Welcome to
St. Patrick’s Alumni International (SPAI),
a registered alumni organisation for St.
Patrick’s School, Asansol, West Bengal, India.
WEBSITE COMING SOON
Our fully functional, feature-laden
website is on its way. In the meanwhile, you can reach us by sending
an email to info@spsalumni.org.
REUNION 2010 – SPREAD THE WORD!
Reunion 2010 will be held during 16th
to 19th December, 2010 on the school campus in Asansol. All class years
are welcome. We expect an even bigger turnout than Reunion 2009, with
hundreds of alumni converging on campus. If you are interested in attending,
you can pre-register by sending a message to reunion2010@spsalumni.org with your current city/ address, year and
phone number and start planning for your trip too. As Reunion draws
near, we will publish more details of the event. Start calling up your
friends now, so that a huge gang shows up on campus. There will be special
recognition for the years that turn up a high percentage of their batch.
Briefly, the reunion will look something
like the following. Thursday is the arrival day with a few events. Friday
will have a sporting event like a cricket match, a campus tour and visiting
old haunts of Asansol. Saturday’s events include an Awards Ceremony
and Reunion Classes with old teachers. In the evening, there will be
a torchlight (mashaal) procession and bonfire on the school grounds,
a multiple-course dinner (where we’ll announce class gifts) and DJ.
Sunday, the departure day, will have a few events as well. We also plan
to have a career/professional networking session which we hope will
be valuable to those interested.
In between the activities, there will
be plenty of time to catch up with old friends and visit old neighbourhoods
where you grew up (whether in Raniganj, Burnpur, Kulti or elsewhere).
This reunion will have an added significance
for anniversary classes which include ’05, ’00, ’95, ’90, ’85,
’80, ’75, ’70, ’65, ’60, ’55, ’50, etc. It will be even
more special for the 25th anniversary class (Class of 1985,
whose cohort includes ICSE 1985 and ISC 1987), and the 50th
anniversary class (Class of 1960, Senior Cambridge).
Alumni of Loreto Convent, St. Vincent’s
and AG Church are also welcome to many of the events.
Volunteers are critical to make this
a success for all attendees, so if you can help even in a small way,
please contact the Alumni Council at lead@spsalumni.org. Thank you!
SPS ASANSOL ALUMNI
Our alumni include professionals, social
workers, business owners, artists, teachers, CEOs, ambassadors, chefs
and alumni from every walk of life. They include people from all communities
of India – like the colourful mosaic of our students.
HISTORY OF BRINGING ALUMNI TOGETHER
SPS has had thousands of alumni since
its inception in 1891, alumni that initially included just British and
European students and some Anglo-Indian students. There was an era when
the Union Jack of the UK was the flag raised on campus. Slowly, Indians
from different faiths and communities (including Anglo-Indians) became
students and around the middle of the 20th century became a majority
of the student body.
In the late 1980s, Principal Br. M.
R. Beddoe spurred a group of alumni to form St. Patrick’s Old Boys
Association or SPOBA, in anticipation of the upcoming Centenary in 1991.
The alumni showed up in large numbers, with 500 attending a dinner during
the festivities. Kolkata (Calcutta) and Asansol had active chapters,
but only the Asansol one is active today.
In 2001, an alumnus who felt a need
to connect the school to the goodwill of its alumni diaspora launched
SPAI. Initially, it had the goal of preserving the school’s heritage,
and helping alumni reconnect. It now has a long-term mission to enhance
the reputation and social impact of the school, to help make it the
best school anywhere.
SPAI was born and has since become
a globally active body that has representation from all eras of alumni.
It has almost 1,500 registered alumni today and hopes to register most
of living SPS alumni by the school’s 125th Anniversary
in 2016. SPAI has helped introduce broadband access to students in 2005,
and organised several city get-togethers in India and overseas. On campus
SPAI has held life skills and creativity workshops in 2010 and initiated
the annual reunion. There is a 35-member Alumni Council, with 60% based
in India and from all kinds of backgrounds. We have 10 committees for
various activities, 7 era panels and 9 regional panels. SPAI plans to
build active chapters in cities and online communities for classmates.
SPAI automatically considers anyone
who has ever studied at SPS as an alumnus. Everyone is equally welcome
and can join for free. You can join our online forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/patricks/