THE ANNUAL GATHERING OF OLD PATRICIANS

The Annual Gathering of Old Patricians for 2026 was held on Saturday 14 February 2026 at the Glenferrie Hotel in Hawthorn.

Once again we had a strong response with 73 attendees (as near as we could count them!). And, in a numerical coincidence, we also had 73 apologies from those who couldn’t get to the Gathering on this occasion. There was a remarkable cross section of eras, ranging from the earliest being Norman Cahill (who started at St Pats in 1943) along with others who started in the1940’s. The latter include Peter McClure (1947)  and Jim D’Arcy (1946) through to the very last class at the College with five attendees from the 1968 Grade 5 Class. There were a number of attendees who travelled from interstate or from regional areas to attend the Gathering. We thank you for making the effort and hope you can continue to attend future Gatherings.  Some of the highlights of the day included:

• Imbedded within the Gathering was a large group from the 1966 Matric Class who were celebrating a 60 year anniversary since they left the College. Like all groups at St Pat’s, not only did it consist of those who started in the same class in Grade 5, but there were others who joined along the way for various reasons. The group on 14 Feb 2026 included: Jim Smith, Peter Norden, Peter Rynia, Mark Whitty, Adrian Jones, John  O’Loughlin, Greg Taylor, Julian Carr, John Cavedon, Mark Hennessy, Damien Hynes, and Paul McColl. A photo of most of that group is among those in the gallery below this report.

• We were honoured to have Norman Cahill (who we believe to be the oldest living Patrician) attend this year’s Gathering for the first time. Norman ,who is 95 was accompanied by his daughter Sarah Beaton. Norman had a wonderfully enjoyable day and was in very good form.

• There were 5 of the 1968 Grade 5 Class who attended: Pat Freeland-Small, Lawrie McMahon, Graham Sullivan, Joe Toscano and Peter Moon. It was inspirational to see Peter Moon in attendance following a recent serious health battle.  Everyone’s thoughts and best wishes are with you for your continuing recovery Peter. We also had four apologies from this group including Mark O’Sullivan, Bernie Gaynor, Mick Sitch, and Richard Keely who all indicated they would like to attend future Gatherings. It’s amazing that there are so many who attended St Pat’s for just one year at the age of about 11 and have retained contact with each other and with the wider Patrician community.

• Another highlight was that we had 14 first time attendees at the Gathering including: Brendan McGregor (60-67), Peter Stewart (62-68), Greg Sinnott (63-68), Paul McPherson (59-65), Norman Cahill (43-47), Peter Speakman (53-61), Laurie Gascoigne (51-58),and John Carrig (54-61). Also for the first time we had three guys from the 1968 Second Year Class including: Orlando Pezzimenti, Chris Jackman andTom Smyth. They will be warmly welcomed at future Gatherings.

• The SPOCA Committee was in attendance this year including: Paul McColl, Paul Herrick, Peter Rogan, Gavin Wayland, Murray Cullinan, Jim Smith and Vin Martin with an apology from Kevin Lane.

• Some of those who travelled from interstate and rural/regional areas include: Martin Tobin (Wahgunyah), Paul MacPherson (Sydney) Greg Sinnott (Bundanoon, about 30 minutes from Bowral), Frank Paez (Brisbane), Peter Stewart (Cairns) and Michael Cavanagh from Euroa. And we also had the usual suspects from the Bellarine Peninsula in Rick Favaloro, Shane Favaloro and John Higgins, as well as the guys from the Mornington Peninsula including Con McMahon, Greg Taylor, Kevin Tweedley, Peter Rogan, Jim McGuane and Bill Dowling.

After a short welcoming speech, President, Paul McColl, also took the opportunity to reflect on our Old Patrician mates who had passed since last year’s Gathering (including Paul Costigan, Tom Hawkins, Max Nankervis, Chris Power, Phil White and Peter Scully.

Thanks to Gavin Wayland who so efficiently organized the name tags that helped so much in recognizing old school mates across eras/years. Thanks also to Pat Freeland-Small for being our conduit to the 1968 Grade 5 Group and managing to get five starters with four apologies who indicated a desire to attend next year.

All those who attended, and the wider SPOCA group, would be aware of the great work done by Bill Dowling in enthusiastically encouraging so many of us to come along and enjoy the company and atmosphere. A big thanks to Bill for all his efforts!

In summary, The Gathering was another successful event which proved to be a very convivial catch up of old school mates in a relaxed informal environment that served to reinforce the still strong Patrician camaraderie.

Bill's work continued throughout the afternoon producing photographic memories of the day. They can be viewed in the gallery display below.  They are also available on the Vic Collections SPOCA site which is co-ordinated by Jim Smith (click here and scroll down to the 'search' box and enter Glenferrie 2026).

Full names attached to each pic would be cumbersome so initials are used. For those who are still not sure of who's who, the following legend should help:

AM = Austin Maloney, BB = Bernie Brophy, BL = Brendan Lane, BMcG = Brendan McGregor, BO'B = Brendon O'Brien, CJ = Chris Jackman, CM = Con McMahon, DO'B = Denis O'Brien, DS = Dermott Small, FP = Frank Paez, GS = Graeme Sullivan, GS (a 2nd one) = Greg Sinnott, GT = Greg Taylor, GW = Gavin Wayland, GW (again!) = Gerry Whitty, JC = Julian Carr, JD'A = Jim D'Arcy, JH = John Higgins, JO'L = John O'Loughlin, JS = Jim Smith, JT = Joe Toscano, LM = Laurie McMahon, MH = Mark Hynes, MT = Martin Tobin, MW = Mark Whitty, NC = Norman Cahir, OP = Orlando Pezzimenti, PD = Phillip D'Arcy (Jim's son), PD (again!) = Peter Donoghue, PF-S = Pat Freeland-Small, PH = Paul Herrick, PM = Peter Moon, PMac = Peter MacClure, PN = Peter Norden, PO'D = Pat O'Donnell, PP = Phil Price, PP (again!) = Pat Pinnell, PS = Peter Speakman, PS (another!) = Peter Stewart, PT = Peter Talty, RC = Richard Curtain, RF = Rick Favaloro, RH = Rob Hescroff, SC = Sarah Cahir (NC's daughter), SF = Shane Favaloro, TB = Tony Burn, TC = Tony Cavanagh, TG = Tim Ginnane, TO'M = Terry O'Meara, TS = Tom Smyth, VM = Vin Martin.