Hi everyone,
With another school year rapidly coming to a close there is not as much to report in this newsletter, as the focus of the boys is on their exams. We have had our major prize-givings and I will report on these as part of this note.
Obituary
It is with great sadness that I report about the passing of one of Tauranga College’s most prominent Old Boys, Gary Ware (1951-55). He passed away just before our TBC 60th Jubilee. Gary had been one of the most active of Old Boys, responsible for organising a large number of jubilees and annual dinners for the pupils of Tauranga College from 1970 to 2018. As well as running his very successful pharmacy business, Gary and Marlene have been very active with a wide range of organisations like Amnesty International and he also served as a Justice of the Peace.
Staff News
Three longstanding staff members will retire at the end of the year. Head of Humanities Gary Patterson, Professor Athol Binns (Physics) & Gary Wikohika (head of the maintenance team) will all finish at the end of this year after long service to TBC.
Old Boys Events
60th Jubilee
Our celebration of 60 years of TBC at Labour Weekend was successful with around 300 registrations and Old Boys travelling from as far afield as the United Kingdom, Abu Dhabi and Australia for the event. Festivities began with a golf tournament at the Tauranga Golf Club before attendees enjoyed hospitality at the racecourse for Cheers and Beers on the Friday night. An official powhiri began Saturday’s programme at Aronui, where Tuariki Delamere spoke on behalf of the Old Boys. This was followed by morning tea, photos and tours of the College conducted by the prefects. The afternoon saw a highly competitive T20 cricket match played on Nicholson Field with the winning runs scored off the second to last ball of the match. It was great to see Bracewell brothers Kevin and Doug roll back the years and turn out, while Shane Cortese also showed he has not lost anything of his competitive edge!
Highlight of the weekend was the Jubilee Dinner, where Kane Williamson and Peter Burling were recognised as our Old Boys of the Decade. MC for the event was Old Boy and current Principal at Gisborne BHS Andy Turner, while staff member Neil Howard did a question and answer session with Peter and Kane, which gave a good insight into their successes since leaving school. A lovely buffet meal was served by staff and students from the Hospitality Department.
The weekend was rounded off Sunday morning with a great concert showcasing the performing arts in the Graham Young Youth Theatre. This featured performances from Old Boys Jeremy Redmore (of Midnight Youth fame) and 2016 head prefect Elijah Taula, as well as TBC students who entertained with theatre sports, the jazz combo Mason’s Jar, Anuru Palmer gave his winning Senior Speech, the Norfolk Island tour group gave an excerpt from their Beggar’s Opera piece and the show was completed by the big band.
High profile sportsmen at the 60th .. Andy Hayward (Blackstick), Kane Williamson (Blackcap), Rob Leslie (Old Boys Committee) & Peter Burling (America’s Cup winner)
Wellington Event
The annual Old Boys get together in Wellington will be held on Monday, December 3rd at the Blend Bar on Wakefield Street. The Old Boys’ Association will buy your first drink and provide some finger food. Come along to catch up with other Old Boys and find out a little about what is happening at the school today! I look forward to seeing you there.
TBC Arts
Arts Awards
The Arts Awards have been part of the end of year landscape at TBC for several years now and recognise the talents of our boys in a wide range of visual and performing Arts. Top awards for 2018 went to Fletcher Oxford for Excellence in the Performing Arts, Flynn Wheeler for Excellence in the Visual Arts and Arts Scholarships went to Ethan Hahunga, Zac Hobbis and Dyllan Crandle.
Drama
A group of ten drama students attended the 21st Festival in Paradise in Norfolk Island during the last holidays. They competed in the competition against Australian, New Zealand and local adult groups and ended up runners-up Best Production, performing part of The Beggar’s Opera. As well as this success, Ethan Hahunga was awarded the prize for best male actor in the whole festival.
Busking
Year 11 student Jakob Cray was successful in winning the Amateur/Professional section at the Mount Maunganui Busking Festival recently.
Public Speaking
Head Prefect Anaru Palmer won the Senior Speech contest earlier in the term. His speech on the subject of suicide was part of the 2 hour presentation of arts at the 60th Jubilee.
Creative Writing
Award winners in the competitions this year were James Ngamoki in the Senior division, with Joshua King taking out the Junior award.
TBC Academic
Academic Prize-giving
Our annual academic prize-giving was held in the first week of November, where all of the top achievers for 2018 were recognised. The DUX for the year was Md Shadman Jahin, who was top science scholar, while other students top in their respective areas were Matthew Brittain (Commerce), Kale Adair (Arts) with Adam Hitchiner (Proxime Accessit). Head Prefect Anaru Palmer won the Monte Ohia Trophy for the Best Year 13 Maori Boy, while Alevandre Talopau won the Pasifika award – the Taula Trophy.
Best all-round students at the three year levels were Kale Adair (Year 13), Robbie Maris (Year 12) and Logan Green (Year 11).
TBC Sport
Sports Awards
Former Head Prefect Peter Drysdale was guest speaker at our annual awards that recognise the efforts of our sportsmen through the year. Major award winners this year were:
Best Performance by an Individual: Lachie Haycock – 2nd ITU Sprint Triathlon U 18 World Championships
Pergo et Perago Award: Damien Torwick – 36th U18 K1 @ World Champs/Academic Captain/NCEA Level 1,2 & 3 all with Excellence/Lead role in 2018 production of Beauty & the Beast.
Sports Team of the Year; 1st XI Football – 6th in NZSS Premier tournament & 2nd in Super 8
Official of the Year: Robbie Maris – awarded best referee @ Kanga Cup in Canberra out of 250 referees.
Best All-rounder: Jack McManaway – NZ Under 19 Beach Volleyball, NZ U18 Volleyball, Senior A basketball, Senior Touch
Overall Sportsman of the Year: Lachie Haycock
Basketball
Our Senior A team had qualified for the NZSS National Tournament for the first time since 2013. At the tournament the side had a 3 win, 5 loss record with the last match a tight 84 – 81 win over Rotorua BHS to take out 15th place in the 24 team competition.
Youth Olympics
Young paddler Finn Anderson has just returned from Buenos Aires, where he competed in the Youth Olympics in Kayaking where he was a silver medallist.
Underwater Hockey
A number of TBC students represented New Zealand in the Under 18 Trans-Tasman tournament. Gareth Ward-Allan and Thomas Holdom played in the A team which won the gold medal while Jack Tortoiseshell, Zac Howe and Aidan Heath played in the B team against Australian state opposition. Gareth Ward-Allan was awarded top player of the tournament.
Hockey
The Tauranga Hockey Association had its Annual Awards dinner this month and 1st XI Goalkeeper Will Gourley was awarded the Junior Mens Player of the Year Trophy.
Water Polo
The Tauranga Water Polo Club had a number of TBC players in their teams contesting the New Zealand Under 16 and Under 18 titles at the recent championship. It was a very successful tournament for the local club with all teams winning medals.
Old Boys Sport
Hockey
Former Head Prefect Hamish McGeorge, after impressive form in the National League, was brought into the wider Black Sticks training squad as they prepared for the World Cup in India.
Rugby Sevens
The Bay of Plenty Sevens Rugby side has been selected with a good number of Old Boys included in the selection. These included Will Ngatai, Gordie Lloyd, Te Aihe Toma, Josh Honey and Carlos Price and will play in the regional competitions on December 15th & 16th.
Cricket
A number of Old Boys have been performing well in various competitions in New Zealand and overseas. Kane Williamson is leading the Black Caps in their series against Pakistan held in the United Arab Emirates, where the team lost the T20 series, squared the 50 over series and have just begun the three test series.
Daniel Flynn, Bharat Popli, Brett Hampton, Sean Davey and Joe Carter have all been involved in various aspects of the Northern Districts campaign, with the most spectacular success coming in a recent one day, match where Hampton & Carter combined for a world record 43 runs scored in one over in a victory over Central Districts. The scoring went 4, no ball 6, no ball 6, 6, 1, 6, 6 & 6 as Central bowler Willem Luddick’s figures ballooned from 1 for 42 to 1 for 85 in his last over. John Bracewell is back in New Zealand and coaching the Northern Districts team in the Plunkett Shield and Ford Trophy competitions.
The Bay of Plenty Development Team, as is often the case, has a strong contingent of TBC Old Boys involved. It will be captained this year by Dominic Crombie, who was in the 1st XI last season and includes three of his contemporaries in Jacob Logan, Iman SIngh and Marcel Collett. Current student Taylor Bettelheim will make his debut while other Old Boy team members include Gurwinder Singh and James Boyd.
Old Boys Arts
The current New Zealand drama series The Brokenwood Mysteries has featured two TBC Old Boys on a regular basis. Shane Cortese has played lawyer Dennis Buchanan while Rawiri Jobe has appeared as Kahu Taylor in the last 2 series.
I hope that you have all had an enjoyable and successful year. As is always the case I am sure there are wonderful stories about what our Old Boys are doing all over the world. Please pass on details to me so that I can share them with everyone.
I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable Christmas and New Year.
Rob Leslie
