Page 64 - OO_2019

There are few, if any, Development Directors in schools who have been expected to oversee consecutive capital projects continuously for over six years, especially not whilst simultaneously sustaining and expanding an extensive bursaries programme. Lest this seem like a sob story, that is probably because there are very few school communities of sufficient generosity and affection for their alma mater to sustain such a programme. So, my breathless thanks are once again offered to all of you who support your old School, financially or otherwise.
And what a lot we’ve got to show for it! Whilst we’ve focused our fundraising attention on the new Sports Centre, the wider Sports MasterPlan has been delivering a range of improvements across a huge number of sports over the past few years. The summer of 2015 saw the opening of the J.M. Mills Pavilion and it is touching that the great Mike Mills was around to see the building which would bear his name begin to rise from the ground. The magnificent upstairs tea room, with its expansive views of the Main Square and Oundle’s ‘eternal umpire’ – the steeple of St. Peter’s Church, so named by Douglas Bell (D 49) – has been used extensively for both cricketing and non-cricketing functions this year, despite the weather.
We have also, quietly, added eight high-quality tennis courts adjacent to some of the best grass and artificial cricket nets in the country. The centre of gravity of Oundle’s sports facilities has continued to shift towards what was known in former times as ‘windy corner’, with the addition of two new AstroTurf pitches and an exquisite new athletics track. The latter was formally opened in
May on an action-packed Sports Day, with the entire School arrayed beneath new House flags to witness Sir Howard Stringer (Ldr 60), single- handed contributor of a quarter of the cost of the new track, firing the first starting gun.
Of particular note and poignancy amidst this year’s typically packed Oundle Society events programme was the spring history tour to Poland. A number of OOs had the opportunity to reacquaint themselves with the fascinating knowledge and exposition of Alan Midgley, and some older OOs had the benefit of being introduced to him for the first time, no doubt understanding entirely why his contemporaries flocked to sign up for an event that could have sold out two times over.
There has been some shuffling of seats within the Oundle Society team this year, with Michèle Seymour moving on after four years of tireless effort, drawing to a close an even longer career in sales, marketing and fundraising to pursue a new direction. We wish her well and thank her most sincerely for her energetic work on behalf of the School, Foundation and OO Club alike. Irreplaceable as she is, a new post, occupied by Clare Bessent, has been established which will improve our
administrative efficiency, whilst overall responsibility for events has passed on to Taryn Moore in her new guise as Events and Communications Manager.
There has also been some physical shuffling of seats this year, with the Stables having been scaffolded for most of it. By the time this issue goes to press, we should be well on our way to having the OO Club and Foundation Office joined by the School’s marketing department and by the School Archive in the grounds of Cobthorne. The former should bring about significant advantages as we strive to improve continually our communications with OOs and parents alike, whilst the latter represents a wonderful opportunity to make our extensive archives much more accessible to OOs and to other visitors.
That latter point makes me pause and give a timely reminder of what we are really here for: the current and former pupils of the School, and the wonderful people who comprise the Oundle community. There is a special, inviolable place in my heart for our ever-growing bursaries programme. It recalls the very foundation of the School in its current form when a person, grateful for the considerable benefits of their education, made a gift to enable those benefits to be spread to future generations. Such gifts continue to this day and bear the same hallmark. It is therefore much to our joy that Harry Willamson (St A 55) has been appointed to the voluntary position of Head of OO Legacies. As a legator, a major donor and an authority on how to give tax-efficiently, we couldn't be happier to have him on the team.
Our wonderful School is beholden to a continuing tradition of philanthropy, of which it remains an enormous privilege to be but a very small part.
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THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2018 –2019
COLUMN
The Director
Matthew Dear, the Oundle Society’s Director of Development, reports on another action-packed year for the Society