SMT Profiles: Mrs. Braybrooke – Adam Warren and Archie Hainsworth/Patrick Vickers
A long time ago, we decided to interview the Second Master, and yet literally a year on and we’re only on our third interview. The two of us apologise to the Bubble readership and promise to write some more before we all leave for the Summer. We also apologise profusely to Mrs Braybrooke for taking 2 months to write up the following…
Adam and Patrick (24/01/17)
The route to Building No.45 is arguably one of the most pleasant parts of the RHS Campus and, with the sun shining brightly, the interview with the Director of Marketing and Communications was set to be the best yet.
Patrick was off playing MUN, so Archie Hainsworth provided the photography (with his destroyed iPhone 6 over Patrick’s Canon). After five minutes of failing to open the door, we eventually sat down in the spacious office with a gorgeous view of the garden (this beat both the views of the Parade Square bush and the front of school carpark by the Second master’s and Bursar’s offices respectively.)
After some fleeting technical complexities, involving Apple’s inability to provide an amount of storage usable by any functioning person, we began the third interview of the series…
We learnt a lot about the details of the work carried out under the title ‘Director of Communications’ but ironically, by courtesy of Apple, we have lost the specifics of this to the realms of time. However, as a role which is perhaps less well understood by the Pupil body, we can assure you it is complex, diverse and varied, requiring a very organised person to do it!
Musical taste is something which we have addressed in both interviews so far and both have been surprising to say the least. Mrs Braybrooke didn’t disappoint:
[AW] ‘So, favourite music?’
[SB] ‘Well, (nervous laugh) I don’t really know if I can say, it’s a bit…. hardcore.’
One’s definition of hardcore can vary, perhaps not quite matching the old Bursar (Mr Church’s) love of ‘death metal’, however both Archie and I were perhaps a little surprised.
‘I have always been a big Eminem fan,’ admits our Marketing Director, ‘But I can only blame the boys; I listen to anything they play on the SONOS. Rap I guess.’
Quite how hardcore this rap is remains up to the listener’s discretion, but Mrs. Braybrooke’s music taste ranges from Stormzy to Kendrick Lamar apparently. (We invite Toby Braybrooke to publish one of his playlists on the Bubble, after all, if it’s suitable for your Mum, then surely the school could give it a listen?) Apparently the mosh pit at a Stormzy performance is quite a pleasant experience.
The music and film interests of our Marketing Director clearly haven’t been of major influence in Mrs Braybrooke’s department though; our Promotional Videos have involved paper aeroplanes, and not the ‘Kill Bill’ genre Mrs Braybrooke enjoys in movies. We are yet to see a Breaking Bad style marketing shoot, or indeed a Cold Feet tribute in our Prospectus.
Obviously we couldn’t miss the chance to compare the SMT’s academic profiles, with the Second Master’s C in French being matched by Mrs B. The Director of Marketing and Communications did a degree in (and I quote) ‘colouring in’, a concept both Archie and myself, as A Level Geo pupils, couldn’t understand. There’s also a lot of cutting out, for one thing.
Finally, we entered the interview with plans for the conversion of CCF stores into a Stables proposed as the one change question (allowing the RSM to let his hair flow in the wind as he exercises the horses in the Summer Months…) but it was Mrs Braybrooke’s answer to our question on the best thing about RHS that really stood out. Albeit a short admission, it was a moving one.
‘I guess, deep down, it’s the set of values about this place… and I suppose it’s the pupils who uphold them as well but the place that creates and instils the values in the pupils is really the best thing about RHS.’
We hope that before their lengthy tenure at RHS is up, on Mrs Braybrooke’s advice and when ISI have finished harassing them, Patrick and I can write of our interview with Mrs Godfrey (Deputy Head, Pastoral) and the Colonel (CCF SMT, so it still counts…).
22/11/17 Interview
24/1/18 Article Completion
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