ECSOGA has closed down

After almost 100 years of existence, Enfield County School Old Girls’ Association held its final event on Saturday 12 September 2009. This was a Centenary Celebration and Grand Finale Reunion, marking the anniversary of the official opening of Enfield County School in September 1909.

At the end of the afternoon there was a brief Extra-ordinary General Meeting which ratified the decision, made at the 2008 AGM, to close down ECSOGA. All administrative matters will be finalised by the end of October 2009 and by mid-November a Farewell News Sheet will have been received by all Members, either by post or in an email, which will confirm that all necessary procedures have been completed and give a final financial report.

This website will be available until January 2011. Queries which are not answered by the information displayed here should be directed to former ECSOGA Chairman Harriett Nailon, phone no. 020 8543 6830.

ECSOGA’s legacy—three solid achievements

1 Financial support to Enfield County School and its students

The Enfield County School Old Girls’ Association Fund (previously registered with the Charity Commission, Reg. No. 312623) is a permanent endowment. The Fund was established in 1940 as the Florence Memorial Fund with donations totalling £788 4s 9d. In 1967 the Fund became a Registered Charity, colloquially known as The Memorial Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to supply prizes and bursaries to ECS students and, occasionally, to former students. Since 2002 the Fund has also been able to purchase items for the School which are not covered by statutory or other sources of finance.

With the agreement of the Charity Commission the assets of the Fund have been passed to The Friends of Enfield County, which is also a Registered Charity—No. 266993. The formal handover of the assets took place on 14 August 2009. The account details of the Fund’s assets have not altered so standing orders for regular donations will still be operative.

To make a one-off or regular donation or a bequest to enable the Fund to continue its work, please contact the Treasurer of The Friends of Enfield County:
via the Friends’ page on the School website or
by telephoning the school Office: 020 8363 3030

Contributions, however modest, will always be gratefully received as the capital of the Fund will be forever subject to inflation and is currently suffering because of low interest rates.

Those wishing to support the School in practical ways are urged to keep in touch with the activities of The Friends, via the School website, and to take part in their quiz fund-raising events, possibly even becoming volunteers or Committee Members. As was always the case with ECSOGA, so with The Friends: willing hands are always needed—the more the merrier!

2 Memorabilia Collection and assistance with the School Archive

The ECSOGA Memorabilia Collection is still being assembled and catalogued by the Historical Material Working Party. The hope is to complete the project by early 2012. If possible there will be a display of the finished items at the School one Saturday. Watch the School website for an announcement.

Information about the Memorabilia Collection is available from Harriett Nailon: 020 8543 6830.

It is also hoped that Historical Working Party members will be able to continue helping Enfield County with the maintenance and cataloguing of the School Archive.

3 Social Networking

ECSOGA’s activities over the years, and particularly in the period 1998–2009, have rekindled many old friendships. There are increasing numbers of former ECS students (or, for the older generation, pupils!) who now meet informally in groups of varying sizes and at a variety of intervals. With ECSOGA events no longer available as regular meeting points, the hope is that more and more groups will hold their own gatherings. To this end, in its last year of operation, ECSOGA has actively encouraged year-groups to find ‘Cohort Key People’ who will take responsibility for organising these informal reunions. If you do not know whether a Key Cohort Person has volunteered for your year-group, send your years of attendance at ECS and a stamped addressed envelope to Margaret Meldrum, former ECSOGA Membership Secretary, address below, and she will let you know the contact details for your CKP, or suggest that you take up the challenge.

To encourage people to keep in touch with each other, for the next 15 months, until 31 December 2010, Margaret Meldrum has kindly volunteered to continue to run a forwarding service for letters. To contact someone whom you know was an ECSOGA Member, but whose address you do not have, write a letter to this person and send it:
c/o Mrs M Meldrum, 46 Heath Drive, Ware, Herts SG12 0RF
Be sure to put your own address on the reverse of the envelope, in case the person has moved from the place to which Margaret will forward your letter.

Farewell and goodbye

The Committee of ECSOGA wish all Cohort Key People, all our erstwhile Members and all former students/pupils and staff of ECS, good health, good luck and much happines as you go ONWARD EVER. Thank you for your support and good fellowship.

Farewell and goodbye!

Harriett Nailon and Jean Potter, Chairman and Vice Chairman
13 September 2009