Drinks December 2021
Our Pre-Christmas Drinks were held at The Iron Duke on 7th December 2021
A small group of us met at The Iron Duke in Mayfair for pre Christmas Drinks.
Storm Barra put off some of the people we were expecting because the transport situation was so uncertain. In the end five of us enjoyed a very convivial evening helping to empty a barrel of Fuller’s London Pride and recounting memories of the Royal High. Fraser generously raffled a bottle from his whisky collection and Don Leslie took it home to Islington to enjoy.
Here are some photos of the event and the Christmas lights in the area.
Our 2020 Annual Dinner
We returned to the historic RAF Club in Piccadilly for our Annual Dinner on Friday 13th March with Dinner served at 7.30 p.m. in the elegant Presidents’ Room.
Our guest speaker was Royal High former pupil, choirmaster and occasional composer Bill Strang who reflected on musical life at the school and how that influenced his subsequent career. Bill was a pupil at the Royal High’s Regent Road campus under the tutelage of the respected organist and composer William Bowie. His career took him to the Open University where, as well as contributing to the production of distance learning courses, he has conducted the excellent OU Choir for many years. Bill reflected on the projects he undertook at the OU working alongside, among others, the famous English composer John Rutter.
Read the transcript of Bill’s speech Reflections on musical life at The Royal High School and The Open University
Our thanks to Ian Cowie for a fine set of photos which can be viewed as a slideshow below
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Use the green buttons below to find photographs from our events. These open a new tab or browser window to our Flickr Pro photo sharing website. The Flickr site holds photos from our events going back to 2006.
If you simply want to view our photos in our Albums on Flickr, use the “Event Photographs on Flickr” item in the drop down menu above under “Events”.
The Royal High School Club in London’s 2019 Pre-Xmas party
The 2019 Pre-Xmas drinks party was held in the upstairs room of the Golden Lion pub in Dean Street, just off Shaftesbury Avenue.
Our helpful host Javier served up some excellent Merlot and a nice Pinot Grigio to get the party going. There were 18 of us in attendance and we all tucked into some excellent platters of food from the buffet. Once everyone was nice and mellow we sat down for Al Senter’s Grand Xmas Quiz on the theme of ‘London’s West End’. Kenny Brown and his team scooped the top prize, some malt whisky miniatures, with the runners up having to make do with the gins.
A good time was had by all and we hope to meet up again at the annual dinner on Friday 13th March 2020 at the RAF Club.
Our venue, the Golden Lion in Dean Street, Soho was first licensed in 1728. Noel Coward was a regular visitor.
View photos of the event on our Flickr pages.
Our 2019 Annual Dinner
We returned to the historic RAF Club in Piccadilly for our Annual Dinner on Friday 15th March with Dinner served in the elegant Presidents’ Room.
Royal High School former pupil David Robb was our special Guest of Honour reflecting on his fifty years as a professional actor in conversation with Al Senter. David recalled some of the extraordinary people he has met in a career that has included blockbusters such as I, Claudius, Downton Abbey and Wolf Hall.
For further information on all aspects of the Annual Dinner, please contact Alex Prentice, Hon Secretary, Tel: 01992 554854, Mob: 07855 640570
email: alex.prentice1@btinternet.com
Photos from our 2019 Dinner –
View full size on our Flickr pages.
The Royal High School Club in London – pre-Xmas drinks party 2018
Following last year’s extremely enjoyable evening at the Iron Duke, we returned to this traditional Fuller’s pub in the heart of the West End for the Pre-Xmas Drinks Party.
Photos from the event can be viewed on our Flickr pages –
Link to Flickr Album of the Pre-Xmas Party 2018
For further information on all aspects of the Annual Drinks Party, please contact Alex Prentice on Home: 01992 554854, Mobile: 07855 640570 or alex.prentice1@btinternet.com.
Barnton 50th Gala Dinner, 5th October 2018
See Alastair Allanach’s photos from the school’s Gala Dinner on 5th October celebrating 50 years at Barnton. London Club members Paul Fleming, Fraser Wright, David Robb and myself were all in Edinburgh for the event and we all appear in the attached photographs. You will also recognise some other Royal High people who have attended our dinners in London over the years: John Murray, Tom Bacciarelli, Anne Richards, Frank & Maggie Crowe, and David Williamson.
Annual Dinner, 16th March 2018
Our 2018 Annual Dinner was held at the RAF Club, 128 Piccadilly, London W1J 7PY on the 16th March.
Our Guest of Honour was Tom Bacciarelli who was a teacher at the Royal High for almost 40 years (1978-2016). Tom taught English and he also produced some of the big stage shows for which the school became famous. On top of all that he also coached the rugby teams. Tom shared anecdotes of his time at the school and answered questions from some of his former pupils.
Photos from the event can be viewed and downloaded from our Flickr web pages using the button below.
Annual Dinner, March 2017
Read Al Senter’s account of the evening…
Photos from our 2017 Annual Dinner can be viewed and downloaded web pages using the button below.
The Royal High School Club in London – pre-Xmas drinks party 2016
Twenty eight members and friends of the Royal High School Club in London met for the pre-Xmas drinks party on 15th November 2016 at The Iron Duke pub in the heart of Mayfair. The impressive displays of Christmas lights in the surrounding streets put us all in the mood for a party as we took over the upstairs room of the pub. The wine flowed and hearty food was consumed as we renewed old friendships and made some new acquaintances before Al Senter bamboozled us all with his Grand Xmas Quiz about London. Will Dunnett kindly acted as paparazzo and his photographs of the party can be found on our Flickr web pages using the button below.View.
Annual Dinner, 11th March 2016
Our 2016 Annual Dinner was held at the RAF Club, 128 Piccadilly, London W1J 7PY on the 11th March.
Photos from the event can be viewed and downloaded from our Flickr web pages using the button below.
Winter Drinks Party, November 2015.
The Annual Pre-Xmas Drinks Party in a new venue, The Boot Room, upstairs at The Iron Duke pub, in the beating heart of Mayfair. This is a traditional Fullers tavern, full of character, and dedicated to the memory of The Duke of Wellington, the victor of Waterloo.
As ever, there was a mouth-watering selection of canapes and an assembly of the finest wines for you to sample. Amid the conversation there was brainteaser on appropriate themes.
Annual Dinner, 13th March 2015
Our 2015 Annual Dinner was held on Friday the 13th of March at the RAF Club, 128 Piccadilly, London W1J 7PY .
Rising star on the stand up comic scene, Eleanor Morton, a former pupil of the school, entertained the diners.
Photos of the event taken by photographer Max Alexander.
Pre Christmas Drinks, December 2014.
The Royal High School Club in London’s annual pre-Xmas drinks party was held in the French restaurant Bar du Marché on Tuesday 2nd December with 21 former pupils and their partners in attendance.
The party coincided with the end of Val Peay’s three-year term of office as President and during the party she handed over the medal of office to our new President Fraser Wright. We noted that Val and Fraser were both in the same year at the Royal High so it was obviously a very good year for producing London Club Presidents.
At the end of the party question-master Al Senter quizzed the attendees on their knowledge of Scottish contributions to the world of Theatre, Film and TV. The quiz team which included David Robb (actor) and Glenn Chandler (screen-writer) romped home with an impressive 30 correct answers to 36 questions – well done to them.
Events from 2007 to March 2014
The photos from these events can either be viewed on our Flickr Web Pages or as an embedded slideshow on this website. Start at the March 2014 Annual Dinner or work back from the 2007 Annual Dinner.
Annual Dinner, March 2014
The Royal High School Club in London 2014 Annual Dinner was again held at the historic RAF Club in Piccadilly, with special guest of honour Nick Barley, director of the Edinburgh Book Festival.
Annual Dinner, March 2013
The Royal High School Club in London 2013 Annual Dinner was held at the RAF Club in Piccadilly, with guest speaker Philip Edgar-Jones.
Winter Drinks Party, November 2012.
The Royal High School Club in London met for to enjoy fine wine and a light buffet at at Le Troisième Restaurant in Central London. Al Senter entertained with a talk on the world of theatre.
Drinks at the Fleming Collection, November 2010.
In November 2010 the Fleming Collection presented a very special exhibition, a feast for art-lovers and of enormous appeal to everybody with an interest in Scottish culture.
THE GLASGOW BOYS show consisted of fifty paintings, some rarely seen in public, and featured the work of Sir James Guthrie, George Henry
and Sir John Lavery among others.
Causeway provided some fine music.
Causeway provided some fine music.
Bacchanalia Wine and Tapas, September 2010.
The Royal High School Club in London combined with Heriots and Watsons FP clubs for a Wine Tasting and Tapas evening by the Thames.
Our Annual Dinner, Feb 2010
Our Annual Dinner was held at the Victory Services Club on Friday February 19th, 2010.
Andrew George was our Guest Speaker. He was School Captain from 1969-1970 and so he handed over the baton to me. After Edinburgh University he went into the Foreign Office and he eventually rose to become Governor of Anguilla in the Caribbean via an ambassadorship to Paraguay.
-Al Senter
Drinks at the Fleming Collection, 9th November 2009.
The Annual Drinks Party took place at the Fleming Collection on Monday November 9th, 2009.
Fleming Collection hosted a very special exhibition: “The Face of Scotland: Masterpieces from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery “. The artists represented include Van Dyck, Sir Henry Raeburn and Allan Ramsay, and the subjects range from royalty to such contemporary figures as Ewan McGregor and J.K.Rowling.
Annual Dinner 2009
The 2009 Annual Dinner held at the Victory Club in London
Drinks at the Fleming Collection, 5th November 2007.
Annual Dinner at the Cavendish, Mayfair, 2nd February 2007.
Our popular Annual Dinner was held on Friday 2nd February 2007 at the Cavendish Hotel, 81 Jermyn Street, London SW1. Guests are gathered in the Electra Room for drinks, conversation and the sweet sounds of Emma-Jane Thommen, the club’s very own sultry singer-songwriter.
Our Guest Speaker was the screenwriter Glenn Chandler, creater of STV’s Taggart, who recalled his days at the High School in the 1960’s and taking us behind the scenes of one of the world’s longest-running detective series.
Can’t Find What You Are Looking For?
If you can’t find what you are looking for here, try our Albums index page on Flickr. Some older photos will be added here including ‘Scots in London’ events.