Strong support from the College Once again, the College was generous in its hospitality during the year. On Founder’s Day some 230 OAs and their guests were entertained for lunch in the marquee. (NB: To allow more OAs to enjoy the Founder’s Day lunch, which this year will be held on Saturday 30 June, tickets will be restricted to two per OA. See page 28 for further details.) On 17 September the College hosted the 33rd OA Reunion, which attracted some 158 OAs. For the first time former boarders were given pride of place and many were the expressions of surprise (and envy?) as they toured Blew House, Ivyholme and The Orchard and viewed the relative luxury in which today’s boarders live. They saw that communal baths (Carver House) were a thing of the past and that the en-suite facilities for all in Blew and Ivyholme were accepted by today’s boarders as de rigueur. The application form for the 34th Annual Reunion, to be held on Saturday 22 September, when the 1st XV will be taking on KCS Wimbledon, is in the centre insert. Earlier in the year the Master hosted a most enjoyable dinner in the Great Hall for OAs in Media and the Arts, which was preceded by Shakespearean extracts declaimed with rare panache by some of the leading thespians at the College. Changes in personnel Mrs Deirdre Young, the possessor of the friendly voice at the end of the phone in the Alleyn Club office for eight years, left the College at the end of the Michaelmas Term 2011. Deirdre is an office gem: a tireless worker, efficient, thoughtful, modest and uncomplaining. Her brief was large, including organising numerous College events, administering the fundraising for the bursary and development appeals as well being the constant point of contact in the Alleyn Club office. As those of you who organise regional dinners and lunches will know, Deidre was the source of lists of OAs, lapel badges and menu cards. But, that was only the practical side of her job. Just as important was her ability to make each and every one feel confident that their request for advice or help, however trivial, would be treated with speed and efficiency. Dulwich’s loss is Dulwich Prep London’s gain, as Deirdre has moved to 42 Alleyn Park as administrator of the Prep’s very new old boys’ club. As mentioned above, the new Development Office is up and running. As I write, we have just recruited to the department an Alleyn Club Administrator, a post which is to be funded jointly by the Alleyn Club and the College to ensure that we are able to provide a level of service appropriate to the needs of one of the largest school alumni associations in the country.
Changes to the Yearbook As part of the move to bring the Club fully into the 21st century this, the 107th issue of the Dulwich Yearbook and 52nd Alleyn Club Newsletter, has been re-designed with great skill by James Alexander (77-84). I am also grateful to Guy Lawrenson for his hard work in pulling the copy into shape, something beyond the skills of your editor... Please feel free to comment on the new format. Alleyn Club Honorary Obituarist For the past fifteen years the vast majority of obituaries appearing in the Yearbook have been composed by our Honorary Obituarist, David Webster OBE (41-48). His final offerings appear towards the back of the current edition. I know how grateful have been the many family members and friends of the late OAs with whom he has corresponded for the care and dedication David has brought to this much appreciated, if somewhat unglamorous, role over the years. I am sure that the Alleyn Club collectively will wish to thank him for his hard work. I am also sure that his wife, Ruth, will be pleased to recover full use of their dining room table because it has been there that David has written every single obituary in his characteristic longhand. Well done, thou good and faithful servant! I am pleased to say that David is being succeeded as Honorary Obituarist by Jim Bush (76-84), who has submitted several ‘prentice pieces’ to David for approval this year and emerged with flying colours. starting to graduate from the newly-established (and growing) Dulwich College International franchise schools, the then Master, Graham Able, announced that alumni (and alumnae, of course, as all the schools are co-educational) would be known as International Old Alleynians. On Saturday 21 January 2012 the first gathering of International OAs in London was held in the Pavilion Salle to mark the presence in the UK of a group of musicians from Dulwich College Beijing. Several of us from the College and the Alleyn Club were invited as guests and it was a great pleasure for the Master and me to welcome the IOAs to SE21. It is hoped that this will prove to be the first of many such joint events. Dulwich College International Old Alleynians In 2004, with the imminent prospect of alumni
Chris Field (51-59)
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From the Secretary’s Desk
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