Society 2009 Autumn Newsletter - St Edmund`s School Canterbury

www.stedmunds.org.uk
Autumn Issue 2009
St Edmund’s Society
N E W S L E T T E R
Peter Hopper Memorial Cricket Match
The Hopper family has been
associated with St Edmund’s School
since the spring of 1945 when Peter
Hopper joined the Junior School in
its wartime exile in Cornwall. Peter’s
granddaughter, Natasha, is the
current School Captain, so for well
over half a century, the Hoppers have
graced the School and Baker House.
Peter sadly passed away in July on
the island of Majorca. His brothers,
David and Tim, and sons, Kevin, Paul,
Ian and Neale, decided that the best
commemoration of his life might
well be a cricket match, between a
Hopper XI and an Invitation XI, played
at the School. Peter was a cricketer
par excellence, who had played for
four years in the School’s 1st XI and
club cricket for Northdown CC and
Cranbrook.
So it was that, on Sunday 23 August,
such a match took place in front of
a huge crowd of family, friends and
former pupils, all of whom had come
to pay their respects to Peter. The
match was integral to the day, but at
the same time incidental, as the focus
of the afternoon was the tea interval,
and Robin Hawkins’ moving eulogy
to Peter - a perfect gentleman.
As for the cricket, the Invitation XI,
captained by Kris de Pledge, ran
up 192 for 7 in 30 overs, with useful
contributions from Andrew Pask (29),
Harry Callaway (28), Shaun Barrett
(30), Steve Rumbelow (23), who
played one sumptuous late cut, and
de Pledge himself with 30. Ian Hopper
rolled back the years with a spell of
0 - 8 in his five overs; Neale and Paul
both took a couple of wickets, Kevin
took one, and the other two went to
members of the most recent Hopper
generation, Jamie and Matthew.
Some excellent catches were taken,
the best by ‘sub’ fielder Dominic
Barrett who held two steepling skyers
on the long-off boundary.
The Hopper reply, which got off to a
cracking start, faltered in the middle,
was revived by guest Steve Hull and
Kevin, but fell narrowly short on 169
all out. Kevin top-scored with 56
in an innings of two parts and Paul
played the shot of the day. Neale was
left stranded on 36 as Steve Hull was
bowled by de Pledge for 21. Paul
Bryant, with his loopy leg breaks,
took 2-17. Bob Green, a Northdown
CC guest, took 2-22, but de Pledge,
with 3-9, proved decisive in the end.
So the Invitation XI won by 23
runs, but the day was made by the
generosity of those who provided
the wonderful refreshments, liquid
and solid, during the course of the
afternoon, the jazz musicians, Burtie
Butler’s Jazz Pilgrims, who performed
at the interval, and the spectators
whose contributions to the raffle
raised, I believe, over £300 for
prostate cancer charities.
As for me, I had the pleasure of
organising the Invitation XI - an easy
task with so many wanting to play
and having to be turned down - sorry
- and, as scorer, remembering the
exploits of Hoppers and invitees on
this St Edmund’s field over the best
part of forty years.
A wonderful day, and, I hope, just
the right send-off for Peter Edward
Hopper.
David Knight
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Letter from the President
Dear Society Members,
I can’t believe how quickly
this year has passed since
Karen Milburn (’86) handed
over the Presidency of the
Society to me at last year’s
Annual Dinner.
During my year of office, I
have seen how much effort
and hard work the Committee and Officers give to the
Society for the benefit of all its members. As President, I
have been fortunate to benefit from the efforts of Nick
Athorne (‘70) and his colleagues who have made my
year in office a relatively easy but enjoyable one.
I have taken part in a number of sports and social
events during the past year. The first was the Veterans
Old Boys football match against the School’s 2nd XI last
November which preceded last year’s Annual Dinner.
Then, at the Summer Gathering, I was drafted in to
play in the Old Boys’ Tennis team. I partnered Christian
Kortlang (’06), a contemporary of my daughter,
Charlotte (’06), who was also playing tennis for the
Old Girls. Alas the tennis teams fared no better than the
cricketers who were getting a pasting from the School –
and Ben Easter (’09) in particular.
Jason Norris (’95)
Earlier in the day, I presided over the AGM and then
attended the Memorial Service for Francis Rawes
(Headmaster from 1964-78) in the School Chapel. It was
interesting and moving to listen to the many tributes
paid to Francis by his colleagues and former pupils. He
was a man of many talents which his pupils, like me,
knew little of.
With the end of my Presidential year approaching, I will
be handing over the Presidency to Martin Rupp (staff
member 1963-2000) at this year’s President’s Dinner
on 14 November. The Dinner is to be held at the ABode
(formerly the County) Hotel in central Canterbury and I
would like to invite you all - former colleagues, friends
and new faces - to attend and make this year’s Dinner
a memorable one, especially as I suggested the venue!
The ABode is situated in the centre of Canterbury and
also incorporates the (late!) Tavern Bar next door. For
further details, please refer to the supplement enclosed.
I look forward to seeing many of you there.
Shaun Barrett (’79)
Dear All,
It is nearly a year since I was co-opted back onto
the Committee as secretary and it has been a very
interesting period. There is no doubt that my role will
be very different from last time, and it will evolve and
define itself as we move forward.
Many thanks for the fantastic new St Edmund’s Society
newsletter I received in May. It is great to see St Edmund’s
continuing to do so well.
I thought it would be a good time to tell you I am now
a proud parent of our first baby, Livia Amy Norris, who
was born on 7 April 2009. I have attached a picture of
Livia with my wife Eli and me. I continue to work at the
University of Dundee as the Admissions & Recruitment
Manager, now responsible for all undergraduate and
postgraduate admissions into the University. Part of my
role also involves travelling abroad to recruit students and
I have been to Singapore, Hong Kong, Egypt, Ireland and
Switzerland setting up links and encouraging potential
students to study at Dundee.
As you know, the links with the School have grown
even closer with the establishment of the Foundation
Office and we are all finding that the excellent help
from Bridget McBean and Emily Smith is absolutely
invaluable. I hope to be able to write a letter to you
all in each edition of the newly designed newsletter
although space may not always be available.
Meanwhile, please let me raise the matter of the
Committee again. We still have space for Committee
members. Please contact me if you are interested frank@fdowling.org.uk.
We are facing an interesting future and being part of it
will doubtless be very fulfilling.
Best wishes,
Frank Dowling (’66)
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A fond farewell
Allyson and Tim Pearce
Helen and Ian Thompson
We also said
goodbye to
several longstanding staff
members
including:
Tim and Allyson Pearce took the
decision to retire after 23 years
dedicated to St Edmund’s. An Old
Boy of the School, Tim rejoined in
1986 as a Form Teacher in Lower
School. Two years later, he and
his wife, Allyson, were appointed
as Houseparents to the Cathedral
Choristers at Choir House, where
they committed their lives to looking
after the boys for eleven years.
Since then, Tim has been Head of
Geography, founding Head of Roper
House, an accomplished actor and
an invaluable ally to the directors
of the musical productions. Allyson
set out as a supply teacher in both
Junior School and Abingdon House
11 years ago and then joined
Abingdon on a full-time basis in
2003.
Ian and Helen Thompson retired
after over 30 years of service to
St Edmund’s. Ian arrived in 1976,
to join the Modern Languages
Department and since then, so
many unsung, but important,
jobs have come his way. He will be
fondly remembered as a polyglot
– keeping Latin on the curriculum,
a Housemaster of Warneford and
a wonderful singer including thirty
years in the Cathedral Choir. The
most recent edition of The Chronicle
is testimony to his love of precision,
and of St Edmund’s School. Helen,
too, has put St Edmund’s at the
centre of her life for some 28 years
in her capacity as staff wife, the
mother of two pupils and, more
recently, in her professional capacity
teaching in Abingdon and Form 3.
Special Guests at the President’s Dinner
Come and say goodbye to Ian and Helen Thompson, Tim and Allyson
Pearce and Ian and Eileen Narburgh who will be attending this years
President’s Dinner. They would love to see you there.
Catherine Futcher
Chris McDade
Ian Narburgh
Terry Sheahan
Anne Gibson
If you would to make a donation
towards a Society leaving present
for any of the 2009 staff leavers,
please state clearly the name of
the staff member and send your
contribution to the Society Office,
St Edmund’s School, St Thomas
Hill, Canterbury, Kent CT2 8HU.
(Cheques made payable to ‘St
Edmund’s Society’). Thank you for
your generosity.
Kevin Howells (’80)
I have been living in Canada for the past
19 years - not bad for what started as a
3 year short-term work transfer. My two
sons were born here and my wife and
I are now also proud to be Canadian
citizens. We live in a small village one
hour north of Toronto. Life in Canada is
a lot of fun especially as we always get
a good amount of snow, something our
dog really enjoys. I still stay active with
sports here - football is now a summer
sport and the hockey I played at School
has been replaced with Ice Hockey.
This summer, we visited St Edmund’s
and we were extremely fortunate to have
Jock Asbury-Bailey show us around. It
was interesting to see how some things
had changed but a lot was still as I
remembered it.
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Members’ Notes
Russell Allen (’80) left the Royal
Navy in December 2008 and is now
a Client Manager specialising in
Intelligence for a company in Bristol.
Alister Atkin (’92) is a member of
the Fat River Band.
Stefanie Backhouse (née Rudolph
‘98) & Benjamin Backhouse (’98)
have two children Freddy (3) and
Molly (2). They moved to Oamaru
on the South Island of New Zealand
nearly two years ago and are really
enjoying life Down Under. Ben
has returned to farming – and is
currently looking to buy a farm of his
own - and Stef is teaching Tourism
and Economics at a Polytechnic.
Revd. Hugh Bearn (staff member
1985-86) visited the School with his
wife and two sons. He is now Vicar
of Tottington, Bury and a Chaplain
to the Queen.
David Bennett (’69) is married
to Karen and has two children,
Christopher and Megan Lucy. He
works at Network Rail as a practice
manager
in
the
Information
Management Department and has
part-trained as an ICF coach.
Damian Bunce (’88) worked at
Goldman Sachs for about 10 years
but has now moved to Barclays
Capital where he has the task of
establishing a new equities electronic
trading business in Europe. Damian
is married to Althea and has two
children, Ismay (2) and Joshua (5).
The family has been living in Notting
Hill for the last seven years. Damian
is in touch with Nick Stringer (’88),
Shara Thompson (’88, née Abbott)
and Rich Ward (’87) and is always
keen to hear from old boys.
Perry Burr (’62) wrote “I am an
‘old boy’ from the ancient and
esteemed class of 1962. I came to
St Ed’s as the only ‘Yank’ in School
and I truly cherished that role. It
was easily one of the best and most
important eight or nine months of
my life.” He is keen to get in touch
with his contemporaries including
Jeffrey Walton (’64) and David
Hughes (’62) but their whereabouts
are unknown. If you can help,
please get in touch with the Society
Office so that Perry can re-establish
contact.
Tom Chevalier (’77) went to Brunel
University after School to study
Electrical Engineering. Having worked
in the electricity supply industry, he
has now set up his own company,
Power Data Associates.
Hugh Cocks (’82) is running global
technology
company,
Rosslyn
Analytics, in Covent Garden.
Sam Deeson (’87) is the brainchild
behind new restaurant, Deeson’s,
in Sun Street, Canterbury. The
restaurant offers “proper Kentish
grub”.
Sean Figgis (’89) runs Edward
Vinson Ltd which has recently
produced a new variety of
strawberry, ‘Sweet Eve’, available in
supermarkets across the South East.
Canon Frank Fisher (’55) is now
retired and living in Castle Cary. He
has three grandchildren and a fourth
is on the way.
Jim Gear (’52) recently paid a visit to
the School. He travelled all the way
from Alberta, Canada, with his wife
Shirlean.
Hannah Green (’00) married Dave
Millyard on 5 September at St
Peter’s Church, Bridge. More details
to follow in the next Newsletter.
John Houghton, grandson of
Headmaster Houghton (1902-08)
recently visited the School. He lives
in New Zealand.
Amy Kemball (’06) and Katie Bell
(’07) set off on their bicycles in
June to follow in the footsteps of
medieval pilgrims from Canterbury
to Santiago de Compostela in aid of
the Kent Children’s Fund Network.
Pianist Freddy Kempf (’93) and
Organist D’Arcy Trinkwon (’83)
are two former pupils who will
be performing at the Canterbury
Festival - 27 October and 20
October
respectively
www.
canterburyfestival.co.uk.
Frank Klomp (’86) has bought a
house in The Netherlands with his
wife, Kirsten, and two children.
Frank and Kirsten love seeing their
‘weekend daughter’ Jacqueline (12)
and enjoy taking her to swimming
lessons and all kinds of fun activities.
Bass player Joel Magill (‘03), violinist
Raven Bush (‘05), nephew of Kate
Bush, Drummer Fred Rother (‘02)
and Guitarist Liam Magill (‘05)
play in the four-piece band, Syd
Arthur. They recently performed at
Glastonbury and also at Lounge on
the Farm in Canterbury. Syd Arthur
won BBC Radio Kent’s Unsigned Live
Competition in 2007.
Kate Monk (’01) achieved a 1st class
BA (Hons) degree in Sociology at
Sussex University in 2009. She will
remain in Brighton for the shortterm and is currently job-hunting.
Not heard from us for a while?
Have you changed your e-mail address and forgotten to tell us? Please update your details today. E-mail the
Society Office today at society@stedmunds.org.uk or update your details online at www.sesociety.org.uk. If
you have any difficulties logging-on, please contact Nick Thurgood at n.thurgood@btinternet.com.
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Richard Parsons (staff member
1990-08) travelled to Pakistan where
he stepped up to a challenge – to
audition, rehearse and direct two
of his own plays, The Safe Side and
What a Wonderful World within four
weeks.
Will Parsons (’00), Ed and Henri
Stevens (’99) set off in March to
sing for their supper all the way
from Canterbury to Wales. See www.
awalkaroundbritain.com for details.
Harry Poulson (’60) enjoyed meeting
his contemporaries again after
51 years at Jock Asbury-Bailey’s
celebratory birthday lunch. He has
moved to Telford, Shropshire and
would love to hear from his former
school friends.
Vaughan
Roberts
(’03)
has
embarked on an extraordinary 3,000mile (16-week) journey around the
British Isles in an 18ft kayak. He is
hoping to raise £20,000 for Epilepsy
Bereaved.
Nigel Sell (’56) was supposed to
retire but “got bored” so he now
drives a lorry around the Midlands
and East Anglia. He has been
married for nearly 48 years and has
two sons and two grandchildren. He
lives in the Eye Green Nature Reserve
- “bliss!”.
Piers Strudwick (’90) has completed
two years with Defence Equipment
and Support in Bristol where he
worked on Urgent Operational
Requirements for tactical communications in support of operations in
Afghanistan. He now commands a
Rifle Company with 2 SCOTS based
in Edinburgh, where he lives with
Jane and their three children. “I look
forward to one day making it to a
Society event! Fond regards to St
Edmund’s.”
David Tadman (’53) is currently
running a classic car restoration
and parts company called Bromley
Bubble, as well as a property rental
portfolio, with his partner, Denise.
Nick Thurgood (’71), Immediate
Past President of the Canterbury
Lions Club, presented a cheque for
£750 to the Canterbury’s Pilgrims
Hospice - one of many charitable
projects that he has been involved
in throughout the year, along
with wife, Katy. He has recently
been appointed as the South East
Environment Officer!
Philip Titcombe (’71) paid a visit to
the School recently.
Emily Wassell (’02) is reading music
at Trinity College of Music. She plays
in a few semi-professional orchestras
and quartets, including that for the
Queen’s Golden Jubilee. She also
plays in a six-piece contemporary
folk band, Waterhorse. The group
plays a mix of rock, blues and folk
with Celtic influences and recently
performed at The Horsebridge
Centre in Whitstable.
Nick Williams (’83) recently visited
the School.
Sophie Wire (’97) has formed jazz
band, The Trumpettes, with friend
Berni Brice.
Nick Wright (’87) is working with
P&O in Folkestone.
Disclaimer:
The information given in the
Spring 2008 Society Notes
contained incorrect details about
Andrew Tadman (’76). The
information in the Newsletter is
published in good faith and it is
not possible to check whether
the information people send to
us is correct or not.
“
The new layout
of the Society
Newsletter
is great!
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Chris McDade (staff member 200309) has become Headmaster of The
Cathedral Choir School, Ripon.
S Backhouse (’98)
Alumni Questionnaire
Thank you to all those that have
completed an alumni questionnaire
and congratulations to Michael
Stewart (’53) who won the
beautiful aerial photograph of
the School. Although delighted
at the response so far, we still
need to hear from many more
Society members – over 3,000 to
be precise! Please complete one
today online and encourage your
friends and/or family members
that attended St Ed’s to do
the same - www.stedmunds.org.uk/
foundation/reconnect. It will help
us provide you with a better service
- including career advice and
support, work placement opportunities, regional and overseas
reunions, updates on future events
and developments, to name but a
few. Help us help you.
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Headmaster’s Report
Jeremy Gladwin
Headmaster
Abingdon House, the Pre-Prep School
and Nursery, celebrated its 20th
birthday and had many special days.
For example, when the Bugman
came; the children were coaxed into
touching the tarantula, or allowing
a stick insect to rest on their sweat
shirts. The various clubs including
drama, cooking, clay, board games,
recorders, dance, choir and craft
were very successful throughout the
year.
Mark Sell, as the new Director of
Drama in Senior School, introduced
termly productions; the first of these
was Daisy Pulls it Off, followed
by Hansel and Gretel and lastly,
Rowing star inspires St Edmund’s pupils
Alastair McKean, bronze medal winner in a LTA mixed four at the 2008
Paralympic Games (shown in action below), presented the prizes at the
annual Speech Day at St Edmund’s School Canterbury in July. After the
prize presentation in a memorable and inspirational talk, Alastair explained
how he learnt the true value of strong networks to overcome seemingly
impossible odds and thus gain world-wide recognition as an athlete.
Starting to row in 1994 at Herne Bay Amateur Rowing Club, he was a
talented junior oarsman, winning various titles before being involved in a
serious road accident in 1999, caused by a bird flying into his motorbike visor.
Giants which included pupils from
Abingdon House, Junior School
and Senior School. The event most
typifying the atmosphere and ethos
of this place was St Ed’s Has Got
Talent.
The Junior School production, My
Fair Lady, entertained 400 children
from local primary schools. Behind
the scenes Guy and Mark Hawkins
were ably assisted by pupils. Other
performance opportunities included
the Form 3’s Cinderella, Form 4’s
Christmas Assembly, the Lower
School Drama Club’s In a Garden in
China, instrumental recitals and the
Music Festival. In June, the Abingdon
children joined 130 children from
four local primary schools in the
main hall to celebrate the Little
Voices Music Festival.
On their USA tour, the Cathedral
Choristers gave nine concerts in
thirteen days in Chicago, Atlanta,
New York and Washington DC. They
also sung in Normandy and the
Netherlands.
Can you help?
The Sports Department is requesting
1st XI cricket photos for the
following years: 1974-77, 1979-80,
1982-91, 1996. If you are willing
to contribute any photographs, we
would be most grateful if you could
send them into the Society Office,
for the attention of Antony Jones.
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St Edmund’s School Canterbury is
a school that never stands still and
where creativity always bubbles
away under the surface. A school is
only as good as its teachers – and
this is a school of committed and
inspiring teachers who go the extra
mile for their pupils. This report
summarises the main achievements
of the school year.
I thought the
newsletter was very
well done.
H Haslehust-Smith (’71)
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to the Society
The
Senior
School
concert
programme ranged from some
fine lunchtime recitals and serious
orchestral and chamber works to
the drama of Fanshawe’s African
Sanctus in Canterbury Cathedral,
complete with choirs from St
Stephen’s, Blean Primary and Spring
Grove Prep School, to the hilarious
banter of our music teachers in the
summer serenade concert.
The Drama Department and the new
Director of Music, Will Bersey will be
staging the pantomime Beauty and
the Beast as the Michaelmas Term
production.
Our Senior School sports teams
continued
to
provide
strong
opposition against local teams. The
quality of inter-House competition
strongly reinforced our policy of
sport for all and the Athletics and
Swimming competitions took pride
of place in this respect. The 1st XI
cricket team are the current county
champions, winning the Lemon
Cup. Sports scholar Rowan Jones’
performance in the swimming gala
was outstanding. John Maylam, our
professional Hockey coach and parttime games teacher and vice-captain
of the England Masters’ Hockey
Team, won a Gold medal in the over60s World Cup in Hong Kong. Junior
sport had a successful year especially
the girls’ U13 hockey and the boys’
U11 football.
This year, we will be offering the
English (AQA) Baccalaureate to our
Sixth Form pupils for the first time
and in November, we undergo a full
Independent Schools Inspection.
At GCSE last year there was a
100% pass rate in eleven subjects
and pupils achieved an average of
nearly 10 passes at grade A*-C. At
A Level 48% of our pupils gained
two or more A grades and 74.3% of
examinations taken gained grades A
and B.
We said goodbye to two Governors
this year - namely Paulette Holmes
and Pat Stewart. Long serving staff
Catherine Dolan (‘93)
English wedding but with a Spanish
flavour. The bride and groom were
accompanied by their two daughters,
Sofia (four) and Laura (three) as
bridesmaids, as well as Catherine’s
school chums Annie Gascoyne (‘93)
and Sarah Cheeseman (‘93) and
Juan’s sister, Pilar Alfonso.
Catherine returned to Canterbury to
get married in the School Chapel on
22 August.
She and her husband, Juan Ignacio
Alfonso from Valencia, live in Huesca,
Spain, near the Pyrenees where
Catherine does PR work for the
Spanish ski company Aramon and
Juan is the director of a newspaper.
The couple wanted a traditional
leavers included Anne Gibson,
Catherine Futcher, Chris McDade,
Terry Sheahan, Ian Narburgh, Ian
Thompson, Helen Thompson, Tim
Pearce and Allyson Pearce. School
Captain Michael Hawkes and ViceCaptain Ulrike Brinkmann are
succeeded by Natasha Hopper and
Robbie Vile respectively.
The ceremony was conducted by the
Revd Angela Cheeseman (Sarah’s
mum) and the chapel was decorated
with flowers by Mim Gascoyne
(Annie’s mum). During the service
Craig McEvoy (‘93) played and sang
Annie’s Song by John Denver in
Spanish and in English. Newlyweds
Melanie (née Rule ‘93) and Jozef
Eilers (‘93) also attended the
ceremony, as did Abigail Kitt (née
Bissill, Junior School). The reception
was held at Swarling Manor, Petham,
where music was provided by Alister
Atkin (‘92) of the Fat River Band.
The Lemon Cup Team with David Knight
Former Abingdon Staff
Tell us your news
Do write to us with your news.
Maybe you’ve been on an
adventure? Started a new career
or got a new job? Done something
courageous? Simply experienced
something amazing? Got married
or had children? Graduated from
university? Met up with some old
school friends? Drop me a line at
Society@stedmunds.org.uk with
either a few lines to appear in
the ‘Members’ Notes’ section or
a short paragraph with a quality
digital photograph to feature your
profile. We would love you to
share your stories with us. After
all, the Newsletter would not
exist if it wasn’t for your valuable
contributions.
Thank you.
Emily Smith
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Calendar
2009 -10
Foundation update
14 NovPresident’s Dinner, Canterbury
19 Nov
Michaelmas Concert
03-05 DecSenior School Pantomine
Beauty and the Beast
16 Dec
Christmas Carol Service
11-13 MarJunior School Production
Iolanthe by Gilbert
and Sullivan
12 MarLondon Gathering
02-05 AprCanterbury Easter
Hockey Festival
15 MayNorthern Dinner, Calverley
For further details, see the Society
website at www.sesociety.org.uk
First Legacy Club
Member
The first contributions to the Bursary/
Scholarship fund have been received
and we are delighted to announce
that we have our first Legacy Club
member, Mr David Cope (’64). The
Foundation Office will be publishing
the details of the Legacy Club
arrangements in the near future.
Auction Success
Our thanks extend to the donors and
purchasers of the items/experiences
at the Summer Ball auction. The
proceeds have been added to the
Annual Campaign for the year which
has raised £75,000 for the equipping
and refurbishment of the School Hall.
For more information on the aims
of the Foundation, progress to
date, and ways in which you can
help, see www.stedmunds.org.uk/
foundation or contact Emily Smith
at foundation@stedmunds.org.uk/
01227 475600.
Astroturf Campaign
The Astroturf campaign was launched successfully on 22 April by Mel
Clewlow (Hockey double Olympian) and is now well under way. The last
planning issue (the height of the floodlights) has been resolved and the
first donations have been safely deposited in the bank. Contributions
have already reached over £11,500. I would like to extend a huge thank
you to everybody who has contributed to the campaign so far.
The objective is to provide an all-weather, multi-purpose, floodlit,
artificial playing surface for competitive hockey as well as for the
practice of cricket, tennis and netball. The Astroturf will bring enormous
benefits to St Edmund’s, its pupils and the local community. It will
allow a range of sports to be played in all types of weather, all seasons
and, crucially, it will improve the quality of the games played, especially
hockey. St Edmund’s is an increasingly eminent sporting school and this
development is urgently required to match the needs and aspirations of
players.
The campaign is being led by past captains of school hockey teams
who have been invited to raise the interest of their team members and
to support the School in this enterprise. Contact with the hockey team
captains has been followed up with the distribution of copies of “The
Captain’s Kit” to assist them in fundraising approaches. If you were a
1st XI hockey player, you may be contacted by your former captain in
the near future. The teams that generate the greatest contributions will
be recognised accordingly. The record of contributions so far may be
viewed at www.stedmunds.org.uk/foundation/astroturf. You too are
invited to assist the greening process of the website model pitch with
your contribution to the appeal.
On a separate note, the early responses to the Society’s alumni
questionnaire have indicated an encouraging level of interest in
supporting the Foundation and a follow-up programme to these replies
is planned. If you have not yet done so, please complete a questionnaire
online at www.stedmunds.org.uk/foundation/reconnect/ - it takes no
more than 5 minutes.
Michael Terry (‘61)
St Edmund’s Society, St Edmund’s School Canterbury, St Thomas Hill, Canterbury,
Kent CT2 8HU Telephone: 01227 475600 Email: society@stedmunds.org.uk
The school is owned by St Edmund’s School Canterbury, a charitable company limited by guarantee registered in
England and Wales, number 3201223.
Registered charity number 1056382. Registered office: St Edmund’s School, Canterbury, Kent CT2 8HU.
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