Those of us in the UK will  be all too aware of the news of the sudden death of Gareth Williams on Saturday 20^th September at his home in Gloucestershire. It was sudden and it seems to have been caused by a heart attack. I am sure that we all wish to express our deep sympathy to his family, his close friends and his colleagues at the highest levels of government.

 

Gareth was a member of our reunion group although he had not been able to make any of our reunions due to pressure of work. It was a matter for immense pride to us all that Lal had done so well, demonstrating what could be achieved given both the education, values and opportunities which flow from the great school of which we were all a part.

 

All his contemporaries will have memories of him and he appears in several of the photographs on our website. For my part I remember him in choirs and in a quartet put together to sing a specially composed version of "For he's a jolly good fellow" for Stan's farewell celebration.

 

His cut and thrust in debate was clear in those days and I particularly remember those debates in which Barbara McCartan was on the opposite side. In a debate in the subject of "banning the bomb" when the nuclear threat of the superpowers was all too evident I recall that he reflected that if all weapons were progressively removed from the nations of the world, power would depend on which country had the most people. China! Did we really want that? The rise of that country's industry at the present time poses a threat but not of the same nature or malevolence but it never the less poses a challenge.

 

I also remember an occasion where he explained that should you find yourself in London without accommodation for the night the trick was to get arrested for vagrancy since the authorities would have to provide bread and breakfast free! I doubt whether he took up his idea.

 

Gareth's father was the headmaster at my primary school, Christ Church in Rhyl, and I have a great deal to thank him for in my educational development by taking care to put me in what I believe then and now to be the right class.

 

I wrote to Lal on two occasions recently, the first to invite him to open my company Geotechnics' new office in Chester (but still in Wales!) formally on the 24^th September and the second to send him our company's newsletter. He responded quickly to both and explained that he would be away on holiday for the opening since it was just prior to the Labour Party Conference. I will treasure his thoughtful and courteous replies and his good wishes.

 

His untimely death leaves a hole in government and in all our lives. His achievement will serve as a model for future generations of what is possible for the individual and for society. The numerous obituaries on television, radio and in the newspapers are a testimony to him and what he represents in the society and generation of which we are a part. He was a great man. It is a privilege to have known him.

 

Len Threadgold

21 September 2003

 

Should you wish to express your reaction, we will put it on our website www.rhylgrammarschool.org