Six Canada based OTs who attended the School between 1950 and 2007, enjoyed a fine summer's afternoon and the gentle sound of willow striking leather, on the patio of the Toronto Cricket Club on Saturday 2 August. This was the first Canadian gathering on record, with more over the next twelve months.

"Senior" attending OT, Tony Nichols (Sc 50-54) was joined by Michael Attwood (PS 61-65), Vikram Patel (PS 71-72), Nigel Reid (MH 71-75) Gareth Reid (MH 00-05) and Vincent Chau (Sc 02-07). We were also joined by two OT wives, Pauline Reid, Tara Reid and her daughter Victoria. While everyone enjoyed the beautiful setting and bore witness to a number of dropped catches during the course of the background cricket match, the venue seemed quite fitting given the history of the sport at Tonbridge and in Vikram and Tony we had two former Ist XI players present. 

We were entertained by a variety of delightful stories and memories of life at the School over the long period covered by everyone. We talked of masters, headmasters, facilities - past and present - Knox House, school dances, community service and of course cricket! Many recollections beautifully illustrated how much the School has changed in a such a positive way and how impressive the current facilities are. It seemed highly appropriate that we took our final group photo in the Bedford Room flanking a copy of the world famous Tattershall Dodd lithograph "The Cricket Match at Tonbridge School" which has hung there for decades.

Like Australia, Canada is a vast country. Its population and OT distribution similarly follows a coast-to-coast pattern with two major clusters in Vancouver and Toronto. We hope to be able to organise a Vancouver event in the not-too-distant future to which all OTs will be invited. In the meantime, if you are based anywhere in Canada and have not yet been invited to any OT events (or know of any fellow OTs who are unknown to the Tonbridge Society) please reach out to the Tonbridge Society (01732 304253 or tonbridge.society@tonbridge-school.org) and to receive future events, notices and news.

Many thanks to Nigel Reid for organising this and for co-ordinating future events in Canada.