Body, Voets, Downes, Alexander, Stuart (opp) Smith, Byrne, Back, Vasey, Barker, Deacon.
Downes, Alexander, Stuart, Pritchard, Wild, Bottomley, North, Darling Hilton, Sze-Tu, Palmer, Pearlman, Wise, Smith, Byrne, Back Vasey, Barker.
Pearlman, Page, Darling, Sawyer, Barker, Deacon, Vasey, Palmer, Schmalzbach at the Sunday BBQ on Vicar Building terrace.
Gilray, Palmer, Pearlman, Wise, Smith, Byrne ... (opp) Pritchard, Wild, Bottomley, North, Darling, Schmalzbach, Hilton.
Messages from alumni: Greetings
and best wishes from too many to detail all … I spoke with Byron Deverich who
is loving living in Melbourne … Eric McCusker, also in Melbourne, could not make it due to a death
in the family. Stephen Bennet is in
Canberra feels more like TAS old boy but sends best wishes. Some of our number are in discomfort, other
are really hurting … Bill Currey in Chile looking after 20 dogs (and himself I
assume); Rick Howell-Price in Thailand lost pilot’s licence due to Covid and wife
unwell; Greg Ilich and wife Vicki in New York City still affected by US
Mortgage Crisis; farmers affected by the weather: Phil Wilson, Alan
Pearlman. Ian Mudie has some medical
issues and sends apologies. Three year
members declined the dinner due to fears of Covid for them or at-risk family
members.
Two prominent and well liked year
members are not attending the reunion because of their perceived conflict about
the privileged and elite status of private schools versus an inadequate state
school system. And I agree up to a
point. We would all hope to aim at equal
opportunity but is this ever fully achievable?
And what to do in the meantime?
G&S made this into a joke in The Gondoliers: ‘All shall equal be’. ‘When everyone is somebody, then no-one’s
anybody’. Do we need a Napoleon or a Thatcher
to reform the entire system? If so, the
newly updated Cranbrook School might make the ideal if funding was unlimited
(see below for all the magnificent new works just opened this week).
I pinched myself every day at
Cranbrook and continue to do so for my good fortune in life, part of which is
due to my schooling, no doubt. It makes
me feel more obliged to assist others who are less fortunate and get on with
life in a positive manner.
While we may have had good facilities
at the school and gifted teachers, I believe that an even bigger factor
comprised my fellow classmates.
Interesting and diverse boys with a sense of ‘group’ but with a
competitive edge.
So thanks to all of you for
your part in my up-bringing. Just in
this room … 5 of them from Street House, John Sze-Tu gave me my first
invitation to travel overseas; I went to New Guinea with Clive Lovell; Twice I
stayed with Greg Ilich in Paris; Howard Barker invited me and my niece to
Cairns to see the solar eclipse (one of the great events of my life); I have a
drink at Les Schmalzbach’s house quite regularly in the past few years as we
are near neighbours in Potts Point. Warwick Stuart was driving me home late from a Cranbrook dinner in Paddington on 11 September 2001 when we
heard on his car radio about the unfolding events at the World Trade Center now known as 9/11. I have sat next to David Gilray
and Jeff Tobias in synagogue (but that’s another story – see my Cantorial blog
if you are interested). Andrew Hilton
has invited me to Passover gatherings when in the Southern Highlands (and he knows I'm not Jewish). Matt Sawyer and Janet also became Highlands neighbours for
a happy time. Mark and Steph Darling
likewise. Graeme Smith’s family connections
with Cranbrook were a major factor in my parents deciding on my schooling. I
just mention these as one of many examples of networks of friendships which started
at school. As convenor I have heard of
many such over the years and know there are many more.
On retirement: Things I have
discovered since retiring in February: lentils (yes, dahl, lentil soup and
other pulses). Shakespeare: plays and
sonnets. King Cymberline; Henry IV (especially Prince Harry and Falstaff).
Concert music from rarity to regular cultural feast in newly
renovated SOH concert hall. Opera
continues to be my main vice. Add steam trains, fish soup, Sondheim and piano. Does that make me a Renaissance refugee?
THANKYOU to Rebecca Curran,
chefs Kevin and Robbie, Cameron Torrance and other school staff for making the reunion successful. Also big thanks to
various year members who helped with contacting and cajoling colleagues. Especially notes to Matt Sawyer, Alan
Pearlman, Nick Back, Howard Barker, Greg Deacon, Peter Richardson but many
others too numerous to mention.
‘On with the motley’.
And the dinner was splendid
in the school’s enormous new dining room, grand kitchens adjacent and balcony
with views across Hordern Oval to Rose Bay, Point Piper and beyond.
Darling, Schmalzbach, Hilton
Sawyer, Barker, Deacon
Body, Voets (Nicolson), Downes
Before the dinner we were
invited by the school to a tour of the new premises built adjacent to and
beneath Hordern Oval. My brother Richard
was attending their 40th reunion at The Oak Hotel and it was also preceded
by a tour that very same day!
We met at the new covered
arched entrance to the Murray Rose Aquatic Centre (opposite Rose Bay Police
Station). The two new major structures
comprise the most extraordinary and magnificent modern architecture and state-of-the-art engineering.
From the elegant north-facing foyer we were taken on a
tour of the most impressive education facilities one could imagine anywhere,
starting with the sporting complex, mostly beneath Hordern Oval. The old tarmac has
been replaced with tough thatch turf on new advanced drainage so it can be
used even after quite heavy rain. Entry doors led to a large
gym with every variety of exercise appliance.
Our guide Cameron Torrance pointed out that most men never kick a
ball much after leaving school but many do go on to regular gym sessions for
fitness … so why not start at school and do it properly? Good logic to my mind.
The entrance and gym both had
large windows looking down onto an Olympic pool (51.5m) with optional wave generator when required. Also adjacent was a small heated
pool for beginners so all Cranbrook boys (and soon girls as well) should have the opportunity to learn to swim. Between the pools was a covered running track
with standardised surface. Then there
was a basketball court.
We were taken into an
orchestral rehearsal room with very high acoustic ceiling. It was empty but for a Steinway concert grand
piano which our tour guide Cameron Torrance asked one of us to play. Everyone looked at me (who can’t even read
music properly) and I pattered out a few bars of Chopin. Then we saw the new theatre with full
proscenium (confusingly also called ‘Packer Theatre’) with ~250 racked seats,
half of which can be collapsed at the press of a button to create a new flat
space for teaching (drama, music, etc). Next
we were shown several ‘house’ areas with wide wooden stairways which doubled as
seating areas for meetings, classes or demonstrations. Each house had a row of large modern lockers
angled on the diagonal.
Up the final flight of stairs
on the top floor was the new school chapel.
As requested in the original concept this forms a direct connection and
access with the old school as it abuts the lawns surrounding the old Perkins
Building (now Music Academy). Adjacent
is the original school building with the Governor’s Ballroom and its stone
arches. I was gratified to learn that
the chapel can be simply turned into a classroom - (I firmly believe that all houses
of worship should be likewise multipurpose).
Throughout the new complex there were elevators, wide entrances and easy
access toilets for disabled students or elderly visitors like us.
See a video of the proposal
which is now almost fully realised!!
Optimising
Cranbrook - Cranbrook School scroll down to ‘share our
vision’.
Downes, Alexander, Stuart
Deacon, Downes, North
Sze-Tu, Gilray
Les Schmalzbach, John and Suzie North.
Susan Hall and Michael Body
John Stubbs, Matt and Janet Sawyer, Kerrie Pearlman
Lindy Vasey, Peter Vasey, Greg Deacon
Our tour group in grand new assembly hall.
Greg Deacon addressing Sunday luncheon crowd
Written by Andrew Byrne, year trouble-maker.
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