Old Bredonians - OB Andrei Lussmann's Founder's Day Speech

OB Andrei Lussmann's Founder's Day Speech - Report and Pictures

Andrei Lussmann, speaking at Bredon School Founder's Day

This year’s Founder’s Day was a great success and was attended by a number of Old Bredonians. The guest speaker was himself an OB. Andrei Lussmann was a pupil at Bredon School from 1984 to 1991. He was Head Boy at Bredon for two consecutive years – the only boy to have achieved this distinction. After leaving Bredon, he went on to gain a BA Honours Degree in Hospitality and Business from Birmingham University. Andrei now runs the successful Lussmanns restaurant company, which began in a single location in Kensington and is now expanding to three restaurants in the London area. Turnover has increased from £150,000 in the first year to £3 million last year. He lives with his partner Katrina and eight-month-old daughter Ava. In a witty and inspiring speech he reminisced about his own time as a boy and encouraged present pupils to make the most of the opportunities available to them at Bredon School. The excerpts below give a flavour of Andrei’s speech.

“I spent my early years in Nigeria and was six when I came to the UK, to a prep. school at Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire. I remember being picked to play for the rugby team: I received the ball in a good scoring position, turned round and ran 100 yards before scoring under my own posts. For some reason I was never picked for the team again. In fact it was only at Bredon that I was given a second chance at rugby.

My mother placed me at Bredon after near-expulsion from my prep. I think she fell in love with what the Headmaster [Brian Thomas] embodied - all that she thought a school should be. I came to Bredon aged 11 and could only improve!
I remember an early visit by the writer, Dick King-Smith. One thing he said has stayed with me: “Stick at it”. As a boarder at Bredon I learned that you had to work hard to develop as an entrepreneur, especially to overcome the advantages that the day boys had. They could bring in contraband to sell all the time; we boarders had to be much more creative! Looking back, it reminds me of Prohibition in the States: we had such sophisticated systems of look-outs and a sudden interest in whistling to protect us from prefect raids. I also learned how to conduct my business while carrying a blue report card which was supposed to account for every move I made in the school – an early form of tagging!

I remember Lieutenant-Commander Lothian arriving at the school. He looked like a womble and drove a 2cv and was an instant hit. He coached fencing, which seemed a much better idea than freezing in November on a hockey pitch. From the early days of jackets made of carpet and bamboo sticks for swords, the kit improved and Bredon rapidly became one of the best fencing teams in the country. In one year 11 boys qualified for the National Finals, while several were selected for the GB cadet squad including myself.

Bredon suited me, even though at that time it was more battery style than free-range. It prompted pupils to unite against a familiar ‘enemy’. In a dormitory which now houses four boys there were 12 of us in 1984! But we worked together to defend the dorm’s honour from dawn raids. Was life different? Were we not tougher? Oh yes!

Prize-giving at Founder's Day

Through Colonel Sharp and Mr Brian Thomas, Bredon School established a strong foundation for a road to success. After a difficult time, which has come and gone, Bredon has moved into a happier and healthier climate again, more in line with the original vision of treating each child as an individual. Once again the focus is on individual strengths and abilities, whether sporting, vocational or academic.

Not everything has changed. It is reassuring and delightful that there remains a small team of staff who were at the school when I was there. Continuity is one of the most important ingredients of a successful school in helping it to thrive. It was wonderful to meet Mr Smallwood, Mr Elliott, Mr Basten, Mr Sharp and others and know that now I can call then John, Mark, Pete and [pause] Duggie!

When I was at school there was no internet, no mobile phones. On Saturdays we used to write letters home. Yes, that’s right, with paper and a pen. A trip to Tewkesbury or Cheltenham used to be an adventure, where if you got a glimpse of a girl you were lucky. Sledging down the hills in silage bags, midnight feasts - eating raw jelly and trying to get drunk on Top Deck; Bazooka bubble gum under every desk and table in the school. In 1984 we believed British Bulldog should be an Olympic sport and that nurse was the prettiest girl in the world.

Some things don’t change – the first day ever at school when your mother kisses you in front of everyone. Founder’s Day has not changed; Pull Court is much the same as in 1991. Bredon’s flair for finding and unlocking hidden talents in all its pupils remains, along with teachers’ concerns about every aspect of the children’s lives. Bredon School operates in an alternative vein of realism – it has individual colour and is a distinct community; everyone here should grasp every opportunity and experience that is available.”