Graham Browne 1967 to 1974
Graham Browne grew up on Parkhill Road, Bexley and arrived at St Mary’s in September 1967, the same time as a certain Fr Philip Graystone.
Graham remembers ‘Boss’ or ‘Black’ thus: “I thought that he was spot on. He had the respect of the pupils and staff. He never used physical punishment, but you wouldn’t want to cross him. He could be reasoned with,” which seems to me like a very fair assessment.
He describes Ron Hesketh as ‘a legend,’ and Richard Earle as ‘inspirational’ and is grateful to Frank Blackburn for getting him through Chemistry A-Level.
I asked Graham if he associated any elements of pop culture with his time at St Mary’s and he said: “Monty Python came out in the late 60s so was very big in my time there. I remember the day after the ‘spam’ sketch they served spam for lunch! The ‘spam’ song could be heard across the dining room. Other TV programmes were Happy Days and Budgie. Rod Turner got his hands on one of the first Phillips video recorders and we watched the England Rugby Internationals that he recorded for classroom coaching. Music tastes were quite widespread. I was into Free, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple music wise. Made In Japan was a seminal album in my youth. My first concert was Mott The Hoople (pre Bowie) and Heads Hands and Feet at the Albert Hall in 1971. If……2001 A Space Odyssey and Kes are films that come to mind. I played guitar and bass and was in two bands whilst at St Mary’s.”
Graham’s main friends at St Mary’s were Mark McKinnon, Ian Mitchell and Dom Attwell and is still in touch with Bob Ward, a fellow Charlton supporter.
A member of Campion House, Graham, back row, seventh from left, played rugby for his year, in the same team as the likes of Peter Cottrell, Tony Brew and Paul Kromm.
After leaving St Mary’s in 1974, Graham went to Reading University and got a 2:1 in Quantity Surveying, qualifying as a chartered surveyor in 1981 and pursued that career in a variety of positions for more than 30 years reaching the position of Executive Chairman in a firm of construction and property consultants. He then became Director of Estates for United Learning before becoming an Executive Coach and is currently Non-Executive Director of Management and Construction Services Ltd
But this only tells half the story. Graham has always been very active in the voluntary sector including a number of school governor positions, chairman of Cabrini Children’s Society and a past chairman of Godalming Round Table.
Finally, he has also been in bands as a bass player for the last 15 years and currently plays in The Leather Heads, a rock/metal covers band. Graham is pictured on the far right, above.
“I’m now mainly retired after 40 years of non-stop work and enjoying choosing what I do each day including yoga, singing lessons, rock choir etc,” Graham added.
His other interests are performing Arts, classical and contemporary music, classic cars and golf,
Graham has been married to Carmen, a retired headteacher, for 44 years and they have three children, Katherine, 40, Paul, 38, and Michael, 36. They have six grandchildren.