Going back to School!

I was really delighted to be asked to return to Ockbrook School, where I spent 15 years of my life, to speak at the Ockbrook School Leavers Association Dinner.

In recent years I’ve reflected a lot about who I am and why I am who I am and there’s no doubt my time at Ockbrook hugely influenced that.

I wasn’t too naughty but it would be misleading to say I was ‘a model pupil’!  I have such happy memories of school.  I really enjoyed thinking back to my time there, especially about the ridiculous antics my friends and I got up to.

Looking back through my old school reports I found things that were written about me when I was 10 that still apply now!  Mrs Holmes, one of my favourite teachers, wrote this –

‘She has a good sense of fun, verging occasionally on the mischievous, which, whilst is entertaining, I hope she never lets get out of hand.’

A story about school -Click on this link to see a short video clip of a story about one of my ‘achievements’ at school.

Looking back through old school books I found my school diary and despite thinking my passion for mountains came when I was older, this entry, written when I was 7 would suggest otherwise. (It also clearly shows what an exceptional artist I was!)

I get asked a lot why I do the things that I do.  It’s not an easy question to answer but it undoubtedly has a lot to do with being supported in my dreams and being given the confidence to go for them.  There is no question that Ockbrook was an incredible foundation from which I launched myself into the big wide world and why I now have the confidence to launch myself from the top of it!