Baker’s Beacon Blog – Week 32
16 June 2023
Dear Parents,
A (sort of) day off for me on Monday, as Max Durkin took over as Headmaster for the Day. As he arrived at school (in a dark blue suit and white shirt…very apt) we ran through his first task of taking the morning Assembly. I gave him the Kindness Cup nominations, the Headmaster’s Commendations (of course) and a few postcards that had filtered through post Half Term. As every Beacon boy knows, a postcard to the Head pays an Assembly readout and a Wispa chocolate bar so this is perfectly normal, but what was quite surprising was the plethora of postcards that Max had received himself…from some rather dubious locations. Luckily, Max seemed wise to the scam and had generously brought a large stash of extra bars which he duly gave out to his Year 8 ‘tourists’ in Assembly, as well as to Ms Kearns, who was puzzled to learn that she had recently holidayed in Malta…but was happy to receive the Wispa anyway and thankful to her playful tutees.
A match in Edgbaston this weekend of course, but the eyes of the cricketing world will no doubt be focused on Willsfield for the parents vs staff ‘Red for Ruth’ day tomorrow. Promises to be a sunny day and, knowing our expertise as a community at this sport our ‘Beaconball’ will be more than a match for ‘Bazball’. I look forward to seeing you there or at our 90th Celebration Alumni Event where we celebrate James Skea’s enormous contribution to the School. After that, Brigid and I are off to see the Pet Shop Boys at Wembley Arena. Sometimes after a weekend when colleagues ask me if I, “did anything nice at the weekend” I don’t have much to say for myself but not this Monday. Cricket, James Skea and the Pet Shop Boys – that’s everything you want from a Saturday and more!
You will recall from this column last Friday that I launched the ‘Beacon to Paris Charity Bike Ride’, and appealed to any parents that were interested to contact me to see if we could get this on the road. As of this afternoon, I have two mums, five dads, two staff, me and even some potential early sponsorship. If we can get to a peloton of 15 this will definitely happen, and I have pencilled in the weekend of 28/29/30 June next year. Therefore, please contact me – nbaker@beaconschool.co.uk – if you are keen; it will be a brilliant event.
See you tomorrow,
Nick Baker
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