Author: Helen Seabridge

Could you think of a better way to spend a summer’s day watching first-class cricket against the backdrop of the Howgill fells?  On Tuesday 21^st July, Sedbergh School will once again host a day of county cricket as Lancashire Cricket take on Surrey CCC in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.  With play beginning at 11.00am, cricket enthusiasts will be able to enjoy top-class sporting action in one of the most picturesque venues in the country. Lancashire’s annual visits have become a highlight of the summer sporting calendar, showcasing both the county’s finest players and the exceptional facilities at Sedbergh School. The Sedbergh School Association will be delighted to welcome OS, parents, friends of the School and members of the wider community to attend the fixture. Anyone interested in joining us for the occasion is invited to contact the Association at association@sedberghschool.org for further information. Match day parking will be available at Lupton Field, with accessible parking provided onsite for blue badge holders. We look forward to welcoming Lancashire Cricket, Surrey CCC and cricket fans from across the country to Sedbergh for a memorable day of summer cricket in a truly magnificent setting.There is a warmth and generosity about Lady Joyce Singleton-Booth that immediately puts people at ease. Seated in the family cottage in Wensleydale – the place where her late husband, the Old Sedberghian Sir Christopher Booth, spent part of his childhood – she reflects on a life shaped by love, hard work and a profound belief in giving back. The charming Dales home holds deep significance for Joyce and her extended family. It is cherished not only as a place that Christopher loved, but also as the starting point of a lifelong connection with Sedbergh. Joyce’s connection with Sedbergh School began through Christopher, who attended Powell House from 1937 to 1942. They first met at Hammersmith Hospital in 1963, where Christopher was establishing himself as a clinician and researcher, while Joyce worked ‘frontline’ as a nurse. Over the years, their shared commitment to healthcare saw their careers progress, and their professional paths crossed many times before a lunch meeting developed into romance in the 1980s, and they eventually married in 2001. Together, they built a life that spanned medicine, academia, history, friendship, and philanthropy. “As soon as we became a couple, Christopher introduced me to Sedbergh,” Joyce recalls. “He was always involved with his old school, so it quickly became a very meaningful place for me too.” For Joyce, who had arrived in Britain from British Guiana, the beauty of the Dales landscape was astonishing. “When I arrived here, this was a new world to me, such a beautiful world. I had to pinch myself. Is this for real?” It did not take long for Joyce to understand how Sedbergh had shaped the man that Christopher became. Sir Christopher Booth led an extraordinary life as one of the great figures in modern British medicine: a distinguished gastroenterologist, researcher, professor, historian, and leader who served as President of the British Medical Association and President of the Royal Society of Medicine. “He was an amazing man because of all the things he did,” Joyce says. “He was a real doctor. And a real writer.” His path into medicine began almost accidentally. While serving in the Navy during the war, he impressed a senior doctor by correctly diagnosing a patient with malaria. After the war ended, that doctor contacted the University of St Andrews on Christopher’s behalf, and a letter was waiting for him at home inviting him to study medicine – despite the astonishing fact that he had never applied. “His life was basically carved out, when you think about it,” Joyce reflects. “Many of the positions he held came through being headhunted or personally sought out for roles.” Joyce is of the firm belief that the foundations for Christopher’s success were laid much earlier, during his formative years at Sedbergh School. “I always felt that it was the education he had at Sedbergh that gave him a kind of standing in life,” she says. “He was so comfortable with everything. He had confidence in everything he did, whether it was gardening, medical research, history, or leadership.” Through Christopher’s enduring connection with the School, visits to Sedbergh became a regular part of their lives. Joyce recalls spending time in the library with staff who supported his extensive historical writing and research. Over the years, those visits led to friendships, and Sedbergh became an extended family for them both. Supporting young people has long been central to Joyce’s life. Although she never had children of her own, she has always taken great pleasure in encouraging and caring for younger generations, particularly her stepchildren and wider family.  It is this affection for young people, combined with her gratitude for the role Sedbergh played in Christopher’s life, that motivates her philanthropy today. “I want children who can’t afford Sedbergh to be able to go there, because it did my husband so well,” she explains. “And having seen the difference Sedbergh can make in young people’s lives, I feel very strongly that my money should help children who otherwise couldn’t come here.” For Joyce, philanthropy is a principle she has lived by throughout her life. “I’ve always believed in giving,” she says. “The more you give, the more you get. That’s how I was brought up. Our house was always an open house, and it’s inborn in me, really, to be a giver.” Today, she considers herself fortunate to be in a position to share what she has with others. “I don’t want to be selfish and keep it all to myself. That’s not what life is about,” she says. “I want to share what I’ve got, and to share it with good people – like the children at Sedbergh School!” she adds with a warm laugh. One of the greatest attractions of Sedbergh, she says, is its sense of community. “Everything about Sedbergh inspires me. They never leave you out. They keep in touch, they make you feel involved, and every event I’ve ever gone to has been happy. “I feel part of the place,” Joyce adds. “It’s home from home. Sedbergh School is a real family now.” Her support, then, is rooted in the memory of her late husband, but also in hope that future generations of Sedbergh pupils might discover the same confidence, purpose, and opportunity that Christopher did all those years ago. “I’d hope that whatever happened to my husband could happen for them too,” she says emphatically. “Because he had an exciting life and a good life. Sedbergh was his sounding board, his background, his everything. And I suppose in my head, I feel that most children would benefit from it just like he did.” Article by Sedbergh AssociationOld Sedberghians enjoyed success across two major shooting weekends, representing both Scotland and England in the prestigious inter-country competitions at Bisley and Blair Atholl. The annual Home Countries shooting matches hosted by the RAF took place at Bisley over the weekend of 16^th and 17^th May. For the Scotland squad, the event was approached as both a competitive fixture and an important development opportunity, with younger and less experienced shooters encouraged to participate alongside established competitors. The weekend programme combined team drills and morning practice sessions with competition shooting, including a short-range match (300x, 500x and 600x) on Saturday and a long-range match (900x and 1000x) on Sunday. Scotland fielded a squad of more than 20 shooters, from which 12 were selected to compete. Among those selected for the long-range match on Sunday were OS Ollie Christy (H 08-22) (97.8), Charlie Cowen (H 12-17) (95.8) and Mark Wrigley (SH 71-75) (91.8). Delivering an excellent team performance, Scotland secured victory over the RAF and the other Home Countries teams of England, Ireland and Wales. Attention then turned north to Blair Atholl for the Lawrence Match over the weekend of 13^th and 14^th June. OS George Wood (P 18-23) and Ollie Christy were selected to represent Scotland in the fixture against England. On this occasion, England emerged victorious under the captaincy of fellow OS John Warburton (L 75-80). These two weekends highlighted both the strength of OS representation in competitive target shooting and the continued development of emerging talent within the sport.

Members of the Sedbergh School community are warmly invited to join us for Remembrance Sunday and the OS Club AGM.

Programme of Events:

7.30am – Bagpipes at the Cloisters

9.00am – Boer War Act of Remembrance at the Boer War Memorial

10.45am – Remembrance Service at the Cloisters, followed by coffee, tea and refreshments in Queen’s Hall

11.30am – Tea and coffee at the Hirst Centre

12.00pm – Buffet lunch at the Hirst Centre

1.00pm – AGM in the School Library

7.30pm – The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace – Concert in Powell Hall

If you would like to attend the lunch or the AGM please contact Maria Gallego-Calderon on sedberghassociation@sedberghschool.org. 

Bee Edge Farm in the Scottish Borders recently featured on BBC Scotland’s Landward, with farmer Annabel Hamilton welcoming viewers to one of the most eagerly anticipated moments of the farming year, turning cattle out to grass. Annabel and her father, Will, who farm more than 1,100 hectares of crops alongside fattening over 350 beef cattle a year are situated near Eyemouth. They showcased the excitement as their Limousin cattle thundered out of their winter housing and into fresh spring pasture. The annual turnout marks the transition from winter to summer management and is a highlight for farmers and livestock alike. Speaking to presenter Dougie Vipond, Annabel explained how grass growth, weather conditions and animal welfare all play a role in deciding when cattle are ready to head outdoors. The cattle are selected for the premium butcher beef market, and the Hamilton family takes pride in producing high-quality livestock while maintaining the highest welfare standards. The programme gave viewers a behind-the-scenes look at life on a modern mixed farm, highlighting the hard work, planning and attention to detail that underpin successful food production. It also captured the unmistakable excitement of the cattle as they stretched their legs and enjoyed their first taste of fresh spring grass. Part of Landward’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the episode also featured stories from across Scotland, including a pioneering Borders fencing contractor whose inventions transformed the industry, a young walrus that became an unexpected coastal celebrity, and a project bringing fishermen and conservationists together to monitor whales and dolphins. For Annabel, the feature provided a valuable opportunity to showcase modern farming to a wider audience. For viewers, it was a reminder of the passion, innovation and care that lie at the heart of Scotland’s rural communities.  

The competition was started in 1955 by the Yorkshire branch of the OS Club and the trophy is an embroidered map of the local Sedbergh area. The winner has to embroider a badge onto the bottom of the map with his or her name, year and house.

The competition is a Stableford and is played at Ilkley GC where many OS are members.

Players will meet at lunch time and tee off from around 1.30pm and there is an informal dinner and prize presentation in the evening.

If you are interested in playing please contact Rob Downs on robdowns@hotmail.co.uk.

OS Sam Fisher (W 06–11) and Ben van Dijk (H 14–18) have helped rewrite mountaineering history as part of the seven-person Fellkour Squad which has broken a 33-year-old record for summiting all 282 Munros of Scotland in a relay challenge, while also raising money for charity. The Munros refer to Scotland’s highest mountains, each standing at least 3,000 feet above sea level. The fell-running team completed the challenge in an extraordinary 10 days, 18 hours and 16 minutes, beating the previous record of 11 days, 20 hours and 16 minutes by more than a full day. Across the relay, the team averaged a remarkable sub-one-hour pace per Munro of 54 minutes and 57 seconds. The attempt followed the same rules as the original 1993 record: with the baton carried on foot over the hills but transported by vehicle on public roads and by standard car ferries between mountain sections. Alongside Fisher and van Dijk, the Fellkour Squad included Harry “CoolDog” Cooling, Alistair “TDog” Thornton, Ferg Roberts, Jack Ravenscroft, and Ross Spaulding. Travelling the length and breadth of Scotland, they endured brutal terrain, heavy rain, snow and wind. In total, they covered approximately 1,505 km (approx.1,000 miles) and accumulated around 117,371 metres of ascent. The squad’s name, “Fellkour,” reflects their approach of combining fell running with a parkour-like style of moving through mountain terrain, using speed, agility and creative movement such as jumping and climbing. Through the challenge the team is proud to have raised funds for Pickups for Peace, a UK-based charity that delivers vehicles and vital aid to Ukraine. The scale of the achievement encompasses both the physical demands of completing all 282 Munros and the significance of breaking a record that had stood for more than three decades in Scottish fell running. Many congratulations to the Fellkour Squad. We’re excited to hear about what they’ll take on next! Click here for more information. Donate to Pickups for Peace via this JustGiving page.Once upon a time, it used to be simple. There was only red, white and rosé, but now we have orange, chilled red, natural, conventional and much more. It might appear that these new-fangled wines are a product of the hipster generation, but the fact is that they’ve been around much longer than you think. In fact, orange probably pre-dates white wine, and was previously just considered how white wine was produced. Have you ever noticed the wine in old paintings? If you look again, you’ll notice it isn’t translucent like modern wine but orange. Modern white wine is made by pressing the grapes, separating off the juice and discarding the skins, stems and pips. Orange wine is made by leaving the juice with some kind of skin contact, or even pips and stems, too. This can be for a couple of days, sometimes for much longer, like weeks, months and in extreme conditions, even years. In essence, what that means is that the wine takes in a whole lot of different flavours. Making it more robust, textured and complex depending on the grapes used, and the process. When we first started serving orange wine at the Black Bull, it took a while for people to get their heads around it. Whilst orange wine was becoming commonplace in the trendy bars of London and Manchester, we had seen it that much out in the sticks. It looked funny, it smelled funny, so people didn’t quite understand it, and it had some flavours we didn’t quite associate with wine, like bitter, marmalade and funky. It didn’t really help that I had a waiter at the time who insisted on telling customers it was made with actual oranges, something he found highly amusing, and I did not. Orange wine has now become much more common; you can pick it up on increasingly more menus. You can even find it now in supermarkets, but I’m not sure these would be ones I’d recommend. For me, it’s a go-to favourite. It’s so versatile with food, and many are simply very gluggable on their own. Taste-wise, orange wines can be the most unusual and can take a little bit of getting used to, but I would encourage you to try. Like all types of wine, and despite them still being rare, there is a large variety to choose from. The fresher styles of orange wine are probably the ones I’d recommend trying first. We have several on the menu, and we use them as an introduction to orange wine for those who haven’t tried it before. These usually have less skin contact and are much closer to white wine than others. They are very approachable, with flavours like tropical fruits, bruised apple, different types of tea and sometimes a little spice. These ‘fresher’ orange wines are often cloudy; some might have a slight fizz, but embrace this instead of letting it put you off. These can certainly be drunk alone or with lighter dishes like salads or roast chicken. Crazy Lud by Oskar Maurer is an excellent example, available online at Roland wines, or Entre Vinyes’s Oniric Brisat, available online from Modal Wines. Both are very approachable and very drinkable. Radikon is a winery in Friuli which shares a border with Slovenia. A relatively small estate that’s become synonymous with skin contact and orange wines. Hailed as one of the heroes of natural wine who helped pave the way for skin contact for white wines again in modern winemaking. Their Pinot Grigio ‘Sivi’ is one of the first orange wines I ever tried, or at least I remember. Pinot Grigio is often considered such a bland grape, the butt of many a wine joke, but it can produce some fantastic wine. The slightly pink tinge in the grape’s skin creates this crossover or blend of orange and rose, creating something very unique. It’s certainly a complex wine, with notes of candied fruits, tangerine, a bit of spice and elements of pith in taste and texture. This is just one of their wines, many of which can be bought in person or online at Buon Vino. If you visit the shop, I’m sure that if you pop into Courtyard Dairy, they’ll recommend a fantastic farmhouse cheese to go with it. For those looking for something a bit more serious, or even more mature and complex, there’s a selection which could be considered more sophisticated wines. Sometimes I panic when I see a crystal-clear orange wine; it can go one of two ways. The darker orange wines are generally so because they spend more time on the skins. In this process, they take on more tannins as well as bitter, less fruity and nutty flavours. Additional fermentation methods can lead to the wines being more oxidative, too. These are flavours that many wine drinkers don’t necessarily pair with a good wine. However, when the balance of these flavours is right, it can produce some excellent examples of orange wine. Ideally best with food, but these flavours allow the wine to stand up to some big flavours like cheeses, stews, curries, miso roasted foods and grilled oily fish. Klabjan, from Slovenia, do an excellent example of these more complex orange wines. It’s a wine I also try to have on the menu when it’s available. It’s made with Malvasia grapes, has notes of marmalade, apple compote and honeysuckle. Powerful and intense, with nuttiness and wild herbs. I’ve had several customers tell me they didn’t like orange wine until they tried this. This isn’t dipping your toe in, though; it’s full-on wild swimming on the fell top, but that doesn’t seem to faze people. Available online at Roland wines, which has a great selection of other orange wines too. The Black Bull Few Old Sedberghians can claim a journey as varied as that of Adam Rickitt (E 1991–96). From early ambitions on the rugby field to a brave leap into one of Britain’s biggest television institutions, his path has been shaped by hard work and a determination to be true to himself. In a wide-ranging interview, Adam reflected candidly on his time at Sedbergh, the lessons it instilled, and a remarkable career in the creative industries. It was a pleasure to visit Adam – and his dog – at Dexter & Jones, the colourful craft beer and artisan gin store he runs with his wife, Katy Fawcett, in the pretty town of Knutsford. For Adam, his standout memory of Sedbergh is the camaraderie. The environment, he believes, taught him some of the most important lessons of his life: respect, kindness and social versatility. “People often say to me, ‘What’s the point in boarding school?’ For me, it’s two things,” he says with crystal clarity. “The first is that you are thrust into this environment where you are forced to interact with people you wouldn’t normally interact with. So you learn respect, you learn how to get on with different people, you learn how to be kind to people.” The second lesson is work ethic: “It doesn’t matter whether or not you are the smartest kid in the class. You all just work hard because you know you’re lucky to be in that situation. Sedbergh instils in you a subconscious acceptance that everything you do has to be to the best of your ability.” Thirty years after leaving the School, the hills surrounding Sedbergh still loom large in Adam’s mind. “When you think about the visual geography, you only learn to appreciate it once you’ve left. At the time, it almost feels like you’re in a fortress because you’re surrounded by these fells. But then you look back and realise the amazing beauty you had there, looking out over all those valleys. It was just the most beautiful place in the world.” One of the most significant moments of Adam’s schooldays came during the Wilson Run. Having struggled with illness during his teenage years, completing the run became symbolic. “The first time I did the Wilson Run was when I started to get better,” he recalls. “Everyone knew I wanted to beat my dad’s time. It wasn’t especially fast, and I was nowhere near the top, but it was decent.” Adam’s eyes still light up as he recalls the support from the School community as he approached the finish line. “The absolute noise of people, even the rugby coaches were cheering. They knew what I’d gone through, and doing the run for me was the first test of proving that I could beat everything that was going on in my life.” The Rickitt connection to Sedbergh stretches back more than a century. His great-grandfather, grandfather and father all attended the school, as did Adam and his two brothers. “I did feel a lot of pressure because of my family’s historical presence there,” he says. “I remember on my second day, I was sitting in English and, sure enough, carved into the desk was ‘Rickitt woz ere 1901’ or something like that. That was my great-granddad!” He hoots with laughter at the memory. Like the generations before him, Adam initially saw rugby as his future. His goal throughout school was to earn a place on the 1st XV. But privately, he nursed another ambition. “I loved the camaraderie of rugby, but I also wanted to act, and I probably didn’t pursue it because I worried about what people thought.” That changed dramatically on the day he left school. Having secured a place at the University of Cambridge to study philosophy and law, Adam surprised everyone by announcing a completely different plan: he wanted to become an actor. “Dad was delighted,” says Adam with a dry smile. In reality, though, his father was remarkably supportive, telling him to take a gap year and give acting a proper try. If he could find work within a year, he could pursue it; if not, he would take up his place at Cambridge. What followed was so fortuitous it almost sounds implausible. This was before the internet era, so Adam headed to the local library and worked his way through a huge directory listing acting agents across the country. He found one in Manchester that ran drama classes and gave them a call. “I said, ‘Look, I’d like to become an actor. I’ve never done anything before.’ They told me there was a drama class starting the following week and said, ‘Come along, we’ll see how you get on.’” In the meantime, the agency suggested he attend an audition at Granada Television. “‘There’s no way you’ll get it,’ they said, ‘because you’ve never done any acting before. But it’ll show you what an audition is like.’” Adam arrived with no expectations. “I went along thinking it was basically a day off,” he says. “Then, two hours later, I got a phone call saying, ‘You’ve got the job on Coronation Street. You start Monday.’ So that was scary!” At the time, Coronation Street was a cultural phenomenon. In the 1990s, soaps dominated British television in a way that is difficult to imagine today, before streaming and the explosion of channels. “You were in people’s houses five days a week,” he says. “You became part of the family.” Adam admits he had little understanding of just how famous the programme was. “Soaps were a bit like football teams. My family watched EastEnders, so I’d never seen a single episode of Coronation Street and had no concept of how big it was.” The scale of the attention hit him the very night his first episode aired. Stopping at a supermarket with his mother after filming, he found himself mobbed by fans. “We should have been in and out in five minutes, but we were in there for four and a half hours because people kept coming in off the street to get autographs.” Working on the soap proved to be an extraordinary learning curve: a soap actor can’t be late or unprofessional, Adam explains, because the schedule runs like clockwork. He also credits seasoned actors on the show, including John Savident, with teaching him the craft of acting. “I was literally able to leech off him,” he says with a smile. “My drama school was basically in front of 20 million people, five days a week.” Adam’s fascination with acting began much earlier, inspired by his uncle, legendary stunt performer Bill Weston, whose credits included James Bond films, Alien, Star Wars, Titanic and the Harry Potter series. Watching his uncle appear on screen in The Living Daylights proved transformative. “It suddenly made me realise that the world you see on the screen is actually a created one – created by people,” he says. “From that point on, I always wanted to act.” Once he entered the profession, the hard-working Sedbergh mentality kicked in and remained central to his approach. “For me, the only way to justify fame or celebrity is to become good at your job. I wanted to become the best version of myself as an actor that I could be.” Having witnessed enormous change in the television industry, from a handful of channels to the age of streaming, he believes young actors now face a far tougher financial reality than previous generations. “There are far more creative opportunities now,” he says. “But the money’s falling out of the industry.” That reality led him and Katy to establish their own business, Dexter & Jones, allowing him to avoid taking acting jobs solely for financial reasons. “Even successful actors need something financially sustainable because careers go in peaks and troughs.” His advice to aspiring performers is wise and grounded: “Be passionate about being an actor, but don’t rely on it as the thing that puts food on your table or pays your mortgage. Have something else on the side as well.” Adam is equally candid about the darker side of celebrity, particularly during the height of tabloid culture in the late 1990s and early 2000s when newspapers could “ruin a career” overnight, often through fabricated stories. Social media, he believes, has at least given public figures the opportunity to tell their own story directly. But his own priorities remain far removed from celebrity culture. “I’ve never been to a celebrity party in my life,” he says. “Apart from the James Bond premiere, which was one of those moments where you think, ‘Sorry, I’m going to go to that!’” For Adam, the key is to pursue acting because you love the craft, not because you crave fame. “I’d far rather go for a run in the woods or a pub lunch with my wife than go to some showbiz party,” he says. “If you decide to chase fame, you’ll find it a very empty life.” Sedbergh continues to hold deep personal significance for Adam and his family. His father’s ashes have been scattered on Winder, overlooking the School, and his late mother’s ashes will soon be there too. “The Rickitt clan will always have a huge affinity to Sedbergh,” he says. “It’s been part of our family for over 100 years.” As the conversation draws to a close, Adam gives a warm and heartful message to current pupils: “Enjoy it. You have this amazing opportunity in the education you’re getting, and just open your eyes and look around. You are in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. The more you make of it, the better your life will be because of it… Don’t waste a second.” Article by Sedbergh AssociationAbbie Ward’s latest honour is well deserved. The Keswick-born rugby star has been named Cumbria Sports Personality of the Year at the Cumbria Sports Award 2026 after another remarkable season in which she helped England’s Red Roses lift the Rugby World Cup and continued to set standards at the very top of the game. For anyone who has followed Abbie’s career, the award is not just about trophies but also about the difference she makes on the pitch. She plays in the second row, but she brings many of the qualities you would expect from a top openside flanker: a huge work-rate, real strength at the breakdown, calm leadership under pressure, and the ability to change a game through determination. Opensides are expected to do everything: tackle, chase turnovers, carry hard, lead the defensive line and lift those around them. Abbie brings those same qualities in abundance from the second row. She never switches off, and her influence is felt in every phase. Her journey from Cumbria to the top of world rugby shows what is possible for athletes from rural areas. Starting with early coaching in Keswick and school rugby, Abbie has gone on to become one of England’s leading internationals while also playing a key role for Bristol Bears. What makes her story resonate locally is that she has never lost touch with where she came from. At the awards ceremony, she attended alongside her mother Libby and Alan Gray, one of her first rugby coaches, a nice acknowledgment of the people and places that helped shape her career. Cumbria has produced many talented sportspeople, but few match Abbie’s level of performance. She shows that top-level athletes can come from small communities and help inspire the next generation to aim high. Sportsperson of the Year is a fitting title, and for many young players watching from Cumbria’s touchlines Abbie Ward is a clear example of what courage and commitment look like.