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It’s been over ten years since Wellington first erected the Big Top for the annual Speech Day celebrations. A decision made in part to accommodate the growing size of the school, but mainly to reimagine what Speech Day might actually look like. Not everything was changed, of course: there were still Speeches – the Master’s State of the Nation address and the Chairman of Governors’ articulation of the school’s direction – and prizes too, to acknowledge outstanding academic, cultural, and sporting achievement. But since 2013 Speech Day has been so much more, with the Big Top show reprising and celebrating many of the stand-out performances and events that help make Wellington years so special.
This year’s Speech Day certainly lived up to its billing as the most exciting day in the school’s calendar. From the moment the jazz orchestra took to the stage for Friday evening’s concert through to the last overs of the OW cricket match on Saturday, all the best Wellington traditions were impeccably observed as the whole community came together for 24 hours of celebration. Saturday morning dawned to cloudless skies and sparkling breakfasts for this year’s Sixth Formers before Chapel Services reminded us all that Wellington College is a Royal and Religious foundation. The performers in the Big Top excelled, with the final spine-tingling rendition from the cast of Les Mis a perfect aperitif for the House lunches in the marquees that girdled Turf. Art and DT exhibitions, sports matches, cavalry charges and the Field Gunners added spice to the afternoon before valedictory speeches from this year’s Heads of College and that most iconic of all Speech Day traditions, the Master’s Callover, brought the curtain down on a day that will live long in the memory.
View the Speech Day gallery HERE ┃ View the Eve of Speech Day gallery HERE
