I was very sad to hear of the passing of Rhodri de Lloyd (Everett House 1990-95) recently. He was a good friend from day one and throughout my time at Shiplake and I’m sorry that we lost touch after school. I remember him as one of life's great optimists, up for a challenge no matter how impossible the odds. It was this outlook plus his natural talents that made him such a formidable teammate and leader on the sports pitch at Shiplake. He relished being on the side from the small school that was taking on far larger opponents and fearlessly beating them. In the 1995 School prefects’ photo it is no surprise and a clear indication of where his heart lay that Rhodri turned up in sports kit.  He was a confident all-rounder and as Head of House he was determined that we were going to win as many of the inter-house sporting competitions as possible.  Rhodri’s key objective for the year was to take home the coveted Baldry Trophy; he achieved this in a friendly and inclusive way that the whole house got behind. Our trophy haul can be seen in the house photo from 1995.

Rhodri’s attempts at Shiplake to translate his successful approach on the sports pitch to the classroom had mixed results. Few could fault ‘Eye of the Tiger’ full blast on a stereo as part of pre-match psychological preparation for that first big tackle on your opposite number. Its’ utility five minutes before taking an A-Level exam however was questionable! As always you could never fault his enthusiasm and I know that Rhodri did well at University and built on this with post graduate qualifications. Most importantly and where Old Vikings seem to do well, the application of knowledge to problems in the real world, he had no problems.

Those who were fortunate enough to have been at Shiplake with Rhodri will also remember his keen sense of mischief possibly with an essence of frustration that this was never something that the teaching staff seemed to pick up on.  One of my favourite stories which nicely demonstrates this was recounted recently to me by Peter Roberts (Everett House 1990-95). It started when Rhodri received a musical greetings card for his birthday. This ignited his sense of fun and he could not resist taking it apart and hiding it well out of reach down the back of a bunk bed in one of the dorm rooms. The musical gadget which demonstrated some impressive endurance was so noisy that the occupants had to decamp to the floor of one of the other dorms until the battery ran out several days later.  As Head of House at the time Rhodri was asked to deliver a lecture to the whole house about the serious nature of this prank, he did so with great style and good humour leaving no one in doubt who was responsible.

I would commend the tributes paid to Rhodri and the wonderful photographs on the much-loved website to anyone that knew him during his time at Shiplake. Personally, I will always remember him in a well-worn Welsh rugby shirt over the top if his school uniform, rugby ball in hand up for a chat as long as it entailed some passing practice.