Michael Hetherington (1934-2008)

Michael Hetherington will be remembered as a Fives player on the Aldenham staff and though never the Master in Charge, he played a wonderful supporting role to the late, renowned Geoffrey Bolt, who coached many of their players to numerous wins in the National Schools’ Championships. We reprint from 'Aldenhamiana' as follows:

On Saturday 6th September 2008 the family of Michael Hetherington held a Service in Aldenham School Chapel to celebrate his life. Michael went missing on the 2nd February 2008 whilst walking in the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. Approximately 400 OAs, friends and members of his family attended the very moving service. We copy below extracts from one of the tributes given at the service.

Phil Kerr: “I feel very honoured to have been asked to say a few words at this

celebration of Michael Hetherington’s life. I am one of a huge number of former Aldenhamians who kept in touch with Michael after leaving school and he became a true long standing friend to me and my family.

“My earliest memories of Michael date back to my first term at Aldenham in 1973. Michael ran the U14 football and I can picture a man in unfashionably baggy shorts, a cricket pullover and long red socks. In the classroom, where I should add he did normally wear long trousers and a jacket, he taught Latin, Divinity and, occasionally, Modern Maths. Although he was a classics scholar himself, he didn’t try and enforce a purist approach on our O level Latin class and his style would probably best be described as pragmatic and effective.

“As a sportsman himself, I’m sure Michael would readily accept that his techniques were not always conventional, but they were certainly effective, aided by natural touch and strong hand eye coordination. He seemed to be tactically astute, whatever the sport in question, and his determination and competitiveness were only out weighed by his strong sense of fair play. He had a recognisable style which could be identified whether he was playing squash, tennis, Fives or even cricket. This involved an open racquet face, a lot of wrist movement and what might best be described as paradoxical footwork. After his retirement to Scotland, golf became Michael’s main competitive sport and in spite of my unkind description of his technical eccentricities, he improved to a very respectable single figure handicap.”