Jeremy James was born and brought up on a coffee plantation in Kenya where he developed his love and respect for the natural world. Inspired by the nomadic travels of African camel drovers, he set off on his own journey on horseback from Turkey to Wales in 1987: an adventure which led to the writing of his first book, Saddletramp. Since then he has written several books, here is his personal update...

"After I left college, I worked overseas in agriculture and then swapped for a career in writing many years ago now. For a long time I have worked as a freelance journalist, writing the broadsheets and different magazines. Been involved with horses for many years now, which I have written about in horsey journals, and in books.

In 1987 I rode from Turkey to the UK on 9 month journey on horseback and wrote, Saddletramp, from Ottoman Hills to Offa's Dyke. In 1990, I rode though Eastern Europe on a six month trip on horseback during the collapse of communism and wrote Vagabond.

Following that in the company of a Rendili, one Maasai, two Somali and one Samburu tribesman drove a herd of 85 camels on foot from Somalia to Tanzania to help restock after the droughts and wrote for The Independent about it.

In 1995 I wrote Debt of Honour, a commissioned book for The International League for The Protection of Horses, which took me all over the world.

In 1998 I wrote The Tippling Philosopher, and in 2002, wrote The Byerley Turk, the story of the first thoroughbred.

And this year, The Alchemical Horseman...

Phil Matthew.... what a great man! I have thought about him a lot across the years. He was for me, one of those inspirational people who have the power to shape your thoughts and set you off in the direction you should go.

I well remember his 1929 Fiat and his Alvis Grey lady, with which he used to tow the boats to regattas and we'd all pile in and go wafting off to wherever it was. I remember with great fondness a week in Henley and Worcester and Hereford, rowing against Shrewsbury or Radley and recall the starter in Bewdley falling into the water as he was starting our race and when they sent a new, no-one could row because of the laughter. What a fellow he was he will be remembered with great affection."

Organised by ex HMSG pupil Vicky Spencer and sister of Mark Spencer OM 85-90 this annual dinner raises much needed funds to ensure services are delivered to 120,000 people in Wales living with cancer.

Tenovus is a National Cancer Charity founded in Cardiff 1943 by ten Cardiff businessmen. Special guest Rob Brydon

Please follow this link to book your tickets to support the event

"In the summer of 2000 the Haberdashers chartered a brand new sailing ship, the Stavros S Niarchos, to do two fortnight long voyages for pupils from Haberdashers schools. I was one of those pupils.

I had an absolutely fantastic time! When I returned to school in September my friends got fed up of me talking about the voyage so much. It had been my intention to have a gap year after school, and when I saw that Stavros was going to be doing a Trans-Atlantic I knew that, if nothing else, that was something I wanted to do.

I joined the ship in Tenerife. After over two weeks and 2500 nautical miles we finally reached Barbados. There were many amazing things I experienced on the voyage; seeing plankton phosphorescing in the ship's wake at night, the clear blue seas, the minke whales who were circling the ship one morning, stopping the ship and swimming in the sea 1000 miles from land, and just being part of the watch and working together as part of a close knit team. Perhaps most significantly though, at the end of the voyage I was asked to come back as one of the volunteer crew.

While at university I would go sailing during every holiday, and have also been able to do several voyages since I graduated. I have sailed in Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and, around the Azores and the Canaries. I have also sailed in the Tall Ships Races on three occasions.

As a volunteer I have sailed most often as a watch leader on youth voyages. I get so much satisfaction seeing how quickly the young people in my watch adapt to life onboard, working together to get tasks done, and looking out for each other when the going gets tough. Having been a volunteer for a few years now, I have had the pleasure to be reunited on later voyages with former trainees who, like me, showed the qualities required to sail again as a volunteer.

As a result of my experience on tall ships, I was contacted over the summer about joining the team that is re-rigging the Cutty Sark! Although I could not join the team immediately I have just started my third week on the project. We are currently based in Maldon, our focus at present is preparing the three masts for installation. The team will later be moving to London to work on the yards and the rest of the rigging.

Thank You for providing me with an opportunity that turned out to be the springboard for my tall ships career."

Please follow the link to view the 2012 Sevens fixtures with the highlight being the National Schools Sevens tournament at Rosslyn Park from 25th March 2012

Jamie Burn (OM74-78) and the Second Master, Simon Dorman are hard at work planning the next OM Day.

Please put a note in your diary for Saturday June 30th 2012.

This date is after the end of most university terms to encourage some younger OMs

In Mark Gladwin (OM79-86) has very kindly volunteered to organise a joint reunion on Saturday 21st July 2012 for both the 1986 leavers and the 1987 leavers who will be celebrating their 25year anniversary

Please follow the link for more details

As sponsors of this event we need some OM professionals to willingly volunteer their valuable experience and advice to young Sixth Formers . Follow this link for more details to help Junior OMs, if interested please contact

 oldmonmothians@monmouthschool.org Thank You!

The Monnmothian Charitable Trust has helped two A Level Computing students, James Salsbury and Philip Modro, to build a computer enabling Monmouth School to join the Folding@Home projectspringboard.

The Folding@home project was set up many years ago to explore cures for degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntingdon’s, and many others. More details...

 To mark the 25^th anniversary of the founding of the concert band by Sean O’Neill a reunion of past players will be held in The Blake Theatre, Monmouth School on Sunday 16th September 2012.

ALL past palyers from both HMSG and MS are warmly invited to join the current JSW band for a scratch concert and opportunity to catch up with old friends... More details...