New Website and Newspaper Deliver Communications Partnership

It’s taken at least eighteen months longer than we’d hoped, but the Society is delighted to present this brand new website, which is all about harnessing technology to make it responsive, interactive and useful, and to simultaneously publish an Old Framlinghamian newspaper, which is all about presenting a review of the previous year in a readable and enjoyable format that some might describe as harnessing old technology!

Together they represent our absolute commitment to promoting engagement with and between generations of Old Framlinghamians and with the College, its staff and pupils.

Simultaneously with the launch of the website, we’ve published the OF section of the recent Framlinghamian magazine in the form of an attractive Newspaper, because – by posting a copy to everyone for whom we hold a postal address – we want to ensure that every OF is alerted to the existence of the new Website, and knows how to gain access to its advanced features. We’re enormously grateful to Chris Keeble (S 53-59), who for many years designed beautiful Framlinghamian Magazines, for compiling and designing the paper for free. Even so, the production and mailing costs have been very significant, and have been funded by our Trustees. We’d like to keep publishing and distributing an annual newspaper, but this will have to be through subscriptions about which you can read more below.

Getting Started on the Website

Much of the site is open to the general public, but to gain access to its advanced features, you’ll need to be a Registered User and Logged in. If you’ve been a Registered User of the old website, your username will have been transferred over, but you will have to go through a simple Change of Password procedure when you first log in. If you weren’t registered on the old website, don’t worry. The website’s registration process will take you through this step by step. If, in the course of this, the website tells you that it has sent you an email, please check your Spam folder if an email doesn’t immediately appear in your inbox. If you do run into difficulties, please send an email to admin@oldframlinghamian.com and our team will come to your aid. If you’ve got your Newspaper at hand, please include your Record ID number (on the newspaper’s wrapper) in the subject of your email, as this will make life easier for the team. As you go through the Registration process, please add some biographical details (particularly career and leisure interests), because these are what are going to enrich the Connect@Fram experience for everyone.

You can comment on News stories, and contribute you own news, and postings about births, marriages and deaths; research Distinguished OFs and nominate candidates for this category; book yourself into Events and put forward events that you’d like to run; join our Specialist Groups in Shooting, Golf and The Arts, read about their news and find out who all the other members are. The list goes on – please do give everything a try.

Now that we’ve got a modern website, built on WordPress, we’re hoping that a few OFs might offer to join the website support team – you can read more about this in the Newspaper.

The Old Framlinghamian Newspaper

Following the July 2022 SOF Council meeting, at which we heard that the College intended only to produce a digital magazine in 2022, and once again in the A5 compressed format that had proved inconvenient to read online, Chris Keeble (S 53-59) and Chris Essex (K 69-75) volunteered to put their heads together to see if it might be possible and affordable to produce a low-cost printed magazine. Over the next three months, Chris Keeble looked into possible designs and costs, eventually settling on a newspaper format using recycled low-weight paper.

While we very much hope that you like what you see, and enjoy reading it, the bad news is that we cannot afford to produce and distribute a free newspaper each year.

This publication needs to become largely self-supporting if it’s to be repeated. We’re therefore looking at a subscription model, probably at a cost of £10 a copy for UK OFs and £12.50 a copy for those overseas.

Over the coming weeks we’ll develop a subscription scheme, and keep you informed by email of progress on this, and how to subscribe. It’s vital, therefore, that we have your email address so, once again, please register/login on the new website and make sure that your email address is up to date. If you don’t ‘do’ email, please get in touch with Kate Jackson, our indefatigable OF Co-ordinator who’s based at the College, and she’ll do her best to support you (+44 (0)1728 727227).

Meanwhile, please feel free to email us, or use the Contact Us link at the very top of the Home Page, with your views on the future of the OF Newspaper or about the new website.

Peter Howard-Dobson (R 65-69)

President SOF