OS Day 2019
14 September 2019
On Saturday, 14 September, we welcomed 320 Old Stoics and Guests back to Stowe for Old Stoic Day.
This year, we invited Old Stoics celebrating the 60th, 50th, 40th, 30th, 25th and 10th anniversary of their departure from Stowe to gather for the occasion. We also brought together Old Stoics from the 1964 unbeaten 1st XV for the 55th Anniversary of their winning season. We were delighted to bring together such a large number of Old Stoics for the day, allowing everyone to meet up with friends from their year and also make new ones. We were particularly pleased to bring together over 60 Old Stoics from the year of 2009 and 40 Old Stoics from the year of 1994.
The day began with a warm welcome from the Head, Dr Anthony Wallersteiner, in the Marble Hall, followed by a short but moving Chapel Service, delivered by The Revd Tim Mullins. The collection was taken in memory of Caroline Whitlock (Former Staff 2007 – 2017) who worked in the Old Stoic Office for nearly 10 years and sadly died earlier this year. After the service, our guests were invited to return to their boarding houses for tours lead by Stoics or remain in Chapel for an Organ Recital given by Jonathan Kingston (Former Staff) in memory of Roderick Swanston (Bruce 66). John Fingleton (Chatham 66) gave a short speech about Roddy’s life, after which, Roddy’s siblings, Jo and Mark Swanston, formally presented Craig Greene (Chandos 07), Director of Music, with the Swanston Collection, consisting of over 2,000 Gramophone records now housed in the Music School. The concert featured six organ pieces including Overture to the ‘Occasional Oratorio’ by George Frederik Handel, Sicilienne by Maria Theresa von Paradis and Lied to the Sun (from The Lied Symphony, Op.66) by Flor Peeters to name a handful. The Chapel Organ is the largest organ in three counties, it was extremely moving to hear the compositions peeling out of the Chapel.
We would like to thank the Stoics who lead the boarding house tours for our guests. Old Stoics are always very eager to revisit their old dorms and see the changes since their days. After the tours our guests gathered for drinks on the South Portico, during which time Chair of the Old Stoic Society, Hannah Durden (Nugent 01), gave a speech to thank everyone for coming. Our guests then dined in the State Rooms, tucking into a nostalgic school lunch laid on by our excellent catering team.
After lunch, a host of activities were laid on for our guests, including watching the rugby, playing golf, and tours of the landscape gardens. Those celebrating 10 years since leaving Stowe enjoyed a tour of their old haunts with Nick Bayley (Staff). Towards the end of the afternoon, everyone gathered for a delicious afternoon tea to round off the day. With the sun still shining, our guests were able to enjoy the remainder of the day on the South Portico.
As ever, it would be impossible run Old Stoic Day without the expert help of many departments at Stowe, including the General Office, Security, House Staff and SHPT teams all giving their time to assist with welcoming our guests. The stars of the show were the Catering team, lead on the day by Debbie Kelly-Greaves, who laid on an array of delicious feasts throughout the day for our guests, alongside the hundreds of meals they serve for Stoics, Staff and Parents on a normal weekend. A great many thanks to all who helped us and to all those who joined us for the day.
Click here to see the photographs.