Old Hallfieldian Profile – Tim Hamer

Old Hallfieldian Tim Hamer (OH 1966-75) got in touch recently to pass on his thanks to Hallfield teachers, past and present. Read on to find out how they inspired Tim and played a part in him becoming an author later on his career.

• When did you attend Hallfield?

I attended Hallfield from Pre-prep through to Seniors, leaving in 1975.

• What’s your favourite Hallfield memory?

One of my favourite memories was during my final year when, as left wing in the rugby XV, we completed an historic unbeaten season of nine wins and no losses, finishing with an exhibition game against Stourbridge Rugby Club, after which we were all “accidentally” served an after-game shandy – happy days – but something I am sure would never happen now! Our success was really down to our new PE and rugby coach, Les Smith, an ex-professional, and giant of a man at 6ft 6ins who had introduced military style training sessions and tactics, which we all secretly moaned about, but no-one was going to argue with him!

• What were your favourite subjects at Hallfield?

I very much favoured the sciences, initially taught by Mr Plenderleith, although there were several inspirational teachers in other subjects who made me think twice about my choices. Firstly, Mr Button, Latin/Classics of whom we’d all been terrified when young, suddenly had us all enthralled when we discovered we could actually translate quite a bit of real “Roman stuff”. His favourite admonishment for a failed answer to a question was “Piffle, boy!”, but delivered humorously. Another was Mr Davies, who took us for English (and was a cricketing demon bowler) who broadened our horizons and boosted our self-confidence with debates and creative writing projects.

• Did you take part in extra-curricular activities?

I enjoyed playing any sport, and was lucky enough to play both cricket and rugby for the school, so this took up much of my spare time. In those days I was actually really quite small for my age, but it meant that I could change direction very quickly when running with a rugby ball and bowl a deceptive very low-trajectory seamer in cricket! A good team spirit was always encouraged and enabled us to understand that a team could be made up of very different shapes and sizes, but each brought their unique skills to the game, making the team work better.

• Where did you go to secondary school?

I had been a weekly boarder at Hallfield in my last year, which helped me to adjust to boarding school life. I left Hallfield for Malvern College, an amazing school nestled at the base of the Malvern Hills, but didn’t settle in and moved a year later to King Edward’s School (Edgbaston) where I met up again with some old Hallfield friends, like Roger Ashton, Nick Robinson and Peter Bull, and immediately felt at home.

• Are you still in touch with your Hallfield friends?

Not as much as I should be! In the later school days, I continued to stay in touch with a few friends but after university I think we all drifted apart into busy careers.

• Have you been back to Hallfield since you left?

I have only returned once, back in 1980, and that was to captain the Parents/Old Hallfieldians v The School, cricket match – it was all taken very seriously but diplomatically ended as a draw!

• Where did you go to university and what did you study?

I took a gap year between school and university in 1980-81 and worked and travelled in Australia and New Zealand, before going up to study Engineering Science at Durham University, at St.Cuthbert’s Society/College, in October 1981. It is a beautiful and scholarly university, with a great inter-university sporting reputation. After three amazing years of hard work and fun, I graduated in 1984.

• What is your career?

An engineering degree is highly valued by employers because of graduate numeracy and problem solving skills. In addition to engineering careers, this meant there were job opportunities in all sorts of fields.

As a reaction to my heavily mathematical course at university, I broadened my education through reading as many classic novels as I could, which led me to becoming really interested in the publishing industry, particularly scientific publishing. It is a very competitive career, but thanks to a Professor introducing me to his publisher, I managed to get a toe-hold in the industry by getting a job as a publishing sales representative, with a view to becoming an editor later. It was a wonderful starter job with lots of autonomy. I was given a company car and an expense account and had to visit bookshops and academic departments all around the UK and Ireland, selling higher education textbooks and looking for potential new authors. It felt like an extended travel holiday! l went on to cover France, Germany, and the Netherlands becoming a field editor.

The company I worked for was owned by the Thomson Corporation, and a change in its strategic direction in the 1980s/early 90s led to opportunities for me to become a sales manager, marketing manager, sales and marketing director, then managing director, eventually finishing as senior vice president, global marketing services and UK general manager at the newly created Thomson Reuters (London/New York/Stamford) in 2008.

I went on to join The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) as director of knowledge, and was made a Fellow of the IET in 2016, having digitised the IET’s publishing and information services.

I retired in 2017, to renovate two Welsh houses/barns on a beautiful mountain headland, before taking up writing in 2021; my first book, The Book of Tudllan, is historical fantasy novel for young adults, and was published in January 2024. I now write, travel, repair dry stone walls and carve stone dragons!

• Do you have any words of wisdom for current pupils?

We are all different, but I think one thing I would encourage everyone to do, in whatever career or profession pursued, and at whatever level, is to treat people you meet and work with, with politeness, respect and kindness. It doesn’t cost anything and it makes life a much more pleasant experience! And it certainly doesn’t mean that you will be compromised when faced with having to make tough decisions; contrary to some popular mantras, in my experience, it makes you much more effective at whatever you do, and a better leader.

If you’d like to share what you’ve been up to since leaving Hallfield, contact our Alumni and Development Officer, Kat de Polo here.