Welcome from the OR President

Welcome from Marcus Baker, OR President

It is hard to believe that I am now into my third term as OR President; in fact, with the extraordinary year that we have had so far, I have to say there are many things that are hard to believe!

There has been so much adjustment to our lives, most of which none of us could have possibly foreseen, but I am so pleased that the core foundations of the Reed’s community remain strong, if not stronger than they have ever been. It is perhaps inspiring to think that we might all find hope for the future in looking within our own OR community. Our 1940s ORs, who are now celebrating 70 years plus since leaving school and have lived through bereavement, evacuation, war, rationing, unemployment, economic crises and natural disasters, still have the most wonderful spirits and, importantly, have each other’s friendships – shining examples of true Reed’s resilience. I also know that these strong bonds of friendship are not just limited to their year group, but that all ORs continue to build that #communityforlife.

To illustrate this in a small way, one thing that has particularly pleased me is the response to the COVID-19 emergency fund appeal that went out to our community only a few months ago. This fund was to assist current Foundation pupils who found themselves having to return to even more distressing home environments because of the pandemic. Thank you to those of you who have supported this. I think I speak on behalf of all ORs when I say how proud we are to see our old School and the current generation of Reedonians rising above these unparalleled challenges.

Despite the times, we felt that it was important to continue with the production of The Reeder which is one of the key elements of this great community and, whilst this year’s edition may be a little slimmer than perhaps the 2019 edition, I know that it is packed with great content. For this, we have to thank Sharmaine Matthews and the team at the Development Office under Kathryn Bartram. Without Sharmaine’s steady hand on the tiller and her guidance, I certainly would not be able to do my job.

In addition, I would also like to thank the alumni members of the OR Committee: Roger Mew (Bristowe 1959), Andy Wotton (Mullens 1975), Justin Herbert (Capel 1983), Clive Moon (Blathwayt 1994), Jerry Ross (Mullens 2008), Nick Gray (Blathwayt 1993), Rosie Pidgeon (Blathwayt 2015) and Sam Brandon (Capel 2008) who all dedicate a great deal of time, thought and expertise on a range of areas from financials to the Foundation, from the archive to online. Their skills make for a diverse group

Marcus with OR Miles Harris at 2019 Leavers’ Drinks

but, in order to get a complete perspective on the OR community, we agreed this year to invite two Senior School Prefects on to the Committee. I would like to thank Emily Strong (Mullens 2020) and Miles Horwood (Bristowe 2020) for not only attending all of the meetings but also for their valuable contributions from the viewpoint of the current pupils; we wish them well as they become our newest ORs.

I know that Mark Hoskins and I share similar views about the sense of community that is an important part of the fabric of Reed’s and the Old Reedonians. I have to say that I was incredibly grateful on a personal level for the amazing efforts undertaken by many of the Reed’s team to produce PPE equipment for local hospitals and care homes. This has been life changing, life saving and of extraordinary value in what have been very difficult times.

OR Prefects - Emily & Miles

As part of this strong and collaborative relationship, it has been great to see the School listening to feedback from our young ORs about the important issue of Black Lives Matter and ensuring its diversity and equality programme continues to be developed. Indeed, changes have been made to the academic curriculum with Mr Waller including units on Slavery and the Empire, the Crusades, Votes for Women and the breakup of Empires in the History syllabus for younger pupils.

Even though lockdown has impacted the year, prior to March, there was still a lot of activity in our OR community. In September alone, we had four OR sporting fixtures: the Ladies’ Hockey at School, OR Rugby at Reeds Weybridge, OR tennis at Wimbledon, and an OR Golf Society Day at Cowdray Park. We had nearly 60 ORs come back to School for a visit and the Totnes boys cleverly managed to get in two reunions before lockdown. ORs were also integral to other events: two FutureCareers evenings on Healthcare and Property, the fabulous Film for the Foundation fundraiser, the Annual Foundation Appeal Launch, Richard Nicholson’s memorial service, leavers drinks for our 2019 cohort, a reunion in London for our 2013 ORs and, of course, the outstanding Andrew Reed Lecture at the Royal Geographical Society, delivered by OR Keith Scholey of Our Planet fame. Please make sure you read his feature piece (page 24) which is not only pictorially spectacular but totally gripping in explaining why we are the most important generation in history.

Post March, of course, a lot of things changed and, indeed, continue to change as we discover new ways of communicating with each other and maintaining our interactions as human beings. From an OR perspective, we have seen a surprising amount of activity which can be read about in the following pages but some of my favourite new initiatives have been the pen-pal scheme, our tributes to our cORonaHEROES, the Reed’s Global Action Network and ‘Tipple with a Teacher’. There have also been many great acts of kindness by ORs from across all generations that have come to our attention and I would like to offer my personal congratulations and thanks to all the achievements of our ORs – both before and after lockdown. Importantly you are inspiring current Reed’s pupils to follow your example.

Even though we had, regrettably, to cancel our City business-networking event planned for March, I am keen that we continue to expand our focus in this area. I hope that in 2021 some of this can become more of a reality, especially important as our OR businesses start to recover and rebuild. In particular, our own recent group of leavers from School (who faced so many challenges this year including the manifestly unfair approach to the A Level results) and our young ORs who were robbed of graduation celebrations and now face a greatly changed working world, I feel, will need help and support from our community.

Similarly, it was with great disappointment that we were unable to hold Reunion Day this year; however, I do hope that you were able to enjoy some of the virtual events which several ORs kindly helped us to facilitate and to watch the welcome video from the Headmaster and I. Whilst it was a shame that we could not be together for this annual ritual, for me, it was great to go back to the School to record the video. This I did from the surrounds of the Chapel, which brought back some great memories and, in fact, has reconnected me with Graham Hoskins, who was my music teacher at the time. Looking forward, we shall be working on plans for a bigger and better Reunion Day event in June 2021 in the hope that we can get together. This will provide the perfect opportunity for us to celebrate our recovery from this dreadful virus as an even stronger, more united and ever thankful community.

Inspirational Totnes ORs

All that is left is to offer my thanks and best wishes for the coming months. Stay safe, stay connected, and do continue to communicate with your fellow ORs to keep our wonderful community alive. See you soon.

Marcus Baker

OR President (Mullens 1980)