Category: News

Dear Old Askean,

I am sad to have to tell that Derek Goddard died last Monday, 16 September.

I have asked the family whether they would like Old Askeans to attend the funeral. If so, I will circulate the information in due course.

Kind regards,

Alan Bolton

Membership Secretary

On Tuesday 3rd September three of us, President Peter Ayling, Roger Goodman and myself, Barry Mellish, were privileged to attend the service which was held at the Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield followed by the Autumn Garden Party in the courtyard of Haberdashers Hall.

It was a lovely service and the choir sang beautifully. As we were leaving the service we met someone I knew who is a fellow Old Askean, albeit somewhat younger than us. We had a good conversation with him and he went away with an Association Application form! He had also recently met up with a number of his year group and he will forward the form to them – here’s hoping!

The Association Blazers attracted attention, we were not short of people to talk to.

The Association AGM and Dinner took place on Thursday, 11 July 2024 at the Royal Blackheath Golf Club, Court Road, Eltham.

It’s was that time of the year again and when twenty or so Old Askeans, with friends and partners gathered for the AGM followed by a splendid dinner ably organised by our Social Secretary Roger Goodman.

The AGM began at 7.00pm and the business part of the evening was conducted efficiently and with great aplomb by our president Peter Ayling. Peter was elected to serve for a second year of office. The full list of elected officers and committee members can be found on this website. A revised version of the rules of the Association was unanimously agreed and can be found on this website.

Following the meeting we were joined by our guests for dinner.

There are at least two FaceBook pages/groups related to the Association. The “official” one can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554107793748

Then there is the “Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham (1960s)” group which is an “unofficial” group. This can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/248952745141810

Anthony J. Sargeant who was at School from 1955 -1962 has a wonderful series of Blogposts that can be found at:

https://tonysargeantshropshire.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/haberdashers-askes-hatcham-boys-school-school-captains/

It is well worth following the links on these posts as they bring back memories and have a great wealth of detail about the school and life in those days. Imagine teenagers going to a party wearing jackets with a collar and tie!! It really happened and there are photos to proof it.

Sadly there are parts of school that were less than perfect to say the least. The account below happened in eighties; but I know of abuse (not to me) that happened in the sixties. You can find out about the less savoury parts here:

https://oldaskean.wordpress.com/