The Berkhamsted Society

The Berkhamsted Society has now become well established in Berkhamsted as our community programmes and partnerships continue to grow and be of mutual benefit to all parties.

Our Sixth Form Prefects attended a Leadership Conference along with students from Adeyfield Academy and St Albans Girls School where current topics were openly discussed. All Year 12 students also attended the Rotary Humanitarian Day along with students from Ashlyns School where the event was hosted.

The Year 1 children from the One Degree Academy in Enfield had a super time being hosted by the Society for a day of Outdoor Education run by Mrs Laura Thompson at Berkhamsted Pre-Prep.

The Berkhamsted School Community was amazing in its support of the Ukraine Relief Efforts via the Berkhamsted Society.

We promoted two schemes being co-ordinated by the humanitarian organisation Te Aud Romania, a Romanian-based charity registered in the UK.

Via a member of our school community, DHL Express provided free of charge collection and transport of donated personal hygiene and baby products that were delivered to Ukrainian refugees currently in Romania. They were used by those in the Suceava County of North-East Romania. Families from the Pre-Prep, Prep, Heatherton, Senior Boys, Senior Girls and the 6th Form very kindly donated goods which were collected across the School and transported by our Estates Team to a DHL Express depot. From there, the goods were taken to Romania. Heartfelt thanks must go to all those families who participated but also to the members of Berkhamsted staff and DHL Express crew who enabled this to happen.

A Vice President of DHL Express who is also Head of the British-Romanian Chamber of Commerce in the UK said ‘Thanks so much for all these amazing efforts – I think it’s difficult to overstate how much this will be appreciated.’

We are also delighted that, through support of a second scheme co-ordinated by Te Aud Romania, several Berkhamsted families contacted the Head of the British-Romanian Chamber of Commerce UK directly to register their interest in hosting Ukrainian refugee families.

As a school, we have been immensely proud of everyone’s efforts in supporting these schemes.

AgeUK Dacorum citizens benefitted greatly from the ‘Walking Netball’ scheme run in conjunction between England Netball, Berkhamsted Society, the Knox-Johnston Sports Centre and AgeUK itself. Thanks must go to Vicky Rees, the Sports Centre Manager for facilitating this. I also read Louisa May Alcott’s ‘A Merry Christmas’ in the AgeUK Dacorum Community Christmas Concert in St Peter’s Church.

The School’s IT technicians facilitated the use of sound systems and provided further technical support for the Northchurch Social Centre meetings, with the secretary commenting ‘What a difference your visit was to the running of our club. For the first time since reopening, everything was working!’ adventure. Ben shared his tales of Castaway, swimming with crocodiles, conquering Mount Everest, crossing Antarctica, rowing the Atlantic Ocean, working with the animals at Longleat, and meeting people on ‘New Lives in the Wild.’ The much-loved TV adventurer recounted, with warmth and honesty, his thrilling tales. Antarctica, rowing the Atlantic Ocean, working with the animals at Longleat, and meeting people on ‘New Lives in the Wild.’ The much-loved TV adventurer recounted, with warmth and honesty, his thrilling tales.

The Society continued to work closely with other charities, groups, and associations such as The Berkhamsted and District Chamber of Commerce, The Royal British Legion, Berkhamsted Rotary Club, the Hospice of St Francis, Sunnyside Rural Trust, St Peters Church, The Rectory Lane Cemetery, The Berkhamsted Castle Trust, Berkhamsted Arts Trust, The Graham Greene Festival, Berkhamsted Book Festival and The Chiltern Chalk Stream Society.

At the beginning of the year, a new alliance was formed via the Society between Berkhamsted School and Berkhamsted’s private jeweller, The Diamond Trust. A jewellery design competition was launched, and The Diamond Trust agreed to sponsor the event, including the manufacture of the winning entry.

The winner of the competition created a beautiful pendant using diamonds and rich purple amethysts set in platinum. According to the brief, the pendant contained 0.70cts of diamonds and 7 grams of platinum. The finished piece was hallmarked with the special Jubilee hallmark at the London Assay Office.

The inaugural Berkhamsted Medieval Festival, hosted at Berkhamsted School’s Kitcheners Field and Berkhamsted Cricket Club took place over two days of the August Bank Holiday weekend. The festival was organised by Berkhamsted and District Chamber of Commerce, the committee I sit on.

In order to bring the local community together, the Berkhamsted Society hosted a Summer BBQ which took place on the Grass Quad of the Castle Campus. Several local residents attended, and local businesses and charities were also represented.

Each year, the Society hosts a number of other events, many of which are centred around ‘An Audience with’ special invited guests. Recent guests have included Ben Fogle and Paula Radcliffe.

Two of our Special Guests

We were thrilled to be able to welcome a modern-day explorer in Ben Fogle, who provided an unforgettable evening of storytelling and

Paula Radcliffe, former world champion in the marathon, half marathon and cross country, is considered one of the greatest British athletes of the modern era. She was previously the fastest female marathon runner of all time, holding the world record for 16 years. She is a three-time winner of the New York Marathon and, in 2005, won gold at the World Championships. Paula also represented Great Britain at the Olympics in four consecutive games and has won gold in the European Championships over 10,000m and the Commonwealth Games over 5000m.

Please keep an eye out for our future events.

Richard Thompson

Assistant Vice Principal – External Relations