Andrew Christopher Thomas born 01.06.1958; I lived in Downend and attended Bromley Heath Infant School until I left for Colston’s Prep aged eight- shortly after England had won the World Cup in 1966. Football was my first love, but it was the opportunity for three sports afternoons (albeit that meant Saturday morning lessons) that persuaded me to reconsider my decision from a year earlier and sit the entrance exam. That was the start of ten enjoyable years at Crib.

Rugby became my passion once we made the switch from football, aged 10. The move to the Upper School increased my love for the sport and after a couple of years, I was introduced to the delights of the Mile Strait and OCRFC by Martin Tayler. Talk about coarse rugby. Muddy baths ‘enjoyed’ with countless other ‘gentlemen’ with varying degrees of shapes and habits. Always the windows were holed so the water was rarely warm, even when your match finished first. Soon promotion to the 1st XV aged 17 denied me that opportunity. However, it did promote a bond with, and fondness for, the OC’s that still endures -as adversity has a habit of so doing.

In the meantime, exams came and went. O-levels and then A-levels and a difficult decision to leave behind friends at OCRFC and have a tilt at a higher level. After a couple of years of Colts rugby I made my senior bow on Bristol’s tour to France aged 18. On the back of exam results and encouraged by older friends and some staff at Colston’s, I returned for an additional 6th form term to sit Oxbridge exams to study Law. Following a successful interview, I became the first from my mother’s family to go to university. Keble College and the Honour School of Jurisprudence beckoned and 3 years of rugby, socialising and the occasional late night in the college library, saw me narrowly miss a First but win a Blue at Twickenham in 1979, having sat on the bench in 1977 and 1978.

Upon returning to Bristol with no idea of career (other than to not become a lawyer) but a desire to play for BFC, I joined the family firm and stayed there throughout my adult life until retiring in 2021. Getting married in 1983, to Verity (with divorce from Bristol rugby and a move to Bath in the same year) followed by the arrival of Olivia in 1989 and George in 1992, a successful home life became my priority. Both offspring attended Colston’s as did son-in-law Luke and now, with Grandson Charlie, in the Lower School, three generations have benefitted in the same way as I was fortunate enough to. In addition, I have friends from Crib to whom I have remained close for over fifty years.

My hope is that the time which I give to the OC Society in some small way repays the gratitude that I feel for my school days’ experience.

Floreat Colstona