News 2021
The Poetry of Father Peter Banyard SJ
Fr Banyard died on 7 August, 2018. He was 87 and had been a Jesuit for seven decades and a Catholic priest for 57 years.
200 copies of a delightful anthology of his poetry have now been printed.
If you would like a copy please phone Fr Dermot Preston, who is the Superior of the Jesuit community at St Aloysius, in Glasgow, on 0141 331 4580.
A donation of £10 to Jesuit missions is all that is asked.
Many OW’s will remember Fr Peter (‘Bertie’) Banyard from his time at Wimbledon, as a scholastic, from 1955 and, after his ordination, from 1977 – ‘80.
He played both cricket and rugby (as a prop) for the OW’s. But Glasgow became his spiritual home. He was Games Master for many years at St Aloysius College and later Chaplain to pupils and staff. His poetry reflects his love of nature and, in particular, of the rugged landscape of Vatersay, in the Outer Hebrides, where he supplied three time a year for over 40 years.
A typical example of his poetry, ‘Lunchtime Landscape’ (Glasgow, 3rd November 2014), was on the memorial card at his funeral.
Lunchtime Landscape (Glasgow, 3rd November 2014)
On this third November day
the Campsie Fells are patched:
patched with sunlight,
patched with shadows.
And so my life is patched:
patched with friendships,
patched with others’ sorrows
until all is subsumed in Him
whose coat was without seam.
OWA Committee Update February 2021
It is approaching six months since the (delayed) AGM in September, and we hope that you have been keeping up with the goings on at the Clubhouse through our regular emails in particular the fantastic work in preparing meals for the NHS at Kingston Hospital.
We'd also like to update you on the work that the OWA committee has been doing on other non-COVID related matters behind the scenes so please see the following items which detail some of the initiatives the committee has bee pursuing thus far.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to updating you again in the coming months.
Best regards
The OWA Committee
Why am I getting these emails? Who are the OWA?
The Old Wimbledonians Association is the organisation that owns the Clubhouse, half of the grounds and is responsible for maintaining those facilities. It is also responsible for other matters such as members’ discipline. The other half of the ground is owned by Donhead.
The OWA was initially established as an old boys’ association for former pupils of Wimbledon College and Donhead and its links to those schools remains very strong, but its membership is more widely community based.
There are three sporting sections under the OWA umbrella: the Football Club, Rugby Club and Cricket Club. The Rugby Club incorporates the Old Wimbledonian Warriors, and the Cricket Club incorporates the Colts.
If you have paid a subscription fee to your sporting section, you are a member of the OWA. If you pay a subscription to the Warriors or Colts for your child, you are also a member of the OWA.
However the OWA is more than just a sports club, and its activities and connections go beyond merely sport. See History of the OWA for more details.
The OWA is principally funded from the income generated by the clubhouse bar and kitchen, membership fees and pitch use fees. We do not receive any local authority grant or legacy funding.
The OWA is managed by an annually elected committee made up of volunteer members, which is presently constituted of representatives from each of the sporting sections (Football, Rugby & Cricket), Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary, plus the Headmaster of Donhead, Phil Barr.
Pitch Flooding
Many of you who have been to grounds in the past month or so cannot have failed to notice that once again, the pitches have resembled a wetland centre more than a centre of sporting excellence.
The committee has been working very hard to address this now perennial problem that strikes at the core of what we do. Resolving it is at the very top of our priority list.
We are working (and have been working since the Autumn) with drainage experts, our grounds maintenance company and Merton Council to urgently find the causes and devise solutions.
Whatever the cause or causes, the solutions are not going to be simple or cheap and will require a substantial investment from the OWA and its members.
We cannot put an exact figure on how much until we have the suite of options to consider, however we should not be surprised if the cost approaches £500,000.
In light of the above, raising significant funds for this project in the coming months will be something you will see further communications about both from us and the sporting section with which you are principally involved.
However there is no doubt that we will once again be asking for your help and generosity in any number of ways to help us reach our fundraising target.
Rest assured that we will explore every avenue of funding available but we are confident in our members’ desire and determination to create a quality and reliable facility that is usable year round.
So, please do let us know if you win the Euro Millions Jackpot this week!
New Brewery Deal on the way
Damian Woodward (OWFC Chairman and OWA committee member), has put his considerable experience working with AFC Wimbledon to good use and we are delighted to announce that he has negotiated a new brewery deal with AB InBev.
Again, this will produce some badly needed cash and a higher profit margin than our existing relationship with Carlsberg, assuming we reach certain sales targets.
This new deal will provide a range of top named branded drinks and afford us the flexibility of bringing in guest beers from time to time. All your favourites such as Youngs Ordinary and Guinness will of course remain a staple offering.
We will be keeping our pricing under review and we would like nothing better than to return to our pre-pandemic status as a member’s bar offering better-than-pub value. However, much will depend on what our staffing costs will be after we are permitted to open again, and what safety regimes we will have to impose, for example, table only service
Contracts Being Reviewed
Since September, the committee has been reviewing a number of contracts and relationships connected with the facilities in order to try and run things more efficiently.
For example, our Treasurer Sam Shethran, has been doing some tremendous work with our finances and has renegotiated our waste management contract which has and will produce significant savings of hundreds of pounds every month.
The OWA and Donhead will also be working much more closely together on financial matters to ensure that we are running things as efficiently as possible, particularly in relation to the grounds maintenance costs. This relationship is moving from strength to strength and will be critical in relation to the flooding issue described below.
Utilities and other contracts are also being scrutinised and we will update you about those in due course.