David has told me many times that this event is his most favourite of all those he attends in his capacity as President. He’s told me many times that he is genuinely moved and inspired by the sense of camaraderie and kinship that exists between the students and staff, and between the students themselves. Just as many times I’ve told him that he’s a sentimental fool, and today I was given the opportunity to acknowledge that he’s absolutely right!
I arrived shortly after lunch had been served on the Home Ground – a splendid looking bar-b-cue served to parents, friends and students as they watched the OBA Cricket 1st XI play against the College 1st XI. I suspect that the College side may have found the Old Brightonians a little easier to tame than Richie Richardson’s Lashings World XI just two days earlier. Nevertheless I arrived to witness Joey Appleton (D. 1979-84) spanking some poor soul’s offerings to all quarters of the ground!
At 1.45pm sharp we were despatched to Chapel – leavers ushered into pews according to house and alphabet, parents to various vantage points about the place. Staff skulked off behind pillars to eat their sandwiches in peace and have a quiet snooze...
Following a short address by Headmaster Richard Cairns, each and every leaver filed down to the altar to receive a certificate from the Headmaster of the Prep School, Brian Melia (don’t call it the Junior School! Apparently!). Each soon-to-be-ex-student approached the beaming Melia to the soundtrack of their respective Housemaster or Housemistress telling us all exactly what they thought of the poor sod. Some of these missives were genuinely hilarious, some were simply genuine – all were thoughtful and delivered with good humour and affection.
A few words followed from the still beaming Head of the Junior School (oops, I just said it), and then I did my best David Gold impersonation in welcoming the leavers to life as Old Brightonians. It’s too early to say, but I think I convinced most of them to stay in touch with the Association… only time will tell…
I can certainly assure the membership that this is a fine collection of young people – a credit to themselves as well as to their parents and of course Brighton College. Not even England’s departure from the World Cup at the hands of devious and slippery types could dampen this crowd’s good humour and bon-homie. I know that you will all enjoy their company and friendship immensely in the years to come, and we hope it’s not too long before we'll be publishing tales of their future exploits in these very pages.
The 2006 Brighton College leavers:
ALDRICH
Edward Allen
Robert Ashley
Mac Bexon
Michael Brady
Stefan Froud
Nicholas Greenfield
Matthew Hamilton-Allen
Charles Higson
Thomas Hird
Michael Hudson
Will Johnson
Daniel Smith
Liam Street
Chris Taylor-Hood
CHICHESTER
Hannah Evans
Valeriya Generalova
Ameerah Gidado
Arabella Harris
Ciara Heath
Hannah Jennings
Haram Lee
Stephanie Mansell
Emma Nicholson
Charlotte Palmer
Fenella Ryan
Amber Sinclair
Emily Thomas
Emily Turton
Lingjia Wang
Rachel Willmott
DURNFORD
Edward Allison-Wright
David Bott
Claude Cox
Tom Hayward
Miles King
Alasdair Lampon-Monk
Jose Mirza
Thomas Strickland
FENWICK
Kirsty Amiss
Eleanor Armitage
Emma Champion
Sonia Chan
Julia Eroshkina
Nicki Lam
Emily Luo
Charlie Mecklenburgh-Harris
Shirley Mok
Lucinda Offer
Martha Scrace
Rosie Smith
Nana Totoe
Anna-Marie Wakeling
Rain Wu
HAMPDEN
Patrick Baker
Robert Black
Matthew Breeds
Christopher Canneaux
Richard French
Max Garth
Christopher Gilbert
Ross Gumbrell
Jakub Krusina
Alfred Liu
Peter Marshall
Robert Mence
Benjamin Shaw
Harry Turner
LECONFIELD
Aidan Allanach
Adam Baines-Jump
Oliver Belfitt-Nash
Daniel Feld
Benjamin Hall
Daniel Hanbury
Nicholas Harris
Oliver Holland
Adam Johnson
Oliver Luke
Oliver Merchant
Andrew Morrison
Benedict Robbins
Daniel Sutherland
James Threlfall
Andrew Western
RYLE
Edward Bamford
Samuel Bastone
Rikesh Chotai
Charlie Edge
Peter Edmunds
Sammi Elfituri
Jason Epstein
Sebastian Evans
Nuno Fragoso
James Hacking
Ben Maidment
Roland Singer-Kingsmith
Michael Thomely
SCHOOL
Rupert Baldwin
Alex Bramley
James Byun
Lloyd Cole
Thomas Crowther
Andre Dubois
Alexander Glass
Jamie Goode
Suk-Hoon Han
Edward Harding
Andrew Hardwidge
Nabeel Hijris
Brian Ho
Josh Hudson
Arthur Ling
Jonathan Monk
Ed Murrills
Francis Park
Guy Pooles
Robbie Rugman
WILLIAMS
Hannah Abdullah
Katy Ardagh
Roxanna Bayram
Katie Cheadle
Hattie Chessher
Zhaleh Farhournand
Catherine Gallagher
Phoebe Haines
Ashley Howell
Charlotte Hutchinson
Josie Latham
Katie Little
Anissa Patel
Catherine Pearse
Rebecca Rosenberg
Joleen Shueh
Henrietta Smyth
Becky Spells
Hester Stewart
Sarah Tomlinson
Sarah Trenear-Thomas
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