The Haileybury Bicentenary: 1806 - 2006
On 3 and 4 February 2006, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the laying of the Foundation Stone of our magnificent buildings. The 500-acre site now so enjoyed by the Haileybury community was originally bought at auction in October 1805 by the East India Company as they prepared to build new premises to house the expanding East India College in which young men were trained as administrators and civil servants for service in India.
Some 50 years later, the College closed and in 1862 Haileybury and Imperial Service College was established on the same site. To celebrate the birth of these wonderful buildings, we held a weekend of Gala Bi-Centenary events in February 2006.
Friday 3 February 2006:
A unique and special musical journey celebrated the history of the buildings through a real promenade concert in which music from the past 200 years was played in four of the school's finest venues. The evening ended with performances from Haileybury's BBC award-winning choir in the magnificent Chapel. Guests then departed via a magically-lit Quad, with music-technology offering stimulating sounds of our present and future environment.
Saturday 4 February 2006:
A morning commemorative service in the Chapel with the Lord Bishop of London as our preacher and in the evening, the first of a series of four lectures celebrating the East India College and Haileybury, our buildings, architecture, people and events over the past 200 years.
Fashion Extravaganza
Nearly 1000 people, including parents, OHs, pupils and members of the public, were treated to a spectacular fashion show at Haileybury on Sunday, 23 April 2006.
The extravaganza, held to celebrate 200 years of history and education on our magnificent site, was an historical journey through the past 20 decades of fashion.
The hosts of the show, Hoyt Richards (an OH who went on to become the first male supermodel and is now a film director) and Hilary Alexander (Fashion Director at the Daily Telegraph), superbly supported the pupil narrators, Mark Beaumont, Melissa Fenner, Cara Llorente, Natalie Macdonald, Kiril Sukhanenko and Ayumi Tomari, who took the audience through the fashion highs (and lows!) of the 1800s and 1900s.
Seventy five Haileybury pupils were selected and trained by Storm Model Agency to strut their stuff on the catwalk and showcase collections from designers such as Manish Arora, Betty Jackson, Amanda Wakeley, Ronit Zilkha, Anna Trzebinski and Ben De Lisi. The show finished on a high note with a magnificent splash of colour from outfits from Swarovski's Red Collection.
