EAC Magazine - Alleyn's School

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From the PresidentC l u bIt is with mixed feelings that Iapproach the conclusion of myyear in office. The many and variedfunctions I have attended duringthe year, and the numbers offormer (and current) pupils andstaff with whom I have met, haveundoubtedly given me anenormous amount of pleasure. It istherefore saddening to realise that,following the Club’s Annual Dinner(on Saturday 20 November, only afew weeks away now), theseevents will no longer be so readilyavailable! However, in contrast tosuch melancholic emotions is themore positive thought – reinforcedby much I have seen at thesegatherings – that the friendly and inclusive spirit of the Alleyn’scommunity lives on and can be appreciated and enjoyed by allwho are willing to share it. The task, as always, particularly tothe younger and more recent leavers, is to spread the wordand encourage as many as possible to become more involvedand connected with events and activities at both the Club andthe School.The carousel of Club events has continued to transport me onits hectic journey, unabated over the past six months.From participating in dignified remembrances of the passing oflong-time former pupils to witnessing the exuberance ofyouthful recent leavers, now as professional musiciansfeaturing in performances by ‘Bowjangles’ and ‘The SwingleSingers’; from attending the wonderfully well-supported andappreciated Reunion of the Decades (former pupils meetingtogether again after 20, 30 & 40 years since leaving) towatching the Lower School production of Grimm Tales in theMichael Croft Theatre; from the pleasure, at thecharacteristically informal andconvivial meeting our GolfSociety’s 200th Meeting, ofbeing privileged to present asplendid Club blazer to Dr ColinDiggory to mark his retirementas Headmaster, to sharing inthe more formal presentation toColin of the excellent portraitof him in oils, at the farewellfunction for him hosted by theCommon Room in the splendourof Saddler’s Hall.Most recently, at the party tocelebrate the beginning of thenew academic year, I andseveral officers of the Clubwere present to meet the incomingHeadmaster, Dr Gary Savage, and to hear hisenthusiastic and optimistic hopes for the future of Alleyn’s.We are all aware of the fine legacy that he has been left –a fitting tribute to the exceptional commitment and vision ofColin – and there is every confidence for continued success tocome. We extend our warmest welcome to Gary, and to hiswife Natalie, together with our very best wishes to him for amost happy and successful time as Headmaster.n e w sIt was heartening to find an increased number of former pupilspresent at another notable occasion this year – yes, word isbeginning to get about! This was the Annual RegimentalDinner, held in June and which this year also celebrated the150th anniversary of the Cadet movement. A splendid meal,enjoyed by 120 members and guests, was followed by anabsorbing speech given by Lt Gen Sir Robert Fulton KBE,President of the CCF Association. This event served as a worthyfarewell to Col Keith Ellen who retired at the end of the Trinityterm having given four years of valuable service asCommanding Officer of the Alleyn’s School CCF; during thistime the scope of activities and participation in all servicesections has shown steady improvement, noticeably with theresurrected Corps of Drums and the NCO Cadre course.Founder’s Day was blessed with fine weather once more,resulting in a bumper turn-out of Club members – and theinevitable exhaustion of all alcoholic supplies at their favouredmeeting point in the Pimm’s Tent. Presidential duties, perhapsnot wholly unfortunately, prevented my prolonged engagementthere with those enjoying the nostalgic atmosphere andconversation with contemporaries! Many thanks to Susie andMartha from the Alumni Office, and their team of hardworkingvolunteers from the Executive Committee headed up by chairmanJohn Battle, who all worked tirelessly throughout the afternoon.Speech Day earlier that same morning had seen Sir GusO’Donnell KCB, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home CivilService, give a very amusing, and candid, address beforepresenting prizes to the many pupils who had achievedparticular success during the year. However, as Colin Diggoryhad expressed in his remarks beforehand, the whole School –including ALL pupils – could take pride in the unprecedentedsuccess achieved, across all aspects of its activities, and inparticular of the academic standards reached this summer atGCSE and A level. It came as no surprise that, at the end of thishis final Speech Day address, Colin was given anoverwhelmingly long, loud, and heartfelt round of applause byall who were present.Before closing I must mention the recent and most importantdevelopment within the Club’s 125-year long history. Our longservingand immediate past chairman, John Dunley, has reportedin several previous issues of this Magazine on the integrationprocess – a matter that may not have attracted the eagerattention of our readers! However, the successful outcome ofthis process is the sole reason we can all look forward to acontinuation of the Edward Alleyn Club, and of the facilities andservices that it has been able to provide. Acknowledgements dueto those involved have been given by John in his earlier articles,but his personal contribution to the process has goneunrecognised except by those directly concerned. I take thisopportunity of recording our sincere gratitude to John for hisimmense effort and expertise in achieving a very successfulconclusion of the process. There remains the matter offormalising the necessary changes to our constitution, to reflectthe new relationship between the Club and School, and it ishoped that proposals will soon be in place for approval by ourmembers in due course.So finally it is with grateful thanks to you all of for making myyear so memorable that I now prepare to bid a fond farewell tothe Presidency in November, when I hope to see many of youpresent at the Annual Dinner.Neil French (Cribb’s, 1954-61)2
Club constitutionC l u bFollowing on from the successful transfer of the Clubhouse andgrounds at Burbage Road to the School’s management andwith the Alumni Office at the School now so well-established,it seemed that this was the right time at which to review theEdward Alleyn Club’s constitution to reflect the role of the Cluband its officers as they are today and as we expect them toevolve. The November 2009 AGM of the Club asked that weshould look to establish a working party to address this issue.This has now met under the chairmanship of our President, NeilFrench, and has established the basis of a recommendation onhow to proceed, which has developed into a first and seconddraft of a proposed new constitution, which we hope to presentto an EGM on 8 March 2011.Essentially, with the School now the leaseholder and responsiblefor the management of the Burbage Road facilities, one of thekey roles for which the Club’s Executive Committee has,historically, been responsible has disappeared, although we stillhave a key part to play in helping to co-ordinate the Club’sconsiderable on-going use of the site, with input on its upkeep anddevelopment. Similarly, with Susie Schofield and Martha Jonesso ably keeping in touch with Club members and putting in agreat deal of the hard slog involved in pulling Club eventstogether, the Club Executive Committee’s role will, weanticipate, become increasingly a strategic one, where we worktogether with the School to develop and build on what we areable to offer to former pupils.Consequently, the key planks of the revised constitutionenvisage a streamlining of our committee-process, which willn e w sresult in the Executive Committee becoming directlyresponsible to the Club as a whole through the Annual GeneralMeeting but, at the same time, a widening of the ExecutiveCommittee-membership so that it will formally include theDirector of Development & Finance and Head of AlumniRelations as representatives of the School (they are bothalready joining meetings as co-opted members and areinvaluable). The plan is to replace the current twice yearlyCouncil meetings with two meetings of the ExecutiveCommittee, which will be widened out on one occasion toinclude members of the School’s Senior Management Team,Common Room and the Alleyn’s Association (parent-body) andon the other the full range of ‘Sections’ affiliated to the Club,so that we ensure that we continue to benefit from widespreadinput from our various stakeholders.We hope that this structure will not only meet the needs of theClub today but for the foreseeable future. It will help us tofocus much more on the more strategic aspects of what aformer pupils’ club is about and what it can do both for itsmembership and to support the School rather than thesometimes rather more mundane aspects of the day-to-daymanagement of bricks, mortar and grounds, which are now inthe hands of a professional team much better able to handlethose aspects. In the process, we hope that this will also soundlike an attractive prospect to some of those of you, who arereading this – if you feel that you might like to be involved inshaping the future of your Club (and your old School), pleasedo get in touch.David Hankin (Spurgeon’s, 1971-78)Executive Committee memberdavidhankin@btinternet.comContentsClub newsFrom the President 2Club constitution 3Reunion of the decades 4Alleyn Benevolent Fund 5Bats, balls and barbecues 5Founder’s Day 6Changing guard at 200 Club 8Piddling Pups at the Oval 810-year reunion 8Regimental dinner 9New Club website 9School newsFrom the Headmaster 10Chaplaincy lecture 11Southwark Schools’ Learning Partnership 11Launch of ASEL 11Interview with Dr Gary Savage 12Seamus Conlon competition winner 13Alumnus at AJS 13Departing staff 14Buckingham Palace Garden Party 15Dulwich Foundation concert 16International Concert Series 16An Alleyn’s wedding 16Alumni newsMarley’s Christmas Carol 17Battle of Britain Young Composers’ Concert 17Festival Fringe frolics 17International Women’s Day 17Day in the Life of… Richard Barker 18Alumnus joins ICMI board of directors 19Big Bang in 3D 19Languedoc life 19Gap Year report 20In the saddle 20Kurdish Human Rights Project 21My fair Fabian! 21A link with Jack Hobbs 27Degree results 22Births, marriages & deaths 22, 23Sport 26Forthcoming events 28Editor: Susannah Schofield, Head of Alumni RelationsItems for the spring issue of the Edward Alleyn Club Magazineshould be sent to the editor at Alleyn’s School by 7 March 2011.If emailing, pictures should be sent as high-resolution jpgs.Development & Alumni Office, Alleyn’s School, Townley Road,London SE22 8SU020 8557 1466/1588 alumni@alleyns.org.ukwww.edwardalleynclub.com www.alleyns.org.ukwww.edwardalleynclub.com3
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