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One constant feature of Teddies, in evidence
from the very beginning, has been the drive
and ambition of its pupils. So – what of our
contemporary OSE? What sort of presence
do they have in the wider world? Good exam
results matter, of course, but they aren’t
everything. We know that you go off to the
very best universities. In fact, some 85% of you
will attend the most prestigious universities in
this country and overseas. But what then? As
we say goodbye to this year’s Leavers, I want to
give you a snapshot of the achievements of
some of our recent former pupils.
The network of former Teddies pupils
spreads far and wide, across many fields of
interest. In the armed forces we have 20
commissioned officers who have served in
recent major conflicts. Captain Michael
Dobbin was awarded the Military Cross in
2013 for service in Afghanistan. His citation
read: ‘Dobbin’s repeated courage at pivotal
moments and cool head under fierce fire
inspired his men to succeed when the odds
were most against them’.
Professor Sir Brian Greenwood is a world
expert in malaria. In 1995, he won a
40-million-dollar grant from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation to establish the
Gates Malaria Partnership. He is currently
working on an Ebola vaccine. Jon Snow is
the longest-running presenter on Channel 4
News; Mark Peregrine is Head Tutor at the
Cookery School at the Manoir aux Quat’
Saisons; James Price was recently named
Young Farmer of the Year; record producer
Hugh Padgham has won four Grammy
Awards; Billy Lloyd is an award-winning
designer and ceramicist; Isabel Fishlock works
with fashion designers John Galliano and Paul
Smith; Rob Marris is MP for Wolverhampton
South West and Cameron Buchanan the MSP
for Lothian. So the list goes on.
In sport, too, many OSE participate after
they leave School and some have represented
their country: Zoe Shipperley in hockey,
James Forrester in rugby and Stewart Innes
in rowing, to name just a few. Stewart won a
Gold Medal in the GB men’s VIII at the
Rowing World Cup in Italy a few weeks ago
and is in the training squad for Rio 2016.
Jockey SamWaley-Cohen won the
Cheltenham Gold Cup and came second in
the Grand National. A little known fact about
Teddies’ sporting history is that three OSE
were in the winning team at the World Ice
Cricket Championships in Estonia in 2008.
The talents in our community are clearly
many and varied.
I am pleased to note a strong sense of
altruism running through everything I hear
about our OSE. Tim Conibear formed the
Isiqalo Foundation in South Africa in 2009 to
use sports coaching to address substance abuse
and mental health issues; Joe Robinson founded
the charity JR4JR to support the Neurology
Department at the John Radcliffe. Over the last
10 years, OSE have run over 150 marathons
for charity, completed 11 ironman challenges,
covered the distance from Land’s End to John
O’Groats 16 times and have cycled more than
37,000 miles. That’s really quite something.
In the 2010 London Marathon, 10 OSE set
a world record of 5 hours and 13 minutes
for the greatest number of people completing
a marathon tied together - they raised a
staggering sum of over £277,000.