Old Boys' Association 04
(1964-65)

President: The Headmaster
Chairman: R. V. Bird (1955-62)
Secretary: W. G. Miller (1955-62)

The past year has undoubtedly been the most successful in the short history of the Old Boys' Association. The scope of the activities, both social and sporting, upon which we have embarked has been vastly increased, and it is a credit to all those concerned with the organisation that all the events held during the past twelve months have been thoroughly enjoyed by the participants.

In March the Association welcomed Mr. K. James as guest speaker at the first reunion dinner, held at the Crown Hotel, Garston, which was attended by some forty members. The success of the evening ensured that this will become an annual event, and plans are already being made for this year's dinner, to be held at the Golden Lion Hotel, Hillingdon, at which an even larger attendance is anticipated.

A number of dances were held, the most successful being that held at the Headstone Hotel in September. This was the Association's first attempt at holding a dance away from the School premises, but, judging by the enthusiastic reception the occasion received, it will doubtless not be long before another dance, on similar lines, is organized by the social Committee. The coach-trip again took the Association into Sussex, but this time Brighton was the town nominated to suffer from the invasion.

Under the guidance of Brian Ridge a car rally was held in July. The route took the competitors through much of Middlesex. Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, and it was a credit to the navigation of the "co-drivers" that all starters eventually reached the final destination, albeit by many devious routes. When all the penalties had been added up It was discovered that the winner was "Alf" Harris, which was perhaps some consolation for him, since he also had to foot the bill for a broken windscreen which his car suffered near the end of the course.

Perhaps the most satisfying achievement of the past year has been the foundation and success of the Rugby Club, under the leadership of Alf Harris and Ken Gathergood. In September the team embarked upon its first full fixture list and, at the time of writing, has been victorious in twenty out of twenty-one matches, having scored 655 points and conceded only 78 points. This fine record, plus some comment from the national and local press, has brought its own reward, and the proposed fixture list for the 1965-66 season shows a marked strengthening of opposition. Including a match against Rosslyn Park 2nd XV.

Twice in the past twelve months the Old Boys have played and defeated the School First XV. In March, in the game postponed from the previous December, the Old Boys were victorious by nine points to five, and at the end of the Christmas Term they repeated their victory, this time increasing their winning margin from 12 points to 5 points. On the latter occasion we also fielded teams to play the School 2nd and 3rd XVs and emerged victorious from both games.

In April two teams were entered in the Old Gaytonians Seven-a-side tournament, at which most of the leading local rugby clubs were represented and teams from Northampton, London Scottish and Old Merchant Taylors also competed. Games commenced soon after 10.30, but it was after 6 p.m. when, having fought their way through the four previous rounds, our first team emerged, amid scenes of great jubilation amongst our large following of spectators, as worthy winners of a very exciting final in which they defeated Old Hertfordians by 6 points to 3 points.

In other sporting fixtures the Old Boys defeated the School at badminton and athletics but unfortunately could not emulate these previous successes in the cricket fixture. Earlier in the year "Jim" Lockyear entered the North Middlesex Table Tennis Championship on behalf of the Association and became the singles champion. I'm sure we would all like to wish him every success in his forthcoming marriage and his new life in Canada, it is without a doubt that the rugby team will miss him as their last line of defence next season.

The Treasurer would like to remind members that the annual subscription of ten shillings should be forwarded to him, his address being:

I. Cartwright, xx xxxxxx Road, Wealdstone.

Old Boys ties can be obtained through any member of the Committee, price 12s 6d. The Secretary will be pleased to hear from members any news that may have a general interest for the Association.

NEWS OF OLD BOYS

The following Old Boys graduated last summer: C. Duqueno in Physics at Leicester: B. Evans at the London School of Economics - he is now working in the L.C.C. town planning department; J. Gubbay in Philosophy and Mathematics at Manchester - he is now doing research; T. Hyde in Combined Studies at Leicester - he is now doing teacher training; B. Maddams in Fine Art at Cambridge - he now works at a fine art dealers; P. Sargeant in History at Oxford he is doing a year's voluntary service in Malaysia; C. Saunders in Physics at Manchester - he is now in industry; G. Wilkinson in Economics at Southampton: R. Williams in Physics at Aberystwyth - he is now doing teacher training; C. Worley in Economics at Bristol.