Celebrating Sir Joseph Whitworth's Commemoration Dinner 2026

It's been a busy few months for the Society, but few evenings capture what the Whitworth community is about quite like the Commemoration Dinner. On the 20th of March 2026, Scholars, Award Holders and guests gathered at the House of Lords to mark another year of Sir Joseph Whitworth's legacy.

The evening began with pre-dinner drinks at St Stephen's Tavern, just across from the Palace of Westminster, before the group made its way inside to the House of Lords. Arriving on the terrace overlooking the Thames, with Big Ben and the London Eye lit up in the evening light, made for a memorable start before dinner in the Atlee and Reid rooms.

Seated among Award Holders and Scholars from across the decades, there was time to catch up with old friends and make new ones. One conversation of the evening was with Jamie Partovi, a 2025 Award Holder and former RAF mechanic apprentice, whose journey from the armed forces into engineering reflects the breadth of backgrounds the Whitworth Scholarship continues to support.

After dinner, the toasts began. James Potten, Wh.Sch. (2000), proposed the toast to the King and to the memory of Sir Joseph Whitworth. Ben Murphy, Wh.Sch. (2016), then toasted the health of the Society.

The President, Professor Rupert Shute, Wh.Sch. (2002), rose to speak. A former apprentice at AWE and now Professor of Practice at Imperial College London, Rupert reflected on his own path through engineering — including his time serving as deputy chief scientific adviser to the Home Secretary during the pandemic — and on what the Society means to those who've come through the Scholarship.

Vice President Pavandeep Bhogal, Wh.Sch. (2017), followed with a short speech and toast of his own, before two of this year's Award Holders had the chance to respond. Madeline Starling, a 2025 Award Holder who trained as an aerospace apprentice at UWE Bristol and now works as a Cryogenic Engineer at GKN Aerospace, spoke about the impact the award has already had on her career. Daisy Bolton, also a 2025 Award Holder, shared her own reflections on the year.

Honorary Treasurer Laura Gilbert, Wh.Sch., closed the evening with a few final remarks, thanking everyone for making the trip and marking the end of another Commemoration Dinner in the books.

Photos courtesy of Michael Kelly, Jon Gorman and Kevin Urquhart. Written by Jon Gorman, Wh.Sch.