Delightful meetings - Cranbrook lunch at Abbottsford, Sydney Rowing Club Thurs 22 October 2026...

Andrew, John, Les, Greg

Richard, Andrew, Howard, John, Les, Andy

 Simon, Nick, Howard, Stephen, Greg, Michael, Verne, Bill

Simon, Nick, Stephen, Michael, Verne, Bill

Sydney Rowing Club: harbourside reunion lunch .......... Thurs 23 April 2026. 15 Old Cranbrookians plus a ring-in!

Thanks to Nick Back and Howard Barker for convening yet another successful informal reunion.  Fifteen of us were joined at the luncheon by Ben Franklin (OC 1968) and his wife at an adjacent table.  He greeted every one of us during and after luncheon.  There were no speeches but lots and lots of talking!  Howard and Nick propose holding another such lunch in about six months time.  Our last day of school was Wednesday 8th December 1971 but that is such a busy time of year that Howard has proposed Thursday 22nd October as a possibility.  Any takers?  Any other preferences for date, dinner or venue?  

Some familiar faces ... 

                                                          Verne, John and Andrew

                         With thanks to Verne Baistow for organising these photographs. 

And Howard for the remainder ...

                                                             Les S, Andy B, Matt S. 

Les S, Greg D, Simon M

Mark D, Andy B, Richard F.

Andy B, Verne B. 

Warwick S, Andy H and Richard F

Simon M, Andy B, George P. 

                                                                Mark D and John N. 

         Open Day at Cranbrook recently to welcome female students 5th March. 

Cranbrook admits girls (finally!).

Dear friends and colleagues,

This is an ahoy to cheer on the group for yet another year, 2026.  Soon to be 55 years out of school!

I have little or nothing to do with the school but pleased to hear that 70 young ladies were enrolled last week, half in Year 7, the rest in Year 11.  While I know not everyone approves I feel sure it will make Cranbrook a little more ‘normal’.  I donate a small sum each year to the Aboriginal Scholarship to prove that I am not a complete scrooge, even knowing this is a token exercise in a sea of troubles. 

Howard Barker and Nick Back plan to host another lunch at Sydney Rowing Club. The tentative date is Thursday April 23rd, details to be sent out shortly.

As for me, I am restored to health after a 20 year recurrence of my old lymphoma.  All thanks to St Vincent’s staff and 6 months of relatively mild chemo.  Continued annual trips to Lord Howe Island, Hawai’i and Manhattan would seem boring to some … but they keep me ticking along in retirement.  And learning famous Shakespeare quotes to supplement my meager innate wisdom. 

Please send me your news, whether ‘tis public for the blog or private to me. 

Cheers, Andrew Byrne ..

Cranbrook 1971 alumni news and views .. plus dinner photos

Andrew's travels

He was the noblest Roman of them all.   

All the conspirators save only he

Did that they did for envy of great Caesar

He only in an honest general thought

And the common good to all made one of them

His life was gentle and the elements

So mixed in him that nature might stand up

And say to all the world: This was a man! [Marc Antony of Brutus, deceased]

Possible 55th year reunion for end of 2026 at school or elsewhere.

Dear Colleagues,

Matt Sawyer has reminded me that next year is our 55^th year since leaving Cranbrook in 1971.  Most of us are now retired or thinking about it and there are so many stories of extending families, travel, renovations, illnesses, etcetera that I hardly like to give my own.  For the record, I retired 2 years ago, dealt with some medical issues, continuing annual trips to Manhattan, Honolulu and Lord Howe Island.  Now restored to bonza health my story is quite boring compared to some with exotic travel, awards, further education, books, films and so on. 

My question is whether people are interested in an event to celebrate, perhaps next spring or early summer?  Lunch may be preferable for some.  The school can put on a dinner in their marvelous new buildings (or the old boarders’ dining room) or else we can go further afield such as Moore Park Golf Club, Chinatown, Malabar South Indian (Kings Cross or Crows Nest) as just a few options.  Some partners are always keen, others not so I presume that would be optional for the celebration.  Cost is another issue so I will do some research in that, initially with the school. 

Les Schmalzbach’s son Joel left Cranbrook last year and is currently travelling overseas.  Peter Richardson visited me in Bowral while I remain in touch with a small number of others:

I occasionally see Clive Lovell in the street in Kings Cross, Greg Deacon in St V hospital nearby and also have had occasional communications from Dave Gilray, Andy Hilton, Howard Barker, Alan Pearlman, Eric McCusker, Craig Tallard (in USA), Marco Belgiorno-Zegna, Tim Robins (UK, Portugal), Andrew Parsons, Graeme Smith, Nick Back, Bill Currey (recent video from Sth America), and Andy Bottomley.  From other years I keep abreast with Andrew Sharp, Kim Ryrie, Peter Vogel, Richard Hunter, Andrew Small inter alia.  Nick Sampson is a neighbour in the Southern Highlands.  Terry Clarke rings occasionally from his flat in Edgecliff. I happened to toot Jeff Tobias in the street by chance recently.  Also, I had a brief email from Mark Piddington earlier in the year.  

As people may recall, Richard Wild died in January after a cancer diagnosis.  Very sad indeed. 

Please let me know if you have any strong views on some sort of get-together but quite understand this is not for everyone.  Lunch versus dinner; school versus other venue; interested or not so? 

Regards and happy spring season for all. 

Andrew Byrne ..

 Link to Andrew's travels (and travails): Andrew's travels

Richard Wild RIP ...

Dear Cranbrook School Colleagues,

I received sad messages that Richard Wild was gravely ill and days later that he had died peacefully at home on 26^th January. 

His wife Meg has lived with Richard’s aggressive and advanced cancer for many months, originally responding well to palliative treatment at St Vincent’s Hospital and GenesisCare.  I have passed on our sad condolences in a brief phone call today.  Meg appears to be coping with the enormity of events. 

A funeral service will be held on 6 February at 11:30am at St. Michael's Anglican Church, Vaucluse.  From 1:00pm. all are warmly invited to share memories and refreshments at the Royal Motor Yacht Club of NSW, Point Piper.

Sent by Andrew Byrne ..

8/2/25: A group of old school mates attended Richard's funeral at St Michael's followed by the wake at Royal Motor Yacht Squadron in Point Piper. Andy Bottomley, Matt Sawyer, Bill Pritchard, Verne Baistow, Steve Mooney, Nick Back, Richard Thomas (a post school drinking buddy & friend of the others).  The issues of mental and physical health were raised and a desire to catch up with old mates more often now that most of us are retired or retiring.  

 

Sydney Rowing Club luncheon on Wed 15th May 2024

Howard B, Matt S, Mark D, Bruce R, Verne B, Andrew B, Warwick S.

Tom W, Greg D, Andy H, Michael B, Bill P, Nick B.

Howard Barker and Nick Back are to be congratulated for organising this delightful event on the Parramatta River at the 'Watergrill Restaurant' of the club they both belong to which is next to the wharf with regular ferry services to city and beyond.  No speeches, individual orders food and drink, convivial atmosphere in lovely venue overlooking the water on all sides.  John North and Les Schmalzbach called in with late cancellations but best wishes for the 14 of us attending.  

Surprising to me there was no discussion of the current controversies at Cranbrook.  One year member with a son still at the school said it was just 'business as usual'.  Most of us are now retired, others with reduced work hours as we pass 70 years of age.  Unfortunately a few had tales of health issues, mostly on the mend (myself included) but these were limited by John North's aphorism that an organ recital should not last more than two minutes.  So family, travel, hobbies and other pursuits were the prevalent topics.   

We look forward to more such gatherings and next time I will take the ferry!  AB .. 

Verne B, Warwick S, Bruce R, Greg D. 

Tom W, Bill P, Andy H and Andy B. 

Mark D, Howard B and Michael B. 

STOP PRESS!  A LOVELY MESSAGE CAME FROM ROD BENSON, SEE NEXT POSTING. 

Message from Rod Benson ...

Andrew

 

Finally got around to replying. Not a great fan of internet chit chat.

Quick summary

Went to Uni in Armidale for accounting degree and diploma (took year off labouring in Gove decided office job for me).

Worked for Binder Hamlyn accountants for 2 or 3 years then as accountant for a number of different companies in Sydney. Did get an offer to be an accountant for a very Italian family in a very Italian business once.

Move to Scone to be Financial Accountant for the Council, then the Mines and then Bursar for the Grammar School. (Chris Bullock was headmaster until just before I started but taught my kids)

Move to Newcastle did a few different accounting jobs and now retired. 

Have five kids and eight grandkids (by October). Two boys one in Dublin fiddling the stock markets and the other in Sydney fiddling with Sydney trains. Two of the girls in Newcastle in Finance and one in Canberra in Insurance.

Going to Dublin next week to see six month old grand child and probably to Spain for 3 weeks.

That’s it in a nutshell

 

Notice a lot of Street House representatives this weeks lunch wish them well

 

Rod

 

Informal reunion dinner 21 Feb 2024 at Big Mama's Trattoria.

Legend on request
 

Dear Cranbrook Colleagues,

I am pleased to report that 14 Old Boys plus Alice Ilich and husband David Slessar attended Big Mama’s Trattoria last Wednesday as arranged by Matt Sawyer and team. 

After sending 73 invitations I received responses from 40. Happily these included ‘reclusives’ Mark Piddington and Russell Head, neither keen on socialising but each sending their best regards to all for a pleasant evening.  I had good talks with Graeme Wise and David Gilray, neither able to make the evening.  Several others were unable to make the date but were keen to hear more about a second function which is being organised by Nick Back in the inner west, possibly a mid-week lunch.  These included Byron Deverich, Victor Voets, Sam Yates, Tom Wykoff, John Sze-Tu, Cyril (Ot) Ratsaphong, Peter Richardson and Alan Pearlman. 

Sixteen was a perfect number for pre-dinner chats and hors d’oeuvre last Wednesday.  Food and wine were copious and pleasant with a great spirit in the room.  Present were:

Back, Nicholas

Baistow, Verne

Barker, Howard

Body, Michael

Bottomley, Andrew

Byrne, Andrew

Darling, Mark   

Deacon, Gregory

Howie, Andrew

North, John

Parsons, Andrew

Prichard, Bill

Sawyer, Matt   

Schmalzbach, Les

We know that such functions are not for everyone and not for any time but I would encourage others to consider coming along just once more to connect with old mates as we age, decay, forget and mature before the inevitable.  More info will be on the blog above in due course. 

Best wishes,

Andrew Byrne ..

50 year (+1) reunion dinner 8th October great success in new building.

CRANBROOK YEAR OF 1971 HSC ‘LEAVERS’.

50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY DINNER SAT 8^TH October. 

 

My convenor’s address: Welcome to our delayed 50 year reunion dinner.  Well, this is some milestone!  Just 51 years ago we were on ‘stuvac’ for the HSC.  I missed speech day having flown out to London after the last exam.  A classmate wrote to me in UK that there was constant rain and a transport strike. Is it ever thus? 

First some formalities:

In memoriam:

Robert Walsh	died 1961
Richard Grimm	died 4/72
Michael Stacy	died 2/3/88 Cairns
Guy Norman	died 18/7/91
Tim Spong	died 15/12/03
Julian Clark	died 11/06
Victor Malouf	died 09/08
Ian Douglass	died 26/5/10
Warwick Gregory	died ?2010
Bill (Taylor) Yule	died 2012
Peter Louis (Lewis)	died 1/6/13 age 60
Peter van Wensveen	died 16/12/16

Andrew Byrne's memories of muck-up days: Cranbrook reunion Cafe Bondi: Cranbrook muck-up days.

Stuart, Pritchard, Wild, Bottomley, North, Darling, Hilton, Sze-Tu, Palmer, Pearlman, Wise, Smith, Byrne, Back.  

 

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 40^th 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

Barker, Deacon, Robson

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.  

Other links:

Andrew Byrne's memories of muck-up days: Cranbrook reunion Cafe Bondi: Cranbrook muck-up days.

 Cranbrook circa 1970 (cranbrook1970.blogspot.com)

 Cranbrook School 40 year reunion (cranbrook40.blogspot.com)

 Cranbrook reunion Cafe Bondi

 Cranbrook reunion Cafe Bondi: Cranbrook muck-up days.

Cranbrook 1971 alumni news and views .. plus dinner photos (cranbrook71.blogspot.com)