September Lunch

Our Guest speaker at September’s lunch meeting was the Master of the Stationers Company, Moira Sleight.

This was our last lunch at the Royal Hotel as we are returning to The Hall for our Christmas gathering on Friday December 2nd.

Dan used the occasion to explain his new initiative to build a video database from members recollections of school life.

The OSA Memories Project 2022-23

Attendees of our Annual Lunch in April will recall the enjoyable speech given by the Master of the Company, Robert Flather (pp6-9). He spoke eloquently about the strong connections maintained between the Company and the OSA, significantly acknowledging the 46 Old Stationers who are Freemen or Liverymen.

Reflecting on these connections I wondered whether other links would be possible. Although the Company has the feeling of a timeless permanence, representing those responsible for the printed word for over six centuries, in recent times has seen its adaptation to include new members for the digital communications sphere. Now identified as ‘The City of London Company for the Communications and Content Industries’, I thought another connection could be made between the Company and the OSA.

Today many of our members have, or have access to, a smart phone and with it the opportunity to use video facility to capture the stories and memories of those years at school and connect us with our shared pasts. The OSA Memories Project will develop this idea by starting the formation of a video archive. This new initiative aims to bring together the OSA membership in a new way via our website and in so doing reach out more directly to those members who have ‘roamed far,’ and have not been able to participate in our programme of activities in London.
The Memories Project invites the participation of Old Stationers in a membership-wide call for short home-made videos for editing together into a documentary for uploading to the OSA website. Members offering to take part will be circulated with a ‘how to do it’ note and short video explaining how to film using a smart phone.
The videos should be no longer than 3 minutes (c400 words) and primarily be facial image talking to the camera, and shot in landscape format, ie horizontally in the way of normal film and TV. To start the ball rolling we would like to hear about your school day memories, your favourite and not so favourite experiences, the friends you made, the teachers who made an impression, etc. Future calls for contributions will cover other topics eg year reunions, sports, choir, trips, plays, reunions …

Those submitting their videos are encouraged to provide material, eg digital film clips, still images and sound recordings that support the stories. This is a great opportunity to capture members’ own stories in their own words.
The programme for the first wave of videos:
• 1st September send email to dan.bone@civix.org.uk expressing your interest in participating
• 1st October recording and submission instruction emailed to participants
• 1st November submissions via We Transfer to dan.bone@civix.org.uk
• 1st January 2023 first wave of videos edited and uploaded to OS website

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