The Old Bordenian Association

The Minutes of a Committee Meeting held at the School on Friday 1 February 2008. [Approved at meeting held 9 May 2008]

Members present: The President, G.Barnes, S.Caveney, B.Gilbert, N.Hancock, J.Macrae, M.Pack, D.Palmer, S.Rouse, K.Sears, K.Shea, B.Short, and A.Snelling (8.20pm).

Apologies for absence: R.Harris, C.Laming, P.Lusted.

Minutes and Matters Arising: The minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2007 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

Matters arising: – J Macrae reported that he had contacted M Redsall about the Honours boards and they had visited the school.  A quotation had subsequently been received to remove and clean the board and to replace all the gold leaf lettering putting the names in five columns so that there would be space should other names need to be added.  This would enable the entry of H A J E R Hill to be added.  The quotation also included the provision of a second board listing those who had been killed in the Great War.  This board would be smaller but would match the other board in style and have appropriate wording similar to the large board.  The total cost for these boards would be £1200 and it was agreed to accept this quotation and proceed with the work.  The President agreed to get the Bursar to coordinate the removal of the large board in readiness for Mr Redsall.  The matter of the provision of a third board to commemorate those Old Bordenians who were killed on active service in other conflicts was deferred as more thought needed to be given to this.

Correspondence:  Martin Lawrence had written to John Macrae giving details of his new work.  Phillip White had contacted Graham Barnes to offer an article for the Maroon.  Phillip’s daughter had recently died aged 17 of Cystic Fibrosis and he had set himself the challenge of raising £25000 for this charity.  He intended to run 3 marathons in three continents and wondered if he could incorporate a request for sponsorship in the article.  Since the Maroon had just been published it would be at least a year before this article could appear which would be after the proposed runs.  Hence a better way forward was decided that a mention be made at the Annual Dinner and following this, the information could be put on the new website along with Phillip’s e-mail address.

Treasurer’s Report: Neil Hancock reported that current funds stood at £5,992. The sum of £90 had been paid for servicing of the turret clock.

Dinner Secretariat: Alan Snelling had sent in a report noting that everything was in hand.  He had raised a number of issues about the 2009 Dinner and it was decided to carry these forward to a later meeting.

Hockey Report: Neil Hancock noted that 10 teams were in action. The Ladies’ teams continued to do very well.  The Men’s 1st XI were fourth in their league

Football Report: Keith Shea stated that both 5-a-side teams had been in action.  The younger members were playing in Division 1 and were fifth in the table, points below the leaders.  The veterans were at the bottom of their league but were just one point away from the team above them.

Editor of the Maroon:  Graham Barnes displayed the 2008 Maroon and complimented Scarbutts, the printers, on the efficient and effective job they had done.  The President asked the Committee to join him in thanking Graham for the all his hard work and congratulating him on another excellent publication.  The committee responded enthusiastically.

Membership Secretary’s report:  Rick Harris was unable to be present but he and his wife had prepared all the Maroon envelopes between them leaving members just to add the website stickers to the front and to remove those they could deliver by hand to save on postage costs. Neil Hancock offered to visit Rick and give a token of the Committee’s appreciation.
 
School Report: The President spoke of the proposal for the School to apply for Foundation status. He outlined the reasons for this move saying that the position of the five Foundation Governors would remain unchanged as would financial matters.  An important aspect of this status was the ability of the School to be able to influence its own admissions policy. The current policy, which seemed to be for ever in a state of flux, meant that admissions to Borden fluctuated dramatically and hindered not only the forward planning but the ability to recruit enough pupils. There were various points raised about implementation and these were discussed.  Bryan Short then proposed a motion that ‘The Committee welcomes and supports the proposal for the School to apply for Foundation status’  This was seconded by Neil Hancock and was carried unanimously.

Website report: David Palmer submitted the minutes of a recent website sub-committee meeting. (Attached to the minutes).  He announced that the new website was now online.  At present it was not interactive but it was possible to leave comments on each article. Dave would be moderating these before they appeared on the site.  Through the site it was possible to join the Facebook forum that would enable Old Bordenians to contact one another.  The possibility of the Maroon appearing on the site and ways of catering for those without the technology was discussed.  Expenditure for moving the site from Webree to a new provider was approved.  The President and the Committee thanked Dave for his work in achieving and progressing this initiative which should prove a great benefit for the Association.

Any other business: 1.The next committee meetings were:-

Friday 9th May 2008

Friday 12th September 2008

There being no further business, the meeting was closed at 9.06pm

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