In September, I was thrilled to attend the launch of BG150, Bilton Grange's yearlong celebration of its 1873 founding. For over one sixth of its history, I called "BG" home but a return visit from overseas to the Pugin interiors that Old Biltonians all remember was long overdue.

The smashing of a celebratory chocolate Rugby ball and fireworks concluded the evening with many a bang. Before that, there was the opportunity to gather and reminisce and a moment to reflect on the thousands of lives that the Reverend Walter Earle's school has touched over 15 decades. He moved his school from Yarlet Hall to the current site in Dunchurch in 1887, since when the evening’s venue has witnessed well over a century of transformation and has been the stage where friendships were forged, ideas ignited and character built.

The long gallery was also set up with a literal stage. Filled with our collective present, the room was treated to some fabulous musical and theatrical performances by the pupils and staff of today. It is they who now walk the same corridors, with considerable energy and enthusiasm, each leaving their mark on BG's future history. Gareth Jones described how ground has been broken on a brand new building outside the Scout Forbid for BG boarders to call home. With the current Headmaster and his staff lives the same dedication to pastoral care, nurturing potential and a sense of community binding us together.

So as we lionize BG this year, we should look to inspire those generations to come. The milestone is not just a chance to celebrate our past but also to embrace our future. Bilton Grange, like Rugby, has adapted and innovated over the years and will continue to evolve. Central to BG150 is a £50,000 target for the Earle Fund. Named after that founding Headmaster and launched in 2022 as an extension of the Arnold Foundation, the Earle Fund provides fully funded boarding places starting at Year 7. It introduces talented and deserving students with the most to gain from Bilton Grange and whose families could not otherwise consider a boarding education. BG will surely benefit in full measure from having them, as has been the case at Rugby.

All members of the Rugbeian Community can be torchbearers of this legacy and show support by joining the BG150 club, purchasing some special merchandise via the Rugbeian Community website and perhaps even visiting the school for the very first time for one of the events ahead for Homefield and for Bilton Grange. The welcome will be warm and you will see members of both my literal and figurative family. After all, Bilton's equivalent of The Floreat asserts that "our school is more than a school to us".

Ed Day (HF 77-81, BG 81-86, T 86-91)