OK - as per your suggestion Julian - here's the topic.
Taking a constructive view:
It would have been useful if the day's schedule had been on the noticeboards outside dining hall - it wasn't.
The school shop wasn't open when it was supposed to be. I found myself with many other disgruntled visitors gazing hopelessly through the window. This was at 12pm and again at 3.30pm.
I was surprised that the theatre was locked when we tried to pop in for a look at 4pm. Why? I thought OB Day didn't end till after chapel.
I was equally surprised that we could step into the Classics block unchallenged when there was some very nice I.T. equipment just sitting there in the corridor.
I was listening to comments from OBs as they chatted outside dining hall and even the much older visitors seemed miffed that things were only open for 2 hours in the morning, i.e. the CDT school exhibit.
On a more personal and perhaps constructive on a 'bigger picture' level... Things being locked, not happening, not open did not make me feel at all welcome. Who cares whether we feel welcome? Well, if someone was considering making a sizeable donation to CH, today may have given them second thoughts.
Impressions of Old Blues Day - have your say
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Hendrik
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wow, if they managed to pIss off someone with a screen name 'Happy', it really must have been sh1t.
the theatre is probably the best modern(ish) addition to the buildings at CH, why wasn't it open? i thougt they usually put play rehearsals on. next you're going to tell me the band didn't march out...
maybe someone good with words should collect all the gripes when they're written, put them in a letter, then it could be signed by all those who went. i'm guessing the cock-ups were due to typical CH lack of foresight rather than maliciousness. like you say, it's not going to make you very inclined to throw money at the place.
the theatre is probably the best modern(ish) addition to the buildings at CH, why wasn't it open? i thougt they usually put play rehearsals on. next you're going to tell me the band didn't march out...
maybe someone good with words should collect all the gripes when they're written, put them in a letter, then it could be signed by all those who went. i'm guessing the cock-ups were due to typical CH lack of foresight rather than maliciousness. like you say, it's not going to make you very inclined to throw money at the place.
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Richard Ruck
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Well, I can't comment on the afternoon, as I scarpered at lunchtime.
The shop was indeed closed, the selling of the memorabilia took place in Big School (no notices to this effect anywhere, as far as I could see).
The person running this was there until around lunchtime, I think. Don't know what happened afterwards - Julian, did you find someone to take your money?
The Museum was very busy at around 11.45 when I popped in for a look, but was due to close at 12.00, so I guess quite a few people would have missed out.
By the way, plenty of people wandering around looking for the Museum - if you don't know where it is, it's not very well signposted.
The Manual School (or whatever it is) was open, but with a warning that lessons were taking place.
Now, this may be just my feeling, but I feel a bit uncomfortable snooping around when people are trying to teach / learn, so I stayed away.
Was anything organised in the Art School? Dunno.....
Is there a problem in getting people to be present to look after exhibitions, shops, museums etc?
It does seem to be stating the bleeding obvious, but if you want Old Blues to visit exhibitions (such as they are), buy memorabilia, visit the theatre,etc., you need to ensure that they can do so throughout the duration of the day.
I noticed that the Old Blues rugby match and the 'Macbeth' rehearsal were both cancelled. Don't think I would have been tempted by the theatrical stuff anyway.
The Old Blues who attended seemed, for the most part, to be from the blazer-wearing, more, ahem, 'senior' end of the age range. I was struck by how few young O.B.s were there. It used to be quite common for large masses of recent leavers to attend Old Blues Day. From other comments on this forum, the desire to do this no longer seems to be there.
Most people I spoke to seemed to agree that Old Blues Day used to be a BIG THING in the school calendar, and the feeling was that this had changed somewhat.
I can understand the feelings on both sides here. Old Blues won't bother turning up if they think that not a lot is going to be happening, and, on the other hand, the school can hardly be expected to pull out all the stops for a relatively small number of attendees.
Still, there's a year to go till the next one, and having spoken with a few people involved with the C.H.Association, I get the impression that everyone understands that there is a fair bit of work to be done to get more people involved.
Lastly, to the old boy sitting outside the Dining Hall asking for the directions to the Court Room, I hope you got home OK.
And, to the old boy wearing a C.H. tie who, when leaving the train at C.H. station, proceeded to head down the underpass towards the northbound platform instead of out of the station and towards the school, I hope you made it to Old Blues Day!
The shop was indeed closed, the selling of the memorabilia took place in Big School (no notices to this effect anywhere, as far as I could see).
The person running this was there until around lunchtime, I think. Don't know what happened afterwards - Julian, did you find someone to take your money?
The Museum was very busy at around 11.45 when I popped in for a look, but was due to close at 12.00, so I guess quite a few people would have missed out.
By the way, plenty of people wandering around looking for the Museum - if you don't know where it is, it's not very well signposted.
The Manual School (or whatever it is) was open, but with a warning that lessons were taking place.
Now, this may be just my feeling, but I feel a bit uncomfortable snooping around when people are trying to teach / learn, so I stayed away.
Was anything organised in the Art School? Dunno.....
Is there a problem in getting people to be present to look after exhibitions, shops, museums etc?
It does seem to be stating the bleeding obvious, but if you want Old Blues to visit exhibitions (such as they are), buy memorabilia, visit the theatre,etc., you need to ensure that they can do so throughout the duration of the day.
I noticed that the Old Blues rugby match and the 'Macbeth' rehearsal were both cancelled. Don't think I would have been tempted by the theatrical stuff anyway.
The Old Blues who attended seemed, for the most part, to be from the blazer-wearing, more, ahem, 'senior' end of the age range. I was struck by how few young O.B.s were there. It used to be quite common for large masses of recent leavers to attend Old Blues Day. From other comments on this forum, the desire to do this no longer seems to be there.
Most people I spoke to seemed to agree that Old Blues Day used to be a BIG THING in the school calendar, and the feeling was that this had changed somewhat.
I can understand the feelings on both sides here. Old Blues won't bother turning up if they think that not a lot is going to be happening, and, on the other hand, the school can hardly be expected to pull out all the stops for a relatively small number of attendees.
Still, there's a year to go till the next one, and having spoken with a few people involved with the C.H.Association, I get the impression that everyone understands that there is a fair bit of work to be done to get more people involved.
Lastly, to the old boy sitting outside the Dining Hall asking for the directions to the Court Room, I hope you got home OK.
And, to the old boy wearing a C.H. tie who, when leaving the train at C.H. station, proceeded to head down the underpass towards the northbound platform instead of out of the station and towards the school, I hope you made it to Old Blues Day!
Ba.A / Mid. B 1972 - 1978
Thee's got'n where thee cassn't back'n, hassn't?
Thee's got'n where thee cassn't back'n, hassn't?
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DavebytheSea
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Well, I must have been at a different OBs day yesterday! The sun shone, the grass was green and well trimmed, everyone was smiling and helpful and - exhausted at the end of the day - I took off my blazer (yes, I am afraid I am one of those!)
Bit of a mystery about the theatre tho. I wandered in to show my family and some friends around 9:30 a.m without trouble, watched Adrian Bawtree do his Sail Thing presentation around 3:00 pm and lost my son, Jonathan there about 4:00 when he was preparing the screen for the evening film. I was not aware that it was locked - my wife and younger son Oliver went up there around 4:00 pm while I was in choir practice in the chapel tho, so I cant' be sure.
My only problem was driving back to Cornwall that evening. We left CH at 6:30 and it was a 6 hour drive (roads closed and diversions everywhere) but we had to be back for Oliver to race in Truro at 10:00 this morning (he came 6th out of about 400 runners)
I'm completely knackered and am now going into the garden to sleep it off in the sunshine!
Bit of a mystery about the theatre tho. I wandered in to show my family and some friends around 9:30 a.m without trouble, watched Adrian Bawtree do his Sail Thing presentation around 3:00 pm and lost my son, Jonathan there about 4:00 when he was preparing the screen for the evening film. I was not aware that it was locked - my wife and younger son Oliver went up there around 4:00 pm while I was in choir practice in the chapel tho, so I cant' be sure.
My only problem was driving back to Cornwall that evening. We left CH at 6:30 and it was a 6 hour drive (roads closed and diversions everywhere) but we had to be back for Oliver to race in Truro at 10:00 this morning (he came 6th out of about 400 runners)
I'm completely knackered and am now going into the garden to sleep it off in the sunshine!
Last edited by DavebytheSea on Sun Sep 18, 2005 5:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
David Eastburn (Prep B and Mid A 1947-55)
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Richard Ruck
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jtaylor
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Nice to meet both Richard and David yesterday - I seemed to spend the whole day putting various faces to names, and walking round the place trying to find people!!
A big thank you to Richard who kindly offered to sell the forum a bit yesterday - some stirling effort giving out flyers. I hope that a few more people join over the next few days.
My purely personal views of Old Blues??
I was impressed with:-
1. The band and their march-past.
2. The kids marching - I thought this was pretty good.
3. The enthusiasm of everyone I spoke to (pupils and OBs).
4. The still-present courtesy of the pupils.
5. The rifle shooting - nice to be able to "have a go" at something during the day (Clay-shooting have-a-go next year!)
6. Meeting Barclay Hankin (author of the book in #### thread)
I was less impressed with:-
1. How little of the school appeared to be open to walk around
2. How few events seemed to have been laid-on by the school.
3. Lack of sign-posting (as mentioned previously, people don't know where the rifle-range or the museum are) especially for those from Hertford?
4. The things that were cancelled/curtailed.
5. How few younger Old Blues were there - enthusiasm has certainly tailed-off. (I saw one person from my year - and he lives on-site! - nice to see you though Guy!)
When I was at school, I remember Old Blues Day being a major day in the school's calendar. Packed-lunches in houses (a mixed pleasure!), everyone on best-behaviour and all the houses tidied up for Old Blues to walk round their old houses - we all knew that Old Blues were around, and there were people in the houses to show them round.
I remember there being such a list of things on that Old Blues couldn't possibly go to it all, so had to pick-and-choose.
I guess it's a viscious circle - the fewer people attend, the less the school will lay on?.......maybe that's what's happened?
We'll need ideas on the forum over the coming months/years in order to really "sell" Old Blues day, in parallel with encouraging the school to engage with the people that are ultimately perpetuating and funding the school.
In my view Old Blues Day should be a show-case of the School and it's activities, showing those off to the current and future benefactors of the school - if we get it wrong, the future of CH could be challenging.....
Point of note:- I believe that Old Blues Day is every 2 years now?
J
A big thank you to Richard who kindly offered to sell the forum a bit yesterday - some stirling effort giving out flyers. I hope that a few more people join over the next few days.
My purely personal views of Old Blues??
I was impressed with:-
1. The band and their march-past.
2. The kids marching - I thought this was pretty good.
3. The enthusiasm of everyone I spoke to (pupils and OBs).
4. The still-present courtesy of the pupils.
5. The rifle shooting - nice to be able to "have a go" at something during the day (Clay-shooting have-a-go next year!)
6. Meeting Barclay Hankin (author of the book in #### thread)
I was less impressed with:-
1. How little of the school appeared to be open to walk around
2. How few events seemed to have been laid-on by the school.
3. Lack of sign-posting (as mentioned previously, people don't know where the rifle-range or the museum are) especially for those from Hertford?
4. The things that were cancelled/curtailed.
5. How few younger Old Blues were there - enthusiasm has certainly tailed-off. (I saw one person from my year - and he lives on-site! - nice to see you though Guy!)
When I was at school, I remember Old Blues Day being a major day in the school's calendar. Packed-lunches in houses (a mixed pleasure!), everyone on best-behaviour and all the houses tidied up for Old Blues to walk round their old houses - we all knew that Old Blues were around, and there were people in the houses to show them round.
I remember there being such a list of things on that Old Blues couldn't possibly go to it all, so had to pick-and-choose.
I guess it's a viscious circle - the fewer people attend, the less the school will lay on?.......maybe that's what's happened?
We'll need ideas on the forum over the coming months/years in order to really "sell" Old Blues day, in parallel with encouraging the school to engage with the people that are ultimately perpetuating and funding the school.
In my view Old Blues Day should be a show-case of the School and it's activities, showing those off to the current and future benefactors of the school - if we get it wrong, the future of CH could be challenging.....
Point of note:- I believe that Old Blues Day is every 2 years now?
J
Julian Taylor-Gadd
Leigh Hunt 1985-1992
Founder of The Unofficial CH Forum
https://www.grovegeeks.co.uk - IT Support and website design for home, small businesses and charities.
Leigh Hunt 1985-1992
Founder of The Unofficial CH Forum
https://www.grovegeeks.co.uk - IT Support and website design for home, small businesses and charities.
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marty
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The reason no one turns up is precisely because the school stopped laying stuff on. This is not a criticism of the current head but things began to change when Richard Poulton left in 1996. Moving it from June to September was a silly idea and I gather it is now held on a Saturday rather than a Sunday - again bad idea - people tend to be busier on a Saturday and so don't turn up. When I was at CH Old Blue's Day was a major event in the school calendar - it seems as if they simply couldn't care anymore.Richard Ruck wrote:I can understand the feelings on both sides here. Old Blues won't bother turning up if they think that not a lot is going to be happening, and, on the other hand, the school can hardly be expected to pull out all the stops for a relatively small number of attendees.
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Great Plum
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Well, I turned up on Old Blue's Day and was shocked at how few Old Blues were there...
Probably because there was nothing much to do...
Many things had been cancelled and the only thing I was interested in (singing in chapel) was not until after I had to leave...
There just didn't seem to be much on and what was had been cancelled...
I saw people from my year (we left in 1999) and 3 of them were discussing at 2pm to get out of there to find a pub as there was nothing to do...
Recent Old Blues don't turn up to OB's day in big numbers now because - it's at the time of the year when a large number of unis start and therefore they are getting ready/ all ready at uni....
Also, they now tend to go to Beating Retreat and the Bax afterwards or to St Matthew's Day - upwards for 200 recent OB's will be at both events...
Probably because there was nothing much to do...
Many things had been cancelled and the only thing I was interested in (singing in chapel) was not until after I had to leave...
There just didn't seem to be much on and what was had been cancelled...
I saw people from my year (we left in 1999) and 3 of them were discussing at 2pm to get out of there to find a pub as there was nothing to do...
Recent Old Blues don't turn up to OB's day in big numbers now because - it's at the time of the year when a large number of unis start and therefore they are getting ready/ all ready at uni....
Also, they now tend to go to Beating Retreat and the Bax afterwards or to St Matthew's Day - upwards for 200 recent OB's will be at both events...
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Happy
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Agreed Julian.
I also thought it was nice to see current pupils in housey (or 'their robes' according to my Harry Potter loving daughter).
I didn't wish to appear too negative but I couldn't find much to be positive about and I am only 20 minutes away. If had travelled from further afield, the dissappointment may have turned into offense.
I also thought it was nice to see current pupils in housey (or 'their robes' according to my Harry Potter loving daughter).
I didn't wish to appear too negative but I couldn't find much to be positive about and I am only 20 minutes away. If had travelled from further afield, the dissappointment may have turned into offense.
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marty
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Unless the powers that be think that there's an advantage to having large numbers of ex-pupils turning up and trampling all over the quad they're not going to bother. The advantage for OBs of going back was to see your old friends, maybe check-out how much the place had changed and, best of all, the free tea, cakes and eclairs laid on at the front of house. Maybe there's a cash flow problem and they can't afford the scones and urns anymore...
My therapist says I have a preoccupation with vengeance. We’ll see about that.
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Great Plum
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Well there is a cash-flow problem but that's another topic altogether...marty wrote:Unless the powers that be think that there's an advantage to having large numbers of ex-pupils turning up and trampling all over the quad they're not going to bother. The advantage for OBs of going back was to see your old friends, maybe check-out how much the place had changed and, best of all, the free tea, cakes and eclairs laid on at the front of house. Maybe there's a cash flow problem and they can't afford the scones and urns anymore...
You are thinking of when Old Blues Day was combined with Parent's Day (another thing that has fallen by the wayside this year)
Maine B - 1992-95 Maine A 1995-99
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ben ashton
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DavebytheSea
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Yes - I agree! I very much enjoyed the combined OB/Parents Day, but was it not the OBs who asked for it to be separated? I think I may be getting confused (again!)
I very much enjoyed Saturday. Having said that, there are clearly lessons to be learned and let's hope that there will be a day next year full of excitement and adventure (or exhibitions at least). The summer term seems great too. Why did we change it?
PS The lunch was Excellent!!
I very much enjoyed Saturday. Having said that, there are clearly lessons to be learned and let's hope that there will be a day next year full of excitement and adventure (or exhibitions at least). The summer term seems great too. Why did we change it?
PS The lunch was Excellent!!
David Eastburn (Prep B and Mid A 1947-55)
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