Welham Girls Alumni Association

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – 2023-24

Dear Welhamites,
Wish you a very Happy New Year. It’s been an exciting first year for me as President of the Welham Girls’ Alumni Association. One that’s been deeply engaging, challenging at times and yet an extremely rewarding journey of learning and evolution.

A big thank you to our Ex-President Shivani Anand who mentored our young team into this role and guided us with balance and objectivity. My sincere Gratitude to our stalwarts Hema Mehra and Renee Chandola who have been a huge pillar of trust and support. And Last but most importantly …. the Working Committee of the WGAA ….I am honoured to be a part of this incredible Team of Women that has accepted, supported and encouraged this transition in every which way. For that, we are eternally grateful.

With everyone’s permission, I would like to present the 2023 Report. I’ll keep it specific and brief for efficient use of everyone’s time. I’d request you to please keep any questions and queries that you may have till after the report.

At the start of the term – We had envisioned what we called the 4C Approach for the year and it gives me great pride to announce that Team WGAA has managed to achieve all targets and goals set for the year.

C for CONNECT

I’ll start with C for connect…..within and outside the community

1. The WGAA hosted it’s very first event curated for Women’s Day…. Welham Wellbeing hosted at namely the Best Corporate Venue in Town, the Quorum…. It was a day of Wellness for Welhamites on March 4th, ahead of Women’s Day 2023 –

With sessions in resilience, yoga, mobility and pranic healing…..it covered every aspect of wellness…emotional, spiritual, mental and physical.

Hosted, attended and for the first time ever……sponsored completely by a Welhamite – It was a resounding success and set the tone for the rest of the Year.
2. The WGAA also jointly hosted a SOCIAL with the Doon School at the Claridges, New Delhi – With close to 650 guests, it was considered by many, as the most successful event in the history of both schools. What gives us immense pride is that the events team headed by our Vice-President Anjna Shastri pulled in majority of the sponsors.
3. Our connect grew multi-fold with now a total of 25 global Chapters and nearly each chapter hosting a successful reunion in 2023. Punjab and Goa were the additions to our ever-growing chapter Directory.
4. Social Media continued to connect our Alumni all around the world giving a sense of community beyond the physical walls of Welham. Our reach has grown exponentially and The WGAA page has been a particular hit on Instagram with a huge number 4500 Welhamites following our pages.
5. And finally, our Connect mission culminated into a Great & Meet Evening designed specially for the Batch and Chapter Representatives – the lifelines of our connect as a network. We hope that the event today heralds the start of a stronger and even deeper relationship between the WGAA and every batch as well as Chapter.

C FOR COLLABORATE:

Welham has been one of the top Legacy boarding schools of the country and the WGAA hopes to ensure that Legacy remains intact through every support to school. Therefore, our biggest focus remains how we can collaborate with Welham. We continue the Welham Woman Real during Founders where some of Welham’s most celebrated professionals held talks and discussions with senior students. This year was a fabulous turnout with the following speakers addressing students of Class 10, 11 and 12.

1. Film Director and Producer Nitya Mehra
2. Sukhman Randhawa Leading partnerships for the UN Coordinators Office in India
3. Bumble Public Policy Head for Asia Pacific – Mahima Kaul
4. Dermatologist Dr Shruti Lakhanpal
5. A stalwart in the Hospitality sector, Renu Basu
6. Editor and Founder of Platform Magazine, Shruti Kapur.

Followed the huge success of the ongoing Welham Woman Real Talk, we launched the Welham Mentorship Programme at Founders 2023 called Welham Woman Champion. It is a structured programme designed to create a strong career and education matrix for current students.

Institutionalised engagement between Ex-Welhamites in diverse occupations with students of Class 10, 11, & 12 at Welham Girls' School for the purpose of mentorship, guidance and experience sharing. And ultimately handholding Welhamites into getting internships and jobs even after they graduate. Thus, giving a huge impetus to the continuity, legacy and relevance of our beloved Welham.

C FOR CARE

We continue to focus on our social and development work. With Welham being the common denominator- our welfare programmes focus deeply on our Ex-Teachers, Behrajis, Didis and the education of their children.

WeCare, renamed Care is the WGAA's Care initiative, established in 2007 to actively support Our Welham Community including retired staff members and current or retired support staff in need of help. Since 2016 Shruti has catapulted it to a robust program!

PRARTHNA:

Prarthana is a Care Endeavour by which the WGAA provides financial aid to retired teachers, Class 4 employees and their families during medical emergencies. Our Bearahjis and Didi’s had no medical insurance cover till 2019 and often reached out to us, confident of our support. We have financed surgeries, implants, cardiac emergencies and helped pay hospital bills for them and their families.

PRANAAM

This initiative provides financial support through Pranaam, our supplementary Pension Initiative. These teachers were finding it difficult to make ends meet on their meagre pensions. To live a life of dignity, they needed a source of financial support. We are currently supporting 6 teachers through ‘Pranaam’.

SHIKSHA SARTHI

A merit-based scholarship crafted by Anjali along with Shruti & Rashmani of the WGAA for all its class IV employees. A subcommittee comprising of 3 members studies the forms and applicants are shortlisted. Subcommittee conducts interviews of the candidates along with their parents. Evaluations on the basis of academics, interview performance and parents' aspirations. The final selection is communicated to School and Disbursements commence upon process compliance. This year we had the New York Chapter raise a generous fund for Shiksha Sarthi and therefore we are looking to sponsor more children under this programme.

AASRA

The WGAA has partnered with the Aasraa Trust to help educate orphans and street children in Dehradun. Annual reports and updates are regularly given to the donor. Currently, the annual expenditure is Rs. 21,000 per child and a minimum commitment of 5 years by the donor is mandatory so that education is not interrupted. The 60 Ex-Welhamites from our Welham Alumni community have been supporting the education of almost 60 girls through the Aasraa Trust in DehraDun

C FOR CONSERVATION

And finally in the field of conservation- we have started with first sending out our message of sustainability. Under the able guidance of our Memorabilia Head, Savleen Thadani. This year we launched - personal water bottles as part of the Memorabilia to discourage the use of single use plastic bottles. We have also created an organic cotton scarf that is size agnostic- both in conservative quantities so that we don’t add to textile pollution. Too reduce footprint, our earlier inventory was recirculated during Founders to make space for newer fresher and more sustainable products in the future.

FINANCE

Moving on from our 2023 goals to other major departments of the WGAA. The Finances of the WGAA are in good health and hope to further increase our corpus in the coming year as well as raise funds for the future plans we have for network building of the Welham family. A detailed financial document is available for your perusal.

MOA

And finally, this year was a monumental one as we amended our Memorandum of Association of the WGAA. Renee Chandola and Hema Mehra along with a special team were tasked with the re-writing of the MOA. The team worked for months to ensure that the amended MOA reflected the ethos and values of Welham while keeping it relevant for today’s time as well as the near future. The MOA was approved and accepted by the required quorum at an Emergency General Meeting called on the 12th of October, 2023. Copies of the Amended MOA are available for your perusal.

I’m often told by many of the senior Welhamites that the baton of the WGAA has been passed to the young Brigade of the 21st century…I’d just like to reiterate that that trust and responsibility saying that each of us are holding the baton together and making sure Welham leads the field. Thank You!!!!

Best Wishes

Disha Chopra.

President,

Welham Girls’ Alumni Association

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History of Welham

Our milestones, brick by brick, from then to now.

On a cold winter’s day in February 1957, 10 young girls assembled to start their boarding school experience at Welham Girls High School in Dehra Dun. This was how an incredible journey began, that would take our School from its humble beginnings to the incredible institution that it has become today.

Founded by Miss HS Oliphant, Founder-Principal of Welham Boys Preparatory School and our first Principal Miss Grace Mary Linnell, the School began to function from the residence and gardens of Nasreen, the iconic building at No 12 Circular Road, that every Welhamite, old and new, will always recognise and associate with as ‘School’. Another property at No 19, Municipal Road was taken for the Principal’s residence and School office. No 17, next to No 19, was taken later and housed the Junior School. Founders Day programmes were held in the back verandah of No 19 and the audience sat in the garden. Gradually, over the years, this small campus has grown and developed into today’s Welham Girls School, credited with being the best residential school for girls over the last few years. During Miss Linnell’s tenure classes were held in No 19 and a small barrack like building in No 12, which was then demolished, and the current double-storey classroom building went up in its place. While it was being built the BIs and AIIIs trudged back and forth from a rented house where their dorms were located. Next to the new classroom building was a long single-storey low set of rooms which had the playroom, the games master’s office, 2 tiny rooms for piano classes and the tuck room at the back, scene of many a raid. Along the back wall new dorms were built with rooms for the HMs. The Junior School remained in No 17. The tiny games field in front of the classroom building, which has now been cemented over, somehow managed to cope with many an enthusiastic hockey player and Welham girls were the backbone of the U.P. State Hockey Team. Baseball batters tried to hit the ball into the windows of the biology lab on the first floor and some even succeeded, much to the staff’s dismay. Chose a subject and somehow Miss Linnell, from the then small town of Dehra Dun, found someone to teach it, be it elocution, French, shorthand, typing or classical western music appreciation. The dining room, a low, single storey, long room also became an auditorium when a stage was built at one end.

Stepping into Miss Linnell’s shoes was Miss Saroj Srivastava, the English teacher, who took on the daunting task of taking the School out of the ‘red’ into a healthy financial status, which she succeeded in doing, supported by her Board of Governors, trusting donors and understanding parents. It was during her tenure as Principal that the first Alumni daughter joined School. Concentrating on getting School’s finances into a healthy condition was the highlight of Miss Srivastava’s term and she will always be remembered for this. During her term No 6 was taken for dorms. Some of the lovely fountains and garden area in No 12 gave way to Miss Linnell’s grave and the prayer platform, but the peacock throne and summerhouse remained. Land purchased by Miss Linnell, for which she came under fire from the Board for spending too much money, had lain unused, and Miss Srivastava finally attempted to use this for games when plans to consolidate a campus were made.

It was then up to Mrs Shanti Varma, a parent and former member of the Board of Governors, who took over from her, to begin the process of acquiring more land and developing buildings. It started with the School’s current auditorium, so aptly dedicated to and named after her in 2017. Her tenure began during troubled times and efforts to shift the School, from the Dalanwala campus to a larger area, had not succeeded. Land near Haridwar had been purchased but was considered unsafe from a security point of view and land on the Chakrata Road had issues with adequate water supplies. If we had shifted, a proposal to turn No 12 into a girls’ college had also been considered, as the idea of giving up our beloved Nasreen was unthinkable. The decision then was to remain in Dalanwala and try to buy properties around No 12, taking the dream of a consolidated campus forward. No 17 was sold and Narauli House purchased for dorms while the older ones were refurbished; the Home Science lab building came up on the tennis courts next to the original entrance and the playroom building and long jump pit gave way to another block with labs, the library and the art room. Sadly, the trees along No 12’s original grand avenue entrance, directly opposite No 6, had to be cut down because they were old and diseased. The entrance then changed to its current corner gate, donated by an alumnus. A house towards the rear of the School was purchased for the Bursar and hospital, which later shifted across the road to another property. A corridor of land giving, easy access from No 12 to the Games field was bought as well as another property adjacent to the field for tennis courts and other sports facilities.

Mrs Jyotsna Brar, alumnus and then Principal of another school succeeded Mrs Varma. During her tenure the School changed quite dramatically. The grounds and buildings were spruced up. The interiors of Nasreen were restored to their former glory with fireplaces, woodwork and tiles being highlighted. Dorms were all shifted out to the other buildings. The building facings were changed to have the same appearance. The Principal’s Office was shifted to No 12. The old building in No 6 was demolished to make way for the swimming pool and the corner property next to it, opposite No 12, was purchased for a variety of activities. Alumni generously donated the current hospital and the old hospital turned into staff quarters. An office block came up in No 19 to accommodate office staff. More refurbishment and renovation were undertaken. Water harvesting began, the School got its own tube well water supply Donations from alumni helped in improvements to both building and facilities with each anniversary batch doing their bit to help, specially with an underground passage to link No 12 to the property across the road.

With the very recent change of Principal from Mrs Brar to Mrs Padmini Sambasivam comes more development. A shooting range has been added to sports facilities. The Tadpole tuck shop has been enlarged to make practice areas for Kathak and Bharat Natayam dancers during rainy days or for girls to just chill. The underground passage has been completed and leakage in dorms fixed. More floors are planned for staff quarters and music room and gym facilities are to be improved.

And so, from these humble beginnings to today, through years of trials and tribulations, shifting, adjusting and making do with what there is, from crowded dorms to captains’ rooms and ‘dungeon’ bathrooms to running hot water, through two wars and rationing, epidemics of chicken pox and measles, changes in exam systems and digitisation have come the most amazing alumni a School could ask for. From politics to public service; art and architecture to advertising and adventure travel; media and medicine have come athletes, doctors, dancers, yoga experts, filmmakers and documentary producers, actors and housewives, corporates and authors, poets and lawyers; carers of refugees, challenged children, the disabled and homeless animals; experts in international affairs and economists; distinguished eminent citizens, media personalities and famous artists. Scratch the surface of a profession or a field of interest and you’ll be sure to find a Welhamite, living up to the intrinsic values these courageous and far-sighted women have inculcated in us, nurturing and mentoring, while keeping in mind the prayer of our English Founder-Principal, Miss GM Linnell: “Make us chose the harder right instead of the easier wrong”; setting us our focus in no uncertain terms, while inspiring us to enlightened humanity with our motto *Arth Shanti Phala Vidya*

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Welham Girls Alumni Association

It took 50 years and many sporadic attempts by many hardworking alumni over the years to actually get today’s formal Welham Girls Alumni Association registered. Like the history of a School that started with a few thousand rupees and 10 girls, the WGAA too started with a handful of committed ex students, who came together over the years in fits and starts to get things off the ground, encouraged by Mrs Shanti Verma, who in time would become Principal.

By 2005 it was becoming evident to all of us that it was essential to have the Welham Alumni Association become a formal body. Welham was fast heading into its Golden Jubilee year in 2007 and there was still no formal Alumni Association!

An informal meeting of what is the core group today, met at Mrs. Jyotsna Brar’s home over a cup of tea to discuss the 50th year of Welham and from that informal discussion emerged the serious process of putting into place today’s formal Welham Girls Alumni Association.

An Executive Committee was formed, comprising of members from 16 to 60 years of age! A memorandum of Articles was formulated, outlining the aims and objectives of the fraternity. It was registered and we were granted 80 G certification, which enables us to offer tax exemption to anyone contributing towards the School and Alumni projects through the WGAA.

The WGAA was formally set up in 2005. It was established not only with the usual objective of alumni societies, which is to bring together ex-students and promote interaction between them, but with the aspiration to support the School in various projects, provide succor to the larger Welham community of staff members and caregivers and give back to society through socially responsible initiatives.

It has since grown in strength under a committed and enterprising leadership with remarkable women at the helm. Asha Chaudhri who headed the Alumni before the formalization of the WGAA as a society, Sujata Kulshreshtha, the first President of the WGAA, Parbeen Kaur, Hema Mehra and Anjali Bansal Sapra have all, with vision and purpose, consolidated and strengthened the Association into the cohesive organization that it is today.

The Purpose of the WGAA

The Alumni body has in addition, contributed generously to School development projects as well. The effort has been coordinated by the WGAA and the funds successfully utilised for the Kitchen Upgrade, Library Renovations, an Ambulance, contributions to the new Hospital, the Swimming Pool and more recently a Mac Computer, Music room upgrade, new Toilets in the Games Field etc.

In addition WeCare was started in 2007 with the launch of the Coffee Table Book I HAVE WINGS, the sole purpose of which was to raise funds to help those in need, support retired teachers and class IV staff as required, as well as to put together the History of the School in its full recorded form.

We are currently supporting 40 girls at Aasaraa Trust Dehradun from January 2018 through the One for One initiative of WeCare.

We hope to keep the spirit of Service to the School and to those who helped us continue to soar!

The WGAA Committee 2019-2024

President

Disha Chopra
2001

Vice President

Anjna Shastri
2002

Treasurer

Namrata Kapur
1986