Past Pupils

Graham Clark (1966)

Has your life taken the paths you had planned when you left TGS? Did you even have plans? I can’t remember whether I did or not. I don’t think I thought further than the next step, which at that time was university.

When I left in 1966, I went and studied Chemistry at Exeter, and have spent the next 30-odd years wondering why. Sure, I passed eight happy years making soft drinks with Beecham and Coca-cola, then four years making sweets with Mars. (Anybody know a good dentist?) But how did chemistry fit me for five years running Mars’ computer data-centre? At least I learnt how to make the beer and wine I subsequently marketed to the pubs and clubs of the Black Country!

Several years providing consultancy services to engineering companies was hardly the obvious training for my latest position. I’m running a charity which provides work experience and training to people with learning difficulties.

If you can find a common thread running through that lot, you’re a better man than I am! I’ve even lived in five different counties at the four corners of the country before settling in the middle near Birmingham.

Was it my mates in Bruce House who set me on this path? Was it my brief moment of glory as School Captain in 65/66? Was it years of singing the school song? Or was it the fact that I spent most of my sports time watching the girls from The County School across the playing field in Queen Street? Answers on a postcard please.