Where did Ruym come from?

I have to say that this one always baffled me. Thanks to the wonder of Google I have discoved that "Ruym" was in fact an ancient name of Thanet - It was Anthony John that put me on to Ruym as a place name. And of course gate comes from the ancient Egyptian "khet" meaning gate, in particular gate to the sea (as in Margate), or in fact gate to Thanet as in Ramsgate.
"Our word gate is the Egyptian khet, which, in relation to the water, is a ford, port, or harbour; khet, a port, to navigate, go, stop, be enclosed. This supplies the water-gate as in Margate and Ramsgate. Mer (Eg.) is the sea and also a land-limit, the boundary of a region on the water. Mer-gate (Margate) is the gate at the limit of Thanet at the north-east extremity of the isle. Ruim or Ruym[5] is an ancient British name of Thanet. Ramsgate is the gate of Ruim. Ru (Eg.) is an outlet, waterway. Ima or im is the sea. Ruim is the mouth or outlet to the sea. The gate in Ramsgate is a repetition of the ru in Ruim; according to the reduplicative mode of compounding the later names, Ramsgate, the sea-gate of Thanet, is already expressed by the ancient name of Ruim or Ruima." This quotation was taken from "A Book of the Beginnings".

A Gem in Ruym

Having modified my standing order to pay the Old Ruymians Club £15 per annum from 1st June 2010, I finally took delivery of the Spring 2009 edition of Ruym. Flicking through the pages one might be forgiven in thinking that very little had changed. An interesting backdrop for what will happen under the auspices of the Federation of Ramsgate Grammar Schools. Anyway, mindful of not wanting to sound like one of those "it ain't what it used to be in my day" types (we would only consider losing a hockey match to Kingston Grammar for example) I set off in search of something to catch my eye. Finally, on the last page of the magazine I found an article by Andy Mair, Archivist and Head of Design & Technology which referred to a website of archive materials for the school. Definitely worth a visit! It dates the history of the school back to 1797 and describing the typical school day it quotes: "day-boys had to be at school at 5.40am and would not leave until after prayers at 8.20pm". It has many photographs including two pictures of Chatham House rugby teams from the 1880s.

Old Ruymian Golf Day

It is proposed to have an eighteen-hole Stableford competition on 16th April 2010. A course will be chosen in the Thanet area. The competition will be followed by dinner and drinks at the clubhouse; non-golfers will be welcome to join the evening event. More details nearer the time.
If you haven't done so already, why not connect to the Old Ruymian Facebook page and "become a fan" (not my words).

Old Ruymians on Facebook

The Old Ruymians are now on Facebook. Take a look there for the latest news. Become a fan and you will get the latest information as it is published.

Old Ruymians in Civil Contract with Internet

Who would imagine that the Old Ruymians and the Internet would make a happy marriage? I can't say that I am too sure myself. It has to be said that the Old Ruymians are all that modern isn't. Old "Boys", well there are girls now, but we're not gonna call them Old Persons, Old Children, or Old Young People are we? So that's our first problem. Secondly, as well as being Old Boys, we are Old Boys of a Grammar School. Now the Grammar School is a dying breed whether you like it or not, if the concept ever returns, and I am sure given the likely readership I would be controversial in suggesting that perhaps it should not, it would surely be called by another name, but would it smell as sweet. So why get involved as the Secretary of such an anachronistic organisation? I'm still not sure, but I think that underlying it all is the view that other young people should have the opportunities that I enjoyed, and which allowed me many privileged choices in the years to come. I would love the Club to become more successful, today its membership is paltry in my opinion. I would also like any money raised to be spent more democratically and not in a manner chosen by a few; I also hope that such monies would be directed towards encouraging a broader education for those who are less able to afford it. For the time being the URL www.oldruymians.co.uk points to this blog, in the coming weeks I will redirect it to its new facebook home subject to the approval of my fellow OR Committee members. It will be interesting to see whether my blog continues to take pride of place at the top of the Google listing!