President’s Welcome

I write after our 91st Annual Dinner held at the school. It was largely dominated by reunions from the Classes of ’76 and ’91, who enjoyed an evening amongst old friends. The evening started with a dramatic rendition of Bach’s Toccata played on the school organ by U6th student Joseph Lord, followed by the head of performing arts, Zlatan Fazlic ´ providing some piano jazz. Lord Beecham (53-62) was our Guest Speaker who enlightened us on life in the House of Lords, before the evening reached its merry conclusion. As always, it was a great night to catch up with some familiar faces, whilst others attended for the first time. Over the past two years these dinners have been the highlight of the ONA calendar for me and I would like to thank all my guest speakers, and especially Paul Gustard (84-94) who arranged for the England rugby team to sign some shirts, raising close to £1,500 in raffle sales for the Bursary Campaign.

In July we were present at RGS Day, meeting current students and reminding the leavers about who we are and what we can offer. August saw yet another fantastic set of exam results: on behalf of the ONA, I would like to congratulate the Headmaster and his staff on their hard work that makes the school so special a place.

We have our AGM on 16 November: everyone is welcome to attend. Having rekindled our relations with Novos RFC last year, we are proud to announce the fixture to honour John Elders (57-82 and 92-96) on 27 December at Sutherland Park: it would be fantastic to see many of you over the festive period.

I prematurely wish a happy retirement for Headmaster, Bernard Trafford who is stepping down at the end of the academic year.

This brings to a conclusion my time as President, but of course I couldn’t have done it alone and have many people to thank, notably Jane Medcalf, past Presidents David Goldwater (51-62) and David Westwood (95-02), and also my Vice-Presidents, Chris Wilson (97-02) and Joel Dickinson (91-01). I have been honoured to preside over the Association for the last two years and look forward to some of the things now in the pipeline coming to fruition!

Fortiter Defendit Triumphans!

Chris Rutter (92-02) ONA President