Gordon's OM Presidential Year

 1st October 2021 Well this has finally come around - my Presidential Annual Dinner at which I hand over to my successor. The dinner was held at the beautiful and impressive Plaisterers Hall close to the Museum of London. I had been concerned that a combination of Covid caution together with a conflict of dates as a result of so many things being postponed would reduce the numbers attending. Indeed, this has happened to a small degree with several "regulars" not able to attend. However, overall the 140+ attending was a very respectable number, and I can say that I was delighted. I was pleased to see good representation from my era at school, the 1960s, as well as golfers, Oakers, and engineers, all groups with whom I have had the pleasure to associate with over many years. The feedback that I have had has been very positive. Everyone was impressed with the venue and the food was excellent much as we had hoped after our tasting experience. And then of course the speeches....!

 27th September 2021 Well, this month has been busy for this hitherto all too inactive President. We started the month with the 6th From leavers event which which turned into a great success. We hold this each year as an introduction to the OM Club. For many years this had been held at the National Liberal Club, but this is no longer relevant. So, in recent years it had reverted to the school. However, these past two years it had to be cancelled because of Covid. We decided to go ahead and hold it on 1st September when the leavers are formally no longer the responsibility of the school and at an external venue - the Saracens rugby stadium. 110 school leavers plus other guests turned up which was more than expected. Of course we did offer free drinks! Next came the Past Presidents Lunch. This has become a tradition and thanks to Stuart Hibberdine is held each year at the Athenaeum Club in London. There were 11 former OM Presidents including myself. Several were unable to make it this ye

 21st July 2021 At last....! The OM's Summer Cocktail Party went ahead at the National Liberal Club! Hooray!! Up until the last day I was wondering whether we might have to postpone given the rising number of Covid cases as well as the flash floods and storms around London. But it went ahead and was a great success. We are still reconciling the numbers but our section of the terrace at the NLC was crowded with OMs and guests enjoying a beautiful evening with excellent food and drink. My guess is that there were at least 55 present, despite several "regulars" having sent their apologies. Most encouraging was to see the age range. There were quite a number of young OM's as well as those mid-career. This bodes well for the future of the club. My thanks to Laura Turner at the OM Club who organised everything with the NLC. When I get some photos I shall upload one or two. Fingers crossed that we can look forward to a few more events before we get to the Annual Dinner on Fr

 15th July 2021 It has indeed been a while since my last Blog post. When I set this up and set out to Blog regularly during my Presidential term who could have imagined what we have been through these past 18 months. At every stage when I thought that we were about to open up sufficiently to enable the OMC events to start up again, we have been thwarted by a surge in cases and new Covid variants. But at last we have good news earlier this week that the opening up will go ahead on Monday 19th July. This means that the OMC annual summer Cocktail Party can go ahead on Wednesday 21st July at the National Liberal Club. I realise that some people will still be cautious about attending such events, and I understand this. However, I do hope to see a decent turnout and look forward to catching up with many OMs. We haven't been inactive during these past many months. A couple of weeks ago we held the OMC AGM via Zoom for the second year running and this went very smoothly. We had 44 people l

 26/11/2020 Today we held the first virtual OM reunion for Australia. I was delighted that we were 14 participants including Jane Sanchez (MHS Head), Peter Wakeham (OMC Chair) and myself as President acting as chair for the Zoom meeting. It was wonderful to see quite a number of those whom Angela and I had met during our trip in January, which now seems so long ago (almost another era). After introducing ourselves, Jane gave us an update on how the school is coping with the Covid challenges and examples of the arrangements that have had to be undertaken. Jane also touched on developments at the school and emphasised how much the school and Foundation have grown in the past few years and that demand for places remained strong. I then invited Peter to say a few words about the OM Club. Peter explained about the changes in structure, the life membership developments and some of our plans for the future, especially the careers and alumni websites. Below is a screenshot of those who joined.

Wednesday 11th November 2020 The Remembrance Day service  at MHS is always a moving event and very well organised . It aims to  include as many of the pupils as possible and explain the context and significance with imaginative displays. There is usually a strong turnout of OMs and the President of the OMC lays a wreath on behalf of the Club and gives a reading during the chapel service (see earlier blog).  Sadly, not all of this was possible this year. As a result of Covid19 restrictions in force, the OM contingent wasn't allowed to attend and I couldn't represent the Club as I had done last year. The school managed to live stream the service at the memorial arch and the earlier ceremony in the Quad in the Chapel Garden. Attendance was very limited, and most pupils were able to view proceedings in their classrooms via the streaming.  On a positive note, it was great to see the school putting on such a wonderful effort in these tough times, and I look forward to being present a