De La Salle Parents’ Association It has been wonderful this year to see so many new faces at our functions, and to have parents new to the school volunteering to help — this bodes well for the future years at the College. Our year began with the New Book Sale which worked very efficiently with the tremendous support of a lot of parents. It is a wonderful service offered to parents at the school, and is also a great start to our fundraising efforts. The Morning Tea for New Parents was held on the first day of school as usual, and the Cocktail Party for Parents New to the School was held in February. The atmosphere is always welcoming, and the parents seem to enjoy both of these special events. The Opening Mass was well attended, with the proceeds collected on the day donated to the Country Fire Authority. Our Annual General Meeting was held in March, and it was encouraging to have some new faces appointed to the Executive Committee. We presented Br. Tim with a cheque for $12,000 which we suggested be used on the Kinnoull Campus. The Fun Run/ Walk was held in late March with all who attended enjoying the chance to socialise and exercise. To provide some variety in our program the Committee is looking to replace the Fun Run/Walk next year with an event such as a Family Bowls Day. We have held Mothers’ Weekends and Working Bee Weekends for families at Jan Juc which have all been successful. A lot of time and effort has been put into the Jan Juc residences — painting, carpet tiles, curtains, cleaning, new fences, new hot water services, gas bottles moved etc. — and now both
properties are in really good shape. Our usual fantastic fund raising nights have been held again this year – the Trivia Night in May, the Wine Night in August and the Fashion Parade in September. What wonderful social evenings these are, and always raise money which in the end goes back into the College. We held two General Meetings during the year to which all parents at the school were invited to hear reports from Br. Tim and the Parents’ Association. At our October meeting, we had a guest speaker, Dale Johnstone from the Victoria Police Schools Liaison Section to speak on ‘Party Safe’. This was very well received. We have held an Easter Raffle, two Term Fee Raffles and produced a excellent De La Cuisine cookbook – if you haven’t bought one yet, get your order into the office now! A large number of parents volunteered to help with the Second Hand Book Sale in December, which enabled families to recycle their text books and also save some money. I would like to thank all Class Representatives, volunteer parents and all parents who have supported our functions during the year – but I would personally like to thank my hard-working Executive Committee: Trish Woodman, Tony Tesoriero, Gary Squire, Elizabeth Kortum, Jeanette Bentley, Angela Bodin, John Davies, Robyn Graf, John Hindle, Ann Manning, Sue Palmer, Catherine Rousell-Menke, Andrea Smith, Don Weston and Ken Wilson. We have had a good year and I wish you all good luck in your future years at De La Salle. Judith Clancy President 147
