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The Secretary
OO Club Secretary Jane Fenton reports on a busy year of events for the Club and forthcoming changes to its offices
It’s lovely to be writing to you again as we welcome yet another
OO magazine. As always, life has been busy in the OO Club office – lots of events to organise and attend, lots of queries from OOs to respond to, lots of meetings to attend, as well as all the other day-to-day routines that are necessary to keep the Club running.
One of the aspects of
the Secretary’s job that I
enjoy the most is travelling
around to meet OOs on
their home turf. Since the
last magazine was
published, I have been to
Sussex for the last West
Sussex Dinner hosted by
Howard Macnamara (Sc
49). After 20 years of
organising this successful
dinner, Howard has
decided the time has
come to hand over to
someone else. Peter Owen (Lx 63), who is the Corresponding Member for The Weald, now has the daunting job of stepping into very big shoes, but I’m sure that he is more than capable of rising to the challenge.
In March this year the events began again in earnest, with the South-West Lunch held at the racecourse in Taunton. At this event we took the opportunity to thank Chris Walliker (D 54) for his long service to the Club as the Corresponding Member for the South-West by presenting him with a House photo of Dryden in 1954 – he had no trouble in finding himself! We also welcomed Anthony Parsons
(S 65) as the new Corresponding Member.
In April I was privileged to be included in the party for the School’s
annual trip to Hong Kong. It was a whirlwind expedition over four days, but it was a great visit and lovely to be entertained by the extremely charming and hospitable Hong Kong OOs. The highlight of the trip was a gala dinner attended by approximately 200 people – all friends of Oundle - including current, prospective and former parents, Old Oundelians, current and prospective pupils, and a number of Oundle School teaching staff, as well as the President, Richard Ellis (Sn 86), and myself.
Other social occasions have included the Over-60s’ Lunch – always good fun and this year back in its usual venue of the RAF Club. A Northern Dinner, the first for some time, was held at Bowcliffe Hall, an impressive stately home in stunning
surroundings near Wetherby owned by OO Jonathan Turner (S 84).
Closer to home, there are plans afoot to make some changes to the OO and Oundle Society offices in The Stables next to Cobthorne. Refurbishment and building work will start shortly, and when finished, the Archive and the Marketing Department will move in to join us. The OO Club will still have its own office and it will be more convenient to have the Archive close by, so that visiting OOs will be able to access documents and suchlike much more easily, rather than having to make a journey to the hidden cupboard in the Library, where the Archive is currently situated!
Thanks, as always, go to the OO Committee, particularly the Presidential
Team of Richard Ellis, Alastair Irvine (Sc 81) and Philip Sloan (LS 71), who spearhead the Club’s direction and put in a great deal of time and effort. Thanks also to all the Corresponding Members, both in the UK and overseas, who act as a point of contact for their region or country and collate the news that makes up such a prominent part of this magazine. Sports Secretaries, too, deserve a special mention, as they give up their time to organise all those who are ready and willing to turn out and play in a team of some kind under the Oundle banner.
I hope to see as many of you as possible during the forthcoming year. Please do drop into the office if you’re passing. We can always find you a cup of tea and usually a biscuit too!
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2017 –2018
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