Dear Gattonian,

In advance may I wish you all the very best for the Christmas period and the New Year that will follow. As we are all too aware, the months that have made up 2020 have been challenging to say the least. Who would have thought this time last year that we would have confronted what has descended upon us during the last 10 months or so.  I truly hope you and all who are near and dear to you are safe and well. It is a very sobering thought that life can change as radically as it that has done in the last few months.

Hopefully we can gain some measure of normality in the months that will follow and our hopes will have been buoyed by the recent announcements of vaccine development; including of course the announcing of the success that has been seen with the Oxford/Astra Zenica development. This vaccine will have the potential to offer 100 million plus injections for the British public. You, like me, I have no doubt, can only stand in wonder at the skills and expertise of those medical/scientific researchers who have done so much in such a short space of time.

At this time of the year I normally look back on the high points of the Gattonian year and, with the aid of a plethora of images taken at the events that have gone by, offer my thanks to so many of you who make such events so memorable. Alas, this is not be for 2020, but I know that you like me will have a solid resolve, that when this world shattering occurrence is behind us, we will pick up the tabs of where we left of in 2019 and move on.

I should imagine that there will be a hunger to see old friends; be it within the environs of Gatton Park or picking up the threads with old school pals that you have known for many years and, up until this year, see on a regular basis for a chat, a beer/wine, tea or dinner. Many of you Old Gattonians realise that old school friends made at our School are a bit more than friendships that were made at a local day school.

Anyway, enough of this past and let us look to the future with a deal of optimism. Prior to the “world grinding to a halt” there were many events and occasions discussed when the GA committee gathered and it is our intention in 2021, when we are given the all clear to ensure that such events will happen, to host these events again.  For example, Gattonian Day, which is now set in stone in our calendar for the Saturday before the return of the Boarders in September, will be a high priority. After missing out this year we hope to see many hundreds on the appointed Saturday to enjoy the events of the day and meeting and socialising with those older and younger. Of course, those with staying power ensure that the whole day is maximised with the aid of the facilities of the School Club and a trip to Reigate to inspect the quality of the hostelries that the town boasts.

We also intend to, if there is enough demand, host a number of lunches for various age groups. This, if possible, will be at the school and an ideal opportunity to meet up with perhaps some long lost friends in an informal but beautiful setting and surrounds.

Visits to the School by those who are keen to come back and see their old haunts is of course always welcomed when normal times return (currently the school is closed to all visitors). This, it is hoped, will be resumed when we have normality and such a visit can be arranged by contacting Sefora, Helen or Rebecca in the Admissions Office. These ladies will then provide you with the necessary information and one of the school's expert guides.

Visits, more formal events, dinners and other initiatives that will aid the pupil body of the school will be high priority matters we will pursue. More detail in, hopefully, the next Covid free edition of The Gattonian.

I hope that you find this edition of the Gattonian refreshing and invigorating, and I will no longer ramble on about what will happen but will have the greatest of pleasure in the editions that follow of inviting you to be a part of much of what the GA can offer in brighter and rosier times.
 

Cheers,
Benny