Royal Visit
Yesterday, Merchant Taylors’ welcomed HRH The Duke of Gloucester officially to open the new Design Centre. It was a wonderful occasion, continuing the great tradition of royal visits, which saw Edward, Prince of Wales opening the Science Block when Taylors’ was in Charterhouse Square in 1926 and George, Duke of York, later King George VI, laying the foundation stone of the present School at Sandy Lodge on St Barnabas Day, Thursday June 11, 1931. The future King was, on that joyous occasion, accompanied by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who happily returned to the school to open the Music Block in 1975.
After lunch in the OMT War Memorial Clubhouse, the Head Master Simon Everson escorted the Duke through the Inner Quad, where six Houses of the school had assembled. The CCF Band, conducted superbly by Upper Sixth Former Rafi Kelion, played a fanfare as the boys awaited the Duke’s arrival. The Duke then inspected a CCF Guard of Honour outside the Design Centre, before being shown around the new facility. He saw the boys hard at work in a joyous atmosphere as they engaged in a range of activities and was presented with a gift by Fourth Former Harry Clark. As he formally opened the building, the Duke spoke eloquently of its importance as a symbol of the coming together of education and technology in our world today. Independent schools must both transmit the educational values that they have cherished since the first Elizabethan Age and prepare the boys for the technologies of the future that have transformed the world during the Second Elizabethan Age.
The Duke, accompanied by his Private Secretary Lieutenant Col Alistair Todd and PPO Marc Hutley, was introduced to distinguished members of the Court of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, under the current Master, Peregrine Massey: Chair of Governors Christopher Hare; former Head, Stephen Wright under whose leadership the project was envisioned and planned; the President of the Old Merchant Taylors’ Society, Baron Stirrup; the Chair of Governors at St John’s Prep School and senior member of the Court of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, Johny Armstrong; Governor Deepak Haria; and Governor and Chair of the Old Merchant Taylors’ Society, Richard Brooman. We also welcomed local luminaries: the Deputy Lieutenant, Josephine Connell, the Chairman of Hertfordshire County Council, Cllr Frances Button, the Chairman’s Consort Ted Button, OMT, the Chairman of Three Rivers District Council Cllr Eric Bishop, the Chairman’s Consort Vivien Bishop, Director of Community and Environmental Services at Three Rivers DC Geoff Muggeridge, Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Simon Megicks and Robert Voss CBE DL from the Lord Lieutenant’s Office. MTS was also delighted to welcome trustees from the Geoffrey Cox Charitable Trust whose magnificent donation played so signal a part in the realisation of the final facility: Trustees Michael Boyle, Ian Ferres, John Wosner, William Underwood, and Denzil Underwood all attended; our most sincere thanks go to them all.
We are most grateful to the Duke of Gloucester for giving so generously of his time. It was a most enjoyable afternoon for all concerned; the boys were superb ambassadors, welcoming their royal guest with courtesy and good humour and at the heart of it all was the indefatigable Mr Evans-Evans, whose organisational brilliance was the crucial factor in making the event such a happy one. OMTs still recall with great pleasure the visit of the Queen Mother in 1975. This was another such day. Not a single boy in the school will forget it and this shared memory will unite the boys, as Merchant Taylors, for the rest of their lives.
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