Gaudy Day 2017
On the 24th of June St John’s College hosted the annual Gaudy Day celebrations for Old Johannians.
The Gaudy Day weekend continues to be a major event for Old Johannians, young and old.
The OJA hosted the Morison Abel Golf Day and OJ dinner on Friday the 23rd. OJs then joined the Gaudy Day celebrations on Saturday the 24th.
After a successful OJ dinner the night before, the Saturday morning events commenced with the morning mass in the school chapel.
There the school and OJs celebrated the great achievements of Prof. Warwick John Peacock (Nash 1958) for his contribution to medicine and surgery in particular.
The program for the day was filled with numerous sporting activities. The following sports were played against the Prep and College teams: rugby, soccer, hockey, water polo, squash, tennis, basketball and chess. This year water polo was added as a new fixture to the program, with OJs playing the SJC 1st team and it was a great success.
The school’s historic and development tour has definitely been one of the most popular events on the program. It was a great way for OJs to be taken on a guided tour of the school and to see first-hand how the school has changed since they last attended St John’s. It was also a great way for OJs to share the experiences of their school career with their loved ones.
The highlight of the day once again was the much anticipated annual fixture of the Old Johannian rugby team vs the Old Edwardians rugby team. With past results not being in the Old Johannians favour, they really needed a win this year.
Sadly the Old Johannian team lost by a big margin to the Old Edwardians (results: 55-7). Regardless of the loss, it was a great game, played in the spirit of the game, and cemented the long tradition between the two schools.
The day ended off with the Gaudy Day lunch, which had a great turn out and was booked out way in advance. It was definitely a fitting way to end off the weekend and we hope to see many more OJs at this annual event each year.
We would like to thank all the old boys who turned out in their numbers for doing so. We look forward to seeing this event grow in popularity each year. The OJA would also like to thank the old boys that partook in the events during the day. We appreciate it and hope to have you participate again next year.
We would like to thank the following people for their assistance in organising the OJ teams:
Soccer: Dave Patricios
Tennis: Ed Ward
Squash: Paul Barrow
Basketball: Angelo Quinn
Water polo: Andrew Egbers / Karl Nimmo
Chess: Anthony Wilson-Prangley
Rugby: *Gareth Heidt
Hockey: *Gareth Heidt
We would also like to say a special thank you to Sandra Lou for all her help in making this day possible.
We look forward to seeing many more OJs at next year’s Gaudy Day celebrations.
Gareth Heidt (Alston 2008)
(OJA committee member)