by Dave Palmer
9:56 am in Events, Guest Posts, Pictures by Dave Palmer
The Challenge
To be photographed wearing an Old Boys tie:-
a) In an alcoholic establishment
b) In an unusual or bizarre situation (we will exercise censorship controls!)
Have Old Boys drunk in all corners of the world? Let’s see the evidence.
by Ryan Jarrett
11:00 am in Football, Pictures by Ryan Jarrett
This photo was taken in winter 1966 and shows the undefeated 1965 Borden Grammar School football First XI with coach and maths teacher David Walters and Headmaster George Hardy.
by Dave Palmer
4:46 pm in Events, Pictures by Dave Palmer
A further report on the Dinner will be available later; in the meantime, if you have any more photos please send them in.
by Dave Palmer
5:28 pm in Down Memory Lane, Pictures, School Photos by Dave Palmer
This is the final part of the story of the move of the School to the current site in Remembrance Avenue. The Bordenian of March 1929 has this offering.
“On entering the New School”
At last, after waiting for fifty long years,
A marvellous vision to us now appears;
A spacious new school, done in brick, red and white,
Our jubilant hearts give a leap at the sight.
The great day has come, like the sun through the clouds,
The school to a man in the Dining Hall crowds;
“Let’s feast to the Gov’nors, who’ve turned up some trumps,
And bring us to bliss from our present old dumps.
Come turn out your linings and purchase good wine,
Then solemnly join hands and sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ “
So heedless of rain and with arms full of books,
Past wurtzel and bungalows, sling we our hooks;
All eyes fixed ahead on the splendid new place,
Sporting a silk flag, all bordered with lace.
“Some brand new idea,” we all nod to ourselves,
And forward we trip like a concourse of elves;
Softly we glide, whispering praise,
Submitting each room to our wondering gaze.
Yet, ‘mid all these splendours, who feels not regret,
For the Borden of memories, dear to us yet? A.W.S.
by Dave Palmer
11:01 pm in Down Memory Lane, Pictures, School Memorabilia by Dave Palmer
The story continues from last month – http://www.oldbordenians.co.uk/?p=146#more-146 for those who hadn’t spotted it was further down the home page! I appreciate that some of the photos are duplicated from the earlier posts, but this part of the story is more a pictorial representation of the old school then and now.
The next photographs show the old school at different times and a little detective work will enable the reader to put them into chronological order. I have tried to take contemporary photographs but much of the school field has been built on to provide private housing taking up the whole corner of the plot bounded by the original road up to the school, Riddles Road and College Road. Hence I was unable to get wide views.
At the time of writing, I have not been able to identify any of the internal rooms mentioned in “Vale”. I am finding that the more I write, the more there is to investigate. I do not think of time as the enemy but it certainly seems to ‘fugit’ very rapidly! 
The photo above shows the cricket square in good condition but I think the outfield would have caused a bit of a problem!
by Dave Palmer
12:32 pm in Down Memory Lane, Pictures by Dave Palmer
This is the 2nd article detailing the history of the school and particularly around the period 1928 – 1929, when the school moved to its current location. It is a while since the first was published so to refresh memories – http://www.oldbordenians.co.uk/?p=88#more-88. The story continues ..
I wondered where the photograph shown below was taken. The text in the previous article seems to infer that this was the dining hall with the ancestral arms mounted on the wall at the end of the room. I remember them mounted on the wall in the old hall between the Honours Boards. A recent search in Archives produced only the banner.
by Ryan Jarrett
8:22 am in Events, Pictures by Ryan Jarrett
This year we aimed for an environmentally friendly meal and a neutral carbon footprint. Judge for yourselves and see the full Environmental Report below (photos of the evening can be found at the end of the report):-
All food remaining was recycled – we hope the boys enjoyed their shepherd’s pie for Monday’s lunch.
Smoking was banned – even in the bike shelter.
All wine left was mixed together, rebottled and sold on Ebay.
John Lifton, who had travelled from New Zealand, intended cycling back.
Our numbers were boosted on the night to 96 by 5 unexpected guests, whose cheque and forms had not arrived, despite being hand delivered! Fortunately a quick word with the caterer, five seats and a table and normal service was resumed. If you thought you were lacking a roast potato or slice of beef, now you know why. It goes without saying that the caterer was instructed to ensure that Alan and I received full portions!
