On Tuesday 23rd November 2021, we were delighted to host David Salmond, Oliver Dillon and John Dillon at John Lyon School after a number of years!

David was our guest speaker for the Goldhawk lecture series to Sixth Form pupils, where he shared insights about his career in missile defence, which was attended by the Dillon brothers and world renowned mathematician Professor Anthony Gardiner. The person to bring all these people together is their link to Alison Dillon, first female teacher of John Lyon.

Oliver was able to bring in some wonderful memories of Alison that he shared with the group. David talked a lot about the impact she had on his life and career, and Prof Gardiner spoke about how she was such an incredibly intelligent woman who rose to face society's challenges as a woman and is such an inspiration to us all.

Oliver and John shared that Alison used to play Cricket with the masters vs the OLs just as any other male teacher did and explained some of the incredible board games he had brought to show us that she had created for the Board Games club, which we still have today but would be no match for what it was back then I'm sure!

We were able to have a wonderful buffet lunch in the Burges, Thomas Blackwell Building, where pupils were able to speak to the visiitng guests and ask questions about their careers and Alison Dillon.

Thank you so much for your attendance and a truly wonderful day spent at the School. We hope to have an official launch event of the Dillon diploma next year and hope that pupils of Alison Dillon would be able to attend to share their memories.