May

1 OCA Business Breakfast; guest speaker: Ed Cowan

4 OCA Football Day; Dangar playing fields

25 OCA Touch Footy Gala Day; Hordern Oval

June

[No events currently planned]

July

[No events currently planned]

On 11 April 2014, forty-five OCs gathered in the Governor’s Ballroom for the 2014 edition of the Vintage Club Lunch. The Lunch is open to OCs who are 70 years and over, and it is usually held annually on the last Friday of Term 1.

This year, the guests ranged from 1940 through to 1960. It was also particularly good to see that Sir Laurence Street (1942) was well enough to attend the Lunch.

The Archives arranged a photographical display of the school during the 1940s and 1950s, and the Headmaster gave an update of recent events and Cranbrook’s plans for the future.

Many thanks to the Director of Alumni, James Bush, and the Alumni Office for organizing the event. Vintage Club members will be kept informed about the date of next year’s gathering.

A longer version of this article will be published in the next edition of the OC Magazine.

Number 38 April 2014

Calendar

Vintage Club Lunch David Hing (1978)

For the first time in many years, on Sunday March 16, the Three Islands Classic was held on Sydney Harbour. What a tremendous day and what fun was had by all doing battle around the islands!

It was a challenging day. The day opened with bright sunny skies and favourable if somewhat light breezes. However, Mother Nature - having lulled all crews into a false sense of security - decided as the lead yachts were rounding Fort Denison to turn on the fireworks. Strong winds ensued with gusts exceeding 30 knots according to many reports, along with lightning, thunder and heavy rain to bring the fleet home around Clark Island and back to the finish line in Rushcutters Bay.

There were tales of lightning strikes, instruments blowing and resetting along with crew from one or two yachts reporting ‘tingling’ sensations from the lightning during the storm. Nevertheless, despite these challenges, the participants’ seamanship came to the fore in the end with all yachts and their crew making it to the finish line and onward to the ‘raft up’.

The most successful finishers were:

1. Macscap (skippered by Peter McClelland (1980))

2. Iluka (skippered by Dan Storch (1981))

3. l’attitude (skippered by John Short (1980))

At the conclusion of the day, it was agreed that in 2015 a Three Islands Classic around the same time with a similar format would be thoroughly welcomed on everyone’s calendar!

A longer version of this article appears on the OCA website here. The full version will be published in the next edition of the OC Magazine.

Three Islands Classic, March 16 Robert Lewis (1970)

Cranbrook has been on holidays for the past three weeks;the School Updates section will be back in the next issue.

OCA Content Manager:Lyndon Goddard (2007)

website@oca.org.au

www.oca.org.au

School Updates

New on the OCA WebsiteFacebook

Farewell to Long-Serving Teachers - Cranbrook has recently said farewell to a number of long-serving teachers: Robin Nagy, mathematics teacher and

Housemaster of Wakehurst, is moving to Redlands; Richard Givney, who has worked at the school for 26 years, is retiring; Edwina Parsons, art teacher, CITF coordinator and Housemaster of

Davidson, is also retiring; and Michael Parker, Head of Senior School, is taking up the post of Headmaster of Oxley College in Bowral. See here.

Michael Parker, Cranbrook’s Head of Senior School and teacher of English and other subjects on and off since 1992, has finished his last term at Cranbrook before moving to Oxley College in Bowral as its headmaster from Term 2.

On the occasion of his leaving, he has written some reflections on his experiences at Cranbrook and, more broadly, on his understanding of Cranbrook’s culture.

A paraphrased version of his article appears below; the full version can be viewed here.

As I prepare to leave, it becomes ever clearer to me what a unique and special part of Sydney’s educational landscape Cranbrook is. It has an irrepressible character. I do like to think I have played my role here over the decades, but really it is the school that has shaped me.

I think that the unique house system has been a strong part of this School since the days of Polly Perkins. As educational fashions change, other schools have taken our mantra about caring for the individual, but we at Cranbrook have been doing it here since the school’s inception. Indeed the care for the individual is so ingrained that I like to think of it as ‘seeping from the stones’. After cutting my teeth in Wakehurst, I spent five incredible years in the Street boarding house, learning more about boys and surrogate parenthood than I thought possible. My garden gnomes were adopted by the House, my terrible plays were performed, and some of the boys I tutored there I still see today as people in their mid-thirties.

When I returned to Cranbrook again in 2007 after five and a half years away, the things I loved were of course still here. In my first weeks I remember a wandering band of student minstrels skipping around the school with their lutes and guitars as part of a Music day, an incredible dramatic performance of Precipice at the NIDA theatre and a 2nds rugby team winning the premiership.

In the last seven years I have been lucky to watch a whole school generation of Cranbrookians graduate. There is something special about welcoming nervous boys into the school on the first day of Year 7 and then shaking the hands of the same confident young men at the Valedictory Dinner six years later. In between they have been curious, wonderful, frustrating and inspirational. Their successes in the academic, cultural and sporting

domains have been too legion to even begin to enumerate. But their enthusiasm, their hard work, their wit, their care for each other, their passion for ideas and their comfort in their own skins has been terrific for me to be involved with as a proud deputy.

The boys love the school whilst they are here. They band together and ‘own’ Cranbrook. It is genuine, student-led and miles from the confected patriotism of some other institutions. To see how well the boys have taken to the current Year 12 College is one small example of what our young men are capable of. It is an amazing place where the boys are focused, intent and determined to get on with their HSC work.

I think very highly of my colleagues at Cranbrook. Overwhelmingly their professionalism and dedication to the boys extends well out of school hours. Monday mornings at the coffee machine in the staff room bring tales of Saturdays spent at sporting venues and Sundays spent marking. They are willing to take risks, try new things and work harder. As chair of the Housemasters meetings for the last seven years, I think my mantra of ‘every boy in the school thinks he is in the best House, and every boy is right’ holds water. The dedication of these people and all of their tutors makes sure every boy really is known and cared for.

I have been lucky enough to work for three excellent Headmasters in my time at Cranbrook. Bruce Carter’s dedication to the boys and capacity to be involved in every aspect of the school were inspirational to me as a young teacher. Jeremy Madin’s irrepressible optimism, vision and judicious intelligence were wonderful to be involved with as a deputy. And Nicholas Sampson’s ability to imagine, articulate and plan for a Cranbrook that takes its place on the world stage means that I believe the school is in outstanding hands for the years to come.

Parting Reflections from Michael Parker Lyndon Goddard (2007)