Welcome to St Ambrose Old Boys' Association
SAOBA
Join SAOBA free here
Up for it?
How about a Helicopter Ride
before the 2010 Dinner?
Take off from the first team
pitch and see the new and the old St Ambrose schools from above!
A glimpse of the New St Ambrose
Architecture practice Sheppard Robson is preparing to
submit a planning application for the £20m St Ambrose Voluntary Aided College
in Trafford for builders Balfour Beatty.
Sheppard Robson's design features a central area that includes the chapel, dining, social and assembly areas. Cantilevering platforms on the upper levels support staff areas, library and ICT areas. The central space is visible at all points within the school, and all teaching areas are accessed directly from this space, shelving the need for internal corridors.
Inside the central space
Tony O'Brien, design director at Sheppard Robson, said: "Our primary
considerations when designing St Ambrose were to provide a high performance
school with cutting edge teaching facilities, and to ensure that the building
reflects the schools Catholic faith, expressing a strong sense of community.
"St Ambrose is comprised of four houses, with each student allocated a
house for the duration of their time at the school, reinforcing this sense of
community not just in the physical appearance of the school, but also in the way
it operates."
St Ambrose will also boast sports facilities, with the sports hall suspended
over the swimming pool.
The building is expected to be submitted for planning permission in May 2010, with completion in 2011. The project is being funded by the government's National Academies Framework Part 1.
From the air the floorplan resembles a circular cross
Heads for Pink Floyd
Graphic Design by Keith Breeden
Keith Breeden attended St Ambrose until 1974
Keith Breeden, Cover Design for the Division Bell, 1994
Graphic design until 1994: Album Art for ABC, Duran Duran, Scritti Politti,
The Mission, Roxy Music, The Cult, Pink Floyd
Music Week Awards: First Prize for Album Sleeve 1986
Music Week Awards: First Prizes for Single Sleeve 1985 and 1986
Since 1995, Portraitist, elected to the Royal Society of Portrait Painters
Brother Doyle Trophy
16th December 2009
Old Boys Victory
Tom King led the Class of 2009 Old Boys' XV to a blistering 19-0 victory against the school First XV
2009 Dinner
Peter Saville with Michael Thompson at the 2009 Dinner
2009 Dinner Pictoral Report (and Peter Saville Gallery)
15th Old Boys' Dinner
Saturday November 13th 2010
7 for 7.30pm St Ambrose College
Once again, for the LAST EVER time in the existing College buildings!
MC Peter Riley, Food by Nick Banks
Bar until Midnight
Before the dinner....Fancy a Helicopter Ride over St Ambrose?
2010 SAOBA Golf Day
Hale Golf Club, Friday 28th May 2010
Single Stableford Competition
18 (9 x 2) holes of Golf, Competitions, Prizes and 3 course Dinner
contact Peter Fitzpatrick
2009 Golf Day Report - click here
"Power Corruption and Lies"
Congratulations to the designer of St Ambrose's first
Royal Mail Stamp
Peter Saville attended St Ambrose 1967-1974
Some of the selected classic Album covers to be released as stamps
(from L to R, from albums by Blur, New Order, Led Zeppelin and Primal Scream)
October 2009: Former St Ambrose pupil Peter Saville's cover art for New Order's 1983 Album, "Power, Corruption and Lies" has been selected as one of a group of classic album covers to be made into Royal Mail Stamps
Fact 73: Peter Saville's 1983 cover for "Power, Corruption and Lies"
Peter Saville's design for the album had a colour-based code to represent the band's name and the title of the album, but they were not actually written on the sleeve itself. The decoder for the code was featured prominently on the back cover of the album.
The cover is a reproduction of the painting "A Basket of Roses" by French artist Henri Fantin-Latour, which is in the National Gallery of London's permanent collection. Peter Saville intended to create a collision between this overly romantic and classic image which made a stark contrast with the typography based on the modular, colour-coded alphabet he created solely for the band.
It is also said that the owner of the painting (The National Heritage Trust) at first refused Factory Records access to it. Tony Wilson, the head of the label, then called them up to ask who actually owned the painting and were given the answer that the Trust belonged to the people of Britain. Wilson then famously replied, "Well, the people of Britain now want it."
Peter Saville, Creative Director for Manchester
Los Angeles Times, April 2009 : Peter Saville on the Manchester Revolution
Matthew Norton
founder of SKCV
1952-2009
Matthew attended St Ambrose until 1968
In English: SKCV = Street Kids Community Villages;
In Hindi : SKCV = Sri Krishna Chaitanya Vidya Vihar Trust)
Memories of Matthew Manihara Norton
Obituary - The Guardian, 10 August 2009
The Hindu, India's National Newspaper,2nd June 2009
Street Kids' Community Villages SKCV UK
Graphic Design by Malcolm Garrett, RDI
Malcolm Garrett attended St Ambrose until 1974.
Royal Designer for Industry (RDI)
Visiting Professor at the University of the Arts in London
Creative Director of Dynamo London
Malcolm Garrett, Peter Saville and Keith Breeden took Art A level together,
and were taught by Mr Hancock
Sleeve designs for Buzzcocks, Simple Minds, Duran Duran
Garrett, Saville and Breeden
The British New Wave was born at a boys' school near Manchester
Malcolm, Peter . . . and Keith
[EXTRACT]
Over the years, Malcolm Garrett and Peter Saville have often mentioned in
interviews that they studied together at Manchester Polytechnic in the 1970s.
Less well known, though it sometimes comes up in passing, is that they also
attended the same school, St Ambrose College, an independent Catholic grammar in
Hale Barns, Cheshire. Barely remarked at all, however, is that Keith Breeden, a
third, not so renowned contributor to Britain’s graphic ‘new wave’, was a
member of the same A level art class. At school, as both Saville and Garrett
affirm, Breeden was a significant influence on them. The only known photograph
of the three fledgling designers in the school art room is printed tantalisingly
small in Saville’s recent monograph, "Designed by Peter Saville".
It’s odd, in a way, that more has not been made of this surprising confluence
of talent. In a class of just six teenagers taking Art, half of the group went
on to devote their efforts to album cover design and two became leading figures
with national and international reputations. Where many once-celebrated new wave
design teams of the early 1980s – Rocking Russian, Shoot That Tiger, Town and
Country Planning – are all but forgotten now, Saville and Garrett have stayed
the course. The national press coverage generated by the Saville monograph and
the Design Museum’s retrospective – even the ultra-highbrow London Review of
Books was moved to break its usual silence on design – confirmed just how
deeply his work affected those who consumed it at the time.
It’s still too early, though, to determine with any precision how significant
the impact of Garrett and Saville was for British design. Saville’s book and
exhibition excited impressionistic claims by journalists that his designs had
ignited a taste revolution in the high streets of Britain and, not surprisingly,
Saville was ready to agree . . .
With The Beatles
Lonnie Donegan attended St Ambrose until 1946
"He was the first person we had heard of from Britain to get to the coveted No. 1 in the charts, and we studied his records avidly. We all bought guitars to be in a skiffle group. He was the man." - Paul McCartney
McCartney, Harrison, Donegan and Starr
Paul McCartney, Lonnie Donegan, George Harrison & Ringo Starr
The Beatles' faces show how delighted they were to have their picture taken with Lonnie Donegan
Photographed at the wedding of Eric Clapton to Patti Boyd (former wife of George Harrison) May 19th, 1979.
Quite a girl!
Patti Boyd, who first met Harrison on the set of the movie "A Hard Days Night" was the inspiration for the Beatles' song "Something". She also inspired Clapton's song "Layla" (and the entire album "Layla and Assorted Love Songs" by Derek and the Dominoes), as well as Clapton's solo songs "Wonderful Tonight" and "Bell Bottom Blues".
"Rock's most famous Love Triangle"
1 2 3
1. George Harrison and Patti Boyd, in the film "A Hard Days Night",
2. Eric Clapton,
3. Richard O'Connor, Lonnie Donegan and Peter Mulhern
The new St Ambrose...
For the latest details of the new plans, see the school website:
Jan 12th 2009:
Decision made on contractors & plans
Balfour Beatty have been appointed as preferred bidder for the new school.
An 'open day' is being planned where parents and neighbours may visit the
College and view the plans for the new building.
Up for it?
Fancy a Helicopter Ride in November 2010?
See both the old and the new St Ambrose Colleges from the above in a 4-seater helicopter!
G-BZGO
Saturday November 13th 2010 ( the afternoon of the 2010 dinner)
The cost of the flight will be dependent on numbers but will be between £30-£50(all insurance will be covered in this), the length of the flight will be 10-15 minutes.
If by any circumstances we are not able to fly then we operate the flights on another suitable day as we operate a "never-not-fly-you" policy.
Finally the helicopter is an R44 helicopter
with 4 seats (1 pilot and 3 passengers)
Interested?
Contact a-m-dixon@msn.com
Old boys
We need your details!
to add/update yours... click here
New Buildings
at St Ambrose Preparatory school
Assembly & PE Hall, Music Room, Prayer Room
Architectural design by Tsiantar Architects
St Ambrose Preparatory School website
Previous SAOBA Dinners
Almost another "Murder at St Ambrose" at the 2008 Dinner (full report)
An intellectual giant!
Dave Hallas and Ambrose Henderson at the 2007 Dinner
Look who popped in
t
Sir Alex Ferguson and Peter Riley at the 2005 dinner
Peter Saville attended St Ambrose until 1974
Graphic Design by Peter Saville
Founded Factory Records in 1979
Designed the Hacienda Club, Sleeves for Joy Division, New Order
London's Design Museum exhibited his body of work,
The Peter Saville Show from May - Sept 2003.
The book, Designed by Peter Saville, accompanied the exhibition.
Creative Director for Manchester
Creative Director for Manchester
L A Times : Peter Saville on the Manchester Revolution
Peter Saville, Malcolm Garrett and Keith Breeden took Art A level together,
and were taught by Mr Hancock
Factory
Founding Factory : Peter Saville, Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, 1979
Fac 1 poster, 1978
Fact 10: Joy Division "Unknown Pleasures" cover, 1979
based on a Fourier analysis of the radio waves
from Pulsar CP1919, a collapsed star.
Fac 83: Hacienda 1 Year, poster, 1983
Fac 73 : New Order Blue Monday cover, 1983
the biggest selling 12 inch single of all time
Fac 51: Hacienda poster design, based on a pollen grain, 1991
Joy Division movie Control, 2007
For more images, see 2009 Dinner Page
Lonnie Donegan, King of Skiffle
He was the first British Artist to have had his first 5 records in the top 5 of the top 20
"Woodeaves"
Anthony Donegan was evacuated to Cheshire in 1939, aged 8. He attended St Ambrose at Dunham Rd and then at Woodeaves (now the Brothers' House). He was mentioned in "The Ambrosian" school magazine in 1945 (writing an article and winning the form prize for Form 3 in 1945).
The Easter 1945 issue of "The Ambrosian" (the St Ambrose College school magazine at the time) records that Anthony Donegan won the First Prize in Form III in 1945. He also wrote an article reproduced below.
(copied from "THE AMBROSIAN", Easter 1945):
FORM 111.
"Looking back over the last term, it appears to have gone by very quickly, I suppose the concert was mainly responsible for this. Be that as it may, few, if any, regret it.
Shortly after the concert, Brother Director brought in for our admiration two brand new footballs and a set of football jerseys for the first XI. There are four boys of our class in that team, so this affected us directly.
Something new in the way of books has been acquired by our form this year: Verse to Remember, one of the two set books required for the summer exams. We are still short of the other, Dickens' Christmas Carol, but this shortage has not been keenly felt as a bright lad had an idea of bringing a copy from home and Brother Hilary reads out the story to us. Christmas is a thing of the past just now, or perhaps should we say of the future, but this book has made it very present for most of us, and there were yearnings and waterings of the mouth when we read of the Ghost of Christmas Present conducting Scrooge through the streets where the fruit shops were situated.
In January a number of lessons were missed owing to the bad weather, but I don't think any voices were raised in protest. We are constantly told that when we grow up we shall regret the time lost in class. Perhaps some day we shall understand this truth fully, and before it is too late.
To conclude, I think this term has been most successful and I hope we shall have many more like it"
A. DONEGAN.
Anthony Donegan left St Ambrose in 1946, and took his first job in a Stockbroker's office. After National Service he originally toured as the Tony Donegan Jazz Band, but adopted the name "Lonnie" in tribute to the great American blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson, who was playing on the same bill at the London Festival Hall in 1952. The compere confused their names, and introduced him as "Lonnie Donegan". He kept the name, and invented a new form of DIY music called Skiffle. It was massively successful. In 1956 he sold 3 million copies of the "Rock Island Line" single. John Lennon's first group, the Quarrymen, was a Skiffle group. Donegan's single "Gamblin' Man"/"Puttin' on the Style"was number one in July 1957 when Lennon met McCartney. They have both declared that Donegan was a major influence. McCartney saw him play in Liverpool. He was impressed to see that although Donegan arrived late for the lunchtime show, he took time afterwards to personally write notes for the factory girls in the crowd to give to their bosses, to explain why they were so late returning to work.
See Lonnie Donegan play...Gran Coulee Dam
Donegan has been described as Britain's first musical superstar and his skiffle music swept through the country in the 1950s.
He quickly became a star, although he had only ever wanted to be a jazz banjo player. Lonnie Donegan had over twenty UK top 30 hits, including three number one records and was known as " King of Skiffle".
Elvis Presley recorded one of his songs, I'm Never Gonna Fall in Love Again. In 1978 Sir Paul McCartney was the driving force behind a tribute album. In 1997 he received a lifetime achievement award at the Ivor Novello Awards. In 1999, a collaboration with long-time fan Van Morrison resulted in Lonnie's first album release in 20 years, Muleskinner Blues.
In November 2000 Lonnie collected an MBE from Buckingham Palace in recognition of his musical contribution to his country. He had a special edition Martin guitar (the make Lonnie has popularised the world over) created in his honour.
He played Glastonbury in 2000, at the age of 69
Lonnie Donegan with Richard O'Connor and Peter Mulhern, Stockton-on-Tees, 2000
1931-2002
"He really was at the very cornerstone of English blues and rock." — Brian May of Queen
Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler, who played with Donegan in London, called him one of his greatest musical influences.
"Lonnie was a stunning entertainer and musician" - Rolf Harris
"A terrific force" - Sir Cliff Richard
"So for those of us there, in those early days, he was the man.
In later years I grew to know him as a friend and was not in any way let down.
He is a great guy with a true love of good music and many of us owe him a huge debt of gratitude.
Long
live Lonnie!"
- Sir Paul
McCartney
more about Lonnie Donegan
Also see 2002 news
See Lonnie Play...
Rugby
Brother Doyle Trophy
School XV v Old Boys XV
2009 Rugby match
Wednesday December 16th, 2pm
Old Boys Team sponsored by SAOBA
St Ambrose Rugby Tours
...and it will be New Zealand for 2010!
Almost Heroes
St Ambrose v St Benedicts (Daily Mail Cup)
St Ambrose College's First MP
Congratulations to St Ambrose's first MP
Greg Mulholland attended St Ambrose 1981 - 1988
Visiting Professor Department of Materials
University of Oxford
attended St Ambrose from 1960 - 1970
Professor David Lee
is the Director of CATE and
Professor of Atmospheric Science at Manchester Metropolitan University.
attended St Ambrose from 1973 - 1980
Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police
attended St Ambrose from 1970-1977
attended St Ambrose until 1980
Peter Lawlor (he's the one on the right)
This school's second number one artist (Lonnie Donegan was first)
UK No 1 hit record
"Inside", by Stiltskin (above) reached No 1 and spent 13 weeks in the UK chart (1994)
Watch the video for "Inside" here
"This is usually mis-attributed to Stiltskin. In fact it was just Peter Lawlor " ...see MySpaceMusic.
Barclays Premier League Theme 07/08 and 08/09
"My Saturday Self" by Peter Lawlor
All the teams in the English Premier League shake hands before each match to the sound of his track
This is also used on Match of the Day
and as the theme music to all English Premier League matches on TV around the world.
Peter wrote the theme music for the 2000 Olympic Games.
He wrote all the music for the BBC1 "Rhythm and Movement" idents.
Disney "Little Mermaid" Song by Peter Lawlor
"Creek" Levi Jeans Commercial by Peter Lawlor
Axe / Lynx / 24 Ad by Peter Lawlor
"He has won a BAFTA, the Mid-Summer Awards for best original composition (on two occasions)
He has won the Music Publishers Association Award for "Best Original Composition",
He has contributed tracks to more than 12 Gold Albums"
Martin Baker
attended St Ambrose until 1985
Master of Music,
Westminster Cathedral
Author and Dramatist
best known for his work related to the BBC series Doctor Who.
Doctor Who Pest Control 2008
Torchwood Pack Animals 2009
Doctor Who The Ancestor Cell 2000
Peter Anghelides attended St Ambrose until 1980
attended St Ambrose until 1983
and now a Teacher turned Tenor!
Martin Toal sings for the Queen
Best of Luck
to Damien Hinds
Parliamentary Candidate for East Hampshire
Peter Moore
attended St Ambrose until 1981
Outdoor photographer
Scotland
Facebook groups
To access these, log into facebook
"St Ambrose College" - founded by Peter Anghelides - 305 members
"St Ambrose Old Boys" - founded by Adam Mitcheson (2010) - 68 members in first week...
"I used to go Ambrose! "- founded by Anthony O'Connor - 537 members
...and not forgetting, Friends reunited - over 2300 from this school!
St Ambrose College on Wikipedia
Your feedback and input re this website is very welcome
-please email A Dixon
Thank you
(counter replaced at 5062, 4.9.07)
We would like to thank Keith Breeden, Malcolm Garrett and Peter Saville for permitting the use of their work