WELCOME

Rachel Bacon (A’86)

In looking for some inspiration for this, I was prompted to take a look at some previous editions of The Arch to see what others had done and – let’s be honest here – see

if this would give me an easy way in! As I might have anticipated, it didn’t. Not because there wasn’t anything useful or interesting there, but rather because in these challenging times we’ve been prevented from holding so many of the events that would normally form the backbone to such letters.

In this latter part of the year we have been able to re-start some of our activities, and you will read more about this in Nick’s Chairman’s

Letter and Mark’s Headmaster’s Update, so I won’t steal the march on them by talking much about those here. Suffice it to say, it has been wonderful to be able to get back to some semblance of normality and actually talking to real, physical people rather than a screen! Whilst we haven’t been able to run all the

events that we planned the enforced break has, however, given us a period of time in which to consider things more deeply and look at different options. As you will read in Nick’s letter, we are committed to making the society an inclusive place for all Old Reptonians, and the changes that have been taking place in the OR Office will definitely support us to move in the right direction.

To those of you who have become ORs this year, welcome! We hope that you’ll find something of interest in these pages, but also in some of the events that will be open to you. We want to hear you views on these, to understand what it is that you’d like to see taking place – we can’t make the changes you want to see unless you tell us. So please do email the OR office, pick up the phone or leave a comment on ReptonLife – someone will get back to you! If you, like me, have been an OR for a longer period of time you’re just as important, so again please talk to us if you have any suggestions or want to share your thoughts on potential events.

For me, I think the thing I have enjoyed the most about being a part of the OR Society has been the opportunity not just to meet up again with old friends, but to make new ones. I’ve had so many opportunities that I wouldn’t get elsewhere to talk to really interesting people about subjects I might never otherwise touch on and for my part I’m very grateful to have that opportunity. Many of these opportunities also involve great food, so that’s another bonus! To give you one example, I recently attended both the Pilgrim’s Centenary Dinner and the re-opening of the refurbished Fives courts. (Anyone who remembers me at Repton may now be raising a surprised eyebrow as I wasn’t known for my athletic interests/abilities) I wasn’t quite sure what to expect at either event, not being a cricketer and knowing precisely nothing about Fives. What I got was a startling collection of club blazers, some slightly dodgy stories about tours and very entertaining chat over dinner (cricket) and a genuinely fascinating introduction to a game I knew absolutely nothing about (Fives). In both cases there was also the opportunity to talk to ORs from different generations about a huge variety of subjects. So if you haven’t attended events because you’re worried there may be no one to talk to, that hasn’t been my experience and I’d really encourage you to give it a go. The OR office can help you find contemporaries who could join you if that helps!

The other stand out item this year for me has been seeing the careers and networking plans starting to get off the ground, and it’s fantastic (although not surprising) that so many of you are willing to give your time and energy to support the next generations in this way.

In closing I would like to thank Nick for all his support over the past (very strange) year, all in the OR Office for their constant good humour against some very trying circumstances, Mark for all his support of the OR Society and all those of you who give your time and energy to the Society as careers mentors, committee members, branch heads or whatever your involvement. Thank you and enjoy!