Os Weekend

OS Weekend 2024

This year we held a very special OS weekend. It was our last before the School turns 500 and just as one likes to retain one’s youth until that inescapable moment when the big day arrives, we wanted to sign off in a meaningful way that did justice to the School and its people before the dawn of a new age.

One important aspect was the memorial service for Ned Campbell, former Housemaster, Deputy Headmaster, and English teacher who was an icon of Sedbergh. Much loved now, as he was then, people returned to attend his memorial service and to support his wife, Maz Campbell, and her family. It was a very moving service, and in the context of the 499th year, highlighted how very important the staff of Sedbergh have been in the history and progression of the School throughout the ages. The service was recorded and can be found here:

At the OS dinner that evening we welcomed our special guests from our Schools in China and Vietnam, along with Will Carling and his wife Lisa, and Trevor and Janet Kidd who had joined us to witness the enrolment of Heather Hardy as a Benefactor on the Sunday.

Dan Harrison, Headmaster, spoke well and with confidence. The message was simple. We are strong and we are prepared. The School had done much to alleviate the burden of VAT on parents and as a result numbers are amongst the highest ever.

We were fortunate to have Archie Glover (P 18-23) return to Sedbergh. Archie was a music scholar who left Sedbergh a year ago and is now reading music at Trinity College Cambridge. He entertained us with a virtuoso performance of the Khachaturian Toccata, a very dramatic piece that was played with great gusto and feeling. Thank you Archie, it was quite spectacular.

Towards the end of the evening Will Carling (W 79-84) took the stage and gave an outstanding speech. I have written about this separately but it was a fitting tribute to Sedbergh, to the 499 years, to the staff who have laboured over the centuries, to the parents who have made such sacrifices, and to the Sedberghians who hold the School in such high affection.

The only fly in the ointment was caused by yours truly who, in trying to make sure people didn’t start singing ‘Winder’ before they were meant to (a perennial problem), I told everyone to wait for the customary two bars before bursting into song. Turns out, as chance would have it, that no one knew what two bars were (honestly, what kind of School raised them!) and so no one sang at all. I had to shout to the Organ Meister, Archie Glover, to stop while I berated the audience, much to the amusement of the catering staff who thought all this extremely funny. Well ha, ha, and all that. I am glad to report that our second attempt was much better and the 499th year was serenaded in true Sedbergh style.

As always, thank you to the School for allowing us to use their facilities, and to all the staff, premises and catering, who helped to make us feel so welcome. It was, as always, a brilliant weekend.

Jan van der Velde