2012 10 Year Reunion

1 Sean Ross (FB’12), Millie Bernardi (Cl’12), Brittany Hapgood (De Lutiis, Cl’12), Joshua McLennan (Fr’12), Alex Carroll (Fr’12) and Annabel Adams (Cl’12)

2 Ethan Purcell (P’12), Cate Benardout, Johnathan O’Neil Donnellon (P’12) and Hashim Hassan (FB’12)

3 Mimi Boydell (Ga’12), Gussie Gould (He’12) and Libby Sutherland (Cl’12)

4 Millie Bernardi (Cl’12) and Brittany Hapgood (De Lutiis, Cl’12)

5 Emily O’Beirne (EM’12) and Harry Mitchell (P’12)

6 Medina Asgari Stephens (He’12), Chloe Payne (Timbertop ‘09) and Meggy Wu (Ga’12)

7 Finn Kinsella (FB’12), Deluca Lawson-Matthew (M’12) and Emil Schwarz (M’12)

8 Tiffany Gray (Ga’12), Mimi Boydell (Ga’12),

Gussie Gould (He’12) and Libby Sutherland (Cl’12)

9 Bryan Choo (Cu’12), Freddy Koch (Cu’12), Rogan Kennedy (A’12) and Sandon Lowe (Fr’12)

10 Edwina Swain (EM’12), Meggy Wu (Ga’12) and Alex Hussen (A’12)

11 Will Evans (M’12) and Xara Kaye (He’12)

12 Jasper Lai (FB’12) and Jane Lloyd (Cl’12)

This year has continued well with many successful events held thus far. We had a lovely Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Old Girls’ Day Lunch in the Gladys Bell Room at Corio on Saturday 3 September, which had a lovely ambiance. As we were not in the Darling Hall, we unfortunately did not have our Sanctuary, so compensated by holding a short service and lighting our candles and remembering our school days and the special friendships made.

There were no changes to the Office Bearers at this year’s AGM, with Liz Bennett (McDonald, The Hermitage ’66) continuing as HOGA President, Jill Nicholls (Holmes, The Hermitage ’68) as Secretary and Susie Donald (The Hermitage ’75) as Treasurer. The meeting was followed by a lovely meal, with guest speakers Janet Ryle-Yeates (Bone, Fr’76) and Simone Arnott (Fr’77) entertaining us with their memories of the trials and tribulations of being among the first girls to go from The Hermitage to Grammar after the amalgamation in 1976. Even though we were not in our usual location, because of lower numbers, everyone present still thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Of course, we had to have a rousing rendition of Cooee sung to make the day complete!

It was a busy week, as on the Monday following, September 5, the Annual HOGA Golf Day was held at Barwon Heads Golf Club. The weather was kind to the golfers, with everyone enjoying the day. Our guest speaker was Judy Vanrenen OAM (The Hermitage ’69), who founded Botanica World Discoveries 20 years ago, taking guests to beautiful gardens around the world and writing three beautiful coffee table books; Beyond the Garden Gate (2015), Along the Garden Path (2017) and Over the Garden Fence (2020). Her talk, entitled ‘A Botanical Journey’, gave an insight into her gardening and garden tourism exploits. It is amazing what some people can fit into their lives!

With the end of the school year upon us, we again carried on the tradition of presenting each Year 12 girl in The Hermitage House a copy of Proud to be Women: A History of The Hermitage Church of England Girls’ Grammar School, Geelong (1906-76) by Meanie Guile. We believe this gives them the understanding of the proud history that the name The Hermitage stands for.

We have been very fortunate to be able to hold many class reunions so far this year, with more to come. These have been very well received and everyone attending has had a wonderful time reigniting old friendship, combined with lots of chatter and laughter. We once again held a reunion in Adelaide and hopefully will be holding one in Ballarat in the near future. If anyone lives in a rural community and would like to hold a gathering of Old Girls, whether for lunch or afternoon tea, please contact Jill Nicholls on 0400 800 136 or email hermitagegirls@gmail.com and she can assist with contact details.

On that note, HOGA must add a very big thank you to Denise Hanrahan, Events Coordinator at GGS, who has been an amazing help in the absence of Katie Rafferty (Spry, Ga’84), who is on Long Service Leave. Nothing has been too much trouble for Denise and her help has been coupled with the assistance received from Dougal Morrison, Data Analyst.

As always, we are looking for ladies to assist in organising a reunion of their year group. For 2023, we are looking for contacts from the 1953, 1963 and 1973 cohorts. Please contact Jill Nicholls, who is very happy to help. We are also planning a couple of different events, including a picnic at the Geelong Botanical Gardens and a tour through Barwon Mansion in Winchelsea. Stay tuned for more information.