Old Eastbournian
adventures and farm life to community service and musical pursuits. Ken’s indomitable spirit and love for family serve as a lasting tribute to a life well-lived. Paul Jordan adds: Ken’s father, Harold Charles Barton (School 1900–03) also came to the College, as did his uncles, Frank Gordon Barton (School 1902–05) and Reginald Ernest Barton (School 1904–07). Ken’s nephew, Christopher Walker , was in School House from 1968 to 1973. Ken joined the College when it was at Radley, Oxfordshire (the school had been evacuated there in 1940) and became a school prefect and head of house. He won the Junior Music Prize in 1945 and was a member of the College choir. In the CCF, he took both the Naval Special Entry and the Leading Seaman’s Exams – perhaps an indicator of his future career in the Royal Navy. From 1945 to 1947 Ken was in the 1st XV, he also played tennis at the College and was a member of the 1st XI cricket team, becoming their vice-captain in 1947.
Bells was an unsuccessful pub when put up for sale by Beards in the early 1970s, but Ken decided to take it on. Funded by the sale of all of his 40-plus veteran motorcycles bar one – he kept only the Triumph – Ken renovated The Bells in his trademark style using unskilled labour to give an original vintage look. It became the motorcyclists’ pub, visited by all from Hell’s Angels to the Vintage boys. Ken developed the menu and had bands of the day play there with customers like Keith Emerson (of ELP) and Bob Hoskins of movie fame. At one time he also owned The Lamb at Ripe. When in 1981 a customer enjoying a pint with Ken announced he was going to sail across the Atlantic, Ken decided to go along too. He found Paul to run The Bells in his absence, and duly had an eventful journey across remaining on Nevis, a small island near Saint Kitts, for six months. On his return he immersed himself in the vintage motorcycle scene, running a grass track Ariel, a bike he prepared, which was very suc- cessful. He competed in most of the vintage motorcycle runs of the day both here and abroad, including the End to End on a pre-war Ariel Red Hunter and a trip to Cyprus and back on an AJS. He completed around 40 Pioneer Runs and competed in the International Six Days Trial. Amongst several flat-tank Nortons he owned was the famous Pat Driscoll LPD1 outfit which had broken fourteen World Speed Records in May 1925. He had an interest in veteran and vintage cars owning several, including a 1903 Peugeot and an early Renault, also property, technology, cookery, nature and travelling – notably taking his mother when in her seventies by train from Lewes to Hong Kong both equipped with only a rucksack, his mother’s on wheels. He was extremely knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects including antiques, at one time owning an antique shop in Rotherfield and having a stall at Camden Lock. He was married twice, with his first wife Doreen, he had a son Brett, a daughter-in-law Liz and two grandsons. Our condolences and thoughts go to them. I shall miss him as his like is unlikely ever to be seen again. Ken’s brother Michael Boulter (Wargrave 1946–49) predeceased him in 2008. Thomas Konrad Breitzmann (Gonville 1973–75) died on 22 October 2024, aged 66. His son, Julius (Gonville 2008–10), has kindly written to us about his father: ‘Thomas was someone who always pushed himself to achieve as much as possible. He cherished his time at Eastbourne and considered it a privilege to receive such a high-quality education – a privilege he was grateful to share with his children, Charlotte (Nugent 2006–08) and Julius.’ While at the College he won the Lower Sixth Economics prize in 1974 and, a year later, won the Duke of Devonshire Senior Classics and the Mackenzie German Prizes. Julius continues: ‘Thomas continued his education at Oxford, where he read PPE. Once he began his career, he applied the same dedication to his pro- fessional life as he did to his studies, eventually becoming a partner at Boyden Executive Search, where he worked for nearly 20 years. ‘Outside of work, Thomas deeply enjoyed spending time with his four children – Charlotte, Julius, Konrad and Henriette. He had a passion for skiing, sailing, and being outdoors, relishing nature in all its forms. In his later years, he discovered a love of travel and developed a talent and joy for cooking, complementing his appreciation for a good glass of wine. In 2023, he organized an OE dinner in Berlin. ‘After bravely battling cancer for some time, Thomas passed away peacefully, surrounded by his wife, Katlen, and his children.’ We are also grateful to Thomas’s friend Guy Thompson (School 1971–75) for the following tribute: ‘I only got to know Tom when he and I were the only two can- didates to take a Political Thought paper for A-level politics in 1975, but I went on to see him often when we overlapped in Oxford for two years in 1976 to 1978. Amongst our adventures in Oxford, Tom wanted to try his hand at sailing. We couldn’t get a boat on a local reservoir, but had more success on Port Meadow on the Thames. Of course, a river has a strong current and we had to do some frantic tacking to stop us crashing into a footbridge while amused walkers looked on. He was rare as a student in owning a car, and I remember
John Francis Russell Bedford (Ascham 1946–47; Reeves 1947–50) died in December 2023, aged 89. He is survived by his wife, Hazel.
Kenneth Gordon Sydney Boulter (Ascham 1945–47; Wargrave 1947–49) died on 13 October 2019, aged 86. A keen motorcyclist, his obituary appeared in the Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club News , written by Frank Mace: Ken can only be described as a larger-than-life figure in all respects of the term. I first met him in the early 1990s as a fellow member of the SMCC whose meetings and Conyboro Run are held at the Six Bells Chiddingly, the pub he owned. Two brothers married two
sisters, the girls’ father being Ralph Ricardo, cousin of Harry Ricardo, co-founders of the legendary Ricardo Engineering firm at Shoreham. Ken’s father Alec along with his new wife Joyce took a job as manager of a large demerara sugar plantation in British Guyana and Ken was born in Georgetown, the capital. He was the only white child at the local school and had a nanny who practised voodoo. On his return to England after the war he went to Eastbourne College, wasn’t happy and so joined the army aged fourteen. After basic training he became a marine engineer and was billeted in Oth- ello’s Tower in Famagusta, Cyprus. He was at times stationed in Egypt during the Suez Crisis and Malaya as part of the Army Air Corps, where he was fighting the insurgents along with the SAS who he had trained with, flying an Auster aeroplane throwing out leaflets. Ken was mentioned in dispatches twice. It was whilst in the Army that he rekindled his interest in motorcy- cles after first getting the bug as a youngster in Horam. Staff Sergeant Boulter often rode competitively for the Army Team, primarily in Cyprus on Matchless and BSA machines that he constantly improved. His passion for early motorcycles then grew and grew and whilst sta- tioned in Wiltshire, he would put adverts in the local rags, and with his friend Charlie drive round the countryside pulling veteran bikes out of old sheds and barns. He then rebuilt and restored them at the Army’s expense, in a hangar he had commandeered under the watchful eye of his commanding officer, a certain Lt Col ‘Tiny’ Ayres. He spent two years in the Antarctic with the Fuchs exploration mission, flying the two aircraft and looking after the dog teams. During the Army he developed his entrepreneurial skills and whilst on leave was responsible for the design and decor of the Troubadour Coffee House, the in place to be seen in London where the famous pop groups of the day would play and hang out. Known for its cattle wash-stand in the toilets and intricately carved front door which came out of a skip, it is easily recognisable as the forerunner of The Bells. Ken then, with two partners, built many houses in East Hoathly and surrounding district, all in the imitable Ken style using reclaimed materials - he was upcycling before the word had been invented. The
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