WITH STEEPLECHASE ON THE HORIZON REPTON ROLE MODELS CELEBRATES A MASTER WHO CONTINUES TO INSPIRE

The Parker 100 is a fixture unique to Repton, when the whole school - pupils, teachers and staff - are invited to run 100 miles during the course of the Lent term. Many Reptonians sport the Parker 100 tie or pin badge that pays testament to their significant achievement, but it is not the preserve of our elite athletes. Instead, it is a hallmark of a true Reptonian who has shown dedication, resilience and determination to reach this milestone in the coldest and wettest of our three school terms.  

These traits act as a poignant reminder of the run's namesake - our Repton Role Model Chris Parker. Chris joined Repton as a fresh-faced, newly qualified teacher in 1969 and brought a sense of optimism and fairness that is still fondly remembered today.  

He met his wife, Sue - who was then Assistant Director of Music at Foremarke Hall - at MusSoc, Repton's Music Society and they had a daughter Elizabeth who went on to become a Music Scholar and later followed in her mother's footsteps to become a music teacher. Sue says: "Chris would have been very surprised to join the Repton Role Models hall of fame and Lizzie and I are really delighted! He loved Repton, being amongst the boys in the House and being Master in Charge of Cross Country. He wrote passionately about the School and the village in This England and I am so pleased that I am very much still a part of the Repton community." 

Chris was Assistant Housemaster in The Hall (now School House) and Housemaster Mike Charlesworth described him as 'manifestly fair and objective', talking of his ability to encourage pupils to reflect on poor behaviour: "...it was always Chris who made me stop and think, and see the offender's side of the case...he would tackle the boy himself, so that swift apology and reconciliation followed, instead of indignation, explosion and resentment."  

His appearance as E.T. in the Pedants (where every four years Repton's teachers put on a light-hearted cabaret of talents for the pupil body) prompted Repton's 31st Headmaster David Jewell to call Chris's choice of character 'poignantly prophetic', saying: "that creature who brought joy, understanding, and peace to those people he met on earth." 

As Master in Charge of Cross Country (in his words a "marvellous way to travel") CDP (as he was fondly known) warmed pupils with his words of encouragement. Each Lent term as hundreds of Reptonians take up their trainers to run the Parker 100 they are acutely aware that they do so in the name of a much-admired teacher who helped to shape the positive characters of so many Reptonians.  

Chris developed an aggressive cancer and died in April 1985. A few days before his death Repton's Head of Sport at the time, Noel Bennett, gathered the whole school outside his house at the start of Steeplechase so that they could say goodbye to a much-loved teacher. Their colleague Graham Parry came up with the idea of The Parker 100 in Chris’s name and Noel who inaugurated it – a run that remains such an important part of Repton's identity.  

In the summer 1985 issue of The Reptonian, OR Myles Taylor (B '77) wrote of Chris Parker’s "cheerfulness, devotion and genuine care for other people", saying: "In any situation his sense of humour and love for life would shine through and be of comfort to others." How perfectly that describes the ideal role model to all Reptonians.