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President's Message

Little did I think all those years ago, as I stood in a line outside the gymnasium on my first day, knees trembling, that one day I would end up being asked to stand as President of the Old Skinners’ Society! Well here I am, and may I just say what a privilege it is to serve as your President for the year. I shall try to uphold the traditions of the Society, whilst at the same time hopefully we can move a little further into the 21st Century by utilizing more of the modern technology that is available to us, in particular this wonderful website that you are reading now.

I was born in Streatham, London, but my family moved to Pembury in the early 1960’s and I attended Pembury Primary School along with my three brothers. Soccer was my main sport at that age, although swimming was starting to become prominent as I regularly pounded up and down the old pool in Monson Road. Having passed my 11+ I followed my brother Graham to Skinners’ in 1972 and was introduced to the game that was to become my passion, rugby. I have a distant memory of scoring the winning drop goal against Judd in my first ever "grudge match", or was it a dream?

Unfortunately my time at Skinners’ was shortlived, as another family move saw us relocate to Sheffield in 1973, where I was starved of rugby until my return to the Tunbridge Wells area in the early 80’s. I immediately joined Tunbridge Wells Rugby Club and managed to reacquaint myself with many other Old Boys, in particular a Past President, Jim Hendley. Rugby remains my passion to this day, and I am delighted to see how well the school has performed in recent years particularly under the guidance of Nick Oldham. I hope to see as many of you as possible on the touchline supporting the boys this year up at Southfields.

I started to work for Midland Bank International Division in 1977 and by the late 1980’s found myself running their Global Foreign Exchange Options Portfolio; I’m not quite sure how that happened! After 17 years with Midland/HSBC I decided to get on the Investment Bank "merry-go-round" and over the next 7 years took various roles at BZW, FNBC, Bank of America and Nomura. In 2001 I decided that it was time to reintroduce myself to my family, and I "retired" from my career in the City. I am now a qualified Mortgage Adviser working out of the office of another Past President, Michael Gadsden.

I have been married to Julie for 21 years, and we have 2 children, Matthew and Maria. Matthew is 14 and I am delighted to say that he has been a Skinners’ boy for 3 years now, whilst my daughter is 10 and attends Holmewood House. I am extremely proud to be associated with such a great school, both as an Old Boy and as a parent. I would like to conclude by asking you to join the Society if you have not already done so, details can be found here. I would also appeal for your support at our functions, in particular the Old Boys Dinner which is being held at the school this year for the first time. Again, full details can be found on this site. I am happy to hear from anybody who vaguely remembers me (or my brother) from the past, please drop me a line at stephen.bassi@btinternet.com

Steve Bassi

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