Members must have been thinking if they would ever meet up again. Even after so many of these annual gatherings missed it will is still an occasion to look forward to.
This year's event will be very special, catching up on what they had been doing through the Covid years. The gathering will also have many of the usual nostalgic ingredients, ensuring it will be a wonderful evening.
It will give the members of the association another opportunity to catch up with old school mates, share memories and no doubt tell a few well-worn tall stories. This is a wonderful annual tradition, and long may it continue.
The guest speaker for this years' annual dinner is Iain Robertshaw, who was to have been at the last dinner in 2020. He is very pleased that he has been asked to be the guest speaker once again.
Iain was born in 1968 in Halifax. The family moved to the Carr Green area of Rastrick, where he attended the local junior and infant school.
In 1980, he left the comfort of his junior school to walk through the gates at Rastrick Grammar School, to join the new intake of students. Those early days at Rastrick would have been very daunting, with new teachers and older students. With several of his old classmates from Carr Green also attending, he had moral support.
In 1988, Iain left the grammar school and for a short time he worked at Sugden’s Flour Mill in Brighouse, as a Flour Grader. This work was to cover the time whilst his application to join the Royal Navy as an apprentice was being processed. His first posting was on HMS Collingwood in Fareham, where he trained as a Weapon Engineer. He went on to serve on HMS Bristol, Brilliant and Battleaxe before he was commissioned as a Weapon Engineer Officer.
Following his commission, he served in submarines as a Weapon Engineer Officer, on HMS Talent, Triumph, Trafalgar and Swiftsure. It was during this service that he spent some time in Procurement and Support, which involved the fitting of the Tomahawk Missile system to the submarines.
He retired from the Royal Navy as a Lieutenant Commander, his last posting saw him in Torpedo Tactical Development and Intelligence. He left the service in 2006 having served for 19-years.
Iain has since worked in an industry that is closely aligned to the military, designing and developing power electronic equipment for the UK submarine programme.
Iain and his wife Pamela have been married for 20-years and have twin children Alexander and Philippa, both are now aged 11. Living in the rural area in north Lichfield in the Midlands gives him the time to enjoy Iain’s two means of relaxing, game shooting and hot-air ballooning. Iain has his own balloon which he always insists his family join him.
This year's annual event is being held at the Crow Nest Park Golf Club, Hove Edge, 7pm for 7.30pm, on Friday, April 21, 2023. Former students, of the Rastrick Grammar School who wish to attend, are asked to contact John Howarth on email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 0034 635 980655
John says: “It would be good to see any of the 1980 contemporaries of guest speaker by joining the members on the night and as every year the event is open to former students of Rastrick Grammar School from all eras”.
For those who are not familiar with it this story also appears in my Spring issue of the Brighouse and District Heritage Newseum quarterly magazine. Here is the link to the magazine: https://online.anyflip.com/wkmgo/xnfn/mobile/index.html
If any one would like some further information about this magazine please contact Chris Helme This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 07854-7557566
The magazine is widely available around Brighouse and is priced at £3.95 (postal copies are plus £1.70 p/p - overseas postage will probably be more please ask). Subscription copies are £22.60 which includes p/p and is covers four copies per year.
Chris Helme
