AGM 7 November 2025
Meeting of the OLD LOUGHTONIANS’ ASSOCIATION on the occasion of the 100th Annual General Meeting
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Friday 7th November 2025 at Chigwell Golf Club
The President Chris Tomkins welcomed everyone to the100th Annual General Meeting.
There was a total of 21 OLA Members present.
SILENT TRIBUTES:
The Secretary Malcolm Trowbridge confirmed that the following members had sadly passed away in the past 12 months: –
Meredith Houston (former Headmaster)
David Hooper (1967) Alan Kerr (1945)
Graham Gowing (1951)
& Stephanie Kaye (Wife if Andrew Kaye)
Members were requested to stand for a moments silence
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE:
Bert Speller, John Hopkins & Chris Roberts
TO CONFIRM THE MINUTES OF THE LAST ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The minutes & agendas were laid out on the chairs at the meeting.
They were Proposed by David McAdams and Seconded by Roland Brown and all members were in agreement.
There were no matters arising:
The President was asked to sign the 99th AGM minutes
PRESIDENT’S REPORT:
Good evening gentleman, on this historic evening & celebrating 100 years of our dinners.
Originally held in London, moving to The Roebuck Hotel, Buckhurst Hill, The Manor Hall Chigwell, Theydon Bois Golf Club, The Old Loughtonians Hockey Club & this year at Chigwell Golf club where my family have had ties since 1924 with my grandfather being a founder of Chigwell Golf Club. I’m sure that everyone will be on their best behaviour as some of the venues weren’t keen to have us return.
It has been an enormous honour to serve as President over the last year & I cannot thank Malcolm Trowbridge enough for such wonderful support & mentoring he has given me. The committee that serves the association works so hard behind the scenes & none of this would have come together without their loyal support & hard work. The outings are a success & so friendly. That has been brought about by the Loughton School DNA of not being just a number but part of a school family. Special thanks to Andy Gemmill for the loan of his wonderful barn.
Very sadly over the year, we have had members pass away not least the sad passing of Meredith Houston. We must cherish each day. Now we are to invest Bill Bennett as our President who I have known for 58 years… I must be getting old. So welcome to our reunion dinner & please have the best catch up with your old school friends & try to get some more old classmates to keep the Associations blood flowing.
Thank you once again for a wonderful year.
TREASURERS REPORT:
The Treasurer circulated copies of the Income & expenditure sheet and said he would like to go through some of the points in the balance sheet.
The Treasurer’s report was proposed by Keith Pye and seconded by Paul Hough and unanimously agreed
ELECTION OF OFFICERS FOR 2025/26
The Secretary asked that this whole item of Officers & Committee members be taken “En Bloc” This was proposed by Keith Pye & seconded by Paul Hough and was unanimously agreed.
At this point Chris Tomkins handed over the chair to the new President Bill Bennett who was presented with his badge of office, as well as the customary school cap.
He thanked everyone for electing him as the President for the coming year
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
The Secretary informed the meeting that the AGM & Reunion dinner would be held on Friday 6th November 2026. He also thanked Tony Mullins for another fantastic magazine
The meeting closed at 7.00 pm with a vote of thanks to Chris Tomkins who was presented with a past Presidents’ badge and a warm welcome was given to Bill Bennett
The 101th AGM & Reunion Dinner Friday 6th November 2026
The laying of the OL wreath will take place on Remembrance Sunday 9th November 2025 at the Loughton War memorial
Signed……………………………. President Date………………………
That concluded the formal AGM & at this point the President was handed various presents as well a tray of Newspapers, Sweets, Pens & Pencils which he thanked everyone for!
