Founders Day
On the occasion of Founders Day, it is our tradition to give thanks and celebrate the vision and the generosity of the founders and benefactors who brought our School into existence. They recognised the value of a good education and established a school which would deliver the finest education possible to girls and boys, irrespective of means. Our Governors remain committed to those values today.
It is also traditional to pay our respects to Old Boys who died in the two Great Wars, and a two-minute silence is held after a bugler plays the Last Post and a wreath is laid at the War Memorial.
At the lunch following the Church Service, we have an opportunity to acknowledge the support of current benefactors whose generosity is so vital to the future of our schools.
If you would like further information about Founders' Day, please do not hesitate to contact francine@bgsdev.demon.co.uk.
Founders' Day 2011
Dear Friends,
Just a short report that Founders' Day, this year, was an unusually effervescent event, or so it seemed to us.
On an otherwise grim northern day, the sun performed its usual BGS miracle and shone through the clerestory windows of St. Mary's Parish Church just as the School standards were placed on the altar. The parade was maybe slightly more than its usual raggedy self, an impression created perhaps by the fact that all members of the CCF, men and women and officers, now wear camouflage fatigues, and that not all pupils, girls or boys, now tuck their shirts in, like they used to do. Hmmmn. But the lunch at School was joyous and very, very well attended by an audience treated to picture views of how the new Sixth Form Center is going to look as it starts to rise in the next year or two.
And there were many old friends to greet, including Barry Henstock from Canada, although in between all the eating and speaking we only got to exchange a brief word with Barry and his wife. We were happy also to (re)unite with Derek Hodgkiss and his wife, Arthur Price and his wife, David Harrison, the School Bursar, David Lord, Sheila Davenport, Janet Lawley, Ian Fallows, and Melvin Ince, among others.
I have several, separate reports that the London dinner for the OBA, this year, hosted by Alistair Burt, M.P. in the terrace dining room of the House of Commons, was also an exceptionally happy occasion and very well attended.
While in England, Gretel re-connected with John and Dorothy Hansford. John was Headmaster from 1960-69 and would be delighted to hear from those of you who remember them at BGSB.
Geoffrey.
Geoffrey Wandesforde-Smith (1962 Leaver)
Emeritus Professor of Political Science
University of California, Davis.
