Martin Nesirky, spokesman to the Secretary General of the United Nations was the guest speaker for the day and as you would expect, a polished delivery of speeches and prizes followed . I’m sure Martin didn’t expect to be giving three of them to his daughter Issy and the audience certainly didn’t expect the surprise that Martin had for us; a prerecorded video of best wishes from Ban Ki Moon.
 
I find speech days heart warming affairs and this year, from the vantage point of the stage, I was able to witness the emotions on others faces as their offspring collected prizes and awards.  This was especially evident when the the Fortescue medals were awarded to Paddy Treweeke and Katie Hartnoll.
 
My responsibility for the day is the BBQ. The build up to this weekend had been exciting for the new team of Lucy Lancaster (OWBA Secretary), Valerie Bishop (Foundation Manager) and Mike Newby (Assistant Bursar). However, a new team also inevitably means no previous experience so we had to make it up as we went along. I hope it didn’t show too much!
 
Many thanks to the OWBA members who helped organise the sports, particularly the Knight family. James pulled together the rugby team and Charlotte the hockey. Thanks too to Chris Wilson who looks after the shooting and members of the school PE department who sorted the hockey and netball.
 
During my two years as President, I hope that we can start to rebuild relationships between the various parts of the school community, namely, the school, alumni, parents and the Foundation. Most importantly, we can come to understand the roles of each other to ensure the continuing success of the school. Hopefully, this will be realised with the aid of Andrew Conibear, the marketing manager. The first West Buckland events calendar is a great first step.
 
As well as, and as a result of, improving communication, I hope that the school will be able to provide much more meaningful Career and Higher Education support to students. Matt Brimson, Head of Higher Education at the school has already started putting together a programme for students in Years 11, 12 and 13.
 
Finally, and what the OWBA has always really been about; friendship and support. I hope the Association can provide more low cost opportunities for OWBA members to meet. In the New Year, there will be the first regional reunion in Bristol and we will see how successful that is and then roll out to other areas if we can.
 
In the meantime if you have an informal gathering with some old WB mates. Take a photograph (decent of course!) add a few lines and send onto Lucy in the OWBA office. Hopefully, I will see and speak to many of you over the nest two years  in my role as President.