4, September 2021
SOBA UK Exco says “Thank You Electorate” 0
SOBA UK exco have said a big thank you to the Sasse Old Boys electorate for the second term given them to serve. Below are the warm words made public by SOBA UK secretariat.
Dear Members,
Thank You – An Acceptance Statement
We are greatly humbled by the resounding endorsement from you the electorate for this second mandate you have given us to continue to serve SOBA UK. We remark that these voting results represent a record achievement for SOBA UK as never before has any candidate in the history of the association received up to 75 votes for any given position. We recognise this as how far our association has come.
Two years ago, when we took over the reigns of SOBA UK, you put your trust in us to steer the ship onwards. We in turn as a team discovered and accentuated each of our strengths to deliver on the promises made in 2019. That resulted in the change that our association has experienced in the last two years. We have been able to transform the engagement of our membership and our community to greater heights in that time. We truly took significant strides to build a SOBA UK that became Bigger, Brighter and Best-in-Class.
This time, we ran our campaign under the banner of delivering a Stronger, Smarter, Prouder SOBA UK. We plan to improve on the bond within our brotherhood and introduce initiatives like a mentorship scheme; to make our association smarter in its use of technology and to bring the association’s information closer to its members; and we plan to play a bigger role in our community here in the UK as well contribute towards the betterment of the students of Sasse College. The task ahead won’t be easy but we know with your support we will meet the challenges with increased confidence.
Our association, SOBA UK, has had challenges in recent years and we have taken steps towards building bridges. Whilst we recognise the process of reconciliation is a long one, we remain hopeful for a future for SOBA UK where our brand is associated with harmony and where we reclaim our place as the beacon for all within our community to follow. We will face up to the opportunity of maintaining the standards we are known for whilst remaining accommodating of our divergent views and adapting to reflect our combined aspirations. This association has turned crisis in the past into massive growth.
We are confident that we have in our DNA to do the same with every bump in the road ahead and we will. The future is pregnant with possibilities for this esteemed association. We are about to commence a new membership registration period and thereafter, we look forward to the return of our annual residential convention in October. It will be a chance to reconnect again as brothers after the challenging 18-months with the pandemic. We look forward to welcoming you, your families and your guests to the Hilton at St Georges Park. Conventions are a good opportunity to further our brand and raise money for causes that this association cares about. We are going to be re-targeting our fundraising efforts towards helping students back at Sasse College in various aspects such as the School Library. We look forward to the community’s support in realising this objective.
The elections season has come to a close and we wouldn’t have gotten to this point without the meticulous management of the process by our Patrons and the added confidence given by the work of our Elections Observers. We remain greatly indebted for their service to this association. Their combined efforts have shown that SOBA UK has attained the model for suffrage for any similar group to emulate; a model that reflects and embodies the true meaning of One Man, One Vote. We should be proud.
May St Joseph ever near to guide us!
Kind regards,
Franklin Egbe President, Atem Akoh-Arrey Vice President, Asmara Eban Secretary General
On behalf of Benedict Tchantcheu, Executive Treasurer Bah Kobi Jones, Financial Secretary Fritz Esambi Publicity Officer Ralph Mbua Deputy Secretary Genera
6, September 2021
Iconic French New Wave actor Jean-Paul Belmondo dies aged 88 0
Jean-Paul Belmondo’s battered face, laconic style and roguish smile captured the imagination of French 1960s youth.
Belmondo, who has died at his Paris home aged 88, was the cool rebel of the new wave of French cinema typified in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 film classic, A Bout de Souffle.
His moody performance as a doomed thief and Humphrey Bogart fan struck a chord and saw him dubbed the Gallic James Dean.
Later, he forsook arts cinema to become a highly bankable commercial actor, as at home in comedy as in drama.
Jean-Paul Belmondo was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris on 9 Apr 1933, the son of Paul Belmondo, a sculptor whose statues grace many a Parisian park.
The intensely Bohemian atmosphere of his upbringing had a formative effect on him.
He failed at school and became an amateur boxer. In his short-lived career, he won 15 of his 23 bouts before giving up to concentrate on acting.
His trademark bumpy nose, however, was a result of a fight in the school playground rather than the ring.
After performing on stage in provincial theatres, his movie break came with the role of Laszlo in Marcel Carné’s 1958 film Les Tricheurs.
On the strength of his forceful portrayal, he was given his first starring role in A Bout de Souffle.
One critic described him as “a bewitchingly ugly man.”
His cult image carried him through several action films such as Les Distractions and La Novice.
Flying grandpa
Determined not to be stereotyped, Belmondo also accepted more demanding roles such as the idealistic intellectual of Vittorio de Sica’s La Ciocara in 1961, and as the young country priest in Philippe de Broca’s swashbuckling Cartouche the following year.
He also enjoyed comic roles, in Godard’s Une Femme est une Femme, and, particularly, in De Broca’s L’Homme de Rio, in which he played a suave, unflappable secret agent.
By the mid-60s, he had switched completely to the commercial mainstream and formed his own production company, Cerito.
He even performed his own stunts in such films as Les Tribulations d’Un Chinois en Chine in 1965, though he gave this practice up after an accident in the 1985 film Hold-up.
He brightened many an all-star cast in international productions such as Is Paris Burning? (1966), the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) and with Alain Delon in the gangster movie Borsalino (1970),
He moved away from action movies claiming that “I don’t want to be a flying grandpa of the French cinema.”
In 1987 Belmondo returned to the stage for the first time for nearly 30 years and divided his work between theatre and film for the rest of his career.
Two years later he won a Cesar, the French equivalent of an Oscar, for his performance in Itineraire d’un Enfant Gate.
He branched out creatively as part of the ensemble in Varda’s homage to international cinema Les Cent et une Nuits de Samon Cinema in 1995 and as the Jean Valjean figure in Claude Lelouche’s re-working of Les Miserables in the same year.
Jean-Paul Belmondo was divorced from his first wife Elodie in 1965. His second marriage to Constantin also failed. He later had long relationships with actresses Ursula Andress and Laura Antonelli.
Cinema audiences at home and abroad were drawn to his charm and seeming disregard for whatever absurdities were taking place on screen. He was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history.
Culled from BBC