2 March 2001
Many thanks to 'Tony' for letting me know something like this exists.
Colin Cope (M 74-76)
colywob@t-online.de

2 March 2001
Reading Mick Churchfield's inane message (his words, not mine!) I pondered - thought, if he really did attend from 58 to 72, I must have known him or at least heard of him -
longest serving pupil? However, looking up his January message, it is disappointing to note that he was actually there from 68, so I will have missed him! Or maybe not - the 6 might be a misprint, not the 5? Are you at least pleased that someone is reading your letters, Mick?
Pamela Ross (St. J 63-68)
Pamela.Y.Ross@btinternet.com

4 March 2001
Hi, Just found the web page... remember good times at Windsor...any one remember me get in touch.
Mark (Noddy) Holder (M 72-77)
mgholder@aol.com

8 March 2001
This is a BIG HELLO to all the girls & boys of Windsor School that can remember me.
Please E-mail me I'd love to hear from you.
David Brooks (B 80-83)
dwarfrogg61@hotmail.com

9 March 2001
Here is a really sad memory from the very early sixties. We had "socials" with the Caernarvon boys and I was definitely unmemorable.
My mother wouldn't let me have nylon stockings so I had to wear short white socks with my nylon party dress.
She said my legs would look like chickens' legs if I wore stockings.
Determined to be grown up enough to attract a Caernarvon boy I wrote to a glamorous friend of my parents who sent me a pair of the latest seamless nylons. I practised on them in advance and then washed them( whilst wearing gloves so as not to snag them).When they were dry, I noticed that they were a bit wrinkly so I tried ironing them.
The resultant black, bubbling mess on the bottom of the iron effectively ruined my chances of being glamorous for the Caernarvon social in 1961,. Sorry boys!! And my mother was right........my legs did look like chickens' legs!!!
This is a small, pathetic memory I have of life at WGS.
Caryl Lambourn (C.37. 1961- 1962 )
caryl@senet.com.au

19 March 2001
Discovered this webb page. Lots of happy memories from Windsor Boys especially the cellar club where we we used to have a smoke and drink. Any of you old boys remember get in touch.
Peter Bull (E 65-68)
peter.bull@kvautomation.co.uk

20 March 2001
At a meeting in February, a majority vote by the committee of the Windsor Society decided that from
1st April e-mail addresses should not be shown in the Visitors' book, thus preventing contact between those of you who post messages here.
Last week I resigned from the committee of the Windsor Society. You may wonder if the two events are connected - I couldn't possibly comment.
As a consequence, the future of this site is in doubt. Since it started in December 1998 I have maintained and updated it though not always as often as I would have liked - sometimes I have work to do.
If you are a member of the Windsor Society and are willing to maintain the site (which is awaiting transfer to a new server under a new domain name) please contact the Windsor Society's Chairman, Bob Jordan whose contact details are to be found in your membership list.
David Pipes (S 65-67)
david@windsorsociety.freeserve.co.uk

21 March 2001
Hello to Michael Wilson and Mike Cowley I saw your messages from August 1999 and April 2000 and sent you both an e'mail, hope you got them if you did'nt leave me a message in the Windsor Vistors Book as I now religiously look through the latest messages during my lunch
break here at work.
Does anyone know the whereabouts of Malcolm Cooper, Clive Burhouse and Pat Rowney we shared a dormitory when Pat was Head of House and I was Deputy Head. Also would like to hear from Ernie Davidson, Mike Cross, Rick Bowman and Alan Quartermain just a few more names of the old friends I can recall. If your out there get in touch.
Peter Bull (E 65-68)
peter.bull@kvautomation.co.uk
Peter, I remember several of the names you mention - including yourself and your brother Rob who I spoke with (all too briefly) at last year's reunion.
Best regards, David Pipes (S 65-67)

22 March 2001
Sorry to see that DP will be moving on, thanks for the good work Dave. Message to the Committee - the whole point of the web site is to enable contact between consenting members, that is what the www. is all about. Can't think for one reason why you would want to stop it being so.
John Fisher (H 65-68)
Cathedral.print@tesco.net
Thank you, John, and every one who has sent personal e-mails; you'll forgive me if I don't reply to each of you individually.
The committee feels this site gives too much away 'up front' i.e. it is allowing people to get in touch with each other without having to become members of the Windsor Society. The plan was (is) to have a section of the site accessible solely to subscribing members with e-mail addresses shown in that section only; this was to be installed by 1 April.
David Pipes (S 65-67)

22 March 2001
I was interested to see Peter Bull's message who obviously hasn't managed to check all the messages as he would have found my details last year. Like Peter I would be keen to here from some of the ex Edinburgh folk from the swinging sixties and yes I do remember the cellar bar which as I recall was kept as near to pitch black as was possible. I have a clear recollection of
sitting drinking beer and listening endlessly to Sgt Peppers when it first came out thinking it was the height of sophistication!
Pat Rowney (E 64-68)
rowfam@globalnet.co.uk

23 March 2001
With reference to the committee, who are you and what possessed you to think, that not allowing e-mail addresses in the visitors book was a good idea? How on earth can you get in touch with old friends if there is no contact address via computers especially as this is a mainly web based club, I think the explanation that DP gave on your behalf was pretty lame, at best. Also
where's my newsletter, that i've paid for, twice in a year I might add, I await your reply with anticipation. Regards Sean Cockroft (H 74-76) (Fully paid up member)
dseanc@hotmail.com
I'd like to clear up the misconception that the Windsor Society is mainly web based. It isn't. It was formed back in the early 1990's before internet use became widespread. Of the 1700 or so names on the membership list I would make an educated guess that 50% are not internet users.
It is the Windsor Society web site currently at www.windsorsociety.freeserve.co.uk that I am concerned with, not any other site or internet club or
on-line community which may linked to from this site but which is independent of the society.
The newsletter was postponed until 2001 to include information resulting from a committee meeting on 27 Jan. A new editor has been appointed and the newsletter will be completed shortly.
David Pipes (S 65-67)

26 March 2001
Just to say that I too am extremely sorry that e.mail addresses are no longer to be shown. I can`t really believe that the society misses out on membership because of internet access. It will certainly put a stop to the spontaneity of recognising a name and esponding..a shame! Also, people who do not want to be contacted by "just anyone" need not disclose their address
surely, or at least, would not even be posting a message...would they?! Many thanks to D.Pipes, and PLEASE, where is the LONG promised newsletter.
Rae Mitchell (nee Cleverly) (M 77-81)
rae@kenraemitch.waitrose.com
See above (23 March) for information about the newsletter.
David Pipes (S 65-67)

28 March 2001
I shall miss the sight. It is one of my weekly tasks to read through the messages and look for names which are familiar.
I do remember the bar. The many happy hours and rough nights. If I remember the bar was just below my dorm and we equalled if not exceeded the noise generated by the teacher's mess. I also was next door to the Jack's Union. So what about A levels? I do remember the Summer of 70 being the Mexico World Cup and the night England lost. The locals were a bit happy.
Mike Adkins (B 67-70)
Michaeladkins@NASUWT.net67
You'll still be able to read messages. You won't be able to reply other than by posting another message to the Visitors' Book unless you join the Windsor Society in order to gain access to the proposed Members' Only section of the site where e-mail addresses will be shown.

29 March 2001
Looking for some old friends ie Tony Dunn,Mark Upson and Marino Meeds or Guys and girls who know me in Werl.
Jenner Hilton (E 74-77)
jjshhilton@aol.com

29 March 2001
I too have enjoyed regularly checking the Visitor's Page, - in the hope of seeing a familiar name, of being able perhaps to send a quick hello. I never did see many from the nifty fifties, and the chance to reply is about to evaporate too. Pity.
I can understand the comittee's problem, this site probably costs money to maintain (true Dave??).
The site has not cost the Society a penny. It is on a Freeserve account I set up in my own name, I designed the site and I maintain it voluntarily. In 1999 it generated 90 enquiries for membership, in 2000 almost 200.

Using it therefore for communication without joining is unfair. That said, if access to e-mail addresses is to depend on membership, then the Society will be at a disadvantage vs the "free sites", and membership totals may likely suffer.
Perhaps they already have.

Lets face it, the hardcopy newsletter and members lists are (perhaps for good reasons) too sporadic to attract and maintain serious interest.
The newsletters have been my work too. Unfortunately contributions have been few, I've had to write most of the content and I don't see any point in sending out newsletters which are largely 'waffle'.

Admittedly the membership list does allow us to contact those people without PC's - but this advantage will evaporate over time as more people succumb to the electronic menace ;-) Has anyone on the comittee done a trend analysis here?
Based on the increase in e-mail communication over the past three years, I would estimate that more than 50% of members have access to the internet. Personally, I prefer to meet old friends face to face (preferably over a pint) than via e-mail.

Maybe the Society should move it's site to a free location, use the services of a volunteer like Dave for maintenance, and then charge only for annual hardcopy of newsletters, lists and other cost incurring features.
John Ellor (S 55-58)
jellor@csc.com
See above, the site is on a free location and maintained at zero cost. A domain name has been registered and it is proposed to the site to move to a paid for server.
I was thinking on similar lines; make everyone who ever went to Hamm a member (obviously they can only be listed if they contact the Society), then make a charge for hard copies of membership lists and newsletters. That way those who are happy to make contact via e-mail can do so at no cost to the Society (just as it costs nothing now), those who require a printed list pay for the cost of printing and postage.
David Pipes (S 65-67)

30 March 2001
The Chairman of the Society, Bob Jordan, has received the resignation of David Pipes from the
committee with immediate effect. David's resignation letter says that he need needs extra time
to spend in his own business following several new contracts.
The committee are sorry to lose David. He has contributed greatly to the committee and to the
Society over the past years.
The newsletter currently nearing completion will be taken over by Cathy Towers from David
Pipes (David is passing over the work he has done to date to Cathy). Cathy will publish the
newsletter in the next few weeks. The control of the web site will be taken over by Doug Pruden.
The newsletter had been delayed to allow the Society to bring you up to date with  changes to
both the committee responsibilities and the web pages and was intended to go out in early April
with all the updates.
The committee have met twice in recent months  to review their responsibilities and in particular
to put in place a 'shadow' for each committee member, to ensure that as the committee
responsibilities became more onerous, there was a degree of additional assistance and cover
available. In addition it was agreed that many of the responsibilities managed by Bob Jordan
should be reallocated to other members of the committee.
As a result the following was agreed to be put in place on the 1st April 2001.
 
TASK                                MEMBER                    SHADOW
Chairman                    Bob Jordan                        Phil Bailey
 
Treasurer                    Phil  Bailey                        Bob Jordan
 
Secretary                    Ann Bailey                       Cathy Towers
 
Membership SecretaryDoug Pruden                      David Pipes
 
New Members
Recruitment               Gill Walker                         Sue Mooney
 
Internet Adminstrator  David Pipes                        Doug Pruden
 
Newsletter                 Cathy Towers                     Gill Walker
 
Merchandise              Sue Mooney                      Cathy Towers
 
Events Co-ordinator    Sue Mooney                      Cathy Towers(protem)
 
Staff Member             David Benfield                    post vacant
 
Archivist                    post vacant                        David Pipes
 
In addition the committee had requested David Pipes to set up the facility for members to e-mail
committee members directly through the web site.David's resignation will regrettably delay some
of the above and require some reallocation of responsiblities.
The committee are keen to make greater use of the Internet subject to setting up the necessary
security systems.The web site could include a secure chat site, up to date membership lists
and the newsletter. Many of these changed were signalled in the June 2000 newsletter.
However the committee  felt that e-mail addresses should be deleted from the visitors book, and
instead be published in the members secure area of the web site. The current situation allows
non-members to enjoy some of the benefits of the Society without joining . As we move further
down the Internet route, it is important that the Society generates income to support its
development. The committee are also concerned that the current openness of the site, could
give rise to legal problems,which in turn would give rise to personal liability of the committee
members. The cost of insurance is very expensive.
Your committee is made up of a cross section of members and who have a wide range of
practical,business and technical skills. They give freely of their time and their availabilty for
tasks may sometimes fluctuate with external circumstances.  The above developments  were
approved by  the committee in January 2001 and were very fully discussed.
 Windsor Society Committee.
Bob Jordan     jordan123@lineone.net
Doug Pruden  Doug_Pruden @hotmail .com
Phil Bailey     pmbassoc35@aol.com      
Ann Balley  pmbassoc35@aol.com
Cathy Towers cathy.towers@lineone.net
Sue Mooney  susie@mooney2000.freeserve.com
Iain Butler      butleriain@hotmail.com 
Gill Walker     see details on membership list
David Benfield see details on membership list