Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School Newsletter   March 2013 

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Vesey grit and determination helped to re-open the school and Boswell Road!

Picturesque scenes around the site had to give way to our snow clearing team who got us back up and running as quickly as possible.

As this newsletter is published we delight in the anticipation of warmer and sunnier times ahead and shiver at this reminder of that protracted win-ter! We returned in January to find normal service was to be disturbed by deep snow! Despite what the adverse weather thrust upon us, we set about getting the school back in operation at the earliest opportunity and are immensely grateful to staff, students and parents for their noble at-tempts to maintain the term-time routines. This newsletter chronicles the wide-ranging activities and numerous opportunities which have been pre-sented to students over the past term. We are excited by the prospect of important new facilities in sport, expected to be in operation shortly, and thank all members of the Vesey Community for the on-going support we receive to maintain the momentum of our improvements.

Oxbridge Success 2013 Two New Deputy Headteachers We are delighted to announce that Ruth Hearn has been appointed to the post of Deputy Head-teacher with immediate effect, having assumed the rôle of Acting Deputy Headteacher since January 2013. Ruth joined the school in 2003 as a newly qualified teacher and most ably led and served the school community in a number of rôles, before securing this prominent position in the Senior Lead-ership Team. She is to be warmly congratulated on this speedy progress in school leadership. Ruth emerged from a strong field of 34 applicants which included in-coming Deputy Headteacher from Sep-tember 2013, Russell Bowen who is currently Assistant Headteacher at Pate’s Grammar School in Cheltenham. A Mathematician, Russell will join the school with significant experience of E-learning. His skills and expertise will complement those of the SLT chosen to take the school forward from next September and beyond. Congratulations to both Ruth and Russell. We wish them every good for-tune and much happiness in their new posts.

Congratulations! Left to right

Bethany Evans

Geography

Murray Edwards College,

Cambridge

Alex McAleavy

Economics

Hertford College, Oxford

Mark Poniatowski

History

Somerville College, Oxford

Tom Breithaupt

Earth Science

University College, Oxford

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Vesey’s goes to Science Live!

20 Year 10 students recently attended a lecture day at Birmingham Symphony Hall to hear top scientists discussing a wide range of topics, including the evolu-tion of humans, increasing female fertility, 'how the zebra got its stripes', black holes and time-travel. All were famous scientists within their own subject areas and included Professor Lord Robert Winston, Steve Jones and Jim Al-Khalili who have written some excellent popular science books, plus Maggie Aderin-Pocock who has recently been working on the new James Webb Space Telescope. The students experienced the way lectures at university are delivered and gained some inside knowledge on strategies for exam technique.

On Thursday 28 February, 19 U6 students accompanied by Jan Townsend and Kate Steadman attended a series of lectures, organised by Sovereign Education and held at Carrs Lane Church in Birmingham, on the presentation of love in literature through the ages in preparation for their A2 examination in June. The lectures covered medieval literature to the 21st century and were delivered by univer-sity lecturers from York, Manchester and Nottingham.

A Level Literary Critics

Live on Big School Stage - the awesome presence of author Marcus Alexander

Captivating in his style of oratory and captivating in his written narrative technique, Marcus Alexander lives in the world of fantasy and extreme sports, de-riving inspiration from his wide-ranging and far-flung travels where he met and learned from people of differing cultures and heritages.

No fewer than 63 students bought his latest book on the day and were able to capture his signature, fol-lowing this special event brought to us by Teresa Smethurst and her Library Team. Our students exhausted the stock of books Marcus brought for sale - such was the excitement created by his presenta-tion.

Listen to students - Daniel Baker and Leighton Palmer-Whyte interviewing Marcus at www.bvgs.co.uk

Readathon  2103:  World Book Day on 7 March was the target date for students to complete the Readathon 2013, the UK’s national sponsored 

reading event.  Students in Years 7 &8 were asked to set their own reading challenge.  Popular challenges included discussing a favourite book with 

friends and family, reading more in the evenings and at the weekend and trying a new author or genre.  Students raised a fantastic £1071.40 for CLIC 

Sargent and  the Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity.    Library  staff and  the English department would  like  to  thank all Vesey  families and 

friends who actively encouraged and supported the Readathon.  www.readathon.org 

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Two teams from BVGS were in Pool Two against QMGS and Wolver-hampton. There were four rounds of games. Each game consisted of 10 minutes on the clocks which gave players five minutes to conclude their match before swapping colour. No player played anyone twice and all schools had an equal number of games against every other school in their group. Team A, comprising LeoTsoi, Andrew Horkan, George Bai-ley, Luke Berenbaum, Luca James and Nikhil Madamsetty won medals for highest board wins. The U13 team had 2 winners for highest board wins – Neddy Tsoi and Toby Yu. The boys had a wonderful evening packed full of fast paced chess games requiring excellent concen-tration and speedy decisions.

Lightning Chess Tournament  

Iceland is a fascinating country which lends itself to geographical study. In February a group of students from Year 10 to Upper Sixth visited Iceland for a few days to experience some of the main sites which included: the Blue Lagoon, waterfalls, black coastlines, erupting geysers, diverging tectonic plates, glaciers and their associated landscapes. In the cold temperatures it was vital to be wrapped up, and wearing crampons to go onto the glacier was a unique experience that will not be forgotten. On our last afternoon we were lucky enough to have an audience with the Icelandic President, thanks to David Shrubbs who studied at university with him. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, will surely live long in the memory and his philosophy of treating everyone as a friend and equal and his positive stance on renewable energy are something the students can truly learn from. We hope to run another trip to Iceland in the future as we are keen for Geographers to see the geographical wonders of the world, so watch this space!

The Norman Laud Associa-tion thanked members of the 'behind the scenes groups' of two cross-country runs. The Seven Pools Committee and students from BVGS helped to raise £4,800 for the Asso-ciation, which provides res-pite care for children and adults with complex special needs.

BVGS Trip to Iceland February 2013

Target 2.0 Team in Area Finals

Top Vesey Economists travelled to Ashton Court Mansion, Long Ashton, Bristol on 28 February as Regional Winners to participate in the Area Finals of the Bank of England/The Times Target 2.0 Interest Rate Challenge. We are grateful to a selection of members of the Vesey Community who held a practice session in the Headteacher’s study on the eve of the event, putting the team members through their paces and offering helpful advice. Our team recommended holding the interest rate at 0.5% and maintaining £375 billion of quantative easing in a bid to achieve the Target 2.0 for inflation levels. Distinguishing themselves in the Q&A session following the presentation, the BVGS team gave a very good account of themselves from their research and studies but sadly did not proceed to the National Finals in London. Accompanying the team were Kathryn Wright Head of Economics and Business Studies, former Head of Dept Mel Harvey BVGS 1971-2007 and in support Executive Head, David Iddon. Winners of this Area Final were students from Millfield School, Somerset. BVGS held the title of Regional Winners in 2012 & 2013. Therein lies a challenge for 2014!

Staff Training Session in OBS on Mental Health issues

6th Form Helpers

January 2013

Page 4 March 2013

Year 10 Work Experience - Business Day 12 February 2013 Work experience training sessions include the special Year 10 ‘Business Day’ which takes place annually in Big School. Students are challenged to work in a different context with an outside trainer who provides problem solving and other teamwork exercises. This was an excellent opportunity to develop awareness, knowledge and skills in preparation for the work experience placements this coming summer. This special day gave students a clear insight into the world of work and raised awareness of the necessary skills and personal attributes which are key for success.

Sumo Wrestling for Charity! Student organiser Mohammed Mirza 11W refereeing a competitive battle between MFL teachers and left Arjun Patel and Sam Davis (right). £360.50 raised for Kids United Vision.

Spring Term Charity Students and staff have continued working hard this year fundraising for great causes. The grand total of monies raised this academic year currently stands at £7072.58. The year began with an exciting Sumo Wrestling contest organised by Mohammed Mirza and 11W. A number of students from a variety of years took part in a series of spars in front of a strong crowd. See photos below. 8B worked together to raise £31.40 this term for Leonard Cheshire Disability with their guess how many sweets in a jar. A highly impressive £1500.00 was raised from the non-uniform day and raffle for the Jeavon Porter Fraser Foundation which is raising funds for the Oncology Department at Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital, the Respiratory Department at City Hospital and a bench in his name. On Friday 15 March students were involved in the festivities of Red Nose Day. Sixth Form Charity Officers Caitlin Thornton and Kasia Czepiel organised a fun obstacle course in the Sports Hall for all year groups and Red Noses were on sale at lunchtime. School Captain Kumater Iyol completed the obstacle course in the fastest time. Total raised: £153.38

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Time to Act 5 March 2013

James Merry OV and Claire Huckle, both professional actors, offered a special drama workshop to members of Year 7&8 on 5 March. The event was in part sponsored by our community partners Vesey Players. Students worked on speech and movement techniques throughout the day, cul-minating in a performance of scenes from Bugsy Malone as the final session.

Art Department

Above: Year 9 artwork generated by students as part of their Fantasy World project. Students had to imagine what the school would look like in the year 3013! Based on a piece of creative writing students developed compositions from digital photographs they had taken around the school site. They have produced perspective drawings and developed these  in colour using watercolour paint and pencil crayon. Below: Year 8 artwork. Using natural  forms as  inspiration  for the work, students were asked to select an existing Birmingham  facade and redesign  it  in a style characteristic of architect, Antoni Gaudi. The artwork has been generated in clay which they have painted decoratively using watercolour paints. 

Page 6 March 2013

Attain Travel is a proud sponsor of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School Sports

On Saturday 2 February, BVGS Rowing Club member Robert Huskisson was lucky enough to meet the British Rowing team at their Caversham training base, which was first prize in a competition run by Rowing and Regatta Magazine. At Caversham he was given a tour of the training facilities, helped rig the boats, watched the water training sessions and then met some of the team, including gold medal winners Katherine Grainger and Andy Triggs-Hodge. Later in the day he took part in an erg training session, completing an excellent day’s visit.

Prize Winning visit to Caversham

Australian Sports Touring Party

On 7 Jan. we hosted our counterparts once again from Merewether High School, New South Wales. BVGS Netball players battled bravely with the fast paced and highly skilled Australian style of netball, whilst our rugby players ‘fronted up’ well against a robust side, leading by two points until the honours went to the visitors with a penalty in last play. A thrilling encounter.

Indoor Rowing

Staying  Power!  Both  Sunjay  Kohli  (right) and  Jasroop Bhogal  (left) have been keen  rowers  since  the  sport was introduced  to  the school  in 2007. Since  then,  they have competed  in  numerous  competitions,  and  this  March, will  compete  in  the  7th  Annual  National  Junior  Indoor Rowing Championships  in London, being  the only 2  stu‐dents to have ever competed in all 7 years. 

Swimming Gala 6 March 2013

Records tumbled again at the Annual BVGS Swimming Gala, most ably organised

by Brian Davies and hosted by Wyndley Leisure Centre.

There were 5 new records at this year’s gala: Year 7 Breaststroke Leighton Palmer-Whyte Blue 17.84 -2.44 Year 7 Freestyle relay Gold 1.08.99 -2.79 Year 8 Backstroke Matthew Price Red 14.18 -2.25 Year 8 Individual Medley Matthew Price Red 1.08.2 -6.77 Year 10 Backstroke Harry Bailey Gold 35.38 -3.83

Swimming Gala House Results:

Juniors Yrs 7-8: Winner Red House

Intermediates: Yrs 9&10: Winner Blue House

Seniors: Year 11 & Sixth Form: Winner Blue House

Overall Standing: Winner Blue House 162 points, 2nd Red House 150 points, 3rd Gold House 146, 4th White House 121

BVGS Newsletter Page 7

Vesey travelled to the National Indoor Arena on Thursday 7 March looking to defend their title. After the opening ceremony, the boys' event began with the Obstacle Race. Vesey won their heat convincingly, and with Holte School winning the other heat it looked like these two schools could well be battling for the title at the end of the day.

Filip Kozlowski won the shot putting event and also performed well in the standing triple-jump, ably supported in both events by Louis Hanlan. Adam Mohamed won his heat in the 60m sprint, with Hiwa Khalis and Louis Hanlan both finishing second in their 200m races. Captain Leighton Palmer-Whyte, Hiwa Khalis, Shiloh Ndiulor and Kai Molloy all performed well in the second round of field events. In the final events, Christian White, a late replacement into the team, ran excellently to finish 2nd in the 600m event, whilst Filip Kozlowski and Leighton Palmer-Whyte cruised to victory in the relay. A win in the final event, the 4x100m relay would give Vesey's a good chance of retaining the title. As things panned out throughout the day, it was Holte School who were to be Vesey's nearest rivals, and both teams ran in the same relay heat. Vesey's four-man team pre-vailed, with Leighton Palmer-Whyte running an excellent last leg to overtake the Holte athlete, and beat him by around 10m at the finish line. Vesey won the event from second placed Holte by over 30 points - a thoroughly good performance by some very talented individuals.

Birmingham School Games Yr7 Boys Indoor Athletics Champions

Chairman of Veseyans RFC Mark Tonks presenting a Life Membership award to Paul Stevens OV for his distinguished service to the club as player and legal ad-viser at the annual celebration lunch. Paul who left BVGS in 1966 has been running his own high street firm of solicitors up until recently. He plans to retire to the South of England. He was sincerely thanked for his kind endeavour in the name of VRFC and received a framed shirt and a set of cut-glass brandy glasses as a token of appreciation for his loyal service over many years. He joins a highly distinguished list of members of the Club who have been nominated as Life Members. On the pitch Veseyans RFC face a tough relegation battle with a cru-cial decider against Tamworth RFC - winner takes all - at the Memorial Ground on Saturday 13 April. Best wishes to VRFC for that huge match. Photo from Clive Burkin

VESEYANS RFC - A GREAT PLACE TO BE! www.veseyansrfc.co.uk

National Poetry by Heart Competition

University of Birmingham

Climate Change Research Unit for BVGS

Global Warming? Martin Lea, Acting Assistant Headteacher (pictured right), receiving the University of Birmingham Geography Department’s Meteorological Monitoring sensor recently installed in the grounds of BVGS. The sensor is part of a Birmingham wide programme to monitor air temperature across the region. The university plan to release the data for schools to use within Science and/or Geography lessons.

BVGS Poetry by Heart Finalists pictured above with Sarah Slater, Eng-lish Teacher and organiser of the competition to find the Vesey student who will represent the school in the Regional Final of this nation wide competition. Rose McGoldrick L6 triumphed in the Vesey Final and now moves on to the Regional Final in Halesowen. This is a new competi-tion for us here at BVGS and we are delighted with student interest in this type of event. Well done to all concerned!

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The History of Vesey Hockey Hockey was played at BVGS as far back as the turn of the 20th Cen-tury. However in the mid-twentieth century it ceased to be played until in the late 1960s when it was resurrected by the then Headmas-ter Arthur Johnson. In 1971 Graham Jackson was appointed to the staff to develop the game. Under his expert guidance and fuelled by his great enthusiasm, hockey quickly becoming a major winter sport with considerable success at county and national level. Vintage years under Graham were 1985-87 when the 1st XI became War-wickshire and Midlands Champions and reached the National Finals two years running, coming a very creditable 3rd in the country in 1987. Incredible results 1985-6 P18 W17 D1 L0 F126 A31 and 1986-7 P21 W20 D1 L0 F87 A31. From 1984-9 BVGS players were Warwick-shire Indoor Champions for a magnificent run of six years. Tour re-sults 1980-2000 P40 W24 D10 L6. Tours took place during these years principally to Bath/Bristol and SW England with a notable 2-1 victory over Millfield School in 1986. There was also a highly success-ful tour to Bielefeld, Germany in 1987 P4 W2 D1 L1. Numerous students represented the County and Midlands and international hon-ours were conferred on Malcolm Smith 1979 England U19 and Tim Clarkson 1988 England U18.

BVGS 1st XI Hockey Team in 1920

Ist XI Girls’ Hockey Team in the 1980s An inspiration for next season when we re-launch Girls’ Hockey

Ist XI Boys’ Hockey Team in 1971-2 with a newly appointed Master i/c Hockey, Graham Jackson.

Rugby Round-up We come to the end to another successful rugby sea-son for Bishop Vesey’s GS. It was a season once again affected by the bad weather with a number of games being cancelled. However overall when we did play there were some great achievements along the way. 1st XV had a good season considering it was meant to be a rebuilding year. The team did very well. The highlights were the victories over our local rivals KES Aston and KES Five Ways - both games very tight and could have gone either way but Vesey’s team spirit won through. 2nd XV had a great year winning some big games and just went from strength to strength. With the U16s developing well, the future looks very bright. U15 was the most improved team after a slow start to the sea-son. With key members out with injury the team per-formed well and got as far as the 6th Round of the Daily Mail Vase, being very unlucky not to go further.

U14s once again proved that this team is one to watch in years to come. A great year with the Greater Birmingham title won again for the 3rd year in a row and winning the Aston 7s and making the semi final of the Cup at the Solihull 7s. U13s again won the Greater Birmingham for the second year and also went on to make the final of the Cup at Warwick 7s and won the plate final at the Bromsgrove 7s.

U12s: After doing so well during the season with great wins over King’s School, Worcester, Adams’ GS and Bablake School, the U12s reached the final of the Warwick 7s which is a great achievement for a team of players who, in the main, had not played rugby until the starter rugby week sum-mer. They finished the season in style with a place in the Cup Final of the inaugural BVGS 7 a-side competition for Year 7s. In a most exiting game, having been 0-15 down at half-time, BVGS U12s nearly pulled off a dramatic victory but finally bowed out 21-22 to King’s School, Worcester.

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Present Day Vesey Hockey

BVGS Cross Country Team

wins Sutton Park Race

Tremendous Results for BVGS in the Sutton Park Race on 27th Feb: 1st Ben Topley, 9th Sam Lacey, 10th Megan McBrien (1st Girl), 21st David James, 27th Mark Poniatowski, 36th Rachel Smith, 37th Sam Simper, 43rd Katy Warren, 78th Nicole Parsons which placed the team in 1st place in the team race, so overall first boy, first girl and first in the team race! The final league race is 20th March after going to press - more results to follow. Any students wishing to join the successful Vesey cross-country squad next season are advised to speak to teachers Martin Lea or Daniel Everett and keep an eye on the sports noticeboard for details.

The results since Christmas have been exceptional but unfortunately the U13, U14 and U16s all lost narrowly in the semi-final of the County tournaments. The Warwickshire County is one of the toughest in the country but the aim is certainly to get a side to the regional qualification and possibly national finals in the next few years. The students receive outstanding coaching and this has undoubtedly made an impact with all students being able to develop technically at lunchtime, in games lessons and after school training sessions. Our new hockey coach David Beckett has been exceptional since starting in September and he has recently found out that he has been selected for the full Great Britain squad. David has really helped the rest of the PE staff as well and improved their knowledge and skill base. The season started off with a senior tour to Belfast in mid-September. This proved to be a huge success in building some team spirit between the 3 different age groups whilst improving their skills. After a difficult start against some strong oppo-sition the first and second team have had an excellent second half of the season and the tour undoubtedly benefited all involved. For the first time in the school’s history a junior hockey tour has been organised to Bristol, where Year 7 and 8 teams will play against Bristol Grammar and Cheltenham College. Both teams have shown huge potential and I am sure they will benefit from the experience both on and off the pitch. The U13 team are currently top of the Warwickshire League and responded to Warwick School who beat us narrowly in the County semi-final (7-a-side) with a resounding 6-1 triumph in the league game (11 a-side). This league structure is in its first year and has proved a huge success. A website has been created and all the Warwickshire teams now compete at each group and at first and second team level over the course of the year. This has helped to harness interest and make fixtures more competitive. Unfortunately weather has played havoc with the fixture card this year and it is now a rush to fit all the remain-ing fixtures in this term. In the current league standings our U13s are league leaders with two fixtures to go and can only be caught on goal difference, such is their lead! The U14s are in second position, U15 third, 2nd XI 3rd and 1st XI 4th. This shows the consistency across all our year groups, which is more impressive, considering Warwickshire is regarded as the one of the strongest counties in the country.

Recent impressive wins in Hockey: U12s beat Queen Mary’s GS 2-1, U13A beat Warwick 6-1, beat Lawrence Sheriff 4-0 , drew with Solihull 1-1, beat Princethorpe College 1-0 and beat Bablake 7-2, U13B beat Princethorpe College 3-0 , U14A beat King Henry VIII 3-1, beat Queen Mary’s GS 1-0 and beat Princethorpe College 2-1, U14B beat King Henry VIII 5-1 and beat Queen Mary’s GS 4-0 , U15A beat Queen Mary’s GS 6-0 and beat Warwick 4-1, U15B beat Queen Mary’s GS 5-0, 1st XI beat King Henry VIII 4-1 , 2nd XI beat King Henry VIII 6-0.

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Physics Experiment! Flipping good fun on Pancake Day!

Science is everywhere at Vesey’s! Science technician Julie Wadeson served up her annual fare of pancakes for lunch in the Physics prep room where Executive Head David Iddon demonstrated his ‘triple flip with a single in-flight fold’ to the amaze-ment and merriment of on-looking Science teachers, who had to agree that Physics is all around us. In fact our research led us to the formulae shown below:

12 students took part in the B’ham Schools Table Tennis Individual Champi-onships at Holte School on 27 February. Tim Manning U6 U19 pictured above, Kelvin Li Y10 U16 and Stan Pigott Y7 U13 progressed beyond the first round to the next 'knock out' stage, but were sadly 'knocked out', however all of them received good comments from their opponents.

Sutton Coldfield Schools’ Parliamentary Debating Competition 28 February 2013

Tyler Hayes-Burke left and Andy Quach right of Andrew Mitchell MP, who presided over the 11th annual parliamentary debating competition, sponsored by The Sutton Observer. A really wonderful opportunity for young people to debate and compete in an inter-school context.

Table Tennis Spring Concert 12 March 2013

Morning after the night before….percussionists who moved the audi-ence move one of the many percussion instruments back to the Clive Richards Music Centre after another quite outstanding concert which brought talent to the fore with a wide range of music.

Our thanks to physicist, Dr Mark Hadley of Warwick University who published these formulae on the eve of Pancake Day and thereby assisted us in our calculations! v = launch velocity, g = acceleration, h = height of the toss, a = length of the forearm, w = the spin, 0 = number of pancake half turns and p = pan diameter. Pan-cake tossing involves kinetic energy, torque and velocity and needs nifty wrist action and a good non-stick pan!

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/staff/academic/mhadley/pancakes

Old Veseyan NewsOld Veseyan NewsOld Veseyan News

Page 11 March 2013

Dan Maskell OV came into school to speak on Civil and Architectural Engineering at a Head-teacher's Lunch to Years 11 and 12. He had spent the morning talking with Upper Sixth students about Bath University.

Dan is a young OV and was the first Deputy School Captain. He is studying at Bath University where he gained a First Class Master of Engineering specialis-ing in Structural Engineering. He is currently in his final year of his PhD researching sustainable building materials.

Who’s Who in the Vesey Community

Our special feature of this newsletter is devoted to Vesey stalwart Peter Randon OV 1953-57, who joined the school from St Michael’s GS, Leeds, when his family moved back to Sutton Cold-field. His father Alfred George Randon, himself an Old Veseyan of great distinction, left BVGS in 1929, having been School Captain, playing rugby, hockey and cricket at senior team level, cap-taining the 1st XV. With that sort of Vesey pedigree, Peter rose to the challenge of distinction and captained the 1st XI cricket for two seasons, going on in later life to umpire the OVA v BVGS cricket match for over 30 years. Former Chairman of the OVA and still a Committee member, Editor of the OVA magazine for 33 years, Peter is renowned for his long and loyal ser-vice and unstinting devotion to the Vesey cause. He was a BVGS Governor for 23 years and Chairman of Governors for 18 of those years. During those memorable years, under Peter’s guidance the school appointed the first female Headteacher, Marie Clarke, sold land adjacent to Tamworth Road, built the Randon Centre, the Sports Hall and the Clive Richards Music Centre. As Chairman of Governors, he had an inimitable charismatic style of leadership which trans-formed the school’s policy and practice. He is very active in Freemasonry and joined the Old Veseyan Lodge No 7924 in 1972, becoming Worshipful Master in 1982 and Grand Lodge Officer in 2002. Above all he is a Veseyan who shows enormous kindness, friendship and generosity to all those he meets and, as a major benefactor to the school, continues to take a personal interest in the fortunes of his old school. 45 years ago Peter founded his own company George Taylor and Company (Midlands) Lifting Gear, currently with 50 employees and a turnover in excess of 7 million pounds, . Peter also became a magistrate serving on the Aldridge and Walsall Bench for 22 years. Peter’s wife Sheila is equally involved in BVGS and the wider Vesey Community, helping us with our archive collection and sponsoring the BVGS Hobbies Exhibition. Both Peter and Sheila devote a huge amount of time to charitable works and in personally supporting those in need of care and support. An inspiration to us all, they have the great joy of an extended family with eight grandchildren in Sutton Coldfield and around the country. We give thanks for all that Peter has

brought to the Vesey Community and all that he continues to do for the school through the good work of the Old Veseyan Association and The Vesey Foundation, ever present as he is at Vesey events.

Old Veseyan Reunion for those who left between 1960-65

On Saturday 16 March 49 Old Veseyans and partners converged on Big School for a special event which provided them with an opportunity to tour modern-day BVGS in the company of the current Officer Team and other Sixth Form helpers. Noting many changes to the physical landscape of the school, they were delighted to re-visit those parts of the school which were in existence in the early 60s during the headship of Geoffery Cross and reminisce as they took a trip down memory lane. Messages of good wishes were received from many unable to make the journey. We were de-lighted to welcome all those who returned and marvelled at those who came from as far as Germany, Cayman Islands and South Africa to be with

Our Next OV Reunion Event: Saturday 20 April 10am-1.00pm for those who left BVGS between 1967-72. We offer tours of the school and a chance to meet current students. Arrival: 10am for 10.30am in Big School.

To book a place, please contact Sharon Weblin, Executive Head’s PA and OVA Administrator via e-mail at s.weblin@bishopveseys.bham.sch.uk or tel. 0121-250-5406

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The Vesey Foundation

The Vesey Foundation was established in 2008 as a separate charitable trust to bring together all who are associated with Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School and to preserve the distinctive ethos and excellent resources at the school through fund-raising efforts amongst all members of the Vesey Community.

BVGS SPORTS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (Incorporating the OVA Sports Appeal 2011)

We are indebted to all members of the Vesey Community, wider community partners and supporters who have contributed to this project which will bring new and exciting dimensions to our platforms for sport. In particular we offer sincere thanks to Peter Randon OV and Clive Rich-ards OBE DL OV, as major benefactors to this development, for their wise counsel and kind and generous support. We are delighted to see instal-lations taking place and construction work beginning on the four lane outdoor cricket nets as seen below:

Below are the recently installed floodlights which will be in use on Middle Field from Autumn 2013. To conform to the original planning agreement in 2008, play on Middle Field must cease at 6.30pm on week days but the school use up to that time in the autumn and winter months will enable outdoor training to continue after-school. This will be a real and much awaited bonus for our young sports play-ers. With this new facility more senior hockey matches can take place on Wednes-day afternoons which will enable us to offer Girls’ Hockey from September 2013. The modern specification of this installation will ensure there will be little or no light spill beyond the pitch itself. Sincere thanks to all members of the Vesey Com-munity who have contributed to this project.

Tennis/Netball Courts Project Shown above, alongside the site for the outdoor cricket nets project, are the design plans for this exciting development which could well start in the summer term, if we can secure the final elements of the necessary funding.

Special thanks to

Sutton Coldfield Charitable Trust We are indebted to the Trustees of the above charity for a most significant grant which has substantially helped to swell the funds for our ambitious developments. With this help we move ever closer to achieving our overall target figure.

Special thanks to Sutton Coldfield Hockey Club for their significant

contribution to the floodlight project as part of the BVGS Sports Development.