Old Farnhamians' Association

& Farnham College
Magna Carta Event

 

 

The story starts on 21 March 2015 at the OFA annual dinner when College Principal Mike Potter, who has just been admitted as an honorary old boy, says to the OFA President, Ian Sargeant, that he would like to find an event for the college and OFA to organise together at the college. He wonders if we can celebrate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta?

Next day, Ian Sargeant meets socially with fellow old boy Peter Wisbey and wife Rosemary Wisbey and Rosemary mentions that the daughter of a friend is very busy on the Magna Carta Project. This sequence of events was clearly fixed in the stars and 6 months later, as a consequence, a memorable afternoon took place in the college Performance Studio when Dr Sophie Ambler, of East Anglia University, captivated an audience of around 100 with her lecture on the project to which she is devoting all her efforts.

After a welcome and introduction by Mike Potter, Dr Ambler described the background of the turmoil during the reign of King John, whose behaviour and treatment of enemies and rivals was appallingly inhumane, even by the code of behaviour in the medieval period. As we all know, an agreement was forced on the king by the barons and established important principles of justice and also contained a condition that, if the king broke the agreement, his properties would be forfeited. In the aftermath of this, the then Bishop of Winchester (Pierre des Roches), a supporter of the king, enlisted the help of King Louis of France, who invaded the south of England and occupied, amongst other places, Farnham castle and the town of Farnham. For 12 months our town was occupied by the French. The audience was fascinated by this talk and there were several questions from the audience before the lecture ended with a vote of thanks by the OFA President.

Visiting old boys yearning for a bit of nostalgia then made a tour of the old school building, now named Morley Court. The event raised over £600 for a charity in aid of the Nepalese earthquake recovery, an amount that the OFA will top up to £1000.

 

Group photo LtoR: Mike Potter (Principal), Jason Jones (Director), Pat Frost (Mayor of Farnham), Stephen Pritchard (OFA Treasurer), Cyril Trust (Former President OFA), Dr Sophie Ambler, Roger Edgell (OFA Vice-President) & Secretary), Brian Williams (Former President OFA), Ian Sargeant (OFA President)

 

 

Ian Sargeant
Posted 21 September, 2015

 

 

£1000 was presented to the Halp Barpak Foundation on 8 October 2015 from the proceeds of the lecture, topped up by the OFA.

 

 

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