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Timothy Hugh Bradshaw Bowles (1928-2005)

Educator

This article, modified from the IAPS obituary, is placed here as an invitation for those who knew Tim to create a lasting record of his life and work.

Tim Bowles, Headmaster of Bramcote Hall, Nottingham (1959-65) and of Bramcote School, Gamston (1965-91) and the 1980 Chairman of IAPS, died peacefully on New Year’s Day 2005 following a severe stroke suffered shortly before Christmas. On 12 February 2005 some 400 people gathered in St Swithun’s Church, Retford, and afterwards at Bramcote, to celebrate a most remarkable life.

Tim was never meant to be a schoolmaster. Born into a family with a long tradition in the law, Tim followed schooling at Brunswick, Stancliffe and Shrewsbury by going up to Peterhouse in 1949 to read for a Cambridge law degree. This he successfully did, despite the competing demands of rugby, soccer, hockey (in which he captained his college XI) and singing. But he never practised the law. On graduation he accepted a temporary post on the staff of Birkdale School and almost at once he knew he had found his true vocation. He then served for six years at Cheltenham College Junior School, progressing to become Senior Resident Master.

In 1959 Trent College was looking for a head for its free-standing preparatory school at Bramcote Hall, outside Nottingham. Tim applied. There was a strong field and he was only just into his thirties, nevertheless he was appointed. It was a fine choice, for Tim was an inspired leader: immensely energetic and hardworking, actively encouraging of the arts and games, above all a lover of people, caring for his staff and devoted to his pupils.

Then in 1965 Trent dropped a bombshell. A small public school, under-endowed and severely in need of funds, Trent’s governors saw Bramcote Hall as a saleable property, a means of raising funds to develop the main school, not critically dependent on Bramcote for recruitment. Bramcote Hall must close. Tim and the parents were not prepared to accept disaster. As it happened Gamston House, a large property between Newark and Retford, was on the market. Funds were raised, parents were supportive, everything movable from Bramcote Hall was stripped down and packed. Without a break, the school re-opened as Bramcote School in September 1965, under an independent board of governors. Tim led and developed the new Bramcote for 26 years. What began inevitably as a precarious risk became in a short time a notable success story. The school secured a fine academic reputation, games and the arts, especially music, flourished, girls joined the boys, both day and boarding, and the school responded to the demand for the admission of younger children. When Tim retired in 1991 he left a secure, highly regarded school of some 150 pupils.

Utterly devoted to his school though he was, Tim nevertheless found time to enjoy his private enthusiasms. Clarinet playing tenors are not found under every bush: so Tim was in demand to play with the Retford Music Club and sing with the Nottingham Bach Choir. Being the man he was, every organisation he joined sooner or later wanted him to run them. He became chairman of both the local music societies for generously long spells. He was a vigorous supporter of IAPS music, chairing the Continuing Orchestra Trust and housemastering courses. He loved birds and knew a great deal about them, especially falcons: no walk was undertaken without his binoculars. In due course he found himself running the local ornithological society. Perhaps his chief joy – and some may find this surprising in one who adored the company of people and was loved by everyone who knew him – was solo gliding, with its combination of challenge and incomparable peace. And yes, in due course he ran the Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club.

Empowering everything was his Christian faith, as Gamston Parish Church found when he agreed to be their churchwarden. It was therefore inevitable that in due course he would also run IAPS! He had chaired his district in the late ’70s, had accepted election to several committees of Council, most notably the Training Committee which he led for some years. It was therefore only a matter of time before IAPS Council would ask him to take the chair. With his combination of drive (he had served two years as a lieutenant in the Royal Tank Regiment), imagination and very special charm, he was a notable chairman. His conference was a showcase for all those things he held most dear: ‘Music for Pleasure’, nature conservation, heavyweight speakers on the educational future, his Christian faith: all these featured. And there he was, with his smiling eyes and inimitable laugh, making more friends at every turn. Like all chairmen of IAPS he was a guest at the annual conference of the Elementary School Heads Association of the USA. Unlike all other chairmen, Tim made such an impact that, uniquely, he was elected a member of ESHA, one of whose representatives flew from the States to be present at Tim’s memorial service.

Even the most casual acquaintance felt that in Tim they had a friend. Unmarried, he was a specially brilliant and loving uncle and great-uncle. The annual gathering at Bramcote each Christmas of the whole clan was, so they tell us, life-enhancing. ‘Come on,’ Tim would say, after the excellent lunch that followed church, ‘now we’re going for a walk.’ And out would come the binoculars. Hundreds have lost a friend.