Brian Banks, who was born in Scarborough, went to the Graham Sea Training School and looks back with affection at his days there until 1951. He learned to sail in the school ketch “Poppy”. He remembers with less affection his time having to row in one of the two whalers during in house competitions on cold sea challenging days! He kindly donated his old school uniform cap and a group photo of pupils attending an inter school swimming to the Centre in 2024.
On leaving school he joined the Royal Navy and spent his first year at HMS Ganges, the main boy’s training centre, and graduated as a boy Telegraphist. He then served on the battleship Vanguard and at the Admiralty London before being selected for Russian training at the Joint Service School of Languages. He graduated as a Russian Linguist and his first appointment as such was on a submarine working off the Russian coastline. It was only long after submarine’s the safe return to base did he learn that the escape hatches had been welded shut so that in the event of an unfortunate accident evidence of the submarine’s presence off the Russian coast would not be available to the Soviets! This was of course during the cold war in the late 1950s.
Following his naval service of 10 years Brian joined HM Diplomatic Service and served in Bombay, Zanzibar, Dar-es-Salaam, Moscow and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) London. It was when he was a Second Secretary in the FCO that he joined some of the school’s old boys in the 1971 campaign lobbying unsuccessfully against the closure of school at Paradise House! After 11 years in the Diplomatic Service he transferred to HM Customs and Excise, where he served in a number of management positions until his retirement at the age of 60. His final appointment in that department was as Head of Intelligence (equivalent to RN and Army grades of Commodore and Brigadier respectively).
Immediately on retirement from the Civil Service he was recruited by Crown Agents and spent two years in Tbilisi, Georgia, as a leading Adviser on customs and related matters. On his return to Crown Agents he was appointed its Director Customs, Tax and Trade. In that role he spent some years as Advisor to the government of Bulgaria, visiting the country on a regular basis. He finally retired at the age of 73. Since then he has been an active member of his local Rotary club, having been awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship, the highest award given to Rotarians, and the Probus club. He also tries to stay mentally alert by continuing to undertake public speaking engagements, something he has been doing for over 50 years.
He would like to hear from any old GST boys, please email us for details.
Brian is the 3rd boy in from the left, front row.
