Hello again,

According to some, last Saturday’s London Reunion at The Bombay Brasserie was one of the best.  The rains came and London was on bomb alert, but almost all who were expected managed to turn up. Only Jurek Pinches could not make it, because he had been taken ill, but he very generously asked for his money to be added to the collection for Mungpoo school.

Those who came were:

The Swatmans travelled from Toronto, Canada, to be with us, and the Sahas likewise from the US, while the Faruque brothers came in from Pakistan, and Charlotte Dunne from India.  Others who made long journeys to be with us included Ken and Paul Staynor, Orlando Antao, Bob Leeming and his sister, Yvonne Newton, and the Fords, the Prossor/Bhutia clan, the Rosambeaus, the Keymers and Edwardses, Ian and Gerry Taylor, and Peter Cameron.

I gave a brief account of the International Reunion in March.  Jules Delespino wanted to know if Queen’s was still in business just outside the school gates, and did they still serve unda-parathas.  Noel Simon added a serious note.  A full account, with photos, has been posted at: http://www.npalumni.org/reunion_darjeeling_2007_reports.htm

FINANCIAL MATTERS

Donations for St Joseph’s School. Mungpoo came from:

Brian Hewland (not a North Pointer), Michael Brady, Peter Rosambeau, Orlando Antao, Peter Cameron, John Barrington, Bob Leeming, Jurek Pinches, Winston Pais, Ranjan Sen (who did not attend), Ian Taylor, Raj Thein, Noel Simon, Jules Delespino, Peter Lodrick, Richard Ashby (did not attend), Albion Gee, Robert Taylor, Dhrubo Gupta (from India), myself and a number of others who handed Evelyn a total of £266 cash at the end of the reunion.

Those generous donations totalled £1,256.62 (the 62p being part of Dhrubo’s contribution when converted into sterling).  That should convert to just over one lakh (Rs.100,000) – target achieved!  Thank you all very much.  You may never realise how much can be done with every single pound you contributed, and what the Mungpoo school is already doing with your support.

R.I.P.

It was with great sadness that we learned that Frank Ainslie had gone to the Big School in the Sky.  Apparently a heart attack took him away.  The assembled company stood in silence for a minute, to pay their respects, before singing the NP Chorus.

Frank had been a regular at all such events, and we were puzzled as to why we had not heard from him.  Now we know.  He was an enthusiastic North Pointer and Calcuttan, and we shall miss him.

HILL SCHOOLS REUNION

We shall, of course, hold our annual reunion on the last Saturday of June next year.  But we have just received early notice of next year’s Hill Schools Reunion which will be held at the Clay Oven Banqueting Suites, Ealing Road, Wembley on Wednesday 28^th May.

This is a change of date.  The event has always been in March, but next year will be in May.  The cost will be £29.50 per person.  There will be a limit of 500 for the event, so if you’d like to be there, make your cheque payable to HSR and send it either to me at the above address (so I can arrange for us all to sit together) or to the Treasurer: Paul Dickson, 4 Gilman Crescent, Windsor, Berks. SL4 4YN.  Questions to dicksonp@btinternet.com (tel: 01753 865972).

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARDS

As I said at the Reunion, this year’s awards were just the start of the scheme, and the list of awardees was by no means comprehensive.

Please give some thought to which North Pointers you would nominate for an award at the next International Alumni Reunion in 2009.

NEXT INTERNATIONAL REUNION, 2009

The next gathering of worldwide alumni will be at Koh Chang (Elephant Island) which is at the eastern part of Thailand, near the border with Cambodia.  It’s a holiday paradise with white sandy beaches and magnificent hotels.  Look it up on the internet.  I’ll send you details as they become available … but start saving up now!  It will be a fantastic  holiday in 2009.  Probably March of that year.

Finally, please let me know if you change your address, phone number or email address.  Also, if you know any North Pointers, do ask them if they received this Newsletter.  If not, ask them to email me at: Phillip@mainspeaker.com.

Sursum corda.