METHODY COLLEGIANS

President's Welcome 2024/25

I was delighted and honoured to be elected President of Methody Collegians at the Annual General Meeting earlier in June, and I want to do all I can to make Methody Collegians an organisation you can be excited by and proud to be a member of.

I know the last few years have been challenging for the organisation, but I am determined to help us grow and change to deliver an engaging and vibrant global community of Collegians.

The Council and I have already been working on a strategic plan to ensure that Methody Collegians can attract all former pupils of Methody. We want an organisation that inspires the lifelong engagement of all Collegians through connections, events and opportunities to give something back in appreciation of the life changing opportunities we were afforded in our own “Methody Days”. We want to empower alumni to make a valuable impact on each other and on the College.

We feel that there are a number of key priorities to be actioned in order to achieve our vision. Our society, values and culture, have greatly changed since the creation of the first Former Pupils’ Associations and we need to reflect those changes.

Our first priority is to build a membership tool that reaches the largest number of people and makes communications and engagement easy. For the first time, this will be a joint approach with the Alumni Office as we believe that this is key to ensuring all Collegians can be engaged purposefully, personally and professionally. Our Principal, Mrs Jenny Lendrum, is extremely supportive of these plans, which will allow members to securely connect, communicate and collaborate, as well as supporting the organisation of reunions and events. Imagine a system where you will be able to log on, join Methody Collegians, book events online, see the latest news about the College and Alumni, find old friends and make intergenerational connections with Collegians across NI and beyond. We hope that the development of this system will encourage the formation of special interest, professional and social groups where experience and skills may be shared and opportunities for development and mentoring created. This will be especially important in helping current pupils prepare for post-school life.

Of course, the membership database will only help us to achieve our vision of a vibrant global community if we attract more Collegians to sign up. It is no secret that we have had a declining membership in recent years, and we must rebuild, and I will need your help to do this.

When the Methody Collegians membership database ‘goes live’, we will have some targeted recruitment drives based on year groups, locations etc. and we will need to back fill some information that we don’t hold on current members, but in the meantime, can I ask all of you to formally join the organisation through our current website https://www.methodycollegians.org/membership/ and try to recruit at least one new member.

Our annual membership levy is only £20 but it is vitally important in enabling us to keep up our financial support to the College, particularly to the Principal’s Discretionary Fund which allows pupils to fully enjoy all opportunities offered by the Methody experience.

I look forward to getting to know more of you in the coming months and would love it if you could try to attend our Annual Dinner on 20th September at Belfast Harlequins.  Having hosted the ‘Class of ’94’ 30-year reunion just a few weeks ago, and through conversations I have had around sports fields, at drama productions and across social media, I know there is a renewed enthusiasm to revive Methody Collegians and to celebrate the life-changing opportunities that Methody afforded us and continues to provide to hundreds more each year.

I am ready for the challenge and ask for your support and ideas to help us realise the vision.

Sincerely,

Judith Cochrane (Class of 1994)