Beyond King’s

It is our final week of term before King’s breaks up for Easter and our former pupil this week is Georgina Grant (K 96-07). At King’s, Georgina’s interests included D of E and the Himalayan Club. After A-Levels Georgina took a Gap Year, and then went on to study Ancient History and Archaeology at Newcastle University. Following graduation, she briefly worked with the National Trust, before returning to university to complete a Masters in Museum Studies.

Georgina now works for the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, a World Heritage Site with 10 museums and 36 monuments. She started as a Curatorial Officer, working her way up to Senior Curator. She currently looks after a diverse collection that ranges from costume to steam engines and paintings, as well as delivering exhibitions and talks, and frequently appears on both local and national television and radio programmes as the ‘expert’ historian.

This week we are eagerly anticipating our exciting Himalayan Event to fundraise for Open the Door to King’s Bursaries and the Himalayan Trust UK. The school Himalayan Club played a big part in many OVs’ school days including this week’s former pupil, Richard Milne (K 88-97). Richard was a King’s scholar and, at school he excelled in public speaking, French and Maths and he also played football for the school.

Richard went to study English and French Law at King’s College, London before completing his Masters in Law at Université Panthéon Sorbonne. Richard has worked for the Financial Times for 16 years, in various locations around the world from London and Paris to Frankfurt and he is now based in Oslo where he is Nordic and Baltic Bureau Chief. Richard covers business, politics and economics in all eight Nordic and Baltic countries for the Financial Times, and in 2015 he won business and finance journalist of the year at the Press Awards for his coverage of Volkswagen.  Richard maintains at interest in football and has recently helped to set up a new football club in Oslo where he is one of the trainers and sits on the board for Forward Fotball.

This week, pupils have been at the Oxbridge Conference. Many pupils go on to study at Oxford and Cambridge, including this week’s former pupil, David Frape (Ca 44-47). Whilst boarding at King’s David was a house and school monitor and he played for the First XV. Following King’s, David received a scholarship to study Agriculture at Reading University before completing a post-graduate diploma in Agricultural Science at the University of Cambridge; a PhD in Animal Physiology at the University of Iowa followed, and then came a post-doctoral fellowship on goitre.

David is a mammalian patho-physiologist and has had a fascinating career with roles including being the instigator of international registration of nutritionists, Head of Animal Nutrition at Spillers Ltd, Research Director on the Board of CANTAB Group Ltd and Chief Scientist of Clinical Science International Ltd; as a consultant physiologist he also advises on metabolic diseases and has been expert witness in several court cases. David has written many scientific papers and books, having published papers on experiments on a dozen species of mammal, including the white rhinoceros and the giant panda. In 1998 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists. David is now a volunteer Managing Editor of World Agriculture and, at the age of ninety, he is currently writing a book on diet, disease and health.

Preparations for the 2019 OV Annual Reunion Weekend are well underway and our former pupil this week is Sally (née Ogden) Themans (Co 84-86), who is the current OV Club President. As a pupil, Sally took part in drama, theatre and orchestra, and after King’s Sally went to Lancaster University to study Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods.

Sally has two main roles, the first of which is championing local small and medium-sized businesses, particularly new start-ups and High Street retailers, with her company Good2Great. She also founded Love Bridgnorth, promoting the local community and helping Bridgnorth to win Best Great British High Street – Large Market Town in 2016. She is part of the government’s Future High Streets Fund, advising at both the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and at regional level.

Sally is also a published writer with articles published in Shropshire Business Magazine, Country and Border Life and she has been editor of What’s What! magazine since 2008. For over twenty years Sally has also been a Magistrate and Justice of the Peace, specialising in Youth Matters.

We are fortunate to have an amazing careers department at King’s which helps pupils explore their options and prepare for life after King’s. This week’s former pupil is Alex Sumner (Cl 00-05) who showcases how there can be many different paths to finding your dream job. At King’s, Alex really enjoyed DT as well as athletics and rowing.

After King’s Alex went to sixth form college to study A Levels and, instead of going to university, started up his own car-valeting business whilst also managing a local pub. A passion for business and finance led him to pursue a career in the financial services industry.

At nineteen, Alex started working for a regional stockbroking firm and he worked his way up the ladder, studying and qualifying as he went along to become a stockbroker. Alex then went into discretionary investment management and last year began an exciting new role at Blackfinch Investments, setting up a range of portfolios targeted at the Financial Adviser market, which have raised an encouraging level of assets to date.

We are back after the half-term break and eagerly looking forward to the Dylan Lloyd Art Exhibition coming to King’s in a couple of weeks. Our Former Pupil this week is Dorcas George-Jones (Co 87-89) who spent lots of time in the art department studying Art and Ceramics (alongside English Literature) at A-Level.

After King’s, Dorcas went to Sheffield Hallam University to study Urban Land Economics. Following graduation she moved to London and joined Savills, where she stayed for many years, becoming Marketing Director. Following a move to the country, Dorcas is now the Project Design Manager for Castellum Cotswolds Ltd, a company that specialises in high end residential main contracting and property development.

King’s is very excited about the Six Nations at the moment, as is our former pupil this week, Richard Tomlinson (Cl 83-90). Richard was captain of the First XV as well as the First XI while at King’s. He carried on playing rugby at Loughborough University where he studied PE and Sports Science before completing a postgraduate course at Sheffield Hallam in Property Valuation and Management.

Richard began a career in surveying, qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor. However, in 1996 Richard had an immediate career change when Rugby Union became a professional sport (he had previously played for Rugby Lions and Nottingham RFC) and went to Worcester RFC (now known as Worcester Warriors) to became a professional player. Unfortunately, due to injury Richard took early retirement from rugby in 2000 and reverted to chartered surveying, becoming a partner at Humberts. Richard was then a founding member of Halls Midlands in 2008, which merged with Fisher German in 2016 where Richard is now an equity partner specialising in commercial property and development sites. Richard is also a King’s parent with three children at the school.

There is a real buzz in the drama department this term with lots of fantastic performances and shows being rehearsed and performed. Our former pupil this week is Rebecca Garrod-Waters (Co 91-93) who enjoyed drama at school and was involved in a number of school plays. Rebecca went on to study genetics at Swansea University, after being inspired by Mr Allum, and followed this with postgraduate study in bioprocessing at UCL and research into gene tagging at Bristol University.

Rebecca has an exciting career which has taken her out of the laboratory and into government and business. Her previous roles have included Assistant Director in the Department of Trade and Industry (now BEIS) and Director of Innovation at Advantage West Midlands. Rebecca is now CEO of the Ufi Charitable Trust, a grant funder that supports the development and use of novel tech for vocational learning – from motion sensor tech to help you to learn about molecular interactions, through to gaming to support numeracy.

Planning projects and team building are vital business skills that pupils develop while at King’s and our former pupil this week, Andrew Nunney (K 78-85), uses these every day in his career in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods industry. While at King’s, Andrew took part in drama and LAMDA, and was on the school rugby, swimming and quiz teams.

On leaving school Andrew studied economics at the University of Southampton. In an exciting and varied career covering all aspects of marketing, he has held senior business roles in the oil industry with ConocoPhillips, and in the food and drinks industries with United Biscuits, Coca-Cola European Partner and in beers, wines and spirits with BRLHardy, Constellation and Cobra Beer before becoming Category Director of Accolade Wines in 2017. His time at King’s has stood him in good stead, giving him the confidence to develop market changing strategies, launch new brands and present to audiences across the UK and Europe while bumping into many OVs along the way.