Just surfed the Habs website and am saddened to learn of the passing away of both Stuart Moore, a contemporary staff member and entertaining friend with whom I enjoyed many hilarious Finals Day at Henley regatta and former pupil, David Limb who was CSM of the Army Section I inherited on John Welbourne's promotion to Lt. Col. when "TEC" retired.

I am currently working in Brisbane. On leaving Habs to become Head of Geography at RGS High Wycome in 1981 I spent 1990 on exchange at Brisbane Boys' College. I was subsequently offered a permanent job and migrated here in 1993. Details of what has transpired since then can be found on the RGS High Wycombe website under "Old Boys" in the last two "newsletters".Since leaving Habs I have inevitably lost contact with a lot of people - its inevitable I suppose. I always correspond with John Rolfe at Christmas but that is about the sum total of the current link.

Whilst at RGS I bumped into Andrew Murray (former pupil) on the towpath or the Bridge Bar during Henley week and when I was awarded a BP schoolmaster fellowsip at Keble in 85 I discovered I was rowing in College 1st VIII with ex Haberdasher, Chris Bedford. A small world
indeed!

I hope to retire to Melbourne in two or three years time. I always look back on my teaching years at Habs as being the most rewarding."

And 'borrowed' from an article sent to the RGS High Wycombe Old Boys site in January 2004:

Iain Meyer Down Under and a decade later

Those who remember me in the late 1980s and early 1990s will recall that following a twelve month exchange to Brisbane Boys’ College I was offered a permanent teaching position which I eventually took up in January 1993. I am still here and still teaching Geography though I have ventured into new territory recently teaching History in the Middle School and thoroughly enjoying it.

Outside the classroom I have retained my interest in authorship and apart from the odd article for Geography Review I teamed up with two colleagues to write a series of textbooks for Queensland’s equivalent of A Level Geography. I have also kept abreast of IT developments, something I found hard to do at RGS. All classrooms here are fitted with data projectors so PPT is becoming the teaching norm – its great! Geographical Information Systems is the next challenge but how far I get with that before I retire in Melbourne (hopefully in the next three years) remains to be seen.

Rowing is still a big part of my life and was a factor in the purchase of a house in Melbourne.(ROWING-BOAT I have also joined Mercantile Rowing Club (home of the Oarsome Foursome) and scull on the Yarra whenever I visit – normally four or five times a year. It is the closest I can get to the ambience of the rowing clubs along the Putney embankment. Ironically since joining Mercantile I have already met two former members of Thames Rowing Club. I do miss Henley though and the opportunity to renew friendships but I have to remind myself that there are 52 weeks in a year. At BBC I now coach at the Under 14 level – this is a large squad of approximately 16 quad sculling crews. I gave up coaching U16 VIIIs for the simple reason that training started at 5.15am on the water!

On moving to Australia I renewed my interest in CCF activities by joining the Australian Army Cadet Corps as a training officer for a Catholic School in the city. Unlike the UK where you are interviewed and sign the Official Secrets document I had to undergo the infamous psych test – a written multi choice exam of 400 almost repetitive questions in 2 hours. Thinking there was a catch somewhere I answered the last 200 questions backwards. Needless to say in the interview that followed they were not very impressed but nevertheless passed me!

It is a very different culture here and suffers from the aftermath of the Vietnam War when all cadet units were temporarily disbanded. Instructing cadets in battle craft is still strictly forbidden and on my last visit to a rifle range where they have the opportunity to fire the standard NATO rifle there was talk of removing Figure 11 targets for socio-political correctness! Ironically the cadets were more concerned about hitting the wild wallabies (smaller version of kangaroo) that skipped across the range during live firing than they were about the resemblance of Figure 11 targets to actual people! The passing out parade at the end of annual camp with nearly 2000 cadets marching with the Queensland Army Band is an impressive display of drill.

Australia has also given me the opportunity to broaden my musical interests beyond that of the Moaning Joes’ (punctuation is correct) Blues Band of Staff Revue fame. BBC is only one of two schools in the state that has a pipe band (kilted in the Hunting McLean tartan as worn by Sean Connery). I started to learn pipes during my exchange year here and renewed the interest on my return. I am now the Master i/c and although I could never be as talented as the boys under my charge I am proficient enough to play in the major functions such as Anzac Day.

So what’s the verdict? As much I was reluctant to take the plunge I made the right decision. There is however talk of introducing a national curriculum, outcomes based assessment and individual learning programs – things I managed to escape from by moving down under. Hopefully I will have retired by then enjoying a daily read of "The Australian" on Brighton beach in Melbourne before heading off to the city for a gentle scull on the Yarra and a pint on the balcony of Mercantile RC!