Welcoming our New EAC President!

We are delighted to welcome Nina Caplan (Spurgeon’s 1991) to the role of our Edward Alleyn Club (EAC) President for 2025-26. Nina is an award-winning food and drinks journalist and author, and we know she already has some special ideas for the year ahead.   

As EAC President, Nina will work closely with the EAC Management Board and Alleyn’s Development and Alumni Relations Office to help keep alumni and former staff connected, help celebrate alumni achievements and Alleyn’s milestones, as well as support efforts to raise funds for bursaries, buildings and projects.  

Starting her Presidency, Nina said: 

“It is an honour and a privilege to be the 2025-26 President of the Edward Alleyn Club and I’m looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible and hearing your stories of Alleyn’s past and present. 

She continued:

“I started at Alleyn’s in 1984, less than a decade after the first girls were admitted, and I am particularly happy to be involved with celebrating the half-century of that milestone. If I have never felt in any way disadvantaged by being a woman, that is in part because I had an education as good as any man’s – a lot better, in many cases!” 

After Alleyn’s, Nina studied Modern Languages at Cambridge, became a film critic, then an arts critic and is now a writer of books and articles principally on food, wine and travel – a career she loves and credits with hard work and a great education. 

Nina was named Drinks Writer of the Year 2020 in the Guild of Food Writers Awards. And her first book, The Wandering Vine: Wine, The Romans and Me, was named Louis Roederer Wine Book of the Year 2018 and Fortnum & Mason Debut Drink Book of the Year 2019.  

In her year as President, she is looking forward to championing the things she cares deeply about, including education and women’s rights. 

We are delighted to welcome Nina to this historical role. The Edward Alleyn Club's origins date back to 1882 when some old boys from the Lower College of God's Gift formed a social club. The official foundation meeting was in 1884. President at the time was Alleyn’s Headmaster, The Revd. J.H. Smith and he remained President until 1901, after which the EAC Presidency moved to a year’s tenure.  

Since those early days the EAC has been fortunate to enjoy the involvement of distinguished and dedicated Presidents, from staff and former staff to alumni including Professor R.V. Jones (Dutton’s 1929), Rt Hon The Lord Higgins (Dutton’s 1946) and actor Julian Glover CBE (Roper’s 1952). The first female President of the EAC was Kate Liffen (Dutton’s 1977) - one of Alleyn’s very first pioneering female pupils, in 1992. 

Most recently, we enjoyed the Presidency of double BAFTA-winning Casting Director, Aisha Bywaters (Brown’s 2002). We are so grateful to Aisha for her tenure as President last year. She inspired throughout, not just connecting with alumni spanning the years but also with current students, inspiring them to stay curious and true to the things that challenge and excite them. Thank you, Aisha!   

We warmly welcome Nina to this role and look forward to the year ahead!