Alleyn Club News
From the Secretary: Trevor Llewelyn (72-79) ..........................................................................................................
I consider it an honour and a privilege to be the new Secretary of the Alleyn Club, a club that clearly means a huge amount to its members and one that continues to go from strength to strength. The number of events run and supported by the Alleyn Club has grown considerably in the last few years. In the 1970’s the Club organised only four activities outside the regional and international dinners. By 2015 this had grown to 28 including international events. Communication when I was at school was exclusively by Royal Mail and many younger OAs in particular were reticent to sign up to an event where they may have known or barely known a handful of the other guests. Social media though has transformed our ability to stay in contact with our members. We currently have a database of over 5000 e-mail addresses and Facebook groups have enabled former School Captains to encourage far more of their peers back to reunions than ever before. If you have not already done so, visit our Facebook page on the Dulwich College website and let us have your e-mail address, so that we can keep you in touch with what is going on both at the College and with the Alleyn Club itself. At my first committee meeting as Secretary I described my forthcoming tenure as more of a marathon rather than a sprint. It will take time to get used to the workings of the Club and to attend as many functions as possible run by our sporting and social clubs. You never know I may even be tempted to put on my Old Alleynian vest once again and take part in the annual Old Boys cross country race on Wimbledon Common. That will certainly be less of a challenge than developing the elephantine and almost encyclopaedic memory that it seems is an almost basic requirement of anyone who takes on the job of Secretary of the Alleyn Club.
Welcome
On being appointed to the position of Secretary of the Alleyn Club I received a warm and encouraging letter (hand written of course) from Terry Walsh both wishing me luck but also reminding me that I should enjoy my time in the job and that above all it should be fun. A month later I was introduced to the 194 OA’s and guests at the AGM and Annual Dinner and I must admit that for a moment I wondered just what had I taken on? The Alleyn Club is one of the great Old Boys Associations. At nearly 150 years old it represents some 10,000 old boys of a school that will celebrate its 400th Anniversary in 2019. No pressure then. However, looking around a packed hall, it was filled with men who were but boys when I was at school with them in the 1970’s. A little wider round the girth and greyer at the temples but the same guys I had flicked ink over in 2E or been tackled by on pitch eleven in the Lower School Littlesides Rugby final. There were colleagues too with whom I have shared many wonderful years as a teacher of Geography and of course so many other OAs whose names I had heard but to whom I had never been formally introduced. Everyone I met that night and have subsequently spoken to could have not have been any more welcoming or reassuring.
The Reunion
The autumn reunion has for many years been one of the major events in the Club’s calendar. However, with the College putting on more and more events to which Old Alleynians are invited, it has become increasingly difficult to find a date that either avoids clashes or bunches events together. Last year we shared the day with a reception for Benefactors who had supported the College during the previous twelve months and
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