at Henley Royal Regatta for 40 years, both supporting the School and having a drink at the Abingdon tent on a Friday afternoon. Perhaps his most notable gift to the School was to fund the Science Fusion Tower in the Yang Science Centre. Martin was a Chartered Accountant in the City of London, a governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company for over 30 years (alongside former Abingdon headmaster, Sir Eric Anderson) and in his spare time he collected a full set of Wisden Almanacks, one of only four people in the country to do so. He will be greatly missed by his wife, Anne, their four children and eight grandchildren, and by his many friends in the Abingdon community. Edward Iredale (1983), Mathew Iredale (1985) Nick Antrobus (1957) Nick died on 29 April 2022 in Arizona, USA. Peter Exon (1957) Peter grew up in Dorchester-on-Thames where his father was master baker and from Abingdon went to Birmingham University where he read medicine and married Gail Puddifer who became a teacher. Peter was in general practice for many years in Staffordshire before he became one of the government’s medical advisors for Aids and HIV work which took him to the WHO and offered spells of time in Alexandria and Geneva. With his wife, who became Headteacher of All Saints’ School, Blackheath, he moved to London and at retirement from the government returned to general practice. Peter is survived by his widow, Gail, and two of their children, Shevaun and Richard; sadly their daughter Karen died in November 2000. The Reverend Canon Dr Nicholas Cranfield, Vicar of All Saints’ Church, Blackheath Tony Thistlewood (1958) Tony died in Sydney, Australia, on 25 February 2022 aged 82. He entered Abingdon School in 1951, joining his elder brother, John, who predeceased him in Canada in 2017. Tony was a day-boy living in Harwell. An eminent sportsman at School, he represented Abingdon at every age level in cricket and rugby and gained Full Colours for both. He also played hockey in the 1st XI, was a full School Prefect, and Head of Reeves House in 1957-58. After leaving School, Tony commenced Articles as a Trainee Accountant with Miles, Watson in Bournemouth, whose senior partner, A.M. Miles was an OA. He qualified in 1963 and in 1966 he moved to Jardine Mathieson in London. In 1971 he moved to Australia, with his wife Isabel, under the auspices of Coopers and Lybrand. In 1975 Tony was appointed Company Secretary of Citibank in Sydney, and later became Vice President, where he remained until retirement in 2000. After retiring, Tony enjoyed writing ten books; historical and murder mystery genre. Tony is survived by Isabel and their three children, Annabel, Hugo and Georgina, and five grandchildren, who all live in Australia. Isabel Thistlewood John Foden (1959) John came to Abingdon School as a boarder in 1948 and became head of School House in 1958. James Cobban had a knack of seeing every boy’s potential and it was no secret that he marked John out as a boy who would go far. After joining Whitbread as a management trainee in 1967 he was recruited by PA Management Consultants. He progressed through PA, gaining a reputation for hard work and honesty coupled with a healthy scepticism of any academic pretension related to management consultancy. He quickly rose to become group chief executive. When he became both Chairman and Managing Director he said, “It was just very simple. I was the only one that the majority of the board would trust.” He enjoyed fast cars, motor sport and body surfing. He retired early at the age of 54 to spend time with his wife Virginia, his daughters Rebecca and Rachel, his grandchildren and his dogs. He still found time to accept non-executive directorships on the boards of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Scottish Provident and Media Audits. He died suddenly at home from an aneurysm after suffering for some years with Parkinsons. Graham Morse (1959) Bryan Perry (1950) Barry passed away peacefully in Phuket, Thailand, in March 2022. He had been living in Phuket and always maintained an interest in the School through the annual Griffen magazine. Born in July 1932, Bryan went from School out to Singapore where his father was stationed at the time with the Army. When his father was posted back to the UK a few years later, Bryan decided to stay in the East and worked nearly all of his life overseas in Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji and Cambodia. Although they did have a few years back in the UK in the 1990s, he and his wife finally retired to Thailand about 20 years ago. Julian Perry David Treacher (1950) David died on 21 September 2021 aged 88. After leaving Abingdon, David studied painting at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford and at the Oxford School of Art. Following a teaching course, he graduated from London University in 1955. During National Service he became an instructor in the Royal Army Educational Corps serving in Hong Kong. He married Pamela in 1958 and taught briefly in Gloucester. In 1959, David moved to London to work as an exhibition designer, becoming Exhibitions Manager for British Gas in 1977. David retired in 1991 and lived in Cornwall. Robin Mills (1953) Robin died on 21 December 2021. Martin Iredale (1956) Martin excelled academically at School under the influential headmaster, Sir James Cobban, and later, he became heavily involved with both the OA Club (becoming President in 1982 and 1983) and the John Roysse Lodge. He sent his two eldest sons, Edward (1983) and Mathew (1985), to the School and was proud to see Mathew’s son, Freddie, join Lower School in 2021. He was a keen supporter of the School financially, contributing to many initiatives, especially for the Boat Club (Martin rowed for the 1st IV) and he was a regular fixture G R I F F E N 2 0 2 3 | 4 1
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