Founders’ Dinner Speech

Thank you.

As you approach the end of your time here at Loughborough Grammar School, you will for the first time be looking into a future that is at once uncertain and exciting. You’re moving from a world in which you have the known comfort and security of your friends, family and school, into a world of unparalleled opportunities. In this world, find your people. Surround yourself with your people. Whatever you do, do it with your people.

In the film Up, Russell is recalling a memory of his father, them getting ice cream together and counting the cars as they pass by. He says of this memory, “That might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most”. As you look back on your time at School, and as you move on through life, you’ll find it’s the boring stuff you remember most. It won’t be the grade that you studied so hard for that you’ll remember, it’ll be the time your friend nearly fell out of a first-floor window because you made them jump. It won’t be the award you won for a subject or a sport, it’ll be the time your excellent form tutor asked you if you enjoyed General Studies yesterday afternoon with a look that says they know you weren’t there. And yes, these are my memories, and these were my people.

These ‘boring’ memories you make with your people will keep you sane. Some of you have been in this Foundation since Fairfield – 14 years. This is my fourteenth year too. In that time, every opportunity in which I have been successful, inside school and out, has been due in no small part to my people. In every opportunity where I wasn’t successful, my people picked me up and looked after me. Sometimes, your find your people in unusual circumstances – I met my partner over a pool game in an RAF Mess when a fellow officer chipped the cue ball off the table and dented the nearby antique piano. Sometimes you can pick your people – I was incredibly fortunate to be able to assemble a Sixth Form team of Miss Hannah and Mr Clarke and for three years we shared laughed and cried together in the Sixth Form Office. Sometimes you are picked – when I applied for the job at the Grammar School, my interview was a little bit odd…as I sat slightly bewildered in the Headmaster’s Office, a cheeky smile from Mr Dawkins from across the room to send some reassurance that not every day was like this began a lifelong friendship. Turns out though, most days are like that! Sometimes, you can’t remember who picked who, but here you are together sharing time together with Mr Moseley and Mr Murphy trying to forge a path through the most recent crisis, real or imagined, or just playing the most annoying Whatsapp game of ‘name that plane’. These are my people, and I can’t imagine my life without them or the boring memories we have forged.

When you think about who you would call at 3am in the midst of a crisis, who do you know would answer the phone? These are your people. The ‘boring’ memories you make with these people will always make you smile. Stories that no one else finds funny, stories that have no right to even be funny, but in that moment, with those people, it was the funniest thing to ever have happened.

As a Politics Teacher, I love the show Parks and Recreation. Leslie offers this advice to the graduating class – “Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Far and away, the best prize that life has to offer is a chance to work hard at work worth doing.” And I would add that what makes work worth doing is getting to do it with people that you love.”

I cannot think of any better advice for you, only to add to it. Work worth doing can often appear to be getting the best paid job, the best title or the biggest award. These are not unworthy things to strive for, but they will be easier and more fulfilling with your people alongside you. Some of your people are in this room right now. Some of your people you will find in Freshers’ Week or your first day in a new job. Who your people are will change through every step of your life. But know who they are, never take them for granted, and relish the boring memories you make together.

Now go find your people and get to work.