Biennial Dinner

BOOKING NOW OPEN - click here to book!

Every two years we hold a special black tie dinner for Old Edwardians at King Edward's. The 2012 Biennial Dinner will take place on Saturday 6th October.

The school will be open from 5pm for a look around. At 5.45pm there will be a concert by the school swing band in the new Ruddock Performing Arts Centre followed by a drinks reception. Dinner will start in Big School at approximately 7.30pm.  There will be speeches by the Chief Master, John Claughton, and our guest speaker, Lord Hall of Birkenhead (1965), Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House (see below).  You can see photos from the 2010 dinner here.

Details

Date: Saturday 6th October

Location: King Edward's School

Time: School open from 5pm. Evening ends at about 11.00pm.

Cost: £40 (if booked by end of June), £50 thereafter

Booking: Early bird booking is now available here. If you do not want to book online, you can download a printable version of the booking form at the bottom of this page.

Contact details: Sue Dickens, OEA Administrator on 0121 415 6050 or oldeds@kes.org.uk

Guest Speaker - Lord Hall of Birkenhead, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House (1965)

Tony Hall took up his position as Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House in April 2001.  He is widely credited with bringing financial stability to Britain's largest and most complex arts institution, building the organisation into a global centre of excellence for opera and ballet, and a beacon of creativity and best practice within the arts sector.

Tony Hall set up ROH2, a department devoted to supporting new artists and developing new audiences.  He is passionate about the importance of education and skills within the cultural industries.  He was the founder Chair of the Creative and Cultural & Skills Council; Chairman of the Music and Dance Scheme and also conducted a review, for the Government, of dance in secondary education in 2006/07.  At the Royal Opera House, more than £2 million per annum is now invested in education projects.

In July 2009, he was asked by the Government and Mayor of London to set up and chair a board to direct the Cultural Olympiad and also joined the Board of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.  He is Deputy Chairman of Channel 4 Television and sits on the board of The British Council and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Until 2001, Tony Hall was Chief Executive BBC News and launched Radio 5 Live, Britain's first 24-hour News and Sports Radio channel, BBC News 24, BBC News Online and BBC Parliament.  He built BBC news gathering network to be a world beater.  Tony is the author of King Coal (1981) - a history of the Miners Union, and Nuclear Power (1984).

He is an honorary Doctor of Literature at the University of London and an Honorary Fellow of Keble College Oxford.  He was appointed a CBE in 2005 and, in 2010, was created a life peer with the title Baron Hall of Birkenhead. He sits on the Crossbenches in The House of Lords.