WELCOME TO THE EASTBOURNIAN SOCIETY
The Eastbournian Society brings together Eastbourne College’s extended family of Old Eastbournians, current and former parents and staff, local people and businesses and other friends and supporters. Our aim is to maintain close links with any person or organisation who wishes to be associated with the College.
Covid-19 update
Updated on 24 March 2020
The speed of events in the last week and the government's emergency measures now in place mean that we cannot run our programme of events in the coming months. We will update this website and be back in touch with our members as soon as things begin to return to normal.
Please see the Forthcoming events page for the latest updates.
LATEST NEWS
11 March 2020 - The annual London dinner celebrates Eastbournian endurance
The Eastbournian Society annual London dinner on Wednesday 11 March celebrated two examples of endurance: ultra-runner Tom Evans (Wargrave 2005-10) and College stalwart John Thornley, who recently completed 41 years and half a term teaching in the Modern Languages Department.
The dinner was held at the Cavalry and Guards Club in Piccadilly, a fitting venue for Tom, a former captain in the Welsh Guards.
Following a drinks reception in the Field Marshals' Room the attendees proceeded upstairs for dinner in the elegant Coffee Room which overlooks Green Park.
The guests were welcomed by Eastbournian Society Chairman Hugh Price (School 1961-66), before a short tribute to JT by one of his earliest pupils, Mark le Brocq (Craig 1979-84) who reminisced about how John was regarded as something of an exotic creature because he came from the north (actually Nottingham, but anywhere north of Polegate was regarded as somewhat dubious).
JT responded with some amusing anecdotes about life teaching French at the College and his experience being in charge of one of the school's minor cricket teams, returning from one away match with no idea which side had won.
After the main course Headmaster Tom Lawson addressed the guests and thanked OEs for their continued support for their old school.
The final part of the evening was introduced by David Stewart with a short video about Tom Evans' approach to ultra-running, followed by a question-and-answer session with Tom, conducted by his former housemaster Nick Russell. Please click here to see the video.
Tom was inspirational in describing how he deals with the physical and mental pressures of his sport. His incredible success in the last few years has seen him placed as the best European runner in the gruelling Marathon des Sables across the Sahara Desert (coming third in 2017) and more recently winning the Courmayeur Champex Chamonix (CCC) in 2018 and coming third in the 100-mile Western States race in California in 2019.
We look forward to hearing about more of his exploits as he continues to develop his ultra-running career.
Further photos of the evening are available to those who are registered and logged in to our members area.
RECENT NEWS HEADLINES
> Click here for all 2020 news headlines and our news archive
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Eastbourne College: 150 years in pictures
A new fully-illustrated souvenir book, Eastbourne College: 150 years in pictures, is now available to buy from the Eastbournian Society.
Exploring the history of the College with a series of themes, covering art, buildings, the cadet force, chapel, charity, drama, houses, personalities, science, sport, the war years and much more, the book is packed with photographs and drawings sourced from the College archives.
With a soft cover and 108 pages it is available to buy for just £5.00.
You can buy it in person from the Eastbournian Society office or the school shop, or order a copy to be posted to you.
The price including postage and packing (UK) is £7.70. For postage costs outside the UK please enquire for details.
Contact David Blake at 01323 452262 or drblake@eastbourne-college.co.uk .
You can pay by credit card over the phone or send a cheque, made payable to Eastbourne College Incorporated, to Eastbournian Society, Headmaster's House, Old Wish Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4JX.
Forthcoming events
We organise social and cultural events, including lunches, dinners, theatre trips, walks, talks and visits to places of interest. These are for all Eastbournian Society members: Old Eastbournians, parents, pupils, staff and other friends of the College. In addition there are career and business networking events where OEs, parents and current pupils can meet to offer and receive advice and build up business contacts.
Comprehensive details are in the listings on our Forthcoming events page.
Members area
Our members area has additional news and photos of recent events not available on the main website. It also gives you access to the contact details we hold for you on our mailing database and allows you to update these online.
To get access to our members pages you will need to register on the website first and set up a username and password. For more information, please visit the members area pages.