wife Helen and sons James and Rob, Alan converted a passion for antique horology into a business, working mainly with clients in China to source interesting clocks and other works of art around the UK and Europe. Craving a little more sunshine, Alan and Helen left the UK for Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands in 2014. Always a keen tennis and badminton player, Alan still plays competitive tennis, and has enthusiastically embraced the game of padel, hugely popular throughout Spain, in the challenge to keep everything moving. Painting, in what has charitably been described as a ‘naïve and colourful’ style, fills a few spare hours, together with writing the odd article. Family and friends visit regularly to enjoy the sun, so he has no regrets about leaving the UK. Martyn Bell (1977) Working in Gibraltar is the latest iteration of Martyn being Europe-based for the last 40 years: France-Ireland-ItalySpain-The Rock. He believes that no matter the country, the culture is revealed only if you learn the language, not the words but the idiom. Gibraltar is just 7km2, dense in history socially and militarily. Massive artillery litters the land and the rock contains some 60km of tunnels. Nelson’s body was brought ashore there, pickled in brandy and brought home. The Garrison Library houses a copy of Collingwood’s despatch, the original carried across the Bay of Biscay by HMS Pickle: a voyage Martyn made under sail and not to be underestimated. Gibraltar’s culture is nearly impossible to explain. They voted 96% Remain in 2016, are fiercely British-Gibraltarian and fiercely non-Spanish. It’s a unique mix of Hispanic, Genovese, Jewish, Arabic, and several others, reflected in the unofficial dialect Llanito. Truly worth a visit, but beware the Macaques, a popular diversion but expert thieves! John Rolley (1978) For one who owes his fluency in four modern languages initially to the excellent teaching at Abingdon School, John’s home in Switzerland is an ideal location. As a trainer and executive coach living near Zurich, a typical day involves working in French and Italian (plus his native English) and dealing with local community affairs in German. The location is perfect for his international business, since many clients have offices in the surrounding countries which are easily reached by air or the highly efficient Swiss railway system. Since the onset of Covid, much of John’s work is now virtual (via Zoom, Teams etc); this means he has been able to expand his client base to more world markets without the resultant extra travel. He does miss direct contact with course participants, particularly since much of his focus is training sales executives and bankers on interpersonal client communication techniques! Andrew Garrett (1979) Since his university days at the LSE, Andrew’s career has been in business market intelligence working in the UK, Hong Kong and in Germany as well as visiting many points in between these locations. In 2006, he moved to Würzburg in Bavaria to manage the German sales operation of a Scandinavian business information company. Würzburg is a beautiful old town, based on the River Main it is surrounded by vineyards and has a strong city state identity feel of its own. Since 2015, Andrew has been living in Bad Nauheim, an art nouveau spa town 40km north of Frankfurt, and is now engaged in sales for an intellectual property intelligence company, headquartered in Berlin. He says business development in IP keeps him younger and fitter than he would otherwise be; it is like running a mini marathon every day in mental energy terms! Denzil Paine (1972) The day Britain entered the EU on January 1 1973 Denzil Paine arrived in Paris to take up a job for his gap year. France has been his favourite country ever since and where he has spent half his career. After periods in the USA, Hong Kong and China, Denzil returned to Paris in August 2020 as local IT Director for food company General Mills. He recently retired and, together with his (French) wife Sophie, has moved into a flat in central Marseille. They love the diversity of the city, the sunny weather and walking to the Old Port to buy fresh fish and are looking forward to exploring Provence. Their youngest son was living in Kyiv but fled the war and is back living with them while they help him look for work in France. Alan Sibbet (1973) Alan joined Royal Mail in 1976 and enjoyed a lengthy career, taking early retirement in 2004 as Director of Sales and Customer Service. Living near Ross-on-Wye with his G R I F F E N 2 0 2 3 | 2 4
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