Russell Jones

6th November 1950 - 23rd April 2021

At QEH: 1962 - 1969 

Russell was born in Portsmouth in 1950. The family, which included his sister and two younger brothers, moved to Bristol in 1958.

In 1962, he started at QEH. He remembered his first form room being called ‘Deighton’s Dungeon’, a small dark room in the depths of the building. He became the school organist, playing at assemblies, and was once asked to play the National Anthem for Speech Day. He practised this many times in the Hall, on the afternoon before the event, until the doors opened and a booming voice rang out “will you please stop playing the National Anthem. We are trying to have a staff meeting and are getting tired of standing up every time it is played.”

He was made a prefect and awarded Hartnell’s house tie for services to school music as well as the Headmaster’s Prize for Music. He was also awarded the Richardson Old Boys’ Travel Award of £40 to visit some of the Cathedral Cities of Europe, prior to studying architecture at Bristol University, managing to visit 20 cathedrals, Paris and Versailles in 3 weeks.

He gained 13 ‘O’ levels, 3 ‘A’ levels and at University achieved a degree B.A (Hons) and a diploma B.Arch.

His first job was in Worcester, with a firm of architects specialising in the restoration of timber-framed buildings. He spent 10 years working on projects such as the restoration of Bredon tythe barn, but his health was starting to deteriorate with the kidney disease which afflicted him for the rest of his life. Regretfully, he had to stop working full-time and ran a delicatessan and restaurant for several years, followed by a general store.

For the past 12 years he was a Volunteer Guide at Worcester Cathedral. This became the focus of his life and he loved imparting his architectural knowledge to visitors.

He died on St. George’s Day and his funeral was held in the quire of Worcester Cathedral.