News Compendium

The son of Old Bordenian John Doran has provided us with a couple of photographs of Borden Grammar School evacuees that were sent to Lewis School, Pengam in the Rhymney Valley in South Wales in 1940.  Unlike most of the others, John's family decided to stay in S Wales when the rest returned.

The Annual Old Bordenian Association remembrance gathering was held at the School at 11a.m. on Saturday 8th November, to commemorate the 99 Old Bordenians who were killed on active service during the two World Wars and in other conflicts.  It was attended by a number of Old Bordenians, including Denis Jarrett, one of the founders of this event; by Anne Whitehead, daughter of Able Seaman Harry Bruce Hartridge, Royal Navy; and by Kathy Gambell and family, relatives of George Alfred King, Merchant Navy.  We were also pleased to welcome three pupils from the School : Anthony Brinkman (School Captain), Tom Chapman (Vice-Captain) and prefect Lois Wakefield.

This year we are changing the way that we notify Old Boys about the Dinner:-

1. Emails will be sent to all OBA members where we hold your email address.

2. Letters will only be sent to those Old Boys, who are members of the OBA, who have attended the last two dinners.

3. A Dinner Letter is available to download on this website.

In the past an invitation letter has been sent to all OBA members but taking into account that the majority do not attend the Dinner, this has been a considerable cost to the Association which will now be saved.

Our aim for future Dinners is to switch across to electronic notification as quickly as we are able.

Peter Lusted

To download the letter: Dinnerletter2015.pdf

Every individual is unique, but some are uniquer than others!  And Ken Sears, who died on 9^th November 2014, was certainly one of those.

Born in Sheerness, he lived in the same house in Winstanley Road all his life.   After attending the Broadway Primary School, he went to Borden until he was 18 and thence to Lincoln College, Oxford, where he graduated in Modern History.  He  spent a further year in Government Studies at Mansfield College before being employed initially by Coventry Council and then by the City and Guilds Institute, where he worked as an Education Officer for the rest of his careeer.  So much for the bare facts.  What made Ken so remarkable, however, was his huge range of interests and 'extramural' activities, of which three in particular stand out.  

We regret to announce the passing away of Ken Sears on 9 November 2014.  Ken was a long standing member of the OBA committee and will be sadly missed. More details of Ken's life and contribution to the Old Boys will be added shortly. 

The funeral took place on Thursday 20th November 2014 at 2-30pm at Hope Street Church, Sheerness.

Looking back 25 years, it transpires that our guest speaker at the 2015 Dinner, Dennis Fowle, contributed an article to the Maroon that year.  With apologies to Dennis if he planned to use this article as the draft for his speech!!

Looking back 25 years, it transpires that our guest speaker at the 2015 Dinner, Dennis Fowle, contributed an article to the Maroon that year.  With apologies to Dennis if he planned to use this article as the draft for his speech!!

Were you a Borden pupil 25 years ago?  When there were no First or Second Formers (or should that be Year 7 and Year 8 students in modern terms?) wandering the corridors.  If so, you may find the 1989 Borden School magazine, reproduced below, of interest.  Do any of the reports within the magazine jog memories?  Feel free to share your thoughts with other Old Boys by sending them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I'll publish on this website.