T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 7 The President with guest speaker Andy Thompson and Dave Hudson John Gray, Terry Jaggers and Ross Thompson from class of ’62. Dave Cox, John Stern and Dave Lincoln Dick Hersey, Don Bewick and John Partridge Keith Mullender, Mike Weatherley, Peter Clydesdale, Colin Munday 8
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 7 NIck Steidl Master of the Company President, Bishop Stephen, Liverymen, Gentlemen Thank you for inviting the Clerk and myself to this great occasion in our ancient Hall. I am sure that, over the decades, you will have come to know that this Institution has its roots in Medieval times - so even older than the old Stationers’ School! But we inherit our history - the important job now is to create our future. As I mentioned at Peter Bothwick’s year group lunch, I am extremely jealous of you guys who seem to have enjoyed your school life so much that you meet regularly and have lunches almost every week. I certainly didn’t enjoy my school days. I wouldn’t say mine was tough but we did have our own coroner and used to write essays like “What I’m going to be IF I GROW UP”. Described recently as a ‘Veteran of the Paper Trade’, obviously means that I know your President - in fact we have not only competed with each other for four decades but for an extremely short period we worked together. I was therefore amused to see Peter described in the flyer as the ‘OUTGOING’ President - this description of Peter has to be an understatement! He is a constant cabaret and one of the most amusing acts in the industry - you must have had a spectacularly fun year! Tonight, linking the old to the new, I see you were kind enough to include David Millar, Executive Director of Leigh Academies’ Trust and Executive Principal of Stationers’ Crown Woods Academy in tonight’s guest list. It might be early days to try to make a stronger link between the OSA and this new dynamic school but I do hope it will become a medium term goal. You might question how you can help this happen and the obvious areas include mentoring and governance. With regards to mentoring, the intention is to expand our cover to the SE London cluster of Leigh Academies Trust schools - so not just the Stationers’ Academy. Governance is a longer term project as we have nearly now fixed the next three years but if you think you are a suitable candidate and don’t live too far from the school in Eltham, please register your interest with the Clerk. I know David Millar also intends to work on setting up an association of alumni at the Stationers’ Academy and maybe at a later date this might be an opportunity to unify the old with the new. I mentioned that the impression I always get is that the OSA meet regularly for lunch which reminds me of a story. “A group of Old Stationers, all aged 50, discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed that they would meet at Hooters, because the staff were young and friendly. Ten years later, aged 60, the friends once again discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed that they would meet at Hooters, because the waiters and waitresses were young and efficient, the food and service were good and the wine list was excellent. Ten years later, at 70, the friends again discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed that they would meet at Hooters, because there was plenty of parking, they could dine in peace and quiet without loud music, and it was good value for the money. Another ten years later, now 80, the friends discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed that they would meet at Hooters, because the restaurant was wheelchair and walking stick accessible and had a large toilet for the disabled. And at the fine age of 90, the friends discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed that they would meet at Hooters, because they had never been there before.” Gentlemen, thank you again for inviting me to this dinner. Nick Steidl Master of the Company Peter Bothwick Master, Clerk, Honoured Guests, fellow Old Stationers. Well I must firstly thank the two previous speakers for their contributions. With these two plus myself, all three of us being from the paper industry, we therefore have, in rugby terms, a paper industry front row – and I know which one is the hooker! Gentlemen, Andy Thompson is Commercial Director of Taylor Bloxham Printers in Leicester, and is a customer of mine. I am in fact a very significant supplier to Andy’s company – it’s a shame he didn’t remember that tonight! Andy, I must admit that I was impressed with your powers of research about me – it all adds up now, my wife told me that there had been some old bloke hanging about outside the house – but now we know it was you! Gentlemen, you may have noticed from Andy’s accent that he’s not from round here – but hopefully you got most of it. Turning to the Master Nick Steidl – Nick told me beforehand that his speech was going to be hard-hitting, provocative and punchy. I don’t know why he changed his mind. 9
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