The 2011 Old Bournemouthians Dinner will be held on Friday 16th September 2011 at the Queen’s Hotel Bournemouth. If you would like to attend, please complete this form (PDF).
Annual Dinner 2011
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Tig’s Boys
School historian David Hilliam’s latest book, Tig’s Boys, is a collection of letters to a schoolmaster from the trenches of the First World War. You can purchase the book through Amazon here, and doing so will benefit the OBA.
Seeking Terry Burwell
John Kerr writes:
I am trying to contact Terry Burwell who would be about 60 years old. Until very recently he was working for the English Rugby Football Union. Terry was a team mate of mine in the 1971 rugby team at Loughborough Colleges. I am trying to organise a reunion of that team and I would very much like to include Terry. If anyone can help with an email address, telephone number or postal address I would be very grateful.
If you have any information, please contact us and I will pass it on.
Update: Now found, thanks!
English Literature teacher
Ms Betty Samuels writes:
I write on behalf of a friend of mine who was a pupil at your school 1939 to 1946. His name is John Douglas Jones who at the age of 80+ is still very active and living in Clifton, Bristol. Doug has only recently had to give up flying his sailplane at the Bristol & Gloucestershire Gliding Club. In the course of a conversation yesterday about schools we attended, Doug said he can remember the names of all his teachers during his time at your school except the name of the English Literature master.
Doug would be interested if anyone might be able to remember this teacher’s name.
January Meeting Minutes
The minutes from the Old Bournemouthian Association’s January meeting are now available here.
Seeking Leonard Guscott
Old Boy Pete Sears is trying to trace Leonard Guscott, born c.1925. He writes:
Len and I were great friends until WW2 separated us. He served most of the war with the R.N. in the West Indies. We lost touch after he emigrated to Canada about 1946. I would be interested to know if anyone remembers him, and to learn about his career in Canada. Naturally, I am wondering if he is still with us!
If you have any information, please let us know.
Minutes of the EGM: Association to survive
Here are the minutes of the EGM held on Thursday 25th November. Attendance was good and the objective of the meeting – gaining new, active members of the Committee – was largely met.
Simon would like to thank all those who attended on the night, and also those who expressed their concerns at the issues facing the Association. As you can see from the notes, the discussion was quite far ranging and touched on many points. Several themes stand out however:
- The objective of the OBA must be reviewed and confirmed;
- The relevance of the OBA to potential members must be increased and a less fusty image cultivated;
- Members must actually do something to keep it alive or it will die. Simon shall not make the efforts to keep it afloat in 12 months time that Simon has done this year.
Dates for the next Committee meeting were mentioned on the night; with Christmas coming up, the first date that would look appropriate would be January 12th 2011. At this meeting we can confirm the dates for the subsequent meetings and the AGM. Unless we hear otherwise, John Underwood and Simon Hird will confirm the venue for the 12th and send out an agenda beforehand.
EGM – 25th November 2010
Resolution: This Association needs a viable Committee – without that it cannot function and therefore becomes a dinner club or will be dissolved.
After the AGM held on 6th October, the Association was unable to elect a Committee. The Chairman and Treasurer put themselves forward for re-election and were duly elected, but the Secretary had asked to stand down and none present wished to put themselves forward the role. As such, we were unable to elect a viable committee and so elections to the other positions were abandoned and an EGM called.
Running the Association requires the dedication of a couple of hours of your time on 4 evenings a year for the committee meetings plus the AGM. The make-up of the committee has remained largely static for a considerable amount of time. As such, it has naturally become less productive and is desperately in need of new blood to inject new ideas and purpose into the whole organisation. Over the last few years, events sponsored by the association have become fewer and fewer, be it due to a lack of support or events such as the Charity Golf day reaching the natural end of their life.
The EGM is an appeal for younger members of the association (e.g. who have left the school since 1990-95) to get involved at any level to keep it going; the committee will not object to it being pointed out that they are all getting on a bit. Without feedback it’s members, potential members or soon to be ex-pupils, it ceases to be a viable concern and so itself will reach the end of its natural life. In a time when people seem keen to build networks, whether social or professional, this association is an excellent starting point from which to build. Local businesses looking to build their turnover or make new contacts, pupils looking for career advice, friends looking to trace each other are just some of the benefits that members can provide each other.
Please attend this event on 25th November at 7:30pm at the West Hants Tennis Club, Roslin Road South, Bournemouth, BH3 7EF otherwise the Old Bournemouthians’ Association WILL be wound up.
Dissolution of the Old Bournemouthians Association
On 6th October the AGM for the Old Bournemouthians’ Association was held. Unfortunately although the Committee was able to elect a Chairman and a Treasurer the position of Secretary remains vacant and so therefore we could not elect a committee to continue running the Association.
Despite frequent previous appeals to the general membership for new blood and new ideas, the most recent being at the Annual Dinner, those present were the ‘old faithfuls’ who have been attending these meetings for many years, but are now either no longer in a position to or willing to go on swimming against the tide in trying to keep the Association running.
It was decided to write to the membership in one last attempt to resolve the situation and call an EGM for 25th November at 7:30pm, provisionally to be held at the West Hants Tennis Club, where unless others are willing to take on responsibility for it’s running, the Association in its present form will be wound up. A decision will also be made on the night as to whether the 2011 dinner will be held.
Panorama
Graham Keeling has found and scanned this photograph of everyone in Bournemouth School at on 31st May 1946.
Graham writes: “They possibly did a photograph like this every few years, because I remember having one taken in about 1994ish, when I was there. It was taken on the field in front of the copse. I didn’t get a copy.”
A full version of the picture can be viewed at Graham’s site.