From Thursday 20th October, Old Gregorians, current and past parents, and the wider Downside community came together to celebrate the triennial St Gregory’s Society Madrid Weekend.
15 OGs coming from abroad kicked off the Madrid weekend with an Andalusian gourmet meal at Surtopia, including representatives from the School, Andrew Hobbs, Head, and his wife, Damaris, Jessica Newman, Director of Development and Paige Owen, Development Assistant.
On Friday, a similar group met for a tapas lunch at el Lateral along the Castellana as a warmup for the main event that evening.
The formal Black-Tie dinner at the Real Gran Peña was extremely well attended with over one hundred guests including OGs, partners, relatives, and friends. A delicious three-course-dinner was served, following Grace said by the President of St Gregory’s Society, Jonathan Grew (C77), who also proposed the Royal Toast. Following the meal, the President thanked everyone for attending the event, which has been going on for 30 years.
The Head, Andrew Hobbs, also thanked all in attendance, celebrating the diversity across generations, including some current pupils, partners, and friends. He emphasized the importance of character-building spiritual education at Downside, above simply training and narrowly defining individuals by their achievements by the age of 18; Downside instils core beliefs, values & relationships to count on in good and bad times; he was moved by the fact that the late Rachel Bevan never complained of her illness or about her sometimes-unexpected duties, leaving a legacy that is a powerful example for many at the School.
James Scanlan (S86) said we can take pride from the fact that Downside is the only Public School to have ex-alumni dinners in Madrid and asked everyone to applaud and thank John Scanlan senior (S54) for establishing the event many years ago.
On Saturday evening Father Vicente Pascual kindly said mass at the Santísimo side Chapel on c/ Maldonado for an OG crowd of over 40, including the President and Head, as well as a few OGs like Juan de la Vega (S92) or Carlos Millan (U89) who could not join us the night before, and Michael Daly (R49) our grandee OG still attending Madrid events at the age of 91. Father Vicente eloquently explained the deliberate timing of the sign of peace just before Holy Communion, as one must be at peace with oneself and one another to receive God’s grace through the eucharist.
Finally, President of the OG Society Jonny Grew, his wife Anne, reinforced with previous president Mary Jane Platt (Ra76) and her husband Alistair were taken, together with Jane (S82) and Eric Janvier Adamson to an informal Italian for dinner by Johnny (S83) and James Scanlan.
A wonderful weekend was had by all, and we would like to extend our thanks to James Scanlan, as without his hard work and determination this weekend would not have been the success it was.
The President of St Gregory’s Society looks forward to welcoming more OGs, friends, and family to the next Madrid Weekend in 2025. With thanks to Alastair Watson for the photographs.
