News
September 2007
Over seventy guests attended the Caley's Scottish reception at Edinburgh Castle on 27 September where Maj-Gen David McDowall presented awards to our Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Caley Scholars.
August 2007
After an absence of three months due to ill health, our CE John Horsfield, is gradually returning to work. At the end of April, John was rushed to hospital with a major knee infection. After 14 weeks, 4 operations and a new right knee (his third!), John is beginning to catch up. He wants to thank scholars and others for their good wishes during his incarceration.
February 2007
On 8 February HRH The Princess Royal formally opened the Army Welfare Service's new Childcare Centre at the Wimberley Estate in Inverness. As one of the funders of the new Centre, the Caley was represented at the Opening by Chief Executive, John Horsfield.
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John meeting Princess Anne |
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| HRH Princess Anne leaves after having opened the Childcare Centre at Wimberley. The Caley was delighted to support this much-needed facility. |
November 2006
Some photographs from the Caley's later decades. As ever, we'd love to hear from you if you can identify location, event or any of the individuals:
Old Caleys meeting the Chelsea Pensioners
All dressed up!
Cool and the Gang?
The Royal Caledonian Schools Trust is delighted to support Borderline and their first-ever Caledonian Carols event.
August 2006
Another Successful Caley Graduate: Vicky Graduates !
Last month on the eve of her 19th Birthday Victoria O'Donnell graduated from London's Urdang Academy. The ceremony and following concert marked the end of nine years' involvement for the Caley with Vicky. She thanked John Horsfield and asked him to pass her thanks on to the Directors for sticking with her.
Vicky now has an agent and is hoping to build on her student career. We hope she will continue to grace this site as we bring you news of how she gets on. |
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A link with our late Royal Patroness
The long association of the late Queen Mother with the Caley has been
marked on a slab in the Queen Mother's Memorial Garden in the beautiful Royal
Botanical Garden in Edinburgh. The Garden, which reflects her late majesty's
charitable work, was opened by Her Majesty the Queen at a ceremony where we
were represented by Lt Col Hugh Cowan, the Chairman of our Scottish Support
Committee.
The Slab which we share with the Royal College of Midwives
May 2006
An Apology: we must apologise to regular visitors for the absence of new items during the last couple of months but we can now report that John Horsfield, our Chief Executive. has returned from protracted sick leave following a further knee replacement and subsequent fall. Normal service is gradually returning.
All Change at the Top
After eleven active years as Chairman of the Schools, Iain Stewart Hunter stood down at the end of March. The annual Court of Guardians unanimously elected Keith Robertson as our new Chairman.
Incoming Chairman, Keith Robertson, accepting the good wishes of his predecessor
Keith, who was Deputy Chairman, has been a Caley Director for over twenty-five years. He follows the example of his father, Douglas Robertson MBE, who was Chairman in the 1980’s.
In 1996 Keith, a quantity surveyor, led negotiations for us when the residential premises in Bushey were sold to the Purcell School of Music.
In addition to his work with the Caley, Keith is a Governor of Parmiters School and a member and former President of the Caledonian Society of London.
To mark his eleven years in the Chair, retiring Chairman Iain Stewart Hunter was presented with a decanter which had been used at the Schools.
Iain receiving a piece of Caley history |
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Mrs Catriona Butler, a family and employment law barrister, was elected as Deputy Chairman.
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Taking our hat off to ... Paula Cooper ! Paula Cooper, a Caley scholar at the HNC Millinery Course at Kensington & Chelsea College. has just won a prestigious award from a main London Store. |
Here's a picture of her gorgeous prize-winning creation |
February 2006
This month sees the addition of items from our photographic archive. A conservative estimate places the number of photographs we hold as between six to seven thousand and the earliest photos are from the early 1900s when the Schools relocated from Islington in London to Bushey in Middlesex.
Each month we will be adding a few more pictures to this page. Most of the people or events are not known to us but if you can identify them we'd love to hear from you.
For additional information about the Caley Photo Archive please go to the How You Can Help Us page.
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With a fabulous backdrop that looks like a stage set for a haunted house, can you identify anyone from this bunch of likely lads? What was the occasion or venue? |
Reaching for new heights! For the past four years the Army Welfare Service has run a Residential Summer Adventure which gives youngsters aged 10-16 a chance to extend themselves socially and physically in ways they would otherwise be unlikely to experience. The kids take part in outdoor activities such as kayaking, windsurfing, climbing, and hill-walking. As part of their activities they are set tasks in problem solving and must learn to work together. Suddenly placed within a much larger community than normal, the children have to learn how to get along with many others, all of which plays a vital role in teaching them good social skills. |
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Five little girls enjoying lollipops! Do you know their names? Please tell us. |
Too many cooks? But who are they? And what was the occasion?
January-February 2006
From 30 January to 3 February our CE, John Horsfield, is paying one of his frequent trips to Scotland. The focus of this trip will be the visit by the Rt Rev David Lacy, Moderator to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and a Caley Honorary Vice President, to Colinton Primary School in south Edinburgh where he will see firsthand the sort of support we can provide to qualifying schools.
If you would like to meet John during his visit to Edinburgh to discuss making a grant application please contact our office on 01923 215350 or call him on 07971 071780.
Autumn/Winter 2005 Newsletter
December 2005
“The Caley is making a real difference”, says the Moderator.
Our Hon Vice President, the Rt Rev David Lacy, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland followed a long tradition when he met Scholars from the Royal Caledonian Schools Trust at the Caley’s annual reception at London’s Fleming Collection.
Three Scholars shared with the ninety guests how the grants they had received had assisted with their education. Sixteen-year old Karl Seal, from Welling, Kent is a performing arts student in his final year at the Belcanto Academy. He hopes to continue his studies at the London Dance Studio. James McDougall from Peterborough is already at University, reading Physics at Imperial College London. The third speaker was nineteen-year old Kirsty Stark from Aylesbury who talked about the time she had spent during her GAP year working with Aboriginal children at a school in Thuringowa, Queensland.
Thanking the Scholars, the Moderator said: “It is wonderful how the Caley has been able, in just nine years, to achieve the transition from School to Educational Trust. These fantastic young people clearly represent not only themselves but the hundreds of young Scots who have been helped by the Caley.”
l-r: the Moderator, our CE John Horsfield and Chairman Iain Stewart Hunter
He concluded, “It is an honour for me to be a Vice President of the Royal Caledonian Schools during my year as Moderator, knowing that the Caley is able to make such a difference to the education of such fine young people”.
Caley Scholars with Rt Rev David Lacey & Mrs Lacey. From left to right - Kirsty Stark, Jamie McDougall, the Moderator, Mrs Lacey, Karl Seal
November 2005
Lindsay-Ann Coyle is a Caley Scholar currently on her GAP trip to Pune in India. Here's what she had to say recently about it:
"I have been teaching English for about two months now and I am thoroughly enjoying all of my classes. I teach two classes of HIV workers, a class of creche workers and teachers, as well as some of the management of Deep Griha. Each class is learning English at different levels and each student has different needs. The most basic English I teach includes topics such as time, days of the week and some basic questions. I also teach at an intermediate level, in which we do a mixture of grammar work and some vocabulary. The most advanced class write reports in English, learn tenses and discuss complex topics such as the war in Iraq. My favourite classes are the HIV workers classes. They are all very enthusiastic, do more homework than is necessary and the class has a very relaxed atmosphere. I spend a lot of time preparing for lessons and making new topics and worksheets.
Inspired by my HIV workers class, I decided that I would like to do some work for the HIV project. I came up with the idea of gathering information, in English, about each of the forty-one clients. This is quite a task and so I have asked a fellow volunteer to help me. We have visited some of the clients already and are planning to go to every client's home in the slums. Obviously we have met some people who live in appalling conditions and it is very sad that on top of all that, they have HIV. Often their relations also have this illness. However, I realise that we are doing important work and it is a good experience for me too."
October 2005
"I really must thank the Caley for letting a dream of mine become a reality. I really learnt a lot about myself and the fantastic children I worked with". This was how Caley GAP Scholar Kirsty Stark reported on her recent GAP placement in Australia where she helped in an Aboriginal school.
Kirsty won a £1,000 Caley Gap Scholarship which helped meet the costs of her trip. If you are thinking of a similar trip why not ask us for details?
This photo shows how much the children
enjoyed having Kirsty at their school.