On the evening of Tuesday 3rd November, Sixth Form girls gathered in Chapel for the last 'live' Calne Girls' Association Talk - for a little while at least.

The talk was given by 2003 Leaver and World Marathon Challenge winner, Susannah Gill. The evening proved to be a great inspiration to all who attended (as well as those who joined the live stream) with so many excellent questions posed by the girls. Susannah kindly shared her thoughts on returning to Calne after 17 years:

Running around the World….and back to school

'It tends to be assumed when you return to school as a grown up that everything seems smaller, but that is not the case with St Mary’s.

I left in 2003 when the school seemed pretty modern and cool to me, with a new gym and performing arts studio. But roll forward to 2020 and the incredible new library and wonderful garden put everything else into the shade. Visiting on a cold and dark November evening, ahead of another lockdown made me want to curl up in the library with the good book for the remainder of the winter.

However, I was there to talk to the Sixth Form about a big running adventure I took on in 2019. They gathered in chapel and listened attentively to what I learnt when running 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days. They asked some brilliant questions, with a copy of my book being awarded to two members of UVI who asked about how writing a book made me reflect on my challenge and what it takes to be runner. I won’t reveal my answers but you can watch the video of my talk 'here' if you’re interested!

I feel so lucky to be able to call myself 'a Calne girl'. It is a school which sends young women off to the big wide world with everything you need to be a success. How lucky us old girls are, and I can report that the school is still packed with some very capable young women. Thank you for the invitation to visit, it was a real pleasure.'