"Watto"

David Watkins (1926 - 2000)

'EXEGI MONUMENTUM AERE PERENNIUS'

Clayesmore could not perhaps be described as a hotbed of the Classics, but that small albeit
distinguished coterie of Latin scholars will doubtless be familiar with the above words of the Roman
poet Horace: "My work is finished, leaving a memorial more enduring than bronze." They aptly sum
up the public face of David Watkins, who gave a working lifetime of service to education, not just to
Clayesmore but also to a wider world. It is the glory of teachers that their memorial is to be found in
the memories of their pupils, and we at Clayesmore were privileged to benefit from thirteen years of
his teaching career, in which boys of that era will remember his endeavours as Classicist, Cricketer.
Housemaster, and all-round good egg.

Academic and sporting distinction came early to David. At Bristol Grammar School he was Head
Prefect, Captain of his house, and Captain of Cricket and Fives. On leaving school, he proceeded to
learn Japanese, serving for three years in the Army Intelligence Corps with the Occupation Forces in
Japan. On demobilisation he took up an Exhibition to read Greats (Classics) at University College
Oxford, where among other pursuits he gained a Half-Blue at Fives and was Captain of College
Cricket. He considered taking Holy Orders and spent an extra year studying Theology, but
eventually saw his future as a schoolmaster and went to teach at West Downs, Winchester for five
years.

Driving through Dorset one day, David passed Clayesmore on the A350, and thinking that it looked
a pleasant place, was tempted to contact Peter Burke, the Master (Headmaster). After a brief
informal chat, Burke, as was his way, offered him the post of Head of Classics and to run of the
cricket - that was the way it was done in those far-off days. Thus began what were possibly the
happiest and most agreeable years of his life. He was by now a family man, bringing his wife,
Alison, and daughter, Elizabeth to live in Gossips Tree Cottage in Fontmell Magna. Academic
matters occupied him, of course, but the pace of life in those halcyon summers was slower than
nowadays, and one remembers with nostalgia David wandering out in the middle of the morning to
gaze at his beloved cricket square and to have long, serious discussions with the groundsman about
the preparation of the wicket........"O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint", as Virgil, that
illustrious slow left-arm bowler of former days, observed.

In 1965 Appleby finally relinquished the Junior House, and in one of the last of his many inspired
decisions, Peter Burke was wise enough to appoint David to take up the reins of Housemaster, in
which capacity he served until 1972, moving into the luxurious accommodation provided by the
Annexe. All Clayesmorians of that vintage must have kindly memories of David and Alison - their
care and concern for boys new to a strange school. One could not wish for a better introduction to
the mysteries of what it means to be a true Clayesmorian. Spinney, in a typically felicitous and
memorable aphorism put it exactly: "David Watkins was a sturdy traditionalist, but with a saving
sense of humour whose obsession with cricket and the Classics ensured that every Junior would
from henceforth keep a straight bat and not give up Latin until safely in the Middles".

The welfare of Clayesmore games was a particular concern of his, and few were able to contribute so
much. Cricket was, of course, his great love and many must carry memories not only of his
coaching, but also of his unhurried and elegant batting style - a model which must have inspired
many boys. He also loved to bowl, although his action was not of the same classical purity as his
batting. As umpire and coach he maintained the highest standards, and his judgement was without
question. In Hockey he enjoyed many successful seasons as the genial coach of the 2nd XI, and in
Rugger of the Colts. One of the sights which helped to dispel the gloom of Clayesmore winters was
of him in that prodigious pair of blue shorts, which harked back to the playing fields of a former age.

His involvement with the old Clayesmorian Society was not solely confined to the jolly post-
mortems on Monday morning House Staff Meetings, following the delights of OC Week-ends. He
was a founder member, with Hugh Glazebrook and Clive Wilkinson, of the Cormorants, that band of
merry cricketers which every summer performed with varying degrees of skill and success on the
fields of the West Country, while Alison and his daughters laboured nobly in the background to
provide sustenance. He was proud to have served as their President, and was delighted to receive in
the Millennium Year the cup which is annually awarded for long service to Cormorants.

David had charge of the Classics Department during his years at Clayesmore in what proved to be an
increasingly difficult time for his subject, and as a result he decided to leave temporarily in 1972 for
a sabbatical year back at Oxford to re-think his aims and broaden his spectrum, fully intending to
return the following September to take over the Senior House from Spinney. At the last moment,
however, he was offered and accepted the position as Headmaster of Keble Preparatory School in
North London, and here he spent the last thirteen years of his full-time teaching career. His links
with Dorset were not broken, however, for like so many others the pull of Iwerne was strong, and in
1978 he purchased May Tree Cottage in Shute Lane as a retreat from the rigours of Headmastership.
And to here in 1986 he and Alison retired. He was only 60 and he continued to teach Latin at several
local schools, and was a governor of the local Primary School. In addition he was closely involved in
the affairs of the Parish Church, serving on the Church Council for 13 years and as Churchwarden
for 5 years. He was particularly proud of his part in the restoration and refurbishment of J. L.
Pearson's fine but neglected Wolverton Chapel in St. Mary's, Iwerne Minster.

Cricket was clearly the particular passion of his life. His uncle, Harry Smith, had played for
Gloucestershire and England. David, a fine cricketer himself, was very proud that Tom Graveney,
that elegant batsman, also of Gloucestershire and England, was in the team that he captained at
Bristol Grammar School, and that Abdul Kardar, the Pakistani cricketer, played in his college side at
Oxford. In his playing days he was a member of numerous club sides; not only the Cormorants, but
also the Hampshire Hogs, The Dorset Rangers, Old Bristolians, Shaftesbury C.C. and the Veterans
of Winchmore Hill. To his delight, two of his grandsons have been playing cricket for Dorset at their
respective age groups. How he would have loved to follow their progress. Dear to his heart also was
the development of the new cricket field for Iwerne Minster Cricket Club of which he was President.
He played a large rôle and was instrumental in obtaining Lottery funds to help to build their splendid
new pavilion.

We therefore remember and pay tribute to a true Clayesmore character. Those who passed through
the Junior House in his time, the classicists in the classroom, the cricket hockey and rugger players
out on the fields all remember with gratitude and affection his kindly patience - always a wise and
caring teacher. That comfortable frame, in which one could still discern the lissom athlete of Oxford,
the quiet sense of humour, those eyes twinkling behind heavy glasses, the rich fruity voice, the
reassuring presence, the calm balanced and considered judgement - these are aspects of the English
Gentleman and Schoolmaster who would be far too modest to utter the words with which I began -
but they are true nevertheless of David Watkins.....

Exegi monumentum aere perennius.

Michael Henbest