The Old Pocklingtonian Old Pocklingtonian 2017-18 | Page 32

PERSONALIA NEWS
the summer. Prior to joining Grayling, she was Head
of Earned Media at We Are Boutique where she
founded the company’s PR department.
Christina Groves (née Stubbins, 97-08) studied
veterinary medicine at the Royal Veterinary College
after leaving Pocklington. She is now clinical director
at a veterinary practice in County Durham – the
same practice she started at as a new graduate in
2013. Earlier this year, she completed a Certificate
in Advanced Veterinary Practice in Small Animal
Medicine. As reported earlier in the magazine, she
got married to Lloyd Groves in June 2018.
David Gray (92-00) completed 18 years as
Principal of the Erskine Stewart’s Melville Schools
in Edinburgh in July and has been appointed to
take up the role of Principal of Brummana High
School in Beirut, Lebanon from January 2019. David
was Headmaster of Pocklington School from 1992-
2000.
Edward Hetherton (00-05) recently got married
to Hannah Lois as reported earlier in the magazine.
The ceremony took place in Pocklington followed
by a reception at the family home in Meltonby and
a honeymoon in Mexico. Ed was in the band ‘Elliot
Minor’ after leaving school with his brother Daniel
achieving number 6 in the charts with their album
and a number of charting singles between 2006 and
2009. From that, he went to gain a first class degree
in Geophysics at UCL and a Masters at Imperial
College in Petroleum Geoscience and now works
for Exxon Mobil. Hannah works in advertising for
Publicis Media. Ed is the first of the six Hetherton
boys to get married.
Jodie Hill (00-06) is a solicitor and managing
director of employment and HR boutique practice
Thrive Law based in Leeds. Earlier this year, she
started a national campaign calling for a change in
the law to require businesses to provide a mental
health first aider for their staff in the same way as
physical first aiders are required.
Sam Hill (02-09) is now a fully qualified dentist and
started a new position at Appletree Dental Practice
in Scarborough in September 2018. He is working
with fellow OP, Andrew Fordy (76-83), who is the
Clinical Director and owner of the practice.
Nils Junga (04-05) was only at Pocklington for
two terms in the lower sixth, but says he still feels
attached to the school and would be pleased to
get in touch with anyone who remembers him. If
you would like to be in touch with Nils, please let
the OP office know. Nils did a degree in Aviation
Management in 2010. More recently (2017) he did
an MBA at Mainz University. He currently works
in Cologne as a key account manager at Retail in
Motion. The company specialises in the on-board
retail business for the aviation industry.
Tom Kay (97-07) is a professional actor and
recently played Stephen Wraysford, one of the lead
roles, in a touring production of the First World
War Drama ‘Birdsong’. The opportunity to play this
role came about whilst Tom was playing Captain
Stanhope in ‘Journey’s End’, with Mesh Theatre
Company, in Ypres, Belgium in 2017. A number
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of OPs and school staff came to see the him in
‘Birdsong’ during its run at York Theatre Royal in June
2018. OP Chris Pollard (98-07) and his wife also
came to support Tom on the opening night at the
Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds in January.
After Pocklington School, Tom went on to study at
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in
London and like many in the entertainment industry,
he has found carving a career as an actor to be
less than straightforward. In his first paid acting job
out of RADA, Tom worked at the National Theatre
with director Katie Mitchell and has toured in
Shakespeare productions directed by Jack Shepherd,
who is better known for his portrayal of Wycliffe on
the television. He also worked alongside Matt Smith
in American Psycho at the Almeida Theatre London.
In the autumn, he returns to Belgium to resume
playing Captain Stanhope in Journey’s End.
Joshua Overington (01-04) and his wife Victoria,
owners of French restaurant and bistro Le Cochon
Aveugle and neighbouring bar Cave au Cochon
secured a £50,000 funding package from the
Business Enterprise Fund to expand their venture in
York, including the creation of a bigger kitchen and
the expansion of the wine bar. Since the expansion,
Josh has introduced a new Saturday lunch menu
alongside the evening tasting menu on Wednesday
to Saturday. The restaurant also has a private dining
room and hosts guest chef nights, and cooking
masterclasses. Several new jobs have also been
created as a result of the expansion.
Edward Rook (91-01), a farmer, and his wife,
Lucy, have renovated a dilapidated swimming pool
on their farm in Market Weighton. After a year of
work, the new indoor pool is now open and used
by Water Babies for children’s swimming lessons.
The pool is 1.2m deep and the water temperature
is kept at 32 degrees so that it is suitable for babies
from birth.
2010 - PRESENT
Jonty Atkinson (06-17), Sam Bunce (09-16),
and Liam Hessay (03-14) were invited to join
a three week tour in July 2017 with 32 players
from the Under-20 Yorkshire Terriers Rugby Union
Development Squad in Australia and New Zealand.
The Terriers played a total of five games, one in
Australia and four in New Zealand. The first match
was played in Sydney, only three days after arriving
in the country. Training sessions were held at various
clubs and schools including Dilworth School, where
Sean Houltham (Former Staff 06-17). Dilworth
School has also previously hosted several OPs on
their gap year, including Liam.
Tom Burke (01-12) met the Pope at an
international conference to combat modern slavery
held in the Vatican in February 2018. Tom is currently
employed with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of
England and Wales, where he works across a number
of ‘International Affairs’ issues, including modern
slavery, migration policy, and refugee resettlement,
and provides support to delegations from the
Catholic Church in England and Wales when they
go to places such as the Holy Land, Nigeria, and Iraq.
He met the Pope through his work organising the
international conference of the Santa Marta Group,
an initiative of the Catholic Church to bring together
Church and law enforcement to combat modern
slavery. The conference took place in the Vatican
at the start of February, with representatives from
over 30 countries attending as well as international
agencies, such as Europol and the Global Fund to
End Modern Slavery.
Sophie Burn (03-14) graduated from Leeds
University with a 2:1 in Politics (BA Hons) in 2017.
She started work as a Parliamentary Assistant for
Julian Sturdy (MP for York Outer). The role involves
resolving constituents’ problems and enquiries;
drafting responses to constituents’ correspondence
on a wide range of issues by liaising with government
agencies, local council and others; attending advice
surgeries with the MP; writing articles for the press,
managing local campaigns, undertaking research and
writing briefings on a variety of political topics. She is
also going through the selection process to become
a local council candidate in the Local Elections. If
successfully elected, she will become one of the
youngest local councillors in the country.
Will Burns (14-16) is studying Mathematics at
Leeds University and continues to excel in rugby
in his spare time. He plays number 8 for Driffield
RUFC when he is able to, and is in the first team
for Leeds University. He played for the Yorkshire
U20s in the 2017 season and started in the final at
Twickenham. Will has again been a regular member
of the Yorkshire U20s squad in 2018 playing in the
final of the Jason Leonard Cup at Twickenham against
Cornwall U20s in May. Will was also selected for the
England Rugby North U20s squad and invited to an
England selection weekend also in May.
Jonny Chu (08-12) moved from his investment
banking (mergers and acquisitions) job at Lazard to
join Bain & Co as a strategy consultant in April 2018.
In addition to having recently completed a highly
rewarding strategy turnaround project for a client in
the marketing services industry, he has also recently
gone to global training in Virginia, US and will shortly
be heading off to another training in Cancun, Mexico.
Kyle Edmund (Lyndhurst, 02-06) reached his
first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open
in January 2018. In March 2018, he was declared
British No 1 male tennis player after overtaking
Andy Murray in the world ranking for the first
time. In April, Kyle reached his first ATP tour final in
Marrakech, which unfortunately ended in defeat in
straight sets against Pablo Andujar. A full update on
Kyle’s progress is featured earlier in the magazine.
Ben Elcock (07-16) has completed his second year