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Winchester House School

Alumni Staff Focus: Mark Keating

Alumni

Mark Keating: 32 years of service at Winchester House School

On Mark Keating’s retirement in 2020 after 32 years at WHS, Emma McGowan, Alumni & Development Manager, took the opportunity to ask Mark some questions about his three decades of service.

When did you join WHS and what was your job title?

I joined WHS from Monckton Coombe Junior School Bath in September 1988 – last century! I was appointed by Richard Speight as Science Master, teaching all the biology and chemistry from Year 4 upwards. When I arrived, I found out that I was also down to teach Remove (now Y6, I think) geography! That was great fun.

I continued to teach biology and chemistry until Jeremy Griffith arrived and we got another scientist – who was also a biologist – so I stuck with the chemistry. When Mick Thompson arrived, even though he was a chemist, he took on the physics which was always a difficult role to fill. After a few years and with the arrival of another science teacher, Mick switched to chemistry, and I did the physics. Another few years later, there was another change in personnel, and I moved back to my first love, biology.

What extra-curricular activities have you been involved in over the years?

Within all this, I coached rugby and cricket and helped with the Scout Troup in the winter and athletics in the summer. I also did the lighting and sound for all the school plays and performances, right from pre-prep, through to the big Michaelmas Year 8 productions.

Sometime during this a long Thursday afternoon activity slot was introduced, so I took about 10 pupils, two shotguns and hundreds of cartridges over to Blisworth Shooting School where we destroyed many, many clay pigeons each week.

 

How has WHS changed during your time here?

WHS has changed a lot over the years. The introduction of girls was a bit of a shock, but it did have an interesting effect on the older boys… They required a new boarding house, Drayton, and sports teams and fixtures. I think that a ratio of 60:40 boys to girls was set in the early days, but I think that has now changed. It certainly helped the plays, as before the boys had to take all the female roles which was very funny when Donald Simpson put on The Mikado!

What have your happiest / funniest moments been?

There have been some very funny moments not least when, for various reasons, I was left the other side of the Brackley bypass whilst playing a wide game around town with the Scouts. I was supposed to help them cross the bypass – yes, you could years ago – but the boys found an easier place to cross. Being a warm, sunny afternoon, I sat on the verge, only to wake up about 6 o’clock! I wandered back to school to see all the boys having a dip in the swimming pool. Apparently, Tim Anderson, who ran the Scouts, had driven along the bypass tooting his horn, but I was nowhere to be found, so they reckoned that I would eventually find my way home like a lost sheep.

How do you intend to spend your retirement?

I won’t be idle. There is a house to clean (which I enjoy), meals to prepare (which I enjoy), ironing to do (which I also enjoy) and a garden to maintain –which I do not enjoy very much. I am good at chopping down and killing things though! On the more cerebral side – I do have a rather large stamp collection to sort out with numerous albums, loose leaves and stamps in packets. It will be a large job but, the hoarder that I am, I am always looking for more! I tend to collect stamps from GB, Australia and, since it split from Guernsey, the Isle of Alderney. There is also a quite extensive all world collection, so a bit of work to do there. Music has always been very important to me – I played clarinet in the staff band, but it now languishes in the study – it is too long since I played. I intend to continue with my karate lessons at WHS, as long as the joints hold up, and have also been looking at Open University courses – astronomy looks interesting.

If there is one bit of advice you would give WHS pupils, what would it be?

My advice would be to take every opportunity that there is to read. Reading is the single most important thing that you learn to do here. It will open so many doors to you, so many new ideas and thoughts.

“With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?” – Oscar Wild