SCHOOL MEMORIES LUKE HEMSLEY

Describe your school in three words?

Enormous. Unpredictable. Inspiring.

Who was your best mate?

A chap called Richard. We had been at school together previously and were lucky enough to join Hampton together, going on to play rugby alongside one another and build a brilliant friendship group. He was best man at my wedding back in 2019 and I was his, last September. His family has essentially become an extension of my own over the years.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I would love to say something inspiring like an astronaut, or exciting like a stunt car driver, but in reality I used to say banker or lawyer when asked as a teenager.

What was your most embarrassing moment at school?

Asking a very unwilling and grumpy groundsman to retrieve a ball that had gone over a fence, only to attempt to volley it and inadvertently smash it straight back at him. Safe to say he wasn’t best pleased and rightly so.

Where was your favourite place at school to hang out with friends?

We spent an enormous amount of time out on the fields playing rugby and football, come rain or shine. It was all very innocent, unlike the smell in the classrooms during lessons afterwards. I feel for any adults attempting to teach a room full of teenagers who have just come in from running around outside for an hour...

Play any pranks?

Nothing I would look back on now and laugh too hard about.

Out for yourself or a team player?

Definitely the latter. Running my own business now and having had to give up most team sports due to injury, I miss being part of a team and the highs and lows that go with it.

All-star sports captain or outside field lingerer?

Outside field lingerer masquerading as all-star sports captain. What I lacked in talent and coordination, I attempted to make up for in energy and application.

Who was your favourite teacher?

Ed Wesson, who was our history teacher and a cricket and rugby coach (and has gone on to become Head of several schools). He was a fantastic teacher and a great character, using language to brilliant and occasionally devastating e ect. We used to give him stick for spending his weekends watching cricket and drinking beer with his friends, only to realise latterly that he was living the life!

What advice would you o er your school-age self?

To make the most of the opportunities presented to you, whether that be trips, facilities or experiences – at that age, you don’t realise how much is a orded to you and how much time you have. Obviously no one reading this is going to change their mind as a result – that’s not how we think as teenagers – but that’s certainly my reflection now.

Were you a teacher’s pet or always in detention?

A healthy balance between the two, but I was hardly cruising around like James Dean causing trouble.

How would your teachers describe you?

The eternal trier. No shortage of e ort, a mixed bag when it came to execution.