The Old Bordenian Association

Recently, a very remarkable Old Boy got in touch with us.  There is nothing especially remarkable about his career : teaching.  What is completely out-of-the-ordinary is where his career has taken him.  He has taught (English) for 5½ years in Saudi Arabia, for 2 years in Spain, for 2½ years in China, for a year in the Sudan, for 5 years in Mozambique and for a brief period  in Afghanistan .  For the past 13 years he has been living in Vietnam with his wife and two daughters.  It was Aristotle who paced up and down in the Peripatus at the Lyceum while he was teaching and created the generic name for an itinerant teacher.  Well, Aristotle – eat your heart out!

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This is another in the series of old exam papers to test the decaying grey matter of visitors to the site – we’ve moved up to ‘A’ level this time.  Again, I’m afraid the answers are not given as the provider of the old paper couldn’t recall exactly what he had written!  Feel free to add your suggestion in the comments box below.  The exam consisted of 3 papers – all 3 are included .

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Old Boys move far and wide after leaving Borden.  Many keep in touch, others seem to disappear – did someone forget to let them out of detention?  Now is the chance to give your colleagues from the past a bit of an update.  How often have we asked ourselves “ I wonder what happened to old….”

To get the ball rolling Mike Pack and Peter Lusted have put together a brief summary of most of their colleagues obtained following two reunions since leaving Borden – one at 25 years and the other at 40 years.  Some details are more current than others.  A picture of the 25 year reunion is just above the details of the 1 East boys, with two pictures of the 40 year reunion at the end of the article.

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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!

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Phil Goldacre was at Borden from 1965 to 1970. Below are stories from the acting world, provided by him following pressure from one of his peers!  Do we have any other Old Boy actors?

Phil begins: Just a couple of stories that I thought you might like. I can talk some more about actual performances if you like [Ed's note - leave a comment at the end of the story if you'd like to hear more from Phil] but I think people might be more interested in the “off stage” bits.

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These pictures may bring back memories for those Old Boys who walked the stage at school, either hoping to be spotted by a Hollywood agent or more likely because it involved extra curricular activities with girls from Highsted.

One of the sheets shows an Old Boy production (The Maroon Players).  Whilst preferring the sports field to the stage during my school years, I do remember another Old Boy production – a Revue which was a mix of comedy sketches and musical items – in which I did participate along with Greg Pope, Ian Baron, John Ford, Roger Barber, Nigel Gregory, Adrian Robson and others who have slipped from my memory banks.  Whenever we had a delay behind the curtains we sent “Robbo” out to tell a joke and keep the audience amused.  The Arts Festival, now long gone, brought trepidation to those who “volunteered” to recite a piece in a foreign language, often not sounding like one taught at Borden,  or to sing using musical scales rarely heard before.

Perhaps those of you more actively involved in these events can send in your own memories.

Peter Lusted

I assume, as I have found no evidence to the contrary, that the BGS Scout Troop has long since been “decommissioned”, or whatever the term is.  I have been racking my brain, trying to piece together my patchy and probably suspect memories of my times as a “dob, dob, dobber”.  Please feel free to add to or correct any of my ramblings!

It must have been around 1969 that I was sworn-in.  Buzz Burrell (Biology?) was the Scout Master assisted by another teacher whose name escapes me.  There were a couple of “ranger scouts”, one of which I remember as Mark Absolum.  I have vague memories of canoes being hung from the ceiling in the scout room, which was located off the corridor behind the stage end of the main hall.  I was a member and eventually “seconder” of “Kestrel Patrol” which was lead by David (Chootch) Nunn but I am struggling to remember who else was in our gang.

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