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Past Events:
Martin Asser Talk: "Travels
with my Flak Jacket"
On Friday 6 June, the Friends of St Edward’s welcomed
Martin Asser, until recently a Middle East correspondent
for the BBC and currently their SEO specialist, to a
packed North Wall for his talk entitled “Travels with my
Flak Jacket”. He and his wife, Laila, have two sons at
St. Edward’s School.
Asser’s career with the BBC started in 1995 and he has
spent the past ten years reporting on events in the
Middle East . As an Arab speaker, Asser’s reporting
style was to speak to the people “on the street” and get
on the ground information and perspectives from those
being affected by the news events. He has covered the
major events in the region since 2002 and during his
talk conveyed the terror, humour and sadness of these
events through a combination of describing his personal
experiences and reading of stories he filed at the time.
Asser had the audience laughing about his time at
“hostile environment training” in the leafy environs of
Berkshire , meant to approximate harsh war torn
countries around the world. We felt his fear as he
described his encounter with an angry Iraqi brandishing
a large screw driver buttressed by a hostile crowd in
the aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq . We also felt
his sadness at the Lebanese families displaced during
the conflict with Israel in 2006.
Thanks have to be given to Lower Sixth member, Freddie
Strickland, who dressed in full chemical suit and flak
jacket to show us what protective clothing has to be
worn in a war zone.
There were some excellent questions from the audience,
particularly from the students in attendance, and
overall the audience felt privileged to hear about first
hand reporting from a region that is so much in the
news.
All proceeds from the event are being given
to the Oxford Ramallah Friendship Association, a
non-sectarian voluntary organisation building grassroots
links between groups and individuals in Oxford in the UK
and Ramallah in Palestine promoting understanding and
friendship. The evening raised £1,456.57.
Jane Owen Talk ‘The Erotic
Garden’ – Friday 19 March (Spring Term 2010)
The Friends of St Edwards were delighted to welcome back
Jane Owen, writer, editor, broadcaster and co-chair of
the Chelsea Flower Show design forum to the Martyrs
Pavilion for an entertaining and informative
presentation on ‘The Erotic Garden’.
The audience
spent a most enjoyable and amusing evening as the
curious story of British sensuality expressed in
landscaping, gardens and plants was revealed.
The
Martyrs Pavilion proved to be an excellent venue and the
Friends were delighted that so many past parents and
garden enthusiasts from the wider Oxfordshire community
were able to support the evening and give so generously
to the charity ‘Aspire’ which provides support for the
homeless by providing sustainable employment
opportunities.
Jane will be at the 2010 Chelsea
Flower Show with a rainforest garden she will build with
the help of indigenous African women to raise awareness
about threats from hunting, logging and mining to their
way of life and to the rainforest. You can read more
about it on her website:
http://www.janeowen.co.uk
Bands’ Concert – Sunday 28th
February (Spring Term 2010)
On Sunday
evening the New Hall was transformed. Audience seating
was offered at candlelit round tables and refreshments
were available throughout the evening. Concert Bands
performed from the main ‘theatre’ stage while Big Bands
and Jazz ensembles played from either side. One of the
performers (Ele Lighter UVI) even sang her soft-focus
jazz from the lighting gallery giving her angelic voice
an appropriate lofty location. The heavenly theme
continued with some mellifluous harp playing from
Rosalie Warner (UVI) positioned at the centre of the
audience area. St Edward’s was delighted to welcome the
Concert Band and Big Band of the Dragon School under the
direction of David Smith. The evening opened with a
rousing rendition of the ‘Star Wars’ music played by
both schools’ Concert Bands under the direction of Rob
Hughes who masterminded the evening with his usual
flair. The audience was treated to excellent playing
from both schools’ Big Bands and some brilliant
virtuosity form a variety of St Edward’s Jazz Bands. The
evening closed with the Modern Jazz Ensemble giving an
intense performance of the Starsky and Hutch theme music
which provided opportunities for the three Concert Band
Leaders to display their improvisatory skills in this
high-powered group (Aidan Irwin-Singer –saxophone;
Carlos Posada – guitar and George Creed – trombone: all
members of the UVI). As the final item progressed guests
joined in and we were treated to awesome improvisations
by the Dragon’s David Smith on alto sax and St Edward’s
Gary Howarth on trumpet.
This magnificent evening of
entertainment also raised over £350 for the Haiti
Earthquake Appeal.
The Andrew Mitchell Talk
– 15th October 2009 (Autumn Term 2009)
On the 15th October we were treated to a tour de force
by one of the world’s experts on tropical forests and
climate change. Andrew Mitchell, the founder and
director of the Global Canopy Programme based in Oxford
spoke on “Forests, Food & Fire – Rainforest Politics and
Natural Capital”. The North Wall proved the perfect
venue and we had a full house of parents and 6th Form
students.
He spoke of the immense challenge to
curb deforestation around the world. Few of us realised
that deforestation is driven by our lifestyles and the
food we eat. Forests are cleared to send products to
Europe for cheap food, cosmetics, soaps and countless
other products. What came as a surprise was that the
smoke produced from burning trees when they are cleared
accounts for almost twenty percent of all the greenhouse
gasses causing global warming, more than the world’s
entire transport sector.
Andrew started his talk
in the canopies of giant rainforest trees which he
explored using fabulous photography and video clips. We
learned about the extraordinary biodiversity of the
forests and many of the endangered species that live in
this unknown habitat.
Andrew took us through the
tortuous political process currently under way
attempting to get agreement among 200 countries engaged
in the United Nations negotiations leading to what he
called “the most important meeting in human history” at
Copenhagen this December. I’m sure we have all been
reading about it in our daily newspapers.
His
humorous and engaging style turned what might have been
a very depressing story into a message of hope peppered
with hilarious stories. A great favourite was the one of
Andrew driving around Panama City with his pet
three-toed sloth clinging to his neck!
The
evening was a great success, entertaining and
informative. An added bonus to the evening was to be
greeted by two large orangutans with collection buckets
in the foyer after the event! Did anyone ever guess who
were in the suits I wonder? The evening raised over
£1,200 which has been donated to the Orangutan
Foundation who were delighted and very grateful.
The 2009 Leaver’s Art Exhibition. (Autumn Term
2009)
On 12th September, the Friends of
St Edwards were delighted to support the Private View of
the 2009 Leavers Art Exhibition held in the North Wall
Gallery. The Exhibition featured a wide variety of
media, including ceramics, painting, printmaking and
sculpture. A limited edition copy of ‘Grace’s Print `
was also for sale with all proceeds being donated to a
charity chosen by the Hadman family to reflect the
interests that were close to Grace’s heart.
The
evening brought together families and friends of many
OSE’s, and members of the wider Oxford community. Their
appreciation of the captivating artwork was seen in the
brisk sales, which enabled the Leavers to contribute a
portion of their sales to Grace’s charity, as well as to
help fund Gap-year projects.
This was an exciting
event and could not have taken place without the
painstaking guidance and inspiration of Victoria Rees,
herself an accomplished artist, who offered her time and
expertise throughout. Thanks to Victoria’s direction,
several Leavers also gained valuable work experience as
they assisted in the whole process of setting up,
marketing, hanging and closing the Exhibition at the end
of the week.
The Friends hope that this may
become an annual event celebrating the outstanding
achievements of St. Edwards Art Students.
Stained Glass & Cloisters: The Buildings of St Edward’s
(Summer term 2009)
Despite the miserable
weather, more than 50 people packed into the Old Library
for an entertaining and informative talk by the Warden
and Nicola Hunter, Head of Art History.
The
Warden set the scene with some historical background,
from the founding of the school by Rev. Thomas
Chamberlain in 1863 to the establishment on the present
site of the second biggest quad in Oxford (after Christ
Church, Chamberlain’s college) and on to recent and
future building developments at the School.
Nicola Hunter’s whirlwind tour of ‘Simeon’s Dream’, the
transformation of 5 acres of turnip field in Summertown
(described by Algernon Simeon, the first Warden, as a
‘dirty, miserable little village’) into the magnificent
Gothic Revival quad we know today, was packed with
fascinating facts, figures and delicious anecdotes – and
a procession of illustrious Victorians, from Pugin and
Ruskin to Keble and the Tractarians.
Unfortunately the wet evening meant that an amble round
the Quad was not possible – but all agreed that they
would now view the old buildings through new eyes.
Call My Wine Bluff
(Spring term 2009)
On Saturday 28
February over 170 parents, staff, OSE and other friends
of St Edward’s took part in the 3rd Call My Wine Bluff,
organized by the Friends of St Edward’s and hosted by
the Oxford Wine Company.
The evening began with a
reception in the North Wall, where guests enjoyed an
exhibition of work by the Oxford Printmakers
Co-operative. They then moved across to the Dining Hall,
where 17 tables were arranged for teams of 8 to 10
enthusiastic tasters. Wines were sampled as the erudite
and highly entertaining panel of experts, Ted Sandbach,
Julian White and Robin Shuckburgh of the Oxford Wine
Company, amused and confused their audience with tall
tales about the wines on offer.
Delicious food
was produced at intervals by the wonderfully efficient
Sue Axford and her Catering Team.
It proved to be
an unexpectedly competitive but thoroughly enjoyable
evening, with the captain of the victorious team being
awarded a bottle of champagne – which he ceremoniously
uncorked with the flourish of a sabre, to roars of
applause.
The event, including raffle, raised a
total of £1,508.40 for the children’s charity Malawi
Dream.
Highland Fling (Autumn term 2008)
Friday
28 November saw the Hall transformed into a Scottish
baronial ballroom, complete with tartan swags,
candelabra, and damask-covered tables offering a feast
that would have brought joy to Robbie Burns’s heart…
Over a hundred dancers – pupils, staff, families and
friends – packed the dance-floor and danced the night
away, some more expertly than others, to the strains of
The Invercauld Band. From kilted experts to tentative
beginners, from tireless younger siblings to game
grandparents, this was an evening for everyone, and one
of the most sociable and enjoyable events of the
Friends’ calendar.
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