Old Prestfeldians

David is the Deputy Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing at Brambletye School in East Grinstead. He is also an Inspector with the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), which is the body responsible for assessing the extent to which Independent Schools are complying with the Statutory Independent School Standards and reporting on this to the Department for Education.

David attended Prestfelde from 1993 to 1997, having moved here from a local state primary school. Like most people who choose to privately educate their children, David recalls that his parents had to work hard and long hours to be able to send him here. They did this, he says, because they wanted to give him the opportunity to progress academically in small class sizes, and to benefit from an all-round holistic education with an emphasis on sport.

While here, David was a day boy and held the position of Prefect and Head of Sport for the Saxons.  He recalls the persistent suggestion of Mr Marris that he might like to consider becoming a boarder in Beckbury – a proposal that he flatly refused to entertain due to his attachment to home!

Mr Trimby was the Headmaster when David first started and was then subsequently succeeded by Mr Bridgeland.

As someone who loved school, David enjoyed all subjects, but he has particularly fond memories of science with Mr Bell, Latin with Mr Gillespie, and sport with Mr Williams and Mr Banks.  

As David says:

“Sport played a huge role in my time at Prestfelde and I still remember doing the double vs Packwood in the 2nds rugby and winning the Ellesmere 6-a-side football with Mr Baskerville. In fact, I still have my trophy for this!”

After leaving Prestfelde, David went on to study at Shrewsbury School, where he was a day boy in Radbrook House. He then took a gap year in New Zealand, where he worked in the PE department at Tauranga Boys’ College and played cricket for the school. He also represented the district – the Bay of Plenty – in cricket at the U19 level.

Upon returning to the UK, David studied Medical Imaging at Liverpool University and then moved to Edge Hill to complete his PGCE in Secondary Science. He has worked in the education sector since 2009, holding a variety of posts, from Teacher of Science and Head of Year, to Head of Boarding and now the Deputy Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing at Brambletye.

So how does David look back at his time at Prestfelde all these years later?

“With great fondness”, David says:

“I really enjoyed my time at the school and because of this Prestfelde will always be somewhere that is incredibly special to me. It was a place that allowed me to develop my confidence and to explore a whole range of academic and extracurricular opportunities that have taken me to so many different places in my life. The skills that I learnt have been invaluable in helping me as I have got older, and it is because of the overwhelmingly positive experience I had at Prestfelde that I now work in a prep school myself.”

“I know that there are many parents who will be wondering whether investing in a prep school education is really worth it, especially when faced with the addition of VAT to private school fees, and what I would say to them is ‘yes, it really is’, because I know first-hand how crucial prep schools are in helping children to grow in confidence, to flourish and to reach their true potential.”

“I am a father to three children myself now, and I have to say, if the possibility allowed then my wife and I would love to send our children to Prestfelde because of the very special school that it is.”

 So, does David keep in touch with any of his former Prestfelde friends?

“Yes, I do,” he says. “In fact, one of my great friends from Prestfelde, Anand Gohil, was the best man at my wedding! And I am really hoping that by joining the Old Prestfeldians Society that I will soon be able to reconnect with lots of other people that I remember fondly from my time as a pupil at the school.”

Thank you for sharing your memories with us, David!

Hugo Ward owns Cucu Creative, a content-marketing agency based in London that works with global brands to help them tell powerful stories through film. He leads a talented team of journalists, filmmakers, animated-graphic designers, editors, producers and audience-engagement specialists to produce content for companies in industries including financial services, cryptocurrency, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications.

Hugo is an accomplished documentary maker, having previously made dozens of programmes for Channel 4’s Dispatches and Unreported World, working in over 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti and Indonesia. He has also profiled an array of people through film, from the Dalai Lama to Tony Blair. He also launched and grew Economist Films, which as the name suggests is the film division of The Economist.

Hugo attended Prestfelde from 1988 to 1993 and followed in the footsteps of his older brother, James, who left the school the year before Hugo joined, and also his godfather who attended Prestfelde in the 1950s.

Hugo grew up on a farm in Monkhampton, Shropshire, but following the sad death of his father when he was still relatively young, his mother – a physiotherapist who worked all over the county – decided to move the family to Bridgnorth.

When Hugo came to Prestfelde, Mr.Trimby was the Headmaster, and while his memories of our former Head are fond ones, he also recalls him as being a man who ran a very tight ship! As Hugo puts it:

“He instilled a level of discipline at the school that you wouldn’t see today, but that was a good thing because it meant that everyone knew where they stood and, crucially, which teachers should be avoided when they were in a bad mood!”

Reflecting on his time at Prestfelde, Hugo recalls what a happy place it was and how he and his peers felt free to be themselves.

His fondest memories are of the summer term, while boarding at Highfields House: 

“I loved playing cricket outside until dusk and having the freedom to roam the school alongside your best mates. We seemed to pack in so many activities: school plays, choir, lessons, gardening and a full range of after-school clubs. But, for me, drama was the real highlight. I specifically remember a drama class in 2B where I must have impressed Mrs. Partridge, because she seemed to recognise my passion for the stage and from that point onwards I didn’t look back! We had so much fun performing ‘A Little Matter of Murder’, written by Mr. Dyfnault, and ‘ A Little Shop of Horrors’, directed by Mr. Lund. I recall that the DT department even made a man-eating plant for that production!”  

As a keen sportsman, Hugo concedes that he probably did most of his learning on the sports field. As he recalls:

“We had an incredibly talented, unbeaten 1st XI football team. Mr. Trimby didn’t miss the chance to take us on a tour to ‘The South’. Among the schools we played was Ludgrove, where Princes William and Harry were boarding. On the first night staying in one of the dorms, we were caught by surprise when a group of much younger boys invaded carrying pillows. They were led by a little ginger lad: Prince Harry! The next day the Ludgrove Headmaster introduced Prince Harry to Mr. Trimby, who asked the young prince who he’d be supporting. Without dropping a beat, Prince Harry promptly replied “Prestfelde, because they’re a great bunch of lads””.

An active member of the Normans House, Hugo eventually went on to become Head Boy – something that he is still proud of (even at the age of 44) because he was one of the first non-scholars in the school’s history to hold this position.

After leaving Prestfelde, Hugo went on to join Shrewsbury School, where he spent five happy years as a boarder in Severn Hill. After that he was determined to travel and so worked in a car mold factory in Telford and took on as many shifts as he could in local pubs to raise the necessary funds. His long-anticipated trip was to Africa, where he and a close friend from Shrewsbury journeyed overland from Cape Town to Tel Aviv during the course of nine months – although they had to fly over Sudan due to the civil war there at the time. 

After returning from his travels, he studied at Bristol University and after graduation was lucky enough to secure a spot on the BBC News Scholarship Scheme. This led to a range of opportunities, including covering the Athens Olympics while reporting for BBC Radio 5 Live and LBC.

At the time, Hugo’s Australian girlfriend had an opportunity to return home, so he followed her to Sydney and spent three years working for various TV networks as a reporter and as a News Programme Editor for a breakfast show. When he returned to the UK, he finally broke into documentary filmmaking, which was where he had always wanted to end up.

As Hugo explains, his desire to become a documentary maker was formed at an early age:

“At around the age of 12, after watching a lot of Michael Palin travel documentaries, I became determined to pursue a career as a documentary filmmaker and a journalist, and when I returned from Australia I finally realised my dream by landing jobs directing films for a range of broadcasters, including Channel 4, the BBC and Discovery, to name a few.”

So how does Hugo now look back on his time at Prestfelde?

“This is an easy one to answer. Prestfelde gave me a deep-seated confidence and has formed the foundations of everything I have gone on to achieve. Maybe I’m being a bit ‘rose tinted glasses’, but my time at Prestfelde really was one of the happiest of my life. It was, and remains, one of the leading prep schools in the country. It was a place where making mistakes was part of the journey – where you could fail, learn, and grow in confidence, always surrounded by exceptional teachers who you knew had your best interests at heart.”

“The impact Prestfelde has had on my life truly became clear only a few years ago, when I was touring prep schools in Hampshire with my own children. At a time when I needed support the most, the staff at Prestfelde were there for me. They fostered an environment where we were free to be ourselves, and in turn we gained the confidence to always strive for our best. These values became the foundations on which I’ve built my life.”

And does Hugo keep in touch with any of his old school friends?

“Yes, I do stay in touch with a bunch of old friends from Prestfelde”, he says. “In fact, I recently did a 50-mile hike with a group of Old Prestfeldians, scaling 15 of the highest summits along the Welsh border. We had to walk through the night and there was a lot of chat; most notably about the happy memories of our collective time at Prestfelde!”

“To any old boys or girls out there who are not currently members of the Old Prestfeldians Society, I would urge you to sign up as it’s one of the easiest ways that you can help to ensure that the school continues to thrive. I also think it offers a fantastic opportunity to create a powerful network to help Old Prestfeldians for decades to come.”

Thank you to Hugo for sharing such a fascinating insight into his life.

 

Matt is a successful Shropshire-based businessman who attended Prestfelde from 1974 to 1980. He went on to study at Ellesmere College, before embarking on various sales and marketing roles. He was the Managing Director of Ternhill Communications from 1993 to 2002 and then CEO of Pure Telecom from 2006 to 2019. He is now a private investor and the director of Morland Capital Partners and 4M Properties Ltd. 

When Matt was a pupil at Prestfelde it was still an all-boys school, and the Headmaster was the much-loved Mr. Michael Manby. Matt was a proud Viking and some of his fondest memories are of playing house rugby with his fellow teammates under the skillful and enthusiastic direction of his wonderful House Master, the late Ken Houlston. 

For reasons we will come to, Matt very much loved his time as a Prestfeldian – so much so that he and his wife Maria chose to send their own children here: Morgan, who has just completed her business degree at Exeter University and MJ, who has just started studying for his A Levels in business, photography and design technology at Shrewsbury School. Between December 2011 and July 2019, Matt was also one of our school governors and a principal fundraiser.   

Indeed, it was as a result of Matt’s fundraising efforts that we were able to secure sufficient donations from parents and alumni back in 2014 to enable us to demolish the draughty old wooden chapel that used to sit on the far side of the London Road car park, and to replace it with the wonderfully  warm and welcoming Blackburn Chapel and Theatre. 

We also have Matt to thank for the creation of the beautiful Michael Sandford Memorial Garden (now affectionately referred to as the Beckbury Garden by our pupils, due to its proximity to Beckbury House), which was gifted to the school by Matt and Maria in memory of his late father who tragically died while Matt was a pupil here and when he was just ten years old. 

The circumstances of his father Michael’s death were heartbreaking, both for Matt and his family and also for the wider Prestfelde community. 

Michael was a well-respected and leading Midland’s-based architect. He was also a keen yachtsman, so  when a friend asked him if he would sail a new yacht over to France for him, he naturally agreed. He set out on the trip with a crew of four, all of whom were from the Shrewsbury area and one of whom was also a fellow Prestfelde parent. While undertaking the crossing, it appears that the yacht ran into difficulty and was lost at sea, along with all four crew members who disappeared without trace. To this day, nothing of the yacht or crew has ever been found. Matt’s father was just 43 at the time. 

Reflecting on his father’s death, Matt recalls the comfort that he and his family took from the love and support shown to them by Prestfelde and by the wider school community during this devastating period in their lives:  

“When my father died, Prestfelde were simply amazing – they rallied around my family and I to ensure that we felt held and loved during what was an unimaginably difficult time. I felt safe and happy at the school and still remember going to speech day (which at that stage coincided with sports day) and bawling my eyes out as I said goodbye to all my friends and to the staff. My days at Prestfelde really have had a profound impact on me”  

Matt says that it is his fondness for the school, and his memories of the weeks and months that followed his father’s death, that motivated him to create the Michael Sandford Memorial Garden, which he gifted to us as an area to be used for quiet reflection and for outdoor learning:  

“I remember, in the early days after my father’s death, that I would often walk around the school looking for areas where I could be alone to grieve and to process my thoughts. There were lots of places that I used to go to, but no dedicated space where I could just sit and reflect on what had happened and to contemplate things. I thought it was important for the school to have this sort of space – somewhere that pupils, staff and even parents could make use of whenever they need a bit of time out or to be outside among nature.”  

Matt had fabulous support from local suppliers, who donated most of the materials, and special thanks must go to Seb Lupton who provided us with landscape gardening services, and to Lucy Walton who helped to design the overall concept for the garden drawing on her expertise as an award winner garden designer.  It should also be noted that Matt and Maria made a substantial financial donation to help cover the cost of construction works. 

“Given my father’s lifelong love of the sea, I decided that I wanted to give the garden a nautical theme and so I had the great idea of using a ship’s anchor that had been salvaged from the bay at Abersoch to create a visually impressive centre point. This was given to me by the helm of Abersoch RNLI and looks fantastic in situ.”

There was a lot of effort that went in to creating the garden, and it was definitely worthwhile, as our Headmaster, Nick Robinson, explains: 

“Since the garden was gifted to us by Matt and Maria in this amazing philanthropic gesture, it has become a much used and valued resource which every day makes a hugely positive contribution to the general health and wellbeing of our pupils, staff and parents. It is a place that people gravitate towards when they need to have a moment to themselves, or when they simply want to take some time out to sit in relative peace and quiet; and as Matt had hoped, it is also an amazing place for our children to explore as part of their outdoor learning.” 

“Matt is a true Prestfeldian, and we shall always be grateful to him – not just for all that he has already done for us, including the creation of the garden and the new chapel and theatre building, but also everything that he continues to do to show his support. Matt, we salute you – you are a hugely valued part of the Prestfelde community, and we are very lucky to have you.”