The Old Maidstonian Super Saturday 2024 – Saturday 20th April – UPDATE

On Saturday 20th April, before the supper, we are opening our doors to welcome as many Old Maidstonians back as possible to celebrate the continued growth of sport at MGS and our 3G pitch. This is the day of the supper (please buy your tickets!) and will make for a great part of this huge day to celebrate our community. Please come along for a tea/coffee and relax at the Ron McCormick Pavilion. We are opening at 12pm and hosting some fierce alumni sporting competition for you to watch. MGS will be hosting the annual MGS vs OM sporting fixtures for both rugby and football. OMs should keep the whole day free for both the Sports and the Supper.

UPDATE – The Super Saturday Sport will take place from 12pm to 4pm with alumni sporting fixtures in both rugby and football. Express your interest for Super Saturday Sport via THESE links: https://mgs.kent.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/OMS-Super-Saturday-scaled.jpg OR https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=bVZYQqE_J0ieVgqz5wlUFx-unsY2skdMudsZubzhrbtUOUYzVjZCVVJCVFg0Sk1QQjdWUVkwWktDWi4u

This is still relatively new, so please share widely on social media and/or in your WhatsApp groups!

We hope that the entire day will be a great celebration of everything that makes MGS & OMS what it is, always has been and always will be.

Olim Meminisse Juvabit.

Warmest regards,
The Committee

 

OMS 475 Annual Supper 2024 – Saturday 20th April (updated)

The Old Maidstonian Society Annual Supper will be held at the school on Saturday  20th April 2024. Dress is jacket and tie or equivalent. Plus-ones are welcome. With it being the School’s 475th anniversary it would be so good to see many more OMs returning to their school to celebrate the important milestone.

The Supper will commence promptly at 19:30, and will conclude equally promptly by 22:00, as there will again be a Master of Ceremonies to ensure that all runs on time, as it has done for the past several years. Please note that free overnight parking is available for all those who require it, please let us know beforehand if you require the use of these facilities as well as providing us with the registration number and make of the car ahead of time.

The President, Dan Abnett, has invited Jason Tarry to be his Guest of Honour. Jason left MGS in 1985 and joined Tesco in 1990 as a graduate trainee. Through his career in the business he has held a number of senior positions and joined the Executive Committee as head of commercial for UK and group, in January 2015. For the last six years he has held the position of CEO of the UK and Republic of Ireland businesses. He is the 2023 President of the Institute of Grocery Distribution. It has recently been announced that Jason will be stepping down from his Tesco role in March 2024 after more than 33 years with the company which happens to coincide with our Supper. Jason is also the incoming President of the Society for 2024 to 2025.

There will again be a professional bar service with beer, spirits, port and soft drinks being served before dinner and also at tables during the meal. The bar will be open by 18:00, and the hall and bar will remain open until 23:00. Entrance will again only be through the main entrance door, where you will be greeted.

We are also hoping to have a tour (or two, numbers depending) around the School before the Supper; if you wish to attend a tour, please let us know no later than 13th April 2024, so we have enough time to plan staffing levels for the numbers we have, and please make us aware of any access requirements you have. Timings and numbers will be confirmed during the week before the Supper, but will likely take place in the hour or two before the Supper starts.

There will also be the now legendary raffle, tickets on sale on the night, any prize donations are very much welcome, please email me with these via [email protected].

We are delighted to confirm that the caterers for the Annual Supper will be Cucina. They will again be preparing our meal, and the menu is stated below and will be on our website in due course. We will provide place names with each diner’s choices printed on one side.

Everyone attending is requested to:

  • Make payment by one of the methods below;
  • Pre-select their choices for each course from the linked menu, and forward them to the Membership Secretary either by e-mail, phone, or by mail to the school, addressed to the OMS;
  • Advise the Membership Secretary when booking if you wish to sit with any particular member(s);
  • Advise the Membership Secretary if you have any access requirements.

Menu:

Starters: S1 Parma Ham & Melon Salad OR
S2 Pea & Watercress Soup served with fresh baked bread & white truffle oil OR
S3 Smoked Mackerel Pate, charred Lemon & toasted brioche

Main Courses: M1 Steak & Mushroom Pithivier with ale jus OR
M2 Chicken Schnitzel, wild garlic butter & tomato salsa (Both served with spring vegetables & potatoes) OR
M3 Wild mushroom and mozzarella arancini, Panzanella salad & basil oil.

Desserts: D1 Gypsy Tart with pouring cream OR
D2 Sherry Trifle OR
D3 Golden Syrup Sponge Pudding & Clotted cream custard

To finish: Freshly Brewed Fairtrade Coffee & Tea

Price and payment methods

The cost is £32 per head, an increase on last year’s price but we feel it still reflects the very high quality and quantity of food being served, given the ongoing inflationary pressures being felt at every turn as well as the better quality. In view of the fact that meals will be prepared and served with each individual’s menu selections, payment must be made in advance.  Please either email [email protected] with all of the requested information from this email or use the booking form below, and please book by end of Monday 15th April 2024.

You may pay either by internet bank transfer to:
The NatWest Bank
Maidstone Branch: 3 High Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XU
Account: Old Maidstonian Society
Account no: 00051802
Sort Code: 60-60-08
IBAN: GB31 NWBK 606008 00051802
BIC (Swift): NWBKGB2L
Reference: Your name/OMS AS
(If you use this method, but are not using the online form, please drop the Membership Secretary an e-mail letting him know: address as above)

Or by sending a cheque, made payable to ‘Old Maidstonian Society’ to:
The Old Maidstonian Society
Maidstone Grammar School
Barton Road
Maidstone
Kent ME15 7BT

    Annual Supper 2024 Online booking

    Warning: this form seems to give problems, for unknown reasons, in some browsers, in particular Chrome and Edge. If you experience this, please email direct to oms@oldmaidstonians,org.uk or use the printable form, and please report the problem so we can try to diagnose the fault.

    I have made a payment by internet transfer of £ for the purchase of place(s) at £32.00 each for the Old Maidstonian Annual Supper being held at the school on Saturday 20th April 2024. If you are not paying online, please download the printable form and mail it with your cheque.

    Your Name (required)

    Year of leaving MGS

    Please give either your email address or a telephone number so that we can acknowledge your order. To do so, click the appropriate boxes below and fill in the necessary value


    Please give your menu choices here (e.g. S2,M1,D3)

    If you are paying for more than one person, please give the names of the other persons in your party and their menu choices.

    If you would like overnight parking for your vehicle, or to join a tour, please fill in the box below with details (for parking, the make, model and registration of your vehicle)




     

    OMS emails being blocked

    We have recently posted that we had been experiencing issues with Sender.net and a large number of OMs have not been receiving our emails since June 2023. Upon further investigation with Sender.net, it was found that anyone with hotmail/outlook/live/microsoft based email addresses, were unlikely to be receiving many distribution/mailing list emails, as evidenced by this article: Report from tuta.com. Note that their experience suggests our emails may be going into spam or junk files. If so you may be able to fix it by adding us to your mailer’s whitelist.

    The Committee can confirm that we are looking into additional alternatives to make sure we can reach the 7-800 OMs with these types of email addresses and will update you all as and when our communication channels get updated.

    Please always remember that any pertinent information will always be posted on Facebook, on our website, and on LinkedIn, as well as through emails.

    Warmest Regards,
    Sean Scurr on behalf of the Committee
    Membership & Mentoring Secretary
    Old Maidstonian Society

    A “call to arms” from the President

    This article by out President in the Summer 2023 Newsletter seemed worthy of a separate post: we hope it inspires Old Maidstonians.

    When I was invited to serve as President for the OMS, it didn’t cross my mind to
    politely decline, citing workload or the pressure of deadlines. I accepted
    gratefully, not because it’s an honour (though it certainly is), but because here, to
    my surprise, was an opportunity I didn’t know I had been looking for.

    I owe MGS a debt. It’s not hyperbole to say that the trajectory of my career was
    significantly determined by the staff who taught me during my time at the school. I
    would mention, in particular, John Morgan and Terence Edwards, and also
    Graham Walker, now treasurer of the OMS committee and my predecessor as
    president (a role for which he deserves praise and thanks). I owe MGS my appreciation, and
    I think I’ve felt that way for a long time. I had an unrealised impulse to ‘give back’ to the
    school in some way that is, I’m sure, shared by many of you. However, until the invitation
    arrived, it had simply never occurred to me to participate in Society events.
    I don’t know why that should be the case, but if it’s true of me, then it may be true for you too.
    You might feel that impulse, but simply haven’t considered how to express it, yet. Consider
    this, then, your invitation.

    It’s why the OMS exists. The Society supports the school’s community in many ways, but its
    principal work is to maintain connections between the alumni and the school. It does this by
    sending communications out (through email, Facebook, Linked In, and this regular
    newsletter, for example) to keep alumni informed of events and achievements in the life of
    MGS, and by organising events to draw alumni in, or at least together (such as the Annual
    Supper, the London Gathering etc).

    The most recent Supper was my first, and it gave me the opportunity to speak with ex-
    students from different eras, spanning decades. I was struck that Old Maidstonians all said
    the same thing, and that it was a reflection of my own feeling. They wanted to know how they
    might return the investment made in them during their time at MGS.

    There are many ways to pay it on, as I have learned from joining the committee. Firstly,
    blunt as it might sound, with donations: the OMS and the School always appreciates support
    for its development projects. Second, through the mentoring programme, whereby you share
    the wisdom (or otherwise!) of your life experience and professional insight with the current
    school cohort. Third, the OMS committee, volunteers all, is always looking for willing help.
    More than anything, you can contribute with your presence. We can send out all the news
    we like, but having you here, meeting old friends or making new ones, is the true measure of
    the Society’s vitality.

    Perhaps due to the pandemic, attendance at events has decreased slightly. Add to that the
    perennial issue faced by the OMS, which is the widespread nature of the alumni community
    (both geographically and in terms of age and interest), and questions arise as to how we
    stage an event that will appeal – or simply be accessible or affordable – to as many alumni as
    possible? We have recently sent out a survey asking you what types of events would appeal
    to you. I urge you to reply with any ideas.

    In an ideal world, we would be welcoming back as many of you as possible at every event.
    This might mean we have to plan different types of events at different times of the year to
    broaden the appeal of returning. The forthcoming MGS 475 celebrations may give us an
    opportunity to try some of those ideas out.

    So if, like me, you have a persistent impulse to support the school, but don’t really know how,
    the single best thing you can do is to attend events. Reach out to your own network of
    friends and invite them to join you. 475 would be an ideal time to renew your connection with
    the school in person, and we would be delighted to see you.
    Dan Abnett
    MGS 1979 – 1984
    Comic book writer, novelist