OS Friendships and connections that have stood the test of time!

The weather on Sunday 25th July may have been unseasonably thundery and wet but it did nothing to dampen our spirits as we welcomed back a group of 2001 Leavers to celebrate their 20th Anniversary OS Reunion.

The reunion, the first hosted on campus in a record 21months was the brainchild of OS Hinesh Rajani (MJH,HH, 90-01) & Charlie Bray (MJH,HH, 90-01) who were keen to gather together their contemporaries to mark this important anniversary. They both worked tirelessly to contact their year group, no matter at what stage they had left the College. Using their network to its full potential they turned to email, social media and LinkedIN to contact everyone they could to invite them along. Sadly covid travel and self isolation restrictions meant that many were unable to travel to attend the event, including Charlie who was forced to self isolate after a foreign work trip at very short notice. Despite the obstacles, the reunion was still full of laughter and the sharing of College memories, some verging on the more boisterous side of school days antics which made for all the more laughter.

OS President Chris Forster (MJH, SuH, 82-90) & Development Director, Britt Ellice, offered a warm welcome to all our guests and provided a positive update on OS Society activities, developments at the College over the past 20 years and looked forward towards our exciting Stortfordian Foundation plans for the future. 

 The Class of 2001 has definitely grown  over the past two decades so it was a joy to see so many OS children making the most of the College facilities and grounds before the rain came! The timing of the informal tour of the campus couldn’t have been more perfectly timed, concluding just as the thunder gave way to heavy rain.

Although a select few were able to join us in person at the reunion, many other OS and former staff sent very best wishes to their contemporaries, some having reconnected for the first time in many years, such is the joy of school made relationships.

We are incredibly grateful to all that joined us for what was most definitely the highlight of our OS events calendar this year!

We are especially grateful to Charlie and Hinesh and also to the OS President, Former Assistant Head & Benson Housemistress, Pauline Mullender for reconnecting with her past German Students and two of her beloved Benson Girls and to Keith Irvine for joining us to reminisce with his past Geographers. A number of OS guests also donated towards the Storfordian Bursary Campaign in advance of joining us and for this we are incredibly grateful.

We are already looking forward to welcoming back, hopefully covid restriction free, the wonderful Class of 2001 for their next significant anniversary – same time in 2026 or 2031 everyone??