Former pupils of Dorchester Grammar School, Hardye’s School and Thomas Hardye School are welcome to attend the Old Hardyeans Christmas lunch at the Kings Arms Hotel in Dorchester.
“We know there are lots of old boys and former students who still live in Dorset and we would like to invite them to join us for the Christmas lunch,” says Old Hardyeans’ Secretary Michel Hooper-Immins. “Our reunions are always happy occasions and the Kings Arms always produce a super lunch.”
The Christmas lunch is on Thursday 18 December at 12.30pm for 1pm. There’s a choice of three for all three courses, including turkey, topside or salmon- the cost is £20. Bookings and choices must be made by 30 November to Treasurer Alan Brown at 01202 535034 or Chairman Godfrey Lancashire on 01308 485688.
The Old Hardyeans Annual Reunion Dinner will be held on Saturday 21 March, again at the Kings Arms Hotel, which will celebrate the 110th. anniversary of their foundation- as the Old Grammarians- in 1905.
Founded in 1905 as the Old Grammarians, the Old Hardyeans- also known as the Hardyeans Club- is one of the most successful old school associations in the county, bringing together the old boys of Dorchester Grammar School and Hardye’s School, plus ex-students of the modern Thomas Hardye School. In the times of Queen Elizabeth I, it was Thomas Hardye [with a final “e”] described as a Yeoman of Frampton, who endowed Dorchester Grammar School in 1569. Hardye’s [shopping] Arcade today stands on the site. The Grammar School moved to Culliford Road in 1928- renamed Hardye’s School from 1954. The new Thomas Hardye School in Queens Avenue opened in 1992, encompassing the best traditions of the two previous schools- but admitting girls for the first time since 1569! Writer Thomas Hardy OM, who lived at nearby Max Gate, laid the foundation stone of Hardye’s School in 1927. He was no relation to Thomas Hardye, founder of the school, nor of Admiral Thomas Masterman Hardy!
Michel Hooper-Immins