PERSONALIA
Harry Rainforth( 10-15)( above), is studying to be a Deck Officer in a company called Orient Overseas Container Line at South Tyneside Marine College. After completing his land based studies at the end of January 2016, he joined ship OOCL M. V. Savannah in Hong Kong, where he also met up with fellow OPs Adrian Leung( 13- 15) and Kaiser Cheung( 08-15). He has since been sailing around parts of China, Australia and New Zealand. He says he is thoroughly enjoying himself!
Stephanie Room( 96-07) is working as a senior nurse in The Great North Trauma and Emergency Centre in Newcastle. Recently, she successfully completed an MSc in Practice Development( Nursing) and graduated in December 2015.
Tom Room( 92-03) set up an events company in 2011, organised under the name Relish Running Races. Over 8,000 runners took part in races over distances ranging from 300m to full marathon in 2015. These family-friendly trail running races are mostly based around Bath and the south-west of England. The headline event is the Bath Marathon. In 2015, Tom also launched his own custom-kit brand called Colour My Kit, which specialises in providing bespoke custom sportswear for triathletes, cyclists, runners and a range of other sports.
Tanya Rose( 04-11) has successfully completed her degree in Medicine and starts her first Junior Doctor appointment at Lewisham Hospital. Her brother, Anthony( 06-15) has been offered a scholarship for UCL.
Lauren Salter( 02-09) recently completed a Masters in Occupational Psychology at Aston University. As part of this she undertook an internship with a national telephone befriending service, Home to Home Calls in Birmingham, where she was working on a research project into stress and depression. She has now just started the graduate scheme at Reed.
Lucinda Stephenson( née Cawood, 97-06) has opened her own tearoom called The Fiddle Drill in Goodmanham, near Market Weighton. The tearoom is already very popular with walkers and cyclists. It is open Friday to Sunday and serves quality coffee and tea as well as homemade cakes and savoury food. The Fiddle Drill is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and any‘ likes’ or‘ shares’ from OPs to help spread the word would be appreciated.
Charlie Tagg( 98-05) learnt to glide at the airfield next to the school and this inspired him to pursue a career in aviation. He decided not to go to university and instead took a year out to instruct gliding in New Zealand. Upon returning to the UK in 2006 he applied to the Royal Air Force and was accepted as a pilot aged 19. He was selected to fly Fast Jets and furthered his RAF training on the Tucano and Hawk aircraft. Unfortunately, due to defence cuts in 2010, his RAF career was put on hold temporarily. In the meantime, he went to fly Boeing 777 passenger aircraft out of Hong Kong for Cathay Pacific Airways for two and a half years, before returning to the RAF in 2015 to complete Fast Jet Weapon training. He qualified on the Typhoon Multi Role Fighter in July 2016 and is now based at RAF Lossiemouth on 2 Squadron flying the Typhoon.
Charlie Tagg
Hattie Turner( 05-09) studied Politics at Sheffield University before completing a Masters degree in Environmental Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh. She is now based in London and is working in the House of Commons as a Parliamentary Assistant to Guto Bebb MP( Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales). Mr Tomaszewski taught her at school and she says he is the reason for her continued interest in politics.
Oliver Turner( 98-05) graduated from Warwick University in 2008 with a first class honours degree in English and Theatre Studies. He then went on to do an MA in Drama and Theatre Education and gained a distinction. In September 2016 he started a new job as Head of English at Trinity Catholic School in Leamington Spa.
Kate Vinall( neé Lllwellyn, 95-03) married in 2014 and has settled in East Yorkshire. She was working at Reckitt Benckiser in Research and Development, but she has now embarked on a career change and is re-training as a science teacher.
Sabina Virtosu( 06-07) is known as a professional violinist but is also a big snooker fan. She combined the two in September 2015 when she performed live at a Snooker Legends event at the GLive Theatre in Guildford as part of a trio band called The Aces. Now based in Essex, Sabina started playing the violin when she was just four years old under the guidance and mentoring of her Romanian mother, who was also a professional violinist. She had her first gig when she was about five years old, and has played at many concert venues in the UK since she was 16. She came to Pocklington School for a year as a music scholar on the Romanian scholarship scheme and boarded in Faircote House during her time at the school.
Jack Wainwright( 04-12) has been awarded student of the year at York College after achieving an outstanding‘ A’ grade in Physical Education. Jack used his interest in horse riding to obtain full marks in his written coursework. Jack is an excellent horse rider who competes at National level and also shares his skills by volunteering for Riding for the Disabled Centre, where he teaches riding to children with a range of disabilities.
Joshua Walls( 06-13) is currently studying for a Level 2 City & Guilds in Electrical Technology Engineering and has an apprenticeship with Western Power Distribution
Rob Webber( 94-04) and his journey from Pocklington RUFC mini and Pocklington School rugby player to full England international was televised for BT Sport in April 2016. The programme featured Rob himself and also his family, club and school coaches, plus match action from Pocklington RUFC Colts. The film was the first of BT Sport’ s‘ Grassroots to Greats’ mini documentaries for their Rugby Tonight programme. The team filmed Rob playing hooker for Bath against London Irish in the Premiership, then jumping straight into a sponsored Land Rover for the 230-mile journey back to Yorkshire. The following day he was filmed helping his father and fellow OP, Mike( 64-71) feed his cattle before setting off to Pocklington. Rob was then filmed meeting up with his first coach and mentor, Alan‘ Pud’ Greenwood, at Percy Road before heading to Pocklington School where he was filmed with his best mate from school, Nick Hobbs( 99-04), and his former school coach, Andy Towner. Since the filming took place, Rob has signed for Sale Sharks but his season has not started well with a fracture injury meaning he will be out of action for a good few weeks to come.
Nicky Wong( 07-12) graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in Psychology. She planned to return to Hong Kong after her graduation.
Bill Bangzheng Wu( 12-14) has just started his third year at Sheffield Hallam University studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He enjoyed showing fellow Fenwick-Smith boarder, Pico Yui Tong Man( 11-13), around Beijing when he visited China on business recently.
Jul Yang( 02-09) was a boarder in Fenwick- Smith House. He studied Medicine after his time at Pocklington and graduated in July 2015. He is currently at the University Hospital of North Durham as a Foundation Year 1 doctor.
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