St Edward's Rhubarb - 2018

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b 20

OSE in Business

1982 Andrew Anthony (E, 1977-1982) has moved to Cambridge and is now Deputy General Manager at the University Arms Hotel, re-opening in June 2018 after a two-year £80-million landmark development www.universityarms.com . OSE are most welcome. 1985 Richard Venables (A, 1980-1985) wrote to tell us that he is very honoured to have been appointed High Sheriff of Oxfordshire for 2018/19. It is the oldest Royal appointment in the country dating back over 1,000 years and whilst the Sheriff no longer raises taxes or the local militia, the role does revolve around supporting the agencies of law and order (police/prisons/judiciary) and the voluntary sector. In his Shrieval Year he will be supporting Oxfordshire’s youth with specific emphasis on sport and culture in deprived areas as well as raising awareness of mental health amongst Oxfordshire’s schools. Teddies instilled in him a great passion for sport and its benefit to overall wellbeing. He says he never challenged for many of the main teams during his time at school, but thoroughly enjoyed the minor sports offered as an alternative. Hockey is still a huge

passion emanating from his peak performance as captain of the 3rd XI and he still plays at Oxford Hawks with many other OSE. He has raised money for a variety of charities including Access Sport and Thomley Activity Centre. Richard also met the Warden recently at his High Sheriff fundraising dinner for a SANE ‘Black Dog’ which is going to be travelling Oxfordshire’s schools (including Teddies) to raise the awareness of mental health amongst pupils and teachers. In addition, he is fundraising for Huntingdon’s Disease Association and recently completed the London Marathon and is now in training for the Race to the Stones 100km Ultra in July. It is going to be a busy year…..! 1998 Sophie Lavender (now Baxter) (J, 1997- 1998) has recently set up Lavender Jones Recruitment, a new PA, secretarial and graduate recruitment business. Sophie would be happy to help OSE, young and old, find new career opportunities or assist them in finding new employees www.lavenderjones.co.uk . 2005 Cecily Vessey (née Machin) (J, 2000-2005) is an artist based in Kennington, South London. She is known for her architectural illustrations that she applies to an array of ceramics, stationery and screen prints - London’s iconic skyline being her signature image. Cecily’s work is sold in a wide range of shops and institutions worldwide including the Tate Modern, British Library, the Shard, Design Museum and Natural History Museum. She has created bespoke items for the Houses of Parliament and Tower Bridge. Cecily also creates large scale murals and last Christmas she spent a weekend drawing in the window of a shop in Carnaby Street. Alongside this Cecily works to commission, creating drawings of private homes, churches and other landscapes as well as designing

O S E I N B U S I N E S S

Cecily Vessey

wedding stationery. Cecily has created a limited edition screen print and mug for the School depicting the view over the Quad towards the dining room, chapel and cloisters. Her work was displayed in The North Wall in September 2017 as part of the Co-education at 20 Exhibition. The St Edward's print is available from Cecily’s website www.cecilyvessey.com with 20% of each sale being donated to the Bursary Fund. The mug can be purchased directly from the OSE office. 2007 Tom Ellis (E, 2002-2007) very kindly donated the prosecco for our drinks reception at last year’s Annual Dinner. Tom founded First Class Products (FCP Wines) from his room in Apsley selling tennis balls to schools, clubs and private individuals in 2007. After leaving St Edward's and embarking on his degree at Exeter, Tom began importing Champagne from a small family producer in Epernay, France. Following an interview on BBC Radio 2 with Chris Evans, the business soon began supplying customers all across the UK. After graduating and returning to Oxford, the business became established as a niche importer with the addition of Champagne and Prosecco producers from Italy and France. Today, still located in central Oxford, the business has grown into a specialist wine supplier importing over 250 wines from small family wineries around the world. Customers include the University colleges in Oxford and Cambridge as well as the finest hotels, restaurants and wine merchants in Oxfordshire and across the UK. This year, Tom has worked closely

Richard Venables

Cecily Vessey's special edition Quad print