Singapore

The second Singapore Annual Reunion of Old St Beghians.

The reunion was held at the Singapore Cricket Club on 24th March 2018 and enjoyed on the club terrace overlooking a cricket match in progress on the Padang, until rain stopped play. Perhaps this was Singapore’s way of making us feel we were once more back at school witnessing an all too common occurrence!

From an area within a thousand-mile radius of Singapore, ten OSBs, none looking a year older, managed to attend:

John Hewitson (SH 52-57), Duncan Merrin (G 53-57) and Yati (wife), Peter Wharton (G 58-62), Ken Davis (G 64-68) and Fumiko (wife), Ian Sibson (SH 74-81), Philip Yuen (FS 78-82), David Ng (SH 84-91), Dickon Smart-Gill (SH 85-92), Nick Hunter (AC 87-94) and Laurence Gribble (SH 02-09).

Past President Dacre Watson (SH 56-62) sadly was unable to attend. The new President, Peter Lever (G 62-66), had sent his apologies together with an emailed update to lunch participants regarding the school’s reopening this September.

One difference this year was that each member was asked to pay S$100 towards the cost of the lunch. The remainder will be given as a donation to the school. This was Duncan’s initiative (as an ex accountant) but one that other OSB Regional Dinners may wish to adopt.

At 12 pm on the dot Duncan commenced the afternoon by saying it was primarily a reunion to reminisce about our time at St Bees, reacquaint ourselves with old friends, make new ones and to enjoy the day.

He did point out that as there had been dramatic changes taking place at school during the last three years, a further update would be included on the progress of the school’s reopening.

He introduced Laurence Gribble, who very kindly had travelled from China to Singapore, to give us that update.

Laurence gave an articulate and clear report on developments and obstacles to date including the repairs required to some of the buildings, the recruitment of a team to run the school, including a Commercial Manager, one of whose duties will be to maximise current revenue sources. This development was enthusiastically endorsed! Also mentioned was the envisioned pupil ratio of British to the rest of the world.

Laurence’s update and his fielding of subsequent questions were greatly appreciated and we thank him sincerely for coming so far to attend the reunion.

In discussions regarding the future of Singapore reunion lunches, Duncan asked John Hewitson to give his views on the matter as he and Duncan had discussed this issue previously.

Before addressing that particular subject John summarized and commented on the events that lead to the closing of the school. He said that he had formed his opinions after detailed discussions with the last Chairman of Governors, the late Frank Woods, and the long-time OSB Clerk to the Governors, the late Bill Gough, and that he had been delighted and encouraged to hear from Laurence the details of the financial and operational structure of the new venture.

John continued, ‘I believe history will record that the decision to close the school (rather than let it fall into liquidation) has probably been the single most important decision ever made. It was this decision that enabled it to survive and reopen in a different guise with the support of the Full Circle Educational Group’.

He was concerned, however, to ensure that the knowledge and experience of OSBs regarding business in this part of the world be made available to the JV Board. He suggested that it might be worthwhile establishing a new regional OSB Branch for China and South East Asia.

Such a branch would not supersede but supplement existing OSB branches in the region, such as Hong Kong and Singapore. In his view, a regional Branch could be a more effective conduit for harnessing the views of OSBs throughout the region regarding the implementation of the joint venture. The meeting of this new branch could be held anywhere in the region and would need an Executive Committee of say at least three OSBs to make sure it fulfilled its purpose. 

Dickon Smart-Gill emphasised the importance of recognising and adapting to changing circumstances as quickly as possible. He considered that this was something the school had failed to do in recent years. He felt a regional branch office of the kind proposed would be a useful vehicle for communicating the thoughts and ideas of experienced OSBs regarding the plans and operations of the joint venture - not seeking to inspect the workings of the company but out of a spirit of interest in seeking its success.

After further discussion, it was agreed unanimously that the proposal to establish a regional branch be forwarded to the OSB President for consideration. Strengthening this proposal is the fact that already attendance in Singapore has been 10 OSBs, Hong Kong 13 OSBs and Shenzhen 17 OSBs. These numbers could be expected to increase significantly once the joint venture was fully operational. Though much further away from school these numbers are already not far below the attendance numbers of some UK Regional Dinners.

The majority of guests reluctantly departed at seven pm. This was wise, perhaps. Such events are thirsty work, especially in the tropics, and Duncan’s idea was to give a reasonable donation to the school, not an excessive one to the brewery!

Many thanks to Duncan and his lovely wife, Yati, for organizing this reunion – a wonderful day was had by all and we look forward to meeting again in 2019.

Photos may be seen here.

 

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The St Beghian Society    
St Bees School,    St Bees,    Cumbria,    CA27 0DS.

         Tel: (01946) 828093      Email: osb@stbeesschool.co.uk      Web: www.st-beghian-society.co.uk