| | | | | | EVENTS DIARY A REMINDER THAT WIVES & PARTNERS ARE MOST WELCOME AT SOCIAL EVENTS! | | | | | | | | MONTHLY LUNCHEONS. Last Thursday of the month, 12.30pm for 1pm at the Conservative Club, South Walks, Dorchester. It helps if you let Peter LEWENDON know if you intend to come; he can he contacted at Higher Folly Farm Cottage, Crewkerne, Somerset TA18 8PN (Tel 01460 73927) 2000 AGM & ANNUAL DINNER. NOT TO BE MISSED! Saturday 18th March 2000, AGM starts 6.00pm.,Dinner follows 7.30pm for 8.00pm at the Thomas Hardy Hall, Weymouth Avenue, Dorchester. The Speaker will be Simon WINCHESTER. Please may we have a good turnout of the 1955 - 1982 brigade. SEE BOOKING FORM AT END OF THIS NEWSLETTER. [NB Minutes of the 1999 AGM appeared in Newsletter No. 78 (May 1999 issue)]. Sunday 19th March 2000, CHURCH SERVICE at ST. PETERS, DORCHESTER i.e. Sunday following AGM & Dinner, at 10.30am (Communion Service) THOMAS HARDYE SCHOOL MILLENNIUM DAY will be held Saturday 1st July 2000. Further details to follow. | | | | | | | | OUR PRESIDENT WRITES | | | | | | | | In September, your Club Council unanimously endorsed a final draft of the main proposals for the formation of a charitable trust which will greatly benefit future students of the School. A copy of those proposals is included elsewhere in this Newsletter so that members may have the opportunity to read them before the AGM on 18th March 2000. I am most grateful to Nigel Digby and Don Culver who have provided invaluable assistance in preparing these proposals for the Club. I know Members will share my pleasure in welcoming Simon WINCHESTER as our guest speaker at the Annual Dinner on 18th March. A pupil at school from 1955 to 1962, he has traveled extensively in Africa, India, Asia and America. A gifted writer, his latest book quotes "the Fracture Zone" about the former Yugoslavia was published in December. After 20 years as a Foreign Correspondent for The Guardian he now contributes regularly to The Daily Telegraph, Spectator, the BBC and a number of American magazines. We look forward very much to his address. | | | | | | | | CHANGES OF ADDRESS | | | | | | | | Alan ATTRYDE: 142 Turner Rd., Edgware, Middlesex HA8 6AR, e-mail attryde@hotmail.com see also YOU WRITE. Dr. Ian DIGBY: correct address should read 54 Woodrush Rd., Warren Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk IP3 8RD. Mark L. FROST: 36 Drampton Drive, Carterton, Oxfordshire OX18 3SA see also YOU WRITE. | | | | | | | | ARMISTICE DAY 11th November1999 | | | | | | | | T he Remembrance Day ceremony was held as usual, at the School Gates, Queens Avenue. A number of' members braved the elements and the CCF Band and marching contingent wore on parade, under the command of Peter Wood. Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Club, Governors, staff and students. | | | | | | | | LONDON DINNER | | | | | | | | The London Dinner was held once again at University College, London on Tuesday 2nd November1999. Organized as ever by Professor Hugh GRIFFITHS (1967-74), the menu Included Fillet of Lamb and Pistachio Cr�me Brule. Those attending were Club President Maj. Gen. John STEPHENSON (1938-47) and Mrs. Sheila STEPHENSON, President-Elect C. Gordon CROCKER (1938-46), Secretary Colin LUCAS (1946-50), Bernard KIRBY (1932-37), George FOLEY (1925-34), Alan SULLY (1943-50), MalcoIm SULLY (1943-51), David CULVER and Mrs Jeanette CULVER, David McCRIRICK (1946-53), David SINGLETON (1946-52), G. L. C. BROWNE (1943-50), Peter LEWENDON (1948-84), George M. WELCH (1948-53), Andrew TRUSCOTT (1952-59), John FARWELL (1955-63), Nick LIGHT (1956-61), Michael DENCH (1956-61), Stuart PALMER (1956-63), John BARBARA (1957-64), Roger ALLARD (1957-64), Owen DAVIES (1967-72) and Prof. Hugh GRIFFITHS (1967-74). [School dates are as provided by those attending] | | | | | | | | CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON | | | | | | | | A capacity attendance was achieved at the 1999 Hardyeans' Club Christmas Luncheon, held on Thursday 16th December, at the Dorchester Conservative Club. Over 50 members and wives sat down to an excellent meal. Club President Maj. Gen. John STEPHENSON was in the Chair and took the opportunity to introduce the President-Elect, C Gordon CROCKER, to members. He also hoped that as many as possible would attend the AGM and Annual Dinner on 18th March 2000, reminding members that the speaker would he Simon WINCHESTER (1955-62) and asking for a good representation of Simon's contemporaries. | | | | | | | | OBITUARY | | | | | | | | | On behalf of The Club, the Editor offers sincere condolences to the family of Mrs. Gwen ROBERTS, widow of Jo, sadly passed away in December 1999. Your Editor was one of a number of ex Hardye's staff and pupils who attended her thanksgiving Service at St Peter's Church, Dorchester on 21st December 1999. In his address, the Rector of St. Peter's, the Reverend Robin Johnson reminded us of Gwen's sterling work for the church, the community and the School. | | | | | | | | | YOU WRITE | | | | | | | | From Alan ATTRYDE who wrote to advise his change of address as above and to update on his career as follows. I am off to Washington DC, Monday 1st November for 2-3 months to help out in the Embassy. Then next year I am due to travel to Washington DC again at the beginning of August to work there for 4 years as First Secretary (Commercial), Unfortunately I lost my electronic agenda with everyone's addresses in it, so would be grateful if old friends could make contact so I have their addresses again!! Any e-mails please. to attryde@hotmail.com From Chris SLADE, 13 Church Road, Maiden Newton DT2 0AH . I write this at a time of year when poppies begin to bloom again on lapels throughout the world. I mentioned before my annual visits to Ypres (or van leper as the locals call it). Hardyes CCF sends a contingent arid usually wins the prize for being the largest in its class. We are the recipients of or the excuse for a certain amount of municipal junketing and this year (1999 - Editor.) following a mountainous barbecue the CCF distinguished themselves with some panache at karaoke although the school song is not quite as I remember it. The main reason for writing is that I fell in with the Bursar of Pate's Grammar School (formerly Cheltenham Grammar) which also sends a CCF most years. She had a sheaf of poppied crosses and a folder. Her mission was to place a cross on the resting place of a number of Old Boys whose graves were close to where we were walking. The folder contained a brief history of each and often a photograph. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (on the Internet) had located the graves and the school history department had discovered the biography of former pupils. They have done so for all their fallen in both World Wars arid other military incidents. The ambition is to place a cross on them all and they are well on the way to success although there is some competition as to who is to do Burma. The crosses are placed by present and past pupils, teachers on their travels I believe that this is an idea that could be copied by ourselves as a joint project with the school. It would bring us more together, emphasize the continuity of thee school and the tradition of service flowing from earlier generations to the present, give a focus to modern history lessons arid enable pupils to empathize (this is trendy) with people who made history. It might also bring home to this coining generation the horror, heroism and human cost of warfare. LEST WE FORGET. I am sorry that this idea is not original but it is too good in my opinion to overlook. I don't know how best to achieve progress - perhaps it could be a millennium project. From Mark L FROST, writing from his new address in Oxfordshire (see Changes of Address). I returned from my 28-month exchange tour to Australia in having had a super time clocking up the miles as I ticked off visiting all the major places. Several Australians have reliably informed me that my family and I have seen more of their country than they have! Our travels have taken us from the very cosmopolitan city of Perth in Western Australia across the Nullabor Plain to Adelaide where we visited the wonderful vineyards of the Barossa. Being based In Victoria, we saw a lot of Melbourne and the surrounding countryside before making several trips up the East coast stopping off at Canberra, Sydney, Newcastle, The Gold Coast, Brisbane, Townsville and finally Cairns. Taking In the splendor of the Rain Forest and the Great Barrier Reef were obvious highlights together with the journey up through the middle via Alice Springs end Ayres Rock. Finally, we made a quick dash up to Darwin to experience both Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks. If anyone is thinking of visiting Australia, I highly recommend it Except for when the Olympics are on next year (2000 - Editor), airfares to Australia are cheap together with an excellent exchange rate of A$2.50 to every pound. Our trip home was fantastic starting with a two day stopover in Singapore. After the hustle and bustle of downtown Singapore. experiencing the colonial feel of Raffles Hotel was a welcome relief. Naturally, one had to sample a true Singapore Sling even if it did cost an arm and a leg. Next, "we spent an idyllic two weeks in Mauritius, staying up in the north-west of the Island midway between the capital of Port Louis and Grand Baie. I've always wanted to visit Mauritius, ever since I read an article by the late Frank Muir in which he described it as being as close to paradise as one can get. The sunsets were especially spectacular; the locals claim that no two are the same and sitting on the beach with a cocktail watching this became a daily ritual. However, our timing was slightly out in that after 5 glorious days, we were notified of the approach or tropical cyclone Davina, the first to hit Mauritius in 5 years. Fortunately, although experiencing winds in excess of 100 mph, prior warning and preparation resulted in a lot less damage than anticipated. Our final part of the holiday was Zimbabwe which included a night-stop in Harare, two days at a Safari lodge and 3 days at Victoria Falls, the latter coinciding with our 17th wedding anniversary! Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, seeing a whole range of wildlife together with the awe-inspiring vision of Victoria Falls. However, all good things must come to an end and after living out of a suitcase for six and a half weeks we arrived back at Gatwick. It was a typically cold grey day, which then degenerated into steady drizzle as we came back down to reality and arrived at our new home, RAF Brize Norton. I'm still working In Air Traffic Control but having completed two tours as an ATC instructor, I now find myself back at the coal face controlling aeroplanes! Life here was fairly busy initially due to the Balkan conflict. Our VC1O and Tn-Star tankers were heavily involved providing essential Air-to-Air refueling. Furthermore. Brize ATC was responsible for all the American aircraft as they arrived/departed from RAF Fairford which is just a few miles down the road. It all seemed very eerie talking to a B1/B52 that was either on its way to or from a bombing mission. Nowadays, things are more peaceful with our aircraft providing the air transport that our troops in the Balkans require. Hopefully. now that I am home. I shall be able to make one of the monthly lunches or annual dinners! The. Following is a reprint from the previous edition of the Newsletter for any who may have missed it. From Terry STONE (1955-63), Apartado 659, Panama 9A, Panama. The Hardyeans' Club Website is up and running in it's first try form and can be found on the Internet at http://www.hardyeansclub.com. It needs to be developed into an asset for all members of the Club who can access the World Wide Web over the Internet. Hopefully they will all get enjoyment from reading about the Club and School on the net. Readers are asked to forward any comments or suggestions to me by e-mail at webmaster@hardyeansclub.com. All communications will he gratefully received. I need everyone's help to make it better. With very best regards to all Hardyeans past and present. | | | | | | | | STOP PRESS! News of Two reunions! | | | | | | | | Your Editor was interested to read of the historic reunion of members of the Dorchester Grammar School 6th Form who kept their promise to meet, over 50 years on, in January 2000 which was reported in the Dorset Echo of Monday 10th January 2000. From the Echo's coverage it is evident that there was a good turnout, the reunion taking the form of a two day stay in the County Town. Among those attending were Norman BROWN. who is an optometrist from Weymouth, David DALE a former governor of Montserrat and Barry LEYLAND from Taunton who worked for Shell UK. During the two day reunion the group enjoyed a guided tour around the Thomas Hardye School at Queen's Avenue during which they presented the Headteacher, Dr. Iain MELVIN with a school photograph of masters and pupils dating from 1921. The reunion was organized by our Hardyeans' Club president John STEPHENSON. John set about organizing the event some ten years ago and contacted those partaking through the Hardyeans' Club. In the same issue of the Dorset Echo four former Thomas Hardye School students were pictured after receiving their A level and GNVQ certificates. They were Theo MAUGER, Adrian SOUTH, Catherine UPTON and Emma WILLIAMS. The School's Deputy Head, Rebecca DODMAN, told the Echo that the presentation evening was an annual event and had attracted around 100 past students this time. Congratulations to all recipients, many of whom have joined the Club since leaving school. | | | | | | | | THE HARDYEANS' CLUB CHARITABLE TRUST | | | | | | | | (A final draft of the main proposals for the formation of a Charitable Trust unanimously agreed by the Club Council on 6th. September 1999 for consideration at the AGM on 18th March 2000) | | | | | | | | TITLE 1. The Hardyeans' Club Charitable Association. MEMBERSHIP 2. Membership of The Charity is open to all members of the Hardyeans Club who are over the age of 18 years. OBJECTIVES 3. The Charity's objects are to promote the EDUCATION of students or former students of the Thomas Hardye School at Dorchester, who are in need of financial assistance. In particular the Charity will: (1) Provide additional financial resources to enable students to broaden their education by joining organized school visits outside the UK. (2) Award Scholarships, Exhibitions, Bursaries, Maintenance Allowances or Grants to students (or former students under the age of 25 years) completing their higher education at university or other educational Institutions approved by the Trustees. WAYS OF CARRYING OUT OBJECTIVES 4. Objective 1, Overseas Visits The Thomas Hardye School at Dorchester is an all-abilities comprehensive school for boys and girls. with the vast majority of the students coming from homes in Dorchester and the surrounding rural area. As an important part of their education, the School sends organized groups on Visits Overseas every year. Students require financial support from their parents to undertake these visits. Some parents are unable to provide this additional financial support. The first objective of the Trust is to provide these disadvantaged students with grants enabling them to join these educational visits overseas. 5. Objective 2, Higher Education As the amount of financial support available to students (or former students under the age of 25 years) of the Thomas Hardye School seeking higher education declines, there is increasing concern that some deserving student may be denied higher education solely for the lack of financial resources. It is the intention of the Trustees to remedy this situation by awarding Scholarships, Exhibitions, Bursaries, Maintenance Allowances or Grants to deserving students. Since the achievement of this secondary objective will require a significant level of financial capital, the Trustees recognize that this objective is unlikely to be achieved for several years. FUND RAISING 6. The main method of fund raising will be by appeal to former students of the Thomas Hardye School arid other potential benefactors who will be encouraged to donate by covenant, gift-aid, and/or legacy. 7. A few fund raising events may be organized to publicize the Charitable Trust and to augment income into the Trust e.g. Barbecue Lunch Evening Cocktail Party, etc. 8. Professional fund raisers will NOT be employed. 9. Awards will only be made from income from investments held by the Trust. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (TRUSTEES) 10. The Trustees will be 7 members including Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary, plus not more than two co-opted members. All Members will be appointed at the Club AGM. 11. Governors, Members of the School staff or paid employees of the School are excluded. 12. There will be two meetings each year including an AGM in March. ACCOUNTS 13. Annual Statements as at 31st December with annual returns to the Charity Commissioners ALTERATIONS TO TERMS OF THE TRUST 14 The Title of the Trust (para. 1 above), the Objectives of the Trust (para. 3 above), the clause ensuring that all Trustees shall not be personally interested and the Dissolution Clause cannot be amended without the prior consent of the Charity Commission in writing. | | | | | | | | FROM THE HEADTEACHER OF THE THOMAS HARDYE SCHOOL | | | | | | | | This has been something of an annus mirabelis for the Tomas Hardye School. The School returned after the summer break to discover that we had achieved the best Advanced Level GCE and GCSE results in Dorset. At A level our average points score of 22 placed us well above all averages and far surpassed that of the majority of our closest rivals. Indeed our results were not bettered by any non-selective school in the south-west. It was very gratifying indeed that we have exceeded a substantial number of renowned independent schools (Bruton, Taunton, Blundells, Downside and Uppingham are just a few examples) and also selective schools, our most notable scalp being Bournemouth School for Girls. Five students have embarked upon courses at Oxford or Cambridge and we are pleased to see students leaving us for Imperial College, LSE and a host of other notable institutions. Perhaps the most striking statistic was that five girls from our sixth form left to study Medicine - the future is indeed female! In the GCSE examinations 71% of our students gained 5A*-C grades, this is a remarkable achievement in a school of this size. Once again the results were the best in Dorset and 25% above the national average. The school was in the top 100 non-selective schools in the country and performed particularly well in French and Science. Students and staff deserve great congratulations for these excellent results. The term continued to bestow gifts upon us through the opening of our new building for English, Business Education and performing Arts. These new facilities allowed us to make a number of changes and enhance other areas of the curriculum, this included an extension of the Resources Center. The Governors were able to provide finance for even more substantial Information Technology facilities and other equipment. I feel confident in claiming that no school in the maintained sector of education will be able to claim better facilities than ourselves. The 'icing on the cake' for the school was the news that we had won The Schools' Curriculum Award. This is the second time the school has won this national recognition of its work in the community and sits well with the Charter Mark of Excellence which we also won this year. Of course while all of this has been happening the school has continued to develop and I trust improve. The pace of change in education continues to be frenetic and the desire for improved results is relentless. Certainly the school will be doing everything to maintain the very high standard it has set itself. Our main initiative at present is to gain recognition as a Technology College and a substantial number of staff are working on the very detailed submission and targets we must develop; colleagues are also striving to raise the �50,000 private sponsorship that must accompany the application. Such sponsorship will bring approximately �500,000 of extra finance into the school. We are very hopeful we can raise this sum. I am very aware that many captains of industry are Hardyeans and if you feel your organization could in any way help us to achieve our financial target that support would be greatly appreciated. Please contact the school if you would like to know more. It is in the nature of headteachers to be optimistic and positive about their schools. I am afraid that I am no exception, however, I hope Hardyeans would agree with me that at present I have good cause. The school is going from strength to strength and should be both proud of its achievements and thankful to all those members of its community, past and present, who support it. Dr. I.E. Melvin. | | | | | | |