The latest Old Roedeanians' Association AGM was held on Saturday 14th October. Mary Henderson, President of the ORA, welcomed 26 ORs who came down to Roedean for the event – the first time, we think, that the ORA AGM has been held at the School.

Mary reported that it had been a busy year for the ORA. Members of the committee had taken part and attended several events at the school – Remembrance Service, Carol Service, Christmas Fayre, Founders’ Day and Commemoration Service, Speech Day and had spoken at assemblies for Y11 and Y13 telling them about the ORA.

The traditional Christmas Drinks held at the Antelope Pub of Eaton Square was well attended by ORs spanning the decades from the Class of 1954 to the Class of 2021. As in previous years the ORA collected several gifts and supermarket gift cards for St Mungo’s Homeless Charity which were then delivered to their project in Clapham. 

In February, the ORA arranged a Fusion Tea at the Oxford and Cambridge Club to celebrate the Lantern Festival as part of the Chinese New Year. ORs came from a range of decades, and we hope to repeat this next year on Saturday 24th February.

The Afternoon Tea at the Oriental Club in April and the London Lunch at Aragon House in September organized by Grace Chaston and her team were super and well attended events.

Roedean Day this year had over 160 attendees including over 50 guests. The day as usual, was full of choices, a performance of Mary Poppins, school tours, tunnel tours, art studio exhibitions, sports day, drinks in the cloisters, lunch, picnic …. or just sitting in the sun gossiping and catching up with friends.

Some of the decade groups were well populated, others not. We are so reliant on ORs within those groups to harness their inner sheepdog skills and to encourage their year groups to come to reunion. As in previous years, those groups which have managed a good turnout have started tracking down their classmates’ months, and sometimes years before. 

Mary reported that the ORA now has 6,925 living members before considering this year’s leavers. Social media connections stood at over 2,000 on Facebook, over 900 on LinkedIn and nearly 200 on Instagram. The ORA kept in touch with its members not only by social media but also by posting on the Roedean Community Network and sending out news, articles and calendar entries via the monthly newsletters from the School and in the quarterly Roedeanian which is sent out in printed form twice a year. The ORA also continued to produce the annual Old Roedeanians’ Magazine available both digitally and in print.

The ORA was conscious of the amount of money spent on organizing and holding the ORA AGM. This year it had been decided to “get more bang for our buck” by holding the AGM at the school and not in hybrid form enabling cost saving, not only on venue hire and catering, but also on technical costs. The cost saved was to be donated to the OR Scholarship Fund and the ORA Heritage Projects.

Erica Faircloth, ORA Treasurer, presented the Accounts of the ORA for the financial year 22/23. She reported that the income from investments was £25,612, with the main expenditure being £5,713 towards the OR Heritage Projects, £4,185 for the print and postage associated with the ORA AGM, £3,756 for the AGM itself and the following reception, £3,445 for the OR Magazine and a total of £2,708 for other events including OR sports.

Trustee Kate Coker presented the report and accounts for the OR Scholarship Fund. The income from investments was £3,767, with an additional £584 from donations, Easyfundraising and Amazon Smile. During the year the OR Scholarship Fund had paid out £12,000 in awards to girls in the 6th form at the school. She reported that unless the Fund’s capital and income could be increased, the frequency of awards would have to return to alternate years. She encouraged ORs to sign up to EasyFundraising (https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk), the online shopping portal which made a donation to the OR Scholarship Fund every time an OR shopped online via the portal, at no additional cost the OR. There was also discussion as to how to increase the number of daughters of ORs at the school. Mary reminded ORs that OR parents receive 10% discount on fees.

Jane Aldred, ORA Membership Secretary and a member of the Editorial Board reported on the OR Magazine. She described the varied content of the magazine. The magazine was available both in hard copy by subscription, though these numbers were falling, and also online. There followed discussion amongst those present as to how the online readership of the magazine could be simplified and thereby increased with several ideas being put forward.

Mary updated the meeting on the ORA Heritage Projects. Since the launch of the Appeal just over a year ago the ORA had raised £34,789 from donations and had itself donated an additional £7,741. To date, the conservation of the Freize in No.3 had been completed and donations to cover the cost of the restoration of the sundial, the conservation of the HMS Vernon Ensign, and also Phase 1 of the conservation of the tiles in the art studio, had been received. The ORA was very grateful to those ORs who had supported the Appeal so far, to two Naval groups with historic links to HMS Vernon, and also the Broderers Charity Trust who had made contributions towards the conservation of the ensigns. She was also delighted to report that just the previous week, the school had received Listed Building Consent from South Downs National Park for the work on the Sundial. 

Sport was a continuing feature of the OR Calendar, with Netball and Hockey matches against the School. ORs continued to complete in the Silver Tassie golf competition, coming 4th this year. A Tennis and BBQ event was again held at the Roehampton Club. Sadly, the Sailing team had been unable to complete in the Arrow Trophy Regatta but hoped to be able to do so in future years. 

125 new Members were elected to the ORA together with 10 former staff who were elected as Honorary Members. Erica Faircloth was re-elected to serve on the Committee, having first joined in 1999. Noëlle Chase was elected as the next President of the ORA to take up her role in February 2024.

Mary then appealed to ORs that more volunteers were needed to serve on the ORA Committee, as well as for the roles of treasurer of the ORA and also the Scholarship Fund. If anyone was interested in finding out more, they should contact [email protected].

So, what about the next 12 months? Of course, more of the above. In addition, Mary went to the OR Drinks and the Parents Reception in Hong Kong at the end of October. On 10th February we will also be holding, together with the school, an OR lunch in New York organized by Diana Oreck. We will also continue to fundraise for the ORA Heritage Projects, work with our conservators, and continue our research into these fascinating projects.

After the meeting, ORs and their guests joined the headmistress and staff of the Alumnae team for a delicious lunch in the Blyth room. Many of the attendees at the AGM plus their guests then joined in the Tour of the Heritage Projects.