From OBs’ Office

News from the OBs’ Office - we were

disappointed that the planned OBs’ Dinner in March was a casualty of lockdown. Who would’ve thought that a year on from the last Dinner that we would still be suffering so badly from the pandemic?

I remember the anxiety that some of you felt before the last Dinner in 2020 which turned out to be our last live event in the last 18 months.

As I started my new role as our Alumni Relations Manager I have been confined to the office, worked from home and furloughed during the last year. Our events last year all moved online which had a few benefits especially in that the lectures and Lunch Club talks have been accessible to everybody no matter where they live in the world.

We have been joined by OBs from the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and South Africa.

As we look forward to the new academic year, we are hoping that we will be able to get back to some normality. I know that Mike Burmester is very keen to restart the OB Lunch Club meetings at the Sports Club. These events are open to all OBs, you don’t have to come along to every meeting but they are generally held on the first Friday of each month, after lunch there is a guest speaker, usually, but not always an OB.

We will also continue to run OB lectures throughout the year so keep checking the website for upcoming events; it may also be possible to organise a lecture in the theatre as we move out of the pandemic.

In September we are delighted to be hosting the OBs’ Golf Day at Bristol and Clifton Golf Club and a Garden Party to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Co-Education. We are also planning a Law and Finance Networking event in London, more details of which will be available on the website.

There will be a Christmas Drinks event in London and the Annual Dinner on 19 March 2022 in the Great Hall, let’s hope that our return to some sort of normality returns shortly.

OB Mentoring

We are looking forward to launching the new OB mentoring platform on the website, members of the Network will be able to opt in to become mentors to other OBs and to Sixth Formers looking for career advice.

It is hoped that the platform will become a great asset to the OB community, a few words of advice via email or over a coffee would be a great help to many young OBs starting their careers. Please feel free to contact me if you would like more information. If you would like to become a mentor please update your profile on our website, alumni.bristolgrammarschool.co.uk

I am very grateful to the OBs that have already volunteered to help and particularly to those that have been working with our current students, we are hoping that being mentored and mentoring will become a natural progression and a great asset to our community.

Peter Jakobek

Alumni Relations Manager (Staff 1982 to date)