Alick E Rowe (OH 1950 - 1957)
Friday 30 October 2009
Alick E. Rowe - OH and former HCS Master died at his apartment in Chiang Mai, Thailand on 30th October 2009A post mortem was conducted by the authorities and information sent to the British Consulate in Bangkok. It is understood that he suffered a heart attack.When a student at HCS, Alick was thoroughly involved in the life of the school, becoming a House Monitor in 1954, then a School Monitor a year later, finally being appointed Head of House as well as Captain of School (Head Boy) between 1956 -1957.AER was very keen on sport, being awarded Full Rugby Colours for 4 years in a row. He was pack leader for two seasons, later becoming Captain of the HCS 1st XV. He also belonged to the School Fives 1st IV team. Alick joined the CCF and was eventually elevated to the highest rank of Senior Under Officer at the end of his school career, taking full charge of the Corps before he left in 1957. As SEO, he had the honour of greeting Her Majesty The Queen and HRH Prince Philip on the occasion of their official visit to Hereford that same year.Alick was very much involved in the Dramatic Society whilst at HCS, acting in then producing School Plays. He was a founder member of The Somerset Society and Vice-President of the Debating Society as well as being elected School Librarian and Editor of The Herefordian.On leaving HCS to carry out his National Service, AER then won a scholarship to St Catherine's College, Cambridge. After training as a teacher he returned to his former school as a Master in 1963 where he taught English as his main subject. Alick also headed up the Drama Dept. As well as encouraging students in the performing arts, Alick was also an author and playwright.He became a prolific writer of short stories and produced or adapted many plays, with a considerable number of his own radio plays broadcast by the BBC throughout the 1970's and 1980's.In 1998 he was convicted and jailed for 12 months, having admitted child indecency charges.Mr Rowe continued to work on his writing on his release, moving to Thailand where he was living at the time of his death.His body was taken to a Buddhist Temple in Chiang Mai on 3rd November 2009 and a funeral service was conducted on Wednesday 25th November 2009 followed by a cremation nearby.Below are some of AER's works:-PlaysCrisp and Even Brightly ( a comedic retelling of the Good King Wenceslas story )Operation Lightening Pegasus ( about the siege of Troy )TV productionsThe Prime of Miss Jean BrodieUp School ( 1970 )Two People ( 1979 )Claire ( 1982 )A Sort of Innocence ( 1987 )BooksMorgan's BoyThe Panic WallVoices of DangerTrappedplus 2 Derek Dungbeetle storiesAlick also wrote a book entitled ' Boy at the Commercial ' which is quite poignant. It is about a portrait of life at a pub in Hereford, where he lived for the first 16 years of his life.