October 2016

Dear <<First Name>>

More news about Founder's Day in terms of timings and singing!

Some sad news regarding more deaths.

An update on the John Hampden Fund.

Best wishes.
The Editor
email here please with your news.

Founder's Day Updates

1. Seven reasons for coming along to the Singing Group on Founders Day 2.00 - 4.00pm:

To sing a small selection of interesting (maybe new) music - nothing too difficult but with an element of challenge*.
Full support on the piano from an expert accompanist (thank you yet again to Judy Thompson).
Friendly atmosphere.
Fun way to re-connect with old friends.
Rehearsal follows an excellent lunch (12.30pm in School Hall - email ota@waitrose.com to book your lunch).
Keep warm and dry (whatever the weather outside!!)
Provide a few moments of relative 'culture' with a very informal performance during tea in the Hall

* This year we've selected:
I Wish I Knew How (better known as the TV theme tune to Film '92, '86 etc...)
Pushbike Song (Mungo Jerry)
Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

Just turn up on the afternoon of Saturday 5th November 2016 ready to start at 2.00pm , Upper School site. But please feel free to contact Annabel Edwards (nee Overton) on Annabelchat@aol.com with any queries.

2. Revised Founder's Day timetable: 5 November 2016

0845: St Mary's Church opens
0915: Service
1015: Coffee break in the 6 Form Centre (it seems people always like to have a good chat at the coffee break so we've extended it))
1145: Start of AGM in Library
1100: School tours
1230: Lunch with music (cost £12)
1345: Start of Sports
1400: Music in afternoon 1400
1530: Raffle #2 and tea

3. Exhibition on Founder's Day

I’d be grateful if you did a plug for this year’s exhibition ‘Entente Cordiale’, which will feature the school’s links with other schools in other countries abroad and pupils from overseas who are or were OTs. The first location will be in the sixth-form social area and available during the coffee hour and then in the School Hall during lunch time.

Deaths

We have recently been advised of two deaths of Tamensians.

Michael Saich: Michael Saich has died aged 85 of Alzheimer’s. His widow asked that we pass this news on to all OTs.

Peter Burnett: Dear Editor
I am sorry to report the very sudden and tragic death of Pete or "Brum", as I first knew him, Burnett.
I cannot give you an exact date of death at this stage and the circumstances seem to be as follows:
Within the last 3 or 4 days he had a very severe clot on his brain which caused him to fall in his home in Melbourne, Australia. He was discovered, alive, sometime after the fall by his girlfriend and girlfirend's daughter.
He was taken to hospital and put on a life support machine. After a period of time the machine was turned off. He has one child, Ellie, who lives in Australia.
As far as I know his Mum is still alive and living in South Wales. As perhaps is his brother John.

OTA News

John Hoadley A brief report from the National Audit Office on the act of commemoration for Tamensian John Hoadley, killed in the First World War.
This is just a quick not to let you know that we held our brief act of remembrance for John Clare Hoadley, yesterday at our Office in London. As with all our commemorations we started by remembering the life of our predecessor. In this case what struck me was how little we had to say about John – but then he was only twenty-one. The details you were able to provide on his school days were therefore crucial in helping us to remember his all too brief life. We planted a commemorative shrub in the gardens of our office in Victoria. John is the fifth of twenty two members of the Exchequer and Audit Department, the National Audit Office’s predecessor, that we will be remembering in this way.

John Hampden War Memorial Fund

This year we have received close to forty applications that will considered in early November.

Lord Williams's Festival Chorus - next concert

Date: 3/12/2016, Time: 7:30pm

Location: Thame Leisure Centre, Oxford Road, Thame, OX9 2BB
Cost: £13 (£10 concessions)

Karl Jenkins – Stella Natalis

Vaughan-Williams- Fantasia on Christmas Carols

Reunions.

Why not organise a reunion to co-incide with Founders Day on 5 November 2016 or the next Founder's Day in 2017. The advtanges are:
- free coffee in the morning
- school tours
- lunch is provided (but costs £12 per head)
- use of the school hall during the day
- music from current students
- tea in the afternoon
- possible use of outdoor sports facilites

School News

Following an assembly by the lead archaeologists who uncovered remains of prehistoric monuments and settlements on the site off Oxford Road, students were invited to get involved in creating a time capsule for burial at the Thame Meadows development.

Overseen by Carly Harris, Team Leader for Key Stage 3 History, 6 students from across Years 8, 9 and 10 came together to work on the project, giving them the opportunity to add their own layer of history to an already archaeologically significant location.

Vanessa Macnee, Regional Sales Director for Bloor South Midlands, said: “Time capsules are a great way for school-children to leave a lasting legacy from their time as students and provide future generations with the exciting prospect of unveiling the items left behind. We wanted the pupils to choose objects which encapsulate the character of them and their local area, and we’ve been really impressed by the choices they made. They came up with some really good ideas which will surely be both interesting and informative to future generations.”

Students were challenged to find items that represented themselves, their local area and the world they are growing up in, allowing future generations to witness and re-live them once the capsule is unearthed.

Included within the capsule was a smart phone with popular apps and photographs of the students, a school uniform, a film about the history of Thame and the places which they enjoy visiting and artwork, depicting species which may not still be living when the capsule is dug up.

David Wybron, Headteacher, said: “This project really allowed our pupils to reflect on their lives and the place they live to find out what matters to them and what makes the area special, with some great results.”

Carly Harris added: “They all worked incredibly hard and were all very enthusiastic about burying the time capsule, and the prospect of someone else uncovering it at some point in the future. It is a fantastic way of preserving what it is like for a young person growing up in Thame in the 21st Century.”

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