On Friday 1st October we welcomed back a number of OLs to join our celebrations of Founder's Day.

The day started at Sudbury Playing Fields to enable parking for some OLs (due to the new parking restrictions on the hill!) where alongside coffee and delicious pastries many memories were triggered of the playing fields and pavilion from over 50 years ago! Courtesy of the Estates team we were then minibused to St Marys Church where we joined others. Unfortunately, Colin Frost missed the service getting to School from Ruislip as the petrol station queues meant he was stuck for almost 2 hours! A sign of the times we are living through.

The Act of Commemoration saw pupils gather alongside 20 Old Lyonians for a short ceremony of words and music, including the traditional laying of a wreath at the tomb of John and Joan Lyon in the church. John Lyon Head Katherine Haynes welcomed pupils and OLs, and in his address, The Mayor of Harrow, Cllr Ghazanfar Ali talked about the School today, and how our founder would have pride in what the School has achieved.

The Founder's Day lunch table was beautifully set by the catering team, led by Sarah Blithing. The lamb with root vegetables with minted gravy certainly was most talked about! this was followed by a scrumpticous toffee apple crumble with vanilla sauce and a cup of coffee before we embarked on some Scool tours conducted by the Head Boy Team. During the tours, Jeremy Tatham got deep in conversation with Sarah Greene in the library where he hopefully intends to share a photo of his home library!

After the Founder’s Day Commemoration a new tree was planted in Red House Garden to mark John Lyon School’s 145th anniversary, where Paul Matarewicz, President of the OLA, was asked to join Katherine and pupils in a small ceremony to mark this. The tree, a a tulip tree, is placed near the cedar which was planted in 2016 to mark the 140th anniversary.

In a Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I are the words: “Our beloved subject, John Lyon…by instinct of charity, hath purposed in his mind a certain Gramma School…of new to erect, found and forever establish for the perpetual education, teaching and instruction of Children and Youth…giving a very good example to all others to imitate the like hereafter, and also to the common profit of all our subjects.”