General Information

General Information from the OPA Office

Updated: 14th December 2018

 Below you will find useful information about some of our routine office functions. If you cannot find the information you are seeking, please do contact us.

OPA Events: For news and details of forthcoming events and details of past activities please see the latest email news which we send to all OPs (members and non-members) for whom we hold an email address, or the appropriate sections under Events on this website.

Future Events: To manage and run our social events it requires an effective input of help; whilst the OPA Council and its individual Council Members take on the responsibility for each event, Council feels that the “burden” could well be shared. Many of our members may be more than willing to offer their help and expertise at these occasion. so please – we are asking for your help, manual or otherwise; if you can help in any way, no matter how small, do not be shy about coming forward, but contact us and offer your help.

Payment for Old Priorian Events: Our trials of “event payment” by BACS Internet Transfer from other bank accounts proved very effective – we receive prompt payments and we avoid the “trouble” of having to bank payment cheques. As a result we have developed this method of payment in the future for all those OPA Events for which we make a charge and hope that you will use this method of payment; full information will be given with the details of each event.

Changes to OPA Subscription Standing Orders: In December 2014 we changed our banking details so  that members who pay an Annual Subscription from their banks by Standing Order will need to change the SO Mandate that their bank holds. As this is a Standing Order, unlike a Direct Debit, we and our bank cannot change your details – it needs to be done by you. If you pay your annual subscription in this way we will be contacting you with all the necessary information in good time for you to make the change with your bank. Please help us to keep things “going smoothly” – when you receive our email or letter, please take appropriate prompt action and then let us know that you have done so! Thank you.

OPA Contact during Office Holiday Closure: When the OPA Office is closed during holiday periods and our normal Email Inbox is not being checked so regularly, you will be greeted with an automatic “Out of Office” reply if you send an email to the OPA. This OoO message will usually contain an email address (not our usual one) which you can use for urgent contact with the OPA – please do make use of it if needed.

Email and Postal Addresses: We are finding that we are getting much higher numbers of rejected postal addresses (from members) and email addresses (from both members and non-members). Please help us to keep this to a minimum, by “doing the obvious” if you are moving house or changing your email address! Do please encourage OPs who may not be on our email lists to let us have their email addresses. PLEASE DO NOT SEND US LISTINGS FROM YOUR OWN ADDRESS BOOKS – Data Protection prevents us from using them; addition of an email address to our database requires an application from the person concerned.

Contact with other OPs: The OPA Office is happy to act as a “Contact Agency” for email contact – if you wish to contact an OP whose email address you do not have then email us and we will forward your email address to the person concerned (assuming we have an email address for them!) saying that you wish to contact them by email; he or she is then free to contact you if they so wish. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE WILL NOT FORWARD EMAIL MESSAGES – WE WILL NOT ACT AS A THIRD PARTY EMAIL SOURCE!

WAYN – Where are you now? It would help us to maintain our database records accurately and it would help the Careers Department of the School if you would take a few minutes to complete the WAYN Form which can be accessed from the Button Link on the Portal Page of the website. This applies especially to those of you who have left School in the last few years and are now on the first rungs of the ladder in that great big working-world or still in further education. Please don’t let us put the rather “Older OPs” off supplying their information – the occupation “Retired” can be just as useful providing of course we know what field it was that you worked in! All information supplied is treated with the confidentiality you would expect. Many thanks in anticipation of your help; the link button on the right-hand sidebar will take you straight there.

Interested in organising a Reunion …?: Reunions are now more popular than ever and remain a great way to meet up with old friends and rekindle school memories. There is useful advice on this website about how to make sure your reunion is a success. If you are interested in organising such a reunion then do please contact the OPA Office with full details of your proposed plan as early as possible as there may be a special subsidy available for your gathering to help with the costs. See:  http://opaealing.org.uk/events/reunions/

School News and Headmasters’ Newsletters: Do visit the School Website: www.stbenedicts.org.uk There you will find links to: Latest School News; Headmasters’ Newsletters (Senior and Junior Schools); The Priorian Magazine (including archived copies) and much more of interest …

Don’t Forget: Tell us where you are now by filling in a Where are you now? form, or find old friends by submitting a Find a Classmate form; both forms are directly available from the right-hand sidebar.

Richard Baker (OP 1959), Administrator OPA