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Ivor Harrowven
An Appreciation by David Johnson It was a privilege for a number of us, representing the Association, to join in a service of celebration and thanksgiving held at Ivor John Harrowven was born on St Swithin’s Day 1933 during, legend has it, a thunderstorm. Whether this experience had any effect on his choice of career is uncertain. He grew up in In 1956 he married his life’s partner, Brenda and the union was blessed with a daughter, Judith, in 1958 and twin sons, John and David, born in 1964. In 1957 he joined the staff at the recently established But for Ivor, school was not all-consuming. He was a well-rounded individual and had many interests. Firstly, of course, he was a devoted family man. Then, for all his life he was a committed Methodist with a particular interest in the rural churches at which he regularly preached. He was keen on music, singing in a choir, was a Gilbert and Sullivan aficionado and an enthusiastic performer at the piano, often in the style of Eric Morecambe – “playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order.” He played Bridge and his sporting enthusiasms are well known. In 1999 when the Thorpe Grammar School Association was formed he came to the initial exploratory meeting and was unanimously invited to become chairman. Each year thereafter he offered to stand down but was prevailed upon by the committee to continue. This was not because no one else was unwilling or unable to do the job but because we all simply thought that Ivor was the best man for it - and we were right! It was largely due to Ivor’s skill in welding a disparate group of people together that the various reunions and other activities the Association organised turned out to be the success that they were. Ivor was proud of TGS - he believed it to be a good school and the formation of the TGS Association meant more to him than most of us understood. At the Thanksgiving Service, Rev Arthur Windridge said, “Many people will be grateful for knowing Ivor.” People say stuff like that don’t they? But there are many who can look back and remember an excellent teacher who was also a genuinely nice man. And when the opportunity came, more recently, to reacquaint with him we found that he was also a genuinely good man. A whole lot of us are grateful for knowing Ivor. More info: secretary@thorpe-grammar-school-assn.org.uk |
life of our chairman, Ivor Harrowven. Although many of us knew that he had been bravely bearing an incurable illness for some time, his passing, at home surrounded by a loving family, still came as a shock. He died on 17th July, two days after his seventy-third birthday. His last word was “September” – he was looking forward to his and his wife Brenda’s golden wedding anniversary. Ivor had many fine attributes and being a devoted husband, father and grandfather was just one.