Head Master’s Lectures

Daniel Mendoza and Rod Downie

We were delighted to welcome Daniel Mendoza OBE (Sanderson’s 1982–1986) back to the College for the first Head Master’s Lecture of the year, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.

In his talk, which was captivating in its honesty, Daniel spoke about his time at Lancing and what shaped him to be the person he is today, as well as his role as a Trustee and Chair of the Anne Frank Trust. It was particularly fitting that the lecture took place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Daniel said he had ‘the time of his life’ at Lancing and he joked that his 15-year-old self would have been ‘gobsmacked’ to have seen him standing at the lectern in the Sanderson Room giving a Head Master’s Lecture. He talked about the friendships he had made here as being the most important legacy the school had given him. It was a poignant moment when he shared with the audience how the loss of a close friend from Lancing and coming to terms with his death had influenced him. His work at the Anne Frank Trust where they ‘empower young people to challenge prejudice’ complements his desire to create a world in which ‘every individual has the responsibility to lead enriched and purposeful lives.’ Daniel was pleased to see that the Foundationers Bursary programme at Lancing today has this ethos too, at its heart. The Trust encourages young people to read Anne Frank’s story and this then starts a process which enables them to tell their own stories and, ultimately, makes them the educators with their peers. He ended by urging all of us to think about our own Giants as they are all closer to home than we might believe.

In the second Head Master’s Lecture of the year we were delighted to have Rod Downie (Olds 1981–1986) with his talk titled Icons on Ice. This lecture followed appropriately on from Lancing’s first Sustainability Week (see page 16).

Rod is WWF’s Chief Advisor, Polar, and has worked in the polar regions for about 25 years, initially at the British Antarctic Survey and for the last 11 years with WWF.

Rod has undertaken 15 field seasons in Antarctica, where he spent a total of 2½ years living and working on the ice. He has also worked in the Canadian, Russian and Norwegian Arctic. He leads a wide portfolio of science and conservation projects ranging from krill and humpback whales to polar bears and Walrus from Space.

Rod serves as an advisor to the UK Government at the Antarctic Treaty, as well as sitting on numerous scientific and technical advisory bodies. He facilitated Arctic Voices, a series of dialogues between the UK Government and indigenous Arctic leaders. He also represents WWF at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), most recently at COP26 in Glasgow.

Rod talked passionately about his role at WWF and how lucky he felt to be working for one of the most exciting and most relevant conservational societies in the Arctic. Rod admitted his biggest fear was not coming face to face with a polar bear but the thought that his 7-year-old son might not be able to have the same sort of thrilling experience as he has had in the future. He challenged Lancing pupils to follow WWF’s mantra, ‘driven by science and inspired by the wonders of nature’ and to act now so that together we can all help to limit climate change.