Old Princethorpians

It was exciting to see OP Jack Bromage-Eccles taking to the stage for the Royal Variety Performance on Tuesday 20 December, the show was screened on ITV.
 
Jack, who left Princethorpe in 2018, plays Tommy Boy in the musical Newsies, which won Tony Awards, including best original score, and is set in New York City at the turn of the 20th century and looks at the lives of young newspaper sellers. The cast performed a selection of numbers from the show which has just opened at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre.

Comments Jack, "Newsies for me was a dream job and I am so grateful to part of this amazing show, it is full on and very energetic and the stage is like a playground where you can swing off the set and climb around it all like a child. The Royal variety Performance was an experience I will never forget and was such an honour to be able to perform in front of royalty." 

Jack is no stranger to the stage, having played Michael in Billy Elliot in the West End as well as being part of the the Australia tour with Wannabe The Spice Girls tour last year and being part of the, UEFA EUROS Closing Ceremony.

We can't wait to see where his career goes from here!!

Jack is pictured top row far right, at Royal Variety Performance on 20 December 2022 (Image: Royal Variety Performance 2022 on ITV) and in other shots from Newsies.

Congratulations to OP Libby Wilson who is a finalist for not one, but two Ladies First Awards. Libby who left Princethorpe in 2010 has been shortlisted in both the Excellence in Education and Inspirational Woman categories.

She takes up the story:

Hello I’m Libby and I own a Montessori Nursery School in a village between Rugby and Leamington Spa.

Just before I turned 21, I took a risk and opened a nursery using Montessori methods. When I first opened I checked my emails and voicemails 100 times a day worrying no one would sign up. Happily since the first year of opening, the nursery has been full with a three year waiting list

In spite of the tears, worries, stress and sleepless nights I still wouldn’t wish to do anything else.

I’m extremely grateful that I pretty well knew what I wanted to do from a young age, my parents have always worked for themselves which inspired me to do the same. Even taking a career personality test at school pointed me towards working with children.

Being dyslexic Montessori training and learning was the perfect fit for me. I’d always been a ‘child magnet’ and had a natural affinity with young children, maybe being dyslexic, struggling to fit the square peg into the round hole makes me see a little one’s learning through all different approaches the best way forward.

We wish Libby well in the awards!

OP and former Crackley Hall pupil, Toby Lee has been in touch to share the exciting news that he has reached the final five nominees for the 'UK Young Blues Artist Of The Year' in the 2023 UK Blues Awards.

Voting is open for the awards until Sunday 19 February, and it would be wonderful if our Foundation community could support Toby. You can vote for him here: https://www.ukblues.org/ We wish him the very best of luck!

Toby attended Crackley Hall School from 2014 to 2016 and then Princethorpe College until 2017. Dubbed a future superstar of the blues by Joe Bonamassa, Toby boasts an impressive musical CV.

In 2016 he was cast as Zack Mooneyham in the West End production of School of Rock the Musical for which he subsequently won an Olivier Award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Music'.

He has appeared on many TV shows around the world including TFI Friday twice, Little Big Shots USA, Spain and the UK, Comic Relief, Michael McIntyre, The X Factor, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Blue Peter and Tonight at the London Palladium where he performed with McFly.

Toby has shared the stage with a host of stars including Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Peter Frampton, Slash, Lukas Nelson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and has appeared alongside his hero, Joe Bonamassa at the Royal Albert Hall.

Toby is off on tour soon. He is playing locally in Leamington in March, but the tickets for the gig have sadly already sold out. He is also playing at the UK Blues Awards in London in April.

You can find out more here: www.toby-lee.com

Congratulations to the new Dr Fergus Preston, who has successfully defended his Chemistry PhD thesis entitled “The Identification and Synthesis of Novel Fluorine-Containing Heterocycles as Starting-Points of Fragment-Based Drug Discovery” after a 3.5 hour viva voce examination.

Fergus (Class of 2013) is now a senior scientist at a company in Cambridge, where he has been working on synthesising new drugs to treat Parkinson’s and dry eye disease.

We wish him well with his new career!

To raise awareness of rare genetic conditions that babies are born with, OP Michael Curtis (1995-1999) will be running the London Marathon on Sunday 23 April.

Michael wants to thank the NHS and specifically Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for the support they provide to families and parents. Michael will be running for the Lowe Syndrome Trust which is personally very close to him.

If you wish to donate to the Lowe charity please use the link here or to support the work of GOSH use the link here. In both cases please reference on behalf of M D Curtis.

We wish Michael the very best of luck!

We were delighted to welcome OP Tom Gahan (Class of 2017) back to Princethorpe recently and to show him round his old school. 

He told us, "I joined Princethorpe in Year 8 after struggling at my previous school. Within only a few months my teachers recommended that I test for ADHD and dyslexia, which my previous school hadn’t noticed at all. After finding out I had both my teachers helped me to learn in ways that suited me. Over my time at Princethorpe I was given the opportunity to thrive, not only academically in the classroom but on the field too. I joined many of the sports teams and was encouraged to push myself as much as possible.

"Looking back, I am confident that without Princethorpe I would not have got the grades that I got or be where I am now. I currently live in California and work for a bank doing cyber security. I don’t get much time to return to the UK so I was delighted, on my last trip, to visit Princethorpe. It was incredible to see teachers that taught me many years ago still there. A testament to the ethos and community at the school.

"After my visit I was affirmed in my beliefs that without Princethorpe I would not be where I am today. An enormous thank you to the staff for everything you did for me."

We were delighted to see you again Tom and to hear your latest news. 

Warwickshire property company The Wigley Group is celebrating more than 50 years of history with Princethorpe College – and continues to be a proud supporter today!

The family-run firm has more than 30 staff based at its Stockton House headquarters on Rugby Road, including six Old Princethorpians currently working at the company.

Chairman Robert Wigley was the first to attend the College, starting in 1972, with Group Communications Manager Katie Wigley the last to attend as she left in the summer of 2011.

Other College alumni include Chief Executive Officer James Davies, Chief Operating Officer James Ellerington, Property Assistant Jonathan Wigley, and Construction Manager Andrew Higham.

The company retains close links with the College today, sponsoring the Two-Day Equestrian event which takes place in May, and will also be hosting a stall and careers workshops at the Princethorpe Careers Fair on Saturday 18 March.

James Davies, who currently sits on the Old Princethorpians committee, said: “Having so many alumni from the same college is quite unusual, but we all have such fond memories of our time at Princethorpe.

“I know our team are looking forward to meeting students and telling them about the exciting opportunities we have here – such as our successful Apprenticeships, Graduate Scheme, and work experience placements – at the upcoming Careers Fair.”

The Wigley Group operates in property, development, and construction.

For more details visit www.thewigleygroup.com.

We were delighted to hear that two Old Princethorpians from the early 90s have worked together to raise awareness of MS. OP Caroline Thor (née Fielding), has produced a special episode of her podcast that featured her old school friend OP Jane Gould (née Pavis).

Caroline retrained as a professional organiser two years ago and started a podcast Living Clutter Free Forever back in the summer. Caroline had stayed in touch with Jane through Facebook but hadn’t seen her in years. Jane was diagnosed with MS over 20 years ago, and is now in a wheelchair, in the podcast she talks to Caroline about the difficulties of navigating her home in a wheelchair, and the clever organisational solutions she has developed to make her life easier.

The podcast, episode 24, went out in November and you listen to it here:
https://www.caroline-thor.com/podcast/

You can read Jane’s blog that she mentions in the podcast here:
https://abcms.substack.com/

You can find out more about Caroline’s work on her website here:
https://www.caroline-thor.com/explore

Thank you for getting in touch Caroline, it was great to hear from you and to hear of your project with Jane to raise awareness of the challenges of living with MS.

Old Princethorpian, Lily Blunsom-Washbrook, (Class of 2016) finished performing in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in November last year, playing the role of Juliet at the Kenneth More theatre in London. 

Lily takes up the story: "I got this job after a director saw me perform in my West End debut earlier last year, in Witness for the Prosecution at London County Hall. He was very kind about my work and offered me the audition for Juliet. It was a competitive job with over 1000+ applicants from actors for just the part of Juliet so it was quite the audition process, including lots of workshops and one on one speech work.

Funnily enough, the last play I took part in at Princethorpe was also Romeo and Juliet where I played Tybalt, (some would say he's the bad guy,) so it felt like a lovely full circle moment from being a student only just beginning to grow an appreciation for Shakespeare's text, to now being on stage in the lead role as a professional actor. I'm so grateful that I got to explore the art of theatre as much as I did at Princethorpe. It certainly crafted the performer I am today. Here's to the next show!"

Congratulations, Lily! We look forward to seeing what you get up to in the future. 

Congratulations to OP Bethany Rees who has recently graduated from Birmingham City University in Secondary Drama teaching, after completing her school placement with us at Princethorpe College.

Bethany has been working within a Prep school in London since September and has already directed two shows and is working on her third.

We're delighted that she will be joining us for our Careers Fair in March to host a workshop about ‘getting into teaching’.

Many congratulation to Chelsea Kempton who has graduated with a 2:1 in Physical Education from Leeds Beckett University.

Since graduating she has been working in a primary school as maternity cover and is now looking at going into the sports sector.

Congratulations to Old Princethorpian, Molly Geehan (Class of 2019) who graduated in November with a 2:1 in Journalism. 

She tells us about her special day.

"Graduation day was one I will never forget. I was coming towards the end of my first year when the pandemic started, so now being able to cross that finish line was so special. I not only made my family proud, but I made myself proud too.

I thourougly enjoyed my time at Worcester University; having several articles published and playing for our 1st team netball were definitely some of my highlights as well as being on our University charity committee. I will cherish those memories forever."

A huge well done to Molly!

A huge congratulations to Anna Wells, (Class of 2019) who graduated with a First Class Degree in Physiotherapy. 

We spoke to Anna to ask her about her time at University: "I had an amazing three years at Worcester University. I learned everything physio, including anatomy and physiology, complext neurological, respiratory and musculo-skeletal conditions, assessment and treatment skills. 

I enjoyed BUCS Wednesdays and fortunately had time to enjoy competitive netball alongside 1,000 hours of placement time. I'm now thoroughly enjoying working at Warwick Hospital as a Band 5 Rotational Physiotherapist."

Well done Anna! It was great to hear from you, glad to see you are keeping up with the netball and we look forward to seeing what you do in the future. 

Princethorpe leaver of 2021, Dan McCullough, has been given the honour of being The High Sheriff of Warwickshire Police Cadet for the year ahead.

Dan attended his first offiical ceremony on Thursday October 6 at the annual Thanksgiving Service for the current High Sheriff, Mr David Kelham. Dan has been with Warwickshire Cadets since he was 13 and will pass out as a senior in 2023. He is currenty studiying the relevant courses at college that will hopfully enable to follow a career in the Police in the future.

Congratulations Dan we hope you enjoy your year!