Acting Principal's Message
Roll of Honour
The following is an extract of the address made last week, to the Old Collegians who attended the Annual Dinner-Roll of Honour Dinner.
Attendees included former students, among whom were some who had been students at the College during the 1940s. These Old Collegians spoke fondly of their time they spent at St Bede’s College and of the “Beda Spirit”.
Good evening Ladies, Gentlemen & Old Collegians,
My name is Enzo Di Toro and I am currently Acting Principal while Br Garry Coyte the College Principal for the past nine years takes a well deserved break. Br Garry is currently in Europe.
It is a great honour for me to welcome you to this evening the 2015 Annual Dinner and Roll of Honour. This evening we will be acknowledging the special contributions made to St Bede’s College by former staff, parents and Principals of the College. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge each of our special guests.
1. Br Colman Molloy (RIP)
2. Br Ken Ormerod
3. Mr David Bristow
4. Mr Tom Perfect
5. Mr Peter Wintle &
6. Mr Allan Drummond
Also I welcome to this evening all of the St Bede’s Old Collegians and their partners. It is wonderful to see so many people here for this occasion. As you are aware our College has changed in many ways during the past 8 decades. In 1938 St Bede’s College opened its doors with an enrolment of some 60 students mainly boarders and six teaching staff all of whom were Brothers plus the school nurse Sister Dickson.
Today St Bede’s College has a student enrolment of 1520. Brothers on staff are: Brother Garry, Br Myke & Br Jack. In 2015, when I send an email to all staff, there are now 208 recipients. In the College we have every student and teaching staff member with their own ICT device being either an iPad or a laptop and in total this equates to 2000 ICT devices. We have electronic smart boards in nearly every one of the College’s 90 or so classrooms. We also have a 420 seat Auditorium, 200 seat Lecture Theatre a Sports Stadium that comfortably seats 1700 people.
There are some things however that have not changed over the past eight decades.
This ‘Beda’ Spirit is shown in a very special way each year as staff and students work together to raise funds for their brothers and sisters in countries like India and Thailand. For example over the past several years our Beda Boys have built an orphanage, classrooms and a medical centre for one of our Brother schools at the border of Burma & Thailand. This year the boys who go in June & September will build a new canteen/multi - purpose centre at the Bamboo School which was established and currently staffed largely by Brothers. The school caters for not only the local children of poor farm workers but also orphans from both Burma and Thailand.
Also for the past number of years groups of Year 12 boys and staff have gone and worked with the poor in southern India. Last year they built 4 houses for farm workers who would earn somewhere between $2-3 per day and who, under normal circumstances, would live in no more than thatched huts.
Where does the money come from?
From our boys showing their Beda Spirit – Last year they raised over $88,000 for their less fortunate brothers and sisters.
Care, concern, compassion and the desire to be the best that one can be – these qualities have not changed over the past nearly 80 years. These are the very real atributes of all Beda boys which contribute to the “Beda Spirit”.
We can rightly be proud of our boys and confident that they want to contribute to making a positive difference to other members of the Lasallian family.
Acting Principal – Mr Enzo Di Toro
Please see attached video: