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1 St Edward’s r hubarb
President’s Report
Georgina Dennis (D, 1986-1988)
Farewell from Pamela
It was a great honour to be elected President
of the Society, especially as the first woman
to hold the post. I have very much enjoyed
meeting many OSE at dinners, pub nights, a
house reunion and gaudy over the past year
and I look forward to meeting many more
of you. Whenever I talk to fellow OSE, old
and young, it is always a delight to hear how
the School was in their day. We all have
a vivid picture of School as it was for our
own generation; it is constantly changing.
While part of the fun of coming back is to
re-visit old haunts it is also to see all the
new developments. I am very much looking
forward to reading Malcolm Oxley’s new
History of the School when it is published
later this year and at the same time will be
watching the new Music School emerge.
There is one common theme that endures
however, the warmth and affability of OSE.
My first year as President has been hugely
enjoyable. It has been lovely to see young
OSE attending Society Committee meetings
and to hear their views as well as talking to
Past Presidents and Hon Vice-Presidents.
The combination of youth and experience
is invaluable. A highlight for me has been the
chance to see what the School is like now
and if you haven’t been back recently, I would
thoroughly recommend a trip to see what a
dynamic and purposeful place it is today. The
Society is lucky to have such a dedicated and
friendly support team in the Development
Office. Led by Rebecca Ting, they take care
of all the administration (and more) for the
Society and we are very grateful. We were
all very sad to wave goodbye to Pamela
Keeley-Butler who has been such a fantastic
asset to the Society since April 2011 and who,
I know has become a dear friend to many
of you. Luckily Teddies has not lost Pamela
completely as she has only moved to the
Registry and we wish her well in her new
role. We now welcome Laura Hill as Alumni
Relations Officer and I am very much looking
forward to working with her over the coming
year. We are also very fortunate to have the
support of our excellent and tireless archivist,
Chris Nathan, who currently looks after 640
boxes of archive material and fielded over 150
queries regarding OSE in the past year. He
must surely know more about the School and
individual OSE than anyone ever has! Finally
I must applaud John Wiggins, our Hon Sec,
who travels the country scouring Universities
for recent leavers, attends every OSE meeting
and event, tweets us the latest rowing news
and still somehow finds time to teach maths.
One of the aims of the OSE committee
is to make the Society better known to the
current pupils and we are looking into ways
of doing this. The OSE network spreads far
and wide, crosses generations and extends
beyond the bounds of friendship, offering help
in many and varied ways. This has included
careers guidance and mentoring, offers of
internships, specialist help for sixth form
students writing their EPQs and providing
a familiar contact for gap students on their
foreign travels. It is important that the current
students know this before they leave and
that OSE continue to offer this support.
To improve our communication with and
between you, the members, we are trying
to make greater use of social networking
beyond our existing OSE group in LinkedIn.
We are now on Twitter and the Martyrs
have their own webpage under construction.
A survey will be going out shortly to all of
you to try and find out about the sorts of
communication that suit you best, events you
enjoy (and don’t enjoy) and what you would
like to be able to find on the website. Laura
is looking forward to collating the results and
tailoring events accordingly.
Thanks to the re-invigoration of the
Society’s finances following the raising
of the subscription after many years, the
Society has been able to support a small
number of projects, one of which was the
programme for the recent, highly successful
concert in St John’s Smith Square. We
have also contributed to the much needed
refurbishment of the Cowell Gates at the
entrance to the School.
As the School moves forward into the
second half of its second century and the
number of female OSE nears 2000, I hope
that I can encourage more of you - women
in particular - to get in touch, to come back
and visit the School or to attend one of the
gatherings around the country. For this we
need your contact details so if you haven’t
been receiving news and updates by email,
please get in touch today!
After three and a half happy years in
the OSE office I have now moved on
to pastures new taking up the role of
Deputy Registrar at Teddies (still in the
Lodge, just across the hall!).
I am now responsible for admissions
for Fourth Form and Sixth Form pupils as
well as the duties of Overseas Registrar.
The Registry is extremely busy and my
experience in the OSE office will certainly
stand me in good stead, particularly as I
will be looking after future OSE!
It has been wonderful to meet so
many of you and share your memories,
good news (and bad) and know how
fondly you regard your former school.
I am delighted you remain in touch and
thank you for your friendliness and
warmth, for your support for the work of
the OSE Office and your good humour in
response to my regular ‘nagging’ emails.
We have instigated some great
new events over the last three and a
half years. The highlight for me and for
many of you, will have been the 150th
Anniversary celebrations including the
Christ Church Dinner and the Rhubarb
Festival on Gaudy Day. I would like to
extend special thanks to those OSE who
have kindly given their time and energy
to help make these events so successful,
particularly our Regional OSE Reps. I
would be delighted to hear from you
should you wish to keep in touch, and if
you are considering a Teddies education
for your children at some point in the
future, you know where I can be reached!
Warmest wishes, Pamela
Georgina Dennis
s o c i e t y