Month: December 2025

At the last meeting of the year for the Local Group of the OSA Committee, the Xmas draw for the 300 Club took place.

The winning number – 19 is  allocated to Terence Partridge who will receive the £100  prize money

The 300 Club raises funds  for the OSA which are targeted to support a local student, new to the Sixth Form whose personal circumstances require some financial support to help them through the IB Years or for items which can benefit students – recent examples include equipment for the music department, hurdles, an electronic scoreboard for Hockey.  

.Membership of the 300 Club costs £10 a quarter – equivalent to 11p a day.

If you are willing to support this worthy cause please contact the OSA on [email protected] for further information.

We have  been informed, by his good friend  of over 70 years, Chris Coulson  that Harland has sadly passed away. He was at Scarborough College  from 1955 to 1964 He was born 16/11/1943 and died on 24/11/2025. At the College he was Head of School and Pegg House, played for the 1st XV and 1st XI and played the lead role in Dr Faustus.

The funeral is on Thursday December 18th, 11.30 Lympstone Parish Church EX8 5JT
A further gathering is to be arranged in Scarborough sometime in the Spring for friends and family in
the North East.

Harland is pictured seated third from the left of the photograph of  the 1st XV.

Chris writes:

It is with some regret that I find myself writing this short piece  to the OSA to report the death of Harland Walshaw (aka Wally 1943-2025),  Harland was a school school friend for some 70 years. He and I were born within a few days of each other, him in York and me in Hull, both towards the end of  WW2. Meeting in the mid 1950s in the same form at Scarborough College we remained friends for 70 years although we followed very different paths in our lives.

At the College we were both placed in the same form though Harland as a day boy went home at night, while I as I as a ‘boarder’ remained at the College. This situation eventually led to a supernatural experience as when we shared a study much later and  he arrived wet from his journey to school.  It turned out he wasn’t there though I still remember what we talked about together! My earliest recollection of him was in the old Geography Room next to the ‘Tip’ as a hard working conscientious lad. A couple of years later when our classroom was on the stage, separated from the hall by large fibre boards which were removed each morning for the daily service and some times an haranguing by H E Pegg, the then Head Master.

I also remember when Harland and I were in Year 1, Pegg presented him with the ‘Straight Bat’ award. His time at Lisvane counted towards this. Pegg played a joke by giving Harland a miniature bat and, judging by the colour of Harland’s cheeks, he was visibly upset by this rather unkind joke. Pegg then substituted it for the full sized Cricket Bat.

Except for Harland, the majority of us in form 3  were no good at French and the then French teacher (Froggy Arnold) in desperation hit the fibre separation panels with his fist shouting ‘Great Ball of Fire’ at some inane answer. The panels dropped into the next class room below. Mr ‘Cring’ Crabtree (also taught French) said Harland spoke French like a native of  Marseilles! Of which Harland was rightly proud. Peter Burton took three us from the 36th  Scarborough Scout Troop down to Newquay in Cornwall for the first Scout Camp, this in his old 4 cylinder car! Harland caught a lobster in a rock pool but Peter Burton and Jos Preen ate it!

Harland, played rugby (scrum half) for his house and school and was school cricket captain. Peter Burton (English master)’ besides instilling in him with acting talents did much to train him for his entrance exam to Cambridge, Emmanuel. He remained friends with Peter Burton all their lives through their love of photography and they published many books together, mostly guides to the buildings of Britain but one called ‘Six inches of Bathwater’ was a history of Scarborough College. Harland spent most of his working life in the arts becoming the Director of the Beaford Arts Centre in the 1980s

I remember Harland and I drinking a lot of Peter Burton’s whisky one night and breaking his chair by mistake. D K Crews (now deceased but ex head) happened by in the morning and helped us mend the chair.

Harland  was well known in Lympstone (Devon) for his production of plays and contribution to village life in general. And so it goes – there are so many stories and I for one will miss our conversations on the phone.

I’m sure the condolences of the OSA will be noted by Liz and Hester -his daughter.

Chris Coulson

December 2025

 

OS Alistair Williams writes about his new book:

I have recently self-published my second book, The Persolus Race: Voyages into the Unknown. It is an anthology of science-fiction short stories which follows on from a book I co-wrote and released back in 2021. Voyages into the Unknown is made up of six separate short stories, all of which share the common theme of ‘journeying into the Unknown’. Some of these stories were left over from that first book, unfinished stories of other people’s which I finished with their permission, and others were original ideas of my own. Each one follows different characters in a different setting, their tones falling into different sub-genres of science-fiction.

The original idea behind the Persolus Race was to imagine a future where the human race explorer the stars, invent a plethora of fantastic technology, only to find that they are the only intelligent life in existence. While this is not something I personally believe, I felt that it was a great launching point for many stories, and pitched the idea in a writer’s forum at the start of the first COVID-19 lockdown. Several writers in the forum came forward with ideas for short stories that could belong in that universe, and over the course of the next 18 months, we wrote up those stories and published them in late 2021 as The Persolus Race: Volume One.

I found the experience of writing and editing both books very interesting, exciting and at times frustrating. I have been lucky to take the books to multiple small to medium scale comic cons, including Sci-Fi Scarborough in 2024 (and will again in 2026). Through these events I sell paperback copies of the books, where I meet many other traders, including other authors. The books are also available to buy from online retailers such as Amazon, Waterstones and Blackwell’s.

At the end of next year, I will be bringing The Persolus Race project to its end, but I plan to continue writing. I have started working on my third book, which will be a standalone fantasy novel about something very different.

I attended Scarborough College from Year 6 to Year 11, leaving in 2013. In my main job I am now a secondary school Geography teacher and my time at College still holds a special place in my heart.