Duke of York School Nairobi

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The Duke of York School in Nairobi, Kenya (in more recent times known as Lenana School) was founded in January 1949. This page will be of interest to Old Yorkists and Maroons - the term used to describe former students after the name changed ( I'm grateful to John Kariuki for putting me right about the term "changerians" which is , he says, a slang term coined by Kenya High girls!!)

The Where Are They Now sections of the site are updated at least fortnightly (the date at the bottom of this first page does not always reflect this). In an effort to counteract the spam web crawlers which seek out email addresses and send info automatically I have included the words ANTISPAM in all email addresses after the @ symbol. Please remove this word in order to obtain the correct email address.

This page was first developed in 1995 and from feedback received it is serving its main purpose- to put old boys and staff in touch with former students they have lost track of over the intervening years. Dave Lichtenstein, who assists me in compilation, and I have two major policies: 1. we regard our efforts as a service to past students and staff- no fee or subscription will be charged, so that access is always open to all and 2. no copyright policy is in place- you are free to download/ copy material as required. In return we would appreciate it if readers would refrain from putting to us commercial proposals involving the site.

There have been several requests for another reunion in the UK. John Tucker, who did such a magnificent job in organising the Taunton reunion in 1999, has bravely undertaken the task of organising the 2009 reunion. John's letter follows at the foot of this page. He has designed a "reply sheet" so that you can respond appropriately. It is available from me or from John at pukkatuck@ANTISPAMgmail.com

From Richard Tredget who, together with Mike Goble-Garratt, has kindly taken on distribution of :

Peter Doenhoff; Mitchell/Speke 1951 to 1956 and Member of Staff 1962 to 1972, has produced a history of the school. Peter has spent an enormous amount of time producing this work, and he hopes it will be available to purchase in the not too distant future.

Some of us have been provided with an advanced proof copy. He covers the years from Foundation at Government House in 1949, to the various reunions held in the UK, Perth Western Australia, and more recently the celebration of Mrs. Leslie James's (our first headmaster Mr. George (Pansy) James's wife) centenary birthday in South Africa.

Peter, who still lives near Mombasa, has obtained the information from personal accounts from Old Yorkists living in Kenya, School Magazines, local Newspapers and the Old Yorkist website, ably put on the net by Andrew (Bill) Hillier, (Grogan 1961 to 1966.) Topics included (though not necessarily in set sub-sections) will cover Amazons & Achievers, Corruption in Kenya, Discover & Research; the Environment, Pottermania ( he is a Pottermaniac and not ashamed to admit it! ) History, Cartoons, Music Festival & Theatre, Kenya Politics, South Africa, Sports, and Strangers in the House.

Due to the cost factor, it appears it will be cheaper to produce and print the magazine in Australia, and Mike Goble-Garratt (Grogan 1958 to 1961) has kindly offered to do this from the disk supplied by Peter.

Anyone interested in purchasing a copy please register your interest with Richard Tredget, (Lugard 1955/1958.) e-mail richpam@iprimus.com.au or 4 Kilkenny Gardens, Halls Head, Western Australia, 6210. Tel- (08) 95352934.

Alan Frank ( see entry under Mitchell 1954 for contact details) is planning to write a novel based on the first six years of the school. He would welcome correspondence with other OYs from that era.

A new A4 calendar is now available for 2008 entitled 'KENYA in Old Postcards'. Published by Kevin Patience who produced the two previous calendars Kenya Churches in 2003 and Kenya - Then and Now in 2005. The idea for this one came about during research for postcards of the East African railway system. The twenty-five captioned views cover the country from the coast to Lake Victoria using contemporary cards dating from the early 1900s to the 1950s. Kevin can be contacted on kjpatience@ANTISPAMhotmail.com

Another exciting project in the pipeline is the task of converting all available Old Yorkist magazines to electronic format (CD or DVD if necessary). As with many OY projects it was originally the brainchild of Dave Lichtenstein (I note that I have an email from him in 2000 proposing it!). The Diamond Jubilee activities have given further impetus to the idea and now Mike Garratt has agreed to use his expertise to undertake the massive task, scheduled for completion by the the UK OY reunion in 2009. For this we are extremely grateful and Mike's labours will leave a lasting legacy for the benefit of all old boys. Richard Tredget and Dave L have between them rustled up original copies of all Old Yorkist mags up to 1969 EXCEPT for 1949, 1954 and 1955. Anyone who has an original copy of these please email Richard on richpam@ANTISPMiprimus.com.au Obviously we would prefer "local" OYs (ie WA) if possible as posting would be easier. However we may need to go further afield in our search.

Ken Doig and I have for some time now considered arranging another OY reunion in the UK to follow up on the one we organised in 1999 for the school's 50th. Unfortunately, mea culpa, nothing has happened. However, a group of us have decided a reunion in the UK in the summer of 2009 to commemorate the school's diamond jubilee year seems totally appropriate and, depending on how well this proposal is received, will be arranged to take place in late June or early July of that year so as to coincide as closely as possible with the Kenya Regiment Association's annual lunch. We feel this will be an added incentive for Old Yorkists living outside the UK, who are also members of the Kenya Regiment Association, to attend.

n consideration of the fairly large number of former staff who still reside in the West Country we feel at present that we should hold the reunion at the same venue as previously. This was the Forte Posthouse Hotel in Taunton, Somerset. Another reason for favouring this venue is its close proximity to two other hotels which, in 1999, made accommodation for large numbers possible.

In need I'm sure lifts can be arranged for any Old Yorkists who are too old, infirm or simply unable to drive themselves to the venue.

The question of whether the event should be a lunchtime affair or a dinner, and whether it should be a formal sit down do or a stand up finger buffet, was mooted in 1999, and generally everyone seemed to prefer a stand up finger buffet and the opportunity to circulate amongst their friends and fellow Yorkists throughout the evening. As a result a stand up finger buffet was decided on, went down well, and will be repeated in 2009.

As before we and our fellow organisers feel it would be preferable for wives to be included, but much will depend on the scale of the response to this letter and the capacity of the venue to accommodate us all.

We are considering having available for sale at the event a supply of Old Yorkist ties and shields. The cost of each of these items will depend on demand.

We also intend to produce a Diamond Jubilee commemorative Old Yorkist magazine along the lines of that produced in 1999 for the school’s Golden Jubilee Year, but will need individual inputs from Old Yorkists for this to be a success. In 1999 many Old Yorkists sent me interesting potted biographies and/or anecdotes of life at school and I would appreciate it if these could be updated. If in 1999 you didn't get round to providing me with a potted biography, or current news of yourself, I shall be grateful if you could remedy this for our 2009 magazine so as to add interest and keep old friends and colleagues informed.

Meanwhile David Lichtenstein in Sydney, Australia, is exploring the possibility of scanning to CD a copy of all Old Yorkist magazines that were printed and making CDs available for sale on the day. (see below).

We would also like to know your views on whether or not the event should be used, as in 1999, to raise funds for worthwhile charities in Kenya. Then we raised Ł3,000 for the school but, for reasons that I cannot dwell on here, we were let down, so instead the funds were disbursed amongst AMREF (the flying doctor service) Ł1,000; the Askari Appeal (for ex KAR and Kenya Police askaris) Ł750; the Langalanga Scholarship Fund (created by Harry Viallou-Clark, ex St. Mary's, to provide educational opportunities for young disadvantaged Kenyans) Ł250; and Kilulu Limited, a charitable organisation in Kenya (with which Pete Doenhoff was and is closely associated) that provides accommodation for the elderly just north of Mombasa, Ł1,000. The success of that collection was due to the many gifts that were generously offered for auction by many Old Yorkists, including a lovely limited edition wildlife print of cheetahs donated by (sadly, the now late) Simon Combes and two other excellent signed prints of New Zealand floral scenes by Nancy Hobart-Tichborne that she and her husband, Brian, donated. It was also due to Hugh Peatling’s excellent auctioneering skills.

Actual details concerning the event such as cost, date, time and dress and also the cost of ties, shields, commemorative magazine and CDs will be advised in due course as will Hotel contact details and addresses so that you can arrange your own accommodation for the event. We will try to secure discounted rates for you.