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Sophy Holland Penny Freer BHS 1960 -67 Sophie Ryall<br />
Sophy Holland is a British photographer<br />
and director in NYC with over 12 years of<br />
experience in the fashion, advertising and<br />
film industry.<br />
A Central St Martins graduate, Holland started<br />
her career in fashion as an Art Director on<br />
both TV and print, working on a mix of<br />
editorial and advertising campaigns,<br />
Worldwide. Her client list included Wella<br />
haircare, Davidoff cologne, Joop! Homme,<br />
Vogue, Vanity Fair, Proxima Spirits, Oscar De<br />
La Renta, Chandon, Swarovski, Lab Series<br />
Skincare, and Zegna.<br />
She made her directorial debut directing a<br />
short film ‘Brace’ which was shown in over<br />
50 film festivals worldwide and is now<br />
recognized as an educational film, supporting<br />
gay youth against gang violence in London.<br />
Holland continued to direct a mixture of<br />
advertising and humanitarian oriented film<br />
projects. Most notably, the Women’s<br />
History Month project with BET Network<br />
(Viacom) which won a gold PROMAX award,<br />
Tory Burch - Embrace Ambition PSA featuring<br />
over 40 celebrities tackling the negative<br />
stigma of the word ambition in a woman,<br />
and Swarovski seasonal campaigns featuring<br />
Karlie Kloss and twelve of their worldwide<br />
ambassadors.<br />
She also directed a full length documentary,<br />
‘Illustrated Man’ on the history of tattoo<br />
culture and how it has collided with fashion<br />
in current-day society.<br />
Sophy Holland has photographed campaigns<br />
and editorials for brands such as Pfizer,<br />
Swarovski, Elizabeth Arden, Vogue, Elle,<br />
Tatler, Harpers Bazaar, Lofficiel, Marriott<br />
Hotels and many others.<br />
I followed<br />
my two<br />
sisters to<br />
Bromley<br />
High, at<br />
the times<br />
of Misses<br />
Leale and<br />
Hardwick,<br />
Bromley South Station, and journeys<br />
to playing fields. Education gave<br />
us confidence in a male dominated<br />
world. Men might say “We like our<br />
ladies in the kitchen” but such smart<br />
words never stopped a BHS girl!<br />
BHS urged me to apply, successfully,<br />
for limited places in ladies’ colleges<br />
at Oxford. I was awarded an<br />
Exhibition to Lady Margaret Hall, to<br />
add to my Trust Scholarship.<br />
For Oxford entrance I needed good<br />
History, and French, and Latin both<br />
for entrance and my law degree.<br />
I was a rotten linguist – thank you<br />
BHS for teaching me!<br />
When only some 6% of law students<br />
were women, I (and one sister) qualified<br />
as a solicitor and I later became<br />
partner at the City firm Freshfields.<br />
I was educated to flourish in legal<br />
and social changes, the EU, and the<br />
financial revolution of the 1980s.<br />
I left the City when my children<br />
were teenagers. That’s the rub for<br />
mothers. If you’re not around the<br />
minute teenagers want to talk to<br />
you, they might never talk to you!<br />
Later roles included expert court<br />
witness, and university teaching.<br />
I am now retired.<br />
If I were teenage today, I’d go for a<br />
broad education, probably choose<br />
the same A levels (unusual mix<br />
40 years ago); Double Maths, and<br />
History (now regarded as a PPE set)<br />
plus Latin.<br />
Penny Freer<br />
Men might say ‘We like our<br />
ladies in the kitchen”<br />
but such smart words never<br />
stopped a BHS girl!’<br />
Sophie Ryall qualified<br />
for England Nationals<br />
in Karate. Sophie<br />
qualified to enter the<br />
England Nationals in<br />
Karate and competed<br />
last week in Leicester.<br />
The competition was<br />
intensely fierce, with<br />
over 500 competitors<br />
on the Sunday alone,<br />
including world<br />
reknowned athletes<br />
Sophie Ryall winner<br />
of Kata competition<br />
2016 Renishinkai<br />
Beckenham Club.<br />
such as current world champion Jordan<br />
Thomas and 2004 world bronze medallist<br />
Natalie Williams. Sophie competed in the<br />
Kumite 16-17 years under 58kg category<br />
with her club Renskinkai winning 8 medals<br />
in total. She said “It was a great experience!<br />
I have never been to nationals before and<br />
to see all the countries best fighters was<br />
amazing.” Karate will be an Olympic sport<br />
in future and her Sensei and trainer Natalie<br />
Williams has been England’s and Europe’s<br />
Gold Medallist for a number of years. On<br />
the 2nd of July, Sophie also competed in the<br />
BIKO Closed Championship in Northampton,<br />
winning a Gold and Bronze medal<br />
in both individual and pair Kata, and is<br />
scheduled to compete in the British International<br />
Open Championships in Edinburgh<br />
at the beginning of October 2017.<br />
‘It was a great experience!<br />
I have never been to nationals<br />
before and to see all the<br />
countries best fighters was<br />
amazing.’<br />
Sophie Ryall sixth from left, with Renshinkai squad.<br />
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