Message from the President

Henry Cave (SH 1980–1984)

The last twelve months have been a challenge, however, there have been some major events in the life of Fettes. The College has turned 150, it’s 50 years since the first girls arrived at school, the Old Fettesian Association is now 100 years old, and we all appear to have been ‘Gated’ in our own homes by Covid-19. Life goes on and nowhere more so than at Fettes where the school has adapted to continue to provide a first-class quality education whilst, at the same time, making every effort to ensure that the students who are lucky enough to attend the College appreciate their good fortune and, as a result, bear it with humility and composure. I was fortunate enough this year to be able to attend the school to interview members of the 5th Form for the Evan Weir Citizenship Prize. The students I met during the process were balanced, well rounded, pleasant people with whom it was a pleasure to spend time.

I sincerely hope that over the next year we can meet in person as an Association and that we have the opportunity to attend our old school to experience what a kind, helpful and well-resourced place that it is today.

On behalf of the entire Old Fettesian community I would like to take this opportunity to thank Amanda Forsyth (née Baker) (Ar 1982–1984) for all the work that she has done on the OFA Committee as President, Vice President and as a long-standing member. Usually, I would have had the opportunity to give those thanks at Commem in October 2020, but as we are aware, the short initial lockdown in the spring of that year has now extended on and off for a period of over 15 months and the Commem 2020 reunion years have yet to gather.

As you will know, Fettes, along with many other Scottish boarding schools, has been participating in the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, an investigation into historic abuse going back some 75 years. This is a live Inquiry that is due to conclude at the end of the year and as such cannot be commented on at this stage. I can say that Fettes has made a public apology to those who were not treated as well as they should have been at times in the past.

Very sadly the original plans to celebrate Fettes’ special anniversary year, were not to be. Once it became clear we could not celebrate together in person, the programme went online and a series of excellent, and very well received, virtual events took place. A beautiful film, to celebrate 150 years of Fettes College was produced and has been enjoyed by over 4,000 members of our community. In addition, the OFA has published our own book Fettes: Our Place, OFs have run themselves ragged competing in ‘Fit in February’ and they have taken part in a global golf competition. I would like to thank Karen Jones (née Houston) (Ar 1989–1991, Staff 2012–present), the Fettes Community Engagement Manager, who project managed the anniversary programme and our new OF Coordinator, Vivienne Clark (Staff 2020–present), who, since her appointment last August, has worked closely with Karen to deliver all that has been achieved in lieu of the original plans.

In true Fettes style, we were determined to ‘carry on’ resulting in an array of opportunities for OFs to stay in touch and to remain connected to the school. These included the Fettes Community Portal (www.fettescommunity.org) and podcast channel and virtual events celebrating 150 years of International Rugby, 50 years of Girls at Fettes, Fettes golf, the College Archives and a wonderful Carol Service.

We have seen our social media following grow during this past year and again I must thank Vivienne for all she does to keep us updated. For those of you with Twitter, the OFA can tweet news and events directly to your smart phone from @Oldfettesians and @fettescommunity. If you have not done so already, please do follow us!

Last October, we held our first virtual Annual General Meeting, resulting in some 90 people signing up to attend from as far away as Stockbridge, China and Zimbabwe. In October 2021 we will be holding another virtual AGM and we hope many OFs from all over the world will be able to join us for that.

Rest assured we will make plans for the Commem 2020 reunion years to gather on campus as soon as it is safe to do so. As we go to print, it is too early to say with any certainty that Commem 2021 will go ahead in October, but we will be in touch with reunion years as soon as we are able.

Having said that, I do hope that restrictions ease to allow us to gather again in person. Whether this be at Fettes or for regional OFA events throughout the UK and across the globe. I look forward to meeting many Old Fettesians when these resume.

My final thank you is to each and every OF who has stuck by us and supported us during these turbulent times. Whether you have attended a virtual event, watched the 150th anniversary film, bought a copy of Fettes: Our Place, joined our new digital community, followed us on social media, listened to a podcast or are reading this Newsletter right now, I am delighted you have taken some time to remember Fettes in such a special year. Floreas Fettesia!

Henry Cave President of the OFA President.OFA@fettes.com