Founder’s Day 2009 – England

Sunday 13 September turned out to be a good, bright and sunny day; we cherish such days in England as it is not uncommon for it to rain just when the batsmen walk on to the pitch. So it was indeed a good start and the Clay Oven, banqueting suites located in Wembley, not far from the famous Wembley stadium, welcomed the Martinians. A turnout of some 150 - 21 from Kolkata/Calcutta, 36 or so from Lucknow and the rest were families and friends.

The Chairman of the OMA, Richard Temple welcomed all, followed by Grace and a minute’s silence to pay our respects to the Martinians who had sadly passed away. Calcutta Martinian David Bedoe of year 1963 passed away in Peterborough recently.

Lunch was served soon after; the starters Jeera Chicken, Pokoras, Samosa and Dhai Wada; the main course Chicken Dhansak, Methi Lamb, Vegetable curry, Tarka Dal, Pilau Rice, Nan, Stuffed Paratha followed by Fruit Salad and Rasmalai.

After this sumptuous lunch it was time to get around meeting and greeting old and new friends.

The Kolkata Martinians present were, Beresford Daniel (1943), Prasenjit Guha (1998), Roy Harding (1950), Vinoth Kumar (1962), Sunil Vaswani (GCM-1998), Sudarshana Sinha (2001), Brian Brachio (1954), Amit Chopra (1995), Mel Crossley (1968), Lloyd Lonsdale (1961), Malcolm Macclesfield (1955), Shirley Macclesfield, Yvvone Midford (1947), Joysheel Mitter (1994), Carlyle Royan (1942), Rishika Sahay (2001), David Smyth (1958), Vishal Talwar (1994), Siddarth Wahi (1998), Mabell Webb (1951) and Charles Williams (1957).

The oldest Martinian present was Dennis Ringrow (1934) and the youngest were Sudarshana Sinha and Rishika Sahay (2001) a mere 67 years apart.

Warren Cox and Patricia who recently left the OMA committee were presented with a large bouquet of flowers in appreciation of their contribution to the OMA.

Raffle tickets went on sale and Malcolm Macclesfield (Good Conduct Medalist 1955), the Treasurer called out the winning numbers. Overseas Martinians were introduced and Brian Brachio from New York raised the toast to the Founder and with this the School song was sung with the usual gusto and nostalgia. The dance floor was soon full jiving to rock and roll music. I wonder how the young Martinians felt when the odd Jim Reeves song was played.

And finally the committee must be thanked for giving the Martinians this opportunity of getting together and for putting up a good show.

Vive La Martiniere

Vinoth Kumar
LMC 1954-1962

London

Mel Crossley (1968), Philipa Pickavance, Vinoth Kumar (1962), Joysheel Mitter (1994), Sunil Vaswani (1998), Siddarth Wahi (1998), Prasenjit Guha (1998), Brian Brachio (1954)	Charles Williams, Lloyd Lonsdale, David Smyth, Alwyn Pinto, Marianne Pinto
Rohit George, Rishika Sahay (2001), Sudarshana Sinha (2001), AmitChopra (1995), Vishal Talwar (1994), Anubhi Talwar, Priyanka Jiswal, Abhishek Jaiswal (1995)	Clay Oven Banqueting Suite