O•S•NEWS
a holiday home to many of the world’s most famous people, such as George Clooney, Madonna, Richard Branson and other celebrities. The luxurious hotel offers a welcome to travellers, with delicious food, an intimate bar, sun terrace and a floating swimming pool and lido complex on the lake. Many of the rooms have a lakeside view and balcony, looking across the water to Bellagio and the mountains. The OS Lodge is extremely lucky to have Ross and Tom as members, offering this full-board hotel at amazing rates. Ross and his family had organised a highly entertaining but relaxing long-weekend, including a boat trip around Lake Como which allowed a close look at George Clooney’s villa and a different perspective of the beautiful scenery and villas. There were also two excursions into Switzerland, to the famous resort of St Moritz and Bellinzona with its three castles. At Bellinzona the party was hosted by fellow Freemasons from Switzerland who provided a tour of the medieval city walls, a visit to the Christmas market and a tour of their lodge, after which they gave a delicious buffet lunch. Finally, on the Saturday night, Ross held a sumptuous black-tie, five course gala dinner at the Hotel Britannia’s Lido rooms followed by dancing to a brilliant band. The weekend was a huge success, offering fun, relaxation and entertainment in equal measures. It was a unique opportunity to explore this most interesting and beautiful area of Italy and Switzerland and many people have already said that they cannot wait to take part again next year. At the dinner a raffle was organised, raising over £1600. The proceeds of this raffle, along with many others raised by the Old Stortfordian Lodge, have been donated to the Bishops Stortford College Headmasters’ Fund, to provide financial assistance to students otherwise unable to participate in trips and other essential activities of the school. This is a subject close to Ross’ heart as he was in need of such support when his father died while he was still a student at school. As his father had been a member of the Lodge, the Freemason’s grand charity was able to assist him to complete his education. Ross’ children, Tom and Nicole, attended the school and, by being able to organise this highly-enjoyable weekend, the family have raised funds through the brotherhood of Freemasonry to help those students of the next generation who need similar assistance. Ross is forever grateful to the help given to provide him with the education he might otherwise not have received. Mark Williams Son in law of Cliff Shipman (RPH, 43-49)
From Development Director
The Autumn Term was extremely busy in the Development Office. I spent a lot of time meeting senior staff and governors on a one to one basis to discuss our major future projects and these talks proved really useful. When we start actively fundraising for major projects such as the new boarding and day houses and the refurbishment of School House, we will have a well refined case for supporting the projects to put to OS and parents. As Jennifer also mentions in her report, we have had a great response to the OS Survey. Here are some of the headline statistics: • • • • •
767 replies 145 offers to give careers talks at the College 81 offers of work experience for current pupils 55 offers of internships for young OS 24 OS offered their workplace for a future networking reunion event
At the time of writing, responses are still being entered, so these numbers are set to climb even higher. Every survey returned was entered in to a prize draw for a £100 Amazon voucher and I am pleased to announce that the winner was Nicholas Toll, (SH, 72-77), congratulations Mr Toll! Headmaster, Jeremy Gladwin, is pictured drawing the winning ticket. Through the survey, a number of you asked to receive more information about leaving the College a gift in your will. I am very grateful to everyone who responded to this question and in the last few weeks before Christmas I wrote a draft legacy leaflet. I will now contact those concerned and ask for advice on the draft leaflet before it is finalised and sent to print. Last term we launched the College’s first ever Annual Giving Programme with a posting to all OS and current parents. We are really grateful to everyone who has already responded to this and the summer 2015 telephone campaign will see the culmination of the 2014/15 programme. Back in September we welcomed Gail Edgar to the Development team as our Administrator. Gail has a vital role to play in supporting both our fundraising and alumni relations activities. She has been doing a great job entering all the information from the OS survey and supporting Jennifer in setting up 12
the mailings and responses for the reunion programme. Welcome Gail! Kevin Webb
From Alumni Relations Officer
Behind the scenes we are working hard to improve the quality of information we hold on our Old Stortfordian membership base. We are not only actively trying to track down OS we have lost contact with over the years but we are also seeking to improve the information we hold on OS already on our database. Keeping contact details up to date is an invaluable process. Adding additional personal information such as areas of employment and willingness to provide work experience makes it easier for us to link OS professionally should a request for assistance be made. We would like to thank all those who recently completed the OS Survey as this has been a great source of up to date information. If you have not yet had the chance to update your contact details or would like to encourage your OS contemporaries who have lost touch to update their details, you can still complete the OS survey at this link: https://www.stortfordians.org/old-stortfordiansurvey-2014
or by emailing me at
Jennifer.hanson@bishopsstortfordcollege.org
Please be reassured that if we receive an enquiry to get in touch with you from another OS, we will inform you and give you the contact details of that OS. It is then up to you whether you make contact with that OS or not. Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2015! Jennifer Hanson
Social Media Update
Our Social Media presence is going from strength to strength. Facebook is proving increasingly popular as a way to see event reports and photos and for OS to comment on photos of BSC from days gone by on our Throwback Thursday Posts. Our Twitter following is growing and the Old Stortfordian LinkedIn group remains a popular (and secure) arena for professional OS to interact with each other. Facebook: www.facebook.com/The.Old.Stortfordian. Society Twitter: @oldstortfordian LinkedIn: The Old Stortfordian Society
Facebook 677
Twitter 76
LinkedIn 295