The weekend of 24-25 July saw Becky complete the UltraChallenge Coast to Coast 105km hike from Minehead on the North Somerset coast to Dawlish on the South Devon coast. She was joined by Harry’s sister Rosie. Their efforts – including an epic crossing of the eastern edge of Exmoor in horizontal driving rain – succeeded in raising in excess of £1,000 for the charity Sepsis Research FEAT.
The Harry Lownds Biology Prize winner 2021
Although Repton School’s Speech Day again was unable to go ahead due to the restrictions necessitated to deal with Coronavirus, the highlights and achievements of the year were recognised in traditional style in its Speech Day Programme. The 2021 recipient of the Biology Prize established in Harry’s memory by his family is Lily Morris, who like Harry’s sister Evie is planning to take a gap year while applying for a place at University to study medicine.
A challenge for Harry’s birthday
To mark what would have been Harry’s 24th birthday on 23 June 
Matt walked 24 miles from their family home along the Ridgeway to White Horse Hill and Wayland’s Smithy
Jurassic Coast UltraChallenge
Sunday 17 May saw Becky join Harry’s Godmother Jenny in walking the second stage of the Jurassic Coast UltraChallenge.
After a dawn start in Weymouth they made their way westward along the undulating Dorset coastline in the face of fast deteriorating weather. The lunch stop at Abbotsbury swannery was followed by the very real challenge of a long stretch along the shifting shingle of Chesil beach. Next came steep climbs and descents above chalk cliffs. Finally after eleven hours, 50 kilometers and many hundred meters of ascent and descent the finishing line in Bridport drew into view.
Tired, soaked but elated Jenny and Becky crossed the line to be met by much needed cups of tea and space blankets. We are very grateful to Jenny for the sponsorship she raised for Harry’s scholarship in completing this challenge.
Supporter Report, Autumn 2020
The Autumn 2020 Supporter Report provides an update for everyone who has supported the scholarship established in Harry’s memory from its first two recipients: Ieva Didziokaite for 2019/20 and Callum Loader for 2020/21.
Callum decided to undertake the MSc in Genetic Manipulation and Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Sussex after completing his undergraduate studies in biochemistry at the University of Kent in Canterbury.
Harry Lownds Memorial Scholarship 2020
In July the University of Sussex advertised the scholarship in Harry’s memory for the academic year 2020-21. At the end of October the School of Life Sciences confirmed that the scholarship had been awarded to a student starting the MSc in Genetic Manipulation and Molecular Cell Biology. We hope to be able to provide further information shortly.
The Harry Lownds Biology Prize winner 2020
Although Repton School’s traditional Speech Day could not go ahead due to the restrictions necessitated to deal with Coronavirus, the school was still able to record the highlights and achievements of the year in its Prizewinners Programme. The recipient of the Biology Prize established in Harry’s memory by his family was Sam Turner, who like Harry was a member of Latham House.
Sam applied to study medicine at Imperial College London. It was therefore a cause for celebration when Repton’s announcement of its pupils’ University destinations included the news that “all those applying for Medicine and Veterinary Science have been accepted”. Congratulations Sam.
Sussex Scholars’ Celebration 2020
On 27 February Harry’s parents, Becky and Matthew, travelled down to the University of Sussex to attend a reception for current students in receipt of scholarships at the University’s Meeting House. This provided them with an opportunity to meet the first recipient of the Harry Lownds Memorial Scholarship, Ieva Didziokaite. [Scholars’ Celebration 2020 – University of Sussex Events]
At the time of the Scholars’ Celebration Ieva had started work on a practical project on the recently identified Ebola virus species Bombali, using pseudotype systems to develop a potential vaccine against this pathogen. Unfortunately when Coronavirus triggered a national lockdown a few weeks later the University was forced to halt all in-person studies. In May Ieva returned to Lithuania where she has been working on her MSc dissertation, a literature review about candidate vaccines against Ebola virus and antivirals which have previously been observed to be effective against it.
Running for Harry
To mark what would have been Harry’s 23rd birthday his aunt, Stephanie Allen, completed a real ‘Challenge for Harry’ – an 80km run from Bondi to Manly. Thank you Steph.
Memorial Charity Concert
The Beldam Hall of Repton’s Music School was packed out on Saturday 7 March for a charity concert in memory of Harry. The evening brought together many of his contemporaries at Repton and Foremarke Hall (Repton’s prep school) along with music teachers from both schools and family friends to raise money for the child bereavement counselling services of The Laura Centre in Derby.
The audience was treated to a fabulous programme from a very accomplished group of performers, who could easily have filled the time available ten times over. The evening was bookended by Harry’s fellow old boys from Latham House joining his younger sister Evie and other current members of Repton’s close-harmony group the Reptiles for a rendition of Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’, and former members of Foremarke Winds reuniting to play ‘‘Tequila’ and the theme from Wallace & Gromit.
Other highlights included Harry’s cousin, Louis Allen, performing Debussy’s Clair de Lune and the theme to Pirates of the Caribbean, the Latham old boys’ revival of their 2017 House Harmonies adaptation of the Jackson 5’s I Want You Back/ABC, and Wirksworth’s Raise Your Voices community choir’s rousing rendition of Bring Me Sunshine.
In all the evening raised £2,600 to support the work of The Laura Centre in Derby with bereaved children and those who have lost children at any point in their lives.