Dear Old Dovorian

As the Summer draws to a close, I am minded to reflect on the unprecedented times we have been through since March of this year.

We have seen the extraordinary dedication by many OD’s during these challenging times, which has already been documented in the ‘Dovorian News’ and on the Club’s social media platforms.

The tragic passing of Abiodun Otubushin (M73 – 78), to the OD’s and their families who have also lost loved ones and friends as a result of the pandemic, and not forgetting those who have been affected, in whatever way as a result of these challenging times.

The College effectively closed at the end of the Lent term to ‘face to face’ lessons, resulting in a complete new ‘online’ teaching program, which had to developed and delivered, virtually overnight, across all of the year groups.

We have also seen Mr Simon Fisher, our new headmaster, together with his wife Abigail and their two young children arrive at the College, moving into St Ann’s, within the grounds of the Close.

The exam results this year for both ‘A’ Level and GCSE have been truly outstanding, which is a credit to the resilience and dedication of both the pupils and the College teaching staff under extreme conditions, which have never been seen or experienced before.

The College is now ready to receive existing, as well as new pupils, in readiness for the start of the Michaelmas Term in September, as well as working hard in stabilising and building a bright future for the College after the effects of the pandemic.

We also as a Club have had to adapt and develop lines of communication with you our members, which by and large has been achieved, as a result of the extraordinary hard work done in the background by the Club’s communications team.

This has seen regular activities on all of the Club’s social media platforms, both by the Club and its members, and not forgetting the Club’s direct emailing platform, which saw my letter and video message been sent to you the club membership.

Accumulating with the completion of the OD Club’s website in August this year, which for the first time has all of the individual OD groups in one place, increasing their own profiles and benefiting from the exposure to the whole OD Club and College community, which has received good positive feedback.

So please visit the OD Club’s website at www.olddovorians.com , have a look around the site.

Also, I am pleased to report that the Old Dovorian Golf Society play their first set of matches for this year, in September, and have a full fixture list of matches, which finish in mid-November with the Golf Society’s AGM.

The Old Dovorian Lodge will be holding their first meeting since the beginning of the ‘Lockdown’ in October at Freemasons Hall in London, now that the ‘suspension of meetings’ has been lifted by the ‘United Grand Lodge of England’, finishing the year with their regular Christmas meeting at the beginning of December.

Although we as a country, and many other countries around the world, are still dealing with the continued effects of the pandemic, as a result we are all having to remain flexible, adapt, and continue to adapt pragmatically to the changing conditions and situations we continue to all find ourselves in.

However, I have seen and continue to see a lot of positives, as we all find our new ‘normal’. Yes, in hindsight certain things could have been done differently, we cannot change what has happened, but only focus on the ‘now’, and move forward, do everything we can to the best of our ability.

What I have seen since March, is that we as a Club, and the College, have done exactly this, dealing with what we can influence and change, in addition, we adapt, adapt, and adapt again.

So, we as a Club and as individuals move forward in a positive manner, to a new dawn. I am reminded of a quotation, that was written in a letter by a past President of this Club to its members, which I believe is a good guide for us all in the coming months:

“Reflecting on the past may be a source of nostalgia and pride, but it should be the aim of every age to maintain a present and build a future which is worthy of the past”.

Best Wishes

Robert McAlpin (M 71 – 76)

Old Dovorian Club President