Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Having stuck my head above the parapet by setting this site up, I've been asked to be on the new CH Association Shadow Board.....

Having had major concerns about the HOW, WHY, and WHAT would be different, I had a bit of soul-searching before accepting.

However, now that "we are where we are" I felt it important to see if we could make a difference to the new Association, and try to define the How, Why and What - hence, I'm very keen in seeking feedback from as many people as possible about what they want from an Old Blues association/club/network etc. and hence invite you all to have your say, either here in this topic, or via private message or email....

I look forward to hearing your views, and hopefully making a difference to the Old Blue community in a positive way.......

J

Well that's very brave of you Julian!

Did you go to the last meeting of the Club last Saturday?

What were the outcomes?

Who is on the new board?

What are their plans for the first year?

Great Plum wrote:Well that's very brave of you Julian!

Not so sure about brave - fool-hardy may be more appropriate!

Great Plum wrote:
Did you go to the last meeting of the Club last Saturday?

Yes, was there. Interesting meeting, my first of the CH Club or any other AGM of that style (church PCC is the closest I've come)
Lots of concern from the Old Blues present, although the vote on adopting the resolution was overwhelmingly in favour of adopting the new CHA (even though it wasn't an official vote)
The concerns raised had valid backgrounds, but I was itching to speak just to reassure people that we want to take into account all the concerns and move forward now that the membership has taken a decision.

Great Plum wrote: What were the outcomes?

Basically to move forward with the Association, although there are some concerns over the non-signing of the minutes, as they apparantly didn't reflect the AGM last year...don't know what will happen about that...

Great Plum wrote: Who is on the new board?

Board members:-
Kate Atkinson - Col B 1993 to 2000, Senior Grecian 1999/2000
John Gower - Barnes A/Thornton A 1978 to 1985 (Hon sec of Thorn B and Ward Nine Association for past 12 years, playing member of the Old Blues Rugby Football Club since 1985 + Club Captain for 2000 to 2002.)
Peter Hill - Maine B 1943-1949 (Governor, CH Club Secretary 1994 to date, BSB, Amicable)
John Hopgood - Barnes B 1959-1966 (Editor of Old Blue section of The Blue)
Kerren Simmonds - 2's 1957-1966 CHOGA Committee since 1980, editorship of the OG Newsletter when girls moved to Horsham, Chair of Association through to integrating with CH Club.
Carol Stevens - 3's 1959-1965 (Almoner, BSB, CH Club)
Julian Taylor - LHB/LHA 1985-1992 (BSB, CH Club)
Also invited to attend:-
Michael Simpkin - Clerk
Mark Curtis - CH Partnership Director
The current Senior Grecian (Tamas Lorinczy) has also been invited to attend (although he couldn't attend the first meeting due to illness, he's extremely keen to be involved)

Great Plum wrote: What are their plans for the first year?

Appointing a manager has been the first priority, and the first board meeting was taken up to a large degree with confirming the job spec etc. so that Mark Curtis could proceed with recruitment. This has been going ahead, and I gather some progress is being made with applicants.
Once that person's in place, we'll be working with them to move the Association forward, and to try to identify how to better engage with the Old Blues/alumni etc. etc. of CH....
One of the main elements of this will be content and communication, identifying what people want from the Association...hence my requests for positive input moving forward.

J

Thank you for that info Julian... looks like you have some work on!

Good to see Kate in the team, she's a good friend of mine!

It's nice to see more 'youngsters' getting interested in the school's affairs after the accusations made earlier about the 'newer' O.B'S not wanting to get involved.

As a prematurely 'retired' person, I have a lot of time on my hands, and only live some 12 miles from the school, so if I can help you out in any way, Julian, please don't hesitate to contact me.

I believe you have my E-Mail address.

J.

hang on, is the shadow board in opposition then? y'know, a bit like the shadow cabinet?

Hey Julian! let's get it right. Tamas is the Senior Grecian Emeritus - the current holder is Hannah Jenkins. Did you invite the wrong person???

But Tamas is a splendid fellow, too.

Note the date of the post above - 27th April! It was correct at the time of posting!

Hannah Jenkins will be invited, and I'm not sure if Sara or the Headmaster have spoken with her yet.

Tamas has been extremely positive and has a real passion for making a difference through the CHA.
Have met with him a couple of times, and been really impressed.
He's keen to keep involved in whatever he can, so I'm sure we'll see lots of input from him in the coming years (other committments permitting)

J

Sorry JT - mea culpa. See you next week.

Sorry JT - mea culpa. See you next week.

Woops! How does one undo that which one has done which one should not have done?

DavebytheSea wrote:Woops! How does one undo that which one has done which one should not have done?

I'll check with the wife Dave - She's bound to know !!