Dear Exies Old and New,

Welcome to 2011 and some changes on the working committees of the WGAA. We have some fresh faces on board, some tried and tested ones, and a new President, who has been around as a parent many times over and a member of the WGAA, long before the WGAA came into its official avatar Myself!

It gives me great pleasure to be writing to what I know is a vast and varied group, covering a large part of the globe and I hope that this mail will be seen by all and responded to in great numbers.

As the third official President of the WGAA, I am overwhelmed by the responsibility of the task. Both Sujata and Parbeen (Junies as I often think of them, since I myself am a pretty 'old' exie!), have done an awesome job these past few years. Without them at the helm and the support that they managed to generate, the 50th would never have been the success it was. People still talk of it as one of the best organised and managed event of the decade - That is praise indeed and we can be justly proud of them and their team, all of whom continue with me today to keep the tradition alive, and give their best to an organisation, that we hope will grow and strengthen, as the years go by. An Alumni body that will do the School proud.

We all are here today as 'exies', simply because Welham gave us something special to hold on to - Our friends, our laughter, our growing years, our education. A lot of us discovered who we were and what we wanted to be, because School helped us find ourselves. Every institution worth its name, cannot maintain its strength and its traditions unless there is a strong Alumni Association that can keep alive the bonds and reinforce those beliefs time and again. Each one of us needs to do our bit and keep alive the spirit of Auld Lang Syne, even as we leave School behind and move onward. The History of the School needs to move with us, for we are eventually the faces of that wonderful old Institution.

This is only the first of many letters. I will keep everyone in touch with the plans of the WGAA, the Committees we form, the Annual Meets we have and the Fund Raising events we plan to put in place. The first meeting chaired by me on the 26th of March, which was attended by a handful of committed Committee Members, got off to a flying start. We made some very promising plans and I am in the process of formalising the discussions which will be put up on the Notice Board by next week.

This is just to touch base with all of you – and to say that we do need to connect at every step in whichever way we can. Wherever there is a Welhamite, there needs to be Welham Chapter, so that NO girl fresh out of School, going into an alien environment needs feel she is without help. Welham Chapters all over the world need to reconnect and extend the warmth and support that Welhamites have always been known for....


On that hopeful note, I'll sign off for now. Please do keep in touch with me and with the Association. All the names and email ids will be put here for everyone’s ease of access.

So let's keep alive the Spirit - that of the Kingfisher that Soars High, Dives Deep and Flashes its brilliance as it touches the Sky!

Here’s to US then.

Hema Badhwar Mehra
President, WGAA
Ex- H/294/1971
hemabadhwar.mehra@gmail.com