OR EVENTS

The Pilgrims Cricket Club Centenary Celebrations

It was a fine day to open the doors once again and welcome our OR community into the School, and on Friday, 3rd September, the hospitality suite was buzzing as the Pilgrims celebrated 100 years of rich cricketing history. Repton has a long and proud cricket history, numbering 154 first-class players among its pupils past and present, a line dating from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. Eleven old boys have played Test cricket and three have captained England. After dinner we heard from Headmaster, Mark Semmence, as he welcomed the many faces around the room, and then President Richard Hutton, as he perfectly captured the spirit of the Pilgrims. A trip down memory lane followed, with reminices of many a match or tour, the majority of which caused great amusement in the room! Tom Poynton (S’06), Chris Read and Jon Batty (L’90) held an informative Q&A session where we were able to hear about plans for the future for both boys and girls sport at Repton. A highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Alastair Gordon Fielding Cup by Charlie Sayer (B’66) to the Headmaster. The emotion of this moment was captured perfectly by James Barnes (M’67) who having watched the video from the US, wrote in to say; “Charlie, you did a lovely job and

made me very proud to be a part of this effort. Al would have laughed at your memories of his faster ball, while wholeheartedly disagreeing with you that it usually went for four byes. That said, your memory aligns with mine, and is only eclipsed by Peter Mountford’s memory of your slower ball, which we all know he and others often hit for six! Al was also laughing with us as you described his boundaries against Worksop going to the opposite sightscreen than the one he was aiming at! I think the emotions of the moment were captured in

these shots from the video”. For those wishing to watch the video of the evening, including the presentation of the Alastair Gordon Fielding Cup, it is available on Repton Life in the Repton Pilgrims CC Circle. If you would like to recieve a link via e-mail, please contact the OR office.

“The Pilgrims CC has an extraordinary heritage, and it was a real privilege to be part of the centenary celebrations alongside such notable ORs and to hear the wonderful stories from years gone by. On a personal note, I’m delighted to have been made an honorary Pilgrim and shall wear my tie with pride, thank you to all those who made the event such a special occasion.”

Mark Semmence, Headmaster.

OR Sports Night

Celebrating female sporting success

On Thursday, 14th October, the OR Society welcomed many familiar (and lots of new!) faces to The Queen’s Club in London for OR Sports Night. We heard about women’s sporting success over the years at Repton and enjoyed an insightful Q&A session with Olympic Gold Medalist, Georgie Twigg MBE (F’02), Martin Jones (C’97), Director of Hockey at Repton, and former firstclass cricketer, Jon Batty (L’90).

The audience listened to some of the challenges that have been faced historically for women in Sport, in comparison to men’s teams that typically have had wider media coverage and sponsorship opportunities. Georgie gave valuable insight into her own experience as a professional athlete at Repton, and how important it is for women to be surrounded by both male and female role models.

Matt Carrington spoke about women’s sport at Repton continuing to gain momentum with the recent appointment of Molly Holder as a designated women’s football coach. Molly plays in the FA Women’s National league North and has recently transferred to Stoke City after a stretch at Middlesbrough.

“As a current female footballer, I am very passionate about developing and supporting young female players. Women’s football is a rapidly growing sport and it’s an exciting time to be involved in the game, particularly here at Repton”.

AGM & Annual Dinner

On Saturday 13th November the OR Society hosted the AGM in the Seminar Room at Repton Science Priory. Focus of the AGM this year was around improving links between school and the OR Society, due to the disruption of COVID-19, in order to continue to recruit younger ORs into the many OR clubs and societies that are available. There are many initiatives in place to help us deliver on this objective, including communications from the OR Society at the 2022 careers convention, further conversations with pupils as they prepare to leave school, a comprehensive targeted events calendar, and through our alumni networking platform, Repton Life. At the AGM Nick Walford (B’69) shared with us his Chairman’s Report, summarising some of the changes in the OR Society over the last 12 months, and also looking ahead to the future. This was followed by a more intimate OR Society Annual Dinner in the Kan Library when we heard from President, Rachel Bacon, (A’86) as she echoed the vision for The OR Society as we move in 2022. Thank you to all who attended.

Drinks in Dubai

Headmaster, Mark Semmence, hosted a drinks reception at The Westin Dubai Mina, on Wednesday 10th November. Around 20 guests were present, including ORs and parents of pupils at Repton UK and Repton International Schools.

The drinks reception was a fantastic opportunity for the school to further strengthen relations with alumni and parents and we hope to host many more global events in 2022.

Guests in photos (L-R) Robert Nicholls (M’68), Mark Semmence, Elizabeth Tebbs (A’92), Dr Njay Nto (Parent).

The OR Women’s Leadership Forum

Creative Minds Come Together

The OR Society recently launched a Women’s Leadership Forum, providing an opportunity for like-minded peers to celebrate career and personal success through a global alumni network. We would like to thank the Old Reptonian Masons for generously supporting this initiative and helping us to reach a very important part of our OR audience. The first meeting was held virtually on Thursday 4th

November to allow as many of our community to join as possible, regardless of geographical location. We welcomed over 30 guests on the call, all of whom had received a letterbox meeting pack in advance, containing speaker profiles and refreshments (some of which we understand were consumed in advance of the

meeting!).

Guests came from far and wide, with some waking at the crack of dawn in Australia in order to join us. It was really wonderful to see some of the organisations represented during the evening, including: Harrods, Cooper Parry, Allsop LLP, Warner Brothers, Swan Deverell Auctioneers, Deloitte, National Film and Television School, No 7. Beauty Co, and ASOS, to name a few.

We heard from speakers Ruth Millington (F’00), Head of Careers at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Author of “Muse”, as well as Emily Boyce (M’07), Founder of Sweet Thyme Foods. The evening comprised of a short interview with each speaker followed by a Q&A session with the online audience.

There was a real buzz in the virtual room as

Ruth (pictured below, left) and Emily (pictured below, right) answered many questions from our audience including how they have both overcome challenges in their careers, and what the future holds. Many thanks to both Ruth and Emily for joining us and offering careers support to our OR community. We are already planning our events schedule for next year and plan to include a mix of virtual and in-person events. If you would like to speak at our next event then please do get in touch.

Please join us at the Royal Over-Seas League on Thursday 24th March for our next meeting and private viewing of the “Muse” exhibition.

Further details to follow.

Do you remember when…? The Priory House Centenary Dinner

We invited many of you to share memories of time spent in The Priory, some of the replies made for very good reading! We have taken words from some of them and hope they bring back a memory or two for you.

We used to play Fives in the House court. Another great way to pass the time before prep and a reason why Priory was so successful in the Fives House competitions.

Jeremy Ogden (P’71)

The theatre gave me great enjoyment. Michael Charlesworth, The Priory House tutor and of the English department, was arguably the School’s leading director and was always on the lookout for boys with a talent for the stage. The Priory was one source. The extraordinarily creative MC wrote The Priory House pantomime for every end-of-Christmas term, performed in the dining room. In my first term I played in Shale: a gripping emotion-packed drama of the woolliest West. I took part in Harlequinade, The Priory-Mitre House play performed a year later before the School in Pears School. In my last pantomime, I played the part of an Indian doctor, taking off the character played by the great Peter Sellers of the Goon Show in his 1960 film The Millionairess with Sophia Loren. I sang Goodness Gracious Me.

Peter Boon (P’56)

We had Egg curry for tea which led to a mass exodus to the chippy!

Terrence Cheung (P’87)

On Friday 19th November we celebrated a major milestone at Repton, 100 years of The Priory. It was joyful to have so many familiar faces in the room, the event was well attended by over 100 ORs, current staff, guests, and former staff. The Sports Centre was transformed for the evening, including a carefully curated exhibition, showcasing some of the wonderful memorabilia from over the years. Many thanks to Archivist Paul Stevens for his dedication to this and many other projects across the school.

Guests enjoyed a fine dinner, courtesy of Stuart Burt and his team at Repton. We heard from Headmaster, Mark Semmence, who was delighted to see so many Old Reptonians sharing their memories of special times spent at The Priory. Some poignant words were spoken by John Golding, an extract captured below:

“When I was appointed as Housemaster of The Priory in 2001, I was very conscious of inheriting a tradition of caring stewardship from Barry Downing and Mike Stones, both of whom I liked, admired and respected. Their values of kindness above everything, of individuals flourishing within a community ethos, of playing to win but living to enjoy, chimed with mine and remained the blueprint for my eleven years in the House. I have been equally delighted in recent years to see that torch passed to colleagues of the quality of Nat Pitts and now to David Exley, one of our own returning home, and to see it burning as brightly as ever.”

John noted that perhaps much of the success of being a great houseparent, is down to the support of a partner, and extended team, all working together to deliver exceptional experiences for pupils. He ended his speech by raising a glass to The Priory.

“To be in your company in such a uniquely close way, for those five formative years has been one of the privileges of our lives and to see how those pupils have grown into fine young – and not so young – men, is one of the greatest of pleasures. Thank you.”