2 minute read
An Emotional Prize
I didn’t expect to need a pack of tissues for our first Speech Day at Ampleforth. There I was, leafing through the programme and I soon spotted my son Freddie’s name. Then almost simultaneously, I caught sight of my slightly unusual maiden name in the list of trophies – The Saggers Design Cup. I had a strange moment of confusion when I saw that this was in fact the prize that Freddie was set to receive.
My three brothers had all gone to Sedbergh and we’d had no relations pass through Ampleforth so the whole scenario was rather perplexing. I fired off a quick message to my mum, asking if they’d ever randomly donated a prize to Ampleforth. The answer popped back as a no. Then a few minutes later (about the length of time it took my mum to chat to my dad!) another reply pinged in, telling me that after my oldest brother, James, died aged 18, they had donated a trophy for design - his favourite subject - to his old prep school, St Martin’s in Nawton. That was back in 1989.
It took a few minutes of pondering to work out that the trophy must have travelled from St Martin’s to Gilling Castle when the two schools merged in 2001. Then, when St Martin’s Ampleforth closed in 2018, the trophy made its way over to St Edward’s and St Wilfrid’s, the now Junior House of Ampleforth College. I marvelled at how that plucky little trophy had had so many opportunities to get lost or misplaced and the sheer happy chance that it should find its way back to my family some thirty-three years later. And how special that my brother’s favourite subject should then turn out to be his nephew’s too.
All these thoughts made me a little emotional but actually just overwhelmingly grateful for this serendipitous reminder of my brother James. What a treasure the picture of my son clutching his trophy engraved in the memory of his uncle is... especially for my parents to have that precious link between their son and their grandson.
Victoria Goor, Current Parent
I didn’t realise until after I received my DT prize that it was something so special. As I sat with the trophy and saw the name engraved on it as the James Saggers Memorial Cup, I thought to myself that Saggers was a very unusual surname and I knew my uncle was called James. When Speech Day was over and my mum confirmed what had happened, there were some tears shed but overall lots of hugs at this amazing twist of fate. It feels pretty cool to know that now my name will be engraved on the same trophy as his!
