The Pelican - Magazine for the Our Lady's Convent Alumni

WINTER 2020

THE OLCS ALUMNI MAGAZINE

WINTER 2020

Meet the OLCS Alumni Committee The OLCS Alumni Committee exists to represent the whole alumni body as they strive to support the school, connect alumni together and preserve the rich heritage of OLCS and LAS. We are grateful to the current committee members for their ongoing support:

Contents 3 Welcome 4 Headlines from Dr Julian Murphy 5 Review of the Year 6 Events

Mary Hopkins, Chair (Former Staff) Amanda Greaves, Secretary (Class of 2004) Rachel Healey (Class of 1999) Grace Hutchinson (Class of 2005) Liz Marshall (Class of 1974) Natalie Savage (Class of 1991) Isabel Tilson (Class of 2005)

10 Articles

Join us

16 Career Focus

Would you like to be part of the committee which helps shape the future of your association? There’s always room for more at our meetings (virtual at the moment of course!). Whether it’s representing a geographical or interest area, suggesting and helping out with events or having a role such as Secretary; the committee is the best way to support how your association is run. To find out more contact olcs.alumni@lsf.org

20 Alumni News 22 Local News 23 Memories Shared

Contact the Development Office The LSF Development Team are always on hand should any alumni need to get in touch and would love to hear from you. Their contact details are: Andrew Ball Director of Development a.g.ball@lsf.org 01509 638922

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Emma Fraser Data and Development Officer e.l.fraser@lsf.org 01509 638920

Natalie Savage Development Manager n.savage@lsf.org 01509 638921

Olivia Smith Alumni Engagement Officer o.smith@lsf.org 01509 638920

Welcome To all Our Lady’s Convent Alumni Dear fellow alumni, What a strange world we have been living in during 2020! It seems a very long time since the first edition of The Pelican was distributed back in April this year.

None of us could have foreseen the exceptionally difficult year ahead. However, we must find some positives as we move forward.

Thankfully, current pupils were able to return to their new year groups in September, and it is wonderful that so many new pupils have joined our school, and we hope they have all settled in and are enjoying the wonderful environment of Amherst. You may even have had your children, or grandchildren, joining the school community. Please do let us know if this is the case, as we’d love to link your records to track generations attending the school. We wish all pupils well and hope their experiences will be enjoyable and fulfilling, and that they have the opportunities and experiences we had at the school, in what will currently be (although hopefully not too prolonged), a new type of normal.

We are particularly mindful of our recent school leavers and newest cohort of alumni. They have had a very difficult time, some moving on to Higher Education and others taking planned gap years or moving into the world of work. This Class of 2020 had a somewhat deflated end of their time at school and missed out on the traditional Homecoming BBQ in September. The Development Office is actively engaging the former Head pupils of each school to look at ways of redressing the situation for them.

In fact, we have been considering how we might support our younger alumni making their way in the world and, behind the scenes, a new internet careers networking platform ‘Loughburians Live’ has been developed and is ready for you to use. This includes an OLCS Alumni Group and provides an invaluable opportunity for you to engage with and support each other. Further details about this initiative, and how to register, can be found later in the magazine.

We are also taking advantage of the hiatus to undertake a 360 degree review of our offer to you and the schools. We are open to all your ideas and grateful, as always, for your input. Please get in touch via the Development Office at olcs.alumni@lsf.org.

To learn more about the association, do visit www.lsf. org/development/olcs-alumni-association. In addition, we are always happy to welcome new members to the OLCS Alumni Committee. If you are interested in joining and helping shape and develop a thriving OLCS alumni community, please do contact us.

We are extremely grateful for the Development Office’s hard work in keeping our ship afloat during

the crisis. Their regular bulletins have been uplifting, with updates on the schools and stories of alumni making notable contributions in their communities.

Clearly, the events planned this year have been decimated by the pandemic. However, we are not deterred! The Gala Dinner at The Plaisterers’ Hall, London has been rescheduled for Saturday 20 November next year. We anticipate a sell-out event, so get your bookings in early.

As the years go by, many alumni and former staff have a desire to return to school to see the familiar faces of teachers and support staff although, depending on when you left, this becomes increasingly difficult.

We see changes of personnel and also to use of the buildings. Rooms which once were classrooms changed into offices, and corridors, which we wandered through daily, becoming accesses to altogether different venues. However, the sense of community and feeling of calm very much still exists.

It has been impossible this year to deliver tours of the school but, in the meantime, you may wish to pay an online visit using the virtual tour link www.lsf.org/ amherst/virtual-tour . Once restrictions are lifted, you are welcome to return in person at any time, either on official occasions or when you re-visit the area someone will always be here to greet you and make you feel very welcome.

Lastly, are you in need of Christmas present ideas?

We currently have an OLCS pin badge available and are looking to produce an OLCS mug of history. But perhaps you have family members who attended, or attend, the High School or Grammar School? We have a varied selection of merchandise available on the website, including the 525 anniversary celebration items and the ever popular 1495 gin!

Which brings us to end by wishing you all a safe but still Merry Christmas and a New Year in which we will be able to meet and enjoy each other’s company again.

Mary Hopkins

Natalie Savage

Chair, OLCS Alumni Committee and Former Staff

LSF Development Manager and OLCS Alumni Committee Member (Class of 1991)

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Headlines

By Dr Julian Murphy, Headmaster

Julian Murphy, Headmaster

Clare Laing

Liz Smith

The last two years have been extremely successful for Loughborough Amherst School, with our numbers of pupils rising by 40% from 208 to 291. Some of this rise has been due to our decision to open our senior school to boys from September 2019, but much of it has also been due to our growing reputation for the quality of both our academic and our pastoral provision. We hope to continue growing our pupil numbers over the next few years, although we remain committed to maintaining our unique identity as a small school with a warm family atmosphere.

Like any such success, this growth in numbers has increased our workload and, coupled with the demands of the Covid-19 pandemic, has made this year a very demanding one. I am hugely grateful to all our staff for their fantastic efforts over the last seven months. The quality of the teaching and pastoral support we provided during the lockdown over the spring and summer was excellent, and our teachers have also worked really hard to help our students through the reopening of the School. In particular, I am grateful to Grace Davies (Senior Deputy Head) and Izzy Winton (Head of Prep School), and to Polly Fender and Jo Kitchener - our heads of Years 7-8 and Years 9-11 respectively – for maintaining our outstanding quality of pastoral care during such strange times.

This summer saw the opening of the second of our two boarding houses for elite tennis players at the Loughborough University National Tennis Academy (LUNTA). I am delighted that this partnership with Loughborough University has proved so successful and hope that it is the first of many such mutually beneficial initiatives. You can read more about the LUNTA programme on page 12.

The end of this term sees us saying goodbye to three longstanding members of staff who have, each in their own way, had a great impact on Amherst and helped it become the school it is today.

Arran Jennings

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Clare Laing, our Deputy Head of Prep School and Head of EYFS, is relocating to Cornwall to start a new chapter in her life. Clare has been instrumental in the improvement and growth of our Prep

School during the last three years. In particular, for a six month period in 201718, before Izzy Winton was appointed as Head, Clare was Acting Head of Prep.

This was a particularly difficult period, when our changes had gone far enough to appear disruptive and not yet far enough where obvious improvements were clearly visible. During the period Clare did a marvellous job of raising morale, reassuring parents and pushing positive change forward. It is not putting it too strongly to say that I will forever be in her debt for the marvellous job she did. We all wish Clare the very best for her new life in sunny Cornwall.

We are also saying goodbye to Liz Smith, who has served on our staff for 18 years as a teacher of Mathematics, the Head of Key Stage 4 and, more recently, our Head of Spiritual Life.

This Christmas sees Liz moving on to pastures and adventures new after many years supporting and inspiring our young people. Liz has always brought an unusual kindness and patience to her teaching of Mathematics and many pupils down the years have benefitted from her nurturing approach. I am particularly grateful to her for the focus, vision and practicality that she has brought to bear on the task of reviving and strengthening our identity as a Catholic school. She has worked tirelessly not just to arrange masses and other acts of worship, but to provide guidance and support for every tutor group with their daily prayers and weekly spiritual life activities. We will all miss her honesty, diligence and deeply caring approach to what, for her, has undoubtedly been a vocation rather than just a job.

Last, but by no means least, we say goodbye to Arran Jennings, who is retiring this Christmas. Arran has served Amherst with utter loyalty and dedication for 19 years and his impact can really be said to be deep in the DNA of the school we have today. As Deputy Head Academic, Arran has worked tirelessly to meet the unique challenges of managing teaching and learning in a small school with sensitivity and vision. Since I came to Amherst as Head in 2016 we have been through a period of incessant and radical change, which has been challenging for everyone but particularly for members of senior leadership.

Arran has helped guide the School through these changes with a calmness and an eye for detail that have been absolutely invaluable. His measured and thorough approach has always been a natural and much needed counterpoint to my own nervous energy and restless desire for improvement. It is no exaggeration to say that we simply could

not have navigated the last four years with such success without his wisdom and hard work. I will miss working with him, and wish him a long and happy retirement and not too many DIY jobs!

with Richard to build on our academic improvements and take things to the next level, both in terms the quality of our teaching and learning and the progress monitoring and support of our students.

I am really excited that Arran’s replacement as our new Academic Deputy Head is Richard West, the Foundation’s current Director of Music.

I am really looking forward to working

We are happy to pass on your messages and memories to those staff who are moving on to new horizons – just email us at olcs.alumni@lsf.org

Review of the Year This past year has seen some great achievements from across the school and everyone involved should be extremely proud. We have also had some unexpected events that have meant we at LAS have had to adapt to the changing circumstances.

The country-wide lockdown meant students received online lessons and tasks. However, the pupils’ motivation and enthusiasm remained high due to weekly activities and challenges.

These included: Miss Barham’s PE challenge, cooking, geocaching and science activities. The large range of weekly tasks kept students busy and their energy levels up.

This year we have seen some staff changes. We say farewell and thank you to Mr Charles Price, our wonderful music teacher, leader of fortnightly ‘congers’ and Head of Peter House.

Mr Price has been redeployed to the Grammar School and we welcome to LAS Mr Rob Connolly in his stead. Miss Syan Gallagher joins us in the new role of Pastoral Support Assistant, with the aim of maintaining and building on our outstanding reputation for pastoral care. Welcome (or bienvenida) to Mrs Rebecca O’Reilly-Naik our new Teacher of Spanish, a new addition to our expanded and highly successful languages department. In the Mathematics department, we send our best wishes to Mr Johnathon Taylor who provided us with excellent Maths teaching for a year. Welcome to Mrs Neena Sonecha, an outstanding new teacher of Mathematics who has relocated from London to join our staff. Best wishes to Mr Graham Sutch on his retirement and to Mr Richard Wright, who joined us from the Grammar School to support in Physics for one year. Welcome to

Dr Sarah Wilson, our new full-time teacher of Physics. In January, Mrs Jo Kitchener joined us as maternity cover for Mrs Lucy Travis, our SENDCO. Mrs Kitchener has proved such a dedicated, creative and generally brilliant member of staff that we have persuaded her to stay on as support for the SEN department and as our new Head of Years 9-11. We also say farewell to Mrs Jo Bexon, our much-loved Head’s PA, who retired in August. Her role will be taken on by Jo Gillett, who is already PA to Miss Davies. And best wishes to Mrs Emma Hopper, Head of PE, who is currently on maternity leave.

Alexander Henry Hopper, born 23 October 2020

This year saw Amherst’s first intake of boys into our senior school. The boys settled in amazingly well and added to the warm, family like feel of the school with football games played on the grass most lunchtimes.

We also saw the start of boarding life at Amherst, as we welcomed the eight new students who had been selected to join the new Loughborough University National Tennis Academy. The programme provides the players with several hours of specialist coaching and training per day. The players compete regularly in international tournaments, and in the first year, we saw our players travelling all over the world, including to Spain, Italy, Cyprus,

By Naomi Wilbram LAS Head Prefect

Morocco, Latvia, France and the USA. While away at tournaments, all the players have been able to keep up to date with their school work. They have all achieved some success in tournaments and they have brought home several cups and medals.

Music this year have delivered some spectacular events: at Christmas we had our annual Carols service, where two LAS choirs performed beautifully and made the evening very special; we also had our first house music competition, organised by Mr Price, which took place on the last day before the Christmas holiday. This was full of fun with performers from all age groups, Agnes taking home the victory this year after a fabulous whole house performance. Two standout performances were from Maisie (Year 6) on the violin and Peter (Year 12) on the piano.

The LAS show, set to take place in March, was cancelled because of Covid-19 but I would still like to say a big well done to everyone involved.

We had dancers and singers from the whole school participate and the dress rehearsal was a special glimpse at how fabulous the show would have been. I am so proud to be a part of this Year 13 class and am excited to see how Amherst will continue to grow in the second year of being a fully coeducational school - and to see what new directions my fellow leavers follow!

One last thank you to all our teachers for their continued support guiding us through this challenging year. I hope Loughborough Amherst School continues to be the warm, friendly place that I love and I know Year 13 will look back and remember all the beautiful memories we made during our time here.

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EVENTS Les Misérables, LSF Production, March 2020

By Nick Grainger (Class of 1980)

Earlier this year, months of dedication, blood, sweat and tears came to magnificent fruition in the form of The Foundation’s production of Les Misérables, performed over several nights in early March. The event was supported enthusiastically and in great numbers by the whole LSF community and attended by a large number of alumni and former teaching staff (including Mr & Mrs Neville Ireland and Mr Barry Percival who met up with old boy, Ian Ellis (Class of 1968) who made a special journey from his home in Kentucky to attend the event!) Indeed, it became apparent that alumni representing all years between 1950 and the recent past were present during the show’s run and I, myself, was particularly keen to witness the event given that my son, Ted, was in the cast and that I had been involved in the school’s landmark production of Die Fledermaus 40 years before. Back in 1980, the school was praised for its ambition in attempting such a demanding piece of theatre and now it must receive even greater plaudits for the scale of this achievement.

I first saw Les Mis in 1988, then only two years into its first West-End run with Michael Ball as Marius and Colm Wilkinson as Valjean. It was less a musical, more a phenomenon and it immediately became my favourite show, it was played and listened to hundreds of times over the next thirty years. I know and love it…well. Consequently, I came to enjoy myself on that Friday evening in March and I was not disappointed.

Director, Sally Bruton’s set together with the lighting and sound were excellent, transforming the Hodson Hall from school assembly venue into a vibrant amphitheatre and drawing the audience into 19th Century France with irresistible realism. The well-known score was expertly delivered by the fine orchestra under the baton of Stuart Thompson (I know this because I didn’t notice them) and the cast were, quite simply… outstanding.

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Playing older men when you are still in your teens is difficult for male performers but Freddie as Valjean and Olly as Javert carried off their parts with great control and gravitas whilst Alex was simply wonderful as Thenadier (a great part, yes, but it needs to be done well to avoid audience disappointment). Ben looked the part and was suitably heroic as Marius whilst Will led the doomed students with defiant gusto. The female leads were impressively professional in their acting and singing - Fran, Lucy and Emilia as Cosette, Eponine and Fantine respectively were all superb and delivered their showstoppers with skill, passion and wonderful technique (congratulations to Musical Director David Morris) whilst Jess was wonderfully comic as Mme Thenadier.

The supporting cast of students, townsfolk, prisoners and whores was high on energy, commitment and talent and provided a perfect frame for the endeavours of the main protagonists. Bravo everyone – as a Loughburian thespian of the past I was made to feel very proud and to realise how the quality of school productions has moved on in recent years.

Oxbridge Dinner, Somerville College, Oxford, January 2020

By Elizabeth Fair (Class of 2019) The Oxbridge Dinner in January 2020 was one of the highlights of my spring term. I remember hearing my friends talk about their positive experiences of attending when they were at school, and so I was intrigued to attend myself, despite knowing very few of my LSF contemporaries at Oxford. The evening started with a beautifully serene evensong in Somerville College Chapel, followed by a three course meal and speeches. I stayed there much later than I had anticipated, talking and chatting with friends.

Reunion: Class of 2014 get together Scott Boardman (Class of 2014) organised an impromptu reunion in Loughborough on Wednesday 7 August 2019 - a nice turnout for a school night!

The event aims to encourage current year 12 students at Loughborough Schools Foundation to think about applying to Oxford or Cambridge, giving them a taste of some of the more unique features of Oxbridge life and a chance to talk with Oxford and Cambridge students. Although I did not attend when I was at school, I remember friends talking about how surprised they were that the students were so ‘normal’. This was one of my greatest fears when applying to Oxford – that I wouldn’t fit in because of preconceptions and stereotypes about Oxbridge students. I really wanted to help current LSF students explore some of their questions surrounding Oxford life, and uncover the myths that were stopping them from applying.

Talking with the students over dinner, we also had conversations about LSF school life. It was interesting to hear how the schools had changed, exchange stories, and a really good time to reminisce about my time at the Foundation. Oxford terms are often quite full on, and it was good to be able to take this time to escape from the hurry and bustle of term time to think about my time at school, help other students with their application processes and thinking, and enjoy a good time with friends.

Remember the good old days when people could actually meet? Hopefully soon this will once again be possible! If you hold a get together of school friends, why not take a snap and share with us? Meanwhile, Loughburians Live can help to connect you virtually with friends old and new – see page 18 for more information on how our new alumni website can help.

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Festivo! De Montfort Hall, March 2020

As concerns grew about coronavirus numbers nationally, the music department of the Loughborough Schools Foundation were putting the final polish on their preparations for our largest single music event of the year.

The annual Spring Concert at De Montfort Hall is always a spectacular celebration of music making from across the Foundation and typically alumni of the Schools are invited back to perform alongside current pupils. This year was no exception, with 400 performers taking to the stage for Festivo! on Saturday 14 March, in what turned out to be one of the last social gatherings and performances before the first national lockdown was announced.

Festivo! featured two of the LSF ensembles who had previously enjoyed great success on the stage of the National Festival of Music for Youth. Audience members were left in no doubt of the breadth of talent across the Foundation as ‘Massed Strings’ (forty students from all four of the Foundation’s Schools and some invited alumni) opened proceedings with Andante Festivo by Jean Sibelius. The Symphonic Wind Band then went on to perform Edward

Gregson’s Festivo. Following the interval, the Symphony Orchestra performed Johannes Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture.

Whilst performances were universally excellent, special mention must be made to the soloists, then year 13 students now Class of 2020 alumni. Danushka performed a movement from Edward Elgar’s iconic cello concerto accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra, whilst Yash was the vocal soloist as the massed choirs and Symphony Orchestra performed three of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs. The concert came to a spectacular close as the massed choirs and orchestra were joined by year 7 pupils from all three senior schools in a rousing and energetic performance of Charles Villiers Stanford’s joyful Te Deum in B flat and Hubert Parry’s triumphant ‘I Was Glad’.

It was a pleasure to see so many parents, alumni and friends of the Schools bear witness to the outstanding array of musical talent on display. We can only hope that performances of a similar scale will be permissible again soon.

Christmas Gifts Stuck for ideas for Christmas presents for those who shared your school years in Loughborough? Or fancy treating yourself? Why not check out the Gifts and Merchandise section of our website at www.lsf.org/shop.

As well as pin badges and our ever popular 1495 gin, you will find special heritage merchandise created with the 525 anniversary of Loughborough Schools Foundation in mind.

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Loughburian Student Reps New for 2020/21 is the role of Loughburian Student Rep, to create a link between the Development Office, the Alumni Association and pupils in the Senior Schools. Meet our first batch of student reps below:

Ellie Fernandes

Ben Jones

Evie Elliott

School: Loughborough High School

School: Loughborough Grammar School

School: Loughborough Amherst School

Prefect Role: External Relations

Prefect Role: Deputy Head Prefect

A level subjects: Economics, Geography, Maths

A level subjects: Music, English, Music Technology

Prefect Role: Development, Alumni Engagement and Events Prefect A level subjects: History, Politics, English Literature Career Ambition: I would like to be a lawyer What working with alumni means to me: I think it is so important that our school maintains a sense of unity even after we leave. The school community will always be part of us, whether it’s through reunions, meeting up with friends or offering networking to students within your profession.

Career Ambition: I am interested in environmental issues and want to pursue a career in sustainability.

What working with alumni means to me: To create a strong relationship between current pupils and old boys.

For old boys to keep in contact with the school. Help organise social events that bring old boys back together.

Career Ambition: I would like to go into the Music Industry What working with alumni means to me: To help facilitate opportunities for former students to meet current pupils. This might be to build up a network for shared experiences of time at the Loughborough Schools Foundation, or even for careers advice in the future.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Re-scheduled 525 Gala Dinner Plaisterers’ Hall, London Saturday 20 November 2021, 18:30 Individual tickets: £90, table of 10: £800 Join us for a spectacular gala dinner and evening of entertainment as you share memories with fellow alumni.

See www.lsf.org/development/events-overview/ for details and booking.

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ARTICLES It’s all Go for the new LSF Sports facility For many years the main school halls on campus were used as gymnasiums and in 1959, following successful fundraising efforts, a new purpose built gymnasium, to enhance the provision of physical education, was built at Loughborough High School (LHS). An article from November 1959 written upon the opening, notes: ‘on a tour of inspection guests admired the spacious kit-room, changing-room and showers (which have not been used since the Town Council drew attention to the shortage of water and the need for economy) before entering the gymnasium itself, a large, well-lighted building with the latest apparatus which girls of the school demonstrated under supervision of the games mistresses, Miss M Potts and Mrs E Toone.’

60 years on, and the vision for sport across Loughborough Schools Foundation (LSF) continually evolves to promote participation, engagement, variety, competitive success and overall fitness. The current Governors committed to the development of a brand new facility, refurbishing the former High School gymnasium into a dance studio and fitness suite, and adding a multi-use sports hall. In 2018 the #getsetgo Girls Sports Facility Appeal was launched to purchase equipment for this exciting new facility, and it is thanks to a number of donors that the fundraising goal was achieved.

The Foundation even received a substantial legacy from Miss Sheila Parkin, a former pupil of Loughborough High School, which enabled us to cross the finish line, and reach the overall target of £168,500 for the equipment. It is for this reason that the new facility is called the ‘Parkin Sports Centre’.

Many alumnae upon reunion tours have recalled ‘the smell of the old gym’ and ‘using the freezing cold communal showers’. I wonder what those of you who remember shimmying up the ropes and vaulting over the ‘horse’ will make of the extensive sports hall, new weights areas, and the treadmills and spin bikes!

Jo Hackett, Director of Sport at LSF notes: ‘the Parkin Sports Centre is a superb indoor sports facility for the Foundation, offering a first-class playing area where our students are able to develop their skills. The sports hall has been used already for a range of activities, as well as competitions from indoor hockey, netball and badminton, through to aerobics, trampolining and Zumba. The fitness suite and studio provides a modern and extensive strength and conditioning suite as well as a purpose-built studio for dance, fitness classes, such as spin and circuits and many other activities.’

The Parkin Sports Centre will be opened officially later this academic year when COVID-19 restrictions allow.

If you wish to find out more about future fundraising initiatives, how to support the Foundation or about leaving a gift to your School in your will please do contact us in the Development Office at development@lsf.org

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Tennis Champions Past and Future Amherst are now into their second year of hosting the elite tennis boarders as part of the Foundation’s partnership with Loughborough University National Tennis Academy (LUNTA). Whilst the girls remain resident at Hahn House, the boys have now moved from School House at Loughborough Grammar School to their own boarding house Glengairn along with Housemistress Marie West and family.

Here, three of the boarders give us an insight into their daily life, in times outside of national lockdown!

A week in the life of the Loughborough University National Tennis Academy players and boarders.

On Monday, it’s an early start. We wake up at 6:20am and have a healthy breakfast to start the day off well. We get our bags ready the night before so straight after breakfast we can hop in the taxi to get to Loughborough University for 7:30am.

By 7.45am we’re on court warming up ready to start training at 8.00am until around 9:45am. After a quick change we’re back in the taxi heading for Amherst School and a geography lesson. Straight after geography we have maths for an hour and a half, then we head into the common room to hang out with mates. After a quick lunch it’s back to the University for 2.30pm.

Another warm and tennis lesson before a break and snack at 4:30pm after which it’s to the gym for 5.00pm where we have

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a session until 6.00pm. Then it’s back to the players’ lounge to sort our bags before the taxi arrives at 6.15pm. We enjoy a filling dinner before we walk back to Hahn House (our boarding house) for a nice, warm shower ready to start our homework.

Tuesday is a tough day! We’re back on the Tennis court for 7:30am and a two and a half hours session. We leave the University for Amherst at 10:45am and as soon as we arrive we have maths for half an hour then Physics for an hour and a half. After lunch we have extra science followed by English.

School ends at 4.00pm but we’re back on court by 4.30pm.

The second tennis session of the day lasts for an hour and a half and we finish at 6:30. We get a taxi to go back to school for dinner, before the short walk to Hahn House for homework and bed by 9.30pm.

On Wednesdays we don’t have training in the morning so we get to sleep in until 7:30am. We have a tasty breakfast at school before lessons start at 9:10am. Following a quick change, it’s off to the gym for session at 11.00am. After an hour of gym, we head back to school for English at 12:10pm.

Wednesday is only a half day of school, so we head to Loughborough Uni at 2:15pm where we have a series of meetings either with a Psychologist or Performance Lifestyle Education Manager. After the meetings we have another tennis session and finish at about 6.30pm.

Thursday is one of the hardest days. We have to be at the tennis centre for 7:45am for a two hour vigorously hard tennis session followed by a cool down session at 10:15am. We have a warm shower and change into our school uniforms to head to school in a taxi. We arrive at Amherst for a full day of lessons consisting of chemistry, maths and English. After school, we travel back to the Uni to start our second session at 4:30pm. After another long session, our cool down ends at 6:30pm and we travel to the Grammar School to have an evening meal. Looks like we’ll be having a good sleep tonight after a long day!

On Fridays we have an early start as our taxi picks us up at 7:15am. When we arrive at the tennis centre all our bags for school and tennis are pre-packed and the only thing we have left to do is fill our water bottles up do a warm up that is tailored for our own specific development. We have two sessions with a short break in between for a snack to build up energy levels. We always have food in the players’ lounge so we can eat whenever we’re hungry. After a gym session we grab a refreshing shower and quickly get changed and travel to school. We have physics and history on Fridays and private study to catch up on any work we’ve missed. We love Friday’s lunch as it’s fish and chips. At the end of the school day we go back to the University to play a bit more tennis and then head back by taxi to have some well-deserved dinner in the Burton Hall. We walk back to Hahn House to relax and get ready to go to bed.

On Saturdays we have a lie in! We get ready to have breakfast before the taxi picks us up at 9:05am. When we arrive at the tennis centre we get ready to go straight onto court so we can start our warm up. The tennis session is one and a half hours – it’s a bit hard as it’s the last session after a tiring week, but we all know that it makes us stronger. We stretch and shower and head back to Hahn House for lunch, which Mrs West and her family often make for us. The rest of the day is free time where we can go into town or meet our friends or even have sleepovers. We are also allowed to stay up just a little bit longer.

Sundays are usually quiet. We like to stay in bed later and then go to brunch at 11.00am. After brunch, we sometimes go to town or we watch a film. We like to chill and chat. At 5.00pm we go to tea at the Grammar School and after that, when we come back to Hahn House, we usually do some homework and get ready for the week to come.

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LUNTA (p.12) is not the first relationship that Loughborough Schools Foundation have had with elite tennis. A recent restoration project of a school cup during the first national lockdown lead to John Weitzel’s discovery of a past champion.

The inspiration behind The Hamilton Cup.

By John Weitzel Hodson Hall (LGS) houses around 100 cups of various ages in the cabinets that surround the hall. The three oldest are the most special, with one in particular, The Hamilton Cup, being perhaps the most intriguing.

The tennis report in the very first Loughburian of 1879 ends with these words ‘The result of this year’s contest for the Captaincy is that Hamilton is victorious. Paget was absent and did not compete, or the result might have been different; but in Hamilton we have one who is likely to develop into a thoroughly good athlete – especially in Cricket.’ 11 years later, aged just 25, Hamilton becomes the first (of three) Irishmen to win Wimbledon.

(James) Willoughby Hamilton was born on 9 December 1864 in Monasterevin, County Kildare, the 7th of nine children of Revd. Canon William Alfred Hamilton, a Church of Ireland rector, and Henrietta Cole. So, the obvious question is - why did they chose LGS as the boarding school for their very sporty son? Surely a more prestigious boarding school would have been their choice? Here, the clue comes from the knowledge that his big brother – 15 years older – is Revd. Henry Balfour Hamilton who we know became the first Rector of the recently restored St Helena’s Church in West Leake in 1882, the year after Willoughby leaves LGS. So, it is likely that he was at another local church prior to that appointment and able to look after little brother at half-terms etc.

Hamilton entered Wimbledon for the first time in 1896, reaching the quarter-finals. In 1887 the County Dublin Championships clashed with the tournament but when he returned in 1888, he reached the semi-finals which he also reached again in 1889. In 1890, he went two stages further. He won the All-Comers competition and qualified to meet William Renshaw, the six times previous winner, for the Championship.

The following description of the match is from the Daily News: ‘Some very even play was seen in the first set which was secured by Renshaw by 8 to

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6. In the second set Hamilton obtained an easy victory by 6 to 2, whilst the third set went to the holder at 6-3.

After this Renshaw did not meet with much success, and Hamilton taking the fourth and fifth sets at 6-1 each, won the Championship by 3 sets to 2. Of the 45 games played, Hamilton won 27.’ This and other tournament wins meant that Hamilton was ranked Number 1 in the world.

What happened next is one of the great mysteries in sport. He never ever competed in another competitive tennis match and no-one seems to know why. According to more than one source, a serious illness, blood poisoning, was said to be the cause but it is unlikely that he was seriously ill for too long as he married five years later and was working as a stockbroker in 1911. Indeed, there is evidence that he continued playing football and cricket.

Was he just fed up playing tennis? He lived for 53 years after his Wimbledon triumph until he died on 27 September 1943 in Dundrum, Dublin, aged 78.

As you might expect, his triumph at Wimbledon was at the centre of the Chairman of Governors’ speech at prize giving. Mr Hussey Packe mentioned the excitement of the boys over Hamilton’s success and their efforts to establish three silver challenge cups for cricket, football and tennis. Thus, Hamilton’s success establishes the House System which, after many changes, is still in place to this day.

The Cups were funded by the boys (parents!) of the new ‘Houses’ : the Football Cup by the Day Boys (with 39 listed donors); the Cricket Cup

by Burton House (with 26 donors); and The Hamilton Cup by School House (with 19 donors, including the Headmaster). He was so taken by Hamilton’s triumph that ‘during the Midsummer holidays our Head Master has very generously had the old ash court asphalted at his own expense, and we feel sure that the whole school will heartily join us in thanking him for his great munificence.’ In those days the tennis court was on the quad.

The cups for cricket and tennis have been presented ever since (the football cup went into abeyance when rugby was introduced) but unfortunately eight years ago the Hamilton Cup broke in two and I was forced to ‘fix it’ with Blu-Tack and the cup never left the display case. For four years, until I retired, I tried to find somewhere to repair it locally, without success. Being solid silver, no-one wanted to touch it, including our own design department!

In April this year, after about a month in lockdown and getting bored, I started looking for somewhere further afield to do the job and after several failures finally found someone in Cumbria who was happy to do it. The result is that not only is the Hamilton Cup repaired, it has also been fully restored to its former glory. All the dents have been removed and it looks like new – the ‘Repair Shop’ could not have done a better job! A fitting tribute to arguably the School’s greatest sportsman – so far!

Undercover CCF

We’ve got the CCF covered. By Dan Murphy, Contingent Commander (Class of 1996)

By Dan Murphy, Contingent Commander (Class of 1996)

Amherst students now get the opportunity to join in with the adventure of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) over at the Loughborough Grammar School base. 50% of Amherst sixth form pupils are currently developing personal responsibility, leadership and self-discipline through their involvement in the challenging military-themed activities on offer. One particular student who has thrown herself into this is Pippa in Year 12 (pictured below).

Pip was awarded her CCF Colours in October for her strong commitment to CCF activities. She is an enthusiastic and effective Non-Commissioned Officer, leading and instructing junior cadets within the RAF section. With one of her colleagues, she led a fascinating interview during lockdown with the first and only female Red Arrow, Squadron Leader Kirsty Murphy. She was also part of the senior team supporting the recent training exercise “October Optimist” held during half term, offering invaluable support to staff in that capacity.

Lockdown restrictions didn’t prevent the CCF from continuing with cadet training in each week during the summer term, albeit remotely. The Non-Commissioned Officers impressed by planning and delivering so many of the lessons and activities. Highlights from March-July 2020 include: •

daily challenges, discussions and articles from the RAF: Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Flight

•

video tutorials on military knowledge, seamanship, drill, physical training, navigation and infantry tactics

•

video tutorials on air rifle handling, including an online ‘theory test’

•

70% of RAF basic cadets passed their Leading Cadet exams

•

video compilation of cadets paying their respects to accompany the Headmaster’s VE Day address

•

competitions and quizzes including best boots, best back-garden improvised shelter, rangecard assessments, best home-made aircraft and a 5km running challenge

Furthermore, several cadets conducted interviews with alumni and former LGS CCF cadets about their lives in the military, including:

Jared and Archie discussed life in the navy, flying helicopters, and being a ship’s captain with Commander Pete Higgins AFC RN (Class of 1997)

Tom and Lily interviewed Lieutenant Colonel Adam Foden DSO MBE (Class of 1996), the current Commanding Officer of the Royal Lancers, about life in the armoured cavalry

Ryan and Steffan spoke to Ben Murphy (Class of 1993) about his experiences as an RAF Harrier pilot, leader of the Red Arrows and running Britain’s Red Bull Air Race team.

Al interviewed S/Lt Jack Edwards RN (Class of 2014) about his time as a cadet in LGS CCF, being a member of the University Royal Naval Unit, joining the Royal Navy, and life as an officer under training.

We remain thankful for all the support we receive from alumni and parents alike. A very generous donation from the parents of a recent cadet, and the support from the LGS PA, enabled us to procure a superb multi-purpose shelter. Extremely robust and waterproof, the 6m x 3m pop-up gazebo can be used as an HQ tent on exercise, an air rifle and archery firing point, cover at parades such as Annual Review and Remembrance and myriad other uses. We look forward to many years of hard use for this superb gift, and would like to thank those who made it possible.

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CAREER FOCUS

Anna Murphy (Class of 1996) Whilst for most of my life I have known the Loughborough Amherst School as Our Lady’s Convent School, I am delighted that the school has a new lease of life as it heads towards its 200-year anniversary. My mother and aunt were pupils back in the 1950s and 1960s and I started in first year (now year 7) in 1989.

I was followed there by my sisters – Lucy (1992), Ruth (1994) and Maria (1998). We four sisters have always been close and our parents encouraged us to bring our friends home. Their welcoming attitude coupled with our home’s close proximity to school meant that it was constantly filled with groups of Convent girls usually laughing and talking but, of course, occasionally fighting and crying!

I have stayed in close contact with several friends from school who still live locally and am in rather less close contact than I would like with many. In preparing to write this article, I spent time thinking about the different life paths that we have chosen or found ourselves on and identifying what lessons school taught us to help us as we grew to adulthood and what values were instilled in us.

Giving to others was a common theme of my school days – whether that was donating tinned food for Christmas hampers for the needy or being encouraged to help younger pupils who were struggling with friendship group problems (a perennial problem for teenagers!). Service to others was a virtue widely encouraged, practised and praised at school. I think it is no coincidence then that as I look around the local community and on Facebook feeds that I see so many ex Convent pupils involved making a difference in the lives of those around them – whether this is by chairing the PTA, helping run youth clubs at church, working with local charities or volunteering at community sports clubs. As Louisa May Alcott tells us in Little Women, “The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.” Most of us aren’t called to do jobs which bring us fame or fortune but we can each make a difference through serving those we live amongst.

After school, I spent 4 happy years at Durham University (once I got over the initial homesickness) studying (perhaps rather less than I should have), socialising (perhaps rather more than I should have) and generally spreading my wings and growing up a bit. In my final year I was chair of the Junior Common Room of my college, which again I think reflects the importance of serving your community which I learned at school and home.

When the time came to choose what career to pursue, I knew that my vocation was something in

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the public service but exactly what was difficult to discern! On the advice of my tutor, I sat the civil service exams initially hoping to get a job working for a Government department. But whilst reading through the FastStream brochure, I found out about a small number of graduate jobs available at the House of Lords and I decided straight away to apply for this option. Twenty years later, I am still working at the House of Lords – in that time I have held a variety of posts within the administration which have kept me challenged, busy and fulfilled.

Like all of us, my life is busy. Family life with my husband and three children is busy and even, some might say, chaotic! A few years ago I was asked whether I would be the speaker at the Amherst prize giving and I was delighted to accept. Following on from that I became a governor at the school. I have greatly enjoyed rekindling my close connection to the school and seeing first-hand how the values of the school which inspired my generation are now being instilled in a new generation of pupils.

The words of St Henry Newman about vocation resonate with me, “God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.” This lesson of love for and service to others was kindly and gently taught to me by example rather than word. I shall be forever grateful to the school and my parents for the many opportunities I was given and the kindness with which I was steered towards finding a fulfilling and happy path in life.

Model Students

By Isi Webb-Jenkins (Class of 2016) From one bubble to another. In the 2016 yearbook, I was awarded the title of ‘Most likely to return to teach at the High’, and whilst I am not planning to be a teacher, my classmates did recognise within me my love for the bubble – the intimate, pro-active, and sociable nature of LSF became my requirements for any circumstance. Therefore, it was a surprise to no one when I fell comfortably into life at the University of St Andrews, an equally small, supportive and busy education environment. It was easy to see how my university activities reflected the interests and values I had garnered over my 14 years at LSF – the abundance of theatre, involvement in charity and a complete lack of sport mirrors exactly how I spent my school days.

But throughout my time at university, it has become apparent that the culture and environment at LSF did not just have a profound effect on me, but also on many of my fellow classmates. There are only a few Loughburians currently at St Andrews, but those of us that are here run a high risk of bumping into LSF alumni - partly due to the small student population, and partly due to our shared attraction towards activity and commitment, undeniably forged during our school days. One such time, I found myself hosting a drag show alongside fellow Loughburian Izzy Peek, who had been Head Girl in the year above me, which I followed in the role of mere House Captain. Maybe giving school assemblies or rallying a crowd at sports day had had a greater effect upon our dispositions than we gave it credit for.

But there is a more prevalent example in my current university circumstance which speaks even more loudly of the invisible culture which is integral to life on the Walks. In my third year, I signed up for a charity fashion show called CATWALK – I was keen to be involved in the student fashion shows which play a large part in the St Andrews events calendar. What I did not expect to discover in a committee where I supposedly knew no one was to find one of my colleagues, and now close friend, was from the other side of Burton Street as a former pupil of Our Lady’s Convent School (now Loughborough Amherst School). Millie Elliott and I have spent the majority of our education in alarmingly close proximity: less than 500 metres from each other at LSF, she at OLCS and I at LHS, and then 2 years in the same small university town, all the while ignorant of each other’s existence. But Millie’s school

experience greatly mirrors my own; she held the role of Caritas Prefect from 2013-14, and then progressed to Head Girl of OLCS for 2014-15, showing a penchant for commitment and activity from a young age. Despite not knowing each other, we both have taken very similar paths and have reached a very similar final destination for our final year at St Andrews: as Director and Vice Director of CATWALK 2020. These roles will challenge us much more than any other previous project, as we oversee and co-ordinate one of the largest fashion shows in St Andrews, striving to create an impressive event, and raise a minimum target of £10,000.

It is not a coincidence that two women educated at LSF, and brought up in an environment which celebrates extracurricular achievement as highly as academic attainment, have individually forged paths which led to the same goal. As a third alumna joined the team this year (Iona McNeill - another former OLCS pupil), the evidence really was incontestable.

The fact that we all sought something beyond our degree reflects an extra-curricular convention which is rife in LSF, and it is often apparent in the lives of my other school friends who are at different universities. The fact we were all attracted to the only fashion show in St Andrews which donates all revenue from ticket sales and fundraising events to charity, a significant difference to the other fashion shows at our university, echoes the philanthropic and genuine nature which was encouraged through many endeavours in our time at LSF. The fact that three women, educated in an all-girls environment at LSF schools, are striving to raise large amounts for charity whilst growing a creative brand and rising within a team, speaks volumes on the value we feel an all-girls, LSF education has had upon our characters.

CATWALK has always relied upon generous donations from our sponsors to raise the extraordinary amount which we have already achieved (£45,000 since 2015). If you are able to support us and forge yet another link between the Foundation and this charitable cause, either through corporate sponsorship or through direct donations to our charitable total, it would mean a great deal to us, your fellow alumni.

Many thanks.

If you are interested in helping the CATWALK Charity Fashion Show, please visit their website www.catwalkstandrews.com or email catwalkstandrews@gmail.com

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I N T R O D U C I N G

Loughburians Live

Loughburians Live is a brand new online mentoring and networking platform exclusively for Loughburians and OLCS Alumni. 2020 has been a year of changing plans and rethinking the role that the Alumni Associations can play in the lives of all alumni. The curtailing of events due to Covid-19 meant that we have to do things differently to keep in touch and engage with one another. Furthermore, the stories of racial abuse at some of the schools that surfaced this year was a reminder that we must do whatever we can to ensure that the Alumni Associations are relevant to all alumni. These are just a couple of the reasons why we have invested in Loughburians Live.

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Loughburians Live is your platform to use in a way that works for you. It brings our whole alumni community together by providing members with access to the following: A running feed of alumni updates, interesting content, photos and conversations. As well as seeing what others are up to, you can post your own updates and also keep track of current school activities.

A full opt-in directory of alumni and former staff allowing you to connect with the Loughborough Schools Foundation and OLCS Alumni communities around the world. You are in full control of what information you provide and what you want others to see about you.

A mentorship program, giving you the opportunity to be mentored by others or offer mentorship to fellow alumni and current pupils. Sharing career knowledge and opportunities has always been a part of being an alumnus of the Schools. As the job market becomes ever harder and competitive, Loughburians Live will make it easier to take part in career mentoring.

A job board with current opportunities, posted by alumni and strategic partners. Like everything on Loughburians Live, posting job adverts is free for alumni. If you are recruiting then posting your vacancy on Loughburians Live will increase your pool of possible candidates. And if you are job hunting then make sure you add Loughburians Live to your list of job search sites.

Group conversations allowing you to engage at a more granular level with those with the same year group, interests, careers, industries, locations as you.

Re-connect with old friends and make new ones. You control the subjects you want to discuss although we have already started a number of special groups which includes OLCS Alumni. You will see others that we have been asked to include so far.

Events posted by alumni, the Alumni Associations and our Schools, inviting you to attend, encouraging popup engagement, coffee meetings around the world, webinars hosted by subject matter experts within our network and other organic engagement opportunities created for and by you.

You can sign up in less than two minutes and you can even register using your Linkedin or Facebook profile. Register now to expand your network at www.loughburians.com

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ALUMNI NEWS Covid-19 Edition.

By John Weitzel We felt that this year rather than highlighting alumni who had featured in the News we should concentrate on just a few of the many ways that alumni have helped in responding to the coronavirus crisis.

The most interesting analysis of what life was like for those on the front line came from Peter Brindley (Class of 1987) who is a Critical Care physician at the University of Alberta. He used his knowledge of military history to write a thought provoking piece ‘Life in the Trenches’ in Canada’s National Post.

“Like you, we health-care workers are scared as we prepare to ‘go over the top.’ Like the elderly, I have healthcare colleagues who worry that we are considered expendable, and those fears need to be heard and addressed.

Regardless, I am reassured that at the bedside we have each other’s backs: which is a good job given the daily need to ‘buddy-check’ protective equipment. Hyperbole aside, I truly have never been prouder of our staff. Moaning has been replaced with meaning, and many of us are surprisingly happy not being resigned to barracks.”

It was a similar story closer to home.

John Hardie (Class of 2007) who moved into medicine after studying Music at Oxford is a Doctor in an ICU in Surrey. There he was ‘redeployed’ from the cancellation of his routine operations to help with the vast increase in ICU patients where his familiarity of the ‘acute’ was a big bonus.

For Marcus Wood (Class of 1992) the change to his normal working week was even greater. As a Consultant Anaesthetist at Leicester Royal Infirmary he changed to a 12-hour shift system including resident nights.

He wrote: “As Anaesthetists are advanced airway specialists who have been trained in varying degrees of intensive care medicine, we have been tasked with intubating the suspected/ confirmed Covid19 patients in A&E, transferring them to Intensive Care, setting up the ventilators and placing the invasive lines. All this is done whilst wearing full PPE which includes a full

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face respirator for most of us. The PPE becomes uncomfortable after about 4 hours but it’s obviously vital to be protected against the virus.”

It was a similar story for Michael Glasby (Class of 1991). “My work as a vascular interventional radiologist in Leicester would normally entail a varied mix of procedures throughout the body for limb circulation problems, aortic aneurysms, kidney dialysis, uterine fibroids, prostates etc. However, with the corona virus pandemic, virtually all of the routine practice was stopped as wards were cleared for patients suffering with Covid-19. Within a couple of weeks, the clinics, corridors and public areas in the hospitals, which would normally be bustling with outpatients and visitors were eerily quiet. Conversely, respiratory wards and intensive cares were exceptionally busy. Within my speciality, our practice was reduced to urgent or emergency cases mainly while adapting to different ways of working using PPE, social distancing, using video conferencing to discuss patients and staff often having to self-isolate.”

However, it wasn’t all about Covid-19 as Jon Mutimer (Class of 1992) wrote.

“I’m an orthopaedic consultant in Cheltenham. No elective (planned) work at present nationally although we have our trauma to continue with. We have redesigned our rota to continue to do trauma operating and fracture clinics as well as taking minor injuries from Emergency department. Other activities include working on the wards and in ITU which is a bit of a change for a surgeon!!”

For our most recently trained Doctors it was much the same. Will Crookes (Class of 2013) a Foundation Year 2 Doctor working in A&E at Chesterfield Royal Hospital wrote: “The Covid-19 Pandemic came as a new challenge to Doctors and other Healthcare

Professionals at all stages of their careers. As a Junior Doctor in my second year of work, working in the Emergency Department at a time like this pushed me to learn quickly and be flexible, adapting to a situation which, at the height of the initial surge, was changing on a daily basis. With rotas altered to provide optimum staffing levels in key areas at busy times, we were working a lot of unsociable hours, particularly nights; sometimes for several weeks in a row. Whilst it has been exhausting, being given the responsibility to assess a high burden of critically unwell patients has been an experience which will serve me well in my future career.”

Keeping the NHS supplied with critical goods was the job of Will Gardner (Class of 2003) who has worked all his life in the transport industry and currently works for Pall-Ex. He found himself on the front line supporting key workers and industry, having signed ‘The Armed Forces Covenant’ last year. Providing food for the NHS fell to Rosie Thomas (Class of 2012) who, after finding her work connecting supply teachers and schools had fallen to zero, shifted to volunteer for the start-up organisation ‘Meals for the NHS’. Working shifts up to 14-hours long, with no access to food after 5pm, and PPE restrictions making it almost impossible to find a meal outside hospital walls, NHS staff had a serious problem, and it needed to be solved.

Founded on 21 March 2020, in its first 100 days 100 volunteers supplied over 300,000 meals to 146 hospitals Harvi Poonian (Class of 2009) was volunteering for Loughborough Against

Corona (LAC) – a group of student volunteers helping self-isolating local residents. LAC helped with close to 1000 requests from at least 200 vulnerable residents and the model has expanded beyond Loughborough to 24 such groups in 9 countries. Harvi was managing LAC’s day-to-day operations.

She told us “we have a refined process to match volunteers and residents while keeping a local community feel. The model I built for Loughborough was then used for Oxford Against Corona and this has now been exported across the world to the other hubs”.

There were many ‘unsung areas’ of our normal life that did not receive the high profile and media coverage that the above did. One of these were the pharmacists. Malcolm Brown (Class of 1990) was typical of these.

In Urmston, Manchester, he and his 25 staff opened their pharmacy for over 100 hours a week only shutting for the odd hour at lunch time and in the early evening to catch up with the increased workload and cleaning down, often working late into the night to complete prescriptions in readiness for drivers to make deliveries to 20 nursing homes the following morning.

Given Malcolm’s workload he would not have been able to enjoy the music supplied by both the Foundation’s Music Department and alumni that the vast majority of the country with so much free time were able to do.

Billy Rigg (Class of 2018) produced a virtual orchestra for the Sheffield University Wind Orchestra involving 36 musicians recording their part of ‘Music from the Incredibles’ in their homes during isolation. However, Chris Hill (Class of 2016) did not need help from anyone else cleverly producing a ‘oneman flute choir’ to play the Intermezzo from Cavaliera Rusticana.

Those hours spent in ‘lockdown’ we know put immense strain on our youngsters and charities supporting them found their donations decreased drastically. Siena Hayes (Class of 2016) did a lot of volunteering for NSPCC Childline whilst at LHS and has continued to do so whilst studying medicine at Cardiff. She decided that to raise awareness and money for Childline she would do an ‘isolation ironman’. With no access to a pool she rowed 3.8km, switched to her indoor Wattbike to cycle the 180km and finally ran the marathon (42.2km). She achieved this in 9 hours and 10 min and raised over £2,000. Freddie Peace (Class of 2013) had a similar idea to

raise £2,000 for Meningitis research and his success at achieving the ‘isolation ironman’ was covered by BBC East Midlands Today. He completed the challenge in 10 hours 56 minutes.

Produced by their company Orrsum, the 6,000 pairs of ‘rainbow socks’ were soon sold out raising £20,000 for the NHS and bringing a smile to everyone that purchased them!

BBC East Midlands Today also covered the stories of three other alumni.

Jeremy Parton (Class of 1983) inspired his year 7 at LGS to perform over 500 acts of ‘Coronakindness’ during lockdown. He writes: “All of the planned celebratory activities had been cancelled or postponed, but the boys were still brimming with energy and enthusiasm to do something meaningful. Options were limited, but the combined efforts of the splendid Year 7 tutors envisaged a project which referenced the 525 anniversary, and the school’s embedded commitment to help others.

Coronakindness 525 encouraged the year group to complete 525 acts of kindness for those around them. The boys were continually reminded about social distancing, and there was no requirement to raise money or seek publicity or thanks. The project was a huge success and over a period of five weeks, the boys exceeded the target by far. There were some impressive fund raising efforts, including a static cycle from Lands End to John o’ Groats, and a virtual climb of Mount Everest via the hall stairs.”

Once lockdown restrictions were lifted and we were allowed out, Sophie Hainsworth’s (Class of 2008) LoyalFree app came into its own and also had significant media coverage.

The app found a new innovative way to encourage people to shop locally whilst also staying safe at the same time. A series of new ‘Home Delivery’ trails appeared on the app, detailing which local businesses can offer their services through online or safe delivery options during a period of social distancing and it was invaluable when ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ was in operation.

As a result, Sophie was appointed by the High Streets Task Force to help communities and local government transform their high streets.

Not surprisingly coverage was given to Harry Gurney (Class of 2005) who last year was named Nottinghamshire’s Sportsman of the Year and was preparing for a stint in the Indian Premier League. Coronavirus scuppered those plans and also those of Stuart Broad who should have been playing for England in Sri Lanka.

Instead the pair re-opened one of their pubs as a takeaway and village shop. A free delivery service was also available for over-70s and NHS workers in the local area. Harry said: “We hope we will allow people to pick up essential goods without having to go to a supermarket. Here we’ve got the essentials and almost enough for people to do their weekly shop. It’s been quite full on, we’re essentially trying to launch a whole new business in a couple of days. People have been great, donating baskets for us to put fruit in and donating furniture for us to stack tins on.”

However, by far the greatest media coverage was achieved by the ‘rainbow socks’ designed by Florence, a pupil at Fairfield, the 11 year old daughter of Victoria and Will Orr (Class of 1987).

Equally clever was the idea of brothers Ian Mercer (Class of 1982) and Simon Mercer (Class of 1985). Ian, a tech expert based in Seattle, had the idea of using Bluetooth signals and credit card sized ‘raspberry pi’ computers to create an inexpensive monitoring and notification system for shops and restaurants called ‘crowd alert’, which detailed how crowded it was inside.

All Ian needed was an imaginative way to display the information so called on little brother Simon, a graphic designer based in London, to do the job for him.

The idea was so successful that it won first prize of $20,000 in a worldwide competition supported by Microsoft.

‘Crowd Alert’ for elephants and rhinos is something that Jason Barry (Class of 1984) would love to have to deal with. Instead he highlighted that due to Covid-19, poaching Elephant and Rhino has increased by over 200%, meaning that in the case of Elephants we are losing one every 15 minutes.

Jason now runs a safari company in Tanzania and is a top wildlife photographer. Do visit his websites www.hdrafrica.com and www.wildafrica. com for stunning photos of these beautiful animals.

These are just a few of the many thousands of alumni that have been, and still are, involved in the Coronavirus crisis in so many different ways across the globe. I hope that I have given an idea of the breadth of involvement and to everyone who has been involved goes our thanks for all you have done.

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LOCAL NEWS Making a Local Splash

By John Weitzel In September 2019, stepping down as Loughburians’ Chair was an easy decision for Richard Bailey (Class of 1996) as four months earlier he had been elected for the first time as the Conservative Councillor for the Loughborough Outwoods Ward on Charnwood Borough Council. There he joined fellow Loughburians Ted Parton (Class of 1990) and Paul Mercer (Class of 1979) who had both been re-elected as Councillors for the Southfields Ward.

Since then all three have made their mark in the Borough.

With Paul as Cabinet Lead Member for Local Housing and Richard as Lead Member for Planning, the future development of the Borough is in for exciting times!

However, it was Ted that captured the headlines after he read a letter from another Loughburian, Nick Hardy (Class of 1980), concerned about the state of Loughborough’s Town Centre. Together with architectural designer, Raffaele Rosso, the three formulated a plan to create an art trail around the Town Centre. This was not to be an ordinary trail but one involving 20 high quality large murals on walls around the Town Centre – suddenly their distinctive logo appeared and the ‘Ladybird Collective’ was born, creating massive community and media interest.

The first mural appeared in Ashby Square and was that of Leicester City footballer Hamza Choudhury. Hamza is a Loughborough boy, scouted from the town as a youngster before progressing through Leicester’s academy system all the way to the first team and England U21 recognition. He was selected because of his significance across the community and hero status for the youngsters of our town. Hamza is the first ever footballer of Bangladeshi heritage to play in the Premier League. But the mural I see most is that of Paula Radcliffe on Pinfold Gate and there are plans to have ‘Johnnie’ Johnson painted in the future.

When Richard, Ted, Paul and Nick were at the School, Politics was not taught as an A level subject. Until Politics first appeared on the syllabus in 1997, the boys’ interest in Politics was restricted to being lucky enough to be at the School when a General Election was called and a mock election was held as a result. The advent of it being an A level subject means that now boys are interested in politics from an earlier age and this was reflected by Bertie Harrison-Rushton (Class of 2016) being elected Councillor for Kegworth on the North West Leicestershire District Council at the age of 21, although the School can take very little credit for that as his father, Councillor Nick Rushton, is Chairman of Leicestershire County Council! Even younger was Kieran Hopewell (Class of 2019) who failed to get elected for Sutton Bonnington.

Being just 18 appealed to voters but having to canvass whilst preparing to do A levels was a challenge! Both did get A*s in their Politics A level.

Having no power but holding the oldest secular office under the crown dating back to 1066 is the position of High Sheriff, who originally was the principal law enforcement officer in the County. Tim Hercock (Class of 1981) was High Sherriff of Leicestershire for 2019/2020 which led me to thinking: how many other alumni have held this position in the past?

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MEMORIES SHARED

Boarding Experiences Many of you kindly answered the call from Amherst to help compile a Commemorative Booklet in acknowledgement of the 170th anniversary of the founding of Our Lady’s Convent School in April 1850. The current public health crisis and subsequent closure of the schools and extra pulls on time and resources has meant that the production of this is delayed indefinitely. While we look forward to seeing this full publication in the future, we couldn’t resist pulling out a few of the stories we have seen contributed to the collection.

The school hasn’t seen any boarders for some decades but as this aspect to school life was reintroduced last year, it seemed apt to focus on a couple of eye-catching accounts from the boarding community of the past.

Being a Boarder

By Catherine Buchanan (Class of 1969) My sister Jacqueline and I joined Our Lady’s Convent School (OLCS) as boarders in January 1960. I was nine years old and Jacqueline was nearly six.

Praying played a big part in our lives. We were woken at 6:15am to ‘Benedicamus Domino’ (Let us bless the Lord) to which we had to respond ‘Deo gratias’ (Thanks be to God).

We had morning Mass on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and prayed the rosary every day after breakfast and before school. The Angelus bell rang three times a day, reminding us to stop and pray, and every lesson seemed to start with a prayer. Sunday was taken up with a great deal of mandatory prayerfulness. The day began with morning Mass in the Convent Chapel, before being given a shilling and frogmarched down to the town for High Mass where we were required to put that shilling in the collection during the offertory. After tea we went to the Convent Chapel for Benediction and then, after supper, we returned for night prayers. Some seasons we had extra religion: Lent meant we prayed the stations of the cross; in May, we had a procession to honour Mary; and in June, we had the Corpus Christi procession. We were often called upon by St Mary’s Church in Loughborough to support their Corpus Christi procession around the town also, rather like ‘rent-a-crowd’. October is the month of the Holy Rosary so we had extra devotions. On 3 February, the feast day of Saint Blaise, we all had our throats blessed.

never completely without clothes. We laid our clothes out in a special way with our socks in the shape of a cross. We bathed once per week and washed our hair once every two weeks.

Our pants, socks and shirts were laundered once per week and we changed one sheet every two weeks, the top sheet moving to the bottom and a clean one put on top. Our jumpers and gym slips were washed at the end of each term. We must have stunk!

It was ‘lights out’ at 9pm, then silence except for praying. Half the dorm would talk and the other half say the rosary loudly.

We quickly learned to recognise which of the nuns was coming by the sound of their rosary beads and this inspired us to increase the volume of our praying!

After the morning Mass, we went upstairs to make our beds, then came down to breakfast which we ate in silence. The idea was for us to be observant and caring towards others. We became remarkably sophisticated in our use of sign language as an alternative to kicking each other under the table or nudging each other. I can still sign ‘pass the salt please’– my sister and I still sometimes converse using it, and it was especially useful when the children were small. The worst item served at mealtimes was the spam. It seemed we were served spam every day, if not at lunch then we knew what to expect for tea! I hated it most when served with mashed potato and

The dormitories in which we slept were divided into cubicles. Each cubical had a washstand and basin.

We collected cold water with a jug at night to use to wash in the morning. There was little heating in the dormitories and on some mornings in winter, we woke to find that our washing water had frozen. I suffered terribly from chilblains on my hands and toes every winter. We were supposed to get dressed and undressed under our dressing gowns so that we were

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cold beetroot, without vinegar. If you were unlucky enough to get the end of the tin, it came with extra fat - it was disgusting.

All food on our plates had to be finished and you stayed in the refectory until you ate it.

During the 1960’s flu pandemic, I caught the flu - most of the boarders were ill but we remained at school. To keep us healthy on Friday nights, the Senior girls all had a dose of Andrews and the Junior girls had a spoonful of ‘Syrup of Figs’ to maintain our healthy bowels, something I’m sure plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables might have helped with!

All our letters were opened, read and then placed on the trolley under the stairs where we could collect them at morning break. We had ‘letter writing’ on Saturdays and the letters we wrote home were ‘censored’.

Swimming lessons were given in an outdoor pool during the summer term. It was excruciatingly cold! Current teachers will be horrified to hear that during these sessions, since I was already a good swimmer, I was more or less left to entertain myself. Responsibility was also given in other ways. Sr Mary Cecily, famous for her choirs and violin playing, also kept budgerigars in the glass cloister. My job was to feed the

birds and check their water daily. On one occasion, the birds escaped, and I spent most of breakfast time trying to catch them. Luckily, I was successful and Sr Mary Cecily never found out. I still cannot see a conservatory without remembering the angst of that event!

I have not kept in contact with any of the boarders. It is difficult to describe to someone who did not share that convent boarding school experience, but during this lockdown I soon recognised the same feeling I had years ago ‘of going back to school’, knowing that life will be different for some time. My time at OLCS might sound grim but I look back on it fondly because there were good times. On Friday evenings, those who played an instrument, like myself, were able to escape for a while and play with the Loughborough Youth Orchestra. I also played hockey, netball and rounders for the school which gave me more opportunities than most to get out into the real world.

With thanks to Will and John Young, sons of Kathleen Veronica Landers, who sent in these beautiful postcards.

Gregory: a tale from the Annals of OLCS

By Angela McDonagh (Class of 1962)

From ghoulies and ghosties And long-leggedy beasties And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us.

If you were a boarder 60 years ago, you will probably remember a particular night when fear gripped the dormitories and there was no familiar ‘lights out’ at 9pm.

St Barbara’s Tower, or was it St Margaret’s….time is taking its toll on my memory of an incident that took place on a particular night when boarders Angela and Susan headed for the dormitories. Up the stairs they climbed, but instead of turning right towards the dormitories, they turned left along the poorly lit landing below St Barbara’s Tower and past the door that led into a small enclosed gallery overlooking the Chapel.

Angela led the way; Susan followed into the pitch black of the classroom. As her fingers fumbled for the light switch, Angela emitted a fearful, terrifying screech that sent Susan fleeing, screaming, sobbing all the way along the corridor past St Barbara’s Tower, past the closed doors of the elderly nuns’ bedrooms and up the stairs to the third floor dormitories.

Angela followed, walking slowly along the corridors, deathly white as she climbed the stairs. Terrified boarders clustered around her and shuddered at her words,

“A misty white figure came towards me”.

A hush descended, then rosary beads clicked as footsteps slowly mounted the stairs and a feisty, elderly Sister appeared.

“What Shakespearean play are you reading in class?” she demanded.

“Macbeth,” Angela replied.

“Macbeth!” she thundered, “Then you should have challenged the ghost in the name of God!” The following day, it was the talk of the school. The events of the previous night were relived and embellished, rumours circulated; the idea of exorcism of the corridor by Father Wilcox held great intrigue but no one could verify the tale.

Jane, who was in our same dormitory, named the ghost “Gregory” and thereafter at ‘lights out’ would give a running dialogue of his various antics before we all fell asleep.

Angela McDonagh (Class of 1962) now lives in Australia and her friend Susan in England. Every 5 to 10 years they catch up and sooner or later the conversation turns to OLCS and the events of that particular night 60 years ago. Incidentally, neither Susan nor Angela have since had the opportunity to challenge a ghost.

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A Journey to the Past

A quick visit to the history section of the Amherst website led to quite a trip down memory lane for Angela Burr this September. Angela contacted us after identifying herself and friends on the photograph that shows a group of OLCS girls, and staff, about to embark on a school trip. As well as sharing the experience with us, Angela contacted her good friend Rosemary to gather memories of their trip.

Angela Burr (née Walker, Class of 1969) It was quite by chance I came across the photo online of the girls and staff at Loughborough Station on our way to Italy, off on our school trip during Easter 1964. I have absolutely no recollection of the photo being taken, but the camera never lies and there I am ready for our big adventure. My dear, life-long friend Rosemary is on the photo and she too was delighted to see this wonderful memory of our experience all those years ago. I am quite certain all my other holidays were taken in this country and the prospect of adventuring to Italy was a great experience for us. Life was very different in the 60’s. There were no mobile phones and at Easter 1964, The Beatles were Number 1 with ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’. However, I was off to Italy with school friends, made more exciting as Rosemary was on the trip also.

My sister worked in Rome (she was 17 years older than me). She had a secretarial job at the Food and

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Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and it had been agreed with the school I could meet up with her. We did and it was very special.

1964 is a long time ago, but I can still remember things such as the long train journey and the very bumpy ferry trip from Dover. I don’t think there were the weather warnings then that we have nowadays, the ferry was not enjoyable and many passengers were sick. The toilets left a lot to be desired as vomit flowed freely! However, we survived and then undertook the long train journey to Italy. I cannot clearly remember where we went to first, but I think it was Venice. What I do remember is we had to wear our school uniform a lot of the time, but on the beach at Stresa we were allowed to wear our casual clothes!

I can remember meal times were quiet as conversation was not high on the agenda. I can also remember sitting having an evening meal with one of the nuns. One of the girls passed a piece of cheese from her plate over to her friend at the same

table but it dropped in the water jug on its journey. The nun fished it out and promptly put it back on the plate from which it set off! No words were spoken and we just carried on eating in stony silence.

In Venice, whilst out walking with girls and a member of staff, we were followed by a lot of good-looking Italian boys who were trying to talk to us but, as the boys got more interested, we had to speed up our walking pace to get back to our accommodation, the member of staff determined to spoil the fun! When we did reach there, the boys carried on chatting and serenading us on the pavement whilst we leaned out of our bedroom window, only to be abruptly interrupted by a nun coming into our room with a large bucket of cold water and throwing it out the window onto the poor boys below! It certainly was a big adventure for me but they say absence makes the heart grow fonder and Rosemary and I were desperate to see our parents again as we had really missed them.

The photo online certainly brought back happy memories.

Rosemary Sharpe (née Haywood, Class of 1970) It was April 1964 and I sat with a group of girls, plus nuns and teachers, on Loughborough station waiting for the train that was taking us on the start of our trip to Italy. We were going to Venice, Rome and Stresa.

Our parents were there to wave us off and as it was the first time I had been on holiday without them - I was very excited.

When we eventually arrived at Dover we boarded the ship to take us over to Calais. It was a very rough crossing

and the majority of girls were quite ill, me included. The ladies cloakroom was in a terrible mess. I remember we went across the Alps on the train.

When we arrived in Venice we were taken to a Convent were we stayed for a few days. I remember a few boys serenading us from the pavement and a nun pouring a bucket of water over them which we thought was funny.

I also remember seeing the nuns, without their wimples on, having a glass of wine. The other thing I remember is buying a very large doll for my sister and having to carry it through all of the three places we were visiting. We then went on to

Rome. What a beautiful place! We did a lot of sightseeing. The most memorable thing was seeing the Pope giving his Easter Blessing to the World. St Peters Square was so crowded we could hardly move.

The next stop was Stresa. The only thing I recall about being there is the beach and going into the sea.

We were then on our way home.

We were so excited at the thought of seeing our parents, who we had missed so much. We then arrived at Loughborough Station, our parents were so pleased to see us. My little sister loved her doll.

Time for another journey?

Loughborough Grammar School Town Trail Try out the Town Trail, created by John Weitzel, LGS Archivist, celebrating the rich history of the School in terms of landmarks and locations in Loughborough. Visit https://bit.ly/2JfgxjN or use the QR code to head straight to the specially created App. The booklet makes interesting reading in itself even if you aren’t local enough to experience it ‘live’.

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Holiday Joy Do you remember on the last day of term singing the words CAUSA NOSTRAE LAETITIAE (Cause of our joy)? The Music Department are working on a recording of this hymn which we hope to make available to you all via the OLCS Group on Loughburians Live. Head to www.loughburians.com to hear it very soon.

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other of all that is pure and glad, M all that is bright and blest, As we have taken our toil to thee, so we will take our rest.

Take thou and bless our holiday, O causa nostrae laetitiae!

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irs that are soft, and a cloudless A sky, we would owe all to thee Speak to thy Son as thou did of old, that feast day in Galilee.

Tell him our needs in thine own sweet way, O causa nostrae laetitiae!

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e with us Mother, from morn till B eve, thou and thy blessed Son; Keep us from all that is grief to you, till the weeks and the months are run Thine be we still, from day to day, O causa nostrae laetitiae!

The Holiday Hymn Written by a Sister of Notre Dame pre 1892

4. S mile upon all that is dear to us, smile on our school and home, Smile on the days we are passing now, smile on the years to come, Brighten our work and gladden our play, O causa nostrae laetitiae.

From New Hymns by the Sisters of Notre Dame, Cary and Co, London, circa 1892 Sheet music is available from www.GodSongs.net Version 1.0 July 2019

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eep us in all that is blest of God, K give us the joys that endure, Lips that have smiles and words for all, hearts that are kind and pure; so will thou be by night and day, O causa nostrae laetitiae!

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ome when earth’s tears and smiles C are o’er, mother of peace and love; Show to us He who is joy to earth, and joy to the hosts above; So shall we laugh in the latter day, O causa nostrae laetitiae!