The Electronic Newsletter of St Augustine's Grammar School, Sharston Mount, M22 4PJ | 31
January 2002 Lent Term eCirculation 256 |
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www.staugs.org | editor@staugs.org | Issue 4 |
From the Headmaster | News | Old Boys | Old Staff |
Looking Back | Miscellaneous | Classified | Births Deaths and Marriages |
Letters to Editor |
Distributed to all Old Boys, Staff and
"Friends of St Augustine's" with known email addresses.
Please (print and) forward to any not on emailing list.
"From the Headmaster" | Stripes in Magenta | ||||
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News | Stripes in Magenta | ||||
Grand Reunion 2001 Some time last year the idea of a Grand Reunion of all years was mooted (... there might be sufficient interest?...the total number of Old Boys was manageable?...an interest appeared to be apparent?...some contact details were available from all years). In December 2000, an
inauguaral meeting re Grand Reunion was advertised via
the web page and mass emailing Despite this abysmal showing we decided to go ahead and a venue was provisionally booked for 9 November 2001. We advertised the date and venue via the April "Stripes" and the website and again appealed for help even just to pass the word on. Interest continued to be expressed but by August 2001, only 5 tickets had been sold (plus the organisers still four in number!). The cost of an advert in Manchester Evening News proved prohibitive and beyond the overdraft on our non existent bank account. The catchment parishes in Shewsbury and Salford dioceses were then individually contacted with a view to publicising the event via parish newsletters - most willingly agreed (many thanks). The website pulled in a few more contacts, week by week. All efforts were made to contact anyone who might know an ex Augustinian. Just a few more tickets, possibly 25, were sold by the time the "committee" met again in September. Beyond all reason, we remained optimistic, confirmed the venue, a photographer and the buffet. Mark Brennan joined the team (again from '69) volunteering to contact all staff with known contact details and to provide a cake. Somehow all this paid off - most of the tickets were sold in late October/November including a good number at the door - I'm not sure if Martin has an accurate final number but I think about 150 were there with representation from all years. On the night ... A really enjoyable night...Shaun Hopkinson's 'My Way' should be released as a single. The only disappointment on the night was the microphone being switched off before his rendition of 'Delilah' // A very enjoyable evening. Felt it needed some music...maybe a band for after the buffet and speeches // What joy to see so many old friends. // A great evening. Maybe more karaoke next time. ... To spend a whole evening drinking & laughing, what more could anybody want? // a great time ..the buffet was grand - thanks for sticking out for £20...some music would have been nice...a bit disappointing to see numbers much reduced on the staff side // change nothing, it was fine as it was...something that to many will be remembered equally as much as the school itself (maybe, a damn sight more pleasantly!) // a very, very, passable evening. // excellent - great to see old faces, good location and a good turn-out from '73! Lack of formality was fine by me - speeches hit the mark and the particularly surreal rendition of For All the Saints was bizarre to say the least ...Any improvements? The 'karaoke' at the end was a bit much for my taste // a great time...felt a bit uncomfortable wearing a badge with my name on // appreciated the moments silence for those who'd passed - a nice touch - in spirit I'm sure Spike was there tucking into the buffet & getting pissed with the rest of us...weird // different // special // spooky // surreal- but nice ! ...evening passed too quick....next time: it might be an idea to spread it over a weekend - free camping,stalls selling drugs & colonic irrigation, hookers working the room, body piercing etc. ha ha ! // excellent all round for me...don't think adding music would add to the occasion since it would make it more difficult to talk...sure the next will be an even bigger success. // can you publish the names of attendees ? ...did us (and the Mons.) proud // Too much loud music, sit down meals, or concerts would hamper those who just wanted to mingle and wallow in nostalgia, aided by alcoholic intake // The memory of the impromtu "For all the Saints" was eerie, but demonstrated to me what was eventually lost as Plessington took over from Augustines. That would not have happened at a Plessington re-union. // "hugely enjoyable evening altogether. // The buffet was excellent;hot food as well as cold. // the lack of background music actually made the evening more sociable...liked the name badges.. a spooky reminder // a bit of a lump to the throat when everybody sang For All The Saints...one disappointment was that we were the only ones from 70 intake. // karaoke was hilarious - Carl Brennan singing Irish 'folk" songs!'...appreciated the free drink // Friday was a triumph...thanks again to the prefects for making it possible. Looking forward to the next Grand Reunion already. // a tremendous evening. Many thanks to those who contributed their time, effort, tenacity and finance in the organisation of the reunion...one of the best websites I've seen...the catalyst and inspiration for the reunion...Thanks also to those ....who made the effort to be there. "
Throughout the evening, the new site of St Augustine's Grammar School was available for viewing by attendees Attendance list ...by all accounts a good night! So ... what next?
Martin
Harding has volunteered to be
coordinator if there is an interest. [PJF] Immediately prior to the Grand Reunion,
the hit-rate on the website reached an alltime high of
160 visitors per day (generally 40-80) Help...Running out of webspace... Sadly the website has now been a victim of it's own success and we are running out of webspace, currently using 19.3Mb out of the 20Mb. Freenetname is not offering to provide any more. Most of the space is taken up by photos. The photos have mostly been cut down to minimum resolution consistent with a satisfactory appearance on site. Hosted elsewhere are the 2001 reunion photos, the various interactive pages, the annexe (Mark Brennan) and Jason Birch's '76 pages - these are not included in the 19.3Mb freenetname webspace. Room for expansion is severely limited. Options are
Option number 3 would be the preferred option as far as the webmaster is concerned but does raise a question of finance. I currently do not pay for the freenetname space other than the phone connection charges. Although the domain name was originally free, I would have to pay to transfer staugustines.org.uk to another provider. An interim arrangement might be to leave staugustines.org.uk with the current provider, freenetname, and have the opening page automatically transfer to a site on a site hosted by a new provider. This could be less satisfactory in many ways (eg search engines). Any thoughts on Hosting, Finance, etc appreciated Peter Fay (webmaster) |
Old Boys | Stripes in Magenta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
1965 Mark Brennan < markbrennan53@aol.com
> Paul Bird < paul@paulbird.com
> Martin Blomley < martin.blomley@vega.co.uk > John 'Jack' Swindells < john.swindells@lineone.net > Mark Sanders < Mark@sanders265.co.uk
> Roger Donbavand
<roger@bdrc.co.uk> Alistair Drain < Alistair.drain@btinternet.com
> Tony Hamer < tonyhamer@btinternet.com > John Greenwood <john.greenwood@mci.co.uk> Michael (Tony) Hurley
<tony.hurley@orange.net> 1966 Barry Brennan <barry.brennan@hfcbank.co.uk>
Tony Sweeney <tony@thesweeneyfamily.co.uk> Chris Blaydon <chris.blaydon@expro.shell.co.uk> Paul Morris <burgess@candw.ag> Chris Terry < christerry@seapea.freeserve.co.uk
> 1967 Bernard Brown < bb@berkeleybrown.com > Simon Barnicott < barnicott@supanet.com
> Rob Bolton < robbolton@waitrose.com> Chris Gibbs <chrisgibbs@tiscali.co.uk> 1968 Rich Dacosta <richdac@btinternet.com> Peter J Briggs <peterjbriggs@btinternet.co
> Henry Dillon < henryjdillon@hotmail.com
> Laurie Wilmot <lwilmot1@aol.com> Pat Rattigan < pfkr.rattigan@btinternet.com
> Anthony Murphy < am47@ic24.net > Mike Devoy < michaeljdevoy@aol.com
> John Davies < sano-davies@lineone.net
> Laurence Whitworth < l.h.g.j.whitworth@ntl.net
> Martin Pickersgill < martinpick@yahoo.com > Terry McCarthy < terry.mccarthy@breathemail.net
> Anthony Cooper <
ap.cooper@tiscali.co.uk
> "Emil" Ian Nuttall < inuttall@talk21.com
> 'Nutters' 1969 1970 Chris Macwilliam <chris@cmacwilliam.freeserve.co.uk
> Barney Booth < Bernard.Booth@uuplc.co.uk
> Hugh Kearney < hugh@kearney77.fsnet.co.uk
> Mike O'Kane < mikeokane@hotmail.com
> Steve McCabe < steve@delphis.dm Simon Backler < simonbackler@ic24.net
> John Greene < JohnGreene@BigFoot.com
> 1971 Richard Briggs < richard@briggsfamily.fsnet.co.uk Gerry Doyle < gerard@jdoyle16.fsnet.co.uk > David Thompson < dagt1609@aol.co.uk
> Anthony Hulse < avhulse@telusplanet.net
> Robert O'Sullivan < robert@robertosullivan.freeserve.co.uk
> John Fitzgerald <johnfitz105@hotmail.com> John Hollins < johnhollins@ukonline.co.uk
> Andrew Higgins <music@alfredpublishing.demon.co.uk> Sean Wallwein <sean.wallwein@lineone.net
> Graham Young < sheilaandgraham@msn.com
> Greg Howell <ghowell@saltoneurope.com
> Paul Quinn < paul.quinn7@btinternet.com
> John Bell <Belljc@uk.ibm.com> Nick Moss <Nick@nmoss2.fsnet.co.uk 1972 Gerard Langan < Ged.Langan@john-jones.co.uk
> John Kawalek < j.kawalek@sheffield.ac.uk
> Mike Croker < crokem@matthey.com
> 'George' Mike Finch < mikef@mis-pts.com
> Trevor Madden <madden.t@talk21.com> 1973 Dave Thurston < DaThrstn@aol.com > Norman Kavanagh < NormanKavanagh@aol.com
> Paul Humphries < pbhumphries@hotmail.com > 1974 Nick Mannion < nmannion@btopenworld.com
> David Hamnett < dhamhow@netscapeonline.co.uk Nick McKie < NicholasMckie@btinternet.com
> John Riley <john.riley@bt-rolatruc.com
> < suzanne.riley@tesco.net
> 'Jack' Sean Keeley <sean-keeley@supanet.com>
or < seankeeley@casella.co.uk
> Paul O'Sullivan < Posathome@aol.com
> Ian Ankers < i.ankers@tinyworld.co.uk >'fozzy' 1975 Brendan O'Brien <brendiver@aol.com> Mark Whelan < mark.whelan@lineone.net
> 'Wiggy' Kevin O'Sullivan < kevin@ktdos.fsnet.co.uk
> 'Nickname: Lots- but you're not having them!' 1976 Graham Bagshaw < gbagshaw@epartnersolutions.com
> 'Baggy' Bill Murphy < murphykb@cytanet.com.cy |
Old Staff | Stripes in Magenta | ||||||||
Salute
to Richard Scrowston Richard, ave and
hi! Too many quixotic tales about you RGS- lets just recall one...How about an English class for 14 year olds in the early seventies:
True story - and clean! Good to see you at the reunion Richard - you were our Muse our Aerial, our Fairy Snow! (oops!); hail to thee, blithe spirit! [MB] Staff Revue We intended a staff review; a simple tale of a meeting in the Monsignors office by senior staff, to plan budgeting for the year ahead... ... and then ...Hollywood got hold of it - this is what came back ..oh dear oh dear ..
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