On Friday 17 May 2024 we hosted our sixth Bradfieldian London Lunch, returning to the Lansdowne Club in Mayfair.

We had a range of Bradfieldians spanning over 70 years of the College’s history on the guest list which included those who left in the Class of 1950 including Chris Lee (G 45-50) and John Nott (B 46-50) alongside some of the most recent leavers being Marshall Scott (G 17-19), Will Bray (H 14-19), Harvey de Meester (H 15-18) and his brother Chester de Meester (H 12-17) who also happen to be the grandsons of George Burne (A 48-53).

Guests came from overseas too. Bradfieldians Michael Devitt (A 52-57) known as Michael Chapman whilst at Bradfield and Robin Elliott (B 54-59) usually live in the USA and Pete Jones (F 93-98) and Johanna Lindström (M 14-16) both live in Germany. David Cook (E 55-60) and Tim Sills (D 55-60) left Bradfield in 1960 and others from the 1960s included James Wyatt (G 58-63), Raoul Pinnell (C 65-69) and Crispian Cartright (C 65-70).

This year we also had a group of girls from the Class of 1992 using the lunch as a 1992 reunion from Palmer House. Organised by Olivia Garran (I 90-92), the group included Paula Oppenheimer (nee White), Michelle Giles (nee Fischer) and Henny Swan. Also on the same table Will Dixon (C 86-91) and Hannah Greatrex (nee Iredale) (I 89-91) who had not been to the lunch before and Yaser Martini (C 84-88) who returned with friends Alec Cramsie (C 83-88) and Jonathan Hassell (C 84-88).

It was great to see many of last year’s Class of 1987 reunion back at the lunch again including Timothy Walton (F 82-87), Andrew Walwyn (B 82-87), Christopher Bailey (F 82-87), Tom Mallinson (A 82-87) and James Hart (D 82-87). They are looking for even more of their year group to get together next year.

WE THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THE LUNCH, THANK YOU FOR PUTTING US ON EXCELLENT TABLES WITH GREAT COMPANY

Several members of current College staff hosted tables including Head of Business Mike Rippon, Director of Co-Curricular Roger Wall and Teacher of Geography Roger Keeley, alongside the Bradfield Society team and the Headmaster.

Everyone enjoyed pre-lunch drinks followed by a three-course meal in the Lansdowne Club’s Grade 2 Listed Ballroom. The lunch was followed by an update from the Headmaster on the school and its pupils focussing on the key themes of Bradfield beginning with the letter H including: Happiness, History and Humility.

After lunch, Will Bray who joined the Campus-XR team as Engagement and Investment Lead led a demonstration of the Campus-XR product, an offer that was eagerly taken up by Tom Robertson (F 95-00) among others. Nick Finegold (E 79-83) who also attended the lunch is a generous advocate of this project. See Will Bray (H 14-19) ‘Working in a career of the future’ article.

To see more pictures visit the Bradfield Society online gallery London Lunch 2024