The Mailchimp email and marketing platform is now our primary record of the Old Bordenians Association (OBA) membership information. It allows Old Bordenians including current and past staff members to register their details and, if they want to, to inform the OBA of any help they can offer to assist either the School or the OBA - there is a link to Mailchimp on the OBA website.
Just in case its batteries run out I continue to update the OBA excel database to record some of these details. I also update the record of annual donations that generally arrive by standing order or Paypal in June. In the 3 months since June this year the OBA has received 272 such donations, down from 279 in the same period last year.
Most of the donations continue at £10 p.a – a figure which has not changed for many years – but a few have taken the opportunity to increase their standing orders. These regular payments are our primary source of income and we are grateful to all those who make them. £2920 was raised through annual donations and we were also very pleased to have also received two generous one off payments.
Since the last AGM the number of OBs that are registered on the Mailchimp tool has grown to 494 (up from 352 last year) and we have email addresses for 478 of them. This is great news and can be attributed in part to a collaboration between the OBA and the Headteacher whereby letters extolling the virtues of the OBA were sent out to all of the 2024 school leavers. Since then, around 35 of those new OBs have registered with the OBA through Mailchimp.
The announcement that the School’s large new extension block is to be named in memory of Headmaster Harold Vafeas has prompted many OBs to register their details too.
However it is clear that the general promotion of the OBA led by Mark Sayer has also had a positive effect with many OBs, with whom we had lost contact, now re-registering.
Some members of the OBA took part in a successful careers presentation at the School in April which was given to the Year 11s (lower sixth to many of us) and the School has asked for our help at its Careers and Universities Fair this month. All OBs registered on Mailchimp received an invitation to take part if they could.
At the 2023 AGM I reported that we were going to send letters asking for donations to those OBs who, when registering with the OBA, expressed a willingness to make a donation. These letters were sent but have not yet resulted in any new standing orders or other payments. The letters included links to various payment methods so hopefully that will change over the coming months.
Similarly, letters were sent to around 70 members who at the time of registering said that they were not yet ready to make a donation, just to see if their views had changed but again, this has not yet resulted in any new donations.
Sadly, since the last AGM the OBA has been notified of the death of the following Old Bordenians.
Robert Doucy, who attended the School between 1940 and 1947.
Stan Whitnell 1942 – 1947
Francis (Dick) Baker 1944 -1952
Dr Roy Redvers Hunt 1945 - 1952
John Bishton who was a teacher of languages in the late 50s and early 60s.
(Peter) Mark Heppell 1971 - 1978
Phil Kitney 1972 – 1979.
Geoff Fuller 1972 – 1980.
The Obituaries and Tributes link on the OBA website provides an insight into the lives of the Old Bordenians that we have lost.
Keith Shea
Membership Secretary
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September 2024