Celebration

Tenth Anniversary The Hesketh House building turned 10 in 2020, but a proper celebration had to be put on hold due to Covid. It took place a year later in November 2021 with a host of special guests in attendance. Head of the Foundation Philip Britton whisked the audience through the 506 year history of Bolton School in just 7 minutes and explained that the building’s name is a tribute to Bolton School’s key benefactor William Hesketh Lever, Lord Leverhulme. Former Head Ruth Brierley talked about the summer move in 2010, and current Head Mrs Laverick reflected on the strengths of the school. The girls themselves described their experiences at Hesketh House, and Head of Primary Division Mrs Faulkner talked to girls about their responsibility to make the School the very best it can be. Finally, a gift from the Parents’ Association was revealed: a mechanical, personalised weather clock, which had been made by former pupil Sarah Clifford Bowles from the clockmakers Bramwell Brown. The assembly ended with a rousing rendition of the song ‘One More Step’ and each girl received a silver key ring to commemorate the event.

Summer Spectacular In their Summer Concert, the Junior Girls explored the eight Hesketh House Habits through themed spoken and musical pieces. The programme included performances from the year group choirs, the cheerleaders, readers, singers and incidental musicians playing piano, flute and violin, and featured music from ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘Moana’, ‘Pocahontas’, ‘Aladdin’, ‘Brave’, ‘Zootopia’, ‘Jungle Book’ and ‘Hercules’. The Year 5 Spanish Dance Club even sang ‘Dos Oruguitas’ from ‘Encanto’ in Spanish!

AJIS Music Festival The Junior Girls’ Choir enjoyed taking part in the AJIS Music Festival at Bury Grammar. They competed against other independent schools from across the North West and performed brilliantly. The adjudicator made a point of speaking to staff about how impressive they were, only narrowly missing out on the top spot. Several girls also participated in the Ramsbottom Music Festival and received very positive comments.

Music Festival At the Music Festival in early 2022, our musicians impressed us with their performances on a wide range of instruments. The adjudicators (Kathryn Page for Piano and Andrew Pettitt for Instrumental) found it particularly difficult to allocate the awards, as the standard was so high! Girls who received trophies were invited to perform at a special Celebratory Concert in the Arts Centre.

Winter Warmer The first major event in this year’s musical programme was the ‘Winter Warmer’ Christmas Concert: our annual festive treat. The girls’ whisked their audience away on an exploration of Christmas and all of its traditions, ending with ‘That’s What Christmas Means To Me’.