Where did November go?

Well from a personal point of view I'm glad to see the back of November, which has been full of family illnesses, but we did round off the month with a great Robert Powell evening in the new theatre.

Robert and Liza Goddard, assisted by friends on piano and flute, presented Silver Screen, a brief history of the movies.  From silent films to Spielberg, lots of great quotations and extracts provided ample opportunities for a wide range of voices, amongst which Michael Caine was outstanding.

Robert reminisced, too, about his previous appearances on the MGS stage, including his King Lear, when he starred with Michael Wood's Cordelia.

Our evening ended with a gala supper in the Refectory, and produced more than £1,000 towards the Drama Centre Fund.  thank you, Robert and friends.

We're open!

We had a fantastic opening night of our new theatre last night, when we hosted a concert given on behalf of Life for a Life Memorial Forests, one of our partner charities, to help launch a campaign to install in Manchester a bronze statue of Chopin, presented by the Republic of Poland as a gesture of friendship to a city known for its hospitality.

It was great to see the new theatre work so well - there is plenty of hospitality space in surrounding studios for the audience at the interval, and the new seats really are comfortable.  The new stage accommodated just a wonderful pianist and soprano in the first half, but after the interval we loaded it with members of two military bands and a corps of drummers.  The acoustics were excellent, and a good time was had by all.

I've been asked by many people when 'the opening' of the new facilities is to take place.  The truth is that we are having a number of openings.  Next Tuesday, a panel of distinguished Old Mancs will conduct a Question Time event with a capacity audience comprising those of the hundreds of our donors who have been able to accept our invitation to attend to accept our thanks for their help.

On 27 November we have a performance by Robert Powell, Liza Goddard and friends which will be our first visiting professional production.  Details at http://www.mgs.org/.  Our first big student show will take place next year, when we hope that Sir Nicholas Hytner, Director of the National Theatre and Chairman of the campaign which raised the funds for the drama centre, will be able to attend.  Happy days!

New theatre opens

It's half-term, and the fiinal preparations are well underway for the MGS theatre opening next month.  As you can see below, most of the action at the moment is on and above the stage, particularly involving the installation of the stage curtain system.  If you know the theatre, you may think from this image that little has changed.  However, the thrust stage is now a permanent, but flexible structure, and the front panels can be removed to reveal a full-height orchestra pit, ideal for our modern tradition of musical theatre.  Most radically, we now have a fly-tower above the stage which will allow scenery to be lifted in and out at speed, hopefully signalling the end of tedious scene changes.

'And what of the seats?' I hear the sufferers of old cry. Well, as promised in the fundraising literature, they are now all individually upholstered seats, erasing the memory of the wooden benches we used to have.

And you will notice that the rake of the seating is much steeper.  As well as improving sightlines within the theatre, this has allowed us to build a new foyer at the back of the theatre, further enhancing the audience experience.

Just below the ceiling you can see one of the walkways installed to make the technical servicing of the theatre comprehensive and safe.  From here, light and sound can be controlled by a pupil TechCrew to the full satisfaction of H&S regulators.

We have private shows taking place on November 4 and November 9, and we have tickets available for 'The Silver Screen' on November 27, when Old Mancunian Robert Powell will bring Liza Goddard and musicians to entertain us in the space where he first learned his craft.  Tickets from the Development Office at school.

Ten Ten Ten

Dinner at The Wizard at Alderley Edge on Saturday to celebrate an amazing event and some amazing people.  Old Mancunian writer Alan Garner published his first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, 50 years ago on 10 October 1960, making 10/10/10 its 50th birthday. Remarkably, it has never been out of print.  Assisted by the wonderful voices of his fellow OM friend, Robert Powell, Alan explained the genesis of the novel, let us in on the secret of the excrutiating first-version opening, and revealed that he is currently working on a (very unusual, naturally) novel to complete the trilogy started back in the 1950s.

For more details, see http://www.weirdstone.org.uk/ and http://www.theblackdentrust.org.uk/

An elephant balancing on its trunk

One of the great advantages of working part-time now is the flexibility to arrange a few days away.  So this week my wife and I have managed to escape the rain at home and visit friends living in southern France.  There is a work link, because he is an Old Mancunian, but this wasn't work.  We enjoyed a drive through the Camargue to the coast, seeing lots of horses, few flamingoes and even fewer tourists.  The sky was reliably blue and the beaches were empty.

We admired the house our friends have had built and talked a lot about the work that remains, most of it outside in the sloping garden.  We drank the odd bottle of very good, very local wine and enjoyed the absence of emails and phone calls.  We ambled round Arles, admiring the architecture and sampling some delicious cooking from the kitchen of an internationally renowned chef.

And, yes, we spotted an elephant balancing on its trunk as we emerged from one of the most spectacularly sited underground carparks in the world, immediately outside the Palais des Papes in Avignon.  Our tour round the Palais was excellent, the rooms full of atmosphere and well, not over, explained by commentary and signs.

So, three great days and, no, it wasn't raining when we got back to Liverpool's John Lennon Airport ('Above us only sky') but it was before we got home.

Time to celebrate

After a 4-year fundraising campaign and an 18-month build, we are excitedly awaiting the official handover of our new Drama Centre at the end of this month.

Alongside the rebuilt theatre, two studios have been converted from the previous Masters’ and Prefects’ Common Rooms, and each is ideal for drama teaching within the curriculum and for rehearsals.  Studio 1 (on the site of the former PCR) is equipped with technical gantries which will allow pupils safely to learn the art of theatre lighting and sound, and the studio will be the venue for in-the-round small-scale shows.  The theatre itself also now has technical gantries, but more spectacularly still it has a high fly-tower above the re-worked stage, allowing scenery (and even actors?) to be flown in and out.  We have a full-sized orchestra pit for musicals, the rake of the theatre seating is steeper, and of course the new seats are upholstered and comfortable.  We have made changing rooms out of nearby offices, and the old Tuck Shop has been transformed into a refreshments bar.

We are having a series of opening events, starting with a ‘Thank You’ evening for our donors on 9 November, when a star-studded Old Mancunian panel will feature in an ‘Any Questions’-style evening. Invitations have gone to all who donated to the project.

On Saturday 27 November OM Robert Powell will be bringing some friends to perform a light-hearted history of cinema, Silver Screen. We shall be providing a gala supper to follow the show. Tickets will be on sale from early October via www.mgs.org or the Development Office. Very generously, Robert and his colleagues are donating the proceeds of the evening to our final fundraising push.

MGS has produced great drama over many years, with a host of old boys going on to professional fame as actors, producers and directors.  Countless more have maintained a lifetime interest in the theatre.  I think that we can confidently expect our new Drama Centre to inspire new generations to equal, if not greater, achievements.

Are you the retiring type?

Well this really is an odd day - my last as a full-time employee. Seven years as a pupil at MGS in the 60s, followed by 33 years here as English teacher, Head of Lower School, Surmaster and Development Director end today. Simon Jones takes over as Development Director and I stay on as a part-time Adviser.

My father retired from his semi-skilled manual job as soon as he was able, and hasn't regretted it. I am thinking that semi-retirement will suit me well - I still have MGS things that I am really interested in (and I have almost 10,000 emails in my Inbox, all read but not all acted upon), but a little more 'me' time will not come amiss. There are many things to sort out at home (that's how it is when you are lucky enough to live in a house built in 1620), and there's an extended family to create more time for.

So - are you retired? and how is it? or how do you feel about the prospect if you haven't reached the appropriate age yet?

Do you still get nervous?

One of the great advantages of getting older, it seems to me, is that it's more difficult than it used to be to find situations which are embarrassing. You reach a certain stage in life and people can either take you or leave you. A couple of years ago I travelled to Exeter for a cathedral service taking (as I thought) my suit in a carrier along with my overnight bag. Come the Sunday morning, the carrier revealed a suit jacket but no trousers, and there was no opportunity to do a quick bit of shopping. So I attended that service, and the lunch afterwards, wearing my suit jacket with my travelling jeans. Most people there whom I knew were far too polite to comment. Those who stared got the true story. Not a problem.

This may not be a week for embarrassment, but it is one for nerves, thankfully not mine. Today we are appointing an MGS Archivist, and while I'm not an official interviewer, I am meeting the candidates, and admiring how they control their nerves. They really want this job, and only one can get it. It will be a really important role, shaping a new department to present the school's collection of historical material to pupils and the outside world in an interesting and exciting way. The person appointed will also work with all those who will be looking at the history of the school, and Manchester, in the light of our 500th birthday in 5 years' time.

On Thursday, our senior 6th formers get their A level results (if they haven't already got their IB scores), so they are entitled to be feeling pretty nervous, too. There'll be lots of joy as the results envelopes are opened, but some sadness, too, no doubt. All the indications from the university world are that this is not going to be an easy year if you fall short of your expected grades. So good luck, lads - glad I'm not 18 again.

A taste of summer

It's August and traditionally the silly season in the press. So, let's have an equivalent here on the DevOff blog.

Many weeks ago, Julie sowed some giant sunflower seeds and presented all the DevOff staff with little plants to take away to grow as a bit of a competition. Not that we're a competitive lot - oh no!

Jane, Julie and Simon went for the pot cultivation method. I'm not sure they realised what intensive care they were dedicating themselves to - regular watering and feeding would be essential, even if they had chosen a big enough pot. Being a coarse gardener, I chose a spot in the middle of our field, dug a big hole, filled it with well-rotteded horse manure and planted the little beauty on top. Then I more or less forgot it for weeks.

The first bad news came from Simon, whose darling daughter loved his plant so much that she hugged it, breaking the stem. I don't think sunflowers benefit from having their growing point removed - exit Simon from the competition. I showed him a photograph of my plant around this time and he accused me, on the basis of the background flora, of having sent it to my friends Brian and Joy in Provence for cultivation. But no, it's been in Flintshire all the time.

Next a violent rainstorm took out Julie's pride and joy. It seemed harsh that she who had propagated all the plants should exit the competition, so I gave her a 50% share of mine. Then Jane reported that her plant had 5 flowers on it, although it was only about 3 feet high. She didn't seem impressed when I told her that plants are programmed to flower and produce seed when they realise they are soon going to die.

I didn't bother to water my sunflower, but the heavens did, copiously, throughout July. Now the weather is rather better, and as you can see below, it is capped by one splendid flower at a height exceeding my 8 feet reach. I claim victory for Julie and me!

Who'd be a teacher?

As someone who has spent more time in school adminstration than teaching, I have the greatest admiration for those who carry on doing a good job in the classroom year after year. MGS produces a good number of teachers (and Heads), and I'm glad to see that John Witton (ex-MGS pupil) and son of Allan and Lesley (both ex-MGS teaching staff) is featured in one of the latest advertisements from the TDA, the Training and Development Agency for Schools:


http://www.harriscrystalpalace.org.uk/39/video/video/25/mr-wittons-tda-advert


One of MGS's great teachers of modern times was Ian Leverton, first Head of Russian and subsequently Head of Modern Foreign Languages, who died tragically young. He is said to have taught largely through the language and imagery of football, so the first Russian sentence a 13 year old learned might have been 'That's a thundering shot from outside the box'. One of the many MGS soccer teams he successfully coached, the lads of 1976 to 1983, presented a trophy in his memory this year to be awarded annually to the highest goal scorer of the season, and this was duly awarded by Rodger Alderson to Felix Shalom (U12, 29 goals) in Prizegiving this morning.


The 2009-2010 school year has now officially ended, but the Development Office staff will be in action for most of the summer break. I'm off for 2 weeks in Austria with the 'Old Trekkers' Trek' - a hut-to-hut walking tour at, hopefully, a leisurely pace, but will be around again from the end of the month.

Do you know how hedge funds work?

Well you certainly would if you had been able to attend this year's Hugh Oldham Memorial Lecture at MGS on Monday. Old Mancunian Stanley Fink, known from his days at the Man Group rather affectionately as the Godfather of the hedge fund business, gave a highly challenging explanation of the contribution that hedge funds make to the financial markets and the economy.

With analogies including a visit to a horse racing meeting in Hong Kong, he explained the mathematical approach to movements in prices which is adopted by hedge fund traders. He also made clear that the over-simplification of these instruments in the press does little to explain the range of intellectual challenges they pose. His views on regulation are clear: already recent rule-changes have the Swiss authorities rubbing their hands as many firms move from London to Geneva.

Stanley Fink and his wife Barbara are also well known as philanthropists, and he explained the reasons behind their emphasis on educational, health and poverty-reducing charities. If you are lucky enough to make or have money, he said, it's your duty to send the elevator down to bring up as many more deserving people as you can.

The Hugh Oldham lecture follows an afternoon of seminars attended by Sixth Formers from a wide range of Manchester schools. We were fortunate to have a sparkling set of seminar presenters on Monday, many of them also Old Mancunians.

If you would be interested in attending future Hugh Oldham lectures, contact us in the Development Office at MGS to be added to our mailing list.

The most beautiful cathedral?

Does Exeter have the most beautiful cathedral in the land? Many would say so, and my annual visit last Sunday renewed my enthusiam for this wonderful, light-filled building, which is full of interest and architectural beauty.

Members of the South-West Section of the Old Mancunians' Association always meet towards the end of June, close to the birthday of Hugh Oldham, former Bishop of Exeter and Founder of Manchester Grammar School, to honour his memory. The cathedral authorities are very helpful in shaping Mattins around this occasion, and this year Canon Carl Turner gave a really lively sermon inspired by the Adventure theme obvious at the school's website.

We have a special short service after Mattins outside the side-chapel where Bishop Oldham is buried, and we lay a wreath.

Then we retire to the Southgate Hotel for a delicious lunch and brief speeches, this year from me, standing in for the High Master, and from the newly appointed School Captain and Simon Jones, who is taking over as full-time Director of Development. Then a brief AGM and back into the car for the long drive home, this year made miserable by the commentary on England's departure from the World Cup. A pity that, but bearable in the context of another visit to my favourite cathedral.

From Iran to Exeter

Jeff Hume brought a dozen Old Mancs back to Manchester last Friday for a reunion, 40 years on, of the group that was the Iran Expedition of 1970. With some wives and partners, and members of the present Geography Department at MGS, they talked about the serious scientific and logistical challenges they met all those years ago. Travelling to study the land system of the northern Damghan Valley in the Elburz Mountains, they produced a full scientific report, but most importantly, as young adults, they had an amazing set of experiences. The formative nature of these experiences can be seen in the lives they have led since: Jeff himself has worked in petrochemical exploration.

Two of the teachers who made the trip possible were present, too. Philip Boden left MGS to join a university department of education. John Abbott became a headteacher and has written extensively on what we get wrong in educating teenagers - see 'Overschooled but Undereducated'.

It was a great gathering, and one which continued, after a lunch at school and a trip to see how much has changed in central Manchester, with a hotel dinner.

So many good lunches and dinners! This coming weekend I shall again be in Exeter to attend on Sunday morning the cathedral service which recognises the role of our Founder in 1515, Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter. Then to the Southgate Hotel for lunch and the AGM of the South-west section of the Old Mancs Association. We shall have the School Captain and Vice-Captain with us in an attempt slightly to reduce the average age of those attending.

Organising a ****** in a brewery

Thanks to the generosity of the Managing Director of the JW Lees brewery in Manchester, a group of MGS staff enjoyed an evening tour of the brewery this week, with every opportunity to sample the products. This group tour was a donation to the auction organised last year in aid of the Bursary Fund by the senior Sixth Form boys, and it was originally beyond the means of the staff group. However, the first purchaser was unable to organise his group (!) and kindly re-donated the event, at which point the teachers snapped it up. So, in the end, over £1,000 was raised. And a very good time was had by all.

The brewery buildings are listed as historic properties, and we were able to see the difficulty with which modern brewing technology has been introduced - in many cases by holes having to be temporarily knocked in walls. Everything is a tight fit, but the fascinating part is the continued use of traditional materials: Ipswich-malted barley, regionally-sourced hops to create the particular beer flavours, and Lake District water.

Perhaps the most atmospheric part of the buildings is the barrel-filling vault, a damp cellar which, even in the evening, echoes with the sounds of hammering bungs and rolling barrels.

After the tour it was back to the cottage for a delicious buffet supper and further sampling of everything from Moonraker to Strawbeery (yes, really, a summer ale made with strawberries).

And the whole event was most efficiently organised.

A very generous benefactor

News this week, as we returned from half-term, to warm the soul. For the second time, a lady has left a legacy gift of more than a million pounds to our Bursary Fund. The first had no family connection to MGS, so it was extraordinary that, from her home on the Fylde Coast, she chose our charity to support. She had been an early graduate of Manchester University, and saw that our Bursary Appeal, started in 1998, would help bright boys from poor homes to make the best of themselves for their own and society's sake.

This second lady was the widow of an Old Mancunian. I imagine that, before he died and left his estate to her, he asked her in due course to include MGS in her will. This is by no means the first time that this kind of arrangement has been acted out, but the amount is exceptional. I find it very touching that such gifts from women come to this all-boys school in loving memory of their husbands.

This gift will provide at least four additional means-tested bursary places here in perpetuity. Over time, that will be a lot of young men to be grateful to this couple of benefactors of the school. It will also reduce, but sadly not yet to zero, the number of deserving, bright boys we have to turn away each year for lack of bursary funding. For the moment, let's enjoy the positive rather than rue the negative. Thank you, in memory, Mr & Mrs Entwisle.

MGS music on the BBC

Just a quick note to advise you that the latest programme in BBC Radio 3's Discovering Music series, which was recorded in MGS's Memorial Hall on March 17 last term, will be broadcast this Sunday at 5pm. It will, of course, also be on the BBC iplayer. The theme is Schumann’s Song Cycle, Dichterliebe.

For further details, please follow this link to the Discovering Music website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00skbfb

Upper Sixth leavers; yet another reunion

Mixed feelings this week as the Upper Sixth 'left' school - except for their forthcoming exams, that is. Apart from exam days, the next time we will see them will be A level results day in August - and then they will really be Old Mancunians. I must admit to having a particular soft spot for the bursary holders, many of whom I first met with their parents before they were admitted to MGS. It's great to know that their time here has given them every opportunity to be pacesetters in their generation. Here is the Upper Sixth gathered in front of the pavilion, nominally in uniform:

And here they are in their leavers hoodies, resplendent with nicknames for the class of 2010:

On Saturday the northern section of the Oriel Society hired school facilities to hold a lunch, attended by thirty-odd former students of Oriel College, Oxford (including one Old Mancunian and at least one parent of an Old Mancunian). Like MGS, the college is seeking financial support from its members for bursary and building projects. Once again our catering department came up trumps:

Busy reunions and the latest leavers

Last weekend provided the wonderful day of reunions which Julie and Jane, with others, had worked so hard to facilitate. On a bright, clear day which lacked only warm sunshine, 60 former members of MGS Scout Troop 2 lunched in the Paton Library (named after the High Master credited with starting the great MGS tradition of outdoor activities), surrounded by the albums and other memorabilia of their past camps. We no longer have scout troops in the school, but the spirit of adventure lives on in the camps, treks and Duke of Edinburgh activities which keep boys and staff busy most weekends and holidays.


Scarcely was lunch over when further guests started to arrive for afternoon tours prior to the evening reunion dinner organised for Old Mancunians who joined the school prior to 1951. Travelling from as far away as New Zealand and California, more than 200 nostalgia-fuelled OMs toured the school's modern buildings, watched the 1st XI record a resounding cricket victory and enjoyed fine wines and delicious food before being entertained by Stewart Platt's memories, the High Master's remarks and music (including old school songs) from the Close Harmony Group. It became in the end quite a late night for most of us.

We have been delighted by the number of appreciative comments about the reunions reaching the Development Office this week.

So much, for now, for the past. For a couple of days this week the office has resembled a high-class market stall, as the hoodies for the leavers of 2010 have arrived and been sorted for distribution next Wednesday, the Upper Sixth's last day in school prior to exams. This modern leavers' tradition involves a nickname on each student's hoody, with the 2010 spelled out in the names of the whole year-group. A great memento to take on to university and beyond. I wonder whether any of these will re-emerge in years to come as their aged owners make their way back to Fallowfield in their turn for their Reunions?

Philanthropy, visitors and reunions

Can you get richer by giving your wealth away? This was the question put by Andrew Neil to an international panel of speakers in front of a large audience at KPMG's Salisbury Square, London offices on Wednesday. I was there as a guest of Carole Stone to learn more about the psychology of benefactors. And the answer to the question? Well, if you are an individual and you define 'wealth' as 'wellbeing', the answer is 'yes', and if you are a company and you want to be successful, it's no longer optional to support good causes: only those that do, succeed.

An Old Mancunian who heads the international IT corporation Thoughtworks, Roy Singham, visited school today and spoke to our sixth form economics students about his business vision and personal philosophy. Only able to attend MGS for one year in the 60s because of his family's international moves, Roy remembers Ian Bailey as one of his influential teachers. Roy was accompanied by Dan Moore, a fellow OM and one of Thoughtworks' UK programmers. I was impressed by the engagement of Roy's audience, most of whom had been up for most of the night watching the election results come through. Ah, si vieillesse pouvait!

Tomorrow is a big reunions day at school. At lunchtime, former members of Scout Troop 2 and Venturers will meet in the Paton Library. In the afternoon and evening, more than 200 OMs who started their MGS careers before 1951 will assemble to watch the cricket, tour the school and enjoy a fine dinner. This is part of a cycle of 5-yearly gatherings which are greatly enjoyed. Let's hope the Manchester weather is kind to us.

A new Director, and an anniversary portrait

Congratulations to Simon Jones, Old Mancunian (88-95) and MGS staff from 2004 (teaching Geography) who has been appointed as Director of Development from September, taking over from Ian Thorpe, who will continue as a part-time Associate. Simon is relishing the challenges involved in the run-up to our 500th birthday celebrations in 2015. More immediately, there are plans to be made for the opening of our new Drama facilities which are due to be completed during the summer.

I have blogged before about OM writer Alan Garner and The Blackden Trust. Last night a portrait of Alan by Black Country artist Andrew Tift, commissioned by the Grosvenor Museum in Chester, was unveiled. The commission celebrates 5o years of Alan's writing career, and the unveiling took place at the Mansion House in Chester, hosted by the city's Lord Mayor.

Alan is pictured in the room where he has written all his books (indeed in the chair in which he always writes the beginning and the ending of each book), surrounded by a wide range of artefacts which have inspired his work.

This is my bootleg image of a photograph of part of the portrait - the real thing is infinitely better. If you get the chance, do try to see it at the Grosvenor Museum.

London & SE OMA Dinner

Down to London on Wednesday for the annual dinner of the London and south-east-based Old Mancunians. It used to be the case that the venue changed each year for the sake of variety, but this year we were again at the Oxford and Cambridge Club, which has looked after us well in the past. The food and wine are good, and the surroundings, combined with a relatively informal dress code, produce a memorable but relaxing evening, attracting 60-plus guests.

This year's Chairman, Fred Wheeler, introduced his successor, Lee Gabbie, who proposed the toast to our Founder, Hugh Oldham. Then our special guest, actor Robert Powell, gave an extremely amusing account of his life in drama from his days in the second form, later Classical Sixth at MGS, to the present time. Like (Sir) Nicholas Hytner, who spoke at last year's dinner, Robert explained how plays at school allowed him to discover the person he was. For him, as for many, this was in an activity outside the school curriculum, which in those days involved reading plenty of literary texts but not being examined on them. He shares our excitement at the development of facilities for drama at MGS and has kindly offered to present a one-man show in the rebuilt theatre in the autumn. The High Master rounded off the speeches with a brief (yes, really, seven minutes) account of highlights of the last year.

It was good to see the age-spread of the guests - the youngest two or three are still undergraduates at the London universities, the oldest two or three joined MGS in the mid-1930s. All walks of life seemed to be represented: I sat between a retired professor of medicine and a special needs teacher, and opposite an investment banker, a commercial aviation expert and a management consultant.

Back to Manchester to catch up on plans for our big Reunion on 8 May for pupils who joined MGS pre-1950. It's exciting to know that people are coming from as far away as New Zealand and California. Thank goodness the planes are flying again.

Have you made your will?

Does this seem a depressing subject to you? Or just a boring one? It's very difficult to get excited about the world of wills and codicils unless you're a lawyer (or maybe a surprise beneficiary), isn't it? And when you say, 'Yes, I have made a will' only to be trumped with, 'Ah, yes, but is it up-to-date?' that's really not fair. I know that I need to have a look at mine, as it's 15 years since I wrote it, and my children were teenagers then.

Here in the Development Office we think about wills quite a lot. This week we received a surprise legacy gift from the estate of a gentleman who died a couple of years ago. It's worth about £12,000 to us, and is a very welcome addition to our Bursary Fund. In the past ten years we must have benefited from about 75 wills, 2 of them worth over a million pounds each. Clearly the donors believed in the value of giving clever boys a chance, with the support of a great secondary education, and we will look after their money well as we build an endowment fund to last for ever. And the donors' names will live for ever on our honours boards. By using the investment income from the fund we can currently provide about 240 means-tested bursaries - a good number, but not enough to satisfy demand. One day we hope to be able to afford a needs-blind entry system.

So if you are looking at making or revising a will, please consider including MGS as one of the charities you choose. All bequests to charities escape inheritance tax. Click here for further details.

MGS at Blackpool

Well, it wasn't quite a repeat of the WW2 evacuation of the school to the Fylde coast, but we had a great day at Blackpool today to get us in the mood for the summer term which starts tomorrow. Inspired by Assistant Director of Development Simon Jones, who was in action today in spite of a very sore knee, 20-odd sixth-formers and staff ran the Blackpool half-marathon in aid of the MGS Bursary Fund.

They have been raising money by traditional sponsorship and via pages at JustGiving.com (check for The MGS Trust to find their pages). The lads are all motivated to put something back before they leave at the end of this term - they are well aware that either they or their classmates have been able to be at MGS because of the generosity of donors to the Bursary Fund.

Supported by Jane and Julie from the Development Office (sorry about the 7am Sunday start from school, ladies) the runners were at the start-line promptly at 9am. The weather was kind and the route (south to the Pleasure Beach, north to Bispham,) was pretty flat - well at least it looked flat to the spectators.

Mr Jones was looking OK at the halfway point but was already hurting.


Ollie Salt and Tris Honeyborne were our first finishers, with Messrs Noble and Lawrence not far behind.

All the finishers (and all the MGS team did finish) collected their commemorative T-shirt and medal, and most of the team posed for the final photo.

Well done, everyone - a great day.

Term ends today

Another busy term officially comes to an end today, with a Colours Assembly this afternoon to celebrate the sporting achievements of the winter sports teams, followed by the Rugby Club's Phil Wade Memorial game and, this evening, the Rugby Club Dinner at the Cresta Court in Altrincham.

There are so many outstanding sportsmen in MGS at present (20 with international honours in their age-group) but here are two with unusual achievements: Alex Haynes is the current captain of the England Independent Schools' Football Association U18 team, and Max Drakeley has been selected for the U19 England ice-hockey team: he plays for Manchester Phoenix.

Yesterday I had a fascinating hour being shown with one of our major donors round the fast-developing Drama Centre building site. The new stage has a full height orchestra pit below to provide for our musicals, and a tall flytower above for moving scenery up and down. The auditorium has been completely reshaped to allow for proper knee-room and comfortable seats (twin revolutions for MGS!). Sponsor-and-name-a-seat opportunities still exist - please help if you can.


The old Prefects' Common Room will become our Drama Studio, with technical walkways just below the ceiling to allow shows to be rigged with great versatility. Many MGS boys still like to join TechCrew rather than strut their stuff on stage, and this will allow them to operate safely.


Completion of the project is scheduled for late summer, with opening events in the autumn and spring terms.

Next week MGS groups will be travelling as far afield as China and St Kitts. Wherever you are, enjoy Easter.

Alan Garner, the Weirdstone and the Blackden Trust

Old Mancunian writer Alan Garner has lived all his adult life at Blackden, in the shadow of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Holmes Chapel in Cheshire. All of his writing is deeply rooted in north Cheshire, extending from the area near Crewe to that near his birthplace in Alderley Edge. The Edge is the setting of his 1960 novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which this year on a magical date (10/10/10) achieves the rare distinction of 50 consecutive years of being in print. To celebrate, a series of special events is planned, details of which can be seen at http://www.weirdstone.org.uk/. You can even visit the mine workings on the Edge.

Alan and his wife Griselda have, with others, formed The Blackden Trust (http://www.theblackdentrust.org.uk/) to preserve the unique qualities of their house and its site, which shows evidence of human occupation for over 10,000 years. The trust offers a number of courses, led by experts, which provide insights into the history and archaeology of the area. It's a magical place: if you can possibly visit, do. You can see details and reserve places here. Some courses are designed specifically for younger people and can change lives: a number of those attending have already gone on to archaeology-related courses at university. The courses are inter-active, and some of the writing done by current MGS boys who have attended in the past can be seen here. After Easter this year all of our Year 8 pupils will have form trips to Blackden - how lucky they are!

Mufti, and more OM awards

Visitors to school today will be baffled to see a uniform-less community. As a reward for their fundraising hard work, the High Master has approved a Year 13 students' plan to charge pupils and staff £2 today for the honour of attending in 'own clothes'. We shall divide the income half and half between our in-house charity, the Bursary Fund, and the external groups we support, notably an up-country school in Uganda.

Oddly, clothing has been something of a Development Office theme this week, as we are arranging to purchase a new supply of Old Mancunian ties - sourced, inevitably it seems, from the Far East (what do they make of Old Boys ties there?). Silk not polyester, existing wearers will be glad to know. Julie is also helping the Year 13 leavers with their orders for 'hoodies' - a relatively new MGS tradition by which the leavers have their school nickname and 'MGS Class 2010' embroidered on a navy-blue training top. They're worn on their last day at school and thereafter as a memento. Meanwhile Jane appears to be running an accommodation agency from her desk as the OMs coming to the Reunion on May 8 gradually fill up all the hotels we know in south Manchester.

I had an exchange of emails with Mike Atherton to congratulate him on his double award of Sportswriters' Columnist and Writer of the Year (having won the Specialist Correspondent award last year). As he proves in The Times and his books, Mike can not only write stylishly but can reliably come up with interesting and original material. My mind goes back to an earlier existence as an English teacher here when I had the good fortune to teach a Middle School class in which Mike, Mark Crawley and Gary Yates sat together - all of them going on to first-class cricket careers.

Looking forward - a week on Monday we are hosting an 8-a-side Chess match between some of the best MGS players of today and yesteryear. Peter Webster has again worked hard to put the OM side together, persuading them to take time off and travel north (in most cases) to test our younger generation of players.

Blazers, blues and wellies

On Tuesday to Heaton Moor to see retired Maths teacher Gordon (Tweedy) Harris. My first memory of him is as the non-teaching supervisor of 3a in 1964/5 when the introduction of the 6-day cycle produced a Day 6, period 6 lesson which was an empty slot, and therefore a private study session, for my form. Not sure we made very good use of the opportunity to get any real work done. Gordon trekked, played the organ and officiated at Prizegivings as well as teaching Mathematics. He keeps in touch with school through the 20/30 Club and a number of friends.

Then to Didsbury to see an Old Manc now in his 80s who is being cared for in a nursing home. Macular degeneration has left him with very little sight, but what a wonderful memory he has of his time at school and in particular of a form tutor who took him under his wing, 'Haffie' Field. I was there to receive a donation of two blazers for the MGS Archive - a discreet, navy, colours blazer and a garishly striped Old Mancunians one in black red and gold - both in perfect condition and a great reminder of 1940s fashion. I was also lent a lovely silver lapel pin-badge - a small owl above SAPERE AUDE, which we are going to investigate having copied for sale to 21st century OMs.

Haffie was for years at the centre of MGS lacrosse (as well as teaching Physics and writing comic poems for Ulula and Punch) and would be pleased to know that the game has had something of a revival at school in the last few years. Indeed, we have two OM Cambridge half-blues at lacrosse this year, Sam Spurrell, the Cambridge captain, and Michael Lipton, man-of-the-match in the victory over Oxford.

Bursary fundraising by our senior sixthformers continued this week with the Superstars competition (basketball skills) and a highly entertaining welly-throwing competition organised for our Junior Section boys. This was keenly contested, both for athletic honour and for the prize of a box of chocolates.

So will the next thing be half-blues for welly-throwing? MGS boys will be up there with the best.

The sixthformers' plans for further fundraising via running the Blackpool half-marathon on 11 April are now well advanced. Many of them have pages at http://www.justgiving.com/ - search for the MGS Trust as the beneficiary.

What a varied week!

We've had plenty going on this week, ranging from liaising with the youngest people we work with - our pupils - to the oldest - the OMs who joined MGS pre-1951 and who are gearing up for their Reunion Dinner at School on 8 May.

Youngest first - this week the Sixth Form Bursary Fundraising Committee got their Superstars competition off to an exhausting start in the Sports Hall, with some of our fittest pupils taking on staff members Messrs Lawrence and Batchelor in the first of 5 weekly contests.

You can see that some of the keenest spectators (paying £1 for the privilege) were members of our Junior Section.

It's been a great week for team sports, too, with our Under 16 footballers winning their quarter final of the English Schools Cup, the most prestigious competition open to boys of their age, played against Corpus Christi Sports College, Preston. The match was a thrilling 3-2 victory after MGS had been 2-0 down. The winner was scored in the last minute of the match and capped a fine performance from every player. The boys are eagerly anticipating finding out who their opposition will be in the semi final, to be played sometime in March.

The Rugby Club was not to be left out. We congratulate Marcus Webber on being selected for the England U16 Squad. This news, together with notification of David Madden's third consecutive Oxford Blue for hockey, got us talking about some of MGS's great sporting heroes and achievements. Why not include your favourite(s) in a comment on this blog?

And now to OMs. Watch out next week for Aaron Neil's appearances in Five Days (BBC1, Monday to Friday). Aaron was recently directed by fellow OM Sir Nicholas Hytner in a play at the National Theatre.

Lastly, our older OMs. Invitations to the May 8 Reunion have been posted out to all pre-1951 joiners for whom we have contact details. If you are of this generation, we hope to see you in May. Please have a look at the Lost Owls information on the Old Mancunians website (http://www.oldmancunians.org/) and tell us if you know the whereabouts of anyone listed there. We like our contacts database to be as full and accurate as we can possibly make it - it's the lifeblood of our links to Old Mancs.

Back from half-term

The six o'clock alarm was a bit of a shock this Monday morning after a relatively light week when school was on half-term. I was on call as the Manchester contact for a trip to Poland, but completely unneeded as everything went to plan. A far cry from last half-term when I was kept pretty busy as the staff and boys on Desert Trek near Marrakesh suffered from unexpectedly high temperatures and keeled over with worrying regularity.

It's a good thing that the Dev Office staff can be involved in many of the pupils' and teaching staff's activities - soon we'll be sorting out the arrangements for Activities Week in the summer term when all teaching stops for a week and everyone goes to camp or takes part in a fantastic range of Manchester-based activities from rowing to cooking.

We're hoping to add Sir Ben Kingsley to the growing list of Old Mancunian stars of stage and screen who will help us to celebrate the opening of the new Drama Centre in the autumn. There can't be that many OMs whose appearances are managed by a New York-based publicist! We're now in touch and trying to make the diaries match. Sir Ben was last at MGS for an acting masterclass in 1998, following the launch of the Foundation Bursary Appeal.

For news of a successful young Old Manc entrepreneur, Jonny Goldstone, follow this link:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article7034889.ece

If you have news of Old Mancs' achievements, please let us know at oldboys@mgs.org.

Just back from an interesting lunchtime meeting of our A level and International Baccalaureate students of Economics. They have been competing in a share-trading competition organised by Old Mancunian Marc Duschenes, one time City trader and now Chief Executive of the Braemar Group, based in Hale. When he was at MGS (in the early 90s) Marc used the payphone by the Refectory to arrange his trades, using his father's account.


The present competition involved both simulated trading and writing a market report. The best entrants, Marc said, had achieved a standard that a stockbroker would have been proud of. Members of the winning team will have the opportunity to complete a week's paid work experience at Braemar.


An Old Manc a little older than Marc was at MGS yesterday. John Crawley, ex-Lancashire, England and Hampshire cricketer, has taken up his post as the Marlborough Association Director at Marlborough College. He was interested to look round school again, not having been here since we built our Sports Hall, extended the Art Department and introduced the new Junior Section in Bexwyke Lodge. We talked over how different schools follow very varied patterns with their networking, charitable fundraising and ex-pupil associations. I was reminded once again of how lucky we are at MGS to have been able to integrate these links through the Development Office. We have professional staff to manage our ex-pupils database, which is available to the Executive Committee of the Old Mancunians' Association and the Recorder of the Old Boys' Dinner. We also have weekly visits from Peter Ainsworth, the Secretary to The MGS Trust, so that funds raised through this office are passed promptly to the Trustees for investment.


Yesterday we all (Jane, Julie, Simon and I) worked late as 6 pm is the chosen time for our quarterly OMA Executive meetings. Our chairman, David Walton, took us pretty briskly through our wide-ranging business (reunion plans, 2015 forward planning, accounts, production of OM tie in silk not polyester) - grateful thanks to all (the professionals and the volunteer committee members) who give up their time to keep things ticking along.

Just another week?

Plenty of variety this week. A great start, with a further donation of £78,000 from a regular benefactor (worth £100,000 to us with reclaimed tax under the Gift Aid scheme) - the sort of gift which encourages the MGS Trust trustees to be generous when looking at future grants based on the income generated from their invested Bursary Fund. Investment income in the current markets is a little difficult to predict, but we still recognise each £100,000 of gift value as likely to provide an additional bursary place for ever.

If you are an Old Mancunian or ex-member of staff, you should receive your New Year copy of The Old Mancunian next week. It's out a little later than usual, but offers the usual wide range of articles. If you qualify but aren't receiving one, it's because we don't have an up-to-date postal address for you - please send details including your years at school by email to oldboys 'at' mgs.org.

Unusually (see last blog) I was in London again this week for a couple of days. First, courtesy of an Old Manc season ticket holder, to a highly entertaining Intelligence Squared debate at Central Hall, Westminster on the motion 'Public Schools are a blight on this country'. Lots of Harrow-bashing (Barnaby Lenon, the Head, was opposing) and lots of reminders of how far away the MGS tradition is from that of the mainly southern, public boarding schools. The pros and cons of academic selection weren't mentioned at all.

Then to meet the Chief Executive of the Lords' Taverners to see if MGS and they can work together on improving our cricket and pavilion facilities with a view to our being able to offer cricket courses to local children throughout the summer holidays. Discussions to be continued, next time on site in Manchester.

The trips to London are a reminder of the extent to which this country is capital-centric. How few organisations have their national HQs outside the capital! At least my trips don't cost much in expenses - we buy discounted Charity Line rail tickets and my daughter provides me with a Finsbury Park boxroom to sleep in. It's not luxury, but it keeps our costs down!

DevOff on tour

Just back from a busy couple of days in London. On Thursday, with Simon Jones, to a brief committee meeting of the London/SE OMA, moving along plans for the April 21 London Dinner. Immediately followed by an open pub evening in the Crown and Anchor, Neal Street, Covent Garden, where there was a good turn-out, including a number of Simon's 88-95 contemporaries and current London undergrads drafted in by committee member David Leeming. Not a boozy evening, but great to catch up with what people are doing now. Little doubt that if these guys (eg Messrs Hough, Petecki, Stephens, Ross and Poyser) aren't running the world yet, they soon will be.














The rest of the trip for me involved forward planning for the drama festival we are holding in the autumn to celebrate the opening of our new drama centre. We are expecting to have a topping-off ceremony at school in a couple of weeks' time, when the building will be weather-tight following the installation of the enormous flytower above the theatre stage. Then the serious electrical work starts and we expect a hand-over in the summer.

I met Robert Powell, who is kindly going to fit a one-man show for us into his hectic filming schedule. Then over Waterloo Bridge, on a beautifully crisp, clear evening, to the National Theatre to see our Drama Centre Campaign Chairman, the newly knighted Sir Nicholas Hytner.
At the end of a long day's rehearsal (London Assurance - opening soon - very funny - strongly recommended) Nick found the energy to think through with me how we can bring in the last chunk of funding for the project and deliver an opening festival to please all our stakeholders. So we are looking at student productions, including a musical, a masterclass which he will lead, and performances on behalf of some of our partner charities in Greater Manchester. We also hope to attract a small touring company to what is going to be a cracking venue for drama.

A great couple of days, spoiled only by a Friday night Euston concourse heaving with humanity as tannoy announcements apologised for technical problems delaying and cancelling services north. Late to bed.

Entrance Examination

How many of us remember the Entrance Exam? Looking, then walking, down a seemingly never-ending drive towards buildings which would swallow up the junior school which we attended. Not knowing which of the people looking after us were prefects and which were staff. Above all, not knowing the answers to so many questions in the papers. In my case, not having been taught decimals at junior school in Rochdale, and so finding many of the questions in the Arithmetic paper more than a bit puzzling.

Well, today is Entrance Exam day 2010, so we have been doing the tests which will decide the intake of September 2010, and the A level and IB results of 2017. We no longer have Part 1 and Part 2 days (written as Part I and Part II until, a few years ago, a parent told us it was cruel to advertise an 11-part exam). Now all the candidates come for written papers on one day and on another day for a general assessment based on putting them in groups in front of experienced teachers and seeing how well they do with newly taught material. This is our best endeavour to make our judgements on the basis of potential as well as acquired knowledge.

I've been marking a few papers this morning, and am impressed by the quality of the answers I've seen. A good sign for the future.

It's good to know that the Bursary Fund will support between 30 and 40 means-tested bursaries in the new entry. We may have even more deserving cases than that, and it will be very sad not to be able to help everyone who deserves it. This is why continuing the fundraising for bursaries is so important.

Stepping down

Well, the snow and ice are in retreat as temperatures rise. For the last 2 weeks we've enjoyed the novelty of the snow, with days off and beautiful views, but most people have had enough now. It's funny to think that today we are quite pleased that it's a grey, rainy, Manchester day and that the forecast offers more of the same for the weekend.

I have mixed feelings about the fact that this week I've been writing a job description for my successor. The High Master and Governors have agreed that I may take phased retirement, beginning with a reduction to a 25% contract from September this year. By the summer I will have notched up 40 years at MGS, boy and man, and it seems a good time to be winding down somewhat. My successor will have plenty of challenges to confront, not least leading the planning for the school's 500th birthday in 2015.

So 'my' job will be advertised soon, and I hope that my successor will have as much enjoyment in the post as I have had. We have only had a Development Office and Director of Development in the present form since 2003, but because I was doing similar work from 1997 when we started the Foundation Bursary Appeal, it's now difficult to remember how different things once were.

We now have The MGS Trust managing a capital fund (currently valued at £16m+) to support 240+ means-tested bursaries in perpetuity, and we are building a new Drama Centre with £1.75m of donations. The fantastic support that we have received from so many Old Boys and friends of MGS makes my job, surely, the best in the school. I used to think the same thing when I was Head of Lower School in the 1980s, so I've been doubly lucky.

2010 starts with snow and ice

We ended last year by distributing over 4,000 copies of the annual school magazine, Ulula (the owl) - about 1500 by hand to current members of the school community and over 2,500 by post to subscribing members of The Old Mancunians Association.

So the new year has started with responses to articles in the magazine, many readers expressing amazement that MGS is still able to offer a fantastic range of extra-curricular activities and adventure trips in spite of the influence of health and safety, child protection and risk assessment measures.

Simon Jones has been incredibly busy co-ordinating travel arrangements (his old job before becoming Assistant Development Director) but is now busy rounding up a new generation of Old Mancs to join the London & South East group at their next pub evening in Covent Garden on January 28.

Jane Graham is making good progress with arrangements for our next annual Reunion and Dinner to be held at school on 8 May - this one is for old boys who started at MGS pre-1951.

Julie Wright is working hard on the next edition of our termly newsletter TOM (The Old Mancunian) which will be posted to all old boys for whom we have a postal address by the end of the month.

But most significantly, the last week has been one of snow and ice in Manchester, with the school having to close on Tuesday and Wednesday because of conditions on site and because the bus companies could not provide services. Some staff and pupils are still struggling with journeys in and out, but we are now back to normal more or less (though we can't use the sports fields yet)
and the exam season is on us with A level modular exams taking place in the Mem Hall.

Building work on the new Drama Centre is proceeding and we are about to plan a topping-out ceremony for roughly a fortnight from now - presumably to take place at the high point of the new build on top of the fly-tower.