Old Theocsbrians,          

 

Having been in the last but one year of intake at Southwick Park (1970), it was a great honour to be elected as your President for this year. I attended my first dinner when Richard Pitman was the guest speaker, and to be honest, being a racing man, he was the reason for my presence. Having enjoyed it so much it has become a regular date in my diary ever since.

 

The years duties as usual started off with the Remembrance Day service at the Abbey, followed by the laying of the wreath to commemorate the Old Boys lost in both World Wars. Unfortunately a total of 49 Old Theocsbrian’s lost their lives in both Wars ( 34 in the First and 15 in the  Second World Wars ).

 

My second official duty was at the Mayor Making ceremony on 12th May 2008 at the Watson Hall to inaugurate Mrs. Barbara Cromwell as Tewkesbury Town Mayor for the coming year.

 

We have been extremely fortunate to be able to call upon the professional expertise of a committee member, Simon Thompson to reinstate our Web Site at the new address of www.oldtheocsbrians.org.uk. Simon would be grateful for any articles, pictures or items of interest to publish on the web site. He can be contacted by telephone 0845 331 2728 or email: simon@im-w.co.uk

 

As you are all aware, there have been some extremely successful people attend the Grammar School over the years, which have gone on to do Great Things. It would be interesting, especially to the younger element, to know  who some of these were and what they achieved. Maybe produce a “Roll of Honour” on the web site.

 

The committee approved the following donations to Charity:

• £300.00 to The Fire Benevolent Fund – for their help during the floods in July
• £ 50.00  to The Tewkesbury Mayor’s Charity
• £ 25.00  to The Tewkesbury Museum
• £ 50.00  to The Poppy Appeal.

Our largest donation of £500.00 was to The County Air Ambulance. Steve Yeates and myself made the donation at Strensham on 14th June 2008. We learned that every time The Air Ambulance goes up it costs £2,000. The annual “running costs” are in the region of £2 Million, all Charity Funded.

 

The Society’s Big Day of the year is Saturday 27th September 2008. The day will commence with the Annual Golf Tournament playing at Sherdons (I shall be making an appearance if I can borrow some clubs!!), just outside Tewkesbury. It will start at 9.15 a.m with coffee and biscuits, followed by 18 Holes of Golf, approximate cost £18.00 per person.

 

The A.G.M will be held at The Gupsill Manor at 6.15 pm followed by The Annual Dinner at 7.30 pm. Please note every Old Theocsbrian is invited to attend  the Golf and the A.G.M. I will also hopefully report to the AGM some information with regard to the theatre seats at the Roses that we sponsor and an update on the Seat at the Abbey.

 

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Steve Yeates our Secretary, for his continued excellent work and without his and the committee’s efforts, the society would not exist.

 

Last year the dinner was attended by 78 Old Theocsbrians Lets hope we can match or better that score this year.

See you on the 27th September 2008.

 

Regards