Thank you to Phil Court (Current Staff) for sending in this serendipitous story of two Birt Boys meeting by chance recently thanks to the Bishops' Mitre.
Phil wrote: "Khelan Dheda (Birt House Grade 10) recently set off for his exchange to Belmont Hill School in Boston. He arrived at Logan Airport wearing his Bishops cap when an OD in the airport recognized the badge and greeted him. The OD was William Gray, the first Head of House of Birt House."
Phil then sent an email to Tom Fair (past maths teacher) to ask him if he remembered Will, to which Tom wrote the following:
"Dear Phil
Thanks for your email and picture. William Gray was the founder Head of House of Birt House. I also taught him maths in the top set for 5 years, and in the last two years we formed a trust fund for those in the class that wanted to join. It was a great set with the usual variety of characters. William, Gavin Watson, Assistant House Master, and I got on very well and worked hard in the first year establishing an identity for the House.
William, besides being very bright also had a great sense of humour and I still, to this day remember him every time I hear the phrase ‘time flies’. There was a broken clock in Gray House lying on the floor of the rec room and he picked it up and spun it across the room to a mate saying ‘time flies’. At that moment the housemaster walked in and dragged William off to his study and beat him six for damaging school property.
Best regards
Tom"
