The sun beat down on a very hot OC Day, which was again combined with Speech Day, and the usual mixture of sporting and social events were enjoyed by several hundred OCs.
The drinks in the marquee in the Quad were followed by a well-attended chapel service and then lunch for various decade reunion parties in Hall. The largest group was from 1988 and around 50 OCs of that vintage enjoyed the school’s hospitality before boarding coaches to continue celebrating in Haslemere. Almost 200 OCs in all lunched, with the oldest 87-year-old Peter Cressall (1 North 1948) who had come with his son Francis (1&4 South 1977) all the way from Argentina, as had Charlie Bell (West 1978).
Many others enjoyed a hog roast on Jubilee where the ice cream van also did excellent trade in the sweltering temperatures. It was so warm that the usually dapper Mike Payne was reduced to shirtsleeves for his ever-popular tour of the school, including a view of the new van Hasselt Centre which opens in October.
The T20 match on Jubilee between OCs and UVIth leavers resulted in a win for the school with two balls remaining; the main fixture the previous day ended in a hard-fought draw. The OC boys won the hockey match against the UVIth leavers 3-2 while the OC girls lost to the leavers 2-4. Rupert Kefford, the master in charge of hockey, said: “I was very heartened that both Galls turned up, James in his old school 1st XI white match shirt despite a broken collar bone, Ali Clift in his old school U18s navy Indoor shirt, Alex Thompson, Will Calnan plus other superstars… a testament as to how much they enjoyed their hockey with Richard Organ.”
