News Compendium

Following notification from his son, we note the death on 4th July 2023 of John Frederick Hearn, teacher at the School during the 1960s.

Mark Sayer (OBA Committee) offers this personal tribute to his old teacher:

We are sad to report the death of Ronald Swan who was at the School from 1936-41. His grandaughter Catherine contacted us to pass on the news. Ron passed away on 27th April 2023 aged 97.  

We regret to report the passing of Jonathon (Jonny) Webb who attended the School between 1990 and 1995. His friend and fellow OB John Gardiner has provided this fulsome tribute to a life well-lived but sadly ended by cancer at the early age of 45 on 2nd April. 

Jonny attended Borden Grammar between 1990 and 1995. I knew Jonny from later in his life, but we overlapped at Borden for a while and we used to joke that I might once have given him a detention. ‘Did you become a prefect?’, I much later asked Jonny. ‘No!’, he replied, with a vigorous shake of the head and one of those amused grimaces which always signalled, for him, awareness of perhaps a little more fun enjoyed than sticklers might have condoned. Jonny once described his time at Borden to me as lively. (‘Lively’ was a very Jonny adjective.)

The extension project has become a reality, with visible groundworks – it looks like a proper building site should.

We have reported previously on the plans to expand the School through the building of a new extension. 

With great regret we announce the deaths of three Old Bordenians in recent weeks. 

Old Bordenian Mark Sayer lived in Germany during the 1990s.  As part of his travels through the newly opened Eastern Europe, he visited Auschwitz. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, he provides a thought-provoking piece on that experience and his reflections:

This is the time of year we glance over our shoulder to times and ages past in our celebration of Christmas before we firmly look forward again in the New Year. Our Archive of School magazines, bolstered this year with the bequest of John Allard’s Year Books, offers a great view into Christmases Past at the School.

We are always pleased to reconnect with Old Bordenians from whom we have not heard from in a while.  Dennis Fowle was at the School 1945-51 and as we reconnected, offered this thoughtful look at the standards back in the day:

"Is the General Certificate of Education (GCSE) easier or more difficult for students than the General School Examination (GSE) it replaced in 1988 in many schools?

I certainly am not brave enough to offer an opinion – but I can offer a few of the questions I had to tackle in the summer of 1950 at Borden Grammar School.