It’s been a big week of celebrations in the boarding house as we celebrate our Year 13 boarding students and their time here at Columba.

On Tuesday evening, we joined together over dinner to enjoy an evening of lots of memories in presentations from Head Boarding Student Rachael Turner, Deputy Boarding Student Gemma O’Donnell and Mrs Parks.

The evening began with a warm welcome from Gemma, followed by 'Grace', fitting for the occasion delivered beautifully by Year 10 student - Taylor Anderson. Our kitchen staff, after preparing for most of the day set out an awesome dinner that included Christmas ham, new potatoes and fresh asparagus. Dessert was a real treat that included brandy snaps and Christmas mince goodies.

Rachael delivered a speech that was warmly received and included lots of memories of the times the girls had here with us. The slide show of photos presented covered lots of funnies and was a great way to remember some of those not able to be with us. Mrs Parks acknowledged parents not able to join us for dinner due to COVID restrictions and thanked them for sharing their daughters with us.

We especially remembered Lucy Williams and her parents Belinda and Sean. Throughout this past year we have all felt the hole that Lucy’s death has left so we remembered her fondly and, in the gift, presented to all our Year 13 boarding students – the Columba Rose. 'Rose' was Lucy’s middle name, so we hope that each year when it blooms, the girl’s take a moment to reflect and remember Lucy with love.

The closing thought was a quote from Beyoncé – delivered very eloquently by one of our Year 8 boarding students, Alice P. As with any joyous occasion, there was lots of singing enjoyed by us all and in general was a very happy evening enjoyed by our Year 13 leavers.

We will miss them all and wish them the very best for their journeys to come.