INAUGURAL SIR PATRICK MOORE MEMORIAL LECTURE - 2015

Thank you so much for your input into what was a fantastic day judging by all the positive feedback we received from parents, staff and pupils alike!

Bryn Groves, Head Science Teacher

Having co-presented with Sir Patrick Moore CBE FRAS at Portsmouth Grammar School, in what would, sadly, be his penultimate public appearance at the city’s annual Space City Event, I was deeply honoured to be invited to present the Inaugural Sir Patrick Moore Memorial Lecture at Holmewood House School in Langton Green, Tunbridge Wells.

Holmewood House School

This is the school where the late Sir Patrick, eminent astronomer and television presenter, taught between 1947 and 1953. As well as teaching Science, History and Maths, he ran a chess club, wrote school plays, set up a band comprising triangles, percussion and kazzoos, and composed the school song!

Co-presenting with Sir Patrick Moore at Portsmouth Grammar School in his penultimate public appearance.

As part of an enormously successful Science Day, initiated by Head Science Teacher, Bryn Groves, the Lecture was very kindly introduced by James Marjoribanks, Headmaster of Holmewood House, and Bryn himself who offered interesting insights into Sir Patrick’s tenure at the school.

Some 200 students, as well as teachers, filled the full-size theatre which provided the perfect backdrop, with tiered seating, a large back-lit screen and tack-sharp acoustics.

I found it a genuine pleasure to be greeted with such enthusiasm and support, not only by James, Bryn and the IT Team, but also the students who actively participated in all aspects of our voyage into Space, from a speck of dust in a giant molecular cloud to the filaments and walls peppered with galactic clusters and superclusters forming the cosmic web of the Universe itself.

But, as always, what made the event so joyful was sharing such an incredible subject with such eager minds, both young and mature (!), and witnessing the resultant awe, incredulity and laughter. I was inundated with beautifully insightful questions at the end, from students and teachers alike, which provided a perfect denouement to a perfect day.

Thank you, James and Bryn, for making me feel so welcome, and thank you to all the students of Holmewood for their excitement and the many rapturous rounds of applause. Unforgettable!

Thank you one and all!

I sincerely hope the Science Day and Memorial Lecture become an annual event. It deserves to be!