Sent: 25 August 2019 23:15
Hi all,
I was a student at Kynaston in the sixties (from 1961 to 1968 iirc) and have tried to contact old Kynastonians for the last couple of decades. One turned up around 2004 on a section of the Quintin-Kynaston website for old students, we reminisced about teachers like Mr Curtis, Mr Green, Nobby Clark, and some students, but that website disappeared and I lost touch. A Facebook old students group turned up, but was all about more recent students. I reminisced about the old day to their amusement, and the changed demographic was pleased that I had plenty to say about chessplaying friend Basit Shukoor…
please contact me.
George
Oh wow, two responses!
Kam Lawani, you would be impossible to forget, an outstanding sprinter on the athletics field, and, most interestingly, one of the few of African descent from those years. Were you not called “Paul” Lawani in those days, or is confabulation becoming a bigger factor in my recall than I’d like?
I’ve been resident in the United States since 2001, and a citizen since 2014, so, unless you plan to visit sunny Arizona, I doubt that I’ll make a London reunion any time soon. I was good friends with Neil Wilson whose family migrated from British Guyana, and I had the privilege of visiting his home several times, and bumped into him once a couple of years after leaving Kynaston, but we lost touch since.
Another Old Kynastonian I bumped into after a year or two on departure was Jimmy Walker, the super strong fellow who nobody could bully, not even the “Kelly mafia” who learned the hard way not to trifle with a butcher’s son. Kelly and I saw each other, with each of us nodding recognition, a year or two after leaving Kynaston in the Westbourne Park area, where I once lived in pre-Kynaston years, and like many old haunts of London fondly remembered the area has largely been redeveloped.
All this reminiscing conjures up the names and faces of Chris Haig, McSheehy, the Daradjian brothers, Nick Lovett, the Bowen brothers, Schneider, stout Harrington, Patterson (who we nicknamed “Floyd”), and others…. one old boy who actually paid me a personal visit in post school years was Roberto Genovese. I took him to the chess club I had recently joined at the Serbian Mihailovic Emigre’s Club near Notting Hill. The game of chess was to become a significant part of my life in subsequent decades, but not any more…
Now I’m trying to place Jim Leggat. The name rings a distant bell, but I’d probably need to recall a specific event, or see a photo to trigger recall… perhaps you have a story from those days that will jog my memory, Jim?
I think I knew you George.
Come on george get a grip !!!
Hi Saz last time I saw you was PO counter In West Hampstead I have also liked for you to join our reunions. I have contact with a great list from our year Regards Kam Lawani.kam