Welcome!
Hello and welcome along to the latest in an occasional series of “President’s Blogs”. My name’s Mark Bowland, and I took over as President of the Old Sandbachians’ Association in July 2023.
These blogs are intended to be my personal musings – as distinct from official OSA announcements. They’ll usually relate to OSA matters, goings on at the school, general “Old Boy” stuff, and related thoughts and ideas.
99th Annual Reception
As I write this, it’s just over a month since our 99th annual Summer Reception (you can read about this HERE and HERE). A huge amount of work went into putting this on, Jeff and I spent months planning, promoting and organising it, and on the day itself we had just 90 minutes to get everything set up before the first guests started arriving. Personally I don’t think I ever worked as hard when I was actually at the school as a pupil!
Things were getting so tight for time that I was still in “scruffs” when the very first guests started to arrive, including former Headteacher Colin Brown, to whom I felt obliged to apologise for not yet being “in uniform”, so to speak. Colin did ask me if I’d managed to get into any trouble yet, to which I replied that I did keep inadvertently sitting outside his old office, out of habit!
In the weeks leading up the event, there was a flurry of bookings, leading to us constantly revising the expected numbers and asking the school’s brilliant catering team to amend accordingly. As ever, they were only too happy to help, and I really can’t thank them enough for what they do for us.
So many legendary teachers in attendance – as this is my personal blog, I’m going to say my personal highlight was meeting Kath Hudson (music, and also CCF) for the first time since I was at the school. I remember Mrs Hudson’s lessons well, usually a “double act” with Mr Gibson. I think the pair of them could have made a career on stage. Never forgotten, and after spending many years regaling friends and family with tales of memorable moments from those lessons (such as learning “Danse Macabre” in great detail), it was brilliant to be able to relate the stories back to the lady herself! All of the teachers in attendance had groups of grateful former pupils talking to them – many for the first time since they were at school – and it was wonderful to see.
Meanwhile, one of us had printed off some paper signs to put up to guide people on the day. One of them was the “Reserved” sign to put on the Headteacher’s table. Unfortunately, we managed to mess up the spelling, which Mrs Burns was quick to spot and correct.
Reg’s Raffle (named after the man himself, the great Reg Dunning) raised a fantastic amount of money which helps us put on events and support the school – this year I was delighted that we could again increase the amount we provide to the school via the Headteacher’s Special Fund. I want to keep increasing this whenever we can, as funds allow. Thanks to everyone for their generosity in the raffle this year – it is humbling.
In the end I think something like 65 people were in attendance….this was an absolutely fantastic figure, and it included a great many for whom this was their first such event. Lots of positive feedback was received and I want to thank every single person who attended. Your support means so much, it helps us to support the school and to put on more social events – more on which later. At a time when organisations like ours are generally struggling, it’s really exciting to see new members coming through and numbers generally growing. Thank you!
Former Cadets Dining In Night
Spurred on by how much we enjoyed the school’s own CCF dining in night earlier this year, and buoyed by the fact we had lots of people wanting to attend with us but not enough guest places for them, Jeff started to sound out relevant people and the result is that we were are hosting our own “Former Cadets Dining In Night” on Saturday November 2nd 2024. As part of this, we are greatly honoured to be joined by the legendary Geoff Piggott’s two daughters, meaning we will have representatives going back more than 50 years.
The event is for ALL former Sandbach School CCF cadets and officers, and will be based on a mess dinner. You don’t have to be an OSA member to attend – though we’d love it if you joined as well.
If you’d like to book this event, or would like more details, please look HERE. There’s already been a lot of interest so if you’d like to come, please don’t delay! We got very close to putting a “SOLD OUT!” sign on the Summer Reception and this is likely to be similar judging by the response so far. Our hope if to make this an annual event.
RAF Club Reception – London
Every two years we like to up sticks and decamp to the RAF Club in London for a reception down there. This is always a fabulous event and is primarily aimed at those Old Sandbachians who are now based in the south of England and may not be able to make it back to the “home turf”, so to speak. The plan is for Spring 2025. Details are currently being finalised and we’ll be publishing dates and a booking form very soon. Watch this space!
OSA Golf Day
We haven’t had a golf day since (I think) 2018….this is another tradition we’d like to revive and so we are going to arrange a date for this for 2025…again watch this space.
Remembrance Sunday Wreath Laying
In 2023 Jeff and I were honoured to walk on the Sandbach Remembrance Parade and lay a wreath at the War Memorial. This is something we have discovered that the OSA did many, many years ago and one that we have now revived. We plan to do this again in 2024, if any OSA members would like to join us for the parade through the town, please get in touch.
Get in Touch!
We’ve improved our contact strategy – there is now a single email address to use to get in touch with us. contact@oldsandbachians.co.uk. You can also get in touch with us via our website here. These contact methods apply to any query or question you may have. We also welcome feedback and suggestions.
Join Us…!
That’s it from me for this month – in the meantime, if you are not already a member, please PLEASE consider joining us. You will be helping raise money for the school and you’ll have the opportunity to meet fellow “old boys” and attend our events throughout the year. Thanks to each and every member for their support, and thanks to everyone who attends our events – whether members or not.
Ut Severis Seges!
Mark Bowland
President
Old Sandbachians’ Association