Planning and attending our Alumnae events is one of my favourite parts of my role at Withington – meeting former pupils and staff and hearing their stories of Withington through the decades is a real privilege, whilst making the arrangements beforehand certainly appeals to my hyper-organised nature! Over the past few years, our Alumnae events calendar has grown substantially and this term alone, we are holding at least one event each month. Through this expanded calendar, we're hoping to get to know as many old girls, former staff and their guests as possible, and to help them reconnect with old friends, whilst hopefully making some new ones too!

It is heartening to see so many former pupils and staff of all ages coming from across the UK and abroad to attend our events. Moreover, many Alumnae have volunteered to host events, to act as speakers, to assist with arranging the event venues – this support is very much appreciated and has meant that we have been able to organise some truly special occasions over the past year, with many more already in the diary for the coming months.

In addition to the events organised by the Development Office, we have been delighted that Alumnae have volunteered to arrange private reunions for their own year groups. Last year, the class of 1960 celebrated their Golden Anniversary with a special lunch in Manchester arranged by Head Girl Tricia David; and later this month the 1976 leavers are celebrating their 35th Anniversary with a sumptuous dinner, arranged by Caroline Durant. In the future, we hope that many more events will be arranged across the country by Alumnae in this way.

We do hope that you will be able to join us at one of this term's upcoming events, and with the AGM here at School in September, our first ever Careers Networking event in London in October, and the Withington in the City even being held in Edinburgh in November, hopefully there's one which will find both accessible and interesting. See you there!