Our Patrons

Roma Agrawal is a structural engineer who builds big. From skyscrapers – including The Shard – to footbridges, and train stations to sculptures, she has made a lasting contribution to London’s landscape.

She is a tireless promoter of engineering, scientific and technical careers to young people, particularly under-represented groups such as women. She has advised policymakers and government on science education, and has spoken to thousands at universities, schools and organisations worldwide. She is a television presenter, and writes articles about engineering and education.

Roma has been awarded a number of international awards for her technical prowess and success in promoting the profession. Her first book BUILT was published by Bloomsbury in February 2018.

Dr Anjana Khatwa is an Earth Scientist specialising in bringing stories about the origins and formation of natural landscapes to life for a wide range of audiences. Born and bred in Slough, Anjana had a humble upbringing in an urban environment but grew to love the natural world through holidays to places such as Kenya, which is where her family originate from. Anjana has a BSc. in Earth Science and a Ph.D. in Geography where she specialised in glacial geology. For 15 years, Anjana has worked as the Learning Manager at the Jurassic Coast Trust, where she has established an international reputation as an expert on Earth Science and World Heritage education. She has published numerous papers on glacial geology, developed award winning teaching resources and recently won (with her team) the Royal Geographical Society Geographical Award for excellence in educating the public about the Jurassic Coast.

Anjana has appeared as a regular expert contributor on many natural history programmes such as BBC Two’s Fossil Detectives, The History Channel’s How the Earth was made, ITV1’s Treasures of Britain and PBS’s Treasures of the Earth. Most recently she appeared as the resident geology expert and series advisor for BBC Four’s Beach Live: The Jurassic Coast Revealed.

Outside of her role with the Jurassic Coast Trust, Anjana lives in Dorset. She enjoys an active lifestyle through running, swimming and also exploring the countryside. A major pastime is spent filling her house with rocks and fossils she finds on the Jurassic Coast.

British cellist Natalie Clein has built a distinguished career, regularly performing at major venues and with orchestras worldwide. Her playing has been praised for its “astonishing range of colours and … wide variety of expressive styles” (Gramophone Magazine).

She is an exclusive recording artist for Hyperion and has recorded the two Cello Concertos by Camille Saint-Saëns as well as Bloch’s Schelomo and Bruch’s Kol Nidrei with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to great critical acclaim. A solo disc with works by Bloch, Ligeti and Dallapiccola was released on 27 Janury 2017. She has previously released 3 discs for EMI.

Her performances have taken Natalie Clein to orchestras including the Philharmonia, Hallé, Bournemouth Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Montreal Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, New Zealand Symphony and Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires. She has performed with conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Sir Roger Norrington, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Leonard Slatkin, Stéphane Denève and Heinrich Schiff.

A keen recital and chamber performer, she has recently performed Bach’s Complete Cello Suites in London, Southampton and Oxford; and has curated a series of four concerts for BBC Radio 3 at LSO St Luke’s. She is the proud artistic director of her own chamber music festival in Purbeck, Dorset.

She regularly works with contemporary composers such as Thomas Larcher, Brian Elias and Dobrinka Tabakova and has also curated and been involved in cross-disciplinary projects with the dancer Carlos Acosta, writer Jeanette Winterson and director Deborah Warner amongst others.

The current season sees Natalie Clein perform at the Sydney Opera House, Wigmore Hall, Haydn’s D Major Cello Concerto with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists in Brazil and the Recreation Orchestra Graz, and Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Collegium Musicum Basel.

She plays the ‘Simpson’ Guadagnini cello of 1777.

Fiona joined TH in Year 5 (previously Form 2) (1972) and stayed until Upper 6th (and beyond). She excelled at science subjects winning several school awards and achieving 4 A grades in her A levels. She then went to Bath University achieving a 1st class degree in Biochemistry followed by a PhD in Neuroscience at Cambridge. Fiona has spent her career in the discovery of drugs for a range of different diseases. Her early career was spent in the Pharmaceutical Industry, then 10 years ago she founded a Biotech company called Heptares Therapeutics. Heptares uses modern techniques in structural biology, biophysics and computing to design drugs to perfectly fit their targets in the human body. Heptares was acquired in 2015 by a Japanese company – Sosei for $400m. Fiona Marshall is now VP Head of the UK Discovery Centre for MSD Research Laboratories.

Fiona has a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Bath and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Cambridge. She has more than 25 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and in drug discovery, which included senior positions at GSK and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Fiona is also recognised for her expertise in the field of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and has published extensively in this field.

Fiona is on the Council of the Academy of Medical Sciences and on translational advisory boards of the MRC, the Francis Crick Institute and Wellcome Trust. She won the 2012 WISE Women of Outstanding Achievement for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the 2015 RSC Malcolm Campbell Award for chemistry.

Fiona has a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Bath and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Cambridge. She has more than 25 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and in drug discovery, which included senior positions at GSK and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Fiona is also recognised for her expertise in the field of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and has published extensively in this field.

Fiona is on the Council of the Academy of Medical Sciences and on translational advisory boards of the MRC, the Francis Crick Institute and Wellcome Trust. She won the 2012 WISE Women of Outstanding Achievement for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the 2015 RSC Malcolm Campbell Award for chemistry. She is active in promoting the need for more women in science and was appointed an ‘Ambassador for Women in Science’ by the UK Government’s innovation agency – Innovate UK.

Fiona is married with two children and lives in Hertfordshire – although she plans to move back to Dorset when she retires.

I was born in 1935 into a loving Jewish family, the child of immigrant grand-parents from Russia.

My childhood during the war years was spent in the countryside away from the dangers of bombing and air-raid warnings until the family moved back to Hampton on the River Thames in 1945.

In the September before my 10th birthday I arrived at Talbot Heath School, as a boarder in St.Margaret’s house, with my good friend from primary school in Twickenham, Middx. This began my long and happy stay at the school, leaving in 1954.

Two years were then spent at Mrs. Hoster’s Secretarial College in Kensington equipping me to work as a secretary in a PR company, before joining my family’s business in the City of London. Here I remained until meeting my husband-to-be and subsequently getting married in 1958.

Since that time my life has followed a not unusual pattern for a young woman of that period; raising a family (one daughter and one son) , helping my husband in his new business, caring for ageing parents, playing a lot of golf (my most favourite sport) and becoming involved as a volunteer in not-for-profit organisations.

My major interests and concerns throughout the following nearly 60 years have concentrated on issues relating to the rights and status of women nationally and internationally, equal employment rights, the care of the elderly and inter faith relations. This work has taken me round the world as a representative of various charities and allowed me to meet many outstanding women. Perhaps my most rewarding times have been as President of The National Council of Women G.B. from 1988-1990, an organisation affiliated to The International Council of Women, and as Chairman of Trustees of Nightingale/Hammerson a highly respected residential care home in Clapham, South London were I served for seven years.

Since my 80th birthday I have resolved to spend rather more time with family and friends but still continue to volunteer for my favourite charities. Volunteering is a great passion of mine and one that provides me with much pleasure and satisfaction. I hope to continue for years to come!!

Born in 1979 Kate went to Talbot Heath School, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio. Awards include the 2004 Kathleen Ferrier Award, the 2004 John Christie Award, and the 2007 Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award. She was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 2019 for services to music.

In opera she has sung Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Micaela (Carmen), Female Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia) and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for the Glyndebourne Festival; Pamina for the Baden-Baden Festival with the Berlin Philharmonic and Rattle, the Lucerne Festival with Harding, and the Royal Opera; Countess (Le nozze di Figaro) and Governess (The Turn of the Screw) for Glyndebourne on Tour; Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) for both the Teatro Real, Madrid and the Glyndebourne Festival; Poppea for English National Opera; Miranda (Ades’ The Tempest) for the Royal Opera; Handel’s L’Allegro Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), for the Paris Opera; and Countess Almaviva for the Aix-en-Provence Festival. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Euridice, returning for Micaela.

She has appeared in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, La Scala Milan, Swedish Radio Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Kate is passionate about the song repertoire and has appeared in recital across Europe, North America and Asia. Her recordings include ‘Midsummer Night’ with the Orchestra of English National Opera, ‘ A lesson in Love’ a recital disc with Malcolm Martineau and Mahler 2 with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Jessamy qualified as a chartered architect at Kingston University in 2012 and later became an Associate at Western Design Architects. She has been involved in projects ranging from small sustainable projects, large scale housing, historic restoration and educational development centres, such as the STEAM Hub here at Talbot Heath.
Jessamy co-chaired the Dorset branch of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), organising and hosting numerous events to support local practitioners and students as well as giving her time to national RIBA affairs, including government legislation on environmental and construction policies. She has also been on the panel of judges for the AUB BA(Hons) Architecture course.
Jessamy strives to uphold the value of an architect within the construction industry, both as a designer and as a key team member during project development. She believes that the future of the industry lies in the value we hold in the environment as a community and in fundamental material exploration.

Emily is the Director of Drama at Sydenham School for Girls. She has a passion for increasing creativity in the curriculum. She also practices as a Dramatherapist. Her passion is classical theater and she has been enormously inspired by the work of Cicely Berry CEB, who is the voice director of the RSC.

Sheila is a broadcaster and media educator, and a former BBC Controller of Educational Broadcasting. She is committed to educational development and progression. She was Chief Executive of Open College in the late 1980s, an innovative organisation which supported distance learning through a partnership with Channel 4 to broadcast vocational curriculum accessible by all.