Page 60 - Old Ratcliffian 2020 Edition

GUY MOSER

SEPTEMBER 26TH 1934 - FEBRUARY 21ST 2020
OBITUARIES OLD RATCLIFFIAN 1946 – 1951 continued to play until he married in 1961.

My father, Guy, died on February 21st hockey team for two years – a game that he
2020 at the age of 85. It was a peaceful
passing and a blessing, because he had
been suffering from a number of ailments He was awarded Full Colours.
for the last few years. My father spent his working life in the
pharmaceutical industry, travelling all
He attended Grace Dieu between 1944 and around the world from the 1960s to the
1946, and he then went on to Ratcliffe to 1980s. From the mid-1960s, he lived in
join his brother, Hugh (49) (who passed Colchester, Essex, where he continued
away in 2016, aged 84) and his cousin, to live until his passing. He was a
Richard (48). Guy was amongst the second devout Catholic, and he was president
generation of Mosers to go to Ratcliffe, of the Colchester Catenian Circle. He
following his father, Wilfred (1917), and also continued to enjoy sport, playing
his three uncles, Ruy (1906) (pronounced badminton and golf in later life. He had
Ru-ee), Cyril (1907), and Edward (1917). one son, myself, and three grandchildren,
who loved him, and his sense of humour,
My father excelled at sport at Ratcliffe, very much.
playing for the 1st XV from 1949, aged 15,
until leaving in 1951. He captained the 2nd Jonathan Moser (80)
XI cricket team and played for the 1st XI Son

JOHN LESLIE NEWMAN

FEBRUARY 1ST 1941 – APRIL 6TH 2020
OLD RATCLIFFIAN 1953 – 1957

I first met John in 1948, when I was sent during the holidays, with Frank and Bill
to Woodbank School, on London Road in then being boarders at Ratcliffe College.
Leicester. John was already at the school, Later, I rejoined John at school, when we
and I joined his class. We became friends, both went to Ratcliffe in September 1953.
and we often visited each other’s homes.
John’s elder brother, Frank Newman (56), When John was seven, he was hit by
was the same age as my elder brother, Bill a car; he fractured his skull, and only
Myers (57), and we’d all meet up together. brilliant medical intervention saved his
Frank and John’s parents had emigrated life. However, this near-death experience
from Hungary before the war, and his did not dim his legendary self-confidence,
father had started a family shoe factory nor his enthusiasm for boxing, in which he
in Leicester. The Newmans had brought excelled at Ratcliffe under Br John Tedesco
with them high European culture, both in (38). He also played rugby and took up
music and food. Young as we were, we used horse riding, which he continued after
to listen to grand opera and eat delicious leaving school.
meals. This was a completely new world
for me, and it appeared both exotic and In 1957, John left Ratcliffe and started to
wonderful. Tony Holland (56), who lived work with his father in the family company.
near the Newmans, was also introduced He studied shoe design and manufacturing
to classical opera, which is still an abiding at the Leicester Technical College. They involved providing entertainment for
interest of his. worked closely together, with John working men’s and factory clubs, hotels,
dividing his time between them planning and pub chains. In 1974, John met Julia
John was extremely fond of Woodbank the next season’s design, and production, Sherriff again, at the tennis club where
School. He loved everything there, and representing the company in the North of they had both been members and had
until the end of his life, he could remember England. In the late 1960s, they ceased originally met in 1964. This led to their
the names of the boys in his class and what manufacturing and opened shoe shops. marriage in 1976.
they did in later life. When I had been at John based himself in the Birmingham
Woodbank for two years, John was sent Bullring shop. The entertainment agency expanded
as a boarder to Grace Dieu Manor School, rapidly, covering wider circuits in the UK and
of which, alas, he did not have such happy In the early 1970s, John opened an mainland Europe, including American and
memories. However, we kept in contact entertainment agency, which initially British military establishments, particularly

60 The Old Ratcliffian 2020