Alleyn Club News
Founder’s Day
will return to the Christison Hall this year. The good news is that it is intended to reinstate the highly popular buffet service, so much missed in 2013. A smaller marquee may well form a focus for some aspect of the day as well as the venue for afternoon tea. I know from speaking to both Peter and the Master that the moving of lunch should not be seen as sidelining OAs. Far from it, OA presence and involvement on Founder’s Day will be welcomed and valued every bit as much as previously, if not more. In my ‘end of term report’ last year, I awarded the Alleyn Club committee B+ grades for both Effort and Achievement to mark advances made towards making the Club more relevant to its members and supporting the College in its work of preparing present and future generations of Alleynians for life in the outside world. This year, to reflect further advances, while leaving room for still further progress, I have decided to award the committee A- grades. However, within those overall classifications, A grades go to James Thornton and James Franklin and their hardworking assistants (especially Guy Lawrenson and Katie Cullen in the Alleyn Club and Development Office) who hit the jackpot by filling the Great Hall to its 240 capacity for the Annual Dinner on 1 November and, by attracting considerably increased numbers in the 25-55 age bracket, succeeded in reducing the average age to 56. At the same time, I award straight A grades across the board to our 2012-13 President, Brigadier Johnny Walker, in recognition of his: • outstanding leadership in planning and executing a successful campaign to have added to the College War Memorial the names of OAs who have died in active service since WWII and that of one OA killed during WWI and previously unrecorded • having the Battle of Britain memorial plaque in the Lower Hall amended to indicate which OA airmen had lost their lives either in that conflict or later during the war • having the full military honours of Colonel Humphrey Arthur Gilkes (the second of the four sons of A H Gilkes) MC and three bars spelt out beneath his memorial plaque in the Lower Hall • having secured for display in the Lower Hall the previously-missing WWI service medals for Lt R B B Jones VC • passionate advocacy of support for the College’s development campaign through membership of the Canon Carver Society and the 2019 Society • enthusiastic attendance at numerous Club, affiliated OA society and College events. Chris Field (51-59) Alleyn Club Matters
The Revd James Welldon instituted Founder’s Day in 1884 as ‘the chief festival of the school year’, with an eye to creating esprit de corps with traditions to pass on to future years. [Jan Piggott, Dulwich College: A History 1616-2008 ] Founder’s Day in its present format dates back to 1995 when it was revived by Jan Piggott and John Bardell after several years of decline. Master of Ceremonies (chairman of the Founder’s Day committee) for the past 14 years, Simon Northcote-Green, has now stepped down and is succeeded by Peter Jolly (73-80), Director of Drama. Peter and I met shortly before Christmas when he sketched out his sequence of themes for the six Founder’s Days leading up to 2019: • 2014: the school leavers of 1914; commemoration of OA involvement in the Great War • 2015: Shackleton and Exploration • 2016: the Chapel and all things Jacobean (Alleyn, Henslowe, Shakespeare) • 2017: Dulwich and Science (completion of new science facilities) • 2018: the end of World War I • 2019: 400 years of Alleyn’s College of God’s Gift, 1619-2019 Peter is keen that OAs should become involved in the planning of these themes and would welcome hearing from anyone with a specific interest, or in possession of documents or photographs that they would be prepared to loan to the College (jollypv @ dulwich.org.uk). You will also find in this newsletter an invitation from Dr Nick Black, Head of Middle School and Chair of the Dulwich College 400 committee, an invitation to share thoughts and queries about these and other aspects of our heritage to be commemorated between now and 2021 (see p11.) Another aspect of Founder’s Day we discussed was the lunch. When, in 1970, lunch was first laid on for OAs, it was held in the Christison Hall and it was not until the mid-1980s that it moved to the College’s newly- purchased marquee. Again, times and circumstances change. The College no longer owns its own marquee (midnight raiders stole the valuable metal framework many years ago) and the high cost of hiring a marquee large enough to accommodate some 300 lunching (split roughly 50 : 50 OAs and their guests : official guests of the College) and essential catering services has become difficult to justify at a time when the College has to watch every penny as it seeks to complete the rebuilding of the Science facilities and prepare the campus for the celebrations in 2019. Although no decision has yet been taken, it is likely that lunch
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