Scotch College

OSCA President's report

Andrew Wallace-Smith OSCA President

The Old Scotch Collegians’ Association held its planning workshop in November, from which we have formulated and set our priorities for this year.

Our long-term vision that ‘OSCA will be valued for the contribution that it makes to Old Boys and their families, to the School and to the community’, and the long-held objectives of the Association, were utmost in our minds.

The Association must remain relevant and vibrant, and to this end we have set a list of priorities for the coming year, some of which are:

• to attract 7,500 registered OSCAnet users
• to identify Year group Leaders
• to introduce the Old Scotch Heritage Club
• to introduce business cocktails
• to grow the OSCA corpus through pavers, sponsorship and other initiatives, and
• to continue to develop links between OSCA and the School.

The executive committee comprises Andrew Wallace-Smith (’72) (President), Alex Sloan (’71) (Vice-President), Richard Beveridge (’62) (Vice-President and pavers/marketing), David Tyrell (’79) (Treasurer), Andrew Logie-Smith (’72) (Process and Governance) and Tim Shearer (’85) (Executive Director).

The general committee includes John Jeffreys (’69) (events), Peter Sim (’72) (OSCAnet/Great Scot/database), Duguld McWilliams (’90) (branches/services), Peter England (’70) (Annual Giving), Cameron Malingbrough (‘82) (sponsorship), Bob Welch (’66) (immediate past president and archives), Jeremy Chen (’99) (Asian interests/YOBs), Ed Tudor (’04) (YOBS) and Ben Mielke (’05) (YOBs).

This year’s Annual Dinner will be held at Leonda on Friday 26 May. I’m pleased to announce that the Federal Treasurer, the Hon. Peter Costello, MP, has accepted our invitation to be guest speaker. Please make sure your bookings are made early to avoid disappointment, as this is sure to be a popular evening as always.

The Old Scotch Collegians’ Association was proud to host the Remembrance Day veterans’ luncheon on 11 November. The lunch attracted a large turnout of Vietnam and World War II veterans, with Hugh Melville (’42) making the toast to the School and Jim Mitchell (’63), the School archivist, responding. Through a roving microphone, veterans had an opportunity to reflect on their war service as other diners listened.

At the president’s dinner following the OSCA annual general meeting, two portraits painted by Old Boy Andrew Forsythe (’84) were unveiled. Former School Bursar Neil Roberts seemed delighted with his portrait, which is now hanging in the Randall building. Nell Eggleston unveiled a new portrait of her late husband and former Vice-Principal, Mick. The portrait now hangs in the Memorial Hall.

The OSCA council recently introduced the OSCA merit awards. We believe there are many representatives from our branches, clubs or Year group leaders who have given outstanding service over a considerable time for the betterment of their Old Scotch group, or for OSCA as a whole. There is a formal nomination process, and a sub-committee will review all applications and take their recommendations to the OSCA council for approval. A nomination form will be included in the next edition of Great Scot.

Our successful mentoring program will continue in 2006. Many Old Boys have been assisted in areas such as career changes, advice on university courses, interview processes, and skills needed for different professions. If you require information on mentoring, please contact the OSCA Executive Director, Tim Shearer.

More than 6,000 Old Boys and members of the Scotch Family belong to one of the 16 Old Scotch clubs. OSCA is proud to be able to support these clubs on a needs basis with monetary and office support. Look out for the new Heritage Club which will be formed later this year.

During the next few months I look forward to meeting many Old Boys and members of the Scotch Family at the numerous branch dinners and functions which OSCA hosts.

Andrew Wallace
Smith President

ScotchArts ’06

This year Scotch College is launching a new arts program called ScotchArts. The aim of the program is to bring artists into the School, to invite artists already associated with Scotch to present concerts to the School and the broader community, and to work with students and music staff.

ScotchArts 2006 season

The Flinders String Quartet – 20 April at 8 pm

The Concordis/Pro-Musica Choral Concert – 27 May at 8 pm

La Compañia – specialist Early Music Group – 15 October at 3 pm

Jack Glatzer – violinist – Thursday 2 November at 8 pm

Subscription price: $112 for all four concerts (save $16 off the individual concert price of $32 – includes supper).

Students: $50 for all four concerts, or $15 per concert.

Tickets available from the music school office on 9810 4219 or online at www.scotch.vic.edu.au

More information is included in the enclosed ScotchArts pamphlet.