The annual Girls’ Division Presentation Evening took place in September, with Old Girl Lucy Parkinson-Baxter (née Baxter, Class of 2017) returning to give the address.
After leaving Bolton School, Lucy went on to obtain a First Class honours degree in Communication and Media from the University of Liverpool. Her final year took place during lockdown. She studied for a Masters in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Salford, receiving a distinction with Gold Standard NCTJ qualifications. During her Masters, she set up her own podcast, ‘From A Lancashire Lass’, which has featured on BBC Radio 4 and other local radio stations. She has interviewed guests such as former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, former MPs, authors and Bolton School alumni like Bill Moores with their family business Halbro.
After her Masters, Lucy began freelancing at BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today and BBC North West Tonight. At the end of 2022, she secured a role as a broadcast journalist on BBC Breakfast television, based in Media City, where she works on a range of news stories. During the BBC’s centenary, Lucy was a BBC Ambassador who went into local high schools to discuss her story and overcoming adversity. Two years ago, she was asked by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to host and present their podcast.
Lucy shared her incredible story so far with the audience of current and former pupils, proud parents and members of staff in an interesting and entertaining address. In closing, she offered the girls in the hall a series of tips for the future with the acronym ‘GOT ALPHA’, advising them to have goals, make the most of opportunities, travel, see their regional accent as an asset, learn another language, push themselves and be persistent, help people by volunteering and to ask questions. These pieces of life advice, amongst many others peppered through her speech, no doubt inspired all of those watching in the Great Hall.
The evening also featured a welcome from Amanda Valentine, the Vice Chairman of Governors for the Girls’ Division, and review of the past year in school from Head of Girls’ Division Mrs Lynne Kyle. In addition to the usual celebrations of achievement, Mr Philip Britton was pleased to present four new prizes. The Bank Street Unitarian Chapel Prize for Religious Studies was inaugurated this year following a significant donation from the Chapel’s congregation following its dissolution, and was awarded to Natasha Williams. The Riley Prize to the ‘best all-rounder’ in Year 13 was awarded to Angelie Chitre, and Mr Britton also presented two university scholarships, the Warburton Scholarships, to Aaminah Patel and Nicola Shaw.
As Mr Britton noted in his address, Presentation Evening 2024 marked the unveiling of a new set of Girls’ Division boards which will list the names of all Head Girls, Deputy Head Girls and Prefects from the 2021-22 academic year onwards. The boards are a new fixture at the back of the Great Hall and were unveiled in a small ceremony before Prizegiving, which was attended by representatives of the 2021-2024 Head Girl and Prefect Teams: those who campaigned for the boards to be installed, and who are the first to have their names listed.
The speeches and musical performances from Presentation Evening 2024 are available to watch again via YouTube:
Presentation Evening 2024 Photo Gallery:
