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FP News
High School Family The Old Girls’ Club
The Old Boys’ Club
It has been my privilege to be President of the Old Girls’ Club this year. We have had an excellent year so far with many new members and a whole host of new ideas, which I have to say, are improving things greatly for the Club.
As a third generation FP of the School, it has been my immense pleasure to serve as President of the Old Boys’ Club this year.
Our Thrift Shop moved to a new location in the Junior School earlier this year, giving us much more room to display the uniform. The result has been an easier space for us to organise the donations we receive. On 19 April, I attended a very enjoyable evening in Trinity Hall, a jazz soirée with some wonderfully talented pupils. The future looks very bright for all of these musicians and singers, the teachers have to be commended for their commitment and teaching of all these various musical instruments. Ashley Petrie, our Junior Vice President, organised our Fizz with Friends evening at D’Arcy Thomson in Dundee, which was held in April. After its success, we are already very excited to host another next year. The Old Girls catered as usual for Sports Day, which due to bad weather had to be moved forward to the following week. Nevertheless, the talent that was on display from both Junior and Senior School pupils was an absolute joy to watch. We really do have some budding athletes in our midst! The Club’s annual Dundee Dinner was held in The West Park Centre on Friday 26 October, and we had 60 guests in attendance. The School’s current Head Girl along with the Deputy Head Girl gave us a truly fascinating insight into the Old Girls who were actively involved in WW1. These stories were inspirational. Val Vannet, former Deputy Head, was our main speaker of the night. She enthralled us with her expedition to Antarctica showing us sights and sounds from the varied animals she came across. Obviously a once in a lifetime trip. The Chinstrap Penguins were especially cute and we had the School’s very own Blue Planet Penguin join us for the evening. We will be rounding off 2018 with a Christmas get together where we can enjoy what has already been achieved this year, and look forward to planning for the year ahead. Our Ladies London Lunch, which we hold every two years, will be held on Saturday 2 March 2019, at The East India Club, St. James’s Square. Shona Fleming, CEO of Borderline, will speak about working with Scotland’s homeless in London. It promises to be an interesting talk. Further details on this will be released in the New Year. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank my Committee this year, the help and support I have received is very much appreciated. Wishing you all good health and happiness. Pam Sinclair Old Girls’ Club President
Sporting events kicked off the Club calendar with curling being the first event of my Presidency in February. A healthy number of new recruits joined in the tightly contested match, which resulted in the Vice President’s team coming out victors with every stone being analysed over pies & beer in the bar afterwards! Golf followed in May on a gloriously warm and sunny day at Strathmore. The course was in great shape, and in a complete turnaround from the curling, the President’s team were awarded the Linton Plate. Rescobie Loch provided the venue for angling in June, with anglers venturing out on the loch with full hearts and full bellies - the bridies and the beer going down a treat! Few fish were bagged, was it too bright, or too windy, the excuses abounded! The programme of Dinners this year included Aberdeen, Glasgow and London, culminating with the Dundee Dinner on Friday 30 November where I handed over the Presidency to Pete Grewar. Many thanks to our team of Regional Dinner Organisers for their continued hard work at making these Dinners the successes that they are. It has been a great pleasure to attend many School events over the course of this year including the CCF Centenary Parade, Sports Day, Fiddler on the Roof and Prize Giving to name a few. The artistic, sporting and academic talent of pupils of the School makes me immensely proud of the wider school community of which we are part. As part of the wider High School Family, we have worked closely with the Old Girls’ Club in organising the Annual Leavers’ BBQ at Mayfield on the last day of term, which was a resounding success. Going forward we hope to be able to arrange joint mixed gender events, which we hope will appeal to a wider cross section of alumni. Past Presidents had told me my year in office would fly by and it undoubtedly has. It has been made much easier by the support I have received from my Vice President Pete Grewar, Secretary Martin Bennett, Treasurer Iain Webster, the Committee, our Sporting and Dinner Organisers and Chloe & Edward from the Office of Development – my personal gratitude to you all. I very much hope to see as many of you as possible at Club events in the future! A reminder that all communications about Club events are now distributed via the Office of Development. New GDPR legislation means that we require your consent to contact you, so please if you don’t receive our communications, please let the School know! Colin Dargie Old Boys’ Club President
