We were saddened to learn of the passing of Old Viking Andrew Porter (76E) on 21 January 2021. Andrew joined Shiplake College in 1974 and was a popular member of Everett House.
Former classmate Eddie Barnes (78E) shares some memories of his friendship with Andrew:
I joined Shiplake in January 1974 as a third former and by the time I got on to the hockey pitch on my first day I had already been told what a good sportsman Andrew Porter was so I was surprised that I was the best hockey player in our year. As we walked off Andrew came up to me and asked how long I had been playing and I told him I was at a hockey playing prep school, “Oh that’s why you are so good, it’s the first time I have played hockey”. By the end of the week I was the second best player and Andrew was the best and our friendship developed as we sat together driving off to matches in the team coach. It was on these trips we discovered that we both had a love for glam rock music Roxy Music, TRex, Wizard, Slade and of course David Bowie.
By the summer term we were best of friends and as luck would have it I was put into Andrew’s dorm (2) in Everett House so we spent 24/7 in each others company. Cricket term was no different from Rugby and Hockey as Porter excelled as both a mid order batsman and a fast bowler. The great thing about Andrew was he was universally liked and was always a striking personality around the school with a great smile, piercing blue eyes and long blond hair which was his pride and joy. Interestingly enough we had no school uniform as the college saw it’s self as “progressive”, but we did have to wear the following, black trousers with no flairs… so Andrew had big flairs… black walking shoes no platforms… so he had four inch platforms that were a brown and beige colour… accompanying this was a shirt of the boys choice which Andrew always had the most modern cuts with extra long collars and even had a cheese cloth shirt which we all loved and lastly a sports jacket, again his had the widest lapels. Hair needed to be kept just off the collar, Andrew’s was always over his shoulders… but in real life Andrew had very wavy/curly hair which he spent hours blow drying straight each morning… except for Tuesday as that was the day that the school barber arrived and boys who’s hair was too long would be told it was time to pay a visit. For Everett our housemaster Hans Wells-Furby would stand outside the church as we went in on Tuesday at 9am for a hymn and an address from the Head and tap boys on the should and let the know they needed at cut, but this rarely happened to Andrew as is unstraightened locks would obediently sit above his collar.
The next year we both moved into studies that held five people, but we were not in the same ones. This didn’t stop our constant swapping of LP’s and devouring the music press together. Sadly for me we spent less time playing sport together over the next couple of years as Andrew was spending more time playing for the year above or the first teams even though he was two years younger than the rest of the team. In Everett we were blessed with a group of good all round sportsmen with myself, Broad, Jaconelli, Budd, Allum and Blythe but the icing on the cake was the outstanding Andrew Porter and during this time we managed to win the junior house cups for all the field sports which also included football, not an official sport at Shiplake… but Andrew was still the best.
By 1975 Porter and I had taken our love of music to the next level and were going out to concerts together. Luckily for me he lived in Chiswick which was a fifteen minute walk from my Aunt’s house in Acton where I would stay during half term and weekends home. So I would often be found hanging around his house before the two of us got our gigging clothes on, which were Bowiesque Kimono shirts and very wide satin trousers, I had a lovely pair of gold ones purchased at Andrew’s Aunty’s shop, BIBA. Off we would go getting on the tube to travel a few stops to the Hammersmith Odeon to watch the likes of Cockney Rebel, Bebop Deluxe and Queen… once we did venture up to Wembley arena to see David Bowie… I always remember the two of us arriving outside the venue to see thousands of people who looked just like us!!!
1976 saw Andrew really establish himself on the Shiplake sports scene… although two years younger he was an outstanding flyhalf for the first XV, an excellent forward in the hockey team and a fabulous batter-bowler in the first cricket. During this, our third year at school we had moved into three people studies but not the same ones. He was still the naughty boy who never got caught, many evening after prep I would accompany him and Jules Barnes for a cigarette in the graveyard at the back of our house… I was always sure I would get caught as I was a non-smoker only going to chat to my mates…I should have known better as I was with Andrew Porter and he never got caught and if he bumped into our housemaster…"Tony is that cigarettes I can smell on your breath?” our Andrew would have a totally unbelievable excuse accompanied by a smile… and get away with it. By the way for some reason HEW-F always called Andrew “Tony”… I once asked Andrew why and he said he thought it was some misunderstanding when he arrived as his father was Tony Porter and Andrew used to use his father’s trunk to transport his belongings to school each term.
It was a great sadness for the school that Andrew chose to leave in the summer of 76. Sports masters were hoping he would capitalise on his potential and go off to represent the college at county level or above. I know that our head JD Eggar tried to persuade him not to go to retail college in Central London but this didn’t happen and the college lost a great asset and diamond personality."
We stayed friends after this and for the next couple of years I was a regular at the Porter’s house but strangely by 1977 the music that had brought us together drew us apart. We both went to see The Damned in a pub in Hammersmith in front of about six people and a few old codgers… I loved the energy of the new punk movement but it did nothing for Andrew and we drifted apart. We did keep in touch with the advent of the internet and exchanged thoughts a few times… sadly I never did manage to meet up with him again, but like all who knew him I can still see his long blond hair trailing behind him as he strode forward on the sports fields of Shiplake College.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to Andrew's family and friends.
