Page 59 - The Old Ratcliffian 2015 Magazine

OBITUARIES 59

He adored his and Gill’s nine grandchildren and recently became Peter’s interests and hobbies, of which there were many, his first
a great-grandfather. He was a huge part of their lives, and and greatest passion was Gill. His love for her knew no bounds,
they share many wonderful, happy and very funny memories or hers for him; they had an incredible sixty-two year love affair
of their legendary ‘Pop’. Among other activities, he delighted and he cherished every minute.
in introducing them all to the joy of catching crabs on the
Lincolnshire Marshes with a slice of bacon attached to a piece of Peter’s funeral took place in March 2015, and we were fortunate
string on a bamboo stick. that Fr David Tobin (59) and Fr Simon Giles (60) were able to
concelebrate the Requiem Mass with the local Catholic priest
Peter was immensely loyal to his friends and showed real care in Boston, at the church where he was baptised, married, and
for them as they approached their elder years. He was a true where his mother had been the organist for many years.
professional and a gentleman - warm and kind, fun, generous,
loving and hospitable, and a happy man, thanks to his wife Gill, Chris Reynolds (78)
with her never-failing strength and ever-present love. For all Son

ALFRED FERREYROS By the late 1960s, and thirty years after leaving Ratcliffe, Alfred
was already an established businessman. He was well known
OLD RATCLIFFIAN 1928 - 1933 throughout Peru and had served as the head of Peru’s Central
Bank under President Belaunde. We had never met before 1968,
I first met Alfred in Lima, Peru, our only common link being Ratcliffe, and even that being over a
in early May 1968. It was my generation apart.
first ever contact with Latin
America. My wife, Mandy, Alfred was a kind and generous person with impeccable manners
and I were about to start and courtesy. His memories from his years at Ratcliffe in the early
an overseas volunteering 1930s were especially fond ones, and he was always interested
assignment in Peru. The to learn how the School had developed after he had left. We kept
initial introduction had been in touch following my return to the United States in 1969. I have
made by Fr Claude Leetham since made numerous visits to Peru, most recently in August
(15), former Headmaster at 2015, when I visited his widow, Rosita, and their home in Lima.
Ratcliffe and a ‘peritus’ at Alfred’s final years were difficult ones. During a lengthy illness,
the Second Vatican Council; with his health steadily declining, he was looked after with great
he had known Alfred and his affection and devotion by Rosita and their children. Alfred died
younger brothers, George on May 7th 2015 at the age of 98, and he was buried in the British
(38) and Ernest (33), since Cemetery in Callao, the port of Lima. We extend our deepest
their days at Ratcliffe in condolences to Rosita, as well as to Alfred’s surviving children
the early 1930s. Alfred had kindly agreed to finance our first and families, following his passing.
‘exposure’ to Spanish at a language school in Lima. It was a first
acquaintance that was to be the beginning of a long friendship Eugene McCarthy (61)
with Alfred and his family that lasted nearly half a century.

PETER JAMES CLARK Ratcliffe, where he, again, did well academically and on the
sports field. He had now successfully shaken off the legacy and
OLD RATCLIFFIAN 1950 - 1954 scars of his turbulent family upbringing.

My brother, Peter, was the Peter left Ratcliffe to become apprenticed to Ericson’s
youngest of the three of us, Telephones in Basford, Nottingham, which provided him with
with Margaret and myself. He a sound background in electrical engineering. This stood him
was born in 1937 at Colwick, in good stead for his next employment at Hudson and Carter
near Nottingham. He had in Chilwell, Nottingham, which specialised in the world of
timed his arrival, therefore, commercial camera surveillance systems. This saw him travelling
to coincide with a world of the world in pursuit of sales. Then came Peter’s master stroke. He
imminent war, ration books, indulged himself in a management buyout and, a few years later,
fasting and abstinence. This sold out to another firm. He told me that, during his train journey
was further complicated by from Nottingham to London to meet the new Board of Directors,
an internal marital breakdown his shoes started to feel uncomfortable. When he looked down
in the family. The omens were at his feet, he saw that he was wearing one brown shoe and one
inauspicious, but he survived. black shoe. On emerging from St Pancras, a rapid appointment
He attended Grace Dieu, with a shoe shop was in order!
where he excelled both in the
classroom and in sporting Peter was now able to retire and indulge his passion for Jaguar
activities, and then went to classic cars. He also owned a boat and sailed extensively on the

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