We were delighted to welcome over 80 OHs and guests to our annual London lunch at the RAF Club on London’s Piccadilly on Wednesday 19th March 2025. After drinks in the Churchill Bar, guests made their way upstairs to enjoy a delicious three course silver service luncheon consisting of smoked salmon, spring lamb and rum baba, together with Club Merlot and Club Sauvignon wines. If the noise levels of happy chatter and much laughter are the way to judge such events, then we can only say that this one was a resounding success!
Speeches
At the end of our meal Society President Fiona Illingworth (BF 76 & Alb) spoke of her great love of Haileybury as a third-generation pupil and how honoured she feels to be the Society’s President. She extended a warm welcome to everyone present, especially the new Master Eugene du Toit and his wife Angela and spoke of her thanks to Graeme Titmas (H 65) for enabling our use of the RAF club, and the operations staff for providing us with an excellent lunch.
Thanks
She went on to express her gratitude to our previous President Lizzie Graham (K 76 & Alb), and remarked on the positive work and engagement of the OH Sports clubs represented at the lunch by Tom Huckin (B 65) Chairman of the OHRFC, Ian Much (B 58) Captain of the OH Golf Society and Gary Feast (E 78), its Treasurer, Stuart Feast (E 77) Chairman of the Haileybury Hermits, Deane Pennick (B 77) Chairman of the OH Rackets Society and Nick Courtney (M 60) Secretary of the OH Veterans Rifle Club.
Fiona also welcomed our friends from Bishops Cape Town Old Diocesans Union, their new Secretary, Charles MacGregor, and his predecessor Nicky Bicket (Honorary Member). She also thanked Ashley Locke, our hardworking Office Manager, and Doug (BF 73) and Jane Everard (L 76 & Alb), Society Secretary, for their valuable work on the Society’s behalf.
Tributes
Fiona paid tribute to OHs who regularly supported this event and who have sadly passed away in the last year – Bob Eastwood (Th 57), past President Nick Gandon (M 69), Adrian Mortimer (A 54) and Colonel Martin Romilly OBE (Th 56)
Relationship with Haileybury
Fiona said she was very pleased to say that ongoing discussions with the school have been very proactive and positive and that Society trustees are very hopeful that this would lead to us working much more closely in partnership with the school in order to best serve the entire Haileybury community.
The Society’s Spirit of Service
Fiona spoke of the Society’s underlying ethos of Spirit of Service. She said it has supported Haileybury since its opening as a charity in 1895, with bursary support and educational grants to the school. More recently in addition to social events such as reunion lunches and dinners we also offer cultural and educational visits to places of interest and online lectures.
Fiona described how there are a myriad of ways we regularly support OHs and their families with practical help through our OH contacts, such as a local primary school seeking an interim head whereby we had a contact in the local education authority who was able to offer guidance and enable introductions.
Fiona also told of how the Society in the past few weeks has been able to assist an OH who is a full-time carer self-publish a book, and that we have given two young OHs travel grants and that we support two children of OHs with bursaries to Haileybury.
Pastoral Support
Fiona described how in order to formalise our pastoral work the trustees have set up a Pastoral Support Fund for those less who may need additional help. She said that qualified recovery & Mental Health Advocate Edmund (Jim) Aitken- Ballard (Th 87) now runs a weekly support telephone helpline and that he has already signposted members of our community to agencies such as NHS Therapy Direct, AA and Citizens Advice, and had also been able to organise a home hospital bed and grants for white goods.
Fiona finished her speech by saying she hoped to organise a music event at Haileybury during her Presidency, and welcomed the Master, Eugene du Toit to speak.
The Master’s Speech
We were delighted to hear an energetic, engaging and positive speech by the new Master, Eugene du Toit. He said how pleased he was to be Master of such a fine school and spoke of how well Haileybury is doing both academically and with co-curricular activities. He talked about the new STEM department, 30 years of Model United Nations at Haileybury this year, of its fabulous drama productions and music, and its sporting prowess. He said that the staff base, both teaching and operational, was strong and that the pupils are happy and fulfilled. Eugene spoke of his wish to engage with the OH community and to welcome OHs back to events at Haileybury.
More from The Haileybury Society
- ANNUAL LONDON LUNCH 2025
- New Zealand OHs get-together
- JUDY HUNT
- Emiliya Sivankova (M 19) – London Marathon 2025 – Team Mind
- TRAVEL GRANT – Daniel Hampshire (B 13)
- Nick John Charles Gandon (M 69)
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Unless otherwise stated, all content and images on this website and blog © The Haileybury Society, 2024, all rights reserved