clinic at Hanwell Hospital, as part of my duties at Harefield Hospital.
I have attached two photos.
In the Rugby First XV, I am standing directly behind Sainsbury Hicks. The fellow with masses of untidy hair to my right is Arnon Bentovim, who was born in Tel Aviv, and whose father was a GP in Ealing.
The photo below was taken in our garden in 2017 on my 82nd birthday, showing my wife on my left and a mixture of children and some of my grandchildren. The background is rather smoky due to forest fires that were burning in the mountains.
It is a long way from Southall and Ealing, but they and their people are not forgotten.
My very best wishes to you all,
Robert Holmes MB. FRCS (Canada)
Bob Holmes and his wife Helen
News from Robert (Bob) Holmes
BOB’S NEWS, FOLLOWING THE EXCEPTIONAL HOT SPELL
IN THE NORTH WEST OF CANADA AND THE USA
Being aware of the situation in Western Canada, I wrote to Bob to enquire how it was affecting him. The following exchange brings us up to date about the climate and the health challenges that Bob is facing.
I know that he would be delighted to hear from any of you who would like to drop him an email. If you would like to do so, drop me a line and I will give you his email address.
John Holdstock (Ed)
EARLIER NEWS, FROM BOB HOLMES
From: John Holdstock
Sent: 08 July 2021 16:24
Hello Bob
We have been reading about the excessive temperatures that you have been enduring in BC and I wondered how you and your family have coped. I gather that you have also had forest fires, which must have been very worrying.
Here in the UK, we have the traditional weather that you remember, unpredictable but normally wet, when you want the sun.
I imagine Canadians in BC would welcome such conditions.
I have had some heart issues and these have been under investigation since January. In essence they are arrhythmia, enlarged left atrium and slow heart rate (33 at rest). I now have a pacemaker and take blood thinners, so fingers crossed.
I trust that advancing years are being kind to you and your wife. We need a little luck at this stage of our lives.
I look forward to hearing from you
Best wishes
John Holdstock
Old Ealonians Association
-
From: Robert Holmes
Sent: 08 July 2021 18:50
Dear John and friends,
It was a delightful surprise to hear from you.
Yes, the heat was brutal. Opening the back door was like opening a hot oven door.
Our house was built by in 1913 as a ranch house by an Englishman from County Durham and has no air conditioning but has a wrap around veranda (porch over here) that keeps the walls shaded from the sun, and a large furnished basement which is cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
There were nearly 800 deaths associated with the heat, almost exclusively those living in apartments without air conditioning in Vancouver.
Here in the Nicola Valley we are used to hot dry summers as we are at the Northern tip of the Sonoran Desert coming up from Mexico, typified by Ponderosa pines and sage brush, but there has been a noticeable change in the weather patterns here in the last ten years, the most profound of which is that it is DRIER. That is frightening; we are getting more forest fires, the rivers are drying up and the glaciers are melting.
We pump our house water from a well and for the first time in forty six years, I am worrying about it drying up in August or September, our traditional dry months.
When scientists started talking about man made climate change I was sceptical, but am no longer so, having seen the huge traffic jams in China, where I can remember streets in Beijing full of bicycles.
I have familial hyperlipidaemia and had a small posterior myocardial infarct in 2006. I was flown by air ambulance to Vancouver and had two stents inserted. The next day I was placed on five different medications which I was supposed to take for the rest of my life. Of those, I now only take Aspirin 8mg daily.
I cannot tolerate statins, which are still widely promoted and prescribed, as they cause me severe muscle pains. Fortunately, I have a high HDL (high density lipoprotein) and now have a normal ECG.
I am a great believer in Coenzyme Q10 400mg daily, which is an essential component of all human cells, particularly in the heart and brain. You won’t find many doctors recommending it, as it is available over the counter, and was never patented. It’s worth looking into.
I have attached photographic evidence of the heat (47Celsius or 116Fahrenheit) on our back porch in the shade.
And here are Helen and myself enjoying a glass of local wine in the evening, after the ‘dome’ had left and it had cooled to a blissful 28C degrees.
Very best wishes to you all,
Bob Holmes
-
From: John Holdstock
Sent: 09 July 2021 13:56
Dear Bob
It is lovely to hear from you and to learn that you are coping with the climatic challenges you are facing in BC.
I can understand your apprehension regarding the water supply and the risk of forest
fires. From what I read over here, you need a robust escape plan for the fires -
It sounds like you have the cardio issues under control. I was pleased to have lots of tests and my condition is now well understood. I gather that the need for a pacemaker was marginal but I was pleased to have it, so I am now on the ‘right side of the margin’.
Would you be happy for me to post your news on the website? I would say that we have heard from you and you are both coping with the challenges in BC? I would not make any reference to health issues, just cover the general matters.
Please give my regards to your wife – you both look very relaxed in the photo, which I would like to post.
Best wishes
John Holdstock
-
From: Robert Holmes
Sent: 09 July 2021 15:33
Dear John,
Please feel free to post any or all of my emails, even the medical bits, if you wish.
My general condition has diminished in the past year, mostly due to spinal stenosis, which makes walking any distance a problem.
I am still able to work in our large garden thanks to various small machines and a large rider mower.
Three people have contacted me through the Ealonian website, including one lady who was a child when I worked in Uganda sixty years ago.
Keep up the good work, John.
I still reflect on the damage done to a fine school by meddling politicians and bureaucrats. Dreadful.
Best wishes,
Bob Holmes
