Summer Drinks in the City return for 2025

A huge thank you to those that joined us for City Drinks on Thursday 26th June. As well as having a reserved area in the Phoenix, the sunshine allowed us to spill outside, and made for excellents summers evening! It was a joy seeing people from across the Brentwood School Association coming together. Notable were the stories that came out over the evening, from conversations it became clear the many varied and exciting things happening in our community. Below are just a few examples of the news and nuances that transpired over the evening:   

A lovely sucess story from a young OB, Ips Rishi, joined and was toasting the completion of her Biomedical Science at the University of Keele and has achieved a place on the Graduate Medicine program at the University of Warwick - a testament to the impressive pathways we see our alumni taking. Well done Ips. Anyone OB reading this who has recently graduated, please share your news, we love to know what our alumni are going on to do post university (Let Theo know - harrist@brentwood.essex.sch.uk).

Martin Rowland joined having invited Sam Mason, Director of Development, and Jos Hollington, OB President, along to his alumni lunch club the week prior. This class of circa 1960s OBs had invited them to shared insights about Brentwood and update on the plans and ambitions of the Foundation. Several from that group are kindly working on pulling together a 1622 Bursary, if achieved this would be the first Brentwood School year group bursary fund. What a significant milestone that would be!  

We were especially pleased to see new faces and younger OBs - Max Golledge, Dan Lee and Oliver Swainbank to name a few - this is exactly why we have London based events because we would love to give working alumni and parents the chance to network at the end of a working day. We must also thank those joining after other significant evening commitments; Ameet Watts, John Hubbard, Alastair McIlwraith, all joined after very busy events but were keen to support the City Drinks, we are always grateful for this level of commitment. 

With several past OB Presidents in attendance there was even a short "conclave" discussions the next Society President! Not quite true, however, it is fair to say next year will be an exciting time for those in leadership, with the Society restructure and the new entity continuing to work with the school to align our charitable objectives and activity. On that note, it was rather poignant that two attendees shared their intentions to consider the school Foundation in their wills. This is a powerful reminder of the lasting impact our School community can have, particularly as we will have legacy campaign this summer, inviting others to consider the opportunity of joining the 1557 Society.  

On the whole the evening was a relaxed, light hearted social where many jokes and stories were shared. Thank you again for making the evening a success, it was a night to remember.

Have a look at the photo gallery from the evening below: