We had a wonderful visit from Blaine Tomlinson (1968G) organised by his companion, Anne Peden, and his good friend Peter Whipp (1967G).  Anne contacted us a few weeks ago with a special request on behalf of Blaine:

Mr Blaine Tomlinson is an old boy from the school in the 1960’s and recently won first prize in a raffle (the IIOFF Raffle) via the UK old boys network which was accommodation in Cape Town. Mr Tomlinson currently lives in Switzerland and has travelled here to visit friends and family for two weeks.

Whilst we are here Mr Tomlinson would love to visit the school and perhaps see some of the classrooms and rugby pitch where he spent a lot of his time. If possible, he would also like to meet the current headmaster or deputy.
 
As a bit of background, Mr Tomlinson’s date of birth is 7th September 1950. The subject he excelled in was mathematics and he went on to use this knowledge to set up a global hedge fund company. The company was hugely successful making him a self-made successful businessman. The company was called FRM. This he eventually sold to MANN, who manage the funds to this day, when he decided to retire.

He is currently 72 years of age. Sadly, he suffered a stroke in November 2018 which somewhat affected him and so a walk down memory lane would be wonderfully appreciated by him.

Kathy Wheeler our current museum curator organised a lovely morning itinerary in conjunction with Shelly Windell from Mr Tony Reeler's office.  The morning went as follows:

• Blaine, Peter and Anne arrived at the Mitre,home of the OD Union, where they were welcomed by Kathy and taken to visit the museum.  Afterwards they went upstairs to the Mitre Lounge to meet James Sedgewick (Trustee of the IIOFF that ran the raffle that brought Mr Tomlinson back to Cape Town), Dedry (ODU Events and Admin Manager) and Lynn (Marketing and Communications) where they had their photos taken.
• Mr Tomlinson was then driven to the Administration building by our very efficient and friendly Groundsman, Mongezi in the John Deere vehicle for tea with the Principal.
• Tea with the Principal, Tony Reeler and Shelly Windell followed.
• The morning ended with a personal tour of the school by 'golf cart' with Shahied who knows the grounds inside out and was available to take Blaine to any old places that he wanted to revisit. The John Deere meant that they could access many places that cars couldn't go and so this was a lot of fun.

 We really enjoyed hosting these special guests.  The IIOFF Raffle win certainly gave them more than they bargained for!

A few days after his visit, Blaine sent us this thank you note: