The SVC Investment 

Club! 

Christopher McDermott (SVC 1965-70) contacted the Archivist recently with an interesting, albeit unusual request! 

In 1970, we were studying Economics in Year 12 (or perhaps year 11), under Peter Haslock who suggested we establish an investment club.

There were  18 students who agreed to join, pay a contribution over several months and invest in shares.  Individual contributions ranged from $16 to $31 giving us a total of $565 to spend.  Peter Dawson was the Chairman and Ted Cichon was the Treasurer.  We had a few meetings during the year and invested in various companies, some of which were successful and some of which, unfortunately, weren’t.

I was the Secretary of the club.  We were not a formal entity and my name and home address was used for the share purchases. That was 50 years ago this year.  In fact the first meeting of the club took place on 1 May 1970. At the end of that year we all went our separate ways and the club was never dissolved or finalised.

Well, members will be pleased to know that the money we all contributed is still sitting in shares – now in my name!  Over the years I just kept receiving the notifications, agreeing to proposals for take-overs, noting failures, etc.  I have always felt a bit guilty that I have never informed all of you what happened to our money over the years.

However, don’t get too excited about how much our investment is now worth.  The total value of the shares, after 50 years, is around only a few thousand dollars in total.  The recent drop in the stock market hasn’t helped!

Given the anniversary, I would like to 'wind up' the St Virgil's Investment Club and distribute the funds – either to individual members or perhaps a donation to the College or a combination of both.

In the first instance, I am trying to contact everyone involved.

I have sent everyone a letter to the address I have in my pile of club documents – which I think dates from a bit later than 1970, in many cases your home address at that time.  

If you were part of the club it would be greatly appreciated if you can email me so I can contact you to determine your preference. Please email - cdmcd01@gmail.com

I am still working full time and so tackling this on a very part-time basis. 

I am looking forward to hearing from you all.

Cheers

Christopher McDermott