Dear Old Brutonians,

I was honoured to be invited as a guest to the 2022 Old Brutonian Lunch at Apothecaries' Hall, particularly as I was unable to attend last year. The Lunch is a remarkable occasion and gives me the opportunity to chat to OBs that I know, but more importantly also means that I can make the acquaintance of as many other OBs as possible. Our alumni relations have always been a strength of King’s and I now see this first-hand as both my daughters, Anna and Natalie, are now themselves Old Brutonians.

The School was honoured to welcome Fraser Stewart (O87/92)  as guest of honour to last summer’s Prizegiving; our Upper 6^th leavers always enjoy hearing the advice and memories from our OB guests and Fraser’s speech was excellent. Fraser took time to speak to Jay Terry (U6 Lyon) who has now played several cricket matches for Somerset CCC 2nd XI and is looking to secure a professional cricket contract after leaving school. OB sporting success was also achieved this summer by Sophie Hamilton (P14/19) who won gold with the England Women’s’ Hockey team at the Commonwealth Games.

The School also welcomed Charles Noble (P90/95) to Remembrance Sunday as he launched his remarkable book ‘The King’s 56’. Charles joined the school in our short Remembrance Service in the Memorial Hall before the Military Band led the town to the Act of Remembrance at the St Mary’s Church War Memorial. This term the School also organised an informative and challenging Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Question Time for our 6^th Form and on the panel we welcomed back to King’s Raymond Karago (O09/14) and Esther Adenuga (A14/19). Raymond and Esther spoke with passion and self-confidence and it was wonderful to see Esther back at School in person and to speak via video link to Raymond as he builds his career in film in Los Angeles.

Work on The Sir Peter Squire Memorial Pavilion is progressing well, and the refurbished Pavilion and new changing rooms will be ready for the cricket season. This summer term will be a first for King’s cricket as we will have a full fixture list for girls’ cricket. Indeed, we have 60 pupils receiving winter cricket net coaching this term and half of these pupils are girls. Funding for the Pavilion was made possible after the School received an unexpected, but most welcome, six-figure legacy donation from an OB. Legacies could provide a vital source of non-fee income for King’s and we are excited to launch a 1519 Legacy Society to both promote legacies and thank those OBs generous enough to agree to support the School in this way.

Finally, we are looking to hold a large Midsummer Party for 300 guests on June 17th and we would be delighted to welcome as many OBs as possible back to King’s. I am sure the Midsummer Party will be great fun and it is planned to be a celebration of both King’s and the summer, while consigning the pandemic well and truly in the past!