Overseas Dinners
Australia Weekend 2010
After a spell of non-stop rain over several weeks, the true Sydney winter sunshine arrived providing the clear bright blue skies. To ensure that our President, David Short, and his wife, Juliet, didn’t suffer homesickness, we started in Lord Nelson brewery pub located in the Rocks. We then took a much-needed walk to Phillip’s Foote for a “cook your own” Aussie BBQ experience. By midnight we totaled a full table of 12, including Jonathon Gill, Angus Kingon and Lachlan Benson (Old Belmontian)!
Our main event is the Annual Dinner, which we held this year at the Uncorked Restaurant, Union Hotel in North Sydney. This was a superb event in a perfect room and location for the 22 of us – once again a well supported function. And as always it was encouraging to hear from the President both the progress of the school and Club.
For our interstate travelers, the final get together was a superb four course Sunday lunch in the 10th floor apartment of Mike and Linda Hailey in Sydney CBD overlooking the harbour and Lavender Bay.
The Australian National Committee continued to meet by telephone conference 3 times during the year, with minutes and other communications going out to members across the region. I am pleased to report that Andrew Thompson has taken up the position of Western Australian representative where we now have 6 OMs and plan to host the 2011 National weekend. Victoria repeated its BBQ event in November when we celebrated a day of rain (which has been rare in this corner of Australia). Other informal events are being planned in other states for 2010/2011.
David Stannard (1971-76)
European Weekend in Berlin 2010
The following OMs attended the weekend in Berlin. Bill and Meg Skinner, Ray and Dorothy Hubbard, Edward De Mesquita (Fr), Robert Harley, Mrs Ann Poole, David and Marjorie Rodda, John and Angela Elliott, Graham and Angela Drake, President David and Juliet Short, Alan and Sarah Toulson, Terry and Marianne Allan (SWI), Alan and Aveen Bonner, Jim and Gill Kent, Tony and Ann Smith, Andrew Simpson (G), Nigel and Lynne Baker, Peter and Anita Wakeham (SWI), Christian Maisz(G), Kristoff Kleemann (G)
This weekend marked the eighth occasion when OMs gathered to enjoy the delights and cuisine of a well-known city in Europe, outside the UK. Many thanks to former pupils from Berlin, Christian Maisz (1988) and Kristoff Kleemann (2001) who were so helpful in putting the programme together. Some 31 OMs and wives made up the party, including 7 past Presidents. All duly arrived at the appointed hotel in spite of the threat of BA strike action and volcanic ash.
On Friday evening 21st, a boat trip with commentary had been organised on the River Spree. This tour took the party through the heart of ‘new’ Berlin including Museum Island and some of the remaining sights in the former East Berlin. On the Saturday a guided walking tour took the party through some of the older parts of the city ending at the Brandenburg Gate and lunch. For the Saturday evening, a more formal dinner had been organised at the Lutter & Wegner restaurant near the Gendermanmarkt with décor, cuisine and wines of a high standard. Appropriate short speeches were made by President David Short and David Rodda and presentations were made to Christian and Kristoff to mark our appreciation of their efforts. Finally on the Sunday Kristoff, who worked at the Chancellery, had arranged a guided tour of the Reichstag. Much interest was shown in the differences between seating arrangements in our Houses of Parliament and the German equivalent and procedures in the debates.
All agreed that this weekend had been a remarkable success and suggestions for the next trip include St Petersburg or even Dublin.
David Rodda (1945-1950)
New York Dinner, 3rd October 2009
This year we had a better attendance than in years past for the USA dinner and OM President Alan Toulson flew out from the UK to join us and bring us up to date on MHS events.
Nick Priestnall also joined us from the UK and brought with him some interesting MHS photos showing many of us in our younger days and explained more about the Foundation Appeal. There were forty regrets from those OMs who could not attend, but the most interesting was from John Longden in Tallahassee, Florida who celebrates his 98th birthday on 5th November 2009!
Attending OMs included Peter Armitage, Alan Bain, Brian Buckingham from Toronto, Mike Finlay, Fred Fischer, Henry Goldsmith, Donald Haigh, Nawwar Kasrawi & Christopher Phillips. Also we enjoyed the company of Heather Bain, Nancy Finlay, Faith Hesler & Karen Haigh, plus a few other guests who were welcomed for the evening's event.
Next year the North American OMs dinner is scheduled to be held in Toronto and one can always look forward to generous Canadian hospitality and OMs are encouraged to attend.
Hong Kong Dinner on Saturday 28th November 2009
There will be a dinner for Old Millhillians and other members of the Mill Hill community in Hong Kong. The Headmaster, Dr Dominic Luckett and Foundation Appeal Director, Nick Priestnall, will be there. Make sure you come along whether you are permanently resident in Hong Kong or merely on a brief secondment or even just happen to be travelling through.
For further information or to book your place, contact Sanjay Mahtani on 852 98312717 or sanjay@mantraintl.com
Swiss OMs Inaugural Dinner, May 29th
The Swiss OMs inaugural dinner took place at Villa Sassa against the backdrop of mountains and Lake Lugano. The President, Alan Toulson, and his wife Sarah joined locals Peter and Anita Wakeham along with Arthur Ferryman, Graham and June Fear, Ronny and Denise Boon and Marcel and Cherill Mann. The group made a weekend of the occasion and also attended a concert in a mountain village given by the leading Swiss soprano, Noemi Nadelman.
Hong Kong Reception May 2009
The Old Millhillians Club coordinator in HK, Sanjay Mahtani (School House ‘84) had worked rally hard to get a group of Old Millhillians together for an evening. In addition to those in the picture, Graham Harris (Winterstoke ‘69) attended but had to leave prior to the photo being taken. It was great evening not least because many of those who attended had not met the others. New friendships were formed and a good networking opportunity created.
Nick Priestnall, Director the Foundation Appeal, also went to Beijing where he met Lou Dapeng (Winterstoke 1952), described by his contemporaries as an outstanding rugby player. He went back to Beijing where he was a successful athlete and later sports administrator. He created the Chinese Rugby Federation, became a Vice-President of the IAAF ultimately chairman of the successful bid committee for the Beijing Olympics.
Tanzanian Dinner 2009
On Monday 9th February 2009, in the heart of the Tanzanian bush, in Mkomazi, we celebrated the achievements of one of the Club’s great adventurers, Tony Fitzjohn, and his wife Lucy, also our hosts. Tony has been working in Mkomazi, an area of 1,600 square miles, for 20 years restoring the fauna and flora. He also manages black rhino and wild dog breeding programmes and an outreach programme supporting local villages. As the reward for his efforts, Tony was awarded the OBE in 2006 and Mkomazi gained National Park status in 2007.
In the afternoon, we went on a drive and enjoyed sundowners in wonderfully warm February weather. Then we returned to camp for dinner looking out over the Reserve towards Kilimanjaro. Tony proposed the loyal toast and speeches followed.
Those attending were Tony and Lucy, Gordon Bird, Jim and Gill Kent, Andy and Georgina Mortimer, Alan and Sarah Toulson.
Australian National Weekend in Melbourne
Winter arrived just ahead of the President’s touchdown from London on very much a “fly in / fly out” visit to Australia for the annual weekend celebrations, held this year in Melbourne. Fortunately our greetings and celebrations were warmer than the weather!
Friday night was once again an informal party, which kicked off the weekend at the EQ Café Bar on Melbourne’s Southbank . The venue for this year’s National dinner was the RACV Club in Melbourne CBD and we were spoilt. A picture perfect table for 26 awaited us with some of the best food, wine and service Melbourne has to offer.
For our interstate travellers, the final celebration was a superb Sunday lunch (again) in . A roaring log fire, beautiful home cooking, excellent wine, warm hospitality and Old Millhillians together creates a special atmosphere which is hard to find anywhere else.
The Australian National Committee met by telephone conference 3 times during the year. Minutes of meeting and other progress updates continue to be emailed to OMs across the region. As a result of the partnership between the OMC Office in NW7, our own ears and eyes as well as Maureen Hatcher’s tireless efforts from all corners of the globe to interrogate web sites and find new “lost OMs”, we now have some 70 OMs on our Australasian list.
David Stannard
North American Old Millhillian Dinner 2008
On September 20th 2008 The North American OMs held a lively event at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club on Centre Island, City of Toronto. They came from near and far and, for a small group of 24, there was a wide representation of ages, from a recent graduate Mr. Ollie Ringguth studying in Toronto, to our senior OM Dr. Rick Rickards, a veterinary from Cleveland Ohio, (who was evacuated to St. Bees) with his wife Jane.
Bob and Carmen Angel secured a smart spot for the dinner at RCYC. The ferry took us from the city to the prestigious club on a beautiful clear evening. Chicken or salmon was served with an assortment of Canadian wines (they are good nowadays). As usual the dinner was spiced with a good helping of reverence and irreverence. On the return ferry-ride we had the view of the twinking lights of the Toronto skyline... just to top it off.
John Oldroyd
(Scrutton 58-63)