Concordia

Concordia Winter 2021

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Sandy Lodge in the coming years. A message that I should like to reinforce is that the lives of the boys are so enriched by the involvement of OMTs, parents and friends of the school. Whether this takes place online or in person, it makes so much difference to the breadth of their experience as Merchant Taylors’ boys. We are so fortunate to have such a generous community to support them. After a long day of work video calls, it can’t be the obvious choice to join yet another one, but you have been so supportive. Thank you! Speaking of support, this year has been an exciting one in fundraising.You have been so generous to the school. More people have given in the last 12 months than ever before. We have also received our largest ever gift. This incredible donation of £1m will make the Indoor Cricket Centre possible. While we still have some way to go in our fundraising, Julian Hill’s legacy is the catalyst the project needed. The Centre will be named for Julian and will be a celebration of one of his great passions. Thank you to all those OMTs who have completed our recent OMT survey.Your feedback on our programme of activity is really

valuable and will guide our efforts in future. As ever, we aim to offer something for all of you. If there’s something missing that you’d like to see, please do get in touch and we’ll see what we can do. Looking ahead to 2022, I am excited by the prospect of continuing our online events programme. The number of volunteers to speak can probably sustain the programme for the next decade! That being said, it will be great to re-establish events such as the Afternoon Tea – it will have been three years since the last by the time spring comes. A 20-year celebration for the Class of 2002 is also on the horizon. I hope we can draw a good crowd for their dinner back at school in May. We have a telephone campaign in the summer, and I look forward to hearing about the many great connections made between our team of callers and the OMTs and parents they speak to. With your help, I also hope that great progress will be made with the Indoor Cricket Centre project. There is a gap to close, but knowing how generous our community is, I’m sure we can get there. I shall keep you posted! Thank you again for all your support in all its guises. I look forward to another enjoyable year in 2022.

Development