This year’s OB Day was preceded by a sustained period of fine weather, which made us fear the worst; but in the event the heavens delayed their opening until several hours after all our celebrations were over, only a brief sprinkling of light rain during pre-lunch drinks threatening to upset our plans for the day.
The chapel was packed for matins at 11 o’clock, to the extent that chairs had to be brought in and the choir’s procession became an Indian file. It was a great pleasure to welcome the Rev. Anthony Ellis (D, 58-66) as our preacher on his first official visit to the school since he left forty years ago; and the swerver, now firmly reestablished at the end of the service, was sung with tremendous gusto by current and former Breconians alike. Peter Watkins (S, 48-52), who has spent the past couple of weeks with us furthering his eagerly awaited project on life at CCB during the headship of Canon James (1931-56) had requested that the swerver be recorded for use on the soundtrack of his CD-ROM; in the event the whole service was recorded.
Attendance on the day was around 130 – about as many as can reasonably be managed for lunch. A considerable majority of those 130 were from the ranks of the veterans, swelled on this occasion by the 1956 cricket XI who had held a golden anniversary dinner the previous night at Peterstone Court. The fact that all eleven members of that side, whose record of twelve victories remains unsurpassed, were present, two having made the journey from Australia, had excited no little press interest, and there was a prolonged photo session on the Saturday afternoon for, among others, the Times Educational Supplement. On the Sunday the veterans were joined by a small but enthusiastic group of Alway pioneers; the only disappointment was the total lack of interest from the 1987-90 leavers, who had been invited in the belief that they might be keen to see the de Winton extension, since that house was opened in 1987.
Roger Chilman (B, 92-97) once again raised a useful OB cricket XI, but for once they were emphatically beaten by the school – the margin 5 wickets. The match began at 11.00 am so that stumps could be drawn in time for England’s World Cup match against Ecuador, and the winning run was scored with a good fifteen minutes to spare.
Only one OB turned up to shoot at 3.00 pm, which was something of a disappointment for the three boys who had volunteered to provide opposition; but animated conversation was the order of the day, and this continued at various spots around the quad until late in the afternoon, when many a parting word was “see you next year!”.
