Scotch College

President's report

This year we have a strong Council made up of 14 committed Old Boys to provide an efficient group of services to our Scotch College Alumni.

The Executive Committee is made up of Bob Welch (’66) (President), Andrew Wallace-Smith (’71) (Vice-President – Clubs), Alex Sloan (’71) (Vice-President – Sponsorships), Andrew Logie-Smith (’72) (Process & Governance), David Tyrell (’79) (Finance), Tim Shearer (’85) (Executive Director). This group reviews our current activities and sets the agenda for the future. Our General Committee includes Richard Beveridge (’62) (Marketing), John Jeffreys (’69) (Events), John Craven (’69) (Immediate Past President – Archives) Dugald McWilliams (’90) (Service & Branches), and we would also like to welcome Peter England (’70) (Annual Giving), Peter Sim (’72) (OSCAnet), Simon Hosking (’97) (Clubs, Finance), Jeremy Chen (’99) (Asian Interests, YOBs), Ed Tudor (’04) (YOBs) .

The theme we have chosen this year is ‘Lasting Friendships’, which sums up one of the key objectives of OSCA. Our life friendships have to be continually worked upon so that they will endure with time and at OSCA we are committed to the important friendships made at School and the endurance of those friendships throughout life.

We are very pleased this year to have the Governor of Victoria, John Landy, AC, MBE, as our guest speaker at this year’s Annual Dinner. We believe that he epitomises our theme of Lasting Friendships and we look forward to hearing from him at our dinner on Friday, May 27. Mr Jim Freemantle (’60), a business leader and a passionate Old Scotch Collegian, will introduce the Governor. The last Governor of Victoria to speak at our dinner was Sir Henry Winneke in 1974.

We would like to congratulate and thank all the Presidents and Committees of our 15 clubs. Through a lot of hard work all the clubs are continuing to be relevant and are growing with continued strength. The OSCA Club’s Committee have again this year made sponsorship allocations to the clubs for some specific projects that were presented to them through detailed proposals. We would also like to welcome two new clubs to our OSCA organisation – the Old Scotch Music Club led by Ed Tudor and the reorganised Old Scotch Soccer Club (an enthusiastic team led by Tim Ward) which takes the field this year in the State Provisional League.

Our main thrust in our Annual Giving this year is to build an Archive Fund so that firstly we can secure the School’s archives, secondly organise, catalogue and store our archives in an orderly system, and thirdly formulate a plan to house our archives in the long term. The importance that our archives be a well run operation cannot be emphasised enough and we are now in the throes of creating a new club called the Heritage Club under the leadership of Peter Hawthorne (’54) whereby volunteers will be called upon to work on a casual roster-type basis in the School archives department. The history and thereby the heritage of the school is what sets us apart from many other schools and it is of the utmost importance that the preservation of its history is a continual high priority. (Our history also runs in line with the history of the State of Victoria.) Please give generously to this worthwhile project, which affects us all.

Alex Sloan again has worked hard with our sponsors (Jellis Craig Real Estate, Logie-Smith Lanyon, and Peregrine Travel). We sincerely thank them for their support and we look forward to working with them again this year.

We would also like to thank the Presidents and Committees of our Branch Network which includes 31 Branches both in Australia and overseas. We would like to thank Scott Hoddinot (Sydney Branch) for the running of this branch for the past few years; he hands over to Fergus Kiel who will run the Sydney Dinner in August. Ian Manson has handed over the Sale Branch to his son Andrew Manson. Geoff Kidd at the Mornington Branch has done a very professional job and he is handing over to Tony Connabere.

We would also like to congratulate the school on the opening of the James Forbes Academy this year in February. Scotch now has a State of the Art complex for Drama and Music and the many associated production functions. It was a sad day when Campbell McComas, a champion Old Scotch Collegian who gave so much, passed away just prior to the opening of the centre, but he knew that his dreams for Performing Arts education at Scotch would be fulfilled.

BOB WELCH
President

---

OSCA Mentoring Program

Mentoring is an important part of our Care Program which is directed by Ross Johnston (’62) and Rick Aitchison who are experts in this field. The structure is set up whereby we have a bank of general mentors and behind them we have specific mentors in differing industries and professions who are willing to communicate and help Old Scotch Collegians with advice on career paths etc.

Advice in such areas as university courses, skills needed for different professions, how to apply for different positions, changing courses undertaken, clarity in long-term career direction, options in the job market, advice on good and bad career moves, interview process, targeting jobs and companies, and how to sell yourself are but a few areas covered.

Our mentoring program has had many Old Scotch Collegians through it and has been very successful in achieving the applicant’s goals. This program is professionally run and should be taken seriously. If you have an enquiry please contact our Executive Director, Tim Shearer, who will start the process for you.