OSAmag91

T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 9 1
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS
It is a great honour to have been elected President of the Old
Stationers’ Association. I must admit to a slight feeling of
‘impostor syndrome’ for, although I have been a member of the
OSA since leaving the School in 1969, I have not been until
recently a very active participant in activities other than occasional
lunches, dinners and reunions. But I suspect that to be true of
many members other than those involved in the various sporting
sections of the Association.
First of all, a word about my background. I joined the School from
Stroud Green Primary in 1962, and left for Trinity College,
Cambridge in 1969 to read Economics. Thereafter I joined the
Bank of England, and remained there, with two interludes totalling
five years at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC,
until my retirement in 2016. A fuller account of my career appeared
in Issue 84 of the Old Stationer in March 2017. I am married to
Lindsay, live in Pinner, and have three grown-up children. I am a
Freeman of the Stationers’ Company and a Liveryman of the
Worshipful Company of International Bankers.
In my year as Vice-President I have gained an insight into the
operation of the OSA Committee, and I have to say how
enormously impressed I have been by the serious and professional
way in which its business is conducted. The tone is set at the top,
and this gives me the opportunity to congratulate Peter Thomas
on a very successful year as President. I did not know Peter
before last year, but right from the outset I could see the
conscientious, polite, and democratic but determined manner in
which he led the organisation. In the old cliché, but nonetheless
true for that, he will be a hard act to follow.
I am pleased to say that Peter will not only remain on the
Committee as Past President, but is also taking over as Honorary
Secretary from Tony Hemmings. Tony has been a stalwart of the
Committee for many years, and is effectively ‘Father of the
House’, having joined in 1984 as Vice-President and becoming
President the following year, and having filled the role of
Honorary Secretary between 2002 and 2015, and again in the
last year. He master-minded this year’s ‘virtual AGM’ with great
aplomb, and I am delighted that his years of continuous service
on the Committee from 1984 will continue with his reversion to
being an Ordinary Member.
Sincere thanks are also owed to Michael Hasler, who has retired
as Honorary Treasurer after serving successfully in that role since
2012. Michael is recuperating from serious illness, and we wish
him well on the path to a full recovery. Michael has been
succeeded by Past President Peter Winter. Finally, we say farewell
to David Sheath, who has retired as an Ordinary Member of the
Committee, with our best wishes for his eventual relocation to
Malta when circumstances allow.
Last but not least in reporting on changes to your Committee, I
am delighted to welcome Daniel Bone as the new Vice-
President. Daniel is a fellow 1962 classmate and will be known
to many of you from his prowess on the sports field. He is a
thoroughly nice man and will be a great addition to the
Committee.
In Peter Thomas’s Address published in the Old Stationer of a
year ago, he was able to write about a number of activities of the
Association in which he had already been involved as President,
and to look forward to many more. For obvious reasons, at the
time of writing (end-May) I am not yet in a position to replicate
that report. All activities have been suspended for the time being,
but we live in hope that later in the year it will be possible to
reinstate some of our planned events. This would include
President’s Day in August, the September lunch and, more
importantly, the Christmas lunch. If we can reinstate one or more
of these events, I hope that it will also enable us to give Peter
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