Abingdonian 2018

99 www.abingdon.org.uk Staff Farewells involved in the musical and sporting life of Abingdon School. He coached the 3rd XI hockey team and was master in charge of Abingdon’s highly successful tennis teams. He organised the tennis with tireless efficiency (his colour-coded spreadsheets were a sight to behold) and he was continually aspirational for his players. He was no mean shot himself, and the tennis court was one of the few arenas where a competitive streak could be teased out of this man of unparalleled modesty. His contribution to the school’s music programme was fulsome too: he started a Gospel Choir, helped to run the ‘Music in the Community’ activity, organised concerts for charity, temporarily ran the Abingdon Academicals (writing an arrangement of ‘Postman Pat’ for one of his concerts) and instituted three music competitions for soloists. As a tutor, Ben guided his charges with skill and care, giving thought to the topics that would be discussed in tutor period each week. Given that he was a polymath himself, he could easily engage with his tutees’ wide-ranging interests. Indeed, the young Ponniah was something of a wunderkind: he had starred on ITV’s Countdown which, to the student mind, catapulted him to the hinterland of semi-celebrity status. That status was further enhanced by burnishing his entrepreneurial credentials with the launch of his app ‘Spidey’s Piano: a musical memory app’ whilst still at Abingdon. However, it was as a composer (in the English choral tradition) that Ben’s true brilliance became most evident. In his short time at Abingdon, his works slowly emerged on the national stage. Selwyn College, Cambridge recorded a full CD of his compositions: ‘Marvellous Light’ (available from Regent records and on iTunes), and both Radio 3 and ClassicFM broadcast his works. Reviewers described him as “one to watch” and his music as “timeless, spacious and rapturous”. Typical of Ben, he reacted to such acclamations with humility, such was his unassuming demeanour. Whilst we were delighted for Ben when we heard that he had been appointed to teach Economics at Winchester, we were sad to lose a colleague who was held in such high regard. In an era where individuals often trumpet their achievements loudly, Ben was a wonderful tonic to the zeitgeist: a person of immense modesty. Wykehamists will now have the good fortune to be taught by a man of thoughtfulness, integrity and ability. We wish Ben every happiness in his new role. Simon Grills John Cotton John Cotton leaves us to take up a parallel position as Assistant Director of Music at Portsmouth Grammar School where his wife, Anne, has been appointed the new Head. John joined Abingdon in September 2011 from Wychwood School, where he had been promoted from visiting singing teacher to the role of Director of Music. Ben Ponniah John Cotton