A night to remember is now etched in a new chapter of Warwick Academy where there was hardly a seat empty at the reception held last night, marking the launch of the school’s 350th anniversary celebrations.School Principal Maggie McCorkell set the tone for the evening in her opening remarks. “It is my very great pleasure to welcome you to this momentous celebration in the life of our historic school.“Today we officially launch a year of activities and festivities and look forward to many more years of success and happiness for all members of our Warwick Academy family.“Our theme for this our birthday year is Generations of Excellence and I am delighted to see that we have more than adequate examples of this right here in this hall this evening.“You will be interested to hear that our oldest Alumni that we know of is Mr Rusty Hutchings. He was born in 1917 and came to Warwick when he was seven, in 1924.“He remained at Warwick through to the Fifth Form and then left and went to work at Bermuda Furness.“After five years the war broke out and he was enlisted and worked in St David’s in the communication effort for the war.“He had a brother Fordy Hutchings and a sister who both came here. Fordy Hutching’s son, Preston, came to Warwick as did his two sons, William and Alistair.“Mr Hutchings now lives in Paget next door to his son Nick. He doesn’t get out as much as he used to, and we are very sorry he cannot be with us this evening. He still enjoys good health and is even on e-mail.”Ms McCorkell went on to honour some of the school’s oldest alumni present with their family members, but first she highlighted the generations in attendance.“We have with us our youngest student currently in the school, Master Luke Foster who is in Year 1 and he was born December 30, 2006.”He was asked to stand up to be recognised.“Sitting right beside him is our oldest alumni present Mr Jack Osborn was born in 1920 and started WA in the spring of 1929 when the headteacher was Mr Roberts who was succeeded the following September by Major WB Welch.“Mr Osborn left school for Cornell University in 1937, but spent summers in Bermuda until 1940, and we are thrilled that he flew to Bermuda just for our ceremony this evening.”Also called to the podium was Walter Sharpe who is leading the charge to fill a time capsule later this year.The guest speaker for the evening was Dr Jack Patton who in the words of Ms McCorkell, “Dr Patton and his family are wonderful examples of generations of excellence.“Dr Patton, a former Chief of Staff of the Bermuda Hospitals Board was the Board Chair at Warwick Academy when Ms McCorkell arrived at the school, she told the audience last night, “He is the one to blame for me being here.”Dr Patton continued the theme of the night and provided the audience with an in-depth historical analysis spanning three centuries in his keynote address.“We sit in a place of learning where over 350 years some remarkable whose collective character, foresight, and energy have made Warwick Academy a grand old school of good repute.“I am grateful for the privilege of being asked to address some aspect of the theme, Generations of Excellence. I have chosen to say something about a selected few of those Men of Excellence who have guided this school until the early part of the last century.“These men whose names are remembered over the generations and whose deeds live on.”The text of his full speech will be published in a soon to be released book.But by far the most impressive part of the programme was the entertainment provided by the students themselves.From the Lower Primary opening, the Upper Primary Choir, a stunning solo performance by Year 11 student Francesca Dill, the Electric Strings and an awesome finish by the well-known Warwick Academy Jazz Band.In fact it was the entertainment that the Governor Sir Richard Gozney chose to speak on in his closing remarks.“I congratulate all the pupils and students who performed this evening. All of them were very strong.“But I can’t help but wonder what they would have made of all that in 1662, the year that Warwick Academy was founded?“They’d have been spellbound and would have enjoyed it at least as much as we have. They of course themselves quite busy.”