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took on the responsibility of ensuring that the College as a whole responded to health and safety rules. Through these latter years, he remained a dedicated and loyal servant of the College, with he and his ‘trusty’ sidekick Mikey Garrison much appreciated by all colleagues. He also found time to develop a very effective working relationship with the reprographics technician, which really helped all members of staff. Furthermore, his dedication to

Founder’s Day and the many other extra events that took place during evenings or weekends has been enormous. Finally, Harold decided to retire completely and put his feet up. He has been a real gentleman, looking after all of us at the College in a very kind and considerate way and supporting everyone to the best of his ability. We wish him all the best in his retirement and we hope he will have time for his historic walks.

Ralph Mainard

Anna Simpson

Beatrice Rutherford

Caroline Gill

Ed Swift

Simon Northcote-Green

R alph retires from the College at the end of the Summer term after 22 years of distinguished service. In 1993, Tony Verity, Master of the College, appointed him to the post of Head of the Middle School to succeed Chris Rowe. Previously Ralph had been Head of Religion and Philosophy at Manchester Grammar School, having crossed the Pennines from Leeds Grammar School, where he had served under Tony Verity (then Headmaster of Leeds Grammar School) as Head of Religious Studies from 1984 to 1988. To give further evidence of his academic pedigree, Ralph had also led the Religious Studies department at Silcoates, Wakefield from 1976 to 1984, gaining that promotion at the relatively tender age of 24. His arrival at the College was timely. Ralph’s work ethic, dedication and determination was immediately applied with characteristic seriousness and thoroughness to the 600 boys now under his wing and to the 54 tutors who demanded strong leadership from their man on ‘SSD’, somewhat quaintly standing for ‘Senior Staff Discussion’. Dulwich in those days was often compared to Manchester Grammar School (but in the south) and Ralph was in the perfect position to judge their relative merits and to introduce fresh initiatives. He was quick to establish himself as a man of great integrity and with strong moral values: his gospel was to preach that there was no place for rudeness and a lack of respect for authority. His honeymoon period was a tough one as a result and in partnership with Martin Sprague, his Deputy and lieutenant, he set about imposing a more disciplined regime. Pastoral care (a term embedded in the Dulwich culture now but not then) began to emerge. Chris Trussell and, later, Iain Scarisbrick were appointed as second lieutenants as Ralph recognised the need for a greater layer of responsibility to deal with the welfare of his Middle School boys. He was largely responsible for this tidal shift in the management of the inner being of boys and how they shaped up to adulthood during their ‘difficult years’ within the College. As Dulwich College interests started to develop overseas and nationally, Graham Able felt the need to appoint a Deputy Master with a portfolio to look after ‘matters external’. Ralph was chosen for this role because of

his utter reliability, loyalty and diplomacy. He has been largely responsible for overseeing Dulwich establishing links with Academy projects on the Isle of Sheppey and with Lambeth (City Heights), and in the expansion of DC partnership schools abroad under the auspices of DCEO and DCMI. He acted as Chairman of Governors for both the Sheppey and Lambeth schools when invited to do so and has been keenly involved in annual inspections of ‘DC’ schools in the Far East, helping set them up and ensuring that best practice is being maintained – including selecting and appointing Headmasters. In fact, it was the arrival of the current Master, Dr Joseph Spence, in 2010, which brought about a new lease of life for Ralph. He was granted far more responsibility to look after the College’s outside ‘interests’ whilst the Master made it clear that his own priority would be SE21. The success of Dulwich International, from the London point of view, is largely a result of Ralph’s commitment and energy. Equally, he was highly adept at overcoming opposition or pessimism locally and from Westminster and Whitehall on Sheppey and for maintaining the outreach programme with the islanders. At home, recent briefs have included overseeing Marketing and Development, anti-bribery issues, bursaries and feeding back his experience and wisdom as Chair of Examiners for AQA for Religious Studies. In many ways, Ralph remains a private man who spurns socialising unless a sweet delicacy is on offer. A committed Christian and a very active member of St George’s Church, Beckenham, his faith remains an undeniable source of strength to him. It is a strength that enabled him to endure some troubling seas at Dulwich in the 1990s and helped him to adapt with great alacrity and perseverance to the many roles that he has accepted without complaint. I expect he will always feel, like so many teachers who head off into retirement, that there is a certain element of incompleteness within his departure. Ralph was once a member of an HMC working party looking into Community Service. I wonder whether that project was closer to his heart than any of the other achievements and responsibilities that came his way during his distinguished career. I hope that this pithy summary of that confirms that there were many.

Harold Maxfield

Haydn Hutchings

Heather Friell

Ian Senior

Iris Cheung

Ken Maycock

Maggie Jarman

Maria Jenkins

Mark Weatheritt

Kevin Shaw

Miriam Storrs-Fox

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