Handing Over

The AGM is later this morning and Chris Darnell (M 1965) will take over as President. For the last few years the AGM has included a ceremony, the handing on of the President's medal.

The medal was made by James Thompson (C 1953) when he was President in 2007, the Society's fiftieth year. The obverse of the medal shows the family tree of the alumni societies which came together to form the Haileybury Society.

I have worn the medal a lot as I seldom wear a tie. The Dean of S Paul's gave me permission to wear it during the liturgy for my installation as a Canon of the Cathedral last January.

It has been a huge honour to be the President of the Society and to wear the medal. I wish Chris great blessings in his year.

11.11.11

The ninety third Armistice Day. Last Sunday we went off to church in Frankfurt. The Alter S Nikolaus Kirche in the Lutheran town centre parish had a service at 1115 which seemed like a good time to those who were having a weekend off. We were in for a bit of a surprise as the service took the form of hymns and prayers surrounding a talk and a discussion. The parish calls this sort of service a Gesprachsgottesdienst - 'a conversation-liturgy' and was in many ways what we would think of as a Christian study group. It was a bit of a challenge for our German language skills!

Frankfurt Old Town before WW2

The talk was given by a visitor from a charity called Zeichen der Hoffnung which works in Germany to foster better relations and understanding between Poles and Germans, healing the wounds which remain after the Second World War. The work began in a practical way, sending money and help to survivors of outrages, but now it seeks to work to foster good relations and understanding.

The discussion in church was in many ways courageous, raising issues of reconciliation in the light of the siting of concentration camps in Poland and the other horrors of the war.

In the small group present the four of us from England were noticeable, and the Pastor was kind to translate for us some of what was going on. Frankfurt was the subject of a massive raid by the RAF on March 22nd 1944 which destroyed the medieval old town and in which over 1,000 people died.

Wartime destruction
 

Sitting in a church which had, along with many other medieval buildings been subsequently restored or rebuilt, one was acutely thankful for the work of reconciliation. We prayed together for that to continue also between our countries. Thanks to my teachers that I was able to respond to the Pastor's graciousness in praying in English with a word of prayer in German. 

How much those who gave their lives for freedom, and suffered so much in the European wars of the last century, would rejoice to think that Haileyburians, German and English, had met over the weekend and celebrated together their common roots in the school and the society, and that things are now so much changed. 

Haileyburians of today continue to play their part in the conflicts of the world. The tragic roll of those who have paid for their commitment with their lives has grown in our time.  Our prayer must be that the conflicts of today will similarly come in the end to the triumph of peace and reconciliation over the forces of hatred and violence.

The Cloister tablets have recently been cleaned and restored
partly with a grant from the Society 

In the first 100 years of Haileybury, ISC and USC, 9% of Old Boys
lost their lives on active service 

Alumni Treffen

The Frankfurt Dinner was a splendid way to spend the last weekend before handing on the baton. Thirty two gathered at the Hotel Intercontinental by the river Main just outside the old city center. It was a young gathering. Four OHs only left the school this August; the oldest German present left Haileybury in 1997.

My German has had thirty years of disuetude, but the company was delightfully generous in speaking in English, and conversations flowed between languages.

The pictures tell the story more than thousands of words.

The General Secretary first thing on Saturday with the OH umbrella which had been specially ordered and had to come in the 'bulky luggage'. He got it safely to the person who had ordered it!

Haileybury Reunion Alumni Treffen

How to say "Old Haileyburian Dinner" in German. The welcome board at the Hotel Intercontinental.

Dinner was a buffet - lots of different things to try and each one beautifully presented. Wine and conversation flowed.

The function room was high up on the top floor of the hotel and had a balcony from which were stunning views over the city. My camera was not up to a picture to do justice to what could be seen. Frankfurt is a delightful mixture of old and new, Medieval and Modern.

Homeward bound on Sunday. 

Interim Report

The last couple of days have been wall to wall and no time until now even for a brief post. Germany was wonderful and I shall report properly either late tonight or in the morning. Frankfurt was bathed in Autumn sunshine.

View of the Main from the hotel window