Bishops officially opened its doors to six pupils on 16th March 1849. Founders Day takes place annually as close to this date as possible. This year, it was on March 11. While the School Campus had been turned into a fairground to mark the occasion, a slightly more formal function - a lunch - was held by the UK Branch in the Carlton Club in London.We were disappointed that the Head Master of Harrow, Alastair Land, who was to be our guest speaker had to drop our on Friday morning because of Covid. We nevertheless went ahead with 32 ODs, most proudly sporting their OD ties, ranging from the Class of 1952 to the Class of 2016, a spread in age of some sixty-four years between the oldest and youngest.
Lunch was preceded by drinks and we were most grateful to Adrian Kritzinger (F, 2006) for the very generous supply of delicious Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel which is guaranteed to get any event off to a good start.
Then lunch; after saying the School Prayer (see bottom of post) and reading out a letter of good wishes from the ODU President, David Carter, your secretary, Nicky Bicket (F, 1973) singled out three guests for a special welcome:
Giorgina King (2006) runs the UK branch of the Old St Cyprian's society; Katie Hofman (nee Hutchins, G, 1981) who is one of a handful of lady ODs and who, I'm told refer to themselves as ODettes. And lastly Jeffrey Frost (F, 1952) our most senior OD present.
In the absence of our speaker, your secretary spoke briefly about the similarity between Harrow and Bishops — both made possible by a woman (Elizabeth I in the case of Harrow and Baroness Burdett-Coutts who provided the funds for Bishops) — and the fact that while we were disappointed that Alastair Land couldn't be with us, a Founders Day without the main attraction was not without precedent: Bishop Robert Gray, our Founder, missed Bishops opening Day as he was on a trip to St Helena. The duty of opening the School fell to his wife Sophie.
Despite our main guest being absent, the lunch was a great success and the range of years meant many new (and old) stories were shared and enjoyed.
Happy 173rd birthday, Bishops, and many more.
Apologies for the quality of the pictures which were taken using the camera on a mobile phone.
The guest list is at the end of the post where houses and years are attributed.
Please click on the photos to enlarge
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Chris Leach, Adrian Kritzinger, Mike Leach and Jonathan Frost (back left: Hamish Sinclair)
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| Richard Bottger, Greg Baldwin, Waine Lawrton and Caelim Parkes |
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| Brad Eaton, Simon Reader and Owen Meredith |
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| Adrian Kritzinger, Brendan Raubenheimer, Nicky Greig, Chris and Michael Leach and Jonathan Frost |
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| Jeffrey Frost and Georgina King |
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| Wendy and Nick Heesom and Katie Hofman |
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| Georgina King and Peter Arthur |
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| Caelim Parkes, Owen Meredith, Bard Eaton, Simon Reader, Brendan Kirkpatrick, Tim Loughton and Jeffrey Frost |
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| Mark Charnock, Nick Heesom, Peter Arthur, Jeffrey Frost and Hamish Sinclair |
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| Jonathan Frost, Mike Leach and Waine Lawton |
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| Brendan Raubenheimer, Giorgina King, Adrian Kritzinger, Nick Koster, Chris Leach, Katie Hofman and Belinda Sinclair |
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| Jonathan Frost, Mike Leach, Waine Lawton, Nicky Greig and Nick Stirton |
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| Owen Meredith, Simon Reader, Brad Eaton and Tim Loughton |
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| Katie Hofman, Belinda Sinclair, Caelim Parkes, Owen Meredith and Brad Eaton |
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| Brad Eaton, Tim Loughton, Brendan Kirkpatrick, Liz Lawton, Mark Charnock and Nick Heesom |
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| Greg Baldwin, Caelim Parkes, Brendan Kirkpatrick and Simon Reader |
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| Jonathan Frost and Owen Meredith |
