One hundred and eighty people attended the 118th Old Cranleighan Society Dinner at BAFTA in London where Mel Williamson (1 North 1984) made history as the first female chairman of an event first held in 1882.
In a well-received speech, Mel, who formed the OC Ladies Hockey Club and was also the first female OC Cranleigh governor, looked back on how much Cranleigh had progressed since she started there in the Lower Sixth in 1982.
“On arrival on our first day we discovered we were sharing studies with the boys – I don’t know who was more horrified, us or the Lower Sixth boys who suddenly had girls invading their personal space! Actually, thinking about it, it was probably our parents …
“Coming to Cranleigh was a real eye-opener for me – a quiet, shy young thing straight from Wycombe Abbey who’d barely said hello to a boy before. But you had to adapt pretty quickly or you’d be crucified. Marc Van Hasselt, our headmaster, told us that Cranleigh was a boys’ school, and if we couldn’t cope with its demands then we might as well leave… He also mentioned that with grounds of nearly 200 acres containing numerous old barns and buildings, if you were stupid enough to get caught having sex in your studies, you’d be expelled!
“Initiation for all new girls was being thrown fully clothed into a cold bath. I was ambushed on my way to the dining hall one day and was carried kicking and screaming up the stairs into East, where a very full, very cold bath was waiting for me. I then had to walk all the way back down the hill to 1 North, dripping wet… We’d also be given marks by the boys as we walked out of the dining hall – they even held up score cards. Utterly mortifying! For some unknown reason, I can’t seem to remember my score…!
“Cranleigh was, and still is, a very special place, and the friends I made there are still my closest friends now, 26 years later, with three of them being godparents to my children. I even married an Old Cranleighan, for God’s sake, although we weren’t actually at school together, due to him being just a few years older than me!
“Things have now come full circle, as a couple of weeks ago I was back at Cranleigh with my eldest daughter as a prospective parent. We were given the guided tour by a charming Upper Sixth girl – probably hand-picked by the headmaster – and it was amazing to see how the school has developed over the years. Some things haven’t changed a bit – the dining hall, Speech Hall, the Connaught Block – but most of it is unrecognisable.
“The girls’ accommodation is unbelievably luxurious – and they don’t have to share studies with the boys! My husband Martin, with two daughters to worry about, was delighted to see the high level of security in place to prevent any boys accidentally stumbling into the girls’ houses or, more likely, as we used to do frequently, the girls escaping. I remember how we used to head off at night to have drinks with certain young bachelor members of staff – mentioning no names, of course…. Mike Wilson!
“Amazing, that, a few years later when he was Head of Girls, Mike was the man who installed pressure pads underneath the doormat to stop girls escaping – how things change…!
“I am delighted that my girls will be following the family tradition and going to Cranleigh. It has a very special place in my heart and I am extremely honoured and proud to be the first female OC governor and also the first female chairman of this dinner. I’m pleased the Society has finally accepted that girls are here to stay, and I look forward to perhaps attending an OC Dinner in the future and hearing one of my daughters giving this speech.”
Guy Waller, responding on behalf of the School, highlighted the much-improved relationship between Cranleigh and the Old Cranleighans and the benefits resulting to both sides.
Guests ranged in age from several members of the current sixth form to Derrick Carter-Clout who left in 1938, and also included a healthy contingent from the Common Room, past and present as well as some who had made exceptional efforts to attend, especially Kofo Majekodunmi (who had flown in from Nigeria), Eds Copleston (New York) and Rob Merry (Australia).
A raffle for Red Arrows packages kindly donated by Zane Sennett raised £1415 for the Friends of Tim Evans Trust.