Issue 12 – The Corinthian Online

Issue 12, The Corinthian 2022

Feature Articles

SCHOOLS’ CLIMATE ACTION

DYING TO STAY ALIVE – A STORY OF SURVIVAL AGAINST ALL ODDS

DR JULIAN: IMPROVING ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTHCARE

THE FREEDOM OF THOUGHT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

MAKING A DENT IN THE UNIVERSE

THE STOWE CENTENARY

Online Exclusives

BOOK REVIEW: A DIVIDED HEART BY MATHEW THORPE

I ONCE MET GEORGE SANDERS

STOWE-X MUSIC

JAMES RUDKIN – PRE-OLYMPICS INTERVIEW

BOOK REVIEW: PLAYING OFF THE ROOF AND SECOND HELPINGS BOOK REVIEW

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Unsigned!

Our-man-in-the-mosh-pit, NIGEL MILNE (Chandos 68), gives us his appraisal of an evening of Old Stoic Euterpian creativity! The evening of...

The National Tutoring Programme

Liberty King (Nugent 13) The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) was born out of one of the biggest crises England’s education...

SmartWisdom: Forging One’s Own Path

Jonathan Kemp (Walpole 79) At Stowe, I didn’t think I was smart and left with one rather poor A-level (grade...

I-Spy with my Stoical Eye (statues and lions excepted!)

In the 1960s I used to sit in the stuffy rear seat of my parent’s saloon car for return trips...

Remembering J.F. Roxburgh

Serendipitously, the following two memories of J.F Roxburgh hit the Old Stoic inbox within weeks of one another – are...

New bench in memory of Peter Farquhar

Stowe Churchyard now has a brand-new bench in memory of Peter Farquhar (Former Staff, 1983-2004) This was purchased with money...

Original 1922 Stowe Sale Catalogue

The Development Office were delighted and very grateful to receive a most unusual gift recently from Tim Jackson-Stops, a former...

Stowe Connect

Stowe Connect is going from strength-to-strength with users growing on a daily basis. If you haven’t yet registered, please do...

Inspire22

In November 2022, Stefano Capella (Cobham 11) will be travelling to Antarctica as part of a Medical Research Expedition to...

OS Corkscrew Society

The year is drawing to a close and our Old Stoic Corkscrew Society still remains a fiercely sought-after group, which...

JX2 LONDON

Jonathan Keating (Cobham 73) and Jonathon Hall (Bruce79) have established JX2. We met via the Old Stoic Society and realised...

Global OS

Following an unprecedented time where Old Stoics experienced a very unfamiliar sensation – that of being cooped up and not...

View all articles

Bookshelf

Bookshelf

Welcome to the twelfth edition of The Corinthian – the magazine for Old Stoics.

My second year editing The Corinthian has been a slightly less daunting experience than the first year but just as enjoyable. When Anna returned and asked me to carry on as Editor of the magazine, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.

With the School Centenary fast approaching, I am delighted that this issue features a summary of all the events that will be taking place throughout our Centenary year. There will be reminders and information on how to book these sent out in the coming months, but if there is anything you would like to sign up for now, please email the OS Office to register your interest.

It has been a pleasure receiving all your news from the past year as well as your ‘Change Maker’ achievements. Thank you all for sending them in. There is such a breath and depth of talent, entrepreneurialism and real ability to make a difference within the OS community that the theme of Change Makers was an exciting one to pursue. Being able to share even a fraction of your achievements and accomplishments in this magazine is a privilege. Although we couldn’t fit everything into the printed edition, we have been able to share more articles at Corinthian.online so do please look for the symbol that indicates there is more to read.

Thank you again to everyone that has contributed to the magazine, be it with news, submitting an article or placing an advert; it is greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank Anna and Sasha for all their support and help throughout the year and especially with this magazine.

I hope you enjoy this year’s edition. I will end with the usual plea: in the busy world in which we live it is essential that we have your current email address so we can keep you up to date. If you are in any doubt, please email oldstoic@stowe.co.uk.

Arron Quainton

It is with a mixture of huge excitement and trepidation that I write to you having taken over from Hannah Durden (Nugent 01) as OSS Chair at our AGM back in December. This took place at Chelsea Old Church, just before the wonderful OS Carol Service – a regular fixture on the OS Calendar, even against the odds of Covid. I take over with the daunting but wonderful task of leading us through the 2023 Centenary Celebrations to mark 100 years since the foundation of Stowe.

Hannah has left big shoes to fill and has given great service to the OS Society, initially by running the sports side of things, followed by many other roles before becoming Vice-Chair and lastly, as OSS Chair. She worked tirelessly with the OS Society and the School to drag us all into the digital age. She has worked hard to make our Society relevant in the modern day, with the additional curve ball of doing this mostly during Covid and the various lockdowns. Hannah has been responsible for starting the rejuvenation process of finding our lost and disengaged members and, despite Covid, we continued to organise a fascinating and diverse range of events across the UK and overseas. Please meet us half way and get involved: the fun of attending these events is meeting like-minded Old Stoics, rekindling old friendships and, who knows, even making new friends across the generations.

This is not a one-person job, so I would like to recognise and thank the Committee, past and present, for their hard work. Firstly, to our outgoing President, Matthew Vaughn (Chandos 89), who has been a wonderful figure-head to the Society and given his valuable time generously as well as outgoing committee members following their six-year tenure: Mark Flawn-Thomas (Grenville 72); Jonathan Keating (Cobham 73) and Paul Burgess (Cobham 89). Thank you all for your service. I’d like to thank our existing committee members in the prime of their committee lives: Nigel Wright (Chatham 78) in charge of all matters financial and Talulla Barrow (Lyttleton 07) organising all our main events. Toby Gauvain (Temple 89), who is from a fourth-generation Old Stoic family, who has taken on the role of Vice-Chair as well as the very important task of looking after our School leavers. We also welcome new blood to our Committee, whose task is not to sit still, but to inject enthusiasm into their particular roles to help take the OS Society towards the Centenary in 2023 and beyond. Alexander Roberson (Walpole 11) is responsible for global OS, Simon Smith (Cobham 88) is looking after sport and in particular OS girls sport and, finally, Mark Flower (Chatham 91) takes responsibility for the all-important careers.

My aims for the next three years are numerous but I also believe in ‘micro-ambition’ and surrounding myself with clever people – there will be a beginning, middle and end to the tasks that I have set but my focus is on the following:

To make the Old Stoic Society even more relevant for a much wider group of Old Stoics than we currently have;
To support the School and all its ambitions (perhaps most particularly its transformative Change 100 mission) in the run up to Centenary and thereafter;
To support each OS committee member to do their best work for the OS Society;
To support our leavers, especially those affected by Covid, as they start their journey as new Old Stoics.

I have been told we are one of the most active alumni associations in the country by my predecessor: well let’s get bigger and better – challenge accepted. Thanks to all the current members for your support and please continue to get involved. To our new members not yet in the Society – I look forward to welcoming you. I am at Stowe most weekends watching my son in matches, he is in the Lower Sixth, so I hope to run into Old Stoics at the School, at our events and through our initiatives.

I am very excited about celebrating the 2023 Centenary in style, and I am particularly excited to welcome our new OS President and first female OS President, Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie formally Stephanie Fraser (née Struthers, Stanhope 86). Baroness Fraser is the daughter of an Old Stoic with many other connections and we are lucky to have her on the team. We have an exciting three years ahead and I hope you will enjoy being part of it.

Luke Chauveau (Cobham 87)
Old Stoic Society Chair