2019 Reunion Video, and...

The STHS 50th Year Reunion video is now available for viewing on YouTube at:

https://youtu.be/W6kTr5GfLMU

School Captain Jonathan Page has included a special message for us all.

Don't forget to click the Full Screen icon and enjoy the entertainment in Cinemascope.

Note: if you lose this YouTube address, you won’t find the video again by searching. The video is unlisted due to the melody of our School Song now being owned by Sony, who claimed a copyright violation on the soundtrack of the 2014 Reunion video.

You’ll always find a link to the 2019 video on this page of our website:

http://www.users.on.net/~sdgard/STHS/PhotoAlbums/2019Reunion.html

But wait, there’s more.

The STHS 1969 Website has been tweaked, polished, amended and sensitively renovated in accordance with heritage guidelines issued by responsible authorities.

http://www.users.on.net/~sdgard/STHS/sthsindex.html

Videos and slide-shows have been restored. Their original hosting site changed its free-storage policy. 

Most of that material has now been uploaded to YouTube, which at present charges no fee...

The principal change is in the Address Book. These pages now include only:

a. Those who attended the recent reunion;

OR

b. Those who sent an apology;

OR

c. Those who have been keeping their contact details up date.

Others have been removed for the sake of accuracy but will be replaced if we hear from them.

Some pages which were rarely visited except by Russian porn sites have been deleted. The images there are all available in the STHS Journals:

http://www.users.on.net/~sdgard/STHS/Nostalgia/STHSjournals.html

Another Note: if the website pages don’t seem to have updated, super-refresh your browser, i.e. hold down the shift key while you click the refresh icon. This forces your web browser to reload the page from the internet server, not from your browser’s cache.

The Boys of '72

This just in from Garry Jennings:

I've heard glowing reviews of the recent Class of 69 reunion from reunion junkie Mark Johnston.

Class of 72 had a more sedate lunch gathering on 16 November. Sadly we were there in part to toast the passing away in recent months of three of our cohort: Alan Lambert, Peter Kite and Jim Burnett.

The attached photo, had it been published in the 1971 School Journal, would have been captioned 'Academic Group'. No blazers available for this photo opp. From left to right: 

Glenn Leembruggen, Bryan Payne, Richard Urquhart, Colin Jamieson, Stephen Frost

STHS School Sony

Gard recently uploaded his STHS Class of 1969 2014 Reunion video to YouTube.

You can see it here:

http://www.users.on.net/~sdgard/STHS/PhotoAlbums/2014Reunion.html

Shortly after this, the video received a copyright claim notice. About the music.
Gard did not steal the music. It was all created by himself, variations on the theme of 'Men of Harlech', an ancient march tune dating from at least 1408, which we know as our school song. 'Men of Harlech' has been in the public domain for centuries.

The digital analysis software used by YouTube to detect copyright violations is efficient. Upload a video of your daughter's wedding with 'Going to the Chapel of Love' by the Dixie Cups on the soundtrack, and you'll receive a copyright violation notice, literally in minutes.

Gard's music was oblique, he being a modern composer and all, but YouTube's software was able to detect the 'Men of Harlech' melody amid the harmonic undergrowth, and he received a copyright violation notice. It seems Sony now owns 'Men of Harlech'.

Gard does not have to delete the video, but he is not permitted to 'monetize' (horrid word) it.

The problems this must create...

Does STHS now have to pay a fee each time they sing the school song at assemblies? Or only at public performances like Speech Nights? Or have they obtained a licence for it to be sung only in school hours, but not on weekends or public holidays? And never by paid performers? Is the school band allowed to play it? What about recording The School Song for the K-Tel Album 'Golden Oldies of Tech, Latin Style?'

Tom Jones - Verses

After the 45th reunion, I penned the following verse. I forget whether I had already shared it with you.

School Competition

A chance to read a poem of my own 

to all my schoolmates gathered! Would they sneer

or think me stupid, as I used to fear?

Perhaps this honour could somehow atone

for lunchtimes spent unfriended and alone.

I edged towards the microphone with hope

of putting right the doubts and shame of years

in high school, feeling lesser than my peers;

while never knowing whether I could cope

with clawing up achievement’s awesome slope.

But faces looking back would never more

be schoolboys. They were greying, wrinkled men-

reunion revellers recalling when

they’d started high school fifty years before

and since had lived the lives they’d studied for.

The pressure that we’d all once felt to thrive

as sporting stars or scholars was now gone.

We’d come tonight to reminisce, along

with seeing which of us was still alive.

The competition now? Just to survive.

Best Wishes,

Tom Jones

Vale Tony Leto

This just in from Derek Lewis:

I think one of us has left….there was a notice in the SMH a couple of weeks ago regarding Tony Leto that he had passed away….not sure if you know…I had lost contact after school (as Alan Owen, said to me at one of our reunions, “we all travel in different circles”)….anyway I thought I should let you wonderful people know…Derek

Il Globo Story (Italian)

School Days Exhibition, Hurstville.

This will be on show from 19 July...

https://www.theleader.com.au/story/6253389/remember-the-days-of-the-old-school-yard/

Stephen's oral history interview:

https://georgesriverlocalstudies.home.blog/oral-history/general-collection/memories-from-sydney-technical-high-school-in-the-1960s-2/

Life After Duxhood

Garry Jennings noted:

'Lewis and Roslyn Patrick were oblivious of the fact they had met World Cup winner Paul Pogba until they sent a picture to their son Nathan, who retold the tale on Twitter.'

Garry tells us: 'Lewis Patrick was the dux of our year in 1972. He eventually became the Director of USyd's College of Law at St Leonards.'

And then Lewis went viral...

https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/football/aussies-hilarious-run-in-with-dollar167m-megastar/ar-BBSyBeG?li=AAgg0Zv

Poison Bertie

This just in from Gary Jennings:

I've had an earworm buzzing around for 50 years and then I thought, Stephen Gard may be the Jedi Knight who can help me.

On the way to House sport at Scarborough Park in 1968 in those blue and red buses that also took us along Forest Road into Hurstville at 3.05 pm, we used to sing a song dedicated to Ray 'Bertie' Oldfield from the Science department. It was sung to the tune of 'Poison Ivy' which Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs were belting out around then.

I need a fact check on the appropriated lyrics because I plan to sing the tune a capella to my writing group one day soon. I don't hold much fear that the estate of Billy Thorpe will come after me for royalties.

Anyway, this is how I think it goes..

Everybody kno-ws

(CLAP CLAP-CLAP CLAP-CLAP

That Bertie picks his nose

CLAP CLAP-CLAP CLAP-CLAP

He rolls it in the Graaa-ss

CLAP CLAP-CLAP CLAP-CLAP

And then he sticks it UP HIS ARSE

Poison boogeeee--eez

Poison boogeee--eez

Late at night while yer sleepin'

Poison boogies come a creepin ar--ound!

(Repeat)

Now the last two lines in bold may not be the original 'appropriated' lyrics. Does any of this ring a bell? There is also a bridge verse later in the song which may have figured in the appropriation but I can't recall that one. The only person I thought of asking was Stephen Loosley, as he used to referee Junior house sport and it's just the sort of thing he'd be across.

Any assistance you or the '69 brains trust could offer would be appreciated.

In case you've forgotten Thorpie's cover of this Coasters hit:

Buccaneering Barry Stedman...

This just in from Barry Stedman...

Hi Stephen and Lee,

Unless my current plans change, I won't be attending the reunion. Have fun!\\

Use the address below. I'll be there until June 2019.  

Ladys Island Marina
73 Sea Island Pkwy, Ste 10
Beaufort SC, USA 29007
Imagine in Hopetown, Bahamas

My new address, until Jan 7 when I depart for the Bahamas.

After June, it depends. I may be back at the marina, or in Central America, wherever the beer is coldest.

S/V Imagine in Hopetown, Bahamas:

Vale Brian Hodge

This just in from Ian Bosler:

We stayed at Hill End for a few days this year, visited the old stomping grounds and rekindled fond memories of previous trips. The last few trips, we visited Brian Hodge and said hello, but, unfortunately, this time, the old bugger wasn't around to greet us.

I have attached a pic of his grave site. It wasn't all that old, and locals said he was awaiting ground settlement for the placement of a headstone. I remember his shiny, ruddy complexion as he breasted the bar at The Royal.