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This will be a relatively short final message for the year. We hope that you all enjoy a great Christmas and that 2018 is a good year for you all. It would be fantastic if we could see a large number of you in Tauranga at Labour Weekend, when we will be celebrating 60 Years of Tauranga Boys’ College –that will be October 19th to 22nd. Get around your mates, put the dates in your diaries and look out for further information early in the New Year.

 
Events
 
Old Boys Cricket
We have decided to hold this year's T20 cricket back at TBC as a result of clashes with other events at Matapihi. The date is Sunday, January 28th with our usual T20 format and 10.30 a.m. start. BBQ lunch will be provided. The selection of this date is so that out of towners will be able to include the BlackCaps/Pakistan T20 in their visit. This game begins at 7 p.m. at the superb Bay Oval, which has just had the best lights in Australasia installed. It should be a great weekend.
 
Staffing
 
TBC farewelled 16 staff at the end of the year with several of those leaving having given the school considerable length of service. Amongst those departing were Doug Baker, Old Boy Aramahou Ririnui, Phil Braithwaite, Graeme Newlands and Old Boy Barry Parkinson.
 
Tauranga has 4 new Principals at the start of 2018 with Otumoetai, Aquinas, Mount & TGC all making appointments in recent weeks. Two have significant TBC connections with former staff member Russell Gordon moving from being Principal at the Mount to Otumoetai College, while former TBC student and present Deputy at the Mount Alastair Sinton moves up to become the new Principal.
 
TBC Academic
 
Robotics
TBC has had a team involved in this activity for the first time in 2017 and they took on 78 other teams from Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, China and New Zealand at the Asia-Pacific Robotics Championships. The team of Braden Smith, Cesar Vargas-Tuerlings, William Bruning and Joshua Badshah placed 20thoverall and got the Judges award for sportsmanship, attitude and team spirit.
 
Maths Competitions
Junior students have recently had their results from maths competitions that they had completed.
In the Australian Mathematics Competition Logan Green, Ryan Hastie, Donghyun Lee, Cohen Radich and Jacob Yoon gained Distinction or better.
In the Otago University Maths Competition Benjamin Adams, Lucas Cowley, Kyle Duck, Donghyun Lee, Soobin Yang and Jacob Yoon were all placed in the top 100 competitors.

Here is the latest news about what has been happening around TBC and with our Old Boys around the world.

Old Boys Events

2017 Dinner

The dinner for 2017 has been set for Friday, September 22nd – further details to follow but get the date cleared! We have 1979 Head Prefect and Rhodes Scholar Rod Gover (1975-9) lined up as our Old Boy of the Year. Since completing his University work Rod has continued a distinguished career in academia as Professor of Mathematics at Auckland University. Guest Speaker is Shayne Currie (1984-88) who is currently Editor of the award winning New Zealand Herald. It would be superb to have a good turn out again, with those from the years around our special guests particularly welcome ….. Get a table of 10 organised now.

Sports Day

The same day as the dinner (Friday, September 22nd) the Old Boys are to test their skills against todays sportsmen in Rugby, Football & Hockey. For the Rugby boys this match will be a good shake down before they head off on their tour. Matches will start about 3 p.m. so dust off those boots & start your weekend early !!!

Garth Ian Napier Sim
14/11/1914 - 27/05/2017
 
He lived through two World Wars, the 1918 'flu epidemic and the Great Depression before inspiring a generation of Tauranga schoolboys.
Tributes continue to flow after the remarkable life of Garth Sim ended over the weekend, well on the way to his 103rd birthday.
Former staff and students at Tauranga Boys' College (TBC), where he was headmaster from 1959-1966, have called him one of the most innovative, respected, visionary educators the city has seen.
Family and friends recall a dignified, sagacious man who had a great sense of fair play. A lover of sports, gin, firm handshakes and cryptic crosswords, he had an expansive network of 'old boys'; former students who were welcomed into the Sim home for half a century.
As he eased off to sleep for the final time on Saturday, wife Nen was - as always in the last 77 years - by his side, about to celebrate her own 97th birthday. Earlier in the day, they had shared lunch with three daughters and Garth, appetite intact until the end, managed three courses.
It was his appetite for education, however, that propelled him to Tauranga, from his beloved Otago.
Born in 1914 on a Waikaka sheep-run in West Otago, he spent his formative years in Balclutha and Heriot, in the days when a bloke lit gas streetlights from the back of a pony each evening.

The days are rapidly drawing in and the winter sports season is now we ll and truly under way. Most of the details below relate to the summer sports round ups the highlight of which was probably the effort of our 1st XI cricketers qualifying for the Gillette Cup (top 6 ) competition to be played in December.
 
On the Old Boys front we have been able to offer financial assistance to a growing number of boys in need in recent months as we gradually  build our financial resources. This support has been to individuals and groups within the College where we can help with academic programmes, participation in the Arts and Sports.
 
It was good to see a number of Old Boys along to celebrate the opening of the new surface on our Hockey Turf earlier in the month.  A good number of them still showing some useful skills particularly former Black Stick Steve Graham who gave a Master class in goal keeping to the boys he is coaching.
 
Auckland Function
As we have done in the past this event has been linked to an inter-school fixture and is scheduled for Wednesday, May 31st. We have the Bluestone Room on Durham Lane booked again from 5.30 p.m.  and look forward to seeing as many of you along as possible for a Drink and some finger food on your Association. This year it is the Westlake BHS exchange which will occur the next day on June 1st and again support out on the Shore for our Rugby , Hockey, Football and Basketball teams would be appreciated. I will forward fixture times to those keen to get along.
 
School Production
When TBC produces the annual show with TGC we have an Old Boys night with pre-show drinks & nibbles in the Staff room before going across to the Graham Young Youth Theatre to enjoy the show. The show this year is Pet er Pan and our Old Boys night is set down for Friday, June 30th so put that date in your diary now. More details will follow later.

We are now 8 weeks into the 2017 academic year and the school is bigger than ever with 1,933 students on the roll.
 

Staff News

 
As usual there are a number of new staff and in 2017 we welcome back two Old Boys. Nathan Fry (1998-2002), who began his teaching at TBC, returns from Rotorua BHS to take up the position of Head of the English Department. Yeh Lee (2004-2008) began his teaching at Buller HS but returns to his old school in the Mathematics Department.
Old Boy Paul Skinner has passed on the sad news of the passing of Gunter Warner who taught languages at the school in the 1960s. Gunter was a German Jew who, after seeing Jack Lovelock win gold in Berlin in 1936, could not persuade his parents to leave with him before war broke out. They perished along with millions of others.
He came to New Zealand and became a teacher and after teaching at TBC had a long career at Auckland GS. He was active in the PPTA and Paul describes him as a highly principled and demanding teacher. Son Mark attended TBC briefly and has had an exceptional career as Professor of Physics at Cambridge University.
 

Old Boys Events

 
Cricket Match
An enthusiastic group of Old Boys enjoyed the magnificent Matapihi surroundings in a 25 over match on Sunday, January 15th. It was good to see so me new faces turn out and as always Max Heimann did a great job on the BBQ.
 
Old Boys Dinner
Details will follow as the year progresses but so we can get as many a long to this annual event as possible the date for this event has been set early. It will be held on Friday 22nd of September. Details on the Old Boys' Sports Day will follow later.
 

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