On Monday 12th May, we were particularly excited to welcome back to school for the first time since she left in 2002, old girl and Olympian, Laura Tomlinson MBE (née Bechtolsheimer).
Laura told us how she combined her life as a school girl at St Mary’s from the age of 12, managing to achieve excellent grades, represent Calne in County hockey, and make many of the friends she continues to see now, with simultaneously following a rigorous and demanding level of training in order to further her outstanding equestrian success.
She spoke about the enormous support she was given by the school and her friends, but often referred to the fact that there were always sacrifices to be made. She graduated from Bristol University in 2007 with a BSc in Philosophy and Politics, and the following year competed in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games where she gained 18th place in the Individual Grand Prix Special and 6th place in the team event. She was named as British Dressage’s Rider of the Year. She likened the camaraderie in the Olympic Village to her experience of boarding at St Mary’s, for which she obviously has huge affection.
Her description of the weeks surrounding the London 2012 Games, both in the run up to the success on her beloved horse, Alf, and all the celebrations afterwards, was both inspiring and poignant. She remains humble and grounded and is a truly remarkable role model!
Laura commented:
“It was fun going back to school and talking to the pupils who are sitting where I was just over ten years ago – although it does make me feel a little older than I think I am! Hopefully I inspired them to realise that you can have a good education and still achieve other goals alongside good grades. I’ve got lots of great memories from my time at St Mary’s Calne and am still friends with many of the friends I made at school. I got a lot of support and security at St Mary’s Calne which gave me the confidence to go out and do what I did later on.”