CHAIRMAN'S LETTER

Our first combined Annual Lunch and AGM was held on Saturday 16 April 2005 in the school’s wonderful Dining Hall. The cacophony of 85 ‘old’ girls chattering away for several hours was a very visible testimony to the benefits and joy of being part of an old girls network. Nostalgia was the order of the day. Long live nostalgia!

At the end of the lunch we made an emotional presentation to Angela Rees who has now retired as Headmistress. Our gift was a garden bird bath with a wonderful owl sitting resplendent at the water’s edge!

As part of the AGM the following two proposals were unanimously approved:

1.       That the OGA should consider being incorporated into the Minerva Network. The advantage of this being that Minerva would:

a)        manage and service OGA data through the Minerva database

b)        manage a selection of mailings

c)        provide guidance on the issue of data protection

d)        provide customised pages for NGHS OGA on the Minerva website

2.       That thought be given to the incorporation of the OGA along with the PTA, the Former Staff Association, former parents and current staff into a group to be known as the ‘Friends of Nottingham High School for Girls’.

For those of you who are still not registered on the Minerva database, may I please encourage you to do so by contacting the Trust’s Development Office – 020 7393 6606 or visit the website www.minerva.org.uk. The Minerva team are working hard to develop the network for all past pupils of the Girls’ Day School Trust.

Several of our Committee attended the annual Trust OGA Conference on 13 April in London. There were several informative talks about Data Protection issues, Event Management and the new Web portal/IT systems that the Trust is developing.

After lunch I chaired a very proactive session where delegates shared best practice and their suggestions for future activities.

Returning to nostalgia – on a very personal level I enjoyed a marvellous reunion of twelve of my very close school friends. In June we rented three distinctive country cottages at Harthill Hall in Derbyshire. It was like entering Dr Who’s Tardis and going back thirty five years!. For forty eight wonderful hours on a glorious summer weekend we reminisced our way through gallons of wine and some wonderful food. We even managed the odd walk!. Some of us had not seen one another since our twenties but it mattered not one jot. We all shared the common bond of having spent our formative years together at Nottingham Girls High School and that transcended everything. That sense of unity and shared experience is at the very heart of our Old Girls Association and I hope that we will all continue to sustain our special network.

Lynne Morgan (Hoskins 1966-1973)

e: lynne@morgan1836.freeserve.co.uk