Jill Grant was an inspirational figure to the hundreds of pupils she taught at the Junior School over the 30 years she worked there.  She is still much missed and fondly remembered by all who knew her.  A stunning new addition to the Junior School library, called the Jill Grant Reading Room, was created in her honour in 2020.

Please show your support by sponsoring Emily here: Emily Dexter is fundraising for Shooting Star Children's Hospices (justgiving.com)

Emily writes: “On Sunday 25th June, I’ll be up before dawn to walk 10km around Richmond Park, with many hundreds of others, for this truly wonderful children’s charity as the sun comes up. Incidentally, any of you who know me will know that dawn is really not my time of day - I’m such a night owl, so that may be a challenge in itself!

In the March Alumnae Newsletter, I explained that I had chosen to undertake a walk in memory of Jill for a children’s charity, as she told me the summer before she passed away that, “her children were her pupils,” and with school having supported the building of the hospice in Hampton during my time at LEH, the Shooting Star Children’s Charity seemed the perfect fit.

I also explained that my Sunrise Walk had originally been meant to take place in the summer of 2019, but my own sudden ill health, followed a year later by the Covid-19 pandemic had slightly scuppered my original plans! Therefore, it’s been even more of a delight to train for this year’s walk over the last few months, knowing that I was finally going to be able to undertake the walk I had been planning to do for so long for her.

There’s still just time to sign up if anyone would like to join me - our team name is Sparkly Striders, so you just need to pop that into the registration in order to do so. More details here https://www.active.com/richmond-upon-thames-london/walking/shooting-star-sunrise-walk-richmond-2023

My Mum has very kindly volunteered to walk with me, having got to know Jill with her wicked sense of humour and twinkle in her eye so well as an LEH parent over the 23 years since we first met her when I was an Upper IY. 

Not only are we going to be doing the Sunrise Walk on 25th June in Jill’s memory, but I will be hosting an online virtual fundraiser via Mixcloud on the afternoon of Sunday 2nd July, a week after the walk, from 12pm, which all are very welcome to join! Yours truly will be doing at least one DJ set and I’ve called in a few favours from my top DJ friends, including Radio Jackie’s Breakfast show presenter Neil Long, so it should be a fun afternoon packed full of awesome summer tunes.

I really hope that ultimately, we can raise as much money as possible for this phenomenal charity whilst at the same time bringing joy to others, including hopefully some of those currently at the hospices and their families. The Mixcloud link is: https://www.mixcloud.com/live/Longie. The great thing is you can join us from anywhere in the world and simply just bop around your kitchen if you fancy it - so there’s no excuse not to pop the date in your diary and get out your dancing shoes!

Thank you to everyone who is already supporting me, I feel incredibly lucky to have such wonderful friends and family who know how important to me this walk is for my phenomenal teacher and friend. 

For those of you who are able to support us with a donation the JustGiving link is here: https://justgiving.com/fundraising/sparklystriders2023. However, please do join us online on 2nd July from midday for some fun with no obligation to donate at all. It’s a way to celebrate an awe-inspiring lady and all the happiness, joy and laughter she stood for - the more the merrier!

On that note, it’s time to get my walking shoes back on and prepare for that dawn chorus on 25th June!

Emily x”