December 1890 was turning out to be the coldest on record. Temperatures of minus 17.8°C and snowfalls of up to 10 inches had been recorded. The Thames froze for over a mile near Twickenham. Bedford didn’t escape the winter freeze either and, whilst the new Bedford School building was well under construction, progress had been slowed by the delay in the delivery of the Bristol bricks. Whilst providing excellent amusement for the population of Bedford, the severe frost ended up delaying work on the new building by at least 50 days.
Undeterred by these severe weather conditions, on the evening of Thursday, December 18th, 1890, about forty Old Boys made their way through a bitterly cold easterly wind to the Boarders’ Hall at the site of the old school in St Paul’s Square. Their main purpose in gathering was to consider the question of establishing an Old Bedfordians’ Society or Club.
H.M. Burge took the chair and the meeting commenced. H. Cross proposed the motion, seconded by F. Prior, that an Old Bedfordian Club be formed. It was carried unanimously. Considerable discussion then ensued about the question of the title of Old Bedfordian and of the qualification for Membership of the Club. A provisional committee was elected to report to a General Meeting of ‘Old Bedfordians’. That Committee of young men, the ‘founding fathers’ duly reported their findings and, on the 28th of August 1891, the Old Bedfordians Club was officially founded.
Thursday, 29th October 1891 was an extraordinary day in the history of Bedford School and for the Old Bedfordians Club. A procession of staff, pupils and dignitaries stretched for over a mile from the old school in St Paul’s square to the door of the new main school building off De Parys Avenue, which was to be opened by the Duke of Bedford.
The first ‘Past (OB) v Present’ rugby match was held on the playing fields with the ‘past’ boys recording a convincing victory. Playing that day for the ‘Past’ team were Sir Richard Branson’s grandfather, Sir George Arthur Branson (past OB Club President) and Alan Turing’s uncle, Arthur Turing.
Following the match, the first official Old Bedfordian Club dinner was held at the Swan Hotel.
Read more about this extraordinary day in 1891
One hundred and thirty years to the day, members of the OB Council gathered at the Swan to recreate the dinner. OB Club President, Professor Martin Snaith, welcomed everyone by saying,
“It’s my huge pleasure to welcome you to this august gathering to celebrate the first substantive function of our noble Club in 1891.”
While the Chef was unable to match the exotic menu served in 1891, the wine soon flowed, and everyone enjoyed an evening of camaraderie.
