1646 – Issue 3

2 5 On 18 September 2021 Sam Andrews (2014) presented a TEDx talk on Unconscious bias entitled ‘Are you biased?’. The TEDx event was run by Pearson College London, with the purpose of providing a platform for ‘ideas worth spreading’. Sam spoke about what unconscious biases we have, why they can have a negative effect on society, and how we can overcome them. Josh Berry (2014) celebrated the release of his first book, “Staggering Hubris” – The memoir of Boris Johnson’s most classic Special Advisor: The ’Rona Years, Vol. 1. Josh has based Hubris’ character on personal interactions with Oxford University students whilst studying for his degree in PPE at Oxford University. Will Mansell (2014); George Russell (2016) and Joe Bate (2016) formed a new band together during lockdown called Flammarion. Phoebe Powell (2015) was nominated for Professional Pensions UK Administrator of the Year 2021. Congratulations to professional England netballer Fran Williams (2016) who joined Loughborough Lightning for the 2022 Vitality Netball Superleague season. Huge congratulations to the England Red Roses Rugby Team who secured their third consecutive Women’s Six Nations title last year. On the team was Abigail Dow (2016) who first played for the England squad in 2017. Matthew Smart (2016) was granted his Commission for the Yorkshire Regiment at the Sovereign’s Parade, RMA Sandhurst, on Friday, 9th April 2021 in the presence of General Sir Nicholas Carter, representing the Queen. Jim Trott parent of Old Blues Angus Trott (2018) and Grace Trott (2020) has been awarded the MBE in the New Year’s Honours List for all his work with a Wokingham-based charity, Brass For Africa of which he is the founder and director. The charity works in three countries to bring music lessons and instruments to children and young people. Rohan Bansal (2018) a 4th year student at Newcastle University is part of an A cappella group ‘Tune Army’ who headed to London on 20th March to compete against the best 8 A cappella groups in the country in the ICCA UK Finals. In March 2021, David Coleman (2020) and Will Good (2020) ran 4miles every 4 hours for 48 hours to raise money for the charity Young Minds UK. Congratulations on raising £1,800 for this worthy cause. Blue Coat were delighted to welcome back Tiffene Duggan- Hill (2020) who gave a talk on the Meningitis Research Foundation at an all-school assembly. The following day was a non-uniform day to raise money for the charity when £719.45 was raised. Thank-you so much to Old Blues Anthony Garner (1984); Nick Hutton (2016); James Temple (2016); Andrew Benest (2000); Sam Hunter (2015); Honor James (2017); Danny Crouchman (2005); Huw Edwards (2011) who returned to the School in recent months to give talks to Blue Coat students. Thank you so much for giving up your time. Ida Burrows (2019) an ambitious triathlete and member of the Swedish National Team, shared her story in a blog about her loss of routine, motivation and passion for training during the global pandemic – and how she overcame these obstacles to get back on track. Keep up the good work Ida!