Class notes

39 Class notes 44 Recreation 46 Personal best 48 Hometown

COMMUNITY

Class notes

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Spirit of Australian adventure

Greetings from sunny Sydney. Finally, a brace of sunny spring days envelop us on the coast, emerging from seemingly interminable and consecutive La Niña weather events that have saturated eastern Australia for the past 18 months! In April, a fortunate few alumni travelled to Uluru in central Australia to celebrate the birthday of alumnus Andrew Niemeyer (Class of 1959). A special event in a unique and spectacular location. The Aiglon spirit of adventure lives on! Pictured above are: Andrew Treharne (1972), Robin Mycock (Alpina, 1969), Andrew Niemeyer (1958), Andrew Clayton-Stamm (Beau Site, 1960) and Bryce (Beaver) Stewart (1960). Robin Mycock (Alpina, 1969)

New calling

After graduating from Aiglon in 1992, I went to the Rhode Island School of Design. I always knew I was going to be an artist and have established myself as a contemporary Australian painter, with work in the permanent art collection at Australia’s Parliament House and embassies worldwide. At the end of 2019, I put down my brushes to follow a new calling, creating ND Renegade – a clothing line that shines a light on neurodiversity – for my two neurodivergent children, to teach them to stand tall in their differences. My husband Jeff and I live in a beautiful part of the world, the Sunshine Coast in Australia. I am still in touch with many of my Aiglon friends, because as you all know, friends from Aiglon are friends for life. Sally Willbanks (née Csavas) (Exeter, 1992)

Indian internship

These past two months have been nothing short of spectacular. As an individual who firmly believes in the importance of diversity in our communities, the chance to explore my passion for medicine, shadowing doctors in their day-to-day activities at Wockhardt Hospitals, as well as experiencing Indian culture, has been incredible. From learning to ‘decipher’ MRI scans and watching live operations, to enriching my vocabulary with terms that make me sound much smarter than I am willing to take credit for, my stay so far has been everything I would have hoped it to be. I would like to thank everyone that made this internship possible: Madam Zavanelli and Carlotta, Zahabiya Khorakiwala, Chirag Doshi, Abhiram Sheth, Mansi Amersey, Dhananjay Lodha, Rohitashwa Poddar and Abhi Bachchan. I am eternally grateful as, 20 to 30 years from now, when I am hopefully a successful practising neurosurgeon, this three-month experience is what I will attribute a part of my success to. Ian Ochangwa (Belvedere, 2022)

New launches

While exploring new areas and engaging with an environment vastly different to that of Aiglon and Switzerland, two of us from the Class of 2020 have developed a model that may one day revolutionise the service industry by introducing much-needed digitalisation and modernisation. During the early stages of 2022, we decided to bring our idea to life and began work on our first startup along with a third partner of ours. As with everything in life, starting something groundbreaking from scratch poses significant challenges. Ours is creating awareness for our product and publicising it to kickstart its launch. Luckily, we believe that for every door shut, another one opens. We are confident in our efforts and know we will succeed. Being part of Aiglon means being part of a community who shapes the world. Derin Berkin (St Louis, 2020) and Aiden Liu (Alpina, 2020)

Celebrating together

The class of 2000 celebrated our 20 (+2) year anniversary at the beginning of summer. We had a healthy turnout of about 25 of us and a great spread among various groups and houses. It truly felt like being back in school, in the best of ways, and we loved also sharing moments with some other classes and quite a few of our teachers and staff, including always reverting to Mr and Mrs salutations! Some things never change. We got up to (most) of the same high jinks also! The bond really has never been broken, and we restored it even more. We look forward to being back on the mountain all together for the next reunion with even more of the fabulous Class of 2000. Alia Al-Senussi (Chantecler, 2000)

Welcome to Jakarta

Welcoming Johannes Vorfeld (Delaware, 2018) to Jakarta as he starts his four-month internship here. It was great to gather a small group of Jakarta-based Aiglonians: Sumana Bharwani (Clairmont, 1998), Cathleen Purwana (Clairmont, 1995) and Aseanto Oudang (Belvedere, 1999), not pictured. The uniqueness of Aiglon is that it brings people together! Franky Wongkar (Alpina, 1999)

Class of 2020

After two long years, the Class of 2020 has finally come back together for our Aiglon Graduation! It was great to see everyone who could make it for a barbecue on campus, Summer Ball at the Palace, drinks in town and, of course, bowling. Thank you to the Alumni Office for organising this event and we can’t wait to see everyone again soon! Cami Fateh (Clairmont/La Casa, 2020)

North West Survivors

We had a small reunion in Ashbourne last October of the North West Survivors 64/65. The following attended (below, from left): Bill Lockwood (Belvedere, 1965); Martin Freston (Clairmont, 1965); Nigel Thorpe (Belvedere, 1965); Richard Bloor (Belvedere, 1964); and Ted Coulson (1966). Richard Bloor (Belvedere, 1964)

Thank you for my internship

This summer I had the privilege to do an internship at Madnani Facial Plastics. Dr Madnani, who has been an incredible mentor for the past year, showed me the beauty of aesthetic medicine, including plastic surgery. I was able to shadow him during operations in theatre, following up with patients, injections and many more procedures. He gave me a closer insight into the medical field, and confirmed to me that going to med school was the right decision. I have learned so much, not only inside the operating room but also outside it. Watching him work his magic on patients and making them look 20 years younger was incredible. Marie Fraatz (Exeter, 2022)

Tributes

John Pownall Regrettably I have to report the passing of former Aiglon staff member, John Pownall. John was a teacher of French in the second half of the 1960s, and was also a keen expeditioner and climber. He married former Aiglon secretary Mary Lewin and they subsequently moved to Gordonstoun in Scotland. Mary died a couple of years ago, as reported on this page. Following his cancer diagnosis, John moved to Suffolk in England to be close to daughter Catriona (Cate, pictured above with John) and family. Tribute by Patrick Roberts (Delaware, 1975)

Michael Weatherley (Belvedere, 1975, attended 1970-1972) My father, Mike, was a hard-working family man of wide interests and formidable intellectual capacity. He was appointed as intellectual property adviser to David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, in 2013. His interests included rock and heavy metal music, and he arranged visits to parliament from Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Slash from Guns N’ Roses, Thin Lizzy, Yngwie Malmsteen and many more. He leaves behind three very proud children (Becky, Mark and Chris) and two grandkids (Blake and Elayna). Tribute by Becky Weatherley

Driving ambition

We took part in the Ollon to Villars Hill Climb with the Radio Carolinesponsored 1967 BMW 1600Ti, which I have been racing in the UK for 12 years now. I particularly wanted to compete as it was at Villars, and secondly to visit the school again after many years. We compete in the UK at tracks like Silverstone, Brands Hatch and many others with varying degrees of success, as the car is a bit faster than the driver! I stood next to Jackie Stewart in the Villars Palace hotel and his son, Paul, was there too, and we all had a fantastic time in a really great, hospitable and enthusiastic atmosphere. It was great to go round the school and see my old room at Alpina, and I absolutely love the fact that you have 65 different nationalities. That’s just fantastic and a very important part of everyone’s education, leaving school with friends all over the world with the same ethos and wonderful spirit as taught by Aiglon. David Cornwallis (Alpina, 1971)

Parenthood support

Having cared for Aiglon students as Head Nurse from 2000 to 2006, I was also responsible for teaching PHSE to all students during that time when my children, Tom Lovett (Delaware, 2003) and Emma Lovett (Exeter, 2004 ), were also at the school. I am now enjoying linking up with and caring for many of those same students through my breastfeeding support service, which I run online at TheLatch.co.uk. The irony that I taught birth control techniques to these new parents during sex education lessons seldom goes unmentioned, but it’s a huge thrill that they return and trust me to support them with their new babies later in life! Video calling enables me to have close contact with clients from all over the world, so I would particularly welcome calls from any Aiglon alumni who may be struggling with breastfeeding or would simply like step-bystep support through those first daunting weeks of new parenthood and breastfeeding. I have fond memories of Aiglon and send my best wishes to everyone who knew me. Alison Lovett (Former Staff)

ALUMNI OFFICE UPDATE

VALUES IN ACTION

New awards will celebrate Aiglonians’ contributions to their communities.

Words Lucy Jolin

I

t’s easy to talk about your values. But it’s not so easy to live them. Challenge, respect, responsibility, diversity, service: our values are big ideas requiring real commitment. And they’re not just something we talk about at meditation. They’re a design for life which stays with students for life: a framework for being all that you can be and helping others to do the same. That’s why, this year, we are launching a new alumni award focused on our values – and recognising those graduates who take them out into the world.

Aiglon Values in Action (AVinA) – will honour those graduates who are contributing in their community or wider society in the areas of challenge, respect, responsibility, diversity and service. They will demonstrate continuous commitment and application of the school’s guiding principles in their post-Aiglon life. If you know of someone who fits the bill – or if that person is you – then let us know. You can nominate yourself for the award, or a fellow Aiglonian. Nominations open in January and will run until mid-February. The Awards Committee – including School Director Nicola Sparrow, Director of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement Karen Sandri, and alumni from across the generations – will choose a shortlist and up to five final winners.

And, of course, we will continue to thank those individuals who have made a vast and highly valued contribution to Aiglon itself over the years. The Key Award is presented in recognition of a lifetime of voluntary service to the School, while the Citation Award is given in honour of loyalty and commitment to Aiglon College, and in conjunction with an instance of exemplary service to the school. Neither are awarded annually, but only when appropriate nominations are received. We will be launching the awards in January so please keep an eye on your inbox for information.