NEWS Winter '09 - Strathallan School

NEWS Winter ’09
“The Happiest Days of Your Life”
The School play was “The Happiest Days of Your Life”. Set in the aftermath
of the Second World War, it is a farce about a girls’ school which has had
to be evacuated from its own premises and is joined up with a boys’ school
which, under pressure from parents, attempts “to eradicate all traces of
feminine influence” from their pupils. This play has been performed several
times before at the School, the last occasion being in 1992.
Field Investigations and
Continuing Pupil Success
The Geography Department remains top
in the UK for overall grades achieved at
public examination level for a second year,
an achievement which is a credit to the
commitment and diligence of staff and pupils.
The strong cast of pupils (in every year from Form III to
Upper VI) performed this farce, dealing expertly with the rapid
dialogue, intricacies of the plot and quick timing of the action.
The Upper VI pupils, four “old-stagers”,Ollie Wale, Ollie
Beetschen, Jamie Parker and Andrew Glover and three in
their first roles, Abbey Kemp, Jamie Dodd and Emily Irons-
Young, gave very strong performances. They were well
supported by the younger cast members, Hannah Cox,
Flora Hay, Henry Melville, Rosie Beech, Jonathan Blackburn
and Becky Vallot. Mr David Hume, with help from the stage
crew, built an outstanding set. Jamie Schofield was stage
manager and Mrs Irene McFarlane directed the play. In this,
she was ably assisted by Mr Terry Wale, a Strathallan parent,
who is a professional actor and director.
Field work is an integral component of the AQA courses and the GCSE and A2
cohorts have just completed a field investigation of the fluvial dynamics of River Farg,
and an extensive survey of the primary vegetation succession at Tentsmuir Point
respectively, which afforded them the opportunity to apply appropriate field
techniques, develop skills of teamwork and to produce an individual evaluative report
on their findings. In addition to these visits, the Scottish Higher group attends a
residential field weekend in the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria on a biennial basis.
The Iceland trip remains a popular option with all VIth Form Geographers.
Ciara Elwis
Ciara (LVI) recently auditioned successfully for
the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great
Britain and will be attending two 10-day courses
next year in Oxfordshire, each culminating
in public performances by the orchestra.
Director of Music Richard Walmsley is
himself a former member of the NYWO
and is enthusiastic about the orchestral
experience it offers young players.
In addition to her musical talents, Ciara has been
invited to join the 2009/2010 Bank of Scotland
Talented Young Athlete regional squad for pole
vault, following her bronze medal performance
at the Scottish Schools Indoor Athletics
Championships in Glasgow back in February.
Rugby
Congratulations to Andy Hall
who has been selected for the
Scottish U18 Training squad.
He joins 1st XV Captain Ryan
Hood in this squad and will be
attending training sessions at
Murrayfield.
Again we have good representation in both the
U18 and U17 Caledonia Rugby Training Squads.
Ryan Hood, Andy Hall and Joe McColl were
selected for the U18 squad and Alex Henderson,
Keith Buchan and Tom Wilson the U17 squad.
The results last year for the A2 group were impressive with 70% awarded grade A
and 100% secured an A-B grade. The performance of the very large GCSE group
has been excellent with 55% of the pupils achieving A*/A grade. Pupils opting for the
very popular SQA Higher Course have been highly successful resulting in an 80%
pass rate at the A-B grade.
Following a successful start to the season
winning the Madras Tournament the 1st XV
season has included wins against Glasgow
Academy, Hutchesons’ Grammar, Fettes,
Loretto and The High School of Dundee.

2 www.strathallan.co.uk
Help for Heroes
- Charity Non-
Uniform Day
Musical Showcase
It was another marvellous musical evening at the Perth Concert Hall
where over 100 pupils performed a diverse selection of musical works,
from Orff’s ‘O Fortuna’ from Carmina Burana to Take That’s ‘Shine’.
The Charities Committee organised a
non-uniform day in aid of Help for Heroes
in which all the children dressed up as
cartoon characters for the day. The Riley
children who are always ready to grab a
photo opportunity persuaded Captain Kyle
and Marine Dan Fox to join them for a
photograph.
Once again the programme was immensely varied with more traditional work
performed in the first half such as Bach’s Air on a G-string and Debussy’s La
Cathédrale Engloutie and drew to a close with a wonderful performance from Riley
pupil Delphine Mahos. The second half saw “popular” works performed including
Mamma Mia, The Bare Necessities, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and a beautiful version
of Myers’ Cavatina played by the Guitar Ensemble.
The ever popular Big Band gave a rendition of New York, New York and closed the
concert to rapturous applause.
Director of Music Richard Walmsley described the concert as one of the “Musical
Highlights of the Year” during his BBC interview and the audience certainly agreed
with him.
As with all Headmaster’s Music Concerts a collection was taken in aid of a nominated
Charity and this year proceeds went to the BBC’s Children in Need appeal. BBC Radio
Scotland featured the event to launch its appeal and the evening raised £1,033 for
the charity.
The
Fundraising
Continues
November saw some interesting changes
to the facial features of staff as they
supported the fundraising initiative of
Movember and wear it pink in aid of
Prostate Cancer and Breast Cancer.
A Royal Audience for
Strathallan Singers
Fourteen Strathallan pupils travelled to Royal Deeside to perform for
Her Majesty the Queen at Crathie Kirk and also at the morning service
at Braemar.
Our Choir, under the direction of Director of Music, Mr Richard Walmsley is alone in
receiving an invitation to perform at Crathie Kirk and is made up of Strathallan Choral
Scholars and members of the School’s Chamber Choir. Conducted by Assistant
Director of Music at Strathallan, Mrs Carole Sim-Sayce the Choir performed three
anthems by Handel, Howells and Rutter.
This is the fourth time that Strathallan have been invited to sing at Crathie for
The Royal Family and on this occasion Her Majesty the Queen was joined by
the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay.
Music...

Winter 2009 | News
3
Choral Scholars
The Choral Scholars have had a very busy and exciting schedule since the end of the
Summer term. At the beginning of the holiday, the current Scholars were joined by
other ex-Scholars to record their inaugural commercial CD, with Priory Records:
‘Drop down ye heavens: Music for Advent’. The recording took place over five days,
with the scholars recording eighteen tracks, including
Richard Lloyd’s Drop down ye heavens, Charles
Wood’s O Thou the Central Orb, George Dyson’s
Magnificat in D, as well as other well known Advent
hymns. The CD is now on nationwide release,
and can be obtained through the School,
and also through all good record shops.
Perth Burns
Club’s School
Festival
At the Perth Burns Club’s Schools’ Festival,
five trophies were presented to pupils.
For verse speaking Lauren Dundee, Fraser
Glasgow, Nick Drummond-Hay and Oliver
Wale all won trophies and Anna Olafsson
was victorious for fiddle playing. Amelia
Inglis also came first in the unaccompanied
singing class for pupils Under 15.
BBC Radio 4 Broadcasts
The Choral Scholars were invited to perform in two different broadcasts
for BBC Radio 4.
The first was a live broadcast of the Radio 4 show, Sunday Worship with hymns
and music sung by the Cathedral Choir combined with readings to celebrate the
beginning of the season of Advent.
In addition, the Scholars recorded hymns and the anthem People look East,
by Barry Ferguson, for a broadcast of the Radio 4 LW show, Daily Service.
Hopetoun House
The Choral Scholars also took part in a charity concert for Hope and Homes for
Children at Hopetoun House, organised by singing teacher Ms Heather Boyd.
The programme featured several soloists from Scottish Opera, accompanied by
another with Strathallan links, Mr Neil Metcalfe, and the Scholars performing a lighter
programme of Karl Jenkins’ Adiemus, a choral arrangement of Moon River, and
ending with Fraser-Simpson’s setting of Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.
An enthusiastic audience of over two hundred enjoyed the Scholars’ performance,
and the evening generated over £5,000 for charity.
National Mod
Alice Inglis has been successful once again at the National Mod in Oban this year
winning her open duet class with Miss Kim McDonald. Alice also entered the open
class with her sister Amelia, Anna Olafsson and Ollie Wale. Their group, Clann Strath
Allain, came second.
Riley Concerts
Riley have produced two concerts this term.
All pupils take part in the tutti performances,
carefully chosen by Mrs Sim Sayce to
include not only song but accompanying
actions too. There were a number of
extremely confident solo performances
demonstrating just how much talent there
is in Riley and as usual there was a full house
at both concerts.

4 www.strathallan.co.uk
Sport...
Athletics
Chris Rennison (UVI) represented
Scotland over the summer in the Schools
International Athletic Board Schools Track
& Field International in Antrim. He was
one of two athletes selected to run 3000m
for the Scottish Schools team against
the home countries of the British Isles.
Following
in Brother’s
Footsteps
After some excellent performances in goal
for Midlands District U18 at the recent
Inter-District Hockey Championships,
Captain of Hockey, Elizabeth Cachia,
has made it into the Scottish U18 training
squad. She will now be training hard and
hoping to make it into the full U18 squad.
She follows big brother, Jamie (Nicol 05),
who has just returned from New Zealand,
having won a bronze medal with the full
men’s squad in the recent World Cup
qualifying tournament.
Struan Dewar
Strathallian, Struan Dewar is a member of
the 12-man Scotland 7s squad and has
recently travelled to the home of the 2010
Commonwealth Games, Delhi, for a weeklong
intensive training camp. Struan is
currently taking time out due to an injury
and we wish him a speedy recovery .
Skiing
Chris Rennison, No. 7
Two Third Form pupils, Hope Whitelaw and
Scott Garvie have been selected for the
Scotland team to take part in the World
Schools Ski Championships in Italy in March.
Our Girls Team qualified for the British
Schools Dry Slope Championships following
their success at the Scottish Schools Dry
Slope Championships.

Winter 2009 | News
5
Cricket
Swimming
Successes for Strathallan Stars
The School Swim Team has had an excellent term winning a total of thirty
eight medals at the Tayside schools Championships in November and
remaining the most successful school in the competition.
Upper VI pupil, Freddie Coleman represented
Scotland U17 & U19, Warwickshire U17
& U19 and has had his contract with the
Warwickshire Academy renewed for 2010.
During the U19 World Cup Qualifiers Freddie
was the highest run scorer for Scotland.
He also scored 125 for Warwickshire U17
against Northampton. In the summer he
made his debut for the Scottish Lions,
the adult reserve team.
At the Midlands Schools Swimming Championships, the Girls’ Relay Team of Maggie
Luck, Olivia Woodes-Rogers, Sandie Smillie and Eilidh Gibson all swam personal best
times to win the Etta Cooper Rosebowl in a time of 2.01.5.
Sixteen year old pupil, Joe Lipworth became the new UK Schools Games record
holder for 200m Breaststroke following his win in this event. At Sheffield, Joe also
set a Scottish age group record for 200m, Individual Medley.
Duncan Scott won two Golds and two Silvers at the Central Region Championships as
well as the shield for Boys 11/12 year old 100m Freestyle and the Cup for 11/12 year
old 100m Backstroke. At the West District Championships Duncan won five Golds and
one Silver.
The School Team has won all its inter-schools galas by huge margins.
Rugby
Under 16
Team, a
team of
the future
Jamie Ritchie
Jamie Ritchie won the Silver medal in the
12-14 year, 55kg category at the British
Judo Championships in Sheffield.
He won 5 out of 6 bouts, and all wins were
by Ippon.
It has been some time since inter-school Rugby has been played at the U16
age group and Strathallan welcomed its reintroduction this season.
The players, ably led by Ruairidh Hunter and Nick Farrar, made considerable progress
both as individuals and collectively, securing several notable victories and participating
in two titanic battles both, quite fairly, ending in tied scores. Just a single defeat in
a fully contested match was indicative of the tremendous commitment and spirit of
mutual support and fraternity which permeated the squad. Four players have been
selected for the Caledonia U16 training squad and many more can look forward with
confidence to a bright future in the game.

6 www.strathallan.co.uk
National
Selection
Congratulations go to three of our girl
goalkeepers Elizabeth Cachia, Nicky
Cochrane and Laura Glasgow for their
selection into the Scotland U18 and U16
Girls Hockey Training Squads.
In the boys’ section congratulations go
to Alistair Wood and Murdo Elwis for their
selection into the Scotland U16 training
squad and Michael MacKenzie for the U18
squad following their performances at the
recent inter district tournament.
Hockey
U18 Indoor Winners
The Girls’ U15 Hockey team was victorious in the Midland District U15
Tournament beating Morrison’s in the semi-final and Dollar in the final.
Strathallan won a penalty shoot out and Laura Glasgow had an outstanding
match saving three out of four Dollar penalties. The cup was presented
to Captain, Rachel Campbell.
Strathallan had excellent representation in the Midland District U18 squad this term with
Elizabeth Cachia, Jenny Wood, Hannah Cox, Philippa Orr, Alice Farrar, Kirstin Lamotte,
Ciara Elwis and Lynsey Knowles all playing. Laura Glasgow, Charlotte Hartmann and
Eugenia Ramos have also been selected to play for the U16 Midland District squad.
The Third Form B team, undefeated this term, has not conceded a goal in all seven
matches. The Strathallan U18 girls recently won the Midland District Indoor Tournament
at Mayfield, Dundee and have qualified for the National Indoor Championships in January.
Charlotte Hartmann was the tournament top goal scorer.
U15 Team

Sport...
Winter 2009 | News
7
Scotland Rugby
Stars Coach
Strathallan’s
Rising Stars
Sailing
Keen sailor, Jordan Black has been
selected as a member of the Great Britain
Intermediate National Youth Training
Squad for 2009/10.
Scotland Rugby Internationalists, Max and Thom Evans spent an
afternoon at Strathallan last term coaching school rugby squads.
The Rugby stars, who play for the Glasgow Warriors, took to their coaching roles
with great ease and confidence. Their rigorous training drills were enthusiastically
received by all the pupils and Max and Thom generously allowed extra time for a
question and answer session to discuss all aspects of life as a professional rugby
player. The afternoon’s session definitely inspired the pupils.
Kayaking
District Hockey for Boys
Alistair Wood and Murdo Elwis represented Midland U16s at the Inter District
Tournament in Edinburgh and Michael McKenzie played for the U18 Team. Alistair
was selected as captain of the U16 team. Derek Hoogerbrugge was selected to
play in the North District team.
Brother and sister, Eilidh and Angus Gibson
are making waves on the Junior Scottish
Canoeing scene. Angus recently won the
Scottish Championships for the 12 and
under group in the Canadian Single at
Fernielea. Angus now holds both the 12
and under and 14 and under Scottish
Championship titles and both Eilidh and
Angus have been selected for the Scotland
Canoe Slalom Junior Training Squad.
Twelve pupils from the newly formed
kayaking club ventured out onto the waters
at Lochore Meadows for their first outing
this term.
Inaugural House Chess Competition
The first ‘House Chess’ Competition took place this term and saw several enthusiastic
players battling it out for a new trophy.
Jamie Schofield, Kuo Hong Wong and Shi Kai Chen won first place and the trophy for
Ruthven House. Second place went to the Nicol team with Woodlands and Freeland
joint third.

8 www.strathallan.co.uk
Army Section
Dinner
A super evening was enjoyed by cadets
and staff from the Army Section of the
School’s CCF when it hosted its annual
dinner this term.
Meet the Marines
Cadets from Strathallan’s three CCF units, The Royal Marines, The Royal
Navy and The Army Section enjoyed an action packed day of abseiling,
rock climbing, unarmed combat and aerial slide over the pond with
The Royal Marines Commando Display Team.
The team headed up by Captain Ryan Kyle consists of 23 Royal Marines Commandos
who spend six months travelling the length of the British Isles to raise the profile of the
Corps and encourage young men to consider a career as a Royal Marine.
This term the team spent three days at Strathallan giving schools and youth organisations
from all over Scotland a chance to participate in the challenging activities and also
to discuss career options with recruitment officers from both the Royal Navy and The
Royal Marines.
The children thrived on the teamwork required and remained cheerful throughout the
day, even when dunked in the pond.
The CCF day ended with a display of Unarmed Combat, a highly disciplined method
of hand-to-hand fighting, which is taught to all Royal Marines for use in active service
conditions. Not for the faint hearted!
Lamsden Zulu
Mr Lamsden Zulu, Director of Planning,
Choma Municipal Council, Zambia has
been attached to Perth & Kinross planning
department for the last two months and
came to the School to address the pupils
at Chapel. Mr Zulu spoke of his work,
providing education for HIV/Aids orphans
in his native home of Zambia and was
presented with a cheque towards his
good work.
Community Service
Over the past few weeks Fourth Form pupils doing Public Service have been
participating in a series of activities to work towards achieving the John Muir Award.
The students completed various activities including observation of natural environments
at Kinnoull Hill, Lochore Meadows and Scout Law, and coppicing at Harran Hill Woods,
near Lochore.
“The Forest rangers explained to us what coppicing was and how to use the tools.
Every seven years, young trees are harvested so that the wood is quite malleable and
can be woven to make fences. The stumps are left to regrow. When the students
arrived, the Rangers had already felled a number of trees and they spent the first week
using pruning saws and loppers to strip the branches and pile up the thin trunks of birch
and hazel. Once most of the trees had been processed, a couple of pupils were able to
don hard hats and try their hand at felling trees, and on return visits the pupils fell into
an easy pattern of felling, stripping branches and collecting the timber. The smaller
branches ended up on a large bonfire, and Dallas, one of the Rangers, even produced
some sparklers for us.”

Winter 2009 | News
9
Arts Critics Award
Equestrian
Rosie Williams did very well at the British Eventing (BE90) Regional Finals at
Turnberry in September. She beat a large number of riders including many
adults, to win the competition and qualify for the finals at the Badmington
Horse Trials in May next year. She has also achieved great success in
Dressage - winning the Pony Club Open Regional Championships and
going on to the Nationals in which she came fourth.
Fourth Form Pupil Frances Myatt’s love of
ballet and writing encouraged her to enter
The Guardian Young Critics competition.
Her Dance Review of ‘The Return of Ulysses’
performed by the Royal Ballet of Flanders
at the Edinburgh Playhouse won the Dance
Review category. Frances’ review was written
with great maturity and compassion.
Jenny Summersgill has completed a successful season in Show Jumping. She beat a
strong field of 70 riders to win the 1.05m Open at the Scottish Home Pony International.
She also won the 1m Open at the Champions of Scotland show and came second in the
1m National League.
Andrew Glover was selected to represent Scotland at three Internationals this summer
in Dressage. He won the Junior U18 Individual Championships at Marlton and his scores
helped the Scottish team to come second. He is a member of the Scottish U25A squad,
and has qualified for the British Dressage adult Scottish Winter Regional Finals at both
elementary and medium level.
Bronya Woodes Rogers qualified for the National Tetrathlon Championships. She also
achieved success at the British Youth Pentathlon Championships in which she achieved
a ranking of 11th in Great Britain.
Connie Snowie qualified for the British Show Pony Summer Championships in England
in which she won the Restricted Show Hunter Pony and she came 2nd in the M&M
Working Hunter Pony Class. She was also successful in the Restricted Show Hunter
Pony class at the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead in which she came 12th.
Pupils call on world leaders to
follow Scotland’s Target on Carbon
Emissions - “Join the Q on 42”
Strathallan School’s Eco Group has emailed world leaders to call on them to
follow Scotland’s stringent targets on Carbon emission reduction in advance
of the Copenhagen talks in December.
The group decided to email world leaders as part of their Eco Schools programme, in
which they try to raise awareness of green issues within the school and local community.
As part of their activities they have set up a recycling site within the school, planted trees,
conducted campaigns to reduce electricity use within the school and reduced waste.
The issue of Climate change was brought home to the pupils when they organised a
showing of “Age of Stupid” staring Pete Postlethwaite, an independent film directed by
Fanny Armstrong. The film was attended by Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland,
who answered questions after the showing.
The pupils decided to ask world leaders to join Scotland in setting a target for carbon
emissions of 42% and came up with the slogan. To help raise awareness of the climate
change conference pupils queued at a bus stop bound for Copenhagen with signs
asking world leaders to follow Scotland.
Perth
Young
Artist
2009
Perth Kinnoull Rotary Club, organisers of
the art competition, awarded first prize to
Hannah Cox in the S4-S6 category for her
work entitled “I, Me, Mine”. Murdo Elwis won
second prize in the S1-S3 category and the
School won the prize for overall highest
standard of work. Contributions to this prize
were from Rosie Gibson, Sophie, Howell,
Sean Garrett, Laura Collins, Georgina
Howell, Gareth Watt and Cameron Mack.
Foreign Flair for
Creative Writing
Otto Kakhidze joined Lower Sixth this year
and showed his flair for creative writing
when he won a National Competition in
his native land, Georgia. The theme of the
competition was
“How do you
imagine the
European citizen
of the future?” and
the prize was an all
expenses paid trip
to Strasbourg.

10 www.strathallan.co.uk
Exchange to Hilton College
Our exchange programme with schools in the Southern Hemisphere continues to be
popular and Lower VIth pupil, Ben Melville was lucky enough to spend six weeks at one
of South Africa’s most prestigious schools this summer. Hilton College is an hour from
Durban and is set in the beautiful countryside of Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Ben is the first Strathallan exchange pupil to attend Hilton. The first hurdle was being
flung into a form of sixteen boys but they all proved very welcoming and friendly. It wasn’t
long before Ben found himself fully involved in all aspects of school life, including learning
the tribal language of Zulu.
Some of the highlights were camping in a game reserve, spending a weekend in mud
huts with no electricity and learning about the culture and traditions of the Zulu tribe.
Finally Ben took part in a 5-day leadership course with the rest of his year which proved
both physically and mentally challenging. Hilton student Lloyd Mercer arrives at
Strathallan in January for what we trust is an equally unforgettable experience.
Strathallian
Lecture
Strathallian David Dinsmore, Editor of the
Scottish Sun, gave an entertaining talk to
the Sixth Form this term. His opening slide
was a picture of his old athletics team and
he went on to read an letter written to
himself at the age of seventeen detailing
what life had in store for him on his journey
through adulthood and describing some
of the interesting people and situations
he would meet along the way. Good
discussion ensued at the question and
answer session with Mr Dinsmore justifying
his position on certain stories. The discussion
continued over dinner in the Wilf Hoare room.
Third Form Retreat
The Third Form Retreat was its usual fun-filled, action-packed weekend, providing the
pupils with the opportunity to make new friends and share new experiences. Laser tag,
white water rafting and canyoning were all on offer and they rose to every challenge
with great enthusiasm and comradeship.
The evening barbeques provided a
welcome feast for the hungry, tired and
soggy groups before retiring to what
apparently was like ‘one big sleepover’.
A great weekend was had by all and one
pupil was even heard saying that it had
been ‘the best time of her life’.
Visit of Professor Nick J. Clifford
to the Geography Department
Handover
of Glenbrae
The new girls’ boarding house Glenbrae
was officially handed over to Mr Thompson
during a ceremony in the stunning new
building. Edinburgh Architects Oberlanders
designed this attractive, modern yet homely
building and the Stirling based company
Ogilivie Construction completed the build in
just sixty three weeks. An impressive spiral
staircase is a central feature of the House
and links all the accommodation and
communal areas.
The House has been a high quality
and essential addition to the Strathallan
community.
Professor Nick J. Clifford from the School of Geography, University of Nottingham visited
Strathallan School to present a talk to the Sixth Form Geography students. The talk
was entitled “The Trouble with Trash-The Dark Side of River Management” and proved
extremely interesting as he covered a variety of case studies from across the globe
and used computer models to simulate actual flood events within rural and urban
environments. He gave pupils an insight into the many social, economic and political
problems as well as the potential conflicts which have to be addressed when
considering the management of a river system.
Some pupils were provided with the opportunity to discuss his research with
Professor Clifford in more informal surroundings over dinner.

Winter 2009 | News 11
Strathallian
Strathallian Flight Lieutenant Alex Blackstock, Ruthven 1998, has just
returned from a successful four month tour in Afghanistan with the RAF’s
No 12 Squadron.
Alex studied Aeronautical Engineering at Glasgow University before joining the RAF
and is currently the Squadron’s Junior Engineering Officer or ‘JENGO’. Alex’s team has
supported over six hundred Tornado taskings in Afghan air space, supporting Coalition
ground forces and Afghan Security Forces operating from the renowned Kandahar Air
Base. The biggest challenge was The Afghan General Election Day last August where
Alex and his team supported twice as many taskings in one day as normal.
The Squadron has now returned to its home base at RAF Lossiemouth and Alex is
training to run in his first Marathon.
Calling all
1991 leavers
A reunion is to be held at Strathallan on
Saturday 10th July 2010 for the 1991
leavers. Dinner and drinks will be served
in the Music Room and accommodation
will be available, on a first come first
served basis, in the new girls house
Glenbrae for the night. Organisers are Kirsty Guthrie née Wood and Julie Bodger
née Clark. More information regarding the function and the cost will follow via email,
Facebook, Strathallan newsletters, Linkedin, Strathallan Alumni Coordinator, formal
invitation and word of mouth! We would also be delighted to hear from 1990
and 1992 leavers who would like to join in the fun. Partners are also welcome.
If you are interested please email Kirsty at Kirsty.guthrie@kjgltd.com or Julie at
Juliebodger@gmail.com or Aileen Wilson at alumni@strathallan.co.uk. We look
forward to seeing you again!
Ishbel McFarlane
On graduating on November 25th with an
MScR (Master of Science by Research)
in Edinburgh University’s MacEwan Hall,
Ishbel McFarlane (W04) found herself sitting
just along from a Strathallan governor,
Neil Houston, who was receiving the same
degree. While Ishbel has been researching
History of Art, Neil was furthering his
musical studies. Ishbel is currently studying
for another post-graduate degree, this time
in acting at The Royal Scottish Academy of
Music and Drama. This change of direction
has come about, partly because of her
experiences performing in Ella Hickson’s
“Eight” in New York in January 2009, and
in London’s West End in July. Ishbel played
Millie in the play which has been published
by Nick Hern Books.
Tartan Launch
Strathallians and parents enjoyed a
drinks reception at Anta’s Grassmarket
Shop to celebrate the launch of
Strathallan’s new Tartans.
The new Modern & Ancient Tartans were
designed by Anta and the evening provided a
great opportunity for guests to catch up while
enjoying the background music provided
by the renowned School Folk Group. Pupils
Max Tabourel, Ewan Ramsay, Katie Vallot and
Heather Larson were wonderful hosts and
made sure that the guests felt welcomed and
well catered for. There was also an opportunity
to purchase some of the exquisite Strathallan
Tartan gifts designed by Anta.
30 years of Girls
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of girls at
Strathallan, the School welcomed back the
first girl to attend, Mrs Margie Burnet Ward.
Mrs Ward, now headmistress of Wycliffe
College in Gloucestershire, made her first
visit to School in three decades to join
other Strathallian girls at a Champagne
reception in Glenbrae to celebrate the
30th anniversary of Strathallan becoming
co-educational. Glenbrae, the new girls
house was completed on time for the
beginning of this academic year and
accommodates the increasing number
of girls wishing to come to the School.

12 www.strathallan.co.uk
Queen’s Birthday Honours
for Strathallians
Honours have been bestowed upon two Strathallians in the Queen’s Birthday Honours
list this year. Both John Gray (Simpson, 1960) and Peter Grant (Ruthven, 1962) were
awarded the OBE.
John, who retired this year as Chairman of the Strathallan School Board of Governors,
his wife Margaret and sons John and Peter were at Buckingham Palace in October
where he was presented with the award by the Queen. He received the honour in
recognition of his services to Further and Higher Education in Scotland over a period
of 10 years and in particular recognition of his ongoing commitment to Coatbridge
College where he has been Chairman of the Board of Management since 2002.
In addition he served on the Scottish Further Education Funding Council for six
years and on the Higher Education Funding Council for four years prior to their
amalgamation. During this time he served on a number of important committees
including the Capital Investment Committee which was responsible of the development
and implementation of a national estate strategy for Scotland’s Colleges and
Universities. He was also Chair of the Joint Audit Committee of both Councils and
was a member of the Higher Education Funding Council’s Small Specialist Institutions
Advisory Group. He was also a Board Member of The Royal Scottish Academy of
Music and Drama for three years.
Strathallian
Peter received his OBE for services to Science and has just retired as Regius Professor
of Engineering at Edinburgh University. In addition to his academic duties he serves
as a director on three research and commercialisation related companies. In 2008/9
he spent two periods of study leave at Rice University, Houston and Princeton
University, New Jersey, where he discussed ongoing UK research in “green cellular
radio systems” which is conducted in association with Vodafone, Orange, 3 etc.
Tony Bucher
Tony Bucher (Ruthven, 1963) passed away in the early hours of Friday 27th November
following a severe chest infection. Tony was a staunch supporter of the Strathallian Club
and over many years built the London Dinner to its current level of success. He will be
very sadly missed.
Strathallian Club
Forthcoming Events
Freeland House Reunion: Sunday 25th April 2010
London Dinner: Thursday 13th May 2010
1991 Leavers Reunion: Saturday 10th July 2010
Contact Aileen Wilson at alumni@strathallan.co.uk for more information on any of the
above events.
Forgandenny Perth PH2 9EG Scotland UK
T +44 (0)1738 815003 F +44 (0)1738 812549
Scottish Charity No: SC008903