Old Bordenian Mark Sayer lived in Germany during the 1990s. As part of his travels through the newly opened Eastern Europe, he visited Auschwitz. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, he provides a thought-provoking piece on that experience and his reflections:
We have belatedly learnt of the election of Old Bordenian Peter Butler to be a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Peter is Professor of Physics at the University of Liverpool. His election was for his work as an experimental nuclear physicist. For those who may understand it, he studies the phenomenon of reflection asymmetry in atomic nuclei and the structure of the heaviest elements.
It has been reported that the School's old site in Sittingbourne is close to being sold off. Following BGS moving to its current site in 1929, the old school buildings have been used for a variety of uses, latterly an Adult Education College.
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.
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 24th 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.
Old Bordenian Philip Goldacre has landed a role in a new play at the Royal Court Theatre, London. The article in this link to our Flickr site - Philip Goldacre - was featured in this week's local newspaper, the Sittingbourne News Extra (reproduced with kind permission of SNE).
On Friday 19 May 2017, a small number of OBA committee members gave a presentation to Year 13 school leavers, outlining the benefits of membership of the Association and its relevance to school leavers as well as older former students. The presentation is available here: OBA presentation to school leavers - May 2017.