Late last year we launched the inaugural Old Viking of the Year awards, aimed at recognising those who had made an outstanding contribution in 2022. The results are in and we are thrilled to announce the winners!
In order to win one of these prestigious awards, the recipient needed to have demonstrated notable achievements or excellence in their profession or voluntary work. They will have acted as an outstanding role model for Shiplake’s alumni and pupil community, and have personified Shiplake College’s core values, the 3Is: ‘inclusive, individual, and inspirational’.
We received some incredible nominations for Old Vikings who left as early as 1964 to those who left more recently, recognising their work across various business sectors, sport and charitable endeavours. The panel, which consisted of Old Viking Society committee members and the College’s senior management team, had the unenviable task of voting for who they felt was the most deserving.
There were three overall winners:
Titus Drummond (75E)
Nominated under the Charity or Community Champion category
In 2022, not only did Titus raise £10,000 to purchase aid for Ukraine, but he also put himself at risk by making several trips across the Ukrainian boarder to personally deliver it, to help those affected by the Russian-Ukraine war. Titus has been carrying out charity actions for many years including paying for the housing of a family in Bombay, contributing financially to the schooling of a child in a mountain village in Uganda, and most recently purchasing and delivering school shoes and bags to children in Windhoek, Namibia. He is currently in the process of getting electricity fitted in the house of a low-income family in another part of Namibia called Otavi.
Titus’s selflessness is inspirational and he is a fantastic role model to both current pupils and Old Vikings.
Oliver Riley (16O)
Nominated under the Ones to Watch – OVs Under 30 category.
After leaving Shiplake and before entering university, Oliver worked for a year as a Research Economist at the Adam Smith Institute think tank in London, publishing numerous articles and helping to advocate for sound economic policies. While he was working there, the Institute was recognised in the international rankings as the most influential economic policy think tank in the world.
He studied Politics and International Relations at Cambridge while throwing himself into university life with gusto, achieving the distinction of being elected Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association, a position he filled with great skill. He was also the Social Secretary and Men's Second Team Captain of the Cambridge University Athletics Club, and a member of the University Rifle Team. In 2019, he was named one of the 'biggest names on campus' with over 1,000 students voting for him as one of the most prominent members of the undergraduate student body for his political activism, which still gains the attention of the national press.
After graduating from Cambridge, Oliver took a position on the founding team of a private international school in the Swiss Alps. Remarkably, he has already been promoted to Head of Sixth Form, alongside his role of A-level economics teacher, and has found time to learn French. Just two months ago, the school was successfully sold to Duke's Education, one of the UK's largest education groups – two years after opening the doors to its first students in January 2021 – and continues to thrive and grow in this competitive business environment. This month, the school won the 2023 British Startup of the Year award.
He lives mostly in the Swiss Alps, where he regularly runs ultramarathons and is a keen skier. In his free time, he teaches English at the local community college. He is also writing a book and will soon start a master's degree. He will spend this summer in Paris at Sciences Po University, studying French political philosophy and French for academic purposes before heading to South East Asia where he will be exploring ancient Hindu temples in the back of beyond.
His entrepreneurial attitude and strong work ethic are exemplary, he is undoubtedly an Old Viking to watch, with many achievements still to come.
Rada Pandeva (21B)
Nominated under the Ones to Watch – OVs Under 30 category.
In 2022, whilst in her second year studying Marine Science at the University of Exeter, Rada started The Thalassophile Project, an educational program aimed at making marine science accessible to all. The project has been met with great success and has since received Erasmus support. The project’s goal is to provide a comprehensive platform, dedicated to making marine science accessible to everyone, particularly to D/deaf and visually impaired people, and its official introduction at the first International Conference on Ocean Training and Education in Ghent, Belgium, received admiration. In 2022, Rada was elected as a World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council member, among hundreds of young people from over 60 countries, and became the first representative from Bulgaria. In addition, Rada is a Women in Conservation Admin team member, Falmouth Marine Conservation Volunteer Coordinator and Marine Conservation Society Youth Ocean Network mentor. She also works actively as a Peer Support and Marine Science Course Representative at the University and continues to volunteer at Open Days and is part of the ResLife team.
Chairman of the Old Viking Society, Ben Fitzwilliams (87S), said “Reading about Titus, Oliver and Rada filled me with pride. They are incredible role-models to current pupils and fantastic ambassadors for the Old Viking Society".
Titus, Oliver and Rada attended the final assembly of the term on 27 June and received their awards in front of the whole school.
Details of how to nominate for the Old Viking of the Year 2023 will be released later this year.
