At the beginning of October, ten of our pupils attended three of the events on offer at the prestigious Henley Literary Festival. Once again the Festival offered an abundance of fascinating speakers and authors, including cookery legend Mary Berry, former prime minister Theresa May, Sir Tim Rice who is the co-writer of ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ and even former England cricket star, Sir Alastair Cook.
Our pupils were exposed to some sports journalism by watching an interview with former England cricketers Vic Marks and Derek Pringle. They discussed Derek Pringle's book Pushing the Boundaries, which covers how “The Eighties was a colourful period in English cricket. As a member of the most successful team in Essex's history and an England side capable of extraordinary highs and lows, Derek Pringle was lucky enough to be in the thick of it.”
Our pupils also got to hear the story of a true and horrifying account of torture and murder by Penny Farmer who spoke about her book Dead in the Water. Mail on Sunday journalist Matt Nixson, described her book as “A real-life page turner more intriguing than anything on Netflix. The gripping story of a woman who turned detective to track down her brother's killer - nearly four decades after he was brutally murdered.”
The last trip was to see a cool Tudor historian, Tracy Borman, discussing her book called Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him, which has been described by fellow historian Alison Weir as “An outstanding work of historical artistry, a brilliantly woven and pacy story of the men who surrounded, influenced and sometimes plagued Henry VIII.”
One of our Year 12 students summed up their experience and said “it’s been a fascinating and quite frankly intriguing experience the last few days, I’ve experienced so much culture and heard so many inspirational words from some incredible people. I am so pleased I went.”
Thank you to Mr Dickey for organising the trip and making it such an inspirational experience of our pupils.
