With sadness, we report the passing of John Polsue, solicitor, bon viveur and lifelong supporter of the Old Brightonians. His friend Jim Evans (Leconfield 1964-69) remembers:
John joined Bristol House (when Dick Crossley-Holland was Housemaster) in January 1965 at a time when the College and the wider world was going through uncertain times. We were still required to wear boaters and stiff collars and keep our jackets buttoned when outside the classroom, while beyond the College walls the ‘Swinging Sixties’ were in full flow. To many of us, some College ‘traditions’ including fagging and corporal punishment, were hard to handle. John, however, bridged the divide. While enjoying a cigarette behind the bicycle sheds or sneaking into Brighton’s coffees bars – minus boater, collar and tie – he was a stickler for tradition. He went on to become a school prefect and, later, Head of School.
He enjoyed his time in the RAF section of the CCF – appropriate as his father, Peter, had flown Spitfires and Lancasters with distinction in World War II.
Among our teachers were Fred Hankins who had been brought in to start the College’s Economics Department and art teacher Gordon Taylor, both of whom were inspirational and guiding lights to impressionable teenagers in a fast-changing world.
John was an enthusiastic sportsman. He was a member of the College rugby 1st XV and would later become a stalwart of the Old Brightonians rugby team – on and off the field. Boxing Day morning matches against Seaford stand out in my memory. Among the regular ‘socials’ he organised were the annual trips to Twickenham for the Combined London Old Boys’ dinners. Together with the much-missed Peter Rumney, he would fly the flag for the OBs at such events. On one memorable occasion, he persuaded former England international Peter Wheeler to give five of us a lift to Twickenham station. Robbie Greenfield was navigating and – naturally – we took the scenic route.
John went on to study law at Trinity College Cambridge before embarking on a career as a solicitor, working with Wedlake Bell and Beachcroft Stanley in Central London (where our respective offices were dangerously close) and latterly Allen-Buckley Solicitors in Balham where he lived with his wife Jill and son, Edward.
Whenever there were OBRFC reunions or games against the College, it was always John who made contact, often via a late-night phone call. One such call resulted in myself, John, Chris Elgie and Kevin Fenlon returning to the Home Ground for a match to mark one anniversary or another. We had one pair of boots between us, while pre-match training was a bottle of champagne on the 10am from Victoria.
A few months prior to his passing, John’s sister – and my wife - Valerie and I spent a week with John at his villa in Majorca. It would be his last visit to the island he had grown to love. The local Mallorcan tradesmen and restauranteurs will miss John - the jovial Englishman abroad who always had time to talk to them and advise on how projects should be tackled. We too will all miss him – and the phone calls.
A Memorial Service for John is planned in late March in Balham.