Wellensian Association

Alwyn Gillen (President)

Alwyn joined the Cathedral School staff in September 1972, primarily as Housemaster of The Cedars House with 54 Middle School boys : from 11+ to 13+. He taught Geography and History and coached First XV rugby, hockey and atheltics. He started the annual rugby tour, with very memorable trips to Paris and Holland. He also arranged ski trips.

Alwyn was a very active officer in the Combined Cadet Force: from a Flight Lieutenant i/c the Royal Air Force section he became Contingent Commander in the rank of Wing Commander. Alwyn took over the organisation of the annual Save the Children sponsored walk in 1973, raising around £4,000 every year for about 26 years.

In 1990 he was invited to become President and Membership Secretary of The Wellensian Association and thus has kept in touch with Wellensians all over the world. Obviously the development of the Web facilitated this contact, and with the newly developed web-site, monitored by the Development office in School, these contacts are proving to be very useful in the current drive to provide new and much needed facilities for the School. Alwyn has also been instrumental in arranging for the annual Wellensian London Dinner which has been held in the Royal Air Force Club in Piccadilly.

Contact Alwyn here.

Charles Cain (Vice President)

Charles, his wife Hilary and their two children, Nick and Naomi, arrived at Wells from Stowe in January 1986, when Charles took up the post as head of histor y. A few months later Charles was also appointed as house parent of Shrewsbury, and he and the family moved into Vicars Close, which would be their home for the next 14 years.

Charles was promoted to deputy head in 2000, managing the day to day running of the school, heading up the marketing team, and responsible for pastoral care of all students and staff.

We were delighted when Charles & Hilary found time in a busy retirement to support the Association.

Ken Humphreys (Vice President)

Ken started at Wells in 1978, and married Margaret the following year. "Chemistry was ( and still is ) my subject, but I also coached and refereed rugby and hockey from Y7 to second team level as well as canoeing, and running O level and A level photography. Spells as an assistant In Cedars and de Salis lead to being housemaster in Cedars from 1986-1996. Those of you from those days may remember it’s rather basic nature-but at least I got central heating and a kitchen installed. I then wrote the timetable and helped start the heads of year system. I did 7 years running the activity programme retiring in 2017 to do a bit of part time.
Now Margaret and I are retired, living in Wells and hosting two adult children through various aspects of lockdown, The eldest lives with her husband and daughter in Bristol. We have a new member of the family, Gus, the cutest cockapoo in the world who is keeping me fit.

I am really pleased to be joining the Old Wellies more officially and look forward to seeing more of you at the various functions."

George Bunting (Chairman)

George was at Wells "a long time ago" (actually 1961-1970) but has a more recent connection as a parent. He says that there must be some ancient magnetism to the place that never quite lets you go. After leaving school and completing an economics degree he became a Social Worker in the Rhondda and then a hospital administrator for a few years before leaving the public sector for a career in consultancy. Over twenty years he developed skills in performance improvement and delivering large IT systems before retirement in 2007.

Now George shares his giving back time between The Wellensian Association and AROPS, The Alumni Association where he is a national committee member. He and wife Julia moved from Berkshire to Wiltshire, now there is no need to be near London or an airport.

George is enthusiastic to try some new ideas for the Association though he is very much aware that these will rely on the hard work of the Executive Committee and the support of members. George can be contacted at chairman@oldws.org.uk

Rebecca Roberts (Vice Chairman & Secretary)

Becks Roberts (OW 2006) is not only a Wellensian Association volunteer but is also Head of the Wells Cathedral School Foundation and she greatly facilitates the Association working with the School.

At Wells, Becks was a Specialist Musician Violin player and regularly performed in the symphony and string chamber orchestras. She also won external prizes including two at the Mid-Somerset Festival.

After school she went to Canada for two years to teach music at Ridley College in Ontario, just 20 miles from Niagara Falls. On her return to the UK in 2011 she joined the staff at Wells as Outreach Assistant in the Music Department. In 2014 she got married to Andy and they now have two children.

Becks is also Houseparent of Haversham House at Wells and so in addition to her day job, volunteering role and a young family of her own, she provides care and attention to a much larger happy family!

Julian Philpott (Treasurer)

Julian owns Intuitive Event Marketing and has over 17 years experience in delivering special events, experiential, exhibition and other marketing programmes for established blue-chip clients, worldwide. He says that delivering projects in some of the more unusual parts of the world has given him a deep understanding of cultural differences, and equipped him to deal with the challenges that working in these situations can often bring. As well as a natural passion for business, Julian is an avid biker and a keen enthusiast for the great outdoors.

Mike Murton (Sports Organiser)

After Wells, Mike went to St Mary's University Twickenham to read Sports and Media. After jobs at Nuffield Health and Millfield he now teaches physical education at Surbiton High School and runs his own swim coaching and lifeguard and first aid training company, Murton Training & Aquatics.

Suki Adams (Lead, Wellensian Connections)

Suki is a Captain with Easyjet and flies all over Europe from Bristol. As a female achiever in a predominantly male profession she is keen to share with others her passion for her job and how she achieved her success. She still lives in Wells and as well as her Wellensian careers interests is also a great contributor to our social media.

Hannah Wheeler (London Events Organiser)

Hannah is a Chief Inspector with the Metropolitan Police Service where she has served for 25 years. Her varied career has taken her from uniform and CID roles in Ealing Borough, work on the Crime & Disorder Act crime audit, a move to Brent Borough on promotion to Sergeant and to Hendon Police Training School as Inspector. Further promotions followed and she is currently seconded to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services where she has a portfolio concerned with mental health inspection - how effectively police in England & Wales respond to mental health crisis.

Chris Seaton (Secretary, Wells Cathedral Choir Association)

Chris started at Wells as a chorister and a boarder in 1971, staying through to complete ‘A' Levels in 1979. He ran away to the join Dartmouth and the Royal Navy that September, before University and eight subsequent years before the mast.

Chris's last job in the Navy saw him back in Bristol at HMS Flying Fox and he stayed in the City once hequalified as a lawyer (specialising in Employment Law). He is now a partner at Burges Salmon LLP and has moved to the Chew Valley, halfway between Bristol and Wells.

Chris had his arm firmly twisted by Alwyn Gillen to join the OW's committee as the Old Chorister's representative a few years ago and is a current parent at the school with two daughters enjoying all that the school has to offer. Chris is also a trustee of the School Foundation and chairs the relatively newly formed Wells Cathedral Choir Association (WCCA), which is designed to be an alumni for ex- choristers, organists, vicars choral and choral scholars. Chris therefore provides a link between the three Associations and is keen to hear from anyone who is keen to be more actively involved with the WCCA.

Contact Chris here

Dan Gosden (Wells Events Organiser)

Dan did an engineering degree and was a Royal navy Engineer for seven years. Since then he has been a Senior Boiler and Machinery Consultant and Account Engineer at Global Risk Consultants. He specialises in machinery breakdown, business interruption analysis of production and utility equipment in varied manufacturing facilities worldwide.

Wallace Yip (Hong Kong Representative)

Wallace was at Wells from 1986 to 1988 under a School scholarship (grateful thanks to the School indeed). Being a specialist cellist musician at Wells, Wallace managed to get offers from three music colleges and won the first place for the Mid-Somerset Music Festival Open String Concerto Class.

After leaving School and completing a mathematics degree at Oxford University, Wallace trained to become a professional accountant and has been working in the auditing profession ever since, with work-related travels to more than eight countries. Currently, Wallace is settling back in Hong Kong as his base (so as to have more time with his wife and son), working for a blue-chip listed group in Hong Kong as Internal Audit Manager, with direct reporting responsibilities to the Audit Committee of listed companies.

Apart from being the Association's Hong Kong Representative, Wallace is also a Director of the Wells Music Society of Hong Kong. Through organizing Wellensian functions in Hong Kong, Wallace believes that Hong Kong Wellensians can have closer bonding together because of Wells Cathedral School, a place so far from Hong Kong yet so near to the heart of each of the Hong Kong Wellensians.

Contact Wallace here