One of the more famous alumni of the RGS was Admiral Lord Collingwood who was Nelson's second in command at the battle of Trafalgar, which is why one of our houses is named after him. He then started his naval career as a midshipman at the age of 12 and went to sea at the age of 13.
Consequently, on the anniversary of the battle I recently went to the annual Collingwood memorial service at the Cathedral which was attended by descendants of Admiral Lord Collingwood, representatives from the city of Newcastle including the Lord Mayor and High Sheriff as well as serving and former personnel from the Navy. Members of the RGS’s Navy CCF section also took part and then went on to another commemoration later that day at the Collingwood monument at Tynemouth.
Collingwood had his home at Morpeth, in Northumberland, and it is said that when he was there on leave he loved to walk over the hills with his dog called Bounce. Bounce has been described as an almost perfect naval dog except for its dislike of gunfire and it has been written that Collingwood used to sing Bounce to sleep with Shakespearean sonnets adapted for dogs (I wonder whether he first learnt those sonnets here at the RGS!). However, so the story goes, when Collingwood was out walking Bounce, he always started off with a handful of acorns in his pockets and, as he walked, he would plant an acorn whenever he saw a good place for an oak tree to grow so that the navy of the future would not be short of timber for ships. Some of these oaks that he planted are probably still growing more than a century and a half later. I understand there is a similar story about the French masons who built Melrose abbey planting oaks because they knew that 400 years on they would be needed for reroofing the building.
Planting trees now is just one of the many ways that we today can look to the future and support the environment. In preparation for the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, over half term, one of our Sixth Form, Abby T, was the panellist representing young people on a webinar organised by the Born Free Foundation. She encouraged any young people listening to come up with a range of measures both at school and at home. She spoke passionately and eloquently when unscripted in response to questions that were put to her and went on to talk about turning anxiety into something positive. In response all school tutor groups have been putting forward suggestions to the School Council for discussion for meaningful action that both pupils and the school as a whole could take. In parallel, the school is developing an ESG policy that will allow us to set ourselves meaningful targets, even if our energy use for heating is likely to go up this winter owing to the continuing need to ventilate spaces. Some of the suggestions put forward by students are simple things that any individual could do like reducing single-use plastics and disposable face coverings; some require significant investment, for example replacing all lights in the school with LEDs attached to motion sensors, which is something we have already started rolling out.
While the actions of individuals and single organisations may have limited impact on their own, collectively there is real potential for making substantial change. I hope we have now reached a tipping point that future generations will look back to and recognise this period as the time in history when we took meaningful action to address global warming. Up until now the lack of consensus on the need for action and the lack of political will to do so have hampered efforts but our young people are starting to find their voice and drive change. Metaphorically speaking, each of them, in their own way, can be, should be and is planting their acorns, just as Collingwood did all those years ago