Chairman’s Message

Welcome to the latest edition of the Whitgiftian Association newsletter, my first as Chairman of the WA.

Firstly, I’d like to thank my predecessor Pip Burley (1955-62) who has chaired the committee with great passion, commitment and dedication since 2013. I’m delighted that Pip was elected as Deputy Chairman at December’s AGM and I value his continued wise counsel. We also elected a new Honorary Secretary and Treasurer – respectively Chris Jenkins (1956-63) and Andrew Gayler (1956-64) – at the AGM and I am looking forward to working closely with them as well as my other committee members.

It is an immense honour to chair the WA. We have exciting times ahead of us as we look to ensure the WA is best placed to meet the evolving needs of its current and future members.

Many of us, myself included, may have only had limited interaction with the WA over the years. For me, it was through many years as an active member of the rugby club at Croham Road, but there is, as you can see from the pages of our newsletter, much more to the WA than any one section.

As well as supporting the various sections and bodies that compromise the WA, the Association has an enormous amount to offer members. In particular, we are looking at how we help to share the experience of our members with younger Old Whitgiftians as they seek to enter the world of employment – there is a wealth of knowledge, talent and goodwill that we could and should use to support the next generation.

We also all know that the school has a strong tradition of offering financial support to boys, but we need to ensure that the generous bursaries that Whitgift offers continue to be available for future generations. There’s no simple or quick fix, but the WA Bursary Appeal is a start to the process and I was delighted to attend the launch event at the Athenaeum Club in London recently which helped kickstart fundraising.

Please let me know if you would like to be involved more closely with the work of the WA or if you have any ideas or questions. I can be reached at bunnjj@gmail.com.

For now though, I hope you enjoy the updates on both OW and school activity in the pages that follow.

Jonathan Bunn
OW (1980-88)