Alumni, staff and parents attended the Old Girls’ Lecture on Monday 23rd November, hosted via Zoom

Despite current circumstances dictating this year’s Old Girls’ Lecture could not take place in school, the event was no less convivial: instead, Co-chair of the Alumni Association, Audrey Mitchell, née Wiggin, welcomed alumni, staff and parents to hear Retired Chief Superintendent and best-selling author, John Sutherland, speak online. Former members of staff were also keen to attend the lecture: John’s mother, Judy Sutherland, was a teacher of PE and English at Francis Holland in the eighties and nineties and both of his sisters attended the school.

With the lecture entitled ‘Keeping the Peace and Falling to Pieces’, John spoke candidly and sensitively about his 25-year career with the Metropolitan Police, discussing how police are required to be “utterly extraordinary”, while going on to describe his own personal journey that brought about the end of his operational career – but which enabled him to develop his career as an author with his Sunday Times bestselling book, Blue.

Following his talk, John answered many pertinent questions from his audience about his career and personal experiences in an exceptionally frank and revealing manner. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to John for presenting such a fascinating insight into his life and career.

If you were unable to attend the lecture, you can still watch via the Vimeo link, here.