New Head Appointed December 2013 Issue 8 1990s Decade Reunion

KGS Friends
December 2013
Issue 8
1990s Decade Reunion
S
aturday 16th November saw a return to the decade reunion format for the School’s November alumni
event, the House reunions having been completed last year. And what a successful return it was! We
had alighted, for reasons now long lost in past committee meetings, on the 1990s as the decade to focus
on (though in the end we had attendees who had left as late as 2006, and the year that provided the
most guests was 1990 itself, a cohort who had been here for just six months of the relevant ten years!) Continued on page 5.
New Head Appointed
T
he Governing Body has announced the
appointment of Mr Stephen Lehec to the
Headship of KGS from September 2014.
Mr Lehec is currently the Head at Aylesbury Grammar
School, a selective academy school with an Elizabethan
grammar school tradition like our own. He joined
his present school in 2006 as Deputy Head and was
appointed to the Headship in 2008.
Prior to this, Mr Lehec taught at Maidstone Grammar
School in Kent, where he held a number of pastoral and
academic leadership roles, before being appointed as
Assistant Headteacher in 2001.
He is a teacher of History, Politics and Sport, with a
History and English degree from Southampton University
and a PGCE from St Anne’s College, Oxford. A keen
sportsman who represented his universities at football
and cricket, he is a tennis player and qualified football
referee, and has coached teams up to county level.
Mr Paul Marsh, Chair
of Governors at KGS
said, ‘Stephen Lehec
embodies for us the
right characteristics
of an experienced
and energetic leader,
who shares our vision
of a school where
academic excellence
is balanced by
sporting achievement,
participation and a
breadth of rich co-curricular activities. We greatly
look forward to welcoming Stephen and his family to
Kingston.’
Mr Lehec said, ‘I consider myself very fortunate to be
given the opportunity to lead one of the country’s top
co-educational schools, and I am very much looking
forward to working closely with the whole Kingston
Grammar School community.’
Recent Events
KGS Friends Quiz Night
Dan Kenn Memorial Hockey Match 2013
O
n the second Wednesday
of September, the annual
Daniel Kenn Memorial match
took place.
In the warm-up, the KGS 1st XI
resembled a professional military
unit, in matching kit, running
complex drills with precision and
speed. The Dan Kenn XI looked
somewhat different – in our minds,
heroic and endearingly rag-tag,
with a love for the spirit of the
game rather than the mechanics. In
reality, we looked like ten people
who hadn’t played together (or at all) for quite some
time, and who couldn’t agree on the correct kit. I said
“ten people”, because 10 minutes before pushback Sam
Holsten was in the back of a taxi, frantically fielding
worried calls from me. He arrived in time, changed at
the side of the pitch – ladies, please, a little restraint
– and started at centre back, with the words “not sure
how much pitch time I’ve got in me.” The look on his
face when I informed him that we had no substitutes was
a hauntingly beautiful portrayal of a man with no hope.
City & Professional
Networking
S
ome 20 OKs, staff and parents battled their
way heroically through some extremely
adverse conditions on the public transport
network to the Tokenhouse on Moorgate on
Wednesday 6th November for the second City
Networking Event.
It was with some dismay that the KGS 1st team looked at
ours and saw Johnny Ruiz, who just last year had been
in red and grey. However, it was with rather greater
dismay that they viewed our centre forward. Last seen
gracing the wings as a skinny 16 year old with a good
turn of pace, Jonathan Dwyer now has similar stats to a
1998 Land Rover Discovery (77 inches high, 2000kg, poor
cornering and braking ability). He cut a terrifying figure.
A healthy mix of ages – the youngest was second-year
York undergraduate Richard Layther – and professions
was represented, with perhaps a preponderance
of lawyers and OKS from the 1970s, both of which
suggested that the focus of the next Professional and
Careers Dinner should be the Law and that the Decade
Reunion, next November, should be for those who were
at the School in the 70s. However, the worlds of finance,
IT and management were also well represented, and it
was a great pleasure to see Neil Mullarkey, comedian and
corporate adviser, who looked in on his way to perform
at the Comedy Store.
Whistle blew, and the first few minutes were relatively
calm. However, after a while, some of the old magic
returned. Although it sounds one-sided at 7 – 1, the
game was constantly enjoyable to watch – full credit
to KGS who kept to their tactics despite the lack of
conventional hockey being played (because we’ve
forgotten how). That takes us to our fourth straight
victory – so far, we haven’t let Dan down, and we don’t
mean to any time
soon!
‘Careers in… Engineering’
T
G
he second annual KGS Friends Quiz Evening
was another great success, with nine
teams taking part made up of present and
former parents, current staff and KGS Friends
Committee members – who came a tactful
second! The winners were Ruth Arnold’s team.
opal Srinivasan (OK 1961 and KGS Friends
committee member) masterminded an
evening devoted to helping young people from
KGS, KCS Wimbledon and Tiffin School interested
in careers in Engineering.
There were several innovations this year - for one thing,
there were no salmon-related questions, or questions
about obscure city churches, which came as a great
relief to all concerned. Then there was the excitement
of having two 2013 leavers, including the Head Boy, no
less, acting as debutant question-masters for the first
half, before their social
lives claimed them. We
had a music round for the
first time, which was fun
and presented something
of a technical as well as an
intellectual challenge. Most
importantly, was our new
question setter, who has
worked for various BBC and
ITV quiz programmes and is
himself a veteran of Mastermind, Brain of Britain, Only
Connect and the like. There seemed to be far fewer
disputes this year, somehow...
The event was hosted by the Energy Institute and
involved a number of experienced professionals talking
to individuals or small groups about their lives and work.
Many, but by no means all, had connections to KGS,
such as KGS Friends committee members Claire Saul and
Paul Havelock and recent leaver Philip Ball, currently
at Oxford University. There was an impressive range of
disciplines, skills and experiences, and many networking
opportunities for students to take advantage of.
KGS student, Flo Blake-Parsons, said: “The evening
was designed to give us budding engineers an insight
into the daily lives of engineers. With hosts stationed
around the room and some roving around, the evening
came off with an air of casual networking that was most
beneficial to
everyone who
attended.
Some
things were
mercifully
unchanged.
The curry
was delicious
again (Thai
this year),
as were
the dinky
desserts.
There was,
wine on the tables included in the price and brisk
business at the bar, expertly run by Anne, to whom much
thanks. Once again we owe a huge debt of gratitude to
Carole Baker for organising this event.
“The hosts
not only
had varying
levels of
experience in
the industry
but they also
represented a
wide variety
of specialist fields. From structural engineering, to
aeronautics, chemical to mechanical, almost every side
was shown and this meant that whatever someone was
interested in there was sure to be someone who could
help him or her out! The evening was particularly useful
in finding out more about what courses were good for
what jobs, how to write personal statements and how
to get into good universities. Not only this, but many
opportunities to apply for work experiences, taster
courses and summer camps were offered - considering
how hard it is these days to get into these sorts of
courses, this was a great aspect of the evening.
Thank you to everyone who took part. We look forward
to seeing even more people at next year’s. As one
quizzer said on the way out – ‘you ought to do this every
term.’ Well, maybe, but once a year may have to do for
now – you can have too much of a good thing, after all.
Thanks to Ben Kumar
(OK 2007) for the
match report. For
the full report and
photo gallery, please
visit
www.kgs.org.uk/
Dan-Kenn-MemorialHockey-Match-2013.
Those assembled enjoyed a convivial and we hope useful
evening with drinks and some tasty canapés on KGS
Friends. If you work in the City, do watch out for the
next event, due to take place in May 2014.
2
“Thanks go to KGS Friends for organising the event, and
to all the speakers for their valuable time and insight.”
3
Reunion for 1950s Joiners
1990s Reunion
I
so, and especially to the year reps, who did a great job
in drumming up support. There are still some gaps in our
representation (please see p10 for details) and if you
would like to help us fill those gaps please contact Jenn
Bywater at [email protected] .
Continued from page one...
t was a very great pleasure to welcome back
some 30 OKs who had joined the School in the
1950s, several wives and, in Berwick Coates, a
former member of staff (sadly, Tony Prichard was
unable to attend having broken an ankle a few
days earlier) for a sort of re-run of the Golden
Reunion we held in 2011 for those who were at
KGS at the time of the Queen’s first visit in 1961.
As well as some who had been at the previous occasion,
there were several who had not been back to KGS since
they left, and the event enabled us to make contact
with a number of alumni who had been ‘lost’ but now
were ’found’ and welcome them back into the fold.
“
Since my departure some 50+ years ago, I have
returned on three or four occasions to visit the ‘old
school’ in one guise or another, but never in such a
pleasurable and regulated manner. To say that I was
impressed by what I saw on my tour of the school
would be to underestimate the facilities that KGS now
offers its pupils.
Peter King
Several had made considerable journeys to be there –
John and Val Belcher from the Isle of Wight, Andrew and
Ann Muncaster from Cheshire and Bob and Carol Burt
from Swanage, to name but a few – but the prize for the
furthest travelled must go to John Oldham, who came
all the way from Canada.
”
Drinks in the Hall were followed by lunch in the Dining
Hall and tours before we all came back together in the
Hall for a group photograph and tea. There was a most
interesting archive display, and we are very grateful to
those who supplied, or promised, additional material.
It was a very enjoyable occasion and our thanks go to
KGS Friends committee member Gopal Srinivasan for
organising this excellent event. We are already looking
forward to the next re-run in a year or two’s time!
“
This event [was] an excellent example of what KGS
Friends is all about. Some of those who came along
did so with some slight hesitation not knowing what to
expect but they enjoyed the friendly atmosphere; one
of the Old Boys remarked that when he entered the
School Hall he felt that had been transported back in
time and for a moment he felt like the nervous 11 year
old that he was when he started at KGS 60 years ago.
Gopal Srinivasan
Such trivial concerns mattered not an iota, as in the
end over 150 people turned up at some point in the day,
many for the first time since they left, including a very
good turn-out of former and current members of the
teaching and non-teaching staff, making this the most
successful KGS Friends event yet. Partners and offspring
were welcome, and the whole occasion had a truly
festive, family feel to it.
“
We started in Hawkes, the Sixth-Form café in the QEII
Building, with drinks,
a display of archive
material and lots of
noise, followed by
group photographs
in the courtyard.
Then we wandered
over to the more
familiar part of the
London Road site
where the nostalgiaquotient was given a
real boost by joining
a traditional lunch
queue outside the
pupils’ dining room, though there were so many of us
that once served we had to take our plates into the Hall.
Next year we will be looking at the 1970s, at about the
same time, so if you qualify, no matter how slightly,
please keep your eyes peeled for further details and
start the word-of-mouth ball rolling now! Can you beat
this year’s total? There’s the rub!
After lunch the current batch of prefects took tours of
the School, always a popular part of the day, and a wellknown piece of graffiti was, rumour has it, reinstated on
the whiteboard in what used to be Room 31. (Sadly it is
not there now, but that is the nature of things.) Then it
was back to the Hall for tea (some had never left it) and
more conversation and reminiscing.
“
It was really good to see so many familiar faces in such
familiar surroundings.
Imran Ahmad, 1996
”
I love reunions. This was the best occasion. I met so
many people I used to teach.
Soliman Hanna, ex-staff
“
A very pleasant way to spend an afternoon. I enjoyed
seeing so many of my contemporaries, some of whom I
had not come across in 50 years.
Peter Allen
”
”
”
At last people started drifting away, many of them
getting no further than Bar 88 on the corner of Albert
Road (the Tup, as was, and before that, if memory
serves, the White Horse). A dozen made it on to the
pizzeria on the corner (La La Pizza then, Terra Mia
now) and there were doubtless other groups of happy
revellers dotted around Kingston.
“
Fabulous occasion … most enjoyable, and lovely to see
so many (old) familiar faces and to catch up on news.
Phil Cooper, ex-staff and OK
It was hugely enjoyable and very successful day. Our
thanks to everyone who came along and helped make it
4
5
”
Forthcoming Events
Middle School Play: ‘The School for Scandal’
12th-14th February 2014.
This year’s Middle School production has taken Sheridan’s rollicking, satirical eighteenth century comedy
‘The School for Scandal’ and set it during the early 1960s, in the wake of one of the most notorious scandals
in British politics. Light is about to be shed on the not-so-private lives of high society Londoners: will anyone
come out unscathed? Tickets are £5. Please email [email protected] or call 02089398170.
Film Night
Opera Dinner
Saturday 1st
February
Tuesday 11th March,
Carluccio’s Teddington
J
A
oin Sam
Gratton (OK
1990) and other
Old Kingstonian
film-makers in the
KGS Theatre for
this free evening
of film and
discussion.
classically trained vocal trio will take you on
a journey from the Grand Operas of Verdi &
Puccini to the Romantic musicals of South Pacific
and West Side Story.
The evening begins with a
relaxed aperitivo of chilled
prosecco and tempting
canapés to fire up your
taste buds before you
sit down to a specially
selected 3 course dinner
of authentic Italian fare
whilst the Opera d’Amici
group create the perfect ambience to enjoy your meal.
Tickets for these events are usually £35 per head, but
KGS Friends have booked 20 places and are offering
tickets at £25 each. To reserve a place, please email
[email protected].
Sam (and others as yet unconfirmed) will talk about
their careers and the evolution of the film industry in
the last 10 years and show some of their work. There
will be time for questions, and refreshments will be
included.
Contact [email protected] for more information or if
you would like to be involved in the event.
‘Careers in… the Law’
Dinner – Thursday 13th March,
Waterloo
Milestone Reunions
T
K
GS Friends is working with the Careers
Department to host a dinner for current KGS
pupils (fifth and sixth form) who are interested
in developing careers in law. We are looking
for alumni and past or current parents who are
working in the industry, studying in this area or
trying to break in to the industry, to attend and
discuss their experiences with the pupils in an
informal setting.
his year’s milestone reunions, taking place in
spring and summer, will be:
5 Years (Class of 2009)
10 Years (Class of 2004)
25 Years (1989)
If you would like to be involved in organising your year
group’s milestone reunion, please email friends@kgs.
org.uk or get in touch with your Year Rep (see p.10).
The event will be an opportunity for pupils to gain an
insight into what the industry is really like, what will
help them to get ahead and what qualifications or
experience are most valuable.
Save the Date!
Regional Gathering
It will give them a much more in-depth understanding
of the subject which is not possible to achieve through
events such as Careers Evening where it is difficult to
devote enough time to a single subject or to have those
one-to-one conversations.
Sunday 11th May, Bristol
An opportunity for all those living within travelling
distance of Bristol to meet over a drink and hear
news from others living in the south west and of
recent developments at the School.
The dinner is taking place on Thursday 13th March near
Waterloo station. There is a nominal charge of £15
towards catering which will include dinner, coffee and
wine. Please contact Jenn Bywater, Alumni Officer, at
[email protected] for more information or to register
your interest.
Sturgeon Cricket
Sunday 18th May, Ditton Field
Your last chance to visit Ditton Field before the
refurbishments this summer! Join us for this annual
sporting event for KGS Friends cricketers to play
against current pupils.
Gibbon Society Dinner – Friday
28th March, KGS
Henley Regatta Luncheon
T
Saturday 5th July, Henley Cricket Club
he Secretary and Committee of The Gibbon
Society request the pleasure of your company
at the Society’s Annual Dinner, to be held at the
School on Friday 28th March at 7.30 for 8pm.
An annual event hosted by the Sherriff Club for
rowing alumni and Vets.
Quiz Night
If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Mr N Bond,
Kingston Grammar School, London Road, Kingston upon
Thames, KT2 6PY or email [email protected].
Saturday 11th October, KGS
Start getting your team together for the KGS Friends
Quiz Night in October - the event is getting bigger
every year and competiton is fierce so book a table
for your team now!
THE KGS
FOUNDATION
1970s Decade Reunion
Front Row Lecture - Monday 3rd March
Saturday 15th November, KGS
A
lexander McLean (OK 2003), Director General of African Prisons Project
and Senior TED Fellow, speaks about the profound effect his KGS Bursary
had on him and how it inspired him to open up education for all, taking
educational programmes to African Prisoners.
Following on from the huge success of 2013’s 1990s
Reunion, the next decade to reunite at KGS will be
the 1970s. Get in touch if you’d like to be involved
in the organisation of the event and make sure you
put it in your diary.
Tickets are £15 (to include light refreshments). If you would like to book a place
please contact Elaine Gawn on 020 8939 8328 or email: [email protected].
6
7
Alumni News
Harunobu Matsui (1979-1986)
In October a number of OKs met up with Harunobi
Matsui who had started school with us in 1979 but left
at the end of the third year to return with his family to
Japan 31 years ago. He had not, apart from a brief visit
21 years ago, been back to Britain since.
Ivan Snell (1943-1949)
Channel Swim Postponed
Ivan Snell and his wife Mimi popped in for a tour and
a chat during their visit to the UK from their home in
South Carolina, USA.
Tudor Morris’s (2010) swimming of the English Channel
for the charity Momentum, which we wrote about in the
last issue, had to be postponed because of unfavourable
sea conditions. Tudor plans to go ahead a little earlier
next year, and we will be keeping readers fully
informed.
After leaving KGS and then
Kingston Tech, Ivan worked
in the UK for several years
before emigrating to the
USA in 1967 to work for
Bell Aerospace. He worked
on the Apollo Program,
Viking and Galileo projects
as well as various missile
programs during his career.
It was a pleasure to catch
up with him and Mimi,
before they headed off to
the West Country to see
Berwick Coates (19441952) on the next stage of
their UK tour.
We arranged a dinner in his honour at a swanky London
venue but would we recognise our old friend? And he us?
In the event it was as though time had pretty much
stood still. The years had indeed been kind to Haru who
looked as sprightly as we all were back in the day. The
evening was a great success with many stories recounted
and was over far too quickly. I know Haru enjoyed
meeting up with other classmates during his stay in
London and he would love to hear from anyone who
remembers him. Rob Nugent
Gavin Featherstone (1963-1972)
Hockey legend Gavin Featherstone (who points out that
hockey is his second game, he was really a footballer
and on Chelsea’s books when he was forced into the
stick-and-ball game by KGS and has only played soccer
once since he was 16, for a Zulu XI) visited the School
recently to take a look at the Cage, which plays
a pivotal role in the book he is writing ‘That Ain’t
Hockey’.
The books, he says, will blow the lid on the last five
decades of hockey, should the lawyers ever allow it to
see the light of day, and his chapter on the importance
of practice in sport highlights the cage’s crucial
influence in the development of KGS players of his
generation – as indeed did Gordon Evans in his chapter
on the game in the official School History.
Alan Rowland (1940-46)
It was a great pleasure to welcome Alan Rowland back
to the School for the first time since he left in 1946!
The sprightly 84 year-old (he fathered a son at the age
of 62!) called in with his wife, Sheila, rather out of the
blue, and we were delighted to give them a tour of the
School.
The country’s first hockey professional, Gavin was full
of remarkable stories and reminiscences – of his role
in the development of coaching videos and astroturf,
two changes which have had a deep and lasting impact
on the game, and his experiences coaching different
national sides in two Olympics and 4 World Cups.
Still heavily involved in the game he has just finished
a hugely successful seven years coaching Durham
University sides to 28 titles and is now at Cornell
University, where he has, we were pleased to hear, come
across one of our more recent hockey exports, Harriet
Tibble.
Alan shared some happy memories – and some not so
happy, such as being caned by Jimmy James - not once
but twice! Fonder memories came in the form of then
Head of English John Sanders, and Alan recalled in
particular fire watching at the School with Mr Sanders
in June 1944 and being dragged
out of the air-raid shelter he had
gone to sleep in by the teacher
to watch, in the cold,grey,
pre-dawn light, the armada of
gliders on their way to D-Day.
Alan has been based in Bourne,
Lincolnshire for many years. It
was fascinating to meet him and
hear some of his stories.
Andrew Webber Published
Andrew Webber (1998) will be better remembered as
an athlete rather than an aesthete, but his first book, a
collection of short stories called ‘The Tenants’, is now
available on Kindle. Andrew has plans for several other
collections, and we are delighted to welcome him to the
illustrious ranks of OK authors.
Hockey Internationals – a
correction and an apology
In the last issue we proudly reported on Sarah Haycroft
(2009) playing for England in the TriFinance EuroHockey
Championships, but neglected to mention that in the
same tournament fellow OK Becky Merchant (2005)
was playing for Scotland. We are happy to correct this
omission now.
Sadie’s Bassoon
Sadie Green (1996) has very
kindly donated her beautiful
and very valuable bassoon
to the Music Department as
she no longer plays. We are
very grateful to Sadie and to
her father who brought the
instrument in for us. Moritz von
Freyhold, Director of Music, said
‘This is a fantastically generous
gift and enables pupils to try a
rarely played instrument and
learn on it without having to go
the considerable expenditure of
purchasing their own.’
Remembering Polly Stevens
Some dozen or so of the year of 1998 gathered at the
Orange Tree in Richmond on Saturday 30th November to
remember their friend Polly Stevens, and then promptly
moved on to escape the din of the live band. Nick Bond
was there to stand a round of drinks courtesy of KGS
Friends, and Julian Davies would have been, but turned
up too late to find out where the group had moved to.
It was a very enjoyable occasion and a good opportunity
to catch up with all the gossip, especially the recent and
impending births (including Andrew Webber’s literary
one) and marriages. Congratulations to Ben Rollason
and Monica Turnes, who will be tying the knot next
year.
rave reviews for OK foodie
Robert Dann (1994-2001) left his career in Asset
Management in the city to pursue his passion for food.
Inspired by his time in New York, he returned to London
where he launched B.O.B’s Lobster food truck in
Borough Market, one of London’s largest and oldest food
markets serving Lobster Rolls, Lobster Mac n’ Cheese
and Ahi Tuna Tacos, It didn’t take long before BOB’s
Lobster was recognised as one of the capital’s favourite
food trucks, with Giles Coren from The Times tweeting
“Best restaurant in Britain WITHOUT QUESTION”. BOB is
back with B.O.B.’s & Co, a winter restaurant above the
Rising Sun pub in Carter Lane where they will be serving
a menu with lots of seafood, and not just lobster from
13th November for five months, Monday - Friday only.
For more information visit www.bobsandco.com.
Rowing Success
Iain Mandale (2011) won a bronze medal racing
for Isis Boat Club (Oxford University) in the final
of Open Coxless Fours in the recent British Rowing
Senior Championships. This event included all of the
current Great Britain Team who raced at the World
Championships and the standard was exceptionally
high as a result. Iain’s crew was stroked by Constantine
Louloudis, the stroke of Great Britain’s Olympic eight.
The two crews that beat Isis, Leander Club and Molesey
BC, contained seven world and Olympic medallists.
Iain observed that his crew’s performance ‘wasn’t
bad’ considering the quality of the opposition; he now
hopes to do well in Great Britain Trials in November and
continues to trial for Oxford with his sights set on the
Boat Race in April.
It was a great pleasure to see Gavin and show him
the school and particularly the cage. If any OKs have
photographs of the cage in its heyday which they would
be prepared to lend for Gavin’s book, please do get in
touch with KGS Friends and we will facilitate the loan.
OK Bishop of Durham
Paul Butler (1974) has been announced as the new
Bishop of Durham, one of the most high profile roles
in the Church of England. He is set to be installed at a
service early next year and says that tackling poverty in
the North East will be a top priority.
If you would like to get in touch with any of our recent OK visitors, please contact KGS Friends.
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9
Year Reps
Name
Year of
School News
Your Year Reps
Email
Trevor Barrett
1951
[email protected]
Roger Emsley
1960
[email protected]
Gopal Srinivasan
1961
[email protected]
Andrew Hunter
1968
[email protected]
Douglas Crockett
1971
[email protected]
David Lewin
1981
[email protected]
Chris Liebert
1982
Nick Mole
1982
Sarah Megan
1983
Ali Packer (Pull)
1983
[email protected]
Christian Stillmark
1984
[email protected]
Elizabeth Dymond
1985
Alistair Hancock
1987
Richard Taylor
1988
Magnus Boyd
1989
[email protected]
Paul Sharp
1989
[email protected]
Paul Havelock
1990
[email protected]
Gordon Thorn
1990
[email protected]
Sam Grey
1992
[email protected]
Montserrat Kidwell
1993
[email protected]
Fusun Kupelikilic
1993
Sarah Sharpe
1994
[email protected]
Joanne Munro (Rajanayagam)
1995
[email protected]
Roy Godfrey
1996
[email protected]
Duncan Combe
1997
[email protected]
Michael Short
1998
James Gray
1999
[email protected]
Michael Grossman
2000
[email protected]
Rob Allen
2001
[email protected]
Persia Lawson
2004
[email protected]
James Fairbairn
2005
[email protected]
Victoria Sena
2006
[email protected]
Jeroen Sibia
2006
Lottie Naughton-Rumbo
2007
[email protected]
Katie Hansel
2008
[email protected]
Adam Krolak
2008
[email protected]
Emma Lucas
2008
[email protected]
Jolyon Lloyd
2009
[email protected]
Molly Hanson-Akins
2010
Matt Pheasant
2010
Katie Shanahan
2010
Edward Jones
2011
[email protected]
Stephanie Addison
2012
[email protected]
Amy Long
2013
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
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W
e now have 44 Year Reps
in place, covering years
from 1951 up to 2013, which is
fantastic news. Please feel free
to contact them directly using
the email addresses below, or
email [email protected] and
we can pass a message on for
you.
Your Rep will be getting in touch
with you soon (if they have not done
so already) to share class news and
help you to keep in contact with your
classmates.
We do still have some gaps in
coverage and we would like to find at
least two reps per year to share the
load, so if you would be interested in
becoming a rep, please contact Jenn
Bywater, Alumni Officer, at jbywater@
kgs.org.uk for more information.
We would love to have some Parent
Reps as well to help our past parents
keep in touch with each other - if you
would be interested, just let us know!
Join the KGS Friends
Committee
W
e are also looking for
alumni, past parents and
former staff who would be
interested in joining the KGS
Friends Committee. We meet
four times a year here at KGS
and refreshments are always
provided!
We would really value your input
into planning the KGS Friends event
calendar and activities for the year.
If you’d like to join us, please email
[email protected].
T
o keep you in touch with some of the main goings-on at the School, below are some of the stories
that have been making the news recently. For more information and a fuller range stories go to
the school website www.kgs.org.uk where there is a rolling bulletin and where copies of the School’s
Newsletter can be found.
Gap Year Opportunity for
alumni
U18 Girls Storm to National
Finals
L
T
ast year KGS established a link with the
Sacred Heart school in Ghana. We are pleased
to be able to offer our alumni, past parents and
former staff the opportunity to teach there for 3,
5 or 9 months of a gap year.
he U18 Girls have made it to the National
Hockey Finals for the fourth year running
after storming their way through the London
and South rounds as champions, winning six
games and drawing one and scoring a mightily
impressive 33 goals to 3 along the way.
The cost of the experience, based on a five month stay,
is £1500. This includes a week’s bed and board during an
acclimatisation week as well as all your accommodation
needs in the school. It also includes paying for a 3-day
TEFL course, which could be omitted. This does not
include the cost of flights, insurance, visas, inoculations
and other sundries. Whilst at the school, you will be
supported and visited by our superb in-country contact,
who also teaches music at Sacred Heart. All these
conditions compare extremely favourably with other gap
year organisations, who usually charge £2000+ and do
not have anything like the back-up we would provide.
Neil Mackay, Director of Leadership, Outdoor Education
and Trips says, ‘This is probably the most positive and
‘affirming’ initiative with which I have been involved in
many years of teaching.’
Two of our 2013 alumni are at Sacred Heart until the end
of January teaching English and Maths. I visited them
last week and they are having the time of their lives as
one of them, Gus White (OK 2013), explains: ‘Altogether,
this has and will continue to be a life changing
experience. It is only one you can fully understand
by actually doing it. If you are considering taking this
opportunity, let me assure you that you will not regret
it! It is a completely different world out here, one that
we will always want to return to, because it has already
become like home to us.’
For more information about this opportunity, contact
Neil at [email protected] or on 020 8939 8848.
In the South Finals, the girls faced Reed’s School in the
semis and won 5-1 after a very impressive performance.
They then faced Hurstpierpoint College in the final,
which was a tighter game, but KGS came out victorious
with a 2-0 win to secure their National Finals slot.
Natalie Maclean (née Bell), Head of Girls’ Hockey, was
delighted with the performances and is looking forward
to the School’s fourth consecutive appearance in the
National Finals, commenting ‘The girls played some
very impressive hockey, and the semi-finals saw the best
finishing in the circle from any KGS side at that level of
tournament.’
Meanwhile the U14 and U16 girls also won the London
and Surrey rounds to give KGS an impressive hat-trick
of victories at that level – a feat we also achieved last
year. Sadly both teams went out on goal difference in
the South heats.
The 1st XI boys won their first eagerly awaited match
of the National Cup, now a knock-out competition, in
November against a seemingly strong Seaford side at a
neutral ground, Charterhouse. With the final score line
at 6-0, it was a convincing victory. This should have been
a game where we reached double figures, however we
are pleased with the result and look forward to the next
round coming up after Christmas.
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Over £23,000 raised in the 48 Hour Hockey Marathon
W
ell, we did it! 48 hours of non-stop hockey
split between Tiffin Sports Hall and
Ditton Field in pursuit of the world record for
participation in an exhibition hockey match, and
what a magnificent achievement!
and hamstrings quivered, but they all got through their
slots. There was a fantastic atmosphere come rain or
shine at Ditton Field, and all through the night at Tiffin,
a real spirit of determination that bordered at times on
the surreal as the hours of darkness were whiled away
in a din of music and cheering and the thwack of ball on
back-boards.
Huge congratulations to all the pupils, parents, staff,
alumni, hockey clubs and schools who took part, on
and off the field, in this superb effort, bringing the
whole KGS – and the wider – community together with
a common purpose – to raise funds for Leukaemia and
Lymphoma Research and the Ditton Field Project, which
aims to improve sporting facilities at Thames Ditton for
all, including the many community users of the ground.
Deputy Head,
Mark Wallace,
the driving
force behind
the event said,
‘The energy
from the players
and crowd was
incredible. Even
at 4am there
was cheering
and music,
giving the players all the encouragement they needed
in the small hours. The effort by everyone, has been
huge and I’m really proud of everyone who played and
contributed to create this 48 hour marathon.’
England international and OK Sarah Haycroft got the
ball rolling at exactly 1700 hours on Friday 11th October
in Tiffin Sports Centre, and 48 hours, over 800 players
and 1,402 goals later a large, excited and rather tired
crowd in the mud
at Ditton Field
counted down the
last ten seconds as
the boys’ and girls’
1st XIs fought it out
in the final hour. In
between, there had
been some amazing
scenes, as veterans
(Buttanshaw,
Davies, Barker and
Wallace to name but
four), Olympians,
youngsters starting
out, teams from Teddington, Wimbledon, Surbiton,
Barnes and Spencer HCs, serious school sides from
Whitgift, St George’s, and St Benedict’s, the students of
St Mary’s College and a team from Gayhurst Prep School
who had come all the way from Buckinghamshire took up
the challenge and threw themselves into the action.
Ben Sykes, Regional Fundraising Manager for Leukaemia
& Lymphoma Research said: ‘It was an absolute pleasure
to be a part of KGS’s epic 48 hour hockey match. The
passion and dedication of the organisers, staff and wider
community is an absolute credit to the school.’
All that
remains is
to thank
everyone
who was
involved in
whatever way
– you were all
magnificent
– and to
keep all our
fingers tightly
crossed as
we wait to hear from the very nice people at Guinness
World Records. Have we or haven’t we? Let’s not count
any chickens, but surely...
In the end some 830 players of all ages, abilities and
levels of experience took part and the final result was a
victory for the Greys over the Reds by 703 to 699. £1,900
was raised in the buckets alone! The youngest player
was 7 and the oldest 64. Knees and joints creaked and
groaned in those who hadn’t handled a stick in years
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