At the end of July the School said. au revoir to Mr. C. J. A. Lash, who had been a member of the Classical Staff and House Tutor at Southfield House for three years. He will he remembered for his many-sided enthusiasm and his wide interests in all the better things that go to make up a school. Many School Societies, and, in particular, the Hardye Society, received his support in a very generous measure. He has left the teaching profession, and is at present in Paris, studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood. We wish him well.

Mr. G. West also left us after two years. He has now taken up an appointment at a Bristol School. These two departures have resulted in a contraction in the scope of the Classics Department, and the disappearance of Russian from the curriculum.

In September we welcomed two new members of Staff. Mr. J. R. Dibb, B.Sc., a Yorkshireman who graduated in Chemistry and Physiology at Chelsea College, University of London, has joined the Biology Department. Mr. M. Gent. B.A., comes from even further north, a native of Darlington and an Honours graduate in German at Durham University. In addition to his degree qualification, he brings with him the experience of a year spent as Assistant at the Ernst-Moritz Arndt Gymnasium, Bonn, West Germany. Mr. Dibb and Mr. Gent are House Tutors at Southfield House and South Walks House respectively, and both are taking commissions in the C.C.F.

The end of the Christmas Term brought the rather sudden news that Mr. Tambini was moving to Damers Road Pnmary School, after a period of over five years at Hardye's. The high standards achieved in all School games, and the immaculate efficiency of Sports Days are an eloquent testimony to his high qualities as a teacher and administrator. We are certain that our loss is Damers Road's gain. He is succeded by Mr. N. J. Lord, who has already made a name for himself in South Dorset for his all-round interest in sport. He is a prominent member ot Dorchester R.F.C., the Honorary Secretary for South Dorset Schools Athletics, and an A.A.A. coach. He studied at St. John's College, York and Leeds University, and comes to us from Broadwey Secondary Modern School.

There has also been the usual change of French Assistants; the departure of M. François Féneteau, and the arrival of M. Jean Hugues Buchberger, from Belfort, the latest in the line of likeable young Frenchmen who are maintaining the entente cordiale between France and Dorset.

A School Magazine tends to record the rather mundane day-to-day events which go to make a humdrum period of time, be it a term, or be it a year. But 1965 did produce two successes which are a little off the beaten track and away from the normal rat-race.

In July M. E. Beale gained distinction for himself, and brought reflected glory to the School by his being selected to play for the English Schools Cricket Association in their match at Lords against the Public Schools. By a coincidence, some twelve years ago. another School Cricket Captain, Colin Roper, likewise a wicket-keeper batsman, earned the same distinction. Another member of the School, David Nickell, played in the same team.

C. M. Chambers became the third member of the C.C.F./R.A.F. Section in ten years to gain one of the 20 places in the A.T.C. /C.C.F. party selected for an exchange visit to Canada, for the whole of August, under the Reciprocal Flights scheme. Later in this issue Chambers' account of his experiences plunges us in medias res. Cadets for these exchanges are chosen by means of rigorous selection boards, and, consequently, these successes reflect considerable credit on the School and on the R.A. F. Section—and, of course, on the lucky Cadets concerned. It is to be hoped that Chambers' career at Cranwell will emulate those of his predecessors who went to Canada under the same scheme—M. B. Bullocke (1956) and Patrick Kemp (1957), who passed out of Cranwell together in 1960, The former gained the coveted Flying Trophy and prizes as the second best Flight Cadet on the Passing-out Parade, while Kemp, first in order of merit, won the Sword of Honour, together with a number of other awards, and commanded the Passing-out Parade in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen.

"Those whom the gods love die young". Perhaps it was fitting that Sir Thomas Salt should have been taken from us at the comparatively young age of fifty-nine when "his eye was not dimmed nor his natural force abated", as of no-one could it be more truly said. He was always a young man: young in outlook, young in his appreciation of the doings of young people, young in his enjoyment of life, young in his many enthusiasms. But with his youthful zest went a determination to see the completion of anything he undertook, and any project or cause which he took to heart could be assured of his abiding and selfless encouragement and support.

Sir Thomas was educated at Eton and Sandhurst. He had an Army career of unusual distinction, being A.D.C. to the Governor of Malta for four years and being awarded the D.S.O. He retired in 1948 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

For most of his life his home was in Dorset, first at Hooke Court, Nr. Beaminster and after his retirement he settled at Shillingstone. In 1943 he married Meriel, only daughter of Captain and the Hon. Mrs. Williams of Herringstone (whose ancestors were living in that house when Dorchester Grammar School was founded). In 1949 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the County and he was High Sheriff in 1954. During his year of office on an occasion when he was performing the pleasurable duty of entertaining the Judge of Assize to dinner, discussion turned on whether it was possible to shoot a candle through a wooden door; it was decided to put it to the test. Sir Thomas produced an ancient firearm and a candle, loaded the one with the other and aimed at the dining-room door and pulled the trigger—the resulting hole is preserved behind a pane of glass. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1952.

These facts are in themselves evidence of a full life: in the case of Sir Thomas they are but a framework within which all his other interests had their place. He owned two "old crocks" (though anyone who referred to them as such would have pointed out to them that one was "veteran" and one "vintage") in both of which he covered many miles to, in, and from, rallies, and in the younger of which—a mere fifty years old—he and his family covered two thousand miles on the continent a year or two ago. He was a Narrow Gauge Railway enthusiast (not, repeat not "model"—see note re Old Crocks!) and many Hardyeans will have fond recollections of his own railway which circumnavigated his farm at Shillingstone and which, he would assure one, cut the cost of transport of pig-food to infinitessimal proportions.

But his abiding interest was people, and in particular those who have their lives before them. He was a Governor of Sherborne School; he was an ardent Scout, and County Commissioner for ten years, and many hundreds of Scouts and Guides enjoyed the opportunity of camping on the site he kept always available at Shillingstone. Above all there was Hardye's. Only those associated with him can know not only the amount of time and energy he gave to the School, but also the judgement and guidance he brought to the problems associated with the transfer from fee-paying to voluntary-aided status. He had a clear vision of what he knew to be the right road for the School to follow and it is to him that Hardye's, as it is now, owes its existence. We can best commemorate him by living up to the ideals he set before us.

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