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Friday, 24 June 2011
Bolton School's Summer Prizegiving for the Boys' Division
rewarded students with wise advice from a Knight along with
commendations for their hard work and success.
Sir Malcolm Williamson, Former CEO of Visa International and
Standard Chartered PLC and Old Boy of the School, was this year's
Guest of Honour. After handing out awards to pupils, he gave
an inspiring speech, telling the boys they should seize
opportunities in life, work hard and be prepared to take risks and
make sure that by the time they get to 50 years of age they had no
regrets. He told them to know their strengths and weaknesses
and to play to their strengths. He had very fond memories of
his time at Bolton School and how it had instilled in him interests
that he still carries with him today, namely a love of the outdoors
and mountaineering, chess, the violin and cross-country
running. Interests which had also served him well during his
national service in the RAF and in mountain rescue. Later in
life, they became recreational pursuits which offered a
counter-balance to his illustrious career in business, which saw
him rewarded with a knighthood in 2007 for his contribution to
the financial services industry.
Earlier in the evening Mr Michael Griffiths, Chairman of
Governors, gave an opening address in which he congratulated the
School on its outstanding ISI school inspection report and he
reminded the audience of boys, parents and staff that Bolton School
is a "quite extraordinary school", where there is a "can-do"
culture and where pupils are instilled with a confidence to go out
into the world and make a difference for good. He reminded
the Year 13 leavers that Bolton School is very much an extended
family and that they will remain part of the school community for
the rest of their lives. His final advice to them was to go
out and to try and make each place they visit in life, a little
better.
Headmaster, Mr Philip Britton, brought the evening to a close
with a compelling review of the academic year. Speaking of
how "enormously proud" he was to be Head of the Boys' Division, Mr
Britton pointed to the clarity of vision and enduring success of
the School, present when Malcolm Williamson was a pupil and still
with the school today. Scholarship was important and students
left the School to stand alongside the very brightest minds at the
top universities and also imbued with an intellectual curiosity
that stayed with them for life. Whilst there is clearly much
to celebrate in terms of the academic, he told the boys that
examination results were a passport and not a destination and that
a Bolton School education prepares them for life. He reminded
the audience of the boys' success regionally and nationally in
sport, music and drama. He spoke of the leadership skills
developed at Patterdale and on the School's boat, Tenacity of
Bolton, and on the wide range of field trips and
through foreign travel. The School, one of the three
oldest institutions in the town, was and always had been an
integral part of the borough and boys made a difference to the town
in myriad ways.
The evening was punctuated by some fine solo singing
performances from the joint choral prize winners, Iain Barr and
Duncan Peel; a wonderful xylophone solo from Ben Dilworth, Senior
Young Musician of the Year; and the jazz band were conducted by and
played Ben Smith's arrangement of "Against All Odds", featuring
Michael Conroy on saxophone.
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