From the President

Dear Old Virgilians

The OVA held a successful annual dinner earlier this month that saw the inducting of three exceptionally worthy members to the Old Virgilians Honour Roll. It was a pleasure to see them and their families. Whilst numbers were down on our normal attendances there was plenty of spirit and enthusiasm amongst those present. I must commend both Graeme Rainbow and Bruce Woods who both put many hours into the preparation for the dinner and provided some unique historical footage and photos of the inductees through their College years and beyond into the community.

I would like all Old Virgilians to find their best way of engaging with your committee and other Old Virgilians so that we can deliver to our members what they expect as members.  There is plenty of enthusiasm amongst the OVA and our challenge is to increase engagement and participation.

We will be undertaking a number of actions in the next six months to build some momentum and engagement with members. Your committee can only be encouraged to do so when it receives reciprocal engagement. With the return to Year 12 at the College this is a clear opportunity to demonstrate the OVA Army’s participation in the College community as the largest stakeholder.

I would appreciate responses from the communications you will soon receive from the committee or at least acknowledgement of receipt of our communication.

On Wednesday 23 October, the 2024 SVC Year 12 graduands – the first in thirty years – celebrated a Graduation Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. A number of the OVA committee were able to be present at this historic event. 

The next major event will be the College’s Speech night to be held at MyState Arena on Wednesday 4 December starting at 7.00 pm. Of special significance will be the guest speaker on this occasion.  Shane Cracknell – the Head Prefect in 1994 – has offered to be present to mark the return of St Virgil’s to the HSC level. Upon request, Shane has provided his ‘bio’ and it is included later in the newsletter. 

Congratulations to those responsible for the 1974 peer group reunion. It appears to have been an outstanding success. A full report is included later in the newsletter.

For those of the golfing persuasion, Michael Harvey has again generously offered his time to organise this annual event. This will once again be a popular event so teams will need to be finalised shortly.

Just a reminder that due to a lack of firm numbers, the proposed Melbourne event has had to be delayed until the first half of next year.

There will be more communication from your committee before the close of the calendar year and I will look forward to engaging with as many members as possible between now and then.