PRIZE GIVING SPEECH 2008
Madam Chairman, Governors, ladies and gentlemen, members of staff past and present, and students past and present, I am delighted to welcome you all to our annual prize giving as we celebrate the successes of the past year and look back on what was a hugely significant year in the history of Belvedere as it became the first independent school in the country to become an Academy.
In particular, I would like to welcome to this magnificent setting of Liverpool Cathedral, our very special guest, Hilary Heilbron QC.
Hilary Heilbron was educated at Huyton College and Oxford University where she studied Law. She was called to the bar in 1971, took silk in 1987, and is now an acknowledged expert in International Arbitration and Commercial Law and Litigation. She speaks regularly to international audiences and has just published a book on International Arbitration. Her experience as an arbitrator has taken her all over the world, from Russia to the Balkans, from the Far East to the USA, involving her in many sectors including energy, telecommunications, oil trading, banking and finance, and international transport.
Hilary Heilbron’s current positions include Deputy High Court Judge and Vice Chair of the International Litigation Committee of the ABA section of International Law.
Hilary is clearly a leading barrister with a formidable reputation, but she has a very special link with Belvedere in that her mother, Dame Rose Heilbron, one of the most famous women ever to come from Liverpool, was once, a Belvedere girl.
Dame Rose Heilbron, who died in 2005 aged 91, was one of the most outstanding defence barristers of the postwar period and was the first woman to win a scholarship to Gray’s Inn, the first woman to be appointed silk, the first to lead in a murder case, the first woman recorder, the first woman treasurer and the first woman to sit at the Old Bailey.
We are very proud that such a woman began her education at Belvedere and we are honoured that her daughter, Hilary, has been able to spare time from her extremely busy schedule to be with us today.
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