Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 2021

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine between the FP Club and Club Centre). An already precarious financial situation had worsened significantly.

In anticipation that missives for the sale of 86 Queen’s Road looked as if they might be concluded in the next eight weeks or so the Club Centre committee took the decision to cease trading from 31 March 2021. I was advised on 12 and 16 March by the Club Centre Chairman, David Leighton, that “The Club Centre formally ceases trading with effect from 31 March 2021 and consequently the entity AGSFP Club Centre will cease to exist and will therefore not be relocating”.

An emergency meeting of the Executive Committee was held on 17 March.

The position regarding the decision to end trading and the decision of the Club Centre Committee to cease to function was noted and accepted. Appreciation was extended to the Club Centre Chairman and his team for the work and immense commitment put in to keep No 86 operating for so long as it did. It was also noted that an assurance had been received that all debts, loans and other financial obligations up to 31 March 2021 can be settled from existing Club Centre funds and that it was the aim of the Centre Committee to do so.

The Executive Committee joined with the Club Centre Chairman in agreeing that the issue of the financial relationship between the FP Club and the Club and the Club Centre would need resolution and agreed that it should be the subject of further friendly dialogue and ultimate agreement. In this connection it was agreed that the FP Club and the Club Centre should each appoint a representative to have discussions with the auditor, who happens to be the same person for each set of accounts, with a view to presenting a joint report for approval. It was unanimously agreed that we will collectively move to the formal conclusion of all matters in a constructive way.

On a positive note about our future, I am pleased to report that the Executive Committee some four years ago, conscious of the need to change the focus of the Club to take account of vastly different times, began examining how to harness technology to improve communication with and interaction amongst members.

The objective of this initiative was clear – to create an interactive website and platform which would be attractive to successive generations of FPs and to encourage and facilitate school leavers to join the Club.

I am delighted to say that after much research and consideration by the Executive Committee, and following the receipt of an extremely generous donation from a Former Pupil, the website is now up and running. If you have not already registered you are warmly invited to visit the website and then register and log in. You will soon have a sense of how the platform is being used to share FP News and to create the networking opportunities.

Developing the platform to create what you wish to be able to do is paramount as is the objective of liaising with school leavers and extending our membership.

Discussions with the School will happen when restrictions permit but I should say 46