Old Blues Email News 23 February 2002
- 1. Benevolent Society of Blues
The 177th Annual General Meeting of the BSB was held on Monday, 11th February 2002 at the National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HE. It was attended by over 40 members with The BSB President, Mrs Susan Mitchell, in the Chair. The meeting approved the Report and Accounts presented by the Directors for the year to end June 2001 and received an update on the Society's activities for the period of July to December 2001. As part of the President's address, Mrs Susan Mitchell stated that it was her vision
"that every Old Blue should be a member of the Benevolent Society of Blues which holds a unique position in the Christ's Hospital community."
The AGM was followed by good food and wine in an informal atmosphere. Peter Bloomfield commented "The venue is a huge improvement, the length and format just right and I thought the supper arrangements and the standard of food and service excellent value for the price. I think we should build on this formula and try to get it into the CH calendar as one of the events that Old Blues within a reasonable distance shouldn't miss!"
More about the BSB can be found on the BSB website.
- 2. 450th Celebrations
The first of the celebrations to mark the 450th Anniversary of the Foundation of The Hospitals of Christ's, Bridewell and St Thomas the Apostle takes place on Tuesday 12 March 2002. This will be a service of Thanksgiving in St Paul's Cathedral. It will start at 11.45am and will last for approximately 1 hour. Attendance is strictly by invitation only - please do not try to gain entrance without a ticket.
Both Christ's Hospital and King Edward's School, Witley will be marching from Cannon Street through the City of London to St Paul's arriving at approximately 11am. By all means, observe from afar if you wish but this is a mammoth logistics exercise with something like 1300 in the column and so only approach to within "waving distance"! After the service, most of the school will return to Cannon Street but the Grecians will be going to Guildhall.
- 3. Doing business with Old Blues
The new section of www.oldblues.com [now located in the Old Blues section of the CHA website] devoted to encouraging Old Blues to do business with Old Blues continues to develop. Recent additions include:
If you would like to add any businesses to the directory, please send the entry to me as you would like it to be seen.
- 4. Getting In Contact
Part of an email received from Rosemary Squire (Barrett 3's 1952-57):
Hello - thanks for putting our ad. into the business directory. One instant result of that was that I received a phone call from an Old Blue who had left Housey in 1953 and lives just 20 minutes from here in the next small town! He's a retired Church of England vicar by the name of Bert Peake ; he actually comes to Nanton two Sundays a month to take services as there is no resident clergyman here in the Anglican Church at the moment . We have many mutual friends here . So we've arranged to meet this Sunday afternoon (in early February 2002). Neither one of us had any idea that another Old Blue lived in this area!"
Also, an extract from the report of the Maine B Reunion.
"Perhaps the most remarkable connection was when Commander Richard Goodfellow (Maine B 56-64) met Commander John McGregor (Maine B 49-53). After a brief double take, they realised that they had previously met during the Falklands War in May 1982, when a rather shaken Richard (who was engineer officer of HMS Antelope which had just been bombed) was brought on board HMS Fearless and was met by John (who was his counterpart engineer officer on Fearless). Unaccountably, in the heat of the battle, they had omitted to ask each other where they went to school - let alone which house!"
It is good to talk!
- 5. Founder's Day Dinner 2002
Founder's Day Dinner 2002 will be held at the MANSION HOUSE, London EC4 by kind invitation of the Lord Mayor on Tuesday 15 October 2002.
Chairman of the Dinner will be Christopher Bruce-Jones (ThA 44-49) and our chief guest is The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.
Alderman Sir Richard Nichols (PB 47-55), Lord Mayor Locum Tenens, has kindly agreed to host the Dinner.
Please put the date in your diary. Application forms will be issued in June and sent to those who have attended in recent years. If you would like to be added to this distribution list please contact the Hon Sec:
Roger Eades, Hon Sec to the Stewards of Founders Day, 4 Squirrel Wood, West Byfleet, Surrey KT14 6PE or contact Rger Eades by email.
The 2003 Founder's Day Dinner will be held on Saturday 11 October 2003 at Horsham.
- 6. Thornton B and Ward 9 Association Annual Dinner
From John Gower:
The sixty-fourth annual dinner will be held on Friday 22nd March 2002, in the Red Room at Waterstone's Bookstore on Piccadilly. The Red Room is located on the Lower Ground Floor of Waterstone's, which is now Europe's largest bookstore and stands on the site of the old Simpsons Department store at 203 - 206 Piccadilly, London W1V 9LE. This year's Dinner will be chaired by Steve Treharne (ThB 69-76). Steve qualified as a chartered accountant in 1984 and is now a partner at KPMG, one of the UK's leading accountancy practices.
Association members and their quests are invited to congregate in the Red Room from 6.30pm onwards, where bar facilities will be set up. Dinner will be at 7.30pm. It is hoped that the Housemasters of Thornton together with the House Captain will attend the Dinner as guests of the Association. Members are welcome to bring guests for whom the full price of the dinner is payable.
Recent Leavers (i.e. 1998-2001) and OAP concession £20.00
Earlier and guests £30.00
For those members who cannot attend but would like to mark the occasion, I repeat the invitation to subscribe to House funds. On behalf of the Association I would like to thank all those who send letters with their contributions, these are always reviewed after the meal and received with great interest.
I would also like to thank those who take the time and trouble to track down and introduce new members to the Association, new faces are always welcome.
Confirmation of attendance should reach me no later than 16th March 2002.
John A. Gower (Hon. Sec.) Jgower@capital-shipbrokers.co.uk
- 7. The Future of the CH Club
From Geoffrey Shelly (President of CH Club) and Diana Gould (Chairman CH Club) to all CH Club Members:
On behalf of the committee, we would like to thank those of you who took the trouble to respond to the request in the last issue of "The Blue" to comment on the future of the CH Club. The replies were interesting and have been very helpful in considering this issue and your suggestions have, and will be, taken on board.
Prior to this communication, a session was held at the school on 9 February 2002 and we would like to thank Mike Pitcher (Th B 55-63) and his friend and colleague Blaine Krickl for leading this. The aim of the session was to generate ideas about the future of the club and to explore new concepts about what our club is for and can achieve. Whilst the attendees at the session generated many ideas that are summarised below, we believe that these are only a sample of what we should be considering. On behalf of the committee and the attendees, I would ask you to consider the ideas below, comment on them and come up with others.
- Should we migrate to an Alumni that would provide services to all those who have been involved with the school?
- Should we provide more membership benefits and would this increase our membership?
- Who is the Club aimed at and what do they want from the Club?
- How should the Club relate to the current pupils who will form the membership in years to come?
- How can we help link Old Blues to each other and to the School?
- How can we improve the links with the school and provide a better service to pupils, staff and friends?
- How should we communicate with our members? Is the Blue appropriate or do we need other methods?
- How should we be using new communication methods such as the Internet and email?
- How do we publicise what the Club and other organisations do well and build on this to do better?
In considering this, we would encourage you not to be constrained by what we do now or by the current structures but feel free to contribute your own thoughts and ideas. From this we hope to build a Club to serve the new millennium and all Old Blues.
We look forward to hearing from you by one of the following:
- Letter to Geoffrey Shelley, 7 back Lane, London NW3 1HL.
- Email to geoffreyshelley@btinternet.com
- Letter to Diana Gould, c/o Christ's Hospital Club, Christ's Hospital, Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 7YP.
- 8. House Reunions
The confirmed House Reunions are:
- Barnes B pre-1960's 3 May 2002
- Lamb A pre-1959's 14 June 2002
- Lamb B pre-1960's 15 November 2002.
There are plans for a pre 1960's Coleridge B Reunion in the Spring of 2003, date to be confirmed.
To find out more about these events, please contact Anne Sartain in the Partnership Office on 01403 247588 or at ptoff@christs-hospital.org.uk
- 9. Dates for 2002
I would again like to make the Old Blues Diary on www.oldblues.com [now the Events Calendar] as comprehensive as possible. Could meeting organisers please let me have their dates for 2002 if they are not already posted there.
- 10. Obituaries
It is with regret that the following deaths are reported:
- AEM Barton (Col B 1933-40) died on 11 May 2001
- JSC Chandler (1926-33) died 14 November 2001
- CG Down (Col A 1925-31) died 16 December 2001
- Miss MA Farrant (7's 1927-34) died 10 October 2001
- Peter Hooper (Mid B 1926-33) died on 7 January 2002
- CH Houlder (Col A 1940-47)
- PE Mott (Ba B 1928-35) died on 5 September 2001
- JH Turner (Col B 1940-47) died on 24 June 2001
- KJ Whinney (Ba A 1940-47) died 17 October 2001
- Miss MEG White (7's 1923-30) died 23 January 2002.
- 11. CHCOGA
Lawra Barnett has asked for a recipe she obtained from Miss Jukes' cookery class in Hertford to be placed on the website. This can be found under Lawra's entry in the Blue Yellow Pages. Any more recipes?
- 12. Information Technology at Christ's Hospital
A plan to utilise the expertise and enthusiasm of Old Blues to help accelerate the broader integration of ICT into CH has been drafted following the workshop held on Saturday, 1st December 2001. If you would like to contribute to this, please email me.
- 13. Old Blues Rugby Football Club
There are a few key diary dates over the next couple of months:
Reunion Match - 9 March 2002
Old Blues v Old Guildfordians has been designated a Reunion Match so please make a special effort to visit Motspur Park that day. The bar will be open from Noon and lunch will be available from 12.30 (cost £5 - please pre-book via Bryan Hall at bryan.hall@assurity.co.uk).The Allen family are kindly sponsoring the bar (named the "Ditch" after the late Phil Allen) between 6.00 and 7.00 pm so it will be a great day out. The match is an important league fixture so the team will welcome a good turn out on the touchline, before they fly off to Jersey the following week.
Annual General Meeting - 6 April 2002
The OBRFC AGM will be held at Motspur Park at Noon on 6 April. The agenda can be found under OBRFC.
OBRFC Annual Dinner - 26 April 2002
The guest speaker at the OBRFC Annual Dinner on 26 April 2002 is ex England International and British Lion, Martin Bayfield. The application form can be found under OBRFC.
Challenge Cups and End of Season Party / Family Day - 27 April 2002
A great day out at Motspur Park for all the family.
More OBRFC Photos
The team photographs area (at www.oldbluesrfc.com) now includes 5 pictures from 50's/60's which were submitted by Peter Blades (MidB 43-49).
Regards
Steve Webb (Col A 60-69)