This year's Guest of Honour was Mr Patrick Jephson LVO

Awarding the PrizesSpeaking first the Headmaster, Mr Page, paid tribute to the life of Tom Burton, the Year 8 pupil who died this year and praised Tom's fellow pupils for their dignified grief.
He spoke of the school's academic and sporting success and of the many highly successful extra-curricular activities.  Mr Page outlined the building plans - to provide the sixth-form with a study centre, to build new  maths classrooms and to replace the changing rooms with a new showering area and a fitness suite.  He pointed out that this had been made possible by a superb fund-raising effort that had just reached one million pounds.

Finally Mr Page paid tribute to the staff leavers and thanked the governors, staff, parents, Friends of RGS, and not least the Parents' Association, which raises 20000 pounds a year for the school.

Mr Patrick Jephson, our Guest of Honour today was born and raised in Ireland, he then went to Cambridge University where he took a Masters in Political Science. Patrick served for 10 years in the Royal Navy and then
joined the Royal Household as the first and only private Secretary to the late Princess of Wales. Since leaving the Royal Service Patrick has worked as a writer and presenter of TV documentaries and is the author of the best selling “Shadows of a Princess”. He is currently working on a variety of publishing and television projects in the UK, USA and Australia.
Mr Jephson spoke movingly of the thin line between failure and success and how the act of overcoming setbacks is an energising process.  He finished by wishing the boys well in their own hunt for success.

The evening continued with the award of the prizes and concluded with refreshments on the lawn.