Scotch Reports Issue 178 (December 2020)

COMMUNITY
Finding a Way
When I reflect on the events of the past
year, it fills me with pride to think of all the
times our great Scotchie qualities shone
through during difficult circumstances.
Community, resilience and determination
helped us make it through a pandemic;
together, we always find a way.
When COVID quickly transitioned from
a foreign curiosity to a terrible reality,
many businesses were thrown into chaos,
shutting down virtually overnight. Past
parent (and acclaimed Musical Stage &
Lighting Coordinator) Craig Williams of
Mosaic AV was hit hard as events across
the state and country were cancelled.
Under intense pressure, Craig and his team
quickly converted their storage warehouse
into a fully functioning studio, offering
online streaming to many businesses and
performers who also found themselves
without options as lockdown intensified.
Thanks to Craig’s quick thinking we were
able to deliver our first online Scotch
Presents event, The Business of COVID
with Andrew Downs (SAGE Automation) and
Adrian Geering (The Executive Connection).
This was followed soon after by Dr John
Newton’s interview with Senator Simon
Birmingham, beamed live around the world
as a part of the 2020 GAIL Conference. Most
recently, the skills Craig’s team learned
during this period enabled us to live stream
a performance of the sold out musical, Stop
the Presses to audiences at home.
Founders Day and the annual Seniors
Lunch is a treasured tradition among
our most senior Old Collegians. As with
many gatherings, the lunch was cancelled,
and Founders Day Assembly looked very
different. Thanks to the ingenuity and
quick thinking of the amazing David Saies
(’47), we were still able to keep in touch
with our treasured seniors through a
very special Scotch Seniors Quiz! We
put our Old Collegians to the test with a
challenging quiz about all things Scotch
and South Australia, spanning the College’s
100-year history. The best of the best
were rewarded for their hard work with a
special 1000-piece jigsaw of Torrens Park
House and a bottle of Centenary bubbles.
Congratulations to the top prize winners:
• Geoff Heard (‘69)
• Chris Haslam (’53)
• Grant Mayfield (‘51)
• Norman Peart (‘54)
• Bob Lawrence (’68)
• Malcolm McEgan (‘59)
• Peter Routley (‘51)
The Class of 2020 of course battled
through a particularly challenging Year
12 campaign. To commemorate their
resilience and perseverance, we launched
a 2020 Scotch Time Capsule, to be opened
in 2050. Filled with details about the year,
contributions from the Year 12 cohort and
a few surprises, the Class of 2020 will open
the capsule at their 30-year reunion and
be presented with the contents.
As you can see, much of 2020 has been
about history – both the preservation of
the past and creating a record of 2020
for the future historians to marvel at. An
important part of our College traditions is
our link to the Armed Services. During 2020
our East Lane carpark was redeveloped
as a part of a 3-stage campus linkage
project with Mitcham Campus. During
this redevelopment, pencil pines were
planted as a living monument to recognise
the active service given by Old Collegians
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