As we get into the Winter term here is the latest news from TBC...
Events
The Super 8 Rugby season begins with a home game against biggest rivals Rotorua BHS on Saturday June 7th with a midday kick-off time. There will be a number of Committee members in attendance and they look forward to your company for brief refreshments in Mayfield House at the end of the match. For those who do not know MH is the restored villa that sits on the corner of 15th Avenue & Cameron Road.
The Annual Dinner & Sports Day has been set for Friday, September 19th with artist Nigel Brown to be recognized as our Old Boy of the Year. Our Guest Speaker is yet to be confirmed but we will have further details in my next edition. It is always a great evening so get the date in your diary and start organizing a table for a great night out!
Old Boy Lost
From time to time I get a request for information about an Old Boy, or people want to know details on themselves held as part of school records. I have had a request from Australia asking about a John Neame (or perhaps Korach) who was probably born in 1944 and who it is believed was at the school in the late 50s or early 60s. I have not been able to find anything about him at all in school records and as a last resort wonder if there is anyone out there who can help please.
A Special Birthday
I probably get more requests about Garth Sim than any of our previous staff members and thought it appropriate that I signpost the fact that Garth has his 100th birthday on November 24th this year. For those who do not know, Garth was principal of the school from 1958-66 and still lives in the Edgecumbe Road home with wife Nen that he did back then.
TBC Arts
Jazz Festival
The 37th Festival was held in Tauranga over Easter with the Big Band receiving a Gold Award in its competition. The recently formed TBC combo won a Silver Award while the combined TBC/TGC combo T'Jazz Collective was awarded Gold as well as being named best Secondary School Combo.
Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival
The BOP regional competition saw TBC take out the 15 minute category for a scene from The Tempest. They will now perform in the national finals to be held in Wellington at Queens Birthday weekend.
TBC Sport
Kayaking
A number of TBC students and Old Boys have just completed the 2014 ICF Canoe Slalom Championships at the Olympic site in Sydney. Of the 22 strong NZ team 9 have TBC links. Top performers were Luke Robinson and Dan Munro, who won a silver medal in the C2 event for Juniors. Others in the team included Jack Dangen, James Thwaite, Callum Gilbert, Theo Pepper, Alex Hawthorne, Patrick Washer and Ben Gibb.
Yachting
TBC yachties have just completed their national secondary school championships in Warkworth, where they placed 6th. TBC was not at full strength though as Trent Rippey ( silver in the laser radials)and Sam Barnett (bronze in 420s) were both competing in the RYA Youth National Championships in Weymouth, England.
Water Polo
The school team won the bronze medal in the Division Two Championships held in Wellington.
Hockey
Representative teams for the Midlands Region ( Hamilton, Counties, BOP, Thames Valley, Taupo ) have been selected at Under 18 level and Denym Clarke, Wade Bennett, Hamish McGeorge + recent Old Boys John Preece & Joe Lyons have been picked, so a good TBC representation.
Swimming
Nine TBC swimmers placed in the BOP Secondary Schools Championships, with most notable performers being Matthew Hyde, who was first in the senior 50m, 100m & 200m freestyle and second in the 50m butterfly and Kane Sefton, who won the intermediate 50m and 100m freestyle. TBC also won the senior and intermediate freestyle and medley relays and placed second in the senior medley relay.
Old Boys Sport
Yachting
Peter Burling (along with Blair Tuke) have just completed 2 regattas in Europe in the ISAF Sailing World Cup in their 49er, winning gold medals in both Hyeres and Palma. They have now joined TeamNZ for the Extreme Sailing Series in Qingdao, China, where, after a slow start, Peter skippered the Kiwi boat to 3rd place in the 12 boat field.
Cricket
With the 2013/14 season over there have been a number of awards handed out in recent weeks, with Old Boys to the fore. At the BOP Cricket Awards Brett Hampton won the BOP Cricket Player of the Year Award. Kane Williamson was the First Class Cricketer of the Year, having scored 1331 runs for NZ in the all 3 formats, with 578 Test runs averaging 52.5. The Mike Wright Batting Award was taken by Tom MacRury, while Cameron Neal was BOP Development Player of the Year. At the Northern Districts Cricket Awards Joe Carter won the Young Cricketer of the Year Award for his 674 first class runs @ 44.93, with 6 half centuries but yet to register a maiden century.
Football
Ryan Thomas and Tyler Boyd have both been named in the All Whites team to take on the South Africans later in the season. Ryan's stocks have risen in recent weeks as his Dutch team PEC Zwolle has just beaten Ajax in the Dutch Cup final. Zwolle were underdogs and went a goal down beforeThomas scored twice for the lead with his side continuing on for an upset 5-1 victory.
Rugby
Former All Black and Chiefs servant Tanerau Latimer has recently played his 100th match for the franchise. Along with Sam Kane and Nathan Harris they are hoping for a Chiefs three-peat. Nathan has just been announced as a member of Steve Hansen's first greater training squad in preparation for the tour of England next month and so could become our next All Black.
Surf Lifesaving
Sam Shergold has been named in the 7 strong New Zealand team for the World Paddleboard Championships in Nicaragua. With his strong surf lifesaving background Sam will compete in the 18 km paddleboard race.
Stop Press ... I have just found out that Sam won the silver medal in this international event.
Mount clubbie Perry Farrell, with help from fellow recent Old Boys Josh Lee and Dan McMahon, came to the rescue of a woman who was in big trouble off St.Clair beach in Dunedin just as they were finishing a training swim. The outcome would have been significantly different if not for the intervention of the 3 TBC lads who are down south for university !
Athletics
The Macdonald twins warmed up for the 50th running of the Rotorua marathon by competing in the Tauranga half marathon. Kyle won the event with Iain running second.
Hockey
Lachie Musgrave, Matt Taylor, Joe Lyons and 2014 Head Prefect Hamish McGeorge have all been selected to represent Midlands at the Under 21 National Championships. Lachie has recently competed for the New Zealand seniors team against NZ Maori, NZ Indians, Australia Country, New Zealand 35s and Hawkes Bay in a tournament in Napier. Meanwhile, Andy Hayward continues to rack up the test caps with the Blacksticks. He has now played 161 tests and after returning from injury has a busy schedule in the lead up to the World Cup and Commonwealth Games. TBC staff members Alan Galletly and Rob Leslie were recognised by NZ Hockey for more than 25 years contribution to the sport with Gold Service awards at the recent awards dinner in Napier.
Golf
Omokoroa professional Kieran Muir had his best finish on the NZ-based Charles Tour, finishing second in the Muriwai Open to Ryan Fox.
Old Boys Arts
Music
Melbourne-based four piece group BONJAH, which includes Old Boys Regan Lethbridge, Dave Morgan and Glen Mossop have just released their third album Beautiful Wild.
Former Midnight Youth frontman Jeremy Redmore has just released his first single solo effort calledBad Philosophy and is working on an album release a little later in the year. Check it out here:http://youtu.be/52LN0zD9Xqw.
Art
The Underwater Collective (featuring Edinburgh-based Old Boy Glen Leslie with Jared Benwell and Ali Selliman) have an exhibition of their most recent work at the Zeus Gallery (formerly Harrison's) on 11thAvenue in Tauranga. The Gallery is run by third generation Old Boy Elliot Mason, who is George Harrison's grandson.
Big Band
Joe Thomas returned to his home town as part of the New Zealand Army Band that performed during the commemoration of 150 years since the Battle of Gate Pa. Since leaving school Joe has completed a postgraduate Diploma in music from University of Victoria in Wellington and an LTCL diploma from Trinity College in London.
That is it for now but as always please pass on any news you might have that I can add here and look to spread the word amongst your mates if you think they would like to hear from TBC as well. Drop me details on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
All the best till next time,
Rob Leslie.
