Tony Burrow (1937-2012) – I was shocked when I read the post by Lynn Wright (nee Aldridge) on Mayfield’s Face Book page on November 10, 2012: ‘It is with sadness that I have to report my Uncle Tony Burrow passed away this week, he attended Mayfield Boys School’.

Tony Burrow & Tony Gocke
Circa 1955

Tony Burrow and I were both first formers in 1949, but in different classes. We were both in Park House and both had succumbed to sustained pressure by the House Captain to enter the boxing tournament. Just by entering you gained a point for your house, with two more for a win or one for a draw. The House Captain had done a good job in rallying the troops and Park House had more entries than any other house. Inevitably, this meant that some Park House boys would be boxing other Park House boys. It was just after the draw was made that Tony sought me out in the playground and explained we’d been drawn to meet in the tournament. I had to agree with him that trying to knock nine bells out of each other seemed pointless when a draw would give Park House the same number of points. Apparently, it was the first time in the school’s history that both contestants in a boxing bout failed to land a blow. ‘Excellent footwork but lacked aggression, draw’, Stan Frankland gave his verdict. The second judge, Mr. Cutting, was a little less complimentary. ‘More like ballerinas than boxers, draw’. The photo shows Tony Burrow, on the left and me when we played for the same cricket team some years after leaving Mayfield. Tony was mad on cricket and I’ll always remember him for this poem in the Mayfield Magazine.

Cricket by T. Burrow
Life is like a game of cricket,
You take your stand before the wicket,
And just as you are scoring fast,
And life seems good without a doubt,
There comes a ball that is so fast
It bowls you fairly and completely out.