Tauranga Boys' College Old Boys' Association (Incorporated)
Presented at our AGM on Monday, 5 August 2013...
This has been another very good year for the College itself and for our Association.
Most of you will have had the opportunity to read the Principal's Report to the 1912 Senior Prize-giving, and some of you will have read the regular newsletters to parents.
The academic results achieved last year were exceptional: especially at senior level. These were matched by success in both sporting and cultural areas . The students of the College continue to "punch above their weight". The appearance of no fewer than seven (I repeat seven) TBC Old Boys in the 2012 London Olympics was of world significance. The resultant medals to Mahe Drysdale (gold), and Peter Burling (bronze) were icing on the cake.
Committee member and long time staff member of TBC, Rob Leslie, continues to keep us up to date with the activities of our Old Boys in his regular newsletter.
The Old Boys' Association was established in May 2009 with the principal objectives of helping maintain friendship between Old Boys and promoting and encouraging the College, its students and staff.
Past Activities
The Executive organised a number of activities over the past 12 months.
As always, the highlight was our Past/Present Sports Tournament on 14 September, followed by our Annual Dinner.
Our guest speaker was Jeremy Redmore of Midnight Youth fame who entertained us with songs and stories.
Our Old Boy of the Year for 2012 was Dr Bryan Gould. Best known to us for his former role as Vice-Chancellor of Waikato University, Dr Gould himself had attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He went on to become a leading member of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, before taking up his position at Waikato. In speaking to Dr Gould at the Dinner, it was interesting to learn that his grandson is currently a student of the College. How appropriate.
At our 2012 Annual General Meeting we honoured Graham Anderson as a Life Member of the Association. Graham served the College for many years as a teacher. Many of our teachers give far more of their time and effort than they are required to do, and Graham was certainly one of these teachers. He has also been particularly supportive over the years in terms of the Old Boys' Association as well as the College itself.
Another significant item on our calendar this year was the show "Joseph" which was performed in the Graham Young Theatre. A group of Old Boys gathered in the Staff Room for some "social time" before enjoying what was an outstanding performance by some very talented young people from the College and from Tauranga Girls'.
We enjoyed good turn-outs of Old Boys at many of the College sporting events. The College continues to perform so well in so many areas it is difficult to keep up.
Informal gatherings of Old Boys were also held in London, Auckland and Wellington.
Future Activities
Activities for Old Boys over next 12 months are likely to be much of the same as the past.
With our experience over the past four years, we are finding what it is that you as new members are wanting of our Association in terms of activities and overall.
We are finding that each year there is growing interest and growing attendance and this is very encouraging.
This year's Sports Tournament and Annual Dinner will be held on Friday, 13 September 2013.
Our guest speaker will be Richard O'Brien of Rocky Horror Show fame. He is bound to be entertaining for both you and your partners.
Our Old Boy of the Year will be Tom Roper who will be known to many of you. Tom is a man who has stayed most of his adult life in Tauranga. He is a very successful businessman and a great worker for the community. He has always been a great supporter of the College.
This should be a great night so please put a table together. As always, for this type of function: the better the turnout the better it will be.
Life Member
The Association has the opportunity to elect a Life Member who "shall include any person honoured for meritorious service to the College or to the Association, after recommendation by the Executive as a Life Member by resolution at a General Meeting passed by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting".
We regard Life Membership as the greatest honour that we can bestow.
It is therefore appropriate to list our Life Members:
Garth Sim
Norm Morris
Graham Young
Max Heimann
Rob Naumann
Ron Buller
Graham Anderson
For this AGM, the Executive Committee has recommended Mrs Gillian Gemming.
More will be said about her at the AGM, but many of you will be well aware of the huge contributions made by Gillian as Chair of the Board of Trustees and as long-time coach and supporter of our hockey teams.
Executive
The Executive has continued to meet on a monthly basis over the past 12 months, with some of the tasks being handled by sub-committees.
The Executive for the 2012/13 year consisted of:
College Principal Robert Mangan
Staff Representative Rob Leslie
President Bill Holland
Vice President Simon Oldham
Secretary Mathew Billett
Treasurer Alan Neilson
Other Members Paul Gartner
Tony Lamberton
Rawiri Walker
Ben Rickard
Glen Strang
Scott Wikohika
Richard Craven
A number of these Members have been on the Executive from the outset.
Simon Oldham has always served as Vice President and he has made a wonderful contribution. He has, however, decided not to stand again. All other members have declared they are available for another term. We thank Simon for his work and for his continued support.
Positions remain open if others are prepared to all allow their names to go forward.
Financial Accounts
Audited accounts for the year ended 31 March 2013 will be presented at the AGM and you will find they are healthy.
You will see that we moved from a break-even situation to making a modest profit of $4,282.70. This is largely attributable to the success of our Annual Dinner.
We would like to build on this and to grow a fund of money which we can then use for the benefit of the College.
The Future
We have now completed our fourth year and the Association is in very good heart.
It has been helped by the stability of the Executive Members who have collectively given much of their time in bringing us to where we are now.
We must continue to work on increasing our Association membership and increasing participation in new events and activities.
As an Executive, we will continue to try to provide you with the events you have shown interest in.
In return, we would be grateful for your continued and expanded support.
Bill Holland
August 2013
