Lynn Robinson The BMC is a membership-led 85,000 member organisation that is the representative body for hill walking, climbing and mountaineering in England and Wales, as well as being the governing body for competition climbing. Its work is vital for maintaining access to the hills and mountains that we love.  I was always pushing for women to be more involved in the more ‘senior’ volunteer roles, so when the volunteer role of President unexpectedly became vacant I thought I’d better put my money where my mouth is and stand. It was a contested election, so I was absolutely thrilled when the votes were counted and I received an over whelming majority of the votes.  I’ve climbed 6000m trekking peaks in Nepal, Alpine Peaks in Europe and last September I climbed El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. I also indoor climb. When I’m on the crag, or hanging off the side of a mountain, or walking on Kinder Scout, or just testing myself indoors…it’s where I ‘recharge my batteries’.  I’m looking forward to sharing my volunteering journey in more detail with Manchester Grammar School.
 
Her talk is entitled: 'My Journey to Being the First Female President of the British Mountaineering Council'
 
Date:     Thursday 24 January 2019
Time:    4:00 pm (refreshments will be served from 3:45 pm)
Venue:  Memorial Hall
Admission Free
 

“It’s thought that between 70 and 90% of GP consultations are related to stress”

Dr Rangan Chatterjee knows this better than anyone. As a practising GP he’s seen first-hand how stress affects his patients and has found simple but effective methods to help them. Now he’s on a mission to show that combatting stress is easier than you think. For Dr Chatterjee, the key to solving the problem of stress is about addressing the underlying causes of our anxieties in four main areas: Body, Mind, Relationships, and Purpose.

Date: Tuesday 29 January 2019
Time: 5:30pm refreshments and book signing, 7:00pm talk and Q&A
Venue: Memorial Hall
Admission Free and there will be an opportunity to purchase the book on the night

 

Dr Michael Hardman is Lecturer in Geography at the University of Salford, teaching and leading research in the human geography domain and has published widely on sustainable cities, particularly ways to bring greenery and food growing activities into urban environments.  Mike has keynoted at some of the world’s largest events on sustainable cities, from addressing a UNESCO event in the USA, to keynotes in South Africa, multiple European countries and across the UK. Mike’s work has featured in the media, with appearances on the likes of BBC News, The Guardian, The Independent, The Times Higher Ed Supplement. 
 
His talk is entitled: ‘Creating Sustainable Cities: The New for More Radical Greening’
 
Date:     Wednesday 6 February 2019
Time:    4:00 pm (refreshments will be served from 3:45 pm)
Venue:  Memorial Hall
Admission Free
 

Finance is a very popular degree choice at MGS, and we hope the event will ‘bust some myths’ and allow students to find out about the reality of a day to day working life in this area. Working in finance may include investing money, managing it or protecting it. Discover the main areas within finance and think about where your skills, talents and interests would fit best before applying for university courses or school leaver jobs, by hearing first-hand from industry professionals.

​Five Old Mancunians, from different finance backgrounds, will be returning to the School to speak on a panel; all have wide ranging experiences to bring to the discussion. Each will talk about their career to date and day to day challenges, and this will be followed by an opportunity for Q&A. We will then move to an open ‘networking’ session for more questions to be asked of the panel, and there will be the chance for boys to make contact with industry professionals.

This event is for students in Years 10-13. Boys are strongly encouraged to bring along a parent or guardian, but tickets will be limited to two per student in the first instance.

​Date: Wednesday 6 February 2019
Time: 5.45 - 7.30pm
​Venue: MGS Theatre
​Admission Free (two tickets per student)

Wajid Khan became Labour’s newest North West Member of European Parliament in June 2017.  Before becoming an MEP, Wajid was a senior lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire.  Wajid worked in the voluntary sector with young offenders.  The Burnley race riots in 2001 inspired Wajid to develop a number of community cohesion projects, he has addressed the Civil G8 on inclusive education in Moscow, advised the Russian Ministry of Education on developing youth strategies and developed higher education programmes to increase academic participation amongst women in the south Asian community.  The son of a taxi driver,  Wajid was born in Burnley and served as a Labour councillor.  He also serves on the Labour Party National Policy Forum and International Policy Commission. 
 
His talk is entitled: ‘Refugee: a collective responsibility’
 
Date:     Thursday 28 February 2019
Time:    4:00 pm (refreshments will be served from 3:45 pm)
Venue:  Memorial Hall
Admission Free
 

Dr Danielle Bewsher is a mathematician/solar physicist at the University of Central Lancashire. Her first job after graduating with a PhD was at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, USA.  She also worked at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory working on a science instrument for NASA’s STEREO space probes. She is a qualified ballroom dancing teacher, and mummy to Jonathan age 3.
 
Her talk is entitled: ‘Predicting Coronal Mass Ejections’
 
Date:     Thursday 14 March 2019
Time:    4:00 pm (refreshments will be served from 3:45 pm)
Venue:  Memorial Hall
Admission Free
 

Marcus Bennison was born in Derby and holds degrees from the UK and USA. He has lectured in colleges and universities here and abroad, been a Front of House Manager, a PRO, filled supermarket shelves and was once the worst card-sharp in the world. He has travelled widely, directed over 100 plays; sung in award-winning choirs; been hijacked in Burma and had a record banned by the BBC. He thinks his dyslexia is an advantage. A cook, gardener, walker, church and pub crawler, he currently lives in Nottinghamshire because the local hospitals are regarded as the best places in the UK to treat his form of cancer.
 
His talk is entitled: 'God's Anointed or the Devil's Brood? - The Toleration of Idiocy, Eccentricity and Incompetence in World Leaders in the Seventeenth Century'
 
Date:     Wednesday 27 March 2019
Time:    4:00 pm (refreshments will be served from 3:45 pm)
Venue:  Memorial Hall
Admission Free

Ewan Fernie is Professor at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, where he co-convenes the pioneering MA in Shakespeare and Creativity. His latest book is Shakespeare for Freedom: Why the Plays Matter. Redcrosse, his collaborative civic liturgy for St George's Day, was premiered in Manchester Cathedral and Windsor Castle. Macbeth, Macbeth, the novel he co-wrote with Simon Palfrey, was described by Slavoj Žižek as "a miracle, an instant classic".  In collaboration with Birmingham City Council, he is leading the "Everything to Everybody" project, which aims to revive, reinvent and throw open to people the Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library.
 
His talk is entitled: ‘Shakespeare and the Invention of the Modern City’
 
Date:     Thursday 4 April 2019
Time:    4:00pm (refreshments will be served from 3:45pm)
Venue:  Memorial Hall
Admission Free
 

Professor A C Grayling CBE MA DPhil (Oxon) FRSA FRSL is the Master of the New College of the Humanities, London, and its Professor of Philosophy. He is also a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He is the author of over thirty books of philosophy, biography, history of ideas.  He is a columnist on the Guardian, the Times, and Prospect magazine. He has contributed to many leading newspapers in the UK, US and Australia, and to BBC Radios 4, 3 and the World Service, for which he did the annual 'Exchanges at the Frontier' series; and he has often appeared on television. He has been a judge on the Booker Prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Vice President of the British Humanist Association, Patron of the UK Armed Forces Humanist Association, Honorary Associate of the Secular Society, and a Patron of Dignity in Dying.  
 
His talk is entitled: ‘Philosophy's two great questions’

Date:     Thursday 2 May 2019
Time:    4:00 pm (refreshments will be served from 3:45 pm)
Venue:  Memorial Hall
Admission Free