EAC Magazine - Alleyn's School

From the PresidentC l u bJust over a year and a half ago,sitting at my desk in NATO’sJoint Force Command in theNetherlands wrestling withstrategy development for theAlliance’s tricky campaign inAfghanistan, the last thingI expected was a letter fromNancy Carroll inviting me tobecome the president of theEdward Alleyn Club for 2010/11. Frankly I was amazed. Despitebeing a life member of the Club, I have not exactly been amodel ex-pupil. While I had returned once in a while forFounder’s Day and, more recently, for some highly enjoyableevents with the Combined Cadet Force, I hadn’t been to theClubhouse in Burbage Road for decades. So my emotions weremixed; extremely honoured and pleased to be asked, thoughfearful that the inevitable challenges posed by the exigencies ofmy job and the distance between my workplace and Dulwichwould make the role impossible. But somehow Nancy andSusie Schofield managed to convince me – and your committee –that, in the year of the150th anniversary of the Cadet Forces,this would be ‘the right thing to do.’ The rest, as they say, ishistory. At a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining annualdinner held in the School last November, Neil French investedme with the presidential badge of office.Returning to the school on that stormy autumnal night waswonderful. So much was the same but so much was different,exciting and new. Some of the older parts of the Schoolimmediately stimulated numerous happy memories. On theother hand, new buildings and facilities, such as the fantasticn e w sEdward Alleyn Building and its brilliant Michael Croft Theatre,generated huge pride in the knowledge that one was returningto a great School that has continued to develop and improve.But by far the most enjoyable part of that evening was theopportunity to meet with members of this year’s Upper Sixth.What a fabulous, inspiring group of young people they were.Bright, enthusiastic, inquisitive, cheerful and disarminglycourteous, they left me in no doubt at all that the values thatmy parents saw in Alleyn’s were as cherished by the school nowas they were when I was a pupil. How refreshing it was, in dayswhere metrics, league tables and statistics tend to rule ourlives, to realise that Alleyn’s still strives to bring out the best ineach and every pupil whether or not that individual isscholastically inclined. I certainly did not fit the bill of being anatural academic during my time. But I do know, at least onreflection, that the School prepared me magnificently not onlyfor life in general but also for my chosen career path in theRoyal Air Force.I pen this short note having just relocated to Brussels and yetanother new appointment (a swift calculation tells me that ithas been accompanied by my 19th house move). Travelling toAlleyn’s will hopefully be slightly easier from here although, atthe moment, the extraordinary pace of change in world eventsseems likely to conspire to keep me a touch busy. I will,however, do my very best to add value in some small wayduring my year. I shall certainly look forward to meeting asmany of you as possible, and, of course, to hosting the AnnualDinner in November in the Royal Air Force Club on Piccadilly.Until we do meet, please accept my good wishes for a fabulousand enjoyable spring and summer.Air Marshal Christopher N Harper CBE MA FCMI RAFUnited Kingdom Military Representative to NATO and the EUNATO HQ, BrusselsNew online servicefor Club membersDo you have anything to sell, promote or hire – but don’t wantto expose yourself to the vagaries of the internet? We havecreated a new forum on the members’ only area of the Club’swebsite; to find it, log-on to www.edwardalleynclub.com andvisit the ‘Forum’ page. What’s more, this service is free toregistered members.In response to members’ enquiries, we have added an areawhere registered members can upload details and images oftheir company or organisation to attract new customers andclients. If you are lucky enough to own a holiday home –but don’t want to deal with hundreds of enquiries – we havecreated ‘Holiday Homes’ where you can advertise your holidayhome for hire to fellow alumni who, being Alleyn’s people, areobviously discerning and house-trained. We have also deviseda marketplace area where you can give details of items youwish to sell, e.g. cars, musical instruments, bikes, furniture,children’s equipment.Please be assured, these notices will only be available to thosealumni and former staff who are registered users of the EdwardAlleyn Club website. And, just in case we think this might bethe wrong place for your notice, the Club reserves the right toamend copy and to remove items.Please keep in touch andupdate your details!Updating members’ contact details is an on-going process andvital if our communications are to succeed. Many of our recordsare patchy and we need readers’ help in making sure contactdetails are as accurate as possible.For readers who are former pupils, you will find in this magazine acontacts form to complete. Some of our readers do not normallyreceive a magazine but we have decided to take this opportunityto contact everyone for whom we have a postal address to invitemembers to update their details.Please could you complete the contacts form and return to us in theenclosed Freepost envelope? This will help us ensure that you receivedetails about the right event at the right time as well as allowingyou to indicate which publication/s you would like to receive andhow you would like to receive it (via post or email).Alternatively, if you have access to the internet, it would help usenormously if you could update your contact details online viathe secure members’ area of the Club’s website –www.edwardalleynclub.com If you do not have a log-in orpassword, please email Martha Jones at jonesm@alleyns.org.ukand she will gladly send you these by email.All personal information on the Edward Alleyn Club database is protectedunder the Data Protection Act. It is used exclusively to enable the School,former pupils and staff to remain in touch with each other and to improveour communications with you.2