The class of 2024, their parents, grand-parents and siblings gathered in the Julia Powell Sports Hall and Auditorium for the Prize Giving ceremony which preceded the Farewell Dinner.

The Headmaster dwelt on how the Sixth Form is blossoming under the aegis of Ms O’Driscoll, providing a broad range of enriching experiences beyond the class-room.

Turning to raw academic success, he led the students and parents in a round of applause for Isabella Raskin who has chosen Harvard over Cambridge, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Berkeley and Imperial.

The guest speaker was Old Runnymedian, Dr Brandon Bates (class of ’94). Brandon regaled us with the story of his career as a mathematical physicist at MIT and Columbia; keeping body and soul together by embarking on a lucrative career as a poker player in the underground bars of NYC, before turning to “legal gambling” trading oil derivatives.

Most importantly, for some there, he spoke of his love and respect for his late lamented teacher, Frank Murphy and the latter’s “fairness, character, wit and grit”.

From the Auditorium we moved to pre-dinner drinks where the graduating class and their relatives mingled with staff and other new graduates.

Once relatives had reluctantly departed, Ms O’Driscoll in her capacity as Head of Sixth Form, presided over the planting of a tree by the Head Boy and Head Girl, Sam Pañeda and Micaela Gortazar. The names of all those in the graduating class are on a plaque at the base of the tree, as are those of last year’s graduating class by a neighbouring, if smaller, specimen.

The catering was superb, as befit the occasion and dinner ended with speeches and toasts from the Head Boy and Head girl and, as is customary, a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

With that, the 57th graduating class of 2024, crossed the gates of Salvia 30 for the last time and melted into the balmy Madrid night.

Once a Runnymedian, always a Runnymedian.