Notice from OOMA

Following almost 97 years of being a society in Canada, we’re announcing the dissolution of the Overseas Old Margaretian Association (OOMA).

On July 15, 2023 a Special General Meeting of OOMA was held for members to vote on the ordinary resolution that was distributed along with a Special Meeting letter prior to this date. The attending membership approved the motion to dissolve and we thank everyone for their time.

Queen Margaret’s School has been working diligently for many years to connect with our alumni through their Alumni Relations Office. As technology progressed, and our membership more globally dispersed, it has become advantageous to centralize our alumni information and create digital connections via the School. Heather Bartfai, Manager, Alumni & Community Relations, is a strong advocate for continuing to re-connect and retain relationships with all previous students and staff. QMS’ current communication channels will be most effective in enhancing all of our community connections and continuing OOMA’s legacy.

As part of her office mandates, and in compliance with the BC Society’s Act, Heather has been appointed as the OOMA Record Keeper for three years (2023–2026). Any OOMA questions or further communication related to OOMA, can be directed to Heather at alumni@qms.bc.ca.

As part of this dissolution process, the OOMA Facebook and Instagram accounts will be disabled as of November 1, 2023. To continue following and engaging with the Queen Margaret’s School community and view alumni events, please follow their various online platforms: the QMS website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube pages. To be directly connected with all alumni, staff and current Senior School students, be sure to register on QMSConnects.com. This online portal is for us, and is a phenomenal way for everyone to remain a link in the QMS chain.

Finally, this will be my last note as President of OOMA. On behalf of the current board I would like to thank our members who have taken the time to volunteer and give of themselves throughout the years. Thank you for taking the time to maintain connections, write letters and make phone calls every year. Thank you for generously donating funds for the annual bursary that supports a heritage student attending QMS as well as campus projects such as the Archives, Chapel Restoration, a classroom naming and more. Above all else, we appreciate you being our story keepers. Since OOMA’s inception in 1927, a core group of Old Girls have dedicated their personal time and creative talents to preserving our School’s history, traditions and items for our Archives, before there was officially a dedicated space. Thank you everyone, our unique history is preserved because of you.

Sincerely,
Sarah Milne
OOMA President