Bucks schools well represented at Stephen Hawking's funeral

At the Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Professor Stephen Hawking at Westminster Abbey on Friday 15th June, 103 schools from around the world were represented, including Buckinghamshire schools Wendover Junior School, the John Colet School, Wendover and Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School in Aylesbury.

Chris Glazier from Sir Henry Floyd, Aylesbury with Prof Brian Cox

The head teachers of the three schools had given a special dispensation to Wendover siblings Georgina, Amelia and Christopher Glazier to attend the event with their mother Angie and father Ben.

One of the core aims of the Stephen Hawking Foundation is to promote the study of cosmology at school and university level, so when the public ballot was run, half the spaces were reserved for schools.

Chris Glazier, Sir Henry Floyd, Aylesbury.
with Hashem Al -Ghaili (www.Facebook.com/sciencenaturepage 24m followers)
And Nobel Laureate Professor Kip Thorne — Chris Glazier, Sir Henry Floyd, Aylesbury. with Hashem Al -Ghaili (www.Facebook.com/sciencenaturepage 24m followers) And Nobel Laureate Professor Kip Thorne

It was young scientific minds that many of the words in the service were reserved for in the hope of inspiring a new generation of science and maths students to further their studies at university. Schools from as far away as America and India attended the service.

The three were there to represent Buckinghamshire schools at a once in a lifetime event and will be reporting back to their schools that they had the opportunity to meet Astronaut Tim Peake, Nobel Laureate Professor Kip Thorne, science superhero Professor Brian Cox and science writer and videographer Hashem Al-Ghaili, whose Facebook page @ScienceNaturePage has 24 million followers and has just passed 8 billion post likes.

During the service the ashes of Professor Hawking were interred near Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, in a ceremony performed by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The family also placed into the grave a silver medallion

Ben Glazier’s Company Glazier Design created the branding for the Stephen Hawking Foundation and assisted with all the graphics for the event and the organisation, something they regard as a massive honour.