1646 - Issue 1

Tom Foskett-Barnes (2011) wrote the music for a documentary short, Black Sheep , which was nominated for an Academy Award. On Christmas Eve 2018, Jonathan Lucas Wood (2011) sang live on BBC 1 for Midnight Mass, including some solos. Edward Reeve (2013) organised the Cambridge Brahms Festival for the third year in a row and will be conducting two performances of Puccini’s opera Suor Angelica with his own orchestra, Empyrean Ensemble. Lewis Ward (2013) signed a two-year contract with Reading FC. Alex Gass (2014) coxed the Northeastern University Boat Club First Varsity VIII to victory over Boston University in the Arlett Cup in April. Thank you Josh Lamming (2014) for coming to speak to our senior linguists about studying languages at university and about his time in France and Bolivia. The pupils really enjoyed meeting Josh and had plenty of questions for him. Congratulations to Mike Leigh (2014) on completing a 21-day endurance cycle from Plymouth to Rome! Mike and his team were raising money for CALM – Campaign Against Living Miserably – who do fantastic work in helping young men deal with mental health issues. They promote the breaking down of social barriers surrounding men talking about their feelings and working through any mental health issues they might be facing. Martin Andersson (2015) has been awarded his first professional contract with Middlesex Cricket. Martin has signed a two-year contract and is currently on loan to Derbyshire. Aisling Humphries-Griffiths (2015) coxed her Oxford Brookes University crew to victory against Newcastle Uni in the final of the Academic Eights 8+ at Henley Women’s Regatta. Sam Vaughan (2015) took part in the RideLondon 100-mile sportive for Epilepsy Action and helped raise £500 for the charity. Jack Brandis (2016) hosted the RBC DT group when they visited Copenhagen in 2018. Jack is currently attending design college KEA and showed the students around the campus, as well as a project he is working on. Congratulations to Old Blue Abby Dow (2016) on her selection into the England Women Elite Player Squad for 2019 Rugby Six Nations. Abbey also competed in the Six Nations competition for the Red Roses team, scoring a try against Wales. Fran Williams (2016) played for the England netball team during their 52-49 win over Australia in January 2019. Peter Cook (2017) was part of the Reading Athletic Club’s U20 team who won gold at the South of England Cross Country Championships. The team also included a current RBC student. Great to have Old Blue Honor James (2017) in to speak with our current Sixth Form about her use of the David Pearson Memorial Travel Fund, on a five-week project in Costa Rica with Raleigh International. Honor is now attending Southampton University, studying Environmental Science. Old Blues Sam Lawton-Davies (2017) , Alex Scott (2014) , Jon Weston-Stanley (2012) and Sam Jones (2013) took part in an England Rugby Touch National competition in August. Current students Christian Scott and Tom Lawton-Davies also took part. Mark Morgan (2017) took part in an MMA fight to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Despite his loss, Mark raised £492 for the charity. Five Old Blues – James Hastings , Loic Pohl , Ed Martin , James Still and Ewan Morgan (2018) – cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for the Alexander Jansons Fund, reached their destination, and raising more than £2600 – at least £2000 more than their original target of £500! Abi Shaw (2018) was awarded her Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Correction: In the article ‘Mozart Revisited’ ( Old Blues News Issue No. 67), it was incorrectly stated that Robin Willow ‘set the remaining seven stanzas of the poem to music.’ According to Robin: ‘I re-wrote the whole lyric and created an original work. I then composed original music for my new lyric… My Gran Obra is recognised as an original work by PRS [Performing Right Society]’. 2 5