The Old Bordenian Association

Peter Lusted and Mick Pack, both OBA committee members, are contacting as many of their peers as they can to celebrate (?) the fact that 40 years has passed since they left the school in 1969 and to encourage attendance at this year’s dinner for a grand reunion.  Below is an email to Peter Lusted from Rod Ballard in response. Rod was at BGS from 1962. 

“Thanks very much for the mail and for getting in contact – however, I would probably have preferred NOT to know how many years have passed!

I have put the date in my diary although having spent a good 25 years of my working life in Asia, the Middle East and Central America, I have lost contact with many Old Boys although continue to pay a subscription. The story is too long (until I retire!) to put down but life has been interesting since leaving BGS – from being in Hong Kong in the early 70s, on to the Middle East when there was little else but sand and then to Central America for the debt crisis in Latin America; I returned to Asia to finance the initial developments in China when it opened up in the late 1980s and stayed until the return of Hong Kong to China before moving to Singapore and finally back to UK after our daughter completed her degree in Japan!

I am now a devout Buddhist (which I have only followed on returning to UK notwithstanding the time I have spent in Asia!) and work in developing Islamic (Sharia’a compliant) financing in Europe!

I have actually provided finance to one of the largest entities on the Isle of Sheppey on an Islamic basis – so the dharma wheel (a Buddhist concept of what goes around, comes around) has turned full circle in that having lived and been educated at BGS many years ago, I have now arranged Islamic finance (no interest is charged as it is repugnant to Shariah principles) to create jobs on the island!

So, it has been an interesting journey and I have no doubt that I would never have thought that that is where life would have taken me on leaving BGS!

Rod Ballard”