J. Adrian Hope (G 69-76) looks back on events.

“I was head boy on Grindal when Tony and Elizabeth Cotes were in charge. They both came as guests to my wedding back in 2000, when Tony said the Grace in Latin, a memorable occasion! After I left St Bees, I attended Newcastle Polytechnic and gained a degree in Business Studies before entering the family business (soft-furnishing retail shops). I had previously joined a large fabric manufacturer, Rosebys in Sheffield, and then returned to the family firm full of ideas. My late father, J. Stanley Hope, who will be known to many OSBs as the instructor and coach of Clay Shooting, a fifth form pursuit for the CCF, for over twenty years, had another agenda for me. He was a gentleman of the old school of retailing and change was very uncomfortable for him. After many ‘boardroom spats’, I resigned amicably after five years. I now look back with great nostalgia, but at 25 you think that you know best, whereas in reality you often know very little.

I then went into the hospitality business along with a chef and opened a wine bar and restaurant and eventually night clubs and music venues. We then sold out and went our own ways. I ended up in London working with restaurants, then into a city business, London Wine Bars Ltd,. The call of Cumbria and the Lakes brought me home and I worked for Jennings Bros PLC at Cockermouth developing their managed house division. I had ten very happy years with them prior to their takeover by Marstons.

My next venture was to operate the Westlands Hotel Nightclub and Forum at Branthwaite, Workington. The business was Irish-owned and board meetings were never dull and usually took place in a pub with plenty of ‘the black stuff’. Very little was resolved though! I brokered the sale of the Westlands to a Manchester consortium, who eventually bulldozed the site. Who knows why?

In 2001 I remarried for the second time, to Jill, the ex-General Manager of the Westlands. In need of useful employment, I returned to my first trade, soft-furnishings, working from home with pattern books and specialising in curtains, loose covers, and upholstery. My home was near Kirkbride and we had outbuildings which we converted to storage and work space. I was subsequently approached by Plumbs of Preston to act as their agent in Cumbria, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and this proved a very rewarding collaboration.

In December 2013 I was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had emergency surgery at the RVI Newcastle. I remain eternally grateful to the NHS and have raised money for the Northern Centre for Cancer Care at the Freeman Hospital.
The long-term fall out from my illness has been dramatic. I was forced into early retirement, no longer able to spell or handle money. Following an amicable divorce, I sold my home and moved back to Carlisle. Having no driving licence, it was the only way forward. My sister and aged mother, along with my ex-wife, act as my carers. I consider myself blessed and would change nothing. Unfortunately, the cancer re-emerged in 2021 and was successfully treated by a new procedure called Static Radio Therapy.

My St Bees days are at the forefront of my memories. I was shaped and formed there into the person I am today. The likes of Sam ‘Lem’ Parkinson, ANR Dearle, David ‘Vas’ Lyall, Brian Howard, Tony Cotes and Alan Francis were truly men among men! How lucky we were and didn’t realise it at the time.”

 

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The St Beghian Society    
St Bees School,    St Bees,    Cumbria,    CA27 0DS.

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