Club Consuls

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

Former Pupils’ Section that the Head Teacher has been extremely supportive of the concept and the need to involve young people while still at school. She has welcomed the proposal with open arms.

The opportunities presented are enormous with 400 Former Pupils already on the new platform, including some recent school leavers – an excellent response. Some of the benefits already evident include a members’ forum providing an opportunity to post news items; members finding an easy way to get in touch with schoolmates after many years; sharing memories of old staff photos and past sporting triumphs being recalled. The platform offers sports and other sections the ability not only to disseminate information but also to create discussion threads and to serve as a recruitment tool. It will be much easier for Regional Centres to liaise with their members and year groups will find it easier to organise class reunions. The Club and its sections will be able to advertise social events and keep members up to date. May I encourage you to register and log in and consider how you can contribute to its usefulness and let us know what you would like to access.

In my role as Chairman of the FP Executive Committee I see much of what goes on behind the scenes to keep the Club functioning. There is a great deal of hard work, hours of commitment and, yes, disturbed sleep as we attempt to cope with not just the impact of Covid and lockdown but also with changing times and expectations.

David Leighton and his support team have had years of challenges, hard work, long hours and effort to keep the show on the road, long before the strictures of lockdown. This needed to be recorded in our minutes as it has indeed been well beyond the call of duty. Our interim Secretary Iain ‘Hoppy’ Hopkin has delivered on the onerous task of moving our activities to the new website and has done so with typical Hoppy gusto. He has also delivered on the secretarial role and adapted to these socially distanced days. Our indefatigable Editor, Brian Crookshanks, is an example to us all as he commands the helm of our Magazine having acquired computer skills and techniques to add to his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things AGS. Our Treasurer, John Michie, has been coping with increased interaction with members, which is very welcome, as well as keeping our finances afloat. A Membership Secretary function is now required.

In view of the changing pressures on officials I suggest that a priority task of the Executive Committee following this AGM should be to revise the roles and skills required to move forward as an organisation. This will inevitably require the experience, skills and aptitude of a set of FPs who are generally younger than currently – but the same level of enthusiasm as found in many of the older generation will certainly be required. The tasks required need to be shared across a much wider group of volunteers.

Last, but not least, a very special thanks to those FPs whose generous donations and interest-free loans have kept us solvent during these difficult years and have allowed us to move forward with the website.

Given the recent decision taken by the Club Centre Committee in regard to the Centre it would be wrong to allow this AGM to pass without recording how much the Centre on Queen’s Road has meant to so many of us over its half century of service. It has been a very important and integral part of the FP Club for all that time. Memories of convivial chats with good company at the bar, gatherings after sports events, televised sports events such as epic rugby internationals, Petanque, the spectacular 5th November Fireworks displays, Year reunions and our excellent Stewards and bar staff over all the years are all precious memories. Our thanks are expressed for the dedication and work of so many enthusiastic volunteers and staff who made the Club Centre a focus and a happy venue over all these years. I propose that we record this in the Minute of this meeting with acclamation.

General Business Section Reports

Reports from the various Sections were noted. Regional Centre reports noted little activity due to the pandemic but that all were using the new membership platform. The significance of the loss of James Rust from the Edinburgh Centre was noted.

Accounts and Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer reported on the Accounts for 2020 which were still in draft form. The meeting authorised the Executive to approve them once audited. The Accounts appear on page 46 below and show a loss of £2771.

Election of Office-Bearers

Officials of the Club were elected in accordance with the list published elsewhere in this Magazine.

Auditors

Messrs Bower & Smith, CA, were unanimously re-appointed Auditors of the Club and Section Accounts for the coming year.

In closing the meeting the Chairman expressed his appreciation of the support given by so many in the current difficult conditions.

Former Pupils’ Section

Annual General Meeting 2022

The next Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday 28th March 2022, the place and format to be advised in terms of the Constitution.

President’s Report

To begin with I should like to repeat what I said towards the end of my Presidential Profile last year, namely that I feel extremely honoured to have been nominated as President of the Former Pupils’ Club.

It is customary at the Annual General Meeting for the outgoing President to reflect on the year that has gone by, highlighting the various Club functions and events in which he or she has been able to participate as well as the opportunities to engage with the present school pupils and staff.

This past year has not turned out quite as planned, as whilst I was getting back into the groove of FP matters through my role as President-Elect the lockdown in March 2020 and the ensuing restrictions that we have all had to endure have significantly inhibited development of the role I was looking to playing. Notwithstanding these restrictions I have still enjoyed what contact I have had with the School and my fellow FPs. The virtual meeting held to select the winners of the All Round Trophy last year stands out as both an uplifting and a humbling experience, as the achievements and contributions made by each of the candidates to both the school and the community were gone through by the panel. We should all be proud of the current generation.

I have also appreciated the links with the Club Centres around the UK and abroad. Whilst travel restrictions have conspired against physical meetings I have appreciated the electronic exchanges when possible. Perhaps I can participate more fully post lockdown.

The main goal I had planned for my year as President was to draw together a group of musicians from the membership of the FP Club to form either an orchestra or concert band to engage with the current pupils through some form of collaboration at an appropriate event. Having taken soundings from a number of FPs it was clear to me that there was an appetite for such an ensemble, and it would be my intention to follow this through once a degree of normality has returned to our lives. There is a highly talented pool of FPs out there and I am excited at the prospect of achieving this goal.

This past year has been very challenging and demanding on the business front as I have strived to run my professional accountancy practice without the luxury of having a fully functioning physical office. Without the modern day means of communication and technological advances this would not have been possible and I am reminded of the parallels to be drawn with the FP Club. Conscious of 49

the Club Centre having been out of action due to the pandemic for a large part of 2020, it is the personal bonds that have been built up amongst FPs that have ensured the continued interest in the School and FP Club. It is the membership after all that is the most important asset of any Club. The new membership platform can but enhance and assist this going forward and I encourage all FPs to sign up to it.

In closing I must pay thanks to Alan Campbell, John Michie and Iain Hopkin for their endless enthusiasm, support and encouragement throughout my term as President. To my successor, Stuart Cummings, I wish every success for the year that lies ahead and trust that he will continue to enjoy the support and friendship extended to myself.

Presidential Profile

Stuart W. Cummings (1965-69) MA, PhD

Stuart William Cummings was born in York and spent the first five years of his life in England before his parents moved back to Scotland and settled in Scone, just north of Perth. After completing his primary school education at the Robert Douglas Memorial School, his first two years of secondary schooling saw him attend Perth Academy in his first year and Queen’s Park School in Glasgow in his second year. In the late summer of 1965, the family moved north to Aberdeen when his father took up a position with the Aberdeen University Press and Stuart entered Aberdeen Grammar School at the start of Third Year. Within a week he was playing his first game for the Colts rugby team, having borrowed the necessary kit from former FP President, Nigel Watt, a moment that marked the beginning of a steadfast friendship that has prevailed for over fifty years.

On leaving the School, Stuart studied mathematics at Aberdeen University and in 1972 he began four years of postgraduate education at Strathclyde University, where he obtained a Master’s degree and a PhD in Operational Research. During his PhD research, which concerned the modelling of resource needs of stroke patients in the east end of Glasgow, he was invited to conduct the statistical analysis of clinical trial on behalf of Berk Pharmaceuticals. As a consequence of this work, and upon completion of his studies, he joined Berk as a medical statistician and moved to Guildford in 1978.