In the late 1980’s a group of Gregorian’s living in the United Kingdom reached out to different sets for the purpose of reconnecting and bringing together old boys and girls who were now residing in the UK. Within a space of a few months there were more than 20 old boys who started reconnecting and they began reminiscing about their time and experiences in Greg’s and rekindled the strong bonds they established from many years back.
They decided to have regular meetings, and these meetings led to the formation of the St Gregory’s College Unofficial UK Alumni in 1988.
The early years comprised of meetings at a members house on birthdays, and during the festive period. These small gatherings would sometimes turn in to parties and there was active participation from Gregorian’s based in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
In 1990’s the numbers began to grow and the old boys and a lady would continue to gather together more frequently and it was decided among the regular members that the group should be formalised to bring about some organisational structure and in 2009 it was recommended that some executives should be chosen, 6 old boys and 1 old girl was chosen to be executive members.
In 2010 Emmanuel Ohai of the 1975 to 1980 set, himself an old Gregorian living in Atlanta Georgia oversaw a yahoo email group of over 100 old boys based all over the world. The initiation of the UK Alumni group was a step towards the actualisation of the aim of the email group, which was to bring old Gregorian’s generally but specifically, in diaspora together and encourage them to further the brotherhood spirit and to give back to their Alma mater.
Taiwo Lawrence approached the UK alumni to host the 2010 Greg’s Fest as a similar Greg’s fest had been hosted in Atlanta in 2007. To set the ball rolling Taiwo appointed a number of active members to become planning committee coordinators. After 3 meetings Greg’s Fest took place in Croydon in August 2010 and the UK Alumni has been thriving ever since then.
In 2016 a new set of non-executive members were nominated to be new executives and they looked after all their respective roles and affairs until December 2019 when the official elections were held where the final speeches by some candidates of their suitability for the respective posts were elucidated and their mandates read out.
The current executive were then democratically elected after votes and results were cast and results declared by the electoral committee. The current executive members will serve until December 2022.
The UK Alumni has over 100 active members and it continues to grow with new members joining every few months. The Uk Alumni has a strong affiliation with our parent body in Lagos Nigeria and the US Alumni.
Our goal is to continue to bring Gregorian’s in the United Kingdom together so we can look out for one another in the spirit of brother and sisterhood and to rekindled this strong bond that brought us together in our Greg’s days.
