Tribute to Ron Bailey, 1938 - 2026
Memories of his time working at City of London school for boys
Ian ● 28 July 2026When Ron Bailey came to City of London School in 1970 he brought with him a wealth of experience as a
competitive athlete through running, hurdling, rugby and cricket. Much of his success had been gained through Staffordshire, Staffordshire Schools and Stoke-on-Trent teams, not only as a competitor but as an administrator, rising to be the organising secretary of the All England Schools cross-country championships in 1968.
Ron had spent much time in athletics and had become
a senior AAA coach, taking the GB junior relay team to
third place in the European Championships.
His first qualification after leaving Longton High School in 1956 was a diploma in ceramics; possibly a
necessity for all living in the Potteries. Teaching then
beckoned and a decade of study began at Newlands Park College of Education (teacher's certificate) followed by Carnegie College of Physical Education (diploma in P.E.) and finally Keele University (diploma of advanced study in education). This equipped Ron to take his first job at Chell Junior High School, becoming head of department after two years before his move to CLS to work with the then head of department, Brian Crompton.
In the old school there were limited on-site facilities and rugby dominated the school's view of sport, with swimming, fencing, fives, rowing, athletics and cricket providing the back-drop. Most days saw a variety of teachers pounding the pavements between Blackfriars and Westminster with their rugby teams, trying to raise levels of fitness and overcome the handicap of distant playing fields. Annual trips to outdoor pursuit centres in Devon and Breco with groups of junior school boys were a regular feature of life at CLS for Ron in the seventies and early eighties.
Not satisfied with his academic qualifications, Ron enrolled with the Open University in 1975 and spent three years churning out essays and attending tutorials in the successful pursuit of a B.A.
Ron always had an expectation that boys would listen and learn. Those that did had a pleasant life while others incurred instant wrath and a hard task to redeem themselves. However, there is always an exception to the rule; this being Neil Edwards. Ron had nearly thrown Neil out of the 1st XV for not listening. A few years later, with a wry smile on his face, Ron proudly sat in Murrayfield Stadium watching Neil represent Scotland against England as a full international rugby player.
Returning to CLS, the fixtures list had boasted a few 'names' but largely featured small schools with equally limited opportunities to produce top class teams. Ron
Took over the organisation of rugby at CLS in 1978, using his recently-gained expertise as coach to Blackheath RFC, but progressively struggled to find the staff with time and know-how to coach rugby. At the same time, many of our competitors were transferring to association football.
These were difficult times for Ron to come to terms with, and it was as well that the move to the new school in 1986, with its opportunities for expansion of the P.E. programme, more or less coincided with his time as head of department. At this time he was lured once more to academia and spent three years at the North London Polytechnic studying for an M.A.
With the move to the new school, Ron's view of introducing a wide range of activities to all boys in the hope that they might enjoy one or more sport could now be realised. This particularly suited the unique position of the school in the heart of London and the type of pupil that CLS seems to attract. Thus, as senior rugby ceased, so other activities took its place. The multi-stage weight-training unit had seemed positively space-age when we first acquired it in the early 80s, and it is to Ron's credit that more and more useful, and expensive, machines have been regularly added. The battle for squash courts over fives courts was won and, in the gymnasium, sports such as handball, hockey, short tennis and badminton became valuable additions to the previous programme. Hiccups, of course, occurred along the way and a memorable sight in the gymnasium was of 25 fifth-formers being armed with tennis rackets and a ball each, all doing serving practice at the same time. Fortunately the experiment wasn't repeated.
Undoubtedly one of Ron's strengths as Director of
Sport (1988 to 1998) was his ability to extract money, by fair means or foul, from the Bursar's clutches. Most
members of staff in charge of sports had, at some time or oher, presented Ron with an unbudgeted problem only to find it solved within a day or so. No mention was ever made as to where the money came from!
As a form tutor of 1B3, later to be IB, Ron was second o none in his ambition to get the very best out of each pupil. Numerous quiet chats took place in the P.E. office to sort out early problems and, in the majority of cases, the boys acted on the words of wisdom and settled down to productive lives at CLS. For many years junior boys were also taught geography by RJB, and the P.E. office was frequently piled high with plaster of Paris models of farms. During much of Ron's time at CLS there were other Baileys around as his two sons, Stuart and Ian, benefited from 'the system' before taking up successful careers.
And so twenty-eight years at CLS have passed, and
there have been many changes in the organisation and
content of sport in that time. Ron pessimistically claims to have achieved little since 1970. You will gather from the there have been many changes in the organisation and content of sport in that time. Ron pessimistically claims to have achieved little since 1970. You will gather from the above that he is wrong, but I doubt if he'll admit it. Next stop, we believe, is China where the problems we encounter here will seem trivial, and opportunities for coaching a scrummage are immense. We wish Ron, and his wife Pat, well in their retirement.
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