It was a startling moment for John Bower (LGS 1960) and John Laflin (LGS 1959), when they met for dinner together with their wives earlier in September at a country inn near Torquay. John Bower (sat on the left in the above picture) and John Laflin, reminisced about their school days and subsequent careers.
The last time they had seen each other was 65 years ago, at the end of the school year in 1959. Both had entered School House at LGS in September 1953, with beds opposite each other in the same dormitory, they became close friends for the next six years.
In July 1958, as a Sixth Form project organized by biology master ‘Tiny’ Joules (LGS 1946 – 1970), they both joined a fishing crew on a three-week fishing trawler trip from Grimsby to the Arctic, complete with jars of formaldehyde and instructions to collect anything in the “cod end” (fish net) that wasn’t a fish. This was a difficult time internationally for the deep-sea fishing industry. Coastal countries around the world were expanding their territorial limits out to sea from 3 to 12 miles, with Iceland in particular restricting the British fleet from their waters. The skipper of the boat they were on decided to fish off Bear Island, on the way to Greenland, although they would loose a couple of days or so of fishing travelling to get there, rather than risk being arrested by an Icelandic frigate (which actually happened to two of their LGS colleagues on another trawler). However, they still encountered problems from the start, leaving Grimsby in a Force 7 gale. They didn’t move from their bunks for two days suffering from sea sickness. But soon they were up and about learning how to gut a cod, and finding out which were the tastiest part of the fish to eat. Seeing the Northern Lights was an experience they both always remembered. They also remember chopping ice off the deck of the trawler.John Laflin left LGS to read for a degree in Economics and Commercial Law at Sheffield, before training as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG. His science background then led him to join a USA multinational pharmaceutical company at their UK facilities in Welwyn Garden City, ultimately becoming Export Director. After a merger in 1990 made him redundant, he and four colleagues formed their own highly successful and profitable, pharmaceutical company. He then took early retirement in 2000, but it wasn’t long before clubs, societies and charities sought out his (free) financial skills. He now lives in Dorset.
John Bower stayed on for a third year in the Sixth Form, before taking up a five year veterinary degree course at Liverpool. After some initial jobs at as an Assistant Vet in two veterinary practices, he moved down to Devon, starting up his own small animal practice. This grew over the years to a Veterinary Hospital practice with 10 vets and four other surgeries in Plymouth with a total staff of 75. In 1989, he became President of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and spent that year mostly in London, with his four partners caring for the Practice. The BVA recommended him for an MBE, (bestowed by the late Queen), for his work in animal welfare. He has written & co-written several books with his wife Caroline, also a vet, on dogs, cats, and veterinary practice, and was appointed a trustee of the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. He subsequently held a number of non-executive and advisory roles in the industry. He was even invited to speak at an OLA London Dinner! John retired in 2007.
Early in 2024 John Laflin contacted LGS, to donate his collection of school photographs and other memorabilia to the school archives. This also led to establishing contact with John Bower, to whom he also sent some of these old school photographs. Sometime later, the need for John Laflin’s wife Shirley to meet with family in Devon led to him to contacting John Bower, suggesting they all got together when they came down.
