|
 |
The Old St Beghian | |
| July 2016 | |||
From Our President
Dacre Watson (SH 56-62)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I write this letter to all of you, the contrast with the same period last year could not be greater; the sense of gloom and despondency then amongst Old St Beghians will have, I hope, given way to one of cautious optimism and I would like to congratulate the Board of Trustees, chaired by Mark Rocca (FS 75-80), on the way they have moved forward since February this year, making the school premises more financially viable and maintaining them to the high standard you would find if you were to visit today.
The Board of Trustees are in the process of producing a second Newsletter containing more detailed information and it is planned to send this out with this edition of the Bulletin.
The Old St Beghian (OSB) Committee and I now consider that my prime responsibility will be directed to keeping the OSB Society together and, indeed, flourishing over the coming years. In this context I have attended regional dinners in West Cumbria, Manchester and Bristol and will also be attending the Newcastle and Scottish dinners in the latter part of the year. I would like to thank the organisers of these events for their very hard work, and while I have found the occasions to be very enjoyable, I have also enjoyed the opportunity to meet so many of you for a chat and exchange of ideas for the future.
I dare say that some may question our future over what they perceive to be the loss of our spiritual home at St Bees. Well, we haven’t lost that base yet and my vision for the future is that we, the Old St Beghian Society, will work with and support whatever educational establishment is in place in the future. Indeed, Mark Rocca made the very point at the recent Manchester dinner that the OSB Society is, and will be, very much involved as part of the discussions with an eventual successful investor. As an aside, whenever I am in the Queens Hotel I often see the plaque donated by that generation of Old Millhillians who spent so much of their time during the war at school in St Bees; to them St Bees was still their spiritual home long after the school had moved back to Mill Hill and we can feel the same.
Regional dinners and local events have always been the mainstay of our Society and it was particularly pleasing to hear about the first Hong Kong dinner organised by James Rebert (SH 91-98) in January of this year; elsewhere in this Bulletin you will read that in the future James will be joined by Laurence Gribble (SH 02-09) and Chris Ma (G 02-09) in developing an Old St Beghians’ group in Asia, which will include an annual dinner, and I would ask that all of you based in that part of the world make every effort to support such a group and I certainly have every intention to be at the dinner in Hong Kong next January.
St Beghians’ Day will take place this year at St Bees School on 24th September. As in the past, there will be the Society AGM in the Whitelaw Building and I hope to see as many of you as possible on the day. There will be members of the new Board of Trustees present, who will be informing you of the progress being made and you will have the opportunity of asking any questions you might have. After the AGM we hope to have a lunch in Foundation or the Whitelaw Building as we have done in previous years.
Probably the most frequent question I am being asked is “What will happen to Lonsdale Terrace?”
In answer to this I would advise that Copeland Borough Council has now given planning consent for a change of use of the Lonsdale Terrace properties. This means that, subject to satisfying a number of conditions, work to convert the Terrace back into individual private residences can be commenced. The conditions relate primarily to vehicular access and parking on the Terrace.
I cannot end this Bulletin without making a special acknowledgement of the enormous support I have received over the last 18 months from you, the members of the OSB Society, the OSB Committee and in particular from David Lord, Tony Reeve and Pam Rumney. It would be entirely true to say that the Society would struggle to function efficiently without Pam in the office, together with the advice, knowledge and support from David and Tony. My heartfelt thanks to the three of them.
I very much look forward to meeting as many of you as possible over the coming year, but especially at the AGM.
My best wishes to you all.
Dacre Watson
President.
Home
The St Beghian Society
St Bees School,
St Bees, Cumbria, CA27 0DS.
Tel: (01946) 828093 Email: osb@stbeesschool.co.uk
Web: www.st-beghian-society.co.uk
