January 30th – February 29th

Lord Puttnam, Guest of Honour at the Centenary Dinner on 30^th Jan revealed a true sense of humility as he talked about “Liddellism” – he laid a challenge before us: is it possible to do the right thing and not expect a reward (financial or otherwise) for it? The King George’s Hall looked splendid, the College Choir sang Grace with dignity, and the assembled host, OEs, Governors, parents and both teaching and non-teaching staff, all enjoyed each other’s company.

Earlier in the day, all members of the school had attended one of three Chapel Services to remember and celebrate our relocation to the Mottingham Site; the Choir sang Parry’s “I Was Glad” and Jenkins’ “Sing We Merrily”, before the Chaplain reminded us of the school’s origins and the challenges of being a Christian today. Outside the Centenary flag tried to wave as we emerged into a rather still winter’s day. Inside Central Hall the Centenary Cake took pride of place on Monday, roped off for all to admire the handiwork of Mr and Mrs Slatter in the characters and trappings of life for a pupil at Eltham College. We could all identify their son, Austin, in his rugby kit, but most of the debate focussed on whether the central figure looked more like the Rev’d Swaffield than the Headmaster! When this figure disappeared from view on the following day, there was much speculation about its kidnapping. But as the cake itself was divided up by the catering team, this speculation faded into the background as we enjoyed the jam sponge and icing, all 900 of us!

Unfortunately the planned distribution of centenary ties and scarves had to be postponed until after half-term, due to my determination to get the design right and avoid creating something that reminded older citizens of “space-invaders”! The Junior School got theirs first, and I discovered how hard it is to shake nearly 200 pupils’ hands! The youngest boys faced the challenge of how to deal with ties longer than they were perhaps used to, even though they were smaller than the Senior School ties: many boys ended up with ties down around their knees at the first attempt. The challenge as the Senior School received theirs was not the ties, but how to wear the scarves – like British Airways Hostesses in a cravat style, or tied to one side, or over the top with bunches? The Catering staff entered into the spirit of the day by all wearing theirs at lunch very smartly. The boys seem pleased with their ties and I hope that they will wear them with pride during the course of this year. The flag has had more opportunity to reveal the design of the College Crest set within the outline of the Plane Tree on many occasions now since 30^th January.

A final thought at this stage must be to reflect on the success of the Centenary Book, “Our Century”, by Archivist Mark Stickings: we have sold over 800 by this stage, and I am hopeful that many more Old Elthamians will order copies during the course of the year. It genuinely achieves what we hoped it would achieve: it is full of fascinating insights into life at Eltham College over the past 100 years, wonderfully illustrated with photographs from every decade, with a commentary full of wit and humour.

PJ Henderson, Headmaster