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It wasn’t just any Speech Day. It was a Wellington College Speech Day.
Only at Wellington, as they say, would Speech Day involve a Big Top seating 4,000, a live show that reprises the most spectacular events of the school year, displays and exhibitions, cricket and tennis matches, house lunches, the iconic field gun run – and, of course, prizes and speeches!
Anticipation built from the beginning of term: regular rehearsals for the actors, dancers and musicians; extra sequences added to the Master’s entrance video (this year featuring our very own Double O Dahl); tickets secured; picnics prepared; prize winners alerted, and no stone left unturned, no blade of grass uncut to ensure that College looked its absolute best. A palpable sense of excitement was in the air, as well it might: this was after all the first live Speech Day for three years, and also the first in person of Mr Dahl’s Mastership.
The Eve of Speech Day Concert set the tone for a memorable weekend. A balmy evening in late May often sees England at its finest, and the Combermere Quad was the perfect backdrop for Wellington’s own Prom concert, featuring our finest jazz musicians and singers performing for an audience both appreciative and relaxed; it was a perfect night, and one that will linger long in the memory. Speech Day dawned and with it a start to the day that was both formal and traditional with services of Commemoration and Thanksgiving in the Chapel, reminding us all that Wellington is both a Royal and Religious Foundation. Readings, prayers, spirited renditions of I Vow to Thee My Country, Jerusalem, and Carmen Heroidum, the school song, set a tone of solemnity and respect.
At 10:00 it was time for the centre piece of the day, the Big Top show, a show that had been eagerly anticipated for the last two years, playing out now in front of a massed audience of pupils, parents, staff, governors, and guests. How special it was to once more be able to gather as a whole community, to celebrate the achievements of the past year, to enjoy the dance, the drama, the sport, the art, the music and the special sense of togetherness that is the hallmark of a Wellington education. Over 200 prizes were presented by Governors, and a further 250 pupils graced the Big Top stage, performing breath-taking dance numbers, reprising scenes from College productions The Dreaming and Beauty and the Beast, taking a cappella to new heights and achieving a level of musicianship quite unparalleled for a school orchestra.
In their speeches, the Master, James Dahl, and Second Master, Cressida Henderson, outlined the major events and successes of the year and paid tribute to all who had worked so hard to make this year such a success. The Master was also able to outline his vision for the next few years: to the accompaniment drone footage and CG imagery he shared the new initiatives, buildings and projects that will not only keep Wellington in the vanguard of educational development, but also play a crucial role in facilitating his belief that a Wellington education should equip our pupils with the integrity, skills and vision to help serve and shape a better world.
By far the most poignant moment of the day came when the Master asked us all to pay tribute to the astonishing courage and resourcefulness of sixth former David Lofthouse. During his five years at Wellington David has redrawn the boundaries of possibility: his example of completing the Kingsleys on foot, his subsequent fund-raising for the Cerebral Palsy Trust, his partnership with Great Ormond Street Hospital (which will allow many more children to undergo life-changing operations) has been quite simply remarkable. The creation of the David Lofthouse Award will not only enshrine his legacy, but the scholarship and bursary will be awarded to children who, like David, have faced extreme physical adversity throughout their lives. Just like David, by attending Wellington these inspiring individuals will help to make our school a more diverse and inclusive environment.
And after the main show it was time for lunch in the 17 house marquees that surrounded Turf, and the chance for more intimate speeches as HMs toasted their Sixth Form leavers and celebrated the special moments that make the boarding house the cornerstone of a pupil’s experience of Wellington. Time then for a quick round of the exhibitions, displays and matches, before a final gathering on South Front, displays from the Colour Party and Corps of Drums, valedictory speeches from Freddie and Alice, our two brilliant Heads of College, and then the most traditional of all conclusions to Speech Day, the Master’s Callover, in which the Master called the roll of all 1085 current pupils as they file respectfully past, mindful no doubt of the citation of the Queen’s Medal, initiated by Queen Victoria, and awarded each year to the Heads of College, which calls on all Wellington boys and girls to tread in the footsteps of the Great Duke and exhibit ‘fearless devotion to duty and unflinching truthfulness’.
Click HERE for full Eve of Speech Day gallery. | Click HERE for full Speech Day gallery.
