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HOME > OCs
Old Canfordians
Anyone who has experienced a Canford education is an Old Canfordian (OC)
Once A Canfordian, Always a Canfordian
A full calendar of OC events is organised by the school Development Office, including reunion lunches, careers networking events, the Careers Convention, an annual London drinks party and occasional overseas reunions. In addition, we have a network of overseas OC Reps who can provide a Canford contact for OCs living or travelling around the world.
The Development Office supports OC sport which is thriving. There are OC representatives for cricket, golf, rowing, hockey and football. There is an annual OC Golf Day held on the school course and the club has over 100 active members, making it one of the largest OC groups. OC Football is also growing with an Old Canfordian team playing in the Arthurian League. Most years a Cygnets Cricket week happens in July and a biennial OC Hockey day has been established. OC rowers gather at Henley each year, hosted by the School for an informal lunch and OC teams have participated in the Bournemouth Sevens tournament.
Each year the Development Office produces Society, the OC magazine with news, articles and a round-up of the year's events.
For more information on OC events and activities, please contact the Development Office or browse through our events page.
The Old Canfordian Society
The OCS is the membership organisation for all those who have experienced a Canford education,
Beyond Canford
The OCS was founded in 1926, soon after the school itself, and will celebrate its centenary on 26th
June 2026. Its purpose was to build on and promote good fellowship amongst OCs, thereby strengthening the connections between OCs, and with the school, for the mutual benefit of both.
For 80 years the OCS kept in touch with OCs, maintaining their contact details, and publishing the twice annual Old Canfordian Magazine. In the early days, sporting activities predominated. Matches between Old Canfordians and other schools’ societies, and with the Canford first teams were regularly held.
In 2005, the school opened the Development Office, with the intention of raising funds for bursaries and improvements. The DO took over direct contact with OCs from the OCS, and for organising reunions and other events for the school, and for publishing the magazine. In this they have been, and no doubt will continue to be most effective, for which OCs are very grateful.
In consequence the OCS lost its sense of purpose for a while and took a back seat. However the proposal to donate all the accumulated funds of the OCS to the school for the Martin Marriot Foundation caused many OCs to debate the future of your society. The result has been a reinvigorated society with a strong commitment to take forward those original objectives.
We intend to work closely with the Development Office, who will continue to promote activities for
the school community both within school and elsewhere. The OCS will leverage the voluntary efforts of many OCs to augment and contribute to the success of the DO and the school.
Through its promotion of strong relationships between OCs and the school, the OCS has a vital role to play in ensuring the success of the school and its alumni community, particularly in regard to career development.
By fostering
• Continuing friendships made while at Canford through life
• Sporting activities, special interest and professional groups
We will deliver
• Careers advice based on our experience
• Support to OCs in their early careers through mentoring
• A source of contacts in business and life
• First contacts and support when working and living overseas
The OCS is your society, we need your input to make it happen.
The Old Canfordian Society 2026 Committee agenda
At the 2026 AGM on 7th February, the OCS elected a new full committee of 15 OCs, spanning the 66 years from 1958 to 2024, under the leadership of Cleeves Palmer (pictured right). This puts behind us a period in which the committee had been sparsely manned, during which the school’s Development Office had largely filled the gap.
In 2026, the OCS will be one hundred years old. We plan to mark this year as a new beginning.
The committee plans to build an active OCS network, promoting a range of interests, including:
• Special interests, professional, art and music etc.
• Sport
• Regional groups within the UK, and wherever OCs are gathered abroad.
We also intend to make it possible for OCs to share their experiences informally and to keep in touch with each other. We will use all the opportunities that modern communication channels and social media offer us today.
To achieve this, it is important that OCs engage with us by attending events and keeping us, the school, and each other, up to date with your activities and achievements.
By doing so, we will augment and support the efforts of the Development Office who will continue to keep in touch with OCs and organise events at the school and elsewhere.
The OCS initiated the Careers Convention, originally the Careers Symposium, in 2004 , and the Careers Convention now takes place in March every year. It is an area of vital importance where OCs can bring their own experience in their respective fields to enable sixth formers to select and embark on their chosen studies and careers. In similar vein, we will hope to identify OCs who are willing to act as mentors to further assist others in their early careers.
We plan shortly to conduct a survey amongst OCs, and ask you to share your views. We are always pleased to receive suggestions for activities, or improvements we can make, so please do not hesitate to get in touch directly.
