Joining the College in 1993 from an all-girls school, Jo relays how lucky she felt to attend for two years which would fly by in the blink of an eye. Despite some early trepidation knowing that she would walk into rooms already filled with pupils who had forged friendships and alliances, she quickly found that Bradfield was the kind of school where being embraced as a new pupil was made so easy because the opportunities were endless. “It felt like a friendly, gentle school and it wasn’t like you had to go looking for things to do; those opportunities were everywhere!”
Her love of music led her to join the Chamber Choir while she threw herself into most sports including netball, tennis, lacrosse and even squash. “Before I knew it, I was nose deep in mud with a rifle”, laughs Jo as she recalls stories from her time in the Combined Cadet Force.
“It gives you the confidence to apply yourself when necessary and make a difference.”
She also thrived academically, studying Chemistry, Biology and English, and she waxes lyrical about her inspirational teachers including Hailz-Emily Osborne who she was delighted to hear had returned to watch this summer’s Greek Play. All of these experiences instilled a skillset in Jo which she still leans on in life to this day. “What I took from Bradfield, in a humble way, was this reassuring internal confidence. It helps you contribute as part of a team and gives you the confidence to apply yourself when necessary and make a difference. It helped me to understand humility and to have the patience to let something play out while being part of the bigger picture.”
I’m curious as to whether a career in flying had entered her mind by this point; her father, after all, was a commercial pilot. It wasn’t completely off her radar, excuse the pun, but she had other aspirations with one eye on a potential career in Medicine. So, combining her academic subjects with her sporting passions, she headed off to the University of Bristol to study Anatomy and Physiology. It wasn’t long before the opportunity to fly arose for Jo.
“If you asked me where I spent my happiest times at university it would be flying”, she says explaining she’d noticed a stall for the University Air Squadron while representing the netball team at a Freshers Fair. The RAF affiliated programme gave her access to 100 flying hours, essentially the elementary flying training syllabus for becoming a pilot within either the Royal Navy or the RAF. “I always had the idea that if I was going to fly, I’d rather take people on holiday than drop bombs”, she says as I ask if she’d considered a career in the military before she adds: “I’m also not good at ironing so I don’t think I’d have made it.”
