The Old Bordenian Association

The Minutes of a Committee Meeting held at the School on Friday 12 Sept 2008 (approved at the committee meeting held on 28 November 2008)

Members present: H.Vafeas (President/Chairman), S.Caveney, B.Gilbert, N.Hancock, R.Harris, S.Rouse, P.Lusted, M.Pack, K.Sears, A.Snelling (acting Hon. Sec), D. Palmer, and  P.Taylor.

Apologies for absence: J. Macrae, G. Barnes, K. Shea, B. Short, and N.Hancock.

Minutes and Matters Arising: The minutes of the meeting held on 9 May were agreed and signed as a correct record. 
The Committee unanimously agreed  £50 to be donated to the School for an Annual School Art prize.

Correspondence:  Email from Chico Khan-Gandapur making contact with the Association and School.
Also, letter from John Pullen enclosing confirmation of his brother Maxwell’s attendance at the School.

Treasurer’s Report: In a written report Neil Hancock advised that the Current Funds were £200.15 on Current Account, £1,081.66 in National Savings Bank and £696 from Advertisers (with 1 to come).
£500 had been given to the School for Art Room refurbishment. £1,200 also donated for Remembrance Boards. £100 also donated to School for annual Cricket Bat awards.

Dinner Secretariat: A.Snelling reported that at this early stage the speaker, caterer, and bar were already booked. Consideration was given to a change of meal but we will stay with the usual fare. Main consideration at this time was the timing of sending out the Dinner Invitation which is normally sent with the Maroon. Since the Dinner is on 16 May 2009 and the Maroon is usually sent out in February, it is felt that the Maroon should be posted around mid March and a suitable date for a Committee Meeting should be made at the AGM.

Hockey Report: Neil Hancock reported that the season had not yet started and the Club had lost a few players due to University etc,.The Club has secured the services, in the New Year, of a master at the Abbey School. as a coach and player. He had previously played for New Zealand for 7-8 years, and last season was in the Canterbury 1st XI.
The Club has recently been designated as a Junior Development Centre for 13yr olds. This is another achievement following the efforts of Alan Wilson. Canterbury, Maidstone, and Rochester are the other centres.

Football Report: In a written report, Keith Shea noted that the younger of the two  5-a-side teams has not re-entered the league this season, but the more elderly team will continue, and will surely include some of those younger players.
The new season had just started and after beating a local police team they were knocked out in the next round of the Cup.
Alan Snelling added that the Veteran 11-a-side team had just held a successful and popular reunion match on the lower field. They achieved the aim of having a total age of over 1,000 years for both teams. Full details and photos are now on the website.

Editor of the Maroon:  In a written report Graham Barnes proposed that the 2009 Maroon would contain the usual traditional features but would also have some nostalgic items, for example, he is compiling an article on the six editors of the Maroon and how  they have fashioned the Maroon over the years; also, he is contacting several ‘father & son’ Old Boys to compare their stories over the generations; also the football and hockey sections have been asked to provide a history of their activities over the last 60-70 years.
He also expressed some careful consideration be given to the timing and method of ‘closing’ the website to non-members.
As mentioned above, the timing of despatching the Maroon be fixed at a suitable time in advance of the May 2009 Dinner.

Membership Secretary’s report:  Rick Harris reported that the subscriptions had now come in and were being processed. The current membership comprises: 60 Life, 5 Honorary, 32 Student, 8 Staff, and 359 Annuals.
HV to provide RH with Leavers details.

School Report: Following low entrance numbers in recent years, this year saw a total of 124 new entrants. This number included a significant number from Sheppey, and also recent movers from the London area.
The new Art Room is near completion and should be ready for viewing at the AGM. The new Music room has been completed along with new computers and other state-of-the art technology.

Website Report: Dave Palmer had produced a Website report in advance of the Meeting and it was disappointing to note that several requested items had not been actioned. A demonstration of the website was given by Ryan Jarrett and the Committee were very impressed with both the quality and speed of development of the site.
The question of advertisers on the site was discussed, and this will be further considered at the next website sub-committee meeting and proposals will be put to the Committee.
The website sub-committee will also consider the implications of ‘closing’ the site to non-members and will come up with proposals for the Committee.

 Any other business:
S. Rouse to contact Chris Brinn to set up an OBA v School golf tournament in mid-2009.

There being no further business, the meeting was closed at 9:15pm.

Website report:

OBA WEBSITE UPDATE – for Committee Meeting 12 Sept 2008
www.oldbordenians.co.uk

1. The website has now been up and running for over 7 months and is regularly receiving15-20 visitors per day, with many days exceeding this.  Activity dipped during August, which is to be expected during peak holiday period but visitors have noticeably increased this month, with 29 unique visitors to the site already today -Saturday 6 September at 11:00 am (increased to 38 by the time I finished the report at 15:45!).   The table below shows the top 5 days since the site was launched.

Top Days – Unique Visitors

 2. The following is an update of the activities that I included in my last report, with progress against each:
2.1. [Anonymised] to produce an article for the website, explaining how the £10 subscription is spent and the benefit it produces (i.e. not just the Maroon).  This is to head off any potential backlash from members when we cease publication of the Maroon who may believe the £10 only funds the Maroon.
Nothing received.
2.2. The “President’s Letter” normally printed in the Maroon should become a more regular feature when required.  In the past, this could have been when funds were required for the new Library; issue surrounding the change of status to the school, etc. 
Nothing received to date.
2.3. A section will be created on the site to hold formal documentation for ready access to all.  This will include the Constitution, Accounts, Committee minutes and AGM minutes.  Let me know if you are aware of any other key formal documents that should be included.  We will not include committee members names and addresses, as the site is still open to all.
Section created, with Committee minutes added when approved.
2.4. [Anonymised] to produce an updated football report following the season close last week.
Completed and added to site.
2.5. An ‘Announcements’ section will be set up to hold an Obituaries category.  All members are asked to inform website committee of entries for this section as soon as you become aware.
One obituary added (Bob Davis).
2.6. To move away from this being the “John Macrae memories” site (although the quality of his articles are excellent!), all committee members are asked to produce one article for the site.  This can be a personal history, memory of either schooldays or event related to the OBA, etc.
Nothing received.
2.7. [Anonymised] to produce ad-hoc articles of school developments that would be of interest to OBA members.
Nothing received to date.
2.8. I believe [Anonymised] is writing or has written a history of the school.  This would be excellent material for the site.  If this isn’t yet complete, we could add chapters as and when they are ready, in a similar manner to John Macrae’s ‘Down memory lane’ chapters.
Nothing received.
2.9. The other area that is missing from the site is a history of the Association.  The longer serving members of the committee should produce such an article.  Is this [Anonymised]?
Nothing received.

3. Peter Lusted volunteered his services to form a website information sub-committee, and attended the last meeting of the website committee on 1 September.  No other volunteers have come forward.  To ensure a wide spread of relevance of the site to both old and young old boys, Peter will contact one or two from each group of attendees at the annual dinner to try to drum up volunteers to assist him.  The aim of the sub-committee will be to maintain a steady flow of information to the website, ensuring it doesn’t become stale.

4. Work has been carried out to identify an acceptable solution to the issue of how articles published on the website might be able to be distributed to members who don’t have access to the website post 2010 when publication of the Maroon may cease.  An example of the current potential offering should be available at the 12/9 meeting.

5. A demonstration of “how to get the best out of the OBA website” for committee members will be given at the 12/9 meeting, providing the facilities can be made available.

6. Contact points for all material are [Anonymised].

David Palmer
Website Committee
6 September 2008