Newtown High School Class of 75 Reunion Rhys Thomas

Rhys Thomas

Life after 6th form:
After leaving school, in 76, I Studied Physics at Loughborough University but as with most academic tasks I tended to coast and rely on last minute revision but such an approach didn't work this time and I came out with a 2II. I have always had a deep interest in fundamental Physics and possibly spent too long reading papers on that rather than the subjects I should have studied.

I was lucky to spend one year of the course in Grenoble, France. It is full of old buildings and bars and is in an amazing setting amongst the mountains. I would wake to the sight of the snow curling off the peaks. This was a fantastic experience both socially and educationally. It not only improved my French but gave me wonderful memories and my love of France. It also introduced me to skiing, that I have enjoyed ever since. Unfortunately I injured my knee playing rugby there and never played seriously again.

In 83 I moved back to Loughborough to marry Jane who was a secretary in the Physics Dept. I fell for her smile on first sight. Getting together (after Uni) almost didn't happen, I had asked her to Coventry to see Life Of Brian but I was waiting at the Railway Station while she paced at the Bus Station. Despite this stuttering start, over the years we have had good marriage. The day before we married I planted a cherry tree but in the first year the leaves fell off. That had me worried but it leafed in the second and bore fruit in the third.

I took up squash for a few years until my early 30s but I was never particularly good, but this had its advantages as there tended to be more ladies in the lower leagues!

Work:
My career on leaving Uni has always been computer oriented, writing technical software for signal processing and controlling measurement instruments as well as designing them. Immediately after Uni, I worked for BL-Technology, developing computerised engine-testing.

On moving back to Loughborough in 83 (to marry) I had a short spell as a teacher of Maths & Computer Studies. I was dropped in the deep end and had to learn to teach fast (providing much hilarity for the kids, eg. trying to open the classroom door with my car keys or sitting on my briefcase on the chair). The school was in one of the most deprived areas in Leicester and so teaching was a real challenge (a euphemism for bleeding awful) but I had rewarding experiences when children were turned round and worked to achieve something for themselves. Looking back I can now see how privileged we were at Newtown High School.

With my love of fundamental Physics I attempted to have published a paper on black-holes but following its initial rejection and partly because of teaching and marriage commitments I never found the time to resubmit it. My bent for practical computing kept coming through in that I made such things as a digital camera and so eventually I returned to industry.

I joined Rolls Royce Aero at Derby in 85 and worked on vibration analysis of aero-engine test results. I also designed faster analysis systems based on array processors. I eventually lead teams to develop such things as an advanced Laser Anemometry system. I presented various papers at conferences on these developments, leading to me having a job interview in Denmark. The city of Copenhagen was very attractive but I could not see myself and Jane settling there, particularly as we then had just had George.

In 95 I joined a company that specialised in making signal processing boards and lead their software team. They eventually moved their emphasis to telecoms and I left in 2000 to join Taylor Hobson, the company I am still with despite "downsizing". I specialise in writing mathematical software and these days it is hard to find computer graduates with the mathematical capability to be considered for employment. This gives me a certain security in the job and I am hence well rewarded for it.

More life:
When my Father died in 85 (aged 83, he had me when he was 54!) we eventually bought a lovely house in Belton village and have lived there ever since. George came along in 93 and filled our lives in a different way. We are lucky to have a top class primary school in the village. I did my four years as a Governor of the school but was glad to complete it. Afterwards I ran a K'Nex club, which was great fun. We built models to compete on television in Technogames (an Olympics for robots). I also built up and ran the village Youth Club but George hated it (!) for this reason together with lack of parental help I eventually folded it.

George is now at Secondary School and is about to move into the equivalent of our fourth year and is just discovering girls. We have just bought him his first suit for his end of year Prom and he looks very handsome with his shoulder length hair. He will break a few hearts.

At 46 I had a season playing cricket for the village team but after glancing a very fast ball onto my eyebrow closing the eye completely I sensibly retired. George on the other hand is turning out to be a fantastic bowler and shows great potential with the bat. Like his Mum he listens to instructions, unlike his Dad. He is not so good at rugby though as he hasn't quite the necessary aggression. I have been with him on two rugby tours, last year to Torquay and this year to Southern Ireland. They were great fun. On last year's tour we played a Dads V Lads match on the beach and just for an hour we Dads regained our youth.

Three years ago I was lucky to be able to reduce my working week to four days. The idea was to write books on K'Nex models. I have built several of the models but DIY seems to get in the way of the writing.

Like most people, work was punctuated by holidays and one with enduring memories was when Jane and I sailed up the Nile on a boat similar to that in "Death on the Nile". As the boat's final trip before retirement, when one couple woke to find their cabin floor in water they naturally assumed the worst. It turned out to be a fault with their air conditioning! Besides the man made wonders such as the pyramids, the natural ones were even more overwhelming. I stood apart one morning at the edge of the Sahara with just the distant sound of the main group some way behind. Truly timeless. It is only a coincidence that one of my favourite films is "The English Patient".

We have had several holidays in France but cycling in the Dordogne between the bastide towns was particularly enjoyable. It involved 15mile bike rides in the day to the next destination French hotel or old chateaux, with fantastic food and wine in the evening (the Dordogne is the region where the French themselves holiday to eat). One evening we ate on the sun terrace of an old chateaux that overlooked the surrounding countryside with the evening sun bathing everything in orange. As they say, it was simply magical.

Future life:

Not long after the reunion my life took a different path in that Jane and I will be separating as she has fallen for somebody else. I truly wish her happiness in her new relationship as life is too short to be miserable. I will be buying Jane's share of the house in which George and I will remain (although he needs less of me these days except as a taxi driver). Jane will stay with us until at least the end of Summer holidays and we will gradually tell George more. I didn't plan to have another mortgage at this time of life, I had almost paid off the first. Coincidentally, on recently passing our first house I noticed that the cherry tree had been cut down.

So what will I do now? Well I've thought of becoming a Greenpeace activist (an eco warrior) as a means of meeting a suitable partner! Strange how the mind works. I am trying to win a maths prize of several hundred thousand dollars, so who knows how things might turn out. At least I will feel freer to finish the K'Nex books and read some fundamental Physics. I intend to repeat the cycling holiday in the Dordogne, but this time I would like to do it with a companion that is interested enough to detour to see the nearby Troglodytic cave paintings.

Rhys