Following the sad new of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's sad passing on Thursday the OWBA AGM and Autumn Sports were adapted to allow all in attendance to remember and honour this remarkable monarch with a minute's silence held before the meeting and match and all players sporting black armbands as a mark of respect.  

The first order of business for the day was the OWBA  AGM which was well attended by both Alumni and former staff (with 125 years service between them).  After 3 years at the helm, President Stuart Smith chaired his final meeting and handed over the reigns to incoming President Suzy Conchie.  Stuart's tenure as President has been a difficult one, with the cloud of Covid looming large, we owe him a huge debt of thanks for steering the OWBA ship in these difficult times and are extremely grateful for his service. 

Many of our Alumni will remember Suzy (née Maskell) as former Head Girl and also from her time with WBS Parents' Association, ideal credentials to take on the presidency!  We wish her every success in the role and look forward to hearing how she is going to shape the organisation over the next 2 years.

Post AGM, all eyes turned to OWBA Sport, which took place in a rather more muted fashion than originally planned.  Whilst the fixtures against the school teams were unable to go ahead we were able to hold a rugby match against South Molton 2nd team.  In accordance with RFU advice the match started with a minute's silence to honour and acknowledge the sad passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and all players wore black armbands as a mark of respect.  It was lovely to have an opportunity to gather together to share royal reminiscences and support each other.  Alumni came from as far away as Canada to share in this special occasion

The OWBA team consisted of Oscar Carter-Burns, Magnus Carter-Burns, Monty Campbell-Johnson, Tom Brown, Paul Chapman, Barnaby Newell, Felix Banbury, Jack Chapman, Tom Chapman, Kels Taofinu'u, Sam Copsey, Freddie Maskell, Nick Evans, Andrew Watt, James Conchie, Henry Wilton, Connor Norden and Barrie Huxtable.

Skipper Magnus Carter-Burns sent us this match report:

"After the tragic news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the RFU decided that games may go ahead over the weekend. It is unfortunate that the other OWBA fixtures couldn’t go ahead, especially after the hard work of Ella Clifton, Jessie Dean, Chris Wilson and Dave Pote who organised the teams for hockey, netball and shooting respectively. 

The OWBA faced South Molton seconds who would be the first game in 3 years for the Old Boys. Against a fierce and well-drilled South Molton team, the OWBA were fired up to upset the visitors. In a strong first half display from the Old Boys they found themselves up by a large margin with tries from Nick Evans, Jack and Tom Chapman and Freddie Maskell. After a refreshing glass of port at half time, both teams were raring to go for the second half, that saw South Molton work themselves back into the game. Great hard running from the Molton big men tested the Old Boys’ defence and the Unicorns were quickly making up their deficit. A try from Tom Brown in the corner and a glorious solo effort from Henry Wilton gave the hosts a commanding lead with the game finishing 48-28 to the Old Boys. A huge thank you to South Molton for coming down and being great sports, and a huge thank you to all the Old Boys who took the time to come and represent the school, an extra big thank you to Paul Chapman, Kels Taofinu’u, Barrie Huxtable, Barnaby Newall and Connor Norden who all put in huge shifts despite not playing rugby for several years. Man of the match went to scrum-half Sam Copsey who had an incredible game both in attack and defence. A massive thank you goes out to Monica Carter-Burns, Amanda Reynolds and Hannah Carrick and all the WBS support staff for organising the event and making sure everyone was supplied with post-match beer and burgers. A thoroughly enjoyable event that I hope will continue many years to come."

Thank you to all players, officials, WBS grounds and support staff, without whom the day could not have gone ahead.  Thank you as well to all volunteers, including a group of Boyer Boarders, who gave up their Saturday afternoon to support the OWBA.  A special mention to Fiona Tyson, Dave Williams, Christian Engelking and Richard Heywood for taking photos.