Presented to the 90th Annual General Meeting (held at the School on 7 March 1988) by S. T. (Stuart) Bale (55), President. This was the 2nd Annual Report as an Incorporated body.
I place on record my commendation of the efforts of Council, especially my predecessor Mr. Graham Holmes, who oversaw the transition of your Association to an incorporated body. The finances of our Association are probably the healthiest in its history, in no small measure due to the meticulous attention to detail of our Treasurer, Neil Summerson. A feature of the year has been keeping members abreast of School-community happenings through informative newsletters (now including the Semester Calendar) — a vital lifeline between the School and members. Your Association manned a booth on School Open Day; enquiries from Old Boys, recent and not so recent, showed interest in the Association to be at an all-time high.
The Association continues to administer the R. H. Roe and J. G. Nowlan Bursaries (awarded on Foundation Day) and the Graham Flint Memorial Prize (given on Speech Night), with a continuing commitment to enriching each trust so the awards keep ahead of inflation. As President I attended the 119th School Foundation Day Assembly to present the Reginald Heber Roe Scholarship to Philip Richardson (School Captain in 1987, now studying Medicine at UQ) and the J. G. Nowlan Bursary to Craig Perkins.
The Association wholeheartedly supported the Rugby fraternity and Parents and Friends in celebrating the Rugby Centenary at the Hilton (some 500 attended), featuring addresses by Alan Jones (the Australian Rugby Coach and a former Grammar Sportsmaster) and Nathan Thynne (the 1987 Grammar Rugby Captain). The Annual Dinner, a more low-key affair after the 1986 Grammar 500, was held at the Brisbane Club; the guest speaker was Dr. Russell Cowie. This year has also seen the regeneration of the Grammar Old Boys' Rowing Club (catering to rowers of all ages and ability), and a heartening approach by Old Boys resident north of Mackay — headed by John Finter of Townsville — to form a regional fraternity, already planning Bicentennial functions with kindred associations.
My sincere thanks to all members for their loyal support this year. I look forward to our ninety-first year with renewed confidence for the future.
Stuart Bale, President
At the Foundation Day Assembly (the Headmaster's address took as its theme Thomas Harlin and the Radford reforms):
The 1988 Old Boys' Section carries the usual Births, Marriages and Deaths registers;
They are not reproduced in this transcript.
In this era, an Old Boy's year designation was the year he entered Grammar; the convention today is the year he finished. A boy who started in 1993 and finished in 1997 was (93) but is now '97.
Brisbane Grammar School Old Boys' Association · Old Boys History. Part of the OBA Knowledge Project.
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