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Head Girl Maddie Hardy receives her school medal
from Mr. Rimmington
financed from the surpluses we have built up over the years
and from bank loans repayable over the next 10 years. This
has been the most ambitious project financially we have ever
carried out (even taking into account inflation) and I should
like to pay tribute to our Bursar, Chris Watson, for his control
and co-ordination of the project and liaison with the
Governors’ Building Committee, the architects Taylor Young,
Stockport Council Planners, local councillors, Globe
Construction, many sub-contractors and last but by no means
least, the neighbours on Woodsmoor Lane. Mr Watson spent
many hours every week on this project as well as carrying out
his day job.
During the period of my Chairmanship the School has enjoyed
an excellent relationship with the Goldsmiths’ Company, one
of whose Prime Wardens, Sir Edmond Shaa, was of course the
School’s founder. The Clerk, Dick Melly, has been a great
friend of the School and it was largely through his good offices
that we held a splendid 525 th anniversary reception at
Goldsmiths’ Hall on 2 nd May, attended by 200 pupils,
parents, teachers, Old Stopfordians and guests. We were
made very welcome not only by Mr Melly but also by the
School’s patron, Prime Warden Hector Miller, who presented
the prizes at last year’s Speech Day. Two days after the
Reception, the Headmaster and I were again guests of the
Goldsmiths at the Trial of the Pyx lunch, commemorating a
ceremony dating back some 850 years.
Then, on Jubilee Tuesday, the livery companies held a lunch at
Westminster Hall for the Queen and other members of the
Royal Family. The Goldsmiths hosted a table which included
our Head Boy, Harry Allport, and Head Girl, Maddie Hardy.
What a wonderful experience for them – one they will
remember for the rest of their lives.
I should now like to pay tribute to the Governors. None of the
Governors receive any salary, fee or other payment. All have
been and still are very committed to Stockport Grammar
School. Over the years we have built a multi-skilled team
comprising educationalists, lawyers, doctors, property experts,
human resource specialists, senior police officers, accountants
and other professional and business people. Several have
been or still are parents, like me. Several have been former
pupils, also like me. We have a total complement of 18
Governors and certainly over the last 10 years we reached
most of our decisions on a consensual basis, with very little
dissent. Although I cannot name every one of them in this
report, I should just like to mention a few of them who have
given outstanding service over the last several years.
Firstly Lady Beatson, who joined the Board one month before
me and was Vice Chairman from March 2002 until October
2009. She has lived either in Oxford or Cambridge for the
whole of her time as a Governor and has rarely missed a
meeting. She is a barrister and is a Tribunal Judge in the Health
Education and Social Care Chamber in London. I have always
appreciated her wise counsel and am particularly appreciative
of the advice she gave to Chris Watson and his predecessor in
the process of the incorporation of SGS in 2007. Her
grandfather and father were Chairmen of Governors in my
days as a pupil. Thanks to a legacy in her father’s will, a
commemorative clock is to be placed on the right hand
Northern gable end of the new Woodsmoor building.
Ron Astles, a retired Chief Superintendent with G. M. Police,
has been a Governor since December 1993 and Vice
Chairman since 2002. He was Chairman of the Stopfordian
6 The Year’s News