UK ODU Photo Gallery: July 2017

On Friday 30th June, the UK ODs gathered for drinks in the Morning Room of The Carlton Club in London for a spirited warm up to the 2017 Annual Dinner. And from there, we proceeded to the beautifully laid-out Churchill Room, which filled to capacity with 94 ODs and guests.

The dinner was hosted by the ODU President, Raymond Ackerman (S, 1948). Our guest of honour was The Lord Flight of Worcester. We were delighted to welcome Mike Bosman (O, 1978) Chairman of the College Council.

Our MC was Tom Baigrie (F, 1978) ebullient, irreverent, and as witty as ever. With a commanding presence, he marshalled our speakers and the rest of us through the dinner, and in the absence of the ODU Chairman Bruce Jack (G, 1987) read out his speech - being more Bruce than Bruce. The job of the MC is literally a thankless one, but our huge thanks to Tom for his effective crowd control and time management - and setting the tone.

Matthew Golesworthy (K, 2011) said the Grace in impeccable Latin. The grace this year was that of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. This in part recognises that we cannot always rely on Oxford for our dinner devotions and in part because one of the ODs present - Nick Heesom (W, 1961) - is a graduate of Trinity Hall – although the ensuing discussions centred around whether either as a Bishops schoolboy or student at Cambridge Nick would actually have understood the words.

This, as last year, the wines were generously donated by Anthony Record MBE (S, 1956) from his Languedoc vineyard, Domaine Gayda. The fruits of those vines were plentiful and delicious.

After the starters, Rowan Nicholls (G, 2010) proposed the toast to Bishops, sharing with us one or two very amusing and warm memories of his school experience so that when we rose, glasses fully charged to salute our School, it was if we ourselves had been transported back to our own days there.

Raymond Ackerman then welcomed everyone on behalf of the ODU and spoke briefly and positively about South Africa and Bishops, reminding everyone that the recently-launched Bishops Appeal to raise R175 million for the School was a sign of the confidence the Council had both in the country and in Bishops.

Howard, Lord Flight, delivered the main speech after dinner and presented us with his take on the extremely bewildering international and local political landscape. He pricked the balloon of the Brexit naysayers, suggesting that it is too early to tell whether the divorce from the EU will be as damaging or, on the contrary, even more beneficial to the UK as the wildly differing speculation (and it is at this point only speculation) would have us believe.

Stephen Hofmeyr (O, 1973) thanked Howard Flight with a pithy and amusing response.

After dinner we lurched back to the Morning Room which The Club kept open for us until midnight, at which hour we all went our separate ways reflecting that this had been a wonderful evening, full of friendship and camaraderie and a strong sense of Bishops-ness.

The dinner is in three parts: the pre-dinner drinks (in the Morning Room of The Carlton), the dinner in the Churchill Room and then back to the Morning Room for after-dinner refreshment.

The captions to the photos don't reflect house or year; these are given in the guest list at the end of this post.

Please click on the individual photos to enlarge.

PRE-DINNER DRINKS

Name badges and Bishops 175 Appeal brochures awaiting the first of the guests

Nick Heesom and Jos Cunningham

Robbie Weich and Stephen Larkin

Gareth Ackerman and Mike Bosman

Nicholas Olds and Eric Allen

Darren Bosman and Mark Jones

Neil Orpen, Choppy Bands and Lord Flight

Audrey and Steve Hofmeyr and Michael Mills

Darren Bosman, Zandy MacDonald and Justin Thorne

Niall Carroll, Rupert Hare, David Clark and Richard Gabler

Janine Anderson and Alison and Tom Baigrie

Richard Montgomery (Joy Montgomery in the background) and Stephen Suckling

Robbie Weich and Doug Mallett

Stuart Rangeley-Wilson, Anthony Record and David Shepherd

Justin Thorn, Doug Mallett and Zandy MacDonald

Roses among the thorns: Carole and Anthony Record, Wendy and Nick Heesom and Wendy and Raymond Ackerman

More roses: Nika and Adam Franke-Matthecka, Joy and Richard Montgomery and Bettina Marent and Martin van Diggelen

Choppy Bands, Richard Gabler, Jos Cunningham, Alex Cunningham, Alicia Cunningham and Alex Price

Eric Allen, Nicholas Olds, Francesca Brady and John Hawinkels

Mano Ghioules, Costa Ghioules, Bettina Marent, Martin van Diggelen and Stuart Commins

Philip van Biljon, Matthew Golesworthy and Graham Turnbull

DINNER

Benedic, Domine, nos et dona tua, quae de largitate tua sumus sumpturi, et concede, ut illis salubriter nutriti tibi debitum obsequium praestare valeamus, per Christum Dominum nostrum

(Bless, O Lord, us and thy gifts, which through thy goodness we are about to receive; and grant that being by them healthfully nourished, we may be enabled to show our bounded duty toward thee, through Christ our Lord)

The Grace of Trinity Hall, Cambridge