St Edward's Rhubarb - 2018

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ST EDWARD’S r hubarb
20
O S E I N B U S I N E S S
OSE in Business
1982
Andrew Anthony (E, 1977-1982) has
moved to Cambridge and is now Deputy
General Manager at the University Arms
Hotel, re-opening in June 2018 after a
two-year £80-million landmark development
OSE are
most welcome.
1985
Richard Venables (A, 1980-1985) wrote to
tell us that he is very honoured to have been
appointed High Sheriff of Oxfordshire for
2018/19. It is the oldest Royal appointment
in the country dating back over 1,000 years
and whilst the Sheriff no longer raises taxes
or the local militia, the role does revolve
around supporting the agencies of law and
order (police/prisons/judiciary) and the
voluntary sector. In his Shrieval Year he will
be supporting Oxfordshire’s youth with
specific emphasis on sport and culture in
deprived areas as well as raising awareness of
mental health amongst Oxfordshire’s schools.
Teddies instilled in him a great passion for
sport and its benefit to overall wellbeing.
He says he never challenged for many of
the main teams during his time at school,
but thoroughly enjoyed the minor sports
offered as an alternative. Hockey is still a huge
passion emanating from his peak performance
as captain of the 3rd XI and he still plays at
Oxford Hawks with many other OSE. He
has raised money for a variety of charities
including Access Sport and Thomley Activity
Centre. Richard also met the Warden
recently at his High Sheriff fundraising dinner
for a SANE ‘Black Dog’ which is going to be
travelling Oxfordshire’s schools (including
Teddies) to raise the awareness of mental
health amongst pupils and teachers. In
addition, he is fundraising for Huntingdon’s
Disease Association and recently completed
the London Marathon and is now in training
for the Race to the Stones 100km Ultra in
July. It is going to be a busy year…..!
1998
Sophie Lavender (now Baxter) (J, 1997-
1998) has recently set up Lavender Jones
Recruitment, a new PA, secretarial and
graduate recruitment business. Sophie
would be happy to help OSE, young
and old, find new career opportunities
or assist them in finding new employees
2005
Cecily Vessey (née Machin) (J, 2000-2005)
is an artist based in Kennington, South
London. She is known for her architectural
illustrations that she applies to an array of
ceramics, stationery and screen prints -
London’s iconic skyline being her signature
image. Cecily’s work is sold in a wide range
of shops and institutions worldwide including
the Tate Modern, British Library, the Shard,
Design Museum and Natural History
Museum. She has created bespoke items for
the Houses of Parliament and Tower Bridge.
Cecily also creates large scale murals and
last Christmas she spent a weekend drawing
in the window of a shop in Carnaby Street.
Alongside this Cecily works to commission,
creating drawings of private homes, churches
and other landscapes as well as designing
wedding stationery. Cecily has created a
limited edition screen print and mug for
the School depicting the view over the
Quad towards the dining room, chapel and
cloisters. Her work was displayed in The
North Wall in September 2017 as part
of the Co-education at 20 Exhibition. The
St Edward's print is available from Cecily’s
website with 20%
of each sale being donated to the Bursary
Fund. The mug can be purchased directly
from the OSE office.
2007
Tom Ellis (E, 2002-2007) very kindly
donated the prosecco for our drinks
reception at last year’s Annual Dinner.
Tom founded First Class Products (FCP
Wines) from his room in Apsley selling
tennis balls to schools, clubs and private
individuals in 2007. After leaving St
Edward's and embarking on his degree at
Exeter, Tom began importing Champagne
from a small family producer in Epernay,
France. Following an interview on BBC
Radio 2 with Chris Evans, the business
soon began supplying customers all across
the UK. After graduating and returning to
Oxford, the business became established
as a niche importer with the addition of
Champagne and Prosecco producers from
Italy and France.
Today, still located in central Oxford,
the business has grown into a specialist
wine supplier importing over 250 wines
from small family wineries around the
world. Customers include the University
colleges in Oxford and Cambridge as well
as the finest hotels, restaurants and wine
merchants in Oxfordshire and across the
UK. This year, Tom has worked closely
Cecily Vessey
Cecily Vessey's special edition Quad print
Richard Venables