Martin Ralph has sent us a photo of the School U13 football team of 1966. In Martin’s own words “If memory serves me we played something like 23 games in two seasons and only lost once”.

Those of you who attended the Annual Reunion Dinner will know that Simon Robbins, long serving teacher and Old Boy of the School retired this year. We marked the event at the Dinner by the presentation of a commerative tankard by Jason Lee (England International Hockey Player, Old Boy and once taught by Simon!).

Those of you still in Kent may have seen this article on Kent Online which was recently published as Simon closed out his final days as a teacher. Once more we pass our best wishes on to Simon for a long and happy retirement and thanks for his long service to the School.

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourne/news/teacher-retires-from-school-where-he-studied-208958/

Coincidental or just evidence of a strong science tradition in Borden? Current Year 7 pupil Rhys Dinmore achieved a great success in beating 60,000 entrants to get to the finals of a Computational Thinking Challenge hosted at Oxford University.

Cliff Cork is organising a social get together on 3rd November 2018 (location TBA but somewhere in Sittingbourne) for anyone joining the School in 1965 and/or leaving in 1972. Given Cliff's address book is limited, he is keen to reach out to old schoolmates who would like to join him in November. If you are interested, please email the site administrator (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and we will put 'Corky' in touch with you! 

Old Bordenian David Highton has recently been appointed as Chairman of Demelza Hospice Care for Children. David has had a long career in the NHS and is also Chair of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust. Demelza provides specialist care and emotional support for children with terminal conditions as well as supporting their families during difficult times.

The OBA Annual Reunion Dinner will be held at UK Paper Clubhouse, Avenue of Remembrance on Saturday 24th March 2018. We are now taking bookings online and via post.

First of all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2018 to all those chums who may remember me.  Many of you will not associate Christmas with the Asian country I have lived in for now over twenty years.

OLD BORDENIAN ASSOCIATION

For my sins, I came on to the OBA committee as the headmaster’s rep, at the request of Bryan Short back in 1969.  Since then, Old Bordenians have attended Annual Dinners, both in Sittingbourne and on the island, organised Dances, performed on stage in Revues, played Football, Hockey and Cricket - all in the name of the Old Bordenians.

There is no contractual obligation to undertake these activities but there is an underlying connection brought about through long standing friendships and memories of the school.  Many have gone way beyond the call of duty: Alan Wilson and his success in making the Hockey club one of the most successful in Kent, organisers of the Dinners and members of the committee, some of whom came on board 40 or 50 years ago.

Dear Old Bordenians,

I am delighted to be working with the committee, school and members of the OBA to help us to become more relevant to the people we represent going forwards.

Our objective is to focus on driving membership, providing help where we can to those just leaving the school, and networking & social engagement opportunities for all.

We have already made some changes, with the removal of the annual subscription and a move to voluntary contributions to assist our funding. There is more detail contained in the AGM Minutes on the web site: OBA AGM Minutes 2017.

For those of you who are in and around London, we are looking to meet up for informal drinks in the London Bridge area on Friday 24^th November. It would be great if you could rally some past school friends and come and join us. If you are interested, please email me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so I can get an idea of numbers and then I will confirm the venue.

Finally, a big thanks to those who have been doing so much work for the OBA behind the scenes over the years.

Regards to all

Mark Bailey

A number of former Borden Grammar School pupils are taking part in next year's Brighton marathon to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust in memory of former headmaster, Harold Vafeas.  The full story was published in the Sittingbourne News Extra.  Click on the picture below for further details.