Bicentennial YearThe year 2007 was a special one for Mill Hill. Appropriately coinciding with the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, it signals a year in which our School was founded by Samuel Favell and the Revd. John Pye Smith – two fervent abolitionists.
A wide variety of activities took place during the Bicentennial Year. Our art and theatre studies departments took over the Arts Depot complex for a week of drama supported by a spectacular art display. Our young musicians also performed in a series of “Unplugged” events in the Studio at the Arts Depot. Perhaps the highlight for many of the year has been the celebratory service at St Paul’s Cathedral – an event that was both spectacular and moving. The musicians’ talent was again much in evidence here and we were delighted that our Director of Music premiered two specially commissioned pieces written for the event.
Also in March, we renamed our School theatre in honour of Patrick Troughton, and staged an International Hockey Day with our friends at Southgate Hockey Club as part of the Sport 2007 initiative. In springtime, we welcomed Old Millhillians of the St Bee’s era to Mill Hill. For many of the evacuee Millhillians, this was the first time they had ever seen the famous portico. This too was a moving day for all those who attended. HRH The Countess of Wessex did us the honour of opening the Favell Building, where, as well as meeting governors, staff and pupils, she was able to see the wonderful history boards in the Favell Building specially commissioned to celebrate the School’s 200th birthday.
The Lecture Series in 2007 had a special flavour in that two of the lectures were named in honour of famous Old Millhillians. OM Sir Simon Jenkins delivered the Sir James Murray Lecture, and Professor Steve Jones presented the Francis Crick Lecture. The year’s series of lectures was wound up appropriately enough by Mill Hill School Historian Roderick Braithwaite who entertained his audience with stories from the School history. In September Hardeep Singh Kohli presented the first Richard Dimbleby Address on the subject of Indian Partition.
On the sports front, Mill Hill has also hosted the Junior Open Tennis Championship and the Junior Festival of Golf. Both events were hugely successful with around 130 young sportsmen and women taking part. At St Paul’s Cathedral, the School was presented with a new Crest of Arms. This Crest was used for the first time on the strip of our rugby players on tour in New Zealand and the Cook Islands. It was also used by our golfers on tour in South Africa following their great success in the HMC National Championships.
Our European initiative was celebrated in February with the Rouen 40th Anniversary Dinner at the National Liberal Club.
Our celebrations were brought to a climax when more than 2000 current and former pupils, staff and invited guests attended the Foundation Day on 29th September as for the first time Foundation Day was combined with Old Millhillians Day. The day began at 1.30pm with a Service of Commemoration of Benefactors in the School Chapel taken by The Rt. Rev. Peter Wheatley, the Bishop of Edmonton. The service was followed by prizegiving when we heard speeches by Sir Gavyn Arthur, Sir Robert Balchin, Dr Luckett and Senior Monitors Katie Bobroff and Nick Lewis.
There were numerous displays of pupils’ work around the school and for many it was their first opportunity to see the Favell Building in operation. The afternoon also offered a number of keenly contested sports fixtures and concluded with a lively display on Top Field by the Corps of Drums. A wonderful aroma filled the quad as the scents of a hog roast, kebabs, burgers and vegetarian food mingled with ice cream and strawberry tarts. Nobody had a need to be thirsty or hungry as all palates were catered for with plenty of food and drink on offer.
A superb day was brought to a close with a Marcus Tate’s film montage of photographs depicting the school grounds, staff and pupils. The evening was rounded off by a spectacular firework display which lit up the iconic portico and school building. Marcus’s film and a film of the evening will be available on this site soon.
