The association produces regular news letters, and holds regular
events including its annual dinner and reunion and renowned Golf
tournament. It prides itself as being a mechanism for past students of
the college to keep up to date with the latest information and news.
Tony Baker
- Posted by StuartHarland on
13th Apr 2010 (8 days ago)
It is with great regret that
we have to announce the death of Tony Baker. Tony was a dedicated OJ
serving for many years on the Association committee, many of which as
Chairman.
In recent years he has suffered from ill health. Unfortunatelly he died
peacefully in his sleep on 30 March 2010.
At this time our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
His funeral will be held at St Colmans RC Church in Cosham at 11:30 AM
on Friday 16 April 2010.
The church is located at
St Colmans Avenue,
Havant Road,
Cosham.
Annual Dinner 2009
- Posted by StuartHarland on
27th Feb 2010 (22 days ago)
The OJA Annual
Reunion Dinner, although in its 90th year played host to a greater
celebration this year, and to coin a phrase used by our previous
publication editor, "you must have been living under a rock not to
know what this was."
It was indeed the centenary celebration of St John's College, a real
benchmark in the life of St John's, celebrating and commemorating 100
years since the founding of the College on the 4th November 1908.
Prompted by this occasion we looked for a new venue and made our debut
at the Queen.s Hotel, Southsea, which provided for us magnificently. The
OJA, which as the alumni association is the incarnation of its history,
had 143 voices of its 100 year narration attend. Unfortunately some OJs
were not able to be present as we had reached our capacity two weeks
prior to the dinner date. The support of the committee, the Headmaster
Mr Nigel Thorne, deputy headmaster Mr Adrian Steele and OJs flying in
from around the globe from as far as Australia all contributed to make
what was an extremely successful evening.
The day started with OJs being invited to attend an 'open doors' tour of
the college campus. Special thanks goes to Mr Adrian Steele (Deputy
Headmaster) who has worked tirelessly to locate and systematize a wealth
of documents, photos and memorabilia, creating what he has coined 'The
Timeline Project'. This Johannian archive was on display in the
auditorium and had an audience of around 30 OJs all in high spirits
identifying themselves and contemporaries in pictures of bygone eras.
Mr Steele sadly leaves the college this month to start his new role as
Headmaster of Meoncross High School, Stubbington. His time and effort
working along side the OJA and genuine enthusiasm for the College and
its past (noted by several OJs during the tour of the school campus)
have been invaluable. We wish him all the best in his new role.
Following this pre-dinner mass was celebrated in the college chapel by
Rev Brian Croughan where a good attendance upheld this tradition.
The dinner got underway with the AGM where our esteemed and loyal
chairman Tony Baker was nominated and unanimously voted into his tenth
year of office and revealed that he has never missed an OJA Annual
dinner since leaving the college in 1947! The success of this dinner has
been a real uplift to those on the committee who are long standing
stalwarts of the Association and without whom it is certain The OJA
would have been consigned to the archives some years ago.
We have unfortunately lost two of our female members of the committee;
Sophie Goehlert and Kristen Gardner who are both being subjected to the
taxing demands of their University finals. Their hard work and
dedication over the last two years have been responsible for the success
of the publications and extending our reach to OJs through other social
networking sites such as Facebook and Friends Reunited. We would like to
wish them the best of luck in their new ventures. The AGM saw two new
additions to the executive committee. One old face rejoining was Mr
Stefan Bartkowiak who previously worked as membership secretary and
publications editor as well as newcomer Mr Tim Basford who filled the
breach of Publications Editor. We look forward to working with them over
the next year.
Leavers spanning over a 70 year epoch, Brothers, teachers past and
present, Head boys Jonathon and Simon Priestley and Head Girl Annabel
Massey as well long and loyal friends from St Peters all sat together.
Guest of Honour, Ben Mackay gave a witty and heartfelt speech reliving
fond moments and regaling anecdotes reminiscent, even today of the
caring and Christian ethos so characteristic of St John's. The response
was made by Headmaster Mr Nigel Thorne who addressed the room with a
vote of Thanks. It was greatly appreciated having his presence at the
dinner, as his dedication to the school and the demands made upon him
make his time a very precious commodity and one the OJA value immensely.
The evening lasted until the early hours of the morning with OJs
propping up the bar, exchanging memories and making merry. Many took the
opportunity to stay at the hotel and familiar faces continued conversing
over breakfast.
The OJA would like to extend their sincerest gratitude to all who helped
to support this event. We hope very much to emulate this success next
year.
