It is ten years since the Dukies’ Association (TDA) was formed, born out of a need to build active engagement between the school and you the alumni, to benefit the School’s long term vitality, through reunion events, careers networking and fundraising for the School’s charity The Dukies’ Foundation, which is also 10 years old.

Earlier in the year we held an event to celebrate the anniversary, the idea was not just an excuse for Dukies to gather together but also to put the TDA in the spotlight to celebrate the achievements of the last 10 years. 

The Dukies’ Foundation has spent over £1,000,000 in the past 10 years on bursaries and projects for the school, some of the major projects are listed here. Some projects have been funded through raising money from the alumni as well as TDF grants.

Twelve students have benefitted from receiving a bursary, funded by alumni and TDF, so far.

Most of these students were from military families. Parents serving in the military receive the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA). Once they leave the service, this allowance stops, leaving some students like Daisy facing difficult decisions.

Daisy was supported with a bursary to continue into sixth form and went on to gain a place for an apprenticeship in Advanced Mechatronics Engineering with Amazon. You can read more about Daisy as well as two other bursary recipients Skye and Connor by visiting the Support Us page on the website.

There are many other elements to the Dukies' Foundation and I will be featuring these in the coming weeks. Here is a summary of the amount of money that has been received in donations (over the past 10 years) from alumni alone;

328 alumni have donated £746,238.

212 of you donated to the Clocktower Renovation Project, a total of £125,000. Peter Vincent made the inaugural donation of £50,000 which allowed the project to get off the ground.

46 of you donate monthly and have done for the past 5 years or more.

Two members of the alumni have donated over £300,000 between them over 13 years

The school also plays a vital role in the success of the Dukies' Association and the Foundation by funding for example the contract to run this website, staffing for Reunion Dinner and the luncheon on Remembrance Sunday, allowing staff time to attend TDA events and although the school do not pay the Alumni Officer's salary (that is borne by the TDF) they do provide office equipment and pay for expenses for courses etc.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who attended the event in May. It was especially lovely to finally meet Ronald 'Jack' Hobbs, who had helped to get the Clocktower Project over the line, I am sure you have all heard his legendary story when he was dismissed as CSP over an 'incident' with Dover College! Principal Alex Foreman presented Jack with his CSP medal that he had been denied all those years ago and officially 'pardoned' him!

I would also like to thank each and every one of you who has ever donated time, money or support to the school and the Foundation, having such a strong devoted alumni really does strengthen the school community.