15 FEBRUARY 2019

Less than a week to go before ticket sales close! 

Enjoy a delectable three course meal with our incredible guest speaker, Professor Jonathan Jansen as well as a surprising musical interlude … (if your curiosity is getting the better of you, you'll have to book!)

Hurry, before ticket sales close (20th Feb).

The Old Diocesan - Issue 3

We’re very excited for the launch of Issue 3 of The Old Diocesan!

Please join us to hear our guest speaker - OD Union Patron and South African business giant Raymond Ackerman, and to find out:

- How Prof Jonathan Jansen believes we should be preparing Bishops boys for the future;

- Who the OD Hollywood director making movies with Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman is;

- What it’s like to free solo a sheer cliff with a 100m drop below;

- How 5 ODs met in the middle of the ocean;

- What political-economics expert Greg Mills thinks South Africa must do to prosper after the 2019 elections and more from ODs doing interesting and ground-breaking things around the world. 

The launch will be held at The Mitre on Thursday 7th March from 6PM onwards. All are welcome to attend! Please RSVP below for admin and catering purposes. 

Founders Day 2019 Program - Final Draft

Please note: This is the final draft for the 2019 Founders Day Program.

Please contact the OD Captains, or the OD office in order to join one of the participating sides. 

Please click on the button below to view. 

Robert Gray Medal

The School would like to honour ODs who have made a significant and exceptional contribution to their field of endeavour by awarding them The Robert Gray Medal.

The following notice is from the Principal's office:

The Principal, Mr Guy Pearson, invites you to the Founders Day Service to award the Robert Gray Medal to

Mr Raymond Ackerman

and

Dr Robert Frater

on Friday 1st March at 7:45am in the Memorial Chapel

Refreshments will be served afterwards in the Mitre

RSVP: [email protected] by 25 February 2019

Please note that due to very limited seating, only a certain number of seats are available.  Alternatively, ODs are encouraged to join at the Tea in The Mitre afterwards. 

Founders House Lunch

Calling all Founders ODs!

Founders House holds a reunion once a year where we invite all our OD’s to visit us on Founders’ Day. The purpose is to quite simply to reunite the OD’s with the House.

Date: Friday 1st March 2019
Time: 12: 30 - 2:30 pm    
Venue: Founders House - Terraces
Lunch: R100 a head with a cash bar available

For catering purposes, we would appreciate it if you could reply ASAP to [email protected]

Founders Fire Mystery Continues.....

Roughly 50 years ago, a fire broke out at the North End of the Brooke Wing of Founders House. It occurred at about 3pm, and the fire brigade responded commendably. When the clock tower struck the half hour, the fire was under control, the tension released, and all present broke into a spontaneous burst of applause. 

Thank you to the many that wrote in with their accounts of the events that took place. To read them please click on the "Read More" button below. 

Thursday Touchies

Thursday Touchies is well underway for 2019.
Please feel free to join the lads anytime from 5pm on Thursdays at the Lutgensvale Fields.
Feel free to contact the OD Office should you like to be added to the Touchies WhatsApp group, and receive updates.
ODs are most welcome to bring friends along.
Past attendees can be seen here

Thank you to those who have taken the time to complete the questionnaire survey on ODU engagement. If you haven't gotten around to it yet, please could you do so by clicking the button below.

The survey will run until mid-February and we hope to release a summary of results at the AGM on Wednesday 27th February. 

Your answers will be treated in the strictest confidence and no one's responses will be attributed, so please provide us with your honest and frank opinions.

Please click on the button below to begin the survey. 

James Paul Beningfield (2014M) - Medical Research Survey

"I am currently underway with a non-degree related online survey based research project with a number of undergraduate students at the University of Pretoria. The researchers and I are all Medical Students at the University of Pretoria and we are investigating the Public Perceptions to Benefits and Barriers to a fully Plant Based diet in South Africa..."

Varsity Cup Rugby Round 2

Congratulations to ODs participating and representing their Universities in the current Varsity Cup rugby competition:

UK Branch Secretary, Nicky Bicket (1973F) reports: "The ODU sends its best wishes to you for 2019. With resolutions still, hopefully, firmly in place, there are, happily, only about 350 days until these need to be reset. And for those of you smugly resisting these life-shaping decisions as a modern-day fad, bear in mind that NY resolutions date back 4,000 years to the ancient Babylonians!"

Mentee response: "...He has been and still continues to be a great mentor...his words and guidance will always be there and I will carry them with me throughout my career..."

To sign up as a Mentor/Mentee, click on the button below. 

Upcoming Events

2019 OD Dinner - Thurs 28 Feb

The annual dinner of Old Diocesans will take place at Kelvin Grove on Thursday 28th February 2019 at 6 for 6:30 PM.

We are delighted to have Professor Jonathan Jansen as our guest speaker for the evening

2019 AGM - Wed 27 Feb

The 2019 AGM will be held on Wednesday 27th February 2019 at the Woodlands Pavilion at 6PM.

Please RSVP via the button alongside for administrative purposes. 

Founders Day - Friday 1st March

Founders Day will be rather early this year due to the earlier school holidays. 

More details will follow soon but ODs are urged to keep this date open should they wish to participate.

1954 Reunion - 1st - 5th March

The class of 1954 are organising various reunion events around Founders Day. 

Please contact Margie Brown for more information: [email protected]

1969 Reunion - Friday 1st March

The class of 1969 are organising a reunion on Founders Day in the Woodlands Pavilion. 

Please contact John Smuts for more information: [email protected]

1979 Reunion - 28 Feb - 3 Mar 2019

The 1979 Matric Year will be holding a reunion centred around the 2019 Founders Day weekend starting on Thursday 28^th February 2019 and ending on Sunday 3^rd March 2019.  Please could any ODs of this vintage that have not yet been contacted by the organisers please contact Simon Peile at [email protected].

1989 Reunion - 28 Feb - 3 Mar 2019

Duncan de Groot (1989G) is organising the class of 1989 30-year reunion over the Founders Weekend next year, and anyone whom he has not been in contact with yet can get hold of him on [email protected] or 082 410 6081.

Bishops v UK ODs Golf - 22 Mar 2019

On Friday 22nd March, The UK ODs will be taking on the Bishops 1st Golf team and their hapless masters-in-charge at The RAC in Surrey.

Should you like to play, please let Alex Price (M, 2008)  or Nicky Bicket (F, 1973) know by email by clicking on our names.

Walker Cup Golf - 25 April 2019

• Venue: King David Mowbray
• Date: Thursday 25th April 2019
• Time: TBC
• Shotgun Start, 4BBB Stabelford
• 128 Golfers – 64 per school
• Greenfees: R300 per golfer to be paid at the ProShop.

Please contact John Smuts should you wish to play: [email protected]

Peter Elliot (1967W) Book Launch - 7 May

Peter lives in the Languedoc where he has become an expert on the history of the area. He also writes books and at this function in London will talk to ODs about his latest, Constance: One Road to Take; The Life and Photography of Constance Stuart Larrabee (1914-2000)...

UK ODs vs Old Tonbridgian Annual Golf - 8 June
This will be the fifth in our annual derby against the Old Tonbridgians. 

Once again the course is the Old Course at The RAC in Surrey.

If you would like to play, please contact our captain, Alex Price (M, 2007) at [email protected]

UK Annual Dinner - 14 June

The 2019 UK Annual Dinner will take place at The Carlton Club in London. 
Guest speaker to be confirmed.

The UK ODs vs the Old Haileyburians Golf Match - 10 August

This will be the second match against the Old Haileyburians, 

If you are interested in playing, please contact our captain, Alex Price (M, 2007) at [email protected]

1999 Reunion – 16 – 17 August

The class of 1999 will be holding a 20-year reunion over the weekend of the Bishops v Rondebosch fixtures on 16-17 August 2019. Matrics and post-matrics of 1999 are welcome to contact Alistair Price on [email protected]. Further details will also be made available on the Facebook group: “Bishops 1999 Class 20-Year Reunion: 16-17 Aug 2019”.

Annual Oxfordshire Pub Lunch - 12 Oct

This relaxed and informal annual lunch at one of the country's finest pub/restaurants has become an entrenched feature of our calendar. This is not just for those living in and around Oxford but for any OD and their wife/partner.

School Updates

Lunch with Bonang Mohale

Date: Friday, 5 April 2019

Venue: Woodlands Pavilion

Time: 12h00 - 13h30

Tickets: R200 please click HERE to reserve your seat.

All proceeds will support the Hamilton Mvelase Bursary Fund.

My School Card

The use of the MySchool Card has been very positive, and many members of the Bishops

community have, either applied for a new card, or have started using their old ones again.

Please remember that you may have more than one beneficiary listed on your card, and we

hope that Bishops becomes one of them.

Follow Us and Find Out More

Owing to so much OD related news, it is often challenging to report on the wide range of Bishops activities.

For ease of use, we thus include links to the Bishops Website, the Principal’s letters, and also the UK OD letters.
For all our previous weekly updates, click HERE
Please enjoy spending some time reading these, as they are the best means of keeping up to date with Bishops.

Quote for the Week

This week's quote is taken from the D.C. Magazine of April 1963 on pg. 6.

"...The capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and beautiful thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle. Nearly all those who think they have this capacity do not possess it. Warmth of heart, impulsiveness and pity are not enough..."

~Mr Wilson

Kind regards,

Adam, WP and Nicole

Contact Us

To contact the OD Union:

Telephone: 021 685 1829

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.odunion.com/

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