Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
MGS First XI were hosting the MCC today so we decided to combine watching the cricket with a tour of the school. The cricket was fascinating, not at all men against boys. When we left for lunch MGS had got 5 wickets. The first one was taken by one of Freddie Flintoff's sons (two of his sons were playing). We also learned that on the football team for MGS is the son of a certain Wayne Rooney. Sporting riches! On our tour with Simon Jones, Development Director we saw MGS's owl symbol everywhere, here on the front fence. But it was on every boy's blazer as of old (ie the Sixties when I was there). Simon was hugely enthusiastic about the school and its ethos as I am myself. And, as the largest public independent day school in the country, it continues to thrive - in lots of areas apart from just the academic (where of course it excels). It was interesting to see that much was the same and much had changed for the better. However it is still disappointing that out of roughly 1400 pupils around 230 are there by virtue of the Bursary Scheme. The Scheme needs to be much bigger ie with a much bigger endowment. One of the things that was new was the existence on site of a large and very successful Junior School. This is housed in what I would call homely wooden buildings. Indeed everywhere there was a seeming mish-mash of buildings, some not of the highest standard. Just that morning the cricket pavilion (where we otherwise might have sat) had been closed due to falling masonry. The fabric of the school as it is seems disjointed. Julie Wright from the Development Office had arranged everything for us and indeed took us to lunch in the canteen (fried hake which was a bit of a surprise). The canteen had not changed except that now it has to cater for an incredible number of dietary requirements because of the very multi-ethnic composition of the pupil body. We also met Rachel Kneale, the school's archivist who had looked out my hand-written entry to the school. It was interesting to see the varied occupations of the parents of my classmates in the Sixties, ranging from Swiss Consul to 'stripper' (cotton of course!). We didn't have time to explore the museum she has created although we will do so in future. Later that evening we went to another concert at the Halle. The programme included Sibelius Karelia Suite Beethoven Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano Andrea Tarrodi Paradisfåglar II (Birds of Paradise) Sibelius Symphony No.7 "Undoubtedly one of the season’s highlights: this concert features the hugely anticipated Hallé debut of Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Completing a dream team of artists to perform Beethoven’s ‘Triple’ Concerto, Benjamin Grosvenor is no stranger to Hallé audiences, together with virtuosic violinist, Hyeyoon Park. Dalia Stasevska, Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, also makes her debut with the Hallé, framing the concert with music by Sibelius; the youthful Karelia Suite and the Seventh Symphony, his taut final word of symphonic mastery. The works of Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi have been described by BBC Music Magazine as having ‘a powerful emotional core’ as in her Paradisfåglar, ‘inspired by BBC Planet Earth films about the strange and beautiful birds of paradise, their many different colours, the way they fly, sound and sing’." My only disappointment was that Nicola Benedetti was due to play the violin part in the Concerto, but was ill. The last-minute replacement Hyeyoon Park was amazing though. A brilliant concert yet again (with a big audience - expecting Benedetti!). The days are getting more summery now and the following day's walk to Waddington was no exception.
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August 2023
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