Old Boy Andrew Simpkin has pursued a highly creative career path since leaving Merchant Taylors’ Schools in 1985. As well as being a recognised artist, Andrew is a bilingual Novelist (in English and French), and a Literary Translator.
It is in his capacity as a Literary Translator that Andrew has recently adapted the classic novel “Les Rois Maudits” (“The Accursed Kings”) by eminent French Novelist Maurice Druon, into an English language version. Druon, who died in 2009 at the age of 90, won many literary awards and was a member of the prestigious Académie Française.

Druon is best known for “Les Rois Maudits”, a series of seven historical novels that were originally published in the 1950s. The novels were subsequently adapted for French television in the 1970s and then again in 2005. Such is the impact of his writing that popular Fantasy Fiction Writer George RR Martin, credited Druon’s novels as the inspiration behind his own series of novels “A Song of Ice and Fire”, which became the hugely successful “Game of Thrones” television series.

Andrew’s much anticipated English language adaption of Druon’s novel is now available from publisher HarperCollins under the title “The King Without a Kingdom”.
Andrew comments:
“Translating this work has been both a constant source of fascination, thanks to the insights it gives into the Hundred Years War from the French perspective, and also a huge challenge because of its never-ending sentences and technical, medieval language. This volume of “Les Rois Maudits” also contains the longest, most extraordinary monologue in modern literature!”
For further information on Andrew’s forthcoming publication, please go to:
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780007491377/the-king-without-a-kingdom …

A Rewarding Career: Michael Pinder and the Bank of England

I have worked at the Bank of England since September 2013. As the central bank, the Bank is a unique organisation at the heart of economics, public policy and current affairs.

After leaving Merchants in 2008 I initially read geography at the University of Leeds. I decided to leave Leeds after one oxbow lake too many. As I am interested in a number of social sciences, I was spoilt for choice when choosing a degree. I then read Law at the University of Liverpool. Law is a fascinating discipline as the rule of law provides the framework within which individuals, companies and governments must operate.

But how did I go from a Law degree to the Bank? One of my optional module choices was Banking Law. This module covered the role of the Bank and the evolution of financial regulation. In the aftermath of the recent financial crisis, this module was very interesting and triggered my interest in the Bank.

My first role was in banking supervision in the Prudential Regulation Authority (which is part of the Bank). Through this role I learnt about the financial sector and how to identify and analyse different risks. One highlight of the role was a work trip to New York (someone had to do it!). I then moved to a policy role focused on the resolution of banks. During the financial crisis some banks were subject to unpopular taxpayer bailouts. These banks can be considered ‘Too Big To Fail’. Working to make banks resolvable illustrates how the Bank is tasked with dealing with key public policy questions. It is highly motivating to be making a difference and working for the public good.

It was a pleasure to revisit Merchants and speak to current Economics pupils in November. I feel that Merchants has provided me with a strong grounding for my life through excellent teachers and activities such as the Combined Cadet Force and sport. I’ve also made friends for life and enjoy going to alumni events to keep in touch with my fellow Old Crosbeians. Crescat Crosbeia!

Michael Pinder with Head of Economics Mr Farrell and Mr Kay

Michael with MTS Sixth Form Economists

Mad about the Bard

One year ago, Merchants’ Old Boy Pat Reid (1986 Leaver) launched a free online magazine devoted to England’s greatest writer, William Shakespeare.

Launched to coincide with Shakespeare’s 450th birthday on 23 April 2014, Shakespeare Magazine quickly found readers all over the world – not bad for a publication initially put together in a bedroom in Bristol.

“At first I was working on the mag in my kitchen,” Pat says, “but then I had to move into the bedroom because the Wi-Fi signal was stronger!”

Born in Crosby, Pat grew up in Hightown and attended Merchants’ from 1977-86. A journalist for more than 20 years, he first specialized in music, then cinema, and now Shakespeare.

“My education at MTS played a big part in my appreciation of Shakespeare,” he says, “thanks to great English teachers like Jeremy Le Podevin, Chris Price and Andrew Rice-Oxley. I also benefitted from excellent history teachers Mr Gambles and Mr Murphy.”

Two of Pat’s younger brothers – Kiron and Julian – also attended the school. Kiron became a lecturer at Liverpool University, while Julian now works for Oxford University Press, based in Italy. Pat’s sister Liz attended MTGS and now teaches at a school in Southport.

Currently working on the seventh issue of Shakespeare Magazine, Pat is still in close touch with many good friends from school.

“It’s interesting that so many of us became writers and journalists,” he says. “Personally I feel very lucky and privileged because I get to immerse myself in the world of Shakespeare every day.”

Read all six free issues of Shakespeare Magazine here: http://issuu.com/shakespearemagazine

Bruce Moffat (1956 Leaver)

An Engineering Research Career in Broadcasting

I started in Merchants’ aged 9 in 1947, already sketching TV cameras on dollies, and when I was 11 I was offered a part in a play at the Liverpool Playhouse; I’d been seen by Gerald Cross, the producer there, in Dear Octopus with the Blundellsands ADS. Six weeks off school was needed but there was legally insufficient tutoring available for me and so, much to my relief, I didn’t do it. Instead the boy’s part was played by a girl, Beryl Bainbridge (later Dame Beryl Bainbridge) who was 16 and had left our Girls’ School and become a member of the repertory company. An exciting spin-off was my tiny ‘extra’ part in the film Waterfront, set in Liverpool – see it free on YouTube; the engineering and technology in the making of the film fascinated me.

Techniques involved in theatre, film, television, radio, recording and, above all, music in all of those media greatly stimulated me. I saw myself backstage rather than trembling before a live audience. I sang in the school choir and I stage-directed several school plays and made numerous recordings and films using borrowed state of the art equipment. Through this and experience in CCF Signals I learned about electronics, enough to make me realize that I wanted to become an electronics engineer. With a State Scholarship I went to Keble College Oxford to read Engineering Science. All of this prepared me well to apply successfully for an engineering job in the BBC in 1959 in the pioneering days when engineers had a big say in running broadcasting, but I didn’t take up the job. Instead I stayed at Oxford to pursue a doctorate in microwave electronics, specifically to study the design and testing of dielectric-loaded linear electron accelerator structures; ‘linacs’ have many applications in nuclear physics and medicine. I must admit I stayed partly because my girlfriend Anne Phillips, now my wife for 52 years, was a nurse at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford.

In 1962 the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I saw in New Scientist a job advert for a musical engineer in BBC Research Department at Kingswood Warren in Surrey; I just knew I was right for the job and to my delight the BBC appointed me. Their decision was partly because I gave the ‘right’ answer about the acoustics of Liverpool Philharmonic Hall – they’re good! But there was a snag: I didn’t complete my DPhil until 1964 and so it was studio acoustics by day and microwave electronics by night! My wife and the BBC were enormously helpful in the production of my thesis.

One of my first tasks at Kingswood Warren was to make a stereo sound recording of the opera Turandot from a ‘clean feed’ of the left and right signals from the desk in Covent Garden for use in assessing the acoustics of the newly refurbished Royal Opera House. One of my last tasks in the BBC in 1990 was to help to make a digital TV recording in high-definition with surround sound of the ballet The Prince of the Pagodas at Covent Garden, starring Darcey Bussell. In between those tasks lay the better part of 30 years in engineering research in broadcasting. After studio acoustics I worked on video tape recording and then spent 1968-70 as R&D Manager of Ilford Zonal, developing magnetic tape, disc and film products. Returning to BBC Research in 1970 I worked on digital audio and video signal transmission including NICAM. I was gradually promoted in the 1970s, heading sections dealing with baseband transmission systems and storage/recording, moving to head Studio Group in the early 1980s focused on all-digital studios and HDTV, and finishing up as Head of Research Department in 1984. The Department covered all areas of broadcast engineering and had about 200 staff, 100 of them professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; today it has bases in London and Salford.

In the mid-1980s the BBC came close to launching Direct Broadcasting of TV by Satellite using higher-power Olympus satellites before deciding to hold back for commercial reasons while Rupert Murdoch began his satellite broadcasts using lower-power satellites designed for telecommunications, not broadcasting. Fortunately receiver sensitivity was rapidly improving so comprehensive satellite broadcasting using lower power became practicable. Much of the technology used in these and many other kinds of broadcasting system emanates commercially from BBC R&D.

I retired from the BBC in 1991. Looking back I can see that my training as a chartered engineer gave me wonderful experiences, and a very good salary, working in the UK and abroad alongside stimulating people ranging from brilliant ‘back-room boys and girls’ to ‘front of camera’ stars like Peter Gabriel and David Attenborough.

Floating Doctors

To conclude my final year at medical college I had the opportunity to study abroad for two months (known as an “elective”).  I chose to go to  Panama,  Central America, working for Floating Doctors. Floating Doctors is a non-profit organization, based in Bocas Del Toro, a small island just off Panama, founded in 2010 by Dr. Benjamin La Brot, a native Southern Californian in response to the enormous demand for healthcare around the world he had seen through his travels. Floating Doctors now acts as the primary healthcare provider to just over 25 key areas over a 500 square mile radius, delivering medical care to remote towns in the Archipelago de Bocas Del Toro region.

Floating Doctors follows a well-organised schedule in terms of how and where it delivers healthcare. Operating on a two week schedule, the first week is divided into alternating days of visiting a nursing home called The Aceilo, and travelling to smaller islands by boat setting up what is known as a single day clinics. The second week involves longer multi day clinics, servicing distant extremely remote areas, spending several days in one community.

I had read of this schedule beforehand but didn’t appreciate the level of organization required to produce the smooth running of these days. Setting up a single day clinic involved transporting all the medical equipment from the mainland via boat to these isolated communities. This included large boxes containing the “mobile pharmacy” with a variety of drugs, from simple pain relief to anti-hypertensive medication. Once we arrived at an island we had to transport all the medical equipment and drug supplies to the “Rancho”, a central community point where we would run the clinic that day. The clinic consisted of a general admin table where patients would register, and if they had been seen before their medical records from previous admissions were looked at. Then there were 3-4 intake stations, where the patients’ vitals (blood pressure, temperature and heart rate) were recorded and a brief history of the problem taken. The doctors, myself included, then manned Provider Stations, where we would compile the information from the previous stations as well as ask further questions and carry out more specific examinations or investigations, to lead to a diagnosis and treatment plan.

Multi day clinics followed the same pattern but as the communities were located much further away from the mainland so rather than returning after one day we would run the clinic over three days and stay within the community.

The main thing I really enjoyed about the multi day clinic was how involved we were with the community. The communities were often fairly small and centred around the main Rancho. Sleeping arrangements were in the form of a hammock tied up around the clinic or between two strong looking trees! Our meals were provided and cooked by one of the families in the community who was often the contact for Floating Doctors. When I say meals I mean rice and beans, which we ate for lunch and dinner for four days!

The main benefit of running the multi day clinic, apart from the fact we were providing healthcare to such remote areas, was that we were able to run a follow up clinic on the last day. Therefore if we had seen patients on the Wednesday or Thursday and felt they would benefit from seeing the doctor one more time before we left, then we were able to ask the patient to come back to the clinic on the Friday. Most of the time these patients were children who either had a rash or viral infection, and after starting them on medication we were able to see if they were improving.

The volume of patients at these multi day clinics was overwhelming. When we arrived to set up the clinic families were already waiting asking us what time we were open. Often when we woke up there was already a huge queue of people waiting to be seen before we had even started.

Medical equipment to record basic vitals (e.g. blood pressure cuffs) was  available but diagnostic tools were limited to urine dip, blood sugar monitoring, pregnancy testing, hematocrit level and one of the most useful tools, a portable ultrasound scan. Situations did arise where a simple full blood count including full blood count and liver function tests etc. was vital, but was however unavailable. This is something we don’t think twice about requesting back in the hospitals in the UK, and it really made me appreciate how useful this testing can be.

Once a community had been seen whether in the form of a single day or multi day clinic they would then be visited by the floating doctors’ team in three months time. I often found this difficult to comprehend that there was no real way of checking to see if the patients were ok. You had to be very sure in your diagnosis in the first place and you were not sending a baby away who you suspected had a fever but actually had meningitis.

Children ranging from a few months old to 10 years were the most common age group that presented in the clinics. I particularly enjoyed this considering paediatrics is an interest of mine. Mothers who were not much older than myself would often bring 3-6 of their children all to be seen, and often the clinics felt like a nursery. Worms, back pain secondary to dehydration and manual labour were also common, not unexpectedly given the lifestyle of many of the families.

My time with floating doctors was unforgettable, enabling me to work with an inspiring team and have lots of fun along the way. It was interesting to work alongside lots of other medical professions from all different levels as well as different countries, and compare the way we have been taught. Floating doctor has allowed me to gain valuable insight into tropical medicine and the options of studying medicine in a different country.

Charlotte O’Brien (2007 Leaver)

N.B. Merchant Taylors’ Old Girls Association was pleased to assist Charlotte with funding towards her trip, which helped pay for her flight.

Working in Maritime Rescue

Inside the MRCC co-ordinating an incident

Since joining the Coastguard some 5 years ago now, whilst still at University in Aberystwyth, my time in the service, if nothing else has been varied. I am a Coastguard Rescue Officer at the Liverpool and Crosby Team. This covers an area from Ainsdale all the way along the coast, including the Dock systems, to Runcorn Bridge. I am on call 24/7, 365 days of the year and this can be to any number of different incidents, from a missing person on the beach all the way to the Yellow Duck incident last Summer. However, this is all voluntary, and we all have full time jobs. It just so happens to be that my full time job is also with the Coastguard as a Watch Officer in the Maritime Rescue Co-Ordination Centre based in Hall Road.

The station last year coordinated near to 4000 incidents around our Search and Rescue Region: from the Point of Ayr, North Wales around the coast to the Mull of Galloway, Southwest Scotland including the Irish Sea, waters around the Isle of Man and the four main lakes in the Lake District. The Watch Officers listen to the maritime distress channel as well as answering 999 calls for coastal incidents including lost children, people fallen off cliffs and people stuck in the mud. The list is truly endless.

The Mud & Water Rescue Unit at the Pier Head

These operators co-ordinate the rescue mission and draw up search instructions for any Search and Rescue units that are tasked, be that Lifeboat, volunteer Coastguard Teams, Helicopters or any passing vessels. As an example, a man over board in the Irish Sea at 11pm at night on a cold January evening with howling winds can be very challenging (speaking from experience). To create the search instruction it is necessary to work out the casualty’s drift pattern taking into consideration tide and wind speed and direction amongst other factors.

We work in watches for 12 hour shifts working 2 days, 24 hours off then 2 nights then have 3 full days off, working an 8 day week. Working in challenging situations makes the team bond quicker and the brew at the end tastes that bit sweeter when you have located a lost vessel all safe and well and returned them to shore.

Daniel Jamson (2009 leaver)

Lt Cdr Gareth Mawdsley RN (MTBS 1990-97)

I joined the Royal Navy 17 years ago, straight from school, and conducted basic training at Britannia Royal Naval College and in a variety of warships around the world.  After passing my Fleet Board, I went on to read Geography at Cambridge, whilst being paid as a University Cadet (which was nice!) and spending my summers at sea.

On returning to the RN I completed my professional training as a Logistics Officer both at sea and ashore.  In the years since, my career has seen me deployed all over the world for operations and exercises, serving in a helicopter carrier, 4 frigates, 2 destroyers (including one being built on the Clyde), as well as spending time in American and Italian aircraft carriers, in landing ships with the Royal Marines, and ashore in the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

As a Logistics Officer I have had a wide range of roles: at sea ensuring everyone is fed, clothed, paid, disciplined and healthy; that audits, appraisals and accounts are correct; that spare parts are available for everything from missiles to toasters; and of course making sure that cocktail parties have enough Pimms!  This is all whilst managing a large and diverse department, being a Boarding Officer ready to jump out of a helicopter onto an Iraqi dhow, or being ready to take charge if there is a fire or flood.

Ashore, I have served as Executive Assistant to Admirals, Generals and Air Marshals, getting a behind-the-scenes look at decision-making in Whitehall, operational headquarters and procurement and support agencies.  Along the way I have worked with NATO and the EU, and alongside the Army and RAF, for example managing the flow of people and stores in and out of Afghanistan, all of which are fascinating exposés to the way different organisations (and nationalities) do things.

A career in the Armed Forces will always be what you make it: I have loved the fun, the variety and the responsibility that it has brought me.

I joined the Royal Navy 17 years ago, straight from school, and conducted basic training at Britannia Royal Naval College and in a variety of warships around the world.  After passing my Fleet Board, I went on to read Geography at Cambridge, whilst being paid as a University Cadet (which was nice!) and spending my summers at sea.

On returning to the RN I completed my professional training as a Logistics Officer both at sea and ashore.  In the years since, my career has seen me deployed all over the world for operations and exercises, serving in a helicopter carrier, 4 frigates, 2 destroyers (including one being built on the Clyde), as well as spending time in American and Italian aircraft carriers, in landing ships with the Royal Marines, and ashore in the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

As a Logistics Officer I have had a wide range of roles: at sea ensuring everyone is fed, clothed, paid, disciplined and healthy; that audits, appraisals and accounts are correct; that spare parts are available for everything from missiles to toasters; and of course making sure that cocktail parties have enough Pimms!  This is all whilst managing a large and diverse department, being a Boarding Officer ready to jump out of a helicopter onto an Iraqi dhow, or being ready to take charge if there is a fire or flood.

Ashore, I have served as Executive Assistant to Admirals, Generals and Air Marshals, getting a behind-the-scenes look at decision-making in Whitehall, operational headquarters and procurement and support agencies.  Along the way I have worked with NATO and the EU, and alongside the Army and RAF, for example managing the flow of people and stores in and out of Afghanistan, all of which are fascinating exposés to the way different organisations (and nationalities) do things.

A career in the Armed Forces will always be what you make it: I have loved the fun, the variety and the responsibility that it has brought me.

My Business- Moon Times by Rachael Hertogs

I left Merchant Taylors in 1988 straight after my GCSE’s, I’d had enough of school and was eager to get out in to the real world! Well it turned out the ‘real world’ was tougher than I imagined; I had a go at a few jobs and left a couple of college courses and tried a ‘grown up’ relationship. Four years later I was a single mum of 2 children but I had the seed of a business idea that would take many years to blossom!

Since being a child I had loved nature and cared about animals and the planet. I became vegetarian at 12 and urged my parents to think about recycling and reusing before it became the norm! One of my favourite books I read at school was Anne Frank- and this quote always stayed with me “Whenever I have my period, I have the feeling that in spite of all the pain, discomfort and mess, I’m carrying around a sweet secret. So even though it’s a nuisance, in a certain way I’m always looking forward to the time when I’ll feel that secret inside me once again.” Anne Frank  The fascination I had with womens relationships to their periods started young!

It was totally natural to me to use cloth nappies for my children and chemical free products for their skin, but it took a while for me to think about the products I used for myself- especially sanitary products! Remember the 80’s advertising? It was all about tampons, roller blading, taking pain killers and blue dye on pads! The message was clear-  shove in a tampon, take a pill and get on with life- but my body told me to rest, regenerate and reflect at that time of the month.

One day as I was flushing  a tampon down the toilet I wondered if there was such a thing as reusable menstrual products? Well this was before Google, so I did some research, found a few menstrual health books that had addresses of companies that made cloth pads- in the USA and Australia, nothing in the UK at all. I sent off for a set and received a pack of lovely soft cloth pads that were very bulky and fastened with a belt- I was a bit disappointed as they looked very old fashioned, but they worked well and I enjoyed the freedom of not spending money on products each month!

After a few months I decided to have a go at making my own, something sleeker, with wings, and with only my basic sewing skills learned at school and choosing pretty coloured and patterned cotton flannelette I made my own pads They felt more like attractive underwear than a huge wad of fabric! Then I began making pads just for friends and family and the first inkling of my business began. After experimenting with various designs over the years I have created (what I think is) the perfect pad that has wings for extra security, fastens easily and quickly with press studs and comes with a variety of ‘inserts’ for different flows! I named my business Moon Times, and hoped that through using cloth pads women would become more connected to their own ‘Moon Time’.

I left Crosby and moved to Bristol where I connected with the local Women’s Environmental Network group and Friends of the Earth, both great places to meet ‘green minded’ women who might be interested in my cloth pads. I also met a like minded mum at school and set up a ‘Healthy Cycles’ course, teaching women ways to connect to their cycle and enjoy it rather than see it as a ‘curse’ that needs to be suppressed with painkillers and pills. Women from these groups were my first customers and I began to have more confidence in attempting to sell to the public. I made little mail order flyers that went in to health food shops and advertised in a couple of small magazines and I was content with a few orders a year, sewn in my kitchen on my grandmothers old hand machine!

Looking back I am happy to say the resistance women had when I first started mentioning the idea of reusable sanitary wear has changed a lot over the years. My mother was horrified-it reminded her of the ‘rags’ of her youth, and many women would say “oh, how disgusting” , to which I would answer “whats more disgusting than a pile of landfill filled with thousands* of ‘disposable’ sanitary products that may take 500 years to decompose?”

Reusables have become more mainstream, most women having heard of the Mooncup and many more mums using cloth nappies, and most of us are happy to find products that save us money, and even better if they have the health benefits of no chemicals, irritants or bleaches.

When my daughter grew into a menstruating young woman- I gave her a gift of a set of Moon Times pads- at first she was unsure, having been given the free packs and the information (from a certain tampon company) at school and the slight brainwashing of ‘periods are dirty, blood should be hidden away’, but of course she had grown up with me as her mum and soon embraced her Moon pads- she even took them to a sleepover and soon her friends were asking me to make them!

I still sew some of the pads myself but also outsource and have some students and single parents working for me. I was a single mum when I began the business and so it feels really good to support lone mums in this way. Work is flexible and they are able to work from home making the pads in their own time.

While I was in Bristol I visited a few schools, giving talks to girls about my products and the different ways they could celebrate their first period. The feedback was fantastic- they loved the pads saying how pretty they were and so much more attractive than the ‘huge sticking plaster pads’ their mums had shown them! Last year I published a book to help young women and their mums celebrate their first period- Menarche, A Journey into Womanhood is available on my website and Amazon.

I now have a baby & a toddler so I only work part time, I keep my work to the day time in school hours where possible and try to keep weekends as ‘family time’. I have learned to say ‘no’ to work when I know life will become to busy and stressful- if I want to keep myself de-stressed, I need to keep a healthy balance of home and work life!

I am enthusiastic about all aspects of my business; I also teach workshops (menstrual health and mum and daughter days) and Reiki. I run a women’s moon lodge and red tent.  I love being able to encourage and empower people to make positive changes in their lives. Expanding my sales of Moon Times products to include panty liners, moon sponges and cups, books, moon charts and other products helps me to encourage women to make a small difference environmentally and raise awareness around taking steps to be more eco-friendly- which is a cause I have been passionate about all my life! And yes, I still use my own pads! I have happily used my cotton pads since 1989, for me washing them helps me ground and connect to my cyclic nature.

www.moontimes.co.uk

Moon Times Mission Statement:

At Moon Times: We empower women in body appreciation, environmental awareness and self-respect through the use of eco menstrual products. 

We believe a healthy appreciation of our bodies and ourselves as women can be learnt through menstruation. 

We believe when women are aware of the benefits of a sustainable, healthy, economically viable and comfortable alternative, they appreciate the contribution they can make by choosing alternative menstrual products. 

We also believe women deeply appreciate learning about alternative and positive ways to think about their bodies.

* The Women’s Environmental Network estimate each women uses between 12-15,000 sanitary products in their life time, this figure is rising due to daily use of incontinence products and panty liners. Plastic backed pads take up to 500 years to decompose, a tampon takes 6 months.

Rachael now lives in the Wilds of West Wales with her husband and two youngest children, bees, chickens and ducks!