Alumni in the News

Jarrod Nelson, Class of 2016

Jarrod has been with High Focus Records since December and released an EP called Cocoa Butter, alongside a limited run of scarves, which have caught a fair amount of attention. Since signing, the scale of shows has increased dramatically, with performances at recent venues including the Steel Yard and Fabric. His next project, Off the Grid will be released in June on High Focus records. He says, “My development as an artist is evident on this next project, as I have pushed so many more boundaries, so keep an eye out for that one.”

Nadia Eskandari, Class of 2016

Nadia is the violist for, Vulva Voce, an all-female genre-defying string quartet that brings exciting, dynamic performances of music composed by women and underrepresented voices to spaces and venues beyond the concert hall. Their mission is to break away from long-held conventions of classical music and the string quartet, presenting audiences with radical and refreshing musical experiences. They are all classically trained, but with interests in folk, jazz, improvisation, contemporary classical, and experimental music-making, their performances are a unique delve into female composers from across centuries.

David Picksley, Class of 1951

David, aged 90, was the oldest competitor in this year’s London Marathon, becoming the first to record a master’s marathon record in the British male 90+ category. He finished the race in an impressive time of 7:16:46.

Thabo Witter, Class of 2022

Thabo represents Great Britain U19s Lions squad in American Football. He has been playing American Football since he was 12 years old and recently competed in the IFAF European Championships against Italy in Milan. Another Trinity alumnus representing his country.

Jack Broadfoot, Class of 2000

Jack is taking part in the Superhero Triathlon at Dorney Lake, Windsor on 12 August for Southampton Hospitals Charity to raise money for the Wessex Spinal Unit. Jack was involved in a cycling accident last year in Greece; he broke his neck, damaged his spinal cord, and was immediately paralysed from the neck down. When he arrived at University Hospital Southampton (UHS), the spinal doctors feared that he would never walk or live independently again. His recovery against the odds owes much to the incredible care he received on the Neuro ICU and at the F4 Spinal Ward / Wessex Spinal Unit.

Kira Chathli, Class of 2017

Kira has been named as one of the players for the Oval Invincibles in The Hundred starting on 1 August.

Joe Pepper, Class of 2010

Joe was diagnosed with choroideremia when he was ten years old. The degenerative disease causes progressive sight loss and mainly affects men. Sadly, as his condition worsened, he became socially reclusive and had to give up his beloved sports. But, thanks to a pioneering gene therapy technique, not only can Joe now see better than before, but he coaches pupils in cricket, football, and rugby at the school where he teaches history. He is now lobbying the government to ensure more people suffering sight loss can benefit from the life-changing treatment he has received.

Laurence Watchorn, Class of 2017

Laurence has been a fantastic artist in residence this year. He has turned the Shaw Gallery into a dynamic and exciting studio space, with his work spanning the entirety of the floor. The scale and ambition of his work have been impressive to see, and it is clear why he is becoming so successful.

The Trinity community were invited to a private exhibition of his work in the Shaw Gallery before it transferred to a gallery in central London.

Alex Codling, Class of 1992

Newcastle Falcons has appointed Alex Codling as head coach this summer. Alex spent the 2022-23 season at French club Oyonnax, helping them win the Pro D2 regular season by 24 points in their pursuit of a place in the top flight. His previous coaching roles have included forwards coach at Harlequins, head coach at Ealing Trailfinders and assistant coach to the English national team for their 2021 June internationals.

Reuben Moonasar, Class of 2016

Dead Air formed in 2020 after uni friends Lyle & Rich finally decided to write their own music. The cake was missing the candles however and following a brief record shop encounter, two became three when the musical hurricane Reuben joined to complete the trio.

Dead Air moves beyond traditional hard music, exploring not only their love of a good riff but also a tight groove & anthemic melody. If you like to bang that head, but also belt out a chorus, then you are in good hands with Dead Air and what the band jokingly describes as their “Rock & Rock” genre.

The band are about to go back into the studio to record four singles. There will be visual assets released alongside each track.

They performed their biggest headline gig to date at ‘Off the Cuff’ in Herne Hill, earlier this month and went down a storm.

Kathy Rogers, Class of 2017

Kathy and current Upper Sixth student Lucy Bullock represented Great Britain at the Women’s Water Polo World Cup 2023 in Berlin.

After finishing her studies at Trinity and playing in the only girls’ team to win bronze at the National Finals, Kathy won a full sports scholarship to the University of Michigan in 2017. Michigan have one of the top water polo teams in the USA and Kathy majored in Public Health with a minor in Food & Nutrition. She is now a dual Masters student, studying Epidemiology and Global Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Manchester, respectively.

On top of this, Kathy plays professional water polo for Larissa in Greece, and captains the Great Britain women’s water polo team.

Vishvapani Blomfield, Class of 1983

If you listen to Today on Radio 4, you may well recognise the voice of Vishvapani, one of their regular contributors on Thought for the Day. Vishvapani is a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order. He is a writer and mindfulness teacher based in Cardiff, where he lives with his wife and son. Vishvapani’s work explores how time-honoured Buddhist practices such as mindfulness and meditation can be accessible forces for social change in the modern world.

Mark Sheldon Lloyd, Class of 1991

Mark is an experienced plastic surgeon, specialising in ear reconstruction and skin procedures, as well as a property investor and all-round entrepreneur. He recently launched his own podcast “The Mark Sheldon Lloyd Show” and describes it as the perfect channel to get valuable advice and insight into property investment, cars, business, and more.

Tim Garrard, Class of 1998

It was wonderful to see Tim, Director of Music at Westminster School, conducting The King’s Scholars as they proclaimed the new King and his Queen Consort in the traditional Vivats exclamation at the Coronation earlier this year.

Tim Walls, Class of 1984

Tim ran the London Marathon in April, raising money for the Spinal Injuries Association and Cancer Research and hoping to break 4hrs. He said, “I have run two, officially I am retired from marathons, but just in case, I have entered the ballot for next year. Nearly anything is achievable, if you aim high, you will achieve something.”

Josh Leigh, Class of 2016

Since graduating from the Tonmeister degree at the University of Surrey, Josh has been working for a company called Plus4 Audio, which provide the audio for TV and reality TV shows, as well as various awards shows. Most recently, he has worked on Strictly Come Dancing, BAFTA TV awards and The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan.

Whilst working, he has been gigging as much as possible around a very busy sound engineer schedule. However, he’s not been able to gig as much as he’d like and has recently handed in his notice to pursue musicianship full time.

Josh says, “It is still very early days as I’m currently in that transition to making myself a full-time freelance musician, it is a very exciting and terrifying time!” Watch this space... Josh is performing at the Edinburgh Fringe this August.