President's Letter

I am told that as one gets older, time seems to pass ever more quickly; indeed I recently heard of the following witticism from an elderly lady, that as she got past 80, breakfast seems to come round every five minutes! Certainly this holds true for this past year, as the time since last writing the President's Letter and the present seems extremely short. This has been a year, for many Old Students, of a great deal of reminiscence as well as looking forward in our plans to bring the Association's use of new media technologies up to date.

We have lost two very special and long-serving Committee members . Firstly, Henry Collin in November last year and latterly Jim Brocklehurst earlier this year. Others will have contributed fuller obituaries and personal memories, but I believe these were two men who represented both the past and the present, much as has been experienced in the recent death of the Queen Mother. I had known Henry Collin for most of my life and I particularly remember his extraordinary zest for life and maintaining a wide circle of friends of very varied ages, which represents what this Association has always been about: that is, keeping in touch. They also both portrayed some of the best values of this school which are probably part of the reason why you are reading this newsletter.

In March, we spent a most successful and enjoyable evening at the Spread Eagle hotel in Lymm, facilitated by past President, Mike Olver, watching the old school films held now by North-West Film Archives. The footage of past school trips and (seemingly interminable!) Founders' Days and Sports Days, and the early days of Tyn-y-felin were fascinating.

There were many murmurs of recognition and poignant memories, for some, and for me (as they predated any of my experiences at the Grammar School in the 60s) a marvelling at the foresight shown by the cinematographers and at the strength of affection and pleasure that so many recall about their school days. The present school undoubtedly inspires the same feelings in present and more recent former students and we remain keen to foster closer relations with them to encourage the future maintenance of this Association, and to hear of their experiences and achievements.

This year's newsletter, accessed via the OSA Website, needs your continuing interest and also input of articles and news, as in future the web allows for a much more frequent updating and information exchange. This year, I hope you will be reading this either directly or courtesy of a friend or a family member's printout, and because of a postcard reminder and I hope that some of you may be inspired to add your thoughts and messages to the site.We intend to update the site regularly so that the idea of an annual newsletter in a sense becomes redundant. We are also working on ideas to extend our news about the school's present activities and to include contributions from recent leavers if possible.

So do visit the OSA website and keep in touch or perhaps join the group for a walk and other events, such as the Golf Dinner and Competition which will again take place this year by kind permission of Warrington Golf Course. More details are given elsewhere in this edition.

Kind regards to you all,
Janet Ollier