Victoria College Old Girls’ Association host Centenary Celebration
Victoria College Old Girls’ Association, the largest old girls' association in Ireland with over 1500 members and represented in every Continent, recently celebrated its centenary with a dinner at Parliament Buildings.
The Old Girls' Association was officially constituted in 1915 but had its origins in 1882 with the formation of the Former Pupils' Association (FPA). This was the initiative of several alumni who sought 'to revive and perpetuate the pleasant memories of girlhood' and to support scholarships for tertiary education at the school through fundraising. In 1886 the FPA launched a school magazine which included literary contributions, reports and news of former pupils, especially of those who were teaching at home or in the colonies, or serving as missionaries. The FPA disbanded in 1908 when the restructuring of university education meant that their fundraising was no longer required.
When the OGA was formed in 1915 it revived the school magazine and later, in 1935, established the Victorians' Hockey Club. The Association's main aim was and is to unite former pupils, to keep them in contact with their school, and to host social gatherings. At first these were rather informal affairs – an evening of conversation and entertainment; and garden parties at Drumglass House where tennis and croquet were enjoyed. Today formal occasions such as the autumn reunion, spring dinner and the AGM, along with other informal gatherings, continue to provide welcome opportunities for former pupils to renew old friendships and to recall with fondness and pride their time spent in Victoria College.
