Maidstone Grammar School for Girls Non sibi sed omnibus
Development Trust Office Newsletter July 2017
Sound the trumpets - bring on the sunshine!! We have a stunning refurbished Quad! Through the generosity of the Oldham Trust, we excavated, we dug out, we filled in, we constructed, we planted and now we are watering, mowing and ENJOYING this wonderful space! When I say “we” - in fact the heavy work was done by local company “Landscape Services” and the watering is now being done by a fabulous team of year 7 volunteers—my “Quad Squad”! The Parents’ Association generously donated funds for some benches and the site team headed by Chris Bull are constructing a few more rustically styled ones over the summer break. But it is the Development Trust’s baby and WE are so proud of it! Our students are already making the most of the sunshine during their break times. We want our whole school community to make use of it and enjoy it, the PFA, staff, alumni all are welcome to benefit from the new heart of the school.
a tradition of excellence Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 0SF
T: 01622 752103
F: 01622 681947
E: central @mggs.org
www.mggs.org
The Newsletter Did you know you can go about your normal everyday life and raise money for MGGS without even realising it? Every time you shop on line; every time you think about switching your utility bills or insurances; every time you book a holiday; every time you book cinema tickets (am I describing “normal everyday life� to you?) if you have registered with Easyfundraising the shops / businesses / companies sign up to donate a percentage of your spend to charity. It may not look like a huge sum individually but every penny and pound adds up. We are at the beginning of our Easyfundraising journey with 48 supporters signed up at the time of writing this Newsletter. I do hope that this figure will jump up rapidly before I send out the next newsletter. Here is the link:-
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/invite/WZQ3TE/P90TGY/ Give it a click now and, without even blinking, if you sign up via this link, you will automatically raise 50p for MGGS! It is the easiest piece of fund raising you will ever do AND if you sign up for email reminders from them, they actually let you know when certain shops and outlets have special offers running which you may otherwise not know about! Can you tell how excited the Development Trust is about this? We can hardly get our words out fast enough - capital letters, exclamation marks and over-long sentences abound.
a tradition of excellence Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 0SF
T: 01622 752103
F: 01622 681947
E: central @mggs.org
www.mggs.org
The Newsletter We waved a fond farewell to our old white school minibus…..BUT we have replaced it with a fabulous new one - this time in our school blue colour! Thank you to all who donated to the minibus fund.
—————————————————————————————————————————— Raising funds through Easyfundraising, fabulous donations from several alumni including a very generous gift from Marion Weller (class of ‘65) and support from the ALWAYS fantastic PFA, we gave our beautiful Steinway piano what can best be described as a “Spa Day”! We are so lucky to have such an incredible instrument in our school. It dates from 1894 (so just a few years younger than MGGS itself) and is still in wonderful voice. The original ivory keys are a joy to have your fingers dance across. It is now strengthened (for moving it around) with a steel AFrame and can be tucked up when not in use with a cosy but durable cover embroidered with our MGGS initials. I would love to hear your earliest memories of the piano - do you know when did MGGS acquired it? It was definitely brought from our old school site when we moved in 1938. Was it a gift from a generous benefactor? It was definitely here in the early 1950’s - this photo sent in by Barbara Dykes (class of ‘52) shows it on the school stage. Anyhow, it is now feeling bright and sparkly and we look forward to our students, staff and hall users making beautiful music at it!
Before Spa
After Spa….!!!!!
a tradition of excellence Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 0SF
T: 01622 752103
F: 01622 681947
E: central @mggs.org
www.mggs.org
The Newsletter When one of our departments puts out a cry for help…. my first action is to turn to you - MGGS’ supportive alumni and see if you can come to our aid. This happened when the Learning Resources Coordinator (known as the Librarian in the Old Days!!!) Caroline Hewett wanted to see through a project to get some Self Help books into the library. She called it “Shelf Help” and the DTO was delighted to do their bit towards it. By the time you, our alumni, had sent donations and Caroline herself had done some fund raising with our students, over 50 titles were available and a nice cosy, welcoming bean bag area awaited our students.
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We are going to a reprint! By the time you read this, we will have sold (or be just about to sell) our 1,000th copy of Mary Smith’s “A Schoolgirl’s War”. The Development Trust Office are busy taking orders, packing up and posting off copies of the book which, after the print of the second edition, will proudly wear an ISBN! Mary herself is hugely busy touring around Kent giving talks to history societies, WI groups, schools, Probus groups, to name but a few and her books fly out of her hands like hot cakes! If you would like a copy, you can order one by clicking here A Schoolgirl’s War Over the summer we will be refurbishing the small hall with the proceeds so far from the sale of the books. Stripping out the existing floor, screeding it and relaying new carpet; replacing the roller blinds; replacing the lights with LED fittings and a repaint - lots of jobs on the “To Do” list of our hard-working site team!
a tradition of excellence Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 0SF
T: 01622 752103
F: 01622 681947
E: central @mggs.org
www.mggs.org
The Newsletter Hello and welcome back The Development Trust Office has made contact with and welcomed back so many former students. We are organising 10 and 25 year reunions each March from now on (last year was our first of those). In March 2018 we will welcome leavers from 1993 and 2008. We will be announcing the date once we are back in the Autumn. Here are a few photos of those occasions…..
And we have had contact from so many alumni from all over the world…...PLEASE stay in touch….send us your amazing stories and photos……the one on the left from Barbara Dykes now living in Australia is of the school prefects from 1952 - are you in that photo? Let me know! The second one in faded colour is from Jane Brooks and Rachel Burren (class of ‘75). Jane made the Centenary celebration cake back in 1988 for us. The third photo is of the 5th form at MGGS in 1934! Miss Elsworth is the teacher and she married another teacher in Ashford. There was a teacher from Germany (which was thought quite shocking at the time)! We were sent the photo by the niece of Betty Haines (nee Smith). Betty who was very short and had a very tall friend called Gladis Monk (sadly killed in WW2) - the French Mistress called them “The long and short of it”. Our archives are full of school records going back to the inception of the school - let me know if you want me to dig anything out for you. Maybe a contribution to DTO funds and I can send you copies of any records of your time here at MGGS?
a tradition of excellence Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 0SF
T: 01622 752103
F: 01622 681947
E: central @mggs.org
www.mggs.org
The Newsletter We celebrate our super soprano… Katie Bird has been following a wonderful career in music since she left MGGS. We caught up with her just before she sang at Leeds Castle this summer. When were you at MGGS? Are you still in touch with any classmates? I attended MGGS from 1993-2000. Being leavers in the year 2000 was rather exciting! I am still in touch with friends from MGGS, we do not get to see each other very often, but when we do meet up it’s like no time has gone by. Was music your favourite subject at school? Actually no! I loved Theatre Studies. Mrs Combes was a wonderful teacher and I have a lot of fabulous memories, creating stories in that dark drama studio. I loved acting and desperately wanted to be an actress but Mrs Combes advised me to not waste the voice I had been given and that singing and acting are intrinsically linked. I actually struggled in my music lessons as I was quite behind on theory but knew if I wanted to go to a music conservatoire to study voice, I needed a good GCSE and A Level. So, I worked my socks off! Do you have any funny stories or a particular memory that stands out from your time here? One of my favourite memories was when we were performing The Mystery Plays. I had to sing right at the top of some scaffolding built around the balcony in the hall. It was a song with very long verses and I had struggled to memorise it all. Whilst I was singing, a male and female student were wandering around in their skin coloured underwear pretending to be Adam and Eve (very controversial in our time). I was stood above them singing and then suddenly forgot all the words AND the melody, so I just made it all up! I came back down into the Drama Studio mortified, I saw Mrs Combes and she raised her eyebrows, all I could say was, “come on Miss, ten out of ten for improvisation” her retort; “Katie Bird! Learn your words!! Can you do some name dropping for us? Who have you come across in your career as a professional singer? I have been really lucky to work with some of the most influential and talented classical musicians. Unless you are a fan of that genre you probably won’t have heard of them, but that’s one of the things I love about my industry, people are famous in their field for talent, craft and hard work, no one is famous for being on a reality television programme. I have been lucky enough to work with, Sir Thomas Allen, Malcolm Martineau, Edward Gardner, Dame Felicity Palmer, Giselle Allen, Keith Warner, Oliver Mears, Christopher Alden, Nicholas Chalmers, to name but a few of the people whom I have learnt from. My two favourite people to see in an audience when I was singing were Patrick Stewart; and I once sang in the Ivy Club when Anthony Daniels (who played C-3PO in Star Wars) was having dinner. My Dad and I are massive Star Wars fans so I couldn’t wait to ring and tell him. continued on next page…...
a tradition of excellence Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 0SF
T: 01622 752103
F: 01622 681947
E: central @mggs.org
www.mggs.org
The Newsletter Katie Bird….
…..and now!
Then …...
Who is your favourite composer? Definitely Puccini, he speaks to the heart and tells real stories about real people. Do you like current pop music? Are you a Harry Styles or Little Mix fan!!?? I have to admit, because my job involves copious amounts of listening to music, I often just switch on the radio. BBC 2 is my favourite as it is so eclectic, one minute Emilie Sande, the next, Queen. I also really love 90s Hip Hop! If you could invite 5 people for dinner who would they be and what would you eat; would you be the chef? Freddie Mercury, Meryl Streep, Judy Dench, Maria Callas and Puccini. A mixed bunch, but an abundance of genius. I definitely would not be cooking, I wouldn’t want to miss out on any of the conversation. We would have a seafood starter, fillet steak & chips then sticky toffee pudding & icecream. What are your forthcoming plans and engagements? Most of my upcoming work is with Opera North. I am singing Nedda in Pagliacci and am the understudy for Madame Butterfly, I have covered this role twice for English National Opera so am now really looking forward to singing it in Italian. [And we have just had confirmed that Katie will be here to adjudicate House Arts in October 2017] Equally comfortable on the concert platform, Katie is a keen recitalist and Samling Foundation Scholar, her recent oratorio and concert engagements include; Verdi Requiem (Highgate Choral Society and Lakeland Opera); Brahms Requiem (Scottish Opera Orchestra); Mendelssohn Hymn of Praise and Psalm 42; Dvorak Te Deum; Fauré Requiem; Mozart Coronation Mass; Beethoven Symphony 9; Poulenc Gloria; Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music; Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle; Stravinsky Mass and Bartok Three Village Scenes (all with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins and broadcast on BBC Radio 3). Were you at school with Katie? Are you in the photo above? I would love to hear your news. We are like your proud parents at MGGS and want to boast about all the amazing things you have done since leaving us.
a tradition of excellence Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 0SF
T: 01622 752103
F: 01622 681947
E: central @mggs.org
www.mggs.org
The Newsletter
a tradition of excellence Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 0SF
T: 01622 752103
F: 01622 681947
E: central @mggs.org
www.mggs.org
The Standing Order Form Development Trust Fund – MGGS (charity number 1141948) Standing Order Mandate Bank name
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Bank address
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Please pay
MGGS Development Trust Fund HSBC PLC, 1-5 Week Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1QW
Sort code Account no Reference
40-31-06 32495813 MGGS DTF
The sum of
£ ______________
Starting on
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then: monthly/quarterly/annually for __________ years OR until further notice
Account no
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Sort code
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Signed
Account name
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Gift Aid Declaration By signing below:- MGGS can claim an additional 25p for each £1 you donate at no extra cost to you, provided that you pay income tax at least equal to the tax reclaimed. I am a UK taxpayer and understand that if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations in that tax year it is my responsibility to pay any difference. If your circumstances change, you must notify MGGS. Signed
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Date
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a tradition of excellence Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 0SF
T: 01622 752103 F: 01622 681947
E: central @mggs.org
www.mggs.org