Tane Mahuta

Our current boys love to see Old Boys at WC and at cultural, arts and sporting events. They appreciate the Old Boys who went before them and they are always determined to make them proud. They know the legacy that our Old Boys have forged. We have a number of sports semifinals and finals coming up over the next few weeks and, if you are an Old Boy reading this, we would welcome your attendance. WC will always be your school.

The diversity of destinations from where our Old Boys have come and what our Old Boys do continues to set the bar for our current students. Every occupation or vocation is covered by the 22,000 Old Boys that we have. I like to think that WC is like Tāne Mahuta, in the Waipoua Forest. The branches, like our Old Boys, grow in a thousand different directions, tall and strong, and covering a vast section of the commercial, educational, sporting, health, philanthropic and political landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond. The trunk and the roots remain connected and in the same soil.

I was speaking to one of our Old Boys outside of our school gates on Tuesday morning. He said he had been a student in the ‘80s and he had never been back. I asked him why, and he said that he felt that he had had his time and that none of his teachers were there now. We wandered up the drive and he marvelled at the new turf and the new indoor cricket facility being built. He told me a few stories of his time here and thanked me for showing him around. I said to him that my job was to serve, love and care for our current boys but, importantly, to make sure that our Old Boys still see this as their home. I told him that I tell our students to take a piece of the school with them (not literally.) Over time they will have absorbed not only information, knowledge and skills, but also values, culture and history. I want them to take that experience and use it to make a difference in the world.

He said he will get in touch with our WC Old Boys’ Association and reconnect. I finished by saying, “Staying in touch with the people we went to school with is really important. Only they (and our families) knew us as children. Keeping in touch with our real self will help us to be honest and true, so don’t lose the friends you made at school.”

Our Old Boys are like streetlights along the road. They don't make the distance any shorter, but they light up the path and make the walk worthwhile.

Receive the light and pass it on.

Mr Denham