WINTER 2018
Inspiring Alumnae
Katie Harland (DH 2007) Talks Brogues at The Bluebird for DH LINKS
MERRY
Christmas
AGN girls at the Christmas Market in Winchester as part of their House Christmas celebrations
Senior Choral Crowned Barnado’s National Senior Choir of the Year
Magazine team Editor-in-chief Content Designer
Michelle Scott Alexandra Barlow Satvinder Orton
Update your details online Senior Choral were crowned ‘Senior Choir of the Year’ at the finals of the Barnados’s National Choral Competition held at the Royal Festival Hall in London earlier this year. At the end of a day in which they competed against seven other school choirs, the 18 Downe House girls in Senior Choral were announced as winners to great applause, bringing their competition journey to a phenomenal conclusion. The auditioned chamber choir is open to all girls in the Upper Fifth and Sixth Form. Winning the competition recognises the outstanding progress they have made over the past year under the expert direction of Director of Music, Dr Charlotte Exon and marks a crowning musical achievement for those girls in the Upper Sixth who left in July of this year.
Have you recently moved, changed your email address or phone number? Visit the new Downe House Foundation community online network: https://foundation.downehouse.net or email us at: foundation@downehouse.net
To follow on from this outstanding success, Senior Choral joined 1,400 other children from schools around the country to perform in the Young Supporters’ Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Monday 26 November.
Junior Wales Lacrosse Dragons Academy Congratulations to Romilly (Upper Fourth), Cordie (Upper Fourth) and Lara (Lower Fifth) who have been accepted into the Junior Wales Lacrosse Dragons Academy. As members of the Academy they will be touring to Canada next summer to compete.
Lower School girls enjoying the festive celebrations at Downe House
DH LINKS
10 Year Reunion
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From the Archives
Murray Centre
Mary Midgley
Rosemary Powell
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20 & 25 Year Reunion
Focus on Charity
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The Murray Centre open for business It has been super to see the way in which the girls have used the building already Mrs Emma McKendrick
Read the full story on page 26
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NETWORKING Events and Hospitality Cluster Group On Wednesday 10 October, the very first DH LINKS Events and Hospitality networking evening took place at The Imperial Hotel in Bloomsbury, which was hosted by current parents, Mr and Mrs Walton. DH LINKS brought together alumnae, current girls and parents to talk about careers in the event and hospitality industries. Our four key speakers for the evening were: Lucinda Mumford (Baldwin DH 1996), Veryan Palmer (Armstrong DH 2002), Grace Regan (DH 2009) and Tori Boughey (DH 2009). Joining them were a group of current Upper Fifth to Upper Sixth pupils, all with a keen interest in exploring potential careers in these industries. Our alumnae kicked off the event with an overview of their careers since leaving Downe House with time for questions from our current girls. After the talks, there was an opportunity for informal networking over drinks, allowing the girls to really quiz the professionals and make valuable connections. DH LINKS is extremely grateful to the Waltons for hosting us, the alumnae for giving us their time and expertise and the girls for participating with enthusiasm and curiosity.
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I found the evening highly interesting and useful as all of the alumnae had a different story, so you could really see all aspects of a career in hospitality. They were helpful in guiding me through which A Levels I should choose so that I can hopefully also pursue a career in hospitality. Hope Thistlethwayte (Upper Fifth)
DH LINKS offers careers-based networking opportunities for current pupils and alumnae – if you can offer support with providing work shadowing or internships, hosting a Cluster Group or giving a careers talk, please do get in touch.
FAR LEFT: WENNY ARMSTRONG (DH 2004), SOPHIE EVERS (DH 2003) AND VERYAN PALMER (ARMSTRONG DH 2002) LEFT: ZARA HODGSON (DH 1994), LUCINDA MUMFORD (BALDWIN DH 1996) AND HELENA BENTHALL (DH 2014) RIGHT: LISA MONTAGUE (CURRENT PARENT) AND ROSIE MONTAGUE (LOWER FIFTH) FAR RIGHT: KATIE HARLAND (DH 2007), IAN HARDIE (SEPHORA), LISA MONTAGUE (CURRENT PARENT) AND CAROLINE ATTWOOD (ALLY CAPELLINO)
I loved meeting the Upper Fifth and Lower Sixth girls at the recent hospitality event - it was so wonderful to be surrounded by such intelligent, passionate and interested students and I hope the information we shared was useful. I wish the girls all the luck in the world! Tori Boughey (DH 2009)
Please contact the Foundation Office if you wish to discuss ways to support DH LINKS. Mrs Alexandra Barlow DH LINKS Coordinator Email: dhlinks@downehouse.net Tel: 01635 204740
Fashion, Beauty and Retail Cluster Group Upper Fifth and Sixth Form girls who are interested in pursuing careers in fashion, beauty and retail had the incredible opportunity to find out more about future study and career paths in these dynamic industries on Wednesday 14 November, when they attended a DH LINKS networking event at The Bluebird, Chelsea, London. Alumnae, parents and current pupils were given the opportunity to hear from an inspiring panel of speakers including our host for the evening, Lisa Montague (current parent), Ian Hardie (Sephora), Caroline Attwood (Ally Capellino), Vanessa Lunt (Fairfax & Favor), Charlotte Keesing (Walpole) and Katie Harland (DH 2007). Each speaker offered excellent advice and varied insight from their careers. Anna Neville (Lower Sixth) commented, “Meeting such a diverse range of people with a variety of careers in the world of fashion helped me understand how many different careers are possible. The most valuable lesson I took away from the event was that when considering internships, it is good to start small and gradually progress and to research and be passionate about your area of interest.” Many of the girls gained excellent contacts and an insight into the world of fashion, beauty and retail. Our sincere thanks to host, Lisa Montague and all our speakers who generously donated their time and expertise to inspire future generations.
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LASS OF 2008
focus on reunions
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10 Year Reunion:
2008
CLASS OF
The Atlas, London Thursday 1 November
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20 & 25 YEAR
focus on reunions
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20 AND 25 Year Reunion:
CLASSES OF 1993 The Hollywood Arms, London Thursday 4 October
focus on success
& 1998 9
focus on business
Irina Fedotova (DH 2013) Irina, who holds a Bioscience degree from University College London, combined her scientific knowledge with her Mum’s skincare expertise to establish a vegan skincare brand, BIO-EXTRACTS, which they launched on the market in 2014. What career did you envisage for yourself when you were in the Sixth Form at Downe House? To be honest, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. I didn’t even know what I wanted to read at university! I remember at one point wanting to go into law. I also remember my parents being very keen on me going to Oxbridge. But I knew that that wasn’t the right choice for me. I was always interested in a lot of things but was also quick to lose interest in such things. (It was later discovered that this was actually due to my ADHD). Because of this trait of mine, BSc Human Sciences at UCL turned out to be the perfect degree choice for me. It is a bioscience focused degree, (I always loved biology), with a liberal arts element to it. So alongside Biochemistry, Pharmacology and all the other biology-related modules, I also got to do modules like International Relations and Global Marketing Strategies. One thing that I did know for certain was that I did not want to work for a large corporation or have to work to make someone else’s vision become a reality. When and how did you start the business? With BIO-EXTRACTS, I suppose I had a bit of an advantage. My mother has had her own skincare brand for over 10 years now so I had an excellent mentor. However, her first brand, NuBo, is a luxury skincare brand that is aimed at a very specific market. I was actually still at University when the concept of BIO-EXTRACTS was born. We realised we wanted to reinvent the conventional approach to skincare and create an affordable brand without compromising on the quality or the quantity of the active ingredients. BIO-EXTRACTS launched at the start of 2016. The inspiration that’s driving us now is our vision to create a skincare range that grants your skin’s wishes. Most skincare experts will tell you to limit your lifestyle in order to preserve your skin, but we believe that life is for living. We want BIO-EXTRACTS to be a skincare range that recognises this. We want it to be your skin’s lifestyle support! Describe a typical day for you: Really there is no ‘typical day’. It is important to look after and be actively involved in each and every part of the business; from the initial conception of an idea in the lab to the social media posts about the final product and everything in between! It is a lot of work but that’s what it takes if you want to give your customers the best results.
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Some days will be spent in the lab, others will be spent at the computer sending endless emails and other days will be spent creating marketing content. What has been the biggest challenge with your business? There are a lot of challenges at every stage. In the past, these have included getting the formulations just right and finding the best packaging. At the moment, the biggest challenge we are facing is securing placements in physical retailers. These take a lot of time to negotiate and we do find ourselves in a very competitive industry. Nevertheless, for a young business, we are doing very well with a number of online retailers and in the past year have expanded to various international markets! Where do you hope to be in five years’ time? In five years time, I would like to see BIO-EXTRACTS become an established brand in many stores. We are constantly developing new products, in fact we have some very exciting products coming out in 2019! I hope that over the next five years we will continue to see a continuous expansion of the product range and the brand as a whole! However, over the next five years, I also plan to give a few other business ventures a go. I’m very much prepared for the possibility of at least some of them failing but at least I will learn from the experience and will be able to say ‘I gave it a shot’. What advice would you give to your younger self? Honestly, it’s probably pointless trying to give my younger self advice. She won’t listen. And I guess that in itself is sort of the best advice I can give. Whilst it is important to consider other people’s opinions, it is also important to carve out your own path and make your own mistakes because that is the only way you are going to learn. Just please always make sure you think through every move and have a solid back-up plan.
For further information about BIO-EXTRACTS https://bio-extracts.co.uk 11
focus on fashion
Olivia Francis (Muir DH 2004), founder & CEO of Hamilton and Hare, a men’s underwear and loungewear brand
What career did you envisage for yourself when you were in the Sixth Form at Downe House? I had done some work experience for an advertising agency and really liked the fusion of commerciality and creativity so I thought I’d start there and applied to several graduate schemes. Other than that I didn’t really have a good idea of what I wanted to do or what jobs were really out there. Certainly starting my own business was not on my radar at this point. When did you start the business? The idea to start Hamilton and Hare came at Christmas time with my two brothers, they had both received two hideous pairs of novelty snowman boxer shorts and were not best pleased. It struck me
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that by comparison to the female lingerie offering, men’s underwear had been very overlooked with a lack of quality, choice and innovation. In fact the boxer short basic design had not been changed since the early 1920s. So I decided to start there and enlisted a Savile Row tailor (who thought I was insane) to redesign a modern, slimline cut boxer short that didn’t look like a baggy nappy and was much more comfortable. I quit my job in advertising in 2012 and worked as a freelance brand and marketing consultant for six months or so while I got Hamilton and Hare off the ground and then sold my first pair of boxer shorts in 2013. From there, we expanded into all underwear styles, pyjamas,
loungewear and travelwear all centred around the idea of seriously comfortable clothing that looks good too. I definitely didn’t expect it all to take so long, in fact I’m not sure I would have started it if I did! Building anything, especially a brand takes a long time and a lot of effort. I remember thinking how impossible it felt to imagine how we might double our sales, or open a store but then all of a sudden you’re doing it and day by day it grows but because you see it every day you sort of don’t notice until you actually stop and look back. And of course you’re always chasing the next milestone.
Work hard, be kind and good things will happen What is your previous background? I started my career at M&C Saatchi advertising agency on their graduate scheme and worked my way up, with a lot of late nights, to be the agency’s youngest Account Director. I was on a great trajectory there so it was a really difficult decision to leave but I knew I wanted to try my own thing and although it’s probably been a harder, longer road, it does come with freedom and a much bigger sense of satisfaction in the long run. Describe a typical day for you: I have two children, my daughter is three and my son is two. They are my alarm clock and I give them breakfast and get myself ready for work. Our nanny arrives and I get the tube to our studio which is beneath the store on Chiltern Street, Marylebone. It’s a lovely part of London and I love to be able to hear the customer interactions in the store when I’m at my desk. As founder and CEO, the job description is pretty catch-all but I am getting better at structuring my time and now I have a great team around me, my main focus is marketing and strategy. I have regular longrange plan meetings to review new product ranges coming out and marketing plans for each one. We also have a weekly sales meeting to review latest figures and the forecasts ahead. I usually have a couple of meetings a day with journalists, or other brands to talk collaborations and we’re expanding at the moment so I’m always looking for new people to join the team. We work with a lot of freelance creative people, photographers, designers etc. I get home for bed time most evenings
and then will do a bit more work once the kids are in bed. If we’re not going out, I cook dinner to unwind (my husband washes up!) and we’ll watch some TV and then I’ll read about two pages of a book before I fall asleep.
What advice would you give to your younger self? Don’t worry so much! It’s impossible to predict what will happen tomorrow, let alone three year’s time. Work hard, be kind and good things will happen.
What has been the biggest challenge with your business? Being a sole founder, it can be very lonely. You have to muster extraordinary self-belief even on days when you really don’t feel it. Maintaining that belief and energy in the face of lots of adversity is a big challenge. I like to be good at things and I only recently realised that the thing about building a business is that every day you have to learn new skills and there is a new challenge, the rate of learning is literally vertical. So really you never really feel like you’re good at anything at all! Most days this is exciting and energising but there’s a fair bit of grit and determination required too. Where do you hope to be in five years’ time? We’ve got big plans for the next five years, the ambition is to be the challenger to Calvin Klein for men’s underwear, loungewear and all things comfortable including a new range of travelwear. We’re opening several new stores and launching in the US too. Our online business is the focus, it’s the future for all of retail, but physical stores and spaces are still important. For us the biggest challenge is getting a man to change his habits. Once they give us a try, they are usually customers for life but often that first trial purchase takes some persuasion!
Please visit the website of Hamilton & Hare https://www.hamiltonandhare.com
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focus on charity
Teach Us Too Downe House Alumna Chantal Bryan (Suffield-Jones DH 1995) talks to us about her son Jonathan who at the age of 12 has written a book ‘Eye Can Write’
Photos courtesy of the BBC
What do you want to do when you leave school? This question tends to dominate the final years of school, but like many, beyond a University degree I didn’t really have a clue. I left Downe House with really good friends who know me well, a place at Durham University and a self-motivated determination. But what I could never have known was that one day in January 2006 would change the course of my life dramatically. At 36 weeks pregnant, I was involved in a car accident, which left my subsequently born baby with severe cerebral palsy and renal failure. The years following Jonathan’s birth were dominated by hospital admissions and exhaustion, as I cared for him night and day. To look at, Jonathan was increasingly obviously severely disabled – he can’t sit up unaided yet alone walk, and can’t talk; but to me and others close to Jonathan, it was also obvious that there was much going on in his mind hidden behind the disabilities. Photo courtesy of the BBC
Tragically there are many children like me who are not taught to read or write; listening to stories aimed at much younger children, stifling the mind in boredom. Their tales are yet untold. They deserve to be heard
Photo above and left: courtesy of Carmel King and The Diana Award
Buy Jonathan’s book ‘Eye Can Write’ on Amazon and all good bookshops. Find out more about Teach Us Too at: www.teachustoo.org.uk
For me, writing is an organic synergy between my inner being and my eyes
When Jonathan was seven an educationalist suggested I removed him from special school (where he wasn’t being taught literacy) to teach him to read and write. My only experience of teaching was on gap years, but with email support from a professional, I gave it a go. We were right, Jonathan wasn’t just ‘in there’, he was increasingly showing us by looking at letters and numbers with his eyes, that he was bright. Astonishingly bright. By the age of nine, Jonathan had caught up academically with his peers, and had joined mainstream school. After a period of illness the following year, he told us that he felt his mission was to campaign for all children to be taught to read and write regardless of their label. Since then he has poured all his limited energy into trying to make a difference for children like him: campaigning and setting up a charity, Teach Us Too, as well as writing a book
‘Eye Can Write’, (with a foreword from Michael Morpurgo) to raise awareness about children like him. His efforts have been noticed and rewarded – in 2017 he was amongst 20 young people worldwide to receive a Diana Legacy Award. As Jonathan’s mother I have been taken on this extraordinary journey with him, being coerced into writing the introduction to his book, and as a trustee of his charity. As I look back I find it amazing how I have been prepared for this role, with things I have been involved with, but most of all I look back to my time at Downe with gratitude that being involved in the Christian Union gave me the one thing that has carried me through – a faith in a God who stays with us and is able to transform the most challenging situations.
focus on media
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Marina Hyde (Dudley-Williams DH 1992)
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What career did you envisage for yourself when you were in the Sixth Form at Downe House? Prime Minister. But then I met the sort of people who were in politics – oh dear me! And I realised telling jokes about politics would be much more fun. Describe a typical day for you. I write three columns a week – one about politics, one about sport, and one satirical one about celebrities. So I read the news, mostly online but sometimes still in print, and then try and come up with an opinion column about it all. I find that the more alarming and weird the news has become in recent years, the more people want humour about it. So as politics has got less funny, I have tried to become more funny to handle it. What has been the biggest challenge you have had to overcome in your career? I got sacked very early in my career and had to work my way back, but I learned a lot from it and I really don’t think I’d be where I am now without it. Where do you hope to be in ten years’ time? I am just starting to write for television and movies so I hope to be doing more of that. How important is having a presence on social media to having a successful career in journalism? It’s helpful to get your work out there, and it’s helpful to see what people are saying. But I only have Twitter, and I try to treat it as a business account. My main problem with things like Facebook and Instagram is that you spend so long trying to curate this image of a fantastic/cool/ gorgeous life, that you have rather less time to actually have one. When I was at School, I dreamt of living in London and earning all my own money and having
hilarious nights with fascinating people who wrote books or made movies or created amazing comedy. I can’t quite believe that I do that now, but I do, and I’m very glad I don’t waste any of my life chronicling it all on some social media platform. I hope a sense of mystery will come back into fashion. People should be intrigued when they meet you, not feel they know the whole lot already. In a competitive industry, such as journalism, what are the key characteristics needed to stand out? Skill in writing if you do opinion columns like me; and skill in listening to people and getting them to talk to you if you are a reporter. Never follow the pack just for the sake of it; try to approach each situation individually and ask what YOU really think of it. Learn all the rules first; then you can begin the fun of breaking them. What has been your greatest accomplishment in your career? I have won various awards but I think all awards are nonsense. Probably the columns written since the Brexit vote have been my best. Making my childhood idols or people whose work I really respect laugh is maybe the biggest thrill. What advice would you give to your younger self? Have the confidence to try and fail in things you think you could never do as well as your idols. Force yourself. Don’t let men and the way they do things dictate how you have to do those same things. Your way is almost certainly better. Don’t let them talk over you or ridicule you into silence, and notice when they are refusing to share their power with you.
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focus on Design
Lulu Urquhart (DH 1993) Adam Hunt and Lulu Urquhart set out on a design partnership adventure almost 15 years ago. Both are passionate plant-lovers, environmentalists and landscape designers, so setting up a landscape design practice was a natural way for them to explore these interests. Urquhart & Hunt is a Landscape Design Studio based in Frome, Somerset. What career did you envisage for yourself when you were in the Sixth Form at Downe House? I fancied myself as a bit of a female Steven Spielberg. I was House Drama Captain in Sixth Form in Tedworth and had written some really cool plays with all the year groups. I loved doing drama with the School and found a lot of confidence in rolling out plays and directing them. I really enjoyed collaborating and working together with all the years in this intense and creative environment. I wanted to go on to make films and applied to study Film and Media Studies at Leeds. Funnily enough, I also had a passion in understanding religion and faith and after a gap year spent travelling and working in Nepal, India, Asia and the Philipines with two beautiful friends from School and having that amazing chance to meet the world and cogitate on things with fellow travellers, locals in the communities I was living and even an audience with a local Nepalese lama, I came home with a taste for more of that. So I withdrew my place from Leeds and wrote on the UCAS form “Comparative Religion ~ Edinburgh” on a one-line University application. Something deep in my bones told me that was where I needed to be, and what a blessing it was. When did you start the business? After several life stories of their own, I settled on living and working with the land as a quest. After training in organic farming, medicinal herbs, ayurvedic medicine, specialist plant nurseries, all while being a jobbing gardener, I realised how much I loved putting it all together, so I started to offer myself as a garden designer around 2003. Three years later I was to meet a very awesome other garden designer, Adam Hunt, and we collaborated on a magical project; building a homeopath couples’ garden. By the end of the project, we decided to embark on a partnership
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and launched Urquhart & Hunt Landscape Design Studio in 2007. Last year, I also co-set up The Tree Conference. It’s a charity and annual conference to promote the work of organisations and people all over the globe doing amazing things for trees. We aim to halt deforestation, save mature trees and ancient groves, and bring the best, most amazing whole science and knowledge on trees, soils and radical health and wellness. What is your previous background? From a base of studying world religions and realising they were all paths up the same mountain, my energies and passions went to caring for the planet – the mountain herself. After University, I pursued Fairtrade – a just global economic system, supporting the farmers on the ground and promoting organic practices. I also had a bout in the advertising world by running an annual awards competition for creative design in advertising. I broke loose to set up Fairtrade Organic Hot Chocolate! Soon I was weary of city life and after transforming a little garden patch in a shared London house, with lavender and jasmine, I felt a call to get back into nature. It’s funny how life leads you gently to where you need to be.. What has been the biggest challenge with your business? We have gone through the various classic challenges of starting up your own business and have clearly grown with it, so to speak. The challenges for us are keeping the ship sailing and the projects brilliant, while still managing to make the right money. It’s such a rollercoaster ride. But my biggest challenge is slowing down and making the time I need for myself, as there is a forever to-do list with your own business, and landscape architecture tends to require enormous
amounts of hours to pull off good work. I suppose it’s good I have been so motivated, but sometimes I wish I could build in a little more chill time in my day. Luckily my children have forced me to slow down, put more reliance on my team and be more gentle all round. Otherwise what mother would I be? I believe it’s a truly blessed thing to be a woman, and to be able to experience motherhood and to get off the ‘wheel’, and I know THAT to be the most important job on the planet. Juggling both “jobs” therefore is huge, but if I tune in and listen, then I know that it is the ‘mumness’ that is more important, because we are raising the future and it is they who need our time, attentions and creativity. Where do you hope to be in five years’ time? I am more involved in rewilding lands and bio-dynamic land stewardship; the projects to which we are being invited are getting more and more interesting. I feel very blessed. I am passionate about what we can achieve through the Tree Conference over the next five years. I am deeply concerned about logging and extraction industries in the Rainforest, the fracking industry in this land, and I want to be of service to those trying to protect the fragile nature we have and are guardians of. I hope I am doing all that and more in this time frame. But also I hope that with my kids, we will be having some real-life adventures in this period. They are amazing out in the world and I know their bright lights are of as much use out there as I could be, so I am fully available for a family challenge!
Ideally our work attempts to weave a tale of connection to earth and celebrate the beauty of plants and the natural environment.
Visit the website of Urquhart & Hunt http://www.urquharthunt.com
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
Downe House in the 1980s
Suzanna Edgar (Borthwick DH 1988)
Young Farmers’ Club pictured at Newbury Showground Elizabeth Gray (DH 1987) and Camilla Hughes (Brooks DH 1988)
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We look back on life at Downe House in the 1980s through a collection of photographs from the School Archives and memories from our alumnae. The School went through several significant changes under the leadership of Miss Farr during this decade and the School site acquired a number of new facilities. This included the official opening of York House in 1981 by Dame Rosemary Murray. The Governors then set about putting in place funds for a new indoor swimming pool and squash courts during this time too. In the Michalemas Term of 1985 the Downe House Young Farmers’ Club was formed. Members mainly came from the Lower Fifth, twenty five of whom showed an interest in keeping rare breeds on some of the School’s land. In 1987, the School celebrated its 80th birthday with a whole School visit to Warwick and then to Stratford for a performance of ‘Twelfth Night’. In the late Eighties, as Miss Farr was about to depart from Downe House, the plans were agreed and the site manager for the new Science School was appointed. The new Science School was opened by Lady Plowden in 1990.
• Polyester bottle green • The wonderful smell of the wood panelling in the library and the purple and orange curtains • Being allowed to subscribe to Paris Match if you were doing A Level French • The Minister of State for Education, Angela Rumbold, addressed the School. • Wednesday morning breakfast of powdered scrambled egg and plum tomatoes. • TV on Saturday night – Dynasty. • Miss Gosse insisting in one English lesson that all speech should be in iambic pentameter. • Cycling for miles! Brilliant fun on the ‘bumps’ in the woods, paddling at the ford and picking corn cobs in a huge field, cooking them up on ‘boilettes’ back at School. • The Upper IV classroom - far away from the main part of the School with wonderful views over the woods and the field far below. • 40p for a fruit delivery in a brown paper bag. • Junior Wildlife Club. • Nico (genius trumpeter) playing The Last Post. • Treating your lacrosse stick with linseed oil. • Young Farmers’ Club.
Camilla James (DH 1989)
Natalie Cox (Hatton DH 1984)
The King and I
Junior Wildlife Club
The School Archives contain a great deal of material relating to the entire life of the School, from its foundation in Kent in 1907 up to the present day. The collection contains documents, photographs, paintings, prints, recordings, memorabilia, antique furniture and artefacts. It is by no means complete and we are always happy to hear of, or receive additional material or items. All items that are accepted into the Archives are correctly preserved, documented and stored, with appropriate copyright. If you would be interested in visiting the Archives or would like to consider adding items to it, please contact our Archivist, Jane Caiger-Smith directly on 01635 204774 or by emailing archives@downehouse.net. Tea in the 1980s
LUMNAE SUCCESS
focus on three years on
Emilia with Henrietta Montgomerie (DH 2015) at Victoria Falls in southern Africa
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Emilia Hewlett (DH 2015) Deputy Head Senior 2014-2015 After leaving Downe House at the beginning of July 2015, I took a gap year. I worked in London for the first three months to save up and I really enjoyed being in London meeting up with lots of friends after work. In this time, I worked for a few companies including Fortnum & Mason, which was great fun. After enjoying Christmas at home with family, Tilly Burles (DH 2015), Jessica Lea (DH 2015) and I set off on the journey of a lifetime, touring Asia for seven months. We travelled to so many places during our seven months including India, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Laos. We spent a huge amount of time exploring each country, which was such a fantastic experience, and we were able to see so much during our time away. We visited all the classic temples such as The Temples of Angkor in Cambodia. We volunteered at a School in Thailand, teaching English to children
Emilia with Tilly Burles (DH 2015) at the Taj Mahal, India
focus on success
for three weeks, which is something we had researched and organised ourselves. We all really enjoyed working with the children and found it so rewarding. One of the most amazing experiences was scuba diving in the Philippines; it is something I will remember forever. We really did make the most of every minute we were travelling. The best thing about taking a gap year has to be the freedom and independence you gain from being in so many different countries and experiencing each varied culture. I found I grew so much in one year and met so many people. It was such a contrast from the closed and safe environment that I was used to at School. I feel I have gained experience for life. From funding my gap year myself to planning routes from country to country.
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There were of course challenging times. Feeling ill and being so far from family was difficult and tested friendships at times. We were lucky that we always had good wi-fi where we were staying and I would write newsletters every two weeks that I
sent onto family, friends and godparents. I know my grandparents really appreciated keeping up with what I was doing. Facetime came in very handy too! In September 2016, I started at the University of Exeter studying French and Spanish. I am currently on my year abroad which I absolutely love. I am living and working in Paris at the moment and have been here since the beginning of September. I am on an internship with Savills, which is so interesting. I am working with the valuations team and gaining fantastic experience. I am living in central Paris with a friend from University. Being in a city is fantastic and I am really enjoying all that city life has to offer. I am due to go home to London at Christmas and cannot wait to see my family. After that, I am off to Madrid in Spain as I have secured an internship with a small App start-up business there. I will be working with new clients on things such as marketing. I am hoping to live with Spanish students and I am in the throes of trying to find a flat share as we speak. Once my internship finishes in Spain in
I can’t wait for our five year reunion in 2020!
Emilia on top of the famous Dune 45 in Namibia
June, I will then return to Exeter for my final year. Once I have graduated, I am hoping to secure a job in PR or marketing and would definitely consider working abroad for an international company. My friends from Downe are still a huge part of my life. I keep in touch with ten very close friends and see twenty or so girls regularly for dinner or at parties. 21st birthday parties have been a great way to see people and find out what everyone has been doing. I can’t wait for our five year reunion in 2020! Words of advice for current Sixth Formers: I decided to take a gap year at the last minute as I found I needed a break after exams. Do not feel you have to follow a set path and it is ok to change your mind.
Emilia pictured at Leavers’ Day 2015
focus on news and achievements
1986 REUNION Emma Wippell (Wirgman DH 1986) recently hosted a Reunion for the Class of 1986 at her home in London. Emma comments: “After 32 years in the wilderness, the class of 1986 gathered for a happy evening to celebrate reaching our half century. We reconnected with 80s themed drink, food (brought along by everyone in large quantities) and music. ‘Do you remember...’ sang Earth, Wind and Fire... break buns, the Bumps, book bags, Braddy laddies! As the memories came rushing back and the noise level rose, we were reminded that we all have a strong bond from those seminal years at Downe House. It was fascinating and heartwarming to hear what everyone has achieved so far: the arts, charities, fashion, business,
motherhood, travel and we even went global face-timing Catherine Powell (Young DH 1986) in America. It was agreed we must not leave it so long until our next meeting and hope to get more to join the sisterhood next time! We sang a rousing rendition of ‘Happy Birthday to US’ round an amazing cake Penelope Starey brought - it seemed like more of a battle cry to ready us for the next 50 years - and a promise to meet again very soon. Thank you everyone for coming and making it such a very uplifting evening!”
SOUTH WEST LACROSSE LEAGUE
Downe House alumnae and staff came together at the beginning of the Michaelmas Term to play in a club game for the South West Lacrosse League. The game took place at St Bart’s School in Newbury between Newbury Royals and Putney. From left to right: Toks Ogunsanya (DH 2007), Becky Gaunt (Teacher of PE at Downe House), Lucy Lukic (DH 2012), Ellie Hillier (DH 2014), Lauren Griffith (DH 2017) and Temi Ogunsanya (DH 2007). Toks, Temi and Mrs Gaunt play for Newbury Royals and Ellie, Lauren and Lucy play for Putney Lacrosse Club.
SIXTH FORM ENRICHMENT
As part of the Sixth Form enrichment programme, we were delighted to welcome back Sereena Singh (DH 2017), Emily Crowston (DH 2017) and Hebe Meredith (DH 2017) earlier this term for a Q&A session with the Upper Sixth on how to make the most out of their last year. Miss Fiona Muir (York Assistant Housemistress) comments “It was lovely to welcome back Sereena, Emily and Hebe to chat to our current UVI panel-style about how to get the most out of their final year at School. Their key message was one of preparation; to start revision early and remain resilient and hardworking despite any disappointments with test results or predicted grades. They inspired the UVI in sharing their enjoyment of their various universities and courses�.
SENIOR MEDLEY LECTURE
The Senior Medley Lecture series is renowned for its sheer variety of speakers and we were privileged to host an audience with bestselling author and historian, Simon Sebag Montefiore on Tuesday 16 October in the Performing Arts Centre. The evening was co-hosted by Lower Sixth student, Georgia Allison and Mr Ross Wise, Teacher of History and Politics, and Head of Academic Scholars and Enrichment. The format of the event was a question and answer session, starting with questions written and asked by our girls. 25
The doors to our brand-new building were opened on Thursday 8 November to our Upper Sixth girls. This was followed over the weekend by further inductions for the Lower Sixth, Upper Fifth and Lower Fifth. The girls explored the new building with great enthusiasm and then gathered to hear from Mrs McKendrick about how they were making history at Downe House. There was much to see in the Murray Centre and a lot of state-of-the-art technology so the girls split into groups to try out all the new kit. In the collaboration Space, Director of IT, Mr David McClymont showed the Upper Sixth how they could connect their own devices to the wall-mounted screens and then set them the challenge of programming Lego robots so they could show off their new skills.
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The Coffee Shop has been a resounding success and opened for business with a selection of freshly-baked cakes, cookies and brownies as well as vegetable crisps, dried fruit and soft drinks. Many girls and parents have enjoyed trialling our new coffee and juice machines since it opened. Upstairs, the new library has been full of hardworking girls keen to make use of the space and light as well as look again at the extensive library collection of both fiction and non-fiction. The girls particularly enjoyed playing with the new touch screen in the Seminar Room to solve a riddle to find a photograph and then display this in the shortest time possible. The Upper Fourth, Lower Fourth and Remove enjoyed their induction and participated in a range of activities that allowed them to learn how to use the new technology. A programme of events is planned and the first outside speaker, the Science
Communicator, Dr Kathryn Harkup gave the girls a fantastic talk on Science in the new 250-seat Auditorium. Mrs McKendrick said, “The original vision for this project was that it would be a space for the whole community to come together to work and enjoy each other’s company in a well-equipped and welcoming space. It has been super to see the way in which the girls have used the building already. The Upper Sixth girls were the first to explore the Centre and I think that they, and all those who have visited, will testify to what a wonderful resource it is. The successful completion of the project reflects the culmination of months of hard work from a wide range of people as well as generous support by many. All are owed a debt of gratitude and I would like to thank all our donors, who have allowed us to turn this vision into a reality.”
Innovative and eco-friendly From the outset, the vision for the new Murray Centre, included plans to minimise its carbon footprint and to meet the highest building standards in order to provide a state-of-the-art building, which will take the School into the future. In terms of construction, this has meant a very close attention to detail and a highly technical approach to all aspects of the build. External consultants have been regular visitors throughout the build to inspect every aspect of the intricate and technical build to ensure that it is meeting (and exceeding) the required BREEAM standards of performance for all the key environmental indicators. The design of the building incorporates sustainable building materials and the contractor, Beard Construction was selected in part for its commitment to eco-friendly building practices and to creating future-proof buildings, which are energy-efficient and sustainable. The building incorporates a hightechnical ventilation system which takes in fresh air through the labyrinth built into the foundations of the building and circulates it throughout the space on all three levels funnelling it up and out through the ‘chimney stack’ on the roof. This removes the need for an air-conditioning system thereby removing the carbon dioxide output of such systems. Renewable energy in the form of PV solar panels on the roof will generate all the buildings energy requirements and are a key element of the plan to ensure that the building meets the required BREEAM specifications. Inside the building, all electrical appliances, which have been purchased, have an energy rating of A and in line with the policy adopted throughout the School to minimise the use of unrecyclable materials, the Coffee Shop will be using bamboo cups and the absolute minimum of plastic materials. The Café will be selling food provided by The Honesty Group, a food business with a mission of combining the best of local produce with an honest approach.
Mrs Philippa Armitage pictured with Guzzie in the Murray Centre
Downe House alumna Guzzie Armitage (DH 2009) was invited to work on the Murray Centre identity and came up with a design for the new building. Guzzie works in print, digital and everything in between, collaborating closely with clients to communicate their message with meaningful, engaging visuals. Having trained as an actor after studying English Literature, Guzzie was lucky enough to channel her fascination with human behaviour into visual communication; she gained qualifications in graphic design and illustration whilst working as a voiceover artist and now lives in London. Guzzie works closely with the wonderful Duzi Studio, as well as independently, on a range of graphic design and illustration briefs.
The reverberating lines are suggestive of the impact that Downe House girls will make in the world….there is a subtle suggestion of a fingerprint, alluding to Downe’s ethos of individuality, and celebration of the unique. Augusta Armitage (DH 2009)
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IO
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DHSA
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NEWS 50 YEAR Reunion
The Foundation Office and the DHSA hosted a joint reunion on Monday 19 November at the Two Brydges Club in London to celebrate a milestone ’50 Years’ since leaving Downe House. Our thanks go to Geraldine James (Thomas DH 1968), Liz Vyvyan (Paget DH 1968) and Gillian Richards (Taylor DH 1968) for all their help in organising this reunion.
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AGM Report – February 2018 DHSA Magazine – Spring 2019 Look out for the ‘new look ‘edition in the spring. The contents will: ► include updates of DHSA activity supporting members as well as features focusing on aspects of School life at Downe including recent developments at the School such as the opening of the Murray Centre.
Grants Do remember that all members of the DHSA are entitled to a grant to assist them in a worthwhile project eg towards an individual’s professional/ educational development: Criteria for grant applications are: ► investment must be for an individual - not a business, charity or private enterprise
► be published on the DH website and published in magazine format in the Spring 2019.
► can be for re-training or further education
Use this link if you wish to make sure you receive your hard copy or to update your details on the database.
► minimum grant will be £250
https://downehouse.net/dhsa.asp
All submissions are considered at the next scheduled meeting of the Committee.*
AGM 2019 The AGM of the DHSA will be held on Tuesday 26 February 2019 at 30 Stevenage Road, London SW6 6ET at 8.00pm by kind permission of Mrs Catherine Palmer. Any member wishing to attend should notify the DHSA Administrator by 19 February 2019 (01635 204719 or dhsa@downehouse.net. New Honorary Seniors We are delighted to welcome two new Honorary Seniors to the DHSA. They are Mrs Angela Coghill, Teacher of French from 1994 to 2003 and Mrs Elizabeth Tyzack, Teacher of Food Technology and the LEITHS Cookery Course from 1991 until 2002.
► cannot be a project purely for pleasure
► amount awarded is judged on individual basis
Conditions for a Grant are: ► an acknowledgement of receipt of the grant ► a report to be sent within three weeks of completion ► all applications are decided on a case-by-case basis ► each girl may only receive one grant award in a lifetime ► Masters degrees expectation of not more than £500 Application forms, available from the website, should be sent to the DHSA administrator dhsa@downehouse.net *2019 application deadlines are 31 January and 31 August. Registrars’ lunch at Downe House This was held on Saturday 15 September and thoroughly enjoyed by all. A delicious lunch was followed by tours of the School. Pictured are the guests at the lunch outside Wakefield House.
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FONDLY REMEMBERED Rosemary Powell MBE ‘Many women have done excellently, but you have surpassed them all.’ Proverbs 31
‘From her prodigious memory she could recall the London bombing raid on 28 November 1916, and her first meeting with her father when she was four, when he finally returned from active service.’
On 15 August 2018, one of Downe House’s most treasured alumnae died at the age of 103, nine days after being presented with her MBE for 97 years of service to the Royal British Legion
‘Rosemary was allotted to Madame Ethel Florey as her special nurse, and was probably the second person to save someone’s life with an injection of the new, dark yellow, syrup-like penicillin.
A pupil at Downe with Olive Willis, Rosemary remembered the School fondly and was so proud to have many family connections educated here, in particular, her granddaughters, Rachel Powell (DH 2009) and Emma Powell (DH 2010).
‘Because the injections were slow, Madame used to give a cocaine injection first.
On Saturday 24 November, at her beautiful service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Knightsbridge, where she was married in 1952, her son, Nicolas Powell spoke of his mother’s severe dyslexia and how Olive Willis described Rosemary as ‘her little exception’. After leaving Downe House in 1932, Rosemary went on to train as a voluntary aid detachment (VAD) nurse providing civilian nursing to
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‘Rosemary suggested including cocaine with the penicillin, and the one injection was a success. All survived.’ the military in the Second World War. In an obituary, her family said, ‘She had known the cost of war. ‘Four of her uncles died in the First World War; another was a lifelong invalid from Afghanistan in 1914; her fiancé was killed in a plane crash and her brother, who won the MC for bravery in Egypt, died of cerebral malaria or possibly suicide; two godfathers died and her father was badly wounded at the Somme.
According to her family, Rosemary was an incredibly practical and resourceful woman. She had a ‘make-do-and-mend’ attitude that remained throughout her life. Her subsequent training as a dressmaker stood her in great stead throughout her life and enabled her to give back to the Parish that she so fondly loved. The Reverend Alan Gyle of St Paul’s Knightsbridge shared many examples of Rosemary’s
commitment to the Church and to charity in his moving Eulogy. He recounted Rosemary as ‘not just a great church woman, but a relentlessly faithful disciple’. She clearly committed a great deal of her time and expertise to the Parish over the years, practically and spiritually. Her family will remember her for her wonderful storytelling, her ability to entertain despite her shyness, her passion for gardening, her thriftiness and her great precision with a shotgun. A truly inspirational Downe House alumna, she will missed but never forgotten. Rosemary is survived by three sons, four grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. Written by: Michelle Scott (Assistant Headmistress Foundation)
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FONDLY REMEMBERED Mary Midgley (Scrutton DH 1932) That – it seems to me – is why it is so important.’ She believed that philosophy was a necessity rather than a luxury, as it has to be used when things are difficult.
Mary Midgley’s memoir is titled ‘The Owl of Minerva’. The Owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk and she explains that ‘the thought for which I want to use it is that wisdom, and therefore philosophy, comes into its own when things become dark and difficult rather than when they are clear and straightforward.
Her obituaries describe her as a philosopher with a sharp critical intelligence who believed that philosophy matters. She was part of a ‘strikingly able and forceful group of women philosophers at Oxford’; Elizabeth Anscombe, Iris Murdoch and Philippa Foot. She went from Downe House to Somerville, gained a First and after a time working as a civil servant and for four terms after that, she taught Classics back here at Downe House and then at Bedford School. She was in London on VE day, she danced on the streets and cheered: ‘Being in a large crowd that is genuinely joyful and unanimous is a wonderful thing’ she wrote in her memoir. After the war ended, she returned to Oxford, began postgraduate studies and
went on to tutor at Somerville and then lecture at the University of Reading. She took what might now be called a career break, marrying a fellow philosopher, Geoffrey Midgley, and they began a family, having moved to Newcastle. She turned to journalism, as a reviewer, and then to academia again, lecturing at the University of Newcastle. Her first book was published in 1978, when she was 56 and went on to write many many more. She came to Downe House at the age of 12 and says she immediately enjoyed a new sense of space – she loved the views, the walks in the woodland and the surrounding countryside and the variety among her fellow pupils and the staff at School. Of the freedom to walk with friends in free time, she wrote that they once walked ‘across the landscape to the far horizon, about
Mary pictured on the left as the Elder Brother in ‘Comus’ in 1935
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which we had always wondered, and saw the still further horizon that stretched beyond it.’ The way the School had been developed suited Mary, not overtly progressive, but a School where leisure time was seen as important and not every moment of the day filled with compulsory activity. She writes in her memoirs of standing in the Cloisters with friends, despondent and wondering what to do on a cold wet weekend afternoon, when Miss Willis put her head out of her study window and invited them up to her study, and to their delight, read them Browning. Mary also enjoyed many of the talks and entertainments given by visitors: they enjoyed listening to the writer, Charles Williams, ‘I can still hear his deep, rather grinding, cockney voice reciting Donne and taking us through King Lear, bringing out strange and exciting angles.’ She was interested in the senses, and describes how she often looked at the stars at night when standing looking upwards in the centre of the Cloisters; ‘a tremendous light-show, twinkling and various, unimaginably far away, yet reliably always there, the realisation that one was only a tiny part of a vast and beautiful universe – was immensely welcome and reassuring.’ She enjoyed the humanities subjects here but described geography as ‘a vacuum, of which I remember only the oxbow lake’. She became excited about science but found that what seemed to matter, when it came down to it, was the writing-up of diagrams and descriptions of experiments in the passive voice – she struggled with the ‘ink well’ - but she took to Classics. She decided to read that rather than English at university on the advice of her English teacher who pointed out that ‘English literature is something that you read in any case, so it is better to study something that you otherwise wouldn’t’. On another wet weekend
afternoon, she took two Everyman volumes of Plato’s dialogues from the library shelf and was quickly ‘hooked’. When she began at Oxford though, she was struck that although she was less well prepared than many other students, the flexible and wider education that she had at Downe house had given her a distinct advantage. She was wildly interested in Classics and found that some of the more prepared students had got to a point where they were bored by it and had been directed to its study simply because they were clever. Mary enjoyed her History lessons at Downe House too. ‘Our History teachers constantly brought together the many different aspects of life that history tells of, and they also connected the past with what was happening in our own day.’ Fortnightly talks about current events helped the girls to reach back into the past to show how current events became possible and what states of mind had shaped the world. ‘This way of getting at the meaning of the present by looking at the past has remained central to me. It is just as useful for understanding thought as it is for understanding action.’
She says she was criticised for being untidy and reluctantly observed that the pastoral care and strategy to improve this was to appoint a girl as Form Captain, which worked. She enjoyed participating in the Drama productions and the archive photo shows her, on the left, as the Elder Brother in ‘Comus’ in 1935. With some friends, she developed something they called ‘Sunday Night Occupation’ when they would gather and improvise a long running and ‘most satisfactory soap opera’ which she comments wryly ‘greatly improved our approach to Monday mornings’. Although she sometimes regretted the sense of social isolation, she enjoyed her time here at Downe; ‘I made some very good friends who have remained among those closest to me for the rest of my life’. Sources: The Owl of Minerva, A Memoir by Mary Midgley, published by Routledge in 2005, and obituaries from the Times, the Independent, the Guardian and the Financial Times.
IN MEMORIAM Mrs Sheila Farrar (Hazel, 1940) Mrs Ann Lee (Machin, 1939) Mrs Sheila Saxby-Soffe (Paton, 1940)
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SAVE THE DATE 2003
2014
15 YEAR REUNION
5 YEAR REUNION
Calling the Class Calling the Class of 2003 of 2014 THURSDAY 31 JANUARY 2019 THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2019 Hollywood Arms, London The Atlas, London
An Evening with
Dominic Sandbrook The Great British Dream Factory Join us for an amusing and provocative lecture that explores Britain’s extraordinary contributions to popular culture in the last half-century. Dominic is a British historian, author, columnist and TV presenter and is best known for his books on Britain since the 1950s.
SENIOR
MEDLEY LECTURE Thursday 7 March 2019 7.30pm in the Performing Arts Centre Enquiries: foundation@downehouse.net
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DATES FOR THE DIARY 2019 THURSDAY 31 JANUARY 15 YEAR REUNION, LONDON THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY 5 YEAR REUNION, LONDON
WEDNESDAY 6 MARCH DH LINKS CLUSTER GROUP, LONDON THURSDAY 7 MARCH MEDLEY LECTURE WITH DOMINIC SANDBROOK TUESDAY 26 MARCH DAY OF DISCOVERY, DOWNE HOUSE SATURDAY 29 & SUNDAY 30 JUNE FOUNDER’S WEEKEND, DOWNE HOUSE
HAVE YOU SIGNED UP TO DOWNE HOUSE FOUNDATION? Over 300 of your fellow alumnae have already joined the online Downe House Foundation community https://foundation.downehouse.net Sign up today ► ► ► ► ►
RE-CONNECT UPDATE EVENTS DH LINKS ALUMNAE NEWS
ANY QUESTIONS? Call the Downe House Foundation Office on 01635 204719 or email
foundation@downehouse.net
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TUESDAY 26 MARCH 2019 • SEMINARS • WORKSHOPS • LECTURES
• MASTERCLASSES • DEMONSTRATIONS • TRIPS
Delivered by visiting speakers, alumnae, parents and staff If you are interested in running a session please contact: foundation@downehouse.net
Cold Ash, Thatcham, Berkshire RG18 9JJ T: 01635 204719 E: foundation@downehouse.net www.downehouse.net
Downe House School
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