The Members’ Weekend programme followed its usual course. The Autumn Golf Tournament (reported on more fully elsewhere) took place on Friday 8th November; the weather was dull and fresh but dry and Paul Gilham managed to put a stop to the run of wins by either Wally Manton or Mark Rayner. That evening saw the customary gatherings at La Locanda (mostly school joiners in 1958/1959); and at The Lamb (a younger group, relatively). These gatherings featured groups of contemporaries enjoying each other’s company and sharing memories of EGS and Eastbourne from fifty and sixty years ago. There proved to be insufficient support this year for the Dinner at The Hydro but smaller informal get-togethers did happen.

Moving on to Saturday 9th November, fourteen OGs attended the short Remembrance Service arranged by James Hazelden and conducted by Rev Tony Windross. Proceedings began with a lament on the bagpipes (wet weather had caused the piper to be stood down in 2023) and continued with the lowering of the flag to half-mast and laying a wreath of poppies; the names of pupils and others associated with the School who lost their lives during the First and Second World Wars were read. Because there is no longer a flagstaff outside what was the main entrance to the School, the ceremony was held at a flagstaff by the main East Sussex College entrance.

The Annual Lunch was again well-attended (48 members), a similar number to 2023; two attendees were there for the first time, which was good to see. The bar did its usual steady trade prior to the lunch, so everyone had the opportunity to be well-lubricated before sitting down to the tasty food, served efficiently by the REGC team. Prior to the lunch, President-Designate Brian York read a message from Jack Revell, who in August had stood down as President for family reasons; all present at the lunch signed a card to be sent to Jack.

To mark the 125th anniversary of the founding of the School, Brian York proposed a toast to the School and to those involved with resuscitating EOGA in 1991/92 and with running the Association since then; the bubbly for the toast was provided by sponsors who chose to remain anonymous. The raffle arranged by James Hazelden and assisted by Don Seabright, and with prizes donated by attendees – predominantly alcoholic, as expected – raised £300 for EOGA funds.

The formalities of the AGM were dealt with swiftly and efficiently. The usual reports came from the Hon Secretary, Hon Treasurer (on the financial position of the Association and on the Blackburn Vail Trust) and Social Committee (Golf Competitions and other events). The appointments of Brian York as President, Don Seabright as Vice President and Jack Revell as Hon Life Vice President were unanimously and enthusiastically endorsed. Chris Bennell (Hon Secretary), James Hazelden (Hon Treasurer), Dave Breach, Dave Jeffery, Brian Peck and Ray Wells were re-elected to the Executive for further terms of three years; Adrian Wood was elected to fill the vacancy on the Executive created by Don Seabright’s advancement to Vice President.
Regarding membership, the notional roll of members stands at more than 400, including a few new members during the year and others with whom contact has been re-established; however out-of-date email addresses and emails going into the Junk folder and not being spotted and read meant that barely half of that number were seeing the emails sent by the Hon Secretary via the Mailchimp portal. New email addresses or problems receiving communications should be notified to honsec@oldgramms.co.uk.

A particular milestone for the Executive during the year was the completion, through the efforts of Martyn Thomas and Dave Breach, of the exercise to scan the almost complete set of EMSSB / EGS Magazines which had been begun by Fred Reeve. The magazines are accessible on the Association’s website as searchable PDFs from the Archive section of the site.

The Annual Weekend in 2025 will be on 31st October / 1st November.