From the Secretary’s Desk
What has the Alleyn Club been up to over the past year? A glance at the following pages will reveal something of the varied activities of the Alleyn Club and affiliated OA clubs and societies. Many OAs have enjoyed the simple pleasures of meeting and eating together, remembering old times and keeping friendships alive. Others, of all ages, have enjoyed the competitive challenges and comradeship derived from membership of an OA sporting club or society. It is therefore good to record that, as in recent years, the Alleyn Club committee has been in a position to offer a small degree of financial support to, among others, the OA Boat Club for its annual regatta on the Thames for old boys’ rowing clubs competing for the Alleyn Club Trophy, to the Cricketer Cup team and the Golfing Society to pay for entry fees to national alumni competitions, and to subsidise the chartering of a sailing boat to enable the Alleynian Sailing Society to continue running its very popular and successful summer holiday sail training week for boys from the school. The highlight for many members of the Club may well have been the 129th Annual Dinner held in the Great Hall on Friday 28 October attended by 136 members and their guests. For those who have not attended an Annual Dinner in recent years and may have been put off by the thought of paying good money for ordinary ‘school food’, you don’t know what you have been missing! Under new management, the College catering department is able to conjure up food every bit as good as that enjoyed at the East India Club by the OA Golfing Society or the OA Football Club. Be assured that your committee is constantly reviewing how best to make its dinners and other events attractive to OAs of all ages. Don’t forget that the best way of ensuring that you will enjoy an event is to arrange to attend with a group of friends. Joanne Whaley, our Development Data Manager (whaleyje@dulwich.org.uk), is always happy to supply contact details of OAs for whom we have up-to-date information. The Annual Dinner this year will be held on Friday 2 November. The application form with further details is to be found in the centre insert.
Making the Alleyn Club relevant in the second decade of the 21st century Fanned by the boyish enthusiasm of the immediate Past President, Bernard Battley, and kept in purposeful motion by the clarity of vision of his successor, Dr Bruce Smith, the winds of change are blowing the dust from the 139 year old Alleyn Club. The aims of this dusting down are, as I wrote last year, to ensure that the Alleyn Club is both relevant to its members and supportive of the school. Relevant in what way? Over the past year the Alleyn Club committee has been considering ways in which the Club might provide increased benefit to Old Alleynians and, by extension, to younger Alleynians in their final years at school. To this end, Marcus Graham (90-98) and ‘Ditch’ Boultbee (66-75) are working up proposals for the setting up of a number of networks for OAs in particular professions or lines of business. Professional networks under consideration include: OAs in Arts and Media, OAs in the City, OAs in Defence, OAs in Education and Academia, OA Law Association and OA Medical Association. A typical annual programme might include: • an informal social evening at the end of the working week at a central London location with drinks and light refreshments • a talk by a leading OA member of the profession on a matter of topical relevance, followed by questions and answers • a dinner at Dulwich with invited members of the teaching staff • attendance by a group of members at a College careers convention Once up and running, it is anticipated that a professional network would be driven by the enthusiasm of its members, with ready support provided by the Alleyn Club and the College Alleyn Club & Development Office team (see pages 14- 15). This is very much a ‘watch-this-space’ item. Meanwhile, if you have any ideas you wish to throw into the melting pot, please send them to me at alleynclub@dulwich.org.uk.
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