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Twelve of the School’s best and most committed pianists took their places to celebrate the eagerly awaited delivery of pianos to the new Music School.

With the Yamaha CF6 grand piano taking pride of place, seven new upright pianos and four refurbished pianos were arranged in The Friends’ Recital Hall, centrepiece of the £3.5m-plus facility.

Twelve carefully selected pupils – chosen for their talent as pianists, but also their commitment to music at QE – were invited to be the first to play the instruments in their new home.

Led by Year 13’s Raphael Herberg at the keyboard of the Yamaha CF6, the boys performed The Twelve Pianos of Christmas, a version of the festive favourite that Raphael had specially arranged for 12 pianos.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The boys revelled in the opportunity to spend some free time with these wonderful pianos, swapping around to try the different instruments and then enjoying the chance to perform together.

“This event was an important milestone in the delivery of this major project. We are on to final snagging now, with boys to begin using the recital hall and The Friends’ Music Rooms – the classrooms and practice rooms – next term.

“We are very grateful to the Foundation Trustees for purchasing the CF6 and to all those who have supported the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s in raising funds for the other new pianos, not least in donating to the Pianoathon and Virtual Founder’s Day celebrations this year. These developments and the amazing opportunities that they enable us to provide for the boys just wouldn’t happen without the support of the Elizabethan community.”

The 12 Pianos of Christmas performance saw each piano take one of the twelve ‘lines’ or ‘parts’, with the sounds building up and coming together, so that, by the end, all were playing simultaneously.

The occasion was attended by the Headmaster, Director of Music Ruth Partington, Assistant Director James McEvoy-Stevenson, Music teacher Caroline Grint and piano teacher Tadashi Imai, all of whom took part in the process of selecting the CF6 grand. Other attendees were David Halford, of Coach House Pianos, from where the new pianos were purchased, and some of those working on site.

An opening festival for the Music School is being planned for early February – details to follow – all things being well!

The four pianos that have been refurbished were all brought across to the new building from the original Friends’ Music Rooms, which were one of the first facilities to be established in the 1990s thanks to giving through the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s. “The pianos’ longevity is testament to our long-standing policy of ‘buying quality,” added Mr Enright.

The pupils involved, who include three sets of brothers, were:

Raphael Herberg, Year 13
Conor Parker-Delves, Year 13
Shivas Patel, Year 13
Alex Woodcock, Year 13
Jao-Yong Tsai, Year 12
Arjun Patel, Year 13
Keir Parker-Delves, Year 11
Nathan Woodcock, Year 11
Danylo Gutsulyak, Year 11
Jason Tao, Year 10
Zeyuan Wu, Year 10
Rajveer Mukherjee, Year 12

After an early career switch from advertising to IT, Warren Lipman has never looked back, building and adapting a company that now employs more than 20 people and supports thousands of customers across the globe.

After leaving the University of Greenwich with a degree in Real Estate, Warren (OE 1986–1988) worked in the 1990s as a Planner Buyer for industry giant MediaCom.

“But,” he says, “I was always very technical, and after an enjoyable career in advertising and in 1999 ahead of the millennium, I decided a career in IT was a good idea. I took a City & Guilds course in Micro Systems and OS, and then went to work as a contractor installing ‘millennium bug’ fixes for the banks.” After that, he worked as internal desktop support for a software company.

Then, in 2003, he started his own company, Storm IT, specialising in providing IT support to SMEs in the local area. The Barnet-based company has grown year-on-year and today employs more than 20 people, including technicians at all levels of competency, digital marketing experts and a full in-house accounts department.

“Our offering has developed and changed each year, embracing ‘comms’, business broadband, cloud computing and full security services.

“Professional highlights include buying a commercial property in Barnet, which became Storm HQ supporting many other businesses, and working with various blue-chip corporates, supporting thousands of users across the world.”

During the 2020 lockdown, in response to extensive feedback and requests from clients, he developed ‘Storm-In-A-Box’. Warren says: “It caters for the blended and hybrid WFH/work-from-the-office model – the premise being that we provide one laptop (and device) with unlimited ‘comms’ calling and headset, MS Office and cloud storage, and with all licences and IT support, for one cost per month. “This has been greatly welcomed and is a unique offering in the marketplace.”

Fresh from that triumph, Warren is now looking to pursue some other ambitions as well. “I have an interest in, and love of, coffee and have always wanted to open a coffee shop as a side passion project: this will be fulfilled in Q1 of 2022, as I am just about to sign a lease for a small shop in Radlett, Hertfordshire. I am an art and music enthusiast, too, and will be incorporating both passions in the coffee shop, which will sell ‘affordable art’ and possibly music. I probably have a few other businesses in me too!”

Thirty-three years after he left the School, Warren has “fond memories of QE (when I wasn’t in trouble!). It taught me the values and principles that have carried – and continue to carry – me through life. I am still in contact with one or or two fellow alumni (Ben Mendoza springs to mind) who are lifelong friends, and our children are friends, too.”

Anantha Anilkumar had a reassuring message for Year 9 boys when he visited the School to give a careers talk this term: “Nothing will happen exactly as you expect it to – and that is ok.” He detailed the twists and turns of his life before he settled into his career as a Civil Service analyst.

Since graduating from Oxford with a degree in English Language and Literature in 2016, Anantha  (OE 2005-2012) has worked in a diverse range of jobs, from being a Music teacher at a secondary school in the Borough of Camden and a content editor for an organisation offering Mathematics tuition, to working for a company providing IT Cost Management software.

Since September this year, however, he was been with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, fulfilling a role as a continuous service improvement analyst.

In his talk to Year 9 in the Main School Hall, Anantha detailed his somewhat unexpected journey since leaving the School in 2012, including some of the challenges he faced at university and his experience in a number of jobs before arriving in his current post with the Civil Service.

Head of Year 9 Akhil Gohil said: “We’re very grateful to Anantha for his inspirational talk. He emphasised the importance of having a plan and also the ability to adapt, since, as he pointed out, life, inevitably, will not always follow that plan. This particularly resonated with students in Year 9, who are soon to select their GCSE options and who have had to adapt to the global pandemic in the past two years.”

No fewer than 13 different ensembles performed as the School’s musicians came together for QE’s first major in-person concert since December 2019.

The Christmas Concert in the Shearly Hall featured scores of instrumentalists and singers tackling a programme that, although based around a festive theme, was very eclectic in nature.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “It really was a wonderful evening of very high-quality music, and performers and audience members all seemed to hugely enjoy being back together for the first time in two years. My congratulations go to our Director of Music, Ruth Partington, and her team on a splendid concert.

“There were many highlights, with the Jazz Band maintaining their customary high standards – including amazing saxophone solos! – and the Orchestra taking on some challenging works.

“The Indian Ensemble’s piece, Dhanashree Thillana, went down really well, as did the Guitar Ensemble’s rendition of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train. The inclusion of such repertoire in the programme amply demonstrates the importance of making space for different genres and sounds, while also showing very clearly that performance music can be fun.”

Boys introduced some of the pieces, acting as hosts for the concert: for example, Year 13 Orchestra clarinettist Conor Parker-Delves explained the story of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, preparing the audience for the moment when the guillotine falls towards the end of the piece.

“Several of the ensembles were rehearsed by pupils – and judging by the performances, they did a great job,” Mr Enright added.

“The large numbers of participants in our junior ensembles, such as Junior Strings, was very noticeable: their involvement bodes well for the future.

“Such enthusiasm and, indeed, the success of this concert as a whole gives us strong momentum to take forward for the opening of our Music School, planned for next term. Of course, the new facility should itself further participation and excellence in performance music.”

The School Choir and Orchestra brought the evening to a traditional conclusion with the carols,  Once in Royal David’s City and Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.

QE’s First XV pulled on their navy and sky blue-hooped shirts for one last time as they took on rivals Habs at Saracens’ StoneX Stadium, 99 years after the fixture was first played between the two schools.

The evening got off to a great start, with resounding wins against Haberdashers’ Boys’ School by the Year 8 A and B teams, who racked up scores of 65-0 and 45-0 respectively.

And, with the First XV buoyant after two consecutive wins against St Ignatius College and Watford Grammar School, hopes were high that they could avenge their loss to Habs earlier in the season in the National Vase.

In the end, it was not to be – Habs overturned a half-time 10-0 deficit to emerge as narrow victors on the night – but Head of Rugby James Clarke had nothing but praise for his players: “It was a great game with a monumental defensive effort and a result that could have gone our way on a different night. The squad has come an awful long way from the early season struggles after a year of missed rugby due to COVID. I am extremely proud of the effort, attitude and commitment that the whole squad have shown this year.”

The games proved a big draw across the Elizabethan community. “It was lovely to see so many of our younger boys, parents, siblings and Old Elizabethans in attendance,  and our senior players were most grateful for the vocal support.”

The Year 8 games had been worthy curtain-raisers for the later First XV match, said Mr Clarke, with the convincing victories representing a major improvement by the A team in particular, who had lost 6 tries to 5 earlier in the season in the reverse fixture. The A team is coached by PE teacher Peter Pickford. Alvin Xu was named Player of the Match for the A team, while Faaiz Adil took the accolade for the B team.

In the main match, after repelling an early Habs onslaught, QE took the lead through Alex Diamond scoring in the far corner.

“After withstanding further pressure following the restart, QE eventually worked their way up the pitch via some intelligent kicking from scrumhalf Taro Niimura and were now within striking range of the same corner. The forwards took charge as they tried to drive over the try line from close range but were met with fierce resistance. After recycling possession multiple times and bringing in reinforcements, Aditya Narayan dived over for a well-earned score to stretch our lead to 10-0. We maintained this cushion until the relief of the half-time whistle after some, at times, heroic defending out wide, including a try-saving tackle from Saalif Jilani.

“The second half saw us playing against the elements and into an increasingly strong wind. Habs made full use of this advantage and pinned us deep within our half from the kick-off.  Despite us clearing our lines reasonably well, Habs threw the ball wide to create an overlap and break our defence to go over for the score.”

Habs scored an “excellent conversion”, leaving QE holding a narrow 10-7 lead. “After an injury stoppage, a typically strong QE scrum gave our backline a platform to play from, and the backs showed some excellent skills to move the ball wide behind several decoy runners and stretch and test Habs on the outside, but to no avail. Several penalties were conceded to cost us field position, and the pressure was starting to mount. Habs kicked a penalty in front of the posts to level the score at 10-10 and swing momentum in their favour. Following some initial strong defence, Habs’ again threatened out wide and their speedster slipped a tackle to score in the far corner. Advantage Habs’ with the score now 15-10 to them.

“For the final ten minutes of the match, QE had a sustained amount of possession and were ‘camped’ at the right end of the field. Habs were out on their feet, with players continuously going down with cramp and the game being stopped and started, which only added to the tension of a one-score game. After several penalties against Habs, QE had one final attempt, but couldn’t quite get the ball to stick and were thwarted in their attempts to overturn the early season result.”

“Special mentions must go to the leadership group of captain Alexandre Lee and his two vice-captains Conor Parker-Delves and Ronak Santilale,” said Mr Clarke. Player of the match was Alex Diamond.

The QE First XV squad
1. Ronak Santilale – vice-captain (Year 13); 2. Manav Khindri (Year 13); 3. Victor Angelov (Year 12); 4. Jayden Savage (Year 13); 5. Nnanna Okore (Year 13); 6. Aditya Narayan (Year 13); 7. Alexandre Lee – captain (Year 13); 8. Kelvin Aye (Year 12); 9. Taro Niimura (Year 11); 10. Danny Adey (Year 12); 11. Shadman Rahman (Year 13); 12. Keir Parker-Delves (Year 11); 13. Harvey Lamb (Year 13); 14. Alex Diamond (Year 13); 15. Saalif Jilani (Year 13).

Replacements: 16. Ryan Jayaraj (Year 12); 17. Ishraq Zamee (Year 13); 18. Dilan Patel (Year 12); 19. Aadarsh Khimasia (Year 13); 20. Alex Woodcock (Year 13).