BACK TO NEWSLETTER 2003 CONTENTS
Editorial
Many thanks to all contributors, but especially Hugh Thompson, and John Grant who collect information about OCs throughout the year, and Kay Mash who took the magnificent photograph of Gaskin's bust of 'Lex' which has been used as our front page.
News from the school has been very positive: both schools are thriving and bursting at the seems. We must try harder next year to get a comprehensive report of the school's achievements for the Newsletter.
During the past year Lindsay Burn was appointed a Judge - probably the first OC to have achieved this position. Many congratulations to him.
Tony Coe has been stirring up Parliament as President of the Equal Parenting Council, one of the members of the Coalition for Equal Parenting. Good luck to him and his crusade.
The last OC Newsletter was severely criticised by a member of the school Common Room for its limited appeal: he considered it was all by and about a very few Clayesmore generations. He was right. However, this was not by design as nothing that was submitted was left out!
This year our Chairman invited members of the Common Room (all of whom are 'staff members' of the OC Society) to contribute material in the hope that this Newsletter would be more relevant to younger OCs but we do not seem to have been very persuasive: there are splendid reports of the OC v School match for the Drummond Cup and the OC Prize for the year, but nothing else. An OC also suggested that the Newsletter should be 'farmed out' to make it look more 'professional'. This would make the production of our newsletter even more costly and the extra expense might not be considered justifiable. Photos do pop up in odd places but the reason for this is that we save substantial printing costs by reducing the number of pages printed in colour.
Over the last few years, the OC Society has failed the school by not producing adequate sports teams for the OC Days. The Committee have been very aware of this problem and have tried on many occasions to recruit a dynamic Games Secretary. We have failed and this has not endeared us to the school. However the news is not all bad: the report of the Drummond Cup shows that the OCs and the School can enjoy a sporting encounter - but it was the school (Stephen Byrne) who organised the event. We must hope that until an enthusiastic OC games Secretary (like Michael Langlois) can be found, the school will again organise the fixtures for us. It seems odd that although OCs are so successful at organising the Cormorant Cricket tours and the OC golf matches, we have failed to involve new members in fixtures with the school. Any help and ideas will be welcomed by our Chairman.
There are failures but there have also been some imaginative successes: Michael Gaskin's magnificent bronze of our founder which he produced and presented to the school is the most evident. The Scadding prize is nearly up and running. The inaugural 'OC City Lunch'. There has also been an offer by the Society to make our 'funds' work for the school instead of just sitting in a deposit account. The members of the OC Committee hope that this idea could help a young member of the Common Room to move to Iwerne and make a start on the property ladder while, at the same time, we take advantage of the rise in property prices. We look forward to receiving the school's reaction shortly.
There has been mention of an OC Choral day combined with a Dorset Dinner at Iwerne during the following year. As soon as we hear more from the school, information will be displayed on the website and 'e' mailed to all on the OC 'e' mail address list.
The OC website continues to flourish and is a very useful means of
communicating.
Our 'e' mail address list now covers about one quarter of our membership. It too
helps the Society to communicate swiftly and cheaply. OCs not on our list are
invited to 'e' mail us their addresses by responding to the questionnaire
on the website.
Remember to inform us when you change your 'e' mail address. Regretfully, the OC
Society had to change our 'e' mail address: spam was becoming more than just a
nuisance with up to 60 unsolicited messages arriving each day - one can't help
wondering about Americans: do they really need all those amazing potions and do
they all use them? So far our new address has been 'spam' free and I hope it
stays that way for a long time.
Thanks again to all our contributors and please continue to send in your memories. And remember - if you think the OC Newsletter does not cover your generation, you can do something about it by sending in something to be included in the next edition!