This coming Tuesday (2nd July) our annual Prize Giving event will be taking place, formally celebrating the many outstanding achievements of the year across the Senior School. 

For the afternoon event, for Years 11-13, we are thrilled to be welcoming data scientist and professional mountaineer, Fay Manners (DAHS 2005), as our guest speaker.  Following school, Fay went on to study Business Studies and Information Management at Loughborough University before embarking on a career in Business Intelligence, working with prestigious international names such as Coca-Cola and Unilever. The call of the mountains has never been far away for her and gradually Fay has managed to balance her love of alpinism with her working life.

From her now base in Chamonix, France, Fay has tackled some of the world’s most challenging climbs including the first female ascent of the Phantom Direct route on the South Face of the Grand Jorasses, the longest ice route in the Mont Blanc. Amongst others, she has climbed the North Face of Eiger, the American Direct on the Dru, the Walker Spur on the Grande Jorasses, the Waa Shakil in Pakistan and the Mental Breakdown on the Father Tower in the Mythic Cirque, Greenland.

She is particularly passionate about encouraging girls to step out of their comfort zones and take up climbing. Fay will talk about her fascination with the mountains and what drives her ambition, inspiring us with her stories of incredible – and sometimes frankly terrifying (!) - physical and mental feats.

As in previous years Prize Giving will again take place in a beautiful marquee on the BGS grounds. We are really looking forward to welcoming lots of our families into school for this special event celebrating the end of the school year.

 Read our Inspired by – Defying Gravity article about Fay on pages 3 and 4 here.