Hi

The first of my updates for the new year and it seems strange to be putting this together while tucked up in our cosy flat in Kent, England where I have almost completed a term of teaching for 2010. The weather has been the worst for about 30 years but the shortest day was 3 months ago & Spring is just around the corner with snowdrops & crocuses leaping into bloom in the last couple of weeks. Cranbrook School is in the middle of rural Kent - just an hour from Charing Cross - and so we are ideally located to take advantage of those school holidays........

The school year is well under way at TBC with the usual good crop of Old boys on staff...... Brian Ebbett, Andrew Fergusson, Stephen Graham, Warren Keenan, Chris Lee, Hans Meys, Robin Rimmer, Rob Sperling & Mike Verschaffelt (from the 70's), Garry Carpenter, Wayne Merritt, Peter Nicholson, Aramahou Ririnui & Scott Wikohika (1980's), Caleb Archer, Nathan Fry, Logan Gemming, Barry Parkinson, Brad Smith, Andy Turner (1990s) & most recently Michael Thorne & Charles Williams. That number of Old Boys at the school suggests that time at TBC has been a very positive  experience and it is great to see ex-pupils putting back into the local community.

Exam results for 2009 were again good with 19 Scholarships gained and a significant number of students having their NCEA awards endorsed with Excellence & Merit. One notable feature of the scholarships was the number of Year 12 students attaining this prestigious award which would suggest we will do even better this year.

As usual there are wide range of sports events that have been completed but the main interschool fixtures are still to come. Highlights to date include...

* The 1st XI cricket team came 2nd in the Super 8 competition to Hamilton BHS who were last years national champions. Locally they have performed strongly too with the challenge trophy which they won last season still held at this stage.

* The National Secondary Schools beach volleyball competitions have been held in Gisborne & TBC athletes were very much to the fore. At Junior level we had 4  pairs make the 1/4 finals out of 8 with Matt Kilpatrick & Burton McAdam taking out the national title. The Seniors had 3 teams in the 1/4s but again were victorious with Sonny Hirini & Jared Rona national champions.

* Our touch rugby team contested the national finals for the first time in December in Palmerston North and placed a creditable 15th. This was a very young side picked with an eye to the future so, with most of them returning, they should be able to build on this solid foundation in 2010.

* The canoe slalom team had 9 athletes selected in the NZ Under 18 Development squad that trained & raced for three weeks in Australia in January. There were many good results achieved and much good experience gained which I am certain will retain TBC's status as the dominant school in New Zealand white water kayaking.

*Surfing has had a higher profile at the school in the last few years with the likes of Matt Hewitt & Alex Dive performing strongly all around the world.  9 competitors took part in the recent  Billabong Grom series @ the Mount with particularly fine performances from Peri Matenga & Jordan Griffin who made the semis in the Under 16 event. Jordan backed that up by winning the Under 14 event for the first time.

* In surf livesaving TBC contributed 4 of the 5 boys selected in the 10 person Bay of Plenty Under 19 team for nationals - Richard Murray, Dan Hooker, Sam Shergold & Blake Williamson.

On the Old Boys front there have been a number of people performing on the national & internatinal stage but with me doing this job from long distance I would really appreciate it if people could forward me details about Old Boys  In the News .....

*Cricket season of course and after a poor last few months Daniel Flynn was not included in the test against Bangladesh. Since then though the runs have been flowing & he scored an important 59 opening the innings for ND in the One Day final against Auckland. Man of the match Kane Williamson also scored 69 and backed that up with career best figures of 5/51 with his off spinners as ND won by 20 runs. Kane had also had a slow start to the season but was named Man of the One Day series scoring over 600 runs at an average of 77.

Since then Kane has scored two big hundreds in the Plunkett Shield competition and was named in thirteen for the second test against Australia but did not play.

At Bay of Plenty level several other recent Old Boys have been performing well although well beaten in a Hawke Cup challenge by Manawatu. Those in that team were Richard Rice, Matt Drake, Peter Drysdale (rower Mahe's brother), Ben Christianson & Bharat Popli. An older Old Boy in Evan Watkin was in the middle umpiring one of the Bangladesh ODI's.

* Mahe Drysdale -our champion single sculler & TBC Old boy of the year - was named NZ Sportsman of the year for 2009.

* Steve Graham & Andy Hayward have competed in the Hockey World Cup in New Delhi for the Black Sticks. Steve tells me there have been 25,000 armed troops mobilised for the security of the event and they are holed up in a luxurious 20 story hotel when not being escorted to or from the grounds. Not ideal match preparation you would think and it makes you wonder what will happen with the Commonwealth Games later in the year......

* The Super 14 has completed its sixth round of the 2010 campaign and again TBC has quite a presence in the Chiefs. Tanerau Latimer has been joined by Jared Hoeata & youngster Luke Braid for the competition while Jason Hona was selected for the wider training squad. Injury to Masaga meant that Jason was called into the squad for their South African trip and he made his Super 14 debut in a winning effort against the Sharks. Of course Daniel Braid is with the Reds for a second season who pulled off the upset of Round 2 when they beat the Crusaders.

Your Old Boys Executive have had their first meetings of 2010 and there is an extensive range of activities arranged for 2010. Please support the Association by checking the website (www.tbcoba.org.nz), signing up as a member and then supporting the various events through the 2010 school year.

Old Boys in Europe please note that Principal Robert Mangan will be in London for an Old Boys meeting on Wednesday July 14th. Put this date in your diary now so we can get a good turnout. Further details of the venue, format, etc. will follow shortly.

All the best to you all for the New Year and please pass on any news to me that may be of interest to our members.



Rob Leslie
Old Boys Coordinator