Time: Wednesday 1st May 2019 at 6.30pm Venue: Skinners' Hall London Ticket Cost: Regular £25 or Undergraduate £10 Dress Code: Jacket and Tie

Tonbridge School was founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde as a free Grammar School. The charter was granted by Edward VI, the Headmaster’s salary was set at £20 per annum and the school was to have as its Governors the Worshipful Company of Skinners. Over the next 465 years the fortunes of the school have varied, but largely thanks to some exceptionally able Headmasters and the support provided by the Skinners’ Company, Tonbridge has grown, prospered and developed into one of the most popular Public Schools in the country. David Tennant, the past Chairman of the Parents’ Arts Society, who has taught at Tonbridge for 35 years, will review its history, discuss various aspects of the school as it is today and speculate on some of the challenges it might face in the future.

Graeme Lothian joined the Parachute Regiment at the beginning of the 1980’s, until a parachuting accident curtailed his career and gave him an opportunity to follow his first love, which was painting. After a distinguished early career – he exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery - Graeme went to Afghanistan as artist to the Royal Army medical Corp, based at Camp Bastion. This resulted in an exhibition at the Royal Society of Medicine, which attracted over a thousand visitors a day. He was the official War artist on three Afghan tours and in June 2013 he was shot and wounded by a Taliban sniper south of Sangin. After his recovery he went back to Afghanistan as artist to the Gurkhas 2016 tour in Kabul. Three of Graeme’s art books have been published to date; one on the Thames, another of London and his Afghanistan book came out in 2014.