On Sunday 8 June around a hundred former students and staff gathered at the School for our very first Alumni Reunion, many bringing their families with them. They were also joined by present staff and current and former governors, including Zamira Menuhin Benthall, Lord Menuhin's daughter, making a total of around 170.
Returning alumni spanned the entire 50 years of the School, from Jonathan Rutherford who joined the School in 1963 when it opened in London to Chloe Stowers-Veitch who left in 2013.
The afternoon began with tea and cake in and around the Menuhin Hall, followed by a talk on the ways in which the School has changed over the last half century from Director of Music Malcolm Singer and an outline of the School's plans for the future from Headmaster Dr Richard Hillier.
Alumni were then given a guided tour of the School (though most knew exactly where they wanted to go!) before a concert of chamber music in the Hall by current pupils, then drinks and a buffet supper on the lawns outside Music House.
The planned rounders was rather hijacked and instead became an unscheduled football match, but no one was worried: the sun shone, the wine flowed and Jean Labourg and his catering team did us proud.
Many thanks to everyone who helped make it such a success - not least Vanessa Casey, Sally Williams and Daisy Fannin in the Development Department and especially Alumni Officer Elaine Hillier who organised the day and has spent the last four years tirelessly tracking down those alumni with whom we had lost touch.
Many thanks to all who came - as well as to all those who sent their good wishes but were otherwise engaged. We shall certainly not wait for 50 years until we do it again!
09 Jun 2014
Adam (former governor) and Annabel Ridley - Angela Stockbridge
Adam (former governor) and Annabel Ridley - Angela Stockbridge
Margaret Norris and Jacoba Vyse (Gale) - Angela Stockbridge
Margaret Norris and Jacoba Vyse (Gale) - Angela Stockbridge
HunOuk Park Tetsuumi Nagata Agata Darashkaite Melanie di Cristino - Angela Stockbridge
HunOuk Park Tetsuumi Nagata Agata Darashkaite Melanie di Cristino - Angela Stockbridge
Melvyn Tan and Marcel Baudet - Angela Stockbridge
Melvyn Tan and Marcel Baudet - Angela Stockbridge
Malcolm Singer with Colin Carr - Angela Stockbridge
Malcolm Singer with Colin Carr - Angela Stockbridge
Diana Foster-Kemp, Nicolas Chisholm, Zamira Menuhin Benthall - Angela Stockbridge
Diana Foster-Kemp, Nicolas Chisholm, Zamira Menuhin Benthall - Angela Stockbridge
Richard & Elaine Hillier, R Gibbs, R Phillips, H-C & M-F Hsin - Angela Stockbridge
Richard & Elaine Hillier, R Gibbs, R Phillips, H-C & M-F Hsin - Angela Stockbridge
Jonathan and Audrey Rutherford - Angela Stockbridge
Jonathan and Audrey Rutherford - Angela Stockbridge
Tasmin Little and Kenneth Fox (Bradshaw) - Angela Stockbridge
Tasmin Little and Kenneth Fox (Bradshaw) - Angela Stockbridge