Category: News archive

Randalls Park Crematorium was standing room only for the funeral of our much loved former Association Secretary and avid rambler Brian Burgess. Brian’s wife Carol had informed the Association that Brian passed away late on Thursday night 21st July, probably of a massive heart attack.

Brian was a good friend of the Association and the Rambling Club and until a few years ago both he and wife Carol were very active walkers in the Rambling Club. They were keen supporters of the charity walks for The Grove, Bournemouth. Brian often led walks for us too.

It is hoped to be able to publish the fulsome tribute that was paid to Brian by his son Stuart.

Nomadic rugby club find a long-term home after signing Rectory Field contract

Twelve of us greeted the New year in typical City Diner fashion, good food plus beer and wine, for some of us lots of beer and wine! Our venue was our regular Nation Trust haunt – The George Inn at Southwark. It was a great to gather again and have a good chat about the past, the present and the future. Hopefully next time we meet on the 31st March our numbers will be greater.

Further details of our next gathering will be available shortly.

At long last after a hiatus of some 20plus months we could gather in person again. The occasion was the 2021 Advent Lunch held on Thursday 18th November at Chislehurst Golf Club. Some 40 plus members and guests including the Head Boy, Oisin Murcott, and Head Girl, Elize McDonald, of the School and a senior master, Glenn Hancock, met in the Napoleon Room and enjoyed a good meal and each others company. Glenn Hancock is Head of Enrichment!! This covers sixth form sports, Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and the like. Judging by the dinner conversation the school is in good hands.

Glenn  is also the first person that I have met to have played for “my” rugby club – Mellish RFC who play in Midlands 3 East(North) which sounds more like a map reference or postcode rather than a Rugby Football Union league.

It was a really splendid lunch. Perhaps it was the effect of having been away from each other for so long; but it was the most enjoyable Advent Lunch for many years. A massive thank you to Roger Goodman, our Social Secretary, for organising it all. I for one cannot wait for our next social.

Barry Mellish

Our President, Andy Jordan Smith, has been communicating with the School in particular our liaisons following the decision by the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Trust to drop the Aske part of the School’s name.

The School Principal is keen to maintain the links and has invited Old Askeans to attend a tour of the school. This will be held on Thursday 11^th November meeting at 8:15 sharp in order to attend the Assembly which will include a Remembrance Service, a chance for us to reflect on all those who did not survive past wars but especially those of our alumni.

If you wish to attend, we need to provide names to the School by 22^nd October, so please contact Andy Jordan Smith direct on 07787 243530 or e-mail him at  atjordansmith@hotmail.com

At the last Old Askean Association committee meeting it was decided that our name should be unchanged. It was noted that the “Haberdashers Schools” have removed the name Aske where this is possible. See the statement issued by the Haberdashers Company for the reasoning behind this.

If any member(s) feel that our name should be changed they are requested to put forward a resolution at the AGM. Such a motion will require both a proposer and a seconder.

Statement outlining the outcome of the Robert Aske Legacy consultation

Robert Aske (1619-1689) was a silk trader, merchant and Master Haberdasher and one of this Trust’s greatest benefactors.  Thanks to the legacy (£32,000) he left to the Haberdashers Livery Company on his death, the Aske Charity was created.  Today there are 14 schools which are the beneficiaries of the Aske Charity, and over the 350 years since he left the legacy more than 100,000 pupils have received the benefit of an Aske sponsored education.  

Despite his philanthropic work, Aske’s life and work is not without some controversy.  In 1672, he made an investment of £500 in the Royal African Company.  This was a trading company which traded slaves from Africa to the West Indies between 1660 and 1708.  The majority of investors came from the City of London business community, and included the Duke of York (later King James II).  The history of the Slave Trade is painful and difficult to consider. It makes us question our assumptions about the past; answering these questions can deepen and enrich our understanding of our heritage.

The Trust began an extensive consultation in the summer term which concluded in July. There were a wide range of opinions from all stakeholders including pupils, parents, staff, alumni, local community and governors. Since the outset of the consultation, openness and transparency have guided discussions. 

The consultation focused on three key areas:

• the current motto of ‘Serve and Obey’;
• the use of ‘Aske’ in the name of the Trust and schools; and
• the statue, paintings and other items related to Aske.

In some areas complete agreement was found on the way forward, in others, opinion was divided. But the Trustees took all points of view into consideration before agreeing the action to be taken.

The current motto, ‘Serve and Obey’, will be dropped by the Trust and by our schools. There was overwhelming agreement that its 16^th Century origins need explanation and are no longer relevant to the society in which we live. It is important that pupils and staff feel a connection to any motto or strapline that will be adopted and discussions will begin on a new one as part of the Trust’s ongoing work on culture. 

There was a wider range of views regarding the use of ‘Aske’ in the name of our Trust and schools. Those in favour of its removal think that Aske’s investment – however small – was offensive, unacceptable and at odds with today’s values. Others thought that our school names are overly complicated and need refining, and that an opportunity has arisen to do this.

Those in favour of retaining ‘Aske’ believe that, through the legacy that founded the Haberdashers’ schools, Robert Aske benefitted generations of children. They also felt that historic acts should be viewed in the context of their time or that removing the name could be seen as tokenistic. 

Having taken all views into account and accepting that there will be inevitable disagreement, Trustees have decided that ‘Aske’ will be removed from school names and from the trading name of the Trust – this includes letterheads, signage and visuals in everyday use. It will be retained in the formal, legal name of the Trust, in recognition of the significant contribution made by the Aske Charity. The new trading name of the Trust will be Haberdashers’ Academies Trust South. This will be in use with immediate effect. 

Changes will be made on websites, letters and prospectuses and these changes will be seen quickly. The process for uniforms and school bags will take time and there is no expectation that current pupils purchase new uniform until they would ordinarily have done so.

This has been a challenging and complex discussion and every single voice has been an important part of the process. The Trust now has a range of learning opportunities: to support the understanding of historical acts, to look at events from different perspectives and to encourage the debate of difficult issues. To support this, we will seek to re-purpose the statue of Aske at Hatcham College. A formal committee will meet to review the extensive restrictions over its treatment and aim to contextualise it in a way that ensures alignment with the Trust’s values and longer-term educational objectives. 

There is an understanding and acknowledgement that not everyone will agree with the actions that are being taken, there will be some people who do not. Despite this difference, there is a unity for all involved and a genuine shared interest of our schools and pupils at heart. 

One of the big big events at the Askean Rugby Club Dinner will be launch of a new charity ‘Friends of Askean RFC’, which has been created to support the rugby club and the local community.

It follows a very generous donation by a former player, Mike Lalley, who wants to put something back for all the good times he enjoyed playing for Askeans.

We are launching the ‘Friends’  website – It is your website and, with your help, we will update it on an on-going basis. Including details of a number of new planned and regular events.

‘Friends’ In Deed

We are excited about this new project and want as many Askeans as possible to get involved in the events and the website.

If you’d like to help the launch, there is a Just Giving page that will be opening next week,  for a  short while.Our aim is to build on the legacy and ensure the future of Askean Rugby
Watch out on the website and just giving.com updates and future emails.

Thanks for reading,

Steve Homewood,                    Paul Walsh, 

Chair Askean RFC                   Chair ‘Friends of Askean RFC’

The Club at Well Hall, Kidbrooke Lane, London, SE9 6FLRegistered Charity : 119261, England and Wales.

Click here to see the website
www.friendsofaskeanrfc.com

We are now permanently based at The Rectory Field in Charlton Road, SE3 8SR (satnav, use SE7 7EY).

We have a Pre-Match Buffet on Sat 18th September, cost £10, for our first official function at our new Home.  The Pitchero website should hopefully be updated this week with the information on the new address.

2009 was 50 years on since I started at Aske’s, along with a large bunch of other “weeds”. I thought of organising a reunion on Founder’s Day 2009. Reunions can be tricky things, there is always the question of will they get on when people haven’t met for years. I thought that Founders Day, where there is the church service followed by drinks and food at the school (at the “exorbitant” cost of £5) would be a suitable “melting pot”. Folk would then have the option of leaving straight after the wine and finger buffet or carrying on at a suitable local pub.
Despite an initial enthusiastic response to posting on Friends Reunited and the Old Askean Yahoo Group there were just three of us who made it from the intake of ’59. Myself, Peter Sidgwick and Bob Miller. Pete and Bob saw one another regularly; in fact they had been on the stage at a school prize giving as they had been sponsored by pupils on long distance charity bike rides that they had taken part in.

I had met Pete a few times since school but not seen Bob for some forty years although at school and home we were good friends. As always, the Founders Day service was well run and the standards to do not seem to have changed since I was at school. It is remarkable that in today’s society the prefects still wear gowns and seem to carry the same authority as they did when I was at school. Dermot Poston who was one of our best remembered teachers was there at we had a good reminisce with him. At the time we did not realise (at least I didn’t) that 1959 marked his first year as member of the staff.

After the wine and buffet what to do? Somehow, we found ourselves at the Market Porter at Borough Market. Arriving there at about 3:30 ish meant that the lunchtime crowd had gone and it was too early for the evening mob. We had a great few beers together. As seemed inevitable, since we had all been members, we ended up talking about the Explorers’ Club and the expedition to Norway. As we chatted on, we were asked by a group of Norwegians of all people if we would take a group photo. We asked them to join us and we explained what we talking about. The beer continued to flow. After a couple more rounds each we decided that we should call it a day as none of us were up to the third round, certainly not after the lunch-time wine! All in all a good day, a shame that more of us were not present and that the only photos of the three of us are on a Norwegian’s camera! Maybe more of us will be there in 2019!

Barry Mellish (1959 – 1966)