In 1922, following enthusiastic efforts by F Beswetherick, LJ Dashwood, EG Keys and NM Mallett, measures were put in place to establish an Old Boys' Association of Queen's College.
The approval of a large number of Old Boys had been informally obtained and this had encouraged the above-mentioned men, meeting at the home of Herbert Wilkinson, to take the project further.
At the first official gathering of the association, Wilkinson was elected president, CG Hay and WR Burberow vice-presidents, while Frederick Beswick was elected honorary vice-president for life.
When the Transvaal Branch was revived many years later, it had the honour of the title ‘Foundation Branch' permanently added to its designation.
An Old Boys' dance took place on 13 October 1922 – in the newly named Queen's Hall – the first of many to be held there, and members of the QCOBA were sent a copy of the school magazine, also founded in that year. Membership for a year cost 5/- and the price of an Old Boys' striped blazer was 63/-. Life Membership was, however, set at £5.00, a figure which gave many a young Old Boy, setting out on life's journey, cause to think deeply!
The end of the first year of the QCOBA saw its membership standing at 150 and already several individuals had come forward with ways of assisting and supporting the school.
H Everitt offered to continue providing a cricket bat for promising players and Dr Lional Goldschmitt to sponsor the annual prize for so long associated with his father's name, as a reward for the achievements of scholarly pupils.
It was hoped, too, that in addition to the annual dance, a formal stag dinner would be held for all members able to attend. For a number of years, the three items on the Reunion programme, Annual General Meeting, dinner and dance, were held on the same evening, leading to the entire occasion being somewhat rushed. Later, Reunion was extended over a weekend, with the addition of sport – cricket and tennis – and the whole event could be unhurriedly enjoyed.
In the 1920s and 1930s Queenstown boasted a number of good hotels, each quite capable of hosting the QCOBA's annual dinners.
In the early years, the number of Old boys attending averaged between 60 and 70, but by the outbreak of World War Two, this had risen to about 250.
The favourite hotel for many years was The Gardens but later the changes were judiciously rung and the venue was alternated with The Royal and The Grand. A single dinner before the war was held at the Hexagon Hotel. In the extravagant style of those days, dinners were invariably ‘sumptuous repasts' where the catering ‘gave every satisfaction' and doubtless there was some rivalry among the Queenstown hotels in securing the QCOBA engagement each year. After the dinner, Old Boys would repair to the school for the dance in the Queen's Hall, where, presumably, they would find their wives or sweethearts awaiting them.
It was an unwieldy arrangement and, when HQ Davies suggested in 1944 that the real place for a Reunion dinner should be at the school itself, his invitation was accepted with alacrity.
For some years from then, the AGM was held in the Connaught prep room, the dinner in the Bisset Hall and the dance, as was customary, in the Queen's Hall.
After the war, hotels once again became the venue for the dinners. A motion had also been proposed that evening dress be dispensed with, to encourage younger Old Boys to attend the dinners and perhaps also in deference to the war and the numbers of fellow Old Boys who were engaged on active service. A less formal atmosphere then prevailed until, some years later, dinner jackets made their comeback.
A topic that had concentrated the minds of the association for many of the earlier years had been that of the Old Boys' blazer. Originally this had been identical to that worn by the boys – orange and black stripes. In 1937 this was changed to a black blazer worn with an OBA pocket badge to go with the distinctive Old Boys' tie that had been devised, exhibited and adopted in 1932.
In 1927 Thies Brinkman's application for permission to form a branch association at UCT had been agreed to and in the same year the East London Branch opened. In that year, one reads, greetings were received from the latter, meeting at Hoppe's Beach Hotel, on the occasion of the Mother Branch's annual dinner.
The Pretoria Branch was holding their dinner at Polley's Hotel in 1929 and it was hoped that Port Elizabeth and Durban would soon get going.
The Johannesburg Branch, which had been started in 1912, would be resuscitated to provide the basis for the new, enlarged Queen's College Old Boys' Association.
The entertainment that was arranged at the dinners was also typical of the times. Community singing went on into the night, individuals such as Lionel Darke of Queenstown ‘rendered songs in fine style', numerous toasts were drunk, always including ‘The King', and not all the speeches were especially reverent of the old school.
HT Crouch in one speech recalled the earliest days at the school where many teachers were incompetent either to teach or maintain order and, if Mr Beswick was absent, the boys had a glorious time. He also remembered the test case, when Sir Bissett Berry had brought two girls to the school and gradually the school had become a mixed one. The girl's presence had had a very good effect upon the boys, who thought the new departure was ‘a good thing'!
Levity characterised many of the speeches as a matter of course. In 1928, the year the school had beaten Cambridge, Selborne and Dale at rugby, Mr Wilkinson in speaking to the association, claimed he had often dreamt such a match as the last. On one occasion he had dreamt that he had scored a try himself in the match – when he awoke he found himself under the bed!
