Mr Hollows was a kind and considerate man, and a brilliant headmaster, during the time that he was at Stoke Mandeville Combined School. Things quickly improved for the school when he arrived, we got a new shelter and a new school minibus and not only me, but many other people could tell that Mr Hollows had a great future planned for Stoke Mandeville Combined. What a tragedy that it was cut short.
Mr Hollows was greatly involved with not just what the teachers were doing, but the children as well. In summer, when we were allowed to sit outside, instead of spending his lunchtimes in the Staff Room, he would sit and eat with us, and I always found that he was incredibly easy to talk to. He would join in with school activities, and at Christmas in 2008, he performed a fantastic Bruce Forsyth impression, as he hosted the school talent show, the Y Factor.
When talking in assemblies, Mr Hollows always seemed to have a humorous story to tell or a good memory to share with us. Whether it was a story about his two young children, his wife, his previous jobs or his friends, they were guaranteed to make us all smile. One story that I particularly remember was one that he told, I feel I would like to share with you. Mr Hollows was at a fancy dress party for one of his friends, and he had come dressed as a clown. He remained sober throughout the evening, and apparently was one of the only people who did. Because of this, when a friend of his got hurt, he had to escort them to the nearest hospital A & E. Having not had the time to change his clothes before doing so, he managed to get quite a few strange looks from passers-by as he walked through A & E with a hurt man dressed as a clown.
Another memory of Mr Hollows that I have is when our class went to Dartmouth for a residential trip in Year 6. He was the supervising teacher in my group, and wasn’t afraid to try out some of the activities. One of the activities that he participated in was canoeing in the River Dart. There were three people to a canoe, and I was in a canoe with two of my friends, and Mr Hollows was in a canoe with two other girls in my group. During the session, we had to complete all sorts of challenges, from racing across the part of the river that we were in, to swapping places in the canoes without falling out. All being roughly the same weight, my friends and I in our canoe had no problem swapping places. But when it was Mr Hollows’ turn to move, because of his difference in weight to the two girls, it caused the canoe to sway terribly, causing the two girls to scream for all they were worth.
I feel that Mr Hollows was a great help to me, and from when he first arrived to when I left Stoke Mandeville School to join Aylesbury High School, he was thoughtful and caring. He will be missed by everyone not only at Stoke Mandeville School, but by everyone who knew him.
