Concordia 2025

Welcome

Concordia

Sandy Lodge, Northwood, Middlesex, HA6 2HT Telephone: +44 (0)1923 820644 Email: alumni@mtsn.org.uk www.mtsn.org.uk Editor: Nick Latham development@mtsn.org.uk Contributing editors: Emma Bindloss, Hamish Stewart, Jonny Taylor Photography: Patricia Rayner, Sonal Galaiya, Emma Bindloss, Hamish Stewart Designed by: 3Sixty Creative www.3sixty-creative.com Front cover photo: Lower-Sixth student Jai Elangovan performing as Tony in West Side Story . Printed by: Lavenham Press

Merchant Taylors’ School Choir rehearsing at St Paul’s Catherdral before the Triennial Service

Dear Reader

T his year’s magazine celebrates several MTS legends, current and former. Joan Stubbs has played a leading role in many major school music events over the years, including this year’s Triennial Service, and has had an impact on the lives of countless OMTs; she describes preparing for the big occasion. Life in Hell , a rather foreboding title, refers to the backstage area behind the Great Hall, affectionately referred to as ‘Hell’; it features OMTs who worked behind the scenes — the ‘Spanner Men’ — and Julian Slator, another beloved SCR alumnus, talking about the unseen work involved in putting on such impressive school productions over the years. We also celebrate the life of John Pallant, as he turns 80, and the huge impact he made on the school, transforming the sporting provision at Merchant Taylors’. We welcome the school’s new Archivist, Isabel Hesketh, who writes about her first hundred days in the role; and the Development section celebrates the generosity of the school community and describes the opportunities there are to be involved in the life of the school now. This issue features articles on a range of topics by OMTs, to whom we are extremely grateful for their contributions. I cannot let this opportunity pass without thanking Jon Rippier. He edited Concordia for over a decade and did a wonderful job. I am most grateful to the many people who have been involved in preparing this issue of Concordia, particularly Emma Bindloss. Nick Latham Editor

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