From the Chair

I am delighted to congratulate new appointees at the Foundation: Elliot Lipton (OM) as Chair of the Court of Governors, Sunena Stoneham as Vice Chair and Jane Sanchez as Head of Mill Hill School. The Club in general and I personally welcome these appointments and look forward to working closely with all concerned on behalf our mutual interests.

I particularly want to pay tribute in this edition of Martlet to the army of volunteers who selflessly give their time to make the Club such a valuable community for Old Millhillians. The Management Committee meets at least six times a year to wade through a heavy agenda; the Careers Committee under Dick Lidwell’s stewardship meets regularly to plan initiatives for alumni and pupils; the Finance Committee reviews Club investment performance each quarter; and we now have the recently formed YOMs Ambassadors who are hard at work developing a programme for engaging younger OMs in Club activities.

Careers Committee

John Barron (MHS Head of Sixth Form)

Mitesh Bhimjiyani

Natasha Fenwick (MHS)

Ted Ivens

Dick Lidwell

Gordon Mizner

Luke Stubbles (MHS)

Peter Wakeham

Finance Committee

Abhijit Gupta

Andy Mortimer

Peter Wakeham

In addition to these Committees, there are a large number of individual OMs who go out of their way to organise social, sport and professional networking activities and events. Profiles of all of them are to be found on pages 10-11. Members owe these OMs a massive thank you for their commitment.

Much praise was deservedly lavished on Laura Turner for our first bumper edition of Martlet last year. I am sure Laura’s hard work and dedication will not go unrecognised for this edition. Roger Streeten’s involvement in design and development of both editions as well as past ones is also a major asset for the Club.

We undertook some research to see whether members preferred one bumper or two smaller Martlets each year. Opinion was evenly split. Our future response to this will be to publish a bumper annual review of a past Presidential Year each November and an electronic edition mid-Presidential Year in the Spring. No need for back stops!

By the time you read this you will have received from me a paper regarding a proposed change to the legal and governance structure of the Club. I welcome your feedback prior to a decision to recommend the change to members at the AGM. The Club is a voluntary association and has no legal identity. Strictly speaking, at its most banal, that means the Club cannot enter into an agreement to hire a room for the Annual Dinner. I do it in good faith that the Club stand behinds me. The proposed alternative structure – a Company Limited by Guarantee – is designed to protect the Management Committee and Club members from potential liabilities. It is a legal entity frequently used by charities (including the Foundation) but has broader applications.

In recent months we have made constructive progress with our relationship with the Foundation. We will shortly be entering into a data sharing agreement which will finally remove the 2017 embargo on us contacting non Club members. We will then work on a project together that is aimed at bringing clarity to our respective roles. We have wide ranging mutual interests that should be complementary and synergistic.

A huge thank you must be extended to YOM Sam Chadwick who has been invaluable in the OMs office supporting Laura and handling all the Club admin, merchandise and memberships. We wish him all the best when he starts university later this year.

I look forward to catching up with some of you at a future event.

Peter Wakeham (Burton Bank 60-65)

COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT 2018-2019

Richard Llewellyn (62-66)

VICE PRESIDENT 2018-2019

Gordon Mizner (65-69)

OFFICERS

Chair – Peter Wakeham (60-64)

Honorary Secretary – Julian Pollock (83-88)

Honorary Treasurer – Abhijit Gupta (89-94)

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Careers – Richard Lidwell (59-64)

Clubland – Andrew Mortimer (57-61)

Old Belmontians – Adrian Jordan

Anthony Ward (82-87), Tim Corbett

Ronnie Boon (54-60), Noyan Nihat (82-88), Clare Lewis (77-79)

John Gallagher (63-69), Andrew Welch (75-80)

MHS Head – Mrs Jane Sanchez (HM)

Common Room Liaison – John Barron, Assistant Head Sixth Form

Alford House & Sponsorship Fund – Nigel Baker (55-61)

OFFICE STAFF

Alumni Relations Officer – Laura Turner

Bookkeeper – Ann Bunyard

Membership Cards

I hope you like the new membership cards which are coming soon. I wanted them to have a sense of permanence and to feel modern while still drawing on our amazing heritage.

Thanks to Mike Berwin who is yet another who has volunteered his time, in his case to design the cards and organise the USA annual reunion at his apartment in New York.