Bob Mr Clayesmore Mash moved last week from his 52 year home in Stourpaine to be near his son in Brighton. His connection with the school started in 1946 when aged seven he went to the prep school then in Charlton Marshall. From there to Iwerne and from there with a scholarship to Balliol Oxford in 1958.

Two degrees later, with a couple of jobs and a best-selling book under his belt, he returned to Iwerne in 1969 as the Biology teacher, taking over from his mentor Humphrey Moore. He retired from teaching in 2000 and then became chairman of the OCs.

As a teacher, he is fondly remembered. Among others, Louise Salmond Smith, now a head teacher herself, had Robert Marsh as her tutor."He never lost faith in me when others had become perhaps frustrated by my typical yet tedious teenage rebellion. Every child needs a champion he was mine."Hamish Dow remembers the Biology A-level class of 1978. Three took the exam, and the two who got As were Paul Fowler, who is now a professor at Aberdeen University, and Paul Bartlett, a Professor at Bristol University. "Not a bad conversion rate of students to professors," says Hamish.

His book "How To Keep Dinosaurs" was translated into many languages and sold 80000 copies. Of Clayesmore, he has only fond memories. "As a boy it was the pleasure and security it gave me, my parents were in Brazil. The school became my home and a very happy one. It was always relaxed,if there were rules they were loosely policed and my memories are of perpetual sunlight and laughter. Of course there was bullying, beating and the rest but they are not part of my memory. It was a place where you could learn but they didn't force you.It was my choice."

Happy Days, A good life, And now a new chapter by the seaside.

Hugh Thompson