Joe Dalton

Common Room

Member of the Common Room 1968-1998. Died January 2025.

Eulogy by Colin Flood

I knew Joe for nigh on 55 years, longer than I knew my own father. During those years he was many things, starting with a patient Head of Department, carefully helping and supporting a green young teacher to develop his own style of teaching not imposing his own.

He was in turn a genial and avuncular uncle, a father figure, a big brother and always, always a loyal steadfast and supportive friend to me, my wife and later on our children. In a world of uncertainties, his calm, considered measured and empathetic personality made him the obvious choice to be the godfather to our children, and that choice was not just ours, he was the chosen godfather to numerous of his friends’ families. It shows that many of us shared the judgement that this man was special.

He was a brilliant classical scholar, wearing his learning lightly and self-effacingly, he loved his subject. We could spend ages on our walks just talking about Latin poetry, Roman history, word in general and their derivations, nature, he was so easy to talk with.

He was a formidable linguist, fluent in French, Italian Greek and Russian. He had been selected by the RAF during his National Service to be trained as a Russian interpreter as part of the Cold War Signals Intelligence programme and developed a love and fluency in the language that was lifelong.

He was a keen sportsman, a gifted footballer, as many sixth formers discovered to their surprise, and a formidable fast bowler and batsmen who put many teams to the sword.

He was the officer commanding the RAF Section of the Hampton CCF and recruited me, something for which I am deeply grateful. And of course there was adventurous training on Dartmoor, a seminal experience in survival, self-reliance, navigation and teamwork that so many of the boys who went there remember with affection and pride to this day. Joe was always there – he never missed it, it was where his heart was.

His main love was the great outdoors. He was an indefatigable hiker and hill walker, tough and wiry, who had (as far as I was concerned) the annoying ability to float up hills and mountains which reduced me to a perspiring and reddened mess. We had a memorable walking tour of the Mani in Greece with his great walking buddy Bill Chaffey.   He knew the hills of North Wales intimately and introduced me to many of them and patiently waited for me to catch up! After initiating Louise my wife to the Nantlle ridge in Snowdonia he quietly and gently commented that he’d “never been up it quite so slowly”!

He was at home in the hills

At Hampton he was an essential member of the adventure society, leading and assisting in Expeditions in Europe, Africa and Asia, which were so successful and valuable experiences for the boys, his primary reason for doing them.

He was a keen and well-informed birdwatcher. He didn’t like cats in his garden, one way to get him out of his chair was to innocently say “I can see a cat on the terrace” The effect was immediate, vigorous and very dramatic.

He loved music and gained great pleasure and contentment from it – he loved the string quartets of Beethoven.

However, it was as a schoolmaster and Head of Lower School at Hampton that his importance lay. His patient, firm and humane style and character engendered enormous respect and affection from the boys and all his colleagues. He was seldom wrong-footed. He made those around him feel secure.  I think the only time I saw him discombobulated was when a newish first former waiting to see him outside the common room innocently and quite naturally called out “Daddy”.

Barry Martin, Headmaster at Hampton towards the end of Joe’s career wrote: “Although Joe and I overlapped by only four terms, I got to know him pretty well and he was a boundless source of Hampton wisdom and kindness and became a sound adviser. When I was researching for his retirement dinner, a retired deputy head described him as ‘the archetypal lovely man’ . Bingo! Our lovely, gentle, generous and precious Joe in a nutshell.

Val Horton

Common Room

Member of the Common Room 1977-2004. Died December 2024.

Memories from The Lion

Val Horton began her journey at Hampton in 1977, the Silver Jubilee year, and is leaving 27 years later as one of the longest-serving members of the school community. She worked in both the Chemistry and Biology departments, most fondly remembered as Head Technician in Biology. Over the years, she witnessed the department grow from two to six laboratories and the teaching staff increase to nine.

Val adapted to significant changes in the curriculum, including preparing equipment for genetic manipulation experiments. Her readiness to embrace new challenges was evident throughout her tenure. During a recent inspection, the Biology inspector praised the enormous support provided by the technicians, highlighting Val’s invaluable contribution.

The prep room, overlooking the school fields, was the department’s hub, and Val’s cheerful, calm approach ensured its smooth operation. She was always ready to help, especially when it involved brewing tea! Val was a fantastically valuable member of the department, and her departure is deeply felt by all.

Mike Johnstone

Common Room

Member of the Common Room, 2002 to 2016. Died February 2025.

Memories from The Lion, 2016, written by Phil Langton

“Mike joined Hampton in 2002 after a long and successful career in film production, particularly in science programming. Perhaps his greatest strength has been his ability to keep up with all the very latest research and new developments taking place in Biology; for a man about to retire, I think that is a pretty impressive trait and we will have to work hard to replace him in this respect. This passion for the new has also translated into a desire to purchase new equipment for the Department. Whilst I wholeheartedly agree that the subject must not stand still in an age when marching ever-forward seems to be the only answer, I am still not convinced about the buzz-box, which allows us to detect nervous impulses from a cockroach once you have pulled one of its legs off. Equally, did we really need a technical microscope that is so technical it needs a technician to come with it to make it work?

“Another of Mike’s great talents has been the immense care he has always shown the boys in his charge. Both in the classroom and also as an accomplished rowing coach, Mike has often been our father-figure to some of the boys and I know that many have really benefited from his old-school approach to teaching. Field trips are a key part of Biology and I would like to thank Mike for coming along to Pembrokeshire on many occasions. Rock pools being a key feature of the rocky shores we have visited, I have had to bite my tongue when first one of them swallowed up his brand new digital camera and, the following year, when his high-tech, new waterproof coat proved to be so waterproof that his iPhone took a bath in one of his pockets on a particularly wet day counting limpets.”

Memories from David Perfect

I joined Hampton School at the same time as Mike.  He had completed his teaching qualification via the Graduate Teaching Programme ( GTP) the previous year and was so helpful n guiding me through my GTP.  Superbly organised his examplars of the evidence I had to collect and the manner in which it had to be presented made my little fe so much easier.  And, all of this s came at his instigation.  It was an act of great kindness and generosity.  We went to work closely together, Mike being one of my leading Sixth Form tutors.  He once told me that his inspiration for Biology and the natural world had come from an outstanding teacher whilst he was a pupil at Abingdon School.  That teacher would have been proud to know just how inspirational his student had also become.

James Scouse (Jim)

Common Room

Member of the Common Room, 1972 to 1980. Died 2022.

Mr Scouse was known for his excellent productions as well as his involvement in trips and the CCF.

His entries in The Lion suggest an educator who enjoyed a challenge. In 1978, Mr Scouse produced the Alan Bennet play Forty Years On, which was reviewed in the summer’s edition of The Lion: “Mr Scouse’s production was not simply a series of comic turns: he had the measure of the play’s complex structure and its changes of tone. […] The play was very entertaining, the amount of hard work on the parts of stage crew, cast and the producer Mr Scouse, being justified by the performance and appreciated by the audience.”

Jim was hugely supportive of pupils. In 1979 the introduction of a new Sixth Form common room was much improved by the addition of “a couch, a gift from Jim Scouse”. During his time at Hampton he led trips to Snowdonia, Dartmoor, Jersey and the Isle of Man, among others. On one such trip, he was thanked “for the Spaghetti Bolognaise”! His name is also mentioned as part of The Lion‘s editorial team several times.

After leaving Hampton, Jim Scouse went on to work at Sevenoaks School and retired to Luxor, Egypt.

Bob Gardiner

Common Room

Memories from Richard Hooper and Paul Walker

Bob taught History and his degree was from Emmanuel Cambridge where he went from Marling School, Stroud. I can’t remember which year he left to go to be head of History at Battersea Grammar School, I would put it around 1977.

After Battersea, Bob was ordained as a Baptist Minister in Cardiff. He retired to Cirencester and was a great supporter of Gloucester Rugby up to a few weeks before he died in 2024.

Jack Lanning

1952

Memories from David Greenaway

Jack Lanning died in 2023, We started school, St Mary’s, Amyand Park Road, Twickenham, on the same day in September 1939. Of those that matriculated in 1945, only Jack and I chose to go to Hampton. I was A stream and Blackmore House. I think Jack was C stream and Garrick House. We stayed in touch until his end. Before retirement he had a windsurfing shop in Weston super Mare.

WITH JACK LANNING AT HAMPTON

Only six or seven of us out of 40 passed the 11-plus examination in my class at St Mary’s, Amyand Park Road, school and only Jack and I chose to go to the boys’ school, Hampton Grammar School (now Hampton School). I was put into the A stream (and Blackmore house) and I think that Jack went into the C stream (and Garrick House).  We cycled the nine mile round trip together, six days a week, for seven years, and on some Sundays as well for ATC parades.  All pupils went to school by bicycle, on foot, or a combination of bus and walking, mainly by bicycle.  No buses went past the school.  My diaries show that for our first five years there we were never late for school: only one very icy morning spoilt this record. A note from my 1950 diary – “14 December: roads very icy in the morning. Jack and I fell off twice”.

We both joined the Air Training Corps, 651 squadron, and learned useful things, like how to strip down and reassemble a Browning machine gun!  The ATC was run by Harry Crocker (senior physics teacher) and Mr Barton (senior mathematics teacher).  In 1949 we went for two weeks to Manston Airfield, in Kent.  It was a front-line fighter station during the war.  I had my first flights there, in Avro Yorks and Ansons

Diary entry for 28 April 1951 – “we went to Fairoaks airdrome after school, (7 of us) and we got ½ hr flying each in Chipmunks (RAF VR trainer).  Alone with the pilot; dual controls; we did a loop”.

In July we went flying at Fairoaks again; this time 30 minutes in a Tiger Moth – biplane, open cockpit, great experience.  Later that month there was an ATC camp at Thorney Island.  I went with Jack to Hayling Island funfair one afternoon.  While at the camp we went for  a 2 ¾ hr flight in an Anson to Bideford.

The other away activity with the ATC was rifle shooting, this was mainly at the range in Egerton Road, Twickenham, just at the bottom of Jack’s road, Court Way. The diary entry for 14 January 1952 was “Jack’s birthday.  Went shooting (2nd round L.M. Trophy)”.   In May we shot in the ‘Battle of Britain’ trophy competition.  These were .22 bore rifles, but on one occasion we shot at Bisley, just for the experience, .303 bore – noisy things with quite a kick.

Of course, most of the time that I spent with Jack was out of school hours, but these are my school memories of us.

Donald Lambert

1958

Donald attended Hampton between 1951 and 58. He was a Prefect and Head of Walpole House, and represented the School in the First XV (rugby) and cross country. He appeared in the 1957 edition of The Lion: “In the senior school event, R. Freeman won convincingly from V. Lester, with D. Lambert winning a close fight with P. Lee for third position”.

Donald Lambert died in 2024.

John Syrad

1950

John’s death marks the passing of the last of four brothers who came to Hampton. James Syrad OH (1948), Ronald Syrad MBE, Stuart Syrad OBE OH (1991) also were Hamptonians, as is his son Tim Syrad OH (1984), who survives his father.

John died in May 2025, at the age of 93.

Sheila Binns

Common Room

Member of the Common Room, 2002 to 2009.

Sheila worked at Hampton between 2002 and 2009 as Admissions Secretary and then Registrar (Admissions Manager). Longer-serving members of the Common Room will remember Sheila as a dedicated, assiduous and warm-hearted colleague. Her sons, Rowan OH (2001) and Hayden OH (2006), both attended our School.