The inaugural DH LINKS Unimeet took place over the weekend bringing together Downe House alumnae who are at Edinburgh University and living in the Edinburgh area. A group of alumnae met up with staff from Downe House at the effortlessly chic bar, Rabble in the centre of Edinburgh for cocktails and brunch.
DH LINKS staff brought a collection of uniform, photographs and memorable artefacts from the Downe House Archive which the alumnae found highly entertaining, particularly their old school blazers! The staff were particularly delighted to welcome DH Alumna, Olivia Gifford who left Downe House in 2003 to the event. Olivia lives in Edinburgh and so is usually unable to attend the London reunions. Former Director of Admissions and Teacher of Geography, Mrs Laura Ogilvie-Jones also attended the brunch and was delighted to be reunited with her former pupils. Mrs Ogilvie-Jones now lives in Edinburgh and is working as a Life Coach.
DH LINKS Coordinator and Alumnae Relations Manager, Mrs Alexandra Barlow said,
It was wonderful to meet up with this lovely group of alumnae who represented four different year groups and thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to get together. The idea behind Unimeets is twofold: firstly, to help our alumnae to stay in contact with one another and play an active part in our global alumnae network and secondly, once they are established in their careers, we aim to encourage them to support current girls by coming back to talk about their career path, act as a mentor or provide work shadowing opportunities. It was also a pleasure to meet with Olivia Leeper (Roberts, DH 2000) whilst we were in Edinburgh. After leaving Downe House, Olivia went to Edinburgh University where she met her husband and they remained in Edinburgh ever since with their three children. We hope to see them all again at another DH LINKS event in the future!
