On Wednesday, we were delighted to welcome Brigadier Paul Hayhurst who gave the first lecture in our Sixth Form series for the Easter term.
Brigadier Hayhurst was educated at Stonyhurst College and graduated from Royal Holloway College, University of London with a BSc(Hons) and was awarded a MA from Cranfield University. He was commissioned into the Army Air Corps from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1996.
Brigadier Hayhurst has been deployed in some of the most dangerous areas of the world including Bosnia, Croatia, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria and Turkey. Having qualified on the Apache attack helicopter, he took command of 663 Squadron Army Air Corps in 2010 and was deployed to Afghanistan. In June 2019, he was appointed as the Commander of the Attack Helicopter Force, a command that included deployments to the Baltic States, Oman, Cyprus, Jordon, US, France, Germany, Norway and various maritime deployments embarked on HMS Prince of Wales. In August 2021, he was selected to attend the National Defence University, Islamabad, Pakistan and subsequently appointed as the UK Defence Advisor in Islamabad in March 2023.
Needless to say, Brigadier Hayhurst has witnessed many highs and lows within his career, and it was a huge pleasure and honour to listen to him talk to our Sixth Form about these experiences and the lessons that can be learnt from them.