Derek Lewis tells us that we have lost Techo Peter Wynne.
Vale John Shepherd
This just in from Bruce Campbell:
A bit of sad news - John Shepherd passed away. He had suffered a gangrenous leg from being a smoker and came close to losing his leg. While investigating and treating him doctors also discovered he had advanced cancer to which he succumbed recently. He was 70.
John Shepherd at our 2019 Reunion
New website address...
Yes, once again, the STHS website has been moved to a new address.
We are now at sths1969.stephengard.com.au
This is due to my old ISP deciding not to host websites any more.
I have therefore relocated to iinet, because they offer OODLES more storage space.
Note: the Boomalacka Blog, has not moved.
You are reading this on the Boomalacka Blog.
There are those who believe that the STHS 1969 Website and the Boomalacka Blog are one and the same.
This is an untruth.
They are different animals.
The Boomalacka Blog is for STHS 1969 news and is hosted by Google.
It is here: http://boomalacka.blogspot.com/
The STHS 1969 website is for long-term storage of memoirs, photos, obits and stuff.
And now it is here: sths1969.stephengard.com.au
And as they say in these challenging times, 'I hope you have a great day'.
Stephen Gumby Gard
PS and BTW: the stuff about the Blog and Website being closed due to COVID was a joke, as I hope everyone understood.
Vale Mark Eastwood
John Booth writes:
I regret to inform you that the farewell for Mark Eastwood ex STHS Class of 69 will be held at the Salvation Army Citadel 91 Oliver Street, Grafton at 11:00 am 30th September 2021. I can’t attend due to lockdown.
Mark David Eastwood, my dear friend of 58 years passed away at home with family on the afternoon of Saturday 25 September 2021 after a valiant battle over 18 months against bowel and liver cancer. He faced his disease stoically with mental strength to the end.
Mark was born on 22 November 1951 and grew up an only child in Lambert Road, Bardwell Park. He was a special child to his parents, as Mrs Eastwood had lost two babies prior to Mark’s birth. The fact that he never demonstrated any of the attributes associated with “only child” syndrome and he grew to be the man he was, is due to his make-up and the input of his wonderful parents.
I first met Mark in 1964, when we started in 1B at Sydney Technical High School. Mark and I both lived on the East Hills Line and travelled cross country to school on different buses. I could catch his bus home, visit with him in Bardwell Park and get the train home to Beverly Hills. Believe me Mark was a bit of a prankster at school. We along with Kevin Kennedy and Richard (Dick) Wilson from the 1969 HSC year attained traineeships in Civil Engineering with the DMR and studied at the University of NSW. We often travelled by train and bus to UNSW Kensington together. We spent our annual vacations working at various DMR offices around the State to get “practical” experience, plus in our cases see a bit of the State and have a good time. It was a good sample of what lay ahead in our professional careers.
During our time at university Mark met and married Cathy, a wedding I was honoured to attend.
Following completion of his Bachelor of Engineering Degree at UNSW, Mark worked his whole career with DMR/RTA/RMS at Warringah Freeway Office, Finley Works Office (Works Engineer), Cooma Works Office (Works Engineer) Grafton Divisional Office, Central Coast and Pacific Highway Offices, Grafton as a Senior Project Manager. Mark made major contributions to the project management of the duplication of the Pacific Highway, including Yelgun to Chinderah Bypass. He also showed his commitment to assisting others by working on public works for the people of Albania under the RedR/”Engineers without borders’” scheme. He had some interesting tales, including some hair raising experiences to tell on his return.
Over the years although never having the opportunity to work in the same office, Mark and I met up at training course, where we all worked and played hard.
Mark was a highly competent and committed professional Engineer, well respected by all those he worked with. A man of high personal and professional integrity, with excellent technical skills and common sense, which he endeavoured to pass onto others through mentoring.
He was very involved in the North Coast Branch of the Institution of Engineers.
Mark was a good all round sportsman, playing soccer, cricket and golf for many years, as well as being a good sprinter in his youth. He was a black belt in the martial art of Aikido and had spent time studying in a dojo in Japan. Mark also had a strong interest shared with wife Cathy in travel and music, particularly opera.
Above all else Mark was a complete all round good man, devoted to his family and friends.
He was very proud of the professional achievements of wife Cathy and the professional careers of sons Gareth in finance in the banking sector and Nathan in engineering with the Wollongong Steel Works. We always caught up on how the boys and their families were going.
It was obvious Mark doted on his grandchildren.
Rosemary, I, Anthony, Georgina and Jacqueline and their families extend our sincere sympathies and love to Cathy and sons Gareth and Nathan and their families on the great loss of their husband, father and grandfather.
Robert Davies adds:
Very grateful that I could watch the funeral service of my good school mate Mark Eastwood via the STHS website. Mark passed away almost 30 months ago and I only just found out. We both went to the same primary school (Earlwood Public) and then both to STHS.
I was with him that night in 1970 when he first met his future wife Cathy. I was also sitting next to him in the front of his parents' VW Beetle which he was driving on a glue bomb raid of Hurstville Boys High School on our 6th Form Farewell muck up day.
Unfortunately, the car behind driven by another STHS 6th Former (who shall remain unidentified) and probably overloaded with a number of other STHS 6th Formers ran into the back of the VW on Forrest Rd and wrote it off. Fortunately, no-one was injure
Mark Eastwood's funeral service video:
Vale Graeme McLean
This just in from Anthony Pearsall:
For all those 1969 Tech Old Boys I have the sad news that Graeme McLean passed away on Saturday after a long fight with cancer. No further details available, sorry.
Tony Pearsall
The Impact of These Challenging Times
In line with government advice about the 'impact' of the COVID-19 virus pandemic on our reunion community during 'these challenging times', the number of viewers of the Boomalacka Blog has been limited to 10 at any one time.
Please practice social distancing and wear a suitable mask.
We don't want Bing breathing down our necks.
Brian Hodge, remembered
From Ian Bosler: Hi Steve,
Just finished a regional NSW trip in the motorhome. Stayed at Hill End and visited Brian Hodges' grave, which has been upgraded with a new gravestone, now the ground has settled.
A school excursion in the 60's has resulted in a lifetime of memories.
Hope you and yours are well?
Regards,
Bos
CoronaVirus Shutdown
Lads,
To protect us all from the spread of COVID-19, this blog will be closed until the pandemic threat eases.
Please don't view any entries or share the blog itself until further notice.
We have not taken this decision lightly, and are fully aware of the inconvenience it will create.
We hope you understand our necessary caution.
Good health and Boomalacka.
Blazeaid
A Message from John Reader:
Hi Gents,
For all you retired fellows with caravan and or etc, if you are looking for something rewarding to do, please come and volunteer for Blazeaid. Bring your wives etc and work boots..We are at the Blazeaid camp at Cobargo. There are, at the moment, more than 500 hundred properties needing help. The camp here will be here for at least 12 months ( long after the media has forgotten about the fires.
Call to arms, your friends to come and help.
Look up the Blazeaid web site and see where the current camps are located.
If you would like further information don't hesitate to contact me on 0408 888 389.
Cheers John Reader
2019 Reunion Video, and...
The STHS 50th Year Reunion video is now available for viewing on YouTube at:
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:
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.
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:
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
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