Old Cambrian Society "e-Newsletter"

e-Newsletter - 17th February 2007

Dear Old Cambrian,

Yes, I know, you're probably thinking why there's another Newsletter following so soon after the new year edition. The main reason is that a major OCS event (in Perth, Western Australia) was announced just days after I contacted you all, and it definitely deserves to be brought to the attention of all Old Cambrians who may wish to join in. Plus, as you will see below, there are a few other rather important items as well. So, here goes .............

Reunion - Old Cambrian Society (Australia) - "Picnic on the Swan" - Sunday 4th March 2007 - Perth, Western Australia

Old Cambrians, Dave McFarnell (Nicholson 1957-63) and Mike Purves (Nicholson 1958-60), have organised what should become an annual gathering for Old Cambrians and all ex-East Africans. The day hopes to reunite all those who went to East African schools or were in the Kenya Regiment. The venue is Charles Paterson Park, Burswood (just off Great Eastern Highway). All are welcome for this day beside the Swan River from 10am. There are barbecues and a nearby car park.
For more details, call Dave (9272 4557) or Mike (9339 6900) or e-mail Mick Parry (Scott 1958-60) on mickandval@iinet.net.au

Macmillan Cancer Support - Please help Brod Purdy (Rhodes 1958-61) to raise lots of money!

Classic car enthusiasts, Brod and Carolyn Purdy, are getting ready to drive a 1966 Porsche 912 from Cape Wrath in NW Scotland to Cape Clear in SE Ireland to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. The money raised will be in memory of a family member who died in August 2006 and whose family was extremely well supported by their local Macmillan Nurses. Brod has also been diagnosed with cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy, making this cause slightly more personal.

For more details please go to the following link on the web site - http://www.oldcambrians.com/MacmillanCancerSupport.html

Ernest and Doris Shindler (& John Shindler) - We've been VERY successful!! Well done everybody!!

I had a fantastic response to my request for information on these three people (see January 2007 e-Newsletter), and I'm delighted to say that Peter Gamble and his twin sister have now been connected with their brother, John Shindler, who was tracked down and is alive and well and living in Western Australia. I have even managed to arrange for Peter and his sister to obtain copies of their birth certificates from the registry in Nairobi.

Grateful thanks to all the many people who contacted me with information which I duly passed on to Peter, and it's so pleasing to see yet another success story resulting from the collective efforts of Old Cambrians around the world.

So, a request from me ............... please STOP the e-mails on this subject, as we have achieved our goal !!

'Keepsakes' and 'Archives' - There must be so much more out there!

There must be a tremendous amount of information and photos of the school 'lurking' around in drawers, cupboards, boxes and lofts. Much of it will have been sitting around for years, totally untouched, and it would be great to identify it and share it with the rest of us 'old boys'. So, if you are one of those with such material in your house, or you know someone else who has anything that would be of interest, please try to make some time to go through it. Then, please let me know, and we'll discuss how best to get it on the web site.

Alumni Updates

With the Old Cambrian Society web site now over four years old, some of you registered with me many moons ago. In total, 855 Old Cambrians now have an Alumni page on the web site. Could you please go to your Alumni page, and provide me with updated text. In particular I would like:

1) More memories from your time at the School. These memories are what make this section really interesting.

2) What you have done since leaving the School?

3) Where you live now

Something else that I would like to start is to publish a photo on each Alumni page of what you looked like as a teenager whilst at the School. Some of us have already done this on our Alumni pages, and it would be entirely up to you whether you wished to also have a photo published as you are now.

........ and a couple of reminders:

Reunion - Old Cambrian Society (UK) - Annual Dinner - Friday 27th April 2007 at the RAF Club, Piccadilly, London

So far I have 60 places confirmed, so we're half way to our maximum already with well over 2 months to go. This is much better than we've ever done before, so if you do wish to reserve a place for the dinner, please contact me as soon as you can. Last year I had over 20 people on the waiting list all very disappointed that they had left it too late. This London reunion is always very popular, and for the 2007 event we have people travelling from all over England as as Scotland. and also from as far away as the U.S.A., Canada, South Africa, British Virgin Islands, Portugal, Switzerland and Belgium........and of course I'll be flying over from Jersey!

I have now set up a page with a list of those attending the dinner, so please visit http://www.oldcambrians.com/2007DinnerList-numbers.html to see who is on the list. If you think you have contacted me to reserve a place and you do not appear on the list, please e-mail me right away.

Reunion - North American Luncheon & Weekend, organised by Old Cambrian Society (Canada)

Saturday 8th September and Sunday 9th September 2007 - Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Whilst this event is a few months away, please contact the organisers if you are thinking about attending, as this will give them a better idea of the sort of numbers they will expect. For more details of the event, please click on the following link: http://www.oldcambrians.com/Reunion-Canada2007.html

I make my usual plea........ If you are planning a gathering/reunion of Old Cambrians, please let me know so that I can advertise it in an e-Newsletter and on the web site.

That's all for now!

Steve Le Feuvre

Webmaster - http://www.oldcambrians.com

& Secretary, Old Cambrian Society (UK)